How Seniors Can Be Successful in Internet Marketing
Guest post by Pat Tate
When seniors were younger and pictured retirement, they most likely pictured themselves finally having the time and money to enjoy some their favorite activities. Maybe they saw themselves traveling, having more time to cook their favorite dishes, fishing at the beach or taking in extra games of golf. Or, maybe they imagined themselves finally having enough extra money to spoil their grandkids and buying them their favorite toys.
Despite careful planning, many seniors may need a little help supplementing their income. Others may just be looking to make a little extra cash. Some seniors are fortunate enough to reach their goals of financial freedom in their retirement years. Isn’t that, after all, what years of working hard and saving money were for? But, after a few years of having all the time they want to enjoy themselves, many seniors become bored and start looking for something to stimulate their minds.
Internet marketing is the smartest way for seniors to earn extra money and satisfy their need to be more involved. Seniors today are able to contribute more in their retirement years. They are able to be more physically active, energetic lives.
Nevertheless, learning how to start up and operate your own business can seem daunting for most seniors, especially when it comes to using a computer and the Internet. Computers are relatively new. And, while the younger generation has grown up learning about computers at school and even using them at home, they are still foreign to many seniors.
There are challenges that come with starting a new business and learning new skills. But, facing the challenges of learning to excel with computers and in the niche of Internet Marketing can offer a number of benefits for seniors.
Why Seniors Should Pursue Internet Marketing
Starting a business can take time away from retirement leisure activities like fishing, golfing, cooking and spoiling the grandkids. But, there are a ton of reasons to pursue computers and Internet Marketing. Here are the top five reasons to get started with Internet Marketing.
- More Money: Internet Marketing can help supplement your income and offer more financial freedom during your retirement years. You can start supplementing your income now so that the rest of your retirement years will be freer and more fulfilling.
- Be Your Own Boss: Best of all, with your own business, you have the freedom to set your own hours. You can choose how much or how little you want to work and when it will fit into your schedule. You can still pursue all of your leisurely retirement activities like cooking, crocheting, golf and travel and work when you want to.
- Feeling of Success: Having your own income and have authority over your schedule, can give you a sense of personal pride and accomplishment. Recognition and praise for your achievements may have been easy to come by during your career.
But, just because you are retired, doesn’t mean that you don’t still need the thrill of conquering new goals. Whether your goal is to run a successful business or get extra cash, succeeding at something new can give you a fresh outlook. - Cognitive Stimulation: Trying to tackle a new skill can seem like a daunting task, but conquering new skills like Internet Marketing can boost more than just your bank account.
- Learn a New Skill: Okay, learning a new skill might not appear to be a bonus. But, along with the fact that new skills keep the mind alert and boost self-esteem, learning to use a computer and the Internet can also be skills that boost the quality of life and add convenience.
Getting Started with Internet Marketing
Getting started with Internet Marketing can be as easy as performing a basic Internet search. If you already know how to perform searches, use email, create documents and other simple computer tasks, then you’re ready to learn the ins and outs of Internet Marketing.
When you perform a simple “search” on your computer through Google, Yahoo or another search engine, you can plug in the phrase “Internet Marketing” and virtually thousands of options will appear. You can narrow the search by entering “Learning Internet Marketing,” and all types of links to Internet Marketing lessons, video tutorials, eBooks and advice.
If you don’t know anything about computers, there are classes available at your local colleges, senior citizen centers, and even other locations in your area. Help is out there if you’re ready to get started.
One of the best ways to get started is to seek out reliable blogs and forums on Internet Marketing. If you’re familiar with computers, you’ll know how to perform simple searches, and you might also have friends within the Internet Marketing niche that can advise you on some websites, blogs or forums they’ve used in the past.
A suggestion to start with The Warrior Forum (www.warriorforum.com), which is one of the most widely used, powerful and communicative forums on Internet Marketing. When you join, you’ll be among a variety of other members, ranging from those who are new to Internet Marketing to those who have already built their success.
