Affiliate Marketing - The SMART Way

I swore I wouldn’t publish one of those cliche “New Years Resolution” posts - so hopefully this is received without the usual disregard that we all have towards “resolutions”…

(I’m sure most of us have an old treadmill or an “Ab-Master 3000″ or whatever rotting away in the basement as a result of a well-intended resolution at some point. Ha!)

So I’m going to be pretty honest and direct in this post.

And it’s probably going to offend a lot of people. But hopefully the end result is that, for a small few, reading this is what will make all the difference.

There’s been a lot of people now who have gone full-time as a result of starting out with my courses, and that’s very flattering. But it’s not really because of me - regardless of how clever I think I am. I’m just some jackass on the web. The real reason these folks have gone full-time is because of THEM.

(They actually tried, and treated this like a business - and not just an “opportunity”…)

But there’s many more who buy stuff for whatever reason, and instead of genuinely applying it to their business - they literally find every possible excuse why they shouldn’t try.

And as a teacher… quite frankly it’s really disappointing to see…

On the good side, usually once a week or so I’ll get an email from someone who tells me about a success they’ve had with “my” strategies - and my favorite emails (and blog comments) are from people who’ve followed my stuff, and then realized that it really was “that simple” all along. That there’s no “secret” - it was just a matter of clearly understanding what to do.

(Hell - there’s even a small group of customers/students that are now way outperforming me at my own game. Which is sort of a kick in the pants and a compliment simultaneously).

But for every email I get like that, I get probably TEN like this…

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“Hi Chris,

It’s been 3 weeks now and I’m STILL not making any money with my 3-page site with terrible content that I’ve spent 5 minutes on and built 1 link for!

I really needed to make $20,000 by next weekend so I could pay off all my unsecured consumer debt and that really expensive seminar I just attended.

What a scam. I want a refund!

(So I can buy even more marketing courses from some other guy and refund those, too!)

Sincerely,

Mr. Delusional”

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(Yes, I added a slight trace of sarcasm added for “effect” - but that’s the underlying reality of the situation in almost every case.)

Now I know that there’s two sides of the fence. As marketers, we’re responsible for making accurate claims and painting a fair picture of what our products actually “do”. I’ve always tried to be accurate and avoid hype with my stuff in this industry, and it’s something that I continue to try and perfect.

(It’s a bit of a tightrope act - because your stuff won’t sell unless you make it exciting and show the “numbers”, and you have to balance that with being realistic…)

Anyway - what I’ve come to realize is that there truly are two different “camps” of people in this industry:

1. Business Builders

2. Opportunity Seekers

And the opportunity-seekers outnumber the business-builders 10 to 1. Or at least that’s how it seems.

Now, “opportunity seeker” is a term that defines a few different things (and it’s not necessarily bad), so for the sake of clarity, here’s the Chris Rempel Definition of “opportunity seeker” within the context of this blog post…

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Opportunity Seeker: Someone who wants the “thrill” of success, but (deep down) isn’t ready - or willing - to work for it. They prefer “magic bullets” to business models, and would rather be entertained than actually instructed.

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These are the people that truly can’t be helped until they’re ready to take responsibility for their own actions and do whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals.

No amount of “coaching”, courses or anything else will work - because THEY won’t work! It’s that simple. They waste others’ time, their own time and they’re an energy drain.

And for that reason… today I am drawing a line in the sand.

If you fit the profile of an “opportunity seeker” as described above - and if you’re not willing to take things seriously and actually follow-through on what you start, then please do both of us a favor and unsubscribe.

Seriously - please get off my list if you’re just here to waste your own time and mine.

Because from this point forward, I only want to invest my time, money and energy into people that have the will to act. People that realize that there will be inevitable challenges and trial/error along the way, but who are willing to persevere that because they know what their goals are.

(Instead of finding someone or something to blame - resting on the temporary “comfort” of an excuse).

You can do phenomenally well in this business.

I can’t believe how much harder it is to run a “real” business in the “real” world when you compare it to something like affiliate marketing, ebook publishing and so on. Hell, I almost spend as much time dealing with the endless bullshit from my 3 revenue properties as I do running my internet “empire” with hundreds of active sites!

And I (maybe) clear about a grand or so each month in positive cash-flow from my properties. (Yeah, I know it’s more about the equity - but still…)

Think about how much harder it is to start even something like a little sandwich deli than it is to start building a serious empire online.

You’ve gotta deal with employees, food inventory, expensive leases, insurance, endless paperwork & government interference, advertising, banking & financing - and you probably won’t clear a profit for at least a year! And even when you do start making money…

…how much could you possibly take home for yourself?

Compare that to building even THREE authority affiliate sites in one year and actually putting in 8 hours a day of link-building, JV’s, etc.

It’s a joke. You can hardly even compare the two. And you’d be profitable almost right off the bat (and likely at the 6-figure mark by the end of the year).

Which, by the way, is why most people who do well with IM are often ex-traditional business owners. It’s a breeze for them once they get the fundamentals. And there ain’t no secret method they’re using, either.

It’s called GETTING STUFF DONE. Even if you don’t know “how”. Learn. Use Google. Use your HEAD. Think. TRY.

You’ll be amazed at how fast things start to turn around for you when you simply accept the fact that the only “hard” part of this business is getting down to work and making progress. (Yes, there’s initial learning curve in terms of marketing, but most opportunity-seekers literally know TOO much… and it’s time to start actually using what they know.)

Here’s an amazing example:

Next month I’m going to be interviewing a guy who is a total inspiration to me.

Most of you haven’t heard of him. (Although, not for long…)

He’s a perfect example of someone who simply put into action the things he’s learned, and as a result, he now runs a completley digital business that has recently surpassed the 7-Figure level.

He’s only been doing this for a few years.  Much less time than myself.

AND…

(This is the part where I get to “stick it” to all the whiners reading this)

HE’S BLIND.

Blind, as in can’t see anything. Born that way.

Can’t see the sites he’s building, or what they look like. Can’t use so many of the tools and resources that we take completely for granted.

