Wealthy Affiliate - Pyramid to Riches

If you've clicked on this review you're one of the thousands considering becoming a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate.  It is also known by the none too presumptuous title of the Wealthy Affiliate University or simply, WA.

Let me start by saying you will find no link in this review. I am not selling WA nor am I selling one of its competitors.  I am merely here to tell you of my experiences within the gilded walls of WA.  Yes, I was a member and went through the bulk of the training they provide on Internet marketing.  I am no longer a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate and decided to write a review of their services for those of you that want a first hand account; no strings attached.

By now you've seen the ads that promise a large income from working in the comfort of your home.  As a marketing strategy, its genius.  But what does WA actually supply to their affiliates?  And do the skills they provide really make money for their members?

The Wealthy Affiliate  "university" centers around an 8 week course for beginners in which each new set of lessons is doled out; one per week.  The site may have a slick look to it, but  wears more like a cheap suit with poor navigation, confusing lesson formats and enough typos to make a member wonder why they didn't pop for a copy editor.

Kyle and Carson, the WA creators,  have built a wonderful money making machine, for themselves.  Under the guise of helping people make lots of money through Internet marketing, they are really just fueling their own empire by creating Wealthy Affiliate affiliates.

It starts with how the new members can promote WA.  And they have made it very easy for the newbies to do just that with ready made ads and websites that promote WA and its host of peripheral products.

WA provides a taste of what is needed to make a living with Internet marketing and a big push to go round up more newbies for the cult of Wealthy Affiliate affiliates.  Some might say that WA is starting to sound like a pyramid scheme, but its probably closer to multi level marketing.

The sad and rarely mentioned truth behind Internet marketing in general is that the failure rate is close to 95%.  This failure rate has more to do with the unrealistic hopes of the people signing up, all WA does is fan the fire.  Regardless of what you have read in ads promoting Internet marketing there is NOTHING EASY about it.

Making money online is hard work, often times requiring more hours per week than a full time job.  But that kind of information wouldn't read well in a pay per click ad.  The truth often times has little to do with good salesmanship.  Internet marketers are selling a dream.

So what of joining WA?  On the pro side, they do offer some helpful information and resources for their $30+/month membership fee.  On the con side, be prepared to be hit with a barrage of self serving promotions. They make them seem very enticing and an easy way to start off in Internet marketing.  WAs turnover rate must be high as witnessed by their constant push for new members to recruit new members.

And as for giving you "the secrets" to making money online, well don't expect anything more than general information about IM.  Do you honestly expect them to give up the secrets that REALLY make them money?  Of course not, that's how they make their living, why would they?

According to WA records, their active membership is hovering around 12,000 as of this writing.  I did an informal survey of 3000 of those so called members and found that nearly 46% of them had never posted to the WA forum once.  All of these members have been with WA for at least 6 months and some as long as two years.

For a website that prides itself on its "supportive" forum and encourages new members to use it, doesn't it seem a bit odd that so many Wealthy Affiliate affiliates would have never used it, not even one time?

Many pocketed groups of these non posting members also joined within several minutes of each other as attested to by WAs own system of recording members join up times.  I would be curious to hear Kyle and Carson explain this phenomenon.

What WA provides to its Wealthy Affiliate affiliates is a basic primer to IM, some resources that, regardless of their hype, can be found elsewhere on the internet, often for free and a forum with little tolerance of anyone questioning the status quo and the smell of hype everywhere.

Let's face it, Internet marketers are salesman above all and those who run sites like WA are super salesman.  Kyle and Carson discovered what PT Barnum knew long ago, there's a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate born every minute.  All these two boys figured out was how to leverage them on a regular and ongoing basis.  If anyone was wondering where the used car salesmen of old have gone, they are right here on the internet and doing FINE.

WA and its army of Wealthy Affiliate affiliates is just one of the many, many Internet marketing creations that promise to "show you the secrets" of making money online.  Its a promise that fails to mention that to become a truly successful Internet marketer takes years of hard work.  The expression, "don't believe the hype" comes to mind.

So should you spend the money becoming a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate?  Well if you've got around $100 (more if you plan to use PPC campaigns) and a few months then there are worse ways to go.  You can learn some of  the basics of Internet marketing being a WA member.  Just go through the 8 week program and don't get sucked into all the products/services they will try to sell you along the way.

At the same time you must realize that becoming a member opens you to the often unsavory world of IM where ROI (return on investment) is king, not the customer. This is not WAs fault, they're just milking the cow.  To really compete in this business, be it as a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate or not, it's best to check a healthy chuck of your ethics at the door.

A more important question is are you looking for something quick and easy by becoming a Wealthy Affiliate affiliate or something that requires dedication and hard work?  If you answered "quick and easy" don't waste your money joining WA, in fact don't waste your money on Internet marketing at all.

7 "Awesome" Ways to Dominate With Affiliate Marketing

When promoting other people's products or services, sometimes you may run out of ideas, and then wonder...

"Why are they getting more sales than me?"

Well, my friend... I'll tell you a little secret. Not everyone is 'in' on the correct affiliate marketing methods to use, as they are mostly kept secret by the so called "Gurus".

Not any more.

Here are 7 *KILLER* ways to dominate your affiliate market and work your way through the competition, ultimately producing massive commissions!

1) Offer discounts for the package to your customers.

Or, if it's a small commission payout, offer a percentage. If you cannot negotiate this with the manager of the product you're promoting, ask your customers to send you their payment proof so you can refund the discount value directly to their account.

2) Offer bonuses.

These bonuses should outweigh the cost of the affiliate product with pure value. Because, if you offer every product separately, it's seen as less value and will produce fewer sales anyway. Ideas include - video courses, unreleased e-books, free access to special events (including seminars and workshops), swipe files, etc.

3) Review websites.

We've all seen them at times of product launches. And they DO work. So why not make your own?

You shouldn't make it blatantly obvious that you're promoting it... In fact you should list a few bad points here and there too, but DEFINITELY outweigh them with good points. Go in-depth into the product, explaining EVERYTHING there is to know, even with hints at some of the content sections to excite the reader. Basically give them what other review sites or affiliates wouldn't.

The review should end on a positive conclusion, followed by your affiliate link (which would be cloaked by a forwarded URL, such as YourWebsite.com/affiliateproductname, or even a tinyURL link used with anchor text).

4) Pay-Per-Click.

THE ultimate form of affiliate advertising. Due to the short-term nature of hyped product launches, there is little time for proper SEO to come into effect. This is easily sorted with Pay-Per-Click services such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing.

If you've followed point 3 above about a review website, advertise it on PPC, as you can make it seem shocking by introducing a shocking headline such as... "PRODUCT NAME... A SCAM?!?!". And then obviously prove it isn't in your review website. Another popular headline is "Don't Buy PRODUCT NAME Until You've Read This!".

5) Article/Blog Submissions

Similar to a review website, submit USEFUL articles or post to your blog, i.e. articles which are packed with VALUE, about the niche in which the product is located. If useful information isn't provided, then the article submission websites will not accept your article due to the in-your-face spam.

At the end of this article, conclude by relating the post topic to the product in your resource box, with a link to either your affiliate link (if allowed), or your review website which would be used for further reading.

6) Forum posts.

This is probably the hardest method to use, as it requires skill and patience, as you tiptoe around the rules.

Search with Google for forum topics containing the product you're promoting (as no doubt there will be some from sceptical visitors), and post replies to all of them, referring to your review website or article if they would like more information on the product. However, please read the rules of the individual forum before following this advice, as some forums are very strict on it.

Also, another method could be to use Direct Marketing on the forums, i.e. send a private message to the users related to the forum post, explaining how you have inside information about the product.

7) Make a promotional video.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Oh my god, that sounds technical! I can't do that!". Don't worry, it isnt. All you need is screencasting software (such as Jing), and a microphone.

This video could either be showing a preview of inside the package (with prior permission from the launcher of the product, explaining what you'll use the video for), or even a talk from you giving immensely valuable tips/secrets related to the niche, and then offering a special discount or limited time offer at the end of the video.

Also, you could make a viral video. One thing i'll always remember is Michael Cheney's videos promoting a launch, as it contained HUMOUR. He made it seem as though it was against the law to be showing you a preview (which was advertised as an "illegal video", whereas what the reader didn't know was that permission was granted beforehand anyway), but this stuck in people's heads and people willingly passed it on to each other as a source of ENTERTAINMENT, instead of a video which they may find useful.

I hope this post has provided you with a greater insight into affiliate marketing.

See You Soon!

- James Francis.

With over 5 years of vast experience of teaching Internet Marketing, James Francis uses dozens of techniques for producing sales and satisfied customers across the globe, including (but not necessarily limited to): Internet Marketing, Video Marketing, Web 2.0, E-mail Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Article Marketing, Social Media, and many more.

Using these methods, he provides you with the most effective tutorials to help you create your full time income online.

To learn how you can start earning with Internet Marketing RIGHT NOW, watch the value-packed video on this page for free:

http://www.EasyIMProfits.com/secretvideo

To Your Successful Future,
- James Francis.
http://www.EasyIMProfits.com

Becoming an Affiliate Marketing Success

If you are new to the game of Internet income, or are a seasoned professional looking for more income, it may make sense to consider Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate Marketing is relatively easy to get started. That is part of the attractiveness. You won't need any products of your own as you will be selling products for others and receiving a commission. This allows you a pretty cost efficient entry into the business.

Affiliate programs are good for the merchants you will represent as it allows them to have a number of sales people that they have no responsibility for. They do have some responsibility to the Affiliate Marketers, but no direct responsibility for them as the Affiliate marketers are all Independent Contractors, therefore self employed. Affiliate programs allow the merchant to get product in front of a much larger audience than would be possible without an Affiliate program. Also, the merchant can better judge sales costs as the Affiliate will be paid a commission. The merchant does not have to bear the cost of such things as payroll, employee benefits, advertising, etc. This puts the merchant in a position to offer the Affiliate Marketers a generous commission structure.

If you plan to get involved in Affiliate Marketing I suggest you start small, and start carefully. Do some research and be confident that you will not only be comfortable selling the product or products you select, but that you will actually enjoy the process. This means you need to select products you are passionate about. So not only do you need to do some research, but you also need to do some soul searching. Generally, you will have some advanced knowledge about products and or services you are passionate about and that will help you in establishing yourself as an expert it the field you have chosen.

Once you have an idea of the products or services you want to sell you will need to search for merchants looking to sell them via Affiliate Marketers. You can also do a little research on the internet and see where the greatest commission opportunities are in your chosen field. Again, following my prior advice of starting small I would narrow it down to no more than three products at first. When you have been at it awhile and have made a few dollars, you can invest in a good website to promote all of your products and services and at that point you may want to add a few more items.

Affiliate Marketing is one of the fastest growing segments of online business, and it's fairly easy to see why. It's easy to get into, easy to operate, and can make you a lot of money. I can't think of anything with a much easier entry.

As you are considering Affiliate Marketing and doing your research you will, no doubt come across some, and maybe a lot, of Affiliate Business Opportunities and MLM programs that will be very enticing. I must caution you here that most of these are scams and if you have an interest in these, be very careful. There are some legitimate programs out there, but I would guess it's about one in ten. You may want to give one or two a try, and that is OK, just as long as you go into them with your eyes open and understand you may lose your original investment. So the guidance here is keep that investment SMALL. Enjoy the process.

Wayne C. Weeks ---
Wayne is a published author, writer, blogger and Internet Marketer who spent more than 30 years in the mortgage industry. Wayne is also a Christian, Businessman, Award Winning Winemaker, Lay Minister, Private Pilot, Husband and stuff like that...

Low Investment Affiliate Program: http://hotshorturl.com/wo48

Making Money Online - Do You Have the Passion?

If you have ever tried to make money online you are probably aware that it is not as easy as you may think. There are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to making money online. In my opinion there is one thing that you need to have to start earning a nice stream of income from the internet. That one thing is passion. If you don't have passion to make money online you probably will not make any. Before you get deep into trying to make some real money via the net you need to ask yourself do you have a passion to make this happen.

