Affiliate marketing is just one of many ways in which you
can create a very successful online business. This method
of marketing has proven to be hugely successful for many
online business owners and it can allow you to attain the
level of income that you have dreamed of achieving.

By far one of the most effective ways of promoting any
affiliate product - and increasing your bottom line - is
through the use of product recommendations.

If you’ve built a relationship with your customers or
readers and they already trust your judgement, then they
will definitely trust your recommendations which in turn
will see you gain a good return for your efforts.

But you need to be very careful in using this approach. If
you start recommending everything you see, your credibility
will begin to wear thin. This is particularly important
when recommendations seem exaggerated or without any proof.

With this said, not all your recommendations have to be
glowing testimonials. Don’t be afraid to mention things
that you do not like about a product or service. Rather
than lose any points, this will make your recommendation
more realistic and will tend to increase your credibility.

Furthermore, if your readers are really interested in what
you are offering, they will be more than delighted to learn
what is good about the product, what is not so good, and
how the product will benefit them.

When you are writing about a product, here are some points
to remember to make it work effectively for you.

1. Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to
trust…

If your visitors feel and believe that you are an expert
in your niche, they are more inclined to make a purchase.

On the other hand, if you are not exuding any confidence
and self-assurance in endorsing the products, they will
probably feel the same way and will go in search of another
product or service which is more believable.

How do you establish this aura of expertise?

By offering unique and new solutions they would not get
anywhere else. Show proof that what you are promoting works
as promised. Refer to prominent testimonials and
endorsements from respected and known personalities.

2. Avoid hype at all costs…

It is better to sound low key and confident, than to
scream and seek attention. You don’t want to sound
unprofessional and get a reputation for hyping products
just to make a sale.

And remember; prospects are not stupid. They are actually
turning to experts and may already know the things that you
know.

So if you are able back up your claims with hard facts and
data, they will gladly buy what you are promoting if this
is what they are looking for. But if you can’t provide
proof, they are smart enough to try and look at your
competitors and what they are offering.

3. When recommending a product, it is also important that
you provide bonuses…

Many marketers are already familiar with the concept of
offering bonuses or freebies when promoting their own
products. But very few do this to promote affiliate
products. So doing this will help to make you stand out
from the crown.

When offering bonuses, provide products that are highly
relevant to the product or service you are promoting. Doing
this will have a huge impact on your results.

4. Test the product your promoting…

Before you add recommendations to a product, it is
imperative that you buy and test the yourself before you
make any recommendation. Do not run the risk of promoting
junk products and services just to make a quick buck.

If you do this, it’s only a matter of time before you will
be found out. Just think how long it took you to build
credibility and trust among your visitors. All that will
take to destroy it is one big mistake on your part. Only
recommend products that you have 100% confidence in… it’s
just not worth the risk!

And most importantly… don’t forget to test the support to
ensure that the people you are referring it to would not be
left high and dry when a problem suddenly arose. If they
run into problems and can’t get help, the first person they
will blame is you!

Have a look at your promotions and look at the strategies
you are using. You may not be focusing on the
recommendations that your products need to increase sales.
Your plan of action is sometimes not the only thing that is
making your program work.

Have a great week

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Just a quick note for you to grab a free report on getting
unlimited, targeted traffic to your website via private label
articles.

It’s called ‘How Private Label Content Articles Can
Boost Your Online Business In More Ways Than One!’ and
it’s more than 16 pages of gold.

The report shares with you techniques that have been working
consistently for years but the majority of online marketers are missing
the boat.

Check it out here: (free) powerfulPLRArticles (zipped file)

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For your enjoyment (and information), here is this week’s
quick trivia question…

What is the Largest Production Budget Given to a Movie?

As usual the answer can be found later in the newsletter.

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Featured Article
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How a Major Ski Resort Uses Podcasts for Online Marketing!

Podcasts are short radio-style audio programs that users
of online audio, mobile audio and iPods (or other portable
digital audio players) can download and listen to whenever
and wherever they like.

The Podcast medium is still in its infancy as a marketing
medium, but it is proposed to be the next “big thing” to
hit the net, as this strategy can be used to promote
virtually anything, and those who are able to capitalize on
this early will benefit greatly.

The most effective use in these early days of marketing
with Podcasts involves subjects that appeal to tech-savvy
listeners. Obviously, that includes topics in computing,
multimedia, and high technology.

Another smart approach is to match Podcast marketing with
the lifestyle of the target audience.

For example: skiers…

The target market for a typical ski resort includes young
professionals in the 20’s and 30’s, with an adventure-
loving attitude to recreation, and plenty of disposable
income so that they can afford the sport. That’s right on
target for the core market that buys iPods and other high-
tech gadgets.

Marketing Sherpa reports that New England ski area
Killington Ski Resorts recently tapped into this useful
convergence of market niches to create a Podcast-driven
marketing campaign.

The challenge was to reach the ideal demographic of young
urban professionals, who are typically hard to get at
through traditional ski industry marketing media such as
radio, TV and magazines. Their lives are cluttered with a
blizzard of conflicting media, their attention fragmented
and hard to hold.

Killington Resorts communications manager Tom Horrocks
recognized that one unifying factor of this demographic is
their almost cultish love of iPods and portable digital
audio. He decided that Podcasts would be an ideal way to
connect with them on their own terms.

Here’s how he put the campaign together:

1) Bought software and digital microphones that his team
could use right in the office to create Podcasts.

2) Hired a “snow reporter / media writer” to act as a
personable and enthusiastic character, to become identified
as the Podcast voice of the resort.

3) Developed and produced 3 separate Podcasts: a 3-minute
“Snowcast” of daily weather and snow condition reports; a
12-minute weekly “Driftcast” that delivered interviews,
tips and stories from the mountain; and a 3-hour weekly
music production, more like and FM radio segment, with
music appealing to the target demographic.

4) Delivered the Podcasts regularly, on schedule, through
popular distribution services including Apple’s iTunes
online music service, Podcast Alley, and Yahoo!, as well as
through the Resorts’ own Web site.

The results were impressive. Over a period of 2 months at
the beginning of 2006, the Podcasts were downloaded nearly
30,000 times. The downside of Podcast marketing is that it
is hard to track results. Once the audio is downloaded,
there’s no built-in way to measure how the listener
responds or takes action.

However, Tom Horrocks is sure the Podcasts delivered a
good return on investment. He credits the campaign’s
success to the flair of the resort’s Podcast personality,
known as Anna of the Mountain. “She epitomizes Killington:
young, passionate, crazy about skiing.”

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This Week’s Trivia Answer
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Here’s the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier…

What is the Largest Production Budget Given to a Movie?

The largest production budget given to a movie before
filming started is US$170 million (�118 million) for
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (USA 2003), which began
shooting on April 8, 2002. The record was previously held
by World War II drama Pearl Harbour.

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Healthy Body… Healthy Mind
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A Safe Place for Your Mind!

Emotions tend to dominate our actions and reactions, even
though we like to claim otherwise. Society often sees
emotions as a sign of weakness, so we got used to putting
them aside and try to focus on the rational aspects more
and more.

But no matter how strict and logical you want to be, you
will always be a human being, not a robot, and so you will
always feel.

Positive emotions are a life long goal for many of us.
What is more important, in the end: how much money you made
during your life or how many times you laughed? However,
people tend to put their positive emotions in the dark
shadow of their negative feelings.

This is one of the biggest problems we come across during
our lives. There is no obvious way to ignore a negative
experience and try to replace it with positive ones. It
just doesn’t work that way.

As a child, if your goldfish dies, you would be extremely
sad. Your parents will certainly buy you another goldfish,
but the sorrow still takes a long time to go away.

Things get even more serious with adults. A fight with
your spouse the night before will affect your entire day.
You will go to work angry, tired, with your mind wandering.
Then you will go home with an even worse mood.

On the way from work towards home you won’t be able to
notice the sun shining and you won’t be tempted to stop at the supermarket and buy your favorite ice cream.
All this because that one negative thought is contaminating the way
you perceive the reality around you.

On the way from work towards home you won’t be able to
notice the sun shining and you won’t be tempted to stop at
the supermarket and buy your favorite ice cream. All this
because that one negative thought is contaminating the way
you perceive the reality around you.

In this moment you will feel that finding a safe place to
relax your mind would do wonders. And that place is
relatively easy to find. It can be an actual location or an
imaginary place.

The best idea is to totally emerge yourself in it. Let’s
say you have a problem on your mind and it just won’t go
away. Go bowling!

You don’t know how to bowl, you say? No problem, go out
and try it! Get caught up in the game, think about those
funny shoes, choose a favorite ball, invent new strategies
to throw and so on.

Your mind will suddenly jump from the negative thoughts
that dominated your last hours or days and start processing
a whole new kind of information.

A safe place can get many forms. It can be a song, a
movie, even a person. The main thing is to allow yourself
to get completely involved with this new activity.

You might still get flashes of the problem every now and
then - ignore them and get even more involved in what you
are doing.

When the bowling game, the song, the movie or the
conversation ends you will have a rather abrupt return to
your problems.

You will probably feel sad and want to go back to the safe
place. Don’t do that. The safe place exists only as a
helping hand, not as a solution to your problems. It is
there to help you relax your mind, for a few minutes or
hours.

This is a vital stage in your solution to what is
bothering you. You will return from your safe place with an
increased energy level. You will feel better about yourself
and gain more confidence that any issue can be resolved.

This is how a small escape from a harsh reality can
increase your fighting energy and allow you to solve even
the most difficult problems

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Have You Got Any Comments?
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This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I�ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I�ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

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That�s a Wrap for this Week
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That wraps up another week�s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don�t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I�ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business� and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business� that�s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues