John Dilbeck Musings

(This article is part of my Marketing Tools and Techniques: Traffic Exchanges series.)

Normally, I won’t be promoting the latest and (supposedly) greatest thing, so don’t be afraid that I’ll bombard you with untested programs that may be here today and gone tomorrow.

I prefaced this recommendation because Soaring For Traffic is a new traffic exchange, but I believe it will be around for a long time and I think it will rise to be one of the best.

I’ve known Ray for a few months and I have seen for myself that he knows quite a bit about Internet marketing and is always working to learn more and to share what he learns with others.

I first met him on the Affiliate Funnel forum, where he answered some of my questions about ad tracking on traffic exchanges. I did some searching and found that he is the owner of Private Success Team, where he is busily helping others learn how to market on the Internet more successfully.

I recently learned that he has been working for about a year to introduce Soaring For Traffic, his free traffic exchange and downline builder.

Lately, I’ve become more discerning when it comes to traffic exchanges and I’m reaching the point where I probably won’t join too many more.

Over the last year, I’ve joined and used about 75 traffic exchanges with varying amounts of success. Now, I’m a member in about 60 and actively use about 20 of them.

I am an upgraded member in about a dozen exchanges, and I just upgraded my account with Soaring For Traffic.

Although Soaring For Traffic is free, you will get more traffic with less time and effort by upgrading to one of the two upgrade levels. I chose the highest upgrade and I’m looking forward to using this exchange a lot in the coming months.

I added about 170 sites to this exchange in one fell swoop by using my Page Swirl rotator and spent another hour or two advertising it on some of my marketing pages, including my LinkScout marketing site.

After I’d finished setting everything up, it was time to surf the new exchange and see how I liked it.

I found a couple of small errors when setting up to use the exchange, but surfing the sites of other members was easy and the site responded quickly, even on my very slow dial-up connection.

The downline builder part of the site contains five money making affiliate programs and I’m a member of three of them. I didn’t count the number of traffic exchanges in the downline builder, but almost all of my favorites were there and I saw only a handful of sites I’d never tried before.

I know that Ray will be a helpful and responsive owner, and that is a big part of being an upgraded member of an exchange.

Even though Soaring For Traffic is new, it already has nearly 1,500 members and is growing quickly.

Regarding the problems I encountered, one was just an incorrect height and width attribute in the HTML code for a 100×300 sidebar button link. That was easily corrected, and I’ll let Ray know about it as soon as I publish this.

The other was a bit more of a problem, but probably has an easy solution. The site offers a way to personalize one of the splash pages that can be used on other traffic exchanges. It features your name, photo, a banner, and a testimonial.

I filled in the form and submitted it, only to be told that the banner URL was incorrect. No problem; the exchange is new. However, the real problem, for me, was that the error page did not preserve the entries on the form that were correct. As a result, a very complimentary testimonial was lost.

Ray, if you read this, I said some nice things about you that nobody will read because the form lost my heartfelt compliments.

With only a couple of minor negatives (which I’m sure Ray will fix quickly) and lots of positives, I heartily recommend Soaring For Traffic to you.

If you want to be a free member, this exchange is better than most.

If you plan to upgrade, the prices are right and the One-Time-Offer page offers good discount pricing for an annual or lifetime membership.

If that doesn’t fit your budget, the second One-Time-Offer (OTO) page offers a 33% discount on the highest upgrade level, making it a good buy. Normally, the highest level, Soaring Eagle, costs $14.95 per month, and I think that is over-priced for a 1:1 surf ratio and anything less than 1,000 credits per month. However, the second OTO page offers the Soaring Eagle level for $9.99, and I think that is the proper price for what is offered.

I don’t know if either of these discount pages will be available should you join, nor what they may offer at that time. These things are always subject to change.

If you don’t take advantage of either OTO page, you’ll pay more, perhaps a lot more, in the long run.

Soaring For Traffic will be one of the dozen or so traffic exchanges I’ll use on a regular basis.

You can join Soaring For Traffic for free and see for yourself how well it works for you.

Act on your dream!

JD

Mountain Brew Coffee House (Murphy, NC 28906) has a nice offers coupon for new and loyal returning customers for their specialty drinks. The offer will expire on December 31, 2007.

Buy One Specialty Drink and Get One 50 Percent Off. Click the link to get the details and to have the coupon emailed to you.

