Internet Marketing

Posted By Thom on July 23, 2010

One of the absolute best ways to market your website and increase your search engine rankings is through guest blogging. Every time you get a guest post published you are getting high quality backlinks to help push your site up the search engines as well as targeted traffic directly from the post itself. In addition to that, you are doing a form of networking with other bloggers in your niche which helps tremendously in building a name for yourself and getting your foot in the door for future partnerships.

There are many internet marketers who have built incredibly successful sites with high rankings, lots of traffic, thousands of subscribers, and great monthly earnings almost exclusively from guest blogging. It really can be that powerful if done correctly.

How do you do it? Simple…

You just seek out blogs in the same niche as yours (and similar niches) and check to see if they accept guest posts. Often times it will be obvious if they do because they will have a very visible link to a page explaining their guest blogging rules and how to send the posts. Other times it won’t be so obvious so you might have to dig around to see if they accept guest posts or contact the owner to ask if they will. Make your message very personal to show you are sincere and actually checked out their blog before contacting them. If it’s a spammy message or obvious that you sent it in bulk, you will certainly get rejected.

A large percentage of bloggers will accept guest posts if you contact them about it, even if they hadn’t thought of it before or don’t make it obvious that they do. They are getting free original content without doing any work or spending any money for it, so it benefits them to accept. But many won’t for whatever reason so you should expect some rejection. If they don’t then just thank them for their time and move on.

When you do find blogs to write for then be sure to write very high quality posts that the owners are likely to publish and their visitors want to read. Become very familiar with each individual blog. Look at what type of content they have on it and their style of writing, so you are sure to write something that fits well with their blog. Match the quality of their content or even go above it to ensure you are up to their standards and set yourself apart from other bloggers who are also sending them posts.

Don’t forget to proofread your post several times and put it through a spelling/grammar checker before sending it. The last thing anyone wants on their blog is a post full of mistakes so that is a sure way to get your posts rejected.

Another very important thing to remember is to only send them 100% original content written by you and not published anywhere else. This is vital to being successful with guest blogging! Nobody wants content sent to them that is copied or posted elsewhere. I can almost guarantee you they will check so don’t try to slip anything by them either.

Guest blogging is great way to market your website and it benefits both parties. The blog owner gets excellent content for free and you get more exposure for your site. I highly recommend you use it as a part of your Internet Marketing strategy.

Category: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Thom on July 23, 2010

Affiliate marketing is a form of passive business, generating a passive income.

It’s one of the simplest ways to enter the vast community that wants to make money online.

And that’s why I’m publishing this passive business article today. Written by guest posters Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko who are experts in setting up such businesses.

Therefore you should read this carefully.
Here goes.

Passive Business Affiliate Programs

When it comes to making passive income on the Internet, there are several different options out there that you can get into and make money with.

One of the biggest industries is that of affiliate marketing, as it can be easy to get into and be profitable.

Photo Credit: B_cool

For those that decide to get into the passive business of affiliate marketing, it is important that you know what exactly you are promoting and what you are going to make from it.
This will help you to decide which opportunities you want to get involved with.

Keep in mind which industries interest you or what your niche is, as you do not want to promote health items if everything else you promote is about technology.

You need to know what type of commission you will make from a product sale. These can vary widely from 8 to 75% of the value of the sale that is made.

Don’t forget that the company who makes the product is also promoting it, and that a lot of people will go directly to the manufacturer to purchase.

Another factor is to know what the pay structure is like.
Will you only make money on sales you make personally, or will you also make money on your referrals? You can promote your affiliate opportunity and sign other people up under your name.

Ideally you want to make something on their sales as well too, as they are likely going to be looking for you to help them to become successful. You deserve to be paid for your time and training that you give them.

Make sure to check out the reputation of the affiliates that you decide to become an affiliate for.
Does this program have a good reputation for a quality product and good customer service?
If it something that you can feel comfortable promoting to other people?
Do they stand behind their product if there is an issue with it?

You can find affiliate programs in many different industries, and for many different products. If the one you found does not look too genuine, move on to the next one.
You should have no issue finding something that will work out for you.

Watch for programs that do not pay a decent amount of compensation. Chances are a program that only pays out 5% is not likely worth the time it takes to determine if it is worthwhile.
It is recommended that you look for programs that payout at least 30%.

You also want to see if the program requires you to meet a minimum quota or a sales target. Depending on where you are at with your platform for promoting your affiliates, you likely will want to avoid those. Even those that are having great success may choose to pass them by as well.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, there is a great potential for passive income once you are set up.
Not only can you make money off your own personal sales, but you can earn money off those that you get to enroll in the affiliate program as well.

————
Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko operate a business called Bridge to Success Co. Their goal is to help you have a successful passive income business on the Internet, so make sure to visit their site and learn best practices for building a home based affiliate business from what they have to say.
————

Case again.
Don’t forget to read “How to Find the Perfect Affiliate Marketing Programs“.

What do you think? What’s your passive business?
Post your comments below.

Choosing Affiliate Programs for Passive Business is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.   

Category: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Thom on July 12, 2010

Thousands and thousands of Internet marketers are making the same mistake, over and over again.

I see it committed daily. It’s not the product that causes this problem. Oh no, most of them promote a rather good product.

And their credibility isn’t the problem neither. Most of these Internet marketers have all the validation factors needed to seal the deal on a sale.

