Early Registration Deadline Approaching for CDI Summit

Don't forget the early registration deadline is approaching for the Career Directors International Global Career Empowerment Summit 2011 in Savannah, Georgia this October.

The deadline is Friday, July 1. Registration costs as little as $529 (three-pay options are also available).

I really enjoyed Savannah when I was out there for the NRWA conference a few years ago. We (I brought my husband and his parents with me!) flew into Jacksonville, Florida to save money (it was only about an hour or hour-and-a-half drive up) and we spent an afternoon at Hilton Head Island on the beach too.

Beautiful!

Don't know if I'll be able to make it yet, but I definitely recommend going if you can!

Selling Ebooks and Workbooks on Clickbank

I've delivered a couple of teleseminars and written some articles on affiliate marketing in the past, but I haven't specifically addressed selling your information products (workbooks, ebooks, job search guides) on Clickbank before.

Clickbank.com has paid out nearly $2 Billion to those selling information products online in the last 10 years – and that number is growing fast. Yet, for a lot of marketers, Clickbank has a bad rap. I’d like to spend the next two minutes showing you why you absolutely should sell your ebook on Clickbank.

Who does this blog post apply to?
* If you’re currently selling your product with a simple paypal button, consider switching to Clickbank.
* If you have a shopping cart (like 1ShoppingCart.com) that you’re using to sell your products, consider also setting up a separate page or URL where you sell your product on Clickbank.

* If you're using another online sales system (like Payloadz), consider switching to Clickbank, or selling your products on Clickbank in addition to your other online sales system.

Here’s why…

Diversification of Your PaymentsYou may not be aware of this, but PayPal.com has been known to “freeze” accounts while looking into them after they’ve been flagged by one of their employees. While Paypal.com is a trusted company, they do have to watch out for their own interests. So, if this happens to you, your account will not be accessible during that time. That means you can’t withdraw money, you can’t pay affiliates, and you can’t process refunds. You’re stuck. I don’t know about you, but I have bills to pay – which is why I recommend that you also sell products via a secondary payment method like Clickbank. They pay via direct deposit into your checking account every two weeks, like clockwork. If, heaven forbid, your account gets flagged by Paypal, you’ll be able to pay your mortgage while getting it cleared.

Less Book-KeepingWith Clickbank, you get paid weekly or when you reach a certain dollar amount that you’ve set. That means that you can pay less in accounting fees – because you’ll have a maximum of FOUR transactions per month, assuming you’re getting paid weekly. Compare that to using a PayPal button or shopping cart – where every single transaction has to be entered by your bookkeeper – and you can see the advantage.

100,000 + Sales ForceYes, Clickbank has the eye of over 100,000 registered affiliate niche marketers in 145 countries. Many of these affiliate search the Clickbank marketplace first when looking for products to promote. If you’re not listed there, they can’t find you. Having affiliates who will promote your product for you is a great way to increase your sales. And there are tons of folks who are looking for job search-related products to promote on their blogs and websites.

Clickbank’s HopAds ProgramYou may be familiar with Google Adsense, but, did you know that Clickbank also has an advertising program? As a vendor, you can create Ads that automatically show on affiliate websites – based upon keywords. So, if your ebook is about “Finding a Job Faster” and someone with a job board website site puts the HopAd on their site with keywords “job search” or “job interview” – your ad may display in rotation with the other ads – as long as that ad is live on their site.

Hands-Off Affiliate ManagementIf you’re using your own shopping cart like 1ShoppingCart.com, then you have to manage your affiliates or hire someone to do so. While this is definitely a profitable thing to do, some tasks can be a nuisance, like collecting W-9 forms (if you’re in the United States) for taxes. If you sell through Clickbank, that’s not an issue. They handle it for you.

Affiliate Payment Safety CushionIf you’re selling your products through your own shopping cart, then every month, you have to make sure to keep a “cushion” in your PayPal account so that you have enough money to pay them. That’s not an issue with Clickbank. You ONLY receive your profits after affiliates have been paid. And, Clickbank handles paying them for you. You’re totally out of the loop.

There you have it. Six reasons why you should consider putting your ebook on Clickbank for sale.

If you're interested in learning more about selling your job search-related product on Clickbook, I recommend “15 Quick & Easy Steps to Getting your Ebook on Clickbank” by Nicole Dean.

It’s a special report where Nicole Dean, Internet marketer, affiliate manager and work-at-home Mom, gives you the 15 steps you need to follow to get your product up on Clickbank, ready to take orders!

“How to Get Your First Infoproduct on Clickbank” is more than a special report.

You’ll also get:

• Video demonstrations, so you can watch actual demonstrations of how to do the techie stuff 
• Templates for sales pages and thank you/download pages, where you just type in the details of your product, add your links, and then upload the pages to your site 
• Advice on tools you may want to use to make Clickbank work even better for you 

The sooner you get and implement this report, the sooner your product will be out there, making sales for you! Learn more here.

Engaging With Facebook Fans: What Is Your EdgeRank Score?

