Internet Advertising Methods-Free, Paid, Best?

A subject you cannot afford to be uninterested in, if you are planning to earn money online in any way. What are the various ways of advertising online? Which ones are free? Which are paid options? Which is the best? Which will give most sales? Whether you are an affiliate or are selling your own product..you need this information, right? Okay, Lets see

First mistake an online marketeer makes- assuming that advertising is advertising and anything you use is going to bring the same results. If only this was true. As an user of almost every form of Internet advertising for almost 2 years now, I can honestly say that some forms of advertising are good and others are just flat out terrible. I will give you a guideline on some most popular ones.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Any sort of advertising where the site says “Blast your ads all over the Internet” or “free advertising for life”, is pretty much worthless. The reason for that is because these ads pretty much go to web sites that nobody even knows exists. So the chances of your ad being seen are slim to none. Don’t waste your time with ad blasting services of any kind. yes, I am talking about the same ones which promise to submit your link/website/url to 1000s of directories and FFA pages and forums etc..etc…

Another bad form of advertising is buying leads and sending out emails to them. The reason for this is because most leads that are bought are harvested, untargeted and will ultimately result in spam complaints and you getting your ISP to shut you down permanently. It’s just not worth the risk. So do yourself a favor and forget about buying leads.

The most frustrating form of bad advertising I have personally found is- that of Safelists (which work pretty much like leads) and incentivized advertising. Safeslists bring nothing but junk email and incentivized advertising is worthless because the people visiting your site have been paid something to go there and have no real interest in what you are selling. You may make a sale here or there, but for the most part, what you spend will be more than what you make.

There’s more bad, but let’s get on to some good before you get so depressed that you feel like throwing your PC out a window! One of the best forms of advertising, mostly because it is so cheap, actually free, is article writing and directory submission. This method gets people to your web site quickly and with little or not cost. The downside is that you have to write and submit articles on a daily basis. Don’t worry about the “tough” part of actually writing articles-I will be touching upon it shortly

Another great way to advertise online is through Google pay per click. This is about the most targeted traffic you can get. The only drawback is that you have to do quite a bit of research to find keywords that don’t cost a fortune. You also have to learn to write 3 line ads that convert. This is not an easy thing to do. But worry not, if you have read my post of how to write effective ads, you will find this fairly easy

Finally, solo e-zine ads are very good if you find a good e-zine with a large member base. One ad alone can get you quite a few sales if you reach a responsive list. The problem is finding such a list, which is usually a lot of trial and error. And of course, its not free. Its an investment which can (no guarantee) bring good results.

There are other decent forms of free advertising such as forum participation and posting to high traffic message boards, but these few that I have mentioned should get you started. Also notice that all the forms of advertising I have mentioned here are all inclusive-i.e. they don’t necessarily need you to have a website of your own and can be used for affiliate links also. Of course, if you have a website or blog of your own, you get extra options of earning through social networks, giveaways etc.. As of now, just concentrate on the above

If it sounds like Internet advertising isn’t easy and in reality your options are limited, at least as far as effectiveness, it isn’t and they are.

That’s why not everybody online is a millionaire.

Clickbank-The Honest Story..

Some of my friends and hopeful money earners have been asking me about “Which affiliate program to join”. I remember recommending Clickbank in one of my earlier posts. Here, let me go in a bit detailed way.

Lets face it, Clickbank ads are all over the place. Hopefully, this article will make you decide whether or not you want to have anything to do with Clickbank.

Let’s start with the good things -If you are a vendor i.e. you have your own product, there is no place on the Internet where you will get this much exposure for your product. The affiliate network at Clickbank is huge. There are 1000s of affiliates promoting or waiting to promote your produtcs! Clickbank can be a gold mine if you are a creator or owner of a product.

Another great thing - they are an established company and a trusted one at that. They pay their affiliates regularly and on time. I have yet to have a problem with them in the one and half years I’ve been dealing with them as far as getting my checks was concerned. They pay out on the first and the sixteenth of each month as long as you have reached the minimum payout balance.

One more great thing- If you don’t have a product of your own, but are hardworking and willing to make money online-they have the largest inventory of products on the Internet. If you can’t find something to sell there, you’re simply not looking hard enough. Some of the products have a lot of competition but many have no competition at all and they should be very easy to sell. So, yes, it could be a goldmine for a smart, hardworking affiliate to even earn full time income working through clickbank.

And what I find amazing is-Its one of the only ways you can work and earn online-without having a website of your own! You get a readymade website, with products you don’t have to create or worry about, you need to use your sales and advertising skills and there is no investment also! Perfect for an online money making beginner, isn’t it?

