We welcome you to CLICK HERE to go and join our Membership site.  Normally $12.99… but you get in for a 14 day trial of $4.99!

Here are some example titles that you will be able to download, use, and make money from!

CLICK HERE to go to join the BlackInternetMarketing.com Membership site.  Only $12.99 per month!

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Hair and Fashion have a huge market place online.  Do a web search for Hair Braids or Hair Braiding or Braids By Breslin to see how…

A couple of years ago, I advertised on BlackAtlanta.com for a company called “Braids By Breslin”.  The banners did not really have a very high click through rate for the general population of site visitors.  However, I quickly noticed in the stats that the term “Hair Braiding” was quickly becoming very popular as far as natural organic traffic for the site.

This was because of some ancillary content that I had added as a landing page for the terms.

So I contacted Braids By Breslin by email, and coincidentally, they were starting an Affiliate program.  I was their first affiliate.

For months, I enjoyed easy affiliate commissions from natural search engine traffic for “Hair Braiding”, and was even able to tweak search engine optimization for other keywords like “hair weaving” or “Kinky Twists”.   And then the GOOGLE flip out occurred.  Google flopped on me and my stream of revenue went down the drain.

Some Key Learnings

• Search engine optimization is a GREAT way for free traffic opportunities.  It is also VERY direct, in that the end user is definitely looking for your product or service.
• However, when Organic traffic is the ONLY source, if SEO efforts flop, then one should be prepared to supplement traffic in other ways.

A Solid Hair Braiding Product

Another key learning opportunity was basically that, you should promote strong products.  In this case, promoting an affiliate program, with strong products.  Here are some high quality Hair Braiding Examples!

With The Complete Training Package, You Get…

The Braids By Breslin “Four Hairstyles In One ” DVD

The Braids By Breslin “Cornrow Compilation” DVD

The Braids By Breslin “Weave Compilation: Volume 1 DVD”

The Braids By Breslin “Weave Compilation: Volume 2 DVD”

The Braids By Breslin “Master Wig Maker DVD”

The Braids By Breslin “Fusion DVD”

And The Braids By Breslin “Extensions” DVD

So,

1. Look for a niche in your traffic (Check your Stats!)
2. Then look for a product in which you could put in front of that demographic to buy!

Good Luck!

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Pepperjam Network Affiliate Program… Paving the way to improved Affiliate Marketing

I signed up for the Pepperjam network as an affiliate.  The reason I was searching for them, was because they had a leading weight loss supplement that I was searching for, in order to market. At any rate, I applied as an Affiliate.

So I am in my control panel, and I get a Pop up, requesting a chat. It was one of the Affiliate account managers, discussing with me, the affiliate program that I had just applied to for marketing permissions.  I chatted further with her for several minutes, and she even suggested correlating affiliate offerings in that industry.  Extremely helpful.

Proven Track Record: Just so you know, I use them for my SlimChews campaign.  See that landing page experiment test at:  http://blackinternetmarketing.com/slimchewsnet-a-look-at-a-weight-loss-review-landing-page/-/Black-Internet-Marketing/2008/10/21/

For me, to see their success as a young company is great.  That combined with the facts that their client portfolio grows consistently with large corporate entities shows that they are doing the right things.

PepperJam Network, endearingly called PJN, prides themselves in:

• Making Affiliate marketing profitable and educational for both merchants and affiliates
• Use of Web 2.0 technology for access to banners, reports, and more.
• Availability of SID-Level tracking/reporting for the benefit of search marketing to the keyword level!

As an affiliate, I welcome and encourage you to click here to go and sign up.  Browse through their clients and the programs that you can market.

Now, for your Free $10….
Pepperjam Network is Now Offering a $10 Affiliate Sign On Bonus. Join Today.

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Slim Chews: Lose 20 Lbs in ony 6 Weeksl

In our post describing the importance of the landing page experience and good search engine optimization, we announced testing a review site based on weight loss.  Today, we show a screen shot of SEO excellence.

As our a world-renown blog and podcast guru, Mwangi at TheDisplacedAfrican.com, questioned the reason behind showing you publicly our experiments.  We remind our readers that we are not just another “make Moolah” with our tongues hanging out type blog or site, but a site that tries to add another level of value to our readers.

As a guy who has been in web development and strategy for almost 10 years, I am not the professed guru of internet marketing, nor do I show the $100K Google Checks.  So what we do work on though, is showing our clients and readers proof in our own way.

On to Proof… 

In our article on creating a landing page based on a niche affiliate product, we launched www.SlimChews.net.  Read that post in your spare time…

Two ways for Traffic…

As you know, we can always

1. PAY to send traffic to a site.  OR, if skilled enough and let’s face it… LUCKY enough,
2. We could gain traffic naturally through search engine optimization.

SEO Keywords Results for Our Experiment

For the affiliate product of “Slim Chews”, a weight loss that at some time or another must have been reviewed by Oprah and featured on TV, we wanted to be found for:

• Slim Chews
• SlimChews

Our target audience would be those who are familiar with the product or had heard of the it.

Results:  Since posting that blog post on October 21, 2008, we have gained a good share.  See below.

Keyword:  “SlimChews” position #2 (as of 11/18/08).

Please note: Through our SEO value, we “own” position 2,3,4,5 via our SEO. Although these are other sites, it funnels traffic back to our landing page.

SlimChews Search from 11/18/08

Keyword: “Slim Chews” position #1/551,000 Results! (as of 11/18/08).

"Slim Chews" Search from 11/18/08

Keep checking us out! And if you need to lose weight with a system reviewed on Oprah, click here!

Please let us know your thoughts below via our comments section!

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A QUICK example.

1. Client needs site and can pay up to $1000
2. Outsourced web development company does site for $500
3. You have $500 disposable cash to account for issues or additional development time.

The BEST way is to have an established rapport with dependable firms.  This MAY TAKE TIME and an effort to really build a reliable business relationship.  However, the basic steps, go like this:

1. Find 3-5 good outsourcing development groups in web design, graphics design, and copywrighting.  A lot of the times, the same group can do the web and graphics design. 
2. Check out their online work and portfolios.  This will help you to choose who you like and be able to match to the needs of the job.
3. Let the development group know that you have jobs and figure out rates for generic orders.  In other words, for a 3-5 page website, see what they will charge, how long it takes to develop, how many iterations they will give you to satisfy the client. 
4. Check out any credentials they may have to validate work.  Look for dependable and proven testimonials.  See if they have certifications or are parts of organizations like the Better Business Bureau.
5. HIRE THEM YOURSELF.  This is an important step before you put your name out for real jobs.  Ask them if you can get a reduced rate for a job in order to establish an outsourcing relationship.  Look below under TIPS and Techniques to get a super idea to do this.
6. Once you get a development group and a possible lead for a website, then create an outline of the development needs and share it with the groups.  See who offers the best rate and turn around time.  NOTE:  in some cases, the development groups may even give you a MOCKUP, or a JPEG image of a rudimentary layout.  (Show these to your clients for direction and early approval of design)
7. Select a Development group based on the matching needs of the client.
8. Project Manage the web development.  Act as the intermediary between the client and the web development group. Take constructive criticism and advised direction of the client and translate for the web designers.
9. Always act fairly for both your developer AND your client.  You must be realistic as to the number of iterations of development based on the price and promise. 
10. Complete the site once all parties are happy.  Ask for referrals from the client.

Tips & Techniques For OutSourcing and Additional Revenue!

• Test the development group first.  A great way to do this is to ask the development group to make you an OUTSOURCING website.  This lets you see their work.  They normally will also do it relatively inexpensively OR in some cases for FREE.  Again, this is helpful as it helps you to see their work and best of all, can give you a slick website to generate leads and from which to conduct your new found business.
• If you have lots of leads for web jobs:  Put a development firm on retainer.  A flat rate of $1500 a month for a pre-allocated number of development hours may be cheaper for you than on a “by the job” basis.
• Learn to Upsell:  find out the total needs of your client.  If they need business cards and logos, then that is something that the development/design group could possibly couple with the web site. 
• Couple in Consultation with Web Development:  Another upsell, is to let the client know that once a site has been developed, that there is a definite need for promotion.  Search engine optimization, pay per click campaigns and more give you room for consultation and perhaps, a monthly income residual.
• Make money from hosting:  The client will need hosting.  I like to take the headache out of my hosting situation by making my money in advance.  If you do lots of web sites by outsourcing, why should you want to trust that this client will be yours for months or years?  Become an affiliate of HostGator.com or another reliable hosting company.  Make your money UPFRONT from the hosting, as many of these companies pay well for the affiliate referral.  Hostgator pays between $50 and $125 currently to affiliates!
• Use an Escrow Service:  An escrow service, when used properly, allows the web development firm to know that the money for the service is safe and ready once the job is complete.  Once they deliver the product appropriately, then you release payment from the escrow service.  This protects you AND the service provider.  But don’t be surprised if they watermark their work until the finished product is delivered.  If you are REALLY frugal, ask the web development company to split the costs with you. 
• Use a Freelancer Service to find web development firms.  Services like GetAFreelancer.com have a very high number of firms bidding on jobs.  Go there, pay the $5 needed to post a job.  Then post a job… like a 5 page website.  See how many firms write you to bid on the job.  I have posted many jobs like this to develop relationships and it was at LEAST 10-15 bids per job!  Check out portfolios and work from there.
• Resell the Domain names:  The customers will need Domain names.  Use your affiliate ID for a  registrar!

