Do people that are successful in home based businesses share
some common characteristics and, if so, what are the primary
ones?
The dictionary defines successful as:
*having a favorable outcome, or
*having obtained something desired or intended, or
*having achieved wealth or eminence
When applied to a home business, I think the definition of the
word successful involves a combination of financial gain, time
flexibility, and being able to call your own shots (being your
own boss). The order of importance will vary from person to
person.
I have had the good fortune to be quite successful with
home-based internet businesses. No, that is not completely
accurate, I have had success because I have invested a lot of
sweat equity in my work at home business activities.
Having spent many years in the corporate world, I am a firm
believer in the team aspect of business and so I naturally
gravitated toward network marketing instead of trying to go
solo selling products/services and competing with the big players
like Yahoo, Amazon and the other well known names.
After doing considerable research, I found a very well
established and financially solid internet-based company to work
with. Using my business experience in the "offline world" and
developing my internet marketing skills on the fly in an OJT
(aka: on-the-job-training) format, things have gone very well and
I recently spent some time trying to identify some of the primary
traits that are common in my most successful team members.
Whether you're breeding bird dogs, or race horses, or drafting
college football players to play in the NFL...it's important to
develop "markers" that can be very useful in predicting success.
From my offline, traditional, business experience I have known
this from the get-go, but for some reason I was slow to learn
(or, was it re-learn?) that identifying the people with a high
likelihood of success is even more important when developing an
online network marketing business that depends upon teamwork.
Reflecting back on many of the truly successful people I have
worked with in network marketing, I made a list of the numerous
success factors that emerged when I assessed each person
individually. After compiling the list, three factors seemed to
stand out as being the most common success indicators. In no
particular order, these factors were:
*approaching the business with a long term perspective. It
often takes a long time to become an "overnight success"
*exhibiting the tenacity of a pit bull
*being able to ride the emotional roller coaster (two steps
forward and one step back) in the early stages of developing
the business
Just because a person has these characteristics, it does not
ensure success and, on the flip side, a person is not necessarily
doomed to failure just because he or she does not possess all
three of them.
vendredi 25 mai 2007
Building "Depth"
If you've been in network marketing for only a short time you may have found it hard to get people to sign up for your business, especially if you are doing all the work yourself. A much better way to go about things is to find say 5 to 10 people (people not leads) who you can develop a relationship with, show them how the business works and have them duplicate the process. This builds depth in your multi-"level"-marketing business, takes some of the load off your shoulders, and will make your business grow much quicker. Your "premium leads" become your partners and when they see how you take personal interest in them and their success they can demonstrate the same thing to their prospects and we all look at lead generation in a whole new light.
Building A Profitable Network Marketing Business
Many people try a network marketing opportunity when they first start an online business. They start with high hopes that this will be an easy way to achieve financial independence. However the novelty soon wears off and the hard reality sets in, there is no such thing as an easy, no work way to start a business.
All businesses great and small require an initial period of disciplined work. There is no such thing as "making 1000's in a few days with no work. Yes, as a home based business person you can "make money in your pajamas," if you wish, but even if you do not get dressed, you still have to discipline yourself to a certain amount of work for your business, on a regular basis. Network marketing is no exception.
Always remember that network marketing is a team business. In order to make money in this field you must be prepared to work closely with your team members. Welcome them to the team, introduce yourself as their upline and offer help if they need it. Some of your team members will respond, others will not, work with the ones who do respond. These are your potentially strong members and are the lifeblood of your business. Try to build relationships with these members by offering help and discussing marketing techniques. Remember the team concept, your downline's success is your success, you will all profit together. If something has been successful with you share, and encourage your team members to share their successes with their downline. In this way you will spread success to all members and build a strong active team, who are continually adding dedicated people to the team. Here are some points to start and build your profitable network marketing business.
Choose a good program that is not too expensive and has good products, that will be useful to you and your members. Take time to do all the research you can before you invest your money. Remember you will be investing your hard earned money and time into this project and will be encouraging others to do so. In order to promote something you must believe in it 100% with no reservations. Your marketing will then come over well and be more successful.
Before you join give careful thought how you will market. A common mistake of newcomers to network marketing is joining programs and not preparing themselves for how they will market the program. Make sure that the program can be marketed to a reasonably wide and accessible market. This will allow you to tap into good sized areas of prospects with relative ease.
Build your team on the "power of 3" basis. Let me explain: Market to a targeted section of people until you have 3 determined team members, serious and willing to work with you. They will be the foundation of your strong and profitable team. Train these 3 and share with them all the successful methods of marketing that you have used. Encourage and help them to get 3 good active members and train them in the same way. Those 3 members will train 3 members themselves and your team will grow to be a powerful profitable business for you all.
As you grow your first team find another, if possible related program and build your team the same way. Some of your team members may like to join a second program with you, if they like your leadership but never try to pressure them into it. Just make a suggestion and let them decide. You can build a third and possibly a forth program with these techniques. This should be enough to give you and your teams a nice monthly income. After your initial work you will only have to do a few hours of work a week to maintain your teams and advertise on a regular basis.
A few marketing techniques that do well for network marketing are:
Ezine Advertising: Keep careful track of these ads and see which do well and what has flopped. Target Home Business Opportunity ezines and newsletters. When you get enough money together try offline Home Opp magizines.
Distribute info articles on network marketing, draw attention to your affiliate link in the Bio box or draw prospects to your theme website, with all your opportunities "under one roof."
