Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Daily Internet Marketing News
Get your daily dose of internet marketing news and press releases in one site. It’s like PR web focused just on internet and affiliate marketing. New web sites, seo software, keyword software and marketing materials and software are all covered.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Free Internet Marketing Course: Lesson 5, A Personal Money Making Story
How I made $7,000 in November of 2006 Without Spending a Cent on Advertising
Six months ago I wouldn’t have even dreamed about writing this article, but since the dramatic changes in the legalities of online gambling, I am able to write this without fear of hurting my own income. This is because, in part, of my inability to continue to generate an income. Online gambling, you see, is a dead fish. Well, at least in North America, where the governments have made transferring money to online casino’s illegal.
I started by negotiating a generous CPA rate of $150 per referral. This meant that, for every referral I sent which deposited $50 or more, I was paid $150. Since I demand at least a 100% return on my investment, I was willing to spend $75 per referral. I would up spending a paltry $50 for the entire month, while making over $7,000 in total commission!
Once I had negotiated by CPA rate, I then focused on how I was going to generate the referrals. I chose to open a poker tips website, knowing that I would have some heavy competition. However, I knew that I was just starting, and that it takes time to run with the big dogs. My website, which is now offline, was very simple: the main landing page welcomed the visitor and directed them to three other pages: Basic Hold’Em Strategies, the Art of Bluffing, and Top Places to Play.
Each page had several references to the online casino I was an affiliate for, though I did so through the use of text promotion- no banner or image ads here. I went for a passive approach, using phrases like “When playing at AFF LINK, be sure to watch the timing bar at the bottom of the screen”- these were innocent and passive in nature, yet induced the curiosity needed for the user to click on the link.
The page that brought in the money was the “Places to Play” page, and it did this through three different approaches:
1. First, I wrote a review of the casino I was an affiliate for. I kept it as brutally honest as possible, highlighting the flaws and commending the positive attributes. Since I don’t promote shady or poor products, the review was a positive one.
Throughout the review, I had my affiliate link plugged nearly every time the casino name was mentioned. I also had it in the main title, and that was the link that most people clicked.
2. Second, I talked about why they should play poker at my recommended casino. I didn’t just mention it because it was a good casino to play at. I mentioned the extremely reliable software, in-house payment processor (which meant reliable payouts), multi-national user base (for more potential winners), generous deposit bonuses, high end security, and overall reliability of the casino. I did all of this without sounding like a salesmen, but rather as one friend recommending a good movie to another friend.
3. Third, I mentioned the applicable deposit bonus via my affiliate link. I referred to my affiliate link as a “promotional” link, and I made the point that users coming from my webpage were eligible for a special deposit bonus. This wasn’t a lie- I talked with my affiliate manager and arranged an exclusive $25 deposit bonus on top of the existing bonuses for my referrals. It was nothing big, but it made me unique and gave me an edge.
I then began to promote myself via article marketing, releasing opinion articles about poker and other games. I began to receive around 50 uniques a day, and though this isn’t a lot of traffic, it is highly targeted. My conversion ratio was around 1:80, which is pretty high for online casino’s. I never had to do major volume simply because I was being paid $150 per referral.
The site was growing, though the laws in North America changed and forced me to shut down. The lesson that I learned remains, however, and the marketing techniques still hold true. The website that I had was a quality, high-content page that offered a lot to the user. And, if 1 in 80 of them converted, they offered a lot to me.
It just goes to show that a little bit of creativity and a lot of hard work can yield amazing results. Now, go out and generate the same kind of success with your websites, whatever they may be.
Free Internet Marketing Course: Lesson 4, Internet Marketing As A Business
Internet Marketing as a Business: A Brief Rundown On What It All Means.
Every morning I wake up, sit down in front of my computer, and read about what’s going on around the world. I make myself a coffee (a nice dark roasted blend tickles my fancy), and while I am enjoying the aroma of it brewing, I check my affiliate stats. I make sure that I’m still making money, I check to ensure that I haven’t accidentally spent a small fortune on advertising, and I see if I have any new e-mails. Lately, this has been my business.
My computer was bought and paid for by my company, and half of my mortgage is paid for as well. In fact, if you were to look at my income from a business point of view, you would see that I am really just a salaried employee of my own company. However, when your company is an online one, it sure is dandy to have it pay the mortgage.
