By Alex Goldman:
At first, technology appeared to be playing a positive role in Iran's uprising, giving protesters an online voice through services such as Twitter.
Now, however, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Nokia Siemens provided Iran's government with the Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology it needs to monitor communications and crush dissent in an article entitled "Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology -- European Gear Used in Vast Effort to Monitor Communications."
Nokia Siemens Networks has denied supplying DPI technology to Iran, but admits supplying the technology Iran needs to monitor cell phone and telephone conversations.
Amid the furor, Internet experts paint a more nuanced story. They say that there's a limit to what we can know about what's going on in Iran, but that it's clear that a firewall is active, and that traffic statistics suggest but do not prove that the government is interfering with applications.
What we know
Nokia Siemens Networks is the only other company, besides SmartFilter, fingered in the Wall Street Journal's article as providing technology to Iran. A representative of Nokia Siemens Networks told InternetNews.com in an e-mail that the only surveillance technology the company provided Iran is that used to monitor phone calls as required by law.
"In most countries around the world, including all EU member states and the U.S., telecommunications networks are legally required to have the capability for Lawful Intercept and this is also the case in Iran," the representative said.
The company did not supply DPI technology to Iran, wrote Ben Roome, head of media relations for Nokia Siemens Networks in a blog post.
"The restricted functionality monitoring center provided by Nokia Siemens Networks in Iran cannot provide data monitoring, Internet monitoring, deep packet inspection, international call monitoring or speech recognition," Roome wrote. "Therefore, contrary to speculation in the media, the technology supplied by Nokia Siemens Networks cannot be used for the monitoring or censorship of Internet traffic."
What we can guess
Internet traffic experts and DPI firms have been hard at work assessing the traffic into and out of Iran, but such data only provides a certain level of insight into the motives and actions of the government of Iran.
Experts believe that specific applications are being targeted, but cannot prove that the government is using a specific technology such as DPI.
"Why are they allowing traffic to continue? Why not switch it off," James Cowie of Renesys, a company that collects Internet traffic data, asked InternetNews.com. The implication is that anything the government allows in is something it can monitor.
The article appears to contradict itself. First it says "the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection … The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finnish cellphone company, in the second half of 2008, Ben Roome, a spokesman for the joint venture, confirmed."
Then it admits "It couldn't be determined whether the equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks is used specifically for deep packet inspection."
Did the Wall Street Journal accidentally misinterpret what Roome said? Roome suggests that's the case in his blog post, but network expert David Isenberg suggested that the misquoting might be intentional in his own blog.
"Chris Rhoads, the reporter who co-wrote today's story, also co-wrote a story that painted what I said to support something I didn't mean," Isenberg wrote. "Two other sources for that story, Larry Lessig and Rick Whitt, also felt the same way!"
The Wall Street Journal's recent record on headline-grabbing stories is patchy. Its report that fighter plane data was stolen turned out to be true, but the Journal had not mentioned that the data was stolen in 2005, so it was not a story about events that happened this year.
A Journal story that the U.S. electrical grid was hacked by spies may have been true but was difficult to assess because it is impossible to prove that spies and not hackers or criminals did the work. Again, malicious activity dates back for some time, in this case possibly to 1997.
Also, did the Wall Street Journal follow the lead of another publication? CNET today noted that a similar article accusing Nokia Siemens Networks of supplying a "spy system" to Iran appeared in the Washington Times two months ago.
Send in the orcs!
Observers should not jump to conclusions. It's possible that that heavy usage, not censorship, is the true cause of Iran's net slowdown. "Interestingly, game protocols like XBox and World of Warcraft show little evidence of government manipulation," wrote Arbor Networks' Labovitz. "Perhaps games provide a possible source of covert channels (e.g. 'Bring your elves to the castle on the island of Azeroth and we'll plan the next Ahmadinejad protest rally?')"
Our Take on the Situation
It is hard to imagine that the government of Iran would not use any means necessary to keep the people repressed under the current tyrannical regime. With all of the applications to filter the web for businesses and parents, the belief that an oppressive government would not use these applications to spy on the populace is a bit naive. It makes someone who was around for the 1984 rollout of the Mac shudder at the full circle the industry has taken in regard to the individual computer user.
Ty & Holly
Web Business Review
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Free Ways To Advertise Your Business
For many companies and individuals, advertising a new business is a challenge. Budgeting funds to cover advertising costs can drain away capital needed for operating expenses, but without advertising many times nobody will know your business exists. If your business has a website, there are several methods you can use to get free advertising.
First of all, create a directory of web sites on a specific topic. Give people the option of adding the directory to their web site by linking to it. Put your business advertisement at the top of the directory's home page. This technique will get lots of people to link to your web site and give you free advertising.
Secondly, you can use bonus advertising. Do you have a product or service that doesn't sell very well? Offer it as a free bonus for someone else's product or service. Get free advertising by placing your web site or business ad on the product or in the product package.
Another method of free advertising involves your autoresponder. Trade autoresponder ads with other businesses. If both of you send out information with autoresponders just exchange a small classified ad to put at the bottom or top of each other's autoresponder message.
Starting a free tip line can also generate free advertising. Offer a free daily, weekly, or monthly tip recorded on your voice mail or embedded in your email. The tips should be related to your business. Include your ad for your web site or business at the beginning or end of your message.
Finally, you can use content swap as a way to generate free advertising. Exchange content with other web sites and ezines. You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc. Both parties could include a resource box at the end of the content.
Ty Barone & Holly Gaines
Plug In Profit
Web Business Review
First of all, create a directory of web sites on a specific topic. Give people the option of adding the directory to their web site by linking to it. Put your business advertisement at the top of the directory's home page. This technique will get lots of people to link to your web site and give you free advertising.
Secondly, you can use bonus advertising. Do you have a product or service that doesn't sell very well? Offer it as a free bonus for someone else's product or service. Get free advertising by placing your web site or business ad on the product or in the product package.
Another method of free advertising involves your autoresponder. Trade autoresponder ads with other businesses. If both of you send out information with autoresponders just exchange a small classified ad to put at the bottom or top of each other's autoresponder message.
Starting a free tip line can also generate free advertising. Offer a free daily, weekly, or monthly tip recorded on your voice mail or embedded in your email. The tips should be related to your business. Include your ad for your web site or business at the beginning or end of your message.
Finally, you can use content swap as a way to generate free advertising. Exchange content with other web sites and ezines. You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc. Both parties could include a resource box at the end of the content.
Ty Barone & Holly Gaines
Plug In Profit
Web Business Review
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Improve Your Business Through Networking
As an entrepreneur you'll come in contact with numerous other business people as you conduct your day to day operations. They could be lawyers, suppliers, customers or other business services providers. These individuals are important to your business in many ways. If they bought your product or service or if you hired them, you can also gain their business knowledge, experience, ideas, and advice if you stay connected to them. This is what networking is all about. Networking is when two or more different businesses stay in contact on a regular basis to help build and improve each others business.
Some of the benefits which can be gained by talking to other business people are:
• Knowledge or information that you didn't have before
• Advice on how to solve a current business problem
• Leads to a new business project or opportunity
• Joint ventures and cross promotion deals
• Learning important skills that you didn't have before
• Constructive criticism that improves your business
• Brainstorming that sparks a profitable business idea
• Encouragement and motivation for your projects
There are several ways to network with other business people. You could participate in business expositions and trade shows. You might visit business clubs and associations or take part in on-line business related forums, e-mail discussion groups or chat rooms. By using your creativity, you could come up with even more ideas.
If you have the time, you could start your own networking group. You could hold meetings at a local seminar room, at a park, or at your own business facility. If you want to hold meetings on-line you can use a private chat room. You should publish a print or e-mail newsletter to keep members informed of meeting dates and times.
It is helpful to keep all of your business associates' contact information in one place. Make sure it is organized by business type or profession for easy searching, so when you need some advice on a new marketing campaign you can call your marketing expert. Be sure to follow up and stay in contact by phone or email on a regular basis.
Another fantastic way to network with other businesses is to operate a joint venture. This is when two or more businesses join together to work on a project for a set period of time. Participating in joint ventures with other businesses can increase your chances of beating your competition, increase your sales and increase your profits quickly.
Other advantages of a joint venture are:
• money can be saved when businesses share operating costs
• referrals can come from other businesses
• valuable time can be saved when businesses share the workload
• new products and services can be offered to your customers
• new business associates can be gained
• money can be saved by sharing advertising and marketing costs
• advice and information can be obtained from other businesses
You can find joint venture opportunities with businesses online or offline. I try to find businesses that have the same target audience, but are not in direct competition with my business. Here are a few ways to find joint ventures online:
• subscribe and participate in e-mail discussion groups, online forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience
• subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience
• note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in doing joint ventures, such as exchanging articles utilizing an article directory.
• search in your favorite web directories and search engines to find businesses for joint ventures online
Once you find a business simply e-mail them your proposal.Explain to the business owner the benefits of the joint venture.Discuss why it would be a win/win situation for both of your businesses. Provide feedback regarding their business, Web site, products and services. Using the methods above will enhance your chances of constructing a profitable joint venture.
