What Every So-Called Guru's Affiliate Program Owes You!
By Rob MacCurry
Posted Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Find out the four essentials every so called "guru's" must provide BEFORE you join their affiliate program.
What Every So-Called Guru's Affiliate Program Owes You!
You know, there are an awful lot of so-called marketing gurus out there. You've heard the names. Cory Rudl, Terry Dean, Yanik Silver, Stephen Pierce and Marlon Sanders.
(If you're old enough to remember the the TV show "Wild Kingdom", you might just confuse him with Marlin Perkins :)). And you know what?
I've read reports and bought eBooks or ervices from several of these "gurus".
In my opinion, they all offer worthwhile products and services that provide true value to their customers. They sure seem to meet the requirements to be called an "internet guru".
So other than the product or products they offer, what does the so-called guru owe you? Here's my list! ***************************************************************** Knowledge
Before a guy really deserves the name "guru", he has to have an in depth knowledge of marketing. While it isn't necessary to read literally thousands of books on marketing, like Marlon Sanders did, it helps the expert to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff.
***************************************************************** Documented Credibility
Marlon and Stephen Pierce both document their own sales of 1000's of dollars of products via the internet everyday. Stephen illustrates this by printing screenshots of his ClickBank receipts, Marlon by screenshots of his PayPal receipts.
Why does this help you? It documents their credibility. They make claims about what they do and document their results. So if you promote their programs,you benefit from their documented credibility.
***************************************************************** Exact Step by Step Methods
What else does the internet marketing coach owe you? (Terry Dean likes to call himself that, rather than a guru).
Speaking of Terry, there's a very important reason his NetBreakthroughs subscription site is so popular.
He documents his own exact step by step methods. He indicates the actual resources he used for a particular venture. And he reports the costs and the results.
That doesn't mean that your creativity and insight isn't needed, or that you should operate like some kind of robotic automoton.
But like Marlon says, "Don't try to reinvent the wheel". If there are proven documented methods that work available to you, you'd be crazy to waste your time redoing the work somebody else has already done for you. ***************************************************************** You know, I've been in the marketing business a long time, and I chuckled when I heard Marlon use the "reinvent the wheel" phrase. A former boss of mine used the phrase quite often.
We were always amazed when product managers and sales people wasted time and money by "wheeling"!
Remember. It's crucial to your success to build upon pre-existing methodologies and formulas. That's how your "internet marketing coach's" exact step by step methods can free your creativity and inspiration to build your affiliate business. ***************************************************************** A Complete and Up to Date Set Of OnLine Marketing Resources
Look. The competition is incredibly vicious out there. And don't believe for even one second that only the strong survive. Nope. It's also a numbers game. There are literaly millions of businesses and individuals competing for the attention and dollars of your prospects.
Your marketing program might be as strong as an elephant today.
But since the beginning of time strong and powerful entities have been overwhelmed by numbers! So what can save you from the numbers game?
Well, stop for a moment and ask yourself this:
What made a medium sized hominid the most dangerous force in the world, even though it couldn't run very fast, wasn't very strong and didn't have good night vision?
Tools.
That's right. So if your "guru" wants you to succeed he's got to provide you up to date resources and tools. ***************************************************************** Let me tell you a little story. It's about how I found an affiliate site with a comprehensive set of marketing tools.
A while back I thought about buying a script.
As part of the documentation in the script's sales letter, there was a picture of sales made through a certain internet marketer's affiliate program. (It was actually Marlon Sander's Higher Response Marketing Site).
I don't remember the exact figures, but it was literally in the thousands.
And it was for multiple products. So I knew these were products that converted.
That's when I decided to do a search on Google for "Marlon Sanders" and I found his site.
***************************************************************** When I visited the site I actually enjoyed reading his sales pages. I've written and edited quite a bit of ad copy in my time, so I can recognize words that grab 'ya by the guts and rivet your eyeballs to the screen!
Here's an example of some attention riveting copy:
"If you're working IN your business not ON your business, you're putting your time and energy into tasks you absolutely, positively shouldn't be doing.
Smarten up now -- or die!..."
That kind of ad copy is just the sort of marketing resource you need to get the viewers attention and make them want even need to fork over their cash.
***************************************************************** So you can use Marlon's set of resources as a sort of sine qua non to evaluate any so called "guru's" affiliate program. Why?
In my opinion, he's got the best array of promotional tools of any affiliate program I've seen.
Here's an example.
Have you ever gone to a site and gotten a 404 error?
That's what happens when a link becomes invalid or "broken". Well, for just about every product in his line, Marlon provides his affiliates with a 404.htm page. *****************************************************************
Here's how it works. You send this page to your hosting company, and have them display it whenever someone browses your site and accesses a broken link.
The 404 error of course pops a link to your window to your affiliate page.
So even when something bad is happening at your site, you get a chance to expose your visitors to your offer! *****************************************************************
Here's a list all the tools Marlon provides his affiliates.
404 Error Pages
36 Ebook Product Covers
124 High Click-through Banner Ads 11 Product Letters
13 Full Page Ads
42 Micro Buttons
75 Entrance and Exit Pop Up Windows 19 In Site Product Tips
4 Product Tip Windows
11 Q & A's
7 Navigation Bars
7 In-Site Graphics
5 Product Stories
4 Opt-in 7 Day Email Course Entrance Pops 13 Professionally Written Product Reviews 14 No Pop Up Window URL's (pop free pages)
That'a a pretty impressive list of tools to increase your web site traffic, sell more products, write better ad copy, and get tons of publicity.
***************************************************************** Hold on a second.
Am I saying forget about Stephen Pierce? Delete Terry Dean? Yank Yanik Silver? Can Corey Rudl? Or any other legitimate affiliate program out there?
Of course not. But just let this list be your guide when choosing an affiliate program to promote:
* Knowledge
* Documented Credibility
* Exact Step by Step Methods * A Complete and Up to Date Set Of OnLine Marketing Resources
That's what every so called internet internet guru owes you!
*****************************************************************
About the Author
Rob MacCurry has years of experience in internet promotion, marketing,sponsorship promotion, purchasing, sales and copy writing, primarily in the English equestrian industry. Vist his site (http://supersystem.i8.com/bonus1.html) and get a free copy of Marlons Amazing Methods
Rob MacCurry is a veteran marketing specialist mostly in the English Equestrian business (http://www.supersystem.i8.com/) SuperSystems!Says! newsletter mailto:roberex@softsend.com
