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Monthly Archives: March 2009

How to Deal with False Offers and Misleading Programs

Abraham Lincoln was famous for his humorous and pithy remarks. One of them was; “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This pretty much sums up the dilemma of the marketer who is just starting out on the Web. Where do you start? Whom can you trust? What should you be doing first? If that is where you happen to be, then I may be able to point you to some options that will save you time and frustration, let alone money.

“You may fool all of the people some of the time”

There are some very savvy people who can fool even well seasoned marketers. Not the really super affiliate types, but just enough of the lower tier professionals. It goes with the territory but can be quickly caught on forums where seasoned online veterans meet. The Warrior Forum comes to mind. Once the word is out that a launch isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, you can always cancel out and get your money back. You may be beaten and chastened but you’re not out.

“You can even fool some of the people all of the time”

This is where you find yourself starting out. And there are enough new entrants on a daily basis to keep some of the operators in business. Mind you, there business is not repeat business, but the steady supply of “newbies” and the openness of the Web allows for this to happen.

If you were like me you started with the simple desire to do data entry. So you pay your entry fee and find out the site isn’t about data entry. It’s an aggregator for all these affiliate sites that will make you a millionaire in three easy clicks…all for another fee of course. Some of these sites have a “system”. So you fork over another fifty bucks and get a sixty page PDF all about Click Bank or Paydotcom or whatever… But no system. OK so you learned a few things you didn’t know but you’re no closer to making a living, not by a long shot. Not until you find the 30 Day Challenge offered by Ed Dale and his team. Or maybe you sign up with ClickNewz by Lynn Terry. These resources are free and full of useful information.

Though you learn fast enough to avoid the pot hole again, the nature of the Web is such, that there are thousands of newcomers right behind you ready to hit that hole just like you did. If they’re lucky they might join a forum and read one of your comments, but more likely than not, they are just going to have to go through the gauntlet just like you did.

The idea here is to find someone who can give the shortcut to decent information. Someone who knows it’s a business and that it takes time to grow a business.

“But you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This is the stage where you may not be established but you are much more aware of the context in which you are working. Hopefully, you have found some good reading to start with. Rosalind Gardner’s The Super Affiliate Handbook is one resource that comes to mind.

It will take time, money, and determination to hang in there. You’ll have to work the forums and ask a lot of questions, but you’ll soon begin to see things more clearly. The scams with lousy graphics, endless sales pages that don’t tell you what they charge. The so called “free” offers that are never free. It will soon be more obvious to you. You might even find a system that works for you.

If you are into sales, maybe it’s a product marketing system that teaches you to buy resell rights and shows you how to set up your business. Maybe it’s a Web site building system that teaches you to create you own business out of your hobby or passion.

Whatever it is, you have now developed the instincts and ability to see through the smoke. You keep your emotions in check and coolly test and cancel promotions based on your well learned lessons of product quality and market knowledge you now possess. You may not be making a fortune and you may even not be earning anything yet; but you are on your way because you can lay out a realistic plan to develop your business.

In many ways, online business is no different than offline business, except that in the former, you work at your own pace and answer to only one boss…YOU!

So keep up the hard work and may your travels be prosperous.

What is the most sought after word? FREE- Give away a free report!!

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners—Help Your Affiliate Sales with Free Reports

Free Reports

There is no doubt a lot of competition in life and in business. As an affiliate marketer you are going to find yourself with plenty of company in the marketplace promoting affiliate online programs. As you build your business, you will want to stay in front of your customers so that they can think of you when the time comes to buy. One great way to do that is to give away a free report. What that does is provide quality content and effective care regarding their current and future needs. It leads to a building of trust and confidence in the relationship you have worked hard to establish.

Expert Status

Another benefit is that it confirms your position as an expert in your niche by giving you the published status associated with someone knowledgeable and concerned. The report is a digital product that will create a sense of added value and gratitude for the offer to address the concerns of your customer.

Convenience

The idea that your free offer is available 24/7 at the convenience of the site visitor and is downloaded on their computer, reinforces the notion of commitment and relationship building. A report is far less likely to be ignored or deleted as might be the case with an email originated by you.

Timing

Timing is everything. Write your reports as you see the need to promote a product or solution to your customers problem. Have a product on identity theft? Then when the shopping season takes off, it might be a good time to remind your customers that it is worth taking precautions to avoid the disaster of hearing the news from the bank or credit card company.

Content

Design the report to offer useful information as to the benefits of your product and service, and how your solution will make life better. In a report on identity theft, you could offer links to government and non profit resources useful to set up and prevent identity theft. You can include links to products you offer and other products related to the identity theft niche. You must be careful though to avoid heavy selling and promotion, so you want to keep the number of links to a reasonable number and make sure all your recommendations are related to your core niche.

Report Length

Reports vary in length depending on the subject. Some reports can be 50 to 70 pages in length. Generally, long detailed mini books command a fee. Free reports can vary anywhere from 5-7 pages to 30-35. An average of 15-17 pages is generally accepted as a good length for a free report. Length will really depend on the subject matter and what you know your target market is looking for. If the content design addresses reader interest and concerns, report length is really not much of an issue. Some information can be offered effectively in 3 pages while other content may require several chapters or sections. Your knowledge of the market and your planning and research will help you determine optimum length.

Conclusion

Free reports are a great way to build a long and fruitful relationship with your customer base. If you really believe in what you are offering the marketplace and the benefits of your product or service, then creating your reports will be easy and even fun. You will learn more about your niche and you will learn more about your customers, especially if you provide a way for them to give you feedback.

So give it a try. Do the planning and research and get your first report onto your Web site or blog. Offer it in your newsletter and watch your internet marketing program grow.

May Your Travels Be Prosperous

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Just Starting Out? — Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

2 Key Steps in Setting Up Your Online Business

Registering a Domain Name—Selecting a Web Host

One of the most important decisions to make when deciding to start your online business is setting up a Web site. Now, the term Web site can refer to a set of pages dedicated to a product or service. This concept is what you think of in the business or corporate world. A site specifically dedicated to a single business purpose.

But Web site also refers to a Blog. That is a set of pages that can not only be dedicated to commercial use, but that can also be used for private or personal expression. Blogs have been around from the very early days of the Internet but they really took off after the introduction of software such as WordPress in 2003 and have had a huge impact on how information gets presented on the Web.

For the first time internet marketer, setting up a blog or more traditional Web site will involve two key steps: establishing a domain and finding a host or home for that domain.

Establishing Your Domain Name

The first thing you need to do is develop your business plan and then decide on a name for your blog or site. A domain name will be your unique Web address that people will use to type into their browser to find your business online. If you are setting up a tile business and your business name is “Italian Tiles”, you might select Italian Tiles.com as your domain name. A domain name is by definition unique, so no one else can have it or use it. That is where registering your domain name comes into play.

Register Your Domain Name

Once you’ve selected a prospective domain name you will then want to register that name through a service that specializes in domain registration—a domain registrar. These are services certified and approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). There are many registrars available. Some of the more notable are GoDaddy, Register.com, Network Solutions, NamesDirect, NameCheap to name a few.

Once you have selected a service you can then sign up and do a name search to see if your prospective domain name is available. You are now at step 2. You can check to see if the name is available using different extensions such as .com, .net, .org, .info or extensions using country identifiers such as us, fr, uk, etc…

With your domain name checked out and confirmed available, you then can purchase the name for a specified period of time. The cost varies depending on the service you use and the time frame selected. You can pay a yearly reservation fee or go out to five years. Fees can range from $9 on an annual basis to $45 for a 5 year lock in. Whatever you choose, once you have made the purchase of the domain name, you are then ready for the next step, finding a place to host it.

Finding a Host

With a domain name registered and ready to go, you now need to find a place to put it. That means you need a Web host. A Web host is a business that provides a black box called a Web server that will house your domain. It allows you to have the space or bandwidth to transfer files, or Web pages, and does it all for a monthly fee of between $3 to $10 per month to start.

Responsibility for content and software support lies with you and the software provider whose software you are using. The Web host is only responsible for the “pipes” you are using to transmit your data.

Two items you will want to know about are disk space and bandwidth.

Disk space is what the Web host will give you as your working space. Typically, this space runs from 10 gigabytes or more. What you will specifically need will depend on what your intended use is, so you should determine that, and order accordingly. Obviously, the more space the higher the monthly cost of hosting.

