Would you like a simple technique to get better results as an online marketer? Outsource. If “outsourcing” sounds daunting, don’t worry – it can be simple and surprisingly inexpensive.

If you’ve been generating revenue online for a while, this likely isn’t the first time you’ve heard that outsourcing can make your life easier and help you to boost your profits.  Rather than simply rehash what you may have heard before, I’m also going to try to give you a few specific tips that will help you outsource more effectively, whether or not you have any experience.

In A Nutshell:

First, a quick intro for the brand-newbies:  Do you have work to do that you don’t like doing, or that you don’t know how to do? You can probably solve that problem by outsourcing the work inexpensively through any one of a variety of outsourcing websites. The process generally goes something like this:

• You post a description of the work you need done on an outsourcing website (could be for a 5-minute task, a full-time job, or anything in between)
• Contractors from around the world apply to your job posting, and tell you how much money they’re willing to work for (if you live in a developed country, you’ll probably get bids from contractors in developing countries who are happy to work for far less than you’d have to pay someone from your own city)
• After a bit of interviewing and testing, you hire someone, manage them as they work, and spend most of your time on other more productive/enjoyable tasks than the one you’ve outsourced.
• When the job is done, or at certain milestones, you pay your contractor by sending a payment through the secure outsourcing site where you hired him or her.

Where To Outsource:

A few of the most popular outsourcing sites include: Elance.com, Scriptlance.com, VWorker.com, Freelancer.com, Guru.com, and oDesk.com.

They all have advantages & disadvantages, but my personal favorite is oDesk because of their time tracking feature (they record the screens of your contractors as they work) and their hiring process (they have detailed contractor profiles, and also publish the results of tests that contractor’s can take to demonstrate their skill level in various areas.)

What To Outsource

If you think you can’t afford it or that you have nothing to outsource, think again! Here are just a few of the tasks that I’ve outsourced, many for less than $2/hour:

• Designing mock-ups for a website
• Link-building for SEO
• Designing banner ads (728×90, 300×250, etc)
• Writing high quality articles
• Creating a custom WordPress plugin
• Building entire WordPress sites from scratch
• Building a custom PHP website
• Creating custom software to mass-analyze potential domain purchases
• Finding/creating 100s of images for split-testing in Facebook advertising
• On-page SEO
• Flash animation
• Analyzing various WordPress themes, and then advising me on which is best for my project
• Much more!

I’ve even hired people to teach me how to do things online – those job descriptions sounded something like: “I don’t know how to do XYZ with WordPress. I need someone to do XYZ to my website, and then teach me how you did it so that I can do it myself in the future.” Just think: Instead of spending 10 hours pulling your hair out trying to figure out the inner workings of WordPress (for example), you can hire someone for say $2 per hour who already knows how to do the job… and within 2 hours he/she will have the work done and will also have sent you a detailed explanation of how to do it yourself. Pretty sweet!

And I’ve even hired contractors for non-business tasks such as touching up an old black & white photo of my parents! If your own time is worth $20 per hour, it’s pointless to do any task that someone else will do for $1 per hour.

Tools

A couple of tools that come in quite handy when outsourcing are:

Skype – Faster communication than email! Great for interviewing job candidates as well as communicating with existing contractors. Skype also has a screen-sharing feature.

Jing - Free, super simple, and easy to use software that lets you create up to 5 minute screen capture videos. Great for giving instructions to contractors when you want to show them how to do something. A video is worth a thousand words

Time Doctor – If you’re using an outsourcing website that doesn’t have built-in time tracking to record your contractors’ screens so you can see what they’re doing, you might want to consider using a third party time tracking service like Time Doctor.

A Few Tips

Before you get started, here are a few outsourcing tips based on my own experience (some of these are specific to oDesk):

• When searching for contractors or posting a job, I recommend specifying that you prefer contractors from the Philippines because that’s where I’ve found my best contractors (on oDesk you can’t target “Philippines” specifically, but you can specify the more general “East Asia”). I’ve also had good luck with contractors in Bangladesh and Russia, although they can be a bit more expensive.
• Specify the upper limit for what you’re willing to pay (usually I set it to $3/hour, and often mention an even lower limit in the written description) – otherwise you’ll get people bidding too high which will raise the “average bid” and may encourage additional high bids. If you do get a bid that is too high, reject that contractor quickly so they no longer appear on the list for other contractors to see.
• Before hiring someone for a big job, hire a few people for a very small job first to test them out (oDesk makes this very easy to do). Hiring multiple contractors has the additional benefit of generating extra (hopefully positive) reviews for your profile!
• When you’re new to oDesk, don’t be afraid to “invite” many contractors to apply to your job instead of simply posting a job and waiting for applications. You can generate a lot more interest in your job that way.
• When a job is finished and your contractor did a good job, tell your contractor that you’re giving him/her a 5-star review (this will look good on their profile), AND ask them to also rate you 5-stars if they were happy working for you (this will look good on YOUR profile and will make it even easier to hire high quality contractors next time). Don’t be afraid to specifically ask them for “5 stars”.
• On oDesk, avoid hiring people if you’re going to pay them less than $1 for the entire job. If you hire someone for a job and pay them less than $1 in total, your oDesk profile will indicate that you didn’t hire anyone at all. So if you hire 20 people for a simple task and pay them each $0.50, your oDesk profile will indicate that you posted 20 jobs and didn’t hire anyone for the positions (even though you did). Potential contractors aren’t as likely to apply for jobs posted by employers who appear to hire no one for many of their jobs. If you need to hire a large number of people to each perform the same a simple task (like completing a 3 question survey), it’s best to use a crowdsourcing site like MTurk.com.

Still on the fence about outsourcing? Just do it! A small outsourcing test will barely make a dent in your wallet and will open your eyes to a world of possibilities. It costs nothing to post a job on most outsourcing sites, so get started today. As Timothy Ferris says: “It’s time to learn how to be the boss. It isn’t time consuming. It’s low-cost and low-risk. Whether or not you “need” someone at this point is immaterial. It is an exercise… It is important to take baby steps towards paying others to do work for you. Few do it, which is another reason so few people have their ideal lifestyles.”

What can YOU outsource to simplify your life and free your time so you can make more money?

About The Author

Justin Clark is an affiliate marketer who runs AdChop.com, a growing collection of internet marketing case studies. He outsourced much of the design & development of AdChop on oDesk.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Tips to Becoming a Successful Internet Marketer
2. Why an Engaged Audience Beats PPC or SEO for Affiliate Marketers… and How to Get One!
3. Making the Profitable Move From Affiliate to Vendor: Part 2

A smart way to add bottom-line sales and more unique and credibility-boosting value to your online business is to start using webinars. Webinars have been around for years and if you’re not familiar with them they’re a great way to host virtual meetings and presentations without ever having to leaving your office. Webinars are also super-convenient for your attendees as they too don’t have to leave their office or home and can simply watch and listen on the computer, iPad, or even smart phone!

In case you’re new to webinars, a webinar is typically a live video and audio presentation where attendees can see your computer screen and hear you talk as you navigate through a presentation, “how to” demonstration or anything else you’re showing on your computer. They also provide a rich participation environment and give you the flexibility to provide:

• Handouts before or after the webinar
• The ability for attendees to ask questions during the presentation
• Live chat with the organizer or other participants
• Live attendee polls for getting instant feedback
• Automatic follow-up marketing to attendees and even non-attendees

The other good news is if you can use a computer – you can host webinars – and I cannot think of a single type of online business owner who could not figure out how to host either live or recorded webinars and help strengthen their relationship with their customers, clients and prospects either in a small, 1:1 webinar or a large-scale group webinar.

Today’s webinar technology allows you to host LIVE webinars or RECORDED webinars that can be played on-demand or on some type of pre-determined schedule. And before you think you cannot use webinars in your business or think they are too complicated, I want you to know neither of these thoughts is correct and to prove my point, I’m going to describe four ways, four different types of online business owners can use webinars to generate or reinforce their business relationships and create more sales. Think about your own business and how you might be able to use webinars as you read through these scenarios.

