The Lazy Man’s Way to Attract VC Investors.

Have you ever been to a conference where selected entrepreneurs are invited to present their ideas to a panel of investors who then critique their chances of getting funded? If not, then you've really missed out--these meetings are probably one of the best ways aspiring entrepreneurs can get a glimpse of what professional investors are looking for in what they call a "fundable company."

Recently, the Software Council of Southern California asked if I'd like to attend their event, VentureNet, to see what the latest trends were. I eagerly accepted, but my interest was not so much in what was going on at the stage level, but in picking the brains of the professional investors to see what they'd say "behind the scenes." Now, before I share what I learned, let me just make a few qualifying statements:

1. Every professional investor has a slightly different perspective on what's important. Yes, there are some things we all seem to emphasize, but our differences can be extensive. Thus, this article represents the opinions of just the particular cross-section I happened to interview on this one occasion.
2. The individuals I interviewed were very candid and, to protect them from being "profiled" with any one statement, no direct quotes will be made.

The professional investors offering opinions from which this article was extracted include: David Cremin, managing director of DFJ Frontier; Michael Song, a partner with Rustic Canyon; Bill Collins, managing partner of Publex Ventures; and Robert Kibble, managing partner of Mission Ventures. Some additional comments and insights were also provided by Jon Kraft, chair of the Software Council of Southern California.

So what do these gentlemen prefer to see in a company before they get excited enough to write a check? What, if anything, has changed from what they used to look for during the dotcom craziness of the late 90s?

Here's what they said is important now:

Seasoning. They're looking for more experienced, older entrepreneurs who have "been there, done that." The time of investing in the 19-year old kid who's a tech-genius isn't necessarily gone, but the kid had better be able to find an older, seasoned executive to join his team.

Customers. Contrary to putting the emphasis on the team or the revenue numbers, there seemed to be a new emphasis on the customer:

* What compels them to buy this product or service?
* What problems does this product or service solve? Why is it better than the alternatives?
* Why is it worth the price?
* Does it compel you to tell others about your experience?
* Are your customers asking if they can invest in your company?

Team. The team is still an important part of the equation, but the entrepreneur is just as important. Here's what the investors are looking for in both:

* Passion: The entrepreneur must demonstrate a contagious excitement about their vision for the company.
* Tenacity: The entrepreneur must prove they have the stamina and willpower to stay with their vision through thick and thin.
* Flexibility: The entrepreneur must be willing to reevaluate and refocus their plans when things don't work out as anticipated.
* Commitment: The entrepreneur must be willing to invest enough of their own money into this project to convince investors they're serious.
* Teamwork: The entrepreneur's team must prove they can work effectively together.
* Coachability: The entrepreneur and their team must be coachable. No team knows everything they need to know to succeed.
* Knowledge: Investors prefer to back teams that really know their market by having backgrounds that are rich and impressive in the market niche for which the company is engaged.

Opportunity. Investors want big ideas. Ideas that can change the world. Ideas that change our behavior, culture or way of thinking. Ideas that can build $100-million-size companies. Anything less is too speculative. The risks of investing in a company are so great--and the chances of a reward so small--that investors can't afford to bet on opportunities that won't surely have huge payoffs. And one of the biggest problems when addressing opportunity is "Am I too early?" Investing in a huge opportunity five years before the market will recognize and embrace it is a very frustrating thing. Not only will you lose your investment, you'll have to suffer the extreme frustration of watching someone else make a lot of money on the foundation you helped build.

Business Model. Will the numbers map out? In other words, once someone takes a sharp pencil and starts tracing where every revenue dollar comes from and then seriously challenges every expense it'll take to generate that revenue dollar, will you have:

* a profitable model?
* a repeatable model?
* an expandable model?
* a predictable model?
* a defensible model?

Many an entrepreneur fails because they don't know how to do this type of exercise with a "real world" view.

Well, there you have it: the latest and deepest thinking from a sample of professional investors. How do you and your company match up? If you were honest and found areas that were lacking, please find someone who can help you fix them before you approach anyone to invest. Your extra investment of time will significantly improve your chances for funding.

