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.
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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!
Our lesson for today will include some very important Do’s and Dont’s when it comes to promoting your products or affiliate links on the web.
1. DO NOT SPAM YOUR PRODUCT LINKS OR AFFILIATE LINKS
How many times have you seen someone on Twitter or Facebook spam links all day long about some $4.95 trial for Adwords Crusher or something like that. I know I have. Unfortunately it seems that many people in this space will do anything to make a quick buck, even if that means resorting to spamming. This annoying practice occurs daily, via email (as almost all of us know), Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Forums, as well as many other places. I would fill up this entire post if I listed every way that marketers spam. These so-called internet marketers and affiliate marketers are not connecting with their audience and will ultimately never build a sustainable business. Don’t follow the advice of others if it includes this type of behavior. Be wary. Nobody, and I mean nobody, likes a spammer.
2. DO NOT ANNOY THE “BIG DOGS” – AUTHORITY VOICES
It’s smart to build relationships with the authority voices within your space, but do it the right way. Constantly emailing, or pinging these individuals for business advice, support, or begging them to promote your site, blog, links or products is a great way to burn a bridge. This will not help your business.
3. DO NOT LOOK FOR FAST MONEY
There is no get rich quick system out there that will earn you respect and build you a lasting business. Sure, you might make a few quick bucks but you will alienate alot of people, annoy others, and be left with nothing worthwhile. Think about it.
Similar to spamming, nobody likes to be around people who only talk at them and not with them. What do I mean by this? It simply means that it’s important to engage in conversations, instead of always talking about what you do or what you are promoting.
2. DO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR AUDIENCE, AUTHORITY VOICES, & AFFILIATE MANAGERS
This one is a no-brainer. If you build relationships you will be able to move your business to the next level.
3. JOIN THE BEST AFFILIATE NETWORKS
Always seek out the best affiliate networks, affiliate programs, and products to promote. Don’t try to join every program out there. You will just end up overwhelmed and confused. Speak to a representative at these networks and have them sell you on why you should promote their products.
4. PROTECT YOUR GOOD NAME
Word travels fast within the internet and affiliate marketing space. This means that you should strive to build the very best reputation that you can by forging quality relationships, by sharing quality content, and by helping others achieve their goals. Helping someone can open many different doors. It’s how I met one of my best friends on the internet and it has helped me tremendously.
**Authority Voice: I can’t stand the word guru or expert so I choose to use authority voice as a substitute.
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:
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The Beginning:
In order to get started in affiliate marketing, you have to find products to promote. The task of selecting affiliate programs can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. In this post we will discuss the best methods for selecting great affiliate programs that both complement your passions and have a buyer’s market, which is key (if there isn’t a buyer’s market, then you will not be making any sales). Typically, new affiliates feel the need to sign up with every big affiliate program company (cj, linkshare, etc.), corporate affiliate program, information product, etc. that they can sign up for because they believe that being a member of more affiliate programs will yield more money. In most cases this is just not true. Those of you who have done this, please raise your hand. I know I have. It’s ok, it happens. At first, the prospect of making money with affiliate programs fills the new affiliate marketer with hope and excitement. As a result, most new affiliates end up running around signing up for everything under the sun and end up gassing out before actually promoting any products or seeing any money come in. I have been there too.
So, what is the best method for getting on the right track from the very start?
There are several key factors that when combined will yield the best returns.I think the best way to illustrate this is by giving you a list of questions and statements that will help you make the right decisions in regards to what will work best for YOU and YOUR business.
Selecting Affiliate Programs:
It’s important at first that you select some items that you will have fun promoting. If you are interested in what you are promoting, you will work harder and put in the extra efforts because you have a genuine interest in the products. It will make the journey more tolerable when you come across bumps in the road and will make it that much sweeter when you taste success.
The Best Method/Approach For Selecting Great Affiliate Programs: A Quickstart Guide
Assuming you don’t have a blog or website – What things are you passionate about? (cooking, sports, fashion, toys, electronics, etc.)
Assuming you don’t have a blog or website – What items from your passions do you think you would have the most fun promoting? Select some niche products.
After selecting some niche items, use Google and other research tools to determine if there is a buyer’s market with good volume for those items.
If you currently have a blog or website, what is it about? Is there room to promote products within it? If so, select items that complement your site/blog.
Use sites like commissionjunction, sharasale, and linkshare to search for affiliate programs.
Use Google to search for your selected niche products. Review the results and try to locate products. Look for affiliate programs on those sites.
Get involved in the affiliate marketing communities and ask other people which affiliate clearinghouses/programs they like the best.
Sign Up for several affiliate programs/products. DON’T GO OVERBOARD!
This goes without saying, BUT, select the associated programs that have the most traffic and the best commission rate/structure.
Deploy your affiliate links via your website, blog, articles, forums, etc. <— more on this later.
Optimize your pages/articles for your related affiliate items with current SEO tactics
Review your traffic and conversions. Maky any necessary adjustments.
What is it? How Does it work?
The basic idea behind affiliate marketing is really quite simple. As a matter of fact, you have probably already witnessed a version of affiliate marketing in your daily life, but didn’t notice. In affiliate marketing you basically act as a salesman/saleswoman for Brand “X” by promoting their products using your own website, blog, newsletter or other marketing tool. In this example, let’s refer to Brand “X” as Amazon. Amazon.com, the company, wants affiliate marketers – YOU, to drive quality traffic to their website in order to increase their POTENTIAL sales volume. Read more
