“… About clickbank…I have been reading up on it. So you create a hop-link and then post it all over the place? Where do you suggest posting them to get the best results? Also…I was a little confused about actually creating the hoplink and having an ID tracker. how do you do that?  Thank you!! You’re awesome and have been so much help!”

There’s quite a few questions in this question so let’s tackle them all.

1. “you create a hoplink and then post it all over the place?”

UMMM. . . not so much.  Your best bet to making affiliate sales is to find products that are relevant to the things you’re talking about. Then provide some information about the topic and offer up the product as a solution or more information.

example:

I have a my “wahm blog” where I talk about cooking and family and how I put all the things I do together without going insane.  I’ve been thinking about doing some 30 day cooking.  Now if I was to do a whole blog post focused on 30 day cooking I might check clickbank to see if there was a guide or manual about how to do 30 day cooking. At the end of my post I could mention if people want to get started or learn more here’s a great resource, and then give the link.

Being relevant and targeted to the information you are discussing is the BEST way to create affiliate sales.

2. “Where do you suggest posting them to get the best results?”

If you have a blog ~ doing a blog post on a specific topic and then using a product to provide more relevant information is a great way to go. If you don’t have a blog there are tons of places you can do something similar for free.

Squidoo ~ you can create a Squidoo lens on the topic and then have a link to the book for more information.  (If you don’t know how to create a squidoo lens, here’s a FREE 7 day how to Squidoo course that will take you through it step by step.)

Blogger is another great place you can create free content. It’s a blogging platform, but they host all the content for you, so all you have to do is post.

Hubpages ~ another great place to create free content, very similar to Squidoo.

The key is to create very focused content on one topic. Make sure you provide quality information but don’t give it all away ~ or there’s no reason for them to buy.  My mentor Jimmy D. Brown calls it “useful but incomplete” So go ahead and tell them WHAT ~ and then lead them to your affiliate product for the HOW.

3. “I was a little confused about actually creating the hoplink and having an ID tracker.”

To answer this I’ve put together a little video that will hopefully make things clear.  Below the video you will find the html code I talked about in the video you will need to create a clickable link for your affiliate link.

Now as far as creating a clickable link ~ don’t forget if you’re using a place that has a text editor you can just click the chain link button in the text editor (once you’ve highlighted the text you want to make clickable) and then put the link in the box that opens up.

If you’re creating content somewhere that doesn’t have a text editor ~ like Squidoo you will need to use html, but it’s not hard.

The code you will need is this:

<a href=”youraffiliateurl”>the keywords you want clickable</a>

That’s all there is to it.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask in the comment section below!

What Is A Super Affiliate?

Technically speaking a super affiliate is someone who generates a significant amount of profits for the products or services they represent.  A super affiliate can make a healthy living from their affiliate business alone while a standard every day affiliate may need to supplement their affiliate income with, gasp…a 9-5 job!

Benefits To Being A Super Affiliate

The most significant benefit to being a super affiliate is the income.  Many super affiliates make six figures simply promoting the products and services of others.

Additionally, if you’re one of the main contributors to a company’s affiliate program they’re going to pay attention to you and your needs.  You may receive a higher percentage of sales you may receive first shot with new marketing materials and programs and you’ll get the support you need when you need it.

Here Are A Few Steps To Become A Super Affiliate:

Step One – Commit to publishing content every single day.  Content has proven time and again to be the best sales tool available to affiliate marketers.  Nothing, not even strategically placed ad copy works as well as providing quality content that pre-sells any product that you’re promoting on your website.

Possible content includes:

* Autoresponders.
* E-newsletters.
* Blogs posts
* Social networking via forums, social networking sites, and chat rooms
* Articles
* Press releases

Step Two – Track and test.  Make sure you know where your prospects are coming from, what motivates them to click through and what information they read and respond to – then give them what they need.  Tracking and testing is the only way to hone your affiliate program into a smooth running, money making machine.

Step Three – Use the provided marketing materials and be willing to take it a step further.  Many affiliate programs do a great job of providing their affiliate with ready to marketing materials including:

1. Banner ads
2. Buttons
3. Email copy
4. Articles
5. Free promotional reports

Use the materials your affiliate manager has provided.  It’s been tested and developed for results.  That being said, be sure to create your own content too.  Even as an affiliate you are your own company and your website needs to reflect your personality and brand.  Building a community around your website and providing valuable content is a sure way to create a following that trusts you and your credibility – which will result in click throughs and affiliate sales.

Step Four – Pre-sell.  The good news is that your job as an affiliate is to pre-sell products and services.   Pre-selling means your content, whether it is a review, article, tutorial, course, or blog post, speaks honestly about the products and services you promote.  Pre-selling is about providing value to your website visitors and prospects, making them comfortable with you and your authority to generate interest and a click through to the company website, where the selling happens.

Step Five – Follow up.  Just like your affiliate manager follows up with you to see how you’re doing and what you need, follow up with your prospects.  A great way to do this unobtrusively is to create a lead list by providing a newsletter visitors can subscribe, a free report, or any number of products in exchange for an email address and the permission to contact them with valuable information and special promotions.

Being a Super Affiliate is the only way to go if you want to build a successful affiliate marketing business.  Find products and services you trust and believe in and then create a strategy to share information to your target audience.  Test and track your efforts, focus on providing value to your prospects and leave the selling to the companies you represent.  Helping others live better lives, without having to provide the products or services personally, is a great way to make a living.

This talk of being a super affiliate can sound quite overwhelming when you are first starting out.  Find out how you can earn affiliate commission checks in just 1-3 hours every week by completing ONE simple assignment.
Even without a website, experience or even an idea! Click here.

5 Costly Viral Ebook Mistakes (Or, How To Make Viral Ebooks Work For You)
By Jimmy D. Brown

If I had only known, I wouldn’t have made these mistakes.  But I did.

For such a small word, “if” sure does cause a lot of problems, doesn’t it?

“If I had not turned off the alarm clock, I wouldn’t have overslept.”

“If I had paid attention to what my wife said, I would have not shrunk my 100% cotton shirt three sizes too small.”

“If I would have taken the time to fuel up, my car wouldn’t have run out of gas out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“If I had charged up the battery on my mobile phone, then I would be able to call AAA to bring me some gas out here in the middle of nowhere!”

See what I mean?

“If” is such a tiny word.

But it’s like dynamite.  It packs a lot of punch.

For me, as I teach (and learn myself!) about viral eBooks, the phrase is this:

“If I had only known, I wouldn’t have made these mistakes.”

You see, I made MANY costly mistakes in my early viral eBooks.  Mistakes that are *literally* costing me thousands of dollars in profits right now.

And there is nothing I can do to change them.

Once you set a viral eBook into motion, it’s impossible to get it back and make corrections to things ya screwed up on.

Man, if I could go back into time and change some things.

I have learned the hard way some things you DON’T want to do with viral ebooks.

That’s what we’re going to take a look at here.

I’ve made ‘em all.

You don’t have to.

Don’t do this…

1. Never use any link inside the content that you can’t control.

I learned the hard way that you should always use redirect links from your own domain when putting any kind of link inside your ebook.

For example:  most people insert their affiliate link for an affiliate offer inside the ebook that they have put together.  The one that was given to them by the affiliate program owner.

Instead, you want to link to a page at your site that refreshes and redirects the visitor to your assigned affiliate link.  Something like this… http://www.yourdomain.com/brainstorm.html
This is important so you can CHANGE the link anytime you want to in the future.

For example:  If I decided to no longer use ClickBank to handle my affiliate program and went with a different affiliate tracking link, what happens to the thousands of copies of your viral eBook that are in place with that old affiliate link in there?

They become obsolete, unusable and unprofitable.

Or, suppose you are linking to a dating service that goes out of business?  What now?
Your links are toast.  They are worthless to you.

With a redirect link you can easily adjust the target page and send the traffic to a different dating service, or to a page at your site. With a redirect link the changes are made at YOUR SITE, which you remain in control of regardless of what happens with the products and services that you linked to.

Even if you change hosts or servers, you still remain in control.

You don’t have to make changes to all of those eBooks — which would be impossible to do — you simply make a 2 minute change at your site.

I can’t tell you how many dead links are in some of my earlier ebooks that continue to give me headaches as people email me saying, “Jimmy, you’ve got a dead link here … can you give the correct link?”

It creates a lot of extra work in answering emails and certainly is throwing away potential profit for the countless people who never bother to ask for an updated link.
So, never use any link inside the content that you can’t control.

Always use redirect links.

2. Another thing is you want to avoid using dated information by providing too specific details.

Affiliate program A may not be offering that free 30 day trial offer very much longer.

The price for admission to that special site may not always be $29.95.

That site that was “just released last week” may have become an all-time classic by the time Bob reads your viral ebook two years after it was released.

You want to make certain that you stay away from information that is too specific that can easily become irrelevant.

Again, I get emails all the time griping about inconsistent prices because I put a price for the Profits Vault membership into one of my early viral ebooks and that price is no longer valid.

Hasn’t been for almost two years.

I’ve even gotten ugly emails accusing me of fraud and false advertising, with threats to turn me in to the attorney general and all kinds of nonsense.