The fact is that anyone can turn a part-time internet marketing jaunt into an extremely lucrative full-time career. It doesn’t involve smoke, mirrors, or magic tricks, but rather a good amount of work and equal that in foresight. Being able to see where your business will be at the end of the year is a great way to determine whether or not it is worth pursuing. In my case, I knew that my internet career would take off, and I dedicated myself to it.
This business is like all business, only with one major difference: it’s still so new that many people haven’t realized its full potential. While traditional entrepreneurs are pouring all of their money into brick and mortar businesses, internet entrepreneurs are establishing online strongholds that are designed to generate thousands of dollars per month in cash flow. For someone like me, who works from home, running an online business is a fun and exciting experience. That’s not to say, however, that it is painless and trouble free.
Far from it, in fact. Online business is still business, and you still need to dedicate your time and energy. You need to set up websites and marketing strategies that can become and remain profitable, and just like a brick and mortar business, you need to find a way to balance out your expenses and your profits. If you made $100,000 in revenue but spent $99,000 to get it, you only walk away with $1,000 at the end of the day.
But the dream is still there, and for the first time ever, anyone in the world can cash in. Some of my fiercest competition comes from Singapore, India, and Europe. I’m not just competitng with Sal’s General Store down the street; my competition lives the same way that I do: with the sole intention of dominating the online economy.
And you know what, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Free Internet Marketing Course: Lesson 3, High Volume vs High Profit Sales
High Profit or High Volume – What do I do?
If you are a new affiliate, you may find yourself barraged with a million and one different products to promote. In the last several years, the number of products that operate with affiliate networks has grown exponentially. In fact, it’s hard to find a vendor that doesn’t offer some type of affiliate system. Unfortunately, many of these programs are geared toward established affiliates with tons of traffic and large bankrolls.
If that isn’t you, and your wallet does have a lining, what is the right product to promote- a high profit, low volume product or a low profit, high volume product?
It Comes Down to Personality
There’s no set answer. In fact, it depends entirely on what you are prepared to do. If your goal is to develop a long-term, high profit series of websites, starting off with a higher payout may make your long term goals easier to reach. However, it can be said with an almost 100% degree of certainty that those higher payouts mean that the customer has to commit more, be it financially or personally, and that makes the conversion harder to make.
A lower payout product usually requires very little from the customer, making it easier for you to convert a visitor into a lead or sale. For someone who doesn’t have the time, effort, or bankroll to hold out for the long term, this may be an excellent way to start earning an income. Someone, such as myself, who can convince nearly anyone to enter their e-mail into a $1.60/lead e-mail submit may do incredibly well, and perhaps generate 100 or more leads per day. However, if you are able to show the benefits of applying for a mortgage (with a $17/lead payout), you may only need to generate 10 leads a day to develop a nice income
The reality is that it is still anyones game, and that there are no set methods that will guarantee success or failure. If your ultimate goal is high volume, high profit, you are going to have to master both the art of traffic generation and the art of sales.
High Profit, No Volume
Many people claim to be earning an income without any serious web traffic. For an affiliate set in their ways, this may seem like blasphemy. However, it does happen. It’s called “timing”, and it can make you quite a bit of money.
What do I mean by “timing”? Just as it sounds, timing your promotional methods just right can be the difference between $10,000 in profit and $1,000 in profit. For example, if Shrek 3 is coming out in a month, now would be an excellent time to start promoting an offer that is selling Shrek memorabilia. Once the market becomes saturated, pull your promotions and move on to the next market.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which method you follow: making money is making money. If you can do it now, you’ll be laughing down the road.
Free Internet Marketing Course: Lesson 2 - Good vs Bad Marketers
Three Points that Separate a Good Marketer from a Bad One
New internet marketers often find themselves immersed in a world that can provide so much opportunity and money that they quickly become scatterbrained. What product do I promote? What web host do I use? What type of marketing do I employ? What the heck is a “SEO”? The questions are numerous in quantity, and they are never ending. I can recall many a night spent awake, trying my hardest to figure out a way to sell those $101 per referral hosting accounts.