Okay, lets see the bad now.

Biggest problem- ITS HUUUUUGE! There are thousands of affiliates, as I already said, in effect translating into that much severe competition-uh huh. You really need to be careful about the kind of product to use and methods to promote them.

Another problem with Clickbank is that they have a boat load of rules and regulations and Unless you read them all, which is close to impossible, you run the risk of having your Clickbank account taken away from you without warning. A pretty similar problem exists in paypal also. I haven’t personally had any of these problems. But you never know, their definition of “illegal” activity can be quite confusing sometimes.

All in all, I would say that the good more than outweighs the bad. Many affiliates are still making a good living with Clickbank in spite of all the problems, and that includes me.

In my next post, I would touch upon some methods of advertising to go with your efforts at affiliate marketing…

Get Rich Online Myths

I am back! After a bad bad bout of flu..and 3 weeks absence..finally..I am back! And happy to see many new subscribers to my list..will be getting back to you all shortly

Lets Get Back to work!

Let me Bust some “Get Rich Online” Myths today-

The Biggest myth is that You Can Get Rich Online-Overnight!

I am probably repeating this, but its awfully important for me to drill this in everyone’s head. Its like an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for me. If you believe in those sales pages which promise “10,000$ per month for working 30 minutes per day”-I can’t help you. Hell, Jesus can’t help you then! We have all seen it, many of us have been scammed by these, lets just ignore them for now. Okay?

Second myth-Its Easy To Get Rich/Earn Money Online-

Its not. It takes time, and patience and guidance. When I started out, I earned something between 40$-80$ per month for first 3 months. Then things started picking up-of course I was lucky to have been surrounded by some amazing people who helped me get various jobs which in turn helped me in learning and understanding..and thats why I am here..

The point is-nobody earns 4 or 5 figure money in their first month-Maybe they earn that on Mars, but not on this planet. Capisce?

Now that I have scared you all enough..here is some good news- I have been researching some lovely work at home options-and I should be reviewing them shortly-and many goodies on your way too soon!

How To Write Ads, Effective Ads…

This is another very important topic I want to tackle today- No matter what business you’re in, you need to know how to write effective ads or you’re not going to get people to your site. The mystery of effective ad writing has eluded many people since the beginning of the printed word. And many people just don’t know the importance or way of writing effective ads.

Probably the most important part of the ad is the subject. Without a compelling subject, people are not going to read your ads, especially if they are email ads. You need to be outrageous. You need to be different. Don’t be afraid to use subjects like “Martians Have Landed And They’ve Captured YOUR Business” or something crazy like that. Also, if you are using autoresponders, use the person’s name in the subject. People like to be referred to personally. This is a big thing with getting people to read your ads.

In the body of your ad you want to start out by introducing yourself. Make it personal. People want to get to know you so that they can trust you. If you start off with a sales pitch, they’re just going to tune you out. You have to get their trust first. Then you can give them your pitch down the road.

The next thing you want to do is tell them how you can help them. Tell them YOUR story. Stories sell. Explain to them how you were going through the same thing that they are going through now until you came up with a solution to the problem. Then, tell them what this solution is. Explain how it will help them by pointing out the benefits.

Next thing you want to do is assure them that they have nothing to worry about. Point out the guarantee. It’s a lot easier to promote a product that has a guarantee with it. Explain to them that if they are not completely satisfied with their purchase within however many days or months, that they can get a full refund on their purchase.

The next thing you want to do is tell them about all the bonuses that they will get if they order now. Explain to them that these bonuses are only going to be available for a limited time and if they don’t act fast they may lose out on them. Fear is a great motivator. If people think they will lose out on something they are more likely to act.

The next thing you want to do is offer testimonial proof if you have it. If people see that others have been satisfied with whatever it is that you’re selling, they will be more inclined to make a purchase. This is just one more thing to reinforce a feeling of trust.

Finally, tell them that if they have any questions at all they can contact you and you’ll be happy to help them. This further gains their trust.

Writing ad copy is not rocket science. If you follow the basic steps you should have no trouble writing ad copy that is truly effective.

Secret of Affiliate Marketing..How to be A Successful Affiliate Online

This is a question I get asked a lot. What’s the secret of affiliate marketing? How can I get into it and really make a killing? What are the gurus not telling me? Well, I don’t know what the gurus aren’t telling you, but I can tell you that there isn’t really a big secret. Most likely, if you’ve done your research, you already know everything you need to know to be successful at affiliate marketing. No kidding. But just in case you don’t know, I’m going to give you the basic things you need to take with you from this article in order to be successful at affiliate marketing.

One of the things you have to do is concentrate on one niche and one product. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades at first. There’s plenty of time to branch off into other niches and products after you’ve mastered one.

As for finding a niche and a product, that’s where research comes in. You may be totally hung up on the idea of selling flag poles, but if there is no market for it on the Internet, you’re not going to make many sales. So go and see what people are already buying. This is very easy to do.

A place to start would be to go to the Clickbank marketplace. They have many categories of products there. Simply choose a category and see what the top selling products are. This is easy to do because Clickbank lists them in order or popularity by default. Now, personally, I don’t pick the top selling product because that is the one with the most competition. I like to pick a product that sells decently, but doesn’t have a lot of competition. This is something you’ll get a feel for as you do this.

After you have decided what product you’re going to sell, the next thing to do is decide how and where you want to promote this product. Different products sell well at different places using different means. For example, if you’re going to sell an Internet marketing product, such as a “how to” book, these are best sold using methods that target other marketers, such as safelists, traffic exchanges and so on. But if you’re selling something like a natural cure for acne, you probably want to stay away from safelists and traffic exchanges because these people are mostly looking for income opportunities. For promoting a natural acne cure, you’ll want to use pay per click advertising, E-zines for health and message boards and forums for the same. Again, these are things you will learn over time.

One of the easiest ways to be successful at selling products as an affiliate is simply to write articles on whatever niche you’re targeting, submit them to directories with a link to your site in the bio and hopefully, if the article is well written enough and the bio has a strong call to action, you’ll make a few sales. Just make sure you don’t link directly to the product as many directories won’t allow you to do this. It’s best to set up your own site and have a link there going to the product or use a redirect.

That’s really all there is to it. As I said, it’s no secret. What it is, is a lot of hard work.

Don’t let anybody tell you differently.

Oh, One more thing-I have personally found it better to review the products myself before writing an article or promoting it..so you might want to try it out too. Need more Information? Ask

AFFILIATE MARKETING-A Starting Point

There are many people who ask me what a good affiliate program to join is. The truth is, good and bad is a relative term indeed. It’s really more what you do with it. However, if you’re looking for affiliate programs that I really think are the cream of the crop, hopefully, this article will give you a place to start. I’ll also include a couple I recommend staying away from.

Probably the top affiliate program, which is really more an affiliate network, is Clickbank. This is not to say that they don’t have their problems, because they do. Every program has problems as perfection hasn’t been perfected yet. But Clickbank is a very well run company, they have great products, some which pay very high commission percentages and they send you your checks like clockwork on the 1st and 15th of every month. Just about every affiliate marketer and guru I know uses Clickbank.

But Clickbank isn’t the only game in town as far as affiliate programs and networks. Another very good affiliate network is Amazon. Now I know there are going to be people reading this who are familiar with Amazon who will say that I am crazy because Amazon only pays out 4% commission to start. That may be true, but Amazon has many advantages over other networks. They probably sell the biggest range of products of anyone, some of which are very high end products. So that 4% commission can translate into a good income. Also, because Amazon has such a great reputation among buyers, it is very easy to sell products through them.

Okay, I’m going to give you a couple of affiliate networks that I personally would stay away from, not because they are bad, but because there are things about them that I just don’t like. The first one, as popular as it is, is PayDotCom. Believe me, there is a lot of good to this program, but the thing I don’t like about it is that the payments come from the individual merchants and not from PayDotCom directly. Unfortunately, some merchants just don’t pay. Eventually, PayDotCom throws them out of the network, but not until after you’ve made sales that you never got paid for. I don’t know about you but that kind of hit and miss isn’t for me.

Another affiliate network that I would stay away from is Sharesale. Again, there is a lot about them that is very good, but they have a relatively high minimum payout and a lot of their products, quite honestly, are expensive and not worth what they cost. Plus, you have to get approved through each individual merchant, which can be a real hassle, if you want to sell a number of products.

This list should give you a starting point in picking an affiliate network or program to get started with.The Best Part is You don’t need a website or blog of your own if you are serious about making money online through affiliate marketing. Of course you can have a website of your own but its not compulsory-of course you need to have great online marketing and sales skills!

Paid Survey Sites-Scam or Real Money Making Opportunity?

There are a lot of scams floating around the Internet for sure, but in defense to paid surveys, they’re not scams. In my opinion, for the most part, They’re just not very good for earning any kind of real income on the Internet. I am not trying to be a spoilsport but I think its better to set the record straight.

