Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

I already have my fatigues on and I’m prepared to duck into my foxhole from the aftermath of this article. A lot of people think that they need to have a number one PPC position in order to succeed with AdWords or any PPC site for that matter. Well, that is just not true. You don’t need a top position and I’m going to explain to you why. All you PPC experts can begin throwing hand grenades.

Okay, so why don’t you need a number one position? Actually, not only don’t you need one, you don’t want one. You’re probably wondering why. Well, it comes down to a lot of psychology on the part of your prospects. See, when your typical prospect goes to the search engines and sees those paid ads, the very first ad they rush to is the top ad. But at this point in time, they’ve done no research at all. They’re essentially just tire kickers. So for the most part, they’re not ready to buy yet, and thus…you end up with a wasted click. Plus, a lot of top position clicks are from freebie seekers.

Now, let’s combine that with the cost factor. A top ad is going to cost more than any other position. So in addition to throwing away clicks on freebies seekers and those who are not quite ready to buy, you’re throwing away more money than everybody else. This is why so many people lose tons with PPC campaigns, because they think they have to have a top position ad.

Okay, so what position do you want? My experience tells me that positions three through seven are the best spots to occupy. You avoid the freebies seekers and for the most part, the people clicking on your ads are ready to buy. This lowers your costs and increases your conversions. No, you won’t get as many clicks, but most of those are wasted anyway.

So do yourself a favor. Stop fighting for the top spot for a PPC ad. It’s not going to get you the results that you’re looking for.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to discover the secrets of pay per click and a lot more? Check out My Secret Articles at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/ and turn yourself into a marketing expert.

Okay, rant time coming. I get on these every once in a while, so if you don’t want to hear me going on about this subject, you can click on the little X at the top right hand corner of your screen. Otherwise, you might want to read this article. You may very well be killing your home business without realizing it. So pay attention because I just may be saving you a ton of grief.

A lot of home business owner make the mistake of putting together crappy products and services because it’s quick and easy and they figure nobody will notice. After all, it’s just as easy to put together something that is substandard as it is to put together something of quality, right? And besides, who would notice anyway? Most people when they buy things wouldn’t know quality anyway. And even if they didn’t think the product was all that good, they wouldn’t return it and they wouldn’t go bad mouthing it to others, right?

The truth is, a bad product or service can pretty much kill your business right out of the gate. Believe it or not, people DO ask for refunds and people DO talk. Bad publicity, in spite of what many people think, can destroy your business. Think I’m kidding? Go look up some famous and infamous names of Internet business owners and you’ll find some pretty horrible stories of scams and people who were literally forced to retreat to the islands in order to avoid prosecution.

And the truth is, it doesn’t really take that much more effort to make a product of real quality. And if you do take pride in your work, it will show. People will talk about your product…in a good way. Refunds will be much lower. You’ll start to notice that there are blogs popping up about your products. And the best part is, affiliate marketers will want to promote your products. So you’ll make even more money because you have such a great reputation.

So please do yourself a favor. Don’t skimp. Don’t put out shoddy products. You’re only going to hurt yourself in the long run.

No pride, no profits. You can take that one to the bank.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!

We can get so wrapped up in the minutia of marketing that we sometimes forget about what’s really important. We worry about how our sales page looks or how good our ecovers are and at times completely ignore what really matters when it comes to marketing your products…the actual marketing. In this article, I am going to go over what I feel is the core of your business. If you concentrate on these three things, you’ll find that the money will come, even if everything else isn’t perfect.

The first thing is the actual advertising itself. People seem to think that by just putting up a web site, the masses will come. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are millions of web sites out there and unless you actually promote them, prospects aren’t going to find you. There are many ways to promote your site, from article marketing to pay per click to simply participating in forums. Point is, you have to actively get out there and make yourself known.

Next on the list is just that…your list. They say that the money is in the list. It is one of the oldest and most worn out cliches in the business. But it’s true. The question is, why is the money in the list, especially a list of people who have already purchased from you? Well, think of it this way. Who is more likely to purchase one of your products? Is it somebody who doesn’t know you from Adam, or somebody who has already bought something from you and is pleased with the product? Do I even have to answer the question?

Finally, there is communication. This is where so many people fall short. I don’t care what it is you’re doing or how you’re doing it. The key to success with any business is communication. Think about it. Almost everything you do in your business comes down to some form of communication. You have your sales pages, squeeze pages, articles, ads, autoresponders and even the emails that you send to prospects in response to questions that they have. Without mastering the written word in all these forms, you have very little chance of succeeding. That is a fact.

If you concentrate on the core of your business, or these three areas, it doesn’t matter what your business is about. If it’s a product or service that people have a need for, they’ll spend money.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

Marketers love to throw around numbers and stats, as if the world rose and set around them. Ever go to the Clickbank marketplace to see some of the top selling products and the insane statistics that they’re claiming as far as conversion? It’s enough to make you sick. Well, I’m going to cut through all the garbage as far as these stats and also clear up some confusion regarding conversion rate versus conversion ratio. It is my hope that when you are finished reading this article, you’ll be able to take all of this with a grain of salt and also understand what these numbers really mean.

The first thing you have to understand is the difference between conversion rate and conversion ratio because many marketers interchange these terms and they are not the same.

Conversion rate is an actual percentage. For example, if somebody says that their conversion rate is 6%, that means that for every 100 people that come to their site, they make 6 sales. You get the percentage by dividing the number of sales by the number of visits and then multiplying by 100. So if you get 70 visits for a test and make 7 sales, you divide 7 by 70 and then multiply by 100. That will give you a 7% conversion rate.

Conversion ratio is presented as X number of sales for every Y number of visits. So a conversion ratio of 4:25 means 4 sales for every 25 visits. If you want to convert this to conversion percentage, then you simply take the number of sales divided by the number of visits and multiply by 100. In this case, the conversion rate would be 16%.

What you need to know about these numbers, when they get thrown at you, is that most marketers will not give you true statistics. They’ll tell you that their conversion rate is 6% but what they don’t tell you is that this is based only on Adwords advertising, or on list promotion. If they were to give you the stats for all their promotions, they would probably turn out to be lower than the stats they are showing. The reason for that is because they always put their best foot forward. So it is important to be aware of this when you decide on a product to promote as an affiliate.

Naturally, marketers are going to want to put their best foot forward when giving you their conversion stats. As long as you understand this, you’ll be better able to make an informed decision when deciding what product you’re going to put your money behind.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.

It’s a sad commentary on our world, but people are greedy. Oh, don’t deny it. We all have a bit of that greed bug in us. The economy we live in doesn’t make it any easier. Homes that used to go for $45,000 are now costing almost a quarter of a million bucks. It’s absolutely insane and it’s not getting any better. Fortunately for marketers, we can use this greed factor to our advantage when marketing to others, especially if we are in the make money niche. I’m not talking about doing anything unethical or illegal. I’m simply talking about giving people what they want. They question is, how can we do this? I’m going to give you a couple of ways that work sure fire. At least they’ve never failed for me.

It doesn’t matter how good your product is. People need to feel that they are getting more for their money than what they are actually spending. So if you are selling an ebook that you have valued at about $97 and you decide to sell it for $47, that’s fine. But that’s only about a 50% savings. In the ebook marketing world, that’s just not a lot of bang for the buck to most people. However, if you were to package that same ebook with three or four more ebooks, all valued at about $97 each, and sold the whole package for $47, well, then you’re getting into somebody’s greed index.

Want to go one step farther? Why not include a year’s support for the person who buys your ebook package? That’s right. You’ll answer any questions that they have and assist them in any way that you can for one whole year, all for that same $47. To be perfectly honest with you, somebody would have to be stark raving off their rocker to pass up a deal like this. Of course this all depends on whether or not they want your main product in the first place. And of course all packaged products have to be related in some way. Otherwise, this method of tapping into someone’s greed glands isn’t going to work.

