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Saturday, December 02, 2006

Can you succeed marketing an affiliate based program?


What's there in newsletter design that fascinates us? Would you need to share our views?

Simply understand it. To absorb the core of , scan it thoroughly.

Internet Marketing can be an enjoyable and profitable experience, but it can also be very frustrating, time consuming, money draining and anti social.

So why do we keep putting ourselves through all this pain?

Completely admissible! The following lines will be like a feather to the cap. Keep reading, you'll acquire some extra enlightenment.

Well, I m sure that for everyone there is a different answer depending on your driving force, but for me it s the thought that one day I ll succeed and make a tidy income. God knows how many Get Rich schemes are out there but experience has taught me that 95% of them are simply schemes for making the owner rich and not the affiliate. On the plus side, they do teach you the pitfalls of Internet Marketing and hopefully move you that little further down the line towards your ultimate goal.
You may think that this article is simply a moan about the chaos which is Internet Marketing but I assure you that s not the case. My aim is to pass on the good and bad of this type of venture and to hope that I can help someone to avoid the many obstacles and reach there goal reasonable unscathed.

Can you make money from a program which doesn t sell a tangible product?

Time and time again you ll see these type of programs They ll say pay $5 as a one off payment and we ll give you thousands in return. The word that comes to mind is Pyramid . Logic tells you that $5 can never become $1,000 without you sponsoring thousands of people and then they ve got to sponsor thousands of people and so on. At some point you run out of people and the system fails. You loose your money but the owner makes a tidy sum. Maybe the answer is to invent your own Get Rich scheme but then, how do these people sleep at night?
Personally, these schemes should be outlawed because all they do is serve to undermine the ethics of Internet Marketing.
So, can you make money from these types of programs My experience tells me No
Should you avoid them?
Most certainly Yes

What about programs where you pay a monthly fee but again there isn t a product?

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These are very much the affiliate based programs and do have some merits. They tend to offer the same, old same old, free resource tools, safe lists to join and a type of ad co-op guaranteeing leads and/or sign-ups. Of course, the tools are usually obsolete in today s market, the safe lists are more geared towards the owner making an advantage by you joining using their affiliate ID and the guaranteed leads are too old to be of any use. I m sorry for being a cynic but I m sure there are people out there who are reading this article and nodding there head because they ve been there.

No doubts about the clarity of this write-up, still the persons are unsure about its benefits.

It worked for particular folks who were searching for newsletter design. To some, it was Greek!

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On the plus side these programs do have a sustainable growth because of the monthly income and so getting personally sponsored affiliates can recoup your loses over time. The problem however, is that people tend to be reticent to join because of the fees and then become despondent when they struggle to get affiliates for themselves. Most of the programs offer free membership and Yes you will get tens to hundreds of people joining the free program but the ratio from free to paid is very poor.

People enter these programs believing, that by simply joining, they will be given thousands of Dollars for doing zilch! Like I said these programs do have there merits and if you stick in and spend loads of your money on advertising, hours of your time promoting to rotators and safe lists then you may come out the other side breaking even or with a small profit. Don t get me wrong I still have some involvement with these types of programs Why? Because I believe the hype that I can be the one success story and come out the other side, a rich man!

What about the programs where you pay a monthly fee and promote a product?

If the product is unique in some way, affordable to the masses, useable and needed and you can get in on the ground floor then you could be onto a winner. In my experience, it s the product which brings in the serious marketer not the affiliate program. Think back to the early days of mobile phones, when they use to be very bulky and expensive and people were saying They ll never catch on
However, the marketer with vision saw the mass potential and stuck in. Oh how I wish I d been in this game then because now I wouldn t be here typing this article, I d be on a beach somewhere and my secretary would be typing this article. There are other types of product based affiliate programs out there which will also give you a chance for success, but finding it is like crawling through a minefield. Don t simply sign up because it s free membership or the site looks professional, read all the pages and understand the ethics of the owner. Consider the product(s) on offer and think about your target audience.The product(s) should be affordable, useable, sellable, exciting and hopefully unique in its market. The affiliate program should be affordable and sustainable. Look at the Compensation plan and consider how feasible it will be for you and your potential team, to reach the profit line. Some plans may look impressive but sometimes they dazzle you with big Dollars. Look at the amount of paid sign-ups required together with the percentages paid and compare this to the cost of the program and the cost of advertising needed to reach those required sign-ups. Work out how long it will take you to break even, for instance, if the cost of the program is $20 a month and you spend $20 a month on advertising you may get 1 or 2 sign-ups a month. If the comp plan pays you $5 a sign-up you ll need 8 sign-ups to break even but it may take you 4 to 8 months to get to that point. So it could cost you between $160 and $320 to get there.

Do your sums or you may never really break even?

You should look at the make-up of the down line and how it fits in with the matrix/comp plan. Some down lines have legs, in that you build so far down and then the line splits off and begins again. This usually happens when you reach another level in the comp plan, but the resulting effect can make it hard to progress to the next level. Some have a straight down line so everyone who joins will be in your line. This can be misleading in that you believe that it s your sign-up and you ve earned money.
However, it does allow you to assess the popularity of the program and help you decide if you should continue.

Now Image you ve come across an affiliate site (Not hard to do with today s Internet) Ask yourself the following questions:-

Does the site look impressive?
Does it make you want to read on?
Does it have a product that excites you?
Could you use the product?
Could you sell the product?
Would you buy the product?
Is the product affordable?
Do I get the product as part of the affiliate program?
Can I afford the monthly payment?
Do they have a worthwhile Compensation Plan?
Do they have a matrix or a straight down line?
How quickly will I break even?
Can I make a profit?

SO CAN YOU SUCCEED BY MARKETING AN AFFILIATE BASED PROGRAM?

Find today s Mobile Phone with an affordable affiliate program, offering you a good compensation plan, workable matrix and responsive down line and the answer is undoubtedly

YES

Thanks for reading my article. If you want to subscribe to my newsletter then go to

http://www.profitmashine.com/biztipspop.html

About the Author

The author is Ian Bosworth who has 2 years experience in Internet marketing. He has put together a website and newsletter designed to help other marketers looking for a home based business
http://www.profitmashine.com

The fact can't be refused that just a few countable people enjoy till the close. It may be said that individuals who comprehend till the end really absorb the essence of the write-up.


Tools for Customizing Great Plains


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Tools for Customizing Great Plains

 by: Divine Rigor

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has captured the US market with its integrated business applications for small and mid-size organizations. Its comprehensive accounting and business management capabilities provide businesses with tools to customize various modules of the Great Plains software. These tools have been proven to have contributed to business growth and tighter control over its processes.

There are several ways in which customization and integration can be applied to Great Plains applications because of its open architecture characteristic. Integrity of data and performance of processes can also be validated using one of the many tools as listed in this article. So how do we answer the question of Customizing Great Plains?

Dexterity

Although Dexterity requires the user an extensive knowledge in software development (primarily in C/C++ or Pascal) and experience in scripting languages (VBScript, or Dexterity s own script - SanScript), this proprietary programming language that Great Plains was developed in allows access to all of Great Plains resources such as tables, reports and scripts. With this access, you can manipulate and define triggers such as opening a form or leaving a field. Moreover, it can be used to call up procedures and functions and create new applications without interfering with other customizations already in place and integrate them into Great Plains user interface easily.

Dexterity can be installed using CD #2 that comes with the Great Plains 7.5 package.

Modifier with VBA

Modifier with VBA is one of the simplest tools to have for end-users and developers alike. It uses common graphic drawing techniques which can be used to alter the appearance of a Great Plains application. It can be used to move, alter or delete menus within a window so that you can manipulate the importance of each field. It also allows for addition of new windows or controls or simply rearranging those that exists. This customization tool is safe to use since the original information is stored separately from the modified one. Modifications can also be shared with other users. However, unlike Dexterity, it is not recommended to create new applications with Modifier VBA.

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Continuum for VBA/Delphi

This tool uses Great Plains as an OLE Server. It captures the VB or Delphi code as queried by the user for macro recording. However, we do not recommend it since it is an old technology.

Crystal Reports

Great Plains comes with its own Report Writer. However, its functionality is limited. Introducing Crystal Reports to Great Plains opens up a whole new world of creating reports. With the use of the Crystal Report Designer Interface, you can easily create complex reports with formatting and grouping just the way you want it professionally done. Grouped data can be summarized and subtotaled and with its drill-down capabilities, the user can view report data in detail. Crystal Reports also came up with a version for Visual Studio .NET. With all the features of Crystal Reports 8.0, the Visual Studio .NET version gives .NET users the flexibility to share information and reports over the internet. Through the use of Database drivers, Crystal Reports connects to the Great Plains database and accesses the specific data as queried by the user and selects the tables or views according to the user s proposition.

In Great Plains, the Tables structure can be found in:

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Tools > Resource Description > Tables

Direct Web Publishing

If you re looking to publish your Great Plains information over the Internet, then using Visual Studio .NET is the right tool to use. It allows the deployment of Web-based applications and XML Web Services and can be leveraged by the use of programming languages like Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# and Visual J#.

eConnect

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Integrating data from outside sources, such as your point-of-sale applications, customer relationship management applications and Web services, to your Great Plains application is what eConnect is all about. eConnect can filter data or add script to the business object according to the specified diagram. It enables for limiting the number of values entered in a field or setting a default value for the field. Although eConnect promises integration, it asks for advanced programming skills. It uses a number of different programs including Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Basic objects and extensible markup language (XML).

Integration Manager

Converting and transferring data (importing) from one database format (ODBC-compliant) to a Great Plains application can be done with the use of Integration Manager. This tool enables the end-user to map the data source to the target field without the need to search from the database tables. SQL queries can also be defined to accompany your integration and data validation. Integration Manager requires development experience with a background in database maintenance, SQL commands and VBA or VBScript to name a few.

SQL Queries

Microsoft SQL Server is a database engine that gives users tools for creating, configuring and maintaining databases. It is integrated directly into the Great Plains database. Its Query Engine enables you to create statements to call up certain information from the database. Although this is a powerful tool, SQL queries should only be done with experienced hands. One false statement could wipe out your database.

The smooth operations of your business depend on YOU. With the right experience and education, these tools for customizing your applications and database can lead your business to a better ground.

Need more information?


Contact us: 1-866-528-0577


help@albaspectrum.com

For customization work and advice, please contact Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Chief Technology Officer. His works include development of applications with the use of Dexterity, SQL, C# .NET, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK.

About The Author

Divine Rigor is the Technical Writer for Alba Spectrum Technologies USA ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), a Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company. We are based in Chicago with locations in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York and contacts in international markets.

help@albaspectrum.com

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