And yet he’s built an online business (just imagine yourself doing this without being able to see) to a level that most “gurus” and teachers haven’t even attained with years of experience and, of course, the advantage of being able to SEE.

Now, I dunno about you guys, but this guy’s story essentially shoots down EVERY excuse I’ve ever received (as well as every excuse I’ve ever made myself).

Oh - you have a full time job and it’s hard to “make the time”?

Try doing it blind. (And amazingly, you have time to watch TV, drink beer, play video games, etc.)

Oh - you don’t like how long it takes to produce good content?

Try doing it blind. (Aside from the fact that good content pays off for years.)

Oh - you sometimes get confused about keyword research and choosing a niche?

Try doing it blind. (Even though it’s literally as easy as looking at what’s hot and copying a business model).

I could go on and on, and please understand that I’m not ragging on anyone, either. I make excuses, too - we all do. And even though I certainly didn’t have it “easy” when I started, I know that some of my readers are truly in rough situations.

But I would argue that being BLIND truly takes the cake. If that guy can do it - how many excuses do we really have left to “rest” on?

(So stay tuned for the interview, which I’ll be doing when I get back from Cuba at the end of Jan or early Feb).

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So this is it, folks.

The line in the sand.

Are you ready to actually build your business - creating a life for yourself and your family that’s full of options and with far less limitations?

Or are you content being armed with an excuse for every occasion… but where the only thing you have to show for yourself is and endless saga of “victomhood” (with an ever-dwindling audience)…

The choice is yours.

But please realize that I only have time for those who take this - and themselves - seriously.

Here’s to one hell of a new year in 2010.

Let’s make the most of it. And let’s be grateful for the things we take for granted…

Cheers,

-Chris

Hey guys,

Let’s take care of the 2nd part first - launch date for Affiliate Genie…

Due to some logistical issues (specifically payment processing & affiliate tracking), and due to some minor tweaks that had to be done (which will prevent what would’ve been an overwhelming support load) - we had to move the launch date to Tuesday, December 8th.

Trust me, this the last thing I wanted to have happen. Definitely not a marketing gimmick.

A last-minute launch reschedule practically guarantees opportunity loss, as some JV partners and promoters won’t be able to juggle promotion schedules.

But it is what it is - and come hell, high water, or the freakin’ apocalypse… it launches on December 8th.

Okay, next item…

What About The FTC’s New Guidelines on Bloggers Reviewing Products?

Is Affiliate Genie “FTC Friendly”?

Absolutely.

Let’s get to the bottom of this - and look at the REAL issue…

Product reviews, product-related content, and opinions of products make up a huge portion of the web. These days, most people go to “Google” to research what others say about a product before they spend their money.

Sites like Yelp.com, Epinions.com, ConsumerSearch.com and so on are examples of exactly that.

It’s actually one of the most valuable aspects of the internet, because everything from insurance to hotels to acne cream to, yes, digital products can now be clearly seen for what they are with the internet. (One of the reasons why insurance premiums have dropped so much since the mid-nineties. Consumer awareness drives quality and competition).

So authoritative and accurate content about products - or even opinion – is not what the FTC has an issue with. Those are things that consumers want.

No, instead – what the FTC has issue with is the disclosure of a material connection between the site/publisher, and the products they discuss.

And from the FTC’s own press release:

“Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service”

That is the real issue. Disclosure.

And it’s one that, from the very beginning of our development with Affiliate Genie, has been integrated into the framework of the application.

In fact…

Here’s Why Using Affiliate Genie is Actually SAFER Than Current, Industry-Standard Website Builders…

The simple answer is that Affiliate Genie is a just publishing tool that makes it easy for someone to build their own content within a profitable layout. It really is just like a “WordPress for affiliates”. It’s still up to you what you publish using Affiliate Genie.

Which means that so long as your content is legal, honest/accurate and you are clearly disclosing any material connections you have with products you mention - then you have nothing to worry about.

There is NO PROBLEM with publishing product reviews whatsoever, so long as you:

1. Provide Honest, Accurate Content - and

2. Disclose Material/Commercial Connections accordingly

However - we’ve made it even easier to stay safe. Affiliate Genie has a built-in sitewide disclosure statement (which you can customize to suit the nature of your material/commercial connection) that you can easily edit from the admin panel.

And we’ve also included an Accuracy Disclaimer statement on a product-by-product basis that itemizes the nature of any product review you publish (whether it’s based on product testing, research or simply commentary) - which instills even more trust in your content.

It still comes down to what you publish (in general, just be honest and use common sense), but in terms of FTC compliance, Affiliate Genie is currently much safer for affiliates than commonly-used site builders by default simply because the infrastructure for compensation disclosure and accuracy disclaimers is already hardcoded into your sites.

That’s about as safe as we can possibly make it for you without personally “approving” your sites content… which doesn’t make sense logistically or logically because Affiliate Genie is for all intents and purposes, just a “pen”.

What you write with that pen is up to you entirely.

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To wrap it up and put it simply…

The only way you could get into trouble using Affiliate Genie - or Wordpress, or Dreamweaver, or whatever - is if the content YOU produce is misleading, or if you’re not clearly disclosing a material connection to the products you promote.

If you’re an honest affiliate, there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

(The real hassle with respect to the FTC’s guidelines is more for the vendors who have to control what their affiliates claim, publish, etc.)

Just thought I’d shed some reality on the recent hype…

Cheers,

-Chris

P.S. Here’s some resources you might want to check out if you’re concerned (or uninformed) about the FTC’s recent guidelines…

Fast Company Interviews FTC - FTC Responds to Blogger’s Fears:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/jennifer-vilaga/slipstream/ftc-bloggers-its-not-medium-its-message-0

And,

Jim Edwards (from our own little “IM” industry) Interviews Rich Cleland, Asst. Deputy of the FTC

http://www.igottatellyou.com/blog/ftc-change-interview

Real quick:

I’m aiming to launch Affiliate Genie on Wednesday, Dec 2nd.

What’s Affiliate Genie?

How much does it cost?

What can it really do?

