Well, if  you have been in this online business long enough, whether you call it internet marketing, affiliate marketing or even article marketing; you know that before you can receive, you have to be able to give.  There is basically no way around this.

With guest blogging you are offering information.  Good information that is NOT a used and re-used article that you’ve tried to twist around.  For your article to be acceptable for guest blogging it needs to be a real band new article of 800+ words that is pure fresh content that will benefit the readers.

So, how is this going to be serving you in anyway?

People tend to like and trust people who are not just trying to sell them stuff, but who are interested in what they are selling enough to at least be willing to talk about, inform about and give good advice about.  This information should and needs to be FREE!

The simple ad copy still worked pretty well, only 5 years ago, but these days are over now.  Today, the completion is way too great and people have more choices than they had only 4-5 years ago.  If they have more choices, this means that they will be more tempted to go to knowledgeable providers who are willing to inform and advice them, rather than the ones who are just trying to shove them some products for sale.

Now, the question is what kind of seller are you?

Are you willing to offer pure fresh content even link free like this example? Can you still not see the benefits of guest blogging?  If not let me tell you a bit more about it.

Guess blogging offers you a tremendous exposure.  Most likely your blog post will be featured in some popular blogs with thousands of readers.  Readers that might not know you and will discover you through the blog you are guest on.

This is HUGE free exposure right there!

You will gain more authority because of this.  People will understand that you are someone to reckon with.  You will gain recognition, and this is priceless in this business.

With recognition come subscribers.  More, much more of them.  More subscribers mean more sales of your related products.

What do you need to do to be able to be a guest blogger?

You need to be willing and able to write very good content.  The host of the blog that you want to be featured on won’t bother with a mediocre content meant to be done away with ASAP.

Once you have written a great article that should be anywhere from 800 to 1,000 words you need to contact some popular bloggers and ask them if they would be interested in posting your article.  Of course, post ONLY one original content per guest post, otherwise all you would be offering is duplicate content.

Before you do this, it would be a good idea for you to become a regular follower and commenter of those blogs.  Your credibility will greatly be increased that way and your chances of being accepted will be multiplied hundredfold.

Are you still wondering if guest blogging is worth the effort?

I could tell you again and again that it is, but the BEST way to really find out for yourself it to try it for YOURSELF.  But, I can tell you this; you won’t regret it if you do.

Are you interested in being a guest blogger on this blog?  Just post a comment here saying so, with a link to YOUR blog and I will contact you.

I know it can be difficult to write if writing is not your thing, but guess what when you start making money you will be able to have someone else writing for you.  But, for now if you don’t have $5.00 to $10.00 to give away per article you might want to do your best to write it yourself.

You might compare this with going to college to be able to practice the profession you want to have.  It might not be something you want to do.  If you could just go ahead and jump into your profession skipping college all together you probably would, wouldn’t you?  But that is just not the way it works.  Before you will be able to be a professional and make money you have to go to college and maybe even study some more after that.

It’s the same thing with your affiliate business and writing articles.  Before you can afford to have someone write your article, you should take some steps to learn how to write decent articles and to write them yourself.

Why are you writing?

I have seen people sometimes seeing writing as a chore and they can’t seem to find a way to get motivated to write. But, I have some news for you.  One thing that I have found to be a motivator for writing is to be willing to help people.

By now most affiliate marketers have found out that this business is not an “advertising” business, but an “information business”.  If you are willing and even motivated to help people, your writing blocks should go away pretty quickly.

Forget about selling for a moment and focus on what you would like your target market to understand, to learn, to be aware of, etc… and this I promise will reveal the writer in your.

Is lack of ideas your stumbling block?

Lack of ideas to write about is the easiest problem to solve for an affiliate marketer.  Maybe you haven’t thought about it yet, but really it’s been right in front of your nose the all time.

What is it?  Every time you open a browser on the internet you have the power to dig into a pool of ideas to write about no matter what kind of product or what kind of niche you’ve chosen to promote.

Here are some examples of the pool of ideas I am talking about:

1)      Forums

2)      Blogs

3)      Website

4)      Advertising post

5)      Article directories

6)      Amazon, etc…

The list of idea pools is really un-limited and just as long as there are pages on the internet.

Once you have your ideas, and the will to help people with good informative and educational content to the writing part should and will be a breeze.

Is it worth the effort?

Well, you tell me.  With my articles for three of my products which I own I make over $2000 per week.  Would I say that my efforts to write articles are worth it?  I would say so.  Do I always feel like I want to write even though I like write. No.  I’m like anyone else; sometimes I’d rather take a walk on the beach.  But when the rewards of my efforts come my way, I am glad I did make the effort.

