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IdeasWIN Unique e-Zine
A Newsletter for the Thoughtful Internet Marketer

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Issue 53 July 12, 2001

Editor: Christopher Stephenson, mailto:Chris at IdeasWIN.com

Publisher: http://www.IdeasWIN.com

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By subscription only! If you wish to be removed from this
mailing list, please see the instructions at the end of
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In This Issue
READ IT ONLINE at: http://www.IdeasWIN.com/issues/53.htm
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CONGRATULATIONS!
1. Let's Get Started:WINNER*-howr@interlog.com

2. IdeasWIN RECOMMENDS: Got Bad Bookmarks?

3. In the Spotlight: High Paying e-Zine Affiliate Prog

4. Feature Article: The Truth About Affiliate Programs

5. Friends of the Business: Do FFA Ads Work?

6. Guest Article: Ecommerce: Unlimited Opportunities

7. Subscription Management

8. Contact Information

9. The Last Word: PONDER POINTS

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1. Let's Get Started!
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Welcome ALL! Our Guest Article is a break with the past. We
have never published an article of this length before. But
when you read it you will know why. Bob McElwain's vision of
our future is RIGHT ON - and important for us all.

Plus I've had several inquiries following last Issue's Guest
Article about Affiliates so I have written the Feature
Article in response. Keep that feedback coming in, and if
you like what we do - so will your friends. Pass this on.

And now....Let's Get Started!

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2. IdeasWIN RECOMMENDS
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Do you keep adding Bookmarks to your Browser? I do. I just
checked, I have over 1200 that I have recorded. I may even
get back to them all SOMEDAY.

But, who knows? By the time I go back the link (for whatever
reason) may be dead. Don't you just hate that? Well now
there is a Freeware Program that will check all your
Bookmarks in Internet Explorer, Netscape or even Opera. It
will find all the dead links and give you the option to
delete them.

I NEEDED this! It is called AM-Deadlink and you can download
it at: http://aignes.com/software/index.htm

Check it out! You're gonna like it!

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3. In The Spotlight
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HIGHEST PAYOUT OF ANY AFFILIATE PROGRAM FOR EZINES!

                Get up to $8 for Each Visitor!
     Get $3 for each affiliate you refer + 10% for life!
     Get HUGE monthly bonuses just for performing! ***

FunEzines.com is paying you all that and MUCH more!
For more information and to join us for free visit:

www.funezines.com/affiliates_signup.cgi?referrer=IdeasWIN

The link is too long for the word wrap. So just 'Copy &
Paste' it into your browser to get there!

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4. Today's Feature Article
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The Truth About Affiliate Programs

One of the things you see tauted the most on the web are
Affiliate Programs. And, it seems, that newbies are
attracted to them like moths to the flame.

Now don't get me wrong - I am not bashing APs. What I do
want to do though, is shed some light on the basics. At the
same time I may be able to save you some time and energy.

What I am not going to do here is promote or put down any
AP. If you are interested in which we at IdeasWIN feel good
about - watch the site for several new pages under
"Opportunities."

Many new to the web people run out and join every AP they
can find. Why do they do that? There is that part of us
which likes the idea of getting paid for little or no
effort. Some feel that if they sign up for every AP, get a
free web site and list all the programs on it....they will
make lots of bucks.

Nothing is further from the truth. The disappointment
inherent with that sours some on the whole idea. I list this
as the primary reason NOT to do Affiliate Programs.

What then are the reasons TO DO any APs?

First and foremost will always be: To Make Money. No, I am
not contradicting myself. If you look at an AP as a form of
Direct Selling and treat it that way - you will make money.
If you choose a program that allows you to find and benefit
by other affiliates, all the better. That is, if you see it
and treat it like a genuine, legitimate Networking Business
- you will make money.

Second reason: You like the product or service and want to
get it at a Wholesale rate. Let's face it. If you are in
business selling something....you can sell it to yourself at
cost.

Third reason: You like the product SO MUCH that you will
tell others about it. If you are going to refer buyers to
the company why not get the middleman's cut?

Okay, you have looked over the RIGHT reasons to become
involved in Affiliate Programs, and you want to go ahead.
How to choose?

Let me give you some general tips.

If you are in it for #1 (Money) you will need to promote it
- a lot. Are you prepared for the costs of time & money
needed to do that? OK, you are willing AND have done your
homework as to how. Now look at the following: How do they
pay? Are there a million people already advertising it? How
much control do THEY have? You are an Independent
Contractor. Can they change the rules in mid-stream and
effectively pull the rug out from under you? How many things
will you have to promote? How much is the payback
percentage? I want to stand up and yell "Show me the money."
If you are after those Yankee dollars and the AP pays less
than 25%, it is going to be an uphill road. Even if it is
big ticket (over $100). You simply have to produce too many
numbers of buyers over the long haul to make it pay. Look
for the AP that pays 35-50%. They ARE out there.

If #2 (Wholesale) the percentage discount is again
important, but not crucial. If you are going to buy one
item, one time at $19.95 and as an affiliate you get it for
15% less....well it's OK to save $3, but not important. But
if the company can supply the whole way you live - all the
things you need every day-week-month at even 5-10% discount
it becomes a really good deal.

If #3 (I love it!) then the details are almost totally
unimportant. If you are going to tell people how much you
liked the movie, why wouldn't you want to get even 1-5%
payback? Why not - if indeed you would recommend it ANYWAY.

A final thought. All the three reasons TO DO an Affiliate
Program are good enough if they are good enough for you. If
you do some research you will find good programs that will
fill your desire in each of the three areas. But if you are
willing to really look around, talk to people, dig and keep
on digging? You can find a Program that is right for you AND
fulfills ALL THREE reasons to do it!

Imagine that. A program that pays good money (enough to live
off of) for those who market the products or services. The
same program supplies you with enough of your own needs at
COST to make it worthwhile. And at the same time with
'stuff' that you care sufficiently about that you would tell
others - no matter what.

What would you have? The business that is perfect for you.
Perhaps the business of the future.

Till next time. Good luck and God Bless.
Remember, IdeasWIN. Develop yours, Chris

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5. Friends of the Business
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Does FFA (Free For All) advertising work? It is hotly
debated. What is agreed on? If it is YOUR FFA site, you will
reap the advertising benefit. It is that simple.

Get your own permanent Classified Ad, on your own site, as
well as hundreds of other sites. This is TOTALLY FREE! You
need all the advertising you can get. Why pay when you can
get it FREE? http://www.smallbizffa.net/ffa.pl?44952

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6. Guest Article
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Ecommerce: Your Opportunities Are Unlimited
by Bob McElwain

Peter Drucker believes ecommerce will be to the Information
Revolution what the railroads were to the Industrial
Revolution.* To oversimplify, the Industrial Revolution was
a time in which tools were produced that replaced people in
the manufacture of goods. In the first thirty years, all
was devoted to producing known products with machines.

While there were drastic social changes with the massive
shift from rural to urban living, there was little change in
the products produced and purchased. They only became more
readily available at ever more modest cost.

Only later did the Industrial Revolution produce something
new - the railroads. For the first time in history, people
could readily move great distances inexpensively. (Hauling
freight came much later.) Railroads brought a thirty year
boom in Europe, and an even longer one in the United States.
While many other parts of the world got started somewhat
later, the boom did not end for them until the outbreak of
World War I.

What Will Arise From The Information Revolution?

The parallels between the Industrial and Information
Revolutions are astonishing. Thus far computers, the Web,
and information technology have created nothing dramatically
new. They have merely changed the ways in which information
is gathered, managed and reported. And to some extent, the
way in which consumers purchase goods.

Computers themselves have changed the way in which products
are manufactured, including their design. And a few new
spinoffs have come to the fore. But there has not been
anything revolutionary in any of this. Nothing yet has had
the impact of railroads on the whole of the social fabric.

If Drucker is correct, ecommerce will have an impact
equivalent to that of the railroads earlier. Thus far the
Web has produced less change in the way business is done
than ore cars running on steel rails effected mining. In
short, the real drama and excitement is yet to be revealed.

Given easy access to the Web, you and I have been invited to
join in. For myself, I don't want to miss a beat.

A Radical Shift Is Upon Us

There appears to be an awesome and exciting shift emerging
in the way business is done. There are those who feel that
if it's good for business, it's good. Period. I hold a
different view: If it's not good for people, it's not good.

Many with a business orientation are likely to abandon my
thinking here. Those convinced people are sheep born to be
shorn certainly will. But whatever your view, enormous
changes in the way in which business is done are rushing
down upon us. Companies who do not embrace them, will be
swept away into history.

What Will Customer Service Come To Mean?

For example, automated telephone systems and elevator music
will fade away, as will the companies that cling to such
barriers. People will not be content much longer, with
clutching a phone to their ear, trying to accomplish some
other task, while waiting for the answer they need right
now.

"The customer comes first" will remain the driving force
behind all successful businesses. Today, such phrases
mumbled by all are generally mere tokenism. Tomorrow they
will come to have an entirely new meaning.

Contemporary companies provide such services at their
convenience. The endless round of voice mail and recordings
in which busy people respond only to leave yet another
message will come to a screeching halt. Successful
companies will provide support when a customer requests it.
And they will do so quickly.

Conglomerates May Become Extinct

People have had enough of businesses concerned about their
bottom line. They are becoming increasingly concerned about
their own needs. They are even now turning away from those
who fail to recognize this. Business success in the future
will depend heavily upon effective customer support provided
immediately upon request.

Conglomerates may be dinosaurs, so huge, so driven by their
own inertia, they will disintegrate back into the smaller
parts from which they were created. Such companies talk of
customer relationships, but often do all possible to avoid
any semblance of one-on-one customer support. Smaller firms
can be responsive. Those who are, will outperform those who
are not.

I am excited about the future for Cyberpreneurs. They will
understand they need their customers more than the customer
needs them. Untroubled by the constraints of contemporary
business practices, they will see responsiveness to
customers as an essential fundamental of their business.
This characteristic of itself will give them a competitive
edge over large businesses that do not.

The Future Is Yours For The Taking

One by one, creative people will consider ways in which
conglomerates produce and deliver products. They will then
discover a way in which they can do so more effectively.
The much larger company will hardly be aware of the tiny
loss in revenue. But given many such losses, the bottom
line will begin to erode.

Completely new business models will emerge. They will seem
so right, so perfectly attuned to both the needs of
businesses and consumers, we will wonder why they did not
appear much sooner.

There will be a return to a "Rural," rather than an "Urban,"
pattern of living, one independent of where you choose to
live. In this "reversal," there will be a return to
individuals being valued. Once again, as was so prior to
the Industrial Revolution, people will be both producer and
consumer, making a significant contribution in both roles.

The Real "New World"

I continue to hear the Web is not real. That it is nothing
more than herds of impulses stampeding about on copper or
optical cables. What is reality? I will leave this to the
philosophers. But there is no question in my mind; the Web
is real. A new reality, at that.

You can feel the awesome power and unlimited resources
surging from the collective dynamic of millions and millions
of people the world over. People who are real. Our
interaction with each other is real, and now unlimited by
national boundaries. The Web itself is but a tool. Not
unlike the telephone, but magnitudes more powerful. It
facilitates the ability to interrelate, to communicate one-
on-one. And we will do so in ways not yet imagined.

Welcome to today's "New World."

(Taken from "Your Path To Success" to be released in
September, 2001)
__________________
*"Beyond the Information Revolution" by Peter F. Drucker,
"The Atlantic Monthly," Oct 1999, p47-57.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bob McElwain

Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have?
Fix one that's busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to "STAT
News" now! mailto:join-stat@lyris.dundee.net

Web marketing and consulting since 1993 Site:
http://sitetipsandtricks.com
Phone: 209-742-6349

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7. Subscription Management
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8. Contact Information
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Article Submissions: Articles at IdeasWIN.com
Editor: Chris at IdeasWIN.com
Tech: Eric at IdeasWIN.com

For more information on starting and running your own
successful online business (the password is the name of
the e-zine) Visit: http://marketingconcept.cjb.net

What sets you apart from the crowd? Anything?
Surely, it is what you read.

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9. The Last Word: PONDER POINTS
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Sincerity is not a test of truth. We must not make this
mistake: He must be right; he's so sincere. Because, it is
possible to be sincerely wrong. We can only judge truth by
truth and sincerity by sincerity.
From THE TREASURY OF QUOTES by Jim Rohn
http://www.jimrohn.com/ps.dll?a=petsc3189