1. You’re going to fail.

“I try to do good, but it doesn’t always work out.”

It’s important to realize that you’re going to fail at Internet marketing… a lot. You’re going to get it wrong, your first few campaigns won’t make as much as you had hoped, you’re going to build a bad landing page, etc. Failing is a big part of being successful, especially for affiliates. In fact, most affiliates have extremely low success rates with campaigns. So, if you’re going to fail (and you are), just remember to fail fast so that you can get to the success.

2. Have fun with it.

“I have to get back to work on the tomion.”

At the end of the day, if you’re not doing something you love, you’re wasting your time. Affiliate marketers are entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs need passion. Do you want to invest 50 or 60 hours a week working on something you think is “meh”? Of course not. Be sure this is something you love so that you never have to “work” again.

3. People are going to think you’re an idiot.

“I just figured that since you sold it to a uniformed police officer, you must be stupid.”

Everyone is going to think you’re an idiot. Your best friends, your family, the guy you carpool with on Tuesdays – everyone. Who works a 40 hour week and then voluntarily spends time doing work when they get home? Idiots. Conversely, who quits the security of a big company to venture out on their own? Who decides they want to work harder and longer just to be their own boss? Idiots, idiots.

Some of the brightest minds were considered idiots in their time too.

4. Find an unconditional support system.

“I can’t just kick him out… he’s family.”

Being an affiliate is awesome! You can work from your PJs, you can set your own hours, you can do things your own way – it rocks. Sometimes, however, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be hard when your first big campaign slows to a halt and there are a few weeks where you don’t earn a penny. For this reason, you want to be sure you have an unconditional support system that always has your back. Think family, friends and industry experts.

5. Live in your own world.

“I love my brother, but still, he doesn’t live in the adult world.”

Remember when you were in high school and there was the guy that spent all his time playing World of Warcraft in his parents’ basement? Or when you met that girl who genuinely thought unicorns and leprechauns were real? They were living in their own little worlds and most affiliates do too. Once you get started, it’s hard to transition back from spending hours reading blogs, going to conferences, staying up until 3 a.m. researching keywords, etc.

Have you seen Our Idiot Brother? Do you think it had real value for Internet marketers?

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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In the beginning of my “epic ecommerce quest”, I was having a hard time with conversions. I’ve always understood that conversions with hard sales are harder than simple lead gen forms. I didn’t understand it was MUCH harder. In fact, until I started ecommerce stores, I had very little experience with actually generating sales. I’ve basically made millions in commissions generating leads. In most of my interviews, I always recommend “lead gen” offers. Now you know why. Lol.

As I struggled to garner a profit from a consistently high conversion rates, I continued to question why my visitors were not buying more.

Getting Into The Minds Of Your Visitors

One of the most commonly taught ways to increase conversions is to get in the mind of your visitors. I thought I had but I wanted to try taking it a step further.

That’s when I first installed a chat software on my site called ZopIM.

The way it works is you put a few lines of code on your site and ZopIm allows you to chat with your visitors and also follow them around your site.

We got the software installed on our ecommerce site and instantly, we started getting chat requests. At first, we had it so that users could initiate chat if they needed help. When they did, I tried using coupon codes to push users to buy from us. It was working right away. Something like 40-50%+ of users I chatted with at first went on to buy.

I tweeted AdHustler about my success, remembering he had written a post about how awful chat was for his ecommerce store. His response made me think: “How many of those users would have purchased even if they didn’t chat…”

After a couple days of excitement, conversions really had not increased all that much. I began to understand the Adhustler method of thinking. No chat is less work and conversions would be the same.

Before completely ditching ZopIM, I decided to try one more thing. We setup some things called ZOPIM TRIGGERS. If the user was on the site for X amount of time, we launched the chat window automatically with, “Do you have any questions I can answer?” We took it another step further by setting up individual triggers depending on the page they were located on. If they were on Product X page, we asked them, “Can I answer any questions about product x?”

