Setting Your 2010 Online Marketing Goals

Here’s the thing - NOW IS the time to set 2010 straight.

You see, I have seen it before (in fact, look at your own life, you have too).

You get all these things you want to do for the New Year.

Lose weight.

Quit smoking.

Build a real online business that allows you to vacation whenever.

(By the way, that was what I resolved in August 2008 when I retired from the Army, and by August 2009 was making a full time income 100% online).

And that’s what I do - last year my wife and I were on vacation more time than ever before in one year.

I work about an hour, sometimes 2, per day when on vacation. That is because I know I have to stay committed to keep my thriving businesses going. The people who work for me count on that.

Do you have a lot things you want to do for the new year?

But you have so many things, that you can’t start them all right away.

So you decide to wait until February to really take action.

Then something comes up in February…and you have to put it offuntil March.

You know how it goes.

And at the end of the year (just like in 2009) you have not accomplished your goals.

So are you ready to change that?

Are you ready to actually ACHIEVE your goals this year?

Here’s is an assignment for you:

1)  Start a new Word document on your computer

2)  Title it “Goals for 2010″

3)  Write down your top 10 goals for 2010

4)  Then reorder them according to importance.

5)  Then take the last 8 off the list

6)  Then write a list of EXACTLY what you need to do to achieve each of those two goals.

7)  Write down EXACTLY how much time per week you are willing to commit to achieving your goal.

8)  Write down EXACTLY how much money per month you are willing to invest to achieve your goal (include both the money you are willing to invest materially (meaning to actually do the goal) and the money you are willing to invest in training (for example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, you probably can’t do it all by yourself, you will probably need a coach or a support group, so write down the money you are willing to invest per month for a coach or a support group to help you lose 100 pounds).

9)  Write down EXACTLY what it will mean for you personally if you achieve this goal (for example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, what will that really mean - fit in your clothes better, be more attractive, feel better about yourself. If your goal is to get to $10,000 per month in online income, write down what that would mean for you - that might mean more time to spend with your children or grandchildren, it might mean you can take your spouse
on a cruise she has always wanted to go on, it might be the freedom to do the things you always wanted to do).

10)  Then write a list of anything you don’t know how to do or is holding you back from achieving that goal in 2010.

11)  Then commit to beginning NOW to start focusing on your goal.

12) If - and only if - you have completed #11 and are ready to start focusing NOW - send your Word document to me. (By the way, I will look at each of these, I will probably get about 100 or more, so it may take me 5-10 days to comment on it)  And I will look at these first come first served, so the sooner you get this in, the faster I will look at this and be able to start helping you.

So….Get started on step #1 RIGHT NOW!

If you are out to attract prospective customers and develop your online presence and exposure, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to learn everything you can about social media.

Do you want to learn more about Social Media?

If so, read about and download my brand new free industry research white paper Social Media: A Primer

Social Media Top Blog Posts I Commented On

Here are today’s top Social media and Internet marketing-related blogs that I thought so valuable and intriguing, I commented and bookmarked them. If you are looking for top-level information, I suggest following the links to the blogs, read through them all and comment. This will also send a high-level link back to your website if you have one. Most of these blogs have a page Rank of 5 or above. Those are the levels you want to concentrate on to send valuable links to your site. Enjoy:

Mashable’s Weekly Social Media & Community Management Job Listings
Mashable (blog)
This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. …

Announcing the Next Generation of Keyword Suggestion Tools …
By Larry Kim
I’d like to talk a little about why we created these tools and why I believe that the future of keyword research for both pay-per-click marketing and search engine optimization will involve thinking of keywords in terms of niches,

Measuring SEO Results - Web Design, Website Development and …
Web Design, Website Development and Internet Marketing - One Page Expert Guides. Find the best and last information about website design, Ecommerce, Search Engine Optimization, Pay per Click, Web Development and more topics. …

Internet Marketing 101: Why marketers must understand economics …
Although online shopping is hotter than ever for 2009, many shoppers have taken into account changes with their credit card companies as they search for good buys, the shrinking job market and other factors. According to a new comScore …

