Internet Marketing Blog

Although some internet marketers are afraid of offering refunds, it’s the best route to take if you want to increase your sales, as you will be removing one of the biggest barriers to people ordering from you. But what do you do if you start receiving lots of requests for refunds for your products? If this happens, you need to look at any comments made by the people returning them.

If several people start saying the same thing

Perhaps the information was inaccurate, for example – then you have a specific area to look at.

If there are no clues to what the problem could be, it’s time to delve a little deeper. You can always ask each person to elaborate on why they need a refund, but closer inspection should give you some pointers. It may be that the price is simply set too high for the product. If it is an e-book, is it really too short? Is the information given out of date?

Always ask for a reason from the person returning the item for a refund if you can. You will always get one or two people who will return it because it just wasn’t the right thing for them, but if there is a genuine reason for the return you need to find out what it is.

If the product is yours then you can make any changes necessary, but if it was created by someone else and you are merely selling it in exchange for a commission, you will need to think carefully about whether you still want to sell it to other people.

You don’t want to become known for selling items that you know are substandard, just to try and make some extra cash. If you continue to get problems, perhaps it’s time to cut the product free and find a better replacement.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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People are drawn to passion. It seeps into everything and becomes irresistible to those who discover it. We might be talking about the greatest love story of the century, but in this case we are referring to the enthusiasm you should be feeling about your particular niche in internet marketing.You might be surprised to hear this, but choosing which products to promote purely because they bring in a huge commission every time someone buys one isn’t the best way to go about establishing an income for the long term.

Okay, you might make some real cash by doing this

How much are you really going to enjoy the process of getting it? Why not try and find products related to a subject area you are really genuinely interested in?

By doing this you are guaranteed to become an expert in that subject – that will bring in a bigger audience for whatever it is you are promoting. You will also deepen your knowledge and natural level of interest in your subject – which could lead to more opportunities for building and profiting from your knowledge in the future.

Just imagine being able to spend all day writing books and articles about your favourite subject to sell online. Lots of internet marketers do just this, and they aren’t the ones who are still working a full time job as well.

There is something infectious about reading something written by a person who has a real knowledge and passion about something. You can tell when that person loves what they do and has a real desire to share that knowledge and help others in the process.

Now that is the kind of person you are most likely to buy something from, wouldn’t you agree?

Passion really can ignite your business and send it soaring, so make sure you choose your subject carefully.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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We tread a very fine line when we’re marketing our wares online. No one likes to feel as though they’re being pushed into anything, and even when we’re sitting in the comfort of our own homes browsing the internet, it can sometimes feel as if we’re being sold to over and over again.

Of course we want to make sales if we are marketing our own (or other peoples) products, but we don’t want to annoy people in the process. We want them to remember us for the right reasons and come back and spend some more money with us in the future.

So how on earth do we achieve that precarious balance?

How do we sell without selling? Perhaps the answer can be seen in some of the best blogs the internet has to offer. The most popular blogs are invariably those where the writer has a real interest in what they are writing. Slowly their audience builds until they become a real authority on their chosen subject.

At that point, if they want to monetize their blog they could do so quite easily without being at all pushy. It would simply be a matter of integrating some Google ads in there, plus a couple of referrals to relevant sites or products that they know their readership would probably go and find elsewhere anyway.

There are certainly plenty of bloggers who start their blog purely as a means to make money. But are they more successful – or pushier – than those where the subject comes first?

I suspect the best blogs are those where preparation meets opportunity – in short, the love of a subject and the interest in it meets with the knowledge of how to make that pay the writer in the process.

In my opinion, if you need to be pushy to try and make some sales, you’re missing out on something vital somewhere.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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I’m sure you know the look.  You say to someone you know, ‘Hey I’m thinking of starting up an internet marketing business…’ and they give you that look. The one that says ‘That won’t work, I wouldn’t bother wasting your time.  The internet is full of scams, you’ll get burned and you’ll end up out of pocket.’ It hardly seems possible that someone could say so much with one look, but if you’ve ever told anyone about your online interests you’ll have had that look at some stage, and you’ll know it exists. 

The question is, how does it make you feel?

 If it makes you start questioning your idea to go into online marketing then you need to either give those people a wide berth, or not mention the subject in their company. You see, people who have that kind of defeatist attitude can be very draining to be around.  There’s always a danger that you’ll actually start listening to what they’re saying and even worse believing in it. See what happens when you encounter a setback – as you surely will at some point – and you tell them about it.

 They will be almost jumping for joy as they tell you they told you so.  It’s almost as if they are happy that you’ve failed and their negative viewpoint has been proven to be right. Who would want to be in their frame of mind?  We know that the best way to proceed is to learn from our errors, our mistakes and our failures and come back stronger than before to enable us to reach our goals. So be careful if you are surrounded by people who don’t believe you’ll succeed in internet marketing.  There are plenty of people who work from home when they like and for however long they like, working on their computer and making thousands of dollars in the process, to prove them wrong.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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You can’t and won’t please every customer you ever sell something to. Some people will take you up on your money back guarantee, some will love your product, and you’ll always get a few who will buy it, keep it, but still let you know how disappointed they are. The lesson here is to pay attention to what your customers tell you and see what can be learned from it. In order to do this you need to take out the comments that really aren’t any use at all, such as ‘I didn’t like it’ - if there is no reason given for not liking it then that isn’t much to go on. The same goes for those few unfortunate people that are just plain nasty with their feedback. You do get these but luckily they are in a minority. Don’t let them get to you if you’re unlucky enough to get one.

What you are looking for are the constructive comments that people give you

Now it should be remembered here that you don’t need to act on any of them, but it is worthwhile reading them because they may have a valid point to get across. For example if someone tells you your freebies are a little old and have already been round the internet a few times, then you might want to think about creating some new ones of your own. However if someone has read one of your e-books telling them how to make money on eBay and they haven’t made any, then you might not want to change anything. If the method you have detailed does work (and you know because you’ve tried it yourself) then it’s safer to assume that the fault lies with the person trying it. It’s all a question of perspective - all you need to do is make sure you have the right one.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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The word ‘success’ conjures up a lot of feelings and emotions.  It tells people you’ve made it – you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve, and now you’re enjoying the results. But success is so much more than that, and internet marketing is a prime example of this.  If you decide to make a living as an internet marketer, when do you actually become successful?  When you set off on your journey?  When your website goes live?  When you find the products that sell in their thousands?  How about when you monetize your own blog and finally start making money from it? 

The truth is the road to success is never ending

Every step you take on that road is a success in itself.  If you learn search engine optimisation techniques for the first time, that’s a success.  If you make your first ever affiliate sale, that’s certainly a success, as much as making your first thousand dollars (or a hundred thousand) is. Success really is a journey – you get to decide what direction you’re going in and how you’re going to get there, and you celebrate notable milestones along the way. If success was just about having an ultimate goal, that goal would be even harder to reach.Make a point from now on to celebrate even the smallest victories in your quest to perfect your internet marketing activities.  As you reach and achieve each goal – each success – in turn, so you should set another one to take its place. Remember that success is a learning curve and an experience in itself.  Try and figure out why you succeed in doing a certain task, so that you can do it again (perhaps even better) in future. Whatever you are doing, you are successful now if you are already en route to your goal. There’s no better motivation than that.Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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It could happen. Internet marketing and affiliate marketing are two of the easiest routes to take to riches, without having to shell out lots of money to get started, or devote lots of time to in the early stages. You can simply allocate the resources and knowledge you already have to your quest, and build on them as you go along. But without even knowing it you could be placing a ceiling on the amount you are likely to earn from your business – and it’s all tied up with how you feel about money. The truth is that if you feel comfortable with having a certain level of income you are unlikely to earn much more. After all if you are comfortable, you’re happy.

Where is the motivation to make any changes to your current situation?

On the other hand, if you’ve always dreamed of earning a large amount of money you are far more likely to see the cash you have been thinking about, because your brain will start to find ways to draw it towards you. This is a key point to remember if your earnings from internet and affiliate marketing haven’t been as much as you would have liked. Are you actually preventing yourself from being as successful as you could be? If you are then you need to re-evaluate your goals to see where you can improve things.

