Ann Sieg’s “done it again”!

Having trouble overcoming information overload?

If you’re like me, you’ve been a big fan of Ann Sieg’s “The 7 Great Lifes of Network Marketing” and “The
Renegade Network Marketer.”

But let me share something. I’ve always had a problem.

As good as they both are, neither product really gives you enough of the “what to do” and “how to do it” information.

Today, all that has changed.

Read more about the “New Wave in Network Marketing” here…

The New Wave in Network Marketing!

Having trouble overcoming information overload?

If you’re like me, you’ve been a big fan of Ann Sieg’s “The 7 Great Lifes of Network Marketing” and “The Renegade Network Marketer.”

But let me share something: I’ve always had a problem.

As good as they both are, neither product really gives you enough of the “what to do” and “how to do it” information.

Today, all that has changed.

Ann has released an amazing new report called “The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto”

Ann solves one of network marketing’s biggest paradoxes in this report – without adding to your information overload woes!

I’m not kidding. See if this doesn’t sound familiar:

Every marketing expert on the planet tells mainstream business people they need to “stand out from the crowd”… “focus on your uniqueness”… “show how you’re different”… etc.  (They even have special names for this, like “Unique Selling Proposition,”… “Competitive Advantage”… “Marketing Identity”… and so on.)

But how exactly do you do that? Without having to sort through this-expert and that-expert’s “secret formula”?

Answer: You can’t! Until today!

Ann shows you an easy way to “repackage” your product so your customer sees it as one-of-a-kind… even if everyone else is selling the exact same thing you are!

AND…(if you’re already involved in product sales) without getting into hot water with your company!

Pretty neat, huh?

It also shows why many people begin generating leads online using methods like Google Adwords… Youtube… Twitter… etc…

And believe me, that’s only scratching the surface of what’s in this report. And did I mention the report is free?

To get your copy right now, go to:

http://plf.marketersmanifesto.com/

Simplify your marketing, shorten your learning curve, and start earning today!

Triple-A Series: Article Writing on the ‘Net!

If you’ve been following this series of posts on ways to monetize your blog or website, you’ve already learned a bit about Google’s Adwords and Affiliate Marketing. Today, last but not least, I’ll talk about writing on and for the internet. I’ve broken this down to 2 sections: Learning (How) to Write for the Internet, and Where Do I Submit This Stuff?

1) Learning How to Write for the Internet:

Writing for the internet is really not the same as what you might remember from high school (or college) English – it’s much easier! Here are some excellent resources to help you get going. Take a quick look at them, and then dive into whichever one “speaks your language”. Most of all…have fun!

 

▪ Joe Robson’s Make Your Words Sell – This was written for the hugely successful SiteBuildIt! program. SBI! not only teaches you how to build a website, but how to develop it into a business, and includes all the other features and functions that you would have to “add on” should you use a less-developed host. This publication is offered as a FREE download, and is also included as a “must read” SBI for users. If you are willing to put in some effort and creativity, you can use it as a gateway to create a serious website, and be the start of a very viable household income stream.

▪ InternetBasedMoms Writing for the Internet series. If you’re serious about writing on the internet or starting a web-based home business, you need to get to know Mila Sidman!

▪ This is a 7-lesson email-delivered article-writing series that I wrote in conjunction with the folks at ArticleMarketer. It’s a brief introduction in short, bite-sized chunks!

▪ How to Start Writing for Pay from the Comfort of your own home – An inexpensive ($16.97) little guide from Mom’s Talk Network. Mom’s Talk is a program that provides lots of help for moms who want to start up a home-based business. They also offer an affiliate program, allowing you to make some money as you spread the word and help others get started in this field. 

▪ Nicole Dean and Kelly McCausey Easy Article Marketing course $27 with FREE 5-day ecourse and lifetime updates. These ladies are both leaders in the field of WAHM support and network marketing. This course emphasizes writing as a marketing tool. Although it’s a super resource, I’d work up to this one!

 

2) Now what? Or Where Do I Submit this Stuff?

Submitting articles to quality directories is a well known traffic builder and a great way to establish your personal credibility. Most sites will accept any well-written article on an acceptable subject. Besides using articles as a way to establish your credibility and funnel traffic “your way”, submitting your High School students’ work can help motivate them to create even more interesting and quality work, on subjects they’re interested in and excited about! I mean, who doesn’t like to see their name in print! (And being a published author really looks great on a resume or college application!)

