Affiliate Marketing vs Network Marketing

Affiliate Marketing vs Network Marketing
Network marketing like MLM or multi level marketing has
been around for ages. So has affiliate marketing. However,
what works better is a matter of personal preference. Here
we explain what each of these entail.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is carried out online and all affiliate
marketers get their compensation on each transaction. In
affiliate marketing the kind of products sold are those
that are purchased only one time by the customer. Thus the
more the marketer sells, the more his or her chances at
gaining income online. The compensation plan in affiliate
marketing is purely based upon performance benchmarks. Thus
the more the sales, click throughs and registrations the
affiliate marketer manages to get, the more the chances of
income. The actions which will result in compensation are
outlined between the marketer and merchant before starting
the contract.

What is network marketing?

The compensation plan in network marketing is quite similar
to affiliate marketing. However, the main difference is in
the number of levels through which compensations can be
achieved. The sponsoring company can pay the network
marketer upto several or even unlimited levels. However,
the original agreement will outline the restrictions in the
maximum amount of payment as well as the maximum number of
levels the payout can reach. Usually individual
arrangements and contracts will differ from one network
marketing program to another. This makes comparison quite
difficult. The network marketer earns a direct referral fee
which is a result of his recommendation of a friend or
acquaintance. He may also avail a leverage fee which is due
to his "downlines" referring their friends and associates
into the network layers. Differences between the two

There are many differences between affiliate marketing and
network marketing as outlined below:

Presence of layers: While network marketing has several
layers or strata of people referring other recruiters into
the system, affiliate marketing is devoid of any such
layers.

Ongoing effort: In affiliate marketing one needs to put in
continual efforts in order to gain sustainable income on a
long term basis. However in network marketing just with
initial efforts, one can continue to reap long term
dividends because of the leverage fees associated.

People to people: Network marketing success largely depends
on the ability to have good interpersonal skills and
enhancing the "downlines" more. However affiliate marketing
is more of an individual effort which focuses on gaining
maximum profits through individual attempts.

Types of products sold: In the case of network marketing
the kind of products sold are primarily those which will be
bought by customers again and again. Thus the sale is a
repeat process. However in the case of affiliate marketing
the type of products sold are such that customers will buy
them only once.

Ease of selling: In network marketing it is more difficult
to sell products to customers. It's because supply far
outweighs demand. Because of the many layers and sellers
trying to sell the same product, the likelihood of the
product getting sold gets diminished. In the case of
affiliate marketing, it is easier to sell these products
especially since they involve more than one type of
product. Thus there are more choices and options in an
affiliate marketing program.

Stagnation: In network marketing it is very easy to reach a
point of stagnation. In other words, once the layers start
to increase, the chance of selling the product reduces.
This can result in the network marketing chain stagnating
in terms of sales. On the other hand, in the case of
affiliate marketing, although initially a lot of effort and
time maybe needed and sales maybe sluggish, over time the
results can be exponential sales.

Downlines: In the case of network marketing, each person
has two downlines. These two downlines have two persons
under them and so on. However in the case of affiliate
marketing, the maximum number of layers it can go to is 5.

Final thoughts

Both affiliate marketing and network marketing have their
own benefits and drawbacks. No matter which marketing
method you opt for, be sure to assess all compensation
plans and choose the marketing tool wisely. At the end of
the day, you want to maximize your profit potential and it
is solely up to you to decide which model suits you best.

----------------------------------------------------
If you want to become an affiliate marketing pro then you
must get Affiliate Elite at http://www.affelite.com Also if
you are looking for the right network marketing company
then check out Zrii at http://www.amalakijuicepros.com

The Balancing Act in PPC Management

The Balancing Act in PPC Management
Effective Pay Per Click Management hinges on several
variables that are sometimes out of our control. Since
there are so many ingredients involved in formulating that
winning combination of keywords, ad copy, landing pages and
budgets, the mix often becomes blurry. Our jobs as Pay Per
Click Management experts is to sift through muck with
extensive A/B Testing to find that recipe for success. But
when it comes to budgets and poor website conversion rates
- things often get tough.

Scenario 1. After a PPC Campaign is optimized and
delivering excellent results, the client - 9 times out of
10 - will want to spend more ... which is great! However,
sometimes the client is in a niche industry and is only
selling 1 product or service. In this case, spending more
isn't an option for growth because in order to spend more
(in efforts to make more), the optimization setting on the
campaign will have to be undone.

Scenario 2. Some clients have many items for sale on their
website - and vast resources of cash to throw at it.
However, due to competition, pricing, availability of the
item or poor website conversion rates - achieving a
favorable ROAS (or ROI) often involve not being able to
spend the entire monthly budget. When optimization settings
are undone or even altered they risk tanking their ROI
(ROAS) stats.

Scenario 3. In the beginning stages of PPC Marketing many
companies have limited budgets at first, but have thousands
of keywords / products. This is a case where their budgets
don't support their keyword bank (amount of keywords in the
account). This forces Google to sporadically show their ads
throughout the day to provide ample coverage of their ads
based on their daily ad spend limits.

So what is the solution to all of these scenarios? That's a
great question in that no two PPC Campaigns are alike. To
impose a cookie cutter solution to any of these problems
could result in devastating results. Each case needs to be
analyzed from both a Pay Per Click Management perspective
as well as from a business perspective. When those two
aspects are included in the problem solving process the
outcome is often times favorable and profitable. As PPC
Managers, we owe it to our clients to give them the facts
and sometimes the hard truth. But in the long run, if your
motives are pure (not making excuses) your clients will
respect you and continue the business relationship.

----------------------------------------------------
Pay Per Click Edge (http://www.ppce.net ) is a Full Blown
Pay Per Click Management Firm that Focuses on Client's
Goals and Objectives. Contact PPCE Today at 888.451.6063 or
info@ppce.net for a Free Consultation and Proposal!

Education--A Key To Success

Education--A Key To Success
It's a fast moving world out there, and I don't see it
slowing down anytime soon. Technology that was cutting edge
just a year or so ago may now be completely outdated today.
It is the savvy entrepreneur in any field who can adapt and
keep up who will reap the greatest amount of success.

This is especially true for those striving to build their
online business. Marketing on the web is an ever changing
and evolving environment, and in order to survive and
prosper it is vital that today's marketer keep abreast of
today's technologies and marketing techniques. What worked
very well for you last year may not work at all today.

I have found that it is vital to include continuing
education as part of my daily internet marketing routine.
The trick here is to maintain a balance. It can be very
easy to find yourself spending too much of your time
educating yourself each day, and not enough time
implementing what you have learned to build your business.
This can be very detrimental, as you do want to spend a
good majority of your time actually applying the techniques
that you have learned. Otherwise you will never make any
money. However, it can be equally detrimental if you are
attempting to market using yesterday's techniques and not
staying abreast of what the most successful marketers out
there are doing.

This leads into the question of all of the e-books, audios,
and videos that are being offered by all of the so called
marketing "gurus" out there. It seems that everyday my
inbox is crammed full of at least fifty offers for
different marketing education courses. These can range in
price from anywhere between $7.00 – several hundred
dollars. The question that is often asked of me is "are
these courses worth the money?" My answer is......it
depends. It is true that there are some very good courses
available out there that will teach you some very good
information on how to market your online business. However,
it has been my experience that more often that not these
courses are simply the same material that has been rehashed
over and over, and worse that that, often times the
techniques taught are simply outdated, which defeats the
purpose of educating yourself in the first place. I
generally check to see if they offer any type of money back
guarantee in the event that I feel the education is not
what was promised in the sales letter. Most of the
reputable sellers do offer a money back guarantee these
days. However, there is another way to look at online
education courses as well. That is, if I can learn just ONE
NEW THING from the course that I didn't previously know,
the knowledge learned can often be worth multiple times
what I paid for the course.

Because of the attitude listed above I do feel that it is
worth the risk to purchase some of these courses, but I am
very careful to research them before I purchase. You can go
to nearly any marketing forum and get other people's
opinions on any product before you make your purchase.