Top Internet Marketing Trends for 2010 | LevelTen Web Design …
By Colin
I expect to see some thought leaders try to latch onto the next best thing, or roll the social media category into something much broader like digital strategy or Internet marketing. How to prepare: Never put all your eggs in one basket …

Study Finds Women Facebook ‘Too Much’ - Lemondrop.com
By Emily Tan
Crowd Science surveyed over 600000 social media users and found that 30 percent of women between the ages of 18-29 say that they later wished they’d never posted some of the information they put online. And while 20 percent of females …

How Google Can Combat Content Farms
By Richard MacManus
As one part of the solution, Google is currently experimenting with real-time search results from social media sites like Twitter, MySpace and even Facebook. The theory is that users are more likely to get timely, relevant results by

End of Year Analysis: 2009 roundup and 2010 predictions | Blog …
By Jake Hird
Finally, I said that social media would be a big deal this year - although on reflection, I think that was a bit of an understatement. I don’t think I really need to explain why this is: if social media has bypassed your attention …

Finally, I said that social media would be a big deal this year - although on reflection, I think that was a bit of an understatement. I don’t think I really need to explain why this is: if social media has bypassed your attention

By the way, do you want to learn more about Social Media?

If so, download my brand new free white paper Social Media: A Primer Click Here

Do you want to learn more of my “tricks of the trade” of using social media to boost your online profits and exposure?

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click Here

Social Media Policies of 113 Organizations

With companies searching for and developing standards for social media usage, many of them have come up with social media policies of their own.

I’ve found that reviewing the policies of other companies is a worthwhile way to gauge how a company uses social media and their goals with social media. These also serve as case studies for ideas of the type of information that is included in a social media policy.

Following is a list of organizations and the names of their respective social media guideline documents. A complete, updated list and links to the respective guidelines can be found on the Online Database of Social Media Policies page of the Social Media Governance web site by Chris Boudreaux.

