MarketingBeyond

Affiliate Marketing & Your Time: Want to Work for $4 Per Hour?

As I continue watching Internet product launches,  I'm becoming increasingly concerned. Many promises are made, some are kept. A few IM niche marketers make lots of money. Most don't.

You've all seen the acronym "ROI" (return on investment). I've just invented a new measurement, related to ROI and more important: "ROT."

ROT stands for "return on time" and has two components: the AMOUNT of time you invest in anything (attending school, working at a job, learning an Internet marketing course) and the monetary VALUE of your time, broken down in hours.

Before choosing an Internet training program, before checking out the PRICE ($47, $97), estimate how many available HOURS you can set aside to complete the course.

Let's say you estimate 100 hours. Ask yourself first if you have 100 hours available. If you do, you must COMMIT yourself to allocating 100 hours of your time to complete the course. If you don't have 100 hours, you shouldn't purchase because the ROT (return on time) will be nil.

Then, estimate what your time earns. If you spend 100 hours of your time to generate $100 per week in month two, you initially earn $4 per hour ($100 per week X four divided by 100 hours).

If your time investment results in earning $200 per week in month three ($800 per month), then you've earned $10 per hour ($400 to get going in month two; $800 in month three for a total of $1,000, divided by 100 hours).

If your time investment continues growing, you ROT rises; if it diminishes, your ROT goes down.

Now, subtract your monetary investment and the value of time spent maintaining your investment (PPC advertising, cost of product, joint partner ayments, etc.). Let's say it's $500.

Your return on time generated $1,000, but your costs reduced that by $500. So by month three, your net gain is $500. You've earned $5 per hour ($500/100 hours). Is the investment worth your time?

Both quality and poor Internet marketing courses take time, your most precious resource. Some Internet marketers are honest and up-front about earnings, like Affilorama's, but many are not. The latter usually have promotional names such as "how to make $10,000 on Twitter in one week" or "Blogging to the Bank" and such.

Some Internet marketers play off people's general reluctance to spend time and consider their ROT. That's why so many newbies and others continue buying new courses, because the previous ones were time-consuming and ineffective.

You have to decide whether the promise of riches is realistic and the amount of time it will take to achieve a profit rather than just making money. (The two are different.)

"Free" bonuses are not really free because they require your TIME and lower your ROT. The best rule of thumb is to take on only ONE course at a time, put all your time and effort into learning, then decide if you want to move on to the next one.

But before choosing any program, calculate your RETURN ON TIME. To avoid considering ROT will cause you a lot of pain and no gain.

Credit Card Theft Goes High Tech: Banking's Next Challenge

Before the debacle of sub-prime mortgages...before the creation of CDO's and CDS'...before the near collapse of the banking system...before George Bush entered the White House...and after God created the Earth in seven days...credit card theft reigned supreme.

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Target customers, who accepted the enticing offer of a free Target credit card, are in default to the tune of over $300M. CitiBank, which announced the elimination of 20% of its workforce yesterday, American Express and other major banks are also losing billions in their credit card operations. And the good news keeps dribbling in.

Just to add to your list of worries, however, the Department of Justice recently announced a masssive credit/debit card theft, CBS News reported a case where 11 people stole information off 40 million credit cards wirelessly by driving past retail outlets, then transmitting the stolen data overseas. And CrediMom, a blogger, wrote a post describing how credit card thieves clone and skim your private information off the metallic strips on the back of your cards.

Let me tell you a personal eCommerce story that should keep you awake at nights...a secret that few people know about credit card transaction processing in the U.S.

I spent three hours on the telephone today speaking with my former merchant account company (merchant account companies work in tandem with Authorize.Net and banks to approve credit card transactions). I also chatted with a police officer in West Virginia about a $2,500 loss I recently experienced in my business due to credit card fraud.

What I discovered is startling. Do you know that if someone has your credit card number, the three or four digit CVS security code printed on the front or back of your card, your zip code and numeric street address, a credit card transaction can be approved?

If it's an online transaction, the thieves don't even need your NAME. That's right. If the card is valid and the charge is within the credit limit, an online purchase can be approved even if the purchaser writes "Donald Duck" in the bill-to area of the shopping cart screen.

No one at my merchant account company, Authorize.net, a "gateway" company that coordinates CC transactions and the bank that processes approvals could tell me why credit card holder NAMES are not part of the authorization requirements. The answer from everyone with whom I spoke: "That's just the way it is."

Fraudulent credit card transactions--now estimated in the billions each year--are either charged back to online merchants, who have insuffiicent proof-of-delivery, or written off by the issuing bank. The owner of the credit card disputes the charge and that's it.

Now you know why credit card companies charge outrageous interest rates. Someone has to pay for credit card fraud and, guess what, it's you and me.

So, while Americans worry about losing their jobs, homes, 401k's and next year's vacations, don't forget about the plastic. Remember, the thieves are out there--and many have gone high tech.

Spam Email Marketing: Mules, Colon Cleansing & Free $$$

When I was a kid, my Mom--bless her heart--served spam for breakfast. Things haven't changed much, I guess. Spam now comes out of our computer e-mail programs rather than the frying pan, it's a lot less gooey but it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Been spammed recently? The Google hits just went off the scale: "Email Spam = 22,770,000 and the plain variety--just "spam"--roll the drums, please.... 359,000,000. "Sex" delivered 852,000,000. "Death" came in at 652,000,000. And Michael Phelps has a long way to go; his Google hits just passed 10 million.

Spam is growing faster than corn in Iowa or the national debt. So we should keep things in perspective every time a spammer gets past our computer software filters.

I thought I'd share a few dicey ones with you so you have something amusing to discuss at breakfast. Here's a lady who would like to hire me--sight unseen. She sounds nice too:

----------------SPAM ONE.............

Good day,

My name is Julia Knowles, I work as an employee manager of Natural Resources Inc . Your resume has been found at one of job-sites, and here is the reason I’m eager to offer you an office in our company. (Heck, I really wanted a job, not just the office.)

The business of our company is to purchase and to sale (sic) mineral resources in Europe.

From the moment of the establishing (Poland, 1998)--good year for Polish sausages---our main occupation was coal trading, but further on we substantially broadened the sphere of our interests. (Yes, coal leaves much to be desired.)

We trade mostly in all kinds of the mineral resources being quarried both in Poland, and in other European countries. We render our service to companies as well as to individual investors. (I like being rendered; must save $$$ on the minerals.)

We develop more actively each year and now we are entering the US market of mineral resources and forming the establishment. (Aha, now we know the establishment is Poland-based.)

Our employees are capable to select an adaptable working chart, (I should have told my former boss about this) and we also propose a lot of optional partial vacancies (from several hours a day up)--hmmm, partial vacancies; sounds like a pink slip--and also for those who have no experience in this field, but sense how perspective this market in the US is and that it is not completely occupied yet. (Now, that's the kind of job I want--little competition with lots of perspective.)

Our employees are granted the best operating conditions (personal equipment for convenient communication and work - laptops and Blackberries/Apple iPhones/communicators), paid vacation and other bonuses. (Wow, this is better than Google!) We grant the annual pay of $ and the annual pay of $ for MBA holders. (I guess those MBA's just don't increase your income anymore...oh, well.) The annual pay for holders of other certificates is also discussible. (That's what one of my previous bosses told me, but we never discussed it.)  (The pay is given monthly, above the total annual salary is indicated). (You mean, I get a monthly and a yearly salary; count me in.)

We are always eager to respond to any questions and consider the terms of collaboration. You can contact us any time it’s comfortable for you.(You're on! What's your phone number?)

................SPAM TWO..........

Good morning,

My name is Sergey Markov. I am a manager of Magic PC Company. (Great name, I loved magic as a kid.)

Our company are reselling goods in Russia (Notebooks, digital cameras and etc). Often our clients prefer buy goods directly from US stores it more cheap then buy in Local russian shops. But most USA shops and stores not ship orders oversears. (Sears won't ship; I'll write the CEO.)

So we are offerring mail forwarding service for our clients. Quantity of orders from USA stores grows every day. So we need more partners in USA for order processing. (Yeah, getting those orders out the door is a hassle.)

We would like to offer the perspective partnership to you. We propose a vacancy of the regional agent. (Poor guy got canned, but his plight is my right, eh?) The average salary will be about $2000-4500 monthly. (Is it tax-free?)

Correspondence manager regional agent
Job description: - Mail Forwarding
Requirements:
- Home Computer with e-mail account and ability to check your e-mail
box at least twice a day (piece of cake; here in Silicon Valley, we're 24/7 with email).
- Adults only accepted (we cannot hire underage people); (hey, that's job discrimination)
- Contact phone (Actually, mine sits on a desk; oh, you mean a cell phone? I've got lots of those.)
- Ability to handle packages weight up to 20 pounds(get them to the post office). (No problem, just throw them in the back of my Prius and I'm off. Do you reimburse for gas?)

.............SPAM THREE, MY DAILY QUOTA....

Att,Winner, (I've been waiting for AT&T to give something away after all the iPhone screw-ups.)

Your email address just won the sum of £500,000 pounds sterling in our
YEARLY  AWARD as it attached to the winning ref number XYL/26510460037/07. (All Right! My ship has finally come to shore. Let's see, one pound = XXXUSD....Have to Google that one; I knew I chose a great email address, high five!)

In other to claim, please contact the claims department at the emailaddress provided below for proper verifications to be conducted. (Really glad this company is careful, considering how many email addresses there are.)

Delivery of Cheque contact: MR.STEPHEN MARIO (CLAIMS AGENT) via
Email:claimsagentdept001@gmail.com
Please provide him with your Secret pin code UY8765TKH and Your reference
number 26510460037/07 with your.

FULL NAMES (Sorry, I only have one.)
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
SEX (Yes)
COUNTRY

Congratulations.
Yours faithfully,
Online Coordinator.

(As they say in Fargo, "Thanks a Bunch!")

.............SPAM FOUR......O.K., JUST ONE MORE.......

ATTENTION!! (Yes, Sir or Maa'm or whoever)

It is likely that you have up to 20 POUNDS of excess weight and bad toxins built up in your system right now! (O.k., I need to get to the gym; don't rub it in.)

This precise buildup can be the cause to your noticeable daily lower energy levels, bloating, constipation, aches & cramps, and even excess gastral discomfort. (I knew it...I knew it....)

This area of buildup can be a severe breeding ground for harmful bacterias that live inside your body, increasing your chances of potentially forming Colon Cancer (Just got a clean bill of health, but hey, who doesn't want to lose a few pounds?)

TRY COLON CURE AT NO CHARGE! America's Favorite Colon Cleanse! Colon Cure provides the purest cleansing ingredients, accompanied by strong detoxifying agents, to fight inner body bacteria buildup. (I'm convinced; send me a case. Do you sell on Amazon?)

Just Googled "God," who comes in at a respectable 678,000,000, beating Death by 26 million hits. Now, let me check out that bacteria cleanser on Amazon...