• How To Learn Affiliate Marketing & Not Be Led Astray •
• My First Source For Trustworthy Affiliate Marketing Tips And Techniques •

You’ve read a little about it, and you think this might be a viable business for you … so, you want to be an affiliate marketer? Great! In case you’re still not completely sure what affiliate marketing is, it’s a type of marketing strategy. Many online businesses make use of affiliate programs in order to market their companies and/or their company’s products and services. It’s not too hard to learn affiliate marketing, however there are a few things to keep in mind as you do your research.

The relatively easy part is finding affiliate products to sell online. But the harder part is which ones should you promote, and which ones should you RUN AWAY from? What’s the the best way to promote these products? How do you get these products under potential customer’s noses? Should you run a PPC campaign … err … just what IS a PPC campaign anyway??

And the list goes on and on and on and on …

All of these questions and many more slapped me in the face when I discovered what affiliate marketing was.  I decided it was a great way for me to make a living, but I was LOST! I was reading so much conflicting information on the ‘net I wanted to scream. Yeah, scream “how do I LEARN affiliate marketing to be successful!!??”

Are you like me?? I wanted to shorten my learning curve! But I didn’t want to use under-handed tactics. I wanted to build a solid, ethical online business. Thank goodness another successful affiliate marketer answered a question I posted on a forum, and highly suggested I read an eBook by a very successful online marketer. So, I did.

Now I recommend that if you want to CUT TO THE CHASE and get on track to really learn all about the ins and outs of affiliate marketing and be able to get a business up and running now … not 6-months from now … then read the eBook and judge for yourself

Where Can You Get Information That Will Steer You Down The RIGHT Path And Not The WRONG One?

The information is right here in an instantly downloadable eBook that will give you the straight story on affiliate marketing and what you need to do to get a profitable online business up and running. Here’s a little bit about Rosalind, or Click Here to go right to the full information page:

Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earned $436,797+ in 2002 and now earns MUCH MORE than that … just by selling other people’s stuff online!

In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net.

Frequently revised and updated to reflect industry changes, her handbook now consists of 235 pages and 235 screenshots that will show you step-by-step how to become a Super Affiliate. You’ll learn how to pick the best programs and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting. To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.

• Hosting Plans With Built-in Website Builders Do Have Their Limitations •
• Be Aware Of Exactly What You Get For The Money! •

So, you’re getting ready to begin your online marketing career, and it’s really important to you to find an all-in-one type of affordable domain hosting. You want a website builder to be included with the hosting service? No problem. There are so many of these types of services available today, that it can be quite a task to weed through them all. If you are like I was in the beginning, I had NO clue about how one gets started on the internet.

Whether you’re a newbie, or even a semi-seasoned online marketer, you might not be knowledgeable about what separates a good hosting service from a mediocre one. You really need to be careful, yes CAREFUL of what the domain hosting service offers you before you plunk down your cash. There are a lot of crummy companies out there offering very little service for too much money.

And part of the problem is the dangling of the carrot in front of the newbie’s nose with the lure of a website builder as part of the hosting package. Some companies offer it free, while others charge extra if you want it included. Some site builders are pretty darn good and others just plain stink!

Which Domain Hosting Service Can You Trust?

Well, you are pretty safe with these two web hosting giants: GoDaddy or Yahoo!.  I do have a hosting account with GoDaddy, however do not use their “WebSite Tonight” sitebuilder tool.  I do have hands-on experience with the “Yahoo! SiteBuilder” as I have a few clients who use it and I’ve had to access it to teach them how to do certain things, and to upload SEO tags and such for them.

These site builders can be incorporated into the hosting packages. There are many price points and options, so please go to each company and compare for yourself.

Another company where I have most of my websites hosted is IX Web. They have great hosting package options for the money, except I will say their site builder is not as sophisticated as GoDaddy’s or Yahoo’s.  As a matter of fact it is pretty limited, but you can build a website with it.

Customer service provided by these three companies is very good.  You may have to hang on for more than a few minutes sometimes to get to a customer service representative, but I can honestly say they all try very hard to offer excellent support. I have only experienced polite and helpful reps when I have had to call for help. 

Of course there are many other affordable domain hosting services. And many offer pretty decent hosting packages.  Just stay away from their website builders! But suffice it to say I feel very confident in writing about and referring you to the three domain hosting companies discusssed here.

Let’s Take A Look At Site Builders

One of the biggest complaints professional website designers, and other internet professionals like myself can voice about the domain hosting + template packages, is that in many respects these companies do profit by creating unrealistic “newbie” expectations as to what can be achieved marketing-wise. Suggesting that you can have a truly professional website at the click of a button is not realistic.

What’s missing from these site builders is the knowledge about how to properly design for visitor AND search engine friendliness.  That knowledge of course comes from either you pouring over how-to tutorials, or hiring an experienced professional. 

I speak from experience as I started my internet marketing career using an all-in-one domain hosting service (name withheld because I can’t recommended it in good conscience) and I had no clue about website design, but I did get a website up and running. And I was lucky in that it included SEO how-to information (most don’t), but EGADS!

When it came time to hire a professional web designer (GraphicsWerx.com) to redesign my sites, I quickly discovered what a coding mess site builders cause. It wasn’t an easy task for me to clean-up and transfer 90 pages of content from a gobbly-de-gook of coding into my newly designed website template.

Anyway … I’ll be posting more about this in the future, but for this post, let me end with this: the vast majority of serious internet marketers will decide to progress from their “instant websites” to professionally designed websites or blogs within a year or two.

So be forewarned that your “site builder” built website will not be easily transferred into a professionally designed template. Plus more than likely it will be a bit of a hassle to transfer it to a new hosting company. For the newbie starting out, “instant websites” created by site builders are great, don’t get me wrong. Without them, many people could not be online trying to live their dream of working from home, having an online business, etc. But there are often many pitfalls.

I’d like to help you by alerting you to the major issues you ought to have a very clear understanding of before you sign up for your hoped for “affordable domain hosting with site builder”. I am addressing the most basic of concerns that someone just starting out should be aware of.  I could add scads more to this list.

1. Is my domain name registered in my name? In other words, do I own it?
2. Am I able to register my domain name with another company when it comes time to pay the yearly registration fee? Are there any hidden costs to do so?
3. Can my domain (website) be moved to another host? How long does the transfer process take?
4. Can I upload my own custom designed web pages and files, or am I stuck having to use your site builder?
5. Is there a limit on the number of pages I can have on my website? (often referred to as web space)
6. Is there a limit on the number of images I can have on a page or have stored on your servers? (again, this is referring to web space)
7. Can I write my own search-engine-friendly URLs?
8. Am I able to insert a Title tag, and the Description and Keyword Meta tags for each web page? Are these tags properly configured and coded within the site builder page?
9. Is there any limitation on a page’s content length?
10. Will there be advertising on each of my web pages? (I will call this forced advertising as you cannot remove it.)
11. If I want to sell products, is there a shopping cart feature, or does that cost extra?
12. What kind of customer service comes with not only my hosting package, but my site builder? (The hosting company I first did business with only had email support! Do you know how frustrating that was?? Yuck … make sure you can pick up a phone and call.)

Good luck in reseaching the right affordable domain hosting service. I’ve given you three safe bets … please check them out.

• Savvy Internet Marketers Depend Upon Autoresponders To Simplify Their Life •
• Don’t Be Like Me … I Balked At The Idea & Boy, Do I Regret Not Using One Sooner! •

Autoresponders are one of the most widely used promotional tools on the Internet.  If you’re not aware of how valuable a time saver and how incredible a client contact system autoresponders can be … then please read on.

Having an efficient means to follow up with your potential and/or existing customers is a MUST!  It amazes me how many people just “don’t get it” when it comes to utilizing the marketing power an email autoresponder system can give them.  But, err … I must admit that in the early stage of my internet marketing endeavors, well … I was “one of THOSE people”.  Yup, I didn’t think an autoresponder was too necessary. 

I thought they were really meant for the “big boys & girls” of internet marketing who had huge email lists and had products to keep sticking under people’s noses.  Really, I did. 

But Then One Day … The Lightbulb Came On  :-)

I published an eBook, The Hypertufa How-To Manual, in response to the scads of “can you answer my questions” emails coming in from one of my websites.  I’d been saving all those email addresses in my Microsoft Outlook program.  Well, I had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds stored there.   I was enthusiastic because I had a “mailing list” that would serve me well in the launch and marketing of my new eBook.  And for anything else I wanted to use that list for in the future.

Egads, was that assumption ever a mistake ….

I quickly learned that sending out pre-launch notices, ”special discount” emails and such was a big hassle.  I couldn’t send out one huge group email because my ISP couldn’t handle it, so I had to take extra time to break up each emailing into smaller “send to” groups. 

And when I received bounced emails, well if you use Outlook you’ll understand it when I say it isn’t necessarily a quick task to find the email that needs to be removed from your list, if you’ve got as many as I had. 

Plus, I soon found that I needed three different lists of emails for three slightly different mailings (called campaigns in most autoresponder systems).  So removing bounced addresses, updating, etc. became a chore.  

Yuck … I Was Wasting Time That I Could Have Been Spending In More Profitable Ways

Needless to say I decided it was time to get signed up with an email autoresponder system and move into a more efficient way of handling my growing internet business.  I did a lot of research and came down to two choices, Aweber or GetResponse.  I initially signed up with Aweber, due to the fact I knew a few people who were happy with it.

Well … I don’t claim to be the sharpest-tool-in-the-shed, but geez .. I’m also not the dumbest, either!  I didn’t see anything easy about getting it up and running, and I didn’t find their tutorials too helpful, so one day when my frustration level was at an all time high, I called and asked for my money back.  It was immediately refunded with no questions asked. 

Then I took a deep breath and plunked down my money with GetResponse.  Though still not a frolick through the woods as far as being extremely user friendly, it WAS easier to set-up and figure out compared to Aweber.  So, I give GetResponse two thumbs-up and recommend it to my SEO clients (who are very happy with it, BTW).

Let Me Highlight The Benefits of An Autoresponder Email System    

Savvy internet marketers keep sending out emails trying to entice you with their new products, or sending you their weekly newsletters, as examples.  They know that they need to keep their services or products IN FRONT of their contacts faces!

Did you know that it can take up to 7 times contacting someone before they purchase a product - it’s true!  There are so many people out there trying to make sales without doing something as simple as setting their marketing on auto-pilot.  Thank goodness I’m not one of those people anymore.  ;-)  And don’t you be one, either!

If Your Sales Are In A Slump, Do What All The ‘Gurus’ Do … Consistently Follow-Up With Your Potential Customers!  Keep Your Products or Services On Their Minds.  It’s Simple And It’s Effective!

So let me get down to telling you what you have to look forward to with an autoresponder system.  I will refer to what I am able to do through my GetResponse system (other systems may vary):

• Unlimited follow-ups
• Complete import and export features
• Send a broadcast email to your entire list all in one shot
• Attach files to any or all of your autoresponses
• Track your leads and responses
• Your choice of 19 different domains names to send from
• Send HTML-enhanced messages
• Your own “confirmation” screen
• Selective broadcasting
• Block unwanted email addresses
• Bounce-back management
• Full activity reports via email
• Free, unlimited technical support
• much, much more!

I believe GetResponse is a very affordable option to anyone’s autoresponder needs.

So what are you waiting for?  You owe it to yourself and your online business to at least take a look at what GetResponse can do for you.  And you can try it for FREE. I encourage you to check it out!  Why not?