1. Email – This has to be the biggest time waster – and a hard habit to break, but it has to be done, or you will waste half of your day!

One way to solve this problem is to resolve to only check your email twice a day, maybe once first thing in the morning and then again at the end of the day.

You should also use multiple email addresses in order to prioritize – one, for business, one for family, a throw-away for forums, program sign-ups, or anything that could flood your inbox with junk. Also, try to resist the latest and greatest, must-have, tools and programs being thrust your way via copy-cat emails from every marketer known to man.

Turn off your email alerts, or pop-ups to help you resist the temptation to look.

2. Social Networking Sites – A personal pet peeve, but if you feel that you must participate in this sort of communication, try to limit yourself to once or twice a week. There is some real debate as to how much these sites actually help your business – if you use them for fun, then stick to the email rule.

3. Forums – Another time-sucking distraction that can cost you hours before you know it. Yes, I have been guilty of this one – still trying to kick the habit.

4. Surfing – Although it may be necessary to do some amount of surfing, especially if your work is totally online, you should try to stay focused on what you are surfing for and not get sidelined by something off-topic that catches your eye.

5. Checking Your Stats and Earnings – It can be tempting to analyze the hell out of your sites, especially when the traffic starts rolling in. While there is some value in this, it can bog you down unnecessarily. Same goes for the daily checking of your affiliate income – once (okay, maybe twice) a week should be enough.

6. Procrastination – The worst time waster/business killer of all! Putting things off, or spending too much time over-analyzing and not actively doing costs time and money that you cannot afford to loose.

The best way to combat procrastination is to set goals – I have a weekly list of things that Need To Be Done, and every morning I make a short list of things I want to accomplish by the end of the day. Logging the time you actually spend on your tasks will make you more conscious of how productive (or not) you really are, and hopefully help you to see where you need to make changes.

7. Doing Too Much - Spreading yourself too thin cuts down production remarkably. Focusing on just one major project per day will help you to accomplish much more than you might imagine. For instance, if you set out to write a set number of articles one day and then get a “brilliant idea” that you don’t want to loose – just write it down and put it on your list for the next day.

8. Texting – This basically fits in the same categories as Email and Social Networking. I fail to see how this can improve your business.

9. Phones – If this is a necessary part of your business, then try to set a block of time to deal with phone calls – outside of that time period, let it go to voicemail. Answering a call when you are on a roll only breaks your rhythm and train of thought.

10. Outside Distractions/Housework – The working from home atmosphere lends itself to all kinds of outside distractions – family, pets, visitors, etc. It seems to be hard for ‘outsiders’ to understand that just because you are home, that doesn’t mean that you are at their disposal. If you have an office, then shut the door and post a “Do Not Disturb” sign – if you don’t pick a room and do the same.

Housework can wait! A little self-discipline on your part is involved here. Although it may be tempting to just throw in a load of laundry, it is still a distraction. Household projects have a way of snowballing. Treat your work hours as if you were out of the house and do your chores as you would if you worked a 9 to 5 job.

ShareThis

The Guides address all “endorsements”  or advertising messages which could be understood as the opinion of someone other than the sponsoring advertiser, from the perspective of consumers. Mind you, the FTC does not think that all bloggers reviews, product discussions, or opinions should be deemed "endorsements" - it makes that decision based on the relationship between the blogger and the advertiser.

For example, is the blogger who is raving about a new product acting independently (no endorsement) or are they acting on behalf of the advertiser or agent (endorsement) as a part of a marketing campaign. Basically, if you are reviewing or promoting a product for which you have been compensated (or will be) in one way or another, either by receiving a free sample, product, or receive income from sales of the product, you must disclose this information.

If a consumer who purchases a product or service with his or her own money and then praises it on their blog, or on a message board, that would not be considered as providing an endorsement. However, a blogger who is paid to speak about an advertiser’s product would be covered by the new guidelines, regardless of whether the blogger is paid directly by the marketer itself or by a third party on behalf of the marketer.

Following are some of the guidelines to keep in mind:

* Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions and true experience of the endorser. If paid actors are used, this fact must be disclosed.

* Endorsements may not contain any representations which would be deceptive, or could not be substantiated, if made directly by the advertiser.

* Endorsements must be representative of what consumers can reasonably expect to achieve. Any claim made by the endorser must reflect the opinion or experience of a significant proportion of consumers. Disclaimers like “results not typical” are no longer sufficient.

