Petey's Pipeline E-zine

Issue #11

November 11, 2003

Business First Editorial
Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter jl scott, ph.d., writes about professionalism
Random Ramblings and Miscellaneous Musings Affiliate programs
Write Thinking Variations add spice
Preview of coming distractions The Oracle returns

Business First (Editorial)

Most of the Web site changes that were suggested by readers of Theresa Cahill's WizWorld MRC Newsletter, and which were subsequently published in Petey's #10, have now been completed. Look for new content to hit Perfect Text's pages, soon.

Ginger Geracitano (WebWench Graphics and Design) assures us that our new header graphic will be ready in a few days, and we hope to have it installed on every page in time for the next issue. You'll notice some dramatic changes.

An increasing workload and a deepening involvement with the Transition Home project (both on-line and off) force yet another change to our publishing schedule. Future issues of Petey's Pipeline will not adhere to pre-established deadlines (have they ever?), giving us a little more flexibility and a lot less stress. I'll still try to put out a new edition every two weeks, but some two-week periods may have twenty days in them while others may have only ten.

Timeless articles are, perhaps, even more important than those that are merely timely. Such is the case with our Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter! article by jl scott, ph.d., who returns with true words of wisdom on what it takes to be an on-line professional.

A rant on affiliate programs fills up the space in our Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings section and, as usual, Write Thinking delivers more useful tips to help you improve your writing.

There's lots of thoughtful material for you to absorb, so make like a sponge. What are you waiting for? Oh, yeah! Enjoy!

–Phil

Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter

Recognizing The "Pro In Motion" ( Part 1)
by jl scott, ph.d.

One of the problems with finding professionalism on the Internet is that so few people have any idea what it is.

They are familiar with the word—but don't have a good solid working definition to follow if they wish to project that image.

First, and foremost, professionalism can be recognized in the way business owners treat their customers and colleagues. Believe it or not, customers and colleagues are equally important to any business.

Professionalism isn't dictated by procedure so much as it's dictated by attitude. Different business schools will sometimes teach different procedures. The Pro understands that the reasoning behind any procedure is to establish good relationships with customers and colleagues.

A professional stays right on top of the customer's needs and provides for those needs in as helpful a way as possible. The true professional responds to complaints with the utmost courtesy and respect—and without argument. The Pro doesn't send snippy emails, deny the problem or attempt to place blame.

Professionals follow up. They will try to be certain that agreed upon situations are satisfactory. They will show you the work you ordered, in its entirety. They will ask for—and give—feedback. They will also take negative feedback under consideration rather than assuming that it is an insult and becoming defensive, or worse, downright belligerent.

At most, the Pro will ask for feedback on why a customer or colleague is dissatisfied. That information, in turn, is used for building a stronger business.

A professional isn't afraid to make mistakes. Nor, does a professional hesitate to admit those mistakes and maintain accountability. If something isn't right, professionalism demands that it be corrected, without placing blame on other sources, in a timely manner.

Business colleagues always recognize when they are dealing with a true professional. Other business owners are treated with dignity and respect.

I once sent an invitation to 175 marketing e-zine publishers to join a program at launch time. They were offered the product for free in exchange for marketing it to their opt-in lists. The letter was written in an extremely professional manner. In no way could it have been mistaken for SPAM and arbitrarily deleted.

Out of those 175 publishers, 50 responded for additional information. Of the other 125, only three—count them, THREE—responded with regrets. That leaves 122 who completely ignored legitimate correspondence from another on-line business owner.

Rarely is anyone successful without receiving some help along the way. A true professional recognizes that, and makes it a point to give back to others what (s)he has received. The Pro always goes that extra mile as a fundamental way of doing business. That "extra mile" is as much for colleagues as for customers.

A copy of this article is available at: pro-motion_pt1@i-Cop.org

This article may be reprinted with permission by including the following resource box:
===============================================================
dr. jl scott is the Founder of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) —and also the publisher of "Just GOOD Business!"—the ezine that keeps you up to date on the newest and BEST marketing, promotion and programs on the Web.
Click here for your subscription: http://www.i-Cop.org/trade-journal.htm
===============================================================

Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings

Affiliate Programs as Seen from Different Perspectives
by Phil Hanson

It wasn't too long ago that my e-mail "in" box was inundated by offers inviting me to buy into the latest promotional scheme to hit the Internet. By 7:00 a.m., six of eleven newsletters or e-zines that had taken up residence in my "in" box since midnight the night before contained the same short spiel and a link to the same sales page.

This sudden flurry of affiliate activity got me to thinking about the nature of affiliate programs, and I quickly realized that if I were ever to fully understand them, I would need to look at them through fresh eyes from as many different perspectives as possible.

Obviously, affiliate programs mean different things to the various people who are affected by them. For instance, an affiliate program owner doesn't think about an affiliate program in quite the same way that an affiliate does. A person who is about to make a purchase from an affiliate sales page doesn't think about it the same way as someone who has already made the purchase. And many people who are about to become affiliates don't seem to be thinking about it at all.

To the affiliate program owner, an affiliate program is the quintessential ingredient for Internet sales success. Affiliate program owners know that the more people they have driving traffic to their sales pages, the more sales they'll make. From their perspective, more is definitely better and to hell with affiliates that are adversely affected because there is a huge number of other affiliates. After all, it's the sale that's the important thing.

From a super affiliate's point of view, an affiliate program is bread and butter. Lots of bread and butter. However, these superstars know, perhaps better than anybody, that not all affiliate programs are created equal.

Super affiliates pick and choose their affiliate programs carefully. They know which programs are likely to generate high sales figures because they study the products, the markets and the sellers. Then, they narrow their focus even more by promoting only those programs that pay the highest returns.

For super affiliates, large mailing lists, comprised of targeted buyers and qualified prospects, generate a high volume of sales. They use proven techniques for promoting products and driving traffic to sales pages.

Because super affiliates have widespread exposure, enjoy good reputations and have a high degree of credibility, their conversion ratios are much higher than the average, and they make a relative high percentage of their sales to repeat buyers.

Less discerning than the super affiliates, common affiliates typically promote affiliate programs (either the products or the actual programs, or both) in newsletters or e-zines, on Web site pages or in special mailings to the members of their subscriber lists.

Generally speaking, common affiliates are more likely to promote products about which they have little knowledge and even less familiarity, and they're less likely to make huge numbers of sales. Because their commitments to affiliate programs lack the depth and strength of those made by the super affiliates, common affiliates have a tendency to view their affiliate programs as secondary income sources, not as primary ones.

Part-time affiliates are, for the most part, those people who devote little time or effort to learning how to successfully market the products, services or programs for which they become sales agents. They mistakenly believe that they can put up a tacky Web site, add a hodgepodge of unrelated affiliate programs to it, and become millionaires by next Tuesday. To them, an affiliate program is a device that will put them on the road to easy wealth.

The part-timers can't (or won't) be bothered by learning the essential knowledge required of 'Netrepreneurs, nor will they trouble themselves to pay their dues. When they haven't become millionaires by next Tuesday, they quietly disappear without so much as a whimper (usually by the following Thursday), moving on to jump onto the next big-opportunity bandwagon.

Failure is the certain fate of part-time affiliates because they allow the quest for easy money to become their full-time job. Unfortunately, it's a job without salary or benefits. By focusing on the destination, rather than the journey, they deprive themselves of everything they need to become successful.

Smart people who would become affiliates take a long-term approach to building a successful on-line business based on affiliate programs. They acquire the knowledge they need, build stable foundations for their businesses, establish their reputations for honesty and expertise, forge on-line relationships, enter into joint ventures, and carefully research affiliate programs that are relevant to the type of business they are running.

These hard-working people know that before they can become super affiliates (if that is their goal), they must first become successful common affiliates. They understand the potential inherent within well-founded affiliate programs, but they also understand the pitfalls that lie in wait of the unwary.

The would-be affiliate knows that success doesn't just happen, but that it happens for good reasons. They know that success derives from a combination of factors, and that it's directly proportional to the amount of knowledge gained and intelligently applied, to the amount of time and effort expended, and to the persistence and patience needed to give success a chance to happen.

The customer's perspective is a critical aspect we haven't yet addressed, but it's a more complex issue than are those we've mentioned here. Because insufficient space remains in which to give an adequate presentation of affiliate programs from the customer's point-of-view, we'll deliver it to you in part two of this article, coming in Petey's Pipeline #13.

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If you have ideas, opinions or commentary of your own regarding this subject, why not share them with Petey's Pipeline readers?

Submit your thoughtful, thought-provoking comments in body of e-mail addressed to editor@perfecttext.com. Don't forget to include your signature file or resource box.
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Write Thinking

Variations Add Spice
by Phil Hanson

Conventional wisdom states that, when writing for the Web, one should write short paragraphs consisting of short sentences. Conventional wisdom is partly right.

Short paragraphs (typically, two to six lines long) help to keep the on-line reader from getting lost. It's no mystery that large blocks of text, unbroken by liberal amounts of white space, are difficult to follow on-screen.

Short sentences are another story. Short sentences can be useful. Short sentences lack imagination. Short sentences are tedious. Short sentences are boring. Short sentences jar the reader's eye. Short sentences don't adequately explain ideas. Short sentences never let a reader develop a rhythm. Short sentences, used one after another, make a writer look incompetent.

It's far better to use a carefully worded short sentence to introduce a new idea, followed by two or three longer sentences to develop the idea and explain it in greater detail. Then, move on to the next paragraph.

Vary the lengths of paragraphs. A three-line paragraph followed by a six-line paragraph followed by a four-line paragraph followed by a two-line paragraph followed by a five line paragraph makes for a more interesting page than do paragraphs that all look the same.

Vary the lengths of your sentences for the same reason. While a short sentence makes it possible to deliver an idea with dramatic impact, longer sentences do a better job of explaining the idea so that it makes sense.

There's no set formula for introducing variety into your writing. If you begin a paragraph with a short sentence, perhaps you can begin the next paragraph with a longer sentence. Try using a short sentence at the end of a paragraph, or sandwich it between two longer sentences.

Don't forget to use different words to begin your sentences. Variety in your choice of words is just as important as variety in sentence and paragraph lengths. Words, clauses and phrases that are chosen well and used well make your writing interesting and readable.

An old cliché states that variety is the spice of life. A little variety will spice up your writing, too.

Preview of Coming Distractions

Issue #12, due out in late November, will see jl scott return with part 2 of her article on professionalism. Readers Respond lights up, and there'll be more off-the-wall writing tips for off-the-wall writers, but the subject of our next lesson is a surprise.

Disclaimer

The articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information believed to be true at the time of publication. Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted, advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine. While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!

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