I recently got a question from one of my customers about how to attract more affiliates.
She works for a successful online marketer who is doing all the right things with her affiliate program. She has great products, affiliates who are already successful and lots of great promotional tools.
In order to boost the program’s success and get more sales this affiliate manager was looking at adding more affiliates to her program (a common goal for most affiliate managers). So she did what many people do to find new affiliates and started emailing potential partners who would be a great fit. The response just wasn’t good.
One of the biggest stalling points for many a new affiliate marketer is getting the actual affiliate website up and running.
As an affiliate marketer, you want a content management system (aka website) that makes it easy for you to add new information and promote new products. You also don’t want to spend forever trying to figure out what that is.
My solution for you – WordPress.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.
That’s the definition straight from WordPress.org.
Want to see what you can do with it?
Here’s a new blog I’m playing around with as a potential affiliate site, it’s one of a few niche sites I own and run on WordPress:
And of course I’ve also built dozens of sites for clients through my service available at BlogSiteMojo.com.
So, yea, I like WordPress. I use it on almost every single website I create and will continue to do so because it’s easy, fast, intuitive and always getting better. That means I can focus on creating quality content, products and resources that serve my market rather than trying to get the darned stuff out there.
How Do You Start Your Own WordPress Affiliate Site?
Here’s a brief description of what you need to do:
1. Get website hosting with Fantastico or Simple Scripts for click and go easy WordPress installation – I promise it’s easy to install if you get hosting with one of these! I recommend Bluehost for hosting which has easy installation and a handy control panel.
2. Install & Customize WordPress. WordPress straight out of the box does need a little tweaking. If you’re not comfortable with this you can hire a Virtual Assistant to help you or hire a blogsite service to set it all up for you.
3. Start Promoting Your Affiliate Programs. The beauty of wordpress is that it is set up in such a way that it helps you get found easier by the search engines and it is very easy to use once you get the hang of it. You won’t have to wait for a website designer to do updates and you won’t have to buy a crazy expensive program like Dreamweaver to do it yourself.
I have to admit that even though I had built websites for many years before using WordPress, the thought of this CMS (content management system) on a blogging platform was intimidating to me. That’s why I choose to learn by having someone walk me through the whole process. Having someone walk you through or even do it for you takes all the pressure off, saves time hunting around (and potentially grabbing the wrong information) and gets it accomplished fast so you can move on to making money through affiliate programs.
So if you’re ready to get moving forward on your own affiliate marketing my recommendation to you is choose your system (I recommend WordPress ) and then just dive into it. Once you’ve got a website you can quickly and easily update you’ll have no more barriers to making a great income as an affiliate marketer.
p.s. If you learn best through video then I recommend you check out the Blogging Starter Pack by Lynette Chandler. Lynette has been a friend, mentor and colleague for years now and when it comes to WordPress she also knows her stuff.
Got my first Ask Angela Question and it’s a simple but great question:
I want to know is there a place I can go to study up on Affiliate programs. I do not really understand it.”
Affiliate Marketing is a hot topic and no doubt you have heard of it if you are into online marketing. But where can you go to learn more and know you’re getting quality, trusted information?
I’ve got a number of recommendations for you here:
1. Super Affiliate Handbook (aff link) – Rosalind Gardner knows affiliate marketing. I like to call her handbook the ‘bible’ of affiliate marketing. It’s something I recommend to all my coaching clients and customers of affiliate management. Before the summer is out I’ll be reading Rosalind’s handbook again and this time I’ll do up a proper review of it to let you know more about what makes it so awesome.
For now, here’s a video from Rosalind called ‘Affiliate Marketing Simplified’:
2. Shawn Collins – Shawn knows affiliate marketing. He is the co-founder of Affiliate Summit, one of the biggest affiliate marketing conferences. Shawn also has a feature called ‘Ask Shawn’ where he will answer your affiliate marketing questions.
3. Associate Programs – Allan Gardyne’s site is full of useful information on affiliate programs and affiliate marketing.
