Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

"What are some ways to make my advertising more effective?"

The best advertising is targeted advertising. If your advertising is not targeted, you will end up with a bunch of inactive affiliates.

To make your advertising more effective, use key codes and keep track of what ads you are running, and where. Determine which ads are most effective. Make small changes to your most effective ads, and (using your new key codes) tweak your ads to see what works best. If you continue to do this, your ads will be more and more effective over time.
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"What are some ways to make my advertising more effective?"

The best advertising is targeted advertising. If your advertising is not targeted, you will end up with a bunch of inactive affiliates.

To make your advertising more effective, use key codes and keep track of what ads you are running, and where. Determine which ads are most effective. Make small changes to your most effective ads, and (using your new key codes) tweak your ads to see what works best. If you
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

"How do you prepare your affiliates for their second month in the business?"

The best way to prepare your affiliates for their second month in the business it to let them know they will have to start working. SFI only works if you work it. Your business will not grow by itself.

It is not necessary to invest money into SFI, but it is necessary to invest time. You need to spend time on the site, learning as much as you can about SFI, marketing strategies, sales tips, and ways to duplicate your efforts.

However, learning how SFI works is not enough. After the first month, it gets much harder. You need to go out and advertise your gateways. You need to get people to sign up as PSAs and as PRMs.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of sites online where you can post your gateways and find new people. Some will be more effective than others. Learn to use key codes, see what/where your most effective advertising is, and tweak it a little. Learn as you go. Look for a new site every day.

I always tell my PSAs that the second and third months are the hardest. You need to put the effort in daily, yet the rewards are slow in coming. If you are persistent in your first few months, you will start to see real results. It gets easier as you learn, and you will become more effective as well.

I also let my PSAs know that, while it is not necessary, it is a good idea to set up a standing order. If you can afford S-Builder, do it. Your best investment to keep EA2 status is get buy 100 or 125 pack of TCredits.

After you study the auctions and your opponents, use your TCredits to bid on items that will help you grow your business. Also, make sure to use your MRP wisely. If you get TCredits one month, you may be able to use the MRP (you get from bidding) the following month to earn EA without purchasing a new pack each month.
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"How do you prepare your affiliates for their second month in the business?"

The best way to prepare your affiliates for their second month in the business it to let them know they will have to start working. SFI only works if you work it. Your business will not grow by itself.

It is not necessary to invest money into SFI, but it is necessary to invest time. You need to spend time on the site, learning as much as you can about SFI, marketing strategies, sales tips,
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

Motivating your affiliates with incentives and rewards can turn a mediocre affiliate into a winning team member. Offering a gift certificate for TripleClicks can be an excellent incentive for them to grow their business, in turn growing yours.

The great thing about giving your affiliates gift certificates for achieving certain goals is that it benefits them directly, but it also benefits you. You get commission from any purchases your PSAs or CSAs make. In addition, you can earn matching VP on their purchases (and on the rest of your downline) if you are a Team Leader. Finally, their purchase benefits the company as a whole, since there are VP that go into the Executive Pool as well.

Gift certificates can be used for new affiliates to motivate them to earn EA2 status their second month. Likewise, they can be used to encourage your EA2s to work a little harder to become Bronze Team Leaders. You can also use them to reward your PSAs for finding good affiliates and keeping them active.
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Motivating your affiliates with incentives and rewards can turn a mediocre affiliate into a winning team member. Offering a gift certificate for TripleClicks can be an excellent incentive for them to grow their business, in turn growing yours.

The great thing about giving your affiliates gift certificates for achieving certain goals is that it benefits them directly, but it also benefits you. You get commission from any purchases your PSAs or CSAs make. In addition, you can earn
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

"How does participating in Ask SC help you become a more successful SFI affiliate?"

Ask SC is a treasure trove of information, both for experienced and new affiliates.

Readers are leaders. Learn and earn.

Ask SC is a prime example of this, and I would argue it is one of the most valuable learning tools on SFI for new affiliates. The questions asked here are usually ones that have many answers from many affiliates with many perspectives. There is a lot of experience among us, and this is a great way to share and learn from it.

It's also a good way for experienced affiliates to get new ideas for all aspects of their business.

I think you can learn so much from the Ask SC Index that I encourage my new affiliates to set a goal of earning their "1,000 Ask SC Ratings" Badge and I will reward them with 10 new affiliates.

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"How does participating in Ask SC help you become a more successful SFI affiliate?"

Ask SC is a treasure trove of information, both for experienced and new affiliates.

Readers are leaders. Learn and earn.

Ask SC is a prime example of this, and I would argue it is one of the most valuable learning tools on SFI for new affiliates. The questions asked here are usually ones that have many answers from many affiliates with many perspectives. There is a lot
...more

Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

Why is setting goals so important in becoming successful in SFI?

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

We've all heard it. And we all know it's true.

If you don't set goals, you don't know where you are going. However, if you look at where you want to be in a year, break down that long-term goal into monthly and weekly goals, you have a much better chance of getting where you're going.

Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. You're not going to be a millionaire tomorrow. If you want to be one in ten years, then you'd better start planning on how you are going to get there. If you set up yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals, AND STICK TO THEM, you can reach your goals.

A goal without action is just a wish. Consider where you want to go, map out the way to get there, and start taking one step at a time.
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Why is setting goals so important in becoming successful in SFI?

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

We've all heard it. And we all know it's true.

If you don't set goals, you don't know where you are going. However, if you look at where you want to be in a year, break down that long-term goal into monthly and weekly goals, you have a much better chance of getting where you're going.

Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

What's the best way to approach a new PSA with regards to discussing their goals with them?

If you can get them to interact with you... :D

I think once you start communicating with your PSA (and they with you), it is just a matter of asking. The hardest part is getting PSAs to respond to you.

It's important to develop a relationship, learn a little about each other (your experience with internet marketing, your strengths and weaknesses in advertising, etc) as well as learn more about their situation. The motivation you have to better your financial situation is one of the most important factors in setting yourself up for success. It drives the desire to reach your goals. Finding out what drives your PSA will help you keep them motivated when they get discouraged.
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What's the best way to approach a new PSA with regards to discussing their goals with them?

If you can get them to interact with you... :D

I think once you start communicating with your PSA (and they with you), it is just a matter of asking. The hardest part is getting PSAs to respond to you.

It's important to develop a relationship, learn a little about each other (your experience with internet marketing, your strengths and weaknesses in advertising, etc) as well
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

There are a lot of different things you can do to encourage dormant affiliates to be active again. The best approach depends on who they are (PSA, CSA, or another generation) and if they actually learned anything when they first started.

For PSAs and CSAs, you can contact them personally by email. This is the best way to communicate with someone, and if you can get their attention, you might be able to give them more information about SFI. Let's face it - there are a lot of people who sign up, sign out, and never look back. For these affiliates, it's important to make personal contact and try to help them understand that SFI is a real business with real potential. It helps in these cases to ask them what they were looking for when they signed up, too, because that can open the door to conversation. Conversation is key.

For others who have already looked around and have a better understanding of the program, sometimes they need encouragement. It takes work to succeed here, and they might just need a nudge to be reminded of the potential of the system.

For the rest of your downline, I don't think you can email them personally. As far as I know, we don't have access to that information.

For these, and indeed for your whole team, the best way to communicate is through the Genealogy Mailer. This gets to your whole team, and something in your mailer may just be the nudge a dormant affiliate needs to look at the program again with a new set of eyes.
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There are a lot of different things you can do to encourage dormant affiliates to be active again. The best approach depends on who they are (PSA, CSA, or another generation) and if they actually learned anything when they first started.

For PSAs and CSAs, you can contact them personally by email. This is the best way to communicate with someone, and if you can get their attention, you might be able to give them more information about SFI. Let's face it - there are a lot of people who
...more

Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

To be honest, I haven't used the SFI messenger very much. When I first started about a month ago, I tried messaging my sponsor, a few of my PSAs, and my co-sponsor, but no one answered back!

Then a few weeks ago, I got a whole bunch of messages at once, and realized that the system had malfunctioned. It seems to be working now, though. :)

I think it is a great way to communicate with your upline when you need help. If you see that they're online, it's nice to be able to chat and ask questions. It would be really nice if there was an option to have the chat emailed to yourself (and/or the other person), though. If you exchange important information, it will get lost if you don't copy/paste it.

I also think it's a great tool to use to chat with my PSAs. It's nice to be able to congratulate them on a milestone or achievement "in person" - or at least in real time. It's also a good time for them to ask questions. Sometimes it's easier to ask "stupid" questions in a less formal situation. Of course, there are no stupid questions, but sometimes you feel like it because it's basic and you feel lost. :)
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To be honest, I haven't used the SFI messenger very much. When I first started about a month ago, I tried messaging my sponsor, a few of my PSAs, and my co-sponsor, but no one answered back!

Then a few weeks ago, I got a whole bunch of messages at once, and realized that the system had malfunctioned. It seems to be working now, though. :)

I think it is a great way to communicate with your upline when you need help. If you see that they're online, it's nice to be able to chat
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Affiliate since: 05/02/2013, Power Rank: 595

If I could start over again with the knowledge I have now, I would do a lot of things differently. I guess part of being new is the learning process, and hopefully we can pass some of these ideas down to our new affiliates and help them progress faster.

First of all, I would wait on a lot of my "one-time" action points. It is so easy to earn EA status your first month with all the VP you can earn from these points. I always advise my new affiliates to stop earning those points when they reach EA for the first time. If you save them for the next month, it is so much easier to reach EA2 status.

Second, I would treat SFI as a business. Even if you only have half an hour a day to spend, you can make this work for you. I would spend my time more wisely, learning as much as I could and making sure to log in every day and earn my daily VP. I would make sure to read all of the new forum threads as well. There is so much information in the forum, and that's where I found most of my answers. The forum was far more helpful to me in the beginning than anyone in my upline.

I would seek out leaders from the forum and the a2a network. My sponsors did not help me much in the beginning. It would have been nice to find people who could help me and answer my questions when I was still learning the basics.

I would have joined the S-Builder Co-op in the beginning, and waited another month or two for my subscription to IAHBE. There is enough to learn on the SFI site to keep you busy for your first month. Because the S-Builder takes a few weeks to see results, I would have bought some affiliates from the TC store. This would give me the opportunity to learn how to use the genealogy mailers and give me an opportunity to start building my team right away.

I would invest in getting a custom domain. You can buy them in the TC store, but I won mine in a PriceBender auction. It makes a real big difference when you are advertising your link. Many people won't even check out a link to an affiliate site, because so many of them are junk. This gives you a big advantage when getting people to your site.

This brings me to my last point. I wish I had realized the power of PriceBender auctions when I first started. You can win so many different things to grow your business. Sometimes, people get a hundred CSAs for less than a dollar. Gift cards, IAHBE subscriptions, custom domains. And they go for pennies on the dollar! These are all things that will make your business grow. Granted, you have to watch the auctions and learn how to be smart, but it is a very powerful avenue to explore for expanding your business.

Hopefully, I can convey some of these ideas to my downline, and make it easier for them. :)

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If I could start over again with the knowledge I have now, I would do a lot of things differently. I guess part of being new is the learning process, and hopefully we can pass some of these ideas down to our new affiliates and help them progress faster.

First of all, I would wait on a lot of my "one-time" action points. It is so easy to earn EA status your first month with all the VP you can earn from these points. I always advise my new affiliates to stop earning those points
...more