You already know what our favorite answer is, right?

Test. Test. Test.

Go ahead and make your test. Publish a landing page and see if people who read your comp plan will proceed and sign up under you. See if you can grow downlines that way.

Alternatively, you can do a split-test and create another landing page where people subscribe to your list (lead generation). A series of follow-up messages will then take care of lead development.

Given the emailed messages in your autoresponder sequence, will readers be motivated to sign up under this time? Once again, the prudent thing to do is to test.

I can understand the appeal of online network marketing.

No more running away from mall security guards who catch you distributing business opportunity flyers. Say goodbye to doors being slammed on your face as you try to convince people to buy your product or listen to your presentation.

And awkward moments when you discover that family, close friends and relatives won't support you in your latest biz opp? A thing of the past.

How is this possible? Well, your webpage will serve as your spokesperson online, 24 by 7.

You won't feel depressed when people read your webpage and then just leave without bothering to contact you. Afterall, you're not there to see it.

You won't feel dejected when (some) people read your webpage, frown, and say something rude before leaving your site. Afterall, you're not there to hear it.

Yes, it feels great and reassuring, but don't let that stump your growth. A little bit of pain is needed for you to become stronger, and for you to realize that the path to success is oftentimes not a well-paved one.

True, there will be bumps and potholes as well as occasional setbacks that will surely test your optimism and self-confidence. Fortunately, you can take a two-pronged approach as you build your network.

Try MLM the old way. You know, belly-to-belly, manual, face to face. And also try it the automated way. Yes, I'm talking about using the internet and websites to help spread your message to more people.

Just remember that in the end, you must learn to test what you can test. Don't believe everything or anything you read online. Test it out yourselves and see if what someone else experienced applies to your unique case.

So, when are you going to build your network marketing organization (or at least part, if not all of it) online? Good luck and have fun!

If you want to use NH, you will need to download, install, and run a small program. This turns your computer into an automated keyword researching unit. In some computers, I've seen CPU utilization of as high as 100% (that's when the NH program tries to connect with various servers on the web). In a Lenovo netbook running on Windows XP Home, the utilization hovers around the 54% level.

What this means is for some people, your computer may appear sluggish. This may be the case if you're using an older PC. But if your computer is relatively new, then you won't notice any slow down as you use our PC for your other internet tasks.

I experimented and ran the Niche Horde program on a separate netbook, and did not run any other programs. Next, I used another computer and logged into the NH members' area, hoping that since my username was running the program on another computer, I would still be able to access the keywords database via another computer.

Well, no dice.

The only way to login and access the database is to use the same computer that is running the NH program. It would be great if you could use two computers in tandem, because this will encourage more people to actually run the program that helps conduct the keyword research.

You can use your under-utilized computer to help with the distributed online research, while you use your regular workhorse of a computer to do your regular internet tasks. Since the NH program will be running on your secondary PC, you will definitely not experience any slowness in your primary PC.

End result: More people will allow their computers to perform online research.

I've seen anywhere from 108 to 137 users online, which means that's the number of computers helping Jon Leger fill up the database with profitable, easy to rank for search terms. I've saved about 500 keywords into a CSV file (to make it easy to sort via MS Excel), which will keep a certain group of writers/probloggers pretty busy in the coming weeks.

What I Do Not Like About Niche Horde

For now, there's no way you can suggest or recommend phrases to be researched. For example, I searched for several topics that I'm personally interested in, but only found less than 5 profitable phrases per topic. Hopefully, over time, the NH database will contain more entries that involve subjects I want to write about.

Given the way Jon Leger updates the software based on customer feedback, I'm looking forward to future updates.

What I Like About Niche Horde

I am quite fond of the "Niche Groups" feature, which quickly shows related phrases. This helps you rapidly develop an outline of topics to help build your niche site (or even support a new section in your authority site). With these niche groups, you (or your writers) can build a decent website, nurture it and keep it as your own, or even flip the blog and sell it to those who want ready-made sites.

I've even seen some cases where a blogger will offer to buy your blog if you are too discouraged with your low online ad revenues, because he will simply send more traffic to your pre-built blog and cash in on the advertising income.

Since my team likes to build niche blogs, the niche groups feature is my favorite.

Can You Make Fast Cash Online?

It's still quite early to tell, however, if Niche Horde will help you make money online. At this point, however, I guarantee that you will have a good number of topics to blog about. While I wish there were more keywords about Nokia, for example, there is a healthy list of phrases involving Samsung, which will serve you well if you're blogging about cell phones.

If you knew which phrases to target, and which are worth your while (i.e., it's not that hard to rank high for those terms), then you can go out and blog about those niche topics. Just remember the law of the farm: things will take time.

You can't just put up a website, publish ten articles targeting profitable keywords, splash on some ads, and then make $100 a day. In certain cases, and depending on your chosen topic, you'll probably make around $2 a month in total advertising revenues from 20 articles.

If you're a long-term player (remember, no article published online is wasted), then Niche Horde will help you easily come up with a list of phrases and keywords worth targeting. When you go ahead and blog about those topics (especially the ones online consumers are interested in), the initial modest ad earnings will help inspire you to keep at it.

You've probably seen how little things, over time, add up to something big. I'm confident that the articles my team will publish (thanks to the topics generated by Niche Horde) will help recover the modest $47 in Jon Leger's latest product. I hear he'll eventually raise the price to $97, but even at that level I would still get the product.

