KitwanaAkil.com

By Jimmy D. Brown, SalesArmySecrets.com

What if there was a magic bottle that you could rub and a
traffic genie would pop out to beckon to your every
internet marketing command?

After the initial shock wore off, you’d be quite happy to
have it in your possession, right?

Well, in a manner of speaking, such a genie exists. She
exists in the form of an “affiliate manager”.

An “affiliate manager” is someone who oversees the
operations of an affiliate program in exchange for
compensation.

And, out of all the traffic “tools” on the market, the
affiliate manager is the one that you should be using daily
in your business if you own your own product.

Why?

The bottom line is: more traffic, which results in more
revenue for you.

But, specifically, there are 3 reasons why you need an
affiliate manager…

1. Recruiting.

Your affiliate manager can recruit new affiliates into your
program for you. Instead of you spending time trying to
find (and then convince!) affiliates to join your program,
your “affman” can do this for you while you focus on other
things.

2. Rewarding.

Everyone knows that simply getting people to join your
affiliate program is not enough. It takes a lot of effort
to get passive affiliates to become (and stay!) active. An
affiliate manager is responsible for motivating your team
to remain involved in your promotions.

3. Running.

Beyond getting affiliates into your program and making sure
they stay active, your affiliate manager can “run” as much
of your operations as you want her to. Here are just a few
things my affiliate manager (props to Nicole!) does…

* Creates training materials
* Write follow-up mailings
* Communicates with affiliates
* Answer affiliate support questions
* Monitors contests and incentive programs
* Posts to our blog
* Clerical stuff (creates rebrandable files, etc.)
* Circulates content (article directories, etc.)

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Perhaps the best part of hiring an affiliate manager is the
fact that it doesn’t have to cost you a penny in out of
pocket expenses. That is, you can setup your agreement to
be performance-based: you pay the affiliate manager a
percentage of the overall revenue generated through her
efforts … the more revenue she brings in through the
affiliate program, the more she earns.

Now, the question is –

** Where do I find an affiliate manager? **

There are actually quite a few ways to find quality
(emphasis needs to be on “QUALITY!”) affiliate managers for
your program. Let me share just one…

One of the easiest ways to find an affiliate manager is to
visit your favorite affiliate marketing (or internet
marketing) forum and post a request asking for
recommendations or responses for your needs.

You can do this in two ways -

1. Post a PUBLIC Request.

That is, you post a message for everyone to see, with brief
details on the position you have available and that you are
seeking recommendations or interest to explore further.

2. Post a PRIVATE Request.

The other option is to identify those participants at the
forum who appear to have experience and/or knowledge in
affiliate marketing who might be good affiliate manager
material. Then, you would simply contact them privately to
see if there is interest in discussing your needs.

Running your own affiliate program is a tremendous traffic
generation tool, but it has a lot of parts. There are many
different activities that are involved in successfully
running an affiliate program, and hiring an affiliate
manager to oversee your operations is a great way to free
up your time to work on creating additional products and
other “creative” work.

A good affiliate manager can bring in affiliates, train and
motivate them, and run your operations for you. Her efforts
bring in the traffic; your efforts turn the traffic into
orders.

It’s the closest thing to a traffic genie in a bottle that
you’ll find. Rubbing is optional. Using this strategy
isn’t.

———–
Jimmy D. Brown is the author of Sales Army Secrets, full of
meaty details on ways to find affiliate managers, how to
structure your agreement with them and tasks to have them
handle. Details at SalesArmySecrets.com

By Jimmy D. Brown

You make a $97.00 sale and you say an emphatic “Yes!” as a smile breaks out on your face. This selling online thing is cool and it feels good to be getting sales.

Then, a few days later you get a refund request. The $97.00 is gone. And so is your smile.

Or, worse still, a month and a half later (after you’ve spent the $97.00) a chargeback hits you. Not only is the $97.00 gone, but you’ve also been zapped $20.00 in service fees.

Instead of making money, you’re losing money.

Now, to be sure, that doesn’t happen on EVERY single sale. If it did, we’d all be out of business. But, it does happen frequently, from 2-10% of the time depending upon your offer.

Regardless of how often it occurs, when it does, it takes money out of your pocket.

So much emphasis is placed on ways to “make money” that many people forget to focus on how to KEEP the money that you make.

In today’s article (with part 2 coming later) we’re going to talk about increasing your profit through the “backdoor” by identifying 10 ways to reduce refunds and chargebacks so you can make the most money possible from your internet business.

The best part is this: most of them take just a few minutes to implement and most of them don’t cost a penny.

1. Be Accurate In Describing Your Product.

Probably the most common “legitimate” reason for a refund is when the product or service doesn’t deliver what was described during the sales process. When you create advertisements and salesletters, it’s important that you be accurate in describing your product.

This involves both…

* “Avoiding hype” which creates unrealistic expectations that ultimately lead to disappointment with the order. Your advertising sets the tone for what “results” the customer feels they can accomplish. If your claims are found to be unreasonable (or downright false) then refunds will often follow.

* “Correctly Define” the components of your product including its type (I.E. digital goods vs physical goods), its size (I.E. 20 pages vs 200 pages) its delivery (I.E. Immediately after order vs within 7 days) its required skills or knowledge (I.E. For beginners vs experienced) its exclusivity (I.E. Common knowledge vs your unique offering) its compabibility (I.E. PC only vs Mac users welcome) and its freshness (I.E. Updated for 2006 vs last year’s news) to name a few.

Perhaps the easiest way to turn back refund requests is to be clear in what your product or service offers without raising false expectations.

2. Offer Several Unadvertised Bonuses.

After the sale has been completed, let the customer know that you’ll be sending them 4 or 5 “unadvertised” bonuses over the next several weeks via email. You can even list what those bonuses are and their delivery schedule.

Example: In exactly 7 days you’ll receive unadvertised bonus one, an 18-page report entitled “27 Ways to Attract Butterflies Year Round”.

These unadvertised bonuses can be extra reports, articles, audio/video, interviews, tools, etc. The important thing to remember is that they should be related to the original purchase (I.E. an extension of the base product or service being offered) and should be desirable enough to add real value to the order.

I recommend that at least one of your bonuses be a “list” report with more than 20 entries (I.E. “27 Ways to Attract Butterflies Year Round”, “Top 20 Shortcuts For Starting A Christian Bookstore” or “The 21 Best Homeschooling Time Savers”). When it’s over twenty entries, it has a tremendous perceived value.

And that’s the point here: add more value to the existing purchase. The more bang your customers get for their buck, the more likely they’ll be satisfied and NOT request a refund.

3. Clearly State The Billing Name.

For most people selling goods online, their name or company name WILL NOT be the one listed on a customer’s credit card invoice or checking account log. Generally, it will be a third party company such as CLICKBANK. Unfortunately, many vendors forget to tell the customer what the charge will appear listed as in their records.

What happens is this: A customer buys a product from Paula J. Brown. In a month or so, that customer gets their credit card statement in and sees “Clickbank / Keynetics” listed. They don’t recall doing business with Clickbank / Keynetics and instead of investigating to see what it is, they either refute the charge to their credit card (resulting in a chargeback - ouch!) or they contact Clickbank and say “I don’t recall ordering this - refund it now.”

Either way, you’re out of a sale.

Always make sure you clearly state what name the transaction will be listed under when the customer receives their statement. Do this on both your “thank you” page AND in your initial email message to your customer.

4. Be Specific In Your Guarantee.

There is a great debate on how to use guarantees. Some people argue that given a lengthy guarantee (I.E. 12 months or even lifetime) is the best option because it shows that you stand by your product and instills greater buying confidence in the customer. Bad news is, in six months when Christmas comes along and the customer needs some extra money to buy gifts, your guarantee comes to mind.

Other people argue that a shorter, limited guarantee (I.E. 30 days or “show that you’ve tried to use the product”) is the preferred way to go simply because it gives less time for refund requests and generally attracts a more quality customer who is less likely to want their money back. Bad news is, if the customer isn’t completely “wowed” with your product or service, they’ll likely ask for a refund very quickly after their purchase to avoid missing out on the guarantee period. And if you attach too many strings to your guarantee (I.E. You must PROVE you’ve tried to use the product without success), you’ll likely lose some sales.

Truth is, there is some truth to both options. And I’m not going to tell you which one is best for you. (Although, if you use someone like Clickbank, it takes the debate out - they REQUIRE a limited, 30-day guarantee period. If you process orders via a third-party, check for their specific terms on this).

But, at the bottom of the page, here’s the conclusion that I’ve come to based on my own numbers: a longer, liberal guarantee works best overall. That is, while you will have a few boneheads that ask for a refund three years after they’ve purchased it, generally you have MORE sales (because they have greater “trust” in you based on your guarantee) and actually have LESS refunds (because people forget all about you and your product after a few weeks).

5. Create A Frequently Asked Questions Page.

Setup a special page with the 10-15 most frequently asked questions (along with detailed answers, of course and make note of this page in your initial follow-up message with your customer (You know, “Hey, thanks for your order…”) AND on the order fulfillment page (I.E. “Download page”).

Just a few of the things you’ll want to include on this page are…

* How to retrieve passwords
* Tips for overcoming common errors
* How to download materials
* When “unadvertised” bonuses will arrive
* How to track orders (If applicable)
* Best way to contact you

How does this reduce refunds?

In a variety of ways, actually. Just one would be: considering the reliability (or lack thereof!) of email these days, you could miss a question from a customer altogether, resulting in frustration or a feeling of getting “scammed” which will result in a refund.

Not only will you reduce your refunds, but you’ll also dramatically reduce your customer support. A surefire winner.
Of course, there are MANY other ways to increase your profit! Check out “The Upsell Report: 24 Ways To Get Your Customers To Spend More Money” by clicking here . You’ll learn an amazing 24 different ideas for getting your customers to spend more money (sometimes 300-400 or 500% more!) Studies show as many as 1 in every 2 customers will automatically buy if you just offer one of these items.

By Jimmy D. Brown

photo credit: websuccessdiva

Writing ezine articles is one of the best business-building activities you’ll ever invest time in on the Internet. They can be used in dozens of different ways to generate web site traffic, build lists, brand your name, earn affiliate commissions and produce sales of your products and services.

They are, unquestionably, a vital part of any successful Internet marketing campaign.

By now - if you’ve read anything in the member’s area - you know I’m a big believer in writing ezine articles. And you know that I’ve devoted many of the lessons in the member’s area toward teaching you how to write, distribute and market with them.

Yet there still remains a lingering question -

WHAT should I write about in my ezine articles?

I want to share with you some brainstorming ideas that will allow you to easily come up with a couple dozen (or more) hot ideas for your upcoming ezine articles. I’m going to briefly share seven (7) fill-in-the-blank article starters along with a brief explanation to help you get started writing attention-grabbing content.

When you’re ready to write your next ezine article, consider one of these not-yet-overused formulas…

01. What To Do When [Enter Problem Here]. The idea with this article is to offer a solution to an existing problem by matter-of-factly addressing the issue being discussed in the article. “What To Do When You Need To Lose That Last 5 Pounds” points out a problem many dieters face and hints that the article will reveal a method for overcoming this barrier. This article’s pointed style makes it a sure read.

02. Can [Enter Solution Here] Help [Enter Problem Here]? Similar to number one above, this article poses a question while emphasizing both the problem and potential solution. What really works here is to ask a “curiosity-building” question by providing a solution that doesn’t seem to fit with the problem. For example: If you’re trying to re-grow hair on your balding head, could you resist reading, “Can Cheerios Help Thicken Your Hair?” I don’t think so.

03. Should You [Enter Activity Here]? (Take This Quiz). People love quizzes. They especially love to see how they measure up in some area that they are particularly interested in. That combination makes this another ezine article that gets a lot of views. “Should You Quit Your Job And Start An Internet Business? Take This Quiz!” is going to attract every dissatisfied, looking-for-greener-pastures, internet marketing wannabe on the block.

04. 7 “Must Ask Questions” for [Enter Activity Here]. This is a perfect article for the entry-level beginner in any particular field. “7 ‘Must-Ask’ Questions for First-Time Homeschoolers’ When Choosing Curriculum” is just about a guaranteed read for all new homeschooling moms and dads who don’t want to blow it for their kids. (Note: The “number” of must-ask questions can be whatever you choose.)

05. 3 [Enter Topical Adjective Here] Lessons from [Enter Pop Culture Reference]. By using references to popular culture events, characters, television shows, news stories and trends, you’ll be able to get some cheap mileage from existing “hot buttons” of the general public. I recentl wrote an article entitled, “3 Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Lessons From the Academy Awards” that garnered a lot of interest. Guess when I released it? Yep, a week before the big awards show.

06. Mastering [Enter Topic Here]: How to [Enter Tutorial Statement Here] Part 1. This is a superb article idea for a series of related tutorials. The word “master” is a bit overused at times in marketing circles, but it means to “become an expert” at something or to “achieve dominance” over something. Who wouldn’t want to “master” their activity of interest? That’s why “Mastering Weight Loss: How To Shed 12-15 Pounds in 30 Days, Part 1″ and other articles in its mold make for much-read content.

07. What Kind of [Enter Desirable Object Here] Is Best For YOU? We all want what’s “best” for us, don’t we? “What Kind Of Internet Business Is Best For You?” indicates there is something revealed in the article that will allow me to determine which of the options available to me is best suited for me. This is a really solid article to point others towards additional resources (such as special reports, mini-courses, etc.) where they can get specific information about which of the “options” mentioned in the article is most interesting and compatible with them.

So, there you have some great ideas to get you started on your next ezine article.

You know you’re going to write ezine articles, so would you like to get a LOT of completely free traffic with them? Check out “How To Get Free Traffic With Ezine Articles” by clicking here . You’ll learn a powerful (but easy) way to get a lot of visitors to your website by using your ezine articles in a special way … all at no cost to you.

photo credit: timsnell
In life, there are two commodities that are very limited: TIME and MONEY.

In marketing and online business, there are also two commodities that are limited. Guess what? They are TIME and MONEY.

You only have so many hours in the day to invest in your business and learning. And, you only have so much money to invest in your business and learning about how to make more money online.

So, when you’re looking somewhere to learn how to be a more effective marketer, you want something AFFORDABLE and CONCISE.

The bottom line is this: you want information that is relevant to your current needs - and you want to understand that information so you can actually use it - and you’d rather not have to get a second mortgage to pay for it!

What if you could pick and choose from a selection of short (but meaty) reports that were instantly applicable to your business?
What if they were all written by none other than Jimmy D. Brown?

Now they are. Check out the newly-released Small Reports at:
SRZone.com
Even if you’re not in the market today, be sure to stop by and sign up for the notifications list so you don’t miss any of the upcoming reports. One of them might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.

P.S. Time = Money. Save more of each at SRZone.com