How the Wisdom of God Alone Can Sustain Us - Short Story

 Alpha the rugged ship was taking a tour of the seas. He dreamt of sailing into pirated lands full of wonder, danger and challenge. He dreamt of saving people from flaming volcanoes, and wrecked out on shore crying S.O.S. He was a freak wannabe, a lover of games and fun He loved the people as they rested under the sun.

 The rough seas were his lifeline, he trusted them to sail on Winds or turbulence or hailstorm, he was all too sure to go on. A novice though in life, he feared no harm would ever touch him. He was built real tough, strong and hardy And not one could match his punk The day he sailed the first time was a cool one But the day was getting filled with troubles one-by-one The water loomed, they lashed, they furled Alpha braved on, he wouldn't bat an eyelid His confidence only stood up, oh this was a real boon He was fit as a tambourine, to drum the finest tune. 

I'm so ravishing, an eagle would be my only match I have eyes so sharp for combat, to see the enemy afar My sails are sturdy to take me a million miles I wonder if I were an eagle, I would reach the ancient stars My charisma is unparalleled, I love to rant and rave Show me if you can even come as close But an eagle came close to the sails, And rent it in two... Alpha panicked, he wasn't hoping for that He travelled on as fast as he could But could not go much ahead His sails could no longer Keep him sailing on Oh what doom, he didn't need a raging storm Only placid waters and a destiny To show him the place he feared. 

Oh what pity a giant ship like Alpha Was pulled out of sea by a bird Even the mighty come down to tatters Even the swift and the smooth come to loss The main thing is always wisdom It will be the answer to all doom Alpha would have mattered If he'd used a crew to guard him He relied instead on his strength His power and poise and avarice Couldn't withstand the test His motives weren't lofty or noble He was just prideful and ignoble. So little children, be wary Be wise and be cheery Be sure to make wisdom your friend And you will be quick and fast to zoom Hedged in and well-protected from doom! Please visit https://finekidsbooks.in for original stories for children aged 3 - 11. Enjoy! 

By Niti Krishnakumar 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Niti_Krishnakumar/272987

Triggered? Here's Something You Can Do

We all know what it feels like to be triggered. Triggered by something someone says. Or does. Or by something we read in the news, or on social media. For some of us, sometimes all it takes is a song on the radio to trigger a round of tears. Or, the sight of a particular person to send us spiraling into anger. Usually when we feel triggered, we're being reminded of something from our past. In other words, we experience the same feelings as we did during a similar event(s) in the past. It's easy to blame our triggers on whatever is in front of us. However, though our current situation might feel awful, it's when we shine a light on our subconscious wounds, that we begin to eliminate our triggers. 

What's important to realize, is that when we are triggered, whether with anger, sadness, or fear, we are essentially disempowered. We're less able to think, or speak, clearly. And, we're more likely to react impulsively, and in ways we might later regret. The goal is to help deactivate the triggers, so that we can face unpleasant, challenging, situations more effectively. So, how do we do this? Pause. Notice what you're feeling. And take a breath. When you feel triggered, pause to notice what you're feeling. Slow your breath. Begin breathing deeply from your belly. 

Slow, deep, breathing turns on the relaxation response. Next, while breathing deeply, tune into what you're feeling, and use your fingers to tap on the fleshy side of your hand. (It doesn't matter which hand.) This tapping will help you interrupt your automatic trigger reaction. In addition, tapping helps to reduce cortisol, reduce the intensity of the feeling, and bring blood back to your brain. All of this makes your brain more effective, and helps you feel better - enabling you to handle your situation in a more powerful way. It's simple. 

By pausing, and interrupting your reaction, you will be more able to respond consciously, rather than unconsciously. Because our triggers typically stem from painful events, they can actually lead us to the places we most need to heal. If you struggle with strong triggers, reach out for professional guidance to learn how to manage them.  When life feels challenging, it's easy to get triggered. Have compassion for yourself. Take extra good care of yourself. Wishing You Peace and Wellbeing, Marian Hi! Thank you for reading this article. I'm Marian Buck-Murray, Certified EFT Tapping and Matrix Reimprinting Practitioner. I specialize in helping sensitive, empathic, creative people step out of the shadows & share their gifts and talents. Learn more about EFT, my services, and new Shadow Love Program here: https://marianbuckmurray.com/services/ 

By Marian Buck Murray

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Marian_Buck_Murray/897704

Stopping Worry How?