So, be careful that you don’t date your viral ebook if you can avoid it.

3. Another no-no is to never put any information into your ebook that you don’t want all over the world.

These things travel folks and they can be global in a matter of days and certainly over time you can easily have a worldwide audience.

I made the mistake of putting my cell phone number in one of my earlier ebooks because everyone claimed that if I didn’t have my contact information in there,  no one would buy from me… which is nonsense I might add.

Anyway, I started getting all kinds of calls at all hours of the day.

What was 3:00 in the afternoon in the Philippines was 3:00 in the morning where I live.

So, it was a nuisance.

Kind of a funny story came out of it.

I disconnected that number, of course, and got a new one.  That was almost 2 years ago.

Well, about a month or so ago I had a lady email me and she was hopping mad.

Apparently, she had ordered a cellular phone and got my old number… and folks were still calling!

She told me that she was getting calls from England and all over looking for me and they were running her cellular bill up with charges.

She wanted me to do something about it and all I could do was tell her “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do”

With viral marketing, it’s pretty much unstoppable, which is why it is so effective.  It keeps spreading and it’s hard to stop the growth once it gets going.

So, never put anything into your ebook that you don’t want the world to know and  use.

4.  Another thing is this … always have your carriers do the branding.

You want to automate the process as much as possible.

Again, I learned the hard way.

Early on, before there were all of these branding tools available, I hand customized each ebook.

And as they began to spread, the customization requests grew to be way too much for me to handle.  I was spending most of my day putting together these customized viral ebooks for each new person that requested a copy.

That had to change and so now I use branding tools and branding instructions.  I give them to anyone who wants to customize the ebook and I let THEM do the work.

Keeps me out of the loop completely.
So, unless you have some specific reason to do it yourself, place that responsibility onto the ones who want to distribute the viral ebooks.

5. One more thing I want to share.  Always launch new browser windows with your links in your ebooks.

Whenever you link to a site within your viral eBook content, always remember to code that link to launch a new browser window when the reader clicks on it. I learned this the hard way.  There are many scripts involved in the order-taking process at online credit card processing sites.

And many of those have caused glitches in the eBook due to the software the eBook was created with and it crashes the eBook, making it impossible to order.

So, what happens is this.

You do your job well.  The content is great.  You’ve got a hungry customer waiting to buy.
They click on a recommended product link.  They arrive at the site still inside your eBook window.  They click on the order link and the entire thing shuts down.  I mean completely shuts down the ebook and website altogether.

And, in some cases, it even crashes the computer. You just lost a customer because two sets of code didn’t like each other.

That has happened to me on MANY different occasions in some of my early ebooks.

Now, all of my links launch new browser windows OUTSIDE of the ebook if you click on a link inside the ebook. All you need to do is insert a simple line of code into your links inside the eBook.  The code looks like this…

Target=”Resource Window”

Now when someone clicks on your link, a new browser window will launch outside of the eBook itself before taking them to the website.  Now, you’re safe. EVERY link in your eBook should have this code.  You can thank me later.

(NOTE: IF you are using a PDF maker for your ebooks, you should be fine with your links.)

Viral eBooks are tremendous tools.  But, there are also some pitfalls associated with them.

I’ve just shared five of the mistakes that I have made.

There is just no way of measuring how much profit I have lost over the years due to those errors.

There wasn’t a manual available to tell me how to do it.  History hadn’t really been recorded at that time to tell me what to stay away from and what to make sure I did in order to protect myself from problems.

So, you’re getting something that I didn’t have.

Aren’t ya happy?

In all seriousness, don’t make the mistakes that I made.

History doesn’t need to repeat itself on this one.

Want to learn a NEW viral ebook strategy that isn’t outdated and overused? Grab a copy of  “How To Get Free Traffic With PLR Reports “ . You’ll learn a great way to get free traffic to any site you choose with free “private label rights” reports.

If you believe you “can’t” write or you just hate to write there are some other options when it comes to creating unique content. Today I’m going to show you 3 ways you can create tons of content without writing a word.

1. Teleseminars.

Grab a phone line, invite some people and have a teleseminar. You can take an hour on the phone talking about an affiliate product, reviewing the product, helping people actually use the product, or even doing an interview with the product owner.

Once your teleseminar is over  you can have someone transcribe your audio and from there the possibilities are endless. You can create a short report to offer to people to join your list, or you can give it away and let others do the same,  you can create an entire ebook, you can pull out snippets of the conversation and create blog posts as well as articles.

If you really don’t want to do ANY writing, you can outsource all of those activities.  Running a teleseminar is probably one of the easier things to do in internet marketing, but if you want to create an entire affiliate empire from doing teleseminars the best of the best to learn from is Bob the Teacher. You can learn every trick to making this work with his Teleseminar Formula Course ~ I’m going through it now and it is amazing.

2. Webinars.

Similar to teleseminars are webinars. The cool thing about doing a webinar is the other people on the line can see your computer screen. This is a great way to walk people through something so they can see first hand what you are talking about. You can also create a power point slide show and simply show the slides as you give your webinar.

You can host webinars at quite a few places for free including sites like dimdim.com. From your webinar you can also have a transcription created, and create blog posts, articles, short reports, and even products.

3. Videos.

With the new flip video cameras being relatively inexpensive it is easy for people who hate to write to create content. Whether it’s an article, blog post, short report ~ whatever you want to create ~ grab your flip camera and start talking. You can post the video to youtube, and then hire someone to either transcribe the video or even just watch it and rewrite what you were talking about. You can then post the written version on your blog or in an article directory.

4. Dragon Speaking Naturally

Dragon Speaking Naturally is  a great piece of software that hooks up to your computer and all you do is talk. As you talk it will type out what you are saying. This software takes a little bit to get started ~ you have to train it to understand what you’re saying, but once it’s trained (and it doesn’t take all that long) it can translate your voice with almost perfect accuracy.  Depending on which version you get the whole thing can be done by bluetooth headset so you aren’t even attached to your computer to do your talking.

There you have 4 easy ways you can create content when you think you “can’t” or just hate to write. If you have any other ideas for creating content without writing I’d love to hear them!!

You can do two things at this point. You can try to figure it all out BEFORE you get started, or you can trust that a solution will be available when you need it.

I must admit I am often times someone who likes to know ALL the pieces before I get started, but I am more and more realizing that is not necessarily the most efficient way to work.

Today I received an email from the owner of this awesome Vision board software that I use, that talked about this exact thing.

He sent this great quote/affirmation that I wanted to share with you all.

The Universe knows exactly how to create your vision into your life the quickest, easiest and grandest way. This is often totally different from how you thought it would unfold and better than you ever thought possible!

That affirmation really helps me remember that the answers do not come from within me, and trying to make sure I know everything before I even get started is completely counterproductive.

So go ahead, jump in, get started even if you don’t know how to do everything that needs to be done. Do what you do know, and trust that the resources to get the rest done will show up in perfect timing.

1. Article directories. Go to an article directory and search a relevant topic for your blog. Find an interesting title and then write your own article about the subject. Make sure you write your own catchy title.

2. Forums. One of my favorites, I peruse forums in my niche looking for an interesting question someone is asking or an interesting conversation and then I write my answer or my perspective on the discussion.

3. Answer sites: There are many different sites where people can go to just ask questions and have people answer them. These are perfect places to find great topics for blog posts. Search a relevant topic to your blog and then find an interesting question and answer it. There you have an instant blog post.

4. Google. If you have a general idea what you might want to write about Google it. See what Google gives you. You’ll see plenty of other posts about your topic you can get ideas, or create a list of great posts on the topic.

5. Do a review. What’s your favorite tool you use for your niche? What was your favorite purchase in your niche? Tell poeple about it. People are always interested in making life easier, if you’ve got something that is making your life easier, I’m sure your readers will love to hear it.

6. PLR. I’m not necessarily saying use plr articles on your blog ~ though you can do that, however, you can look through PLR on your computer ~ or even at a plr site and grab an interesting title and create your own article around it. Use if for ideas, not necessarily content.

Learn How To Write Easier, Faster And Better With Time-Saving Shortcuts, Prompts And Templates. This new report will help you overcome writer’s block with a simple step-by-step process that you can easily apply right away

Many people come to internet marketing wanting to make some money or thinking it is something extra they can they can do in their spare time. Most, if not all beginning internet marketers don’t have any SMART goals when they get started.

What’s wrong with not having a goal?

Nothing if you are just playing at marketing online, but if you want to create a successful business and a full time income online you’re going to have to have a goal. This doesn’t mean you have to start with a huge overwhelming goal, but you’ve got to have some way to measure your success. Internet marketing can be kind of demoralizing at times, and lonely at others. You work alone, at home, and you end up relying on yourself to keep you motivated and moving forward. This is where a goal comes in.

What kind of goal should I set?

It depends completely on you, but here are a few tips for setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Specific. Make sure you know the who, what, where and why of setting this goal.

Measurable.  Make sure you can measure when you’ve succeeded, ask how many or how much. Recently someone said to me the main goal for them was to “give away one CD a day”. That is very measurable and you’ll know when you are accomplishing that goal.

