I don’t know why I’m sharing this as I’d like to be the lucky winner but… I just heard about a fantastic giveaway.
The Celtics are off to a flying start in this years NBA finals.
This has not stopped Mark Joyner backing the Lakers though.
In a bet with one of his team members, Bean, he has decided to give all of his courses away to over a 1000 people. You can check it out for yourself on his blog:
Opportunities like this are rare. I have many of his courses and they’re well worth the money but there are many that I have yet to invest in. Wouldn’t you like to get your hands on everything Mark Joyner has ever created? Even if you know nothing about basketball you can enter - just go with your gut. Mark is going with his and he may be wrong
One of the easiest ways to start earning online revenue, is to promote the products and resources developed by other people. Ideally you want to look for products that have an affiliate program so that you can earn a commission for your recommendation or review. I read an article last week by Derek Gehl where he talks about the four pillars of a succcessful affiliate website and have reposted it here for you.
4 Pillars of a Successful Affiliate Website
By Derek Gehl
Today I’d like to “bust” a certain affiliate marketing myth that’s been making the rounds since… well, since affiliate marketing started.
It goes something like this…
To be successful as an affiliate, just join any affiliate program, slap their banner ads onto a basic web page, and PRESTO, you’ve got an INSTANT web business that will make you money hand over fist!!
For the record, YES, you can make a LOT of money by marketing other peoples’ products on the Internet…
… but NO, affiliate marketing is NOT a shortcut to instant wealth!
As with any other online business, building a successful affiliate site still requires research, planning, and — here’s that four-letter word I keep insisting on using — work.
It’s like building a house. The more solid the foundation is, the morestable the entire structure will be!
So if you’re thinking of starting your own Internet business promoting affiliate products, here are four strategies you MUST follow to GUARANTEE you earn the maximum amount of commissions…
Strategy #1: Start By Finding A Niche Market
I’ve probably said this a million times, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face… Do NOT get started by choosing the affiliate program you want to join!
Most people who start affiliate sites make the mistake of picking the products they want to promote first, because:
they look fun to sell
they think people will want them
they offer the highest commissions
they assume the products must be profitable, because so many other people are promoting them.
Trust me, you won’t be doing yourself any favors.
You’ll end up working around the clock trying to drive qualified traffic to the site, and failing miserably (and you’ll likely drop a hefty chunk of change on pay-per-click ads in the process)!
So do your niche market research first…
What are your interests?
What kinds of problems are people going online to try to solve, within your areas of interest?
Which of these problems seem to be neglected by most of the sites out there?
Identify a group of people who are desperately trying to find something online without success — and then offer them that something. They’ll be sure to snap it up.
Strategy #2: Make Sure Your Products Are Relevant and Related
Nothing frustrates me more than seeing all of those affiliate sites out there with banner ads promoting everything from cheap holiday travel to pet health insurance, steak knives to Internet marketing tips…
… all from the SAME page!
I call them “flea market” sites, and they’re a complete waste of time!
Make sure that ANY products you promote are closely related to your niche, and closely related to each other!
Otherwise, you’ll struggle to find qualified traffic for your site, and you’ll have a heck of a time writing copy that directly relates to your visitors’ needs.
But worse, you’ll also risk hurting your credibility.
That’s because, rather than look like someone who has the interests of your visitors in mind, and really wants to help, you’ll look like someone who is out to sell anything to make a buck!
Strategy #3: Build A Strong Opt-In List, Then Establish Lasting Relationships With Your Subscribers
When you’re an affiliate marketer, email plays a BIG role in your ongoing promotion efforts.
So make sure you start with a strong opt-in offer containing truly useful free information that’s relevant to your visitors. Then, over time, continue to send even MORE free information, to start creating that bond.
The more you can PROVE to your opt-in list that you’re a reliable source of useful information… the more you can train your subscribers to look forward to hearing from you… the more successful you’ll be!
