Archive | February, 2024

Bad information keeps many people from making money online.

People give a half-hearted effort to one form of marketing, get disappointed that it didn’t work, and then cry out to the world that it no longer works…

How many times have you seen one of these headlines:

“Email Marketing Is Dead!”

“SEO No Longer Works Thanks to Google…”

“Content Marketing Has Lost Its Luster…”

Or the big one:

“Affiliate Marketing Is for Scammers!”

When something is proclaimed dead or not working any longer, it’s probably because someone was gaming the system and the system owners plugged the hole.

Ethical marketing always works in the long run.

That’s why Affiliate Marketing has worked for decades and will continue to work for the non-scammers of the world.

But the headlines persist, and the myths and misconceptions flourish.

Let’s talk about the top 5 myths about affiliate marketing today…

1) Affiliate Marketing is easy…

There’s a misconception out there that the newbie online marketer can grab an affiliate link, put it on their Facebook page, and the money will start rolling in.

Not so fast…

Affiliate marketing like any other business model IS a business.

And it should be treated like a business.

While affiliate marketing may be the exact business model you need as a new entrepreneur, it’s important to understand and accept that it is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme.

As with any business, your primary job is to present a solution to a market with a desperate problem. The problem must be so severe that they are willing to pay for that solution quickly.

Is this beginning to sound like work yet? It should.

Affiliate marketing can be VERY rewarding, but it is not easy, especially if you have no business experience. But affiliate marketing can be the best way to learn how to build a business with very low-risk.

Your investment as an affiliate marketer is low because you don’t have any product or delivery costs. Your focus must be on building a market, knowing that market inside out, and learning how to sell.

These are essential skills for any business owner to master.

Driving traffic and measuring conversions to build your marketing list is the primary tool of every affiliate marketer.

2) Affiliate marketing doesn’t work any more…

The days of throwing a link up on the social marketing sites and making a million dollars overnight are gone…if they ever existed.

Social media has heightened the importance of building relationships with your target market, and that can be a slow process.

Your followers and email subscribers must feel a connection with you. If they don’t, they find someone else where that connection is real.

Affiliate marketing not only works with an audience that knows, likes and trusts you, but they will ask for your affiliate link for new products. Sometimes, they feel such a close relationship that they’ll pass around your affiliate link for you.

Affiliate marketing without real relationships (even if they’re automated) is hard, but can be done with a lot of effort.

But affiliate marketing with real connections with an audience that has been nurtured and embraced works like a charm because you’re genuinely looking out for their interests.

3) The competition is too steep in affiliate marketing…

First, let’s agree competition is good.

That means there’s a market for the product. If not, no one else would be trying to sell that product.

Competitors can also become your best traffic source. Using the right tools like iSpionage.com, you can target your competitors, and step in front of their traffic with better offers, Facebook ads, or other techniques.

Sound a little cutthroat?

Nope, it’s just business. Once you become the Big Dog, everyone will target you too.

Your job is to offer better bonuses, better services, better support, and better experience to that market. And by doing that, you’re building a better relationship.

Find out how your competitors are building their audience (keyword research) and jump in there to grab that audience yourself.

Business is about competition, so if that bothers you, you probably need to get a job.

4) The more I promote my affiliate links the more money I’ll make…

Listen, this one is tricky.

In theory, this is true. But there are other considerations like…

Does your message match the right audience? This is where you’ve got to get good at knowing your market including their hopes, dreams and issues.

In the consulting world, they call these the FUDs – Fears, Uncertainties and Doubts.

What is your audience trying to do? And how can the solution you put in front of them solve that issue?

Promote to the right audience and you don’t have to “sell them” often because you become part of their go-to-problem-solver while you’re building a relationship.

Spamming your links to an audience never works.

But offering a solution to a problem always works.

5) Affiliate marketing is high risk and low ROI…

Ok. There is risk in any business endeavor. In affiliate marketing, you could make a lot of sales for a product only to have the product owner go out of business.

That’s always a risk.

And the return on investment could be very low, but only because you’re not making sales.

That usually means you don’t have the right message for the right target market. Conversions are much easier and ROI much higher when you convert prospects to customers.

Opponents of affiliate marketing will jump in here and declare you’d be better off building your own products, selling them online and keeping ALL the money.

Here’s the truth about that:

If you can’t sell someone else’s product and get a good ROI, what makes you think that you could invest a lot of money on your own product and sell THAT to the same target market.

Affiliate marketing is attractive because the risk is extremely low. You don’t have to create a massive infrastructure to support your products. You’re letting someone else take that risk on.

And the low ROI? Wrong.

The potential in affiliate marketing for those people who learn how to build an audience and convert that audience to paying customers is HUGE because it’s a pay-for-performance model!

The more you convert, the more you make and the higher your return.

Of course, like everything else, affiliate marketing only works if you know how to do it correctly.

I received a marketing email telling me how GREAT a new video making product is, because it works in conjunction with a piece of software almost everyone already has.

Cool!

So I go to check it out, and guess what?

They NEVER show you what the videos you’ll be making will look like.

Not ONE single example!

Worse still, the video they use to sell the video maker is a regular talking head type of video, NOT the kind you’re supposed to be able to make with this software.

What thinking person will take this offer seriously?

It’s like someone trying to sell you their artwork without letting you SEE the artwork.

If you’re selling software, and especially video creation software, let people see what it can do, rather than just telling them.

Otherwise, who’s going to believe you?

Well over a decade ago I bought and devoured an expensive course called “Hypnotic Writing” from Joe Vitale. If I remember correctly, it cost $1,000 and arrived in a heavy box with tons of CD’s and two thick manuals. And it was perhaps one of the best investments I ever made in learning not just good, but great copywriting that converts like crazy.

This morning I was cleaning out some old files, and ran across my handwritten notes from the course. In the notes I discovered a list of “The 7 Secret Principles of Hypnotic Writing.” They still stand the test of time today, so I thought I would share them with you here.

Please keep in mind, these aren’t so much a primer as a list of clues as to what Vitale’s “Hypnotic Writing” is. But from these clues you can discern enough valuable information to almost instantly improve your own writing, whether it’s blog posts, sales letters, emails or anything else.

1: Make it Personal

Hypnotic writing speaks to YOU, the reader. You’ll find words such as you, me, I, yours, etc. All of this makes you feel like the writing is speaking to you personally. In fact, it is. The more personal, the more hypnotic.

2: Keep it Active

Hypnotic writing is active. You’ll find lots of verbs. You’ll find little passive writing. It’s the difference between saying, “The writing was hypnotic,” and saying, “Joe weaves hypnotic writing.” The first is passive, the second is active.

3: Get Emotional

Hypnotic writing taps your emotions. You may find it doing so in a story format or in a direct narrative. Either way, the writing will pull at your heart strings. One of Joe’s most famous letters began, “I was nearly in tears…” That line engaged the emotions of readers. You had to read the letter to discover what the tears were for.

4: Be Sensual

Writing hypnotically involves your senses. You’ll find descriptions of feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing. All of this will help you become involved with the writing and therefore susceptible to what it commands.

5: Be Commanding

Hypnotic writing commands the reader to do something. As the reader, you might not detect the command as it may be embedded. But there will always be one. Ask yourself, “What do I want to do after reading this?” What you do next may be a result of the hypnotic command.

6: Curiosity

Hypnotic writing plays on your curiosity. You may find it beginning a story – but not ending it until the end of the article. You may find it promising to tell you how to do something, but it will only give you limited details, thereby urging you to order the product it’s promoting to get more information.

7: Hypnotic Writing is Hidden

You won’t find any obvious clues that signal, “Warning, hypnotic writing at work.” The writing will instead be smooth and personal, and the hypnotic aspect will sneak in below conscious awareness.

Now imagine if you actually had the power to influence your prospect’s subconscious mind.

