Testimonials are one of the most powerful, cheap and easy-to-use marketing tools available and if you’re not using them you’re missing out on potential sales.

Regardless of what stage you’re at in building your business you need to focus on establishing credibility with your visitors. Doing this builds trust, which in turn creates profits.

Think about it. Most of us need proof that something works and would be more inclined to make a purchase based on this rather than relying on a sales pitch alone.

Using complimentary, fact-filled testimonials on your website from satisfied customers is one of the most effective ways to let your visitors know that your product will actually do what it says it will.

So, how do you get testimonials?

If your customers have already given you positive feedback on your product, simple ask permission to add these to your site.

If you’re just starting out getting testimonials from happy customers will take a little more effort.

One easy way to collect testimonials is to include a link on your site with a form that allows your customers to give you their vote of confidence.

Basically give them a chance to share their experiences with your product or service.

A more effective method is to create an autoresponder that contacts your buyers after they’ve purchased your product - even a month later - to ask how they’re enjoying the product, as well as giving them a chance to offer feedback on their experience with your business.

If you receive a great letter or e-mail from a happy customer, ask them if you can use their comments on your website to recommend your product to others.

In return you should include their website link in the testimonial. This way there is a benefit to them as well.

If you haven’t yet begun selling your product and have no feedback yet, offer your product or service for free to a select group of customers in exchange for their thoughts on the product or some details on their experience with your site.

Once you’ve got some testimonials to share with your visitors, you need to make sure that you’re putting them to the best possible use on your site.

You can do this by make sure that you…

- Include your best testimonials on the most prominent positions in your main sales page, such as in the top fold or the side bars.

- Place some testimonials right in the middle of your homepage to keep your readers focused on your credibility as you outline the best benefits of your product or service

- Set up a separate page that is totally dedicated to your testimonials, as well as including snippets of their comments throughout your site. Be sure to put a link to your testimonial page next to each of those snippets!

- Don’t edit your testimonials to exclude a comment or add information you want to hear. If you’re not comfortable with using the comments as they are, then you need to ask yourself whether the testimonial is suited to your site.

- Never use a customer testimonial without permission.

But above all, never invent testimonials. This is fraud. There’s just no good way to say it. Lying just to get a sale will undermine your credibility and it will result in destroying your business.

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Kerrie Sheehan

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The Internet has helped up change so many aspects of our lives. We can study and work from home with the help of a computer and high speed Internet access.

However there are many scammers out there ready to take either your money or your work to use for their benefit. And unfortunately, these scammers have made their way into the world of affiliate marketing as well.

Listen, there are some excellent affiliate marketing programs to get involved with - the trick is how to spot the scammers.

The face and manner of the Internet and affiliate marketing is constantly changing. This makes it very difficult to produce a definitive list of do’s and don’ts.

However there are some signs that you can look for.

If the company you are considering displays any of these signs it does not mean they are scammers, however you may need to carry out further investigation.

An affiliate marketing program should always provide you with some support. This can include a person that you can contact with questions or problems.

A legitimate company should want you to do well. The better you do the better they do. It should at very least contain a support web page, an email address and a fixed street address.

If the company has an online affiliate marketing program, the lack of an email or web page should definitely raise some red flags.

A good test is to send the company an email with some basic questions. If it takes them weeks to get back to you then you need to give this venture careful consideration.

Again, they may not be out to con you but if they are poor at communication this could be a sign of other internal problems.

Legitimate affiliate marketing programs generally have a detailed website with all the information you need. You should be suspicious of anyone that operate only by email.

A website is fairly easy to create so why hasn’t this company invested the time to do so?

Many of us would love the opportunity to work for ourselves. We would love to chuck in the day job and start our own online business.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make some money by working for yourself. The costs and the risks are minimal. You do need to use some caution when signing onto a program.

So in summary…

- Make sure there is adequate support available to you.
- Make sure the company is easily contacted and that they answer queries in a timely fashion.
- Be incredibly cautious of companies that have no website.
- These factors do not always mean that the company is out to scam you, however they should be looked at carefully.

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Kerrie Sheehan

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You know, not everyone who succeeds in life are the best at what they do. I’ve seen the most educated and skilled people in their field fail, while others who are half as talented succeed.

Why is that?

Most people do everything they possible can to prevent themselves from experiencing failure. They have a simple misconception that failure is the end of the road. So when they face setbacks or failure, they give up.

The thing is… NO ONE who has ever tasted any level of success without first experiencing the bitter/sweet taste of failure.

You see, failure is only the end of the road when you give up.

One of the best ways to deal with setbacks and failure is to experience it first hand. Embrace your failings and analyze what went wrong so you can make improvements the next time round.

I encourage to get out there and give it a go. Don’t be affriad to make mistakes. If it goes wrong, learn from it. Make changes and move on. Just keep repeating the process until you get it right.

And when you find the correct formula… simply rinse and repeat your way to success.

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Kerrie Sheehan

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It’s no secret that affiliate marketers rely on sales to make money with affiliate programs.

The only thing is that many new marketers forget is that they also need to rely on website traffic. After all, without traffic no one will be able to see your affiliate products, let alone buy them.

That is why if you promote affiliate products you need to work on increasing your traffic.

There are a number of steps that you can take to increase your traffic. Three of these steps are outlined below…

STEP # 1 - SEO

If you are an established webmaster, you likely already know what SEO is. If not, you need to familiarize yourself with it right away.

SEO, which is also known as search engine optimization, may have an important impact on the success of your website… even its failure.

The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is to increase your search engine ranking. Having a high search engine ranking increases your chances of receiving traffic from the search engines.

Search engine optimization encompasses a number of different methods, but one of the most important is content. You need to have original and unique content on your website.

You will also want to use keyword tracking tools… they enable you to determine what keyword phrases internet users are searching with.

Targeting your content towards these keyword phrases is surefire method to increase your website traffic.

STEP # 2 - Article Distribution

Have you heard of article directories before?

Article directories are websites that act as hosts for collections of articles. They often contain a large collection of articles, sometimes even millions.

In exchange for providing posting your article (content) on this site, article directories will allow you to insert a link at the end of your article. This link should direct readers to your online website, namely the page that outlines the affiliate products that you are selling.

Not only will this help to increase your website traffic, but your sales may also increase.

To effectively use article distribution, you need to submit multiple articles. In fact, the more articles the better. You should create a goal for yourself, like submitting at least five articles a month.

It is also important that you create content that is relevant to your website, otherwise you run the risk of damaging your credibility and your profits!

STEP #3 - Blogging

Over the past few years the popularity of blogging has skyrocketed. In addition to personal blogs, a large number of online businesses are now relying on blogs to help increase their website traffic… and you can too.

You can either create your own free blog or you can pay to have your blog hosted on your own domain name.

When creating a blog you should create your own content, which may include short articles, tips, product reviews or recommendations.

Or if you don’t want to write your own content you can use content from the free article directories, provided you give them credit by linking back to their site.

These are just three of the methods you can use to increase your website traffic, however these are the easiest and quickest ways that you can use if you are just starting out.

With a small amount of effort you could easily begin to see an increase in traffic in a matter of days. In fact you may not only see an increase in traffic, you may also see an increase in your affiliate sales.

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Kerrie Sheehan

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The best way to start is by researching research products on a topic that you are interested in. Try to determine if people are buying that product or service online.

There are many sources for finding that information including free ones, such as the one available at:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

This tool will allow you to see how many people are searching keywords related to the products that you want to promote.

When you have found a keyword that is popular, type it in to search bar along with ‘affiliate program’ into your search engine and this will give you a list of affiliate programs related to the services or products for that topic.

For example: dog training + “affiliate program”

You can also use one of the affiliate program directories that I mentioned in the last issue To hunt down good affiliate programs.

When you have found a program that looks interesting be sure to carefully read the terms of the program.

Make sure that payouts are not solely based on the dollar value of your commissions earning as this is not always a good indicator of a good product.

Try to choose programs that have high coversion rates. The benefit with high converting programs is that while you may not get the highest commission per sale, you will generate many more sales and this will offset the lower commissions.

Now that you’ve chosen an affiliate program it’s time to start marketing.

The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners is that you only need to focus on marketing - not creating and delivering your own product.

Many affiliate programs have information on how to market and give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more.

You can also look for other information on marketing, such as writing