Holly Gaines & Ty Barone
Plug In Profit
Web Business Review
Some of the benefits which can be gained by talking to other business people are:
• Knowledge or information that you didn't have before
• Advice on how to solve a current business problem
• Leads to a new business project or opportunity
• Joint ventures and cross promotion deals
• Learning important skills that you didn't have before
• Constructive criticism that improves your business
• Brainstorming that sparks a profitable business idea
• Encouragement and motivation for your projects
There are several ways to network with other business people. You could participate in business expositions and trade shows. You might visit business clubs and associations or take part in on-line business related forums, e-mail discussion groups or chat rooms. By using your creativity, you could come up with even more ideas.
If you have the time, you could start your own networking group. You could hold meetings at a local seminar room, at a park, or at your own business facility. If you want to hold meetings on-line you can use a private chat room. You should publish a print or e-mail newsletter to keep members informed of meeting dates and times.
It is helpful to keep all of your business associates' contact information in one place. Make sure it is organized by business type or profession for easy searching, so when you need some advice on a new marketing campaign you can call your marketing expert. Be sure to follow up and stay in contact by phone or email on a regular basis.
Another fantastic way to network with other businesses is to operate a joint venture. This is when two or more businesses join together to work on a project for a set period of time. Participating in joint ventures with other businesses can increase your chances of beating your competition, increase your sales and increase your profits quickly.
Other advantages of a joint venture are:
• money can be saved when businesses share operating costs
• referrals can come from other businesses
• valuable time can be saved when businesses share the workload
• new products and services can be offered to your customers
• new business associates can be gained
• money can be saved by sharing advertising and marketing costs
• advice and information can be obtained from other businesses
You can find joint venture opportunities with businesses online or offline. I try to find businesses that have the same target audience, but are not in direct competition with my business. Here are a few ways to find joint ventures online:
• subscribe and participate in e-mail discussion groups, online forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience
• subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience
• note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in doing joint ventures, such as exchanging articles utilizing an article directory.
• search in your favorite web directories and search engines to find businesses for joint ventures online
Once you find a business simply e-mail them your proposal.Explain to the business owner the benefits of the joint venture.Discuss why it would be a win/win situation for both of your businesses. Provide feedback regarding their business, Web site, products and services. Using the methods above will enhance your chances of constructing a profitable joint venture.
Holly Gaines & Ty Barone
Plug In Profit
Web Business Review
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Online Business Ideas
There are some home businesses that allow you to begin working with minimal or no start up costs. To begin such a business all you really need is a computer, internet access and a website, although some businesses will even develop your website and provide it for you. This may sound to good to be true, but here are three examples of online businesses that you can begin operating within a day or two.
Affiliate Marketing : You may have seen advertisements online for this type of business opportunity. It is known as Affiliate Marketing. This type of business utilizes a company's business model, which you join and promote the sale of information, software, consumer products and more. There are a number of products or services that you advertise from a website developed for you. There are also books, videos or DVD’s on various projects. You do not actually do sales presentations, as this business is more of an advertising campaign and you earn commissions on sales and through affiliate signups.
E-store Operator: This position can be through an ebay store or something similar, like Leisure Audio Books. You can purchase items at under wholesale prices and resell these items for a profit through an online store. You simply set up a type of online display of your items with a photo and price as well as an order page and payment method. You don’t even have to have merchandise in stock, as many companies that you order from will drop ship merchandise to your customer for you.
MLM Representative: MLM stands for multi-level marketing. Clickbank is one such operation. As a MLM representative, you are offering another companies services or products via an online site. These reps may or may not take orders, depending on the franchise, but they do not handle funds as a customer service center operates to take and process funds. You simply offer the product or service and advertise.
The above positions are only three of the many online buisnesses that are available to the general public. In order to find these positions you simply need to take time to search for online jobs through the Internet. You will find that there are numerous choices for online jobs that do not need substantial startup capital. This is helpful for college students or parents who simply do not have a large amount of money, but still have the desire to work form home. You can also find online job listings through the newspaper and books in your local library.
An online home business can be wonderful for those who need to be close to home. If you have elderly parents or small children that you need to care for while still making an income, a home business that is run online is perfect. A home business can also be good for those who are home bound due to illness or injury as well as retirees. Online jobs are available for the taking, its all a matter of taking the time to find one that suits you.
Ty & Holly
Web Business Review
Affiliate Marketing : You may have seen advertisements online for this type of business opportunity. It is known as Affiliate Marketing. This type of business utilizes a company's business model, which you join and promote the sale of information, software, consumer products and more. There are a number of products or services that you advertise from a website developed for you. There are also books, videos or DVD’s on various projects. You do not actually do sales presentations, as this business is more of an advertising campaign and you earn commissions on sales and through affiliate signups.
E-store Operator: This position can be through an ebay store or something similar, like Leisure Audio Books. You can purchase items at under wholesale prices and resell these items for a profit through an online store. You simply set up a type of online display of your items with a photo and price as well as an order page and payment method. You don’t even have to have merchandise in stock, as many companies that you order from will drop ship merchandise to your customer for you.
MLM Representative: MLM stands for multi-level marketing. Clickbank is one such operation. As a MLM representative, you are offering another companies services or products via an online site. These reps may or may not take orders, depending on the franchise, but they do not handle funds as a customer service center operates to take and process funds. You simply offer the product or service and advertise.
The above positions are only three of the many online buisnesses that are available to the general public. In order to find these positions you simply need to take time to search for online jobs through the Internet. You will find that there are numerous choices for online jobs that do not need substantial startup capital. This is helpful for college students or parents who simply do not have a large amount of money, but still have the desire to work form home. You can also find online job listings through the newspaper and books in your local library.
An online home business can be wonderful for those who need to be close to home. If you have elderly parents or small children that you need to care for while still making an income, a home business that is run online is perfect. A home business can also be good for those who are home bound due to illness or injury as well as retirees. Online jobs are available for the taking, its all a matter of taking the time to find one that suits you.
Ty & Holly
Web Business Review
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Marketing to People With a Short Attention Span
Why would you want to market your Internet business to a person with a short attention span? After all, are these not the folks that get lost stringing more complex thoughts together while at the same time not being able to sit still long enough to truly appreciate the depth of the information you are sharing with them? While it is true that a short attention span candidate may be a bit of a challenge to place into your down line, their value is indisputable.
Many times these people are social butterflies, highly energetic, the toast of the town and the life of any party. This is the person who draws others like a magnet. For every batch of leads which you have to obtain with your hard earned money, this kind of down line candidate will be able to bring you a similar batch within a fraction of the time at no cost! Furthermore, since these leads were generated by someone with that kind of enigmatic personality, the odds are good that the majority of these leads will be qualified, whereas the majority of the leads you can purchase are more or less generic. Thus, wooing a short attention span candidate for your down line could be a major success story, but it requires a bit of finesse!
Explaining your Internet network marketing business opportunity to an individual with a short attention span will require you to showcase the product and the network not only from the angle of fun, excitement and usefulness, but also from the angle of wonder, opportunity, and advancement. It is vital that you do not overwhelm this candidate with too many facts, but rather that you break down the information and only provide the kind of facts that are the most vital. The short attention span individual needs to get the facts and a general feeling for the operational success of the program, or they will walk away.
It is hard for novices to persuade these kinds of candidates to buy into an Internet network marketing business opportunity simply because they will mistake the jubilant personality of the candidate for definite buying in signals, only to realize that they failed to amaze the short attention span individual sufficiently to cause them to sign up. The trick to dealing with this kind of down line candidate is to first let them try the product, then turn them into a customer, and only later on, when the candidate has become a repeat buyer, to broker the suggestion that she or he will want to buy into the Internet network marketing business opportunity.
Knowing what makes this kind of customer buy your product time and again will tip you off to the course of action to take when involving this person in your down line. In addition to the foregoing, it will also help you to understand how to go about training them so that they will be able to train their down line in turn. Generally speaking, it is the experienced network marketer who will have the most success with this type of candidate while it is the newbie who will be wise to first hone their people skills and also sales skills prior to attempting a business partnership with this personality type.
Ty & Holly
Web Business Review
Many times these people are social butterflies, highly energetic, the toast of the town and the life of any party. This is the person who draws others like a magnet. For every batch of leads which you have to obtain with your hard earned money, this kind of down line candidate will be able to bring you a similar batch within a fraction of the time at no cost! Furthermore, since these leads were generated by someone with that kind of enigmatic personality, the odds are good that the majority of these leads will be qualified, whereas the majority of the leads you can purchase are more or less generic. Thus, wooing a short attention span candidate for your down line could be a major success story, but it requires a bit of finesse!
Explaining your Internet network marketing business opportunity to an individual with a short attention span will require you to showcase the product and the network not only from the angle of fun, excitement and usefulness, but also from the angle of wonder, opportunity, and advancement. It is vital that you do not overwhelm this candidate with too many facts, but rather that you break down the information and only provide the kind of facts that are the most vital. The short attention span individual needs to get the facts and a general feeling for the operational success of the program, or they will walk away.
It is hard for novices to persuade these kinds of candidates to buy into an Internet network marketing business opportunity simply because they will mistake the jubilant personality of the candidate for definite buying in signals, only to realize that they failed to amaze the short attention span individual sufficiently to cause them to sign up. The trick to dealing with this kind of down line candidate is to first let them try the product, then turn them into a customer, and only later on, when the candidate has become a repeat buyer, to broker the suggestion that she or he will want to buy into the Internet network marketing business opportunity.
