Your Road Map To A Successful Internet Business

Your Road Map To A Successful Internet Business
There are so many different ways to make money online, but
the only general area that I believe is a long term
business model is that of selling products online. Now
these can be informational products like ebooks and how-to
manuals, but nevertheless, those are products too. Any
business model that involves recruiting and getting in
first and get-rich-quick or anything else like that is
basically a scam, in my humble opinion.

The only differences in the online market versus the
offline market are those of vehicle and scale. By vehicle,
I mean the means used to advertise and set up business.
And scale, of course, indicates the size of the market,
which is considerably larger than for most offline
businesses.

Just like in the offline market, something has to be sold
for any income to be made. Whether you are selling
gasoline or groceries, houses or cars, or even services
like accounting and dog grooming, you must sell the item
for a profit to be made.

So the first step to online business is deciding on a
product or set of products to sell. You can choose one
product, several products (a family of related products) or
a large array of products (like a catalogue). Get online
and search out some of your favorite topics. What would
you LIKE to sell? There are so many objects for sale
online, and so many people more than willing to buy just
about anything online, that you might as well sell
something you will enjoy selling.

Once you have determined what you are going to sell, you
need a web site to sell it from. In some cases, you may
initially choose to sell someone else's product. In that
case, you will be given a special affiliate link to their
site, so theoretically you don't need a web site at all. I
prefer, however, to have my own site, so that I can route
the customers my way first. That way I can offer them a
newsletter and keep their name and email address on file.
This allows me to market additional products to them if
they don't buy at the first site they go to.

If you are going to collect names and email addresses, then
you will also need an auto responder service so you can
keep in touch with the people who visited your web site.
It has been said that the average purchaser buys after an
average of 7 follow-up calls or letters. No sense in
losing track of the person who will buy on the seventh
email!

The next thing you need to do is send traffic to your site.
Obviously, there are many ways to do that, some more
effective than others. Some of the most effective are
press releases, articles, classified ezine ads, and JV
email partners. Give each of these methods a try and see
what works better for you. Keep in mind, any form of
advertising you do will need to be tweaked some before it
will become profitable.

Once you have all of those things in place, you must track
and test everything you do. You must know who bought what
product and when they bought it. Which advertising sources
are producing a profit and which are not? Make
adjustments. You can only make your online business
successful if you are willing to work at it and make the
necessary adjustments.

One thing that is important to remember when you are
starting out online is that everyone makes mistakes. There
is no perfect way to make money online. If there were
today, someone would sell the idea to a million people, and
then that market would be saturated. You must just
innovate and develop, and become good at promoting.

----------------------------------------------------
Westly Lager is a success mentor and coach helping teach
people how to work online. With Westly's experience and
expertise you can't go wrong. See how Westly can help you
today by visiting http://nicheannihilationmethod.org also
checkout http://cruisetocash.org for more tips.

10 Commandments of Successful People

10 Commandments of Successful People
Do you ever wonder why some people are successful at
everything they try? Do they posess some special powers?
Are they just lucky? Are they smarter? Are they better?
Well, the answer to all of these is an emphatic NO!
Successful people are just the same as everyone else, they
just DO different things. They go by a strict 'code of
ethics' if you will. They know that to be successful, they
must do certain things EVERY DAY. These are the 10
Commandments of successful people:

1) THOU SHALL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THY LIFE!

Take responsibility for changing your conditions. Start
with a list. What are 3 areas you want to improve? Model
after other people - responsible, successful people.

2) THOU SHALL TAKE ACTION!

Life rewards action, MASSIVE Action! Give yourself a
deadline for your action. Take a look at your Strengths and
weaknesses. Enemies of action: Laziness, complacency, fear,
bad habits, despair.

What is ONE specific action you can do to improve your life
right now:

3) THOU SHALL HAVE DESIRE!

Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Make a
list of your top 3 core desires:

What do you want?

What are you passionate about?

What drives you?

4) THOU SHALL SET GOALS!

SMART Goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic,
Timeframe

Write down your goals. Brainstorm -all your goals. Pick a
few and redefine as SMART goal. Partner with a goal buddy.
Join a "Mastermind group". Find out your life purpose.
Prioritize your goals. Maintain awareness of your goals.