You’ll even find members of all ages. Even though you’ll find a variety of ages and levels of experience, members will have a few things in common— a desire to learn more about Internet Marketing and to help others by sharing their knowledge.
Here you’ll find experienced Internet marketers who can answer your questions, give you advice and help you get over the humps of getting started.
Facing the Challenges of Internet Marketing and Avoiding Scams
Seniors face many of the same problems that younger competitors face when trying to first break into Internet Marketing or start any new business venture. But seniors also face unique problems as well. Some of them are:
- Many seniors are intimidated by computers and are hesitant to learn new things.
- They didn’t learn about computers during school or when they were younger.
- Slower mental capacity. It may take longer to learn some of the new terminology and technical aspects of computers and Internet Marketing.
- Many seniors believe that they just can’t learn new skills, which is not true!
- A lot of seniors who are familiar with computers and the Internet are afraid of getting scammed.
Do you remember what it was like when you first learned to do many of the leisurely activities you enjoy now? Remember the first time you caught a fish, the first time your grandmother let you cook with her in the kitchen, or the first time you went to the practice range. You may have found learning to do these things daunting at first.
Learning to use a computer or learning new Internet Marketing skills now may seem overwhelming and difficult as well. But the challenges of learning can be overcome if you’re willing to put in the effort. One thing never changes; enthusiasm is the key to learning and to success.
Also, don’t let the fear of getting scammed keep you from exploring the benefits of Internet Marketing. Any time there’s money to be made from teaching, selling or promoting products and services, you can also expect a number of scams designed to take your money.
If you do your research and know where to look, you can detect the good from the bad on the Internet and avoid Internet Marketing scams.
On reliable sites like The Warrior Forum, you’ll find “Success, Power and Self-Improvement,” discussions, products and services and special offers. But, you’ll also find those who are successful and experienced with Internet Marketing and can offer advise and tips to point you in the right direction. Be careful and look into anything that promises “quick and easy” profit.
Turning Challenges into Successes
By simply changing your outlook about learning to use computers and the Internet, you’ll open doors to a world of financial, mental and social benefits. The challenges you’ll face when you decide to start you Internet Marketing business will becomes exciting opportunities that will enhance the quality of your retirement years.
Your mind will be taxed at times, and you might doubt your ability to take on to tackle obstacles when they come your way. But if you persevere, you might be surprised to discover what you can still achieve – even in your retirement years.
The best thing seniors have going for them is all the help that is available, both on computers and around your city and town. Take advantage of these opportunities to learn about computers and Internet Marketing and you’ll be surprised how your life will change for the better.
Don’t become overwhelmed! Some mistakes can be expected. But remember, you had to learn to tee up a golf ball before you could get a hole-in-one, and how to bait your hook before you could catch that catfish. Take it one step at a time; learn the rules first.
It takes time to master anything new, but the advantages for seniors to learn Internet Marketing are astounding!
Good luck!
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As a senior Pat Tate started to explore Internet Marketing. She uses her blog as a journal to keep track of the people and programs that she has met along the way at Grandma’s Internet Marketing/blog. She is an avid golfer and invites women to join her to talk golf at Women’s Golf Center. She has always loved toys and as the proud Grandmother of five beautiful Grandchildren she gets to play with new ones at Grandma’s Toy Review.
Read MoreASE09 Session: Keeping Your Affiliate Program Clean
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
Session Description: Learn advanced approaches to running a clean affiliate program. A review of the systems, processes, tools and techniques used by leading affiliate programs to keep their programs clean. The panel consisted of:
- David Naffziger, CEO, BrandVerity (Moderator)
- Jamie Birch, Owner, JEBCommerce (Twitter @JamieEBirch)
- Graham MacRobie, President & CEO, Alias Encore (Twitter @grahammacrobie)
- Joshua Sloan, CEO, Sloan Tech (Twitter @sloanzone)
This session contained a lot of useful information targeted mostly to companies with an affiliate program and also outsource program managers. Some of the information was useful for affiliates, especially the need for a good relationship between affiliates and affiliate managers. The session consisted of short presentations by David Naffziger and by Graham MacRobie and then the floor was opened up for questions.
The presentations gave a brief overview of some of the common forms of abuse affiliate programs need to avoid. These include PPC violations, Cookie Stuffing, Legitimate link replacement, transaction lead fraud, and Brand Squatting. Some of the ways given to combat abuse were to know how your partners work – know how traffic is normally sent, who else they work with, is their plan consistent with their performance, and is their traffic pattern different from the normal. Examples of various software was give, a couple from Brand Verity and also free alternatives.
The question and answer portion gave several very good tips. One of the first was that no program should auto-approve, that affiliates each be inspected to make sure that they are who they say they are. Another was to go over the terms and conditions listed for the program at least once a year; it is better to have over strict rules and regs. that are lightly enforced rather than not enough. This will help in the long run because if abuse is found it can then be removed. Less than desirable affiliates are likely to group in the smaller networks as they are less likely to be discovered. More abuse is likely in a new affiliate program. Having the highest payout can make you a target on account of greed. Many of these comments can be used both by affiliate managers and also act as warnings to affiliates as to the relationship they should have with their manager.
Read MoreASE09: Monday Chris Brogan Keynote
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
The keynote address was pretty good. In effect it gave an overview of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s new book, Trust Agents. It was based on research that shows that there are more than one type of currency. One of the most important one of these is social capitol, which is based on trust. Once you gain the trust of people they will look for your opinions, and trust them, thereby making it much easier to sell things to them. People will trust your recommendations of products and services. Knowing the “insider vocabulary” can be a major advantage, and most important: “be known as a person” Julien Smith.
The keynote was mostly a conversation between Julien and Chris. I am looking forward to completing the rest of the book and will be posting a review when I do so.
Read MoreASE09 Session: What the Heck is a Website Nowadays?
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
Session Description: Businesses may be changing the way they look at web presence. Can you just have a blog? Is a Facebook presence alone a good idea? Does Web 2.0 mean the demise of websites? The panel consisted of:
- Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami, Network Solutions (Twitter @shashib) (Moderator)
- Kelly Harman, President, Zephyr Strategy
- Melanie Mitchell, SVP, Search Strategy, Digitas (Twitter @melaniemitchell)
- Ramon Ray, Editor, Smallbiztechnology.com
This session gave an interesting and entertaining look into how the role of a website has been changed recently with the advent of Social Media. One of the chief points that I took from the session was that your website should be the anchor for all the other forms of social media which you use. Ramon Ray brought out some points that are easy to remember and contain a lot of useful tips, these are:
- Focus on the customer.
- Have a plan of action.
- Have an easy to remember name.
- Be informative.
- Security – have as much as is needed for your site.
- Easy customer contact = good customer service.
- Have fresh content.
- Be found.
- Be simple.
ASE09 Session: How to Monetize your Site with Widgets
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
Session Description: This presentation discussed how to enhance your site using various widgets, what works and what doesn’t, and how effective different widgets are to your site. The panel consisted of:
- Woody Wood, Product Manager, Amazon (Twitter @AmazonAssociate)
This session gave an overview of what a widget is, and what it can bring to your site. Many examples were given from the Amazon Associate program and a couple of examples from other sources. One of the chief reasons for using a widget is to add interactivity and functionality to your website. A key point that was mentioned was that a widget should be used to augment your site, along with all of the links and banners, instead of replacing them. Several suggestions were made as to what works and what does not. Included in the what works category were things like:
- Use the right widget for the job: focus on targeting the widget at relevant material to your site.
- Place the widget in the most effective spot: for example, in the center of the page for a one off topic specific item, or on the sidebar for something that is more long term.
- Use the widget as a self expression tool: add comments and recommendations to the items to make the relevant to your audience.
- Change content regularly: make sure that people want to return to your site.
The only negative thing I took away from this very well put together presentation was the mention of the very short duration of the cookie given by the Amazon Associate program. This will most likely not stop me from using Amazon widgets on my site, but is a little disappointing.