We live in the flowing stream of creativity - able to control our thoughts, our feelings and our reactions to the world and people around us. If you make a conscious practice of talking to yourself (you don't have to do it out loud, but you're welcome to if it feels good!) and consciously changing what you focus on, you can change the outcome of your life and get better results. In a recent post I talked about not worrying, about counting your blessings instead of your concerns. 

Today I want to share a few simple ideas of how you can do that effectively. It begins with being conscious of what you're thinking. Our mind is constantly at work, mulling things over, replaying things that occurred, dwelling on past events and focusing on the future. If we decide - and this really has to be a decision you make and then work on sticking to - to be vigilant about your thoughts and pay attention to them, you can replace 'old tapes and ideas' with new ones that serve you better and actually change your life, your world, your relationships and your future. 

How? By eliminating negative thinking - by dwelling on positive outcomes instead of worrying ourselves into negative ones. You may be thinking yeah right, that sounds easy, but how do you do it? Well, first, let me say, it's simple but it isn't easy. 

Why? Because we have a lifetime habit of thought patterns. We have literally carved neural pathways that our brain travels, almost like driving on autopilot. It takes real determination to consciously monitor your thinking. However by doing so, you can change patterns, experience new thoughts and as a result a new way of living. Here's a way I've found to be very simple. 

When you have a negative thought, become aware of it. Stop. Think about it. Say you're putting yourself down or running an "Oh, I'm not good enough, smart enough, young enough, old enough message. Imagine now talking to someone you love - a child, a partner, a dear friend. What would you tell them in that moment? That's exactly what I want you to tell yourself. Lovingly, kindly and with purpose and intention. How does that feel? Does your thinking and feeling shift and change? If you can get in the habit of doing that for yourself, with yourself, you can change the quality of your thoughts and your life. One thought at a time. 

Then, by stringing those thoughts together and making a practice of this, you can moment by moment, improve your life and change your world! Doing something you've never done before and finding you can do it - even adequately, builds confidence. Being willing to get out of your comfort zone builds confidence. Being vulnerable builds confidence. With confidence comes an inner strength and knowing that breeds success. Show up in your power, show up standing for the change you want to be. As your Soul Coach and Mentor, I am here to simply help you to know and understand yourself and others better and assist with deep transformation healing to help you get connecting with your Divine Core Center. 

By Reeny Carvotta Barron |

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Reeny_Carvotta_Barron/981755

Witnessing Your Thoughts

What have you brought mindful awareness to today? How often do we stop to curiously witness the nature of our thoughts as if we were an outside observer of them? When caught in a less-than mindful state, our thoughts tend to take over our identity, defining who we believe ourselves to be and directing our perception of the world. However, as we practice witnessing our thoughts from a place of slight separation, we get to know them in a different way. 

We start to uncover patterns and habits in our thinking, which naturally helps us to learn, grow, and evolve in nourishing ways. Practice Begin by coming into a seated position. Whether on the floor or in a chair, ensure that the spine is straight and the shoulders are relaxed. Set a timer for five to ten minutes. Take five full breaths to ground yourself. Notice the sensations associated with each inhalation and each exhalation. After those five breaths, continue to breathe naturally but see if you might broaden your awareness. Pay particular attention to what rises in the mind. As thoughts come up, notice them without becoming involved in the direction they are heading it. Without judging, suppressing, denying, or becoming enamored by your thoughts, watch what moves through you as if you were an elder watching the movements of the community. 

Notice what rises and subsides in your awareness. As you watch your thoughts pass by, embracing compassion and curiosity as you get to know your experience in a new way. Observe the emotions and beliefs your inner dialogue triggers, as well as what the imagery looks like. If emotions are present, notice where they present themselves in the physical body. It is quite likely that the mind will entrance you with its images and/or its words. 

When this happens - even if you realize you have been 'lost in thought' for a couple of minutes - compassionately come back to the silence within. Make note of what arises next. Continue until the alarm rings. Come back to your breath and when you are ready, open your eyes. Be patient with yourself as you practice this. This is a form of silent meditation, which can take quite a bit of time to sink into. Even if during your first, second, or hundredth session has you lost in thought, harness patience, compassion, and curiosity for your experience You might liken the quiet space within yourself to be the clear blue sky - and your thoughts to be the clouds that pass by. 

