Feature Article

Make the Leap to Affiliate Marketing Success

by: Stone Evens The Home Biz Guy

If you are going to become a successful affiliate on the Internet, you need 3 "intangibles." These are things that must come from WITHIN you.

Intangible 1

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why must you make affiliate marketing work? What is driving you? What is it that you CAN'T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn't stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone's time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children's lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in this business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

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Intangible 2

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don't believe that it's POSSIBLE for you to make money with affiliate programs or make your living on the Internet, you won't. It's that simple.

For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money online. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money online with affiliate programs. Just get online and do some research and you'll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you'll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it's getting easier and easier to make money online with affiliate programs.

I've always said that "affiliate marketing" is the job of the future. In the "old" days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. Believe me, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the "job" of the future that's already here TODAY.

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Intangible 3

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim... This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with affiliate marketing.

That's backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is the Internet is a moving target... The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can't learn from the outside... You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start an affiliate marketing business. You simply have to start one. This is what I call "Making the Leap."

The good news is that the cost of failure on the Internet is very small. In the "brick and mortar" world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It's almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. The Plug-In Profit Site is a great example of this: http://www.HomeBusiness.us

You simply need get IN THE GAME... Each moment that you stay "out there," you're wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to become a successful affiliate marketer. In fact, if you're not in the game yet, you're ALREADY behind the times. Make the leap to becoming a successful affiliate marketer today!

Stone Evans helps ordinary people all over the world make money online with affiliate programs. If you can follow 3 easy steps, you can get your own custom website, autoresponder (email follow-up software) and pre-written email marketing campaign professionally designed and installed and ready to pull in profits for you in 24 hours or less! See details at: www.TrustInProfit.com/3

Second Article

Basics of Marketing

by: Scott F. Geld Marketing Blaster, Inc.

Knowing what marketing actually is can be fundamental to any business, however small. No business can avoid marketing; without it, no one would know you existed. Of course, your actual merchandise or service is just as important, but without marketing, a brilliant idea is wasted.

To be a successful marketeer, you really have to understand the concept of marketing. Marketing is the science of making prospective customers into real purchasers! Even the best item in its class won't sell successfully if nobody is aware of it. Some items need less pushing than others, but sales of most artefacts will be boosted by the right kind of promotion. A sound method of marketing a product is to persuade potential buyers that they really must have it straightaway otherwise they'll miss out.

Where is the best place for an organization to start in order to maximize the effects of its marketing? First, get the fundamentals correct, as we are about to describe.

Before you can target anyone, you must know who they are. Understanding your potential customers is fundamental; to sell to someone you have to know what will get their focus and what will make them buy.

To understand your customers you need to think about how they think and how they function and what influences their decision to purchase something. You need to think about what they will think about your product. You need to think about how they will feel about your product and what will inspire them to buy your product.

Simply instructing someone to buy an item is not enough. A little persuasion is required. The item needs to attract the interest of the potential customer, preferably so much so that they'll make an immediate purchase. Marketing can be targeted at different sectors - male or female, young or old, etc. However, a mass market approach can often be used. The nature of your merchandise should determine the marketing strategy used.

The key to successful promotion is never to lose sight of the customers' needs, so that you can persuade them that your merchandise is just what they require.

Scott F. Geld is the Director of Marketing for MarketingBlaster.com, a company specializing in affordable traffic (5 cents/visitor) and direct links for $5/link. For more information please visit: www.MarketingBlaster.com