Questions started flooding in.

The same questions, over and over. For some reason people were not willing to initiate chat but when asked, they felt free to ask those little questions that they were thinking about.

We began to compile a list of common questions and quickly added it to the site. Some pages were redesigned entirely to better suite the answers to those questions. Some pages were tweaked and the answers were more clearly highlighted.

Some questions were so obvious but after looking on our page, we clearly needed to do more work. Some common questions included:

• “Is x product in stock?”
• “When will x ship?”
• “Why does X product …”
• “Will X product work for this problem…”

After looking at our page, we had no indicators of stock availability. Our ship date was buried on a shipping section mentioning that we should ship within 24 hours in most cases.

Getting into the minds of customers even further

As conversions started shooting up, I paid more and more attention to ZopIM.

One of the other really cool features with ZopIM is that you can watch each and every web visitor go from page to page. I would watch as users would work their way through our site.

So cool.

As I began to e-stalk users, I would recognize certain points of delay and exit. I took careful precaution on those pages where people seemed to leave most commonly.

As an example, one page was our paypal express checkout page. This is the page that users get to after going to paypal and authorizing us to charge their card. Users would sometimes leave before pressing the “process” button.

I’d seen this page maybe 1 or 2 times because I figured after they committed that far, it was a sure thing. Interestingly enough, the process button was below the fold and this caused some people to think that their order was done before it really was.

I moved that process button to above the fold and the issue (almost) went away.

The Results

After a full site redesign, many hours of design tweaks, question answering, and e-stalking, my conversion rates almost tripled. In fact, our competition quickly followed suit and copied many of the tweaks we implemented, including live chat (with triggers).

You know something is working when others copy you.

We also have a rating system that allows users to rate our ecommerce site using a third party system (like shopzilla type of thing).

Some of the reviews from the last couple of days show an interesting perspective regarding the chat software:

After the huge success I have had with ZopIM on my ecommerce site, I’ve been planning on trying it on other affiliates sites I have. My time is very limited right now so I have not got around to it yet but I can imagine it’d be amazing in helping to optimize any site for better conversions.

If you want to try ZopIM, use my affiliate link. I get $0.90 per user who signs up. Sign up so I can be like this guy:

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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Use the info you find to design the best possible landing page. Remember, your landing page could always be just a little bit better. So, even when you think you have the magic formula, keep split testing. Change font sizes, button colors, content – everything. Split testing is something that everyone suggests and claims to be doing, but that very few people actually follow-through on. Don’t be one of those people!

To get you started, we’re going to look at a random landing page I found online. This is not one of my landing pages and is not necessarily an offer I have ever run.

As you can see, the landing page is designed for something called Course Park. It has a lot of the elements of a great landing page, but it’s also missing some key features. Let’s start by looking at what it does right.

1. Image

The prominent image of the woman captures attention. Literally putting a face on a landing page gives it personality, something for visitors to connect with. If you’re going to use a picture of a single person, your best bet is usually a woman. Of course, different women will yield different results!

Just remember that the image is most likely going to be the first thing your visitors notice. It’s important that it speaks to your audience and to your offer.

2. Call to Action

The call to action is the most important part of any landing page. In this case, it’s the orange “Buy Now” button. It’s what turns your visitors into cash, so it has to demand attention and spark interest. The two best ways to accomplish this are through color and copy. Pick a color that pops and then test different calls to see what works. Would the page convert better if the button said something different?

3. Header

The header includes everything from the logo to the tagline. It’s found, you guessed it, at the top of the landing page. The header is going to be one of the first things visitors notice after clicking through from the ad, so be sure to tie the landing page to the ad/offer. For example, near the very top of the page, the phrase “Microsoft Office 10″ is clearly visible. While that headline could be much more compelling, it’s a phrase the affiliate would have definitely mentioned in the ad. The continuity of copy and design in the header reassures visitors that your landing page isn’t spam.