Jim Casparie is the "Raising Money" coach at Entrepreneur.com and the founder and CEO of The Venture Alliance, a national firm based in Irvine, California, that's dedicated to getting companies funded.

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10 Steps To Increase Profit With Web Site Promotion

Web Site promotion is supposed to be the main element of your web site marketing strategy. It is not sufficient just to design a gorgeous web site and place in on the Internet. Endorsing your web site has to be carried out continually if you desire to get an incessant flow of traffic to your web site. If you fail to draw traffic to your web site, all the effort and money that you put in creating your colorful pages of the web site are in vain. Also, before you go into detail on how to get traffic to your sites, you need to make sure that you complete following basic steps on your way to get the most out of your marketing campaigns:

1. The first step to successful web site promotion that gives a lot of profit is creating a successful web site promotion plan. Planning plays a vital role in web site promotion. When crafting your web site, make a plan on how to advertise it as well. Attempt to put yourself in your customer's place when designing your web site. It is too simple to just see your web site from your own viewpoint. You require having an apparent idea for your commerce, objectives, which may be long term, or short term that you desire to attain and the policies of how you will achieve them.

2. The second step to increase profit with web site promotion is to classify your target market. Many online marketers endorse their web site pointlessly in a field, which is too big. They may employ bulk mailing as one of their endorsement approaches. This may bring you visitors but does not guarantee sales. It is important to get targeted visitors rather than just traffic to your web site.

3. The third step is to promote your web site with every possible strategy. Use of forums and email marketing has proved to be an important method of web site promotion.

4. The fourth step to successful web site promotion is writing articles and submitting them to various web sites. The resource box of the article can be helpful for web site promotion.

5. The fifth step to increase profit with web site promotion is to promote your web site continuously. You don't need to work 8 hrs 7 days a week but reserve 1-2 hours EACH day for your marketing efforts. Intermittent promotion does not help to generate traffic.

6. The sixth step is to calculate your return on investment value from your promotion strategies. It is very important keep a track of the amount that you are willing to spend in web site promotion and the amount of money that you are profiting from your strategies. This will help you to avoid any kind of wastage on non-returning avenues.

7. The seventh step to make more money with web site promotion is properly analyzing your web site traffic. This will help you to find out whether the efforts that you are putting in to promote your web site are paying off or not. If not you need to change your strategies.

8. The eighth step is to keep a close on your industry and be prepared to make necessary changes from time to time so that you run according to the market changes. Make sure that the web site promotion tactics are not out dated and according to current marketing trends.

9. The ninth step is to monitor your web site in search engines. It is vital that you have a search engine optimized website and proper HTML standard so that you attain good ranking in results page.

10. The tenth step is to make use of all types of marketing methods to promote your web site, both on and offline. Do not forget the print media and other conventional methods to promote your web site.

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The 9 Tips for Choosing a Good Domain Name.

In this digital age, your company's web site is your electronic business card. A strong domain name is the key to your Internet presence. It should be recognizable and relate to your business name, brand, product, and/or activities. Make sure it fits on a business card and is easy to remember whether seen in print or mentioned over the phone.

Use the name people know you by. Don't abbreviate, unless the abbreviation is your company's trademark. Ask your co-workers, your customers, your friends, and your family what domain name they'd expect your company to have.

Don't forget to include your domain name in your site's logo. And put your domain name on all company promotional materials such as business cards and stationary.

Length Matters
Conventional wisdom states that a good domain name is easy for customers to remember, easy to spell, and short. That said, it's increasingly difficult to secure short domain names among top level domain names such as .com, .net and ,org. In these cases (and you have 67 characters to choose from), it's preferable to choose a meaningful statement such as Lawreferralservice.com" or Hotelreservationservice.com," rather than lrs.com or hrs.com

Give a Good Impression
We all know that first impressions can be crucial, so choose your domain name carefully. Domain names often come without spaces, so pay careful attention to the total package. For example, PatternsExchange can look like patternsexchange.

Select Alternate Names
If your first domain name choice is not available, you can check the "whois" information box for the domain name, contact the person listed, and see if they're willing to sell it. If they want to sell, they will likely charge more than the $24.95 registration fee. An easier alternative is to register a variation of your first choice.

For example, if your company name is Mrs Smith's Cookies, but mrssmithscookies.com and the more obvious cookies.com are registered, try adding a small letter such as "e" to indicate that it's an online business. Or add the word online. Or add your location to attract local customers:

ecookies.com
Cookiesonline.com
CookiesNewYork.com

Alternatively, try registering a local domain name:

mrsmithscookies.ca
mrsmithscookies.us

Use a little creativity, and you may find your alternative beats your original choice. Once you've got a list of alternatives for your online business, test them with your friends and colleagues to see which ones they like best. Make sure these names can be easily pronounced and spelled by your test audience. Then, rank them in order of popularity.

Consider Spelling Mistakes
Consider mistakes people will make when typing your web site address and how your domain name sounds when you have to read it over the phone to a customer. Explaining special characters, abbreviations, and spelling is awkward and doesn't make good business sense. Will customers accidentally make spelling mistakes? Will they use the plural form of a word instead of the singular form, or visa versa? Make a list of possible mistakes, and register additional domain names that incorporate these mistakes.

Register Multiple Versions of Your Name
Register all possible domain name variations related to your company name. If your company's name is hard to spell, register common misspellings. Register every domain people might use to find your company. It only costs $24.95 a year to register each domain name, and that's a small expense to keep a customer.

Take this example: Before America Online acquired Time Warner for $178 billion, it registered at least 21 domain names that might be useful to the new company, named AOL Time Warner, from AOLTW.com to AmericaOnlineTimeWarner.com. Alternatively, web sites exist that capitalize on misspellings using them as advertising vehicles and diverting customers from your site.

Register Product Names
When users search the Internet for a particular product or service they often search by product or service, rather than business name. To increase the chances of having your site found, register extra domain names that relate to your core business or products. If you owned the hypothetical company name of Widgets & Widgets co. but you sold an array of household products, you could register generic domain names relating to all aspects of household goods. You may be too late to snap up obvious domain names such as detergent.com or vacuum.com, but a little creative thinking into alternatives can be lucrative. These alternative domains can be easily linked to your main web site.

Avoid Trademarked Names
Ensure someone else has not trademarked the name you register. You cannot register names already registered as copyright (for example, McDonalds). Like company names, domain names are unique and cannot be duplicated. Avoid registering domain names that are similar to your competition or to famous trademarks. Businesses have lost their rights to registered domain names due to conflicts with existing trademarks for off-line companies.

Register Locally
If your company is located in Canada, you can register a .ca domain name even if your business activity includes export trade. If you have an international presence, a top-level domain such as .com, .net , or .org is more suitable. Many businesses choose to register all three, and we suggest doing so. All three addresses can "point" to the same e-mail account and web site.

Conversely, you might open a virtual office in another country. For example, bread.com could also register bread.ca, which may "point" towards the same site, attracting a larger audience. Don't forget to check to see if a local presence is required in the country you wish to register.

Use a metaphor
If your .dot com businesses does not have a name, the world is your oyster. One Internet incubation company decided on the metaphor campsix, referring to the final basecamp on the Everest climb rather than a straight description of services. The name reflected the difficulty and challenges of building an Internet company to the scaling of Everest. Bear in mind that if your web site is the primary tool for business, the company name must be the company URL.

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How To Write An Effective Ad.

A letter or postcard allows you to "talk" one-on-one to your prospect. That means you should use "I" and "me" and "you" in your sales letter. Don't use the corporate sounding "we".

Remember just one person is reading your letter or postcard at once. So don't write in the plural, even if your mailing is going out to thousands of individuals. Just write the same way you'd talk to a friend explaining the advantages and benefits of the product or service you're offering.

Your message must get through to your prospects one at a time. The are individuals who read your offer, think about it, and react to it. They react to your message once they connect with you and feel an appropriate emotion based upon the content of your messages. So the real key to your advertising success is connecting with your prospects one-to-one. If you look at your own buying behavior you will realize that you buy from people that you connect with, people you trust. You feel good when you buy product that you could have purchased from hundreds of different individuals from someone you have gotten to know. Most individuals make their buying decisions the same way, except the rare exceptions who just shop for the cheapest price!

Start your killer copy with an emotion-packed opening statement that will get the attention of your prospects.

The Headline

The headline should be a benefit, a powerful promise. You my ask a provocative question. It should also solve a problem. Start your letter with a compelling, benefit-driven headline. Prospects will decide to continue reading by the headline. If your headline fails to capture their attention and keep them engaged, your letter will quickly end up in the trash like any other they receive everyday. Remember: The headline is the most important and must communicate a powerful benefit and makes a promise. The promise should be unique to what you are selling, and preferably should offer something that your competitors do not. Use "power words" in the headline.

Power Words

Absolutely.. Achieve.. Acquire.. Advice.. Amazing.. Announcing.. Appreciate.. Approved.. Aspire.. Astonishing.. Attain.. Attractive.. Authentic.. Bargain.. Beautiful.. Better.. Big.. Breakthrough.. Cheap.. Certain.. Colorful.. Colossal.. Complete.. Confidential.. Crammed.. Definite.. Delivered.. Direct.. Discount.. Discover.. Easily.. Effective.. Emerging.. Endorsed.. Enjoy.. Enormous.. Excellent.. Exciting.. Exclusive.. Expert.. Exploit.. Extensive.. Famous.. Fantastic.. Fascinating.. Fast.. Focus.. Fortune.. Free.. Full.. Fundamental.. Genuine.. Gift.. Gigantic.. Greatest.. Guaranteed.. Helpful.. Highest.. How to.. Huge.. Imagine.. Immediately.. Improved.. Informative.. Instructive.. Integrity.. Interesting.. Irresistible.. Just Arrived.. Largest.. Lasting.. Latest.. Lavishly.. Learn.. Liberal.. Lifetime.. Limited.. Lowest.. Magic.. Magnificent.. Mammoth.. Miracle.. Money.. Must.. Noted.. Notable.. Now.. Odd.. Outstanding.. Personalized.. Popular.. Powerful.. Practical.. Prestige.. Professional.. Profitable.. Profusely.. Prominent.. Promising.. Proven.. Quality.. Quickly.. Rare.. Recommended.. Reduced.. Refundable.. Remarkable.. Reliable.. Reputable.. Revealing.. Revolutionary.. Reward.. Satisfactory.. Scarce.. Secrets.. Security.. Selected.. Sensational.. Simple.. Simplified.. Sizable.. Special.. Stability.. Startling.. Strange.. Strong.. Sturdy.. Successful.. Sure.. Super.. Superior.. Surprise.. Technology.. Terrific.. Tested.. Tremendous.. Terrific.. Truth.. Unbelievable.. Unconditional.. Unique.. Unlimited.. Unparalleled.. Unsurpassed.. Unusual.. Useful.. Valuable.. Wealth.. Weird.. Wonderful. You. Introducing, and so forth.

If your headline is designed to arouse curiosity or grab attention then be sure to make nature of your proposition immediately clear in a subhead or within the first sentence. Otherwise you will lose the interest of the reader.

The Body

Here, using the same tone and stay with the spirit of the headline, and give details of your unique selling proposition. Address that reader as if it was personal and an offer just for him/her. You continue talking about the powerful benefits and offer proof of the claim you made on the headline. In the body of your ad copy you share the details of the benefits, and promise you made. Here you prove your case. Remember, by the end of the ad body, the goal is to create an emotional response that will cause the reader to do what you want him/her to do. In the body of the sales letter you will begin to offer proof. There are many possibilities for opening your sales letter, that could persuade the reader to buy.

