Rich Sage Affiliate Program using ClickBank

I spent most of my day working on a ClickBank sales page for the Rich Sage.  The ClickBank Sales Page is Here. >>

The problem with the setup is the YouTube video.  I have not done that yet, and I hope to have it done by Monday to complete the sales page.  Then I’ll work on getting the page approved.

The ClickBank setup will directly plug the Rich Sage with 100,000 other marketers and then my case is to convince many of them to work with the Rich Sage and my lessons.

Well, it’s been a very long day, and I’ll get my rest. Carpe Diem,

RichSage

Rich Sage Day Job: Designing Network Management Software

I am spending a good part of the day working on the next generation of software that will make the work of Affiliates much easier.  I should know, I am the biggest Affiliate taking advantage of the network.

The objective of the software is to have one management ‘console’ to administer Affiliates (for Corporate) and Clients (for Affiliates) and Ad, Traffic and Services Management (for Clients). Then everything is done from the desk top, which connects to online databases and runs the management work.

This is the DIAGRAM of WHAT THE SOFTWARE DOES:

The major focus of the software is to management Affiliate Memberships, bill clients for extra work and be able run admin work for just about all Affiliate work on the Ad Network.

At first I planned to do all this work online.  Now I am not convinced that “all online” is the way to go.  I think a mixture of online, local and corporate is the way to go, from over 12 years of full-time online experience. 

Part of that belief is because of this: It is true that most small businesses are often 100% relying on online services to administer Internet services.  However, for a larger company, that is not always the case.  My goal is to admin part of the work, that is not 100% online, to run on the office network. I can do this partly because a FIBER OPTIC cable will come right to the office and from that we can have fantastic Internet speeds tha are connected to all the large phone companies from worldwide.

Ok, now back to that work… Carpe Diem,
Rich Sage.

JULY 2007 RICH SAGE REVENUE

I am planning to update my brand building and monetizing on a monthly basis. Since I have a little time left in the day, I’ll do this monetizing update.  Actually, that process just got started.  I setup the site in May, then completed the Membership area (phase one) in June and now I am building content.  So, it’s all too early in the game.

However, I’ve setup an entire line up of products and from that I’ll make a summary of the sales each month, until earnings are above $500.00 or more  per day. After that I’ll leave it up to you to make calculations.  Once I reach my goals, then the rest usually will go to a good cause. In my case, I’ve got my own to take care of via a Maxsimo project.

So, here goes the site monetizing work:

During the month of July, I made just one sale of a Next Super Stock ‘Inner Circle’ Membership.  There are two more such payments that are pending, but I don’t count on them ’til the funds post in the bank.

Many of the other products didn’t have any sales just because I have not setup anything at the Rich Sage site for their sales.  Well, Adsense is an exception. I did earn a whopping $0.70 from it.  That’s not a miss-print there.

Anyway, Adsense will be kept on the site as one of the 5 to 7 monetizing efforts that I’ll keep running. It’s good to do it just to see what happens. I feel Adsense is good, but NOT in the IM niche.  However, since I anticipate a good amount of visitors, I’ll keep it there just to use it for comparison ideas.

JULY 2007 SITE MONETIZING STATS:

My results are not spectacular, but, I am happy with them. This is the summer holiday period, as is August, and I didn’t expect to collect anything.  As for August, I really don’t have major predictions, although, 2 to 4 times my July revenue is always nice.

The revenue calculations, sometimes what I call “monetizing”, is all from this site and it’s products.  I am including the NEXT SuperStock Membership as well.  It’s all part of the “plan” and all the effort goes forth to build the mailing lists and memberships.

You can get a Membership setup and enjoy my lessons via this link…  These lessons cover how I am using this site to build my site revenue into $1,000+ per day.

Rich Sage

Hyper Inflation in Zimbabwe: Can it Get Worse?

In the Spring of 2001 I had the good fortune to spend a month in Zimbabwe, Africa attending a wedding. At the time most publications referred to it as the “bread basket” of Africa.  “Zim” was one of the largest food exporters in Africa.

It is often said that where plants grow well, it’s an ideal climate for people.  I agree.  I enjoyed traveling around a bit, although we were very well off compared to the locals. 