There are many ways you can use PLR articles, but the rule number one is to make sure that your rewrite at least 50% of the content. Why is that? Because, guess what? You are NOT the only person having THIS particular article in your hands. Even paid Private Label Articles are sold over and over. Imagine if everyone having purchased that particular article would just use it as is! This would mean that your content would be seriously duplicated all over the internet. Not a good thing is it?

1)    You can use your PLR articles to simply write other articles for backlinks and info for your target market and submit them on article directories such as this one.

2)    You can use them to create web 2.0 pages, such as Squidoo, Hubpages, and others public blogs.

3)    You can create an Ebook with them that you can either sell or give away to build your list. This is a very easy and great way to use Private Label Articles.

4)    You can use those articles to create tutorials that you can give away through your auto-responder.

5)     You can create video tutorials where you would SPEAK the words using appropriate images to emphasis your point.

6)    You can even create your own PLR article supply products that you can give away for free to build your list once again.

7)    You can use PLR articles to write your daily blog posts. We all come short of ideas once in a while.

8)    You can use the content to post informative forum posts which will increase your popularity on the forum.

9)    You can use Private Label Articles for the content of your newsletters.

10)    And finally you can use these articles to create educational slide shows to promote your business.

There are so many ways to use Private Label Articles, the sky is the limit and depends on your own imagination and creativity. It’s up to you to make the most out of it, but don’t forget to always twist the content before using them for any of the purposes mentioned above.

For more tips about articles writing make sure your visit my Learn Your Way To Success site

A good landing page can separate a marketer that is profitable from one that is not.

there are two types of landing page:
The Review Style landing page which contains products or services review, industry information or product comparison.

and…
The Testimonial Style landing page which is promoting  a product or service with testimonials on how the product has been benefiting people.

The Review Landing Page

Review style landing pages are more effective, because people are information hungry. If you give them a good review right then on your landing page, they won’t spend time looking around to compare your product to others.  A plus for YOU!

People will find all the information they need right there, and you will have more chance that they will buy your product.  Make sure that your info is as honest as possible and not one side track.  If you recognize that another product does have an advantage over your, tell the customer.  Your credibility will only improve right there and be beneficial for you.

You need to have a captivating and relevant header and 3-7 products reviews.

1) Give a brief product description

Briefly describe the product with what it offers, why it is better or worse than other products, and add your recommendation.

2) Rank the products

Rank the product based on their attributes, based on effectiveness, guarantee, support, risk, and other attributes related to the specific product.

When you are ranking products be as precise as possible from #1 #2 #3 etc…  so their won’t be any ambiguity for your visitors. If there was,  you might lose them as they might continue their research elsewhere.

3) Include images of the products

Pictures break the text and make it more attractive and easy to read. Of course images must be relevant with the product.

4) Always give a point of exit

Give plenty of exit points for the visitor to go from your landing page to your merchant page. You can call them:
Click Here,
Buy Now or
Click Here To Learn More. These will greatly improve your click rate, because you are asking the visitor to perform an action.
And more click rates will increase your website traffic.

Testimonial Landing Page

A good testimonial landing page should captivate the visitor’s interest and answer all the questions they could potentially have such as, will the product improve my life? How does this product applies to my needs? are there some risk in purchasing the product? And so on…

A testimonial landing page should present ALL the benefits your product or service offers, underline the benefits individuals have experienced with the product, but never make up things that are not so.  In the end, if you do, it will come back to you with a vengeance with more unsatisfied costumers than sales.

I always make a point to be honest with my landing pages, and it has always been rewarding for me.

To optimize your landing page you have to make sure that you create an instant connection with people visiting your page, and this can only be done through your content and images.

Also, never underestimate the importance of relevancy in creating you landing page, since that alone will convert your visits into sales.

Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a single page designed to collect email addresses and names of your visitors using an opt-in auto-responder form. It is also called a Thank You page.  However, many times a landing page is also called a squeeze page.

Building Your Own Website

Having you own website provides you with TONS of benefits as a network marketer, but building your own website can be quite overwhelming if you are new at this.

Are you thinking that you cannot do it just because you don’t know anything about building a website right now?

You might already know about how important is CONVERSION (the percentage of visitors your website receives) for an internet business. Well, with your own website you will be able to pin point your voice and own opinions where YOU want to, and this alone will lead to a much higher conversion.

The more conversion the more your website will be able to attract traffic.

Once you’ve learned the fundamentals it will be like swimming or riding a bike. You will be able to do it instinctively and easily.