Not only will you build a rapport with your subscribers, you’ll establish yourself as an expert in your field, making it easy to recommend your products, which brings us to my final affiliate strategy…
Strategy #4: Personally Recommend Your Products For Maximum Conversions
If you were in the market for a new television, would you be more inclined to purchase a particular model because you saw an ad for it on tv, or because a friend that you trusted recommended that you buy it?
You’d likely go with the recommendation, right?
And most people would…
… which is why plunking down a bunch of affiliate banners or links in a website, and then hoping that someone – anyone — will decide to click on them, is NOT going to make sales.
Remember, you’ve been building relationships with your customers through email marketing… they trust you… they view you as an expert… so now they’re open to your opinion.
Take advantage of that to TELL them about the products they should consider purchasing… and why they should own them.
They’ll actually appreciate the recommendations, and as a result, your conversion rates will soar!
While affiliate marketing isn’t the “magic bullet” that will let you enjoy instant success online, it IS possible to earn substantial profits promoting other peoples’ products…
… If you do this:
Start by clearly defining your market, and then build an information-rich website that your audience will WANT to visit. Be sure ONLY to include products that are relevant, and take advantage of your site to build your credibility and establish yourself as an expert.
At the same time, be sure to build a large list of qualified subscribers, and take advantage of email marketing to both build lasting relationships, and promote your products.
With the right planning and research — and a reasonable amount of effort — you’ll be well on your way to a successful website recommending affiliate products.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he’s used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://tinyurl.com/55tzgb
I’m a fingerstyle guitar enthusiast! So much so that I volunteer to write the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar weekly newsletter. I’ll post my articles here for your musical pleasure. Be sure to check us out online at http://www.fingerstyleguitar.ca
As you read above, the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Assoication is hosting a fundraiser in support of the Toronto Chapter of Guitars Not Guns. But our participation does not stop there. Our very own Randy Finney is involved as volunteer teacher and we’d like to encourage our members to consider volunteering (more info at http://www.guitarsnotguns.org/Volunteer.html).
Why? Getting involved as a volunteer teacher or mentor in an organization like Guitars Not Guns is one of the most important things you can do.
All the successful people I have ever known have had a mentor at some point in their life, someone who taught them and encouraged them to take risks with new experiences. I owe a great deal to the mentors in my life , both personal and professional.
I’ve also worked closely with kids as a mentor. Here’s a bit of history: I spent my high school and university years working as a mentor in an Integrated Arts program (music, dance and drama). When I work with kids, I use just one basic principle: I never do anything for them that they could do for themselves. I act as a resource and work to wake kids up to their passions. I cannot give them passion, and I do not give them any answers. They must find passion and answers themselves.
When working with kids, I focus on answering these questions:
What do you want?
What do you have?
What do you need?
Where are you going to get it?
What will you do with it?
What do you want? What someone wants is a good indicator of who they are as an individual. This is where creating passion comes in. It is the passion to get what you want, and to learn and create that motivates people. By finding out what songs kids want to learn to play, and then supporting them in every way possible, you can facilitate their own learning process.
What do you have? Determining strengths, talents and skills, whether you’re working alone or in a group, is the launch pad for all discovery. Knowing what you have is key to knowing what you need.
What do you need? An important step in learning is determining the gap between the resources and information you already have (Can they read music or tab? Do they know basic chords? Have they heard of any of the fingerstyle greats?) and those that you need to complete the task. A good mentor can accommodate different learning styles and abilities. The self-directed learners take off at their own pace, once they’ve been given a start. The ones that need a little or a lot of coaching get what they need because the mentor has time to give it.
Where are you going to get it? Once you know what you have and know what you need, the next task is to figure out how to access the resources that you need. If you’re mentoring a group, often, the information is there in the group. Who knows how to play the chords to the song Jimmy wants to learn? Can you show us? Who can read tab? Great! How did you learn it? By asking and learning from each other, kids develop trust and confidence. With this confidence, they find it easier to admit that they don’t know all the answers, and easier to approach other sources outside the group for help. This gives them great self-assurance and leads them to try an even bigger project next time. Every time they take on a new challenge, they learn something about the world and about themselves.