Organization	Policy Title
About.com	Template: Blogging and Social Media Policy
About.com	Template: Internet and Email Policy
American Red Cross	Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
American Red Cross	Online Communications Guidelines
Australian Public Service Commission	Interim Protocols for Online Media Participation
Baker & Daniels	Social Media Policy
BBC	Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking
BBC	Use of Social Networking and other third party websites
BBC	Online Services Guidelines in Full
BBYO	Staff/Volunteer Presence on Social Networking Sites
Bread for the World	Online Technologies, Social Media and Bread
BT	Forum Guidelines
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)	Facebook Policy
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines for Consultation
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles	Share Your Story - Use and Access
Cicso	Internet Postings Policy
City of Hampton, VA	Social Media Policy
City of Seattle	Blogging Policy
Cleveland Clinic	Social Media Policy
Dell	Online Policy
DePaul University	Social Media Guidelines
Easter Seals	Online Community Guidelines
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
ESPN	Social Media Guidelines For ESPN Employees
eWay Direct	Social Media Policy
Fairfax County, VA	Facebook Comments Policy
FedEx	Blog Policy
Feedster	Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church	Personal Website and Weblog Policies
FINRA	Guide to the Internet for Registered Representatives
Fudder	Netiquette
Gartner	Public Web Participation Guidelines
General Services Administration (GSA)	Social Media Policy
Gibraltar Associates	Associates Social Media Policy
GM	Blogger Policy
Greteman Group	Social Media Policy
Harvard Law School	Terms of Use
Headset Brothers	Social Media Policy
Hill and Knowlton	Blogging Policies and Guidelines (selected extracts)
Hill and Knowlton	Collective Conversation Code of Conduct
Hill and Knowlton	Social Media Principles
HP	Code of Conduct
IBM	Social Computing Guidelines
IBM	Case Study: The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media
InQbation	Government Policy Guidelines
Intel	Social Media Guidelines
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)	Social Media Staff Guidelines
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
Iowa Hospital Association	Comment Policy
Jaffe	Template: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
Judith Lindeau	Template: Social Media Policy for Associations (Real Estate)
Kaiser Permanente	Social Media Policy
Kodak	Social Media Tips
Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center	Comments Policy
LiveWorld	Social Media Content Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mayo Clinic	Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	Comment Policy
Media Law Resource Center	Compilation of Legal Actions Against Bloggers
Microsoft	Channel 9 Doctrine
Microsoft	Tweeting Guidelines and Blogging Guidelines
Missouri Department of Transportation	Post A Comment - Use Policy
National Public Radio (NPR)	NPR News Social Media Guidelines
New Zealand State Services Commission	Principles for Interaction with Social Media
New Zealand State Services Commission	The Guide to Online Participation
Oce	Social Computing Guidelines
Opera	Employee Blogging Policy
Plaxo	Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli	Our Social Media Policy
Powerhouse Museum	Communication Using Public Facing Museum Blogs - Policy
PR-Squared	Corporate Social Media Policy: Top 10 Guidelines
Razorfish	Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Rhetorica	Blogging and Comment Policy
RightNow	Social Web Employee Policy
Roanoke County, VA	Social Media Policy
Roanoke Times	News Standards and Policies
Robert Scoble	Press FAQ
SAP	Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009
Sentara	Social Media Policy
Shift Communications	Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation
Smithsonian Institution	Web and New Media Strategy
Social Media Business Council	Disclosure Policy Toolkit
SpareBank 1	Rules for Blogging
State of Delaware	Social Media Policy
Sun Microsystems	Guidelines on Public Disclosure
Sun Microsystems	Alumni Blog Aggregation Additional Terms
Sutter Health	Policy for Social Networking and Other Web-Based Communications
Sutter Health	Guidelines for Participation in Online Communities
Telstra	3 Rs of Social Media Engagement
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center	Blog Policies and Guidelines
The Well	Community Guidelines
Thomas Nelson	Blogging Guidelines
U.K. Government	Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
U.S. Air Force	Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force	New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Jacksonville District	Social Media User Guidelines
U.S. Coast Guard	Social Media - The Way Ahead
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)	Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Citizen Services (OCS)	Blog Policies
U.S. Navy	Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools
UK Civil Service	Code for Online Participation
Unic	Social Media Guidelines
University of Maryland Medical Center	Comments Policy and Blog Participation Terms and Conditions
Wake County, North Carolina	Web 2.0 Guidelines for Use
Wal-Mart	Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
Walker Art Center	Blog Guidelines
Washington Post (via PaidContent.org)	Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks
Webtrends	Social Media Guidelines
Wells Fargo	Community Guidelines
Workplace Fairness	Off-Duty Conduct
Yahoo!	Personal Blogging Policy

By the way, do you want to learn more about Social Media?

If so, download my brand new free white paper Social Media: A Primer Click Here

Do you want to learn more of my “tricks of the trade” of using social media to boost your online profits and exposure?

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click Here

Link to original post

Top Social Media Post on the Web

TopNews United States LG Unveils its First Android Based Phone, EVE
It integrates all social networking platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo, of the user in one place. Attractive features of the EVE include a 3-inch …

CNET News  Offerpal Media mess gets stickier
In a court complaint, Halpert says that in exchange for offering his social-networking expertise to what would become Offerpal, Shukla promised him a 15 to …

Enterprise IT Planet  Enterprise 2.0: Social Networking in the Cloud
By Brian T. Horowitz As social networking applications such as Atlassian, Jive and Telligent develop their foothold in the enterprise, the cloud has …

CNET News  Study: Internet use won’t cause social isolation
Later on, the study reported that social-networking users “are 40 percent more likely to visit a bar, but 36 percent less likely to visit a religious …

WebProNews (blog) Facebook Most Widely Used Network Among Businesses
Among those using social media for business purposes in their jobs, 62 percent visit company or brand profiles on social networking sites and 55 percent …

Wired News  MySpace Traffic Drop Costs News Corp About $100 Million
MySpace knows as much as anyone that its traffic is dwindling as users continue their migration to Facebook and Twitter to do their social networking. …

WENY-TV  Social Networking Sites Present New Challenge for 2010 Grads
Social networking sites are becoming more widely used and now, high school and college graduates face new challenges. According to a Kaplan survey,

Eurweb.com InSyNc WITH D. YATES: Social Networking …
This week, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to discuss the etiquette of social networking. As you probably are aware, social networking has blown up …

PR Web (press release) Harness the Power of Social Networking With the Ground-Breaking Latest Version The soon-to-be-released V16 will provide staffing firms with the ability to use the most popular social networking channels to enhance client relations, …

Business.com 2009 Social Media Study

Business.com recently published the findings of their 2009 Social Media Benchmark Study of almost 3,000 professionals across the United States. Some of the major findings included that webinars and podcasts were the learning tools professionals enjoyed the most. Facebook was chosen over Twitter as the best social media platform on which to connect with customers.

The report outlines in depth information on how social media is being used within the business community today.

Some of the major finding in the study were

• Webinars and podcasts were chosen by business professionals as the top social media tools, with 69% of participants using them to obtain business information.

• Eighty-three percent chose Facebook as the overriding favorite social network, with business to consumer companies having one or more profiles. Twitter scored 45% use by participants. As expected, 77% maintain a presence on both sites.

• Business participants stated there is had been a focus to control access to social networks in the work place. A preponderance of participants believe this should now be rethought due to the business value in such activity.

• Participants using social media for business marketing were 62% viewing corporate and brand profiles on social media sites along with 55% who data mine these sites for business information.

• Those who use these sites the most were marketing professionals and consultants as a source of business information. Ironically, IT professionals use social networking sites the least.

• Companies and their employees are attempting to learn the inner workings of social media sites as the new-age marketing device.

• The average company responding in the study stated they are using seven different social media enterprises; with 65% staffing the initiatives in-house. Seventy-one percent of the companies possess less than two years of experience using social networking as a business tool.

• Developing brand awareness and brand reputation were among the top social media metrics used to determine campaign success.

To obtain a copy of the study, go to http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.

If you haven’t already started the process of developing a business online, you must simply start somewhere.  Start with the information you already have.  Subscribe to my FREE Ecourse and learn more about marketing online.  Learn as you go.  But get started.  Once you get started, it will be easy to rearrange how you do things, or add in new things, or even delete things you don’t like.  But you must get started.

Dr. Dave Hale is the founder and Chief Social Marketer at The Internet Marketing Professor. He also has written over 40 books and how-to course on internet marketing related topics, is a professional speaker, and a professor at Webster University, Columbia, SC and Northcentral University, Prescott Valley, AZ where he teaches business and organizational psychology courses.

How to increase your Internet marketing productivity by 50%!

Do you always feel like there is not enough time in the day? Are you always scrambling around trying to figure out what to do about your Network Marketing business when you do have time? Do you feel like you are not gaining any traction in your business at all?

Well, do not worry because you are not alone! This is a huge problem faced by many networkers in this industry and this is a big part of why people cannot seem to get their business off the ground quickly enough, if at all. So what’s the real problem? Saying that you have no time is a poor excuse. Everyone has no time. You’re busy. I’m busy. The whole world is busy. When I first started and had a corporate job, I worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week, and still created time to run my business on the side. So it is not an issue of time. I would say that generally people are too haphazard and it boils down to not having a proper structure and devoted time to work on their business.

So the first step to get out of this predicament, is to draw out a work schedule.

Figure out the times of the day during your normal work week where you can find time to actually produce. Whether it is 30 minutes during your lunch break, or it is 2 hours a night after you have finished work. There needs to be fixed times when you can get some extra work done. Weekends are meant to be enjoyed, but if you want to grow your business, I would highly recommend putting whole afternoons aside for churning out good content.