All your questions are answered here…

http://www.affgenie.com/affiliate-genie.php

As you can see, this ain’t your typical product launch.

My goal with AG is to essentially create the “Wordpress” of affiliate marketing. And I think that this is going to end up helping a lot of people.

Questions?

Leave a comment and I’ll try to get to it ASAP

Cheers,

-Chris

P.S. If you’re interested in promoting Affiliate Genie, check out the details on that here

From time to time, I receive emails that help me to stay motivated with the “Lazy Marketer” side of my business, which at times is anything but Lazy…

Check it out:

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Subject: Affiliate Intel-more than doubled my best month’s income 

Hey Chris,
 
While perusing comments on your blog, I noticed the odd comment about the shortcomings of Aff. Intel. I’d like to tell you about my experince with it.
 
I’ve been into affiliate marketing for 2 years now and full time since the beginning of this year. I’ve never made more than 7k in a single month–small potatoes to some, but life changing to others. It’s plenty enough income for me to do this full time and live exactly how I want to live. Anyway, I bought Aff Intel during the beta release back in August and put it to use right away. Obviously the last part of that sentence is the key.
 
October was the first month all my efforts so far with the data really kicked in. During the first few days of November, I totalled all my profits from my affiliate networks, and the grand total for October was a shade over 23k. All of this was from organic traffic. Conservatively I would say more than half was due to the keyword research in aff intel. November is off to a great start also. The naysayers won’t do anything with web based data anyway, and I imagine haven’t done anything with the .csv data either. Affiliate Intel is a goldmine. Just wanted to let you know.
 
Feel free to use this email any way you wish.
 
Keep doing what you are doing,

Jason

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There’s not really much else to say.

Even though part of me feels like saying “I told you so” to all the naysayers and people that have nothing better to do than point fingers and complain about small technical quirks…

…that’s not as beneficial as simply making 2 things very clear:

1. Affiliate Intel really is a goldmine, and

2. People who actually use it are seeing results

The web-based version of Aff Intel should be ready shortly after Affiliate Genie launches.

It is currently not for sale or available for BETA testing at this time.

So, sorry about the tease, but it will be available shortly, and most importantly - this stuff actually works, but only for people who can get past the “tress” and see the forest.

You can get hung up on details (aka: making excuses), or you can spend 3 minutes overcoming those small obstacles, use what you do have - which is a lot, and make $23K+ in a month from organic, free traffic.

Anyway - I just think it’s pretty freakin’ awesome that people are using stuff I’ve worked very hard to produce and seeing results like that for themselves as well.

That, to me, is the highest form of compensation.

(And there’s no reason I can’t one day receive an email from you like that as well - it just takes doing, folks.)

Take care,

-Chris

My aim in this blog post is to try and show you the reality of why so many people fail, even though they’re busting their ass for hours on end, day after day.

This isn’t a preach-fest, nor is it some obscure new-age theory. Furthermore, it’s not exclusive to newbies. We ALL “suffer” from these symptoms from time to time, no matter how experienced.

But this is especially important for beginners, as well as anyone who’s never seen any kind of REAL results from this business.

If you read this and actually take it to heart (and take action) - I promise you this - 2010 will be drastically different for you…

It drives me NUTS when I get emails from people who I know are honestly giving this their best shot within the context of their abilities and situation - and I know instantly based on the types of questions they’re asking (or whatever) that they don’t have a chance in hell.

And of course - I try to set them straight, put them on the right path.

But their mindset and “what they’ve learned” blocks it out. The wheat gets lost among the chaff, and it all becomes a big, confusing (disappointing) mess.

Which is truly sad.

Because the real way to success in this industry is far, far easier and simpler than most think. And that “way” will become clear to you as I go through the following 3 “failure symptoms”…

3 Symptoms of a Marketer Who’s Destined for Failure:

Symptom #1: Perfectionism

This is a silent killer because being a “perfectionist” can in many ways be a good thing. (It’s better than being a slacker). But it becomes a problem when the constant improvements, “setbacks” and bar-raising is either a subliminal fear of action/failure/success - or perhaps indicative of a deeper issue, like a lack of confidence in one’s self; and therefore your product.

Even though in most cases the product, or the site - or whatever - is beyond finished. (Just promote the damn thing already!)

We all know someone who’s been “working on their site” or whatever for what seems like forever. Sure, they’ll tell you it’s almost done. Just a few days left. Etc.

Ask them in 3 months, and you’ll get the same old song. And they’re still broke. 

And chances are, most of us have been guilty of it as well (I have in the past, for sure). It’s funny how it’s more comfortable to keep things in “idea” mode or the development stage because you still have an “out” - isn’t it?

That is the root of perfectionism, folks: FEAR.

When I look back at all the stuff I’ve done in the last few years - all the sites I’ve built, all the crap I’ve tried doing, etc - the bottom line is that I ONLY got results when I finished something and rolled it out. Period.

And what’s ironic is that some of my biggest performers were things that took a few DAYS to put together and promote. 5 page sites generating double-digit sales transactions daily. Info-products that were assembled and produced in less than a week. And so on.

And inversely, I’ve also had stuff that took me forever to roll out, and by the time it was all said and done, I’ve probably made more money from my “simple and fast” strategies in the meantime anyway.

That isn’t always the rule.

But the mindset always applies.

And on top of that, there is no substitute for experience. The more you actually finish, the more you truly learn. And it’s a lot easier to springboard from one experience into the next, learning from mistakes (and leveraging profitable discoveries) as you go.

So if you catch yourself continually adding to your tasklist… ask yourself why, and answer truthfully.

Getting big results doesn’t require perfection. It just requires ACTION.

Just like our Canadian hockey-legend (Wayne Gretzky) was quoted saying, “100% of the shots you don’t take won’t go in…”

Symptom #2: “Space Pen” Syndrome

Back when NASA was trying to figure out how to get a man on the moon, they were obviously presented with an endless series of insane technological challenges - and for obvious reasons, given that at the time the average calculator was about the size of my desk.

