By: Allen Lundy

Every website and blog is governed by the keywords it contains.  Organic search engine placement is determined by the use of niche keywords.  Search engines use spiders and robots to crawl through websites on a regular basis.  They identify websites and categorize them according to the content that the site contains.  If you want to be found in search engines by certain search terms, you must make sure that your website or blog contains those words in your content.

 

It may seem simple at first; just add a few of your selected keywords to your website and you’ll get the search engine placement you want.  It’s not that simple.  Too many search words or keywords are considered Spam and can get your site removed from the top search engines.  You must use your keywords appropriately and within context for the purpose of your site.  Using keywords correctly will increase traffic to your site and ultimately increase sales.

 

If you use Pay Per Click advertising you’ll need to learn the best keywords for your site, as you will be buying these words.  There are several excellent tools available online that will help you monitor and track the most important keywords for your site.  Researching the best keywords is one of the most important steps that you can take.  It will ensure that you are creating content needed for organic search placement, as well as help you determine the best keywords for your Pay Per Click campaign.  Google AdWords and WordTracker are two excellent programs that you can use to determine the best keywords for your site.

 

Some important points to remember is that you should always use the plural form when choosing keywords.  For example if you choose E-book and not E-books, your site won’t show up if someone searches for E-books.  If you use E-books, your site will show up if someone searches for the term “E-book” because the word E-book is within the plural form E-books.  Also, use keyword phrases and not just keywords, and include them in your site’s Meta Tags as well.  Keywords are essential to your affiliate marketing campaign choose them wisely.

“You must always realize and believe that you are in business to make money … You must believe in yourself, trust your judgement and continuously expand your knowledge for your business to be successful.”

Allen Lundy,  Online Turnkey Solutions

Do you believe that you have what it takes to succeed in your Affiliate Marketing business?

My goal in writiting this article is to put you in the right mindset and teach you ONE key principle that will make all the difference as you venture into starting your own Affiliate Marketing business.

Let me be perfectly clear – people are making a LOT of money every single day on the Internet. However, very few people really succeed in realizing what must be done every day to actually make lots of money.

Every day, in good times and in not so good time, hundreds, thousands and more very sharp individuals, just like yourself, go to the Internet in search of financial freedom or additional money making opportunities.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the huge potential the Internet offers anyone to make a decent income online.  However, it does take more, much more than a high intellect to be an online success.

It All Boils Down To Your Business Mindset.

I’m not a college professor or a psychologist, so I’m not going to get into any real technical jargon or talk about the “spirit within” or anything similar to this.

That is not what I mean when I speak of a Business Mindset.

What really matters is the way in which you approach Affiliate Marketing as a business. This approach will determine whether you will be a successful netprenuer or one that is not so successful.

Now, don’t take this wrong, but, IF you are like the majority of individuals seeking an online income, you are probably already looking at your online business the wrong way. Ok, You may be thinking – ‘Alright Allen what way am I looking at it?’

You are possibly looking at this business as if it were your immediate way out of debt, or that it is the easiest and quickest type of money making opportunity.

Now don’t get me wrong – there really is a lot of money to be made in Affiliate Marketing. I won’t deny that. But, right at this moment I’m not talking about making money with Affiliate Marketing.

Remember, this article is all about your business mindset.

Let me ask you this? How many of the following catch phrases look familiar to you?

“Make $10,000 per month by working just 2 hours a week!”

“Be financially independent in 30 days or less “

“Our Business-In-A Box is Guaranteed To Make You $50,000 A Year!”

Do those headlines look familiar? I’m pretty sure you have seen them or others that state basically the same thing. This type of business is seeking what are called opportunity seekers.

An opportunity seeker is somebody who is looking to make money online, but wants to do it with little work or effort. These individuals believe that if they look long enough they will find some “magic formula” that will solve all of their financial problems as well as bring them in a boat load of cash. Again, all without having to expend any effort, very little time and virtually no money.