4. RIGHT HERE – As I’m ramping up for my upcoming Affiliate Commotion membership program and focusing more on providing information to those who want to be affiliate managers I will be focusing a lot more on affiliate marketing, affiliate programs and affiliate management right here on this blog. You can also sign up for a free course on how to run your own affiliate program by visiting AffiliateCommotion.com now.
I also provide a training course for those who want to become affiliate managers for small business owners. It’s called Affiliate Manager Training School.
5. Affiliate Classroom Magazine, Free – I saw Anik Singal at Affiliate Incubator in Dallas, Texas. He has grown a very successful business around the topic of affiliate marketing and has a top information for anyone wanting to know more about affiliate programs.
6. Affiliate Marketing Forums – There are a number of forums dedicated to affiliate marketing. Spending time there can help you learn more about affiliate programs from the people in the trenches and also make valuable networking connections. ABestWeb.com is a very popular affiliate marketing forum.
That should get you started with Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Marketing! Yes it’s a big topic so just take it a bite at a time and you’ll start getting the hang of it.
Another thing I would suggest is start joining affiliate programs of interest to you. There’s no better way to learn than to just jump right in there and start checking things out from the inside.
Affiliate marketing is a very viable strategy for making real money on the internet.
The first step to becoming a highly successful affiliate is finding a niche that is interested and a product that you really believe in.
By doing some diligent research you will find a great number of affiliate programs that provide some top tools and resources for you to promote and make money with their Read More→
Want to know how to build a website for affiliate marketing?
Easy – You don’t!
Websites are for people and you should always build your website (or blog) with your readers in mind. Creating a website just for sales or for the search engine robots is the wrong way to create a long lasting site.
People come to the internet looking for information and they want you to provide it to them in a clear, concise and easy to follow manner. Make sure what you share with your readers is useful. Loading your sites full of banners and sales ads won’t get you anywhere.
An excellent way to get more affiliate sales from your website is to provide honest reviews of products you’ve tried and recommend.
Making recommendations and linking out with your affiliate link is also a way to promote affiliate marketing programs without being overwhelming to your readers.
As an affiliate marketer you must always keep your reader in mind. What are they thinking about when they are reading your content? What do they need? Provide them with the information to make an informed decision and buying the product will be just a logical next step in the process.
Want to know more about how to make money with Affiliate Marketing? I recommend Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook – it’s just about the BIBLE of Affiliate Marketing. Click here to check it out now.
Starting Monday, July 6th I will be doing limited one-on-one email and video coaching for 10 new students.
You’ll learn how to become an affiliate manager and get new clients, you’ll get one-on-one email coaching AND you’ll get access to all my resources to save you valuable time getting your service up and running.
Oh and I almost forgot! –> If you sign up in the next few days you’ll also receive the early bird pricing with $100 off. This price WILL go back up so make sure you jump on now if you’re serious about building your affiliate management business.
If you have any questions just post them below and I’m happy to answer them!
Affiliate Managers are in demand. A few weeks ago I had to turn down two successful business owners who were practically begging me to be their affiliate manager.
The first step is taking the first step!
Don’t worry if you think you don’t know enough, yet. I’ll help guide you to all the resources you need to be a successful affiliate manager – this program really is customizable to YOU and your needs.
I got an email the other day from a client who asked me to look over an email she was sending out to a potential JV partner. She wanted me to give my feedback and that’s just what I did.
After looking at the letter I found it to be a bit too long and filled with detail. As someone who gets approached for JV’s I want an email that’s:
easily scannable
gets straight to the point
tells me what you want from me
I did a quick little rewrite of the original JV email, shot it back to my customer and told her my suggestions. She emailed me later that day to say the person she approached is very interested and will be contacting her soon!
I just love it when something I do makes a real difference to people and this is a great example.
I’ve recently been focusing on affiliate management and doing everything I can to learn affiliate management and marketing so I can bring the best information to my newsletter list and my customers at affiliate commotion.