ASE09 Session: SEO Tools You Can Use Today
Session Description: This session is a quick moving brain dump of how to use the most advanced powerful tools to help you with SEO. Expect to learn how you can walk out and use several SEO tools to grow revenues today. The speaker was:
- Wil Reynolds, Associate, SEER Interactive (Twitter @wilreynolds)
I’d never previously had the chance to hear Wil speak, despite meeting him a few times. It always seemed poorly matched up against other sessions that were more relevant to me as an affiliate manager. This time I made sure to make it to Wil’s session, and I was NOT disappointed. He’s an SEO genius and did, in fact, give us tools that I used TODAY!
Bullet Point Review!
- Tool: Google Insights
- Tool: Microsoft Advertising Intelligence (Formerly MSN adCenter Add-in for Excel)
- Watch your bounce rates, because even if keywords rank this is a problem.
- Always check Google Trends for the keywords.
- Evaluate bounce rates daily for each keywords (this catches problems quickly)
- SEER did this for a client and caught a page 1 ranked keyword with a bounce rate sometimes as high as 80%)
- Home page was ranked for the product search instead of a product page.
- Ranking is a big distraction.
- If you are analyzing search engine performance by where you rank you would never have caught the issue – analyze SEO by more than just rankings.
- Tool: Microsoft adCenter Labs Audience Intelligence – remember to search for singular keywords and plurals.
- Affiliates need to know research vs. commercial queries to help convert traffic.
- Marketers need to know what kind of message to put in front of people when searching.
- Plural tends to convert much better, but is not a hard & fast rule.
- Know the flaws before you use any tool so you know how far to trust the data.
- Yahoo Keyword Suggest is better than Google’s because it’s a general phrase match and not a character match.
- A 40 to 60 ratio isn’t enough to suggest a strong patter – go for closer to 30 to 70.
- Look for the queries highly skewed to one side or the other (commercial v. noncommercial) & look for high degrees of confidence from the engines.
- Test against your own data set on keywords that are currently ranking well before using the tool so you knoe how far to trust the data.
- You have to look at things through a marketing lens and not just take the word of the tool’s data.
- Affiliates need to take advantage of hot keywords because they can move much faster than larger corporations.
- Major competitive advantage: big companies move slow. Their inability to act for mid/long tail/hot keywords = opportunities for you.
- Don’t look back too far because trends rapidly change. Look at more current data sets, around 30 days old at most.
- Check out the Rising Searches area towards the bottom in Google Insights to see what trends are on the rise.
- Don’t go back more than a year data-wise, unless you’re looking for seasonal trends.
- How is a product getting hot? How do you rank for it?
- Try moving it up one level in the hierarchy of the site – possibly link from homepage in a hot product section.
- Top 200 products no more than 2 clicks from home page.
- Suits = slow = opportunity for you
- Google’s algorithm seems to be favoring large brands more and more; you’ve got to find ways to compete. Lots of ideas at blogstorm.co.uk
- Link building is about exposure to stimuli.
- You can’t have all the ideas – you need a Spark. Put yourself in a position to have great ideas.
- Install Greasemonkey script in Firefox.
- Install Twitter Search Results on Google for Greasemonkey
- It’s about being exposed to things that will trigger your brain to a link building opportunity.
- Tool: Google Trends Hot Trends
- Paid Tool: SEOmoz Labs – has a graphical representation of links.
- Put plug-ins and stuff at the bottom of the HTML code in case they hang up loading so they don’t stop everything else from loading.
- Wikipedia links help.
- Paid Tool: Hub Finder from SEO Book
- Tool: SeoQuake
- Seed Keywords allows you to find scenarios if you’re having an interal battle over which keywords would work best.
- Google Universal Search’s thumbnail pictures will definitely start to influence clicks in search.
Questions were really peppered in throughout the presentation, and Wil didn’t get to all his slides but promised they’d be made available and any links would be shared through Twitter if asked. It was a terrific session and I learned a ton that I’m ready to go back and start using now! For your benefit, here’s the presentation:
