Marketing Online Success

In order to achieve the highest level of marketing online success, you need a few basics. These "tools" will make it possible for you to make money and build a real business online. It isn't a high cost, but it will take some time to find all the tools you need and to learn the skills. 

I sometimes fear that I sound like a broken record, but I truly do hate to see people work hard only to fail because they simply don't know what to do or are being misled by others who are only trying to make money. 

So in order to ensure your own marketing online success, please heed the tips I'm about to give you. I have been doing this for many years and I know what I'm talking about. Most of this information I learned the hard way - by making the very mistakes I'm trying to get you to avoid. 

Here is what you need to do:

1. Get an education. It doesn't have to be at your local college, there are many training resources available right online for minimal cost. Also, since these online courses can be accessed any time of the day or night, it is easier for working adults to find the time to complete them. You don't have to accommodate someone else's schedule. 

Many of these courses can be completed in just a few weeks, and you may be able to actually start making some money while you are going through the course. 

Whatever options you choose just make sure you get educated on how the various parts of marketing online fit together. 

2. Check your delusion at the door. Hype seems to be rampant online and if you really want to have any success, you must get, and keep, your expectations in line. If you believe the hype, you will waste a lot of time and money chasing some new "sure thing" after another. 

To be honest, that is exactly what I did. I was so convinced that my success would happen virtually overnight that when it didn't I thought I was just doing the wrong thing. It never occurred to me, in the early days at least, that it wasn't what I was doing that was the problem it was my unrealistic expectations that was causing me so  much trouble. 

Once I accepted that building a business online would require time and attention from me and I started investing those things in my business I started having success. 

3. Be consistent in your time. Even if you can only put a few hours a week to working on your business, you can make it work just as long as you invest that few hours a week every single week. 

Of course, the more time you can put into building your business the sooner you may be able to start earning consistent money, but even with small amounts of time you can still build a business as long as you do it on a consistent basis. 

Marketing online success hinges on these things. Follow them and you will greatly increase your odds of success.

The art of creating blogs that get results right from Day One!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Blogs are in! Blogs are omnipresent! Blogs are the future of the 'net!

All true but what is a blog... and how do you profit from it?

Purists may offer a different definition (purists usually do)... but to me, the complete capitalist, a blog is and always will be about one thing: making money. Every day. All the time.

Let me say this another way because for far too many people blogs are an unbridled (and correspondingly horrifying) excess of vanity, self-gratification, arrogance, not to mention an avalanche of incredibly boring stuff and Things You Don't Want To Know. Yes,  too many smart people use them as a cheap form of venting and therapy.

But (my recommendations in hand) you won't. You'll stay forever focused on the main chance: using your blog to generate prospect leads... and make money. Now... dig in. I am about to deliver an embarrass du choix  for big blog bucks.

Train your readers to be responsive.

If you intend to use your blog to make money, you must train your readers to be responsive. Otherwise, you will dramatically curtail and limit your responses (and blog profits)... which is the exact opposite of what you want. 

The Internet is, at its best,  the best interactive tool in the galaxy. But what if readers don't understand that? Why, then, mon frere, you must remind them of their duty... you must remind them that yours is a fully interactive endeavor and that the responsibility of EVERY reader is -- to respond. Ensuring this result is your #1 objective.

A blog is NOT a standard newspaper or magazine... as readers must be told and trained to use.

Consider the case of your morning newspaper. It is packed with articles. How many do you respond to? Silly question, right? Periodical readers, except on the occasions they have  a bee in their bonnets and write a Letter to the Editor, never respond to articles. They just read 'em.

But a blog is essentially different. You want to bring articles and information of interest and importance to your readers; you want them to respond. In other words, blog content should trigger a continuing stream of reader commentary... and help build knowledge about these readers as well as build the relationships that deliver business effortlessly.

Establish a confidential tone from the get-go

Your readers (whether they ever say so or not) will read your blog (as opposed to a million others) because you give them interesting copy that the rest of the world cannot deliver. It's not just that Inquiring Minds Want To Know: it's that these minds want to know things they cannot easily get anywhere else. 

Thus your tone is everything: let the reader know that yours is a fresh, new, entirely compelling voice. The more you let them know that yours is an "insider" place, a locale of smart commentary delivered with wit, insight, good humor and progressive outlook, the better.

Always use the second person -- YOU! --  in your blog content.

Blogs are the most person-centered of media. Thus, you must always speak to your readers in the second person, that is with an explicit or implied "you" (the blog reader). This will immediately establish the right tone... and the right focus.  Your readers must understand that you are writing to them, for them.

Whenever possible, too, use your blog as a means to speak to individual readers BY NAME, just like Ann Landers, the famous "gossip" columnist used to do, with such devices as "Special for Lola Mae in Seattle." You should regard each issue as incomplete that does not address some pertinent, personal comment to at least one reader by name.

Share (select) personal data and reflections about yourself.

Remember, blogs are, by definition, personal. That means you should share (some) personal information with your readers; asking them to share (some) personal data with you.

This policy, while establishing stronger and more enduring links with your readers, also has in it the seeds of embarrassment,discomfort, even disaster. Reason? It's easy to put things in your blog about yourself which are too personal, too intimate. And by the same token, your readers might share such things with you, for publication.

Actung! Cuidado! Beware! Think long and hard before you publish. Once you hit the send key, your thought and candid revelation belong to the world.

Ask especially for reader comment on all articles you publish.

The articles you publish in your blog may be, of course, on any subject you regard as significant. But blogs by business people should be about how to run such a business with such-and-such products for maximum profit. In other words, if you're selling automobiles... blog articles ("content") should be germaine to this topic, above all.

As you publish such articles, ask readers to comment. As comments come in be sure to use (and then later reuse) them. What people say in reference to your blog content is worthy of publication... and your comment.

Make sure that you request responding readers to include complete name, business name (where appropriate), email address, and phone. Remember, reader comments are not so much about the substance of the comment, as they are about getting the reader to respond, tell  you what interests her, and provide complete follow-up details. This is absolutely essential.

Follow up blog comments and responses at once.

What more business? Following these steps ensures you will get a steady stream of the best prospect leads in the world... from people who already "know" you (or at least think they do), are interested in what you offer, and have provided you with complete follow-up details.

Thus, pick up the phone and call readers (now prospects) who respond to you... unless, of course, you have been the smartest cookie, given them your phone, and advised them to CALL you. 

The telephone, you see, is essential for making your blog profitable for you. You must say and constantly reiterate the need to call you, as Jeanette McDonald sang, "I am calling you................ will you answer true.......? Get the picture?

Last words

Face it. Blogs are here to stay. People love 'em. Thus, the real question is: will you do the necessary to ensure that the time and money you invest in  your blog pays off? To ensure that it does, implement these recommendations ASP... if not  sooner. Then blog your way to profits that increase as fast as your list.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online.

Republished with author's permission by Kathleen Ayers 

http://ibourl.com/1u4g 

A Day In The Life Of An Affiliate Marketer

Being in the affiliate marketing business is not that hard now with the internet at your disposable. It is much easier now compared to the days when people have to make use of the telephones and other mediums of information just to get the latest updates on the way their program is coming along.

So with technology at hand, and assuming that the affiliate is working from home, a day in his or her life would sound something like this?

Upon waking up and after having breakfast, the computer is turned on to check out new developments in the network. As far as the marketer is concerned there might be new things to update and statistics to keep track on.

The site design has to be revised. The marketer knows that a well-designed site can increase sign ups from visitors. It can also help in the affiliate?s conversion rates.

That done, it is time to submit the affiliate program to directories that lists affiliate programs. These directories are means to attract people in joining your affiliate program. A sure way of promoting the affiliate program.

Time to track down the sales you are getting from your affiliates fairly and accurately. There are phone orders and mails to track down. See if they are new clients checking the products out. Noting down the contact information that might be a viable source in the future.

There are lots of resources to sort out. Ads, banners, button ads and sample recommendations to give out because the marketer knows that this is one way of ensuring more sales. Best to stay visible and accessible too.

The affiliate marketer remembered that there are questions to answer from the visitors. This has to be done quickly. Nothing can turn off a customer than an unanswered email.

To prove that the affiliate is working effectively and efficiently, inquiries would have to be paid more attention on. Nobody wants to be ignored and customers are not always the most patient of all people. Quick answer that should appear professional yet friendly too.

In the process of doing all the necessities, the marketer is logged on to a chat room where he or she interacts with other affiliates and those under that same program. This is where they can discuss things on how to best promote their products.

There are things to be learned and it is a continuous process. Sharing tips and advice is a good way of showing support. There may be others out there wanting to join and may be enticed by the discussion that is going on. There is no harm in assuming what opportunities ahead.

The newsletters and ezines were updated days ago, so it is time for the affiliate marketer to see if there are some new things happening in the market. This will be written about in the marketer?s publication to be distributed to the old and new customers.

These same publications are also an important tool in keeping up to date with the newly introduced products. The marketer has put up a sale and promotion that customers may want to know about. Besides, they have to keep up with the deadline of these sales written in the publications.

It is that time to show some appreciation to those who have helped the marketer in the promotions and sale increase. Nothing like mentioning the persons, their sites and the process they have done that made everything worked.

Of course, this will be published in the newsletters. Among the more important information that have been written already.

The marketer still has time to write out recommendations to those who want credible sources for the products being promoted. There is also time to post some comments on how to be a successful affiliate marketer on a site where there are lots of wannabees.

Two objectives done at the same time. The marketer gets to promote the product as well as the program they are in. Who knows, someone may be inclined to join.

Time flies. Missed lunch but is quite contented with the tasks done. Bed time?.

Ok, so this may not be all done in a day. But then, this gives you an idea of how an affiliate marketer, a dedicated one that is, spends the marketing day.

Is that success looming in the distance or what?

To your success and wealth,

Kathleen Ayers
http://ibourl.com/1u4g