How A Change in Perspective Can Help You Make More Holiday Season Sales: Pt. One

How A Change in Perspective Can Help You Make More Holiday Season Sales: Pt. One
Copyright 2004 Tinu AbayomiPaul

Some sites are perfect for the Christmas season - their products fit easily into the idea of gift-giving. But what if the products and services you offer are for small business owners?

Or, as many of my clients ask, how do I survive the holiday season if I sell intangibles?

When a couple of people brought this question up to me in early fall, my answer was that I'd probably make enough money in October not to have to worry about November and December at all. Prevention made sense to me at the time as being the best cure, but it also doesn't mean that I've resigned myself to slow sales during the holidays.

On the contrary, I think that most people who have businesses that offer intangibles such as ebooks, downloadable software, or marketing services can just as much, or more money as the rest of the year by changing tactics slightly.
In other words, just because much of the world is more focused elsewhere doesn’t automatically mean that there is a smaller pool of available customers.
True, part-time small business owners may be more mindful of gift-giving and planning family gatherings right now, and anyone with family may sacrifice a new widget for themselves to get that special someone the gift of their dreams.
However, it’s important to remember that this doesn’t mean no one wants or needs your services right now. It may just mean that you need to think a little differently to make sales this time of year. There's a number of ways that a few subtle changes in your thinking can bring you into a solution-oriented perspective.
For example, I’m an American. This constantly leads me to a tendency to forget that this isn’t the only nation on the planet.

If, like me, you are constantly forgetting that you can market to people worldwide, one small way you can attract more business is to think bigger. Instead of falling prey to the thinking that there isn’t any money to be made again until January, think about how your site can serve a wider audience.

For example, maybe you can make your site easier for people to translate into other languages using Alta Vista’s free Babelfish tool at http://babelfish.altavista.com/ , or a link to Google’s Language Tools page at http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en - check your server logs and see if you have a significant amount of traffic that originates in a country other than yours.
This is just one of many ways you can widen your audience.

If you have a news or content feed, maybe you need to add a newsletter for the portion of your audience who has not yet started to use news readers. Or if you blog, maybe you need to promote your feed as much as your blog. If your site is mainly text, it could be time to add audio. Or maybe all the flash you put on your site for hi-speed users makes you miss out on dial-up visitors.

Just one small change can put you in front of an cross-section of potential clients you may not have had access to previously.

You can also use a study of the demographics of your current audience to get ideas for affiliate products that might help them. If you're not studying who your audience is from afar through surveys, or even better, getting up close and personal and talking to them directly, you should be. Knowing what their needs are is invaluable information in helping you to help them.

An example: If you mostly cater to women who are small business owners, with a little more investigating, you might find that they have a common need.
Many of them may be newly successful in their endeavors, and might be thinking about making a large purchase, like a house. You could join an affiliate program of a mortgage loan company and bring the two groups together. You've done your audience a favor, the loan company is happy with the feedback, they pay you per lead, everyone is happy

Another way you might want to think differently is to use this time of year to focus in on one earlier step in the process of making a sale, instead of focusing more attention towards the later steps that are closer to a purchase.

While most merchants worry a little too much that advertising and marketing in the last few months of the year is a waste of time, there are some people who see this as true from experience. Although past experiences don’t necessarily have to translate into present expectations, I’ll agree that maybe if you sell one ebook about painting Easter eggs, that Christmas season sales really are a foregone conclusion.

However, even in cases like these, you can still isolate one step in the sales process and just say hello. Even if you make most of your sales from on-the-spot buyers, communicating with new arrivals at your site several times can help you increase the number of people who end up purchasing down the road.
Some studies show that most online sales, particularly of ebooks and software, are not impulse buys, and may take up to seven contacts before a purchase is made. So why not make those repeat visits occur as informatively - and as quickly - as possible?

You may find that simple well wishes, and the show of a sincere desire to help builds rapport between a you and your potential client. Touching base during the holiday season doesn’t need to be a formal or long communication either.
For instance, you can send a quick email out to your list, just saying hello, or offering them a coupon against future sales. Perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of such a gesture. I know I have, and I always appreciated it.

A lawyer I used to work for sends Thanksgiving cards. He doesn't ask for any business, he just updates us on how his family is. As a result, he is hard-coded into my brain every Thanksgiving, and I look forward to his letters.
He’s also always at the top of my mind when people ask me to refer them to a good attorney. Sure it’s because he’s great at what he does - but his effort to keep his name at the top of my mind didn’t hurt either.

In Part Two, I’ll tell you about what I noticed about the subscription site model that helped me triple my income in one month, and how you can use what I learned to help you make more money this holiday season.

----------------------------------------------------
Read part two of this article at
http://www.freetraffictip.com/perspective2.php or visit the Free Traffic Tips Blog for search engine news and more cost-effective ways to bring targeted visitors to your site.

Knocking The Mythology Out of Affiliate Network Marketing

Knocking The Mythology Out of Affiliate Network Marketing

Copyright 2004 Isaiah Hull

If you have worked as an Internet marketer for any amount of time, you have probably heard repeatedly that affiliate network marketing opportunities are the most lucrative, cleanest, quickest way to make an income on the Internet.

And if you have actually tried affiliate network marketing for any amount of time, you more than likely ended up broke or never achieved more than modest, fluctuating success.
..like almost everyone else who goes into the field.

So what prevents you and 97% of all other affiliate marketers from succeeding while 3% continually rakes in 70% of the profits? Are they smarter than you are? Do they work harder and longer than you do? Do they know a bunch of obscure secrets that you do not?--No, but they do have a totally different mindset.
In order to become successful in affiliate network marketing, you must destroy the mythological mindset that most people bring to the business. You must stay firmly grounded in reality if you ever want to succeed.

How many times have you heard about some little old lady that only spends 3 hours a week on her computer and somehow earns $50,000 a month? And how many times have you read an ad that tells you how you can make $10,000 in one month from now if you sign up right away?

We have all seen these ads and we have all responded to them at one time or another. Chances are, if you're in an affiliate program now, you were hooked by a line like that.

But what separates the "gurus" from the people who make little or no money is that the gurus understand what this really is: mythology. These stories, while they might be true, promote mythological thinking that tricks people into trying every opportunity that looks good at the moment, rather than focusing on a single opportunity.

These "opportunities" not only prevent you from succeeding, but they have an even nastier byproduct: they promote the mythology that you either succeed on the Internet in 15 minutes or you will never succeed at all.

This is simply not true, yet it is the reason why almost no one succeeds with affiliate marketing: they can never stay with one opportunity more than a couple months. If they do not have instant success, they give up and move on--restarting the same building process they abandoned.

They never reap the profit of cumulative efforts. They build a foundation, they leave before starting the actual building--and then they move to another company, start the foundation, and then leave once again.

Without exception, every successful Internet marketer has spent an enormous amount of time both researching and experimenting with online business. Most have failed miserably a number of times and most have spent a significant amount of time working their way to the top and achieving profit. It really is pretty hard to earn an income on the Internet, but it is entirely doable if you are following a proven plan and if you are willing to abandon lofty mythology for a plan rooted in reality.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best places to start making a profit online. In fact, almost every successful Internet marketer I know started her career selling affiliate products. Many of them still do. What made them successful is that they found a legitimate opportunity to make money (whether or not it was the best one available), they found replicable processes that got them visitors and profit, and then they repeated those processes and reinvested those profits until they got to where they are now.

Most people cannot accept that making money with affiliate programs is this simple. I have found that most affiliate marketers who do not earn an income online either a) do not want to do actual work or b) have developed a mythological mindset from reading affiliate program advertisements--and can only think in terms of making money on the Internet through magic, rather than results-oriented action.

In closing, I will summarize and then dispel all of the popular Internet affiliate marketing myths, so you can skip the learning curve and start building your empire today:

Myth #1: There is an affiliate program out there that will do all of the work for you and make you rich without requiring effort on your part.

Truth: You have a much better chance of earning an income on the Internet if you work on the affiliate program you are in currently in (as long as it is a legitimate
opportunity) than if you search the entire Internet for a better opportunity. There is definitely a lot to be said for having a responsive, successful upline, but ultimately, your success will depend on your actions. You can sell anything on the Internet; you just have to spend enough time in the building and learning process.

Myth #2: You must spend an exorbitant amount of money on advertising to make money on the Internet.

Truth: Every single successful Internet marketer puts heavy testing, good design, and reliable follow-up over heavy spending. They minimize costs and they make sure what they are actually spending produces empirically-acceptable results.
If you ignore this you will fail. A lot of real life corporations spend thousands of dollars monthly on PPC campaigns and end up making no money at all because they don't start small and test their results. They just throw money at the problem and hope for sales. You don't have thousands of dollars to throw away, so don't do this.
Myth #3: You will succeed or fail on the Internet or on any Internet money-making venture within month.

Truth: Most Internet marketers have spent time building an enormous empire with big mailing lists and regular website visitors. They worked to become successful. You must also.

If you want to find an affiliate program that makes you rich instantly without putting in any work, then continue spending money. Send me an email when you find it because I have personally looked at hundreds--and while some are better than others--none offer success without action.

The Internet is riddled with mythology. If you want to succeed, you must reject this mythology and look for clear, work-for-results solutions. You must create plans and put them into action immediately. You must build and cultivate a base of subscribers and visitors. And above all, you must accept that you can only achieve profit through sweat, not luck.

----------------------------------------------------
Isaiah Hull is the CEO of an Internet business, a publisher of two business newsletters, PTL of several affiliate programs, and a business trainer for his affiliates. On 11/10/04, he released a brand-new free Internet income course to address the major changes in Internet marketing:
http://www.workathomerightnow.net

Don't Use Web Audio The Wrong Way...

Don't Use Web Audio The Wrong Way...

Copyright 2004 Nick James

Have you ever wrestled with a set of instructions, but then got so frustrated with it all that you threw them aside in a fluster and tried to figure out how to do it… yourself?

Resulting in…Making a great big mess of it all?

Similarly, if you really want to use Web Audio the right way, the way that WORKS, then you need to know what DOESN'T work.

Here's what many people do, pretty systematically… to hinder their marketing and audio responses:

1. Speaking into the microphone without a care for what they're saying, how they're saying it and, without any regard to who's listening! That's pretty scary. Mumbling along without paying any attention to the small details.
It's what could sink the hopes of many… FAST!
SIMPLE SOLUTION - Write out a little script. Then, rehearse it. After that, record it several times. Finally, choose the best of the lot and use it. See, I told you it was pretty simple.

2. Some feel that hiring a 'PROFESSIONAL' or 'DJ', to record the voice audio, is the way to go. Now, for some, that may seem a reasonable way out, but what's likely to happen is that the websites' PERSONALITY loses its authenticity. Somehow, most of us can detect when things seem out of sync. When things seem a little too… SLICK!
SIMPLE SOLUTION - If you really want to get someone else to do the voice audio for you, then make sure they've got a warm, natural personality that shines through in their voice. It'll win people over.

3. Sending the recorded audio message to your website, and then… FORGETTING ABOUT IT! Have you ever dialled a phone number, got an answer machine message that was either way out of date or just plain irrelevant? What an unprofessional image to portray. Well, that's why NOT attending to what's on your messages, could cripple you more than you'd know!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - Keep your audio updated! I'm not saying that you have to micro-manage it and change it every other day. But, keeping your messages fresh, alive and full of valuable, useful and usable information that addresses the needs of your audience… is what'll keep them loyal, attentive and eager to receive your future messages!

4. Leaving your audience mentally floating, not knowing what to do next. Have you ever experienced a scenario similar to this one: Whilst waiting on a train platform, an announcement is made to the waiting passengers as follows,
"due to a fault on the line, please expect further delays".

I'm in no doubt at all that this announcement would have left the passengers feeling concerned, confused and wondering what to do next. What the announcer should have taken the time to add is as follows,
"as we have not received any information from our control centre indicating the expected length of delay, you may like to consider hopping on bus number 19, leaving the bus stop adjacent to the station entrance in 7 minutes time.
Otherwise, please continue to listen for further announcements, which we will endeavour to make every five minutes. Please also accept our sincere apologies for the delay and any inconvenience this may have caused you".

