Terry: Back-end sales are very nice. With that in mind, how often do you contact individuals on your opt-in prospect list and customer list?

Michael: I publish a weekly newsletter to my newsletter list to keep me on their mind. Whenever I have a good offer, I contact my customer list. I don’t want to keep bothering them unless I have an important announcement.

Terry: Quality versus quantity! How important is promotion and sale of affiliate programs?

Michael: It’s very important! The majority of my income comes from affiliate programs. Even if you have your own products, affiliate programs are a great way to earn extra profits.

Terry: The returns from promoting affiliate programs are worth effort. What strategy do you employ with affiliate programs you promote?

Michael: I promote programs at different price levels but not to just make money. The program has to be a good, something I can talk about and of interest to my list. If affiliate programs are going to be your main business, develop a free report to get prospects on your email list. Next, promote affiliate programs in your newsletter.

Terry: Sounds simple enough! Do you recruit affiliates to sell your products/services?

Michael: Most of my product sales come from affiliates. However, you can’t sit around and wait for affiliates to come to you. You must go out and actively recruit them. You want affiliates to have large email lists and credibility in your niche. Give these affiliates a free copy of your product and a large commission for each sale.

Terry: Results depend on successful recruiting. What do most Internet marketers do wrong in trying to build a successful business?

Michael: They forget main purpose of Internet marketing! Find a hungry niche market and provide customers with good products. Some marketers get lost in “hype” of Internet and forget basic economic principles.

Terry: You have very thoughtful insight. Moving along. How can you tell if an affiliate program is legitimate?

Michael: I always buy product before joining affiliate program. If it’s a good product it’ll generally be a good affiliate program. Be cautious of any programs that focus more on selling than on product itself. Troubles lie ahead if you have to pay to be in a program but have no clue about product!

Terry: Know product before committing to a program. How should a newcomer determine what field to pursue in Internet marketing?

Michael: Research a potential niche market carefully. Go to website GoodKeywords.com and see how many people search your topic area. Select a niche area with high traffic.

Terry: Excellent recommendation! In your judgment, what are most effective things a newcomer should do to develop an affiliate strategy?

Michael: Pick a strong niche market and 3 good affiliate programs to promote. The individual affiliate needs to brand themselves (i.e., take on a unique identity) and not affiliate program.

Terry: Therefore, branding is critical! What key things would you recommend to a new Internet marketer to achieve financial success?

Michael: Concentrate on building a list! Learn from people who have already succeeded. There’s no shame in asking for help. Keep a cool head and have patience. Success won’t come overnight but it will happen. Don’t give up! You may be one failure away from success.

Terry: That is good positive encouragement for all marketers. Do you have any other comments you would like to add?

Michael: If you are a newbie, you have a long road ahead of you. However, destination is worth wait. Everything is a learning process. Remember main objective is to solve someone’s frustration. There was a person out there banging his keyboard in anger and trying to figure out autoresponders. My ebook solved his problem. Find a frustration and solve it! You’ll be on your way to riches!

Terry: Michael, thank you very much for your valued inputs.

-------------------------------------- Copyright © 2003 F. Terrence Markle – All Rights Reserved

FREE 7-Day Ultimate Affiliate Marketing eCourse at http://www.QuikSystems.com/uam/FreeCourse.htm ----------------------------------------

Now that's 3 different reasons that people might buy from me. I can think of a few more too. So what I would do with each of my 7 messages is pick one type of person -- think about what's stopping them from buying -- and write one message directly to them.

For instance, my first message in my autoresponder might be written to business owner that likes my prices. In this letter, I would go through reasons my prices give him or her better bang for their buck. I would talk about nothing else. Every word of this one autoresponder message would be about my prices and why they're getting a good deal.

And then, with my next autoresponder message, I might write to business owner that likes my guarantee. I would go into deeper detail about it. Explain it so that he or she has no questions. I would sell guarantee I offer, and nothing else.

And I would continue on like this, message after message. Each message would have a very specific goal -- to convince a certain prospect that they should buy from me while knocking down objections and diminishing their buying resistance.

Of course, some prospects will have multiple reasons for not buying from you. But if you find 7 - 10 main reasons they won't act, and address them with individual messages, you'll instantly notice an increase in your conversion while knocking down individual objections on complete auto-pilot.