Recently I was reading a forum post about one person’s experience with affiliate marketing. Specifically the person has promoted some of the big names in Internet Marketing. His posts make an interesting read. Some of the issues of affiliate marketing for big Internet Marketer names are as follows.

No Commissions on Back End Sales

In one of them, he outlines how he as an affiliate promoted one person’s launch and made sales. Fantastic right? Wrong.

He may have made sales but the next day the product owners hit up the new customers up directly to see if they wanted to buy into another product. Some of them did.The affiliate checked his account to see his commissions and noticed a few unusual things.

Did the affiliate get the commission on the upsell? No. He got paid for first referral but not for the second.

Refunds and No Commissions on the Same Downgraded Product

In another story, the affiliate was promoting another big name Internet Marketer.  The affiliate even made a few sales.

The marketer had launched a new product but it was essentially a re-purposed version of a product launched 3 months earlier.

People started complained and requested refunds so as a consequence the initial price of $1,997 was reduced to $1,297.  Unfortunately the ones who purchased from him refunded and took up the $1,297 offer. The affiliate got zip. Nada. Nothing.  The affiliate lost their commission and instead of a 50 / 50 split, then got nothing and the product owner took 100% (which was then later rebated because of the massive duplication in content).

Cookies Intercepting Direct Links

In our own story, we have lost hundreds of dollars of commissions via promoting someone’s product and not being the last referrer. Because we coach, we get to develop pretty close relationships with the people we coach. We don’t recommend products that we think are not right for them or for the stage they are at. In many cases, we dissuade our people from joining some programs and in other cases we actively encourage it.

When we refer a product, we often give our affiliate link and the people who buy from our link know that they get some pretty special privileges.

Unfortunately, sometimes when we refer we get a situation where the person clicks on our link but doesn’t buy straight away. They get distracted and go off an browse on other websites. They then come back, often only a few hours later and buy the product we recommend. This is where things can go pear shaped. Often in the process of browsing around, the person is cookied by someone else and that someone else gets our commission.

Now I am not complaining too much. The issue is that the person doesn’t know that they have been cookied. The think they are buying from our link and they also haven’t clicked on anyone else’s. It is ethical?

The Lessons.

You need to be careful. A lot of these folks are ethically challenged. They are willing to screw you unless you are a big name and can hurt back.

There are some Internet Marketers that are much more ethical and pay commissions for last referral. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions before you start promoting an offer.

If you are promoting an offer or you have developed a personal relationship with someone and have given them your link, make sure you ask them to clear their cookies in their browser and ask them to buy immediately. Tell them that if they buy immediately you will give them a special bonus.

The bonus is up to you – it could be a product you have created, a webinar you have done or even some time that you can offer to help them remove a roadblock. Only you can decide what it is that will work for you and of course it is going to depend on the commission amount you receive.

Obviously you might want to give something of higher value if you are going to receive $500 commission as opposed to $20.

Treating your affiliates well is the cornerstone to a successful business, help them make as much money as they can. They’ll work harder for you.

The Ugly Side of Affiliate Marketing for Internet Marketing Products is a post from: Learn Internet Marketing Effortlessly

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If you are just starting out in Internet Marketing and have created a product to sell, you might find that you want to set up an affiliate program to reward affiliates. You may even want to reward a person for their referral to your business. Fortunately, there is now an easy way to set this up for a fairly low cost without having to go through Clickbank.

You can use a plugin called WP Instant Pay. This little plugin can be installed on your WordPress Website in a matter of minutes. Setting things up however might take a little longer. This is because the makers of this plugin have struck a deal with PayPal so it can be integrated nicely with WordPress.

What this means is that you will need to have a verified PayPal account before you begin use the plugin. You will also need to apply for an API (Advanced Protocol Interface) – in laymans terms an API is a fancy way of making PayPal work with the plugin so that they work together in a secure environment. That’s about as technical as I can bear.

Applying for an API an be a little complex but the makers of this plugin have provided step by step instructions so if you follow their instructions, you should find it simple enough to set up. Once you have your API you will be provided with a series of numbers that you need to input into the plugin settings. The rest is straight forward.

You simply:

1. Input the product details so that the plugin will automatically generate sales pages, thank you pages, affiliate sign up pages and affiliate thank you pages
2. You get to input the pricing, currency and the percent commission you are offering
3. You upload your zipped file directly into the plugin (assuming you have a digital product)
4. You can set up when links will expire and how many days the product will be available for download after purchase
5. You input your aweber list names (yes, this plugin also has the ability to integrate with your Aweber account and capture names on purchase)

What I liked about the plugin?

