What are some original, creative methods you have used to promote your SFI business?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
4/5/2013 11:25 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
There are several methods I always use when it comes to advertising my SFI business.
Email Signature – I have an SFI link in my signature for all of my email accounts. This is a great way to promote your business as you send out emails or respond to others.
Forum Signature – I have an SFI link in most of my forum signatures (outside of SFI). This way, every time I post a question or reply to a post, my signature is added at the end of each. It makes a big difference as depending on the forum, you will get a lot of views.
fiverr.com – If you haven’t heard of this site, I highly recommend you check it out. Everything listed on this site is only $5. You can have someone write and submit press releases about your business, build backlinks to articles, submit forum posts as well as submit links to thousands of social media sites. Again, everything is only $5! You can even find gigs to build your website if you haven’t already built it or create videos for you to post on youtube about your SFI business.
The best advice I received from another one of my businesses is that you should be the CEO of your business. This means you should not try to do all the work yourself. Outsourcing is key and having others promote your business is no different.
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There are several methods I always use when it comes to advertising my SFI business.
Email Signature – I have an SFI link in my signature for all of my email accounts. This is a great way to promote your business as you send out emails or respond to others.
Forum Signature – I have an SFI link in most of my forum signatures (outside of SFI). This way, every time I post a question or reply to a post, my signature is added at the end of each. It makes a big difference as depending
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How can I further engage my SFI affiliates on social media sites like Facebook?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
9/18/2013 3:53 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
There are many ways to accomplish this. Most social media sites allow you to create a business page along with your personal page. To fully take advantage of everything social media sites have to offer, you should create a separate page for your business.
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon and Twitter are all a must for every serious business owner. There are many other sites, but at a minimum I would recommend these.
It's important to create a business page on these for several reasons, but the biggest reason is to not annoy your friends. No one likes to be constantly "sold" to, so having a separate business page will not have your friends feeling like all you're doing is shoving products down their throat.
It's important to keep all of your social sites updated regularly. If you post something new on one site, make sure they all get updated. Make sure to keep your posts short and to the point. Social media sites are not the medium for outlandish posts that read more like a book. Save that content for your website. Use the social media sites to drive traffic back to your site by raising the curiosity level of your followers. Ask questions to your followers and get them to respond by offering discounts, freebies or information relevant to their needs.
Allow your affiliates to post content on your behalf at these sites. Make them feel engaged in the business and not just another follower. Most sites will allow you to set moderators who can post content, media and create links. By offering your sites to your affiliates in this manner, they will become much more engaged in the big picture, which is your SFI business. Even if it does not lead to direct sales, you're teaching your affiliates how to become involved in an SFI business and not just sit back and follow.
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There are many ways to accomplish this. Most social media sites allow you to create a business page along with your personal page. To fully take advantage of everything social media sites have to offer, you should create a separate page for your business.
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon and Twitter are all a must for every serious business owner. There are many other sites, but at a minimum I would recommend these.
It's important to create a business page
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How does one support a new affiliate from the second month in gaining needed VersaPoints if he/she does not have any funds?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
9/18/2013 4:01 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
The second month is a critical time for SFI affiliates and is the point where a large percentage of them drop out. Once they realize it will not be as easy to get to EA as it was the first month, a lot of people will lose interest.
Help them avoid this by offering to work with your affiliates to set up their advertising. Show them how and where to post free ads online. Help them understand the need for advertising by explaining the duplication process. Make them understand that this business is not a sprint, but a marathon.
Show them how quickly they can succeed by just sponsoring a couple of good PSA's. Be candid with them if they should ask personal questions about your success. Don't lie to them by exaggerating your own success. They need to know the truth. This is not an easy business to break into, but once you start gaining a little momentum, their business can take off in a hurry.
Once they are successful in getting a couple of good PSA's, everything changes. It may take a few months, maybe even years depending on how aggressive their advertising is, but in the end it will be well worth their efforts.
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The second month is a critical time for SFI affiliates and is the point where a large percentage of them drop out. Once they realize it will not be as easy to get to EA as it was the first month, a lot of people will lose interest.
Help them avoid this by offering to work with your affiliates to set up their advertising. Show them how and where to post free ads online. Help them understand the need for advertising by explaining the duplication process. Make them understand that this business
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What advice would you give to an SFI affiliate who wants to create and maintain their own SFI website?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
10/18/2013 5:00 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
My advice would be that it's a great idea and perhaps the best way to promote and grow your SFI business.
One of the best ways to do this is by posting your own experiences with SFI on your own website. Give an honest opinion of what you've done so far within your SFI business and what you hope to achieve.
Make sure you post all of your successes and be honest about your failures. There's no shame in failing as long as you learn from your mistakes. People will be more likely to better relate to you if you provide honest feedback and set proper expectations about SFI.
Your own success relies entirely on your team, so lying to prospective affiliates does you no good. If you're not making any money, tell them. If you're struggling to build your team, tell them. The odds are that your downline is experiencing exactly what you are, so by voicing it you can truly work together as a team.
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My advice would be that it's a great idea and perhaps the best way to promote and grow your SFI business.
One of the best ways to do this is by posting your own experiences with SFI on your own website. Give an honest opinion of what you've done so far within your SFI business and what you hope to achieve.
Make sure you post all of your successes and be honest about your failures. There's no shame in failing as long as you learn from your mistakes. People will be more likely
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How can you keep your downline from quitting and giving up on SFI?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
10/18/2013 5:08 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
There really is no way to prevent this from happening. The fact is, the majority of your PSA's will most likely never do anything with SFI and probably quit. This is not a business you can force upon people.
If you have to talk someone in to this, they probably will quit down the road. You want people who have a real passion for the independence this type of lifestyle affords. Honestly, not everyone is capable of running their own business. It takes a lot of dedication to pull this off.
Most people don't have the patience to see their SFI business through to its full potential. Once you find people who are truly dedicated and enthusiastic towards the opportunity SFI provides, you can teach them the business.
However, you cannot teach them the desire they'll need to make this work. You cannot teach them the dedication and patience they'll need to be successful.
Again, if someone does not posses these qualities already, you probably don't want them on your team to begin with. All you'll end up doing is wasting your time and driving yourself crazy trying to force people to do something they really don't want to do.
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There really is no way to prevent this from happening. The fact is, the majority of your PSA's will most likely never do anything with SFI and probably quit. This is not a business you can force upon people.
If you have to talk someone in to this, they probably will quit down the road. You want people who have a real passion for the independence this type of lifestyle affords. Honestly, not everyone is capable of running their own business. It takes a lot of dedication to pull this off.
Most
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How do you make SFI not be overwhelming for yourself and team members?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
4/2/2013 8:52 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
I encourage my team members to start slow and make sure they have a solid understanding of each aspect of SFI. Whether that's LaunchPad lessons or learning how to maximize TripleClicks sales, I stress the importance of not moving to another subject until they would feel confident in explaining the previous subject to anyone involved with SFI.
I try to emphasize the need for patience when first starting out and not to expect too much, too soon. Most people quit because they expect to make a lot of money immediately. I try to be honest and let my team members that is not the case. It may take months or even a year to see substantial money, but by building a strong foundation in the beginning, they will be much better off in the long run.
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I encourage my team members to start slow and make sure they have a solid understanding of each aspect of SFI. Whether that's LaunchPad lessons or learning how to maximize TripleClicks sales, I stress the importance of not moving to another subject until they would feel confident in explaining the previous subject to anyone involved with SFI.
I try to emphasize the need for patience when first starting out and not to expect too much, too soon. Most people quit because they expect to make
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What are the best FREE methods for attracting and sponsoring new affiliates?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
4/6/2014 12:01 am
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
Here are my top 3 best ways for attracting new affiliates.
1. Post ads on classified websites. There are literally hundreds of free classified sites to post on. You'll need to keep track of where, when and what you're posting to be successful. And don't forget to use key codes and keep a record of everything you post so you can go back and review which ads are working.
2. Social networking sites. If you don't have accounts on social networking sites, it's time to get started. There are a bunch of them out there now, and they're pretty much all free to create your account. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, delicio.us, stumbleupon, vine, reddit, blinklist, fark, gawker, digg, diigo, and on and on. Post daily to all of them.
3. Forums. Become active on forums outside of SFI. Most will allow you to create a signature file. Put your gateway address in your signature file so that every time you post or reply to a post, your gateway is displayed. This can be quite effective if you're in the right forums. Search for forums by typing whatever you're looking for followed by forum. For example, if you want to find forums for making money online, go to google and type "making money online forum". Create accounts for as many as you'd like.
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Here are my top 3 best ways for attracting new affiliates.
1. Post ads on classified websites. There are literally hundreds of free classified sites to post on. You'll need to keep track of where, when and what you're posting to be successful. And don't forget to use key codes and keep a record of everything you post so you can go back and review which ads are working.
2. Social networking sites. If you don't have accounts on social networking sites, it's time to get started.
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When placing classified ads for attracting SFI affiliates, what are the best classifications to use?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
4/5/2014 11:50 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
This really depends on the classified site your are posting to. The key is to do split tests, also referred to as A/B testing. And, there are multiple ways you'll need to test in order to become successful at it.
First, test different verbiage in your ads. Mix it up some. Try using different headlines. Headlines are the key since this is what will entice prospects to click on your ad. Pay attention to your stats within each classified site. Most will have some type of reporting to show you how many times your ad was displayed and clicked on. If you're getting a lot of clicks but not a lot of sign ups, then it's most likely the text within your ad. If your ad is being displayed a lot but you're not getting a lot of clicks, try mixing up your headline. Think of headlines that would cause you to click on it. What would get your attention?
The next thing to test would be the day of the week and time you're posting your ads. To do this, you'll need to post the same ad on multiple days and times. Use different key codes to test what day and time works the best. Once you find a good combination, make sure to continually post during that time.
You may also find that each classified site is different. Don't completely abandon an ad just because it didn't do well on a particular site. It may work great on another site.
This may sound a bit confusing, but all it really takes is some time and observation. Once you start to see success, rinse and repeat!
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This really depends on the classified site your are posting to. The key is to do split tests, also referred to as A/B testing. And, there are multiple ways you'll need to test in order to become successful at it.
First, test different verbiage in your ads. Mix it up some. Try using different headlines. Headlines are the key since this is what will entice prospects to click on your ad. Pay attention to your stats within each classified site. Most will have some type of reporting to show you how
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What would you consider to be too much and unnecessary communication with your team?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
11/7/2013 8:00 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
I'm not sure you can put a number on this. People will have differing opinions and communication needs. What works for 1 affiliate may not work for others. In general, I try to keep my communications to no more than 1 per week.
Your messages tends to get lost if you're sending 3 or 4 per week. People will stop reading them altogether or may choose to opt out. Very rarely will you have someone tell you to send them more email, but you could easily have them tell you that you're sending too much.
If you have a need to send more than one email a week, ask yourself why. As a leader, you should be keeping your team communications short and to the point. Perhaps summarizing 3 emails into 1 would serve your team better.
Don't give your team too much info all at once. It's better to spread out the info to allow your team to soak it up and put to use the info you're sending them.
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I'm not sure you can put a number on this. People will have differing opinions and communication needs. What works for 1 affiliate may not work for others. In general, I try to keep my communications to no more than 1 per week.
Your messages tends to get lost if you're sending 3 or 4 per week. People will stop reading them altogether or may choose to opt out. Very rarely will you have someone tell you to send them more email, but you could easily have them tell you that you're sending
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What should an affiliate do if their sponsor is non-responsive?
Bryan Hammond, Aff (Washington, US)
12/27/2013 7:52 pm
Affiliate since: 02/04/2013, Power Rank: 99999999
Here are a few things you can do if your sponsor is non-responsive.
1. Try contacting your co-sponsor
2. Try contacting others further up your genealogy line
3. Use the forum
4. Use your A2A friends
5. Use AskSC
Bottom line is this. There will always be people who are either unresponsive or simply do not care as much as you do in your genealogy. Don't let this deter your enthusiasm. If you're not getting what you need from your sponsor, there are hundreds of other active SFI members here and willing to help.
No one here does anything on their own. This is a team environment that only succeeds when we're all working together towards the same goal.
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Here are a few things you can do if your sponsor is non-responsive.
1. Try contacting your co-sponsor
2. Try contacting others further up your genealogy line
3. Use the forum
4. Use your A2A friends
5. Use AskSC
Bottom line is this. There will always be people who are either unresponsive or simply do not care as much as you do in your genealogy. Don't let this deter your enthusiasm. If you're not getting what you need from your sponsor, there are hundreds
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4/5/2013 11:25 pm