While I’ve been doing that I’ve also been an affiliate manager for a number of clients. What I’ve been finding with people starting an affiliate program is that they often don’t realize how much time and energy you really need to devote an affiliate program to be successful.
The question is: should you be starting an affiliate program at this point in your marketing?
Affiliate Program = Quick Money?
Now of course it would be wonderful if you could throw up an affiliate program and instantly get a ton of affiliates and start making a ton of money. This isn’t a quick fix, instant money maker or easy way out but it is a very powerful and great way to leverage the work of others – and you don’t have to pay them until you make sales.
Now seasoned affiliate marketers are going to look for seasoned affiliate programs.
They’ll be looking for programs who treat their affiliates right, provide the right tools and really know what they’re doing. It’s not a part-time or short time commitment or an on the fly type of marketing. Starting an affiliate program is a long term commitment and sometimes it will take a long time, possibly a year or more, before you really start to see your program paying off. Once your affiliate program does start to pay off and you have loyal affiliates, though, there is nothing like the power of an affiliate team.
Affiliate Managers Can Help
Of course if you have an affiliate manager who’s working for you on a full time basis or consistantly then you can expect your program to see the fruits of it’s labour a lot sooner.
There is huge power and potential in running your own affiliate program but you do need to approach it with a marketing strategy as an important part of your business. It is something you want to consider putting the time, effort and energy into that’s going to be a long term successful strategy for you.
Becoming an Affiliate Marketer Gives Perspective
If you are considering starting an affiliate program one of the best things you can do is join a number of other affiliate programs in your industry. Join programs you think look awesome, ones that don’t look so great, those of your competition. One of the biggest advantages to doing this is you get to see affiliate programs from the side of the affiliate and this gives you great perspective on what an affiliate needs to be successful.
As you go through affiliate programs you’ll notice there is definitely a need for more quality affiliate programs. This gives you the opportunity to really stand out and provide affiliates with a wonderful affiliate program.
To answer the initial question: You should start an affiliate program if you are ready to make a long-term commitment to your affiliate management success. If you’re still flirting with all kinds of marketing methods and can’t sit still long enough to commit (which, by the way is NOT a good strategy) you might want to pass for now.
You’ve decided to become an affiliate manager. You’ve decided to set up affiliate programs for clients. Now what?
Well, there are a few things that every affiliate program needs to be set up and managed properly.
Here are the basics:
- A way to create affiliate links and track sales (click or leads)
- A system to provide tools to affiliates
- A system to communicate with affiliates
- Statistics reporting for affiliate payments
- A way to pay affiliates
You have a few options in how you set this up:
Affiliate Network – An affiliate network hosts your affiliate program on their network. They sign affiliates up to their system and pay affiliates for you. Clickbank is a common example of an affiliate network.
Self-Hosted Program – Self Hosted is installed on your own server. This gives you the most control. You sign affiliates up, communicate with them and pay affiliates. Amember is a good example of a self-hosted membership and affiliate program.
Shopping Cart & Affiliate System – Use a full shopping cart system to that hosts your affiliate program, shopping cart and email system all in one place. You pay affiliates, communicate with them and sign them up through this system. It is hosted somewhere else and you pay a monthly fee. 1 Shopping Cart is a commonly used shopping cart and affiliate program system.
As an affiliate manager, it’s a good idea to get to know different programs in these categories so you can advise your clients when they want to know what to choose.
Take the time to really get familiar with the program you choose, how to get customer support and what features the system has.
When providing affiliate management as a service, it is a smart idea to provide your services for only one type of setup and even to one specific program. For example, some affiliate managers only work with Clickbank setups. If you focus your services this way, you will have the time to become very skilled in one program rather than trying to learn every program out there. This makes you a great affiliate manager who knows her (or his) stuff!
Affiliate partners can do so much to help you grow your business and I see too many people not using the advantage that having a team of people who believe in your product telling others about it.
What is an Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is a tracking system that allows people (affiliates) to send traffic to your website and get credit when a sale is made. If you set an affiliate program up properly then you’ll never have to worry about spending your time or money on marketing your own products, affiliates will do it for you!