Knowing what makes this kind of customer buy your product time and again will tip you off to the course of action to take when involving this person in your down line. In addition to the foregoing, it will also help you to understand how to go about training them so that they will be able to train their down line in turn. Generally speaking, it is the experienced network marketer who will have the most success with this type of candidate while it is the newbie who will be wise to first hone their people skills and also sales skills prior to attempting a business partnership with this personality type.
Ty & Holly
Web Business Review
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Welcome to the new year and "SFI 3.0!"
SFI has made some very interesting changes to their affiliate program for 2009. The newest and most unique facets of the business are the Triple Clicks program and Maximum Income Plan, both of which are explained in the article below written by Gery Carson, the founder and CEO of SFI. Hopefully, you will find this advantageous to your online success.
Holly
Web Business Review
Welcome to the new year and "SFI 3.0!"
I'm Gery Carson, the founder of SFI, and I'm going to be taking you through all the shiny, new 2009 goodies in this special Website. By the way, because there's SOOOO much here, I encourage you to print out this Webpage and read it in a comfy chair with a highlighter pen. And always remember, leaders are readers!
The SFI 3.0 project was, by far, the biggest undertaking in SFI's 10-year history. Over the last year, many, many hundreds of hours have been put in designing, developing, and refining what we finally take the wraps off of today.
Before we dive in to the details, however, allow me to highlight our primary objectives with this project:
1. First and foremost, we wanted to deliver a new, state-of-the-art e-commerce site, with a broad and exciting range of products befitting SFI's global affiliate base of consumers and marketers. No longer will anyone say there are no products of interest to them at SFI! We also worked very hard on delivering competitive pricing and cheaper shipping.
2. Our second major objective was to dramatically simplify the overall SFI system, which we aggressively addressed on numerous fronts. Our surveying of new affiliates has continued to show that SFI is still too complicated for the large majority. It needs to be much simpler...and so it will be!
Of course, achieving these two objectives has meant that a number of other important objectives would also be realized!
For example, when you plug thousands of hot, new products into a compensation plan, the comp plan suddenly starts paying out much better (especially when it's been carefully tweaked to dovetail with the rest of the system changes we have implemented--more on this in a moment).
There's also no doubt that the new store and the way it's been integrated into the system is going to pay dividends in the form of higher upgrade rates and, quite likely, huge growth in retail sales. Exciting stuff!
We also have added a substantial amount of additional "internationalization" to SFI. SFI represents, after all, a truly global marketing force, and we fully intend to be THE biggest of them all.
But these are just a few of the many, many improvements that SFI 3.0 delivers. Let's now dive into the juicy details!
The "crown jewel" of SFI 3.0 is our new store, TripleClicks (TC). Here are some of TC's exciting features:
• ONE store for everything. TC services both SFI affiliates and retail customers alike. Note: Just be sure to log in whenever you visit TC, however, so that all the special SFI affiliate features we've built in are displayed to you.
• We are launching today with OVER 6,000 products, but the scope of TC is UNLIMITED! We'll be adding thousands of additional products every year. Additionally, by way of the TC Private Seller Program (more on this shortly), there will also soon be numerous, if not dozens, of new products added DAILY.
• TC delivers not only new products in dozens of new categories, but also closeouts, collectables, and hard-to-find items available nowhere else.
• Because of how it's been built, virtually anything can be added to TC. Goods, services, downloadable software and media, just about anything. We purposely chose a "generic" name (TripleClicks) to allow us to expand and grow in any direction we want, in fact.
• Earn instant SVP on EVERY product in the store...including all Private Seller items and SFI promotional materials like X-Cards, postcards, business cards, etc.
• An exclusive, money-saving daily deal ("Deal Of The Day") featured on TC's homepage every day.
• Special weekly/monthly sales with special discount prices.
• You can promote the store as a whole, or any individual product in the store, or any department, or any selection of products of your choosing. Learn more HERE.
• Standing Orders, on thousands of products, are now available both to affiliates AND retail customers. When an affiliate or customer places an order containing any Standing Order-Eligible product, they'll automatically be alerted how to easily set up a Standing Order for that item. This can mean tons of automatic, monthly commissions (AKA residual income) for you.
Tip: You can used the TC Advanced Search to easily find Standing Order Eligible products. When browsing the store, you'll also notice that Standing Order Eligible products feature a small "SOE" icon.
• More (over 50!) payment options.
• Product shipment tracking.
• Express Checkout feature allows you to make purchases in seconds.
• Wishlists
• Store multiple shipping addresses and multiple payment methods--which can be instantly accessed via pulldown menus during checkout.
• Seamless integration with VeryVIP. If you are a VeryVIP subscriber, you now have powerful additional tools to promote TC and generate customers.
• One-click sitewide currency conversions for 17 major world currencies.
• Pay for any store purchase with your SFI commissions and/or earnings from your own Private Seller sales at the new store.
• Standard and expedited shipping options.
Special note on shipping costs: One of our key objectives with the new store was to reduce shipping costs (especially for international affiliates and customers). To achieve this goal, we completely overhauled our shipping programming and installed all new software and hardware in our shipping center. We expect that this will have a positive impact.
Additionally, with TC's Private Seller Program (more on this in a moment), products will be available for shipment from all over the world. This will also help reduce shipping costs since the product can literally be coming from within your same country, region, or city.
The biggest impact item, however, will be our alliances with dropshipping companies that will ship to you from around the world. Unfortunately, we were not able to get this component completed in time for our launch today. But rest assured, this IS coming. Watch for updates on this topic.
The TC Private Seller Program
One of the most exciting and unique components of TC is the Private Seller Program, which allows you to sell your stuff right alongside TC's other products and services.
With the Private Seller Program you can quickly, easily, and cheaply convert stuff you no longer want...into stuff you do! List your stuff at TC, and sell for cash....or for any product in the store. You can even earn EA status each month selling unwanted items around your house! Use TC as your online garage sale to clean out your closets, attics, and garages! List and sell dozens or even hundreds of miscellaneous items easily.
Get started FREE on us!Every SFI affiliate receiving the January 5th "SFI 3.0" announcement newsletter has been awarded 3 complementary ad credits. That is, you already have 3 credits in your account and you're all set to start listing items for sale at TC!
To get started, simply log in at TripleClicks.com (using your SFI ID and password) and click on the "Sell Your Stuff" button. Read over the overview, then click the "List Your Items" link to enter your first listing.
Then get ready to see an explosion of items added to the store over the next few weeks as thousands of SFI affiliates around the world post their items for sale! :-)
By the way, you'll probably also want to read the Private Seller Program FAQs HERE.
One final note on the Private Seller Program: If you want to sell your item worldwide, estimating shipping costs is still a little awkward. But fear not, solutions are coming to make this more streamlined and simple. Indeed, many, many enhancements are coming throughout the site, but not all of them could be finished in time for our initial launch.
The TC Free Listing Program
Hopefully you're planning on trying out the Private Seller Program, and hopefully you can envision what an exciting part of TC this program could become.
People are always looking for easy ways to put some money in their pocket. And people also usually have items they no longer need or want. Children outgrow perfectly good toys. Teenagers outgrow perfectly good clothes. Adults outgrow perfectly good golf clubs. :-) Indeed, millions of perfectly good products of all kinds are outgrown, abandoned, and retired every day!
Except for highly organized individuals, these items wind up in closets, attics, and garages, taking up valuable space while (usually) fading in value as they sit. But with the TC Private Seller Program, this clutter can be converted into cash–quickly...simply...easily.
And the timing couldn't be better. With the huge downturn in the global economy, especially in the United States, demand for the service we will be providing is skyrocketing. Indeed, I've learned that pawn shops are doing record business right now. There's little doubt that SFI affiliates worldwide, though TC, can tap into this same vein with great results.
I'd now like to introduce you to the program that makes this possible.
Just as we provided you with free credits to try out the Private Seller Program, so too will you be able to do so with your prospects!
Best of all, we've made it incredibly easy to participate. We've got X-Cards, E-Cards, Postcards, text ads, tabbed fliers, and over 40 awesome banners for you to use, all offering a free, complementary listing at TC!
The new TC X-Cards and tabbed fliers
All you have to do is get these cards, fliers, banners, etc. in front of people using the methods listed HERE.
The Free Listing Program allows you to give out free sample listings at TC. Once your prospect has entered their free listing, you've just locked them in as one of your personally referred customers. And once they see how easy it is to list and sell their unwanted items, well, guess what? They're going to want to buy credits and list lots of other items they want to sell for cash or other products. And, of course, for every credit they buy, you earn EA-qualifying SVP and commissions!
In fact, you can earn EA status for yourself if your customers buy just 10 single credits... or just five 12-packs of credits...or just two 50-pack of credits.
But that's not all. Many of your customers may become frequent shoppers and buyers at TC. Indeed, we even built in an automatic incentive. That is, when one of your customers sells something, they are allowed to immediately spend 100% of the proceeds on any product in the store. Whereas, if they cash out, they'll have to pay a small handling fee and wait up to a week to receive their proceeds.
But don't misunderstand this. Selling your stuff for cash at TripleClicks IS simple, virtually unencumbered, and very inexpensive, but there ARE incentives for your customers to buy products with their sales proceeds and not just always sell for cash. And when they buy products, you'll earn EA-qualifying SVP and commissions just the same as if it were a standard customer sale.
And, don't forget, you'll always earn SVP and commissions on the credits your customers purchase for listing their items.
I truly think this is a very, very exciting program with a ton of potential. Hopefully you're seeing it the same way I do and will be getting involved with this new promotion right away. Note that to order your TC X-Cards, postcards, etc., just log in at TripleClicks.com and go to the "Business" department. Or, you can get hooked up with other great Free Listing promotional methods and marketing aids HERE.
Another reason why the Free Listing program is so exciting is in what it brings to the store overall. People love finding bargains. The Private Seller Program (especially with free listings being actively promoted by tens of thousands of affiliates around the world) will be generating 1000's of listings for interesting, unusual, available-nowhere-else collectables and other items. Bargain hunters will be able to find amazing, "pennies-on-the-dollars" types of bargains. Word will spread, and traffic at TC will grow and grow and grow!
And, of course, millions of visitors means a very popular e-commerce site that will benefit all SFI affiliates.
By the way, for the first time in SFI's history, we'll be actively working to get one of our sites, inc this case, TC, ranked high in search engines. This will generate even more customers–customers that we'll be awarding to you, our affiliates, via the EyeEarn Co-op (more on this and other exciting improvements to EyeEarn later on this Webpage).
Important note: In conjunction with the Free Listing Program, we're making FREE credits available to you to give away to your prospects. You heard right: We'll even provide the credits for FREE that you can give away to attract customers! However, please make sure you read these RULES FOR PARTICIPATION.
You may also like to read the TC FAQs we've posted HERE which covers many other details and aspects of TripleClicks.
Before I move on to the next of our new goodies, I'd like to briefly elaborate on the new paradigm that TC has provided us.
In short, I believe that selling products directly on the Internet is an advanced skill. Many of you are, of course, more than capable of selling products directly. But the majority of our affiliates are still beginners when it comes to Internet marketing. And asking beginners to tackle advanced marketing strategies is a losing proposition for both the affiliate and SFI.
But with the Free Listing promotion, we've made building a customer list as easy as handing out X-Cards, putting up fliers, or running free classified ads!
The Free Listing promotion allows our beginning affiliates to taste success by just giving away free samples and creating buying customers INDIRECTLY. There's no need to learn details about any specific products. No need to sweat over which product or products to promote where. Instead, our affiliates finally now have a simple, "turn-key" method that anyone can do to tap into the multi-trillion dollar e-commerce pie.
I've always been a firm believer in the premise that to achieve success, you have to have a plan. Conversely, I also believe that to NOT have a plan is the equivalent of planning to fail! Obviously, you've got to have a plan!
The "Maximum Income Plan" is a new plan we've put in place at SFI so that all affiliates are actually "planning to succeed." This new plan is clean, simple, and best of all, as the name suggests, it's designed to help you achieve maximum earnings as an SFI affiliate.
As you begin browsing the SFI 3.0 Affiliate Center, you'll be seeing continual references to the Maximum Income Plan (MIP). Indeed, we've rebuilt the entire Affiliate Center to dovetail with MIP.
When a new affiliate joins SFI, they'll no longer be dropped on a page with a lengthy to-do list or be asked to choose between 16 focus options. Rather, new affiliates will simply be directed to MIP where they can learn immediately what the formula for success is with SFI, and what they need to do to get started immediately.
When you look over MIP, I think you'll agree that it is the cleanest, most direct, and most simple-to-understand plan of action we've ever made available to our affiliates.
But the Affiliate Center isn't the only thing that revolves around MIP. We've also tweaked the EyeEarn Co-op and compensation plan to mesh closely with MIP (more on this a little later).
By the way, if you're wondering what those three colored blocks are all about...
"R" is for REFER...as in referring TripleClicks customers.
"S" is for SPONSOR...as in sponsoring SFI affiliates.
and
"D" is for DUPLICATION...as in the process of seeing that your affiliates are duplicating your R, S, and D actions.
Of course, the best way to learn all about MIP is to go check out the MIP Webpage HERE.
Since it's launch a little over a year ago, EyeEarn has been a resounding success. The EyeEarn personal advertising network has grown to THOUSANDS of participants all over the world (check out the EyeEarn Gallery), and now generates tens of thousands of enrollments every quarter.
But, of course, we're never satisfied with the status quo. When it comes to SFI, we strive to always get better every year. Hence, we've made some changes to the EyeEarn program for 2009.
The most visible change is that we replaced the MaxMalls component. In it's place, as an active EyeEarner, you will now receive shares of TripleClicks customers (to go with your shares of Affiliate signups).
How is a share of TC customers better than a share of MaxMalls revenues? Well, if you've been a part of EyeEarn during its first year, you know that the amount of the shares of MaxMalls revenues have been nominal at best. Now compare that to earning customer commissions of up to 70% CV on every purchase, for life, made by customers you've received from EyeEarn. In my book, this is a SUBSTANTIAL enhancement to the EyeEarn program!
The other change we've made to EyeEarn is tied to a change to the SFI compensation plan. In short, you'll now earn override commissions on any purchases made by the affiliate signups you receive from the EyeEarn Co-op, even if you're not an EA (Executive Affiliate). If your rank is Affiliate, you'll earn 15% of CV. If your rank is EA, you'll earn 30% of CV. And if your rank is TL (Team Leader), you'll earn 35% of CV.
If you put all of this together, something fairly remarkable materializes. That is, EyeEarn becomes a perfect embodiment of the R, S, and D of our new Maximum Income Plan.
It's perfect because by participating in the EyeEarn program, you'll now automatically be Referring customers AND Sponsoring affiliates, AND to add the "D" (for Duplication), you simply need to encourage your affiliates to also become EyeEarners and follow your example. Awesome!
As mentioned in the Maximum Income Plan section above, we've made some modifications to the comp plan to dovetail more closely with the R, S, and D elements.
Before getting into those modifications, there's a major simplification to mention. That is, there is essentially now ONE comp plan for SFI. No longer will you find multiple comp plans for various SFI products and programs. And I think you're going to also REALLY like the new one-page comp plan layout we've put in place.
Change #1We've retired Powerline. In its place is an enhanced Executive Bonus. Instead of only earning from the affiliates who joined SFI after you, you'll now earn from EVERY AFFILIATE in the entire company! In addition to that, 100% of all MaxMalls revenues we receive will now go directly into the Executive Bonus pool to be shared by all EAs.
We've also replaced the Powerline Report with a new Executive Bonus Report which will be prominently promoted and I think you're also going to really like. Check out the Executive Bonus Report HERE.
Change #2All components of the SFI comp plan are now based on CV instead of matches related to the Executive Bonus. We feel this makes the plan easier to comprehend and also means that SFI's movers and shakers will be earning more directly from their own efforts.
Change #3Executive Matches have been replaced with Affiliate Overrides. With this change, you'll now earn a direct 15% to 35% of the CV on all purchases made by your personally sponsored affiliates. As noted above in the EyeEarn section, this change also greatly improves the EyeEarn program.
Change #4A brand new addition to the SFI comp plan, Executive Overrides allow you to earn up to 12% of CV on every customer sale generated by your personally sponsored affiliates.
Change #5Team Matches have been replaced with Network Overrides. Network Overrides allow you to earn up to 10% of CV on all purchases made by affiliates in six downline generations and also on all customer sales made by your affiliates (also down six generations).
Also note that the new Network Overrides are earned on ALL affiliates and paid EVERY month (compared to the old Team Matches that only paid on EAs and did not start until an EA's second month).
Change #6Introducing CASH INFUSION BONUSES!Cash Infusion Bonuses (CIB) are an exciting new way to add thousands of dollars to your commission check. Note that the CIB package has special qualifications: All new SFI affiliates are granted 30 days of free qualification for CIB. To retain qualification, however, affiliates must achieve at least the rank of EA within 30 days of joining SFI. Special note: An additional 30-day extension will be granted with any TripleClicks.com sale or purchase within the affiliate's first 30 days.
Special note: We have, of course, built in a grandfather clause for our existing affiliates, which will work like this:
So long as you are an EA on January 31, 2009 (and remain an EA in each subsequent month)...- You will have until 3/31/09 to achieve the Bronze Bonus*- You will have until 6/30/09 to achieve the Silver Bonus*- You will have until 9/30/09 to achieve the Gold Bonus*- You will have until 12/31/09 to achieve the Platinum Bonus*- The 200% Affiliate Overrides are yours to earn by simply maintaining the rank of EA* Not applicable if you have already achieved this rank.
Change #7Introducing PEAK PERFORMER BONUSES!You're already familiar with our three Peak Performer leaderboards where we recognize SFI's Top Sponsors, Top Sellers, and Top Builders. Now we've added some nice cash bonuses to the recognition, allowing you to earn up to an extra $3,000 every quarter!
As with everything we're unveiling today, I'm very excited about these comp plan changes. We've made the plan dovetail closely with the Refer, Sponsor, and Duplicate mandated by the new Maximum Income Plan. More importantly, these newest changes clearly make the SFI comp plan more lucrative!
Ready to read all the details of the new plan? Click HERE.
Starting January 5th, all new SFI affiliates will begin receiving LaunchPad™, our brand new "getting started" training program.
Each day for an affiliate's first 30 days in SFI (provided they have confirmed their registration), they will receive a special LaunchPad™ e-mail with a brief summary of the day's content and a link back to a new LaunchPad Website we have developed.
On this Website, the affiliate will receive vital tips and information for successfully launching their new SFI business and how to maximize their profits.
As an incentive for becoming an EA as soon as possible, also included will be a mini Executive Bonus "tracker" with the latest enrollment numbers and a link to the new Executive Bonus Report.
As another incentive for becoming an EA, information on the affiliate's Cash Infusion Bonus package will also be highlighted--in particular the affiliate's deadline to secure his or her qualification for these bonuses.
An inspirational "quote of the day" by some of history's greatest leaders rounds out each day's issue of LaunchPad™.
What about affiliates who joined SFI before January 5th? The LaunchPad Website will be open and available to ALL affiliates. We will be announcing the Website address soon.
AND STILL MORE!
All of the above goodies, and we're still not through! Here are some of the great new presentation pages we've created:
New Affiliate Registration Landing PageUpon registration, new affiliates now land on our newly redesigned and simpler "Let's Get Started page." Check it out HERE.
New EA Upgrade Process & PagesWe've redesigned and updated our main "Go Executive" Web page. Thanks to the changes we made in the compensation plan, there are now more benefits for upgrading listed. We've also built in a dynamic currency image which will automatically display the currency of the viewer's country of residence (where available). We've also simplified the upgrade path (there's now just ONE button to proceed instead of the previous four).
After clicking on that ONE button, the reader now sees our brand new "How To Go EA" page where we explain, in very simple terms, how to go EA via transfer buying or via no-purchase-required customer sales. From here, the reader can either choose to proceed immediately with a 10 SVP purchase from TripleClicks or begin working on customer sales as outlined HERE.
New A/EA/TL Comparison ChartThis is one of my favorite new pages. The chart on this new Web page illustrates in elegant fashion the benefits of each of the three major ranks (Affiliate, Executive Affiliate, and Team Leader). Moreover, it allows you to clearly and quickly ascertain that there are MAJOR benefits to moving up from Affiliate to Executive Affiliate...and from Executive Affiliate to Team Leader.
We will be featuring this new page prominently from now on and it should be one you'll want to refer people to regularly as well. Check it out HERE.
New "How to go TL" pageSimilar to the new "How To Go EA" page, this new page provides a nice, brief explanation of the requirements for becoming a Team Leader (TL). Check it out HERE.
New "Reassurance" PageAnother one of my favorite new pages. This new page is basically a central page of facts, figures, and links for reassuring affiliates that SFI is a company they can readily embrace. You'll find links to the "Reassurance Page" on pages where affiliates are being encouraged to upgrade or take some other action involving an investment of money or time. Check it out HERE.
New "About SFI" PageIf you've ever wanted to refer someone to a nice overview of SFI, this is it. Note that it does not contain a way to sponsor prospects; rather it is designed purely to be a "low key" information page on SFI for non-affiliates. With that in mind, we've linked up this new "About SFI" page at the sfimg.com landing page. If a non-affiliate finds themselves at sfimg.com, this provides information on what SFI is, as well as a method for contacting SFI if needed. It's also good for new affiliates who've joined SFI but haven't yet learned what SFI is about. Check it out HERE.
New Customer ReportYou know all those new TripleClicks customers you're going to be generating soon? In the My Reports section of the SFI Affiliate Center, there's now a new report to keep track of them. Similar to the Genealogy (which lists your affiliates), this new report lists all of your personally referred TC customers. The report provides dates, names, and also ordering information so you can see who's ordering what and when.
New SFI Home PageOnce you've logged in at sfimg.com, and proceeded past your Alerts Page, you'll now see a new home page featuring an action list, progress report, and goal review. Note that this page is still a work in progress and there is some significant formatting (example: to-do items removed upon completion) and "prettying up" yet to come. The basic text is mostly there, however, and you can be comfortable knowing your affiliates need only to get to the home page at the Affiliate Center to know what to do, what their next step is, etc. Stay tuned for updates as we finesse the home page.
New menu, navigation, and header featuresWhen you get to the Affiliate Center, you'll notice some different information now displaying in the top right area of the header. We've also reorganized the main horizontal menu bar to correlate with the Maximum Income Plan. In short, most everything in the menu bar is now organized around the actions of Referring TC customers, Sponsoring SFI affiliates, and Duplication.
We've also made some changes to the left sidebar. This area now includes convenient, one-click access to key destinations such as TripleClicks, MaxMalls, a2a, the SFI DBoard, SFI News, and more.
New "R" and "S" Methods PagesI've been talking a lot about the big role the Maximum Income Plan plays in SFI 3.0. And when you're ready to start working on the Refer and Sponsor part of the plan, you'll need a top-notch list of HOW to do it. We've provided this with our new Refer Methods page and our new Sponsor Methods page.
LOOKING AHEAD
We'll take a day or two to catch our breath, but after that my staff and I will be on to additional innovation and even more enhancements and improvements.
For starters, there are still a number of substantial features yet to come at TripleClicks. One of the biggest is our plan to also give commercial sellers a place at the table. That is, commercial sellers will be able to sell their goods and services right alongside everything else in TC. Imagine how many products will be available at TC when this is in place! And, of course, there will be great SVP and CV attached to all of these products. Not only that, as an affiliate, you'll have the opportunity to earn royalties on every product sold by commercial sellers that you would refer to SFI.
We're also looking at a program that would create officially licensed local and/or regional outlets for TC products. This could completely eliminate shipping and shipping costs.
We're also planning in 2009 to come out with a number of new video marketing aids, and a powerful, totally different, new "skepticism-busting" Website that will detail SFI's impressive and growing resume.
And these are just a few of the things in store for 2009. As always, we'll continue building, improving, polishing, and refining SFI and keeping it THE #1 affiliate program in the world.
IN CLOSING...
2008 was a terrific year for SFI, but I think you can now see that 2009 is going to BLOW LAST YEAR AWAY!
Never in our history has our foundation been stronger or our opportunities greater. The Internet continues its explosive worldwide growth and you, as an SFI affiliate, are perfectly poised to ride the wave.
Lastly, I'd like to extend my sincerest gratitude and thanks to everyone here at the SFI corporate office who worked so tirelessly to make 2008 a great year...and 2009 even greater. We also couldn't have done it without the loyalty and support of our thousands of SFI affiliates around the world. We love you all. And we love making SFI better and better for you.
Let's all go to work now and make 2009 one for the record books!!!
Enthusiastically,
Gery Carson
Holly
Web Business Review
Welcome to the new year and "SFI 3.0!"
I'm Gery Carson, the founder of SFI, and I'm going to be taking you through all the shiny, new 2009 goodies in this special Website. By the way, because there's SOOOO much here, I encourage you to print out this Webpage and read it in a comfy chair with a highlighter pen. And always remember, leaders are readers!
The SFI 3.0 project was, by far, the biggest undertaking in SFI's 10-year history. Over the last year, many, many hundreds of hours have been put in designing, developing, and refining what we finally take the wraps off of today.
Before we dive in to the details, however, allow me to highlight our primary objectives with this project:
1. First and foremost, we wanted to deliver a new, state-of-the-art e-commerce site, with a broad and exciting range of products befitting SFI's global affiliate base of consumers and marketers. No longer will anyone say there are no products of interest to them at SFI! We also worked very hard on delivering competitive pricing and cheaper shipping.
2. Our second major objective was to dramatically simplify the overall SFI system, which we aggressively addressed on numerous fronts. Our surveying of new affiliates has continued to show that SFI is still too complicated for the large majority. It needs to be much simpler...and so it will be!
Of course, achieving these two objectives has meant that a number of other important objectives would also be realized!
For example, when you plug thousands of hot, new products into a compensation plan, the comp plan suddenly starts paying out much better (especially when it's been carefully tweaked to dovetail with the rest of the system changes we have implemented--more on this in a moment).
There's also no doubt that the new store and the way it's been integrated into the system is going to pay dividends in the form of higher upgrade rates and, quite likely, huge growth in retail sales. Exciting stuff!
We also have added a substantial amount of additional "internationalization" to SFI. SFI represents, after all, a truly global marketing force, and we fully intend to be THE biggest of them all.
But these are just a few of the many, many improvements that SFI 3.0 delivers. Let's now dive into the juicy details!
The "crown jewel" of SFI 3.0 is our new store, TripleClicks (TC). Here are some of TC's exciting features:
• ONE store for everything. TC services both SFI affiliates and retail customers alike. Note: Just be sure to log in whenever you visit TC, however, so that all the special SFI affiliate features we've built in are displayed to you.
• We are launching today with OVER 6,000 products, but the scope of TC is UNLIMITED! We'll be adding thousands of additional products every year. Additionally, by way of the TC Private Seller Program (more on this shortly), there will also soon be numerous, if not dozens, of new products added DAILY.
• TC delivers not only new products in dozens of new categories, but also closeouts, collectables, and hard-to-find items available nowhere else.
• Because of how it's been built, virtually anything can be added to TC. Goods, services, downloadable software and media, just about anything. We purposely chose a "generic" name (TripleClicks) to allow us to expand and grow in any direction we want, in fact.
• Earn instant SVP on EVERY product in the store...including all Private Seller items and SFI promotional materials like X-Cards, postcards, business cards, etc.
• An exclusive, money-saving daily deal ("Deal Of The Day") featured on TC's homepage every day.
• Special weekly/monthly sales with special discount prices.
• You can promote the store as a whole, or any individual product in the store, or any department, or any selection of products of your choosing. Learn more HERE.
• Standing Orders, on thousands of products, are now available both to affiliates AND retail customers. When an affiliate or customer places an order containing any Standing Order-Eligible product, they'll automatically be alerted how to easily set up a Standing Order for that item. This can mean tons of automatic, monthly commissions (AKA residual income) for you.
Tip: You can used the TC Advanced Search to easily find Standing Order Eligible products. When browsing the store, you'll also notice that Standing Order Eligible products feature a small "SOE" icon.
• More (over 50!) payment options.
• Product shipment tracking.
• Express Checkout feature allows you to make purchases in seconds.
• Wishlists
• Store multiple shipping addresses and multiple payment methods--which can be instantly accessed via pulldown menus during checkout.
• Seamless integration with VeryVIP. If you are a VeryVIP subscriber, you now have powerful additional tools to promote TC and generate customers.
• One-click sitewide currency conversions for 17 major world currencies.
• Pay for any store purchase with your SFI commissions and/or earnings from your own Private Seller sales at the new store.
• Standard and expedited shipping options.
Special note on shipping costs: One of our key objectives with the new store was to reduce shipping costs (especially for international affiliates and customers). To achieve this goal, we completely overhauled our shipping programming and installed all new software and hardware in our shipping center. We expect that this will have a positive impact.
Additionally, with TC's Private Seller Program (more on this in a moment), products will be available for shipment from all over the world. This will also help reduce shipping costs since the product can literally be coming from within your same country, region, or city.
The biggest impact item, however, will be our alliances with dropshipping companies that will ship to you from around the world. Unfortunately, we were not able to get this component completed in time for our launch today. But rest assured, this IS coming. Watch for updates on this topic.
The TC Private Seller Program
One of the most exciting and unique components of TC is the Private Seller Program, which allows you to sell your stuff right alongside TC's other products and services.
With the Private Seller Program you can quickly, easily, and cheaply convert stuff you no longer want...into stuff you do! List your stuff at TC, and sell for cash....or for any product in the store. You can even earn EA status each month selling unwanted items around your house! Use TC as your online garage sale to clean out your closets, attics, and garages! List and sell dozens or even hundreds of miscellaneous items easily.
Get started FREE on us!Every SFI affiliate receiving the January 5th "SFI 3.0" announcement newsletter has been awarded 3 complementary ad credits. That is, you already have 3 credits in your account and you're all set to start listing items for sale at TC!
To get started, simply log in at TripleClicks.com (using your SFI ID and password) and click on the "Sell Your Stuff" button. Read over the overview, then click the "List Your Items" link to enter your first listing.
Then get ready to see an explosion of items added to the store over the next few weeks as thousands of SFI affiliates around the world post their items for sale! :-)
By the way, you'll probably also want to read the Private Seller Program FAQs HERE.
One final note on the Private Seller Program: If you want to sell your item worldwide, estimating shipping costs is still a little awkward. But fear not, solutions are coming to make this more streamlined and simple. Indeed, many, many enhancements are coming throughout the site, but not all of them could be finished in time for our initial launch.
The TC Free Listing Program
Hopefully you're planning on trying out the Private Seller Program, and hopefully you can envision what an exciting part of TC this program could become.
People are always looking for easy ways to put some money in their pocket. And people also usually have items they no longer need or want. Children outgrow perfectly good toys. Teenagers outgrow perfectly good clothes. Adults outgrow perfectly good golf clubs. :-) Indeed, millions of perfectly good products of all kinds are outgrown, abandoned, and retired every day!
Except for highly organized individuals, these items wind up in closets, attics, and garages, taking up valuable space while (usually) fading in value as they sit. But with the TC Private Seller Program, this clutter can be converted into cash–quickly...simply...easily.
And the timing couldn't be better. With the huge downturn in the global economy, especially in the United States, demand for the service we will be providing is skyrocketing. Indeed, I've learned that pawn shops are doing record business right now. There's little doubt that SFI affiliates worldwide, though TC, can tap into this same vein with great results.
I'd now like to introduce you to the program that makes this possible.
Just as we provided you with free credits to try out the Private Seller Program, so too will you be able to do so with your prospects!
Best of all, we've made it incredibly easy to participate. We've got X-Cards, E-Cards, Postcards, text ads, tabbed fliers, and over 40 awesome banners for you to use, all offering a free, complementary listing at TC!
The new TC X-Cards and tabbed fliers
All you have to do is get these cards, fliers, banners, etc. in front of people using the methods listed HERE.
The Free Listing Program allows you to give out free sample listings at TC. Once your prospect has entered their free listing, you've just locked them in as one of your personally referred customers. And once they see how easy it is to list and sell their unwanted items, well, guess what? They're going to want to buy credits and list lots of other items they want to sell for cash or other products. And, of course, for every credit they buy, you earn EA-qualifying SVP and commissions!
In fact, you can earn EA status for yourself if your customers buy just 10 single credits... or just five 12-packs of credits...or just two 50-pack of credits.
But that's not all. Many of your customers may become frequent shoppers and buyers at TC. Indeed, we even built in an automatic incentive. That is, when one of your customers sells something, they are allowed to immediately spend 100% of the proceeds on any product in the store. Whereas, if they cash out, they'll have to pay a small handling fee and wait up to a week to receive their proceeds.
But don't misunderstand this. Selling your stuff for cash at TripleClicks IS simple, virtually unencumbered, and very inexpensive, but there ARE incentives for your customers to buy products with their sales proceeds and not just always sell for cash. And when they buy products, you'll earn EA-qualifying SVP and commissions just the same as if it were a standard customer sale.
And, don't forget, you'll always earn SVP and commissions on the credits your customers purchase for listing their items.
I truly think this is a very, very exciting program with a ton of potential. Hopefully you're seeing it the same way I do and will be getting involved with this new promotion right away. Note that to order your TC X-Cards, postcards, etc., just log in at TripleClicks.com and go to the "Business" department. Or, you can get hooked up with other great Free Listing promotional methods and marketing aids HERE.
Another reason why the Free Listing program is so exciting is in what it brings to the store overall. People love finding bargains. The Private Seller Program (especially with free listings being actively promoted by tens of thousands of affiliates around the world) will be generating 1000's of listings for interesting, unusual, available-nowhere-else collectables and other items. Bargain hunters will be able to find amazing, "pennies-on-the-dollars" types of bargains. Word will spread, and traffic at TC will grow and grow and grow!
And, of course, millions of visitors means a very popular e-commerce site that will benefit all SFI affiliates.
By the way, for the first time in SFI's history, we'll be actively working to get one of our sites, inc this case, TC, ranked high in search engines. This will generate even more customers–customers that we'll be awarding to you, our affiliates, via the EyeEarn Co-op (more on this and other exciting improvements to EyeEarn later on this Webpage).
Important note: In conjunction with the Free Listing Program, we're making FREE credits available to you to give away to your prospects. You heard right: We'll even provide the credits for FREE that you can give away to attract customers! However, please make sure you read these RULES FOR PARTICIPATION.
You may also like to read the TC FAQs we've posted HERE which covers many other details and aspects of TripleClicks.
Before I move on to the next of our new goodies, I'd like to briefly elaborate on the new paradigm that TC has provided us.
In short, I believe that selling products directly on the Internet is an advanced skill. Many of you are, of course, more than capable of selling products directly. But the majority of our affiliates are still beginners when it comes to Internet marketing. And asking beginners to tackle advanced marketing strategies is a losing proposition for both the affiliate and SFI.
But with the Free Listing promotion, we've made building a customer list as easy as handing out X-Cards, putting up fliers, or running free classified ads!
The Free Listing promotion allows our beginning affiliates to taste success by just giving away free samples and creating buying customers INDIRECTLY. There's no need to learn details about any specific products. No need to sweat over which product or products to promote where. Instead, our affiliates finally now have a simple, "turn-key" method that anyone can do to tap into the multi-trillion dollar e-commerce pie.
I've always been a firm believer in the premise that to achieve success, you have to have a plan. Conversely, I also believe that to NOT have a plan is the equivalent of planning to fail! Obviously, you've got to have a plan!
The "Maximum Income Plan" is a new plan we've put in place at SFI so that all affiliates are actually "planning to succeed." This new plan is clean, simple, and best of all, as the name suggests, it's designed to help you achieve maximum earnings as an SFI affiliate.
As you begin browsing the SFI 3.0 Affiliate Center, you'll be seeing continual references to the Maximum Income Plan (MIP). Indeed, we've rebuilt the entire Affiliate Center to dovetail with MIP.
When a new affiliate joins SFI, they'll no longer be dropped on a page with a lengthy to-do list or be asked to choose between 16 focus options. Rather, new affiliates will simply be directed to MIP where they can learn immediately what the formula for success is with SFI, and what they need to do to get started immediately.
When you look over MIP, I think you'll agree that it is the cleanest, most direct, and most simple-to-understand plan of action we've ever made available to our affiliates.
But the Affiliate Center isn't the only thing that revolves around MIP. We've also tweaked the EyeEarn Co-op and compensation plan to mesh closely with MIP (more on this a little later).
By the way, if you're wondering what those three colored blocks are all about...
"R" is for REFER...as in referring TripleClicks customers.
"S" is for SPONSOR...as in sponsoring SFI affiliates.
and
"D" is for DUPLICATION...as in the process of seeing that your affiliates are duplicating your R, S, and D actions.
Of course, the best way to learn all about MIP is to go check out the MIP Webpage HERE.
Since it's launch a little over a year ago, EyeEarn has been a resounding success. The EyeEarn personal advertising network has grown to THOUSANDS of participants all over the world (check out the EyeEarn Gallery), and now generates tens of thousands of enrollments every quarter.
But, of course, we're never satisfied with the status quo. When it comes to SFI, we strive to always get better every year. Hence, we've made some changes to the EyeEarn program for 2009.
The most visible change is that we replaced the MaxMalls component. In it's place, as an active EyeEarner, you will now receive shares of TripleClicks customers (to go with your shares of Affiliate signups).
How is a share of TC customers better than a share of MaxMalls revenues? Well, if you've been a part of EyeEarn during its first year, you know that the amount of the shares of MaxMalls revenues have been nominal at best. Now compare that to earning customer commissions of up to 70% CV on every purchase, for life, made by customers you've received from EyeEarn. In my book, this is a SUBSTANTIAL enhancement to the EyeEarn program!
The other change we've made to EyeEarn is tied to a change to the SFI compensation plan. In short, you'll now earn override commissions on any purchases made by the affiliate signups you receive from the EyeEarn Co-op, even if you're not an EA (Executive Affiliate). If your rank is Affiliate, you'll earn 15% of CV. If your rank is EA, you'll earn 30% of CV. And if your rank is TL (Team Leader), you'll earn 35% of CV.
If you put all of this together, something fairly remarkable materializes. That is, EyeEarn becomes a perfect embodiment of the R, S, and D of our new Maximum Income Plan.
It's perfect because by participating in the EyeEarn program, you'll now automatically be Referring customers AND Sponsoring affiliates, AND to add the "D" (for Duplication), you simply need to encourage your affiliates to also become EyeEarners and follow your example. Awesome!
As mentioned in the Maximum Income Plan section above, we've made some modifications to the comp plan to dovetail more closely with the R, S, and D elements.
Before getting into those modifications, there's a major simplification to mention. That is, there is essentially now ONE comp plan for SFI. No longer will you find multiple comp plans for various SFI products and programs. And I think you're going to also REALLY like the new one-page comp plan layout we've put in place.
Change #1We've retired Powerline. In its place is an enhanced Executive Bonus. Instead of only earning from the affiliates who joined SFI after you, you'll now earn from EVERY AFFILIATE in the entire company! In addition to that, 100% of all MaxMalls revenues we receive will now go directly into the Executive Bonus pool to be shared by all EAs.
We've also replaced the Powerline Report with a new Executive Bonus Report which will be prominently promoted and I think you're also going to really like. Check out the Executive Bonus Report HERE.
Change #2All components of the SFI comp plan are now based on CV instead of matches related to the Executive Bonus. We feel this makes the plan easier to comprehend and also means that SFI's movers and shakers will be earning more directly from their own efforts.
Change #3Executive Matches have been replaced with Affiliate Overrides. With this change, you'll now earn a direct 15% to 35% of the CV on all purchases made by your personally sponsored affiliates. As noted above in the EyeEarn section, this change also greatly improves the EyeEarn program.
Change #4A brand new addition to the SFI comp plan, Executive Overrides allow you to earn up to 12% of CV on every customer sale generated by your personally sponsored affiliates.
Change #5Team Matches have been replaced with Network Overrides. Network Overrides allow you to earn up to 10% of CV on all purchases made by affiliates in six downline generations and also on all customer sales made by your affiliates (also down six generations).
Also note that the new Network Overrides are earned on ALL affiliates and paid EVERY month (compared to the old Team Matches that only paid on EAs and did not start until an EA's second month).
Change #6Introducing CASH INFUSION BONUSES!Cash Infusion Bonuses (CIB) are an exciting new way to add thousands of dollars to your commission check. Note that the CIB package has special qualifications: All new SFI affiliates are granted 30 days of free qualification for CIB. To retain qualification, however, affiliates must achieve at least the rank of EA within 30 days of joining SFI. Special note: An additional 30-day extension will be granted with any TripleClicks.com sale or purchase within the affiliate's first 30 days.
Special note: We have, of course, built in a grandfather clause for our existing affiliates, which will work like this:
So long as you are an EA on January 31, 2009 (and remain an EA in each subsequent month)...- You will have until 3/31/09 to achieve the Bronze Bonus*- You will have until 6/30/09 to achieve the Silver Bonus*- You will have until 9/30/09 to achieve the Gold Bonus*- You will have until 12/31/09 to achieve the Platinum Bonus*- The 200% Affiliate Overrides are yours to earn by simply maintaining the rank of EA* Not applicable if you have already achieved this rank.
Change #7Introducing PEAK PERFORMER BONUSES!You're already familiar with our three Peak Performer leaderboards where we recognize SFI's Top Sponsors, Top Sellers, and Top Builders. Now we've added some nice cash bonuses to the recognition, allowing you to earn up to an extra $3,000 every quarter!
As with everything we're unveiling today, I'm very excited about these comp plan changes. We've made the plan dovetail closely with the Refer, Sponsor, and Duplicate mandated by the new Maximum Income Plan. More importantly, these newest changes clearly make the SFI comp plan more lucrative!
Ready to read all the details of the new plan? Click HERE.
Starting January 5th, all new SFI affiliates will begin receiving LaunchPad™, our brand new "getting started" training program.
Each day for an affiliate's first 30 days in SFI (provided they have confirmed their registration), they will receive a special LaunchPad™ e-mail with a brief summary of the day's content and a link back to a new LaunchPad Website we have developed.
On this Website, the affiliate will receive vital tips and information for successfully launching their new SFI business and how to maximize their profits.
As an incentive for becoming an EA as soon as possible, also included will be a mini Executive Bonus "tracker" with the latest enrollment numbers and a link to the new Executive Bonus Report.
As another incentive for becoming an EA, information on the affiliate's Cash Infusion Bonus package will also be highlighted--in particular the affiliate's deadline to secure his or her qualification for these bonuses.
An inspirational "quote of the day" by some of history's greatest leaders rounds out each day's issue of LaunchPad™.
What about affiliates who joined SFI before January 5th? The LaunchPad Website will be open and available to ALL affiliates. We will be announcing the Website address soon.
AND STILL MORE!
All of the above goodies, and we're still not through! Here are some of the great new presentation pages we've created:
New Affiliate Registration Landing PageUpon registration, new affiliates now land on our newly redesigned and simpler "Let's Get Started page." Check it out HERE.
New EA Upgrade Process & PagesWe've redesigned and updated our main "Go Executive" Web page. Thanks to the changes we made in the compensation plan, there are now more benefits for upgrading listed. We've also built in a dynamic currency image which will automatically display the currency of the viewer's country of residence (where available). We've also simplified the upgrade path (there's now just ONE button to proceed instead of the previous four).
After clicking on that ONE button, the reader now sees our brand new "How To Go EA" page where we explain, in very simple terms, how to go EA via transfer buying or via no-purchase-required customer sales. From here, the reader can either choose to proceed immediately with a 10 SVP purchase from TripleClicks or begin working on customer sales as outlined HERE.
New A/EA/TL Comparison ChartThis is one of my favorite new pages. The chart on this new Web page illustrates in elegant fashion the benefits of each of the three major ranks (Affiliate, Executive Affiliate, and Team Leader). Moreover, it allows you to clearly and quickly ascertain that there are MAJOR benefits to moving up from Affiliate to Executive Affiliate...and from Executive Affiliate to Team Leader.
We will be featuring this new page prominently from now on and it should be one you'll want to refer people to regularly as well. Check it out HERE.
New "How to go TL" pageSimilar to the new "How To Go EA" page, this new page provides a nice, brief explanation of the requirements for becoming a Team Leader (TL). Check it out HERE.
New "Reassurance" PageAnother one of my favorite new pages. This new page is basically a central page of facts, figures, and links for reassuring affiliates that SFI is a company they can readily embrace. You'll find links to the "Reassurance Page" on pages where affiliates are being encouraged to upgrade or take some other action involving an investment of money or time. Check it out HERE.
New "About SFI" PageIf you've ever wanted to refer someone to a nice overview of SFI, this is it. Note that it does not contain a way to sponsor prospects; rather it is designed purely to be a "low key" information page on SFI for non-affiliates. With that in mind, we've linked up this new "About SFI" page at the sfimg.com landing page. If a non-affiliate finds themselves at sfimg.com, this provides information on what SFI is, as well as a method for contacting SFI if needed. It's also good for new affiliates who've joined SFI but haven't yet learned what SFI is about. Check it out HERE.
New Customer ReportYou know all those new TripleClicks customers you're going to be generating soon? In the My Reports section of the SFI Affiliate Center, there's now a new report to keep track of them. Similar to the Genealogy (which lists your affiliates), this new report lists all of your personally referred TC customers. The report provides dates, names, and also ordering information so you can see who's ordering what and when.