* All material connections between the advertiser and the endorser (including research or medical organizations) that consumers would not expect must be disclosed, including free products or monetary compensation.

For the full text of the Guides go to -

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pd

The full FTC Press Release - http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm??

ShareThis

I won’t mention this particular launch, or any other, in order to avoid giving it any further publicity, but if you have been involved in internet marketing for any length of time, you are most likely the victim of the same emails.

I mean there’s not even any originality to these emails - they are all EXACTLY the same and they are all after the same thing – my money, and yours. Some of the more clever marketers will offer you a "Special Bonus" (a.k.a. rehashed b.s. they have sold in the past, or stuff you can get for free elsewhere) just for signing up through them (for which they are paid as an affiliate).  They especially prey on the newbies, so to all of you – resist the urge to get caught up in the hype and hang on to your wallet!

These “Gurus” all claim to be making tons of money, and for some strange reason, want to share their good fortune and expertise with you, for a “steal” – pardon the pun. The old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is” has always been one to live by, as far as I’m concerned. There is no real “get rich quick” product. These “generous” marketers are all getting rich quick all right – with your money.

Do you honestly think they would be sharing their strategies with you if they were making so much money?

Now should you completely ignore and delete these emails? Well if you are easily persuaded by clever sales tactics, then you just might want to save yourself the time and money and do just that - however if you can blow past all the fluff, videos and schmooze and find something of value without paying a cent, then go for it. You just may learn something for free.

Hopefully if you are getting these product launch emails, they are going to a throw-away email address of yours and not your main email address. Remember that any time you opt-in on these guru’s “free offers” you should always use a throw-away (ex. Yahoo) email address. Because when your curiosity has been satisfied and the guru starts hitting hard with the sales emails of theirs, and yes, other internet marketer’s products, you can just hit delete, or move on to another email address.

Times are tough and the “Internet Marketing industry” has definitely been affected. If anyone tells you differently – be suspicious. The good news is that this too shall pass, and when it does you want to be standing with as much money in your accounts as possible. So hold on to your hard earned cash a little tighter and do the work yourself. 

There are a lot of intelligent and legitimate gurus out there who share valuable information without trying to get their hands on your wallet.  Use their tips and advice to develop your own techniques – heck, you may just hit on something that those geniuses have yet to discover. And when you do…you'll know what to do next!

ShareThis

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Affiliate! Corny, but "super affiliate" is the new buzzword for affiliates who are both ambitious and successful at affiliate marketing. There are wild claims online about affiliate marketing: Make Millions Overnight! Never Work Again! Unfortunately, these claims are usually false. To go from being a plain affiliate to super affiliate takes a lot of work. In short, you need to be an affiliate of steel.

The vast majority of affiliate marketing sites online are run by people who have no great interest in turning a huge profit. For example, you'll find thousands of blogs where people put up a few Amazon listings and/or Google links on the off chance that a passing browser will click on them. That's all well and good, but this is no way to make a dent in the affiliate marketing game. To be a super affiliate, you need to treat affiliate marketing as a job, not just something that you do on the side to put a couple of bucks in your pocket.

There is a misconception that affiliate marketing is not a real business. After all, the affiliate is not putting out a product. This is patently false. Even though an affiliate marketer is not manufacturing a product, he or she is still offering the product up for sale. An affiliate marketer still needs to be in charge of search engine optimization, custom content, quality web design, financial management, and everything else that goes into running a successful e-business. As with any business, an affiliate marketing plan is only as strong as the amount of work you put into it.

A super affiliate will be able to turn as hefty a profit as a standard business—several sales a day on a number of different fronts. Remember, successful affiliate marketers don't necessarily stop at one site. They set up a variety of affiliate sites with a good web address, quality web design, and lucrative affiliate marketing opportunities. Additionally, once you start selling at an accelerated rate, some affiliate programs will promote you from regular affiliate to super affiliate. If you start sending sales and traffic to a business, they will reward you with better terms.

This isn't an easy proposition, but it is possible. Make sure that an affiliate program has a corresponding super affiliate program in place—better terms for more sales. Even if they don't, an affiliate with good terms up front can really pay off if you're able to make a several sales a month. Affiliate programs with great terms are also sometimes referred to as super affiliates. Find these and you know you'll have a good marketing in place at the start.

For more information visit: Market Health

ShareThis