Scenario #1:  Diet & Health Author – Selling Digital Cookbooks Online

An ebook author could use webinars in several different ways to promote her ebooks. She could host virtual cooking classes for a fee where they show attendees how to make healthy meals. In this scenario, they could show videos or photos of how the food is prepared. She could allow real-time interaction and questions and answers from her paid attendees.

Scenario #2:  SEO Expert – Lead Generation and Training Course

An SEO expert could use webinars in several different ways. He could host free, live lead generation webinars to show people how to do keyword research and then offer the opportunity to work with him as a consultant. He could also develop a 10-part course, with each part consisting of a webinar session showing a specific SEO topic. He could sell seats to the live webinars, record them and then use them in a webinar replay system that offers the 10 webinars over the course of 10 weeks in order to get additional sales.

Scenario #3: Internet/Affiliate Marketer – Promoting & Selling Products

An Internet/Affiliate Marketer could easily add webinars to drive new sales to large groups of attendees. Imagine a weekly webinar where she hosts affiliate partners on a content-rich webinar and then offers their product at the end of the webinar. Software demos and Power Point presentations work great as webinar content and are easily created.

Scenario #4: Information Marketer – Product Creation

Webinars provide a great way to create content that could be used to create print or electronic products that can be sold. An info-marketer could host a number of paid or free webinars and on each he is interviewing a guest expert on a specific topic. These webinars could be recorded and turned into videos, DVDs, books and courses.

So there you have a few different webinar ideas for different types of online business owners. There are many others out there and the use of webinars in your business is only limited by your creativity and imagination.

About the Author

To help business owners get started using webinars, Mike Capuzzi created a simple and easy-to-grasp product called How to Boost Your Business with P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Webinars! He’s been using webinars since 2004 and How to Boost Your Business with P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Webinars contains strategies, tools and techniques to create hugely profitable webinars, including his proven 7 step strategy to Plan & Promote, Engage, Record, Follow-up, Edit, Convert, and Turn a webinar into a cash machine for your business! Check it out on ClickBank and www.theperfectwebinar.com and start creating webinars in your business!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Why an Engaged Audience Beats PPC or SEO for Affiliate Marketers… and How to Get One!
2. The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Great Online Video
3. A New Advertising Frontier for Affiliate Marketers: TV Ads?

Today, customers are rejecting overproduced video content. Why? Because they realize that it’s usually an advertisement. Nowadays customers prefer authenticity above ads. That’s why video has become such a strong tool in our marketing tool belt.

Whether you’re an affiliate or a vendor, you need to be using video to help you accomplish your goals. Here’s a video put together by online video expert Jim Kukral that will give you some insight and inspiration for making your own videos.

You can check out Jim’s Online Video Toolkit 2.0 product here, and you can become an affiliate for it here. Yes, powered by ClickBank.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Tech Tuesday: Free Affiliate Tools Page Plugin
2. Mobile Marketing Tips for Internet Marketers [Video]
3. ClickBank Video: Create a Customer-Facing Ad

About the Author

Steven Clayton is the co-founder of Blueprint Information Products, LLC and has been making a living online for the past 8 years.  Check out the “Success Stories” in his forum for an idea of what he’s talking about in this video. Also, Steve’s company is running an awesome contest right now where you can get their premier research tool free AND have a chance at winning a LARGE cash prize. Check that out right here.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Tips to Becoming a Successful Internet Marketer
2. 7 Step Guide to Internet Marketing World Domination in 2012
3. Making the Profitable Move From Affiliate to Vendor: Part 2

1. Get Specific

Set realistic but specific goals. What do you want to achieve this year? For some it may be doubling your 2011 sales, and for others it may be breaking into a new niche. Whatever your goals are, make sure they’re specific and achievable. For example, if you’re just starting out, you may want to commit to making $200 a month as an affiliate promoting products in the Health and Fitness niche (and what better time to get started than new years resolution season?). This is a specific and achievable goal, and you’re less likely to get discouraged if you’re able to reach your goals along the way. It’s a good idea to write your ideas down and share them with others to help hold yourself accountable.