When these opportunity seekers find what appears to be their shot at a pot of gold, they will get excited and try out the latest fad or “opportunity”. However, when this opportunity doesn’t turn into immediate cash within the first few weeks or months, they call it a scam and move on to the “next opportunity”.

Once these individuals have “tried” and failed numerous times, they eventually give up and say how they were scammed and that the Internet is full of scam artists, crooks and fakers all out to take their money. Next they ask “Is anybody really making money on the Internet”? Eventually, they end up going back to their 9 to 5 and watching TV.

But, believe it or not, after a few months they are back online again looking for more opportunities.

Now don’t get angry or upset if what I just stated sounds a little like you.  This was ME almost 5 years ago.  It is not completely your fault.

Seriously, back in the mid to late 90’s when Internet Marketing started to take off, (this was even before what is called Affiliate Marketing ever really existed) the Internet was a huge opportunity just waiting for those with a vision. Almost anyone that considered putting up even a basic website started to make really good monthly incomes. And many with foresite made a fortune very quickly.

Truth be told, MILLIONS of dollars were made by individuals with websites that today couldn’t pull in 50 visitors a day. Plus, most of the Internet Marketers back then didn’t have a clue how to run a website or know much about customer service.

Like the saying “All good things must end”, once the potential of Internet Marketing was identifed by others, that large amounts of money could be made quickly and easily on the Internet, it soon became a haven for “opportunity seekers’ who were out only to make a fast buck with very little effort and then move on to the next opportunity.

Those days and that type of Internet Marketing Business Are Long Gone!

If you start your Affiliate Marketing business properly… It will be a business that:

  • Will not die after only a few short months.
  • Will continue to grow and expand for years to come.
  • Will give you the financial security that you need in order to do what you want to do and when you want to do it.
  • Will give you the satisfaction in knowing you have worked for what you have earned.
  • Will put you in the position to help others in need, which is the most fulfilling thing that you will ever do in your life.

So how do you make sure you are in the proper business mindset?

Well, first off I want you to understand certain things about starting an affiliate marketing business:

1. It will require your TIME.

While there are ways to leverage the resources of others, you must be able to put time into getting your Affiliate Marketing business started. There is no magic set amount of time that you will be required to spend on your business, but I would say you need a minimum of 5 to 10 hours per week to get going.

2. It will require your MONEY.

If you just lost your job and you have no money, and your mortgage is coming due and you have bills that need to be paid, you are NOT in the position to get started with this type of business.

You absolutely will need to invest some of your own money into this business. Furthermore, it will take time before you make enough money each month to be able to survive, let alone be able to do things you are dreaming of doing..

My biggest suggestion is to have another source of income while you are starting out. I was and still am working a full-time job when I started my affiliate marketing business.

Once my business was strong enough I had the luxury of deciding if I wanted to quite my full time job and devote the same amount of hours to my affiliate marketing business. I decided to continue working my full time job (3 years until retirement) and I still devote almost 30 hours a week to my affiliate marketing business.

3. It will require your PATIENCE.

Your Affiliate Marketing business will most likely not be an overnight success (with a few rare exceptions).

You will not become a millionaire in the first week, or in the first month, and most likely not the first few years…If at all!

In fact, it will probably take a minimum of four to nine months to get to a point where you are able to rely on your Internet business to provide a steady income.

In all likelyhood, it will probably take between two to four years to build a very strong affiliate marketing business that will be able to last for years to come.

This type of business as you can see really requires your PATIENCE. Success will eventually come if you continue to work hard at making your business a success. Success absolutely WILL NOT come if you give up after only a few weeks or months and provide little or no effort or money to make your business a success..

4. It will require your PASSION.

If you are not passionate about starting your own Internet business, then stop right now, go back to your day job.

This business is not for the selfish or unpassionate. You must be ready to help others. You must love the idea of working for yourself. You must be ready to put your heart and soul into this business.