5) THOU SHALL CREATE A PLAN

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Have daily goals,
weekly goals, monthly goals.

Pick ONE goal - work on a COMPLETE plan to get it done!

6) THOU SHALL PAY THE PRICE

Either by time or money. Invest in yourself. The price of
success - dedication, determination. What are you willing
to do or give up to get what you want?

7) THOU SHALL HAVE PERSISTENCE

Identify ONE area of your life where you need to be more
persistent.

8) THOU SHALL BELIEVE IN THYSELF

Get rid of doubts Use positive affirmations, write them
down and read them everyday!

9) THOU SHALL LEARN FROM THY MISTAKES

There are no failures, only lessons to be learned!

10) THOU SHALL CREATE A CLEAR PICTURE OF THY FUTURE AND
VISUALIZE

Close your eyes each day, and visualize what your perfect
life will look like when you achieve all your goals and
dreams! No dream is too big!

----------------------------------------------------
The Wealthy Woman provides women (and men!) with tips and
strategies on investing, budgeting, debt-reduction and
business management. Top Quality articles, resources and
information to help you make informed choices about your
financial future.
Visit http://thewealthywoman.ca

for more information and
to subscribe.

Start Your Own Online Training Site

Start Your Own Online Training Site
This really isn't as hard as it sounds, and can be
extremely profitable. Let's start by sorting out all those
things that you probably think are hard to do. If you can't
(or don't want to) design and construct a website from
scratch, you can get desktop publishing software that makes
it easier, or go to www.nvu.com where you can download free
open source web authoring software. I use this myself and
can tell you it's pretty much as good as dreamweaver or
frontpage, with a few less bells ad whistles, which you
don't need anyway.

Or you can have your website designed by a professional.
They don't have to cost the earth, and furthermore you will
have guarantees that your website will do what you want it
to and not suddenly develope unwanted glitches.

The first thing you need to do is to determine just what
kind of instruction you will give in your website. You
should theme your website to your topic of instruction. For
example, if you have a website instructing mechanics then
you could have some pictures of tools, or maybe a tire
included in the background wallpaper or in the video
instruction section of your site.

Next, of course, you will need those instructional videos
for your customers. Begin by writing a script. Divide your
script into the stages, or levels, of your instruction
topic. Don't worry, if you are not happy with writing just
go to www.elance.com where you will find dozens of writers
who will do this for very little cost.

Determine the price you are going to charge for your
educational video service. You can research this on the net
and decide where you want to fit in with your competition.
Beware of going in too cheaply. Pitch yourself in the top
half of what others are charging. Don't undervalue yourself
and others wont either. Once you are done you can embed the
video into your website and check the final product.

If you are happy with what you have, you can then search
for a website hosting provider/service. Some providers will
design your site for a fee if you wish. As well as hosting
fees you will have to pay for your domain name, and maybe
incidental fees. Ask your prospective host provider about
bandwidth. The higher the better when streaming video on
your site. Shop around, I use www.dreamhost.com and find
them helpful and reliable. Check out several and find one
that suits you.

Now you are ready to sell, you need a means of receiving
your payments. There are several ways to do this, one is to
open a merchant account with your bank and have the hosting
provider configure your website so payments are forwarded
to that. Or you can use services such as PayPal or
WorldPay. Again, shop around and find what's good for you.

Don't panic, yes, this will cost a few dollars, but not as
much as you might think, and we have to speculate to
accumulate right? And if your business does not perform as
you want, you can research, adjust, apply various
advertising strategies with little effort.

Don't think of this as a pioneering venture. Video
streaming for education and instruction on the net has been
in use for a while now. Even so, most instructional
websites do not have video in their pages. The great
advantage of using video is that people can see the action
as they hear the words. Far better than just reading a
manual.

It is commonly said that our future lies with our children.
Well, we need to educate them first. What better way to
teach than to have instructional videos ready for them to
learn from and enjoy in the process. There, I think I've
just given you an idea for another business!

----------------------------------------------------
Chris Haycock is an information publisher specialising in
helping people start their own home based business. You can
get an absolutely no cost two hour video on how to create
your own information products in one day, without writing a
single word, and start your own niche ebook business, by
going to:
http://www.easyebizz.com

Identify your own Internet Business Opportunity

Identify your own Internet Business Opportunity
Faster computers and broadband internet have today changed
the way many things are done in the world. The same applies
to business opportunities. With internet, not only is it
possible to search for new and exciting business roles but
also to discover new ways to market your home business
online. It is now possible for groups of people across the
globe to put a business plan into action through efficient
online systems of communication and interaction.

Using the internet to promote your business has many unique
benefits. For example, the overhead is negligible if you
are operating from a home based computer. Besides, you will
have access to many business tools that big companies use,
and most of such tools are free or inexpensive. In
addition, you can enjoy various incentives that are
available to those who officially start a home based
business. Finally, a major incentive for people interested
in internet business opportunities is to implement their
own ideas and enjoy control over their own business, while
enjoying a free life.

However, even though an internet business opportunity may
sound as an easy and exciting way to earn or supplement
your income, it is critical to stay focussed and dedicated
to the business plan. For, if it drifts to being just a
casual hobby, it may not reap the desired benefits.

To get started, it is essential to choose a business
opportunity for which there already exists a demand online.
Because it is easier to sell to people what they want than
to sell a new product of which there is limited awareness.
A good online business involves research into keyword
popularity. There are certain key elements that should be
in place before starting any new business - a simple
website for your new business, a basic understanding of
bookkeeping and accounting and a thorough business plan.

It may be a good idea to constitute a team to help
accomplish your internet business plans. This can be a
group of people who will brainstorm with you and give you
feedback when required. You can organise a team either by
interacting with people on online forums or through your
own friends and professional associates who may also be
interested in internet business opportunities.

As your business grows, you can even have professionals in
specialised roles. For instance, you could hire writers,
designers, lawyers, accountants and so on. These
professionals can help you expand your home internet
business with their expert services. Team work is crucial
in later stages because there is often a danger of losing
perspective in online businesses in the absence of regular
monitoring and feedback.

While starting an online business, it is recommended to
begin your new venture as an extra source of income,
without quitting your regular job. This implies working on
this new business in evenings or over weekends. The reason
this is recommended is so that you can continue to enjoy
your regular pay, and also give yourself time to catch up
on the learning period of your new internet business,
without stretching your budget. Also, you can reinvest your
business income in the initial stages to help it expand
further.

Finally, there are other types of internet opportunities
that can help you make money without actually starting your
own business. The internet is full of offers from thousands
of websites that lure you to join them. Unfortunately, many
of them may be identity thieves or scammers. However, if
you do your homework properly, you may land yourself the
ideal source of making money online.

For such opportunities, it is essential to protect your
personal information. For this purpose, you can either find
a professional you can trust or learn yourself about the
various protections like firewalls and anti-virus software.
It is also advisable to get an external hard drive to back
up all your data.

Another possibility of earning income through internet is
by making use of affiliate marketing and network programs.
These new innovative online marketing techniques allow you
to make money even when you are not online. Once you get
started initially, you can get paid on the efforts of
others further down the line, thus keeping your business
awake twenty four hours a day.

So far we have seen the various ways of making money
through different internet business opportunities. All it
takes is a certain amount of will and perseverance to get
started and stay focussed. The business principles of hard
work, good marketing and networking remain the same as
before. What has changed is the availability of fast speed
internet which has expanded the potential reach of
businesses and the availability of global markets - all of
this without leaving the comfort zone of your home. All you
need is to do is to identify your business and get going!

----------------------------------------------------
Tom Gee is a professional internet marketer and website
optimization expert who lives in Cardiff, South Wales, UK.
For more information about starting your own Internet
Business Opportunity Visit : http://www.uvme-biz.org

Can you really make a living on the internet without a website?

Can you really make a living on the internet without a website?
That's exactly right, I am going to show you a system that
will make money for you online, without a web site or web
page.

Before I get into this, I want to be clear about a few
things. I am tired, and I am sure you are too, of seeing
promises online for this or that system that is THE way to
make money online. I am also tired of seeing pyramid
schemes and guarantees of specific amounts of money to be
made online.

I truly believe this about the online marketplace: if you
want to make money badly enough, you will make it. But
there are many people online making money in many different
ways---many legitimate, some not so legitimate, and others
downright unethical and immoral.

Enough of my rant. No guarantees here. But this is sure
to turn on some light bulbs in your mind about what is
possible online. Perhaps you have simply been too scared
of trying to build a web site from scratch, or of even
using a site builder to do it. Maybe you just don't think
you can spare the money to get a web site going. Maybe you
just aren't sure what to do and how to do it.

I am going to show you a basic plan for what to do to get
started. And that is what it will do. It will get you
started. Long run, you need a web site. You need a
professional presence online. But if you start small and
reinvest your profits, you can grow big if you just stick
with it.

Let's get started:

First, you are going to select someone else's product to
sell. You are going to use someone else's product because
you do not have your own, yet. To find a product to sell,
go to click bank.com or commissionjunction.com and search
for something you like. Sign up with either company to
become an affiliate or publisher for their products.

Next, you are going to need an auto responder account.
Basically what an auto responder does is allow you to set
up a series of messages that go out to a subscriber. For
example, someone will subscribe to your list and they will
receive an automated, personalized email welcoming them to
the list. On a pre-determined schedule (determined by
you), the auto responder will send to your subscriber a
series of emails with information from you.

Next, you must write a series of email letters. This may
seem absolutely daunting at first, but just do it. The
first ones you write may be lousy, but you will get better.
The first email will just be a welcome email; thanks for
joining my list; here are a few tips about (whatever the
product is you choose to sell). The next few emails should
be informative, offering the subscriber free tips about the
topic of your product. At the end of the email, include a
link to the product you have chosen to promote. Click one
of my links at the end of this article to get a series of
emails from me; that will give you an idea of what you want
to do.

Once you have the auto responder account set up, with a few
messages (I will cover the content of those messages
later), you will generate a web form or link from the auto
responder that will allow the subscriber to "opt-in" to
your list.

Next, advertise the web link or web form in ezines,
newsletters, or high-traffic web sites (as banner ads, exit
pops, etc.). When the readers read your ad and click
through to your link they will become subscribed to your
list.

Keep in mind, that, as simple as I may have laid this out,
it will take some time before you become good at it. You
will have a steep learning curve. You will write good ad
copy and bad ad copy. You will write good emails and bad
emails. You will make a few sales. You will have dry
spells. The key here is to test everything you do. When
you run an ad somewhere, track the ad through your auto
responder service (build a different auto responder for
each ad you run) so that you know which ads produce the
best response.

----------------------------------------------------
Westly Lager is a success mentor and coach helping teach
people how to work online. With Westly's experience and
expertise you can't go wrong. See how Westly can help you
today by visiting http://nicheannihilationmethod.org also
checkout http://cruisetocash.org for more tips.

Pad Your Online Business from Recessionary Conditions - focus on Joint Ventures

Pad Your Online Business from Recessionary Conditions - focus on Joint Ventures
2008 is off to a dismal start, with the stock market
performing at historical lows. Non-manufacturing production
has dropped to its lowest levels since the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, and Federal Chairman Bernanke has not been upbeat
about the economy in either his words or actions,
especially as he announced a historical intersession rate
cut...before he implemented yet another rate cut.
Consumers, laden with the disaster of variable rate
mortgages, are tightening their belts, with dismal
Christmas sales indicative of shrinking expendable income.
With the economic walls falling all around America, many
business owners are asking, "How can I keep my business
growing, or at least stable, during a recession?"

Growing a company during a recession is not easy, but there
are several strategies you can enact to ensure that your
cash flow remains stable amidst the economic downturn:

*Evaluate your expenditures: Just as it is important to
grow your revenues, managing your expenses is equally
critical to your financial success. As consumers tighten
their belts, you may want to consider tightening your
business' belt too. Thoroughly evaluate all of your
business expenditures, and you will find that marketing and
advertising often take up most of your working capital.
Are all of your marketing avenues working effectively for
you? Do you enjoy high ROI equally on all of your options?
If not, it is time to cut the fat - stop the bleeding on
those marketing strategies that are not producing top
results. Those funds are better spent on more productive
campaigns - or better kept in your own pocket.

*Offer discounts to your clients: As economic times grow
harder for consumers, offering discounts and sales to your
customers is an excellent way to motivate them to spend.
Research shows that consumers are much more inclined to buy
when they think they are getting a great "deal," and if you
give that deal to them, you can increase the volume of your
sales. You may want to reconsider your business strategy
during a recession; instead of holding high pricing and
requiring lower volume, you could change your model to
incorporate low pricing but higher volume to maintain or
even grow your revenues. In times of recessions, all of the
major discount retailers grow - and you can too.

*Ask for customer feedback: Economic conditions cause
customers to reevaluate their own needs. Sending out a
survey - coupled with a drawing for a free product or gift
certificate - is a great way to gauge what your customers
need. Based upon this information, you can meet their needs
accordingly, while maintaining the prosperity of your
business revenues.

*Find a joint venture or strategic alliance: Teaming up
with another business that has similar synergies to yours
is a great way to increase your client list and marketing
campaign - without incurring any additional cost. Many
businesses decide to scale back on traditional advertising,
saving thousands of dollars, while engaging in strategic
alliances that can generate significant sales leads and
increased revenues.

Although 2008 may not bode well for the economy, you can
still ensure the growth and prosperity of your business by
making smart decisions, both when it comes to generating
customer interest in your product or service, as well as
managing your operating costs.

----------------------------------------------------
Christian Fea is a Collaboration Marketing Strategist. He
empowers business owners to discover how to implement
Integration, Alliance, and Joint Ventures marketing tactics
to solve their specific business challenges. He
demonstrates how you can create your own Collaboration
Marketing Strategy to increase your new sales, conversation
rates, and repeat business. He can be reached at:
http://www.christianfea.com

How to Make Money Online with your Own Home Based Business

How to Make Money Online with your Own Home Based Business
There is no secret to making money online with your own
home based business. What it does take is a lot of hard
tedious work, writing, learning, and studying. The object
to making a living from the comfort of your own home is to
select the right keywords and to get your website
positioned on the top page of the search engines. This is
known as SEO or search engine optimization and is the key
to making real money online.

The first thing you need to do is optimize your website for
your selected keywords. Put your keywords in your title,
h1 headers, meta tags, alt images, and throughout the text
of your web page. Optimal keyword density is somewhere
around 1-3%. Too much and the search engines will penalize
you, too little and they won't pick you up at all.

Next, and the most important aspect to making money online,
is building back links. The more links you have pointing
back to your web site, the higher you will rank in the
search engines. It also helps to have links pointing back
to your home based business from high authority sites.
Sites with a page rank of four or higher are considered by
the search engines to be high authority sites.

Building enough back links to get your website ranked in
the search engines will take time. You just have to be
patient and persistent with your efforts. The best way to
build back links is to have a daily, weekly, and monthly
agenda. Sticking to the agenda will virtually success and
money for your home based business. 97% of the people who
get into the home based business niche however fail to
stick with it and ultimately quit before any money is made.

To succeed with your home based business and make money
online, your daily agenda should include but not be limited
to writing articles, blogging, posting in forums,
commenting on blogs, and reciprocal linking. Using these
methods on a daily basis and doing it over months at a time
will lock your home based business in the top of the search
engines and guarantee your web page loads of free organic
traffic. It is possible to make money online without
spending money first.

Once your web site is on page one or two of Google and the
like for your selected keywords, you should rinse and
repeat the process for more keywords. In fact, you should
make a separate page for each of the keywords you choose
and repeat the process over and over until you've locked a
top spot for good number of different keywords. After
years of doing this, you should be in the top page for
hundreds of different keywords and your traffic at the time
will be through the roof!

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Helphrey can help you start your own website
completely set up and ready to start pulling profits in
under 24 hours... guaranteed!
http://www.livelifetothefullest.biz/pips.html
For more Make Money Online Home Based Business Ideas...
http://www.livelifetothefullest.biz

Understanding Search Engine Marketing

Understanding Search Engine Marketing
Anyone selling online should consider search engine
marketing (SEM) as a way of generating potential customers
to their website. But what does this unique kind of
marketing involve? In this article, I'll explain a few
search engine basics...

