RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Rosalind Gardner

Super affiliate, blogger, and speaker, Rosalind is best known for her affiliate marketing training in the Super Affiliate Handbook: How I made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peoples' Stuff Online. You can connect with her on Facebook.

Solving My Resistance to Firefox

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I've finally became a dedicated Firefox user.

After trying for days to get into the Air Canada site to book a flight to Affiliate Summit West, and always getting the message “Internet Explorer' cannot open the Internet site…” it finally occurred to me that the problem (for once) wasn't Air Canada, but my Internet Explorer browser.

I cracked open Firefox and voila! I got into Air Canada no problem, so I set Firefox as my default browser.

One of the aspects that I didn't appreciate about Firefox before, I now view as an asset.

Firefox is really temperamental in how it reads CSS and HTML coding. For example, the standard old hspace and vspace coding for images does nothing in Firefox and therefore aligns the images directly adjacent to text, which looks like hell.

So, what I've found in using Firefox regularly to check my coding is that if your page looks proper in that browser, it will look good in Explorer, which isn't nearly so picky about coding.

One thing you should know however, is that you might have troubles copying and pasting into your web-based applications using Firefox.

That's easily overcome by typing “about:config” into the address bar, and double-clicking on “signed.applets.codebase_principal_support“. When you double-click, it bolds the line. After doing that, close and re-open your Firefox browser window. Now you can copy and paste to your heart's content.

Perhaps the best reason NOT to use Internet Explorer at this point are its known security issues – a bug which Microsoft confirms is within all its browsers and puts “users running any of those browsers on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 or Server 2008 at risk“.

Hello Firefox!!!

OK, go ahead. Tell me you told me so. 🙂

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Don’t Fall into the Newbie Trap

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In their rush to make ‘millions' online, WAY too many folks fall into a completely avoidable trap — and end up making no money at all.

What do they do wrong?

They try to do everything all at once, and start multiple sites in different channels — an affiliate marketing blog, selling their own product, auction selling, etc.

By result, they don't learn how to do anything well and don't manage to make even one site profitable.

You can imagine where that willy-nilly path leads — to feelings of frustration and eventually, defeat.

If you're on that path or feel confused by all the different ways you can earn online… SLOW DOWN!

I've had an online presence since 1996, and nothing happened over night.

  • In 1996 I built a 3-page flower seed exchange website from which I traded seeds with gardeners from around the world Experience with that site made me realize the web's potential as a marketplace – so I started looking for online bizops at that point.

  • In late 1997, I discovered affiliate marketing and started a site to review online dating services – a topic to which I could relate and had the strong desire to share with others. By the end of 1999, the site was generating $10,000 per month in pure profit – and I kept putting in the hours to make it even more profitable!

  • While working on my affiliate site, I also dabbled in online auction selling and soon discovered that online auctions were not my ‘thing'. I was too lazy for the hassle of packing and shipping. Furthermore, high postal rates from Canada made the opportunity less than lucrative.

  • During that time, I also picked up a drop-shipping arrangement with watchmaker, Eduardo Milieris, a scenario which suited me much better than auction selling as all I had to do was sell the watches and his company shipped them out. I've sold his beautiful watches at WindingWay.com for years now.

  • By 2002, my affiliate dating site had become so successful (generating $650K Canadian/437K U.S.) that I wrote the “Super Affiliate Handbook to share what I had learned about the business with aspiring affiliate marketers. That then qualifed me as an infoproduct merchant.

  • The Super Affiliate Handbook's popularity amongst readers and industry leaders led to speaking engagements around the world (something I NEVER thought I could do), my own ‘Affiliate's Corner' column in Revenue Magazine and a book contract with McGraw Hill to write Make a Fortune Promoting Other People's Stuff Online: How Affiliate Marketing Can Make You Rich.

  • Each of those opportunities opened doors to joint venture with other experts and participate in the creation of more infoproducts and teleseminars.
  • In 2010, I opened Affiliate Blogger PRO (now known as Affiliate Blogger PRO) – a membership site built on a WordPress blog platform with Wishlist member software.

My story is similar to so many others who have become successful online entrepreneurs.

Basically, you pick a channel and work at it until it becomes profitable OR you decide that you don't enjoy what you are doing and then choose a new channel.

Furthermore, as each venture becomes profitable, new opportunities present themselves. (Amazing how that works…).

You too can build a diversified and successful online business — but you have to CHOOSE just ONE channel and concentrate on that one first.

So, CHOOSE whether you want to start with affiliate marketing or creating your own infoproduct, learn what you need to do and then WORK your venture to success.

Once your first site is successful, then go find a new project.

With one successful site under your belt, you'll have the knowledge and experience to get your second and subsequent sites launched and profitable much faster than you did the first.

Did you find this post about how to avoid falling into the newbie trap informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Wordtracker Review

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“STILL my TOP PICK in the keyword research tools category”

Wordtracker is undoubtedly my TOP PICK in the keyword research tools category, and it offers a FREE trial version.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch said this about Wordtracker:

“If you are serious about search engine optimization, then WordtrackerWordtracker is an essential investment, a must have resource for any search engine marketing professional. It combines both a respectable search term database with tools that make mining the information easy.”

How does Wordtracker work?

You simply enter your keyword or keyword phrase, and Wordtracker will generate a list of related keywords, displayed on the left-hand side of their interface.

Better yet, that list includes related keyword phrases and combinations, some of which you may never have considerred!

Click on one of the phrases in the left column and another list of keywords related to THAT keyword magically appears on the right-hand column showing you the number of times that word or phrase was searched for in the previous 60 days.

It also tells you how many of your competitors use those keywords by scouring each major search engine, directory and PPC (pay-per-cick) search engine for results.

From there you have the option to click on individual keywords in the right-hand column to ‘dig' for even more related keywords and phrases.

Using the paid version, you can add up to 5000 selected keywords to your ‘basket' which can be emailed to you.

Although the free version is limited in scope and use, I suggest you give it a whirl.

You may purchase Wordtracker's service by the day, week, month or year. Many professional Internet and affiliate marketers buy short subscriptions of Wordtracker for a day or a week, and concentrate their keyword research during that time.

As of 2007, Wordtracker's subscrition rates are as follows:

  • 1 Year £149.00 / $299.00
  • 1 Month £29.00 / $59.00
  • 1 Week £15.00 / $30.00

Their service comes with a full 30-DAY money back guarantee.

Summary

No other tool surpasses Wordtracker in terms of accuracy of results and scope of service. I HIGHLY recommend that you sign up for the FREE trial at very least!

Wordtracker

Affiliating in the Season of Love

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Aaah… the season of love. Such a special time of year. For those in love, those looking for love, and ESPECIALLY for those SELLING love – on the Internet! :-))

I started my ebusiness with Internet dating service affiliate programs and the internet dating niche STILL comprises the bulk of my income.

Internet dating services can also be lucrative for you.

You may wonder, “How is that possible? Aren't there too many dating service affiliates already?“

Well, yes, there are TONS of Internet dating service affiliate sites.

Take a good look at them though.

Most of them are complete crap. The pages are covered with banners and links, but ZERO content.

And CONTENT is why my sites are so successful.

I review the services that I promote on my site to help my visitors choose between the vast array of services available to them.

I write articles that help my visitors learn about how Internet dating works and how to make it work for them.

I also send a newsletter to help my visitors stay abreast of new services and good discounts.

Did you notice that I said ‘help my vistors' three times?

Helping your visitors is the ticket to success – and there are still PLENTY of tickets left for that train.

One of the reasons that dating service products sell so well online is because they are relatively inexpensive. They're also available for immediate delivery, and goodness knows, most of us are into instant gratification. Let's not forget that 1 in 2 marriages in North America flounders, so there are MILLIONS of singles out there looking for love.

All of those factors make dating services easier to sell on the ‘Net than hard goods.

Too, generally those who buy an online dating service membership remain a member of the program for between 4 and 6 months, and most dating service affiliate programs offer commissions on recurring sales.

So, instead of making $10 for a one-shot deal, you'll earn 40, 50 or 60 bucks when you signup just one customer!

Courtesy of Yahoo! Personals, here are a few more things for you to consider Internet dating services:

16.3 million (6.1 million women and 10.2 million men) visited personals/dating sites in 2002.
Jupiter Research, December 2002

The popularity of online personals has grown 31 percent between December 2001 and December 2002.
comScore Media Metrix, February 2003

The Personals/Dating category surpassed both Business/Investment and Entertainment/Lifestyle to become the largest paid content category in 2002 with $302 million in revenues, up nearly threefold from $72 million in 2001.
Online Publishers Association, March 2003

Revenues from online personals is expected to grow steadily to reach an estimated $642 million in 2007.
Jupiter Research, December 2002

If those numbers don't convince you, here are the results for some love-related keyword search terms for the month of December 2003.

  • 5,355,479 dating
  • 173,547 romance
  • 634,225 love
  • 110,702 girlfriend
  • 59,139 valentine
  • 200,016 single
  • 302,172 american single
  • 72,130 personal ad

Start your own dating service affiliate site right now and you'll be perfectly positioned next Valentine's to take advantage of what everyone is looking for in the ‘Season of Love' … A DATE!

From My Home to Yours… Merry Christmas!

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merry-christmas-my-homeWell, I just finished prepping the house and there's still 24 hours left before my friends start arriving for our Christmas dinner festivities. Somewhere in between polishing the stemware and washing the kitchen floor, I realized that I already have almost everything I wanted for Christmas.

It snowedSnow (and lots of it).

The safe return of my good friend from north of 60 (that's the 60th parallel where it's minus 42 degrees celsius at the moment).

Plans with loved ones (in other words, the people who know you best but like you anyway).

The arrival of my Amazon order of 12 old Meryl Streep movies that I either didn't have or hadn't seen.

Christmas table is setFully functional servers (thank you, Steve!).

A definite plan to work directly with you in 2009 (one-on-one coaching, phone number & all) to help you get your Internet business off the ground… details of which whill be released just as soon as I've got a functional desktop* again (* Christmas wish #7 yet to be realized), most likely shortly after I get back from Affiliate Summit (if it's the motherboard as Ori suspects).

Six out of 7 realized wishes is pretty remarkable. Only slightly less if you count the usual ‘peace on earth'.

And this one I fervently hope comes true… a wish for you and yours to enjoy all the very best of the season – a happy and safe holiday, good times with family and friends, prosperity in the New Year and the ability to share generously with those less fortunate.

So, what are/were you Christmas wishes? Care to share? Please leave a comment below.

No Forum, No Articles… My Bad

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Just when you thought things can't get worse, they do.

Long story short, while prepping to upgrade the Forum to phpBB version 3 yesterday, I thought I'd do a little ‘pruning' of posts first. Well, I accidently ‘pruned' 3/4's of the posts. No problem, I'll just use the backup.

At least that's what I thought I could do.

Turns out that cPanel was in the midst of a major upgrade and I couldn't access the interface — not until after the upgrade was complete and by that time the latest forum backup available was the one with only 451 posts. Ugh.

Then, my attempt to convert the Forum was so botched that in mucking with the mySQL databases, I somehow trashed the main password to the ArticleLive database as well.

So, not only do we not have a forum. We don't have access to the article database either.

Anyway, when my hero Steve Hetrick comes to the rescue (for the zillionth time), we'll be back up and running and perhaps the lessons will have been learned once and for all. They are:

1. Backup first.
2. Hire professionals.

Cheers,
Ros

How to Make Money from New Year’s Resolutions

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The New Year is looming large and it's time to think about how best to profit from all the New Years resolutions that will be made — and eventually mostly broken so you can profit from them again next year. 🙂

Here are the top 10 resolutions along with corresponding affiliate programs and Clickbank best-sellers that you can promote.

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends

Polls indicate that more than 50% of those surveyed make a promise to spend more time with family and friends in the coming year. Help people do that with programs like:

2. Get Fit

Nothing does as much good for a body as a regular fitness program. Exercise extends life expectancy, lowers blood pressure, improves your mood and even reduces the risk of some cancers. Too, one of the fastest-growing trends in the fitness industry is involving children in exercise. Great online fitness programs and ebooks include:

3. Lose Weight

More than two thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, so it's not surprising that one of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to lose weight. Programs to help folks shed those extra pounds include:

  • Fat Loss 4 Idiots ($30.37/sale – Clickbank)
  • eDiets (up to $50/sale – CJ)
  • Drugstore.com (10.00% commission – Linkshare)

4. Quit Smoking

The average smoker trys and fails 4 times before they quite for good. Help them kick the smoking habit for good this year with:

5. Enjoy Life More

Considering the pressures of a bad economy, job uncertainty and all the other stressors facing the average person today, it's no wonder that “enjoying life more” has become a popular resolution in recent years. Help them do just that by introducing them to a new hobby or leisure time pursuit, i.e. scrapbooking or photography; or engaging in current pursuits like travelling more and listening to music. Even better is when you can help them find a great deal!

  • Hotwire.com (2% commissions – Linkshare)
  • 500 Scrapbooking Sketches ($/sale: $12.79)
  • iTunes (5% commission – Linkshare)

6. Quit Drinking or Drink Less

Alchoholism is rampant in our stressed-out societies. If you want to help prevent some of the incredible damage that alchoholism wreaks on individuals and their families, share your knowledge and support with others to help them overcome this devastating condition… or just convince them to drink less while opting for BETTER quality.

  • HypnoBusters (50% commissions – Ejunkie)
  • My Way Out (15% commissions – Independent)
  • Wine.com (5 – 20% commissions – Linkshare)

7. Get Out of Debt

With the economy falling apart at the seams, people losing their jobs everyday by the tens of thousands, more and more folks are realizing the need to free themselves from the burden of debt. You can help them with programs such as:

  • Leo Quinn's “How to Own Your Paycheck Again” (up to 50% commissions – Independent)
  • Ultimate Debt Relief Guide ($22.60 per sale – Clickbank)

8. Education – Self-Improvement

Once again, a weakened economy is forcing many to look farther afield to improve their educational standings, and as in any typical year there are others who just seek self-improvement.

9. Volunteerism & Charities

In good economic times, many people commit to helping others. In tough times when many are out of work, volunteering is a good route to finding gainful employment.

10. Get Organized

This is one of those resolutions that I have every year… check out this blog post and you'll see why. 🙂 Help people like me reduce the clutter and get organized with

As always, you can search for programs and information related to these and other topics on the major affiliate networks, such as Clickbank, Commission Junction, Linkshare and Google.

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