Submitted By: Jody Bellon

Lets start out by saying that for every one good thing said about affiliate marketing ten negitive things are said. Those are pretty bad odds if you ask me. Affiliate marketing is a monstrosity of a business. The fact is most prominent businesses on the internet use some form of affiliate advertising today. This is obvious. So how can it have such a bad reputation? Well I have an idea why.

I believe it’s how affiliates market for companies and of course some of the companies are frauds in themselves. Some companies or affiliates will say “you will get rich overnight with little or no work on your part.” This is a form of trickery and deception. If you are in the affiliate business, I shouldn’t have to tell you that this isn’t a good thing to promise your prospects. You want to build your reputation, not destroy it. Every business owner knows you have to work hard and invest time to gain real results. So Maby If we all yell, kick, and scream loud enough all these companies and false promises will disappear. I doubt it. Are they going away? Not anytime soon.

Of course someone new to internet marketing won’t know the difference between a legitimate company and a fraudulent one. So it’s up to those of us who already been through it and know what to look out for to give fair warning. It’s up to us to make a positve influence on affiliate marketing as a whole and help restack the odds in our favor. By showing ourselves to be good moral internet citizens and helping others reach their goals the right way, the honest way. If we do this I know we will be successful and proud to be called an affiliate marketer.

So be careful not to get caught up in the whirlwind of internet marketing. Picture it in the likeness of a black hole that will suck all your money, time, and energy and leave you with nothing. I believe this is why so many affiliates give up so easily, and leave with a bad impression. It’s difficult to recoup from such a powerful unexpected onslaught.

But there is still hope, There are still some of us who care enough to take you by the hand and guide you through this complex maze and show you what the true meanning of affiliate marketing is. It’s being dedicated in helping others succeed, it’s being honest with yourself and building a good reputation as well as the reputation of affiliate marketing as a whole. It’s treating others how you wish to be treated.

By: Sue Currie

You can become famous. Maybe you don’t want be famous but at least you can learn to make your product or service well known. Of course that will in turn help the bottom line and you might become rich and famous! Is that what you want - your 15 minutes of fame? Your opportunity to shine in the spotlight.

So how do we get that opportunity? Why not tell everyone who you are, what you do and how you make a difference. The way of doing that is through public relations and it is simply communicating who you are and what you do, it’s having “relationships” with your “public”.

One way of letting people know who you are is through publicity. Getting that free editorial coverage in press, on radio and television is what we all want. It’s our way of letting people know about our product or service or how terrific we are. But most of us don’t like blowing our own trumpet. But without promotion something terrible happens - nothing!

If you are an independent business owner you have a lot of things to juggle, a lot of hats to wear, that of lawyer, accountant, manager, entrepreneur, technician and of course marketing expert and under that umbrella comes PR, promotion and publicity. So let’s get rights down to the basics - the publicist. That’s what you need to be. You need to write a media release, send it out to the media and ring them up. Talk to the media about who you are and what your product is.

You need to sing your own praises or at least that of your own business. Publicity is very effective. They say it is seven times more effective than advertising.

No point writing that fancy media release with the dynamic headline, strong opening and all the elements of who, what, when, where and why - that’s all very well but you also need to follow through. Find out the name of the person you want to send that media release to and phone them up. Find out whether they want to receive the media release by fax or email - build a relationship. Get that message out and then follow through.

By: Paul wilson

Online Reputation plays a key function in a successful business. And for Reputation to be productive you will need to trust more than friendship or basic instincts in choosing an “ideal” SERM company. Since public relations are about communication and steering the company towards realistic targets, you must consider a number or crucial and tangible issues.

Be clear that PR cannot be handled just by the firm it is a partnership between you and the PR experts. It is your inputs that will provide the PR firm with direction. You must on your side provide complete and updated information, be available to advice on or check material put together by the firm and spend time with the PR team on ideation. Only when the grounding is laid clearly will PR be successful.

1. The company must have worked for a business such as yours before or have at their fingertips the strategies they will employ to meet your PR objectives.

2. The PR firm must have updated its systems to include all the latest in media and communications.

3. The company must understand your business thoroughly and know in no uncertain terms how much strategic versus tactical support they can provide.

4. Determine whether the staff deployed for your project has both experience as well as expertise. Find out about their successes and failures.

5. Ascertain whether they can comfortably reach out to your target market and if they cab quantify their value.

6. Study the proposals presented by them on your project and use your in depth knowledge of your business and the market to determine to what extent this will work.

7. A dedicated PR firm will not hesitate to disagree with you on any aspects of your plan they are not in agreement with. They know the ins and outs of their business and know what works and what does not.

8. The firm must not just have a series of meetings there should be constant interaction as well as reviews of work undertaken and subsequent results.

9. The contract must be clear and transparent with no hidden clauses. The PR firm must have a system where it clearly understands and then delineates in a contract its responsibilities.

10. Be sure to check their testimonials and credentials. Go through their case studies to determine their efficacy and do some research to find out their standing in the market.