“Where the internet is about availability of information, blogging is about making information creation available to anyone.”
Once you’ve set up your business blog on a blog-hosting site such as
Blogger, Wordpress or Tumblr, it’s time for the exciting part – publishing your blog’s content! Simply put, blog content is the written words you publish on your blog, or your blog’s “posts.” Copyblogger.com takes this simple explanation further by explaining that content marketing is “creating and sharing valuable, free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers.”
The content on a business blog should always be closely related to the products or services offered by your business. By focusing on your own industry and experience, you lead people to consider you an expert in your field, allowing them to trust you enough to do business with you. Be sure that your blog posts contain stories, images, articles, videos and other material that directly correspond with the type of business you’re promoting. For example, an HVAC company’s blog would contain posts about tips for maintaining your HVAC system, video segments about how to replace air filters, infographs about record heat waves, or other related information. With a basic understanding of what content is and how to use industry focused content on your blog to establish your business as a trustworthy, professional source of information, we can now move forward with tips and tricks for writing outstanding, interesting blog content!
Layout and Content
1. Take Notes. Once you have chosen a topic for your blog post, your first step should be to sit down to research and make notes about the subject at hand. Pinpoint specific subtopics you’d like to address within the post, draw visual aids such as idea maps and brainstorming charts to organize your thoughts, and take some time to fact check and investigate issues you may not be completely familiar with. Taking some time to lay out your post on paper before your fingers ever hit the keyboard is a sure way to develop concise, accurate, well-planned content.
2. Start with a Bang. Give a great deal of thought to the title of each post. Focus on simple, to-the-point headlines that will summarize the content contained in your post and grab the reader’s attention. Blog post titles are the first thing seen when your blog appears in an RSS feed or comes up on a list of search engine results. Keep it simple, make it interesting and summarize the entire post in one sentence if possible!
3. Open Creatively. Consider catchy, interesting ways to open your posts. The opening lines of a blog post are what a reader uses to determine whether to keep reading, or move on to the next source of information. Focus on quality writing that is both attentions getting and attention keeping.
4. Subheads. Since many blog readers are scanners of the posts they encounter, map out your post with subhead lines and bullet points where applicable. Subhead lines guide even the quick-scanning blog reader through your content by summarizing the subjects of each section of the post with a short, concise headline, typically written in bold font just above the section they pertain to.
5. Call to Action. A good blog post almost always ends with a call to action for its readers. Think about what you’d like your readers to do once they’ve read your content. Visit your website? Join the discussion by commenting on your post? Sign up for your business email list? Always offer readers a course of action that can be taken as a direct result of having read your content.
6. Read it over. Once you’ve put your blog post together, be sure to reread the content and add additional depth where possible. Often, after getting all of your thoughts down in a post, you will find areas where you could be clearer or offer further information. A good rule of thumb when it comes to web content is to read, reread and then read again! Before clicking “publish” and sending your post live, make sure you’ve thoroughly reviewed the content you’re about to release.
7. Proofread. While you’re rereading your post in search of areas where you can be more clear or elaborate on your words, be cognizant of your grammar, spelling and punctuation. Make each read-through of your post a time of proofreading, seeking errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting and spacing.
Content-Specific Tips
1. Know Thy Problem. When planning your post, be aware of what problem you plan to address in your writing and of what solutions you will suggest to your readers. Writing a post about last-minute Christmas gift ideas? Offer procrastinating shoppers an invitation to shop your website and receive expedited shipping! Discussing tips for busy moms who want to keep their homes organized? Offer downloadable menu planners and shopping lists to get them started on the path to organization!
2. And Thy Audience. Be aware of who you are targeting with your blog posts. Identify your customers by age, gender, stage of life, occupation – whatever descriptors apply! Once you have a good understanding of who you are writing for, you can adjust your voice and style to best reach out to your targeted reader base.
3. Loosen Up. The most important thing to remember about composing blog content is to enjoy yourself and have fun! Blog posts are a form of expression and can be a fantastic outlet for your creativity. Enjoy your journey as you experiment with different techniques and post types and figure out what works and doesn’t work for your specific business blog!
Post Organization and Planning
1. Make a Plan. Create a calendar of blog posts, taking time to plan out at least a week in advance which posts will run on your blog each day. Having a clear plan and direction about where your blog is headed each week can keep you on track and help you produce well planned, interesting content consistently.
2. Schedule in Advance. In the same vein, look into the schedule ahead- posting features offered by your hosting platform. Many successful bloggers compose all of their posts for the week at the beginning of the week, and schedule them to post each day in consecutive order. Taking advantage of this feature can help you remember to post daily, consistent content that your readers will come to depend upon!
Writing blog content is a task to which you should apply the highest of standards. When posting content to your business blog, you are putting your writing abilities and style on display for the entire world to see. The internet is readily accessible to readers and consumers worldwide, making it imperative that you take pride in the content you produce!
The tips outlined in this chapter provide a thorough map of how to develop well-written content, from the initial planning phases through the time you publish a post live on your blog! As you begin to compose and publish content, visits to your blog will increase, and you will begin to desire promote your business blog and generate more readers. in the nest article i talk about, into blog traffic – what it means, how to generate it, and when to get creative to bring in new readers!
Saturday 30 January 2016
Tips for a Fantastic Business Blog: An Introduction
“The first thing you need to decide when you build your blog is what you want to accomplish with it, and what it can do if successful.”
1. Whatever role you play in the wide world of business marketing – from small business owner to advertising department intern – chances are you’re aware of the concept of writing and maintaining a business blog.
The internet is littered with blogs written by all types of people; the stay-at home mom looking to share her daily experiences, the film student blogging his way through his documentary-making assignments, the business CEO seeking a way to connect with his clients. Blogging is a trend that is seemingly here to stay, and that can benefit your business in many ways when executed correctly.
Why start a business blog? The short answer to this question is that a well written, interesting blog can be a simple, easy platform with which you can connect with your clients and share information with the public. Studies show that businesses who maintain blogs typically experience a bump in sales and bring in new customers who otherwise would not have heard about the company! A blog gives your company a voice! Through blog posts, you can talk freely with your customers about new products, services you offer, trends in your industry and other information pertinent to the community, readership and customer base that you serve.
Additionally, a well-written blog allows you the opportunity to be viewed as an expert your field, generates traffic to your business website, and provides you with an opportunity to build a sense of connection and community with your customers. When it comes to efficient, easy ways to share information with your customers, a blog is, hands down, the best way to maintain an active conversation with existing and potential clients alike! Your company’s blog is by far your most powerful way to share your voice and online presence with readers – making you a source of written content and information they trust and depend upon for needs related to your specific industry.
The key to producing great content for your readers is to provide well planned, thorough posts covering a wide variety of content types. Consider options such as how-to articles, industry-specific news reports, stories of customers’ specific experiences with your product or services, and opinion pieces that encourage commentary from your customers. In chapter three, we will delve further into types of blog content, and tips for producing stellar blog posts that are sure to grab the attention of your readers and customers! When considering whether or not to start a company blog, businesses often wonder who will read the material they produce, and how it will benefit their Sales.
In addition to reaching out to their current customer base, businesses typically find that readers from across the world are viewing their content, and are in turn visiting their website and even ordering their products! The bottom line is, producing quality blog posts that are specific to your industry and appropriately dense in keyword-targeted content is a fast, consistent way to bring new readers to your blog, and to turn those readers into repeat customers.
Through the remaining chapters of this eBook, we will cover tips and tricks that will help you develop a thorough understanding of blog hosting, content writing, site-promoting and search engine optimization, leaving you ready to start publishing a dynamic, attention-getting business blog. These tested, tried and true methods of blogging have helped businesses achieve their blog development goals for years, and are now available to you through the pages of this eBook! As you move through the tips in this eBook, take time to make notes and write down thoughts that are specific to your blogging goals. Taking notes as you read is a great way to make the information shared here work for you, leaving you with a list of strategies and ideas tailored just for you and your business blog when you are through!
2 Blog Hosting 101: An Overview of the Blogging “Big Guys” “Blogging is just writing – writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.”
Once you have decided that you would like to begin a blog for your business, the first step to blogging success is to choose the hosting site that you will use to publish your blog. A blog hosting website provides your blog’s URL (website address,) allows you to choose a theme for your web page, and ultimately becomes the interface through which you will publish the content of your business blog day in and day out. There are many blog-hosting sites, but for the sake of time we will only cover a few of the “big guys” of blogging, focusing on those that are easy to use, free of charge and most popular within the blogging world.
Blogger
Blogger is a blog-hosting interface owned by Google. This publishing service has been around for practically as long as the internet, and because of its longevity and the power of its parent company, it is one of the most used and trusted hosting sites around. Blogger provides blog interfaces that are simple to set up, customize and use, and also makes monetization (earning money through ads placed on your blog) simple through the use of Google AdSense. Google has been actively working to improve search engine optimization (SEO) of Blogger-run blogs, and is growing the list of themes and plugging available to their bloggers fairly consistently.
Wordpress
Although one of the more complex publishing sites, Wordpress is praised by its users for being versatile, easy to customize, and excellent in the area of search engine optimization. It is commonly believed that Wordpress requires a little more study and skill to master, especially considering that a great deal of the customization capabilities require users to tinker with HTML code. Like Blogger, Wordpress has longevity on its side, being just a little over a decade old. Choosing a Wordpress blog may mean committing to a bit more time for learning and reviewing tutorials – definitely something to take into consideration if you’re new to blogging altogether.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a fairly new blog interface that was recently acquired by Yahoo!. The site is more of a "micro-blogging” platform, meaning users focus on short, concise posts made up of video, short copy, infographics, images, Pictures and other forms of media. Users within the Tumblr community are very reciprocal -- commenting, connecting and linking back to posts of other bloggers often. Bloggers who maintain a Tumblr blog should be comfortable talking and engaging with their customers, posting visual content and sharing quick updates multiple times per day. Points to Consider When Choosing a Blog-Hosting Site
1. Space. Make sure that your host site has enough web space to support your blogging needs. Consider the number of pictures you will use on your blog, as well as how often you will post sound files, video clips, animated images, etc. In addition to making sure your blog isn’t slow to load in the beginning, this tip is also important so that there is space to expand as your blog begins to grow over time.
2. Limitations. In the same vein, be sure to check file size and type limitations. Be sure that your needs are covered by making sure you are able to upload the types of files you want (i.e. gif, jpeg, pdf) and that there are reasonable limits on the sizes of the files you are permitted to upload to your blog.
3. Reviews. Spend time reading reviews from other bloggers. Explore what other blog writers in similar fields have to say about the blog hosts you are considering.
4. Stick with Free. With the large amount of free blog-hosting sites that are widely used today, paid sites such as Square Space or Type pad are most likely unnecessary for your blogging needs. Avoid committing to hosting sites that charge a monthly fee unless you are absolutely sure that one of the free alternatives will not work for your business.
5. Customer Service. Take a moment to look into how customer service issues are handled within the blog-hosting company you are considering. Are representatives available to answer questions or help with problems that arise? During what hours is customer service provided? How quickly does the service respond to questions and concerns?
Choosing a platform through which to host your blog is not only the first step in the process to starting a successful blog for your business – it is also the most important! Without a blog-hosting site that you feel comfortable using and are confident will meet your needs in both the short and long term, you will find yourself frustrated and ready to give up on blogging early into your blog-writing venture.
By following the advice in this chapter and doing some research to be sure Your blog-hosting site meets your needs, you are building a firm foundation for your business blog that is sure to kick-start your blogging venture and get you moving on to posting well-planned, interesting content in no time at all!
1. Whatever role you play in the wide world of business marketing – from small business owner to advertising department intern – chances are you’re aware of the concept of writing and maintaining a business blog.
The internet is littered with blogs written by all types of people; the stay-at home mom looking to share her daily experiences, the film student blogging his way through his documentary-making assignments, the business CEO seeking a way to connect with his clients. Blogging is a trend that is seemingly here to stay, and that can benefit your business in many ways when executed correctly.
Why start a business blog? The short answer to this question is that a well written, interesting blog can be a simple, easy platform with which you can connect with your clients and share information with the public. Studies show that businesses who maintain blogs typically experience a bump in sales and bring in new customers who otherwise would not have heard about the company! A blog gives your company a voice! Through blog posts, you can talk freely with your customers about new products, services you offer, trends in your industry and other information pertinent to the community, readership and customer base that you serve.
Additionally, a well-written blog allows you the opportunity to be viewed as an expert your field, generates traffic to your business website, and provides you with an opportunity to build a sense of connection and community with your customers. When it comes to efficient, easy ways to share information with your customers, a blog is, hands down, the best way to maintain an active conversation with existing and potential clients alike! Your company’s blog is by far your most powerful way to share your voice and online presence with readers – making you a source of written content and information they trust and depend upon for needs related to your specific industry.
The key to producing great content for your readers is to provide well planned, thorough posts covering a wide variety of content types. Consider options such as how-to articles, industry-specific news reports, stories of customers’ specific experiences with your product or services, and opinion pieces that encourage commentary from your customers. In chapter three, we will delve further into types of blog content, and tips for producing stellar blog posts that are sure to grab the attention of your readers and customers! When considering whether or not to start a company blog, businesses often wonder who will read the material they produce, and how it will benefit their Sales.
In addition to reaching out to their current customer base, businesses typically find that readers from across the world are viewing their content, and are in turn visiting their website and even ordering their products! The bottom line is, producing quality blog posts that are specific to your industry and appropriately dense in keyword-targeted content is a fast, consistent way to bring new readers to your blog, and to turn those readers into repeat customers.
Through the remaining chapters of this eBook, we will cover tips and tricks that will help you develop a thorough understanding of blog hosting, content writing, site-promoting and search engine optimization, leaving you ready to start publishing a dynamic, attention-getting business blog. These tested, tried and true methods of blogging have helped businesses achieve their blog development goals for years, and are now available to you through the pages of this eBook! As you move through the tips in this eBook, take time to make notes and write down thoughts that are specific to your blogging goals. Taking notes as you read is a great way to make the information shared here work for you, leaving you with a list of strategies and ideas tailored just for you and your business blog when you are through!
2 Blog Hosting 101: An Overview of the Blogging “Big Guys” “Blogging is just writing – writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.”
