People in the room shared just about every method imaginable
for building a list. They covered what worked, what didn’t, and
what you definitely should not do. They shared their personal
experiences and the results of their latest list building tests.

A few of the speakers had tremendous impact on me. One was
Paul Myers, whom I previously knew primarily from on-line
discussion forums. I had also enjoyed several LONG phone calls
with him. The other speaker whose message intrigued me was
Frank Garon. Frank spoke of buying lists of new subscribers for
less than a penny a name. He spoke of something called
“co-registration.”

Terry Dean also validated for me the impact writing good ezine
articles can have at that seminar.

Frank Garon REVEALED that he and other top marketers
regularly joined together and bought batches of tens of thousands….
maybe 100,000 names. These names were gathered via on-line forms
placed on high traffic websites. The forms offered more information
on the types of products and services that Frank and his friends
offered. The websites’ visitors checked this box requesting more
information, and these names (along with datestamp, IP address
and other relevant information) was passed to the opt-in
name purchasers.

As I listened to this talk of building a list of 100,000 in a month
or less, I wondered, if it’s so great, why isn’t everyone doing
it? The answer that later became clear is that many of the top
marketers ARE doing it. It’s not their only method of building
a list, but it’s definitely one of their most profitable.

The next question that popped into my tiny mind was, “Are
these really subscribers or will I be accused of spamming if
I send emails to these people?” These people do actually opt-in
to receive more information about starting an on-line business.
They do physically check a box requesting more information
be sent to them. That does technically make them opt-ins.

Later, my coaches and mentors would share with me many
SECRETS. One was that when you have access to one of
these list, it’s all about return on investment. We all know
that names purchased via co-opt systems are less responsive.
They are less responsive because the subscribers don’t know
you – they don’t have a relationship with you.

These mentors went on to share that there was a proper
way to legitimately turn these opt-in “LEADS” into
subscribers. The method is very simple. In your first,
and every email to them, you remind them that they
requested more information of this type through an on-line
form. It doesn’t hurt to include the date, IP address and
email address they subscribed from. Then you go on to
share some fantastic information with them… maybe in
the form of your ezine. In every contact with these
purchased names you also include an easy method for
them to unsubscribe.

If you provide genuine value, over time, you will build a
relationship with many of these leads. Many will
unsubscribe, but again – the important metric is return on
investment. that’s what you need to track. If you start out
with 100,000 names but 6 months later that list has
dwindled down to 10,000 or maybe even 1000, what is the
lifetime value of those list members remaining? That’s
the question you need to ask. You answer that largely
based upon what you currently earn for each subscriber
on your list.

Another concept that sank into my head at Joel’s
workshop was the concept of building sub-lists. These
are lists that are kept separated based upon the source.
This allows you to send emails/offers to your lists based
upon list demographics or how they were acquired.

I now have many sub-lists. These sub-lists are from
articles I written, teleseminars I conducted, interviews
I given, course I’ve authored, website forms, joint ventures,
and co-registration purchases. Each list is generally
set up as an autoresponder that I can send select messages
to. My autoresponder system allows me to send out an
unlimited number of both scheduled and unscheduled
messages.

The primary system I use cost me $19 per month for
an unlimited number of autoresponders with an unlimited
number of messages. I can pre-schedule message for
up to 24 months. This fantastic autoresponder deal is
available through http://ProfitAutomation.com

ProfitAutomation.com does have very strict policies on how
these autoresponders can be used to prevent spam
accusation
problems! There is also a limit on the number of new names
you can import at a time. For that reason, I recommend that
when dealing with co-registration emails you use the
autoresponders at: http://Therealsecrets.com/co-reg/

I also recommend that with co-registration names you not
email to them too often. I send them a few emails, spaced
over several months. In those emails, I provide information
of genuine value… on the topic of building an on-line
business AND I invite them to join my regular ezine list. In
each email, I inform them of how and why they are getting
the email AND provide a convenient unsubscribe link.

Over the years, I’ve spent many thousands of dollars on
co-registration lists. The quality has varied. The best deal
I have discovered is through the “Nitro Guys.” They can
deliver 100,000 names in 30 days. If you want less, they
have an “auto-ship plan” where they send you 25,000 names
a month. These names are in CVS format which mean you
can import them directly into many list management and
autoresponder systems. Some systems, including
ProfitAutomation.com, mentioned above, do limit the number
of names you can import at a time… so read the terms
of service before signing up.

I mentioned the “Nitro Guys. I was attracted to them by
the following intriguing headline:

“Ever Wonder How Top Marketers Get Thousands Of Subscribers
On Their Lists While Everyone Else Struggles To Just Get A
Couple Hundred?”

I clicked through to their site to complete the education I
had started at Joel Christopher’s workshop…

They taught me all about the system a lot of top marketers
use to build their lists fast. Their service provides me with
a great return on investment. That’s what keeps me going back.
For more on their services visit: http://Therealsecrets.com/co-reg/

There are no real magic bullets. I’ve found the names purchased
through co-registration services much less responsive than the
names acquired from visitors to my website. However, I have grown
to consider opt-in co-registration names to be a vital part of my
marketing mix. Maybe you will too? Give it some thought. And
now… you know one of the secrets to building a mailing list of
100,000 in 30 days.

As more potential customers visit your site, you should expect a flood of inquiries and requests for information. This is an excellent opportunity for you to capture more clients and lead them to buying from your site. Thus, it is important that you carry out an efficient and prompt response to every email you receive. The fastest and most effective way to do this is by utilizing Autoresponder services.

Autoresponder services use a computer program that automatically returns a prewritten message to anyone who sends an email to your site. It is widely used for responding to consumer inquiries and visitor comments and suggestions. Autoresponder services are also used by e-zines in responding to people who subscribe or unsubscribe to their online magazines. Companies, who send out their e-newsletter regularly, also use Autoresponder services.

How can effective Autoresponder services help boost your business? The answer lies in its ability to return a prompt response to any e-mail the site receives. By responding rapidly and efficiently, you create a very good impression on your potential customer. Good Autoresponder services help you get important information back to these customers immediately. An effective Autoresponder service helps you communicate your message promptly, creating a sense of professionalism and efficiency that your clients will definitely appreciate.

Another very important advantage of Autoresponder services is that it saves time with multiple marketing tasks. Certainly, you do not have enough time to personally make and send all correspondence. Autoresponder services allows you to send thank you letters, newsletters, product information, brochures, orders etc. to hundreds of clients almost immediately and simultaneously. Autoresponder services are also indispensable in any email marketing campaign.

Choosing the right Autoresponder services is very important. What then should you look for in an Autoresponder service? First, you should pick an Autoresponder service that is reliable and can give you 24/7 service. You cannot afford to lose a customer because your Autoresponder service failed to answer his query or request for information. The ability to respond promptly is the first thing you must look for in any Autoresponder services.

Another key factor you should consider when choosing Autoresponder services is flexibility. Good Autoresponder services allow you to customize unique responses that will have maximum effect on the customer. You should avoid creating an impression that the customer is communicating with a machine instead of a real human being. Excellent Autoresponder services lets you provide the information that is specifically targeted for what the potential customers are looking for. Because any email from potential customers essentially represent the customer’s intent on getting more information about your product, which can ultimately lead to direct sales, all emails are important. Thus, a top Autoresponder service must fulfill all these duties to help you boost your business.

2. If you have a page for related links, create a related links file and put it on autoresponder. This can be a one-page e-mail containing 15-50 links that are of interest to your visitors. Put your own promotional texts or blurbs at the top, middle and bottom of the e-mail.

3. Create a fun or trivia quiz, put it up on your site and put the answers in an autoresponder that your visitors can request. This way, you’ll know the people who took your quiz.

4. Write reviews of books, music, e-books, sites, software or anything you can think of and put each review (or related reviews) in an autoresponder. If what you are reviewing have affiliate programs, use your affiliate links in the autoresponder.

5. Run a contest on your site or e-zine, then have your visitors or subscribers send their responses to your autoresponder. This way, you won’t have to worry about manually sending them a confirmation receipt.

6. Create a frequently updated autoresponder and let your visitors and/or subscribers know about it. You can put in weekly tips or links to useful resources in the autoresponder and a reminder to the people who request it that you update it every week or on a regular basis (e.g. tell them to request for the same autoresponder again a week from now). You can use this method instead of using autoresponders with limited follow up messages.

7. If you’ve written 20 or more articles and you have them on separate autoresponder accounts, create a master list for your articles. In this master list, list the titles of your articles, their autoresponder addresses and their short descriptions. You can then just promote this master list.

8. Put excerpts or free chapters of your e-book, book or paid e-mail courses in an autoresponder series, then include your follow up sales letters at the end.

9. If you’re selling your own products, put your testimonials on autoresponder, along with the description of your products, an excerpt or a free chapter. This will increase your credibility.

10. Keep track of people who download your free e-book, e-report, or free software by putting their download links in an autoresponder. When you promote your free product, you can just promote the autoresponder address.

11. Put links to your hidden pages on autoresponder. A hidden page could be the affiliate page where you have all the graphics, text links, promotional articles that interested affiliates can use. Let people know they can have free access to your affiliate page by requesting the autoresponder. This way, you can have a list of people who are interested in becoming your affiliates.

It’s much more than just increasing your traffic volume. After all, most of your visitors won’t decide to purchase your products or your services when they first visit your website. But that’s not to say that they won’t be interested in your offer tomorrow or next week, or that they won’t be interested in future offers.

Therefore, it is necessary to get your visitor’s email addresses so that you can inform them of current and upcoming offers. You do this by using an opt-in system that invites them to subscribe to your mailing list. By gathering their names and email addresses, with their permission of course, you are now able to contact them periodically with information, usually by sending them an ezine as well as an occasional freebie.

There are no problems as long as you’re only dealing with ten or twenty subscribers, as you could just email them individually. However, such numbers aren’t going to make you many sales. You should aim for a mailing list that could reach into the thousands. That number of subscribers would make it difficult for you to prepare individual emails for each name on your list.

The basis of an ideal mailing list, therefore, is an effective autoresponder system that provides the power and flexibility to email your subscribers in a timely and efficient manner.

A mailing list of considerable size powered by a good autoresponder system consistently provides earnings for many Internet marketers. A lot of online businessmen make significant profits from their mailing lists alone.

Okay, but what is an autoresponder system? An autoresponder system is like a digital secretary. It takes care of your subscribers by providing an opt-in system that allows visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. An autoresponder system also takes care of the sending of emails to your subscriber base.

You can prepare your messages in advance, program them into the autoresponder, and preset the intervals by which the messages are delivered. You can even separate your subscribers into various groups. You could have a group for those who have not yet placed an order, for example. You could have another grouping for those who have already made a purchase. This allows you to use two different marketing approaches in dealing with each of the groups.

A good autoresponder system can help you build trust in your products or services. With a good autoresponder, you can also provide an efficient technical support program. If your subscribers email you a question about one of your products, for example, you could preset the autoresponder to reply with a general FAQ to send them the information.

Not all autoresponders are designed the same and much care should be taken in choosing the right one for your particular needs. Here are some questions you should ask before you decide on a particular autoresponder service:

* How many accounts can you create? Some business plans might
require that you have different accounts for different products.

* How many lists can you build? There are also some business plans where you might need different lists for different groups of subscribers.

* How many follow-up messages can you preset? Do you need a lot of follow-up messages or do you know yet? Quite a few autoresponder services provide for unllimited follow-ups.

* How many subscribers can the system hold? And also, how many subscribers can the system respond to?

* How much customization is allowed? You need to be able to personalize your email messages with each subscriber’s name and other customizable information.

* How does the system gather subscriber information? The process should be simple and convenient; otherwise, the visitor will not subscribe.

* Will you be able to send your messages in html and text formats? Most autoresponder services allow both formats.

* Will you be able to track your subscribers for the purpose of target marketing? This my or may not be important to you.

* Is the scheduling system fully automated and flexible enough for your current and future needs?

* Is the autoresponder easy to use? Do they have a demo area so that you can try it out?

Now, does the autoresponder service you are considering provide answers to all of the above questions? If so and if it is offered at a reasonable price, then you should grab the deal as soon as you can.

Remember, if you’re running an online business, a good autoresponder should be one of your primary investments. It could be the key to an excellent conversion rate, more sales and more profits.

In the blink of an eye, your visitor exits your site, and
your sale is dust – unless you have had the foresight to
utilize an autoresponder that has captured her email
address. If you have installed an autoresponder, you can
then follow-up with her, and in all probability, make the
sale when the poor woman has finished repotting her
precious bonsai.

Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do
so much more than just automatically answer your email.
Here are a few ideas that will help you to creatively and
productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual
visitor into a profitable customer. Use your autoresponder
to:

1. Publish a newsletter. Certain quality autoresponders
will manage subscriptions and follow-up with interested
prospects. Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed
about your services or products, while building your
reputation as a credible expert in your particular
business.

2. Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform
them of current sales you are running and of promotional
material that your affiliates can use themselves to
increase their commissions. Include tips, advice, and
techniques that your affiliates can use to successfully go
out and promote your business.

3. Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, e-books,
movies, etc., and put each review in an autoresponder.
Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your
affiliate’s page in your autoresponder.

4. Distribute your articles. Writing and distributing
targeted articles is a powerful tool to build your business
credibility, bring traffic to your site, and increase your
sales potential. If your articles contain valuable
information, many editors will print what is known as a
resource box for you. A resource box contains your bio and
a brief description of your service or product. It can also
contain your autoresponder address. Let’s say you’ve
written fifty articles. Put them on separate autoresponder
accounts and create a master list that contains the titles
of each article, the autoresponder address, and a brief
abstract. Then promote your master list. Additionally,
include your publishing guidelines so your affiliates can
add their articles to your list, increasing the number of
writers who are represented in your article list.

5. Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your
articles when you’ve written new ones that they may want to
publish in their own newsletter or website.

6. Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure
repeated exposure of your message, which has been proven to
effectively increase sales. In your ad, put your
autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to
numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances
of converting visitors into customers. For example, if
you’re selling a particular product, put testimonials about
how spectacular it is on your autoresponder, and add a
detailed, enticing description of your product.

7. Distribute advertising. Let’s say you sell advertising
on your website or in your newsletter or e-zine. Set your
autoresponder to send the information about rates and how
to place an ad automatically to all prospects’ email
addresses. Then have your autoresponder follow-up. It can
also send notification of any special deals you are
currently offering.

8. Distribute an email course. Each day, have your
autoresponder send out another lesson. Just be sure that
each lesson has quality content – not a sales pitch. Your
content will do the selling for you, and will do it much
more effectively. You can include tips centered on a
different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your
product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible
benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product.
Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each
lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a
purchase.

9. Automate a reminder about your service or product after
a visitor has completed your course. This will increase the
possibility of sales from visitors who have taken your
course but are dragging their feet about actually making a
purchase. You can also use these reminders to promote new
products or services, and the products and services of your
affiliate programs.

10. Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an
idea of the type of information you can provide and the
quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports
are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a
potential customer than gain a sale.

11. Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the
answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be
motivated to request your autoresponder, and you will have
a record of the visitors’ email addresses who took your
quiz. Or create a contest and have any visitors that enter
send their responses to your autoresponder. Your
autoresponder can be set-up to send them a confirmation of
their entry.

12. Offer a trial version of your product. Give your
prospects a sample of your ebook, course, software,
membership, etc. People who are exposed to a little taste
often end up wanting the whole pie. You can also capture
their email addresses when you offer them a free trial from
your website. Set up your autoresponder to give
instructions on how to obtain their free trial, and then
make sure to follow-up to try and close the sale.

13. Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For
example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that
contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links
that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors
that they may have free access to your affiliate page by
simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather
a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your
affiliates.

14. Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request
form for visitors to be notified of special offers or
discounts in the future. This creates a very effective
mailing list that contains the names of people who are
already your customers.

15. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should
contain up to fifty links that would be of particular
interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own
promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.

Now that you have proof that autoresponders can be used
creatively, see if you can come up with some brilliant
ideas of your own!

People need to see your ad message several times before they buy. Those who buy on the first ad have already made up their mind after seeing someone else’s ad. Yours had the good fortune of reaching the customer at just the right time.

You can greatly increase sales with a three letter multiple autoresponder. There are a number of places to get these autoresponders free (fastfacts.net, getresponse.com, smartbotpro.net) and others who sell up-graded service at low cost.

Make your first letter briefly present your offer. It should be designed to get attention and bring in those who tend to quickly make up their minds to buy.

Your second sales letter should arrive the next day. Make it longer and filled with details. About 70 percent of consumers are folks who need ALL the details before they will purchase. List your features and connect them with the benefit your customer will get from those features.

Your third sales letter should be scheduled to arrive several days later. Start with “Successful people are busy. I know you probably saw my earlier messages, considered them, but haven’t yet had time to respond.”

Then give them another rundown on your offer. Bring in a fresh angle so it doesn’t seem like they are reading the same letter they saw a few days ago.

More than three sales letters tend to get ignored. If you want to send more, have your fourth and fifth letters arrive weeks or months later. Scheduling a new letter to arrive every month can catch a prospect when they’re ready to buy.

Offer Your Own Email Course

One of the most successful marketing techniques I’ve found is offering your own course via autoresponders. I introduced my Make Your Website Sell course (yes, before MYSS came out) and it is still getting gobs of sign-ups every day.

Here is how to create yours:

1. Pick a problem that lots of your customers struggle with. In my business the big stumpers are getting a site that sells, finding a way to handle email, figuring out search engines, and finding low-cost ways to advertise effectively.

A course on any of these is guaranteed to bring lots of interested prospects and customers (and you can bet I’m plugging my ads here and there during the course).

Your course could be on how to complete a basement, how to avoid an IRS audit, how to give your kids straight teeth, or anything else that customers often ask about.

2. If you don’t write or have time to pen your own articles, look for others who have written on the topic. It is perfectly legal to put their ideas in your own words (always proper to give them credit).

You can also quote the article. It is best to ask in advance, if your course is for commercial purposes. Start your article, then say expert Jane Doe has some valuable information. Include a few paragraphs of what Jane wrote. Be careful not to use so much you give away her entire article and spoil her ability to sell the information.

The most important asset a eBusiness owner has is…
A LIST

Actually the more lists you have the better off you are. BUT
the key isn’t just having several general lists, you want to have
as many targeted lists as you can.

What do I mean by that??

Well, ummm for all you health and nutritional product people
out there your targeted lists could be based around each of
the specific products you offer. Those in themselves make up
a “list.”

If you are selling information products, then the theme or
topic of each of your books/courses can make a sub or
targeted list.

Don’t look at your products/services as a group, break them
down (if you can) and think of them in terms of a targeted
group of people (or list). For each group you will send out
the initial information request and then your follow up will
involve specific information catering to that group.

That follow up is pretty straightforward. I mean if you
have a product that is based to help migraine suffers then
you wouldn’t later send a mailing to that list about a new
product that deals with asthma…they don’t relate or tie
in. You keep sending that list information relating to
suffering from migraines.

There is one other list that you could be building and
that is one that involves a one-time request for information.
For example; if you decided to create a list of 50 eZines
Directories, a person hits your autoresponder once to get
that list. Or how about the second part of your two-part
article – again a person that hits your autoresponder is
after that one-time request.

How on earth do you follow up with these people, when
they didn’t subscribe to receive regular mailings?

That is what we are going to go over today. A 3-step
follow up system which will turn these one-time requests
into yet another viable list for you ;o)

So, let’s get at it ;o)

Step 1 – First or Initial Contact

This is the information that you are firing out after
they have hit your autoresponder.

You have two ways you can go here. You can either:
let the person that you are going to send them future
information that is RELATED to the information they
have requested here. Or, you don’t say a thing at all.

Best course of action is to tell them upfront…be totally
open and honest from the get go. Remember people do
business with people they know, like and trust and if
you aren’t trusting…you’ve lost them.

Having said that, you still need to give them a chance
to opt-out of receiving more information…here is a
sample to give you something to look at and use.

SAMPLE…
Hi ~~NAME~~ (remember personalize)

Just wanted to send you out the information you requested
about the 55 no cost marketing resources. I have listed them
all below and I hope you find them useful.

In a few days I’ll be sending you over a special article
that I wrote “The Key to No Cost Marketing.” Look for that
to come in about three days.

I’ve spent a lot of time researching marketing tactics and
looking for good solid resources that work. I’ll be glad to
share this information with you, if you want me to.

If you don’t want to receive these additional strategies and
resources then you can click the REMOVE ME link below.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Look forward to sharing this information with you, take
care and good luck with your eBusiness.

Sincerely,
Denise Ryder So what we have here is your prospect receiving the initial
information that they requested AND we have let them
know that there is more to come and if they don’t want to
receive it then, they can of course, opt out.

Most will stay because you have given them a good reason to
(remember it’s the WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME), a preview of
what’s to come.

Step 2 – Automate

You’re probably thinking, yup I know I need an autoresponder
in order to do this. Of course you do, that goes without saying.
But, you need to see the bigger picture here. You have a prospect
that has received the information and you have indicated that there
is more “to come.” That “more to come” is what I am referring to.
Make sure you have it already to go and uploaded into your
autoresponder.

Yup, ya got to think ahead…there is no room for “fly-by-the seat
of your pants” marketing here. Sit down and plan out a 7 message
follow up for this list and have it loaded and ready to go.

Leave some time between each mailing…something like between
7-10 days. Remember this isn’t your general list, this is a targeted
one with specific information and of course specific offers geared
to them.

Through these 7 messages your goal is to keep building upon the
information that they prospect originally requested. You know they
are interested because they hit your autoresponder in the first
place, right ;o)

So give them the good, solid content RELATING to the original
that they requested.

In our example above I would keep providing them with information
concerning no cost marketing resources. I would send the article
as I said I would and then the other 6 messages would perhaps
look at what to spot in a good no cost marketing resource, how
to test a resource, how to track the results, and how to use
the information they have gathered to make money. All the
while I mention that there is STILL MORE to come and of
course provide them with the opt-out option at all times.

I also can weave in my offers and because of the way I
have set my system up, these offers come in the form of
recommendations, there is no hard sell tactics happening
here.

Step 3 -Special Mailings

Ok, we have a sublist with a theme of no cost marketing
resources. As I release a new product (based on this theme)
or find more resources to share, then I will send out a
special mailing with this information.

The idea is that these are “special” so they are not to
be used as some form of “mass or blast” marketing tactic.
What we have done with these people is built a good solid
relationship with them. We have sent them fantastic info
that they can use and we keep building by providing them
with even more information and over-delivering. Why would
we want to then ruin all that by blasting them every week…
WE DON’T.

These special mailings should be limited to using them
twice a month. It stands to reason that some months you may
not use them at all. But in this case the idea is that it is special
so make it good. Keep the momentum of good solid information
and tie in a good offer.

A good rule of thumb is to think in these terms…

A good mailing is something that benefits the list member and
the list owner. It has to be a win/win for both or it just won’t
work.

When you are thinking in terms of lists, you have to realize that
a list can come from anywhere. It is just a matter of seeing it.
As I mentioned above, think of your products/services as little
individual lists. Break them down and build a sublist around
each products theme.

Do it right and you may find a little niche where you didn’t
realize it…now how cool is that!!

If you want to gain some further insight into a few more tactics
like this one, then read “How To Become Wildly Successful
Online.” This eBook will give you some great ideas.
Read about it here:
http://www.profitspace.com/wso
This article may be reprinted with the requirement that it be
re-published in it’s original form with the attached Resource Box
to be included.

Most scams and get-rich-quick schemes have quickly faded and couldn’t produce results if their life depended on it.

So you are now left with coming up with strategies that will keep your business around for the long-term.

If you are planning on having affiliate revenue be part, or all of your income, you need to find programs that you can hope will be around for a long time.

It can be quite painful when a company you’ve promoted for many months decides to close their affiliate program, or they decrease commissions so far down that it isn’t worth your efforts to promote anymore.

When this happens you are left with starting over trying to find someone else that you can hope to earn a decent income from.

When searching for an affiliate program that you hope to make your long-term partner, here are some things to look for: High-quality products or services – You can quickly destroy your reputation online by promoting shady companies with poor products. ALWAYS try to associate with companies that have great products.
Companies that have YOUR interests in mind – Unfortunately there are many companies out there that simply view their affiliate programs as a cheap advertising and branding vehicle. Seek companies that view their affiliates as partners. You can tell when you have found one by looking at how the program is structured and what they offer in the way of support for affiliates.

Programs paying commissions on multiple products – You will find that sometimes your visitors will purchase items that you had not recommended. Your income can build much faster when you get paid a commission for those sales as well as sales of products directly promoted by you.

Lifetime commission structure – It takes time, effort, and money to send visitors that actually become customers of the affiliate program. Lifetime commissions allow you to get rewarded for future purchases of your customers. This model is great and you should really consider promoting at least one program that offers it.

Some great programs that I highly recommend looking at, and ones that fit most, if not all, of the above qualities:

Marlon Sander’s affiliate program:
http://www.affmatch.com/marlon
(High commission structure on many different products that sell EXTREMELY well.)

Ken Evoy’s SiteSell affiliate program:
http://www.affmatch.com/sitesell
(One of the top affiliate programs offering great products that over-deliver on their promise of value.)

Yanik Silver’s affiliate program:
http://www.affmatch.com/instant
(Great products that sell well and offer high commissions.)

You can also do quite well promoting programs that offer recurring revenue. This is where you promote services that require a monthly fee.

With this type of program you get paid a percentage of those monthly fees for as long as the customer remains with the company.

Some great companies with recurring commissions are:

Aweber Autoresponders:
http://www.affmatch.com/aweber
(Autoresponders have caught on like wildfire and are very easy to sell.)

Hosting.com:
http://www.affmatch.com/hosting
(Selling website hosting is one of the top ways to make money on the Internet, and most programs offer to pay you from each month’s payments from customers you send them.)

Match.com Personals:
http://www.affmatch.com/match
(Personals ranks up there on the top as well, offering you a percentage of the fees paid by customers that want to meet others online.)

The most important thing to take from this article is that you must start looking for long-term partners and not waste any time trying to get rich over night.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder Address When Submitting to Search Engines.

Since you will most likely submit your site to search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, directories, classifieds, and free for all sites, you should be made aware of the fact that these sites commonly use an autoresponder as well. If you were to use your autoresponder to contact these companies, their autoresponder will reply to yours and so on and so on. Thus creating a cycle of autoresponses that will flood your email box and theirs as well.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Subscribe to Ezines or Discussion Forums.

Since most of the time an Ezine will send you updates and new information regularly, your auto responder will send them a message each time. In a discussion forum, every person in the discussion forum will receive your auto response. This can be irritating and most of the time you will be unsubscribed. It is often hard for the administrators of the forum or ezine to determine who is using the autoresponse and therefore it is simply common courtesy to never use an autoresponer in this manner.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Take Advantage Of Unsuspecting Individuals.

Some very unprofessional companies will use autoresponders to respond to an automated message when this is done the address in the “from” field will be automatically subscribed to their mailing list. This is a extremely un ethical use of autoresponders and those who do it are in jeopardy of creating a very negative image of themselves and their company. Rather than promote their service or business, this usually leads to people becoming very upset and spreading a negative word about your company rather than a good one.

The Internet can be a great place to do business and autoresponders can be an excellent way to save time, however when used in an unprofessional way, they can lead to frustration and aggravation for others. Your company will suffer the loss of much business if you choose to participate in these abusive practices. The appropriate use of auto responders can generate a large amount of business, while inappropriate use can drive away that business.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder Address When Submitting to Search Engines.

Since you will most likely submit your site to search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, directories, classifieds, and free for all sites, you should be made aware of the fact that these sites commonly use an autoresponder as well. If you were to use your autoresponder to contact these companies, their autoresponder will reply to yours and so on and so on. Thus creating a cycle of autoresponses that will flood your email box and theirs as well.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Subscribe to Ezines or Discussion Forums.

Since most of the time an Ezine will send you updates and new information regularly, your auto responder will send them a message each time. In a discussion forum, every person in the discussion forum will receive your auto response. This can be irritating and most of the time you will be unsubscribed. It is often hard for the administrators of the forum or ezine to determine who is using the autoresponse and therefore it is simply common courtesy to never use an autoresponer in this manner.

Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Take Advantage Of Unsuspecting Individuals.

Some very unprofessional companies will use autoresponders to respond to an automated message when this is done the address in the “from” field will be automatically subscribed to their mailing list. This is a extremely un ethical use of autoresponders and those who do it are in jeopardy of creating a very negative image of themselves and their company. Rather than promote their service or business, this usually leads to people becoming very upset and spreading a negative word about your company rather than a good one.