Each affiliate program deals with payments and statistics differently. Paying attention to statistics helps affiliates determine what they are being paid and how well their website is selling products. These statistics should be available through the merchant or affiliate marketing program. In general, affiliates will be receiving a payment for the work they do based on those statistics, and the way in which they get paid—that is, what actions or sales get them a commission—determines the amount of their payment.

There are a few different payment models used by merchants to pay their affiliates, which differ based on the product or service being sold. Each program’s payment structure should be clearly spelled out upon signing up as an affiliate. Although there are more complicated payment schemes, there are three basic types. First is the pay per action (PPA) model, which is the most familiar model. In this model, affiliates earn a commission on each sale they make, much like a car salesman. If the affiliate doesn’t make a sale, he or she doesn’t earn any money. The more sales the affiliate makes, the more money he or she can earn. PPA works much like a “finder’s fee,” where the affiliate will secure money if the buyer ends up buying. If not, the affiliate gets nothing.

Another model of payment is the pay per click (PPC) or pay per lead (PPL) model. In this scheme, the affiliate doesn’t necessarily have to secure a sale in order to make money. In PPC, all the affiliate needs is for a visitor to click on an advertisement and the affiliate will earn a small amount of money. If an affiliate hosted banner advertising on his or her site, the affiliate could make money each time sometime clicks on the ad. In the PPL model, affiliates earn an amount of money for each lead they generate for the merchant. The lead can be just a valid email address, but can also be a home address and phone number. The type of information required for a payment depends largely on the merchant.

Finally, there is the lifetime payment model. The lifetime model works in tandem with other payment models and is particularly common in online gambling affiliate programs, though they exist elsewhere, too. In the lifetime model, affiliates can gain a lifetime of commission on each sale they secure. If an affiliate secures a sale from Buyer A, and Buyer A continues to make purchases from the merchant, the affiliate will also continue to make a commission off of those sales.

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While marketers aren’t selling their own products in affiliate marketing, they are still “selling” to their visitors. Because affiliate marketing is all about making the sale, the affiliate’s job becomes convincing people that making a purchase is a good thing. To a very small percentage of people, the ability to sell comes naturally. The vast majority of people, however, don’t know the first thing about making a sale. As an affiliate marketer, this is tricky. While online sales aren’t sales in the traditional sense, like what a buyer might experience while purchasing a car, affiliates still have to know a little about closing a deal.

In sales, the acronym AIDA has been used for over eighty years to describe the four basic steps of a successful sale. These letters stand for “attention, interest, desire, and action” and describe the way to appeal to the customer and close a sale. These four terms work much like a funnel. No one can sell to everyone, because there are always those who will walk away, regardless of the deal. This happens at every stage of the process. Eventually, though, affiliates will build an interested and motivated customer base, who is willing and interested in buying.

First, the affiliate begins with attention. With online selling, attention is the first eye-catching reaction a visitor has to a website, page, or email message. If there’s nothing to catch the visitor’s eye, there’s no reason to stay and check out the rest of the site. Attention is important because leaving a website is easy. The average consumer will walk away from a site if there isn’t something compelling to view. Eye-catching design, attention-grabbing headlines, useful articles, and interesting photos are all methods used by the marketer to create some attention. If an affiliate can get the customers’ attention, they can move on to the next step.

Once affiliates have the attention of their visitors, they need to create some interest in their product or service. To do this, the affiliate has to understand the potential customers and offer them reasons why the product is worth buying. Does the product solve a problem in the reader’s life? Does the product allay the fears of the consumer? When creating interest, the affiliate needs to offer solutions to problems and show usefulness and value.

Once the customer’s interest has been piqued, the affiliate must create desire for the product. The affiliate has already appealed to the customer’s practical side, so now the affiliate’s job becomes to appeal to the customer’s wants and desires and remind customers that they don’t just need the product, they want to own it.

At the very end of this process comes the call to action. Now that the customer knows the benefits of the product and has the desire to purchase the product, the affiliate can begin to ask for the sale. This is frequently done by holding off on sales-related language until the end of the process. If the seller is a traditional a merchant, the sales information is usually displayed front and center. Merchants must list prices of products and shipping so that consumers know if they are getting a good deal. Affiliates, on the other hand, have the option of being more secretive.

Of course, affiliates sales approaches will differ based on their personality and the products and services they promote. Selling a mortgage is different from selling decorative hand soaps, obviously, and the target market and sales language will be different. This is where paying attention to the competition will give affiliates a sales boost. What solutions do the competitors offer? What is their sales language? Affiliates should study their competition and keep track of their findings to help find the best possible way to make the sale.

Getting Started

Everyone’s an expert at something, and an area that one has some knowledge about is a good place to start when deciding to join an affiliate marketing program. Potential affiliates should start with something they at least partially understand, or something with which they have some expertise. Starting “close to home” has several advantages. First affiliates have the incentive to work harder on their money-making pursuits, because they’re working with topics that interest them. Second, their own experiences can really add a lot of depth to web content. Third, as they continue working on their marketing plans, they’ll have to do more research and learning. Learning about something they love will keep them motivated and focused.