For most Internet users it's virtually second nature to use
a search engine to look for information, products or
services. As expected, when they search on a particular
word or combinations of words, the search engines come up
with a host of results. Each result represents a website
that supposedly has the information, products or services
the Internet user looking for. They can click on the link
and ta-da! the website does or does not give them what they
want.

It's important to note that the search engines don't rank
websites as a whole; they rank specific webpages. In any
case, the higher that your webpages appear in the SERPs,
the more people who are likely to see your description and
click on your link. However, SEM experts tend to vary in
their view on whether it's better to have the top position
in both or either the free and paid results. While most
believe that having the top rank in the free results
attracts the most clicks and traffic; some SEM experts
believe that it's more cost-effective to have the second,
third or lower listing in the paid results. Nevertheless,
most agree that you want your free and/or paid results to
be on the first page.

The two main strands of search marketing are search engine
optimization (SEO) and paid search. Search engine
optimization is about optimizing your website (i.e. each
page on the site) - known as "on-page optimization" - as
well as undertaking a range of "off-page" activities
designed to achieve a high ranking in the SERPs. Getting a
high ranking in the SERPs of a given search engine is a
function of how that search engine's mathematical algorithm
(i.e. for determining rankings) works. Often this takes a
degree of study, trial and error, and hard work.

Alternatively, to achieve a high place in the paid search
results, it's largely a matter of how much you're willing
to pay. Depending on the search engine, you can pay per
click - known literally as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- or pay based on the number of impressions or views the ad
receives. Having said that, the priority of your placing
may also be impacted by how effective your ad is, based on
the number of clicks it receives or click through rate
(CTR). Google, in particular, takes the CTR into account,
as well as the bid price per click, when determining the
order of the paid results.

It can be a good idea to dip your toe into search marketing
by starting with paid advertising - particularly PPC. Not
only can you begin promoting your offer to your target
market without delay, but you can also test keywords. You
might decide that particularly high performing keywords
should be incorporated into your webpages for SEO purposes.

So there you have a quick run-down of search engine
marketing. It's definitely worth delving into further if
you like the idea of building a consistent traffic stream
to your web business.

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Renner is a well known Internet Marketing Expert,
author, consultant and speaker. Get Professional Internet
Marketing Training and resources at http://www.imtrain.com

Boost Your Online Profits with Affiliate Commissions

Boost Your Online Profits with Affiliate Commissions
One of the income streams in my business comes from
affiliate commissions, or money I make from the referral of
another's products or services. Affiliate commissions are a
very viable way to add another income stream to your
business where you can make a couple of hundred dollars a
month to several thousand dollars a month, depending on how
much time and effort you want to put into the process.

Several years ago I felt guilty for sending others to a
product or service through my affiliate link because I
believed I was manipulating them in some way. However, now
I have a clearly defined set of rules for myself before I
recommend a product to someone else:

1. I usually personally own or have used the product

2. If I don't own it or use it, I rely on many trusted
reviews before deciding to recommend. In most cases, I
don't choose to send someone through an affiliate link if I
don't personally own or use the product.

3. I have either a verbal or written review/testimonial
about the product.

4. I am honest about the product's pros and cons.

5. I can usually tell a story about how the use of this
product/service has impacted the business of one of my
clients or my own business.

6. When responding to an email inquiry or forum/discussion
list post, I disclose my link is an affiliate link.

Because it's very easy to get caught up in the lure of
affiliate commissions, perpetuated by the constant
bombardment of "opportunities" to promote someone else's
products and services, you must be very discriminating in
the products and services you recommend to your contacts.
All is takes is one or two poor recommendations, and you
begin to lose credibility with your audience. Your email
list will also lose faith in you if you bombard them with
affiliate email promotions. In some cases, I receive more
affiliate promotions than email newsletters or
announcements from some of the lists to which I belong.
Consequently, because of the trust my email list has in me,
I rarely send solo email affiliate promotions to them,
preferring to make affiliate recommendations in my ezine
and on my website.

One problem that affiliate marketers often encounter is
their visitor's aversion to clicking on an affiliate link.
The visitor will remove the affiliate portion of the link
URL instead of crediting you for helping them to find out
about the product or service. I find this a bit silly now,
as they are paying the same either way, but since I used to
do the same thing (I have to chalk it up to ignorance, I
suppose), I know that it happens frequently. Or, the
visitor will attempt to substitute his affiliate ID in the
URL. Most reputable businesses now have a clause in their
affiliate agreements prohibiting using your own affiliate
ID to make purchases for yourself. However, in many cases,
it is still possible.