Step #1 Create A Domain

The first step you need to take to build a website that attract traffic is purchase a domain.

The cost of purchasing a domain is anywhere from $6.99-$19.99 per year. If you go to any domain sites, you will see that even if you haven’t done that before it’s as easy as 1.2.3.
Most domain merchants have a direct toll free number that you can call and they will guide you step by step or even do it for you while you are on the phone. (But frankly, if you want to become an expert in this business, you should do it yourself and learn…)

Make sure you purchase a domain that is RELEVANT to your product.  A good thing to do before you purchase a domain is do a Google search of the keyword phrase you want to use. There are free keyword tools that you can use for this very purpose and for any other keywords search as a matter of fact. Here is a Free keyword tool you can use.

Because of the fact that there are now millions of domains already purchased it takes sometimes a little work to find the adequate domain which would still be available.  So,  keep trying until you find the right one, don’t leave the site until you do. It will only make it more difficult the next time around.

Step #2 Hosting Your Website

If you really want to do this business as a pro, at one point or anther you are going to need to host your website.

Web hosting is a service that allows you to put your website (domain name) on the internet.  After you have registered a domain name, the next step is to find a web hosting service from a web hosting provider.

You can host unlimited amount of sites for less than $10 per month on Hostgator for example.  Some people have some negative things to say about Hostgator, but the truth is that it’ still one of the best hosting.

Web hosting is the housing, serving and maintaining of your website. There are 3 different types of web hosting services.
1) Shared web hosting,
2) dedicated server hosting and
3) Virtual private server hosting.

A shared web hosting is a multiple customer server and this is idle for beginners. The other two are for websites that generates millions of web pages views per day.
There are literally thousands of web hosting services, and their services are not all equal in quality. Even as a beginner you need to be informed on which ones are good or bad.

If you are ready to become a pro-internet marketer,  and ONLY when you are you can join us at Wealthy Affiliate.

Wealthy Affiliate Will Not Make You Rich
We will Teach you how to Make Yourself Rich.

When I first started in internet marketing I thought that as long as something was for sell there would be buyers for it. However, I found out that this is not always the case.  Far from it.

A better statement would be as long as you are selling what people are looking for, you will have buyers for what you are selling.

Before you can sell something you need to research your market in order to sell what people are asking for.  Do not just sell l what YOU like, it may not be what the people like or are looking for.

Besides this there are other reasons why people might not buy what you are selling.  Let’s analyze them one by one.

Reason #1: Your Headline is Weak

It’s ALL in The Headline. If you potential customers don’t see your headline, they don’t see your offer.  If your headline is almost none existent, not clear or not attractive enough, your offer won’t be seen at all, because in large percentage the headline is all that will be read.

Your headline must have the power to STOP any visitor, and make them want to read on…
If your headline fails to do its job, which is to make people want to read more, you won’t make the sale.

Remember that many times Your Headline is All that will be read in your ad. This is definitely the most important of the 5 reasons why people don’t buy.

Reason #2 Your Market is NOT Well Targeted

Your product is not well targeted to the right audience.  People are looking for specific products.  You must have a specific ad that leads to a specific audience who wants your product. Targeting your market is a very important step of the selling process.

For Example : Imagine your keyword to be “Dog” Is it Dog training? Dog food? Dog care? Dog breeders? Guard Dog?
You see, your Keyword Dog might give you a lot of traffic, but because you are not specific enough, or even way too vague, it will be useless traffic.

Now if your keyword Dog was meant to lead people to your Dog training material you would narrow your traffic down with the Key word “Dog Training” or even more specific training such as “how to make your dog stop pulling on its leach”.

This kind of long tail keywords will definitely attract a very targeted market.  More time than not, this kind of market will be ready to buy.

Reason #3: Your Are Not Giving Any Proof of Result

A good testimonial on HOW your product has benefited others is worth a thousand words.  People are skeptical by nature and want references.  Do you remember the last time you’ve got a job? Didn’t you potential employer asked you for references to see if you were as good as you said you were?

Well, what he was asking for was some good testimonials on your performance.

Your customers are your “employer” so to speak and they will require the same kind of references from you. Should you be trusted? Are there tangible reasons why you should be trusted?

Giving  your potential buyer some real proof that they will be making the right decision is crucial for your success in sales.

Reason #4: You Are Not Giving Any Guarantee

Offer your prospect some kind of money back guarantee. This will increase your sales.  If you can’t offer money back guarantee with your product or service; offer free samples, free eBooks, free information, free guide etc… Offer some kind of compensation for their interest in your product.