New SFI Home PageOnce you've logged in at sfimg.com, and proceeded past your Alerts Page, you'll now see a new home page featuring an action list, progress report, and goal review. Note that this page is still a work in progress and there is some significant formatting (example: to-do items removed upon completion) and "prettying up" yet to come. The basic text is mostly there, however, and you can be comfortable knowing your affiliates need only to get to the home page at the Affiliate Center to know what to do, what their next step is, etc. Stay tuned for updates as we finesse the home page.
New menu, navigation, and header featuresWhen you get to the Affiliate Center, you'll notice some different information now displaying in the top right area of the header. We've also reorganized the main horizontal menu bar to correlate with the Maximum Income Plan. In short, most everything in the menu bar is now organized around the actions of Referring TC customers, Sponsoring SFI affiliates, and Duplication.
We've also made some changes to the left sidebar. This area now includes convenient, one-click access to key destinations such as TripleClicks, MaxMalls, a2a, the SFI DBoard, SFI News, and more.
New "R" and "S" Methods PagesI've been talking a lot about the big role the Maximum Income Plan plays in SFI 3.0. And when you're ready to start working on the Refer and Sponsor part of the plan, you'll need a top-notch list of HOW to do it. We've provided this with our new Refer Methods page and our new Sponsor Methods page.
LOOKING AHEAD
We'll take a day or two to catch our breath, but after that my staff and I will be on to additional innovation and even more enhancements and improvements.
For starters, there are still a number of substantial features yet to come at TripleClicks. One of the biggest is our plan to also give commercial sellers a place at the table. That is, commercial sellers will be able to sell their goods and services right alongside everything else in TC. Imagine how many products will be available at TC when this is in place! And, of course, there will be great SVP and CV attached to all of these products. Not only that, as an affiliate, you'll have the opportunity to earn royalties on every product sold by commercial sellers that you would refer to SFI.
We're also looking at a program that would create officially licensed local and/or regional outlets for TC products. This could completely eliminate shipping and shipping costs.
We're also planning in 2009 to come out with a number of new video marketing aids, and a powerful, totally different, new "skepticism-busting" Website that will detail SFI's impressive and growing resume.
And these are just a few of the things in store for 2009. As always, we'll continue building, improving, polishing, and refining SFI and keeping it THE #1 affiliate program in the world.
IN CLOSING...
2008 was a terrific year for SFI, but I think you can now see that 2009 is going to BLOW LAST YEAR AWAY!
Never in our history has our foundation been stronger or our opportunities greater. The Internet continues its explosive worldwide growth and you, as an SFI affiliate, are perfectly poised to ride the wave.
Lastly, I'd like to extend my sincerest gratitude and thanks to everyone here at the SFI corporate office who worked so tirelessly to make 2008 a great year...and 2009 even greater. We also couldn't have done it without the loyalty and support of our thousands of SFI affiliates around the world. We love you all. And we love making SFI better and better for you.
Let's all go to work now and make 2009 one for the record books!!!
Enthusiastically,
Gery Carson
Monday, December 8, 2008
Sensible Financial Outlays for the Home Business Owner
Like many aspiring entrepreneurs, you may have decided to break free of your job to live your dream of working from home. You're ready to seize the opportunity for freedom, unlimited earning potential and chance to live your life exactly the way you want.
One of the biggest challenges you will face during the first two years will revolve around cash flow and money management. In order to give yourself the best chance possible of surviving the first two years so you can thrive from that point on, it's imperative that you achieve mastery in five areas:
1. Gain control over your spending today
2. Create a personal and business budget
3. Increase your financial IQ
4. Explore sources of capital
5. Think like a successful business owner.
First things first. Gain control over your spending today. Honestly evaluate your spending habits and identify where your money is going. Are you living beyond your means and buying things you don't really need? In The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, a focus group interview of ten first generation millionaires revealed that most millionaires don't own expensive clothes, watches or other status objects, and you won't find them driving brand new luxury cars. A millionaire Texan coined the expression, "Big Hat No Cattle" to illustrate the fact that many people like to create the illusion of wealth by making extravagant purchases yet have little to no financial wealth. Many of these people are deep in debt and if they were to lose their jobs today, wouldn't be able to survive three months on their savings.
Take control over unnecessary spending. Do you NEED 50 pairs of shoes and a matching purse for each? Do you NEED a new vehicle every three years? Before making a purchase, ask yourself if it will contribute to your building a successful business or take you further away from it. Create a budget. Do you know how much money you're bringing in each month and how much is going out? Budgeting doesn't have to be unpleasant or difficult and if you don't know where to begin, there are a multitude of helpful resources and articles on the Internet to get you started at no cost. Successful business owners understand the importance of a budget and follow it faithfully. If you have no interest or willingness to learn how to budget your money, business ownership is not for you.
Increase your financial IQ: You don't have to become a financial genius or investment guru, but you do need to have the basic skills. You can access a helpful questionnaire at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/ww1/pdfs/01financialiq.pdf to help you measure your financial intelligence and identify areas requiring attention. Also, get your hands on the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki.
Explore Sources of Capital: The first year may require significant investment in equipment, education and marketing and there's no guarantee your business will start making money right away. Unless you have significant savings put aside for the start-up period, you will need to explore alternate sources of capital. Explore financing options through government programs, start-up loans, angel investors, partnerships, friends and family, and although I don't recommend this one unless you are proven financially responsible, credit cards. Depending on your product or service, perhaps pre-selling to your clients and customers would be feasible. Suppliers might also provide the start-up money you need. If you borrow money, even if from family or friends, always get agreements in writing and make sure the loans are set up with proper security, terms and conditions and a payment schedule.
Think and act like a business owner: When you transition from employee to entrepreneur, you will require a shift in your thinking. You will quickly discover that trying to get everything for free or at a "deal" will actually hinder your success. In the business world, you will be required to develop win-win relationships. If you require something of someone, how will you help him in return? Practice the Law of Reciprocity which means, learn to give and take mutually. In other words, when someone gives you something, give something of equal value back.
Master these five areas and you will significantly increase your ability to succeed. As you make financial decisions and begin to build your business ask yourself, "Is this the best use of my money in terms of supporting my business?" This evaluation process will become second nature through practice and will support you in making smart financial decisions.
Holly
Web Business Review
One of the biggest challenges you will face during the first two years will revolve around cash flow and money management. In order to give yourself the best chance possible of surviving the first two years so you can thrive from that point on, it's imperative that you achieve mastery in five areas:
1. Gain control over your spending today
2. Create a personal and business budget
3. Increase your financial IQ
4. Explore sources of capital
5. Think like a successful business owner.
First things first. Gain control over your spending today. Honestly evaluate your spending habits and identify where your money is going. Are you living beyond your means and buying things you don't really need? In The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, a focus group interview of ten first generation millionaires revealed that most millionaires don't own expensive clothes, watches or other status objects, and you won't find them driving brand new luxury cars. A millionaire Texan coined the expression, "Big Hat No Cattle" to illustrate the fact that many people like to create the illusion of wealth by making extravagant purchases yet have little to no financial wealth. Many of these people are deep in debt and if they were to lose their jobs today, wouldn't be able to survive three months on their savings.
Take control over unnecessary spending. Do you NEED 50 pairs of shoes and a matching purse for each? Do you NEED a new vehicle every three years? Before making a purchase, ask yourself if it will contribute to your building a successful business or take you further away from it. Create a budget. Do you know how much money you're bringing in each month and how much is going out? Budgeting doesn't have to be unpleasant or difficult and if you don't know where to begin, there are a multitude of helpful resources and articles on the Internet to get you started at no cost. Successful business owners understand the importance of a budget and follow it faithfully. If you have no interest or willingness to learn how to budget your money, business ownership is not for you.
Increase your financial IQ: You don't have to become a financial genius or investment guru, but you do need to have the basic skills. You can access a helpful questionnaire at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/ww1/pdfs/01financialiq.pdf to help you measure your financial intelligence and identify areas requiring attention. Also, get your hands on the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki.
Explore Sources of Capital: The first year may require significant investment in equipment, education and marketing and there's no guarantee your business will start making money right away. Unless you have significant savings put aside for the start-up period, you will need to explore alternate sources of capital. Explore financing options through government programs, start-up loans, angel investors, partnerships, friends and family, and although I don't recommend this one unless you are proven financially responsible, credit cards. Depending on your product or service, perhaps pre-selling to your clients and customers would be feasible. Suppliers might also provide the start-up money you need. If you borrow money, even if from family or friends, always get agreements in writing and make sure the loans are set up with proper security, terms and conditions and a payment schedule.
Think and act like a business owner: When you transition from employee to entrepreneur, you will require a shift in your thinking. You will quickly discover that trying to get everything for free or at a "deal" will actually hinder your success. In the business world, you will be required to develop win-win relationships. If you require something of someone, how will you help him in return? Practice the Law of Reciprocity which means, learn to give and take mutually. In other words, when someone gives you something, give something of equal value back.
Master these five areas and you will significantly increase your ability to succeed. As you make financial decisions and begin to build your business ask yourself, "Is this the best use of my money in terms of supporting my business?" This evaluation process will become second nature through practice and will support you in making smart financial decisions.
Holly
Web Business Review
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