Lastly, I have found that the most important source of
education in building your online business is in finding a
mentor who already has the success that you are seeking.
Before joining any program or MLM take time to interview
your sponsor to find out if they have a team training
program and system in place that you can tap into. Ask them
to see it they are willing to give you the personalized
attention that you need. One on one attention from your
mentor will dramatically speed up your learning curve and
can save you thousands of dollars as well. Good luck in
your marketing efforts!

----------------------------------------------------
Randy Taylor is a top internet marketer who works with MLM
and affiliate leaders all over the United States. He owns
and operates several successful online as well as brick and
mortar businesses. His desire is to help as many people as
possible find the joy of starting their own succesful and
profitable online business. To find out more go to
http://www.handsfullofcash.com

Network Marketing - What is a Scam?

Network Marketing - What is a Scam?
I am involved in some network marketing businesses.
Through various marketing channels, I get lots of
questions. Usually via e-mail, sometimes via phone. You
want to know what one of the most common questions I hear
is? I bet you have asked it yourself, because I know I
have.

"Is this a scam?"

Sure, it comes in different flavors. Some of my favorites
include, "This is a total scam, dude!"; "I've seen scams
like this before!", and "No way, people fall for this
scam??"

I looked it up. According to the fine folks at
www.m-w.com, the word scam is simply defined as such: a
fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. OK, that's
pretty loose. I mean, how many "deceptive acts" do we deal
with on a daily basis? TV commercials, reality shows,
political debates? When you really think about it, it is
hard to be persuasive without some degree of deceit. And
that's all advertising is; persuasion. Unless you want to
live thinking the whole world is "a scam", I think you can
only focus on the "fraudulent" part of Mr. Webster's
definition.

Fraud is a whole other subject. To me, fraud in network
marketing is indeed something to be wary of. I'm sure
there are examples of businesses that started only to take
money from a few trusting individuals, then shut down and
take the money and run. Still others only collect e-mail
address for the purpose of selling them.

What you will find is more prevalent, however, are smaller
transgressions, such as improper statistics. For example,
most sites will show how "Jim made $5000 in 2 days". Is
this fraudulent? Probably not.

Here's how to protect yourself

If you've made the decision to persue a network marketing
business, either via internet or not, you MUST look at all
claims using your own sense of reason. First off, assume
that all the advertising you hear and read is true. Most
likely, every claim you read is verifiable in one way or
another. Secondly, assume that the same WILL NOT happen to
you.

Read this carefully. I am NOT saying you will not make
money. I am NOT saying the advertising is deceitful or
fraudulent. I AM saying what most people won't tell you.
It is highly, highly unlikely that your immediate results
will mirror those you hear about. Of course there is a
chance, but if you assume that "you will be different", you
are going to be disappointed.

Do not forget that network marketing is first and foremost
a business. It is not a magic potion to cure you of
suffocating debt and daily financial woes. It takes time,
patience, courage, risk, capital, understanding, education,
and (once again for emphasis) time!

Make sure whatever business you start has at least these
two things. One, viable marketable products that are in
demand. Two, a strong training and support network,
preferably of people whose success depends on your own.

----------------------------------------------------
Check out David's Marketing Businesses:
http://www.GAPSage.com
http://www.WealthyMarketerForSuccess.com
http://www.gibline.com/davwax
Article Marketing is the secret for generating huge traffic
to your site.
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p?id=522

Why Losing A Job Can Be Bad For Your Internet Business

Why Losing A Job Can Be Bad For Your Internet Business
What happens if losing a job goes from a possibility to a
reality? If you are a part time internet marketer you may
be tempted to try and do this full time. Here is why that
is a bad idea.

Just because you now have more time to work online does not
mean you will be more successful. One thing you will have
is more time to devote to your business, but you are going
to have to spend some of that time developing more internet
marketing skills.

Even then if money is an issue for you without a steady pay
check you will face 2 other battles.

1. Pressure to create cash flow

2. Depression when things do not go as planned

Internet marketing is hard. For every one person who is
successful at it there are 99 who fail. If you lose your
job and think that you will finally be able to make money
online when you have not been able to do so in the past you
are probably going to be wrong.

You are better off to go get a part time job just to take
some of the pressure off. Then you still will have more
time to devote to your business and can learn how to make
money on the internet and put what you learn into practice.

The other thing is find some good private label rights
products and start marketing those. You will fall in love
with getting cash directly into your PayPal account. If you
do not have a PayPal account get one. This is cash that
will make your internet marketing business easier to
operate with a part time job, or no job at all.

Depression can creep in even to the most positive person.
Internet marketing can be humbling no matter how successful
you have been in the past. If you are busting your butt and
not getting the results you expect you can begin to
question what you are doing wrong.

Continuing day after day without any positive results can
lead to depression if you have a real need to make money.
This is why you have to make sure you have cash flow coming
in. Even a part time job can make a difference in how you
build your internet business.

If money is not an issue for you then losing your job can
be good for your internet business. If your spouse makes
enough money to allow you stay at home and work online for
a living you a blessed person. There is nothing better than
the 30 second commute.

So, do not let losing a job cloud your judgment. Do what
you need to keep cash coming in. Spend the rest of your
time building your internet business and you will be better
off in the long run.

----------------------------------------------------
Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his make money online
website for hundreds of make money ideas, articles, and
opportunities. For all of your website and blog article
writing needs or to read his free report "How To Make $100
Online in 48 Hours or Less" please visit his website here:
--->

http://www.Team-Schuman.com

What You Need To Make Money On The Internet

What You Need To Make Money On The Internet
Online business opportunities are a little scary. Just
think about it. You're planning to invest your time and
money, and you certainly don't want to choose the wrong
company to help you.

If you do a search online, you'll find thousands of
opportunities just waiting for you to sign up. Where did
these all come from? How do you know which one will give
you all the tools, help, and support you need to get up and
running?

I recently went through this entire process. It can be
truly overwhelming without knowing some of the questions
you should ask before you make a decision. As a Christian I
wanted to work with a company that not only talked a good
game, but was able to show me they were an honest company
who would truly do what they said they would do.

Where Do I Start?

My first concern was that I had very little experience
building a website. I was able to check my email and search
for something online, but that was the extent of it. I read
countless ads for companies claiming to "build a website in
15 minutes" or "be making money in as little as 24 hours."

The trouble was....I couldn't see any backend support. I
couldn't see anything except a template that someone built
and now they were trying to convince me this should be the
basis for my online business.

What about all the continuous building and changing that
happens on a website? Did I have to take a bunch of HTML
classes just so I'd know how to do all this stuff?

My second concern was whether the search engines would find
me. I remember wondering how the entire process worked and
who was going to teach me. There are alot of companies that
promise they can help in this area. I just didn't have a
clue about which one to use or how to go about evaluating
these kinds of companies.

And then of course, I wanted to know if my business would
be profitable. Finding the right niche is a huge part of
your ultimate success, or lack thereof. Of course, there is
never a guarantee, but at least I wanted to know I was on
the right track. I couldn't imagine where to even start
looking for answers about this one.

And the Answer is...

After it was all said and done, I arrived at some very
specific things to look for as you're choosing the right
company:

Tip: Choose a company that can handle everything from start
to finish, no matter your own strengths or weaknesses.
Trying to piecemeal the site hosting and building from one
company and then the search engine optimizing from another,
and the other things you need like building a newsletter
from yet another, will most certainly make your life alot
more complicated.

Tip: Choose a company with a proven track record. What kind
of results are their current clients getting? Are they
willing to show you the number of their sites that are
succeeding? You can bet they have an idea about how many of
their sites fail and why.

Tip: Choose a company that gives you the tools to build
your site that doesn't require you to have a PHD in website
building. There is a tremendous learning curve in the very
beginning, so just make sure you're working with a company
that provides the structure to build your site as you learn
so you're not stuck for long periods of time in that
learning curve.