Reason #5: You Product Lacks a Personal Touch

As a seller you must be approachable to your prospects. Your potential customers want to know you, and be able to contact you. They need to know that you are an honest person trustworthy and reliable.

Remember the retail stores that are the most successful are the ones who give an excellent customer service.

Here goes one more of the victims of trying to make money online, but giving up too soon.  This could be because of having been burned by many false promises such as “make money on your first day” or “make $5000 in your first month” kind of false advertisements.

While I am sorry that some people feel that they have failed because of false promises and false beliefs that internet marketing is easy, people who are strong enough to hold on have a better chance to finally understand what internet marketing is all about and find out that if they are willing to put in the time and effort they will get results.

If you have ever doubted about the fact that efforts might not be worth it, look at your situation now; look at your job, think about the time it takes to just to go to and from your job, think at the time you have to spend there at your job to make a living, and think how you are counting the days until the week end comes.  Is all this worth it?

Do you really want to spend your life that way?

What about if someone told you that there is a way out?  Yes, it will take some sacrifices from you, but it will free you physically and financially in the end.

Would this be worth it to you?

Internet marketing is an entrepreneur’s world, and any entrepreneur would tell you that to be one it takes effort, will, patience, determination and persistence.  Do you think that entrepreneurs think that all of this is worth it?

Of course they do! Being an entrepreneur is a free-will decision, unlike being an employee.

If you want to become an entrepreneur in the internet marketing world, you don’t have to do it alone. There are programs and individuals who would be able to help you to start on the right foot.

If you want to learn more about how to start on the right foot and become a successful internet marketer make sure  you subscribe to my new letter and follow the advice I give every other week and most of all take action.

Do you know the difference between an AFFILIATE and a DISTRIBUTOR?

There is a huge difference indeed, and many some of you are still confused about it all… so let me explain it for here!

When I first started with my internet marketing business, I didn’t even know there was a difference. If I had it might have save me some time and money, and most of all it would have helped me to know that I had 2 options instead of one.

Today some new internet marketers are still confused about what it means to be an affiliate or a distributor, and many times they think that the two are one and the same.

So, let me clarify all this for you!

The Fundamental Differences

There are few fundamental differences between being a distributor and affiliate that you, as an internet marketer must know.

Note: Before I start Let it be clear that I am not saying that one is BETTER than the other here, but just exposing the differences between the two.

So, here we go, the 5 mains differences are the following:

1) One will require you to have more direct contact with your consumers than the other

2) One will require of you more specific knowledge of the product than the other

3) One will require more sales abilities than the other

4) One will work more on a mouth to ear results than the other

5) One will require more money to start than the other

Which One Is Which?

Scenario # 1 you see an ad or a website online, you fill out a form and someone calls you within 24-48 hours as a follow up.

They introduce you to their product or service, they invite you to a conference call to listen in and learn more. You go to the call, you like what you hear, you like the product…etc…and you sign up!

Scenario # 2, you find an ad or a website introducing you to an e-Book, a software product or service. You sign up to resell the product, but no one is calling you and you don’t have to listen in to a conference call.

Do you know which one is which?

In scenario #1 you’ve signed up as a distributor. In scenario #2 you’ve signed up as an affiliate.

Other differences between affiliate and distributor

Do you remember my list above from 1-5 about the differences between Affiliate and distributor?

Let’s take them one at a time now.

#1 – You will need to have direct contacts with your consumers.
As a distributor your job is to contact people. As many people as you can, as a matter of fact, just to introduce your product or service to them. Part of your job will be to convince them to join your business venture as well.

You will need to give free samples and get back with your prospects asking them what they think about the product. Many distributors do presentation meetings of the product or service in their own home. Many have weekly conference calls.

In order to do this kind of presentation you will need
#2 – A thorough knowledge of your product or service. And more time than not #3 – selling abilities.

The result of your presentation of the product whether in groups or one on one fashion is meant to #4 – Create a mouth to ear results.

In order to do all the above you will need #5 – money to start as you will have to buy products for yourself, for sampling, and as it is almost always the case for your required distributor auto-ship.

So, here you have it, plain and simple. These are the main requirements for being a distributor.

Being an affiliate

Being an affiliate requires NO face to face contact, and you will not have to buy the product that you are selling. Even if you did the price you would pay would be considerably lower than having an auto-ship sent to you every month.

As for the knowledge of the product, it is a different kind of knowledge. You won’t have to explain all the components of the product, but you will need to know enough to write about it. Since there would be NO face to face contact this means there would only be an online contact, an internet presence that you will need to develop in order to get sales.