Attainable: Make sure you can actually reach your goal ~ make it a stretch, but don’t set your goal so high there’s no chance you’ll reach it. You’ll most likely get discouraged and quit. Is it attainable to set a full time income from home as your goal, sure!

Realistic: This means you actually believe it is possible to reach the goal you’ve set yourself. Setting a goal for a full time income from home may be attainable but you have to be realistic, it’s not going to happen in a month ~ set realistic expectations on your goal.

Timely: A goal that is just floating out there really isn’t a goal at all. You need a time limit on your goal, a time frame to know how long you’ve got to work on this goal. This will not only give you a deadline, but help motivate you to keep moving forward.

If you realize you’ve jumped into internet marketing without a goal, it might be time to start over. You can create goals in any and many areas of your business, your traffic levels, the number of articles you submit, how many CDs you give away, how many RSS subscribers you get, how many products you sell. There are many ways to go about creating goals, but once you do you will find you have a much more concrete feeling of what you have to do to be successful and that is what can keep you in the game.

Once you’ve bought a ton of products, spent a lot of money ~ you probably couldn’t afford, and you’re STILL not making any money online one of two things usually happens.

1. You quit.

2. You decide to create an internet marketing strategy that works.

If you’ve gotten to the point of possibility #2 this post is for you.

This post is a compilation of great posts from around the net. People I read and admire and people you can learn from. These posts will help you create not only a strategy to make money online, but a mindset to keep with it when things get tough. This mindset piece is the one people are most likely to blow off, but it’s the piece that will keep you going when things get tough. And things probably will get tough at some point. You will be faced with the desire to just throw in the towel and say forget it. It is the mindset and belief in yourself that will keep you in the game long enough to see success.

So let’s get right to it:

Success Factor #1:

Attitude ~ do you have a plan for your internet marketing career and will you be strong enough to follow it through?

* Here Craig Perrine talks about his own journey with both weight loss as well as making money online. For anyone who has ever tried to lose a few pounds the similarities between weight loss and internet marketing will be astounding.

http://craigperrine.com/are-you-really-following-the-internet-marketing-success-recipe/

* In this post Josh Spaulding talks about the success factor he finally found. Confidence. If someone as successful as Josh Spaulding is facing this kind of stuff there is something for everyone to learn there.

http://ez-onlinemoney.com/blog/internet-marketing/why-it-took-me-almost-3-years-to-really-succeed-online/

* I found this blog only recently, but I include it because Ian has hit the nail right on the head with this post. This one simple thing he talks about this is something that is completely within YOUR control and can change the level of your success in internet marketing exponentially.

http://karmicconsulting.net/crash-cash-creation-coaching-mini-morsels-of-marketing-magic/the-biggest-affiliate-marketing-secret-ever-steal-it-here/

Success Factor #2:

Getting started ~ Figuring out how to get started and within the budget you have available can be a really tough thing to do. But it can be done. Find a mentor ~ someone who you know, like and trust and follow them. Not only follow their blog, but follow their actions. Do what they do, follow their example. These posts will help you figure out how to get started.

* If you need to kick off your business for free there is no one better, hands down, that PotPieGirl to help you do it. She started with no money and has created an over 10K a month empire. It all started using a free little site called Squidoo. Here’s a great post on Squidoo resources.

http://www.potpiegirl.com/2009/02/great-squidoo-resources/

* Nicole Dean is a successful Internet marketer, as well as the affiliate manager for Jimmy Brown. She is a fantastic mentor and provides amazing podcasts from her blog. This podcast is with Danielle Miller. They talk about how to get focused in your business. It is well worth a listen.

http://nicoleonthenet.com/2009/online-success-danielle-miller/

* A huge issue for some people when they are beginning is finding a “niche” or something they want to build their business on. There are many different types of business you can do. You can create a business based on multiple niche sites, or you can create one big authority site. Either way you are going to need an idea, and content. This post shows you how to use plr to not only find content but niche ideas as well.

http://internetmarketingformommies.com/using-plr-to-find-a-niche-and-keywords/

Success Factor #3:

Getting Traffic ~ Traffic is the life blood of any internet marketer, whether you are recommending affiliate products or your own. If you can a get eyes on your page you can overcome a lot of other areas you might not be as strong in. However, if you have no traffic, you have no business, it’s a simple as that.

There are a million ways to get traffic, and you will learn about some of my favorite ways and some ways my favorite internet marketers are getting traffic to their sites in the following posts.

* In this post by Jimmy D. Brown you will find out how to create ezine articles that will have people not only reading your articles, and publishing them, but also clicking through and buying what you are offering.

http://www.jimmybrown.com/how-to-jumpstart-your-ezine-articles/

* This post is at the MaxBlogPress blog. This is a fine example of how it REALLY works in the real world. I grabbed some of their free plugins, which are awesome by the way, and from there I joined thier list, and now I look forward to all their emails. I found this post from an email they sent me, and as always the content was fantastic. They offer a free report on this post. It’s an interview with professional bloggers talking about how they get traffic. I’ve read a ton of these so called interviews, but I actually learned a TON from the sample they are offering for free. I also watched my email and as soon as the product went live I bought it.

You see how that worked? Besides perfectly? 1. They offered me something of great quality for free. 2. I joined their list becuase of the value offered. 3. They offered me more quality information via email. 4. They offered me an awesome free sample of an upcoming product. 5. I watched for the email to go buy the product and I did the day it launched.

http://www.maxblogpress.com/blog/214/bloggers-world-download/

That is a sales system that works!! Ok, that’s not what this whole post is about, but do grab the free report on how the pros get traffic, it’s chock full of ideas.

* This next one is one of my posts. I get so many questions about Twitter and if it really works, and whether it’s worth the time. I have to say it took me a while to get involved in social networking sites like Twitter, but I have to say I LOVE twitter now. I had to figure out exactly the best way to use twitter, to provide value to my followers and build trust. It also allows me to build a brand for myself, build on the know, like and trust factors, and now when I put out an affiliate link I have a lot of instant traffic.

Here’s the 7 questions beginners need to know the answers to, to make Twitter work for them.

http://www.affiliatemarketingwahm.com/7-questions-beginners-ask-about-making-twitter-work-for-them.html

* Viral marketing with video is one of the fastest and biggest ways to drive traffic to your site. This post outlines a fantastic plan of action to create a viral video campaign.

http://www.marketingbestpractices.com/Articles/viral-marketing.htm

When you are looking at starting your internet marketing business remember that it IS a business. It is something that will take time to learn and grow.

These 10 posts on the 3 success factors of internet marketing will hopefully help you get started on the right foot. They should also help you find some positive people in the industry that you can learn and grow with.

How do I create all that content?

That’s one of the most frequently asked questions I get in one form or another. Whether it’s writing articles, blog posts, or even Squidoo lenses, people wonder how they are going to create unique quality content in multiple places on the same topic ~

Here’s a great article where you can learn TONS of tips to create quality content that leads to sales.

Enjoy!

How to Create Content That Leads To Sales

By Jimmy D. Brown of “Affiliatenaire”

If you look at the average site for any given affiliate,
you’ll likely find a boring, tasteless smorgasbord of
prefab content that was created more for search engines to
read than it was for real people to read.

While that make aid in rankings, is it really going to do
any good once someone sees the site listed and makes a visit?

Probably not.

What every affiliate needs to learn is simple -

** CONTENT IS KING ***

It’s content that leads to sales, not a strategically
designed website that search engines temporarily find meets
their ranking criteria.

So, let’s talk about that.

There must be a reason why some content is very good and
some content is very bad; why some information is so
enthralling that you can’t stop reading while other
information is the cure for a sleepless night; why some
words cause you to frantically take notes and some words
cause you to take a break.

There must be a reason.

There is.

And that reason is this -

Quality writers approach content creation as a craft.

To be sure, some writers are just naturally gifted. They
swing words like Tiger Woods swings a 5-iron. They can
spot a good paragraph like Warren Buffet spots good
investments. They write like Tom Hanks acts. Even though
they practice their art form, it comes easy to them.

Then, there are those that swing words like Jimmy D. Brown
swings a 5-iron. Paragraphs are like Black Tuesday. Their
writing is the equivalent of the acting in a kindergarten
cantata … and they aren’t nearly as cute and lovable as
those 5 year olds. Content creation is a struggle.

The good news is this: by focusing on two key components
all writers can create the kind of content that generates
interest and demand.

Whether you’re writing ezine articles or paid products
or anything in between, there are two components that
you need to develop in writing your content.

Before I explain how to weave both of these components
into your content, let me first explain the reality of
why these components are necessary in the first place.

People read for two basic reasons -

1. They want to be ENTERTAINED. Many people read because
they enjoy a good story. They settle into their favorite
chair and John Grisham whisks them off to the courtroom
for a legal adventure or Sue Grafton captivates their
mind in a “whodunit” or Nicholas Sparks unlocks the
emotions with a love story. Or, maybe they head to the
bathroom with a copy of National Enquirer to read about
a three-headed alien who’s been dating Lindsay Lohan,
whatever, they read to be entertained.

2. They want to be EDUCATED. There are other times when
people read because they want to learn something. That
drain beneath the kitchen sink is leaking again; a dormant
website needs traffic; mom is coming to her house for
Thanksgiving. Whether it’s a do-it-yourselfer looking
to improve his home or an internet marketing looking to
drive visitors to her site or a young wife looking to
impress her mom with a mouth-watering turkey, people
read to be educated.

So, those are the two basic reasons why people read.

There will now be a test. Close your books. Put away your
notes. No talking or looking at anyone else’s paper.

What are the two reasons why people read? (No peeking!)

If you said “to be entertained” and “to be educated” then
you get to continue. If you said anything else, it’s time for
an XBox 360 break or a stiff cup of java or whatever it is you
do to get your mind in gear.

People read to be entertained and/or educated. And when it
comes to the art of sharing information as a part of your
business, including BOTH parts are important.

Listen to me carefully. This is the “ultimate” mastery of
your craft -

To teach readers something desirable to them in a way that
they find enjoyable.

That’s the goal. Put a great big bull’s eye right there.
And fire away.

So, let’s talk about some specific practices for each of
these two components. How can you make your content
entertaining? How can you make it educational?

Content Component #1: Entertain. There are many, many ways
to make your writing a form of entertainment. Briefly, let
me point you towards 6 methods of engaging your reader and
making the consumption of your content an enjoyable
experience for her…

* Analogies. A great way to keep your content flowing is to
use a few analogies. That is, you compare one item to another
item. Sure, I could have said earlier “writing is easier
for some than others”. But, with just a few extra words
I instead said, “They swing words like Tiger Woods swings
a 5-iron. They can spot a good paragraph like Warren
Buffet spots good investments. They write like Tom Hanks
acts. Even though they practice their art form, it comes
easy to them.” Honestly, which is a better read?

* Humor. A little chuckle goes a long way when it comes to
the enjoyment factor of reading. Most everyone likes to
laugh. (My apologies to those of you who don’t enjoy
laughing. You may skip this and go immediately to the
section marked “Don’t Have A Sense Of Humor”). Earlier,
I built upon the analogy of Tiger Woods by comedically
adding, “They swing words like Jimmy D. Brown swings a
5-iron.” By affording them the opportunity, you naturally
make the reading experience more enjoyable. Does this mean
you should make every attempt to be Jay Leno? Of course not.
It just means when you have a chance to say something in a
funny way do it. Don’t use too much humor and stay away
from offensive humor, but by all means insert light-hearted
fun when applicable.

* Acronyms. Another idea is to organize your content by
using an “acronym”. I’ve used many in the past: “How To
Keep Affiliates A.C.T.I.V.E. In Your Program”, “How To
S.E.T.U.P. A Web Site” and “How To I.M.P.R.O.V.E. Your
Writing” are just a few. In these instances, the words
“Active”, “Setup” and “Improve” were used to reveal the
various parts of the content. Not only do people love
them (I’ve always gotten great feedback), but it also
allows you to have something original that is uniquely yours.

* Storytelling. In a recent paid report I wrote, I opened with
a story about me selling Grit newspaper back in the early
1980’s and I tied it into the fact that this was an early
form of the modern affiliate program model. A good story
always engages the reader. Especially when it is relevant
to the point being made. Keep them short (don’t launch into
the great American novel – this isn’t Hemingway for crying
out loud!) and lively and they’ll only enhance your writing.

* Editorials. Opinions are like noses … everyone has one.
So, why not share yours? To be sure, you may want to steer
clear of any controversies that might damage your reputation
and business, but don’t be afraid to get personal when you
write. Many times I’ve mentioned my faith in Jesus Christ
in my content. I’ve jumped up on my soapbox and preached
about using integrity in your business dealings. I’ve gave
my thoughts on a variety of issues that were relevant to
what I was writing. And, you know what, it always gets the
reader more involved in the process of consuming information.
Either they agree or disagree (sometimes strongly) with
what I’m saying, but they continue reading because editorials
are interesting. Share your thoughts.

* Revelations. A simple way to get someone reading deeper
into your content is to make a statement of something you’ll
be sharing later int he content. It’s so easy to do. If
you read back to something I wrote earlier in this article,
you’d find this statement: “Before I explain how to weave
both of these components into your content, let me first
explain the reality of why these components are necessary
in the first place.” Do you see how that works? I set the
table for what I’d be revealing shortly. I whet your
appetite. Consciously or (more likely) subconsciously, you
got the point that something desirable was coming later
in the article. This isn’t a new concept. Think about every
newscast you’ve ever watched: “Coming up later in the hour,
we’ll show you how…” and “Up next we’ll share…” Building
interest breeds enjoyment — especially when you deliver
the goods later in the content.

So, those are just a few ways you can “entertain” your readers
and make the consumption of your content an enjoyable experience.

But, what about the other component? How do you “educate” them?
Let’s take a look.

Content Component #2: Educate. Certainly writers of all shapes
and sizes know that the essence of “educating” a reader is to
explain the subject matter in a way that can be clearly understood.
That’s a given, right?

And certainly there are many ways to do this effectively. There
isn’t a standardized formula that all content must adhere to in
order to get it right. However, I do believe that there are
three basic parts that should be included in virtually every
piece of content written as far as those involved in selling
information.

* Action Steps . If someone is intent on learning a process,
they want to know the necessary steps involved in completing
it. For example: If I want to learn how bake a cake, I don’t
want a list of ingredients with the instructions “Mix these
together”. I want a detailed, chronological list of what to
do, step-by-step. Certainly, not all content is a “tutorial”
(The very lesson you’re reading isn’t in step-by-step format)
but, when applicable, always explain things in chronological,
reasonable steps. Preferably, in 9 steps or less to avoid the
appearance that the process is too difficult to be accomplished.

* Brainstorming. Two of your favorite words as a writer should
be, “For example”. The missing element of most information
products and associated content that I’ve read is the use
of “examples” and “ideas”. Most people present some information
and then leave it to the reader to figure out how to apply
that information for their own use. That’s usually not a good
thing. Instead, it’s important to provide as many different
examples, case studies, ideas, etc. as possible to give the
reader a good idea of how to accomplish what you’re suggesting.
For example (Hmmm, bet ya didn’t see that coming, huh?): I
could have simply said, “You need to entertain your readers”
and “You need to educate your readers” and left it at that.
Instead, I’ve been giving examples and ideas for doing each
of these things. More than just information, readers crave
application. They want to see the content in action; they
want to see how they can use it themselves.

* Tips. Everything you write should have tips included.
Everything. Tips come in many shapes and sizes: keys, tactics,
techniques, ways, methods, options. As many of these as you
can include in your writing, the better. All it takes is
for one good idea that you’ve shared to satisfy the reader.
If you share 10 ways to do XYZ and number 7 clicks with the
reader, they’ll love you. It doesn’t matter what else you
write in the content, they are happy because they learned
something useful. Tips are the information publisher’s best
friend. A veteran might read your material and already
know 99% of what you’ve written, but that one tip on
page 47 just floored them and they are esctatic. Share as
many different tips as you can. Your readers will thank
you later. Well, the grateful ones will.

So, there you have it, the two key components of your content.
Don’t forget the goal with these:

To teach readers something desirable to them in a way that
they find enjoyable.

When you begin to build THAT kind of content into your websites
and blogs, you’ll have a site that will do more than impress
the search engines, it will impress those who arrive at your
site and take a look around.

Never forget this truth:  search engines don’t buy what you’re
selling.  People do.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of “Affiliatenaire”, teaching
you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in
only 1-3 hours each week.  Discover how you can get cash in
the bank without a website, experience or even an idea!

This happened today, and has happened on a few occasions when dealing with the folks at MaxBlogPress.

My first dealings with them were to get a couple free plugins. Specifically the customizable opt in box plugin and the ad stripe plugin ~ both of which I use on my Internet Marketing Strategy for Beginners site.

When I got these plugins and installed them to make them work I had to opt in to MaxBlogPress’s list. Brilliant. I was a little annoyed but quickly got over it when I started getting their emails and all the valuable information and products they provide.

Because the first emails I read from them were so helpful to me they have earned a place directly in my inbox. You see most of my internet marketing lists skip the in box and go directly to a folder called “IM lists” which I read when I have time (or really never), however, MaxBlogPress, has impressed me and I actually look forward to their emails.

(This is exactly how it is supposed to work, and how I hope my list is working)

Today I received an email from them about  interviews they’ve done with some of the best bloggers around about getting traffic to their sites. I’ve seen these “interviews” before, usually a bunch of fluff with no real information. Normally I wouldn’t have even checked it out, however, because it came from them and they have earned my trust I went and looked. I downloaded the pdf and holy COW!! It was good. Really good.

It was of course a presell for the entire product, which was also brilliant on their part. Because of the great content they gave away for free I’m really interested to see what comes next. I will have my eyes open for the email that comes telling me the new product is launching and I’ll take a look at it.

What’s even more fun than getting the great information was seeing the process in action, done perfectly. It gives me a great place to compare and contrast my process and think about whether the things I do are landing on my readers in the way their process has landed on me.

Here’s the post with the MaxBlogPress traffic download. You can grab it yourself.

As an affiliate marketer think about your sales process and see if your process is working in the same way that theirs worked on me. If you don’t think it is ~ time to tweak!! Here’s a free ebook outlining the 6 step process I’m using to create a sales process that works.