Affiliate Classroom Blog

Anik’s “Slap-In-The-Face” Advice For 2007…

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 at 3:27 pm by Anik Singal

2006 was an incredible year for my business. My second year in operation and we grew over 300%.

But, it wasn’t a year full of only success. I made big mistakes this year, the 2 that bit the most cost me a total of $120,000.

I fell for a “too good to be true” trap and made a horrible outsourcing decision purely out of greed and I paid dearly and actually am STILL paying in lost opportunities.

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(I’ll tell you more about what happened further down)…
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I know you’re probably in shock right now, right? I mean think about…$120,000 can buy an entire house in some areas.

I know that the $120,000 “sounds” like a lot of money, but I’ve learned to look at
it as an “investment in my business education” rather than a loss.

See, when you put the $120,000 side by side to the MILLIONS in mistakes I just saved
myself in the future, the $120,000 proves to be a great investment.

I don’t tell you this to make you feel “sorry” for me - not even close. I’m telling you this to help you realize that mistakes (small and big) are a part of business, as a matter of fact, an enormous part of business. I would go as far as saying that they are far more important than the successes.

See, too many times everyone looks upon known internet marketers or the “gurus” and all you see are the huge revenue numbers, the big checks, the nice cars and the enormous houses. What these “gurus” never reveal to you are the huge losses that all of them see from time to time.

They rarely talk about their failed businesses, failed products, failed launches, bad decisions, the list goes on…

Well, not me - I’m here to tell you that whether you’re selling your own product, selling a service or building an affiliate marketing business. You will absolutely make mistakes and you should not only be proud of them but CHERISH them (so long as you learn from them and don’t repeat them).

In 2006 I made plenty of mistakes, but can honestly say that I learned dearly from all of them. Now, obviously, I was able to have far more successes than I did losses since  I still managed to grow an astounding 300%.

So, that was 2006, but what about 2007?

Well, as they all say:

“I have BIG plans for 2007″

I’ve taken a lot of time this past week to really sit down and think about my business and where I want it to be this time next year. I’ve thought about the elements that I need to focus on the most and of course, the elements that contributed the most in 2006.

Something different I did this year was rather than just think about myself, I thought about *YOU.* I thought about all the Affiliate Classroom students. I spent hours and hours analyzing your businesses to find what I think the most of you need to really focus on in 2007.

To simplify, I’ve split the tips/advice into 2 sections:

  1.  General Business Development Tips
  2.  Internet Marketing Tips

I’ve thought long and hard about these and really made sure to tie these in with the biggest trends I am seeing in online marketing for 2007 - so take them seriously, they’re for your own good.

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General Business Development Tips
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1) GET A MENTOR - NO EXCUSES

I’ve heard all the excuses in the book about how it’s impossible for you to find someone. The truth of the matter is, if you’re using this excuse, it’s because you’ve never really tried your best.

Just use me as an example. I grew up in a family of mostly doctors and engineers, not a businessman in sight. Actually, my parents were quite un-happy about “all the time I was wasting with this business stuff.”

But I had a passion and drive that drove me outside my comfort zone. I was determined to find those who would help me.

To date I have had over 5 mentors, each has been an immense help in their respective parts of my business. I can very confidently say that “MENTORSHIP” has been one of the top 3 contributing factors behind my success.

To put it simply, would you rather learn to learn to drive from someone who’s been driving for 10 years or would you rather get 10 people who’ve never driven a day in their life together and basically “figure it out?”

** HOW TO FIND A MENTOR **

Look, I hate to say this, but these things just happen. Not ONE of the mentors I’ve had was through any kind of “application process.” They were all “quincidences” that occurred due to a series of random events that took place because I stuck my neck out. Here’s what I did…

 * Asked business associates for referrals
 * Found able people and directly contacted
 * ATTENDED SEMINARS
 * Agreed to work for them (many times for FREE) 
 * Hired as a consultant and became friends (I call this “buying” my way in)

The key to finding a great mentor is going to be PERSISTANCE, always follow-up and never rely on just one person. Who knows if the first will be that great mentor.

