CUSTOMER CENTER

The Maverick Marketeer asked:


These few important affiliate marketing tips will help you choose the best affiliate program for your unique needs.

So, how do you go about choosing the right affiliate marketing program? Well, there are a number of considerations when looking at different programs.

Besides the product itself and the company you’ll be representing (make sure you do your homework here), one of the primary considerations will be the type of performance base your program rewards you by.

Programs will pay per click for ads that you place for products and or services; pay per lead, in which cast a prospect simply fills out a short information form; and still others pay a percentage per sale.

It will be up to you to look at how your efforts will be rewarded and to also check into how other affiliates rate each program. Some programs require that you have a website in place with a minimum amount of daily web traffic to promote their product and others not so much.

When making your decisions, keep in mind that it’s easier to get a click than it is to get someone to fill out a form; which is in turn easier than helping someone make a purchase. Depending on your audience and how well a program can be expected to perform, make your selections accordingly.

Another very important consideration is the level of support and training you receive from the program you select. From the perspective of using these programs to increase you knowledge of online marketing, I’d rate this point at the top of my list for choosing a program to join.

Finding a program that offers you the tools and support to learn and do well should be a number one priority in your selection process.

Bob Schwartz asked:


Many homeowners make the mistake of thinking re-financing is always a viable choice. This is not always true and homeowners can actually make a significant financial mistake by re-financing at an inopportune time. There are a few classic examples of when re-financing is a mistake. This occurs when the homeowner does not stay in the property long enough to recoup the cost of re-financing and when the homeowner has had a credit score which dropped since the original mortgage loan. Other examples are when the interest rate has not fallen enough to offset the closing costs connected with re-financing.

Recouping the Closing Costs

To determine whether or not re-financing is worthwhile, the homeowner should think about how long they would have to retain the property to recoup the closing costs. This is important especially in the case where the homeowner intends to sell the property in the near future. There are re-financing calculators readily available that advise homeowners how long they will have to retain the property to make re-financing worthwhile. These calculators require input such as the balance of the existing mortgage, the existing interest rate and the new interest rate. The calculator returns results comparing the monthly payments on the old mortgage and the new mortgage and also presents information about the amount of time required for the homeowner to recoup the closing costs.

When Credit Scores Drop

Most homeowners think a drop in interest rates immediately signals that it is time to re-finance the home. However, when these interest rates are combined with a drop in the credit score for the homeowner, the resulting re-financed mortgage may not be favorable to the homeowner. Therefore homeowners should carefully consider their credit score at the present time in comparison to the credit score at the time of the original mortgage. Depending on the amount interest rates have dropped, the homeowner may still benefit from re-financing even with a lower credit score, but it is not likely. Homeowners can take advantage of free re-financing quotes to get a rough understanding of whether or not they will benefit from re-financing.

Have the Interest Rates Dropped Enough?

Another common mistake homeowners often make in regard to re-financing is re-financing whenever there is a substantial drop in interest rates. The homeowner must first carefully evaluate whether or not the interest rate has dropped enough to result in an overall cost savings for the homeowners. Homeowners often make this mistake because they neglect to think about the closing costs associated with re-financing the home. These costs may include application fees, origination fees, appraisal fees and a variety of other closing costs. These costs can add up quite quickly and may eat into the savings generated by the lower interest rate. In some cases the closing costs may even exceed the savings resulting from lower interest rates.

Re-Financing Can Be Beneficial Even When It is a “Mistake”

In reality, re-financing is not always the ideal solution, but some homeowners may still opt for re-financing even when it is technically a mistake to do so. This classic example of this type of situation is when a homeowner re-finances to gain the benefit of lower interest rates even though the homeowner winds up paying more in the long run for this re-financing option. This occurs when either the interest rates drop slightly but not enough to result in an overall savings, or when a homeowner consolidates a significant amount of short term debt into a long term mortgage re-finance. Although most financial advisors may warn against this kind of financial approach to re-financing, homeowners sometimes go against conventional wisdom to make a change which may increase their monthly cash flow by reducing their mortgage payments. In this situation the homeowner is making the best possible decision for his own personal needs. Copyright 2008 Promotions Unlimited – websitetrafficbuilders.com. All rights reserved

Joe S. White asked:


It is not a secret anymore to every entrepreneur out there that, with no tricks or any catch, affordable online marketing can now be really availed. Although some are still cynical about this marketing strategy, many successful entrepreneurs and companies that offer the said service are more than eager to attest to the benefits and wonders that affordable online marketing can give them.

