Archive for February, 2010

Affiliate Marketing: Establishing a Control

What is a control?

In its simplest form a control is that system, process or campaign that produces the desired result; in affiliate marketing that result is sales.  The campaign that delivers the best sales results becomes the control.

The dilemma that an affiliate marketer faces is do I first set up a system or do I first make the sales and build a system around that result?

Answer:  yes and yes.

Sales is the backbone of any successful business – you can have the best product in the world but without sales you have no business.  By now you have selected your affiliate product.  Here is what a typical marketing funnel looks like:flow chart

You now have the bare bone structure for a system. That is where you start.  Lets examine the flow of such a funnel:

  1. Advertising:
    First you have to create the offer.  With affiliate marketing, especially with information products, this is often already done for you. But remember if you send your prospects directly to the affiliate’s sales page, you do not capture the lead.
  2. Capture:
    The way to get around this is to create your own offer.  It can be a free newsletter, an e.book, an introductory 7-day course, a CD or some other ethical bribe.   The idea is that you give it away for free.  It should be something that is in alignment with what your affiliate product is.  Let’s take my affiliate Atomic Blogging which is advertised on this site as an example.

    My options are:

a)  Just put up the banner which when clicked goes directly to the vendor’s sales page.  If the visitor buys, I make a commission.  That is good.  That is the job of the banner to the right.

or

b) Develop my own ad.  I have done this with the ABC’s of Blogging banner which you see on this site.  This is a free PDF on blogging for money.  When a visitor clicks that banner, they are directed to a capture page which asks for their name and email.  This is needed so that the visitor can receive the link to the download.

When the visitor submits the information it is directed to my autoresponder which “captures” the visitor’s name and email and immediately sends out the link to the PDF download.

I now have a qualified lead.  I know that this person is interested in blogging. The name is loaded into my blogger prospects list. My loaded autoresponder follows up with an email within 24 hours inviting the prospect to purchase Atomic Blogging

3.  Follow Up:
I am currently working on another option. After clicking on the download link, a popup sales page will appear with the Atomic Blogging offer.  Why?  Because the visitor is in action mode and may be ready to make a purchase right then and there.

Because this involves some tech type stuff my goal is to have it all up and running by the end of the month with tracking implemented for each option.  The method that delivers the best results will become my control.

4.  Relationship Building
Not everyone that downloads the free PDF will buy the Atomic Blogging product.  These people will receive my pre-loaded, time spaced  emails with helpful information on blogging.  Some of the pre-loaded messages may include some information on Atomic Blogging which hopefully convert into a sale.

5. REPEAT.
Each option is a separate campaign.  Each will be tracked to the minutest detail.
The campaign that becomes the control will be the one that all other campaigns will be measured against.

It is best to run your control several times, tweaking where necessary.  Run the identical campaign but with two small differences and test to see which one pulls in the better results. It can be something as simple as the placement of a word.  This is called split testing or put another way it’s fine tuning the art of internet marketing and the way to building an enviable blog income.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Technorati Tags:U6SNUZFUK97S ,

Tags: ,

Musings on a Sunday Morn: Done? Never!

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not be.

As I was doing my blog rounds this morning, I came across a comment on Website In A Weekend The topic of the day’s post was on being “done” with something … you know, like a plumber goes and does his job and at the end its done.  No more planning, continuity, fine tuning etc.  The comment that got my attention was this one:carlos' comment

That’s why I like doing dishes. when they’re done they’re done…clean, dry, and warm.

Carlos is a wicked blogger. He’s brand new to the game – or at least his blog Conscious One is and he knows a thing or two about life… but Carlos, darling, sweetheart, have you never heard of that old and now hackneyed saying “a woman’s work is never done?”  … back in the oooolllldddd days, men would not be caught dead anywhere near a sink let alone doing the dishes!  I know, times have changed.

That comment brought up an image of residual.  You know how we all want to have a residual income where you get paid over and over and over for doing something once.  Authors and movie stars come to mind as the obvious candidates – they get money dropping down to their bottom line every time a book sells or a movie is viewed, at least while the royalty legal is in effect.  A residual or passive income is what blogging for money is about.

But residual dishwashing?

Yeah, yeah, yeah!   I know you don’t get paid over and over and over for doing the dishes once, in fact unless you are the dishwasher at a restaurant you don’t get even a measly dinero for your effort no matter how often the dirty deed is done.   No, what I am thinking here is that doing dishes is like residual work – you get them done and put away nicely into the cupboard and like magic, there they are again, all dirty and smudged with sauces or residues of a meal, and they need to get washed again!

I have noticed in our household – all two of us, so I know who the culprit is and it is not I – that not only do the dishes need daily attention, but they even have this nasty habit of just collecting in the sink!  Huh?  I mean, how hard is it to put them in the dishwasher?  OK … ongoing domestic issue which I won’t get into here.  Ohhh, and while on the subject, once they do get into the dishwasher and get all suddsed up, scrubbed clean and dried who is it that eventually empties them and puts them into their nice little spaces in the cupboards?  Hmmm?  Hmmm?  It is not he I guarantee.  Oh, slightly off topic here, not meaning for this to become a rant (just don’t get my hackles up) or air my laundry in the blogosphere.

In fact this kind of residual work is the least rewarding – at least it is to me.  The results are fleeting at best.  Hardly the sort of motivational material that the feel good gurus go mining for.

Same thing with cleaning.  Vacuum.  Damp mop the floors.  Clean the bathroom!  Oh the list is endless.  Now I know, that there are actually women out there who claim to love to clean house.  There may even be such men, but I have never met one while I have heard with my very own ears, these most strangest and foreign of words “… I love cleaning my house….” drop from the lips of a woman.  More than once!  Yes.  Honest.  I have heard these very words even from friends.

There is something wrong with this statement.  Upon hearing that one of my own circle loves to clean, of course I immediately step up to the plate and offer her more happiness – my own house for her to clean.  You would think that anyone who LOVES to clean would jump at the opportunity to do more of what she loves so I really don’t understand the why of the painfully withered look that I am subjected to with nary a word of explanation for the contorted muscles on her face.

Now take doing the laundry … puhleeze, someone?  The laundry basket is a perpetual source of clothing, surely it can’t be just ours, I mean there is only the two of us and since my wardrobe takes me from morn to noon to night there isn’t a whole lot of changing going on (such are the blessings of a stay at home blogger) – obviously it is HE!  AGAIN!

And they say that women are clotheshorses!  Weeelll…. ok, in my previous corporate life I had a vereeee nice closet filled with clothes destined for certain “jobs” but that may be a post for another day. But with a Blog Income Life business, drop dead gorgeous suits, silky blouses and shirts, soft hand tooled leather shoes don’t draw traffic to your site (not to mention that the paycheck hasn’t reached the point of supporting  …  oh but the Armani suits!  Hmmm….. be still my beating heart, do not apply for that executive position that a certain well connected friend mentioned.  Remember the commute, the corporate politics, the quotas, the backstabbing, the deadlines, yes, take a deep breath, feet firmly planted on the ground,  aaahhh, I am over it.

Armani?  Did I hear Armani?

Shush!

Oh. Off topic again!

Carlos my darling, you are delusional.  Dishes never get “done”

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Technorati Tags:U6SNUZFUK97S , , ,

Tags: , , ,

On Silver and Gold and The Week That Was: Jan 31-Feb 06

Before I get into the week, I thought you might be interested in these photos I took just a few weeks ago.silver barsOnce a month on a Saturday afternoon a small group of us get together for a friendly game of Cashflow.  Today was that Saturday.  We have a good time, but more importantly we are learning the art of the deal.  Our host is a master at the game, both on the board and on the real boardwalk doing the deal.  Recently he and his wife bought some metal – silver metal.  This is a photo of their stash.

This little bundle of silver, 412 oz to be exact,  is worth $7799.16.

This second  photo is a 1/20 of an oz gold coin and is worth $58.24. Just to give you an idea of the difference between silver and gogold coinld … if that stash of silver was gold, it would be worth $479,856.40

All prices are based on the price of each metal on the date of purchase net of fees.

Today we decided to make the game more interesting.  Starting next month we’ll all throw in ten bucks.  The winner will get a 1 oz silver coin.  Overage stays in the pool to eventually fund an ingot, then a bar and perhaps eventually a brick.  I think it’s a lot more fun than just cash.  Eldorado anyone?

