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It is certainly a lifestyle to be envied and, according to some internet marketers, emulated. Getting the maximum return for the smallest possible effort is quite an achievement and something at which cats and some marketers excel.

It’s estimated that there are some 65 million house cats in the US alone, which by marketing standards would be classified a pretty good success rate. These four legged felines have carved quite a niche for themselves as one of the most popular pets in history. It might even be said that cats dominate their niche, something many human marketers would love to do as well.

How you might wonder did cats, solitary, secretive nocturnal hunters come to enjoy such prominence? Thousands of years ago cats inadvertently began to use some of the fundamental principals of marketing. Simply put, they provided something which people found to be of tremendous value.

As natural rat catchers cats provided an essential service by keeping granaries and homes free of these destructive rodents. What quickly developed over time was what might be called a symbiotic relationship, or more simply, one which provided benefits both people and cats alike. Cats had a ready source of food and, without rats people lost less grain, a win / win arrangement.

There is of course a lesson here which should not be lost on today internet marketers. Cats were able to become very successful by exploiting an opportunity – the need to keep down the rat population. The same principal applies for internet marketers too. Success in selling online comes not from striving to succeed but rather from seeking out opportunities where there is a clear need to be met or, in other words, a “demand”.

Cats also took advantage of a basic natural law which also applies to marketing, the law of attraction. People were attracted to the idea of building settlements with stores of grain and, rats, being attracted to grain, quickly followed. Cats then appeared attracted by the presence of rats in what today might be called a supply chain.

Behind every successful product there is some natural attraction; something that feeds into a common want need or desire. It’s a pretty basic thing really but, with a failure rate of 90 plus percent, it’s also obviously something lots of internet marketers don’t get. Filling a demand is the first principal of all marketing – but there’s more to internet marketing than simply that alone.

Cats didn’t get to occupy their coveted position as a prestige pet simply by being good hunters. They also provided an added value which in marketing terms provides the opportunity for an up sell. Cats really are masters of the up sell in more ways than one.

Cats are cute and when domesticated become cuddly companions. Not everyone loves them however, many cat owners will confirm that stroking a cat, listening to it purr can be very therapeutic, and in other words it makes us feel good. Making people feel good is one of the primary drivers in all marketing. It’s that warm fuzzy most everyone will recognize as something we really like.

Although often aloof and independent some cats are downright social and engaging, especially as kittens. So when you put it all together you can see the attraction. It’s easy to see how those positive feline traits would make having a cat around the house desirable. In other words cats, even without knowing it, cats have a combination of features which work together to make them marketing naturals.

Cat’s give people something they like, something they want, two things which are very powerful marketing motivators. Combine these with the first, which is a need and you create an exceptional market potential.

Cats have one final and important trick up their sleeve, so to speak. The real secret to their success comes from leveraging their position with humans and copying that success over and over. That is to say they made more cats, lots more cats. Every time a cat had a little of kittens, those cuddly little creatures are quickly given away to friends, neighbors even strangers. You might think of this as a cat’s version of viral marketing.

The so called gurus of internet marketing will tell you that one of the real secrets to making lots of money on line is to have others do it for you. In other words you can multiply or leverage your marketing efforts if you have lots of others selling your products. It’s one of those principals that cats used to get themselves into so many households around the world.

Cats didn’t need special tools to become successful. They were born with all the traits, talents and skills needed and circumstance did the rest. Internet Marketers however do need to develop a few skills and to use the right tools to succeed online. If they are smart enough to take note of the market position achieved by our beloved feline friends, some marketers may also become fat cats in the process.

Marvin Double is an Experienced Businessman and Writer who specializes in topics about Internet Marketing. For more Articles and Information about Internet Marketing please visit his blog at Monkeeze Marketing

To be perfectly honest, I very rarely think about the legal aspects of internet marketing, yes I know I should, and so should you, that’s when you need to listen to people like Mike Young (who is an experienced internet laywer) to protect your ass from the leeches out there who ready to bleed you dry!

Neil

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Is Your Marketing Business Skating on Thin Ice?

It’s winter in my part of the world and, around here, the idea of skating on thin ice is not simply a metaphor. Falling into dangerous water is a serious risk for anyone foolish or careless enough to disregard their own safety.

For those doing business online the concept of “thin ice” good image to keep in mind. Experts in Internet law will tell you that, anyone who does business online is exposed to risk just a real as skating on thin ice can be.

The internet is a big place filled with all sorts of people, some of whom are not the kind you’d ever like to meet in a dark chat room. For people doing business online, the 800 lb. gorilla in the closet, is the potential of significant financial loss, business or personal.

Internet marketing offers a fantastic opportunity for anyone to make money online but, it also has a dark side. The attraction of making money online is a lure that draws thousands of new marketers online daily.

Many promoters push the glitz and glamor of the so called “internet marketing lifestyle”, but fail to tell potential marketers critical details about the possible risks and how to avoid them.

The vast majority of those that begin marketing fail but, for some success really is the stuff of dreams. Those dreams can however quickly become a nightmare.

It’s the unfortunate reality that those who actually are successful marketers. may also be targets for unscrupulous, devious and malicious folks that want to take them to the cleaners. Unless they, or you are properly informed and legally protected you could be vulnerable to some serious unpleasantness.

Threats to internet markets take many forms. One of the biggest potential threats however is that of liability. It’s easy to see how the issue of liability could apply to physical products, however with information products the issue might seem a bit fuzzy.

If, as an example, a customer purchases a book about exercise and, is injured while doing the exercises illustrated. The marketer or author of the book might find themselves on the wrong end of a law suite even if they were not at fault.

Defending against such a suite might be an expensive proposition. Even if you win the costs could be crippling, if you lose you could be financially devastated.

Another example might be someone suffering financial loss as a result of becoming involved in money making program or “scheme” which you have promoted. You might be totally unaware that the program being promoted uses certain questionable, unethical or even illegal practices.

However, as is so often said, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Even if you were entirely innocent of wrongdoing you might still be held liable if you are unprotected.

These are just two hypothetical examples however, there are numerous real world incidents which are very important and should be noteworthy to every marketer. Understanding the realities of doing business online is the part of internet marketing where the rubber really does meet the road.

Even if your marketing efforts are part time and your earnings are small the risks you encounter online are no less significant than those making millions. While the risks are real there are many things marketers can and should do that offer real security.

Mike Young, an experienced internet lawyer, has written an excellent book which very thoroughly covers these issues and provides honest, common sense and practical solutions.

This very well written book provides real world examples of that clearly illustrate why marketers need to be cautious, careful, knowledgeable and well guarded against potential legal snares.

Click Here to Check Out The Book This book is highly recommended reading for any internet marketer.

Mike Young’s book might be thought of as the ounce of prevention that really is worth a pound of cure. You shouldn’t drive without a seat belt and you shouldn’t sell anything online without reading this book. It really could save your bacon.

In a world where being sued is such such a commonplace event, the threat of being targeted by a law suite is very real. Every product, where physical or digital, caries with it the potential of attracting some kind of legal action. Marketers need to be careful to protect themselves from suites which are legitimate as well as those that are not.

It’s fair to say that most folks that begin marketing online are not likely to actually think of what they are doing as a “real” business. There are so many programs that entice you to sign up and start making money right away that it’s tempting to jump right in.

Jumping quickly into anything is unwise however, the potential legal dangers online are often not at all clear and certainly not obvious. For that reason there many that begin doing business on the internet really could end up in a precarious state with no idea how they got there.

Skating on thin ice is risky and foolish and, so too is doing business online without being legally protected. The solutions are simply and easy to put in place. Considering the potential consequences it only makes sense to do so.

Marvin Double is a writer and internet marketer with over 35 years of business experience off line. His company Monkeeze Marketing provides information, content and resources to the internet marketing community. You can find the company blog at Monkeeze Marketing Blog

As Marvin points out, would be internet marketers jump from “Guru” to “Guru”, from one marketing technique to another and by the time their head has finished spinning they’ve got nothing to show for their efforts, no wonder 90% fail!

Start with the basic marketing techniques first, stick with a few techniques you feel comfortable doing and have the time to test properley, then move onto more advanced marketing techniques as you get the hang of things.

Neil

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The Newbie Shuffle

New internet marketers face a serious dilemma. Perhaps lured by marketing hype to “take the plunge” they consider starting an online business. Surfing the net they may then find themselves awash in a vast sea of perplexing choices.

Under-prepared and under-informed they may then fall prey to any number of the infamous “Get Rich Quick” schemes. While such programs a are abundant most find that, in spite of promises of wealth and fabulous lifestyles, all that glitters on the internet is not gold.

It would be fair to guess that most newbie’s that venture into internet marketing are not professional sales people or experienced marketers. It’s also likely that they wouldn’t be technically skilled enough to build web pages or web sites unaided. Those without experience of skills would be especially vulnerable and unable, to judge any advice, product or opportunity on its merit.

Confronted with a baffling amount of conflicting information from experts they may become Dazed and Confused as to who they should believe. This kind of confusion can lead to something called the “Newbie Shuffle”. It is kind of a dance one does online, shuffling from one program to another or from Guru to Guru.

The “Newbie Shuffle” is progressive in nature. It begins slowly, then increases in pace, becoming more complicated and confusing over time. Eventually the dance escalates to frantic levels as the dancer tries stay rational and sensible. In the end the dancer is compelled to run in circles around a bonfire made of dollar bills while pulling out their hair.

No wonder then that, depending on the statistics you read, up to 90% of all those who attempt online marketing fail, possibly more than once. The internet is littered with the corpses of fledgling businesses that died on the vine for want of proper nourishment. Would be marketers left to wonder why the God of internet riches denied them their pot of gold.

Not all is lost however for some do succeed. They do so by listening, watching learning and reading all they can about how marketing online is done. Many adopt the “Hurry Slowly” approach to setting up their business. They chose not to believe those things that seem to good to be true. They question and puzzle over things that they don’t understand or simply don’t smell just right.

Successful people in most fields understand that knowledge really is power. They take the time to learn and understand, to develop the skills required to for the job at hand. They find and use the best resources look to other who’ve succeeded as models to guide them along the way. Often they want to test and try before becoming fully committed to a single approach.

The internet offers vast opportunities to make money online. It is a wonderfully limitless place unfettered by the restrictions of time and place. It is one of the few frontiers where one can start with a blank page so to speak. It is one of the few places where a very small investment of time and money can return a sizable stream of revenue, perhaps more than one.

It is often said that anyone can become an internet marketer. If that were in fact true then the failure rate among newbie’s wouldn’t be so high. The attraction of the “quick buck” unfortunately leads many to be disillusioned and disappointment.

There are in fact real opportunities for internet marketers, even newbie’s, to create realistic and legitimate income. Some choose the “do it yourself approach” others sign on to turn key solutions. There are merits and drawbacks to each option, the right way is the one that works for you.

Whatever the new marketer choose as a course of action the same principals apply. One needs to invest the modest time and effort required to do it right. Done right it can be very rewarding indeed. The best advice might be, “dance to your own tune and let others do the Newbie Shuffle”.

Marvin Double is a writer and owner of Monkeeze Marketing, an internet marketing company. Marvin brings 35 years business experience to the internet marketing community. He is the father of 3 adult children and grandfather of 5 grand children. He lives with his wife in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Marvin is a photographer, artist and graphic designer and loves to combine those skills with his marketing interests.

Checking your statistics for your keywords and keyword phrases is very important, if you don’t know how people are getting to your site and what keywords they are using in the search engines, then you are marketing blindly in my opinion.

Tracking any marketing is so important, how can you possibly know what is working  if you aren’t tracking your results?

For instance, if I look at my search statistics for keyword phrases and suddenly see traffic for a keyword phrase I’m not really targeting or hadn’t even thought of targeting, then I get on over to Google and do a search for that keyword phrase to see where I’m ranked.

I then plug that phrase into my all time favorite keyword software (Keyword Elite) to find out how many searches there are a month and what other related keywords there are.

With this new information I will write a few articles to submit to article directories with linking text targeting the keyword phrase to the page that is ranked in Google.

Writing articles to target specific pages in your site will push that page further up the rankings.

Oh, look what I did, I started rambling again…..Now….getting listed in google in under 20 minutes…

Last night I posted a three new pages, I then went to make a coffee (it helps keep me awake ), when I came back and did my usual Google checks I found that all three pages had been listed in Google, and they held several top positions, ranked 1 & 2 for some keyword phrases, and this all happened in less than 20 minutes!!

Now this site gets spidered often, and new pages usually take around 24 hours (or so I thought!), but 20 minutes!! That’s got to be some kind of record, for me anyways, the trouble is I’m not exactly sure why.

I have several theories…..

It could be just a fluke, maybe the Google robot crawled my site just after I posted, but even so, that’s still really quick.

It could be that I have alot of one way links pointing to my site or that I when I post a blog, it gets pinged all over the net.  For that I use the Wordpress plugins Smart Update Pinger and No Ping Wait.

One thing is for sure, if this keeps happening and I find out exactly why, I will post it here for all to see for free, don’t worry, I won’t be writing some crappy ebook and selling it for $97 like the other “gurus” do.

If you have any questions or comments on the above subject, please post away!

And just for fun, check out how these guy’s used google to crack open a safe!

Thanks again for your contribution Shelley!

Neil

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3 Points To Consider When Commencing As An Internet Marketer

When you first decide to become an Internet Marketer, there are a lot of questions that come to mind on just exactly what is important; what is not; what can wait, what can’t. Even though as a casual surfer of the net you could be forgiven for thinking that a career in internet marketing is an overnight journey to untold riches, it is not really like this at all. In fact it can be quite daunting for someone who is just starting out and to that end, after researching numerous internet marketers, both successful ones and those who are still trying to get their business moving, I have determined that the 3 following points should be seriously considered and implemented as soon as you can after starting your business.

#1. You Need A Website

This is without a doubt the most necessary tool you will require in your internet marketing endeavours. It is your first point of contact with your prospects and it is the tool you use to build your credibility in your chosen field. By developing a professional, easy to navigate and most importantly helpful website, that is completely targeted to your niche, you can be sure that your visitors will spend time on your site getting to know you and the products or services you are offering.

As your business begins to develop, ensure that the information and content you provide on your site is original and appealing to your visitors. You can achieve this in a number of ways, but the most popular, easiest and cheapest methods is by posting relevant articles. If you think about it, most people initially start browsing the net looking for information first, and then consider purchasing if they find what they are looking for as a secondary process. So by providing relevant and regularly updated information, you set yourself up as a credible expert in your niche, and in doing so establishing a trustworthy reputation, with the resulting outcome being that your visitors will be more inclined to become your customer by purchasing products or services that you recommend.

#2: Provide Incentives To Your Visitors

Given the number of internet marketers who are vying for your attention on a daily basis, there is a trend to provide incentives or gifts for visitors to receive when they view, join or agree to receive additional information about the product. To this end it is a good idea for you to also provide your visitors with free items that are beneficial and complimentary to the product or service you are selling. These things could include, free membership to a newlsetter or ezine, free software, free tips or advice; anything really that makes your product ‘value added’. This is also an excellent way to get people to sign up for your opt-in list which should become the backbone of your business.

#3: Generate Link Popularity

Traffic is probably the key ingredient to becoming a successful internet marketer. Without visitors to your website you are not going to be able to sell your product or service. Instigate a campaign to generate as many one way links to your website as you possibly can. This linking is highly regarded by Google and other search engines to determine the popularity and quality of your site.

This can be achieved in a number of ways, either free or paid. Some of the best free methods are to post high quality, relevant articles to numerous article directories, ensuring that you include a link to your website in the author’s resource or bio box. The more directories you post to, the more webmasters are likely to pick your article up for their website, thus creating a link back to your site. Post advertisements in forums with your link and include your link in your signature for both forums and emails. Develop a blog and link back to your site from there. There really are many, many ways to generate links to your website without spending a lot of money, so make sure you spend some time properly research and implementing this strategy.

When developing your business, be imaginative, creative, resourceful and most of all determined. Learn as much as you can, but be conscious of your budget. There are so many free resources on the internet and many of them are very useful, so don’t be scared to try them. As you gain experience and your business is starting to grow, explore further and deeper to increase your knowledge which will further help you to become a successful internet marketer.

Plan4Power is a group of independant marketers who have joined together to assist and support each other whilst developing their businesses. Experience the comraderie and support of building your internet marketing business in a team environment. Accept your Free Membership to Plan4Power and experience the true Power of Group Synergy.

This is just the sort of content we are looking for at Affiliate Marketing for Dummies, so if you have an exclusive article that is related to this site and will help our readers please let me know.

Neil

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Social Networking Sites For Affiliate Marketing 

One great way to drive sales of affiliate products is to set up your own profile at social networking sites so as to cultivate a relationship with a network of people who could be interested in what you’re offering.

This might surprise you, but youngsters and teenagers are not the only ones using social networking sites anymore. In fact, social networking sites have changed drastically from what they once were – groups largely made up of teens – to something different.

Today, social networking sites cover a wide range of people of all ages. Although teenagers are still the best users of these sites, there are now niche social networking sites, which target people with some common interest, such as worm breeding or scramblers.

Furthermore, apart from the usual teenagers, social networks are increasingly being used by another group – businesses. Many mom-and-pop businesses and medium to large enterprises are now using social networks to promote their services and products in a not-so-obtrusive manner – and then cleverly duplicating their messages within the social networks via technolgy and infrastructure that are already present.

The most establised and popular social networking site is MySpace, which has a growing community of one hundred million members.

If the affiliate product you are selling has a broad appeal, you may want to use MySpace to market your product, as you will be able to reach the widest audience quickly.

Now, there are quite a few methods to do that in MySpace. One way is to create a free account, and then use an automated script or software called an “adder robot” to quickly add friends to your list. The robot can add as many as 300 per day without any problems. There are so many good ones these days that finding one is not a problem. Just do a Google search for “adder robot”.

Depending on your goals, you may want to add a personal profile for yourself and then talk about your business/product on your page; or you may want to simply create a profile for your business and use that to market your product.

While you can post promotional bulletins about your product through MySpace, this is generally frowned upon by MySpace and could lead to your getting banned. MySpace is actively clamping down hard on these practices. Thus, it is wise to avoid this; instead, send out messages and comments that don’t directly promote your product, but talk about something similar.

This will drive interested visitors to your page, where they can learn more about the affiliate product you are selling. However, as MySpace bans affiliate links, it is probably a good idea to link to a non-affiliate page, such as a landing page that you host. You could capture email addresses or provide relevant content on these landing pages. Try other social networking sites once you get the hang of MySpace marketing.

One other large site is Friendster. This site is generally very popular in many Asian countries. Another popular site is Hi-5. Facebook is another largely popular social network and it focus more on students from colleges and high schools. In order to market to a more targeted crowd, it will serve you best to also search for niche networking sites.

Whichever sites you decide to use, keep the following in mind: your goal should be to develop a network of people who share a common interest and could potentially be interested in your specific product. For this reason, it is always a good idea to think long term and concentrate on building your network and introducing them to your affiliate products.

Keith Lee maintains a huge database of articles at Article On Demand on wide-ranging topics and niches. You are welcome to signup freely as a member.

If you have any unique articles that are related to affiliate marketing please let me know and I will post them on Affiliate Marketing for Dummies for the world to see with a link to your site with any linking text you choose.

Thanks Shelley!

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So, You Want To Be An Affiliate Marketer!

Most people who develop or create a product for the internet would find it very difficult to achieve any level of success without affiliate marketers promoting their product. It’s all about leverage and if 1 person can get many others (preferably 100’s or even 1000’s) promoting their product on their behalf then it magnifies the results they can achieve. 10 people can achieve more than 1 person; 100 people can achieve more than 10 people and so it goes.

So, if you have been toying with the idea of starting your own online business, but not sure where to start or what to do, then affiliate marketing could be exactly what you’re looking for.

It is a business that can suit just about anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, retired, a regular worker, a stay at home parent or even a professional career person. Anybody can embark on an affiliate marketing career on the internet.

It is probably one of the cheapest & quickest businesses to get up and running, with minimal start up and running costs involved. Basically to get started you will need a website, some time and effort (as much as you can manage), a small budget to assist with advertising costs and a big dose of committment.

Take your time and research as many of the opportunities out there as possible. There are many thousands and it can seem quite daunting at times when you’re trying to decide on which product you would like to sell. With all the different products becoming available on a daily basis on the internet, you need to be open in your assessment and take a good look at what is on offer. The products available could range from E-Books, to videos, to software, really, a whole assortment of products. A good rule of thumb is to at least ensure that it is a product that you have (or would) purchase yourself.

All products have different commission structures. Some are based on sales, some are based on collecting leads for follow up and some are based on just getting people to click through to the main sales page. Given the sheer number of products available it would be virtually impossible not to find something that suits you. Once you have chosen the product you wish to sell, it is time to get organised, prepare your website and commence your advertising program.

There are various ways to promote your affiliate website, from pay per click, traffic exchanges, email marketing, improving your organic search results, article marketing, forums, to name just a few. Once you are generating a decent flow of traffic to your website, you will begin to get sales and also build a subscriber list.

Your success will grow and you will become a sought after affiliate for other products and webmasters. You may even find that they will offer an incentive to you for becoming an affiliate for their product or program.

Affiliate marketing really can be the doorway to your future. If you build and develop your business correctly and you continue to update and maintain your websites and programs your affiliated with to reflect the current market, then you will steadily grow your income until it allows you to be fully dependant on it.

With this comes the freedom to choose your lifestyle. You are now your own boss; you make the decisions; you decide if you’re going to work today or not. You will be able to spend quality time with your family and doing the things that financial independance provides.

If you are looking for an affiliate product to promote, why not try Google Snatch? It is an excellent product, which teaches yo exactly how to market successfully without losing your shirt and it comes with an incredible array of marketing tools to assist you in your efforts. Not to mention the 60% commission rate on offer. Visit Google Snatch Dominator and click through to the main site near the bottom of the page.

Shelley Allen AKA The Dominator – Dominating The Internet For Free!

If there is a subject you want me to cover, or you have an article you think is useful to readers of this blog let me know.

If I post your article there WON’T be any NOFOLLOW tags so it will help your rankings.

Neil