Tip: Choose a company that allows all their site owners to
talk to each other in an open forum. Check to see how often
their forums are frequented. Ask for a guest pass so you
can get the real flavor of the company.

Tip: Choose a company that gives you 24 hour/7 days a week,
online technical support. There is nothing more difficult
than trying to resolve a problem and your only option is to
pay some expert somewhere to give you the guidance you need.

Tip: Don't purchase unless you are very sure about the
company's refund policy. Choose a company that will let you
try things out on a trial basis. Get your feet wet and see
if the company you've chosen is really the one that will
help you get where you want to go.

While it's true that no company can do it for you, it's
also true that you can certainly help increase your odds of
success if you choose the right company to help you.
Working with a company that is honest and will stand behind
you, helping every step of the way, is truly the Christian
way of doing business.

----------------------------------------------------
Go to http://www.wildflyingkangaroos.com

for an
outstanding company that will do all of these things. Make
800 a day. Don't keep working that day job. Be your own
Boss.

How important is branding to your eBay success?

How important is branding to your eBay success?
For being successful in eBay business, it is absolutely
essential to understand the importance of brand building
and take determined steps for establishing and
strengthening brand image and identity. This will ensure
that the business stands out from the crowd while it is
marketed on eBay.

When asked, most people cannot recall the name of the last
seller from whom they bought something on eBay. Why does
this happen? It is not on account of buyers lacking
loyalty. It is only due to the seller’s efforts being
insufficient to establish the brand and identity on eBay;
either because he or she is unaware of its importance or
does not know how to go about it.

If you are an eBay seller, your brand represents who and
what you are and more importantly, how you want to be
remembered. Your brand comprises of not just one but
multiple factors like the name you have chosen, the
business logo and associated design elements, the layout of
your sales page/listing, the business policies and customer
service etc. If your return policies are customer friendly
and you address customer issues immediately to provide
swift resolutions, it goes a long way in boosting and
establishing your brand. Your customers will come back to
you again and again because you would be their favorite
seller and every time they think of buying a product your
brand would be the first to come to mind.

When trying to find out how to improve and build your
brand, one of the best ways is to use your own experience.
Try to remember YOUR favorite seller and analyze why the
brand stands out, what makes you want to buy from the
outlet. These are important questions that you need to ask
yourself. Once you have answered them, take a careful look
at your own listings. Read your policies minutely. It may
surprise you to find that the way your listings look may
not be in total consonance with what you intend to address
with customers. This needs to be checked and corrected
because it will enhance sales. You will be able to get
higher prices for your products with more people happily
buying multiple items from you. You will receive
compliments from people about how attractive and organized
your listings appear. This means you will be remembered and
also referred to friends and family. Properly
formulated/written policies also lead to fewer customer
service calls and emails.

If you have the necessary skills yourself to do what is
required, go ahead. For example your logo, which has
tremendous power to help create a strong brand image for
your business may need re-designing to make it unique,
simple and unforgettable. However, if the area requiring
change does not match your area of skill, it is best to
seek professional help.

----------------------------------------------------
Want to know more? John Thornhill trades on eBay under the
username planetsms and constantly earns over $1000 per week
on eBay on autopilot. To see how he does it visit
http://www.planetsmsblog.com/

Google Adwords Top Tips - Part 2

Google Adwords Top Tips - Part 2
Welcome to part 2 of this 5 part series on Google
Adwords.Google AdWords is one of the best advertising tools
on the Internet, but only if you know how to implement
Adwords properly to achieve maximum potential. So here are
the next ten tips to ensure that you get the best possible
results from using Google Adwords.

1. Organise your campaigns by topic

You don't want to have your health supplements in with your
running shoes now do you? Each campaign should be for a
unique topic. If you sell one type of product then keep to
one campaign unless there is a good reason to do otherwise.
It will be easier to manage this way.

2. Target the right languages and locations

I see this mistake over and over again. You run an ad that
is selling blue widgets and you want to target the ad to
the folks in Kentucky, then what happens? Because you have
your settings wrong, Mr Wong goes onto Google China and
sees your ad for Blue widgets.

