Sales has long been regarded as a numbers game because your success depends on selling small amounts to many persons or selling large amounts to a smaller number of people.

It would not be incorrect to conclude that marketing is also a numbers game, and this is especially true of Affiliate Marketing.  You also need large numbers of targeted prospects to see your offers and click on your affiliate link so you can make money online.  How does the Know, Like and Trust factor encourage others to click on your affiliate links?

It has often  been stated  that people do business with those whom they’ve come to know, like and trust.  So while Affiliate Marketing is great for beginners to internet marketing, you’ll become more successful as you build relationships over time.

An effective starting point is with a blog where you provide posts and articles that offer answers to questions and solutions to concerns your readers may have.  Through your posts, your readers will get to know you as your personality and authenticity are reflected in your writing style and quality.

Over time when your readers  see that you’re willing to provide valuable content for free, they are more apt to click on your affiliate links and purchase products through you.  This is because they now trust you that you would recommend only what you’ve personally used and got benefit from, or at the very least know the quality of previous work produced by the marketer you are an affiliate for.

How has the know, like and trust factor proven to be helpful in your online business?  Please share.

Featured “Monday Writer” – Martha Giffen

Social media marketing has taken the online business world by storm and the quickest, easiest way to participate is by using Twitter.

Twitter is to online marketing what the business networking luncheon is to the offline world.  People are there to meet and greet, see and be seen, and engage in conversation about their products or services.

Just like the networking after-hours club, Twitter does have some do’s and don’ts.  Think of it as many conversations going on at once and you are going to insert yourself into the conversation.  You wouldn’t go into a crowded room carrying a neon sign telling the whole room “buy my stuff, buy my stuff.”  Right?

Social media is relational.

The sooner you realize that, the faster you will tip the scales in your favor.  People buy from people they know, like, and trust.  Period.

So, how do you get people to bond with you in 140 characters or less?  By following a few simple guidelines:

• Always use your real name. You are trying to brand yourself.  Don’t hide behind some cute screen name.  Doesn’t work for your biz!
• Use a current picture. It’s all about the know, like, and trust. They need to “see” who they will be buying from!
• Be engaging. Start conversations and contribute to the ones going on.  Let people know you are one interesting person!
• Watch your tweets. Tweet good content and they will come back again and again.  Remember, no negative comments.  Ever.
• Do unto others. Be a team player.  Retweet other’s content and links.  They will surely do the same for you!
• Keep it coming. Sprinkle your links to your products throughout your Twitter time and be consistent.  You want people to be watching and waiting for your awesome tweets!

Social media is here to stay.  Don’t try to keep up with everything at once.  Master Twitter and you are in the game to win!

If you want more Twitter advice, my free copy of BestTweetTips can help you out!

Happy Tweeting!

-Martha Giffen

p.s.  Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter! @MarthaGiffen

Martha helps entrepreneurs through the MAZE of online marketing. She owns Best Kind Marketing, LLC, am a motivator extraordinaire, social networking diva, blogger, wife, mom, and all-around happy person!

If you are just starting out online, or maybe in the first three months you may be considered a ‘young online entrepreneur”.  You probably feel intimidated much like a young child who starts attending a new school in the middle of the semester.  Everyone seems to know someone else or have a large following, but no one knows who you are.

I can relate to how you feel because I felt the same way when I started my online business.  What I found out, through observation and training,  is that if you are willing to do what it takes, you can expand your reach and establish your credibility online fairly quickly.  Unfortunately I was not aware of some of the points I’m about to share until quite some time after I’d started my first blog.

1.   Start or re-commit to your blog:  Many people, including offline small business owners or entrepreneurs, hear the word blog and it conjures images of what blogs originally were: somewhat like an ongoing diary of events, or blurbs of what you’re doing.  Not anymore. Blogs have evolved into valuable websites managed by people who have information to share with others.

