Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing, Incentive Marketing…
It doesn’t matter that there are potentially thousands of other affiliates promoting the same program because from today onwards you are going to create an unfair advantage. Today you are going to learn some of the skills to becoming a SUPER INCENTIVE MARKETER.
And to be a SUPER INCENTIVE MARKETER you need to create an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE.
The advantage that is EXCLUSIVELY available through you, and ONLY you. I’m talking about the advantage that can’t be found anywhere else. An advantage that if they want to buy the product because of what you are offering, they have to buy EXCLUSIVELY through you.
For those who are getting lost, let me give you an example from the real world.
Two weeks ago I was looking for a DVD/Karaoke player. My requirements were simple; I just had one criteria, - cheap. I found two players, from two different suppliers that fit my criteria, which were exact in every way.
EXCEPT…one supplier decided to create their own UNFAIR ADVANTAGE by offered a free microphone and a couple of free DVD Karaoke discs.
Now of the two suppliers, which one would you have chosen? And on that note I need to mention here that what works in the real world, works in the cyber world.
Today, right now in fact, you need to make a list of unique and exclusive advantages why the average Joe Schmo should order through YOUR affiliate link and not one of your competitors.
It is time to think outside the square….and let me tell you, you don’t need a lot of money to create that UNFAIR ADVANTAGE. To start the creative flow of ideas, let me suggest something, that you, yourself, are a hot commodity, you’re unique, you have exclusivity over yourself. Think outside the square.
Ok, now the rest is up to you. Watch out for PART THREE of this SIX PART series.
I’ll leave you with the saying. If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you’ve always got.
To Your Online Success!
About the Author:
Gillian Tarawhiti, is Founder and CEO of Community Training Centre, an Internet Marketing firm providing Online Training and Support to the new and not so new netpreneurs. Gillian is also the author of eBay Billion Dollar Goldmine and the create of the Multiple Ripple Effect System © 2004
Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to http://www.ezy-money.com
Affiliate marketing can be really hard, especially when you are a newbie. Affiliate marketers are also human beings. They are liable to make mistakes once in a while. Every marketer makes mistakes and if they say they dont their lying to you..
Here are the most common mistakes that affiliate marketers make. Together with these mistakes are the lessons learned.
1. Most people spend way too much time on the computer.
Networking online is great. However, it will never take the place of meeting face-to-face or having a conversation with someone over the phone.
Sending emails are easy, but you should be up with the ease of this technology. Never try to break things off over email. This will just result in useless and never-ending arguments. Try to compliment online networking with face-to-face and phone meetings.
2. Spending too much time on the technical side.
Most marketers try to do all the work themselves. They update the contents on their WebPages, create new auto responders and create new HTML pages for new products instead of farming things out to others.
It takes them quite a long time to accomplish all this. Let it go. Why not hire a technician expert to maintain your website.
3. Not delegating administrative tasks.
Updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products are just some of the tasks that affiliates do. Sometimes they have to rush off and write something quickly because they sat on it for too long or maybe got distracted and the deadline is nearly up.
If your in this situation you might be better off hiring a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for you.
4. Wasting time and effort targeting the wrong market.
Ever wonder why all your traffic is not giving you the results you expected? You are simply targeting the wrong market. You need to target your advertising to your specific niche, then you should see the results you expect.
5. Creating a lot of information products at once.
Just because you can bang out more than two special reports in a weekend does not mean you have the manpower or energy to promote them all at the same time.
In order to make sales on an information product, you really need to market them. Until you do that, these products are going to just sit on your website.
Focus on one product for at least three months and set up an affiliate program to help promote each new product.
6. Attending networking events that were not producing results.
While networking is about building relationships, it should also lead to some quality contacts.
Most of the time, networking events affiliates go to is comprised of entrepreneurs looking for business. These people do not yet have the will it takes to succeed in their feild.
Stick with a networking event for no more than two consecutive events, analyze the results, then move on. Also, attend more networking events that puts you in touch with your target audience.
7. Not fully educating themselves.
If an affiliate is a solo entrepreneur, it seem so easy to forget that they have to invest some time in taking courses that can help them learn how to do things better.
Continuously educating oneself is an absolute must. Doing this will put you in touch with how to do things better in your business, as well as meeting some exceptional people and trainers. This will help put you ahead of the competition.
In addition, you will notice some new changes in how well your sales are performing.
Try to set aside at least 10% of all business income in a savings account to spend on educational materials.
These are just some examples of common mistakes affiliate marketers make in their business. Note that these mistakes, even seemingly insignificant can cost you a lot of money.
And if you are just starting in affiliate marketing, you do not want this to happen. Then again, mistakes will serve as a valuable lesson that even the best education will not give you.