Once you have decided that you would like to begin a blog for your business, the first step to blogging success is to choose the hosting site that you will use to publish your blog. A blog hosting website provides your blog’s URL (website address,) allows you to choose a theme for your web page, and ultimately becomes the interface through which you will publish the content of your business blog day in and day out. There are many blog-hosting sites, but for the sake of time we will only cover a few of the “big guys” of blogging, focusing on those that are easy to use, free of charge and most popular within the blogging world.
Blogger
Blogger is a blog-hosting interface owned by Google. This publishing service has been around for practically as long as the internet, and because of its longevity and the power of its parent company, it is one of the most used and trusted hosting sites around. Blogger provides blog interfaces that are simple to set up, customize and use, and also makes monetization (earning money through ads placed on your blog) simple through the use of Google AdSense. Google has been actively working to improve search engine optimization (SEO) of Blogger-run blogs, and is growing the list of themes and plugging available to their bloggers fairly consistently.
Wordpress
Although one of the more complex publishing sites, Wordpress is praised by its users for being versatile, easy to customize, and excellent in the area of search engine optimization. It is commonly believed that Wordpress requires a little more study and skill to master, especially considering that a great deal of the customization capabilities require users to tinker with HTML code. Like Blogger, Wordpress has longevity on its side, being just a little over a decade old. Choosing a Wordpress blog may mean committing to a bit more time for learning and reviewing tutorials – definitely something to take into consideration if you’re new to blogging altogether.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a fairly new blog interface that was recently acquired by Yahoo!. The site is more of a "micro-blogging” platform, meaning users focus on short, concise posts made up of video, short copy, infographics, images, Pictures and other forms of media. Users within the Tumblr community are very reciprocal -- commenting, connecting and linking back to posts of other bloggers often. Bloggers who maintain a Tumblr blog should be comfortable talking and engaging with their customers, posting visual content and sharing quick updates multiple times per day. Points to Consider When Choosing a Blog-Hosting Site
1. Space. Make sure that your host site has enough web space to support your blogging needs. Consider the number of pictures you will use on your blog, as well as how often you will post sound files, video clips, animated images, etc. In addition to making sure your blog isn’t slow to load in the beginning, this tip is also important so that there is space to expand as your blog begins to grow over time.
2. Limitations. In the same vein, be sure to check file size and type limitations. Be sure that your needs are covered by making sure you are able to upload the types of files you want (i.e. gif, jpeg, pdf) and that there are reasonable limits on the sizes of the files you are permitted to upload to your blog.
3. Reviews. Spend time reading reviews from other bloggers. Explore what other blog writers in similar fields have to say about the blog hosts you are considering.
4. Stick with Free. With the large amount of free blog-hosting sites that are widely used today, paid sites such as Square Space or Type pad are most likely unnecessary for your blogging needs. Avoid committing to hosting sites that charge a monthly fee unless you are absolutely sure that one of the free alternatives will not work for your business.
5. Customer Service. Take a moment to look into how customer service issues are handled within the blog-hosting company you are considering. Are representatives available to answer questions or help with problems that arise? During what hours is customer service provided? How quickly does the service respond to questions and concerns?
Choosing a platform through which to host your blog is not only the first step in the process to starting a successful blog for your business – it is also the most important! Without a blog-hosting site that you feel comfortable using and are confident will meet your needs in both the short and long term, you will find yourself frustrated and ready to give up on blogging early into your blog-writing venture.
By following the advice in this chapter and doing some research to be sure Your blog-hosting site meets your needs, you are building a firm foundation for your business blog that is sure to kick-start your blogging venture and get you moving on to posting well-planned, interesting content in no time at all!
Things To Know Before You Start Your Affiliate Marketing Campaigns
Focus On One Method Now, before you get started, the best advice I can give to you when starting out is to
FOCUS. Focus on one of the four methods I teach in this guide and learn it very well.
Study this guide on that section and other resources as much as you can. Which method you pick will be based largely on preference – all of them can make you thousands of dollars per day and more. The main thing is to read the introduction to each marketing section and decide which you think would fit your best.
If you've never used myspace, facebook, etc, social media is not for you... You get the idea. It’s really easy to get distracted and try to put your hand in every cookie jar so to speak. While this can be done, it’s really difficult to juggle successfully. Become an expert at that method first and then if you feel confident in learning another method, go to that.
Picking An Affiliate Offer: Ok, so now that you’ve been accepted into an affiliate network, you’re probably wondering which of these hundred of offers you should promote. It really can be overwhelming at times having to go through the hundreds of offers that an affiliate network offers. In fact, one of the most common questions I get is along the lines of wanting to know which offer to promote and how to find the good offers.
After you have decided which marketing method to focus on, finding out which offer to run can be pretty easy. Very often affiliate networks will have spread sheets with top offers for each marketing method and this can be a VERY helpful guide to picking your first offer.
