This is because an Internet Business promises the things that we all want:

1. Leverage
There are close to 2 billion Internet users now with many millions more joining every single month. If we’re doing business on the Internet, the entire world is truly our oyster. We can reach out to many more people we never could otherwise.

2. Freedom
Anybody can now use the Internet to start their own business and make money doing so, in the comfort of their homes. We answer to nobody but ourselves and all we need is a computer, an Internet connection and the desire to do so.

Of course, we’ll also need some know how, which we can acquire along the way.

3. Cost-Effectiveness
It’s cheap. A domain name costs only $10/year, and hosting can be lower than $5/month. There aren’t many businesses we can start and maintain with that sort of investment. It’s truly easy to say goodbye to our bosses, although we want to be making our money first before doing so.

4. It’s A Part Of Life
That’s because the Internet links us to the latest information, and we all need to be updated all the time. It’s also a huge libary of knowledge and the vast majority of the information we want can be found for free. It’s also an entertainment outlet with millions of channels in the form of videos, created and uploaded for all to see by fellow Internet users. As such millions and millions of people use it every single day.

The Reality:
1. Many of us in fact have become successful Internet Entrepreneurs, in one way or another.
I have documented those ways in my classic Mini-Encyclopedia of Low-Cost, High-Profit Internet Business Models:

2. Many of us also failed to succeed as Internet Entrepreneurs
This can be due a number of factors. One of the main factors is the lack of knowledge or guidance. The other is the lack of proper IMPLEMENTATION of the things required to succeed.

In fact, I would rank the lack of implementation or improper implementation of best Internet Marketing practices as the main cause for failure, over and above a lack of knowledge since all the knowledge or guidance in the world is useless without the correct actions being taken.

The Success Factors For Freedom With An Internet Business
Note that we don’t just want to have a successful Internet Business – but one that gives us TOTAL FREEDOM from having to run, manage and maintain on our own.

Otherwise it’s no different from having a JOB – and that’s the very thing we’re trying to get away from.

There are many successful Internet Entrepreneurs who are tied to their Internet Business 24/7. They can’t take a vacation or even go to the movies during their waking hours for fear of missing a sale.

Or they’re overwhelmed with the multitude of roles they have to play that they get nothing done properly.

This isn’t how an Internet Business should be.

At the very least, not for me.

We should get leverage not only in how many people we can reach, but also in NOT having to do everything that is related to our Internet Business, on our own – and still make a handsome profit in the process.

With FREEDOM as the goal, let me now show you the essential elements of an Internet Business so that you know what’s involved to make money online, with the lowest amount of our money and with the least investment of our time.

To do this, I have to bring you back in time and see what are some of the most essential tools that we HAD to use to create a succesful Internet Business.

Then I’ll show you whether anything has changed along the way and if so, what we can do to adapt to the new Internet Business landscape – AND still maintain our freedom with our Internet Business working for us 24/7, instead of the other way around.

Let’s begin.

1st Generation Internet Marketing System
These are the components required:

Website + E-Mail

A website is basically our “permanent” online presence. We got a domain name and hosting account and we then uploaded whatever design and layout we wanted for our website on that domain’s host.

If we were selling products as a Merchant, we could also integrate an online payment system with our website so that we could accept payments directly from our customers via their credit cards, at the point when they decided to buy it after looking at our products.

If we were Affiliates for Merchants, we could set up a website providing useful information on topics related to the products sold by the Merchants, before recommending that they checked out the Merchants’ websites through our Affiliate Links or banners.

This would be our basic setup. We could get by with nothing else if we had lots of marketing money to spend on TV ads, newspaper ads and other places, to publicize our domain far and wide.

But we thought of using the Internet to market our websites too, since it was already being used by millions of people around the world.

The 2 Pillars
We knew Internet users then mainly used the Internet to check out:

1. Websites

2. E-mails

And because of that:

1. On Websites:
* Search Directories (like Yahoo.com, which started off as a Search Directory and later morphed into a Search Engine) and Search Engines (like AltaVista.com) were created to make the process of searching for information found on webpages much easier and quicker;

* Web Page Creators/Editors became an essential piece of software for Internet Entrepreneurs to create their own websites from scratch without needing to know HTML;

* Specialized FTP software to upload webpages to our host server became an essential tool for making our webpages seen on our domain;

* Web design and maintenance services were much sought after since most people didn’t have design skills even if they were willing and able to create the webpages themselves;

* Domain Names became hot assets to own since each one was unique and nobody else could register the same name once it was already registered by someone else

* The web hosting industry exploded and generated billions in recurring revenue.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization
Since search engines got millions of visitors per day looking for all sorts of information found on webpages throughout the world, and the engines didn’t want to create their own content but rather used software to find, index and show our webpages (without paying us a single cent to do this) to display to their visitors, who could see the results for free – we could tap into the Search Directories/Search Engines’ own traffic to get free prospects to our webpages.

And so SEO (Search Engine Optimization) became a popular topic ever since with the entire focus being on getting top rankings for our webpages for searches on keywords we wanted to target. The higher our webpages appeared on Search Engines’ results, the more free traffic we could get since Search Engine users checked out their search results starting from the top listing and moving down.

SEO companies started forming to offer SEO services to website owners who didn’t have the time or knowledge or desire to do SEO activities and tasks on their own.

Banner Ads
We could buy space on other webmasters’ websites too. We could put a banner that linked back to our webpages, and tap into the existing traffic those other websites were getting.

This marketing method required us to invest some money and while some of us did it, there were more of us who didn’t, preferring to rely on free Search Engine traffic and other free marketing methods instead.

2. On E-Mail:
Webmail services like Hotmail.com and Rocketmail.com were created to make the checking of e-mail possible through the same browser used for surfing websites instead of a separate e-mail software like Microsoft Outlook running on our computers.

This sort of simplified things for the Internet user and made things even easier for them to use, which in turn helped even more users to go online.

Mailing List Software
With e-mail being the first thing users checked when they were connected to the Internet, and being free to use, it became obvious to Internet Entrepreneurs that they needed to get their message into their visitors’ e-mail inboxes somehow.

We started asking for our website visitors to join our mailing list so that we could e-mail them offers to buy stuff, again and again. But of course, unless we were a big retailer of a range of products, nobody on our list would enjoy receiving offers from us in their e-mail boxes all the time.