*Tell a story that the reader can identify with

*Make an announcement of a new product or service, a one of a kind event, or important news

*Address the reader as your equal

*You could go with something provocative, perhaps a quote

*Address an obvious problem, one that your product/service will solve

*Ask a question, may be a provocative question

*Let the reader in on some secret or little known information

Another effective technique is to let the reader know you are offering something free ("Special Free Offer - Free Booklet - Fee Sample - Coupon Below").

Use plenty of short sentences, colors and graphic. White space makes the ad copy look shorter and more appealing. Even if your copy is long, it will look much more inviting to read than a solid block of long sentences. The reader will feel like they are flowing through your ad copy, compelling them to reader further.

Involve your audience! Use words such as: You, I, Me, We, Us. Your copy will seem more personal and more likely to appeal to your readers. Remember! Involve your audience! Tell them what's in it for them! keep the vocabulary of your ad copy simple and keep the sentences short. It makes it Fun! More Energetic! People don't like to be bored while reading, and especially while they are reading advertisements. Nowadays people are very busy and do not have time to go through all those ads. They are constantly bombarded with ads and offers for your competition. If your ad copy is too long they won't bother reading it . So do your audience a favor, make it interesting and appealing! If possible use humor.

Use power words all along your copy! Nothing catches more attention than the word FREE! NO CHARGE! Give away some sort of freebie in your ad copy, whether it's a free gift, advice, seminar, consultation, sample, information kit, coupon, or even a booklet.

Call To Action

VERY IMPORTANT. Call your audience to action! Ask them to do something. Tell them to JOIN NOW! or CLICK HERE! or ACT NOW! or BUY TODAY! or CALL TOLL-FREE XXX-XXX-XXXX! or OFFER EXPIRES .. You must state a deadline for your offer so that they act today if not they will procrastinate. That's human nature. Your audience is much more likely to do something if you tell them to do it. So start using those action words! People want things made easy; they want you to make up their minds for them. Tell them what to do.

Killer ad always asks the readers for action in the most powerful way possible. If you ask the reader to order, or to contact you for the specified reason you must make it easy for him/her to reply. You may support your postcard or letter with a postcard reply or prepaid envelope, and an order form. Supply a toll free number, or website URL. Always close with a thank you and use a signature at the end of the sales letter/postcard. Save one of the best points for last: Always use a P.S. For example, "If you order before September 1rst, we will include the following bonus . . ." Or "30-Day Money back guaranteed " Or "Discount is good until September 1rst"

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20 Reasons Why You Will Never Live Off Your Affiliate Income!.

20 Reasons Why You Will Never Live Off Your Affiliate Income!

Why is it that the top 10% of affiliate marketers earn 90% of all affiliate income, with the remaining 90% left to fight over the 10% of scraps left? What are the millionaire affiliate marketers doing which is different to you?

While there are a number of ways of improving your affiliate marketing offerings, you first need to appreciate where you may be going wrong before you can improve. Listed below are the 20 most popular reasons why you are not living off your affiliate income, what to avoid and how to attract more affiliate sales.

1. Lack Of Traffic To Your Site

Many many people fall into the simple trap of thinking, add some affiliate links to my site, and over time I will surely get some sales. Why? What is the reason behind this way of thinking?

Unless you actually have traffic coming to your own site (and the more focused the traffic the better) it will be nearly impossible for you to create a regular income stream.. True, you may get the odd sale once a month, but this is not enough, you need to aim higher and bring visitors to your site to stand ANY chance.

2. Poor Affiliate Products

You would not believe that amount of people who do not actually research what they are looking to sell. There are millions of affiliate products out there, and while there are a lot of high quality offerings available, there are also lots of low quality products. If you would not buy it, why should anyone else?

3. Priced Too High

This goes back to the age old argument of selling one high valued product, and taking a commission, or selling more low value products and taking a greater number of smaller commissions. Research has shown that the one factor which can scupper a sale is the price - if it is too high your potential customer will be turned off straight away.

Why not mix a number of low value and high value products? If your visitors buy a low value product and it works, you have more chance of them returning (with more trust in you) and even contemplating buying a higher value product. The trust factor is very very important.

4. Low Commissions

As mentioned above, it can often be more lucrative to sell lower value products (with reasonable commissions), but you need to ensure you are being remunerated properly for your leads. Why send hundreds of customers to an affiliate site where they pay you only a few cents a lead? Who is the big winner in this situation ? Certainly not you!

You need to balance the commission on offer against the amount of traffic which you can send, and the split of income between yourself and the owner of the affiliate program. Do not sell be too keen to pass over your users for small returns.

5. No Investment

In order to advertise your affiliate links you will need to put some of your own money upfront, either advertising your site or your affiliate links. Those who think that traffic will just fall into their lap are kidding themselves. You need quality focused traffic, and you need potential customers to see your link before your competitors. The affiliate marketing world is very competitive and you need to ensure that you gain maximum exposure. Adsense and PPC programs are very good ways of advertising your site, and while they can be expensive, they can reap massive rewards.

6. Quality Content

Even if it takes a while longer to establish yourself in the affiliate marketing world for certain products, always ensure that you offer quality, not quantity and certainly not rubbish. One poor looking affiliate site, one bad experience and you customers will disappear over night. If you promote rubbish on your site, what does that say about you and your respect for your customers?

As they say “the cream will always rise to the top”!.

7. Lack Of Feedback

If you are looking to forever improve your site, your offerings and the image and reputation of your site, you need to encourage feedback from your customers. Is there a problem with the product they bought? Were they happy? What could be improved?

Everyone likes to have a moan, but if you actually ask and listen to their concerns, their questions, they will respect you for it - they may not thank you, but they will appreciate it. Any improvements which you are able to make, any comments you are able to pass on to the affiliate program owner, will all ensure you receive less complaints in the future.

8. No After Sales Service

Similar to feedback, it is essential that you at least offer some form of after sales assistance (where relevant) to ensure that your customer is able to get the most out of their purchase, whether this be an eBook, Software or the latest Mobile Phone.

A sympathetic ear is always appreciated, and interaction with your customers has been shown to be the best way of building up a relationship - let them know that you are human!

9. Hard Sell

As well as high prices, the so called “hard sell” is guaranteed to put off any potential customers. Do not push the offers down their throats, be subtle, be helpful, but do not exert any pressure - even if you have the best product in the world. The hard sell does not work, and your reputation will not be enhanced.

10. Not Relevant To Your Site

It is essential that your build your affiliate program offerings around the subject of your site. There is no point in listing baby wear affiliate links on a site about mobile phones. The more relevant the affiliate links on your site the more chance of actually bringing in some commission.

If you can get your readers excited about a certain subject and then show them an affiliate link for a suitable product, you will have a great chance of them clicking on the link. Keep the site AND your affiliate offerings focused .

11. Old Products

The world of affiliate marketing is moving all of the time and it is essential that you keep your affiliate products up to date. Selling yesterdays favourite affiliate product will not earn you big bucks - sell today’s favourite and tomorrow’s favourite and you are talking.

It is vital that you regularly visit your affiliate link providers to ensure that you are offering the best and most up to date products around. Failure to do so and you customers may well look elsewhere, and you will have lost a potential sale.

12. Cookie Time Limits

Many of today’s better affiliate programs will actually offer you a set time, during which any customers you pass over will be eligible to earn you commission. Where you are promoting affiliate links which may offer a vast array of products, which will keep members coming back time and time again, you need to ensure that the cookie is of a suitable length.

The cookie is basically the marker which will be attached to the user, to confirm that they were sent via your affiliate link. Some sites offer cookie lengths up to 365 days, while some may offer short 10 days periods. If a customer, originally from your site, were to buy a product after the cookie period was over, you would receive NO commission.

This is an area of affiliate marketing which is often overlooked - do not make the same mistake, and end up selling yourself short.

13. Links Do Not Work

Of the thousands of affiliate links available there are hundreds which will become invalid, or have been replaced, every day. There is nothing worse than clicking through to a non-existent link, and this does not give a very professional impression of your site. Always check that your links are valid, even on a monthly or weekly basis, and ensure that old invalid links are either replaced, or deleted asap.