2.   Your blog is your hub or can be compared to your ‘home’ on the internet.  Just as you would want to keep you home attractive and appealing so that guests will want to visit with you and return, so you’ll want to make your blog visually appealing and easy to navigate.  Make sure that your name is somewhere on your blog as the author.  It can be frustrating to visit a blog and find no information on the owner and the posts just say “by Admin.”

3.   Creating great content is essential.  Build the “wow!” factor by giving your readers valuable information in your posts.

4.   When your readers leave a comment, acknowledge and thank them.  They did not have to do this.  If someone asks a question, no matter how trite it may appear to be to you, make sure to reply as this will show that you really care about people and respect those who choose to visit your blog and are looking to you for more information.  At the same time, you establish your own credibility when you do so.

5.   Become a part of the blogosphere. You may find this confusing because it’s understood at this point that you have a blog; but there is more involved.  The blogosphere is made up of many bloggers in various niches where people with  similar or complimentary niches connect or link with each other.

To be part of the blogosphere you will need to leave your ‘home’ and visit other people’s ‘homes’, which means visiting other blogs, leave meaningful comments, and place your link on their blogs.  You’ll find that many of these bloggers will reciprocate by visiting your blog and leaving comments as well.

This is a great way to establish your credibility and help others to get to know you.  When I visit other blogs I often take the time to read comments on a post.  I’ll sometimes click on the name of someone whose comment I found interesting to learn more about them and I’m usually taken to their blog.  The same will be true for you.  Think of this as one aspect of networking on the internet.

Would you like to discover more tips on how easy it is to build a blog to give you massive visibility, attract people and establish your credibility online?  Click on  http://mysuccesscircleonline.com/VideoSeries now then share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Customer follow-up is an area that is important in any business, but is critical to anyone in any type of sales.

1.The Invisible Sign - Mary Kay Ash taught that she imagined that everyone wore an invisible sign around their neck that says “Make Me Feel Important.”  Isn’t this really true about ourselves even if we don’t readily admit it?  We know it has value because when we are made to feel special by someone else, and especially at a place where we spend our money, we remember it.

Business owners – entrepreneurs must promote ideas and implement strategies to ensure that each customer is made to feel special.  Ultimately each business owner has to determine which ideas would be best for his or her area of business, but tried and true strategies abound.

For online businesses e-mail marketing is one way to follow-up with customers.  Some internet marketers have gone a step further.  Two marketers immediately come to mind.  In opting-in for a report they both asked for physical address and I felt that was an over-kill but I gave it anyway.  About two weeks later I found out why.  One of their strategies is to not only communicate with their market online, but they also send physical cards like the ones found at http://cardsuccesscircle.com

Some basic suggestions that work for most businesses would be:

Gifts with Purchase
Add-on Service
Customer Appreciation Days
Thank You Cards
Follow-up Calls and/or Surveys
Special Day Cards
Thinking of You
“I Value Your Opinion” – Referral Cards

By making your customers and clients feel special, you are building strong, long-lasting relationships.

2. Referrals and Testimonials – Customers who know you care are happy to give you their business and they will also be happy to refer their friends and family to you.

It is said that ‘word of mouth’ is the best form of advertisement and this is even more important in our current economy. People have become more conscious of good customer service; it’s no longer a matter of purchasing sales and services from just any provider or supplier. They want to know they are doing business with a person or company that has an excellent reputation for providing great service after the sale.

The result of happy customers should be unsolicited testimonials. When customers give these verbally ask them to put their testimonials on paper and if you have not started doing this, start today. A simple system would be to use a 3-ring binder with sheet protectors and every time you receive a written testimonial you add it to your binder.

Another option is to have them send their testimonials by e-mail, and include their name and address for verification.

Referrals and testimonials create added value for your business as savvy customers are more inclined to make their decisions based on referrals or recommendations from their peers.

People have been known offline to make a big fuss about huge ‘Giveaways’ that turn out to be very disappointing for many customers because the item that was given was of poor quality or of very little value.

What about those of us who work online?  What should we give away, and how can giving away valuable products help to attract more visitors and ultimately business to our website?

