News, Polls & More Archives - Page 26 of 27

I’ve Done You Wrong…

March 27, 2006 By Rosalind Gardner

I've done you wrong.

Well, Yanik Silver's Washington, D.C. version of the Underground Online Seminar has now come and gone – and I have to apologize because I've done you wrong.

I'd fully intended to blog several times during the event to share some of the secrets I was picking up.

Only ‘some' secrets mind you… I could tell you everything, but then I'd have to erase your memory or risk losing my ‘Secret Agent' status.

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, I wrote a lengthy blog entry directly into the WordPress interface. When I hit ‘Publish', the screen went to a ‘page cannot be found' error.

Thinking I could back up and retrieve what I wrote, another ‘page cannot be found' error occured.

Waaaaaaa.

Whaaaaaat happened?

Turns out that I'd run out of time on my hotel Internet connection and had to purchase another one to get connected again. By the time I did that, it was time to return to the conference hall and too late to rewrite the post.

Lesson learned… again…

Always, always, ALWAYS write within an HTML or text editor and cut and paste that into your site.

Oh ya, lesson #2… bring all necessary cables to upload to your computer if you plan to post pictures to your site.

Never fear however. The camera containing the aforementioned files is currently well-guarded and the goods will be delivered in due course.

Signing off from the Underground,

Secret Agent Ros

Affiliate Perks: You’ll Need a Bigger House

February 7, 2006 By Rosalind Gardner

A friend and I are winging our way south to spend the next month in Mexico.

Aaaah, Negra Modelo, Sol and Corona by the bucket.

Aaaah, the benefits of being an affiliate marketer and I STILL thank Al Gore everyday for inventing the Internet.

LOL!

We've rented a house a couple hours out of Cabo, without a phone and no cellular access. We were told that it has a wireless Internet connection, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

Connected or not, it doesn't really matter, because I worked my butt off for the last few weeks to make sure my affiliate business keeps ticking right along. Hmm… OK, my butt didn't really get worked off while sitting at the computer for that long… WRONG analogy.

Anyway, I wrote articles and posts that are now queued up in my Aweber autoresponder and my blog entries will be delivered on schedule.

Aaaah, the beauty of technology.

Speaking of the benefits and perks to being an affiliate marketer, I saw a post on an affiliate forum sometime back that asked if anyone had received gifts, cards or letters from their merchants at Christmastime.

The post reminded me that I hadn't shared this story with you.

My Favorite Affiliate Manager

Chris Reynolds is the affiliate manager at the Internet Marketing Center. Chris and I have talked many times and gotten to know a little about each other beyond the scope of affiliate marketing.

He's a really great guy with a super sense of humor.

Anyway, Chris calls me one Friday morning just before Christmas to ask if I'd be home later in the day because he was having ‘something' delivered to my house.

I was home all afternoon, but no one showed up.

On Monday morning, when I let him know that his delivery was a ‘no-show', he was really choked.

A little later that morning a package from IMC arrived. I opened it to find a lovely box of chocolates.

I emailed Chris right away to thank him for the gift and told him that I was enjoying its contents.

Of course, I'm privately wondering why Chris wanted me to be home for a box of chocolates, or why he was upset that it wasn't delivered the previous Friday.

He usually seems so laid back.

Whatever.

A little later that afternoon my doorbell rang.

There stood a guy with a big beer-gut holding two six-packs of beer; one Samuel Adams, the other Red Cap. It looks like he's ready for a party.

He asks, “Is this the right place?”

“It is as long as you're planning to leave that beer here”, I answer.

Now, if you've been reading the NPT newsletter for any length of time, (or even the second paragraph of this newsletter) you know that I enjoy a good brew, exactly like the stuff he was holding.

“This is from ‘some guy' in Vancouver” he replies, nodding towards the beer in his hands.

I could barely contain my laughter and told him that he had indeed come to the right place.

Then he asks, “Do you have a fridge in your garage?”

“Um, no… why?”, I ask.

“There's more.. a LOT more, and it's all nice and cold”, he tells me.

Yes indeedy… the trunk of his car was FULL to over-flowing with every kind of dark beer imaginable.

Now that's my kind of affiliate perk!

And Valentine's Day is yet to come!

Online dating service affiliates absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day. Customers are buying, affiliate managers are ‘perking' and we like both.

There are two things you should know if you want to be on the receiving end of ‘affiliate perks'.

1) Get to know your affiliate managers.

2) Work in a niche that you really enjoy.

For example, if you love to fish, build a site about fishing and sell to fishermen and women.

Affiliates sell much more when they're passionate about their niche, and selling more is a good way to get to know your affiliate managers.

Sell enough, and you might just find yourself with a fancy brand new rod and reel, or better yet… maybe even BEER!

In other news and views this week…

The Cream Rises to the Top – Colin's site hits #10 on Google after 2 weeks online!

Be sure to up for NPT Blog Updates and get the news as it happens!

Got a question? Get an answer at the Forum…

‘Til next time, promote and prosper!

Cheers,
Rosalind

Looking Back at 2005

January 5, 2006 By Rosalind Gardner

This year's NPT is starting on a ‘high' note… about 36,000 feet high above Canada, somewhere between Toronto to Vancouver. 🙂

In last week's NPT, I shared my business resolutions for 2006. This week I'll take a step back with a restrospective on the best of Internet and Affiliate marketing tools, tutorials, seminars and more in 2005… all of which are still applicable in 2006!

Instructional Book – I couldn't have started last year off any better than by reading Dan Kennedy's “No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs“, included as a bonus with Yanik Silver's “Ultimate Copywriting Course“. Being the time of year we like to make positive changes in our lives and business, January is the perfect time to read books about organization and time management. Short, to-the-point and a great read, Dan's is the best time management book I've read to date. Thought it was so good, I gave Joel a copy too! As a refresher and for inspiration, I will re-read it again this month.
Inspirational Book – Once I'd learned how to make time for the important stuff, I next read my friend John Harricharan's inspirational book, “Power Pause“. He offers a 3-point approach which helps you weed through the ‘noise' of our typically busy lives to find calm, peace and ultimately success. If you think it's time to get out of your own way, John's words of wisdom will help you overcome.
Site-Building Multi-Media Tutorial – Although it was released in 2004, no subseqent web site buidling tutorial surpassess Jim Edwards “Mini-Site Creator” in depth or scope. If you plan to build a business on the Internet, learning how to create your own pages is the best thing you can do for yourself, and Jim's the guy who'll make that learning process as pain-free as possible.
Page & Site Building Software – I talked about the value of Webmerge for the first time in early February of last year, and the software has become an item in my toolkit very nearly as important my HTML editor and graphics programs. I love being able to take an Excel spreadsheet, my site template and have Webmerge process the spreadsheet into a 26-page site glossary with a mouse click.
Marketing Tool – Making your own articles available for use on other webmasters sites is a smart yet simple way to get traffic to your sites through the link in your author's resource box. Article marketing is also a fabulous way to gain credibility in your niche and build your brand. Getting those articles published on other sites with minimal time and effort was made considerably easier this year with the release of Jason Potash's “Article Announcer”.
Web Host – I was delighted immediately upon signing up with Steve Hetrick's Datawebpro hosting service, and my delight and satisfaction continue to grow. Working with Cpanel (compared to Plesk) is so easy, and the features included, especially Fantastico which lets you auto-install bulletin boards, blogs, a variety of content management systems and other services on your server is like the name… Fantastico!
Unique Advertising Approach – Although I really wasn't impressed when the The Rich Jerk dropped the price of his book from $97 to $47 after I'd bought it and talked about it in the NPT, I did appreciate his very unique “I'm Rich, You're Not” advertising campaign on Google Adwords. I see that many other marketers have adopted similar methods… though not nearly so effective nor entertaining if I do say so myself.
Internet Marketing Seminar – No doubt about it, Yanik's Underground Seminar in Washington, D.C. last May was not to be missed. That's why I (and a number of other speakers from the first Underground) will be going as attendees to the Underground II this coming March. All fresh speakers, all fresh content… I know it'll be incredible once again. To top it off, Yanik is a total class act, treating both attendees and speakers like royalty.
Affiliate Marketing Industry Seminar – Shawn Collin's and Missy Ward's “Affiliate Summit” is the affiliate marketing industry's premier seminar with a very diverse array of learning opportunities for both affiliates and merchants, with a large number of affiliate networks participating.

Speaking of the Affiliate Summit, I'll be on another airplane in 4 days winging my way to Vegas to speak at the event. I hope to see you there!

Rosalind’s Resolutions for 2006

December 27, 2005 By Rosalind Gardner

My New Year's Resolutions for 2006

If you celebrated Christmas, and even if you didn't, I hope that you enjoyed a fabulous holiday weekend – filled with fun, friends and family!

With New Year's just a couple days down the pike, I wanted to share my Top Ten New Year's business resolutions with you in the hope that my plans might give you some ideas for making your own affiliate marketing business more prosperous in 2006.

So here goes.

In 2006, I, Rosalind Gardner, will…

Manage My Time Better. It's easy to get caught up dealing with email and other people's blogs, but those activities rarely increase the bottom line. Therefore, in 2006, I'll put ‘profit' activities ahead of other activities by spending the first hour of each work day writing and creating products, rather than reading feeds and answering emails.
Blog More. I was surprised and delighted in 2005 by the extraordinary surge in traffic RosalindGardner.com received after I started the NPT blog. I will therefore start a blog on my top affiliate marketing site, Sage-Hearts.com, an Internet dating services review site.
Go Video! As Jim Edwards and Marlon Sanders have been telling us for the last few months, Internet video is the way to go in 2006. If people have a choice between reading and clicking a “Play Now” button, they'll almost always choose the latter. I will therefore create and add videos to my sites.
Post More on Other Forums. Since launching the NPT Forum, I've come to appreciate the work of ‘professional forum posters', ie. those who post on other peoples' forums to promote and get traffic to their own sites. I will therefore spend time answering questions in other affiliate marketing forums and determine whether forum-posting is an effective (read ‘profitable') way to spend my time, relative to other marketing methods.
Create a New Product. Many NPT subscribers and my Internet marketing colleagues regularly tell me, “We love your Super Affiliate Handbook. What's your next project and when can we get it?” So yes, in Q4 of 2006 I will release a new product. Why Q4? Well after writing another book about affiliate marketing as per my contract with McGraw-Hill, and all the vacationing I've planned for this year (see #10) it'll be the end of July before I can start working on the project.
Outsource More. Because I'm such a control freak when it comes to my business, this is a difficult resolution for me to make, however it is entirely necessary if I want my business to grow and become even more prosperous. I will therefore outsource some writing projects and get more assistance with site building and basic marketing functions.
Automate More. I love to tinker with graphics and tweak my sites, but those activities don't contribute to the bottom line. So, in 2006, I will seek out new technologies to build bigger, better sites in less time.
Spend More on Education. Although I learn more about this business everyday, this year I will create and execute a plan to better focus my learning efforts. That plan will include attending a few conferences related to those industries in which I work as an affiliate.
Increase My Advertising Budget. Because they're so effective, I've been pretty lazy with some of my PPC campaigns. This year however I will increase the size of my keyword lists, seek out new advertising venues and spend more to attract visitors to my affiliate sites.
Relax and Vacation More. In the past I've ‘chunked' my work and play time in fairly large pieces, ie. work seven days straight without taking a break to go for a walk, then go on a vacation for a month during which I barely answer an email. Although I won't stop taking month-long vacations; the 8-hour back-breaking, neck-kinking, carpal-inducing computer work-marathons have to go! So, this year I will begin each day with exercise and sustenance, and limit desk-time to no more than an hour at a time.

Well, that's about all for now, but if I come up with anymore, I'll let you know!

—

Rosalind Gardner is author of the best-selling “Super
Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in ONE Year Selling
Other People's Stuff Online.

Super Affiliate Handbook

Latest Scam Emails

December 13, 2005 By Rosalind Gardner

A couple of days ago I received the following in an email…

Dear ebay member,

Thank you for bidding on my item, you are the highest bidder at 1520$ .
Please respond to this email by clicking the button below so we can provide you with shipping cost ! We will need your zipcode .
Thank you

Huh? Say WHAT? I didn't bid on anything!

Well, of course I didn't! (I also didn't click on the link.)

This was just another scam to try and get my account details.

Stay alert! Please don't be fooled by idiots who wouldn't know an honest buck if it slapped them upside the head.

Cheers,
Ros

Newbie or Pro Internet/Affiliate Marketer?

November 22, 2005 By Rosalind Gardner

I was tickled pink last week by all who stopped in and said hello at the new NPT Forum's ‘Meet and Greet'.

Here are ‘Newbie or Pro Internet/Affiliate Marketer?‘ poll results to date:

0% – Affiliate Marketing… what's that?
0% – Just scoping out the possibilities for now.
61% – I'm working on my first site. Wish me luck.
15% – I'm making money, honey!
0% – I'll be quitting my day J.O.B. any moment now.
23% – Day job… what the heck is that? I quit LONG ago!

So, where are YOU in the process?

Good information and help is being given on a variety of topics.

Among the contributors, Denise from Dallas mentioned that her favorite affiliate software is XSitePro. So, I bought it and have now spent a few hours checking it out.

So far, so excellent! Once I've fully explored its capabilities, I'll report my findings to you. My immediate
response however, is that it will probably replace Homesite in my arsenal… no more HTML tweaking… Hurray! 🙂

Viraj posed this question:

“… we all know that Google is the Godfather of the Internet and since January 2005 they have started punching out Affiliate sites big time. How can we succeed if Google continues to adopt this attitude…”

See my ‘ Google is Your Friend ‘ answer at:

Well, that's all for now.

Promote and prosper!

Cheers,

Ros

—
Rosalind Gardner is author of the best-selling “Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made 436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online.

http://SuperAffiliateHandbook.com

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