SIMPLE SOLUTION: People are silently begging to be told what to do next. If you can lead them to a specific outcome, they'll be putty in your hands! Whether it's instructions to go to a specific toll free number to get more information, or something they have to activate, like a membership number, whatever it is… tell them PRECISELY how to do it.

Web Audio, used correctly, will have a dramatic impact on the way in which your customers respond to you. They'll be so 'stuck' on your website and addicted to your audio messages, that you'll soon be sending out birthday cards to them!
FLASH AUDIO WIZARD has a simple in-built technology that'll give you the website personality you've always dreamed of.

It's simple to use. It's easy to get started. Why not get your website 'speaking', today?

just visit www.FlashAudioWizard.com

----------------------------------------------------
Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 3 years Nick has sold in excess of ?1 Million of products and services. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week at: www.Nick-James.com New Product:
www.FlashAudioWizard.com

How to Run A Successful Affiliate Program

How to Run A Successful Affiliate Program

Copyright 2004 Adam Waxler

There are many people who log onto the internet everyday looking for a way to make money online.

They start with all the best intentions, but unfortunately, before they know it they are getting bombarded with information and are simply spinning their wheels.

I completely understand this. There is so much internet marketing information online and once you get started it seems like "information overload".

Therefore, I will try to keep this as simple and short as possible.

Many people will sign up with an affiliate program promoting the affiliate’s product or program. This makes sense. Starting as an affiliate marketer is probably the
easiest way to get started online. There are many affiliate programs out there that will give you everything you need to promote their products or program…Well almost everything.

You see, many of these affiliate sites will give you a website, but you don’t own the site. It is a gateway site.

You don’t even own the domain name for that matter.

Being part of one of these programs is not bad though. I belong to several. SFI is a perfect example. I joined their program and have several sites that they gave me to promote their products and their affiliate program.

But if you are truly going to make money with these types of sites you are going to have to do a lot more than simply sign up for their program.

It is simply unreasonable to think that people are going to just stumble upon your site and sign up for your program and start making you money.

There are a few things you need to do if you truly want to make an affiliate program work.

First of all, you must have your "own" web page with your "own" domain name and your "own" host. You will then have links from your "own" site to the other "gateway" site(s).

You will promote your gateway site it, but you will promote it through your own site.

There are so many reasons for this I couldn’t possible fit it into this one article, but basically the site is yours to run the way you want to. Think of it this way…it is "your" store and you are selling "their" product.

Your web page could be designed as a short sales letter that focuses primarily on this one program if that is what you choose. Or, you could focus on several affiliate programs and products within the same market. For example, a sales letter with the top 3-5 money making opportunities.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Either way, promoting one program/product or promoting several, you will not only want to own your own site, you definitely want to be able to "drop in" on potential customers from time to time.

What I mean by that is you want to capture email addresses of people who visit your site.

To do so you need to give something away that is of enough value that people are willing to give up their email address and receive something from you week after week or at least month after month.

A newsletter/ezine is perfect for this. Send out a weekly or monthly newsletter on your topic that includes articles, tips, e-courses, bonuses etc. This way you can plug your programs over and over again (not just once).

I know this sounds like a lot…design your own web site and your own newsletter.
However, there are programs available that actually set everything up for you, including a website, an autoresponder, a pre-written newsletter, and even unlimited support.

Plug-in-Profit (PIPS)
(http://www.money-teacher.com/pluginprofitsite.htm) is a perfect example. You can have a web site that site is 100% yours to change however you wish. The site comes ready to promote 5 different programs. You could work with as many of them as you want and you can also add your own.

You also get a pre-written newsletter and autoresponder that is also 100% customizable. The newsletter is obviously designed to promote the programs that come with the web site, but you can change it however you wish.

PIPS may or may not be what you are looking for; however, if you truly want to be successful online you will definitely need your own web site and your own newsletter.

----------------------------------------------------
Adam Waxler owns and operates The Money Teacher web site and publishes The Money Teacher’s Home Business Tips Newsletter teaching others how to reach online success. To get your free newsletter subscription send a blank email
to: newsletter@money-teacher.com or visit our web site at http://www.money-teacher.com