I just read an excellent post on content creation. It’s entitled How to Make Sure You Choose the Right Niche to Blog About.

It’s worth reading because the point that’s being made is that there’s a demand for compelling content. Whether or not you choose to provide that type of content is another matter.

As marketers, we sometimes forget that words sell. It’s an old adage and still very true. Oh we’re all about copy and conversions, but what about good old information for information’s sake?

No one likes to be sold. Why not provide some real information – some compelling content – for the right to fulfill some future need? The pace of social media seems to have lulled the weak-minded among us into searching for the quick-fix. That quick buck we can make and then move on.

Remember that the life-time value of your customers is the primary indicator of the value of your business. It’s the one stat you should be able to rattle off without thinking. If you can’t, you’ve got some work to do!

Our customers and clients judge what’s compelling and what’s not. Once you start deciding for them, you’re dead in the water. These days, however, we have got it easy. Compelling implies personal.

Think about the tremendous popularity of Twitter. You’ve got 140 characters to fool around with. As it turns out, people (as in customers!) just love knowing what you’re up to!

You want compelling? Then make it personal and informative. Talk about stuff you know and do. Your customers will thank you for.

What’s old is new again! Remember when Adsense was in it’s infancy? Remember all the Internet marketers who were touting the creation of 10, 20, even 30 thousand page Adsense sites full of nonsensical content? Well, here we go again …

Web 2.0 has spawned an incredible number of micro-blogging platforms. Think Twitter on steroids. And, of course, us affiliate marketers have figured out how automatically create and post content on all these platforms.

Nonsensical content has been replaced with spun content. The thousand plus page sites have been replaced with thousands of one-page sites. But the end result is pretty much the same.

Don’t get me wrong. There is a place for automated blogging and auto content creation. All I’m saying is that if you don’t pay attention to history, you’re bound to repeat it!

We’re about to see the launch of several Internet marketing products that focus on automatically created content. There’s a review of one them here.

When it comes to this kind of marketing, be careful what you ask for. You just might get it!

It’s Andrew Fox’s big day. Affiliate Millionaire launches today and it looks like he’s been to the Frank Kern/Jeff Walker school of Internet Marketing.

Yes, the launch hysterics are out of this world. And Fox has used every one of Kern’s tricks to convince you that Affiliate Millionaire really is the “way”.

But the real problem doesn’t lie with Kern or Walker or even Fox. I’ve met those guys. Their stuff IS good. Kern’s Mass Control and Walker’s Product Launch Formulas are brilliant pieces of Direct marketing insight. The problem lies with the affiliates who will do anything for a sale. Specifically, bogus reviews, fake testimonials and wild-ass claims of every kind imaginable.

You don’t have to be a rocket-scientist to figure out that’s pretty much the reason the FTC came down on direct marketing in general and affiliate marketers specifically. You see, lying through your teeth is NOT a sales tactic. It’s just a lie. Plain and simple. And when you do that, you’re running a scam. And scams, my good friend, are illegal no matter how you slice them.

Back to Affiliate Millionaire. If you’re thinking about this product, do a little research before break out your credit card. Try to separate perceived value from real value. Don’t get caught up in the hype.

Here’s something that I heard a long time ago. I actually heard Frank Kern say it, too! It’s not his originally, but he liked it and so do I.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas Edison
Quotationspage.com

If you’re prepared for a little work, opportunity won’t just knock, it’ll knock you over!

You might be under the impression that banner ads are passe. That they’re so Web 1.0. I’m not exactly sure why so many marketers think that way, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

I can sum up my argument in three words: Google Image Ads. The fact that can serve Adsense Ads as images should be enough to convince you that image advertising in general, and specifically banner advertising, is not dead by any stretch of the imagination.

You may also want to consider that fact that only a small fraction of the traffic available on the Internet is accessible via Google. All you need to do is go to any major portal (think CNN) and you’ll see a page that has banner ads on it. The only reason those ads are there is because they make money. Lots and Lots of money!

Checking out Alexa tells me that CNN reaches a vast audience. That kind of reach translates to millions of page-impressions. For anyone who has the resources, this is an incredible source of leads and revenues.

Buy you don’t have to play on CNN to make use of banner advertising. Pay Per View (PPV) advertising is no longer in it’s infancy and is responsible for billions of ad impressions daily. It’s been around in a big-way since 2007 and you can get a start in PPV with as little as $20!

All that glitters is not gold, however. Direct marketing fundamentals still apply and when you’re dealing with the massive amount of impressions possible, you can very easily get in over your head. Specifically, you’re tracking needs to be impeccable.

Get ready for a rush of PPV, banner advertising other forms of image advertising info products to hit. If you’re careful, you just might find something that takes your marketing to the next level!

Without sounding trite, the quickest way to succeed with affiliate marketing is to fail as fast as you can. In fact, in practice and in life, the faster you fail the quicker you’ll succeed.

Yes, this sounds contradictory. Yes, you’re feeling conflicted. But there’s a lot more to failing than just falling down.

Let’s back up a bit and consider what goes into turning anything, especially affiliate marketing, into a success. It takes some knowledge, some work, some time, some money and last but not least, some time. Let’s examine each of these factors:

• Knowledge: No one can know everything. Some of the things you will learn will not be applicable immediately. Thus, your search for knowledge you can use immediately will have failed. The quicker you fail, the faster you learn what can be used right now.
• Work: Success require work. How much depends on a great many factors. But there will be work! Now, work for me may not be for you. You may despise writing code or perhaps writing copy. Others may not find that to be work at all. No matter how you define it, you will have to find some thing, some method or some process that resonates with you. Some trial and error will be involved in finding whatever that is. In other words, the faster you fail at things that don’t resonate with you, the faster you’ll find the thing (or things!) that do.
• Time: You will find more Unicorns than overnight successes. Anyone, anywhere who has ever succeeded has put in his or her time. The faster you put in your time, the faster you become an expert. Let’s say it takes 20 hours to master your trade. The faster you fail at being a master during hours 1 through 19, the faster you get to 20. If you never move past 14, you never make it master status. You need to fail for those first 19. Again, the quicker you fail, the faster you succeed.In more practical terms, if you have to write 20 sales letters before you can “get your copy on”, if you only write 14 you never make it. The faster you write those first 19 failures, the quicker you get to 20th.
• Money: You must sow to reap. You must invest to prosper. Sometimes a little and other times, a lot. But you must throw something into the pot. I can only hope you don’t believe that everything you touch turns to gold. That’s not just wishful thinking, that’s insanity.Affiliate marketing, and internet marketing in general, is a number game. It’s direct marketing on crack. Since you must invest something every time you enter into a market and every entry won’t be a success, the sooner you identify your losers, the quicker you identify your winners. Again, fail fast!
• Luck: Last but not least, luck. Whether it’s luck, Karma, the Gods or planetary alignment, whatever it is won’t be on our side all the time. But we can be sure that no one’s luck is all bad just as no one’s luck is all good. We all have our moments, our 15 minutes if you will. Therefor, if you’re having a bad streak it is sure to change. Guaranteed. Once more, the quicker you get through the bad stuff, the faster the good times come at you.

The point I’m trying to get across is simply this: Do not be afraid of failure. Do not let the fear of failure prevent you from taking action. You may not be moving forward, but you will be on your particular path to success.

This is all good in theory, of course, but in practice it can be a little difficult to remain positive in the face of failure. Everyone will agree that the view from the bottom looking up is substantially different than from the top looking down despite the fact that the change in “elevation” is the same. This, however, is a topic for another day.

For me, I hope my failures come at me fast and furious. That way I know I’m moving as fast as humanly possible towards success.

Never make the mistake of assuming that because something looks good, it is good. Especially in the marketing world. We’re constantly bombarded by highly stylized marketing messages. Most of what they’re selling is image, not functionality or results. As a marketer, you need to be concerned not only about the message you’re sending, but also about the results you’re promoting.

In fact, this is what the recent FTC kerfuffle is all about. They’ve decided to ensure that marketing doesn’t get in the way of real-world results. As for me, I think that’s a good thing. Why? Because once you master the psychology of selling, you wield a very powerful weapon. Abusing it is just bad business and, by the way, against the law!

Later!
Aidan K