Will You Bet Your Future On Google Or Affiliates?
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Hello,
Who do you want to bet your future on?
Google or affiliates?
It's a crucial question and has everything to do with what
you do tomorrow morning to get traffic. And what you do
the rest of this year and the balance of your future in
Internet marketing.
To answer the question, I spent the past two months doing
deep research on the current state-of-the-art in Internet
marketing.
The Pay Per Click Formula, XRay Domination, tons of WSO's
from Marketing Warriors, and so forth. Plus, attended
seminars, spoke at others, and networked with other top
marketers.
In this week's article, I'll share what I've learned.
“Google or Affiliates — Who Will You Bet Your Future On?
Will Your Model Succeed Or Blow Up In Your Face And Leave
You Crying In Forums Looking For Sympathy?”
Elsewhere, I had problems with not being able to customize
Blogger the way I wanted. So I gave in and installed WordPress.
I'm having Lisa do some new designs.
Look for new blogs and a fresh approach shortly.
Finally, I hired Tim to handle support. I will slowly work
him into the mix. So if you talk to Tim instead of Matt,
you'll know who he is.
Matt will return to handling marketing and operations
issues. I'm also adding on D.J. to help out part time for
awhile.
Best wishes,
Marlon Sanders
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Marlon Sanders' Sell Products Like Crazy Ezine
http://www.sellproductslikecrazy.com
Vol. 2, #4, March 31, 2007
******************************************
This issue contains:
A. Shameless Plugs
B. Announcements from Marlon
C. Featured Article: “Internet Marketing Secret: Why
Internet Marketing Secrets Don't Work and how to make them
work”
Brought to you by: Marlon Sanders – Publisher
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A. Shameless Plugs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+++ How to Set Up Your OWN Affiliate Program
THE PROMISE: You will get access to my
never-before-released, step-by-step, “point ‘n click”
Affiliate Dashboard that turns generating traffic to your
affiliate program into a virtual no-brainer.
Plus you will ALSO get 6 teleconference calls with me
where I take you by the hand and walk you every step of
the way through the material.
THE UNIQUENESS: You will discover UNIQUE traffic
generating resources that command results — guaranteed.
You will do that faster, simpler, easier and cheaper than
with any other alternative. Period.
PLUS, the methods you're about to discover will absolutely
guarantee you do NOT pay for the eyeballs until
AFTER a sale is made!
THE OFFER: Click the icons. Follow the step-by-step
instructions, complete with visual screen captures that
show you exactly what to do and how to do it. We ever
delve further into the material in our 6 week conference
call series.
Not only that, but you can get in on call number 1 for
just $10. So you can listen in and gage whether the
coaching program is for you. If you decide it's not, you
won't be charged a dime more. In fact – I'll even return
your initial $10 investement. And we'll still be friends.
THE CREDIBILITY: Based on my own systems that generated
more than 2.8 million web visitors since 1999.
http://www.affiliatedashboard.com/coaching.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
B. “Announcements from Marlon”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
One: BIG Milcer Update Coming
I've created a CMS (Content Management System) for Milcers
that allows me to revamp what I'm doing and present the
info in a much clearer format.
I'm also going to do a name change since people have
trouble pronouncing Milcers.
Two: Customer Support Issue fixed
We upgraded our support desk software and it had a glitch
that caused a number of tickets to not be received. Matt's
keen eye spotted this, got Rick Hanson to fix it and all
tickets are now responded to.
Never email us for support. We often do NOT receive those
emails. What you do is post to our after hours support
desk and get a ticket number.
http://www.marlonsanders/support
Three: Big Seminar In April — I'm speaking
At the end of April, I'm speaking at the Big Seminar.
http://www.bigseminar.com
It's a party. Be there or miss out.
Four: Red Factor: I've put Red Factor into the new CMS
module too. The Yahoo groups thing just wasn't a very
attractive presentation of the info.
The new system rocks. Lisa took a week off so between
support tickets and calls Matt has been tweaking the
graphics. Soon as it looks good, I'll get you the URL.
I have 1 more module to complete for you and 1 more phone
call cdoming up.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
C. FEATURED ARTICLE:
“Google or Affiliates — Who Will You Bet Your Future On?
Will Your Model Succeed Or Blow Up In Your Face And Leave
You Crying In Forums Looking For Sympathy?”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By Marlon Sanders
Who are you going to bet your future on?
Google? Or Affiliates?
That may seem like an odd question. It takes a lot to
explain why I'm even asking. If you read this whole
article, I'll circle back around to that at the end.
First off, I'm no newbie in this business. I developed a
lot of the concepts that people use and teach. And created
whole entire categories of products that people now sell
(such as letter generators).
But time flies and I wanted to see if my model was still
relevant and current — or not.
So I spent the last two months deep in research on
state-of -the-art Internet marketing. I've bought the big
name promotions, WSO's from Warriors, attended seminars,
spoke at seminars, networked and tapped into my resources.
You haven't heard from me much. Mostly, I've been doing
research.
In 2007, does “The Amazing Formula” still work? Does it
still apply? Here's what I've found:
People are STILL obsessed with search engine traffic. It's
ironic to me because it was true when I wrote the very
first edition of “Amazing Formula” — and it's still true.
Virtually all of the methods people are teaching and
talking about concern pay-per-click marketing and seo
positioning.
That was true years ago when I first pecked out Amazing
Formula and it's still true today. I mean, I was really
the SECOND person to come along and say, “Don't play the
seo game. The affiliate model is better.”
My friends Declan Dunn and Jonanthan Mizel deserve credit
for being the FIRST I know to do and say that. I've often
not given them enough credit for their contributions to
this industry early on.
“Gimme My Money Now” as a follow up to “Amazing Formula”
certainly had a HUGE role early on in convincing a lot of
people to do affiliate programs. My friend Paul Myers says
the model basically bought a house for him. Then again,
Paul IS my friend (see talkbiz.com). But others have said
the same.
Early on, (we're talking old days here folks) it was
Sitesell vs. Amazing Formula and Gimme in terms of
marketing models. Gimme was a model based on getting
traffic via affiliate programs.
The Sitesell model was dominantly built around seo for
traffic. Although the model didn't exclude affiliate
programs. It's just that as I recall, the original
Sitesell model was based mostly on seo for traffic IMHO
(In My Humble Opinion).
For all the work I've done over the years, people still
don't get it. PPC is good. It's great. I love Perry
Marshall, Affiliate X and even XRay Domination.
I think the XRay Domination script that lets you track
conversions down to keyword level is neat. Amir Darwish
sells a script with at least somewhat similar functionality
on Warriors (see the WSO's forum).
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all the buzzwords. Let's see.
Squidoo inbound links. NMOC (niche marketing on crack),
Bum Marketing. Social bookmarketing for inbound links. Tag
and ping. Technorati links. Diretory submission for
inbound links. And the list goes on, and on, and on.
And let me say that I think NMOC, Bum and other methods
are great for beginners to “get their sea legs.” Article
marketing is a sound base for other Internet marketing
endeavors. They're good products by people extending a
valuable helping hand.
But still, article marketing is used by most people to get
1-way inbound links from a good PR site like
ezinearticles.com. (To be fair, you should still do
articles because their are so MANY ways you can use them.)
Which means at the end of the day, it's STILL an seo
model. Trying to out-game Google to get traffic. I love
articles. They're great. But honestly. Who do you think
I'll bet on in the long run?
Google preventing people from “gaming” the system? Or the
“gamers”? You can out-game Google in the short-term. But
long term? I don't think so!
From what I've read (and it's hearsay) the links from
ezinearticles.com are already passing through less PR than
they did before. It's the nature of the beast. A lot of
people start using a method to gain an advantage and Google
cracks down on it.
(My “Red Factor” system was built to counter-balance that
effect.)
And what SHOCKS me is how Google keeps turning the screws
tighter and tigher not just on seo'ers but also on
PPC'ers. I mean, they're so freakin' strict now the casual
ppc guy or gal has a hard time getting ads and landing
pages accepted.
THAT, in my opinon, is what gave Google the advantage over
Overture to BEGIN with. It was like almost impossible for
a casual user or newbie to get Overture to accept an ad.
And Google came along and made it EASY to give them your
money. And now? It's like once Google won the game,
they're doing the same stupid (IMHO) thing — making it
hard for the newbie or the casual person to even get ads
accepted.
I honestly think Google doesn't get that they're built on
the backs of “average people” running ads with them. Not
big boys and girls with complicated software and time to
wade through tons of complicated rules.
That's my two cents. Google can do what they want. But
every time you figure out the rules, they SLAP you again.
And now you're in a whole new learning curve again. You
need new software again and so forth.
Their latest LSI (latent semantic indexing) will only make
things 10X more complex for the average guy or gal. Not
to mention the complexity involved in trying to theme
sites, do mini-nets and all that.
Dorian (I hope I got the name right) did a brilliant
presentation at Yanik's seminar on seo methods. But I bet
a lot of eyes glazed over when they say the flowchart on the
big picture. You know, to play the game at a high level
isn't exactly a 30-minute an evening endeavor.
And I know someone will come along and say, “Yeah, but not
with MY system. It has never been slapped.” OK. But still,
the average guy and gal ain't got time to wade through 30
programs, models and methods to find the one Google won't
slap (at least until the NEXT round).
All I'm saying is, Google seo AND ppc is a hard game to
play. Yeah, there's MSN, Yahoo, etc. And some day, if
they're SMART and make it EASY for average folks to play
their game, maybe they'll rule and Google will go the way
of Overture and become a niche player. Who knows, right?
So as good as PPC is, and as useful a tool as article
marketing is, I still feel affiliate programs are better.
I mean, I don't kinda sorta feel affiliate programs are a
little better.
This is something I feel VERY strongly about. At the end
of the day affiliate marketing rules the world. I include
in that companies that generate leads on ANY
pay-per-action basis. So that includes letting Click
Flippers generate leads for you on a cost-per-action
basis.
Why? Because at least with affiliate marketing, it's
relatively evergreen. Yes, the rules of the game do still
change. Competition has gotten a lot stiffer in some
arenas.
QUESTION: Take virtually ANY program on how to get traffic
to your site. How is it marketed?
Answer: Affiliate program and joint ventures.
Understand that joint ventures are simply a form of an
affiliate program. You pay for sales someone else makes to
their list or using their efforts.
I'm NOT criticizing people for creating a product on ONE
method of traffic and selling it with another. You know
why? Because you sell what people wanna buy…as long as
it's moral and legal.
You have to. Otherwise, you starve. It's a fact.
People LOVE to buy seo stuff and ppc stuff. It's a lot
more seductive pitch than having your own product and
pimping it (i.e. selling it) via an affiliate program.
It sounds easier. You don't have to TALK to anyone. You
don't have to answer affiliate inquiries. You don't have
the risk that a wacked out affiliate does something stupid
that gets you in trouble.
But I said it before. I'll say it again — The best
traffic and the most serious traffic comes from your own
affiliate program. I was the first person to talk about
the “food chain” of Internet marketing years ago. And I've
been talking about it ever since.
You're either on top or bottom of the food chain. And the
top is your own product and your own affiliate program.
And when I hear people complaining about being in this
business and not making more than $200 a month (or
whatever) as is sometimes the case, I ask:
1. Do you have your own product?
They seldom do. And if they do, it's PLR (private label
rights). Nothing wrong with PLR to get started.
2. Do you have your own affiliate program and aggressively
promote it?
The answer is no.
Do you realize that Google Adsense is Google's affiliate
program? Do you realize Amazon sells via an affiliate
program? Do you realize Ebay has an affiliate program?
This does NOT mean I don't like or do PPC (God bless Perry
Marshall, Affiliate X, etc). I do spend some money on PPC.
Actually, I like PPC.
It doesn't mean beginners shouldn't do Bum, NMOC, and some
of the other clever article marketing methods. I know
Jason has come out with his new article marketing thing,
and it looks pretty slick.
But seriously folks. A lot of you have ppc/seo on the
brain. And some days I scratch my head and ask why.
Because if you open your eyes and look around, you'll see
that for the most part the people who know what they're
doing get their traffic via an affiliate program.
Frankly, I'm totally mystified. It's like a cold day in
Miami when you hear someone talk about getting traffic via
an affiliate program vs. seo/articles/ppc.
I really believe the REASON you hear so much more talk
about seo and ppc is as follows:
1. People WANT to hear it. It's a more seductive pitch.
2. A LOT of people LIVE off of selling ppc/seo TOOLS,
software, courses and programs. There are many, many, many
people with a vested interest in the market.
3. It IS cheap traffic WHEN you get it.
It really boils down to this:
Who do you wanna bet on: Google or affiliates?
Google has proven over and over and over they wanna
continue tightening the screws and making life more
difficult for the average guy or gal.
Affiliate marketing isn't perfect. You have to pimp, and
promote and hustle. I'm not going to pretend it's Nirvana
without any hassles or issues. This ain't Disneyland.
My two cents from having been in this biz a long time is
that the FAR more evergreen of the two is having and
promoting your own affiliate program.
And yes, you can start with PLR products if that's all you
got. But as soon as you can, move on up to your own info
products.
Your choice for traffic is fairly simple:
1. seo
2. ppc
3. affiliate program
4. viral marketing
Make your choice wisely. Your future depends on it.
Marlon Sanders
Marlon Sanders is author of Push Button Letters, Amazing
Formula, Gimme My Money Now, Design Dashboard, Marketing
Dashboard and many other famed Internet marketing
products. His latest program helps you start your own
affiliate program:
http://www.affiliatedashboard.com/coaching.html
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