Jason Clegg

Why CPA Affiliate Programs Work

In the past few months, I have found Cost Per Action (CPA) Affiliate Programs more and more profitable in the Internet Marketing world. Affiliate Marketing is, of course, very different for everyone. Some have more success than others with particular types of programs. The reason that I have found greater success with CPA rather than traditional affiliate programs is more a result of my individual style of online marketing than anything else. Some may find more success with mainstream programs which pay a larger flat or recurring commission instead of a smaller up-front fee for simply acquiring customer information. All of this depends on your particular Internet Business Strategy.

But before I launch into the details of my affiliate marketing strategy, let’s explore the basics of CPA affiliate programs.

What is CPA Affiliate Marketing?

In a nutshell, Cost Per Action programs pay a commission to marketers who bring them leads. Generally this works by driving traffic to a website or squeeze page where potential new customers enter their information. The majority of these programs can be divided into several types:

*Zip Submit
*Email Submit
*Personal Information Submit
*Full Registration

I have ordered these from least to most difficult. As we all know, a request to reveal your zip code or email address creates less friction or resistance from online customers than a full registration requiring name, email, and additional information.

Of course, the more information required from a lead the more you will be paid as an affiliate. These payouts can range from $1.00 to $10.00 — with the higher end typically including (more…)

2 Comments CPA Affiliate Marketing

Internet Niche Marketing – The Secret to Finding Your Niche

Perhaps the most important principles for learning *how to start an Internet Business* is this little caveat you will likely hear again and again: “Find Your Niche!”

This is great advice.

The only problem is most people will never really tell you what a niche is or how to go about finding one.  Like anything else with successful business-building, one always seems to encounter these little enigmas.

Much of this problem is directly related to the definition itself.  I recently hunted around for an appropriate explanation of “niche” and turned up these two interesting definitions:

1.  a position or activity that particularly suits somebody’s talents and personality or that somebody can make his or her own; or
2.  an area of the market specializing in a particular type of product.

These definitions seem clear enough, but here’s the problem:

The second definition is the very general approach you’ll hear most of the time.  “Go find your area of speciality,” they say.  “Look for your target market.” Good advice?  You bet it is.  But something is definitely missing here.  This is where we need to reconnect with the first definition, especially the part about what “somebody can make his or her own.” (more…)

1 Comment Internet Business, Internet Marketing

How to Start an Internet Business in Five Steps

If you are new to the Internet Business world, you are probably wondering how to start an internet business that can earn you money while you sleep and improve your current financial situation.  For some, learning how to start an online business is about simply supplementing their monthly income, while for others it may be about much more.  Your goal might be to start an internet business that will one day become your primary source of income.

Either way, the key to getting started in this business is finding the right niche for you.  The following article will walk you through the basic process for determining how to start your internet business from home.  By the time you’re finished reading the article, you will know exactly which steps to take next and how to find the best resources to get the ball rolling!

Step One – Decide Why You Want An Internet Business

It should go without saying, but the very first step you should take when starting an internet business (or any business for that matter) is to determine why you want to have your own online business in the first place.

WARNING: If your answer to this question is a simple “I want to get rich” or “I just want to make easy money,” then this is NOT the right opportunity for you.  Can an Internet Business make you rich?  Sure.  Is it easy money?  Definitely not.  At least not at first.

It’s unfortunate, but a lot of internet entrepreneurs out there give the rest of us a bad name.  You’ll probably figure this out when you start talking to your family and friends about starting an internet business.  You’re likely to get dismissive responses like, “Oh, so you’re one of those spammers, eh?”  Have no fear!  You don’t have to be a (more…)

0 Comments Internet Business

Article Marketing is the New SEO – Part Two

In the previous article, “Article Marketing and SEO” – Part One, I reviewed the basic theory behind article marketing and showed how Search Engine Optimization has evolved to today. In this second part, I want to look at exactly how you can make this basic Article Marketing SEO strategy work for you.

Building Trust and Credibility Articles

We already recognize the power of Google and other major search engines in building trust with users. Again, this is exactly why we use the search engines we use. Your goal as an article marketer is to build trust and credibility using this simple search ranking strategy.

The process is simple:

If you learn to master the article writing and article submission process, you can leverage these directories like www.EzineArticles.com to achieve high rankings for your content. Once readers discover your content, read it, and click-through to your website you have already achieved a high level of trust and credibility. This is a process I refer to as “pre-qualifying” your traffic.

Here’s an overview of how a searcher will behave on your website – let’s pretend it’s me doing the (more…)

0 Comments Article Marketing, SEO

Article Marketing is the New SEO – Part One

What we generally refer to as “Search Engine Optimization” or “Search Engine Marketing” can refer to so many different things, so I want to be clear from the beginning that this article is not intended to be a comprehensive report on SEO itself. Let’s face it – even among so-called experts, few people can ever agree to a basic definition or procedure for SEO. So, for this article – let’s forget about optimization in the larger sense.

Instead, I want to talk about a very specific strategy for optimization. This is a strategy I have used over and over again with tremendous success. And it’s easy to do! This is a major bonus in the optimization world where most people are totally overwhelmed.

Website Optimization – Expensive Firms

Chances are pretty good that if you’re reading this article you’re NOT an SEO expert. You may have even considered hiring a large firm to “SEO your website.” These firms – even the small time consultants – charge ridiculously high fees for… well, I’m still trying to figure that part out.

Here’s the good news: You don’t need them!

Most of that large fee goes to pay the sales team that worked extremely hard to find you and recruit you. The remaining majority of your fee goes into the pockets of the firm owners and, finally, a very very small portion goes to the outsourced labor hired to perform all of the so-called SEO operations and tasks that will help you rank high.

Trust me (more…)

4 Comments Article Marketing, SEO