One of the issues they faced was something really simple. Astronauts couldn’t use a conventional pen in a zero-gravity environment because the ink would simply “float” in the pen.

So what they did was develop the most technologically advanced zero-gravity pen the world had ever seen. The damn thing could even write underwater, since the ink was pressurized.

It took years and God-knows how much (tax) money to develop these ridiculous space pens.

The end result?

Astronauts could now write stuff in space, doodle, etc.

And guess what the Russians did…

They used pencils.

The end result was the same. Cosmonauts could do all the same things as the American astronauts (with the exception of writing underwater), without the months or perhaps years of development, testing and expense.

And I see so many marketers doing the same thing - over-complicating every single task and going way beyond the realm of necessity when it comes to building and marketing their sites.

Everyone’s so caught up with all the latest social media crap, “linkwheels”, spinning their content (which takes forever and has little, if any, benefit), widgets, plugins, etc…

…that they’re missing the POINT.

Make offers. Create content. Promote it.

Not rocket science, folks. Not even space-pen science.

And pretty much everything, with very few exceptions, still works today just as well as it did 10+ years ago. If you think it doesn’t - try it. The fundamentals have NOT changed. And it’s the fundamentals (converting copy, building good content, targeted offers, list-building) that build wealth.

Not “tactics”. And definitely not space pens.

(Hint: All those people out there clogging up the marketing forums with their SEO tactics, “new” strategies, etc… guess what? Chances are they’re broke or making a mediocre living at best. The big dogs are doing what they’ve always done. And it’s not hard to see what that is.)

Symptom #3: Always Looking for Shortcuts

Wanna know what’s funny about most people who are always looking for that ultimate tactic or shortcut?

It takes them 3 times longer (and they put in way more effort) to get the same results as someone who simply does it the right way the first time.

(And there’s usually no long-term effect, either. The guy who’s out there blackhatting has to constantly work in order to “stay on top”. In contrast, the guy who’s produced genuinely good content and earned his traffic, reputation, etc. will see effortless traffic & revenue for years. Which one sounds better to you?)

I’ve seen this repeatedly over the years. Both with my own activities and others. In fact, these days I don’t even care about “tricks” or “new tactics” for driving traffic, etc. I just don’t care.

And I really don’t think I’m missing out, because I’ve gotten to the point where my time is simply better spent working on my core business model (and enjoying my life) than staying up into the wee hours testing out some freakish tactic.

Anyway, let me give you a real-life example of why “shortcuts” are anything but smart…

My partner on the Affiliate Genie project (Matt Chitty) comes from a sales background, and a few years ago he was actually one of the top sales managers on a nationwide scale for a very large Electronics retailer up here in Canada.

As Matt puts it, there are two types of producing salespeople on the floor.

Type 1: “Mr. Tactic”

This is the guy who hard-sells, uses all the “sales tricks” and will basically tell the customer whatever they want to hear just to make that sale.

He typically does the most volume at first, but he also loses a lot of commissions due to returns, etc. Moreover, because he only cares about the sale, the customers can easily sense this and they’ll avoid him next time. He always has to find new customers.

This means that Mr. Tactic has to work long hours and hard-sell all day long to keep up his numbers.

And nobody likes him. All he gets out of it is the cash. (I’m sure about a bazillion people come to mind who fit this description…)

And, then - there’s the other guy.

The anomaly that Mr. Tactic can’t stand…

Type 2: “Mr. Truthful“

This is the guy who’s your typical down-to-earth dude who seems to have more of an interest in the products he sells than he does about actually selling them.

He doesn’t try and “close” every customer he meets. Nor does he exaggerate or talk out of his ass when customers ask questions about what a product does. He simply shares what he does know, and he helps the customer find exactly what they actually need. Regardless of his commissions.

He’s not as “high energy” as Mr. Tactic. And maybe he’s a little bit plain on the exterior. But over time, people come to know him as being someone you can trust.

Mr. Truthful will have regular sales levels for the first little while. His results at first won’t be anything too shocking, maybe a bit above average.  But there will be next to no returns on his commissionable sales, since he’s upfront with the customer.

However…

As the weeks and months go by, something strange starts happening.

Happy customers come back, as do their friends, who specifically seek out Mr. Truthful. This slowly becomes a sort of “chain reaction”, to the point where Mr. Truthful is actually doing the same volume of sales as Mr. Tactic - with the difference being that it’s effortless and painless.

He doesn’t have to “trick” people into buying, nor does he have to “work” a prospect. All he does is basically just help people who want to deal with him all day long. And since his sales generally don’t generate any returns, at the end of the day he’s actually making more money than Mr. Tactic.

Even though he’s working shorter hours and, plainly speaking, not even ”trying”. It just flows to him.

Over time, this sets up Mr. Truthful in a high-paying sales career that he can enjoy and prosper with as long as the company stays in business.

But for the other guy - over time, inevitably, Mr. Tactic will burn out and try and make it big somewhere else, only to meet the same results over and over again due to the core issue - he doesn’t care about the customer, he cares about his results. (Sound familiar?)

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This “Mr. Tactic” approach is what plagues internet marketing.

I understand that we’re all in this to make money. And that’s totally okay.

But you have to realize that if you treat your visitors with contempt and don’t care about the fact that they’re spending money based on your recommendations, then every sale you generate will be a fight.

And you’ll have a never-ending slew of nasty emails, complaints, refunds - or worse.

On the flipside, if you come across as genuine with your visitors and genuinely try to help them - they’ll buy from you in droves! And they’ll love you for it. Then they’ll buy from you again, and again… etc.

That is how you build true wealth online, folks.

It’s not about “tactics” or the latest technique. It’s about building trust and influence.

That’s something you can’t simulate. No sales tactic on earth is going to make somebody trust you. The only way to “get” trust is to earn it. And you do that by publishing good content and providing valuable, honest stuff to your people.

And guess what?

When you have good content and genuinely cool stuff to offer - everything literally falls into place for you. Getting backlinks is easy. It’ll happen naturally. Getting JV’s is brainless. People will want to work with you - you’ll be the one turning down offers that don’t match (not vice-versa).