I've seen how certain types of articles have generated anywhere from $5 to $147 each month in online advertising revenues alone. Are these results typical? Of course not. The average person will just look at the list of phrases, and then will sit back and do nothing. They won't even outsource the writing of the articles.

Yes, the average person will simply collect and hoard all these wonderful niche topics... and do absolutely nothing. I mean, aside from getting the next big thing that will take their blogs to the next level.

In the meantime, writers will take those topics suggested by NH, and will go build useful and relevant websites focused on those phrases. A few will takeoff, a lot will most likely earn less than $1 a month. Yet they will forge onward, safe in the knowledge (based on experience) that no article is wasted online.

Every single webpage you publish online is worth something. The secret is you simply have to know what to write about first. Afterall, there's so little time and so much to write. Thank you, Jonathan Leger, for giving some writers a profitable sense of direction when it comes to knowing what to write about, with the help of Niche Horde.

Most keyword research tools are basically that -- you need to actively do the research. While the tedious task of looking at search demand volume, number of competing websites, or strength of competition numbers can be churned out by different keyword research programs, you will need to input a starting keyword or phrase.

With Jonathan Leger's Niche Horde, on the other, you simply let the software run in the background and it will build a database of niche topics and, hopefully, profitable keywords to target.

Yes, that's right, you don't need to spend as much time typing words or phrases to test. You don't even need to brainstorm subjects or topics as some sort of starting point for your keyword research. In effect, Niche Horde is an automated tool that builds the database for you, even while you sleep.

Did you catch that?

When you do a lot of keyword research, the search engines will eventually disable access because they don't want their servers to get taxed too much. Yes, all those repetitive queries will affect their servers, so they will find ways to slow you down.

If you, on your own, are using automated tools which analyze hundreds of keywords (for search demand and supply), search engines will throttle your research efforts.

It looks like Niche Horde will use the computers (and internet connection) of its different users, which allows it to conduct keyword research faster. The chances of getting throttled by search engines are lower, because different computers (with different IP addresses) will be used.

In exchange for this distributed approach to doing search engine online research, the customers of Niche Horde (or owners of the computers used to do research) will have access to the keyword database that grows over time.

Eventually, as more people become NH customers, and assuming their computers are online for an appreciable amount of time each day, the faster the NH database will grow. And the more profitable keywords are found, the more productive you will be.

Imagine what will happen if you build content-rich websites that target easy-to-rank-for, yet highly profitable keywords? Think of how you will monetize those sites. See yourself focusing on actual content development, instead of getting bogged down on keyword research. Can you now see how much more productive your SEO efforts will be when you start targeting the profitable "low hanging fruit" when it comes to keyword research?

Niche Horde Key Success Factors

1. A critical mass of NH customers.
2. Enough computers that will remain online long enough for meaningful keyword research and data mining.
3. A critical mass of content producers.

Let's face it. If people participate in this collaborative online research effort, and follow-through by actually producing the needed content (and monetizing it), then these subscribers will continue contributing their computer power. If you remember, NH builds the database while you sleep. It assumes, however, that your computer is awake and is connected to the internet.

Site owners who already have a decent amount of website traffic are in a good position to test Niche Horde, review it, and make fast cash online. As of this writing, the $47/year cost is quite affordable. If you find just ten winner keyphrases, and outsource the writing of ten articles (around $40), how soon do you suppose you will easily recover your investment?

Here's a tip: Target keywords that consumers are searching for online. Yes, I'm talking about specific products. It is quite plausible to assume that people searching for a specific product name are on the verge of buying that item.

If your keyword research reveals such a product name that is easy to rank highly in the search engines for, how much is that worth to you? If you're curious, go ahead and give Niche Horde a try.

Wait... are you looking for a Niche Horde review that says: "I used NH and made money!" Well, just keep in mind that such people will not reveal which particular niche topics actually made them money. Why would they, right?

Now if you have the resources to produce written content, plus drive traffic to your websites, then have fun, experiment, and give Niche Horde a whirl. Here's to your continued success online!

Delta Squadron (www.deltasquadron.com) could've very well been marketed as a $1997 product, but for now you can get it for only $1. Well... not exactly for only one dollar, as you will soon see.

In the salesletter, Michael Cheney weaves a riveting story which shows you "FOUR Secret Keys to making Massive Cash Fast" and promises that "you can get your hands on the training that takes you directly to the cash for FREE..."

You might recall that in an earlier product launch, Michael made use of a (lengthy) video salesletter which you need to watch from beginning to end if you wanted to know the price of the product. There was no fastforward button. You had to patiently watch and wait for the end of the video.

This time, however, Michael uses the text/video format. I had to press my pagedown key around 65 times before I reached the bottom of that webpage. The text portion is for you who like to read salesletters, while the video portion is for you who like to watch video testimonials.

To save you time, here's a quick summary of those four secrets to making massive cash fast:

1. Words - persuade people with the power of words.
2. Wants - know what people want and sell it to them.
3. Wealth Grenades - leverage what you already have.
4. Winning Star Strategy - become a celebrity and reap the benefits.

I'm not asking you to buy the product. What I do recommend at this point in time is for you to study the salesletter.

Why is the salespage so long? Well, if you can write a long salesletter (which people can read for free), it gives the impression that your non-free product will deliver a lot. It makes sense, right? People will see the endlessly scrolling page and think (whether consciously or subsconscioulsy): "If this person is willing to put a lot of effort into this free-to-read salesletter, imagine what kind of juicy money-making info he will share in his premium product!"

But won't people get bored? If you observe how people read on the web, you'll see that they skim. And that's why the salespage at DeltaSquadron.com has a number of headings and sub-headings using a larger font.

You'll find quotes, or continuity phrases that link paragraphs, or even half-finished phrases that make you curious enough to read the text below those sub-headings.

There. Notice how I forced your eye to jump to this line, thanks to the bigger font used by the "heading" above. But persuasive sales copywriting on the web is more than just using large fonts or having sub-headings inserted here and there.

You also need to tell a story.

In the Delta Squadron sales page, Michael Cheney shares with you an incredible story of his life. It includes his past failures and difficulties, and his rise to success. Now who wouldn't want to experience that kind of success, right?

Look at this blog post you're reading right now. It sounds like some kind of lecture. Now go on over to the Delta Squadron salespage and read the parts that tell a story. See the difference?

The whole point of using a story in a salesletter is to connect with people on an emotional level. And if there's anything that gets you excited, it's not a lecture but a story, right?

So, why did I not buy Delta Squadron for only one dollar? Am I out of my mind? Imagine, passing up on a chance to get a $2000 video package (18 videos) that will help beginners make money online, for only $1?

Well, I didn't feel that comfortable with the order page. It did not look familiar. Also, I don't quite like to automatically sign up for a Delta Squadron Fast Cash Training monthly subscription of $97 (continuity membership model) and then have to manually ask them to cancel the subscription if I'm not satisfied during the first 30 days.

Why? As I've mentioned, the order page did not look familiar. How can I be assured that when I request that the subscription be canceled, and that my credit card no longer be charged in the future, that request will be honored immediately? How can I be reassured, if that unfamiliar order page has no reliable track record to speak of, based on my personal experience?

What if I just want the 18 videos for $1, but not subscribe to the free 30-day trial offer of the Delta Squadron membership?

The Delta Squadron bonus offer is quite tempting, though. The "How To Make $1 Million In Seven Days" PDF transcript looks quite intriguing. What would you do if you could become a millionaire in just 7 days? And while this may sound too good to be true, what's the harm in investing just one dollar, right?

I would've probably pounced on the 30-day membership trial $1 offer if the order page were handled by a more well-known company. The last time I looked, however, the order page looked like some html webpage written by someone I don't quite know and trust yet.

And there's another online sales tip for you: Use order pages that online shoppers are familiar with.

Let's be clear, okay? I'm not saying that Delta Squadron is a product not worth getting. All I'm saying is that the order page did not make me comfortable enough to go ahead with the $1 purchase.

But for those of you who are curious, whether as an online shopper or an internet marketer looking for ways to make fash cash on the web, then go ahead and forge onwards with the continuity business model of Michael Cheney's Delta Squadron.

I will be posting "Following these people in Twitter" links in various web sites, and when people visit those pages they will see a list of folks in Twitter whom they can easily follow. Among those in the list will be qualified owners of the Twitter Rocket.

For the first batch, I will attract people who are interested in internet marketing, WordPress, SEO, and making money online. Tutorials will be offered for free to these people, along with a request for them to follow other people in Twitter who are also interested in those topics.

If you are a registered Twitter Rocket owner who would like to gain targeted followers in the fields of interest I listed above, then please leave a comment below.

In your comment, please post your Twitter username or ID so that I may include you in the list of people to follow.

There's no additional cost to you. This is completely FREE, and is my way to helping out Twitter Rocket customers who want an extra way of getting focused followers.

Want to see an example? Okay, try this...

» Follow these people on Twitter (for internet marketing, WordPress, SEO and social media tips)
[opens in a new window]

This is an example of what it will look like:

Follow Groups in Twitter

You will find a group of people to follow on Twitter. All that's needed is your Twitter username and password, then one click makes it easy for you to follow everyone in the defined group.

I will create groups of people to follow in Twitter, and promote these group lists in various websites, using purely white-hat methods. Wouldn't you want to be included in that list? I mean... for free?

What you do with your large Twitter following is up to you. Do you want to invite them to your blog? Do you want to monetize that additional traffic? Do you want to make connections that eventually and serendipitously allow you to make money online or offline?

For now, this free build-your-Twitter-followers service is available to existing (paid) Twitter Rocket owners. Just leave a comment below, and I will include you right away.

For the curious, here's how the plan will work:

1. Free tutorials on internet marketing, WordPress, SEO, and/or social media will be provided to people who follow people included in my defined Twitter group list.

2. People who are truly interested in those topics will follow you (and everyone else in the defined list), and they will also post a Twitter message talking about the free downloadable tutorial.

3. Other people in Twitter see those tweets, they will visit the free tutorial page, and they will follow those people in the Twitter group list (if they really want to get the free tutorial). They will also be requested to post a Twitter message promoting the tutorial page.

4. This cycle repeats, and you can see the makings of a viral marketing campaign on Twitter.

In the meantime, you will also benefit from the growth in followers (who want info on social media, SEO, WordPress tutorials, and online marketing), so if those are the people you want to attract in Twitter, and if you're a registered owner of the Twitter Rocket, then please leave a comment below. Thanks!

Most likely, your inbox is already filled with SwapClix pitches, and some of you might be feeling a little nostalgic since the product name may sound a wee bit familiar. Yes, it used to be promoted by Costa Dedes, but is now being repositioned as Patrick Creek's SwapClix 2.0, who's using several sales techniques worth noting.

For example, the salespage comes with an audio file that automatically plays. It sounds like a professionally-made recording that pleasantly plays in the background as you scroll down to read the rest of the page.

The effect can be quite hypnotic, because whoever recorded that message has a soothing, yet authoritative voice. Perhaps, in the future, you can incorporate this approach in your salesletters online. Just be sure to use a voice actor for maximum benefit.

The salespage appears to use a few stock photo images. I don't know how effective this is (from an online marketing point of view), because writing about people who have successfully used your product, and then displaying a stock photo with your friend's name in the caption tends to break the reader's attention (assuming the reader is familiar with that image).

Then again, given how a lot of people shopping for internet marketing products online don't often visit royalty free stock photo sites, it becomes easy to understand why some marketers or web designers will use such images.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that the person shown in the salespage is not the actual person being written about. All I'm saying is that the image is a stock photo, and that breaks the attention of site visitors who have seen that photo in the past.

After getting in touch with other people, we found out that SwapClix involves click arbitrage. What this means is you buy traffic or clicks at a low price, and send that traffic to webpages where you will earn a higher revenue per click. You're swapping clicks, in other words.

Will SwapClix make money online for you? For some, this can work. Afterall, it follows the basic concept of "buy low, sell high", right? Will this new version do better than the original SwapClix? That is still subject to more testing in the coming weeks...

If you go shopping in a mall, you've probably met a salesperson who asked for your cell phone number, particularly after you bought something. Then, a few weeks later, you may have received an SMS text message informing you about an upcoming sale at that same store.

I've personally experienced that, and I found myself returning to that store and making another purchase. I also ended up visiting the nearby shops and buying other things. How's that for cell phone cash, right?

A single SMS text message, and here comes the shopper. Can you imagine how many times that experience was duplicated by others who had also received that single SMS broadcast? Now you know why brick-and-mortar stores are using SMS.

Would you like to know more about the internet and cell phone marketing?

Here's a free tutorial series you can sign up to. Simply enter your email address in the box below, then click on the "Get the FREE Tutorial" button:

Please open the RESPONSE REQUIRED email that will be sent to you, click on the confirmation link, and the first of a series of SMS marketing tutorials (PDF format) will be sent immediately to your inbox.

If you're using Yahoo, the RESPONSE REQUIRED email may take some time before reaching your inbox. Or it might be in your bulk folder. For best results, please use a GMail address.

The tutorial series will, over the next few days, help you with things like:

• What is the internet-cell phone marketing system?
• Why will this work for us?
• How do we get people to share their cell phone numbers?
• What offers do we send to people via SMS?
• How do we send SMS messages cost effectively?
• ...and many more!

For those of you who are curious about cell phone cash, subscribe today to the free tutorial series, and get exclusive content and marketing tips not seen in other pages of this blog.

Would you like to know how it's done?

There's a free resource called How to Make Money Writing on HubPages, which gives a comprehensive step-by-step blueprint of how some writers make cash online.

As a backgrounder, Hubpages is a site you can freely publish articles in, where you share your expertise with anyone who has internet access. Since it is easy to publish online, Hubpages attracts a lot of writers, who then post a lot of articles.

Do you see where this is going? Yes, Hubpages is a huge website that gets updated daily. This transforms it into a search engine magnet, which makes it even more attractive to more writers or bloggers, and the cycle continues and keeps getting better.

How do you make money with Hubpages? Writers get a 60% share of the AdSense revenue generated by the articles they post in Hubpages.

Simple, right? You can, of course, write in your own blog. One great thing about Hubpages is that you can take advantage of the traffic boost and online exposure it gives to its writers.

How many pages do you have in your blog? I did a quick search in Google and saw that it has indexed around 1.2 million webpages in Hubpages. Wouldn't you want to be part of that?

Some friends of mine conducted an experiment and published 10 articles in Hubpages. In 5 days, they earned around $2. Not much, right? Yet imagine what would happen if you simply made 10 posts in your brand new blog. Will you make $2 in 5 days?

Let's make one thing clear, though: Publishing in Hubpages does NOT guarantee that you will make money fast.

Your articles need to attract enough people whom paying advertisers want to reach out to. If your articles are able to get the attention of a target market that advertisers are willing to pay for, wouldn't it be reasonable to think about what that business model will do for you?

I'm not saying you need to stop blogging. Please, continue building your own internet real estate. All I'm saying is you might wish to consider diversifying and spreading your words online, particularly in high traffic sites such as Hubpages.

The main success ingredient in Hubpages is this: Keyword Research.

If you take the time to sensibly target the right keywords, then you have already won half the battle. What's the point of writing about something people don't want to read, right?

Another point you need to consider is that your titles must be appealing to both search engines (for online visibility) and readers. Who cares if you rank high in the search engine results if people don't feel compelled to actually read your article, right?

And lastly, you will need to promote your Hubpages articles. Simply writing engaging and relevant content will not make money magically appear. If people don't know what you wrote exists, what do you think will happen?

That is precisely why your online publishing strategy must include keyword research, relevant content, and backlinks. This is true no matter where you publish. Whether you write in your blog, in a freely hosted site, or even in Hubpages you need to attract backlinks.

It is all too easy to rely on the reputation of a site, just sit back, and wait for the traffic to come. If you think about it, though, what do you suppose would happen if you publish a unique, original article in a high profile site such as Hubpages, and then support it with your own backlinks campaign? Try it and see.