Now to the week at hand and the blog income life:  there was lots of internet marketing stuff but not much blogging. The week began with the Monday Master Mind meeting, which now has a name:  Internet Marketing MasterMind Group.  In my MasterMind Series over at Dave Doolin’s  I wrote about the formation of a third mind wherein things begin go move in a certain direction, without directing.  This Monday I had such an experience.  One of the members and I found out that we have a mutual connection – we are now talking about a strategic alliance.

Then there is the Internet Marketing Bootcamp.  Of course there was homework which took some time and effort.  I am putting up another blog on the WordPress platform but  this time without the benefit of WordPress Direct.  I want to have a better understanding of the underpinnings of WordPress and I thought that putting something up from scratch would be a useful exercise.  It is – if somewhat painful.

Friday was a full day with my monthly Smart Thinking MasterMind Group.  This coming week I will post some of the things that I took away from this day that can apply to the online world.  During the time that we devote to “masterminding” members with their business, I took the opportunity to have my Blog Income Life  turned inside out.  I was pleasantly surprised that marketing wise it is on track based on traffic, conversions, and sales. When the numbers are crunched the ratios are decent after all.  Whew!  I also got some good feedback on how to fine tune some areas.

New Posts This Week:

Musings on a Sunday Morn …On Money, Elitism & Olympics: 31/01/10
With the Olympics on our doorstep I took the morning to express my thoughts and in that way pose a reply to those who are the perpetual complainers on monies being spent, on elitist athletes and why the Olympics.  I like to see people rise to the top of their game

Month in Review – January 2010: 01/02/10
Traffic increase by 78.22% over last.   First time on Google page one for keyword phrase “Blog Income”.  WooHoo!  Sam over at Financial Samurai has thrown down the gauntlet (or whatever it is that samurais wear) to members of his community to get their blogs to an Alexa ranking of under 200K :   Creating Power Friends: Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge

Meet My Friend – Author Wendy Atkinson 02/02/10
What’s the point of owning a blog if you can’t occasionally bring out the pompoms and cheer on with a big Sis Boom Ba! for your chum?  Meet Wendy Atkinson, brand new published author and imaginateure (I think I just made up a word) extraordinaire.  Read the post and then hop on over to Amazon for your own copy of  Law of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

Till next time …

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Technorati Tags:U6SNUZFUK97S ,

Tags: ,

Meet My Friend: Author Wendy Atkinson

Don’t you just love it when someone has a success?  And doesn’t it just make your heart pump with joy when, better yet, it is a friend?  That’s how I am feeling right now.  Today’s post has nothing to do with building a blog income – it has everything to do with a friend who wrote a book … I mean, what’s the point of owning a blog if you can’t occasionally bring out the pompoms and cheer on with a big Sis Boom Baa! for your chum?

Meet Wendy Atkinson.

Here is her book:

law of attractionLaw of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

To know Wendy is to know a fertile imagination.  Wendy flirts with the English language in an impish sort of way; the characters in this tale are a spoiled but scruffy lot: an egocentric cat named  Poopscapaleon Appotamus, an insecure bulldog  has been christened Roger Earl of Henry and two shallow mice are Freddie and Arthur … they must not have any traceable lineage or why else would they have no last names?

Wendy’s guardian angel must be a literary agent.  This is her first book.  Through a set of circumstances … law of attraction anyone? …  Wendy was introduced to a publisher who was completely bowled over her manuscript  lock, stock and barrel and immediately signed her on.  Now you know how even J.K. Rowling had to schlep from publisher to publisher before getting her first Harry Potter off the press?   So this must be good.  I think the publisher saw a winner in Wendy and the book. Of course Wendy will be on tour, and she’s already getting booked for seminars and guest appearances on shows.

This is a quick, feel good read whether for child or adult.  It’s a parable.  It’s charming.  There is a life lesson. No matter how you slice it,

Law of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

is a good buy.

In true Mastercard tradition:

Cost to author:  sweaty equity, countless hours of misery (its tough writing), more sleepless nights than you can count on fingers, toes,  or bleating sheep jumping over fences.

Cost to you:  $19.95 + shipping

Shipping
:  who knows, but tell you what, get your purchase up to over $25 -  second copy anyone? – and Amazon will ship it for free, nada, zip, that is zero dollars!

