Knowledge Base For Those Willing To Succeed In Online Business

How to Capture and Captivate Attention!

One morning, you go into your mailbox and discover there's an envelope waiting for you. You bring the package into your living room, tear open the envelope, pull out what's inside, put on your reading glasses (if you wear any), unfold the letter and begin to read the contents.

Now, after completing all of these steps, you then quickly glance at the letter to decide if the sales letter is worth reading.

If not, you throw it in the garbage.

But if the envelope looks like a form letter, with a printed address label with "dear occupant" as the addressee, chances of getting the letter opened in the first place are obviously slim.

However, let's say the envelope works, curiosity takes over and the letter does get opened. Once unfolded, though, if it looks like some kind of sales pitch, not even a single word will likely be read. Into the garbage it goes.

So, the point is this: in offline direct mail marketing, the message is not the first element to be read. There are several extra steps one must go through in order to finally reach, react to and ultimately read the sales message.

That's why, in order to capture people's attention, one of the important elements of direct mail copy -- i.e., the headline -- albeit a crucial component of good sales copy, is the last in a series of attempts to captivate the reader's attention and "pull them into the pitch."

But the envelope, the label, the picture and any "grabbers" (such as any inserts, liftnotes, gifts, etc), even the overall appearance of the package, are all elements that often precede that all-important headline.

Online, however, it's different.

The headline is almost always the first element to be read. When people click on a link, enter a URL into their browser or receive an email in their inboxes, they immediately see the headline (or subject line with email).

Online, there are no mailboxes to go through, no envelopes to tear open and no unfolding to do before reading it. These steps are nonexistent. The sales message and especially the headline are right there, in their faces.

Look at websites as newspapers. You don't get a newspaper for free. Most often, you actually seek the newspaper out. You make the effort to buy it. You voluntarily acquire the "message," ready to read it.

The web is the exactly same.

Whether it's receiving an email you're subscribed to, or visiting a website you intentionally clicked on or entered into your browser, you are directly visiting the message with the full anticipation of reading it once you're there.

You're in a different state of mind when reading the newspaper than when reading, say, a direct mail piece, which is often unsolicited. (Even when the piece is solicited, the steps one must go through, from mailbox to sales pitch, is the same. In other words, there are many of them.)

A newspaper, on the other hand, is already open, with the front page message right in front of you. It's filled with photos and bold news headlines, ready to grab your attention and build your interest.

Like the newspaper's "above the fold" section, if the uppermost section of an email or website's front page don't pull you into the copy (and causing you to scroll further, in this case), you will simply click away. And you would do so faster than you would throw a direct mail piece into the garbage!

And like newspapers, you don't read websites. Instead, you scan.

If you're like most people, you skim through the newspaper to look for stories that interest you. And you do so by quickly checking the headlines, pictures and any column headers that the newspaper contains.

Plus, you can manipulate a print publication in order to fit your reading style. You can spread it out on a tabletop, where stories that interest you are easily and quickly accessible. That way, you can scan an entire piece or newspaper at a single glance.

On the web or with email, you can only do one thing: scroll. So, the desire to scan, jump and react to a message is greater and more immediate than a printed piece. Therefore, in order to capture the reader's attention, there are several things you can do to drastically boost readership.

Here are some ...

The first part of the famous AIDA formula, or "Attention," is probably more important on the Internet. Crafting a great headline that immediately captures the prospect's attention is critical to your message's success.

Again, for the reasons expressed earlier, our attention span on the Internet is enormously short. You only have a fraction of a second to capture a reader's attention. Unlike the different steps one must follow with a direct mail piece, your web page headline is the first thing they see.

If the prospect hits your front page and does not immediately feel a need to read any further, she'll leave at the single click of a mouse. No second thoughts. No wasting time. No hesitation.

The rest of the AIDA formula goes straight down the tubes.

Writing headlines (including sur- and sub-headlines, also called "subheads") requires an entire book of its own. So, for the sake of brevity, I suggest you read one of my previous articles, Secrets of Successful Headlines.

