Khoa Bui - The Online Entrepreneur

Affiliate Marketing. Whether you’ve never heard of it before or you’re just starting out in this lucrative revenue stream online, affiliate marketing is a great source of generating extra sales to your bottom line.


So what is affiliate marketing anyway? First of all, lets say that you have a website that sells a particular product, for example, an eBook on training your dog. Your website currently has targeted traffic going to your website and your visitors are mainly interested in the realm of dog training. Therefore, the more traffic you get to your site, the more sales you will make from selling your eBook.


Let’s say that you sell your eBook for $27 and 10 people purchase your book a day, that’s $270 per day. So far, you have a few options to increase your sales from your website:

• Increase your conversion rate (the sales percentage of the total number of visitors)
• Increase your website traffic.
• Introduce Affiliate Marketing.

When you introduce Affiliate Marketing into your website, you’re really giving someone the opportunity to sell your product for a certain amount of commission. So, lets say that you offer to split a commission of 50% to your Affiliates (people who sell other people’s products). If your affiliate sells your book on their website, they get 50% and you get 50%, for example your eBook at $27, they get $13.50 and you get $13.50.


Those numbers may not make your pants catch on fire but if you look at it from a bigger perspective, lets say that your affiliate partner has a high traffic website that brings in over 500 visitors a day and they sell 20 of your eBooks. So your 10 eBook sales from your website combined with their 20 eBook affiliate sales is a total of $540.00. That’s only with one affiliate. Why not help another affiliate… and another… and another?


Of course, there are always pitfalls, sometimes affiliates can not sell your book because they may lack the marketing skills or traffic generation skills. So affiliate marketing is really depended on the affiliates marketing skills in order for you and them to make a profit. However, the great news is, how much does affiliate marketing cost you? $0


By simply placing a section on your website entitled “Affiliates” that contains your commission rate, links, photos of your product, additional information they may help them sell the product, you’re offering other people the opportunity to make money.


Affiliate Marketing is a great way to make those additional sales to your website and help you move closer to financial freedom.

For the past few days, I’ve had the flu, I’ve been coughing, having massive headaches and the sniffles and for some wierd reason, I feel as if I need to blog about Viral Marketing. To me, this is a very interesting topic. Firstly, what is viral marketing?
Let me ask you, have you ever received an email, whether it is an interesting article or joke and then you forwarded it to someone else? That is viral marketing! It’s something that has been created and passed on and on and on. It’s like the flu, it just keeps moving from one person to another.


So what does it take to get your product, website or service viral? I’m anaylsed various viral marketing campaigns and I must say, some of the powerful viral marketing elements are the use of:

• Sex (yep, that got your attention didn’t it)
• Shocking Content
• Damn right hillarious

Think about it. Have you ever watched the video of David Crocker on youTube telling everybody to “Leave Britney Alone!” To me that was quite shocking to watch… however, I just had to share it with my friends. There was also the Paris Hilton Sex Tape that was passed around online, I believe it costs her exactly $0 to market that to millions of people online. There was also various videos of the olympics, people trying to make the jump but they somehow miss and do a hillarious maneuvers.


Those are some of the ways in which you can make your business viral. The great thing about it, it’s completely automated, it runs forever and your name is attached to that viral piece! Thus your name gets spread worldwide!


*cough cough*

There are many different types of Internet Marketing Strategies available online and offline. Whether you are currently researching this area of Internet Marketing or you would like to become an Internet Marketer, then blogging is one of the most powerful ways to get your message out there and exposed to many people. In this article, I will only scratch the surface and delve in deeper in another article later on.

First of all, what is Internet Marketing? The term Internet Marketing refers to methods in which you can promote whatever it is you want to promote in order to achieve a result. That may sound a bit confusing so here is an example. A person wants to sell their eBook online, there are many ways in which he/she can achieve this:

• Setup an eCommerce shopping cart.
• Build a database list and sell the product through there.
• Setup a squeeze page which directs them to a product page to purchase the eBook.
• Setup a marketing campaign using Google Adwords.
• The use of autoresponders to automate sales.
• Setup a blog site, drive traffic to it and sell your product through it.
• And much much more!