For the many who have tried this wonder and have become believers of affordable online marketing, this new age wonder is the savior of their once flop businesses. For one, having a professional online marketing firm redesign your website gives your page a whole new look. A look that will not only entice more customers to buy your product or service but also a look that will give you a sense of self-satisfaction and pride.

Affordable online marketing also makes the operation and maintenance of your website a whole lot easier. Usually, the firms that handle these online marketing have a 24-hour technical support hotline that will be more than happy to assist you in case something goes wrong with your website. This will save you a lot of time from figuring technical problems all by yourself because you did not have your website done by an online marketing firm.

With affordable online marketing, you also need not worry about what to put in your website. These online marketing firms can and will advise you on what content you could and should put in your page to direct traffic to it. More content and visitor interfaces means a lot to clients who rely on your webpage for information regarding your product or service.

HTML errors on your website can and will also be corrected with affordable online marketing. These makes sure that your website is optimized for all search engines thus directing heavier traffic to your site. Moreover, having HTML errors corrected in your website ensures a more pleasant website for your customers to go and browse through. Being a spam free website also means a lot to customers who are contantly searching the internet. Firms who offer affordable online marketing understand this need and have also included this service in their packages. This also makes sure that your website does not get banned from search engines due to heavy spam content.

Massive savings are also one benefit from affordable online marketing. It is like investing on a solid foundation for your website that is your bridge to the big market out there – the market that you could easily target and convince with a well-built page. With a well-built page, you have no need anymore for flyers, print ads, and the like thus saving you lots of time and money.

You could even hear or read lines like, “I couldn’t wait to write this article, after the results we achieved! (Affordable online marketing), not an oxymoron” from people who have enjoyed or are enjoying the countless benefits of afforable online marketing. Definitely, these people have personally witnessed how affordable online marketing changed their websites for the better an have given them the heavy traffic they have always wanted.

Michael Mulkern asked:


When speaking about online marketing, most people tend to be more concerned about how well online marketing pay rather than what it takes to be successful at it. Most doubt the feasibility of online marketing and the potential it has in terms of earning big bucks. The truth is, online marketing is a market that is so vast that it will be highly unlikely for it to be too saturated to engage in. In fact, almost anyone can take advantage of it to gain access to the potentially huge profits to be made online.

Like any marketing strategy, the success or failure of online marketing depends solely on the person who embarks on it, so if you’re someone who has already embarked on online marketing in some way, shape, or form you determine how well it pays. A lot of people have the misconception that online marketing does not pay well because they’ve tried and failed at it.

As someone who uses online marketing as the inertia to drive their sales figures, you need to know the best methods of utilizing your resources and make the most of your prospects. Most people assume that banner ads don’t work, but the fact is only untargeted banner ads don’t. A well-designed ad in a relevant content will be successful on some level, especially if it represents some value to the prospect who may have stumbled upon it. Banner ads that are targeted by use of keywords tend to have higher conversion rates than ads that aren’t keyword-targeted and text links.

Another reason why some doubt the effectiveness of online marketing is the fact that a lot of email advertising is considered as spam. However email can still prove to be the most efficient form of targeted communication in trying to gather new customers and in creating loyalty amongst current customers. To ensure that your email advertising won’t be mistaken as spam, you should always remember to send out your email communications to those who have opted-in to you, therefore giving you permission to send information about your products or services that they might be interested in. Your success in email advertising is also dependent on how enticing your subject line comes across, and how recognizable and “legit” your return email address is.

If you’ve incorporated a little online video advertising in your online marketing efforts, then well done. If not, then you should consider it. However like all other marketing channels, your success depends on whether you’ve gone where the audience is. Internet users these days tend to flock to sites like YouTube and Metacafe, for all sorts of videos. So while online advertising presents a feasible avenue, the challenge for online marketers is that such portal sites are not a controlled environment. With online video advertising there’s no simple way of telling whether a sale or any activity for that matter can be attributed to the video advertising efforts. In order to measure the success of video advertising in relation to your sales, you need to lead viewers back to your site, and this can be done by using teaser strategies, tempting viewers with more video content on your site.

So as you can see, how well online marketing pay is really determined by your own marketing efforts. There are several avenues you can consider; how well you execute them is the one determinant of how big a pay off online marketing can provide.

Sean Marten asked:


The very terms “software leasing” and “software financing” are confusing to many businesspeople. This is due to the fact that software is typically not seen as something that is purchased over time.

This view is shared by both end-users, and the developers of software. Companies who think nothing of financing a vehicle or a new computer system will stress over how they will pay for expensive new business software. And the producers of software see no need for offering a software leasing or a software financing option.

But times are changing.

Third party equipment finance companies – companies who offer small and medium size businesses equipment financing and working capital – have responded to a need for software financing and software leasing. Thus, they are starting to include software amongst the equipment they finance or lease. There is one big overriding reason for this shift:

The High Cost of Buying Software

The simple fact is this: Software can be very, very expensive. Oftentimes more expensive than the hardware that runs it.

Now, keep in mind that when we are talking about software in this way, we are generally talking about “vertical software”. Vertical software is software that is written for a specific, narrow industry (this can include industry-specific point-of-sale software, ERP systems, specialized databases, etc). It is not software that’s available on the shelf at your local office supply store (the software you see there, even the business programs and operating systems, are “horizontal software” – they can be used across a variety of industries, and are relatively affordable.)

A good, clear example of vertical software is an auto parts store – they use software that’s specifically written for the auto parts industry. Another example is your local jewelry retailer – they likely use a point-of-sale system specifically made for the jewelry industry.

To understand how software financing and software leasing can positively affect a business, it is important to understand the advantages of vertical software first.

For most businesses, Vertical Software usually means far more efficient business processes. In the case of an auto parts store, for example, the software will already anticipate the thousands of automobile makes and models. And will almost certainly be updated every year. The jewelry store’s software will differentiate the subtle differences between two diamonds by any number of categories. And so on.

In fact, these “vertical” software programs are so effective, and become so crucial to day-to-day operations, that businesses often need this type of software to remain competitive. In many cases, it’s not an option to do without.

However, since the software is so narrowly focused, it usually comes with a hefty price tag. The developer will sell relatively few copies as opposed to a word processing program (which will sell in the millions), so they must get a premium for their work. Vertical software can sometimes reach five figures for a single license.

This brings an obvious problem: “Businesses need the software, but it’s very costly to buy outright.”

And that’s where software leasing and software financing come in – business don’t have to “buy” it upfront.

The Advantage of Software Leasing and Software Financing

The advantage of financing or leasing software is clear:

Software leasing and software financing take the huge up-front cost of new software out of the equation. Like most other business equipment, software is now beginning to be seen as a tangible asset (this was not always the case.) This means software can largely be treated as any other equipment purchase in the case of financing or leasing. A business can finance that new ERP system instead of having to budget a huge cash outlay.

This can be very beneficial to the bottom line, as software generally pays for itself over time. In fact, since “vertical” software almost always reduces the cost of doing day-to-day business, leasing or financing said software can actually create a positive cash flow right away.

But Who Offers Software Financing or Software Leasing, and how does it Work?

It’s true that software developers have been very slow to embrace the business model of software financing or software leasing. They would prefer to be paid up front for their software.

Likewise, banks, being part of an “older” industry, are also largely reluctant to finance software.

However, third party equipment finance companies who specialize in small and medium sized business equipment financing often offer attractive software lease and software financing packages. What happens is the equipment finance company pays the developer in full, and then provides the software to the end user under a finance or lease agreement, often at very attractive rates. In all actuality, it’s fundamentally the same as financing or leasing most other equipment.

Of course, like any other financing, the agreements can (and will) vary from traditional fixed rate financing to a “software lease” with a buyout at the end, etc. And the rates and terms also vary – your individual equipment finance company will have more details.

All in all, software financing and software leasing have definitely entered the business consciousness, and because it is so friendly to the bottom line, it is a business model that is here to stay.

annaya rana asked:


Strategies for success for world class service should include:

Respond promptly

Handle requests through the customers¡¦ choice of medium

Be brief and clear

Reduce back and forth communications (especially in writing, i.e., email, kick it up to a phone call if it goes beyond two)

Personalized service

Delight the customer

What do we mean by delighting the customer?

Inform and educate them

Establish your expertise and professionalism

Offer options

Diffuse upset, anger, when and if necessary

Escalate, if required

Take Ownership of the call

Remember we¡¦re still on the first W ¡V the Why. Today¡¦s pressures on agents are different than in the past. They are asked to handle more customer, more volume, more complex and/or complicated calls. After all if we could handle our issues with self service, we probably would not call. But if we tried self service and it didn¡¦t work, now we¡¦re upset and it¡¦s an escalated call from the get go.

They¡¦re asked to provide more information, do it faster and be available and accessible. But they are to lower costs, generate revenue, incorporate new technologies, ensure closure and commitment, deliver ¡¥great¡¦ service and when? Yesterday, of course.

As a matter of fact the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has said that the causes of death for people under 65 are:

21% – environment ¡V war, accidents, crimes

9% – health care system ¡V doctors, hospitals, medications

17% – human biology ¡V not because of lifestyle

53% – because of the way people choose to live their lives!!!

This is the good news and the bad news. It¡¦s bad news because it¡¦s more than half. However, the good news is that this is something we can do something about, it¡¦s about choice.

The #2 W is Who should be trained?

We suggest front line agents/representatives, supervisors, team lads, managers, assistant managers, internal customers and other departments ¡V anyone who is a touch point so that they can learn to speak the same language, and more importantly, not be in an adversarial position, but rather, together they are serving the external customer or end user.

The #3 W is Where should the training take place? Offsite vs onsite, and there are advantages and disadvantages for both.

Certainly it is most cost effective to have training on site. However, distractions are rampant as is the participant¡¦s availability to a person or problem.

Offsite is more costly. However, there are no distractions and the participants are unavailable to other departments, their managers, or any issues. I believe there is psychic value in taking people away from their work stations and off site to acknowledge the touch jobs they have.

The #4 W is What should be included in any training? We believe the following modules provide a robust, powerful, and succinct training curriculum:

ľ Quality Customer Service ľ Rapport Building

ľ Customer Expectations

ľ Perception Shifting ľ Conflict Resolution

ľ Language Skills

ľ Anger Management ľ E-Mail Protocol

ľ Stress Reduction ľ Empathetic Responsiveness

ľ Change Management

ľ Communication/Listening Skills ľ Interaction/Role Play

ľ Service with a Smile

Further suggested is university certification to up the ante. The more professionally you treat your employees, the more professionally they will treat your customers.

The #5 W is When. We say for new hires, monthly, ongoingly, consistently, whenever change occurs, when stressors increase, and as needed.

We further suggest that each employee get a minimum of 24 hours per year of ongoing training, spread out over time for the most absorption. We divide our trainings into two four hour sessions per day and deliver 6 days per employee. Therefore, 30 people can participate in the training per day. If there has been no ongoing training, we do four days once a month for four months and then a session three months later, and then another three months later. In this manner, training is customized, in real time, and can address whatever challenges are presented when they occur.

Sortins Technologies asked:


That’s right, with the power of the Online World to reach millions of people, Online Marketing is definitely an awesome tool that no business should be without. Just because of the simple fact alone that advertising is practically FREE. The ability to get the results of thousands of dollars in free publicity is practically unheard of in business today. Only recently have more and more people figured out how to utilize the ever exploding Online World to market their business efforts.

Think about it, there is probably no business in existence that could not benefit from free publicity! And the fact that properly utilizing free advertising raises net profits to unbelievable levels! Using any or all of the major online services, or the INTERNET, can help you market your business efforts.



Let’s start with plain-old advertising. On America Online, for example, they will let you place classified advertisements for FREE! They have a variety of classifications to choose from. By placing these small free ads you can generate some very quality leads that can turn into sales. Or if you are a really good marketer you could sell something straight from your free ad. Wouldn’t that be something, using the actual free ad to do all of the selling.

The other services offer free advertising from time to time. When they do charge for classified ads it is usually very inexpensive, and still a great deal considering how many people those ads can reach. When you place any advertisements you should always “code” your ads. This means put something in each individual ad that will tell you, if you get any business from it, which ad it came from. This way, you will probably find that some sections are better producers than others, and you will want to concentrate on these sections and not the ones that weren’t making any money.

To code an ad you could make them request a certain “report” on more information. You should give each report a different code for each ad. Such as: “ask for report #1tv” , this way you would know that this request came from the ad in the televisions for sale category, and so forth. If they send you an order straight from the ad, make them give you an order #, which would be different for each ad. THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ADVERTISING ONLINE ARE NOT USING THESE AD CODES!!! THIS IS A MAJOR MARKETING MISTAKE!!!

By not tracking exactly which ads are making money, they are wasting their time by continually placing ads in “loser” categories. The actual code can be anything you want to assign to it. ALWAYS keep track of every ad you place. Make a note of what it said, where and when it was placed. You will be pleasantly surprised when you analyze your “ad data” and see some positive trends developing. Just repeat these trends and it will help you to make more money!

How would you like to find a name list of several hundred (or even thousand) people who might be interested in the particular product or service you are selling based on their jobs or interests? Wouldn’t that be great!? Well, you can! And the Online Services supply this service as a part of your regular membership.

This little unknown tool is called the “Member Directory!” You can do searches in the directory for other users with certain characteristics. For example, if you were selling fishing equipment, you could do a search by “fishing.” All of the people that were registered in the directory and had listed fishing as one of their hobbies would show up on that search list. You could now send each one of those people an e-mail message telling them about your product or service, it’s just like using a mailing list, but you have no postage! (*Make sure you check with your Online service to see if they allow unsolicited E-mail.)

You can also get the names of several prospects by doing some “browsing” in the different topic forums. Using the earlier example of looking for people who fish, you could look under sports until you found a discussion on fishing. You could then take note of the users’ names that were participating in the discussions. You could do the same thing on the INTERNET with one of the many newsgroup topics that they have.

The bottom line is that you “test” and record the results of your Online Marketing efforts. Then just repeat the steps that are making you money and expand on them to reach more people.

Doing simple research on the Internet. The Internet has several mailing lists that are dedicated to marketing on the Internet. You will also find hundreds of articles on the World Wide Web. By searching one of the WWW search engines like Webcrawler you can find all the information you can read. Use search strings such as: “online marketing”,”internet advertising”, “selling online”, and so on.

You can also find many books on the subject at your local bookstore or being advertised online.

Wildfire Marketing Group asked:


Before you rush out to have 50,000 brochures printed and all of your company vehicles wrapped in vinyl, you need to take a minute to ensure that your marketing materials are going to deliver the results you are looking for. While achieving maximum results is probably something that you won’t be able to do without the help of an experienced marketing professional, there are several things that you can to improve your own results.

Have your marketing materials professionally designed. Even though you and your family and friends may love the new brochure that you designed in Microsoft Word, chances are that it is not going to be as effective as a brochure from a professional graphic designer . As a result your return on investment will be lower.

Have your printed marketing materials produced in full color. Full color printing has been shown to significantly increase response rates compared to any other combination of colors and can be surprisingly affordable for even the smallest of businesses. Another benefit is that it makes your company appear larger and more established while improving your credibility.

Include a call to action in all of your marketing materials. The most beautifully designed brochure will deliver poor results if it doesn’t clearly tell your prospect what they need to do. Do you want them to call you? To visit your web site? To send you something? Tell them exactly what you want and when you want it and your results will improve dramatically.

Include your URL on all of your marketing materials. From your business cards to your vehicles and everything in between, your URL needs to be easily accessible in order to open up another opportunity to expose your company to your prospects and clients.

Ensure that your company’s image stands out from your competitors. No matter how much you love your biggest competitor’s color scheme or style of advertising, copying it will not work for you. Small businesses often try to emulate other companies with the mindset of ” if it works for them it will work for me ” which is not true and will hurt your business in the long run.