I remember when I first started trying to make money online. It was so much information out there on how to do this. You discover so many training course and coaching programs. You read a million post on forums and blogs. I got to the point where I didn't know where to begin. At this point I decided to buy a pretty big ticket item (around $1,000). I figured this is all I would need to start making that cash. I looked at all the dvd's that came with the program, read all of the manuals and used up all of my coaching calls and when it was all said and done after trying everything that was in that course I still wasn't making money online. Now that sucked.

This definitely made me want to quit. I thought if that expensive program didn't get me making money online nothing will. I was ready to be done with this whole online money making thing until I started thinking about the life that I could have if some how could start making enough money online to pay my bills and buy the things that I want when I want. That's when I told myself that I was going to start making money online no matter what.

That's when I went back to the drawing board. I started reading articles and doing searches on the topic of making money online. I still was getting an overload of information but I kept digging. I still felt that I needed some sort of training course just to get me started, but I really wasn't ready to spend another $1000. I finally found a couple of courses for under $100 that had some pretty good reviews. I got one thinking that once I do this the money should start rolling in, but that wasn't the case, sort of.

See the information in the program that I got was pretty good. The only thing is I had no idea how much work goes into making money online. That's when I started thinking that if it was that easy everybody would be doing it. So instead of quitting after learning some strategies on how to generate an income online I decided to buckle down and do whatever it took to see that money come in. Of course you probably know what I am going to say next. After a few months of hard work and dedication I started seeing money coming in.

No I didn't make a million dollars after buckling d but as time went on and I kept at it I started seeing more and more money coming in from the internet. Now I can honestly say that I am making a regular income online and I owe it all to passion. You got to really want to make it happen because you will run into some bumps in the road that will make it very tempting for you to abandon your quest for success. This is exactly when your passion should destroy any desires that you may have to quit. So do you have the passion to make money online?

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How to Really Make Money Online Fast and Easy

If you are reading this article you are certainly looking for a way to make quick cash, and I am glad to tell you that it is possible.

However, even though you can make money online fast and easy, it does not mean that you will be making thousands of dollars within a week or a month, it means that you can start seeing actual results really fast.

This will translate in a good taste of the internet's potential for profits, because if you know how to canalize your efforts, you will likely see $100, $200 or even $500 or more in profits during your first month in business.

This may not sound like much, but the thing is that when you see this figure turn up in you account, you have the certainty that what whatever you did to get such result is working and from there all you have to do is replicate it several times over to create a significant stream of income.

How fast and how easy you make money online will depend on several factors:

1.- The business model you choose, because there are a ton of things you can do to make money online, however, my personal favorites are affiliate marketing and trading, because they demand less effort and they offer a huge earning potential both in the short and the long run.

2.- The tools and resources you use to build your business, because unless you where born with an unlimited knowledge base imprinted in your brain, you will need education and assistance in order to do what you need to do.

Therefore, if you want to make a lot of money online fast, you need to explore decisively affiliate marketing and online trading, along with the different tools and resources proven to deliver actual results: http://www.specialonlinebusinessreviewauthority.com.

Ways to Make Serious Money With a Small Investment

I have seen how often people reject the idea of investing, simply because they do not have to much money to spare and they do not know the next thing about managing an investment. I have been there myself, and I was one of those individuals who used to think that I would only be able to make a living out of my money once I had reached at least $500,000 in my bank account.

But a while ago I realized that in order to make money out of my money I would not have to wait 30 years and work 20 hours per day until I was 60 years old and I had my half of a million dollars. On the contrary, I learned that all I needed was a small amount of money, and some cutting edge technology to manage the risk of my investment myself.

Indeed, when you give your money to an institution and you accept to be paid an insignificant interest rate, you do so because they are supposed to be the experts and you have no idea how to manage the risk involved in investing your money.

However, if you can overcome the challenge of managing such risk, there is no reason not to stay in the sidelines and you can start thinking big without being big. In other words, if you learn how to manage your investment, whether it is through education or the use of reliable investing tools, you will be able to make a lot of money with only a small initial investment.

Imagine for a moment that you could achieve a 20% monthly return on your investment. Well, in this scenario an initial investment of $200 could turn into $13,249.47 after only 24 months. So you see, you can make serious money with just a little of it and without being reckless; all you will need to make a profitable investment is know-how and/or a solid investing toolbox.

Therefore, make sure you learn more about the resources and technology designed and proven to help you become a successful investor at: http://www.specialonlinebusinessreviewauthority.com.

How To Find Profitable Untapped Affiliate Markets

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Affiliate marketing can be extremely lucrative as you know, but if you are a newbie who are starting to involve in earning online through affiliate program, you may find it's hard to find a suitable affiliate products to promote with, because most of them have been promoted heavily by many other affiliate marketers; hence if you are promoting the same affiliate products, you need to complete with these experience affiliate marketers.

So how can you find untapped and therefore potentially highly profitable products to promote as an affiliate?

If you are a new affiliate marketer, the best place to start searching for your products is at Clickbank, the leading retailer of digital products and the most popular affiliate networks where many affiliate marketers are making the fortune with it. You may wonder that Clickbank products are heavily promoted by many affiliate marketers, are you standing a chance to win in this affiliate market? The fact is Clickbank sell so many products, there are still some very profitable opportunities which are overlook by other affiliate marketers.

If you do some analysis, you will find that most affiliate marketers are naturally go to promote best selling products in each category and the most popular category which love by most affiliate marketers is internet marketing / make money products. This category is facing heavy competition between affiliate marketers, some good strategies are needed to win in the competition. If you not a good competitor and have a marketing budget constraint; then try to look for other less popular products, you will often find some hidden gems that haven't yet taken off for whatever reason. You can make a good profit with these products by promoting them on PPC (pay per click) search engines, email marketing, article marketing or through your website.

Beside that, the best way to profit from Clickbank products is you must get the first hand alert on any new product launch in Clickbank. And start to heavily promote it as soon as they come available. Getting a good and new product promoted in market before others do, can be extremely lucrative. There are specialist sites that will allow you to constantly scan for any new products that have just entered the marketplace.

Other than Clickbank, there are many other affiliate networks available in the internet that has hidden gems which you can discover and make your fortune from it. Do a search for "affiliate networks" and you will find thousands of affiliate networks where you can find many companies offer affiliate program. These networks present plenty of opportunities because from these lists, there will inevitably be some companies that are under-represented by affiliates, particularly on Google Adwords and other PPC search engines.

Furthermore, if you spend some time to look for companies outside the US which have their individual affiliate program, you will find a lot untapped affiliate markets for non-English speaking countries. These markets have far fewer competitors and may be a potential an absolute goldmine where you can earn a substantial profits from them. Your problem that you will be faced if you want to tap into these non-English speaking markets, you need to translate your sales page or website into a different languages; don't try to use any of translation software because they very rarely translate perfectly into the natural language. You can many freelance sites that provide translation service; use their service to translate your sales page or website into different language and start promoting your selected products to these countries.

In Summary

Affiliate marketing can be extremely lucrative and to be success in this business, you need to be creative search for untapped opportunities. The internet market is huge and there is always be good companies out there who need more affiliates in all kinds of different niches.

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Affiliate Marketing - An Excellent Choice for Your First Home Internet Business

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Promoting affiliate programs is the least costly and least stressful of all types of home Internet businesses and makes an excellent starting point for Internet marketing novices. It is also one of the best ways to earn revenue from your web site if you don't have a product of your own to sell. In fact, there are some 'super affiliates' out there that make their living online doing nothing but promoting other online merchant's products or services through affiliate programs.

So, just what is an affiliate program? An affiliate is someone who partners with another online merchant to help drive targeted business to that merchant's web site in order to increase sales. An affiliate program is an inexpensive marketing strategy used by an online merchant in which a monetary incentive is offered to webmasters (affiliates) to drive traffic to that merchant's web site. The monetary incentive is usually in the form of a percentage-based commission or a fixed dollar amount. Affiliate programs are sometimes referred to as associate programs or referral programs. Affiliates are also referred to as publishers in many cases.