Then you need to figure out what strategies you are going to be focusing your time on. There is no point trying a little bit of everything and spreading yourself too thin. This way, you are bound to not gain any traction from any of your marketing efforts. Instead really focus your time on 2 or 3 strategies and get really good at them.

Once you have figured out your strategies, have set times to start producing your marketing content. For example, 1pm and 9pm are the best times to be on Twitter. So if you can manage 30 minutes during your lunch break, just work on Twitter every single day at the same time. If you have 3 hours a night to work, then be sure you write 1 to 2 articles each night and then post them on all the relevant sites you need to for them to get the right exposure. Or if you have set 5 hours aside every Saturday, make sure you make 3 to 5 videos in that 5 hours and get them promoted on the right sites every single Saturday.

You get the idea.

The whole point is to get into a fixed routine and have a fixed schedule so that you know exactly what you should be doing during those allotted times. This will really give you some structure, increase your productivity and will help you gain some traction in your business. Not to mention you will start to become very good at the tasks you need to do and will be able to finish each task more and more quickly.

My personal strategy is very fixed. I rarely deviate and do certain tasks at certain times every single day. When I figured out that working this way is essential to increasing my productivity, my business gained some serious traction and I started to get some great results.

If you are looking for the insider information on what internet marketer is all about, sign up for my free ecourse, the Internet Marketing Success Program.

Quick Strategies To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Most people who are starting out in a business get a website to draw visitors, share information, and increase sales, but they don’t have extra money or sales yet to spend the money on paid advertising such as pay-per-click, banner or text ads, etc. So they look for ways to send people to their website for free- that’s what we internet marketers call driving free traffic.

There are 3 basic ways to drive traffic to your website for free that are the easiest for beginner online business people. These strategies don’t involve a steep learning curve or a writing degree, but they will involve extra time to create content and then release it to as many websites as you can.

1) Article Marketing- writing simple articles that showcase your expertise in your niche area is a powerful way to exhibit what you know to your consumer. It also wets their appetite for more information enough to gently guide them to your website to see what you have to offer. The resource box or bio is the most important part of your article because this is where you get to introduce yourself and give your website for readers to visit.

2) Web 2.0- This is just another term for social media such as MySpace, Facebook, FriendFeed, LinkedIn and all the other networking sites where people connect with friends, family, business colleagues, old classmates, etc. On these types of sites, it is important to make sure your profile is updated to include a photo for personalization, a website URL, e-mail address and a short description of your business. Then, most importantly, be patient and let people come to you as you interact normally within the network. Share valuable content, share photos, share personal ideas or inspirational quotes, but do not constantly thrust your business into the conversation.

3) Video Marketing- anyone with a webcam, a video camera, or a digital camera can produce their own video which can then be uploaded to YouTube, Google Video, Viddler, or other social video sites. The video does not have to be professionally done or flawless and it can still send traffic to your site as people search video sites for specific keywords and come across your video. In fact a video with errors is more likely to lead to visitors who can identify with you more and feel more confident that they can do what you have done. As major search engines love videos and websites use videos to augment their own content and conversations more than any other form of media, video is a must-do in the marketing arsenal of any online marketer.

Once you have created articles and videos, you can share them on social networking sites and place them on the largest media-sharing sites on the internet to get more people to see them. There are hundreds of article directories and video sharing sites to upload your content. Of course, the intent is to make sure you include a call to action in each piece you create to send visitors back to your lead generating website or blog. As your content circulates the net, it could get picked up by other websites, reprinted, re-tweeted, and rewarded for the quality of your work. Constant creation means a constant stream of new visitors, but don’t underestimate the consistency this effort will take. Do it every day or more and soon you’ll be generating leads like the people spending big bucks on pay-per-click.

If you are looking for the insider information on what internet marketer is all about, sign up for my free ecourse, the Internet Marketing Success Program.

How I Built a Successful Automated Online System in 30 Days

The next time you see a product (information or software) that claims to get you thousands of visitors or make millions of dollars without lifting a finger, ask yourself this question…

If it works so well, why are they selling it?

