My Dad and Affiliate Marketing

He hasn’t sold his dental practice yet, so he’s still waiting on that to go full-time online. The contracts are all drawn up, the buyer (his friend) just has to make his final decision and sign. Aside from that, my dad still is learning on the side. He decided to be Miss Independent and go out and buy like 8 books on affiliate marketing, PPC, and stock day trading (he said he wanted to give this an attempt as well). I told him he should have just asked me for helpful links that would have taught him just as much, but he’s happy taking his books to work with him and says he’s learning a little more each day. When we go out for family dinners he usually has quite a few questions to ask, but he seems to be understanding it more and more as I answer them.

Once he (hopefully) sells his practice, I’ll be having him apply for a few networks and putting him in touch with my affiliate managers. He shouldn’t have a problem being accepted anywhere, so he’ll have all of my AMs to bug when he has small questions or wants suggestions on offers.

So, that’s what he’s been up to. Learning bit by bit PPC, as well as looking into doing some day trading. I’ll let you guys know if anything else major happens, and when he starts doing this full time.

Steps to Gaining Clients at Networking Events

Believe it or not, and you can actually have fun at the same time. The key is to prepare for the event, and learn some networking skills that can help you meet the right customers.

Here are 5 steps to gaining new clients.

1. Prepare for the event by finding out who will be there, creating a short introduction, and having your business cards handy.

2. Have the right psychology. Use the event to make new contacts and build relationships. Don't think about trying to sell your product or service on the spot. People will get turned off. Your goal should be to meet several new people, and then make plans to meet afterwards with people you want to do business with.

3. Follow up after the event. Send a card, letter, or e-mail. Call to arrange a meeting, or invite the person for coffee or lunch. Without follow-up, nothing happens.

4. Do what you said you would do. If you said you would send some information, or get a referral for someone, be sure to follow through. Show that you are trustworthy and reliable.

5. Think about networking as a way to build long term relationships with clients who can give you continued business, rather than making a quick sale. Remember that everyone you meet has a whole sphere of contacts. The person you meet may not need your products or services, but he or she may know someone who you can call. Try asking: Who do you know who is (add your own information -looking for a new house, just started a new business, has a child in daycare)?

Remember that people want to do business with people they know, like and trust. A business event is the perfect place for entrepreneurs to get to know someone without trying to make a sale

Get Consistent Referrals

When was the last time you communicated with your referring clients? Generally you should be in touch with your clients monthly to bi-monthly, minimally-- depending on your field. If you can't remember the last time you contacted your clients, you may benefit from using a referral marketing calendar. Depending on your preferences, your marketing calendar could be electronic or a hard copy paper calendar.

It can be difficult, stressful, and sometimes completely ineffective to plan and execute marketing activities on a whim. Schedule time each week to review, update, and develop your referral marketing calendar. After you've entered activities on your calendar, print out the current month and hang it near your desk. It is helpful to have something tangible to remind you and help keep you on track. Be sure to also document the following:

1. Money invested.

2. Time invested.

3. Results derived.

4. Repeat activity or reject activity (based on results/return on investment).

Keep special occasions in mind when planning your activities, such as holidays, special client anniversaries, and events related to your particular business.

When was the last time you planned out your referral marketing activities for the year? If you are waiting until your business slows down you are waiting too long. Referrals are a great way to sustain a business, however they take time to nurture and flourish. Plan today for referral success tomorrow and produce a steady, consistent stream of referrals for yourself.

How to Move Past ‘Newbie’ Status to Full-Fledged Affiliate Marketer

Every day there’s at least one person who discovers ‘affiliate marketing‘ for the first time. And, every day, there’s at least one person, maybe that person is you, who goes back to the drawing board trying to figure out why they haven’t yet succeeded as wildly as they’d hoped. No matter which category you fall into, I’d like to share some concepts with you that might make all the difference in the world to your future success. In fact, you just might learn from this article the one thing that helps you start earning real money. It really all comes down these two mistakes that beginner’s make:

1. Promoting to many products at once (lack of focus), and..

2. Giving up too soon.

These two mistakes are related, and are actually self-reinforcing. It sounds obvious enough, but let me explain exactly how this scenario plays out.

Lack of Focus:

Experienced affiliate marketers do have the ability to promote several products, sometimes far afield from each other, at the same time. The reason they can do this is because they’d already learned and applied certain fundamental skills, and have developed a system for themselves which works to bring in sales consistently. As a beginner, however, you’re still learning what works and what doesn’t. For that reason alone, you need a clearly defined testing ground – and this means limiting your promotion to just one product when you first start out.

Just imagine for a moment if you were in a laboratory. You’re working with a new chemical and need to determine its boiling point, solubility, molecular weight and so on. Would it be quicker and easier for you to accomplish this by working with just that one chemical, or by juggling multiple, other chemicals all at the same time…starting one experiment and then rushing over to another one midway through?