And so we promised a free Special Report and tips on doing something better in our e-mail communication with them, so that they would continue to receive our e-mails. And we then interperse those e-mails with offers for our products from time to time.

This worked very well. Every time a promotional e-mail was sent out, there were bound to be sales made.

E-Mail Broadcast And Sequential Autoresponder Systems
Because of the need to constantly use e-mail, mailing list software became more and more sophisticated.

Rather than e-mailing our Prospects manually, we could use a special mailing list software called a Sequential Autoresponder System to AUTOMATICALLY e-mail our Prospects for us, with a series of pre-written e-mail messages uploaded to the Autoresponder System in advance.

So someone who just joined our mailing list would automatically receive an e-mail from our Sequential Autoresponder System, thanking him for being on our list and telling him what e-mails he could expect from us in the future.

We could also automatically send out a tip for helping him do something better (related to our topic) exactly 2 days later, and another tip on something else could be set to go out to him automatically exactly 5 days after this second automated e-mail had been sent to him.

We could also greet them by their first name in our e-mails (if we had their first name information in our database through their filling up the name field on our optin form), or have them remove themselves from our mailing lists via a single click on an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our e-mails (which saved us from having to manually remove them).

We could also broadcast e-mail messages at any time to the same list, even as they were going to receive those pre-written e-mail messages from us as scheduled in the Sequential Autoresponder System. This would be useful where we had some new offer to make to our list or we wanted them to have information we didn’t have earlier.

Thus all Sequential Autoresponder Systems will usually come with a standalone Broadcast function as well – giving us the ability to both send out pre-written e-mails to everyone who joined our mailing list, and newly written e-mails on an ad hoc basis.

If we were Affiliates, we spent the time looking for new Merchants to represent so that we could refer the same Prospects we had on our lists to many Merchants selling complementary products – thus increasing our commission earnings even more.

The Affiliate Program

Then Amazon.com came onto the scene and brought with it the concept of the Affiliate Program.

Amazon wanted Internet users to be rewarded for referring customers to its online book store. So they programmed an Affiliate Program software that could create unique Affiliate Links for each Affiliate they had in their program.

Anybody could join Amazon.com as its Affiliate for free. And all the Affiliate had to do was to put up banners that linked to their unique Affiliate Links which in turn would redirect the visitor to Amazon’s bookstore, bringing information about the unique Affiliate Link with it. Thus Amazon would know who referred the customer and reward the right Affiliate accordingly. The reward would be a percentage of the selling price.

This masterstroke of an idea resulted in Amazon.com getting millions of Affiliates all working for it for free, until a sale occurred. By then the money was already in Amazon’s bank account and Amazon could pay its Affiliates their commissions from money it had already collected – thus making this arrangement an entirely risk-free one for Amazon itself.

Amazon’s Affiliates in turn set up their own webpages and relied on Search Engine traffic and other marketing methods to draw in the Prospects. With millions of Affiliates all over the world promoting Amazon’s products, Amazon ended up having a huge referral army it didn’t need to pay to maintain.

Smart Internet Entrepreneurs then started copying Amazon’s Affiliate Program system. Affiliate Program software then became all the rage among Merchants for the benefits it would bring them.

The Affiliate Program software became another important component for a Merchant selling products online and soon many of us had either installed a similar off-the-shelf system on our domain, or used a 3rd party Affiliate Program software provider where we run the Affiliate Program off their server.

To make things easier for Affiliates to market for us, we could create ready banner ads for them and as well as ready promotional e-mail messages that they could load up into their own Sequential Autoresponder System or simply to broadcast to their lists.

To get Affiliates to join us, we could also get our website visitors to sign up as our Affiliates right on our website itself. We would also register our Affiliate Program with all the Affiliate Program Directories we could find.

To serve our Affiliates with a minimum of effort, we would have an Affiliate login on a restricted area of our website where our Affiliates could go to get their marketing materials and check their statistics and sales.

The Affiliate Program could also be automated as we could use a Sequential Autoresponder System to train our Affiliates on what steps to take to properly market for us, including how to copy and paste the banners we had prepared for them to show up on their webpages, and how to link from those banners to our websites using their own unique Affiliate Link our Affiliate Program software had automatically generated for them.

This was in addition to putting up the steps within the Affiliate login area which could be seen all the time by Affiliates who were looking for some guidance.

From time to time, we could run contests for the best Affiliate to win something valuable, to create a spike in sales when we needed extra cash to come into our business quickly. We would broadcast an e-mail to our Affiliates (they would sign up to a separate mailing list for Affiliates) to let them know about the contest – and serious Affiliates would then do whatever they needed to do to get the sales for us.

So the 1st Generation Internet Marketing System for the Merchant looks like the following:

Website + E-Mail + Affiliate Program

With a website that didn’t require any updating, Search Engine traffic, banner traffic, an automatic e-mail system, an Affiliate Program and automated Affiliate recruiting and training systems in place, we had everything we needed to make lots of money with online – practically on auto-pilot.

And many of us did.

All we needed to do as Merchants was to focus on our product range, offers, Affiliate and Customer support.

All Affiliates needed to do was to look for more Merchants to represent. (Note they wouldn’t install an Affiliate Program on their domain as Affiliates wouldn’t be selling anything themselves.)

For years, life was good.

Until something else came along that sort of messed up the good life that we had.

Which led to something that I called the 2nd Generation Internet Marketing System.

More on that in my next post!

Cheers
Sen Ze
P.S. Click below to book a seat to my FREE talk on Automated Internet Marketing Systems. I’ll be revealing the 4th Generation Internet Marketing System and what its components are. You really don’t want to miss out on this, because nobody else talks about them the way I do!

I’ve managed in mega corporations with hundreds of people on its payroll working in huge business premises. And I’ve been on my own as a one-person Entrepreneur (where you basically take care of everything on your own).

There are advantages and disadvantages to both – but if you’re not planning on working for an organization any time soon, you really have only one choice.

As a one-person Entrepreneur, you’ll want a business model that doesn’t require a huge capital outlay, or any employees. You can outsource some parts of your work which can be on an ad-hoc basis (like doing up your accounts, for example), but by and large, you’re in charge of everything, and you’ll be doing all of them.