The answer: because they make more money selling it than actually using it!

And there’s nothing wrong with that. The point is, selling information and software is the fastest way to go from zero to making thousands of dollars every month!

In this article, I’m going to show you how I made my first $5k on line and then how I ramped it up to make more money  per month selling information products and software.

The basic marketing formula is: Traffic + Conversion = Sales

There are hundreds of ways to get traffic. But only one method allows you to use all of them at once. I’ll talk about that in a minute. But first let’s talk about conversion.

The conversion rate is the percentage of people who visit a web page and take a specific action. That action could be joining your list, purchasing a product from you, or purchasing an affiliate product that you recommend. When you own the list and you sell a product, you have control over the conversion process.

• You can find out what people want and create a freebie to give away in exchange for an email address
• You can follow up, give valuable content, build relationships, and earn the trust of your subscribers
• When it comes time to sell something or promote an affiliate product, your conversion rates will be off the charts

Now let’s talk about traffic…

Everybody says that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to get started online. And that’s true to a point. I mean, how are you going to compete with some guru marketer who spends $20k to have  a product created and gets all his JV buddies to promote it? It’s a lot easier to promote a product like that for a cut of the profits than trying to create one yourself.

But the problem is, how do you get the traffic?

Like I said, there are hundreds of ways to get traffic:

• Pay-Per Click Advertising
• Banner Advertising
• Ezine Advertising
• Social Marketing
• Article Marketing
• Video Marketing
• Blogging
• Press Releases
• Viral Marketing
• Webinars
• Teleseminars

Just to name a few…

But are you an expert at all those methods? I’m certainly not. My advice has always been to pick one method and make it work before you move on to the next. And that’s sound advice. But the problem is…

It takes a long time to learn,  implement and be successful at any one of those methods. And most people give up before they ever make a sale.

But what is there were a way to get traffic from people who are already experts at those methods? And what if didn’t even have to pay anything up front to get that traffic?

How to Set Up Your Automated Income System

1.  Create or buy rights to an info product on a hot topic

2.  Build a conversion system (squeeze page, sales page, followups)

3.  Get other people to sell it and split the profits

That’s how I made my first $5k online and then it jumped to more than I thought I could ever make a month when I focused on step #3.

That’s the power of an affiliate program!

I run my entire business from home with the help of two part-time, virtual employees in who live in outside the USA. I can do this because most of my day-to-day operations are completely automated.

What I want to talk about right now is creating your own basic info product and getting other people to sell it, so you can build a list and sell high-priced affiliate products to your subscribers.

Step #1: Create a Hot-Topic Product

The easiest way to get attention from affiliates is to create a short, focused report on a hot topic. For example, two years ago people were going nuts over JV Giveaways as a list building tactic.

So here’s what I did:

• I signed up for a new joint venture Giveaway and submitted my gift
• I documented everything I did and took screen shots of the process
• I wrote a 14-page report (including screen shots)
• I bought a graphics package for about $100
• I sold the report for $7, resell rights for $17, and branding rights for $27
• I paid affiliates 100% commission to promote it

That little report did over $10k in sales the first month and it’s still selling today! I also got thousands of new subscribers who bought other products from me and also became my affiliates.

The key to that success was creating a focused report on a hot topic. I didn’t list 50 theoretical tactic for building a list. I documented one proven method for getting hundreds of new subscribers. The 100% commission didn’t hurt either.

A current example it social marketing. Everybody’s crazy about Twitter!

So here’s what I did:

• I created viral software to help people get more followers
• I bought resell rights to some Video Tutorials and set them up as an upsell
• I paid affiliates 100% to promote (customers only)
• I set it up so only customers could get commission, so there was more incentive to upgrade. The videos are great, the software is great, people are making money, everybody wins.

Within 30 days, affiliates were (and still are) sending over 3,000 visitors per DAY to that site and I don’t even promoted it anymore. I sent a few initial emails to my list to get the ball rolling and affiliate inertia, the viral marketing affect, took over from there.