4. Benefits

Benefits over features, benefits over features, benefits over features! You’ve probably heard that saying a million times by now. Never highlight features because they are focused on you. Instead, highlight benefits because they are focused on the visitor. You know, the one making you the money! Always have a list of at least three benefits on your landing page. Often, this is the only real copy on a landing page.

5. Too Legit To Quit

At the bottom of the page, there is a promise of a 3 day guarantee. This is essential. You can get your business, security and privacy verified by Trust Guard. This shows that you are running a legit offer. Face it, people are more worried than ever about scams online. Find a way to show that you’re trustworthy and legit!

As mentioned, there are a few things this landing page doesn’t maximize. Here’s a closer look at those elements.

1. Social

Affiliates are not capitalizing on social marketing yet! If you have a landing page, you have two social options.

First of all, there are quite a few social offers on affiliate networks. You could get paid for having visitors use Facebook Connect. Maybe you could even get paid for every tweet or like. Look for social offers because they usually compliment your other offers extremely well.

Second, you can create your own social media accounts for the offer. Use the social aspect to drive free traffic to your landing page and keep people talking about it after they’ve left. Don’t waste free resources!

2. Second Call to Action

Just like on a sales page, you are going to want to have more than one call to action. Usually, two will do. In that case, the second call to action should be slightly smaller than the first. Think about the path the eye travels. Once the visitors are done reading the benefits, there should be a call to action immediately after. It only makes sense!

There you have it, folks! What did I miss? What are some of the best landing pages you have seen lately? Let me know in the comments below.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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Shanelle Mullin has done freelance copywriting for me for almost four years. She is a Digital Marketing Coordinator at Spark Boutik, a boutique marketing company with a focus on social marketing.

There has been a lot of talk about social media experts lately. Peter Shankman wrote a blog post called Why I Will Never, Ever Hire A “Social Media Expert” and AdHustler wrote a blog post called In Defense of “Social Media Experts”. The fact of the matter is that you should never hire a “social media expert” or anyone else that says they’re an expert.

Remember the affiliate guru showdown? Successful affiliates were annoyed that new affiliates who had very little traction were claiming to be affiliate marketing gurus. This is the exact same debate with the exact same answer. If you have to call yourself an expert to get attention, you probably aren’t much of an expert.

Just because social media experts aren’t usually as amazing as they sound doesn’t mean social media marketing is a bust. In fact, there are three great ways you, as an affiliate, could be using social marketing right now.

1. Individual Campaigns

Most campaigns are short-term, but many affiliates admit that they have found two or three consistently successful campaigns or niches. Here’s where the opportunity for social marketing comes in. You can use Twitter to reach out to people who are already talking about what is relevant to your offer. Twitter is perfect for gaining attention, creating buzz and keeping people talking after they’ve left your landing page.

Setup a Twitter page for your landing page and get started with engagement. That is, get people talking about your offer or niche. You’re paying hundreds or thousands to send traffic to the landing page. Why not capitalize on organic traffic?

Tip: A number of companies and networks have plans to list social media sharing offers in the future. These are expected to replace quite a few e-mail and zip submit offers in the next few years.

2. Personal Brand

An affiliate’s personal brand is extremely important. Think of all the super affiliates right now. Many have a single photo that people associate them with or a character that resembles them.

Most affiliates own companies, but their brand is their personal identity. For example, ShoeMoney is backed by Shoemoney Media Group and Jonathan Volk is backed by Surge Marketing Inc., but very few people ever talk about the companies.

Setup a blog, Twitter page and Facebook page for your personal brand! Start providing value by posting industry-related articles, personal insights and more. Use social media to develop new relationships, find new opportunities and build your brand.

Tip: My last three copywriting clients found, and contacted, me via Twitter.

3. Ecommerce

More and more affiliates are getting involved in ecommerce. What’s great about this is that ecommerce is a big, long-term commitment, which means there’s opportunity to develop real relationships with real customers.

