Category Archives: Affiliates

Nov 15

Target Key Words

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target key words with pmi

photo courtesy vizzzual.com

Customers and readers look for information on the internet by conducting searches for terms that they want to know more about. As a website owner, it’s important that you try to make it easy for the people that want the products or information you provide to find you. One of the best ways to do this on the internet is by targeting keywords in your website’s content.

If you’re just setting up a business and you haven’t yet decided what to sell or what your focus will be, it’s a good idea to do some keyword research to evaluate the demand of specific products on the internet. If you use Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool, you can find out how many searches each keyword gets. You want to focus on products and topics that are in demand, but if you choose something that’s too common, your competition do dominate the search engine results pages (the ultimate goal of SEO) will be much greater. You want to focus your website on topics and products that get at least one thousand searches per month. If you find a keyword phrase that gets much more than that, click on the phrase in the Adwords Keyword Tool and you will see what your top competitors are.

If you own a website that sells silver jewelry, it would make sense to target the keyword phrase “silver jewelry”. It would also make sense to target any variations on this phrase, like “silver necklace”, “silver earrings”, “silver bracelet” etc. It’s a good idea to use these commonly searched phrases, but it’s also important to target keywords with much more specific focus as well. It’s easier to rank at the top of search engine results pages for more specific phrases, and the people that search for specific phrases are more likely to convert. So, not only can you target phrases like “silver necklace”, its also beneficial to target phrases like “key shaped charm necklace with 18 inch chain”.

The keywords you settle on should be used judiciously on your website. More general key words can be featured in the website title, header, and even domain name. Specific key words can be targeted in blog posts and on product pages. When you write your website’s content, place key words wherever it makes sense to have them, but don’t try to stuff your content with keywords in unnatural places. Search engine spiders recognize keyword overuse as spam and will penalize sites that try to use this tactic to bring traffic to their site. As long you are mindful about what keywords you want to target and you don’t force them into your content, targeting keywords will help your website build relevance and attract qualified traffic.

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Nov 01

How to Monetize Your Blog

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photo courtesy emdot

The blogosphere seems riddled with mediocre content. This is both a good and a bad thing for entrepreneurs. It’s bad because there is a lot of crap to compete with if you want your blog to get noticed, but it’s also good because it’s easy to put yourself in the top percentage of bloggers simply by creating quality content. Bloggers that can find a niche to blog about put themselves in an even better position to stand out because they can dominate their topic pretty easily. One of the best things about blogging is that it’s very personal and easy to create a space for people with similar interests to interact. Not only is this type of community great for adding value to the internet, but it provides bloggers with a community of engaged readers and customers, and the perfect  opportunity to earn a living from blogging by marketing to that community. There are lots of ways to make money from a blog, but here are some of the most popular methods:

Affiliate Products: There are affiliate programs for any product you can think of, so it’s pretty easy for bloggers to track down products that their readers would be interested in, provide a link, and make a commission from those products.

Selling Ad Space: A huge number of bloggers rent out side-bar space on their blogs to advertisers. Most bloggers create monthly contracts or pay-per-click programs for advertisers which can translate into substantial and sustainable income.

AdSense: Google AdSense is a popular option for blog monetization because it’s automatic. Bloggers can sign up for an AdSense account, designate where they want ads to be seen, choose what kinds of ads can compete for space on their site, and make money whenever someone clicks on the ads. It’s easy to set up because bloggers don’t need to have a ton of traffic on their site to start making money and they don’t have to find sponsors to support them, the downside is that AdSense commissions are pretty small.

Product Reviews: A lot of companies will pay for bloggers to review the products. Bloggers can work directly with distributors, or they can work from a website like ReviewMe.com where bloggers can apply to be accepted into the blog network and get paid to post reviews of products from advertisers that bid on reviews from bloggers. Bloggers should be careful to only review products that their readers would be interested in. Your readers are your greatest asset when it comes to monetization, so try not to become such a shill that your content suffers.

Ebooks: If you’re publishing consistent quality content on your blog, it’s not much of a stretch to compile some of your content into an ebook that’s relevant to your niche. Ebooks are fantastic because they are cheap to create and free to distribute. Any sales you make are 100% commission.

Outside Opportunities: Tons of bloggers have been able to translate their blog popularity into other opportunities like book deals, speaking engagements, consulting gigs, and writing gigs. A blog is a great place to showcase writing and branding skills, so it makes sense that people would be able to create other opportunities for themselves with their blogs.

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Oct 27

What is Affiliate Marketing?

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In the world of online commerce there is probably no option more appealing to entrepreneurs than affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing gives business people the ability to make money off of another company’s products with little overhead, no commitment, and no customers to worry about. How is this possible, you ask? It’s actually pretty simple.