Focus on building relationships and friendships in your industry - the “mentorship” role will grow out itself.

2) BUILD A TEAM - NO MORE 1 MAN SHOWS

How many of you read the Internet Business Manifesto? I should see all hands going up! Rich Schefren opened our eyes with a simple diagram that revealed the biggest problem internet marketers have.

WE THINK WE CAN DO IT ALL

One of my greatest strengths is my ability to recognize my limitations and allow others to make-up for them. It’s a simple LAW of success, you have no choice but to accept it and live by it.

If you want to create a large automated business that creates wealth, prosperity and financial FREEDOM, you’re going to have to delegate work and build a strong team - no ifs and buts.

Remember this when you start to build your team…
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

If you’ll allow me to vent for a moment, I’d like to go head to head with a DETRIMENTAL ideology that seems to be catching on like a bad virus in the “internet entrepreneur” world. This misbelief has to be corrected right away before it dooms your business to failure.

Here it goes…

STOP FOCUSING ON CHEAP LABOR

Yes, I realize labor is “cheaper” in India, Russia and China. Yes, I know that little “Jimmy” down the street will work for 2 bowls of spaghetti and a bag of skittles. But honestly, WHAT QUALITY OF work are they going to do?

I’m not saying all “inexpensive labor” is bad. Heck, I have an excellent design team in India and they cost me 1/10th of what my American team costs me.

I’m only saying to stop focusing solely on “how much they cost” and stop looking for the cheapest.

This is a completely wrong way of looking at your business.

The “cheap” mindset may seem to work for now, but the minute your business starts to grow into an authority figure, that very mindset that will come back to haunt you.

The reason I am so passionate about this topic and am drilling on it is because I had the same mindset in the beginning of 2006 and this year alone it cost me more than $120,000. I don’t want that to happen to you. 

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(I’ll tell you more about what happened further down…)
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And I’m not just referring to your outsourcing; I’m talking about your employees as well. I won’t mention names, but just recently I was talking with a big marketer and a good friend. This person started to brag about how they just hired 2 new employees on “just above minimum wage” with no benefits.

Both employees have a family, 1 with a new born child and when I asked this marketer how in the world those 2 would be able to survive on the salary, his exact response was:

“I don’t know, I don’t care - not my problem”

I knew that very moment that either or all of the following was destined to happen to the new team he was building.

  1) Complete failure within 3 months
  2) Hostile & Un-productive work environment
  3) ZERO loyalty

One of the biggest lessons I learned in 2006 was when I was hospitalized for an entire month (I spent over 3 weeks in the ICU) and I almost died 3 times.

Assume I hadn’t told you that just now, would you have ever known?  Let me ask you this, could you, right now, tell me which month I was hospitalized?

I’ll even give you a clue…

I didn’t work at all (barely logged into the internet), didn’t *personally* send out e-mails or launch a new product, etc…

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No idea right? You know why that is? It’s because I have an amazing team that stepped up to the plate and took care of everything. They took ownership over the business and worked overtime, worked weekends and even worked on holidays, yet never complained.

It was then that I learned the true meaning of a team and how absolutely vital the team is to your business - if it wasn’t for them, there was a good chance that Affiliate Classroom would never have survived 2006.

Take care of your team, don’t penny pinch, treat them right and make sure to always reward them for the hard work they put in to make YOU money.

I’ll leave this topic by asking you just one question:

“It’s the end of the year, have you thought about giving your team a bonus to thank them?”

3) BRING IT BACK TO QUALITY

To carry on with the theme of “you get what you pay for” - I’ve seen another deadly ideology catching waive in 2006. The ideology of “QUANTITY OVER QUALITY”

John Reese recently released a video which I found refreshing where he argues against the entire idea of “Multiple streams of income.”

“Stop diving into 10 markets and trying to create 10 different businesses to diversify your income, rather GROW aggressively in just 1 market. Add multiple products and websites for THAT market.”

He re-coined a term:

“Multiple streams of REVENUE”

I couldn’t agree more since this is the exact ideology I built my business on and it served me well.

