A Tale of 2 WAHMs

(Just a taste of my new career, for those who have been keeping track. This was actually a contest piece which had to be under 500 words, so it was seriously butchered. Hope you like it anyway.)

Boredom Cries

The mother carefully attached the last piece of cotton onto the paper plate bunny as her daughter watched with big, brown, innocent eyes. The little girl wrinkled her nose, twisting her mouth in a pose that indicated she was thinking with all her 6-year-old brain power.

“Is it done, mommy?” the child asked, still deciding if she thought it was a work of art to be treasured or something to be delightfully destroyed.

Her mother tilted her head, pausing for a moment before replying.

“Yes, I think it’s done.”

The small child began to protest. This was not what she had in mind when her mother said they would make her a bunny. She had envisioned something that hops - something she could chase around the backyard, giggling with glee as it ran in circles around her.

“It doesn’t really look like a bunny though,” the child pouted.

The weary mother sighed heavily. There seemed to be no pleasing this vexatious angel. Peering over at their table full of various crafts, she realized the battle had been lost. There had been flaws with every project they had done today. The popsicle people had been too small. The construction paper cat was too flat. The painted picture wasn’t drying fast enough. No matter what, the girl would start crying, demanding they make another project.

Tears were welling up in the girl’s eyes while her bottom lip began to quiver. The wailing would begin in seconds if her mother did not act quickly. But she was exhausted with the child and was officially throwing in the towel. She no longer could attempt to make her daughter happy.

“You know what? Go outside and play. I need to get supper ready,” the mother stated firmly as she began picking up the scattered remains of their craft day. Glitter, glue, construction paper, and markers lay in a messy pile across the dining room table.

The girl halted her tantrum count down ritual, temporarily appeased with the prospect of finding a suitable activity outside. The Mother watched her offspring skip out the door, and into the backyard, knowing there would be something to fuss about outside in just a matter of minutes. Peering out from the kitchen window, she shook her head.

“Lord, please let me survive until school starts.”

Okay Anik Singal of AffiliateClassroom has made me one very happy person, lol!

If you personally ask me, I’d have to say the man is a genious!  Anik has managed to take two of my favorite forms of marketing - affiliate marketing and article marketing - and mashed them together to create an absolutely knock-out article directory.  (Not that you could tell by my past few articles about affiliate marketing are two of my favorite subjects, lol!)

First of all yes - just like the subject line says - this article directory pays you to submit your articles so others can pick them up and publish them.  Now am I the only one who thinks that’s just the coolest thing?  (Come on … I know I’m not the only internet marketing geek out there, lol!)

So the name of this new directory is AffSphere.com.  There’s two really cool (must-see) videos on the site that explains it all but I did want to share a few of my own thoughts with you before you head over to watch them. 

Honestly - I couldn’t wait for the videos to get finished so I could sign up.  I’ve already submitted three of my most recent articles and since it’s 1:00 AM right now, I’m sure you can guess what I’ll be doing first thing tomorrow.  Yep, I’ll be pulling out all of my other articles and submitting those as well.  Of course, the more articles you submit, the more cash you can earn.  (Ooh, I so like the idea of this, lol!)  This is definitely not your typical article directory.

It’s very affiliate friendly, has 8 different ways for you to earn (watch the video for more details), and the articles are reviewed by humans.  I personally prefer to wait a little longer to have my articles reviewed by humans - this way I’m guaranteed this is a quality directory with quality content.

With this directory you not only drive traffic to your website but it also allows you to share in their traffic by hosting your own adsense and banners directly on the site.  You even earn a share of the adsense income made on any of your article pages.

By joining, you automatically become an Affsphere which means that any time someone joins AffSphere from any of your article pages, they’re automatically added to your downline.  You will then get credit for all the submission activity they do - five levels deep.  Plus, AffSphere will be offering courses in the future and you will earn a commission if anyone in your direct downline purchases one (lifetime commissions!)

Those are just a few reasons to submit as many articles as you can.  (And have I mentioned this is all f*ree to join?)

Oh and I am absolutely amazed as to how many cateogries there are to choose from so you can find the best category for your articles.  I’ll be honest with you - I get so tired of having to “settle” on a category just because it was as close as I could get to the category that I would prefer it to be under just because the directory doesn’t offer enough categories.  I really don’t think I’ll have that problem with this directory.

