Associate Programs Newsletter #313

Whether you're seeking a little success or working on big successes, today's newsletter has something for you.
     

CONTENTS:

1. Turning a hobby into a business
2. Double your PPC profits while halving your costs
3. It's good to be back
4. Study a winning method - take the video tour
5. Gems from our affiliate forums
6. Thought for today: Why you must not stand still

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1. Turning a hobby into a business
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Affiliate Eric Burdo is turning a hobby into a little business. To do so, he has conquered two problems - he found few suitable affiliate programs or suitable AdSense ads in his chosen niche.

Here's how he did it...

By Eric D. Burdo

Depending on your market, you can write a guide for a service or product, and then sell that guide.

I play an online game called OGame. I started over a year ago, when the game was new to the US.

I quickly realized that there were very few English tips for playing. I started writing some tips on one of my "generic" websites. I soon found 90% of my traffic was coming from those keywords. So I launched a new website http://www.ogametips.com and it blossomed.

I tried some affiliate programs, but very few fit the target audience. Affiliate related income amounts to only about $30 a month. AdSense revenue is practically zero. There are very few targeted ads for AdSense due to the nature of the content.

So I wrote a strategy guide on how to play OGame. The site was a success, and I am now recruiting guest writers to write new content for me. I have also partnered with Gameforge GmbH, the company that produces OGame, to provide some prizes for contests on the site.

I'm also using guest writers to help provide content for the weekly newsletter and regular site updates.

I started the site in April, 2005. The next month, I had about 6,000 unique visitors.

By December 2005 I was getting over 22,000 a month. I'm now averaging about 24,000 unique visitors a month. The amount fluctuates over the summer, since many players are school age, and don't play as much during the school year.

I have found a couple of strategy guides for other games, but there seems to be a pretty good market for these products. Tools to help play the game are another potential market. Just be sure to check the legality of the tools. Some games (like OGame) do not allow any tools to interact with the web browser or the game. But you are allowed to manually enter information into a database or other tool. Some games let you manipulate the game itself.

In addition to the strategy guide, I'm contemplating a membership based tool to assist players further their skills and resources in the game. But that product may be a few months in the making.

Sales of the OGame Tips Strategy Guide average about 20 a month. Each copy sells (via ClickBank) for $14.95. I started selling the strategy guide in October or November 2005. Version 2 of the strategy guide is being worked on. This will include some new bonuses and a higher price tag. A good sales page, and a good header graphic (and ebook cover) helped bring the sales level up. I don't market this product as much as I could, so I know the sales levels could be higher.

Quick summary:

When Eric couldn't find suitable affiliate products in his chosen niche, he wrote a report to sell via ClickBank. Depending on your market, you can write a guide for a service or product, and then sell that guide. A membership site is another possibility. Don't abandon a good niche just because you can't find related affiliate products.

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2. Double your PPC profits while halving your costs
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Our Special Projects Manager, Jay Stockwell, has written a 12-part email course titled "Double your PPC profits while halving your costs!"

It's a bold claim, but I think the course measures up to the claim. Jay, who founded the click fraud tracking service, Click Sentinel, has extensive experience in pay per click advertising.

We're giving away this valuable course to mark the re-launch of http://www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com .

PayPerClickSearchEngines.com, the Internet's first directory of pay per click search engines, was launched in 1999.

After months of work behind the scenes, the site has now been relaunched with new features, new helpful articles and far too many improvements to list here.

"Double your PPC profits while halving your costs" gives tips on:

- Using low competition PPC search engines for maximum profits.
- How to write killer PPC ad titles for maximum attention.
- Increasing your click through rate (CTR) using smart copy.
- Saving money by deterring tire kickers.
- Using Google AdWords dynamic insertion.
- Catching click fraud and getting refunds.
- Ad positioning for maximum conversion.
- Finding low cost, yet highly targeted PPC keywords.
- Wagging PPC profits out of the "long tail".
- Increasing PPC conversions using landing pages.
- How to pay once for multiple conversions.
- Hidden profits means you can pay more.

Keep an eye on the site because more improvements are planned, and more tips to help you get cost effective PPC advertising.

http://www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com

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3. It's good to be back
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Joanna and I are back in Dunedin, New Zealand, for the southern summer. It was a wrench leaving Australia's beautiful Rainbow Bay. However, it's good being back near family and friends in New Zealand's lovely scenic South Island.

Whenever we follow the climate, moving between countries, we're so thankful for the life which affiliate programs have given us.

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4. Study a winning method - take the video tour
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I love choosing winners. One of the potential winners I chose to promote back in 1999 was Ken Evoy's SiteSell.

It's been fascinating watching this company go from strength to strength. It now has more 100,000 "Make Your Site Sell" customers and tens of thousands of Site Build It users.

SiteSell has held the #1 spot on my Top 10 afffiliate list for several years, largely due to their OVERdelivering Site Build It system.

Now you can get a bird's eye view of how SBI works by going on the new Video Tour.

Ken Evoy has truly outdone himself with this one. From brainstorming the most profitable niche to monetizing your PREsold traffic... the video clearly illustrates how this step-by-step system can turn anyone into a long-term, high-earning affiliate.

We use this suite of tools for a bunch of our sites, and we've written case studies demonstrating our continuing success with it. We know from first-hand experience how good it is.

Grab a beverage, relax and take the free Video Tour. The next 30 minutes could change your life as it has helped change ours...

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/videotour

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5. Gems from our affiliate forums
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Another way to lose sales
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic21758.html

My method for getting started
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic21555.html

Information overload
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic21752.html

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6. Thought for today: Why you must not stand still
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"One of the best lessons children learn through video games is standing still will get them killed quicker than anything else." - Jinx Milea.

All the best

Allan Gardyne