It’s one of the simplest ways to enter the vast community that wants to make money online.

And that’s why I’m publishing this passive business article today. Written by guest posters Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko who are experts in setting up such businesses.

Therefore you should read this carefully.
Here goes.

Passive Business Affiliate Programs

When it comes to making passive income on the Internet, there are several different options out there that you can get into and make money with.

One of the biggest industries is that of affiliate marketing, as it can be easy to get into and be profitable.

Photo Credit: B_cool

For those that decide to get into the passive business of affiliate marketing, it is important that you know what exactly you are promoting and what you are going to make from it.
This will help you to decide which opportunities you want to get involved with.

Keep in mind which industries interest you or what your niche is, as you do not want to promote health items if everything else you promote is about technology.

You need to know what type of commission you will make from a product sale. These can vary widely from 8 to 75% of the value of the sale that is made.

Don’t forget that the company who makes the product is also promoting it, and that a lot of people will go directly to the manufacturer to purchase.

Another factor is to know what the pay structure is like.
Will you only make money on sales you make personally, or will you also make money on your referrals? You can promote your affiliate opportunity and sign other people up under your name.

Ideally you want to make something on their sales as well too, as they are likely going to be looking for you to help them to become successful. You deserve to be paid for your time and training that you give them.

Make sure to check out the reputation of the affiliates that you decide to become an affiliate for.
Does this program have a good reputation for a quality product and good customer service?
If it something that you can feel comfortable promoting to other people?
Do they stand behind their product if there is an issue with it?

You can find affiliate programs in many different industries, and for many different products. If the one you found does not look too genuine, move on to the next one.
You should have no issue finding something that will work out for you.

Watch for programs that do not pay a decent amount of compensation. Chances are a program that only pays out 5% is not likely worth the time it takes to determine if it is worthwhile.
It is recommended that you look for programs that payout at least 30%.

You also want to see if the program requires you to meet a minimum quota or a sales target. Depending on where you are at with your platform for promoting your affiliates, you likely will want to avoid those. Even those that are having great success may choose to pass them by as well.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, there is a great potential for passive income once you are set up.
Not only can you make money off your own personal sales, but you can earn money off those that you get to enroll in the affiliate program as well.

————
Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko operate a business called Bridge to Success Co. Their goal is to help you have a successful passive income business on the Internet, so make sure to visit their site and learn best practices for building a home based affiliate business from what they have to say.
————

Case again.
Don’t forget to read “How to Find the Perfect Affiliate Marketing Programs“.

What do you think? What’s your passive business?
Post your comments below.

Choosing Affiliate Programs for Passive Business is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

I see it committed daily. It’s not the product that causes this problem. Oh no, most of them promote a rather good product.

And their credibility isn’t the problem neither. Most of these Internet marketers have all the validation factors needed to seal the deal on a sale.

No, their main problem is…

…that they operate in a jam-pawncked market and that they’re fenced in by thousands of other Internet marketers who offer the exact same services or the exact same products.

Photo Credit: Tobyotter

And not only that, they also offer them in the exact same way!

Put differently, their selling communications scream “Me Too!”

That’s not the right way to sell on the Internet.You just have to stand out in order to make sales online (as well as offline for that mattter!).
One way or another, you must separate yourself from the flocks of other marketeers who are trying to go after your clients to get money that should be yours. Looking around at what other Internet marketers are doing, and then do exactly the same thing is the precise way you won’t stand out.

In marketing there’s a saying that applies equally well online: rather than to be better, it’s better to be first. If you aren’t established as the dominate source for a product or service you’re selling on the Internet, it will be exceedingly tough for you to actually attract your buyers’ attention.

So if you want to learn anything from this article it should be this: if you’re not first in your category, create a new category to be first in.
Amelia Erhardt wasn’t the first person to fly across the Atlantic. However, she was the first woman who accomplished this.

Try to create a category that you can be first in and supply to the market segment that best lines up with that category.