Using a blog to capture organic traffic is a good start. Twitter and Facebook can be used to establish relationships, encourage repeat sales, generate buzz, provide improved customer service, etc. Essentially, with e-commerce, you can use social media platforms the same way savvy startups and big brands do.

Social marketing is not just a fly-by-night solution. There is logic and methods behind it. If you’re going to get started with this, take the time to research it and understand how it works. Despite what some “experts” might say, it’s not as simple as writing a 140 character sales pitch every few hours.

Have you tried combining affiliate and social marketing? Was it a success?

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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The past six months or so I have been in learning mode and absorbing as much information as possible about ecommerce. Seriously, I feel like I’ve relearned so much about marketing… it’s been really exciting for me.

Because I have been in learning mode, I have been slowly absorbing a ton of information and “digesting” it all before posting. Now that I have a good six months under my belt, a consistently profitable and scaling ecommerce store, I am ready to begin sharing some of the things that I have learned during this time.

The main thing that I’ve really enjoyed about ecommerce is being in control of the complete sales process. Being able to track and control every step of the sales process has been a lot more work than affiliate marketing but it has helped me learn so much.

In the following weeks I will be posting some of the things I have learned that will certainly help in affiliate marketing, ecommerce, or just about any site designed to make money.

Keep an eye out, subscribe, etc… You know the drill.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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There are a lot more REAL marketers (vs. con artists) that have been speaking out against it. Heck, even PPC.BZ is against it.

Does it convert like crazy? Yup… I know because I’m on many of these guys “JV” mailing lists and get to watch the conversations they have back and forth.

It’s never about the product, the quality, the results people or getting… It’s only about the EPC and how much their bonus check is going to be. I guess greed can be blinding at times.

This last Friday, I got an email from Clickbank about some changes they are making due to FTC changes. It’s a start at least.

(By the way, if you want to learn some techniques that were REALLY working well, you should read what’s no longer allowed, below… It obviously caused enough difference for the FTC to get involved.)

Clickbank Vendor Changes:

• Most importantly, please do not significantly alter your Pitch Page after approval. We recognize that some changes are necessary for testing, but if you need to make significant changes to your page (such as earnings claims or images, sales messaging or video content), please notify your Account Manager so we can ensure the new page is also in compliance.
• For Internet Marketing products: Per the new FTC information, sales material shouldn’t create the impression that customers can easily earn money without putting in much work, and should give specific ideas of how they’ll earn the money (e.g., content marketing, video marketing, social media, etc). Sales pages should also not overstate how much can realistically be made, or imply that earnings are guaranteed.
• The FTC also strongly discourages false urgency/scarcity messaging (for example, “Only 3 copies left!”) when there is no actual scarcity. Closing the doors to new customers after a specified amount of time and reopening later is fine.
• Any Pitch Page references to ClickBank sales stats need to be verifiable by ClickBank, and need to have been earned by the methods being promoted. For example, selling an affiliate training product using sales snapshots from a vendor-only account is not allowed.
• For vendors using video Pitch Pages, if a Buy Now button appears during the course of the video, the price must appear as well. We also request that vendors provide transcripts of video sales letters when submitting a product for approval.
• For upsells, the initial product purchased must be valuable and usable on its own, without requiring the purchase of the upsell offers. Customers must also be able to immediately access their original purchase upon completion of their order, before being presented with upsell offers. An access link may be placed on the first upsell offer page, but the link must be very clear and conspicuous (i.e., not hidden or in a small font). We highly recommend that vendors use ClickBank’s official upsell flows to present upsell offers to customers.
• Please submit product approval requests at least several days before your launch, so that ClickBank has time to thoroughly review the offer and request changes if necessary. This is especially the case for products with video sales letters, since making changes to these can take time. We may not be able to accommodate last-minute requests.
• To prevent customer complaints, vendors should not close refund request tickets or switch tickets from Refund to Tech Support more than once, and the latter should only be used when actually trying to help the customer and save the sale.

