The Best Schools Online For Affiliate Marketing
Guest post is by Stella Waldorf.
Marketing has existed ever since farmers, craftsmen and even simple laborers have existed. Whether it was just saying simply, “Hey, can I work for pay?” or “Excuse me. Would you like to buy this?” it was marketing…even before the term was invented.
Over time, as with most things, marketing has become more layered and complex. And now there are a number of elements such as affiliate marketing that exist within the marketing field.
What Exactly Is Affiliate Marketing?
Basically, affiliate marketing is a concept that allows those working within it to draw the largest portion of their earnings from the profits they incur through their efforts. In other words, it is similar to many traditional commissioned sales positions in that a small (or advance against future earnings) salary exists as a base connected to a percentage of later profits.
More specifically, affiliate marketing is not unlike employment that offers little or no pay which is later deducted from an agreed upon percentage of specific overall profits. And believe it or not, this agreement typically benefits a hard-working affiliate marketing professional far more than similar efforts paid on an hourly or salaried basis.
More Specific Information
Affiliate marketing as a career is not unlike a sales job that offers, for example, $800 (or sometimes $0) a week for pay to be deducted from 10% (or whatever is agreed upon) of the customer traffic an affiliate marketer causes through their efforts; this not unlike an awards for efforts proposition.
So if you’re game to put up or shut, affiliate marketing is definitely a field you should consider.
The Most Practical Application Of Affiliate Marketing
In case you hadn’t noticed, nearly every business on planet Earth currently has a presence of some sort on the internet. So it’s important to realize this obvious fact as you pursue a career in affiliate marketing.
In the past affiliate marketing was primarily a pursuit that was employed through means of purchasing agents who secured advertising on television, radio, billboards, restroom walls, etc. And this is still true today. But the real cash cow where affiliate marketing is concerned currently is the internet.
Here’s How It Works
Affiliate marketing as an internet venture is a proposition that’s simple enough. You generate client and/or customer interest and you succeed.
For example, most clients offer commissions for original clients/customers you bring to their site through your affiliate marketing efforts. But to properly maximize your efforts and profitability in doing so you’ll need to be educated in the best approaches to employ.
How To Learn What You Need To Know About Affiliate Marketing
As with all forms of education, enrollment at a conventional college or university should be a means to an end that should be seriously considered. But often such an education proves to be impractical.
There are often issues involving cost, scheduling and campus location that make learning at a traditional college or university a near impossibility for many. So other options should be considered if you’re one of these individuals.
Additional Options For An Affiliate Marketing Education
The internet currently provides almost every educational opportunity imaginable through links to not only online schools that exist there primarily, but also through some of the world’s most respectable institutions of higher learning. And these institutions include not only marketing schools but also most every other type of education imaginable.
For example, take a look at sites mounted by familiar names in education such as these:
- Stanford University: http://www.stanford.edu/
- New York University: https://www.nyu.edu/
- Northwestern University: http://www.northwestern.edu/
- University of California: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/
Then you’ll no doubt find after research that an education through online schools is not only practical, but often preferable as you choose from the various marketing schools where you can study affiliate marketing. Afterwards you can decide on your own which are the best schools online for affiliate marketing.
—
Stella Waldorf is a marketing director in Chicago, and in her free time she loves to write freelance for onlineschools.org.
Read MoreVSEO – Ranking Factors Behind YouTube
Guest Post By Ryan Sammy.
Everyone knows the importance of video marketing as well as the tremendous potential YouTube offers in creating a strong presence for your brand and company image. However, does everybody know how to use YouTube optimally to gain the desired advantage and leverage for your videos and thereby your company?
Just creating a good video of your company, or a video containing information intended for your target customers and uploading onto YouTube is not enough to get the desired results. There are many ranking factors behind YouTube that you should know if you want your video to score high marks in the popularity charts. Good VSEO takes into account these ranking factors to help build a good brand image and enhance the reputation of your company.
Apart from creating quality video content that information seekers will be willing to watch, there are other important factors that you can use to optimize your videos for YouTube and get higher rankings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The first and foremost is not to be just a passerby, but a player. Create a presence in the YouTube community for yourself. Listen to others and be heard. The rankings on YouTube depend on various factors, just as the factors behind organic search results on Google or any other search engine. YouTube in itself is a major search engine now, and it adheres to its own algorithmic parameters to decide rankings.
YouTube ranks videos that are watched most number of times rank very high on its SERPs. So you need to make videos that have a strong viral capability to bring in more viewers for your videos. The more people your videos can bring in to watch, the higher in rankings your video climbs. Now, this does not mean that by simply uploading a video that will be watched by many people can get you top spot in rankings; the videos have to be acceptable and engaging to make people vote for the videos. The more times your videos get viewer votes; the higher the chances of you getting top billings in the rankings! Another factor that could push your videos up is the number of times your videos are bookmarked for attention. These are the basic factors that can help your videos to get maximum visibility, and your attention when making videos should be to make them in such a way that they satisfy all the conditions stated above.
Having good titles, meta-descriptions, tags, comments, flagging, shares, comments, channel views, subscribers, inbound links, and latency do matter, but if you stick to the ground rules and include some, or all the above factors, there is no reason why your videos should lag behind. That said, being an active member of the community will help tremendously, and using video analytics such as “YouTube Insight” and “TubeMogul” should help make your videos better and to stay constantly updated on developments. Make good videos and stay engaged; that should drive you to the top spot very soon.
Read More5 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 More5 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 MoreTales of a Home Office Worker Dad
Guest Post by Joe Magennis.
Just over a year ago we completed a restructuring of the agency that would allow us to eliminate the massive overhead of an office. My biggest hesitation for disbursing to home locations was what to do about the phone system. I did not want to go through the hassle of notifying clients of a bunch of new and unique phone numbers. When our local CLEC service provider informed me that we could have a virtual system that allowed me to have the same number right down to the same extension, I pulled the trigger.
This is the second time that I have worked from home. In the late nineties I converted the upstairs bedroom into an office and established a diligent work routine. I function much better within some structure, so I complete the typical morning rituals, grab a cup of coffee and head upstairs to start the workday. I derive a great sense of productivity from this new work from home operation since it saves me an hours commute on each end of the day. It also means I can get to the daycare to pick up my toddler earlier than ever before.
On November 3rd of this past year things changed drastically. My wife and I decided that due to the enormous cost of placing a second child into daycare, she would head to work while I would keep our three month old daughter Lily with me during the day. This new arrangement was certainly made easier by having a home office work environment, but has greatly extended the length of time that I spend in the office each day.
It’s not realistic to attempt to give work full attention during the typical work day and attend to all of Lily’s needs. Her feeding requirements every three hours with interspersed diaper changes, play time, and prep for the next round of feeding limits my day time functionality to short bursts of tasks while she is napping. When my wife comes home at the end of the day we share dinner time with both of the girls and I retreat to the office to focus on the greater tasks of the day.
However, I still attempt to arrive at the desk by 9:00 am with a coffee in hand and a bottle for Lily. It’s typically a good time to catch some podcasts since my hands are tied up. I still have numerous standing Skype appointments throughout the week and so far there have not been any huge conflicts due to Daddy Daycare. It is a work arrangement that is completely manageable with the right determination, the right technology and the right home office set up …. for how long is the big question.
—
Joe Magennis is the founder and principal of Fluid Media Inc. an online marketing and brand development company in Atlanta Ga.
Read More
