WAHMCart Blog

Although Lynette has moved on to fulfill her extremely talented 'developer' gifts, we miss her over here at Wahmcart.  If you didn't know, Lynette Chandler is actually the Co-Founder of Wahmcart and a very dear friend of mine.

One of the things that I mostly admire about Lynette is her generosity.  She's always giving so much of her time and knowledge to the small business community.  To top it off, she's recently released a free downloadable report, "12 Buzz Topics You Should Blog About Right Now." 

If you don't know Lynette, she has a wealth of knowledge on the topic of blogs. Whether it's technology or blogging ideas, she knows her stuff.

We all know blogs can be an important component of an online business. They can:

1. Help you build relationships with current readers and customers
2.  Allow you to gain new readers that eventually turn into customers
3. Help create new and important connections with other like-minded bloggers.

But what happens when you can't think of anything interesting to write about on your blog? It happens to ALL of us. Blogs are started with the greatest of intentions, but then things just all flat (yep, I totally fit in that category :). Or even when we're good at keeping up with our blogs most of the time, we can find ourselves in an idea slump now and then.

If you've faced this challenge before, here's a cool freebie that will help you generate more ideas than you can possibly write about. Plus, these are ideas that people will talk about, generating more BUZZ and word of mouth for your blog.

The downloadable report is comes at no charge or any kind of obligation whatsoever. You don't even have to opt-in to get it. Just go to:

http://tinyurl.com/buzzblog

…and click on "Download Now".

At a super easy-to-digest 5 pages, Lynette has given you 12 sure-fire starter ideas that are applicable to ANY market.  Take a few minutes to read it and get blogging!

Again, the link to grab yours is:
http://tinyurl.com/buzzblog

Kudos to Lynette!

To your blogging success,

Regina Baker

Here are a couple of cool free stuff that you definitely will want to grab!

Free Handy List of 115 Power Words — Grab them here.

Free Headline Tips, Sales Letter Template & Checklist
This is a free download that includes: — (Get these here)

• Headline Tips Guide: Includes basics of headline writing and it also include 11 practical headlines starters that make it easy for you to start writing your own headlines.
• A Sales Letter HTML Template: The template is laid out with instructions on where to add which information, text and more. It includes full formatting and images that can be used as is or fully modified.
• Sales Letter Checklist: Even if your readers don’t want the template, here’s a handy that will help your readers ensure they have all the necessary components for their sales pages.

All the best,
Regina

QUESTION: Will PayPal payment sales that go through an affiliate show up too? A customer paid via PayPal (not through my Wahmcart account) and found me one of my affiliates.

ANSWER: In short, no. However whenever a customer bypasses the shopping cart and decides to just pay you via paypal (because they have your paypal email address) no, the sale isn’t logged in Wahmcart nor will the affiliate who referred the sale get credit.

SOLUTION: In order to log the sale into Wahmcart and for the affiliate to get the appropriate credit, follow the steps below:

1. Login to your Wahmcart account
2. Put your mouse over “SALES”
3. You’ll see the drop down menu, select “ADD”
4. Enter in the customer information (make sure the product showing is the actual product that was purchased)
5. (If an affiliate needs to be credited as well) Make sure the ’sale type’ is “Affiliate” (otherwise don’t do anything here)
6. If so, enter the affiliate’s id number: example: 1111
7. click “Add Sale”

You’re done! The sale is now logged into your Wahmcart account for accounting purposes.

42 Day Launch Incubator

If you're serious about taking your business to an income producing machine, this intense group coaching package is just for YOU!

Let me repeat, this message is only for the SERIOUS business individual who is sick and tired of being sick and tired and desiring to rise above these economic times.

I know, there's A LOT of 'promise you' packages online and
sometimes it's hard to know who will actually produce what they promise in those long sales letters. But, I can tell you from experience, Kelly McCausey is NO joke! She will hold you accountable for what you say you want and won't mince words with you either. Even better, she'll be right there to walk you through the entire process!

She's got the experience and proof behind her that will allow even a newbie to change their current lack situation into positive cash flow. I know, I've been mentored by Kelly now for a little over 4 years, as a friend and through her very powerful and successful mastermind group -MomMasterminds.

So who is this Kelly McCausey?

Kelly's a single mother who conquered debt and quit the day job through the success of an internet based business, Kelly has a passion for seeing Work at Home Moms, as well as small businesses succeed.

As a home business coach and internet marketer, Kelly has built an income through 100% online ventures and is enjoying the freedom that comes with it.

Don't let the term 'wahm' fool you, this smart and savvy business woman, knows her stuff!

Be assured that I'm not sending you this message about MomMasterminds (although I highly recommend it), I'm talking about the 6 week '42 Day Launch Incubator' group coaching that she's just opened for the first 10 people who respond.

In 42 Power Packed Days You Will:

• Create & release Articles

• Create & release a Special Report.

• Create & release a Press Release.

• Set up a ‘Name Squeeze/Burning Question’ Page.

• Create an Autoresponder Sequence

• Plan & Hold a Live $1 Seminar Event

• Create Bonus Resources

• Create a short Sales Letter

• Bundle your Recording, Transcripts & Extras into a Product.

And on top of all of this, she's committed to be your Encouraging Coach, Helpful Editor and Stern Taskmaster!

If you're sitting around trying to figure out what to do, haste makes waste… Instead learn how to apply proven principles that work!

So what are you waiting for? Check out 42 Day Launch Incubator and then make your own informed decision about taking your business to the next level!

All the best,
Regina Baker
your ecommerce solutions partner
http://Wahmcart.com

UGH!

Sometimes I move way too fast for my own good! Remember when I mentioned I would be answering all your questions on a Teleseminar, October 29, 2008 regarding Wahmcart? Yes? No? To refresh your memory, here’s the post.

I called myself doing this early enough to gather all the questions so I would be FULLY prepared to answer those questions HOWEVER, I had no clue that when you entered your question in the box here, that I wouldn’t see those UNTIL THE DAY OF THE TELESEMINAR…. LOL!

Not Cool!

So here’s what I did. I picked up the software that I should have been using ALL THE TIME and made a new form whereby I will receive the information automatically! Yeah and kudos to Kelly & Lynette for Easy Internet Survey.

Now here’s my question to you: Will you PLEASE be so kind to go to the correct form here and enter the question(s) for me again? Pretty please? And just for doing so, you’ll receive a $5 Rebate in November!

Yep, it’s that serious. It has always been our goal to satisfy our customers 1st. Just ask your question here and put your Wahmcart ID# in the box and you’ll be credited in November.

Thank you SO much for your patience. Oh before I forget, our developer is completely focused on the new COUPON Feature coming very soon

Your friendly ecommerce advisor,
Regina

(Or, How To Make Viral Ebooks Work For You) By Jimmy D. Brown

If I had only known, I wouldn’t have made these mistakes. But I did.

For such a small word, “if” sure does cause a lot of problems, doesn’t it?

• “If I had not turned off the alarm clock, I wouldn’t have overslept.”
• “If I had paid attention to what my wife said, I would have not shrunk
  my 100% cotton shirt three sizes too small.”
• “If I would have taken the time to fuel up, my car wouldn’t have run out
  of gas out here in the middle of nowhere.”
• “If I had charged up the battery on my mobile phone, then I would be
  able to call AAA to bring me some gas out here in the middle of nowhere!”

See what I mean?

“If” is such a tiny word.

But it’s like dynamite. It packs a lot of punch.

For me, as I teach (and learn myself!) about viral eBooks, the phrase is
this:

“If I had only known, I wouldn’t have made these mistakes.”

You see, I made MANY costly mistakes in my early viral eBooks. Mistakes that
are *literally* costing me thousands of dollars in profits right now.

And there is nothing I can do to change them.

Once you set a viral eBook into motion, it’s impossible to get it back and
make corrections to things ya screwed up on.

Man, if I could go back into time and change some things.

I have learned the hard way some things you DON’T want to do with
viral ebooks.

That’s what we’re going to take a look at here.

I’ve made ‘em all.

You don’t have to.

Don’t do this…

1.  Never use any link inside the content that you can’t control.

   I learned the hard way that you should always use redirect links from your own domain when putting any kind of link inside your ebook.

   For example: most people insert their affiliate link for an affiliate offer inside the ebook that they have put together. The one that was given to them by the affiliate program owner.

   Instead, you want to link to a page at your site that refreshes and redirects the visitor to your assigned affiliate link. Something like this… http://www.yourdomain.com/brainstorm.html  This is important so you can CHANGE the link anytime you want to in the future.

   For example:  If I decided to no longer use ClickBank to handle my affiliate program and went with a different affiliate tracking link, what happens to the thousands of copies of your viral eBook that are in place with that old affiliate link in there?

   They become obsolete, unusable and unprofitable.

   Or, suppose you are linking to a dating service that goes out of business? What now?  Your links are toast. They are worthless to you.

   With a redirect link you can easily adjust the target page and send the traffic to a different dating service, or to a page at your site. With a redirect link the changes are made at YOUR SITE, which you remain in control of regardless of what happens with the products and services that you linked to.

   Even if you change hosts or servers, you still remain in control.

   You don't have to make changes to all of those eBooks — which would be impossible to do — you simply make a 2 minute change at your site.

   I can’t tell you how many dead links are in some of my earlier ebooks that continue to give me headaches as people email me saying, “Jimmy, you’ve got a dead link here … can you give the correct link?”

   It creates a lot of extra work in answering emails and certainly is throwing away potential profit for the countless people who never bother to ask for an updated link.
   So, never use any link inside the content that you can’t control.

   Always use redirect links.

2.  Another thing is you want to avoid using dated information by providing too specific details.

   Affiliate program A may not be offering that free 30 day trial offer very much longer.

   The price for admission to that special site may not always be $29.95.

   That site that was “just released last week” may have become an all-time classic by the time Bob reads your viral ebook two years after it was released.

   You want to make certain that you stay away from information that is too specific that can easily become irrelevant.

   Again, I get emails all the time griping about inconsistent prices because I put a price for the Profits Vault membership into one of my early viral ebooks and that price is no longer valid.

   Hasn’t been for almost two years.

   I’ve even gotten ugly emails accusing me of fraud and false advertising, with threats to turn me in to the attorney general and all kinds of nonsense.

   So, be careful that you don’t date your viral ebook if you can avoid it.

3.  Another no-no is to never put any information into your ebook that you don’t want all over the world.

   These things travel folks and they can be global in a matter of days and certainly over time you can easily have a worldwide audience.

   I made the mistake of putting my cell phone number in one of my earlier ebooks because everyone claimed that if I didn’t have my contact information in there, no one would buy from me… which is nonsense I might add.

   Anyway, I started getting all kinds of calls at all hours of the day.

   What was 3:00 in the afternoon in the Philippines was 3:00 in the morning where I live.

   So, it was a nuisance.

   Kind of a funny story came out of it.

   I disconnected that number, of course, and got a new one. That was almost 2 years ago.

   Well, about a month or so ago I had a lady email me and she was hopping mad.

   Apparently, she had ordered a cellular phone and got my old number… and folks were still calling!

   She told me that she was getting calls from England and all over looking for me and they were running her cellular bill up with charges.

   She wanted me to do something about it and all I could do was tell her “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do”

   With viral marketing, it’s pretty much unstoppable, which is why it is so effective. It keeps spreading and it’s hard to stop the growth once it gets going.

   So, never put anything into your ebook that you don’t want the world to know and use.

4.  Another thing is this … always have your carriers do the branding.

   You want to automate the process as much as possible.

   Again, I learned the hard way.

   Early on, before there were all of these branding tools available, I hand customized each ebook.

   And as they began to spread, the customization requests grew to be way too much for me to handle. I was spending most of my day putting together these customized viral ebooks for each new person that requested a copy.

   That had to change and so now I use branding tools and branding instructions. I give them to anyone who wants to customize the ebook and I let THEM do the work.

   Keeps me out of the loop completely.

   So, unless you have some specific reason to do it yourself, place that responsibility onto the ones who want to distribute the viral ebooks.

5.  One more thing I want to share. Always launch new browser windows with your links in your ebooks.

   Whenever you link to a site within your viral eBook content, always remember to code that link to launch a new browser window when the reader clicks on it. I learned this the hard way. There are many scripts involved in the order-taking process at online credit card processing sites.

   And many of those have caused glitches in the eBook due to the software the eBook was created with and it crashes the eBook, making it impossible to order.