I can probably go on and on about the various different types of Internet Marketing strategies so I won’t confuse you to much. I don’t want you to go through an information overload like I did when I went travelling all over Europe… culture overload!!

The point is, if you want a result to happen with something, there is a known “system” out there that increases your chances of success. There are business models out there that show you how to sell books, dvds, courses and information products online. They have been tried and tested and gives you a greater chance of achieving success.

Micheal Gerber in his fantastic book “E-Myth” which I highly recommend you to read if you would like to know more about systems for your business has had a profound influence on the way I approach my businesses. If you’re unsure about the reason why you should have a system, then this book is a must read.

One of the most common form of marketing on the Internet is to simply build a website, send traffic to it and sell your product through it using a various number of Internet Marketing Tools. As mentioned before, a great way to market your product and services is to generate traffic to your site using Blogs. Blogs are a great marketing tool to get your message out there and generate tons of traffic to your site. Of course, the more articles you write, the more traffic you will get.

If you would like to know more about Internet Marketing and the various strategies in which you can increase your income online, you can always download my free eBook entitled “8 Secret Internet Strategies Exposed” in my blog (www.khoabui.com.au) which reveals how I was able to make thousands of dollars online.

Writing web copy that sells your products and services is another vital skill you must acquire in order to produce suitable income from your website. When you write copy for your website, you must first consider who you are writing to. Whether you are writing to a target audience or a specific individual, you must understand the audience in which your writing your copy to.


In my previous article “How To Design Your Site For Online Success” I spoke about the importance of working out your goals before designing your website. The same principle also applies here, however, you are focusing on writing and talking to your target audience.


If your stuck in wondering how to write to your target audience, try to imagine sitting in front of the individual and not a mass audience. You will find that when you write content for an individual sitting right in front of you, your content will be worded differently as apposed to writing for an audience of 1,000 people. Remember, 98% of the time, it’s only one person who’s looking at your website at that moment and your website copy must speak to that one person. Also remember to keep your copy easy to read and understand. You’re writing copy for clarity and not to include complex terminology that confuses the reader (like some websites I’ve seen and won’t mention here). Also remember to check your speeling


If your in a situation where you don’t feel as confident writing your own website copy, there are many options you can take to get your web site copy written for your website. So far, your options are:

1. Hire a professional copywriter.
2. Outsource the work to job markets that contain many enthusiastic writers.
3. Learn to write copy yourself.
4. Get your web designer to do it for you but inform them what you want included in the copy.

With the first option, if you hire a professional and credible copywriter, your web copy will be as effective as a hiring your own online salesman. Copywriters are powerful and persuasive people who understand the psychology behind people making purchases online. Some copywriters I know make an absolute killing with their copywriting skills because they produce so many sales from their website. However, their skills are not so affordable and can range between $5,000 - $20,000. So if you have the cash, it may be an ideal investment.


The second option you can take is to outsource your web copy work. There are great websites out there such as elance.com and rentacoder.com which contains thousands of people willing to work for you. Many people on these websites are offering to complete whatever online project they can get there hand on. The websites are very secure and have a great communication management system so you can keep track of your work. As a bonus, most people who offer to complete your project are very affordable and efficient. If you were to post your job to the masses, you may be able to get 10 articles written for only $7 per hour which perhaps translate to $60 in total.


The third option would be to learn how to write the content yourself. Now there are many books out there that you can purchase in which you can learn to write your own web copy. You can simply make a small investment into this specialized knowledge but at the end of the day, the knowledge is yours and you can apply it to various other projects not just your website… but your own published books.


The final option would be to simply hand the work over to your web designer/developer. Depending on the situation, if your web designer/developer has writing skills, it’s worth hiring their services to take the job on. However, most designers/developers are focused on only their core skills which is either designing websites or programming websites so make sure you find out if they possess they skills.


Remember, you can also start a blog website and just practice writing your thoughts and ideas, eventually practice makes perfect and before you know it, your words will be translated to cash transfered to your bank account.

When you’re designing a website, there is a lot of things you must consider before taking that big step into the online world. Whether you’re building a website yourself or hiring a web designer to do it, you must first do some homework first.