And of course - making sales is a breeze. When people trust you, they’ll buy stuff just because you recommended it. Some people won’t even look at the offer (literally, this happens). They just buy because they trust your word.

You think you can do that with some weird-ass “hypnotic sales trick” or something?

Um… no. I don’t care what anyone claims - you can’t. You only get to that level by establishing trust.

But it all starts with the basics:

1. Create Genuinely Good Content

2. Make Relevant Offers Prominently on Your Site

3. Promote Your Site

That’s the “big secret” folks. The ultimate tactic - and it’s all you have to do if you really want to hit it on the web, long-term. All of the sites I’ve created where I’ve actually catered to the visitor as a paramount concern are still running strong as ever, and many are several years old.

And on top of that, getting backlinks and stuff was a breeze. All I’d do is simply email all the other sites, show them some cool function or helpful article on the site, and ask for a link or a “story” on it for their readers. For one of my sites in particular, out of about 200 emails like that - 40 of them willingly did so. And one was even a PR8 news site

In contrast, I’m lucky if my little “tester sites” and small conduit sites (which have a purpose of their own) see maybe 6 months of solid traffic before they fade down to a small trickle.

Value matters.

It’s been working since 1995 (or whenever the internet was “born”), and it works just as well today.

And it seems so straight-forward.

Just like using a pencil in space…

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Okay - now here’s how to take all that stuff I just said and make a crap-load of money with it this year…

First, you need to identify areas where these symptoms are showing up. Maybe you’re freezing up and endlessly delaying your sites because they aren’t “good enough”.

This needs to stop. Who cares if your sites aren’t perfect? Your visitors don’t. (And your bank account certainly doesn’t).

Just get them out there and marketed. Period.

You can make them better later.

Now I’m not saying that you take shortcuts or skimp out on value. But what I am saying is that you need to cut out stuff that isn’t an absolute necessity and just FINISH your sites so you can start building links, getting traffic, buying ads - whatever.

Or maybe you’re over-complicating everything.

You think that you need to “leverage” every available trick in the book to maximize your traffic. So you insist on setting up all the latest SEO plugins, developing a 300-message autoresponder series, having your site “drip” content automatically, you spin all your articles and submit them various ways, you set up peel-away ads and exit scripts, etc.

None of that stuff is necessarily bad (in fact lots of it is very profitable) - but if it’s causing you to be overwhelmed… or if you think that it’s all required - stop it.

Just start with the basics, and as your traffic increases, you can add stuff as you need to.

Remember that two complete sites with NO gimmicks will almost always out-earn a single site with EVERY gimmick. (And I’m talking about affiliate sites here, not authority sites or products which are a different animal and not something you dive into before you test the waters).

So if you feel like you have to build a “space pen”, just remember that a pencil will do the same damn thing, and you can always improve stuff LATER.

And finally - maybe the issue is that none of your sites are converting well (even if they get tons of traffic and you’re promoting proven, hot offers) because your content isn’t genuine.

You need to realize, then, that your product reviews, your articles, your presells - everything - needs to not only be truthful, but it has to be published with the intention of actually helping your visitors get the best solution for their needs.

If you’re honestly trying to help your people - it shows. Your visitors can sense that, and that’s how you become trusted.

You’ll sell more, you’ll get more links more easily, you’ll be able to do deals in the market easily - everything works better for you. And on top of that, it’s actually easier to do this since you don’t have to use “hype”. Just talk straight. And wherever possible, allow your visitors to lend their voice as well.

So if 2009 was a rough year, I can guarantee you that 2010 will be drastically different for you by doing the following:

1. Just Finish/Market Your Sites FAST & Improve Them LATER.

2. Keep it Simple & Stop Wasting Time Building “Space-Pen” Sites.

3. Be Genuine & Actually Give a Damn

A lot of people who read this won’t “get it”. They’ll be reading in between the lines looking for tricks, for things they can swipe for a quick buck, and so on. Those are the washouts, folks. Even if they do make a bit of money, it’s always short-lived.

Anyone who’s actually made real money as an affiliate (or any kind of marketer), and I mean well into the 6-figs, realizes that everything I’ve said here is literal. There is no hidden tactic or “trick” to making a pile of money in any viable market. It just comes down to getting sites up, creating helpful content and getting traffic (building links, ads & doing deals).

It’s that simple.

And it’s time to finally embrace that simplicity, rather than rationalize otherwise or believe the “hype”, which is being propogated by people with nothing better to do than rotting away on forums all day.

This is one of the main reasons I decided to package Affiliate Genie as a public offering.

Not only is it brain-dead simple for in terms of creating clean, effective affiliate sites - but it’s got interaction built right in. This allows you to be transparent with your visitors, and your conversions will soar if people sense that your content - and other’s comments - are the real deal.

And yes, it does support basically all the bells/whistles of any other WYSIWYG editor, scripts, etc - but that isn’t the focus.

The focus is on just getting your sites up, running and marketed as fast as possible with good, genuine content.

And that, my friends, is what “works” in 2009/2010.

Whether you choose to believe that is up to you.

All I’m saying is that it wasn’t “tactics” that has provided myself and my wife an amazing lifestyle (we’ve been to every continent), multiple revenue properties, a nice spacious 6-bedroom house for ourselves and a newly-acquired 2002 Porsche 911 Turbo (which I bought in cash - and yes it’s as fast as hell).

No, that’s the result of doing the FUNDAMENTALS. Building sites, building traffic and genuinely helping my visitors.

Just something to consider…

-Chris

P.S. We are days away now from releasing Affiliate Genie. Right now I’m just finishing the salesletter and completing the accompanying training materials. (Interested in promoting it? Email me at chris@chrisrempel.com)

P.P.S. Here’s a pic of my new (ridiculous) porsche:

The previous owner spent a small fortune upgrading it professionally through GMG Racing, and now it produces about 610 horsepower. When the turbos spool up (usually they really hit anywhere after 3500 RPM), it feels like you’re getting shot out of a big cannon or something… it’s insane.

