If there is an easy way to earn money online, affiliate marketing is it. I won’t mislead you. It does take a great deal of time to develop an affiliate website and create content to support affiliate products. Keep in mind, you don’t have to have a website, and could go with an advertising based system alone, but in my personal experience, a website is the way to go. Life is easier when you build your business around selling products or services of other people.

Once an affiliate site is in place, affiliated merchants handle everything related to products, orders and customer service.

Many people choose to promote affiliate programs just because they are simple and independence from the usual ties that bind in traditional business.

There are dozens of benefits to affiliate marketing, my personal top 10 reasons for considering the affiliate marketer method of earning are:

No Development Costs

It can be costly to develop and produce a new product. As an affiliate, that won’t be a concern.

Low Cost Set-up

If you have a desk, an Internet connection, a computer and word-processing software, you have the essential tools to get started.

No Fees or Location Limitations on Distribution

Most affiliate programs are free to join. The only limit to market reach is the willingness, or lack thereof, by the affiliate to promote their website.

Thousands of Products and Services to Choose From

Almost anything you can imagine is sold or traded online! Years ago, while explaining the vast amount of information and product availability, I used an example of “vintage bottle caps.” Remarkably, there is a market for them and obviously customers who buy them because Bottle Cap Co. has built an entire business around selling vintage and retro bottle caps.

Affiliate networks like Commission Junction, Shareasale and Linkshare, take the stress out of finding products related to your business website.

No Merchant Account Required

Forget the difficulties of collecting customer information and purchasing details. The merchant handles payment processing, so you never have to be burdened with chargebacks, fraud or your merchant account being penalized or banned.

No Inventory to Carry

Not having storage concerns for inventory-on-hand, it doesn’t matter if you live in a tiny apartment or your parents basement. Affiliate marketing is a method of earning money from anywhere, at any time.

No Shipping Costs

Packing supplies or postal rates will be of no concern. The expense and time it takes to ship products to the customer’s falls on the merchant.

No Customer Concerns

You will never have to deal with unhappy customers. The merchant handles all customer related matters.

Yes, You Can Make Money While You Sleep

No other business will generate income while you sleep; attend school functions or sit in the waiting room at your doctor’s office.

High Income Potential

With an affiliate business, income is restricted entirely by the desire, effort and imagination of the affiliate marketer.

The Internet provides an endless supply of possibility to generate an income. As you begin to explore your own desire and potential, keep in mind, there are more frauds than possibilities.

Takeaway Messages:

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is

It does NOT always take money to make money

Do NOT EVER give out personal information such as bank account and social security number without a thorough investigation (you are welcome to email me if you are unsure)

Do NOT EVER click the links within an email – If it says it’s from Facebook, go to Facebook. If it says it’s from Linkedin, go to Linkedin. If the email says it’s from your bank, go to your bank. Always check the email address in the FROM line against the email address within the body of the email.  I provide an example of a scam email and the technique I use to confirm validity in my post Scam Alert: Your Paypal.com transaction confirmation

The only investments you should make are:

Domain name and hosting (I do offer free installation for those who purchase through my links)

A premium blog theme (only if you want to)

Quality graphics (only if you want to)

Recommendations for hosting, graphics and themes here

Educational materials by reputable sources (you can email me when in doubt)

If you’re on a tight budget or just tight with cash like I am, you might make an effort to check Amazon daily for free ebook offerings. I explain how to locate the free offers in my post How to Find Free Kindle eBooks on Amazon

The offers change every day – sometimes multiple times a day. You can snag some great business related books for free! Keep in mind, just because the books are “Kindle” ebooks, you don’t have to have a Kindle to get them. Amazon allows you to read them right from your computer with Kindle for PC.

Cheers,

Gayla

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In the wake of the Newstown, Connecticut tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, as with most tragic events, opportunists begin to crawl out of the woodwork almost immediately. One example is Facebook page designed to look like memorial pages.

Facebook pages that spring up shortly after major news breaks should be considered suspicious at best. Just because it’s on Facebook and has thousands of followers, does not make it legitimate.

Why would people do something like this? Profit! Plain and simple, profit.

Since hearing of the tragedy, my heart has been so heavy. I’ve experienced every range of emotion – I’ve cried, prayed, cursed, questioned God, cried some more. I tried to sleep, but it was as though I could hear the cries of mothers as a very large part of their soul was being torn from them, when they were told their child would not be coming home.

I’ve wanted to do something – anything – to help those babies and their families. I didn’t know what I could possibly do, from Podunk Indiana – then I saw the fake pages and knew there was something I could do about that.

If there’s one thing I do know – it’s the Internet! I rolled up my sleeves and got busy!

The short version of what happens…

Facebook pages have sprung up for each victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. This is an example of the fake page created in the name of Emilie Parker – at the time of this writing, it is 11:40 PM, Saturday. This page shows it was created 6 hours ago. Moments after the names of all the victims were released.

When the father, Robbie Parker issued his statement to the media, he mentioned the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page – obviously that is the one the family has authorized and the one I trust.

This is what the Emilie Parker Fund page looks like and the link that takes you directly to that page is just below. The person in charge of this page has shared some adorable pictures of Emilie and her family.  Pay them a visit, leave them a note and donate to the memorial fund if your heart guides you to do so.

Emilie Parker Memorial Fund Facebook Page (Link)

As you happen across pages that are obviously fake, especially in this case, when it’s tiny children that are being exploited – don’t hesitate to report them.

How to report the fake page to Facebook:

In the upper right portion of the page, just under the header picture – you’ll click on the dropdown menu labeled MESSAGE as shown here:

Click on Report Page – to display an option as shown here:

You can choose the option that is most fitting to the report. Click Continue and that’s it.

There may not be a lot we can do – but we can do our best to keep opportunistic asshats from profiting off such tremendous loss.

Do me a favor!

As you make your way around Facebook and find pages or groups that appear to be for Sandy Hook victims or their families, drop a comment below with the link. I intend to keep an updated page with links to the legitimate pages – should people want to visit and get to know the victims and the lives that should have been.

Leave your comments with the fake pages too! Maybe if enough of us report them, they’ll come down quicker.

Hugz

Gayla

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Received a notice in my email this morning that looked like a normal, Paypal transaction confirmation notice. Since I was only halfway into my first cup of coffee, my initial reaction was shock! I am hyper-alert when it comes to my online accounts – whether it is banking, Paypal, Amazon or whatever. I have made it a habit to ALWAYS check through the corresponding website rather than clicking any link within the suspicious email. Here’s why…

This image shows the body of the email as it appeared on my screen – I highlighted the linked text to show what an unsuspecting person might click on:

This image shows what appears in the lower left corner of my screen when I simply place my cursor over the link (DO NOT CLICK the link – just hover)

In case you can’t read the link very well it reads:

You can easily see the link has nothing at all to do with Paypal

Don’t be suckered in by scams! Remain hyper-vigilant in inspecting content before clicking on anything, ever.

The best advice I can possibly give is to never, ever click on links from within your email when it pertains to your finances. If any financial institution or credit account sends you an alert – there will be a way to confirm whether the email is legitimate or not from inside your accounts dashboard.

Keep your finances safe, especially this holiday season when scammers seem to be more ruthless than usual.

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