Once the affiliate has chosen a topic, a web host, a domain name, and has built a website, he or she can begin the next step. Affiliates can put as much or as little time into their affiliate marketing plans as they want. If an affiliate has a day job, she can put in a few hours a week, or on weekends. If the affiliate is a stay-at-home parent, retired, or unemployed, he can take several hours during the day to work on his projects. If the affiliate is a college student, she can work between classes or late at night. One of the great things about working online is that the worker can set his or her own hours. Of course, some of the affiliate’s success is dependent on how much time he or she has to devote. In general, the more time the affiliate puts in, the better the results will be.

Aside from a central website, affiliates can diversify their efforts to branch out and increase traffic. Imagine Bob sets up a blog where he discusses a particular topic like vintage cars or children’s toys. If his blog has had some success, bob can branch out to attract more people. He can start an email list or newsletter to reach his potential customers weekly or monthly. He can also create new websites about related subjects. The vintage car blog can link to his new website about paints for vintage cars, for example. His blog about toys can also link to another website where he reviews various children’s toys. Some of Bob’s efforts will be more successful than others, but trial and error will yield more success in the long run.

Which Affiliate Marketing Programs Should I Use?

One of the great things about affiliate marketing is that merchants have discovered just how lucrative affiliate marketing programs can be. Back in the early ‘90s, Amazon discovered this when they started their revolutionary affiliate program. Basically, if an affiliate could help Amazon make a sale of a book or CD, he or she got a cut of the sale. This created the opportunity for regular folks to write book reviews and present their recommendations to their website visitors, friends, and family. If any of those people ended up making a purchase, then the affiliate could get a portion of that sale. If the affiliate was very successful at this, he or she could make a lot of money simply by recommending the products that someone else sold.

Today most major merchants have affiliate marketing programs. Large retail companies like Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon, Overstock, Buy, Wal-Mart, and many others offer affiliate marketing programs. If there is a sales opportunity online, there’s probably an affiliate marketing program to match. Because there’s so much opportunity for different affiliate marketing programs, every potential affiliate can choose to market the products he or she likes and knows well. Also, the affiliate has the option to attract a niche market.

The most profitable affiliate marketing programs are generally for loans, mortgages, education programs, and gambling. These markets, while lucrative to some, are also highly competitive because of the high payouts available. In short, if an affiliate is just beginning and doesn’t know much about affiliate marketing, he or she may not have the best success with these programs. An affiliate’s best chance of success will be with products that the affiliate already uses and believes in. Staying “close to home” gives affiliates an added advantage when they are starting out, because they will be able to make sales convincingly.

Another type of program an affiliate might consider is generalized affiliate marketing programs that represent several different companies. Programs like Commission Junction, DoubleClick Performics, LinkShare, and Shareasale offer opportunities for the affiliate marketer to host advertising from large companies and national brands. These programs offer the affiliate a wide variety of affiliate marketing opportunities, coupled with comprehensive statistics information.

Imagine for a second that Mandy has a moderately successful online business. Her business is doing okay, but she wishes she could bring in more business and more sales. Mandy would like to expand, get bigger office space, and perhaps even some additional storage space for her shipping needs, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have the cash coming in to pay for these extras. Her online advertising and marketing programs have gone well, and they are bringing in more customers, but she want to take her business to the next level.

Mandy is already advertising effectively, but she could spend more money for advertising. This may bring in the returns she needs, but advertising is expensive, and she may not have the cash on hand for something that extensive. What she really needs is a sales staff, someone who understands her products and is willing to sell them to multiple sources for her. Of course, if Mandy doesn’t have the cash for advertising, she probably doesn’t have the cash to hire someone to do sales for her. Imagine, though, that she could hire a sales staff to work for her, but only pay them when they make a sale? While this would be a ridiculous notion for a physical retail store location, Mandy can get away with this sales scheme online. This is called affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is dependent on three different parties that all work together in a way that benefits each party. These parties are the buyer, the merchant, and the affiliate. Buyers are normal, everyday people who are looking for and purchasing the products they want from various online stores. Buyers have a certain expectation. They want a quality product, but they also want to get that product at the lowest possible price. The wide variety of buyers means that many different types and niches of stores can operate successfully online.

Next is the merchant, the person actually doing all the online retailing. The merchant sells the products or services, maintains the website, maintains the inventory, ships the product, and is the one trying to attract customers to his or her site. The merchant will sell his or her products and might also have an online marketing or advertising scheme to compliment the store and bring in customers. The merchant also has an affiliate marketing program that brings affiliates into the fold to help sell the products or services for the site.

The affiliate is the last piece of this puzzle. The affiliate has an agreement with the merchant to help sell the merchant’s products or services. These products and services can be almost anything, and don’t necessarily have to be a tangible product. A couple of examples are website memberships or software programs which users can directly download to their computer. The affiliates use their marketing genius, time, and experience to sell these products. The affiliates may keep websites of various types, host email lists, or any number of other techniques to drive visitors and make sales.

