Listen To Today’s MP3 Interview With James Martell & Linda Woods

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James Martell Interview

Listen as James Martell, a successful affiliate marketer, natural search expert and the President of Net Guides Publishing Inc., sits down with Linda Woods, President of PartnerCentric Inc., to discuss their shared passion for teaching people how to succeed with affiliate programs.

Linda Woods, who has worked for Commission Junction teaching merchants how to better support affiliates and affiliates how to make more money, and then as a consultant for Kowabunga, finally branched out of her own and started PartnerCentric, the Net’s most successful affiliate marketing consultant team.

In this Coffee Talk edition, Woods shares her insights into the industry and talks to Martell about her unique sales philosophies, tracking programs, and the relationship between merchants and affiliates.

The two also candidly discuss the two kinds of websites, which Woods calls

1) “About Something” sites, which she says provide content; and

2) “Sell Something” sites, which she says are commerce-based and how combining the two creates a real win-win situation for merchants and affiliate partners alike.

Such philosophies have catapulted Woods and PartnerCentric to astounding online success, with PartnerCentric revenues growing 200-300% per year under Woods direction. And, this already jaw-dropping figure is on track to more than double in 2006.

Woods says the name of the game is traffic, which she says is “far more sophisticated” than “just links” and she and Martell talk openly about generating traffic and offer some great advice for affiliate marketers, merchants, and other online business owners alike.

So grab your cup of java and join in. This edition of James Martell’s Coffee Talk is one you simply cannot afford to miss!

Click the ‘MP3 image’ button below to listen.

For more information on PartnerCentric, visit www.partnercentric.com.

About James Martell

James Martell, a successful affiliate marketer and natural search expert has published many dozens of sites over the years, and uniquely derives most of his traffic through natural search at the major search engines. James shares this knowledge with other webmasters in the THIRD EDITION of his highly acclaimed Affiliate Marketers Handbook, his twice monthly Affiliate Buzz audio newsletter and his online Affiliate Marketers BootCamp where he holds classes via the Internet. James resides in a seaside community south of Vancouver, BC Canada with his wife Arlene and four children, Adam, Justin, Shelby and Victoria.

Comment from Listeners

I thought this interview was informative about the history/development of affiliate programs. I also found the information about the importance of the affiliate and affiliate manager relationship to be very helpful. Thank you! Jen in Berkeley, U.S.
Thanks James, It’s always great to get ideas from another perspective, especially of this sort of calibre. Lots more please…. Steve, Perth, Australia
The interview was very informative and encouraging. Enjoy listening to what the affiliate managers where looking for. The suggestion given was price less. Looking forward to the next interview. Thanks Katrina M. - MD, USA
Thanks for the interview with Linda Woods, her very calm approach made her easy to listen to and I got a lot out of her story and how she got started in the business. Listening to Linda and You was very inspiring. I have had your book now for a while but I have just started to take action and these types of insightful interviews really help a lot. Keep up the great inspirational interviews. Scott Dill – St. Louis, MO
It was good to hear how the merchant values what the affiliate brings to the relationship. Good to know that the affiliate managers value a good affiliate and are looking for ways to help. Kevin - LA, CA
This interview was very informative and an eye-opener for me. Doing things on the web you sometimes feel very small and insignificant. In the past I have always just looked at things from my position and not really given it any thought as to how the other side feels. It was interesting and exciting to hear how important we are to the affiliate manages and how they want to help us no matter if we are their biggest client or just getting started. There were great tips and ideas shared here that I can’t wait to implement on my site and really cultivating my relationship with my affiliate managers – working in a team for everyone to win. Great interview, keep more like this coming. Thanks, Linda M – B.C. Canada
I found it very informative and a better understanding of your role as a publisher i.e. what to do - signing up with a merchant and your role with them. Also the different routes to take when you advertise and what works for you as a person. I would like to see where you can go to see examples of other people’s affiliate sites that are successful to get an idea when putting your site together so that you know your on the right path - its not for copying just to see what they have done so that it clicks in your mind. Linda Dalles
Very nice interview! I found it both interesting and inspiring. It is so nice to hear about people who are really making it and I love receiving little nuggets of information that will help me in my own affiliate business. Can’t wait to see a new interview coming… Thanks, Erin A. - Ohio, USA
Excellent interview. I loved the ideas of building community via a strategic business plan for the mutual benefit of the publisher and the merchant. Garth - Santa Barbara CA
Loved the interview, it was a real eye-opener! I will definitely be calling my affiliate manager and I’ll be armed with some good questions and advice from Linda. I’ve already implemented her advice about text linking on my site. Thanks James, can’t wait to hear some more. Denis, Pitt Meadows, BC, Canada
As a beginner, I found your interview with Linda Woods exciting in regards to what a good affiliate manager can provide. It reduces the fear I might otherwise have of entering into a partnership with the affiliate manager. Robert, Indianapolis
Thank you so much for providing a sense of support through the ideas and successes of others. This different perspective was helpful to realize we really can be part of a team. It helps reinforce the truth of this as a business and incentive to continue to learn. (Back to my manual I go!) Jil, Maryland, USA
Hi James: I just listened to your ‘interview’ and found it very interesting. There were things brought to light that would probably not be addressed in the "buzz" sessions because they were so specific. Sometimes, this type of information is required to get you thinking ’specific’ rather than ‘general’. For example, placing ads on your page. Most times I simply try to find pertinent ads and place them most often at the end of the page where the ‘merchant links’ section was originally set up in the template. But as was mentioned, you need to think about how the ‘power marketers’ are doing things. As well, some of the information was a re-iteration of your concepts - in someone else’s words. This adds credence to your concept. I look forward to the next instalment. Best Regards, Brian A Schmidt
Hi James, This is Dre Lavack. I found it interesting to find out how these affiliate manager "middle men" play a role in the whole affiliate marketing game. I also found it interesting to find out about getting content from these people. It was great to hear how she got to her success as well. Dre Victoria, BC
Excellent. We got a lot out of this interview. Lots of real little gems in this interview like the blue linking for instance. I am also really starting to see the importance of dealing directly with Affiliate Managers and have just started to do so. It seems like everything is starting to gel for me now - its like a light has been turned on and its all coming together. Paula & Wanda, Australia
Very good interview Linda and James. Now I understand the proper use of data feeds. It’s nice to see an affiliate network that "gets it". Jeremy Hier, New York
As usual, what you have come up with trumps again James. The link to affiliates at PartnerCentric is worth a mint…..and Linda was a delight to listen to.
James, I really appreciated your interview with Linda Woods of PartnerCentric.com. Her personality came through and made the content more interesting than a text based interview would have. I would like to see MANY more of her calibre interviewed. You are in a unique position to get the leading affiliate luminaries to consent to being interviewed by you. Make this your "calling" James!! Regards, Dennis Main, Wichita, KS
Very informative, I have had the pleasure of sitting down with Linda at CJU and I learned quite a few things from her. It looks like she has a few more programs that I have to join.
The interview with Linda Woods was great. I found out a lot from listening to her, such as linking with blue text, placement of links, banner know-how, and how to get articles from merchants. Also, how many pictures to place on a page, and get the buyer to click through without going through page after page. Very good info, and I will put it into practice immediately. Thanks Linda and James for this great interview.
Yes - great to hear from others in the industry. Helps to validate your training, with different perspectives. All the tips are so valuable; prompts us to expand our thinking outside of the box. Also look at this as a business, and approach as partnership. Very helpful!
I listened to it and it’s great, however I drive a lot. So I download the buzz, burn it to a CD and listen to it in my truck. That’s what I like about the buzz. It enables me to make my Idle time productive. If you could put these in downloadable format, it would be much more useful. If the buzz were not downloadable I wouldn’t subscribe.
Hi James, "Coffee Talk" is an excellent idea. Not only informative, but this edition really reinforces what you’ve been saying: Talk to your affiliate managers. Make learning a priority. Attend trade events. Be a professional & treat this as a business. Thanks to both you & Linda again, Ed Price Chambersburg, PA

Take notes as you listen to the interview and use the tips to help improve your affiliate marketing.

Did you find this audio useful for your online business?

Then share your thoughts and findings by leaving a comment.

Thanks again,

Nancy P Redford

Teaching Bandwidth Thieves a Lesson

Are you worried about other people stealing your bandwidth by hot linking to your images?

Read this amusing thread from Michael Green’s How To Forum about how one webmaster fought back!

Check if your web host has a ‘Hot Linking’ icon in your control panel area where you can easily set up barriers to prevent linking to your images.

This can become difficult if you have an affiliate program or reciprocal link image with the original image is hosted on your web site and the code is automatically generated. You can of course put up a not requesting that all images must be saved to their own PC.

However if you have an affiliate program like Ultimate Affiliate and others your affiliates want quick and easy to set up, cut and paste code and will seldom go into each and every piece of code to change the image URL to link from their own web site [assuming they have their own web site].

Guest Article: The Ten Web Site Commandments

Today’s guest article is from Jim Edwards which covers some
handy tips to follow in the design of your web site. With a
particular emphasis on creating ‘Mini Sites’.

"What makes a good web page?"

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

You, like any serious website operator, want to know how to
create and maintain the best possible website that nets you
the most sales and subscribers.

The following "commandments" represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should aspire.

1. Thou Shalt Have Purpose - Clearly define the site’s
purpose and ensure all content, graphics, and text
tightly focus on that purpose.

Discard all extraneous or distracting material and regularly
revisit your site to ensure all changes fit with the
site’s primary purpose.

2. Thou Shalt Be Lightweight - Use only fast-loading
graphics and other elements.

If you must use large graphics use thumbnails and image
slicing to diminish the size of every file to lessen
load times.

Though the majority of surfers now carry high-speed access,
avoid any content that requires the user to download special,
non-standard "plug-ins" to view your content.

3. Thou Shalt Load Fast - Each and every entry page on your
site should weigh in under 50-100KB total, including graphics
and navigation.

Interior pages can run larger, but the "front doors" to
your site should not make surfers wait long to start
interacting with the site.

4. Thou Shalt Not Use False Code - You should only use html
or asp to create your web pages.

Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of code that
require a surfer to keep their browser set up "correctly"
to accommodate your page.

Unless you sell to "geeks" and "techno-nerds," this will
only lose you visitors and won’t make you any friends.

5. Thou Shalt Respect the Search Engines - If you want
search engine traffic use whole web pages that don’t
incorporate frames or large amounts of code unrelated
to your content.

Also, if you want search traffic, actively cultivate
linking relationships with related sites and operate
a blog.

6. Love Thy Surfers and Visitors - Design for "last year’s"
technology so surfers using older computers and slower
connections can download your content and use your
site quickly and easily.

Designing for the "bleeding edge" will only cut into
your own profits.

7. Thou Shalt Not Annoy - Use only stationary text and
graphical layout elements.

No Scrolling text, marquees, or large Flash animations
of any kind, including those annoying, full-page Flash
home pages that say "Skip Intro."

This "eye candy" rarely adds to a site’s main purpose
and often causes your visitors to miss something or
leave in frustration.

8. Thou Shalt Not Scroll Sideways - Design your pages
so they never force a visitor to scroll left or right
no matter what the resolution settings on their monitor.

Sites that read "best viewed at 1024 x 768" really say
"look at it my way because I don’t care about your
preferences or limitations."

9. Thou Shalt Stay Consistent - Include a standard
navigational structure on every page.

Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

This includes using standard link colors in all text
links.
Blue: hyperlink;
Purple: visited hyperlink;
Red: active hyperlink.

10. Thou Shalt Cultivate Subscribers - Nothing floods
your website with targeted traffic like sending an
email message to your loyal subscriber base.

Whether for a new product launch, affiliate product
endorsement, or holiday sale, that list represents
your most valuable online business asset.

Make sure your website actively cultivates subscribers
by giving them multiple opportunities to sign up and a
compelling reason or incentive to do so.

Then, make it worth their while to pay attention to you
on a regular basis.

Whether you’re a home-based business owner or CEO of a
billion-dollar e-business empire, these "commandments"
will guide you to eternal ecommerce happiness and prosperity.

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step
and click-by-click…"A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to
Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites…
Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software,
or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"
Click Here => Minisitecreator.com

Download Your Free Joint Venture Report

Wow, is it really Sunday again?

Another week of hard work and fun for me. Anyway I want to bring to your attention a free report covering the hot topic of ‘Joint Ventures’.

You can download it here without having to provide your name and email address.

To discover the key steps to unleashing the power of joint venture partnerships download your copy of the free joint venture report here.

Time Saving Software Finds Super Affiliates For You

If you’re selling products or services online you’re going to need a list of hungry prospects to sell to.

You can achieve this by building your own list which will of course take some time and planning. You will also need to allow time to build your credibility and gain the trust of your subscribers before many will go ahead and make a purchase from you.

However while you are doing this there is an alternative via the leverage of joint ventures!

Many successful people online have found joint venture partners with large and targeted mailing lists to leverage their selling power on their behalf. These ‘Super Affiliates’ can help to sky rocket your selling power and build your opt-in lists for you.

First of all you’ll need to find these Super Affiliates which you can do by performing manual searches online.

However you need to work productively by automating the whole process.

Neil Shearing’s Spider Software does just that for you. Neil has been working online for over a decade as a very successful internet entrepreneur, owning several ground breaking information products. Neil’s best selling Spider software has been helping new and established businesses to find joint venture partners for successful launches and sales of their products.

Do you want to leverage the power of joint venture partners who will endorse your product to their list for YOU?

You’ll be hard pressed to produce the same results without this software. Use it to boost your sales and most of all secure new partnerships with like minded individuals for life.

Neil Shearing Ph.D, is the founder of ‘The Scam Free Zone’, which has been online since 1997. So you can trust that his business is legitimate and helps keep people like you and me SAFE from the prevalence of online scams. In addition to offering top quality information products and software to automate your business routines.

I wish you the best of success in your future promotions.

Nancy P Redford

Google Checkout Affiliate Program Now Open To Everyone

As you may already know by now Google have launched their third party merchant account system via Google Checkout.

They also opened up an affiliate program but to qualify only merchants actively using their service were eligible for an affiliate account. Now that rules have been waived as they invite ANYONE to join the Google Checkout referral program where you can earn commissions for recruiting new merchants.

[Begin Quote]

"Get paid for every merchant you sign up.

For one year, you will earn 0.5% of all Google Checkout sales processed by the merchants you refer.
You will earn an additional $25 for each merchant you refer in one year that processes at least $500 in sales and 3 transactions with Checkout."

[End Quote]

According to the information on the Google Checkout enquiry page merchants must have been trading for at least 6 months and should complete the free sign up form before the end of the year, 12/31/2006.

That reminds me to add these new developments to my private membership site. There has been lots of changes and activity in the third party merchant accounts that it is getting that I wonder how I keep on form.

Where there is a will there is a way!

I’d like to hear your experiences with Google Checkout. I have an online partner who is seriously considering adding Google Checkout to their business. If they decide to go ahead I will report back with their findings which I’m sure they will share once they have monitored the response to customers using the service.

It appears that the service is only open to US clients with US bank accounts. We’ll have to wait and see if Google will consider extending this to international merchants in the foreseeable future.

US Billing Address
US Mailing Address

Plus one of the following:

A US Social Security number and a valid credit card.
A US Federal Tax ID/Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Now I know it is relatively straight forward to obtain a US mail forwarding address and bank account for non US residents but I am not sure what legitimate circumstances a non resident alien would have in order to be eligible for a Social Security number of Tax EIN number.

However, don’t go rushing to find out this information unless you can find a wholly beneficial to your business financially.

Have you integrated Google Checkout into your order system?

If so what has been your experience so far?

Thanks for reading,

Nancy P Redford.

What’s All The Fuss About Butterfly Marketing?: Exclusive Audio Interviews

Sign up for today’s free ‘Insider Information Audio Interviews’ in which you will find out how a select number of highly successful Butterfly Marketing owners are virtually giving away their products fat a rock bottom bargain price. I am not allowed to disclose the exact details but can give you the direct link here.

Here a line up of most of the contributors who have had amazing success with their own innovative Butterfly Marketing creations.

PRESENTED BY: Fabio Marciano & Michael Ambrosio

Remaining Guest Contributors:

Michael Cheney
Jeff Dedrick
Keith Wellman
Willie Crawford
Matt Glanfield
James Grandstaff
Craig Haywood
Frank Bauer
Aurelius Tjin
Brian Edmondson

See you inside.

Related Products:

Butterfly Marketing Original Package

The Butterfly Marketing Manuscript

Ground Breaking Software Helps You To Manage All Your Sales Page Scripts

I hope your weekend has been restful and good so far.

I’d like to share with you a handy software utility I came across only a few hours ago.

You have the ability to mange a multitude of popular software programs at your fingertips. Just take a look a just a sample of the programs you can mange within one software application:

Tell A Friend
Unblockable Pop-Ups
Sales Page Generator
Visitor Surveys
Landing Page/Squeeze Page
Email Scrambler
Web Page Code Encryptor

There are many more applications which you can view on the Script Smart information page.

No more hours wasted searching for a programmer on Elance to create and install separate scripts on your site.

Script Smart is similar to the WebArmyKnife tool in respect that owners can submit a script for evaluation to be considered for inclusion to future versions of the software. I would first propose that the Script Smart tool be developed so that Mac users can also benefit from using it for their Internet Marketing tasks.

Script Smart is a highly valuable practical resource application to manage multiple scripts in one program.

This tool gets the thumbs up from me.

I always appreciate trial software options so that I can see exactly how the software will help me in my business without risk or financial commitments.

Begin your 100% risk free trial right now!

Have a good weekend,
Nancy P Redford

Is Your AdSense Business Alive Or Dead?

This free report is taking the internet by storm as many people are downloading to get hold of the vital information with supporting documentation to show how earnings have slumped. However the author of the report, Scott Boulch is making $50,000 without AdSense.

You’ll get access to an 18 page PDF document with shocking details that will wake you up to some alarming facts to how the recent changes in Google’s AdSense terms are killing your AdSense profits.

This is just part one of the installment so sign up to receive your free report and be the first to know about part two.

To find out more claim your free report today!

Enjoy,
Nancy P Redford

Getting Your Web Site Ready For IE7

Today’s article is from Adam McFarland in which he provides some key tips for webmasters to best prepare their site for the recent launch of Microsoft’s latest browser update.

Read the full article entitled Preparing Your Site for Internet Explorer 7.

I am in the process of downloading the new browser on my laptop so tat I can keep IE6 working on my man PC and only hope things will turn out OK with only a few adjustments here and there, if any.

You’re probably wondering why you haven’t received an official Windows update don’t despair the release is not official as yet.

You can share your experiences with the new browser once you have tested it out.