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The Rich 16-Year-Old’s New Millionaire System Copyrighted by www.Rich16YearOld.com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of Rich16YearOld.com, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Rich16YearOld.com, or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. Personal and non-commercial use limitations apply unless otherwise specified, the materials and services are for your personal and noncommercial use, and you may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, products or services obtained from the service without the written permission from Rich16YearOld.com. Any violation of the copyright, trademark and/or usage limitation will be vigorously pursued using legal proceedings.

Disclaimer While every effort has been put into this ebook to ensure its accuracy, I cannot be responsible for any changes in link addresses or screenshots changing in appearance. This is just the nature of the Internet, as it is constantly changing. Also, I cannot assure that you‘ll succeed with this or any other venture. Only you are fully responsible for your success and the amount of effort you put in will directly reflect on the results you‘ll get. Publisher:

Rich16YearOld.com

Web:

http://www.Rich16YearOld.com

Table of Contents Foreword: My Million-dollar Secret

Page 3

The Basics of Affiliate Marketing

Page 4

Chapter 1:

What Is Affiliate Marketing

Page 5

Chapter 2:

How ClickBank Works

Page 12

Chapter 3:

How PayDotCom Works

Page 18

Chapter 4:

How Google AdWords Works

Page 20

II.

The Millionaire Affiliate Secrets

Page 24

Chapter 5:

Select Affiliate Products to Promote

Page 25

Chapter 6:

Pinpoint Profitable Keywords

Page 39

Chapter 7:

Prepare to Boost Quality Score

Page 49

Chapter 8:

Creating Ad Copy That Sells

Page 51

Chapter 9:

AdWords Campaign Management Tips

Page 60

III. The Millionaire Affiliate Income Formula Chapter 10:

Millionaire System Explosion

Page 62 Page 63

The Traffic Giant Guide

Page 66

Bonus Section #1: Adsense

Page 169

Bonus Section #2: My Triple A System

Page 178

Bonus Section #3: PLR Products

Page 182

Conclusion: My Final Advice

Page 186

Promote Rich16YearOld.com!

Page 187

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Foreword My Million-dollar Secret

laugh a little to myself about this … When people see how successful I am, they assume that I‘m probably from a welloff family. But that couldn‘t be farther the truth!

Before I discovered the ULTIMATE secret to affiliate marketing success, I was a dead broke loser teen in a penniless family who couldn‘t afford $10 that the school asked for a field trip! I fumbled around with affiliate marketing for a year -- It was tough. So when I tell you that I‘ve been where you are right now, I mean that quite literally! But once I figured out a way of streamlining my online operation, it was smooth sailing: My profits simply EXPLODED! Now, three years later, I‘m living the life! And seriously, I spend about two hours a day working my affiliate marketing business… and much of that time is spent transferring money made online into my bank account 

I actually had to get an accountant! So, the affiliate marketing I‘m about to share with you WORKS! Just follow my exact steps and take my advice to heart. I‘m going to start you from the very beginning…

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I. The Basics of Affiliate Marketing

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Chapter 1 What is Affiliate Marketing?

ffiliate marketing is a way of making money online in which you‘re

financially

rewarded

for

helping

a business

entrepreneur by promoting their product, service or site. It‘s classic revenue sharing, where you as an affiliate get part of the

proceeds for helping someone else sell their goods. These days, the ―goods‖ that are selling like hotcakes for affiliates are digital products: how-to e-books and software that can be instantly downloaded upon payment. The percentage you earn is called your commission for helping sell other people‘s/company‘s products and services. For example: If Product A sells for $100 and its owner (i.e., the merchant) is willing to give you, an affiliate, 50% of every sale you bring them, then you earn $50 for each sale you generate (less any expenses you incur). Depending on how seriously you take your involvement in affiliate marketing, it‘s common to earn anywhere from $30 to $300 to $3,000 or more each month.

Affiliate Marketing Business Models There are various business models in affiliate marketing: In most cases it involves you as a website or blog publisher earning a commission when someone follows a link on your site to another site to purchase something. THIS MODEL IS NOT OUR FOCUS… I‘ll show you how many wealthy, TOP affiliates don‘t use a blog or website for referrals. Instead, they only use killer advertising to send prospects directly to a vendor‘s sales site to purchase products they‘re affiliated with – and cash in without content fuss!

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Note: I won‘t completely ignore the traditional method completely. I‘ll show you how to add affiliate links to your website, to direct traffic to the product. However, the Millionaire Affiliate method is really about fast-tracking: getting the customer directly to the goodies without the affiliate site as a pit stop.

Affiliate Marketing Industry Overview The affiliate marketing industry has four core players at its heart: The vendor, The affiliate marketer The 3rd party payment processing company, and The prospect/customer. Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include: Organic search engine optimization (SEO), Paid search engine marketing, E-mail marketing, and Display or banner advertising. Many affiliates are also using less common but savvy marketing techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner. This is one way that many affiliates really drive sales. Here, you‘re doing more than simply providing links to the products you get a commission on: You‘re investing your time and resources in earnestly writing up your opinion of a great product. If more of your site‘s visitors trust what your review says about what you‘re helping sell, this can result in many more click-throughs. Naturally, this can bring about a greater number of sales for the merchant, which translates to more commission payments for you, the affiliate who made it happen.

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Affiliate Marketing – Easy Money? While affiliate marketing can be incredibly lucrative, it‘s not necessarily easy money if you‘re planning to make plenty. In fact, most people who try affiliate marketing make very little because your level of success is dependent on a good mix of the following factors: Attracting lots of the right traffic to a blog or website, Identifying quality products that are in solid demand, An ability to write (or contract) good sales copy, Building trust with your readers, and Having a readership that‘s in a ―buying mood.‖

The Challenge of Running a Website Considering the aforementioned task list, if you push readers too hard or promote lowquality products, you run the risk of creating dissatisfaction. Either way, this can damage your reputation and the influence you‘re hoping to build. It‘s also worth noting that affiliate marketing doesn‘t work on just any website or blog: Some sites cover topics on which it‘s difficult to find products to promote. Some cater to audiences that aren‘t on the site for the purpose of buying anything. Others still are blogs with an aesthetic style or approach that simply doesn‘t fit with the commercial tone of affiliate marketing.

Using a Direct Linking Strategy When you use pay-per-click advertising with a direct linking strategy, you‘re sending your prospects directly to the vendor‘s website. There‘s no need for them to make a pit stop on a website or blog that you created. The benefits of using this strategy allow you to:

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Eliminate Costs & Time Associated with Maintaining a Blog or Website: If you set up your own site, you incur the costs of obtaining a domain name, purchasing server space to host your website, and perhaps even the cost of a web designer to build your site if you lack the skills. Lead Prospects Directly to the Vendor’s Site: Whenever you sign up to sell an affiliate product, you‘re assigned an ID number. This ID number is how 3rd party payment companies know to pay you your commission owed. You‘ll include your ID number as part of your ad link. By including your affiliate ID number in the ad link, your prospects will be directed straight to the vendor‘s website, and you‘ll get the credit if/when a product purchase is made. While affiliate marketing using a PPC direct linking strategy has a lot of benefits, you also need to make sure that you are producing a profit after paying for the click-throughs in your PPC campaign. In addition you also want to view this strategy as an additional source of income and not the primary source of income.

Commissions & Conversions Commissions most often are a percentage paid to an affiliate per sale. In affiliate marketing, conversion rate is a percentage showing how many visitors, on average visit, a sales page before an actual sale results. For example, if you get 1 sale after 100 visitors, that‘s 1/100 = 1% conversion. If you get 1 sale in 75 visitors, that‘s a 1/75 or 1.3% conversion. What is a "good conversion?" Many people quote 1% as a standard benchmark in the ebook business, with higher numbers like 1.5-2.0% being considered great conversion rates. However, during special promotions and limited offers for products that are very popular, it‘s not uncommon to realizing double-digit conversion successes. But it's difficult to say definitively what a "good" conversion is without a context, in particular without knowing the cost of the product compared to the cost of any advertising you might do for it.

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At the end of the day, it's more about the profit margin, really, than the conversion rate. There are very profitable products with a very low, .5% percent conversion rate. And there are products with a high, 3% conversion rate but with such high expenses and a low retail price that the profits are minimal. You can increase your conversion rate by pre-selling better on your end before flipping the visitor over to the vendor‘s sales page.

Pre-selling From Your Own Site Now, if you decide to first bring prospects to your own website, there‘s something crucial you should know. Good affiliate marketing has a lot to do with finding the right prospects and tapping into their thirst. Cultivate a thirsty crowd that wants what you‘re affiliated with, and sell them in before they even click-through to the vendor‘s site! "Pre-selling" products on your own web page has the potential to increase sales tremendously. Pre-selling is writing a helpful review, a recommendation in which you provide a honest analysis of products benefits and features. Affiliates who consistently commit to pre-selling the products usually have better conversion rates. When a good email list of prospects is in place, an affiliate can increase a good conversion rate to great, say as high as 4-7%, particularly when the vendor‘s running a special price promotion. On the other hand, affiliates who don‘t pre-sell and send untargeted, unqualified traffic to a vendor‘s sales site can have conversions far below average. This is one reason that spam email campaigns don‘t often deliver great results. The net is cast too wide. An affiliate‘s effort is wasted on outreach to many unqualified prospects.

Spotting Good Affiliate Programs Vendors who run an affiliate program usually have a link on their site called Affiliate Program either at the top or bottom of their home page. Click these links and you‘ll see the extent to which a merchant wants to woo you to act as a partner and help sell their wares. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

The Affiliate Program page explains: the percentage of each sale you‘ll earn as an affiliate, which 3rd party order processing company(s) they‘re set up with, the promotional tools they provide to help you market their products/services and how to join their affiliate program. Conversions are generally tracked when the publisher (you) uses a link with a code only being used by you embedded into it that enables the advertiser to track where conversions come from (usually by cookies). Other times an advertiser might give a publisher a ‗coupon code‘ for their readers to use that helps to track conversions.

How Affiliate Programs Are Structured Affiliate programs are either run by the website owner (merchant) themselves, or they contract a 3rd party company to keep track of sales and commissions owed. When the site owner runs their own affiliate program, they use software installed on their website to track all affiliate sales and pay the commissions owed. However, it is easier and more popular to just use a 3rd party affiliate processing company to set up and keep track of all of this. The 3rd party company basically takes care of paying all of the affiliates and tracking all sales. This allows the vendor to focus on marketing his or her site. This also is a more transparent way of running an affiliate program, giving affiliates the assurance that they‘ll be paid the commissions both on time and in the proper amounts.

3rd Party Affiliate Management Companies When a 3rd party company is involved, you can promote someone‘s products/service and rest assured that you won‘t be cheated out of your hard earned commissions. These companies foster trust between all parties, and make the affiliate marketing industry much easier to participate and grow within: ClickBank (www.clickbank.com) PayDotCom (www.paydotcom.com) Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Linkshare (www.linkshare.com) Commission Junction (www.cj.com) New Millionaire System focuses on helping you make money online from ClickBank and PayDotCom. I recommend these two over all others because: ClickBank is a longstanding industry leader that automates everything involved helping get you, the affiliate, paid. ClickBank also has a hefty array of products in practically every niche you may be interested in specializing in. In addition, ClickBank will pay you by check every two weeks. Their checks are NEVER late. PayDotCom allows vendors an easy way to offer their affiliates a great set of marketing tools. Also, this 3rd party processing service allows you and the merchant to capture sales from more UK buyers than ClickBank. This is because PayDotCom doesn't charge the UK residents the whopping 17% VAT tax, but ClickBank does â&#x20AC;&#x201C; scaring many away. Ready to get started? What follows are the step-by-step instructions for getting set up both with ClickBank and PayDotCom.

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Chapter 2 How ClickBank Works

hat‘s a quote from a highly successful ClickBank vendor who‘s found e-book gold in selling a how-to on fat burning. And believe me, those affiliates who‘re promoting e-books like his are happy

with ClickBank, too. In fact, most affiliate marketers love ClickBank! There are people who‘ve had so much success selling through ClickBank that they‘ve been able to afford Ferraris, yachts and mansions. Take a look at this screenshot of ClickBank‘s homepage:

Site: http://www.clickbank.com

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Use the link above to visit ClickBank and start exploring. Their interface is quite straightforward, so there‘s no need for me to cover every detail. Instead, we‘ll review the most important pages you‘ll be using once you‘ve registered.

Digital Products

ClickBank specializes in selling downloadable digital products; there‘s nothing ―tangible‖ in their inventory for you to choose to sell. ClickBank has over 10,000 products – i.e., downloadable ebooks and software programs – to choose from in their marketplace. The products are organized by category (e.g., Health & Nutrition, Computers & Internet), and then by popularity. After you click on ―Marketplace,‖ here‘s a screenshot of ClickBank‘s categories:

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Join ClickBank Joining ClickBank as an affiliate is very easy, and it‘s free! Please visit ClickBank and open up your account now if you don‘t already have one. Below is the link and screenshot of the sign-up page.

Site: https://login.clickbank.net/signup/ Once you‘ve joined ClickBank, you‘ll have your own unique ClickBank ID (also called your Account Nickname). This Nickname is what you‘ll use to create your: Affiliate links, which site visitors click to take them to a vendor‘s sales site. Putting you ClickBank ID or nickname in the link you create is what allows ClickBank and the vendor to track your sales and pay you the right commission amount. To supercharge your affiliate earnings, you‘ll need to go beyond sending traffic from your site to the vendor‘s. You‘ll need toyou‘re your own advertising campaigns driving traffic to your vendor‘s sales site. The links in your ads will, of course, will be coded with your ClickBank ID.

How to Create Your ClickBank Affiliate Links There are two extremely ways to create your ClickBank affiliate links:

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1. While you‘re scanning ClickBank for products to promote, they provide a link beneath every product for you quickly generate your own link, or 2. When you‘re not at ClickBank.com, but on any Affiliate Program page elsewhere on the ‗net, and want to immediately create a link. Here are the steps for creating your link either way … I. While you’re checking out ClickBank’s marketplace, you‘ll notice these links at the bottom of every product that‘s listed:

view pitch page | create HopLink | Vendor Spotlight

Click the link in the middle that reads ―create Hoplink.‖ This opens a small window in which you‘ll be prompted to enter your ClickBank ID / nickname:

Once you‘ve typed your ID and pressed the submit button, the system will automatically generate your affiliate link for that particular product site only. Note: The 2nd blank that‘s marked ―Tracking ID (Optional) is available if you‘d like to devise your own product coding system. This will be helpful in the future when you log-in to ClickBank to scan your sales reports. In any case, here‘s an example of the link code the pop-up page generates:

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2. If you‘re NOT on ClickBank‘s site, but on an Affiliate Program page, here‘s a sample of the code that all vendors will provide you to work with:

http://AFFILIATE.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net

This alternate way of creating HopLinks requires you to know your ClickBank account nickname, as well as the nickname of the ClickBank vendor you want to promote. If you know both of these nicknames, you can create your own HopLink. To make the above HopLink work, you just replace AFFILIATE with your ClickBank nickname, and VENDOR with the vendor‘s ClickBank nickname. Note: Any ClickBank vendors who knows what they‘re doing will already have their vendor nickname within the sample line of code, making it easy for you. If you need more information, here‘s a link with a tutorial for creating ClickBank affiliate links: http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-basics/all-about-hoplinks/ In a later section, I‘ll show you my top-notch system for evaluating and choosing which ClickBank products to get behind. But right now, I want to get you set up on PayDotCom, too … Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Chapter 3 How PayDotCom Works

ayDotCom.com is a fast growing online marketplace that catalogs thousands of products and services, both physical and digital products. They have over 400,000 affiliates and new ones (like you!) sign on every day.

PayDotCom‘s marketplace is very much like ClickBank‘s. You can view vendor‘s products and even email them. However, here‘s the big difference with PayDotCom: They DO NOT issue your affiliate commission checks. This is each respective vendor‘s responsibility. Vendors must pay affiliates directly, either by check or PayPal, but mostly through PayPal. Here‘s a screenshot of PayDotCom‘s homepage:

Site: https://paydotcom.com/homepage.php Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Go ahead and visit PayDotCom using the above link and join as an affiliate. It‘s free to join. Once you do, you can explore the marketplace, which has about the same categories as ClickBank. Here‘s a screenshot of PayDotCom‘s marketplace:

Site: https://paydotcom.com/marketplace.php Once you‘ve familiarized yourself with ClickBank, navigating your way through PayDotCom will be a breeze. So I won‘t bore you with the details of how to use PayDotCom. Let‘s move full-speed ahead, getting you closer to raking in some affiliate commission cash!

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Chapter 4 How Google AdWords Works

illions of Internet users around the world use the Google search engine each day, and it‘s likely that you‘re among them. (I know that I am!) Well, Google smartly figured out two simple ways to leverage all of these ―eyeballs‖ to help anyone

make money online by advertising their products/services. It‘s called Google AdWords, and it‘s an enormously popular online advertising program. The beauty of AdWords is that it‘s pay-per-click (PPC) system. For those who‘re paying Google a small and highly manageable fee to run these ads, the PPC structure means that you‘re not paying a dime for your ads to merely be seen by millions of people: You‘re only charged a small fee by Google when your ad is clicked by a potential customer! Also great about advertising via AdWords is this: It’s an auction! Advertisers ―bid‖ on the keywords they want their ads associated with. Some keywords you can bid on in your niche may cost $3 or $10 per click. However, you can also find cheap keywords to bid/buy in your niche that‘ll only cost you 50¢ per click. I‘ll show you how to find the cheap ones like this in your niche later.

The Google Search Network When searching for something on Google, every Google search results page shows a series of small ads down the right-hand side of your computer screen. These ads are a part of what‘s known as Google‘s Search Network. The global Search Network also includes ads on Google Maps and Google Groups. Well, when we‘re doing a search on subjects that interest us, Google also shows us ADVERTISEMENTS related to what we‘re looking up. These are Google AdWords advertisements, and if you want to earn BIG money as an affiliate marketer, you need to become one of the people behind running some of those ads. Here‘s what the AdWords ads looks like, along the top and right side of every page of Google‘s search results: Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

The Google Network is the largest advertising network available online, reaching over 86% of Internet users worldwide. With Google AdWords, you can be certain that your ads will be seen by your target audience. How well you write your AdWords ads is a key factor in how successfully they lead web searchers to actually click them.

Ads on the Content Network AdWords ads also appear on countless non-Google websites and blogs, too â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on countless content sites. These are blogs and commerce sites published by people and companies around the world. The ads are programmed to appear on web pages with similar content. In the screenshot below you can see how the ads are displayed on a content page and that the ads are directly relevant to the content of the page. And hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s a shot of some AdWords ads that appear on a non-Google site, along the left column as well as embedded within the content:

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You’ll be using Google AdWords to create PPC ads and sell products you like on ClickBank and PayDotCom.

Joining is free and you can explore the various powerful features Google has in its program. You only have to register your credit card once you actually decide to run your ads. We will get to this part a bit later. Again, one of the very best things about Google AdWords is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad links. And you also have control of how much you‘d like to spend per click, as well as the maximum amount you‘d like to spend in clicks per day. Google is full of excellent help tools and tutorial to use if you get stuck. So, head over now to Google‘s website and join its AdWords program. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Here‘s the link and screenshot of Google‘s AdWords registration page:

Site: https://adwords.google.com/select/Login I won‘t take you through every single little detail of how AdWords works. If I did, this would easily be a 200-page e-book telling you everything Google already has waiting for you on their site. So please familiarize yourself with the AdWords interface by signing up and exploring the program. It‘s extremely easy to use. What‘s more, it‘s fun and exciting to be a part of, too!

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II. The Millionaire Affiliate Secrets Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the guarded formula at-a-glance:

And now, the details presented across 3 powerful Action Steps: 1. Selecting Good Affiliate Products to Promote 2. Pinpointing Profitable Keywords, and 3. Creating Magnetic AdWords Ads

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Chapter 5 Action Step 1

Select Affiliate Products to Promote

ow that you‘ve signed up for everything your website/blog needs for affiliate marketing, it‘s time to pick the right – best – digital products for your niche. When scanning ClickBank or

PayDotCom, you‘ll use a set of 8 stringent criteria to evaluate the products that successfully catch your eye. First, let me tell you what may be the biggest secret of all: When evaluating the offerings on ClickBank, I do not take into account any factors such as a product‘s ―Gravity.‖ (Those of you who already know a bit about ClickBank are probably gasping, just shocked!) ―Gravity‖ is a ranking system ClickBank devised to show affiliates which products are selling better than others. The higher the Gravity number, the more it is selling. Take a look at these (usually) most studied lines in the ClickBank marketplace…

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Some affiliates take the opposite approach as a strategy, going for LOW gravity products, rationalizing that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ll have less competition from other affiliates already promoting these Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

products. In the second Action Step section of my formula, I‘ll show you the perfect way to get around this problem. After I read the vendor‘s product description, if I‘m interested in possibly representing this product, I kind of dismiss the Gravity number and simply click on the actual red link of the product to view the pitch page. This opens on the exact Sales Page that potential customers will see. I analyze all of the sales copy with a fine-toothed comb. I do this by awarding points for each of my 8 criteria areas, to determine if the vendor has all of the elements for sales success in place or not.

Rule  | Headline Must Scream R-e-l-i-e-f The site‘s main headline must INSTANTLY and CLEARLY convey what problem the product will solve. In other words, the headline must reveal an extremely STRONG BENEFIT to the target audience will quickly ―get.‖ Put yourself in the target‘s shoes and read the headline. Does it: Instantly grab your attention? Sounds convincing enough to make you keep reading? A great headline does both of the above. If it doesn‘t, you‘ll be wasting your time sending visitors to this site. Potential customers will be backing out of the site within 5 seconds! Seriously, the headline makes or breaks a site. You don‘t want to be paying for AdWords clicks to a site that blows it within seconds of your potential customers landing there. That‘s a total waste of time and money!

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Checkout some of ClickBank‘s top-selling sites in the various categories (i.e., products with a very high gravity value) to recognize the structure of a great headline. Here are a few of those top site goodies for a quick look now …

If a site nails Rule #1, you’ll give it 10 points. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

If it doesn’t, DON’T consider selling this product at all! If a sales site breaks Rule #1, there‘s no need of taking it through the rest of the steps. Forget about this product. Find another that does follow the killer headline rule. After all on ClickBank, you have about 10,000 other product options from which to choose! Headline Solves Problem / Tells Strong Benefit

10pts

Rule  | Personalized Touch Must Be Evident Points are given for taking the time and care to add at least one personal effect to the site. A personalized touch from the site vendor adds a lot to a site‘s conversion power. Remember: the ability to convert more visitors into actual buyers is ultimately the name of the affiliate marketing game. A vendor creates a personal feel by using his/her name, adding a handwritten signature at the end of the sales page, and also by including his/her photo.

The vendor need not have all three personal touches in play; having only one or some combination of them will do. For instance if only the name is used, this suffices to earn the full 6 points in this category. Vendor Shows His/Her Name, Photo, OR Signature

6pts

Rule  | Product Has High Visual Integrity You‘d be surprised by how a decent picture of a product can boost its conversion rate. So, points are awarded for visually achieving product credibility. Digital products such as ebooks and software aren‘t tangible items that people can touch. So it‘s important to impart a ―real presence‖ for a product in the virtual world. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Evaluate the visual impact the picture of the e-book, report, software box or whatever has on you. Even a site selling memberships must show a great picture of a membership card. Image Showing the Product Looks Professional

7pts

Rule  | A Follow-up System Must Be In Place If you send 70 visitors to a good site that converts 3 of your visitors into sales, there needs to be a contact mechanism to keep this product top-of-mind with the other 67 prospects! So, points are given for sales sites that have a follow-up system, which in the majority of cases is an email collection component. So sites using some sort of free sign up offer will almost always do better than those sites that don‘t. Vendors should be using autoresponder software, a pop-up or float down email sign-up box. To encourage visitors to sign-up, the vendor should be offering free newsletters, a free mini course, free tips – anything FREE, related and helpful – to capture potential customers‘ names and email addresses. In subsequent follow-up emails, they‘ll be encouraged to revisit the site and make a purchase, thereby dramatically increasing your conversion rate! It doesn‘t matter if the prospect makes the purchase weeks after their original visit. You‘ll still get your commission because, thanks to ―cookies,‖ ClickBank and PayDotCom are tracking every prospect that originated from your affiliate marketing site. Your affiliate ID-coded links enable an elaborate tracking system that keeps working for 60 days after each potential customer first clicked-through one of your affiliate links. So, even if your site visitor doesn‘t purchase the download on the day they visited your site, if they purchase via a follow-up email campaign the vendor has, you still get credit for the sale and receive a commission, up to 2 months later! Site Has a Prospect Follow-up System

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9pts

Rule  | Testimonials Should Be Displayed Without question, sites that feature testimonials from past customers do better than those which don‘t. Even a single testimonial can have huge implications on the conversion rate. The points in this category apply to all types of testimonials – those with or without the past clients‘ web addresses, and even if there‘s no photo of those clients. So just showing one testimonial without a web address or photo gains this product 9 points. At Least 1 Testimonial, Regardless of Details

9pts

Rule  | Proof That It Works Is Provided Right from the get-go, everything readers see is suspect. People never believe anything the moment they read your copy, so you need to ―convert‖ them … not into buyers, but into BELIEVERS! Seeing is believing. A vendor needs to prove his or her case — not just tell and sell. In fact, there must be as much proof as possible that the product is THE answer, that it works unequivocally. So, points also are given for any VISUAL, TANGIBLE evidence of how effectively a product works. An example:

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What are other types of proof that fulfill sufficiently adhere to Rule #6? Look for any of these: Clearly, evidence of payments in the vendor‘s online PayPal account can work like a charm. If you‘re analyzing a software product, there could be photos of the software being used. Facts and data are powerful proof elements. Visual substantiation can give some doubtful or hesitant prospects just the right push they need to press the BUY IT NOW button and trigger your commission. There‘s got to be something impressive there, or else … Evidence That the Product/Service Works

9pts

Rule  | Benefits Are Clearly Articulated This one‘s very important in all of marketing, possibly more so in online marketing … Do you know the difference between the benefits a product/service gives a person versus the features of that product/service? Features are ―just the facts, ma‘am.‖ They describe what‘s being sold… It‘s an 80-page ebook with 1,000 pictures, it‘s a hot car with wheels! Only once these fine features tell what you get as a valuable result do you learn how this benefits you. Benefits, on the other hand, play to the psychical values for possessing something. Benefits tell how you‘ll be ahead by having the ebook or car. You‘ll be smarter and attract more money. You‘ll look sexier and attract more girls. You‘ll save time, live longer, etc. When looking for solid evidence the benefits are clear, remember the old marketing adage: Sell the sizzle, not the steak. People buy things because Photo credit: Trump Steaks

they‘ve been convinced they‘ll derive a particular, high-value result! They

must be told what‘s in it for them. Give a digital product points if its benefits are clearly stated or listed. A site can either list all the benefits or state them as a narrative throughout. Benefits Clearly Listed/Stated Throughout Site Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

9pts

Rule  | Vendor Contact Info Is Evident There must at least be an email address provided by the vendor. Most times people won‘t contact the vendor, not even if with a minor question prior to making a purchase. But seeing an email address assures prospects they can get help if they need it. This assurance alone can lead some to take a chance and make a purchase. Sites where there‘s no email address to contact the owner look shady to most people, like they‘re set up to rip you off and there‘ll be nothing you can do about it. A vendor must provide at least provide the ―transparency‖ of an email address, to show that they care about customer service issues. A contact form or support ticket system is equally acceptable. Give this product points if there‘s a way for prospects and customers to reach them with inquires. Has Email Address, Contact Form or Support Ticket

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7pts

How the Points System Works The maximum points possible come to 66pts. The minimum threshold for a site to pass as a highly likely ―high conversion site‖ is 45 pts or above. I‘ve created this Sales Site Evaluation Form for you, which you can use whenever assessing a site as a suitable affiliate partner.

Sales

Page

Evaluation

Form

Product Name ______________________________________________________ Pitch Page URL ______________________________________________________ Rule

Point Value

 Problem solving or strong benefit headline

 Vendor has name, signature or photo

 Picture of product

 Has follow-up system (E.G. Autoresponder)

 Has testimonials

 Evidence of product working

 Benefits clearly listed or stated

 Contact email address, form or support ticket

TOTAL

Yes

Remember: To qualify, a site must earn at least 45 points! Also note: You can apply my criteria to basically any affiliate marketplace site and be able to select products that have everything in place to potentially reap HIGH degree of success! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Other Product Picking Tips Sites that promote too many products don‘t do anywhere as well as those that focus on just one product. Most sites at ClickBank and PayDotCom promote only one product. Ensure the affiliate site‘s major payment option is through ClickBank or PayDotCom. You don‘t want to promote sites that have a direct PayPal link, as your commission cannot be recorded in such cases. Google doesn‘t like sites that force people to give up their name and email address before allowing them to visit the main sales page. These pages are known as squeeze pages. Advertising these types of sites will affect your quality score with Google – which negatively impacts the rank your ad will take in relation to other ads bidding for the same keywords. (Quality Score is covered later in this ebook.) One final tip is to do a quick Google search on the product name or the vendor name himself to see what other affiliates as well as customers are saying. If you find that it‘s a cruddy product, stay away.

Promote www.Rich16YearOld.com  Promote www.Rich16YearOld.com  - it‘s the perfect site for you to start on your affiliate marketing adventure! Check out my affiliate program at: www.Rich16YearOld.com/affiliates.html I‘m paying 60% commission for every sale you refer to Rich16YearOld.com. That‘s about $45 you‘re making per sale, and the salesletter converts like crazy!

As you review the digital product(s) you‘re willing to invest your AdWords ad dollars in, run each through the following ROI (return on investment) formula. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Work Out Your Commission Structure This may be hard to believe, but how much a vendor is offering as affiliate commission is the least important issue in your success. What‘s more important is how much profit you can earn! You‘ll do this by working out your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). This formula will show you what each sale is costing you. Regardless of whether a site offers you 30%, 55%, 80% or $10, $35, $60 per sale: First run it through the following profitability formula as a test before investing your AdWords dollars.

The Perfect Profit Formula Goal: Make at least 100% profit. If you spend $50 in PPC advertising, then your aim is to make at least $50 in profits. This means you‘ve not only made back your original $50, you must make be at least the same amount ahead in profits. Threshold: You want a sale within every 75 clicks you‘re paying to land on your site. Cutoff Point: If a site fails to generate at least 1 sale after 150 clicks you‘ve paid for, stop promoting that site and find a better one! This formula helps you work out the maximum amount you‘re willing to pay per click. Likewise, this influences which keywords you‘re willing to pay for, up to 150 times (i.e., clicks). An example: A .50 keyword X 150 clicks = $75.00 As you can see, it‘s crucial to choose good products/sites to begin with – particularly if you decide to bid on keywords that‘ll cost you, say, $7 per click! I‘ll show you how to find cheap, profitable keywords in a later section. For now, just keep following how the formula works.

The Secret to Making 100% Profit! Here‘s an example … Let‘s say you like an e-book that offers an affiliate commission of $30 per sale. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Divide your commission amount by 2 = $15 Now, divide the $15 by our 75-click threshold number = 20¢ Thus, 20¢ per click is your maximum bid amount you should pay for clicks on your keywords. So, let’s further examine the implications of how this impacts profitability: The max you‘ll spend per click is 20¢ If the site converts according to our threshold of 75 clicks, then 75 X .20 = $15 … So you‘ll need to spend $15 on average to make one sale. Since you‘ll make $30 per sale, your profit will be $30 minus your $15 AdWords expense = $15. That‘s 100% profit. So, if you spend double it and spend $30 a day in advertising, you should make $30 in profits, and so on … Of course, you must ensure that you have low-cost keywords that fit the maximum cost per click and generate enough traffic to use up the daily budget. This is precisely what we‘ll review in the next section!

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Tips for Advertising with Google AdWords 1. Track Your Conversions & ROI – Use Google's conversion tracking codes and track everything. Just because an ad has a high click-through rates (CTR) doesn't mean that it‘s making you money! Google will ad track impressions, clicks and CTRs. If you don't know how each keyword is performing, you won't be able to optimize your campaigns. You optimize your campaign by turning off the keywords that are underperforming and investing more in those that are. 2. Set a Weekly Budget and Stick to It. When you're starting out with AdWords, it can become addictive and quickly get out of hand: blowing your budget and running up your expenses. Make sure you know a keyword or ad is working (per the above profitability formula) and why before you invest more money into it. A keyword may convert like crazy one day and the next day, nothing. Track your clicks and ad groups carefully and often. 3. Don't Enter Into Bidding Wars. You‘re going to LOVE using AdWords, and you may start to get overly excited at times, bidding higher than your competitors to get in on ―musthave‖ keywords. When you see this starting to happen – and you‘re starting to go beyond your budget – take a step back. Let your competitor be number one with that keyword; take the number two position and wait. If you‘re promoting a better product, your CTR will get you to the top. Bid the amount that makes YOU the most money, whether that puts you 1st, 8th or 88th. Interestingly, being at the top isn‘t always the most PROFITABLE spot! 4. Try Geotargeting Some of Your Ads. This can be done when you set up a new ad campaign and in your campaign settings. You can geotarget to individual countries and even cities. The more targeted a viewer feels your ad is, the more likely he or she is to click on it. 5. Adjust Accordingly When You Aren’t: Making sales … You don‘t have a crowd that‘s hungry enough. Or, you‘re presenting a hungry crowd the wrong product. So in the end they don‘t buy from you. Making profit … Your vendor‘s product is decent, but they might not be paying an adequate commission. Or, you may just need to delete any low-converting keywords. Making consistent sales … You need to find out where your traffic is coming from and work from there. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Chapter 6 Action Step 2

Pinpoint Profitable Keywords

eywords and phrases are the words that people type into the search box on Google and other search engines. So when running a PPC advertising campaign, targeting the right keywords

and key phrases is a crucial step in driving traffic to your site and closing sales. So You Found A Product, Now What? You get people to buy it, duh! Now that you have a product you are confident could net you sales, you need to find a way to get people to your website. But wait, who said anything about a website? You don‘t have a website? No problem – you don‘t need one! While having a website is helpful in many ways while promoting an affiliate program, it is in no way necessary to have. This is something MANY internet marketers do NOT want you to know. They want you to buy their crummy, premade, dime a dozen websites that won‘t do anything but suck the money straight from your wallet! Remember that link you received from entering your hoplink into the affiliates website on Clickbank? That‘s all you need! When a customer follows that link and makes a sale, you get the profit! You don‘t have to set up order forms on your website, do your own sales copy, or pay hundreds for design and coding. Pretty nifty, huh? But here is where most people go wrong. They find a promising product; spend a few hundred dollars on advertising only to find they made nothing. Why, I thought you just found a website and bought advertising? WRONG! Before you can even think about advertising, you need to develop a strong list of keywords to promote with! Keywords are the words that you can associate your website or product with. These are the terms you will advertise with. Basically, when a customer types in these keywords into Google, Yahoo, or other search engines, it determines what ads show up. So Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

for example if your keywords are cars, car insurance, and car loans, then when any of these words are entered into the search engine, your ad will be shown. Sounds easy? Yes, but be careful: If you take lightly this important facet of your campaign, you‘ll lose lots of money. Pay-per-click means just that: You‘ll be paying for every clickthrough on your ad, regardless of whether they make a sale or not. A bad choice of keywords will merely attract wasted clicks and drain your budget. When you run out of money, you will be forced to terminate your AdWords campaign. To select the right keywords for your AdWords campaign: 1. Establish what product you are promoting, 2. Understand the market it attracts and what benefits they seek, 3. Examine your product, and how it fulfills a need customer‘s need. 4. Mention these benefits in your AdWords ads. Identify a good supply of keywords that‘ll appeal to your potential customers. You must find many variations and different, similar key phrases to make your ads highly targeted and profitable! You can never have enough search terms. Depending on the product, the savviest affiliates have anywhere from 50 to over 500 dirt-cheap search terms per product. Search terms are cheap when: Relatively few Internet users are searching Google for this particular term – maybe a couple hundred/thousand people per month, and Relatively few marketers are bidding to have that particular term call up their AdWords ads.

Million-dollar Tip Sometimes, in a particularly competitive market, bid to have AdWords show your ads only for LOW VOLUME terms, those that only several hundred people are searching for each month. Take this low-volume keyword approach in MASSIVE multiple: bid on, say, a hundred or more cheap, related key phrases. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

The sheer volume will make it highly profitable for you. Your ad cost will be lower, yet you should realize sales at a nice clip!

Keyword Tool Google provides an excellent free tool to help people choose keywords. It‘s found right in Google‘s AdWords section, and it‘s called the Keyword Tool. Use it to search for any keyword or phrase and it will show you: How many searches were made for that term last month. Several related terms along with their last month‘s search volumes. To access the Keyword Tool, log into your AdWords account and click the OPPORTUNITIES tab along the top of your screen. Once the page opens, look in the column of links on the left and click KEYWORD TOOL. It‘ll open on a page like this:

For our how-to example, I typed the key phrase ―Italian leather handbags. Here‘s a shot of the results, which shows how many searches Google had last month for my exact term as well as similar, alternate terms I might use in my AdWords ads.

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

How to Find Profitable Keywords If you search for a general term such as coats, the keyword tool will list about a hundred related terms. Run the term ‗coats‘ through the AdWords bid tool and you‘ll see that MASSIVE amounts of money is being paid per click for ads to be shown when that‘s all that‘s typed into the Google search box. Such an expensive keyword is too expensive and too general to be profitable. Here‘s why you don‘t want a broad term on your keyword list anyway: Motivated prospects don‘t usually search using generic terms; they type in a more specific term instead. So targeting more specific terms is not only cheaper but you will also get more motivated prospects hence you‘ll potentially increase your conversion rate. But: There‘s a little problem with using a very specific term in your ad ... They don‘t usually have enough search volume. Not enough people are searching Google using that very narrow term every month.

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The Insiders’ Workaround Solution: Use as many cheap, specific keywords as possible in your various ads. They’ll add up a huge overall search volume! Because of their very low search volumes, most marketers ignore these terms and consider them not worth the hassle of promoting. That‘s why these terms are always so cheap to bid on. ;-)

How to Generate Tons of Cheap Keywords Here‘s the 3-step process…  Brainstorm a List of Related Broad/Generic Keywords Associated With the Product. Think from all possible angles to create a very long list. For example, let‘s say you‘ve chosen to promote an ebook about selling digital photography. The broad keywords you‘ll easily be able to jot down might include: photography marketing, selling photos, sell photography, start a photography business,

make

money

selling

photos,

digital

photography sales, and digital photography selling. If you get stuck, try these insider techniques: Scan the vendor‘s sales site. It should have a smattering of related generic keywords related to the product that‘s being sold. Also check the site‘s source code to find what the webmaster has typed in the ―keywords‖ tag section. o To check the source code, simply look at the top of your browser and click VIEW and then SOURCE. Toward the top of the new window, look for the ‗Keywords‘ tag, which will look similar to this:

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Notice the ‗keywords‘ tag above…this is what you are looking for. There should be a ton of keywords after this tag. Please note that rarely some sites will have this source code for their page hidden and in such cases you‘ll have to rely on finding generic keywords only at the site itself.  Create a List of Specific Keywords. Run your keywords through Google‘s Keyword Tool or at WordTracker.com. You‘ll get up about a hundred cheaper, more specific terms for each of your generic keywords. Create a list of these specific terms.  Select all profitable keywords. Now, check the bid price of each of your more specific terms by running them through the AdWords keyword bid tool. This will show you the cost per click if you decide to use these particular terms. Terms that are ranked in the top 10 and also fall within your maximum cost per click price range are automatic keepers. Select them!

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A CRUCIAL TIP ABOUT KEYWORD SELECTION! If your market is very competitive and finding enough keywords below your maximum cost per click is a struggle, here‘s how to work around it: Aim initially for less profitability… Instead of trying to make 100% profit, shoot for about 30% profit instead. Go ahead and select some keywords that‘ll cost more for a while, just to get your AdWords campaign sufficiently active. Once the ads are running for a week or two, Google will start giving you a Quality Score Rating. This will reduce your cost per click for those high priced keywords. Then, you can go back to targeting 100% profit as your goal. Google‘s Quality Score Rating System is explained in a subsequent section. Your alternatives to this strategy are to: Find generic keywords that aren‘t heavily and generate specific keywords from them that are cheaper, Find a higher paying affiliate product, or Switch to a less competitive market. Now, this I can‘t stress enough: Don‘t blow your budget in a bidding war, scrambling to get to the top position for your keywords. HUGE MISTAKE! I make thousands of dollars every day from low ranking ads. As long as my ad is on the first page of Google, I make money – regardless of whether mine is the first ad or not! Plus, since you should also allow Google to run our ads on its Content Network, your ad will get reap improved ranking with those search networks compared to Google‘s search engine page itself. So if your ad appears 4th on Google‘s search page, it could still easily appear 2nd at one of its Search Networks.

Tips for Using AdWords 1. Put Your Money Behind Moderately Searched Terms. For example, if there are 10,000 searches for your main key phrase, bid instead on those that only maybe 3,000 people have searched. This way, you‘ll get real traffic with less of an investment. An example: Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Using a generic keyword like coats to attract people in search of leather coats could show your ad to people who‘re searching for totally unrelated items like coats of paint. So instead of using the broad (and expensive!) keyword coats, bid on more relevant and descriptive keywords like Italian leather coats, or buy a designer leather coat. 2. Add Your “Negative” Keywords. This will screen out your ad from appearing before non-customers and prevent these unqualified leads from driving up your CTR and costs. For example: If you‘re an attorney and want to use the keyword trial, you‘d program your ads with the negative keyword –free trial to prevent your ads from showing on any search queries containing the terms free and trial. These are probably people looking to receive a freebie lotion, not legal service. To add negative keywords to your ad group is just like adding any other keyword. The only difference is that you put a negative sign (–) before the term. You can also add negative keywords at the campaign level. 3. Multiply Your Inexpensive Keywords. Inexpensive keywords can be found by expanding your list to include two or three word phrases, misspellings, plurals, synonyms, brand names, product names, and geotargeted phrases. 4. Minimize Keywords per Ad Group. Organize your ad groups to contain as few keywords as possible. This way you‘ll maximize the relevancy between the keyword and the ad. This improves your Quality Score and related metrics (CTR, CR, CPC, etc) and allows you to more easily identify and discontinue keyword and ad combinations that are poorly performing. By minimizing the number of keywords per ad group you also improve the chances that poor performance on one keyword strategy drag down your score on another keyword strategy.

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Final Tips About Keywords 1. Want to rack up some decent money, fast? I thought so! People will kill for a list of profitable keywords. Most people don‘t have the time, or knowledge to look for good keywords, but by the time you are finished with this book, you will! Just look up a few niche topics, and take the time to really run through these keyword lists, and develop a strong list of keywords. Once you have this list of keywords, you can easily browse multiple forums and sell these lists of keywords to people who don‘t have the time to do it themselves. You can very easily make a few hundred, if not thousands just by doing this alone! 2. Here‘s a million-dollar secret to steal the profitable keywords from your competitions: With your keyword list, key in one main keyword and take note of the websites that show up in the Adwords text ad on the right in Google. Repeat this for all the 5 main keywords and see if there is a common website that shows up all the time. Target this website to spy on. Open a Microsoft Excel document and list down all the keywords in your list that this competing website shows up for. Observe the list of keywords over a period of 1 – 4 weeks and see if this website still appears for each of the keyword. Eliminate those which have dropped out and retain all those that it is still targeting. There is good reason to do so because there is a likelihood that these are profitable keywords or phrases that continue to pull in profits for the website. It would explain the reason why the website is willing to pay the big bucks to stay within the top 5 positions in their

Adwords

campaign

for

these

set

keywords.

3. Some keywords are very seasonal. For example, you won’t have many people buying ice skates in the spring, or swimming pools in the winter. Simply by going to www.google.com/trends you can determine WHEN your keywords are most popular, and WHERE they are most popular. For example, I recently did a comparison between hockey, and soccer. Check it out:

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

As you can see here, soccer has a noticeable jump in the summer months, while hockey has a consistent dip in those same months. You‘ll even notice that soccer had a gigantic spike in the summers of 2006 and 2010. This represents the years of the World Cup. Try to utilize Google trends to see when your keywords are most active, where it‘s most active, and if it‘s declining or rising. If you find a high traffic keyword with a low competitor volume that‘s been steadily rising, you‘ve just hit the jackpot!

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Chapter 7 Action Step 3

Prepare to Boost Quality Score

oogle's Quality Score is a numerical value that Google assigns to every keyword in your campaign. This value is Google's representation of your ad‘s performance and relevance. The higher the Quality Score you have, the less you‘ll have to pay Google for each click. So, if you take all measures to improve the Quality Score of your ads and keywords, you‘ll spend less money to achieve your goals, whether that‘s lead generation or product purchase. Your quality score will be mainly based on the number of clicks your ad generates per so many times your ad is shown plus how well is the site you‘re promoting related to your keywords and AdWords ad. The number of times your ad is shown is known as impression and the number of clicks your ad generates is known as the Click Through rate (CTR).

So the goal is to get a high CTR to increase your quality score and hence get a high-ranking ad without paying anymore than your maximum per click price. This is why it s critical to ensure that your ads sell and create clicks as most times we will be paying far less than our competitors for clicks – in order to maximize profits! Google's Quality Score is important because it determines your 1) Ad Rank and 2) Cost Per Click. Your Ad Rank determines your ad's position on the search results page. The higher you rank relative to your competition, the better your ad position!

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Google's formulas for computing Ad Rank and Cost Per Click are as follows: Ad Rank = Maximum Cost Per Click x Quality Score CPC = Rank of the Competitor Just Below You ÷ Your Quality Score + $.01

Here‘s an example…

This example shows how Quality Score can prohibit you from bidding high enough to show up in the top position of the search pages. Even though advertiser James is bidding well above all of his competitors, he will show in the fourth position due to his low Quality Score. Each advertiser only pays the minimum amount required to maintain his position. So if you increase your Quality Score, your Ad Rank will also increase, and you‘ll have to pay less to achieve the same or better positioning! As of this writing, the only way to see your Quality Score in the AdWords area is by hovering over the magnifying glass next to each of your keywords in the old interface, and clicking the small text bubble next to each keyword in the new interface. Unfortunately I don't believe Google publishes our true Quality Scores.

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Chapter 8 Action Step 4

Creating Ad Copy That Sells

riting a Google AdWords ad isn‘t like the conventional ads you may have learned how to write in college. Treat AdWords like other ads, you‘ll have poor results.

Now that we have identified your keywords, and even used Google‘s very own tools to determine what kind of exposure and CPC we will be paying, it‘s time to think about advertising. Are you excited? You should be -- you are very close to making money! Just having a strong set of keywords isn‘t enough to get the ball rolling yet. This is probably the single most important part of affiliate promotion. This is how you get your visitors, and is a key factor in making sure they are even interested in your product. What you are trying to do is create written advertisements that are highly targeted to your visitor. This part of the product is important because it can be applied to many levels of marketing. First, we are going to need to create an Adwords campaign. AdWords gives you very limited space to write: 25 characters for headline, 35 characters for the first line, and 35 characters for the second line. Note: The 4th line will show your link, but not the part that includes your ID. This is done by putting your affiliate link in the destination website link box when creating your ad. But my main point is this: The traditional ―A.I.D.A.‖ principle for writing advertising copy is ineffective when writing AdWords copy.

