Make Associate Programs an Extra Income
by: Steven Gerber
Do you have a connection with another site that can offer something new? Then you should know more about an associate program or sometimes called partnership program. This is where the companies selling products or services online gives a part of their profits as a commission on any sales you create for them by introducing new customers.
These have become very popular for both companies who are looking for an increase in sales and websites who have been inadequate in producing some earnings. Whether you have a website that sells a certain product/service or a website that has nothing to sell, you should not stop from joining related associate program for your website, product or service because it can give you additional earnings.
Some companies who offers associate program usually weigh their compensation rates in terms of those sites that send the most clicks and converted actual sales. When somebody reaches an industrial site and make some purchase from the site, you will get a commission for that as a return.
You will greatly benefit when you join any associate programs that are related to your business that definitely would sell other products or businesses to your clients. Indeed, it's really an additional source of gaining cash.
The examples of companies that have affiliate programs are the software retailer Beyond.com and bookseller Amazon.com wherein anyone can have affiliation with these commercial sites and direct people to visit them.
By using the associate program, every one has a chance to add a significant value to any website. And a good quality website can become more valuable and dynamic if it offers a wide variety or different products and services as an associate.
There are also several types of associate programs like the Web Cards. This is an associate program that pays one dollar to affiliates each time a consumer asks for a free sample of their merchandise. The product is actually a postcard of an image or a website. Wherein the user does not need to spend some money yet an affiliate gets a small fee for it. One should remember that associate programs increase the usefulness of a site only if the commercial site offers the users something valuable. An associate program may affect the accessibility of a site, but it will make it easy and convenient for users, they may visit a site searching for a product or service that it does not offer. However, the site can at least direct the customer to another site that offers that particular product or service. People would definitely like to revisit a site that leads them to a good purchase. That is a very important factor to have a good rapport with the client.
For the success of an associate program, it is necessary to make sure that the content of a site matches the program. Otherwise, the visitors may get irritated. For example, if one has a website on watches, it is better to keep away from giving a link to a pastry shop. It will just give a negative impression to the customers about the products and the company.
When joining an associate program and reselling their products or services, there are critical things that needs to be considered because your customers are also counting on you for the good recommendations that you will make and your reputation will depend on it.
It is really valuable if one would join an associate program because of the benefits that they will get, but if you are serious in joining a program you should first get and try the product or service of the company before recommending it to somebody or to a customer.
About The Author
Steven Gerber is a professional copywriter & marketing consultant. He is a protégé of Dan Lok, the World’s #1 Website Conversion Expert, & in Steven’s totally biased opinion simply THE BEST. You will find the latest internet marketing techniques & tricks at: http://www.websiteconversionexpert.com.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Build a 1,000-Page Affiliate Web Site in Seconds
How to Build a 1,000-Page Content Site in Mere Seconds
Building an affiliate web site that sells between 5 and 20 products is relatively quick and easy to accomplish.
An experienced webmaster can put a site like 101Date.com, which has only 11 services, together in a day. Someone else might spend a week signing up for the programs, designing a template, and adding product information and affiliate links.
Spending a week or even a month on a site that delivers big rewards over the years is a relatively minor investment.
But how much time and effort is invested by affiliates who sell items like magazines, garden products, posters, t-shirts or lingerie? Or, how difficult would it be to place links to music CD's, or movie DVD's on your site? Merchants in those categories typically carry hundreds or even thousands of items.
Sure, a MoJoSounds.com affiliate might want to promote only adventure movies, but his state of mind might be a 'horror' by the time he's input more than 500 descriptions, links and graphics!
If the same affiliate planned to let his visitors know about the latest and greatest discounts by listing prices, would he ever get any sleep?
Sure he would!
By using the MoJoSounds.com product datafeed, that affiliate could build a 500+ item site in less than an hour. He could even build a 10,000 item site in less than an hour!
So what's a product datafeed?
A product datafeed is a spreadsheet or text file which typically lists product names along with their categories and subcategories, descriptions, coded affiliate links, product graphic image URL's, prices and even applicable keywords.
Affiliates can manipulate datafeeds in various ways to display content on their sites.
Those with programming knowledge may insert the feed into databases on their servers.
Other affiliates prefer to use dynamic website templates that some merchants offer. These templates are completely customizable and the resulting site automatically updates itself.
One company that offers a dynamic website template is ShareaSale merchant, Nature Hill's Nursery. Shawn at Nature Hills sent me a zipped package containing their template files, and I discovered that setting up a dynamic template on my site was incredibly easy to do!
Using my HTML editor, Homesite 5.0, I simply added my affiliate I.D. to the config.pl file, and uploaded the files to the /Nature-Hills/ directory that I created at Rosalinds.com. The site then looked and worked exactly like it does at the URL below, but with my affiliate ID coded into the links… all 1295 products!
Nature Hills' Template
After making a few design changes to the template, this is how it looks now at:
Rosalind's Nature Hill's site
Unfortunately, dynamic templates generally work only on servers running PHP and MYSQL. However, affiliates whose hosts do not run PHP and MYSQL can still profit from product datafeeds by building static pages on their computer using Richard Gaskin's WebMerge.
Here is a site that I built using a 593-product datafeed from Candy Crate (another ShareaSale merchant), Webmerge, and the same template that I used for the Nature Hills site:
Rosalind's Candy Crate Site
I'm terrible at reading instructions, so Webmerge posed a bit of a challenge for me to use at first. However, after reading the tutorials, asking Richard a few questions, and spending some time on the Datafeeds forum at ABestWeb.com, the software was easy to figure out.
Now, with a site standard template and Webmerge files, I can build a 10, 20 or 30,000 product site in mere seconds with the push of a button.
So, to save time and make more sales, be on the lookout for merchants with product datafeeds. My daddy always said, 'Work smarter, not harder', and affiliate marketing doesn't get much smarter or easier than this.
Learn more about:
Webmerge
ShareaSale
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://NetProfitsToday.com
Building an affiliate web site that sells between 5 and 20 products is relatively quick and easy to accomplish.
An experienced webmaster can put a site like 101Date.com, which has only 11 services, together in a day. Someone else might spend a week signing up for the programs, designing a template, and adding product information and affiliate links.
Spending a week or even a month on a site that delivers big rewards over the years is a relatively minor investment.
But how much time and effort is invested by affiliates who sell items like magazines, garden products, posters, t-shirts or lingerie? Or, how difficult would it be to place links to music CD's, or movie DVD's on your site? Merchants in those categories typically carry hundreds or even thousands of items.
Sure, a MoJoSounds.com affiliate might want to promote only adventure movies, but his state of mind might be a 'horror' by the time he's input more than 500 descriptions, links and graphics!
If the same affiliate planned to let his visitors know about the latest and greatest discounts by listing prices, would he ever get any sleep?
Sure he would!
By using the MoJoSounds.com product datafeed, that affiliate could build a 500+ item site in less than an hour. He could even build a 10,000 item site in less than an hour!
So what's a product datafeed?
A product datafeed is a spreadsheet or text file which typically lists product names along with their categories and subcategories, descriptions, coded affiliate links, product graphic image URL's, prices and even applicable keywords.
Affiliates can manipulate datafeeds in various ways to display content on their sites.
Those with programming knowledge may insert the feed into databases on their servers.
Other affiliates prefer to use dynamic website templates that some merchants offer. These templates are completely customizable and the resulting site automatically updates itself.
One company that offers a dynamic website template is ShareaSale merchant, Nature Hill's Nursery. Shawn at Nature Hills sent me a zipped package containing their template files, and I discovered that setting up a dynamic template on my site was incredibly easy to do!
Using my HTML editor, Homesite 5.0, I simply added my affiliate I.D. to the config.pl file, and uploaded the files to the /Nature-Hills/ directory that I created at Rosalinds.com. The site then looked and worked exactly like it does at the URL below, but with my affiliate ID coded into the links… all 1295 products!
Nature Hills' Template
After making a few design changes to the template, this is how it looks now at:
Rosalind's Nature Hill's site
Unfortunately, dynamic templates generally work only on servers running PHP and MYSQL. However, affiliates whose hosts do not run PHP and MYSQL can still profit from product datafeeds by building static pages on their computer using Richard Gaskin's WebMerge.
Here is a site that I built using a 593-product datafeed from Candy Crate (another ShareaSale merchant), Webmerge, and the same template that I used for the Nature Hills site:
Rosalind's Candy Crate Site
I'm terrible at reading instructions, so Webmerge posed a bit of a challenge for me to use at first. However, after reading the tutorials, asking Richard a few questions, and spending some time on the Datafeeds forum at ABestWeb.com, the software was easy to figure out.
Now, with a site standard template and Webmerge files, I can build a 10, 20 or 30,000 product site in mere seconds with the push of a button.
So, to save time and make more sales, be on the lookout for merchants with product datafeeds. My daddy always said, 'Work smarter, not harder', and affiliate marketing doesn't get much smarter or easier than this.
Learn more about:
Webmerge
ShareaSale
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://NetProfitsToday.com
Friday, January 26, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Multi-Million-Dollar-Secret. Join-The-Internet-Entrepreneur-Club
|
The-Secrets-of-Websites-that-Promotes-Products-Online-Successfully
Why Having A Great Website Might Be Utterly Worthless!
by Michael Green
You've seen this for yourself. You arrive at a website and
you're greeted with a fanfare of flashy graphics and audio.
The creator intended for you to be impressed, perhaps even
blown- away. But in reality, you're a little annoyed not to
be able to access the information you sought quickly and
easily.
Worse is to come, as your computer suddenly insists that
you download the latest flash accessory, and that's just
to get past the intro page...
... oh boy - you've had enough and with a click of your
mouse, you're outta there!
EXPENSIVE WEBSITE - LOWSY VISITOR CONVERSION!
Let's be honest, there's really no point in spending a
fortune building an all singing - all dancing website, if
your real objective is to sell a product or service online.
What you need to do is work out a way of developing a
site which is so compelling that your visitor simply can't
leave, without grabbing their credit card and giving you
their order - there and then.
CAN A WEBSITE REALLY SELL YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
You bet. Actually a well written, yet very basically
presented website can easily outsell all those flashy
expensive sites that you click-away from faster than you
can say Jack Robinson.
There are many secrets to successfully selling right of
your web page, but these 4 pointers are, I believe, the
most crucial lessons to take onboard.
1. Use one long web page, rather than multiple pages.
2. Don't provide external hyperlinks. They just allow folks
to click away from your site.
3. Remember to ask for the order. Too many websites fall at
the last hurdle. The prospect is warmed up and then the
website writer fails to close the deal.
4. Great copy sells and it'll be worth your time and effort
to learn how to create it!
Of course there are dozens of other great techniques to use
when building your own sales letter and you can learn all
about them in my
http://www.HowToPROMOTEaProduct.com toolkit.
The key point to keep in mind is that what looks great,
doesn't necessarily earn you money. But flashy websites
don't get built for nothing - so the problem is that this
simple lesson can be an expensive one to learn!
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Green is the creator of 16 online products including
the popular "How To Promote A Product" toolkit. Michael will
lead you through the 24 Power Keys guaranteed to help you
promote and sell your own product, service or even business
online today.
Take a look at >>>
http://www.HowToPROMOTEaProduct.com
by Michael Green
You've seen this for yourself. You arrive at a website and
you're greeted with a fanfare of flashy graphics and audio.
The creator intended for you to be impressed, perhaps even
blown- away. But in reality, you're a little annoyed not to
be able to access the information you sought quickly and
easily.
Worse is to come, as your computer suddenly insists that
you download the latest flash accessory, and that's just
to get past the intro page...
... oh boy - you've had enough and with a click of your
mouse, you're outta there!
EXPENSIVE WEBSITE - LOWSY VISITOR CONVERSION!
Let's be honest, there's really no point in spending a
fortune building an all singing - all dancing website, if
your real objective is to sell a product or service online.
What you need to do is work out a way of developing a
site which is so compelling that your visitor simply can't
leave, without grabbing their credit card and giving you
their order - there and then.
CAN A WEBSITE REALLY SELL YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
You bet. Actually a well written, yet very basically
presented website can easily outsell all those flashy
expensive sites that you click-away from faster than you
can say Jack Robinson.
There are many secrets to successfully selling right of
your web page, but these 4 pointers are, I believe, the
most crucial lessons to take onboard.
1. Use one long web page, rather than multiple pages.
2. Don't provide external hyperlinks. They just allow folks
to click away from your site.
3. Remember to ask for the order. Too many websites fall at
the last hurdle. The prospect is warmed up and then the
website writer fails to close the deal.
4. Great copy sells and it'll be worth your time and effort
to learn how to create it!
Of course there are dozens of other great techniques to use
when building your own sales letter and you can learn all
about them in my
http://www.HowToPROMOTEaProduct.com toolkit.
The key point to keep in mind is that what looks great,
doesn't necessarily earn you money. But flashy websites
don't get built for nothing - so the problem is that this
simple lesson can be an expensive one to learn!
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Green is the creator of 16 online products including
the popular "How To Promote A Product" toolkit. Michael will
lead you through the 24 Power Keys guaranteed to help you
promote and sell your own product, service or even business
online today.
Take a look at >>>
http://www.HowToPROMOTEaProduct.com
How To Sell Anything and Everything On The Internet
How To Sell Yourself and Your Products on the Net?
