Internet Marketing for Newbies - A series of articles written from a Newbies Perspective
"I'm Newbie, Not a Dummy - Just Show Me"
What a great phrase. I read that recently and it really hit home. I am constantly amazed when I download an e-book tutorial the oversight on the author's part to make the information understandable to us newcomers. Most of them either don't really care or they are not very good teacher's.
What is simple to understand for one person is truly confusing to another. I personally learn by seeing and the hands on approach. Theory learning is just not my thing. I like to see an explanation step-by-step. Once I have grasped the concept, I get it. I just wish these gurus would remember their early beginnings and how confusing things can be. Learning to run a business on the internet is just like learning Greek, totally foreign.
The most annoying thing for me, is the constant use of acronyms, just assuming that we know what they mean. I can't tell you how much time I have wasted looking for explanations that would have taken the author a few simple lines to explain. I also strongly feel that if the author refers to the use of a tool, if they cannot explain it's use then they should provide the appropriate link so that we can research it ourselves.
It has been my experience that many of these author's are just throwing something together and they are only concerned with the $$$'s flowing to the bank. They do not put themselves in the shoes of the newbie, who are desperatly trying to find the answers to their questions. So many times, I thought to myself, okay, Jackie, you are a pretty smart cookie, so why can you not grasp this concept.
Of course, after much trial, hours of mind-blurring research and dollars spent, the answer became quite clear. Not everybody has the ability to teach, to pass on their knowledge or they just plainly forget that sometimes simple things can be hard to grasp until someone explains it thoroughly. We do not all learn and comprehend material the same.
Then there is the fact that there is just alot of garbage being passed off as the "next secret formula to overnight riches."
Yes, I will honestly confess that I got caught up in the hype of some of these very slick marketers. It is buyer beware, but I can tell you that these Slick Gurus will not see the colour of my money ever again. Maybe they don't care, they are content with the one time sale, but I can tell you from my years of experience as a customer service/sales professional (see professional profile) to grow your business, you need the trust and respect of your customers.
You should care about building a relationship if you ever expect to be around for the long-term.
Having said that, there are some very good resources available and I was lucky enough to have found an Internet Marketer that I respected and trusted enough to pay for their info product. Finding the right fit is of course different for everybody, but I look for professionalism, honesty, integrity and someone who has a genuine wish for your success.
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to trust this sales letter or this marketer over the many that I came across. Maybe it was because she was a female and thru her words I felt an honesty and sincerity, or maybe because she was a fellow Canadian or maybe I felt the price was right, but I am certainly glad that she restored my faith that the whole Internet Marketing world is not a scam. If you haven't figured out who I am talking about yet then just visit here to find out who this mystery giant is:
http://tinyurl.com/rlhzl
I can honestly say that this is one of the MUST HAVE resources in your library. Even if you are not thinking of affiliate marketing it is chock full of very helpful information for the setup and running of your business and the links that are provided will save you countless hours of research and wasted exhausting hours searching for resource information. This e-book is excellent value at well over 200 pages.
I will close with the saying again, "I'm a Newbie, Not a Dummie - Just Show Me". If you follow my advice and visit the above site, I promise you that you will say "I'm a Newbie, Not a Dummie and I Have Been Shown!".
If you would love to hear about your experiences with the good, the bad and the ugly of e-books.
Thanks for staying with me, I will leave you with this final thought:
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
- Chinese Proverb
Jackie Bigford
Internet Marketing for Newbies
You are free to use this article as long as the links remain intact.
Guest Article
My feature article this week is from Rosalind Gardner, the Super Affiliate. She is one of the most highly regarded and respected marketers on the net today and I consider her "The Affiliates' Affiliate. Her book is the hottest selling resource on Clickbank and with good reason. I personally own this e-book and refer to it on a daily basis.
15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer
- by Rosalind Gardner
© 2004 Rosalind Gardner - All Rights reserved
There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs with your own home-based Internet business, and I've comeup with a list of 15 great reasons to become an affiliate marketer.
Let's look at each reason separately:
1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to start a home-based business. With affiliate programs, production costs aren't an issue. The product has been developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.
2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and mortar store, starting a home-based Internet business is relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk, Internet-connected computer and word-processing software, which is all the equipment you may need.
3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a line of products in the real world. The biggest differenceis that the distributor must often pay for a license to distribute products within a limited geographic region. Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the affiliate's ability to promote his web site.
4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to your current or planned web site.
5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn't a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with provided excellent marketing material. Using their salescopy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less than a day.
6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is employee salaries. Although there might be times when you need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or part-time employees. When you have a project you want to hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-related field who can work for you from the comfort of THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and deductions.
7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet businesses. However, merchant accounts aren't a concern when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your merchant account when you're an affiliate.
8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one-bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items without storage concerns.
9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit cardnumbers, etc. The merchant does all that!
10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepareand ship products to customers worldwide could be staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging supplies or postal rates.
11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.
12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep making money even when you take breaks or after you go home for the night?
13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.
14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another! It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding you to products that don't sell.
15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to increase your income. With your own affiliate business on the Internet your income potential is limited only by your desire, effort and imagination.
There you have them - all the good reasons to start your own online affiliate marketing business. Start today andbenefit from this incredibly simple, cost-effectivebusiness opportunity known as affiliate marketing. The timeis right, and the time is now.
15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer
--Article excerpted from Rosalind Gardner's "Super AffiliateHandbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling OtherPeople's Products Online". Rosalind is the 'Net's most recognized expert on successful online selling as an affiliate marketer.
Visit her site at
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit
http://www.netprofitstoday.com/cbae/?a=7zb0TP1zb0
Here are some useful links regarding the topic of Affiliate Marketing:
Associate Programs: http://www.associateprogram.com/
This is a searchable directory of affiliate programs, which is ranked by the affiliates that use them. You will find excellent free resources and downloads. I recommend downloading the free "Affiliate Masters Course"
Lifetime Commissions: http://www.lifetimecommissions.com/
This is a directory of affiliate programs that pay lifetime or residual commissions.
Affilliate Networks:
Commission Junction: http://www.cj.com/
LinkShare: http://www.linkshare.com
ClickBank:
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