 

▪ At AssociatedContent. you can contribute original content about almost anything! If you need help coming up with a topic, or help of any kind, they have tutorials on almost any aspect of writing and writing-for-the-internet.

▪ Ezine Articles will even refer to you as an “Expert Author” once they’ve published your first submission.

▪ 2 fun ways to write about what you know and make some money at the same time can be found at Squidoo and Hubpages. There are bunches more of these types of sites, but I’m most familiar with these 2 and have contributed to each. Both sites allow you to use plug-in features where you can earn money. I’ve found Squidoo to be best at showing you ways to use their “lens” (the term they use for a web-page) to make money. They offer tutorials and forums and publish a weekly newsletter, “SquidU”, filled with tips and tricks to get the most out of your lens. Squidoo allows you to be truly creative and have fun in the process! These can also be linked to your own website or blog and thus provide another source of traffic.

And, finally, here is a great resource to discover even more article directories.

Whew! Well, I think that’s about all I’ve got for now. Thanks so much for taking the time to stay with meus through this series. If you ever have any questions about a home business or balancing it with homeschooling, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, I wish you the very best at home!

 

Grow your Twitter followers in 30 seconds!

I recently received an email form Network Marketing Coach/Teacher/Guru Mike Klingler, of Renegade University fame. He told me about a very controversial tool on Twitter. I love to tweet and have found this venue to be a great way to keep up with the latest news among those I’m interested in following, and a super way to update those same folks on what I’ve been up to – all in 140 characters or less!!

Anyway, back to the email…

The tool he talks about certainly does have the potential to give you a short cut to building your Twitter follower list. The faster you take action (takes about 30 seconds) the bigger it can grow your list.

See it at: http://www.tweetergetter.com/patfenner But review the rest of this post before you decide whether or not to use it.

Here’s the controversy:

Promoting this link is considered by some on Twitter to be quite annoying. If you go to search.twitter.com and type in tweetergetter you will be able to read from all the people who hate it (and some who like it).

From what he’s observed so far, it seems to work…the problem is that many ‘non marketers’ do not believe in short cuts to building a list or following. On the other end, of course, you have people who love the power of exponentialism (usually marketers looking for a short cut).

Some of the marketers with big reputations won’t promote it because they are rightfully afraid of how that will be perceived by ‘non marketers’ or other ‘successful’ marketers who frown on short cuts.

Here’s the rest of his email:

“I don’t like short cuts because I don’t believe they typically work. I have a feeling that this will work; however, for those that move on it before the buzz ends.

Many people will say that you should NOT use this tool because you should build your Friends list the “old fashioned way…” one follower at a time providing value.

While I agree you should emphasize value in your approach and I understand why some consider a tool like this annoying (to see marketer types come in and build huge following lists quickly with a gadget)—the reality is that many of the big name reputable marketers applied these kinds of viral strategies and were applauded for it.

It is a risk of reputation if you promote this. I, for now, have decided to share it and use it as a social experiment. It is possible that the tool may be shut down by Twitter (but there is no way they will penalize all who use it). It is just as possible that they don’t care about this tool and may even be quite curious themselves to watch this unfold.”

So there you have it, an explanation and a word of advice from someone-who-knows…much better than me!!

Take a look for yourself here… http://www.tweetergetter.com/patfenner

What Nobody Tells You…

There’s plenty to be learned about starting up a home business ~ but I’ve yet to hear or see what I’m gonna share with you here.  Read on to learn the most important thing to consider about starting and/or growing your home business.  I know you haven’t heard this before!

Click here to read the full story…

What Nobody Tells You About Your Home Business

This post is primarily aimed to you married and wanna-be WAHMs. Get comfy and open up your heart and mind, first, ’cause what I’m sharing I guarantee you won’t hear from anyone else.

Let’s start with a question…whatever your motivation for starting a home biz, and before you get to the “nitty gritty” of deciding your niche, your product, your company, your marketing plan, etc. ~ have you given a thought to how your home business will impact your family life, and even more specifically, the relationship with your husband?

As homeschoolers, we all know how easy it is to get into our own space. Although we may have started homeschooling of one mind, hubby is away at work all day, we’re home with the kids, and well, you know how it plays out (usually…). I know for myself, this journey we started on many years ago soon began to run on “auto pilot”. From time to time we made a few attempts, some more successful than others, to get dad involved, but overall they didn’t last. Now please understand, I’m not putting down my husband or myself, but it just evolved into a “mom thing”.  And as the relationship between the kids and I deepened while we continued to homeschool, it became an arena where dad felt less-than-welcome, and certainly more than a bit excluded, at times.

As I’ve shared in posts here and other articles I’ve written, I first ventured into the home business arena after my husband’s own construction business began to show the (negative) effects from today’s crazy economy. I wanted to help; I wanted to take the edge off his 100% financial responsibility for us all; I wanted to stay true to our desire to homeschool; I wanted to develop the gifts and talents I saw coming to the surface in my life. “I” wanted all that…not “we”. And as my involvement in growing a business deepened ~ developing a blog and website, “meeting” people online, forming business relationships, writing and publishing articles, etc ~ it created yet another area where he felt less-than-welcome, and totally out-of-place.

So here’s the bottom line ~ you may have the best of intentions (and I have no doubt that you do!), but please go forward with “fear and trepidation” into this world of work-at-home. The promises are indeed alluring, you will find it interesting and exciting, you will no doubt discover gifts and talents you had no idea existed; yup, it’s a fun ride! BUT, it’s not worth the damage you may do to your marriage if you go it alone. I speak from experience.

Now, I don’t want to end this on a discouraging note! I have been blessed with a spouse who, in God’s infinite wisdom, is perfect-for-me. And tho’ I didn’t get started on this home business adventure with him, we are busy and excitedly planning a future for it together ~ which really was what I had been dreaming of anyway. It has become something “we” want! Realistically, we have very different personalities, working styles, methods of organization, ways we relate to people, etc, and I know that these differences will create sources of friction in times to come. But I also know that by anticipating them, we will be able to work thru them, and end up with a strong business and, more importantly, a stronger marriage.

So, if the desire and time and resources and opportunities are leading you down this road right now ~ go for it! But don’t do it alone! Living, learning, loving, and working are all best done at home, among people who love you, accept you, want the best for you, and will work together with you! If it’s gonna be a home business, make sure it’s as welcoming as your own home…

The skinny on Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a wonderful addition to any web-based home business.  Here’s “the skinny” on what it is, and how to learn more about it so that you can use it yourself!

Way-back-when…when I thought I was up-to-date ’cause I sent emails (!), I started noticing the fine print on the bottom of alot of homeschooling and home-making sites I visited. “Affiliates”… “Associates”… Didn’t mean much to me at first, but gradually my curiosity got the best of me, and I “clicked”! Wow! This was a whole new world – “join us, invite others to buy our XYZ product and make money in the process!” Well, at the time, I had no website, didn’t know what the word “blog” meant and had no clue that you could even put together something called a “sig file” to close your emails (no less use it as a marketing tool)!

I just thought the concept was a neat idea.

So I started becoming an affiliate of the companies that had products I enjoyed and used…but didn’t “do anything” with it. Now I know better!

Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for both the marketer and home business owner, and depending on the product, can be a great way to launch a home business, which I’ll explain a bit later. Affiliate programs enable a business to have virtually free marketing that’s viral, which is great for them.

“Viral” describes how something is distributed: think of a flu that passes from one person to another in all sorts of different ways. (A virus – which is a bad thing for your computer – also passes virally, and is not great for anybody!) Think about it, if you had 5 people that told 5 people that told 5 people, etc how quickly would that add up? Companies want to “hire” many affiliates so that 100’s of people can learn about their product at no up-front cost for themselves. They only pay if a sale is made. Not a bad deal for them!

 

Your benefit is that as an affiliate, you earn a commission from the sale. The viral thing works in your favor here as well, because you don’t need to make all your sales face-to-face. A well-done website that provides practical ways, say, to use a specific product, can allow you to center a home business around a product that

- you don’t buy

- you don’t need warehouse space to store

- doesn’t need employees to handle customer service

- doesn’t require you to handle returns

- don’t need to buy supplies to ship

- don’t need money to keep purchasing inventory

or any of the other hassles of handling an actual product. The company does that all for you! Your are, in essence, only the advertising agency.

 

Lest I make this sound a bit too easy, let me also add that to excel at this approach does require work! It involves

- finding (and “working”) a profitable niche

- researching good (credibility is extremely important – never risk it!) products that have affiliate programs (not all do)

- getting the word out from your end (developing your own marketing programs and avenues and building a list), and

- time!

If this concept still interests you, here are a few places to get started:

Probably the lead guru of Affiliate Marketing “how-to” is Rosalind Gardner, and her Super Affiliate Handbook is referred-to over and over again – whether directly or by passing on the information and tools she outlines. Click here to get more information on purchasing the book. At $47, it’s not really going to break the bank, and I think you’ll find it to be a valuable resource.

However, there are lots of other reliable, reputable and free resources as well!!

Ken Evoy, of SiteBuildIt! fame, has made available a FREE 10-day course on Affiliate Marketing called the Affiliate Marketing Master Course; it’s a great way to get started. My suggestion? Download yourself a copy and read it in bits and pieces. It’s a whole lotta education to digest!

Amazon.com calls their affiliates “Associates”. Once you sign up as an associate – for no charge, of course, they offer many creative ways to market your favorite products. Plus, they provide reports, training, tips, and the ability to build and organize your own online store, as well as lots of other goodies. Their support is excellent as well.

Nicole Dean is a successful affiliate marketer who has tons of resources of her own. She offers a newsletter and has recommended a series of emails created by Alice Seba (aka the Network Marketing Sweetie) offering free affiliate marketing tips. Alice has developed an entire system of training tools that you can use no matter what products you’re promoting. Just to give you a “heads-up”, when you sign up for the series I mentioned, you are led to a page where you can also purchase her Affiliate Marketing Sweetie System, for $37.95, but it is optional. The information provided on that page is worth reading, but I’ve never purchased the system, so you’ll have to decide for yourself. A plus: it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee…

Mila Sidman of InternetBasedMoms also has a step-by-step affiliate training series that you might want to check out. This is also free and all posted as web-pages, so you can work at your own pace. She gives links to lots of other related articles as you go, if you’re really hungry for the education.

Commission Junction is a great place to look to begin to create some passive supplemental income. You search for companies according to your interest or niche, and can locate many affiliate-relationship possibilities in one place. They even provide banners and other marketing tools, on-line support and site help to get you going.

 

Think that’s enough to get you started ? All of these resources can help you develop your own blog or website into a source of income. How much you can make varies, depending on the program and price of the products, but above all else, your consistent hard work and determination are key. So now all that’s left is for you to make the first move!

Affiliate Programs – Support is Crucial

When you sign up for an affiliate program you need guidance from an affiliate program manager to get you on the right path to Internet marketing success. Take their knowledge and use your time and resources efficiently to ensure profits from your efforts.

Read more here…

Affiliate Program Support is Crucial

When you are deciding whether to become a participant in an affiliate program there is one thing you definitely need to consider. That consideration is whether there is the support system in place within an affiliate program to help you succeed. When you sign up for an affiliate program you will need guidance from an affiliate program manager to get you on the right path to Internet marketing success. They know their program better than you do. You need their support so you can use your time and resources efficiently to ensure profits from your efforts.

With a great support system in place in an affiliate program, two things result. First, you gain the knowledge, insight, best practices, processes, and resources you need to develop your own affiliate marketing business. All of the quality information and resources you receive from an affiliate manager are fodder for your website content. They are also fodder for your article marketing and other promotional efforts. Second, you can offer this support to your own downline to help them grow their affiliate businesses.

When you tap into the support system your affiliate program provides, you end up taking away quality information that you can pass on to your customers. It’s wise to soak up as much information as you can from an affiliate manager who offers his or her support. They may give you product updates that you can incorporate into your article writing efforts.

Armed with this timely content you can perform article distribution with a quality distribution service. This means you will get those links out that will lead people to where your affiliate products are. With useful information sourced from an affiliate manager, you establish your credibility in the marketplace. Credibility leads to traffic to your website.

Support from an affiliate manager is not limited to information that you can use to promote your products. Support from an affiliate manager also means advice on what to do and not do when it comes to marketing initiatives. Good affiliate managers know their products inside out. They have dealt with many affiliate program participants. They have the statistics and data that show them what works and what doesn’t when it comes to selling their products. They can lend support to your affiliate program by giving you advice on what marketing routes to take.

You should inquire of them concerning this. Why spend time in marketing efforts that will produce little or no results. Get that “seasoned veteran” support that a good affiliate manager can offer you. You will then focus your efforts on activities that are proven to produce results. You know they will because your affiliate manager has the data to show you they will. That’s why a quality affiliate program offers support from a knowledgeable affiliate manager. A poor affiliate program offers no such support. They offer you a banner to stick on your blog or website and that’s about all. You need more than that from an affiliate program. You need that support program that spurs you on to better marketing activities.

Support for you from an affiliate program is important for another reason. Quality support helps you through the dog days of affiliate marketing. Those days will come. There will be days when you feel you are making no progress. Maybe your article marketing campaign has not produced the results you want. Here’s where you can talk to an affiliate manager for advice. He or she may tell you that you are not focusing your article content to the right niche markets. He or she may advise you to offer additional specific information concerning your affiliate product to readers. They may direct you to a better article distribution service where you can get widespread distribution of unlimited articles.

Affiliate managers know the best marketing methods and can give you practical and moral support on how to approach your personal affiliate program. Do not underestimate the value of moral support from a program manager. During those dog days, a quick call or e-mail to an affiliate manager for advice may be just what you need. They may give you a quick pep talk encouraging you not to give up. They may advise you to focus your efforts on one aspect of marketing at a time. In other words, they will help you see the positives of your affiliate program, so you do not develop a defeatist attitude. That can work wonders for you and keep you motivated to plod onward.

Choose an affiliate program that offers support to all affiliate members. Use this support to make yourself a better marketer. Use this support to learn more about your affiliate products so you can pass this information to your downline. You then become their support mechanism. A good affiliate program will offer you the support you need so that you and they both can reap the profits that the affiliate program promised right from the start.

Keep the wind behind your sales,
Jim

Jim Slader manages the Affiliate Program at Article Marketer. He provides training and advice to article marketer affiliates and is a regular contributor to their blog. Stop by and learn what’s new in affiliate marketing! Are you an Article Marketer Affiliate? You can sign up here!

Homeschooling Dads: Honey, I’m Home!

Are you satisfied with the involvement – or lack thereof – of your husband in your family’s homeschool?

Do you feel frustrated trying to get him “plugged in”? Or are you happy with the amount of time and energy he’s contributing?

Many families start out on this journey called homeschooling envisioning that it will draw their family closer…their relationship with each other (parent to parent and parent to child) will deepen…life will be rosy and fulfilling…and then reality steps in! We’ve been this long enough to understand the benefits of homeschooling, but we also understand how it challenges the family dynamics.

Add to that a family business, and it can get even messier!

Dads often get “lost in the shuffle” for a myriad of reasons. I discuss a few of them here… First of all, by necessity, they are usually gone all day earning a living (and enabling mom to be home teaching). And in this day and age, many families are deciding that they just can’t seem to make ends meet on one income, so even though Dad is bringing home the bacon, this single-income situation may create some stress. If the plan (or hope) is for dad to teach a subject, by the time he gets home, he’s often too beat to teach, and truth be told, the kids may have “had it” as well! When and if a home business is envisioned to alleviate the stress of a single income (which was the case in our own family), it may only serve as just another area for dad to feel excluded!

So what to do?

What do YOU do?

We’re hoping to get input from as many homeschoolers as we can; and using that information begin to help create answers for us all!

Please share with us the answers you might have to the following questions:

1) Are you satisfied with the involvement – or lack thereof – of your husband in your family’s homeschool?

2) Do you feel frustrated trying to get him “plugged in” or are you happy with the amount of time and energy he’s contributing?

3) How do you think your educational efforts could be improved by his increased involvement?

4) What areas do you see that he could become involved in to be more a part of things?

5) What part do you see yourself (moms) playing to enable that to happen?

You can either post a response below or send in a comment at our website. Subscribe to both sites via RSS and you won’t miss a post, but be assured we’ll be updating both pages as we hear from you! And please do pass this on to any homeschoolers you know – helping each other, we all succeed!

Thanks in advance,