Step #2: Build Your Conversion System

When you’re developing your plan, you need to factor in lead generation before anything else. How are you going to capture leads?

If you’re selling a low-cost report, it doesn’t always make sense to use a squeeze page and even if you’re paying 100%, you affiliate may not like it. But you can use an exit popup to offer a free report on a similar topic, with links back to the report you’re selling.

Personally, I like to use a squeeze page with an upsell. But that’s a little more work. One method I’ve used very successfully, is making the squeeze page appear to be a membership signup page. Affiliates give memberships away to their subscribers who have to create an account to download the freebie.

Once you have people on a list, you can follow up with great content, build relationships and increase conversions.

Once you decide how to capture leads, you need to write a sales page…

I’m not going to get into the art of copy writing here. But I do want to talk about your offer. If you follow step #1 and create a product on a HOT topic, you won’t need to do much convincing to get them to buy.

You just need to tell them:

• What you got
• What they get
• And how they can get it

Some of my shortest sales letters of out-pulled long copy because my potential customers were already aware of the benefits. They were already primed to buy from social buzz and the “follow the heard” mentality. If your product is focused on a specific topic that people are already talking about, you don’t need to list a ton of features and benefits. Just tell ‘em how it works, what it will do for them, and how they can get it.

Step #3: Get People to Promote Your Product

If you have a hot  product and the conversions are high, it will be easy to get affiliates to promote. And some of your best affiliates will be your customers. I’ve already talked about paying 100% commission as an incentive for people to both buy and promote your product. In fact, many will buy a product just so they can promote it! But you need to make it easy.

You need to include information about your affiliate program in several places:

• On the sales page
• On the download page
• Inside the report
• In followup emails

Keep reminding your prospects and customers that they can make 100% commission without going through the hassle of setting everything up.

Give your affiliates tools and tell them what to do:

• Write solo ads and tell affiliates to send them to their list
• Write articles and tell affiliates to post them on their blog, Squidoo, and MySpace
• Get banners created and tell affiliates to add them to their blog or in HTML emails
• Create brandable reports and tell affiliates to give them away to subscribers

The more you give your affiliates, the more active they will be. Tell them what to do and show them how to do it.

Other ways to find affiliates:

• Get on the mailing lists of list owners and send Joint Venture  proposals
• Join forums and make friends with list owners
• Link to your affiliate program in your signature for articles and emails
• Socialize on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace

What I’ve given you here today, is a step-by-step system for getting your Internet business up and running in the next 30 days. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, simple is better. I’ve already proven that point. You just need a product that focuses on a specific topic that people are already talking about and helps people achieve what they’re already trying to do.

The first time is the hardest. But it gets easier every time. The sooner you make the commitment to created your first Automated Income System, the sooner you can enjoy Internet lifestyle that everybody talks about.

Once you have a system in place, it runs almost completely on autopilot.

• Your affiliates drive traffic
• Your sales page converts traffic into buyers
• Your autoresponder follows up to increase conversions
• Sales are processed and affiliates are paid automatically
• Products are delivered automatically

That’s what I call an “Automated Income System!”

Instead of chasing shiny objects and buying into the latest fad, try building a REAL business based on evergreen marketing methods that have worked for decades.

This is the true path to the Internet lifestyle.

If you are an internet marketer and are searching for a good ecourse, sign up for my new Internet Marketing Professor Internet Success Program here.

Dr. Dave Hale is the founder and Chief Social Marketer at The Internet Marketing Professor, a business coaching firm dedicated to assisting small to medium sized businesses with integrating Web 2.0 into their marketing mix. He has written over 40 books and how-to course on Internet marketing related topics, is a professional speaker, business coach, and a professor at Webster University, Columbia, SC where he teaches business development and organizational psychology courses.

11Twitter Tips For Tweet Success

1. How many tweets? The biggest question we hear is “how many times should I tweet each day?” Here’s the answer: post two tweets a day.