The most important thing to keep in mind is that whatever we give away, whether it’s a free report, an e-book, e-course, teleseminar, etc. should be of good quality and value.  Someone may reason that it does not make sense to give away a report which you could probably sell for $17 or even $27.  On the surface it may not seem to be a good business decision, but it could be one of the best business decisions that you make.

For one thing, if you do not have a huge list to market to, selling a $17 or $27 report is not going to bring you much money.  Another thing is that when your readers see the valuable content that you’ve given away, they will not only thank you, but they will more readily be attracted to any future products you may market to them.

In order to benefit from the valuable content that you give to your visitors, you must be able to capture their basic information, usually their name and e-mail address on an opt-in form on your blog, or an opt-in or squeeze page.

Many online marketers then send these persons to a download page link.  What I’ve found that works better is to send them to an autoresponder message where you thank them for requesting the product and send the download link in that first e-mail.  In this was you immediately start to build a relationship with your visitor and you would have verified that there are no errors in the e-mail address.  You also want to assure your visitors that their information will not be shared with anyone else.

As more people subscribe and take advantage of your valuable free giveaway you will be building your list and will have more people to market to in the future.

When you market offline you get to physically interact with your prospects and customers.  They get to see and read your facial expressions as well as your body language.  When you market online people can base their opinions only on the image or persona that you present to them.  They can individually create their own perception of who you are.

It is not always easy to translate who you really are online and it takes time to refine as well as a measure of skill.

Perhaps like me you may have found Twitter a challenge at the outset.  I’m more reserved, like to observe people before jumping in.  I laugh a lot with close friends, but smile more often than laugh.  I’m detail oriented and like real discussions and conversations but was never good at ‘one-liners.’  So, initially I found it difficult to condense what I wanted to say in 140 characters.   Did you have that challenge?

Another thing that presents a challenge when marketing online is that you can say something with  smile in your heart and on your face, but when it’s on paper it can be interpreted many different ways.  What I’d notice on Twitter is that people would add  lol, , haha, or tee-hee to indicate that this should be considered a funny tweet or it’s meant to make you laugh.

Although we are working from the comfort of our home office  we have to interact with others and just as we cultivate personal and business relationships offline, we need these kinds of relationships online.   For example you made need help with a document that should be uploaded easily through your FTP software but for reasons unknown it’s not.  Have you built  relationship with an online business associate to whom you could send an e-mail and ask for help?  Many of these relationships can develop through Twitter.

I sometimes look at the Twitter Profile pages of people I’d like to follow or follow back and see that they made numerous tweets, but have not interacted with anyone.  They do not reply to anyone’s comments; they do not RT someone’s tweet; they don’t send a tweet to any specific person; there’s just no interaction.

It’s important to participate in conversations and reach out to others on Twitter.  Don’t expect that everyone is going to reciprocrate.  They may not even respond to your attempts, but do not allow that to discourage you.  It happens in the offline world too.

Be willing to share vauluable tips and articles even if these are other people’s articles.  Just give them credit.  When you show that you are willing to provide valuable content, people will eagerly look out for your tweets.

On Twitter you do want to update your tweets fairly regularly, but you would want to avoid doing so so frequently that your followers become overwhelmed with your tweets.

On the other hand, we are all independent business owners and have the right to use  tools to filter out some of the online noise, but it’s also important to keep in mind that Relationship Marketing means communicating directly with your network and interacting with them directly so that they can get to know that you regard them as being of value and important.

What are some of the tips you’ve learned from Twitter?  Please keep the conversation going with your comments.

Providing valuable content on your blog, the hub of your online activities, is not always easy.  Your goal should always be to provide a valuable source of information so that your readers will want to come back for more.

It’s easy to reason that since you’re not being paid for the information on your blog, it does not have to be of the highest quality.  Thinking that way would be a huge mistake.  Put yourself in your readers’ place.  Would you revisit a website where the information is of little or no value?

It is true that you are in business because we want to make money.  On the other hand, the interesting thing is that when you give your readers really valuable information, you are nurturing and building relationships so that when you have something for sale they will be more willing to purchase products from or through you.  They will have come to appreciate that you have their interests at heart and so you would recommend only products that are worthwhile and will be of  benefit  to them.

What are your thoughts on the topic?  Please share in the Comments section.

What is a Domain Name?  It’s the name that you will give to your website. It’s the URL that people will type in to gain access to whatever you are offering online.  It’s the name that over time people will come to associate with you.

Choosing a domain name is step that requires careful consideration and should involve some research for a number of reasons:

1)    You can make the decision to use your name; however, while I strongly recommend that you purchase your name if it’s available, if you are new to the internet you may want to park it temporarily.  An important reason for this recommendation is that you may not be sure at this stage what you want your name to represent in the online community.  You may need time to determine how you’d like to brand yourself online and what you’d like people to associate your name with.

2)     A keyword-rich domain may be more advantageous to you the beginner.  What this means is that once you’ve decided on your area of focus, you will need to do research to find out what people are looking for.  Based on this keyword research you would endeavor to incorporate some of those keywords or a key phrase into your domain name.

3)    Three of the benefits of a keyword-rich domain are: 1)  Your website with your unique domain will attract the search engines more quickly and start the process of building your ranking. 2)  When persons are searching for information or resources and type in the keywords you’ve selected they will be more readily directed to your keyword-rich domain; your website. 3)  You will begin to build your brand online.

If you are struggling to understand how to get your online business going so you can start making money, I invite you to click on http://mysuccesscircleonline.com/incubator and claim your free quick start video. Dr. Jeanette Cates will send you the video by e-mail.

What is one thing that is holding you back from getting started online today?  Or if you have recently started online, what is holding you back from moving forward?

The value of using video in online marketing strategies has been highlighted and re-emphasized.  Many of us are hesitant to do anything new because of not knowing how to do it.

Earlier this year one of the assignments in a Course I was taking was to create a video on YouTube using Google Search Stories.  Prior to this I’d never heard of Search Stories.  You can view my Search Story by clicking here.  Make sure your speakers are on.

After creating the assignment I had no idea how to upload it to my blog and viewed several “How To” videos on YouTube – some of them were very long and detailed.  I kept saying there must be an easier way or so many people would not be doing it.  I then did a Google search and found a very simple method, which I used.  In fact I was amazed at how easy it is to upload a video from You Tube to your Wordpress blog.

1. Type URL : http://www.youtube.com

2.  You have an option to search or browse.

3.  Once you find the video you are looking for you can click on the thumbnail image and it will open.

4.  Under the video screen you’ll see a box with <Embed>.  Click on the word and the code will be highlighted, which you will copy and paste into your blog post.

5.  Note that you can select the size of the video to match the width of your blog by scrolling down the page and selecting one of the pre-set sizes or enter a custom size.  Once that is done, you go back and click on the embed code and copy the entire code.

6. Go to your Dashboard and either add a new post or get ready to paste the information to existing text.

Here is the critical part!  On the right side of your posting are two tabs: Visual and HTML.  Before pasting the embed code, change the tab to HTML.  Don’t worry if nothing shows up. Change the tab back to Visual and keep typing.

7. Save the Draft then ‘visit site’.  Voila! Your YouTube video will be there in its shining glory! If you’re satisfied, go ahead and click Publish!

Please let me know if you found this useful.  Did I miss a step? Or do you have an easier way? Please share that as well.

Recently I have been focusing on the value of having a blog, which should be the hub of your online activities.  In talking with people, visiting forums, I’ve found out that the reason some people do not understand the value of having a blog because in many cases they started a blog, but did not get traffic or visitors to their blog, so they became discouraged and gave up.

I found this video by Lisa Irby of http://2createawebsite.com that’s approximately 9 minutes, in which she shared some valuable pointers:

For your blog to be successful, some of the key points Lisa made that I took note of were:

• You need to treat your internet business seriously
• You need to provide something of value on your blog
• You need to be thoroughly engaged in you audience
• You need to solve actual problems

What are your thoughts?  What other suggestions would you make for someone who’s struggling with their blog?