Aweber added a new form generator that will make your subscription forms look ultra-professional without having to do any fancy coding yourself.  The web form generator now has templates to give your form that professional edge.

Check out the video below to see what I mean:

Pretty cool, huh?

But here’s how it helps EVERYONE who uses email marketing and autoresponders, no matter what service they use…

It forces other autorsponder services to upgrade to offer subscription form templates too if they want to compete for our consumer dollars.

Wait and see… It won’t be long before just about every autoresponder service on the planet offers subscription form templates too.  As a matter of fact, they’ll probably make it one of their major benefits on their sales pages and include screen captures of their templates so that they can prove that they have the “best” templates.

That’s okay… Any way you slice it, these are functionalities that benefit us all.

Isn’t competition great?

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Tables were skewed, pictures half covered up, the drop down navigation didn’t work, etc.

I actually thought this guy was playing a trick on me — no one would EVER take this site seriously.

When I commented to the client that his little joke was “very funny,” I quickly found out that this was no joke.  That was his REAL site.

After talking to him a few minutes and pulling the site up in other browsers, it didn’t take too long to figure out that he was having some serious browser compatibility problems.  He had built the site for Internet Explorer, and it was a work of art in that browser platform, but it was all messed up on nearly every other browser I tried.

Despite all the advances of internet technology, all browsers are still not created equal when it comes to how your site is viewed.  Browser incompatibility represents a huge challenge for anyone building a website.  Browser compatibility issues can affect your images, JavaScript functions, style sheets, links, navigation, and page layout.

AND it can totally kill your website profits and subscription rates!

Internet explorer, for example, tries to figure out what you meant to put in your code and fills in the blanks.  In other words, if you’ve used incorrect HTML code in your webpage, Explorer will try to make the corrections or fill in the blanks resulting in a page layout that may not be what you intended.

So obviously, you’ve got to address this issue with your website — Which can be a total pain in the rear.

Your first stop should be to check your website in a variety of browsers.  There’s three ways you can go about checking browser compatibility:

1.  Download and install all those browsers onto your computer and view your website in each browser.  This would be a total pain in the neck and totally unnecessary.

2.  Purchase browser compatibility software or a service.  There are lots of great services out there to choose from if you Google it.  I wouldn’t suggest this option unless you have a lot of websites or your build websites for your clients.

3.  Use a free service online like www.browsershots.org.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t really need to check your website in every browser in existence on the planet — that would be ridiculous!

The last time I checked, 99.2% of internet users only used seven browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6- 14.9%
• Internet Exploere 7 – 18.7%
• Internet Exploere 8 – 7.1%
• Firefox – 47.3%
• Google Chrome – 6%
• Safari – 3.1%
• Opera – 2.1%

Of course, these numbers change as new browsers come on the market, but it’s a pretty good place to start.

So I guess that I’m suggesting that even though technology continues to improve, browser compatibility STILL matters and you should definitely check your websites for compatibility!

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Of course she was absolutely certain that the affiliate program was ripping her off — She’d actually made sales but they weren’t credited to her affiliate account.

Maybe that was true in her case, I don’t know, but there are also other factors that could explain here lack of affiliate sales.

1.  Does the affiliate sales page convert?

This is probably the biggest thing that all affiliates should consider before joining because it will have the biggest impact on your bottom line.   Does the sales page for the affiliate product that you want to promote have a good conversion rate?  In other words, how many people who click over to the sales page actually buy the product?

Believe it or not, conversion rates average around 2%… but I’ve see affiliate sales pages converting at much, much less.  It’s not unusual to find affiliate conversion rates in the tank at 0.01%.

2.  Does the sales page offer “untracked” sales?

Sometimes an affiliate sales page offers prospects other forms of payment that can’t be tracked to the affiliate who referred them.

For example, if a prospect can order by 800 number, then the affiliate may not get credit for sales they’ve referred who purchased through that toll free number.

I’ve seen a lot of Clickbank merchants do this kind of bait and switch thing to affiliates… let me explain.

The merchant joins Clickbank and sells one of their products through them.  Once they’re in the Clickbank marketplace and affiliates start promoting them, the merchant switches over to take payments through PayPal, phone, or another payment system and cuts the affiliate out of the sales.