Personalizing your communications is a second way to really jump out.
If I were trying to get your attention in a crowd of people for example, I would cry out your name. It’s easier to get your visitor’s attention if you go more vertical in a market. For instance, you could
target golfers on the West Coast instead of targeting golfers only.

Or instead of targeting golfers on the West Coast, you could target golfers in the state of California who earn over $100,000 a year.
This will enable you to really perfect your marketing message into this very particular group of people, and more easily capture their attention, which will in turn close more sales.

Finally, once the sales start rolling in it’s of the utmost importance to set up backend products in order to get the money really rolling. First time buyers are your best customers and the real money is made at the backend.
If you’re not familiar with that phenomena, or want to make more backend profits from your existing customers check out Backend Power.

Meanwhile let me know your opinion.
Post your comments below.

What Keeps Most Internet Marketers Poor is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

Because you need an effective sales letter if you want to sell.

As obvious as that may sound, lots of people don’t know how to do that.

Like Dave Prentice who writes to me:

Hey Case,
I’m looking for help to get my internet business off the ground.

and then he explains what he’s up to.

I think Dave may have a good product that he wants to promote at alphawavemeditation.com. But it lacks a good sales message.

Writing a great sale letter isn’t that easy. You’ll need an expert to do this and believe me, they’re expensive because it’s a tough job.

Still, you can start out writing by using this easy sale letter sample that gets you on your way.

To write great sales letters, first thing you need is a formula and the most popular one probably is AIDA.
Which stands for

• Attention,
• Interest,
• Desire and
• Action.

The AIDA formula works and that’s why it is so popular. Therefore you should consider using it too, but there are other effective formula’s that you can find on the net. I’ll give you some great resources below.

Here are the most important parts of the AIDA formula that we’ll use in our sale letter sample.

Headline
The headline is used to grab the readers’ attention. It will determine whether your visitors begin reading your sales copy or not. Therefore you should make your headline as good as it can be.

That quite often leads to ‘hype’ headlines like “With this product you can sell pizza recipes to Italian mama’s” or “With this product you can sell fridges to Eskimo’s”.

I personally hate that kind of headlines. Instead, I use the main benefit of the product I’m selling. If you can, make a bold claim, but you always have to back that up in your sale copy!

That’s why I always start writing a sale letter sample by creating a list of benefits. You should do the same and your headline will be your biggest benefit and speaks directly to the person who you want to buy from you. Always remember that.

Most people mix up benefits and features. Features describe what product looks like (things you can touch or see), benefits are how users can profit from those features (feelings).
There’s no one who can explain this better than Paul Myers. Just read “Do You Know What You Need To Know?” and do yourself a big favor and sign up for his newsletter.

Test different headlines to increase sale conversion rates using split testing.

Subheading
The next part in this sale letter sample is a subheading, backing up the headline. The subheading should target your audience and either introduce something that compliments the headline or expand on the headline. As with the headline, it should speak directly to your potential customers.

Body sale letter
The next part you need to include is the body of the letter. This is where you need to get the reader’s interest, make them want what you’re selling (desire), and make them think to buy it (take action).

In general, you first describe the problem (that you’re product is going to solve) and then come with the solution. Follow up with a benefit laden bullet list.

It’s often a good idea to tell a story in the body of the sales letter too, for example when describing the problem. It makes readers recognize and relate to that problem and it will awake a strong desire to have that problem solved.

Closing: Call to Action
The last part of this sale letter sample is the closing.
The main objective here is to get the reader to take action and buy what you’re selling.
Actually ask them to buy what you’re selling. Usually a closing will also include soothing any fears a reader might have about buying from you, like adding a strong guarantee. This will help the reader to take action as well. The closing always includes a signature and a couple postscripts.

Well, that’s in short your easy sale letter sample that you can use when starting out.
Remember, there’s much more to writing great sales letters than just this basic information.

There are tons of resources that can help you write a great sale letter and here are a few (to avoid info overload) for you to check out:
Michel Fortin Huge resource!
The Copywriter’s Toolkit (I use this one frequently with great success, hence I became an affiliate!)
The Gary Halbert Letter Another huge resource!
Copyblogger Very interesting content.
Marketing Bullets by another great copywriter Gary Bencivenga.

What do you think.
Is this sale letter sample helpful?
Write your comments below.

Easy Sale Letter Sample That Sells is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

The main advantage of affiliate marketing is that you don’t need to create or own a product.

All you do is promote someone else’s products or services.

Of course many people know this already, but the question I get frequently is:

“How can I find the perfect affiliate marketing program?”

Let’s see how you can do that.

The first question you have to ask yourself is: “do I need the money right away or do I want to build a solid monthly income”.

If you really need the money, then there’s no better way than to browse through the RapBank affiliate products.

That’s a directory with affiliate programs that will pay you right away, directly into your PayPal account!
At RapBank, select a product that closely relates to your site and put an occasional link to these programs in your text where appropriate.

Photo Credit: Affiliate

If you’re going for the long term, then you have 4 different ways to find the perfect affiliate marketing program.

1. Affiliate Directories.
   Here you can find the perfect affiliate marketing program, cause these directories act like review sites. They accept applications from merchants selling products using affiliate programs. These applications are reviewed and only the best are listed. Usually about half of the total applications they receive are rejected.

   Or they rank all programs in order of quality.

   Thus you can rest assured that the sites that are listed (or are on top of the rankings) are all sites that will make you money.
   That’s a great way to select your perfect programs.

2. Affiliate networks.
   Another excellent way to find the perfect affiliate marketing program.
   They basically are the contact between merchants and you. Affiliate networks list thousands of affiliate marketing programs that you can search for and thus find the right program easily.

   Sometimes there are fees included to use these sites but they often are more than worth it. Commission Junction is one of the most popular affiliate networks.

3. Individual sites.
   Tons of sites that sell anything have an affiliate program that you can check out. Taking this route will take more time and you absolutely have to do your own research, running a chance to possibly make a mistake.

   The main advantage here however is that you usually can get a much better deal. A lot of of the less popular affiliate programs typically offer the best deals.

4. Use software
   Yes, there’s software available to solve this problem.
   It’s called Affiliate Elite (affiliate link!) and that’s a killer piece of software for finding top affiliate programs (as well as finding other affiliates).
   Check it out.

You can use any of these ways to find great affiliate marketing programs. You can use 1 or all 4 of them. It’s totally up to you. Just do what’s best for you and make sure you find the perfect affiliate program for you.

One last word of advice!
If you are promoting affiliate marketing programs, then why not pick the ones that pay a recurring commission? It requires the same effort to endorse recurring commission programs, but they deliver income month after month.

Check out LifeTimeCommissions to see some great recurring affiliate marketing programs.
That’s a site created by one of the best affiliate marketers around, Aussie Allan Gardyne. If you have questions about affiliate marketing programs, his website AssociatePrograms is one of the best resources to go to.

Let me know what you think.
Post your comments below.

How to Find the Perfect Affiliate Marketing Programs is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

In this section you may find some interesting ways to make money that you haven’t thought about yet.
Check them out!

If you missed the first part, then head over to Top 10 Easy Ways to Make Money on Your Blog – Part 1.

make money online Blogging" height="323" width="430" />
Photo Credit: sushi?ina

6. Review Blog Posts
   This will require you to review others websites on your blog. You can get paid a lot. Like selling blog links, you must have a high PR. You can earn $10 per review you make on your blog.
   Here are a few top services to consider: ReviewMe, PayU2Blog, SponsoredReviews, PayPerPost and Smorty.

7. Purchase and Install Datafeedr WordPress Plugin
   This excellent script will enable you to add thousands of products with a simple click. The script incorporates them on your blog just like in a store and does all the dirty work for you! All you have to do is kick back, relax, and watch the money pile up.