The usual website promotions like Search Engines Pay-Per-Clicks and Linking will work to bring interested prospects to your site.
Google Adwords can be used for affiliate sites if you do not want to build your own website.
You can buy leads but be very careful of the quality and age of these leads. You can waste a lot of money with this method of prospecting.
These are just a few points that can help you build a successful Network Marketing business. The golden rules to remember are, never join a program that you have not found a way to market and always work with your team members. together you will all build a profitable network marketing business and gain true financial freedom.
All businesses great and small require an initial period of disciplined work. There is no such thing as "making 1000's in a few days with no work. Yes, as a home based business person you can "make money in your pajamas," if you wish, but even if you do not get dressed, you still have to discipline yourself to a certain amount of work for your business, on a regular basis. Network marketing is no exception.
Always remember that network marketing is a team business. In order to make money in this field you must be prepared to work closely with your team members. Welcome them to the team, introduce yourself as their upline and offer help if they need it. Some of your team members will respond, others will not, work with the ones who do respond. These are your potentially strong members and are the lifeblood of your business. Try to build relationships with these members by offering help and discussing marketing techniques. Remember the team concept, your downline's success is your success, you will all profit together. If something has been successful with you share, and encourage your team members to share their successes with their downline. In this way you will spread success to all members and build a strong active team, who are continually adding dedicated people to the team. Here are some points to start and build your profitable network marketing business.
Choose a good program that is not too expensive and has good products, that will be useful to you and your members. Take time to do all the research you can before you invest your money. Remember you will be investing your hard earned money and time into this project and will be encouraging others to do so. In order to promote something you must believe in it 100% with no reservations. Your marketing will then come over well and be more successful.
Before you join give careful thought how you will market. A common mistake of newcomers to network marketing is joining programs and not preparing themselves for how they will market the program. Make sure that the program can be marketed to a reasonably wide and accessible market. This will allow you to tap into good sized areas of prospects with relative ease.
Build your team on the "power of 3" basis. Let me explain: Market to a targeted section of people until you have 3 determined team members, serious and willing to work with you. They will be the foundation of your strong and profitable team. Train these 3 and share with them all the successful methods of marketing that you have used. Encourage and help them to get 3 good active members and train them in the same way. Those 3 members will train 3 members themselves and your team will grow to be a powerful profitable business for you all.
As you grow your first team find another, if possible related program and build your team the same way. Some of your team members may like to join a second program with you, if they like your leadership but never try to pressure them into it. Just make a suggestion and let them decide. You can build a third and possibly a forth program with these techniques. This should be enough to give you and your teams a nice monthly income. After your initial work you will only have to do a few hours of work a week to maintain your teams and advertise on a regular basis.
A few marketing techniques that do well for network marketing are:
Ezine Advertising: Keep careful track of these ads and see which do well and what has flopped. Target Home Business Opportunity ezines and newsletters. When you get enough money together try offline Home Opp magizines.
Distribute info articles on network marketing, draw attention to your affiliate link in the Bio box or draw prospects to your theme website, with all your opportunities "under one roof."
The usual website promotions like Search Engines Pay-Per-Clicks and Linking will work to bring interested prospects to your site.
Google Adwords can be used for affiliate sites if you do not want to build your own website.
You can buy leads but be very careful of the quality and age of these leads. You can waste a lot of money with this method of prospecting.
These are just a few points that can help you build a successful Network Marketing business. The golden rules to remember are, never join a program that you have not found a way to market and always work with your team members. together you will all build a profitable network marketing business and gain true financial freedom.
A Special Review Of Mike Dillard's Magnetic Sponsoring Book
In his book, "Magnetic Sponsoring," Mike Dillard teaches you, the network marketer, how to apply the proper marketing strategies that will turn you into a magnetic sponsor.
Though the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book only prints out 49 pages of content, it does not teach network marketers how to advertise their business, it is a guide, not an exact step by step road map. I can compare the Magnetic Sponsoring book to a conversation Neo and Morpheus had concerning a woman known as "The Oracle" in "The Matrix" the movie 1999.
The dialog went like this:
"Neo: So is this the same Oracle that made the prophecy?
Morpheus: Yes. She's very old. She's been with us since the beginning.
Neo: The beginning?
Morpheus: Of the resistance.
Neo: And she knows what, everything?
Morpheus: She would say she knows enough.
Neo: And she's never wrong.
Morpheus: Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong. She is a guide, Neo. She can help you to find the path.
Neo: She helped you?
Morpheus: Yes.
Neo: What did she tell you?
Morpheus: That I would find the One. I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it."
In a book like this, the information has to be generic and serve as a guide designed to help the network marketer to become a magnetic sponsor, but he/she has to "walk through the door" and apply the information contained there in.
Mike Dillard, once a surgeon recruiter for many hospitals quit his job and became a table waiter in order to pursue his career in network marketing. After discovering the proper use of positioning, and "sellucation" his term for the art of self-selling through education, sponsored 35 personal reps. and grew his organization to over 500 within just months and averaged over $500,000 dollars per year in volume sales.
Today he spends his time and efforts teaching network marketers the proper strategies of marketing and magnetic sponsoring, as well as serving as a marketing consultant to industry leaders.
In "Magnetic Sponsoring," I found that the strategy of the ABC business model is the most valuable a networker can learn. Mike doesn't just tell you what Part A, Part B, or Part C is. He teaches you how to apply that principle in your MLM business,network marketing business, internet marketing business, or what ever you want to call it in order to keep your business running, and to make sure there is constant cash flow, and growth.
This book truly brings a fresh, high energy, revolutionary, and an effective approach to network marketing. "Sellucation" is intertwined through out the entire course. Educating prospects and applying the franchise business model is essential for network marketers to become magnetic sponsors.
Though it took me some time to fully understand how to apply magnetic sponsoring marketing techniques into my business, I feel that even people with little or no experience in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business,should have no problems applying the proper marketing strategies found within the book after reading it a few times.
In his newsletter, Mike guarantees that in just ten days, he can turn you into a MLM lead & cash generating wiz! I have to confess that at first, I did not really believe that; I thought he was just another guy creating a lot of hype to make a quick buck. After reading his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book however, I really see that he can actually back up his claim.
One thing I felt Mike could have done to make his book even better, was maybe expanding on the section about franchising a network marketing business with more specific,
detailed explanations and/or illustrations as to how exactly this strategy should be applied so that the reader learns to apply this technique a lot faster, and effectively to his/her MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business. But then again, the information
is very generic and it applies to any business. As long as is read carefully a few times, there souldn't be any problem applying those strategies.
Based on the claims that Mike makes in his free 10-day boot camp training, and in his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book, I could not think of any questions left unanswered, or any unfulfilled promises.
If you are in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business, you know that the life blood of any business are leads to generate prospects. In order to accomplish that you have to advertise and/or buy leads. If you are running your business on a shoe string budget, and want to generate prospects, and generate cash to fund your advertising, and do NOT want to spend yourself out of business buying expensive leads, then my highest recommendation is this: On a five star rating, one being the worst and five being the best, I give the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book a four star rating.
Though Mike Dillard has already produced a follow up ebook with 13 special reports on magnetic sponsoring that he gives as a bonus for acquiring the book, I hope he produces yet another more thorough breakdown of proper network marketing techniques book that teaches how to become extremely magnetic in network marketing.
Though the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book only prints out 49 pages of content, it does not teach network marketers how to advertise their business, it is a guide, not an exact step by step road map. I can compare the Magnetic Sponsoring book to a conversation Neo and Morpheus had concerning a woman known as "The Oracle" in "The Matrix" the movie 1999.
The dialog went like this:
"Neo: So is this the same Oracle that made the prophecy?
Morpheus: Yes. She's very old. She's been with us since the beginning.
Neo: The beginning?
Morpheus: Of the resistance.
Neo: And she knows what, everything?
Morpheus: She would say she knows enough.
Neo: And she's never wrong.
Morpheus: Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong. She is a guide, Neo. She can help you to find the path.
Neo: She helped you?
Morpheus: Yes.
Neo: What did she tell you?
Morpheus: That I would find the One. I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it."
In a book like this, the information has to be generic and serve as a guide designed to help the network marketer to become a magnetic sponsor, but he/she has to "walk through the door" and apply the information contained there in.
Mike Dillard, once a surgeon recruiter for many hospitals quit his job and became a table waiter in order to pursue his career in network marketing. After discovering the proper use of positioning, and "sellucation" his term for the art of self-selling through education, sponsored 35 personal reps. and grew his organization to over 500 within just months and averaged over $500,000 dollars per year in volume sales.
Today he spends his time and efforts teaching network marketers the proper strategies of marketing and magnetic sponsoring, as well as serving as a marketing consultant to industry leaders.
In "Magnetic Sponsoring," I found that the strategy of the ABC business model is the most valuable a networker can learn. Mike doesn't just tell you what Part A, Part B, or Part C is. He teaches you how to apply that principle in your MLM business,network marketing business, internet marketing business, or what ever you want to call it in order to keep your business running, and to make sure there is constant cash flow, and growth.
This book truly brings a fresh, high energy, revolutionary, and an effective approach to network marketing. "Sellucation" is intertwined through out the entire course. Educating prospects and applying the franchise business model is essential for network marketers to become magnetic sponsors.
Though it took me some time to fully understand how to apply magnetic sponsoring marketing techniques into my business, I feel that even people with little or no experience in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business,should have no problems applying the proper marketing strategies found within the book after reading it a few times.
In his newsletter, Mike guarantees that in just ten days, he can turn you into a MLM lead & cash generating wiz! I have to confess that at first, I did not really believe that; I thought he was just another guy creating a lot of hype to make a quick buck. After reading his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book however, I really see that he can actually back up his claim.
One thing I felt Mike could have done to make his book even better, was maybe expanding on the section about franchising a network marketing business with more specific,
detailed explanations and/or illustrations as to how exactly this strategy should be applied so that the reader learns to apply this technique a lot faster, and effectively to his/her MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business. But then again, the information
is very generic and it applies to any business. As long as is read carefully a few times, there souldn't be any problem applying those strategies.
Based on the claims that Mike makes in his free 10-day boot camp training, and in his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book, I could not think of any questions left unanswered, or any unfulfilled promises.
If you are in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business, you know that the life blood of any business are leads to generate prospects. In order to accomplish that you have to advertise and/or buy leads. If you are running your business on a shoe string budget, and want to generate prospects, and generate cash to fund your advertising, and do NOT want to spend yourself out of business buying expensive leads, then my highest recommendation is this: On a five star rating, one being the worst and five being the best, I give the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book a four star rating.
Though Mike Dillard has already produced a follow up ebook with 13 special reports on magnetic sponsoring that he gives as a bonus for acquiring the book, I hope he produces yet another more thorough breakdown of proper network marketing techniques book that teaches how to become extremely magnetic in network marketing.
Are You Still Broke With 10,000 People In Your Downline?
How many hype-filled emails have you received by someone who recently joined a network marketing company and in only a few weeks had over 1000 members in their downline? They encouraged you to get in early because this one was "really growing fast." They encouraged you to get in on the ground floor to take advantage of all of the momentum and guaranteed "spillover."
I get these almost daily.
Do these emails excite you? They shouldn't because they attempt to fill you with emotional excitement rather than encouraging you to look at things objectively. Any business that you're thinking of investing your time and other resources in should be looked at long and hard! Do your due diligence just as you should with any major business decision.
One of the first questions you should ask someone pushing you to join under them is, "How much money have you made?" Or just ask them, "Have you made any money at it yet?"
If they haven't made any money at it yet, then you need to bring them back to reality by asking them to explain how they can get so excited about it then. Find out all that you can about the company, it's management, and other projects that the management has been involved in.
Here's a sobering fact shared with me by mentors who have been in network marketing since the late 1950's... 97% of all MLM companies fail (90% within the first three years). Does that mean that you shouldn't get involved in MLM? No, but it does mean that you should probably only get involved in companies that have already proven themselves. I was personally taught to only look at companies at least 5 years old.
Why be the guinea pig for an unproven company when you have so many choices? Why go against the odds by going with an unproven company?
So why do people get so excited about new launches, and what's wrong with that?
People get drawn into the hype of the massive potential of new launches because they are looking for a way to generate massive income - with no work. It's as simple as that. Even though they know that there's no such things as a free lunch, they convince themselves that maybe they've finally found one :-)
Think about this for a second.... most of those people who rush into a new lauch are people already involved in network marketing. They know that the concept is very powerful, and is the best chance that the average person has today to create a successful business of their own. The problem with most of the people attracted to these companies is that they lack commitment. So as soon as they see another company that, on the surface, appears more attractive, they're going to jump over to that one.
Here's the real problem with the whole scenario layed out above. Who's producing the sales? Where is the income coming from? If everybody is jumping in... often for free... and then counting on others underneath them to generate the revenue, then who is actually making the sales necessary to make that company a success? Sales, and proper training, drive any business' success.
Ok, you should'nt fall for all of the hype, but we do know that network marketing works. How does it work then? It works by people like you being trained by someone who has a system in place for bringing in new people - and training them properly. The system has to be something that the average person, who is also willing to work, can easily learn and pass on. It's that simple.
You won't have any major, lasting success in network marketing until you focus on finding and properly training a few good people. They have to be provided with a system that they can easily duplicate and that they can teach to their new recruits.
One of the early mistakes in my networking business was not focusing on this specific area. I'm a skilled marketer with a huge list, better than average copywriting skills, and name recognition. Those assets made it easy for me to generate new signups.
New signups weren't what I needed to focus on. It's not what you need to focus on. Reflect upon the title of this article. That's the question you need to ask yourself. If you don't like what you see, then obviously you need a different system.
Anyone that you do signup is only going to be productive and help build your business if they are properly trained. Being human, there is a limit as to how many people you.... one person, can effectively train, manage, and motivate. So you need to focus on properly training just a handful, and having each of that handful do the same. Continue this through several levels and you can have that huge organization, but with a big difference...
You'll have a huge organization of properly trained, producing members, who know how to bring in even more people and properly train them. That's how your organization grows into the tens of thousands and even beyond.
One other very important point about the system necessary for your success... The training needs to be formalized and packaged so that new members can be "plugged right in."
If you want to see an example of such a system in operation, check out: http://www.eliteteammarketing.com/81309/
This is a system that evolves around providing training and support to team members. Team members have ready access to formalized training put together by top producers in the company. Team members have ready access to other team members on all levels. The day that I joined this team, I received emails (with phone numbers) from 3 different people.
The other reason that I wanted you to take a look at that website is that you won't see any mention of building a huge downline. It's not necessary. The top producer in the company in August 2004 is a member of this team. So is the number 2 producer for that month (that would be me). However, if you study the site, you'll see that it's not about large numbers... they only impress those who don't know any better.
You can build a business that will provide the lifestyle that you want for yourself and your family. You won't do it by being swept up by all of the hype surrounding the launch of "the latest and greatest." Instead you'll do it by taking a long hard look at any company that you're contemplating, and asking lots of probing questions. You'll do it by acknowledging that there still is no such thing as a free lunch, but there are people who've already done what you want to do who are willing to teach you.
I get these almost daily.
Do these emails excite you? They shouldn't because they attempt to fill you with emotional excitement rather than encouraging you to look at things objectively. Any business that you're thinking of investing your time and other resources in should be looked at long and hard! Do your due diligence just as you should with any major business decision.
One of the first questions you should ask someone pushing you to join under them is, "How much money have you made?" Or just ask them, "Have you made any money at it yet?"
If they haven't made any money at it yet, then you need to bring them back to reality by asking them to explain how they can get so excited about it then. Find out all that you can about the company, it's management, and other projects that the management has been involved in.
Here's a sobering fact shared with me by mentors who have been in network marketing since the late 1950's... 97% of all MLM companies fail (90% within the first three years). Does that mean that you shouldn't get involved in MLM? No, but it does mean that you should probably only get involved in companies that have already proven themselves. I was personally taught to only look at companies at least 5 years old.
Why be the guinea pig for an unproven company when you have so many choices? Why go against the odds by going with an unproven company?
So why do people get so excited about new launches, and what's wrong with that?
People get drawn into the hype of the massive potential of new launches because they are looking for a way to generate massive income - with no work. It's as simple as that. Even though they know that there's no such things as a free lunch, they convince themselves that maybe they've finally found one :-)
Think about this for a second.... most of those people who rush into a new lauch are people already involved in network marketing. They know that the concept is very powerful, and is the best chance that the average person has today to create a successful business of their own. The problem with most of the people attracted to these companies is that they lack commitment. So as soon as they see another company that, on the surface, appears more attractive, they're going to jump over to that one.
Here's the real problem with the whole scenario layed out above. Who's producing the sales? Where is the income coming from? If everybody is jumping in... often for free... and then counting on others underneath them to generate the revenue, then who is actually making the sales necessary to make that company a success? Sales, and proper training, drive any business' success.
Ok, you should'nt fall for all of the hype, but we do know that network marketing works. How does it work then? It works by people like you being trained by someone who has a system in place for bringing in new people - and training them properly. The system has to be something that the average person, who is also willing to work, can easily learn and pass on. It's that simple.
You won't have any major, lasting success in network marketing until you focus on finding and properly training a few good people. They have to be provided with a system that they can easily duplicate and that they can teach to their new recruits.
One of the early mistakes in my networking business was not focusing on this specific area. I'm a skilled marketer with a huge list, better than average copywriting skills, and name recognition. Those assets made it easy for me to generate new signups.
New signups weren't what I needed to focus on. It's not what you need to focus on. Reflect upon the title of this article. That's the question you need to ask yourself. If you don't like what you see, then obviously you need a different system.
Anyone that you do signup is only going to be productive and help build your business if they are properly trained. Being human, there is a limit as to how many people you.... one person, can effectively train, manage, and motivate. So you need to focus on properly training just a handful, and having each of that handful do the same. Continue this through several levels and you can have that huge organization, but with a big difference...
You'll have a huge organization of properly trained, producing members, who know how to bring in even more people and properly train them. That's how your organization grows into the tens of thousands and even beyond.
One other very important point about the system necessary for your success... The training needs to be formalized and packaged so that new members can be "plugged right in."
If you want to see an example of such a system in operation, check out: http://www.eliteteammarketing.com/81309/
This is a system that evolves around providing training and support to team members. Team members have ready access to formalized training put together by top producers in the company. Team members have ready access to other team members on all levels. The day that I joined this team, I received emails (with phone numbers) from 3 different people.
The other reason that I wanted you to take a look at that website is that you won't see any mention of building a huge downline. It's not necessary. The top producer in the company in August 2004 is a member of this team. So is the number 2 producer for that month (that would be me). However, if you study the site, you'll see that it's not about large numbers... they only impress those who don't know any better.
You can build a business that will provide the lifestyle that you want for yourself and your family. You won't do it by being swept up by all of the hype surrounding the launch of "the latest and greatest." Instead you'll do it by taking a long hard look at any company that you're contemplating, and asking lots of probing questions. You'll do it by acknowledging that there still is no such thing as a free lunch, but there are people who've already done what you want to do who are willing to teach you.
Are Affiliates Getting Fired?
An alarming trend seems to be catching on with popular merchants lately. The trend is the tendency for some of these companies to begin discriminating against new or inexperienced affiliates and actually FIRE them!
Removing an unproductive affiliate is understandable; however, having a ridiculous screening process that only allows websites with thousands of visitors to squeeze through almost seems ridiculous.
Now in defense of merchants and affiliate programs: If a program finds that one of their affiliates is using their company’s banner and link on “unethical” or completely unrelated websites, then yes, that affiliate should be dropped.
However, for the everyday work-at-home man or woman hoping to make a stable income through affiliate marketing – at least give them a chance! The bottom line is that affiliate marketing is still a young, but powerful industry with MUCH room for growth. The only way we can fuel this growth is if we provide the proper training to the new members.
If we just fire the new members and use the “no experience” excuse, then how are we ever going to expand the industry?
We at The Affiliate Classroom have spent the last few weeks getting to know many affiliate managers and companies on a personal level and have asked them questions about this matter. My conclusion is that every affiliate should be given a chance. If “deleted” from the system, there should be a very good reason.
In some of our research, as we read some of the terms of service, we were surprised to find some “credible” affiliate programs who were dropping affiliates if they did not earn a certain “minimum” in a given period. In my opinion, that is simply ridiculous.
Here is our personal opinion and conclusion regarding this matter:
When to remove affiliates?
- Their actions can “hurt” your company.
- They are strictly violating company policy.
- They have inaccurate contact information.
- They have been “completely” inactive for a period of 3 months or more.
When it is wrong to remove affiliates?
- Their website does not get enough traffic.
- They did not meet a “quota” even though they were trying.
- They are new and have questions.
Do not get me wrong, most affiliate programs are still doing it right – they are treating their affiliates properly. However, I am alarmed with a growing trend of being far too selective. This trend is blocking out the “new affiliates” and is not fair to the industry.
If you are a new affiliate, contact the affiliate program first and make sure that you will receive the kind of support you need.
If you are an experienced affiliate, understand that the larger the industry gets, the better it is for you. Super affiliates will get paid more as the industry becomes more recognized.
If you are an affiliate manager, my question to you is “why does it bother you?” It hardly costs a company anything to have an affiliate in their system. So what if the affiliate referred $300 in sales rather than your minimum $500? By relying so heavily on “super affiliates” you are placing too many eggs in one basket.
