Three Reasons Why I’m An Affiliate Marketer

An endeavor without a clear mission and objective is bound to fail. If you don’t have a mission or an objective driving your affiliate marketing efforts, then you’re more likely to spin in circles and never accomplish anything great. A mission statement is crucial to your online success!

Do you have a mission statement? Do you clearly know “why” you’re an affiliate marketer?

Once you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, it is easier to make all of those critical decisions such as:

• What task should I work on next?
• Will I benefit from that software, or that training resource?
• Which affiliate programs should I promote?

Those are just some examples, but I hope you can see how those questions cannot be effectively answered without a clear mission statement driving your efforts.

Your Mission Statement Is Not A Goal

Please note that a mission statement is not a goal. Your goals are based on your mission statement, and are different and separate. Here’s an example:

• Your mission statement might state that you want to earn a full time living from affiliate marketing.
• A goal based on that mission statement might be to earn $4,000 per month from affiliate marketing.

Can you see the difference?  You can even change your goal without changing the mission statement.

Now I understand that the term “mission statement” sounds like something a non-profit organization should have. It seems a bit overkill for the single affiliate marketer… especially if you’re working at this part-time. However trust me when I say it’s still important to have this defined.

So let me explain a way you can easily create your own mission statement. The way to do it is to list out the “reasons” why you are an affiliate marketer. As I just mentioned, don’t list out goals (like “I want to earn this much per month”), but instead list out the reasons why you would need that money. Perhaps it’s financial freedom, or to pay off bills, or to travel to Europe… whatever the “reason” is that you’re an affiliate marketer is your mission statement.

My Personal Reasons

Here are three reasons why I’m an affiliate marketer:

• Earn enough money to eliminate debt. This one seems obvious, but it needs to be listed. Notice that I don’t want to be rich, or have a lot of toys. I just want to get out of debt and stay out of debt. If I can accomplish that in my life, I’ll truly have wealth and I will have financial freedom.
• Have a productive hobby. This might sound corny, but we all need to have distractions from the stresses of life. We all need hobbies. Well affiliate marketing is my hobby, and it definitely is a stress reliever for me. The gravy is that I can earn a handsome profit from it too!
• Help others. One of my overall missions in life in general is to be helpful to others. Affiliate marketing can be a way to do that.

So how do my personal “reasons” for being an affiliate marketer help to guide me, keeping me on track and make critical decisions?

Here Are Some Examples

• Since one of my “reasons” is to get out of debt, I can easily calculate how much debt I have, and in how many months or years I want it to be at zero. Then I can figure out how much affiliate income I’ll need to make each month, and set goals accordingly. Also when I’m thinking about investing money for new software tools or training resources, I can weigh the potential benefits of those tools or resources against my ultimate mission of eliminating debt.
• Another “reason” is to have a relaxing hobby. Therefore, if I’m working on a campaign or project that is stressing me out, it is easier for me to let it go. A personal example of this is when I gave up my directory submission service. While it was a big money maker for me, it caused a lot of stress due to the deadlines it imposed on me. I don’t want my affiliate marketing efforts to take away from family time, but directory submissions were doing just that, so I stopped doing it.
• The third “reason” I listed was helping others. So when I am evaluating an affiliate product or program, I can evaluate if the product is really worthwhile. Will people really benefit and be helped by the product? I can also find common problems that people have, and target my affiliate campaigns in a way that provides these people with solutions to them. That way the customers are being helped, and I’m rewarded for helping them with affiliate commissions. If a program seems shady or sub-par, it’s easy for me to justify passing on it, because it doesn’t align with the reason I do this.

Conclusion

I could probably write a book full of examples of how having a mission statement (”reasons”) is key to success, but the examples listed here will have to do.

So what are the reasons you are an affiliate marketer? Please share them in the comments section below!

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Organizing Your Affiliate Business With OneNote 2007

Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 is an electronic notebook that can be used for organizing your affiliate business with to-do lists, notes and research, and so much more.

Product Name: Office OneNote 2007
Developer: Microsoft
Platform: Windows Vista / XP
Purpose: Digital notebook that organizes your notes, lists, audio notes, web site printouts, and anything else you wish to store digitally.
Price: $68.99 (as of 2008-09-01)

Introduction

When you run an affiliate marketing business, you have a lot of stuff you need to keep track of, including:

• To-do lists
• Affiliate program details
• Research notes
• Brainstorming ideas
• Keyword lists
• Membership usernames and passwords
• Etc.