2. Be a Quitter

Unless you’re superhuman, there’s a limit to what you can do on your own. If you want to get serious about growing your business in 2012, you’ve got to identify the work you can quit doing. You might be the very best in the industry at website building, backlinking, graphic design and copywriting, but that doesn’t mean your time is best spent doing ALL of these things. What can be outsourced? Truth is, it’s probably a lot more than you think. Sometimes a good third party can get the job done, and free up your time for more important things like business strategy that will ultimately make your business more successful in the long run.

The new year is also a good time to take a long hard look at your business and identify something that isn’t working for you or producing desirable returns. Not all products are going to be super sellers and not all promotions are going to crush it. It may be helpful to use the 80/20 Rule as a guide. Chances are there’s something like 20% of your efforts that are producing 80% of your results. Take a look at that portion of your efforts that are not producing results, and vow to quit what isn’t working and refocus that energy toward something that is.

3. Make a Name for Yourself

Over the past couple of years I’ve been amazed at the number of Internet marketers content to work in the shadows making a living promoting in one trendy niche to another, without really taking the time to develop a long term lasting business. This kind of existence can be exhausting, and in a way that constant struggle defeats the purpose of what’s so attractive about Internet marketing in the first place – the lifestyle. Now I’m not saying forget the short term trendy businesses, ClickBank is in the business of long tail digital goods after all, but consider building something more sustainable. Develop your personal brand. For every person in the industry who has made a name for themselves there are thousands working in the shadows. Stand for something, become something, set yourself apart. Be the expert and the money will follow.

4. Forget Your Passion

I’ve met countless Internet marketers this year whose search for a passion to which they can dedicate their life’s work has literally paralyzed their productivity. In 2012 I say produce first, passion second. Pick something, do something, and learn from that. In this continually changing, constantly evolving industry, no one stays in the same niche forever, and it’s common for passions to evolve and businesses to evolve over time. Master something, then move on to the next thing. Just start, do, create, produce and learn. Don’t let your search for doing what you love and loving what you do result in doing nothing at all. You might just find your passion along the way.

5. Connect

Make a list of people you want to meet next year. Think of people you can learn from and who can directly or indirectly help your business and cultivate these relationships. Come up with a plan to connect with each and every person on your list. Industry events are a great way to meet people. Email, phone, social media, or even old fashioned letters work too. Before you ask for help, offer to help them first. Then offer again. And again. Studies of reciprocity in social psychology and human behavior tell us that people feel compelled to respond to positive action or favors, with favors in return. These days, joint venture relationships are closely correlated with the success of businesses. So do a lot of favors for a lot of people, form relationships and JVs, and know that it will come back to benefit you in the end.

6. Risk It

One of my favorite things about this industry is that the opportunities are endless. There so many different ways to promote and sell products and it seems like there are new tactics popping up every day. So next year, try something new, push your limits, don’t be afraid to fail. Even investing time in a new area of your existing business, say, split testing, can be a little scary. Because time is money, and we all want to be spending time on the things that generate the highest returns. Spending money can also be risky, but what better thing to invest in than yourself? In 2012, don’t be afraid to take more risks to reap more rewards.

7. Rekindle the Fire

Just like relationships benefit from newness and creativity to stay exciting, so can your business. You work hard all year and it’s easy to get caught in a rut, making it feel like Groundhog Day and putting you on the fast track to burn-out. Take a vacation, work from somewhere else, pick up a new hobby or read a fiction book. Do something out of the ordinary that can give you a fresh perspective on your business and on life. All of these are ways to enhance creativity and get you looking at your business in a new light. You’ll be glad you did.

Whether you aspire to world domination, niche domination, six figures a year or a hundred bucks a month, implementing just a few small changes in your business or approach to business could make make all of the difference for you next year. What do you want to achieve in 2012?

Take a look at these related posts:

1. The Ultimate Internet Marketing Shortcut
2. Making it Happen in 2012
3. ClickBank Exchange 2011 Recap: A Look Into the Future of Internet Marketing

We’re excited to announce a new series here on the ClickBank Blog: Tech Tuesday. These posts will feature the best in tools and technology designed to help ClickBank clients and Internet marketers build their businesses and make more money. Some of those tools will be free and others will be paid, but we’ve got a great new free tool to kick things off!

WordPress is one of the most popular web publishing platforms out there, and is used by many Internet marketers because it’s so simple, powerful, and best of all free. We’ve recommended in the past that ClickBank vendors use it to host their Pitch Page and Thank You page, but Internet marketing and programming genius Jack Born has created a free plugin for WordPress that does something else really cool: it creates dynamic, powerful Affiliate Tools pages that vendors can use to provide valuable resources to their affiliates.

Jack and I recorded the following video to show off the plugin and talk about how you can get the most out of it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

To download Jack’s amazing (and free) plugin, visit http://affiliatesaleschannel.com/freeplugin

BONUS: Jack has created a second video where he goes into more detail about all of the available features and uses for the plugin. Be sure to check out this companion video too!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks for joining us for our inaugural Tech Tuesday- we’ll be back with more great technology and tools for you very soon!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Tech Tuesday: CBpress Customizable Marketplace Plugin
2. Tech Tuesday: Affiliate Rewarder for Affiliate Contests
3. Tech Tuesday: Advanced Affiliate Management with EasyClickmate

ClickBank Exchange Keynote Panel

Written by: Beau Blackwell, Client Knowledge Guru

A little over a week ago, ClickBank hosted our first ever industry conference, the ClickBank Exchange, in the heart of New York City. Despite it being our first time hosting an event, it was a huge success! Our lineup of speakers delivered incredibly valuable information to attendees, and we’re already seeing sales coming from new networking connections made at the show. That’s one of the coolest things about networking in our industry—partnerships and connections made at events only take a matter of days to start generating profits.

One of the most interesting aspects of the show was how it gave a glimpse into what’s coming for the Internet marketing industry. Even though each speaker created their presentations independently, a couple of themes kept coming up repeatedly: namely, the importance of authenticity and relationship building.

If you’ve followed Gary Vaynerchuk at all, it should be no surprise that he talked about (or, more accurately, ranted about ) the importance of authenticity and relationships in his funny and thought-provoking keynote, but what surprised me is how many other speakers also talked about how our industry is naturally evolving to require and reward both of these traits. Joe Polish discussed it in his keynote, as did Yanik Silver, Ryan Lee, Jeff Siegel, and many of our other speakers who’ve built long-term, sustainable businesses online.

What was most interesting about these topics coming up from our speakers is that they happened to be areas of focus for ClickBank at the event, as well. Our corporate counsel, Michael Carrigan, covered ClickBank’s new vendor guidelines and why an essential component of being compliant with government regulations is being honest and authentic in your marketing. Our team also shared details about some of our upcoming features that enable strong relationship building, such as Joint Venture partnerships, affiliate whitelists, and more.

ClickBank Exchange Networking

One of the best parts of the Exchange was that the themes of authenticity and relationships really came through in how attendees approached the event. Speakers shared some of their best content for free, and with no pitching to the audience, which led to attendees being excited and engaged more than I typically see at other events. People also spent their time actively networking (including at our crazy speed networking event, which was seriously fun and exhausting) instead of just hanging out with people they already knew. That’s one of the main benefits of attending events like the Exchange—you never know who you could meet that can totally transform your business.

All in all, the event was a great success, and we can’t wait to see all of you at the next Exchange! If you missed out this year, be sure to get your ticket early for next year’s show, as it’s definitely one you don’t want to miss! Stay tuned for details in the coming months around ClickBank Exchange 2012.

Thanks to Miles at ClickScoop for providing these images. To see the full album with great photos from the event, check out ClickScoop’s gallery on Facebook!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Announcing the ClickBank Exchange!
2. New Affiliate Marketing Today Episode: Updates from the ClickBank Exchange
3. The Ultimate Internet Marketing Shortcut

What if I told you that, as a ClickBank insider, I knew of a huge shortcut to Internet marketing success? Something that allows you to quickly overcome a lot of the roadblocks to success that many Internet marketers (especially new people, but even some veterans) face in building their businesses? Is that something you’d consider investing in?

What I’m talking about isn’t a new piece of affiliate software, a training course, or even a new traffic technique used only by Internet marketing “ninjas.” Nope, it’s much simpler (and a lot more fun) than any of those.

OK, I won’t leave you hanging any longer. The biggest “shortcut” to IM success that I’ve found in years of working at ClickBank is: attending industry conferences.

There are quite a few reasons why conferences are such a great place to jump-start your marketing business or reach the next level of success, but I’ll share a few of my favorites here:

Connections

One of the toughest parts of being in the Internet marketing industry is trying to meet the “right” people who can help you grow and succeed. With the anonymity of the Internet, and how bombarded everyone is by email, IMs, and more, it can be incredibly tough to get through to people and get them to help you. At face to face events like conferences, though, I’ve found that it’s much, much easier to meet even big names in the IM industry and become friends with them. I’ve met and become friends with some huge names in our industry over the years, and almost every one of these relationships has started at a conference.

Besides having access to people you can’t normally reach, there’s a level of trust that only comes from meeting people face to face and showing them that you’re a person they want to work with. Trust is really hard to achieve with an anonymous communication method like email, but a 5 minute conversation at a conference can overcome that barrier and get people to trust and like you, and be willing to share valuable tips or otherwise help you out. This alone can make a huge difference to your marketing success!

Knowledge

Another great thing about industry conferences is that they typically attract some great speakers- people who are already successful in Internet marketing and are willing to share some of their secrets. One of the things I love about attending conferences is that you end up hearing the same kinds of great tips and techniques you would normally have to get by buying IM products, but one conference ticket can get you the same amount of information as 10 high-priced programs!

The information shared in these sessions is usually the most cutting-edge stuff, since speakers like to share the latest techniques they’ve just learned and are secretly competing with the other speakers to be the most interesting and impressive. At a show I attended last year, Ryan Deiss’ Traffic and Conversion Summit, I learned about all kinds of cool tips and tricks I’d never heard of before despite being an Internet marketing veteran and ClickBank insider. Investing in an industry conference can be one of the best ways to make sure you’re up on the latest techniques and staying ahead of the competition. You can use this advantage to really boost your Internet marketing earnings.

Accountability

As I’ve said in an earlier blog post, two of the biggest keys to Internet marketing success are dedication and perseverance. Since Internet marketing is usually a business where you’re working alone, it’s easy to get distracted or discouraged and give up before you’ve hit the big time.

One proven way to counteract that is to be accountable to other people. If you tell other people what you’re working on, you’re a lot more likely to stick with it even when the going is tough.

With that in mind, one powerful byproduct of conferences is that friendships and Mastermind-style groups tend to form during and after the show. Being in one of these groups can help provide that accountability, as well as introducing you to kindred spirits you can get help from or ask questions of when you can’t figure something out for yourself. A show I attended recently has a lively “alumni” group that formed after the event, where people have supported each other’s projects and offered a ton of helpful free advice that would have otherwise been much more difficult or expensive to get. That’s just another example of how the initial investment in the show can keep paying dividends long after it’s over.

So Now What?

Hopefully by now you recognize what a HUGE shortcut to success conferences can be! If you’re ready to make an investment in your Internet marketing success, you’re in luck. Coming up on August 19-20 (just a few short weeks away), ClickBank is hosting our first-ever industry conference called the ClickBank Exchange.

We’ve lined up one of the most impressive lists of speakers ever seen at an industry conference, including social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk, direct response marketing geniuses like Joe Polish and Joe Sugarman, Internet marketing superstars like Yanik Silver, Russell Brunson, Marc Ostrofsky, and Ryan Lee, and top-selling ClickBank clients like Jeff Siegel, Chris Farrell, Jon Benson, and over a dozen more!

No matter what aspect of your business you want to grow like never before, the Exchange is the place to do it. Remember the connections I mentioned earlier? The people you’ll meet at the Exchange will be some of the highest-caliber Internet marketers on the planet, and will give you insider access to marketing secrets and shortcuts that you really cannot get anywhere else.

