Associate Programs Newsletter #16
CONTENTS:
1. Guys! Use them to attract women!
2. Should we trust AIS Merchant Services?
3. Double whammy of good publicity
4. Win a trip to Disney World
5. Whoops! I goofed
6. NextCard – no sales from lots of visitors
7. A beginner seeks advice
8. Brighten your day and your wallet with jokes
9. A “special friend” gets traffic
10. That video
11. Toot your horn even louder
12. URL Plates take a new route
13. I’m swamped
14. Articles at AssociatePrograms.com
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1. Guys! Use them to attract women!
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Now that’s a heading guaranteed to attract attention. Well, I read it anyway – even though I’m not trying to attract women these days. (One’s enough for me.)
“Guys! Use them to attract women! Write your phone number on a Million Dollar Bill — they’ll keep it!” That’s one of the clever promotional ideas offered by John Ferguson of Million Dollar Sales, whose program was listed in the Associate Programs Directory this week.
John says he offers a promotional product that any business can use – “Million Dollar Bills” and “Thanks A Million” Thank You Cards. A “tips” page offers advice on how to use these novelties to get leads, get referrals, increase sales and simply make more money.
I think you could promote this one on a lot of different types of sites, or in newsletters – especially if you have a humorous writing style. What stunt could your business pull using a suitcase full of million-dollar bills?
The sign-up process is easy and fast. You’re immediately given a replica web site and a special URL you can use.
It looks like a lot of fun. I’ve signed up. Take a look at Milliondollarsales.com.
[UPDATE: The affiliate program has been discontinued.]
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2. Should we trust AIS Merchant Services?
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When Virtual Merchant’s Bill Long started showing the strain of trying to answer more than 700 e-mails a week, many of us began looking around for another credit card processor to market.
I’m sure we are all now a bit nervous about credit card processing companies, but fascinated by their potential to make us money. (If those 20 “pending” sales I notched up with Virtual Merchant in my first five weeks are eventually verified, I’ll earn an amazing $US3000.)
And now along comes Thomas Harpointner’s Advanced Internet Solutions (AIS), a company offering an even higher (crazier?) commission: $US175, and $US50 from sales made by the people you sign up.
So we all want to know a lot more about AIS before we dip our toes in the water.
Thomas Harpointner, who runs AIS, told me his background is primarily based on 12 years in direct sales, marketing, sales management, and training.
“Most recently, I worked as a sales and management consultant for a local firm here in Atlanta, Georgia,” he says. “We consulted companies of all sizes, including the Fortune 500.
“Through several years of involvement with the Atlanta Chapter of the Sales Automation Association (SAA) and my role on the Board of Directors, I became acquainted with many key programmers, developers and marketing specialists at leading organizations such as Symantec, GE, and IBM.
“My marketing background and fascination with the Internet ultimately led me to pioneer my own online business. After a year and a half of planning, conceptualizing and strategizing with my business partner, Ben Tammetta (a former Technical Director at IBM), we officially formed Advanced Internet Solutions in June of 1997, which now specializes in Internet marketing and electronic commerce solutions.
“In October of 1997, we produced our own Internet marketing course entitled: “Secrets To Making Money On The Information Super-Highway,” which I authored. The course has since been updated three times and it is now available as an installable software program for just $US49.95.
“During our first several months in business, it became evident that in order to maximize growth and efficiency, we needed a reliable and effective electronic commerce solution that allowed us to process transactions online in real-time. We literally spent thousands of dollars in equipment, software and setup fees with various vendors.
“After dealing with about a dozen merchant services companies, banks and third party processors, we learned more about electronic commerce than we ever intended. It was an expensive education. Ultimately, much of the systems we use today were developed specifically for us or by us.
“There was however, an unexpected positive side effect to this long, painstaking process. Today, I am privileged in working with whom I feel are some of the brightest and most forward-thinking minds in the industry. Through the unique processes, systems and relationships we have today, we’re able to offer a total turn-key solution to businesses that want to start doing business on the Internet,” Thomas says.
How long have you been offering credit card services to your customers?
“AIS has been offering merchant services for the past 12 months.”
What about the future? Do you have the staff and technology to cope if you are swamped with orders and questions? A number of businesses seem to grow too fast and then can’t cope with all the questions, complaints etc by e-mail.
“We maintain our own direct 10mbs connection to the Internet. Our systems are upgraded regularly. After our most recent upgrade, our systems are now operating at only about 20% of their capacity with plenty of room for growth.”
How many staff do you have?
The AIS Merchant Services division currently has five support personnel. We are also interviewing several people who have expressed an interest in working with AIS.
I received an e-mail from someone who wondered how Virtual Merchant could afford to pay $150 commission – and yet you’re paying even more. You sure you’ve got your sums worked OK?
“Our increased profit margins allow us to pay dealers greater commissions. I feel that our dedicated dealers are one of our organization’s greatest assets. We therefore reward them with a full $US175 commission for each successful referral. We also pay them an additional $US50 when a sale is made by someone they refer to the program through the instant, FREE website they receive. Yes, those numbers are accurate.
“Customer support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. AIS’ approval rate for new merchant accounts stands at 98.5%,” Thomas says.
But what happens when the world goes crazy? What happens when growth leads to growth, which leads to . . .
For example, on August 23 a new service was announced – free autoresponders from MyReply.com. People who sign up for the service agree to receive regular advertising announcements. By September 1, about 12,000 people were on the list. MyReply.com’s latest announcement was for AIS Merchant Services. Now, when the people who joined up from that ad start promoting AIS . . .
So I asked Thomas:
If you achieve the sort of exponential growth in inquiries which seems inevitable because of your generous commissions, how will you and your staff cope with the workload?
“That’s an excellent question, Allan. I have found that much of the workload dealer-driven organizations experience is support based. Naturally, as a dealer, you want to know the status of an application that was submitted on your behalf,” Thomas said.
“Thanks to the development of our web-based sales automation and reporting system (MERLIN), AIS is able to provide a wide range of real-time online statistics. This virtually eliminates the need for a dealer to email AIS for status reports.
“Furthermore, not only has MERLIN enabled us to virtually eliminate data-entry work, AIS operates in about a 98% paper-free environment. This equates to a dramatic increase in efficiency and processing capabilities,” he said.
There must be an awful lot of small businesses out there looking for an easy way to accept credit cards on the Net. I’ve put one of Thomas’s bright, bold “Accept Credit Cards” banners on the main page at https://www.associateprograms.com
I hope he really can cope with the traffic. If he can, I can certainly cope with those $175 commissions.
Recommendation: Looks good. Tracking works. Proceed with caution.
AIS Merchant Services (accept credit cards)
aismedia.com/x/cc.cfm?AG45x0016
(That nifty 0016 at the end of the URL will let me know how many people sign up as a result of this article. I can change that part of the URL to suit – an excellent feature. Each time a new dealer signs up, AIS notifies me and I also know which page on my site, or which newsletter, achieved a sale. Is it a banner or the write-up which gets results? You can find out immediately.)
Footnote: Virtual Merchant’s server was down last night and again today. That should send more people to AIS.
[UPDATE: In spite of its nifty tracking, the AISMedia affiliate program eventually closed.]
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3. Double whammy of good publicity
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It’s nice to have friends. I was delighted while reading LinkExchange Digest to see that Jim Reardon of https://www.freecenter.com had mentioned AssociatePrograms.com favourably. Then the next post, by Kevin Wilke, Editor of VisionPRO E-Training – lostandfind.com/visionpro/ – also mentioned AssociatePrograms.com.
That double whammy of good publicity helped send 701 unique visitors (a personal record) to the AssociatePrograms.com main page on Tuesday and 691 on Wednesday. Thanks, guys!
Last I heard, LinkExchange Digest had about 75,000 subscribers, and it’s getting harder to get a post accepted by the moderator. If you have a friend who can, send him/her chocolates or roses – or publicity.
Please visit:
https://www.freecenter.com
lostandfind.com/visionpro/
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4. Win a trip to Disney World
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Of-the-Month.com is offering a trip for two to Disney World, Florida, and three nights in a Disney resort hotel. While you’re there, you can attend, as “guest of honor”, the first annual convention for Of-the-Month.com Vendors.
Dan Romero says all you have to do is sell 84 one-year memberships before September 1999.
Of-the-month.com enables you to send – to yourself, to a friend, or to a business colleague – a special treat once a month. This could be a good program for a site which has an article or section on gifts, and gift-giving.
[UPDATE: Of-the-month has been replaced by a simple directory.]
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5. Whoops! I goofed
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Last week I fouled up. Sorry. I won’t bore you with the details, but if the newsletter you received last week was faulty it my fault, not the fault of OakNet Publishing, which distributes it.
The newsletter covered:
1. Web Cards – a good one gets even better
2. Virtual Merchant – wait and watch
3. The best way and the easy way
4. Spree.com disappoints again
5. A banner exchange that pays handsomely
6. How Jim Daniels sells Virtualis successfully
7. Traffic-building advice from an expert
8. Internet Success Stories
9. Snippets
10. Markethink – building a new community
11. ClickTrade versus LinkShare
A corrected version of Newsletter #15 is online at Web Cards gets better
I’m re-running, free, the classified ads which appeared in that edition.
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6. NextCard – no sales from lots of visitors
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Joe Hyde writes:
Allan,
This is in reference to NextCard Visa.
My site, TALK LIVE! Del Rio – Delrio.com/bbs – was flooded with hits from across the country after CNN.com noted us as the place to get up-to-date information on the Texas flooding. At one point, 23 – 15 August, the site was passing out 100,000 page views/day. It has since settled to 20,000 page views/day. The site is a regional news, politics, and discussion site and it’s very popular. The site caters to a completely consumer audience that is tailor-made for a credit card offer.
All this time – since 15 August or so – that little NextCard visa logo has been on the bottom righthand corner of every page, a banner was rotated through my Central Ad banner rotator, and for one week in August I placed the 125 pixel NextCard logo/link on the opening page of the most popular discussion board. I have sent over 200 people to NextCard, according to ClickTrade stats. Of these, only 18 applied for a card and none were approved.
I had applied also, to test the system. I was approved and have one of those NextCard Visas in my wallet as I write this. Somehow my sale wasn’t registered as coming from me. My self-explanation is that perhaps the NextCard site does cookie tracking. Since I viewed their web site to evaluate the offer before joining the affiliate program, my pre-existing cookie said I came from ClickTrade, and thus I wasn’t credited.
Although my affiliation hasn’t been profitable at all, there are some good things to say about NextCard. First, they are fairly prompt about finalizing the transaction. It took a couple days after the web site approved my application before I received a call to verify the information, and another couple days to get the card in the mail. Second, I did get a prompt rely from the NextCard affiliates manager, Mike Angiletta, – Mike.Angiletta AT nextcard.com – when I asked about these same issues.
I’m undecided on what to do about the NextCard link. Should it stay or should it go? Not one red cent probably means my link, too, will have to go.
All in all, I think these affiliate programs stink. I have yet to find one that pays anything substantial.
Joe
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*Visit our latest sites:*
| Joe Hyde, President delrio.com/bbs/ |
| JJ Hyde, Inc sdcds.org/ |
| New Media Development russellsgifts.com/ |
| jjhyde.com/ maclan.org |
(I don’t usually print big signatures in this newsletter, but Joe’s is innovative and eye-catching.)
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7. A beginner seeks advice
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Candace Carman writes:
Dear Mr. Gardyne;
I enjoy receiving your Associate Programs Newsletter immensely. As well, I have been trying to implement some of the ideas and strategies in the homepage which my husband and I started August 18, 1998. The site is still under construction so I am trying not to lose hope.
I’ve signed up for the associate program with Amazon.com and One and Only so far. There have been no results from either.
Instant Knowledge is the main site so far at home.istar.ca/~cael/index.htm with a second site for poetry and short fiction under construction at members.wbs.net/homepages/c/a/e/cael77/index.html . I have registered with several search engines (for free) and they are due to be operational by the end of September.
I appreciate all the information and am working to get my site more effective.
I remember that you stated that all one had to do was create a link to Corey’s Internet marketing site but I wasn’t sure how to do that. Could you explain? I realize that you are very busy, especially since you’re working two full-time jobs at the moment . . .
I’m disabled and not able to work so it is very important to me that I could get this site to be effective. Unfortunately, some days I can spend time working on it, but many days I cannot.
Any other comments would be appreciated.
Candace Carman
Instant Knowledge
home.istar.ca/~cael/index.htm
To make Corey’s associate program work, first of all you have to join the program. He doesn’t post the URL on his site – I think he wants you to write and ask for it – but you can sign up here: https://www.associateprograms.com/coreys
Just go there and follow the instructions.
If you’re considering buying Corey’s course, you may be better off starting with Jim Daniels’ excellent introduction to marketing on the Internet. Corey’s course is excellent, too, but Jim’s is a lot cheaper and more suitable for a someone who’s just getting going.
I don’t wish to discourage you, but you’ll need a lot of traffic to make money with that program – or any of them. About 1 in 100 people who visit Corey’s site buy his marketing course. So you’ll need to think hard about ways of making your site interesting, memorable and useful – and then work on ways of attracting people to it. Good luck.
Also, Corey’s program is most suitable for a business-to- business site.
I recommend associate programs as a way to add another income to a web site – I think you’re mighty optimistic if you hope to making a living just from them. An Amazon.com bookshop is a good idea, but more than 100,000 sites have one, so it makes sense to use it as an extra, not as the main theme. Another disadvantage is that once people have bought one book, they are likely to remember that memorable name, “Amazon.com”, and go there for their next purchase.
One way that works for some people is to find a topic you’re passionately interested in and use that as the theme of your site. Perhaps you could also write a booklet on that topic and sell it?
“Instant Knowledge” is memorable – but if you’re going to use it, you also need to buy a memorable URL from InterNIC.
For your site, you could try programs such as CoolSavings and MyPoints, which allow you to earn money without selling anything.
Details on the programs I’ve mentioned can be found at Best affiliate programs
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8. Brighten your day and your wallet with jokes
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Jokes4u is a daily jokes ezine that subscribers receive free every day in their e-mail box. It has a two-tier commission structure – the sort I like.
“For every valid subscriber (e-mail address) referred from your site we will pay you 5 cents (US),” says John Ferber, who runs Jokes4u.
For every subscriber those people sign up, you earn 2 cents – “an incentive to tell every webmaster you know to promote our ezine”.
The program is non-adult in content.
I’d prefer to see a more generous commission, but jokes4u does allow you to make money without selling something, it’s very easy to join, and it can be promoted easily in a newsletter, so I joined up:
jokes4u.com
[UPDATE: It seems to have died.]
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9. A “special friend” gets traffic
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Gordon Currie writes:
Hi Allan
Since getting your mention in the “Special Friends” section on the main page at AssociatePrograms.com I have received 101 referred hits from your site with about 17 going from my site to yours. I intend to promote it more on the RIVEN LYST that I am on.
Gordon Currie
G.F.Currie Consulting
https://www.gfcurrie.com
(Gordon will be writing for the newsletter again on tracking traffic, community building, and more.)
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10. That video
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PulseTV.com increased traffic to its site 10 fold and signed up more than 100 new affiliates in three days, because of the video of President Clinton’s Grand Jury testimony, says CEO Jaffer Ali.
A few days later Amazon.com, which is selling the video much cheaper at $US9.95, said the video was its top-selling item.
By the way, a man who cheats on his wife doesn’t have my respect. A man who lies to the people doesn’t have my respect. The person chosen to lead the most respected nation on earth ought to be someone who can be respected throughout the world.
Am I wrong? Watch the video and decide for yourself.
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11. Toot your horn even louder
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“Learn how to promote your site on the world’s search engines from the experts,” says WebReference.com – a really useful site. “Just updated, this list links to great sites and articles to help you become the consummate site promoter.”
https://www.webreference.com/promotion/search.html
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12. URL Plates take a new route
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I have been recommending URL plates, those shiny chrome things you put on the trunk of your car to promote your URL, because they are such an excellent, attention-getting idea. However, sales have been disappointingly slow. I’ve received one commission of $NZ23.
David Bowden, who runs URL Plates, says that due to a lack of financial resources and low sales he is not continuing with URL Plates. He has passed his list of associates to Rick Beneteau and Kathie Verrette, whose company, NetProfit 2020 Inc., is selling the product under a different name, I.D. IT! Plates.
The plates are now more expensive at $US39.95. The new commission structure is two-tier, paying out $US8 on the first level and $US2 on the second level.
Rick Beneteau is a talented writer, skilled at getting publicity, so he’ll have no trouble getting people to visit his site, by getting free publicity in e-zines.
I thought URL plates would be the craze of 1998. Maybe once enough people have them, more will want them, and they’ll be the craze of 1999.
Know any people crazy about car accessories and who own web sites? There’s your best market. Maybe car clubs will start the craze rolling.
[UPDATE: This program has closed.]
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13. I’m swamped
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I haven’t counted how many emails I receive, but I’m now in the embarrassing position of receiving so many business propositions and requests for advice that I don’t have time to read them all. (I suppose anyone from a big company reading that is saying, “Welcome to the real world, son.”)
I’ll have to work harder on improving my list of Frequently Asked Questions. Every web site should have one.
If you write to me, please try to keep your letter short. I haven’t walked on the beach for weeks.
[UPDATE: Our FAQ grew into the Knowledge Base. ]
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14. Articles at AssociatePrograms.com ===============================================
NEW: Prism Air’s nightmare creating a program
AssociateProgram.com/search/prism.shtml
How to set up an associate program
AssociatePrograms.com/search/howto.shtml
Safe-Audit: Pros and Cons
[UPDATE: Safe-Audit disappeared]
Interview with marketer Corey Rudl
AssociatePrograms.com/search/corey-rudl.shtml
Top 10 associate programs
AssociatePrograms.com/search/favourite.shtml
Newsletter archives
AssociatePrograms.com/search/newsletter.shtml
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All the best
Allan Gardyne
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