That’s not to say it doesn’t take work to set up and maintain an affiliate program. If you have time to put into building up your affiliate program and affiliates then doing it yourself is a good way to go. If you don’t have the time to set up your affiliate program,
the tools and recuit affiliates then you may want to hire an affiliate manager to help.
See below for some ideas on the basic tools your affiliates will need to send you clients and customers that spend money with you:
Affiliate Program Setup Suggestions
These suggestions are things that are important to have ready before you get your army of affiliates working for you so they have all the materials they need to go out and sell:
Promotional Materials:
1. eCover Graphics and banners: eCovers for any ebooks if you don’t
have them already and a minimum 125×125 banner graphic people can put
on their site.
2. Articles: Minimum 1 article
3. Text Ad: Minimum 1 text ad
4. Email Promotion: Minimum 1 email promotion
5. Blog Post: Minimum 1 blog post
Short Affiliate Manual:
This will be very important if you email list and customers are not very familiar with affiliate programs. It’s a good idea to have this ready for new affiliates who are eager to promote your product but unsure how to start.
Viral Report:
A GREAT tool to let affiliates use is a free report that they can give away to their own subscribers that has their affiliate link embedded into. That way when they give away the report and someone visits your site and buys your product or bootcamp they earn a commission.
Contact:
Once some of the above tools are in place it is important to keep in contact with affiliates and keep releasing new resources. For example, you could release a couple of graphics one week and send an email letting them know about, then release a free report another week and so on. Building a relationship with affiliates and keeping them motivated is key to having a productive team.
You could also have autoresponder messages that go out automatically offer helpful tips and suggestions to your affiliates (very few people do this!)
Need more tips, help and tools to build your affiliate program? Check out our free resources at Affiliate Manager Mojo.
Product Description: This course illustrates how to increase site traffic and income by creating affiliate programs.
This is a complete course including audio and transcripts as well as a bunch of great bonuses to help you either get an affiliate program up and running or greatly improve your current program. Jimmy shares some of his best ideas and techniques that have helped him attract affiliates and keep them motivated and promoting his products.
In a step-by-step process, Jimmy shares how you can get an affiliate program set up within a matter of hours, what tools you should provide your affiliates, and what you can do on an ongoing basis to support your affiliates and get them selling for you each and every month. Read More→
How to Make Money Without a Product Using Affiliate Marketing
Think you can’t make passive income on the internet yet because you don’t have an information product to sell? You haven’t found the power of promoting other peoples products to earn commissions and make extra cash!
There are plenty of high quality products out there that you can promote on your website, in your newsletter, on your teleseminars, when talking to your clients and so much more.
There are also plenty of terrible quality products out there that you’ll want to stay away from promoting because your reputation is on the line!
So, how do you navigate the sea of products available to promote as an affiliate? I always go with the policy of only promoting products I’ve used or people I believe in.
Of course this one is the most obvious to choose. If you’ve used a product, been very happy with and it has an affiliate program this one’s a no-brainer! Telling others about products you use and love is a great way to share a product of value with others while earning some extra money in the process. One program I rave about often is Aweber – a newsletter and email service that is top quality and have one of the highest deliverability rates out there.
You can create personal reviews of products you’ve used. Adding your own stories and experiences to the reviews adds real credibility to your recommendations and the product.
People will take your recommendations because they know, like and trust YOU. Make sure you use that trust wisely and never abuse it or you’ll see unsubscribes instead of sales.
People I Believe In:
There are many people I’ve come to know in business who have high ethics, high standards and loyal followings. These are people who I have become friends with, who I’ve gotten to know over the years and who I can tell the quality of their business by what they put out there in cyberspace.
These are people who’s products I will recommend through an affiliate program and I’ll let my subscribers and visitors know how I know them and why I recommend their products.
Important Tip:
When looking for products and programs to promote make sure you keep your offers relevant to your target market. You don’t want to try selling sports equipment to women looking for information on quilting – they just won’t be interested.