It’s like building a house. Firstly, you must work out where your ideal location would be, how big the house would be, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, backyard, front yard etc. This also relates to building a website in order to be successful online.


The first step you make take is to ask yourself “What is the goal of my website?” Is it to demonstrate your services or products? Is it to simply get your business on the web so you can showcase it to your clients? Do you want to sell products through it? Do you want to use it as a backend to your businesses? Do you just want to make more money with your website? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself when you’re starting to design a website.


Your answers may vary. When you begin to ask these questions, you get a clear understanding of what result you should expect when you finish building it.


For example, lets say that the goal of your website is to simply showcase your portfolio so people can get a better understanding of what you do. A great design for this website would include more focused information about you, about your attributes and photos about you. The next step is, picture your ideal visitor going to your website. What age group are they in? Are they married, single, corporate, unemployed, income ranging between 30k - 40k, 100k - 200k etc.


Once you figure out the goal of your website, you can match your website design to suit with the type of category of people you want to target. For example, your portfolio website would be showcasing you and you want to target the corporate market. Corporate markets are very business oriented and have stable incomes, they are exposed to alot of business terminology and also maintain a very professional standard.


So now you’re armed with better information and now you can begin designing your website. If you want to appeal to the corporate market, you will need to design a site that is professional looking, incorporating business elements, photos of people in suits, office environments and meeting rooms. Your website copy should incorporate professional language not slang or inappropriate phrases that may offend business oriented people. If you’re unsure of what the business oriented environment is like and you need to appeal to them, you will need to do further home work and research that type of environment.


Dan Kennedy calls this matching the right message to the right market using the right medium. Remember your not designing a website for you, you’re designing it for everyone else, what you think of your website is not important, it’s the visitors that are the ones who are going to be giving you the results you want.


With just a bit of due diligence and homework, your new home will be built on solid foundations and not on unstable ground.

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been working a secret project that I will be launching in a few weeks time. This project involves alot of publicity, alot of lessons I’ve learnt from my mistakes, alot of fine tuning, education I’ve bought and have applied and also more focused on my core goals. It seems as if alot of things have come into place for me to embark on this journey.

Since I’ve come back from travelling the world, I feel as if I have changed in someway, many so called “problems” I dwelled upon before I left now seems infinitely small now. I Honestly thought I was crazy for thinking this but it turns out many people who go travelling and experience different cultures have different views on life as soon as they get back, they feel more fortunate about themselves, grateful and just stronger.

Anyway, when I got back, I had the biggest urge to start something new and clear away the old. This new project I’m starting has taken on a new philosophy … which is “Your ducks will never line up, just do it and remember that perfection is your enemy” So far, this philosophy has served me extremely well, I’m nearly finished completing this project and good old “Waiting for the right time to work on it” was not invited.

There were times when I didn’t feel motivated enough to work on this special project, it was raining outside, I only had a few hours sleep, I was tired and lacked energy. However, I just sat down and started to work on it and then I felt much better and drew alot of energy from that task which was quite interesting.

One thing I’ve learnt is that there are many things that we want to do and projects we want to start, however one of the biggest obstacles that stop us from doing those things is… waiting for the right time, the right energy, the right mood… we are just waiting for our ducks to line up. Our ducks will never line up.

Just do it.

Sometimes when you work so hard you forget to look after yourself. The previous few days, I’ve been on 4 hours sleep getting client work finished before I go away this Sunday. There have been existing website updates, launching brand new web sites, sending off newsletters, repackaging projects and fine tuning.


What I realised is that working hard is good for the soul but don’t let it interfere with your health, relationships and with your clients. If you’re not focused 100%, your productivity drops and error levels begin to increase and you start getting grumpy!


As Steven Covey once said… look after the golden goose that lays the golden eggs.


Get some sleep buddy!

I’m now writing this blog entry at another Dome Cafe close to my house. I decided to get out of the house and into my nearest cafe to do some planning and minor work this morning.

I arrived here at around 8:00am and there were a few customers here already. One of the staff that was at the counter waited for me to order. As I approached her, she had a had a tired look on her face (as anyone would) and she said with a mono tone voice “What would you like to order today?” Before I answered, I asked her sincerely “How are you?” and her face lit up and she started telling me about how she wished she was at home, she shouldn’t be at work today on a Sunday morning and that she just wasn’t motivated today. It seemed that she was just bored and needed someone to talk to. After speaking with her for a few minutes, I ordered my cappuccino asked for the  wireless  internet password and  started working.

Here at Dome cafe, they give you 45 minutes free wireless internet, after that, you have to pay for any additional hours. When she bought out my coffee and breakfast, I realised that she kindly upgraded it to a large for free. Not only that, when my wireless Internet expired, she walked out and gave me another 45 minutes for free.

What I learnt today here was that when you enter a restaurant, cafe, shop…, respect the staff and remember that they also have a story to tell, perhaps they are in the middle of a relationship breakdown, perhaps they are just bored and tired, perhaps they wish they were somewhere else. They are also human too. Whatever the case may be, before you place your order, just ask them “How are you?”. Steven Covey from the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” calls this “giving people Psychological Air” and I completely agree with that.

People need that Psychological Air and someone to listen to them, remember everyone is carrying a heavy load.

Today was an interesting day.


It’s Saturday and it’s one week to go before I pack my bags and start my Around the World holiday. Lately I’ve been so busy finishing off client work that I honestly haven’t had much time planning what I was going to pack and prepare.


Anyway, today I had some free time so I wrote down on a scrap piece of paper what I definately needed to buy.

1. New Back Pack that’s light, easy to carry and durable. (My last trip to China, I bought a huge back pack but the “metal” plate that held the pack together snapped)
2. New Digital Camera. (I’m Asian…)

I then headed off to the city and began my shopping for the back pack and digital camera.


First stop was Mountain Designs which is a place where they sell various camping, hiking and travelling gear. There was great backpack that caught my attention. After trying it out a few times, checking the straps, material etc and speaking with the friendly assistant, I decided to purchase the back pack (there’re great at sales arn’t they?)


As he started to process the goods, I started to think about whether I should ask for a discount. Of course usually when I do this, many thoughts occur - “Are you a cheap skate?, He won’t accept it, it’s a big business, he might get offended, it’s rude, just pay it” Anyway, being stubborn as I am and always challenging negative thoughts, I said to the man “So, it’s $220 right? Let’s make it $200″ I paused and waited. The man smiled and said “sure!”. I handed over the money and off I went with my new back pack saving myself $20.


As I was shopping around for a new digital camera, I found one for sale at a popular store for $380. It was the Cannon IXUS 85I5 10 megapixel. I thought that was pretty reasonable and decided I was going to purchase it. Anyway, before I did that, I decided to quickly pop by the store next door to see if they had any better deals (who knows) and they did. They were selling the same camera for $350. So I saved another $30 by walking a few meters.


I spoke to the assistant about puchasing the camera. After trying it out and speaking with the assistant I once again tried negotiating the price using the same line I did at that other store. “So, it’s $350 right? Let’s make it $300 buddy” The guy said “no worries, come over to the counter and I’ll get you to sign a document that gives you a further 10% discount when you are at the airport” Not only I just saved another $50, I also gained another 10% of the total price to claim when I arrive at the airport which was a bonus!


Today I realised that by asking a simple line and having the attitude of “you’re going to buy the damn thing anyway so why not give it a shot” I managed to save over $130 dollars which all it took was a few seconds to voice my offer, if I never did, I would be lower in cash.


So you might be thinking, “whats the big deal anyway, it’s only $130″ yes it’s true. However it’s not the amount that you should focus on, it’s the techinque and deal you can apply it to. For example, the start of this year, I successfully purchased a house and used the same negotiating techniques to form a deal on my house. I managed to save over $32,000 by simply asking for a better offer and negotiating a win/win situation.


So if you thinking of purchasing that nice dress you always wanted, why don’t you try asking them a better deal. The only thing that is holding you back is your mind. Getting a better deal by simply voicing a few words can make the difference by either not having enough cash to pay some bills and struggling or having a champagne with friends while wearing your favourite dress that you bought on sale and knocked off a further 30%.


Try it.