Are You an Internet Marketing Slave?
One of the disappointing things about Internet Marketing is that in many respects it is the digital equivalent of voluntary slavery.
People are lured into promoting somebody else's product and services in a variety of ways and then encouraged to directly promote those businesses.
In doing so they assume all the risk.
Let's demonstrate with an example of any number of popular affiliate sites paying lets say 70% commission on a product that costs say $30
Inside the membership area there will be some sample adwords ads and keywords to use - very helpful (not)..
So the new affiliate invests in Adwords and pays $3-$4 per click while the affiliate product converts on average at 3% rate - so at that rate the affiliate may and I emphasize the word may make 3 sales So after 100 click throughs on Adwords the affiliate has spent $300-$400 and made $61 if everything is running on average.
The trouble is that in all likelihood the results will be worse.
Here is why.
The smart affiliate marketers do not promote the book directly - they recommend it to their subscribers and their readers.
Their results are way above average, meaning the newbie Internet affilaite marketing slave probably will be lucky to sell one product.
When successful affiliates spend money on advertising they spend it on promoting themselves.
What do all these people have in common?
Ewan Chia
Ros Gardiner
Chris Freville
Alex Goad
Mike Filsaime
They're all very successful affiliate marketers and they've become successful by promoting themselves and solutions to common problems.
Now lets talk about an even more insidious form of Internet marketing slavery.
I'm talking about an area that I am an expert in.
Traffic Exchanges.
Traffic Exchanges work - but they will never work for somebody promoting a program as an affiliate or member.
Here is what usually happens.
A program launches - lets assume for argument's sake that the program is selling a real product and is MLM based.
Inside the members area the members are given their own cookie cutter website and some promotional splash and squeeze pages to promote.
Then they are actively encouraged to promote these pages on Traffic Exchanges.
What happens?
Hundreds of people start promoting the same looking pages on Traffic Exchanges - it creates a buzz for the product but very little reward for the members.
Furthermore in many cases affiliates are really being engaged to build the program owners mailing list.
This is cynical exploitation of people's needs and desires.
So what can be done?
The first thing is to realize that Internet Marketing in all its forms is hard work.
Sorry - no other way to say that.
To be successful, you need to do some research, develop a campaign based on satisfying needs and then over deliver service.
In short you need to become somebody who people look to for leadership.
People are lured into promoting somebody else's product and services in a variety of ways and then encouraged to directly promote those businesses.
In doing so they assume all the risk.
Let's demonstrate with an example of any number of popular affiliate sites paying lets say 70% commission on a product that costs say $30
Inside the membership area there will be some sample adwords ads and keywords to use - very helpful (not)..
So the new affiliate invests in Adwords and pays $3-$4 per click while the affiliate product converts on average at 3% rate - so at that rate the affiliate may and I emphasize the word may make 3 sales So after 100 click throughs on Adwords the affiliate has spent $300-$400 and made $61 if everything is running on average.
The trouble is that in all likelihood the results will be worse.
Here is why.
The smart affiliate marketers do not promote the book directly - they recommend it to their subscribers and their readers.
Their results are way above average, meaning the newbie Internet affilaite marketing slave probably will be lucky to sell one product.
When successful affiliates spend money on advertising they spend it on promoting themselves.
What do all these people have in common?
Ewan Chia
Ros Gardiner
Chris Freville
Alex Goad
Mike Filsaime
They're all very successful affiliate marketers and they've become successful by promoting themselves and solutions to common problems.
Now lets talk about an even more insidious form of Internet marketing slavery.
I'm talking about an area that I am an expert in.
Traffic Exchanges.
Traffic Exchanges work - but they will never work for somebody promoting a program as an affiliate or member.
Here is what usually happens.
A program launches - lets assume for argument's sake that the program is selling a real product and is MLM based.
Inside the members area the members are given their own cookie cutter website and some promotional splash and squeeze pages to promote.
Then they are actively encouraged to promote these pages on Traffic Exchanges.
What happens?
Hundreds of people start promoting the same looking pages on Traffic Exchanges - it creates a buzz for the product but very little reward for the members.
Furthermore in many cases affiliates are really being engaged to build the program owners mailing list.
This is cynical exploitation of people's needs and desires.
So what can be done?
The first thing is to realize that Internet Marketing in all its forms is hard work.
Sorry - no other way to say that.
To be successful, you need to do some research, develop a campaign based on satisfying needs and then over deliver service.
In short you need to become somebody who people look to for leadership.
8 people like it
Comments (18)
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Very good idea Phil - there are ways and means to make YOutube yours only - maybe I'll get around to doing an article on that
Philippe Moisan
16
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writer
Mark, I think a good idea is to create a short video on YouTube and show a link to get people to come to other site where more complete video has been done using screenr.com or other means, that way, prospects will get best video and no ads from competitors at the end of video, what do you think ?
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Absolutely Andreas Youtube is a massive resource and it is a branding vehicle
Andreas Moser
4
Yes Mark, I payed my apprentice fee with ppc, no more! I find putting stuff of value on youtube is one of the backdoors to get google to promote you for free.
Tut Z.
8
Awesome Income with Forex Trading
great information, thanks a lot Mark
Peter H.
9
Real People Real Business
Great post.. kind of educational.. thanks
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Ramesh I agree PPC can be very effective BUT people need to realize that promoting affiliate links is a total waste of time. PPC can and does work but it takes time and effort to build effective campaigns. I hate it when people recommend PPC or any other advertising medium without actually providing some beneficial training ion the medium
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Carol the headless chickens part is absolutely true - lambs to the slaughter is also an apt metaphor if you're going to survive in this business you simply MUST find a real plan that promotes you first
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Lamont you make a really good point about promoting your article off line - the point I make about PPC is that green newbies will pay that - they'll get Google slapped so hard they won't know what hit them. I find it ethically irresponsible to recommend PPC ads to affiliates without giving them due warning and training.
As for TE's they are branding and list building agents.
I use them and they have worked well for me for a number of years - but as with anything you have to know what you'
Nerissa Mcleod
2
Networker
Thankyou, i thoroughly enjoyed your article.
Rammesh Perumal
7
Web Business & Development Consultant
Hi Mark!
Great post, sharp & insightful. I am not avid user of traffic exchange but I do use some time to promote my pages for branding purpose. Well its works some time I do have a few sales from there.If you have right product,offer and good landing there is a chance to get good result.
PPC marketing is one of the fastest & effective strategy for those who really knows how to get maximum result.Beginners should try other alternative low risk ads method at least till they get better pictu
Carol Jacobs
8
Money Keeps Coming To Me
What you said is true, I call it headless chickens, joining various programs that hit the market and not having a clue as to why. Thanks.
Lemont Wells
7
Web Desinger & Affiliate Marketer
Awesome article Mark thanks for taking the time to write it for us! I do not never use traffic Exchanges, FFA, Safe List etc to me they waste your time,money, e-mail company bandwith etc.
Also the internet keeps changing search egnines don't even look at most affialte websites they dont crawl thru them.
People need to get their own website and domain name them find good product build their site about it and promote it.
It should not have to cost $3-6 per key word or click. People wake up
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Hey Rollins thanks for the comment. You're right people do follow people and there is no other way to market in the end - you have to build your brand - who you are and what you stand for. Not everyone will love you - many people will hate you but that's OK Find the people on the same wavelength and build your relationship
Philippe Moisan
16
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writer
I used to have ads from a low cost PPC system, but I don't use it anymore, I will start using the APSense AdNetwork as soon as I can put money in it
Selya Rollins
12
Creative Imagery
Excellent info Mark, I hope more people read this and understand that people join people, its not just about a program or service.
Mark Hodgetts
7
Professional writer and SEO service
Yes Phil Rev Pages are cool and a very helpful branding tool - they will work better in some places than others and people need to be careful using Rev pages in TE's as the display of Google ads in TEs is a breach of Googles TOS
Philippe Moisan
16
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writer
As you told me weeks ago, Mark, we need to create our own splash pages and text ads. One great thing about APSense is that we have a tool for splash pages : RevPages.
Awesome info, my friend. :)