Affiliate Marketing Revised

OK, forget everything you know about affiliate marketing. The simple truth is that the old rules no longer apply. And if you don’t change your tactics, you cannot survive.

The promise

You’ve been told it’s easy to get started as an affiliate. This is partially true. It is the easiest business you can possibly start. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

The bad news…

And to make matters worse, you’ve taught to do it the hard way. The first thing you’re taught is to pick some great products. Next to look for easy keywords to target. Then to use keyword-based advertising to send visitors to the product. And just enjoy the commissions. But this just won’t work!

Keywords are dead

Keyword advertising used to work. But the competition has shot the price of keywords through the roof. So, throw it all away.

A brand new formula

There is a solution to this problem. Here’s how to win at this game.

  • Get into CPA marketing
  • Utilize demographics data
  • Do image ad marketing

Start using CPA marketing

CPA stands for Cost Per Action. It’s so much easier than promoting products. Because you don’t have to get people to spend money. You get paid when they take an “action”. Entering their email into a form, for example. And getting them to do this is so much easier.

Utilize demographics data

Don’t waste time researching keywords (see below). So spend your time doing demographics research. First, select the CPA offer you want to promote. Then go to a site like Quantcast.com. And discover the exact demographics of your ideal prospect.

Market on display networks

Now you have your offer and your demographics. Display networks allow you to target demographics with your ads. And use images as your ads. No keywords required. The biggest advantage is price. Image ad clicks are much cheaper.

In closing

This is a great way to make money fast. Because it’s free to get started in CPA. Image ads are cheap. You can use demographics to target your ideal prospect. And your commission is much easier to earn.

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This post was written by Dustin on August 20, 2010

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Info Prodigy – A Review

I have been a fan of Steve Clayton and Tim Godfrey for a number of years now and have purchased many of their products. They are well researched, well written, easy to follow and make lots of money .

So when I heard about their latest – Info Prodigy – I jumped on it! Do yourself a favor and check out this amazing opportunity to learn from guys who have created a multi-million dollar business for a very modest price!

Offer ends August 16th …

Title

SteveClayton

It’s a well known proven fact that the ‘information or data business’ is the most important (and most worthwhile)  online market in the globe… and is likely to remain that way for many years to come.

That is why Apple can sell over 1 / 4 of one million iPads in 24 hours… It is why Google performs over 1 / 4 of a BILLION searches each day…

…and it’s all about the colossal numbers of individuals the world over who go online  to look for information that’ll remedy problems, present ideas, and give solutions that may make their life better, simpler or easier.

To them, it doesn’t matter in what form the knowledge is delivered to them; so long as they get it – and get a outcome – Immediately!

…and *this* is the place YOU step in.

Let me ask you a question…

Is providing info to folks something that YOU are involved in as a enterprise?

If it is… then that is GREAT news because what I am about to reveal could sky-rocket your revenue

If ‘delivering’ products ISN’T a enterprise that you’re at the moment pursuing, then that Positively needs to change as quickly as possible for reasons that I’ll tell you about in only a few secs.

But first, check out this film and sign up for the free report entitled: ‘From $24.95 to $2,495,000 Selling Information On-line’…

–> CHECK IT OUT

It has been produced by Tim Godfrey and Steve Clayton (the creators of the Niche and Commission Blueprints) along with the experience of Kate Anderson who has been promoting info products for nearly ten yrs. and has hundreds of them to her name.

The document reveals how Tim went from making his first sale of the first book he created, to assembling (with Steve) a succession of massively successful information merchandise, all in all which created over 2.5 million dollars in revenue in 36 hours!

Clearly, it is a *Must Read*…

…and here is why it’s SO important that you take motion TODAY, access this content material and *also* find out extra about their upcoming and extremely anticipated step-by-step course called ‘Data Prodigy’.

The reality is this…

People need info and more often than not are willing to pay YOU massive sums of cash for it, IF you’ve gotten the answer to their problem or possess the data that they seek.

It is an incredible alternative for a number of factors.

Firstly, producing most of these product (ebooks, movies, audio etc) is a enterprise you could run from your house on your laptop – it requires no earlier experience and little or no cash to start.

Next, the revenue margins are incredibly high and you would get EXTREMELY wealthy VERY fast, IF you observe the correct formula.

