While checking my stats over at Commission Junction this morning, I noticed that they had a very bright graphic on the welcome screen that stated, “We oppose the CA internet retail tax!”
I had to click it because I agree that this internet taxation is a bunch of bologna, and well the call to action was beautifull designed – lol! I think it’s a weak attempt on behalf of state officials to penalize affiliate marketers and the businesses they run in order to dig themselves out of a bad situation. Shawn Collins, over at AffiliateTip.com, isn’t too happy about it either – read what he has to say over here. Anyways, CJ has posted up the submitted documentation that explains the potential pit falls of putting the nexus tax – internet taxation into place. This coalition is comprised of many powerful companies that are standing together in opposition of the proposed bill in the state of California. I applaud them all. It’s gonna be a cliffhanger for sure.
Here is the opening statement on behalf of the coalition against the proposed internet tax in California:
Threatens California Technology Sector Jobs and Harms California Online Marketplace
Companies, E-Commerce Companies, Small Businesses, Nonprofits, Many Others
The below-listed business and employer organizations and companies must respectfully OPPOSE AB 178 AND ABX3 27 (Skinner and Calderon) which we believe could harm highly-coveted California technology sector companies, such as online marketplace and other e-commerce companies, by placing them at a severe competitive disadvantage, nationally and globally.
AB 178 AND ABX3 27 would establish that California nexus is created when any retailer enters into any referral agreement with a California resident in exchange for compensation or commission, such as by a link, website, or otherwise, which generates referrals in excess of $10,000 in sales. “Nexus” refers to the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that an out-of-state retailer have a sufficient physical connection with a state before the state can force the retailer to collect the state’s sales or use tax.
Here is a snapshot of the businesses and employer organizations backing the opposition.
See any companies you know?
This morning, when I came into the office, I found a white box sitting on my desk from Google Adwords. In it was a letter from Google and a book, Always Be Testing – “The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer”. It was a great surprise! Google is doing it’s best to remind advertisers and businesses to keep marketing, even during these uncertain times, as this has been shown to dramatically increase business. At first, it does seem odd to ramp up marketing efforts during a time of economic uncertainty, but Google is right! Now is the time that businesses have to maximize their advertising efforts and focus on conversion.
I can’t wait to get into this book and share the information with the readership here, at affiliate school house. As you may already know, your website/landing page content, layout, and graphical elements, all play key roles in coversion rates. Apparently, Google has endorsed the authors of this book , who will show us the best strategies for increasing coversions by utilizing the Google Website Optimizer Tool – a power users guide, if you will.
Watch the video below where I share with you the contents of the box and explain what it is that Google is doing for their advertisers. It’s nice to receive a surprise in the mail. We operate so much of our businesses online, that it is very easy to forget about snail mail. Nice thought on behalf of Google to reach out to their advertisers that are using their marketing product – Adwords.
Are you just starting out in affiliate marketing and PPC advertising? Are you a veteran PPC player that is looking for other ways to maximize profits with little marketing spend? Have your PPC campaigns recently drained your pocket book with little ROI? It happens to the best of us. Sometimes a PPC space is hyper-competitive and your advertising costs can skyrocket due to a number of factors including: keyword competition, veteran marketers, poor ad copy, non converting landing pages, weak urls, the dreaded quality score (Google), and a host of many other factors depending upon the search engine you are using for your marketing efforts.
Have you ever seen a drop card or a promo post card flyer? Of course you have! In the world of guerrila marketing, street teams are hired to go out and use drop cards to market businesses, music artists, club events, sporting events, etc. This type of marketing costs pennies in comparison to some PPC campaigns.
Still not sure what a drop card is? No problem, I’ll explain. A drop card is nothing more than a simple business card or post card that has effective ad copy, eye catching graphics/color schemes, and a URL. These drop cards are strategically “dropped” in public places with high traffic, such as: gas stations, shopping malls, strip centers, restaurants, cafes, clubs, bars, college campuses, car washes, bookstores, movie theaters, etc. in order to maximize visibility and exposure to potential customers. Beginning to see the idea? You basically blanket your local area with your advertisements for very little spend. I will show you where you can pick up your own drop cards to test this offline marketing method.
500 Premier Business Cards
upload your own design
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drop cards that look like REAL MONEY!
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custom text and logo $145.00 no doubt about it these are expensive but just look at them!
EXAMPLE:
Running some CPA offers for ringtones? Are you finding that some PPC keywords are way too expensive? Perhaps you should try drop card marketing. Here is a real example of how an affiliate marketer might employ this offline marketing tactic. Let’s say that you own the url, RingToneKing.com and you use this url for your online marketing efforts (not sure who owns this, but hey, you just got some free exposure – you’re welcome) and you are finding that your PPC efforts are not doing as well as you would like. So, you begin a drop card marketing campaign in your local area to generate some traffic and hopefully, some conversions. I have written a fast action guide for you to model in your marketing niche. Let’s get started!
1. Purchase A Separte, Unique Domain
In this example, let’s say you decide to buy RingToneOffers.com, which is different from your primary domain, RingToneKing.com, that you market online (SEO, social media, PPC, etc.) You want this separate domain name so that you can effectively track your offline efforts. When we say “offline”, we simply mean that our marketing is done offline but our conversions happen online, since we are driving people to our domain via our drop cards. This new domain should have some form of analytics running: google analytics, awstats, or something similar, so that you can see that people are coming to your site from your offline marketing efforts. You will only want to use this new domain for your offline marketing efforts. Head on over to GoDaddy.com to pick up your “drop card domain”
2. Carefully Select Your Placements
Since you are marketing ringtones, you know that your target audience is somewhere within the demographic of male and females between the ages of 15 to 30. You have decided that your best areas to advertise with your drop cards would be near local highschools and colleges/community colleges. Scout out local movie theatres, movie rental businesses, theme parks (if applicable), sporting events, shopping malls, fast food restaurants, starbucks, cafe’s, ice cream parlors, etc. that are in close proximity to these areas. You might also consider areas where young adults hang out such as: clubs, bars, etc. and use your drop cards accordingly. Young people buy ringtones, so you need to advertise to those areas. This isn’t rocket science! Think of this type of offline marketing as online marketing within the Google content network or on sites like adbrite. How is that the same? Well, you get to select your placements within these content networks, right? So, do the same in regards to your offline efforts. Select your placements wisely and they will convert, but just like online marketing, you MUST have great ad copy, the best design that fits both your budget and your product, and a unique URL.
3. Budget, Ad Copy & Design
As you already know, the success of your online PPC marketing is contingent upon your budget, focused keywords, great ad copy, good urls, and awesome landing pages. This also applies to your offline marketing efforts. You must decide what your budget is for offline marketing, as this will determine what options you can include on your drop cards. The larger your budget, the more design options are available to you. You must also focus on creating good ad copy, so that your potential customer completes the first call to action, which is picking up the card and taking it with them. The design factor of your card: color, fonts, and background must also be taken into consideration, as this plays a key role in the potential customers completing both the first call to action and the second call to action. This second call to action includes retrieving the card to get the url to visit the website. (On a side note: this is why selecting a great domain name for offline marketing is so important. Someone may pick up your card and read it, but not take it with them. However, if you have a solid domain name and your ad copy was good – it is possible that they will remember the domain name!!)
4. Start Dropping!
Now that you have an idea of what drop cards are, and how you use them, you must order your first run and start dropping these cards in high traffic public areas!! Good luck!
If you are considering CPA marketing, you will want to check out this FREE REPORT that I found by Gauher Chaudhry. This awesome guide is packed full of information that will help you understand what CPA marketing is and will give you several examples of how you can maximize your ROI within this affiliate marketing space.
Gauher Chaudhry, for those of you who don’t know, is a super affiliate, CPA rockstar, and all around nice guy. He has helped many people get their start in CPA marketing, including Jonathan van Clute, who was the 2008 winner of the Top Affiliate Challenge. Jonathan was able to accomplish this win through his mentorship with Gauher. Jonathan was clearing $3,000.00 per day in commissions when he won this competition. $90,000.00 per month sounds good doesn’t it? Would you like to start making money like Jonathan? If this sounds like something you would be interested in pursuing, you can get your start by becoming acquainted with Gauher Chaudhry and his CPA strategies: Download his FREE CPA Marketing Guide Here.
This report could easily sell for 47.00 – 97.00! This 89 page CPA guide is full of information with no fluff. Make sure you check this free resource guide out while it’s still free.
As you may have already heard, Mr. Mike Filsaime, is giving away an unprecedented 5,000 copies of his Butterfly Marketing 2.0 software and manuscript. The copies will be given away on March 24th, starting at 12:00 PM for those people who signed up for the early bird list – you still have time to get on the VIP list for free. Just sign up here. If you have had the chance to read the original Butterfly Marketing manuscript, then you know how powerful this system is.
Are you stumped by Google’s formula that determines ad serving, quality score and CPC values? If so, I have come across a video that will surely help you make sense of the Google PPC marketing mystery. Mr. Hal Varian of Google does a fantastic job of explaining and frankly, demystifying, the phenomenon surrounding the Google Adwords Ad Auction process. He also explains how your max CPC bid and quality score determine how much you pay for a click on Google. Hal does an awesome job by giving real world examples on his nifty dry erase board – seriously, this concrete, real-world example is very good. If you have been confused by Google’s methods of determining ad placement, quality score, and CPC values you will definitely want to see this video.
Get out your spiral notebooks and a good pen. You are definitely going to want to jot down some stuff this morning. I wanted to get some links up on the blackboard real quick so that you could take a look at what a Big Product Launch is all about. The internet marketing space is filled with opportunities! One of the biggest launches that just occurred was Frank Kern’s Mass Control 2.0, which I picked up and highly recommend to everyone. Well, Mike Filsaime is about to do the same with his second installment of his virally popular, Butterfly Marketing system.
Mike, like Frank Kern, is an authority voice in the internet marketing space. He has been involved in the IM space for quite some time now and he definitely knows what he is doing. Every big online marketer will tell you that part of their success comes from pairing with good affiliates, who promote their products. Here at the affiliate school house, we will teach you just how you can get involved in lucrative launches like Butterfly Marketing 2.0 and all the other good stuff that will be coming out this year and in the years to come.
Before we get into all of that, I want each of you to really monitor the pre-launch, launch, and post launch of this product. You can do this by signing up for Butterfly Marketing updates – Just enter your name and email and Mike will send you awesome video case studies, testimonials, and more! This will be an exciting case study for sure. Already, some of Mike’s affiliates have won MacBook Pros, MacBooks, iPods, and more. This should definitely grab your interest. People like Mike reward affiliates for their hard work, and there are many more good marketers like Mike Filsaime within the space.
Let’s head on over and pay Mike Filsaime a visit to see what all the excitement is all about —-> Click Here
Talk with you soon,
Preston
Affiliate School House – Dean
Have you checked out our current study courses?
ADDITIONAL STUDY RESOURCES
MORE ON MARKET RESEARCH AND MARKET UNDERSTANDING:
Ed Dale is a wonderful source for explaining market understanding and research,
which is critical in determining your success as an affiliate marketer. I highly suggest
checking out this resource. It is top notch in both production and content value.
CURRENTLY BEING STUDIED AT THE AFFILIATE SCHOOLHOUSE:
Join the program by clicking the banner and join the Affiliate School House study group.
How many times have you got excited about getting started with affiliate marketing, internet marketing, building your own product, creating a blog or forum, etc., only to gas out before accomplishing anything because you get so wrapped up in the possibilities of failure, the endless details or become overwhelmed with fear. My friends, you are suffering from analysis paralysis, and I have been the victim of this success crusher many times. What is important to note here is that you can overcome analysis paralysis. How? It’s easy. You just have to take action. It’s really that simple.
Here is a common day dream scenario: How many times have you said these things?
“I want to make money online”
“I want to work from home because I hate commuting to my horrible job”
“I want to be the next internet millionaire”
“I want to supplement by current income with part-time money making on the internet”
“I want to be an internet rockstar and have many followers who come to me for information”
“I want to become successful by starting my own internet based business”
Most of us have said those statements either to ourselves or to others. The problem is, most of the time we fail to get past these stumbling blocks because we become crippled with analysis paralysis: the most common excuses/statements:
“Im scared that I will fail”
“If I fail, I will be a disappointment to myself and my family/spouse”
“If I don’t make alot of money at the beginning, I will not be successful”
“My spouse, family, and friends will not understand what I am trying to do.”
“I am broke. How can I expect to make money when I don’t have alot of extra money to invest”
“I am scared to invest money in internet marketing courses because they might not work”
“I will just buy one more course before I start”
“I will do just a little more research before I begin”
“I don’t have a clue how to set up a website/blog or build a list”
“People might laugh at me or my product”
“People will think that my videos or blog posts are dumb”
“I’m not good at producing content”
“And the list goes on and on…”
By taking action I mean, it’s time to crush all of these excuses and make sound decisions. Now, I am not discounting these statements above, I am just saying that at some point you have to talk through these things and make a decision to become successful and take the necessary steps to prepare yourself for success. A perfect example of a very successful internet entrepreneur is Jeremy Schoemaker of Shoemoney.com. Last night, I was fortunate enough to get in on the Shoemoney webinar hosted by BigMaketingOnline.com and on that call Jeremy answered my question, which was: What did you have to sacrifice at the very beginning of starting your online business and what kept you going each and every morning?
Jeremy said something that really hit home with me. He basically said he knew that he wanted to create and be responsible for his own success and DID NOT want to work in corporate America EVER again. He didn’t want to be forced into a certain salary bracket. He wanted the freedom to do as he pleased. Jeremy also said that he had to sacrifice alot to get where he is today. Basically, he had to “bust it out”, each and every day. What does that mean? Giving up sleep, television, partying, etc. At the beginning you gotta give up some things in order to taste true success. You have to pay your dues. Nobody is gonna give you the game. You gotta get out there and GET IT! Know what I mean?
Watch Jeremy tell you how he got started online: CLICK HERE
I think we all want that. The problem is most of us become paralyzed with fear factors or failure factors that prevent us from being successful. So, we get back into our cars every morning with our coffee, sit in traffic, and head straight to our cubicle when we get to work, where we dream about being successful online.
Here is the take away:
Nobody ever won a cy-young award for pitching in baseball by sitting on the bench for the entire season.Get your rear off the bench and get in the game. It’s time to make some decisions. You either want success or you don’t. That’s up to you. Just know that Affiliate School House is here to help you get started and school is currently in session.
Video Disclaimer: I noticed that I did not tell you guys and gals that it’s important to talk about your ideas and reasons for getting started with your spouse or family. However, YOU ultimately have to decide what is best. You want success? You gotta get out there and go for it! Have faith in yourself and surround yourself with good people.
ADDITIONAL STUDY RESOURCES
MORE ON MARKET RESEARCH AND MARKET UNDERSTANDING:
Ed Dale is a wonderful source for explaining market understanding and research,
which is critical in determining your success as an affiliate marketer. I highly suggest
checking out this resource. It is top notch in both production and content value.
CURRENTLY BEING STUDIED AT THE AFFILIATE SCHOOLHOUSE:
Join the program by clicking the banner and join the Affiliate School House study group.
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