You can redeem this nice offer at Mountain Brew Coffee House, located in the Hickory Oaks Plaza at 1370 US Hwy 64 West in Murphy, NC 28906. Their phone number is 828-835-9848.

Over 4000 merchants in over 100 countries are offering Nice Offers to reward new and returning customers. If you are a merchant, you can advertise for free and pay only for results. You set the terms of the coupons you offer.

Merchants get more business and only pay for advertising that works; customers save money by patronizing their favorite businesses.

If you live in, or travel through, Murphy, NC, and want an outstanding specialty drink in a relaxed atmosphere, redeem your Buy One Specialty Drink and Get One 50 Percent Off coupon at Mountain Brew Coffee House.

I’ve been thinking about this question quite a bit over the last few weeks.

Am I getting all I deserve from SFI?

Let me think out loud about that for a few moments.

Do they send me a commission when I sell something? Yes, and it’s always on time, as expected.

Do they pay me an upline override for anyone in my T-Net? Yes. Again, it’s always on time and exactly as promised.

Do they offer training materials to help me improve my marketing and team leading skills? Yes, they do. I’ve learned a lot about online marketing over the last few years and I’m getting better at it all the time. I still haven’t found the magic system and don’t believe there really is one. But, I’m finding and using tools that make my business grow and I’m getting more commission checks than ever before.

Am I getting better as a team leader? That’s certainly a mixed bag. You see, I’m not a people person. I’m an old bear who likes to travel alone and do what I want. I’m much more suited to being a blacksmith, a programmer, or an affiliate marketer than I am to be part of a network marketing team.

On the other hand, I try to do what I can and I like to think I’m improving over time.

I only contact you sporadically, but I value each contact and look forward to hearing from you and working with you to build a real sales team over time.

I do my best to answer all emails I receive from you - something my sponsor has never done. So, I didn’t have anyone to learn from and I’ve had to figure it out on my own with the help from what I’ve found on the dboard. Eventually, I plan to have a system that works and which will be relatively easy to duplicate, even if you don’t have extensive computer or marketing skills. It’s not ready, but I am slowly making progress.

Will I take you by the hand and lead you each step of the way? No.

Will I help if you ask me a question? I’ll do my best.

So, I’m trying to offer you more than my sponsor ever offered me, and I hope you will build on that trend and offer more to your affiliates than I offer to you. When any of us finds something that works reliably, I hope we can find a way to make it available to everyone in our team. We cannot build a sales team without working as a team.

Does SFI provide me with services and products to market? Yes, they do. I love some of these products, including the Super Orange cleaner, which I use all the time. I enjoy reading the magazines to which I’ve subscribed via our Veriuni affiliate store. I haven’t bought many things through our store, but I’ve been very satisfied with all the ones I have.

Does SFI provide me with a staff to make my business easier to build? Certainly they do. They handle buying, stocking, and keeping track of the inventory. They pay the interest on financing that stock. They have a staff to handle customer service, shipping, returns, refunds, and all the rest of the behind-the-scenes duties that have to be done when selling products and services. They offer help to their affiliates (us) via phone and email and have always been curteous and helpful when I contacted them.

They provide a computer staff to take orders, provide marketing doorways for us, and maintain the dboard forum where we can help other affiliates and be helped by them.

What do they ask from us? Very little. You can remain an affiliate and do nothing, if that is the path you choose. If you want to build your sales business and start earning commissions, then you have to do the marketing that brings in new customers and generates sales. SFI pays rather generously when you do that, especially if you are an EA.

Am I getting all I deserve from SFI? I think I am. I am building a business, and SFI is an important part of that business. It’s not all I do, but it’s important to me.

Are they paying me for doing nothing? Not on your life. I’ve earned every dollar I received from them, and you’ll have to earn every commission check you receive, too. SFI is a marketing organization, and if you’re not marketing, you’re not making any sales. No sales, no commissions.

That goes for every other affiliate and network marketing organization you’ll find on the Internet, too, no matter what they say. SFI won’t try to hype the opportunity and tell you that you’ll succeed by doing nothing. No sales, no commissions; it’s just that simple.

I think it is important to become and remain an EA in the organization. I became an EA the first month it was offered and I remain one now and plan to remain one for years to come. It is part of my commitment to the company and is a concrete demonstration of my intention to do the best I can with this organization.

Is SFI getting all they deserve from me? I hope so. I’m trying.

Is SFI getting all they deserve from you?

Only you can answer that. You know why you joined and what your dreams were. You know what your income goals are and I suspect you have not achieved them yet. Why not? Have you done any marketing today? What about yesterday? How are you going to sell anything if you are not marketing at least a little every day?

If you are regularly marketing, believe this: If you persevere and are consistent with your marketing efforts, they will start paying off for you.

I remember when I started my online marketing business. I was happy to make a sale a month at first. Then it was a sale a week, and then a few per month, and now a few per day. It takes time to get noticed and to let people know you.

Now and then, I entertain thoughts about quitting SFI. I’m not earning as much as I want to with this company, but I have good feelings about it. Gery is always working to make the company better. The staff I’ve dealt with have been efficient and honest. I’ve always been paid what I earned, and I can’t say that for some companies with which I’ve worked.

I think, as Gery states in his AskGery column, that NOC is the future of SFI. I think it still needs improvements, but I’m sponsoring new merchants every month and I’m seeing requests for coupons every week, so I know it’s growing. I love helping people in my local area market their products and I’m working to increase my marketing of NOC in the coming year.

Have you told anyone in your town about NOC?

Working together we can achieve great things. Working separately - or not working at all - will certainly limit our success.

I lost my team leader status for awhile and just regained it in November. I want to thank each of you who is now an EA, and I’ve adjusted my 4102 team leader co-op so that all current EAs are in it. I’ve removed anyone who no longer an EA.

The way you build your sales organization is to sponsor a few EAs and help them do the same. I wish I had a clear-cut way that I could recommend, and one day I’ll find one. If you find one before I do, please share with us.

Are you fully participating in your SFI business? I think there is room for each of us to improve.

Act on your dreams!

JD

http://JohnDilbeckAndFriends.com

http://ResidualIncomeForum.com

PS: I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and I wish you the best in the coming year.

You may have seen lots of websites cropping up that have a .ws extension instead of the more common .com, .net, and .org extensions.

.ws actually is the top level domain for Western Samoa, but it is being marketed to mean .website.

Global Domains International is the company that manages the .ws domain registry for the Western Samoan government and it has developed a very interesting way to market these domains.

Instead of registering for a year, you pay $10 per month for the domain and simple website hosting.

For example, I host my domain UltimateDownlines.ws there. This is a simple, one-page marketing site that was mostly built using the free webpage generator at the Home Income Team.

If you are interested in an online marketing home business, the Home Income Team can help you in several ways, and it’s free to join and free to remain a member. There is an optional one time offer when you first sign up, but you are not obligated to purchase it, and there isn’t even a way to upgrade your free membership to a professional membership. It really is free.

One of the businesses the Home Income Team markets is Global Domains International (GDI), and that is why it is promoted on my UltimateDownlines.ws site.

If you are not interested in online marketing, you can use any tools you want to build your website and host it with GDI, or you can use the sitebuilder they provide for developing your website.

Perhaps you missed registering the .com version of your name or business name. I managed to register DilbeckMarketing.com, JohnDilbeck.com, DilbeckCommunications.com and several others. If you missed registering a domain you really wanted, it may still be available as a .ws domain.

Additionally, when you become a GDI customer you can also be an affiliate and earn commissions from any customers you recommend who purchase their own .ws domain.

Some people are earning very nice incomes as a GDI affiliate, but it would even be nice if you earned an extra $50 or $100 per month, wouldn’t it? Your domain would be free and you’d have some money for a dinner out, trip to the theater, or whatever you prefer. While we make no guarantees that you will earn anything as an affiliate, the opportunity is there if you want to pursue it.

GDI has spent nearly $1 million to create a movie that you can use for free, online, right now, to help you create a tremendous, ongoing monthly income for yourself.

If you haven’t seen it already, I invite you to view the movie, and see for yourself why many people, around the world, are promoting GDI.

First of all, I hope you have a very happy holiday season and I wish for you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2005.

This will be the last time you hear from me before the end of the year unless you write me.

The last day of 2004 is only one week from right now. That means we only have one week left to achieve the goals we set for this year.

Perhaps you have more than achieved what you planned. Congratulations!

On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t been as successful this year as you’d hoped and dreamed. Maybe there isn’t enough time to do what you planned before the year ends.

You know what?

It’s okay.

Look at what you’ve done, what you’ve wanted to do, and what you couldn’t do. Try to put everything in perspective. Then, re-examine what brought you to SFI.

(Not an SFI affiliate? Learn about it here.)

Was it the opportunity to earn more money?

Was it the chance to gain the freedom to do what you want on your own schedule?

What was YOUR reason for becoming an affiliate?

How much progress have you made on getting there?

The end of 2004 is not the end of the world. Just as one season follows another, 2005 will follow 2004. You have a new opportunity to examine your goals, make new plans, and work to achieve what you want.

I was looking through some of the articles in IAHBE this morning and I read “My Biggest Mistake in Network Marketing” by Tom Wood. It is a very interesting article, and if you are an IAHBE member you can read it here:

http://www.iahbe.org/Resources/Reports/ExpertReports/WOODMyBiggestMistake.jsp

(If you’re not a member of the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs, you can learn more about it here.)

Like most of us, he saw the opportunity to earn more, be his own boss, gain the freedom to set his own schedule, and do the other things we dream of when we first learn about SFI.

He had some success in the first month, but he sure didn’t get rich — and neither did you or I.

He kept working, but even into the second and third month he could have earned more working for minimum wage than he was earning from his new home business.

But he listened to his upline and knew the big money was years down the road.

In his third month, some of his downline started quitting! How was he to ever build an empire of freedom if everyone quit?

So, his upline told him to go to his “chicken list.”

What’s a chicken list?

It’s the people you are too chicken to call.

“They’re the people that don’t quit. Find people who don’t quit in their life, and you will have a rock-solid business.”

So, he lined up his list and made his worst mistake in network marketing.

First, he chose someone who had no success in business.

Second, he didn’t do a great job of presenting the business to him.

Third, the prospect turned out to be a mean-spirited person who blew up and said he never wanted to hear from him, again.

Fourth, he cared too much about what the prospect said.

Fifth, he spiraled down into misery.

But, eventually, he realized, “I’m in charge of my life. I’m responsible for my destiny.”

If you want to read the rest of the story, it’s available to all IAHBE members.

When I signed up with SFI, I made a decision I was going to make it to the top and I was going to achieve my dreams — no matter how long it takes and no matter how much work I have to do. I feel as strong about that now as I did then.

(I even started a website at AYearFromNow.com with the theme of Act On Your Dream! I haven’t had time to work on it much this year, but it will become my top priority in January and February. I decided earlier this year what my big life’s dream is and I’ve been working hard to put things in place to achieve that dream in the next few years. I’ll be talking more about it on that site as I have time to work on it for the next couple of months.)

I know that I’ll never get to where I want to go without the help of many others from around the world.

I also decided that I’d never get to where I want to go without helping others along the way. I chose for my motto: I succeed by helping you succeed.

I’m not going to quit. Are you?

I believe in you. I believe in your dreams.

Now, if you decide that it’s best to quit SFI, that’s okay. Be true to yourself and do what’s best for you. But, don’t quit on yourself. You can achieve the success you want if you keep working at it every day.

I want you to succeed as much as I want to succeed.

But, I can’t do it for you. You are the master of your destiny and you have to find a path for yourself that will take you where you want to go.

Never give up on yourself. Never give up on your dream. Never let anyone else steal your dream from you.

If you still want to succeed with SFI (or any other business), you’ll find a way to make it happen.

I will help you get there any way I can.

One week from tomorrow, we start a new year. We have a new opportunity to act on our dream and achieve the success and freedom for which we yearn.

Nobody will do it for you. Nobody will do it for me.

As Gery Carson says, “If’s it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

When 2005 rolls around, a brand new compensation plan will be implemented.

I’m ready and I’m aching to work even harder in 2005 than I have in 2004.

I’m MIQ this month and I’ll be in the T-Net when it is formed one week from tomorrow. You may have done the same thing this month. I’m very happy that you did and I want to congratulate you on your foresight. This new comp plan looks like it’s going to work well for all of us.

You may feel that you can’t afford to become MIQ this month. I understand that.

Just a little over two years ago I had to close my metalsmithing business to care for my Mom. I depleted my savings and had no income. So, I turned to online marketing so Mom could continue living at home and I could earn the income I need to live here. I scrimped and saved just to afford the hosting fees for JohnDilbeck.com. I kept at it. I added hundreds and then thousands of pages to the site. It started earning a little money.

Then I added more websites and more weblogs. Now, I’m paying more per month for hosting services than I earned the first year and my profit is growing. Each year, I’m earning several times more than I earned the previous year. But, it’s not easy.

It’s like pushing a boulder off a cliff. At first, it takes all your effort and you barely get any results. It’s easy to despair and quit. But, you keep pushing and slowly, with great difficulty, it moves a fraction of an inch. If you stop now, it will settle back and all that effort will be wasted.

So, you keep pushing, and the more energy and time you put into it, the more the boulder starts to move. Slowly - but surely - you can see it move.

When you first started pushing the boulder, everyone around you thought you were crazy. They laughed at you and told you it would never move. Nobody would help.

But, you kept at it. When it started to move and the people around you could see it for themselves, the laughing subsided. How could someone tell you it was impossible if they could see with their own eyes that you were doing it.

Now, it’s time to keep pushing — even harder than before. As momentum builds, others around you will pay attention. Eventually, gravity will take over and be your friend instead of your tormentor. The boulder moves faster. Now, your friends want to help.

That’s the way it is with a business, too. When the boulder starts moving (income starts coming in), it’s easier to get people to help you. Even if they laughed at you and told you it wasn’t possible, they can still become valuable team members. Don’t hold their lack of foresight and imagination against them.

Welcome them to your team and help them start pushing their own boulders.

We’re in this together. You help me. I help you. We help each other.

As the Team Network comes into being, we’ll be helping each other in a whole new way. It will take some time to see how it all works together. There may be some glitches that will have to be fixed, but I have confidence in the staff at SFI and I know they’ll smooth things out within a few days.

Whether you want to earn an extra $100 per month or you’re willing and able to work full-time to earn thousands of dollars per month, it starts by believing in yourself and taking action.

No action - no income. No sales - no income. No sponsoring new affiliates - no team.

I challenge you.

Make your chicken list. Find people in your neighborhood who are successful in business and know how to sell. Then, tell them about SFI. Show them how they can earn income by promoting the services and products we offer. Show them how they can become a part of your team. If you can’t afford to become MIQ/EA because you just don’t have the money, don’t give up. Sponsor someone with the money, experience, and personality and work together to build your team. With work, it won’t be long before your income will pay for being EA and you’ll take your place in the new T-Net.

It’s not a game. It’s not a scam. You CAN build your home business and start earning that extra income you want.

Go to your chicken list. Tell them.

Even if you only talk to one person on that list, you’re taking a step forward. Soon, it will be two steps, and then you’ll be on your journey.

Promote the products SFI offers and earn the sales commission.

Build your team and work towards that residual income you want a few years from now.

Or, do nothing.

It’s your choice.

You came to SFI with a dream. Don’t let anyone steal that dream from you.

You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your ship. You are the king of your castle.

You’re next. I want to be here when you make it to the top and earn whatever level of financial freedom you want. Even if you’re half-way around the world, I want to be a small part of helping you succeed.

Are you ready for the challenge?

Take some time and visit the training section at:

https://www.sfimg.com/Training/SpecialReports.sfi

Learn how to build your business and work on it every day. Don’t let that boulder stop moving!

Thank you for being a part of my team this year. Thank you for letting me be a part of your team.

I’m looking forward to working with you in 2005.

Let’s make it the best year, yet.

All the best,

JD

Congratulations to Oluwapelumi Olorunninwo, of Idimu, AL, Nigeria, for growing his SFI sales team in April, 2004. Of all the entry-level people in my sales team, Oluwapelumi added more new affiliates to his team than anyone else.

You are invited to visit his SFI store.

He would appreciate any purchase you might like to make!

You are also welcome to join his SFI team.

Congratulations to the following for becoming Multi-Income Qualified in April, 2004 and for starting to build their SFI sales teams!

Kendra Tucker, Owings Mills, MD, USA
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Stacy Harris, Calgary, AB, Canada
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Jennifer Anderson, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Visit SFI store — Join SFI team.

Our sales team is growing, and we’re building a bigger presence around the world — already on four continents.

The May 1, 2004 edition of my Home Business Tips newsletter has been posted.

Congratulations to my SFI sales team for growing their businesses in April!