Well I really could go on and on but like I said, it’s one o’clock in the morning here (after that now, lol) and I would like to head to bed - besides - I don’t want to risk the chance of this sounding like a bunch of hype (which is exactly what I end up doing when I get really excited about something, lol!).  I think this was an awesome idea and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

Not to mention, the videos on the site do an excellent job describing exactly how everything works - I might as well let them tell the story.

I’m gonna go to bed - you head on over to AffSphere, watch the video (click the banner at the top of the page) and then sign up.  It’s free and you’re submitting articles to directories anyway (aren’t you?) So, why not make some additional cash with them too!  So, you’re gonna sign up, right? 

(And you’re going to let me know you think this is just as cool as I do.  Don’t be afraid - admit you’re an internet marketing geek who likes to make m0ney too!)

So what are you waiting for?  Head on over to AffSphere and grab your f*ree account now.  I just know you’ll like it!

Did you know you can create your own super affiliate? You sure can.

Contact, Contact, Contact …
Did I say contact? You need to be front and center of your affiliates minds constantly. Keep in touch on a regular basis and create new reasons often for them to promote your product and/or service.

Motivate, motivate, motivate …
Motivation runs a close second behind constant contact. There’s nothing more motivating than affiliate contests and recognition. Offering enticing prizes on a regular basis to recognize a job well done is a surefire technique to motivate your affiliates.

Offer many creatives …
By offering more creatives, you’re not only arming your affiliates with the tools they need but you’re also giving them a choice to pick and choose the creatives that fit them best. Encourage your affiliates to test various creatives to find the ones that work the best for them. You’ll also want to be sure to encourage them to edit the advertisements to add a personal touch. Be sure to use a variety of forms of creatives.

Train your affiliates …
You need to teach your affiliates how to sell your product and/or service. You’re the one who knows the best way to sell what you have to offer so teach it to your affiliates. Consider holding monthly seminars and other forms of training to keep your affiliates up to date with internet marketing skills.

Offer support, service and consultation …
Remind your affiliates regularly that they can come to you with any questions. Offer consultations to help them come up with an individualized plan of action. Offer a variety of forms of contact. By sharing your email address, instant messenger ids and phone number will help your affiliate feel more comfortable in contacting you the way they want to.

Use the above strategies like the bible of affiliate marketing and you too can turn your affiliates into super affiliates.

————
Anita DeFrank & Val Selby of YourAffiliateManagers.com offer a full service solution to assist you in building and/or managing a successful affiliate program. Their goal is to recruit, motivate and communicate with you and your affiliates … meeting the needs of both the affiliates and the merchant … and bridging the gap between the two. Visit www.YourAffiliateManagers.com to obtain overall, maximum success with your affiliate program.

Each affiliate manager service has their own set of services to offer but the general consensus is this: Someone who handles every aspect of your affiliate program. An affiliate manager can help you free your time to concentrate on other important aspects of your business such as product purchasing or creation, customer service, shipping as well as everything else needed done in order to run a successful business.

As I’ve said, each service has their own list of services that they offer but some things that one can do is affiliate recruiting (building you an entire sales force), motivate your affiliates to be more active, participate in training and consulting both the affiliate owner and your affiliates in order to create a knock-out affiliate program.

Depending on the manager that you choose, this person may install and set up your program as well as create a “one stop shop” for your affiliates to obtain everything they need in order to be a more successful affiliate.

The aspects of an affiliate program that most managers handle are crucial to your program. How well your affiliates and your program are taken care of could make or break your program. Dare I repeat myself? Crucial.

If you don’t take care of your program and your affiliates … your competition will. Long gone are the days that you simply set up a program, offer some links and asking some friends to promote your products.

With all the new software available making it much more simple, everybody and their brother has an affiliate program now. It’s become more of a competition to gather affiliates.

And let me tell you … affiliates are well aware of this. They now know they can search for the best programs available. They’re looking for not just the best commission plan … they’re looking for the programs with the best conversions. Best conversions come from who affiliates that are properly trained and armed with the proper material to get the job done.

Managing a successful program has become a full time job all in it’s own. Hence the creation of the affiliate manager position.

————————————
Anita DeFrank & Val Selby of YourAffiliateManagers.com offer a full service solution to assist you in building and/or managing a successful affiliate program. Their goal is to recruit, motivate and communicate with you and your affiliates … meeting the needs of both the affiliates and the merchant … and bridging the gap between the two. Visit www.YourAffiliateManagers.com to obtain overall, maximum success with your affiliate program.

Conversation with a Not-So-Successful Affiliate Program Owner

You have the product or service, you set up the affiliate program, you even got yourself a nice little group of affiliates and gave them all the tools they need. Or did you?

Yep, I sure did. I gave them everything they could possibly need. They have ten different sized graphic ads, five reports, three press releases, a ton of signature ads, classified ads of all sizes, blog posts, personal letters, and even a bunch of articles. They have everything they need.

So tell me then, if they have everything they need, why aren’t they making many sales?

When was the last time you contacted your affiliates?
Oh, that’s easy - my program is on auto-pilot! I have an email that automatically goes out to them as soon as they join. It’s a personalized welcome letter from me and it includes all the creatives I just mentioned. Other than that, it was about two months ago. I sent out a last minute free shipping weekend announcement.

That’s a pretty good start - but not good enough.

When was the last time you held an affiliate contest or another form of motivation?
Well, I’m so busy writing articles, creating new ad campaigns, updating my blog and taking care of my customers that I don’t usually have the time to do this. But, about six months ago, I did contact my top affiliate and raised her commission.

Good idea - but not enough.

When was the last time you held a special on your product or service just for your affiliates to promote?
When I held my free shipping weekend, I almost forgot to tell my affiliates but I did send them out a quick email first thing that Saturday morning.

Too little - too late.

Did you offer a new creative for your free shipping weekend?
No, I didn’t have the time so I told them just to use one of the creatives in their welcome email.

Nice reminder - but not enough.

Does any of this sound in the least bit familiar? Something tells me if you’re struggling with affiliate sales, it just may so. Long gone are the days that just setting up an affiliate program and offering some links is enough. Affiliate programs are no longer meant to be a ’set it and forget it’ program. Otherwise, you’ll be sitting there wondering what went wrong.

You have to be a constant reminder to your affiliates.

You have to train your affiliates how to sell and give them the appropriate tools to do so.

You need to create new creatives and promotions regularly. Give them something new to look forward to on a regular basis. Give them a reason to contact their customers.

You need to keep them motivated with contests and some form of recognition. Let them know they’re doing a good job.

You need to create a “one stop shop” to host all their affiliate needs such as all creatives, training materials, frequently asked questions and a way to keep in contact with you. Don’t make them dig out that welcome email - give them the link where they can find everything they need.

These people aren’t “just affiliates”. They are your partners in business, your personal sales team. Essentially, they are a part of a team - your team - so be sure to treat them as such.

Doing things such as what’s been mentioned are sure to transform you from the not-so-successful affiliate program owner to the I-can’t-keep-up-with-all-these-sales affiliate program owner.

It’s been a long time coming - too long. 

With my husband and I both getting laid off - it gave me just the fight and the push I needed to kick my online career in to high gear.  I was comfortable before.  I didn’t have to fight so hard.  Things were moving smoothly enough for me online and I had my regular pay check from my part-time job.  Things were fine. 

Then the company we worked for started going down hill and all hell broke loose.

It’s been pretty hard for a while and it’s probably going to be tough for a little while longer.  But that’s okay.  I’m kind of glad it happened. 

Like I said, it gave me the push I needed to move up a notch in my online career and we’ve decided that it’s probably a good idea of I stay home full time again - something I’ve missed terribly. 

It even gave my husband a  little push as well.  He’s finally going to start his own business that he’s wanted to do for so very long. 

So you see … it’s true what they say … when life hands you lemons … make lemonade.

But what’s almost finished?  Oh yeah … the rambler got rambling yet again. 

My new service - or actually, I should say OUR new service.   A good friend of mine, Val Selby and I are starting yet another business venture together. 

We’ve been friends for quite some time now and already have been working together on other projects.  For example, she’s one of my two head moderators of MommysHelperCommunity.com (the other being another good friend of mine who can’t go unmentioned, Lauren Haugh) and the three of us own MyWahmSpace.com.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but Val and I are going to be affiliate managers  We’re going to be helping affiliate program owners start and/or run successful affiliate programs.  I am so excited about this turn in my online career. 

And the funny thing is … I’ve never considered what I do a career until we started this.  There’s nothing more rewarding than not only calling it your career but knowing that’s exactly what it is.  More importantly - it’s not just a “j.o.b.” — it really is my career.

One of the things that has me excited the most is the fact that I’ve already taken on 3 clients and we haven’t even launched the site yet.  These clients were picked up by mere chatter of what we were doing.  One had even gone as far as to say: 

I have to say that you picked a great market.  Affiliate Managers are in high demand now.

And while I was aware of that thanks to the research I conducted … it sure was nice to hear this from someone else!

Then she went on to say:

My program is up and running (over 120 affiliates) and they are doing well but  there are a few things I need that I just dont feel like doing. (smile).

Which is a very common plea that we’ve heard over and over again.  Between that and the fact that a small business owner wears so many hats that it’s difficult to find the time to slip on that affiliate manager hat.

The two of us have joined our skills and dished out the work to the one who does best in each aspect of the business - making it so much more enjoyable for us. 

It’s also come to my own attention that this is truly something I was born to do!  Now I think - duh - why haven’t I been doing this forever?  But then again, I wouldn’t have the knowledge on how to run a successful affiliate program that I’ve gained over the years.

And another thing I  found out from my research is that we’re able to do this affordably.  I was blown away at what the average Affiliate Manager charges!  There’s no way your typical small business owner or work at home mom could afford not alone justify paying the prices some were charging.

So, sticking to my true blue work at home mom colors - we’ve kept our pricing very affordable so that those who are serious but don’t have money coming out their ears can still aford us.

So stay tuned as I’ll be announcing the official launch very soon.  I completed most of the site already, just wating for Val to finish up a little bit of her part and we’ll be ready to go. 

But be sure to keep a close look-out because it could be any day now … and we’ll be offering special introductory pricing to a limited number of clients.  If you get in on the introductory pricing … you will keep that pricing no matter how long … as long as you stay a client.

And while I have affiliate marketing on the brain … be prepared and expect to be getting some affiliate marketing training here on the blog in the next few days!

Internet Marketing!!!

I couldn’t believe it!

Okay, I don’t know if anyone else feels the way I do but I know NOONE who knows anything about online marketing, internet marketing, online sales, yadda, yadda, yadda … none of it.

I used to get a little excited if I heard of someone who had a paypal account but everybody and their brother has at least bought something from Ebay and they’re all pretty familiar with Paypal. Heck, my MIL even got a Paypal account a few years ago, lol.

We have a Sunday school that sits in front of our house - actually the yards connect. So, there’s a lot of what we call our “neighbors” who are in and out of there on a regular basis. But our “neighbor” spans probably about 5 or 6 miles, lol! (Everybody here goes to this Sunday School except for us - we were members of another church before we moved here.)

Anyway, hubby was out in the yard trying to once again get our pool “un-green” and someone was at the Sunday School. He come over and was talking with him about this new system they put in that requires no chemicals and all that stuff. He said he had tons of stuff at home that he no longer uses and wanted to give it to us.

So eventually they started chit chatting (you know, the thing “guys” don’t do but do it for hours …) Anyway, they start talking about what they do for a living yadda, yadda, yadda … and this gentleman says he and his wife just started their own home based business  online. 

(They sell Shaklee - which is pronounced with a short “A” not a long “A” like I thought, rofl!)

My husband gives the normal response as in yeah, my wife does something online. She works with work at home moms … lol. He really doesn’t have a clue. (Although, he’s getting a real lesson in affiliate marketing lately, lol!)

In the meantime I come home from the grocery store and they call me over. Next thing I know, we’re sitting across from each other talking about internet marketing and John Reese, auto-responders and lead generators and websites .. and Oh my gosh I was so excited!! (How pathetic is that? LOL!)

Turns out - unfortunately he’s “fallen” for quite a few “newbie mistakes” and has lost a good bit of money. He’s only been in business for about 5 months now but has lost a good bit of money with almost nothing in return.

He ended up getting signed up to a company that gives him something like 40,000 leads a month for something like $70 a month. Ouch! Then he paid for an automated process that sends out his message automatically to these 40,000 leads. (No offense to him - especially if he reads this - I invited him and his wife over, lol) but we wonder where all this spam comes from? From these companies that sell this crap to poor suspecting newbies that just want to build their business - that’s where!!

I mean really - where does this company get 40,000 leads a MONTH!?? And they have how many customers? How many other people are they sending these same leads out to?

Did you ever get a rush of the same spam message from three different people at one time? Yep - there ya go!

He’s been sending out these messages for five months now. Yes it takes time for a business to grow but what kind of leads are these that he can send out 40,000 messages a month to supposed “leads” and not get a single visit to his website from it? That’s 200,000 supposed people who should be interested in getting something like this AND nothing? Not even one visit???

I was so excited to share my knowledge with him … mainly to help but also because I’m excited to share something with someone offline - kind of to show “what I’ve accomplished” and “what I know”. Know what I mean? If I show any of my friends or family any ebooks I’ve written or websites that I’ve built. Sure, they’re nice and say ‘hey, that’s great’ but they don’t really “get it”. Ya know?

So in return for the chemicals, I gave him a couple of my ebooks to help get him started plus threw out a few tips. (Okay - a lot of tips.) I overwhelmed him a bit a couple of times, lol! But he’ll get it - just needs to take it one step at a time. I keep telling him - if I can learn it, anyone can.

But I couldn’t allow him to continue to waste his precious money on this stuff! So, I had to share some of the RIGHT and EFFECTIVE way to build his online business. And of course - since it was perfect for where he and his wife are, I had to give him a copy of Kickstart Your Online Business which will give him a really quick boost without overwhelming him too much.

It actually worked out to be a good thing for the two of us. This morning he was so surprised at all the information I had given him about building a website that he replied with a “hope you’re keeping a tab because I know mentors aren’t cheap!” Oops - guess that IS what I’m doing, isn’t it? I AM being a mentor! lol!

I’ve been a mentor to many people over the years - especially here but don’t usually get paid for it. Although, I have made a few bucks here and there because they usually end up buying some advertising from me or some of the things that I recommended were using an affiliate link to it wasn’t all for free (but certainly no where what a mentor gets paid, lol!)

Anyway … back to whats being good for the two of us. I told him nope, no tab … I enjoy doing it. Besides, I can’t just sit here and say nothing, ya know? Especially when I know he’s loosing money. But, I told him that if he wants someone to take care of his website later, I’d be happy to “be for hire”. And he replied that if he goes with one of the ideas I gave him - he will certainly be putting me on his “payroll”! Definitely works for me!

Sooo, I just had to share this. Anyone else know anyone offlline who “gets it”?

For those of you that are still unsure of whether or not you’re wanting to use WahmCart may want to hurry and take the leap because on August 15th, they’ll be raising the price from $29.99 a month to $39.99 a month. According to the WahmCart blog:
 

Anyone who registers for the service prior to this date will have a lifetime guaranteed price of $29.99 per month.*

I personally have not yet used WahmCart but it comes recommended by a very good friend and business partner of mine, Val.  I’ve been reviewing their service lately due to her recommendations.  I’ve been reviewing it for both personal use and for our upcoming Affiliate Management Services.  One of the things we’ll be doing for our clients is putting together extensive reviews of some of the more popular shopping carts and affiliate program services.  WahmCart is going to be on our list because of Val’s recommendation.

To help you make your decision, WahmCart offers a 14-day Trial for $1.  I myself can say I’m quite impressed with their extensive list of features.  With WahmCart, you have the ability to automate product management, offer multiple payment options for your customers, offers digital product delivery and a tracking system.  Of course one of the things I like the most is that they also offer an affiliate management system so you can have your very own sales force.  (Yeah, I’ve got affiliate marketing on the brain lately - I can’t help it, lol!)  Click here to claim your 14-day Trial for only $1.00

Still not sure?
Click here to download your free report to see the Benefits & Power of WahmCart.

And remember … you must sign up before August 15th to get the cheaper price forever.

Time for playing catch-up!  LOL!  Big time!

I hadn’t made any plans for anyone to “take over” anything for me while I was gone because I was only going to my inlaws house down in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay.  Knowing that I would have time to get online and work occassionally taking care of little things here and there - I figured there wouldn’t be any issues.

See what “figuring” does to you - considering I was stuck in dial-up land the entire time we were there - YUCK!!  So, I asked Val, Lauren and of course Kara to keep an eye on MommysHelperCommunity.com for me and I did nothing more than kept up with my email taking care of anything that needed done right away.  Needless to say - only the really important things got taken care of.  It wasn’t just dial-up, it was super, super slow dial-up!

So, like I said … time to play major catch-up.  Spam - ugh spam drives me so crazy (but doesn’t it drive us all crazy?)  I kept up with all the spam in my email but hadn’t kept up here on the blog.  I came back to 212 spam comments here - ugh!  Yeah, and about 200 of them were spam.  Don’t these people have anything better to do with their time?  Sorry to all of you that had legitimate comments - all approved now!

I also had a bit of a problem at MommysHelperCommunity.com before I left - I thought I had it all straightened out.  While I was gone, I cleared out all my cookies, history, temporary internet files, etc. and I still can’t log in.  I put in my username and password, hit log in and it simply goes back to the page to log in like I hadn’t done anything at all.  Ugh!  I’m so lost!  Any suggestions?  I’m open to just about anything.  It’s pretty bad when you can’t log into your own message boards!!

On a good note … one thing that kept me busy online while I was on vacation was my direct sales company directory - which is a really good thing!  The leads were coming in left and right.  This keeps my advertiser’s good and happy.  I’m not sure who gets more excited when the leads come in - me or the advertisers, lol!

I can’t wait to get all caught up so I can jump back in to working on our new up and coming service.  I’m so excited to get the website all finished so we can start managing affiliate programs - something I know I was meant to be doing for a very long time!  The really cool thing is - apparently there is a real need for this service.  I knew there was, but you always have this little worry in the back of your mind, you know.  Well not having the site done, I haven’t done any promotion what-so-ever as of yet.  Just chatting with some friends has netted me two clients already - woo hoo!  If this happens before we promote - what is going to happen when we do???

Alrighty - rambling on here is getting absolutely nothing done.  Time for me to get back to work!

I think I might have posted this a while back ago but didn’t take the time to check for sure.  lol!  If I did well then this post will just reiterate what I’ve already said.

At one time, Affiliate Fuel was my favorite.  Now don’t get me wrong … I still enjoy Affiliate Fuel very much.  It’s still high up on my list of favorites.  You can read my Affiliate Fuel Reviews here.  I still recommend Affiliate Fuel.

That said though … my new favorite is by far Share A Sale.  Hey, when you can count on a check for sure month after month … yeah, it tends to jump high on the list, lol! 

I have to be quite upfront here when I say I don’t do very much “work” for Share A Sale.  As a matter of fact, when my husband gets the check out of the mail box, he brings it in and says.  Hey, you got another check from that place you don’t work for.

Okay, so that’s almost funny … the last thing I need him to think is that I make money by not doing any work. If any of you have fought the “I’m not just playing online” battle like me … you so know where I’m coming from.

So, I do still recommend Affiliate Fuel, but Share a Sale is definitely my favorite right now. Hey, join them both, lol! They’re both still very good providers.

OH! And I almost forgot … one of my favorite aspects of Share A Sale is their referral program. You receive $1 per person who signs up through your affiliate link. It’s nice to see those dollars add up in my account.

Here’s a few other aspects that I’ve noticed over the years:

The fact that I receive decent commissions from the products that I recommend tells me that they have quality merchants in their program and that they have landing pages that convert well.

The fact that I receive a pretty good amount of affiliate sign ups tells me that they have an attractive program that also converts well for the referrals I send.

The fact that I can schedule paying bills by when I know there will be a check sitting in my mail box tells me that they’re very timely with thier affiliate commissions.

I could go on and on about Share A Sale but you get a pretty good idea about how I feel. Check out Share A Sale for yourself. And don’t forget - if you’re looking for a few quality Affiliate Program Providers, I highly recommend Affiliate Fuel as well.