For this you have to understand your customer not just superficially but by penetrating right into their subconscious mind, where their desires, their dreams, their demands are dormant waiting like a seed to be nourished, nurtured and pampered to life and growth. Marketing teaches us to treat our customers like kings. The goal of marketing is to provide satisfaction that's much more than wht they had asked for. If the customers are happy they will continue to buy from you. Very soon your customers will turn up as your true friends who would stand by you thick and thin even when your business passes through a period of doldrum.
Internet Marketing is not very different from the conventional marketing that we are so much used to. The more number of doors we knock the better will be our response and this response can be still bettered if we can identify the wants and needs of our customers and provide the right solution to their problem, in case of internet with the right kind of information, an idea or a digital product such as a computer software, movies, music or an e- book. Internet has revolutionised retaing too and online retaing is called etailing.
Once we do so we can expect a growing number of loyal and dedicated customers. That's how business can grow. What better is there than an internet where for a fraction of a cost you can have a large number of customers clicking their mouse to your website to learn more of your products.
It might look easy on paper but mind you marketing is a serious business. It requires lot of planning, testing and finally implementation. Internet Marketing is no different. Ken Evoy, who by profession was a physician but has long since hung his stethoscope to dedicate his time to perfect the internet marketing process. That's what you will be learning from Ken Evoy.
At Site Sell you will learn what makes a site popular whereas another site that has been beautifully decked up like a Christmas Tree, yet fails to attract the customers like bees swarming. Something, somwhere has serious gone wrong, if the site does not attract the kind of traffic it seeks for or if the traffic is coming but not many are being converted to sales. Ken Evoy will explain why a site fails to live up to its expectation. Ken Evoy like a good doctor will tell you how to perform the right diagnosis and once finished how the prognosis must be done, so that the website can have the traffic as well as the revenue cascading into the coffers while the webmaster, that's you, will put it on autopilot so that even while you sleep or dpend time with your family or cruising right in the middle of the ocean, the cash box does not stops ringing. At the end of the week, you have a bank load of dollars. It is with this purpose Site Sell has been made. Like everyone else, you too will learn the nitty-gritty of internet marketing. Just try it for free an see the results. Ken Evoy will help you, guide you and inspire you. He is the finest internet coach or guru as you may prefer calling him available on the net. Just follow in his footsteps and everything else will be taken care of. Take my word and go ahead.
Somik
Its not enough to wish. You need to have passion, dedication and determination for success.
Affiliate-Programs-to-Avoid-by-Rosalind Gardner
As an affiliate marketer of Internet dating services, I'm always on
the lookout for good quality dating sites and products to offer my
single visitors. Merchants help me out when they let me know
about their new products and affiliate programs.
I was therefore thrilled when one of my friendly affiliate competitors
got in touch to tell me that he'd started his own Internet dating
service and affiliate program.
Having launched a community membership site myself last year,
I could fully appreciate the huge amount of time and money my
friend had invested to develop this new site. He was justifiably
proud of his accomplishment and I was excited by the prospect
of having a product to promote that would benefit everyone -
my customers, my friend and myself.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way.
The first stumbling block was the low commission he offered. His
top rate was 30%, with no commissions on recurring sales.
This puzzled me. As an affiliate marketer of dating programs, he
should have been aware that new sites offer at least 50% on
new and recurring sales to entice good affiliates to sign up. If
commissions on recurring sales are not offered, then the rates on
new sales should be increased to between 70 and 100 percent.
In most cases, his affiliate program would have struck out for me
at that point. However, as this was my friend's site, it occurred to
me that perhaps his product was so unique that the potential for
high volume sales might offset the lower commission. Hoping for
the best, I continued my review.
When I got to the site, the first thing I noticed was '6 registered
members' prominently displayed at the top of the homepage.
That normally wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that my
customers are looking for friends and soul mates. If I send them
to a site where there are only six people to meet, they'll likely be
disappointed. Worse, by wasting their time, they lose trust in my
judgement and then I will lose them as customers.
That's not good. My customers are literally my bread and butter.
Giving them what they want and expect is how I stay in business.
Paying for traffic that I send to a merchant site where there is
nothing to buy, will put me out of business.
(This is how a membership site should be structured. When
starting a dating service, the merchant pays for advertising to
bring people to their site. To entice visitors to sign up as members,
he will initially offer his services for fr*ee. When the database is
large enough to attract paying customers, the affiliate program
manager then invites potential affiliates to join their program.)
Although my friend's program had already struck out for my customers
and me, I was still curious, so I kept on looking.
Next I clicked on a link labeled 'Dating Resources'. Expecting to find
Internet dating tips and advice, I found links and banners pointing
to Lavalife, FriendFinder and other affiliated dating sites instead.
When I asked him about placing affiliate programs on his site, my
friend said he simply wanted to supplement his income until the
dating service got *rolling*. I can understand his motivation. However,
what he doesn't understand is the concept of customer 'hijacking'.
As an affiliate, you pay good money to get visitors to your site. You
presell your merchants' products and expect the merchant to honor
their end of the bargain by making the sale and sending your
commission check. You don't pay for the merchant to send YOUR
customers to THEIR affiliated merchants.
I didn't need to look any further. I told my friend that I would hold
off on signing up and why. Fortunately, he understood and has already
alleviated some of the problems I mentioned.
Knowing when NOT to sign up for an affiliate program can sometimes
be a tough call. However, you can simplify the process considerably.
Put yourself inside your customer's head. If the product won't work
for them, the program strikes out. Simple as that.
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://NetProfitsToday.com
the lookout for good quality dating sites and products to offer my
single visitors. Merchants help me out when they let me know
about their new products and affiliate programs.
I was therefore thrilled when one of my friendly affiliate competitors
got in touch to tell me that he'd started his own Internet dating
service and affiliate program.
Having launched a community membership site myself last year,
I could fully appreciate the huge amount of time and money my
friend had invested to develop this new site. He was justifiably
proud of his accomplishment and I was excited by the prospect
of having a product to promote that would benefit everyone -
my customers, my friend and myself.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way.
The first stumbling block was the low commission he offered. His
top rate was 30%, with no commissions on recurring sales.
This puzzled me. As an affiliate marketer of dating programs, he
should have been aware that new sites offer at least 50% on
new and recurring sales to entice good affiliates to sign up. If
commissions on recurring sales are not offered, then the rates on
new sales should be increased to between 70 and 100 percent.
In most cases, his affiliate program would have struck out for me
at that point. However, as this was my friend's site, it occurred to
me that perhaps his product was so unique that the potential for
high volume sales might offset the lower commission. Hoping for
the best, I continued my review.
When I got to the site, the first thing I noticed was '6 registered
members' prominently displayed at the top of the homepage.
That normally wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that my
customers are looking for friends and soul mates. If I send them
to a site where there are only six people to meet, they'll likely be
disappointed. Worse, by wasting their time, they lose trust in my
judgement and then I will lose them as customers.
That's not good. My customers are literally my bread and butter.
Giving them what they want and expect is how I stay in business.
Paying for traffic that I send to a merchant site where there is
nothing to buy, will put me out of business.
(This is how a membership site should be structured. When
starting a dating service, the merchant pays for advertising to
bring people to their site. To entice visitors to sign up as members,
he will initially offer his services for fr*ee. When the database is
large enough to attract paying customers, the affiliate program
manager then invites potential affiliates to join their program.)
Although my friend's program had already struck out for my customers
and me, I was still curious, so I kept on looking.
Next I clicked on a link labeled 'Dating Resources'. Expecting to find
Internet dating tips and advice, I found links and banners pointing
to Lavalife, FriendFinder and other affiliated dating sites instead.
When I asked him about placing affiliate programs on his site, my
friend said he simply wanted to supplement his income until the
dating service got *rolling*. I can understand his motivation. However,
what he doesn't understand is the concept of customer 'hijacking'.
As an affiliate, you pay good money to get visitors to your site. You
presell your merchants' products and expect the merchant to honor
their end of the bargain by making the sale and sending your
commission check. You don't pay for the merchant to send YOUR
customers to THEIR affiliated merchants.
I didn't need to look any further. I told my friend that I would hold
off on signing up and why. Fortunately, he understood and has already
alleviated some of the problems I mentioned.
Knowing when NOT to sign up for an affiliate program can sometimes
be a tough call. However, you can simplify the process considerably.
Put yourself inside your customer's head. If the product won't work
for them, the program strikes out. Simple as that.
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://NetProfitsToday.com
Friday, January 19, 2007
The-Advantages-of-Joining-a-World-Class-FOREX-AFFILIATE-Program-for-Free. Earn-upto-$10000 USD-per-Referral
Forex-Affiliate.com - Earn thousands of $$$
per Referral !!!
Do you know that no other market is as big as The Forex Industry (The Industry whose business is to wheel and deal in foreign currency). It enjoys the largest global market on earth. The daily turnover by itself is 2.5 trillion dollars if not more. The Forex-Affiliate has teamed up with Easy-Forex™ Trading Platform, which is a recognized global leader in online currency trading. They have affiliates that make over $100,000 USD per month. The affiliate program offered by them is free to join and is open to all irrespective on ones educational or financial background. Forex -Affiliate will guide you at every step so that you learn the nitty-gritty of the foreign currency trading. Once you have learnt the ropes you too can aim for the sky. Surely thousands of affiliates cannot be wrong who can vouch that they are reaping the benefits.
The following are the advantages that you will get once you join.
Earn Up To $10,000 USD Per Referral!!!
Fast and reliable cash and commission payments.
Highest conversion rates than any other Forex program GUARANTEED!
Payment options available include wire transfer, credit cards, cheques and Paypal.
24x7 Personal account management, for all affiliates and business partners.
Accurate and reliable statistics, tracking, reporting and display.
Professional advertising materials (Banners, Text Links, Mini Sites & more).
Registration is free.
Click Here to learn more.
Monday, January 15, 2007
How-to-Promote-Affiliate-Programs-by-using-the-Dollars-for-Dimes-Principle-an-Amazing-Internet-Marketing-Formula-perfected-by-Marlon-Sanders
"How to Market The Daylights Out of Just About Anything Using the Dollars for Dimes Principle"
Article by Marlon Sanders
Marketing is either the easiest thing you'll ever do in your life, or it's the hardest.
If you're doing it the old, staid, traditional way, it can be pretty grueling. You offer the same product or service (more or less) with the same features at about the same price as everyone else. It's a tough way to make a living.
Fortunately, there's another way. I call it selling dollars for dimes. And once you understand this method, you'll find that selling becomes at least ten times easier.
Most people never think about it, but all business boils to value creation. In exchange for "X" sum of money, your customers purchase a package of benefits normally referred to as a product or service.
The formula is simple . . . Sell a dollar of value for a dime.
In this series, I'm going to share 4 techniques for dramatically altering the perception of value . . .
Dollars For Dimes Technique #1:
Denominate a specific end result your product or service produces.
Most companies and salespeople don't articulate their benefits as clearly and powerfully and as they could. (Remember, a benefit is a package or unit of value.)
And because of that, their customers don't have a clear picture of the value they're receiving in exchange for their money.
How many times have you heard the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Yet we often don't paint vivid mental pictures of the benefits we offer our customers.
Look at it this way: Value is a picture in the mind, and through words we can alter the perception of value. Therefore, our ability to create value for our customers and prospects is virtually unlimited.
In spite of this, most companies throw out meaningless phrases like "best quality," "professional," or "good service." Can you picture quality or service? No you can't because these words are abstractions. Quality, service and professional are NOT benefits since they refer to what is being sold, not to the end result
achieved for the customer.
And that means these words are not creating value in the mind of the customer.
Let me give a practical example you can relate to. In one of my seminars, a real estate agent explained how he offered better service than his competitors. I asked, "What specifically do you do better and how does that benefit your clients." After several rounds of questions, it boiled down to speed: he helps clients buy or sell
homes faster than other real estate agents.
Here's where technique number one comes in. To turn an abstraction into a meaningful word picture, denominate the benefit or put a figure to it. In the above example, I'd want to know how much time on
average the agent saves his clients. If I remember correctly, he said he moves his clients through the process 3 months faster than the average real estate agent.
Now, if you were looking to sell your home and you ran across ads in the newspaper with the following 2 headlines, which agent would you be more likely to call?
Real estate agent provides fantastic service! b. Real estate agent gets your home sold 3 months faster!
Now, this agent may or may not be able to make that exact statement, depending on the rules governing real estate advertising. However, I think you see the power of translating vague terms such as quality or service into meaningful specifics.
In my seminars, when I have the audience practice writing benefits, I notice that most people write statements without enough impact.
For example, one guy was selling a kit that allows you to make wine at home. He wrote a headline for an ad that read, "How to save money on wine." That's okay, but it isn't particularly compelling.
After asking a few questions, we boiled down his benefit statement down to this: "How to get a $100 bottle of wine for $5." Can you see how this articulation tangibilizes the benefit of saving money?
What makes the difference is the word picture you paint of the end result. Just one simple change like this in the headline of an ad or sales letter can increase response by up to 21 times. So it's important that you grasp this technique.
Let me give you another example from a client who sells candles to churches around the world. The company has developed liquid candles that lasts 50% longer than wax products. For many churches, the savings translate into significant numbers.
I could write a headline that says, "How to slash your candle costs by 50%, save time and avoid the hassle of cleaning up wax drippings."
But would that sentence evoke a sizzling picture that makes pastors, ministers and priests burn with desire for my client's products? You never know for sure until you test the headline.
My instincts tell me this headline could be stronger. Here's why: Can you see what 50% savings looks like or the benefits you'll receive as a result?
Do the words "save time" ignite pictures of excitement in your brain?
Do these words spell out the benefits you'll receive from saving time?
How can you change this scenario? (And this is exactly what you should do when you're writing your own advertising or sales presentations.) Ask yourself this question, "How can I turn this information into a word picture that arouses feelings and emotion in my prospects' brains.
As an illustrative example, here's another way to write the headline.
At the top of the letter is a picture of a priest or minister with a beaming smile. The headline reads:
How using X candles pays for our summer Bible school every year . . . and frees up an additional week and a half of time annually. (Time I spend meeting the needs of our congregation and taking a well-deserved vacation.)
Best of all, I never, ever, again have to hassle with cleaning up messy wax droppings!
In summary, the first technique in selling dollars for dimes is to increase the perceived value of your product or service by translating vague benefits into specific, meaningful word pictures your customers can relate to.
Dollars for Dimes Technique #2:
Add extra value to your products and services by packaging in low cost, high-perceived value information products. I love products such as audio tapes, videos, CD ROM's, software, special reports, newsletters and books. Why? Because the hard cost is low but the
perceived value soars according to the content.
For example, the hard cost of a video tape is 2 or 3 bucks (including duplication, label, and box). The value, though, depends on the information on the tape. If it contains the phone numbers of 3 people who sell plutonium (or whatever that stuff is you make neutron bombs with) and you're customer is a third world country, it might be worth millions.
The point is, you can multiply the value of what you're selling. The way to multiply the value of what you're selling is by packaging in (or including) information products of high value to your customers.
Let me restate this point to make certain it's crystal clear: Since people buy the perception of value, you can make selling very easy by multiplying the value people perceive in your product or service. And the easiest way to do that is by tying in some form of information product.
Why info-products?
Three reasons:
1) They're inexpensive to produce.
2) Their perceived value can be way out of proportion to hard costs.
3) They're infinitely flexible.
Nearly any product can have an information tie-in.
Use extra bonuses to add value:
For example, I work out at a health club several times a week. What I know about health clubs is that most people join and then do what?
They drop out, right? And that makes people afraid to join because they don't believe they have the discipline to go to the club.
So, if I were selling memberships in a health club, I might put together a 6-tape audio series called: Super Motivation: How to Stick With Your Workout Program and Get Incredible Results -- Faster Than You Think.
Then, I might have the tapes transcribed. Each tape would translate into 25-30 written pages for a total of 150-180 pages. So now I have 6 tapes and 150-page manual. The program would have a dollar value of
$197.00 to $297.00 Yet the hard cost to produce it would be under $20.00. I'd give it as a FREE BONUS for joining immediately.
In addition, I could call audio tape duplicators and find out who they know that produced health and fitness albums once upon a time - but never reordered. In other words, I'd look for someone who produced an audio tape album but couldn't sell it.
Do you see the point? Increase the perceived value of your product or service by packaging in free bonuses in the form of information products. To come up with your own ideas, do some brainstorming. What are the problems your customers and prospects have? What annoys them?
Causes them trouble? Costs them money or time? Which of these problems can you provide the solution to through some form of information product - video, audio, service, special report or manual?
Another way to look at it is this: What result do your customers and prospects want to obtain as a result of buying your product? Can you produce an information product that will help them get that result faster, simpler, easier? If you can, then you have a free bonus you can use to boost the perceived value of your product. This method has stood the test of time across a number of industries.
For example... Newsletter publishers apply this strategy to perfection. In exchange for subscribing right away, you receive 5 or 10 free reports on topics so tantalizing, you simply must send in your money.
They use multiple reports to increase the chances of hitting one of your hot buttons dead center.
One of my clients sells $2,000 marketing seminars to entrepreneurs. In order to sell dollars for dimes, I packaged in an information product.
Here's how . . .
The client had recently conducted (and audio taped) a $2,000.00 seminar for CEO's. It was the last time that particular seminar would be presented without major changes. So I recommended the client transcribe the audio tapes into a manuscript that could be used as a
bonus.
It represents $2,000.00 of value to the consumer. Yet the hard cost is only $30.00 or so. If the prospective customers register for the marketing seminar within 10 days of receiving the mailing piece, they will receive the $2,000.00 bonus -- free! In short, they pay
$2,000.00 and receive a seminar valued at $2,000.00 -- PLUS the transcript of another $2,000 seminar. Stated differently, for $2,000.00 they grab $4,000.00 of value.
It's an irresistible proposition. At worst, the customers ask for a refund and end up with a $2,000.00 bonus for their trouble. At best, they gain the marketing education of a lifetime. That's the power of the Dollars for Dimes method. By now, you're probably saying, "That sounds great Marlon, but how am I going to come up with information products I can use in my business without spending a fortune?"
Let's take a look and see…
How to Get Audio or Video Seminars as Bonuses:
Approach people who are conducting seminars but not recording them. Offer to professionally record the seminar and exchange a master copy or the rights to duplicate and use the tapes anyway you desire. If
you need to sweeten the pot, you can barter your customer list, personal services, or products for the right to record and duplicate the program.
Of course, if you conduct seminars or workshops, you should record one on a hot topic and use it as a bonus. The higher the price of attendance, the better.
You will be better off having 10 people attend a $1,000 workshop than 50 people at a $150 one. Why? Because you create a lot more perceived value when you tell people they'll receive the audio tapes of a $1,000 workshop versus a $150 one. Is that clear?
By the way, even if you don't normally conduct seminars, you should consider hosting one just so you can use it as bonus. If you don't like public speaking, you can bring in other experts in your field to put on the event. Just be certain to have them sign a release.
How to Create A $1,000 to $2,000 Bonus Without Even Hosting A Seminar! You probably have several friends or acquaintances in your field who are highly regarded by their peers. Conduct telephone or in-person interviews with one or more of these individuals and package the recordings as a bonus. For a twist, you can turn the
phone interview into a conference call where customers interact with
the guest.
Suppose your expert charges $500.00 an hour for consulting with a minimum fee of $2,000.00. Can you see how this makes the perceived value of 2 hours of their interview time worth $1,000 to $2,000?
That's what makes this technique sizzle . . . and almost no one understands how to do it.
How to Access 12,000 Videos You Can Use As Bonuses, Upsells Or Added Value -- At Dirt Cheap Prices
Here's a hot trick on how to acquire videos to use as bonuses.
There's a guide to videos called: Spencer's Complete Guide to Special Interest Videos:
More Than 12,000 Videos You've Never Seen by James R. Spencer
In it you will find videos on virtually every subject imaginable --
more than 9,000 in all! At bookstores, similar directories of audio cassettes and CD ROM's are available.
This guide is incredible. I found one video in it for $30 that a major catalog house sells to corporations for $600! And it's the same video!
Here's a sample of the topics you'll find. Say you're selling advertising to businesses. Do you think that any of the following topics might hit a hot button with your prospects? (Next to the title I've listed the suggested retail price. But again, you're the one who determines the value of the product for your particular market.)
• Pricing and Sales Strategy -- $29.95
• Advertising and Promotion -- $29.95
• Accounting -- $29.95
• How to Find New Customers -- $39.95
• Starting and Running Retail Stores -- $89.95
Remember, you can get 40% off the retail prices by becoming a dealer for a nominal fee.
Can you see the value of these videos? As an example, let's take the one on advertising and promotion at $29.95. With your 40% discount, you only pay $18. That's a steal for a quality 45 minute product! The
possibilities are endless.
I think this book may have changed its title recently. But you can search for it on
Amazon.com. I've also seen similar dealer programs advertised in business opportunity magazines. As a final resort, you can contact the companies that produce the videos you want to market directly.
How to Turn A $20 Book Into A $675 Bonus -- Without Breaking A Sweat!
Did you know you can purchase the reprint rights to out-of-print books for as little as $500 to $1,000?
It's true. And once you have the rights, you can reprint each chapter as a special report and put a value on each of $15 to $45, depending on the rarity and quality of the information. A book with 15 chapters
could create perceived value from a low of $225.00 to as much as $675.00.
So what you've done is transformed a $15 or $20 book into incredible value. Conversely, you could record the book onto audio tapes and have a 20 to 30 cassette album with tremendous perceived value. And, of course, you could also do the same on video.
One Last Secret Gold Mine Of Knock-Your-Socks-Off Bonuses!
Finally, I have one last secret for creating bonuses... Call up newsletter publishers in your field and strike a deal to obtain the rights to their past bonuses. Almost every newsletter publisher uses reports to entice new subscribers.
Since these inactive bonuses are generating no revenue, you may be able to obtain reprint rights for a song and dance!
Dollars for Dimes Technique #3:
Create extra value by solving problems that go beyond the immediate scope of your product or service.
How can you help your potential customers get what they really want?
That simple question will open more doors for you than you can imagine. I can best explain through an illustration . . .
A friend of mine is publisher for an entertainment weekly paper. She knows all the inside scoop on which advertisers are succeeding with what type of ads, promotions and special events.
Therefore, she's a pipeline of knowledge her clients need -- how to make advertising, marketing and promotion produce more results for each dollar expended.
The question becomes, what range of resources and activities could she provide to her clients that would help them become more profitable?
Let's brainstorm the possibilities...
Could she bring in an expert on window displays to conduct a seminar?
Could she record or video tape the seminar and give it as a bonus to new advertisers? Or give it as an incentive or premium for a larger purchase?
Could she hire local college journalism students to do free PR for her advertisers?
Could she orchestrate a conference call for free (or a nominal fee) with a well- known and respected public relations or marketing expert?
Could she record the call and give it free to new prospects as an extra incentive to meet with a sales rep?
What if she retained an attorney or CPA her clients could gain access to, assuming they placed a certain amount of advertising?
While most of her advertisers wouldn't use the services, just by extending the offer, she raises the perception ovalue her paper delivers far above the competition.
What I'm saying is this:
You can create perceived value for your clients many ways. Earlier I talked about using information products to create value. But that's only one way.
Start finding really creative ways to bring value
Another way is simply to dig, scratch and claw to find ways to solve problems for your prospects and customers.
What I've found is that ultra-high performing salespeople and marketers do this instinctively. And it's often the single greatest factor responsible for their success. In other words, they aren't a better salesperson than anyone else in terms of raw persuasive ability.
What they are is a superb "bringer" of value to the table. They find ways to bring value to the table that other salespeople don't. And THAT'S why they're super successful.
So if you don't feel you're a born salesperson, STOP beating yourself up for it and START finding really creative ways to bring more value to the table.
How to get more information on this technique
If you'd like to study this technique further, I have a fabulous book to recommend to you. It's called Networking With The Affluent And Their Advisors by Dr. Thomas Stanley.
Regardless of what you sell or who you sell to, you'll find a zillion ideas in this book to help you.
In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb. I'm going to tell you that if you're in sales or marketing or you own a business, you're insane if you don't read this book!
Here's why:
Thomas Stanley PROVES the point I've just made. He interviews salespeople who are in the top 5% of their profession and reveals for the first time in print anywhere exactly how they bring extra value to the table.
The methods and secrets are all laid out in the book:
All you have to do is tap into your creativity and apply the key ideas in the book to your field.
Which, coincidentally, brings us to the next Dimes for Dollars technique…
Dollars for Dimes Technique #4:
Borrow Dollars for Dimes ideas from other businesses and industries.
Now for the last strategy I'll leave you with in this chapter. I borrowed it from my client, Planned Marketing, where head Walter Hailey and Steve Anderson have a saying I like, "why create mediocrity when you can copy genius?" In other words, study and
emulate from the successful efforts of others.
In the context of our discussion, that means you would investigate how other competitive and non-competitive businesses create unique packages of value to sell to their customers.
Look in the yellow pages for ideas. Read books by highly successful people in or outside of your industry. Browse the bookstore and make random associations. Interview other business owners you know and find out if they offer unique value to their customers and if they so, how.
(Don't be disappointed if they're clueless!)
When you do these activities, think laterally.
In other words, ask yourself what the technique is, then what principle underlies the technique, and finally how you can apply the same principle in your business.
What a chance meeting on a place taught me…
How A Chance Meeting On A Plane Taught Me The Secret Of Using Donuts To Build A Business And Gain A Competitive Advantage
Let me demonstrate by walking you through an offbeat example. When I was flying home the other day from a seminar in Seattle, I sat next to the owner of a funeral home. He explained to me how he incurred tremendous favor by delivering donuts to the home of the deceased early in the morning if a death occurred in the middle of the night.
He described how the families usually stayed up all night and seldom had time to eat, prepare or buy food. Why did he deliver the donuts early in the morning? Because by 10 a.m. a huge surge of food generally arrives from neighbors and friends. He wants to be the first to stand out in the mind of the customer.
People remember the donuts and almost always thank him later for his thoughtfulness. How can you apply this same principle to your business? Not by hunting down hearses in the middle of the night! No. No. No.
What's the method? Bringing donuts to someone when they're desperately needed. And bringing them before other people meet the same need.
What's the principle?
Find something universally appreciated you can deliver to your clients when they will truly appreciate it.
My Favorite Method for Creating Free Bonuses
My favorite method for creating free bonuses is to do it myself using the system I teach in How to Create Your Own Products In Two Hours.
To read more about "Create Your Own Products in a Flash!" just follow the link provided at the end of this article.
You can create your own information products even if your mind is a vast empty space! I’ll show you how in this product. What’s more, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.
How This Works On The Internet!