To get on the fast track to success through industry conferences, you NEED to sign up for the ClickBank Exchange today! It’s less than 3 weeks away, and won’t come around again for another year, so do not miss out! I’ll be there, of course, and I hope to see you there too.

BONUS: Want to save $100 on your ticket? Just enter the coupon code shortcut at the first step of the registration!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. ClickBank Exchange 2011 Recap: A Look Into the Future of Internet Marketing
2. Announcing the ClickBank Exchange!
3. 7 Step Guide to Internet Marketing World Domination in 2012

An amazing collection of speakers and panelists has been assembled to teach you the strategies and shortcuts to building your digital empire. We’ve gathered a mix of industry leaders and under-the-radar marketing “ninjas” to share the specific tricks, as well as the business philosophies, that have helped them dominate the Internet marketing industry. Here are some of the many topics we’ll be covering at the Exchange:

• Keynote panel: How to build your Internet marketing empire
• The latest SEO tips & tricks from the CEO of SEOMoz
• The secrets of killer copywriting that really converts
• How to drive massive amounts of free, qualified traffic through Facebook
• How to be a marketing rockstar and get raving fans
• And much more!

In this day and a half of inside information guests will get real time cash creation secrets from the top Internet marketing millionaires that ClickBank has assembled. The speaker line-up includes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Yanik Silver
• Joe Polish
• Chris Farrell
• Rand Fishkin
• Ryan Lee
• Marc Ostrofsky
• Jeff Siegel
• Mike Hill
• Joe Sugarman

And the list doesn’t end there! Discover the full lineup here.

ClickBank Exchange attendees are sure to learn more money-making techniques at this event than at any other event this year.

Click here for more information and to register today!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. ClickBank Exchange 2011 Recap: A Look Into the Future of Internet Marketing
2. The Latest in SEO with Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz
3. The Ultimate Internet Marketing Shortcut

The majority of people that start down the enticing road of Internet marketing give up soon after their first promotion. An extraordinary amount of effort for little profit sees many retire from the game almost immediately. Both affiliate marketing and online product marketing may first appear as easy ways to make money, but people soon realize that the web is not an easily tapped goldmine. Internet marketing requires commitment and hard work and can quickly become overwhelming.

The marketing processes involved span way beyond creating a web page or writing an eBook. As a vendor there are a broad range of marketing methods that can be followed, with few of them ever resulting in success. And as an affiliate, even the seemingly basic sifting through of products you might potentially choose to promote, presents a challenging task. From building a list of potential customers that trust your word, to launching a new product to market, being diligent enough to understand the multiple disciplines of online marketing is the downfall of many. However, for those with the staying power, Internet marketing is a great way to establish a lucrative online business.

For those of you just getting started with Internet marketing you will no doubt hear the following phrase many more times, and if you’ve been Internet marketing for some time you are about to hear it again: testing is critical! Internet marketers say this all the time because there are so many different marketing mediums available to be utilized in the marketing process, that it can be quite tempting to flitter back and forth trying out each one in part. Once a person doesn’t experience instant success with one, they tend to quickly switch to a new strategy, and then to another, and so on. The problem with doing this is that it means not fully realizing the potential of each marketing method. By constantly switching between strategies you aren’t giving one particular strategy a chance to flourish. Therefore it is vitally important that you test, test, and test some more with each process, strategy and theory, so you can rule out what doesn’t work and rule in what does.

By doing this you will be able to select the most valuable parts of each strategy and start to build a bulletproof strategy of your own. It is important to recognize early on is that there is no “one size fits all” in Internet marketing, and that the same strategies don’t work for every niche, or even necessarily in the same niche. What works for you might not work for someone else, and vice versa. So decipher what works for you through a continual process of trial and error. Develop a system of your own. It will take some time but will be well worth it in the end. And who knows, one day you might be able to sell your system online as a top-selling product!