Look for products that really compliment the information you already share.
Written by: Angela Wills, Internet Marketing Trainer
Yep, if you sign up for the Sweetie Saturday Report Club this week you’ll get my report and I’ve got a special coupon to give you your first month for only $1.
Now the SSRC is already an amazing deal at only $13.97 per month and I’m sure after your trial you won’t want to leave but check it out and see for yourself. I’ve been learning internet marketing from Alice for years and years and she is the #1 internet marketing lady I recommend you learn from too.
I recently received an email titled ‘JV Proposal’. Now, the idea of someone looking for affiliates and putting JV in the subjectline doesn’t overly offend me since an affiliate program is in fact a type of joint-venture.
The person who emailed me went on to suggest I snap up this offer quickly because they are partnering with a ‘exclusive’ group in order to give ME the greatest return on my endorsement. It’s pretty insulting to my intelligence of them to assume I don’t realize I’m not the only person they contacted for this ‘JV’ Request.
JV by the way, stands for Joint Venture if you haven’t heard this term before.
The email was long and drawn out. It covered a lot of information and wasted a lot of time talking about information I didn’t need to know. Of course it did provide a great example for an affiliate manager of what not to do.
Here are some things I would consider not appropriate for the first contact with a potential affiliates:
No mention of how he knows me – The email was obviously a form message that was being used for everyone. There was no indication of my name or my website name and how this product could provide REAL benefit to my subscribers and visitors.
Exclusive Offer – As I mentioned above it just insults my intelligence to assume I don’t already know he’s contacting other people about this.
Taking About Cookies – In the email I get a little lesson on what cookies are (and they’re not made with chocolate chips!) and how they’re used to track affiliate links. When you’re emailing a potential prospect about joining your affiliate program it really isn’t the time or place to try to educate them on how an affiliate program works.
Links to Website or Program Too Many Times – Look, if I’m interested in this JV Proposal I can find the link. He’s linked to either the salespage or the affiliate signup link four times in one email. That’s just way too excessive and simply annoying. If you email someone about your JV a single link in the appropriate spot is all that’s needed.
Free Money – Now something that really made me wonder ‘what the heck’ was an offer of free money. In the email I was told that just for signing up I’d get an immediate $20 in my paypal account. This is actually an interesting strategy and could be effective if implemented the right way. You certainly don’t want to just pay anyone and everyone $20 to sign up to your affiliate account as that could end up costing you a lot of money. A little $20 bonus into the affiliates paypal account could go a long way to motivate a select group.
If you’re going to email total strangers asking them to promote your product you need to make it personal, get straight to the point and don’t waste their time.
The other day on twitter @tuttih asked me to let her know how I make money online and tell her if it’s really possible.
Great Question!
So instead of sending off a short message I told her I’d spend some time to do up a blog post and let her know when it’s ready because I thought my show listeners, blog readers and email subscribers would like to hear about this as well.
So let me summarize it, here’s how I make money online:
Business Services
What I Do – Over the last three years I’ve provided services to small business owners as a Virtual Assistant. I put the years of experience I had building websites, studying online marketing and learning how to make sales to good use and started helping people do the same
As a virtual assistant I have done many things: affiliate management, website design, website editing, writing, article submissions, email marketing, audio editing, blog design and more.
Most recently I have decided it’s time to really transition out of the ‘virtual assistant’ business and into a full time internet marketer. That’s why I now only provide Blog Design services through my site BlogSiteMojo.com.
For any other services such as affiliate management or online marketing I will work with a very select few clients.
How I Get Paid – Well for VA services I would get paid hourly at $45 per hour. A new VA starting out usually charges between $20-$30 per hour depending on experience. For blog design, we charge a flat rate of $595 for a full blog install, SEO setup and customization.
Information Product Sales
What I Do – I’ve written a number of information products based on my own online business marketing expertise and sell those for $47 each. So far I offer a product on Affiliate Management, Teleseminars and Virtual Assistance.
My Affiliate Management product has been the most popular by far this point and it is also the one I’ve spent the most time promoting. I’ve spent the last year or so building my reputation as an Affiliate Manager and an affiliate management trainer.
How I Get Paid – My information products are set up through the automation of an online shopping cart. The cart I use now is WAHMCart, which I just switched back to after using 1 Shopping Cart for a short period of time.
The shopping cart is connected up to Paypal so anytime someone wants to buy my product they simply click the ‘buy now’ link and get their product automatically. I also automatically get the payment in my Paypal account.
Affiliate Marketing
What I Do – As an Affiliate Manager it’s important that I understand affiliate marketing from both sides; as the company who runs an affiliate program and as the marketer who’s promoting products to earn a commission.
(sidenote – If you don’t know what affiliate marketing is here is a short definition: An affiliate is someone who promotes a product online using a specially coded ‘affiliate link’ that tracks sales and credits the affiliate who earns a set amount of money which is usually per sale)
How I promote products is through a number of venues:
I include affiliate links in my own products.
I do case studies and reviews on my blog as well as make recommendations when it suits the blog post.
I make personal recommendations to people I work with.
I let my list know when I find amazing resources.
I’ll also note it’s very important to me that I’ve used the products or know with great certainty that the person created them only creates quality. I won’t recommend crap just to make a few bucks.
Notice almost all of the above are recurring programs?? That’s not an accident! Promote once and continue to get paid. All of the programs above I have used and love.
Here’s a few screenshots of the four day case study I did promoting Traffic Geyser that made me over $500 in commissions PLUS won me an iPod Nano in their affiliate contest:
And here’s the screenshot of the commissions earned to date for that work:
Here’s a video clip of a presentation I did on Affiliate Marketing at the Toronto Internet Marketing Seminar. You’ll notice in the video I mention that I made $200 and something dollars but the screenshot above says $513 – that’s because since then I’ve made more commissions without having to do anything else to earn it!:
How I Get Paid - When a sale is made I get the affiliate credit. Then typically once per month I get payment into my Paypal account or I’ll get a cheque in the mail.
I made a scan of the first income I EVER made in affiliate marketing, it was such a thrill. The cheque below is from sometime in 2006 I think, and it’s from Aweber:
Coaching & Training Services
What I Do – I also provide training and coaching services to business owners who want to learn more about marketing online.
My most popular type of training to date has also been Affiliate Management. An example of this is my upcoming Affiliate Manager Training School and the free preview training session.
How I Get Paid – The coaching programs are also on an automated payment system through WAHMCart. When someone wants to join my coaching program they make their payment (in the case of my upcoming session it is $297 each) and it signs them up automatically and puts the money into my Paypal account.
So that’s how I make money online!
There are so many ways to make money and these are the ways I’m currently focusing on.
tuttih wanted to know if it is possible to really make money online – Yes, absolutely!
My advice to anyone who doesn’t know what they want to do is start with themselves. Don’t go looking for all the things you can do because the options are limitless. Start thinking about what you really enjoy and what you can do long term.
And of course I also would advise you to find mentors who are doing what you want to do and learn from them!
Quite a while ago Lynn Terry made a post of the same name, How I Make Money Online, I recommend you check her post out too – it’s excellent!
(wow! I just looked and realized the post was written in October of 2007, feels like just yesterday that I read that one.)
I’d love to see more marketers break down where they make money online, it’s definitely something that is different for every person so it would be really neat to see a bunch of them to compare notes.
When you start a business, online or offline, you need support.
You need unwavering, unfaltering and reliable support.
For five years that is what I’ve gotten from Mom Masterminds.
The first time I joined the mentoring group run by Alice Seba, Kelly McCausey and Lynette Chandler I was a baby to business ownership. I had much to learn and many mistakes to make. Alice and Kelly didn’t try to tell me to do it ‘their’ way. They let me take my time and find my path all while guiding me along when I needed it and providing moral support when I wanted it.
I see them almost like good parents.
A good parent won’t tell you how you have to live your life. They’ll let you choose, let you make your mistakes and always be there, like a rock, to help you move on to the next stage when you’re ready.
What have I received for my money from Mom Masterminds?
Well it’s almost impossible to count the ways MM (as we call it for short) has helped my business growth and development. But let me try:
I learned a lot of my copywriting skills from Alice Seba, a master copywriter herself. This skill alone has made me thousands of dollars.
I launched my virtual assistant business on the back of Mom Masterminds. This business has literally made me tens of thousands of dollars over the last two and a half years.
I’ve bought and sold websites at MM. One website made me consistant monthly income and when I was ready to sell I made six times my original investment.
Maybe most importantly I’ve built relationships that will last a lifetime. I’ve connected with some amazing ladies in person and virtually that I may never have met if it were not for Mom Masterminds. I’ve seen their businesses grow as they’ve seen mine.
Over the next month I’ll be writing some ‘case study’ blog posts about how Mom Masterminds has been an integral part of my online business success and I’ll be inviting you to come join me there.
I don’t need to tell you how important it is to have a ‘rock’ for your business.
When family doesn’t understand, people are telling you to get a job and you’re starting to wonder if you’ll ever make it the mentors at Mom Masterminds are always there to help you build a solid business that stands the test of time. That’s corny sounding, I know, but it’s how I feel…
There is no new Marketer’s Mojo Talk Radio this week because the Marketer’s Mojo Virtual Conference is running all week. We’ll be back next week with Leslie Truex, Author of the Work at Home Success Bible.
Angela Wills (me), Topic – Marketing Your Service Business Without Sacrificing Your Sanity
Shawna Lee Coronado, Topic – I Love What I Do – How Creative Branding and Marketing Saved My Business During A Recession and Can Save Your Business Too!
Sandy Forster, Topic – From Welfare to Millionaire: How a struggling single mom took her passion and turned it into a successful internet business – and YOU can too!
Donna Kozik, Topic – Become a Published Author, 5 Fast and Easy Steps
Crissy Herron, Topic – Connecting With Your Audience
There were some common themes running through all the sessions and I’d like to recap some of the fantastic tidbits I took away. I know each person who listens to the calls will take away other information as it relates to their current situation because all speakers had so much great info to share.
Here are a couple of my real take-aways from yesterday:
1. Be a Big Fish in a Little Pond
One thing that’s really important in marketing your business online is that you stand out from the crowd.
The easiest way to do that?
Get out of the crowd!
It makes so much sense to stop marketing your business alongside of so many others, in places where your voice is small, and start going to places where your message is new, fresh, and unheard.
Examples of this:
- Offline – Many offline businesses have no idea how to make money on the internet. The idea is amazing to them yet they haven’t had many people offering them information on the topic. Be the person to bring the message to this market and you’ll stand out.
Crissy Herron had some great examples of how to get offline and attend events, get featured in magazines, approach local groups that would be interested and more.
- Stop Preaching to the Choir – Shawna Lee Coronado talked about getting creative in your marketing and start really thinking outside of the box with WHO you market to. Instead of going to people who’ve heard your message over and over again, find people who need your message but haven’t heard it yet.
2. Write Your Book
Both Donna Kozik and Sandy Forster talked about the benefits of writing a book and how it immediately gives you authority and gives you an advantage over your competition.
I’ve wanted to write a book for quite some time now but have had no idea how to get started. I have so much information I’d love to share in a book but felt like it was overwhelming just trying to think of what to include!
Well, Donna made it really easy with her suggestion to go ‘an inch wide and a mile deep’ with your book topic. I realized I don’t HAVE to share everything I know in just one book and in fact I just SHOULDN’T do that or I’ll also overwhem my readers!
The advantages of writing a book seem almost endless:
Establishes you as an expert instantly
Gets you more speaking engagements
Gets you more media attention
Is a fantastic marketing tool
Allows your readers to get to know you
So, based on this first day of calls you can expect a book from me sometime this year! There – now I’ve got accountability right here on this blog.
There was so much to learn from all these speakers I definitely need to listen again so I’ll be loading all the mp3s into my ipod after the seminar is over!
Today we have six great speakers and I’m really looking forward to it.
Well I’ve finally had some time to get back, catch my breath and take some time to write a bit of a review on the whole Affiliate Incubator Seminar 2008!
I had a fantastic time meeting so many great people at the Affiliate Incubator seminar. As I suspected there really is nothing like meeting people face to face and building real relationships.
Learning Affiliate Marketing
There was so much at the event to learn that there’s really no way I could type it all up here, so let me tell you a few key points I took away:
Remember What You’re Doing This For
One of my absolute favorite speeches of the whole event was by the co-owner of Traffic Geyser, Frank Sousa. I don’t think Frank talked as much about internet marketing or how to build your business as he did talk about the importance of goals and determination – at least that what I heard the most of, probably because it really hit with me. Instead, he talked about his history and how he was absolutely determined to build a business and have the real freedom that comes from being your own boss.
Frank also talked about how important family is to him and that he’s so happy to have a business that allows him the ability to take off next week and go on a cruise with his three grandsons, or that he now has the ability to give back and really make a difference to others.
The speech really meant a lot to me and I related to so much of what Frank was talking about, like; never give up; help others as well as yourself; value your family and so much more.
If Your Business is Too Complicated, You’re Making it Too Complicated!
I believe Russell Brunson said this and it really stuck with me because at times I think I make things in my own business much too complicated and also I work with a number of clients who tend to over-complicate as well. I think it’s something a lot of us do and it really does hinder our success.
I came back from the event with a new determination to simplify my business and cut out the complications.
There is Nothing Like Real People
Yes, of course, you’re real and I’m real. But reading words on your screen or hearing my voice over the phone just doesn’t compare to meeting people in person.
Here’s a photo of a few great ladies I met over the weekend:
From left to right:
Patricia Williams, me, Rene Lee & Janice Bird
On the flight back I had plenty to think about and plan for my business. I took this terrible shot of an interesting ipod machine. I’ve never seen anything like this here in Canada. It’s basically a vending machine for ipods and tech equipment, very cool! I was so tempted to just buy something to see how it works:
So in summary I would definitely recommend anyone in internet marketing or with an online business get out to some relevant events where you can network with people in your industry. I would also recommend you check out what Russell and Stu are up to because they really know what they’re talking about.
Well, after trying to connect to wi-fi all day I’ve finally figured out there’s this little cord on the desk that I can just plug into my computer for high speed access – duh!
So excited to be blogging here from my hotel room in Dallas, Texas, the night before Affiliate Incubator. Affiliate Incubator is a three-day event on affiliate marketing featuring some high-profile speakers and put together by Russell Brunson and Stu McLaren.
Not took much to report today since I haven’t actually met anyone yet but I’m looking forward to meeting some of the great speakers and also lots of other interesting entrepreneurs who I’m sure will be attending. I’m so glad I just got out to do this!
Here’s a few shots I too when I got to my room because I’m so excited to be here and having a completely isolated room ALL TO MYSELF is exciting for this single mom!
Here’s where I’m writing from:
Big comfy King Size Bed:
And here I am with the big window in my room looking out to some of Dallas:
Now, I want to ask you a question:
Have you ever been to any internet marketing seminars or events? Have you thought about going?
I’ve been to a couple that were held by the Internet Marketing Center a few years ago but this is the first event I’ve ever flown too and so far I’m feeling really good about it. In my coaching and with my clients for Affiliate Commotion, I often talk about the power of relationships and going to your network first when looking for affiliates. I really don’t see how there can be anything more powerful than building those relationships in person and letting people see who you REALLY are, not just the persona you display on the computer screen.
Well, I won’t ramble on and I’ll keep you posted!
p.s. Learn how to build a profitable affiliate marketing business by signing up for the free report: Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Markeing plus email tips!
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