Your affiliate manager (or email contact) will be able to provide this type of information for you. Ask them something like, “Hey, I’d like to know what top offers for you have in your network right now. Thanks.”
The thought behind this is that if there is an offer working well, it could work for you as well. Knowing what is already performing well is a great way to begin. As of recently, you will see more and more “free trial” offers at the top of each promotion method. I would recommend not starting with a free trial offer but instead a lead generation offer or sale offer.
Lead generation offers often can be direct linked to (meaning you don’t need a website / landing page) and can be a great way to generate revenue. Niches That Work, Picking An Affiliate Offer Another way for you to pick your offer is to pick an offer that is in a strong niche. I generally refer to these niches as the “problem solving niches.”
These offers are marketed to people who have a problem and are “desperate” for a solution. These types of offers could include: Business opportunity
Money making
Health weight loss, premature ejaculation etc
Dating
Fashion
Marketing
Physical appearance (acne, weight loss, hair restoration, etc)
Etc If a large number of people are desperate (so to speak) for a solution, then you have a niche where people will spend money. If you see a newer offer that solves a common problem, or even a niche problem, I would highly recommend trying that offer out. Remember, that needing a solution to a problem is where the money is at.
Success Rate: The other thing I wanted to talk about is success rates. It’s so easy to always read these motivational posts about how so and so is making 6 figures per month or more and thinks that those guys never fail.
Here is the one thing that they probably don’t (or rarely) mention: failing is a part of this business – you won’t succeed at every campaign you create. Everyone fails (meaning they are not profitable) and it’s going to be a part of your affiliate marketing career forever. In fact, probably not even 50%+ of the campaigns I try work out. But in the end, the successful campaigns generate more than enough to cover all the small failed attempts.
So keep in mind that when you first start, it can be discouraging if you don’t immediately see success. Keep pressing forward and you WILL see success if you continue following both the advice in this guide.
Starting Affiliate Marketing Without A Job:
Having been in the affiliate marketing world for a while now, I’ve had the privilege of talking to a LOT of affiliates. I get emailed often from people who are asking me to teach them how to become affiliates because they have lost their job and want to jump into affiliate marketing. Just like you pay for an education (and a sizable amount at that), there really are things you won't learn unless you pay for them yourself.
You need to have a bit of playing money that comes in steadily each month as you attempt to get the ball rolling for the technique that you’re trying to learn. So all that to say, if you don't have a job, I would highly recommend getting even a part time job (at least) FIRST and then trying to work on affiliate marketing. Focus your efforts as much as possible and then go from there.
I wouldn’t quit your job until you have almost double what you made at your job coming in profit each month with multiple campaigns. Don't put your family at risk trying to make it, because the fact of the matter is, starting affiliate marketing takes a bit of work. (Don't worry; it gets easier and easier...)
Study this guide on that section and other resources as much as you can. Which method you pick will be based largely on preference – all of them can make you thousands of dollars per day and more. The main thing is to read the introduction to each marketing section and decide which you think would fit your best.
If you've never used myspace, facebook, etc, social media is not for you... You get the idea. It’s really easy to get distracted and try to put your hand in every cookie jar so to speak. While this can be done, it’s really difficult to juggle successfully. Become an expert at that method first and then if you feel confident in learning another method, go to that.
Picking An Affiliate Offer: Ok, so now that you’ve been accepted into an affiliate network, you’re probably wondering which of these hundred of offers you should promote. It really can be overwhelming at times having to go through the hundreds of offers that an affiliate network offers. In fact, one of the most common questions I get is along the lines of wanting to know which offer to promote and how to find the good offers.
After you have decided which marketing method to focus on, finding out which offer to run can be pretty easy. Very often affiliate networks will have spread sheets with top offers for each marketing method and this can be a VERY helpful guide to picking your first offer.
Your affiliate manager (or email contact) will be able to provide this type of information for you. Ask them something like, “Hey, I’d like to know what top offers for
The thought behind this is that if there is an offer working well, it could work for you as well. Knowing what is already performing well is a great way to begin. As of recently, you will see more and more “free trial” offers at the top of each promotion method. I would recommend not starting with a free trial offer but instead a lead generation offer or sale offer.
Lead generation offers often can be direct linked to (meaning you don’t need a website / landing page) and can be a great way to generate revenue. Niches That Work, Picking An Affiliate Offer Another way for you to pick your offer is to pick an offer that is in a strong niche. I generally refer to these niches as the “problem solving niches.”
These offers are marketed to people who have a problem and are “desperate” for a solution. These types of offers could include: Business opportunity
Money making
Health weight loss, premature ejaculation etc
Dating
Fashion
Marketing
Physical appearance (acne, weight loss, hair restoration, etc)
Etc If a large number of people are desperate (so to speak) for a solution, then you have a niche where people will spend money. If you see a newer offer that solves a common problem, or even a niche problem, I would highly recommend trying that offer out. Remember, that needing a solution to a problem is where the money is at.
Success Rate: The other thing I wanted to talk about is success rates. It’s so easy to always read these motivational posts about how so and so is making 6 figures per month or more and thinks that those guys never fail.
Here is the one thing that they probably don’t (or rarely) mention: failing is a part of this business – you won’t succeed at every campaign you create. Everyone fails (meaning they are not profitable) and it’s going to be a part of your affiliate marketing career forever. In fact, probably not even 50%+ of the campaigns I try work out. But in the end, the successful campaigns generate more than enough to cover all the small failed attempts.
So keep in mind that when you first start, it can be discouraging if you don’t immediately see success. Keep pressing forward and you WILL see success if you continue following both the advice in this guide.
Starting Affiliate Marketing Without A Job:
Having been in the affiliate marketing world for a while now, I’ve had the privilege of talking to a LOT of affiliates. I get emailed often from people who are asking me to teach them how to become affiliates because they have lost their job and want to jump into affiliate marketing. Just like you pay for an education (and a sizable amount at that), there really are things you won't learn unless you pay for them yourself.
You need to have a bit of playing money that comes in steadily each month as you attempt to get the ball rolling for the technique that you’re trying to learn. So all that to say, if you don't have a job, I would highly recommend getting even a part time job (at least) FIRST and then trying to work on affiliate marketing. Focus your efforts as much as possible and then go from there.
I wouldn’t quit your job until you have almost double what you made at your job coming in profit each month with multiple campaigns. Don't put your family at risk trying to make it, because the fact of the matter is, starting affiliate marketing takes a bit of work. (Don't worry; it gets easier and easier...)
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is marketing products or services for other companies in exchange for a commission.
You are a virtual sales person of sorts. You don’t deal with inventory, customer service, follow up, or anything like that. You simply sell.
When you successfully get a customer to the business and make a sale (or lead), you get paid a commission. As an example, let’s look at Ebay.com, amazon.com, clickbank.com. clickbank.com is an online retailer. amazon wants as many sales as possible and in order to do so, will pay you a commission if you get someone to buy because of your advertisements.
So they give you a special “affiliate” link and when you have people go through your affiliate link and purchase something on the amazon website, you automatically get paid a percentage of the sale.
Now… think if you could find tens of thousands of people actively looking for physical products like phone, laptop, shoe, clothe etc.
You could be placing your special affiliate link in front of them and be making money 24 hours per day.
This is just a simple example of what affiliate marketing is and how it’s done; there is a bit more too it all, but all of it will be covered in this article. What is an Affiliate Network? You could try to go and find each individual website you want to promote, try to setup a deal with them and then become their affiliate but that would take a lot of time. This is where the affiliate networks come in.
Affiliate networks are companies that facilitate the “network” or relationship between the companies and the affiliates (you). Affiliates (Industry term: Publishers) sign up for the affiliate network and instantly have access to thousands of companies (Industry term: Advertisers) that want you (affiliates) to promote their business. You can pick through any number of these companies to promote. This instant access to hundreds or sometimes thousands of companies is the true power of being a part of an affiliate network.
But… the benefits don’t stop there. You never deal with the individual companies directly. Instead, you always deal directly with the affiliate network. This way you really only have one point of contact. Finally, the other major benefit of the affiliate network is the payment terms.
Affiliate networks usually pay their affiliate’s way faster than a direct company. Instead of waiting 60+ days to be paid (net 30 or even net 45), you can often get paid biweekly or weekly after a small earning threshold.
For example, many networks will set you on weekly wires if you start generating $1000 per week or more in commissions. So what does the affiliate network get out of all of this? In exchange for all of this, the affiliate network takes a small percentage from the commissions you generate. Don’t worry… it is well worth it!
Affiliate networks are the best places to start in your affiliate marketing career. Even to this day, I still use affiliate networks for a majority of my business because it allows me to leverage my time as best as possible.
Getting Accepted Into An Affiliate Network
It can be a bit difficult to get accepted into an affiliate network (especially for people outside the US) when first starting out. It might seem like a tough process but if you follow the steps below, you should have no problem. This tough process is due to affiliate networks taking on a ton of risk. In most cases they have to pay bigger affiliates weekly (sometimes even daily) but yet only get paid from the companies net 15 or even net 30! In some cases the companies are late or even fight payment.
If a certain percentage of leads for example are not good, then they often don't want to pay for the whole batch of leads. Risk Factor To affiliate networks it’s all about one thing. How much of a risk are you to them? Think of the network that has 1000 applications waiting for approval. Because of the shear number of scammers joining affiliate networks each day, the only way to stand out is to show them you’re not one of them. If you're an affiliate from a major country, your risk factor is substantially lower but still does not guarantee acceptance... You need to do more than JUST apply. To be Accepted... To be accepted into a network, you must get over the fear of talking to real live Human beings. Yup, that means actually calling in. I know… I hate talking on the phone probably as much or more than most of you who would rather pull teeth than talk on the phone but it’s a necessary evil. When you apply for any affiliate network, you must not sit and wait there for approval but you should call them. If you get denied, call them and ask why.