Magic List Bot goes live on Thursday, 20 August 2009, at 10AM EST. You can find more information at www.MagicListBot.com (that's not an affiliate link).

I haven't fully tested Magic List Bot yet, so updates will be posted in the future. Why write about it this early then? If you review past affiliate marketing contests, then you may have come across the name of Paul Ponna. You have probably seen his track record, and may even aspire to emulate his affiliate marketing success.

And if you have, then it wouldn't be a surprise if you want to try his system right away, to see if it can work for you, too.

Magic List Bot Combo Pack

Or perhaps you're intrigued by one of the components in the combo pack: Magic Twitter List Builder promises to help you build thousands of Twitter followers and email subscribers. You can check out @PaulPonna on Twitter and see for yourself what he's doing in the microblogging world.

The doors of Paul Ponna's Magic List Bot will open at 10AM (EST) on Thursday, 20 August 2009. Be there.

Marhgil of Macuha.com shares how he added 2000+ targeted followers in a week. Please take note: targeted followers.

Yes, it's the Twitter marketer's favorite tactic: follow people who share your interests, then later unfollow those who don't follow you back. The twist that Marhgil adds, however, is how he went about choosing whom to follow.

You won't find this approach in Twitter marketing ebooks (as far as I can tell), and Marhgil shares this Twitter tactic online... for FREE.

Where's the proof? The last time I looked, @marhgil has over 29,000 followers!

In How Do You Get More Followers On Twitter?, Mack Collier (@MackCollier) writes about providing links to useful sites and participating in conversations in Twitter.

Plus, Mack covers the important basics by sharing with you tools that "can help you find people that share your same interests", once again... for FREE. This is valuable information you won't find in some expensive ebooks floating around the web.

Eric Brantner (@Eric_Brantner) shares in 8 Ways to Get More Followers on Twitter different ways to grow your follower base. I like his first point which focuses on retaining your followers. Why spend time and effort growing your following, only to lose it over time, right? Remember to gain and retain.

(It's amazing how some Twitter marketers can easily overlook that important point. Fortunately, we live and learn.)

Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) also gives you 10 Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers, and you'll like his tip about retweeting. Kevin also shares a tool that will help you track your retweets.

Darren Rowse (@problogger) gives you 7 ways on How to Get More Followers on Twitter. Actually, these 7 ways are links to 7 different blog posts among which is a write-up about how to grow your follower numbers to over 10,000 in a week (the SitePoint story).

Here is Darren's take on Twitter followers:

Let me finish however with a quick piece of advice - raw follower numbers are not everything. I personally would prefer to have 100 followers who shared my interests and who were interested in interaction than having 1000 unfocused and uninteractive followers.

The next time someone wants you to pay them money for tips on how to increase your followers in Twitter so that you can make money online (see Make Money With Twitter?), look at their list of followers and ask yourself:

• Are those followers real people?
• Are those followers focused?
• Are those followers interactive?

Then, ask yourself if you are willing to pay good money for Twitter follower-boosting information taught by relative newcomers hardly anyone knows, or if you prefer to learn from the experience of true and credible Twitter-ers who will generously give you that info (and more) for free.

In the end, however, it's your money. Have fun spending it!

First of all, what is your goal in Twitter? It is to make a quick buck, or to develop relationships? Is it to grow an audience, or to market something in 140 characters or less?

When you try Twitter yourself, you will discover that you will eventually adjust your goals to match the audience you eventually do attract in Twitter. Sometimes, you simply cannot control (or you won't have time to effectively control) the kind of people who end up following you in Twitter.

Yes, you can also go beyond the concept of "followers." Sometimes, people will RT or retweet your posted Twitter messages, and even people who are not your followers will end up seeing your message. In some cases, people who retweet your messages might not even be your followers.

For purposes of this article, however, let's focus on followers.

If you are attracting mostly Twitter beginners who are interested in Twitter marketing, then you can post affiliate marketing offers. In some Twitter accounts I've seen, people mix manually posted messages with automatically posted tweets.

The manually posted tweets assure you that there truly is a person behind the Twitter account, and that is it not just some kind of bot auto-posting feeds. These tweets can range from "what am I doing right now" messages, to tips or even links to interesting, useful or entertaining websites.

The automated portion usually presents offers to a particular crowd. This part is automated because, based on tests, there are certain times of the day (or night) when posted tweets elicit some form of impulse buying behavior.

It so happens that during those golden dollar moments, the owner of the Twitter account is probably asleep or busy doing something else. That's why he or she resorts to automated methods.

Here are examples of items promoted in their tweets:

• Twitter follower boosting systems
• Online surveys
• Twitter backgrounds
• Watch TV on your computer software

Based on the list above, you can probably guess that the target market here would be Twitter marketing newbies, or people who search for entertainment or even make money online opportunities (that might not necessarily be Twitter-based).

Some affiliates who have claimed that they have earned commissions by promoting such offers in Twitter have cited figures of around $230 per month. I haven't seen actual proof from these people (who have over 25,000 followers in Twitter), but a $200/month figure is not that far off from some bloggers (who have 1,000 visitors a day). Still, it is better to get proof, right?

Others, on the other hand, have made fantastic claims of average earnings of over $100 a day, but have not presented verifiable proof.