Imagine if you could do it by using simple trigger words that activate involuntary reactions in their brains.

And imagine you can do it in writing and in speech.

You might not believe you can do this. But I’m going to tell you that you can, because over time we are all subtly hypnotized to accept certain suggestions. This process started when we were babies and has never stopped.

You wouldn’t even suspect these simple words of holding any special power. But when you use them correctly, they can dramatically improve your power of persuasion.

Yes, I’ve just given you a sample of ‘hypnotic writing.’ If you re-read the previous 5 paragraphs, and if you study it very carefully, you will notice I used three little words to great effect – “Imagine, you and because.”

If all you do is begin using these three words more often in your copy, you will experience an increase in the persuasiveness of your writing.

Imagine if you could persuade anyone of anything, because when you do, you’ll hold the power to make a fortune. Try it out next time you write, and see what happens. 😉

If you’re an experienced online marketer, you may never have considered working with brick and mortar type businesses, but after reading this you might rethink your position.

First, it’s great money.

Second, it’s great money FAST.

Third, you don’t actually need to do any of the work yourself, since you can outsource everything.

The hard part? Getting clients. At least, it tends to be hard for most marketers trying to run a marketing business for offline clients.

But I’m going to show you how to get all the clients you want, using three easy techniques.

All three of the techniques center on one thing – offering a FREE 20 minute consultation about why their website isn’t getting them enough customers, and how to fix it.

Think about it – how many businesses want more customers? Nearly all of them.

How many businesses would like those customers to find them on the internet and then walk in the door, ready to buy? Nearly all of them.

And how many businesses would like someone to tell them why their website is doing such a lousy job of getting new customers, and how they can fix it?

Just about all of them.

So your offer is going to be a free 20 minute consultation on why their website isn’t getting them business and how it can be fixed. Totally free, no obligation, no nothing beyond you honestly and earnestly helping them.

There are two keys to your offer – first, it’s only 20 minutes. Most business owners are happy to find 20 minutes to have an expert look over their site and give them some helpful advice.

Second, you are going in without expectation of self-profit. Your entire motive is to help them. And when you think like this, it will show. They’ll let their guard down and have a real conversation with you.

And more often than not, they’ll also hire you to do the work for them.

The three methods you’ll use to get these appointments are:

• Posting on Craigslist or a comparable website if you’re outside of the U.S. Of the three methods, this one tends to get the lowest response. Yet the appointments you do get – perhaps 1 to 2 per week – will very often result in a sale. However, if you scale this up and post in numerous cities, this method alone can be enough to keep you busy. You’ll just have to conduct your appointments via Skype or phone. Be sure to find ways to post that don’t conflict with Craigslist rules, since they can sometimes get a little cranky if you post the same ad in multiple cities.
• Create cards that you leave in strategic places. First, create your cards. They could be brochures, or they can be oversized business cards. Spend plenty of time getting your wording just right. Next, scout your locations. You want to find places where business owners have down time – for example, accountants, suppliers, repair shops, computer shops, etc. Mark each card with a code so you can give a commission to the business where your new customer found your card. Done correctly, this will yield several appointments per week.
• Email business owners directly. You can generally find their email address on their website, or you’ll find a ‘contact me’ form. Either way, let them know you’ve been studying their website. You’ve discovered 3 things they could be doing to bring in a whole lot more customers, and you’d be happy to stop by and show them what those things are.

And finally, because you go in with no expectation of self-profit, business owners will feel completely confident in recommending you to other business owners.

This will be a natural outcome of your business model, but it’s not the one to rely on. Some months you’ll get several referrals, and other months you might not get any.

So when they come, be thankful, be happy, and by all means go out of your way to show appreciation to the person who referred the new business owner to you.

Start offering free consultations, and deliver great value to everyone you meet with! Before long, you’ll have more people wanting to do business with you than you can handle by yourself. In fact, the next skill you’ll need for growing your business after implementing the action plan above is learning how to outsource or hire effectively! 😉