The list below has a few qualities that separate successful internet marketers from ones that are ultimately doomed to fail. However, before you read that list, you need to focus on one question: am I really going to give this 110% of my effort, or am I just looking for the easy way out?
A good internet marketer will be constantly learning. A bad internet marketer will stick to techniques and niches that are long outdated. Always try to be reading or hearing about new marketing techniques and methods; stay on top of your game, and associate with individuals that are aiming to do the same.
Remember when PPC first launched? I can recalled making thousands simply by sending a visitor straight to the merchants landing page. Costs were low, and profits were high. Now, however, you can’t even break even without developing a landing website to maximize conversions. Yet, there are still thousands of affiliates that send expensive PPC traffic straight to the merchant. Don’t let that be you.
A good internet marketer offers substance, value, and reason. When a visitor goes to one of your websites, give them a reason as to why they should commit to the action that you want them to. If it’s signing up for a new hosting account, show them why they would want to do so. Perhaps the host that you are promoting doesn’t control bandwidth, or maybe they offer incredibly large hosting packages. In either case, you want the visitor to know that what they are seeing is worth their time (and money).
Promoting a product that offers them nothing other than hopes and dreams is a fast way to lose potential sales. Read your website, and as you are reading, ask yourself: is there any reason for someone to actually do what I want them to? If you can’t honestly answer that question, you need to think about a new copy or a new product to promote.
A good internet marketer sticks to what’s right. There may be times in your online career that you will be presented with opportunities to monetize in ways that aren’t necessarily ethically or morally correct. Sure, you might make a few bucks in the short term, but you will only be hurt in the long term. Your reputation, as well as ability to bring in quality traffic, will make or break you when it comes to internet marketing.
Stay away from shady or morally challenging scenarios. Stick to what’s legal, ethical, and moral. Karma has a way of biting affiliates in the butt.
At the end of the day, the message here is simply that you need to stay on top of your game and never let your guard down. Always be watching, and always be ready to capitalize when the moment strikes. Good luck!
Free Internet Marketing Course: Lesson 1, eBooks – What were they, anyway?
eBooks – What were they, anyway?
A few years ago something tragic happened to internet marketing: someone figured out that they could sell “get rich quick” eBooks. These eBooks, which range in both quality and price, have sold like hot-cakes. In fact, many entrepreneurs have made their living selling these eBooks- it has become a very lucrative market for both the authors as well as their affiliates.
These eBooks were both a scam and a life-changing experience, depending on how you looked at them. For someone looking to make easy money, they never were able to fulfill their promises (after all, making money online isn’t a cakewalk). However, for someone who needed a motivational kick in the pants to get their own online marketing started, it was just the jump start they needed. Many people, such as myself, found their true calling after purchasing one of these eBooks- online marketing has never been the same.
Content?
The major flaw that these eBooks had was that the content within them, the very material that people had paid upwards of $50 for, was usually short and accessible freely elsewhere. This resulted in a very dramatic shift in attitude by their customers: what was once an ignorant or hopeful client was now a dissatisfied, angry individual. After all, paying $50 for a shell of an eBook can be a very frustrating experience.
Often, the authors themselves had written the book in a poor or inconsistent manner, resulting in a product that was both unprofessional and frustrating to read. The result was a myriad of half-informed “affiliates” that would scour the internet, purchasing eBook after eBook, hoping to find something that would offer valuable information. In essence, an entirely new economy was created- one that was both lucrative and incestuous.
The Results
The massive success of these eBooks resulted in many people (the ones that were cashing in on the sales) proclaiming themselves to be online marketing “guru’s”, declaring their expertise and experience in the field. The reality is that web marketing is still in its infancy, and no one person could ever claim to have a complete grasp on everything- there’s just too much to know and too much to learn.
These guru’s all share a relatively similar client base: people that are looking for the easy way to make money online. What these people don’t realize is that these eBook authors put hundreds of hours into their creation, but not on the actual product. Instead, all of the time is dedicated to building and hyping the product, creating a website that is optimized for sales, as well as developing an extensive newsletter list that will provide multiple sales in the future.
So the reality then sinks in: these eBook authors were not scam artists, but rather purveyors of a rather expensive lesson. Think outside the box, and think outside the eBook.
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