Scary, actually. I’ve driven Ferraris, Maseratis, a Porsche C4S and my previous car was a BMW M3 (which was a very fast car as well)… but none of them come close to this car. It’s a monster.

The racing suspension package makes it pretty low, though I’ve already scraped the front end a bit coming out of a parking lot exit ramp (doh!).

I’ll post more pictures in a future post.

Hey guys,

If you missed it a few weeks ago, check out my previous post on Affiliate Genie.

There was a lot of feedback posted there, and I took it seriously. And accordingly, we’ve spent almost an entire month doing nothing else other than taking an already powerful, focused script and turning it into a full scale “what you see is what you get” affiliate CMS (content management system).

Particularly, a lot of people wanted to have the ability to enable/disable the ”product review mode” so they could have a more open-ended, multi-purpose site. So that’s a large part of the changes we’ve made.

And before I showcase some demo sites and list the current features of AffGenie…

…here’s the reader’s digest version of what it is:

Affiliate Genie is by far the easiest, fastest way to build interactive affiliate sites that actually sell. And by that I mean, these sites are streamlined with one sole purpose in mind - getting and converting traffic. Everything from their layout, to file structure to promotional functions.

These aren’t “blogs” and this isn’t some wordpress theme. This was built from the ground up by my team so I could simplify and expedite my own organic affiliate campaigns on a larger scale. In the process, it’s become something that could also be distributable.

Here’s a brief rundown of everything this does - and it’s pretty damn cool if I do say so myself…

• Build unlimited pages, categories, articles and product reviews

• Easily insert YouTube videos, opt-in forms, AdSense®, etc.

• Advanced users can easily insert almost any HTML code, script, tables, and so on directly into any page or article using the built-in code editor

• Engineered for maximum SEO visibility

• All layouts & features are specifically optimized for sales

• Moderated commenting system with anti-spam (better than captcha, non-defeatable human tests)

• Completely web-based

• Interactive review/rating system - perfect for organically optimized product reviews, and your visitors can add their own input, interaction, etc.

• Supports Google® Analytics

• Requires NO database! Just upload and start adding content! (This is huge, and levels the playing field for a lot of beginners - not to mention, it makes mass scaling for the intermediates and advanced affiliates a lot easier and simpler.)

• Automatically generates its own RSS feed & sitemap

• Creates short, SEO-friendly URL’s on any server that supports mod-rewrite

• Easier & simpler to use than Wordpress®

And, of course…

• It’s created by experienced marketers, for marketers 

So how about seeing it in action?

Sure thing…

Check out the following demo sites:

The first site I’ll take you through is your standard mix of articles and product reviews. This will actually be one of my own affiliate sites, and it’s in the “learn guitar” niche.

Right now it’s just got a basic content load, but will later have about 10-15 product reviews and 20 articles/tutorials.

Check it out at GuitarBeagle.com

One thing I need to make very clear is that the top-featured ”promo” (above article pages and product reviews) is what will drive, in my experience, basically about 90% of the sales. You’ll see some referred sales for the other products, but your “top-pick” will always seem the majority of CTR and conversions.

This is why it’s so paramount to use. I know it may look “weird” to have something like that above a product review, but remember that your most targeted, responsive traffic will be coming to your site on account of those reviews. (People in pre-purchase mode).

That’s the whole point…

Check out a sample product review on GuitarBeagle here

And check out an article page (with AdSense at the bottom, for the sake of example) here.

Alright, let’s check out another style of affiliate site that AffGenie can whip up…

This one’s promoting a single CPA offer, and sites like these can be very effective in terms of conversion and revenue - even from smaller amounts of traffic.

Check it out at LifeInsuranceCompass.com

Again, like the guitar site, this is actually one of my future affiliate sites that will eventually be sporting about 30-40 pages of content.

I wanted to demo this site because it’s on another server of mine, where the shortURL’s are supported. It’s also an affiliate site without a single product review, which I thought was an important note to get across:

Affiliate Genie isn’t just a “conduit site builder”. It can produce massive content sites, all super-easy to customize and instantly switch up your offers, etc.

All from a web-based environment with NO database hassles.

Also on the life insurance site are some embedded YouTube videos here, and a sample of a high-impact offer location on one of the article pages.

Folks, this is literally all I do for my affiliate “tester” sites - a few of which earn full-time incomes single handedly from organic traffic alone, and many of which see daily sales or CPA conversions.

It all adds up… and it basically just comes down to actually doing it. Building and promoting sites.

Yes, some will flop - but many will get a nice flow of steady traffic and weekly sales. And a handful will really nail it. But it’s the cumulative effect that really starts adding up…

I hope it’s clear that this is a very powerful tool for doing this very easily and with NO technical skill required.

Just upload, add content, and promote.

Magical

And it’s coming soon.

We’ve been working on this fevorishly for months, now, and we’re basically getting to the pre launch phase.

-Chris

P.S. Same goes for the Aff Intel databases.

My data processing team is nearly completed inserting the estimated traffic volumes for all 2+ million keywords, and we are simply ironing out the web-based environment with refreshable values (which is really, really challenging, by the way… but we’re making progress)

Hey guys,

My team has just finished the final stages of what we’ve dubbed the “Affiliate Genie”.

And if building professional affiliate sites that actually sell (and look awesome) is something that maybe isn’t your “forte” - then check this out…

This is like Wordpress for affiliates. It rocks.

Watch the video:

By the way, you can check out a fully functional demo of the tool in action at AffGenie.com

This is going to be a flagship product over at AffiliateArmory - and we’re also releasing it as a standalone product in a week or so.

Like what you see?

Have a comment or a question?

Leave a comment below…

Cheers - and stay tuned.

-Chris

Note: I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one on TV, and this ain’t legal advice. But every jackass out there has an unsubstantiated opinion based on anything but expertise or qualification, and this happens to mine… 

As many of you have probably heard, the FTC recently enacted some new advertising standards that directly affect internet marketing in general - across the whole board…

And this will impact basically every offer, presell and affiliate “review” you create from this point forward.

