Tag: online business

General

Earn a Full-Time Income as a Part-Time Affiliate Marketer

You don't need business experience, savvy technical skills, or personal experience to become an affiliate marketer. With the right education, tools, guidance and implementation, almost anybody who’s serious can get it running and can begin earning legitimate, dependable money.

Most of us stay at home mums would agree that we have a tremendously demanding job. Caring for a child full time is no joke especially when you have more than one to chase around. On the flip side, most would also agree that it’s the most fulfilling and rewarding job in the world! Despite how busy or stressful it can get, it allows us to enjoy these precious early years with the most important little people in our lives.

As time flies by, most of us are almost given the ultimatum to go back to work or stay at home with the kids. So depending on your personal circumstances and your financial commitments, most of us find ourselves heading back to work, not really having a choice.

But what if there was another choice for you? A choice that allowed you to work from home 1-3 hours a day, never having to personally sell, recruit or host any parties, no physical handling of products and you did not have to have business, savvy technical skills or personal experience? A very uncommon option that could lead you to replacing your full time income (and then some) and giving you back the time with you kids, family and friends.

So what is it? This is what we call Affiliate Marketing.

So what is Affiliate Marketing?

To put it simply, an Affiliate Marketer is like an “Internet Middle Man” who promotes somebody else’s goods online. They make money when they successfully connect an online buyer with an online merchant who is already selling what the buyer needs. If a sale takes place because of the Affiliate Marketer’s efforts, then they get paid a percentage of the selling price (AKA a commission). There’s no need to buy or create products or services to sell, and there are no storage, handling or shipping issues to manage as mentioned above.

Affiliate Marketing also known as Digital Marketing can provide you with a lifestyle people only dream of. Many people globally have made substantial incomes with this knowledge and as the digital economy grows we can only began to imagine the financial bliss you could bring to your lives with the proper training and knowledge.

People who attempt it expecting instant gratification will almost always fail. Successful Affiliate Marketers are the ones who treat it like a serious business and understand that like with anything real, what you put in is what you get out. With the right education, tools, guidance and implementation, almost anybody who’s serious can get it running and can begin earning legitimate, dependable money. It can also provide financial security that employment just can’t promise. The Internet isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon and because you work for yourself, you’re never at risk of losing your job.

The best part about Affiliate Marketing is once you have learnt and implemented the right training, you can run your business from anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection and computer, you’re all set! Just imagine being able to jet set around the world, investing 1-3 hours a day into your business and spending the rest with you family. Sounds great right?

If you believe that my message is worth spreading, please use the share buttons at the top of the page.

Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

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General

Are Sales Funnels Really that Critical to Online Success?

update

What is this thing called a sales funnel, and why is everyone going crazy over it? There is always talk on the Internet about sales funnels, but who really understands what a sales funnel is and how to correctly implement one?

Well, perhaps there is a considerable amount of confusion about sales funnels because it is one of the distinguishing factors that separates the successful marketer / business person from the unsuccessful one. Have you ever bought something online or over the telephone from a TV advertisement? 

The kind of funnel that most of these TV ad-men design more closely resembles a black hole. The realize that they probably have one shot and one shot only to sell to a customer calling on an 800 number. After you have made one purchase, you will usually be given a chance to double the order, for only the (inflated) cost of shipping and handling. Then one product after another will be offered in an attempt to squeeze every last dollar out of the call. This is distasteful to the consumer, but this kind of sales funnel is common in that industry. You really do feel like sucker if you let yourself get caught in their "black hole", and buy product after product.

Just ask any typical business person, what do you do with the people who do not buy your products or services?  Most would say, well, nothing.  Well, you probably have what is called a leaky sales funnel.  This is not so easy to set up for a brick and mortar type of business, but every online business should pay attention to their sales funnel. There almost always is a significant impact on your bottom line.

Everyone knows that taking care of customers is a priority.  If any business is to survive, it is a well-established fact that you have to take good care of your customers.

Say what you will about the Internet Marketing Industry, one thing that good Internet Marketing Professionals have going for them is that they understand very well that it is not only the quality of the product you promote, but the specific design of your sales funnel that can often make the difference between a mediocre success and big success. To rephrase, a well-designed sales funnel could be the difference between losing money, merely breaking even, and making a significant profit.

Let's try to clear up some basic confusion about sales funnels using the above graphic. Most businesses think that everyone in America, or everyone in their hometown of business is a prospect. In reality, until someone walks into your store, they are only a potential prospect. In the case of online business, until someone signs up for your email newletter, free product download, webinar, or other offer, there are no prospects, only potential prospects.

Everyone outside of your sales funnel is the audience you are trying to reach.  This nearly limitless pool contains all of the potential prospects for your business. They have not walked into your store. They have not signed up to be contacted by you in any way. You don't know who they are, although you might have some idea where they hang out.  They are only potential prospects because you have no way of contacting them, until they take the first step into your sales funnel.

Once they walk into your store, or provide their email address, then they actually qualify as a prospect.  Now you can contact them and work with them to help them become a customer. Everyone wants to do more than just survive. If you want to thrive, you need to find a way to quickly determine who is ready, willing, and able to buy right now.  That should be the first step.  

I have to give Steve Rosenbaum credit for identifying this as such an important step.  He also talks extensively about leak-proof sales funnels.  This is a guy who really knows the sales process, both online and offline. As you can see from the graphic above you can see there is a step-by-step process until a prospect becomes a customer.

Also, there should be a clear method to allow customers to become what I would call loyal customers, by making repeat purchases. As shown by the arrow on the right side of the funnel, they should easily be able to become repeat customers. It may be because the product is renewable, or relies on a subscription model, or they simply like your product or service enough to purchase additional products or services from you.

There is obviously a great deal more to discuss about funnels, but I think the fundamentals discussed here are important enough to warrant this kind of post.

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