For all of this trouble, the affiliate gets a commission off of the sales he or she generates. The amount of this commission is usually determined by the merchant and affiliate when they make a mutual agreement. For example, the affiliate might receive a 20% commission for each sale. So, for every sale generated by the affiliate, the affiliate will get 20% of that purchase for themselves, paid to them by the merchant. So if affiliate sells $100 worth of product and affiliate B sells $500 worth, they would get a commission of$20 and $100 respectively.

The Affiliate Marketing Cycle

Much like cost per impression advertising, affiliate marketing very little to do with keywords and search engines specifically, but is a way that websites can market themselves and make more money through other channels. If a website wished to start an affiliate marketing program, they might then want to try to optimize the site according to affiliate and sales keywords as well as any other keywords that applies to the site. Some websites set up completely different websites for the purpose of attracting affiliates. Webmaster who use affiliate marketing will also want to use SEO techniques in order to drive up visitors to their pages, as the more visitors that come, the greater the return on affiliate marketing programs which the webmaster has joined.

The point of any advertising campaign is to return more money than was invested. If advertising costs more than the profits the advertising creates and has no potential to increase, than the wrong forms of advertising are being utilized. Advertising has the distinct benefit of attracting visitors to a website with very minimal effort. Advertising compliments SEO practices. Whereas SEO works in the long term, advertising can initially attract visitors and provide large and broad visibility.

ROI is one term that describes how useful an advertising campaign is. ROI stands for return on investment and describes the difference between what is spent on advertising and what the advertiser collects based on the exposure. For example, if an advertising campaign brings in an extra $1,000 in one month, and the advertising campaign cost $400, the ROI is $600. If, in this case, the campaign cost $1,200 and only produced an extra $1,000 in profits, the ROI is a loss of $200. Remember that advertising has many different elements to consider, so calculating ROI can be much more complicated.

ROI is one of the important numbers marketers will want to crunch, especially if they’re paying for advertising. Another number to calculate is the conversion rate of customers. This is basically a ratio of the number of people that do something specific versus the total number of people that have visited the page. Usually the goal of a page is for visitors to make a purchase, though sometimes there is another desired action. For example, some sites may want users to register by providing a name and valid email address.

Imagine SolidGoldWidgets.com gets 1,000 visitors in a month. Of those, 30 make a purchase. Since conversion is a ratio, or percentage, the conversion rate can be calculated by taking 30 purchases and dividing by the total visitors of 1,000, which equals 3%. That means that 3% of SolidGoldWidgets.com’s visitors are purchasing. While the conversion rate is different for each site depending on the purpose of the site, low conversion rates tend to occur below 1%, while high conversion rates are 5% or more.

A conversion rate reveals a lot about a website. First, this ratio tells how effective the site is at gaining new customers. While the purpose of advertising and marketing techniques like SEO is to increase the total number of visitors, this is no guarantee that these customers will make purchases. The idea is to provide a website that caters the needs of customers so that they’ll be inclined to make a purchase when they visit.

A large part of increasing conversions is related to sales technique. Certain selling strategies, like offering sales, discounts, and online bonuses, can increase the likelihood of a sale. Also, offering upgrades and downgrades to a purchaser can also attract sales. Things like accessories and add-on products can also increase the amount of the sales.


A large part of increasing conversions comes from having a readable, understandable, and useable website, all characteristics of good SEO design. After all, if visitors are not given the best experience possible, they have no incentive to stay. Remember that there’s a lot of competition on the web. A website has to stand out from the crowd and be user friendly to increase conversions.

Next to newsletters, eZines are considered to be the cheapest and most effective avenue for online advertising. Basically, an eZine is an electronic magazine. Like editors of a printed publication, eZines creators sell advertising space. Other than the cost of the ad space, eZine ads are free and easy to create - and marketers can reach thousands of readers instantly!
For the best results, eZine advertisers should only purchase space in eZines that relate to their industry, product, or service. For instance, if a company is promoting a gaming website, it won’t get much positive response from an ad in a travel eZine. To get started, create a list of potential eZines and start researching ad placement, cost, and availability.

Please be aware: Do not advertise with eZines that have purchased their subscriber lists. Marketers do not want to associate with any companies that spam. A reputable eZine will have a double opt-in subscriber list.

Submitting an ad for publication is a cinch. There will be a link for advertisers to direct them to an advertising form. Costs vary, but marketers should avoid paying more than $20 per 1,000 subscribers. A savvy shopper may be able to find rates as low as $10 per 1,000 subscribers, and some editors will give advertisers one free ad if they subscribe to the eZine.