Here are 4 strategies you can use to "cloak" your affiliate
links.

1. Use a redirect service. Many affiliate links are long
and cumbersome. If you use a service like TinyURL.com or
SnipURL.com, you can both shorten the length of the URL as
well as prevent any URL tampering, as the final URL
provided by the redirect service gives the visitor no idea
about the final destination.

2. Simple website redirect. You may be able to redirect a
long URL through a page of your site with the commands in
your web hosting control panel or FTP client or through a
3rd party software loaded onto your hosting account.

3. Dedicated domain name. This is my favorite strategy.
I buy a domain name that's clearly seen as my brand, and
add a defining word to indicate to me and to my visitors
about the nature of the product, and then use the services
of my domain registrar to forward it to my affiliate link.
So, for example, if you're a professional organizer and are
known under the name "Best Organizer", you might buy
something like BestOrganizerAudio.com, for example, so that
you have an easy-to-remember domain name to which you can
refer when mentioning this audio recording product in
client consultations, teleclasses, and articles.

4. Online Rolodex site. Create a site or a page containing
all of your valuable recommendations, and purchase a
corresponding domain name to use with it, i.e.
JaneDoeRecommends.com. You can tell your clients that this
site contains your Rolodex of trusted resources or is your
library of trusted resources, and they can refer to the
list any time they are seeking a trusted resource or
referral to help them solve a problem.

Take time to set your parameters for affiliate
recommendations and inform your clients and email list of
those rules. Then, use one of the affiliate cloaking
strategies to make your affiliate marketing as easy and
painless as possible, both for you and your contacts. As
you begin to see your affiliate commissions grow, you'll
wonder why you didn't start this process sooner!

----------------------------------------------------
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .

How To Guru-Proof Yourself Against Big Product Launches!

How To Guru-Proof Yourself Against Big Product Launches!
Even for those of us who have been dabbling in the Internet
marketing arena for a decade or more, all these latest
frenzied "Info-Product Launches" are downright scary. In
recent months it is not only the product launches
themselves that have become a little frightening, but also
the rate at which these product launches keep bombarding
all of us in the marketing world. It has become so
relentless you feel like you're an extra, ducking for cover
in some war movie; Saving Private Ryan comes quickly to
mind.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you might get hit with
one or two really major launches in a year. Now it seems
like we are getting two or three a week. Those actively
looking for good, solid marketing information will be
totally drenched in the latest "How To" ebooks, videos and
courses. Plus, throw in all those debuting membership
sites, seminars, and private coaching sessions and even
seasoned marketers are in serious danger of getting "Info
Product Launch Burn-out."

For the beginning wannabe online marketer it is a virtual
mind field. One misstep and you can wake up, scratching
your head: did I actually pay that much for a marketing
product I can barely understand, let alone put into
practice. Don't get fooled by all the promises of instant
wealth or quick riches. If getting rich was as easy as
123... we would all be sporting Donald Trump hairdos.

To make matters worst, all the latest marketing trends seem
to be promoting the laziest ways possible to make a quick
killing on the Internet. With this simple marketing tactic
or that SEO trick, even the dimmest light bulb on the
planet can have roaring online success without even
breaking into a sweat or using up any of those precious
brain cells. Heaven forbid.

The marketing hype has become so palpable and obnoxious
it's like a rich relative who won't shut up about how much
he's earning while sitting in his pj's and playing with his
PDA.

"How I made 1 million in 52 minutes." "How I made 100 grand
with only a list of 45 subscribers..."

Who is to blame for all this "Info Product Feeding Frenzy"?
Well we won't mention names but these marketers are not shy
about what they're doing. Just the opposite, they brag and
boast about how they can manipulate, control and whip
prospective customers into such a buying frenzy just to see
who can sell the largest amount of product in the shortest
amount of time.

Some savvy and ruthless online marketers have turned this
whole launch process into an art form, offering flashy
videos with real valuable content in order to hook
potential customers and capture their email contact
information. The info-product launch flows out like a
well-rehearsed opera:

- Giving the specific date and countdown clock showing when
the product goes live.