Affiliate marketers help distributors make money by advertising on their behalf. When a customer clicks on an affiliate advertisement, a piece of code is attached to the customer’s internet session. If that customer then goes on to make a purchase on the distributor’s website, the affiliate makes a commission. Some affiliate arrangements even pay marketers for clicks rather than conversions. Because affiliates are paid based on the effectiveness of their ads, there is a huge incentive to create great ads and place them strategically.  

Distributors also benefit from affiliate marketing arrangements because they are giving highly-interested parties incentives to create great ads and place them effectively. They don’t even have to pay for the advertisements unless their affiliates can actually drive traffic to the website or produce sales. Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for both affiliates and distributors.

Affiliate marketing is an effective way for bloggers to monetize their websites. If they find affiliate programs for products that their readers would be interested in, they have a perfect place to post affiliate ads and an audience of qualified buyers to click on them. Those without blogs or websites can make money with affiliate marketing too, but they typically have to spend a little bit of money on ad space in order to make a profit. One of the most effective methods of online marketing for an affiliate product is through search engine pay-per-click programs. Affiliates who bid low amounts on a large number of keywords can usually make a decent profit. Facebook and Twitter have also proven themselves as effective platforms for affiliate marketing. Facebook allows marketers to post ads that are targeted by region and interest, so it’s easy to target a specific demographic. Twitter users will sometimes set up business profiles and link to their affiliate offers in their tweets.

There are many ways for affiliate marketers to make money online. Affiliate networks like cj.com are great for aspiring affiliate marketers to find offers to get started with. More experienced affiliate marketers can sometimes work out deals with distributors that offer higher commissions and more control. Affiliate marketing is the perfect opportunity for anyone that wants to use the internet to make money independently and in their spare time.

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Dec 21

Why You Should Be Using YouTube To Boost Your Business

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One of the Social Media outlets that makes marketing VERY fun is the online video king YouTube. You can really get the creative juices flowing by using this method. Many entrepreneurs rely on free methods to advertise, and YouTube is the perfect example of free advertising. PMI coaches will suggest that their students use this method in almost every case, because it just works!

“YouTube is a community where people are entertained, informed, educated and inspired through the sharing of video. Did you know that 71 million DIFFERENT people throughout the world visit YouTube each month?!

Online Video isn’t the future, it’s the present: 75% of Americans watched a video online last month. And YouTube is far and away the leader in this space with hundreds of millions of videos viewed daily.

YouTube offers a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in a personal and targeted way — and the ability to do so at massive scale.”

Now, you’re probably wondering… “Can I REALLY make money with YouTube?” You’d better believe it! Wow…there are many different techniques to help you make money by using YouTube. So many that I’m certain I won’t be able to list them all, so I’ll introduce you to the main strategies that are out there right now.

Create great videos. If you’re creative, or have an idea…you can make great money. You never really know if a video is going to take off or not, but you should be prepared! I see videos that are getting thousands or more hits daily…but the owner hasn’t linked them to any ads! It’s crazy! For example, the other day I came across a video some lady at a block party in Milwaukee recorded of a tiny 7-year old dancing that had TONS of views…but she didn’t have a single ad! All those opportunities for revenue…gone. I just checked again, and it appears she’s since added some links, so I’m glad she figured it out.

The video is a perfect example of something out of nothing! Yet, for all those who have great videos like this one, but haven’t added anything to help them profit from it yet, I just think of all the money or potential lead generation they’re missing out on…and I honestly feel bad for them. Well…I’m jealous of their hits, but also feel bad that they don’t know what they’re missing. Maybe I should become an Ad broker for these types of people and introduce them to the opportunities available…then split the profit?!? Well…the secrets out. There’s another way to make money on YouTube!

Affiliate Marketing

Here you can show watermarked URL’s in your videos or post links in the description area to the right of the video. These are excellent ways to drive traffic to your personal or business website, or direct people go to buy products that you earn affiliate commission from. Of course, this is contingent on your video being found…but I’ll discuss more about getting your video found in a bit.

You can even use Video annotations to help viewers understand your video, which will help to promote it. Video Annotations is a new way for you to add interactive commentary to your videos! Use it to:

  • Add background information about the video
  • Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene) (choose your own adventure)
  • Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video

You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear.

YouTube Channel

You can have your very own customized channel. Color, background, layout, etc. You can hold contests, promotions, or just become a popular site for people like you! Do this for yourself, your business, or anything else you want to spread the word about. If one of your videos catches on, and you’ve put the proper steps in place then you’ll start seeing the profits roll in and be glad you did something about it!

Advertising

It doesn’t matter if you’re a top 50 advertiser or a local business, because YouTube has a way you can advertise that won’t break the bank! YouTube has made it possible to get your Ad seen by a particular group of people.

They have created incredible ways to get in front of your audience! You can place an ad just about anywhere on the page! Notice the red marks on each thumbnail. Each one of those represents an area where you can post your video Ad. Depending on which method you choose, people either view your ad right there, or are taken to another page to view your ad. YouTube is creating all sorts of methods to advertise to suit just about any situation.