14. Know Your Customer

There are a variety of statistic and traffic programs available which will give you an insight as to where the majority of your traffic is coming from - i.e. which country, browser, etc.

It is essential that you make use of this information and tailor elements of your affiliate products towards the majority of your customers. Currency is one of the major elements which you need to consider, because this is something that can put off a prospective buyer if they are dealing in a currency which they are not familiar with.

As a rule of thumb, the US dollar is the more popular currency on the internet, and seems to have a universal acceptance. Research has shown that while UK sterling buyers are willing and comfortable dealing in dollars, many Americans are not comfortable dealing in sterling (or any other foreign currency).

While you will never get this element totally correct, you need to appeal to the masses, which will most probably require offering products in US dollars.

15. Presentation

How you present and expand on your affiliate offerings has a massive effect on how successful you will be. A simple 3 word text link will be no where near as successful as an article detailing in the product, and the affiliate link at the end. Tease your customers with details, make them want the product and then offer the affiliate link when they are thinking about the product.

16. Do Not Try To Trick Your Customers

There have been many many instances of people being duped into clicking on affiliate links, and while 99% of these result in no sales, 99% of your visitors who have been “duped” will not return to your site. Trust is a major element of any business and it is essential that you treat your visitors with respect and honesty.

You may hear about people making big bucks in the short term with dubious tactics, but these people will never have a long term income stream. They will always be found out, and one bad review of your site on the internet can soon spirally into hundreds - effectively black listing your site from a mass of would be visitors.

17. No Free Products? Is Your Mix Correct?

While it may sound strange advising people to give away free products in the same area in which they are trying to sell products, there is some sense in the madness. If you are able to give away quality free products to your visitors, your trust factor with these customers will rise sky high. The more trust they have in you, the more often they will visit the site, and the more comfortable they will be actually buying a product via your affiliate links.

Too many webmasters seem to throw themselves straight into the market without a strategy, and this initial optimism soon dies with many giving up. You will not build up a quality income stream overnight, it will take time, you will have to build up trust, and be patient.

18. Have You Tested The Product?

If you were selling one of your own products, you would have tested the format, the product and the feedback before launch. It should be no different with affiliate links - ensure you are familiar with the offering, how it is presented, the standard of service and if it actually delivers what it promises.

The type of products which may need the most investigation, and possible purchase, are eBooks and software downloaded from the internet. If it works for you, and is clear and concise then you can do no more, although if it does not work, or does not do what it promises, you should not be promoting it.

19. Internet Feedback - Forums, etc

Before you sell any product it is essential that you search the internet to see if there has been any negative feedback about the provider or the product. Popular sites such as www.sitepoint.com and forums.digital point.com are very useful sites to search. They often provide great feedback about affiliate providers and products.

Know you product, know your customers, and you have a firm basis for success!

20. Do You Really Know What You Are Talking About?

There are many many products on the internet which are being sold by people who do not even have a basic understanding of what they are selling. Many are blinded by the commission figures, the potential for sales, and forget about researching the actual product.

A focused site with a good knowledge base, and unique content will go a long way towards building up a rapport with your readers, increasing the trust they have in you, and ultimately increasing your chances of a sale. Even a bit of basic knowledge about a product goes a long way, although the more professional you come across, and the more information you can pass to your readers, the better.

Conclusion

While there are many reasons as to why your affiliate sales may not be what you expected, you probably have the basis of a good income stream. Small changes to the presentation, your promotion of the site, and your mix of products can and will have a massive effect on your sales. If you do the basics well, the rest will follow, and once you have the basis of a good affiliate sales income, you can replicate this time and time again on other sites.

Multiple, smaller income streams, are more consistent than one large income stream which may well stop tomorrow if a competitor beats you to the market. Spread the risk, and increase the reliability of your income - but do not forget to reinvest back into your site, your design and your affiliate offerings, do not stand still as the market is forever on the move

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