THE AFFILIATE ROCKSTAR RECOMMENDS

Hey again,

Here’s the thing. I get a heap of emails from people ( I send quite a few too) from people asking me the question we all ask ourselves one time or another.

“Can I really make money online ?” There are so many choices out there for people to purchase something, anything, their heart desires. So, why out of all these choices should someone purchase anything from you ?

Let me take a step back for a second. The main reason I fell into online marketing was mainly because at the time I was researching the net to supplement my offline business activities. It was during my research I stumbled upon what is commonly referred to as internet marketing.

This opened up a whole new world for me, so much so my online activities are on par with my offline business interests. To be a success online or offline for that matter there are a couple of key points to consider.

1. What should I sell ?

2. Where do I sell it ?

3. Why should people buy it from/through me as oppossed to Joe Blow ?

Today I am going to concentrate mostly on point 3.

When I asked myself these questions, I decided to stick with what I believed was both a hungry market and a niche that I could add value to. Information products.

I also wasn’t technically proficient enough to make my own so I decided that affiliate marketing was the thing for me. As you probably already know, you dont hold stock, there is no major financial outlay and all you do is promote other people’s products. When they buy you get a commission.

So where do I sell and promote these items from ? Well a number of areas but you are on the main one. MY BLOG. It is cheap to run, my most regular expense being hosting. The company I use, Hostgator charges me $7.95 per month for thousands of people to see what I have to say and promote.

(By the way if you want to check them out Go Here, they are great to work with and very flexible.)

The next question is why should people buy anything from you ? As I said earlier there are millions of websites on the net and alot of them sell the same thing. Some will be cheaper, some won’t. Some will be better, some won’t.

The key is “GIVE THEM A REASON TO BUY FROM YOU” You need to think like a customer would in the “real world” and offer extreme value above and beyond the product itself you are selling. Just because we all get to hide behind keyboards and computer screens here does not mean for a second that you should not provide both high levels of customer service and accessability.

The idea is essentially to provide real value, copy the masters. You do not need to re-invent the wheel, just get it to suit your needs. The most successful internet and affiliate marketers offer bonuses for purchasing a product or program from them. Buy one get one free, extra coaching, webinars. In fact anything of extra value that will compliment the product you are selling or trying to promote. It is no longer good enough for you to have a website with a heap of product and buy now buttons.

Think about it. You walk into Athletes Foot, you know you want running shoes, but there are sooo many to choose from. You also know you can get the same pair at 10 other sports stores. Do you go up to the wall take the shoe up to the counter and say I will take these, or do you check the price, find out if there are any bonuses anywhere (buy one get one free for example) and see if the salesperson is knowledgable enough about what suits you, and then on that recommendation buy them.

Or, have you ever bought a product because a friend recommended it? Or at least someone you trust who knows what they are talking about and wont rip you off.

Alternatively, do you have a favourite restaurant? Somewhere you go often. We all do. What makes you go back ? There are millions of restaurants to choose from. Is it the food ? The customer service ? The decor? All of the above ? Make your visitors want to come back, not by tricks or false promises of untold wealth, but genuine and consistent information that makes the experience of them having visited you, better for them, than you.

You need to stand out from the crowd and give people a reason to buy from you. Go above and beyond, add value to the browsing experience.

“If you give people what they want, you will inevitably get what you want”
If you want to check out a fantastic system that all the super affiliates use to get people to buy from them Check out CB Bonus Domination 2.0 It will automate the whole process for you. Its kick ass and well worth a look.

Check it out here CB Bonus Domination 2.0

To your success

Scott

Welcome to Funny Friday.

Take a break from work and get ready for the weekend, with these hilarious reporter bloopers. This will be a regular feature at The Affiliate Rockstar, so make sure you come back every Friday (at least haha)

P.S. Warning, there may be a few minor swear words, so if that’s not your thing, that’s cool, just check out what else we have to offer.

Have a great weekend

Scott

On a hot Sunday afternoon, which would you rather order? Coca Cola, or XYZ Sweet Soda? The answer is as clear as it is universal. The more established brand would be chosen almost every time.

This is why branding is very important in building a home business. Cyberspace is fueled by information, and information travels fast. Everything on the Internet is delivered with digital speed. Competitions would sprout from out of nowhere on a daily basis. The only way to contend is by beating them to the punch when it comes to consumer recall, and this can be done through effective branding.

The internet is a massive beast and people can get their information and purchases from many,many resources. YOU need to stand out from the crowd and be memorable. YOU need to be instantly recognizable to any potential customer. Do you really see McDonald’s as just another burger joint ?

In building a home Internet business, much care and attention must be given to your enterprise’s name. It is the means by which people would refer to it, after all. Once a name has been decided on, the next logical step would be to build on that brand and expose it to as many people as possible.

Building a brand, and consequently, building an online presence, can be as fast or as meticulously slow as you want it to be. As we’ve mentioned earlier, everything on cyberspace is faster, and this includes branding your home business. But you also proceed at your own pace, and in the process, giving your market the impression that you’re emphasizing quality over popularity.

Here are some branding techniques you could use to help you in building a home Internet business:

* Always use your name. A lot of people are hesitant about online transactions. Giving them your real name would be taken as an invitation for their trust. Additionally, your name would give them something to remember you by.

* Article marketing can help in branding you as an expert on the subject you wrote about. And you being a representation of your enterprise, will in turn help in branding and building a home Internet business.

* Consider crafting a logo during the planning stages in building your business. Visual representations are sometimes easier to remember than written words.

* Build relationships. Relationships would help you achieve a level of credibility and reliability. Additionally, those whom you have befriended would be more than willing to give a good word about you, either in private correspondences with their own network, or publicly by giving you a testimonial for your products or services.

* Provide bonuses and excellent after-sales services. These value added attractions would make your clients feel special, and they would remember you well because of it. Consider this detail in building an online business.

* Publish your own eZine. Having a constant medium through which your thought and your business messages can be conveyed would be a fantastic vehicle in building your brand.

These are but some of the more popular ways of branding, as utilized by veteran Internet marketers. It would serve you well if you’d follow their footsteps and give a good start in building an Internet business that would be remembered for a long, long time.

Learn the story of one of the best exponents of internet marketing business branding. Check it out here

Your Opt In list is the life-blood of your business. What better way can there be than having thousands of people to market to every month for ‘Zero Cost’. A valuable customer list is the most important aspect of any business, online or off.

Here are some killer examples for you to gain more subscribers:

1. Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse.

“I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse”. Remember that saying? The first step to consider is what to offer your subscribers. Find out what people want and create a free product, ebook or report around that topic.

…Offer people what they want and they will not ignore your message.

2. Writing Compelling Articles and Reports.

Write and submit articles to ‘article directories’ with a compelling resource box at the end of your report. If you have a website about Dog’s, you could write a report called “How To Train You Dog In 7 Easy Steps, Without Hiring a Pro-fessional Dog Trainer”. Then you just add a compelling resource box at the end.  This is by far the best way to grow your opt in list.

3. Posting To Online Forums.

This is a great way to get recognised. Actively participating in online forums and message boards will build credibility for you around your chosen subject. Just make sure you always post your signature at the bottom of the posting or report, with a link to your newsletter address and or signup email.

To build up more interest you could write a ‘3-day’ course on your chosen subject and submit ‘day-1’ to the online forums. All you do to build up anticipation is this:

At the bottom of your post in you signature or a P.S you can add the following:

To get ‘day-2’ of this special report, please send a blank email to: yournewsletter@yourautoresponder.com - This points to your newsletter with ‘day 2’ preloaded to send out.

You get the idea.. This builds great anticipation and will generate a lot of interest. Just make sure your initial report is compelling enough for them to want the second edition.

4. Run a Reward Scheme To Existing Subscribers.

If you have an existing list of over 500 subscribers, you could send out an announcement to them saying that you are running a special promotion for the next 30 days, and you are going to offer them a reward for sending you the most subscribers.

You could send them a cash bonus or a free program at the end of the month. This can all be tracked by simple affiliate script software.

5. Submit To Ezine Publishers.

There will be many existing email list owners on your chosen topic. You could approach them and ask politely to use your article in their ezine.

Publishers are always on the lookout for new content to send to their lists. Don’t forget the resource box to sign up for your ezine.

If you write them an email, just follow these points and they should have no reason to reject your offer.

a. Subscribe to their ezine for a couple of editions and get to know the way they do things.
b. When your report is ready, email them with a positive comment about their newsletter.
c. Make sure you article or report is helpful and ask them to publish it in their ezine.
d. In return offer them something for free. Ie. A report you have written around that chosen topic.

As long as your report is useful and you approach them politely and positively, you should be able to get your article published in various ezines. This is a killer way to get more subscribers to your opt in list.

Go on then, get started !

Scott

When people decide to join an affiliate program to make extra money, or to have a full time job, they often do so with illusions and no idea of how the affiliate program actually works. Read the following top 5 mistakes people make when it comes to choosing an affiliate program and avoid these mistakes at all costs. Then, you will be able to be more effective and make more money for your time, so it is definitely worthwhile to read these warnings and avoid them.

#1 Don’t Compete, Support
Too many affiliate programs compete against their competitors which wastes money and puts affiliates out of business. However, if you are part of an affiliate program the more affiliates the better for getting more information and more money. One of the worst things to do is choose an affiliate program that believes in competing against other affiliates. Instead, choose an affiliate program that agrees with supporting and growing other affiliates to have a larger network and access to more affiliates.

#2 Little Reward
Another mistake people frequently make when choosing affiliate programs is choosing a program that offers little reward for the individual’s hard work. Too many affiliate programs pay too little and as a result affiliates find it difficult to make the money they should be making. Look for an affiliate program that has a good pay rate for your work.

#3 Old Statistics, if Any
You want an affiliate program that offers good, solid, real time statistics, not old statistics or ones that are no longer valid. There are not many affiliate programs out there that provide the kind of statistics an affiliate manager needs, but do your best to find an affiliate program that offers the most.

#4 No Support
Too often affiliates find themselves waiting days for an answer to an e-mail and an important question for their business. You want an affiliate program that guarantees you support round the clock if possible or at least within 24 hours. If not, keep looking for an affiliate program that wants to help you help yourself.

#5 Fresh Ideas, Creatives
Many affiliate programs provide few ideas or creatives to their affiliates and so thousands of web pages end up with the same advertising. However, affiliate programs would have a better success rate if many different ads were made available so affiliates could alternate ads and place different ads on different sites, depending on the products sold.

Commit these five mistakes to memory so you know exactly what you are looking for in an affiliate program, as well as what to avoid. You will be much more successful and happier as well if you do not get caught in these traps!

To your success,

Scott