The way I most often use the dollars for dimes principle is this: I create bonuses with perceived value much greater than the main product I’m selling. I offer these bonuses free if the prospect buys before a certain time limit. I typically use 10 days (or 72 hours online). For example, if I’m marketing a product for $30, I might
offer $100 or $200 of free bonuses. Adding free bonuses to an offer can increase your response dramatically! But you have to find the right bonuses – ones that have very high-perceived value to your prospects. This comes from knowing and understanding your target
market. You have to know what makes them tick. You have to know what information they would crawl over broken glass a mile to get!
If you need more help with target marketing or you want to understand the nuances of the dollars-for-dimes principle, I suggest you read my course, The 69 Laws of Twister Marketing: How to Suck Up Cash With A
Vengeance!
Here’s what I want you to understand: Marketing is the ultimate mind game. And it deals not with flesh and blood products but with perceived value.
Just adding free bonuses could make a big difference for you.
Here are some ways to use free bonuses:
• Offer a freebie in exchange for filling out an "opinion sheet"
• Offer a freebie for filling out a form at your web site.
• Offer a freebie for ordering immediately.
• Offer an unannounced free bonus one-week before sending
a marketing letter to customers.
This has been known to increase response greatly.
If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you can think of a lot of other ways to use freebies and bonuses in your business. Another idea I want to cement in your mind and make certain you walk away with is this: Anytime you need someone to do ANYTHING for you, ask yourself, what do THEY need that you can supply?
As simple and stupid as that may sound, it’s extremely profound. When you read Marketing to the Affluent by Thomas Stanley, you’ll see how this is the exact method the top 5% of salespeople in the U.S. use. It helped a client of mine to sell a BILLION dollars of insurance in
8 years. Let me just give you an example from the online world. Say you want someone to give you a link from their web site. You first have to offer them something THEY want. You know they want more traffic to.
So what if you could offer them something to increase their traffic?
More on my favorite methods:
For example, if they give you a link, you’ll submit one of their pages to 600 search engines or whatever. Use your creativity. By the way, you can find cgi scripts that will submit your info to the search engines for you. You don’t need to pay for this. You’ll have to pay someone $30 or $40 for an hour or two of cgi programming to set it up for you.
Check out:www.cgi-world.com and www.cgi-resources.com for cgi scripts. Or just search in any engine for"free cgi scripts"
Or let me give you another example. Say you spend a little time and figure out how to install a clock or a counter on a web site. You could offer to put one on a site in exchange for a link. Do you see what I’m saying? Be creative.
Here’s another. You could buy Xara3D, which is a program that makes creating dazzling 3d headlines a piece of cake. Go to: www.xara.com to download a free demo. The program is very inexpensive. You can
learn to do this in under 5 minutes! But most people don’t know that. Xara3D even lets you save your headline designs in a format optimized for web pages to load very quickly.
What you do, then, is offer to create a killer headline in exchange for a link.
Once you learn to use the program, it’ll take you a whole 60 seconds to make the graphic for them.
You’re going to love working with Xara3d. I promise you’ll be creating mouth-watering headlines and graphics you can use on your own site in no time flat. It’s one of the easiest programs to use and inexpensive as well.
Study how other businesses create perceived value!
Here’s another.
A lot of sites don’t have banner ads. But there are actually a number of designers who create banners FREE or dirt cheap ($5-$30). If you find a really hot site you want to be linked to, offer to make a rockin’ banner for them! But you don’t do it yourself. Farm it out to
one of these low-cost sources.
Listen: I’m just scratching the surface. I’m trying to jump start your brain. If you surf the net and keep your eyes open, you’ll find so many possibilities, it’ll blow your mind!
Here are a few steps to help you put these ideas into action. Begin denominating a specific end result to your customers. You should be able to state this in 15 seconds or less.
Acquire, create or locate at least one information product you can use as a bonus to increase the perceived value of your product or service. Find one problem you can solve for your customers that goes
beyond the immediate scope of your product or service.
Study how other businesses create perceived value for their customers and see if you can apply the same method in your business. Spend time every day asking yourself this question, "How can I increase the
perceived value I’m offering my customers and prospects without substantially increasing my costs?"
Review your ads, brochures and sales letters for vague words and phrases like quality, service, and professional.
Turn these abstractions into specific word pictures that explain how these features benefit your customers.
Buy and read the book Networking With The Affluent And Their Advisors by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley. You can find the book at http://www.amazon.com or check your local bookstore.
People do not buy value. They buy the perception of value.
Marlon Sanders
Article by Marlon Sanders
Marketing is either the easiest thing you'll ever do in your life, or it's the hardest.
If you're doing it the old, staid, traditional way, it can be pretty grueling. You offer the same product or service (more or less) with the same features at about the same price as everyone else. It's a tough way to make a living.
Fortunately, there's another way. I call it selling dollars for dimes. And once you understand this method, you'll find that selling becomes at least ten times easier.
Most people never think about it, but all business boils to value creation. In exchange for "X" sum of money, your customers purchase a package of benefits normally referred to as a product or service.
The formula is simple . . . Sell a dollar of value for a dime.
In this series, I'm going to share 4 techniques for dramatically altering the perception of value . . .
Dollars For Dimes Technique #1:
Denominate a specific end result your product or service produces.
Most companies and salespeople don't articulate their benefits as clearly and powerfully and as they could. (Remember, a benefit is a package or unit of value.)
And because of that, their customers don't have a clear picture of the value they're receiving in exchange for their money.
How many times have you heard the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Yet we often don't paint vivid mental pictures of the benefits we offer our customers.
Look at it this way: Value is a picture in the mind, and through words we can alter the perception of value. Therefore, our ability to create value for our customers and prospects is virtually unlimited.
In spite of this, most companies throw out meaningless phrases like "best quality," "professional," or "good service." Can you picture quality or service? No you can't because these words are abstractions. Quality, service and professional are NOT benefits since they refer to what is being sold, not to the end result
achieved for the customer.
And that means these words are not creating value in the mind of the customer.
Let me give a practical example you can relate to. In one of my seminars, a real estate agent explained how he offered better service than his competitors. I asked, "What specifically do you do better and how does that benefit your clients." After several rounds of questions, it boiled down to speed: he helps clients buy or sell
homes faster than other real estate agents.
Here's where technique number one comes in. To turn an abstraction into a meaningful word picture, denominate the benefit or put a figure to it. In the above example, I'd want to know how much time on
average the agent saves his clients. If I remember correctly, he said he moves his clients through the process 3 months faster than the average real estate agent.
Now, if you were looking to sell your home and you ran across ads in the newspaper with the following 2 headlines, which agent would you be more likely to call?
Real estate agent provides fantastic service! b. Real estate agent gets your home sold 3 months faster!
Now, this agent may or may not be able to make that exact statement, depending on the rules governing real estate advertising. However, I think you see the power of translating vague terms such as quality or service into meaningful specifics.
In my seminars, when I have the audience practice writing benefits, I notice that most people write statements without enough impact.
For example, one guy was selling a kit that allows you to make wine at home. He wrote a headline for an ad that read, "How to save money on wine." That's okay, but it isn't particularly compelling.
After asking a few questions, we boiled down his benefit statement down to this: "How to get a $100 bottle of wine for $5." Can you see how this articulation tangibilizes the benefit of saving money?
What makes the difference is the word picture you paint of the end result. Just one simple change like this in the headline of an ad or sales letter can increase response by up to 21 times. So it's important that you grasp this technique.
Let me give you another example from a client who sells candles to churches around the world. The company has developed liquid candles that lasts 50% longer than wax products. For many churches, the savings translate into significant numbers.
I could write a headline that says, "How to slash your candle costs by 50%, save time and avoid the hassle of cleaning up wax drippings."
But would that sentence evoke a sizzling picture that makes pastors, ministers and priests burn with desire for my client's products? You never know for sure until you test the headline.
My instincts tell me this headline could be stronger. Here's why: Can you see what 50% savings looks like or the benefits you'll receive as a result?
Do the words "save time" ignite pictures of excitement in your brain?
Do these words spell out the benefits you'll receive from saving time?
How can you change this scenario? (And this is exactly what you should do when you're writing your own advertising or sales presentations.) Ask yourself this question, "How can I turn this information into a word picture that arouses feelings and emotion in my prospects' brains.
As an illustrative example, here's another way to write the headline.
At the top of the letter is a picture of a priest or minister with a beaming smile. The headline reads:
How using X candles pays for our summer Bible school every year . . . and frees up an additional week and a half of time annually. (Time I spend meeting the needs of our congregation and taking a well-deserved vacation.)
Best of all, I never, ever, again have to hassle with cleaning up messy wax droppings!
In summary, the first technique in selling dollars for dimes is to increase the perceived value of your product or service by translating vague benefits into specific, meaningful word pictures your customers can relate to.
Dollars for Dimes Technique #2:
Add extra value to your products and services by packaging in low cost, high-perceived value information products. I love products such as audio tapes, videos, CD ROM's, software, special reports, newsletters and books. Why? Because the hard cost is low but the
perceived value soars according to the content.
For example, the hard cost of a video tape is 2 or 3 bucks (including duplication, label, and box). The value, though, depends on the information on the tape. If it contains the phone numbers of 3 people who sell plutonium (or whatever that stuff is you make neutron bombs with) and you're customer is a third world country, it might be worth millions.
The point is, you can multiply the value of what you're selling. The way to multiply the value of what you're selling is by packaging in (or including) information products of high value to your customers.
Let me restate this point to make certain it's crystal clear: Since people buy the perception of value, you can make selling very easy by multiplying the value people perceive in your product or service. And the easiest way to do that is by tying in some form of information product.
Why info-products?
Three reasons:
1) They're inexpensive to produce.
2) Their perceived value can be way out of proportion to hard costs.
3) They're infinitely flexible.
Nearly any product can have an information tie-in.
Use extra bonuses to add value:
For example, I work out at a health club several times a week. What I know about health clubs is that most people join and then do what?
They drop out, right? And that makes people afraid to join because they don't believe they have the discipline to go to the club.
So, if I were selling memberships in a health club, I might put together a 6-tape audio series called: Super Motivation: How to Stick With Your Workout Program and Get Incredible Results -- Faster Than You Think.
Then, I might have the tapes transcribed. Each tape would translate into 25-30 written pages for a total of 150-180 pages. So now I have 6 tapes and 150-page manual. The program would have a dollar value of
$197.00 to $297.00 Yet the hard cost to produce it would be under $20.00. I'd give it as a FREE BONUS for joining immediately.
In addition, I could call audio tape duplicators and find out who they know that produced health and fitness albums once upon a time - but never reordered. In other words, I'd look for someone who produced an audio tape album but couldn't sell it.
Do you see the point? Increase the perceived value of your product or service by packaging in free bonuses in the form of information products. To come up with your own ideas, do some brainstorming. What are the problems your customers and prospects have? What annoys them?
Causes them trouble? Costs them money or time? Which of these problems can you provide the solution to through some form of information product - video, audio, service, special report or manual?
Another way to look at it is this: What result do your customers and prospects want to obtain as a result of buying your product? Can you produce an information product that will help them get that result faster, simpler, easier? If you can, then you have a free bonus you can use to boost the perceived value of your product. This method has stood the test of time across a number of industries.
For example... Newsletter publishers apply this strategy to perfection. In exchange for subscribing right away, you receive 5 or 10 free reports on topics so tantalizing, you simply must send in your money.
They use multiple reports to increase the chances of hitting one of your hot buttons dead center.
One of my clients sells $2,000 marketing seminars to entrepreneurs. In order to sell dollars for dimes, I packaged in an information product.
Here's how . . .
The client had recently conducted (and audio taped) a $2,000.00 seminar for CEO's. It was the last time that particular seminar would be presented without major changes. So I recommended the client transcribe the audio tapes into a manuscript that could be used as a
bonus.
It represents $2,000.00 of value to the consumer. Yet the hard cost is only $30.00 or so. If the prospective customers register for the marketing seminar within 10 days of receiving the mailing piece, they will receive the $2,000.00 bonus -- free! In short, they pay
$2,000.00 and receive a seminar valued at $2,000.00 -- PLUS the transcript of another $2,000 seminar. Stated differently, for $2,000.00 they grab $4,000.00 of value.
It's an irresistible proposition. At worst, the customers ask for a refund and end up with a $2,000.00 bonus for their trouble. At best, they gain the marketing education of a lifetime. That's the power of the Dollars for Dimes method. By now, you're probably saying, "That sounds great Marlon, but how am I going to come up with information products I can use in my business without spending a fortune?"
Let's take a look and see…
How to Get Audio or Video Seminars as Bonuses:
Approach people who are conducting seminars but not recording them. Offer to professionally record the seminar and exchange a master copy or the rights to duplicate and use the tapes anyway you desire. If
you need to sweeten the pot, you can barter your customer list, personal services, or products for the right to record and duplicate the program.
Of course, if you conduct seminars or workshops, you should record one on a hot topic and use it as a bonus. The higher the price of attendance, the better.
You will be better off having 10 people attend a $1,000 workshop than 50 people at a $150 one. Why? Because you create a lot more perceived value when you tell people they'll receive the audio tapes of a $1,000 workshop versus a $150 one. Is that clear?
By the way, even if you don't normally conduct seminars, you should consider hosting one just so you can use it as bonus. If you don't like public speaking, you can bring in other experts in your field to put on the event. Just be certain to have them sign a release.
How to Create A $1,000 to $2,000 Bonus Without Even Hosting A Seminar! You probably have several friends or acquaintances in your field who are highly regarded by their peers. Conduct telephone or in-person interviews with one or more of these individuals and package the recordings as a bonus. For a twist, you can turn the
phone interview into a conference call where customers interact with
the guest.