Internet Businesses appeal to individuals without a huge appetite for risks since a lot of leverage can be achieved with a computer, software and the Internet. Many of your tasks that you have to do to run your business can also be “delegated” or assigned to specialized software, like following up with your Prospects, for example.

Not only that, if done properly, Internet Businesses can also bring in HUGE returns which make the costs of running them quite laughable by comparison with other types of businesses.

Well and good – but what Internet Business should you start?

My recommendation is to sell products on the Internet, as a Merchant, not as an Affiliate for other Merchants.

Yes, even when you’re starting off, with absolutely no experience.

For it is only when you’re a Merchant that you can spot good Merchants that you can be an Affiliate for.

In other words, if you don’t know what’s involved in selling – how do you know the Merchant you’re an Affiliate for knows what he’s doing? You’ll want to maximize your efforts in referring Prospects to the Merchants so that you have the highest possible chances of success in earning your commissions.

The other reason is that once you’re a successful Merchant, other Merchants will be flocking to you to offer you their Affiliate or Joint Venture opportunity so you don’t really have to seek every single Merchant out to partake in their Affiliate Program (unless you wish to, of course).

Thus by becoming a Merchant, you’re really making yourself both a Merchant AND an Affiliate at the same time, with the Affiliate role being an automatic option.

Compare this to becoming an Affiliate first, where you seek out Merchants to refer Prospects to. You simply focus on referring, instead of building up your own range of in-demand products that are your ASSETS.

So the vast majority of Affiliates remain Affiliates, with just a fraction of them becoming Merchants themselves, because being a Merchant isn’t an automatic option for Affiliates, as Affiliates don’t learn the skills or acquire the knowledge on building up their own ASSETS that can generate a fortune for them for many years to come.

You may say that an Affiliate’s asset is the LIST of Prospects he builds up, on his way to referring them to the Merchants – and you would be right. However, a Merchant has to build up his own list too – so why not get 2 streams of income as both a Merchant and an Affiliate, instead of just becoming an Affiliate only?

Best of all – a Merchant can have Affiliates marketing FOR HIM too – whereas most Affiliates work for themselves only since most Affiliate Programs only pay on 1 level directly to the Affiliate where he can’t recruit other Affiliates to help him market for the Merchant.

Know what I mean?

To fit within the low-cost, high-profit boundaries you’re setting for yourself as a one-person Entrepreneur, I very highly recommend that you sell DIGITAL products as a Merchant.

Specifically, digital products that can be DOWNLOADED directly from your web site.

Downloadable digital products are automatically duplicated and delivered to your customers once they click on the link that leads to your digital product on your server, which also hosts your web pages selling your digital products.

This is different from selling digital products on CDs or DVDs where you’ll still have to deliver the physical CDs/DVDs to your customers through the mail. This means handling, packing and physical delivery at the post office – all of which will take up your time, and certainly add to your costs.

You can of course outsource the handling, packing and physical delivery to another outfit, with the costs being borne by your customers. But this will increase your customer’s cost of getting your product, and you’ll still have the usual customer support headaches associated with selling physical products. They could say that they “didn’t receive product, please send another one”, or the “product is damaged, please send another one”, or “one CD is missing from the set of 3 – please send it over”, etc.

With downloadable digital products, especially information products (which is what I suggest that you start with) – what’s your headache?

1. Customer couldn’t download product
Give him a direct link to your product in your e-mail to him. Or attach your product to your e-mail. End of story. Will take a minute or two. This happens only a fraction of the time.

2. Customer thinks your product is crappy. He wants a refund
Log into your PayPal account (assuming you use PayPal to accept payments online), and effect a refund. End of story. Will take you a minute or two. This happens only a fraction of the time, unless your product REALLY is crappy – in which case it’s time to make it better until you get very few refund requests. Refund requests will happen, whether your product is digital or otherwise, and no matter how good it really is. You can deal with it and move on quickly.

Is there anything else as far as customer support for downloadable digital product (information based) is concerned?

Right. There is NOTHING else.

Best of all, downloadable digital products can be taken delivery of by your customers even as you’re lazing around in your Pajamas at home, or you’re at the cinema watching the latest blockbuster in the middle of the day (when you’re escaping from the maddening crowd, and when most of your friends are at work in a conventional job) since a CLICK by your customer on the download link is all that is required to complete the sale.

Your web pages do the selling, your host server serves your web pages to anybody with a browser and an Internet connection and your domain name, your PayPal account accepts payment directly from your web site (via credit card or other PayPal accounts), and your host server automatically duplicates and delivers your downloadable product to your customers.

It’s the PERFECT business to do.

Lest you think selling digital products via a web site is for techies – relax!

I’ve figured out ways to make it possible for complete dummies who have only ever used e-mail up to now, to quickly create downloadable products of his own (sometimes this happens instantly!), quickly write a sales spiel for it, quickly set up this sales spiel and download page on his web site, quickly integrate his web site with an online payment system and finally quickly marketing his web site so that the selling can take place – all within A FEW DAYS!

Yes, it is NOW within the reach of MOST people with an interest to become a Merchant of downloadable digital products, FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE – whereas previously the majority of people can’t do it, no matter how much coaching they’ve received.

This isn’t a pipe dream. I’ve spent the last 4 or 5 years of my life trying to crack this code – and I’m proud to say I’ve finally done it.

Which is extremely good news for you, if you’ve always thought of making money online, but never got started, or never succeeded.

More in my next post!

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://SenZe.com/business-blog/digital-products/the-perfect-business.htm

Technorati Tags: internet business, internet marketing, digital products, affiliates, affiliate program, merchant, business strategy, e-commerce, make money online

Note: “Clickbank” is NOT a bank, but a Merchant selling digital products on the Internet with a fancy name.

If you’re a Merchant selling digital products but have difficulties getting a credit card merchant account and setting up an online payment gateway on your server so that your customers can use their credit cards to buy your digital product through the Internet, on your web site – Clickbank wants to be your partner.

It wants you to supply your digital product to it (at a price lower than your selling price) for it to sell directly to its customers (at the selling price) using its online payment gateway that processes credit card payments and deposits the money in its credit card merchant account.

The difference between the prices is Clickbank’s profit, which is usually 7.5% + $1 of the selling price.

Thus if you’re planning to sell your product for $100, you’ll be supplying (selling) it to Clickbank for $91.50. Clickbank sells it to its customers at $100, pocketing $8.50 for that sale.

Clickbank then pays you what it owes you every 2 weeks.

This is a great arrangement for small business owners who either find it a hassle applying for a credit card merchant account and then setting up an online payment gateway linked to that account, or are unable to be approved by their banks for a credit card merchant account that can be connected to an online payment gateway.

And there are MILLIONS of small business owners all over the world in that situation.

Note that the selling of the product is done at YOUR web site, with the order link hyperlinked directly to Clickbank’s Order Form. When somebody reading your Killer Sales Letter at your web site selling your product decides to buy it, and clicks on that order link, he is taken immediately to Clickbank’s Order Form for the payment to be made TO Clickbank (not you).

At this exact point in time, you will be “supplying” Clickbank with your digital product, and Clickbank immediately “sells” it to its Customers.

However there is no real “movement” of goods from you to Clickbank since the “delivery” to Clickbank’s customers is via a Download Web Page at YOUR web site (Clickbank immediately routes its Customer back to this page to take “delivery”) – but you can be deemed to be acting as Clickbank’s “Agent” for the delivery (in addition to being its Supplier), so everything is still in order even if Clickbank doesn’t itself doesn’t have a Download Web Page for your product at its web site.

The above arrangement of being a “Supplier” to Clickbank and tapping into its payment facility is necessary without Clickbank being accused of “farming out” its credit card merchant account facility to you to use, which is prohibited by Clickbank’s bank that gave Clickbank the facility since the facility is given by Clickbank’s bank to Clickbank only, not anybody in the world.

For its money, not only does Clickbank help sell your product to the entire world, it also has an Affiliate Program software running its Affiliate Program.

Thus anybody in the world can become a Clickbank Affiliate and sell the thousands of digital products within Clickbank’s catalog, with the suppliers (like you) for those products coming from all over the world.

Thus Clickbank leverages on an Affiliate Program with thousands of Affiliates it has recruited all promoting the products that it carries at YOUR web site (since the sales letter must reside on your own server) – and you leverage on Clickbank for its setup to move your products for you.

Clickbank’s Affiliates also get paid every 2 weeks for any sales made that earn them commissions, via checks sent through snail mail. You don’t have to bother with this at all, since they’re not your Affiliates.

See what a wonderful arrangement this can be for you as a Merchant if you have a digital product to sell but don’t have the setup to sell it online?

You can go directly to Clickbank and apply for an account as its Supplier. Then you simply go to work creating your Killer Sales Letter and Download Page, and entering some details in the Clickbank Merchant Area (which you will access via a login name and password) and doing some test purchases.

When you’re ready, let them know, pay them a one-time Activation Fee of $49.95, and you can be live and ready for business after that with everything in place!

For most businesses with digital products to sell, this is a GREAT arrangement.

However, as good as this arrangement can be for you, Clickbank comes with its own important set of “issues” that you need to know about, that may affect you and whether you would want to use them for your business.

More on those issues in my next post. Watch out for it.

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://SenZe.com/business-blog/internet-business/clickbank.htm

Technorati Tags: Clickbank, digital products, credit card merchant account, online payment gateway, Internet payment gateway, Affiliate Program

You have NO idea just how powerful and useful this Party can be for you – but you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I don’t want to give too much away, but know that you’ll get more than your money’s worth in just 4 weeks’ time.

If you’re not attending, you’ll be missing out. BIG TIME.

Some attendees will even be able to create INSTANT products while there that they can sell at a later date (if they wish)!

Yes, their products can be created while they do what they do best at a Party (especially this Party) – and within a few minutes from the time they indicate to us that they want their product, they’ll have it in their hands!

I won’t spoil this for you by describing how this is done. It is VERY possible, and it will happen right before your very eyes.

Remember, you’ll want to come as you will be 5 years in the future, so you’ll definitely want to come as somebody who is actually good in something.

(Don’t come as the world 100m sprint champion if you’re 45 years old, weigh 200 pounds, have weak knees and you’ve never competed in any 100m sprints ever in your entire life. Seriously.)

If you’re the selected few from this group, you’ll instantly be able to create something you’ve always wanted to create to make your millions but couldn’t for one reason or another – and you’ll be creating this product by simply showing everybody what you’re good at!

If you want to attend, get your tickets now:

http://www.LifeChangingParty.com/tickets.shtml

The Early Bird price is no longer in effect, but you’re paying a bargain even at regular prices!

In the meantime, and on a different note, here’s a Special Report that you can download and read, and pass around to your friends.

It’s a funny yet educational read that I’ve blogged about (now turned into a Special Report) that your friends will want to pass on too!

This Special Report pre-sells one of SOLOBIS’s main products.

If you want your own version with your own Affiliate Link embedded within, so that the Special Report can benefit you fully once your friends pass it around, simply sign up as a free SOLOBIS Affiliate (if you haven’t already done so) and look under “Profit Center” > “Marketing Materials” > “Special Report” once you’re logged into the Member Area.

Click a button or two and your own Customized Special Report will be ready for you to attach to your e-mail to your friends in less than a minute!

We’re using the same marketing concept as the customized Special Report created for the Life Changing Party.

This is probably the easiest Internet marketing method ever created – and very underused, so you’ll have a good time with it!

Sen Ze

A Special Report can educate the reader on a topic, before leading him to a web site that sells a product related to that topic.

An educated reader would be more prepared to buy the product than a prospect who doesn’t really know in detail what your product is and how it can benefit him.

A Special Report in PDF format also, by virtue of its being in PDF format (instead of Word), carries more “weight” since not everybody knows how to create a PDF document, but everybody knows how to create a Word document.

When it carries more “weight”, it gets opened up by more recipients. This is crucial.

Now when a Special Report is attached to an e-mail, and is read and appreciated for its contents, the recipient of the e-mail sometimes forwards the e-mail and attachment to his friends. This happens often because forwarding is super easy to do.

And so the Special Report makes it way through the Internet to a new batch of recipients. Assuming I have sent the Special Report to 3 of my friends, and each of them forwards the entire thing to 5 of their own friends, I’ve just marketed my web site to 3 x 5 = 15 people with just a click of the “Send” button on my side, and the “Forward” button on my friends’ side.

For free.

If each of those 5 recipients were to forward the e-mail and Special Report to 6 of their friends, I would have marketed my web site to 3 x 5 x 6 = 90 people, for free!

If I send it to 10 of my friends and the above forward rates remain the same, I could reach 10 x 5 x 6 = 300 people!

A really good Special Report can be forwarded by many parties down to many levels and within days can cover the entire planet!

If you’re an Affiliate for a Merchant, sending a valuable Special Report containing your Affiliate Link within it to your friends and contacts would end with them helping you reach out to their own friends and contacts for just a few minutes of your time.

If any of them clicks on your Affiliate Link within the Special Report and purchases from the Merchant’s web site – you’ll earn your commissions!

There are few easier or cheaper methods of marketing than the above.

The only requirement is a good Special Report and a list of friends to send the Special Report to.

The Special Report must contain valuable information that is also interesting to read, so that its chances of being forwarded are multiplied manifold. Someone may forward it for the valuable information, another may forward it for its entertainment value.

The only “problem” is that Merchants don’t usually provide you with a valuable and interesting Special Report that you can use for this purpose.

Or if they do, the replacement of the link is usually done with a piece of “rebranding” software that you need to download into your computer and install, before opening the Special Report with it and changing the links in question. This isn’t easy to do, and most Affiliates don’t use it, thus limiting its impact.

But there is a Merchant that knows the power of this simple Internet Marketing technique, and is encouraging its Affiliates to use it to the fullest for mutual benefit, and has come up with a simple no-download “rebranding” or “customization” tool to increase its usage.

The Life Changing Party is such a Merchant. It has:

1. Its own valuable and interesting Special Report.

2. A free Affiliate Program that you can join within minutes.

3. A strategic partnership with SOLOBIS to provide you with a FREE Special Report Customization Service that automatically changes the regular link to the Life Changing Party within the Special Report to your own Life Changing Party Affiliate Link!

With the above, you can now become a Life Changing Party Affiliate and market it via the Special Report containing your Affiliate Link to your friends, within a few minutes!

To get started, follow the instructions below:

1. Click here to become an Affiliate for the Life Changing Party for free. Tracking of your sales is done by the AffiliateRising Affiliate Program software – one of SOLOBIS’s most powerful new applications!

2. Click here to customize the Special Report with your own Affiliate Link, in just a few clicks. There’s no software download required!

3. Download and save the customized Special Report into your computer.

4. Draft your e-mail, telling your friends to read the Special Report.

5. Attach the Special Report to your e-mail.

5. Select as many friends as possible to send the e-mail to. The more friends you send it to, the higher the chances of this Special Report travelling far and wide via e-mail forwards.

5. Click the “Send” button.

6. And you’re done!

Amazing, no?

The Life Changing Party Early Bird promotion prices ends on November 30th 2007 – just enough time for your Prospects to decide to go before the prices go up! Time to get going with your promotion now…

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/internet-marketing/a-simple-but-powerful-internet-marketing-technique.htm

Technorati Tags: internet marketing technique, marketing technique, e-mail marketing, market web site, marketing tactics

Check it out below:

www.OMNICITI.com

It lists some unique occupations too. There’s a Lexicographer, a Polar Expeditor, a Calligrapher and an Apologist (!).

What’s an Apologist? Somebody who apologises for a living?

Here’s the definition, as found in wikipedia:

Apologists are authors, writers, editors of scientific logs or academic journals and leaders, who during their lifetimes were known as radicals and extremists for taking on the points in arguments, conflicts or positions that were during their eras either placed under popular scrutinies or viewed under persecutory examinations. The term comes from the Greek word apologia (απολογία), meaning defense of a position against an attack.

Interesting, no?

And click on –> OMNICITI Personal Domain Name Directory Search to find one such Apologist!

Do you know of anybody with his own domain name consisting of his own name who should be listed? Let him or her know about OMNICITI now. It’s also a great resource if you’re looking for people to work with you on your projects as they take themselves seriously enough to have a personal domain for themselves.

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/personal-domains/omniciti-breaks-the-1000-mark.htm

Technorati Tags: OMNICITI, Personal Domain Name Directory, Web Site Directory, Domain Name, Personal Domain Name, Lexicographer, Polar Expeditor, Calligrapher, Apologist, web site, blog, URL, Domain Name Registrar

Get to know Paris Hilton and walk next to her, of course.

(Yes, it’s a simple way, but I didn’t say it was easy.)

And I’m not giving you theories either. This one really works.

You see, once upon a time, I looked for a beautiful celebrity actress to “star” in a project of mine.

She was supposed to be my guest for one of the biggest events ever created in the world which I executed about 8 1/2 years ago that actually made the CNN News worldwide.

(Yep, a friend of mine on a business trip in Japan saw it on TV and asked me about it 8 years later.)

She graciously said yes, but I needed to tell her the details so that she would know exactly what she was getting involved with (it was kinda dangerous, so it was in her best interest to know that).

And so I went to her office, and she said let’s discuss it at one of the restaurants nearby.

And so I walked next to her, side by side, heading towards her favorite restaurant.

And on the way…

I had my 15 minutes of fame.

People recognized her immediately from the TV series she was starring in. They called out to her using her character’s name (which was “Lucy”) – as if that was her real name.

A few got up close and started speaking to her as if they knew her from her past (they didn’t).

Another asked how her “friend” was – but this was her “friend” on the show.

Whoever they were and whatever they asked her – they were all looking at me as if I were a celebrity myself.

By simply walking next to her (and of course talking to her) – I was suddenly bestowed with a “status” I never had before.

People were smiling at her – and me.

People were paying attention to her – and me.

People were talking to her – and they wanted to talk to me (I guess probably to ask me what my “relationship” with her was).

All of them had no idea who I was – but they were looking at me like I had every right to be there for some reason (and of course, I did).

It helped that her TV character was that of a friendly, girl next door – and so it translated to her in real life (she is in fact a friendly girl next door, although it would be hard to find one of her beauty).

It was an amazing experience.

Because of all the attention, she then suggested I hopped into her car to get to another restaurant nearby, which I did.

And guess what?

People recognized her on the road.

Bikers stopped next to her car at the lights, and waved at her.