Calling a business removes a lot of the risk factor as a majority of hackers, scammers, and fake lead generators don't want to call. When you’re on the phone, the network is probably going to ask you how you plan to promote the affiliate offer, if you have any websites, etc. Some of the scammers have recently gotten smarter and have begun hiring actors to call the networks.
Therefore the networks are going to be asking your specific questions about how you plan to promote their affiliate offers. Study out one of the methods that you will learn about in this guide. Really focus on it and become confident in that single method. That way when it’s time to answer some questions about how you plan to promote the affiliate offers, you shouldn’t have a problem being accepted into the network. Application One common question you will see on the applications for the affiliate networks is what your website is. If you have ANY website, no matter how terrible, put it in. It really doesn’t matter that much in the terms of approval.
If you have no website, no worries either. Put something like Facebook.com in the website URL if you plan to promote via facebook and explain in the comments section your plans. Website or no website, explain yourself and promotion methods in the comments section on the application.
You are a virtual sales person of sorts. You don’t deal with inventory, customer service, follow up, or anything like that. You simply sell.
When you successfully get a customer to the business and make a sale (or lead), you get paid a commission. As an example, let’s look at Ebay.com, amazon.com, clickbank.com. clickbank.com is an online retailer. amazon wants as many sales as possible and in order to do so, will pay you a commission if you get someone to buy because of your advertisements.
So they give you a special “affiliate” link and when you have people go through your affiliate link and purchase something on the amazon website, you automatically get paid a percentage of the sale.
Now… think if you could find tens of thousands of people actively looking for physical products like phone, laptop, shoe, clothe etc.
You could be placing your special affiliate link in front of them and be making money 24 hours per day.
This is just a simple example of what affiliate marketing is and how it’s done; there is a bit more too it all, but all of it will be covered in this article. What is an Affiliate Network? You could try to go and find each individual website you want to promote, try to setup a deal with them and then become their affiliate but that would take a lot of time. This is where the affiliate networks come in.
Affiliate networks are companies that facilitate the “network” or relationship between the companies and the affiliates (you). Affiliates (Industry term: Publishers) sign up for the affiliate network and instantly have access to thousands of companies (Industry term: Advertisers) that want you (affiliates) to promote their business. You can pick through any number of these companies to promote. This instant access to hundreds or sometimes thousands of companies is the true power of being a part of an affiliate network.
But… the benefits don’t stop there. You never deal with the individual companies directly. Instead, you always deal directly with the affiliate network. This way you really only have one point of contact. Finally, the other major benefit of the affiliate network is the payment terms.
Affiliate networks usually pay their affiliate’s way faster than a direct company. Instead of waiting 60+ days to be paid (net 30 or even net 45), you can often get paid biweekly or weekly after a small earning threshold.
For example, many networks will set you on weekly wires if you start generating $1000 per week or more in commissions. So what does the affiliate network get out of all of this? In exchange for all of this, the affiliate network takes a small percentage from the commissions you generate. Don’t worry… it is well worth it!
Affiliate networks are the best places to start in your affiliate marketing career. Even to this day, I still use affiliate networks for a majority of my business because it allows me to leverage my time as best as possible.
Getting Accepted Into An Affiliate Network
It can be a bit difficult to get accepted into an affiliate network (especially for people outside the US) when first starting out. It might seem like a tough process but if you follow the steps below, you should have no problem. This tough process is due to affiliate networks taking on a ton of risk. In most cases they have to pay bigger affiliates weekly (sometimes even daily) but yet only get paid from the companies net 15 or even net 30! In some cases the companies are late or even fight payment.
If a certain percentage of leads for example are not good, then they often don't want to pay for the whole batch of leads. Risk Factor To affiliate networks it’s all about one thing. How much of a risk are you to them? Think of the network that has 1000 applications waiting for approval. Because of the shear number of scammers joining affiliate networks each day, the only way to stand out is to show them you’re not one of them. If you're an affiliate from a major country, your risk factor is substantially lower but still does not guarantee acceptance... You need to do more than JUST apply. To be Accepted... To be accepted into a network, you must get over the fear of talking to real live Human beings. Yup, that means actually calling in. I know… I hate talking on the phone probably as much or more than most of you who would rather pull teeth than talk on the phone but it’s a necessary evil. When you apply for any affiliate network, you must not sit and wait there for approval but you should call them. If you get denied, call them and ask why.
Calling a business removes a lot of the risk factor as a majority of hackers, scammers, and fake lead generators don't want to call. When you’re on the phone, the network is probably going to ask you how you plan to promote the affiliate offer, if you have any websites, etc. Some of the scammers have recently gotten smarter and have begun hiring actors to call the networks.