Suppose your expert charges $500.00 an hour for consulting with a minimum fee of $2,000.00. Can you see how this makes the perceived value of 2 hours of their interview time worth $1,000 to $2,000?
That's what makes this technique sizzle . . . and almost no one understands how to do it.
How to Access 12,000 Videos You Can Use As Bonuses, Upsells Or Added Value -- At Dirt Cheap Prices
Here's a hot trick on how to acquire videos to use as bonuses.
There's a guide to videos called: Spencer's Complete Guide to Special Interest Videos:
More Than 12,000 Videos You've Never Seen by James R. Spencer
In it you will find videos on virtually every subject imaginable --
more than 9,000 in all! At bookstores, similar directories of audio cassettes and CD ROM's are available.
This guide is incredible. I found one video in it for $30 that a major catalog house sells to corporations for $600! And it's the same video!
Here's a sample of the topics you'll find. Say you're selling advertising to businesses. Do you think that any of the following topics might hit a hot button with your prospects? (Next to the title I've listed the suggested retail price. But again, you're the one who determines the value of the product for your particular market.)
• Pricing and Sales Strategy -- $29.95
• Advertising and Promotion -- $29.95
• Accounting -- $29.95
• How to Find New Customers -- $39.95
• Starting and Running Retail Stores -- $89.95
Remember, you can get 40% off the retail prices by becoming a dealer for a nominal fee.
Can you see the value of these videos? As an example, let's take the one on advertising and promotion at $29.95. With your 40% discount, you only pay $18. That's a steal for a quality 45 minute product! The
possibilities are endless.
I think this book may have changed its title recently. But you can search for it on
Amazon.com. I've also seen similar dealer programs advertised in business opportunity magazines. As a final resort, you can contact the companies that produce the videos you want to market directly.
How to Turn A $20 Book Into A $675 Bonus -- Without Breaking A Sweat!
Did you know you can purchase the reprint rights to out-of-print books for as little as $500 to $1,000?
It's true. And once you have the rights, you can reprint each chapter as a special report and put a value on each of $15 to $45, depending on the rarity and quality of the information. A book with 15 chapters
could create perceived value from a low of $225.00 to as much as $675.00.
So what you've done is transformed a $15 or $20 book into incredible value. Conversely, you could record the book onto audio tapes and have a 20 to 30 cassette album with tremendous perceived value. And, of course, you could also do the same on video.
One Last Secret Gold Mine Of Knock-Your-Socks-Off Bonuses!
Finally, I have one last secret for creating bonuses... Call up newsletter publishers in your field and strike a deal to obtain the rights to their past bonuses. Almost every newsletter publisher uses reports to entice new subscribers.
Since these inactive bonuses are generating no revenue, you may be able to obtain reprint rights for a song and dance!
Dollars for Dimes Technique #3:
Create extra value by solving problems that go beyond the immediate scope of your product or service.
How can you help your potential customers get what they really want?
That simple question will open more doors for you than you can imagine. I can best explain through an illustration . . .
A friend of mine is publisher for an entertainment weekly paper. She knows all the inside scoop on which advertisers are succeeding with what type of ads, promotions and special events.
Therefore, she's a pipeline of knowledge her clients need -- how to make advertising, marketing and promotion produce more results for each dollar expended.
The question becomes, what range of resources and activities could she provide to her clients that would help them become more profitable?
Let's brainstorm the possibilities...
Could she bring in an expert on window displays to conduct a seminar?
Could she record or video tape the seminar and give it as a bonus to new advertisers? Or give it as an incentive or premium for a larger purchase?
Could she hire local college journalism students to do free PR for her advertisers?
Could she orchestrate a conference call for free (or a nominal fee) with a well- known and respected public relations or marketing expert?
Could she record the call and give it free to new prospects as an extra incentive to meet with a sales rep?
What if she retained an attorney or CPA her clients could gain access to, assuming they placed a certain amount of advertising?
While most of her advertisers wouldn't use the services, just by extending the offer, she raises the perception ovalue her paper delivers far above the competition.
What I'm saying is this:
You can create perceived value for your clients many ways. Earlier I talked about using information products to create value. But that's only one way.
Start finding really creative ways to bring value
Another way is simply to dig, scratch and claw to find ways to solve problems for your prospects and customers.
What I've found is that ultra-high performing salespeople and marketers do this instinctively. And it's often the single greatest factor responsible for their success. In other words, they aren't a better salesperson than anyone else in terms of raw persuasive ability.
What they are is a superb "bringer" of value to the table. They find ways to bring value to the table that other salespeople don't. And THAT'S why they're super successful.
So if you don't feel you're a born salesperson, STOP beating yourself up for it and START finding really creative ways to bring more value to the table.
How to get more information on this technique
If you'd like to study this technique further, I have a fabulous book to recommend to you. It's called Networking With The Affluent And Their Advisors by Dr. Thomas Stanley.
Regardless of what you sell or who you sell to, you'll find a zillion ideas in this book to help you.
In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb. I'm going to tell you that if you're in sales or marketing or you own a business, you're insane if you don't read this book!
Here's why:
Thomas Stanley PROVES the point I've just made. He interviews salespeople who are in the top 5% of their profession and reveals for the first time in print anywhere exactly how they bring extra value to the table.
The methods and secrets are all laid out in the book:
All you have to do is tap into your creativity and apply the key ideas in the book to your field.
Which, coincidentally, brings us to the next Dimes for Dollars technique…
Dollars for Dimes Technique #4:
Borrow Dollars for Dimes ideas from other businesses and industries.
Now for the last strategy I'll leave you with in this chapter. I borrowed it from my client, Planned Marketing, where head Walter Hailey and Steve Anderson have a saying I like, "why create mediocrity when you can copy genius?" In other words, study and
emulate from the successful efforts of others.
In the context of our discussion, that means you would investigate how other competitive and non-competitive businesses create unique packages of value to sell to their customers.
Look in the yellow pages for ideas. Read books by highly successful people in or outside of your industry. Browse the bookstore and make random associations. Interview other business owners you know and find out if they offer unique value to their customers and if they so, how.
(Don't be disappointed if they're clueless!)
When you do these activities, think laterally.
In other words, ask yourself what the technique is, then what principle underlies the technique, and finally how you can apply the same principle in your business.
What a chance meeting on a place taught me…
How A Chance Meeting On A Plane Taught Me The Secret Of Using Donuts To Build A Business And Gain A Competitive Advantage
Let me demonstrate by walking you through an offbeat example. When I was flying home the other day from a seminar in Seattle, I sat next to the owner of a funeral home. He explained to me how he incurred tremendous favor by delivering donuts to the home of the deceased early in the morning if a death occurred in the middle of the night.
He described how the families usually stayed up all night and seldom had time to eat, prepare or buy food. Why did he deliver the donuts early in the morning? Because by 10 a.m. a huge surge of food generally arrives from neighbors and friends. He wants to be the first to stand out in the mind of the customer.
People remember the donuts and almost always thank him later for his thoughtfulness. How can you apply this same principle to your business? Not by hunting down hearses in the middle of the night! No. No. No.
What's the method? Bringing donuts to someone when they're desperately needed. And bringing them before other people meet the same need.
What's the principle?
Find something universally appreciated you can deliver to your clients when they will truly appreciate it.
My Favorite Method for Creating Free Bonuses
My favorite method for creating free bonuses is to do it myself using the system I teach in How to Create Your Own Products In Two Hours.
To read more about "Create Your Own Products in a Flash!" just follow the link provided at the end of this article.
You can create your own information products even if your mind is a vast empty space! I’ll show you how in this product. What’s more, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.
How This Works On The Internet!
The way I most often use the dollars for dimes principle is this: I create bonuses with perceived value much greater than the main product I’m selling. I offer these bonuses free if the prospect buys before a certain time limit. I typically use 10 days (or 72 hours online). For example, if I’m marketing a product for $30, I might
offer $100 or $200 of free bonuses. Adding free bonuses to an offer can increase your response dramatically! But you have to find the right bonuses – ones that have very high-perceived value to your prospects. This comes from knowing and understanding your target
market. You have to know what makes them tick. You have to know what information they would crawl over broken glass a mile to get!
If you need more help with target marketing or you want to understand the nuances of the dollars-for-dimes principle, I suggest you read my course, The 69 Laws of Twister Marketing: How to Suck Up Cash With A
Vengeance!
Here’s what I want you to understand: Marketing is the ultimate mind game. And it deals not with flesh and blood products but with perceived value.
Just adding free bonuses could make a big difference for you.
Here are some ways to use free bonuses:
• Offer a freebie in exchange for filling out an "opinion sheet"
• Offer a freebie for filling out a form at your web site.
• Offer a freebie for ordering immediately.
• Offer an unannounced free bonus one-week before sending
a marketing letter to customers.
This has been known to increase response greatly.
If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you can think of a lot of other ways to use freebies and bonuses in your business. Another idea I want to cement in your mind and make certain you walk away with is this: Anytime you need someone to do ANYTHING for you, ask yourself, what do THEY need that you can supply?
As simple and stupid as that may sound, it’s extremely profound. When you read Marketing to the Affluent by Thomas Stanley, you’ll see how this is the exact method the top 5% of salespeople in the U.S. use. It helped a client of mine to sell a BILLION dollars of insurance in
8 years. Let me just give you an example from the online world. Say you want someone to give you a link from their web site. You first have to offer them something THEY want. You know they want more traffic to.
So what if you could offer them something to increase their traffic?
More on my favorite methods:
For example, if they give you a link, you’ll submit one of their pages to 600 search engines or whatever. Use your creativity. By the way, you can find cgi scripts that will submit your info to the search engines for you. You don’t need to pay for this. You’ll have to pay someone $30 or $40 for an hour or two of cgi programming to set it up for you.
Check out:www.cgi-world.com and www.cgi-resources.com for cgi scripts. Or just search in any engine for"free cgi scripts"
Or let me give you another example. Say you spend a little time and figure out how to install a clock or a counter on a web site. You could offer to put one on a site in exchange for a link. Do you see what I’m saying? Be creative.
Here’s another. You could buy Xara3D, which is a program that makes creating dazzling 3d headlines a piece of cake. Go to: www.xara.com to download a free demo. The program is very inexpensive. You can
learn to do this in under 5 minutes! But most people don’t know that. Xara3D even lets you save your headline designs in a format optimized for web pages to load very quickly.
What you do, then, is offer to create a killer headline in exchange for a link.
Once you learn to use the program, it’ll take you a whole 60 seconds to make the graphic for them.
You’re going to love working with Xara3d. I promise you’ll be creating mouth-watering headlines and graphics you can use on your own site in no time flat. It’s one of the easiest programs to use and inexpensive as well.
Study how other businesses create perceived value!
Here’s another.
A lot of sites don’t have banner ads. But there are actually a number of designers who create banners FREE or dirt cheap ($5-$30). If you find a really hot site you want to be linked to, offer to make a rockin’ banner for them! But you don’t do it yourself. Farm it out to
one of these low-cost sources.
Listen: I’m just scratching the surface. I’m trying to jump start your brain. If you surf the net and keep your eyes open, you’ll find so many possibilities, it’ll blow your mind!
Here are a few steps to help you put these ideas into action. Begin denominating a specific end result to your customers. You should be able to state this in 15 seconds or less.
Acquire, create or locate at least one information product you can use as a bonus to increase the perceived value of your product or service. Find one problem you can solve for your customers that goes
beyond the immediate scope of your product or service.
Study how other businesses create perceived value for their customers and see if you can apply the same method in your business. Spend time every day asking yourself this question, "How can I increase the
perceived value I’m offering my customers and prospects without substantially increasing my costs?"
Review your ads, brochures and sales letters for vague words and phrases like quality, service, and professional.
Turn these abstractions into specific word pictures that explain how these features benefit your customers.
Buy and read the book Networking With The Affluent And Their Advisors by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley. You can find the book at http://www.amazon.com or check your local bookstore.
People do not buy value. They buy the perception of value.
Marlon Sanders
Marlon Sanders is the author of
- The Amazing Formula That Sells Like Crazy,
- The Push Button Letters Software,
- How to Create Your Own Products in a Flash,
- Gimme My Money Now,
- the Marlon Sander Marketing Dashboard
- 15 other titles.
For an in-depth look at the formula presented in this report, visit Marlon's web site:
Affiliate-Program-that-Works-Automatically - Promoting-Product-after-Product-and- Week-after-Week
Although affiliate marketing is a lucrative way to start an online business without the hassles involved in selling ones own products and services, yet its quite tough if one does not follow the pattern followed by the established super affiliates. What is most difficult and tiring is one has to constantly search for high quality products and services, even if its from reputed merchant sites, testing them so that they exactly match the requirements of their niche customers and clients who often folk to your website looking out for more and better products in which they are interested in. Then there is the overwhelming task of preparing the proper sales materials that carries the correct information about the products and services, which will in turn help the potential customers to choose what is right for them. Once the products and services have been launched successfully, one needs to be on ones toes to keep promoting perpetually till the benefits of the products and services has percolated to a large audience and has been well received, so much so that the sales will continue to mount just by word of mouth.
Given the choice what would you say about an affiliate program that worked like this:
Helps subscribers or site visitors with a weekly series of high quality informational articles that will put them on course in their online business.
When they sign up for this valuable informational program once, they are branded with your affiliate code forever
Week after week, they receive top-notch marketing information that contains a tasteful promotion to check out a product related to the content
When they check out the product, they are offered an incentive - such as two free chapters - to sign up for a powerful follow-up email series
The battle-tested email series converts the tire kickers into purchasers
You get an affiliate commission!