Jason Oickle reveals how you can profit from affiliate programs in as little as 7 days. Grab his free report package today that will show you exactly how at http://www.marketingsecretsunleashed.com
No matter how you are looking at things, if another person looks - he will see them differently. So, to be sure you are doing the right things on the right way, you should not only think systematically yourself, but also provide channels to get feedback and other opinions.
“The manager of one car-service company phoned all his daily customers after the working time to make sure they were satisfied with the service and to ask them if they could have done something better.” This is a very good example of how one company can be closer to its customers; but on the other side - it is very time-consuming and rather expensive. There is a proverb that we can use for better solution: “If Mohammed can’t come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed.” In order to gain as much feedback and opinions from your customers, you have to be sure that they can provide it easily the moment they decide.
You have probably made a nice-looking website to provide information, promote something, get the message out there or sell something. It is now time to think of some other usage for it - gaining feedback! Here are some ways to do that using live-support software:
• Be sure to place a contact point on each of your web pages. It can include the “chat” button, the “leave a message” button or even a visible link to “contact us” - where you have all the other contact points written;
• Provide visitors with incentives to give you their feedback. For example: We appreciate any of your comments and opinions and are glad to offer prizes for 10 of our visitors each month which gave us their feedback.
• Place imbedded links in your website text to receive feedback on certain important issues. For example: We developed a new product line according to your requirements. We will be glad to chat with you to hear your opinion or new ideas;
• Place the “chat” button on the e-mails you send. That way your customers can immediately reply to your message and you get the chance to ask additional questions you are interested in;
• Make paper feedback cards which you can give together with your products or services and write on them your website address where they can interact with you and tell you their satisfaction, their ideas for improvement or simply chat with you on any issue.
56% of consumers feel respected when marketers attempt to understand their interests. So, make sure that as many people from outside the business can comment regularly on what you are doing well or badly and that way make them feel respected.
Dijana Dimitrovska is Marketing Strategist at iTechnologies Corporation. If you want to improve your customer service for your website visitors, visit www.activereception.com and find out more about this on-demand live chat support software.
Let me ask you a couple of questions -
* Would you like to be able to offer your customers hundreds of quality products that are related to what you currently sell without physically stocking or shipping them yourself?
* How about if the merchants who stocked those products paid you up to 70% of the purchase price in Commission for every one of their products that you sold?
* What if there was a way to track these sales so that you always got paid when someone made a purchase from you and there was no dispute when it came time to getting your money?
* What if your store was open 24 hours every day of the year and made sales to customers all over the World without you having to lift a finger?
You would be making money while you slept…
Wealthy people get wealthy while they sleep.
They do certain things during the day in order to set up systems that allow them to make money 24 hours a day, every day of their lives.
This is true Financial Freedom!
Well maybe we had better look a little deeper into how to set up some affiliate programs on your website, and even in your offline marketing.
Affiliate Programs are one of the most powerful methods ever devised for the average entrepreneur or Business person to make a fortune with ease. The trouble is, most people fail to make any serious money because the don’t follow some simple principles that work consistently when they are applied correctly.
So what is an Affiliate Program and why would you want to use them in your local business?
It is a system of marketing products and services that enables a merchant to sell to a much bigger market than they could ever hope to reach on their own from their local shop-front.
By paying a commission ranging from 1% for hard goods (Books, pots and pans, mobile phones, etc.) to 70% or more for digital products (eBooks, downloadable software, etc.), the affiliate merchant can have potentially thousands of sales people all over the World selling their products or services for them, and who are only paid when they actually make a sale.
This differs from a regular sales force, where many sales people are paid a retainer and/or commission - they are paid (but not for long, usually) even if they produce no results.
Plus, the market for the merchant’s product or service covers millions more people than if they were restrict themselves to a local geographical area thanks to the global reach of the Internet.
To make sure you always get paid, most affiliate programs are administered by a third party such as Clickbank.com or Commission Junction.com. This way, you know you will get paid for any sales you make as long as you put your affiliate links into your marketing correctly.
The big affiliate networks have too much to lose to try to scam a few dollars out of you, so you know your checks will always arrive when they are due - wouldn’t it be nice if everyone paid up when they were supposed to?
In part 2 of this article, we’ll look at how to integrate affiliate marketing into your local business to increase your sales and profits…
Rocky Tapscott is the author a free 7 Part Mini Course “How To Build The Perfect Home Based Business Around Your Favorite Hobby, Pastime, Sport Or Skill” which uses 6 real life case studies to show how others have used a proven system to build profitable businesses around their favorite hobby.
Drop by http://www.hobbyandlifestyle.com/ecourse.html to grab your free copy.
|
|
Can you really make money with affiliate programs? The answer
is a resounding YES! You can make money with affiliate programs
if you do the research necessary to find the honest and ethical
programs out there. There are many scammers around and they
would love you to fall into their traps and take your earned
commissions away from you. It’s best to choose an affiliate
program that is highly targeted and one that you would feel
comfortable buying for yourself. After all , if you wouldn’t buy
it why would anyone else. Affiliate programs work this way:
You sign up for a program of your choice. They will send a
welcome e-mail and assign you a link to the sales page website.
You can then start marketing the program. Most good programs
will give you sample banners,classified ads,e-mail ads etc to
help you promote the business. When people click your link they
are redirected to the website that you are marketing. When
anyone makes a purchase, you will have earned a commission from
1% to 100% and most will be somewhere in between - 40% - 50% -
60%.
Sites like Clickbank and Commission Junction have thousands of
affiliate programs to choose from, making it fairly easy to find
one that you would be happy to promote.
NOTE - It is important for you to think about setting up your
own website to promote the affiliate program. Here’s why. If you
have your own website you will be able to collect the names and
e-mails of the people who click onto your site. Hint… offer
something FREE such as an article or software to get them to
fill in their names and e-mail address into the form on your
website. Now, as you collect more and more names you will be
able to send other offers to them again and again.This is a very
powerful ASSET . Remember, the Money is in the List!
After joining an affiliate program all you have to worry about
is marketing the program and making sales. You don’t have
anything to do with payment processing, product delivery,
refunds or other details associated with the product.
Be aware that there are also downsides to affiliate programs.
You will be competing with many other affiliates to get sales,
especially if a market is highly targeted. If you are creative
you can overcome this but it will mean more work for you. All in
all the advantages far out-weigh the disadvantages
Go for it, take ACTION, it will be worth it!
Raymond Majewski
If you enjoyed this article, you will also benefit from many
more articles, free courses and amazing techniques taught at:
http://www.Internetprofitmentor.com Receive your FREE 12 hour
video course plus many worthwhile tips.
…because Cowboys aren’t afraid to go out on a limb to achieve success. They dare to challenge the very system in which they work…to make a positive difference!
Cowboys relish hard work and long hours because they know they’re building towards the future. Riding fences, branding doggies and horse wrangling all add up to long-term success and financial security.
The same goes for a successful, work from home Affiliate Marketing web business!
Adding content, creating positive Internet relationships and monitoring all the criteria related to web site traffic flow…lead to work from home, Internet Marketing success, as surely as singing the cows to sleep at night.
Affiliate Marketing is only one, but perhaps the most prevalent, of the many, various work from home, Internet Business Opportunities that are available. And the ones who are successful…are the ones who dare to work hard without compromising their principles…while constantly testing the boundaries of potential.
Affiliate Marketing is the offering of other people’s good and services for sale on your web site. When someone makes a positive purchasing decision…you earn money!
Cowboys know to start at the beginning…the beginning of Affiliate Marketing is the initial creation of a personal web site that progressively evolves into an income earning web business!
Start with a web hosting or web development organization that supplies all the tools for success. Such an organization should walk you through the process of subject (Niche) selection, domain name registration and Content building.
Choose your domain, or Niche, (with web hosting guidance) based on your Passion for that subject, current knowledge, or interest in obtaining the knowledge…and your enthusiasm for the subject and subsequent profitability!
Build an informational web site and share that Passion and Enthusiasm with the world!
As Internet traffic begins to flow to your web site…submit and exchange links from your site to other complementary web sites and related directories and search engines.
As traffic continues to grow…add some content related advertising, such as Google AdSense…and earn money when your visitors research those ad sources!
Add a few Affiliate links to merchants who offer goods and services that you can honestly recommend to your web site visitors. When your visitors buy those products and services…you earn money!
Continuously monitor your traffic flow and add a few more Affiliate Links…keep adding informational content. Always add to the quality of your visitor’s experiences. Add links that provide additional research opportunities connected to your subject.
Be a life long learner of Affiliate Marketing concepts and skills. Learn to write better, learn to place ads more effectively, learn to PreSell your visitors and allow them to make their ultimate purchasing decisions.
Subscribe to various e-zines and create your own so that you can pass along good information to your web site visitors.
There’s a little bit of Cowboy in all of us…allow yours to come out and push against your own boundaries of potential!
Doug Channell is the founder of Alpha-Affiliate.com; a web site that illuminates the web site to income earning, web business Evolutionary process.
Learn how, with minimal computer skills, you can design, build and Implement your own web site that can evolve into an income earning, work from home, online web business!
Go to http://www.alpha-affiliate.com and learn how you can become an Alpha-Affiliate!