Like RSS feeds, a press page is very helpful for making information about a company readily available and useful to the media. If journalists and editors can easily access information that is relevant to their needs for articles, they are much more likely to utilize that information than if the data they access is incomplete or not centrally located. Also, personalization settings are very helpful to members of the media to present them with information according to what categories are of interest to them. Website press sections:

• Allow easy access to press release archives, which should be categorized and organized according to the dates of their release and topic of the information included; a searchable archive is especially helpful
• Creates easy and fast access to information, events, and news about the company
• Increases visibility on search engines by providing another page that a search can hit
• Gives a modern and innovative style to the website and, therefore, to the company

Press Release Keywords

Through utilization of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) within press releases, the number of hits a website will attract from a search engine is greatly increased through SEO. Likewise, the number of hits distributed press releases, which should each contain a link to the website, is increased by SEO. Therefore, placing keywords in press releases is an invaluable tool in attracting viewers to a website.

Search engines have become an incredible aspect of marketing and news access. Press releases that include keywords are found through search engines by website owners, journalists, and bloggers alike, allowing these people to find, access, and pass on the information included in the press release. In order to take advantage of this situation, a press release should be written with the intent of creating interest and triggering action. Interesting press releases are picked up by journalists, bloggers, and website owners and used as content for articles, linked to relevant websites, and dispersed throughout the Internet. Press releases that utilize SEO can greatly increase a website’s viewing, making SEO of press releases a very efficient investment. SEO costs very little compared to the amount of advertising it provides.

Of course, keywords should not be written into press releases as obvious keywords. They need to flow in the content of the press release and not lead to awkward reading for journalists and viewers. The point of keywords is to create hits from search engines and, therefore, increase website traffic, but not to stand out to readers as add-in words. Using keywords in titles of the press releases is an especially effective utilization of keywords. Placing keywords in the first paragraph of the press release is also a helpful tool, as is making a link out of a keyword.

In order to get all the benefits of online press releases, press releases need to provide information that is appealing to journalists and editors when they are looking for article ideas. Building relationships with journalists and editors that are helpful to both parties will benefit a website much more than simply looking to benefit from the media in a one-sided relationship. If the information for an article is easy to find and very interesting and understandable to a journalist, the members of the media will be more attracted to it. In order to achieve this, online press releases need to include:

• A link to the website’s RSS feeds
• Photos, logos, and any other relevant visuals
• Information listing what services are offered by the company
• Bios of the company’s most important officials
• Contact information, including name, phone number, email address, physical address, postal address, fax number, and availability
• Links to relevant websites, such as industry news sources, a company blog, specific news stories, and similar sites
• Picture, audio, and video files, such as presentations, commercials, brochures, reports, a company history, the company’s mantra or statement of purpose

Also included should be links to social bookmarks, which are links that allow viewers to save and share content. Social bookmarking websites provide and organize online resources. These lists can be utilized by viewers to find websites according to their interests as well as to access website customer ratings, email links, reviews, and popularity.

By making all this information easy to access and centrally located for journalists and editors, the website will provide them with a simple, hassle-free site that makes it a helpful source of information to them.

Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, is news feed that is available in real time and is a ticker tape or pop-up style medium for companies to stream information to the public. RSS is an easy and quick way to stream news into a link on a website. The news can be categorized and organized according to keywords, important phrases, or topics, according to the preferences of the viewer. Viewers include the general public, bloggers, and journalists.

RSS feeds are an amazing innovation for modern information dispersal. By using RSS feed instead of depending upon traditional news sources, the viewer can:

• View content in real time
• Customize the view and organization of the information
• Archive information of interest
• Immediately benefit from updates and alterations
• Choose which news subjects will appear on the feed

Because today’s public has come to depend upon and anticipate news in real time, this method is ideal for pleasing viewers. RSS feed allows viewers to receive the information they want when they want it and in the format they prefer. In fact, because of the complications of junk-email and spam blocking settings on email accounts, emailing press releases is not the most reliable method. RSS feed, however, is tailored to the viewer’s wants and is not subjecting to accidental blocking. Because of this simplicity, and the large number of press release companies online, journalists and editors utilize RSS feed as a helpful and accessible source for finding the press releases they want to publish.

In order to fully utilize the benefits of online press releases, using an online press release service is an excellent marketing tool. These companies distribute press releases to the media in order to maximize the distribution of the information. There are many online press release services, and each is unique in its cost, offered services, and quality. Depending on which company is used, the charges for these services can be nothing or thousands of dollars. The quality of the service does not necessarily correspond with the price, so a certain amount of research is necessary to choose the best service for an online press release.

PRWeb, for example, is a popular online press release service. Various small business owners and Fortune 500 companies choose PRWeb as their online press release service, illustrating their flexibility. Other companies, however, specialize within a certain industry or among specific companies. Some of these companies only deal with sending press releases to traditional media sources, such as newspapers or magazines, while others utilize modern media, such as blogs and online postings. Using an online press release service allows companies to:

• Achieve the highest level possible of exposure for their website and its press releases
• Utilize multiple forms of media according to what is most beneficial to the company or website
• Maintain efficient business practices by dispersing timely press releases and choosing a service that is within the company’s budget limitations

According to topseos.com’s monthly Internet Marketing Rankings for April 2008, the five top companies for press release distribution are:

1. 24-7pressrelease.com
2. PR Web
3. PR Worldwide, Inc.
4. Business Wire
5. PR Newswire

Each of these companies is unique. The services offered include use of RSS feeds, statistical feedback and tracking, mass media distribution, regional targeting, and specialized tools, such as utilization of major search engines or company-unique media contacts. Online press release services are incredibly innovative and include a very wide range of services.

