Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 9: Meetings, Skype, and Pure Vanity
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A Publisher (Mike Buechele) and an Affiliate Manager (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!
Okay, I got caught up on Friday with lots of work, so I didn’t get this episode edited until this weekend so we talk a lot about dated stuff, unfortunately. But never fear – there’s plenty of good stuff that we cover in our sweet, sweet 30 minutes of podcast.
- We chat about the Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition meeting held at eBay.
- The countdown excitement to getting vanity URLs for our Facebook profiles, and the nice aspect of having unique names.
- The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s video featuring Tim Carter of AskTheBuilder.com.
- Affiliate conferences coming up, including my excitement about traveling to Denver for the first time and a long foodie aside on bagels and pizza in the now SOLD OUT (exhibitors and meet market tables) Affiliate Summit in NYC.
- Using Skype for business calls, podcasts, and actually paying for a subscription.
- Finally a big shout out to custom bumper stickers giant John Fischer of Sticker Giant for helping us out for our upcoming Getting Noticed FAST panel in August.
5 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Now
Guest Post by Nicole Munoz.
Image courtesy of jscreationzs | FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sales are down, investors are bailing, and companies are laying people off left and right because they can no longer afford to staff full time workers. It’s been a heartbreaking process for millions of people across the country who awaken to the reality that they no longer have a job to go. But let’s take a positive look at how this can be good for everyone; businesses and the unemployed alike. Many experienced professionals with new-found time on their hands are turning to outsourcing their skills to make some extra money while they search for full-time work. There are benefits for the hiring companies as well. This blog will look at the top 5 reasons why outsourcing is a great idea.
For many of us, cutting down our expenses has become a routine part of life. Companies are no different. Once a full time staff member has been let go, there is an empty space in the function of the organization that still needs to be filled by someone. Other employees may be asked to take on the additional role, and for expense’s sake, it’s a good idea to utilize them until sales increase. However, an even better idea is to outsource! With this form of employment, a company can save on the expense of having a desk, PC, office supplies, etc. set aside for that person. Outsourced workers usually work from home and are available by phone, email, or fax which means that they are instantly accessible.
Another great reason to outsource your work is that there is a large pool of potentials ready to be interviewed at any time you need. With companies like elance and oDesk, they have freelance workers ready to start immediately. They can bid on the projects and job openings that companies post. Many times, the freelancers get paid by the project to complete projects, but they can certainly be hired on a permanent basis. Each person receives feedback after they complete a job or project, so new clients can see that they have a good reputation. Another type of outsourcing, as with StartRankingNow, employs a set of people who are always on stand by to take projects immediately when clients knock at their door. Each person is contracted out to perform certain jobs based on their skill sets.
Third on the list of reasons is convenience. It is extremely fitting, especially in this economy, to hire someone “by the project” if you aren’t prepared to hire someone full time. If you needed marketing brochures or web content, for example, you could hire an expert to get the project done right away. After everything is completed, you can get back to running your business. Expertise is another great reason to outsource your work. With a flooded job market, there are tons of specially-skilled professionals ready for the opportunity to get hired out for your projects. This economy has given companies an even better choice of qualified individuals to hire for any task they need completed!
Finally, outsourcing is a great method for hiring because project tracking is already done for you online. Due dates for rough drafts, revisions, and final drafts are all laid out by the client and adjusted as necessary. Project management is easier and faster than ever with these helpful online tools! So, don’t spend another moment worrying about how your site is ranking; find an SEO Expert to outsource
—
Nicole Munoz is the owner of Start Ranking Now. She is an SEO Outsourcing, Link Building, and Social Media Expert. She also conducts SEO training in San Diego to other entrepreneurs and Internet marketing professionals.
Read MoreAffiliate Marketing Fanatics 8: Twitter Obsession and Some Real Tools
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A Publisher (Mike Buechele) and an Affiliate Manager (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!
Another two weeks has passed and we’re back. We started with a good sized agenda and elaborated into areas we didn’t expect. Despite trying to keep it short since Mike’s not feeling well, we still ran a hearty 45 minutes. Remember to drink your fluids, kids! In in this episode we discuss:
- Twitter Job Search?
- Twitter TV Show?! Twitter says not so fast.
- Blink 182 Tweet Deck
- Whatever happened to WeFollow?
- Server issues Mike’s having with GoDaddy Shared Server Hosting. Might try Host Gator, BlueHost, HostMonster, JustHost. Not ready for dedicated servers like Rackspace.
- Update on DataFeedR data feed plug-in Mike’s using
- Blogger LinkUp Update
5 Ways To Write Email Headlines That Get Read
Guest Post By Jeremy Reeves
Writing emails in autoresponders and broadcasts has become a HUGE sensation lately and a very profitable one as well.
However, if you don’t know how to write email headlines that get opened – you’re dead in the water. In my mind, the email headline (AKA the title or subject of an email) is actually MORE important than a headline for a regular piece of sales copy.
Why?
Well think about it. If your email headline sucks, it’s not going to get the attention of your reader and you won’t get your email opened.
With a headline in regular sales copy, at least they’ll have a chance to look at the pre-head, subhead, and deck copy to see if something sparks their attention.
With that said, let me give you 5 ways to write email headlines that get read:
1.Be Original – I see emails that come to me ALL THE TIME that are pretty much duplicates of something else I’ve read. This is especially true during product launches when people are promoting other products. And guess what – they don’t get read! If you want people to open your emails, do something a little different.
2. Get Crazy! – One thing that works nearly 100% of the time for me (resulting in 35-40% open rates) is saying something a little “crazy” as the email headline. People are attracted to “shocking” things because they’re entertaining and it leaves them curious as to what it is. And you shouldn’t let that curiosity go to waste should you?
3. Pretend Like The World’s Ending – You probably know that I hate being negative, but if you really need something to work, it works like a charm. In almost all cases, a negative subject will out-pull a positive subject. Make it seem like something horrible will happen if they don’t read the email and you’ll get incredibly high clickthrough rates.
4. Be Unpredictable – Their are a lot of “gurus” out there who simply don’t catch my attention for 1 reason – they’re too predictable. Every time I get an email from them, I know what it’s about before I even read the email. Why? Because the email headline gives it away! Being unpredictable makes people curious, and curiosity makes sales.
5. Make An Incomplete Gesture – This is a fun one to try in your email headlines. Have you ever been talking to someone and they started talking, but got interrupted in the middle of the story and couldn’t finish? It drives you insane doesn’t it? Well, use this same technique in your headlines and you’ll boost your open rates like CRAZY!
Stick to even 1 of these 5 techniques and put it into your autoresponder series and you can instantly boost your income.
Because after all, getting the email read is the first and most important step.
So take these tips and put them to use. Then check your email stats and watch your open rates go through the roof.
—
For more tips on email copywriting and direct response copywriting tips, visit Jeremy’s blog at http://www.ControlBeatingCopy.com
Read MoreCribbed Content for May 22nd
It’s been a slow week for news coming across my desk. Then again, it’s been a slow week for me in general. We’re doing Affiliate Marketing Fanatics about every other week now when news is slow. Hopefully with the upcoming LinkShare Symposium in New York, Affiliate Convention in Denver, and a smattering of other events we should have more to talk about soon! In the meantime, check this stuff out.
- Geno Prussakov posted some pretty great articles on his blog this week, 7 Common Problems with Affiliate Data Feeds and Common Mistakes of New Affiliate Program Managers. I have to give Geno kudos for some great articles!
- Andy Beard wrote an insightful entry on his blog about his Product Launch Affiliate Strategy, and what checklist he uses to determine if he’ll support a new affiliate launch or not. It’s definitely a good read for any affiliate starting out, and any merchant who wants to optimize their launches to make them attractive to affiliates.
- FeedFront Magazine has issued a call for entries for their 7th issue, which will also serve as the conference guide for Affiliate Summit East 2009 in NYC, at which I’ll be speaking!
- Speaking of Affiliate Summit East 2009, they’re all sold out of booths! You snooze, you lose!
- More interesting posts about whether or not you should disclose affiliate links with Shawn Collins’ Affiliate Link Disclosure Manifesto. Good stuff.
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics #7: Tweeting, Speaking, & Blogging
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A Publisher (Mike Buechele) and an Affiliate Manager (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!
We’re back after a fortnight away! We don’t do it on purpose, it just happens that way, we swear! We’re back in the swing of things this week with a relatively short show for us clocking it at an even 30 minutes and 30 seconds! This week we delve into our favorite topic of Twitter… I think we might as well just rename this the TwitterCast! Specifically we discussed:
- Twitter monkeying around with the @replies and the #fixreplies fiasco that ensued.
- Commission Junction has finally jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and we ponder why larger companies take so long to make the social media move.
- We excitedly ham it up about the fact that we’ll be speaking on a panel at Affiliate Summit East 2009, and another show I’ll be at next month.
- Mike’s discovered a HARO-like service specifically for bloggers called Blogger LinkUp run by Cathy Stucker and we talk about the two.
- Finally we give some well deserved shout outs to our fellow ASE09 panelists Jen Goode, Stephanie Lichtenstein, and our fabulous moderator Lisa Picarille.