Namely, it deals with:

* Compensation Disclosure, and

* Honesty about Average Results

In summary, the new guidelines state that 1) you have to clearly disclose that you are either being compensated or have a vested interest (commissions) in the products, services or otherwise “stuff” you feature in ANY of your content, and 2) whenever you make claims about an offer - or publish testimonials - you have to either clarify or verify what the actual, average results are for an average user of the product.

This means that if you’re promoting, say, some sort of Forex trading offer or whatever and you’re telling your visitors that they can make “$10,000 a week!” or whatever the case may be - you actually have to back that up with verifiable proof that making 10 G’s a week is what the AVERAGE USER can expect.

And the same goes for using testimonials. You can no longer “hide behind” a blanket disclaimer at the bottom of the page that effectively sweeps responsibility under the rug.

From what I can interpret from the FTC guidelines (and it’s pretty vague), you can still use your showpiece testimonials that are NOT average, but instead of just saying “results not typical” or “results may vary” - you have to outright provide the *actual* average results in very close proximity to the testimonial.

Something like: “This user experienced substantially above-average results with this product. The average user can expect ___________”

(You can read a more in-depth take on the testimonial issue on Frank Kern’s blog, by the way…)

To be safe, I would honestly avoid using “crazy” testimonials that make huge claims - or list specific figures.  I’ve never really used testimonials that much anyway, and sales have certainly been okay without them. Maybe there’d be a slight increase if I did include them, but not if I’m at risk of dealing with the Feds.

What it boils down to is that you’ve got to be authentic and realistic with your marketing. Even if your “average result” is far less than what’s possible if people actually TRY or WORK, you need to convey that clearly. What I would be inclined to do as a vendor is to survey the different “levels” of my customers and showcase those as well.

So it would be something like:

* Average Result of Using Widget Overall = 2

* Average Results of People Who Buy This and Do Nothing = 0, Which Comprises 70% of All Customers (or whatever)

* Average Results of People Who Exerted a Medium Effort With Widget For Less Than 2 Weeks = 5, 20% of Customers

* Average Results of People Who Properly Applied Widget & Persevered Long Enough to See its Effects = 50, 10% of Customers

Now, I don’t know if that’s legal or not, or if you can only show overall average results - but in the interest of total transparency, I don’t see how “laying it out” like that would really hurt your sales that much. It may detract some of the dreamers, but those usually turn into sob-stories or refunders anyway.

The customers you really want to work with and sell to are motivated, serious, honest and discerning - and they are drawn to sales copy that is conveyed as such (honest, discerning, straight-up).

So in some ways, I see this as a *potentially* positive change, although any time the Government interferes with the free market, it’s usually the equivalent of asking a retarded Gorrilla to fix a swiss watch (as in, I’m sure the impending “federal carpet bombing” that’s about to take place will do exponentially more harm than good).

For example, when it comes to marketing information products - there truly is NO “average” result, since the results are entirely dependent on the individual, their own capabilities and confidence-levels, and their situation. This presents what some are calling a catastrophe in the making. (See Michel Fortin’s recent post for details).

The FTC says that it’s all going to be evaluated on a “case by case” basis… but all I can think about is a retarded Gorilla smashing a Rolex into the ground. Case by case or not, I’d hardly rely on the objectivity and logic of FTC employees (or crooked politicians looking for a public flogging to help their latest “campaign”).

All the more reason to stay conservative - and stay on top of the FTC’s inevitable clarifications to their emphatically vague guidelines.

So what does this all mean for US?

And what about strategies like “The Conduit Method”?

This is my take on it - and you can ask your lawyer to clarify/correct this for you, because this sure as hell is NOT legal advice or anything near it…

Basically, as an affiliate who is simply promoting a product, you need to do two things:

1. Clearly disclose your relationship with the merchant(s). Let your visitors know that you stand to profit if they buy through your site. You should have a message stating this on every page of your site, and I’d suggest placing it by the offer links as well. Don’t just “tuck it away” in your TOS.

This includes your blog posts, your “tweets”, your forum signatures, your review sites - everything. Call a spade a spade. Like I mentioned above, the only people this should detract are customers that you - or your vendors - probably wouldn’t wanna touch with a ten-foot caddle prod anyway. (There’s a good article on TechCrunch that explains more about the specifics of what is required for social media in particular…)

2. Be Factual, Honest & Conservative. Especially when it comes to using “snippets” from other reviewers, forum posts, and otherwise user comments. Clearly specify that the user comments cited or compiled are in no way indicative of any kind of verifiable results - and that all visitors are strongly cautioned to conduct their own due-diligence prior to making a purchase of any product you profile on your sites.

Also make it clear that you are simply a product researcher who is simply going off of what other users have posted around the web - which may well be completely inaccurate.

State this clearly. Again, it shouldn’t do anything except add credibility to your sites, anyway.

When it comes to making recommendations or using “strong” marketing verbage, I would be very careful about that unless you can back stuff up from your own experience with the product (and have verifiable proof to do so). Even so, you’ll need to make it clear that average user results are more than likely much less than what you experienced.

Beyond that, I really don’t know what to tell you.

I think this will weed out a LOT of marketers who’ve been using “fake comments”, false testimonials and stuff like that to create artificial social proof.

I also think that, in the long run, this is GOOD for people who offer value (ie. affiliates with authentic content), and BAD for people who look for shortcuts and easy money.

It may also be cause to seriously look at the offers you’re promoting and ask yourself… does it really work as stated?

So maybe this is a shake-up that’s long overdue.

No, the sky is not falling and this is far from being the end of affiliate marketing - but play it safe.

You really don’t want a big, retarded, over-eager Gorrilla kicking down your door.

-Chris

Hey guys,

Here’s a video that walks through just 3 reverse-engineered spreadsheets from each “phase” of the Affiliate Intelligence package…

(Keep in mind that there are over 1 million keywords reverse-engineered in the actual package, and to put that in perspective that is over 1,700 CSV spreadsheets, where each spreadsheet has an average of 1000 rows of keyword data.)

Click the “play” link below to watch the short preview video.

Like I said before - this is a goldmine:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE AFFILIATE INTEL “SNEAK PEEK” >>

This entire package will be available as a Beta launch very shortly.

Just a few days away now…

Cheers

-Chris

P.S. The video might load a little slow at first due to the volume of folks watching. If that’s the case, in a few hours time it will likely run more smoothly.

(Normally I upload them to YouTube for this purpose, but this one is 12 minutes in length, which exceeds the YouTube size restrictions…)

You wanna know what’s sadly ironic?

What’s sadly ironic is that I (or any other experienced affiliate) could build and promote a site in 3 stinkin’ days that will earn more in affiliate commissions this year than most starry-eyed newbies would make even if they went ”full time” online - putting in 40 hours a week building sites, building links, etc.

Why?

Because I know what actually sells, and what kind of traffic to drive.

Because I’ve paid the price. I’ve gone through the ignorant years, working many late nights hoping, praying and crossing fingers for that mystical “windfall” from my unique ideas, my over-perfected implementations, my projects with “great potential” or “an untapped market”.

And even though I saw some results from my hard work (and I was working hard), it was just slightly eye-opening when, later on, I saw some of my most basic market tests in established, competitive markets make more money IN A SINGLE DAY than I’d previously be lucky to see all month.

It’s WHAT you sell, folks. Not how “hard” you try…

I realize that for the intermediates and advanced affiliates reading this, it’s like getting a lecture on the importance of eating and breathing. I know, I know. But what follows below applies to beginners and super-affiliates alike, and once you finish this blog post…

…I can guarantee that you’ll be losing sleep tonight

Alright, so with that said - and now that we’ve established the important connection between knowing what to sell (and how) and your RESULTS - let me ask you a question:

What If You Knew What The Top 584 Super-Affiliates Across EVERY Major Network Were Specifically Selling, Exactly How They Were Driving Traffic, The Sites They’re Promoting - And Exactly How YOU Could Easily Copy Them?

Do you think that would be a “game-changer” for you?

Or as an intermediate or advanced affiliate - would that be valuable to you?

Unless you have a twisted pleasure for doing things the hard way and spending months in front of the computer, I’m guessing that you’re probably leaning towards saying “Yes”.

Let’s take a closer look at what this is…

This is going to officially “kick off” AffiliateArmory.com, and it’s a hell of a kickoff.  I’ll explain it as simply as possible…

With the help of numerous expensive research tools and over 500 working hours (I hired an entire team of people to help compile and create this data), I have totally reverse-engineered the following, and optimized each data set particularly for affiliates using PPC and organic search marketing…

* The Top 95 Super-Affiliates from CJ: Every product they promote, every keyword they spend money on, what their PPC ads say, how much they spend, every URL they advertise - as well as the organic competition level for each keyword.

* The Top 97 Super-Affiliates from ClickBank: (Same data as CJ…)

* The Top 98 Super-Affiliates from LinkShare: Ditto above

* The Top 37 Super-Affiliates from PayDotCom: Ditto

* The Top 101 Super-Affiliates from ShareASale: Ditto

* The Top 98 Super-Affiliates from LinkShare: Ditto

* The Top 102 Super-Affiliates from MaxBounty: Ditto

* The Top 54 Super-Affiliates from ClixGalore: Ditto

In total, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of keywords - and thousands of different products - that the TOP GUNS on every major network are actively promoting.

And in addition to this, EACH keyword in every affiliate’s marketing campaign displays its organic competition level (keyword or keyphrase searched in quotations) - which is a gold mine for article marketers, conduit affiliates, SEOers, etc.

You can see why I had to hire an entire team of freelancers for this…

Collectively speaking, we are talking about the complete, in-depth, ZERO MYSTERY reverse-engineering of marketing activity that generates millions upon millions of dollars in affiliate commissions each year.

Oh - and the reverse-engineering of the industry-at-large’s top affiliates is just the first module of the market intelligence database.

Here’s what else it includes…

The Complete Reverse-Engineering of ClickBank’s TOP 264 Products/Merchants: Every keyword they spend money on, what their PPC ads say, how much they spend, every URL they advertise - as well as the organic competition level for each keyword.

I know we all love CB - and since it’s a network that particularly lends itself to high conversions (since the products are all mostly impulse purchases), and since there’s no approval process for each vendor - I thought you might like knowing exactly how the “big dogs” get their traffic

And the third module of the market intelligence database is what I consider to be the ultimate brainstorming resource for ANY marketer…

In simple terms, it’s 500,000+ keywords spanning 800+ markets that Google directly recommends to its advertisers as additional keywords to try advertising with (based on their own internal data, so that tells ya something…), and I’ve taken this data and given it a very valuable twist:

In addition to Google’s data for each keyword (traffic volume, ppc cost, ad competition, etc.), I’ve added the organic competition value for EACH and EVERY keyword. Over 500,000 of them. And Good God - it was a long and tedious process even to hire a team to do this…

What this effectively does is it shows you ALL THE HOLES, the “easy pickings” in virtually every market.

Especially the ultra competitive ones.

For example - one of the markets covered was Life Insurance. Insanely competitive. Insanely high traffic value. These guys are spending $5+ a CLICK. Or more.

And with this single data set alone, there are over 20+ keywords that are highly targeted, getting apprx. 1000 searches a month - and have LESS than 5,000 organic competitors.

Considering just the AdSense revenue of a site using those 20 keyphrases as article topics ALONE, well - you can likely see the value here

Each of these three modules will likely be sold individually as Market Intel when AffiliateArmory.com is fully up and running.

But very shortly, I’ll be offering all three Modules…

1. Reverse-Engineered Marketing Intelligence on the Top 584 Affiliates From Each Major Network

2. Comprehensive, Behind-The-Scenes Intel on Clickbank’s Top 264  Merchants/Offers

3. The Ultimate Brainstorming, Market “Infiltration” Treasure Map (500,000+ Profitable Keywords)

…for my subscribers as a bundled, “beta” release.

More details very soon.

Stay tuned…

Cheers,

-Chris