The next week, they receive another email with more high-quality content and another subtle promotion -- embedded with your affiliate link
The process repeats, week after profitable week
PLUS - these subscribers receive offers for other products that can turn into affiliate commissions as high as $100 -- just from you getting them to sign up once
Sound too good to be true?
Not anymore. Here are some actual numbers affiliates are earning...
(note: your actual results will vary, this is not a guarantee you will receive the same results as these affiliates are receiving.)
Affiliate #1 = $2.10 per free subscriber they referred to us.
Affiliate #2 = $.96 per free subscriber they referred to us.
Affiliate #3 = $4.91 per free subscriber they referred to us.
And Affiliate #4 has earned, get this, $11.08
per free subscriber they referred to us.
Given the choice what would you say about an affiliate program that worked like this:
Helps subscribers or site visitors with a weekly series of high quality informational articles that will put them on course in their online business.
When they sign up for this valuable informational program once, they are branded with your affiliate code forever
Week after week, they receive top-notch marketing information that contains a tasteful promotion to check out a product related to the content
When they check out the product, they are offered an incentive - such as two free chapters - to sign up for a powerful follow-up email series
The battle-tested email series converts the tire kickers into purchasers
You get an affiliate commission!
The next week, they receive another email with more high-quality content and another subtle promotion -- embedded with your affiliate link
The process repeats, week after profitable week
PLUS - these subscribers receive offers for other products that can turn into affiliate commissions as high as $100 -- just from you getting them to sign up once
Sound too good to be true?
Not anymore. Here are some actual numbers affiliates are earning...
(note: your actual results will vary, this is not a guarantee you will receive the same results as these affiliates are receiving.)
Affiliate #1 = $2.10 per free subscriber they referred to us.
Affiliate #2 = $.96 per free subscriber they referred to us.
Affiliate #3 = $4.91 per free subscriber they referred to us.
And Affiliate #4 has earned, get this, $11.08
per free subscriber they referred to us.
I highly recommend that you Sign up for the FREE Nitro Knowledge Learning Series for your weekly dose of Internet success learning. It will unlock the tips and tricks needed to establish oneself as a super affiliate and rake dollars from home.
So get ahead and CLICK NOW.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
The-Advantages-of-Opt-in-Subscribers-for-Internet-Marketing-Success-and-Affiliate-Marketing
In this case I will be discussing how newsletters can be successfully circulated amongst free and paid opt-in subscribers across the World Wide Web. To illustrate my view point I will be discussing how Eric Aafedt of InvestmentHouse.com had successfully applied this method. He has been able to reach a world wide audience of over 130,000 loyal subscribers and its still growing in leaps and bounds. With this method he has been able to capture the name and email addresses of all the free and paid opt-in subscribers to his various newsletters. This has made it easier for him to reach out to each of these highly lucrative customer bases on a one to one basis, whenever he has a product or a service he wishes to apprise them of. This method where he laid much emphasis on opt-in rather on driving traffic by other means he has been able to build up his internet business that grossed $80,000 in 1998 to an astronomical $2 million by 2000. The buck does not stop there its continuing to surge ahead. According to Eric his main focus has always been on getting opt-in e-mail addresses and then converting them to paying customers over time. His modus operandi being to offer investment newsletters to both free and paid opt-in subscribers. Once a visitor accepts Eric’s offer that allows him to post newsletters at his email address periodically, he also makes an offer that allows them access to a one of Eric’s premium newsletters (paid subscription) on a trail basis that lasts for 30 days. Along with this he offers information about “Investors Business Daily” on a free trial that gives Eric an affiliate commission. Each of these newsletters is rich in content and is focused to keep the subscriber abreast of the latest developments in the world of investment. The newsletters also carry soft sell ads. He also makes special offers for a price on certain premium reports which he announces from time to time in his newsletters. That’s how Eric slowly convinces his subscribers who began by opting his free subscription to accept his premium newsletters for which they have to pay. No wonder Eric has perfected this art of converting free opt in subscribers to paid subscribers. According to Eric it’s great to sell a product for $29.95, but its all the more powerful to be able to sell it 12 times to the same person. In the beginning Eric had three employees on his payroll to assist him to keep his business running. However over the years he has been able to reduce his payroll by 60%. This has allowed him more time at his disposal to develop his business further.
To learn more in greater details to such secret marketing methods you can visit here now.
To learn more in greater details to such secret marketing methods you can visit here now.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Affiliate-Marketing-Methods-that-Self-Made-Super-Affiliate-Rosalind Gardner-Uses-to-earn-$30000-to-$50000-from-each-Affiliate-Programs
CASE 2 - How did Rosalind Gardner make Sage-Hearts.com a super success.
In my last entry I discussed how Eric Week made his website successful.
Today in this particular case I am going to discuss the unique internet marketing methods used to promote Sage-Hearts.com created by Rosalind Gardner of whom I had already mentioned in one of my previous entries in this blog. As you are aware that Rosalind Gardner is a self made super affiliate who earns nothing less than $50000 from each of her websites by promoting products and services none of which she owns. All her earnings come in the form of commissions that she is paid for in the range of 50% and above, by the merchant websites whose affiliate programs that she has joined, for every product that is sold out to any of her potential customers / clients that she had encouraged them to buy or subscribe from the website owners whose products and services she promotes, using her link that has her special affiliate code given to her by the merchant website for identification. She does this by providing ample information that are well researched and are of useful quality to the willing clients and customers who wants her advice and suggestions to solve their problems that's bothering them. If you are interested to learn more of her and her marketing techniques which she has nicely compiled and keeps updating it from time to time that she actually uses for her various affiliate websites, I highly recommend that you too have access to this vital information which will give an insight into the ways and means of this super affiliate queen, so click here to get the details for free now.
For now let me concentrate in one of her very first affiliate websites Sage-Hearts.com that made her so wealthy. Rosalind Gardner who started of as an Air Traffic Controller and after the success of Sage-Hearts left her government job in Canada where she resides and concentrated to develop her home based internet business selling only affiliate products and services. When she started Sage -Hearts a full fledged Online Dating services that gave details in the form of personal reviews made by Rosalind Gardner on the top dating services, internet marketing was still in its infancy compared to today. She made herself an expert on online dating and made her research on the kind of services that each of the dating services provided which helped her clients to make their choice to look for their 'soul mates'
Rosalind too understood the importance of traffic without which, her website, however well presented and highly informative it might be, would have remained unnoticed and ignored, and would have not got the attention of her esteemed clients who visit her website for soul, solace and comfort. Naturally without the high traffic and the excellent affiliate products and services, all well researched that has enhanced her reputation as a reliable person and an expert on dating services , it would have been quite a difficult task to convert her traffic to sales, the conversion rates being 3 to 5 times higher than most. No wonder her focus has allowed her to earn $30,000 to $50,000 per month, with a whopping 40% to 50% profit margin.
That's her key- before getting involved, Rosalind always makes her overt research on the kind of affiliate programs that are offered by the various merchant websites. She gets into the nitty-gritty of their service, their track record, reputation on the net, the kind of products and services that they offer for sale through affiliate programs, how well it will suit with the theme of her website and most important of all, does she feel comfortable in using as well as recommending the program and the products to her esteemed visitors who look up to her for more and better products and services to satisfy a need, their desires and demands, which is the essence of any marketing program. This is her simple yet an incredible technique that helps in driving traffic to her website for her highly useful contents, information and products & services and multiplies the conversion rates several times compared to others offering something similar.
Here are some of the things Rosalind recommends you look for before joining any program:
A great product: She recommends only products and services she would be willing to pay for herself. “I frequently purchase and test products before listing them for sale on my sites,” she says.
High commissions: Some programs will pay as little as 5% commission (which means it will take a huge volume of sales to earn any real money); some will pay as high as 50%.
A high-quality affiliate interface: You should be able to quickly and easily access your sales and visitor statistics at any time.
Excellent -- and available -- management: Great management is usually a sign of a great program. “The best companies take care of their affiliates by ensuring that their program managers are accessible and responsive,” Rosalind says.
Real-time statistics reporting: Real-time reporting allows you to track the success of any advertising or promotion.
Low minimum payout: “One of the companies I promote has a $1,000 minimum payout, which means I don't get paid until I've generated $1,000 in earnings,” Rosalind says. “That's fine if I can do that every month, but suppose it takes a year?”
Frequent payout schedule: Payout schedules can vary from weekly, to bi-weekly, to monthly, to quarterly. Frequent payouts mean your income is more regular.
She also recommends making sure that you understand your affiliate agreement by reading it from top to bottom before signing up and monitoring your statistics to keep close track of payments. Once you're comfortable with the program, make sure you give your customers a reason to click on your affiliate links -- and that the affiliate products and services you're offering appeal to your site's audience.
Rosalind has been able to taste success with her brain child Sage-Hearts. com because she takes personal interest in all the top dating sites that's available on the internet each of which she reviews of her own before she recommends. She is constantly monitoring each of her recommended services, accepting feedbacks and accordingly to suit the requirements and demands of the customers updates each of her reviews and keeps adding fresh ones, which compels the visitors hungry for information to keep returning to her websites time and again.
To know more of her many marketing technique, tools, tricks and tips that she applies click the following links one after another.
1. Successful Internet Marketing Secrets
2. How Rosalind makes her Internet Profit
3. Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online
In my last entry I discussed how Eric Week made his website successful.
Today in this particular case I am going to discuss the unique internet marketing methods used to promote Sage-Hearts.com created by Rosalind Gardner of whom I had already mentioned in one of my previous entries in this blog. As you are aware that Rosalind Gardner is a self made super affiliate who earns nothing less than $50000 from each of her websites by promoting products and services none of which she owns. All her earnings come in the form of commissions that she is paid for in the range of 50% and above, by the merchant websites whose affiliate programs that she has joined, for every product that is sold out to any of her potential customers / clients that she had encouraged them to buy or subscribe from the website owners whose products and services she promotes, using her link that has her special affiliate code given to her by the merchant website for identification. She does this by providing ample information that are well researched and are of useful quality to the willing clients and customers who wants her advice and suggestions to solve their problems that's bothering them. If you are interested to learn more of her and her marketing techniques which she has nicely compiled and keeps updating it from time to time that she actually uses for her various affiliate websites, I highly recommend that you too have access to this vital information which will give an insight into the ways and means of this super affiliate queen, so click here to get the details for free now.
For now let me concentrate in one of her very first affiliate websites Sage-Hearts.com that made her so wealthy. Rosalind Gardner who started of as an Air Traffic Controller and after the success of Sage-Hearts left her government job in Canada where she resides and concentrated to develop her home based internet business selling only affiliate products and services. When she started Sage -Hearts a full fledged Online Dating services that gave details in the form of personal reviews made by Rosalind Gardner on the top dating services, internet marketing was still in its infancy compared to today. She made herself an expert on online dating and made her research on the kind of services that each of the dating services provided which helped her clients to make their choice to look for their 'soul mates'
Rosalind too understood the importance of traffic without which, her website, however well presented and highly informative it might be, would have remained unnoticed and ignored, and would have not got the attention of her esteemed clients who visit her website for soul, solace and comfort. Naturally without the high traffic and the excellent affiliate products and services, all well researched that has enhanced her reputation as a reliable person and an expert on dating services , it would have been quite a difficult task to convert her traffic to sales, the conversion rates being 3 to 5 times higher than most. No wonder her focus has allowed her to earn $30,000 to $50,000 per month, with a whopping 40% to 50% profit margin.
That's her key- before getting involved, Rosalind always makes her overt research on the kind of affiliate programs that are offered by the various merchant websites. She gets into the nitty-gritty of their service, their track record, reputation on the net, the kind of products and services that they offer for sale through affiliate programs, how well it will suit with the theme of her website and most important of all, does she feel comfortable in using as well as recommending the program and the products to her esteemed visitors who look up to her for more and better products and services to satisfy a need, their desires and demands, which is the essence of any marketing program. This is her simple yet an incredible technique that helps in driving traffic to her website for her highly useful contents, information and products & services and multiplies the conversion rates several times compared to others offering something similar.
Here are some of the things Rosalind recommends you look for before joining any program:
A great product: She recommends only products and services she would be willing to pay for herself. “I frequently purchase and test products before listing them for sale on my sites,” she says.
High commissions: Some programs will pay as little as 5% commission (which means it will take a huge volume of sales to earn any real money); some will pay as high as 50%.
A high-quality affiliate interface: You should be able to quickly and easily access your sales and visitor statistics at any time.
Excellent -- and available -- management: Great management is usually a sign of a great program. “The best companies take care of their affiliates by ensuring that their program managers are accessible and responsive,” Rosalind says.
Real-time statistics reporting: Real-time reporting allows you to track the success of any advertising or promotion.
Low minimum payout: “One of the companies I promote has a $1,000 minimum payout, which means I don't get paid until I've generated $1,000 in earnings,” Rosalind says. “That's fine if I can do that every month, but suppose it takes a year?”
Frequent payout schedule: Payout schedules can vary from weekly, to bi-weekly, to monthly, to quarterly. Frequent payouts mean your income is more regular.
She also recommends making sure that you understand your affiliate agreement by reading it from top to bottom before signing up and monitoring your statistics to keep close track of payments. Once you're comfortable with the program, make sure you give your customers a reason to click on your affiliate links -- and that the affiliate products and services you're offering appeal to your site's audience.
Rosalind has been able to taste success with her brain child Sage-Hearts. com because she takes personal interest in all the top dating sites that's available on the internet each of which she reviews of her own before she recommends. She is constantly monitoring each of her recommended services, accepting feedbacks and accordingly to suit the requirements and demands of the customers updates each of her reviews and keeps adding fresh ones, which compels the visitors hungry for information to keep returning to her websites time and again.
To know more of her many marketing technique, tools, tricks and tips that she applies click the following links one after another.
1. Successful Internet Marketing Secrets
2. How Rosalind makes her Internet Profit
3. Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Do you want to learn how men and women like any of us, having mediocre educational and financial background, are Earning More Than $100,000 a Year
If you are too eager to learn the marketing secrets of scores of ordinary people like you and I who are running a successful online business from the cosy comfort of their homes then I suggest you visit them right now. Click Here Now.
To get an insight to their secrets which they are now willing to share with others, I am going to discuss with you the case studies on three different established internet entrepreneurs who have adopted different strategies and tactics to make their internet enterprise successful. Although each of their marketing methods are unique and different from one another, each has proved themselves successful. However I have made one observation which is common to all of them. Its important that you too take note of this for we too are known to get into the pitfalls because of our mistakes and not paying attention to what is repeated over and over for our own good. The highest common factor being, each of this successful internet marketers have adopted only one technique and struck their guns to it in spite of the odds and has put all their faith in only one kind of marketing technique they thought would fetch them the much needed success. For success, even in our real life, in our eager to be successful as early as possible we try to adopt all the successful marketing technique, strategies, tactics, ideas and opportunities that we get hold of and think has proved successful with others. This is the folly that we make which quickly pulls us down to our own doom, because by applying or implementing all our ideas we spread our selves too much and too thin, none of which then works out as well as we had hoped for and we very soon slip down the greasy pole too quickly never to try again, brooding over our failures.
In the internet too if we have to taste success we must adopt only one marketing technique and pin all our hopes in it and not be deterred by the odds, and learn each time from our folly, to rebound back with more vigor and gusto, but never to switch our marketing technique, but to stick with what we started of with. Choosing a single route, a plan and a prayer on our lips will see us on the summit of Mount Everest. If we keep changing our route, our plans and even our prayers we are never going to reach anywhere but ......
Let me now discuss each of these case studies briefly at a time and in my own pace. If you think you want to get the details then my best advise is to Click Here Now to get hold of their successful internet marketing secrets What I am going to present you is only the tip of the iceberg, the details of their success run to several pages lot less than 15 to 20 pages. So here we go.
Case Study 1
Truck-Bed-Covers.com by Eric Week
From the very onset of his online business Eric was clear in his mind, he needed as much traffic as possible for his website. The more number of targeted people visit his niche website the easier would be for him to rope in some of these visitors and turn them into ready buyers. Lets suppose for every 100 people who visits his site he can hope to find a willing customer in at least one of them. Once the client makes the purchase from his range of products he can hope to return back for more products provided he is satisfied with what he had paid for. He can recommend few more to others and that's how his business becomes popular and expands.
But how was he to do this on the internet? Eric had a plan. He wanted his website to be ranked amongst the Top 10 websites that would be shown in the very first page of the top search engines such as Google and Yahoo. He found out that 800 people searched for the term "truck bed covers" every day. So to get amongst the top 10 of the search engines he began to educate himself. He tried to learn and research on what made a website popular and rank well in the search engine. He then narrowed down his attention and efforts on Search Engine Optimisation and decided to stick to the technique. This SEO technique alone is responsible for Eric's success. Using this single strategy, he sold $800,000 worth of product in his first year online -- over $200,000 of which was pure profit! accordingly Eric began to optimise his web site for high search engine positions.
No wonder Eric began to taste profit for his web site from day one itself.
For those who are just starting to take on the challenge of search engine optimization, Eric offers the following advice:
Use your main keyword in your URL.
Separate each keyword in your URL with a hyphen to make it easier for the search engine to locate that keyword when spidering your site.
Try to get as many reputable, relevant sites linking to you as possible.
Include good, relevant content.
Place main keywords in hyperlinks.
Wherever possible, use text logos instead of "jpegs" or "gifs" -- search engines won't spider image files.
So we find that Eric was successful not because of the technique he adopted but sticking to only one technique and not everything that he knows of. Now that he has really conquered with his one marketing strategy that is to bring in more traffic to his website by perfecting the Serach Engine Optimisation for his website. Since he has reached the threshold of his success using SEO, he can now think of adopting some other marketing method that he has in mind for sometime to give more boost to his sales from the website.
To learn more in greater details to such secret marketing methods you can visit here now.
To get an insight to their secrets which they are now willing to share with others, I am going to discuss with you the case studies on three different established internet entrepreneurs who have adopted different strategies and tactics to make their internet enterprise successful. Although each of their marketing methods are unique and different from one another, each has proved themselves successful. However I have made one observation which is common to all of them. Its important that you too take note of this for we too are known to get into the pitfalls because of our mistakes and not paying attention to what is repeated over and over for our own good. The highest common factor being, each of this successful internet marketers have adopted only one technique and struck their guns to it in spite of the odds and has put all their faith in only one kind of marketing technique they thought would fetch them the much needed success. For success, even in our real life, in our eager to be successful as early as possible we try to adopt all the successful marketing technique, strategies, tactics, ideas and opportunities that we get hold of and think has proved successful with others. This is the folly that we make which quickly pulls us down to our own doom, because by applying or implementing all our ideas we spread our selves too much and too thin, none of which then works out as well as we had hoped for and we very soon slip down the greasy pole too quickly never to try again, brooding over our failures.
In the internet too if we have to taste success we must adopt only one marketing technique and pin all our hopes in it and not be deterred by the odds, and learn each time from our folly, to rebound back with more vigor and gusto, but never to switch our marketing technique, but to stick with what we started of with. Choosing a single route, a plan and a prayer on our lips will see us on the summit of Mount Everest. If we keep changing our route, our plans and even our prayers we are never going to reach anywhere but ......
Let me now discuss each of these case studies briefly at a time and in my own pace. If you think you want to get the details then my best advise is to Click Here Now to get hold of their successful internet marketing secrets What I am going to present you is only the tip of the iceberg, the details of their success run to several pages lot less than 15 to 20 pages. So here we go.
Case Study 1
Truck-Bed-Covers.com by Eric Week
From the very onset of his online business Eric was clear in his mind, he needed as much traffic as possible for his website. The more number of targeted people visit his niche website the easier would be for him to rope in some of these visitors and turn them into ready buyers. Lets suppose for every 100 people who visits his site he can hope to find a willing customer in at least one of them. Once the client makes the purchase from his range of products he can hope to return back for more products provided he is satisfied with what he had paid for. He can recommend few more to others and that's how his business becomes popular and expands.
But how was he to do this on the internet? Eric had a plan. He wanted his website to be ranked amongst the Top 10 websites that would be shown in the very first page of the top search engines such as Google and Yahoo. He found out that 800 people searched for the term "truck bed covers" every day. So to get amongst the top 10 of the search engines he began to educate himself. He tried to learn and research on what made a website popular and rank well in the search engine. He then narrowed down his attention and efforts on Search Engine Optimisation and decided to stick to the technique. This SEO technique alone is responsible for Eric's success. Using this single strategy, he sold $800,000 worth of product in his first year online -- over $200,000 of which was pure profit! accordingly Eric began to optimise his web site for high search engine positions.
No wonder Eric began to taste profit for his web site from day one itself.
For those who are just starting to take on the challenge of search engine optimization, Eric offers the following advice:
Use your main keyword in your URL.
Separate each keyword in your URL with a hyphen to make it easier for the search engine to locate that keyword when spidering your site.
Try to get as many reputable, relevant sites linking to you as possible.
Include good, relevant content.
Place main keywords in hyperlinks.
Wherever possible, use text logos instead of "jpegs" or "gifs" -- search engines won't spider image files.
So we find that Eric was successful not because of the technique he adopted but sticking to only one technique and not everything that he knows of. Now that he has really conquered with his one marketing strategy that is to bring in more traffic to his website by perfecting the Serach Engine Optimisation for his website. Since he has reached the threshold of his success using SEO, he can now think of adopting some other marketing method that he has in mind for sometime to give more boost to his sales from the website.
To learn more in greater details to such secret marketing methods you can visit here now.
Friday, December 15, 2006
The-Significance-of-Affiliate-Marketing-and-How-to-Join-an-Affiliate-Program-for-Free
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make forays in the internet system to build revenue. It’s especially beneficial to those who want to start with meager means without having to produce excellent products, in fact none at all, if you wish to start your career in the internet marketing without spending a dime. All that one needs is to join as an affiliate for free and promote the products and services of that merchant website that offers such affiliate programs on commission basis for every sale or lead that it generates from such promotions, as per requirements of the merchant site.
Affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial arrangement where two web site owners A and B enter into an agreement, subject to certain terms and conditions in compliance with the state laws, whereby they concur to share the proceeds from the sales of products and services that belong to one of the merchant websites say A, and which are promoted by website B the affiliate merchant, which has subscribed to the affiliate program offered by Merchant A, to promote one or more of either the products or services or both on behalf of Merchant website A.
The responsibility under such an arrangement are shared. The affiliate merchant B does not have to bother with the hassles of accepting online payment, tracking of sales and delivery or shipment of the products and services for which the customer pays for online or offline. All that affiliate B is expected to perform is drive traffic of potential customers from its website using the special coded link offered by the merchant website to the merchant website A. Affiliate B because of its highly informative website that’s rich in content specifically meant to satisfy the urge or desire amongst targeted customers is able to send a large portion of the traffic visiting the website of B, to that of merchant website A.
On the other hand it’s the responsibility of website A to
create enthusiasm amongst the potential customers directed from the website B that ultimately converts in a sale of one or more of these products and services, that’s expected to satisfy the requirements and needs of the customers making them (hopefully) into loyal customers for a lifetime, and every time that customer makes a sale within a time frame as agreed under the terms and condition, both the website owners , the affiliate merchant B and the advertiser A enjoys their share of the income so generated depending on the type of compensation paid by the merchant to its affiliates in the form of a commission based on the amount of the sale, a referral fee or a pay-for-click fee.
It’s advisable to join such affiliate programs that are offered by a Merchant website of repute with years of experience in internet marketing and has an excellent track record in converting traffic into as much sales, minimizing waste in sending potential traffic by its affiliates that does not convert to sales by the earliest i.e it must have high sales conversion ratio. Affiliates do not have to develop any products nor maintain an inventory of the products that it promotes, thus avoiding spending on products. It neither has to bother with the transaction process nor does it have to handle or ship the products, all these are the responsibility of the merchant website to whom the products and services belong to and offers affiliate programs to promote them. So make sure that the merchant website whose affiliate program you wish to subscribe does not fall in any of its services as far as customer handling and after sales service is concerned.
Your reputation as a reliable affiliate merchant much depends on the sales and service provided by the merchant websites whom you promote. Its always good to try the products and see how much of its quality will prove beneficial to the customers who regularly visits your site hunting for new products that will solve many of its problems, then based on your observation make an honest review that will give the customers a choice whether or not to purchase.
As far as protecting your interest, as an affiliate, is concerned you must always check with your merchant website to see if they are using an excellent tracking software that not only tracks what you send online but also those customers who places their order by phone, fax or postal mail. This is important, for you must see that you do not miss out any of the commissions that you are suppose to receive for the efforts that you carry out to mobilize traffic that’s sent to the merchant website or office. See if the link that’s especially coded and offered by the merchant website which you use as a gateway to send traffic, has a special java script called cookies that automatically embeds inside the computers of the potential customers who make the visit for the very first time. In case the customer decides not to purchase in its very first visit but does so in one of its subsequent visits, that customer should be recognized as yours no matter from where does the customer makes its visit at the time it makes its purchase. In this way you are ensured of a commission that’s honored and protected by your merchant.
You must have every access to the sales statistics that are offered in real time by your merchant website. Also make sure the merchant provides you with all the sales promotion materials in the form of text links and banners if need be customize to your specification. In my opinion text links have better response than banners; nevertheless the experience may vary from person to person. See that the affiliate merchant offers as much information on the products which you might wish to promote, as well as guide you how these may be promoted. In other words they must be educative, so that you and your customers benefit from this information.
For More Free Information on Internet Marketing Tips
Click Here Now
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Affiliate-and-Web-Masters-Guru-Mantra
So the mantra for affiliate
master success can be summed in my own words as:
Every website must have Rich Contents
With information most sought after
That like a pot of honey pulls the targeted traffic.
Warm up your visitors that Pre Sells with hot and nourishing delicacies
That holds the key to unlock
their problems
And fills a hunger with love and joy
Cash in their confidence in you by your recommendations
Of products and services with an open-to-buy attitude.
Monetize your visitors
By adopting to a low risk Affiliate model.
Content --> Traffic --> PRE-selling --> Monetize
May this Mantra make your Business Grow.
The online SBI! Action Guide shows them how to execute the natural, powerful
C
T
P
M process, using SBI!'s
easy-to-use, integrated set of tools.
Ken Evoy’s-strategy-to-succeed-on-the-Internet-as-an-Affiliate-Master
Internet is the place from where most millionaires have been made than from any other industry. The good thing about it is that most began without having a dollar in their pocket and yet they slowly built their vast internet empire. I will give you a list of these successful netpreneurs later on, but for now I will mention the name of Ken Evoy of SiteSell.com. Ken Evoy has an MD degree and was a professional physician before he hung up his stethoscope to help laymen and businessmen start a merchant website or an affiliate website to promote anything and everything including themselves and their sites, products and services.
He has written a wonderful Ebook ‘The Affiliate Masters Course’, which you can download from here for free. It is a highly resourceful book which you may treat it as your Affiliate bible. It carries all the details of the do’s and don’ts of Affiliate Marketing.
According to Ken Evoy, even though the amount of investment in setting up an affiliate website is minimal in comparison to the amount one can earn from them, nevertheless he has emphasized on the amount of time that one should devote for the promotion of their website. He repeatedly points out that Time should be counted in terms of dollar spent, so even if you have not spent much of your hard cash , yet used up much of your time before the monitor for hours, it should be quantified as amount of money spent per hour. No wonder Time is so precious.
Accordingly this makes it easier for us to calculate the Profit earned from our affiliate programs.
Profit = Income minus Expenses.
Ken Evoy mentions two ways by way of which an affiliate can earn substantial income and watch the income graph slowly climb high.
These are as follows:
The affiliates must refer as many visitors as they can to the website of those merchants with who they have a revenue sharing arrangement.
Increase the Conversion Rate (i.e. the percent of visitors referred to your merchant who makes the desired response that gives you a credit and for which the merchant pays to you whether that’s a sale or a lead.)
For example: If I refer 100 visitors per day to a merchant and 1% buy, I am paid for that one purchase. But if I send 1000 visitors per day and 3% buy, I get paid for 30 purchases.
As already mentioned,
Time = Dollar.
For every time or hour that you spend on the net to promote your business, assign a dollar to yourself, irrespective of whether or not the affiliate business has cost you or not in real cash.
That is why it is important to build as much traffic for every dollar spent and improve your strategy to convert most of that, difficult to obtain, traffic, into real sales that generates revenue.
Now you might wonder what is the strategy, which Ken Evoy uses to build up traffic in the first place. According to him content of a website is what attracts customers like a gall of honey. After all people search the internet to gather information that holds the key to solve each of their particular problem. The website that contains rich information that pertains to the customer’s range of interest will be visited the most. This will eventually give the website a higher ranking in the search engine.
That’s why Ken Evoy prescribes that a website must be dedicated to a particular theme that focuses on those particular information and solution that most of the customers are searching for in relation to that theme. For this one must practice brainstorming on various topics that are both profitable as well as related to that theme. Eventually subscribe to those affiliate programs that are popular and has a high conversion to sales rate for each unit volume of traffic that drives into the merchant website. Just by having an assortment of affiliate websites or links in your theme based website will not convert traffic to sales. The website must have content that are customer-focused.
Without proper content it’s difficult to pre-sale to the customers by gaining their trust and confidence in your website. Once it’s established as a trustworthy website, it becomes easy to recommend various product and services,that you are confident will help to satisfy each of the potential customers, meeting their demands and fulfilling their desires. Next, according to Ken Evoy, we must build search engine optimized pages that rank highly on a search results page.
This is to gain higher ranking in the search engine pages that in due course would drive traffic to your website.
The ideal kind of website that generates revenue from affiliate related products are those which look for multiple streams of income. This should be in a manner that gives value to each of the visitors that click their way into your website, thereby generating revenue, without losing on any of the visitors. An ideal diversification can be feasible only when there is monetization by blending Google Adsense Program with a few top notch affiliate programs, which blends a finder’s fee with lead generation.
For Free Information - study the
Affiliate Master's Course- Highly Recommended.
He has written a wonderful Ebook ‘The Affiliate Masters Course’, which you can download from here for free. It is a highly resourceful book which you may treat it as your Affiliate bible. It carries all the details of the do’s and don’ts of Affiliate Marketing.
According to Ken Evoy, even though the amount of investment in setting up an affiliate website is minimal in comparison to the amount one can earn from them, nevertheless he has emphasized on the amount of time that one should devote for the promotion of their website. He repeatedly points out that Time should be counted in terms of dollar spent, so even if you have not spent much of your hard cash , yet used up much of your time before the monitor for hours, it should be quantified as amount of money spent per hour. No wonder Time is so precious.
Accordingly this makes it easier for us to calculate the Profit earned from our affiliate programs.
Profit = Income minus Expenses.
Ken Evoy mentions two ways by way of which an affiliate can earn substantial income and watch the income graph slowly climb high.
These are as follows:
The affiliates must refer as many visitors as they can to the website of those merchants with who they have a revenue sharing arrangement.
Increase the Conversion Rate (i.e. the percent of visitors referred to your merchant who makes the desired response that gives you a credit and for which the merchant pays to you whether that’s a sale or a lead.)
For example: If I refer 100 visitors per day to a merchant and 1% buy, I am paid for that one purchase. But if I send 1000 visitors per day and 3% buy, I get paid for 30 purchases.
As already mentioned,
Time = Dollar.
For every time or hour that you spend on the net to promote your business, assign a dollar to yourself, irrespective of whether or not the affiliate business has cost you or not in real cash.
That is why it is important to build as much traffic for every dollar spent and improve your strategy to convert most of that, difficult to obtain, traffic, into real sales that generates revenue.
Now you might wonder what is the strategy, which Ken Evoy uses to build up traffic in the first place. According to him content of a website is what attracts customers like a gall of honey. After all people search the internet to gather information that holds the key to solve each of their particular problem. The website that contains rich information that pertains to the customer’s range of interest will be visited the most. This will eventually give the website a higher ranking in the search engine.
That’s why Ken Evoy prescribes that a website must be dedicated to a particular theme that focuses on those particular information and solution that most of the customers are searching for in relation to that theme. For this one must practice brainstorming on various topics that are both profitable as well as related to that theme. Eventually subscribe to those affiliate programs that are popular and has a high conversion to sales rate for each unit volume of traffic that drives into the merchant website. Just by having an assortment of affiliate websites or links in your theme based website will not convert traffic to sales. The website must have content that are customer-focused.
Without proper content it’s difficult to pre-sale to the customers by gaining their trust and confidence in your website. Once it’s established as a trustworthy website, it becomes easy to recommend various product and services,that you are confident will help to satisfy each of the potential customers, meeting their demands and fulfilling their desires. Next, according to Ken Evoy, we must build search engine optimized pages that rank highly on a search results page.
This is to gain higher ranking in the search engine pages that in due course would drive traffic to your website.
The ideal kind of website that generates revenue from affiliate related products are those which look for multiple streams of income. This should be in a manner that gives value to each of the visitors that click their way into your website, thereby generating revenue, without losing on any of the visitors. An ideal diversification can be feasible only when there is monetization by blending Google Adsense Program with a few top notch affiliate programs, which blends a finder’s fee with lead generation.
For Free Information - study the
Affiliate Master's Course- Highly Recommended.
Monday, November 27, 2006
The advantages of joining an affiliate program and how it’s beneficial to the affiliates.
Its become common knowledge amongst the internet surfers who scout for various avenues available to them, to make big money from the internet, that affiliate marketing is a wonderful concept that’s available for free, which are offered by the various merchant sites that want to expand their business globally, by recruiting online agents or affiliates, also called associates, who are willing to promote their products and services, in lieu of a hefty commission on the internet globally and offline locally. Most affiliate programs, without exception, are free to join, without any upfront fees that are to be paid by the willing affiliates, who volunteers to promote, not on salary terms or being in the payroll of the company, but as a commission agent. Affiliates do not have any legal tie up as in a partnership or a shareholders company. Its just a revenue sharing arrangement where neither party is a loser and both are declared joint winners.
Their relationship with the merchant site is limited to promoting the various tangible and intangible products or services on the net within the ambit of the terms and conditions that every affiliate has to subscribe to before they are accepted as affiliates by the merchant sites.
Let us take into account the advantages of joining an affiliate program before we discuss the technical nitty-gritty that goes into identifying each of the affiliates with their unique code and a link that’s used as a gateway, by the customers visiting the merchant website and which identifies the customers, preferably for lifetime, as the affiliates own customers because of a unique java script code, called cookies, that’s automatically embedded in the customers computer, each time they visit the parent merchant website and because of which the affiliate is paid a commission, every time its customer makes a purchase from the parent merchant website, even if the customers visit the merchant site directly or by bypassing the affiliates gateway link, perhaps using some other affiliates website/link.
First of all the affiliates and their parent merchant website offering the affiliate programs enjoy a symbiotic relationship without any monetary obligation, except for paying the commissions on time to the affiliates by the merchant site, whenever a sale is made, provided the affiliates has adhered to the terms and conditions of the merchant site, without having scammed or spammed to promote sales that puts the reputation of the merchant site at stake and which automatically nullifies the cordial affiliate or associate relationship that the affiliates enjoy with their merchant sites. Apart from the symbiotic, win-win relationship that they enjoy, we will further discuss the other advantages that are available to the
affiliates.
Affiliate programs are great ways to make money online, without having to own any products or services that you offer for sale. In fact it’s the best option available on the net to make millions of dollars, without having to spend a dime. All you are expected to do is promote the products and services, every single day. It also relieves you of the hassles of developing a product that’s tailor made to suit the clients that you wish them to buy from you for satisfaction, reliability and at a bargain price, that makes them return to you many times to look out for more products, which you need to keep developing if you do not wish to lose your business that has built a large and loyal customers nurtured over the years. As an affiliate you do not have to develop products, rather look for ones that are available on the internet and start promoting them as an affiliate to satisfy your hungry customers whom you have made your fans, like the film stars, and keep them happy with products that you promote to them, since they have begun to trust your choice and acumen of the products and services that you offer from your website.
Affiliate marketing is perhaps the best option available for anyone to do business on the internet. It’s especially good for those who are novice and do not have much of an idea how ecommerce actually works. No other program other than the affiliate marketing gives you a vast opportunity to sell any products or services not belonging to you, yet help you to make lots of money without having to invest anything other than your time and effort. It is not necessary to maintain an inventory or host an expensive website. The whole operation is online and automatic without you having to know about the nitty-gritty of Internet technology. All you need to do is promote on behalf of the merchant whose affiliate you have become. For every sale you make the merchant pays a commission to the affiliates. It’s not even necessary to have your own website initially, but preferable if you wish to make the mullah that you desperately seek to buy yourself your dream car or house, to promote your affiliate products. In fact all that you need to be saddled in these online affiliate marketing business is to have access to a computer, irrespective of which corner of the globe you are in, even while cruising on a ship mid ocean, as long as you are connected by internet to the rest of the world.
There is no capital outlay. It costs nothing and your obligation is virtually nil, when you join an affiliate program offered by a merchant. In fact you can start promoting and selling immediately after being approved for the program. The internet marketing tools are already provided for you by the merchant sites that are available readymade or if you are already an established super affiliate maybe you can have the promotion tools customized to your specifications.
One of the greatest responsibility and the problems associated with collection of money, from customers making a purchase using their credit card or through an intermediary that makes the payment on their behalf, is to maintain a proper record of the payments along with the names of the customers who makes the purchase, and the consequences of a chargeback from a disgruntled client who wishes to get back the refund. These problems and responsibility faced by a merchant site is missing in case of an affiliate. In fact the affiliate does not have to bother with the complex process that goes into acceptance of payments. Neither they have to cope with the problems of chargeback, scam or of losing a merchant account.
Whether you are a newbie to Internet or a proud owner of a website, affiliate programs are great opportunities for you to make money online. It is an interesting concept that allows affiliates to develop a source of income and the program owners to sell their products more effectively.
As an affiliate your job is to drive traffic to the program owner’s site. Once a potential customer visits the parent/owners website having used your specially coded unique affiliate code as a gateway, it becomes the responsibility of the merchant site and not yours to convert that visit to a potential sale that results in a transaction for which you are paid a commission in appreciation to your marketing promotion.
You get a commission from each sale made to a customer that originated from your marketing efforts.
Once you become interested in making money through affiliate programs and do some research you will come to know that there are many affiliates, who consistently make thousands of dollars month after month.
James Martell, who also wrote a handbook on affiliate marketing, claims that he makes over US$ 40K each month from his 30 over niche affiliate sites.
Phil Wiley lives in a remote area near Australia’s Great Barrier Reefs but it does not create any barrier for him to make a comfortable living from his online incomes.
Rosalind Gardner, author of the Super Affiliate Handbook, made over US $400,000 last year alone by promoting different affiliate programs.
In fact you don’t even require having an MBA to do business on the internet. Rosalind Gardner is a perfect example. She is a citizen of Canada, and before entering into online business, she worked for the government as an air traffic controller for twenty years. She doesn’t even hold an MBA degree, and had zero experience in online business. According to Rosalind, from 1997 to 2001 she was only promoting affiliate programs. She earned 100% income from the Internet alone, since 2000, when she quit her regular job. She has been making $30,000 to $50,000 (in US dollars) each and every month. Last year she made
$436,797,
($657,801 Canadian),by affiliating with Internet merchants and selling their products.
Rosalind Gardner’s affiliate sites have been so lucrative that they've been profiled in many venues. Interviews appear in the late Corey Rudl's, now Derek Gehl’s '
Secrets To Their Success', and Jason Anderson's 'Achieve Net Profits' as well as in glossy magazines such as 'Six Figure Income Magazine'.
Kevin Bidwell of
All-in-One Business has written about her affiliate marketing business success, as has Allan Gardyne of 'AssociatePrograms.com'.
For further study on the subject matter, its recommended that you refer the following sources:
1. Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online"
2.NetProfitsToday -
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