Only then will you have the ability to succeed.  Internet Marketing, especially Affiliate Marketing is not for everyone. Believe me, your customers will sense your passion and trust you more. Your JV partners and your own affiliates will enjoy working with you because they know you care.  Your business will grow naturally.

To your success,

Allen Lundy
Online Turnkey Solutions

Making Money with Articles: Where to Find Affiliates For Your Niche Website

To make money with articles that you place on websites, you will also need a variety of good affiliate links that will help to generate revenue. It is important that you know where to find affiliates and that you choose the best affiliates for you and your niche site.

When you pick an affiliate, it is important that you determine which companies you will profit best from based on the frequency that the product is likely to sell. There are several types of affiliates and some will offer you more money from a sale than others will. Before you get hazy-eyed by dollar signs, however, remember some products are bound to sell more than others. If you sell on product four times a year from a little known company that gives you $100 per sale or sell a well known product 3 times a week at the rate of $10 per sale, then you will make much more money with the $10 per sale product. Often times large well known companies will offer a very small profit per sale because they are established and know that their product is likely to sell well. Small, unknown companies, on the other hand, need all of the promotion they can get. Also, because they are unknown, their products are likely to sell less frequently.

The most important rule when picking affiliates to promote on your site is to pick products that would be of interest to those who would likely visit your niche site. Otherwise you will be promoting a product to a group of people who do not even want nor need it. If your niche site targets parents of young children, then promote baby products. If you niche site targets gardeners, then promote gardening products. If you promote baby products to gardeners, you are almost guaranteed to not make a profit no matter how much money the affiliate company offers for a sale.

Lastly, there are two main ways to find an affiliate company for your niche website. You can sign up with a company that manages the accounts of hundreds of companies, big and small, and apply for the products within these accounts or you can do a web search for companies that would match well with your niche, visit their websites, and see if they advertise an affiliate program.

If you can either write articles or have the promotion and marketing knowledge to publicize articles that others write, becoming an affiliate for several companies may be a great way for you to generate a good income right from your own home. You can do this by receiving part of the revenue off of sales that the company gets from people who click through from your website via the companys links that are placed on your pages.

Since you will be promoting a product or service, you will need a killer sales pitch and website content to get your readers interested in the product, convince them that they cannot live without the product, and to keep them coming back to your website time and time again for more recommendations and your useful content, which will get them clicking on your links once again. Although many affiliate companies only give you money off of the first sale you make from each customer, you have the option of promoting a good range of companies so that you can still make a profit off of your returning customers.

If you cannot write this kind of content of your own, there are many ways to pick up free or paid content to place on your affiliate website. There are many reasons why paying for such articles would be to your advantage. First, you will be able to tell the writer exactly what you want, what product you are trying to sell, and what direction they can go in to keep your readers interested and informed. On the other hand, when you search for free content, you are limited to what is already out there. Secondly, you will own the copyright to this content. That means that no one else can reuse it without your consent. If you opt for free content, you will be sharing that content with an unknown amount of other affiliate websites, plus the original author will be able to place their byline at the bottom of the article which could result in them stealing your traffic.

There are many products that have nice affiliate commission rates for those who know how to pre-sale their product and deliver click through customers who are ready to buy. As long as you choose to promote a product or service that can be very useful to a wide variety of people, then pre-selling your chosen company may not be that hard at all. The key in this situation may likely be getting those customers to your website so that they have a chance to see your recommendations and click on your affiliate links.

When you are trying to make money through promoting articles and affiliate links, you will need a good, simple, and easy to navigate website to put them on. There are two ways that you can accomplish this: you can try to do it yourself if you have any web design skills or you can hire someone.

Doing it yourself, unless you were a pro to begin with, can be difficult for some. You will need to read many tutorials and it may take some time to get going. You could also risk having a site that looks very badly made and thrown together. It is also important (for visitors and search engines) that your site is easy to navigate, which may be a problem if you do not know what you are doing.

Making a Do It Yourself website can be hard, but if you accomplish your goal, maybe you will learn so much that you can write a few articles on it to add to a new DIY website!