   So, what happens is this.

   You do your job well. The content is great. You've got a hungry customer waiting to buy.  They click on a recommended product link. They arrive at the site still inside your eBook window. They click on the order link and the entire thing shuts down. I mean completely shuts down the ebook and website altogether.

   And, in some cases, it even crashes the computer. You just lost a customer because two sets of code didn't like each other.

   That has happened to me on MANY different occasions in some of my early ebooks.

   Now, all of my links launch new browser windows OUTSIDE of the ebook if you click on a link inside the ebook. All you need to do is insert a simple line of code into your links inside the eBook. The code looks like this…

   Target="Resource Window"

   Now when someone clicks on your link, a new browser window will launch outside of the eBook itself before taking them to the website. Now, you're safe. EVERY link in your eBook should have this code. You can thank me later.

   (NOTE: IF you are using a PDF maker for your ebooks, you should be fine with your links.)

   Viral eBooks are tremendous tools. But, there are also some pitfalls associated with them.

I’ve just shared five of the mistakes that I have made.

There is just no way of measuring how much profit I have lost over the years due to those errors.

There wasn’t a manual available to tell me how to do it. History hadn’t really been recorded at that time to tell me what to stay away from and what to make sure I did in order to protect myself from problems.

So, you’re getting something that I didn’t have.

Aren’t ya happy?

In all seriousness, don’t make the mistakes that I made.

History doesn’t need to repeat itself on this one.

Want to learn a NEW viral ebook strategy that isn't outdated and overused? Check out "How To Get Free Traffic With PLR Reports " by clicking here . You'll learn a great way to get free traffic to any site you choose with free "private label rights" reports.

Rather than have the “content” come out of my head for Wahmcart’s 1st LIVE teleseminar, I’ve decided the best way to do this is for YOU to ask all of the questions and get answers right on the spot!

Sound fair?

If you could ask me ANY question you wanted about how to best utilize Wahmcart, what would your question be?

Here’s your chance to ask me directly and get the information now for this LIVE teleseminar on October 29, 2008.

This teleseminar is all about YOU! Please submit your questions here prior to the event this way I’ll be well prepared to answer the questions that you want answers to.

FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)

For additional info click here: http://wahmcart.com/seminar

I look forward to receiving and answering all of your questions!

See you there!

Regina

P.S. In the meantime, I took the liberty to answer a few of the questions I’ve already received: You can download the answers here.

Choosing the right affiliate program makes the difference between making peanuts and earning a good income from your affiliate marketing business. If you are a newcomer to the world of affiliate marketing and need a little guidance, this article will help you begin your affiliate marketing journey. Of course, a newcomer will also face a little more difficulty figuring out what exactly to look for in an affiliate program.

These are three tips which can make sure that your affiliate recommendations are consistently good ones.

• The right product

It's always a good idea to check out the product for yourself before you sign up as an affiliate to promote it. With inexpensive products like ebooks, this is easy enough to do. However, if you are considering joining the affiliate program for a product which you cannot afford yourself, you should ask the affiliate manager for a review copy so you can evaluate it for yourself. They may not always say yes, but it can't hurt to ask and it's a good way to make sure that your recommendations are trustworthy otherwise you need to do some in-depth research on the people behind the affiliate program and the product itself.

• A solid reputation

Make a habit of researching any product (and the company selling it) before recommending it. You can do a quick search to look into the track record and reputation of a company. You definitely don't want your potential customers to think that the trust they have in you is misplaced and ruin a good track record by recommending a substandard product or one by a company with a record of poor customer service just so you can make a few extra bucks. If you are new to affiliate marketing and this is a new company or new product which you have no way of judging, you are better off taking a pass on this product unless you know the founders of the company or have some other assurance of their integrity.

• Does the merchant give you more than a simple sales page to help you market their product?

If you are experienced as an affiliate marketer, a simple sales page may be plenty to get you started, but if you are new to this, you're going to need more resources to make this a successful campaign. Try to find programs which give you more than this like sample emails, articles, graphics; you get the idea. You want programs which offer marketing materials and support to get you started.

To learn more about the basics of affiliate marketing, grab your free registration to Moms Affiliate Expo here.

© 2008 Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses. Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business? Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com

Competition is a given in the marketplace. No matter how novel your product, you will have imitators springing up seemingly overnight. You must establish the differences between your product and that offered by your competition – this will help you to retain current customers and draw in new ones.

Remember that consumers have a lot of choices. You have to convince them of the merits of buying from you instead of from a competitor. Think about what your product offers that no one else’s does. Once you know what to say, make this a part of your marketing materials; this is an important message to get across to current and potential clients alike.

What features are included in your product, but not that of your competition?

Perhaps you are in the cosmetics business; maybe your products include a mirror in the lid of each case for easy application. If yours is a less tangible product, such as EBooks, you can include extras like checklists or top 10 ideas for whatever your chosen niche happens to be.

Think of the benefits which your product can offer to consumers. Will it make their lives easier in some way; will it perhaps save them time? Again using the example of cosmetics, you can go with the “all in one” angle, or sell kits which are already put together of common cosmetics. With EBooks and other digital products, you can sell customers on the point that your books are easy to read and can be adapted to a number of different uses.

Remember that price is one of the most important considerations in marketing any product. That said, most people are willing to pay a little more for a product which they feel is superior in quality. Before you price your product in an attempt to undercut the competition, consider your target market – are they willing to pay more a product which is perceived as having an added value? You can try selling your product at one price and if it doesn’t perform as well as expected, you can always lower it later.

Customer service is also something which will make not only your product, but your entire business stand out from the crowd. Your customers will feel appreciated if you make a habit of following up on all xorrespondence in a timely manner, giving them an added value with useful free information and the occasional customer appreciation event.

Setting your company apart from your competitors is a must for business success. Your product will soon come to build a reputation for itself. People will just know that your product is the best available and come to you without even considering your competition.

© 2008 Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses. Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business? Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com

When it comes to having a website that is properly optimized for search engines, backlinks are a necessity to online success. There are several different components that assist in the area of having a website that is considered to have good optimization for all the popular websites like Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Ask.Com, AOL, MSN, and more. These components include keywords, the density of keywords within the physical content, quality, and backlinks.

Here, you will learn quite a bit of information regarding this important component of your website. You will learn what they are, how to get them, and even why they are important!

What Are Backlinks?

Many individuals are quite curious to learn more once they hear of backlinks offering a solution to increasing their overall page rank. Backlinks are actually quite simple to define. They are basically just links that are considered to be incoming to a particular website, article, picture, video, or any other type of media that is on the internet. You may also look at them as a link that is received from one particular area on the internet to another specific area on the internet. These are received and sent to what is referred to as “web nodes”. Web nodes include online directories, domains that are
considered to be top level, and even basic websites.

Backlinks are known by several other names when it comes to the virtual world, these names include:

1. Inward Links
2. Inbound, or Inbound Links
3. Incoming, or Incoming Links
4. Inlinks

How Do I Get Backlinks?

There are several creative ways to get backlinks to your website. One of the methods that I find to be most effective is by creating an article marketing campaign that can provide you with several different places to add small reciprocal links back to the page that you are trying to increase the overall ranking of. Here’s an example:

Let’s say that you have a website that promotes natural remedies for depression. We will call this website “BowlingSample.Com” (just for the sake of providing an example).

Now, we want to get backlinks to BowlingSample.Com through the means of an article marketing campaign. We research free places to submit articles and we come up with eHow.com and AssociatedContent.com. So, these two websites are the places we will submit our articles for the article marketing campaign.

We will want to create articles geared around bowling balls, shoes, gloves and anything pertaining to bowling, and more. Once the articles are completed, we will want to submit them.

Now, you will run across resource sections where you can provide links to other websites. This is where you will want to provide a backlink to the website that you want your visitors to visit. If you submit one article to eHow.com and one to AssociatedContent.com, you will have two backlinks!

Now, wasn’t that easy?

Why Are Backlinks So Important?

Backlinks are essential to online success due to the fact that they assist in creating popularity for your website. In addition to this, when search engines crawl websites, they determine which websites have the largest number of backlinks. When this occurs, it creates a popularity rank when it comes to
search engine ranking. Naturally, the higher that your page and other media online ranks, the more successful your website will be!

© 2008  Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?  You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses.  Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business?  Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com