A Tale of 2 WAHMs

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!

I’ve had a hell of a time keeping on track this summer, since we’ve got so many activities going on. Sure in the fall there’s stuff too, but at least when the kids are at school I’ve got the entire day to work. With them home all day, time has really been limited.

One thing I’ve managed to stick to is doing just one productive task a day. I may not be completely caught up on my email and I haven’t posted to any groups for who knows how long, but I do make at least one blog post a day on Idea Queen. This one simple blog post keeps my site fresh, and helps keep my SEO efforts in place. While the number of visitors hasn’t got up a whole lot, it has managed to keep steady through the slow summer. Once fall rolls around that site will be sitting pretty and hopefully do better than it did last year.

The point here is that no matter how busy you are, if you can get at least one productive task done a day your business will grow. Summer is a hard time for those of us online, since traffic is down and our own time is limited. But with even the slightest effort we can be in really good place come fall.

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”?

I tipped quite a few of my favorite blogs as well as some that I admit I just found today …
Why? 

Well, where else can you get quality advertising directed right to your target group for such a low price?

I tipped some of my favorite blogs that I learn from as a “thanks” for all the help.

I tipped popular blogs that target the same market that I am.

I’m also thinking about all the exposure I’m getting for such a low price!  I didn’t pay more than $5 for any of the tips I left.  (You can’t beat that.)

What am I talking about you say?  I’m talking about the Scratch Back & Top Spots that you see on almost every blog you visit now, lol!  We have one - you can see it over there on the left hand side.
<< ——

When we put ours up, we decided to keep the price low so anyone can afford to advertise their business.  You can get listed in our top spots for only $2 each.  Your ad stays up until it gets “bumped”.  I absolutely love this concept!  (yes, I’ve become addicted to tipping, lol!)

So, take a closer look at some of your favorite blogs. Chances are they too have a Scratch Back “Top Sites” list on their blog.  Say thanks to your favorite publishers by dropping them a tip and get some great exposure in the meantime.

You’ll be surprised as to how affordable MOST of these unique little tip jars are! No more letting a tip w/ nothing but a little bit of good karma - you actually get something in return

Oh and one of the things that I’ve noticed as I went about tipping … a little “tip” I can share with you.  Find blogs that are related to your niche and use the same ad text for each one.  Remember - it’s been proven that folks need to see your advertisement at least 7 times before they’ll act.  The more visitors see your ad … the more branding exposure you get

Want another tip? If you have your own blog and have the SB list on yours … I’ve also found that scratch back owners often like to return the favor What a great way to network a bunch of like-minded blogs together.

And I’m not ashamed to admit … I sure wish I was the guy who thought of this! (Err … gal!)

I’ve been tipping for quite some time but today I really went on a tipping spree - why? Because I’m seeing results!

Because there seems to be so much spam running wild and so many “I didn’t know” responses, I guess we need to blog about this again.

Yes it’s true a newsletter is vital to your business. However, if you just start adding email addresses here and there, you are going to DESTROY your business before you even get it off the ground.

Really it doesn’t matter WHERE these email addresses come from, you do NOT have the right to just add them to your list without permission. To run a legit newsletter and legally send people advertisements, the following needs to happen:

1. A person sees your newsletter subscription box or way to sign up to your list.

2. THEY enter their email address SPECIFICALLY for your newsletter (NOTHING else!!).

3. That same person then CONFIRMS they want to receive your newsletter by clicking a link in an email. (This is called “double opt-in”).

That’s it. You don’t EVER add them yourself for ANY reason. In fact, even if you move your newsletter to a new mailing list provider, you really should just have all your subscribers sign up again. This makes your list completely clean and free of spam complaints.

Just because someone asks for information at some point in time does not give you the right to spam them. Even if they’ve ordered from you before that STILL does not give you the right to spam them. And if you own a message board, you DO NOT have the right to use the “mass email” function to spam them about things unrelated to the boards.

Let me stress this again. If you want someone on your list, THEY need to enter it. THEY need to confirm they want information from you. Even if they order from you, that email address is to be used to contact them about their order and NOT to be added to a spamming list.

Just to let all spammers know I’m done being nice. If you aren’t following the guidelines above and you spam me, I WILL turn it in. Simple as that!

Many of you have probably visited Associate Content at least once or twice by now. What you may not have known is you actually get PAID for those articles. Yes, I’m that far behind on the times and I just now realized this.

Actually I’m not one that jumps right into the “latest and greatest” things. I know some do and that’s fine, but it’s not for me. I like to sit back and watch how it all plays out before I get myself involved.  So whenever I see “Brand new! Check this out…..” I tend to tune out the rest. Lead with “This has been out for awhile and here’s my results…”, then I’m paying full attention.

I really do like the idea, and it’s a pay-per-view type of deal. I can’t say their payout is better than what I normally make on any give page of Idea Queen, but since they don’t mind articles you’ve already published… hey why not?  Granted I don’t think I can put my links in like I would a normal article, but again that’s alright. It’s just one more way I can use that content I’ve already written to make a few bucks. Plus of course they have the whole community thing going on making it a nice place to network.

I also see this as a nice outlet for writing pieces that just don’t fit any of my sites. You know the stuff that you just KNOW your audience couldn’t care less about, but you feel like writing something anyway. Hey if it’s a good topic, why not?

Here’s an idea that just hit me - how about those sites you spend a lot of time on (or money too), but they don’t have an affiliate program? I can think of a few I’m around quite a bit and would recommend a lot more if they had an affiliate program. So that would be perfect to write about - sites which average moms probably wouldn’t care about (and yes I’ll admit what it is - I like online games!), but those surfing around Associated Content might. Why not make some money off my experiences there?

I guess what I like most about this site is the fact it’s pay per view. You don’t get paid unless people are interested enough to actually look at your article. The better you write, the more people will look at your other articles, and the more money you make. So it’s not just a flat rate deal, but a chance to make quite a bit of money based on how skilled you are.

So I’m giving this a shot. If I really like it, you’ll be hearing more about this from me!

Aren’t I allowed to ask for help? Or am I to pretend I’m perfect?

Long story short, recently I asked for something that could be considered a sales page review.

I did this because - well, not to toot my own horn here but, I have what I truly feel is an excellent information product for wahms with websites and online businesses. Especially for the newbies - but not exclusively to.

Not only do I feel it’s a good product, I also feel it’s very fairly priced. At only $9.99 - what wahm can’t afford this?

I’ve had nothing but rave reviews from anyone who’s read the ebook and taken the ecourse that follows up.

So, why am I not selling? It’s not that I’m not selling - because I am. It’s the fact that I thought I was going to be selling this product left and right. I truly felt as though I hit the nail on the head. But, it’s just not happening as well as I thought it would.

I feared it was because of my sales copy skills - or should I say lack thereof. I’ll admit it … I stink when it comes to creating a sales page.

So that said … I asked for a review. There was one comment made to me that kind of disturbed me. And no, it wasn’t necessarily constructive criticism. I didn’t just want to hear the good. I wanted to hear the bad and the ugly too.

I wouldn’t tell anyone else you are having trouble selling this ebook since the ebook makes you sound like if people follow your advice they could sell more.I wouldn’t have bought a single ebook from someone that I thought wasn’t succeeding online.

Hmm … so, just since I wrote an ebook … this means I’m supposed to be a guru in every aspect? Does this mean I’m to pretend to be perfect in every aspect? And more specifically, does this mean I’m not allowed to ask for help or someone will think I don’t “know my stuff”?

The answer to all those questions are a resounding No and here’s my reply:

I’m not at all concerned about who knows I’m having issues selling this particular ebook. I’m very honest with everything I do online.

Just because I’m not doing as well selling this ebook as I would like to be certainly does not mean that I don’t know how to run an online business nor does it mean that I’m not successful - it’s quite the opposite.

I’m also by no means saying that I’ve not sold any … my problem is that I’ve not sold as many as I would have liked to. With my conversion - it’s easy for me to see that there is a need for improvement.

If this ebook was about “how to write a sales page” then yeah, I would hope people would think twice before buying my ebook. Give me a sponsor ad to write, even a solo ad or signature line to write - I’m your gal. Need an article, ebook or report written - again, I can show you how to do that too.

These types of sales pages just aren’t my “thing”. What I do know how to do is everything listed in that ebook - how? Because it’s what I’ve been doing and succeeding at for the past 7 almost 8 years.

So for those of you that don’t feel as though you’re expert OR you do feel as though you are but are afraid to ask a question because you’re afraid that someone will feel as though you’re not as smart as you thought you were .. no worries. You don’t need to know everything.

By the way, I have a feeling as soon as I get a chance to implement some of the tips shared with me, asking for a review is going to end up being one of the best things I’ve done

Yesterday I made a request on a group for people to send me links of their personalized children’s products. I’m working on a new page on Idea Queen, and decided it would be better with links to stores. Well that and I was slightly stumped - I needed suggestions. A link back is only fair.

Most of the suggestions and sites were absolutely wonderful. Those I got anyway, as I tend to weed out those who don’t read instructions by throwing in a different email address to send replies to. Wouldn’t you know that works pretty well, since if they hit “reply” sending it to the wrong address and ignoring most of the email, they usually have ignored other important guidelines as well.

But I digress.

As mentioned, most sites were great. However, there were some that were just……wow. Now I may sound like a total snob, but if your site is embarrassing, I don’t want to link to it. I found myself making excuses as to why I couldn’t link to some based solely on the fact that I didn’t even want to look at the site, let alone recommend it. (If some of you are reading this, know some sites DID have a solid reason I couldn’t list it and it wasn’t your design!)

I know my sites aren’t perfect. Quite a few of them need a serious overhaul and redesign. I’m also not picky to the point I shame sites with poor SEO layout or aren’t W3C compliant. I can overlook those for the most part (unless your site is set up to sell SEO services, then I AM picky if you aren’t following basic SEO rules!).

The way I see it, your website is your online image. I think most would agree with me here, too. Think about it - would you buy candles from someone at a craft show sitting in a tattered shirt and stained jeans? How about if they didn’t bother to brush their hair that day? Do you trust them as much as you would someone who looks nice? The answer for most is probably NO.

You may think me snobbish, but it’s not just me. There’s a lot of people (aka YOUR CUSTOMERS!) who pay attention to image. Lucky for us who do business online, we don’t have to dress up to impress our customers. Our website is there to do that for us. And a tacky looking site isn’t going to impress the.

A clean, simple design is really all you need. When you start adding things you think looks “cool”, your customers might think exactly the opposite. I know you can’t please everyone, but a nice looking website for the general public is a must online. Always have someone other than friends and family review your site. It might get ugly, but you need to think of the comments as what a potential customer might think. They really aren’t “just being mean”. They are helping you present yourself better online, thus improving your sales. Don’t get mad, just make changes.

So take a look at your site. Is it embarrassing or can it sell? Excuse me while I go look at my own sites now……. :wink:

Just a quick update here …

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Something is different on the blog today, can you guess what?

If you spotted the new widget off to the left side, you were right! It’s similar to a tip jar, except you get a link back for your donation. A little advertising and exposure is good, right? Plus it’s super cheap!

Links are set on “auto bump” right now, which means your link stays there until it gets bumped off.  Not a bad deal, eh?

So if you feel so inclined to give us a tip for the resources you find on this site, we’ll give you a link back. Win-win for everyone!  :smile: