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I don’t know what day you’re reading this.

But I do know that today someone, somewhere, just launched a brand new Internet Marketing product or course that will finally teach you the secrets to building a successful Internet Marketing business in just months.

How do I know this?

Because every single day of every single year, someone does exactly this.

And here’s the best part – many and even most of these products work.

They truly do. That is, they work as long as you do the work.

Which bears repeating – Building an online business takes actual WORK.

There is no magic button to making a million overnight.

If there were, no one would be waiting tables or working at dead end jobs because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE would be rich.

So just get thoughts of overnight wealth out of your pretty brain the next time someone tries to tell you they found the magic button and they’ll share it with you for just $97.

However, if you are willing to work, and you’re willing to invest in your business, then I will tell you the secret to having an honest to goodness real business within 3-4 months that does indeed earn you a minimum of $5,000 per month.

The sad things is, most people who read this aren’t going to actually DO it.

And that’s because it’s not sexy and it takes WORK.

Darn, there’s that 4 letter word again.

And one more thing – if you want to accomplish this in 3-4 months, it’s probably going to take an investment as well.

Now, before you get unraveled because I suggested you have to WORK and INVEST, think about this…

…what job can you get – with no formal training – that will pay you $5,000 a month to start, with monthly raises? And that calls for you to work from any darn place you choose, when you want, where you want and how you want?

Name me one job like that and I’m in.

But there’s no such thing.

Imagine for a minute that you apply for a job.

The interviewer says to you, “The only training you need will be on the job. You’ll be making $5,000 a month by your third or fourth month. Each month that you want a raise, you can have one. There is no limit to what you can earn, it’s up to you. You can work from home or anyplace you like. You can work whenever you like, as little or as much as you like. And if there is any part of the job you don’t like doing, you can outsource it to someone else.”

That, my friend, is a job applicant’s dream come true.

And it’s exactly what you can have, if you want it bad enough.

So what’s THE big internet marketing secret I mentioned in the title?

If you haven’t already guessed it, keep reading.

If you have guessed it, are you doing it yet? If not, why not?????

Okay, here we go, and I warn you – you have heard this before.

You may have heard this 100 times before.

But what counts is the ONE time you hear it and actually start DOING it.

That, my friend, is LIFE-CHANGING.

And it’s why I’m taking so long to lead up to this – because I’m trying to help you make THIS the time you actually DO it and make it yours.

Here we go…

What you need to succeed is a LIST.

Yes, I told you that you heard this before.

But if you really want total financial freedom, you need a list.

You need a list.

You need a list.

YOU NEED A LIST.

Whew. Sorry about that. I get a little keyed up when I see people buying every latest greatest newest product out there when all they need to do is get busy and build a list.

Having a list gives you a ready market for any products you want to develop and create.

It allows you to sell affiliate products whenever you want.

It allows you to make money on demand.

Whoa – did a big bill just land in your lap? Send an email and get the money to pay it.

Did you just find something in the store you MUST HAVE RIGHT NOW?

Send out an email and in a few hours you can have it.

Think about this… properly built and handled, a list of 10,000 people can give you an income of $5,000 a month if you promote the right affiliate offers.

This doesn’t even include promoting your own products.

Plus when you have a list of 10,000, you also have leverage.

You can ask other marketers to promote your products to their lists in return for promoting their products to your list.

And you can build your list from zero to 10,000 in a couple of months, especially if you’re willing to invest in your list building efforts.

First, choose your niche. Health, finance and business, relationships, self-improvement… choose something you enjoy yourself that’s filled with people who spend money.

The hungrier your market, the better.

Either create a lead magnet or have one created for you. It should be an offer so enticing that visitors can’t help but opt-in to get it.

Put an upsell after that squeeze page to earn some up-front money.

Run solo ads or Facebook ads to send traffic to your squeeze page. Just spend a little bit here and there at first until you get your squeeze page and upsell page tweaked and optimized for best results.

Then buy more traffic. Use the profits from the upsell to buy MORE traffic.

Yes, you will be spending money.

But done right, you will also be making money.

Worst case scenario, you spend $5,000 to build your list of 10,000 people.

Best case scenario, you make that $5,000 or more on your upsell to pay for your list building.

It’s a leap of faith to do this. Which is why most will never do it. But because most never will, that leaves plenty of room for YOU to do it.

Don’t have money to invest in traffic? Then you’ll have to use ‘free’ methods, which aren’t free. They involve spending time and effort, but again, it’s totally worth it.

Now here’s another ‘secret’ to getting this done – anything, and I mean ANY PART of this endeavor that you don’t want to do yourself, you outsource. Get someone else to do it for you.

Yes, outsourcing costs money.

You’re building a business, aren’t you? You are looking at earning a $5,000 a month income within 3-4 months, so just make the investment and do it.

