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.