- Incorporating a blog to keep everyone, including the
search engines, informed.

- Strictly limiting the product or buying time to increase
demand.

- Even manipulating you to buy the product before someone
else beats you to it.

- Having top-name JV partners whipping their devoted
followers/subscribers with extra bonus offers.

- Even enticing said affiliate partners with top prizes
from ipods to sports cars.

- Everything is in marketing sync for the big day.

Some of the top marketing pros and experts are now even
offering courses on how to do exactly that: courses showing
HOW you can warm up and psychologically cultivate a whole
list of prospective buyers by giving away very valuable
information in videos, reports and online calls... all to
make that final sale.

There is nothing wrong with making a sale. There is nothing
wrong with making a hundred sales, but there is something
intrinsically wrong when you know in your heart of heart
what you're selling will never be used by half the people
who are buying it.

How many of those sales are from naive or desperate buyers
looking for a 'quick fix' or 'easy ride' to the good life?
How many even if they have the money to buy your product
will never have the will power and fortitude to carry out
the marketing game plan in your product?

How many people are being fooled by all this marketing hype
and rhetoric... how many will actually benefit from buying
your product? Makes one wonder if that old saying is really
true that in any gold rush, it is the people selling to the
miners who make the most money.

All of these marketing products should not only come with
an income disclaimer, which all the marketers prudently
include, if only by some magical power we could see
displayed on each product in big bold letters the tell-tell
statistic: "How many buyers will actually read/view/use and
ultimately benefit from the marketing info-product they
have just purchased?"

That would be one statistic worth discovering. Of course,
there's no way of knowing, but one could argue this number
is quite large. Otherwise, if you believe all the claims on
these products, half the world would be Internet marketers
and rolling in dough.

Online marketing is not easy. It can't be done overnight.
There is a learning curve and you must pay your dues. Be
extra weary of any short cuts and anyone offering them.
Magic formulas do exist and while buying the latest
marketing product and information can definitely make the
journey easier; always remember, no product can make that
journey for you. No product or system can automatically
make you rich. Don't be fooled by flashy headlines, smart
videos and the latest next big thing.

Nor can anyone say these info-products don't have real
value or merit. They do! They are of tremendous value to
those who can benefit from them. If you're marketing on the
web and your sites/marketing are earning you $200-$300 a
day or an hour - even just a small tidbit of information or
advice can dramatically increase your income. Over time the
amount paid for any info-product will be returned to you a
hundred-fold. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the
info-product itself; a marketer might mention a piece of
software or program he/she uses in their work that when
applied to your own can make a big difference in how much
you earn. Been there, done that.

For everything is relative; even the large amounts charged
for some of these seminars, coaching sessions or
info-products can be justified if the buyer gets his
money's worth and then some. It all depends on the
position/angle you're coming from and how much the
information impacts your online business, which will really
determine if one benefits from a particular info-product or
not.

So the next time you're bombarded by the latest
info-product by some of the world's best online
marketers... STOP, take a deep breath and step back from
all the marketing hype and manipulation. Then honestly ask
yourself: How can I use this information? Will I use this
information? Perhaps, most importantly, can I really afford
this product at this time or can it wait?

If you decide to buy, protect yourself by thoroughly
checking out the marketer's reputation beforehand. A
money-back guarantee is only as good as the marketer's
word. If there is a payment option - take this route
because you will lose less money if refunds are not honored.

Above all, if you're buying the product because you believe
it will solve all your problems and will virtually give you
the path to the easy life, just remember this... you have
to do some work. You have to put in some sweat equity. You
have to do your own homework; no one else can do it for
you. It doesn't work that way. Sure some smart, successful
marketer can sell you the answers, but you still have to
write the test yourself.

Like most things in life, there are shortcuts; but you have
to take them yourself in order to get to where you want to
go. Online marketing is no different.

----------------------------------------------------
The author, a former artist and teacher, is now a full-time
online marketer who has numerous websites, including two
sites on Internet marketing. For the latest web marketing
tools try: http://www.bizwaremagic.com
or http://www.marketingtoolguide.com
Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if
this resource box stays attached.