YouTube Overlay Ads (My Personal Favorite)

People can watch an ad if they click on a transparent overlay ad that pops on your video. You get paid per view…and your video is paused while they watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-q5zZ1p2eM

These YouTube Promoted advertising Videos help you get more views for your videos, and they link to your Google AdWords account. They’re PPC, not pay per view. You can create your own advertisements and YouTube will send put them in front of the audience you choose!

Insight

Within your account you can see detailed statistics for your videos with something called Insight. It’s basically Google Analytics for YouTube, and it’s really cool to see. I found all sorts of interesting information that will help me to know the best times to place ads on my videos as well as the demographics of my audience for different videos. Incredibly useful information! Just think of what you could do!!

Here’s a list of some more ways you can make (or save) money with YouTube. All of these topics are discussed within the Videos and Articles within this website, so keep learning, find the methods that would be most beneficial to you, and get them rolling!

  • Save money by hosting videos on YouTube rather than your own site
  • Create your own commercials or advertisements and post them for Free on YouTube
  • Become a YouTube Partner (if you have frequent popular videos)
  • Start a Video Blog
  • Use Video Captions. (Similar to Video Annotations)
  • Put Premium YouTube Partners videos on your website
  • Use Social networks such as Facebook, Digg, & StumbleUpon to promote your videos

It makes sense to tap into YouTube. The YouTube community views hundreds of millions of videos everyday! That’s more than any TV network, Cable network, or social network COMBINED! It provides an incredible opportunity to get in front of your audience!

I want you to check out this page on YouTube to learn more about the incredible opportunities that are available to make money with YouTube. It’s an inspiring video, so check it out!! http://www.youtube.com/user/advertise

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Dec 21

Some Rhyme & Reason To Monetizing Your Blog

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If you’re not making money from your blog, you need to get up off your duff and make it happen. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be taking advantage of this opportunity. Sure, some of you purists may by calming yourself with such logic as “I don’t want to take advantage of my friends” or “Not everything is about money”. That’s all fine and dandy, but…really? I mean…really?

If these so called friends or people you don’t want to ‘take advantage of’ don’t ever spend any money on anything (food, dwelling, transportation, entertainment, etc) then I completely excuse you from advertising to them. Otherwise…get off your duff and make it happen. Besides, it’s not like you’re taking them for everything they’re worth. It’s often a mere dollar or two that you may earn from them. And not even that is guaranteed.

Ways to make money from, aka monetize, your blog are such things as adsense, affiliate marketing, and list building. With adsense you create an account with Google and have targeted ads display on your page when your readers view it. They can click or not click. It’s their call. Depending on your adsense account, you’ll have cost per click or cost per impression. Unless you have thousands reading your blog, you’ll want to stick with cost per click, as that will provide you with more money.

Affiliate marketing is simply an ad for a company with which you have a sales agreement. Let’s say you called Sony and said you wanted to sell playstations for them. They would give you an affiliate link to post on your blog. That way, you’d post a picture of a Sony Playstation on your blog, and sony would pay you a certain amount for every person who clicked on that link and purchased the unit. And in some cases, depending on the affiliate, you could even earn commission just for that person clicking the link…even if they don’t buy. Those are the exception though, and not the rule.

All the successful internet and Real Estate consultants will tell you the same thing. Entrepreneurs really should be monetizing their blogs, and other websites. It’s all about the upsell. PMI education faculty, who specialize in helping people do more with their business, will have you set this up as one of the first items of business. It’s a great start into the ecommerce world and the world of entrepreneurship.

Convinced? Trust me, there are many ways to monetize your blog without it looking like you’ve sold out. That’s part of the art. You don’t want your blog to turn away readers because you’re hitting them so hard with ads. And like I said in the beginning, if you’re not yet making money from your blog…get off your duff!

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Dec 19

What To Consider When Choosing Your Domain

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This topic has changed significantly over the past 10 years because of the immense growth in internet activity. There are only so many words and letters in the alphabet, and chances are you won’t get the first domain you’re looking for. Nor will people sell their domain names to you for a low price in most cases. The good news, however, is that if you’re creative…you won’t have to worry about it!

For example, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Craigslist, Google, etc are all words that while just about everyone knows what they are today, no one knew about them before they got started. For that reason, they probably didn’t have to fight over their domain names. The other HUGE benefit of choosing an unknown name is that you won’t have to compete with other people for keywords and placement in the search engine results. In other words, I’m pretty sure no one was ever searching for ‘Twitter’ before Twitter got its start.

Now, if you can be creative with your domain name, I suggest it for the aforementioned reasons. However, if that’s not going to be possible, you need to figure out what keywords are going to be most relevant to your product or service…and which aren’t already too popular on the internet.

For example, if you have a product that people will use at the beach, chances are that the keyword ‘beach’ is going to be quite difficult to make a name for yourself as thousands of other companies and websites will already be competing for the same word. But if your product is a beach toy for toddlers which has batteries and make noises, then you’ll want to see how many variations you can come up with which refer to the other words. Toddlers could be kids, children, tots, etc. You get the idea.

The coaches at PMI have extensive experience in helping internet or Real Estate entrepreneurs create an online presence. Their success team spends every hour of their workday consulting clients with the most effective strategies available, as well as providing them with products and services which streamline the process.

If you’re tempted to just pick a random domain, I strongly suggest you do your homework first. Doing your research could literally save you over a hundred hours of your time…not to mention hundreds of dollars after all is said and done.

Where do I get a cheap domain name?

Glad you asked! We recommend Discover Discount Domains

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Dec 11

The Secret To Making Easy Money With Affiliate Websites

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The secret to making money…easy money…with affiliate websites is simply this: There ISN’T a secret! The only reason it may be a secret is because many people don’t know just how simple and easy it can be. Once you learn the ‘secrets’ that the PMI internet consulting students have learned, it’s quite probable you’ll kick yourself for not starting down the ‘affiliate’ road sooner.

In simple terms, affiliate websites are where you promote the products or services of other people for a profit. For example, if you decided to create a blog about something that interests you, you could promote for others on that blog. Let’s say you chose to blog about events in your local community. It would make perfect sense to include links to local businesses on your page, and therefore drive traffic (paying customers) to that businesses website.

However, as the Professional Marketing International coaches will tell you, there is one thing you must be absolutely sure of if you’re going to promote a business. You need to be certain that business has an affiliate marketing program set up which will reward you for the customers you send their way! An easy way to do this is by setting up a Google adsense account. Google has affiliate marketing dialed in, so running with them would be a wise move. Besides, if you’re going to be a true entrepreneur, Google should be a very close friend!

Making money with affiliates really is an incredibly simple process. It can sometimes be a little tricky to get started if you don’t know what you’re doing, so by making an initial investment in a PMI internet consultant, you will more than make up for it in the long run with your affiliate business.

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Dec 01

Google Adsense Done Right Can REALLY Cover Your Costs

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PMI internet and Real Estate coaches will quickly tell you that Google AdSense is not only free, but it’s also a fast and easy way for you to earn money by displaying Google ads on your websites. You can also earn money by displaying ads on Google search page results, while simultaneously providing Google search to your site users. It’s an incredibly useful component of any business owner, and one that the consultants at PMI education won’t let you get away with NOT using.

While it depends on the ad, you can earn money when users click or view ads strategically placed on your website’s pages. And perhaps the best part is that you don’t have to have ugly, flashy ads on your page for these ads to be effective. One thing Google doesn’t like is pop-up advertising, because it gets in the way of what users are actually trying to see. They noticed that text ads which come from determining the type of content the user is viewing are much more effective at getting the users to bite and click on the ad.

So it doesn’t matter if you’re a small entrepreneur with basic advertisements, or Google itself…you’re going to benefit from adsense! The goal is to learn enough about it and put in the work required so your basic expenses will be covered by Google adsense profit. It’s by no means a longshot, especially if you do it right. And obviously, the eventual goal (which indeed may be a stretch) is to have it grow so big that you can retire thanks to Google! Many people are currently doing just that, so it’s an absolute possibility! So get started & good luck!

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Oct 14

If You Haven’t Started Yet, You NEED To Start Article Marketing

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Article marketing is a great way to plug your business. It doesn’t take much time or money, and it’s fairly easy to accomplish. Basically, what you’re doing is dubbing yourself an expert in a particular field, and then making sure that article is rich in the keywords you’re looking to push for your website.

But one important thing to do, however, is be sure you’re not being deceptive in any way…because that could get you in trouble. For example, if you use certain popular keywords such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Obama, Taylor Swift, Lakers, iPhone, etc. for no good reason…that is being a little deceptive. If you’re not going to talk about the subjects, don’t use them. If I weren’t using those keywords just now as an example for you, it would be deceptive since I’m not talking about them. What it does however, is boosts this webpage up in search rankings because of the popular, highly-searched words.

So, be sure your articles are relevant to what you’re talking about, and be sure you can substantiate popular words if you choose to use them. In attempting to boost the credibility of PMI (Professional Marketing International) coaching and consulting, I use words that refer to what they do as a business. For example, they provide internet (or ecommerce) and Real Estate entrepreneurs with consulting and coaching as well as many education products to enhance any business.

Did you see what I just did? I used all those keywords which were relevant to PMI’s business, and now that will help add credibility to the PMI name, which will in turn push them up in the search rankings. In fact, this very article is a prime example of Article Marketing! Good luck!

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