But for now, let's stick to the idea of top copy, openers and introductions. When it comes to web copy openers, there are three groups of "three's."

Called "goals," "desires" and "teasers," they are specific human qualities to which you can cater in order to increase the attention factor in your opening copy, be it with the headline, subheadlines, grabbers or introduction portion of the body copy. Use them, are your readership will increase.

a) The Three Greatest Human GOALS

From the headline to the opening copy of the letter, one very effective way to capture attention is to focus on three core goals almost all humans have, which are to either save or make 1) time, 2) money or 3) energy.

If your copy opens with something that can help your reader to make more money, save more time, work less and so on, for example, your chances of having your copy read will be greater.

b) The Three Greatest Human DESIRES

This should be the most important one of the three, but it's second since it may not appeal to everyone. However, this particular set of "three's" is very potent. And that's not an understatement at all. Here's an example.

If you buy some of the supermarket "rags," you'll notice their ads cater to any of these three. Admittedly, they're not considered respectable papers for most. But keep in mind that ad space in them is VERY pricey. If an ad appears in more than one issue, it tells you that the ad is indeed profitable.

Ads in these types of newspapers are often long copy advertorials, which, more often than not, cater to the three human desires. They are 1) greed, 2) lust and 3) comfort. If you incorporate any of the three (or a combination thereof), you will boost your attention-factor. Here are some examples:

• Greed (such as "How to make $1,678 with my system!" or "How to save thousands usually wasted on utilities!").
  
• Lust (like "How to shed unwanted pounds!" or "How to make him/her fall in love with you all over again!").
  
• And comfort ("How to build a web business in only 14 days!" or "How to write breathtaking copy in minutes!").

By the way, you may ask, "Mike, isn't 'comfort' similar to 'less effort' you mentioned earlier under 'goals'?" In terms of desires or feelings, look at comfort as the opposite of fear. Avoidance of fear is a powerful desire.

Your aim is to instill fear in the minds of your readers in order to offer them a solution that will comfort them and allay those fears, such as the fear of loss, the fear of death and so on.

Granted, the above examples are somewhat categorical, too. But if your opening copy contains a hint or a slant of any of these, you're much better off. You can cater to any of these three in a number of different ways.

Nevertheless, the last three are ...

c) The Three Greatest Human TEASERS

In addition to the six elements above, try to cater to any of the three "provokers" or "arousers," if you will. The following three elements stir. They arouse. They mesmerize. They hypnotize. Why? Because they cater to fundamental human characteristics.

They are: 1) curiosity, 2) controversy and 3) scarcity. Try to add an element of any of these three and you will boost your chances that the reader will be sucked into your copy will increase substantially.

For example, in terms of curiosity don't mention everything to your readers at the beginning -- give them ample information to pique their curiosity but not too much so that it pulls them in.

Leave some interesting tidbit out or keep them on the edge of their seats, hanging onto every word, eager to read further.

For instance, say, "Learn nine of the Internet's most closely guarded secrets for tripling website sales in less than 26 days!" People will then wonder, "Gosh, what are these nine secrets? I want to know what they are!" And they'll read your sales letter, intently, in order to find them.

Second, controversy is something not often used but does work extremely well. If your copy addresses something that stirs people's emotions or causes certain "lights to go off" in their heads, you can pull them into the copy just as effectively as any of the other elements, above.

Here's an example. Howard Stern, a well-known "radio shock jock," was one of the first to break many of the rules while on the air. In his semi-autobiography, "Private Parts," the story goes that people who loved him had a tendency to listen to his show for about an hour.

But people who hated him listened up to two to three hours.

Maybe it's because they wanted to see what he'll say next. Maybe it's because they wanted more ammunition to bring the guy down. But whatever the reason is, Stern's highly controversial approach undoubtedly made him extraordinarily rich and famous. He got their attention!