You have targeted the wrong country, and the wrong language!

3. Make sure your Ad Groups are highly specific

As with your campaigns, each and every ad group should be
aimed at a unique product or service. Example: Campaign 1 -
Omega 3 Supplements Ad Groups - FISH OIL - all keywords
relating to fish oil EPA - all keywords relating to EPA
(the most important ingredient of fish oil) OMEGA 3 - All
keywords relating to Omega-3 MIXED - Mixed terms relating
to all above If you are very serious about maximising your
profits and really giving AdWords good shot, you will need
to do this for every product or service that you are
advertising. Keep it organised, clean and laser targeted!

4. Optimise all of your Ad including your URL

Let’s say for example you were selling golf clubs.
Think about which URL looks better:
www.sportsshop.com/asp.369£0-/lop0-9823309877654/4/a/0
98665 or SportsShop.com/GolfClubs

You also need to remember that the ad copy is what is going
to make people click through, so make sure it is keyword
rich and appealing In a display URL on AdWords, the domain
name (www.sportsshop.com) must exist, but the extension
(/golfclubs) does not need to exist, so use it as another
opportunity to state your keywords and tell your users that
you have a whole section on this topic.

5. Avoid your home page as your landing page

The landing page is the page that the person who clicked on
your ad will see when they come through to your site. Don't
use your homepage as your landing page unless it deals only
with selling the product you're advertising. For instance,
if you're selling posters, have a landing page for 'flower'
posters and a landing page for 'car'. You can even go one
better and have a landing page for each poster - so you'll
have a page for 'sunflower posters' and 'bmw 5 series
posters'.

Land people in the relevant place.

6. Track conversions

This could actually be the biggest key to helping you
increase your AdWord profits, if you don't know which words
are turning into conversions then you are on a loser right
from the word go! Just because an ad has a high CTR doesn't
mean that it is making you money! How would you know if you
are not tracking it? You can use Google's own conversion
tracking codes, or you can use your own software. Use
Googles as it will be easier! You need to know which
keywords are performing so you can put more money there and
switch off words that are not getting you conversions and
are wasting your money.

7. Work out your cost per sale

Why is this important? If it is costing you $20 to gain a
sale and the profit on that sale is only $15, then you are
losing money! Tracking your cost per sale is easy if you
have the Google tracking code inserted on your site as
Google work this out for you and display the result in the
cost/conversion box on your account.

8. Don't enter into bidding wars

It is easy to get into bidding wars with your competitors.
You want to be number one and so does your competitor. The
best thing to do is to take a step back, ten deep breaths
and consider how important it really is to be in the number
one spot. If you can justify it, fine but otherwise: let
your competitor be number one, sit in the number two slot
and wait. If you have a better product, your click-through
rate will get you to the top - and you'll still be paying
the same as you were in the second position.

More and more people are using automated bidding software.
This software will update at a set interval to keep the ad
in the desired position. Doing battle with this kind of
software is even more frustrating and less rewarding than
trying to outbid a competitor. Bidding software that
targets a certain position can waste a lot of money. You
can be cleverer than that by working out your ROI and
therefore your optimum bid price.

9. Use GeoTargeting for local campaigns

If you are running an Ad Campaign targeting certain
geographical areas for example 'golf course repairs in
Florida', make sure you use the GeoTargeting option. This
will save you a lot of money on useless clicks and help
speed your progress toward successful conversions and,
ultimately, sales.

10. Double-up when GeoTargeting

When running GeoTargeting, always mirror the campaign with
a non-GeoTargeted equivalent with place names in the
keywords. For example, for a Manchester-based IT company,
run 'IT Company' as a keyword in a campaign targeted to
Manchester, and run a country-wide campaign including the
keyword 'IT Company Manchester'.

More Google Adwords Top Tips coming up in Part 3

----------------------------------------------------
Dave McEvoy is an Adwords expert with years of experience
in ppc management. For more information please come and
visit our site http://www.searchlaboratory.com