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Saturday, March 12, 2005 |
I knew it had to happen sooner or later, and Allen Says has been doing it for several months before I even learned of it. One of my friends in Texas told me about it a few days ago and I stopped what I was doing and immediately went to look and see what Allen was doing.
What is it?
I knew someone would find a way to incorporate pass-through affiliate links in a blog, and I'm not surprised that it was Allen Says who did it.
Don't know about Allen Says?
He's the one who created the Internet Warriors several years ago, and he knows marketing and affiliate programs.
Now, he's created a way for you to send visitors to his Instant Guru Blog and pass through your affiliate link so you get paid when your referred visitors make a purchase from his blog.
Plus, he's promoting at least five other affiliate programs with more to come.
I recommend his blog for its own sake. You'll learn a lot. Sign up for his mailing list so you'll be notified when he adds content to his blog.
If you want to make the most of it, however, you'll go one step further and sign up for his affiliate program and start promoting his blog using your affiliate link.
To sign up for his affiliate program, click on the large graphic in the left column of his blog that says, "Make Money From Blogging Without Writing A Single Word".
Then tell everyone you know who is interested in online marketing to follow your affiliate link and read his blog on a regular basis.
If you're not interested in affiliate marketing, please refer your friends to instant-guru-blog.LinkToDetails.com.
8:29:14 AM 
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Thursday, January 20, 2005 |
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Wednesday, January 19, 2005 |
I'm going to be writing a series of articles about what I've come to call customized replicated websites, for lack of a better term. I'm sure there is a particular name for this, but I'm not aware of it at this time.
An example of this kind of site is Affiliate Showcase. I've been a free member of this site for a couple of years and I'm just now coming to understand how these sites work.
I'm a pretty bright guy, but I've failed to understand the bigger picture until recently.
Basically, as I understand it now, someone creates a site -- in this case an affiliate directory that lists thousands of affiliate programs. Then, they offer a free site to anyone who signs up. This free member can modify any affiliate programs to which they belong so that the link has their affiliate code in it. Anyone who purchases from that link earns the free member a commission. Anyone who signs up for an affiliate showcase of their own will inherit the links from the person who refers them.
This means that, assuming I'm the first one to sign up, my free site will inherit all the links from the site owner, which I'll call the top-level.
I can change as many links as I want and I can join as many of the programs as appeal to me. I can also suggest new affiliate programs and they'll go into the database with my affiliate code, if accepted. This means that some of the links on my page are second-level (the ones I modify) or top-level (the ones I add).
(Please note: This has changed since the last time I checked a few months ago. Now, only paid executive members can add links to new programs.)
If you follow my link and get a free site of your own, your pages will inherit the top-level links of the site owner, the top-level links of the programs I'm first to suggest, and the second-level links that I modified.
Thus, I, and you, are free to customize our replicated sites with our own links. We are free to suggest new programs that are not in the database.
But, any links that aren't modified or added, inherit the top-level links from the site owner/creator. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing. In fact, I think it's proper for the creator/maintainer of the site to be compensated for the work done to create the system and to market it. That's what affiliate programs are all about.
Since I'm free to modify the links I want to, and I'm free to join any of the affiliate programs that appeal to me, then I can get into the compensation chain. When you sign up below me, you can modify and/or join any of the programs you want and insert yourself into the compensation chain.
And so it goes. Someone signs up under you and someone under that person, and so on. Each replicated site inherits a mix of your links and links modified or created by your upline.
By advertising your page, you are marketing for not just yourself, but for those who are in the upline -- and this is normal, too. Some programs don't let you build downlines. Some offer two-level downlines. Others offer multi-level downlines. By advertising one page, you can market a wide range of programs, some of which you'll earn from, and others your upline will earn from.
Obviously, the individuals or team that create the site and hold the top-level positions are in line to earn the most commissions. But, generally, that's not the only income stream. Most of these sites, including Affiliate Showcase, offer paid membership subscriptions. Some offer two or more different paid subscriptions with varying features.
With Affiliate Showcase, you can upgrade to Pro or Executive levels, and each offers more customization of the featured ads on the home page of the site. If you are a free member, you can't modify the most prominent ads, so your upline (all the way back to the first paid member who placed the ads) are the only ones who can earn from transactions initiated by those ads. If you want to replace the ads, you must upgrade to paid status.
Since it's an affiliate program, the person who referred you will earn a percentage of your upgrade payment as a commission. Paid members earn a higher percentage than free members.
Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with this, it's just not obvious the first time you are exposed to the site -- at least, it wasn't obvious to me.
Since the large ads on the home page are the ones most likely to grab your attention, I would think they would be the ones that earn the most. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm considering upgrading my membership to see how well it works.
Two years ago, when I signed up, I had no traffic to my sites, not much experience with affiliate programs, no experience with multilevel or network marketing, and not enough money to upgrade to paid status, so I never really marketed the Affiliate Showcase site.
Now, I'm going to advertise it and see what happens. Since I've joined several hundred affiliate programs during the learning phase of my online marketing business, I'll search for those and upgrade my links. I probably won't add many programs if they're not already in the database.
As an experiment, I'd like to invite you to follow the link and sign up for your free Affiliate Showcase site. Sign up for any of the affiliate programs that strike your fancy, and be sure to modify the link by clicking on the edit link and adding your affiliate code.
Let's see how many levels deep we can build this network in the next six months. Let's also see if we earn enough income from our experiment to make it worthwhile to upgrade to pro status. This is especially useful if you are an affiliate with SFI Marketing Group or Cognigen, both of which are in the database. Search for the program and edit your link so that anyone who signs up under you will inherit your link code.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be talking about other sites that I've found that follow this or a similar system, and we can see how they work, too.
At this point, I'm not asking anyone to upgrade to paid status, unless you can afford it and feel it is worth the risk. In that case, it's up to you.
I'm mainly wondering what happens as we get more people signing up for the free sites and then promoting them.
I'll report back as I see any results.
Over the next few days, I'll be introducing sites that are designed to increase traffic to your sites, build downlines, offer free advertising, and more, and some of these programs are already listed in the Affiliate Showcase.
At this point, I'm not entirely sure it's worth the effort, but I've been talking to a couple of people who swear by it.
My main strategy is still to build sites and blogs with good content and optimize each page for good search engine placement. But, I can see the benefit of trying some of the customized replicated sites, too.
Feel free to tell me your experiences with these types of sites and what you think about them.
11:14:32 AM
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Tuesday, January 4, 2005 |
Gery Carson, founder and president of SFI Marketing group, announced many new changes to the company this weekend. I won't go over all of them here, however. You can see some of the changes in my SFI Blog.
Here are the headlines:
If you're interested in becoming an SFI affiliate, I'd love to welcome you to my team.
8:33:24 AM
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Sunday, December 5, 2004 |
On December 1, 2004, Gery Carson made a major announcement about the SFI Marketing Group's compensation plan for 2005.
I'll be posting more thoughts about SFI and the changes in the compensation plan on my SFI Blog.
5:20:01 AM
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Following is the announcement from Gery Carson, CEO of SFI Marketing Group:
12/1/04
Dear SFI Affiliate,
During the first eleven months of this year, SFI has made an abundance of improvements and enhancements. These include:
- Completely redesigned and centralized our affiliate website (www.sfimg.com)
- All new Veriuni store
- New offline marketing tools
- Launched a greatly improved Wholesale program
- Added a toll-free order line
- Live, online support added to www.sfimg.com and IAHBE
- Introduced a number of new products
- Added the "Next Step" training center
- Redesigned Smart Start
- Introduced the new "Welcome New Affiliate" self-mailer
- Introduced SFI Partner Stores
- Added the option to receive commissions via PayPal
- Added a search engine to www.sfimg.com
- Sent out a weekly newsletter EVERY Friday since January
- Overhauled Eagle Co-op
- Introduced E-Cards
- Introduced new and improved Gateways
- Added a variety of new reports and business management tools
- Introduced ValuePaks
- Published a new SFI book
- Added 93 magazines to the magazine rack
- Achieved whitelist status with AOL, Yahoo, and other major ISPs for greatly increased email deliverability
Obviously, we are working very hard to make SFI the best it can be. That is why, on January 1st, I'm very pleased to announce that we will also be introducing a brand new improved compensation plan.
We had several key objectives in redesigning the compensation plan:
- Provide a strong incentive to become MIQ
- Provide a strong incentive to retain MIQ status (reduce attrition)
- Provide significant earnings opportunity, both front-end and back-end, on personal referrals
- Provide a platform that encourages and rewards strong, synergistic (teamworking) relationships between uplines and downlines
- Increase the percentage of Standing Orders
- Provide a strong incentive to take immediate and daily action
- Show exciting income potential in an easy-to-understand way
- Provide an upfront "show me the money" component to clearly demonstrate SFI is real to new affiliates
- Provide the opportunity for new affiliates to realistically earn income monthly to establish SFI's potential
- Provide a strong incentive to continually advance in rank
- Provide a strong incentive to develop leaders in ones team
- Provide a strong incentive to build a large sales team
- Provide a robust retail sales program
- Provide the "big money" opportunity that heavy hitters are looking for
It was a major challenge to achieve all of these objectives and we went through many, many drafts since we began the redesign work in the Summer. You might also like to know that we worked with over 20 of SFI's top leaders in designing the new plan.
In announcing the new plan today, I'm thrilled to say that not only did we MEET all of our objectives, but I believe we clearly EXCEEDED them with some truly powerful and unique features.
If you're ready to check it out, here's the URL with all the details:
http://www.sfimg.com/TNet
(If you're not an SFI affiliate, you can join here and get access to that information.)
After you've taken a look, be sure to continue reading on as I have lots of other exciting information and news to share with you today.
We'll start with this excerpt from "Choosing The Best Network Marketing Company":
"What you want is a compensation plan that shifts some money upfront so the new person can see a check in their first few weeks. By giving the new people that taste of success, you lock them in, and they'll stay involved and keep working long enough for the 'back-end' residual-type income to kick in.
The point is, almost every type of compensation plan can ultimately deliver a monster income on a big downline, but first you've got to have a product line capable of attracting and sustaining that kind of growth. AND, you've got to have a means for new people coming in to get a taste of the potential income, or you'll be losing people as fast as you can bring new people in to replace them. In short, if you've got top products and an upfront bonus in your compensation plan, everything will take care of itself --it becomes self-perpetuating. If you don't have both of these crucial elements, however, your business is going to be a losing proposition --one big, frustrating Catch-22."
If you've reviewed the new comp plan, we've obviously taken the above advice to heart.
For starters, SFI's new "Team Network" system will force significant growth under thousands of new affiliates, giving them that critical taste of success, while simultaneously demonstrating tremendous future potential.
To help "prime the pump" even further, we have also earmarked 4% of CV companywide towards a first month guaranteed commission check. This component of the new plan means that all new MIQs, starting in January, will get a commission check their first month (we'll send it, regardless of amount). Then, the T-Net structure will help ensure the checks keep coming.
And with the Business Builders Bonuses, new affiliates can create significant commission checks right out of the chute!
And these are just SOME of the powerful components of T-Net. When you grasp the entire picture and understand how all the new dynamics work together, I'm betting you will be as excited as I and many top SFI leaders are about this new plan.
Now let's look at some other powerful features...
NEW EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS SYSTEM
If you know how now or can learn how to generate a steady stream of affiliate registrations, the new email notifications system could be HUGE for you! Starting January 1st, we will begin plugging in new affiliates under you in your personal T-Net network as they sign up (placed in the next available open slot). Starting the next day, for 29 days, they will then begin receiving a daily "Network Growth" recap email of all the new affiliates that have been placed under them.
The email will explain that these new affiliates have been placed under them and they can be earning 6% on each, plus have the opportunity to earn on everything these affiliates go on to do, etc. To lock in this benefit, the affiliate receiving the recap simply needs to upgrade (become MIQ) within 30 days of their sign-up date (which we of course let them know in the recap). If they fail to upgrade by their 30-day deadline, they lose their spot in the network and everything below rolls up.
If you skimmed the last two paragraphs, go back and read it again, as this is one of the truly MAJOR new components of the SFI system. Because the 2x12 network is so narrow, substantial growth will naturally flow down level after level.
With the combination of your own efforts, PLUS the efforts of your upline, PLUS the efforts of your downline, a large percentage of your affiliates could be receiving these exciting notifications. Over a month's time, the number of affiliates placed under them could be VERY substantial. Indeed, many of our top leaders have been known to bring in literally HUNDREDS of new affiliates a DAY!
Are the affiliates above all this activity going to want to lose their position and lose all this potential income? Of course not! New affiliates will now have a HUGE incentive to become MIQ and remain MIQ.
NEW BUILT-IN COMPANYWIDE AD CO-OP
An all-new company-sponsored ad co-op will go into affect in January. Up to 12 free shares will be included in the benefits of the rank of Platinum Team Leader. Bronze Team Leaders will receive one free share, Silver two free shares, and Gold four free shares. In other words, by simply referring 2 MIQs (the basic qualifications for Bronze Team Leader), you would receive one free share in the ad co-op and up to 12 free shares in advancing to Platinum. You receive these free shares automatically every month that you are qualified at that rank and all affiliates generated for you by the ad co-op of course flow into your network, increasing momentum and growth for all.
NEW RETAIL PROGRAM
SFI has always endeavored to have a strong retail program. As of January 1st, our strongest retail program yet will be in place. Starting January 1st, when you make a sale to a NON-affiliate, it will be considered a retail sale and you will earn a straight 40% (of CV) commission. It DOUBLES to 80% if you have at least 10 total SVP for the month. Special note: We have eliminated the old comp plan's "initial sale" and "subsequent sale" labels. In other words, with the new plan, a sale is a sale. Period. Whether the customer is buying for the first time or the 50th time from you, you're going to earn 40% (80% if your total personal SVP for the month is 10 or more).
Bottom line: If you want to focus on personal retail sales, we now have a very robust compensation plan that pays you up to 80% of our CV (Commission Volume) on every product you sell.
OTHER FEATURES OF T-NET
Here are some other features of the T-NET plan that you may not have realized or that are not yet documented elsewhere:
1. You can earn from every income stream without any group volume requirements.
2. You can earn over $10,000/mo. with JUST TWO personally sponsored MIQ affiliates.
3. You can earn infinitely deep into your organization on all personally-sponsored MIQ affiliates.
4. There will be monthly compression of the network for maximum payout. This means that should someone drop out, the next affiliate below that spot moves up to fill the gap. This ensures maximization of the number of affiliates in your payline and a constant clearing of the "dead wood" in your organization which allows your best people to rise to the top.
5. OVER THREE TIMES as many affiliates will be receiving commission checks as there are today. That's thousands of more people every month with proof that SFI is the real deal, and we believe this will pay huge dividends.
6. If one of your personally-referred affiliates sponsors someone, then downgrades, the commissions of that "orphaned" affiliate can now roll-up to you.
=================== IMPORTANT ===================
With the exception of brand new affiliates joining SFI after December 1st, to be part of the T-Net Network when we compile it on January 1st, you MUST BE MIQ on December 31, 2004. We will do our best to make sure everyone gets this important message. However, you can really help yourself by doing everything you can during December to help as many of your non-MIQ affiliates get upgraded so that they start the new year with the best possible position in the new T-Net network.
Of course, not only that, but for all your personally-sponsored affiliates who upgrade via a standard 10 SVP/20 CV personal purchase in December, you'll earn a Seller's Commission of $16 for each one.
To help you reach as many of your affiliates as possible, we've set up a special co-op postcard mailing. For just 29 cents apiece, we'll send out a full-color postcard via first-class mail to all of your personally-sponsored affiliates (USA-resident s only). If you don't wish to mail to ALL, you can mail to your top 25, top 100, top 500, or whatever number you want. We will use a "Power Rating" formula which weighs the number of referrals, months they've been MIQ, etc. to determine who your top affiliates are. You can get more information and/or order your postcard mailing at:
[URL deleted -- This is for affiliates who have sponsored other affiliates, only.]
Note!! The DEADLINE to order your postcards is Monday, December 6th.
================================================
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
To keep the length of this announcement letter down, we've set up a separate Webpage of over 30 important questions and answers about the new comp plan. We STRONGLY urge you to go to this Q&A Webpage and review this information:
https://www.sfimg.com/Reference/TNetFAQ.sfi
(If you're not an SFI affiliate, you can join here and get access to that information.)
JANUARY 1ST SNEAK PEEKS & CLOSING THOUGHTS
In addition to a powerful, new compensation plan, an incredible new email notification system, and a company-sponsored ad co-op, here are some of the other major items coming to SFI in January:
- Introduction of a new full-color prospecting booklet
- Gateways, emails, and Smart Start translated into Spanish
- The launch of a new fundraising division
- Exciting new sales, recruiting, and team-building contests
- New products
- AND SOME OTHER SURPRISES!
When all of these new programs, products, and enhancements are in place in January, we believe SFI will take another huge leap forward. Indeed, the SYNERGY of everything combined and working together will be extremely powerful.
There will be lots of additional information coming out in the following days and weeks as we edge closer to January 1st. We are also planning conference calls, etc. to get everyone fully up to speed and ready to hit the ground running in January.
In the meantime, if you want to start boosting your commission check right now, you need to get started immediately on a gameplan for contacting your affiliates. Remember, they must be MIQ on December 31st, 2004 to secure the best possible position in T-Net. After December 31st this opportunity for them will be gone forever.
I hope you are as excited as I am. 2005 is going to be a breakout year for SFI and I'm going to do everything I can to make it be YOUR best year ever, too.
Gery Carson
SFI Founder & President
3:55:01 AM
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Saturday, December 4, 2004 |
Your opportunities with ShopForT1 continue to increase on a regular basis, as more and more Cognigen agents are seeing that T1 (and larger circuit) sales have closed and they are seeing the commissions. You are encouraged to take the time to understand what you have to offer here, since ShopForT1 is one of the absolute best deals around today.
You find a need for bandwidth, the lead is entered into the system, and a technical professional closes the sale for you! It just doesn't get any better than that!
With the advent and ever-increasing demand for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol, or broadband phone) services for businesses, ShopForT1 is aligned with both Broadvox and Packet8 to provide a bundled solution for customers. This can be a tremendous cost savings for businesses, since a data-only T1 is typically less expensive than an integrated T1 line (combining data and voice circuits). The ShopForT1 closers understand this and are explaining it to customers as a cost-effective option on a regular basis.
The carriers that are represented by ShopForT1 are also noticing the tremendous success, and are continually amazed at the number of orders that are closed. As a result of this, these carriers are regularly offering very generous spiffs, bonuses, and increased commissions to compensate ShopForT1 (and you, the agent) for this continued success.
Is there really an opportunity here? You bet!
Consider that within the United States there are well over a MILLION T1 lines being used. This is a substantial market for you to go after. Now, consider that if a T1 line has been in place for more than 2 years, it is very likely that the customer is paying much more than he should be for it. If that T1 line has been in place for more than 3 years, it is almost certain that the customer is paying more than he needs to for that service. Even "techno-savvy" customers sometimes find it difficult to understand how ShopForT1 can offer such low prices from top-tier carriers. One ShopForT1 closer tells the story that one customer didn't believe the prices he was being quoted by the closer over the phone, so he asked the closer to print the quote and get it notarized, and then fax it to him!
How can ShopForT1 offer such prices from these top-tier carriers?
The name of the game is VOLUME. Based on the volume of business that ShopForT1 provides to all of our carriers every month, those carriers guarantee the best prices possible. That's why the closers don't hesitate to tell the customer which carriers are being quoted, because the guarantee is that the customer cannot go to that same carrier directly and get a better price on the same service.
For you, the agent, ShopForT1 can represent a gold mine. Consider that you don't need to close the sale -- the sale is closed for you by a professional technical consultant at no cost to you or the customer. Also consider that a T1 line or larger circuit is almost always sold on a 1, 2, or 3 year contract. This means that you have a guaranteed commission every month from that customer for the life of the contract, and may ALSO get a one-time bonus or spiff from it.
It just doesn't get any better than this.
Well, we have said that before and it still continues to get better and better, with more tools being added regularly. Don't miss the boat on this tremendous opportunity.
6:29:40 PM
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Monday, June 7, 2004 |
Over the last few weeks, Cognigen has introduced four new services related to long distance phone calling, domain registration, webhosting, and wireless service.
PNG Power 3000 -- Flat rate long distance service with 3000 anytime minutes for $29.95 per month. No need to switch long distance...
HostingWithUs Web Hosting Service -- Quality web hosting from $5.95 per month! No setup fee nor a 3, 6, or 12 month prepay to get our low prices. Be sure to check out the features and low prices on bulk reseller hosting which is ideal for online marketers who have many websites. (I know I'll be getting one of these accounts later this month.)
DomainsWithUs Domain Name Registration -- A domain name of your choice, registered at $9.75 per year. Search all the extensions. All popular features are included.
FonCentral Specializing in T-Mobile -- Great personal and family plans, get a free phone with up to a $100 cash back. Cellular portability available!
These are the four newest products available from Cognigen. You can see all our services at my Cognigen sales site.
In addition to the products listed above, we offer services from some of the best telecommunications businesses in the world. You can choose from long distance calling services, bundled local and long distance, 800 toll-free services, high-speed Internet access (including DSL, T1, T3 and higher), phone calling cards, dial-up Internet access, broadband phone (VoIP), dial-around long distance, conference calling, voice messaging, web services, wireless cell phones, satellite TV, computers and more. Many of these services are available to both residential and business customers -- often at the same price!
All products are not available at all locations. The web page for each product will help you determine what is available at your home or office.
I appreciate your business!
12:09:09 PM
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Over the last couple of weeks, I've been redesigning my 21st Century Sales site. I'm busily expanding it to offer great resources for people who want to build profitable home businesses.
While there are many types of home businesses, this site is targeted towards online marketing and sales, with an emphasis on earning income by marketing affiliate programs. I've found this to be an excellent way to build extra streams of income without having to invest a lot of money.
Of course, as with any business, it takes time, effort and some money to build a business to the point where it starts returning a profit. Normally, I expect to put in three to five years and a lot of time and money before I start earning a profit. This has gone faster than any other business I've ever started or helped to start.
In the past, I've had to invest many thousands of dollars up-front and then put in the time and effort to make things work.
With this business -- my home-based online marketing business -- I've been able to invest as little as three or four dollars every day (around $100 per month) and I'm already earning a growing profit all without incurring any debt. It's not financed by loans or credit cards, and that's a first for me. I love being out of debt.
Now that it has reached the breakeven point, I don't even have to invest the small amount I was spending out of pocket each month. Overhead, advertising, and promotional expenses are now coming out of revenue, and as I reinvest a substantial portion of that revenue, I look forward to watching the business grow even faster.
You, my customer, have made this possible and I appreciate it. I'll continue to offer the best opportunities I can find along with tips and advice based on my continuing research.
I appreciate your business. Thank you!
21st Century Sales is one site in my growing network of Dilbeck Marketing websites. There are several more on the drawing board and I'll be introducing them over the next several months.
11:03:16 AM
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I just noticed that my SFI sales team, while still a very young venture, already has affiliates on five continents.
Only with the invention and wide distribution of the Information Superhighway would something like this be possible with the expenditure of so little money in promotion and advertising.
Of course, it is also a testament to SFI Marketing Group, a company that has been investing millions of dollars and years of effort to build a great marketing organization. I've been a team leader for just a few months, but it's only because of all the effort they put into building the infrastructure, hiring a great staff, creating training systems, programming their computer systems, negotiating contracts with suppliers, and handling shipping and customer service that I've been able to jump in and start building a sales team with them so quickly.
I'm looking forward to helping the affiliates who have joined my team build successful home businesses of their own. Together we'll help each other succeed.
Thanks to each of you!
A company is only as good as the products we sell, and I'm happy to see our selection of quality products grow and improve.
If you're interested in building a home business of your own and you're willing to invest time, effort, and two or three dollars per day to promote and grow it, I invite you to join my sales team, too.
10:40:01 AM
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Tuesday, June 1, 2004 |
Recently, Google.com and WordTracker.com joined forces to
create a site that makes it simple to do quick research for
finding niches that may be profitable for your website.
You can test it at NicheBot.com.
It's easy to use. If you need more detailed research, they
refer you directly to WordTracker.com.
Last October, I wrote an article on building web traffic,
and I updated it earlier today. You can learn more about
finding niches and building traffic to your site there.
I recommend several tools that I use on my sites.
The updated article is:
Building Website Traffic.
Finding a niche and building a site with real, helpful
content is the only way that I know of to compete with the
big companies that have much more time and more people than
we'll ever have. They can control the general keywords and
can afford to spend thousands of dollars in advertising
every month.
For those of us with smaller budgets and less resources,
we have to be more agile and look for treasure in the
niches.
If you can identify a niche and build a website that has
great content, you can build traffic and eventually
monetize that traffic by selling your products, services,
or recommending products for sale through affiliate
programs or arranging to get finders fees for sending
targeted leads to other companies.
You can learn a lot more about this from Ken Evoy.
He teaches you how to find profitable niches in his
Affiliate Masters Course which you can download free. It's in PDF format.
6:04:43 AM
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Back in January, 2004, SFI Marketing Group introduced
their new Veriuni Store, which makes well over 700
products available for their affiliates to sell.
I started analyzing the store in February and researching
keywords and phrases in March and April.
As soon as I finished the emergency work I had to do on GeorgiaDragRacing.com in May, I turned my attention to building
my version of the SFI Veriuni Store on JohnDilbeck.com.
I did this for a couple of reasons. Some of the affiliates
on my sales team were having trouble finding all the
products they could sell and building links to them.
So, I, to the best of my knowledge, built a site that
links to all the current products using simple HTML. Now
anyone on my sales team can find a product they want to
link to and use my code as a sample they can modify by
replacing my SFI ID with theirs and posting the links
to their sites or blogs.
The other reason is so that I can attract new customers
and sell the products myself. Please feel free to visit
the store and purchase whatever strikes your fancy.
We offer hundreds of magazine subscriptions at competitive
prices. I invite you to subscribe to the magazines of your choice.
5:50:42 AM
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Sunday, May 2, 2004 |
Congratulations to Oluwapelumi Olorunninwo, of Idimu, AL, Nigeria,
for growing his SFI sales team in April, 2004. Of all the
entry-level people in my sales team, Oluwapelumi added more
new affiliates to his team than anyone else.
You are invited to visit his SFI store.
He would appreciate any purchase you might like to make!
You are also welcome to join his SFI team.
Congratulations to the following for becoming Multi-Income
Qualified in April, 2004 and for starting to build their SFI
sales teams!
Kendra Tucker, Owings Mills, MD, USA
Visit SFI store -- Join SFI team.
Stacy Harris, Calgary, AB, Canada
Visit SFI store -- Join SFI team.
Jennifer Anderson, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Visit SFI store -- Join SFI team.
Our sales team is growing, and we're building a bigger presence around the world -- already on four continents.
6:19:59 PM
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The May 1, 2004 edition of my Home Business Tips newsletter has been posted.
Congratulations to my SFI sales team for growing their businesses in April!
6:11:00 PM
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004 |
Hi,
I was reading the SFI discussion board (http://www.sfidboard.com/)
a few days ago and ran across a thread I'd never seen before. It
was so interesting I decided to copy it here for you to read.
The full thread is at:
http://www.sfidboard.com/showthread.php?t=39183
Did you know that you can become MIQ by making just two sales?
Not two sales per month, just two sales (and one of them can
be you). And, because it's a continuing service, you can
remain MIQ for an indefinite period of time.
The thread was started by an SFI affiliate named Steve and here's
what he had to say:
===================================
SFI Made Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------
Do You Think SFI is Difficult?
SFI is such a powerful opportunity that most of us try
to make it much harder than it really needs to be.
Would you be much more excited about SFI if you could
see a simple and very inexpensive way to make it work?
If so, please read on ...
Don't Have Much Money?
I'm going to show you a simple way to become MIQ and stay
MIQ and it won't cost you any extra money at all! In fact,
it's probably going to save you money!
If you don't know what MIQ is, you need to go through the
Smart Start program, but basically you have to be MIQ to
make full commissions (and residual income) on your sales
and the sales of the people that you sponsor.
Don't Like to Sell?
Did you know that you can be MIQ and stay MIQ with only ONE
sale? And I don't mean one sale a month, either, I'm talking
just ONE sale TOTAL!
Yes, that's right, I said just ONE SALE, TOTAL!
Have I got your Attention?
Ok, here is how to do this in just two steps.
1) Switch your Internet to the Veriuni Pro Service
2) Get ONE person who is not in SFI to purchase
the Veriuni Pro ISP service (this is your one sale)
That's it. That's all that would be required for you to be MIQ
every month that you and the other person stay with the Veriuni
Pro Internet Service.
Keep in mind that when "selling" someone on the internet service,
you are not trying to get them in your business, you are just
offering a highly regarded, competitively priced, alternative to
a product they already use. If you are in the US or Canada, take
a friend or relative out to dinner and talk to them about it
(deduct the dinner from your taxes, of course).
Everyone that I have heard from, likes the Internet Service, so
you should feel confident promoting it. (I'd use it myself, but
I'm one of those broadband folks).
Remember, you only *have* to make ONE sale! EVER!
So is there any FINE PRINT?
The Veriuni Internet Service is only available in the US and
Canada.
If you live outside of these countries you can not subscribe.
Also, some people either like their service or use broadband.
What can these people do?
Simple.
Make just ONE MORE sale of the Internet Service to someone in
the US or Canada. Remember, not a sale every month, just ONE
more sale TOTAL!
So if you are not in the US, or you don't want to change ISPs,
you must make TWO sales.
Not 2 sales a month, or a year, just TWO sales total!
What about Getting Affiliates Under Me?
Don't I have to "Sell" people on SFI to get them to join?
Actually, you aren't selling, with SFI you are GIVING.
Just give Free stuff away - like the SIM package or the
Free Internet Income Course.
Once people sign up (and they will, if you put it in front of
folks), follow up with them and show them easy and inexpensive
ways to make this great opportunity work for them (Like this
one!). Some will "get it" and some won't - and that's OK.
You only need a few active people to make money with SFI.
Bottom Line - and Here's Where it gets Good!
Make just ONE sale (or at most, two) period, ever, finito!
Then show others how they can do this too.
Get three other people who are willing to make just ONE sale
too and you will become a PTL (Power Team Leader).
When you become PTL, you will be cashing in the
"Banked" shares of the PTL bonus pool (1 share
for each month that you were MIQ).
At the current rate of $22.95 (Aug 03) you will
get back MORE THAN YOU PAID in for your Internet
Service!
Not only that, but you will continue to earn the
PTL bonus each and every month! Plus the commissions
from those people you sponsored.
Can you appreciate this? Free Internet Service
and a growing business opportunity?
Do you hear the "knock, knock" sound of opportunity?
If not, call the doctor, I think you just flatlined!
(He he)
Repeat this process a few more times (while teaching your
affiliates to do the same) and soon you will become a GL
(Group Leader).
The Group Leader Bonus for August 2003 was $1138.39
which is just their bonus. This is in addition to their normal
commissions!
Summary
This is just *one* way to take advantage of the opportunities
that SFI offers. I have been with SFI for a year now and I'm
still thinking of new ways to benefit from this awesome program.
Is there more to SFI? You bet there is! Lot's more. There are
other great products and more ways of making money, but don't
get ahead of yourself.
Don't try to learn or do everything at once. Take the time to
learn one thing well and give it a try.
The opportunity *is* here.
It's up to *you* to take advantage of it!
Take Care,
steve
P.S. And don't forget the TAX Benefits of having your own business!
Follow the rules and deduct office and even vacation expenses!
===================================
OK, this is JD speaking, again.
If you're already an SFI affiliate and you're reading this, you
can find the telecommunications marketing aids at:
https://www.sfimg.com/MarketingAids/ProductMarketing.sfi#anchorTECH
and the marketing aids page for the ISP service is at:
https://www.sfimg.com/MarketingAids/mr_isp.sfi
On this page, you'll find banners and flyers that you can use. It
also shows what your gateway page is for selling this service.
Note that the service is only available in the USA and Canada.
Unfortunately, not everyone can take advantage of this offer.
I'd switch my ISP in a heartbeat if it were available here, even
though I was the SysAdmin who originally set up our local service
several years ago. But, way back here in the mountains, we don't
have a local access number and I'm not willing to pay long distance
charges for all the hours I'm online every month -- that's why I
helped set up our local ISP in the first place, to save hundreds of
dollars in long distance charges every month.
Be careful when you check for availabilty if you live in a rural
area. Be sure the number listed for your town is not long distance.
If you have a local access number, which you can determine
on your ISP page in the affiliate store, you can take advantage
of this opportunity. In addition to excellent Internet access, you'll
also get up to 20MB of web space to build a website. If you're
serious about building your SFI business, why not buy from your store
when you find services and products that you would use anyway?
Especially when it can save you money.
Now, note that you'll earn 1 SVP for the basic service and 5 SVP
for the pro service. So, be sure to sign up for the pro service.
For every person who purchases this service from your SFI Veriuni
store page, you'll receive the SVP, and if they're not an affiliate,
you'll also earn a commission. And it is competitively priced --
exactly what I pay every month for service.
(If you're not an SFI affiliate and would like to see what I'm
talking about, visit my Veriuni Store page at:
http://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/ISP and feel free to sign up!)
(If you'd like to become an SFI affiliate and join my sales team,
go here:
http://DetailsNow.com/sfi-free
and see for yourself the outstanding opportunity SFI offers -
at no cost.)
If you are an SFI affiliate, be sure to purchase from the
affiliate store at:
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Item.sfi?id=740
(You'll need to log in before you can see the page.)
Everybody needs Internet access, and there are millions of
people in the USA and Canada who can use this service. I
think this product would be a good one to promote offline,
if you live in an area where it is available. Maybe your
local computer, business products, electronics, or other
similar store would let you put out business cards or
brochures. Or, perhaps they'd like to sign up as an
affiliate with you as their sponsor so they can promote
the access to their customers.
And, remember, this is just one of the hundreds of products SFI
offers, with more coming all the time.
For example, two new nutritional products were just added:
Veriuni Advanced Weight Loss and Veriuni Advanced Whey Protein.
SFI affiliates can purchase these products at:
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Department.sfi?id=34
Anyone else is welcome to read more about the products and place
your order at:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Department.vstore?id=34
By the way, I've been taking the Advanced Liquid Nutrition every
day for the last couple of months, and I really believe I'm feeling
better. At 51, I've never taken any vitamins or nutritional products
before, but I'd been feeling rather tired and run down for several
months. So, I decided to try it for a month to see what I thought,
and -- even though I have no proof this is what's doing it -- I've
been feeling better.
I have to think that the weight loss and protein products will be
good sellers, too.
Let's see if http://Wordtracker.com can provide any good keywords
for these products...
I'll enter "weight loss powder" in the free trial and see what
happens.
Just using the free tour version of WordTracker for this quick test,
and not researching phrases using supplements, meal replacement,
minerals, vitamins, or other similar keywords, it looks like this is
a very popular and competitive area, with thousands of people searching
on the most popular phrases every day and hundreds of thousands of
websites offering information about these terms.
Using a process that compares supply (the number of websites using
the keywords) versus demand (the number of searches on that phrase
during the last 24 hours or last month) and then processing it
through some mathematical model, this WordTracker website attempts
(and does a good job of it) to pick the keywords with the highest
profitability or highest likelihood of working for you.
(Ken Evoy wrote an ebook about this way of evaluating key words and
phrases when building your website. In addition to explaining this, he
offers outstanding advice for anyone who is interested in affiliate
marketing, and best of all -- the course if free. You can download the
ebook (in PDF format) here:
http://DetailsNow.com/affiliates-course
There's no obligation and he doesn't even ask for your email address.)
Now, back to WordTracker.com...
They assign a phrase a KEI analysis and the larger the KEI, the better
the keyword. If a phrase has a KEI less than 10, it means it's probably
not worth bothering with. Between 10 and 100 is worth trying. Between
100 and 400 is what you're looking for. Over 400 is a gift!
The higher the KEI number, the better chance you have of being found in
the search engines or the more likely you are to make a sale if you
use pay per click advertising, classified ads, and other types of
online marketing.
Again, this was a rudimentary search, but I found the following.
These results show the term followed by the KEI number, last month's
number of searches, the number of searches in the last 24 hours, and
the number of competing sites.
Some terms NOT to use when building your websites and pages:
weight loss products, 1.130, 280, 60, 69404
This means that only 280 people searched for the phrase in the last
month and only 60 yesterday, but there are nearly 70,000 sites offering
information related to that phrase.
Not very good.
protein powder, 2.308, 294, 63, 37455
whey protein, 2.895, 538, 115, 99977
weight loss supplements, 2.902, 281, 60, 27212
protein supplements, 3.202, 230, 49, 16522
nutrition, 5.387, 5286, 1126, 5187304
Now, we're getting to some that may be worth trying:
high protein foods, 31.200, 460, 98, 6782
muscle and fitness, 47.674, 771, 164, 12469
weight loss, 144.355, 19598, 4175, 2660681
atkins diet, 1962.262, 21470, 4574, 234913
south beach diet, 5378.865, 39492, 8413, 289953
So, from this, I would think it might be worth building pages or
even entire sites on the last five phrases and that it would be worth
spending some more time and maybe a little money on the full version
of WordTracker for one day to do additional research and find those
niches where the opportunities are.
(Even better than WordTracker, are the tools built into Site Build
It!, but that may be a little pricy for some of you right now. I use
the brainstorm tools in Site Build It! to find niche key phrases
for building new pages or writing articles that have a good chance
of being found. Although it takes more time and effort using
WordTracker.com, it costs much less. You can even save up all your
research for one day, buy a day's membership at WordTracker.com and
do all your research in one long session before it expires. That is
very cost-effective for when you're first starting out with this.
The Atkins diet and South Beach diet rank highly because of the books
and all the news items on them. It would be worth doing a little
research and writing an article on these diets. Perhaps comparing them
to each other. You could sell the books, for example:
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=diet&input_mode=books
will give you a list of the current best selling diet books at Amazon.com.
The current best selling books about weight loss are at:
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=weight+loss&input_mode=books
While we're at it, here are the top selling DVDs at Amazon.com related
to weight loss -- and all of them are about exercising in one way or
the other:
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=weight+loss&input_mode=dvd
So, how does this help you sell any of the SFI nutrition products?
For one thing, we're all too busy these days. Do you have the time to
exercise every day or fix nutritious home-cooked meals three times
every day?
I didn't think so.
We all know that it's best to eat a balanced diet with lots of fresh
vegetables and fruits, but how often does that turn into pizza or
hamburgers, especially here in the United States?
Sometimes, it would be best to skip that lunch out at a fast food
joint and substitute a healthy meal replacement drink, such as the
Veriuni Weight Loss powder, even if you're not particularly trying
to lose weight.
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Department.vstore?id=34
Or, perhaps you're writing about the Atkins diet and the number of
people who are trying it. Perhaps they would be interested in hearing
about a good source of whey protein.
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Department.vstore?id=34
Now, these are just thoughts off the top of my head without any
serious research, but it is to show you that it's not hard to present
quality products to people who might be looking for them.
Here are some top selling books about "muscle" at Amazon.com:
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=muscle&input_mode=books
and here are some best selling books about "fitness" at Amazon.com:
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=fitness&input_mode=books
These last books look remarkably similar to the books that were listed
when I searched for "weight loss" a few minutes ago.
These pages on my site let you search for any word or phrase, and the
drop down buttons let you search for books, magazines, DVDs, videos, and
many other products. It's a good site to use for research. The program
I use here has full access to the Amazon.com database and you can search
it faster on my site than on Amazon.com.
So, why am I telling you this. You can't sell these books through SFI,
can you?
No, you can't.
But, I think just about any site that publishes information should also
link to books related to that information. While I've invested a lot of
time setting up this program, Amazon.com offers many other ways to link
to specific books or search results and it's a great way to find what's currently popular. It may stimulate your thinking for writing articles
or web pages. Then, when it is appropriate, you can link to products you represent.
It's free to sign up as an Amazon.com associate. They have a one-level
program, so you would not be on my Amazon.com sales team, but I'd be happy
to answer any specific questions you might have.
You can sign up at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-7018504-0071834?node=3435371
You knew, didn't you, that you can sell magazines through SFI's Veriuni
store?
Do you think that the people who are interested in the following magazines
that are related to "fitness" might also be interested in Advanced Liquid
Nutrition, weight loss supplements and protein powder supplements?
http://johndilbeck.com/cgi-bin/amazon2/apf2.pl?input_string=fitness&input_mode=magazines
You can also determine which of these magazines are most popular. Then
find them in your Veriuni Store and create links that point to one or
more of the books in your store.
For instance, you can find a whole group of magazines related to health
and fitness in the Veriuni Store at:
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Department.sfi?id=166
For non-affiliates, at:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Department.sfi?id=166
or you can focus on one particular magazine, such as Shape at:
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Department.sfi?id=166#item71
For non-affiliates, at:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Item.vstore?id=71
You'll note that we can offer a one-year subscription to Shape magazine
for $11.97 and that's $3.00 less than a subscription to the same
magazine through Amazon.com. Not all our magazine subscriptions are
less, but many of them are.
So, now, you could write an article or a webpage or a blog entry
(such as this one) about "muscle and fitness" and you could present
some good information that would be of value to your reader. Where
appropriate, you could mention that "Muscle and Fitness" is the
lifestyle magazine for the man or woman interested in "super fitness
and vigorous health at any age." Professional advice is provided for
all levels of fitness with advanced exercise science, useful
illustrated workout techniques and proper nutrition guidelines to
help the body. Whether you're in shape or you'd like to get in shape,
Muscle & Fitness magazine is right for you.
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Department.sfi?id=166#item177
For non-affiliates, at:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Item.vstore?id=177
And when it is appropriate in your article, you can provide a quick
link to our nutritional supplements page at:
https://www.sfimg.com/AffiliateStore/Department.sfi?id=34
For non-affiliates, at:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Department.vstore?id=34
See how easy that is?
Of course, this article is about how to go about determining what to
present and how to present it. It would be up to you to research the
specific content for your article and make it interesting and useful
for your reader.
That's what draws visitors to your site. Content. Well-written
articles that provide useful information will be found by the visitor
through the search engines. Your content will be unique, and if you
keep offering quality content, you'll keep attracting a stream of
interested visitors, some of whom will purchase what you recommend.
That's why it's important only to recommend quality products that
you'd buy yourself or recommend to your closest friends. Some of your
visitors to your site may one day become some of your closest friends.
Of course, if I were writing this as an article on the web, I'd create
links to the products using the key phrase in the link.
For example,
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Item.vstore?id=177
would become:
Health & Fitness Magazine
Speaking of links, I think a URL such as:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Item.vstore?id=177
is awfully difficult to remember and enter, especially when used
offline.
So, I registered a domain, DetailsNow.com, to mainly use as a site to
redirect to other sites and have a much easier URL for someone to type
in.
Using the cPanel at my domain's host, I replace:
https://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/Item.vstore?id=177
with a permanent redirect using:
http://DetailsNow.com/Health-Fitness-Magazine
which is much easier to remember and type in correctly.
Similarly, I create other redirects to make it easier for me to
remember and for others to enter.
http://www.ezinfocenter.com/7759324.6/IAHBE
becomes
http://DetailsNow.com/IAHBE
I can build in my affiliate ID and key tracking numbers behind the
scenes.
This may be rather advanced for some of you, but remember that it
makes things easier when you start building websites and that is why
you want to use a webhosting service that offers full features at
a reasonable price.
For serious online marketers, I recommend Host4Profit at:
http://DetailsNow.com/host4profit
If you're a little tight on your budget or if you want additional
technical features instead of marketing features, I recommend
AssortedInternet (which I use for most of my sites) at:
http://DetailsNow.com/Assorted-Internet
If you'd like more information about marketing affiliate programs on
the Internet, let me recommend Ken Evoy's free Affiliate Masters
ebook. You can download it for free and start learning from the same
master marketer that I learned from.
http://DetailsNow.com/affiliates-course
Or, if you want even more information, he wrote an outstanding
ebook -- the best of its kind -- called Make Your Site Sell! and
this ebook will help you create a site that attracts visitors and
lead them to purchase the products you recommend. No trickery is
involved. Just good old fashioned quality content and customer
service.
http://DetailsNow.com/myss
These days, Ken's mantra is:
Content -> Traffic -> PREsell -> Monetize.
See it for yourself at http://ctpm.sitesell.com/sellmoreonline.html
Even if you never buy anything from Ken, you will get an outstanding
marketing education from carefully studying his website. Not only does
he and his team develop the top of the line products in each category
they enter, but they also do some of the best marketing. Each product
is reasonably priced, guaranteed for quality, and OVERdelivers on
content. I've bought every product he creates other than Make Your
Price Sell, and I'm earning money every day as a result of putting what
I learned from him into practice.
Remember, in online marketing, there are no tricks. The formula is
deceptively simple. Build quality content, which leads to more visitors
to your site. Explain the benefits of what you recommend in your
articles and recommend they visit your merchant's site. They'll go
in an open frame of mind, looking for a solution to their problem,
and it's the job of the merchant to close the sale. Once you have
enough content and traffic, you can start earning money from your
site, depending upon what type of business you have and what you want
to do.
But, remember this. If you don't satisfy your visitors' needs for
good quality information (content), you will never monetize your
site because you won't build enough traffic.
Content -> Traffic -> PREsell -> Monetize.
It's just that simple. Pick your niche -- something you love doing --
and see for yourself. Where will you be in a year from now?
I think that's plenty for now.
As always, if you have any questions or I can provide any further
information, please feel free to contact me.
All the best,
JD
4:45:27 PM
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Tuesday, March 30, 2004 |
Whether you're an advertiser using pay per click ads on Google or you're a webmaster hosting Adsense ads on your websites, you'll want to know about the new Adsense updates that Google recently released.
Rather than writing about it myself, I'm going to refer you to Ken Evoy's explanation of Adsense and how these changes can be beneficial to you, especially from the viewpoint of a webmaster using these ads to add another stream of income.
Adsense is an important part of my strategy for monetizing my website traffic. If you have a site with any significant traffic, I'd urge you to learn more about Adsense and see if it makes sense to use it to add another stream of income from your site.
The new features make it even better than it already was.
Google has added several things we've been wanting since Adsense was first introduced.
3:27:57 PM
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Sitesell has released a new version of the Quick Tour that shows you the unmatched SBI method of building a website that works!
Aren't you tired of having a website that just sits there month after month and doesn't produce the results you wanted?
Are you just now planning on going online? Don't waste your time and money on systems and hosting that don't work. Site Build It! leads you step by step from defining your concept, to brainstorming your most profitable key words and phrases, to building the pages, registering with the search engines and directories, tracking results, creating a newsletter, and much, much more. Why settle for less when you can have an integrated marketing systems at your fingertips that will lead you to building a site that produces results?
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish! Look at the overall value of SBI compared to any other webhosting service. Spend a few extra dollars now so that you'll get many more back in the long run! SBI helps you produce results unmatched anywhere else.
Take the Quick Tour today!
3:10:07 PM
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Hi,
March 30, 2004
This week, I've been thinking about a couple of issues that are gaining in importance for reasons I'll mention below.
I was a bit out of the loop last week because my mother was scheduled for surgery on Thursday. The surgery was a success and she's back home and doing well. (You may not know that I'm a full-time caretaker for her after her cancer surgery a couple of years ago. I help her during the days and do most of my marketing work from the next room during the nights and early mornings.)
So, now, my mind is back in the game and I'm looking for ways to help you grow your SFI business.
---------------------------------------------
Some thoughts about marketing and selling:
---------------------------------------------
As I've said before, we are a sales organization. No sales, no business.
Most people hate selling, but that may be because you have a misconception about what selling is all about. Look around you. Everything you see was sold by someone and bought by someone.
Selling is easy when you talk to your customer and find out what he or she is most interested in. If she's interested in what you have to offer, tell her about it. You don't have to do a hard sell. Just mention the benefits and how to get it.
Don't know how to define the benefits? That's pretty easy once you know the trick. First, take out a sheet of paper and draw a vertical line down the center of the page. On the left side, list all the features you can come up with. On the right side list the benefits of each of the features.
How?
A benefit must answer the question "What's in it for me?" or "How does that help me?"
Try to think as your customer would think and then list how each feature will be of benefit to him or her.
Once you know the benefits of your product or service, don't list the features any more. Tell about the benefits, because that's what we're all interested in.
Now, you're not trying to make someone buy what you have to sell, you're offering a list of ways it will help the prospect get what he or she wants.
Are you selling when you tell someone that you saw a good movie they would probably like?
Are you selling when you recommend a good restaurant?
Are you selling when you tell someone about the SFI business opportunity?
Sure you are. You may or may not be getting paid for your selling efforts, however. That's the beauty of affiliate selling. All you have to do is get someone to go to your gateway or a specific page in your Veriuni store and purchase from that link, or sign up as your sponsored affiliate. Then you get paid.
It's not hard, it just takes some effort. When someone likes what they see, buying is easy. Remember how easy it was for you to become an SFI affiliate? That's just how easy it will be for someone else to sign up as your affiliate and that's how your sales team will grow.
The more you learn about selling, the more money you make in commissions. Of course, it's not just about learning. You must take action. Knowledge without action accomplishes nothing. Action without knowledge may or may not accomplish something. Sometimes it can work against you. So, make sure you know what you're going to do before you just start doing something. Set your goals and plan how you're going to accomplish them.
Then, work your plan.
---------------------------------------------
Does your upline answer your email?:
---------------------------------------------
It occured to me yesterday that there may be several reasons why you don't get a reply when you email someone for help.
One of you -- I won't mention who -- sent me an email last week that I almost never saw.
Because of all the virii (viruses) and worms, I no longer open an email with the subject of just "Hi", "Heya", or "Hello". I have programmed my email program to drop those directly into the trash without seeing them.
I get over 1,000 email messages every day and about 600 or more are spam. Of the others, I have a couple of hundred filters defined that send the messages into over 50 inboxes. Some -- such as my SFI inbox -- is a high priority. Others are low priority. When I check my email, I read the messages in the high priority inboxes first, and if I have time I eventually get to the others, but it may take days or even weeks.
Last week I got an email from an affiliate with a subject of "Hi" and a body that consisted only of "What do I do next?" No name. No company mentioned -- and I represent several. No discussion of what had been done before to lead up to this point.
It was automatically filtered into the trash. I only read it because I had a few extra minutes that day -- unusual -- and recognized the email address.
It took a while to respond to the message, because I had to find the affiliate's name, and what he/she may have done already. It would have been much easier and faster with some basic information in the email.
So, I'm going to ask you, whenever you write me, to please include the following:
1. Your full name.
2. Your SFI affiliate ID.
3. Your city, state, and country -- whatever is appropriate.
4. Put "SFI Affiliate" at the start of the subject line.
5. In the body, ask questions that can be answered and provide information about what you have already done and what I can help you with.
6. If you reply to a message from me, please quote the previous conversation so I don't have to go searching for it. These simple steps will make sure I see your message and will make it much easier to respond to you.
That's assuming, of course, that some ISP between us doesn't throw the message away or refuse to deliver it for whatever reason.
Because email is getting more and more unreliable, I'm opening up alternative forms of communications. I've created a forum at http://JohnDilbeck.com/forum/ and I invite you to register and participate there. We can discuss SFI in the Network Marketing section.
I'll also post a copy of this message there.
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How do international affiliates become MIQ?:
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I define "international affiliate" to mean anyone who lives in any country other than the United States. As you may know, it's sometimes difficult for international affiliates to purchase anything online. We're getting more and more international affiliates in our sales team, and I welcome you! I want to find a way to help you transfer money back and forth between the US and your country.
There are two issues: how to buy something here and how to get paid there.
Be aware that you are never required to purchase anything from SFI. You can become MIQ by selling rather than buying and I highly recommend selling. However, you may have decided that you'd like to join the IAHBE, but don't have a way to do it if you don't have a credit card.
I have to admit that I was rather ignorant of this whole situation until recently and now I'm trying to find a way or ways to help you. I've sent some information to a couple of you. If you find it helpful, please tell me and I'll pass it along to the entire team.
I'd also like to know if it wasn't helpful.
I think SFI must find a way to make it easier for international affiliates to play a bigger part in the company and I think that's under development. After all, Gery Carson -- the founder of SFI -- has announced that he's changing the name of the organization from Six Figure Income Marketing Group to Strong Future International Marketing Group, and if he's going to position it as an international organization, it's necessary to make it easier and more profitable for anyone who lives outside the US to be a part of the effort -- and to reap the rewards.
I've also learned that it is difficult for some people to receive their commissions from SFI. Some of you have to pay very high fees to cash a check from the US. Som you may want to accumulate your commissions until they reach a certain level before SFI sends you a check, so the fee will be a lower percentage of what you earn.
I'm still looking into this and I'll be checking the SFI discussion board every few days to see if any news is forthcoming in this regard. If you learn something that works for you, please share it with us.
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That's all for today.
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As usual, if you have any questions, comments, feedback or want to talk to me about any of this, I look forward to hearing from you.
I'd like to recommend that you read the SFI discussion forum on a regular basis and post there if you have questions or comments. We're a friendly bunch and there are some very helpful people there. Just remember that you can't post contact information on their forum.
If there's anythig I can do to help you grow your SFI business, please let me know at your convenience. I always try to answer my email within 48 hours or so.
All the best,
JD
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Want your own SFI business? If you're willing to learn and have at least $1.00 per day to invest in growing your business, please click the link and join my sales team today.
2:40:37 PM
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Saturday, March 20, 2004 |
I'm sitting here this morning sipping from a steaming mug of PurJava coffee and thinking about how you can most easily get started in marketing affiliate programs on the Internet.
Perhaps you're just getting started and are looking for a way to get your message out without having to learn how to build a website and build traffic to your site.
Maybe a good starting point would be to create and maintain a blog on a regular basis. As you probably know, a blog (short for web log) is an online journal or diary that is displayed in reverse chronological order (last item shown first) and can be as easy to create and maintain as sending email or participating in an online discussion forum. If you can write clearly and put text into a box on your browser, then you can maintain a blog.
I truly believe in blogs for business and personal purposes. Currently, I maintain about a half-dozen blogs. Search engines tend to like them and, if you post quality content, you'll attract a group of regular readers.
For the blog newbie, I believe blogger.com offers the easiest introduction and the simplest software. It's easy to set up and easy to update. When you learn more, you can customize the look of the site and add links to other sites. Be sure to turn on the syndication feature.
The last time I checked, you could have as many blogs as you want at blogger.com. I tend to write about anything that interests me, and it is usually business related, but sometimes I get a burr under my saddle and just want to rant about something!
I think my last rant was either about spam or about people who don't protect their systems from viruses, thus making it more difficult for all of us.
You can see my blogger.com blog at johndilbeck.blogspot.com.
Next up on the list, and my personal favorite is Radio UserLand, which costs $40 per year. It's a more powerful blogging system and you can have multiple categories so that, if you -- like me -- have many different interests, the computer will automatically sort them for you by simply selecting a check box for each category for which you want a message to be routed. You can choose one or more categories for each posting. Dave Winer, founder of UserLand and one of the chief architexts of Clay Basket, which became Frontier and Manila, which then became Radio Userland, created one of the first content management systems for the Internet that was affordable. He was a co-creator of RSS, and had one of the very first blogs.
Radio Userland is more powerful than Blogger.com, has an annual fee, and takes longer to learn. Unlike Blogger.com, RU is a downloadable program that runs on your computer. It's available for several platforms including Windows and Mac. You can download it and use it for a month for free to try it out.
Part of your $40 annual fee pays for up to 40 MB of webhosting on a public server. You can see my RU blog at radio.weblogs.com/0133364/.
I started out a long time ago with Clay Basket, which was the first content manager I ever encountered that was reasonably priced. It was free! It took a long time to wrap my tired old brain around the concept, however.
As the next couple of years progressed, Dave and his team introduced Frontier and Manila, which were, and still are, very powerful content managers. Frontier ran on a particular machine as a user application and Manila was designed for servers and could even allow multiple authors to publish to the same site under the control of one or more editors.
My first weblog is still hosted on one of the first publicly-available Manila servers at EditThisPage.com, but they no longer offer hosting services. You can get a free 14-day trial of using Manila to see what it's all about if you like. At this time, I'm not aware of any commercial Manila hosting services, but the program can be licensed for about $900 per year and you can host as many sites as you'd care on your own server, if you find that of interest.
My Manila website is at johndilbeck.editthispage.com and I update it on a semi-regular basis.
If I only had access to one blog service or software, I'd choose Radio UserLand without a second thought. It has all the power and features I need for blogging, and I also generate all of my static websites using its advanced website building tools. I'm currently managing over 4,000 web pages on a dozen sites and all of them are stored in the Radio UserLand database. It's like no other web management system I've ever encountered. Nothing else even comes close for the sites I like to build.
(Now, if you're just going to concentrate on building one website, I'd have to steer you to Site Build It! or Host4Profit. They don't provide blogging services, but you could have Coranto (discussed below) installed at Host4Profit.)
I have used a program called NewsPro in the past on several sites to maintain a blog, but the lead developer disappeared and the program fell into limbo. This program is a set of PERL scripts that may be hosted on any commercial webhosting service that supports PERL.
You can see one of these blogs on my brother's news page at GeorgiaDragRacing.com/news/.
Since the demise of NewsPro, which was very popular, a team of developers around the world extended it into a new program called Coranto that has much more capability -- at the cost of being more difficult to install and configure. I spent the month of December getting it to run on a couple of my sites, including my main site. It has the capability of generating a static web page for each message I post, and Google loves blogs. The more I post, the more little strands I leave out on the web for people to find me. This will work for you, too.
You can learn more about Coranto at the unofficial site at coranto.gweilo.org.
I really like Coranto, but it took me about a month to really get the hang of it and to learn to configure it to take advantage of just some of its power. You can see some of my Coranto blogs at JohnDilbeck.com/news/, DilbeckConsulting.com/news/, and DetailsNow.com/news/. I'll be installing this script on more sites as I have time.
Even now, though, it takes me most of a day to install and configure Coranto, even for a basic blog.
On JohnDilbeck.com, I went a step further and used the advanced feature of not only including each posting into the normal blog and archives, but also of creating a single stand-alone static page with specific keywords for that story. This is just like creating a normal web page with all the meta tags that make it easy for the search engines to find and index it. You can see this in action by going to JohnDilbeck.com/news/ and clicking one of the headlines in the left column. On my other sites using Coranto, it will take you to the story in the weblog or the archives, but on JohnDilbeck.com, it will take you to the stand alone page for that story, which is also included in the archives. One example is at Cognigen introduces new products.
Once installed and configured, Coranto provides outstanding features and excellent quality. It's a free product and may be too technical for many people to install on their websites. If you go to coranto.gweilo.org you can find the links to the support forum, and you can probably find someone there who will be happy to install and configure it for your site -- for a reasonable fee. If you're really trying to build traffic to your site, I recommend Coranto configured to create stand-alone static pages for every article you post.
(Please don't contact me to help you with this. I just don't have the time.)
Another possibility is DK3.com - Webmasters Resources which offers several things of interest -- both free or ad-free paid services -- including a complete Web Portal, webhosting, discussion groups, mailing list and more. The Web Portal offers the most power, but also takes the most effort to learn and use. I have a free portal that I've played around with and later this year plan to develop a site based around SFI and its opportunity and products.
I haven't done much with the portal I have there, but I'm surprised at how well it ranks in a couple of the search engines with practically no effort on my part, so far. You can see it at John Dilbeck Recommends. It is more complicated than a blog, and provides many of the same services as Dave Winer's Manila. This portal is open-source software and you can find it by searching for PHP-Nuke.
Eventually, I'll be using this site to recommend books, services, tools, and so forth to help folks build their home businesses.
When I was just getting started a few years ago and had no money to spend on this, I made extensive use of the free tools offered by Bravenet.com and even though I'm not using their tools these days, I recommend them highly. They've been around forever and look as if they are a good choice, especially when you're just getting started.
I may still have a free site hosted by them. Let's see. Nope. It's gone. So, let's see what it takes to rebuild it from scratch starting at 11:32 AM. First, go register for the free hosting. Then check out the free and paid templates -- no need to design it from scratch.
(Let me say this about free templates: be very careful. I've researched a dozen or more sources of free templates, and I found many of them to have javascript attached to the links so that no matter what you think you're linking to, it's going to link to what they have pre-programmed. If you use a free template, be sure to get it from a reputable source, and Bravenet.com is as reputable as they come.)
Ok, since I like simple blue designs for my websites, I found a template on the first page that I liked. I moved it to my favorites page and clicked on the button to upload it to my new free website at free site hosted by them. It took only a couple of minutes from clicking the button to upload the template to being able to view the new site. Not bad.
Now, let's go to the hosting manager and see what I can do to spruce it up and link to a few of my sites. The Visual Editor didn't work on my Mac, but to be fair that may be because I have a lot of options turned off in my browser. I limit what javascript can do and don't run java. If you use a Windows machine, it will probably work just fine for you. (But, I don't know that for sure.)
So, let's try the Text Editor.... Nope, didn't work for me, either. This isn't unusual since most sites ignore Mac users when programming custom tools.
So, let's download the file, edit it locally and re-upload it. How do I do that? Let's try the File Manager.... Nope.
OK. What happens if I enable Java and try the editor, again?
Well, it's been an hour. Enabling Java didn't make any difference. It's not working on my Macintosh. So, enough of that. Let me know if it works for you using your PC, OK? Feel free to discuss it in the appropriate section of my forum.
In addition to free webhosting, they have a new service they call their web journal, which is a cross between a blog and a portal. It looks like it will do everything you can do with blogger.com and some of the things you could do with a portal from DK3.com.
Yesterday morning, after writing the message on a discussion forum that became this article, today, I created my Bravenet.com-hosted web journal at johndilbeck.bravejournal.com and I'm happy with how easy it was to set up and how well it works -- even with a Macintosh.
I find that I get good results from my various blogs, discussion groups, mailing lists, and websites. Blogs are the easiest to maintain, and can be used to start building your mailing list -- which in the long run will become your most valuable asset. I'll save discussion of this topic for another article.
I'm very interested in this topic and have been blogging since before there was a word for it.
I'm sure there are other excellent blog services and tools available. The main thing I would look for is whether they are well-indexed by Google and/or Yahoo before I invested a lot of time or effort into creating and maintaining my blog.
Anyone who doesn't have at least one blog is missing a very good opportunity for marketing on the Internet. As long as you update it on a fairly regular basis and write something interesting with truly useful information, it will be indexed regularly by the search engines and your visitors will come back. The more you can get them to interact, the better the whole system will work.
Give quality content first, build traffic, PREsell your offers, and then monetize it.
All the best,
JD
(Ordinary people are making extraordinary money working from home on the Internet! Go to 21stCenturySales.com and sign up for my newsletter. Do it today!)
2:11:35 PM
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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 |
Cognigen recently introduced a redesigned retail website for their products and services. The new site features easier site navigation, and improved Best Rate Calculator to help you lower your long-distance bills, and improved support sections. A wide variety of cost-effective telecommunications services is available.
Cognigen has also introduced the Z-Tel bundled local and long distance services. Alternate plans include unlimited long distance for a flat monthly fee with toll free service and Personal Voice Assistant. All services are not avalable in all areas. See the site for information on what's available where you are.
The Neighborhood by MCI is now available through Cognigen! Take advantage of this bundled package of services offered by one of the biggest names in telecom. All services are not available in all areas.
Cognigen and VMC Satellite have partnered to market the Dish Network. Click the link to see any currently offered specials.
UltraConference Launched -- this exciting new conference calling service is now available with two plans, Flat Rate or Per Minute. Enhanced web interface with outstanding features. International access is available at no additional cost.
8:02:40 AM
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ClickPrint just introduced PressAbles into their extensive line of customizable labels.
PressAbels can be applied, removed cleanly from almost any surface with no residue, and reapplied!
Choose from their wide selection of PressAbels such as Counter Mats, Bumper and Window Stickers, Custom Calendars, All Purpose, and others.
PressAbels are available in the Labels section of their website.
7:23:15 AM
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Art.com is changing their affiliate program, again.
When I first joined, a couple of years ago, they had a very good in-house affiliate program with excellent tools. Then, they discontinued it in favor of going with LinkShare, and the tools that were available for marketing their art products were not as good, at least in my opinion.
I recently learned that they were transitioning back to an in-house program. So, I joined the new program and I've spent the last week or so reorganizing and updating my Art Store at JohnDilbeck.com.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be adding posters and photos to the appropriate pages in my bookstore, too.
If you are interested in affiliate program marketing, I encourage you to learn more about Art.com's affiliate program and join it if it fits your needs and interests.
Oh, yeah, check out my Art Store and purchase posters, photos, and fine art prints. Over 100,000 products are available in thousands of categories. If you don't find what you want on my site, every page in the art store has a search box. Enter the name of a movie, musician, topic or keyword and you'll be presented with great artwork for your consideration.
7:04:40 AM
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Tuesday, March 2, 2004 |
Gery Carson, President of SFI Marketing Group announced some important changes in the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs.
Since its inception in January 2003, the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (www.iahbe.org) has dedicated itself to providing the timely advice, information, and resources home-business owners around the world need to launch, operate, and grow a successful business. This commitment to excellence continues in 2004 with some exciting enhancements to the Association--enhancements designed to bring even more value from an IAHBE membership.
On March 1, 2004, the IAHBE moved to an all-digital format. According to feedback IAHBE members provided in the recent Association survey, a vast majority prefer getting their business materials online.
This new emphasis on online access has already resulted in a brand new look, feel, and organization for the IAHBE website.
Updated with a cleaner, more user-friendly interface, the newly redesigned IAHBE site now makes navigating to the material you're looking for easier than ever. Articles and reports are now organized by topic, for example, while audio seminars, book and tool reviews, interviews, and other resources are listed in their own easy-access directories.
Here's another MAJOR new bonus: The doors to the IAHBE archives have been swung wide open to ALL members of the IAHBE. This means that, as a member, you now have access to the entire IAHBE library, containing over 150 exclusive articles and expert reports, hours and hours of expert audio seminars, dozens of SFI-related business-building resources, and much more.
That's not all! The IAHBE site will now be updated WEEKLY with fresh, new content, giving you a never-ending supply of new exclusive articles, expert reports, audio seminars, SFI resources, special IAHBE-exclusive offers, and more!
If you haven't stopped by the IAHBE website lately, you owe it to yourself to check it out now.
After you visit the site and look it over, I'd like to invite you to become a member today.
12:30:47 PM
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...while millions more struggle just to get a few visitors and a few measly sales.
I've mentioned many times before that Site Build It! produces results like no other small business webhosting service does. No other company even comes close.
Now, Sitesell has released a new page of case studies that are detailed recountings of individuals and their experiences with SBI! They've chosen one case study for each of the major categories of small small businesses, and each case study is told in the words of the actual person who built the site.
Ken Evoy, president of Sitesell, describes the site, "From the U.S.A. to Kazakhstan, from Australia to Israel, the case studies show exactly how successful businesses are built online, whether one is a 'pure infopreneur' or a vendor of hard goods, whether you're an economist at a brokerage firm or a novice employee of the world's most famous affiliate. It even shows you how one young man went from 'dead-end asphalt man to cutting edge digital man.'"
I just visited the site and read all the case studies, and I find them to be inspirational. I love reading how real people succeed by finding their niche and then telling the world about what they love doing.
When you visit the case studies site, don't just skim it. Take some time to really read what these folks have to say, and then read between the lines. Feel the emotion they have for their business, for their success, and for SBI!
When is the last time you felt that way about your webhosting service and the tools they provide you? Have you EVER felt it?
When you read the site, pay attention to the "BYOBAM!" factor.
What's BYOBAM?
"Bring your own brains and motivation!"
Each of the people in the case studies began with a desire to do something different and they were motivated enough to research and learn how to accomplish it. Then, using their own brains and the tools SBI provides, they "took the bull by the horns" and started doing something. Motivation, brains, action, and persistence are the keys to success. SBI provides the technical help to make your dream come alive.
Each of these people followed the SBI process of:
CONTENT -> TRAFFIC -> PRESELL -> MONETIZE
This process, fully explained in the ebook that comes with SBI and described in several of the case studies, has been proven to produce outstanding results.
Find the specific case study that most closely matches you and what you want to do. See how someone similar has already succeeded. You can do it, too.
A year from now, it could be YOU who is featured on the case studies site.
12:01:55 PM
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© Copyright 2005 John L. Dilbeck.
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