First off, let me explain just what paid surveys are for those who haven’t heard of them yet. Paid surveys are just as they sound. You sign up with a site and they send you a survey on some topic. It could be your shopping habits, your job, your dating preferences and a number of various topics. For each survey that you fill out, the company will pay you for doing so. On paper, this sounds really great. However, the reality of all this is a different matter altogether.

For starters, you just don’t get to take a survey. You have to first qualify for them. To do this, you have to fill out a questionnaire, which more often than not is even longer than the survey you have to take. This questionnaire will ask you things like your age, gender and employment status. After you fill in the questionnaire, you will then get a message informing you of whether or not you even qualify for the survey. And therein lies the rub of this whole business.

I have been trying some paid survey sites in past 2 months. I have learned that many of the surveys are geared towards people other than myself. In other words, I didn’t qualify for many surveys. I spend countless hours filling out questionnaires and never even got to take a survey. It was quite frustrating. Finally, when I did qualify for a survey and took it, what I got paid was a joke. And therein lies the final rub on surveys.

Each survey site has a different pay structure so this will have to be a general description. For the most part, the payment is about $5 for a survey that takes about 30 to 60 minutes to complete. Sometimes it’s as little as $2 and some sites don’t pay you in money at all. What they do is give you what they call credits. Sometimes the credits they give you are quite considerable, on the surface. But then you go to cash them in and you see the exchange rate from credits to cash is something like 1000 credits gets you $10. Usually it takes about 10 surveys to make those 1000 credits. When you compute the number of hours it took you to make that $10 it comes out to less than $1 per hour. Yes, it’s that bad!

Technically, you can make money with paid surveys, so they aren’t technically a scam. However, the amount of work that goes into doing this is considerably more than you are going to make, and that is if you even qualify for the surveys. In the meantime, you’re receiving all this junk email of offers because of being signed up with these sites, which is probably the real reason they want you in the first place.

This is what I have learnt from some paid survey sites that I tried,and they are hotsellers on Clickbank.

I could very well put my affiliate link for these here and ask you to buy them, but what is the use! You won’t earn much and I won’t be doing any good to my credibility. I would much rather advise you to stay with free survey sites. You can ask me to send you some free survey site links which have actually paid me some money so far!

Of course, there also you won’t get rich overnight. You would give surveys for probably 6 months before you get a 50$ check! But atleast you get something for free there

Hello world!

Finally, I am on WordPress too! First, My Website, Then a Blogger Blog, Now on WordPress-Baby!I am On A Roll!

Beware Of SCAMS and Earn Honestly, Without Fear

The thing I HATE the MOST Online-Opening my email Inbox and see hoards of emails from online predators guaranteeing me “earn 3000$ in 3 hours” or some such crap! They are so obviously scams, I wonder how do people ed up getting fooled by all these everyday?! Maybe I am thinking of myself as a smartass because I have been paid to try many of such scams out! Lucky me!

Anyway, anyone who is seriously trying to make money online, is also serious about doing online research on all possible online money making methods and then start their online cash generating system from home. I strongly urge you to go to all possible avenues (including asking me) and clarify that a particular money making system/job/business is not scam, there are many resources like- BEWARE OF SCAMS -it gives a great review of a lot of proven and guaranteed money making systems. People like you and me give their feedback about various online cash generating methods and you will appreciate the time you will save by just having a look here. This contains unbiased user generated reviews of online make-money-at-home systems and you will certainly find something to make you the next millionaire!

Meanwhile, I am also going to give regular updates of many scams/honest money making programs that I come across. And My Subscribers are going to hear about them first!

Massive Free Targeted Traffic, Loads of Money

“Traffic” is probably the most researched area for anyone hoping to get rich online. You will find resources full of so many information that your head will spin.

95% of online money earning dreams shatter because of lack of traffic,and there too Targeted Traffic. If you haven’t got traffic, you won’t get money. You want to earn cash, you need to make a decision to get this first of all-even before you choose whether to have a website or not.

No matter if you choose Steve’s Honest Income Program or anything else, you need to have this with you because I have experienced a tremendous surge in my online income ever since I started using this system. Its Mark Flavin’s step by step system of making sure that I get regular targeted traffic, because of which I have earned atleast 100$ extra in 2 weeks alone. Mark is another Steve in making, doesn’t make impossible promises, gives reasonable guarantees and delivers what he promises. He replies to all mails and is there to help you all the time.

That’s why I like Traffic Transformer because it gives you everything you need to start earning money right away, all at one place.