What will you do with it? Now that you have all the skills and have worked to learn new ones, what will you do with your new found talents? I mentored around the arts, helping kids become passionate about music and performing. Performance changes you. It is one of the milestones of life that I think everyone should experience. Practice is fine, but actually getting up and demonstrating what you have learned, is a life-changing experience.
The more performance opportunities we create for kids, the more we help them find what they want, the more they will change, grow and take responsibility for their own lives.
If you’re interested in becoming involved with Guitars Not Guns as a volunteer teacher, please contact Eric Lea 416-726-0759.
Those of you who know what my full-time gig is, know that I support a pretty dynamic online entrepreneur. I run his online business and this summer, he’s taking a much needed break and has left me “in charge” of his business. I have a list of broadcasts and projects to complete and I’m sure I’ll come up with my own list of improvements now that there’s time to get through them. I really take care of Frederic Patenaude’s business, almost as if it were my own.
The reason I’m sharing this with you is not to try to show off or make you jealous of Frederic’s success. It’s because I know you too can create the vision you want in your life and business, and step right into it.
It may not be the same as Frederic’s, it may be very different, but if you know what it is… you can make it happen.
Years ago, Frederic realized that his vision would look like this:
I’m sitting at a table, looking at the ocean, working on my laptop and enjoying the tropical breezes and enjoying fresh tropical fruits from my own trees.
I knew from the start that I wanted a business that allowed me to travel. A business that I could take anywhere, that I could be managing from anywhere with just a laptop computer and an Internet connection.
Knowing that it was my vision… I worked at creating it. I made sure that I didn’t spend time shipping books or dealing with lots of employees or staff. In fact, I haven’t put a book in an envelope in several years, as all of that work is now done by a third-party company.
If you want to create the life you want, you have to start by knowing what you want.
In Frederic’s course, “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement,” he spends a great deal of time on helping you define your vision, and making sure you’re clear about what it is, so you can make it happen.
The course isn’t just about “Making a Living”, it’s truly about creating the life of your dreams. He’s distilled all of the information that he’s learned into the most important
factors and action steps.
All it takes for you to create the life of your dreams is to get started, with the right knowledge and tools. And this is exactly what Frederic is offering.
50 students only will be able to take the course this time around. To sign up, just go to: http://tinyurl.com/3wssdg
PS: The course is not just a bunch of information thrown together. It’s a SYSTEM that you can use to make a GREAT living doing what you love, and generate revenues while you sleep. It’s about creating the life you want, and for that you get a step-by-step approach and checklists that literally make it impossible to fail. But it takes some
action on your part to make it happen. Go and get it: http://tinyurl.com/3wssdg
It’s been a while since I shared anything musical here. A buddy of mine, David Barrett, is having a CD release party to support the release of his new CD “Impostor” If you’re in the Toronto area, be sure to mark this date on your calendar:
“Impostor” CD Release Party The Gibson Guitar Artists Showroom 1205 King Street West Thursday June 26, 2008 Doors at 8pm Show at 9pm
$5 for members of the TFGA, $10 for non-members
If you’ve never seen David play, you’re missing one of the hidden talents in Toronto. Come check him out on Thursday, June 26th.
This is perhaps one of my favorite traffic generating tips - mainly because I LOVE to write! If your newsletter is interesting and relevant to your audience, you’ll get lots of viral traffic because one subcriber will pass it on to another. It doesn’t matter what day you publish on or how frequently (or infrequently) just start publishing one today. In fact, ask a question at http://www.myvirtualpartner.com/askdeborah.html and I’ll send you my guide to publishing a profitable eZine — FREE!
By Deborah Carraro with special thanks to Yaro Stark
I’ll be honest, I have a personal bias towards this service. Many of my clients use it but more than that, I use it in my business. As an online business manager, I’ve worked with many clients who use different tools. I’ve had a chance to work with other systems and 1ShoppingCart wins hands down when it comes to meeting their needs.
1ShoppingCart: If you have an online business, one of the most important tools you’ll need is a shopping cart. You can find all kinds of shopping carts with a wide range of features at a wide range of prices.
Yaro Stark reviewed 1ShoppingCart a few years ago so I wil post his review here:
Let me start out by saying I was very excited when I first started my 30 day free trial of 1ShoppingCart. I logged in and was blown away with the potential - the possibilities - my young Internet marketer’s brain started churning away thinking about the products I could launch and all the cool things I could do to market them, all through 1ShoppingCart.
The problem, which I must admit even as I write this is still a problem, is that I didn’t have any of my own products to sell! However I signed up for 1ShoppingCart because I was looking for an email autoresponder to start managing my Business client lists with and I figured since my path was taking me down the Internet marketers road then no doubt I would make use of the rest of the 1ShoppingCart features eventually.
What Does 1ShoppingCart Actually Do?
Okay, let’s cut to the chase - what can you actually do with 1ShoppingCart?
Online Commerce
First, the obvious - it’s a Shopping Cart - which means you can set up products for sale and copy and paste forms into your website to set up a fully functional ecommerce system. 1ShoppingCart works with a whole range of payment processing providers including the ever popular Paypal and 2Checkout, so you shouldn’t have too much difficulty setting things up to start taking orders.
The actual shopping cart module in 1ShoppingCart is quite robust and you can stipulate all the tiny details about your products, including shipping, taxes, recurring payments, commissions for affiliates, landing page, thank you page - everything! I feel comfortable telling you that almost any product will work fine with 1ShoppingCart. There is a learning curve though and I was certainly intimidated initially looking at all the customization options, but the 1ShoppingCart team provide a ton of help files and videos. It’s all very intuitive and after the initial set-up and I doubt you will need to make very many changes again.
Client Management
1ShoppingCart is not a CRM system but it does have a fairly standard client database management system. You can see which autoresponder clients are on, search the database by different fields, import and export client lists and all the rudimentary features you would expect. It’s not exactly a relational database, so beyond seeing which autoresponder clients are on you won’t be able to do much analyses, but it does the job well enough for a small online business.
Email Autoresponder
1ShoppingCart has a very good email autoresponder. It is a little bit clunky compared to the dedicated email autoresponder providers I have used but it’s not really a fair comparison since 1SoppingCart isn’t *just* an autoresponder. The fact that you can plug it straight into the shopping cart and affiliate management system is fantastic and if you plan to need all these features I would strongly recommend choosing 1ShoppingCart. As I have recently discovered it’s damn hard to integrate different third party providers if you want to have different companies handle your email autoresponder, shopping cart and affiliate system - at the moment it’s not really possible at any price even close to what 1ShoppingCart charges.
The 1ShoppingCart email autoresponder will do exactly what all good autoresponders do - you can set up a sequence of emails to go out at set time intervals. You can automatically move clients from one autoresponder to the next as they take different actions, for example from the “prospects” email list to the “clients” email list once they make a purchase.
Top Internet marketers have been using the 1ShoppingCart email autoresponder for many years. That was the original reason I chose 1ShoppingCart. When I saw at the end of emails from Alex Mandossian and Perry Marshall (etc) that they were using using 1ShoppingCart - that was all the recommendation I needed.
Affiliate Management
Here is one of the areas 1ShoppingCart really excels. The affiliate module, while once again a bit daunting at first to comes to grips with, provides a powerful suite of options that even a single individual can make use of to manage their entire affiliate system. I know many online marketers who use the system to affiliate sell their products.
In a nutshell the affiliate module allows you to take on affiliates, manage them, and set up promotional tools for them to use to promote your products. You can set up banners, text links and the usual range of affiliate resources. You can also customize the look and feel of the affiliate area and brand it with your own custom logo in the header (etc).
For me the best feature of the affiliate program is the fact that you can integrate it with the autoresponder module. That means that you can seamlessly use your affiliates to build your email lists, pay them commissions on sales and keep everything all in one place in a nice and tidy interface. There aren’t many other services out there that can boast this feature at the price 1ShoppingCart charges.
Other Features
I’ve covered the main features and now I’ll just briefly mention what else 1ShoppingCart can do. It has a solid ad tracking system which you can use to track and split test any online advertising campaigns using media such as text links and banners. It has a custom form builder which you can use to create the input forms for your customers and email list subscribers to join or purchase from. There is also a pop-up generator which you can use to have an input form pop-up on your website.
Most of these features are available in other places, for example Google has a fairly reasonable ad tracker in it’s Google AdWords program which is handy because you can use it alongside your AdWords PPC campaigns to test PPC against other online advertising media. The thing with 1ShoppingCart is once again, it’s all integrated in the one place, so when you combine ad tracking with email autoresponders and affiliate promotions you have a pretty powerful set of tools for optimizing your online sales process.
The Good, The Bad and…Well that’s it!
The only problem with 1ShoppingCart is that it does a lot. It’s a complex system that requires some learning to get the most out of, but as I stated there are plenty of help files and audio and video teaching tools too. One potential risk with a “jack-of-all-trades” service like 1ShoppingCart is that the individual modules may fall behind in overall features and quality when compared to specialist providers, which is the argument you could use when comparing the AWeber email autoresponder to 1ShoppingCart. However the gap is not that big and if you do want the extra features 1ShoppingCart wins hands down.
And herein lies the true strength of 1ShoppingCart…There is no other completely integrated set of tools like it for the online marketer. It really is the “marketer’s choice” when it comes to selling goods online. If you know how to make use of all the bells and whistles, you actually have a need for all the bells and whistles or you plan to in the near future, it is actually mind-boggling to think about how truly powerful 1ShoppingCart is.
That being said - for me, it’s too much right now so I don’t need to spend the monthly fee for all those bells and whistles. If you are in the same situation and you really only need a shopping cart or perhaps an autoresponder there may be cheaper alternatives. However if you plan to grow, which I am sure you do, and no doubt will eventually need an affiliate module, ad tracking and all the other features then perhaps starting out day one with 1ShoppingCart will save you from the pain and anguish if you have to later move your email lists and client database into 1ShoppingCart.
Get It Now!
The best thing about 1ShoppingCart is that you can try it for a 30 trial period so you can make the choice whether it is right for you after actually playing with it. You can sign up right now from here: 1ShoppingCart or MarketersChoice.
I hope that helps with your decision making and good luck with your online business.
Good fit for:
online entrepreneurs with funds for an email marketing budget
email marketers who want to send a weekly newsletter or broadcast
online business owners who want to automate their sales process
anyone looking to emulate the best practices of established internet marketers by using the same systems they use
anyone who needs to integrate a shopping cart with autoresponder follow up messages
internet marketers who hope to have affiliate or JV partners
Coming next week: 1ShoppingCart’s competition
Get It Now!: From A to eZine: The Complete Guide To Publishing A Profitable eZine.
A complete step-by-step guide to designing, delivering and building a targetted ezine. It is written in a simple, every day language that everyone can understand.
You’ll learn:
instantly double your subscription rate by using one simple technique.
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and more!
But wait! I need your help. Tell me your answer to the question below and I’ll send you a copy of my eBook FREE!
Submit Your Replies:And receive my eBook NOW! Click here now.
WANT TO ADD THESE ARTICLES IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Deborah Carraro is a succcessful online entrepreneur who got her start in the Inner Circle of many of the top Online Entrepreneurs today and is now sharing their business blueprints & online secrets with you. You can get a free subscription to her “Partner for Profits ” ezine by visiting www.myvirtualpartner.com
I just wanted to let you know that one of my colleagues is releasing a multi-media edition of his course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement”.
Check it out and sign up for a free newsletter, the “Do What You Love E-mail Tips” at:
PS: The world needs more people like you, doing what they love. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself and the world.
If you’ve been wondering how you too can “live the dream”, from anywhere you want in the world, and at the same time help a lot of people, then make sure you take 15 minutes today to read this page: http://tinyurl.com/3wssdg
Go and create the life you want.
PPS: If you do not make it as one of the first 30 students, you can still sign up for my regular “Do What You Love” e-mail updates and tips, which can be found at this page: http://tinyurl.com/3wssdg