Let’s review some examples of the “QUANTITY over QUALITY” ideology that will eventually kill anyone’s business.

  1. $1 “keyword stuffed” articles
  2. Auto-generated websites, scrapper sites
  3. Black hat SEO
  4. Copyright infringement/Plagiarism

Bottom line is this - all the above may some how produce results “now.” But, check back in 3 months and you’ll find that your time/money/reputation was wasted.

Rather, spend that same time in focusing on quality. Focus on your visitor, your customer, your affiliates - drive quality and you’re truly building a long term business that is well diversified and safe.

So, to review the General Business Advice:

  1. Get a Mentor
  2. Build a TEAM (Treat them right)
  3. QUALITY not Quantity

Now, on to more marketing related tips to help you drive more traffic in 2007 and increase your bottom-line revenue…

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Marketing Tips
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1) Web 2.0

If you haven’t researched it yet, get to know Web 2.0 very fast and plan to dive in right away. Although Web 2.0 is still in its infancy, we’re already falling behind compared to the BILLIONS that the Fortune 500 is investing into it.

Web 2.0 is the “new internet” with a focus on social networking and user generated content. YOUR goal as a business is to simply provide the infrastructure and location where like-minded individuals can gather and share.

Web 2.0 is basically “community building” on steroids.

You monetize Web 2.0 through its viral element. Each new visitor brings many new visitors each who see your ads, your affiliate promotions, your services, your products and sure, even your Adsense!

In 2007, plan on building a Web 2.0 focused social networking space for your niche. For example, if you run a website on “dog training” - launch a dog lover’s social site.

As the internet evolves, there is huge value to be placed on a business’s ability to gather a large group of like-minded consumers in one location and build loyalty.

Sounds Great, What’s The Catch?

Do you have Thousands of dollars to invest in the programming needed to facilitate such a site? Or maybe those thousands would be better spent on building your team.

well not to worry…many scripts and services are now launching everyday that you can get for as long as $30-$50/month that will allow you to get started.

Keep posted, I’ll be testing them through out the year and as always will let you know what I think.

Ok, moving right along…

2) GO FOR THE LONG TAIL

Ok, this may seem like a small or obvious tip - but I promise you, it may be the best one in this e-mail (besides the team building one). Plan to have a major focus on building out your keyword list in 2007.

Whether for SEO or for PPC - if you’re sitting on a list of just a hundred or so, you don’t have enough and you’re likely going after the wrong keywords.

Here’s the best keyword strategy to use (focus more on this and you’re going to see a huge impact on your traffic and by default better rankings on the MAIN keywords:)

A) Find 3-4 word phrases
    These phrases should have your main keyword or a part of it in them.

B) Add 1 page to your site for that keyword.

C) Target your promotion on that page.

D) Have good cross-linking on your own site.

That’s for natural SEO…

Now, how would you like laser targeted traffic for $.05 a click?

For PPC - if you’re not focusing on the long tail, you’re losing out on a lot of 5 cent targeted traffic. Trust me!

I’m in the process of testing 3 keyword generation software and will report back any of my findings. For now, please start using whatever tools you have - focus on adding pages to your site consistently and focus on the long tail keywords!

3) WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING

Why is it that since the internet more and more of are starting to abandon the “basic foundation” of marketing that built businesses for CENTURIES. Just because we have SEO, PPC, Ezines, and others does not mean we can forget the raw power of word-of-mouth marketing.

In 2007, all my sites are going to go through makeovers with more focus on viral marketing.

I want to do whatever it takes to get my visitors/customers to recommend my business to as many others as they can. I will focus even more on my affiliate program in 2007.

I will even make small changes like making sure all my sites have a “Bookmark Us” feature and a “Tell A Friend” script. Yes, these are simple fixes, but can you imagine the kind of traffic and income I lost in 2006 because I didn’t focus on these?

The internet has made word-of-mouth marketing even easier through automated technology and we should take advantage.

I’ll give you one more hint - if you want to tap into the ultimate word-of-mouth marketing - start a blog. Don’t ask questions, just start one!

So, to review our “Marketing Tips”

 1. Build a Web 2.0 Space
 2. Long Tail Keywords
 3. WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING!

2007 is going to be an amazing year and it’s 100% in your control. You can make ANYTHING happen this year and I have a good feeling that you and I are going to do big things in 2007.

Of course I have TONS of other tips I want to give, but only so much I can say in an e-mail. So, I invite you to keep reading, join The Affiliate Classroom and watch as we make some incredible changes to AC this year - all to directly help your business grow!

Before I go, I want to do one more thing - I want to invite you to please leave a comment below.

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Give everyone your own tip. What is one tip you can give us for 2007? - Just Put It In The Comment Below:

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Wishing you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and an incredibly prosperous 2007.

On behalf of the entire AC Team,

Anik Singal

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O Yea! I almost forgot to tell you what happened this year where I lost $120,000. Well, I told you it had to do with outsourcing right? I was trying to outsource “programming” of an entirely new concept/project.

The company seemed very promising and checked out on many levels. I agreed to award them the project and from the very beginning it was a complete disaster.

The coding was horrible, they never got the concept and they assigned un-qualified personnel. At the end of the day, they never understood the business, over-promised and never delivered.

Here’s what I learned:

You canNOT simply outsource the core competency of your business, especially if you know nothing about it. “I’m” not a coder and so I allowed myself to get fooled and “taken” by this company.

If you’re going to make a major outsourcing commitment in an area you don’t understand yourself - make SURE you have someone in your local team who does and who can manage that outsourcing work.

That’s your best insurance policy against “getting taken.”

Permalink  68 Comments »  Filed under: Affiliate Marketing

Emerging Marketing Trends for 2007

Thursday, December 28th, 2006 at 4:16 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

Here are just a few trends to watch for in the coming year.

Social Networking: By now, almost every online marketer has heard of social networking sites (such as MySpace) and have figured out that they are most likely the future of media. Many online social networks started out small, and now a few are becoming a global brand. However, marketers need to be creative in order to develop campaigns that integrate brand messages, without offending those who don’t want to be marketed to.

For this reason, a key trend for social network marketing will be “integrating brand engagement.” That means marketers need to develop websites where visitors do not see sneaky ads. Instead there will be more tools, characters, and icons that will promote customer empowerment and self-expression.

When Honda introduced the new Element, they did so with a MySpace page and used talking animals to promote the vehicle. Their main mascot was a crab, with a motto of “I pinch.” They also used a jack rabbit and a zebra to throw in some dry humor. People LOVED this and would visit the page often to see what the animals were up to.

So, keep that in mind when you’re developing new websites in 2007. It pays to be different. Here are a few more trends to watch:

Targeted Marketing and Digital Email: With the increase in social networking we will also see increases in targeted niche marketing. Improved email execution will enhance messaging and make email efforts more relevant. Soon, marketers will replace the plain HTML or text messages with dynamic content and include more strategic and forward thinking to make sure their emails get opened.

If you’ve heard that email is dead, think again. Email may just be the digital marketing newbie. This is a huge step for email, and may not all happen in 2007. Expect to see a lot of changes taking place during the next 5 years or so.

Online Video: Online content will continue to evolve, and will include more online video than ever before. However, the right audience and the right offer need to be determined first, if streaming video is to have a big effect on sales. When the right factors are in place, results have shown as much as a 1,000% increase.

Channel Integration: While more people are getting their news online, don’t think that newspapers and other marketing channels will go by the wayside. Marketers need to reach consumers where they are, and keep in mind that people using different medias need to be marketed differently. Print and radio will still exist, and marketers need to remain consistent and relevant across several different channels.

These are only a few things that online marketers should be aware of for the coming year. And, since things change so fast in the online world, there are certainly many more in the works! In 2007, and as always, marketers need to:

• Keep on top of new emerging trends
• Be aware of what competitors are doing
• Keep on top of the metrics that drive the business
  
• Continually test the marketing mix to make sure it’s right for the people targeted.

Permalink  5 Comments »  Filed under: Affiliate Marketing

Should You Outsource?

