If you are an affiliate marketer who wants to make a living from referring your prospects to other peoples product or service for decent commissions, then you must consider building your own mailing list.

Building your mailing list of hungry prospects can be one of the best investments you will ever make, as it is time and effort worth spending on. When you strike on a Joint Venture and have a new product or service to endorse, you can look no further than your own mailing list.

Granted, that most affiliates, as in more than 90 percent of them, are not making money from affiliate programs, but this often results from the same amount of effort focused on least effective methods.

While having your own mailing list is not the only effective affiliate marketing method, you can make affiliate sales very quickly even in the next few hours after sending a sales message, provided that your mailing list is huge and responsive.

This is often true, because owning your own mailing list for you to endorse products and services to is one of the fastest-producing results, beating other affiliate marketing methods imaginable.

In a nutshell, the affiliate marketer who gets ahead of the pack is the one who owns a huge and responsive mailing list of prospects.

If a person visits your website and leaves, they probably will not come back, especially if there are no compelling reasons to do so. After all, we all behave rather impulsively on the Internet, so much so that we can easily forget where we were 10 web pages ago.

But the bottom line is that your visitor may not come back to your website again. If 1,000 visitors visit your website, leave and never come back again, you can imagine the amount of potential revenue lost, simply because they do not come back. You could have converted a fraction of the visitors into your customers.

Some people say that creating unique content can keep some of the visitors coming back, but very often, unique content is not the solution. The real, long-term solution lies in converting your visitors into subscribers of your mailing list.

Before your visitor leaves your website, you want to convert him or her into your subscriber via a simple opt-in to your mailing list. You do this by asking for your visitors name and email address through your opt-in form.

And if your visitor signs up to be on your mailing list, you can still follow up with him via email. You can get your subscriber to consider your offer, or endorse another offer to them.

All in all, you want to convert as many visitors into subscribers as possible and obtain the potential revenue you rightfully deserve “ the easy, wise way.

Viral marketing has unlimited possibilities and ways to achieve your overall goals. However, just like everything else, preplanning and the right setup to create success are the things you will need to make it work for you and your e-business.

The first thing to be sure you dont do is getting over-zealous. The one thing you need to avoid at all costs is spamming. Spamming is still used widely, but with the government establishing more restrictions and fines you dont want this to be a problem for you. The professional image of your site will also suffer if you send mail blatantly.

Spamming requires a database that contains a huge list of e-mail addresses set up so that the message can be delivered with one click. The problem with it (aside from the governmental restrictions) is that it irritates the recipients and kills the validity of your campaign, which in turn kills the factors that would motivate someone to refer your site.

You need to personalize by creating your website with personal appeal. You must see to it that your website makes your customers feel safe, secure and cared for. E-mail is important, because it is going to be one of the most affordable ways to keep in touch with your customers.

The proper way to handle email permission is to let your customer know that you will not transmit their e-mail addresses to third party companies. The next thing to do is to attach the need for their e-mail addresses to benefits they can receive.

For example: Coupons or discounts that are only available to members who receive e-mail notifications. With each e-mail you send the viral marketing effect takes place.

What does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands…then millions.

Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they’re easy to transmit. Viral e-mail marketing works great on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital formats make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. Remember the K.I.S.S. standard.Keep it Simple Stupid. The shorter and easier to remember is always better than long and complicated.

Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human emotions. The desire to be cool and greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages.

Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. People on the Internet develop networks too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you multiply its dispersion.

If you can design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, you have a winner.

PPC stands for Pay Per Click – a popular advertising method commonly found on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, PPC advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertiser’s web page.

PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:

Pay per placement Pay per performance Pay per ranking Pay per position Cost per click (CPC)

PPC advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:

1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.

2. Creating a keyword list…..you must select these words carefully…otherwise you will get lots of traffic…but no sales.

3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.

4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.

5. Writing out an ad copy.

6. Setting up the ‚landing pages‘ for your ads.

7. Putting the advertisement in the search engine.

There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting your website. Some of them are listed below:

Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly – they can go ‚online‘ within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.

Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with quality traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into ‚qualified‘ people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer – those who are more likely to become a ‚lead‘ (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.

Widen your reach. PPC advertising provides additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or „organic“ search engines.

Track your investment. PPC advertising provides a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive – the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).

Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:

1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer.

2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.

3. Bid just right. Know how to bid – a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.

4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your PPC program – if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.

5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research by looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.

6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:

Discount offers Testimonials Celebrity/famous endorsers Money-back guarantees Free trials or sample offers Freebies Reverse psychology Major benefits („Lose weight“) Direct instructions („Click here“)

7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple – designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.

Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.

Here are six ideas to help you start your viral marketing campaign:

1. Purchase the branding rights to a viral E-book. Give this book to your list….and then allow those people to give away your free E-book to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet.

2. You need to set up a forum or other bulletin board, this can be a great tool. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own website. Some people don’t have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.

3. Do you have a knack for web design? Create some templates, graphics, etc. and upload them to your site. Then, allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site. Make sure that you include a link back to your site in the copyright notice and require them to keep your copyright notice in tact.

4. Write an E-book. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free E-book if, in exchange, they give away the E-book to their web visitors or E-zine subscribers.

5. Write articles that pertain to your niche. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their E-zine, newsletter, magazine or E-books. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.

6. You can easily find PLR products on the Internet that will sell you a license allowing you to distribute the product free of charge to other people. Look for those products that provide „branding rights“. That is where you can include your own name, website, and contact information.

Viral marketing has an array of possibilities and ways to achieve your overall goals. However, just like everything else, preplanning and the right setup to create success are the things you will need to make it work for you and your e-business.

The first thing you want to be sure you dont do is get over-zealous. The one thing you need to avoid at all costs is spamming. Spamming is still used widely, but with the government establishing more restrictions and fines you dont want this to be a problem for you. The professional image of your site will also suffer if you send mail blatantly.

Spamming requires a database that contains a huge list of e-mail addresses set up so that the message can be delivered with one click. The problem with it (aside from the governmental restrictions and associated fines) is that it irritates the recipients and kills the validity of your campaign, which in turn kills the factors that would motivate someone to refer your site.

You need to personalize by creating your website with personal appeal. You must see to it that your website makes your customers feel safe, secure and cared for. E-mail is important, because it is going to be one of the most affordable ways to keep in touch with your customers.

The way to handle email permission is to first let your customer know that you will not transmit their e-mail addresses to third party companies. The next thing to do is to attach the need for their e-mail addresses to benefits they can receive.

For example: Coupons or discounts that are only available to members who receive e-mail notifications. With each e-mail you send the viral marketing effect takes place.

PPC stands for Pay Per Click – a popular advertising method commonly found on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, PPC advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertiser’s web page.

PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:

Pay per placement Pay per performance Pay per ranking Pay per position Cost per click (CPC)

PPC advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:

1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.

2. Creating a keyword list…..you must select these words carefully…otherwise you will get lots of traffic…but no sales.

3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.

4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.

5. Writing out an ad copy.

6. Setting up the ‚landing pages‘ for your ads.

7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.

There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting your website. Some of them are listed below:

Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are usually implemented very quickly – they can go ‚online‘ within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.

Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with quality traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into ‚qualified‘ people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer – those who are more likely to become a ‚lead‘ (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.

Widen your reach. PPC advertising brings additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or „organic“ search engines.

Track your investment. PPC advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive – the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).

Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:

1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer.

2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind and avoiding bidding wars if possible.

3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right – a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.

4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your PPC program – if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.

5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research by looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.

6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:

Discount offers Testimonials Celebrity/famous endorsers Money-back guarantees Free trials or sample offers Freebies Reverse psychology Major benefits („Lose weight“) Direct instructions („Click here“)

7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple – designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.

Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.

Niche marketing is a way to get to the heart of your customer base. Instead of wasting time and energy marketing to the masses you are focusing on the group of people who are the most likely to buy your product. You are cutting down on the work you have to do, but getting the best results.

Niche marketing is very effective. You do need to, however, understand how to do it effectively. You have to learn how to get the most from niche marketing in order to make it effective for your business.

One of the main keys about niche marketing is being able to find your niche market. This doesn’t mean defining them, but finding them so you can advertise to them. This is very important because part of the reason for niche marketing is so you do not waste time or money marketing to people who may or may not buy your product. So, you have to figure out where your niche market is so you can advertise to them.

If you know your niche market as good as you should then you should be able to figure out some places where they would likely frequent. You will want to use places where your niche market is going to be hanging out. It is here they would likely pay attention to your advertising.

Another main key to niche marketing is connecting with your niche market. As previously mentioned, you should know your niche market very well. You have to speak to them on their level. You have to communicate with them in a way that is natural and comfortable with them.

You want to make your advertisements something they would be interested in. You want them to pay attention and understand your advertisements. Your advertising should never speak down to your niche market, but just be on the same level as them and be something they can relate to.

The secret to niche marketing is really just knowing your customers and knowing how to sell to them. It is likely that your niche market is going to buy from you because that is why they are your niche market, but they can not buy from you if they do not know about you. You have to connect with them through your advertising and you have to make sure your advertising is effective.

Before you get started creating your landing page, you will need a number of things to a) make your offer actually have a point; and b) facilitate the creation of your landing page.

One thing you absolutely must have before you get started is an autoresponder. Without any autoresponder, you are tossing money in the garbage. Rather than creating a relationship with customers and potential customers “ and giving yourself the opportunity to attempt future upsales — you’re allowing them to leave and never return.

In addition to an autoresponder, you will need to have an actual offer that people want to buy. You may want to develop a product, such as an ebook or a piece of software. If you don’t have the skills to do either, you can always hire a professional to do it for you through elance.com or guru.com. You will then either want to sell this product and attempt to get subscribers from your thank you page “ or you will want to get subscribers by offering the product for free (which is what many Internet marketers now do).

Another thing you need before you get started is a check out service. You may want to consider Google Check Out, Paypal, a Shopping Cart Service, Click Bank, Sale Flurry, or 2 Check Out. All of these services will allow you to make transactions quickly.

You also need a set of graphics, which includes a graphic header, a check out button, background wallpaper, and a half-decent picture of yourself. You can probably provide the picture of yourself, but you might want to hire a professional to do the rest.

The final thing you will need before you can get started on your landing page is some way in which to create a realistic signature. Http://www.vletter.com is probably your best bet; but, if you’re on a budget, you may want to opt for simply using a wordprocessing program.