"Increase Traffic
by Programming a Contest!"
by Steve Humphrey
Visitors come to your site and don't
buy on their first
visit. It often takes 6-7
visits before they buy. So,
how do you get their business if
they don't come back?
For that matter, how do you get
them to come back?
One answer is to run a contest.
Not just any old contest
will do! It must be crafted
to keep them returning again
and again. Lots of smart people
will tell you that
running a contest will help but
they don't tell you how to
do it. Here's a blueprint
you can alter to suit your
purposes.
Every aspect of the contest was handled
by CGI scripts
and a couple of web pages.
Even selecting the winner was
done by a script. This final
script simply located the
persons with the most referrals.
It drew one at random
if there was a tie for first place.
One of my clients came up with the
basic idea and we
developed it together as a team.
People would get one
"entry" into the contest when they
signed up for one or
more of his newsletters. They
would get another "entry"
for each person they referred.
It was hugely successful. During
the 60 days of the
contest, over 45,000 new people
had subscribed to my
client's newsletters. They
were coming back to his site
over and over again. Orders
for e-zine ads poured in.
At the end of the contest period
a week-long cruise
vacation to Montego Bay, Jamaica
was awarded to the
winner. Generally, if the
prize is valued at over
$500, some authorities in your state
may expect to be
notified. There are various
requirements; check with the
appropriate state agency for details.
We posted a complete set of rules
for the contest on the
Web site. We announced the
contest itself as well as the
current front-runners in each issue
of my client's
newsletters.
Each person entering the contest
was assigned a Personal
Identification Number (PIN).
The PIN was used to connect
them with their referrals.
Next, a person was given the
chance to tell their friends about
the contest.
We made everything as easy as possible
for the contestants.
All they had to do was supply the
e-mail address and name
and the scripts did the rest.
They'd be shown the message that
was about to be sent to
their friend. We were making every
effort to be honest with
them and not cause any ill will.
When their friend(s) entered the
contest, using a PIN we
gave them, their "referral count"
would be increased. To
win, a contestant had to get the
most referrals. In the
event of a multi-person tie for
first place, the software
would automatically conduct a random
drawing.
During the contest, each contestant
was able to use a special
Web page to monitor the contest.
They'd see the top-ranked
contestants and the number of referrals
each one had made.
They could log in with their PIN
and see their own referrals,
too.
They were able to come back to the
site at any time and enter
new referrals. We added a
small form that would look up their
PIN in case they'd forgotten it.
They could send their own
e-mails to friends to tell them
about the contest. They could
place e-zines ads giving contest
details and a PIN to use.
Keeping up with all those contestants,
who they referred, how
many they referred, etc., was a
job for a database engine.
Since we had MySQL on a server we
controlled, we used that.
The scripting was done in Perl.
Two Perl modules were needed: DBI.pm
and the MySQL module for
Perl. The modules are chunks
of Perl code that let a script
send commands in SQL (the generic
language of databases) from
the script to the MySQL database
engine (program).
You can use a different database;
you just need the database-
specific module so Perl can "talk"
to it through the DBI module.
DBI is needed regardless of which
database you use. Specific
modules exist for Oracle, PostGres,
etc.
We verified the e-mail addresses
of all the winner's referrals;
we would have to disqualify a contestant
if any of the addresses
were faked -- and award the prize
to someone else. We designed
the code so that any attempts to
cheat actually decreased your
odds of winning -- and it was all
automatic!
Thousands of names and e-mail addresses
are in the database.
The referral counts have been reset
to zero and we are ready to
launch another contest at any time
we choose.
The programming effort, for the most
part is all done. We'll
just have to edit the contest page(s)
and the rules page to
reflect the new prize and the new
"start" and "end" dates. We
can easily get *at least* as large
a subscriber boost with our
next contest!
Here's the bottom line: You'll get
more visitors, and they'll
visit again and again. You
get to show them your offer enough
times to win their business.
No matter what product or service
you're selling, an automated referral
contest is something you
should seriously consider.
http://www.LearnToUseCGIin2Hours.com/g.o/21247
Discover a Master Wordsmith's
Secret for Turning Everything You
Say into Wealth, Well-Being
and Personal Success
By Ted Nicholas
You might think this strange, but
every day, before I start
work, I stand up, look to the sky,
throw my hands in the air,
and shout out loud: "I feel terrific!"
This is what I call an 'affirmation'
-- positive self-talk to
charge up my emotions and help me
produce my very best work. An
affirmation can be as simply as
"YES!"...as uplifting as "I'm
very happy at this moment!"...or
as determined as "I'm willing
to do whatever is necessary to succeed!"
Try it for yourself right now.
Choose a positive message you
want to tell yourself. Then
stand up, put your head back, throw
your arms up, and shout it out loud.
Makes you feel
uncomfortable? Good!
You've just discovered how powerful
words can be.
Unlimited Success & Wealth are
All In the Words You Use
What's the single most important
asset you and your business
possess? Forget money and
numbers. The true currency of
business is WORDS. Communicating
your ideas, your offer, the
benefits of your product -- using
words to achieve your aims is
the single most important activity
any business ever performs.
Unlimited success and wealth are
as simple as using the right
words. You can get everything
you've ever wanted in life, simply
by saying the right words -- because
the words which you
communicate determine the quality
of your life.
This is true whether communicating
with others or with yourself.
Especially with yourself.
Words have the power to induce someone
to laugh, to cry, to be
kind, to be loving, to be cooperative,
or to buy. Or be unkind,
angry, irrational.
Whether words are written or spoken,
they have enormous power.
Of course, when words are spoken,
the added factors of voice
timbre, emphasis, emotion...all
have the potential to cause even
more impact.
Use Words to Achieve a Win -Win Situation
Here is what few businesspeople seem
to realize: People all over
the world really want to help and
accommodate their fellow
humans. But they must be approached
properly. The magic words
I'll reveal to you in a moment can
manipulate a situation to
bring you what you want -- which
isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Magic Words Can Bring You Riches
The same words, strategies and techniques
that I've used to get
the best results from everyday situation
-- like hiring a
Mercedes for the price of a Ford,
slashing the cost of a first
class hotel room, and buying
valuable antiques at huge discounts
-- can work magic for your business,
too. Here are 3 of the
phrases, which have helped me build
a career marketing over
$500,000,000 of both my own and
my client's products and
services.
Magic Phrase #1 -- Attract
All the Money You Need for any
business venture you'd like to start.
The magic words here are
"sophisticated investor."
Every successful professional - such
as a doctor or lawyer -- likes to
think of himself or herself as
sophisticated. And you can
often attract these people to invest
in your business.
Run an ad in your local paper, high-lighting
those two key words.
Other magic phrases to include are
"Local business person with
excellent track record and reputable
history"; start-up business
opportunity, limited investment,
high potential return"; and
"references available."
Magic Phrase #2 -- Receive Free Expert
Help for your business.
Simply announce "I have a business
problem and need expert
assistance," either to a local business
group (such as the
Chamber of Commerce, which you have
in practically every town)
or putting an advertisement in the
business section of your local
newspaper. And I've been absolutely
delighted with the quality of
assistance provided to me on several
occasions by retired
executives. Seek them out
in your local area, and you could
benefit from this great source of
experienced know-how, too.
Magic Phrase #3 -- Get Capable People
to Work for Free. Your
magic words here are "piece of the
action." Instead of paying a
fixed salary, run ads offering people
one of these options:
* Hourly rate for services
rendered
* Percentage of sales
* Percentage of profits
* Royalty on sales
* Percentage of savings
* Fixed payment for each unit
produce
Anyone with a strong entrepreneurial
instinct will be attracted
by such an approach. It means
there will be no limit on their
income, they will be more independent,
they can set their own
hours -- and the harder they work,
the more they earn. This is
just the type of person you
should employ.
Assume The Other Person Has Already
Said "Yes"
Ask questions which assume the end
result you seek. For
example, speaking with your bank
manager about setting up a
merchant account, you might ask
these questions:
1. "How long does it normally
take for a credit card charge to
be credited to my account?"
2. "What discount or percentage
of credit card sales will the
bank charge us for your service?"
3. "How long would it take to get
the service in place?"
4. "What equipment do we need to
buy to make it easier for your
bank to process our orders?"
Can you see how the end result --
having a merchant account so
you can process the credit card
orders - is assumed by the very
words used in each question?
Magic Words Deliver Power
And this is especially true when
you're speaking to yourself. As
I said at the beginning of this
letter, I use affirmations every
day -- standing up, looking to the
sky, throwing my hands in the
air, and shouting out a positive
message I need to tell myself.
Yes, I feel ridiculous when I do
this too. But that discomfort
is just the push I need to change
my emotional state. The magic
words in my affirmations give me
the energy and determination
I need to produce my very best work.
And I truly believe
they'll help you achieve your goals
too.
Ted Nicholas, widely recognized as
one of the greatest direct-
marketing wizards of all time, is
best-known for having earned
24.5 million dollars on the sale
of a single book that was
primarily sold through direct mail.
He is called the Five
Hundred Million Dollar Man because
he has marketed over $500
million worth of products in 49
different industries. Ted's
newest book, "Magic Words That Bring
You Riches" reveals 17
magic words that can make you a
fortune.
http://www.LearnToUseCGIin2Hours.com/g.o/21247
NameStick
How to easily make every long, ugly
affiliate or website link (that even your best friend wouldn't click on)
"turn into" a short, easy to remember, search engine friendly domain name
that attracts clicks like a 2-ton magnet! Click
here to learn more about NameStick
Title: Search Engines
BAN affiliate links!
> From the Desk of Eric Owens
> VP of Business Development
- NameStick.com
A question that I frequently hear
from my clients is:
"Do I really need to have my own
domain name to
get my distributor or affiliate
link listed in the
Search Engines?"
The one word answer is 'YES.'.
First, many search
engines are 'truncating' distributor
& affiliate
links (reducing them to the basic
link, which is
often the company website minus
the your distributor
or affiliate code), or even worse...
search engines are banning affiliate
links,
and blacklisting subdomains of the
parent company
that contain certain obvious characters
that
are not obviously part of the base
site.
Second, a very common practice is
for your visitors
to just 'cut off' or remove the
affiliate code from
the end of your link and just go
directly to the
parent company and 'bypass' your
rightful commissions.
The parent company still gets the
same number of
sales, but your commissions go untracked.
Fortunately, there is an easy way
to overcome this.
http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
As a network marketing distributor
and affiliate,
there are a number of reasons why
having your
own domain name is a must:
1) When you have your own domain
name, the address
of your web site will be of the
form
http://www.EasyToRememberName.com.
On the other hand, if your website
is just a company
replicated website on one of the
free servers,
the address of your web site will
be something like
http://affiliatesite.com/cgi-bin/12345/IMakeMoneyOffYou.htm
Which of these two sounds more professional?
Which of these two is smaller and
is easier to remember?
Which of these two would you click
on?
2) The only way to make money online
is to build
up credibility with your prospects
and customers.
Having your own domain name is the
first step in
doing that. Your customers will
feel more comfortable
buying whatever it is that you are
selling if you
have your own domain name. It makes
your customers
feel that they are dealing with
a large,
established company, rather than
with some
fly by night operator.
3) When you have your domain name,
you can have
multiple email aliases of the form
alias@yourcompany.com.
This allows you to assign different
email aliases
to different functions, all of them
pointing to
your actual email address. Hence,
for example,
for questions related to the products
and services
that you sell, you can have an email
address like
sales@yourcompany.com. For questions
related to the
newsletter that you publish, you
can have an email
address like editor@yourcompany.com.
For comments/suggestions about your
web site,
you can direct your customers to
feedback@yourcompany.com or webmaster@yourcompany.com.
Having different email addresses
for different
functions not only makes it easier
for you to
filter your email using your email
client program
(Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook
Express etc.),
but also gives your customers the
impression that
yours is a large, established company
with whom
it is safe to do business.
Affiliates!
In Under 7 Minutes You Can Explode Click Throughs (And Profits) By 327%
Or More Using This Easy To Use Tool. http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
4) Many search engines give a lot
of emphasis to
the home page of a particular domain.
So, other factors remaining the same,
a home page
of a domain will often rank higher
for a particular
keyword than any other page. When
you submit your
long, obvious affiliate link, your
index.html
page is the home page of your site,
but not of
that domain. In these search engines,
your site
will find it very difficult to make
it to the
top 20 or top 30, let alone the
top 10 for some
of the really competitive keywords.
Just think of
the amount of traffic that you will
lose if this
happens.
5) Many major search engines are
now refusing
to spider the web sites that contain
obvious
affiliate coding.
For instance, a link that includes
these characters
backslashes, cgi-bin, and affiliate
numbers or
usernames, would, until recently,
have got the
infamous error message saying that
too many pages
have been submitted from your site
if you tried
to submit your site to AltaVista.
While AltaVista now says that 'your
URL has been
submitted for processing' if you
try to submit
your site, rest assured that it
will not spider
any site obviously belonging to
affiliate programs
any more - even if it says that
your site has
been accepted. Can you afford that?
6) You will also find it very difficult
to get an
affiliate link listed in a
major directory like
Yahoo!. Although Yahoo! will never
admit that it
won't add a commercial site which
is hosted by an
affiliate program, in practice,
it will be a
miracle if you can get your site
listed by Yahoo!.
Listing your site with Yahoo! is
difficult enough
even when you have your own domain.
Don't make
your task more difficult than what
it needs to be.
If you do not currently have a domain
name to
promote your affiliate program,
are you convinced
that you need one right now?
The small fee that you pay per year
for your own
domain name is peanuts compared
to the benefits
that you get. You can check
out the availability
of domain names and register new
domains at
http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
You can now also customize the Title,
Keywords and
Description tags for your domain.
This gives you
advanced search engine optimization
for higher
search engine rankings. Almost
all affiliate links
are NOT indexed by any of the major
search engines.
NameStick Domains are.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Eric Owens is the Vice President
of Business Development
and Search Engine Specialist for
NameStick.com.
Affiliates - In Under 7 Minutes You
Can Explode Click
Throughs (And Profits) By 327% Or
More Using This Easy
http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
The Secret Trick Internet
Marketing Pros Are Using to Rake in the Dough (and don't want you to find
out about)
Dear Friend,
I've got a little secret that can
give you instant credibility online, plus more response, more leads and
more money in your pocket.
This secret can make you look like
a million dollars, and it costs only $39/year.
I have a friend, a real 'Internet
Marketing Guru', who doesn't want me to tell you, or anyone, about this
little trick. He thinks that if the average person knows about this it
will be harder for the experienced Internet marketer to distinguish himself/herself
from everyone else.
I agree with him -- it WILL change
the playing field. But I also believe you deserve to know about it.
So I'm going to let the cat our of
the bag...
HOW TO LOOK LIKE YOU RUN AND OWN
A MILLION DOLLAR WEBSITE (OR 5-10)!
I'll be straight forward.
I'm just like you. I work real hard.
I want to give back to my family and the community. I want to do more.
I do real well financially, now.
But there was a time when I was selling my furniture to pay for rent. It
was a time I'd like to forget. I was totally BROKE.
During those 'dark days' I was told
a very powerful and important lesson:
No matter how little you have, NEVER
LOOK BROKE!
There is nothing 'wrong' with being
broke. It doesn't mean anything about YOU. Just your situation.
I know that. You know that. But the
people you want to do business with... THEY may not know that.
You Must Look Successful if You Want
to Attract Success!
Looking successful (and acting that
way) was a very important part of my success. Eventually, I became how
I saw myself and how I presented myself to others.
Very rich.
I'm going to show you how to do this,
too.
HOW DO YOU LOOK ON THE INTERNET?
On the Internet, most people have
these rinky-dink websites that look like they were put together by a 12-year
old. THEY LOOK BROKE!
OR they have LOOOONG URL EXTENTIONS
like:
www.bigcompanyname.com/cgi-bin/littleguy/smalltime.html
which may look a little more professional,
but... THEY STILL LOOK LIKE A LITTLE GUY!
Besides, not even their own mother
can remember their complicated website address!
I'm going to show you how to look
like you OWN the website -- like the smart guy who runs the show. LIKE
THE BIG GUY.
I'm going to show you how you can
look like
-- You OWN your network marketing
company
-- You OWN NameStick
-- You OWN YouCanAutomate
-- You OWN all the companies you
have affiliate links with...
Are you ready?
Here's the secret...
It's called:
NAME STICK (the technical term is
URL Frame Forwarding)
And until recently, this wasn't affordable
or even comprehensible for the little guy.
Here's how it works:
1. You get a catchy URL
2. You forward the URL to your link
3. You forward it in a frame so
your URL stays in the browser
(What's a URL? It's a website address.
i.e. www.NameStick.com is a URL. Got it? Good.)
HERE'S THE SECOND PART OF THE SECRET
This used to require hundreds of
dollars and a Phd in Computer Science to make happen.
But now you can now do all this with:
-- Zero programming experience, and
-- $39/year
This is AMAZING!
With virtually no effort I have a
SLEW of websites that look like I'm the OWNER of the sites:
www.BigMoneyNow.com
www.MLMadvisor.com
www.NameYourBiz.com
www.ProspectPro.com
www.AutomateFollowup.com
www.YourNameDomainName.com
... and many more
Now I tell people, 'check out my
site at www.BigMoneyNow.com' and they remember it!
I look like a million dollars because
it's someone else's million dollar website, but it's my URL in their lucrative
affiliate program!
Can you see how this would work for
you?
You can use this to:
-- Recruit up! People who want to
see YOUR COMPANY'S website -- Big dogs want to deal with big dogs.
-- Expand your audience - different
URL's attract people with different needs (I forward several to the same
site - more on this below)
-- Impress your family members who
said you would never amount to anything... grrr!
-- Have something SIMPLE to put
on your business cards
-- When someone at a party asks
you what you do you can say, 'I own a number of online properties... you
may have heard of www.YourNameDomainName.com?' <smile>
It's important to chose the name
of your URL wisely because
on the Internet...
People don't get to remember your
face. They don't get to remember your voice. They don't get to remember
your charm.
The only thing they get to remember
is your website name!
So.... Make it readable. Make it
easy to say on the phone! Make it easy to remember. Make it as short as
possible.
HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
Let me show you step-by-step how
easy this is to do. You can only get all the affiliate advantages and a
super-low price at http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
1. Go to http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
2. Search for a Catchy and Professional
URL for your business (and EACH Affiliate program you are promoting) (i.e.
I have www.AutomateFollowup.com for my site at http://www.mlmbiznames.com/g.o/followup
)
3. Register the domains ($39/1 year
or only $64/2 years!)
4. Login to your account https://www.namestick.com/cgi-bin/2.41/manage.cgi
5. Click on Website Forwarding and
enter the link of your affiliate program (i.e. http://www.saveyourname.com/g.o/yourname
)
6. Click on 'Cloaking'
7. Wait 72 hours...
That's IT!
Can you believe how easy that is!
Now you or ANYONE can have A LIST OF SITES that are easy-to- remember and
make you look like a million dollars.
Go make your mother-in-law eat her
words! :-) Brag to your corporate peers that you own the hottest Home Business
website on the Internet. ( YourProURL.com from http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
)
When they ask, did you develop that?
Just say, 'No way, are you kidding? I had other people develop that for
me.' :-)
This is YOUR Internet. It's time
to look like you really own it. It's time to play with the big dogs.
Matt Gill
Co-Founder
http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
P.S. I do have the best software
to totally automate and personalize your email marketing and follow-up
with prospects, downline, new announcements, affiliate program marketing
and training... (and more!) http://www.AutomateFollowup.com
OK... its really an affiliate link
for my friend's very cool software program! :-)
I LOVE THIS STUFF!
P.S.S. One last secret tip. Don't
limit your sales/visitors/sign-ups by the ONE GREAT URL you are using for
ANY SITE, whether it is forwarded or actually hosting content.
Use 2 or 3 (or 10) GREAT domains
for increased results!
Expand your audience! Different URL's
attract people with different needs - different *hot buttons* http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
Subject: An Easy Way To Earn
327% More From ALL Your Affiliate Programs
Hello NAME,
This one rocks - what a CLEVER idea.
Pay attention, because you NEED this if you are selling any affiliate programs.
Especially if you don't have the time or know-how to create your own redirect
pages.
You always hear me talk to you about
the importance of having YOUR OWN identity - your own brand, if you will
- when it comes to promoting your various products.
For example, which looks more professional
to you:
http://www.bigmoneyfreetime.com/cgi-bin/at.cgi?a=168221
or
http://www.bigmoneynow.com
They both go to the same place, but
one creates curiosity. The other is just a "me-too, ho-hum" affiliate link,
the kind you see everywhere. Which one would YOU rather have?
Lucky for you, the guys over at
http://www.namestick.com/g.o/XXXXXX
have come up with a way for the AVERAGE
non-techie person to easily make every long, ugly affiliate or website
link (that even your best friend wouldn't click on) "turn into" a short,
easy to remember, search engine friendly domain name that attracts more
clicks to your affiliate links, and helps "brand" your website in the process.
You can set up a ton of redirects
and a ton of email addresses - all with one push of a button. I tested
this one out myself, and had no trouble setting it up. If you are an average
person and you make this one SIMPLE change to your affiliate links, you
can still triple your results - meaning more referral cash in your pocket
every single month.
It has been proven that using an
attractive domain name (instead of an ugly affiliate link) produces a 327%
increase in the number of people who click on your link in an email message,
discussion board, advertisement or any other place you display a link.
That translates into more than 1500 people clicking on your link, instead
of 500 - with the exact same effort.
So how do you set up something like
this without spending a fortune?
Simple, it's called NameStick, and
you can see it at http://www.NameStick.com/g.o/21247
It automatically forwards your domain
to any link you want (an affiliate link or another website link) using
advanced cloaking - resulting in as high as 327% increase in clicks over
the regular affiliate link. Would you like to triple your results with
the same effort?
It's one heck of a slick system,
and will definitely help you make more money with your affiliate programs.
Regards,
Sorin
Go to nitromarketing
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