Do you have a shopping list?

What has a shopping list got to do with Internet Marketing?

Now if you are like me you get heaps of offers for products through your email box on a daily basis. Now to let you into a little secret I've noticed a lot of these products come with either private label or some sort of resell rights. I've also noticed that most of these products will be given away for free in the next giveaway event as well.

So rather than buy them I create a shopping list for the next giveaway.

However I have also found that once I know about a certain product I tend to find a use for it and it's frustrating waiting for the next giveaway to get it for free.

Did you know that most of these products also tend to be available for members in paid membership sites within days as well? So for one small monthly fee you can join a membership site and get multiple products for the price of a single product if brought separately.

How do you find these membership sites?

Mostly by trial and error it seems.

One that I recommend that has over 300 products available upon joining is Magnetic Vault for a monthly price that is considerably less that most One Time Offers.

There are several places to find a Joint Venture (JV) partners. One of the best venues to find JV partners are offline resources, such as seminars, conferences, and tradeshows.

These offer many opportunities of other people that are of a like mind. Get to know the people at these events. They may not be able to help you now, but they can be a resource in the future.

Though not an official joint venture partner resource, you can use also ClickBank to find others that are well known in your niche. Make sure they have been in business for awhile and have a successful track record.

Using the search engines is a good method, but you need to search for your competition as well as a joint venture partner. Make sure that your potential partner does not have affiliations with a competitor. This could lead to a business conflict and a potential problem down the road.

There are many online networks for joint ventures on the net that allow you to post your idea for a joint venture and let interested parties contact you.

The above method is a good system, but you may be contacted by people that do not have your best interest in mind. Investigate their backgrounds and find out if they are truly authentic.

Just be aware that if you post your idea on the net, you are also putting your idea open to your competitors. They could easily steal your marketing idea and put them up for their own.

Myface.com and Myspace.com are good social networks to find partners if you are in the right circles. Again be careful who you pitch your ideas to. The person might be trying to network to find out how to market their product and your proposal could give them all the information they need.

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Good news I've won the lottery at least a dozen times but I can't remember the last time I had enough money left over to buy a ticket let alone bought a ticket.

More good news my distant relatives (several of them infact) have left me a fortune all I have to do is claim it. Most as so distant they are the other side of the horizon!

Even more good news my email has been chosen in some Microsoft lottery and I've won another fortune.

Further good news all my medical and other personal problems have been solved by latest miracle drugs at greatly reduced prices.

Even further good news I can buy all that expensive software at 10% of the retail price.

Even further more good news I have won a holiday in some exotic location.

So why am I so miserable?

Because my finger is so sore from hitting the "delete" button!

If you take any single resource from this list and then build it, you have the opportunity to build the other three at the same time.

Don't set rules for your resources and don't segregate them. They are all related, and this is where the growth comes for your online business. Use everything to build everything. Build one, build them all.

Fore example:

Your joint venture prospects don't just have to be for building your first time buyers list, you can use them to build your affiliates, your customers, your list and your joint ventures even further.

Your list doesn't just have to be to make sales, you can use it to create joint ventures, increase your first time and long term customer base, and at the same time build your affiliate numbers, and so on.

This is key to make sure to connect every single resource to the other, and they will all grow. Do this and before you know it you will have a flood of resources to pick from whenever you want to promote a new product, whether it's someone else's product, or yours.

If you fail to recognize this and one section becomes disconnected from the other, it's very hard to realign them again.

You'll also find that if they become too disconnected, the whole system will break down and one will no longer build the other three. This is disastrous and will lose you money, big time!

Procrastination is basically a way of life for many people as it allows you to take a more 'comfortable' option for delaying tough decisions.

When people procrastinate they are more often than not putting off doing something that could be a huge benefit to them, but for some reason they use more energy and effort in delaying this task than actually doing it.

If left unchecked procrastination can become habitual and it this is one of the main reasons why many people do not achieve their goals or dreams.

So why do people procrastinate?

While there are a number of reasons why this happens, one of the most common reasons is due to a subconscious fear of failure, or a fear of change that is stronger than the goal of success.

Maybe you've had a past bad experience and therefore you are hesitant to venture out of the box for fear of being 'bitten' again. Maybe it's a confidence thing we're you just don't have the self-confidence to breakout of your comfort zone.

Or maybe it's because you believe that because you weren't born into successful or wealthy beginnings, you will never amount to anything remotely worthwhile. So rather than going through the pain of failure, you just don't bother to try in the first place.

This is the road of self-destruction. Listen. You're going to make a few mistakes along the way - this is all part of 'playing the game'. But you are also going to hit a few home runs and it's during these times you realize how easy it really is.

Those who are totally committed to attaining their goals learn to overcome their initial fears and take the necessary action to do the things they have put off for so long.

You'll be surprised that when you break the cycle and take action a great weight will be lifted from your shoulders and you will wonder why in the world you didn't do this earlier.

But of course overcoming your fear is not always easy.

In fact it can be quite scary as there may be some real issues that you need to resolve, so you don't want to make the wrong decision. So first and foremost you need to carry out due diligence to satisfy any concerns you may have.

After you've done your research and you are happy with what you have found, it's time to make you're your decision as to whether it is worth your while to take action or not.

But how will you know whether you should take action?

To help you get started here are some steps you should follow to help you make your decision a little easier:

Make a list of all the things you need to do that you have been putting off, you probably have this "to do" list already drafted in your mind or written down in a safe place.

Then, go to a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for about 20 minutes. Go through each item on the list and write down your excuses for not having completed the task already.

Maybe there is a money problem, or you do not think you have enough education or the proper qualifications. Whatever it is just write it down and do not worry about how it will be resolved, you can worry about this later.

Next, go through the list again and write down the benefits you currently enjoy because you are procrastinating on these tasks. Yes, you must be receiving a benefit for not doing the task otherwise you would have done it by now.

For example - if you wrote down that you do not have enough education, then the benefit you are receiving right now by not getting an education is that you have more money than you would if you were spending it on school fees or text books.

Another benefit could be that you have more time to do what you want, instead of spending it locked away for hours on end studying for boring exams.

When you've done this repeat the same process, but this time write down the benefits you would receive if you didn't procrastinate and took action on a particular topic.

Finally, look at all the reasons you have listed as excuses for procrastinating and the benefits you are receiving and compare these to the benefits if you did take action. Do your excuses still make sense?

This is the time to sit down again and make a plan - a plan that you will stick to and not put off for any longer. Quickly write down a list of things you will do to make your dreams a reality and make a "to do" list that you will actually do!

Then, go through the list again and put them in the order you will do them (example: Do you need to get a loan before you can go to college?) Also, write down the date that you will complete each item.

Now that you have your work planned that you can achieve in a manageable way, go out and make your dreams come true!

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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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Here are the symptoms according to my mate Bob.

1. The belief, no matter how illogical, that one day you will actually make a living in IM.
2. You keep trying to make a living with IM even though everything you have tried to date has not made you enough money to even cover your IM expenses.
3. You actually do not know anyone personally (been to their house or had them over to yours) who is making a living in IM.
4. Every sale's pitch from the so called gurus on the next great "whatever" gets you so excited that you automatically buy it without thinking about it.
5. You download everything you can get your hands on even if it is completely worthless.
6. The zip files on your hard drive/drives number in the thousands.
7. You have purchased additional or larger hard drives to store all of your IM stuff.
8. You blindly enter your name and e-mail address into opt in forms without hesitation just to get that freebie and as a result get hundreds of e-mail sales pitches a day.
9. Paypal should be sending you a dividend check.
10. People around you like family and friends think you either have a gambling problem or a porn addiction or both.
11. If you actually have ever purchased a quality IM product, you wouldn't have known it because you did not put the time or energy into it to make it work.
12. A solid team of professional internet techs and marketing experts could not complete your IM to-do list because it is growing faster than the national debt.



Click here to join Mastering Internet Basics.

OK you are not alone if you answered "Yes" and admitted to being a sufferrer of IM Disease - been there myself too.

Well you'll will just have to wait bit longer to see how many of the above symptons MIB cures for you.

However I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what MIB can do for you. I'm currently trying it out myself and squashing the bugs as I go.


Click here to join Mastering Internet Basics.

I thought the lyrics from an old Dire Straits song (slightly altered) fit very well for this blog post - Although I'm not actually offering "money for nothing" I'm going to tell you about the #1 traffic generation tool that you can utilize online, Affiliate Marketing. It's no secret that Affiliate Marketing is lucrative, both for Affiliates and Merchants, but why?

Merchants start an affiliate program to leverage their Affiliates' name, expertise, websites, and more. It takes time and effort to get traffic to a site, develop a community, run a newsletter, and develop good rapport with potential customers. If you could walk right into a relationship like that, would you? I bet you would - and that's what the Affiliate-Merchant relationship does for Merchants. (And sometimes, vice-versa) With affiliates promoting his or her product, a Merchant can focus on the most important things: sales letter conversion and the product itself!

Affiliates leverage a Merchant's time and expertise as well, because the Merchant has already developed a product that fits the needs of the Affiliate's target market. An Affiliate generally already has a newsletter, a website, access to PPC campaigns, etc, but they are usually in need of a quality product to sell to that market. So, the Affiliate agrees to send visitors to the Merchant's website in exchange for a percentage of any sales generated by that visitor.

Sounds simple, right? You bet it is! And with sites like the new Mastering Internet Basics membership site, my grandmother could do it! Mastering Internet Basics will be launching soon, and will make it's way toward being the #1 affiliate network site very quickly. Why? All members become affiliates and they will love it so much they will want to crow about it. So they will recommend it to anyone who listens aided by features like the full graphical affiliate tools, reports, articles and forum support.

Click here to join Mastering Internet Basics

So sign up for the Mastering Internet Basics newsletter and grab the openning special and feel free to promote as an affiliate! Mastering Internet Basics is leaps and bounds beyond its competitors when it comes to features - don't waste any time, check it out today!

Many blog owners obtain passive revenue by placing advertisements on their blogs. These ads can be placed in various places, such as in the footer, beneath the header or on the sidebars, etc.

Most blog owners want the ads to be as visible as possible as this increases profitability for adverstisers. Let's face it. Advertisers are not going to pay to advertising that is buried on an unpopular page of a site.

One of the most popular ad programs around is Google Adsense. This is where advertisers pay Google to advertise links to their site and these links are then featured on websites or blogs when advertised item is relevant to the content of the page.

Whenever a reader visits the link of one of the advertisers being featured on your blog you earn money.

There are many blogs that exist solely to earn Google Adsense revenue. Quite a few are loaded with Google ads in picture and text form with very little original content.

I personally recommend against doing this, since having a blog with no original content can cause you to be penalized with the search engines. It will also prevent you from listing your blog in many quality blog directories and communities.

Another advertising program that allows you to sell ad space on your blog is Adbrite -
http://www.adbrite.com

The features of Adbrite are very similar to Google Adsense but the primary difference is that they allow your blog to be listed in a Marketplace. This allows advertisers to browse sites and blogs in certain categories and buy ad space on a specific blog for selected timeframe.

You have the option of setting your own rates or Adbrite will set the daily, weekly and monthly rate based on your traffic stats and overall ranking.

Your payout is usually higher with Adbrite since you are able to get paid per click or page impression revenue thanks to network wide cost per click campaigns some advertisers run.

You are also able to sell advertisement space directly to advertisers that want to have a link on your site for a set amount of time.

My favorite feature is that you are able to approve each advertiser yourself. That means you can deny advertisers who have objectionable content or that are direct competitors. With Google Adsense you never know what link is gong to pop up on your blog.

Adbrite and Adsense are just two income generating programs, but there are many others that you can use as alternative methods to monetize all types of blogs.

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Hey I'm still working on Keries Library but it already looks great. Next step is to make it irrestible to the search engines using something called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). More about it and how it works in MIB. I'm also testing a neat way to get Keries Library listed by the search engines in a matter of a couple of days not weeks for free. Test results will be available in MIB.

So check out all the books in Keries Library

People regularly come to me and tell me they have attended a couple of internet marketing seminars and bought a couple of products but they are still not making the money they were told they could make at these seminars. Some are very frustrated, confused, excited about making money on the internet but obviously lost as to where to start and what to do. Basically I'd say they are lacking the basics of internet marketing. You guessed it I've been there too and just getting a handle on all the terms used is a hand full in itself.

I've been to seminars and most are no more than sales pitches to sell products with a few hidden gems of information thrown in as well. The speakers deliver great speachers telling you what's important in building an internet business making you believe that they have what it takes for you to be successful on the internet. However what they are really doing is getting you into a buying frame of mind so much so you will feel you will miss the boat if you don't buy their product. Then the big sell comes something along the lines of if you buy this silver bullet to your online success today you get $10000 worth of products for a $1000. Now let me ask you this would you buy a new car if a salesman offerred it to you for 10% of the asking price? Me I'd start by counting the wheels and checking it had an engine and would probably not take the risk as it obviously has something wrong with it. So why do people buy internet marketing stuff for a great deal of about 10% of it's worth. Something is a bit odd here.

The seminars usually run for about 3 days inexcess of 10 hours a day sitting in a hall listening as speakers go on stage one after the other. At the end of it you are most likely uttterly confused and believe it or not if you haven't bought anything as yet you feel like you are missing out. So you buy something just for the heck of it I guess. Some people will already have their bags full of goodies, some have no idea what they have actually bought and most are yet to realise that they don't know the basics required to comprehend all the advanced material contained in these packages. Remember most people attending these seminars are newbies who have been led to believe that they will make zillions if they just attend and learn from the experts.

Ooops when you get home and open those packages you soon start to regret your purchase as you realise that you don't even have the basics let alone the advanced knowledge required to work out how to use the content in these packages. It is at this point you feel frustrated and somewhat cheated especialy when you realise that you have no one to turn too as there is no support available.

Personally I hate it when I don't know where to turn to for help. However it rarely happens to me now as I have a great group of like minded friends who compliment and help one another. But it wasn't too long ago I was just starting out too and had no idea what worked but had lots of people telling what worked as long as there was a dollar in it for them. Once they got their dollar they just seemed to vanish.

Maybe there is another way for you.

Kerrie Sheehan
www.masteringinternetbasics.com

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