Niche Info Online Business

Congratulations. If you’ve read all of the information up to this point, you have a thorough understanding of how to find email addresses, how to write convincing emails, how to send them and finally how to track the progress of your campaign. Now it is time to discuss what types of programs work the best with email marketing.

You might be thinking, “Uh-oh… why didn’t you tell me this in the first place? Am I wasting my time promoting my affiliate links or website?” The answer to this question is of course not. Technically, anything can be promoted with success through email programs, so if you are promoting something that doesn’t fit in the recommendations of this section, don’t worry about it. The upcoming information is to serve as a supplement to your existing campaign. It can also provide ideas for individuals who have just joined an affiliate network and are unsure what programs they should begin promoting.

1. Free Samples

Have you ever heard the saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Well, this is one of the reasons why if a person is alerted to something that is legitimately free, more than likely they will want to try it out. For example, earlier in this e-book you read about StatCounter, a web tracking service that is 100% free for traffic that contains less than 9,000 page loads a day. Weren’t you interested enough to at least consider checking it out? The same thoughts you had towards this service are the same types of thoughts others can have if you present them with a free sample that is 100% free and of substantial value. One hundred percent free means that they don’t have to enter in any credit card information. This is a very important point because many companies claim that their samples or trials are ‘free’ yet they require credit card information. Supposedly, a person can cancel if they don’t like the product or trial service, but a lot of people won’t feel like going through this process. Therefore, if they see something that requires credit card information, even if it is an otherwise good sample or trial, they will bypass it. The exception could be if the product or trial is something that is extremely hard to find, has received a lot of positive testimonials and is very low-cost. An example is Freelance Work Exchange, a website that offers real work-at-home job opportunities from various companies. To join, a member has to pay a monthly fee. However, Freelance Work Exchange does offer a trial membership, where a person pays only $2.95 for a week’s worth of access. This offers a high conversion for them, because their service is somewhat unique, (since most of the work-at-home sites on the Internet tend to be scams) and their trial price is cheap. Even this can be refunded if the person doesn’t like the service, but most people won’t worry over such a small amount of money.

2. Merchandise that is significantly below retail value

Auction sites and wholesalers are examples of companies that tend to offer merchandise that is ridiculously low in cost. If you are promoting one of these, or you own this type of site, you are on the right track. This is because many people are ‘impulse buyers,’ meaning that even if they didn’t initially have interest in a product, if they see that if they buy it they are getting a tremendous bargain, they might be tempted to make a purchase. It should be noted, though, that this principle only applies to general types of merchandise, such as CDs, books, video games and lower-priced electronics.

If you’re trying to promote the newly released L.G. Phillips 100-inch plasma flat screen, you might have problems. It has a retail price of $20,000, but even a discount as high as 50% would not make the television affordable enough for the average person. If you have to promote a high-ticket item such as this, you will have to make sure that your list contains emails of people that are more likely to afford it. For example, if you create a site that talks about how to buy an island, and you get people from this site to subscribe to your newsletter, you can be assured that more than likely they would be interested in something so expensive. However, if you got your leads from a paid email service, you almost guarantee that they will not be interested in buying things that are that elaborate. So, all it takes is just a little common sense.

When you create your email, part of your content should talk compare the cost of the merchandise you are promoting with the cost of other retailers. Do this while not requiring your reader to visit the website… you can do this at the end of your email. If you need help trying to find the prices being offered by other retailers, you can use what are known as shopping comparison sites. Shopping comparison sites give information on different types of retailers, with price being one of the key pieces of info. Popular shopping comparison sites include: Froogle, Consumer Search and Biz Rate.

3. Services requiring just a lead

If you are heavily into affiliate marketing, it shouldn’t be too hard to find companies that will pay good money for just a lead. Examples of these types of enterprises include: credit card companies, mortgage companies, banks, job boards, real estate brokers, colleges, paid email/signup services, social networking sites and insurance companies. Lead promotion tends to be easier than trying to acquire a sale because leads only require a person to give information, not actually purchase anything. Leads that do not result in a future sale, (such as those with colleges, paid email/signup companies or social networking sites), do even better than those with other types of goals.

Remember, just because a program is ‘lead-based’, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t require a financial investment on the part of the subscriber. It may not be upfront like it is when someone buys a cheap piece of merchandise, but in the long run money will have to paid, often times a lot of money. That is why companies can offer so much money to their affiliates just for leads; they know in the long run they will get their investment back ten-fold.

However, despite this leads still tend to do better because well, they often fill an intense need possessed by the subscriber. For example, many people, due to mortgage problems, need to refinance. So, if they see an email that offers information on a mortgage refinancing program that will accept people with bad credit, more than likely they will be interested. This is in contrast to seeing an email about a product or service that, even if cheap, is something they didn’t necessarily need. Yet, this does not mean that you can slack off and think just because you’re promoting a lead-based program, all you have to do is say “Click here.” You will still need to put in as much effort as you would with any other type of program, and create email content that is intriguing and informative. This means following the P.A.S.S guidelines stated earlier in this e-book as well as paying attention to your length and formatting.

4. Informational sites requiring no action of the email reader other than visiting the website

Other types of sites that do well are informational ones that only require the reader to visit them. Wondering why even bother if you’re not getting a sale or lead directly? It is because informational sites still provide revenue potential. This potential can be seen through banner advertising and pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click advertising are ads that, if clicked on, will generate a revenue for you, usually a few cents. Google Adsense is a very popular pay-per-click advertising program, with some members making thousands of dollars a month.

Granted, in order to see these types of results you will need to generate a great deal of traffic. However, if you place these links on an informational site, and promote this site through email marketing, you have a better chance of getting more traffic than you would if you tried to get a sale or lead directly. This is because in all reality people just don’t like making purchases unless something is just that interesting. However, visiting an informational site doesn’t require anything on their part. In fact, they are actually benefiting when visiting a site like this because they are obtaining information that they didn’t have knowledge of previously.

If you need help trying to determine what type of information you would like to put on an informational site, you can start by using a keyword analyzer program to see what people are looking for. These programs tell you not only how many people are searching your desired keyword, but also how many people are searching other keyword combinations derived from the original one. Once you get an idea of what you should write about, you just have to figure out how to write it. In Chapter One of this e-book, you were introduced to the idea of using ghostwriters. You can revisit that idea for creating an informational site or you can obtain free content from an article directory.

There is a downside, however. With free article directories, you are required to keep the whole article in tact, which usually means incorporating whatever affiliate links the author has included. This is a major disadvantage because that link could direct your visitor away from your site, which means the potential of getting a clickthrough is eliminated. On the upside, the more backlinks you have on your site, the more pleasing it looks to search engine robots, which will tend to give you a higher rank. So, basically, it’s you’re call. If you just don’t have the time to write or the money to hire a ghostwriter, in the long run it is better to use articles from an article directory than to be forced to not create a website.

5. Dating Services

Online dating sites can pay by lead, sale or both. Those that pay per lead tend to be free ones, though paid dating sites have been known to offer them to. Usually with paid dating sites a lead is generated when a person completes their profile. You go on to earn a commission if the person decides to upgrade to paid membership, which would allow them full access to the dating site.

In terms of marketing, naturally the free dating sites tend to get more responses because they do not require any funds upfront. However, if you can write your email in such a way explaining why a paid service is better than a free one, you might be able to get a subscriber interested enough to make a sale. If this doesn’t happen the first time, you will have to send them multiple emails, a tactic that is commonplace when it comes to trying to make a sale. You could also advertise the dating site indirectly, by taking them to an informational site that contains an advertisement of the site.

6. Porn and Other Types of Sex Sites

Porn and other types of sex sites are in a funny situation when it comes to email marketing. This market seems to attract many spammers, so if a person sees a subject line that suggests an advertisement for a porn or sex site, they may simply delete it thinking it’s spam. Free porn sites or sex sites designed to provide information about sex in an academic, classify way, however, do get some attention. The main thing to remember if you decide to promote these types of sites is to look at how they differ from the hundreds of other porn sites already out there.

This is especially the case if the site is not offering free porn. Porn geared for women, is an example of a unique type of porn that just on originality alone could get result in sales. However, don’t confuse porn ‘originality’ with something that is lewd, tawdry and illegal. An example could be child porn. Not only is it morally and ethnically wrong, but if you get caught promoting it you could go to jail.

Indeed, not everyone will feel comfortable promoting porn in their email marketing campaigns, but as the old adage says, sex sells. This is one of the reasons spammers like it so much. Of course, you don’t want to be like them but you don’t want to overlook a potential gold mine either, especially if your website or affiliate program was sex-related anyway. Basically, go on your conscience on it… as long as you are promoting porn with actors 18 and over, you are not doing anything that is against the law.

7. Money-Making Opportunities

Money, like sex, is also in an unusual situation in the world of email marketing. It generates a lot of interest, but is dominated by spammers. There are also many, many scams that can be found in this arena. Many people may open an email about a money-making opportunity just because they are curious, but if they see they have to pay a fee, (which is the often times the case even with legitimate money-making opportunities), they will think it’s a scam and delete it.

Therefore, the best way to go about promoting money-making opportunities is first see if it’s legitimate. The best way to do this is to test it out before promoting it. If it’s not legitimate or it takes so much work to make money, you know not to promote it. However, if it does bring a few dollars into your wallet, then you should consider advertising it among your subscribers. You will want your email content to consist of a testimonial. People are intrigued if they read a testimonial that seems honest and heartfelt. If you can give a company a good recommendations because of your experiences, then maybe they can take a ‘risk’ and at least visit the website.

If you find that you are getting results with using your own testimonial, you may want to go a step further and collect other people’s testimonials. You can do this by asking them directly in your series of emails to them, or by asking them to post their experiences through a text box on a website. Make sure you provide some provision that you can use their testimonials in future advertisements. This includes whether or not you have permission to post their contact information, (most marketers will provide the email address and the first name). If you’re asking through a website, you can simply provide a checkbox asking them if this is ok. If you’re asking them directly in an email, just ask them and wait for a response.

Once you get the approval you need, use their testimonials on future websites promoting whatever money-making opportunity you are promoting. You can also use them in your email marketing campaigns. Your testimonial in combination with several others should generate enough interest among subscribers to at least open your email. They may even be powerful enough to result in a sale… it just depends on how convincing they are. If some of your testimonials provide contact information, your advertising campaign might be even more effective, since prospects can ask them directly about their experiences with the money-making opportunity. Remember, if you do provide contact information, try to make sure the emails are hyperlinked. When emails are hyperlinked, they will bring up the reader’s default email program. The email address will automatically be posted in the address section, making emailing that person just that more convenient.

8. File Downloading Sites

File downloading sites come in two varieties: those that share files, (known specifically as peer to peer or p2p), or those that store files on in a database, such as Napster. The latter are commonly used for downloading legal copies of songs, movies while the former are notorious for allowing people to download illegal copies of songs, movies, video games or even books. When it comes to website promotion, more than likely you will find affiliate programs for the more ‘accepted’ file downloading sites since many peer to peers tend to be free. However, there are peer to peers that allow their users to upgrade to paid versions of their services, so you can still see affiliate programs for them.

Does it seem that logically only the free peer to peer filer downloading sites would make better conversions than paid ones? In all honesty there are some people that would be drawn to the thought of downloading ‘free’ songs, movies, video games or books, even if it is considered piracy. These folks do not view doing such things as stealing, though in reality it is. There are other people that use peer-to-peers to download legitimate files, such as abandonware or music or movies created from independent artists. It all depends on what you consciously feel is right. At the moment legally nothing has been done against peer to peers or their affiliates for illegal downloading done on their networks.

What about the conversions on paid file downloading sites? You would be surprised that there are more than you might expect, since these sites are starting to become more popular. Many people don’t like the thought of committing piracy, and even among those where that isn’t an issue, there are still a lot of disadvantages to using peer-to-peer networks. The files you intended to download often times end up being something else. Additionally, it can take a very long time to download files from a peer-to-peer service… sometimes even days. If your download gets cut off for any reason, you will have to start the process all over again. This is not the case with legal downloading sites. With these sites you always get the file that you wanted to download. In terms of time, while even paid download sites will take a little while, usually it is not as long as it would be with a peer-to-peer site. Lastly, the paid file-downloading site offer a moral peace of mind, as people know they are having access to their files legally.

9. Movie & Video Game Rentals

Almost everyone is entertained by movies, and a growing number of people of both genders are becoming entertained by video games. This is why if you are promoting an affiliate that offers low-cost movie or video game rentals you are sure to get a lot of conversions. Most of these offer a trial subscription to entice people onto the site. This puts you as the marketer at a disadvantage since people don’t like having to use their credit cards. However, in this instance what is being offered is so convenient that for many it might be worth trying it out, even if they have to use their credit card.

10. Diet Products

Dieting captures the attention of a large number of people, especially women. Even women who consider themselves ‘normal’ weight often feel compelled to at least tone up. So, if you can find an affiliate program promoting diet products that actually work, you should be able to get a lot of conversions. Testimonials work great for diet products, though they are not as essential here as they would be for work-at-home opportunities. People don’t mind taking a risk on a diet product, as long as they feel that risk isn’t going to put their health in danger. The best diet products to promote are again, those that can provide a free sample without requiring credit card information.