Overall, I think that this is a great step forward in removing more of the absolute crap that has been selling recently.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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The other day I saw this commercial and I absolutely loved it.

The thing about it that is great is:
1. This dude is a huge youtube hit meaning most people will recognize him. Because of that they’ll want to pay attention to the commercial… if not just to laugh at it.

2. If they paid for a famous actor to be on their commercial, I’m sure it would have cost a ton of money. But… with this guy, I’m sure it cost a LOT less. (EDIT: Reliable sources have confirmed that the cost was fairly low to have him on the commercial)

Plus… this dude totally freaks my wife out (she says I dance like him… >_<) so it makes the commercial that much better.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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Sometimes when we attempt to make ads, we over complicate it and try to make the ad look “pretty” when that’s not what gets people to click. The other day I saw this ad and I thought it was a great example of a simple ad that quickly caught my attention, told me what it was and what benefit it was to me.

It’s amazing how we try to complicate things.

I encourage you to try breaking down your campaign to the bare basic benefits and try making more simplified ads and see how it’ll benefit you.

I have used this approach in the past and killed my competition who had expensive flashy ads… until they all started copying me.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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Last year, I went to DK’s think tank and met a TON of really amazing people. One of those guys was Rich Gorman.

Rich runs direct response – the best blog I have seen about direct response marketing and the advertiser side of affiliate marketing. He also is one of the guys behind health converter (Health converter review on Affiliate Paying)

The reason this blog is so good is because Rich has a ton of experience and has helped to create and manage SEVEN FIGURE per month offers for affiliate networks.

I was reading his blog all day on Saturday and here are some of my favorite posts that you should check out:

• 4 Easy Ways To Get Sued As A Direct Response Marketer – Great post about some of the legal things you need to think about as a direct response marketer and when building your own offer.
• Building A Million Dollar Offer For Less Than $2k – Another amazing article about setting up an affiliate offer with minimal cost… Good stuff!
• It’s Gotta Be Worth Waking Up To – Learn how this smart move made this company MILLIONS. Pretty awesome stuff!

I could go on and on listing article after article that I learned something new from.

Want To Become An Advertiser?

Rich is one of the most skilled direct response marketers I know – not just about the affiliate side… but also the advertiser side.

If you’re looking to become an advertiser, you should subscribe to his blog and also check out THIS page where you can inquire about help building your own offer, optimizing your landing pages, help with media buys, get merchant accounts, etc.

I contacted him about my ecommerce site and already have a ton of ideas on how I can better my conversions – which is one of the main reasons that compelled me to write this post.

Anyways, check it out.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2011.

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While watching one of these Auction shows, one of the things that stood out to me was when the host of the show was saying how they always try to get a background story on an item. Having a story helps to increase the bids.

They get this story, pass it on to the auctioneer who then uses it to get maximum bids.

One time I saw an older woman selling a signed Johnny Cash guitar. She bumped into Johnny Cash, fell over and they started a friendship from there. As the auction was going on, the lady who was in attendance started crying. The auctioneer points her out, and says, “there’s a lot of heart in this guitar folks.”

The guitar sold for way more than it was appraised for. Now, there are a ton of factors that go into the final price that people are willing to pay but I really think that the story played a big part.

Use Stories To Increase Sales

The same goes with online marketing. Having a story REALLY helps sell.

I’m thinking about ways to use this more in my sales processes. Sure there are flogs and farticles but what other ways can you use this?

What about videos do you think help sell? I think videos allow you to clearly communicate a story to someone… just like you would in real life.

Just take a look at any of the guru product launches. First a story and a problem followed by how they overcame this problem.

Other ways I have seen stories help to sell a product or service is via email.

I get emails all the time from people who are telling a story and using that story to sell something. Shoemoney happens to be really good at this and is one of the reasons why he is always a top affiliate for product launches!

What are some other ways that you can use stories to sell?

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2010.

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