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A classic guideline that‘s taught in marketing courses at every university, A.I.D.A. stands for Attention, Interest, Desire & Action. Unfortunately, Google doesn‘t provide advertisers enough space to effectively write ads using the textbook formula. So, over the years I‘ve experimented with various formats and found the following two formulas produce the best results:

Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

AdWords Copywriting Formula #1 Headline:

State a unique feature, like what the product does

Lines 1 & 2:

Focus on the greatest benefit the product offers

AdWords Copywriting Formula #2 Headline:

Pose a problem as a question, which the product can resolve

Lines 1 & 2:

Focus on how the product solves the problem above

In other words, get right to the point: You don‘t have the luxury of a lot of space to write your PPC ad. You have only about 5-10 seconds before the searcher‘s eyes and attention rove elsewhere, so you need to grab attention and create understanding IMMEDIATELY. Here‘s an example of both formulas at work: Example Formula # 1

Yellow Teeth Whitened How to Get Rid of Yellow Teeth in Weeks at Home While You Sleep! Example: Formula # 2

Embarrassed By Your Smile? While You‘re Counting Sheep, Your Teeth Can Undergo a Brightening Treatment NEVER offer a huge benefit in the headline of Formula #1. While a huge benefit headline works well in other ads, in AdWords they come off as too much hype. Therefore, they decrease your ad‘s effectiveness. But offer an extremely compelling and specific benefit in the body copy using both lines and with a nice flow. So, the headline should state an interesting feature, while the body copy details huge benefits. Remember a feature is what a product does, but a benefit is what the feature does for its user. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Sample Product Features vs. the Benefit Users Will Receive Dating tips for geeks | Attract a beautiful woman Business management secrets | Rise higher within your organization Fix yellow teeth problems | Get a superstar smile people admire

The Million-Dollar Way of Writing Ads There are a few basic principles that apply when it comes to marketing on any level. We‘ve already gone over a few of them, such as identifying your market, and finding ways to give them what they want. Those are good tips, but the big names are relying on a million-dollar little secret: Human Emotions. Everyone has this in common, we all have emotions, and we can all be filled with them, or drained of them. There are 5 very marketable human emotions, and I‘ll show you how to appeal to all of them in this section. Exploitable Human Emotion #1: Hope Hope is the most commonly marketed human emotion. People get depressed easily, often due to financial or health issues. What better way to get their attention than to promise wealth, all from the comfort of their own home? If someone desperately needs a new car, you can make them feel hopeful by offering to help them find it.

Instead of an ad like this:

Try an ad like this:

Don‘t just offer people boatloads of cash and a yacht from just browsing the internet. We are way beyond that stage, people! Throw something at them that attracts their interest. I don‘t want to hear about boatloads of cash, I want to earn real money to pay the darn bills! Even this guy‘s mom is doing it, what‘s so special about it? Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Exploitable Human Emotion #2: Urgency Urgency: People are more likely to buy something if they feel the offer is only offered a short time. To me, this is one of the weaker areas to market for, and really is only worth applying if you genuinely back up your statement. No one wants to miss a deal. It‘s a fact. People will wait in line in front of stores for literally days, if the sale inside is good enough. Some major stores actually hire professional guards to keep crowds under control during their holiday sale seasons. When people are offered a lucrative deal that expires in a short time period, they realize they better move! Every ad out there looks the first one. Wow, this guy has a million used cars. Oh look, so does this one, and that one, oh, and that one over there. Wait, what‘s this? Only 400 left? What if my dream car is sitting in that lot? What if someone else gets MY car because I waited until tomorrow?

Instead of an ad like this:

Try an ad like this:

Certain topics are better devoted to time sensitivity than others, and you‘ll find that out. Programs involving education, insurance, big ticket items, and in general, anything requiring a big decision will have a harder time benefiting from urgency. Exploitable Human Emotion #3: Influence Influence: People love to be told what to do, whether they like to admit it or not. Simply acting as an authority is a great way to write ads, and increase sales in general. How many commercials have you seen involving say, a sports super start endorsing the latest athlete‘s foot cream? Too many! If Michael Jordan is telling you that Nike helps him jumper higher and run faster, odds are, you are more likely to believe him over some couch potato that says the same thing.

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People love to hear from an authority, someone of influence. Offer yourself as a top dog in your field. You‘ve seen it, you‘ve tried it all, and YOU know what works. Here‘s a tip: Go to Yahoo Answers and answer any and all questions related to your niche, with a link back to your website included. Million-dollar little secret: If your field of business is so crowded, so jam packed, that you can‘t possibly appear to be a credible authority. Just get someone that is! People assume that authorities are so busy, that they can‘t possibly have a chance at getting them to approve of their product or service. This is wrong! Many strong influences in your field (even some celebrities) are very willing to promote a strong product, for the right price. A quick search can often result in an email address. You might even find that many internet authorities are very willing to promote your product, if you let them promote theirs alongside yours. Can‘t find the top dog? Who cares, get the second or third dog, they are almost as well known, and even hungrier for attention. Testimonials are the building blocks for solid, attributable credit. Exploitable Human Emotion #4: Dread Dread: Is probably the strongest human emotion here, and is also the most controversial to market it. There is a fine line between good promotion and simply driving customers away! The idea here is to make your customer dread using the competition‘s products, or to make them simply fear being caught without yours. Make the customer NEED to have your product. If you are selling health insurance, make them aware of how much a simple surgery could really cost them, or how the price of prescription drugs can put them out of a home. These scare tactics are brutally effective when done right.

Instead of ads like these:

Try ads like these: Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

If someone told you that you might go blind forever, would you risk eye surgery? Even if that person was a complete stranger you had never seen before, without any scientific evidence, you would already be wary of eye surgery, and more likely to stick with traditional means, conveniently provided in your advertisement. Exploitable Human Emotion #5: Dread The final and most general emotion to play off is intrigue. This is what it‘s all about, arousing enough interest in someone to inspire them to click on your ad. Try to generate a little intrigue by using some of these million-dollar methods. Tell them to buy someone else‘s products. You are so full of confidence in your product, you are sure they‘ll come back crawling after receiving poor results. Obviously, don‘t give them a direct competitors link or name, as they might simply go out and buy that product. Our customers have varying ranges of patience and intelligence and you need to appeal to all of them. Simply don‘t care if they purchase or not. This is more useful in the general money making market. You are making thousands of dollars, what do you care if they buy your product or not, after all, they are missing out, not you! This is a great strategy as long as you don‘t just tell customers to leave your website and never bother you again. Lines such as ―Not interested? That‘s fine. I‘ll go check up on my bank account, I think it grew by the thousands since I‘ve been wasting time with you,‖ can generate intrigue. Million-dollar little secret: Don‘t be afraid to bash someone else‘s product. This is an unbelievably lucrative method. You may be afraid of directly attacking someone else‘s products, but don‘t be! This really won‘t hurt your competitor, as almost undoubtedly, customers will check out what all the hubbub is about. If your competitor has a good sales copy, you will actually send a few sales their way, while at the same time, boosting yours. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

But what if they fight back? EVEN better! This does nothing but boost your own image, as they their own sources of traffic are now hearing about you! This is not for everyone. Don‘t go too far with attacking your competitors. Simply give a relatively valid reason you dislike it, expand on it, and promote your product. There is no need to systematically destroy opponents, really, that just hurts you. Slander and name defacement is not acceptable. The difference between ―John Doe‘s Widget sucks, here‘s why, buy mine‖ and ―John Doe cheats on his wife, didn‘t pay taxes, and wears ladies underwear! Oh yeah, his Widget isn‘t very good either‖ is quite different, both logically and legally!

Latest Ad Copy Trend Recently there is a dirty little trend going around. It‘s an adaptation of thinking outside the box, basically, being quirky. While results vary case by case, this idea is best applied for creative products in very tough markets. For example, write an ad so unusual, so random that your audience won‘t really know what to do, other than click on it. This works in mostly two ways, either by completely insulting the customer and hooking them in, or by being very vague and abstract with some kind of clue. You kind of have to use your own judgment and play it by ear. Here are a few examples of quirky ads in the Making Money and Relationship markets (two of the most cutthroat).

As you can see, these ads normally would be too bold or obtrusive, (or downright silly) to even possibly net a few clicks, but in a market cluttered with ―gurus‖ and ―professionals‖ sometimes this is what it takes to stand out.

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Effective AdWords Guidelines There are plenty of physical products (e.g., cheap vs. luxury hotels) where stating or alluding to price is smart. But: NEVER quote the price of a digital product in your ad. Some affiliate marketers believe that doing so will generate only quality clicks, and therefore increase their sales conversion rate. But including the price simply obstructs the proper selling sequence and actually decreases your conversion rate. Leave it to the vendor‘s site do the price point marketing at the proper time: when it‘s time to close the sale! Google allows you to choose whether to run your ad exclusively on its search engine, or also throughout its network partners. Always select to run within Google‘s network partners as well. This gives your ad the widest possible coverage and exposure. Google doesn‘t allow the use of an exclamation mark (!) in headlines of an ad. However, you can use one in the body. But please this punctuation sparingly. Many readers are desensitized to exclamation marks them and consider them a sign of advertising hype to avoid. Google also doesn‘t permit ALL CAPS in ads. You can, however, capitalize the first letter of every word, writing in what‘s called ―title caps. Almost everyone uses title caps these days, in both the headline and body copy. With short ads such as AdWords: Capitalizing the First Letter of Every (Important) Word Helps Create an Impact. If you are having trouble thinking of what to start writing, then a good way to overcome that barrier is to just go to Google and type in the keyword to see what kind of ads are displaying. You don‘t want to copy the ad, but you can certainly use them for your own ideas. Find any flaws, or weaknesses, and exploit them to your advantage. Also, something to consider is that sometimes, telling people what they don‘t want or can‘t have will make them want it even more!

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Chapter 9 AdWords Campaign Management Tips



Test and tweak your ad copy, with a goal of eventually landing

on the most powerful word flow possible. Even the slightest of changes matter. You might not find all tests worth doing, but know

that even a single punctuation mark can make a significant difference on your CTR. Some basic changes to test include seemingly incidental bits, such as: Whether you put the www in your display URL, Different use of CAPS in your ad copy, and Use of other punctuation and special characters.  Make small changes at a time. For instance, start with your headline first. When you are changing the headline, don‘t make any other changes. Run that test for a while and find out the best headline that gives you a good CTR. Once you achieve an acceptable result, move to the next item and test it thoroughly. Concentrate more on increasing your CTR initially, slowly working your way up to increase your conversions.  Once you‘ve tested and found your most effective ad for a particular product, get rid of having various Ad Groups for a campaign. In other words, I whittle and refine my system down to having only ONE ad per site, and have ALL of my keywords under that one ad. This way, I maximize my click-through rate with that ad.  Leave “Inactive” keywords in your ads, along side the Active keywords. The keywords are marked inactive if you bid below the threshold required by Google for that particular word. You see, the threshold is ONLY for your ad appearing on Google‘s search engine page: they may still show up and gain clicks within the content network! So, by leaving my Inactive keywords in there, I still get clicks by paying only the low cost per click I specify! These clicks cost nothing compared to what Google wants me to pay. Sometimes I get content network clicks on Inactive keywords for ridiculously low costs! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Because 60% of my clicks come from content networks, I simply ignore Google‘s ―Increase Your Bid‖ command. So don‘t panic the next time you find 50% of your keywords are marked as ‗Inactive‘.  About having your own website or landing pages? Personally, I‘ve never needed all of this! ALL of my ads link directly to the vendor‘s sales site. Some experts argue that having your own site is the best way to market affiliate products, but I strongly disagree. I‘ve tested some of the best landing pages and still find that about 90% of them fail to deliver prospects to visit the vendor‘s site around 60% of the time. So unless you are very, VERY good at writing web copy, 60% of the time your prospects won‘t even visit the site you‘re promoting. This just creates another time, money and energy hurdle you‘ll find hard to overcome!

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III. The Millionaire Affiliate Income Formula

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Chapter 10 Millionaire System Explosion

hen I first started making nice money from affiliate marketing, I was pulling around $2,500 a week. But then I realized that if I could generate $2,500 EVERY DAY if I replicated that success!‖

This is the mind frame you, too, MUST adopt in order to make massive amounts of cash from an affiliate marketing venture. To that end, I‘ve devised the Millionaire System Explosion.

How the Millionaire System Works Your aim is to find and promote a different affiliate site every day, using the low-maintenance direct linking approach. With all the steps I‘ve previously outlined, this shouldn‘t be difficult at all. Every day you‘ll:  Find a website that qualifies under the 8 Rules as a probable high converting affiliate website.  Extract as many profitable keywords as possible.  Create your AdWords campaign for that site and set your daily maximum expenditure to $30. If you manage to deplete your $30 daily budget, you should be able to make $40 in profit each day.

Important Notes Your AdWords ads will start appearing almost instantly, but it could take up to 2 weeks or more to gain momentum with your click-through rates. So please do not get discouraged if after 1 week things still feel slow. It‘s normal. Since you‘ll be starting a new Google AdWords campaign every day, here‘s how your profit will accumulate:

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Day One:

Campaign #1 profit $30 = $30

Day Two:

Campaign #1 profit $30 + Campaign #2 profit $30 = $60

Day Three:

Campaign #1 profit $30 + Campaign #2 profit $30 + Campaign #3 profit $30 = $90

And so on! Your profits will really start to accumulate in just a few days, and you clearly don‘t need to do much once a campaign is up and running.

Your Millionaire System Explosion Income Day 20 daily profit = $600 ($18,000 monthly) Day 30 daily profit = $900 ($27,000 monthly) Day 50 daily profit = $1,500 ($45,000 monthly) Day 70 daily profit = $2,100 ($63,000 monthly) I‘ll leave to YOU to decide when you‘ll like to multiplying the money! With over tens of thousands of digital products from which to choose at ClickBank and PayDotCom, there‘s no reason these figures shouldn‘t be achievable: I‘ve given you the exact proven tools to make this happen. Plus, I‘m doing precisely this, and so are many of my clients! Note that I‘ve suggested the very modest amount of $30 as your daily profit target. Now, if you double this investment to $60, you‘ll effectively double your profits as well! Trust me, no other affiliate marketing system gives you this sort of earning potential, with so little work involved, no less. Once your ad copy is test, tweaked and tight, you‘ll be on autopilot. Best of all, you don‘t have to worry about customer service, failed downloads, answering queries, and the other headaches that many affiliate marketers deal with by using other methods. You‘ll spend less than an hour each day on this, but bank a slew of hefty commission check every 2 weeks! Making money simply doesn‘t get any better than this!

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Now that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;re fully confident of my affiliate marketing system, the next section of my guide, Traffic Giant, will lead you the way on how to drive massive amounts of traffic to your destination!

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Introduction

TRAFFIC GIANT

aakkee M Moonneeyy wwiitthh AAffffiilliiaattee M Maarrkkeettiinngg Over the past decade, affiliate marketing has taken the online world by storm. It’s primarily been an activity of small to mid size website publishers operating on niche website categories. The average per year growth is a healthy 16%, and for many, it’s an extremely lucrative online business. Many are selling digital products such as instantly downloadable ebooks and software – items that either tell people how to accomplish something (e.g., lose weight, save a marriage, make money online, start a business, groom a pet, etc.) or computer-related products. Many others are affiliated with retailers such as Amazon, Swarovski, Lending Tree and beyond. And between those two points on the spectrum, there are countless business opportunities that allow affiliate marketers to make excellent commissions online.

But there are land mines! Don't get blindsided. The greatest challenge all affiliate marketing entrepreneurs have is driving high quality, relevant traffic to their affiliate website. It’s about leveraging your time and monetary resources to attract the RIGHT crowd to your site, and optimizing a few power tools to that end.

The affiliate marketing traffic strategies in this guide have proven powerfully effective for driving and acquiring visitors to an affiliate site. You only need take each effort seriously, habitually incorporating them in your business to realize profitable results. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com 66

TThhee FFooccuuss ooff TTrraaffffiicc GGiiaanntt There are numerous ways to attract more prospects to an affiliate marketing site. Some of the most popular ways are shown here:

However in Traffic Giant, we’re focusing on the 5 absolute most powerful ways to draw a crowd for exposure to your sales pitch, and they are:  Blogging  Article Marketing  Video Marketing  Social Networking  Pay-per-click Advertising I consider these the essential activities in which you must engage in order to attract enough potential buyers to make real money as an affiliate. For each recommended marketing tool, we’ll look in-depth into WHAT it is, WHY it works, HOW it works, and the BEST PRACTICES of those who’re succeeding as affiliates, thanks to these techniques.

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TTrraaffffiicc GGiiaannttss aarree KKeeyywwoorrdd KKrraazzyy!! It’s important to note that in each of the five categories we’ll examine its impact on search engine optimization (SEO) for your affiliate marketing efforts. That’s because search engines play a major role as the backbone of being discovered by potential customers on the Internet. People use search engines to find just about everything they’re looking for online. So obviously, you want to build a high-quality affiliate website, one filled with relevant content achieve top ranking among the search engines. One of the most important things you can do to this end is become ―best friends‖ with the keywords for which you want your site’s presence to be felt! Keywords are the most significant element of success in traffic generation. Keyword strategies have the power to skyrocket your site toward the top positions on the search engine results pages – which is about as far as most people seeking information look. So are you ready to start thinking BIG, and working SMARTER? If you’re serious about affiliate marketing, TAKE ACTION: Now’s your time to become a money-earning Traffic Giant!

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Section 1:

Blogging Chapter 1 What Is Blogging?

Chapter 2 Choosing a Blog Hosting Service

Chapter 3 Blog Content

Chapter 4 Organic Traffic Blasters

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Traffic

BLOGGING 1

hat is BBllooggggiinngg?? Blogging has become a fantastic vehicle for earning extra cash or even making a full-time living. Blog marketing, as it’s called, has taken the online world by storm and doesn’t seem to be a passing fad. The number of bloggers is growing exponentially. Industry analysts at eMarketer estimate

that in 2007 there were almost 23 million U.S. bloggers and more than 94 million blog readers.

Blogs (i.e., ―web logs‖) are sites that people set up to provide how-to information, opinions and news about relevant events, ideas or anything else they want to discuss. In addition to informative and/or entertaining text, blogs typically feature links to related content on other sites, photos, videos and sound. For the business crowd in particular – solo entrepreneurs and corporate giants alike – blogging has taken on even greater importance. Done right among affiliate marketers in particular, a blog’s an essential marketing tool.

AAffffiilliiaattee BBllooggggiinngg ffoorr DDoolllaarrss For affiliate marketers, a blog provides an essential way of:  Selling goods and services, and Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

 Earning revenues through advertisements. Just about every niche and field imaginable can be the theme of a successful blog, albeit some niches are far more popular than others. Tons of people want to learn how to make money online, for example, so that’s an extremely popular blog theme. Plenty of people want the latest celebrity gossip – that’s another popular niche. Small business marketing, dog training, parenting, electronics watch, job hunting, politics, website design, fashion – the list of viable blog categories goes on and on. Some people blog to showcase their expertise and attract clients (e.g., wedding photographers, business coaches); others are selling products they created or earn a commission from (e.g., book authors and electronics affiliate marketers); and others still are blogging to enjoy the advertising revenues (e.g., political pundits and gossip writers). Actually, the vast majority of bloggers are ―monetizing‖ their blogs, somehow making money with advertising..

TThhee BBllooggggiinngg EExxppeerriieennccee Just like your local newspaper or TV station, you want to consistently provide fresh content: what’s hot and current, an original perspective, the insights that your audience will value.

In fact, in the blog publishing world, the most popular advice for success is Content is King. The more thoughtful and lively you make a blog, the more people it is likely to attract. The more serious you are about blogging, the more frequently you should update your site. Readers become more loyal to a lively, ever-fresh and newsy blog. Interacting with existing and potential customers through a blog makes the experience more gratifying for both parties. This is one of the key benefits of blogging over just having a more Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

traditional, ―static‖ website. However, it’s only fair to note that with these benefits do come some disadvantages that discourage many from taking on blog marketing. Cultivating a popular blog, regardless of niche or industry, requires a lot of time and dedication. Our society is characterized by its desire for instant gratification, and this can be a detriment when it comes to blog building. Because, as you will see, it takes a lot of determination to make a blog successful. Also, in order for your blog to be a hit, you must be willing to allow your readers to comment with their feedback. By listening to your readers and having the patience to stick with it, you can develop an influential blog in your niche. As you build trust among those who faithfully read or subscribe to your blog, you can amplify your voice, recommending products for impressive profits!

BBllooggggiinngg RReeqquuiirreess W Weeaarriinngg M Maannyy HHaattss It’s called ―blog publishing‖ for a reason. It is, for sure, similar to publishing your own newspaper. As a blogger, you’ll have to enjoy wearing all of the following hats: Writer, Story Editor, Story Researcher, Site Promoter, Sales Marketer, Expert Opinion-leader, and Graphics Acquisition. To be successful and competitive, you’ll want to learn all that you can about these areas. All of this, plus staying up with what’s going on in your field, and keeping an eye on blogging advancements, new tools and best practices. To be sure, it’s a continuous learning process, and the hope is that you will become a better blogger as time goes by.

Consider

your

blog

your

But at the end of the day, you need to learn the basics of how to increase visitor traffic to your blog.

business, a store or office, if you

Ultimately, you success as an affiliate marketer is

will. Now, how do you get

dependent on your ability to attract a strong and steady

customers or potential clients to

stream of targeted traffic.

come, mill around, and spend money?

Without traffic, your blog is being read by no one and

will go nowhere. But first things first: You must choose one of the many blog service options and get it set up! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

hhoooossiinngg aa BBlloogg HHoossttiinngg SSeerrvviiccee Now comes the big question: which hosting service should you choose to power your blog site? There are many options, which include:  a Google Blogger Blog

 a Wordpress.org blog  the blog that comes with your website (that is, if you happen to have a website)

First, which of these blogging platforms can make you money? If you have a website with a blog option, you can evaluate it against what we’ll cover here. Because both a Blogger and a Wordpress.org blog can be monetized. If you have high quality content and provide value to your readers, you can (and will) make money with either. However, it is true that Wordpress has the potential to make you the most money, when all is said and done. The reason is that a Wordpress.org blog welcomes a level of customization that Google’s Blogger doesn’t. Wordpress was super-smart in opening up its platform and allowing techies to design all manner of add-on bells and whistles that people could put on their blogs. These ―plug-ins,‖ as they’re called, let you add a large number of features to your blog, making it more unique and stylish. There’s even a Wordpress.org plug-in that allows you to make a section of your blog private, for paid members only. So, with an eye to making even more money online with your blog, only Wordpress.org currently offers this potential advantage. Yet, Blogger is definitely easier to learn and use… If you don’t know HTML from a whole in the wall, go with Google Blogger because of its simplicity. Or, if you’re willing to invest more time in learning, Wordpress.org is the best blog platform to choose.

GGooooggllee BBllooggggeerr Google Blogger is accessible at http://www.blogger.com. It’s an extremely popular blogging platform for a variety of reasons, including that it’s easy to use. And it is FREE!

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But just because it’s simple to get a blog up and running on Google Blogger doesn’t mean it’s lacking in the features department. Over time, serious upgrades have been made to this blog hosting service, allowing your site to become even more intricate and specialized. Video, polls, RSS feeds, and newsreels are just some of the free features you can add on to enhance your blog’s appeal. It’s also possible to buy your own domain name and have Google Blogger host it, free of charge. A Blogger blog can be set up literally in minutes and published for the world to read in record time. If you are new to the art of blogging, Google Blogger may be the best way to start, as it only takes a few minutes to create, as shown step-by-step in the following section …

CCrreeaattiinngg YYoouurr GGooooggllee BBllooggggeerr BBlloogg First, you’ll need to have a Google account, preferably an account through Gmail.com. Gmail is Google’s free email service, which is needed to log in to Blogger and other Google services. After you’ve set up a Gmail email account, simply follow these instructions: Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

 Log in to Blogger using your Gmail email address and password. Visit http://www.blogger.com to do this. Once logged in, click ―Create Your Blog Now.‖  At the ―dashboard‖ control screen enter a title for your blog its URL. For example, http://www.janetlovesblogging.blogspot.com.

 You’ll be alerted if the blog URL you’ve chosen is already being used by another Blogger user. If so, pick another blog title.  Enter the word verification and click the ―Continue‖ button.  Your next task is to choose the template for your blog. This template controls the look of your blog including the layout, colors, etc. There are a dozen templates to choose from, and you can change your template later on if you like. Now click the ―Continue‖ button.

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 You’ll see a verification screen announcing that your blog has been created. Now, you can start blogging and get your blog out there!  For your first day, it’s best to write a minimum of five blog posts. Also, you’ll want to utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to create your posts in order to have a better presence on the Internet. We’ll delve deeper into SEO later in this report.

W Woorrddpprreessss..oorrgg The other popular blogging platform, Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.org), is extremely customizable. Initially, Wordpress users needed more technical knowledge than those who use Google Blogger. Now, however, setting up a Wordpress blog is easier – but it isn’t free.

You’ll have to pay a web hosting service (e.g., GoDaddy.com, HostGator.com) to make your Wordpress.org blog visible to the world.

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Note: Wordpress does have a free version, which is Wordpress.com. However, they don’t allow you to run advertisements such big traffic builders like Google’s AdWords or Yahoo! Advertising Network. For this reason, I’m not recommending it. Affiliate marketers must go with the dot-org version of a Wordpress blog to optimize their money-making potential. Wordpress.org gives you the opportunity to fully customize your blog so that it fits your tastes, personality, and the purpose of your blog. This blog platform has tons of free and customizable themes that can be added to your site. Readers tend to enjoy reading Wordpress blogs since they are all so different from each other and all have such individual looks.

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lloogg CCoonntteenntt The key to getting more traffic for your blog is to keep your blog filled with high quality content. The perceived value of the content on your blog is the main reason people will visit your site, and it’s the only reason they’ll keep coming back. Content, after all, is the number one reason visitors come in the first place.

Your blog’s content should always be useful to your readers in some way. ―Useful‖

can

mean

insightful,

shocking or even humorous as long as it keeps them reading. Your blog posts should contain tips or data that your readers can use to achieve their goals or enhance their overall quality of life. If you strive to continuously make your blog’s content relevant to your readers, then your readers will continue to come. Blogging provides a service, like newspapers do. It’s best that for every ten posts you write, you make at least, say, seven of them nothing but purely helpful content. In these seven posts, you’ll ask nothing from the readers: no selling. Instead, you’ll ask for the reader’s participation and appeal to their purchasing power in the occasional, remaining three posts. By utilizing this discipline of sparingly selling services or products through your blog, you help to ensure its prolonged existence. Your readers will view your blog as something that adds value to their lives, not just as another highly commercialized site that’s always in their face about spending money.

KKeeeepp iitt SShhoorrtt When you write a blog post, keep in mind that a reader isn’t going to commit to pages and pages of text. On average, a visitor will only spend up to a minute on a particular web page. Therefore, your posts should get your point across clearly and quickly. Don’t waste time on flowery descriptions and words—inform or entertain your readers with short posts. Long, Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

rambling blog posts will only serve to annoy and frustrate your readers, and they may not be as apt to coming back. An occasional long post is okay, but mostly strive to get to the point with quicker reads, so they have time to click elsewhere on your site. Practice creating short, tight articles. On average, your blog posts should never be more than 500 words long. More than 500 words, and your visitors’ short attention spans will kick in. Actually, it’s a good idea to restrict maybe half of your posts to 350 words.

BBee YYoouurrsseellff People who visit your blog are looking for informative content presented in a casual setting. Give the people what they want! Shrug off your ―professional‖ attitude and stay away from ―formal‖ tones and writing styles… Boring! Be yourself by sharing your opinions. However, there is a fine line between speaking your mind and being too brutally honest. While your opinions and beliefs are part of what make your blog unique, you don’t want to turn off your readers with extreme, negative posts that put down those who have different beliefs. When you speak your mind in your blog posts, you’re encouraging discussion between your readers. The more discussion and comments that are made, the more likely your readers are to come back and join in the fun.

W Wee AArree VViissuuaall AAnniim maallss People like to look at pictures. Think about it: Would you be more attracted to a blog that includes visuals such as images, photographs, statistics, video, illustrations, and more; or to a blog that is solely text? People need visuals to break up text, to let the eye have a slight respite of variety. It’s just the way we work.

IInnsseerrtt LLiinnkkss Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

This is something that a lot of people new to blogging seem to forget. Each blog post is a great opportunity to steer your readers to your business website or recent press that has been released about your company. Inserting links in your posts helps to increase the number of sales leads that visit your site while also increasing the traffic to the sites you link to. It’s best to use anchor text that’s related to the website it links to. For example, if you want to link to your business website that sells ceiling fans, use ceiling fan as the anchor text. The biggest waste of a link is to word it something non-descriptive like click here. Descriptive, keyworded anchor links convince search engines like Google that what you’ve written about ―ceiling fans‖ is worth sending traffic to.

EEnnccoouurraaggee IInntteerraaccttiioonn When readers visit your blog, they have the ability to leave comments. This empowers readers, making them feel more involved. They may have a good opinion about what your topic, and they’ll often LOVE to share it! Readers’ comments may refer to the content of a particular post, or they may refer to the overall look and feel of your blog. Regardless of what types of comments you receive, it’s important to encourage comments, as it increases reader participation – which leads to your blog becoming more popular. It’s easy to encourage comments—simply ask your readers a question at the end of a blog post. Your responsibility when it comes to comments and suggestions is to always respond. Even if it’s a negative comment, thank the reader for taking the time to share their opinion. As they say, even bad press is good press. It’s particularly important to respond to comments that warrant a response. Any feedback that your readers offer you can help give you and your blog direction.

SSttaayy UUpp--ttoo--DDaattee Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

When a reader becomes a ―regular‖ visitor, she expects to see new content almost every time she visits your site. Don’t let her down! Make sure to always keep your blog up to date. You should be posting information on a regular basis, and that information should be fresh. One way to keep yourself on track is to create a schedule telling you when you need to post on your blog. It doesn’t matter how often you post as long as you post on a regular basis. Maybe you post every day, Monday through Friday. Maybe you post three times a week on fixed days. Make sure to stick to the schedule you set for yourself so that your readers can learn to depend on your regularity.

W Whhaatt SShhoouulldd II W Wrriittee AAbboouutt NNooww?? Even the best writers run out of things to write about. It’s called writer’s block, and it happens even to literature masters. If you find yourself with a topic pool that’s empty, there are several tricks you can use until your inspiration returns:  Interview subject experts. Do you write a blog about fashion? Interview a clothing designer or boutique owner. Subject experts have a wealth of information to share that will fill up at least one or two blog posts.  Get inspiration from other blogs. This doesn’t mean to steal ideas from other bloggers; simply read other blogs about your industry and see if a few ideas come up.  Talk about new news in your industry. It’s easy. Simply search for some news articles related to your niche and write about the breaking news! Just be sure to cite the articles you refer to in your post.

1100 BBeesstt BBllooggggiinngg PPrraaccttiicceess 1. Use lists and bullet points. People love reading lists. They are quick to read and convey a good amount of information in a short period of time. 2. Write posts that will be relevant throughout the year. You want your readers to come back again and again, even if that means to check out older posts. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

3. Be one of the first bloggers to post about a particular topic, and then encourage others in your blogging community to write about the same topic. 4. Don’t be afraid to show that you’re an expert. Your readers will grow to depend upon your advice and expertise. Sharing your leadership has its rewards! 5. Write about other bloggers. The goal is to get these bloggers to write about you in return, leading more traffic your way. 6. Include polls for your readers to participate in. Quizzes are fun, too. 7. If you take your own photos for use on your blog, post them on the photo sharing sites such as Flickr. This way, if Flickr users come across your photo, they may want to visit your blog to see what it’s all about. 8. Consider your blog template as a piece of art in progress. You want to continuously improve your blog’s look, and that means keeping your design and layout fresh. 9. Pull inspiration from everything around you. Keep your eyes open every day, all day: while you ride the subway to work in the morning, as you take your lunch break in the park, and while you grab dinner with a friend. Inspiration for your blog posts can be found anywhere. 10. For bonus traffic invest your time in developing a few absolutely, authoritative ESSENTIAL blog posts. Example titles and themes: 25 Best Chicken Recipes, 30 Greatest Online Marketing Tips, 40 Writing Tips Every Freelance Writer Should Know, etc. People constantly flock to these types of blog posts in droves, as they’re ever-green resources! The greater the number, the more traffic you’re likely to attract.

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rrggaanniicc TTrraaffffiicc BBllaasstteerrss Offering quality content is king, and readers won’t stick around loyally without it. However, after you have unique information and helpful insights on your site, a strategy aimed at getting more eyeballs to see it will pay off handsomely. But as the old saying goes, ―You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink‖… If you have not taken the aforementioned steps to ensure

you

have

quality

content,

doing

everything else I’ll cover in this guide will be wasteful.

When we talk about ―organic‖ traffic, we’re referring to non-paid methods of attracting site visitors. Most of what’s covered throughout this guide will help you increase traffic organically, in fact. Needless to say, you want to optimize these free strategies to the greatest extent possible.

SSeeaarrcchh EEnnggiinnee OOppttiim miizzaattiioonn Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help your blog rank higher in search engine results. This is an obvious advantage as it will bring more traffic to your blog (and isn’t that the goal?). SEO is a crucial way of structuring your blog’s content so that more prospects can discover it. You do this through the repetition of certain words and phrases pertaining to your affiliate niche, which should be generally the same as the subject of your blog posts. How high your blog ranks for search engines determines how easy it will be for new readers to find you. For example, if you’re blogging about digital photography, you want people searching for "photography tips" or "photography marketing blogs" to be able to find yours. That’ll only happen if your page is search engine optimized and ranks high on the search engine pages of Google, Yahoo! and the like.

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There’s an official name for the set of terms and phrases that you want to repetitively use on your blog so that prospects can find you in the search engines. These important words and phrases are called your KEYWORDS AND KEY PHRASES. The more you can use these within your high-quality content, the more you’ll come to realize that keywords are powerful: They will help you attract qualified leads (i.e., site visitors) who can result in sales!

KKeeyywwoorrddss aanndd KKeeyy PPhhrraasseess To use basic search engine optimization for your blog, you must first have an idea of the audience you’d like to attract, and what type of information they’re seeking to learn online. First, figure out what words or phrases best fit your affiliate products, and write them out in a list. Now, your goal is to write as many blog posts about what your target audience cares about as possible, using words that are relevant

For example, if your affiliate products or services

to your affiliate product niche. To do this, you

involve, health or nutrition, you might want your

want to choose the common words and phrases

blog to attract people who’re looking for a variety of

that people will type into the search engines

tips and advice such as those shown in the picture

when seeking the kind of products/services your

above.

affiliate business promotes. Brainstorm your own list of keywords and phrases, These are your keywords and key phrases. Use

based on what your affiliate products and blog

them repetitively in your blog posts. In fact, use

focuses on. Then, use Google’s Keyword Tool and

a key phrase 5-10 times in a blog article,

other tools we’ll cover to lengthen your keyword list.

depending on how many words long your post For each phrase your target audience is known to

is.

search for, you should create many blog posts on the To get the most SEO bang for your buck, target

topic. Tell each keyword’s ―story‖ from a variety of

a main keyword phrase in each blog post, and

informative angles.

you will find that secondary and long tail (those with low but desirable search volume) phrases fall naturally in place as a result.

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The number of times you use an exact phrase in any given blog post or article is called Keyword Density. The best practice is to have each blog post achieve between 3-5% keyword density:  Fewer than 3% keyword density means the search engines won’t take your coverage of the topic seriously enough to rank it higher on the search results pages.  More than 5% means the search engines will assume your writing quality is poor and possibly illogical, as you’ve probably ―keyword stuffed‖ a phrase too much for it to read logically. Search engines also evaluate how thoroughly you’ve focused your content, judging by the emphasis you give keywords elsewhere surrounding your post. So, make a point of repeating your targeted terms and phrases when typing:  Blog post titles,  Initial paragraph,  Subheadings  Photo / Image tags,  Tags, labels and categories for each blog post, and  Overall title tags in your blog’s template. In a later section, I provide you a list of keyword tools. One of them, in fact, will allow you to know your exact keyword density for a particular blog post or article.

Blog Posts & Titles Use the most important keywords in your blog post title. How your words are ordered in your title makes a difference to your search engine position. The first word / words in the title will have more weight than those used toward the back end of the title.

Initial Paragraph of Post Repeat your most important keywords in the first sentence or, at minimum, the first paragraph of your post copy. Google’s search engine places extra heavy emphasis on the first 20 or so words. So, the closer your key phrase for a particular blog post is to the beginning of it, the better! When possible, simply make your key phrase the very first words of the entire post. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Blog Categories, Tags & Labels Organize your blog by keyword / phrase categories, and create depth in each category. Place each blog post in your single best category for that key phrase. A blog’s categories and tags help people easily find the topics they’re interested in. The more they find easily and keep clicking to, they longer they’re staying on your site – which improves your search engine ranking.

Photos & Images Tags Use pictures not only to beautify, but to actually improve your blog's search engine ranking. When you insert an image in a blog post, add keyword-rich text to describe it. The text will be displayed by the search engines even if your image isn’t downloaded, making your blog discoverable on the Image search pages of Google, Yahoo! and the other engines. Use what’s called the ―Alt Tag‖ to type a description for an image, restating your keywords in a different context to further boost your post higher on that particular page of search term results. Note: If you’re using a Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org blog, the alt tag text is added via ―Edit Image Title.‖ This is separate from the caption, ―Edit Image Caption.‖ With a Blogger blog, you cannot add these tags unless you know a little HTML coding. When choosing a title or sentence to describe an image, choose something that relates to the post, never irrelevant / generic wording like ―Picture #2.‖ Use a keyword or two!

Proper Use of Links Links are important for your site's search engine optimization. Search engines notice how well you’re linking to other people’s related websites. If you link to a site with a higher search engine rank than yours, your rank can go up a little –

Be sure to link within your

particularly if they link back to yours.

own site – from one of your blog pages to a similar one – is a VERY important linking strategy for search engine

When you use links, be sure to use relevant words for the link itself. For example, if you were linking to another blog, and the post was titled "Best Weight Loss Tips," the linked text (what readers click to access the other site) should read Best Weight

optimization. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Loss Tips or something similar. NEVER link using empty, non-descript words for your links like "read more here." This is a bad practice because the search engines give extra weight to the words appearing as linked text. It’s called ―anchor text.‖ In fact, make these links bold or italicized for extra SEO power!

Moderation and Usability Never use ―keyword stuffing‖ in an attempt to increase your posts’ keyword density. Sure, you definitely want to leverage your wonderful keyword research, but never lose sight of the real point of all of this: As a blogger, you must come off as an expert – a helpful resource or coach – and not a desperate keyword abuser. Use a few good keywords you feel are relevant to your content, which means they are visible – not color camouflaged to trick the search engines. Just vary versions of the term(s) you’re hammering in any given post, while still ensuring your keyword density is still 3-5%.

Overall Blog Title Tags The title tag of your blog itself is defined as the words that appear between <title> and </title> in your blog’s template. In essence, it is the name of your blog and its tag line. Guess what: You need to use keywords and phases that reflect the main focus of your blog there, too.

UUppddaattee FFrreeqquueennttllyy Regularly update your blog, posting new content often. Search engines like to put the most current results in their highest ranked positions. A blog that hasn't been updated in three months will probably not get the top spot. Regular posting also increases the amount of content and discoverable keywords on your site, helping to improve your search engine ranking even more.

IIddeennttiiffyyiinngg UUnniiqquuee BBlloogg TTrraaffffiicc BBllaasstteerrss Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Here’s a big secret to blog traffic success: Identify which content readers flock to and do it again – and again! Each time, improve what your audience best responds to. The thing is, there’s no one technique that’s going to bring every blog a flood of new traffic. But if you try lots of different approaches to see what’s a hit for your site, you’ll be on your way! Look for big hit approaches that work for your blog, niche, or targeted demographic, and then build upon them. Some questions to help identify what works best and should be refined and duplicated for your readers and niche:  What topics generate most comments on other blogs in your niche?  What topics generate most comments on your blog?  Which other sites do your readers visit a lot, and what activities are they doing there?  What other sites send you most traffic? How can you build relationships with their owner/publishers?  What was your biggest traffic day – what brought it about?  Which of your posts are getting linked to most from other blogs/sites?  What features are readers asking for? In other words, pay close attention to what sparks the most interest in your site (and other sites in your niche), even if it’s a small spark. Where there’s smoke and energy, there’s traffic fire! Repeat these winning themes in new and improved ways.

88 TToopp TTaaccttiiccss ttoo BBuuiilldd BBlloogg TTrraaffffiicc 1. Submit your blog to blog directories such as MyBlogLog, Techmeme, Technorati and BlogCatalog. Each has a huge community of other bloggers with whom you can Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

connect and gain a constant flow of site visitors – and potential buyers of your products or services. 2. Set up an RSS feed so that people can subscribe to your blog and automatically know when you publish new content. It’s pretty easy to do through a free service like Feedburner. 3. Invite guest bloggers to post on your blog. Not only will this give you a break for a few posts, but it’ll also bring in those people who religiously follow what your guest blogger writes. 4. Keep up with current events. If you can write a blog post relating both to your niche and to something going on in the world, then do it. This will help your blog stay current and relevant to your readers. 5. Use visitor tracking software. This type of software (e.g., Indextools or Feedburner) helps you identify which of your posts are the most popular. You can use this information to create more content of this type in the future. 6. Utilize social bookmarking sites. When you submit your best blog posts to social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon), you can easily boost traffic. Socialposter.com is a good tool to use that allows you to submit your blog post to a number of social sites.

LLiinnkk YYoouurr BBlloogg ttoo YYoouurr BBuussiinneessss W Weebbssiittee Many times, those who are new to blogging already have a website set up for their company. There are undoubtedly people who visit your existing website every day, so invite them to click over to your blog, to continue seeing the total depth of your expertise!  Post a link to your blog on as many web pages of your site as possible.  Put a link to your blog in your email signature.  When a prospect shows interest in your business, invite him/her to visit your blog.

IInntteerraacctt wwiitthh OOtthheerr BBllooggss

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Blogging is a huge community. There are millions of blogs out there, and they have their own social world. It’s not practical to expect this social world to come to your blog right after you create it. So, how will others in the blogging community even know that your blog exists?

A large number of potential readers are out there, visiting other blogs. The only way to get their attention is to

By commenting on others’ blogs, you’re encouraging that blog’s owner and readers to visit your own blog. Who knows? They may become a fan or even subscribe to your blog.

throw your own comments (and the link to your blog) out there so that people can learn about yours. Consider commenting on others’ blogs a mustdo to increase your own traffic.

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Section 2:

Article Marketing Chapter 5 What Is Article Marketing?

Chapter 6 Keyword Density

Chapter 7 Write Now!

Chapter 8 Submitting to Article Directories

101

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Building Web Traffic

ARTICLE MARKETING 5

hhaatt iiss AArrttiiccllee M Maarrkkeettiinngg?? Studies have shown that people trust online articles more than they do email marketing or any form of Internet advertising. You write articles – as many as possible – positioning yourself as an authority on the subject. What’s more, article marketing is an excellent strategy for attracting traffic

for FREE, particularly if you don’t have much of an advertising budget to work with. A best practice in article marketing involves the creation of hundreds (or more) short articles related to your specific industry (e.g., nutrition, gardening, cooking, business startup, dating – you name it)! Unfortunately, only authoring five or 10 or 20 articles won’t help you build sufficient traffic to make real money. So, develop a mindset to dominate your niche with articles.

The web traffic-building aspect kicks in once you submit your writings to various article directories (i.e., websites that catalogue articles based on various subjects). All sorts of new people will learn about your expertise and start flocking to your blog or website! Having a strong presence in article directories can help your site generate massive traffic, authority and the SEO juice of backlinks. Your article(s) will run along with a short bio or byline, and the directory website displays ads related to your topic on each article page.

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The higher your article appears in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing, the more traffic your articles will generate. As you generate more articles and page views, you will enjoy the benefits of backlinks: links that lead to your blog or website. Once the directory site shares your articles via RSS (―really simple syndication‖) with their subscribers, the exposure to your site and number of backlinks can go way up! While the links are important, it’s not the only thing you should focus on. You really have to go beyond the links and think about the value of the placement, the potential traffic you will generate, the audience you will reach and how your articles will be branded. Once you do that, you’ll have better quality links and increased benefits. Still, when it comes to article marketing, a good rule of thumb is quality over quantity. Content value is the name of game here. When writing anything for the web, it should be with an eye towards SEO or search engine optimization. In other words, your articles should contain the keywords that people would commonly use to search for your particular topic. While it may be tempting to write a ton of articles and submit them to as many article directory sites as possible, that will actually hurt your potential income. Duplicate content will actually drive your SEO rankings down, which is exactly what we don’t want! So, a little advanced planning and extra article writing to make each piece different enough will give you greater rewards.

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eeyywwoorrdd DDeennssiittyy It’s not enough to have the right messages on the page, though it’s important. You also must have the right placement and density of keywords. These are two of the most important components in optimizing articles for search engines. Search engine spiders virtually crawl across a page looking for relevant and popular keywords, so their placement on the page is important. You want them to be easily detectable and recognizable as keywords. This is what allows your article to ―crawl‖ its way up the search engines results pages when a particular set of keywords are typed in at Yahoo! or Google.

Incorporate your keywords throughout each article. When a keyword appears several times, the search engine spider will target that keyword and determine your page to be valuable to people who type in those same search words. Most people who query the search engines type somewhat random phrases. So, when deciding your keywords, be sure to include the modifier terms which help make the page more relevant. Keyword density is a percentage that indicates how often those keywords appear in your article. Most webmasters use this keyword percentage as a guide to calculate how many times a keyword or phrase should be repeated in an article. The optimal keyword density is between 3 and 5 percent. Any higher and the search engines will deem your article to be of poor quality and will dismiss it. Don’t do it! Bold, underline or italicize your keywords to make them stand out, but don’t go overboard. Mastering keyword density will

The penalties for keyword stuffing can

take some practice. As long as the article isn’t overly optimized,

be severe, ranging from lower page

your ranking will increase and so should your profits. Articles

rankings to being outright blacklisted

too focused on keyword density usually result in an uninteresting

as a habitual keyword stuffer. Lay off making every other word a keyword

read.

and you should be fine. Why is it important not to go overboard with your keywords? Otherwise known as ―keyword stuffing,‖ this is the overCopyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

optimization of keywords. By stuffing your article with keywords, the search engine spider will think you’re trying to trick it into ranking your page higher on the search results pages, which usually means your article doesn’t provide a quality read.

SSeeaarrcchh EEnnggiinnee OOppttiim miizzaattiioonn The most effective way to find the best keywords is through a keyword tool. I recommend you use at least one of the following four: 1. Google Keyword Tool: This free keyword tool is a great place to start, though keep in mind it doesn’t provide exact numbers. What you get are search volumes and competition for particular keywords as a ratio compared to other keywords in that category. 2. Wordtracker: Wordtracker quickly generates keyword lists and provides the number of searches done for each term, and how much competition you’ll have. It uses the "KEI" (Keyword Effectiveness Index) so you can determine the most effective keywords to use. Unlike Google’s Keyword Tool, this is not a free service. 3. Keyword Elite: Keyword Elite is also available for a cost. Keyword Elite tells you how many people searched for a keyword; the results number of blog or website articles shown to them; how many ad campaigns exist on the search engines for that keyword; and how much advertisers are paying for a keyword. Additionally, you can see what advertisers’ ads looks like, which is particularly helpful if you have pay-per-click campaigns – which we’ll discuss later. 4. Textalyser. Another great tool to utilize is Textalyser, which allows you to paste the text of your article and will give you the percentage of keyword density.

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rriittee NNooww!! Now that you’re more familiar with the mechanics of SEO and keyword density, it’s time to get busy: It’s time to start writing! Of, course if writing simply isn’t your forte, you’ll need to hire a good writer: a professional freelancer who’s already good at writing content for the web.

If you’re more comfortable going the freelance route, just be sure to bring in someone who’s an expert at creating SEO content. Believe me, there are good writers all over the Internet who don’t know much about keyword density and the like. They can’t really build traffic for you. When developing your articles, you want high-quality content that’s original, lively and engaging. Avoid writing a 400-word article with precious little information of value, just to write a 400-word article. Your goal with these articles is to build authority and equity in the market, which in turn will garner more than just high search engine rankings – it’ll drive massive amounts of targeted traffic to your articles.