While you may want to stay away from such a drastic position, you can use "lighter" forms of controversy -- such as using (or "piggy-backing" on) current events, a newsworthy issue, or an emerging or popular trend -- to build your case an create an almost instant desire to read your copy.

A shocking news item, an outrageous claim or an unbelievable statement are some examples. Even when they're not true. Let me explain.

Often, brilliant copywriters write copy that is somehow tied to a recent event or some controversial subject. Sometimes, the angle they choose have nothing to do with the overall topic discussed in the sales letter. But used in the opening of the copy, this approach can be very effective.

For example, not long after 9-11 many commercials have surfaced that capitalized on the event to sell security equipment, self-defense products, public transportation other than air travel, home alarms and the like.

(By the way, I agree that this may seem somewhat gutless and capitalistic to you. But look at all the charities who regularly profit from dramatic events like these. They use controversy all the time.)

Controversy can also be something significant, slight or even funny or different, such as with the use of a story, a unique angle or a new twist. For instance, I once opened my email newsletter with the following, dramatic statement: "I have a new 'baby'! And I love beating it from time to time!"

Of course, whether you knew that I was a drummer or not, I was referring to my new drumset purchased the week before. I call it my new "baby." But the point is, did it capture your attention?

Here's another. Think of the times you've seen a story about someone starting an online business. While that may sound a little trivial (and usually, it is), it isn't if that person is a politician, suffers from some kind of disability or is raising 10 children at home. Here's an example.

A client of mine was an amputee -- and an inventor. The product he was trying to promote was a backpack with special straps he created, These special straps made carrying it a little more comfortable.

I told him to use his lack of one leg as being the inspiration behind his creation. So, the copy opened with: "One-legged man makes a daring promise to lighten people's loads!" It worked extremely well.

Finally, adding an element of scarcity to your copy is to somehow limit the offer by making it time-sensitive or quantity-bound.

Adding a deadline or a cap on the number of new clients, or even making the offer something that's secretive, exclusive or otherwise unavailable to the general public, can arouse stronger motives in the psyche of your readers.

But in order to give your added sense of urgency some level of credibility, never just leave it as a plain limit. Always backup your deadline or limitation with some kind of logical, commonsensical and believable justification.

For example, "We were overshipped on these cassette tapes and only have 541 left in stock," or, "my schedule this week has only two openings left to be filled, so if you need copy done before the weekend, act now," or, "during our recent move we slightly damaged 178 pieces of our stock -- while the damage is hidden and insignificant, I can't sell them as new and must let them go at a discount ... But remember, we only have 178 of them left!"

How to Build Sales With Extended Benefits

An area that can become profitable for many businesses in building the offer within sales copy is selling (or "upselling" customers with) extended services, products or packages, also often called the "extended warranty."

Extended warranties are subtle forms of insurance policies that guarantee a product or service's performance, especially after an initial period of time.

While the guarantee promises benefits, the warranty promises that the enjoyment of those benefits will continue. In other words, an extended warranty is like a "guarantee's guarantee," if you will.

A warranty promises that a product will perform the way it is supposed to for a very specific period of time. If your product comes with a guarantee, then consider selling an extended warranty that ensures its continuation.

But if your product is can not be guaranteed for whatever reason, consider a warranty that may take the form of future upgrades, additional benefits, membership programs, points clubs or support service packages.

For example, if you sell computers, you can also offer a buy-back plan . For an additional fee, customers "buy" the privilege and ability to choose to trade in their systems for a better model within a year following their purchase.

The plan, which may appear in the form of an official certificate, coupon or letter, promises them a complete refund of the purchase price that's applied towards their upgrade. If they choose to exercise their option, they only pay the difference when they upgrade to a later model.

The Silent Profit Center

As for services, the extended warranty is a little different since services are intangible, do not break down, need repair or depreciate in value.

But they are just as profitable.

Warranties can take the shape of memberships, points clubs, preferred customer programs, priority service packages, extended service packages, prepayment plans, premium services, future discounts or upgrades plans, etc.

