Internet Profits
JUNE 10, 2017
June 14, 2017
June 15, 2017
Solo Ads
I spent most of the last year working on my Solo Ads business, so here is my case study on it. The Solo Ad industry started out strong, unfortunately not so much these days. But I’ll get to that in a minute… Let me start at the beginning.
I first decided to add Solo Ads to my business early last year. I came across a blog by a UK marketer who shall remain nameless as he has ended up burning many of his customers. Not delivering on promises, taking the money and not providing his goods/services, etc. etc. He turned out to be the stereotypical bad internet marketer, looking for a quick payday and burning many people to get it… But again I digress…
His blog was informative; while I had bought solo ads in the past I didn’t really want to invest my time in selling them myself. His blog convinced me otherwise. Not only could I easily build a new email list while moving traffic through my funnels, but I could also easily automate the income stream from Solo Ads once I hit a certain point. Automated income?
- Setup a simple funnel giving away something valuable in return for the visitor joining my list by subscribing. Also included in this funnel would be an upsell of one of my products and a downsell of one of my products.
- Purchase solo ad “clicks” from the many Facebook groups of forums and send them through my funnel.
- Build an email list from these subs and then sell my own solo ads at $0.30 a “click” which is just the person clicking on the link to the solo ad purchases blog/product/funnel.
- Continue buying solo ads to build my list while selling solo ads myself. You can also trade clicks with other solo ad sellers once your list is capable.
- Keep my list fresh from buying/trading solo ads from as large variety of sellers.
- Rinse/repeat/profit.
So this is a very basic breakdown of the business model, keeping it short and simple. There are a number of things that are really needed if you want to get into the solo ad business:
7 Steps to Cold Traffic.
Step #1: Understand your target customer’s biggest problem and how your offering is the perfect solution. When you’re working with paid traffic, you can’t be everything to everyone If you want to optimize your ROI right out of the gates, then you’ve got to have extreme clarity about how your offering will solve one person’s specific problem.
Step #2: Consider each element of your ad in the filtration equation. Targeting your ads to the perfect people, in the perfect place, in the perfect way takes a lot of tweaking. And too often marketers forget to consider their customer’s frame of mind when strategizing ad content and placement. Use your findings from step one to guide your decision-making when it comes to ad copy and design, as well as the platform where your customers will be clicking through.
Step #3: Set up an opt-in that acts as a feeder system for a pool of customers who are willing to invest? Chris uses a 1-hour automated webinar for his own funnel. Asking people to spend a chunk of time learning something valuable for their business is a good way to get rid of anyone with the potential to waste your time. For those of you, who aren’t into webinars, consider an in-depth case study video. Just go with something that requires a little “skin in the game” from your leads.
Step #4: Filter further with your pitch at the end of the content by selling customers on another time commitment. Invite the people who are really serious about solving their biggest problems to spend more time with you on a personal call. Most people will probably expect a sale at the end of your content, so the short-sided thinkers (who are likely also short-sided spenders) should drop off at this point.
Step #5: Require an additional qualifier to keep the appointment. This is important because it will increase your ability to actually connect with leads. When you’re working with (at this point, nearly) cold traffic, that connection is paramount. If an application process works for your business, ask something about revenue to make sure the person can afford your offering. Some other things to consider including on the application might be social media profiles and websites URLs to make sure they’re the right person to receive your offer.
Step #6: Give your attention to anyone who is still in your pool. Chris recommends treating the time spent interacting with your lead as an opportunity to connect with and consult your potential customer. This means, don’t worry about pitching. The goal here isn’t to make a sale — it’s to help someone make the best decision about how to move forward, given their unique goals and circumstances.
Step #7: Offer honest direction in your CTA. Provide real and authentic feedback for the person you’re speaking with. If you don’t think they’re ready for your top dollar offering, don’t pitch it. Instead, point them to a lower-priced offering or direct them to free resources on your site. And help them that way until they’re ready for your high-ticket stuff. Following this high-ticket sales funnel strategy, Chris made 6-figures in one of his first months. I’ll take that kind of revenue right out of the gates allllll day long — especially when I’m earning it working with top-notch customers. So if you’re not already taking action to filter your customers and solve their specific problems, start by making a few tweaks to your current sales funnel.
June 15, 2017
5 Things Not To Do As An Affiliate.
When people decide to join an affiliate program to make extra money, or to have a full-time job, they often do so with illusions and no idea of how the affiliate program actually works. Read the following top 5 mistakes people make when it comes to choosing an affiliate program and avoid these mistakes at all costs. Then, you will be able to be more effective and make more money for your time, so it is definitely worthwhile to read these warnings and avoid them.
#1 Don't Compete, Support: Too many affiliate programs compete against their competitors which waste money and puts affiliates out of business. However, if you are part of an affiliate program the more affiliates the better for getting more information and more money. One of the worst things to do is choose an affiliate program that believes in competing against other affiliates. Instead, choose an affiliate program that agrees with supporting and growing other affiliates to have a larger network and access to more affiliates.
#2 Little Reward: Another mistake people frequently make when choosing affiliate programs is choosing a program that offers little reward for the individual's hard work. Too many affiliate programs pay too little and as a result, affiliates find it difficult to make the money they should be making. Look for an affiliate program that has a good pay rate for your work.
#3 Old Statistics, if Any: You want an affiliate program that offers good, solid, real time statistics, not old statistics or ones that are no longer valid. There are not many affiliate programs out there that provide the kind of statistics an affiliate manager needs, but do your best to find an affiliate program that offers the most.
#4 No Support: Too often affiliates find themselves waiting days for an answer to an e-mail and an important question for their business. You want an affiliate program that guarantees you support round the clock if possible or at least within 24 hours. If not, keep looking for an affiliate program that wants to help you help yourself.
#5 Fresh Ideas, Creative's: Many affiliate programs provide few ideas or creative's to their affiliates and so thousands of web pages end up with the same advertising. However, affiliate programs would have a better success rate if many different ads were made available so affiliates could alternate ads and place different ads on different sites, depending on the products sold.
Commit these five mistakes to memory so you know exactly what you are looking for in an affiliate program, as well as what to avoid. You will be much more successful and happier as well if you do not get caught in these traps!
5 Tips To Choosing The Right Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs can be a great way to make money online. You don't have to spend time developing your own product, worry about taking orders, or take care of customer service. If you already have a high traffic website or run an e-zine you can stand to earn a steady flow of commissions every month without a lot of extra work on your part. To help you get started promoting affiliate programs, I've provided the following 5 tips to help you choose the affiliate programs that are right for you.
1. Choose affiliate programs that match the content of your site. If your site targets a niche market then choose affiliate programs that offer products to that niche market.
2. Choose affiliate programs that pay a high commission. For example 30%-50% on your direct sales.
3. Join affiliate programs that pay two-tier commissions. This enables you to not only earn commissions on your own sales but also on the sales of people who you introduce to your affiliate program.
4. Join affiliate programs that offer a line of products so that you can earn commissions when your referrals come back and purchase other services or products.
5. Join affiliate programs that offer their affiliates great marketing support. Many affiliate programs offer their affiliates pre-written ads to use or get ideas from, sales letters, marketing courses, and articles to use in promoting their services.
Remember, the best affiliate programs will see their affiliate program as a partnership with you and combine high commissions with excellent support so that you can start earning money promoting their products as quickly as possible.
JUNE 17, 2017
5 Steps for a Smooth Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur.
Do you dream of being your own boss? If yes, you are just one of many! Before you jump into the world of self-employment, however, there are a few things you must consider. Taking the leap without the safety nets in place may put you in a dire situation, rather than being able to enjoy the freedom you desire. Below, we will discuss five steps you need to take to make the smooth transition from employee to entrepreneur!
1. Develop your business plan: The most important step in the process of owning your own business is creating a plan. How do you plan to make money as an entrepreneur? Are you following a passion, or have you found a lucrative model that you would enjoy? The more thorough your plan is before you quit your full-time job, the less risk you will be taking when you make the jump.
2. Secure your finances: It is never ideal to quit your job to start your own business without some padding in the bank account. For your personal finances, you need at least six months’ worth of bills and expenses in your savings account before venturing into the world of self-employment. You will also want a little seed money to invest in your business. The initial investment depends on the business model you plan to pursue. Does your research ensure you have the money available to start your business once you are ready?
3. Make friends: Though your business may be a one-man show, you won’t get very far in your line of work without connections. Networking is one of the best ways to ensure your entrepreneurial journey thrives. Attend events for the business niche you plan to enter, find online forums for business people in your area or niche, and obtain a mentor if your plans can afford one. Having supportive people in your corner will make the transition from employee to your own boss less stressful.
4. Start before you quit: If at all possible, launch your new business on a small scale before you hand in your resignation. Testing the waters helps you recognize any flaws in your plan. It also assists in deciding whether or not the business will thrive, or if the model you are utilizing is the best one for you and your situation.
5. Accept feedback and suggestions: Being open to advice about your business could mean the difference between it thriving – or sinking faster than the Titanic. Always respond to a customer’s complaints or praise, going above and beyond when you can to make any negative situation right. Seek guidance from those that have been entrepreneurs far longer than you, as they can help you shorten your learning curve to running your own business.
June 19, 2017
How to Cloak Affiliate Links.
I always run my affiliate links through redirects – also referred to as cloaking affiliate links – for several reasons: Running them through my redirects means I have a click count to match up to the one the merchant is reporting. Affiliate links are usually ugly and impossible to remember without doing a copy/paste. Redirects allow you to create short, memorable URLS for them and allow you to access commonly used affiliate links from memory.
If you're in an industry where you market to other affiliates, it can help prevent folks from switching out your affiliate ID with theirs. If the merchant decides to change networks or linking methods, you can edit a single redirect instead of needing to edit every instance in which you linked to them throughout your entire site. If you decide to change which merchant you're using to promote a product, you can edit one redirect instead of needing to edit every instance in which you linked to them throughout your entire site.
If a handful of the merchants I mention on a regular basis don't have affiliate programs, I'll often still cloak the link to their main website. This way, if they ever do launch an affiliate program, I can affiliate all my previous links to them by updating the one cloaked link. If you're running an affiliate data feed site, anything you can do to make your site more technically unique than the other 4000 affiliates using the same data feed is a bonus in regards to affiliate data feed SEO.
What does it mean to cloak affiliate links?
Cloaking an affiliate link just means that you are creating URLs on your website that redirect to an affiliate link. For example:
You don't have to use a plugin to create cloaked affiliate links. You can do so with this method detailed out by Yoast or by using your .htaccess file. However, you should never touch your .htaccess file unless you're well versed in using it because making an error within it could take down your whole site. Using .htaccess or the Yoast method for manually cloaking affiliate links means that you lose out on the additional features a link cloaking plugin can provide.
There are several affiliate link cloaking plugins on the market, but I use the Pretty Link Pro WordPress plugin to cloak my affiliate links. (Disclosure: I came across Pretty Link Pro years ago and paid for the plugin out of my own pocket. Pretty Link Pro has an affiliate program that I signed up for once I already owned and began using the plugin. I link to the plugin using affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, I may receive a commission if you purchase the plugin.)
There is also a free version of the plugin called Pretty Link Lite, but the Pro version has features I won't do without – like being able to change the base slug in the cloaked links. Installing Pretty Link Pro Once you have purchased and downloaded the plugin you'll need to install it.
In your WordPress dashboard, head to Plugins > Add New
At the top of the next screen, click on the Upload a Plugin button
Choose the PLP plugin file from your computer and click Install Now
On the next screen, click Activate Plugin
The plugin is now installed and ready for setup.
The 5 Best Free Marketing Tools for Affiliates Marketing.
Oh, you brave affiliate marketers. Trying to outdo major corporations with only your passion, hard work and marketing savvy. It’s no little thing, what you’ve undertaken. You need all the help you can get. Just remember: One tool won’t make the difference between success and failure. But if you’re already on your way to success, a good tool can give you an edge.
We’ve compiled this list in the hopes of giving you as many edges as possible. Every tool listed here is free. To keep this list manageable, I have not included even one WordPress plugin. There are no apps, either. It was hard. But next week’s post will make up for some of the absence. It’s a roundup of the best and most essential free WordPress plugins. So here’s your list, grouped by activity. If one of your favorite online tools for affiliates isn’t listed here, give it a shout-out in the comments.
1) Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer: As an affiliate, you’re fundamentally a traffic broker. Traffic flows toward good content. It flows toward killer headlines. Get the headline right and you’re more than on your way. So here’s the tool to pick a highly viral headline every time.
2) The Advanced Marketing Institute’s Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer: Also good for finding the headline most likely to succeed.
3) Buzzsumo: Want to know which blog posts, videos, podcasts or infographics have gotten the most shares in the last 24 hours? The last three months, six months, or a year? This is the tool for that. It’ll even tell you who shared the most. This is killer information if you want to reach out to influencers on a specific topic. Check out NinjaOutreach, too. Just want to know how many shares a URL has? Try SharedCount instead.
4) Portent’s Content Idea Generator: Give it a topic, and Portent’s Content Idea Generator will do the rest. This tool is especially good at funny headlines like “Why Wily Affiliate Marketers are Hotter than Jennifer Lawrence”.
5) Content Idea Generator: Want hundreds of content ideas? This is the tool for you. After you register, they’ll ask you about your target audience, what they struggle with and what they want. Then you click a button and see several hundred ready-to-use headlines and topic ideas. You’ll have enough content ideas for the next year.
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