My advice is of course, is that you are qualified to scope these jobs and manage the design/development projects.  You should Plan to be competent! 

Good luck and if the role fits, good luck on outsourcing!

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But many people still consistently ask us “Just HOW do you make money online?”   Although there are a ton of websites on “Making Money” online, we STILL think it is a great question, as the internet seemingly can be this very cloudy and nebulous “thing”.

And then to have to figure out how to get from a website, to people paying you, to that payment ending up in your bank account can further be a wild set of steps and imagination to those NOT doing it yet.

So here is our shot at explaining 10 ways to make money…

1. Advertising:  As you gain traffic to a website, you document that traffic and share it with potential advertisers.  Normally, they will want to know information such as:  Your demographic and who your site is aimed at  You Traffic:  How many visitors actually come  They will want you to PROVE that by showing traffic stats and maybe even past advertisers on your site. With this, an Advertiser pays for an Image or a Link or some presence in a defined place on your site.
2. Sponsorships:  If your site has a section about Tennis Shoes, then maybe, a Tennis Shoe company may want to SPONSOR that section of the site.  In reality, a sponsorship may be considered an advertisement.  But sometimes, a sponsor may deal with the fact that the channel or section or even the whole site may not have the traffic and FULLY established demographic yet.   This makes their spend with you, MORE of a sponsorship than forcing you to prove already existing stats.   This depends on the Sponsor though. 
3. Sales:  Whether you are selling items from your garage, or whether you buy and stock manufactured items , selling these items from your site is a way to make money.  For example, if you are a computer store owner, then selling power cables, cpu’s, and monitors may be a way to make your money online.  OR, you may be lucky enough to have come across a batch of 100 cookbooks for half price.  Your goal would be to create a sales cart to sell those cook books at a profit online.  This may require a picture, description, and a good ole button to that says BUY.  They click and buy and you make MOOLAH!
4. Affiliate Programs:  With this method, you are doing “word of mouth” advertising for a vendor who provides a service or product.  You send them a potential buyer, and the buyer chooses a product and buys.  If they buy, then you make money.  Think about it.  We do this everyday.  We tell others where we bought our shoes, where we bought our cars, etc.  At least this way, we can get paid for making the recommendation.
5. Consulting:  Do you know how to scuba dive in the waters of Antartica?  Why not create a website that establishes your authority as a Cold Water Scuba Diver and sell products and consultation surrounding that hobby?  This is a perfect way to turn a hobby into a stream of revenue by “Consulting”.
6. Web Site Creation:  Ok Ok, maybe this is a reach.  But this goes a step further than consulting, adds a small degree of technical and creative savvy and puts you in a position to make money by developing websites.  If you learn and get your own site up, why not make some dollars with friends and family?
7. Outsourcing:  So here is the model.  You create a website.  Advertise a service, and then have service providers waiting in the wings once you get a request for the service.  Easy enough?  I have done that and acted as the Project Manager for the job.  If done correctly, and with dependable help, the whole activity is totally seamless to the paying customer.  You are the “middle man” joining a person needing the service with a hungry service provider.
8. Domain sales:  I sure wish I had bought TV.com.  Can you imagine?  With names like Business.com selling for $7.5M in recent years, it is no wonder that being in the right ownership of Domain names can be a lucrative business.  There are full time domain investors, who buy and resell names like stock. Consider that as a potential cash generator.
9. Work at home Jobs:  Using the internet to work virtually is a way to make money.  Here is how.  You find an employer who supports the TELECommute.  You do your tasks via a home office and report results via the internet and phone.  As GREEN becomes the more IN thing to focus on, working virtually will become a feature of many employers. 
10. And 10… Drumroll please!  SELL YOUR OWN Electronic PRODUCT.  We piggy back off of number 3… Sales… But if you create your own product, namely an ebook on some subject that you are passionate about and then put systems into play to promote, fulfill its order and reward affiliates who will use Word-Of-Mouth marketing to push your products, then you can make cash off of the automated sales, literally while you sleep. 

We will talk more about all of these in detail on BlackInternetMarketing.com.  In the mean time, keep making that money online… or planning to!

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