Sunday, January 27, 2008

How to Sell your New Electronic Gadget

by: Michael C. Podlesny

I am walking through the store the other day with my wife and notice a little blast from the past, specifically from my childhood. It was a handheld electronic football game. They had one on display to test out, so me being the curious consumer that I am, I want to make sure the game was ok, before I decided to buy it.

So I turned it on, and the game started beeping and playing a tune in that old eighties style of electronic sound my generation got used to. Just like the game I remember, there wasn’t much to it, when you compare it games of today. It has basic functionality with limited playing ability, but boy was it fun.

Kids today wouldn’t even look at that game, but for a whole generation of people that at one time were kids, namely my generation, it is an electronic gadget that I immediately gravitated towards.

Maybe you have an idea for a hot new electronic gadget, or to reinvent one from yester year. Whatever the goal may be there are a variety of ways you can sell them. You should however write down specific steps on what exactly you are trying to accomplish.

Write down your specific target market that your game appeals to. In my experience above, that game appealed to young boys from ages 10 to about 13.

Find out where your target market frequents. This is where you want to concentrate your advertising and marketing efforts. You do not want to waste your time putting your electronic gadget up for sale in a store where very few of your target market members visit, or post online in a category that is not relevant to what the gadget is.

Define what attracts your target market to the product you’re selling. For me it was the fact that the electronic gadget was a way to relive the past. That is exactly how they presented it. It was a game to relive days gone by, and conjure up some good old memories.

Create your promotion, advertising, marketing campaign, and sales pitch around what you have already written above. Whether you are posting an online advertisement, or trying to pitch your idea to a store, you need a clear, professional presentation of what you are selling, and what you are trying accomplish.

Post your online advertisements, set up your displays in the stores and sit back and start taking orders. Well you really won’t sit back, you will be a bit more outgoing and aggressive to get the product out there, but the point is you can now concentrate on selling your product to your target market that you already defined.

There are thousands of electronic gadgets and gizmos on the market today. Some are very helpful and some are fairly worthless. If you have a good product, that is useful for the purpose it was intended, you should have no problems, making lots of sales.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

What is affiliate marketing and how do I get started?

by: Monica Faircloth
Definition of affiliate marketing:

Affiliate marketing is taking someone else's product or service and advertising it using your own affiliate website or link in order to make money. The owner of the website/product/service will pay you a percentage of each sale generated through your unique affiliate link or website. Sounds a bit confusing, but in reality is a very simple process with a win/win situation for all parties involved and a fun way to make money online.

How to get started:

You have two options to consider when doing affiliate marketing, whether to have a website or to simply advertise using your unique affiliate link. Many affiliates will create an informational website to be used as a basis for related affiliate links. This can be a great option, due to the fact that you would only need to advertise one website in order to make money.

To go this route, think of something that you are passionate about or something that is a hot topic right now. Once you have determined your theme you need to decide on a website name. To find ideas and keywords to be used as a URL, or domain name, I would recommend using http://wordtracker.com to find appropriate popular keywords related to your theme. It is good to use a popular keyword as your website and domain name so that you will rank higher in search engines.

Once you have your theme and have chosen a name, you need to register your domain name and obtain website hosting. I recommend using Yahoo for your website hosting needs. They offer a free domain name and website builder that does not require knowledge of html when you purchase website hosting. They also allow you to pay monthly rather than having to pay a year in advance which helps you save with upfront costs.

Your next step would be to build your website and fill it to the brim with great information related to your theme. A great and easy way to do this is to get articles from free article websites like the ones listed below:

http://www.1st-in-articles.com/
http://www.advertisingknowhow.com
http://www.amazines.com
http://www.articlecity.com
http://www.ArticleHub.com
http://www.marketing-seek.com
http://www.parentclicks.com
http://www.zongoo.com

Then, once you have a great website full of information about your theme, your next step is to work on search engine optimization. Do a search on Google for SEO and you will find lots of free information on how to do this. You also need to offer a free newsletter so that you can establish repeat visitors.

When your informational website is complete and fully optimized, submit it to all of the major search engines. Google's "submit a URL" can be found under "About" Google. This is the main one and the best place to start. Yahoo charges a fee to submit your website to them so this would be something you could do later.

Now you are ready to start adding affiliate links to your website so you can earn money! Sign up at these free websites and find appropriate websites to affiliate with:

http://www.LinkShare.com
http://www.CJ.com
http://www.ShareASale.com
http://www.Clickbank.com

Also, add Google Adsense to your website for added revenue. Advertise using Pay Per Click such as Google.com/Adwords and Overture.com. Continue to add a page of information to your website daily. The more information you have, the higher your chances of ranking with more keywords on the major search engines. Have fun maintaining your website and watching your traffic...and your revenue grow! Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money and your earning potential is almost endless. Affiliate marketing is something you can get started doing today to earn money online.