It can be a daunting task to keep everything straight, but if you don’t, you end up being disorganized. When you’re disorganized, you don’t work efficiently, and so ultimately you lose money. Office OneNote 2007 is a software program that can help you stay organized in every area of your business.

Who Is This Product For?

In a nutshell… EVERYONE. There isn’t a person living who doesn’t need to stay organized. If you’re an internet or affiliate marketer and own a computer, there’s no doubt that you need to stay organized. So yes… that’s you!

If you already have software or a system for staying organized, and it works well, then you might not have a need for OneNote. However if you don’t have a system in place yet, or if your current system isn’t working that well, then you will want to seriously consider OneNote.

What Can It Do For You?

The premise behind OneNote 2007 is extremely simple:

• You create notebooks.
• Each notebook can have sections.
• Each section has pages.
• You can also create groups of sections containing lots of individual sections.

The beauty in the simplicity is you can use OneNote in the way that works best for your needs. It doesn’t “force” you to adopt any particular organizational method.

Key Benefits:

Here are some of the key benefits you get when you use OneNote 2007:

• Never Lose Your Work
  All of your notes are automatically saved in real-time. So you can work according to your own schedule, and you never have to worry about saving your work or losing anything.
• Stay Organized
  You can type anywhere you want on a page, just click and type. You can create as many pages and sections as you need. You can tag and flag selected text. You can organize things the way that works well for you, but if you misplace something inside of OneNote, it’s just a quick search away.
• Never Forget Key Tasks
  You can easily create to-do lists inside of OneNote, and checkmark tasks that are completed. You can even create Outlook tasks from inside of OneNote with a single mouse click.
• Remember Great Ideas
  If you’re like me, you often have a great ideas at times when you’re not ready to work on them. And if you’re like me, you sometimes forget those great ideas. With OneNote, you can easily type your idea onto a brainstorming list or page, and then move on to whatever else you were working on. Then later when you’re planning and researching, it’s easy to refer back to your ideas.
• Easily Manage Keyword Lists
  Forget about Excel or text documents for your keyword lists. When you manage your keyword lists in OneNote, you have your keyword lists, to-do notes, and project ideas all in one place.
• Work From A Single Workspace
  You can use OneNote to do nearly all of your work in one place. For example, if you had an affiliate campaign you were just starting, you could create a new notebook or section for that project. Then you would have pages for your research and brainstorming. Next you’d create a page for your project’s to-do list and keyword lists. Finally you could write your web site content (blog posts, content, etc) directly in OneNote, easily referring to your lists and research… all inside of one application! Then copy and paste your content into your web site or blog, and check off those tasks from your to-do list.

Unique Features:

OneNote 2007 contains unique features that I haven’t seen before in a single software application:

• Audio Notes
  Some people don’t like to type notes, they’d rather speak them. A lot of people own digital voice recorders for this very purpose. However going back through your recordings takes time and can be tedious. As long as you have a microphone on your computer, OneNote lets you record audio notes directly into the software. The audio notes can be stored on any page you want. Best yet, OneNote will scan and index the words in the recording and use them for search results. So if you spoke the phrase “Amazon affiliate program” in your audio note, if you later do a search for that phrase, your note will appear in the search results!
• Screen Clippings
  OneNote has the ability to create a screen clipping from anything visible on your desktop. The clip will then be saved as a graphic in your OneNote notebook. If the graphic contains any text, OneNote will detect that, so when you search through your notes, it will include the text from the graphic in the search results!

Are There Any Problems?

Sure, like all software, OneNote 2007 is not perfect. Here are some things I would improve if I were in charge of developing the software:

• OneNote doesn’t have an easy way to run in minimized mode. While there is a system tray icon running at all times, the actual software always appears as a normal application in your taskbar when it’s running. If you want to minimize the software, you have to close it. The program does launch extremely quickly, but still it’s annoying. I would add a ‘minimize to system tray’ option.
• Everything is contained in a single window. The software does have feature to launch a new window, but it doesn’t have any type of advanced window management. So if you want to view two different pages side-by-side, as an example, then you have to manually position the windows. I would add window management features like ‘view side by side.’

Conclusion

I realize this isn’t some sexy new affiliate software… it’s just some boring productivity software… right? Well here’s the deal: you need to stay organized.

It’s really that simple. If you’re not organizing your efforts, then you’re not working efficiently. If you’re not working efficiently, then you’re leaving profits on the table.

If you want to maximize your efforts and profits by staying organized, then Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 is a software product that will give you the tools you need to organize your work. It won’t make you money in and of itself, but it will help you stay organized so your money making tasks stay on track.

Value: 8/10
Return on Investment: 9/10
Ease of Use: 9/10
Overall: 26/30

Click here to learn more or purchase a copy:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-OneNote-2007/

Bonus Savings Tip: OneNote 2007 is included as a part of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, which also includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This package costs about $20 more than the stand-alone OneNote software, so it’s a better deal if you want the extra software.

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Google Myth Busters: You Will Not Be Penalized For Submitting Your Sitemap

When you read blog and forum posts about Google, you are sure to read a ton of myths. One of the most common myths I’ve read says that your site will be penalized if you submit your sitemap to Google. People honestly believe that if you setup a Google Webmaster Tools account and submit your sitemap to it, you will lose rankings… or it will take much longer to get ranked… or you’ll be inviting a manual review…

The myth is complete bunk. There is NO HARM in submitting your site to Google’s Webmaster Tools.

I mean come on… conspiracy theories are fine and all, but do you really think that Google has some sinister purpose for the Google Webmaster Tools? I can just picture it, some overworked Google engineer sleeping under the desk in his cubicle, muttering in his sleep: “Mwuhahaha… they setup their sites on Google Webmaster Tools and we crush them! Mwuhahaha…”

Myth: Debunked

Let’s debunk this myth with the overwhelming fact that Google WANTS to display the most relevant search results, so they can make more money!

It’s really simple:

1. Google displays the most relevant search results.
2. More and more people use Google for searching.
3. More people searching means more PPC ads being displayed.

So if you have a really great site full of relevant content, do you think Google is going to punish your site because you submitted your sitemap? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense to me.

Fact: What’s Really Happening

Here’s what I think is really happening that causes people to believe in this myth… people submit their sitemaps TOO SOON. When you read the Google Webmaster Guidelines, they are very specific when they use the phrase “when your site is ready.” Google doesn’t care about your site until it’s ready. What does that mean? Your site is ready when you have enough content to deserve to be ranked at Google.

So let’s say you’re building a site on blue widgets. Obviously you’re not going to rank #1 for blue widgets overnight, but does your site deserve to be listed anywhere in the search results for blue widgets? Does your site have at least a minimum level of design and content that’s completed, so if a visitor interested in blue widgets came to your site, they’d find something of value? If the answer to that question is yes, then you will have no troubles if you submit your site to the Google Webmaster Tools. If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t even allow your site to get indexed by Google, because it’s not ready yet.

Conclusion

There’s no harm in submitting a good site to Google’s Webmaster Tools.

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Warning: Don’t Be Seduced By StoreStacker

A new affiliate tool has just been released, and you’re bound to be bombarded by a ton of marketers telling you how great it is. Do not listen to them!

The product is called StoreStacker. It promises that you can easily and quickly setup affiliate stores using products from many sources. You can even auto publish content by scraping other’s RSS feeds. The whole thing is automatic… just set it up, walk away, and enjoy the commissions.

The trouble is this method NEVER works. Sure you might install 20 stores… or 100 stores… and find short term success, but you’ll never build up a source of long-term stable income.

Do you really think it’s as easy as buying a piece of software, installing it to a domain, picking a niche, and setting up scraped RSS content? Listen, I know how strong the desire can be to find a silver bullet that will earn you a lot of money for little effort, but that silver bullet doesn’t exist.

If you want to buy StoreStacker, then that’s fine, as long as you understand that if you want long term success, you will need to treat it like any other authority site. You will need to publish original content that provides value to your niche and your visitors, which takes time and effort.

Please… if you are reading this… do not be seduced by StoreStacker. I won’t tell you not to buy it, but I won’t be recommending it either.

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3 Key Steps for Success on the eBay Partner Network

Ever since the eBay Partner Network (ePN) fired a bunch of affiliates, there’s been a lot of discussion on whether or not affiliates can trust the ePN going forward. What you need to realize is that it doesn’t matter if you can trust the ePN. What matters is that you position yourself for success.

“It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.” –John Wooden

Step One - Understand Your Surroundings

It’s nearly impossible to succeed at anything in life unless you have a working knowledge of the subject. For example, if you wanted to build a house, you’d need to understand community regulations and zoning laws, drafting and design, construction materials and equipment, framing, concrete work, dirt work, and so on and so forth. There’s a lot of information a person needs to understand if they want to successfully build a house… especially one that won’t blow over during the first storm.

The same holds true for affiliate marketing. If you want to succeed, you need to understand as much as you can about it. That means reading blogs like this one, purchasing training materials like Wealthy Affiliate, understanding how to build and maintain web sites, marketing strategies and techniques, and on and on. There’s a lot that a person needs to know to be successful.

Specific to the eBay Partner Network, you need to understand what eBay expects from affiliates. You need to know how to “play the game” so that eBay’s happy, your visitors are happy, and most importantly, so that you’re happy and earning commissions.

Now I can hear what some of you are thinking, because people are posting this same thought on the various forums and blogs: “how the blank can I know what they want when they don’t tell us?”

Well they did tell us, but people seem uninterested in trying to understand what they said. Unfortunately that’s not an excuse. As with everything in life, if you don’t understand an aspect of something, then you have to figure it out if you want continued success. If eBay didn’t give us detailed specifics, then we all need to analyze the situation. Read between the lines. Put yourself in their shoes and try to determine what they really mean.

Step One’s Action Item: Make the effort to figure things out going forward. Excuses and complaints won’t help you. Learn as much as you can and adapt to changes as they occur.

Step Two - Focus on Your Site’s Visitors Instead of eBay

This should be a no-brainer, but it isn’t. Here’s what happens… someone wants to get started in affiliate marketing. They find out that the eBay Partner Network is a good program to join, so they get signed up. They want to make money, so their focus is on setting up web sites for the ePN so they can start earning commissions as soon as possible.

Trust me when I say that you won’t send “engaged” traffic to eBay with that approach.

Think about it, if your main focus is on making money with any specific affiliate program, you’re not going to come across as someone who’s site really values the people who read it. You just won’t.

They always say that if you want to sound pleasant over the phone, you should be smiling, even though the person on the other end of the line can’t see you. The same is true for your affiliate web sites. If your focus is on making money, trust me, your visitors will figure that out.

So what can you do to change things? Simple… you build web sites that provide value to your visitors even if you removed each and every affiliate link or eBay product listing. The more engaged you are in your niche and with your visitors, the more engaged your visitors will be when you send them over to eBay.

Step Two’s Action Item: Make sure your site provides value to your visitors. This requires adding content, more content, and even more content. Focus on making your site the best it can be for the people who visit it.

Step Three - Get Real and Face the Facts

This last step deals more with your perspective and attitude more than anything else. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are few guarantees in life, and that includes affiliate marketing. The sooner you come to grips with that, the better off you’ll be.

Instead of worrying about the ePN, you should focus your energy on the things you can control. What are those things? Well for starters, you decide which niche to focus on. You control the content that gets published on your site. You get to choose which affiliate products that you feel will benefit your readers the most.

If you take charge of the aspects of your business that you can control and come to grips with the aspects that you can’t control, then you’ll be a step ahead of the average affiliate marketer. People who’ve had the most business success tend to be the ones who are fluid. They’re able to adapt to the changing landscape around them… even reinventing themselves and their businesses when necessary.

Step Three’s Action Item: Focus on the aspects of your business that you can control, and change your expectations regarding the aspects that you can’t control. Understand that things change, and that keeping a positive attitude and rolling with the punches will give you the best chance for long term success.

Conclusion

It’s my sincere hope that the three steps outlined above will help you understand how to succeed not only with the eBay Partner Network moving forward, but also with affiliate marketing in general.

Personally, my plan is to continue focusing my sites on the visitors, even on the sites that promote or feature eBay product listings. And if the ePN ever decides to fire me, then that’s okay, because I will continue to focus on my niches and my readers first. If I do that, then monetization, commissions and earnings will come.

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