Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 20 May 17, 1999

In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Affiliate Programs: Easy Money by Gauher Chaudhry

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MARKETING MINUTE: How to Multiply Your Marketing Like a Virus by Michel Fortin, Ph.D.

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

Today's feature article gives us some great ideas for promoting affiliate programs thereby adding additional streams of income to our current cash flow. Here's a few I can personally recommend and they won't cost you anything to start:

The Better Internet Bureau. Earn a commission each time someone applies for accreditation through your site. <http://www.better-internet-bureau.org/welcome/bib87int/index.html>

Refer others to an advanced software collection for small business. <http://www.marketwize.com/biz/ware/m47r/index.html>

#1 Associate program on the net! Help others learn to market online. <http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/5369>

Earn unlimited income with NO investment at any time, FREE web site. http://www.telecom-pros.com/members/netcheck/

Earn $50 for each approved merchant account application. FREE to join. <http://www.webtranz.com/cgi-bin/affiliate/banner.cgi?236>

Everyone needs to advertise. Earn commissions on ad space. <http://www.ecki.com/replicator/dynamic.cgi?sitesub-10125>

Get PAID to surf the web! Go to http://www.alladvantage.com/refhome.asp?refid=AOW-039 and use referral ID# AOW-039

Affiliate Programs: Easy Money (c)1998 By Gauher Chaudhry

Affiliate programs are an excellent way to make some part time cash. An affiliate (sometimes known as referral or associate) program is where you simply advertise a product or service for someone else who, in turn, pays you a commission.

Commissions can range anywhere from 3% to a whopping 50% of the product. Some companies pay you money just to bring them leads. For example, companies like CoolSavings or MyPoints will pay you $1 for every person that provides them with information, such as their email address, which is referred by you.

Most companies will supply you with banners of their product or service that you can advertise on your website. Also, a very good method of making money with your affiliate programs is to include a text ad in any emails that you send out. If you have your own ezine, think of the possibilities. If you look through my ezines carefully, you will see a few ads for some of our affiliate programs that we are advertising.

Think about it. I like making my readers THINK. Let us say you run an ezine that has 5,000 subscribers and you are running an ad for an affiliate that will pay you $1 for every lead you refer. With a modest response rate of 2%, you make 5,000 x 2% x $1 = $100 for running a small classified ad in your ezine. I am using the above as an example however I do not guarantee you a 2% response rate. Now if you were running 4-5 ads in your newsletter?! You can make it work!

If you do not run your own ezine, you can still reach thousands of people. How? Pay ezine publishers to run your affiliate ad! There are many ezines out their that accept paid classified ads. To find out which ezines are the best to advertise in, go to http://www.freecoolcash.com/articles and read the article "How to Max Out Your Ezine Advertising".

But Gauher, which affiliate program should I join? I suggest going to these 2 comprehensive sights.

http://www.refer-it.com http://www.associateprograms.com

At these (2) sights you will find hundreds of companies who are willing to pay you cold hard cash to help advertise their products or services. Why do these companies do this? Simple, they can not possibly reach every person on the internet all by themselves. That is why they recruit people like you and me.

Choose a program that interests you and also will pertain to the type of people that come to your website. For example, if you run a car site then you should hook up with an affiliate program that sells car products or services. There is absolutely no limit as to how many affiliate programs you can join!

A really good affiliate program is one that will give you comprehensive statistics (preferably real-time) with regards to how many people view the information and how many people signed up or ordered. Also look for how fast they send out your commission check! One a month? Twice a month?

If you are going to run banners on your site, I suggest using a banner program that will rotate the ads and keep track of the click thrus. This way you can tell which affiliate programs are bringing in the money and which affiliate programs you should dump. Not all affiliate programs will work out for you.

Do they really work? Yes. How do I know? Because I receive checks every month from my affiliates!

A good way to get started is by joining an affiliate program that runs affiliate programs. Have I confused you yet? Bach Systems Inc. presents you with a number of affiliate programs to join and will monitor your results and send you the checks. You also get anywhere from 3%-10% of the gross revenues of the individuals you refer to join Bach Systems as refers too! Check that out at: http://www.bachsys.com/cgi-bin/refer.pl?gauher

Have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gauher Chaudhry is editor of Cool Cash Ezine. To receive articles like this on a weekly basis, send an email to subscribe@freecoolcash.com with "subscribe-a" in the subject. Or go to http://www.freecoolcash.com/coolcash.shtml and sign up there. You receive 300+ free money reports for just signing up!

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Add credibility to your site with a certification from the Better Internet Bureau http://www.better-internet-bureau.org/welcome/bib87int/index.html

EZINE AD NETWORK Learn how to place classified ads into lots of e-zines, grow your main business, and make $11,000 (Potential) per month doing it! mailto:adnetwork@SmartBot.PRO.NET or visit http://www.guerrillamlm.com/members/0737LR.html

If you're paying more than $11 per mo. for a 50 MB site, you're paying too much! Get additional sites for as little as $7 per mo. All packages come with SSL, listserver, reseller program, FFA & classified site, banner program, 1200 site submission, online university and more... http://www.linkopp.com/member/lr10819.htm

INCREASE SALES by accepting CREDIT CARDS No Upfront Fees, Lowest prices on the net! visit <http://www.webtranz.com/cgi-bin/affiliate/banner.cgi?236>

Do you think giving away FREE internet access, FREE email accounts, FREE auto-design web sites & e-commerce stores could bring traffic to your site? You bet it could! Start your own stampede! go to <http://www.ezze.net/affiliates/1801>

Build traffic with your own FREE Classified Advertising Site absolutely FREE by simply requesting it at <http://www.websitings.com/classads/sites/netcheck.htm> FREE--Autoreponders, as many as you wish --Your Own Personal Guestbook. Give your web site tremendous visibility!

You NEED TRAFFIC to succeed online. Get it with Grandpa's Advertising Service--Now expanded! Unbeatable prices--only $25 for 1540+ sites! Check it out at <http://www.ecki.com/replicator/dynamic.cgi?sitesub-10125>

Your Ad in 32 e-zines, 500,000 subscription for $240! Dealers Needed

Get commissions on LD customers without actually having to do any selling. If you have traffic at your site, simply put up a banner and all the click throughs that sign up go on your commission check. If you're interested, just send me an email at mailto:info@netcheckspayroll.com?subject=givemeabanner Earn unlimited income with NO investment at any time, FREE web site. http://www.telecom-pros.com/members/netcheck/

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Some 90 MILLION people will come on-line this year. Over the next 2 years the number will explode off the charts. YOU can provide solutions to their needs. Offer them FREE internet services to form a strong customer base, then earn commissions on business building systems, domain hosting, merchant account processing, web site design, site promotion....etc. In the weeks and months ahead, Ezze.Net Affiliates will be able to handle all of these needs and more. The possibilities are limitless! <http://www.ezze.net/affiliates/1801>

Good news! Take advantage of your preferred subscriber status with a rate of 50% off the regular rate of $10 per issue for YOUR best 5 line ad (65 characters max per line). As loyal subscribers, you can still place ads here at half-price or $5 per issue. For a limited time. If you have more than 5 lines, just add $5 ($2.50 for subscribers) per extra 65 character line per week.

First, e-mail your ad copy to... mailto:webmaster@netcheckspayroll.com If you're paying by check, print out a copy and mail the print-out, with check or money order to: NetChecks, 42263 50th St West, Suite 614, Quartz Hill, CA 93536. If you prefer to use a credit card, go to <http://netcheckspayroll.com/bcwadrates.html> to order your ad space on a secure server. If you have any questions, please call (805) 722-2286.

Clickbank gives you FREE merchant account access by essentially "renting" their merchant account to you to use. This is a perfect solution for someone just getting started and is not sure whether their sales volume will cover the costs of a merchant account. If you don't sell anything, there is no charge. <http://hop.clickbank.net/hopcgi?netchecks>

FREE 5 Day Internet Marketing Course! Did you know that there are 5 tactics your Internet Business Must Employ *Immediately* if You Wish to Succeed Online? Does Your Business Employ All 5? Plus Get 4 Hot E-Books " Just for Subscribing to our FREE Internet Marketing Newsletters. http://www.trueprofits.com

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100% FREE internet access, FREE email, FREE auto-design web sites & e-commerce store http://www.ezze.net/affiliates/1801

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PROMOTE YOUR SITE for FREE in 5678 places! Get busy linking at <http://www.ecki.com/replicator/dynamic.cgi?sitesub-10125>

The 1999 Edition of the famous "Insider Internet Marketing" book by Jim Daniels has just been released! We have our original copy right next to our computer! So take 30 seconds and learn what makes the difference between the "Internet success stories" and the "Obscure web marketers". A genuine insider tells all! <http://www.bizweb2000.com/d3643.htm> Get your copy TODAY!

"Life begins when a person first realizes how soon it will end."

- Marcelene Cox

Questions to Ponder:

How would I change my life if I knew I had only one year left to live?

Could I make those changes anyway?

How would my life be different if I made those changes?

Have a Great Day!

Kevin Eikenberry mailto:kevin@discian.com http://www.discian.com

How to Multiply Your Marketing Like a Virus By Michel Fortin, Ph.D.

As you probably know by now, the big talk on the Internet these days is about "Melissa" and its copycat versions (see http://www.msnbc.com/news/253803.asp). No, it's not an adult-oriented Web site or some new software game but a virus (see http://www.cert.org). And the devious (or perhaps brilliant) way it works is that, after opening the e-mail attachment, it sends more virus-infected e-mails to the first 50 people in your address book without your knowledge.

While we are bombarded with anti-virus warnings telling us to never open an attachment from someone unknown to us, how can we not resist doing so when the e-mail comes from someone we actually do know (since the virus uses personal address books to multiply itself)? In fact, Melissa uses Microsoft(R) Outlook(TM)'s mail merge command to actually incorporate the recipient's name within the body of the message, making the seemingly personalized -- and unsuspectingly harmful -- e-mail to be instantly trusted. Because of that vulnerability, Melissa has been purported to be the fastest-spreading virus to ever appear on the "cyberscene."

Nevertheless and interestingly enough, we can certainly learn the way Melissa (and viruses in general) work and act -- and, in the same way, apply that process and strategy to online marketing. Also known as "viral marketing," the concept is generally to proliferate the knowledge of your existence on the Web through other people's efforts. Be it "word-of-eye" advertising, referrals, affiliate programs, joint ventures and so on, it all comes down to that fundamental business process we call "networking." And according to Jill Griffin's wonderful book "Customer Loyalty: How to Earn it, How to Keep it," we are more open, trusting, and loyal when doing business with (or being marketed by) people we know.

Make Your Net Work

Online, networking is probably more important if not essential since cyberspace is dimensionless and expansive. It grants you the ability to reach corners untapped; areas that would have been unreachable otherwise. However, there's a caveat: There's a lot of hype lately about the benefits of networking, but I personally don't advocate traditional networking (the institutional or "I'm open for business" kind) because, in my experience, it hasn't brought me anything substantial in return.

While it can be a fantastic marketing tool, the way in which networking is conducted is often the reason why it does not produce any favorable results. When you're only networking, more often than not people will want something in return or else they will lose interest if you don't take the time to recognize their efforts. And if you don't, you will paradoxically need to network even more, which defeats the purpose.

As discussed in one of my previous articles (see http://success-doctor.com/article8.htm), a way to consistently reward your network is to turn your networking efforts into networking systems (in other words, developing strategic marketing alliances). If you and your alliance share a same target market, you can effectively cross-promote or share markets with each other. While there are as many different forms of systematized networking systems out there as there are businesses, one of them that is quite effective is what I call "info-networking."

An info-network is one in which information is exchanged in some form or another between parties. That information includes qualified leads that you can both share or information about each other that is promoted to each other's market or client base. As long as your alliance logically shares a same target market with you but without directly competing with your business, it can become a potentially rewarding relationship. This includes, for example, swapping ad space in e-zines, posting reciprocal links, co-advertising, exclusive offers, submitting articles for publication, participating in discussion lists, etc.

But info-networking goes further. It also refers to mailing lists where you can swap each other's prospect or client lists -- particularly offline or "opt-in" lists. While privacy online is becoming an increasingly important issue, cross-promotion is not limited to physically sharing such lists. Web sites and e-zine publishers, for example, have opt-in lists that range from 100 to 100,000 subscribers. Many cross-market their lists, such as offering "solo" ads or offers from other subscribers -- but of course, at a cost. However, if you publish your own e-zine or maintain your own opt-in lists, the obvious advantage is that you can swap ads, "solo" ad space, or listowner-endorsed exclusive offers with each other.

Joint Ventures, Affiliate Programs, and Exclusive Offers

However, there's another form of networking that may be more effective, particularly for those of you who do not share or cross-market your lists. I call it "auto-networking." This system goes beyond simply submitting your site to search engines, swapping your ad or offer with others, or placing your offer on "free-for-all" links directories -- all with the hope that they will produce something in return. It means a process through which you are constantly and systematically exchanging leads with your strategic alliance. On the Internet, this technique is one in which a systematized method of cross-promotion between you and your alliance through a unique, joint marketing effort is created.

For example, this includes the coupling of complementary coupons or special offers that are exclusively marketed to the each other's clientele. While different, these offers complement each other well and appear under the banner of a single promotion. Another is the process of amalgamating products, services, offers, or information that complement each other's portfolio. If your alliance sells a product online, they can add to that particular purchase additional bonuses from your own Web site or business, which may include your special offer or one of your products that complements their own.

You can even create an entirely new and distinct product, service, or information package from both companies and sold simultaneously from both sites. Here's an example: You sell cookware online. You can easily team up with a publisher specializing in cookbooks and throw a book in the mix. While you raise the price and split the profits with the publisher, you naturally and instantly raise the perceived value of the cookware through a co-branded or combined package of non-competing products or services. Best of all, you share in each other's traffic, market, lead-base, and referral-sources (i.e., network).

Here's another example: If you're a software programmer and you have created a program that, say, targets businesspeople, don't just give it away as shareware. Offer it to other sites that target businesspeople and let them offer it as well. While your program may not relate to your alliance's product, they both appeal to a same market and together make the offer more irresistible. In addition to the fact that your program makes your alliance look good or their offer more palatable, if your shareware is copyright-free you get your software to multiply itself rapidly -- especially within a market of much higher quality by virtue of the nature of your alliance's business.

Ultimately, you can create affiliations, alliances, referral-sources, and centers-of-influence that can help propagate the knowledge of your existence on the Web and, like a virus, multiply your online marketing punch. Focus on building a successful business using some of these effective strategies and the knowledge of your existence will spread like wildfire.

--- About the Author ---

Michel Fortin, Ph.D. at http://success-doctor.com is a consultant dedicated to helping businesses turn into powerful magnets. He is also a speaker, copywriter, author of numerous books, including "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning" (get your FREE copy at http://success-doctor.com), and editor of the "Internet Marketing Chronicles" delivered weekly to 65,000 subscribers (visit http://www.marketingchallenge.com/home/success-doctor).

Copyright © 1999 Dr. Michel Fortin

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