There are groups who offer products or services in the $900 to $1800 range, and who have over 40,000 followers in Twitter, so their earnings claim of over $100 a day is not too far-fetched.

Assuming only 0.5 percent of their followers click on a URL promoted in Twitter, and visit their blog only once in a month, that's 200 visitors. And if only 2 percent of those 200 go on and buy the $1,000 monthly service, that's $4,000 in monthly recurring income thanks to Twitter. Still, it is more prudent to get proof. (Anyway, that group is not selling any Twitter marketing system; they're selling their high value outsourcing service.)

I have seen a blogger who averages around $2,000 a month because the product offered is indeed a high ticket product (price range: $42,000 to $104,000 per product). So even if the blog gets less than 200 visitors a day, the average monthly commission of $2,000 is reasonable. Please note that I use the word average, because in some months there are zero sales.

In other words, when you see claims of high earnings in Twitter,
especially when someone has less than 15,000 followers and earns less
than $50 for each product sold, please ask for verifiable proof, if
you're interested in joining that particular kind of Twitter marketing
system, that is.

If you want to make money online in Twitter, then look at the market and find out what kind of people you can attract and show your tweets to. Then analyze what high ticket product or service you can offer to them (which they are willing and able to buy), and go ahead and offer it to them.

If you offer it to them directly (i.e., via your tweets), that means you're going for impulse shopping. On the other hand, if you offer it indirectly (i.e., via your blog, whose URL you promote in your Twitter profile but not in your tweets), then you are aiming for high ticket sales.

Keep an eye out for the differences in style:

• Frequent promos posted in tweets (low ticket items), versus
• Low or hardly any promotional tweets (high ticket items sold via the blog).

From there, you will get a better feel of whether an earnings claim is reasonable or just a gimmick. Either way, do your due diligence and ask for verifiable proof.

Have fun in your search for monetization strategies that work in Twitter!

But is it for real? How can you tell if it's just a scam?

One easy way of detecting if the affiliate is being less than forthright about their monetary claims is by validating their screenshots. No, I don't mean actually going to the third party payment processor and asking them if it's for real.

What I do mean is this: Join that third party affiliate network and see if the screenshots you get more or less match those shown in typical "proof of earnings" pages.

For example, anyone can easily join PayDotCom and eventually earn affiliate marketing commissions. Once these are reflected in your PayDotCom account, you will quickly see for yourself.

Here's an example of what an affiliate will see when you login at PDC to view your affiliate earnings:

PDC Screenshot 1

Please note that in the above screenshot, you will see a Totals row and below it you will find the products sold. In the product row, there is a product name, plus the price of that product in red.

Now here, on the other hand, is an example of a "proof of earnings" screenshot presented by an affiliate of an online product:

PDC Screenshot 2

Notice something?

Yes, it looks like a fair amount of editing was done. I can understand why one row (the Totals row) would disappear, because it's possible that affiliate might not want to reveal his or her total earnings, but I don't know why the box containing the name of the product sold by the affiliate would appear to be edited.

(Please ignore the differences in the shade of the colors, because these screenshots were made on different monitors.)

I'm not saying the affiliate went ahead and actually edited the screenshot.

What I am stating is that the screenshot appears edited (i.e. a row was removed, a row was moved up, a product description box's content was replaced with just the product name), and this has an impact on how people will perceive the earnings claim.

Here are some suggestions for using screenshots as proof of earnings:

1. Try to avoid deleting sections.
2. Use blurred images or solid color rectangles to hide portions you don't want people to see (perhaps due to privacy issues).

Yes, there are many courses and ebooks available on the internet that teach you how to make more money online, and the screenshots can look quite tantalizing. Just remember, though, that images can be heavily edited or "photoshopped" so it helps to test things for yourself.

On the other hand, there's no need to immediately point a finger at the merchant or affiliate and yell: "Scammer!" You can politely leave a comment in their blog, or simply ask them, and then wait for their response. After a reasonable amount of time, you can choose to go with your gut or make more tests.

Here's wishing you success in your online business, and your quest for credible sources of learning!

So, is this worth the $97 ticket price?

Ashley Morgan blogged about different Twitter marketers who have espoused what may appear as questionable Twitter marketing tactics. Perhaps that's why he has come out with his own method, which he feels offers a more responsible way of growing your following.

Here's a quick Twitter Rocket Review...

This review refers to Version 2 of TR. I hear that Version 3 is in the works, though.

Anyway, the TR ebook starts off by talking about how to get a Twitter account, plus tips on whom to follow. Do you know whom you shouldn't follow, and why? Ashley reveals it here.

The next section provides additional details about preparing your Twitter account, plus an adjustment that may help you make money online. I will test that style over the coming weeks, although I haven't seen it being done by someone who could very well be Ashley's most successful affiliate so far.

(UPDATE: The top affiliate doesn't do one of the tips mentioned, because she already has a blog. Anyway, I will make tests in the coming weeks using the "I don't have a blog yet" approach.)

Ashley also writes about automating certain tasks. These touch on how to find content to tweet about, how to autofollow people (although that section needs to be updated), and how to auto-tweet various feeds to your Twitter account. This section is succinct and will not waste your time.

(If you want an audio/visual walkthrough on the section of Twitter automation, please read the Twitter Rocket Bonus offer.)

You'll also find a list of six sites that will help boost the visibility of your Twitter page (page 8). I've only used a couple of those sites in the past (prior to reading Twitter Rocket), but I have already seen how more people are getting wind of my Twitter account. Imagine what would happen if I use all six sites, right?