Last weekend, I took some time to learn more about Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm. EdgeRank is a measure of engagement with FB fans. The more a particular person engages with you (either your personal profile or your Facebook Business Page), the more likely you are to show up in their News Feed.

What, you may be saying, I'm not seeing everything from everyone in my News Feed? Nope. Facebook knows you are busy, and is showing you the things that it feels are most relevant to you. This article gives a pretty good explanation of what the EdgeRank algorithm is.

There are ways you can improve your Edgerank ranking -- for example, creating more opportunities for interaction and engagement with your fans. You can also partner with other Page owners (this is also a great way to increase the number of "Likes" on all pages) to increase engagement.


Ready to check out what your EdgeRank score is today? Use EdgeRank Checker (a free service). But be sure to come back and check out your score periodically. Are the things you're doing to increase engagement working?

EdgeRank Checker suggests the following tips to improve your score:

• Post content that inherently attracts interaction (ask questions, offer polls, ask for feedback)
• Encourage users to "like" your content (actually saying, "Click 'like' to ___" works!)
• Use photos and videos as often as possible.

I also recommend linking to your blog posts (if you have a blog) on your Facebook Business Page -- this can elicit comments, which are one of the highest engagement devices measured.

Shameless plug: Are you on Facebook? LIKE Resume Writers' Digest on Facebook!

When Traffic is a Good Thing

Normally, when I think of "traffic," I think "bad!" Like, stuck in a traffic jam or having to navigate through the cars parked on both sides of the street for the neighborhood church's festival to get out of my neighborhood last weekend. Yes, in those cases -- traffic is bad.

But there is "good" traffic too -- as in traffic = visitors to your website.

Website traffic is -- for many business models -- the key to profits. The more traffic you have, the bigger your bottom line. This is particularly true for resume writing businesses that work with a national clientele. Whether you're launching a new product (perhaps a workbook touting "10 Top Interview Secrets") or just want a quick influx of cash (booked appointments!), sometimes you need tons of traffic quickly.

Here are five fast solutions to drive traffic to your resume writing business website.

1. Social media. Social media works quickly -- and if you have a large following on any of the social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), you can generate a ton of traffic to your website quickly. The key is to create attention-grabbing posts that arouse curiosity, make people laugh, or stir up a controversy. You want to generate click-throughs to your website.

Make the most of your social networking tactics and use technology to get the job done. For example, one StumbleUpon post can be integrated with both Facebook and Twitter profiles so you're making waves on all three social sites at once.

2. Blogging. Post on your own blog or be a guest blogger on a blog with a large number of subscribers. Like social networking, if you offer an informative, controversial, or entertaining post, you'll have people clicking through to your website like mad. Of course, if you also promote this wonderful blog post via social media, you can double your traffic results. (See tip #1.)

3. Article marketing. Article marketing works well when you concentrate your efforts on quality article marketing sites with large audiences. One well-written, informative article -- rewritten a few times, and submitted to a handful of directories -- can generate the traffic you're looking for. Be sure to include a bio box that includes a call to action and a link to your website to motivate click-throughs.

4. Video content. Video is one of the top traffic-driving sources online nowadays. It's amazing how quickly a video can go viral. Like print content, videos that entertain, stir up a bit of controversy, or offer tremendous value cause a buzz. They're forwarded to friends and downloaded on laptops and mobile devices around the globe. A good video can generate all the traffic you need. Again, integrate a bit of social media to promote your video, blog about it too, and you can multiply your traffic results. (The ability to do video is built into lots of tools nowadays. My favorite is the FlipCam -- which is no longer being made -- but I just discovered that my $150 Nikon Coolpix camera has built-in video ... it's not professional quality, but it would work for an online video -- especially one that you post on your blog.)

5. Partnerships. This strategy takes a little bit more work than the first four tips, but can yield significant traffic to your site. Partnering with a relevant or compatible business (career coaches, mental health counselors, real estate agents) can work quite well to generate traffic fast. The key is to come up with a mutually beneficial agreement. Find people in your industry that are willing to work with you and help each other drive traffic. A partnership may include guest blogging on each other's sites, swapping advertisements, or even promoting one another in your ezine. (If you are a generalist resume writer, partner with a resume specialist -- for example, someone who works with federal resumes or finance candidates, or IT specialists -- and swap content and traffic.)

For example, earlier this month, I partnered with Wendy Terwelp, who was promoting a "Rock Your Network®!" teleseminar training program for careers industry professionals. I contacted Wendy to see if she'd be interested in putting together a free preview call for resume writers. We launched the call about 10 days after I initially contacted her, and the 45-minute call was chock-full of great information about how to use social media in your careers industry business (both for yourself as well as for your clients). Wendy was able to reach 50+ careers industry professionals who listened to the call live (or the recording), and I was able to promote Resume Writers' Digest through her social media channels (her Facebook group and Twitter profile). It was a great partnership.

It is possible to drive a ton of traffic to your website fast. The trick is to have a plan in place, know your audience and your goals, and take action.