How To Create A Viral Marketing Machine For Any Affiliate Program You Currently Promote, And Easily Duplicate Yourself Across The Entire Internet
| Category: Viral Marketing | Date: 2001-04-09 |
Wow, thats a powerful title! Dont let the headline fool you, though, this could be the most important article you ever read. If done correctly, this is one of the easiest ways to create a permanent revenue stream with ANY affiliate program you are promoting.
Have you noticed that some of the most popular types of Web sites on the Internet are portal (or vortal) Web sites? These portals, or should we say Web site vortals (vertical portals) are really nothing more than an organized collection of links to other Web sites.
Why are they so popular, and more importantly why are they so successful?
One of the biggest reasons they are popular is because they save visitors time. We all know time is very easy to waste on the Internet. A visitor to a vortal does not have to go through tedious search engine listings to find what they are looking for, its all right there sorted and stored for them at their favorite vortal site.
Let me tell you a little story before we get deeper into this since it fits right in with this article. Its also a prime example of why these sites are so successful.
Last week I was searching for information on a motorcycle... specifically pricing info. I wanted to see what kind of price fluctuations there were from state to state. Well, to make a long story short, while I was searching I wandered upon a few vortal sites geared to the motorcycle community. These sites actually had everything I was looking for and more... I even ended up buying from a couple of the listed resources and these resources both ended up in my bookmarks for future visits.
No fancy graphics, no amazing flash animations, just good solid "targeted" content.
Here are the two Web sites at which I ended up spending some time:
http://www.moto-directory.com/
http://www.motorcyclerow.com/
(Dont worry we are going to explain how all of this is going to help you increase your Internet revenue!)
Visit the first Web site, moto-directory.com, and what do you see?
1. A large "searchable" categorized listing of motorcycle resources and vendors.
2. Advertisers with products and services geared to the motorcycle industry.
3. An affiliate bookstore geared to motorcycle users.
4. Affiliated classified ad system and auction.
5. Automated directory system.
Actually this vortal is owned and operated by motorcycleshopper.com so I am sure you can see the big picture here... they realize that the community a vertical portal creates sells products and produces advertising revenue!
So, what do we have to work with here?
If you created and operated a vortal site, what would you have to look forward to?
1. The searchable categorized listings make it as easy as possible for a visitor to find what they are looking for and almost guarantees your site gets bookmarked.
2. Once a vortal becomes popular, advertisers flock to it because they know they will find "targeted" traffic. Not only can you produce a solid advertising revenue stream but you can also advertise your own affiliate programs especially if they are geared to the Web sites category.
3. The fact that the system is totally automated is a big fat bonus! What if related Web sites visited and built your directory for you, isnt that enough reason to stop what you are doing right now and start on the framework for your own vertical portal Web site?
Vortals are geared to one subject and visitors love it!
All content is geared to the vortals theme. All advertising is geared to the vortals content. All resources are related to the vortals content. All in all, a vortal is a perfect targeted community.
$$$$ Cha-Ching!
Okay, we all see the big picture, but how do we put a vertical portal to work for an affiliate program?
Easy...
Create a portal on a topic related to the affiliate programs you are promoting and funnel the buyers in!
* FIRST, YOU NEED A THEME AND A DOMAIN NAME.
Lets find out what type of portal we can create.
Many of you may already know me as the Affiliate Marketing Director for Net Detective: http://www.jeanharris.com/associate/. Many affiliates have been following along with this article and creating some killer revenue machines. As an example of an affiliate front here are a few ideas for a front end portal for Net Detective: (Remember, in this example, the goal is to sell Net Detective so we need to find a theme and content geared to this product.)
1. A spy resources directory
2. An Investigation resource center
3. An adoption/genealogy resource center
4. A directory of location services
5. A search resource directory
6. Employee Investigation resource directory
7. Spy or investigation software resource center
... etc., etc., etc.
Also, along with this niche, you can build on, and spin off, other products utilizing your current resources.
==Example: http://www.snapshotspy.com/t.cgi?wow
With this product, we have capitalized on our current knowledge of our existing market and pushed a multitude of revenue streams out of it. The newsletter tracking follow-up system is the greatest tool for our affiliates. Growth has been linear. Our research has proven that people are extremely curious (some are even downright nosy!) and they use the Net to do their "dirty work."
As you can see, this can easily turn into a really powerful marketing machine that will work for you 24 hours a day. You can build a vortal for any type of affiliate program you are promoting.
You will definitely need a new domain name for this project and here are four resources to help:
For $13.50 per year, this is the lowest domain registration service I have seen: http://www.000domains.com
If you need help coming up with a good domain name use these three resources to search for available names.
1. http://www.nameboy.com/
2. http://whois.net
3. http://hammer.prohosting.com/~domains/cgi-bin/main.shtml
* SECOND, YOU NEED A SYSTEM.
Fortunately for us there are several ready made directory systems available online to help us quickly get our new vertical portal up and running.
Links Manager v2.0 lets you create your own directory or index like Yahoo, Snap or Dmoz. Includes a sophisticated administrative tool and is automated: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/links/index.htm
Index Finger Pro Edition produces a clean and professional directory using HTML pages. Unlimited categories and sub-categories, supports ad banners, search, site requests, mailing list, site rating, whats new and cool pages, and more: http://www.indexfinger.com/
Web Index v1 allows you to create a search engine that works very much like Yahoo or CGI-Resources. With the Web-based admin area you can build directories, edit/remove directories, verify/edit/remove links and much more. Automatically updated Whats New! page, advanced search and the best part is -- the layout of the pages are totally customizable: http://cgi-center.cx/scripts/Webindex.html
You can find many more directory systems at Cgi-Resources. Here is the direct link to the links indexing category:
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Link_Indexing_Scripts/
* THIRD, YOU WILL NEED A MARKETING PLAN.
Again, we can help! We have a large amount of material to help you get your new portal in front of as many eyeballs as you can at the Helping Hand resource center.
The goal of your portal should be to provide a one stop resource for your selected category and focus on selling your product or promoting your affiliate programs.
If you work your affiliate program banners, links, classifieds, etc. into your sites framework, you will be surprised at how successful your new venture could become. When you produce targeted traffic, your sales will only rise. Just think, every single visitor to your new portal is a potential customer! Talk about targeting, huh?
There is a ton of marketing material online for you to take advantage of in The Helping Hand newsletter and marketing center: http://www.helpinghand-newsletter.com
About the Author
Copyright © 2000 David Seitz - CEO Virtual Imagination Inc. Published by Virtual Imagination Inc. Brought to you by The Helping Hand Internet Marketing Newsletter. http://www.helpinghand-newsletter.com Grab your free subscription now: subscribe@associatesearch.com
Need ezine subscribers? Well submit your ezine to 65 ezine directories and make your subscriber list grow by leaps and bounds! http://www.writebusiness.com
Copyright © 2000 by David Seitz Virtual Imagination Inc.
http://www.virtual-imagination.com/
http://www.virtual-imagination.com/
Have you noticed that some of the most popular types of Web sites on the Internet are portal (or vortal) Web sites? These portals, or should we say Web site vortals (vertical portals) are really nothing more than an organized collection of links to other Web sites.
Why are they so popular, and more importantly why are they so successful?
One of the biggest reasons they are popular is because they save visitors time. We all know time is very easy to waste on the Internet. A visitor to a vortal does not have to go through tedious search engine listings to find what they are looking for, its all right there sorted and stored for them at their favorite vortal site.
Let me tell you a little story before we get deeper into this since it fits right in with this article. Its also a prime example of why these sites are so successful.
Last week I was searching for information on a motorcycle... specifically pricing info. I wanted to see what kind of price fluctuations there were from state to state. Well, to make a long story short, while I was searching I wandered upon a few vortal sites geared to the motorcycle community. These sites actually had everything I was looking for and more... I even ended up buying from a couple of the listed resources and these resources both ended up in my bookmarks for future visits.
No fancy graphics, no amazing flash animations, just good solid "targeted" content.
Here are the two Web sites at which I ended up spending some time:
http://www.moto-directory.com/
http://www.motorcyclerow.com/
(Dont worry we are going to explain how all of this is going to help you increase your Internet revenue!)
Visit the first Web site, moto-directory.com, and what do you see?
1. A large "searchable" categorized listing of motorcycle resources and vendors.
2. Advertisers with products and services geared to the motorcycle industry.
3. An affiliate bookstore geared to motorcycle users.
4. Affiliated classified ad system and auction.
5. Automated directory system.
Actually this vortal is owned and operated by motorcycleshopper.com so I am sure you can see the big picture here... they realize that the community a vertical portal creates sells products and produces advertising revenue!
So, what do we have to work with here?
If you created and operated a vortal site, what would you have to look forward to?
1. The searchable categorized listings make it as easy as possible for a visitor to find what they are looking for and almost guarantees your site gets bookmarked.
2. Once a vortal becomes popular, advertisers flock to it because they know they will find "targeted" traffic. Not only can you produce a solid advertising revenue stream but you can also advertise your own affiliate programs especially if they are geared to the Web sites category.
3. The fact that the system is totally automated is a big fat bonus! What if related Web sites visited and built your directory for you, isnt that enough reason to stop what you are doing right now and start on the framework for your own vertical portal Web site?
Vortals are geared to one subject and visitors love it!
All content is geared to the vortals theme. All advertising is geared to the vortals content. All resources are related to the vortals content. All in all, a vortal is a perfect targeted community.
$$$$ Cha-Ching!
Okay, we all see the big picture, but how do we put a vertical portal to work for an affiliate program?
Easy...
Create a portal on a topic related to the affiliate programs you are promoting and funnel the buyers in!
* FIRST, YOU NEED A THEME AND A DOMAIN NAME.
Lets find out what type of portal we can create.
Many of you may already know me as the Affiliate Marketing Director for Net Detective: http://www.jeanharris.com/associate/. Many affiliates have been following along with this article and creating some killer revenue machines. As an example of an affiliate front here are a few ideas for a front end portal for Net Detective: (Remember, in this example, the goal is to sell Net Detective so we need to find a theme and content geared to this product.)
1. A spy resources directory
2. An Investigation resource center
3. An adoption/genealogy resource center
4. A directory of location services
5. A search resource directory
6. Employee Investigation resource directory
7. Spy or investigation software resource center
... etc., etc., etc.
Also, along with this niche, you can build on, and spin off, other products utilizing your current resources.
==Example: http://www.snapshotspy.com/t.cgi?wow
With this product, we have capitalized on our current knowledge of our existing market and pushed a multitude of revenue streams out of it. The newsletter tracking follow-up system is the greatest tool for our affiliates. Growth has been linear. Our research has proven that people are extremely curious (some are even downright nosy!) and they use the Net to do their "dirty work."
As you can see, this can easily turn into a really powerful marketing machine that will work for you 24 hours a day. You can build a vortal for any type of affiliate program you are promoting.
You will definitely need a new domain name for this project and here are four resources to help:
For $13.50 per year, this is the lowest domain registration service I have seen: http://www.000domains.com
If you need help coming up with a good domain name use these three resources to search for available names.
1. http://www.nameboy.com/
2. http://whois.net
3. http://hammer.prohosting.com/~domains/cgi-bin/main.shtml
* SECOND, YOU NEED A SYSTEM.
Fortunately for us there are several ready made directory systems available online to help us quickly get our new vertical portal up and running.
Links Manager v2.0 lets you create your own directory or index like Yahoo, Snap or Dmoz. Includes a sophisticated administrative tool and is automated: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/links/index.htm
Index Finger Pro Edition produces a clean and professional directory using HTML pages. Unlimited categories and sub-categories, supports ad banners, search, site requests, mailing list, site rating, whats new and cool pages, and more: http://www.indexfinger.com/
Web Index v1 allows you to create a search engine that works very much like Yahoo or CGI-Resources. With the Web-based admin area you can build directories, edit/remove directories, verify/edit/remove links and much more. Automatically updated Whats New! page, advanced search and the best part is -- the layout of the pages are totally customizable: http://cgi-center.cx/scripts/Webindex.html
You can find many more directory systems at Cgi-Resources. Here is the direct link to the links indexing category:
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Link_Indexing_Scripts/
* THIRD, YOU WILL NEED A MARKETING PLAN.
Again, we can help! We have a large amount of material to help you get your new portal in front of as many eyeballs as you can at the Helping Hand resource center.
The goal of your portal should be to provide a one stop resource for your selected category and focus on selling your product or promoting your affiliate programs.
If you work your affiliate program banners, links, classifieds, etc. into your sites framework, you will be surprised at how successful your new venture could become. When you produce targeted traffic, your sales will only rise. Just think, every single visitor to your new portal is a potential customer! Talk about targeting, huh?
There is a ton of marketing material online for you to take advantage of in The Helping Hand newsletter and marketing center: http://www.helpinghand-newsletter.com
About the Author
Copyright © 2000 David Seitz - CEO Virtual Imagination Inc. Published by Virtual Imagination Inc. Brought to you by The Helping Hand Internet Marketing Newsletter. http://www.helpinghand-newsletter.com Grab your free subscription now: subscribe@associatesearch.com
Need ezine subscribers? Well submit your ezine to 65 ezine directories and make your subscriber list grow by leaps and bounds! http://www.writebusiness.com
Copyright © 2000 by David Seitz Virtual Imagination Inc.
http://www.virtual-imagination.com/
http://www.virtual-imagination.com/
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