Therefore the networks are going to be asking your specific questions about how you plan to promote their affiliate offers. Study out one of the methods that you will learn about in this guide. Really focus on it and become confident in that single method. That way when it’s time to answer some questions about how you plan to promote the affiliate offers, you shouldn’t have a problem being accepted into the network. Application One common question you will see on the applications for the affiliate networks is what your website is. If you have ANY website, no matter how terrible, put it in. It really doesn’t matter that much in the terms of approval.
If you have no website, no worries either. Put something like Facebook.com in the website URL if you plan to promote via facebook and explain in the comments section your plans. Website or no website, explain yourself and promotion methods in the comments section on the application.
Friday 22 January 2016
3 Surefire Ways to Reach Your Target Audience
The first step in reaching your target audience takes a little bit of time and reflection.
Step 1.
Simply ask yourself the question, who is my audience? Many people don't know who this is! Write down your answers. Be specific. If you are having trouble coming up with specifics, ask yourself these questions. Who are you passionate about helping? Who do you have a strong desire to change their lives for the better? Your target audience may be just like you - where you are at right now. Maybe you are reaching out to them out of frustration, or you have found a system that works and you want to share that with them. Can you relate to them? Can they relate to you? Here is one example of a target audience: white-collar, professionals, accountants, attorneys, doctors, married, dual income household, $100-250,000 annual income, age 45-55, 2-3 children in high school or starting college.
Step 2. Ask yourself what are the 3 biggest problems my audience has?
In the example above it may look something like this: Exaggerated amount of credit card debt from $5 - 50,000. Do not have enough money in their retirement account to retire the way they want. Not have enough money in savings to help kids through college and take real vacations themselves throughout their lifetime.
It's critically important to know the top 3 problems your audience struggles with. Those problems will be big in their lives, keeping them awake at night, causing stress and constantly on the forefront of their mind. Provide solutions to those 3 major problem areas. When you begin to do that and your audience implements them, you have built trust. Not everyone will choose to do what you say (you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink), but many people will.
Now you are building your list, and just as importantly you are building a relationship with your audience. Your list will not only grow bigger, but deeper as well. They are much more prone to listen to what you have to say. You will have a voice in the market place.
Step 3. Reach out to your audience. Now when you start blogging or sharing with your audience you are speaking directly to them. Ask them questions: Are you between 45 and 55 and close to retirement? Do you have enough money to retire comfortably? Do you make enough money to live on now, but not enough to send your kids to college and still keep your current standard of living? Now they know you are speaking to them and on their level.
Many times we vomit our business opportunity on our leads. To be successful in network marketing you must establish relationship first. It's a process of know, like, trust - and that process takes time. Once you have that relationship established, provide them with value. Always provide them solutions to help solve their 3 biggest problems. Now when you share your opportunity with them, they will have an open ear.
Simply ask yourself the question, who is my audience? Many people don't know who this is! Write down your answers. Be specific. If you are having trouble coming up with specifics, ask yourself these questions. Who are you passionate about helping? Who do you have a strong desire to change their lives for the better? Your target audience may be just like you - where you are at right now. Maybe you are reaching out to them out of frustration, or you have found a system that works and you want to share that with them. Can you relate to them? Can they relate to you? Here is one example of a target audience: white-collar, professionals, accountants, attorneys, doctors, married, dual income household, $100-250,000 annual income, age 45-55, 2-3 children in high school or starting college.
Step 2. Ask yourself what are the 3 biggest problems my audience has?
In the example above it may look something like this: Exaggerated amount of credit card debt from $5 - 50,000. Do not have enough money in their retirement account to retire the way they want. Not have enough money in savings to help kids through college and take real vacations themselves throughout their lifetime.
It's critically important to know the top 3 problems your audience struggles with. Those problems will be big in their lives, keeping them awake at night, causing stress and constantly on the forefront of their mind. Provide solutions to those 3 major problem areas. When you begin to do that and your audience implements them, you have built trust. Not everyone will choose to do what you say (you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink), but many people will.
Now you are building your list, and just as importantly you are building a relationship with your audience. Your list will not only grow bigger, but deeper as well. They are much more prone to listen to what you have to say. You will have a voice in the market place.
Step 3. Reach out to your audience. Now when you start blogging or sharing with your audience you are speaking directly to them. Ask them questions: Are you between 45 and 55 and close to retirement? Do you have enough money to retire comfortably? Do you make enough money to live on now, but not enough to send your kids to college and still keep your current standard of living? Now they know you are speaking to them and on their level.
Many times we vomit our business opportunity on our leads. To be successful in network marketing you must establish relationship first. It's a process of know, like, trust - and that process takes time. Once you have that relationship established, provide them with value. Always provide them solutions to help solve their 3 biggest problems. Now when you share your opportunity with them, they will have an open ear.
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