Trying multiple marketing methods and only putting limited input into each will only bring frustration. Instead, focus all your energy on one or two marketing approaches. Master them and make sure you have exhausted their capabilities before moving on or adding a new approach to your armory. Don’t keep dipping your fingers in and out of a bucketful of ideas hoping that one will suddenly come to fruition.

Think long-term not short-term. Invest wisely in the short term in order to make money in the long term. And by this I mean investing in the help of some educational programs/books and the advice and help of mentor(s) to help you learn faster and get to your destination of success quicker. If you can master one or two approaches, you will be well on your way toward a successful business. If you learn only parts of a number of different strategies you will remain a “jack of all trades but master of none.”

Internet marketing can take its toll on you psychologically, especially when you have tried out a variety of marketing methods, invested financially and put in a lot of time and effort for little or no reward. But this psychological battle presents a critical stage in your development and success. This is the very point at which many who made it past the first promotion and into further learning stages give up. A knack for perseverance is so very important in Internet marketing and indeed in starting any business. Don’t give up at the third hurdle. Stick by your guns and persevere with strategies that feel comfortable and complement your strengths and ability.

Four Solid Bits of Advice to Help You Succeed in Internet Marketing

Advice #1: Find a Mentor
Whether in business, self-development or Internet marketing, growth can be rapidly moved forward by finding a mentor. Mentoring helps you develop at a faster rate, helping you learn faster, develop skills more adeptly and avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. A mentor, like a good teacher, will help you understand exactly what you need to learn, how to learn it and the best time for you to execute the knowledge.

I seek mentors in my life because I know it’s the fastest way to learn. Not only has mentoring helped me to get to where I am today in Internet marketing, but it also continues to be very important to me in other areas of my life. By having a mentor for each important aspect of my self-development, I learn faster and succeed faster. Since starting out on my own journey as an Internet marketer I myself have become a mentor to others. It has truly been a pleasure watching those I have helped grow from online newbie to successful online entrepreneur.

Advice #2: Don’t Work on too Many Projects at Once by Yourself
A huge mistake beginners make is thinking they need to do everything alone. Focus your energy on the most vital areas of your business; the areas that encourage growth and will help you reach your goals faster. If you work on too many projects at once you will find your progress is slow and hindered by many barriers. You can’t be an expert in every discipline, so outsource work where you can. Set aside a budget for delegating work to third parties that prevent you from paying attention to more important areas of your business. Taking on more and more work yourself will see you bogged down unnecessarily in tasks that will significantly slow your progress. Outsourcing will also allow you to have more valuable time away from your computer.

Advice #3: Utilize Free Resources
When a person first decides to get involved with Internet marketing, he or she will be exposed to numerous different online money making products. These products appear as very attractive prospects, and it isn’t uncommon for people to get excited and buy into multiple products in a short space of time. The truth is, almost every marketing method you will read about is potentially a profitable one, but mastering one takes considerable time. Don’t splash out on multiple expensive products. Instead, choose one or two referred to you by your mentor(s). Learn them and utilize them to their full potential before moving onto another area.

In addition to this, make use of as much free information as you can. There is a huge amount of great reference material online that can be found in books, eBooks, video and on blogs. It is often difficult to sift through conflicting information and ideas online, but again, ask your mentor and trusted associates for help in directing you toward informative blogs, forums and other reliable free resources.

Advice #4 Maintain Persistence
You never know when the breakthrough will come, it could be next week, it might even be tomorrow, or it could take six more months. If things are getting on top of you then take a step back from your business and re-think your strategy. Ask yourself, “Am I focusing my energy, time and investment on areas conducive to leading me to my goal?” “Are there things I am avoiding, ignoring or only doing half heartedly that could better position me for success?”

Your success in business is dependent on your mental attitude, your strategy and your devotion to learning and developing yourself on a daily basis. Commit to your goal of becoming a successful Internet marketer and be persistent in your endeavours. Take these words of advice into consideration and go for it. I hope that they help you to become successful in your online venture.

About the Author
Nikki Young has been active in Internet Marketing for 4 years. During this time she has built up a successful online business, which includes the selling of her cookbook series within ClickBank. www.paleocookbook.com.

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