Affiliate Business Trends

Archive for the ‘Affiliate Marketing’ Category

I have been trying to start an online business for about 5 years.  I started out with a MLM company.  This was my first attempt at making money online.  It was a very well known company and the products were good, but a bit pricey.  After 2 years of making calls, buying leads and not even breaking even, I quit that company.

I tried various other online money making “schemes” over the next couple of years, but most just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.   I bought alot of the “Guru’s” products.  You know the ones, just buy their product, do what they tell you and you’ll be rich overnight. 

The problem was I was a 48 year old grandmother who didn’t have a clue what HTML was or how to build a list, what an opt-in page was let alone put one on my page.  All the things they took for granted that you knew how to do, if you wanted to start an online business.

I always felt like I was missing something.  That they were leaving something out.  Or I was just too obtuse to understand.  I actually started to think that I may as well give up, because I was never going to get the hang of this internet marketing thing, no matter how hard I tried.  Not without spending a fortune (that I did not have) on more of the next best thing.

Then I found Jimmy D. Brown.  He was like a breath of fresh air, a life line to a woman drowning in a sea of internet marketing bilge water.

The first product I bought from him was Homepreneur Habits.  From that 65 page report I learned the principles of a successful Homepreneur, the tools I would need to implement to become a successful entrepreneur that would get me out of my day JOB and not become another one of those people that is just another statistic of a wanna be internet marketer.

Homepreneur Habits laid the ground work for healthy home office strategies, but I needed more.  Now Jimmy D. Brown is known for over delivering what he promises.  I signed up for his newsletter, and I found myself receiving a plethora of free reports, articles, and newsletters.  All with information to help me make money online.

Go check out Homepreneur Habits here.  I promise you won’t be sorry.

After listening in on the free audio interview between Lynn Terry and David Perdew, all I can say is WOW!

Now more than ever I realize I have got to get to NAMS.  Until the end of the month David gave Lynn a special discount for her Clicknewz readers.  $50.00 off the regular ticket price.  That means if I only need to come up with $247.00 to buy my ticket. 

Time to dig into my change pot.     I’ll let you know if I come up with enough change to get my ticket tomarrow.  Right now I’m off to count all that change that I pull out of my pockets and the bottom of my purse periodically.

When you are building a business your emotions can become a veritable roller coaster.  You start your day full of energy with positive thought of all that you will get done that day.  However, at days end you’re feeling overwhelmed and discouraged because of all the things on your to do list that went undone.

Do not let that get you down.  You are not alone.  Very few of us get everything done that we would like to .  There are only 24 hours in a day and for all of  us:  “Life is what happens when you’re not looking”.

What I am about to tell you will not be easy.   If  it were,  everybody would be doing it.

1.  Get the negative people out of your life.  When you are around negative people, and by that I mean, they have negative attitudes.  You know the kind of people I’m talking about.  “Well you know, most people do not make money working on the internet.”  “All those work at home businesses are scams.”  And don’t forget the gossip mongers.  “She only married him for his money.”  They never see the good in a situation, only the bad.

If you hang out with people like that,  it can’t help but bring you down.  Instead,  surround yourself with positive people.  “Isn’t this a beautiful day.”  Give your smile away, it’s contagious.  When you hang out with happy, successful people, you just can’t help feeling the same way.

2.  Tell yourself everyday, ” I am a successful business owner.  I am building a business others would love to have”.  This is a positive affirmation.  It doesn’t have to be those words exactly.  To find your affirmation, write down a list of your doubts, and insecurities, then turn them into affirmatives.

For example, don’t say “I don’t have the money to go on that vacation to Europe”, say “How can I make enough money to  take that trip?”.

Psoitive thoughts are powerful.  The things you focus on most will become reality, be they positive or negative.

3.  Don’t let negative thoughts take over your mind.  All of us get down from time to time.  We feel the weight of the world on our shoulders.  However, we don’t have to wallow in self pity.  Mentally grab yourself by the shoulders and give yourself a good shake.

When you find yourself getting into a dark mood, try to find something that turns your mood around.  Maybe a song, or a poem or a walk in the woods with someone you love.  It’s important that you don’t let the negativity consume you.

