Why I Was Successful in 2001 and Why You Could Be Too

It is the end of another year and I am thankful for the
many blessings. This last year was the best year ever
business-wise. How many can say that? I am not in the
same league as people like Robert Blackman, Terry Dean,
Cory Rudl among others. At least not yet. How about
you?

By the sheer volume of email I received during the year,
I know there are many frustrated people trying to make
a few bucks in the hottest, latest affiliate, network
marketing, home business idea launched during the year.
I've read about the frustration on home biz forums and
in the group clubs. I even started recognizing the same
names of people promoting the newest programs. I've
been tempted several times to write and ask how they
are doing and what's happened with the programs they've
joined.

Before looking forward to next year, it's important to
look back and analyze what worked for me and what didn't.
One of my favorites quotes is by Albert Einstein who said,
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over expecting the results to change."

One of the things that most sticks out in my mind that
contributed to my successful year is learning new skills.
I believe learning is never done so one of my goals last
year was to read books by successful people. Two books
that had the biggest impression on me were Robert Kiyosaki's
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and Richard Brooke's "Mach II With
Your Hair on Fire."

I also learned new skills by subscribing to and reading
several good newsletters.

Phil Wiley's All My Secrets - http://www.ozemedia.com
Cynted Chronicle - http://www.cynted.com/subscribe.html
Boogie Jack's Almost A Newsletter - http://www.boogiejack.com
Jim Rohn's Weekly Ezine - http://www.jimrohn.com
Big Al's Recruiting Newsletter - http://www.fortunenow.com
GROKDotCom - http://www.grokdotcom.com
Slight Edge Newsletter - http://www.yoursuccessstore.com
Dirtsmart Netrepreneur - http://www.dirtsmart.com
Achieve USA Home Business Journal - http://www.achieveusa.com

I attribute my successful year to the ability to track my
advertising campaigns to find the ones that worked. Having
a limited advertising budget, it was critical to get the
"most bang for my buck" when it came to advertising. To
that end, one of the most useful suite of web promotion
tools is ROIbot (http://www.roibot.com/r.cgi?R33095_2002).
Because of the quality of the program, the ROIbot reseller
program also contributed to my profitability.

Running ads in newsletters was my most successful form
of advertising. However, not all newsletters are created
equal. My most effective ads were run in newsletters that
focused on home businesses. I was the least successful
running ads in newsletters that were primarily ad sheets
or those that run separate classified ad issues.

The following sites provide lists of newsletters that
can be searched for advertising opportunities:

http://www.homeincome.com/search-it/ezine/
http://www.e-zinez.com/cgi-bin/hyperseek/hyperseek.cgi
http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm
http://www.site-city.com/members/e-zine-master/
http://bestezines.com/
http://www.lifestylespub.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi
http://ezinecentral.com/
http://ezine-universe.com/
http://ezine-tips.com/
http://list-a-day.com/
http://list-resources.com/

Mike Hill runs a very successful ezine classified ad
service that has brought in results. Advertisers can get
their ad placed in 20 newsletters sent to 25,000 readers
for $10. Visit http://hop.clickbank.net/?glenpalo/cashgalore
for more information.

The least successful form of advertising for me in 2001 was
the use of "safelists" of opt-in email addresses. Usually,
the safelist operators let you email to their database of
email addresses for a nominal fee. The fee is either an
annual or monthly fee. Some people say they have been
successful using safelists. While I did not get the same
results, I found that the use of safelists was a good way
to test ad titles (email subject).

MyLISTmaker proved to be an exception. Because of the cost
of joining MyLISTmaker Gold and, I believe, the quality of
the program, the revenue generated from promoting my products
more than made up for the upfront cost of MyLISTmaker. Also,
MyLISTmaker has the ability to generate a separate stream of
revenue for those that actively promote the service. When
planning your advertising for 2002, MyLISTmaker is worth a
look at http://www.mylistmaker.com/?460019

A number of clickthrough or click exchange programs brought
additional visitors to my websites. The basic premise is if
you visit websites, you will receive visitors to yours in
return. The click exchange programs take several different
forms such as popup windows, exit windows, start pages etc.
The best collection of these free advertising programs can
be found in a downline club called MyECom. I joined and use
MyECom because of the extensive list of free places to
advertise. There is extensive support through one of the
associated groups. For more information, visit
http://myecom.net/members/builder7/

In summary, to improve your results, review what you have
done in the past. Focus on the methods that bring in the
best results. If you did not try different advertising
methods in 2001, try new ones in 2002. That way at the
end of the year, you'll be able to compare results.