Cars in front of her adjusted their rear view mirrors, and made signs with their hands that spelled out the TV Station her series was seen on.

She was used to all the attention, but she obliged with her best smile and told me it was happening to her every single day.

And of course, by just being seated next to her – I was given some attention too.

I smiled back.

As if that seat was the most natural place in the world for me to be in.

(Wouldn’t you?)

Aligning yourself with somebody the public has a fascination for is the fastest way to being noticed although I didn’t plan on being noticed that way. My event was big enough on its own for me to have my turn as the “celebrity” a few weeks later.

I then felt what she was feeling.

Even the phone repairman recognized me as he was fixing my new phone line at my premises.

But that’s another story.

This is the reason why companies pay big bucks to personalities like Tiger Woods (golf) and Michael Schumacher (F1 racing) to endorse their products.

By associating their products with those personalities, the companies are hoping that what the personalities are in their fans’ minds will be rubbed off onto the products themselves (“excellence”, “world-class”, “professional”, etc).

Or at the very least, their fans will find the celebrities’ endorsement of the product something worth listening to.

Now not everybody is as lucky as I was to be able to get in touch with “celebrities” for “projects” like mine.

However, this “Alignment” concept works not just with people, but with “things” too.

If you drove a big expensive car – you were aligning yourself with the prestige that car had on its own.

The car and what it was perceived as would be rubbed off onto you, automatically.

Even if you didn’t own it yourself, as you had borrowed it from a friend.

Especially when you acted as if you owned it.

Makes sense to you?

The good news is that you can use the same concept to promote yourself.

And you don’t have to align yourself with an expensive “thing” or celebrity either.

There are many “things” around you today that give off different levels of “prestige” and “status” even when they’re inexpensive to get.

Because your Prospects DON’T know they’re inexpensive by virtue of the fact that they’re not “known” to be inexpensive.

You just have to know what those things are.

The Internet, the World Wide Web, E-Commerce, Information Technology – these are different labels for similar things.

Your Prospects have heard of billions of dollars being spent in those areas by big corporations for the big rewards they can get in return.

The media (newspapers, TV, radio) devote a huge number of pages and airtime to IT and IT-related topics because they are in awe of it.

They are in awe of it because their readers (and your Prospects) are themselves in awe of technology, being soaked in its bath of gadgets every single day with computers, the Internet, mobile or cell phones, TV, radio and others.

Thus by simply aligning yourself with things your Prospects are in awe of – they’re suddenly taking notice of you more than ever before due to the “rubbing off” effect.

And that’s one of the reasons why you MUST have a www.YourName.com on your business card.

Complete with e-mail addresses like YourFirstName@YourName.com - just like John Smith does with his john@johnsmith.com address.

A web and e-mail address like the above is all about YOU - who is now aligned with the Internet at its very core level.

And practically NONE of your Prospects are like you yet!

Whereas on any given day you’re just John Smith – from today onwards you’re www.JohnSmith.com who can be contacted at john@johnsmith.com.

Can you hear “WOW” in your Prospects’ heads?

You’re walking with “Paris Hilton” (the World Wide Web in this case) side by side, who is calling your name (“www.YourName.com“).

And you think you won’t be noticed?

Even though it’ll cost you less than $10/month for this privilege? (Your Prospects don’t know this!)

Wonderful things happen to you when you ARE noticed in a good way.

This is the law of the universe and you can’t stop it from happening.

And you’re able to easily tap into it – with just a few minutes of your time!

Thus the SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan is a no-brainer. Get it today, before someone else with the same exact name beats you to it:

http://www.SOLOBIS.com

Sen Ze

P.S. www.OMNICITI.com is now approaching the 1,000 listings mark. Check it out and see the latest additions of web sites that have their owner’s name as their domain!

P.P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/paris-hilton/paris-hilton-and-the-power-of-alignment.htm

Technorati Tags: Paris Hilton, domain name, personal domain name, omniciti, SOLOBIS, celebrity, TV, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, E-Mail Address, e-mail, World Wide Web, E-Commerce, Internet, endorsement marketing, marketing, business

It’s a “technique” that gets you what you want by making people around you like you.

If fact, it makes you an IMMEDIATE HIT with your Prospects.

Not only will they like you, they will REMEMBER you.

Not only that, they CANNOT forget you, no matter what happens.

Even YEARS later, when you yourself have forgotten their names or how they even look like!

Best of all – when they call out to you on the street (remember, they wouldn’t be able to forget you even if they wanted to), you will IMMEDIATELY remember their own names!

Now which of your Prospects don’t like to be remembered (fondly) by others?

But let’s get back to YOU, as this technique is about you first, although it’s also about your Prospects.

When you’re liked (and remembered – which goes hand in hand with likeability), you increase the chances of getting what you want, significantly.

Now imagine the effect this powerful concept will have on your business and personal life.

It’s something worth thinking about.

And all you need to know is what to say to the people you would like to do business with.

It involves the following questions:

1. What’s the sweetest sound in the universe to any person?

2. Why is that the sweetest sound in the universe to that person?

Here are the answers that form the basis of this awesome technique.

The sweetest sound in the world to any person, of course, is his own NAME.

This is a FACT.

(Check out Dale Carnegie’s classic book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People” that has a chapter or two on this).

There are minor exceptions (as always), but the vast majority of people LOVE to hear the sound of their own names.

Why?

I mentioned this before, and I’ll say it again.

We LOVE ourselves.

This is the reason why we can look in the mirror every day and feel sad that a wrinkle is appearing, or the hairline is receding or the waistline is expanding.

Otherwise we couldn’t care less.

And our names is a shortcut to everything that’s us. We use our own names to refer to ourselves.

This fact gives you a very potent tool to get ahead in your careers or businesses.

So how do you apply this knowledge?

Simple.

It’ll work only when you’re meeting somebody for the very first time. There are other conditions, but I’ll get to them soon enough.

So okay, both of you don’t know each other’s names and have never met before.

You think he may be a good Prospect for your business.

This is what you do.

Ask him for his name.

Let’s just say he says his name is “Paul Jones“.

Okay. Now this is EXTREMELY important.

You respond with the following:

“What? That’s TOTALLY AMAZING.”

Then you wait for his response.

He’ll say, “Why is that?”

