“Wow… thats a bold statment to be throwing around” you may say.

True, but let me explain.
I logged onto DealDotCom today, and noticed the product was Keyword Elite. Keyword Elite is a product that I have been looking at purchasing for a while to use with my PPC campaigns, but at $176.00 I just wasn’t ready to purchase.

So when I saw it today, I thought “you beauty” I mean at $129.00 it is still expensive, but it saves me $50 (any kind of saving is good right?)

But then a thought hit me.

What is the affiliate payout on clickbank for the product?

So I went on over to the Clickbank market place and found Keyword Elite, and do you know what the pay out was?

50% per affiliate sale!

That means that DealDotCom in theory could just be using a clickbank affilate link, to purchase Keyword Elite through and reselling it at a $30 profit! It makes me wonder whether they are even cutting deals with the product owners.

I might just have to purchase the product through my own Clickbank hoplink, and keep the $30 for myself.

I woke up this morning expect my five latest articles to be accepted and taking me one step closer to an upgraded account. I have already had 14 articles accepted by EzA and was expecting to see the number jump to 19 when I logged in.

But what I found was a totally different story.

I got one email saying that one of my articles had been rejected due to an affiliate link. Which is just stupid as I have used one of my own domains in all my articles which is then forwarded to an affiliate link, in accordance to their terms and conditions.

I don’t understand how 14 articles with a link to the same domain get accepted and 1 doesn’t? How does this work?

So I logged onto my EzA account, hoping it would be an easy fix and got another shock.

My account had been suspended because of “An invalid email address on file”

Obviously my hosting provider was down for the couple of minutes that they checked two of my articles, because they reported invalid links, and then they tried to email me and my email bounced.

I mean apply some logic, I have received 28 emails to that email, 1 each time it write the article and 1 each time it is accepted. None of them bounced back! Wouldn’t you first check back at how the submitter had 14 articles accepted and no emails bounced back - promoting the same domain, and think “maybe they are having some hosting problems”. I mean this is the first thing I would think of.

Why suspend an account, when you can just put the articles on hold, and ask for an explanation? I think there are some EzA reviewers that are picking at little things to the “Nth” degree.

Sorry about the rant, but it has really got me frustrated, I have just started to get something happening, with:
125 Views
2 Affiliate Sales
$56.56 Profit
in just 4 days

And now I have to wait at least a day for my account to get reinstated.

I have pretty much had a whole week of blogging, and having that time off gave me a bit of time to think about things. One of the things I did stop and think about was:

Why do I Blog?

Is it for money or fame? What was the main reason I was actually blogging for. I came up with 3 main reason why I personally blog.

1. Networking - In the early stages of blogging I started to notice the great potential for networking through blogging. There was the opportunity to network with:
   

   • My Readers
   • Other Bloggers - I have been able to build relationships with a couple of bloggers that I have been able to learn so much from, which I never would have been able to learn if I had not started this blog.

2. Authority - I guess this could also be called “creating a brand”. But there is authority that comes with a blog. If you can provide quality information on a specific topic, you start to become known around the blogging circles as an expert in the field.

   I am currently planning a few niche’s that I will be focusing on shortly with my blog, trying to do this very thing. By becoming an expert in something it allows you to start creating products, and recommending products in that niche - and people will buy because of your position ( so don’t abuse their trust)

3. Money - I put this third on the list because I believe it will follow if you are able to do the first 2 points. If you are networking with other bloggers and building a community around your blog, and also becoming an expert in your field that bloggers start to associate you with a certain way to ‘make money online’ for example - then the money will follow.

That is why I blog. I’d love to hear why you blog. So why not drop me a comment

Ok that could be a little bit harsh.

But I am getting really sick of reading sales letters where it shows every single internet marketer  sitting in a lamborghini, and photos of a mansion that would cost millions of dollars.

Maybe they do own a lamborghini and live in a mansion that is fully paid off - then good on them.

But I find it hard to believe that every second internet marketer is making an absolute killing online - but don’t feel the need to show some proof.

Internet Marketing is all about hype!

How do you feel about that statement? I mean if you can get their emotions you can make the sale right? I think it is one of the lowest forms of marketing - think about a few of thoughts for a second…

• If they were that rich from the work they have done that they talk about in their ebook - why do they need to even write an ebook?
   
• If their product was as good as they say it is - do they really need to convince you to buy it? Why not let your customers, and testimonials and product benefits win them over!

Sure they may say things like:

• Now I have learnt, I feel the need to educate others. Sure this may be true for a select few. But for the majority it is about the money (most likely because they are not as successful as they make themselves out to be)
• Hype Sells, people need to be sold to. As I said above, if the product is as good as they make it out to be, the hype about how rich you are should not be needed.

So why the sudden rant?

I am in the process of helping a client launch her first ebook (it is my first as well), and I have been doing quite a lot of market research. Checking out almost every single clickbank product, looking at their website and sales letter, and comparing it to their success.

And I have come to the conclusion that all the gloating about how much money you are making and the flashy cars that you drive don’t really have an impact on the success of your marketing campaign.

Hopefully I can take what I have learnt, and turn my clients product into a success!

Who said it was hard to make money online?

I have been reading a lot about ebooks and more importantly writing ebooks for profit, but the thing that kept stopping me was the fact that I did not have the time or patience to write a 60-100 page report on a single topic.

But I have noticed a growing trend towards the purchase of much shorter reports. 1-15 page ebooks that provide a short blast of information on a subject - and they are selling for $7-10.

Now I am just thinking out aloud here, as I have not tested this yet - although I definitely will be! But If you wrote 2 10-15 page reports a month - that is less than one page a day, one blog post, one article (I’m start starting to sound like one of those marketers that validate their high prices by saying ‘for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day you can…)

Think about it, if you blog every day, you would easily be able to produce two reports a month, and if you sold 50 of each report for $10 each there is your $1,000! Simple right?

also think of the potential, if you make the reports into a series, once you have created 6 or 7 of them what is wrong with packaging them into a complete ebook, or package? Plus you will already have a long list of testimonials!

You must be thinking there has to be a catch, it cannot be this simple - and you are right. There is one thing that you absolutely must do to make sure you reports are a success, and that is to make sure you are writing the report on an in-demand topic. You need to have people wanting to find out about what you are writing.

A few places you can look to find out what topics are hot are:
2. Clickbank Marketplace. Go to your preferred topic and look at the top results. Maybe you could make a similar abridged version?

2. Forums. Join forums in your area of interest and find out what people are talking about. If there is a topic that generates a lot of interest and maybe some signs of misunderstanding, you may have found your first report topic.

3. Article directories.Look at their most view articles, as the readers of these articles are you potential customers. Make sure there are a lot of them!4. Yahoo Buzz. This website is great to find out what people are talking about.

Ever wondered why some bloggers seem to have all the success, while you are sitting there typing away post after post - with no one reading? Here are a few tips I have tested that have not only worked for me, but that I have seen implemented in the majority of the top blogs.

1. Chose Your topic Carefully - The best of writers can talk about anything and make it sound good, but why make it hard on yourself? choose a topic that you are passionate about, and let your enthusiasm show shine. It will compliment your writing style and make for a more interesting read.

2. Study The Topic - Read up on the subject your are about to write about. Find out what others have written, and let it spark some creativity in your mind.

3. Create A Killer Headline - This is the most important step of them all. In fact it should probably be point number one, because if people are intrigued by your headline, why would they read the rest of your post? Don’t be afraid to flaunt your headline, people don’t like bland and mundane.

4. Deliver The Content - Your headline has promised it - now deliver! There is nothing worse then reading the title of a article, thinking it is going to revolutionize the way you view a topic, only to find it is a boring ‘copy and past’ job, that has taken 2 minutes to throw together. This hits on point 2, make sure you study the subject so you can deliver the content!

5. Use Bullet Points - formatting is so important! People like structure, and bullet points make articles much easier to read, and also helps the readers retain the information by giving them the key points of the article.

6. Choose Photos Wisely - No one likes a bland blog, but that doesn’t mean just splashing a random photo here and there just for the sake of it. Make sure the images compliment the article.

7. Make Your Opinion Known - People read blogs because they are written by people, people with opinions. If they wanted a scientific explanation to something they would consult a textbook, so let your readers know what you think personally about the topic you are writing about.

8. Use Lists - I know there are so many top 10 lists and I’m sure everyone is getting sick of them, but the thing is, they work. A busy reader can easily scan the main points to see if its is of interest before deciding whether to read on.

9. Provoke Your Readers - If you want to really grab your readers attention you have to challenge the way they think, question their beliefs and push their buttons. So start your blog with a statement or challenge that will make your reader need to read the next couple of lines to make sure you said what they thought they read.

10. Don’t Go On Too Long - Say what needs to be said and then get out of there. No one likes a rambler. Enough said.