March 30, 2009

Can Affiliate Programs Help Your Business?... How I (Almost)
Made Another Million... What Would You Do if You Were a
Millionaire?... How to Stay at the Top... and More.

** Can Affiliate Programs Help Your Business?
By Adrian Newman, Founder of e-Wealth Daily

Affiliate programs are rapidly becoming one of the biggest moneymaking/marketing methods on the Internet. But are they the right choice for you?

Amazon.com is probably one of the most widely recognized and successful affiliate programs out there. Web sites advertise books in these programs, and if a surfer were to click on one, then he or she would be directly sent to Amazon.com's web site, and the referring web site earns a commission.

If you have an Internet-based merchant business, then you have probably heard of affiliate or associate programs before. Actually, you have probably heard of them even if you don't have online access. This particular brand of marketing benefits both the affiliate and the merchant — and many people are joining in.

Of course, ever since the Internet became popular, the threat of scams has also been present. This is something that you need to be aware of. At this point, there is a lot of talk about the effectiveness of these programs. In fact, new developments are emerging all the time that involve people trying to get something for nothing.

However, I do recommend that you take a look into these programs as either a new business venture as an affiliate or as a merchant. You might not like the way they operate, and the sheer volume of them might overwhelm you, but it won't hurt to check them out.

For those of you who aren't aware of these programs, allow me to explain. One web site joins up with a high-traffic site (generally), and together the two help each other sell their products. This is done through banners and links that you will see on the affiliate site.

So, basically, a web site is endorsing the merchant's site and doing their advertising for them. This advertising is not free, of course. These links generate money for the affiliate through a percentage of the sale they get from the referral.

If you have a high-traffic web site and profitable merchants, you could stand to make good money with this opportunity.

This is also advantageous for the merchant. If you are associated with a number of high-traffic sites, your information could be seen by millions of people. It will generate traffic to your site and hopefully sales as well.

This method is also good for someone who has a web site, but doesn't want to spend money on a specific product. Doing this will allow you to offer a convenient service to your customers by providing them with links to a product they might be interested in, but that you don't want to spend any money on.

It's not going to cost you anything and, in fact, you could make money and not have to worry about the selling aspect of the affiliate program.

Affiliate programs seem to work best for companies like Amazon.com whose affiliates handpick books to market on
their web sites.

I recommend reading up on affiliate programs if you either are starting a web site or already have one. If you associate yourself with someone successful, you could stand to gain a great deal financially as a result.

Be sure to use Internet resources to check for scams. As with anything in business, if something smells fishy to you, then you shouldn't get involved.

** How I (Almost) Made Another Million
By Bill Hebden

Man. Had I known then what I know now, I'd be among the information-marketing masters of the world by now. But back then, who knew?

It was 2001, I think. Everyone who was in the market to buy a car started turning to the Internet for selections, options, prices...all the stuff that gave everyone anxiety and anger in showrooms. Then web sites like cars.com and a bunch of others came on the scene.

It was great. No salesperson breathing down your neck. No salesperson trying to open your wallet wider than you want. You simply click on what you want. Then you'd always be asked for your zip or postal code.

You enter the information requested and zap — you're what they call an "electric lead." Car dealers with the vehicle you want in or near your area get your contact information from the web site. Car dealers pay for this information, mind you.

And then what happened? Well, most every car dealer in the land subscribed to these web sites, but very few of the dealers were able to close the sale from these sales leads. My friend, who happens to be a new car dealer, figured it all out.

He's a smart guy, but all it took was common sense to see what was going wrong. The real challenge was to see what could go right. Hold that thought. We'll come back to it, I promise.

By now I hope you're begging me to tell you what went wrong with all those electric car leads. Many blame the showroom salespeople, but the real blame falls on the shoulders of the dealers. They failed to see that this new-fangled Internet-information-armed car customer was a different kind of buyer.

Internet car shoppers expected a hassle-free car-buying experience, probably for the first time in their lives. But when the rubber hit the road (actually even before the test drive), showroom salespeople gave these new "sophisticated" buyers the same old song. They wouldn't reveal prices over the phone. They continued to hold out that final number, as they continued to sell you options you never checked off.

It's no wonder those electronic leads were considered worthless back then.

I told you that a friend of mine is a car dealer. Naturally, that's where I buy my cars. And I guess it was back in 2001 that I found myself in his office at his showroom. He's telling me the whole Internet story and how he's actually closing sales off electronic leads like crazy.

He told me the how's and why's and showed me the separate operation he set up to handle the electronic leads exclusively. I don't know what he was thinking. I know he was proud. I was thinking marketing.

I asked my friend if it would matter to him if other car dealers in other parts of the country learned his secrets. At first, he minded. Then I told him, "What do you care? Besides, we can make money marketing all this information you have." Then he listened more carefully.

Without even realizing it, I was entering the information marketing business. I had never heard of such a business. All I knew was marketing -- and I saw a product I thought could be marketed at a high price. Who knew this was called "information marketing?"

I wish I had. Now that I know about information marketing, I look back to 2001 and see the mountains of mistakes I made... the piles of opportunities I failed to recognize...and what really kills me is when I envision what could have been.

What I did was create a company called C.A.R.S. This stood for Cyber Auto Retailers Success. Anyway, I took what my friend knew and we wrote this giant, fat book and sold it to car dealers for $695.00 each. Then we put on one-day seminars in major cities up and down the East Coast. Again, $695.00 per dealer for the day.

We did all right. We had lots of fun. We had lots of partners, too. One of the partners owned his own plane, so that was cool. I actually had the controls flying from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.

But, today, I'd have structured that whole business much differently. Today, I understand information marketing. You should, too. In my new book, "GETTING YOUR FIRST MILLION," I explain the million-dollar secrets of information marketing. Check it out here:

http://www.lombardipublishing.com/ads/ym/index.asp

** What Would You Do if You Were a Millionaire?
By Michael Newman

I remember when I was going to school as a youngster and taking part in a class exercise that was supposed to help determine what kind of career path I was headed on. At the front of the class, the teacher wrote a question on the board that said, "What would you do if you were a millionaire?" Your answer had to be an occupation or a passion that showed what you truly wanted to do.

I was reminded of this assignment when I was reading the sports section of my newspaper the other day and came across an article about a young professional basketball player named TJ Ford. At 24 years old, Ford has already suffered two career-threatening injuries to his back and neck and has been forced to contemplate retirement to avoid further, perhaps severe, injury.

Prior to this, Ford signed himself a lucrative five-year contract with the NBA's Toronto Raptors, with $30 million in guaranteed salary. Not a bad retirement package by any means.

Knowing that he could walk away from his job and enjoy a long life of luxury, Ford decided to work as hard as he could to come back and play for his team. It wasn't the money that motivated him; it was his love of the game. He loves his job so much he would put his health at serious risk to do it. Now, after over two months of recovery, Ford is back on the court, likely doing what he would have answered in my teacher's assignment.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Ford, and that is to do what we love. After all, what is the point of being rich if it's making you miserable in the process?

Sure, having money is nice, but it isn't what life is all about. Life is about living and doing what makes you feel good day in and day out. If you're in a job you hate, develop a plan to leave. Start saving your money so that, when the time comes, you can quit your job and start the business you've always wanted. Even if times are tough financially in the beginning, you'll hardly notice because of the happiness you derive from your new life.

As for my answer to the assignment, it was to "build places for people to live." Well, it came partly true. Although I never physically constructed homes, I developed my own publicly traded real estate company!

** How to Stay at the Top
By James Burt

I was the first one in the office one day last week and noticed several different newspapers and magazines piled at the door when I arrived. I took them in with me, but later consulted the boss about this. "Do you really need all of these?" I inquired.

"Absolutely," he replied, "If you think the world's activities stay in one spot all the time, you are mistaken"

My boss wasn't joking or being ironic. He's very successful. And part of staying successful is staying on top of trends constantly. His subscription to several local papers plus some big-name magazines and key Internet sites has ensured that he is up-to-date with the current business world.

As the information marketer, I would highly recommend this to you as well. Sounds tough? Well, the good news is that you don't need that many to keep tabs on. Not even as many as my boss does.

Here are some publications that you might want to invest in to help your information marketing business grow:

Staying updated can be tough. But knowing where to search is half the battle. Find those publications that can help you the most and then use them for your updates and information. Your business will be strengthened as a result.