Sponsoring an affiliate program makes sense for an online merchant because it helps to

• Increase online exposure
• Increase traffic leading to greater sales
• Generate more targeted leads

For an Internet entrepreneur there are many more reasons it makes sense to start an Internet affiliate business. Here are just some of them:

• Low cost set-up
• Affiliate programs are free to join
• 24x7 passive income
• No employees
• No inventory
• No order processing
• No product shipping
• No merchant account needed
• Minimal risk
• Large income potential

There are three general types of affiliate programs:

• Pay-Per-Sale (PPS) - in which an affiliate earns a commission or fixed dollar amount based on each sale made through links from the affiliate's site.
• Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) - in which an affiliate earns a fixed amount every time a customer directed from their web site fills out a survey, requests information, joins a program, etc.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) - in which an affiliate earns a fixed amount every time a potential customer clicks on a link from the affiliate's site to the merchant's site.

Once you are affiliated with a merchant, you may place their ad(s) on your web site. When a customer clicks on one of these ads and is taken to the merchant's online store, if they then make a purchase, fill out a survey, etc., you get a commission for that sale or referral based on the merchant's payout structure.

The 'million dollar' question that I had when I first started, and that you may be wondering about right now, is "How does the merchant know that the sale/referral came from my site?"

When you join an affiliate program, you are assigned a tracking number or code, usually referred to as an affiliate ID. This ID is unique only to you. When you create a link from an ad on your web site, you simply include this ID in the link.

Once a customer clicks on your link, a tracking cookie with your affiliate ID is placed on the customer's computer. If that customer then makes a purchase, the tracking cookie will identify them to the merchant as being referred from your web site. Depending on the affiliate program, the tracking cookie may be valid for just that one visit, up to a lifetime for that customer.

Most merchants realize that a customer may not make a purchase during the same visit in which they were directed from an affiliate site. As an incentive to the affiliate, if a customer returns directly to the merchant site within the time specified by the cookie duration and makes a purchase, the affliate will still get credit for the sale.

While a normal link to a page that is selling product 'abc' at merchant 'XYZ' may look like:

http://www.xyz.com/products/abc.html

Your affiliate link may look something like:

http://www.xyz.com/product.asp?
PID=1234567&AID=9876

where your affiliate ID is '9876' and the product ID or SKU for item abc is '1234567'.

This example is a hypothetical link to a specific product or product page. Most merchants also permit you to link to their home page, or any other page on their web site. Most of the ads you will place on your site are in the form of banners, text ads, images or text/image combinations. Many merchants also supply you with more advanced linking options such as data feeds, storefronts, virtual stores, search boxes, and the like.

If you're contemplating starting a home internet business, then promoting affiliate programs is the best way to test the waters. Affiliate marketing is a proven win-win-win scenario for online merchants, internet marketers, and consumers alike.

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Free Steps to Online Prosperity - Get Rich Now Or Die Trying!

Internet marketing is not reserved for a special kind of people. It is a business environment for the rich, the poor, the privileged, the less privileged. It is an environment for the educated and the illiterate. It is for everybody that has the ability to learn and implement what has been learned. Anyone can prosper online. You don't need to travel to heaven, space or the moon to get extraordinary abilities. You don't need the midas touch. You don't even need any magic wand or a talisman. All you need is to open your conscious and sub-conscious mind up to receive the relevant and free information that will wire you to become an online prosperous individual.

Many people believe that the only way to make money online is by spending a lot of money. This is far from the truth because there are many ways you can earn a living online without necessarily spending a fortune. One of such ways is affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, all you need do is to get the products and start selling. At the end of the day, you earn an affiliate commission from the owner of the products for just selling his products.

Now, the five free steps to online prosperity are as follows:

1. Sign up for a ClickBank account as an affiliate and choose 5 products to promote.

2. Do a keyword search for each of the products you selected.

3. Create five free landing pages for the products. You can use Blogger.com or WordPress. Both of them are free.

4. Generate traffic to your landing pages through article marketing. That is, send articles to article directories such as EzineArticles.com

5. Start from step 1 and get to step 4. Do it over and over again just to increase your income.

If I show you how to make easy and free money online would you be interested? Check out this blog now: Make More Money! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raymond_Edeh