For example, there are 50 web page dieting ebooks out there promoting at $39 each that have  garnered nearly 100,000 gross sales (do the math!)… and there are quite a few instances of these sales numbers in MANY totally different markets.

Tough – it is not …. and what’s much more incredible is that in every case, the precise scripting of these ebooks was task that the product creator took simply ONE time!

Then, the sales from this unique action continue without end, raking in income, even if the creator died… (glum – but a reality) Of course, the process could be duplicated over and over again.

The development isn’t going to stop either…

As I’ve mentioned, the net data market is ALREADY a *billion $ greenback industry* and is about to steadily improve as more of the global population gets online and in addition starts wanting and Forking over money for information.

What does this mean?

Simply… more Cash – for YOU!

*Even* in the event you made a ‘half baked’ product, which by the way is simple to do and may very well be outsourced and completed inside the area of 7 days, a FIVE-figure check would NOT be out of the question.

I don’t know about you… however to ME, this complete thing makes a lot of sense…

Most individuals, after they start attempting to earn cash online, start with affiliate internet marketing as it’s arguably the quickest and best method to earn your first cash on the net.

…and since that is true… and regardless that hundreds of thousands of dollars may be built out of this business kind, it does beg ONE question…

Why Be ONE Affiliate Among Thousands… When You Can Have 1000’s Of Affiliates Selling For YOU?

As the ***Product Creator***, associates will pound YOUR sales page with visitors and usher in revenue on autopilot… which is clearly higher than YOU being 1 out of a thousand affiliates trying to provide ANOTHER product owner’s gross sales web page with traffic.

Make sense?  Hopefully it should.

boxcover-lgHere’s the ‘take away’….

Creating information products is feasible to do with NO experience at all, and may also be done alongside your affiliate or e commerce businesses, or indeed some other online enterprise that you are currently pursuing.

Consequently, I strongly suggest you check out this video and obtain the accompanying report that reveals extra information concerning the exact step-by-step system Tim, Steve and Kate have used to make millions of dollars online promoting information.

Here is the outline of the product:

Part 1 – Finding a niche

= Introduction
= Brainstorming part 1
= Brainstorming part 2
= Testing The Market

Part 2 – Developing Your Product

= Do It Yourself Info Product Creation
+ How to organize & structure info product
+ How to research ideas
+ Creating a USP
+ Compiling, packaging, finishing touches
= PLR Mastery
+ How to use private label rights to create high value info products
+ Where to find quality PLR products
+ How to modify/edit/improve private label
+ How to re+package private label products
= Outsourcing Blueprint
+ How to outsource your info product
+ Where to find freelancers, choosing the best developers
+ How to protect yourself when hiring freelancers
+ Payment terms & delivery
= 72 Hour Info Product
+ How to compile info products from articles & reports (needanarticle.net etc)
+ How to create a Q&A info product
= Interview Secrets
+ How to approach & interview experts to create info products
+ Where to find market experts
+ What questions to ask
+ Equipment Needed
+ How to package the info product
+ Offering various formats, enhancing value
= Do It Yourself Info Product Creation
+ How to organize & structure info product
+ How to research ideas
+ Creating a USP
+ Finishing Touches For A Polished Product
+ Bonus: Ebook Templates (will see what I can come up with )
= Protecting Your Product
+ How to set up download protection
+ Protection Software & Script resource file
= Continuity Profits
+ How to create a successful membership website
+ Finding & re+purposing content
+ Setting up the website (membership script overview)
+ Choosing Your Membership Format ( e+courses, training, monthly/traditional etc)
+ Boosting member retention rates
+ Increasing subscriber value

cd1-flat-lgPart 3 – Sales and marketing strategies

= Introduction
= Product and domain names
+ Why names are so important
+ Choosing a catchy name
= Product Presentation and Pricing
+ Deciding How To Present
+ deciding how to price
= Creating a pitch page
+ Sales Methods
+ Sales copy
+ Video sales
+ Layouts
= Product Product Graphics and Images
+ What graphics to use and why
+ How and where to get them done
= Membership Models
+ The advantage of membership models
+ Creating an Angle
+ how to implement
= Upselling And Backend funnels
+ Exit pops – trials, reductions and list building
+ Upselling techniques and examples

Part 4 – Taking Payments

= Introduction
= Payment Processors
+ Clickbank
+ Paydotcom
= Process Flow
+ content
= Setting Up And Autoresponder
+ content
= Protecting Yourself Legally
+ Documents that you should include
+ Where to get then and how to implement
+ Affiliate legal issues

Part 5 – Getting Affiliates And JV Partners

= Introduction
= Building Relationships
+ The importance of building relationships
+ How to do it
= How to find affiliates and JV partners
+ Advertising
+ Forums
+ Networking events
= How to contact affiliates and JV partners
+ What to say
+ email templates
= Creating Affiliate Tools and resources
+ The importance of affiliate tools
+ What to include
+ examples

Part 6 – Launching Your Product

= Introduction
= The launch sequence
+ Overview of launch process
+ how to implement it
+ process flow
= Product launch techniques
+ buzz building
+ Free Stuff
+ Scarcity
= Creating a pre-launch
+ what to include
+ the set-up
= Launch Crunch time
+ getting prepared
+ severs and backup
= Post launch and customer support
+ organizing support
+ Outsourcing
+ stopping refunds

Part 7 – Exit Strategy, How To Sell Your Website & Product

= Getting Started
+ How to set up your website for a quick and easy exit strategy
+ Why and where to sell your info product/website
+ Collecting Data + Important Information needed when selling your website
= Increasing Value
+ How to add value to website before selling
+ Essential Components Of A High Value Listing
= Your Value Range
+ How to determine the websites value
+ How to price your website for the marketplace
+ How to gauge perceived marketplace value
= Killer Listing Strategies
+ How to create an auction listing on Flippa
+ Getting the most from your listing
+ How to deal with bidder questions
+ How to generate massive exposure for your listing
+ When to list, starting price and reserve auctions
= Completing The Sale
+ Conducting buyer due diligence
+ How to transfer website
+ After sales support

So if you’re still with me … go here to get this amazing product

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This post was written by admin on August 6, 2010

7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product

Consider this: What’s the biggest reason millions of people log onto the internet each day? Simple. To get information. This is so ubiquitous a quest that Google handles 400 million queries a day! Why should you care? It means that you have a massive opportunity to give people exactly what they’re looking for – information. And to earn some cash for doing it!

Info marketing explained

First, understand that this is the simplest kind of business there is. You take information and turn it into a digital product – like and ebook. And people pay you for the information inside it.. Pretty simple, wouldn’t you say?

How does it work?

We’ve established that it’s a simple concept. But to make it a successful business there has to be value in the info you’re selling. So step one is to discover what kind of info people want. How do figure that out?

One easy way to figure it out is with a simple search. Head over to ask.com or Yahoo! answers and look at the questions being asked there. You want to find something a lot of people are asking about. That people are having trouble solving. And solve the problem for them by writing an info product on it.

Think about this:

If you’re worried about how to write and ebook. Consider this: An info product is just a bunch of articles strung together. Don’t try to write a whole ebook. Just try to write one or two articles a day. And when you have a collection, flesh them out, add to them and voila! You’ve got an ebook.

Why info products? Funny you should ask . . . Here are 7 reasons for you:

1. Simplicity

Once it’s built it runs pretty much on it’s own. There is almost no support. So it’s nearly a 100% hands-free business. It’s like having an automated cash machine.

You have no physical inventory. You don’t have to ship anything. It’s digital.

2. Repurposing

Once you have a few info products created. You can put together bigger more expensive information products. It’s a simple matter to merge a few ebooks into one. Then you can sell it for a lot more. People will be willing to pay a lot more for one big ebook. Versus multiple smaller ones.

3. Private label right

When you own the product, you can sell resell rights to it. Resell rights are very hot right now, because people just don’t want to invest the time and money into making their own. And the best part is you can charge double, even triple your selling price for resell rights!

4. Leverage

Leverage your ebook by using the content in different ways. Break it apart and create a multi-part email series with it. And build your list with it. A list is it’s own reward!

5. More leverage

Utilize your content in as many ways as you can – like creating a few reports from parts of the ebook. Then you can use the reports as the front-end of your product funnel. You can give them away or even charge a small amount for them. Either way, you win because you’re feeding your funnel. Taking this technique to the max, you can let your affiliate give the reports away for you. Which brings us to…

6. Affiliates

This is one of the biggest reasons of all. If you’ve got products you own. Other people can become your affiliates. How would you like to have an army of affiliates selling your products? Well, you *need* your own product to get affiliates.

7. Joint Ventures

I’ve saved the best for last. Setting up joint ventures is the fastest way to gain success. Period. That makes this is the biggest reason for creating your own info products. Without your own products, you can’t do JVs.

In closing

If you can’t see the power of info product marketing, then you haven’t been paying attention. You’ll become the ruler of your own fate. Because it’s your business and you control it. So, don’t waste any more time:

  • Visit an “answers” site
  • Find out what people need to know
  • Start providing information

Don’t make info product creation any more complicated than that. Before you know it, you’ll have your own info product.

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This post was written by Dustin on August 5, 2010

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Using Web Audio for Success

There is no doubt that web page audio significantly increases results. If you don’t have audio in your arsenal, you’re missing out. It will boost your opt-in rate. Audio increases sales.

But why?

It’s simple. Most of the web is cold and impersonal. It adds a human touch to your site. And makes people feel they’re dealing with a real person. Basically, audio brings your site to life. And people like to interact with things that are alive!

Some more benefits

You’ll receive two immediate benefits to your bottom line when you employ the use of audio. First, you’ll make more sales. Secondly, you will not have to spend as much to make the sales. Instead of having to pay a professional to write you a great sales letter. Simply record an audio message yourself. Your visitors will respond better to a heart-felt message from you than some fancy copywriting.

You’ll get more subscribers, too. The reason this works so well is because people need to be told what to do. So you just add a simple audio that says: Put your email and name into the form and submit. A simple message like this will increase your opt-in conversions by 305% or more!

Some web audio ideas

Put a welcome message that plays automatically on your site, A warm welcome can be the deciding factor. Grabbing their attention like this helps you keep them on your site.

Lead them by the had. It’s the same as when you use audio to increase your subscribers. Use an audio message to lead your visitors through a process. That includes filling in your order form!

Get testimonials for your services and products. It’s good to get written testimonials. But what’s even better are audio testimonials. It’s much hard to fake an audio testimonial. Audio adds a level of higher believability. And that increases your results.

Sneaky tick

Did you ever think of making a product just by recording some audio? Audio is faster to produce than anything else. And your customers will be very happy with the product. The great thing about audio products is people can take them with them on the go. And once you record the audio, you can pay someone to transcribe it for you. Then you’ve got an eBook, too – but it was easy to create!

Is it hard to add audio?

It’s actually really easy. There’s software that will show you how to add audio to a website. There’s no knowledge required on your part. The program records and then converts the recording and generates an audio button. You just copy and paste into your website. You don’t need to even consider this part.

Summary

Here’s a recap of the benefits. Using website audio will increase your conversion rates. You’ll enjoy more customer sales. You will also increase your subscriber opt-ins. And you can quickly produce products and website sales copy. It’s a less often used medium. But audio is a really big time and money saver. Don’t be lazy! Add some audio today. ;-)

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This post was written by Dustin on August 3, 2010

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Sneaky Affiliate Tricks

Affiliate marketing can be very difficult to break into. The reason is because there is a lot of competition. In order to survive you have to beat your competition. It’s also hard to figure out what to do because there’s a lot of information out there. Here’s one trick that almost no one else is using.

Affiliate videos

The power of video is undeniable. Video online is everywhere because people love it. Keeping people’s attention is so much easier using videos. So using it in your affiliate promotions is a no-brainer!

Examples of how to use video for affiliate marketing:

  • Record your testimonial
  • Do a video walk-through
  • Ordering
  • Sneak peak

Testimonials

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Simply turn on your recorder and talk. It doesn’t have to be professional or polished. Listening to your honest endorsement makes your viewers feel comfortable buying. In truth, mistakes and mess-ups just make it more believable. So serious, just turn on the camera and talk. And if you don’t want to show your face, use one of the next ideas.