3.  Is your advertising targeting the right market?

This is what I think happened to my coaching client… she was getting plenty of clicks, but they weren’t people who were interested in actually buying the product she was advertising.

It’s easy, especially with pay-per-click, to get a lot of people clicking through your ad.  All you have to do is word the ad so that it provokes a lot of clicks.

But clicks aren’t what really matters in a pay-per-click campaign… quality clicks are what matter.

That’s why most PPC experts use negative qualifiers and precise information to weed out all the tire-kickers.  Once you do that and specifically target who will see your ad, you’ll find that the quality of your clicks and your return on investment (ROI) improves tremendously.  (If you want to learn more about PPC, then I highly recommend The Definitive Guide To Google Adwords!)

In the end, there are probably lots of reasons why some affiliate products don’t sell, but these are the most common problems that affiliates face.

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Increase your sales

1. Nail Your Niche

I’m sure that you already know what a niche is and that it’s important in your business, so I won’t belabor the point here. Design your web site to be a targeted resource center for your niche market. You’ll gain repeat visitors that are interested in that topic and increase your sales overall.

2. Fabricate REAL Freebies

Freebies are a great way to give people a taste of what you have to offer, gain traffic, and increase subscribers, but it must truly be free to work.  Otherwise it destroys your credibility and will actually reduce the number of sales you get.

Worse still is when people offer freebies that are total garbage full of affiliate links.  Make your offer genuine and you’ll improve your bottom line.

3.  Lasso Leads

Websites prove to be excellent lead generation tools and you’re missing a lot of sales if you aren’t working to capture leads for your business.  Appropriately marketing your products and services to your permission based leads can increase your sales tremendously.

4.  Track Your Traffic

Visitor analysis and complete website tracking is extremely important for any online venture.  It’s the only way to track what’s working and what isn’t for your business.

5.  Elevate Emotions

When creating sales pages and promotional materials for your products and services, be sure to engage the reader’s emotions.  Triggering your reader’s emotions will always increase your sales.

6.  Design For Dollars

When it comes to generating revenue with a website, you’ve got to design your site to make money.  It should be compatible with all the popular browsers, engage your target audience, and lead visitors by the hand to make a purchase.  Your website design should have one goal and one goal only — make the sale.

7.  Pen A Plan

Sit down and write a plan for how your website will generate revenue and gain targeted traffic.  It doesn’t have to be anything formal, but a marketing plan is a must to increase your sales.  You must plan to profit.

There are tons of other strategies that will help you increase your sales, but this basic list is a great place to get started.

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So… of course I started checking into it.

Stop #1:  The Sales Page

Strictly speaking, the first page you see when you visit The Clickbank Code is actually a splash page, but  I have to tell you that the splash page is really a work of art.

1. There is very little distracting information on the page, including minimal links.
2. The layout is professional and eye-catching.
3. Everything that you need to see is above the fold — You don’t have to scroll to see it.
4. It has an effective lead capture system.  You have to submit your name and email to see the next video.
5. The video on the splash page is engaging and plays automatically.

It was worth visiting the The Clickbank Code just so that I could take notes on the sales system that they’re using.  I love to see how other people are doing it and discover new strategies that work well!

If you’re new to the idea of splash pages or looking into creating your own splash pages, you should seriously check this one out.  It’s pure art… all the way down to the headlines, colors, graphics, etc.

Even the arrows work effectively.

Stop #2:  The Sales Page

As you can tell, I’m a big fan of the splash page… not as big a fan of the sales page.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a well done sales page full of the same professional graphics and videos.  I just thought it was a bit of a let down after the splash page.  Michael Jones, the product owner, claims that the conversion rate for the sales page is over 7%, so the sales page must work pretty well.

I may just have to borrow a few of the ideas here.

Bottom line:  I’ve visited both the splash page and the sales page and I still don’t have a really good idea if I’m interested in this product or not.

Stop #3:  Online Reviews

As you might expect, there are tons of “honest reviews” of The Clickbank Code available online.  The vast majority — 99.99% of them are candy-coated reviews designed to elicit affiliate sales.

That’s hardly a review at all!

Of course, there’s also the anti-reviews or “scam alerts” that are written to capture affiliate sales for other products related to The Clickbank Code.  Those aren’t particularly honest.

I still have no idea if this is a product that I’m interested in or not.  I’m certainly curious about the product, but not willing to pony up out of shear curiousity.  I honestly expect that the product is really just a re-mix of the same old information about Clickbank, SEO, PPC, etc.

But how can I find out?  YouTube!

Stop #4: Get A Sneak Peak

So my last stop is to check out the various YouTube videos out there that show sneak peaks of the product.  My goal is to get that “insiders view” of The Clickbank Code so that I can decide if it’s something that I’m interested in either buying or promoting.

After viewing the videos, I decided that I’d like to promote the product and see how it performs for me, but I’m not interested in buying the product at this time.  From what I can see in the videos, the majority of the information available in The Clickbank Code is stuff that I either already know how to do or currently use in my business.

I’ve been in this business a long, long time… there’s just not that much that’s totally new to me anymore. (Am I showing my age?)

But I do think there’s some really good stuff in The Clickbank Code for those who haven’t been in the game as long as I have.  That’s why I offer the best sneak peak videos that I could find for you below:

In the end, I can’t personally recommend The Clickbank Code because I don’t own a copy myself.  It looks very promising for those who aren’t making as much money as they’d like at Clickbank and I’m planning a PPC campaign around the product to see if it really lives up to that 7.1% conversion rate claimed.

If you want to check out the splash page or sales letter, here’s the link to The Clickbank Code.

If you own this product yourself, tell me what you think about it.

Is it worth the price?

I’d love to hear from you!

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In addition, hopefully this sales letter mistakes video will show you what NOT to do when you create your own sales pages!

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Trying to do everything yourself actually prevents you from making money in your online business.

Although it may be a little scary at first, outsourcing less important tasks is really important to your online success.  That’s why I’ve put together a list of the top 3 reasons why online businesses should outsource.

1.  More Value for Your Time

When you own an online business, you need to be constantly aware of what your time is worth.  The most successful entrepreneurs spend as much time as possible doing profit producing task rather than dull and repetitive ones because they are keenly aware of what their time is worth.  When you outsource, you pay someone else to take care of the menial work so that you can concentrate on money making projects.

2.  Outsourcing May Be More Cost Effective

If you think about all the resources and time that goes into some of the tasks that your online business requires, you may find that it really costs you more to do it yourself.  Doing it yourself may require you to purchase special software, take time to learn how to use it, office space to set up certain tasks, special equipment, books and manuals to learn how to do specific tasks, etc.  These kinds of costs can really add up!

When you outsource an activity, you get more bang for your buck than just the task itself.  You get someone who specializes in areas of your business that you may not know quite as well or have no desire to learn.  Those people usually have the tools required to do the job and already know how to do it.  That means you can spend your time and money on projects that will earn you a better return on your investment.

3.  Outsourcing to Experts Means It’s Done Right

When you outsource to experts, you’re getting people to work for you that already know their business.  Whether you’re outsourcing for help on troubleshooting, manufacturing, taking orders, website design and maintenance, or something else, you’ll be able to take advantage of an expert’s knowledge in a specific area without having to learn it yourself.

When you first begin learning about and implementing outsourcing techniques within your business, you’ll find out those boring or repetitive tasks can easily be handed off to someone who enjoys doing them.  This will allow you, as an online business owner, to free up more time to concentrate on more important aspects of your business such as product creation, advertising, networking and other marketing practices.

These are the things that will help your business to grow even more profitable.  Online growth and prosperity are both great reasons why online businesses should outsource.

Want to know more about why online businesses should outsource and a whole lot more? Get your Free Copy of 10 Days to Smokin’ Traffic Now!

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It should be no surprise to you that the best way to learn about internet marketing is to watch and learn from what others do… this is where the swipe file comes in.  A swipe file is simply a file or collection of marketing messages, headlines, techniques, etc. Essentially, whenever you see an example of great marketing you add it to your marketing collection.

Before The Internet

Before the internet, a swipe file would contain a bunch of direct mail marketing pieces, newspaper ads, postcards, etc. all kept in a box or file folder.

Today you can still have a file folder full of those kinds of things, but you should also consider starting a digital collection where you can put great examples of email marketing, ezine ads, headlines, digital sales letters, etc.