DDeevveellooppiinngg YYoouurr W Wrriittiinngg SSttrraatteeggyy If you decide to do the writing yourself, you might be in a panic as you think about the hundreds (even thousands) of articles you’ll need to generate in order to be truly successful at article marketing. Take a deep breath and relax. By developing a plan and sticking to it, you can come up with a steady flow of articles. Brainstorm: Before you start typing, decide on three or four relevant points for your chosen topic. On average, your articles should be about 400 words; shoot for writing about 100 words per each of the three points you come up with, with the remaining 100 split between your opening and closing paragraphs. Your opening paragraph should set up the premise of your article, while your closing paragraph should either sum up the points made in the main article or supplement them.

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Outline: Create a mini-outline with brief notes about the points you want to cover. For example, if you were writing an article about flower arranging, your outline might look something like this: ►

Introduction

► Flower

selection (selecting a theme, type of flower)

► Cutting (best

method, type of scissors)

► Arranging (choosing a

container, filling the container, arranging the flowers)

► Conclusion

At this stage, don’t worry about writing an introduction. Your goal is get the words on the page regardless of grammar, spelling or the word count. Just write your thoughts, as if you’re telling a friend this information!

Article Production Tips 1. Keep a notebook handy and make a habit of regularly writing down article ideas. Revisit your ideas in a few days and refine them as necessary. 2. Inspiration is everywhere; people you talk to on a regular basis, an overheard conversation, even a walk around the block. You never know when that great idea will hit! 3. Don’t reject an idea right away. Good ideas sometimes come from not-so-good-ideas. 4. After you have reviewed and refined your article topics, pick one and write it! 5. Don’t stop to constantly read your article. Focus on writing and worry about editing later. 6. Now go back over it, making sure you’ve repeated your keywords and phrases sufficiently, without making the piece sound unnatural. Tweak and alter sentences where necessary to make your targeted terms fit in perfectly. 7. Publish it. Now go back and do it again!

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TThhee AAlll--IIm mppoorrttaanntt HHeeaaddlliinnee It has to reach out and GRAB readers. It’s got to convey, ―I have exactly the information or solution you’re missing! You’ll miss something really good if you don’t click me NOW.‖ When it comes to creating headlines, everyone has their own method. Sometimes, the title will come to you before anything else, and the rest of the article will flow naturally. For others, like myself, writing the article first, and then coming up with the headline afterward works best. Do what works best for you, and don’t worry if the article you end up with isn’t the article you envisioned. Articles evolve as you write them and that extends to headlines as well. Whatever method you use, the greatest headline in the world is useless unless people find and read your articles online. The headline has quite a load to carry! Below are a few tips and tricks to come up with catchy headlines that get noticed by search engines.

W Whhoo DDoo YYoouu W Wrriittee YYoouurr HHeeaaddlliinneess FFoorr:: PPeeooppllee oorr SSeeaarrcchh EEnnggiinneess?? Are your headlines crammed with keywords? If so, you’re missing a lot of traffic! Headlines that simply rely on keywords will hold little to no attraction for your intended audience. When writing headlines, you must create a marriage of words that will entice everyday people, along with relevant keywords that’ll inform the search engines. This will guarantee steady readership and healthy search engine traffic. Search engines will give greater weight to your headlines over your body copy. So, your headlines must lure readers into wanting to read your entire article, but must do it in a way Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

that includes keywords associated with the topic – without going overboard. If they can’t find your SEO articles on the web, how will they ever read them?

EEnnggaaggee YYoouurr RReeaaddeerrss At the end of the day, you want people to like and value what they’ve read, because you want them to become part of a growing, loyal readership. Here are a few tips to keep your readers ―loving‖ you – coming back for more: Inform and entertain. Take to heart that old adage: Write what you know. As you begin writing articles, write about things you’re interested in or have a lot of knowledge about. What you don’t know about the topic, take a few minutes to RESEARCH IT. For real authority, include documented facts to back up your points. Quote a credentialed expert or source. Write with audience in mind. Think about what will be the most useful information for them to learn and be creative in your approach. Use short paragraphs: It’s a sad but true fact: People don’t always read what you’ve written. When they do, they’ll tend to skim over big blocks of text and chunky paragraphs. Stick to a few well-crafted sentences per paragraph to get your point across. Use numbers, bullets and boldface: If there are important points you want to emphasize, highlight them somehow, making them stand apart from the rest of your copy. This is most useful in how-to types of articles that include lots of tips and guidelines. Bullets and numbers are also a great way to visually break up your paragraphs. So are bold subheadings. Use headings and subheadings: Headings and subheadings alert the reader to information they really want to know. Similar to numbers and bullets, they provide a break in the text and create a sense of well organized information. Your headings and subheadings should be catchy and not interrupt the overall flow of the article. Keep them short and use snappy keywords/action words. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Use anecdotes: Real-life examples bring any story to life. Tap either your own lessons/stories or those of people you know, even celebrities to help the reader relate to your information. Use facts and figures: For extra heft, back up your articles with timely and/or startling stats. Use sparingly so you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t scare off your readers. Too many stats and percentages crammed together looks intimidating. Strive to incorporate them within a conversational tone.

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100

uubbm miittttiinngg ttoo AArrttiiccllee DDiirreeccttoorriieess Utilizing article directories and will drive traffic to your site and your articles in no time. And that equates to more affiliate money. So, now it’s time to actually submit those articles. The goal is to submit them to many directories.

As a smart strategy, revise each of those original articles, making them fresh and new enough to submit to many other article directories. That’s because duplicate content gets discounted by search engines, so getting the same article picked up by hundred of sites won’t do you any good. Submitting to a leading directory like Ezine Articles is the best place to start ...

There are two key groups of people who heavily use article directories: 1) individuals who’re likely looking to buy what you sell as an affiliate and 2) people who publish websites and need fresh content in your niche … Most article directories allow people to use your articles for free on their site, as long as they don’t change your signature as the author or the link to your site! Once various webmasters put your article(s) on their site, you’ll possibly get a significant increase in your web traffic. Imagine having hundreds of articles, each showing on 30 or 60 well-ranked websites out there … Imagine the backlinks and SEO power; imagine the increased site traffic and potential affiliate sales! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

101

DDiivviiddee aanndd CCoonnqquueerr To maximize the potential of your articles, submit half of your articles to the top 5-10 article directories. Ezine Articles has been leading the article directory pack for some time, so definitely submit articles to that site. When it comes time to upload your article, you’ll be prompted to choose a category, sub-category, a headline, teaser and keywords. Once you’ve filled out each box, hit submit and voila – you’re published!

While the remaining list seems to shift, as of this writing, here are the Top Ten. Don’t discount the lower ranking directories: even the 10th-ranked directory can yield awesome results for you: 1. EzineArticles.com 2. eHow.com 3. ArticleBase.com 4. GoArticles.com 5. Buzzle.com 6. ArticleDashboard.com 7. ArticleAlley.com 8. iSnare.com 9. IdeaMarketers.com 10. ArticleSnatcher.com

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102

Now this next part may seem strange, but submit the rest of your articles the top 30-50 quality article directories. These article directories usually have really high rankings, will only accept the highest quality articles, and have strict submission guidelines. Using this divide and conquer method is beneficial for a couple of reasons:  With the limited submissions to the top-ranked directories, you’ll get a few really strong backlinks;  With the mass submissions to the lower-ranked, but high quality article directories, you’ll get even more backlink juice, which adds up. Because search engines change their search protocols on a daily basis, it’s hard to pinpoint the most effective method. By utilizing this technique, you’re covering all your bases.

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103

Section 3:

Video Marketing Chapter 9 What is Video Marketing?

105

Chapter 10 Getting Started: You Tube

108

Chapter 11 Video Marketing Considerations

111

Chapter 12 Video Production Tips

113

Chapter 13 SEO & Promotion Tips

116

Chapter 14 24 Free Video Distribution Sites

120

Chapter 15 Resources: Distribution Software & Tutorials

121

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104

Building Web Traffic

VIDEO MARKETING 9

hhaatt IIss VViiddeeoo M Maarrkkeettiinngg?? Over the past several years, the use of online video marketing has exploded. In a nutshell, online video marketing is defined as a marketing strategy to promote products and services through the use of informative yet catchy videos. It’s extremely easy for anyone to upload videos online and attract a large audience to their website. From aspiring rock bands and politicians to ministers, book authors, and artists, people from all walks of life are finding massive followings for their talents, thoughts, and causes via videos. Numerous video search sites have emerged over recent years, but YouTube clearly is THE largest video search / discovery destination: People all over the world are using it every second. In fact:

 In late 2008, YouTube surpassed Yahoo! for the first time in total U.S. search queries, making YouTube the 2nd largest search engine in the U.S., next only to Google (which it’s owned by).  In January 2009, the U.S. Congress launched multiple official Congressional YouTube channels, giving each member of the House and Senate the opportunity to create his or her own YouTube channel. (You can have your own channel, too!)  In late 2009, there were more than 3.7 billion search queries on YouTube, as measured by comScore. This was a 31% increase over the previous year. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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So, in this section, we’ll go over online video marketing for beginners, some do's and don'ts, and steps and tips to get started.

W Whhyy UUssee OOnnlliinnee VViiddeeoo M Maarrkkeettiinngg?? If you’re an affiliate marketer with a tight budget who needs quick and easy ways to drive website traffic (and ultimately sales), it’s becoming increasingly important to understand the power of video as a marketing tool. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, more and more people spend their time watching TV or surfing the net than they do reading. Even Amazon’s Kindle has made it possible to read entire books on a screen, instead of the traditional, in-your-hands way. This increasing tendency to live life in front of a screen gives Internet marketing videos a real advantage when it

Seeing the big picture here? Being discoverable

via

video

engines is essential not only for wannabe singers and comedians, but for affiliate marketers,

too.

Many

marketers

–

companies large and small – even have their own YouTube channels which they consistently update with new content, news

comes to advertising to attract potential customers. Instead of customers poring over pages of web text, they can watch a short video instead. It can convey the same message, but in a more enticing way. Online video marketing is a low-cost, magnetic way to get the word out.

and information.

AAddvvaannttaaggeess ooff VViiddeeoo AAddvveerrttiissiinngg Companies use marketing videos when they want to promote their product or service in a more intimate way than traditional television commercials allow. With videos, you can push the envelope more than in a standard commercial. You can also afford to tell your whole story. Regular TV commercial time is costly.

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Plus, the Internet allows online videos to spread like wildfire! They have the ability to make the rounds faster and be seen multiple times by a multitude of users. Good or useful videos – and there are many – are shared among friends, family and colleagues. Commonly known as a viral video, it’s easily passed around via email or instant messaging. It’s an effortless way to drive traffic to your website.

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eettttiinngg SSttaarrtteedd:: YYoouu TTuubbee With millions of visitors every day, YouTube allows you reach lots of people in a short amount of time – and with minimal effort. In addition to being pretty cheap to do, video marketing is relatively simple to implement. Even using the

equipment -- video gear and software -- is easy. Even for technophobe it’s uncomplicated. BUT: Your first mission is to understand what video marketing is all about. The easiest way to do this is to visit YouTube. Search for videos created by affiliate and other marketers to get a feel for what and how they’re promoting. You’d be amazed at all the goods and services discoverable on YouTube. Register for the site by clicking on ―Create Account‖ in the upper right-hand corner.

Besides commercials, there are a ton of how-to, tutorial videos and product, system and technique demonstrations. Check out how many page views these videos get, what the comments at the end of the video are. Which ones have the most positive feedback and which ones have the most page views? Note: While you’re looking, you might also discover some new affiliate products to get on board with. And if you do, isn’t this further proof of how effective this particular video was?!

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In any case, this type of research will give you a nice overview of video marketing and provide some insights into what constitutes a popular video. The most popular videos usually have a few things in common. They might be around the same length, use similar background music or images, etc. Do your due diligence and watch a nice cross-section. Make a list of the common elements you notice to incorporate into your own video. After you’ve done your homework, it’s time to think about making your own video.... Examine the products you want to promote via video. What would the tone of your video be. Which approach will you take to presenting what you sell? Is it interesting or exciting enough that showing it at work would be engaging? Or would it make more sense to create a tutorial or other relevant how-to information to viewers?

SSoofftt--sseelll iinn VViiddeeooss ffoorr SSuucccceessss The trick to creating a successful online video is not to make it to overly promotional. Viewers are pretty savvy and can tell when you’re blatantly trying to sell them something, and they’re turned off by it. A soft-sell is a much better choice. For example, a cosmetics company might feature real women using their products, but won’t directly talk about price or Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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where the products can be found. Rather, the video will provide the company’s web address in order to generate site traffic and eventually, sales. So, distinguish yourself – your brand – with flair, but …  View the customer as a human being rather than as a "walking wallet." Avoid pitching too early in the sales process. Approach your scripting as if trying to establish a relationship. Create familiarity by speaking directly to your ―friends‖ out there. If you’re going on camera, be relaxed … conversational … personable … warm!  If you try too hard and fast to sell all of your bells and whistles, you run the risk of eroding the viewer’s trust. Many will assume you’re too desperate or some type of scammer for coming on highly promotional off the bat. Chill out any tendency for hype.  You’re likely dealing in a how-to affiliate world, where knowledge is currency. Video viewers need to be convinced that you know your stuff, and that you’re passionate about sharing it to help them. If your affiliate product can help solve their problems, prove it. Give enough to whet the viewer’s appetite, making them want more of your good stuff!  Share your knowledge of the industry, key trends, how things are changing and how what you’re selling can improve what the viewer cares about. Show that you understand their challenges, concerns, and needs.  Sharing ideas and knowledge is irresistible to customers. As a seller, you’ve had an opportunity to learn so much more than any one of your prospects has. By willingly sharing what you know, you significantly enhance your value.  Last but not least, remember that consumers are accustomed to viewing videos with high entertainment value, action, drama, animation – any kind of element that isn’t stagnate. If you want your video to be well viewed, don’t make it so boring. Make it lively! If you need to bring an interesting friend, relative, your pup or what have you into the picture to give it a twist, go for it! Make it memorable.

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iiddeeoo M Maarrkkeettiinngg CCoonnssiiddeerraattiioonnss It’s not enough to put your video up on the web and hope for the best. You have to have a plan for drawing eyeballs. Keep the following tips in mind as you prepare, produce, and publish your work.

Once you’ve produced your video, optimize it by making it user-friendly. This includes making sure the video starts right away and doesn’t take several minutes – or even several seconds – to load. You have to engage your audience right away, or risk them hitting the dreaded back-button to watch something else. Producing videos for the web means you can play a little fast and loose with the normal production standards such as good lighting. This isn’t a lavish production that’ll be viewed on a big screen TV, but on a tiny computer screen. You aren’t necessarily trying to entertain viewers, so much as you’re giving them information that’ll compel them to buy your product. A big decision to make is whether you should limit your video to YouTube and the like, or also upload it to your blog. It all depends on your audience, the product or service you’re selling, and the audio-visual treatment you give it. You can craft it to make sense both on your site and offsite, if that works best for your business model. Or you customize versions Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

Be sure to include your website and contact information in the video itself, since YouTube won’t allow you to link 111 to websites.

that make more sense for each of those respective environments. Just be mindful of ―synching-up‖ your video content and next steps with where it’ll be shown. So it’ll make sense and reflect that you’re sharp, buttoned up, and care about details. Of course, if you need Internet buzz and customer feedback, it would be best to focus first on getting your video on YouTube (and similar sites). The YouTube comments left about your video can be valuable, as they can tell you about your audience and whether your product or service resonates.

PPootteennttiiaall CChhaallleennggeess Like anything, there are potential issues associated with video marketing. For starters, many people considering a video marketing campaign need to take into account bandwidth and its cost. Bandwidth determines the volume of traffic a web host can handle at a given time. Because of this, some web host providers either won’t allow you to post videos or they set such small bandwidth limits, it’s impossible to upload videos. Also, if your site’s deluged with video traffic, having insufficient bandwidth can make it a slow and disruptive pain to view videos on your site. Additionally, don’t assume everyone has uniform hardware, software and Internet connections. You’ll have plenty of site visitors who can’t view your video, for one reason or another. So it only makes sense to have non-video pages on your site, so this group will still be able to learn what you’d like them to know about what you’re selling. Plus, actual text content is better overall for SEO, closing sales, and traffic-building any way.

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iiddeeoo PPrroodduuccttiioonn TTiippss There’s no need for fancy equipment; a webcam that comes with most new computers and an inexpensive microphone work just fine. If you

aren’t keen on being in the video, try using still pictures, which can be found on the Internet for free or cheap through a variety of sites. Do a voiceover and/or some music (just make sure you have above-average sound quality) and that’s it! While it sounds elementary, simple videos made this way can often get millions of hits. Of course, if you’re more of a stickler for top-quality and can upgrade the equipment used here and there, your video will turn out even better. If you can step it up here and there, here’s the scoop …

Preparation, Scripts and Whiteboards Before you start your video, have a plan about what you want to communicate. If you try to make it up as you go along, it’ll probably turn our messy and ineffective. Put the presentation down on paper so you can see where you need to go and how you need to get there.

Note: The optimal length of a video is five minutes or less. People have short attention spans. They won’t sit still to watch your ten minute opus. The faster you make your point, the better. Pre-write your scripts and rehearse your words before you record. Most importantly, be calm and prepared prior to doing your live recording because you don't want to repeat the recording process over and over.

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Make simple, large-sized ―cue cards‖ out of white poster boards. Either write your message as BIG bullet-points to glance at speaking extemporaneously, or if you don’t have extensive wording, put it all on the board exactly how you want to say it. Either way, place your cue card above and behind the camera so you can easily read the script and still appear to be talking directly into the camera.

Note: One of the biggest mistakes people make with web video marketing is not communicating what the video is about within the first 7 – 10 seconds. Lighting Record your video in a well-lit area and make sure any extra lights being used are behind the camera, never in front of it

Audio Equipment Don't over-complicate things. Renting a recording studio won’t noticeably improve the acoustics of your video. When making a simple video for the web, the only audio you need would be your choice of a built-in if using a camcorder, a wired, wireless, or even a freestanding microphone.  If you can afford a wireless mic, you’ll look more professional and up-to-date.  If you use a wired mic, use a lapel mic because headset mics look pretentious.  Another option is to use a microphone stand that fits under the recorded screen area. Just be sure you get one that’s compatible with your camcorder device.

Use Stock Footage One of the easiest and most effective ways to make a low-budget production come off looking slick is to incorporate snippets of some of the high-quality visuals that are available as stock footage clips.

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Most royalty-free stock footage is quite affordable and relatively easy to get, so you save both money and production time. It’s a lot cheaper and easier to get your hands on than having to construct every single scene yourself. Another benefit is the reduction of your carbon footprint.

Stock footage is great for

Stock footage is definitely a viable option when you’re

transitions between scenes,

producing your video. Sign up for a service that offers HD

backgrounds or to mark the

stock video clips and download a preview video for a test

passage of time (for example,

edit. This will get you familiar with the editing process, as

the sun going down).

well as save you time and money.

Finally, because so many stock sites will let you download a ―comp‖ (i.e., watermarked) video images before you purchase, you can do some test editing. This will help you know if you’re on the right track with your creative vision, or if you should go back to the drawing board.

Ready, Set, SHOW! When you’re ready to upload your video to YouTube, simply visit the site and hit the ―Upload‖ button in the top right-hand corner and follow the instructions.

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EEOO && PPrroom moottiioonn TTiippss As I mentioned, SEO is what will allow your potential customers to unearth you and buy your product or service. So, be sure to design your videos with SEO in mind, as search engines can’t understand video content. Using thorough and extensive keywording is as important as the video itself. This is how people will find your

video.

What follows are some video marketing SEO tips:  Give your video a good name. Incorporate keywords that will make it easy to find. A title full of numbers isn’t going to be easily found.  Don’t limit your SEO to video search engines. Make sure content search engines are in the mix as well. Use Meta tags (information inserted into the head of your Web pages) for the content of the page where you put your video.  If you link to your video from other pages of your website, use anchor text (the visible clickable keywords or phrase as your hyperlink)  Double check you gave your videos the proper extension.  For the most effective SEO, create separate video site maps, which can be submitted to video and content search engines. Both kinds of SEs will index these site maps.  Include RSS feeds, which will allow you to insert metadata (text, voice or image that describes what the viewer will see or hear)  Optimize with keywords. Just like any type of text-based content, video SEO involves optimizing with target relevant keywords — both for search engines and for user experience. Use keywords in: ►

File name

►

Title

►

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►

URL

►

Link text

►

Beyond that, include a paragraph of optimized text that provides a brief description of the video. Again, the benefits are twofold: You’ll improve the user experience and your search rankings.

 Distribute videos on video-sharing sites. In addition to posting videos on your own site, video-sharing sites are effective tools for gaining visibility and additional links. Remember these few points to maximize results: ►

Don’t forget that videos hosted on YouTube and

other video-sharing sites should be optimized for keywords ►

YouTube channel pages — and those of other video-

sharing sites — should be optimized, as well ►

Use a video distribution service like TubeMogul to

deploy your videos to the top sharing sites.  Implement a linking strategy. Video is judged by the same linking standards as all other forms of digital content. So building both internal and external links is crucial for video SEO. Ideas for a linking strategy include: ►

Cross-linking to other videos

►

Linking to videos from relevant web pages

►

Linking to videos in blog posts

►

Linking to videos from social media pages

►

Bookmarking the video

 Encourage viewers to share your videos. First thing is first — if you want users to share your videos, you must create content worth sharing. If your video isn’t interesting, relevant, entertaining or informative, users aren’t likely to share it, let alone view it. From there:

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► Allow ►

and encourage viewers to comment on the video

Make it easy for users to share your video on You Tube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace

►

Offer video content in multiple formats so users can choose the one that best suited to their platform and connectivity speed

 Re-purpose your videos. As with text content, the more optimized video, the better. Get creative in order to repurpose videos across the web: ►

Embed videos in blog posts

►

Break up long videos and create multiple shorter ones

►

Use transcriptions of videos to create blog posts or content for web pages

►

Take screen shots from videos and post them to Flickr and other image-sharing sites

►

Turn offline content, such as training videos or videos of a conference keynote speech, into optimized digital assets for your website

TTiippss ttoo PPrroom moottee YYoouurr VViiddeeoo  The No. 1 key to success in online video marketing is to submit your video. YouTube, Yahoo! Videos or Google Videos are great because they’re free and won’t suck up your website’s bandwidth.  Allow users to link to your videos. Viral marketing videos are cheap, fast and easy way to expose your product or service to a lot of Internet user communities.  Submit your site to Google Video (which owns YouTube). Google provides "thumbnail" images of videos and their running time. Type "Google video submit" into Google. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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 Make sure to include phrases like "Tell a friend" or "Visit our Website.‖ Video marketing is a great tool for communicating your messages efficiently and accurately at minimal cost. This makes your affiliate business stand out from your competition and really distinguishes your brand. Just keep your videos short, sweet and to the point – and don’t forget SEO. With patience, attention to details and persistence, you could be the next Internet video sensation!

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FFrreeee VViiddeeoo DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonn SSiitteess Following are other free video distribution sites that can aid your online video marketing efforts:

1. www.Blinkx.com (submission guidelines can be found at www.blinkx.com/rssupload) 2. www.Bolt.com 3. www.Crackle.com 4. www.Dailymotion.com 5. www.Ebaumsworld.com 6. www.Guba.com 7. www.Spike.com 8. www.Metacafe.com (a revenue-sharing site) 9. www.Myspace.com 10. www.Photobucket.com 11. www.Propeller.com 12. www.Veoh.com 13. www.Viddler.com 14. www.Stupidvideos.com 15. www.Vidilife.com 16. www.vSocial.com 17. www.video.yahoo.com 18. www.Yikers.com 19. www.ktvu.com 21. www.youtube.com 23. www.vimeo.com 24. www.disclose.tv

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eessoouurrcceess:: DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonn SSooffttwwaarree && TTuuttoorriiaallss The following links may be helpful for video distribution software and tutorials:

Video Distribution Software  www.NetmarketingRevolution.com  www.VideoPostRobot.com  www.VideoUploadPro.com

Video Distribution Service  www.TubeMogul.com

Outsourcing Video Distribution to Freelancers  www.getafreelancer.com

Free Video Membership Site  http://www.webvideotraffic.com/

Free Video Tutorial Sites  http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/desktopediting/Video_Editing_Tutorials.htm  http://videoproductiontips.com/video-production-tips/  http://www.reelseo.com/video-tutorial-shoot-video/  http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=9420  http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp_ind.htm  http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/  http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/  http://www.digitaljuice.com/dj_training/

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Section 4:

Social Networking Chapter 16 What Is Social Networking?

123

Chapter 17 Social Media Giants

128

Chapter 18 Facebook

132

Chapter 19 Twitter

141

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Building Web Traffic

SOCIAL NETWORKING 16

hhaatt iiss SSoocciiaall NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg?? Social networking is interaction with others via social media, which makes it easier for people to connect with others over the Internet. It allows affiliate marketers to connect with a well-targeted group of likely

customers.

Social networking has caught on like wildfire. The most popular social media sites for networking include Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, FriendFeed, and Ning. People use social networking to share recipes, photos, ideas and to keep friends updated on our lives. In many cases, you can use social networking tools from mobile devices such as Blackberries and iPhones as easily as from a PC or Mac. By its very nature, social networking is interactive. You can tell anyone (that you want to talk to, and that wants to listen to you) anything about your opinions and experiences—and vice versa—through Facebook pages, videos and even the mere 140 character messages called ―tweets‖ on Twitter. You can also build communities based on common interests, causes and concerns.

The Social Networking Winners Are… While we don’t have ample space to discuss every social networking site in details, here’s a sampler to help you get your head around today’s most popular social networking tools: Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Facebook is a social networking site where you can set up a profile, join different communities, and connect with friends. More than 175 million people currently use Facebook—and the fastest growing demographic is people over the age of 35. Twitter is a micro-blogging site. Twitter members post text messages called ―tweets‖ of 140 characters or less, using either a computer or a cell phone. Other Twitter users can ―follow‖‖ your posts, but you can decide if you want to let them follow you or not. Compete.com, a Web-traffic analysis service, says that Twitter had 6 million unique visits in February 2009.

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LinkedIn is a social networking site with about 38 million members. While it shares a lot of the same features and capabilities you’ll find on Facebook, LinkedIn focuses specifically on helping people build career and business communities.

BBuussiinneessss TToooollss YYoouu SShhoouulldd UUssee If

you’re

comfortable

using

Facebook, YouTube and other services in your personal life, you may

be wondering

if social

networking can truly be a useful tool for business. The answer is a resounding YES! Small

businesses

and

even

solo

entrepreneurs can use social networking for many practical purposes. You can use these tools (which are usually free) to locate experts and find information, pose questions and get answers. Thoughtful use of social networking services can help you move beyond conventional, one-way marketing, such as advertising, and tap into a more interactive marketing approach. For instance, you use social networking tools to:  Research ideas, and learn more about what customers and prospects are saying about their needs and experiences, and about your products and related areas.  Gain new market and competitive insights to improve your products and services.  Create and join conversations with customers, prospects, partners and other constituents about key issues and concerns.  Create positive word-of-mouth about your products and services.  Grow your company’s reputation as a thought leader. Online social networking has grown to be the most powerful new means of getting new customers and building consumer loyalty. According to Internet research company Compete, two out of every three people using the Internet has visited a social networking site. By Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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December 2009, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that his site had 350 million users, a astronomical leap from the 150 million users of January 2009. The social networking site Twitter, has defined a new form of brief, frequent updates that speed communication, word of mouth, and promotional efforts. Business site LinkedIn has become a key tool during the recession as people jockey for business and networking opportunities; that site shot up to 20 million unique visitors in October 2009. Social networking sites each have their own flavor, so it’s key to find the right service. Ryze and Spoke follow LinkedIn by gearing toward the entrepreneur. However, popular sites like MySpace or Friendster are targeted to young adults, and most likely will not earn your business many sales.

W Whhyy SSoocciiaall NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg iiss W Woorrtthh IItt The general consensus in the business world right now seems to suggest that it’s wise to restrict a socially-minded networking profile, while allowing a business-oriented site’s profile to be publicly searchable. (This wisdom holds truer if your family and friends on Facebook have been known to post your baby/college/bad decade photos on the site and ―tag‖ you, or link the photo to your name. ―Tagging‖ makes the photo searchable under your own ―photos‖ link, whether you are aware of these photos are not.) In today’s business world, Twitter and Facebook ―pages‖ are quickly becoming a must, especially for businesses that benefit from a loyal consumer base. Businesses looking to connect with other business-related contacts would benefit from LinkedIn, where someone can groom relationships with people he/she wants to work with, or currently works with. As business professionals increasingly connect through social networks, these networks are meeting their needs in turn.

SSoocciiaall M Meeddiiaa vveerrssuuss SSoocciiaall NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg The terms ―social media‖ and ―social networking‖ are sometimes used interchangeably. But in fact there is a big difference. While many believe they came from the same original source, Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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most sites now only use one or the other with any success. Without the ―social‖ aspect of these terms, ―media‖ and ―networking‖ take on their separate meanings:  Social media can broadcast and help a business strategize.  Social networking focuses more on the connection between two individuals or organizations. LinkedIn, for example, is a great tool for social networking. An individual’s interests, the companies that he/she has worked for, schools attended—these all become links to individuals with histories that overlap in some way. These interconnected circles of affiliation make LinkedIn perfect for business reasons. It allows users to recommend the work of other individuals. It’s also invaluable for job hunters: the site allows job seekers to both trumpet their skills and see who their contacts are connected to. Many of today’s small businesses use sites like LinkedIn to reach a wider range of potential clients. A business can use the site to do ―gentle marketing,‖ or share its range of services on its profile page.

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oocciiaall M Meeddiiaa GGiiaannttss YouTube is a top example of a social media website. Social media sites allow for personal expression: visual expression as well as expressions of expertise, opinions and experience. YouTube’s video capabilities deliver a huge range of content.

Most everyone has been sent a funny video from YouTube: a dancing baby or keyboardplaying cat. But videos are excellent for delivering business pitches, too. For instance, a business can serve up visual case studies as a marketing approach. Or you can refer viewers to your content. Relevant, interesting video content makes a business look service-oriented, driven and engaged!

Social media and social networking sites don’t need to be mutually exclusive. Twitter and Facebook offer the whole package — a conscious plan that has expanded their user base. Facebook, for example, provides you with a lot of space to broadcast your pictures, links, and everything in between. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to you how you want to tailor the messages these pictures and links convey. This flexibility makes Facebook and Twitter perfect for individuals looking to build business relationships. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideal for businesses that want to introduce new products and get feedback from a targeted consumer base.

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FFuulll M Meennuu ooff BBeenneeffiittss Beside promotion of yourself and your business, what other benefits can social networks provide? The answers are broad, but in an age when ―connecting‖ has become synonymous with success, the advantages are clear: 1. Making Money Most consumer-focused businesses now understand that they need a presence on the right social networks. To not do so can now work against you. If you are searching for a job and don’t have a LinkedIn profile, for instance, a potential employer might suspect that you would be a technologically challenged employee. In today’s world, each person creates their own online ―brand‖ presence as they steer the ship of their career. Besides, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the free pr that comes with these spaces? Usually, the monetary investment is minimal. A company can share the responsibility of updating a company network page/blog among its leaders, or can task a marketing representative to oversee a consistent, positive online networking brand. Again, you can shape the tone and level of professionalism to suit your goals 2. Scouting Your extended social network can act as your online eyes and ears for news/opportunities you may miss. And in today’s cycle of endless online updates, you will miss things as you seek your own work-life balance. New opportunities, information and contacts that can benefit you or your business are out there. If you put your needs and interests out there, your network will think of you at the right times. What better way to expand your opportunities? In today’s world, one good contact can propel your career or life to a thrilling new level. 3. Sharing More than scouting, Sharing moves into more mutually beneficial territory. Social network friends can not only share professional opportunities, but they can help you connect on a more Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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emotional level with other people. Not everyone will post news of their divorce or difficult life challenges, but those who do often find solace. Others often share advice or their own experience, or just offer encouraging words. During life’s challenges, people may find it helpful to feel less alone. 4. Professional Growth When you are interested in professional growth, networked friends with similar interests can help you. When it’s easy to meet people with compatible goals and values, the communication and shared resources make growth easy, even natural. It’s not uncommon for the most ―wired‖ people to have specific networks of like-minded online joint venture partners who they may not have ever even met. 5. Getting Better, Faster Answers James Surowiecki’s 2004 book, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations examined the way networks can be mined for solutions to challenges large and small. Taken individually, each answer someone posts to a problem/question Although each individual answer may not be that impressive. But taken together, a larger picture begins to emerge. For instance, public radio talk show host Brian Lehrer has used social networks to grow the picture of New York City’s economic hardship during the recession. Called ―Uncommon Economic Indicators,‖ his unscientific approach to polling has showed how this approach brings more details, personal stories and human empathy to the experience of a city in the throes of recession. While traditional polling still needs to be scientific to be credible, social networks have helped grow a different style of polling that creates a more human picture.

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aacceebbooookk Facebook not only can boast of 350 million active users, but touts that at least half of all users log in on any given day. Most recently, the site’s fastest growing

demographic has been people over 35 years of age, and adds approximately 10 million ―fans‖ to internal pages (causes, businesses, etc.) each day.

Facebook networks are considerable. According to the company, the average user has 130 friends on the site. Worldwide, more than 8 billion minutes are spent on the site each day.

SSeettttiinngg UUpp FFaacceebbooookk ffoorr BBuussiinneessss NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg If you’re like most people, your personal and professional lives already blend into each other in various ways. Work colleagues are also friends that you share photos and stories with both on and offline. With that, you may have given up on separating your work and personal lives. Still, it’s wise to consider separating the two for many reasons. While you may not be posting hundreds of pictures of the cocktail party this weekend, your ―over sharing‖ friend may do so, Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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―tagging‖ you on dozens of photos that your work colleagues see before you get a chance to. All it takes is one social gaffe to change the way your colleagues view you. Luckily, Facebook makes it easy to split your work and personal lives: 1. Go to your friends list by clicking on the Friends tab -> All Friends at the top of your Facebook page. 2. Click the ―Create a New List‖ button and create one called Professional. You can now scroll through your entire friend list and separate out all professional contacts into this new, separate business list. 3. Once you’re done, navigate to your profile’s Privacy settings by clicking on the Settings link in the top right corner of your Facebook. After clicking Privacy, then click on Profile. On the Profile privacy settings page you can begin slicing and dicing your Facebook world into personal and professional segments by restricting access to various parts of your profile using your newly created friend list. For example, if you don’t want your professional friends to see any of your pictures, choose ―Edit photo album privacy settings.‖ In the ―Who can see this‖ menu, click on ―Customize‖ and then in the ―Except these people‖ field, add your newly formed professional friends list. Now only your personal friends will be able to see your pictures. Though these settings can seem complicated, you can control your entire Facebook experience here, so it’s worth spending some time. Each option allows you to keep a certain aspect of the site public, private, or only accessible to certain people. When you’re considering privacy controls, consider what you might say/post/join that you would want to keep from professional friends. Do you want them to know about the political groups you join? The social groups? The beauty of the site’s expanded privacy controls is that you can set it up to your specific liking.

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HHooww ttoo UUssee FFaacceebbooookk GGrroouuppss ttoo NNeettwwoorrkk Facebook’s Groups is a feature that allows you to connect and contribute to discussions around a common interest, organization, or affiliation. Whether you want to stay in touch with people from your hometown or you want to become vegetarian, there’s a Facebook Group for you. There are Facebook groups for just about everything. Still, they won’t all be worth joining. If you have certain career aspirations, ask yourself what topics interest and motivate you. What will allow you more insight into your industry? The best groups to join are professional groups you can network with. When you have a group or affiliation in mind, you can search for groups by entering the keywords into Facebook’s search box and clicking on ―Groups‖ to the left. If the results of your search seem endless, examine each result more carefully. How many members does it have? Are its pages active, with updated information, or was the site created for an event that may have already passed? On each group’s own site, you can also click on ―Info‖ to find out what official organization, if any, the group represents. Like any online search, the more questions you ask, the more you’ll hone in on what you’re looking for. Here are some other techniques that should give you plenty of groups to sort through and choose to join: 1. Ask yourself what friends have professional positions or affiliations that you respect and admire. Then go to your friend’s profile page and click on ―Info.‖ At the bottom of the new page, you’ll see a link to all of their groups. 2. On any Facebook Group’s main page, there may be links to related groups. 3. Conduct a basic Google search that includes the keywords ―Facebook group‖ and other relevant keywords of interest. This will direct you to articles, blogs, even Twitter posts that may interest you.

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4. Before joining dozens of groups quickly, take the time to evaluate each one. If all or part of your profile is public, other people will be able to see the groups you belong to. In other words, think twice about joining that silly ―flash group‖ that someone creates to bash a public figure, for instance, or makes fun of your high school buddy’s legendary antics.

PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall GGrroouuppss:: W Whhaatt ttoo LLooookk FFoorr With millions of groups on Facebook, so how many should you join and which ones? Joining too many might prove to be unmanageable. Worse, it can make it look like you have too much time on your hands. It’s a good idea to only join the ones that you can actually see yourself participating in. Below is a list of the features you’ll find in each Facebook Group and ways to consider if the group is worth joining: Recent News: This section contains news from group administrators that either discusses the group itself or is about a topic related to the group’s interest. Is it up to date? Is it useful information or just self-promotion? Member Listings: Lists all group members including any profile photos, location and link to their profile page, if they choose to make this information public to anyone or group members. This is an easy way to send a message to a specific group member or ―friend‖ them (request them as a friend). You can also use this tool to evaluate the group before joining. Does the group attract people with backgrounds and interests that speak to you? Can you see yourself interacting with these people, whether sharing information or meeting up in person? Discussion Board: The group’s discussion board allows members to discuss topics listed by other group members. When you’re evaluating the group, use the discussion board to measure group activity and member engagement. Are discussions recent? Are they interesting and ontopic? Are posters respectful of one another or are they taking potshots? One you’ve joined, you can introduce yourself in the discussion area and briefly mention your experience/interest. You may find this spurs you to start meeting people right away. Wall Posting: This section is usually for member introductions or job postings. This is also a great way to introduce yourself and share your interest in this group. Be brief and genial; Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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more in-depth questions can be posted in the discussion forums. How recent are the latest postings? If there is any spam, how quickly is it cleaned up? Groups also often have photos, videos, links sections, and event listings. You should evaluate these areas with the same eye.

GGrroouupp PPaarrttiicciippaattiioonn Once you’ve joined a group, you can sit back and join the discussion. This is where the true business and personal value will happen. Below is an sample workflow that a professional group might see. It’s a great way to show your presence in the group and get some professional networking activity under your belt. Post an Introduction on the Group’s Wall stating your interest in the group. If you’re looking to network, don’t hesitate to say so. If you’re looking for a job, also say that up front. Mention if you can offer advice. This simple introduction should allow the group to know who you are but not come off as heavy-handed in with self-promotion or business promotion. You don’t want members to think you’re a spammer. Add Links to stay active in the group. By posting interesting events, pieces of news or blog posts, you’ll show that you are an effective ―connector‖ who is happy to connect others to their right opportunities as well. Others members them will know you posted them, and you will appear engaged with and serious about your profession. Go to the Discussion Board and Comment on a few topics. Add specific, helpful information. Find a discussion where you could truly add value and help some fellow members with their questions or contribute to some discussions with your thoughts. Don’t comment on every single topic. You want to appear professional, not obsessive or with endless hours on your hands. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Post a Topic for Discussion. Ask a question or propose a thought-provoking topic of discussion and share your thoughts — the object is to engage your fellow group members. Check back on this discussion often so you can participate and remain an active part of it. Add Friends. Because Facebook was intended to be an online extension of your real-world social network, proper etiquette dictates that you need to know somebody before adding them as a friend. At the very least, you need to have something firmly in common with them: for instance, you may have gone to the same school even if you weren’t too close there. You’ll encounter differing opinions on this point, but it’s always wise to err on the side of familiarity. More than anything, you don’t want to appear desperate or as one of the recentlycoined ―Facebook stalker.‖ In this way, you’ll need to keep pushing yourself to make real connections with people. For instance, once you’ve engaged someone (such as in a discussion board topic or met them during your day), request them as a friend but include a personal note letting them know you appreciated the interaction. They will have some context for the request and will be more likely to accept. Once they have accepted your friend request, make sure to add them to your professional friend list so that you are able to keep the line between social and professional networks clearly defined.

Now that you’ve gone through this workflow for each group you’ve joined, you can now consider yourself to be an active member. So what’s next?

Networking! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Come back to each group often to post new links and videos, engage in discussions or start your own. You should also invite other existing contacts to join the group as a way to help spread the word and keep the group active. Also remember to befriend those with whom you’ve been active and take your professional relationship to the next level. Once you have the basics down, professional networking on Facebook is very similar to professional networking in real life. The same rules and etiquette apply. As you build your professional network on Facebook you’ll be able to use those contacts for business development and more.

FFaacceebbooookk && YYoouurr PPeerrssoonnaall BBrraanndd If you do decide you want Facebook to support and publicize your personal brand with all your skills and interests, then you will have to become comfortable with its open nature and continue to grow your network, friend request by friend request. Three new features in particular deserve close attention to: tagging, pages and widgets, and real-time search. Each of these can be used in your personal branding efforts.

Facebook Tagging for Networking ―BRAND YOU‖ A personal brand is simply the effort to network in order to develop your career. As you grow older, you will rely more and more on the ―assets‖ in your network, from family down to near strangers who provide a chance connection. With its ―tagging‖ feature, Facebook has enhanced the experience of networking. Whenever someone uses the ―@‖ symbol on a wall post, and then associate that post with another person’s name, a personal brand has been enhanced. For example, say you want to post that you are excited about a recent project at work, and you have a terrific partnership on the project with a colleague. You can use the tag feature to acknowledge them; the tag feature then duplicates the post to appear on their wall. Instantly, your kudos to them are seen by their online networks and both of your personal brands are enhanced. This feature is great for appreciation, promotion and connections.

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More importantly, the tag feature notifies both of you (via email) when future reactions/comments/congratulations follow. This is another feature that can help you expand your network and highlight your contributions in your field.

Growing Your Brand: Facebook Pages and Widgets Facebook Fan Pages are a mainstay of the site, but they can be used in interesting ways. The site has thousands of pages, but only the best ones rise to attention. You aren’t going to the hottest actor in Hollywood, but your page can still make an impact. Behind any page is a laser-like focus and strategy: what is it going to be about? Are you trying to grow a Fan Page for yourself? If so, wait until you have grown your friend limit first (currently any one person can have up to 5,000 friends). Instead, you may want to keep your friend page for yourself and keep your business firmly in Fan Page territory. Once you have a Fan Page, make sure you have the time and energy to grow it quickly so it doesn’t stagnate. Once fans drop off, it’s hard to get them back. What Does a Fan Page Include?  Event appearances with pictures and videos

Now, there’s still lots of work

 A video introduction or running video blog

ahead of you. You’ll need to  Press features (positive only, obviously)

market your Fan Page as if your business depended on it.

 Your blog posts via syndication  Details

about

your

personal

and

professional

achievements  Delicious bookmarks that represent your industry  Pictures of you with celebrities from your industry (again, limit these so you don’t appear to have an outsized ego)

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 Wall posts, including: a quote of the day, event reminders, blog posts, news, etc.  Your LinkedIn profile Once you decided on your Fan Page’s presentation and content, you should then grow your page to 25 fans as quickly as possible. This will allow you to get a username for your Page, so that your URL will be easier to share, recall and find. You should use either your full name (if you haven’t already used it for your Facebook profile) or a niche title such as http://facebook.com/facebookmarketingexpert.  The good news is there are lots of ways to spread the word about your new page:  Add a Facebook Fan Page widget to your existing website/blog.  Advertise your Facebook Page to targeted customers and clients.  Put your Facebook URL in your email signature, at the end of presentations, and possibly even on your traditional resume.  Write articles and/or blog posts on other sites, leaving your Facebook URL in your bio or byline. This lets people know you are interested in a two-way dialogue about professional topics. While you’ll get some emails you didn’t want, you’ll also get some emails you did want.  Hold a contest on Twitter, where you give out free information or products to people who become fans of your Page on Facebook.  Become part of communities in your niche, on a variety of social networks.  Comment on blogs and instead of using your blog URL, use your Facebook address.

Facebook Real-Time Search for Monitoring Your Brand When Facebook released its real-time search engine, the landscape for personal brand monitoring changed. The new search engine identifies you in real-time online conversations and acknowledgements, but also identifies you in Fan Pages, groups and other applications. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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When you review the search results of your own brand, be sure to conduct several searches: through Twitter, Google Alerts and Facebook’s capabilities.

wwiitttteerr Unlike the layers of content seen in Facebook, Twitter is a micro blogging service that allows you to publish short messages of less than 140 characters. Your ―tweets‖ or

messages can be sent via instant message, cell phones and online. Twitter also provides a social arena as well, but when you ―friend‖ someone, their updates will appear on your home page. Your relationship to your other ―tweeters‖ (friends) bears a closer resemblance to people with whom you exchange instant messages with. However, Twitter acts like an IM account that is left permanently open. Twitter has a social element as well, as it allows users to befriend and monitor each other’s messages or updates. You can also choose to keep your postings from being viewed by anyone outside your circle.

SSeettttiinngg uupp YYoouurr TTwwiitttteerr AAccccoouunntt When it comes to the user-friendliness of Twitter, it can’t be beat. It’s just as easy to sign up as it is to sign into your own email. After clicking ―Join,‖ you will be asked to create a username (that is visible to your readers) and a password. Now you are capable of sending tweets, but it’s worth filling out your profile information first. Within the white options bar at the top right of your page, you should review the Profile and Settings links to make sure you are presenting the right information within the level of privacy Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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you want. Under Profile, you can click on the Lists button to organize where you would like your updates to appear within the larger, searchable site. The Settings area includes many things you want to build: your 140-word bio, your photo, and how you want to be contacted (or not) when someone sends you a message. Review each of these pages whether you think you need to or not. This way, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised by something later on! When it comes to serving both the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal and professional social interest, Twitter has some real limits. You may receive many tweets from heavy users, but Neilson Research in 2009 found that about 60 percent of people end up leaving the site after their first month of usage. With all the posts that can come from any which way, on any topic, you can start to feel as if you and the heavy Twitter users are stuck in a wind tunnel together. Yet the network still continues to grow: unique visitors to Twitter increased from 475,000 in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009. The site remains a unique way to receive up-tothe-minute opinion, announcements and ideas in a linear way.

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Given this organization, Twitter can be a useful tool with which to send out self-promotional messages and marketing. The medium’s immediacy can make communication between a business and its colleagues, customers and network seem close. Among your network, you can really feel as if you are part of each other’s mental life, and that can cultivate loyalty. Thanks to the links you can embed within your tweets, profile, or communication, Twitter can generate IMMEDIATE and future traffic to your affiliate site. If you specifically target the ―connectors‖ among your network, your promotional efforts will be multiplied when they take it upon themselves to spread the word. It’s called ―retweeting (RT).‖

RReeaaddyy ttoo ““TTwweeeett””?? In order to use Twitter effectively, you need a strategy that can involve some of the following actions: 1.

Broadcast relevant news that would be of interest to your network.

Ask questions and get feedback / advice.

Run a poll, even if it’s completely unofficial.

Refer people to resources they might be interested to use or to refer their networks to.

Promote new, interesting content that you’ve generated.

Share news of a new job or event.

Particularly if you make your tweets worth reading, and include information that suits people interests and needs, you’ll quickly develop a loyal following.

TTwwiitttteerr aanndd M Miiccrroo--M Maarrkkeettiinngg Affiliate marketing can work extremely well with the Twitter application. You can embed affiliate links within your tweets by shortening your URL (see TinyUrl.com or Bit.ly) to fit Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Twitter’s 140-character limit. This way, your links look neater and you’ll have space to type your pitch message or invitation to visit your site.

Just make sure you don’t pitch so often, back-to-back that your followers

consider

you

spammer. People will ―unfollow‖ you very quickly. Build trust first by providing plenty of useful tips about you’re your niche or links to this type of information. First, build your cadre of targeted followers. You can get those followers by using a Twitter friend adder. Then, when tweeting about your offer, try as much as possible not to make it looks like blatant advertising. Write your Tweets to read as if you've found valuable information that you want to share. If you tweet smart, you will get many ―retweets,‖ which is when your followers take your messages viral by sharing them with their followers! Provide links to interesting how-to and other information to your followers – other than your own blog posts, that is. Focus first on building trust and relationships. Interact with your followers. Say hello when you first sign on, ask about their projects, and actually be helpful before trying to advertise your affiliate products and links. Finally, provide links to freebies. As you might imagine there’s always high interest and click-throughs for such offers. Free ebooks, reports, coupons, etc. definitely convert more easily. Bit.ly, by the way, offers an excellent tracking system by which you can see how many people are responding with clicks to every URL you shorten before you share it.

BBeesstt ““TTwweeeettiinngg”” PPrraaccttiicceess 1. Start small with familiar network contacts. When you begin with people you trust, you’ll grow with the right people. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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2. Allow yourself time and patience to grow, helping others along the way. 3. Promote your Twitter ID within your email signature, blog, or any other place where your targeted audience might want to keep hearing from you. 4. Consider a contest. Even if it’s small, it’s fun. 5. Offer to be a guest blogger on another blog. You’ll have the attention of that blog’s loyal following, and some of them will follow you to your own pages. 6. Approach an influential Tweeter and propose a cross promotional effort: if he/she mentions your program/contest/news/etc, you’ll do the same for him/her. 7. Work to generate interesting, timely content that networkers will want to share among themselves.

55 TTwwiitttteerr BBuussiinneessss SSttrraatteeggyy TTiippss 1. Observe how other marketers interact. Spend time looking at who else is posting news about your field. How do they approach it? Are they successful? What kind of following has it earned them? Learn from the best – and the worst! 2. Feel free to introduce the people who make up your company. This helps to humanize your brand. If you have multiple people sending tweets, then consider if they want a way of identifying themselves when they tweet about their particular observations or experiences. 3. Invite your followers into a conversation by making tweets interactive. Ask questions, and respond to other posters’ questions. People like tips, statistics, opinions, and links to relevant articles. Once you have a good handle on your messages, tweet away. 4. Not every post needs to be about your company. In fact, if you keep promotional posts under 50 percent of total posts, then you won’t wear readers down with endless trumpeting. 5. Link, link, link, but only to content of interest or relevance to at least some of your readers.

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TTaakkee CCaarree ooff YYoouurr TTwwiitttteerr FFoollloowweerrss Once you begin to draw followers to your Twitter account, you’ll need to cultivate relationships with your followers. Each tweet is an opportunity to reach out and get to know them better. How can you do this? 1.

When you keep it consistent, you completely become that ID name.

2. Don’t be stingy with valuable information. People respond very well to being ―let in‖ on information that seems important. People will appreciate your generosity of spirit, and will follow your tweets closely. 3. Take time to understand who follows you. Read their bio if they have one, or swing over to their web page.

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1. Use a real picture of yourself. Don’t hide behind a cartoon picture, photo of your dog, house, or pretty flowers. Take a warm but professional shot of yourself. If you are lucky enough to have a new book coming out or, say, a hit TV show—well, that’s not bragging. Put the image up there! 2. Don’t get pushy by sending direct messages to brand new followers. You’ll look desperate or aggressive, or both. 3. If you’re going to follow other people, then you need to post things yourself. When they are checking out your page, and see it empty or aging, they’ll assume you’re just a Twitter stalker, instead of a mover and shaker. Or they just won’t know who you are, and that makes them wary. 4. Try to keep the ratio of your followers close to the number of people you follow. 5. Investigate Twitter functions that help you organize your networks. For instance, Tweet deck allows you to place people in groups, like Facebook. When you are focusing on building business relationships, you know whose tweets to check out. After an economic downturn, businesses are always ready to reinvigorate with some creative energy. Online social networks can provide the enthusiasm and support to grow a great business. Relationship marketing specialist Mari Smith reminds businesses that social networks can be a place for news and content. But Smith also repeats a recent quote: ―If content is king, then connection is queen.‖ These sites build connections with others that can be leveraged to everyone’s benefit.

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Section 5:

Pay-per-click Search Engine Advertising Chapter 20 What Is Pay-per-click Advertising?

149

Chapter 21 Leading Pay-per-click Advertising Programs

152

Chapter 22 Creating a PPC Search Advertising Campaign

156

Chapter 23 How to Write AdWords Ad Copy

158

Chapter 24 Keyword Management

161

Chapter 25 The Ultimate PPC Keyword Strategy

165

Chapter 26 PPC Advertising Best Practices

166

Chapter 27 The Road to Non-stop Web Traffic

168

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Building Web Traffic

PAY-PER-CLICK ADVERTSING 20

hhaatt iiss PPaayy--ppeerr--cclliicckk AAddvveerrttiissiinngg?? Pay-per-click (PPC). It must be the greatest advertising innovation of the last 50 years. Why’s it so revolutionary? Well, just name another advertising vehicle with the ability to deliver qualified prospects to within

mere minutes?

If you wish to make real money with affiliate marketing, PPC is an essential element of the marketing mix. No matter how small your advertising budget, PPC must be considered – even if you’re only willing to spend a maximum $20 per day initially, just to get your feet wet.

The beauty of PPC advertising is that you can very easily control your costs. You only pay when someone clicks one of your ads (versus the others ad that appear near yours). You alone dictate how much you’ll pay to get someone to click your ads. This is possible because PPC is based on a ―keyword auction‖ system. You’re bidding against other entreprenuers or companies for your ad(s) to be among those visible on search engine results pages.

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PPC is can easily double or triple your traffic. It improves your search engine ranking and increases word of mouth buzz about your affiliate products. Buying traffic gets you more ―eyeballs‖ almost immediately. But when you’re paying a pretty penny for each and every click, you want sales. In this section I’m going to tell exactly how to make it happen …

HHooww IItt W Woorrkkss:: PPaayy--PPeerr--CClliicckk SSeeaarrcchh AAddvveerrttiissiinngg When performing a search on Google, there are two different types of results that show up: the organic listings and the paid (i.e., ―sponsored‖) listings. Organically ranked sites are those which Google finds most relevant for that search query. Conversely, the paid listings show up because an advertiser is paying money to be ranked that highly for those phrases. When a searcher clicks on one of those listings, the advertiser is charged the cost-per-click (CPC) price for that ranking, so hopefully the searcher will convert into a sale for that advertiser. Most search engines use an ongoing auction system whereby you bid for placement:  If your bid is the highest for a keyword, then you’ll be listed in the top or #1 position in a column of sponsored ads on that search results page.  If your bid is the fifth highest, your ad will be listed in the fifth position of the sponsored ads. You bid on each keyword or phrase by which you wish to be found when searched. The more popular search keywords or phrases generally cost more (per click) than the less popular ones. There are many tools to help you select the right keywords and phrases.

The minimum bid is generally about 10¢ for a keyword, but many of the most clicked terms might cost $10 or $15 per click. My advice is to stay away from bidding on those expensive Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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keywords in general. I’ll show you how to bid on cheap keywords and potentially have as much success in getting a sufficient number of people clicking through to your site.

AAddvvaannttaaggeess ooff PPPPCC AAddvveerrttiissiinngg  Most web-based advertising is banner ads that charge you monthly or quarterly rate, based on the number of impressions (―eyeballs‖ viewing). But in PPC programs, you’re only charged when someone actually takes the initiative to click on the link and visit your specific web page.  It can takes months of hard work to secure an organic (non-paid) top search engine ranking, but with PPC advertising you can be in the top position of a search engine results page (SERP) within minutes.  Because the amount of traffic on your site is part of what the search engines measure to determine your organic SEO ranking, using PPC advertising to drive traffic will initially improve your organic (non-paid) rankings.  You can manage and fine-tune your PPC campaign at any time, on any given day, altering your strategy and spending level. This way, you can spend decide to spend only $30 or $300 or whatever you want, depending on if your ad copy seems to be working and resulting in a decent ratio of sales.

DDiissaaddvvaannttaaggeess ooff PPPPCC AAddvveerrttiissiinngg  It can become costly if you use broad keywords or phrases.  Some web surfers are prejudiced against sponsored ads or PPC and will only click on organic listings.  The maximum number of words you can put in a PPC ad is limited. To compensate, you must learn to say more in less space. We’ll cover writing PPC ad copy in a later section.

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eeaaddiinngg PPaayy--ppeerr--cclliicckk AAddvveerrttiissiinngg PPrrooggrraam mss If you’re currently getting too little traffic and affiliate sales, you can start one of these paid ad campaigns right now, and this time tomorrow you’ll have at least twice as many visitors.

There are many PPC search engines you can buy traffic from. However, the programs with the greatest market reach are offered by Google and Yahoo!, with Microsoft’s fairly new MSN AdCenter system gaining in popularity. Here’s a look at the biggies, and a link for you to join and explore which one works best for you:  Google's AdWords program is the leader of the pack – the biggest and best for volume, traffic quality, and user interface. But AdWords delivers targeted pay per click ads on its own popular search engine pages and on countless other partner content sites and blogs.

Click here to explore Google AdWords: http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/ads/ads_3.html Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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 Yahoo! Advertising purchased Overture Search in 2003 October and renamed it Yahoo! Search Marketing, which has a selection of specialized PPC advertising programs. Yahoo! offers advertisers high volume visibility on its search engine pages and well-matched, quality traffic.

Click here to explore Yahoo’s Advertising Network: http://advertising.yahoo.com/smallbusiness/searchmarketing?o=USPX06  MSN AdCenter is an newly emerging major player with lots of leverage and arguably the best quality traffic. Their keyword research tool is highly touted. However, AdCenter doesn't have the same volume of traffic as Google’s AdWords.

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Click here to explore Microsoft’s MSN AdCenter: http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-contentadvertising?s_int=US_20080428_livesearchResults_smh_001 A host of other PPC advertising systems exist including AdBrite, Chitika, and Clicksor, and each has its merits. Actually, many marketers only join AdBrite and similar PPC systems upon getting banned from AdWords, for breaking a Google rule.

RReeccoom mm meennddaattiioonn:: GGoo wwiitthh GGooooggllee AAddW Woorrddss The majority of all Internet searches are conducted on Google, MSN (Bing) and Yahoo! search engines. But Google alone accounts for about 65% of all U.S. Internet searches. So, due to the sheer potential volume of traffic that only Google has the juice to send to your affiliate site, AdWords is my #1 recommendation. Most other affiliate marketers and other advertisers obviously would agree that AdWords is where it’s at. Google’s dominance of search and the search advertising industry just keeps growing. They boasted 78% of worldwide paid search queries in May 2009. One big reason Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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PPC advertising doesn’t even require an affiliate marketer to publish a blog or website filled

for Google’s continued popularity is the wide reach that AdWords

with SEO content. Many highly

helps companies and entrepreneurs achieve. The extensive network

successful entrepreneurs go the

of Google-related sites and the lack of a minimum ad spend make it

direct-to-vendor

possible for even those with a tiny ad budget to advertise online,

route.

They

knowing their ads can be instantly seen by thousands.

simply program their AdWords ads with their affiliate IDs and deliver qualified track right to the product/service site, hoping for

SSeeaarrcchh AAddvveerrttiissiinngg vvss.. CCoonntteenntt NNeettwwoorrkk??

commissions without having to deal with running their own blog!

When setting up an ad campaign with Google AdWords, you’ll need to decide whether to advertise on their Content Network, the

Search Network, or both.  The AdWords Content Network places ads on participating blogs and websites, based on the content of those sites and how well it aligns with your ad.  The AdWords Search Network places ads on Google’s search engine pages, where potential customers are looking specifically for information and products like yours. Criticics of the Content Network say that while it can reach more people, the traffic it creates is not as well qualified as those who’ll discover you through the Search Network. While Google offers you the ability to filter out content sites that don’t seem relevant to your goals, it can get tedious and is a hassle to go through blocking a lot of miscellaneous content references.

Reccomendation: Go With the SEARCH Network Some advertisers split their budget between the Search Network and the Content Network, whereas others just stick to one approach. However, I suggest you start (and perhaps stay) with the Search Network. Once you get your campaign set up and performing well, then you can venture into the riskier, less well targeted Content Network as well as non-Google PPC networks.

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rreeaattiinngg aa PPPPCC SSeeaarrcchh AAddvveerrttiissiinngg CCaam mppaaiiggnn Everyday millions of people are searching for answers. This is not in reference to some existential crisis that encompasses the search for the meaning of life. These millions of people are looking for a specific answer to a particular question via

search engines. As a search engine marketer you need to make sure that your service/product/information is exactly the answer that your potential customer is searching for. To position yourself as the best answer, you first have to know what the question is! To understand what a customer needs and is searching for, first walk a mile in their shoes. Once you understand when, how and why a searcher is looking for what you’re selling, then you can make them an offer they can’t refuse! This will lead to more clicks, conversions and an increased ROI. Understanding

the

target

customer’s

mindset will prove invaluable in your key tasks of:  Doing thorough keyword research,  Bidding strategically, and  Writing effective advertising copy. Once you have the above elements in place, you’ll get potential buyers clicking your ads. If you don’t have those key elements in place – tweaked and refined over time – then PPC can prove a rather expensive lesson. The fact is that most PPC campaigns start off with disappointing results. Like with virtually any new effort, you’ll have a learning curve you’ll have to flatten before you’re truly up and running. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be expensive to get in the game and learn the ropes. Believe me, even affiliate marketers who’re now pulling upwards of $1,000/week started exactly where you are right now! Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Only by a bit of trial and error can you master the art and nuances of:  Choosing the best keywords and phrases for your affiliate products and budget  How to target ads toward certain consumer types  How to write effective AdWords ad copy, test it, and improve that showing profitability  How to bid and keep within budget, you achieve sales  Which terms are overpriced and therefore not worth your dollars The truth is that you’ll be competing against advertisers who’ve already worked all of this out. Some ad campaigns have been finetuned for months or years. But here’s how the systems works: Advertisers who’re already bidding well on the keywords you want to use are getting them cheaper. This is because the PPC systems such as Google AdWords reward advertisers with lower pricing, based on a Quality Score system. Visit this Google page to learn more about Google’s all-important Quality Score system: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10 215.

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ooww ttoo W Wrriittee AAddW Woorrddss AAdd CCooppyy Google doesn’t allow you to write much at all in these tiny ads, so getting to the high points fast and hard is CRUCIAL! You only get:  A headline and two lines of ad text, with up to 95 characters total.

 The Display URL field is where you enter the website URL that’ll be displayed in your ad. The Display URL must fit within a 35-character limit.  The Destination URL can be up to 1,024 characters and is the actual web page users will land on when they click your ad.

Formula for AdWords Copywriting There isn’t necessarily a single copywriting formula that works as a magic bullet for every single product and niche. Truth of the matter is that everyone has to pick a starting point for creating their various ad copies; see how each works in the marketplace; refine the good ones; and keep building on what works for a specific product, niche, and target customer. That said, here’s an effective formula you can use as a solid starting point to write your own AdWords ad copy. Consider your ad in these four distinct parts:  Headline: MUST contain one of your primary keywords or phrases. This is what triggers your ad to run. This is the keyword that’ll usually get the highest number of viewer

impressions. Once

you’ve

included

your

primary

keyword,

any

remaining characters should be used to make the headline read better. Interestingly, putting a big benefit as your headline may be too jarring or may turn off readers, who may take it as mere hype. So lean toward using a feature in most of your headlines. Note: formulating your keywords/headline as a question is powerful! Example: How to Save a Marriage?  Feature: On the first line, reinforce the headline with the description of one or more key attributes about your affiliate product or service.

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Example: Read Text Messages – Undetectable! Other products/services might sell using features such as: ►

Famous names – Mentioning that a product/service is endorsed by a celebrity or personality draws high click-through rates. E.g., Discover the HRT treatment Suzanne Sommers used to conquer menopause.

►

Product specs – Everyone tends to respond to superlatives such as the sharpest, the fastest, the thinnest, the best, the hottest, the slowest, the new, etc.

►

Price - Only include if your product is obviously cheaper than the competition’s (e.g., $59/night hotel rooms in Paris). Otherwise, including the price will prevent many people from clicking through

even

learn

about

your

great

product/service. ►

Percentages - Google fact-checks percentages, so if you include them, they must be easily verifiable.

►

Risk reduction - When true, promote the aspect of a product/service that’s ―free‖ (e.g., for a 30-day trial) or when an influential 3rd party endorses it (e.g., The only toothbrush recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists).

 Benefit: On the second line of your ad description, write about a benefit of owning or choosing this product/service, and conclude with a "call to action" that’ll direct or lure searchers to click now. ►

A benefit reflects the way in which the product/service resolves a problem, putting

them ahead of the problem or challenge they’re currently facing. Example: Get Women Without Rejection. Read!  Display URL: Most advertisers just write their website domain name in the display URL field. But doing this is a waste. Instead, use the space to attract more attention to Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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your ad. You can make your ad stand out even more by including your ad groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main keyword in the URL. E.g., your-domain.com/keyword Note: You don't need to include the "http" or "www" prefixes in your display address. which can give you more valuable characters to play with. Example: HowToAttractWomen.com/ForeverLaid

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eeyywwoorrdd M Maannaaggeem meenntt Once you’ve drafted the copy for all of your short-form ads, it’s time to type them in at AdWords. A major part of this process involves inputting the keywords you want to bid on to trigger your ad(s) to run. This is called creating

your ad groups.

CCrreeaattee YYoouurr AAdd GGrroouuppss You'll be creating an ad group for each sub-themes related to your product. With your core (expensive) keywords in mind, branch out into more (affordable & targeted) detailed phrases. For instance, if you’re an affiliate who’s promoting watches, focus your energy and budget on subset terms and features like ―discount designer watches,‖ "gold men’s watches," and so on. The more key terms your campaign is setup to bid on, the better your chances of success. So getting numerous – hundreds – of key phrases programmed for your ads can become sure money in the bank! Actually, many of the most successful affiliate marketers work with several thousand keywords and phrases. So, to really get in the PPC game, you’ll want to do some digging for keyword GOLD!

CCrreeaattee YYoouurr KKeeyy PPhhrraasseess LLiisstt Brainstorm and research a list of about 100 related phrases per product to start, but choose them carefully. To do so, keep these things in mind … 

Know that one-word keywords are likely to be more expensive to bid on, so try using two- or three-word phrases. For example: ►

If you vie for ad clicks on a broad term such as furniture or cars or computers or dating, you’ll probably be charged a lot or those big, one-word categories.

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►

So put some ―long tail‖ meat on those bones! Keep on your list longer, related terms such as modern furniture or children furnitures or discount furniture in Miami.



Those broad, one-word terms also can lower your performance and impact your Quality Score: they tend to generate many ad impressions, but few click-throughs.



Organize them in keyword ―families.‖ The concept of keyword families is to create a web of words and phrases that’ll capture the searching trends of more potential customers. Start with one keyword concept and spin them into many related terms.



Use AdWord’s free Keyword Tool to greatly multiply your number of good keyword ideas. It helps you to pick the right words to drive the right traffic to your site.

DDoo YYoouurr KKeeyywwoorrdd AAnnaallyyssiiss You might get a more comprehensive analysis than the one above from a more expensive keyword tool that’s available online. Whatever analysis tool you choose, it should help you evaluate the following:

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 Quality Analysis: The most popular keywords have the greatest amount of competition. So, choosing the most popular words doesn’t mean you’ll get more traffic. It just means that you’ll be up against some big and powerful spenders. Many people decide the competition isn't worth it. Instead, smart advertisers use Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to find a happy medium between competition and popularity of a search term.  Quantity Analysis: How frequently are people searching a term? If a term is searched for often, that means you’ll have more chances to draw people to your site. But don't never simply bid on the most popular terms: They may cost too much and paying for too many clicks will quickly deplete your budget – very possibly without any of those visitors buying anything.

TThhee FFoouurr KKeeyywwoorrdd TTyyppeess When inputting your chosen keywords into each of your ad groups, include the many long tail possibilities of your key phrases. They add up to BIG numbers that can give you plenty of viable prospects who’ll hopefully buy what you’re promoting. Plan to spend some time typing in all of the variations you can think of, and be sure to code each term to specifically cover the subtle tweaks that can impact your success and control your spending. When typing your terms in, adding these little punctuation marks will help you better target your ads:  keyword = broad match  "keyword" = match exact phrase  [keyword] = match exact term only  - keyword = don't match this term  Broad Match Keywords: With this option, the words a person types to be searched can match the individual words in the ad, regardless of the order in which they’re arranged. So a search for "free software to fix a PC" will match your ad that includes keywords such as "software to fix a PC." A search for "fix a PC" also could match.

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 Exact Match Keywords: Here, your ad’s keywords must be precisely the same as what a person enters in the search engine. For example in many search engines, if a person is seeking information about "free download to fix a PC," the only ads that’ll be included in the results will be those which match those exact words – nothing more, nothing less. It may also match parts of a phrase, or the plural form of word. So a search for "how to fix PCs" could bring up your ad that’s keyworded "PC," and a search that includes the term "fixes PCs" could also bring up your ad.  Negative Match Keywords: Using these keyword types will save you LOTS of money in wasted click-throughs. Negative Match Keywords assure that your ad does NOT show up when certain words or phrases are searched. For example, if you’re an affiliate for watch retailers and use the term ―watch‖ in its broadest sense, you could get clicks from people searching for ―watch free porn movies.‖ Unfortunately, these surfers could probably care less about the Swatch you’re hoping to get a commission from helping sell!  Phrase Match Keyword: A search query must contain the exact phrase that’s in the ad. So if your keywords are "download to fix a PC," the search term must contain that phrase. However, the search can contain additional words before or after the phrase and your ad will still show up among the results. For example, if the searcher enters "free download to fix a PC fast," your ad will show. But if the searcher enters "instant fix for PC troubles," your ad wouldn’t be close enough to show. Note: All search engines do NOT treat PPC words the same way. The following definitions relate primarily to Google AdWords only. Other PPC search engines like Yahoo search and MSN/Bing have slightly different interpretations, so check the particulars for their search engine advertising.

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hhee UUllttiim maattee PPPPCC KKeeyywwoorrdd SSttrraatteeggyy!! When it comes to getting visitors to your site, most people are only focusing on using the big keywords that get all the searches. They feel it’s a lot easier to buy traffic from a few big keywords then it is to get the same amount of people

coming to their site from hundreds of long tail terms. But what they fail to realize is that often, they’re spending for the most popular keywords in vain. An example … I currently bid on about 1,000 different keywords in one of my niche markets. The reason I can bid on so many terms is because most of them have very low search volume. And that’s the secret to PPC success: Buy low, but by LOADS!  High volume keywords bring lots of visitors to a blog or website, but most of the people who click-through are totally unqualified and would never buy what you’re selling.  However, if you focus on hundreds – even thousands – of low-volume search terms in your market that only get a few clicks a day, you'll get far better quality visitors clicking through. People who are much more interested in what you offer!  Your AdWords expense will definitely be lower, as you’re only bidding on dirt cheap terms and not those high-priced, highly competitive keywords.  Your PPC campaign also will be diversified; you won’t be so reliant on keywords that could get disabled at a moment’s notice. So, even though a term might only deliver you two visitors a day, if invest in enough of these long tail terms, they add up to BIG numbers that can give you plenty of viable prospects who’ll hopefully buy what you’re promoting.

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PPCC AAddvveerrttiissiinngg BBeesstt PPrraaccttiicceess  Start Small. When beginning a new PPC campaign, don’t be afraid to launch it as a test. Measure the results, adjust your campaign, and test some more. With PPC, you want to maximize your clicks while adhering to your budget.

It also can be costly to make your PPC program more aggressive by advertising out on the Content Network or using the pricey Broad Match option. Best to first learn the ropes with an inexpensive campaign on the Search Network before exposing your dollars to buying PPC ads on miscellaneous blogs and the like.  Initially Set Your Bid Amounts High: Start out with a bang and lock in a high click through rate. This will improve your Quality Score with Google AdWords, which then can be pulled back after a few weeks – when your keywords will be cheaper to buy.

 NEVER obsess over getting the #1 position: Believe it or not, there are plenty of affiliate marketers who’ll swear they have much more success in the #2 or #3 slot than they do by being in the #1 position. Often times you’ll reap more click-throughs and sales when your ad is NOT the first one on the page. I can only guess why this happens, but I sure don’t question it: It’s cheaper and depending on your ad copy potentially more fruitful? Test and track this to see if it’ll work for you, too.  Set realistic goals: When you are diverting your efforts to improve your click through rate, try to set realistic goals. Generally an improvement of 1% in your click through rate can be considered as realistic. If you have a click rate of around 5% or more, then you are having a fabulous click through rate, whereas a click through rate

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of less than 2% is considered as poor and you need to do drastic changes in your ad campaign to bring the click through rate to acceptable levels.  Nurture each aspect of your PPC campaign: Do your homework, study keywords, pay attention to negative keywords. Monitor the strategies of your competitors. Copy and improve on their ad copy to get the upper hand.  Keyword Mapping: Track key phrase effectiveness over time on a spreadsheet for competitiveness and conversion. New buying trends, patterns and success factors will emerge, and since the business world is ever changing, you must keep up and modify accordingly. Google’s Webmaster Tools can help you out here.  Track your results: If you’re paying $1 for each click-through and it takes you 25 click-throughs for one visitor to convert into a sale, it’s costing you $25 for each sale you secure through PPC advertising. Your profits ought to exceed what it’s costing you on average just to get each sale. Tracking your click-through conversion rate (CTR) will help you determine your profitability.  Survey your customers: As part of your customer relationship process, provide them a short list of questions asking how they found you, or create a newsletter to collect information on their search engine use.  Cost analysis: We all want to bring traffic to our web pages. But it’s important to make the distinction between good traffic and bad traffic. We don't want people to stumble onto our site and leave after a minute. We want them to click on our ads, buy our products, and come back again for more! Figure out which keywords are delivering the most non-buyers and remove those terms from your keyword lists.

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oonncclluussiioonn:: TThhee RRooaadd ttoo NNoonn--ssttoopp W Weebb TTrraaffffiicc Choosing to pursue affiliate marketing can be quite rewarding. It’s a great way to get a share of profits for helping many leading-edge companies and talented entrepreneurs expand their market share and sales online.

But be mindful that successful affiliate marketing is not some kind of ―get rich‖ pyramid scheme. In most cases, you’re dealing with legitimate businesses and savvy customers. Treat them both respectfully and you’ll be among those who’re doing extremely well as an affiliate. It’s a challenging task, but successfully driving a steady stream of good traffic to your site can be done. You will make it happen by:  Continuing to learn as much as possible about SEO and keywords,  Doing diligence to nurture organic (non-paid) traffic, including standing for quality content  Studying the best competitors marketing in your niche, improving on what’s working for them, and  Work with sheer passion, with providing unrivaled value at the core of all you do!

Enjoy the drive!

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Bonus Section #1: Adsense It‘s a bonus section for you, surprise! Bonus sections of this book cover subjects that are not related to affiliate marketing, but they are all great ways of making money online that every internet marketer should be familiar with.

First, let me emphasize that Adsense is unrelated to affiliate marketing, but it‘s a way to make money online that you should be familiar with. It‘s another way of making cash, other than promoting affiliate programs.

What is Adsense? Adsense is almost the opposite website of Adwords. When you pay for Google Adwords, your ads are displayed on Google search results. Have you noticed the option, ―and its content websites?‖ This is an example of where Adsense appears. When you go to a website and notice ―Ads by Google‖, those are other people‘s Adwords being displayed.

When you host these Adsense Ads on your website, you will earn a cut of the price of what people are paying for keywords. Say people are paying between $.25 and $2 dollars for the term ―used car insurance‖. If you have a website with the keywords ―used car insurance‖ or your Adsense ads are relevant to that keyword, you could be making anywhere from $.13 to $1 for every click! On average Adsense will pay you half of what the average bid for a keyword is. This changes by the hour, so it can be hard to tell. Expect less and welcome more. One of the reasons these can be so profitable is because you aren‘t directly selling anything. You are the middle man, FOR the middle man. All you have to do is get someone to click on a single ad, a simple little text ad. Once they click, you collect your cents. You might be asking, who wants to nickel and dime their way to a fortune? Well, a penny saved is a penny earned. It‘s not uncommon to have CTR‘s on a well designed website to be Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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anywhere from 25-75%! Let‘s say you have a website with Adsense ads based on the keywords ―dog treats‖. You are paying an average of $.08 per click with Adwords. You get 100 visitors a day. You are spending $8 a day. Let‘s say your website has a CTR rate of say 30%, and the average earning per Adsense click is $.65. You just made over $10 a day. That‘s 300 dollars a month, in your pocket, no effort, every month, like clockwork. Big deal, but what if you made ten of these websites. Three thousand every month, profit, into your bank account. What do you do? Make sure your domain and hosting doesn‘t expire. That‘s it, you just sit back and watch the money pour in. Sound too good to be true? It won‘t when you wake up to 20 bucks sitting in your Adsense account that you made sleeping. Never, ever just make one blanket Domain and host several other sub domains for your different Adsense websites. Google will most likely catch on to this, and realize you are simply trying to profit from Adsense and nothing else. Remember, Google cares more about its customers than you. Instead, break your Adsense websites down into categories and keep them niche related. You could safely have kickfarther.footballtips.net, getbigger.footballtips.net, etc. Don‘t have medicare.footballtips.net. Google will eventually notice and could cancel your entire Adsense earning career! Let‘s get started.

SSeettttiinngg UUpp AA W Weebbssiittee (Note: this ―Setting Up A Website‖ section has been copied with permission from the guide: eBay Fortune: The Definite Roadmap to Auction Riches at www.AuctionsLord.com)

First, you‘ll need a website. Setting up a website is very easy, even if you have never done it before. You only need two things: a domain name, and a hosting account. 1. To get a domain name, just go to godaddy by clicking here and then type in any domain name you‘re looking to acquire. Domain names can be as affordable as $2.99/year! A domain name for example could be www.mywebsitename.com

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2. Once you have a domain name, click here to sign up for hosting at hostgator. They are best hosting company on the internet. In most cases, a hatchling account is all you‘ll need. Make sure to sign up for Linux hosting and not Windows hosting. And that‘s it! Now, you are ready to do whatever you wish to your own website. Let‘s say for example that you want to upload files onto your website. An FTP software will allow you to do this. Once you have registered for your hosting account, you will be given an FTP username and an FTP password. Be sure to keep them safe in your records. Now, here‘s how to upload files to your website: 1. Download an FTP software called Filezilla by clicking here. After download, install the program, and run it. 2. Once you've installed and opened up Filezilla, at the top of the screen is a place for you to fill in your address, username, and password. Your address is basically your domain name, for example, www.mywebsitename.com (do not put in http:// in the beginning). Fill out that information, as well as your username and password to log in. The user name and password are your FTP username and password, which were given to you at the time when you signed up for your hostgator hosting. Once the address, username and password are all filled in, click on Quickconnect to the right. 3. Once you have logged in, you will see a window to the right that has a folder called public_html. Double-click on this folder. 4. On the window to the left are the files stored on your computer. To transfer files to your website, just right-click on the file, and left-click on upload in the popup dialog. You will then see that the file will be uploaded to the right window. If for example

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your file name is called mypicture.jpg, then the link to the picture would be ww.mywebsitename.com/mypicture.jpg 5. You can now directly access your uploaded file through the internet! To change the homepage of your website (this is necessary if you want to display your website whenever people visit it), you will need to just create a file called index.html using any HTML editor (do a Google search for ―free HTML editor‖) and upload that index.html file to your public_html folder. Use the HTML editor to edit your website as you wish!

SSeettttiinngg UUpp AAddsseennssee Now, you‘ll need a Google Adsense account.

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You‘ll generally want to use Adsense for Content, as most customers aren‘t interested in the Referral program, and probably don‘t want to use Google again to search for another keyword, as, if you targeted them well enough; your website is where they want to be. Read the information on creating channels to really get the idea of what they are. A Google Adsense Channel is a separate set of code you will be given with that name. You‘ll be given separate results for each of your channels. This is mainly to be used for your subdomains. If you just use one block of Adsense code for every subdomain, you have very little way of checking which websites are making you money, and which are costing your money. If you really like to micromanage, you can also set the channels to various individual pages, to see if different page layouts work better than others. The name of the game with Adsense is tweaking. People have reported over 400% increases in profits with simple changes. I‘ll give you a few million-dollar secrets to really boost your Adsense earnings. The placement of your ads is one of the most crucial aspects to remember when placing and designed your Adsense ads. Generally, placing ad blocks at the top of your web page, and a column on the left of your page, are the most effective ad placements. Think about it, when you read, you start at the top, and work your way right. The same when a customer first gets to your website. This is what Google says directly on their Adsense page. Obviously, have the ads displayed near your relative content is key. People start from the left and work right and continue down.

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s a million-dollar little secret: Why not try making your ads seem like part of your websiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s content. Did you notice while going through the Adsense settings, you could choose what kind of ads you wanted? You can also change the color of the bits of ads you want. Try to blend them in with your normal content. Here are a few example ads that have been blended in with their surroundings. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Notice how the ads are the same general color as the rest of the ads displayed on the website (this is from about.com, a huge company. You can bet if they are doing it, it works!) and are also surrounded by a similar grey box. You‘ll also notice however, that these ads are just a little darker, and bolder than the rest. Not only do they blend in and seem like genuine links, they also stand out just enough to get noticed! Pretty clever. WARNING: Don‘t try to trick Google with any dirty techniques I haven‘t given you. Any subtle attempts to modify code or force clicks will only get your account banned and any money owed withheld. Stay away from so called ―black hat‖ techniques. They WILL get you banned. Trust me; I‘ve tried all the dirty angles. Our next million-dollar little secret is an old one, and will save your butt. A year or so ago, it was very popular to put relevant images near your ads. Say you had Adsense ads displaying ―Cell Phones Cheap,‖ it was a very common practice to display 4 small images of cell phones right next to your Adsense ads. Always remember to keep the ads completely separate from the images. If it appears that the images are purposely arranged to correspond to the ads, Google will tell you to remove them. Google has said that pretty much any worthwhile image / Adsense combination will put you in jeopardy of losing your account. Frankly, nothing to me would be worth losing a tool that Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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brings me over $6,999 a month. If you do want to risk it, make sure the images could IN NO WAY be confused with the ads. No arrow .gifs pointing toward the ads, no barely clothed woman with their arms around the Adsense ads. If you do dare to use images, make sure they are separated by a very strong barrier, such as a thick border of a different color. Rather than trying to beat the Adsense system, simply focus on the strengths of your keywords, and better targeting of your traffic. Here is a list of 10 things that can, and will most likely get you a strict warning: 1. Never click your own Adsense ads or get them clicked for whatever reason. 2. Never change the Adsense code. DUH! Google will frequently check your website via automated ―spider bots‖ that will crawl through your code and check for any irregularities. 3. Do not place more than 3 ad units and 3 ad links or 2 Adsense search boxes on any web page. 4. Do not disclose confidential information about your account like the CTR, CPM and income derived via individual ad units or any other confidential information they may reveal to you. However, you may reveal the total money you make as per recent updates to the TOS. 5. Label headings as ―sponsored links‖ or ―advertisements‖ only. Other labels are not allowed. 6. Never launch a New Page for clicked ads by default. 7. Place ads only on Content Pages. 8. Do not send your ads by email. 9. Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing. Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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10. Maximum 2 referral buttons per product per page.

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Bonus Section #2: My Triple A System. Adsense, Adwords, Arbitrage! Bonus sections of this book cover subjects that are not related to affiliate marketing, but they are all great ways of making money online that every internet marketer should be familiar with. Arbitrage is the action of taking advantage of a price differential between two systems. For example, arbitrage can occur when you can pay less for Adwords than you make with Adsense. For the most part, this is relatively easy to pull off with Google, but let‘s get a little more in depth. The basic idea is easy. Identify a keyword that gets traffic on Adwords, build a website with that keyword in mind, and promote it with similar, much cheaper keywords. You‘ll spend much less per click with Adwords than you‘ll earn with Adsense, and with a high CTR, you‘ll make a killing. Before we go any further, let me say that I‘ve never had a website that was unprofitable with Adsense. NEVER, at any point in my internet career was there ever a day where I lost money with Adsense once I had it set up. (The first few days you may fluctuate and be out a few bucks, but that is rare, even with cheaply made websites and poor research). As you know, you can bid higher or lower depending on what kind of exposure you want. A higher bid is likely to get more exposure, and promise better results. Why is that? I thought a higher bid simply meant more number 1 results? Well, not always. Google has a system set in place where they actually follow through on how well certain ads or websites are performing. It‘s called Smart Pricing. Like I keep mentioning, Google is all for its customers. If Google knows that an ad on your website does little than cost them money, eventually, they will start paying you less. This is why poorly designed websites with very little quality content often get less per click for the same keywords as websites with fresh, genuine

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content. You really don‘t have to go overboard with your website, just rotate your articles and use an RSS feed to keep content fresh. It‘s not hard to have many small, quality websites. Let‘s say publishers are paying $10 for position 1, 8$ for 2, $7 for 3, $3 for position 2, and finally $1.50 for position 5. Obviously, you want your visitors to click on position 1, and get that big click money. However, that ad won‘t be displayed on your website nearly as much (or at all), if Google feels you won‘t make that click worth much. To avoid this, make sure your content is fresh, inspired and very keyword targeted. Run separate channels on all of your ad blocks to make sure that you can tell which ones are making and losing you money. If one ad block has a much higher CTR than the others, have it appear first in the code so it gets the highest priced ad. The best way to determine a very valuable Adsense arbitrage is to look for big gaps in keyword prices. Use Google‘s own Adwords tool to see what the average CPC is, and what the top ten advertisers are paying for their ads. If you noticed that for say home equity loans, the top 5 bidders are paying 7$, $6.90, $6.70, $3.25 and $3.22, you‘ve found a nice little gap to exploit. Now you need to look at those first 3 ads and find what out what market they are exactly targeting, and base your keywords on that. Using some of the tips mentioned above, you can identify the market and use your knowledge of the Google system to exploit it. If you notice high priced keywords for ―California home equity‖, write a few pages about California Home Equity loans, and make sure to try and narrow your visitors to Californians as best you can. (If you have a hard time writing unique content, visit www.ezinearticles.com and research your topic) Here‘s a pretty powerful tip, you can narrow your ads to be displayed in certain countries only. You would be surprised how much you can make by targeting developing countries, where many of our top marketers are investing millions in marketing campaigns. You can be the middle man, you can get very cheap CPC‘s while at the same time, define your ads to only pick up the top investors ads.

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I‘m not normally one for avoiding a market due to competition, but you‘ll have a rougher time finding these bidding gaps with very populated fields. Instead, try and to develop a lesser known niche, or narrow down your keywords to one specific off shoot of a popular category. You‘ll probably make more money with Adsense if you are targeting Botox injections rather than just trying your luck with ―Looking Younger‖. Sound too good to be true? Well, it‘s really not. Like I‘ve said multiple times before, Google cares more about its visitors and publishers than you. To avoid losing your account, make sure you offer genuine, sincere content to your users. Take the time to actually find 15, 20 quality articles with pertinent information regarding your topic before you bombard your website with Adword visitors. Google will actively search its network for MFA websites. MFA stands for Made For Adsense, or, Made for Ads. If Google feels that your website has been constructed for the sole purpose of making a quick buck, you‘ll find your earnings dwindle, and eventually an email telling you that you will be disbanded from the program. Every few months, rotate your articles out with different ones. This will help your website avoid being labeled as a MFA site. You won‘t make much money if you can‘t get people to your website, so let‘s talk about a few other ways to get some traffic to your Adsense content website. We primarily use Adwords because it‘s easy, and very targeted. What you probably didn‘t know is that many other companies offer a very similar ppc service. Using the same principles that I taught you for Adwords, you can easily capture the market on several smaller search engines. Here is a list of several small search engines that are often much cheaper than Google Adwords, and can bring in the same volume. Million-dollar secret: The conversion rate for many of these smaller search engines isn‘t on the same scale as Google Adwords. Keep in mind that while you may pay less, you can almost guarantee that the click through rate will simply not be as good, but like I said, you can overcome this with volume. Don‘t go too crazy with your keywords though, STAY JUST AS TARGETED as you would with Adwords! You may think that by simply throwing a thousand more keywords on to the list you‘ll profits will increase, but actually, they will Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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decrease. Google will notice if suddenly you have thousands of more visitors and no strong increase in profits. Here is the list of several lesser known search engines I have used with success: http://publisher.yahoo.com/Miva http://search123.com/ http://www.searchfeed.com/ http://7search.com/ http://www.quik-find.com/ http://search.looksmart.com/ http://kanoodle.com/ http://www.enhance.com/ Million-dollar Secret: If you look around on Google, you can find many â&#x20AC;&#x2022;freeâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; credits for these advertising programs. Take some time and see if you can find a free $10 or $50 gift certificate to some of these networks. This is an easy way to test the profitability of a website.

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Bonus Section #3: PLR Products Bonus sections of this book cover subjects that are not related to affiliate marketing, but they are all great ways of making money online that every internet marketer should be familiar with. A PLR product means a Private Label Rights product. Simply stated, once you obtain a PLR product, you get that product as your own, and can resell it with a different name, a different pretense, a different anything. This may not sound like a big deal, but really you can make a killing with these PLR Products. There are two ways of making money with PLR products, creating your own, or reselling other PLR products. I‘ll describe how to resell PLR products first: How many times have you been to a website with a decent product idea, but a horrible website, poor sales copy, and an outrageous price? You‘ve probably thought to yourself, wow, I could do that so much better! That‘s the basic idea with PLR products, rather than taking the time to create your own product, simply obtain some PLR stuff and re-market it with a better name, better marketing strategies and an overall cleaner presentation. This is easy to do. First, we need to obtain a PLR product. There are thousands of ways to do this, you can buy one being sold on eBay, you can Google the term and find a membership website, or you could use Cody Moya‘s service. Simply search Moya PLR and you‘ll find plenty of results. http://www.freeplr.com/ www.easynicheproduct.com www.easyresellrights.com These are a few good ones as well. I also recommend browsing eBay. Now that you have picked up a few good PLR products, you need to learn how to resell them. First off: Never try to resell them on forums, or via Clickbank or any other Affiliate Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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service, it‘s almost guaranteed that the product you chose is already listed and you will be denied. Now that we have that out of the way, how can you sell them? Simple! Create your own website, or sell them on eBay. The trick to doing this is to hire a copywriter or simply write a better sales letter, using some of the marketing tricks I have told you.

If you don‘t have your own website, or can‘t make your own, you can use www.sitepoint.com. I recommend hosting a contest for around $50-$100 and see who creates the best, small website to your liking. You‘ll find many professional people working on Sitepoint.com. You can also use Sitepoint.com for outsourcing, such as hiring people to write you articles, or even a sales letter for your new PLR product. This is a dirt cheap way of building your product from the ground up. Million-dollar Secret: I recommend using the PLR product you found as a building block for a ―new‖ product. Always edit the entire book to represent your view points, put your legal information in, and overall just give the product a content and visual upgrade. Arguably, the biggest problem most people face with reselling their ―new‖ PLR product is that they tend to severely underprice the product, offering it at prices so low they lose profits. The loss is two-fold; first, you lose money from a lower price, as well a lower price often scares away prospective buyers. If you‘ve changed the product to match your own needs, have confidence in it! The other method I prefer is to just use eBay. Click here to sign up for an eBay account if you do not already have one. eBay is great because you essentially get very cheap traffic. It might cost you a dollar or two to list a product, but you can easily get over 200 product views. Think of it like this; is 2 bucks worth 200, extremely targeted, ready to buy impulse shoppers? I would pay 20 bucks for that kind of exposure, and often do! There are a few things to avoid when selling things on eBay. Don‘t just list your product, and copy and paste the generic sales letter. Keep it simple, and list the product highlights. The Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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buying mood on eBay is different than on other parts of the net, you‘ll find the average eBay user wants a deal, not a miracle, so keep it real. The other thing to avoid is dramatically de pricing your product in the hopes of making a few bucks. Don‘t sell your product for .99, not only will any sale barely be worth it, but you‘ll very quickly scare away any serious buyers, as they assume $.99 isn‘t worth the paper it‘s printed on (electronic or not!). Important note about selling digital items on eBay: eBay does not allow the sale of digital items. In order to overcome this hurdle, you‘ll need to put the eBook or electronic product on a CD, advertise it as a tangible product, and physically ship the CDs to your customers. Price your product for what you think it‘s actually worth, and advertise immediate shipment. Offer a buyout, with multiple items per sale in every listing, and use an odd number. Using an odd number makes the average user think that you have already sold a few copies, and will often make them act on it. Just look at the thousands of other products for sale in your genre, and look at them. What is stopping YOU from buying them? Take that knowledge and sincerely avoid that in your listing. The other method to making a good profit from PLR articles is to write your own! Take the time to identify a niche, and write a complete e-book, a small report, or a list of articles to sell in bulk. You can sell these articles on both Websitepoint, as well as the Warrior Forum. The Warrior Forum (www.warriorforum.com/forum) is a very useful forum. When I resell PLR products as is, or create my own, I find its better to create a large group of related PLR products, and release them as a package deal. It‘s not hard to acquire and rewrite 10-15 PLR products and quickly turn them around on the Warrior Forum. You‘ll find this will work best if you target and expand upon a niche topic. ―Making money‖ PLR products are everywhere, so don‘t be afraid to try something new. Million-dollar secret: When using PLR articles on your own websites, make sure you take a few minutes and really change up the article. Google and other search engines actively Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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search for duplicate content, and penalize newer websites with the same content as others, so if you are worried about search engine rankings, this is important!

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Conclusion My Final Advice

hings don’t always go according to plan. So, I’ll share with you this one, last absolute TOP secret that’s changed my life. I’m certain it’ll change yours, too … The #1 secret to being successful at ANYTHING, including making a massive fortune as an affiliate marketer is:

UNWAVERING DETERMINATION! The truth is that most people don‘t succeed at affiliate marketing because they simply give up too easily. Discouragement and accepting defeat are the main reasons that people don‘t make much money at this. But I have no doubt that if YOU follow the steps in this ebook, you‘ll succeed in ways you‘ve only dreamed possible. I know this because I lived it! A lack of perseverance is the only reason that anyone ever fails! You now have in your possession a milliondollar formula to making a KILLING online, and it‘s from someone who‘s ―been there and done it.‖ You have precisely what you need to forever change your financial picture. Just don‘t give up! To your success,

Carol Nguyen  Rich16YearOld.com Copyrighted by Rich16yearOld.com

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Promote Rich16YearOld.com! Trying to look for an effective product to promote as an affiliate? Look no further! Promote www.Rich16YearOld.com  - it‘s the perfect site for you to start on your affiliate marketing adventure! Check out my affiliate program at: www.Rich16YearOld.com/affiliates.html I‘m paying 60% commission for every sale you refer to Rich16YearOld.com. That‘s about $45 you‘re making per sale, and the salesletter converts like crazy!

Another product I recommend promoting is www.SportsBettingChamp.com You make $100 for every sale you refer to John Morrison‘s Sports Betting Champ, and the salesletter is absolutely top-notch! Check out the Sports Betting Champ‘s affiliate program page at: http://www.SportsBettingChamp.com/affiliate_program.htm

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