It may be that what you first thought was a lack of knowledge about the marketplace holding you back is actually apathy, because you’re happy where you are. If there is no desire to earn, then there is no desire to learn, or push your internet marketing efforts any further than you have to. So think about your attitude towards money, your attitude towards internet marketing and how much cash you have made so far. If you’re not doing as well as you’d hoped, you might now have the answer why.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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E-book ideas can be found all around us.  But good e-book ideas are a little harder to track down.  How do you know what makes a good seller?  How do you know you’re going to be writing something worthwhile that is going to make some sales for you? If you’re up for a spot of writing then you need to be up for a spot of research first.  Check out what’s currently selling in your area of expertise online.  What makes them so successful?  Most e-books have an angle on things that no other e-book has got; you need to be able to write something that’s unique and fills a gap in the marketplace. 

Certain subjects will always be popular

Think about making money online, working from home and making a second income in general.  But you still have to have a great idea and a new angle to make it work for you. People always love step by step guides that reveal lots of tips, tricks and tactics for succeeding where they might previously have failed.  Making it easy for people to give something a go and providing proof that it really can be done work well in virtually every single e-book you will read. If you have a niche you’re interested in explore it thoroughly and see if you can figure out what’s missing. 

Pay attention to what your current contacts and customers are telling you too.  But be aware that a gap in the market could mean someone’s already tried to sell something to that area and failed. There’s always room to publish another book on a subject that’s already been done to death, but you still need a good angle to make it fly.  Self-publishing means you could publish anything if you liked, but it’s wise to check there’ll be an audience for it first. 

Sean Rasmussen

Internet Marketing Blog

WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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Ah, the personal side of internet marketing. Some people forget all about this, but it’s the ones who remember it – and make the most of it – who tend to experience the most success, the biggest pay checks and the biggest reputations as well.

What do I mean by giving a bit of yourself?

Well basically what I’m saying is that you should take a more personal stance towards your communications with your customers. People like to know that they’re dealing with a proper person online, and not a faceless company. If they get to know you – albeit over an internet connection – they will be far more likely to spend money with you. It’s also good to relate your experiences in whatever niche you are interested in. So if you have a website and a blog related to affiliate marketing, you might decide to reveal your experiences regarding the success (or lack of) that you’ve had with certain companies.

This can work really well as you can turn it into your advantage. If you’ve had a bad start with a scheme and then turned things around to end up making a lot of money with it, why not tell people about it? You could even write a revealing e-book which will ensure they don’t make the same mistakes as you, instead seeing almost instant success… In short making sure your customers get to know a little bit about you is just as important as making sure you know a lot about them. You’ll want to be professional and project the right image in that sense – no one wants to come across like a bumbling idiot who doesn’t know what they’re doing – but you should make every effort to connect with your customers and prospects as often as you can, so they will come to trust you.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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Building up an email list is an essential part of any internet marketing business.  Not only does it enable you to keep in touch with your customers, it also gives you a ready made audience to promote your business to. If you think about the email lists you have signed up to in the past, you’ll notice they all have one thing in common – and that’s value.  No matter what the subject is or who sends it, they must all have value otherwise you wouldn’t have signed up in the first place. Making sure your own email list receives value from you is therefore of paramount importance if you want to make sure your subscribers don’t start disappearing on you.  Remember, happy subscribers are much more likely to spend money with you. 

You can add value in lots of ways, but one good method is to offer a free email course

Choose a subject that is relevant to your website and create a short course of articles on that subject.  Each part would then be sent to your subscribers in a separate email. It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily have to promote anything in these emails; in fact it’s often better if you don’t.  But you should make sure you provide a link back to your website in every part of the course as this will encourage people to visit and have a look at what else you have to offer.The key word here is value.  You need to offer valuable and useful information in every email in order to get the best response possible for your mailings.  Keep them reasonably short but pack in as much as you can and edit out anything that doesn’t need to be there. Focus on keeping your email subscribers happy and your internet business will benefit enormously as a result.  

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
WealthCreationAffiliate.com © 2007 - 2008

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