In short, warranties are much like service agreements. For example, if you're a consultant you can offer prepaid retainer packages that include several hours of consulting or on-call priority privileges, all at a discounted rate.

On the other hand, if you offer repetitive services such as a hairstylist or a chiropractor, you can offer a number of prepaid visits at a discount. If your cashflow is particular low during a specific month or season, you can arrange your packages so that they renew at that point in time.

The summer is a slow time for snowplowing services. But with prepaid packages, which are sold in the summer and renewing in the summer, it creates an income stream when things slow down.

These programs are often more advantageous to the client for a variety of reasons. And many marketers and businesses shy away from them. But they really don't see it from their client's perspective.

Beyond the obvious price incentive, the benefits of extended warranties include less billing, more convenience, preferred service, faster delivery, extra privileges and many others. Another is the sheer feeling of "belonging" to a special, elite group of people to which higher attention or priority is given.

Join the Club

That's why premium programs, or "preferred client clubs," are very popular. They have a mystique and a sense of extra value about them, which is being part of that elite group. As Amex says, "membership has its privileges."

For example, club members might enjoy a members-only 1-800 service number, extra premiums, discounts on joint-ventured partners, express checkout services, special members-only contests and so on.

Online, clients can become members of a private site, access premiums, receive additional web-based services (such as reminder services, automated shipping, real-time support, even special software, like eBay's Toolbar, etc).

But keep in mind that the savings factor in such programs is the greatest motivator. Consumable products translate into repeat sales. Therefore, an extended warranty in this case would be a repeat customer program.

(Also called "rewards programs.")

This could involve a flat discount rate on all purchases made at a particular store during a certain timeframe. What this program also does is to preemptively reduce the possible loss of a client to a competitor.

Bookstores sell avid reader membership programs. For an annual fee, they offer members a fixed discount rate on all subsequent books purchased during the time that the program is in force.

These programs can range from one month to a full year. Costco Price Club is another great example where an annual membership fee is charged but members enjoy wholesale or bulk prices.

Nevertheless, while extended benefits are in and of themselves profit centers, they're also powerful positioning tools since they help to increase your core business at the same time.

People love options and the feeling that they are being taken care of. They also want to reduce the element of risk in the buying process. People want to avoid pain, and that includes the pain that comes with the potential or future loss of a benefit. So, help them feel more secure with the knowledge that they will continue to enjoy your product or service.

Sell them an extended warranty!

It's All in the List

If customers must be exposed to a product an average of 7 times before they buy, and you don't have a way to contact a surfer
after their first visit to your site, how do you remind them about your product six more times?

Do you simply hope they'll remember your name, your company name or your URL? Do you invite them to use a 'Bookmark Now!' link?

Have you ever seen a typical file of 'Favorites'? I use the term 'file' very loosely. Filing is rarely involved, and it's unlikely
anyone will find your site again amidst his or her 500 other 'favorite' sites.

Even if those methods did work to bring your visitors back, how would reading your sales copy six more times convince them to buy?

It wouldn't.

That's why Internet marketing experts all agree, without an opt-in list or email newsletter, you are losing sales and money. Put simply, having your own ezine is absolutely essential if your online business is to achieve its maximum potential.

'Ezine' is essentially a contraction for the term 'electronic magazine'. They are also known as opt-in lists, email newsletters or simply 'zines.

Ezines allow you to contact your subscribers via email without spa*mming, as they've 'opted' to receive your information. In other words, interested prospects have given you permission to send them news and information.

Publishing an ezine that captures and holds your subscribers' interest takes some time and effort. You must commit to a schedule, and give your readers attention-grabbing, useful information in an easy-to-read format. Your objective is to earn your readers trust by establishing yourself as a credible source of valuable information.

Does that sound like too much work? Are you not convinced that publishing an ezine is worth the effort? Consider this.

What is the first thing most people do when they turn on their computers in the morning? They read their email! If your newsletter is in their Inbox, your product gets seen before the competition's site is visited. Browser windows may be closed without book-marking, and names forgotten, but your email is still in your subscribers Inbox!

The ezine itself is relatively simple to set up. Do not use software that resides on your computer to build your mailing list. As your list grows in size, you run the risk of having your ISP shut down your connection for excessive bandwidth use or allegations of sp*am. It happened to me and it's a costly mistake that you can and should avoid. Instead, purchase a service from one of the many companies offering mailing lists and autoresponders.

As your autoresponder or mailing list service charges remain the same, your customer acquisition costs decrease as your list grows. That makes publishing an ezine the most inexpensive way to build relationships with your website visitors.

Your effort and investment will pay off. Sharing your knowledge to help others is both good for the soul and financially rewarding. A newsletter that readers look
forward to can grow to thousands and tens of thousands of people. An average conversion rate of one percent on a very large list can be a large reward in exchange for the time it takes you to write your newsletter.

Communicating with your customers on a continuing basis builds trust, goodwill and increases their willingness to buy from you. Remember that it is 7 times less expensive to market to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one.

Start your own ezine. The effort will be well worth your time.

Make No Mistake

What's the best way to avoid making mistakes? Do nothing! Sit down, turn on the TV, and zone out. That's safe.

Fueled by fear of failure, many take the path above to avoid mistakes. While you'll never earn a huge wad of money from an internet business using that method, you won't lose your shirt either.

On the other side of the spectrum, some barrel ahead like bulls in a china shop and make mistakes that harm or destroy their businesses.

Is there a happy medium? Is it possible to go forward and avoid mistakes at the same time?

Well, back in what seems like another lifetime, I used to work as an air traffic controller. That's a line of work where mistakes make the front page of newspapers, perpetrators can go to jail and victims suffer more deadly fates.

Fortunately, such errors occur very infrequently.

How is it possible to avoid mistakes, when 'to err is human'? Although some of my old colleagues appear to believe they are above mere human status, the truth is more mundane.

Rigid rules, standards and procedures are followed to the letter. In the split-second before instructions are given, maneuvers are planned and followed mentally to their conclusion. Knowledge and ability is tested continuously to ensure rigorous safety standards are maintained. Planning and perfect performance results in beautifully choreographed aerial ballets time after time.

Planning aside, mistakes are made. The objective is to avoid repetition of the error. To accomplish this, even the most minor infractions are meticulously logged. Each is reviewed, dissected and studied to determine the best method to prevent a recurrence. Both the incident and its resulting procedures are taught and discussed at training sessions.

The best advice I ever heard about this method of learning came in one of the pilots' magazines I used to read. The accident reports were preceded each month by the same tag line: 'Learn from the mistakes of others, for you'll not live long enough to make them all yourself'.

The good news for those just starting an Internet is that the barnstorming, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants days of eBusiness are over. True, many businesses crashed and burned. Many more worked to perfect the process and survived to fly circles around the smoking reckless.

Best of all, the mistakes made by those barnstorming eBusiness pioneers have been well-documented and made available through forums, ebooks and courses.

Save yourself time, money and heartache. Learn from them and watch your Internet business soar.

Affiliate Programs: You CAN Make a Difference

One of the rules of affiliate marketing, is to partner with merchants that don't have too many external links on their sites. This is especially true if you pay to advertise your site. You might just as well burn your money as send it to sites that steal your traffic.

If the site does have links out, then those links should be coded with your affiliate ID. You should be credited for sales made through those links.

As I learn and grow in this business, I get pickier and pickier about such things.

For specifically that reason, I recently stemmed the flow of traffic to one of the dating networks I've been affiliated with for years. Soon after doing so, I received a call from the president of the company, who wanted to know what it would take for me to start sending traffic back to their sites.

I asked that each of the links out to their other dating sites either be removed, or coded with my ID. Although he discounted my request as being irrelevant in terms of lost commissions, he agreed to have the links removed from my affiliate sites.

Ask and ye shall receive, right?

Not quite. I checked back a couple of weeks later, and saw that the changes hadn't been made.