Obviously, it would be easier to work with just the one chemical, right? Well, the same is true for marketing. Just like the variables in your lab experiment, you’ve also got variables in every product promotion you undertake. The variables include things like traffic generation, conversion rates, advertising response rates and so on. So, how much data do you want to juggle? Do you want to keep track of, say, Google adwords performance for ONE e-book…or for a dozen of them spread across more than one niche? This is where a lot beginners get themselves into a rut. They try to juggle all of this information at once, get overwhelmed by it and simply give up.

Giving Up Too Soon:

Ok, so, information overload hits, and you throw your hands in the air in surrender. There’s no need to despair! You can turn the situation around completely if you’ll just make a commitment to do the following three things:

1. Pick ONE niche market

2. Pick ONE product from that market

3. Use just that one niche product as your testing ground, in order to solidify your skills as an affiliate marketer. You see, its a lot like learning to ride a bicycle as a kid. You start off with a tricycle, then move up to regular bike with training wheels and from there onto riding any bike you choose. The same is true for learning how to promote products as an affiliate.

*Learn how to generate traffic on just one product

*Learn how to capture subscribers to your opt-in list for just one product

*Learn how to write advertisements and promotional copy for just one product

*Learn how to track your advertising links and conversion rates for just that one product….

….and THEN, you’ll be able to turn around and apply that knowledge to additional products, in different niches. The key is to get some real results established in one place, and only then start building on that incrementally. If you’ll follow even just this one simple rule, I promise you’ll see an increase in your commissions – and you can drop that ‘newbie’ label for the title of: Successful Affiliate Marketer!

Want to make real money online? Ewen Chia is giving you over $1,000 in advanced step-by-step money-making videos to teach you how. Claim yours
now before it’s too late…

5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Affiliate Offer

As affiliate marketers, we’re fortunate in that we don’t have as many ‘Achilles heels’ as the merchants who own and deliver the products we promote for them. Both our investments and our risks tend to be lower.

However, we do have one significant ‘weak’ spot, and that’s in how far we can go in improving ‘the offer’. There are certain things we simply can’t do.

For example, we don’t have the authority to offer discounts or deliver upgrades. But, this ‘weakness’ doesn’t mean we’re stuck with ‘weak offers’! In fact, I can think of at least 5 ways to improve any offer, and really send our sales soaring:

1. Increase The PERCEPTION of Value - The real value of any product is always in the customer’s mind, and you can increase that perception in dozens of ways. For example, you guide the customer through a comparison of similar products, while pointing out why the one you’re promoting is really the best deal for the money.

2. Demonstrate the Immediate Benefits - Show the customer how they can put the product to use from the moment they buy it. You should already own your own copy of most of the products you promote. So, create a tutorial or some way of showcasing the results you’ve gotten from the product.

3. Give More of Yourself On a Personal Level — Similar to Step 2 – There’s always added value in social proof. Discuss your own experience surrounding the questions, problems and ultimate solutions in regards to the product at hand. Empathize with the customer’s position and point out the things you share in common.

4. Put Them At Ease — Your relationship to the merchant should enable you to give the customer a sense of security in making the purchase. Let them know about the product’s guarantee and/or refund policy. Let them know the transaction is secure. You want to remove as much of the risk as possible from the purchase.

5. Provide Additional Incentives – Check with the merchant first to make sure you’re allowed to do this. Its usually no problem when you’re promoting things like e-books, membership sites, etc.. You can really sweeten up an offer when you add your own products to the mix. E.g., “order this e-book, and I’ll throw in a free copy of this other product over here..”

So, you see, all it takes is a little creativity to add value to any affiliate offer. Use the 5 steps and you may even blow the merchant’s offer clear out of the water!

Want to make real money online? Ewen Chia is giving you over $1,000 in advanced step-by-step money-making videos to teach you how. Claim yours now before it’s too late…

A Missing Piece of the Profit Puzzle: Applying Leverage in Your Affiliate Business

We all want fatter commission checks. What affiliate doesn’t, right? If you’re like the average affiliate marketer – let’s say you’d class your experience at the “intermediate level” — then you’re probably wondering how move up the next rung of the ladder, and really start skyrocketing your income to super-affiliate levels. I’ve got one word for you: LEVERAGE.

Forget all the latest ’sure thing’ tactics for a moment. They’re not what you really need. This isn’t to say they won’t be useful additions to your arsenal, but its not a new bag of tricks you need at this level. What you need is leverage, and the type of leverage we’re talking about here is financial leverage. It is time to start re-investing your profits. If you’re already doing this, I commend you.

If not, then read on. Its really important that you appreciate the power of this concept. Think for a moment about how you got to where you are today. If you’re likemost affiliates at this level, you started on shoe-string budget, and have worked your way up to about $1,000-$3,000 in commissions per month, max. You’re no doubt supplementing your regular income quite nicely, but probably haven’t quit your day job on this income unless you’re single and have very little in the way of debt. For a lot of affiliates, this is the point where apathy (or even fear) comes into play. Its so rewarding to finally have this kind of extra income, you’re tempted to spend most of it on yourself or start squirreling it away for a rainy day. After all, everything is running fine just the way you have it set up. Now, hear this: This is exactly what’s stopping you from earning more money!

You’ve settled on the advertising budget that’s working to bring in a few grand. Maybe you do re-invest some of your profit, so that advertising is essentially free now. But what if, by spending a bit more, you could earn twice or even three times as much? Well, you CAN, and here’s how: Starting this month, commit to leveraging 50% of your affiliate income towards the following two areas:

1. Paid advertising.
2. Getting your own product created

Here’s what to do with your paid advertising. First, pull out all the performance data you have for current advertising programs. Determine which campaigns would benefit from an extra investment of cash. This is not limited just to the top performers. You’ve probably got at least one campaign that’s promising, but could use a little boost. Some of the areas you might look at include: *Increasing the overall daily budget in your pay-per-click campaigns

*Text or banner link advertising on a new site
*Running some solo ads in e-zines you haven’t advertised in before

The key here is to devote some cash to both the old and the new. Inject some life into your current advertising, but also try out a new venue or a new method (like offline advertising). Finally, its time for you to invest in getting your own product created. Choose just one of your current niche products, and have someone create a related, complementary product for you. Why? Because its going to help you boost your sales by improving your offers. Once you’ve got your own product, you can leverage it as ‘bait’ to persuade prospects to take you up on the affiliate product offer. You’ve probably seen this tactic employed in the past. Marketer X sends out the promo email to his list, and says, “If you buy product x through me, I’m going to sweeten the deal by giving you all these additional bonus products of mine for free….”

This is really powerful. Before, all you had to rely on was the combined power of your copy writing skills and the copy on the merchant’s site; but, with your own product tossed into the mix, you’re able to create an even better offer. This is the beauty of leverage.

You needn’t worry about parting with some extra money. You’ll probably feel a little bit uneasy about it at first, and that’s only natural.

However, once you see the results of using leverage, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start using it sooner!

Affiliate Marketing - How To Get Started In 6 Easy Steps

affiliate marketing is probably the simplest business model you can choose to build a business. Of course the devil is in the details, as they say, but the overall model can really be broken down into six steps.

Before we get to the steps, I want you to ask yourself a question. What do you hope to accomplish with affiliate marketing? This is an easier question to answer than it might seem. There are really only two basic choices here.

The first is what I call the “quick buck” choice. In other words, you want to make a few dollars quickly, and you are not interested in building a business. If this is you, all you need to do is learn how to write exceptionally good ads, and then use them to promote your affiliate product. Many people will say I am wrong, but there is nothing wrong with doing this, as long as you are honestly not trying to build a long term business this way.

On the other hand, if you are looking to build a business with income potential for the long term, then you will have a longer road ahead of you. It will take you longer before you see any profit from your efforts, but it will be worth it when you are able to take a day off, or even a week off, and still have sales in your absence.

These steps should be followed in order. If you try to go out of sequence, you will not get the results you are after.

1. Pick a Market

Why pick a market and not pick a product? Because you will eventually want to add additional products into your pipeline. You should pick a market that interests you, and maybe something you already know something about. Don’t forget that you are building for the long term.

2. Pick a Product

Once you have your market chosen, you should pick just one product to begin with. It will be very tempting to try to add all kinds of related products at first, but don’t. Having just one product will help you focus on the important tasks. You will want to pick a product that converts well. What this means is that the product sells to a high percentage of visitors. This will help keep your cost per visitor down and increase your profits.

3. Build a follow-up series

Also called an autoresponder series, you should build one based on the topic and the contents of the product you are promoting. If it is a physical product you are promoting, you will have to create or locate content that is directly related to the product. As an example, if you are selling golf clubs, you could create a series about how to buy golf clubs that fit, or the benefits of custom clubs, or even something about the club preferences of famous professional golfers. Be as creative as you can, and do not stray off topic. It has been said that most sales are not made in the initial contact, they are made on the seventh. If you are not following up with your prospects, the bottom line is you are losing sales.

4. Build an email capture page

This is where you will capture information about your prospects so you can send your follow-up series. If you are building a business, having your own web site is a necessity, if only because you will control the content, and be able to capture email addresses for yourself. You might be able to get by for a while without this, but it just isn’t worth it.

5. Drive traffic to your squeeze page

Until you are finished with step four, you shouldn’t even think about traffic techniques. If you don’t have anywhere to send the traffic, why worry about how to generate it in the first place. Depending on the traffic generation techniques you choose, it may take some time for you to start seeing sales in your program. You should spend this time developing one or two streams of traffic, and refining these techniques to help you drive more traffic with less effort.

6. Find additional related products

Once your business is making some money, it is time to start adding to your list of products. I don’t mean you should go out and sign up for every affiliate program that is even remotely related. What I do mean is that you should carefully choose an additional product or two, and add them into your pipeline. Because you have been building a list of qualified prospects, you will be able to market these new products to them. This is the really long term money maker for your business. As long as you continue to recommend good products to your customer list, you can continue to make money off of them, even the ones who have already bought your last product recommendation.

So these six steps are all you need to go from nothing to having a profitable business selling other peoples products. It can be easy to loose focus if you are not seeing immediate results, so keep your sights on the end goal of having a profitable business. You may also find it hard finding your initial market and product. Take your time and choose the best product you can. If the product you choose to promote is not good, your prospects will not continue to listen to your recommendations.