The one thing you have to keep in mind at all times is value. People need to know that their hard earned money is buying something that has real value. If you’re selling snake oil, it doesn’t matter how many ebooks or how much support you package together. People either won’t buy your product or they’ll return it after they see that it is nothing but empty promises.

So please keep these things in the back of your mind when you’re targeting your potential customers and their greed index. There’s nothing wrong with being a little greedy.

But there is everything wrong with not fulfilling that greed with a quality product.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
If you’re sick and tired of all the lies and misinformation on the Internet, my FREE book “Blowing The Lid Off The Lies Of The Internet” should prove to be a real eye opener. You can get your copy at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/btl_squeeze.html

When I was growing up, one of the first lessons I learned was that the only person you could really depend on was yourself. However, it never hurts to try to land yourself a joint venture or two along the way. Not only can it increase your income in the short run, but in the long run, it will develop relationships to last a lifetime. The key is knowing how to go about getting a joint venture. This is where most people have their problems. This article is going to try to solve those problems by giving you a few tips that should greatly help in landing you the joint venture you’ve been looking for. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll be well armed to go out there and land the deal of a lifetime.

Most people think that in order to land a joint venture that is worth anything at all, it has to be done with one of the big boys of marketing. That’s their first mistake. Many profitable joint ventures can be made with marketers who are in the mid range level of success, and approaching them isn’t as hard as people make it out to be, even if you are brand new. The key is knowing how to approach them.

So how do you approach somebody for a joint venture? Actually, you don’t. No, this isn’t a trick question and it isn’t double talk. There is actually a fool proof way to land a joint venture with somebody. You may not land it right away, or even land it with the first person you approach, but by using the method I am about to outline, you will find more people open to a joint venture than you can possibly imagine. The key is how you approach them and this is it.

Decide who it is that you want to have a joint venture with. Then, write to the person and don’t ask them for a joint venture, but offer this person your services. Tell them what your qualifications are. Don’t hype yourself up. Give it to them straight. For example, when I approach somebody for a joint venture, I write to them and tell them that I am a writer. I tell them my credentials, what I’ve done and then I tell them that I am offering my services, no strings attached. That’s right. Offer to do something for this person to show them the quality of your work, whatever it is.

Ultimately, what will happen more times than not is the person will write back to you, let you know what they could use and wait for your reply. Unless the request is totally unreasonable, and only you can be the judge of that, go ahead and do it. Down the road, weeks, maybe even months, this person will write back to you with their own offer for a joint venture proposal. Why? They will have seen, not only the quality of your work, but the integrity of your character as well.

Yes, there are some sacrifices to be made as far as your time is concerned, and you may get people who don’t even give you a thank you, but this is by far the best way to get a joint venture with somebody.

I know it works for me.

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

There are a number of things that I hear each day but one of the most common is people asking me how they can reach more prospects. Let’s face it, without traffic, without people coming to your site, you’re not going to make a lot of money online. Reaching prospects is the key to any Internet business. Well, this article is going to share with you some of my favorite and best ways to reach more prospects and ultimately increase your sales in the process. After reading this, you should have a few excellent ideas for reaching more people to sell to.

One of my favorite ways to reach people, believe it or not, is by going to the search engines and look up the more popular forums on the Internet for the particular niche that I am into. For example, just recently, I decided to venture into the niche of Tarot cards because I always found it very fascinating. So, I went to Google and looked up Tarot card forums. I found a number of really big ones where lots of people hang out. Well, guess what, you’re not going to reach more people this quickly using any other method. Many forums have hundreds if not thousands of people either registered or lurking at one time. Once you establish yourself as an authority at one of these forums, people will start to listen to what you have to say. Eventually, this will lead to many sales.

The more forums you hang out at, the more people you’re going to reach. Everybody has their favorite. In the world of Internet marketing, probably the biggest forum is the Warrior Forum. The membership count is about 50,000 last I checked. You’re going to meet some of the biggest names online there. Just from my association with these people, my business has increased greatly. Joining the Warrior Forum was probably one of the best things I ever did.

If this method seems too easy, it’s not. It really works. Yes, you have to establish a relationship with these people and can’t go bursting in like a bull in a China shop, but over time, you’ll find that your association with these people will lead to a great increase in your own sales.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
If you want to discover the REAL truth about Internet marketing and get some solid tips to take your business to the next level…get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/realtruth.html and subscribe to my REAL Truth newsletter where you’ll discover more than from all those high priced ebooks combined.

Well, a hot topic at the Warrior Forum these days is cookie stuffing. If you don’t know what it is, don’t worry, this article will explain. If you do know what it is and don’t understand why it’s wrong, this article will explain that too. Cookie stuffing is wrong…don’t do it!

Okay, so what is cookie stuffing? Well, in short, it’s when you’re promoting an affiliate product and when the prospect comes to your web page, whether or not they click on your affiliate link, you drop a cookie on their PC as if they did click on the link. That’s what cookie stuffing is. Okay, so why is it wrong?

The best way to explain why cookie stuffing is wrong is with an example. Let’s say you’re promoting product X. You have a link on your blog to the sales page. It’s your affiliate link. Okay, somebody comes to your blog and reads your review of the product. They don’t like the review though and leave your page. Now, if you were to drop a cookie on their PC, it would be as if they did like your review and click on the link. That’s where the problem begins. Here is where it ends.

The prospect goes to another blog reviewing the product. They like the review. For whatever reason, they don’t click on that person’s affiliate link. Instead, they remember the URL of the main site and type that in. They go to the sales page, read it, like the product and buy it. Guess who gets credit for the sale? You do.

Now think about it. You wrote a review that the prospect didn’t like. Another blogger wrote a review that the prospect DID like. But because the prospect didn’t click on THEIR link, when the sale came through, YOU were the one who got the sale even though you did nothing to deserve it.

Aside from the moral problems of cookie stuffing, most affiliate programs, especially Clickbank, forbid this. It is expressly against their TOS.

So, bottom line is this. Cookie stuffing is wrong. You’re cheating somebody else out of a sale and you’re getting one that you don’t deserve. So don’t do it.

I hope this article was simple enough to understand and follow.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

If you want to discover the REAL truth about Internet marketing and get some solid tips to take your business to the next level…get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/realtruth.html and subscribe to my REAL Truth newsletter where you’ll discover more than from all those high priced ebooks combined.

Let’s forget about the ethics as far as whether or not you’re doing something bad to another marketer, merchant or consumer. If you market affiliate products in an unethical manner and the merchant or marketplace finds out about it, you can get your account closed and ultimately, your income shut down. So, given that fact, isn’t it smart to market ethically if for no other reason than your own selfish gains? Good, at least we agree on this much. If nothing else, you should know what activities could get you in deep trouble. I’m going to cover a few here.

The first one, off the top of my head, is cookie stuffing. This is where you stuff a cookie on the visitors PC for the product you’re promoting regardless of whether or not they actually clicked on your link. Forgetting that this is purely unethical as you’re getting a sale that you didn’t earn if the prospect goes on to buy, almost every affiliate marketplace bans cookie stuffing. It is against their TOS and if you are caught doing it, you WILL get your account shut down. It’s that simple. So think twice before you cookie stuff.

Another unethical affiliate marketing practice is writing false reviews of products. I’m talking about reviews where you never really tried or read the product and are just making things up to make a sale. This might not get your account shut by the marketplace, but this is what it WILL do. The customer will see it was a bogus review after they buy the product and in most cases, will refund it. Not only that, they’re going to start spreading the word that you’re a liar, plain and simple. So before you start making up reviews, think about what you’re doing to your reputation.

Finally, there are the kinds of ads that you run. There is a rash of “scam” ads being run all over the Internet, especially with pay per click, that has a lot of people in an uproar. These are purely deceptive ads and a lot of merchants are dropping affiliates like flies for running them. So if you think running an ad like “Product X Is A Scam” you better think twice about it. It could cost you your account.

I realize that I’m either preaching to the choir (those who would never do this) or those that don’t care, but my hope is that I am reaching somebody new who doesn’t know how harmful these things are and will take my words to heart.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.