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Choosing Offers

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Choosing Offers for Internet Marketing

I haven’t posted for a couple weeks because I’ve been busy with some other things, one of which is learning some material provided in a clickbank product I bought(non-related to internet marketing). Yes, there are actually some quality clickbank products worth the money. I have written on this site about all the autoblog products that continually come out hyping push button site creation blasting out thousands of posts for specific keywords,etc…..That worked somewhat before Google changed its search algorithms and put more weight into relevant backlinks vs. just long tail keywords since Google search results were beginning to show too many thin affiliate sites that got ranked for long tail key word phrases that when you clicked in the result they had just affiliate products or poor content,etc….

Anyways, back to offers…..if promoting via paid traffic you can go with promoting the popular offers that CPA networks tell you are converting so that you already have an idea of approximate conversion rate to calculate your add spend (CPM or CPC). For SEO/autoblog/content creation promotions though you want to find less competitive products that you know people are searching for and ideally something you would buy yourself. My first affiliate site was about a health supplement that is a great company/quality product but I spent so much time researching it to figure out what to write articles about that I got burnt out.Instead it’s easier and less time consuming to create sites in niche/markets you are already familar with so you can discern what products are good and talk competently about. Just think of something you bought recently that you might have researched for. Although the higher the price point the more quality I think your content needs to be since people are in research mode the higher the price point it and will know if you site is real or not. Find something that might payout higher on the backend or that takes a smaller initial trial price.

Since your site is providing a source for review/information about a product people are searching for, you have serious buyers that are seeking a quality information source. If you try to create a site with general informationthat gives no details why you like the product, other than just copying the vendors sales page/ad copy then your conversions won’t be great.

For autoblogs, start out the site with a focus on a specific product or similar products(ideally something you know about) and write some informative articles/content around those products so that you know your will generate some quality backlinks to your site for those products. You make these your “money posts” that you will funnel your other pages on your site to. Then as the site gets established, you can always schedule out future post to drip feed new auto-content posts related to products/subject. Also, you should track the pages being viewed the most so that you can steer traffic from other posts to the popular posts. (Do this via some wordpress plugin that converts specific keywords/phrases into in-text hyperlinks, or create your own text banner at the top of your content saying something like “Read about our top picks” or something eye catching that would go to your sales page/product review post).

Overall, I think it is far easier to find products you can relate to especially if you have to write content for. Although if the price points aren’t too high then you can probably get away with more general information about the product/subject as long as the site is quality looking and the vendors sales page or brandname is well known (ie- look at the # of amazon review sites out there that just scrap amazon customer reviews…..you could do your keyword research for a niche that is less competitive for # of sites listed in google for that keyword, focus site on a tight niche of amazon products, and use somethhing like Reviewazon plugin to pull amazon content. Then focus future posts or articles you write with updates on those products to generate fresh content/backlinks).

Also if you have future posts dripping content make sure it pulls relevant products (ebay auctions is good for a backup source for affiliate products at bottom of posts)

What ever your do, you need to think out the product and what a buyer would do before buying it……would they research it a lot first, type of commitment upfront(free trial or credit card required,etc..), quality of vendor(well known ?), is the product high need(ie- weight loss/dating/make money) or low need/want,etc…..you get the picture. Think out the buying process.

Posted in Affiliate Tips

Tags: affiliate marketing tips, autoblog tips, autoblogging, internet marketing

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Affiliate Marketing Reality

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Affiliate Marketing Reality

Just a quick ramble about making money in internet marketing. If you read nothing else on this site, you need to come away with this lesson -

Affiliate/Internet Marketing takes work.

Sure, you will read about some internet gurus who made it quick with their 1st profitable campaign or product launch, but internet marketing continues to evolve and get harder and more competitive. There are definitely tips and some software that helps the learning curve, but in general you need to understand that internet marketing takes work and the only way to learn is do just start doing. Stop reading everything or trying to have everything perfect before taking action. Just start doing.

Stop signing up for every single guru email mailing list that is there simply to constantly upsell you and introduce you to the latest and greatest holy grail/top secret/no work required/will share their secrets for a limited time/etc…..types of products. I think everyone who has been in internet marketing for at least a couple months soon realizes that all these products are there to take your money but many end up being a dissapointment.

Focus on one area of internet marketing whether it be building a website or PayPerClick or PayPerView or something and just learn it. It can be too frustrating trying to learn everything at once and you will just end up failing.

Honestly, internet marketing takes a ton of work and learning and you need to understand that there is an army of people around the world that are working as much as 16+ hour days also trying to make a living online. So choose a focus, learn it, and improve on it.

If you want some information then you can reference wickedfire.com or warriorforum.com for information or affbuzz.com for latest blog posts from top affiliate marketers, but you have to remember to stop trying to know everything and just realize that your first PPC campaign or website will probably suck, but you won’t improve until you try.

ok, that’s it……..

Posted in Affiliate Tips

Tags: affiliate marketing tips, internet marketing lessons, internet marketing tips, learn internet marketing

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Affiliate Marketing Mindset

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Affiliate Marketing Mindset

A really great interview with a well respected and REAL affiliate marketer / CPA network owner that I thought was worth mentioning. I like listening to affiliate interviews / internet marketing / general marketing podcasts when I am running, outside doing stuff, etc…..and this interview is great if you are frustrated or just trying to motivate yourself to work harder at internet marketing and realize that there is a big world out there in internet marketing.

anyways, you can listen to it at Convert2Media’s website

Posted in Affiliate Tips, Misc

Tags: affiliate marketing tips, internet marketing interview, internet marketing strategies

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Affiliate Marketing – Newbie Product Overload

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Affiliate Marketing – Newbie Product Overload

I think anyone who get into internet marketing ends up signing up to “guru” mailing lists, reading product reviews, constantly seeing new information products claiming how to make a living on the internet with some “secret” method that the guru is willing to share with you,etc…….

It really is overwhelming how many products are constantly added to the market geared towards affiliate/internet marketing, but I think the longer you do this the more you realize most are just rehashing past products or rearranging the same information. I definitely still read good affiliate marketing blogs and see what is new to the industry but the more I learn the more I realize that the best way to start in internet marketing is to just start doing. Pick a method whether it be Autoblogging, PPC, PPV, Media Buying, Niche Site building,etc…and just focus on it. When you hit a roadblock then start looking around for the answer but you have to figure out what works and doesn’t work.

Some products I admit though are worth buying as they do an excellent job providing excellent information that would take lots of time and even money figuring out on your own and I try to mention on this site the ones I think do just that, like Autoblog Blueprint for autoblogging and Rogue Marketing for media buying. There are some excellent internet marketing blogs (visit www.affbuzz.com for list of lots of them) that you can find valuable information on, but dont spend endless hours reading forums,etc…..Pick a method and just start. Trust me my 1st autoblogs look like crap now that I see them vs. the ones I build now.

If you are looking for quick internet riches with little work then you are bound to be dissapointed. I like to read occasional interviews with successful affiliates(many are which are still in early 20′s) and the common theme among all of them is that they work very hard. If you get frustrated, then don’t just keep hopping from one method to another everytime you read a sales page for some new product that promises to teach you all the secrets,etc…..expect to suffer setbacks and expect to be frustrated trying to figure out why your banner or text ad isnt getting clicks or your wordpress plugins aren’t working together correctly, or you are having hosting problems,etc….

Understand that all the gurus started as newbies and most worked hard until something just clicked and they had their 1st profitable PPC campaign or the right keywords for a niche site,etc……just keep working and realize that I get frustrated everyday(lately it’s trying to get my media buys to convert better) but if there are 20 year olds out there making a killing then I can too……(I’m a ripe 34 y/o, which seems to be old for affiliate marketers….lol)

Posted in Affiliate Tips

Tags: affiliate marketing tips, autoblog blueprint, internet marketing strategies, learn internet marketing, rogue marketing media buying

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Affiliate Marketing and Stock Market = Very Similar

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Affiliate Marketing and Stock Market Investing

Stock Market

As the stock market is imploding today, I was thinking about affiliate marketing and how similar it is to stock market investing. I’ve been around the stock market for about 15 years, 7 of which I spent professionally as a institutional stock broker.

I have seen enough boom/bust since then in the stock market so have a good understanding of what does and doesn’t work and as I was sitting here today watching the market follow apart, I figured I would write a quick post in how it relates so much to affiliate marketing.

First off in both internet marketing and stock investing you have to have real money invested to learn. Sure you can paper trade stock or read endless newbie internet marketing products but until you actually are doing, it is tough to truly learn. Where you have real money on the line then you are completely focused and hopefully learn what doesn’t work real fast.

In stock investing, the best rule you can ever learn is CUT YOUR LOSSES and NEVER average down on a losing position. The same rule essentially applies to affiliate marketing in that if an ad or campaign isnt converting make changes to it or shut it down, but don’t throw more money at it. Learn what isn’t working and learn from it. In stock BEFORE making a trade know exactly where you stop loss will be to limit downside and evaluate if the trade is proper risk/reward, and for affiliate marketing know your Pay-per-click or keyword competition before entering a campaign or building a website.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES AND DON”T REPEAT THEM. Seriously don’t kept redoing the same mistakes. Track your trades and review every single one. It is much easier to review a trade later after you don’t have money in it and emotions involved. Same with internet marketing, review what works and track it. (I’m still working on this myself regarding effectively tracking my ads).

Avoid the herd mentality and people opinions. If you are investing, then stop watching CNBC, reading stock chart boards, and listening to everyones opinions. Study what has worked in the past as the stock market will repeat and focus on what has been tested to work (like understanding chart patterns). In stock trading, go where the volume is and follow the trends – don’t fight the trend or bottom fish for crappy stocks that used to former highfliers.(The stock market isn’t stupid, more times than not a crappy stock will stay crappy and there is a reason that it went from $100 a share to $.80cents a share. Same applies to affiliate marketing, stop listening to every guru and crappy newbie product. In affiliate marketing like with paid traffic don’t try to reinvent the wheel, follow the money. Why waste endless money and time trying to see if a market converts when you could just go into a market that is already known to perform well like dieting/make money/dating. FOLLOW THE MONEY $$$$ But it is still up to you to be create and think outside the box.

Don’t buy a stock after every magazine or analyst is touting it as you are probably buying at the top and dont try to build a niche website and expect to compete for a highly competitive keywords like “Weight Loss”….Otherwise you will lose money…

Overall, people come to stock market trading and affiliate marketing for 1 thing usually…..TO MAKE BIG MONEY$$$$….but generally a small percentage actually make a good living at it and those are the ones that work hard at it and don’t expect easy riches with no work. You have to always be learning and evolving.

Just do it. Learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat the same mistakes. Study the most successful players in trading or campaigns/ads in affiliate marketing and see why they are successful. Stay humble and don’t live off of glory of past trades or past successful affiliate marketing campaigns, because failure can always be around the corner.

PS – If you got this far on this post, those red arrows in the chart above are where I went short the Nasdaq…..all the signs were there of a potential top if you knew what to look for……It’s been a good week in the market for me