Do a video walk-through

This is a great way to promote something without selling it. Make this more like a tutorial helping them use the product. And seeing it being used is a great way to make people want to buy it. If it’s useful, then what you’re teaching just makes people want it. So pick some really helpful aspect of the product and show how to use that.

Record the order process

This one is killer! Record yourself placing an order. Nothing inspires your viewers to buy like watching you do it. First of all it’s what’s called “social proof”. People will feel more comfortable buying after seeing you do it. Second, it builds trust. They are much more likely to take your advice to buy when you’ve taken it yourself. And finally, it creates envy. They see you getting the satisfaction of making the purchase and that makes them want it. You can add additional juice to this one with: In order to get to see the inside, you gotta buy the product.

Sneak peak

Here’s an easy way to show the value of the product. You do a tour of the members area. They get to see everything they’ll receive when they order. And it helps soften the skeptics. Once they’ve seen the back-end, they know it’s real.

You can do this!

No special skills are required. Anyone can create stunning videos with some easy-to-use software. Really, the software does all the work. So you don’t have to worry about the technical part of this at all. Just focus on the benefits:

  • Make more money You will increase your affiliate sales when you start using videos. People love video, so please use them.
  • Lower refund rates Less of your commissions will be clawed back, too. Now they know what they get before they purchase. So they’ll be less likely to refund.
  • Rise above the competition! This is a really easy thing to do. But only a very small percentage do it. So, you’ll be way ahead of the crowd.

Get started right now and take your affiliate marketing to the next level. It’s your profit that’s affected by not taking action.

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This post was written by Dustin on July 31, 2010

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Email List Building Strategies

If you’re going to be successful in internet marketing, you need to build a list. This is the most important factor in your long-term success. Because you can market to your list whenever you want. Just push a button and print money – literally.

Now you now why. Here’s how:

Here’s what you need to build your list:

  • Your Opt-in Page
  • The Incentive
  • The Thank You Page

Your Opt-in Page – The landing page is the page that has your opt-in form on it. This page is the one that asks them for their email. That’s why it needs to look like a professionally designed page. It’s also got to be free from distractions. And your call to action must be clear!

The biggest mistake you can make is not having a clear call to action. Your call to action tells the visitor what to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. The funny thing is that people just don’t know what to do unless you tell them.

If you want to add some extra juice to your opt-in page make it a video squeeze page. You only have a few second to get your visitors attention – video helps! And you can repeat the call to action several times int he video. And you can have the video just tell them to fill in your form after it’s done playing.

Now, don’t worry if you have no idea how to make videos. Hiring out-sourced help to do it for you only costs $150 – $250. There are also list building systems that have everything pre-built for you.

The Incentive – The next thing you need is an incentive to subscribe to your list. People need a good reason to part with their email address. Email privacy is very important to most people. So make your “bribe” a good one!

You have to provide value in your bribe for it to be good. That means you make it something people would actually want to receive. And something from which they can derive a benefit. For example:

  • An eBook
  • A piece of software
  • A video tutorial
  • An email training series

It all boils down to content. And make it both helpful and informative. It goes without saying it must be free. If you make it good enough, they will give you their email in exchange.

Now, if you don’t know how to create the bribe don’t worry. You can just pay someone else to make it for you. You just pick the topic and they create the training. For example, you could have them write a 5-part email course. You can have ghost writers create emails for under $25 an email. And whole thing will only cost a hundred and fifty buck.

There are also list building products that include the follow up email series. Two critical aspects of using a follow up series. First of all it has to give the subscriber what you promised – valuable information. And it’s nice if it earns you some money, too. ;-) The easiest way to do this is to market affiliate products in the emails. This is such a simple solution because you don’t have to create the product. And you can earn some commissions immediately from your emails.

The Thank You Page – The last bit is the thank you page. This is where your visitor goes after opting into your list. It’s a great idea to give them some valuable information right on the thank you page. This helps them feel they’ve made the right decision giving you their email. It also sets the foundation for your relationship with them. Then they’re more receptive when you email them.

This is another case where you can get a complete marketing package. Or you can go the DIY route. And do your own writing for this content. Or hire ghost writers to write them for you.

In closing

It makes no difference whether you build your opt-in, bribe and thank you page. Or if you hire people to do this for you. Or if sign up for a “complete package” solution. The key is to start building your list. Once you’ve got it built. You’ve got a license to print money!

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This post was written by Dustin on July 29, 2010

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Affiliate Business Tips

Preselling for profit

The number one strategy to increase your affiliate sales is preselling.

First, what is preselling? Well, it is an art. And it’s also a science. The goal is to get your reader prepped to make a purchase. Then sending them to the product sales page to make the purchase. And if it’s done properly, the process is completely sub-conscious.

In a nutshell, you provide value. Then send them to the sales page. In just a minute, I’ll explain exactly how to presell. Before we get into that, you should understand what’s in it for you. Here are a few benefits of preselling:

  • It helps your reader trust you – Once you have your readers’ trust, they will click your links more readily. And the more traffic you can send to the sale page, the more commissions you’ll earn.
  • It disarms your reader – When you’re not hyping or pitching a product, your reader lets their guard down. Unguarded reading means they’re not filtering what you say. And your intention is conveyed more easily.
  • It creates buying readiness – Now they’re open to hearing what you’re telling them. Being open means, they are open to everything you give them. Like the info on product sales page you’ve linked to. Sending them to the sales page in this state makes them more receptive to the actual pitch.
  • You make more money – Now your reader arrives at the sales page in a buying mood. With a feeling of trust and openness. This dramatically boosts your sales rate!
  • It increases customer satisfaction – Plus, they feel they’ve made the buying decision on their own. Instead of feeling pressured or “sold”. And this makes them feel better about the product they purchased.
  • It boosts your profits – A satisfied customer doesn’t ask for a refund. And that translates to more commission staying in your affiliate business.

Obviously, it’s important to presell. You increase your profits. And increase your customer satisfaction. Everybody wins!

OK, so how do you do it?

OK, now you understand why it’s so important. And I hope you’re resolved to being preselling, too. So, it’s time to break down how it works. As I mentioned earlier, it’s both an art and a science.

Part 1 – The art of it

The first step is in getting your readers to trust you and open up. This can only be accomplished by providing actual value in the information you’re presenting. Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more – that’s the art of it. So you send them to the product website with a hunger for more of what the product provides. And because you’ve gained trust, they’re more receptive to the sales message and more likely to buy.

It’s also a science

There are also several key elements that need to be included.

First of all, it’s important HOW you present your information. You’ve got to map out your strategy before you start writing. Your end goal is to make a sale of the product you’re preselling. You use the information to do this in one of two ways. One way is to give them enough info to whet the appetite, but not enough to satisfy it. Or you can give them so much information that it feels overwhelming to do what you’re talking about. Either way, the product sales page solves the problem.

Next, you have to use “convert linking” methods. Instead you link directly to the product sales page. This increases your clicks. But how will you earn affiliate commissions if you don’t use your affiliate link? This is all part of the science of preselling. You “pre-cookie” your reader before sending them to the sales page.

You also want to link to the sales page from inside your article’s content. Hyperlinked words are clicked more than anything else. Plus, if you link on relevant words, it only makes sense to click on there.

What you have now is a super powerful system for affiliate marketing success.

Unfortunately…

Doing all of this right is really hard! Let’s look at the skills required to pull it off: Great content. First of all, you actually have to write great articles and give value to your readers. Which means you need to be both knowledgable on the subject and capable of writing a high-quality article. Preselling skills. First, you have to give good information. But, you also need to know how to present the information in a way that give value to the reader. And somehow also make them want to learn more. Or provide so much information that they see how hard it will be to implement.

Choosing your products. Next, you’ve got to pick the right product to presell. Even if you can pull off writing and great article. You’ve wasted all your effort if the product doesn’t sell well.

Technical skills. And finally, you need the technical know-how to embed your image tag and make sure you get credit for the sale. This is actually pretty simple – just embed a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image and set your affiliate link as the “source” of the image. (Just don’t mess it up. Otherwise, you won’t get credit for your sales.)

In closing:

Now you know what it takes to be a Presell Pro. Preselling properly will boost your affiliate profits up to 500%! So, start now and develop preselling content for all your affiliate promotions. Don’t wait another minute. The effort it takes is well worth the benefits…

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This post was written by Dustin on July 27, 2010

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Traffic Generation Tips

The most important thing in any web business is traffic – lots and lots of traffic. Obviously, this assumes you actually have a reason for wanting this traffic. After getting the traffic you just need to convert it into subscribers and customers . . . but that’s the easy part. So, the critical step is to generate a steady flow of visitors.

Let’s talk about how to generate traffic…

Here’s a short list of great, free traffic generating methods:

  • Web 2.0 Sites
  • Article Websites
  • Video

OK, so how do they work?

Web 2.0 Sites

By web 2.0 we mean any site where the users actually create the content. What this means for you is that you can join into the community and add your own content. Because these sites get so much traffic, Google and the other search engines treat these sites with greater importance in their algorithms. The benefit of this to you is that your content is now considered as part of these sites. By placing links to your websites in this content you’ve created, you get traffic from the site and search engine ranking for the keywords you choose. This is the hidden benefit of using Web 2.0 sites. There are many more web 2.0 traffic tactics we don’t have time to get into here, but this will get you started.

Article Websites

Article marketing really builds on the Web 2.0 concept. Article sites are in essence web 2.0 websites. In typical web 2.0 fashion, article sites rely on user-generated content (i.e. your articles). Just as with the other web 2.0 sites, having your content included gives you immediate traffic and search engine ranking. But you also get the extra benefit of other users taking your article and putting it on their site. And because the terms of the directory say they have to include your “resource box” you get links back from all these other sites, too. If you want to generate traffic from articles follow these steps:

  • Figure out what keywords you want to go after
  • Write your article for the keywords you’ve chosen
  • Hyperlink these keywords to your website – both in the content of the article and in your author’s info section.

Video Marketing

The last of this group is video marketing. Once again, this is really a sub-set of web 2.0. And it carries all the same benefits of article marketing. The extra top secret benefit of video marketing is that it’s much easier to rank for competitive keywords than in any other medium.

Here’s how to get free traffic using video

  • Sign up for YouTube
  • When people view your videos, you want them to visit your site, so turn all the other modules in your profile off
  • Use the tags in your profile to enter the keywords you want to rank for
  • Include a link to your main site in your profile
  • Add at least one video to your profile
  • Include your keywords in the title, description and tags

Summary:

If you want to get traffic to your site, then follow the advice in this article.

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This post was written by Dustin on July 26, 2010

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Membership Niche Selection Tips

Let’s talk about niche selection. This is very important to ensuring the profitability of your membership website.

First – Look for Fanatics

If you want your membership business to be profitable, you have to find a marketing with fanatics in it. Fanatic is defined as someone with an irrational enthusiasm. These are the people you’re looking for because they are so enthusiastic they’re willing to spend money on their topic of fanaticism. Here’s how to find fanatics:

  • Here’s something you may not have considered – magazines! We’re so internet-based these days, it’s easy to forget about them. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to run a print magazine. So if you see one on the shelves you know they are making money, which means that there are enough people interested in what they’re saying to make it profitable. That doesn’t mean definitely that it will make a good membership business, but it’s a good starting point.
  • Watch and listen for fanatics in your daily life. Pay attention to conversations, social events, TV, restaurants, public places to see what people are talking about. People generally talk about things they are interested in. And this means there may be a market for information about it.
  • Don’t forget about clubs and organizations. If there are enough people to to build a club, there are certainly enough people to start a membership site on the same topic. Likewise, if there are enough people to hold a convention, there are definitely enough people to fill your membership website.
  • Think about the things that you are interested in. There’s a good chance that others are interested in these things, as well. And, as an added bonus, it’s much more fun to build a business around things you’re interested in.
  • Google Trends. This is a great way to figure out what people are interested in. Google Trends tells you the most popular current search terms. The reason people are searching Google for info on these topics is because they are interested. And the fact that it’s made it into Google Trends tells you LOTS of people are interested. Building a membership business around things people are actively searching for is a great way to ensure your success.

Second – Analyze the “commerciality”

OK, so you’ve got a great idea for your niche membership business with lots of fanatics. But will they actually spend money? One way to figure this out is to see if other are making money in it.

OK, how do we figure that out?

  • First go to Google and type in the name of your niche followed by “blog” and “forum”. If there are blogs and forums related to it, that’s a good sign. This lets you know there is a market (a group of people actively interested in the niche.)
  • Check Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping to find out if others are making and selling products in your niche. If other people are creating and selling products in this niche, it means there is money to be made.
  • Watch Google Adwords for a period of time and look for ads the run again and again. Adwords ads are expensive, so people only run them repeatedly if they are profitable. And to be profitable, they have to be selling products and making money.

Step 3 – Determine ease of entry

OK, so you found a hot topic and you know other people are making money on it. Will you be able to get involved and do the same? How do you gauge the ease of entry?

  • Look at the product types in this niche. You want to find a niche where information products are being sold as the norm. Membership websites based on information are the easiest to start and maintain.
  • The last thing you want is a marketing filled with tons of competitors. A few means it’s a profitable niche, but too many means you won’t be able to take a piece of it.
  • Size vs. Competition. Some competition is good. It means that this is a profitable market. And as long as the size of the market is large enough to support the competition, you’re fine.
  • How quickly do people in this market make buying decisions and are the ready to buy? Some niches are made up of people who require lots information and have a very long lead time, and some markets are filled with people who will spend lots of money right now.

Putting it all together

So far, we’ve talked about exactly what it takes to pick a great niche: One with a hungry crowd of fanatics, who are ready to spend money on information about their topic. And you’ve determined your barrier to entry is small enough to give it a go. If you’ve followed along with these steps you’re success in practically guaranteed. The only thing left to cover is exactly how to run your membership business

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This post was written by Dustin on July 25, 2010

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Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

The best way to ensure your success is to build automated traffic sources to send you visitors day and night.

Traffic is useless . . . unless…

Keyword research is really the first step in getting traffic to your website. Why? Because you have to target these keywords if you are to have any hope of actually generating traffic for them. So you need to make sure the keywords you’re targeting are worth targeting.

A couple things to keep in mind when doing keyword research:

  • Are the keywords you’re interested in attainable? This involves doing some competitive analysis to determine the ease of entry for each keyword
  • Are these “buying” keywords? Certain keywords are good for generating a lot of visitors who don’t buy anything. This is not what you’re looking for.
  • Another thing to think about is affiliates. Nothing brings more buyers like an army of affiliates. So, it’s important to also target affiliates in the keywords you go after.

This is critical to your business, but it takes a lot of time and effort. And hiring an expert is very expensive. And that’s why most people skip this step! The smartest marketers use website traffic software to automate this and other aspects of their business. This way you get this critical step done fast and done well.

Once you know your keywords…

Now that you’ve completed your keyword research, you can begin using these keywords to get traffic to your website.

Here’s a short list of sneaky traffic techniques:

  • Surveys
  • “Help” Websites
  • Video

Surveys

The truth is that people really enjoy taking surveys and finding out what other people think. And if you make it interesting, other people will post your survey on their website. And when they put your survey on their site, they will include a link back to your website. Think about that – you get website traffic for free just for making a survey! Most people think surveys are just for collecting data, but in this case you don’t even care about the answers. Just make the question interesting enough that people will want to share it with their own visitors.

“Help” Websites

These sites, like answers.yahoo.com are filled with people asking and answering questions for each other. Once again, the main reason for this site is not the reason you’re interested. You are going to generate traffic, leads and sales from them. Of course, the process of digging through these sites and pulling out the content info of leads for your business is very time consuming. But a much smarter method is to use website traffic software to do it for you. These tools put the whole thing on auto-pilot and just deliver the leads to you each day.

Video Sharing Sites

Video is huge and sites like YouTube and Vimeo are extremely popular. YouTube is one of the most highly traffic and search websites on the entire internet! If you’re not taking advantage of this rich source of website traffic, then you are really missing out.

You don’t have to be able to make awesome videos for this to work. It’s really easy to just start with an article or something you’ve already written. And use free screen capture software to record yourself reading it. I’ve even seen software that will automatically convert an article to a video!

In Closing

Figuring out how to get some visitors to your site is not hard at all. Just be a creative and think outside the box a bit. And today there are tons of options for software tools that can help with every part of this process.

Get started right away:

  • Do your keyword research
  • Then create some surveys born to go viral
  • Take advantage of the “help” sites
  • And don’t forget about video

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This post was written by Dustin on July 24, 2010

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