And you say (this is EVEN MORE important – listen up):

“Because my name is PAUL JONES too!”

“Isn’t that amazing?”

(Of course it is. I’m in shock even as I write this.)

Do you see what you’re doing?

WHATEVER name he calls out, you respond with the SAME EXACT NAME!

Now tell me this.

How soon do you think he’ll forget your “name” after that meeting?

Right. NEVER .

Because it’s his name too and he, of course, NEVER forgets his own name.

Think about it. How many people in the past have you met that have the same exact name as you do?

Right.

NONE.

And because it never happens, we take full notice of our namesake when it does.

Your Prospect will be doing exactly this, to you.

Since he absolutely likes to hear the sound of his own name, some of that liking will transfer over to you as well – and you don’t have to do much to earn it, apart from repeating his name back to him

Powerful, no?

But that isn’t the only benefit with this technique.

Once you’ve repeated his name back to him, YOU can IMMEDIATELY FORGET it from that point on, and you will IMMEDIATELY be able to RECALL his name even years later when you see him again.

How?

Because when you share the same exact name with somebody else, he’ll be affected more by this than you because it really isn’t your real name, but it is his.

So when he sees you walking down the street one day – you can bet that last dollar you have that HE’LL GREET YOU FIRST by calling out his name to you (and probably laughing as well), because he thinks that’s also YOUR NAME!

And what happens when this happens?

RIGHT!

YOU NOW KNOW HIS NAME AS SOON AS HE HAS GREETED YOU!!

You need never, ever be caught not knowing someone’s name again.

Brilliant, no?

This works equally as well for the opposite sex.

How?

For example, she says her name is “Georgia Smith“.

You say, “That’s TOTALLY AMAZING! Because my name’s George Smith!”

She says “Christine Langton“.

You say “REALLY!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. I’m Chris Langton!”

She says “Pauline Zega“.

You say “I DON’T BELIEVE THIS. I’m Paul Zega!”

Heck, it works even when you’re of a different race.

Let’s say you’re a male Caucasian.

He says his name is “Kareem Abdul Jaabar“.

You say, “THAT’S TOTALLY AMAZING! My name’s Kareem Abdul Jaabar too!”

He says his name is “Hiroshi Hiratha“.

You say, “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS. I’m HIROSHI HIRATHA too!”

Of course, you’ll have a great time too telling the story of how you got that name.

And here’s AN EXPLOSIVE mix of race and gender, and you don’t have the male equivalent of her name:

She says her name is “May Lin“.

You say “ARE THE STARS ALIGNED TODAY? My name’s May Lin too!”.

In fact, the more different you are to your name (as in you’re of a different race and gender) which is also the other person’s name, the STRONGER the effect will be on him or her.

Try it – it works like crazy!!!!

Here’s another variation of this powerful concept that is equally as important to you in your personal and business life.

What’s the next thing after a person’s name that she will NEVER EVER FORGET and treat equally as important?

Right.

Her birthday, of course.

So if you want to remember another person’s birthday, all you have to do is to ask her, and whatever date it is, you say…

Well, what do you say?

Of course.

“Oh, that’s totally AMAZING. That’s MY birthday too!”

(You’re such a quick learner…I’m so proud of you.)

So when her birthday comes, you can bet she’ll be thinking about you. And if she calls to wish you a happy birthday (on the day it isn’t), you KNOW it’s her birthday, and you can wish her back!

Can you imagine how happy she would be – even though she’s the one who actually reminded you of her birthday?

NOTE:

The above methods work best under the following conditions:

1. You are in a one-to-one meeting with the Subject
You can’t do this in front of people who know you’re not “Paris Hilton” and your birthday isn’t on the 29th February. You just can’t, and you shouldn’t, you hear me?

2. You appear totally amazed and excited
You must be happy that you’re sharing the same exact name/birthday with someone else, because in real life, you would be.

3. You must be able to lie convincingly
Yep, you’ll be throwing your ethics/morals out of the window. It absolutely won’t work if you feel guilty or nervous when you’re talking to them.

If you can do all of the above, you’re all set.

Sen Ze

P.S. Do I use this “Name” technique? Are you crazy? Of course not. Can’t you see my name in your browser?

P.P.S. The logic behind this technique is very sound, even though the morals/ethics behind it are not. I don’t actually use it and you shouldn’t either. It’s a joke, so lighten up.

This “technique” is shown to you so that you realize just how important our names are to ourselves and others – so if you don’t already have a Personal Domain Name that is made up of your actual name, click below and get one now:

Personal Domain Name Plan

P.P.P.S. A buddy of mine ACTUALLY uses the “Birthday” technique! I know because some lady called him up on his cellphone and wished him a happy birthday when we were talking, and he wished her back – in front of a confused me, because he had celebrated his birthday 2 months before with a bunch of us!

P.P.P.P.S. In the OMINICITI Personal Domain Names Directory (which has 700+ listings of websites with Personal Domain Names now), there are two “Susan Isaacs“.

One Susan Issacs is found at www.SusanIsaacs.com, and the other one is found at www.SusanIsaacs.net (if you can’t get the dotcom version of your name, get the dotnet version, or whatever version you can get your hands on because once they’re gone, they’re likely gone forever).

Both are totally different people doing different things. One’s an Author, the other’s an Actress. If you put them together at a party, you can bet neither will forget the other and what she does and show she looks, for as long as they live! Check their sites out – you’ll see how different they are in all aspects even though they share the same name.

P.P.P.P.P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/names/how-to-make-others-like-you.htm

Technorati Tags: networking, business networking, dale carnegie, how to win friends and influence people, name, names, business introduction, remembering names, how to remember names, positioning, business positioning, personal domain name, domain name, SOLOBIS, Project SEGO

Doctors
Architects
Mechanics
Instructors
Trainers
Tutors
Teachers
Consultants
Real Estate Agents
Insurance Agents
Stockbrokers
Feng Shui Masters
Accountants
Lawyers
Engineers
Authors
Musicians
Artists
Mechanics
Judges

Yes, they’re all experts at what they do.

But even better, and even more stunning, is the fact that the vast majority of them don’t have a web site at their own Personal Domain Name that bears their actual name!

Just do a quick check, right now.

How many experts around you do?

Right – few, to NONE.

But a Personal Domain Name for experts is a no-brainer.

Why?

Here are just seven reasons:

Reason #1: We remember other people by their NAMES first

Then we’ll associate that name with the company they work with – if we bother to do this additional linking exercise in the first place.

The company they’re associated with is USUALLY the next thing we’ll think of, AFTER we’ve got a name on the person, or if we can’t remember his name.

We associate other people by their names first and foremost because we need a LABEL to link that person with.

But a company can be home to more than one employee.

And its employess can move to another company over time.

Or it can die within 5 years (as most businesses do).

Whereas people have an average lifespan of 70-80 years.

And so a company is a distinct entity that is totally separate from the person.

Even if Microsoft is Bill Gates and Steve Jobs is Apple.

(They aren’t, actually.)

Because you’ll call them “Bill” or “Steve”, not “Microsoft” or “Apple” respectively.

It’s “Bill” first, then “Microsoft”. Or “Steve” first, then “Apple”.

It’s just the way the brain works.

THIS IS A FACT.

You know it is.

AND IF YOU’RE AN EXPERT YOURSELF, YOU CAN EITHER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, OR WATCH YOUR COMPETITORS DO IT AT YOUR EXPENSE.

Reason #2: The Internet Is All Around Us

And with the Internet being such a big part of our lives now and in time to come – a Personal Domain Name will soon become a necessity.

Practically everybody has heard of it and the World Wide Web.

And hundreds of millions of people use it every single day to do their research, find information or best of all, buy products or services.

And you can bet that shirt on your back that some of your Prospects/Customers will use it at some point to look for you.

Over 40% of my Prospects/Customers find me by typing my name directly into their Internet Browsers followed by a “.com” at the back.

That’s a HUGE percentage by any means.

And that’s potential Prospects/Customers lost if you don’t have a Personal Domain Name in the name you’re known for, especially when you’re an expert at what you do and people look out for you for help!

Reason #3: It Costs Less Than $10/Year

A Personal Domain Name costs only $8.10/year at this Domain Name Registrar.

For less than $10/year, your status has now been elevated to one that is higher than everybody else WITHOUT a Personal Domain Name.

You suddenly stand out. You’re different. You have something that is related to the Internet in some way.

You’re now cooler than everybody else carrying a cell or mobile phone but don’t have a Personal Domain Name!

Reason #4: Your Web Site At Your Personal Domain Name Sells Your Services For You

Your Personal Domain Name is the address for your web site. SOLOBIS enhances some of the best-looking WordPress themes for your use.

You simply focus on your content by writing about you and what you do, and selling any related items you may have there as well by putting up information about them and linking it to an order form for orders to be made via credit card.

And writing and publishing at your Blog for the world to see is as easy as writing and sending e-mail to your contacts!

Reason #5: You Have More Than One Profit Center

The SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan comes with the “SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Profits E-Course” worth $197 that will teach you more ways to profit from your Personal Domain Name apart from just selling your services/expertise on your Blog above.

Discover some other mind-bogglingly easy ways that anybody can do to profit from their Personal Domain Name – by simply using it!

Reason #6: You Get Express Listing In OMNICITI

OMNICITI.com is the world’s first Personal Domain Name Directory that only lists web sites with Personal Domain Names. It currently has over 620 links and is growing every single day.

Once you’ve posted a good profile about yourself on your Blog, you can then submit your Personal Domain Name to it for listing (just make sure you follow its guidelines).

You will be seen by others who are checking out other people for certain expertise or help, all over the world.

Reason #7: One Day, Everybody Will Have His Own Personal Domain Name

This is my brain-dead prediction – and I’m having lots of fun seeing it becoming a reality day by day. I’m sure you can see it too by now.

It’s been happening since the World Wide Web started – but it’s about to take on a speed it’s never seen before.

So get your preferred Personal Domain Name now before they’re all gone forever.

By being here, you’ve been alerted to the next great trend, worldwide.

What’s more, you can actually see it happening in real time.

How lucky you are.

Click below now and get your own Personal Domain Name before it’s gone forever:

http://www.SOLOBIS.com

Sen Ze

P.S. Tell an Expert you care for about this development. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/blog/an-important-asset-for-experts.htm

Technorati Tags: expert, asset, asset for experts, blog, wordpress, wordpress templates, internet business, internet marketing, cell phone, mobile phone, domain name, personal domain name, project SEGO, SOLOBIS, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Apple, Steve Jobs, doctors, architects, mechanics, instructors, trainers, tutors, teachers, consultants, Real Estate Agents, Insurance Agents, stockbrokers, Feng Shui Masters, accountants, lawyers, engineers, authors, musicians, artists, judges, profit centers, OMNICITI, personal domain name directory, internet

The SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan (codenamed “Project SEGO“) was launched at www.SOLOBIS.com.

And not long after that we had technical glitches with the Personal Domain Name Search Tool.

Too many were using it to search for their own Personal Domains to see if they’ve been grabbed by other people from around the world, and it just didn’t work after a while.

Worse, it showed some domains as “UNAVAILABLE” when they were.

LOL…

If you were one of those who were disappointed that your name has been taken in all Domain Name forms (like JohnSmith.com, JohnSmth.net and JohnSmith.info, for example), please try again at the following link, to be sure. It’ll only take you a few seconds:

http://www.SOLOBIS.com

You may just be in luck…

Remember, there can only be one version of each, and when they’re gone – they’ll likely stay gone forever.

So make sure you GRAB YOURS today, and make a huge difference in how others perceive you.

The ridiculously low price of just $9.97/month gets you a beautiful, working SOLOBIS-Enhanced WordPress Blog and unlimited e-mail addresses based on your Personal Domain, plus an E-Course called “Personal Domain Name Profits” worth $197 that will be sent to you over a period of time.

This E-Course in the form of e-mails sent to you every other day will show you some extremely easy methods of generating lots of spare income with your own Personal Domain Name that don’t involve conducting(expensive) AdWords campaigns, doing (time-consuming) Keyword Research, (religiously) writing and submitting (numerous) articles to Article Directories, or adding AdSense codes on your Blog pages.

Check it out!

Sen Ze

Technorati Tags: Project SEGO, easy internet business, internet business, internet marketing, competition, launch, product launch, spare income, keyword research, Adwords, AdSense, personal domain, personal domain name, domain name