Posts Tagged ‘networking’

For most entrepreneurs, the start of a new year means new business goals, resolutions and achievements to look forward to in the months ahead. Over the past year I’ve been honored to have the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest in the industry, and have boiled down what I’ve learned as a ClickBank Insider to this 7 step guide to things you can do in 2012 to help you achieve riches, rewards and world domination with your Internet marketing efforts in the new year.

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?

One great strength shared by successful ClickBank vendors is their ability to network. Vendors need to be able to entice lots of affiliates to promote their products to thousands of people in order to build a large list of customers.

Some people think they can simply launch a product on ClickBank and sit back and watch money fly out of their computer. That may have happened to a few people, however, it is more realistic to expect that you’ll have to build strategic alliances to increase the reach of the product or service you want to sell. This is where networking comes in.

Here are my top tips for networking and building a strong foundation before a launch:

1. Know your product or service. To start, you should write down a one-line sentence describing your product that would be easily understandable by any person you meet. For example, “A coaching programme for people who want to start a business.”

It’s also important to project product sales so you can work toward that goal. Many people write down a figure that represents the amount they want to earn in a tax year – $50,000, $100,000, $250,000 – and the number of paying customers they need to obtain to reach that figure. For instance if your product is $50 you’ll need 1,000 customers to hit your target of $50,000 in a year (plus there will be expenses on that figure to account for).

2. Build your credibility online. Find five websites in the same niche as yours. Slowly get more involved with those sites, become a regular reader and commenter and offer to write a guest post for their site. This will generate a link back to your site and help build your credibility online.

3. Determine social network targets. I’ve set a target for myself to achieve 10,000 connections on the three major social sites:

* 10,000 Twitter Followers
* 10,000 Facebook Likes
* 10,000 YouTube Friends

Your figure could be lower but it’s something to aim for before you launch your product or service. As a rule, if you plan to promote your product through social networking channels, you’ll need to get your social figures high since most people are so distracted online that only a small percentage will read and click on your links.

4. Email the experts. Make sure you have an email process in place to do so. You’ll need a plan for writing to the well-known bloggers and site owners. Keep these emails to a few lines, show enthusiasm and be as helpful as possible. You’ll be amazed by what help, advice and opportunities you might get back from the “Internet celebs.”

5. Attend industry events. Determine which relevant events are taking place over the next 12 months and make a point of going to five events. Spreading these dates out will ensure that you have a constant flow of emails to and from new contacts and opportunities from a variety of sources. Additionally, the contacts you make in “real life” can be more powerful than online.

Networking is a continual process and is a huge part of business. Scheduling networking time into your calendar is just as important as scheduling time for product or service creation, if not more!

About the Author

David Edwards is the founder of www.asittingduck.com and is currently the SEO Director at Webfactore Ltd.

Written by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

We’re back with a new episode of Affiliate Marketing Today! Dush and I speak with Itay Paz, a ClickBank superaffiliate and Internet entrepreneur who attends, and in some cases organizes, some of the biggest conferences in the Internet marketing industry.

Itay gives some great advice about how to make the most of networking opportunities in our industry, both in person and online. He gives some great tips about meeting with potential partners, connecting with other people in the business, and much more.

Click here to listen!

In spite of all the great tools that have been developed in recent years to help Internet-based entrepreneurs connect with each other and increase their productivity, there is still a lot of value in old-fashioned, face-to-face meetings. In-person discussions with other entrepreneurs can help you get your questions answered, find new partners for joint ventures, or teach you powerful new techniques for growing your business. Many successful ClickBank publishers and affiliates have already discovered the value that comes from starting or joining these kinds of groups.

One of the best ways to meet and interact with other like-minded entrepreneurs is through the Web site Meetup.com. No matter where you are in the world, you can create or join a group in your city and start meeting and working with other ClickBank publishers and affiliates. Starting your own Meetup group costs as little as $12/month, which could pay for itself if you make just one extra sale a month through ClickBank. Joining an existing group is free!

Some of the ways a ClickBank Meetup group could benefit you include:

• Finding new products or niches to promote as an affiliate
• Getting feedback on your ClickBank product prior to release, or getting advice on improving an existing product
• Brainstorming ideas for new products
• Meeting people who can teach you new skills or assist you in areas that aren’t your strength (for example, if you’re a great copywriter but don’t know anything about Web design, you might meet someone with the opposite skill set who would love to work with you on a new product)
• Discussing the latest and greatest techniques for promoting products inexpensively

These are just some of the many ways that working directly with other people can help you grow or strengthen your online business. If you’re interested in starting an affiliate marketing Meetup group in your area, click here to get started. Since you have to choose from a list of pre-defined topics for your group, we suggest “Entrepreneur,” “Network Marketing,” or “Internet Professionals.”

If you organize or are a member of a Meetup group that discusses ClickBank, fill out the form below and give us a link to your group on Meetup. We’ll list existing groups so that other people in your area can join up and grow the network of ClickBank publishers and affiliates helping each other succeed!

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