One of the biggest mistakes I made years ago is I did not set up opt-in form and builds my own list. I want to share it with you here to let you avoid the same mistake I made.
Based on the nature of affiliate business - you sign up as an affiliate at merchant's website, get your unique affiliate link and then start to promote the product or service to whomever to generate the sales and make commissions. However, after time being, you start to feel down and disappointed because you didn't make any sales.
Originally, you may think it is easy for just promote the product or service directly to the visitors, get them come to merchant's website, and buy the product. Well, in general, this is not the case especially if it is their first time visiting the website.
Here is the fact, before visitors willing to purchase anything from a person or a business, often time; they need to get warmed up to a product first, use course of multiple visits and additional information method can achieve it. This is where building a list comes into play.
As an affiliate, build a list, your own list is an essential step toward to your affiliate marketing success. Your list can help you retain traffic, warm up their desire, and make different purchases in the near future.
In order to do it successfully, you must invest bit of your money in autoresponder service tool.
Speaking of autoresponder, personally, I highly recommended you use Aweber autoresponder service. They give you 30 days risk free try out, if until the end they didn't help you build your opt-in list and convert more website visitors to you, they'll give you a 100 percent no questions asked refund.
In addition, their email deliverability delivery monitor tool allows you to test and track your message content and service provider deliverability performance. Reliable email deliverability ensures that your opt-in email is delivered to major ISP's. Best of all, it is white listed by many email clients and boasts a delivery rate of 99 percent.
As I said, Aweber autoresponder service not only manages your list, it also helps you build it. It includes free tools that allow you to create web forms and pop-ups, all of which that can use to increase your opt-in rate.
In addition to purchasing an autoresponder service, you will need to setup your own website. If you do not own one, you need to create your own domain, find a reliable hosting service company to host your site, and then add opt-in form to your website's page.
Once you have your site and your autoresponder setup, there are only two steps left: the first one is creating a course of some sort, which related to the affiliate products or service you are going to sell; and the second one is upload course to your account to generate the list.
The first part is relatively easy. You can start by determining your topic and then outline it to five to seven day mini-course. When you do this, remember that everything should be written as if you are talking to a person, rather than writing a formal article.
If you do not feel comfortable writing these articles by yourself, you can always hire a ghostwriter for $5-15 per issue; the price charge is depending on the length of the article.
After you created your autoresponder series, you need to sign in to your Aweber autoresponder account and feed them into it. You can also write short advertisements in the text for the affiliate product or service you are planning to sell.
Once you get above these works done, the only thing left is to use various traffic methods to drive the traffic to your website, collect visitor's email addresses and wait for the commissions to roll in.
Ann Liu, internet marketer and author of "Online Profiting: Easy Ways To Start and Build Your Own Online Business". To learn how YOU too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit Marketingbyann.com
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
12 Guerrilla Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners
As an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to accentuate the uniqueness of your business whenever possible. Very few consumers are interested in choosing a generic product or service, after all. We almost always gravitate toward the option that's most distinctive or memorable. There are many ways to make your business unique: a unique pricing system, a unique niche in the marketplace, a product or service that can't easily be imitated. If your business is up and running, you undoubtedly know all about those basic business strategies.
What's much trickier is figuring out how to capitalize on the uniqueness of your business to generate helpful (and often free) publicity. Publicity, rather than advertising, should be the basis of any small business owner's initial marketing efforts. Advertising is usually too expensive for a new business, and lacks the grass roots credibility of good press. One good article in the local media can bring you more business than a year's worth of paid advertising!
Advertising is no longer such a powerful force in the contemporary marketplace. Consumers are more skeptical than ever of advertisers' self-serving messages, and the sheer volume of advertising messages has resulted in a drastic decline in advertising's effectiveness. We spend more and more on advertising, but get less and less return on that investment.
What is the alternative to advertising (and the basis of branding)? Publicity or PR. With publicity, you tell your story through third-party outlets, primarily the media. Rightly or wrongly, people believe what they read in newspapers and magazines, as well as what they hear on the radio, on TV, or from their neighbors. So PR is inherently more credible and persuasive than advertising. It's also a whole lot cheaper!
But how exactly do you make your business memorable, and get the kind of publicity that will result in new business? Here are a dozen simple things you can try to create good word-of-mouth about your business and increase your profits:
1. Submit regular Press Releases to trade publications, the business section of local newspapers, online newswires, etc. to announce the launch or relocation of your business, new clients/projects, new hires, promotions, etc. (You'd be surprised how many people read these announcements!)
2. Pitch a pre-written feature story to local papers (emphasizing the uniqueness of your business model, your unique personal history, your involvement in the local community, or the uniqueness of a particular project). Also consider pitching story ideas to lifestyle magazines which target your ideal client's demographic.
3. Offer to write a regular column for a local publication that features your professional expertise.
4. Develop an "elevator speech" explaining in a single sentence what makes your firm unique. Don't be afraid to focus attention on a specific client or consumer; the narrower the focus of your brand, the more powerful it will become.
5. Write a quarterly email/print newsletter for your clients/potential clients with tips for effective use of your product or service.
6. Give a talk/seminar to your local Chamber of Commerce or other community group about issues relating to your area of expertise. (I recently gave a lunchtime talk about branding to the my local Chamber and made several great contacts.)
7. Become active not only in trade groups (which are not in fact the best place to find a new client), but also in more general networking organizations such as your Chamber of Commerce, City or County committees, neighborhood associations, etc., but only if you intend to be an active participant. Also do everything you can to get support from your existing social network. Everyone prefers to work with a person they know and trust.
8. Join a professional networking/referral group which meets weekly (such as BNI).
9. Use testimonials/success stories in all of your marketing materials.
10. Purchase an intriguing vanity license plate which alludes to your business.
11. Introduce yourself to administrators of potential referring organizations: i.e., people in allied fields who regularly come into contact with people who will need an architect. Finding a friend in one of these organizations may mean multiple referrals.
12. Troll for listservs, chat groups or other online communities where you can offer your services or simply hold forth as an authority on relevant issues.
Try these simple guerrilla marketing tricks, and the results will astound you!
Woody Holliman is a successful entrepreneur and educator whose award-winning graphic design firm, Flywheel Design, provides print design and web design services to clients throughout the United States. Learn more about his business philosophy at www.flywheeldesign.com
What's much trickier is figuring out how to capitalize on the uniqueness of your business to generate helpful (and often free) publicity. Publicity, rather than advertising, should be the basis of any small business owner's initial marketing efforts. Advertising is usually too expensive for a new business, and lacks the grass roots credibility of good press. One good article in the local media can bring you more business than a year's worth of paid advertising!
Advertising is no longer such a powerful force in the contemporary marketplace. Consumers are more skeptical than ever of advertisers' self-serving messages, and the sheer volume of advertising messages has resulted in a drastic decline in advertising's effectiveness. We spend more and more on advertising, but get less and less return on that investment.
What is the alternative to advertising (and the basis of branding)? Publicity or PR. With publicity, you tell your story through third-party outlets, primarily the media. Rightly or wrongly, people believe what they read in newspapers and magazines, as well as what they hear on the radio, on TV, or from their neighbors. So PR is inherently more credible and persuasive than advertising. It's also a whole lot cheaper!
But how exactly do you make your business memorable, and get the kind of publicity that will result in new business? Here are a dozen simple things you can try to create good word-of-mouth about your business and increase your profits:
1. Submit regular Press Releases to trade publications, the business section of local newspapers, online newswires, etc. to announce the launch or relocation of your business, new clients/projects, new hires, promotions, etc. (You'd be surprised how many people read these announcements!)
2. Pitch a pre-written feature story to local papers (emphasizing the uniqueness of your business model, your unique personal history, your involvement in the local community, or the uniqueness of a particular project). Also consider pitching story ideas to lifestyle magazines which target your ideal client's demographic.
3. Offer to write a regular column for a local publication that features your professional expertise.
4. Develop an "elevator speech" explaining in a single sentence what makes your firm unique. Don't be afraid to focus attention on a specific client or consumer; the narrower the focus of your brand, the more powerful it will become.
5. Write a quarterly email/print newsletter for your clients/potential clients with tips for effective use of your product or service.
6. Give a talk/seminar to your local Chamber of Commerce or other community group about issues relating to your area of expertise. (I recently gave a lunchtime talk about branding to the my local Chamber and made several great contacts.)
7. Become active not only in trade groups (which are not in fact the best place to find a new client), but also in more general networking organizations such as your Chamber of Commerce, City or County committees, neighborhood associations, etc., but only if you intend to be an active participant. Also do everything you can to get support from your existing social network. Everyone prefers to work with a person they know and trust.
8. Join a professional networking/referral group which meets weekly (such as BNI).
9. Use testimonials/success stories in all of your marketing materials.
10. Purchase an intriguing vanity license plate which alludes to your business.
11. Introduce yourself to administrators of potential referring organizations: i.e., people in allied fields who regularly come into contact with people who will need an architect. Finding a friend in one of these organizations may mean multiple referrals.
12. Troll for listservs, chat groups or other online communities where you can offer your services or simply hold forth as an authority on relevant issues.
Try these simple guerrilla marketing tricks, and the results will astound you!
Woody Holliman is a successful entrepreneur and educator whose award-winning graphic design firm, Flywheel Design, provides print design and web design services to clients throughout the United States. Learn more about his business philosophy at www.flywheeldesign.com
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