You can even put an expert’s entire profit funnel in your swipe file if you watch them long enough.

Some of the best marketing messages that I’ve seen were only presented in an online format… especially sales letters!

I have my own digital swipe file where I save email messages, article resource boxes, sales letters, great headlines, and other promotional materials that I think are really good.

I keep my digital swipe files on thumb drives.

Remember, a great marketing piece doesn’t have to relate directly to your chosen market to be useful to you… so save any marketing piece that works, regardless of the product.

No Copying!

A Swipe File IS NOT For Copying.

Before you get the wrong idea here… keep in mind that a swipe file is not intended to be a file where you store materials that you are going to copy later.   That would be a HUGE no no.

You should think of a swipe file as a place to store materials that you can use later to generate your own marketing ideas and strategies.

Thumbing through a collection of marketing materials will likely bring on a flood of ideas for how you can position, write about, or promote your own product… and that’s why you should create your own collection! Remember, you’re just looking for inspiration.

Don’t just save the materials from the big companies either… some of them use terrible promotional materials!

In fact, you’ll find some of the best marketing and promotional materials are written by little known people who have really taken their time on each and every piece.

You’ll also find a lot of great marketing fodder by watching what the ‘gurus’ do.  Some of them are very, very good at what they do… that’s why we think of them as ‘gurus!’

By The Way…

If you’re really interested in simply copying other people’s campaigns and using them, you really should check out CopyNProfit.  I haven’t tried it myself yet (although I plan to review it in the near future), but it seems to be getting really good reviews.

If you’ve already tried it, I hope you’ll take the time to post your comments about the program so others can benefit.

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• A headline must capture the attention of your prospect.
• A headline must tell your prospect what’s in it for him.
• A headline must deliver a complete, immediately understandable message.
• A headline must pull the prospect into the copy… compelling him to keep reading.

In essence, a headline should motivate your prospect to respond.

In fact, headlines are soooo important that I have a swipe file of really great headlines that I come across.  I keep a swipe file so that I can go back and refer to those headlines and use them as headline starters when it’s time for me to create my own promotional materials.

Here are 10 headline starters from my own swipe file:

• The Untold Secrets To Making…
• Is Your (Insert Topic) Being Threatened?
• 7 Amazing Strategies to…Add New
• Do You Wish There Was An Easier Way To…
• 3 Direct Reasons Why You’ll Be Kicking Yourself if You Don’t…
• Instant Strategies Anyone Can Use To…
• The 5 Ugly Lies About…
• How I (Insert Benefit) In Record Time…
• Watch this ‘shocking’ play-by-play underground video…
• Why Aren’t You…?

If you’re interested in getting more great headlines as well as swipe files for other parts of your promotional material, then I highly recommend My Instant Swipe File.

Or feel free to visit my full review of My Instant Swipe File.

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Although several people warned me not to change our look and feel when the blog is soooo new, I just had to do it. I never liked the stuffy corporate/business feel of the old layout… it just wasn’t me.

I wanted something that more accurately captured my personality, showed a little energy, and looked sharp at the same time. Hopefully I’ve managed to accomplish all of that!

Advice I Received…

It really surprised me the other day when I received several comments on Twitter that blog skins and themes really don’t matter. Here’s one comment:

“I spend a lot of time on themes, yet I’m not sure it always matters. Content first baby!”

Although I agree that content is definitely first in a blog, I still think the overall look and feel is important too. In my experience on other blogs and websites, the look and feel of the website contributes significantly to the ROI and conversion rate. In addition, it helps to brand you in your niche, gives your website a distinct personality, and encourages repeat visitors… and who doesn’t want that.

Believe it or not, I had someone else on Twitter suggest that I should just find a blog I liked and copy it!

Obviously, I didn’t follow that one… this blog is completely custom.

More Planned For The Future…

I’ve got lots of plans for the future of this blog… but I’m trying to take it one step at a time, think before I leap into new things here, and take my time to develop it. I’d really like to make this much more of a visitor driven blog. In other words, I’d like to add features you want, add content you’re looking for, and provide the information you really want.

So let me know what you think about the changes I’ve made so far and feel free to tell me what you’d like to see in the future.

I look forward to hearing from you!

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