Easy enough. No changes made, no traffic sent.

Shortly after that I got another call from the company, this time from the affiliate program manager. I told her about my conversation with the president, and the remaining 'leaky' links.

She, fortunately, took my request very seriously. Not only that, but she had the sense to do a little research into 'the problem'.

Today I received the following from that affiliate program manager.

...based on the performance, there was a 30% increase in conversions when we did remove the "other" links. Thanks to this test and your persistence in removing the "other" links, we will soon be implementing this feature for all the sites.

Here's the data:

Before:
Free Signup/Uniques: 10%
Paid/Free Signup: 3%

After:
Free Signup/Uniques: 13%
Paid/Free Signup: 4%

I will keep you posted as to when this should take place across the board.

Those numbers may LOOK small, but they are HUGE! Have you ever had a 30% pay raise? Well, if you are an affiliate of this dating network, you just got one!

Proof positive that ANYONE can make a difference.

Be persistent and Be successful.

Affiliate Opportunity Scams

What could be better than an opportunity to make money using the power of affiliate marketing, while avoiding the hassle of having to build a site or pay to host your domain? Wouldn't it also be wonderful to have someone else do the work of sending traffic to your site?

Basically, you just sit back and wait for those huge commission checks to roll in.

Sound too good to be true? Good, because you guessed it. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I'm referring to affiliate 'links' opportunity sites that are becoming increasingly popular. 'All' you have to do is promote the site.

In these schemes, you are given a free site into which you insert your affiliate link. That link becomes the 'featured link' on your site. Featured link? Picture a site like Yahoo!, then try to pick out one link as being featured. Can't do it, can you?

As the owner of a fr*ee site, you also earn a paltry commission when you sell one of these sites to someone else. Earning a commission on the sale of a product or service from which no one benefits sounds like ML*M to me.

Now here's the good part. For a 'small fee' the company promises to do 'all the work' of building masses of traffic to your affiliate site.

Oh wait. Before you can earn commissions from those links, you'll have to JOIN all those programs first. Until then, the links belong to the person who gave you the fr*ee site, and any sales made from those links will be credited to him, not you.

Considering those sites typically consist of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of links to various affiliate programs, it's starting to look like you're going to have to do some work, doesn't it?

Do you really want to pay the 'small fee' of fifty or sixty dollars a month for the privilege of generating commissions for someone else? Instead, you could buy a web site template for twenty bucks that looks a hundred times nicer than the affiliate links site design. Then you pay ten bucks a month to host your own site and join all the same affiliate programs.

Actually, you probably wouldn't want to join all the same programs. Many of these affiliate links lead to sites and products that you wouldn't want to buy yourself. Do you want to risk your business reputation by offering them to your site's visitors?

Don't forget that the same offer is made to thousands of people every day, each of them looking for the same magic bullet - the quick and easy business opportunity. That means that there are copies of 'your' site all over the web, and more coming online everyday. So much for being unique.

Not having a niche has another disadvantage. How many surfers will find your flea market affiliate link site when they are searching for 'handheld computer' or 'treadmills'? Approximately none. Niche sites get ranked by the search engines while flea markets don't get found.

All in all, these 'opportunities' are a waste of time and money, and benefit only the scheme's originator.

Real affiliate marketing opportunities abound, and many have excellent potential for earning serious income. Thousands of affiliate marketers enjoy very large incomes by promoting merchant programs and products.

While they avoid the hassles of carrying inventory, order processing and customer service - super affiliates do not avoid effort.

They know that success comes from investing time, effort and the forging of one's own path.

In other words, do the work, reap the rewards.

Increasing Site Revenue: Forget the Gizmos

Forget the 3D logo. Toss the animated graphics and pictures of pretty women.

Cool scripts don't help you much, and music will kill the deal.

What the heck am I talking about?

I'm talking about all the things webmasters and developers use to make their sites 'better'.

But better for whom?

Unless your objective is beautiful design, or to showcase your talent as a developer, those elements contribute almost nothing to your bottom line.

In fact, they often clutter and detract from your real objective which should be to sell products!

To get the message out about your product, you use words, not gizmos .

Your words persuade people to visit your site, subscribe to your newsletter and buy your or your merchants' products.

How you use your words makes the difference between your site's success or failure.

Here are two examples of how words are used to sell real estate:

1 . Lakefront home on 60 feet of beach in Penticton. View.

2 . Once in a lifetime opportunity to own one of Penticton 's premier lakefront homes with approximately 60 ft of soft sandy beachfront. Awesome view down lake.

Which listing would persuade you to call your realtor?

Number two, right?

But why?

If you are like most of us, you respond emotionally to the words 'premier', 'sandy' and 'awesome view'.

The 'opportunity' to live a 'premier' lifestyle, and feel the sand between your toes as you enjoy your awesome view appeals to your senses in a pleasurable way.

Appealing to your readers' emotions is critical. A few choice words can skyrocket your conversion rates.

And you don't need to be a seasoned writer or an established author to make your words sell more of your products.

Writing is a skill that can be learned like any other.

When you combine your desire to improve your writing skill with experts' books, courses, and seminars - copywriting becomes easier and much more fun.

Best of all, just a little effort to improve your writing will reap huge financial rewards.

Just 'tweaking' one paragraph can double or even quadruple your current conversion rates.

Try it - The rewards you gain by learning to write copy well are worth much more than a few bucks and a couple hours of your time.

New Google Adwords Policy Benefits Affiliates

Until recently, if you did a search on the term 'satellite dish' at Google, and then surveyed the URL's in the Adwords listings, you were bound to see that most of the ads linked to just one company. You'd also note that most listings ended with the 'aff' (affiliate site) designation.

Eight ads all linking to the same site. How useless and frustrating was that?

Well, Google has just introduced a new affiliates Adwords policy that finally addresses that problem.

However, the new policy has been met with much whining on various affiliate and Internet marketing forums.

Why?

'Cause affiliates who link directly from Adwords to their merchant partners' sites will have to get to work or go home.

Well, maybe.

There seems to be a loophole in the new policy's wording.

Here's how the new affiliate policy reads:

"With this new affiliate policy, we'll only display one ad per search query for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same URL. This way, users will have a more diverse sampling of advertisements to choose from."

"Affiliates or advertisers using unique URLs in their ads will not be affected by this change. Please note that your Display URL must match the URL of your landing page, and you may not simply frame another site."

Did they mean to say 'domain', not 'URL'?

If Google did indeed intend 'URL', then there is no problem for those who engage in the 'Google Cash' method of affiliate marketing, as each affiliate URL is unique.

Here's an example.

These are URL's for 3 affiliate marketers promoting the 'FriendFinder' dating service.

http://friendfinder.com/go/p1234
http://friendfinder.com/go/p5869
http://friendfinder.com/go/p3468

Each URL is unique, ergo it should be no problem to for affiliates to link directly to Friendfinder's site with their affiliate links.

However, if in fact Google meant 'domain', that's quite a different kettle of fish.

Because each URL above points to the 'friendfinder.com' domain, only one listing will be displayed, and chosen on the basis of Ad Rank.

Here's the official wording from within the policy.

"For instance, if a user searches for books on Google.com or anywhere on the Google search and content networks, Google will take an inventory of ads running for the keyword books. If we find that two or more ads compete under the same URL, we'll display the ad with the highest Ad Rank."

Ad Rank is determined by a combination of an ad's maximum cost-per-click and clickthrough rate.

Less competition is great news for affiliates who have always linked back to their own sites... as Super Affiliates always do.

One more benefit to affiliate marketers in Google's new Adwords policy is that you no longer need to identify yourself as an affiliate in your ad text. That means no more 'aff' at the end of the ad... and 4 more spaces to add content to your listing.

I figure consumers had no idea what 'aff' meant anyway, so Google just wanted to get rid of what looked like garble in the listings.

However, your current ad text will continue to display your affiliate status until you change it.

Assuming Google DID mean 'domain', this new policy is good news for affiliates... genuine affiliate marketers.

I've always taught that affiliates with content sites enjoy much higher conversion rates.

It's simple. Spend an hour writing an endorsement, upload it to your web site, then advertise that link on Google Adwords.

Why waste advertising dollars on a .5 percent conversion, when it only takes an hour to double or even quadruple that rate?

Affiliate Programs: Can I REALLY Make Money?

by Rosalind Gardner

As an Internet marketing consultant, I often hear the question, "Can I REALLY make money online with affiliate programs?"

To me, that question speaks of the asker's skepticism, so let's put aside any question of whether money is REALLY being made online before we look any further.

Thousands of merchants have put resources into developing affiliate programs so that others can promote their products in exchange for a commission, which is usually a percentage of the product's price. If there wasn't money to be made, Sony, Dell and those thousands of other merchants wouldn't waste their time and money building affiliate programs.

I personally know at least a hundred people who make marketing on the Internet their full-time occupation. If there wasn't money to be made, that wouldn't be possible.

I am one of those people. The secondary title of my ebook about affiliate marketing is 'How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online'. Although I dislike that subtitleand its crass approach, it IS the truth, and it IS effective proof that money can be made online. The statement is backed up on the Super Affiliate Handbook homepage with a picture of part of my income tax statement from 2002 which shows my earnings.

See it for yourself at: http://SuperAffiliateHandbook.com

So, having dispelled any question about whether there is money to be made online, let's proceed to the REAL question. Let's take the emphasis off the word 'REALLY' and place it where it belongs - on YOU.

Can YOU really make money online?

Sure you can! IF you REALLY want to.

Desire is the first key to success. But here's where it gets a little tricky. If your desire is for money, as opposed to what money can buy, your work will be made much harder, if not impossible.

'Huh? Why is that?' you may wonder.

Money is a concept. In and of itself it does nothing for you, unless you are very fond of small rectangular pieces of colored paper.

If you focus instead on the good that money will bring to your life, such as free time and all the fun ways to spend it, then you'll give positive direction to your efforts.

Think about it.. what can that money buy you? The kids' education, a new car, a new house, a second honeymooon... how about a sailboat?

Dream a little - dream a LOT, but create some desire, and a REASON to work hard for what you want to achieve.

And that's the second key to making money online - Work.

Too many people still hold onto the notion of 'get rick quick'. I've got news for them - there's no such thing. You can get rich a little quicker on the 'net, but the truth is that nothing worth having comes without a price. You must invest some time and money.

Not much money, but some. Compared to starting any other business, the amount of financial investment required to start an affiliate marketing business on the Internet is negligible.

If you don't have one or two hundred bucks - or can't beg, borrow or steal that amount - then maybe you can get a part-time job and save up to start your online business.

No matter how you slice it, you won't find another opportunity anywhere that has the potential for this much reward for so little outlay. This IS one of the least expensive businesses you can start.

Last but not least - can you stick with it over the long haul?

Persistence is perhaps the MOST important quality shared by all entrepeneurs. That's why you hear about those who make a million, lose a million and then make another million. They go up, then down, then up again, but they never gave up.

You can't let the ups and downs get to you. Not everything is will go your way all of the time. You'll have to make some effort and it won't always be easy.

But, if you keep your goals foremost in your mind, learn what you need to know and invest your resources wisely and with persistence, you virtually can't help but succeed.

That's how you REALLY make money online!

Learn Internet Business from an Expert... If you would like to build your own successful business on the Internet – this ebook is for you. “Affiliated Web Business…” is a thoroughly elaborated steb-by-step tutorial, which will lead you through the whole way of affiliated online business creation (starting with sound blueprint development and finishing with cash flows generated by your website fine-tuning). You won't need to learn HTML programming, javascript, Search Engine optimisation, etc.. Everything is predesigned in this book. Look here to get more information. Buy It Now!

Prev [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]