2. Mix it up. One of those two tweets should be a helpful link for your particular audience, as opposed to a sales link. You want to provide real value to your followers, not just ads.

3. Space it out. Have a few hours between your tweet posts. Do one in the morning and one at night. If you have trouble setting aside time twice a day, try using a tool such as SocialOomph (you will have to register for a free account) to schedule your tweets and have them sent when you’re asleep or doing something else.

4. Make it pretty. Use a link shortening tool to help hide the fact that it’s an affiliate link. In Affiliate Classroom, we provide a tool that not only shortens your links, but also tracks the clicks to your links.

5. Link to your own blog. Have some of your helpful links point to your blog posts. Post blog entries that are helpful to people or give them value in other ways. Getting your Twitter followers onto your site deepens the relationship you have with them and builds your readership.

6. Be fun. Link to funny stuff in some of your tweets. People love a laugh, and you want your readers to consider you a real person, not an information machine. You may want to stick to your niche (if you have built a niche following) so that you can have “inside” jokes that are more likely to get laughs from your readers.

7. Be a hot source of ideas. Take note of interesting sites you come across. In a typical day, you probably find many more compelling or helpful sites and tools than you expect, and if you have a targeted following, you can help them out by sharing.

8. Research it. To find valuable links, simply research topics that are of interest to you or your followers.

9. Be a “watcher” and re-tweet (RT). Follow the best Twitter accounts in your niche. How to get started: There are sites that provide a list of popular people who you should follow. You can also use Twitter Search to find the most frequent and popular tweeters on your niche. When they tweet something interesting, re-tweet it to share it with your followers.

10. Stir it up. Ask open-ended questions to draw out responses from your followers. This will result in other users replying to you, and in doing so, they are using your Twitter ID in their responses. That means that your ID appears on their feed and all of their followers can click to learn about you and begin following you. This approach is key to “snowball” growth of your followers.

11.And shake it up. Ask controversial questions in your tweets. Ask people to give their opinion on an issue. In this way, you are interacting with others. Your followers will like to see that you are not just putting on a sales front but are engaging and there to help. They’ll also be more likely to recommend you to their followers - again, growing your base of followers.

If you are an internet marketer and are searching for a good ecourse, sign up for my new Internet Marketing Professor Internet Success Program here.

Is Social Media Good For Your Business?

Many businesses are utilizing social networking to market their business or for communication. It will depend on the kind of business you have and the time you have to devote to it. Here is an alphabetical rundown of some social networking sites being used by businesses:

• Facebook: Businesses can create a Fan page and it’s free. Video’s and pictures can be added but remember you are using this to promote your business so keep it professional.
• LinkedIn is a networking site used professionally for finding business contacts and even posting job openings. You need to be proactive here.
• MySpace can be very flexible in designing your webpage. Like Facebook, you can upload pictures and videos. You need to build friends to network and get exposure. It’s more popular with the younger crowd and has worked well for many businesses especially the entertainment industry.
• Skype is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). You can download software to your computer and through the Internet, use it free for Skype to Skype calls, video calls, instant messaging and conference calls including international.
• Twitter is a mini blog that basically tells everyone what you’re doing. The act of doing this is called tweeting. There is a limitation of 140 characters and no spaces are allowed. You need to build up a following and be consistent. There has only been some success for larger already highly visible companies.
• YouTube is all videos and you don’t need high end equipment to create a video to post on YouTube. This site is free and there are many people searching for entertainment, news and education. Your challenge would be creating the right video and presenting it in a way that attracts the viewers you want.

The key word here is “networking”. You need to decide if you have the time to devote, can be consistent and are able to find value for your own business.

Related Articles:

• 23 top social media tips, strategies and techniques from corporate America
• 47 Top social media tools, tips and resources
• 15 essential social marketing free Ebooks
• Social media tips from the field
• Social media tips from the field, Volume II
• Social media tips from the field, Volume III

If you are an internet marketer and are searching for a good ecourse, sign up for my new Internet Marketing Professor Internet Success Program here.

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