Here’s a quick video sneak peek:

Click here for the video (opens in new window)

Just like all tools, it has strengths… but there are also jobs it’s not designed for. There’s no such thing as the perfect tool that does everything for you.

A hammer and a screwdriver are both useful… just for different jobs.

That’s the purpose of the video above… so you can see what it does and some practical applications and then you can give it a quick test drive without any commitment if you’re interested.

The free trial ends today (sorry for the late notice). Here’s the link.

http://gcdetective.com

Update: The 7 day trial actually ends today… so unfortunately you’ll only get today (June 16th) to test it out… the good news is that if you like the trial, Chris is making an introductory offer of $1. I’m a little fuzzy on the details so please see his site for the specifics.

• 30% commission on Silver level = $270
• 30% commission on Gold level = $570
• There’s a time limit on the promotion… which increases conversion

Key Points

Whether you’re promoting by email or website/blog here are some key points:

• It’s targeted at intermediate (and beginner) Adwords advertisers
• There’s a “ballsy” guarantee… (Perry’s words)… of 30% improvement or money back
• Part 2 of the ballsy guarantee… $1,000 sales improvement minimum over 6 months - or money back
• The training is over 4 weeks with teleseminars and webinars for training delivery — live
• Opportunity for interaction, Q&A, group

Ideas for Promoting

First, make sure you grab the affiliate code to create a link. You can do that by logging in to the affiliate system, then going to Link Generator in the left hand nav, and finding the link for Adwords Bootcamp.

The link should look like this:

https://m171.infusionsoft.com/go/adbootcamp/youaffiliatecodehere/

*Replace youraffiliatecodehere with your actual affiliate code.

Headline Ideas

News:

“Perry Marshall announces new training”

“New training from Perry Marshall”

“Live training from Adwords Author announced”

Flagging:

“Attention New Adwords Marketers”

“New Training Program for Intermediate Adwords Marketers”

“Attention Marketers Spending $250 Per Month or More on Adwords”

Question:

“Do You Spend $250 Per Month on Adwords?”

“Frustrated by Google Adwords?”

Takeaway:

“Will You Qualify for This New Adwords Training?”

Controvery:

“Adwords Author Loses Mind”
- emphasize ballsy guarantee

Guarantee:

“Adwords Training with Gutsy Guarantee”

“Can You Believe this Guarantee?”

Presell the offer

Talk about your experience with Perry Marshall’s training and information. If you’re a Renaissance Club member or Mastermind member, mention that in your email or blog post.

Build Credibility

There’s a lot of yahoo’s promising bazillions of dollars for pushing a button or reading an ebook. If you know Perry Marshall, then you know he’s the real deal.

An easy way to build credibility is to mention that he’s the author of the Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords - the book sold on Amazon.

But nothing works as well as a personal testimonial from a real flesh and blood human being.

Newsletter

If you have an optin newsletter list then this promotion is perfect. It’s newsworthy and has a deadline.

Use any of the above headlines as I wrote them or use them as ideas to come up with one of your own.

Emphasize

• the guarantee
• live training
• 4 week course

PS - If you don’t have a newseltter yet, you should start building one. I use Aweber to manage my optins and RSS feeds

Blog

Same as with the email, but a slightly different twist would be to create a series of blog posts leading up to the final training day.

“9 Adwords Tips I Learned from Perry Marshall”
- and release one tip a day

(BTW, you could use this same idea with your email newsletter: create a theme and then mail multiple times)

Wow.

I learned a ton. I was reminded of principles I’ve overlooked. And I met dozens of sharp marketers at all phases of their business.

Every single person at the event came ready to help each other get past whatever hurdles were in their way. Sometimes that help came in the form of ideas and suggestions. Other times it came in the form of a referral to someone else at the event.

Affiliate Marketer’s Perspective

What could an affiliate marketer learn at the System Seminar?

First of all, marketing is marketing. And affiliate marketing is just selling someone else’s product. You still need traffic and conversion.

With affiliate marketing, it’s a lot more difficult to test and track because there are elements of the sales process you can’t change, and you don’t have access to the test results.

One way around that is to create your own landing page or website and word hard to do a pre-sell.

Since I’m a techie… I’ve got some ideas about how you can split test your landing pages and then use the tracking in the affiliate system to determine which version is working best.

Interested…?

Expect a video from me on that topic soon.

System Seminar Speakers Covered Affiliate Marketing

There was Gauher Chaudhry, who’s one of these brilliant masterminds that knows one thing as well as anyone else I’ve met:

How to find crazy amounts of traffic at prices that are hard to conceptualize.

He’s the type of affiliate marketer that couldn’t care less about a unique selling proposition, but he’s definitely unique. He’s going to find the traffic, one way or another.

I found myself in a rapid fire question answer session with him and for the next 15 minutes I asked him very pointed questions. Very generous guy. And the real deal. At the end of it I realized:

This is the Jack Bauer of traffic.

When it comes to finding traffic, this guy’s going to find a way. Period.

You can put roadblocks in front of him. You can change the rules of the game. It doesn’t matter.

He’s going to find a way to get the traffic.

He’s on my list of folks to interview… soon.

So is:

SEO Outsourcing for Affiliates

James Martell gave a great presentation that shows a few things beyond a shadow of doubt:

1. Affiliate marketing can be more than a big fat check to photograph, it can afford you the time to enjoy a great lifestyle with your family
2. If you build your affiliate empire to last, you don’t have to rebuild it every time Google tweaks their algorithm or what they consider “white hat” with Adwords
3. The best content is often written by someone else.

I spoke with James about doing a podcast for Perry Marshall’s affiliates and he told me he’s very interested… so stay tuned. I’ll let you know how that develops.

Networking with Other Affiliate Marketers

I met as many people as I could and I only wish there’d been time to meet more. As events hit the calendar I’ll keep you guys posted so that if you want to meet up and talk about your business face to face we’ll have that chance.

Of the ones that I did meet, I found a lot of opportunities to increase Perry’s affiliate sales. I’ve put faces to names and I’m excited about what the rest of 2009 will bring.

Conferences and training events are about meeting like minded entrepreneurs who want to help you. And there’s a difference between reading a blog post and having lunch face to face.

The next opportunity you get to step out from the cyber-world Al Gore created and meet fellow entrepreneurs - take it.

Even if you don’t learn a thing from the speakers on the podium, you’ll get your money’s worth just from networking and brainstorming with like minded entrepreneurs.

After the dust settles with Perry Marshall’s 40th Birthday promotion I’ll invite some of the great folks I met at the System Seminar to come and share their ideas with you.

Another Advantage for Perry’s Affiliates

A big focus of the event was conversion: how to track it and how to improve it.

This was at the top of my priority list day one. As I told one of Perry’s affiliates that I met at the event:

I want to do everything possible to increase conversion for Perry… and that means more money to the affiliates for the same amount of traffic.

Some of that groundwork already began before the event. Now that we’re back, the work can begin to make that happen.

And with the tools and resources (ROI Revolution) to make that happen I think the future is looking very bright.

By the way…

Sign up as an affiliate for Perry Marshall if you haven’t yet. There’s no better time than right now.

Perry Marshall’s Biggest Sale Ever

If you’ve been on Perry’s list for a while, you notice that he hardly ever runs sales. He promotes his new programs and events, but I can’t recall seeing a sale on his entire product line.

Well one’s coming on April 1st… and this isn’t the lead in to an April Fool’s joke.

New Resources and Tools

I’ve created a special page of links and other copy and paste tools… including one I’m really excited to share with you… and it’s all in your affiliate admin under “Resource Pages” on the left hand nav.

Using my Ninja-like coding skills I hacked Infusionsoft to put a full page of resources in your affiliate control panel and give you ready to use links and tools with your affiliate code already woven into the promotions.

Watch this Video For Details.

I’ve also created a quick video that shows you how to get to the resource page from your admin and shows you the website and landing page I created just for promoting this event.

Perry Marshall’s 40th Birthday Sale Promotion - Affiliate Resources

In short his post says: differentiate.

He explains the need for a Unique Selling Proposition. If you’re not familiar with the USP concept, it’s essentially a marketing message that succinctly explains how what you offer is different from all other options.

Great advice for anyone marketing their own products, but what about affiliates?

“Do Affiliates Need a Unique Selling Proposition to Succeed?”

From my own experience as an affiliate and from what I’ve seen other affiliates achieve the short answer is…

No. It’s not a requirement for affiliates to have a strong USP to succeed.

Before you run off and try to clone someone else’s success in pursuit of “easy riches” you need to understand that the most successful affiliates do bring something unique to the sales process. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

But the fact remains that there are some affiliates that do not add anything of themselves to the sales message. And since a unique selling proposition is focused on weaving uniqueness into the sales message, these traffic brokering affiliates don’t have a USP.

If you’re familiar with the Google Cash strategy, you know that it’s basically a direct linking strategy to send traffic straight from Google Adwords over to a merchant’s website. Definitely an approach devoid of a USP.

Direct linking from Google search ads is much more difficult than it used to be but that’s just one method that traffic brokering affiliates can use to send traffic to a merchant without changing the sales message in any substantial way.

The X Factor of Top Affiliates

While some affiliates succeed without a unique sales message, the top performing ones all bring something unique to their marketing.

Most of the zero-USP affiliates are masters of finding traffic and redirecting it to a merchant.

They’re experts at one of these:

• Natural search marketing
• Paid search advertising
• List building
• Social media marketing

Most affiliates have a great deal of difficulty finding fat torrents of traffic to send to a merchant. And frankly, that’s one of the reasons why most affiliates fail to earn even a part time living with their efforts.

Knowing how to tap into serious traffic is unique.

It’s not a selling proposition, but it’s the “X Factor” that some of the best affiliates bring to the table.

For Affiliates Without Much Traffic: Focus on Conversion

In the most cut-throat marketing spaces the top affiliates are ruthlessly testing and tweaking the few components of the pre-sales process that they can control.

They’re adding something unique to the sales message.

They’re sending traffic to their own landing pages and testing:

• Headlines
• Calls to actions
• Bonus offers
• Graphics
• Testimonials
• Layouts

Focusing on conversion isn’t just for super affiliates in competitive niches. It’s for anyone that wants to maximize profits, regardless of traffic. And if you’re having trouble finding rivers of traffic, then you really need to make every visitor count.

Let me show you a method for increasing conversions while making it much more difficult for someone to steal your secret sauce.

How to Make Your Affiliate Marketing Clone Resistant

These are shark infested waters.

After researching a market, a top affiliate can siphon off a list of your best keywords using SpyFu and Keyword Spy. They can duplicate your ads and headlines in seconds. In under an hour they can harvest the html and graphics from your top landing page.

And then like a Texas hold ‘em poker pushing a mountain of chips onto the felt, they whisper “all in” as they outbid you… on your best keywords.

How do you keep these sharks at bay?

For one, you should invest the time and training to eventually become a shark.

But in the meantime you find something unique you can bring to the sales message that’s difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate.

You develop a Unique Selling Proposition.

How to Develop A Unique Selling Proposition as an Affiliate

Some gurus of affiliate marketing will recommend focusing almost entirely on the market… finding a high converting product in a hungry market where there’s lots of money flowing.

That’s great advice, if you’re a shark, or shark in training.

But for the small affiliate looking to carve out some extra income in a crowded marketplace I’m going to suggest the opposite:

Focus on what makes you unique.

• What industries have you worked in?
• What’s your preferred communication method?
• What’s your real story?
• What’s your passion?
• What do you have more of: money or time?

If you dismiss these questions as touchy feely new age nonsense you’ll miss a great opportunity to differentiate. And differences sell.

So let’s look at these questions one by one and how they might apply to you.

What industries have you worked in?

If you’ve worked in real estate sales (and the economy has kicked your tail) then you know terminology and lingo of real estate agents. You know the most popular forums and the most popular blogs. You know their pain, their concerns, and their hopes.

You might ask yourself, “how can I tie in Perry Marshall’s training on adwords and marketing to what real estate agents really want right now?”

What’s your preferred communication method?

• Networking?
• Teletraining?
• Videos?
• Blogs?
• Articles?

There’s no right answer. If the thought of making regular blog posts makes your palms sweat then don’t try to be a blogger. If you have no technical skills at all then creating and uploading videos could be a challenge.

Pick the communication method that’s right for you.

What’s your real story?

Too many affiliates jump into the internet marketing niche and try to pretend that they know enough to teach “newbies” how to do internet marketing.

I’m not going to tell you to stay out of the internet marketing space — there’s a lot of money there — but be authentic.

Saying you’re an expert doesn’t make it so, and most people figure it out sooner or later.

Here’s a more authentic story line: journeyman.

A Great Affiliate to Learn From

If you want to see an example of the journeyman story line go over to Entrepreneur’s Journey. I love Yaro’s site, I highly recommend that you subscribe to his updates. Yaro said goodby to newbie-ville a long time ago, but one of the great things about Yaro is that he started out by honestly saying “I’m still trying to figure this marketing thing out… I’ll share what I find with you on this journey.”

It takes the pressure off and helps him bond instantly with his audience.

Now what if you did that for an audience that you had some experience with, instead of the internet marketing space where it’s difficult to get your message to rise over the noise…?

What’s your passion?

Passion will carry you through the obstacles.

Passion will help you connect with your audience.

What do you have more of: money or time?

There’s no such thing as free traffic, unless your time is worthless.

You’re paying one way or the other.

Some affiliates wouldn’t dream of writing an article or spending time with search engine optimization. They buy traffic with greenbacks. Period.

Other affiliates, especially when they’re starting out, don’t have a war chest to invest in buying traffic.

No problem… use your time.

• Write articles and submit them to article directories.
• Make blog posts.
• Make videos.
• Create Squidoo lenses and HubPages.

I’ll go into more detail on the mechanics of each of these in the private affiliates only section (coming soon).

How this works in the real world: case studies

The perfect example is Yaro Starak. He makes a great income by focusing on his audience and being authentic.

Yaro puts 100% of himself into his content and whenever he reviews a product he’ll point out the flaws just as quickly as the strong points.

And I think he’d be one of the first to admit that even though he makes great money from affiliate marketing, some of the top PPC super affiliates can make an eye popping seven figure income.

Yaro uses his own style. It’s in line with his passion.  And so it works.

If you want to replicate Yaro’s method, you might want to sign up for his  blog mastermind course.

To give you another example, I’ve contacted an affiliate I personally helped to close some quick sales for Perry Marshall during my push to become Perry’s affiliate manager. My hope is to give you a real world peek into a successful promotion and how it came together.

I expect to bring that to you soon.

In the meantime, turn off the computer, grab a pen, and spend some time putting together a list of of answers to these questions:

• What industries have you worked in?
• What’s your preferred communication method?
• What’s your real story?
• What’s your passion?
• What do you have more of: money or time?

The way to get your message to rise above the noise of the internet is to be authentic, genuine, and passionate.

As you might expect, I’m excited and fired up.

But what does that mean for you? Lots.

Here’s What to Expect in 2009

• Tools for more effective promotion
• Training, live and recorded
• Contests, targeted to all skill levels, not just top performers
• Regular communication
• New products and launches you can promote for short term commission jumps
• News
• Feedback from you

Important Step for All Affiliates

My numero uno mission is to help you sell more, and bank more commission every single month.

To do that, I need a way to tell you about the news, tools and training that’s just around the corner. If you’re an affiliate you’re already on our email list, but take a second and please:

• Subscribe to get blog updates by RSS or email as they happen
• Follow me on Twitter

How I Plan On Increasing Your Income in 2009

Training - For all skill levels of affiliates. You’ll get both live training and video recorded training available 24/7

Tools - Think of me as a mad scientist creating tools and resources for you to find more traffic and convert more of that traffic. If you like tools that are copy and paste easy then you’ll love what I have in store for you.

Conversion - I’m working with Perry and his team behind the scenes to test and tweak landing pages, order pages, upsells, cross sells and down sells, all in the name of getting more value out of every visitor. While that’s fantastic for Perry it’s also great for you since you’ll be getting more commission for every visitor you send to PerryMarshall.com

Feedback - One of the first things you’ll see from me is a survey to get a gauge of what you want to see more of from me and the rest of the Planet Perry Marshall team.