Archive for August, 2007
The Simple First Website Goal
Posted by Kathy Jackson in Affiliate Marketing, Design Friday, 31 August 2007 12:14 3 Comments
Knowing where you are going is the first step to getting there! And this is true even when planning a web site.
I know people who want a website, but have no idea of what their goal of having a website is. They buy every site building software that comes down the pike, they subscribe to this and that and after months they not only didn’t have a website, they still didn’t even have a clue what they would do with that website if they ever actually built one!
So the first thing you should have before starting your first website is a goal. What do you want that website to do for you? The goal can and should be simple if it’s your first site. Here are some simple goals:
* My site will review products.
* My site will have content and Google AdSense advertisements.
* My site will give away viral marketing products and to build my list.
* My site will sell a product with a sales letter.
Can you state your website goal in one short sentence? If so, then you will know where you are going so you will have a pretty good chance of getting there.
Just remember that your goal, like the first website that you will build, needs to be simple and basic.
And, if this is your first website, make it a very simple affair. Don’t go for an elaborate thousand-page website right out of the starting gate. You don’t need to add complications like feedback forms, news feeds, floating pop-ups or any of the other multitude of options available.
There is an old saying that says, ‘Success breeds success.’ Once you have successfully accomplished building your first website, then you can move on to the more complicated features with greater confidence. With a goal, both the site and your outcomes will stay focused.
PPC and Affiliate Marketing
Posted by Gracie Browning in Affiliate Marketing, PPC Tuesday, 28 August 2007 12:28 3 Comments
PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is usually the starting point for any affiliate marketing online business. The search engines are where people all over the world turn to search for products and services, not to mention information that they want and need.
So, it just makes sense that affiliate marketers concentrate some of their advertising dollars to PPC in the beginning, and continue growing after getting established.
Pay Per Click advertising is actually very cost effective. The only time you pay for the advertisement is when a potential customer sees the advertisement, clicks on it and is taken to the website or to an affiliate product site. It doesn’t matter how many times your advertisements are SEEN… because ”impressions” do not incur a charge.
We are ONLY charged when our advertisement produces the RESULT of a visitor to our website, or to the merchant’s website.
As a matter of fact, after you get it right, PPC advertising can be the MOST cost efficient method of advertising ever devised.
Here’s why I say that. If you advertise in a newspaper, you actually pay for the number of people who read the newspaper, and not for the people who actually SEE your advertisement (not to mention ACT on it!) The same thing is true of direct snail mail advertisements where you pay for the number of pieces mailed, even if nobody orders.
When you advertise on the radio or on television, you pay for people to SEE or HEAR your advertisement and, again, not to ACT on them.
Yes, it is true that the effectiveness of PPC advertisement can vary greatly. Actually, that is true of all advertising services.
At least with PPC, the potential customer DOES visit your place of business (website or merchant site) when he clicks on a PPC advertisement, and is actually exposed to the information you worked so hard to create.
Optimizing Opt-In
Posted by Kathy Jackson in Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Programs, E-mail Marketing Friday, 24 August 2007 12:51 1 Comment
Ask anybody who has been in the internet marketing game in any capacity for more than the last 15 minutes and they will tell you that the single most valuable asset that any internet business can possess is an opt-in list… and the bigger, the better.
You can’t list your opt-in list as an asset on your balance sheet – nobody can actually put a price tag on it, mostly because it is priceless.
Your opt-in list is the list of people who have willingly supplied you with their name and email address – and this is information that people do not part with lightly.
So you want your opt-in page to be as optimized as it can possibly be.
As affiliate marketers, we, maybe more than any other group of internet marketers, are well aware of the value of our opt-in lists. We know that making it easy and as enticing as possible to sign up is to our best advantage.
There is one very important thing that you want to do that will better optimize your opt-in process, and that is to insure that your customer needs to click only ONE TIME.
Instead of having your customer taken to your ‘thank-you-page’ and then having to click yet another link to go to your affiliate link, make your ‘thank-you-page’ your affiliate link. Just as soon as they opt-in, they are taken directly to your affiliate link page.
Of course, in order to accomplish this task, you must first ask the merchant for a link that bypasses the opt-in link. Most merchants will do this when they are asked to. It’s actually a very common practice now.
It’s a win-win for everyone. The customer gets one less click; the affiliate gets the information they need; and both the merchant and the affiliate get one more customer.
For more on optimizing your thank you page, grab the August issue of Affiliate Classroom Magazine.
Attend Affiliate Summit East via Video
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Classroom Events and Products, Affiliate Marketing Monday, 20 August 2007 16:32 1 Comment
If you missed out on the Affiliate Summit in Miami in July, it’s not too late to learn something from all the hard work that went into the event.
For the very first time, the videos from sessions are available to everyone (not just the people who attended).
There were a wide variety of topics covered – I was initially disappointed that I couldn’t attend all of the sessions, but at least now I still can get the information from the comfort of my computer (although, I wouldn’t give up attending the session for anything – the networking opportunities at the live event just can’t be beat!)
The videos may or may not be offered after future Summits, so take advantage of this opportunity and learn about blogging, Web 2.0, Analytics, Social Communities, Contextual ADs, PPC, SEO, and all those other subjects you hear top marketers frequently discuss.
Get the Affiliate Summit 2007 East videos today – In my opinion, it’s the best free information you’ll ever get!
August Affiliate Classroom Magazine – Forgotten Traffic Tactics
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Classroom Magazine, Affiliate Marketing, Traffic Wednesday, 15 August 2007 14:26 1 Comment
We have just released the August issue of Affiliate Classroom Magazine – and it’s all about getting Traffic – in ways other than online advertising and SEO.
Fist, Mark Thompson’s “Offline Advertising – The Forgotten Goldmine” explores many different areas of offline advertising, including how to set up your offline campaign; and getting print, radio or television advertising for far less than others are paying.
Kathy Jackson’s next with “Does Ezine Advertising Still Work?” You’ll soon learn that it does and what it takes to make it in today’s “New-Style” ezine advertising arena.
There’s also a special note on which STYLE of ezine will not only get you more visitors, but more importantly, more sales!
You’ve heard about the Goodby Page, or have you? Well, Debra Rabin explains how to “Say Hello to the Goodbye Page,” and capitalize on impulse buying instincts as your visitors leave your site. You’ll find that this works excellently, and takes only a few moments to incorporate into your current process.
Then, Gracie Browning gives you one more idea in: “Forgotten Traffic Tactic: Classified Ads.” You can put your ad into one of the world’s most popular websites sites for free. The site gets over 5 billion page views per month and ranks #34 among the most-visited websites in the world. Why aren’t you there already?
Find the answers in the August Affiliate Classroom Magazine. It’s full of great information, and amazingly, is still free! It’s a PDF publication, and you don’t need to enter an email address to download it. Get Yours Today!