Why not work with the beginners, train and help them – gain their loyalty and you will truly build a great sales force (a lesson we can learn from network marketing or MLM).
In the end it is the decision of the affiliate manager and the company. However, The Affiliate Classroom is standing firm on our opinion that new affiliates should be giving a fair chance and never discriminated against.
Removing an unproductive affiliate is understandable; however, having a ridiculous screening process that only allows websites with thousands of visitors to squeeze through almost seems ridiculous.
Now in defense of merchants and affiliate programs: If a program finds that one of their affiliates is using their company’s banner and link on “unethical” or completely unrelated websites, then yes, that affiliate should be dropped.
However, for the everyday work-at-home man or woman hoping to make a stable income through affiliate marketing – at least give them a chance! The bottom line is that affiliate marketing is still a young, but powerful industry with MUCH room for growth. The only way we can fuel this growth is if we provide the proper training to the new members.
If we just fire the new members and use the “no experience” excuse, then how are we ever going to expand the industry?
We at The Affiliate Classroom have spent the last few weeks getting to know many affiliate managers and companies on a personal level and have asked them questions about this matter. My conclusion is that every affiliate should be given a chance. If “deleted” from the system, there should be a very good reason.
In some of our research, as we read some of the terms of service, we were surprised to find some “credible” affiliate programs who were dropping affiliates if they did not earn a certain “minimum” in a given period. In my opinion, that is simply ridiculous.
Here is our personal opinion and conclusion regarding this matter:
When to remove affiliates?
- Their actions can “hurt” your company.
- They are strictly violating company policy.
- They have inaccurate contact information.
- They have been “completely” inactive for a period of 3 months or more.
When it is wrong to remove affiliates?
- Their website does not get enough traffic.
- They did not meet a “quota” even though they were trying.
- They are new and have questions.
Do not get me wrong, most affiliate programs are still doing it right – they are treating their affiliates properly. However, I am alarmed with a growing trend of being far too selective. This trend is blocking out the “new affiliates” and is not fair to the industry.
If you are a new affiliate, contact the affiliate program first and make sure that you will receive the kind of support you need.
If you are an experienced affiliate, understand that the larger the industry gets, the better it is for you. Super affiliates will get paid more as the industry becomes more recognized.
If you are an affiliate manager, my question to you is “why does it bother you?” It hardly costs a company anything to have an affiliate in their system. So what if the affiliate referred $300 in sales rather than your minimum $500? By relying so heavily on “super affiliates” you are placing too many eggs in one basket.
Why not work with the beginners, train and help them – gain their loyalty and you will truly build a great sales force (a lesson we can learn from network marketing or MLM).
In the end it is the decision of the affiliate manager and the company. However, The Affiliate Classroom is standing firm on our opinion that new affiliates should be giving a fair chance and never discriminated against.
Amazing Secrets Of A Free Traffic Generation MASTER
Without traffic to your website, you're not going to make any money in your online business (unless you're able to tap into someone else's traffic).
For many websites... especially new sites, one of the fastest, surest ways to drive traffic to the site is pay per click search engines. The RISK in using pay per clicks is that you don't know how well that traffic is going to convert before you've paid for it. You can adjust your webpages and your pay per click listing fairly quickly, but today I want to share with you two of my MAJOR free traffic generation methods.
The most powerful weapon I've used in my marketing arsenal lately is actually... blogging. A blog is simply an on-line diary or weblog. Since they are usually updated frequently, the search engines love them and visit them often.
The way that I use my blogs is that when I make a post, I include a link to a site or webpage that I want spidered by the search engines. Google actually visits my blogs daily, and takes snapshots of everything there, and follows links from the pages, and takes snapshots of those pages! So, I make minor changes to pages that I want to get ranked higher, and then I "help" Google to find those updated pages. It's a simple, ethical, and very powerful method.
I'm fairly new at blogging, but I'm quickly getting the hang of it. Most of what I know about blogging I learned from a course by my friend Paul Short. The course is called RSS Exposed. I recommend you get a copy of Paul's course today and set aside 2 hours to digest it. Get it at:
http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=109478
Paul is like me... he's very busy, and doesn't have time for fluff. So his course is under 100 pages, and it's all "stuff" that you can read and then immediately implement.
Does this stuff work thought. My friend Stephen Pierce taught me that NOTHING is more powerful than concrete PROOF. So let's look at how I rank for a few keywords that I'm focusing on right now. I'll show you with a few of the more than 100 niches that I have top 10.... often top 3 rankings for. I know that showing you these examples may attract the attention of potential and existing competitors, so I won't show you the most lucrative ones :-)
Readers who know me, know that my real online success started with a simple soul food or southern cookbook! That one cookbook still generates a very nice six-figure income! This season of the year, I know that people are on-line searching for holiday recipes and also gift-giving ideas. My logs show me how my market finds me... keywords and sources. They show that for the cookbook, most find my site through Google, with MSN being a distant second. Here's how I ranked for a few cooking related terms (as of November 21st, 2004):
Soul Food Recipes - #2 out of 1,220,000
Soul Food - #3 out of 8,840,000
Soul Food Cookbook - #2 out of 273,000
Deep Fried Turkey Recipe - #3 out of 257,000
Deep Fried Turkey Recipes - #4 out of 302,000
Sweet Potato Pie - #2 out of 614,000
Sweet Potato Pie Recipe #2 out of 394,000
Fried Chicken Recipe - #2 out of 861,000
Fried Chicken Recipes - #2 out of 1,160,000
Southern Fried Chicken - #2 out of 436,000
Deep Fried Turkey - #14 out of 330,000
Pound Cake Recipe - #2 out of 547,000
Macaroni And Cheese Recipe - #1 out of 207,000
Collard Green Recipe - #4 out of 21,200
Southern Recipes - # 15 out of 4,970,000
... I guess I need to work on that last listing :-)
One of my other markets is "Internet Marketing," and those looking to start or improve upon an online or home-based business. How do I rank there? Here are a few of the thousands of terms that bring me in free search engine traffic (again based upon my website logs):
Internet Marketing 101 - # 1 out of 5,550,000
Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 10,600,000
Free Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 11,800,000
Free Internet Marketing Lessons - #2 out of 2,810,000
Homebased Business - #9 out of 1,930,000
Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 522,000
Free Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 483,000
For those of you without your own product, let's see how I do with products I have reprint rights to. One is a web copywriting course by Bob Serling called Power Copywriting For The Internet. When someone is searching for that course they search on very specific terms... but... since their search is so specific, a higher percentage of them will buy when they get to my website. This is a more niche market, but some of my rankings are:
Internet Copywriter + Bob Serling - #1 out of 985
Web Copywriting + Bob Serling - # 7 out of 918
Web Copywriting Course + Bob Serling - #5 out of 16,400
Power Copywriting For The Internet - #2 out of 128,000
Another product that I have reprint rights to is an excellent course on how to increase your website, and advertising, conversion rates. It's called, "Small Changes - Big Profits." Here's my ranking on keywords customers have recently used to find (and buy) this product:
Increase Website Conversion - #6 out of 2,480,000
How to Increase Website Conversion - # 6 our of 2,490,000
Note that when you enter that last phrases, Google tells you that "how to" is a very common phrase and therefore not included in the search. However, notice that Google found an additional 10,000 pages when I gave it that expression. Ok, so I'm confused too :-)
My second most powerful weapon right now is that I write lots of ezine articles... like this one. Since 1998, I would estimate that I've written over 300. Those articles are a very powerful way of getting one-way links to my site. Those articles are a powerful way for people with specific problems or interest to find my sites.
Here's a simple example of how powerful articles can be. I know for a fact that the majority of people in network marketing aren't doing that great. I also know why. The proof that I know what they are doing wrong, and how to correct it, is provided by the fact that I was recently the #2 producing representative in a major network marketing company for 2 consecutive months. The only reason I wasn't #2 longer is that I've only been with the company a little over 4 month, and that in my fourth month, I was the #1 top producing rep in the entire company!
Recognizing what many network marketers are doing wrong... especially those that market over the internet, I wrote an article on the topic. This article targeted those who wanted to know why their network marketing is failing. So if you go to Google and enter...
"Network Marketing Failing" without the quotation marks, you'll see that the returns for webpages featuring my article take up the entire first page. If a person were to type in the statement "My Network Marketing Is Failing" my page ranks #1 out of 312,000. Do people search on these terms? Not as many as search on more competitive terms, but why not go after easier terms... why not go after "the low-hanging fruit."
People do visit my sites after reading the hundreds of articles that I've written, and they do make purchases and join my network marketing team. That's proof that writing and properly using articles is a very powerful traffic generation technique. I have lots of resources on how to properly do this inside my private membership site. If you're not a member, you should join today. Inside the site you'll find lots more solid, usable information like you just gotten in this article.
I've just shared with you two of my most powerful free traffic generation methods. I actually know HUNDREDS but only use a handful. I believe that it's better to get really good at using a few rather than tinkering with (but never mastering) many. You need to do your research and find the techniques that work best for you.
If you'd like a really comprehensive course on website traffic and sales generation methods, I recommend John Reese's Traffic Secrets Course. Check out John's course to learn a ton of ways to outflank your competition at:
http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=110203
It's 14 DVD's, so realize that it will throw a LOT of information at you. Make sure that you pick just a few techniques he covers, and then put them into immediate action rather than letting the sheer volume of information overwhelm you.
As I've demonstrated, being a master at generating free, responsive traffic doesn't have to be complicated or even difficult :-)
For many websites... especially new sites, one of the fastest, surest ways to drive traffic to the site is pay per click search engines. The RISK in using pay per clicks is that you don't know how well that traffic is going to convert before you've paid for it. You can adjust your webpages and your pay per click listing fairly quickly, but today I want to share with you two of my MAJOR free traffic generation methods.
The most powerful weapon I've used in my marketing arsenal lately is actually... blogging. A blog is simply an on-line diary or weblog. Since they are usually updated frequently, the search engines love them and visit them often.
The way that I use my blogs is that when I make a post, I include a link to a site or webpage that I want spidered by the search engines. Google actually visits my blogs daily, and takes snapshots of everything there, and follows links from the pages, and takes snapshots of those pages! So, I make minor changes to pages that I want to get ranked higher, and then I "help" Google to find those updated pages. It's a simple, ethical, and very powerful method.
I'm fairly new at blogging, but I'm quickly getting the hang of it. Most of what I know about blogging I learned from a course by my friend Paul Short. The course is called RSS Exposed. I recommend you get a copy of Paul's course today and set aside 2 hours to digest it. Get it at:
http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=109478
Paul is like me... he's very busy, and doesn't have time for fluff. So his course is under 100 pages, and it's all "stuff" that you can read and then immediately implement.