Mail your list consistently as it grows. That means once you have your first subscriber, you start mailing 4-7 times per week.

This is where you’re going to put your real effort – into writing emails that make people WANT to open them and read them.

You can’t force people, but you sure can entice them.

Whatever it is that your particular list wants, give it to them.

If you don’t know what that is, hang out where they hang out, talk to them and ask them what they want, what they need, what one thing would make a big difference for them.

“But all of that sounds like so much work!”

Guess what? If you want to build a business it’s going to take work. It’s going to take going through some bad stuff, some stuff that doesn’t work, some stuff that costs you money to build your business.

But once it’s built, you have a perpetual fountain of money on your hands.

You keep building the list, you keep emailing the list and you keep promoting to the list.

Build, email and promote.

Imagine the lifestyle where you can be any place in the WORLD, send out an email and literally get money into your account that same day.

5 sales, 50 sales, 500 sales, all from one email.

But to get to that point you’ve got to do the work first.

And I don’t care how many programs you buy. The fact is sooner or later you will finally come to the realization that regardless of what else you might be doing, you should also have a list.

Because a list is security.

It’s money in the bank.

Now think about this:

A year from now something happens and you need to make serious money FAST.

Maybe you found the house of your dreams but you’re short $20,000 for the down payment.

Maybe your son needs an operation and your insurance won’t cover $20,000 of it, and they won’t do the operation until you get the money.

Maybe the IRS says you owe $20,000 in back taxes and they’re about to take your home.

Whatever it is, you need a substantial amount of cash in your hands NOW.

But thankfully, a year ago you began building a list.

Within 4 months your list was up to 10,000.

Now it’s over 30,000.

You send out one email.

And the next day you have $5,000 in cash.

So you send another email the next day, and two more after that.

And you have your $20,000.

You get the house. Or your son gets the operation.

Or the IRS leaves you the heck alone.

Now that is security. That is power. That is freedom.

And it all starts with you, right here, right now, creating your funnel and building your list.

If this is the only piece of internet marketing advice you ever take, you will succeed and succeed big.

Build. A. List.

Starting now.

Yes, content is what drives interest and action online, but if you want to be a really effective content marketer, there are some things you really should know if you want to succeed (the best marketers in the field are already aware of and doing these things)…

1. Writing content is only half the job. The other half is promoting your content. You’ll do best when you invest as much time promoting your content as you do writing it.

2. Content that is at least 2,000 words tends to rank a good deal higher on Google than content that is less than 2,000 words.

3. Depending on the niche, infographics will often produce a better return on investment than any other form of content.

4. Content marketing, once started, must be continued to see results. If you aren’t consistent with your content, traffic will drop and you’ll lose ground.

5. Write blog posts as though you’re talking to your friends – not as though you’re trying to impress a teacher or professor.

6. Time-based or news-related content can get you some quick traffic. But evergreen content that continues to be relevant for months and years produces the best long-term results.

7. Regardless of your niche, it’s a great idea to consistently guest post on other blogs to build links and traffic.

8. Link out to other sites from within your content – even if it’s your competitor’s site. Your goal is to benefit the reader and if you do a good job of that, your content will be shared and attract more visitors and followers into your circle of influence.

If you truly expect your content to drive consistent traffic and sales for your online business, take these tips to heart as you develop and apply your online marketing plan.

There are so many different ways you can promote products as an affiliate. There are paid methods and free methods. There are methods that produce results quickly and methods that take a longer period of time to pay off. One of the most exciting methods, in my opinion, is forum marketing.

I have an affinity for forums. That might be because I own one. There’s something incredible about belonging to a forum. In many ways, the most active members of a forum become like family. Working online can be isolating and belonging to a forum makes it so much less so.

There’s a lot of relationship building that happens on forums. And while we’re not really here today to talk about relationship building on forums, that’s a big part of using forums for marketing. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. People buy from those who are “in the know” and have a reputation as an authority figure. That’s exactly what can happen when you become active in a forum (or more than one forum).

As an affiliate marketer, it’s your goal to interact with your target audience. You want to put your link in front of those who are most likely to click through and buy what you’re promoting. That’s how you get paid, after all.

How to Choose the Right Forum

One of the most important parts of this is choosing the right forum in the first place. You have to find one that’s very targeted to what you’re promoting. There are bound to be great forums out there in your niche.

Which one is the most active? For effective affiliate marketing on forums, it’s important to choose one that’s highly trafficked. Ideally, there should be a constant stream of new threads and replied-to threads.

Some forums and niches are more active than others. You want to get the best results for the time you spend.

Note that some forums are dedicated to more general topics while others are dedicated to narrower topics. Consider what will work best for your goals and what you’re promoting. It might be the case that joining a more general forum is the right move because there will be plenty of ways for you to interact and connect with people as well as more chances to promote related products down the line.

Do a search for great forums. Make sure it meets all criteria before you sign up and start investing a lot of time into it.

Proper Etiquette for Marketing on Forums

I’m a longtime forum owner so of course proper forum etiquette is important to me. Never would I recommend that you join forums just to spam them. Never join and just start posting your link everywhere. That’s definitely not what this is all about.

One of the first things you should do is familiarize yourself with the culture of any forum you’re interested in. That means signing up, reading popular threads, paying attention to how the most active members present themselves, and reading the rules of the forum. Every forum you encounter will have its own culture and way of doing things—it’s important to respect and understand that or you’re not going to get very far at all with your forum marketing.

Be friendly and open with forum members, especially when you’re new. Some will view you with an air of suspicion until you’ve proven yourself and that’s okay. Be who you are, be helpful, and show that you’re ready and willing to become an active and beloved participant of the forum.

How to Use Your Affiliate Link on a Forum without Making People Angry

I’ve mentioned already that I don’t recommend you join a forum and just start tossing your affiliate link around. That will make people (extremely) angry and you’re not going to make any sales anyway.

First, take a look at the rules. Are you even allowed to use affiliate links? Are you allowed to self-promote on the forum threads at all? Often, the answer is no—even on marketing forums. This comes as a result of forum owners having to deal with too many shady affiliate links.

Generally, you’ll only be allowed to use your link within your signature file. Most of the time, that link can’t be an affiliate link. So, what’s an affiliate supposed to do? The easy answer is to redirect your link, but that’s not really good marketing anyway because you’re doing nothing to pre-sell your audience before they see the sales page. You’ll kill your conversions and the forum probably won’t like that you’re redirecting an affiliate link in the first place.

The better answer is to write a review or pre-sell page of the product on your website or blog. That way, you can win people over with an interesting and insightful review or overview of the product.

It’s a win-win for everyone—the forum is happy because you’re offering something of value—an article on your own website that gives people information. The people who click through your link are happy because you’re helping them make a buying decision. You’re happy because you’re using the power of persuasion and pre-selling to get people to go ahead and click through your link to buy the product you’re promoting.

What’s a signature file? It’s that little space you get to fill out in your control panel or user profile edit area. It shows up underneath everything you post. There are generally rules for what you can include in the signature file, so make sure you follow those rules.

Make sure you study up on how to create an effective signature file link. Include a little mystery. Consider what’s going to get people to click on your link. You’ve chosen a particular forum because it’s a good fit for your niche. The people are actively interested in things like what you’re promoting. So figure out how to target them. The combination of a great reputation on the forum combined with an effective signature file link can be a winning combination for promoting affiliate products on a web forum.

What Not To Do When Promoting Products as an Affiliate on a Forum

This bears repeating—don’t just start spamming your link everywhere. Don’t use your affiliate link on the forum at all, in fact.

Generally, don’t promote products as an affiliate (or your own products) at all on forum threads.

Don’t start promoting without first interacting and providing value on a forum—you want people to respect you and take you seriously. The more you give, the more you’ll receive.

The Perfect Plan for Marketing Products as an Affiliate on Forums

Here’s what I recommend. First, find the perfect, active forum that’s full of targeted forum members. Sign up and familiarize yourself with the culture of the forum as well as the rules. Take a look at how successful, prominent members of the forum handle promotions—especially how they handle affiliate promotions in particular.

Then, start posting and sharing. Be helpful. Ask questions when you have them. Just generally dive in and start chatting.

I should mention that many people are intimidated at the thought of joining forums and posting right away. They get the feeling that it’s like speaking in front of a crowd or something like that. But really, there’s nothing to worry about. Just start posting and that fear will go away.

Post daily. Get to know people and build relationships with people. In the meantime, start building up a blog you’ll use for promotions. Write reviews and articles on the products you’re going to promote. Better yet, create a squeeze page where you give something away for free. Once targeted people have joined your list from your forum link, it will be much easier to market to them.

Whether you link them to a squeeze page to join your list where you’ll then promote affiliate products or you link them to a review or details on a product that might interest them, keep the needs of your audience in mind. They’ll buy if it’s clear you have their best interests at heart and you’re persuasively promoting the product.

The better your reputation over time, the easier it will be to get people on your list and make affiliate sales. You can do quite well using forum marketing—especially once you’re a prominent member of very active forums. Some marketers have built entire businesses based on forum marketing, with great results. It’s a stellar way to get targeted traffic.

Get Started Promoting Affiliate Products with Forum Marketing

Take this opportunity to get started with forum marketing today. It’s a fun, easy, and free way of marketing affiliate products and starting to make sales. You’ll be surprised about how quickly those sales can start coming in. Forum marketing has worked for as long as there have been forums. There are few better, easier, and more effective ways of building a reputation, creating relationships, and getting sales of products you are selling online.