The plugin has a few security features built in into it which is really nice. The ability to restrict downloads or have links expire is a nice feature if you are concerned about people sharing your download links. Another really great feature is the fact that you can include One Time Offers with products you sell, although I am not sure exactly how this works yet and if it is a true one click one time offer. The Nanacast Shopping Cart system I use has the ability to do one time offers but if you use Paypal it is not a true one click style of one time offer.

Another nice feature is the fact that it integrates with Aweber and Ger Response. This means you can send emails directly through your wordpress account rather than your Aweber account. There is a reports feature so you can see all sales or sales by affiliate or by product.

I love the fact that this plugin is pretty inexpensive and you do not have to pay ongoing monthly fees for support. I use a similar system and pay $97 a month for it. Whilst the system I use is way more powerful because of its reporting functionality and ability to set different commissions for super affiliate, this plugin is a gem and is a great tool for people starting out or who can’t afford the monthly fee.

The plugin also has the ability to split fees between equity partners. What this means is that if two people develop a product and share the profits, the plugin will work out the commission that goes to your affiliate, pay them instantly as well as work out the sales that are to be shared amongst the equity partners. Nice.

A recent addition is that you can now add coupon codes and have unlimited Coupons per product. This is a great feature because you can offer limited time promotions and set the date you want the coupon to expire.

What is missing?

The plugin lacks the all important click through rate reporting function that you get with more sophisticated programs like Nanacast. Products are less secure than if housed in a program like Nanacast but they are not located in any obvious easy to find places either. The other downside is that the plugin does not integrate with other autoresponder programs but I believe the makers of this plugin are working on more options. I expect this will change in the future.

The other downside is that if you have multiple products, affiliates will need to sign up to promote each product individually. This is a bit of a nuisance. However, the developer is working on changing this so you can choose for affiliates to sign up to promote one product or all products.

My final annoyance was that I could not find the automatically generated page for affiliates to sign up. I lodged a support desk ticket and my response was answered almost instantly (ok well within about half an hour). I consider this excellent. The answer was simpler than I expected and very clear. So if any purchases this plugin, follow this tip:

The easiest way to get the affiliate signup URL (which is automatically generated), is to go to:

• Products
• Products List, then
• View Templates.
• From the drop-down list on the editor page, select Affiliate Signup Page and click the Preview button once it loads.
• Then, just copy the URL from your browser address bar

My Recommendation

There are some fantastic features included in this plugin that make it quite a handy tool for people who are in the start phase of their business and who can’t afford the monthly fees attached with a more powerful system.

If you don’t like to use the default Paypal button you your website and like using larger buttons, you can change this. The plugin has just been updated to accommodate this.

I am not sure whether I like the fact that the plugin instantly pays affiliates though. The automation feature is great but my concern is what happens if or when someone requests a refund. Yes, you can still hit the issue refund button in Paypal (I tested this and it works). Whilst this has not been a problem for me, I can see that this may be a problem for some. I guess a critical thing would be to ensure your product is good quality or put a time limit on how long someone can claim a refund.

I purchased the plugin about a month ago and since that time, the makers have been constantly making improvements to the plugin – Coupon Codes and the Aweber and GetResponse integration are features that have been added after I purchased. This is a good thing as it shows they are committed to their software.

There will also be a number of future versions coming out that will also include:

• Subscriptions/Recurring Payments.
• Integration with a number of popular membership scripts.
• Support for Physical products as well as digital ones!

They will also be releasing an update with new feature (optional) that will allow us to build an Affiliate Product Marketplace. All you will need to do is tick a checkbox if you want to publish your product’s affiliate program with us and 3rd party affiliate programs.

I am totally impressed with the plugin and also the service and support provided by the team.  It’s such a tiny price at $67 when compared to some of the full featured programs that I recommend it.  Really great plugin for those wanting the test the waters and not ready to take the leap for a program like Nanacast. For a short time only, you can get WP Instant Pay for $27 if you use the coupon code SUMMERTIME.

<< You can grab a copy of WP Instant Pay Here >>

How To Start An Affiliate Program is a post from: Learn Internet Marketing Effortlessly

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Note: Since writing this post, the Super Affiliate Guy course is no longer available. It has been replaced with an 8 week course with 60 days access to the Superfast Results Forum. What this means that instead of just watching videos, you can also watch and ask questions in the forum from a bona fide Super Affiliate. The training is more up to date and cutting edge and there are a few surprise bonuses in the package as well (I ain’t going to spoil it for you).

Back in 2004 it was pretty easy to become an Affiliate Marketer. There was less competition and probably even less Guru’s sprouting the benefits of Affiliate Marketing (and Online Marketing). These days it can be more difficult but there are some tricks to becoming an effective Affiliate Marketer that most people do not teach.