No, their main problem is…

…that they operate in a jam-pawncked market and that they’re fenced in by thousands of other Internet marketers who offer the exact same services or the exact same products.

Photo Credit: Tobyotter

And not only that, they also offer them in the exact same way!

Put differently, their selling communications scream “Me Too!”

That’s not the right way to sell on the Internet.You just have to stand out in order to make sales online (as well as offline for that mattter!).
One way or another, you must separate yourself from the flocks of other marketeers who are trying to go after your clients to get money that should be yours. Looking around at what other Internet marketers are doing, and then do exactly the same thing is the precise way you won’t stand out.

In marketing there’s a saying that applies equally well online: rather than to be better, it’s better to be first. If you aren’t established as the dominate source for a product or service you’re selling on the Internet, it will be exceedingly tough for you to actually attract your buyers’ attention.

So if you want to learn anything from this article it should be this: if you’re not first in your category, create a new category to be first in.
Amelia Erhardt wasn’t the first person to fly across the Atlantic. However, she was the first woman who accomplished this.

Try to create a category that you can be first in and supply to the market segment that best lines up with that category.

Personalizing your communications is a second way to really jump out.
If I were trying to get your attention in a crowd of people for example, I would cry out your name. It’s easier to get your visitor’s attention if you go more vertical in a market. For instance, you could
target golfers on the West Coast instead of targeting golfers only.

Or instead of targeting golfers on the West Coast, you could target golfers in the state of California who earn over $100,000 a year.
This will enable you to really perfect your marketing message into this very particular group of people, and more easily capture their attention, which will in turn close more sales.

Finally, once the sales start rolling in it’s of the utmost importance to set up backend products in order to get the money really rolling. First time buyers are your best customers and the real money is made at the backend.
If you’re not familiar with that phenomena, or want to make more backend profits from your existing customers check out Backend Power.

Meanwhile let me know your opinion.
Post your comments below.

What Keeps Most Internet Marketers Poor is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

Category: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Thom on June 10, 2010

My good friend Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips has just released a new free ebook in preparation for the re-opening of his Online Profits course. Last year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel about his program and you can read that interview by clicking here.

Daniel’s new ebook is called, “Ten Deadly Business Mistakes” and it’s both a very good and a pretty quick read. You can download it by clicking here and following the directions on his site.

Mistakes number 2 and 8 in his book are the biggest mistakes I have made in the past that really held back my business. Go read the ebook and let me know your biggest mistakes.

PS. Yes, Daniel is a friend, and yes most of the links in this post are my affiliate links that will pay me money if you sign up for his course.

Category: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Thom on June 10, 2010

A few weeks ago, I installed InstantSlideUp to replace my pop up windows to catch email addresses.

I was looking for a service like that, because I got several emails about my annoying pop ups, when Instant Slide Ups offered me a review copy (disclosure!).
I took the opportunity with both hands.

Instant Slide Up is a NON-obtrusive, yet eye-catching way to get people subscribed to whatever you are promoting.

I use it to build a profitable email list.

There are many tested and proven ways to create a huge email list and one of them is using pop ups.

But when you use pop ups, hoover ads or lightboxes, your visitor is interrupted with whatever she is reading at your site, in order to get her email address.

That’s very annoying!

But it’s even worse: actually, you’re stopping her from discovering value in your content. She’s in the middle of a decision making process -one of the most difficult tasks for humans- and you’re interrupting her.

That’s not just annoying, it’s killing! Yet we use pop ups, because they work!
That is, their conversion rates are higher than any other way of capturing email addresses.
Still, I get a lot of emails asking me to stop these killing pop ups.

That’s where Instant Slide Up ads come in!
Here’s their main benefit:

Instant slide up ads do deliver the same results, however, your visitor is NOT interrupted as she still can read on. Yes, her attention is drawn to the movement of the instant slide up, but not in an obtrusive way.

If possible, avoid anything that annoys your readers. Pop-ups, pop-unders, lightboxes, hoovers and tons of animated subscription features will chase your readers away.
Mind you, they often work (depending on the niche you’re in), but they’re also a huge source of irritation. And that’s the last thing you want for your visitors, isn’t it?

The most positive benefit of Instant Slide Up is, that it draws attention in a positive way, which will more than likely increase sign ups.

The slide up ads are very easy to set up.
Just configure the details, embed some lines of javascript snippet into your HTML and you’ll see the nice slideup in your web page !

The ads come with numerous outstanding templates, so you can get started in minutes. And if you know a tiny bit about creating graphics, you can make your own template, like I’ve done below for this blog.

Instant Slide Up ads works seamlessly with your autoresponder system and you can either have your sign up form in the ad itself or have a link to your sign up page.
Heck, you can even split test that!

InstantSlideUp creator and owner Rob Chuah provides superior customer support. And not only that, his marketing skills are superior too as you will notice from his email tips and tricks that he sends after sign up.
Rob definitely knows what works and what doesn’t.

I am very satisfied using this email capture method, so I became an affiliate for the product and that’s why I use my affiliate link to send you there.

Sign up for Instant Slide Up ads right now -it’s very affordable-, or at least try the free version for a while.

Then, let me know what you’re thinking.
Post your comments below.

Why Instant Slide Ups Replace My Pop Ups is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

Category: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: