Thursday 1 January 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR !


How about starting 2009 off with a bang ?
If you are trying to promote your product and/or service through affiliate marketing do yourself the biggest favour. Make 2009 the year that you turned a handsome profit and started to realise the dream of running your own successful internet business. From previous posts it is obvious that the main aim of this blog is to promote Virtual Affiliate Trainer, I make no excuses for this. Look, I am not the only one out there doing this. You could go to any number of sites promoting this course and buy through their link, but I hope you don’t simply because if you buy through me I earn commission, that is the aim after all.
I want to be totally upfront and honest with you. One of the major aims of this blog is present information in a totally honest and open way, it comes with a no BS guarantee. This is why I will not try to get you to buy into a product I do not believe in myself and I truly believe Virtual Affiliate Trainer to be the most effective affiliate training method available today.
I have had many dealings with the people behind this product and know them to be genuine and honest and that the information given is of the absolute highest quality.
If predictions for 2009 prove to be true, this coming year is going to be difficult. If you read my previous post about negative marketing then you know that I believe the media are partially to blame for deepening the uncertainty of the current situation. That said, we must deal with the situation as it is and this means that we must try to navigate through the storm and come out the other side best placed to take advantage of , what will then be, a very fertile market. This course will provide all the tools to achieve this. So I urge you, do yourself the biggest favour, get this course.
As I have said, you don’t have to do this through me. You can go to google type in “Virtual Affiliate Trainer” and come up with a host of sites promoting this, pick one that most takes your fancy and buy through them. Very many will have far better presentation than this blog, but remember this site comes with a no BS guarantee and this means that I will never knowingly offer you misleading information. The most important thing that you can do for yourself at the start of this new year is to give this a look. Do it through one of the other channels if you prefer but I sincerely hope you stick with me, I need the commission !
Let me finish this post by wishing you all a very happy, prosperous and above all successful 2009.
Lets all look forward to the brighter days to come !
Until next time
Nigel

Sunday 7 December 2008

Affiliate marketing through social media

Is the current fascination with social media as a method of marketing justified ? We are increasingly being told that this type of advertising is the way forward, but is it just hype ? And how does it fit in with your affiliate campaign ?
That social media is a very powerful weapon to have in your marketing armoury, there is no doubt. But its effectiveness is only as good as the content that is contains. It goes without saying that the content we deliver should be something people want, presented in an easy and personal way. Now, this may seem to be stating the obvious, but many marketers still fail to bare this fact in mind when building a campaign, so please stick with me on this.
Social media works because it gets personal. It talks to people, as people. Not as a resource to be exploited. It has not ,as yet, been infiltrated, manipulated or controlled by the big advertising corporations. Hopefully it will remain this way. As the name implies, it is a social media that talks to people at a social level.
As a marketer this is a profoundly important point to remember and if we start to disrespect the ethos of the social media networks and try to exploit the people who use it, the effectiveness of this tactic will be lost.
Viral marketing, where messages are spread by “word of mouth” is very powerful if used correctly and far more effective than those messages sent direct from a company. However, if you abuse the “word of mouth” tactic it can backfire spectacularly and will show its ugly side. The danger here being that your online profile can be severely damaged.
Remember also that Content is the Key. Lets face it, this is what the internet is all about. But it must be high quality content, delivered in a simple way that does not patronise. Of course it must be a thorough , professional and well thought out campaign. But it must also be done in such a way that the recipient feels that you are talking directly to them. This approach should always be incorporated as an integral part of any marketing strategy and run throughout all methods of product promotion.
Never has the old saying “a picture paints a thousand words” been more relevant. Maybe we should replace the words “picture paints” with the words “video speaks”……..then again maybe not ! But you get the idea. Google loves video and so do people, just look at the popularity of sites such as Youtube. This form of marketing can quickly push your site up the search engine rankings but, I repeat at the risk of becoming very boring, your video must be contain good quality information and it must hold the viewers interest, after all you want them to click through to your sales page.
It is almost certain that your affiliates are going to use this type of marketing at some stage during your partnership. It is essential, therefore, that you give them the correct training and tools to do your product/service justice.
Viral marketing through social media is a powerful tool if we use it wisely. For a well trained affiliate it can bring big rewards and remember, their gain, is your gain.

Keeping your affiliates happy

What follows is more or less a repeat of statements made in previous postings. I make no apologies for this because it is essential that you understand that you must do what ever it takes to keep your affiliates happy.
Far too many affiliate managers feel that their work is done once they have recruited their affiliates. Whilst it is true that, for the merchant that attracts large numbers of affiliates, having enough time to manage these can prove difficult. But it’s a good problem to have!
Once recruited, it is essential that you keep them happy and on board. Remember there are numerous programs out there that they can promote, not just yours. You want to encourage your affiliates to work hard for your business and work towards becoming super affiliates. There is so much regurgitated rubbish out there that is sent affiliates and many of the best and most experienced would have seen much of it many times before. I can honestly say that if I were to receive some of this dross I would delete it from my in box without a second thought. This is great news for you however. Make this fact work in your favour by providing resources way above that of your competitors. The fact is anyone can attract affiliates, but having a program that can attract an army of hungry affiliates is a whole new ball game. And training is essential if you want to convert a large number of these to super affiliate status.
Most internet business owners are happy to apply the 80/20 rule for their affiliate program, that is 20% of your affiliates will make 80% of the income. To put this in to context out of every 100 affiliates only 20 will bring any revenue. That’s fine if you are you are happy with that kind of return but very much higher conversion rates are achievable if the right type of quality training and support is given.
You should offer your affiliates as much of this high grade support as possible from their first sale and right the way through a hopefully long and mutually profitable association. Offer incentives and bonuses. Affiliates are more likely to stick with marketers who offer these.
Once your affiliates start to generate traffic it is essential that you then fulfil your end of the partnership.
Offer links that go directly to the product that they are looking for. It is well known that these Direct Product Links will convert very much better than links that go to a home page. This can leave the prospective purchaser frustrated if they have to fumble around your web site looking for the required link and it leaves you in the vulnerable position of being one click away from losing a sale.
Also be aware that affiliates are not with you for ever. This is to be expected. Affiliates will come and go for a variety of reasons no matter how good your training and subsequent support may be. But your aim must be to keep the good ones with you as long as possible. You should also be aware of the stage that your affiliate is at in their dealings with you. Be they novice, experienced, super affiliate or even inactive you should afford them the appropriate support and encouragement through each level. From this you see that the value of High Quality training, communication and support is a must for any successful affiliate marketing program and it is worth repeating this fact time and again to drive the message home. Your success depends on it.

The Virtues of Good Communication

Hello again ! after my last post when i took a little detour in to rantsville, you may be glad to know that i am back on track with this one. After all it is what this blog is meant to be about. But be warned, it may happen again! The fact is, I think I am turning into a bit of a grumpy old git!
In this post I want to emphasise the importance of good communication. Communication should be very near the top of your list of strategies that will help to make your business a success. It is of primary importance that you contact your affiliates on a regular and personal basis. Your affiliates are the life blood of your future prosperity.
It is essential that your affiliates get all the training, backing and help that they need. And, it is equally important that those affiliates that could harm your business are weeded out. Let me explain.
Put simply, contacting your affiliates shows them that you care about the partnership. It is really poor business practice to spend time, effort and money trying to attract affiliates to your site and then cast them adrift is the uncertain and often daunting sea of on-line marketing. Don’t assume that your affiliates will contact you if they need anything. They will of course , but often only to iron out some problem that could have been avoided with proper back-up and training. Why have the hassle ! They don’t need it and neither do you.
Get into the habit of asking your affiliates if you can help them in any way. Let the buzz words, “encouragement” & “motivation” be the focus of your communications. There are many ways that this can be achieved. Personal e.mails, newsletters, promotional letters, free give-aways all help to build relationships. You should always try to make your affiliates feel that they have a very important part to play in your business. Encourage feedback. Positive feedback is a very welcome addition to your sales copy.

Contact with your affiliates also allows you to monitor whether they are promoting your product/services as you would wish. You know by now how I feel about the many con artists that populate cyberspace. We should all do our very best to weed these out. Unfortunately many of these undesirables are attracted to affiliate programs and profit from using many underhanded and illegal tactics. Merchants are now expected to closely monitor the activities of their affiliates and could be held to account should these activities violate online etiquette or more importantly national and international law.
You can see from the forgoing why it is essential that you communicate with your affiliates and even try to personalise your contact as much as possible. This may at first seem a daunting prospect but most if not all of this can be outsourced if required. The most important things to remember are, always keep your lines of communication open with the affiliate and always provide quality training and back-up. Make this a part of your overall business strategy and success will follow.
I hope this brief posting is of some help. Its just common sense really. Help your affiliates to help you and you will both reap the rewards.
Until next time, Nigel

Sunday 23 November 2008

The corrosive effects of negative marketing

I thought long and hard as to whether I should submit this posting
This is going to be one of those little asides that I was talking about in my previous blog. I will try to keep it short and to the point , I can ramble on a bit at times so I apologise in advance and would ask for your kind indulgence.

Now, let me state at the outset that I am not a woolly headed eternal optimist, walking around all day with a fake smile permanently tattooed across my face, I have been around for a while and with age comes a certain amount of wisdom (no where near as much as I should have!) and a large amount of Sinicism ( much more than I require).
Unless you have been living on planet Zog, you cant help but have noticed that the world economies are going through a bit of a crisis at the moment. Turn on the TV, listen to the radio or open the news paper and you are bombarded with doom and gloom about how bad things are. And , it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that things, most certainly, could be better. But do the media have to keep churning out such bitter news bulletins ?.
Whilst I concede that the media have a duty to report the news, I cant help but feel that they may, in part, be helping to create it. What I am witnessing everyday is a very efficient negative marketing program. One that markets pessimism. Every day, 24/7 the media reinforce the negative slogans that suck the confidence and motivation out of people.
We are now moving into a time of the year that should be good for retailers, they rely on this festive period. However we are starting to see that people are, understandably , unwilling to spend whilst the threat of future job losses looms, ever menacingly, over them. As stated I cant help but feel that the gloomy outlook is being fuelled to some extent by the negative and corrosive anti-marketing being spewed out by the doom mongers in the media.
So, if you ever want to learn how put together an effective (negative) marketing campaign, look no further than media news bulletins. They have powerful keywords and phrases that reinforce the message. This form of viral marketing draw you in and sell the product to a mass, captive, market that will become, if we are not very careful, increasingly primed to buy into the gloom they are peddling.
But be of good cheer my friends ! I have faith that the humans intuitive nature will see through the negativity that is currently being promoted and we will become increasingly immune to its message.
This credit crunch is a blip, all be it a big one, that comes along every so often. An adjustment that is well overdue and I firmly believe that we will soon come out the other side stronger and wiser. So try not to sink too deeply into the seething sea of media induced gloom. Things can only get better ! There probably has been no better time to position ourselves to take advantage of the good times to come. And I hope this blog will help you to do just that.

There, that’s got that off my chest ! Promise to get back on message next time.
Thinking about it maybe I am an optimist after all !!

Sunday 16 November 2008

I need your help

Hello again !
As you can see this blog is very much a work in progress. I wish I could tell you exactly what direction this blog will take, but I can't. You see it has been set up primarily to promote what I think is the absolute best strategy out there, namely Virtual Affiliate Trainer. Armed with this information, you could take your business to the highest levels of success. So more and more I am thinking what can I add to this unique information. Conclusion, not a lot ! BUT DON'T move away from this blog just yet !!
You see, the training program offered here is one of those opportunities that don't come along that often, so i feel justified in pushing it as hard as I can because I genuinely feel this course will greatly contribute to your business success. And yes, I earn commission if you click through and sign-up. I am not embarrassed by that, it's what we are all here for! But I want this blog to be more than that. I want to be able to bring you genuine news, views and opportunities that will be of benefit to you and to me.
So here's the plan. Future posts will try to offer information and if possible inspiration to help you push forward to business success. It may be a bit off the wall at times, it may have postings that have little or no bearing at all on the subject of Internet marketing. I have opinions on most things (always right, of course). This blog may be an opportunity for you and me to vent some of these! But most of all I want to help. I want to be someone that you can grow to trust. The Internet is fantastic tool for communication. Unfortunately that is also part of it's weakness as well. There are still far too many con artists out there ready to scam your hard earned cash and I see it as part of my mission to expose these idiots.
Truth is I NEED YOUR HELP and your advise. Your input would be very welcome. Your suggestions on how to make this blog a little oasis that we can all come to for help as and when needed would be appreciated.
I am not going to stop promoting, I need to earn a crust ! But I will only promote those services/products that I believe to be genuine and honest opportunities. If we link our sites we can blaze a trail across the net that could be a genuine help to others and earn some cash at the same time. By the way ! while I am on the subject, have I mentioned Virtual Affiliate Trainer yet !! ;)
Until next time, Nigel

Monday 10 November 2008

The Affiliate Opportunity

This second posting has been a long time coming, but for a very good reason that i am about to reveal.
But first may i just make a very brief statement about customer care. Yes i know that this is probably overstating the blooming obvious, but time and again it is this simple tactic that gets overlooked and this is when things start to go wrong. You should not be in business just to make money. WHAT!! I here some say. But listen, if you can't have a passion about what and why you are selling something, that lack will soon reflect upon your business. Have a passion about what you are doing and about the service you offer your clients.
Treat your customers well. Become someone that they can trust and enjoy doing business with and your business will be justifiably and handsomely rewarded.
This rule must apply when recruiting affiliates to promote your business. Good affiliate marketing practice is essential if you really want to take advantage of the affiliate opportunity. As the merchant you should make sure that your affiliates have all the tools and training necessary to promote your online business to its full potential.
Remember, good practice is rewarded with good feedback from the customer. These testimonials are like gold dust to your marketing strategy.

Now, for the biggee. My first posting hinted at a strategy that could boost your business to new and dizzying heights. Believe me when I say this guy knows what he is taking about and there is absolutely nothing else out there like it. On offer is a free 2 hour, quality seminar that reveals tactics that will supercharge your business. As already stated, giving your affiliates the correct training and tools is an absolute must if you want your business to be successful. Do yourself a massive favour, click the Virtual Affiliate Trainer link in recommended resources and hold on tight. This will blow your mind !
Until next time. Nigel