For my covers I like to keep things very simple.  I create all my covers in Photoshop myself and then use a free template to make it look interesting.

The first thing I do is find a good image.  Sometimes I can find a free image, other times I’ll pay $1 for an image from istockphoto.com.  Then I’ll add the headline and any other text it needs to be.  Occassionally I’ll add symbols or other design elements, but mostly I like to keep things simple.

It’s really all about your image.  Let’s look at an example.

I created a little mini ebook for one of my niche sites (party plan blogging).  Here’s the cover:  It’s just a very simple design with an image that I thought suited the theme and the title and subtitle - very simple indeed.

First I found an image of a women on the computer with shopping bags around her.  I just did a quick search online for free royalty free images.  I actually think I purchased this one from istockphoto for arouund $1 from memory.  (If you do buy from somewhere like this only buy the tiny picture as that’s all you’ll need for a cover).

I then created a strip of color to add my title using one of the colors from the images so it co-ordinated.  Added my heading in a contrasting bold font and then added my sub heading.

I also added a strip of darker blue at the top and bottom for contrast and I was done!

Then I went and grabbed one of the ebook cover templates (get them free from here): http://www.ebooktemplatesource.com/free-ebook-covers.html

and follow their instructions on how to add your cover to the template: http://www.ebooktemplatesource.com/tutorial-ebook-cover.html

Finally you’ll end up with something like this (I also found a ring binder image online and added it to the template):

I hope that helps you when creating your report / ebook covers.

Go to Amazon (or other online store that has Christmas items and an affiliate program) and choose 3 products.

They can be related or they can be different, but the key is that it has to have something to do with Christmas: gifts, decorations, music, tree’s etc.

Write 12 articles related to the products you chose (4 each for the 3 different products).  The articles can be direct reviews or they can be somewhat related (such as the history of Christmas tree’s if you have chosen to promote a Christmas tree).  Each article should be around 400-500 words each.

If you know how to do keyword research (and if you have any of my products you should know how to do this) this will help but it’s not totally necessary as long as you have the word Christmas in your titles.

The article writing is the hard part, after that it’s smooth sailing.

Start a blogger blog and place ONE of your articles there for Product No 1.  Also place a link to the related Amazon product through your affiliate link on the page at the start and end of the article.  For the remainder of the articles for that product submit them to EzineArticles.com with a link in the author bio box linking to your blog.

Next create a squidoo lens.  Place an article for Product No. 2 on it as well as links to the related Amazon product.  Again the remainder of the articles for that product should be submitted to EzineArticles.com with a link to your Squidoo Lens in the author bio box.

Third, Create a hubpage.  Place an article for Product No. 3 and links to the related Amazon product on the hub page.  The remainder of your articles for this product should be submitted to Ezinearticles.

Finally go and link the blogger blog to the Squidoo lens and the Hubpage.  Link the Squidoo Lens to the Hubpage and the Blog, and Link the Hubpage to the Squidoo lens and the Blog.  This creates a lovely circle of backlinks to help boost your pages in the SERPS.

Then just sit back and wait for the commissions to roll in.

(And yes you may repeat this as many times as you like)

Enjoy!
Tracey

Not from internert marketing, but from my own products for the next few months.  I recently purchased the fabulous Info Product Killer and have been busy making lots of toy websites for Christmas.  It’s so much fun and I’m already seeing a lovely return.

Of course I’ll get back to my own products early next year, but for now I’m going where the money is, and that is on Christmas presents.

If you’d like to see how I’m going, watch my daily progress in a diary blog I’ve set up: http://traceys-infoproductkiller-results.blogspot.com/ and see what I make each day.

Auction Classified Cash is now the best selling guide to making money using eBay’s classified ads online right now (and it’s also the cheapest!).  But don’t let price fool you - as many of my happy customers will attest to - this guide is an absolute winner!

If you are serious about making money using eBay’s Classified Ads then get this guide!  http://www.auctionclassifiedcash.com/

Now I’m on to my next project - Making a free website using free resources to make money online.  Think I can do it?  Think you are up to the challenge?  Stay tuned …

Are you ready ..

It was writing my own ebooks.

Now prior to this I was doing ok, but as soon as I started creating my own products my income went from about a few hundred per month to thousands per month.

The difference was huge!

I really encourage you to start thinking about creating your own products.

For me it started earlier this year when I signed up to become one of John Thornhill’s coaching students.

Prior to that I had been selling other peoples ebooks on eBay and doing some affiliate marketing but I just wasn’t seeing huge money
- does that sound familiar?

So I bit the bullet and handed over my $500 to join his coaching program.

I was very nervous at first, because that’s a lot of money!

But my first ebook, Auction Classified Cash, has made me many thousands of dollars since then and so the course has more than paid for itself.

I think what I like best about the course is that you get PERSONAL coaching from John. He is there for you 24/7 and takes you through step by step on how to create your own product, set it up on Clickbank, and then promote it including how to get affiliates and other people promoting it for you as well.

I really do owe my current success to his teaching.

Now I realise that $500 is a lot of money but it truly was the best investment I have ever made in my internet marketing career.

Read more about his course at
http://www.johnthornhillcoaching.com/amember/go.php?r=15&i=l0

Keep an eye out for MY testimonial - I’m one of the case studies on his sales page.

If it isn’t for you, that’s fine, but if you are looking to take your business to the next level and see some REAL money then you should seriously consider his course.

http://www.johnthornhillcoaching.com/amember/go.php?r=15&i=l0

To your success,
Tracey

However, today I decided to go and check out their listing policy to see if anything had changed and it had!  (Now I’m not sure when they changed it, the last time I checked was around a month ago).

Anyway - here are the two items of interest taken from the policy page at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html:

One link to your email address that opens an email client for potential buyers to ask questions about the item in that listing

Links to your Store newsletter and mailing list names are permitted, provided that your inclusion of the mailing list names does not constitute keyword spamming or violate any other eBay policy

Now while it’s still a little unclear I’m going to take it as a YES.  (I’ve been using opt-in’s with no problems for months with great success).

Go for it Adders!

Very recently I had a lovely customer of mine come to me for help because the technical aspects of making money from a classified ad was a bit overwhelming.  He just didn’t know where to start.

So my advice to him, and to you too, is to keep it very simple to begin with. 

If you are yet to make any money online, I would recommend starting with promoting an affiliate product.  Obviously Clickbank is a good place to start, but I also like promoting eBay products or Amazon products too.  (Yes you can promote eBay products through an eBay classified ad using an affiliate link!)

In my book Auction Classified Cash I stick completely to eBay’s rules with the methods I suggest, but I need to let you know that eBay are STILL not cracking down on aff links in ads.  I’ve been using them still for months and not once have I ever been told not to.

So should you put a direct link in your ad?  Why not!  The worst that could happen is they pull your ad.

Ok so for my friend here are the step by step method for doing that.

Go to Clickbank Marketplace and choose a product with a high gravity. 

Check if they have an affiliate page.  If they do, great - have a look at some of the text or images they have there and see if you can use them.

If not, that’s fine, just try and write in your own words what the product is about from reading the sales page.

Create your Classified Ad and put in the ad what you wrote about the product.  It doesn’t need to be long, just enough to create enough interest so people will want to know more and click on your link.

Add your affiliate link.  You get your affiliate link by clicking the ‘create hoplink’ button and putting in your clickbank id where it tells you.  You don’t need to worry about tracking id - that’s for more advanced marketers.

Now you will be given a link that looks something like this http://YOURID.MERCHANT.hop.clickbank.net/

In your ad - at both the top and bottom, add your link using the following html code: <a href="[YOUR AFFILIATE LINK HERE]“>Click Here for More Information </a> But Make Sure to put YOUR affiliate link in place of the one I’ve got here.

Also test it to make sure it goes to the right page by clicking on it yourself.

On the page, that code will look like show up like this Click Here for More Information (this link doesn’t go anywhere it’s just to show you what it looks like).

Then when someone clicks that link they will go to the product via your affiliate link and if they buy the product you will get the commission.

It really is that easy.  The only difficult part is trying to choose a product to promote!

Good luck.

If  you’d like to see an example, check out my latest classified ad that promotes my free report (notice how I also subtley promote my ebook as well on the page - sneaky huh!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270250551224

I’ve been using video in some other classified ads and so far the results are awesome!  (Although this is the first one in which I’ve used myself in it - so be kind ;))

Anyway if you have any thoughts, feel free to write a comment below.

The reports from the recent eBay Live 2008 conference are that they will no longer allow email addresses to appear in your classified ad after 1st September, a strategy that we have been using successfully up until now.  So while we still have a few months before they will start cracking down, it is time to look for more creative ways to take advantage of the 84 million customers that eBay gets.

Lucky for you I’ve already starting experimenting with a few new ideas that are still completely within eBay’s rules and while it’s still early days, my results are certainly looking promising! 

In fact, I might even go so far to say that I think that these new methods of using classified ads are much more profitable than before - I’m finding a 12% increase in clickbank sales and a whopping 29% increase in opt-ins.  And while it’s still early days I’m thinking this is not bad at all!

I’ll be revealing all in the updated version of Auction Classified Cash coming out after 1st July.  All existing customers will be getting the new version automatically.

I will also be increasing the price after that time by a measly $10 (as I plan on adding a few ad templates to help you along as well).

1st July is nearly here and I predict that many eBay classified adders will have their ads removed for breaking the rules which means we will all have less competition, and that means more money for us!

Personally, I’m looking forward to the changes.

Happy Selling!
Tracey

Here is the answer I gave:

I must admit that I don’t buy many of the products that I promote.  I do however do a bit of research to make sure it’s a decent product by looking at other people’s reviews of it first (the best reviews are on ezinearticles.com - they seem the most truthful).

I also read the sales page carefully and try and think about what type of people would be interested in that product.  I think thats the key when promoting products, don’t just copy the sales page, but try and think about what sort of customer they are targetting first and why they would want that product.

Then tailor your ad to that customer - what do they want/desire?  If it’s a weight loss product, perhaps they want to fit into a bikini / look good for a wedding / make an ex-boyfriend jealous .. very rarely it’s just losing weight for no reason.  If you find the reason then you’ll make sales.

I also to try and offer them a solution in the ad too - whether that’s advice, a free report, etc.  Don’t sell them straight away, if you give them something good first, then you can follow up with the sale later because you’ve built some trust already.

The exception to this is products I promote here on my blog.  Anything mentioned here I actually DO use!

Tracey