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 7:55 pm by Matt Van Atta

Tied to customer service, the term “outsourcing” represents an economic boon to many and a four-letter word to many more. But in general, it’s the practice of cutting operations costs through assigning tasks to outside individuals or groups who can perform those tasks more cheaply and (possibly) expertly.

Many writers, web designers, and other “experts” provide outsourcing services that affiliate marketers can use. However, whether you should outsource or not depends on where you are with your business.

Let’s say you’re going like gangbusters. You own several successful websites, you’re making money hand over fist, and you see new markets on the horizon. Maybe you want to develop content for a new market but would rather not spend precious time building a new website yourself. Or maybe you enjoy developing good web designs but would rather leave the content to others. Depending on specific needs, preferences, and available funds, outsourcing may make sense in this situation.

Now let’s say you’re an affiliate marketing newbie. Maybe you don’t know how to build a website, or you lack writing experience. Outsourcing can become an appealing option – after all, isn’t it better to have experts work on those things than to do it yourself and possibly screw it up?

The answer to that question is, “Maybe not.”

To succeed in affiliate marketing, you must be willing to learn – about your niche market and its needs. You have to study how a website works and what a good web design requires. You need to know how to write effective sales-related copy for your target audience, how search engines work, and how to tailor content for SEO purposes. The best way to learn is by doing it yourself – even if it means enduring trial and error, or having to face one’s fears of writing, technology, or contact with others.

Once you have developed this knowledge base, outsourcing may become an option down the road – but maybe not. The best affiliate marketers have the knowledge, yet they still willingly do much of the work themselves.

But if you do outsource at that point, at least you’ll know exactly how you want things done. Without that knowledge, you become totally dependent on others who may not do what you want You won’t be able to define what you want and you will lack control over the result.

If affiliate marketing is important to you, put in the time and effort and avoid taking the easy way out. You will be more likely to succeed, and you’ll take greater pride in your success.

Permalink  2 Comments »  Filed under: Affiliate Marketing

Life Is Good When Things Are Clicking (Through)

Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 pm by Matt Van Atta

You’ve heard the quote that Mark Twain supposedly made famous: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Well, statistics don’t lie, but they can overwhelm us to the point that numbers attack us in our nightmares.

But if you’re going to succeed as an affiliate, you need to pay attention to certain statistics and work toward improving them.

One such statistic, the click-through rate, is the percentage of ad impressions on a website that result in click-throughs. I.e., someone sees the ad on the site and is intrigued enough to click on the ad to see where the link takes him or her. The visitor may click on the ad either with a purpose that could eventually lead to a sale, or merely out of curiosity. Either way, the visitor’s clicking on the ad constitutes a click-through and improves the ad’s click-through rate.

An even more important statistic, as it pertains to the profitability of your affiliate business, is the conversion rate – the percentage of click-throughs that lead to sales or other intended actions (such as, for instance, a visitor signing up for your opt-in list).

A high click-through rate does not necessarily lead to a high conversion rate. So why care about the click-through rate? Simple – because a low click-through rate guarantees a low conversion rate.

So the question you have to answer is not just “How do I improve my click-through rate?” It’s also “How do I persuade people who click on the ad to buy the product once they click through?” After all, the more serious a visitor is about buying what’s being sold on the other side of your ad, the more likely a sale will result and thus earn you a commission for the sale.

You can shape your web content to enable the visitor to become more serious, too. Preparing substantive content, such as reports, white papers, product reviews, interviews, and the like, does more to convince the visitor about a product than just the attention-grabbing graphic that screams “CLICK HERE.”

Many other statistics can inform and enlighten (as well as confuse and frustrate) affiliate marketers. But when you get down to brass tacks, the click-through rate and the conversion rate are the two fundamental ones. They give you the low-down on how effective you are at driving sales to the merchant’s website.

Permalink  Post your comments »  Filed under: Affiliate Marketing

Four Ways to Avoid Getting Banned

Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 2:30 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

Most marketers use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a strategy to get more traffic. But some of these strategies can go too far and get a website banned by search engines. When this happens, you will not receive any organic (free) search engine traffic and will have to pay for every click you get!