I have seen a flood of the "I'm a newbie, where do I start?" threads recently. So to help out some of those without any definitive plans, I present the concept of "starter blogs."
My Definition of a Starter Blog: A Blogger blog that is created for the sole purpose of teaching a newbie about the basics of blogging, with the ultimate goal of monetizing the blog, but only after it is consistently getting 100+ unique visitors to it each day. Again, these are just MY opinions and ideas. Things that have worked for me in the past. Obviously there are no guarantees and the true determining factor to a person's success is his/her efforts. But for those that are still looking for a model to follow, I offer the Starter Blog concept. I believe that many online ventures that are based on blogging fail because there is too much emphasis placed on income generation too early in the process. When the newbie doesn't get the immediate earnings that he mistakenly thinks he is going to get, he becomes discouraged and quits. But with the Starter Blog concept, you can't monetize the blog until it is consistently getting 100 visits a day. This amount will give you a good source to tap into. Not just in terms of potential income, but also in terms in terms of testing and tweaking. If you are only getting 3-5 visits a day, it's going to take you weeks to analyze adjustments you have made and how it is affecting your sales. But at 100 visits a day, you can test and tweak quickly. With Starter Blogs, you have to EARN your ability to earn. If you can't make it to 100 a day, you have to continue to focus your efforts on content creation, marketing, etc, to increase your daily traffic. This is a good habit to get into (ie. focusing on traffic generation stats as opposed to sales stats). JoeMack's "Starter Blog" Method for Newbies: 1. Pick the topic for your blog. When deciding on a topic, I would recommend choosing something that you are incredibly passionate for. It has to be in the top 3 of most passionate things in your life. With the variety of monetization methods available (affiliate promotion, Adsense, Amazon, CPA offers, etc) just about every topic can be turned into an income-producing blog. But we aren't concerned about exact monetization methods right now. You just want to pick a topic that you are probably obsessed with. 2. Get some keywords. Your keywords are going to be used in many different ways. Sure, they are definitely necessary in order for you to maximize your SEO efforts, but they also have other beneficial uses. If you don't have a keyword tool, you can use Google's free Externtal Keyword Tool. You can find it here:https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeti...=KEYWORD_IDEAS Throw in your root keyword and get yourself a list of relevant and most searched keywords for your topic. 3. Get yourself a Blogger blog. I have used all of the usual suspects when it comes to a free blogging option (ie. Squidoo, Hubpages, free Wordpress, etc). From my own experience and personal preferences, I recommend using a Blogger blog (http://www.blogger.com). It is very easy to use, and it is my opinion that since Google owns Blogger, how could they NOT give them just slightly more ranking juice. Regardless, I have used free Blogger blogs in the past to generate income, so I know for a fact that it can be done. 4. Choose one of the Blogger templates and set up your blog to best suit your topic. This step is highly dependent on your topic and your individual style and personality. Although your own preferences are important, be sure to also place yourself in the shoes of your blog readers. Appropriate blog appearance can be just as important as content. There are so many things that you can add to your Blogger blogs to make them attractive, easy to use, interactive, and more. Be sure to check out the main possible additions you can include. 5. Every day, add one new post to your blog. Take out your keyword list. Starting from the most searched keyword phrases, add a post related to one keyword each day. And this isn't to say that you need to write and publish a unique 1000 word post each day. This can result in burnout very quickly, even about topics that you are passionate for. Each day you could post: - informative content written by you - a relevant Youtube video - an article you recently read - a controversial thread on a forum - a great tip for a popular blog Remember, we aren't worried about sales or income right now. We just want to get used to working with a blog. Posting frequently will get the search engine bots visiting your blog more often and will help your search engine rankings. 6. Social bookmark each new post. For this step, I suggest using a site click SocialMarker (Social bookmarking service. Fast tagging and posting to all major social websites - SocialMarker.com). Yes, it takes a little more time to set up the first time, but then after that, it assists you in social bookmarking your new posts over a number of social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, Fark, SlashDot, and plenty more. 7. Use marketing techniques to increase daily traffic. There are plenty of possible marketing techniques to use that will result in higher daily traffic. This traffic will come directly, or it will come as the result of getting a better search engine ranking for the blog and getting more organic traffic. Possible marketing techniques: - article marketing and syndication - forum signature marketing - proper blog commenting - being a guest blogger - press releases 8. Once you get to 100 visits a day, MONETIZE!! If you posted on your blog daily, social bookmarked those posts, and used a variety of additional marketing techniques, you WILL be seeing a stable and growing amount of daily traffic. Give yourself a big pat-on-the-back for getting to 100 daily visitors. Most IMers never get to this point. You have definitely earned the right to start making some income from the time and effort you have given to make it successful. The exact type of monetization method will depend on your specific topic. And keep in mind that it doesn't just have to be a single way to make money. You may find that you can include a block of Adsense ads plus a couple of Clickbank affiliate products. All this being said, I wouldn't recommend putting more than 2 different types of monetization possibilities. Giving the reader too many options to choose from will generally HURT sales, rather than helping them. 9. Maximize your efforts with Facebook and Twitter. The "Starter Blog" concept is solid and sound. But if you were able to incorporate Facebook and Twitter with it, you could be multiplying your efforts (and thus multiplying potential income generation). Creating and maintaining Facebook fan pages and Twitter followers can drastically accelerate the time it takes the Starter Blog to get to the 100 visitors a day level. Ok, well, there's the "Starter Blog" Method for Newbies. If even one person benefits from this thread, then it will definitely be worth the time and effort to create it. If you ever feel stuck, take some action. That tends to unstick me. Much Success, JoeMack |
For Newbies Without Direction: Why Not Try A "STARTER BLOG"? Success with Blogger Blogs
Making $100 Per Day - What You NEED To Do To Make It Happen
Is making $100 per day your goal with internet marketing?
I know that many IMers, especially the ones with years of experience, scoff at such discussions. They'd rather focus on what specific actions should be taken that will result in measurable improvements (ie. more visitors, more sales, etc).
And that's fine. But I believe that at times you still need to talk about the "why"s of making internet money and not just the "how"s. This is especially true for newbies or people that have been at it for YEARS with little to show for it.
I know that many IMers, especially the ones with years of experience, scoff at such discussions. They'd rather focus on what specific actions should be taken that will result in measurable improvements (ie. more visitors, more sales, etc).
And that's fine. But I believe that at times you still need to talk about the "why"s of making internet money and not just the "how"s. This is especially true for newbies or people that have been at it for YEARS with little to show for it.
Motivation ==> Action ===> Results
Just wanted to throw that out there. There are plenty of threads on how to increase conversion rates, tips on writing articles, questions on better SEO practices, etc.
This thread is going to be about the mindset of making $100 per day.
If you're making $100 per day and would like to share how you did it, that would be great. The newbies and struggling would appreciate any bit of IM gold that they can get their hands on. And I'm sure that they'll slap your "Thanks" button to show their appreciation.
Why it's important to have a specific goal
Whether your personal goal is $100/day or $500/day or $25/day, they're all equally beneficial. If you are not making a consistent amount of income per day, then I highly recommend that you pick a specific number, any number, and focus on that. Write it out. Stick it on your computer monitor. Stick it on your refrigerator. Stick it on your bathroom mirror. Stick it on your walls. Stick in on the steering wheel of your car. Stick it anywhere you will see it multiple times throughout the day. Get that specific goal, whatever it is, carved into your brain.
Why?
The subconscious mind is one of the most powerful tools that you have. It's much more powerful than you can imagine. But like a computer, it needs specific commands. The more specific, the more "energy" it has to make that command a reality.
Most people feel or think the thought: "I want to make money online" or "I want to make more money online." But these thoughts are not specific enough to get the subconscious mind into gear. It needs a more defined command.
Instead, give it the command:
"I make $100 per day online."
You flood your mind with this command. Every day. All day. If you have to, take out a piece of paper each morning, I make yourself write this command on each line. Both sides. Day after day.
It does take discipline. It does get boring at times. It is tedious. That's why most people can't do it for more than a few days.
But what if you could? What would happen?
Eventually this command would be so ingrained in your subconscious mind. And here's where the "magic" happens.
Your subconscious mind will see the inconsistency in your reality. It will have your command burned into it ("I make $100 per day online") but also see that your reality doesn't match the command. So what does it do?
Your subconscious mind starts to provide you with the motivation and ideas necessary to make your reality match your command.
You see, the subconscious mind, although incredibly powerful, is not necessarily intelligent. It doesn't use logic.So when it sees the difference between your command and your reality, it doesn't think, "I hear the command but I understand why the reality is the way it is."
Instead, it sees the difference, and then gets to work trying to make your reality match up with your command.
Very few people ever figure out how to access the power stored in their subconscious. But if you could, you'd be amazed by the wealth of drive and ideas that you would get.
If you want to make $100/day, then your goal then is to convince your subconscious mind that your reality is that you are making $100 a day online.
It doesn't happen instantly. It doesn't even happen quickly. And that's why most people NEVER get to tap into the immense power stored inside of them. You have to put the effort in, day after day, even when you are not seeing or feeling anything differently.
That's the unique quality of successful people. They still continue to take the correct actions even when they aren't seeing the results of their efforts. Most people stop prematurely. Most people never work hard and long enough to see the other side of the rainbow. You've just got to have faith. You have to keep pushing on, knowing that as long as you keep taking the rights steps, you will get to the top of the mountain (even if you can't see the top yet).
Don't get me wrong. Learning as much of the "how"s is definitely critical to your success. But if you truly want to speed up the process. If you truly want to get the amazing power of your subconscious mind behind you, pushing you ahead, you've got to convince your subconscious to "believe" the command that you are wanting to be your reality.
The Warrior Forum is packed with the "how"s. Not just in terms of the information shared, but also the experience and knowledge of its members. But I highly recommend you start "training" your subconscious mind. Whatever method works best for you. Do it. Burn that command into your subconscious. Tap into its power.
I make $100 a day online!!!
It's the best advice that I can you. Whether you are a newbie just starting out, or an "old-timer" who has struggled for years.
Do the mental work, and the physical rewards will come.
And when you do tap into the subconscious and finally taste success, please come find me and share your story. I'd love to hear about it. There's no greater joy than hearing about someone who was down, took actions, and raised themselves up out of the ashes of failure, into the mountains of success.
Thank you for listening to my words. I truly hope that you get a little inspiration from them.
Now go out and start making good choices. Make today AWESOME!
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Newbies: Affiliate Marketing Is Simply A Math Problem
I see so many of the "I want to earn $XX amount per day in affiliate marketing". When the reality is that affiliate marketing is nothing more than a math problem.
Now the trick is knowing all the variables. Now you can either find out these variables through experience, or through estimation by what others say their variables are.
So let's say your goal is $50 a day.
How do you get there?
Well, first let's say that the affiliate product you are choosing to promote pays out a $25 commission on each sale. Great, now you have two variables in the equation (ie. your daily goal and your commission payout).
So to make your goal of $50 a day, you have to make 2 affiliate sales. Simple enough so far, right?
Now, through doing some research, you estimate that this specific affiliate salespage has a conversion ratio of 1% (meaning that for every 100 people that visit it, one person will buy the product).
This means that in order to hit your goal of $50 a day, you are going to need 200 people a day to get to your affiliate link/salespage.
How you manage to get 200 people to the affiliate salespage can happen in a variety of ways. But the point is that you have your basic variables.
And by knowing your basic variables of your affiliate marketing equation, you have a better idea of how to proceed.
For instance, you could choose a different affiliate product to promote. Assuming that it had the same conversion ratio but an affiliate commission payout of $50, then you would only need half as much traffic to the affiliate salespage to meet your daily goal.
Or likewise, if you found a different affiliate product that paid out $25 per sale but had a conversion ratio of 4% instead of 1%, then you would only need 50 people a day to get to the affiliate salespage in order to reach your daily goal.
Too many newbies over-think the process of making money online, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Just knowing the variables will give you a better idea of how to proceed to meet the income goals you have set out for yourself.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Now the trick is knowing all the variables. Now you can either find out these variables through experience, or through estimation by what others say their variables are.
So let's say your goal is $50 a day.
How do you get there?
Well, first let's say that the affiliate product you are choosing to promote pays out a $25 commission on each sale. Great, now you have two variables in the equation (ie. your daily goal and your commission payout).
So to make your goal of $50 a day, you have to make 2 affiliate sales. Simple enough so far, right?
Now, through doing some research, you estimate that this specific affiliate salespage has a conversion ratio of 1% (meaning that for every 100 people that visit it, one person will buy the product).
This means that in order to hit your goal of $50 a day, you are going to need 200 people a day to get to your affiliate link/salespage.
How you manage to get 200 people to the affiliate salespage can happen in a variety of ways. But the point is that you have your basic variables.
And by knowing your basic variables of your affiliate marketing equation, you have a better idea of how to proceed.
For instance, you could choose a different affiliate product to promote. Assuming that it had the same conversion ratio but an affiliate commission payout of $50, then you would only need half as much traffic to the affiliate salespage to meet your daily goal.
Or likewise, if you found a different affiliate product that paid out $25 per sale but had a conversion ratio of 4% instead of 1%, then you would only need 50 people a day to get to the affiliate salespage in order to reach your daily goal.
Too many newbies over-think the process of making money online, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Just knowing the variables will give you a better idea of how to proceed to meet the income goals you have set out for yourself.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
What's YOUR Drive For Making Money Online?
You wake up. You get to your computer. You check your email. You check Facebook. And then you head on down to the Warrior Forum.
I have been living on this forum for years. It was like I was drawn to it, and to the people that live here too. We come from all walks of life. Every nationality and color. All types of personalities and experiences. All of us all brought together to this one spot. This one moment in time. What's your drive for making money online? Although I have had fantasies of financial bliss, having wealth beyond imagination, being able to doing anything I wanted, anytime it pleased me, in reality making money was always intertwined with time and freedom. Money. Time. Freedom. Do I want mansions? Yachts? Expensive cars? Sure. Maybe. But what I want more than anything is time and freedom. Time to be able to live my life exactly how I want to. My Dad is 65 years old and still works 10 hour days, 5-6 days a week. He has given his company a large chunk of his life. He's been with them for over 40 years. But is it worth it? I see the lines on his face. I hear the sadness in his voice. He has "provided" and done a fantastic job at it. But has he lived? I worry with my children. I want them to do well in school. To learn as much as they can. But I want them to think for themselves. I don't want them to be trained to be employees. I want them to be creators. My children see me plugging away at the computer, "working" for a bit and then taking a break and playing. I remember my Dad leaving when it was dark, coming back home when it was dark again. I have no memories of my dad playing. No memories of him sitting on the floor, playing a game or two or three. What drives you to want to succeed with internet marketing? I'm not very handy. People seem to think I'm lazy. Not going out an getting a "real job". But all I can do is smile. When my kids are not in school, they are with me. I hustle online because I love taking my kids to school. I don't just pull up to the curb and drop them off like the other parents who are in a rush to their REAL JOBS. I park a little further away. I get out of the car, and walk hand in hand with my son and daughter. Talking in those few precious moments before school. I tell them to make the most of every moment. To have fun. To care about others. To learn something really cool to tell me about later. I then lean down. Give them both big hugs. Say my "I love you"s. Watch them run off to be with their friends. And I wonder what they say about me when kids ask "what does your Dad do? what's his job?". When my daughter was born, I knew instantly the job that I wanted. It was to be Daddy. And you'd think it would be an easy job to have. And it is, for the most part. But I do deal with the negative looks from friends and family. Especially my Dad. Who thinks I have wasted my potential. I could have been a doctor or a lawyer. And I did start down that path. But then I saw my newborn baby girl. And I couldn't miss her growing up. I hustle online so that I can capture all of those beautiful moments. Moments that I would miss if I were at a REAL JOB in a cubicle and suit somewhere. So my drive for making money online comes from that. Seeing the beauty and miracles of watching my children grow. What's your motivation? JoeMack |
To Be A Laptop Millionaire
The internet has been responsible for making more millionaires than any other medium in human existence. With just a laptop and internet access, a person has the potential to make a million dollars, anywhere in the world. We live in times where possibilities are all around us.
My laptop is my goldmine. It's my golden goose. I don't have to get up at the crack a dawn to work at some factory doing mind numbing work all day. Don't have to deal with dumb coworkers or short tempered bosses. Long commutes and stuffy suits. No. Those days are gone.
I'm not a millionaire yet, but it's a goal of mine. And the internet is going to make it possible. But I do enjoy the perks of the IM lifestyle.
My favorite part of the day is waking up and seeing how much money I made while i was sleeping. If you are an active Warrior, you know what I mean. There's this indescribable pleasure I get when I generate income while I am sleeping. It's the second best way to start of the day right. And it gets me motivated for the day.
I love being able to come up with an idea. To create it. Make it real. Make it have value for others. And then to profit from it. What can be better than helping people and getting paid for it?
Internet marketing allows you to make money from nothing. To make money from helping others. Make money from your past experiences. Make money from your skills and talents.
If you want to be a millionaire, and you have a laptop and internet access, then you have a chance. It still takes work, but you have much higher chance of making millions using your laptop and brain than you would in buying the Powerball Lottery.
A good idea + action + luck + internet = million dollars
The equation is so simple, yet so hard to attain.
But you don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy the benefits.
JoeMack
My laptop is my goldmine. It's my golden goose. I don't have to get up at the crack a dawn to work at some factory doing mind numbing work all day. Don't have to deal with dumb coworkers or short tempered bosses. Long commutes and stuffy suits. No. Those days are gone.
I'm not a millionaire yet, but it's a goal of mine. And the internet is going to make it possible. But I do enjoy the perks of the IM lifestyle.
My favorite part of the day is waking up and seeing how much money I made while i was sleeping. If you are an active Warrior, you know what I mean. There's this indescribable pleasure I get when I generate income while I am sleeping. It's the second best way to start of the day right. And it gets me motivated for the day.
I love being able to come up with an idea. To create it. Make it real. Make it have value for others. And then to profit from it. What can be better than helping people and getting paid for it?
Internet marketing allows you to make money from nothing. To make money from helping others. Make money from your past experiences. Make money from your skills and talents.
If you want to be a millionaire, and you have a laptop and internet access, then you have a chance. It still takes work, but you have much higher chance of making millions using your laptop and brain than you would in buying the Powerball Lottery.
A good idea + action + luck + internet = million dollars
The equation is so simple, yet so hard to attain.
But you don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy the benefits.
JoeMack
A New Twist On DIVERSIFICATION That Will Cut Down Your Work, Lower Risk, and Make More Money
Just wanted to share this way that I diversify my online venture.
Yes, we all know about the between diversification and risk management. You want to work as single-minded as you can, while doing also spread your efforts in varying niches in order to minimize risk.
Too much emphasis on singlemindedness and not enough on diversification and you will end up with the typical "putting all of your eggs in one basket" situation. You may be succeeding now, but something could happen unexpectedly at any moment that could destroy all of your income.
Too little emphasis on singleminded and too much emphasis on diversification may cause you to spread yourself too thin. Getting the benefits of risk reduction b having blogs and websites in multiple niches, but not seeing many results because your efforts for each individual piece of internet real estate is relatively low.
The key is to diversify in a way that will result in both spreading risk and making noticeable progress. This is how I do it:
1. If I am going to start on (or expand in) a new or current monetization method (ie. Adsense, Clickbank, etc) and know that I am going to have a portfolio of blogs/websites, then I created those blogs/website in 3 group amounts that are in similar but distinct sub-niches of the same niche.
So I would create blogs on 3 sub-niches from the same parent niche. So let's say that the niche was "weight loss". I could create a blog on "senior weight loss", another blog on "weight loss after birth" and a third on "college student weight loss." These are all subniches of the bigger mega-niche of "weight loss."
The benefit of choosing 3 sub-niches in the same niche: you get to use overlapping knowledge, experience, and efforts. The information that you learned about weight loss could be used for dozens of subniches.
So instead of having to do the research for 3 totally different niches, you have now drastically cut down on the time and effort needed for that research.
2. Once those 3 blogs are generating a certain amount of daily visitors, then I will consider creating a new batch of 3 blogs/sites. This new group of 3 will be in a completely different niche from the first group.
The point of doing these 2 steps is to create blogs/websites in shorter amounts of time and with much less effort, while still being able to protect yourself by spreading your risk between multiple blogs/websites.
What are your thoughts on diversification? Do you do your own unique "twist" to the process?
Much Success,
JoeMack
Yes, we all know about the between diversification and risk management. You want to work as single-minded as you can, while doing also spread your efforts in varying niches in order to minimize risk.
Too much emphasis on singlemindedness and not enough on diversification and you will end up with the typical "putting all of your eggs in one basket" situation. You may be succeeding now, but something could happen unexpectedly at any moment that could destroy all of your income.
Too little emphasis on singleminded and too much emphasis on diversification may cause you to spread yourself too thin. Getting the benefits of risk reduction b having blogs and websites in multiple niches, but not seeing many results because your efforts for each individual piece of internet real estate is relatively low.
The key is to diversify in a way that will result in both spreading risk and making noticeable progress. This is how I do it:
1. If I am going to start on (or expand in) a new or current monetization method (ie. Adsense, Clickbank, etc) and know that I am going to have a portfolio of blogs/websites, then I created those blogs/website in 3 group amounts that are in similar but distinct sub-niches of the same niche.
So I would create blogs on 3 sub-niches from the same parent niche. So let's say that the niche was "weight loss". I could create a blog on "senior weight loss", another blog on "weight loss after birth" and a third on "college student weight loss." These are all subniches of the bigger mega-niche of "weight loss."
The benefit of choosing 3 sub-niches in the same niche: you get to use overlapping knowledge, experience, and efforts. The information that you learned about weight loss could be used for dozens of subniches.
So instead of having to do the research for 3 totally different niches, you have now drastically cut down on the time and effort needed for that research.
2. Once those 3 blogs are generating a certain amount of daily visitors, then I will consider creating a new batch of 3 blogs/sites. This new group of 3 will be in a completely different niche from the first group.
The point of doing these 2 steps is to create blogs/websites in shorter amounts of time and with much less effort, while still being able to protect yourself by spreading your risk between multiple blogs/websites.
What are your thoughts on diversification? Do you do your own unique "twist" to the process?
Much Success,
JoeMack
Using The "Decoy Comparison" Strategy To Earn More IM Income
I love watching "educational" television. The Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, etc, are on a lot in my household. I know that watching too much TV isn't good for a variety of reasons, but if I am going to watch it, I choose to watch programs that teach methings like history, science, and himan psychology. I love to learn, and this is one way that I expand my knowledge.
Anyway, there's a show called "Brain Games" that deals with human perception and psychology. There was one episode that really intrigued me, and I saw how it related to internet marketing. Let me share.
At a movie theater, they gave moviegoers two options for popcorn. They could either get a small serving for $3 or a large serving for $7.
Yes, crazy expensive (and realistic) prices for popcorn, right?
Which option do you think most people chose?
It was the $3 option. When they interviewed the moviegoers, they found that most people chose to purchase the smaller $3 tub of popcorn because $7 for a large just seemed to expensive.
Simple enough, right?
So then the researchers changed things up a bit. They added a third option. Moviegoers now had three options to choose from: a small for $3, a large for $7, or a medium for $6.50.
What do you think happened?
A majority of the people starting purchasing the $7 large size tub.
Remember, nothing else changed. All they did was add a new option to choose from. But now, instead of comparing the $3 small to the $7 large option, they were comparing the $6.50 middle tub against the large one.
The introduction of the decoy option had moviegoers thinking "for just 50 cents more, I can get a large tub."
I am not revealing anything revolutionary here. Just shining a light on something that you probably already suspected.
Now, here's the key: how do you use this in your internet marketing pricing strategies?
Pricing options can have a significant effect on profits. Using a "decoy" option may get your potential customers to purchase higher priced products and services if you use the decoy for comparison purposes.
If you have a product or service, you could be generating more income without having to do anything extra except offering buyers another option to choose from.
Much Success,
JoeMack
Anyway, there's a show called "Brain Games" that deals with human perception and psychology. There was one episode that really intrigued me, and I saw how it related to internet marketing. Let me share.
At a movie theater, they gave moviegoers two options for popcorn. They could either get a small serving for $3 or a large serving for $7.
Yes, crazy expensive (and realistic) prices for popcorn, right?
Which option do you think most people chose?
It was the $3 option. When they interviewed the moviegoers, they found that most people chose to purchase the smaller $3 tub of popcorn because $7 for a large just seemed to expensive.
Simple enough, right?
So then the researchers changed things up a bit. They added a third option. Moviegoers now had three options to choose from: a small for $3, a large for $7, or a medium for $6.50.
What do you think happened?
A majority of the people starting purchasing the $7 large size tub.
Remember, nothing else changed. All they did was add a new option to choose from. But now, instead of comparing the $3 small to the $7 large option, they were comparing the $6.50 middle tub against the large one.
The introduction of the decoy option had moviegoers thinking "for just 50 cents more, I can get a large tub."
I am not revealing anything revolutionary here. Just shining a light on something that you probably already suspected.
Now, here's the key: how do you use this in your internet marketing pricing strategies?
Pricing options can have a significant effect on profits. Using a "decoy" option may get your potential customers to purchase higher priced products and services if you use the decoy for comparison purposes.
If you have a product or service, you could be generating more income without having to do anything extra except offering buyers another option to choose from.
Much Success,
JoeMack
Have Your Broken Your 4 Minute Mile? Making Your First Dollar Online
Hello All....
Just read something about Roger Bannister and thought I would share my thoughts about how he relates to internet marketing.
Roger Bannister was an ordinary man. He was just like you and I. But he shattered a wall that had been standing for quite some time: being able to run a mile in under 4 minutes (stay with me, I'll bring it back to IM soon).
The four minute mile was a barrier that no one seemed to be able to break. People began to believe that it just wasn't possible for a human being to accomplish the task. People tried year after year with no success.
On May 6th, 1954, in a cool evening in Oxford, England, Roger Bannister shocked the world by running the mile is 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
"But what does this have to do with internet marketing?" you may be asking yourself.
The general consensus among society was that it was impossible for a human being to break the 4 minute mile barrier. And no did.
But Bannister believed that he could. And he did. But here's where it gets interesting.
Although people had been trying to beat the 4 minute mile unsuccessfully for many years, once Roger Bannister showed that it could be done, that it was humanly possible, then it changed the perception of what was possible.
46 days later someone else also broke the 4 minute mile. And since, thousands of been able to break through the wall that was once thought of as "impossible."
The point is: humans had the ability to break the 4 minute mile all along, they just didn't believe that they could.
And this is how it is with making that first $1 with internet marketing. On the surface, it's just a dollar and has very little monetary value. But the value that it has on your psyche is immense.
For many, making money online is just a fantasy. A daydream that sounds nice. But it's unattainable. It's making that first dollar that makes it real.
For newbies, generating that first $1 is their 4 minute mile. There first goal should be to break through that barrier and earn that first dollar. Everything starts from there. Once your mind believes that making money online is possible, then, and only then, will it happen.
Keep taking action, guys. You'll get there. Don't give. If you haven't broken your 4 minute mile barrier yet, go do it. Prove to yourself that this is real and possible.
The Change In Bum Marketing - New Rules, New Opportunities
It has been a few years since my last post. In that time, the landscape of internet marketing looks much different. Where did I disappear to? Ah, to be honest, I left most of my online ventures because I was given the opportunity to be involved in a very lucrative occupation. It was easy and paid well. I still maintained a portfolio of websites and blogs, each generating various amounts of income through Adsense, affiliate marketing, and my own products. I wrote and sold a few ebooks, and occasionally did freelance writing in niches that are easy for me to write about.
Although the job was a good one that many people would love to have, ultimately I became increasing dissatisfied with it. Sometimes it's not just about money. And this job, as easy and as well-paid as it was, still meant that I was exchanging my time for money. If there has been one thing that I have learned about myself, it's that the "time for money" situation rarely makes me happy for very long.
Due to some personal issues, I had to sell off most of my portfolio in order to raise much needed money.
So in essence, I am back at square one. Well, I guess I am there financially. I still have my passion and experience, and at times, those can be priceless in terms of success.
So I returned back to the Warrior Forum, to seek current ways to create passive income using my laptop and the internet. One thing that I noticed right away was the change in opinion, and many say effectiveness, of article marketing. It seems that Google has made some significant updates to its algorithm (ie. Panda and Penguin), and how they value articles is not nearly as high as it once was.
I did additional research, trying to see if article marketing was totally ineffective, or was its current view the result of an overreaction by IMers. What I found is that while articles may not should up as often or as high in Google's search engine results as they once did (and thereby reducing the number of direct traffic from them), articles were still efficient at creating long-term backlinks (for SEO improvement) and for article syndication (where publishers would use articles on their websites and blogs).
So is bum marketing dead?
Well, yes and no. Bum marketing, as originally defined by Travis Sago, where article marketing was used to generate affiliate sales, is not totally dead, although doing things the way Mr. Sago originally described it won't get you nearly the same kinds of results now.
But I don't define "bum marketing" in such strict manners. To me, bum marketing is simply trying to generate income online without having to invest any money.
So bum marketing isn't dead. By my looser definition, it will NEVER be dead. There will always be a way to make money online, and always a plethora of people interested in doing so.
I am not going to stand here and say that bum marketing is the best or only way to make money online, because it isn't either of those. Obviously it isn't the only way, and having the willingness (and ability) to invest some money can drastically speed up the money-making process, and free up time and effort.
But I definitely can relate to those that still have the desire to try bum marketing, and it is to those individuals that I will continue to write to with this blog.
You can still make money with bum marketing, lots of it even. But the rules to how best to do it successfully have changed. That's not to say that change is a bad thing. Change is a bad thing only to those that refuse to adapt to it, those that choose to stick to doing the same outdated techniques that just won't work as well anymore.
Bum marketing still works, and I will do my best to discover how best to do bum marketing using the current and free methods available today. Right now.
You ready to make some money the bum marketing way? Sweet. Stay tuned, buckle up, and enjoy the right.
Review of Ewen Chia's Super Affiliate Membership
I just wanted to let everyone know that I recently signed up for Ewen Chia's Super Affiliate membership program, and I must say that I am totally blowen away by it so far.
Now, I'm not a newbie so a lot of the information I already know. But I've been doing this for a few years now. For the newbie to intermmediate IMer, this membership is a must have!
Look, if you want to learn how to create passive affiliate income streams the correct way, there's no better person to learn it from than Ewen Chia and his membership site. Love him or hate him, Ewen knows how to squeeze every last cent from his affiliate marketing promotions.
Not only does the membership site provide you with a massive amount of valuable information, but it also sends you resources you can use to immediately start a new affiliate income stream.
Let me give you a breakdown of what you get as a member of the Super Affiliates:
Module 1: 15-Step Top Secret Super Affiliate Blueprint
Within minutes, you'll get your hands on Ewen's unreleased and brand new 120-page "15-Step Top Secret Super Affiliate Blueprint" - available ONLY for Super Affiliate members.
The information detailed here will give you the COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP BLUEPRINT to set up and make a fortune from other people's products from scratch!
This secret blueprint has only ever been taught in high-ticket offline workshops. The info you get here will take all of the guesswork out of how to start (which tends to stop 90% of IMers).
Module 2: SUPER AFFILIATES™ STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO TUTORIAL TRAINING
I don't care if you don't know how to spell HTML, or if you're so new to the Internet that using a browser seems like a challenge...
You don't have to struggle anymore...no more wandering around in the dark confused by all the lingo and all the junk out there that won't make you a dime.
You'll have a thriving money-making business within days. How's that sound?
You get EXCLUSIVE access to COMPLETE step-by-step follow along video tutorials to help you get equipped with the necessary skills and get you started ASAP!
This set of over 50+ STEP-BY-STEP VIDEOS covers everything you'll need to know about the super affiliate business and is the perfect guide to module #1!
Module 3: SUPER AFFILIATES™ VIDEO CASE STUDY
In this Module, you'll get an eye-opening LIVE VIDEO CASE STUDY of my own or other affiliates' promotions every single month.
You will see exactly how to bank in HUGE commission checks time and time again.
You'll also discover how to rise to the top of affiliate contests and a lot more...
PLUS you'll get the video transcripts (in PDF) to these case studies too. Amazing!
Module 4: SUPER AFFILIATES™ MYSTERY INSTANT BUSINESS-IN-A-BOX
Every month you'll be handed an incredible MYSTERY "business-in-a-box" that you can instantly plug-in and profit from!
You can use this to launch a brand new super affiliate business in a new market, to create reports from or anything you want.
I can tell you that this is a turnkey business-in-a-box solution that will let you enter new markets at lightning speed - anytime you want.
Even better, this entire package comes complete with EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS (PLR), which means you own it.
You can put your name on it as the creator, edit it, change it and even extract components of it if you want. It's literally yours, as if you made it yourself.
Module 5: 100% PROFITS PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS/ RESALE PRODUCTS
Each month you will also get $300 worth of private label rights (PLR) products that you can use in a variety of ways (blog posts, website content, short reports, autoresponder followup sequence, etc).
Now, these five Modules alone justify the monthly investment to be part of the Super Affiliates membership site. Sometimes it takes money to make money.
What do I mean? In this case, if you have struggled to make a consistent amount of income online, then the monthly cost of the Super Affiliate membership is well worth it. Sure, you will get some fantastic guides to help you organize and set up your passive affiliate income streams.
But you will also be getting a ton of content each month. The more content you have, the more options you have available to make more income.
Oh, and did I mention the kickass bonus that's included? It's called the "80-MINUTE INSTANT AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS" SECRET VIDEOS. How To Start From Scratch To Making Your First Affiliate Commission In 24 Hours!"
This 80-minute video series will show you step by step how to implement the easiest, fastest affiliate marketing system ever created and start making sales in less than 24 hours.
This video series make it drop-dead easy to start making money as an affiliate, even if you're brand new to the business.
Well, that's enough of my review. I am a member of the Super Affiliates membership site because of the awesome resources and the overwhelming amount of PLR content I get on a monthly basis.
If you want to learn more about the Super Affiliates membership site, Click Here. Be sure to sign up for his free special report. Even as a seasoned marketer, I picked up a few gems from it.
Learn More About Ewen Chia's Super Affiliate Membership....
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Now, I'm not a newbie so a lot of the information I already know. But I've been doing this for a few years now. For the newbie to intermmediate IMer, this membership is a must have!
Look, if you want to learn how to create passive affiliate income streams the correct way, there's no better person to learn it from than Ewen Chia and his membership site. Love him or hate him, Ewen knows how to squeeze every last cent from his affiliate marketing promotions.
Not only does the membership site provide you with a massive amount of valuable information, but it also sends you resources you can use to immediately start a new affiliate income stream.
Let me give you a breakdown of what you get as a member of the Super Affiliates:
Module 1: 15-Step Top Secret Super Affiliate Blueprint
Within minutes, you'll get your hands on Ewen's unreleased and brand new 120-page "15-Step Top Secret Super Affiliate Blueprint" - available ONLY for Super Affiliate members.The information detailed here will give you the COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP BLUEPRINT to set up and make a fortune from other people's products from scratch!
This secret blueprint has only ever been taught in high-ticket offline workshops. The info you get here will take all of the guesswork out of how to start (which tends to stop 90% of IMers).
Module 2: SUPER AFFILIATES™ STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO TUTORIAL TRAINING
I don't care if you don't know how to spell HTML, or if you're so new to the Internet that using a browser seems like a challenge...You don't have to struggle anymore...no more wandering around in the dark confused by all the lingo and all the junk out there that won't make you a dime.
You'll have a thriving money-making business within days. How's that sound?
You get EXCLUSIVE access to COMPLETE step-by-step follow along video tutorials to help you get equipped with the necessary skills and get you started ASAP!
This set of over 50+ STEP-BY-STEP VIDEOS covers everything you'll need to know about the super affiliate business and is the perfect guide to module #1!
Module 3: SUPER AFFILIATES™ VIDEO CASE STUDY
In this Module, you'll get an eye-opening LIVE VIDEO CASE STUDY of my own or other affiliates' promotions every single month.
You will see exactly how to bank in HUGE commission checks time and time again.
You'll also discover how to rise to the top of affiliate contests and a lot more...
PLUS you'll get the video transcripts (in PDF) to these case studies too. Amazing!
Module 4: SUPER AFFILIATES™ MYSTERY INSTANT BUSINESS-IN-A-BOX
Every month you'll be handed an incredible MYSTERY "business-in-a-box" that you can instantly plug-in and profit from!You can use this to launch a brand new super affiliate business in a new market, to create reports from or anything you want.
I can tell you that this is a turnkey business-in-a-box solution that will let you enter new markets at lightning speed - anytime you want.
Even better, this entire package comes complete with EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS (PLR), which means you own it.
You can put your name on it as the creator, edit it, change it and even extract components of it if you want. It's literally yours, as if you made it yourself.
Module 5: 100% PROFITS PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS/ RESALE PRODUCTS
Each month you will also get $300 worth of private label rights (PLR) products that you can use in a variety of ways (blog posts, website content, short reports, autoresponder followup sequence, etc).
Now, these five Modules alone justify the monthly investment to be part of the Super Affiliates membership site. Sometimes it takes money to make money.
What do I mean? In this case, if you have struggled to make a consistent amount of income online, then the monthly cost of the Super Affiliate membership is well worth it. Sure, you will get some fantastic guides to help you organize and set up your passive affiliate income streams.
But you will also be getting a ton of content each month. The more content you have, the more options you have available to make more income.
Oh, and did I mention the kickass bonus that's included? It's called the "80-MINUTE INSTANT AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS" SECRET VIDEOS. How To Start From Scratch To Making Your First Affiliate Commission In 24 Hours!"
This 80-minute video series will show you step by step how to implement the easiest, fastest affiliate marketing system ever created and start making sales in less than 24 hours.
This video series make it drop-dead easy to start making money as an affiliate, even if you're brand new to the business.
Well, that's enough of my review. I am a member of the Super Affiliates membership site because of the awesome resources and the overwhelming amount of PLR content I get on a monthly basis.
If you want to learn more about the Super Affiliates membership site, Click Here. Be sure to sign up for his free special report. Even as a seasoned marketer, I picked up a few gems from it.
Learn More About Ewen Chia's Super Affiliate Membership....
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Tip To Help Bum Marketers Determine Keyword Competition
If you are a bum marketer, then you are probably aware of the importance of choosing a long tail keyword phrase that has low competition. The lower the competition, the greater than chance of your article ranking well in the search engine results, and the more page views you will get.
And you are probably aware of how we determine competition. We place the specific keyword phrase within quotation marks into the Google search box.
But did you know that Google has another search function that you use to help you further determine your true competition?
Its called the allintitle function.
To use this function, just type in your keyword phrase within quotes preceded by allintitle. So inside the Google search box should look like this: allintitle: "keyword phrase"
What does this give you? All the results for webpages that have that particular keyword phrase as its title. Not the article title, but the title used for the actual webpage itself.
So how can bum marketers use this info?
Let's say that you have two keyword phrases that you are interested in writing a few articles on. Both these keyword phrases have the same number of daily Google searches (100 searches) and the same number of competing webpages (900 webpages).
Seem pretty even, right?
Now here's where the allintitle function can help. You do an allintitle search for both of the keyword phrases, and discover that the first phrase has 300 results and the second phrase has 50 results.
How do I use this information?
I am going to make an assumption here. I am going to assume that a page that uses the keyword phrase in its title is better optimized for that phrase than pages that use a different title.
So in this case, I would say that the first keyword phrase has more competition than the second one because more of the pages are targeted to it.
Therefore I would write about keyword phrase 2 because I would have a better chance of ranking higher in Google.
Now, this isn't an exact science. I am using these numbers to help estimate competition. Just another tool that you can use (if the need arises).
Best wishes,
JoeMack
And you are probably aware of how we determine competition. We place the specific keyword phrase within quotation marks into the Google search box.
But did you know that Google has another search function that you use to help you further determine your true competition?
Its called the allintitle function.
To use this function, just type in your keyword phrase within quotes preceded by allintitle. So inside the Google search box should look like this: allintitle: "keyword phrase"
What does this give you? All the results for webpages that have that particular keyword phrase as its title. Not the article title, but the title used for the actual webpage itself.
So how can bum marketers use this info?
Let's say that you have two keyword phrases that you are interested in writing a few articles on. Both these keyword phrases have the same number of daily Google searches (100 searches) and the same number of competing webpages (900 webpages).
Seem pretty even, right?
Now here's where the allintitle function can help. You do an allintitle search for both of the keyword phrases, and discover that the first phrase has 300 results and the second phrase has 50 results.
How do I use this information?
I am going to make an assumption here. I am going to assume that a page that uses the keyword phrase in its title is better optimized for that phrase than pages that use a different title.
So in this case, I would say that the first keyword phrase has more competition than the second one because more of the pages are targeted to it.
Therefore I would write about keyword phrase 2 because I would have a better chance of ranking higher in Google.
Now, this isn't an exact science. I am using these numbers to help estimate competition. Just another tool that you can use (if the need arises).
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Which Bum Marketer Will Make More?
Top level domain name redirect VS Product Review Landing Page
A product review page can greatly increase the conversion rate, but because you are filtering out more people, it may not be more profitable in the short term.
Let's use an example:
Two Warriors are promoting the same affiliate product (which earns them a commission of $45. Let's say over a weeks time, they both generate 500 visitors from their articles.
Warrior A has been doing a top level domain name redirect, so he is sending his traffic from his articles straight to the affiliate salespage. His sales conversion ratio is 2%.
Warrior B send his traffic to a product review landing page. He gets conversion ratio is 5% at the affiliate salespage because he is "softly" preselling the affiliate product.
So who do you think will make more?
My answer is: Warrior A.
Yes, because of the awesome product review that Warrior B gave, his conversion rate is more than double. But...because he added an additional step, he's filtered out some traffic. So of the readers who got to the product review page, how many clicked on the affiliate sales link (your CTR on the review page)?
I would say that it would range in the 15-45% of people clicking the link and getting to the affiliate salespage. For this example, we'll say that its a strong 30%.
Do you see the problem here?
So both Warriors A and B each get 500 people to click on the links in their resource boxes. How much did they make?
Warrior A sends 500 visitors to the affiliate salespage. His conversion ratio is 2%. He generates 10 sales @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $450.
Warrior B sends 500 visitors to the product review page. His product review convinces 30% of the readers (150 of them). His conversion ratio is a superior 5%. He generates 7.5 sales (just for calculation purposes) @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $337.50.
Warrior A made $112.50 more than Warrior B.
So what's the point of this? I guess that you should really play around with numbers to see what actually is the best solution for your income goals.
If you need money quicker, then you are going to want to direct as much traffic as possible to the affiliate salespage.
If you are looking for long-term, stable income than you'll want to add steps along the way (namely capturing their names and email addresses for further communication and relationship building). A mailing list of tightly targeted individuals is a powerful asset.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
A product review page can greatly increase the conversion rate, but because you are filtering out more people, it may not be more profitable in the short term.
Let's use an example:
Two Warriors are promoting the same affiliate product (which earns them a commission of $45. Let's say over a weeks time, they both generate 500 visitors from their articles.
Warrior A has been doing a top level domain name redirect, so he is sending his traffic from his articles straight to the affiliate salespage. His sales conversion ratio is 2%.
Warrior B send his traffic to a product review landing page. He gets conversion ratio is 5% at the affiliate salespage because he is "softly" preselling the affiliate product.
So who do you think will make more?
My answer is: Warrior A.
Yes, because of the awesome product review that Warrior B gave, his conversion rate is more than double. But...because he added an additional step, he's filtered out some traffic. So of the readers who got to the product review page, how many clicked on the affiliate sales link (your CTR on the review page)?
I would say that it would range in the 15-45% of people clicking the link and getting to the affiliate salespage. For this example, we'll say that its a strong 30%.
Do you see the problem here?
So both Warriors A and B each get 500 people to click on the links in their resource boxes. How much did they make?
Warrior A sends 500 visitors to the affiliate salespage. His conversion ratio is 2%. He generates 10 sales @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $450.
Warrior B sends 500 visitors to the product review page. His product review convinces 30% of the readers (150 of them). His conversion ratio is a superior 5%. He generates 7.5 sales (just for calculation purposes) @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $337.50.
Warrior A made $112.50 more than Warrior B.
So what's the point of this? I guess that you should really play around with numbers to see what actually is the best solution for your income goals.
If you need money quicker, then you are going to want to direct as much traffic as possible to the affiliate salespage.
If you are looking for long-term, stable income than you'll want to add steps along the way (namely capturing their names and email addresses for further communication and relationship building). A mailing list of tightly targeted individuals is a powerful asset.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
One Way To Revive A "Dead" Article
Have you ever had this happen to you?
You find a long tail keyword phrase that gets 200 searches per day on Google, and has under 1000 competing webpages. A well written article based around that keyword phrase should generate some steady page views.
So you write and submit the article. After an initial flurry of pages views, you haven't received a single page view in weeks.
On paper, it should be getting much more exposure.
Well, yesterday I wanted to try an experiment with one of these articles. I wanted to see if I could "generate" more exposure for the article, at least temporarily.
As it stood, it only had 48 page views and 13 click thrus in almost three weeks of publication at EZA. It also hadn't received a new page view in almost two weeks. I was baffled by it.
So I went to Google and typed in "myniche forum". I registered for just two of them. I started a thread that was like, "I just submitted an article about such and such. I was wondering if you guys could read it and let me know what you think of it."
That was it. My other option, especially if I was going to do this on a more consistent basis, would be to link to the article in my sig file.
I saw the results almost instantly.
Before making the posts, my article had 48 page views and 13 click thrus.
After just three hours (on an article that hadn't received a page view in almost two weeks), my stats for that article were now 117 page views and 37 click thrus.
Not only that, but the CTR for this traffic (34.8%) was higher than the normal CTR value (27.1%).
In total, I spent a total of about 20 minutes on this project. Could I have written more posts? Sure. Could I have found more forums? Yes, there were plenty to choose from. I just chose the first two.
One more thing:
This is just my thoughts, not fact. But by linking back to the article, I am not only getting new readers, I am also increasing the amount of backlinks for my article.
And because they are focused (top forums in this niche), this will raise my article in the search engine results. The higher you go, the more page vieews you will get.
I just touched the surface with this strategy. I hope that it gets some people thinking.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
You find a long tail keyword phrase that gets 200 searches per day on Google, and has under 1000 competing webpages. A well written article based around that keyword phrase should generate some steady page views.
So you write and submit the article. After an initial flurry of pages views, you haven't received a single page view in weeks.
On paper, it should be getting much more exposure.
Well, yesterday I wanted to try an experiment with one of these articles. I wanted to see if I could "generate" more exposure for the article, at least temporarily.
As it stood, it only had 48 page views and 13 click thrus in almost three weeks of publication at EZA. It also hadn't received a new page view in almost two weeks. I was baffled by it.
So I went to Google and typed in "myniche forum". I registered for just two of them. I started a thread that was like, "I just submitted an article about such and such. I was wondering if you guys could read it and let me know what you think of it."
That was it. My other option, especially if I was going to do this on a more consistent basis, would be to link to the article in my sig file.
I saw the results almost instantly.
Before making the posts, my article had 48 page views and 13 click thrus.
After just three hours (on an article that hadn't received a page view in almost two weeks), my stats for that article were now 117 page views and 37 click thrus.
Not only that, but the CTR for this traffic (34.8%) was higher than the normal CTR value (27.1%).
In total, I spent a total of about 20 minutes on this project. Could I have written more posts? Sure. Could I have found more forums? Yes, there were plenty to choose from. I just chose the first two.
One more thing:
This is just my thoughts, not fact. But by linking back to the article, I am not only getting new readers, I am also increasing the amount of backlinks for my article.
And because they are focused (top forums in this niche), this will raise my article in the search engine results. The higher you go, the more page vieews you will get.
I just touched the surface with this strategy. I hope that it gets some people thinking.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
3 Reasons Why Bum Marketers SHOULD Use Pen Names
There are three reasons why bum marketers should use pen names.
Reason #1: Easier to be seen as an "expert." If you don't use a pen name, then you will be the author of articles in a variety of niches. And when a person sees this, they generally assume the "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" assumption about you.
And this assumption will negatively influence their perception of you, causing them to lower the value they place on your article (and thus reduce the chance of them clicking on your resource box link).
But the opposite is also true. By using one pen name per niche, you will more likely be seen as an expert in the niche. This will ultimately increase your click thru rate.
Not to mention that you can create a persona that better suits your reader. Let's say that your name is "Filmore Hagenbugger" and you want to promote a hot new online dating affiliate. You may want to use the pen name "Traci Summers" to better connect with your readers (in their minds anyway). And if you can better connect, all of your numbers will be higher (page views, CTRs, sales conversions, etc).
NOTE: My apologies to all the "Filmore"s out there.
2. Easier tracking. If you are a bum marketer, than chances are you are using Ezinearticles.com. The fact that they allow you to create unlimited pen names, makes it so simple to keep track of your articles.
Each niche is different. Having a CTR of 20% may be horrible for one niche, but very high for another. As long as you stick to one niche per pen name, you will be able to very quickly analyze the success you are having with your article writing efforts for each individual niche.
3. Gives you protection. What would happen if you wrote and submitted 2000 articles under one name, and then some marketers found out. Very easily, they would know exactly which niches you are targetting.
Not only that, but they will also know which niches you are having success with by seeing which niches you kept writing about. They would be able to see which affiliate programs you are promoting, how you write your headlines, resource boxes, etc.
Basically, it leaves your business open for additional competition.
Now, let's say that you generously use pen names. A clever marketer could find out about one of your niches, but you would still have some protection for the rest of your identities.
Using pen names is a must when using bum marketing. Take advantage of this feature at EZA.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Reason #1: Easier to be seen as an "expert." If you don't use a pen name, then you will be the author of articles in a variety of niches. And when a person sees this, they generally assume the "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" assumption about you.
And this assumption will negatively influence their perception of you, causing them to lower the value they place on your article (and thus reduce the chance of them clicking on your resource box link).
But the opposite is also true. By using one pen name per niche, you will more likely be seen as an expert in the niche. This will ultimately increase your click thru rate.
Not to mention that you can create a persona that better suits your reader. Let's say that your name is "Filmore Hagenbugger" and you want to promote a hot new online dating affiliate. You may want to use the pen name "Traci Summers" to better connect with your readers (in their minds anyway). And if you can better connect, all of your numbers will be higher (page views, CTRs, sales conversions, etc).
NOTE: My apologies to all the "Filmore"s out there.
2. Easier tracking. If you are a bum marketer, than chances are you are using Ezinearticles.com. The fact that they allow you to create unlimited pen names, makes it so simple to keep track of your articles.
Each niche is different. Having a CTR of 20% may be horrible for one niche, but very high for another. As long as you stick to one niche per pen name, you will be able to very quickly analyze the success you are having with your article writing efforts for each individual niche.
3. Gives you protection. What would happen if you wrote and submitted 2000 articles under one name, and then some marketers found out. Very easily, they would know exactly which niches you are targetting.
Not only that, but they will also know which niches you are having success with by seeing which niches you kept writing about. They would be able to see which affiliate programs you are promoting, how you write your headlines, resource boxes, etc.
Basically, it leaves your business open for additional competition.
Now, let's say that you generously use pen names. A clever marketer could find out about one of your niches, but you would still have some protection for the rest of your identities.
Using pen names is a must when using bum marketing. Take advantage of this feature at EZA.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
Do You Know How To Check Your Clickbank Stats?
Generally, most affiliate programs (including Clickbank) have a tracking or analytics system set up. You can view how many times your affiliate link was clicked there.
If you are promoting an affiliate product in the Clickbank Marketplace, just log into your account. Click on the Reporting tab.
Then click on the Analytics tab.
Once here, go to the section titled "Affiliate Reporting." Set the "Report By" setting to Publishers. Set the date range to what you are interested in (the last week, the last 30 days, etc).
This will give you a list of Publishers (ie. the owners of the affiliate programs you are promoting) and a number of useful statistics like Clicks (Hops), Sales, etc.
You can easily see which affiliate programs are getting clicks and more importantly, which ones are getting sales.
And this is really key. You will find that some of the affiliate programs are duds (meaning that the sales conversion ratio is very low). I just had to stop promoting a program because it had 402 hops without a sale.
But that's fine. Now I know, and I can start sending the traffic generated by articles for it to a different affiliate program.
And you will also see your winners, and can start putting more energy into promoting them. I have one affiliate program that results in a sale for every 47 people I send to the salespage. I have just increased my efforts with it because I know that its profitable.
Hope that helps.
JoeMack
If you are promoting an affiliate product in the Clickbank Marketplace, just log into your account. Click on the Reporting tab.
Then click on the Analytics tab.
Once here, go to the section titled "Affiliate Reporting." Set the "Report By" setting to Publishers. Set the date range to what you are interested in (the last week, the last 30 days, etc).
This will give you a list of Publishers (ie. the owners of the affiliate programs you are promoting) and a number of useful statistics like Clicks (Hops), Sales, etc.
You can easily see which affiliate programs are getting clicks and more importantly, which ones are getting sales.
And this is really key. You will find that some of the affiliate programs are duds (meaning that the sales conversion ratio is very low). I just had to stop promoting a program because it had 402 hops without a sale.
But that's fine. Now I know, and I can start sending the traffic generated by articles for it to a different affiliate program.
And you will also see your winners, and can start putting more energy into promoting them. I have one affiliate program that results in a sale for every 47 people I send to the salespage. I have just increased my efforts with it because I know that its profitable.
Hope that helps.
JoeMack
Major Mistake Bum Marketers Are Making
Because of my Bum Marketing product, I get lots of emails from people either asking me why their bum marketing efforts are not resulting in profits, or that bum marketing straight out doesn't work.
After getting some additional info from them, I soon see a glaring mistake that they are making. And its this one mistake that really nullifies the effect of any article they write and submit.
You see, bum marketing is not just about writing articles. When done correctly, one article can generate traffic for years. But when done incorrectly, you have have dozens and dozens of articles barely generating any traffic at all.
Successful bum marketers learn about this mistake and change how they write their articles. But most bum marketers give up before ever learning this mistake, and think that bum (and article) marketing just doesn't work.
So what's the mistake? Its not properly choosing the long term keyword phrase to write your articles on.
You can't just pick an affiliate product to promote and start pumping out articles in that niche. If you do, and most people do, you will probably not see the traffic you want because the long tail keyword phrase that you are writing about either:
a. does not have enough daily searches
b. has too many competing websites
Here's the problem with not enough daily searches:
If there is not enough daily searches, the number of people finally getting to that affiliate salespage will be nil.
Let's say that you are targetting a keyword phrase that gets ten searches a day. You write and submit a well written articles around it.
Now, tomorrow, ten people will search for that keyword phrase. And let's say that there was little competition, and you landed on the first page of Google.
Will all ten people who search for that keyword click on the link that goes to your article? Probably not. I generally estimate 50% of searchers will click on the link to the article.
Ok, now there is five people a day reading the article. But will all five click on the link in your resource box? Again, no. The CTR for my articles is generally between 20-50%. Let's be generous and say that 50% of readers click on the resource box link.
Now you are down to just 2-3 visitors per day. If you do a simple redirect to the affiliate salespage, it will take quite a while to get a sale (using a 1-2% sales conversion rate, although you may get a sale right away - I'm just going by averages).
If you don't redirect to the salespage and instead have a landing page, you further filter out the amount of people getting to the affiliate salespage (and therefore significantly reducing the amount of sales you will see).
For my bum marketing efforts, I try to target long tail keyword phrases that get at least 30 searches a day on Google (although I try my hardest to find daily searches of excess of 100 per day).
And here's the problem with too much competition:
The main goal with bum marketing is to get your articles listed as high as possible in the search engine results. The top of the first page of Google is ideal.
Now, if you are competing against 100 pages, getting on the first page of Google is simple. But if the long tail keyword phrase you have chosen as 1,246,863 competing pages, getting to that first page will be much more difficult (and virtually impossible for the newbie bum marketer).
Proper keyword research will greatly increase the probability of having a successful article. But this skill takes a little practice.
I see many bum marketers gets so excited about writing and submitting articles, that they skip proper keyword selection, or they at least don't do it effectively.
One article that has lots of searches and little competition will far outperform 20-30 articles written around long tail keywords that have very few daily searches or tons of competing websites.
Its because of this fact that I am actually spending less them writing articles, and more time finding outstanding keyword phrases (actually, I enjoy keyword research so it works well for me).
So if you are not seeing the results you would like from your bum marketing efforts, I would suggest analyzing your process for long tail keyword phrase selection.
Hope this helps some fellow Bum Marketers.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
After getting some additional info from them, I soon see a glaring mistake that they are making. And its this one mistake that really nullifies the effect of any article they write and submit.
You see, bum marketing is not just about writing articles. When done correctly, one article can generate traffic for years. But when done incorrectly, you have have dozens and dozens of articles barely generating any traffic at all.
Successful bum marketers learn about this mistake and change how they write their articles. But most bum marketers give up before ever learning this mistake, and think that bum (and article) marketing just doesn't work.
So what's the mistake? Its not properly choosing the long term keyword phrase to write your articles on.
You can't just pick an affiliate product to promote and start pumping out articles in that niche. If you do, and most people do, you will probably not see the traffic you want because the long tail keyword phrase that you are writing about either:
a. does not have enough daily searches
b. has too many competing websites
Here's the problem with not enough daily searches:
If there is not enough daily searches, the number of people finally getting to that affiliate salespage will be nil.
Let's say that you are targetting a keyword phrase that gets ten searches a day. You write and submit a well written articles around it.
Now, tomorrow, ten people will search for that keyword phrase. And let's say that there was little competition, and you landed on the first page of Google.
Will all ten people who search for that keyword click on the link that goes to your article? Probably not. I generally estimate 50% of searchers will click on the link to the article.
Ok, now there is five people a day reading the article. But will all five click on the link in your resource box? Again, no. The CTR for my articles is generally between 20-50%. Let's be generous and say that 50% of readers click on the resource box link.
Now you are down to just 2-3 visitors per day. If you do a simple redirect to the affiliate salespage, it will take quite a while to get a sale (using a 1-2% sales conversion rate, although you may get a sale right away - I'm just going by averages).
If you don't redirect to the salespage and instead have a landing page, you further filter out the amount of people getting to the affiliate salespage (and therefore significantly reducing the amount of sales you will see).
For my bum marketing efforts, I try to target long tail keyword phrases that get at least 30 searches a day on Google (although I try my hardest to find daily searches of excess of 100 per day).
And here's the problem with too much competition:
The main goal with bum marketing is to get your articles listed as high as possible in the search engine results. The top of the first page of Google is ideal.
Now, if you are competing against 100 pages, getting on the first page of Google is simple. But if the long tail keyword phrase you have chosen as 1,246,863 competing pages, getting to that first page will be much more difficult (and virtually impossible for the newbie bum marketer).
Proper keyword research will greatly increase the probability of having a successful article. But this skill takes a little practice.
I see many bum marketers gets so excited about writing and submitting articles, that they skip proper keyword selection, or they at least don't do it effectively.
One article that has lots of searches and little competition will far outperform 20-30 articles written around long tail keywords that have very few daily searches or tons of competing websites.
Its because of this fact that I am actually spending less them writing articles, and more time finding outstanding keyword phrases (actually, I enjoy keyword research so it works well for me).
So if you are not seeing the results you would like from your bum marketing efforts, I would suggest analyzing your process for long tail keyword phrase selection.
Hope this helps some fellow Bum Marketers.
Best wishes,
JoeMack
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