Bandwidth is the second factor to consider. Bandwidth refers to the amount of information that will be moving through the pipes. A straightforward text document like a letter requires less bandwidth than a streaming video sales piece. Web Hosts offer a variety of bandwidth limits on different types of accounts. They typically measure similarly to disk space; 10-50 gigabytes. Here again, depending on what you will be doing with your Web site or Blog, you will need to determine how much bandwidth you will need before deciding on the package to select from your Web host.

File Transfer Software

There is one more item you will need before you can set up your Web host. That is software that will allow you to transfer files from your computer to the Web host computer. This software is called File Transfer Protocol or FTP. The program is called an FTP Client and is used to upload Web or Blog files to your Web host server. The more commonly used programs are WS_FTP, SmartFTP, FileZilla, FTP Explorer, but there are many more to choose from.

With your domain name registered, a Web host selected and an FTP program ready to go, you are now ready to begin to create and install the content for your site and get your business underway. Take some time and find a good tutorial to show you the steps for setting yourself up or outsource some of the work. Whatever you decide, you are well on your way.

May your travels be prosperous.

A Strategy for Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

How to Control Your Emotions in the Internet Marketplace

You are minding your own business when the email arrives. It is about the latest and greatest opportunity of the moment. The internet guru is about to launch the latest version of 2.0 and you can get it while it is available. Remember, this is a limited time offer open to a limited number of entrants. Miss this and you can wallow in failure.

You take the bait and head for the site. There is the video ready and waiting. Open it, hit play and soon you’re sucked in. Here he is, Mr. Guru, multi-millionaire, sharply dressed and very smooth. You swoon…he really makes sense; he knows exactly what you are going through. You are feeling that blast of momentum build. You say to yourself, this could be it… the ticket to riches and prosperity. No time to waste…let’s get it.

Sound familiar? Well, did you know that there is a center in your brain called the amygdala that controls your feelings of fear and impulse. It responds to stimuli in 12 milliseconds and fires up whenever something from an external cue such as a tragic event or daily occurrence sparks it into action. Something as innocent as a sales pitch can trigger it and have you doing things you might never have considered.

Well, welcome to the world of affiliate marketing for beginners. A market where selling never ceases and up selling and cross selling are the daily staple of the marketer.

So what can you do? There are a few things to keep in mind and some steps you can take to keep your emotions in check.

Reappraise

The concept of reappraising is actively used in the research of emotive decision making. One tactic is to reinterpret what you are hearing and seeing, to create a less emotional scenario that will challenge your impulse. Does the sales pitch really take care of your need to make money today, or is your urgency artificial because you know there is no easy money to be made.

Step outside of Yourself

Take the time to imagine someone else listening to the sales video or reading down the Web sales page and position yourself to give them advice on what they are hearing and reading. Is the sales pitch offering anything new that will change the condition of the person being solicited? What is the outcome that can be expected? Will it really change things for the better?

Take the Lead and Control the cues

Letting the sales pitch dictate urgency and need can set off the amygdala and get you super motivated to make the buy decision. Distance yourself by literally turning down the audio or just taking some down time to let things settle. If the seller has a time clock running, as one I watched did, turn off your machine. Its amazing how time off and distance will change your outlook.

Tap into your emotions

As the sales pitch unfolds, ask yourself out loud, if this product will get you to your goal and keep you focused on your plan or if it is a diversion that will cost you time and money. Do you really need to follow the pack or are you better off sticking to your plan? Keeping your focus is the key to your success. You have to remain keenly aware of how outside stimuli can lead you astray. Spectacular deals coming in via email are among them.

The best thing to do in a lot of cases is to sleep on it. There is a reason why someone is selling and there has to be a much better reason for you to be buying, so take the time to figure it out.

If you can take these steps and apply them to the next “great opportunity” you should avoid the trap of buyers remorse and make your decision based on careful consideration of your planned goals and your business plan. The world of affiliate marketing does not need to be overwhelming afterall.

May your travels be prosperous.

PS. This article is based on Jason Zweig’s article “How to Control Your Fears in a Fearsome Market” that appeared in the WSJ. If you get a chance look it up and read it.


Claude Pelanne on Google+