Ros' Ramblings

It's almost the middle of July and summer has failed to arrive in a place that is just a stone's throw from a town called "Summerland".

Sad, huh?

I feel especially sorry for the tourists trying to make the best of their 1- or 2-week vacation on a cool, wet and windy beach.

Yuck.

I'd much rather wind up the old Dell and talk to you, and head for the beach when the sun finally shows up.

Yes, I feel blessed to have that choice, and isn't affiliate marketing, great? :-)

Today's NPT is in Q&A format.

Here are the questions:

• What Happened to Article Announcer?
• Can I Sell the SAH Softcover as an Affiliate?
• Why Can't I See My Clickbank ID?
• How to Protect Your Clickbank Affiliates Commissions
• Why Do Gurus Sell Their 'Secrets'?

Please keep reading for the answers.

'Til next Tuesday (unless the sun decides to come out that day) ... happy affiliating!

Cheers,

---

Rosalind Gardner is author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in ONE Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online.

Super Affiliate Handbook

What Happened to Article Announcer?

"(I) purchased and paid for Article Announcer, based on your recommendation, On June 30th. Since that time have heard nothing re: shipping. Their web site is suspended. Looks like I've been ripped off for $400."

"Any input or knowledge you might have would be appreciated."

Answer...

I also haven't yet received my copy of Article Announcer, however Jason Potash, Article Announcer's developer, has sent out regular notices about the shipping status of Article Announcer to his customers since June 30th.

Jason has been swamped with orders, and was having some difficulty with fulfillment as per his email "ArticleAnnouncer shipping update..." sent out to customers on July 7th.

As to the domain account suspension, I admit that I was surprised to see that the Article Announcer site has a note indicating that the "Account for domain articleannouncer.com has been suspended" and that the site wasn't accessible.

Have faith, however.

Jason has been around for far too long to suddenly pull the pin and disappear into cyberspace. Something must truly be amiss (I know not what at present), and as soon as he gets it sorted out, he'll let us know.

If you're a customer and can't wait to find out what's up, please contact Jason via the ticket system URL included in each of his customer notices.

Learn more about Article Announcer in the article "Google is Watching You", or go directly to the Article Announcer site.

Update... While I was writing the NPT last night, Jason was slaving over a new server to get the Article Announcer site back up and running... which it now is. (It was shut down due to excess bandwidth, and poor guy, he just happened to be taking a short break with his family at the time, so wasn't aware of the outage.

Can I Sell the SAH Softcover as an Affiliate?

"Is there an affiliate program for the softcover version of this book (Super Affiliate Handbook), or does the program cover the e-book only? If there is one for softcover, how do I reference information about it including helpful links I can put in my code?"

Answer...

Good question!

By offering your customers both the ebook and softcover versions of the Super Affiliate Handbook, you'll undoubtedly sell more.

The softcover version of the Super Affiliate Handbook is sold through Amazon. To join the Amazon affiliate program, please visit:

Amazon's Associate Program

If you are already an Amazon affiliate, your basic linking format for the Handbook is:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0973328738/ref =ase_YOUR-ID

Replace "YOUR-ID" in the code above with your own Amazon affiliate ID.

The following Amazon linking code includes the Super Affiliate Handbook cover graphic. Again, replace "YOUR-ID" with your own Amazon affiliate ID.

<iframe
src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=YOUR-ID&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asin
s=0973328738&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&lt1=_blank&
IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr" width="120" height="240"
scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"
frameborder="0"> </iframe>

For additional copy and affiliate information, please visit:

Super Affiliate Handbook Affiliate Program

Why Can't I See My Clickbank ID?

"My link to your e-book (Super Affiliate Handbook) takes me to your sales letter ok, but I no longer see my affiliate link info in the url. Is this masked or did I inadvertantly leave something out when tweaking your code snippet?"

Answer...

That's another very good question.

If your Clickbank link to the Super Affiliate Handbook is formatted correctly, you'll actually see your Clickbank ID appear momentarily in your browser's address bar.

For example, if your Clickbank ID was "webjv", your hoplink for the Super Affiliate Handbook would be correctly formatted as http://webjv.webvista2.hop.clickbank.net.

If you click that link, you'll briefly see the URL http://superaffiliatehandbook.com/?hop=webjv. That then immediately redirects to the main URL, http://superaffiliatehandbook.com.

The reason that happens is because I've created a redirection URL, via Clickbank's site, to PROTECT my affiliates' commissions from link hijacking.

Hijacking is what happens when someone replaces your affiliate ID with theirs in the affiliate link.

Frankly, as a promoter of Clickbank products, I wish all Clickbank merchants would take 5 minutes and do likewise.

How to Protect Your Clickbank Affiliates Commissions

Setting up a Clickbank redirection is really easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Create an HTML page that redirects to your main salespage and upload it to your server.

Here is the code for a very simple redirection page:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://superaffiliatehandbook.com">
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>

2. Login into your Clickbank account and select "Click HERE to view or modify your account settings."

3. On the resulting page, select "Click HERE to modify your account."

4. In the form blank beside "Hoplink target URL (where you sell your products)" enter the URL of the page you just uploaded to your server.

That's it, that's all there is to it. Do that and your affiliates' commissions will be better protected from hijacking than they were before.

Why Do Gurus Sell Their 'Secrets'?

"I can't understand why so many gurus are so willing to sell their 'secrets'. I tend to think that they would want to keep them for themselves and continue enjoying their incredible successes."

"Yes I do believe that some are more generous than others and genuinely want to help but they are rare indeed."

"Why are you doing it?"

Answer...

While I can't answer for other successful Internet marketers, I can tell you why I share what I know about affiliate marketing.

Before I get to that, however, I'd rather not refer to the Super Affiliate Handbook's contents as 'secrets'.

I know myself too well, and I'm far too loose-lipped about what I do to use that term. :-)

Besides, they're not really 'secrets'. In the book, I discuss my 'process' - my way of doing business as an affiliate marketer - in simple terms.

The SAH includes tips and tricks that I've learned over the years, along with the mistakes that I made. The tips help readers speed and simplify their own process, as well as avoid the pitfalls that I encountered when starting out... because there were no comprehensive instruction manuals on the topic of affiliate marketing.

Before I get into why I 'share my secrets', let me first explain the chain of events which led me to write the Super Affiliate Handbook.

First of all, Affiliate Marketing has been very good to me. It gave me a way to ditch a job that was literally killing me day by day, and has enabled me to enjoy a healthy, very comfortable lifestyle instead.

So, after being interviewed for IMC's "Secrets to Their Success" site (there's that word again) in September 2002, I was deluged with questions from those who were interested in learning more about affiliate marketing.

When the volume became too much for me to answer each question individually, I built a site specifically for webmasters (the predecessor to NetProfitsToday.com) and started answering webmasters' questions in a weekly newsletter.

After awhile, I'd collected enough information to compile a small ebook which I then gave away.

Like the Super Affiliate Handbook, that ebook contained affiliate links to products that I use and recommend. Commissions earned from sales made through those links helped sustain the newsletter.

It soon became obvious that I hadn't answered all the questions however, for as my little book became more popular through viral marketing, the volume of mail in my Inbox continued to increase steadily.

The wide variety of questions helped me realize that a complete step-by-step guide to affiliate marketing was what people wanted and needed... without saying as much.

So, for six months I sweat great drops of blood and finally released the first version of the Super Affiliate Handbook in June 2003.

And let me tell you, I held my heart in fear when I put it out there. Was it good enough? Would it be well-received or panned? Would anyone ever really read it or put its contents to use? Or, would my effort be all for naught?

Well, more than 2 years later, the Super Affiliate Handbook still holds the #1 position in two of the three Clickbank categories in which it is listed. (That means it's popular and my affiliates and I enjoy the proceeds.)

But much more gratifying and rewarding are the success stories I receive on a regular basis from those who have read and applied its contents.

Each and every day I get 'thank you' notes from happy, successful affiliates.

There's HUGE joy in learning that someone who read your book or took advantage of your one-on-one consulting is now on track to do 1M+ in business this year, primarily through affilate marketing.

There's HUGE joy in finding out that yet another affiliate has been able to quit their job or send their kid to college... in part because of what they learned from you.

There's HUGE joy in knowing that someone no longer has to rely on their palty, insufficient pension or disability check because you took the time to share what you know.

So, in very basic terms, I shared my joy in having discovered a way to build a great life, and look at what came back... oh, JOY!

Now, let me put the question to you.

If YOU held the 'secrets' to success and had the ability to share it with others to help them lead healthier, happier lives - without 'losing' or compromising your own business in the process - wouldn't you share what you know?

If you're having trouble coming up with an answer, here's a hint...

What goes around, comes around.

Happy affiliating. :-)