Because online press releases are published on the Internet and not just given to newspapers and broadcasters who may or may not publish them, the general public has access to the information provided in them. Traditional press releases are very limited in this way, while online press releases place the information in a completely public forum. Through an online press release service and online press releases, a website can be seen and reached through popular news websites and search engines, such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo!.

Press releases, just like modern advertisements, have to compete for the public’s attention. The length of time any form of media has to catch the attention of its viewer has drastically shrunk in the modern era. If an advertisement, newsletter, or press release does not spark an interest in the viewer within a few seconds, the viewer is likely to move on to the next thing that does quickly grab his or her attention than to continue reading something that does not interest them. Press releases must get to the point immediately and follow up with interesting information to keep the busy reader wanting to continue reading.

The need for quick, attention-grabbing styles has led to the rise of professional services oriented toward making press releases that meet modern viewers’ criteria for attention-grabbing press releases. Utilizing experts who understand the press release market and process, who can take advantage of distribution technology, can capture the attention of customers and persuade them to visit a website is a very beneficial use of marketing tools.

An excellent example of attention-capturing marketing for a website is hosting a large event that uniquely publicizes the website – and the more unique the event, the better. There are countless TV channels, websites, radio stations, and advertisements against all of which are competing for the interest of the consumer, so extreme ideas are now necessary rather than unusual. Of course, in carrying out extreme marketing ideas, there must be common sense restraint to avoid overdoing it and repelling instead of attracting customers. Perhaps the best way to reach the consumer is by enlisting the help of marketing professionals that provide online services for companies.

Today’s press releases – in addition to direct website access – reach the public through news distribution wires. News distribution wires provide marketing services for press releases. Examples of these distribution wires are 24-7pressrelease.com, U.S. Newswire, PRWeb, PrimeNewswire, Market Wire, and Business Wire. These wires utilize RSS feed, keyword optimization, social media tagging, and several other tools that directly connect consumers and the news media with press releases. Utilization of these tools allows companies, public relations firms, and websites to share information and data according to the emphasis and timing they feel appropriate. Blogs, chat rooms, forums, webpage postings, and online social groups are all essential tools for the successful distribution and control of information and establishment of relations and can all be utilized by creating modern, electronic, press releases.

Online press releases not only provide companies with the same amount, if not more, recognition that most traditional forms of advertising generate, but they also cost significantly less time and money. Even if a company is willing to spend more time and money for traditional advertising in newspapers, magazines, and television, there is no way to track the successes and failures of the efforts. All forms of print and visual media lack the capacity of accurate measurement of how many people view an advertisement and when. The best one can do with print advertising is track how many ads were printed, but this is incredibly limited and unhelpful information, especially compared to the rich tracking abilities of online advertising. Online press releases, on the other hand, provide companies with many benefits and fewer drawbacks. By using online press release, a marketer can:

• Target a specific audience
• Publish press releases instantly or on a schedule
• Release information as “live feed,” including through RSS feeds
• Paste .html links within press releases to provide easy access to a website
• Utilize search engine optimization in the design of the website to ensure easy access from major search engines and to encourage viewing
• Control and monitor what information is released
• Track the results of online advertising efforts
• Electronically send press releases to members of the media, blogs, and related websites within the field
• Ensure the press release’s permanence through online archiving
• •Edit the press releases even after they have been published
• Avoid the high costs of printed advertising
• Increase website viewing by journalists and editors
• Raise company credibility through utilization of modern technology

Online press releases are an incredible tool for getting information about a company to the public and to the media in a way that is appealing and easy to the viewer.

To most people, a press release is something the president, lawyer, or other public figure presents in front of TV cameras on the steps of a building of significance. In reality, press releases come in all shapes and sizes, not just huge announcements. Hundreds of thousands of press releases are issued every day and they range from pages of information to just a sentence or two. Traditionally, press releases are stories regarding newsworthy information about a company or industry that are given to the news media as a way to keep the news media and public informed about the company. Any piece of information that the company releasing the press release believes is of importance to the public is given to the media through a press release. The information could be statistics about the company, information about an upcoming event, or product information. Whatever the information is, the press release is a way for the company to try to make the information public.

Modern media has transformed the original form of press release, which could take days to be delivered and required pages upon pages of printed information. Today, press releases are not only delivered electronically in real time, but they are also given to the public directly. Instead of relying on newspapers and news broadcasts as mediums, companies can ensure that the general public receives the information included in a press release and in a timely manner. Because so many press releases are issued each day, the news media cannot publish everything that companies send them as newsworthy. In fact, despite the importance to the company of the information included in a press release, the news media may not find the information to be interesting enough for publication. Or, if a press release arrives on the desk of a journalist on a day that is already full of important new stories, the likelihood of that press release getting much attention lowers even more. Relying on the news media as a middleman for distribution of information that is important to a company is not an efficient marketing action.

Modern marketing tools, such as online press releases, allow companies to bypass the limited reliability and inconsistent benefits of news media-oriented press releases. Today, press releases are given directly to the consumer, completely shifting the orientation of what was once a strictly press-oriented form of marketing. For example, in the past press releases were written to capture the interest of journalists, but today’s press releases are written for the consumer. Press releases are written in a style that appeals to the consumer and are placed on the Web for consumer access. Before, press releases needed to appeal to the news media in order to be distributed, but now, press releases need to appeal to the public directly because the public is the primary judge of its news-worthiness.

One of the most popular forms of email marketing is the newsletter. Newsletters are fun to create and customers like to read them. However, newsletters can’t be all fun and fluff. They have to sell or they aren’t worth the time.

Newsletters should be relevant to readers. They will not keep reading if the content is un-relatable. Make sure the subjects are newsworthy, and pertinent to the industry. Also, be concise and focused. For examples, look to the Internet. Web articles writers have perfected the format. Use plenty of headlines, bulleted lists, images, and tables. These break up paragraphs, which makes reading easier, and adds to the newsletter feel of an email.

How can marketers tell if their newsletter is driving sales? First, they must consider the purpose of their newsletter. If the newsletter is all about information and developments, the marketer can measure success by looking at reader feedback. (A word of advice - always give readers an opportunity to respond.) If the objective of the newsletter is to be a call to action, results can be measured by looking at sales and click through rates.

Website owners that are not using their sites to collect e-mail addresses should start right away. A website has far more visitors than actual buyers, and the site’s objective should be to convert more and more of those visits into purchases. Remember, visitors don’t just stumble on sites. They end up at a website because they have searched for a product, service, or topic that is similar or relevant to what that site can provide. Even if visitors don’t make a purchase right away, there is great potential that they will later. So, website owners have to follow up.

If a visitor leaves a site without purchasing, the website has failed - at least, for now. In fact, studies show that the average customer must be ‘contacted’ either directly or indirectly at least seven times before committing to a purchase. Contact can include commercials, mailings, ads, and any other exposure to a product or business. Websites must find a way to contact visitors and keep them coming.

The best way to target visitors is with direct email marketing. But to send emails, websites need addresses. Therefore, every contact should be an opportunity to collect information from the prospect. Wherever possible on the website, provide a way for visitors to submit their names and email addresses. This is especially important because websites need consent before emailing marketing materials to customers. If visitors voluntarily offer contact information, they will have “opted-in” or given permission. This protects the site from accusations of spamming or junk mailing.

Why is Following Up with Website Visitors Important?

• Most website visitors do not make a purchase the first time the visit a site.
• Visitors need more information about a company’s background, qualifications, and the quality of its product or service before they can commit to a purchase.
• Visitors often don’t have time to make a purchase on their first visit, even if they are interested.
• Visitors might be currently short on funds but prepared to purchase later.
• Visitors need more time to compare products before making a final decision.
• Regular exposure helps to build brand awareness.
• Regular exposure helps to establish credibility and trust.

Every time a site neglects to contact a visitor, the site is throwing away a sale. Websites must find out who is browsing their pages, and go find these visitors to ask for the sale.

Using Incentives to Grab Customers

Incentives are a great way to get website visitors to subscribe, but they can also keep subscribers interested long after that initial visit. Internet shoppers are no different than people browsing retail stores, scoping out car dealerships, or searching for the latest hot product. They want to know what’s in it for them. If websites want people to surrender their closely guarded email addresses, and eagerly await the latest email, the site better have something valuable to offer.

Free giveaways are an easy, inexpensive incentive, especially if the giveaway is a digital, or downloadable, product. There are a number of sources online where advertisers can find ideas. However, here are a few complimentary incentive options:

• eBooks: Make sure the eBook is relevant to the website or the prospect will lose interest. Customers are smarter than they are often given credit for; they will lose trust in the website and the business if they receive a free eBook full of useless information. An eBook should include advertising and links to the website. If no one is capable of writing an effective eBook, hire a ghost writer.
• Newsletters:Visitors to websites will be interested in industry news, tips, and developments. Be sure to include links to purchase products or services at the site. Link placement affects click-through rates, so experiment with the inclusion of links in the newsletter.
• Reports and Articles: Distributing free reports and articles is a really easy incentive. Marketers can include product announcements and information, how-to help, lists of vendors and resources, tips, industry news, testimonials, product reviews, and other relevant information. Like newsletters, reports and articles can be schedules to arrive on specified dates.
• Software: Most Internet users love to get a free trial version of software. Distributors and retailers have been using teaser products to attract customers for years. Trail software is usually a limited version, restricted to a particular amount of usage measured in time or number of uses. Collect email addresses when users request the trial version, and offer the full product in later emails.
• Guides, manuals, e-courses: How-to guides are popular giveaways. Everyone is looking for information, so turning down free, valuable info is difficult. Marketers should use guides, manuals, and e-courses to promote their business and establish themselves as an expert.

These incentives can be produced with little or no cost, and consumers love them. They have value because they are full of helpful, intriguing information, and subscribers can access them immediately. Who doesn’t like instant gratification?

Another type of online advertising that doesn’t have much to do with keywords or search engines, but should be noted is cost per impression (CPI) advertising. In CPI, websites that wish to increase their visibility can choose to advertise on various websites. In a CPI relationship, the advertising website agrees to pay the hosting site for ads placed on the site. They will usually pay for this advertising based on the number of times visitors to that site will see the ad. Think of CPI this way: newspapers have advertising in them. The more popular the newspaper, the more expensive the ad. The company that places the ad in the newspaper will pay a specific amount for each placement of the ad, depending on the number of readers who read that newspaper.

CPI is similar. The website that’s advertising will pay the hosting site where the advertising appears, a certain amount for a certain number of impressions. For example, if SoldGoldWidgets.com wants to advertise their site on another website that uses CPI advertising, SoldGoldWidgets.com will pay the hosting site a certain amount of money, and in exchange, the hosting site will agree to post that ad on their site a certain number of times.

CPI is a good way to gain visibility, though there are no guarantees as to this method’s effectiveness. Since companies are paying for these ads regardless of whether someone clicks on them, an ad could be wildly successful or a total flop. On the plus side, this type of advertising can be cheaper than pay per click, and may be the only way to advertise on certain websites.

Google has created a great free, online tool that can help advertisers see what people are searching for online and the related words that they are also using in their searches. In this exercise, the basics of the Google Keyword Tool will be outlined.

See For Yourself

As a business, if you’re considering using any kind of paid advertising based on keywords, you should get a good idea of your competition before putting down any money on a specific keyword. Using Google’s tool will help you do that.

First you’ll want to go http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. The page will look like this:

Next you’ll want to enter the keywords on which you’re planning on bidding. In fact, you’ll probably want to look at the statistics for many different keywords related to your page. In this case, we’re going to type in the phrase “classic cars.” The results look like this:

Now we know that the phrase “classic cars” is very popular with other advertisers. Now look at the number of people who search for the phrase “classic cars.” You can see that more people tend to search for that phrase, but just as many people search for terms like “muscle car.” You can see that many people are still searching for terms like “classic car wash,” yet the advertising competition for this phrase is much lower than for a phrase like “classic cars.” This tool can really help out any business that wants to get paid advertising for a bargain. Remember that the most popular keywords are the most expensive. By using less expensive keywords, you can still reach a rather large audience.

The Google Keyword Tool is also great for finding out the keywords of already-existing websites. Try this out with your favorite website. Go back to the main page of the Keyword tool and change the search option to “Website content” as shown below. Type in your favorite website address:

The keyword tool will tell you the various keywords that Google will pick up when searching that site with a search engine spider. This can be a helpful way to find out the keywords of any website and how Google will see that website’s contents. In this case, Kitten Wars is a website devoted to cute kitten pictures. The results from the keyword tool look something like this:

As you can see, there isn’t a whole lot of advertiser competition for terms relating to cats and kittens because there haven’t been a lot of searches for those terms. Remember that if your site doesn’t contain hugely popular keywords, don’t be discouraged. The Internet caters to people of all tastes, hobbies, and interests. By catering to a specialized audience, a website can still gain a significant amount of traffic by following rules of good design and good SEO practices.

Last but not least, this tool also has a very useful way to detecting keyword data from text you enter into a textbox. This can help any developer whose writing articles or website information and wants to know the various keywords before they’ve been published. In this case, we’re going to be using some text from Shakespeare to show you how Google will pick out keywords within text that hasn’t even been put online yet. Simply go back to the keyword tool and enter some text into the textbook like this:

In this case, Google isn’t really sure what to do with this short passage from Romeo and Juliet. Also, since we’re entering very old dialogue with a lot of references to celestial bodies, Google immediately picks up on these words and suggests keywords like “planet Earth, solar system, the sun, the moon” and more. Now if this were a keyword-driven article, the results would tell you the exact keywords within your text and would provide clues on how to improve the text and make the words more search engine-friendly. This is why SEO professionals often rely on tools like these to help sort and calculate keywords. Now you know how to use this very simple tool, online, and for free.

The increasing popularity of the pay per click advertising model has led to a new challenge: click fraud. Click fraud is basically a way to make money by causing others to lose money. Click fraud, in essence, is any kind of fraud involving repeatedly clicking on advertising with a malicious intention. There are different types of click fraud, but this problem has driven up advertising costs and generally cost merchants hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they should be paying in click costs.

One example of click fraud is a way to cheat the competition. In this scheme, a company or individual will pay groups of people, usually foreigners, to click on certain ads all day for a set amount of money. This drives up advertising costs for the company whose ad is being clicked, thus harming their bottom line. None of the parties who are committing the click fraud intend to buy the products sold on the website whose ad they are clicking.

Another example of click fraud is dummy sites created for the sole purpose of creating phony clicks. By creating a site that posts pay per click advertising from publishers like Google’s AdWords, creators of these dummy sites hope to drive up profits by increasing the number of clicks that appear on their sites. One way to do this is to click these links themselves, though most publishers have provisions in place to hopefully eliminate this kind of fraud. Another way would be to pay someone else, preferably someone overseas, to do the clicking.

There is simply not enough information to determine how common or how costly click fraud is because hard numbers are hard to obtain. Plus, determining which clicks are frauds and which are real can be a real problem for the publishers of advertising. Click fraud may constitute up to 20% of the PPC market, which drives up costs for advertisers. The problem is that PPC advertising works too well for some companies to give up on PPC as part of their marketing plan. While Google and Yahoo! both claim on to be vigilant in their search for click fraud, plenty of instances go unnoticed and slip through the cracks.

The potential for PPC fraud shouldn’t be a deal breaker for most advertisers. The best way to keep from falling prey to PPC fraud is to be aware of the issue and exercise caution and vigilance. The following guidelines will help prevent PPC fraud from unnecessarily draining an advertising budget.

• Use only search engine PPC providers. Search engine providers are particularly effective at identifying fraudulent activity, especially since these sites go to great lengths to monitor for and prevent click fraud.
• Vigilance in tracking results can also help identify problems. Watch the numbers closely, especially at the beginning of the campaign, and notify the PPC provider immediately if the ad begins receiving an unusually high number of clicks – especially clicks that do not lead to a sale.
• Set a daily, weekly, or monthly ad budget with the PPC provider. When the budget is exhausted for that time period, the ad should be removed. This will prevent a website’s entire operating budget from being drained by click fraud.

Aside from click fraud, other challenges to PPC advertising strategies include the cost and longevity of a PPC campaign. Some keywords are extremely popular and thus competitive. Competitive keywords tend to cost more per click and can quickly drive up advertising costs. Longevity is another issue. Unlike SEO techniques, which will improve a site’s volume of traffic for years, a PPC campaign is only a viable source of traffic as long as the site continues to pay for the campaign. When a website decides to end a PPC campaign, the traffic from the campaign will stop.

Aside from increased visibility and the ability to pay only for users who actually view a website, PPC has several other unique benefits.

• • Rapid results: Organic SEO practices can take some time to yield results because an improvement in ranking will not occur until after the search engine spiders crawl the website again. A PPC campaign, on the other hand, can be implemented very quickly. One the keywords have been bid on and the arrangements with the hosting site have been finalized, a PPC campaign will be instantly up and running.
• • Top ranking on competitive search terms: There are some search terms that are so competitive in organic listings that even the best SEO techniques might not yield a top 10 listing on the SERP. PPC enables website owners and companies to guarantee a top spot on the SERP for tough keywords.
• • Efficient measuring of effectiveness: Advanced PPC tracking techniques allow websites to quickly and accurately determine the effectiveness of the PPC campaign, using statistics such as the Cost per Conversion. These tracking tools can help websites determine how effective the overall PPC campaign is in relation to their other marketing strategies, and to measure the ROI for specific keywords.

The unique benefits of PPC campaigns such as quick results, guaranteed rankings, and effective tracking tools make PPC a great compliment to traditional Search Engine Optimization practices. Together, SEO and PPC can be used to quickly attract more high-quality traffic to a website.

Of course, there are also challenges to PPC, the largest of which is click fraud.

There are several things a website can do to increase the return on investment (ROI) of a PPC campaign.

Lesson One: Develop a Solid Keyword Strategy

A good keyword strategy begins with an extensive keyword analysis. In the section, “Using Google’s Keyword Tool,” the basics of Google’s free online tool that enables websites to explore what people are searching for online – and what keywords those people are using in their searches – are explained. A comprehensive keyword strategy enables companies and websites to decide where their PPC dollars and best spent and which keywords the site should optimize and bid for.

Lesson Two: Start Small

Although many websites want to get maximum exposure through PPC campaigns, a PPC novice should begin by using only one PPC provider. Using only one PPC provider to begin with will allow advertisers to become familiar with the ins and outs of PPC, while also keeping administrative overhead costs to a minimum.

Lesson Three: Test and Measure

After the first round PPC ads have been launched, the results of this campaign absolutely must be tested and measured. Tracking results will provide a clear picture of which keywords are effective and which are not so that the campaign can be modified to achieve the best results. One particularly effective statistic is Cost per Conversion. Cost per conversion is a marketing and advertising term used to describe the cost of acquiring a customer. Cost per conversion is calculated by dividing the total cost of an ad campaign by the number of conversions. A conversion occurs when a visitor clicks on the advertisement and completes a desired action on the advertiser’s website. This action can be a sale or simply the collection of e-mail addresses.

Again, websites use pay per click to generate increased traffic and visibility, but the objective of increased traffic and visibility is usually to make a sale. If customers are clicking through and not purchasing anything, the PPC campaign is not generating a high ROI. Tracking and measuring results enables advertisers to determine the most efficient keywords, the best PPC providers, and the best content for the advertisement and landing page.