Associate Programs Newsletter #192
Once I began researching surveys for last week’s survey, I was surprised how easy they are to do.
In fact, they’ve become a little TOO easy. I imagine we’ll see a lot of amateurish surveys which ask the wrong questions.
If you’re planning to do an online survey, be sure to read today’s articles.
CONTENTS:
1. Thanks for taking part in the survey
2. Before doing a survey, read this
3. Internet marketing success stories
4. Are you promoting falsely labeled products?
5. Branding wizard wants to pay you $1,000
6. Affiliate merchant seeks your opinion
7. Server crashed at i-Web-Marketing
8. Andy Bourland on “from free to fee”, and other news
9. What will you do if affiliate marketing crashes?
10. NEXT WEEK: Case study of a successful affiliate
11. Thought for today: You don’t have to know everything
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1. Thanks for taking part in the survey
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You’re wonderful! Thank you to everyone who took part in last week’s survey. The response was HUGELY encouraging.
You’ve contributed heaps of useful ideas on how to improve this newsletter, article topics, and information you want.
You’ve given me a great deal to think about – and a lot of work to do.
Thank you!
In today’s newsletter, I’ve started answering some of the questions you asked. There will be more in future issues.
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2. Before doing a survey, read this
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Online surveys are now extremely easy to run, with the help of companies such as Zoomerang or the one I used, SurveyMonkey. It’s all push-button stuff, no coding necessary.
SurveyMonkey is really good. What a shame it doesn’t have an affiliate program.
However, because the technical part is so easy, you may be tempted to rush in without doing enough research on HOW to run a survey.
ClickZ has a good article on things to consider before running a survey, “Beware: Online Surveys Are Seductively Easy” – Clickz.com/em_mkt/b2b_em_mkt/article.php/959351 – with links to more resources.
In constructing the survey, I relied heavily on the tips that highly successful marketer Marlon Sanders provides in his book, “Gimme My Money Now!”
Marlon’s book is enormously helpful in describing step-by-step how you can construct a survey which identifies products people will buy.
It’s absolutely essential reading for anyone planning a survey.
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3. Internet marketing success stories
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One of the things readers say they want is more success stories.
This makes sense, because there’s nothing more inspiring and useful than an example of someone who has made it in the field in which you wish to be successful yourself.
As usual, Corey Rudl is a step ahead, and his latest project, a private web site updated monthly, is full of examples of real people making real money. They reveal step-by-step the techniques they use to achieve their success.
They also admit the mistakes they’ve made and talk about the things they’ve learned that they wish they’d known when they began.
I’ve been subscribed right since the first issue. It’s great stuff. All it costs is a very small monthly fee. Superb value.
[UPDATE: No longer available.]==============================================
4. Are you promoting falsely labeled products?
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If you have an affiliate web site recommending herbs and vitamins, you could be promoting falsely labeled products.
Many companies selling herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements make false claims.
In some cases, the products contain no detectable levels of the herbs claimed, or the manufacturer uses parts of the plant which are ineffective.
When an independent laboratory, ConsumerLab.com, tested nutrition bars, for example, an alarming 60% of the products didn’t meet their label claims. Only 12 products passed the review.
HALF of the 30 nutrition bars tested exceeded claimed levels of carbohydrates – often by as much as 20 grams, despite claims by some to be “Low Carb”.
Manufacturers of fish oil products, St John’s wort, valerian and various vitamin and mineral supplements have all been shown to be making grossly exaggerated claims.
If you want to find out whether you’re promoting junk, there’s a small fee. The laboratory charges $15.95 for an annual subscription or $5.25 for a single product review.
(Unfortunately, ConsumerLab doesn’t have an affiliate program.)
Here are some results of ConsumerLab tests:
St John’s wort, a dietary supplement for treating mild to moderate depression and to relieve depression-related anxiety:
ConsumerLab.com/results/sjw.asp
Valerian, a sedative and calming herb:
ConsumerLab.com/results/valerian.asp
Note: These are only partial test results. If you want the full results, you have to pay.
However, if you’re building a web site about herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements, you’ll find plenty of useful background information at ConsumerLab.
The site has quite a lot of free information, useful to help you build a credible site.
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5. Branding wizard wants to pay you $1,000
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Branding wizard Rob Frankel has launched a new site – i-legions – which specializes in “growing, managing and monetizing branded communities”, which is Rob’s specialty.
When you turn customers into evangelists the results are staggering.
See the 10 benefits here: https://i-legions.com/setoverview.html .
I-legions doesn’t have an affiliate program, but if you refer someone who becomes a client, Rob will pay you $1,000.
I’m sure you can trust Rob. He’s one of the good guys.
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6. Affiliate merchant seeks your opinion
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Here’s something you don’t see often – an affiliate merchant actually asking for prospective affiliates’ advice – BEFORE launching his program.
Les McKeown’s Success-At-Work program will go “live” next month with an ebook, audiotape and public workshop on “How To Succeed At Work”. Les says his product is for anyone who wants to “find, keep and succeed in their chosen job or career: How to make yourself indispensable, fire-proof, promotable… AND have fun!”
Les is asking prospective affiliates to help set his product pricing before the February launch – and is offering incentives, including one month of double commissions, to anyone who will complete a short survey.
This is a two-tier program that goes beyond the common “web marketing products being sold to web marketers” – it’s a product with wide appeal, produced by a highly qualified man with excellent credentials.
It pays lifetime commissions, too.
[UPDATE: This program closed.]====================================
7. Server crashed at i-Web-Marketing
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Last week I published a complaint from Jay Goth of The Newsletter Place – https://www.thenewsletterplace.com about i-Web-Marketing – https://www.i-Web-Marketing.com .
This week Jay was happier. He writes:
“I wanted to give you an update on our pop-under programs. When we did the WebHitsDirect traffic surge, we got all 10,000 hits in three hours. Average time on our site for that week was a minute, compared to our over two and a half minute times. Not enough face time, Jay says.
“Now for i-Web-Marketing – much better news to report! They sent an apologetic e-mail to me saying that their server crashed under volume and that they were enhancing their service.
“Our pop-under program with them started three days ago, and so far we have received 1,700 of the 20,500 promised page views. It’s a nice steady rate, with 245 the first day, 607 on day two and 772 so far today. That in itself makes me feel better. Plus our page times are better at over two and a half minutes, so we appear to be getting lookers, not quick page loads and exits. We have also seen increased activity at our checkout.
“I wanted to give you an update, as I feel that i-Web-Marketing is probably worth its salt…”
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8. Andy Bourland on “from free to fee”, and other news
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Andy Bourland, who used to run ClickZ.com, has set up a site to monitor the trend towards making people pay for content on the Net. Note how he collects e-mail addresses on the main page:
https://www.bourland.com/
At last! Amazon.com has posted its first quarterly net profit. That should be a good morale booster for online retailers.
news.com.com/2100-1017-819688.html
Yahoo! now requires that new sites seeking to be listed in its commercial areas pay an annual listing fee, making Yahoo! more like an online yellow pages, says Danny Sullivan.
clickz.com/search/opt/article.php/959631
eBay, which earned $25.9 million in the fourth quarter, is raising fees, some by as much as 100%.
msnbc.com/news/689692.asp?0si=-
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9. What will you do if affiliate marketing crashes?
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In last week’s survey, one person asked:
“What will you do… if affiliate marketing crashes?”
Don’t worry – affiliate marketing WON’T crash.
No doubt it will keep changing rapidly, but it’s far too strong to die.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that some affiliate merchants and many affiliates haven’t yet learned how to do things successfully.
Put simply, affiliate merchants pay for performance. Affiliates earn commissions only if they achieve sales or leads.
For merchants, that’s a highly attractive proposition. They can have an army of sales people who are paid only when they perform.
It’s tough on beginners, but for a successful affiliate it can mean generating thousands of dollars a month, selling goods which they don’t have to handle.
That’s a powerful win-win deal.
Next week I’ll give you a good example…
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10. NEXT WEEK: Case study of a successful affiliate
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It’s tough work attracting search engine traffic to a mini-site. However, if you set up a group of mini-sites all linked together, you greatly improve your chances.
Shawn Campbell does that. Next week I’ll describe how Shawn earns more than $5,000 a month in affiliate commissions from a little group of sites which require minimal maintenance.
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11. Thought for today: You don’t have to know everything
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“You don’t have to do everything well. In fact, you don’t have to do anything well when you start! But you have to START. Take the first steps (no matter how small) to move your web site dream into reality. You don’t need to wait until you know “everything.”
– Corey Rudl
All the best
Allan Gardyne