Does this stuff work thought. My friend Stephen Pierce taught me that NOTHING is more powerful than concrete PROOF. So let's look at how I rank for a few keywords that I'm focusing on right now. I'll show you with a few of the more than 100 niches that I have top 10.... often top 3 rankings for. I know that showing you these examples may attract the attention of potential and existing competitors, so I won't show you the most lucrative ones :-)
Readers who know me, know that my real online success started with a simple soul food or southern cookbook! That one cookbook still generates a very nice six-figure income! This season of the year, I know that people are on-line searching for holiday recipes and also gift-giving ideas. My logs show me how my market finds me... keywords and sources. They show that for the cookbook, most find my site through Google, with MSN being a distant second. Here's how I ranked for a few cooking related terms (as of November 21st, 2004):
Soul Food Recipes - #2 out of 1,220,000
Soul Food - #3 out of 8,840,000
Soul Food Cookbook - #2 out of 273,000
Deep Fried Turkey Recipe - #3 out of 257,000
Deep Fried Turkey Recipes - #4 out of 302,000
Sweet Potato Pie - #2 out of 614,000
Sweet Potato Pie Recipe #2 out of 394,000
Fried Chicken Recipe - #2 out of 861,000
Fried Chicken Recipes - #2 out of 1,160,000
Southern Fried Chicken - #2 out of 436,000
Deep Fried Turkey - #14 out of 330,000
Pound Cake Recipe - #2 out of 547,000
Macaroni And Cheese Recipe - #1 out of 207,000
Collard Green Recipe - #4 out of 21,200
Southern Recipes - # 15 out of 4,970,000
... I guess I need to work on that last listing :-)
One of my other markets is "Internet Marketing," and those looking to start or improve upon an online or home-based business. How do I rank there? Here are a few of the thousands of terms that bring me in free search engine traffic (again based upon my website logs):
Internet Marketing 101 - # 1 out of 5,550,000
Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 10,600,000
Free Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 11,800,000
Free Internet Marketing Lessons - #2 out of 2,810,000
Homebased Business - #9 out of 1,930,000
Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 522,000
Free Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 483,000
For those of you without your own product, let's see how I do with products I have reprint rights to. One is a web copywriting course by Bob Serling called Power Copywriting For The Internet. When someone is searching for that course they search on very specific terms... but... since their search is so specific, a higher percentage of them will buy when they get to my website. This is a more niche market, but some of my rankings are:
Internet Copywriter + Bob Serling - #1 out of 985
Web Copywriting + Bob Serling - # 7 out of 918
Web Copywriting Course + Bob Serling - #5 out of 16,400
Power Copywriting For The Internet - #2 out of 128,000
Another product that I have reprint rights to is an excellent course on how to increase your website, and advertising, conversion rates. It's called, "Small Changes - Big Profits." Here's my ranking on keywords customers have recently used to find (and buy) this product:
Increase Website Conversion - #6 out of 2,480,000
How to Increase Website Conversion - # 6 our of 2,490,000
Note that when you enter that last phrases, Google tells you that "how to" is a very common phrase and therefore not included in the search. However, notice that Google found an additional 10,000 pages when I gave it that expression. Ok, so I'm confused too :-)
My second most powerful weapon right now is that I write lots of ezine articles... like this one. Since 1998, I would estimate that I've written over 300. Those articles are a very powerful way of getting one-way links to my site. Those articles are a powerful way for people with specific problems or interest to find my sites.
Here's a simple example of how powerful articles can be. I know for a fact that the majority of people in network marketing aren't doing that great. I also know why. The proof that I know what they are doing wrong, and how to correct it, is provided by the fact that I was recently the #2 producing representative in a major network marketing company for 2 consecutive months. The only reason I wasn't #2 longer is that I've only been with the company a little over 4 month, and that in my fourth month, I was the #1 top producing rep in the entire company!
Recognizing what many network marketers are doing wrong... especially those that market over the internet, I wrote an article on the topic. This article targeted those who wanted to know why their network marketing is failing. So if you go to Google and enter...
"Network Marketing Failing" without the quotation marks, you'll see that the returns for webpages featuring my article take up the entire first page. If a person were to type in the statement "My Network Marketing Is Failing" my page ranks #1 out of 312,000. Do people search on these terms? Not as many as search on more competitive terms, but why not go after easier terms... why not go after "the low-hanging fruit."
People do visit my sites after reading the hundreds of articles that I've written, and they do make purchases and join my network marketing team. That's proof that writing and properly using articles is a very powerful traffic generation technique. I have lots of resources on how to properly do this inside my private membership site. If you're not a member, you should join today. Inside the site you'll find lots more solid, usable information like you just gotten in this article.
I've just shared with you two of my most powerful free traffic generation methods. I actually know HUNDREDS but only use a handful. I believe that it's better to get really good at using a few rather than tinkering with (but never mastering) many. You need to do your research and find the techniques that work best for you.
If you'd like a really comprehensive course on website traffic and sales generation methods, I recommend John Reese's Traffic Secrets Course. Check out John's course to learn a ton of ways to outflank your competition at:
http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=110203
It's 14 DVD's, so realize that it will throw a LOT of information at you. Make sure that you pick just a few techniques he covers, and then put them into immediate action rather than letting the sheer volume of information overwhelm you.
As I've demonstrated, being a master at generating free, responsive traffic doesn't have to be complicated or even difficult :-)
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