Good Feeling:  PRICELESS!

Oh!  And I am not above being bribed for an autograph … Wendy  practically lives in my back yard!

Please join me in wishing Wendy extraordinary success with her first book.

To All  Budding Authors -  Success to You!

Valentina

Technorati Tags:U6SNUZFUK97S

Tags:

Month in Review – January 2010

Did you hear that whishing sound?  That was January, the first month of a new decade rushing by!  How is your year so far?  Are you on pace for your goals? Personal, career and blog?

First day of a new month.  That means  a review of the month that was.  This has been a busy month and a lot got done.  One of the main objectives for 2010 is to grow traffic on Blog Income.    Traffic increase is goal one for 1Q.  I go for a monthly increase of 10% – 20%.  When the numbers are scant to begin that is not exactly a stretch.  I have chosen this rate of increase for two reasons:

1. I read in one of Darren Rowse’s posts that that is how he began.  I like to follow in the footsteps of success.
2. I am creating a mindset and therefore a pattern for results.  As traffic increases the 10% – 20% will be tougher, but by then it will be a pattern that my brain is set for and will inform my actions accordingly.

So, how did January stack up?  I am pleased to say that it was a good start to a good year.

Jan graph

jan pie chart Jan site usage

#1.  Google Analytics Traffic up by 78.22% = reached 360 visits

#2.  .One of my goals for this year was to be on page 1 of Google for the keywords “blog income.”  I can now cross that one off.  This was a June 30 goal.  I gave myself that much time because I was so far down in position and found that it had wide and wild swings – now that may happen again, but it seems to have settled in on page one for several days now.  Here is an excerpt from my post of  September 28 which explains why I chose “blog income” as the keyword phrase that I wanted to dominate.

ms chartBlog Income is already a crowded playing field as I expected it to be.  Needless to say Blog Income was not available as a domain so I added the word “life”. The two key deciding factors were the two figures:

SEOT = 91
SEOC = 39,200

I learned at 30 Day Challenge to go for a niche (read that keywords) that has more than 80 SEOT and 30,000 SEOC (OK… this one is higher).  I have been peppering my posts with other keywords and now have to decide which is the next one that I want to get on page one for. (Blogger to WordPress full article.  Whichever one it is it will be far more competitive than Blog Income.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH

-         Played host to Mike Paetzold for a week as he published 5 guest posts here on his “Blog Tour”

-         Played guest blogger at Dave Doolin’s Website In A Weekend with four posts on MasterMinds

-         Published 18 posts

Sam over at Financial Samurai has thrown down the gauntlet (or whatever it is that samurais wear) for his community to get their blog to an Alexa of below 200K by June 30.    I started the year with an Alexa of 504,964 and ended January with 409,922.  I know it gets tougher and tougher as you approach the 200K mark, but I am confident that 200K will be toppled … of course, there are some awesome bloggers in that community that will be brandishing their “katana”  with impunity to get to that benchmark!  I have no katana, which is a samurai sword … maybe I should become a ninja (oh yes, isn’t there a course on Ninja Online Tactics … did not buy that one)

WHAT’S UP FOR FEBRUARY?

Staying focused:  Traffic increase by 20% =  432 so I’ll make that 450.  It’s a short month … amazing what a difference 3 days can make …nevertheless, the stretch is 500 plus.

I also need to work on my SE.  A few months ago I zigged in the backend – the admin area, and lost links etc.  and my SE plummeted to below 1% – gulp!  Now when I look at the actual number that come in via SE, it is not far behind what it used to be.  My referral stats have really gone up.  I read somewhere that a perfect pie chart is equal parts of 1/3.  Being as that the world is not perfect … I don’t think I’ll be seeing that any time soon, nor is it a big item with me.

I have noticed that as I keep pushing myself, my concentration is improving as is my output, not just here on this blog, but in my other businesses as well.  This is a neat game.  I like it.

Enroute to reaching that number I am sure there will be other highlights that I will be able to share with you at month end.  I wish the same for you.  In the meantime please visit often – the door is always open here and your comments are most welcome.

To Your Blog Income Success!

Valentina

Technorati Tags:U6SNUZFUK97S

Tags: