TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#12)

Among the benefits of being on a TrafficWave Team, effective ad designs are a big plus.  Collective advertising with Team Ads, plus permanent Team URL placements on sites like this blog (for example), have far more potential to help build affiliate downlines than anything that you can do on your own.  Since there are several TrafficWave Teams that will be actively promoting in 2011 and beyond, you might as well choose one and join if the affiliate plan interests you.

I have my own designs for my OceanSwell Team, but I also happily produce custom, individual ads for Team Members who want one, such as Mr. Sam Prindle.  You can see his new ad here (new window).  If you want one like Sam's, just ask!  Why does this matter?  Because links inside safelist mailings, or ads in TE's, should never ever link to standard affiliate pages.  No one pays attention to them.  Advertising is far more effective when it promotes business-building systems and/or is personalized with a name and a face.

Speaking of Team benefits, it's that time of the month again!  Every month, I pay a $40.00 cash bonus to a random Team Member who is actively promoting, according to the weekly page-hit requirements that we ask of everyone.  To have a chance at it, you have to be doing your part.  That's only fair, right?  This month's recipient is Mr. Paul Rose.  Paul has been with our Team a long time.  TrafficWave is his autoresponder of choice, but he's also an active affiliate promoter and a great Team Member.  Congratulations Paul, you deserve it!

Last, but not least, that picture in the top left corner is (of course) me and my sweetie - Rusty - in front of our lovely tree this year.  Both of us wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!  We have big plans for expanding Team OceanSwell that will definitely reward everyone who's stayed and grown with us.  Expect some exciting things to happen in the coming months...

What is 'Get Referrals Fast'?

First and foremost, Get Referrals Fast is a downline-builder for TrafficWave.  It's overall purpose is two-fold:  To create passive, recurring income with an automated system (no HTML skills or hosting required!)
and to provide ongoing training and advice to get the most out of the TrafficWave product and email marketing in general.

The systems that they have in place are very well thought-out.  Just fill out a few forms and you have everything you need to build your list with your TrafficWave autoresponder.

* You get professionally written & designed squeeze pages

* The 'thank you page' and download pages

* Mouth Watering BAIT (to encourage opt-ins)

* Member's only conferences

* Rebranding rights to TWO streams of income

* A pre-written email series with your affiliate membership

It's all good stuff for TrafficWave members to make use of.  That's why I recommend for everyone who understands the awesome power of list-building and what it means for your financial future.  Did I mention that it's Free to join?  Chest it our today:  Get Referrals Fast

You must have the proper mindset in order to succeed with online business

My years of experience with Internet Marketing have caused me to see the world differently. As a result, I have gradually come to understand Albert Einstein's famous quote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." That quote can mean different things to different people. But what it means to me is that working at your same job, year after year, and hoping for a raise or a promotion is a waste of your most valuable asset... your mind. Likewise, if you are struggling with Internet Marketing, it may be because you are neglecting to use your greatest asset. That's right... your mind!

You can join Team OceanSwell (and that's a good idea!) to get help with promoting the affiliate plans of TrafficWave and Global NPN, but your ultimate success is still largely up to you. This scares and frustrates people who want & expect someone else - i.e. some outside force - to do it all for them. But the fact that it's up to you is actually good news when you have the right mindset. What I mean to say is that, on the Internet, you don't have a boss, a time-clock, office gossip, a 'glass ceiling' or any other kind of discrimination. The ONLY thing that prevents you from having a successful online business is a lack of knowledge, desire, creativity and faith - all of which are mental traits.

I still have my job here in Houston, but I have shifted my thinking and now realize the beauty and wonder of being able to create income streams online that can last a lifetime. What's more, I realize that it could not have come at a better time for me and my family. I don't focus my thoughts on politics, 'the economy', or 'how hard' Internet Marketing is. Instead, I focus my thoughts on the infinite possibilities that online business provides. Things happen so fast online, and that's why I keep using that word, 'focus'. The right mindset keeps you from getting distracted and discouraged, but it also keeps you ready to accept ( and act upon!) new discoveries that suddenly come before you.

Yes, it is difficult. Anyone who ever told you that owning your own business was 'easy' wasn't being truthful. But is that such a bad thing? All transitions have their challenges - like graduating and entering the job market for the first time, or looking beyond the limits of your career to having a home-based business. But when I talk about 'mindset', I think it just boils down to one common factor - that this industry is not for everyone. It takes a special kind of person (with the right attitude) to build an online business from scratch. These are the kinds of people we want as Team Members. Think you might be one of them? If so, then we're waiting for you.

Join Team OceanSwell today!

How do I get people to join TrafficWave?

More basically, the question is, 'How do I get people to buy?' There is an old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.” What does that even mean? It means that you can't make him drink water if he isn't thirsty for it!

But (in the context of the old saying) you have two choices of how to handle the stubborn horse:

1) Show the horse how cold, wet and refreshing the water is.
2) Try a different horse.

But here's something to consider. Maybe the horse just doesn't like water. Maybe it likes orange juice or beer instead! So what point am I trying to make (LOL)? What I'm saying is that you can't jam a product like TrafficWave in peoples' faces and expect them to simply join as users and affiliates because it's there. Instead, present a menu of long-term benefits that email list-building and automated, email marketing provide to any online entrepreneur. Let them select for themselves the reason/s to use the product and become an affiliate.

Because you know what? Internet Marketing tactics are becoming stale and overused. People today are becoming much more savvy to sales tricks of the trade. They are immune to most tactics and are even completely put off at the first sign of hype or high-pressured sales. Remember, people like to buy (power of choice), but people do NOT want to be “sold” by someone else. Only by selling themselves have they retained the power of choice.

Any business worthy of your attention will first explain the direct benefits to you well before asking you to plop down your hard earned cash. That's why you should incorporate the 30-Day FREE Trial into your marketing message. It does not “sell” anything... and doesn't have to. The prospects sell themselves after having the benefits explained over the course of 30 days. It's not 'selling' (or forcing a horse to drink!), it's educating - through which the buyer has the opportunity to sell himself. Try this approach and I promise that your results will improve over time.

Is TrafficWave a SCAM?

Of course, it isn't. But looking around on Google, I've seen some blog entries, 'reviews' and such claiming that TrafficWave is a scam operation. Well if it was, I certainly wouldn't be involved with it and neither would thousands of others, including many well-known industry pros!

But when it comes to affiliate marketing products and companies, it's my opinion that people will too often label this, that or the other thing as a 'scam' simply because they didn't succeed with it. In fact, I think most who complain about scams are really 'scamming' themselves. Why? Because they didn't take the time to learn this business and spend the time that it takes to establish yourself. For example, my husband and I first got started with Internet Marketing in the Fall of 2008. We didn't have a clue about what we were doing, but we were very excited, curious and driven to make it work. And you know what? We're STILL learning and (gradually) getting better and better at this.

But before you start calling programs like TrafficWave (or ideas like Team OceanSwell) a 'scam', here are a few pieces of advice that I hope you will take to heart:

1) You aren't going to earn any money online unless you have something to offer in addition to whatever it is that you are promoting. It's not enough to simply promote a product or service like TrafficWave and expect to be rewarded from that activity alone. I mean to say that people like to buy, but nobody likes being 'sold'. I have found that being a teacher, a giver, a helper (and even a friend!) pays more then simply throwing up affiliate links and hoping for sales, downline growth, etc.

2) It's vitally important to make a real commitment to your business and treat it like one. I think that, deep down, a lot of people don't think that Internet Marketing is 'real'. That's why they might be so quick to label everything a scam, when it really isn't. So the very first thing that you have to do (and keep doing forever!) is believe in yourself and believe that what you're doing is real... because it is.

3) Please accept and understand that there isn't any 'fast, easy' money online. It simply doesn't exist. Online business is like any other and requires investments of time and money. Successful businesses are the result of hard work, sacrifice, sweat and tears. Just because they're online doesn't make them any different. I think that one reason people lash out is because they've been lead to believe that there's a 'magic secret' out there that will unleash the floodgates of Internet money if they just join enough Free programs. But, of course, it never happens because that's not reality.

4) Last, but not least, stop blaming your failures on everyone else. Successful people don't make excuses. They get educated, they find out what needs to be done (now matter how much work it is!) and then they get it done - no matter what it takes. If you're the type that's always pointing fingers and making up excuses, then you'll never get anywhere with anything. I can promise you that.


So if you're interesting in online business and email marketing (as you should be!), then join TrafficWave today, contact your sponsor and then contact me, Juli Lopez. With the right attitude, there's no limit to what you can achieve.

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#11)

Do people really make a good income with TrafficWave and Team Oceanswell? That's a question I get asked occasionally. What happens quite often with our Team Ads is that the results they produce aren't always new affiliates and Team Members joining TrafficWave (or Global NPN). Instead, they frequently generate inquiries such as 'how much will I earn?', 'how long will it take?', 'can I join with an existing account?', or 'I was in TrafficWave before and it didn't work for me, so why is this any different?'

New subscribers and, of course, new Team Members receive a letter series that I feel answers the important questions - honestly and directly. But what some people demand to know is, 'how much and how soon?'. If I could answer that, I would be a psychic and not an Internet Marketer. All I can tell you for certain is that collective-recruiting through team-builds like ours is the best chance you've got at establishing and growing an online affiliate business. Will it happen quickly? Probably not. But it won't happen at all if you never even try! And remember that TrafficWave is first and foremost an autoresponder service. That's a product that any serious online businessperson needs - and 'how much you can earn' is largely influenced by the energy and creativity that you put into building your email contact list over time.

But to answer the very first question in this blog post is that yes, you can earn a nice monthly income with TrafficWave and Team OceanSwell. Six(6) OceanSwell Team Members are now consistently among TrafficWave's top-earning affiliates on a monthly basis, and I'm not even one of them. But guess what my goal is... and guess why I will never quit? By the way, did I mention that Team OceanSwell is only one year old? Where will it be this time next year, or five years from now? It's going to be a whole lot bigger, that much is for certain! And as far as autoresponders and list-building are concerned, very few people understand just how valuable their email contact list really and truly is. I mean that everybody 'hears' that it's important, but I don't think that very many people actually get it. Ask anyone who's been doing this business for years and they will tell you that their list is their most valuable asset. It's like virtual real estate! And to build it, you need an autoresponder like TrafficWave.

But as we all know, TrafficWave also happens to have a potentially lucrative affiliate sales plan. And to build an income with that aspect of the product, the help of a team-build like ours is a good thing to have. Speaking of help, the recipient of November's $40.00 cash bonus is David Glassey. David can consider it two free months of TrafficWave, use it purchase a large safe-list mailing or buy a share of Brian Rooney's January co-op. That's up to him. But the point is that he's receiving another benefit of being part of the now-famous Team OceanSwell.

So that's all I can tell you. If you want to build a large and productive email contact list, then TrafficWave is your autoresponder. If you want help with building your affiliate downline, then you should join TrafficWave through Team OceanSwell. Those are facts. But if all you want to know is who will make you the richest in the least amount of time, the 'answers' that you will find online will likely be something other than factual.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Enjoy the time with your families and friends and be SAFE on the roads!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#10)

Fast, easy, money online doesn't exist.

I wish I could say otherwise, but I'd be lying. And while I'm no 'expert' on Internet Marketing, everything that I've ever read and everything that I've ever done (i.e. anything that works) always leads to the same conclusions. First of all, it takes years to become an online business success. Secondly, it takes a little money and a whole LOT of effort and sacrifice before you will see any results at all. But, of course, nobody wants to hear that. What they want is a full-time income 'online', with little to no effort, for no cost and they want it NOW - oh, and they want somebody else to do all the thinking for them. That's like walking up to a university and expecting a degree within 30 days, with someone else attending classes, doing all your homework and taking the tests for you... for Free. I'm sorry, life just doesn't work that way - online or 'offline'. There's no 'fast, easy' way and there's no free rides. In my experience so far, I have found two (and only two) things that work - email list building with my TrafficWave autoresponder and the OceanSwell Team-Build for the TrafficWave affiliate plan (which also builds downlines in Global NPN). Additionally, I promote My Money Fish, Peoplestring, 3x6surf and GDI, but I only do it with advertising that links to my autoresponder.

That's because growing your opt-in mailing list accomplishes two things at once: It automates your marketing and allows you to communicate to a large group all at once. Everyone who markets online with the fundamental goal of list-building uses the same basic system. That's because there aren't any new fundamentals. And, in my opinion, list-building should be the #1 thing every online marketer focuses upon - day in and day out. Because upon that single activity rests everything else. There is NO other thing that you can do that will benefit your business more. Everything you do online should involve your goal of list-building. Online, everybody wants 'traffic' (naturally). But once that traffic comes to your ad or website, it should be directed toward your opt-in form. That way, you will have continued access to that traffic forever, rather than just one time! Understand? If you don't understand it, then you NEED to understand it.

Of course, getting traffic to your page and then getting opt-ins are two different things. Basically, you must give your visitors a compelling reason to join your email contact list right now.... and without 'selling' anything. Remember this: Everybody wants to buy, but nobody wants to be sold. In my OceanSwell series of Marketing Tips, I offer suggestions about where to go for webinars and other material related to the subject of list-building. It's an art-form unto itself and mastering it is a learning process that takes time. But learn it you must, if you wish to be a success in this business.

Anyway, working full-time and trying to do so many things online can sometimes make it hard to stay in touch with my OceanSwell Team Members, thus this update has been a little late in coming. But the winner of the $40.00 cash bonus in October was Team Member, Frank Novak. Speaking of Frank, he is one of those who is opting to promote a personal ad page in addition to my regular Team Ads. You can have a look at his unique ad here. If you would like a custom ad yourself, please contact me and I will see that you receive one asap!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#9)

A lot of good things have been happening lately with TrafficWave, including improvements to the product itself and (of course) the continued growth of our OceanSwell Team. And I am seeing more and more of our Team members actually learning how to use the AR with squeeze pages in order to build their email contact lists and market other products and services. That is excellent! Our side promotion with Global NPN is apparently going quite well too, as I'm told that we're enrolling 3-4 new Team Members a week into it.

Speaking of Team Members, I would like to give a warm welcome to our newest TrafficWave user and affiliate, Mr. Roberto Galvez. And in addition to that, the monthly $40.00 cash bonus award goes to Ms. Pat Rogers. She has been a loyal Team Member since the beginning and probably works harder than anybody else ever could when it comes to promoting our Team Ads. And that helps ALL of us! She deserves it this month and (as always) I suggest that the money is used to buy a share in TrafficWave's October ad co-op, but it's up to Pat how she uses it to help her business grow.

Oh, I’m sure this will really hack some people off… but what the heck! I’m writing my opinion, so here it goes. This weekend, I was surfing, reading safelist emails and even working a couple of forums. One thing that irks me are the ads claiming that their system 'is not MLM' or 'isn't a Rotator'. I decided that I had had enough with the trash-talking about how all MLMs or Rotator-based Team-Builds are scams. There's absolutely nothing wrong with MLM and 'Rotator' isn't a bad word. And 99% of the time, when someone claims that 'this isn't MLM'... it IS. And when they say 'no Rotator'... it HAS one. Let's face it, everything is 'multi-level' - the government, the church, the army and every major business. As for all the attempts to make 'Rotator' a dirty word, trust me: if someone is deciding who goes where and when, it's a Rotator.

The other thing that really gripes me are the ads that say 'do nothing and get paid!' Now THAT'S a scam, in my opinion. If nobody has to do anything, then who buys what and from who? Nothing happens until something is sold and every online business will require both your time and your money. Period. One of the reasons that I feel Team OceanSwell has been (and continues to be!) such a huge success with both TrafficWave and Global NPN is because those two programs are basic, meat-and potatoes MLM's that have a solid track-record. Their affiliate pages don't show people driving around in Ferraris, standing in front of their mansion, sailing in their yacht or boarding their jet either.

One of the reasons that so many people try online business and then give up and quit is misleading advertising. Let’s be honest here…the vast majority of people won’t achieve those kinds of results. In fact, I believe that the marketing style above is one of the very reasons why there’s a high attrition rate in network marketing. Another reason is that so many people out there are truly desperate and are turning to the Internet to somehow bail them out of their financial condition. Ads making claims of earning 'quick bucks' have a very strong appeal to those people.

Network Marketing is a business and not a lottery. Businesses take money and time to grow. I don’t care what anyone else says, to grow a business you need to invest time and money. I believe that you need some money to make money. Note that I didn’t say you need a ton of money, I just said some. That's why I recently suggested 3x6surf as beginner program for those who truly cannot afford anything more than $3 a month in subscription fees. The only other thing you can do is get a job - any job - because if you don’t have ANY money, you won’t be in business for long.

This is why I firmly believe it’s my duty to tell people who are interested in joining our business, what I believe it really takes to make it in the business. It's called HONESTY. I don't want a single person to join TrafficWave and/or Global NPN through Team OceanSwell without knowing my views on what it takes to succeed based on their particular financial goals. Look, I'm not trying scare people off from the industry that I love, but the emails I get from some Team Members lead me to believe that a good dose of reality is in order for quite a few people are are new to the online business world.

The good news, however, is that those who get set up online now - in this first decade of the new century - will be well-rewarded down the road when they are experts in this business and are enjoying growing, positive cash-flows. And you can get started online with very little money or know-how. But if you want to market a product or service on the Internet with little to no money, you must accept the fact that for the vast majority of people, it takes several months (or more!!!) of consistent hard work, learning and implementing to lay a foundation before you even start seeing consistent results. It takes TIME to get your presence out on the Internet. Although with Blogs, TE's, safelists, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and some other online tools. You also must be willing to invest time and some money in educational materials, if you’re new to this industry and/or this style of marketing... ... and USE them!

I don’t want to waste my time personally mentoring people who are unwilling to do what it takes to succeed. I’m not afraid to tell someone “NO” if I don’t think they are right for our business. That’s because we want a team of entrepreneurs who are serious about building their own business, learning about AR's and email marketing and will acknowledge that it takes time, effort, and money to grow a business; and are willing to do what it takes to reach their goals. If I haven’t scared you off yet, then you’re the kind of person we want in Team OceanSwell! Because we’re so straight forward about what we believe it takes to succeed in this business, we know that the people who join our Team are true entrepreneurs, and that’s why we’re happy to dedicate our time and resources to help others achieve their goals - and that's why Pat gets the $40.00 this month!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#8)

Are you building your list? Building your own email contact list is the single most important activity in online marketing. That's why TrafficWave was chosen for our OceanSwell Team co-op. Why not build downlines with a product that you actually NEED? Anyway, you will always get more click-bank sales (or sales of whatever you are offering) from your own personal contact list.

If you aren't using squeeze pages and optin forms to build your list, you will never get anywhere over the long term in this business. That's my personal belief, because it comes from experience. When starting an online business from scratch, it takes a long time. But times passes, whether you are doing something productive or not. Brian Rooney, owner of TrafficWave, is putting together new tutorial videos on creating lead-capture pages, setting up an autoresponder letter series, what to offer potential subscribers and what to say in follow up letters to generate sales. I know that a lot of people need this kind of help because autoresponders are complicated and some people are afraid to use them.

The way to conquer fear is with knowledge. Once you know exactly what to do, and how to do it, getting the most out of the TrafficWave product becomes easy and you can start building your list, your personal 'brand' and your business - immediately. Don't be intimidated by setting up your autoresponder. Make a committment to learning what you need to learn and put it to work! Once you get good at it and experience the power (and ease of use) of an autoresponder to follow up and create sales on autopilot, you will never go back. As for our TrafficWave Team-Build promotion, the transition has finally been made to revolving URL's, rather than the traditional 'straight-line' Rotator list that we had been using. The Rotators are still there, but they have been folded into this new system. It's a lot better because we can add and subtract affiliate links from it, but the URL will always be the same. It also gives a chance for newer members to get direct referrals sooner, rather then later. We are doing this for both TrafficWave, and the optional NPN Team-Build.

Lastly, I will be paying out the monthly $40.00 cash bonus to a random Team member around the weekend of the 18th/19th of this month. As I said before, this will happen every single month from now on... forever! I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend and enjoyed time with family and friends. Rusty and I did and it was a nice break. But it's time to get back to work, so let's have a good week with list-building and Team promotion.

All the best,

Juli Lopez Shelton

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#7)

Network marketing online takes a real commitment and it can also take a lot out of you! I think that's why so few people have any luck with it. It just takes so long to get anywhere in this business and there's so MUCH to do. I understand the frustrations of some people. In fact, I am well aware that a number of people in my TrafficWave downline are jobless, broke, retired or just desperate to find some way (any way) to earn money online. The truth is that it's much easier to approach Internet Marketing if you already have a job, can easily afford subscription fees and make it a spare-time business. It's much less stressful that way.

But if that's not your situation, then what you need most is help. That's why I have begun a new policy for my OceanSwell Team, starting this month and continuing indefinitely. Roughly ten days before the end of every month, I will choose one of our active promoters to receive a $40.00 cash bonus, paid through AlertPay. Since my Team is smaller than some of the other Teams in the OceanSwell family, you have a good chance now and in the future of receiving this monthly bonus. You can stick the money in your pocket and spend it if you want, but that's not what it's for. The purpose is to purchase one(1) share of Brian Rooney's in-house co-op on the first day of the next month - in this case, on September 1st. A share in the TrafficWave co-op will produce affiliate referrals for you within 30 days. How you contact them and interact with them is up to you. Do it well and you will have productive referrals who can join our promotion Team if they wish! Anyway, this month's recipient of the $40.00 bonus is top promoter, Eliezer Ayal. Congratulations Eliezer!

Like everyone on this Team, I want to see Eliezer use TrafficWave to build & manage his email contact lists and have lasting success with the TrafficWave affiliate program! That's why I'm helping him this way and will be helping someone else in the very same way - every single month, from now on. That's what Team OceanSwell is all about!


Now if you're finding yourself getting stressed-out over your Internet Marketing dreams, here are a few pieces of advice from my own experience:

1) Make it a goal to study one new 'thing' a week for at least two hours, no matter what that thing is - just so long as it has something to do with online promotions. Most online-business stress comes from not knowing what to do. It's that feeling that everybody else knows what to do, but you don't. While not true, you can erase that feeling by increasing your own knowledge. You need fresh ideas, or you will get stuck in a dreary, mental rut.

2) Don't overdo it, because it's so easy to get overwhelmed. There's only so much that any of us can do. If it helps, set an egg-timer or some other alarm to remind you that you've studied enough for one Saturday (or whatever). Avoiding burn-out is one of the keys to success, so take breaks and don't let this take over your life and cause stress with your family. I've seen it happen... personally.

3) Get organized! If your work space feels like an office (i.e. a place of business), you'll feel better about what you're doing and you'll be more focused. If you're surrounded by clutter and noise while trying to do online business, the distractions can be a big problem.

4) Don't procrastinate. Set a schedule and stick to it. Maintaining a routine really helps a lot and one way to do that is to figure out what really motivates you. Then find a picture of it, frame it and hang it on the wall - right over your computer screen, where you can SEE it every time you sit down to work at your online business. With a scheduled routine, you can get more done and still have time for yourself and your family.

5) Automate as much of your online business as possible. That's why the TrafficWave autoresponder is such an indispensable tool. And it goes back to item #1. Continued learning and study (over time) will uncover new ways to market in 'set and forget' patterns that will pay off well into the future.

6) Set realistic goals. This is probably the most important one of all. 'Getting rich in 30 days', is not a realistic goal. Neither is getting rich in a year. If there is one over-arching FACT about Internet Marketing, it's that it takes a long time to establish a significant monthly income. If anyone tells you differently, they are lying. You will lose more sleep (and more hair!) if you believe these people. Be realistic and accept the realities of online business and it will take your stress level way down.


Until next time,

Juli

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#6)

It's been a long time since I provided an Update here for my TrafficWave Team, but sometimes 'life' gets in the way of our Internet Marketing businesses and July was a very, VERY busy month for me! In fact, because of an ongoing issue with my right foot, I had to take six(6) weeks off from work on the advice from my doctor. It's hard to take care of all the things that you normally do (and have to do!) when you are told not to walk for a month and a half. In my case, it put me a little behind on just about everything. Anyway, though this is the first Team Update in awhile, that doesn't mean things aren't happening!

First, and as always, I want to thank the Team Members for the group advertising effort because it does produce results. The Rotator list continues to advance and if you are on this Team and are promoting Team Ads, then you are moving up the list and you will have your turn in the Rotator 'hot seat'. And starting this month, I am going to do something entirely new to help members of this Team build their matrix-downlines faster. On the last week of every month, I will send $40.00 through AlertPay or PayPal to a random Team Member who is promoting the Team Ad link as required by the rules that we have all agreed on. That $40.00 is for the expressed purpose of buying one(1) share of Brian Rooney's in-house, TrafficWave Ad co-op. They sell 150 a month and they usually sell out the first day, so when you receive this cash from me, you should set it aside and USE it on the first day of the next month to buy your share. A share in the co-op usually results in 3-4 new referrals. Typically, they are people who saw one of Rooney's ads somewhere, were curious and enrolled through the 30-Day Free Trial offer. It will be up to you to contact them and explain how to use the TrafficWave autoresponder in their business and to mention our OceanSwell Team-Build idea.

I don't know of any other Team Leader out there who is doing anything like this - i.e. giving away money to help their Team Members succeed. So that is a NEW, defined benefit for being part of my OceanSwell Team! If you keep learning about email marketing, keep working and keep the faith, I will help you grow your online business and I won't let you fail.

On a final note, the subject of 'personal branding' has recently come up as it relates to my Team Ad link. Some say that the Team Ads that I have designed 'brand' me and not the Team Members who are promoting them. I have said it before and I will say it again. There is a minimum weekly requirement for promoting the ad link that I supply. But there is NOTHING that prevents anyone from designing their own splash pages with their own picture, their own message and their own personal affiliate link for TrafficWave - or even their own AR series, via a squeeze page. In fact, you should think of this Team-Build as a supplement to your own marketing efforts and not the other way around. Yes, promote the Team... but promote yourself as well!

Expect another Update in a week or so when I will announce the recipient of this month's $40.00 promotion bonus!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#5)

How much advertising does it take to get MLM/affiliate referrals online? It takes a LOT! From the combined effort of our Team Members, my safelist mailings and my Adwords campaign, the Team Ads received close to 12,000 page views total last week. But (last week, at least), it just wasn't enough to move the Rotator so that the next team member can have his turn. I'm beginning to think that it takes about TEN TIMES that much advertising, at a minimum. It can be very, very frustrating! But that's Internet marketing, and it doesn't matter what program you're promoting. Obviously, it takes at least that many ad impressions (on a weekly basis) to realize any kind of results. But, it could also be that it's just real close to pay day. Seriously, most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and that's if - IF - they have a job. And since a large percentage of those who are looking at online business for the first time are the newly unemployed, it makes it that much harder to bring them in as new affiliates... because they're BROKE!

Anyway, I want to thank every Team Member for working so hard this week. For the most part, everyone went far and above the required minimum advertising contribution. That's just wonderful! But as for enforcing the minimum weekly 'hit count', I'm not doing it this week because it might not be fair to certain individuals. As you may or may not know, TrafficWave is being updated with new features and (although the website functions normally), there were issues this week with the tracking URLs during this construction process. Some people could have sent out mailings, bought TE credits or what-have-you and no one would have seen the ads! For that reason, this just wasn't the best week and there's nothing I can do about it other than suspend the rule this time.

The bottom line is that we need more Team Members and TrafficWave users promoting our Team Ads. Speaking of which, I am re-designing them with a fresh and powerful look and will continue to do so. In addition, I feel that the new autoresponder series is much stronger and I am continually making adjustments to it. Same for the Adwords ads. If there's something more that I could personally be doing for this OceanSwell Team, I sure don't know what it would be. However, there is a new plan being developed to ad a little spice to our co-op system. We're going to add another program, in addition to TrafficWave. Once the new program is announced, I plan to 'flip' the Rotator and let those who have come in recently (or today!) be at the top, and everyone else who wants to participate will join the new program under him or her - in the reverse order of the Rotator. In other words, I'll join it LAST! This new program will be OPTIONAL to join, and I believe that it will mesh well with and compliment our TrafficWave promotion. In this way, Team Members will have even more reason to promote our Team co-op and, especially those currently at the tail-end of the Rotator.

So far, the new affiliate program hasn't been decided upon. But the decision will be made in the next few days and your input is both desired and welcome. I believe that the addition of another (optional) income stream will make our program even more attractive. Please let me know what you think!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#4)

It's been one week since I decided to make some big changes to our TrafficWave Team co-op. Why were those changes made? For one basic reason: To speed things up! What everyone wants to know is, 'How can we make the Team OceanSwell co-op work faster?' Another thing I get asked is, 'What are YOU doing to make it work faster?' For one thing, I am going to follow through on what I established last Sunday! If you want to benefit from this Team co-op in order to build your TrafficWave affiliate downline, then you must do the minimum weekly advertising that is required of every Team Member. I am not interested in excuses. In fact, starting today, the NEW weekly page view requirement is 700, rather than 500. The increase is necessary in order to get our ads seen by the public.

Speaking of which, I had to deal with two separate 'crisis' issues in the last 48 hours. The first involved a problem with our splash/squeeze page design & hosting service that caused our ads to go blank. That is why I have switched to AdKreator, and am very, very pleased with the results! The second had to do with a technical glitch within TrafficWave itself that caused our ads to stop working temporarily again! But, that's life and those are the kinds of issues you have to deal with as a Team Leader.

Of course, Team OceanSwell isn't 'one' team. It's numerous teams within one dynamic downline. Ours is a fairly small one. That's good and bad. It's good because my Rotator lists are very short! It's bad because there aren't as many of us advertising my Team Ads and when some Team members don't (or won't) do the weekly minimum, then it makes it even more challenging to get new referrals for the Team. At any rate, here are the stats for what has taken place this week as a result of the changes that were put into effect last Sunday: Our Team Ads registered a total of 11,928 page views in seven days, resulting in seven(7) click-throughs. Obviously, a ratio of 1,704 displays per click-through reveals just how much advertising it takes to generate sales online. It takes a LOT, and that is why this Team co-op was conceived. Can you generate 11,928 page view every week on your own?

However, much to my chagrin, I have had to send out the 'First Warning' to five(5) Team members this evening with regard to the minimum weekly advertising requirements for all Team Members. As I said last Sunday, this is being STRICTLY enforced from now on. I'm lighting a fire under everyone's butt, especially my own butt! That's because I've got a big goal. To achieve it, I'll need to do big things. We ALL dream of having a big, responsive email list to send messages to about about new products and services. And, as TrafficWave users, we ALL dream of being Tsunami Level affiliates with big downlines. So what I am about to say is very important: There are other teams and other downline-building systems out there. What makes Team OceanSwell different is true teamwork, communication, trust and leadership - not just talk, REAL leadership.

Who is responsible for maintaining the Team Rotators? Me. Who designs the ads and keeps them fresh? Me. Who answers the daily emails from Team Members and responds to all enquiries? Me. Who enforces the rules and keeps things fair? Me. Who has a GOLD membership at The List Auction in order to send 12,000 emails a week AND have top-sponsor ads for our Team? Me. Who is spending money on an AdWords for our Team every week? Me.

Who is at the bottom of Rotator #1? Me. Who works a full-time job, needs foot surgery, has a house and husband to look after and STILL performs all of these responsibilities? That's right... me.

So the next time you want to send me an email telling me how much of a burden it is for you to do the weekly minimum with regard to advertising, or an email demanding to know what I am going to DO to make your life better, please don't bother to hit the 'send' button. I just detailed what I do on a daily and weekly basis for this TrafficWave/OceanSwell Team. All that I ask from each of you is that you stay committed, believe in yourselves and believe in what we're building, learn everything there is to learn about opt-in list building and never, never, never quit. If you do your part, I'll do mine.

And last, but not least, I want to mention that all of the hit-counters have been reset and Eliezer Ayal was the week's top promoter, which earns a BONUS TrafficWave referral!

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#3)

It's official! 'OceanSwell 2.0' is now active! What does that mean for my TrafficWave Team? Only GOOD things, that's what! I have reset the 'hit-counters' to zero for all Team Members' Ad links and will be monitoring them closely from now on to make 100% certain that everyone is contributing equally. The minimum number of weekly page views for each Team Member to generate is 500. Not 499, not 498, or any other number less than 500. If next Sunday, we didn't get enough new referrals, then I intend to 'dial that number up' to 600 a week and I will keep increasing it, as necessary. There's two reasons for that. The first is that some Team Members think that 500 is far too low anyway. We'll find out. The second is MY commitment to making every one of you a Tsunami-Level success this year. Not next year, THIS year! That's what we ALL want, right???

On my Team, the top advertiser of the week wins a bonus referral to put one of those Fast-Start checks in her or his pocket even sooner! And (of course) the new ads, the new letter series, the new attitude and the new Triple-Rotator system are all part of OceanSwell 2.0! But the most exciting part is the AdWords campaign that we are launching this week in support of it all! Nobody else is doing that for any TrafficWave Team or co-op. NOBODY! We are going to make this work better than ever before, and the people who don't join us now will wish they had by year's end!

Now, since we are still a fairly new Team, our Three Rotators only have Team Members in the first one. The second two are currently empty. But that will quickly change! I will now keep the Rotator lists as a Word Document and anyone can see them at any time. Just email me and ask for the current lists. We've got a couple of new names on the Rotator #1 and we've had a few leave. But the fact that we have a comparatively short Rotator means that this is a great time for newcomers to join this OceanSwell Team.

Here is the list as it stands today:

Wanita Busch
Blanca Perez
Frank Novak
Brian Schilling
Jeanette Leduc
Kathy Vanvalkenburg
Lighted Way
Aurora Marketing
High Tide Management
Mona Reeves
Marica Nikolic
Kim Hopkins
Eliezer Ayal
Bret Townsend
Juli Lopez
Paul Rose
Karen Boone

Let's get to work and make this week a truly GREAT one. I want next Sunday's Team Update to be very special. I believe that it will be because this AdWords campaign is HUGE...

Take care,

Juli

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#2)

My TrafficWave business is a family affair. My husband, Rusty, was the one who came up with the idea for the Team OceanSwell co-op. That picture on the left is me and my honey-bunny at the Spring Crawfish Festival last month. So, I've got the 'inside scoop' on some big changes that are about to happen for Rusty's OceanSwell Team and mine. This update is very important because today is Tuesday. By this weekend, and especially next week, our Team co-op is going to be transformed. And everyone's going to LOVE it!

We've decided to take the best ideas from various team-build programs out there (including competing OceanSwell Teams!) and incorporate them into a brand-new message, powerful new ads, a new letter series, a new Rotator system and a very special advertising campaign. To put it simply, our new system will be an enhanced version of what we've been doing, with two major changes:

1) A new Multi-Rotator system designed to put you at Tsunami affiliate status with TrafficWave and keep you there. Everyone's going to love that!

2) A new Adwords campaign that our family will pay for to accelerate the rate of growth. Note that we aren't asking for any money. We're going to pay for this ourselves... for our Teams, from our own pockets!

The details of all this will be revealed shortly. Like I said, by this weekend everything will have changed. What's happening right now is that Rusty is re-writing his entire letter series, writing the major announcement for his blog and sketching out the ideas for all of the new Team Ads. This is all going to change, all at once, overnight! Hopefully, by Sunday he can start getting some good sleep. He needs it! Of course, what he does for his Team will be 100% mirrored for this one. They will be identical twins.

Getting excited yet? You should be... (smile)

Internet Marketing Basics - The Autoresponder

If earning money online is your goal, then it's important to learn the basics before you go chasing every rainbow you see. All online 'opportunities', in whatever form they take, will require either your time, your money or both - usually both. An online business is no different than any other business in that most online businesses fail due to lack of funds, lack of knowledge and a lack of commitment. Online or offline, it doesn't matter; most businesses fail. For example, did you know that the average life expectancy of a restaurant (any kind of restaurant) is less than two years? My father opened a video rental shop here in Houston and the whole family helped work it. Guess what? It went under.

My point is, just because you 'start' a business doesn't mean it will succeed. Sometimes, things happen that are beyond your control and there are never any guarantees. That said, if you want a chance to succeed with online business, there are some basic concepts that you must come to understand if you want any hope of making it work. The very first thing to put in your mind is this: Nothing happens until something is sold. It seems like a simple idea, doesn't it? But think about it. From a business standpoint, nothing happens until the cash register rings. So your goal is to make sales. That might seem obvious, but lots and lots of people get into business and do everything BUT sell anything! It's because they don't know how. So the purpose of this post is to outline the first basic idea that (in my opinion) is essential to online business success. And I believe that by the time I'm finished, I will have sold you on TrafficWave. That's the goal, anyway. And if you chose TrafficWave as your autoresponder service, then you might as well join my team advertising co-op as well, called Team OceanSwell. Help is good!

OK, so what's the #1 priority when it comes to online business? It's advertising, of course. Online, advertising results in web-traffic - i.e. the pot of gold at the end of the Internet rainbow! If you can get traffic, you can get sales. But, but, but... (smile) good business practices establish customer relationships so that you can continue selling goods and services to the same people again and again; like a grocery store, for example. So how do you sell to the same person more than once online? You do it with an opt-in mailing list. And for that, you need an email marketing system. In this business, we call it an 'autoresponder'. Until you understand what that is and start using one, then it's like running a restaurant without knowing how to manage a kitchen. There are a variety of autoresponder services out there, with varying levels of prices and features.

I chose TrafficWave because it gives me everything that I want and at flat-rate pricing. The deliverability is good and here's the most important part: TrafficWave has an affiliate compensation matrix that pays ten - yes TEN - levels deep! That's incredible. And what it means is that while you use the tool to build and manage your contact lists, you can also promote the product itself as an additional business! There are a number of ways to do that, including the co-op advertising idea of Team OceanSwell, which certainly helped me in the beginning. It can help you too! But if you'd like to help yourself as well, then you must learn everything there is to know about 'list-building'. And as long as you're learning, then why not also learn how to sell the autoresponder with the #1 affiliate sales plan to other marketers? We're talking Internet Marketing basics... and it doesn't get any more basic than that.

TrafficWave - OceanSwell TEAM Update (#1)

To all the members of my OceanSwell Team, this post is your official welcome to our Team blog! By bringing visitors here, I plan to enhance the visibility of our TrafficWave marketing Team and increase the speed of the Rotator. In addition to surfing the TE's (as I will never stop doing), I promise to draw attention to this Team site in a variety of ways - but mostly through social networking. Anyway, what I have for you today is the updated Rotator list as it stands now. We have had some Team Members drop or refuse to advertise, so the list has been adjusted accordingly.

So, with that said, here is a snapshot of our current Rotator list:

Wanita Busch
Blanca Perez
Frank M Novak
Kavon Mowlavi
Brian Schilling
Jeannette Leduc
Kathy Vanvalkenburg
Lighted Way
Aurora Marketing
High Tide Management
Mona Reeves
Marica Nikolic
Kim Hopkins
Eliezer Ayal
Bernt Mauseth
Bret Townsend
Sondra Carpenter
Jim Reyna
Juli Lopez

If you have an Inactive account, you aren't on the list. But if you re-Activate it, I will place you back where you were. So this means that the entire Team is now promoting for Wanita Busch. Once she has her five referrals, it will be Blanca's turn, then Frank and so on. On my Team, I do not care if you promote your own affiliate link, so long as you include your Team Ad link in your daily and weekly promotions. Remember, Team OceanSwell is here to help you and your TrafficWave downline. But it can't do everything and neither can I. To set an example, I have put myself at the bottom of the current Rotator list, even though I don't have the ten referrals that I need yet. Why? Because, like all of you should be doing, I work hard for our Team and I have my own affiliate link out there in classified ads and other places.

Just remember, everybody. This Team idea only works if everybody makes a strong effort to promote our Team Ads. While it doesn't necessarily work 'fast', it does work. That's why team-builds are so hot in 2010. So promote for our Team, promote for yourselves and keep building your list (and automating your marketing!) with the TrafficWave autoresponder. Do those things, and we will all do well this year, I promise.

Why TrafficWave?

When I discovered the world of Internet Marketing 'way back' in 2009, it seemed like something that I would never be able to do. Phrases, words and abbreviations like list-building, social networking, lead generation, squeeze-page, optin, autoresponder, blog, SEO, OTO, PPC (and so on) meant nothing to me. You might as well have been talking to me about another planet, because it was all ALIEN to me!

But, for reasons of my own, I was determined to find out everything that I could about the cyber-world of online business. Since I am writing this in 2010, I can't claim to be any kind of expert on the subject but I have learned a lot about the general principles of selling things online and making a business out of it. The very first thing I learned is that it's hard to do without any money! It turns out that online business isn't much different from opening a restaurant, dry cleaner or a car wash. It takes money, and plenty of it, to start a business.

But the really attractive thing about starting an online business is that you can substitute time for money. It still takes a lot to get it going, but it doesn't take a lot of money. Instead, it takes a lot of time. I think that's why so many people try this business and quickly give up. They don't have any money and they aren't willing to spend any time at it. That's one of the things I've learned. The other major thing I've learned is that, one way or another, you need to build up a 'list'. If you don't know what that means, I'm talking about people who have agreed to receive business email messages from you and are likely to read them. With such a 'list', you can share products and services that you've found and sell such things to one or more of your readers every time you send a mass email to them. That, in a nutshell, is one major aspect of this thing called Internet Marketing. And there are lots and lots of people who earn full-time incomes doing it!

Anyway, you need something called an 'autoresponder' in order to do this. You need to learn how to use it and you need to commit to the TIME it takes to build a business mailing list. Time: that's the key. It takes time and knowledge, and there's a lot to learn when it comes to list-building! Anyway, an autoresponder service is an email marketing tool that is a must-have if you are going to learn and do this business. The one I chose is TrafficWave. They're based here in Houston, where I live, and they've been around for years. Some other reasons for choosing TrafficWave are:


1) It's a good product that has all of the features you will need as you embark upon your new Internet Marketing career. Well-known industry leaders use TrafficWave and the support staff is very good. Yes, there are free autoresponders available but they include ads in your letters and you are very limited in what you can do with them. If you are going to do Internet Marketing right, you need the right tools!

2) The price is very fair when compared to similar products in the industry. And because of the affiliate referral program, three affiliate sales with cover the cost and effectively make it a free service. That's very good and another good thing is that they don't increase the monthly charge when you increase the number of autoresponder campaigns and lists that you manage, like some of their competitors do. You can have unlimited autoresponder campaigns and the price never changes. Not only that, but you can import an existing optin list into your new TrafficWave account.

3) A potentially very lucrative affiliate sales plan in the form of a 3x10 MLM-style matrix that has become world famous. Not only can this produce a monthly income stream all by itself, but it includes bonuses as well for active recruiters. The 10-level pay plan is one of a kind where this type of product is concerned, and that's what makes the TrafficWave autoresponder truly unique!