8. Guest Posting
   Search for other related blogs and exchange links. You need to contact the blog administrator and suggest how to write an article for them that is relevant to their site. In your article, refer to a related posting on your blog by linking to it.

   Try to apply this technique with a number of related blogs and the major search engines will surely appreciate your site and drive more traffic to it. Get your affiliate offer ready at the top of your sidebar. When the new visitors come to your blog, they can see it right away.

9. Sell Banner Ads
   That is another easy way to create income from your blog. First, you can advertise on your blog that you are selling advertising space at your blog. Put up the rate card for each kinds of banner. You could charge the highest rate at the top of your homepage, and less expensive for other locations on your blog like lower part of your blog or the sidebar.

   Second way to make money by selling advertising is to join the advertising network like Adbrite and Doubleclick. This way you can let the advertising network to get more customers for you. And you can focus your time and energy to create more valuable content to your readers so that more visitors come to your blog. Gradually, you can charge more on your advertising space as you have more readerships.

10. Build Your List
    This is the ideal way to earn money from your blog on a long-term basis as it will maintain a substantial amount of income in the long run. You have to create a capture page on your blog that is readily seen by readers.

    You have to attract readers to sign up by offering a free report in your niche market as an incentive. Then you gather the names and emails of interested readers and make a list. This way you can establish a good relationship with your readers and sell them a product at a later date.

    These methods are simple to adopt and there are more ways to make money with blogs. The opportunities are truly growing as blogging has become an excellent way of making money online.

    The best way to create huge income continuously through your blog is by building a huge list. It has been proven again and again by the successful internet marketers.

    They all say that the money is in the list… and the relationship you have built with that list. Probably you have heard that many times already.

    Stop using those hard long and expensive methods to build your list slowly. You can quickly get to your goal by using the smart list building technique. Start doing that today and use the smart list building technique to create your list quickly.

    By applying the new and easy technique, you can get that goal faster than the old and expensive methods. Check out this unique list building method now: Huge List Building Method.

Author Resource:
Frank Lee is the founder of Breakthrough internet marketing.com who helps people like you work smarter, earn faster, and live better using unique internet marketing Systems.

——
So there you have it: top 10 easy ways to make money on your blog!
Which of these methods have you applied already?
Which ones work best, which ones need some support?
Post your comments or questions below.
Frank may chime in and give you valuable answers.

Top 10 Easy Ways to Make Money on Your Blog – Part 2 is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

That’s why you really should pay attention to Frank Lee’s guest post below. He wrote a list of the top 10 easy ways to make money blogging.

Frank’s intention is to make you work smarter, earn faster and even live better.

His guest post is exhaustively complete, so I had to split it up in 2 parts. Today I present the first 5 easy ways, the other 5 will follow soon, so keep your eyes open.

I’ll give the floor over to Frank. Here is:

Top 10 Easy Ways to Make Money on Your Blog

Blogging has seen a tremendous surge in popularity over the past couple of years and there are more people blogging now than ever before. Some may not be aware of the fact that blogging can be a lucrative hobby!

I once bumped into an old friend of mine and when I asked him what he has been doing lately, he simply said “I blog”.
It was then when he explained to me why he traded nearly 15 years of his career as a software developer for this latest hobby. Now I know what he meant as I now share the same passion…

I know you have heard about blogging… unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years!

It’s true that many have tried to make big bucks from writing blogs. Sadly, many have also failed. So you may be wondering what sets the successful bloggers from the rest.

The answer is quite simple; you must enjoy what you are doing and continue honing your skills.

The money will eventually flow in, believe me. As Franklin Roosevelt once said

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”

He said it perfectly, what more can I add? Let me just share my top 10 easy ways on how to make money from the art and science that is called blogging:

make money online Blogging" height="323" width="430" />
Photo Credit: sushi?ina

1. Paid Blogging
   This is also called commercial blogging. Simply put, you get paid by writing blog posts on topics provided by advertisers who want exposure for their products and/or services. You can also get hired by a company or site administrator to maintain their blog.

   In most cases, you will get paid per post, but there are those who get paid by the hour to write content. As a rule, the more you post the more traffic you’ll generate and you’ll get higher Page Rank on the major search engines. This means you qualify for higher paying blog posts. In fact, there are some people who are willing to pay as much as $1,000 for a blog post!

2. Google Adsense
   This is perhaps the most common way to generate income from your blog. You can use Google’s AdSense to monetize your blog. This allows you to display ads on your weblog. You earn every time someone clicks on the ads.

   If you go for this option, you have to set up an account with Google AdWords and find a way for them to pay you. No worries, there are available tutorials on Google AdWords that explain in detail how this works.

3. Affiliate Programs
   These are a type of revenue sharing arrangements and are used by Ebay and Amazon. The basic concept is to promote a product on your blog and any sales or referrals you make earn a commission. This is monitored on your affiliate account. It is often overlooked by many but it is actually a great way to make money.

   There are two ways to search for affiliate programs. First is through Affiliate Programs Directories. These are websites which list all the different types of available affiliate programs. Examples of such sites are associateprograms and affiliatefirst.

   The other way is through Pay Per Click Advertisements. When you go to Google and you notice that there are people placing ads on a specific niche, it indicates that there are markets for it so you can conduct a search and determine whether there are affiliate programs that you can join.

4. Online Auctions/Shops
   In case you are selling items on an auction site, you can also create a link to your Ebay auctions. You can generate a lot of traffic to your auctions with this option. You may also set up a blog shop where you can come up with a list of the products that you are selling.

5. Sell Blog Links
   This is common sense, you simply have to sell blog links but it will all rely heavily on your PR, and if you are good at it, you can earn at least $10 to $20 per link every month.

   You can sell blog links to link building companies or to websites running SEO campaigns. There are also plenty of webmasters who are looking to buy blog links on relevant websites with excellent search engine rankings.

Frank Lee is the founder of Breakthrough internet marketing.com who helps people like you work smarter, earn faster, and live better using unique internet marketing Systems.

Check out the second part of Top 10 Easy Ways to Make Money on Your Blog as they may contain some interesting ways to make money blogging that you haven’t thought about yet.

Your thoughts?
Post your valuable comments below.

Top 10 Easy Ways to Make Money on Your Blog – Part 1 is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

See
8 Tips for building a profitable email list
and
What list builders use to create huge email lists

Today’s post is about how to build your email list fast.
That is: adding hundreds of subscribers to your list every week!

It’s a guest post, written by Gary David, an Internet marketer which specializes list building.
Here goes.
Enjoy!

——

We always hear that the “money is in the list”.
Honestly, when I started online back in 2006, I never gave importance of building my list. I only took it seriously after 2 years.

Consider this for a minute. Every subscriber on your list is worth $1 in sales a month to you. Therefore, when you have an email list of about 2,000, you are likely to earn at least $2,000 per month. If your list is about 5,000, you can expect to make about $5,000 per month. That’s when I realized to start building my list in 2008.

Now, even though I have thousands of subscribers already, I still continue building my list every single day. In fact, I have one strategy that I would like to share to you that consistently adds hundreds of subscribers to me every week.

This is how I add 100-200+ subscribers to my list every week, and guess what, the more your list grows, the more money that you can make and let me show how you can do the same.

How Do I Consistently Add 100 – 200+ Email Subscribers Every Week?

Absolutely, one of my favorite strategies is what we call email “adswaps”, you probably heard of it before, or to some of you, might doing this already.

What exactly is an email adswap?
An adswap is when two marketers come together to advertise one of their offers to each others list.

For example, if you have 300+ subscribers. you will look for a marketer who have 300+ subscribers as well, and agree to send out promotional email to each others list to gain additional subscribers for each other.

Why does this work?
The best type of promotion is when other people promote you. That builds more credibility and trust from others, and as we all know, we need credibility and gain trust from people if we want to succeed online. I am going to show you how to look for them in a minute…

Why do email adswaps work?
It is very easy to set-up, no hassle and you get responsive potential subscribers. So, if you have 700 email subscribers, you have to find a marketer with similar amount of subscribers just like you.

If you both send an email, the normal rate of subscribers you would keep from 700 people is roughly 10% conversion which is 70 subscribers, and your opt-in page converting at about 30%, in that scenario, you would add 21 subscribers from this adswap.

At this point, it may not sound like a lot yet. However, just visualize if you keep on repeating this similar method frequently, you will notice that you are building your subscribers list fast. Just make sure to look for a marketer with similar list size, don’t perform email adswaps with people who have fewer subscribers than you.

Take a look at this instance…

700 subscribers X 10% conversion = 70 visitors X 30% opt-in = 21 subscribers.

If you do this repeatedly about 2-4 times a week, you will keep 10% of another marketer’s list.
As a result, that will build to 721, followed by 742, then 764, then 786. Thus, you have just added 86 new subscribers for that week!

Consider this, when your list grows and you are hitting 1,000 or 2,000 subscribers and you are repeating this method, matching your list size with another marketer, you begin to increase your list fast.

Just to illustrate, if your list is 4,000 subscribers, 10% of that is 400 and a 30% opt-in page conversion, you will add 120 subscribers just from 1 ad swap, and if you do 2 that week with the same size, you will add 240 new subscribers, isn’t that incredible?
Now, keep in mind that those are very responsive subscribers, because it came from another respectable marketer.

My objective is to help you build your email list fast this year. I aspire to see you accomplish something and the quickest and much more long-term approach to do this is to build your email list primarily.
Keep in mind, traffic = money, no other way around it, this really is traffic you possibly can generate on demand by sending 1 email to your list.
Also, when you are driving traffic from other sources you continue to still build your list at the same time, how awesome is that?!

Everything else is simply a distraction to you.
Your email list needs to be your number 1 concern every day, and all of the things that I’m doing to build my list including article marketing, blog commenting, forum marketing, viral marketing, social bookmarking etc all leads back to my squeeze page to build my list.

I’m going to provide help to build your email list to at least 300+ subscribers this month to be able to get the standard downpact and on your way to making true success, because it does matter.

Keep in mind, it is not about how big your email list is, it’s about how responsive it is!
I’ve seen 500+ subscribers list out-perform list size of about 5,000+ and by building your email list using these techniques, it is possible to build fast, and build responsive too.
Remember, not anything works unless you truly put it to use.

Gary David is an Internet Marketer which specializes list building. Discover 26 superpower tactics for rapid-fire list building and learn the step-by-step guide on how to build your list.

—–
Case again.
So, what’s your take? Do you build your email list?
Post your comments below.

How to Add Hundreds of Subscribers to Your List Every Week is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

I was looking for a service like that, because I got several emails about my annoying pop ups, when Instant Slide Ups offered me a review copy (disclosure!).
I took the opportunity with both hands.

Instant Slide Up is a NON-obtrusive, yet eye-catching way to get people subscribed to whatever you are promoting.

I use it to build a profitable email list.

There are many tested and proven ways to create a huge email list and one of them is using pop ups.

But when you use pop ups, hoover ads or lightboxes, your visitor is interrupted with whatever she is reading at your site, in order to get her email address.

That’s very annoying!

But it’s even worse: actually, you’re stopping her from discovering value in your content. She’s in the middle of a decision making process -one of the most difficult tasks for humans- and you’re interrupting her.

That’s not just annoying, it’s killing! Yet we use pop ups, because they work!
That is, their conversion rates are higher than any other way of capturing email addresses.
Still, I get a lot of emails asking me to stop these killing pop ups.

That’s where Instant Slide Up ads come in!
Here’s their main benefit:

Instant slide up ads do deliver the same results, however, your visitor is NOT interrupted as she still can read on. Yes, her attention is drawn to the movement of the instant slide up, but not in an obtrusive way.

If possible, avoid anything that annoys your readers. Pop-ups, pop-unders, lightboxes, hoovers and tons of animated subscription features will chase your readers away.
Mind you, they often work (depending on the niche you’re in), but they’re also a huge source of irritation. And that’s the last thing you want for your visitors, isn’t it?

The most positive benefit of Instant Slide Up is, that it draws attention in a positive way, which will more than likely increase sign ups.

The slide up ads are very easy to set up.
Just configure the details, embed some lines of javascript snippet into your HTML and you’ll see the nice slideup in your web page !

The ads come with numerous outstanding templates, so you can get started in minutes. And if you know a tiny bit about creating graphics, you can make your own template, like I’ve done below for this blog.

Instant Slide Up ads works seamlessly with your autoresponder system and you can either have your sign up form in the ad itself or have a link to your sign up page.
Heck, you can even split test that!

InstantSlideUp creator and owner Rob Chuah provides superior customer support. And not only that, his marketing skills are superior too as you will notice from his email tips and tricks that he sends after sign up.
Rob definitely knows what works and what doesn’t.

I am very satisfied using this email capture method, so I became an affiliate for the product and that’s why I use my affiliate link to send you there.

Sign up for Instant Slide Up ads right now -it’s very affordable-, or at least try the free version for a while.

Then, let me know what you’re thinking.
Post your comments below.

Why Instant Slide Ups Replace My Pop Ups is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

The post is written by John Smith, who wants to warn newbies up front in order to avoid failure.
So I’ll let John do the talking.
Enjoy!

——–

There are hundreds of millions of active blogs online right now.

New blogs are still being created every single day.

Unfortunately, most of these new blogs never make it.

Why?

Because new bloggers commonly make the same mistakes time and time again.

Here are the 11 mistakes I’ve seen new bloggers make.

1. Not knowing what you want to write about
   If you want to attract a loyal base of readers, you have to pick a topic to blog about and stick to it. You can’t be blogging about turtles one day and bicycles the next. You’ll lose readers. By focusing your blog on a particular niche, you attract readers who are interested in this subject and who will stick around as long as you continue writing about it.
2. Copying what everyone else is saying
   Don’t be another “me too” blogger. There is already way too many of those. Say something new. Even if you’re covering the same news and topics, you can find a fresh way to approach them. You don’t always have to share the popular opinion. Be yourself, and let people know what you really think.
3. Using copyrighted images
   Images are a great tool for spicing up a blog post, but you have to make sure you obtain the pictures legally. In other words, don’t just rip them off of someone else’s website or blog. Sign up for a free stock photo website where you can legally get all the images you desire.
4. Not linking out to others
   Linking out to others is especially important for new bloggers. Whenever you send out a link, the other blogger is alerted with a trackback. This puts you on their map, because more times than not, they’ll come check out your post to see what you had to say about them. This increases the chances of getting links back from them, and it could present future guest blogging opportunities.
5. Using the basic template that comes with WordPress
   The simple truth is people judge blogs by their design. The design makes your first impression with new visitors. If you use the basic template that comes with the blog, readers will think you’re new and not to be taken seriously. That isn’t to say you have to get a pricey custom design. There are plenty of great free WordPress themes online. You just have to search for them.
6. Allowing spam comments
   One of the first things you should do is activate the plugins in WordPress that block spam comments. There’s nothing that screams “newbie” like a blog filled with spam comments.
7. Not commenting correctly on other blogs
   Blog commenting can be a powerful strategy for increasing name recognition and driving traffic back to your website. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to comment on other blogs. The wrong way is to leave meaningless comments (e.g. Good post!) or spammy comments (e.g. Come check out my blog!). The right way is to leave comments that actually add value to the conversation.
8. Ignoring the power of guest bloggers
   If you’re trying to get the word out about your new blog, one of the best ways to do it is to bring in some guest bloggers. By letting bloggers who already have a following post on your blog, you can attract readers fast. Sign up on My Blog Guest, and post your guest blogging opportunity. You’ll get a lot of responses from people who are eager to post on and promote your blog.
9. Giving up on blogging too early
   We’ve all seen viral videos that seemingly come out of nowhere to get millions and millions of views. Unfortunately, a lot of new bloggers think that’s how it’s going to be for them. They expect instant success with their blog, and when it doesn’t happen, they give up, writing blogging off as a fad that doesn’t get results.
10. Not proofreading closely enough
    Yes, blogs are a little more casual and laid back than say a newspaper or magazine article, but there is still some level of professionalism that’s expected. You can’t have a blog that’s riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. It undermines your credibility, and it gives cynical readers ammo to take you down.
11. Trying to do too much too soon
    Blogger’s Burnout is a very real condition. This happens when you try doing too much and you just get tired of dealing with it all. Look, there’s nothing wrong with being passionate about your new blog, but pace yourself. There’s no need to work on it 24/7. If you do, you’ll burn yourself out quickly, killing your blog before it has a chance to grow.

What are some other new blogger mistakes you’d add to this list? Share your favorites by leaving a comment!

John manages the nursing scrubs website NursingUniforms.net, one stop online shop for branded lab coats, scrub tops and all kind of medical uniforms.

11 Mistakes New Bloggers Make is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

It must have triggered Roger Rae to write this great guest post below about the limitations of this phenomena.

It’s a great warning for every Internet marketer not to make these mistakes.
Here goes.
Enjoy!

When Social Media is not good for your business

Every internet marketer and online business owner is talking about the usefulness of social media these days.

Some of them have even termed social media as the future of online marketing. Well they are partially correct.

Social media grew at the staggering rate in 2009 and continuously growing. According to a study on the impact of these kind of sites on the consumer behavior, more than 90% of buyers visit social media websites before buying anything and 50% of them take decisions under the influence of information they get from these websites.

So, does that mean that Social media is good for every business? Or, every kind of business can generate leads from these websites? Unfortunately, the answer is NO. Like every other technology, Social media has its own limitations too.

Photo Credit: Stephan King

Here are the five situations when Social media is not good for your business.

1. Too Focused Niche
   The most important thing to do to get successful in social media is to identify your target audience and then to develop relationship with them.
   But if your niche is too focused and your product caters the needs of only a specific group of people then social media can’t help you a lot. Well you can still use these websites to increase the awareness about your products and brand but then your main objective should be sharing information and not generating sales.

2. Trying hard to sell
   Social media is not a market where you can start selling your products and services moments after creating your account.
   It’s a platform where you can develop relationships with your target audience. It’s a platform where you can listen what your target audience thinks about your products and your industry.
   It’s a platform where you can listen what your audience wants and then create customized products tailored to their requirements.
   So, if you are joining social media only to boast about your products and not for building relationships, then it’s not worth it.

3. Overcautious nature
   Most of the social media users prefer transparency and openness. They use these websites because they can easily express their opinions here about anything and everything.
   If you are the type of company that does not like transparency or where the person managing social accounts has to consult with upper management or legal department every time before sharing anything on social media websites. Then your business is not a good fit for social media.

4. Looking for quick results
   Time and again, we see companies that create accounts on social media websites and then sit back and start waiting for leads and sales.
   Sorry, Social media don’t work in this way.

   Promoting anything on social media is a process which takes time and a lot of time. Consider social media like watering a plant. You’ve to water it for months to get fruits from it. If you want quick results then there is nothing for you in social media world.

5. Don’t have enough resources
   Well, many companies think that social media is just about creating accounts on social networking sites which is WRONG. Like everywhere else, you need to have a social media strategy for promoting your business and enough resources to execute that strategy successfully. Social media should not be interpreted as Twitter or Facebook, it is what you can accomplish from these websites.

Roger Rae is working for Fortepromo Promotional Products , a Pomotional Flashlights company based in Minnesota.

———
Case again.
So, what’s your opinion?
Post your comments on how to use social media below.

When Social Media is NOT Good for your Business is a post from Affordable internet marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.



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