Then it was off to the ‘bush’ for a week of safari.  Great stuff.  In the last 15 min, of the 7th day on Safari, I finally witnessed a lioness chasing some warthogs.
I was the optimist when everyone had given up on one of the BIG 5 –we had seen all the others, but the liones. The last minutes before we left #5 came to view, and I have the pictures to prove it.

Anyway, about 2 hours later I was at the local airport waiting to catch a plane to Victoria Falls, when I met a missionary from Mississippi who was there to “help the locals” better their lives.  I got into a conversation with him as to WHY Zimbabwean’s were having all these problems.
He went on to explain that this was all a legacy of the British Empire and the treatment and discrimination by the minority white farmers.

I pointed out that the British left leaving, yes white farmers, who had made Zim the bread basket of Africa, when there were mounting problems elsewhere on the continent.  Still I kept listening.  Then I pointed out that the educational system that was also left by the British was still working and ‘cranking out college grads’ who had nothing to do in the local economy.
Back then the dollar was around $120ZIM dollars.

Then he pointed to all the problems in America –how bad things were.  I again said sorry, it is and always will be a land of opportunity.
 
Then we moved on to the rest of the conspiracy theories to which I said the following:  Often the problems are caused by the local leaders who may come to power for the right reason, but soon get corrupted by the very power. It’s is true in Zim, in Cuba, where the leader kicked out his mother off her farm to make a point nearly 50 years ago. It is true in many other places where the ‘powers use’ outsiders as scapegoats to “pummel their brothers into -well, into nothing”.

The part that angered me was that the Zim government should have taken what was handed to them by the British and BUILT UP IT. That was not happening. It was all mismanagement, leading to people begging! When problems like a 40% HIV infection rate and mass hunger needed to be dealt with, the LEADER was talking aobut kicking the rest of the farmers out.

That process took a turn today for the worse.  According to news reports, Zim is entering a period of Hyper Inflation.  Perhaps, that $ (dollar) that was worth pennies a few years ago will be worth a 1,000 times less.  Yes, $1.00/12,000 or something like that.

How long will it last?  Unfortunately, Mugabe will last a bit longer.  I hope the people will survive it and out last him.

I sincerely hope so.  When I entered the Country, the customs agent was very nice and thanked me for visiting at a time when most tourists were staying away.  It seemed like all the people I met there were very nice. Unfortunately, the poor leadership is planning to take the few million Zimbabwean’s down with them.  I don’t like to wish ill-health to anyone, but this is an exception. I hope Mugabe is in his last days.

Rich Sage.

I didn’t work much this weekend.  I pretty much sat with a pen and paper and made a plan for August.  During the month, the RICH SAGE will work on:

• Monetizing Site
• Brand Building
• Sales

That’s it.  Actually, that is a LOT.  However, it’s a slow month for online sales and I’ll take advantage of that to build the brand.

The Rich Sage is growing very fast.  Today the site was actually offline for a long time –well, it seemed endless at one point –for a major software update.  The site is still running on a shared server and I think in 3 or 4 months the traffic will be growing fast enough (and downloads robust enough) to move it to a dedicated server.

Luckily, as I saw from this upgrade I have a great hosting company in WebIntellects to work with.  They consistently provide above and beyond support to help my success.

Earlier today I posted my 131 Online Success Tips.  What a work of art. I really enjoyed doing it.  What was amazing is HOW MANY of those TIPS I am taking advantage of.  I am doing perhaps around 95% or even 98% of the tips.

I will keep doing that, and making things better.  That is the ONLY way to build success and my brand.  Speaking of which, I’ve also added a category called BRAND BUILDING.  Essentially, that’s what the RICH SAGE is doing.  I will have to remember to keep that focus.

Carpe Diem, Rich Sage.

131 TRAFFIC & BUSINESS BUILDING TIPS & Wi$dom by the RICH SAGE: 
START, BUILD and ROCKET YOUR WAY to SUCCESS!

I wanted to create something that I’d be known for in a forum. I came up with the below items.  It took over 6 years of notes, and several lists that I had compiled. Now it’s done and I can ‘clean house’ and get rid of them.

FIRST STEPS, GETTING STARTED

1. Getting started is the *first step*, otherwise, nothing happens.
2. Need help? Often that’s free. Just need to know where, who  and what to ask.
3. Develop a product after you find a market.   Don’t build a product and go searching for a market!
4. Looking for a hungry crowd?  Every forum is full of them.   Just need to keep your eyes and mind open. 
5. Don’t try to create a market when there are thousands of ones with eager buyers.
6. How does everyone remember you?  Develop a Unique Business Angle (UBA).  Then make the “YOU” the center of it.
7. Keep adding value. You might start with 50% of what you hoped to present. Just start. Then add value to your site, product, newsletter, etc.
8. Testing & optimizing is THE KEY to all marketing success. 
9. How can you test IF you don’t track?  Track everyone coming to your site from ads. (RSE)
10.  The purpose of all of your advertising should be to capture a lead in the sales process.  (period)
11. Sooner or later, you’ll have to have your own products.  Learn fast. Make it sooner.
12. Even free advertising costs you your time and effort.
13. Every aspect of your site and marketing should be focused on presenting your UBA.
14.  Make sure that everything that  you do is integrated into one primary strategy.
15. Plan for multiple streams of income up-front with several monetizing features on your site(s).
16. Then optimize those ‘streams’ with better content, landing pages and sales pages.
17.  Make sure that your monetizing strategy includes 1, 2 *&* 3 or 4 digit profit products.
18. Learn to create buzz and channel those visitors down your sales tracks. Got a viral page? (RSE)
19. Pick a niche you are passionate about.  So, what’s a niche? A niche is what everyone does, at the DETAILS LEVEL.
20. Did you pick a passionate niche? If yes, then become a leader in it.
21. Be willing to think outside the box. 
22. Find your niche. Look to what you do daily.   (RSE)
23. Better yet, leave “the box” and take a vacation.  Then re-visit the niche with fresh ideas. 
24. Online is just a repeat of “off-line” stuff –nothing new.  Just know what works!
25.  Human nature: Yesterday, today and tomorrow –it remains the same. Go with the flow.
26.  Look for opportunities that others have missed or use your UBA
27.  Don’t try to reinvent the wheel –Pick a business model that works.
28. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel –Pick products that benefit (create value) to the user.
29.  Don’t go eye-eye with “deep pockets” competition.   Work your UBA.
30. Base your plan on reality.  Think like an Accountant. Watch those numbers!

YOUR SITE, YOUR PROGRESS & GROWTH:

31. Focus your site content –Meet the needs of those searchers. 
32. Make sure every page on your site links back to your main, sales page and most pages have opt-in areas.
33. Include the “new ” command or a “new tab” is created when linking outside of your domain.
34. Keep it professional and cut down on site graphics you may not need.
35.  Don’t jump at the latest $97 or $197 dollar product –often a free or $17 product may do the job.
36. Got to have your own domain.
37. Are you using WORDPRESS and/or JOOMLA –for 9 out of 10 of us, these two free programs do more than what we need! (RSE)
38. Look for a hosting service with full support, PHP/MySQL support, and good equipment with a back up (Rich Sage Expands).
39. Make payments easy with credit cards, Paypal Payments and Clickbank sales.
40. Offer several options for ordering –again, with Paypal, Clickbank, 2CO, Paydot.com, etc.
41. Remember that freebies are the key to sales AND list building. (RSE)
42.  Give something of value away for free.  Don’t give everything away while at it.
43.  Setup a contest.   Remember the old fishbowl where you’d ‘drop a biz card?’ –setup one online!
44. What is the marketing plan for your site? What is the “marketing flow”? Get a friend to test it
45. Just an informative site?  Then what will you do to “monetize it”?
46. What are you doing to build your mailing list? Using a list builder? (RSE)
47. Is there a way to promote another list (JV) and earn an income?
48. How long are visitors staying at your site before clicking outbound?
49. Give an opportunity for people to present feedback –at the site, upon exit and after the SALE.  (RSE)
50. No idea how to program? Don’t bother. Find a programmer.
51. No idea how to write copy?  Write the first and second editions/versions. Then find a pro.
52. The software you need is too expensive?  Get started with free software –look for open source software to get started with.

WEB SITE, ONE TIME OFFER, OPT-IN PAGE, SALES PAGE COPY:

53.  The right headline is the first step to capturing the reader.
54. Then A.I.D.A. 
55.  The SALES LETTER is vital (period)
56. Keep your own style.
57. Do you know how much you earn per 1,000 visitors?  100 Visitors? 1 Visitor? (RSE)
58. Are you creating a customer relationship or one-time sale?
59. Once you perfect your own program, extend to an Affiliate program.
60. Site, OTO page, Sales Letters, Opt-in =1 Focus: Benefit, Benefit, Benefit. 
61. Write many headlines for the same articles/copy and pick the best. 
62. Bullets and lists are vital to advertising.  Can you insert pictures or even video?
63. Your web site must establish credibility. Say what you do, and do what you say… 
64. Testimonials are one of the keys to credibility, but don’t over do it.
65. Offer a no questions asked guarantee. 
66. Use bonuses to add more value to your product.  Make sure that each of the bonus has real value.
67. PS: Always use a P.S.  It’s one of the most read elements.
68. Repeat the offer on the Order Form.   (RSE)
69.  Offer an immediate upsell during the order. Checkout a Godaddy® or DELL® order process. Learn from the successful ones. 
70. Create a swipe file on your hard drive. Save things that you learn from.
71. Make sure to exercise the collected items in the swap file! 
72. Read everything you can get your hands on about writing sales letters.  Pay particular attention to the ones that compel you to purchase.
73.  Create a system for writing your sales letters –HEADER, INTRO, A.I.D.A., SIG BOX. 
74.  Don’t market an affiliate program that doesn’t already have proven sales. 
75. Even an affiliate should own their own domain, which is essential for tracking, landing pages and ROI calculations. 
76. Limited banner campaigns are the least effective means of selling your affiliate program’s products, BUT, for branding they are great. 
77. Offer a free bonus for buying from your affiliate link –Set yourself apart!
78. REMEMBER, when building traffic, WHERE YOUR VISITOR IS IN THE SALES PROCESS –Are they at the START of IT? OR they are at the end, ready to buy?
79. Often those who are ready to buy are going to look to save:  Are you offering a bonus, a discount, a coupon –what are you doing to help your customer save money?

OPT IN MAILING LISTS, AUTO-RESPONSDERS and E-Zines:

80. Start your own opt-in mailing list or if you don’t have the time, promote another list (RSE).
81. Find JV partners who will recommend your list(s).
82. Personalize your email communications –from header to body and even follow-up auto-responder messages.
83. Use an automated follow-up auto-responder (RSE)
84. Provide value, solutions, advice –a benefit in your email.  Don’t always try to sell. HELP and you’ll sell more.
85. Publish your ezine at least once a week, and optimally, only 6 to 7 emails per month.
86. Use your web site and Opt-In list together –Click Here for More Info, which leads to site.
87. Promote your list, like you promote your site, blog or business in general.
88. Trade mailing list ads with lists that provide synergy and don’t compete.
89. Use joint ventures to build your list and also to help monetize if you don’t have a list –promote someone’s list (RSE)
90. Make your ezine short and to the point. Need more info? Bring the reader to your site.
91. Always build a customer database, opt-in list with first name and address.
92. Use non-ppc advertising for testing.  Never test with expensive traffic, unless the test is further optimizing a proven sales channel.

WEB2.0, FORUMS, DISCUSSION GROUPS:

93. Prepare a signature file with your UBA.  Test the sig. Vague = No clicks. See mine? Exact terms force clicks!
94. Participate in Discussion Groups, keep learn and most importantly practice what you learn.
95. Submit Articles to Ezines, Niche Web Sites and Article Directories.
96. Create Your own E-Book  or two or three. Have one to give away. Sell others.
97. Trade Links –better yet, ask for reviews and do a few each week.
98. DO SITE REVIEWS:  Do a Review for My RICH SAGE SITE and I’ll do a link back to you. (RSE)
99. Submit to major Search Engines and setup sitemaps, RSS feeds, etc. (RSE)
100. Put Your Web Site or UBA on all of your current materials.
101. Put your UBA on *everything*. 
102. Press Releases are the best free advertising available and there are just a few places to insert them. (RSE)
103. Once your system is proven, start using paid advertising. Then optimize everything.
104. Make banner ads look interactive. Once again, optimize every step of the process.
105. Static Banners are less effective than FLASH banners, which are less effective than Video.
106.  Pay-per-Click ADS: Only Great AFTER you’ve optimized all other traffic and proven your ROI.
107. However, once you find the groove, work to get more paid traffic. ROI is the key.
108.  Ad Headlines are JUST as important as SITE, Articles, Ebook and just about every headline.
109. Try some offline ads from postcard decks to newspapers and classifieds.
110. Create an advertising co-op. Help others. Help yourself.
111. Send articles out to magazine publishers, newsletters, ezines, websites –anyone you can get a hold of to promote.
112. Having your own product is the best way to make money online.  Make sure you are ready to promote it by knowing how to promote as an affiliate of similar products.
113. Once you have an effective system, start an affiliate program for your own product –the fastest way?  Clickbank. Then Paydotcom. Sure there will be others.
114. Look all around you for product ideas, niches, web sites –keep in mind that solving a problem or making life better is the essence of a business product/service.
115. Research public domain materials that are often not copyrighted for research and product ideas.
116. Video is great. YouTUBE. Viral Campaigns… Just get it going.
117. Subscription sites are HOT!  In fact, CLICKBANK now let’s you sell Memberships. Come up with your ideas. (RSE)
118. Press releases work great.  Just keep them coming, regularly. 
119. Articles work great. Keep those coming as often as you can. Become known in your niche.
120. Don’t work on projects that take years –they may never get done. Work on short-term projects that build success very quickly. Then add more and more sophisticated ideas.
121. Keep your costs LOW!  Then success is not that far away.
122. HISTORY ALWAYS REPEATS: Learn from it…
123. THINK FORWARD –make sure your niche is expanding, not shrinking.
124. THINK BIG!  Don’t keep going down the rope chasing smaller and smaller niches. The rope will end sooner than you think.
125. Excellence: Do one thing, with excellence and passion.

MIND SET:  GO with the FLOW – LEARN to BUILD STRENGTH. DON’T DWELL on WEAKNESS

126. Always end the days and start the next on a review of WHAT WORKS for you. How much closer did you get to your goals? Inches turn to feet, that turn to yards and soon you’ve concurred what might have looked like a marathon.
127. Save the bills for one or two days.  The rest of the month  work on enjoying cash-flow.
128. Remember, you’ve got to start somewhere –might as well be right now, as you are.
129. Optimize yourself, daily. Make today better than yesterday. Things don’t change overnight, but they do.
130. Obviously the reason you’ve read to this point is to change your life or to execute your grandiose plan –Keep that vision where you can see it daily
131. READ THIS DAILY: IF it is to be, it is up to me. Then JUST GO DO IT. Carpe Diem.

I’ve kept the ideas short to fit the post.   This is a summary of the topics list on a FREE e-book I’ve written. AND for the many video lessons that I am creating.

Success!
Sam
The Rich Sage

PS: I continuously expand on these 131 ideas with my research and video lessons.  WHY?  Because I use ALL of them.  AND it WORKS! If I’ve missed something vital, let me know…

Stock Market Trend

Often it is said that “The Trend is Your Friend”, and late in the spring I pulled out of just about all the stocks in my portfolio ahead of the summer.  The news kept getting worse –everything from the mortgage mess to the upswing in oil prices were making for a perfect storm.

Then came the M&A activity and the market took off and when up around 800 points. I just waited.

Now it looks like the wait is well worth it.  The M&A let rally is falling apart, and a downward trend is taking a hold.

I just want it to go down another 5% and I’ll start looking for winners again.  AND what a time it is –Just ahead of my August Stock of the Month announcement.

How timely?

Rich Sage

This is a list of sites and services that I’ll maintain to show places to publish press releases and articles:

PRWEB

PRWeb is the widely used online press release disemination service that all type of business depend on to build traffic to their businesses.  PRWeb will distribute a press release to thousands of locations based on category.

There is a small payment for the services, but it’s well worth it for a press release that is written professionally, to take advantage of key word phrases.  Often PR Web press releases rank high in Google searches.

CLICK to VISIT PRWEB HERE

iSNARE

I Snare is a great place to distribute your articles to over 40,000 distribution points on the Internet.  They also accept free articles, as well as articles posted on a pay-as-you-go basis.

CLICK to VISIT iSNARE

EzineArticles.COM

EzineArticles is perhaps the best place to post your articles to reach other directories and individual subscribers based on topic of the article.

CLICK HERE to VISIT EzineArticles.COM
MAXSIMO AD Network:

The Maxsimo Content Publishing System (CPS) is the perfect solution to post your articles and press release to the world.  Based on categories, subcategories, language and location, the CPS takes your content and distributes it daily.

CLICK HERE to GET a FREE ACCOUNT – Then See Publishing Services

This is a part of the posting update I’ll do at The RichSage.COM website where I am building a viral marketing campaign.

Now I need to get to work. Carpe Diem.

Rich Sage

Setting up a Viral Marketing Campaign

I spent a good part of the day working on my viral marketing campaign.  Just to give you some background a viral marketing campaign essentially is a “marketing campaign that takes on a ‘life of it’s own’ in the media”.  Here are two good examples:  The first is “Will it Blend?” by Blendtec. >>  These guys are using their blender to pulverize everything from SPAM cans to iPHONES.  All of which is shown on video at their site.  These marketing videos of what the blender can do are mentioned all over the Internet.  They are pointed back to their site from millions of places in forums, blogs and websites.  The result is mass traffic.  I just check their PageRank (PR) and it comes in at a “6″, while my P31 site which I have updated for 3 years has a “3″ rank.

My next example is Buy My Stupid Ebook.COM, which again is linked to all over the Internet.  Just click here to see what it’s all about… >> Once again, this is a site that is getting a lot of traffic just for the way it’s presented and the humor in it all.  I just checked the PR and it’s a “3″, which tells me that I am not doing so bad at P31.COM.  However, there is a lot of room to improve.

The idea of the viral benefits of a marketing campaign are the following:

• Thousands of people will link via ebooks and articles back to it
• Thousands more will link via video and How To media back to it
• Thousands will link via media such as blogs, forums and websites
• The end result is that for certain key words and general visitors the site will get a lot of traffic.

That is what I aim to accomplish with the 1800’s GOLD RUSH and IM FRENZY, which I have setup here. >>

What’s interesting is that there are links to this page already.  Now my plan is to update the page about every quarter and keep optimizing it for the traffic.

I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me –I’ll get back to it. Carpe Diem.

Rich Sage

Writing Five to Ten Articles Daily, Most of the Days

My Internet traffic and success building plan is mostly built around the concept of publishing.  This is an age-old, proven formula.  The idea is to publish article, after article on about 25 ‘niches’ I have identified in the ‘grand focus of all things’, which is small business.

Last night I started that work with the below title: 

THERE ARE 3 BASIC PROBLEMS with INTERNET MARKETING PLANS, and I’ve EXPLORED THESE ISSUES and SOLUTIONS as the RICH SAGE.

First of all, I can see that I am no good at writing HEADERS.  The basic setup is to first get attention.  Then the interest of the reader and then desire of the reader what the reader needs to know and finally, the action the reader needs to take at the end of the article. 

Not all the writing is sales oriented –the above formula is called AIDA -attention, interest, desire and action.  I’ll keep that in mind for each article.

Going back to the above header, I took the article that I wrote below that and duplicated it five times.  I’ll keep doing that –to take one article and write it over five times.  Then, when I produce around 5 original articles a day, I can spin that to produce around 20 of them total.  AND when I write about 25 niches, that can really add up to a lot of publishing work.

I don’t mind at all, as I know this is a proven and successful formula that has worked since the printing press was invented.  Before that by word of mouth.

Interestingly, I’ve already written around 20 articles and another 100 are “in the works” and all this is now a matter of executing to drive the traffic.

I now need to get back to writing. Carpe Diem!

Rich Sage