This is where you will need tools and tutorials to learn more. Learn your trade as an internet marketer. Those who know me know my motto:
No one was born successful, but success can be learned.
Internet marketing is a trade and like any trade it has to be learned.

Being an affiliate can cost you close to nothing and bring you thousands upon thousands in a relatively short period of time if you have the right training tools and acquire the necessary knowledge.  But don’t be fooled it will also take some time and effort on your part before you can live from your affiliate marketing business.  But when you do, this is a great place to be.

If you would like to learn how to be an affiliate click here

What should you do if this is your case?

The very first thing you need to know is that article marketing really can help you if you are just starting in internet marketing.  How is that so?

Most of us are coming in the world of internet marketing for one thing and one thing only – make enough money to be financially free-  However, most of us are coming who are coming in with this desire are pretty much broke.

I don’t you, but when I first started my internet marketing business I was not about to spend hundreds of dollars in advertising.  I  had to find a way where I could spread myself far and wide for FREE.

One day, I was invited to a conference call by an internet marketer friend and it was the most important conference call I have ever been on, because it was during this conference call that I learned about article marketing, and it just changed my internet marketing life forever.

The next day I was writing my first ever article on EzineArticles and my very first article got published in just a few days.  I was jumping up and down.  It was the first of  hundreds of articles that I wrote for online directories since then.

What about you? Are you striving for success, but afraid of writing?  Maybe you just don’t like to write. period.  What could you do if this is your case?

If you don’t like to write, I am sure that you don’t mine talking to a friend, do you?  Telling a friend about something  you want them to know or something you would recommend.  Why not approaching writing the same way?  Just tell a story, tell someone what you think about your product, tell them how to do something they don’t know about.  Inform them, even surprise them with some incredible news.

Instead of speaking the words, just write them and you will have an article.  It is really just as simple as that.

How much can you say in 10 minutes? That’s right, quite a bit.  You can do just that with your writing.  You can write a 400-500 word article in 10-15 minutes.  Yes, you can, because I can.

Article marketing can be fun and very rewarding.  If you are thinking that you are not a writer or just don’t like to write.  Don’t give up on yourself so easily and try to tell someone (in writing) about what you want to promote online.  Don’t forget, do not sound like a commercial on TV.  Just talk to a friend on your note pad.  Before you know it you will have an article online that will start spreading your online business for FREE.

If you are not in the article marketing market ONLY for backlinks, your other main purpose would be to get traffic to your article. Writing articles is easy enough; however, writing articles that people are wanting to read takes a bit more knowledge and practice.  Before you get it right, it might just take a little more time than if you really write only for backlinks.  If done well, it will pay off.

Your articles need to provoke curiosity in your title.

Here is the rule of thumb about title! The more your title looks like a plain boring statement the less readers you will get.  The more you title will provoke curiosity the more readers you will get.  It’s as simple as that!

Your title should expose a fact or a problem that your market might have and then give the promise of a solution.  Avoid long rambling titles at any price. If your tile is too long, cut it in two and make it more provocative to attract more curiosity.

Once you created a pulling title and people are actually willing to read your article, you need to write in such a way that will keep the reader reading or at least keep them scanning all the way through.

The content of your article

When you write your article you need to deliver on the promises that you made in your title, but DO NOT give ALL the answers away. Make sure you reinforce the need of the readers to find out more once they read the article.

You article is meant to help with generic solutions, not ALL the solutions.

The trick is to find a balance between a well written article that is instructive enough without giving too much away. When you are able to balance out those two very important ingredients of your article your CTR should increase quite a bit.

Your article is the stepping stone between a great pulling title and a smart resource box.  If you write your article well enough to give your readers a watering mouth without feeding them, they will want what you have and your CTR will go up.  No doubt about it.

The resource box of your article

I know a great article writer and marketer who calls the resource box “the promised land”. Yes, that is what your resource box should be.

If you article was good enough so that it could convince your readers that YES, they do have that problem, but that you have got THE SOLUTION for them, this alone should improve your CTR pretty darn good.

Tell them explicitly that if they CLICK that link NOW they will find the answer to their questions, problems, needs, wants, etc… Tell them exactly what to do like…click here now with an => to make sure that they could see this in case they were only scanning through.

If your article is written in such a way that they can recognize that you have the answers they are looking for, then you are confirming to them that now all they need to do to find out more is to click your link.  Many will.

Write exciting articles that expose the problems or issues, let the readers understand that you’ve got the solution by TEASING them in your article, but not GIVING them all the answers. Then, in your resource box let them know that they are one click away from that solution they are so desperate for.

This is what article marketing is all about. Click here and get my Article Free Report!