The main section of the ebook reveals Ashley's 5-Day Plan, and Step 1 of the Day 1 guide applies to people who have less than 10,000 followers. If you want to find out how to tweak this step once you're over the 10k mark, please read about the TR Bonus.

Step 2 of Day 1 may appear aggressive to some, but I've tried an even more aggressive approach in the past, and found that it works. Nowadays, however, I will suggest you go for around 85% of the targets mentioned, and slowly scale up as you gain more credibility.

Step 3 of Day 1 will get your Twitter account noticed (in a good way). But you can experiment and expand this step on your own, and watch your numbers go up some more. Please let me know if you're interested in the results of that particular Twitter test.

Day 2 tactics are things I've seen on Twitter, but haven't tried yet. Now that I see Ashley mentioning this in his report, and given his goal of helping someone earn $282/day after a six-month preparation period, I will give this tactic a try.

Day 3 talks about concepts similar to joint ventures, only in the Twitter environment. It also suggests approaches to increasing your followers some more. I've touched base with people who are already trying this in Twitter, and it will take a while before we get firsthand data on how effective this approach is.

Day 4 gives guidelines on how to qualify people worth following. Some of the assumptions made, on the other hand, need to be tested. Additional techniques taught in Day 5 are double-edged, and can backfire if you overdo it. As long as you're within reasonable limits, you should be fine, though. For conservative purposes, aim for 85% of the targets mentioned there.

Ashley Morgan also writes about how to make money online with the help of Twitter. According to Ashley, he makes around 10 cents per Twitter follower, but he does not reveal details about the source of his advertising revenues (i.e., AdSense, private advertising placements). If you're interested, he offers a 30 Day Blogging Course on how to monetize your blog.

Based on this, it looks like he's using Twitter to send traffic to his monetized blog. And if you don't have a monetized blog, Ashley Morgan invites you to join his affiliate program which allows you to earn a 50% commission by promoting Twitter Rocket.

In other words, the plan is for you to make money by selling Twitter Rocket to your followers. And the latest news is that he is going to do this publicly. Yes, transparency in Twitter. You will see this in action soon, according to his blog.

You'll also read Ashley's tips on how to keep your Twitter account safe, plus his reassurance on next-level tactics that some people may find daunting. I have tested one of the approaches mentioned (specifically the one found in p. 24 of TR Version 2), and have personally found that that technique works. Just remember to be reasonable with your actions.

But what happens if, even though you use Twitter responsibly, your account still gets suspended? What do you do then? Fortunately, there is a key action that you can implement, which you will find out when you avail of the Viloria.net TR Bonus offer.

Ashley also warns about certain Twitter automation software. Please take note, though, that one of the items in his list has certain components that can help you reasonably expand your sphere of influence in Twitter. It's rare to find tools that are 100% "bad" since if you dig a little bit deeper, you will find a gem.

The ebook closes with Ashley Morgan's promise of support to his affiliates, particularly in the area of higher traffic. So far, he is the first online marketer I've seen who will help drive traffic to you upon request. Yes, that means you don't need to pay him extra beyond your one-time investment in his $97 ebook.

I must disclose that I haven't asked him for that traffic-boosting benefit. Perhaps I will go build a completely new blog, start anew, and test the full benefits promised by TR to the hilt.

So there you have it, a quick review of Version 2 of Twitter Rocket (TR). Is this ebook worth $97 of your money, or is it just a scam?

Well, if you're interested in the approach Ashley has taken in Twitter, and if you want to see what it feels like to have partner sites drive traffic to you, and if you want to network with other online marketers (at no extra cost), then tell me: Is that worth more than $97 to you? How many times more?

My First Twitter Rocket Referred Sale - 08/31/2009

Had to obscure some of the parts of the above screenshot, but if you log into your own PayDotCom account, you can verify for yourself if a screenshot looks heavily doctored, or if it is the real thing.

Please remember, however, that results are not typical, and there's no guarantee you will make money by selling Twitter Rocket. People have different abilities, and it is possible that you will end up with zero sales.

For those who are asking how many followers Manuel has on Twitter:
Follow ManuelViloria on Twitter »
(NOTE: I've grown my Twitter following using a combination of different methods learned over the past three years. I'll soon test the tactics mentioned in Twitter Rocket, and will give you an update in the future.)

And if you want detailed tips and tutorials (for newbies) on how to make effective use of Twitter to make money online, please leave a comment below. Thanks!

Tags: twitter rocket, ashley morgan

A linkwheel is a collection of about six websites, each of which points to your main website (found in the center of an imaginary wheel). And since we're using the metaphor of a round wheel, the six websites point not only towards the central site, they also point to the nearest site on the wheel.

In other words, each of the sites surrounding your main site will have two outbound links: one to the main site, and one to a site that is not reciprocally pointing back. Eventually, the first outer wheel site will link to the last outer wheel site.

Let's illustrate this so that you can better see what we're talking about...

From the above illustration of the linkwheel, we begin with your main site at the center of it all. Let's assume you will build a site in Vox.com, which will then point to your main site (1). Next, create a site in Squidoo which points to your main site (2), and also to the Vox site you made earlier (3).

The cycle continues until you have completed the sixth outer wheel site (in this example, Google Knol), complete with its links to the main site (10) and also to LiveJournal (11). At this point, you then go back to your Vox site, and provide a link to Knol (12).

Notice how the six sites work together in some kind of daisy-chain fashion, and all boost the main site? You can do the same for each of those six sub-sites and create their own sub-linkwheel.

For example, you can treat your Vox page as another "main" site, and build a series of six sites around it. You can try other sites such as Blogger/Blogspot, GoArticles, Spaces.Live.com, WetPaint, WikiSpaces, WordPress.com, Xanga, Yola, Zimbio, and tons of other Web 2.0 properties.

To be fair to those other web properties, please publish quality or relevant content. It's not just a simple matter of throwing websites and pointing to affiliate sites in linkwheel fashion. It entails a fair amount of thought and consideration, because you need to respect the owners of those sites where you publish your content for free.

Give and take, right? Help others get what they want and... Well, you get the picture.

If you don't feel that comfortable with the thought of creating content for "other" sites, then go ahead and replace those six outer wheel sites with your own sites, or with the blogs of your friends (assuming you're working together in some kind of network).

Please remember, however, that if the search engines take your actions as some form of SEO manipulation, you risk getting de-indexed from the SERPs. If the content you provide is useful, relevant, entertaining or even compelling, then there's a chance your different sites will pass a manual review.

So there you have it, a traffic boosting approach courtesy of the linkwheel concept. Keep on writing, building, and marketing your blog, and I look forward to hearing of your online success in the near future!

Tags: linkwheel traffic

In the "Party Principle", you are taught to treat all these social sites as parties, where people mingle and socialize... without talking about business. Afterall, when you go to a party, do you introduce yourself and then segue into "by the way, I have something you might wish to buy"?

So when you create your presence in Twitter, Plurk, YouTube, Facebook (or even Flickr), just be yourself and have fun. It also helps if you post things that entertain people, or help them solve their problems, or give them an a-ha moment.

Your social media pages will usually contain some profile information about you, which means they will eventually find out about your website or blog. Treat this as your home, which means that after people get to know you a little, or perhaps even get to like you a bit in the online parties, they will eventually visit your house or your blog.

And what do you do once people go to your home? Do you start off with: "By the way, you can buy this or that"? Of course not. You once again entertain your visitors. Perry Belcher advises the "Scrapbook" approach, where you share a few personal things about your life.

Through the power of photos, videos, and write-ups, your visitors will get to know you a little better. And who knows? They may even like you a bit more, based on what you share with them online.

Your blog visitors (who came from social sites such as Twitter) will look around your "house", and will eventually get into some kind of comfort zone. The typical small talk eventually turns into: "So, what do you do for a living?"

And that's where you share a few details about your business, and perhaps even invite them to sign-up for your newsletter. And that's where your make money online process visibly begins.

I say "visibly" because prior to that point, where your visitors become curious about what it is that you do, you have been laying the foundation. Your early activities are "invisible" in the sense that you are not selling anything outright. You are simply providing value, relevance, or even entertainment to people online... for free.

In the process, you will gain credibility online. People become aware of your personal brand. Others will even seek you for advice. And what do you think will happen if people find the advice that you freely share online valuable? Yes, they will find your premium offerings even more valuable. They will ask you how they can order your product, or pay you for your services.

Afterall, if your free stuff is that good, then your high-value products will be even much better, right?

How To Make Money With Social Media

People are curious: How do you monetize all your social networking and social media activities? Perry Belcher shares in the Social Media Money System a training video that focuses on a "network matrix."

For some reason, the streaming videos stored in those S3 servers are playing rather slowly at the moment, so here are my quick notes for your reading pleasure.

Point #1: Perry "forces" people to contact him... via Twitter. Want a faster response? Don't send email to Perry; instead, direct message (DM) him in Twitter. He prefers Twitter (over email marketing) because he can send 100 messages a day to his Twitter followers.

KEY TIP: Promote your Twitter page every chance you get.

Point #2: Create a useful (not promotional) screencast and upload your tutorial to YouTube. Or go for entertainment and upload a "lifestyle" type of video. Embed your YT videos in your blog, and promote your YT vids on your blog (cross promotion).

Point #3: Do social media bookmarking quickly (for all your content, as well as the sites of other people). Allot around 30 minutes a day. Don't use automated software. Use social bookmarking tools... manually.

Point #4: Get on the "B-List" (around 20 social media sites, which are not as popular as YouTube). Spend around 3 minutes a week posting content that does not expect a response, with the help of Ping.fm

Point #5: Facebook power -- Since the average user spends 90 minutes a day on Facebook looking at photographs and multimedia content, post your "lifestyle" stories in FB. Create FB fan pages and groups. Display your blog posts in FB, and your FB updates in your blog (cross embedding).

Point #6: Your affiliate offers (or other make money online opportunities) will appear only in your blog, and not in your social media sites. Or better yet, build your list using a sign-up up form in your blog, and then present those affiliate marketing offers to your subscribers.

Given the approach of cross-promoting, where your different virtual real estate or web properties point to your Twitter account and vice-versa, I wonder why Perry did not talk about FriendFeed.

FF brings together in one page everything you post in the different social sites, and you also have the ability to automatically post in Twitter the things that appear in FriendFeed. Would you like to know how that is done?

These are just big broad strokes, and still need additional details. More videos will be created in the future. For the moment, though, please let me know what your specific questions are about the different points above, by leaving a comment below.

Here's to your social media success!

Tags: social media money system, perry belcher, ryan deiss