4.  Write down your goals and aspirations.  If you are familiar with the Law of Attraction, you know that you attract that which you focus on the most.  Don’t dwell on needing your business to succeed because you need to pay your mortgage.  Think about how you will feel when you can tell your boss to “Take this job and shove it”.  I’m going to be a stay at home mom.

5.  Have an attitude of gratitude.  When you are grateful for all the gifts in your life, your life just seems to be better, full of opportunities, instead of challenges.

Every morning when I get up, while I’m in the shower, I thank God for all the gifts he has given me.  A loving husband, a beautiful home, 2 successful adult children and 2 beautiful healthy granddaughters.  That small thing prepares me for my day in a positive manner.

I also carry a small stone in my pocket everyday.  It is my gratitude rock.  Whenever I put my hand into that pocket and feel that stone, I think of something that I am grateful for.  It keeps my thoughts positive throughout my day.

Those are things that help me stay positive.  You may want to keep a gratitude journal.  Post entries daily.  Then when you need some power of positive thinking, you can go back to your journal for inspiration.

Just remember, success can be yours.  It just takes some hard work and a positive attitude.  Keep these 5 strategies in mind and your too can build a better life for yourself and your family.  A happier, healthier, more satisfying life.

If you are new to affiliate marketing, I’m sure you’ve heard of the great “overnight” riches to be made that are fabled in story and song.  And while those stories can be true, the time frame of that wealth is not.

There is great wealth to be made on the internet and affiliate marketing is absolutely one of the best ways.  However, the people that have been successful at it know that it is work.  There are no free rides.  If you need to make or believe that you will make alot of money over night, go clean out your garage and sell the stuff on ebay.

Now that we have the myths out of the way, and you’re still here, you must be interested in the 4 mistakes that I mentioned in the title.  Like any business,  there are some things that you should and should not do.  Sometimes new affiliate marketers just don’t know what they don’t know.  In other words they don’t know what information and products are available to them to help them make their businesses run more efficiently and smoothly.  This is mistake number 1. 

You need to familarize yourself with what is available to you.  That means visit the blogs and websites of other successful marketers.  If they have written about something that you aren’t familar with , ask a question in the comments section.  Many are willing to help newbies “learn the ropes”. 

Become familar with search engine optimization (better known as SEO).  Not knowing how to make your blog or website SEO friendly is common mistake number 2.  If no one can find your website , then how can you make any sales?  Making your website friendly to the Search Engines will help you rank higher on their pages.  Ranking higher on their pages could be the difference between 1 or 2 sales and 100 sales.

The third common mistake, in my opinion, that new internet marketers make is filling their sites with banners for products, but then they don’t provide content to tell their perspective customers any information about the products in the banners.

If you are going to be an affiliate for a product, make sure you have read the product, if it is an ebook or ecourse, or tried the product if it is something tangible.  That way you can tell your readers about it intelligently.  Internet marketing is about trust.  You need to build that trust with people through truthful articles and product comparisons.  If they don’t feel that you are trustworthy they won’t open their wallet to buy from you.

Finally, the fourth and final common mistake that we are going to talk about today is a double edged sword.  New marketers either give their customers too many choices or not enough.  Let me explain.

If your perspective customer arrives at your website and you have 15 to 30 different brands of the same type of item without  offering one or two that is the best brand, (in your opinion), then they may think that they don’t have enough information to make a choice right then and there only to leave your site, maybe never to return.

However, if you have only 1 item, and you don’t make an excellent case for why that one product is the best on the market, they may again think, “What other brand is out there that may be better”, and again click away never to return.

To be able to avoid  these and other common mistakes, you need to remember that successful people, marketers included, never stop learning.  Knowledge is your key to making intelligent decisions and consequentially success.

While following Lynn Terry’s Clicknewz Blog, I read about a live workshop that she had been a speaker at in January 2009 and was going to be teaching at in Atlanta, GA in August 2009.

Lynn is going to be interviewed by David Perdew at the end of the month.  David is the mastermind of Niche Affiliate Marketing System, otherwise known as NAMS, and this audio interview with Lynn is one of several that David is conducting with some of the presenters at NAMS in August.

Needless to say I went to the NAMS2 website to find out all that I could about this conference.  After reading the sales page for NAMS2, I am totally convinced that I need to go to this conference.  Now the question is how to come up with $297.00 before the end of the month.  That’s when the ticket price will be going up $100.00 to $397.00.

I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to get that money somewhere.

More later.