These days it is not enough to find a Clickbank product to promote and then whack it up on a website and hope that it will sell. Here’s a hint – the best products I have sold have not been products on Clickbank. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Clickbank products – I still sell some Clickbank products but I don’t generally promote them first. I promote other products first and then I promote Clickbank products.

This is the gold that is taught in the Super Affiliate Guy Super Affiliate Masterclass course. The key is finding other products that sell and then sell related Clickbank products second. There are some sneaky tactics you need to know in order to do this effectively and this is precisely what is taught in the Super Affiliate Guy course which is precisely why I recommend it.

What You Will Learn

The other thing that is taught is how to structure your website to get the sale. Believe it or not there is an art to this and it is the tips that Andy teaches that make it easier. Many affiliate websites I see are very busy and have lots of things going on. There is an art to putting things in the right place and directing a your prospect to click to the sales page.

Super Affiliate Guy Super Affiliate Masterclass addresses all the frequently asked questions about choices of themes, 1 column versus two column and recommends what plugins you should use  as well as how you should layout your blog and why. You will also learn how to write and structure your content,what products to promote and how to build trust.

You Will Learn Step by Step What you Need to do to Become a Successful Affiliate Marketer.

One of the most important modules of the course is how to test and track the performance of your website as well as why you should test it. If you don’t do this, you could potentially be missing out on lots of dollars. This course covers split testing and tracking as well as what tools to use.

Module 9 of the course covers how to build and structure your links. Most people do this so wrong. Even if they do get it right, they fail to leverage the work they have done into other formats.

Finally, the course also covers paid traffic strategies. This is something I know a lot of people get concerned about.

The guy behind the course is a man by the name of Andy Grand. Most people will not have heard of him. That’s the way I think he likes it. Andy is a genuine bonafide Super Affiliate who actually makes money from Affiliate Marketing rather than someone who sells from the stage pretending they do.

Who Is Super Affiliate Guy Masterclass For?

If you have been struggling to make money online, then I seriously recommend that you check out Andy’s Super Affiliate Guy Super Affliate Masterclass course. If you are not sure, head on over anyway and watch the free video where you will pick up some great tips.

What are the upsides of the course?

Even if you have been doing Internet Marketing for a while, you will definitely learn some new things that you can implement immediately. One of the most important things I learned from Andy was the part about selling non-Clickbank products first and how to go about it. Tracking and testing was the other thing. If you buy the course, you also get 1 months access to the Super Fast Results Forum. Access to the forum is $97 per month which is more than the price of the course which was $77 $399 when I last checked. Access to the forum is also by invitation only and there is currently a waiting list to get in. You can bypass the waiting list to the forum by investing in the course. This is worth Gold in my opinion. I have been a member of this forum for well over a year now and it certainly has accelerated my learning and results.

People I know who have done the course and who had previously not made any money online, have actually received their first commissions from the techniques they learned in this course.

What are the downsides of the product? Is there anything bad that you should know about?

If you are a complete newbie then you might find some of the information a little overwhelming.  Thank fully Andy’s step by step video’s also contain a transcription with images so it is easy to refer back to at anytime.

If you have been doing Internet Marketing for some time, you might find that you will know some of the information contained in the course. This is to be expected. This course is also not a get rich quick, magic bullet program. You will get results but you need to actually need to do the work before you get results. Personally, I’d love quick short cuts but I know from experience that this just doesn’t work. If you are not prepared to actually do the work or at least outsource it then this course is not suitable for you.

Super Affiliate Guy Bonus

This wouldn’t be a great review if I didn’t offer you a Super Affiliate Guy Bonus, would it? As some of you know I am quite a whizz with WordPress. Not only have I run workshops, I also run WordPress webinars. I am offering my WordPress Webinar Training which contains over 8 hours of training on WordPress that you can view at your leisure.

My Webinar Series covers off both Basic and Advanced WordPress techniques as well as an 85 page manual that will help you get started. The training includes how to add a PayPal button on your site, how to add opt-in forms, how to set up pages for digital delivery of your products. To claim your bonus you need to click on the link directly and then send me your receipt and email address via the contact form on this site.

>>Get Super Affiliate Guy through this link and claim WordPress Training as your bonus!<<

Super Affiliate Guy Review – How to Become A Super Affiliate is a post from: Learn Internet Marketing Effortlessly

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Since I began my journey into Internet Marketing a few years ago, I’ve noticed that a lot of Internet Marketers have been pushing push button autobloggin style websites. These push button websites take several forms. Here are two of the most common ones:

• The pre-made variety where all you do is add your own domain name (yes that means that there are hundreds of websites just like yours floating around the net)
• The auto-blogging ones where you get a website made for you and then content magically appears on your site

Types of Push Button Autoblogging Websites

Of course there are variations of these push button sites. Some of the websites are AdSense ready. Some of these auto-blogging websites allow you to create multiple website so you can interlink your websites with back-links. Others grab articles from article directories and then auto post to your website. If it was that easy and if it was that effective then everyone would do it. Personally I do not know many people who have made a lot of money from them without there being significant customization to the auto-blogging site.

Many of these push button websites do one thing – they make money for the owner or promoter but not for you. Some promoters sell these auto-blogging solutions for $3,000 or more. These are what I call expensive band-aid solutions – they don’t teach real Internet Marketing skills. This will not set you apart from the thousands of other people who are doing the same thing. They can also be set up for under $300 per year – one tenth of the price often charged by some prominent promoters who target people who look for instant get rich quick schemes.

The auto-blogging solutions I have seen so far leave a lot to be desired. I personally have purchased one of those systems and I have also tried an auto-blogging plug-in which shall remain nameless.

The downside of autoblogging plugins.

• It does not automatically do the SEO your site. You still have to go into your site manually and adjust the Page title, description and keywords.
• You will also need to adjust the tags. For example, the tags that automatically got added to my blog on getting pregnant were, Bible, Christena, Pregnant, Review and Williams. Only one of those tags was relevant for my niche.
• The links go to someone elses site – you need to add other solutions to stop link leakage to other sites
• You still may want to add banners to your site so you can promote your product or even the affiliate product you are promoting

Why you should not have push button autoblogging websites.

• You don’t own the content – more often that not you are just putting in your own affiliate link and directing people to websites you don’t own.
• You don’t control the content. Thethe auto-blogging solutions come from other people’s articles that link to the owners website not yours – this means you can’t control the content and add in your your own links
• Some of them don’t allow you to add Google Analytics to your site so it makes it impossible to track what is working and what isn’t

Why Push Button Autoblogging Websites Are A Bad Idea is a post from: Learn Internet Marketing Effortlessly

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Making money on the Internet need not be difficult. The problem is that most people start of completely overwhelmed and buy things that are completely unnecessary.   They get caught up by hundreds of tantalizing offers promising to help them save time or money – not all of them live up to their promise.  The best advice is to keep your hand in your pocket and resist buying gadgets when you are starting out. You should however invest in quality training.

The simplest and cheapest way to gear yourself up to make money online  when you start out comes down to three key things:

1. Sign up for an account with ClickBank.com. Clickbank literally has thousands of different digital products from software to ebooks.  Selling digital products means that you don’t have to go out are pre-purchase any inventory or hold any stock in warehouses.  Once, you have signed up to Clickbank look for a product that has a gravity between 30 and 100.  Anything lower than that might mean the sales letter is not great at converting and anything higher could mean that there is too much competition for you to compete with when you are learning the ropes. Once you found a product you like sign up for the affiliate program so you can obtain a unique link that identifies you as a seller of that product.  Be sure to copy, paste and save your link so you can use it later on your website.
2. Do keyword research using Google’s free keyword tool to uncover any keywords that relate to the product you have selected. This is the most important step you will ever do. The trick here is to look for keywords that have a large number of searches but not many competing pages in Google.   Pick keywords that are buying terms. It is also ideal if you choose keywords are two or three words long.  Avoid one word keywords as they are often too generic  and are not specific enough.  These days most people who search online often type in 3 word keyphrases so it is worth while trying to find effective longtail keywords.
3. Set up a blog on Blogger.com.  Blogger is a free platform owned by Google. When picking your site name be sure to give it a name using some of the keywords you’ve found.  Be careful not to put too many products on your site.  Keep it focused on the one market.  Your next step is to start writing content to put on your site.  Use the keywords that you uncovered when you did your research for your articles focusing on one keyword per article.

It is worth pointing out that later on when you have a bit of cash, you can easily import your Blogger website to a self hosted WordPress site.  In this instance, your only cash outlay is to purchase your domain name and to purchase a hosting account. You can easily buy a domain name for $10-$20 and hosting accounts can be picked up for around $100-$120 per year depending on what plan you choose.  Often you will find that once you have a hosting account, you will be able to have multiple websites on it with no extra outlay of cash.

The steps above outline the starting point to making money online.  No website would be complete without visitors coming to your site.  There are lots of things that can be done to drive traffic to your website for free and I will be covering this in another article.

Three Steps to Make Money Online Without Spending A Cent is a post from: Learn Internet Marketing Effortlessly

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