This metaphor might help you to remain unattached to the mental movements that arise. Watch from the point of view of the open sky. You might also use a grounding phrase like 'coming back' to denote the return to presence. Any other mantras that are helpful for you can be used in conjunction with this practice. As your Soul Coach and Mentor, I am here to simply help you to know and understand yourself and others better and assist with deep transformation healing to help you get connecting with your Divine Core Center. 

By Reeny Carvotta Barron 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Reeny_Carvotta_Barron/981755

10 Steps to Attract the Life You Want

"What you seek is seeking you." - Rumi If I told you that you could create the exact type of circumstances you want, would you call me crazy? What if your very thoughts could create ripples of change that not only impact your life... ... but those around you as well? Philip, a call centre worker from the Philippines certainly didn't think so. He dreamed of moving overseas so he could secure a better life and provide for his family. But at every turn, his own mind shut down every opportunity he thought of. For instance, Philip considered seeing an immigration consultant, but he either "didn't have the time" or "couldn't afford it". So, he resented his situation and cursed himself (and the world) for his "bad luck". 

He didn't realize that the real culprit was his mindset - not his circumstances. And it seemed like the more he ruminated, the more bad things happened. Thus, he kept feeding the cycle of being stuck in a rut and feeling bad, trapping him even more. That was, until his aunt Sara introduced him to the Law of Attraction. Turning the tide Before she moved to California, Sara had been close with Philip and treated him like a son. She had her own share of struggles finding greener pastures abroad, but she applied the principles from the Law of Attraction to overcome them. So she sent a few books on the topic to Philip through Amazon so he could gain the clarity to turn his life around. At first, Philip didn't really think much of it, but he decided to read through the books since his aunt went through the trouble of sending it over. After he started applying the lessons he learned from the material, things started to change for him. It came as a complete shock to Philip - he never thought in a million years that making a simple shift in his thinking could have such a direct and POWERFUL impact in his life.

 And soon enough, the fog of negativity and despair around Philip lifted and he found a way to make his dreams happen. Through his persistence, he was eventually able to borrow the money he needed for the consultation fees, and learned the stepby-step process to get work overseas. Philip was finally able to find a fulfilling and rewarding career in Australia. Not only does he get to support his family back home, he also made friends and enjoys his new life abroad. Just a few months ago, Philip's parents started their own business, thanks to his help. At the rate they're going, his family could save enough so they can pass on their business to another relative and follow Philip to Australia. ould wait for Philip to take the offer so they can move there instead. Whatever option Philip chooses, the possibilities for him are almost limitless. But he's just one of thousands who made the Law of Attraction to work for him. Like Philip, a lot of people are initially discouraged to try because they think it takes a lot of work. But the reality is that it's surprisingly easy to get started. You just need to follow these 10 Super Simple Steps to Attract Everything You've Ever Wanted: 

Step #1: A little gratitude goes a long way The first thing you should learn about the Law of Attraction is that it operates on energy. YOUR energy, to be exact. Everyone has a different kind of energy they bring into the world, and it affects them in ways they often don't see or appreciate. The secret lies in the FREQUENCY of a person's energy - and you need to raise yours in order to change your life. Think of your unique energy as a sort of gas that fills the space of your reality. Whatever "gas" or "energy" you pump out into your immediate space will define your existence. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, said this in his book, "Man's Search for Meaning": "To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative." So if you want to invite great things into your life, you need to set the stage first. And you can do that by leading with the right energy. That's why being grateful and appreciating what you have is powerful way to recalibrate your frequency. Most folks hold off on feeling this way for AFTER they get what they want. But that's putting the cart before the horse, as the saying goes. When you LEAD with gratitude, it will act as the precedent for everything good that follows.  If I miss anything, I save it for later and update my list at the end of my day. And when I go over my list during the weekend, I'll see exactly how much good stuff I've accumulated. This creates a kind of snowball effect and helps me attract even MORE good stuff down the road. 

 Step #2: Be generous This can be a challenge for some people if they feel like there isn't enough to go around. But if you take the initiative to SHARE whatever you can without asking anything in return... ... you'll generate the kind of energy that attracts prosperity for everyone... ... including YOU. Again, this is the Law of Attraction at work. Try offering your time, talents and material wealth to those who need it - you'll soon invite blessings without even trying. 

Step #3: Visualize your future What I find amazing about kids is how powerful their imaginations are. When they role-play with other children, you can see in their eyes how REAL their games are to them. This is something that's lost on grown-ups, and it's important to recapture that ability to envision the kind of reality you want. The Universe likes to play games with us- the better you are at visualizing, the more you'll be rewarded. Like I said, a certain type of energy attracts a certain kind of reality. So if you focus your energy and thoughts on that dream job you want or the car you've always wanted to drive, you'll raise your frequency to ATTRACT those exact things. 

Step #4: Let the negativity pass When the bad times roll in and you feel like dirt, sometimes it's better to step aside and let it run its course. Having negative thoughts and emotions are totally normal, but you don't always have to wrestle with them. You can simply acknowledge what's going on in your inner world - then CHOOSE to keep moving forward anyway. Let this negative energy pass through your system like bad case of gas. The sooner you let it do its thing, the quicker you can get back to what you were doing. (Sorry for the fart analogy, but it get the point across, doesn't it?) 

Step #5: Never stop growing It's good to have a daily routine in your life, but not at the expense of your personal development. Most people are so set in their ways that they're afraid of the thought of doing something new. Then they complain about their humdrum lives, or that some folks "have all the luck." Breaking out of your comfort zone is never an easy thing, but it's a step worth taking. No matter how loaded your schedule is, find some chunks of time to do things that will help you grow. Whether it's taking an online course, joining a community, or taking up a hobby, this is a powerful way to attract new and exciting things in your life. 

Step #6: Avoid the "toxic" crowd There are people who seem hell-bent on pulling others into their world of misery. Whether they're trying to lessen their own pain or simply enjoy doing it, you need to steer clear of them.  Instead, choose people who will have the opposite effect on your psyche. Not only does a person's energy attract circumstances, it's also CONTAGIOUS. So make sure you hang out with the people who'll inspire you to achieve greater things - and not bring you down with apathy or inaction. Use the Universe to Manifest Your Dream 

Step #7: Give yourself permission to succeed Most of the world's most brilliant people were put down in some way. Somewhere along the way, someone told them they'd "never make it" or were "destined to fail." In your own life, certain people have tried to discourage you in some way. They might have tried putting you down when you were growing up - or it could have been last week. It doesn't matter. What's important is that you understand that NO ONE can put labels on you. And more importantly, they can NEVER give you permission to achieve what you want in life. You need to do that for yourself. Don't let their words define your "story". You don't have to fit whatever petty narrative they're trying to force on you. 

Step #8: Affirm who you are Instead of feeding into the lies that people tell you, let this be the day to start living your truth. Create statements that embody the truth you choose to be, AND to live in. People do this all the time. When Elon Musk tried to launch the world's first privately owned rocket and failed, he told himself, "I'm going to try again, and I WILL get that thing into orbit." (Well, maybe not exactly like that, but you get the point.) And so his company SpaceX went back to the drawing board and got it right after the third attempt. Elon affirmed his truth and it manifested into reality. In the same way, you can choose to affirm whatever truth applies to you. Be honest with yourself and acknowledge the things that TRULY matter to you. You know it, and the Universe knows it. The key is to repeat it yourself every day. For example, if you know deep in your heart that you want to make a better life for yourself, you can say something like this: "I may be struggling right now, but I know deep inside that I have what it takes to improve my life. I see myself transforming into a happier, wealthier person who makes other people's lives brighter." When you operate from even the tiniest shred of truth, you can grow that into a powerful force over time. 

Step #9: Fail spectacularly Here's something most people don't know about the Law of Attraction: before you can enjoy success and find true happiness, you need to crash and burn. It's better to go after what you want and risking failure rather than playing it safe and not trying at all. To create order in your life, you'll have to embrace the chaos that comes before it. This is where you'll find the real lessons, even if they hurt a little. (Or in some cases, a LOT). Think of yourself as the beautiful Phoenix, like in the legends. Imagine burning off bits and pieces of yourself that you don't need. As you rise from the ashes, you're reborn into a NEW YOU. That's evolution. It may be an imperfect and unpleasant process, but the results are worth it. 

Step #10: Remove your BIGGEST barrier to success People don't realize that their greatest roadblock is none other than their own mindset. They may say they want something to happen, but don't REALLY mean it. For instance, someone might want to lose weight, but they don't want it bad enough. Worse, they might not actually believe they can shed those pounds. A part of them refuses to acknowledge the faintest possibility of it happening. This is pretty much why people NEVER attract the things they want in life. In order to remove this barrier, you'll need to change something inside you. You need to dig deep and understand WHY you don't want it as much as you say you do. Are you scared of suffering through the process of getting what you want? This is what turns most people off - they simply can't process the discomfort involved with growing up. At the same time, you need to deal with the reasons why you think that your desired reality is impossible. It could be some deep-seated beliefs brought about by past events, or experiences growing up. Once you sort this out, you'll be free to do what you want without any pre-programmed beliefs holding you back. Now, these ten steps we just talked about will get your foot in the door. Once you start doing them regularly, you'll experience remarkable breakthroughs you didn't think were possible. But if you want to witness even MORE changes on a massive (or even cosmic) scale, you need to check out my FULL course called Manifestation Miracle. 

Like the name suggests, I enjoyed nothing short of a life-changing revolution not too long ago. In a lot of ways, my situation was the same as Philip's. I worked myself to the bone and felt unfulfilled. I was trapped in my soul-crushing career. Even though I needed the money, I HATED having to put up a hollow appearance of a happy, successful businesswoman. But then I discovered how turn my mind into a magnet for prosperity and abundance... Learn how I unlocked the secret to ATTRACTING anything AND everything I wanted

By Connor Hamilton 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Connor_Hamilton/2567920 12/7/2020 

Let's Give Thanks for the Rebels

Do you ever find yourself tutting in annoyance at protestors, irritated by the conspiracy theorists, wishing that they'd obey the rules, stop diverting attention away from the main issues and be less unruly? I'm not talking about destructive acts of vandalism, but those who loudly advocate opposite, perhaps conflicting views to the mainstream. At times I've found myself equally irritated, especially when I've thought the protest to be unnecessary or misguided, but latterly I've found myself being grateful for those people who care enough to stand up and be counted, those who give their time, let their voices be heard and who don't just shrug and tow the 'party line'. 

Whether we agree with them or not, all viewpoints benefit from being challenged at times. Being asked to rationalise decisions and reasoning or explain a conclusion helps to check out the logic and clarify the underlying thinking processes. This may sometimes even result in a revision, adjustment or modification to each outlook. And, on a larger scale, it's important that governments aren't given free rein to introduce whatever rules and regulations they choose, unchallenged, under the guise of, 'it's for your own good, it benefits us all'. We don't want to become 'sheeple', sheep in human form, timidly asking 'is it okay, are we allowed, what are the rules, is it permitted?', or become increasingly suspicious, monitoring what others, including our neighbours, are doing. How do you feel when you hear that a major UK political party has requested that the government introduce legislation to censor a dissenting viewpoint on social media! Why would they do that when there are many contradictory opinions and scientific reports arguing both sides of most issues.What influence are they hoping to wield over the shaping of our opinions and actions? 

Without disagreement and non-compliance if people simply obey and follow the rules, do what's been instructed and go along with what they've been told to do, what will ultimately happen to choice, free will, pleasing ourselves? Who will question the instructions from 'on high', query who's profiting, who the influencers and beneficiaries are? Where will the checks and balances be, the people asking 'why', 'what for', 'what's this all about'? If those in charge receive total compliance, with no resistance they're effectively being given permission to become dictators and action whatever they want. They'll have increasingly less reason to explain their choices, question their decisions, resist the big money backers with their agendas, or think too much about the way they introduce their policies. In those situations it can become easy, seductive, almost second-nature to believe they're invincible, with no need to explain, validate or review whatever steps they wish to take. Having healthy opposition is often seen as the way to retain a more moderate government, a more democratic society and thus prevent dictatorships from emerging. Being questioned in parliament, having a free enough media and press that sometimes reports and challenges government's decisions, holding regular elections, having access to diverse groups and information online are all ways that we can potentially keep in touch with other sometimes dissenting or controversial points of view. Even if we tut in annoyance, it's still important to support the right of others to air their views and say what they think.With our lives increasingly controlled by technology 

Big Brother can easily monitor everything we do, our spending habits, opinions, everywhere we go. We know the information we post is readily accessible online because it's not uncommon for someone to reference a sick pet or holiday on social media and the algorithms prompt relevant items to instantly pop up onscreen. But, moving forward, who would really want to live in a society where it's the norm to spy on one's neighbours and report on their behaviour, where everything we consume is ultimately monitored and managed by the state. Social media started our desire to voluntarily surrender much about ourselves, about what happens in our daily lives, freely posting massive amounts of personal data. But it's important to retain some awareness of where things are going. Let's give thanks to the dissidents, rebels and alternative thinkers. They're prepared to keep shouting and whether we agree with them or not they help us retain some semblance of restraint, individuality and independent thinking in an increasingly monitored world. Living a beige, supervised picture of a life is uninspiring. 

Let's hold onto the brighter colours, shapes and textures that bring interest, diversity and sometimes rock the boat in all our lives. Susan Leigh, South Manchester counsellor, hypnotherapist, relationship counsellor, writer & media contributor offers help with relationship issues, stress management, assertiveness and confidence. She works with individual clients, couples and provides corporate workshops and support. She's author of 3 books, 'Dealing with Stress, Managing its Impact', '101 Days of Inspiration #tipoftheday' and 'Dealing with Death, Coping with the Pain', all on Amazon & with easy to read sections, tips and ideas to help you feel more positive about your life. To order a copy or for more information, help and free articles visit http://www.lifestyletherapy.net 

By Susan Leigh 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Leigh/399535

What Drives You? The Secrets To Motivating Yourself

 "Your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing." - Abraham Lincoln 

Bianca rose to the sound of pigeons cooing and traffic grumbling on the street below. As she yawned and stretched, she thought about what was waiting for her that day. She felt her motivation slowly drain away with each deadline and commitment that zipped through her thoughts. 

As Bianca began to wither and wilt internally, she remembered the motivation pills she had purchased last week from the Good Value Pharmacy. There were yellow pills labeled 'Money', pink pills labeled 'Pride', green pills labeled 'Family', purple pills labeled 'Respect' and some ugly grey pills labeled 'Nagging Advice'. The chemist had told her as he dispensed the pills that some would work for her and some would not... he could never tell in advance which pills would work for which customers. With that advice in mind and a smile on her lips, Bianca reached for the one she knew would be just right for her... One of the best things you can do for yourself on your journey of self discovery is to work out what drives you. 

The first step is to identify your values as they provide the fuel for your motivation and the drive behind everything you do in life. If you value something you will always find the motivation and energy to do it. If you don't value something, you will always struggle to find the motivation and energy to do it. Values Your values are what are important to you. They are the broad concepts that guide your decisions in life and form the basis of your character. Your values also determine how you spend your time. For example, if your most important value is health, you will spend your time quite differently from someone whose most important value is career or family. Values also drive all your motivation. You won't pursue a course of action unless it relates to something you value at some level. Identifying your values allows you to kick-start your own motivation, set goals that are appropriate and spend time on things that are important to you. 

How Your Values Are Formed  

Your values come from a number of sources including your family, friends, religion, school, teachers, country and the media. They are also shaped at any time in your life by significant emotional events such as natural disasters, emotional abuse, global depression or war. Your values change as you grow and evolve. When you change your values, you will also change some of your beliefs and the way you live life. 

How To Identify Your Personal Values

 Identifying your personal values helps you to: Understand why some issues are a problem for you; See why some things motivate you and others don't; and Identify and overcome problem areas of your life. For example, assume you have weight issues. You determine your personal values and find that health and fitness doesn't even rate a mention within your values. You may have found the reason why you are having weight issues, i.e. health and fitness is not something you value. While this remains the case it will be very difficult for you to lose weight and gain a greater level of health and fitness in your life as you will not have any motivation to do so. You can identify your values by asking yourself: What is important to me in relation to my life, career, relationships etc? What would cause me to leave my life, career, relationships, etc? When you have an understanding of your values, it is useful to see how they affect your motivation. Motivation Your values drive your motivation. If you set goals that are aligned with your values, you will have the motivation to help you achieve them. If you set goals that are not in line with your values, it will be an uphill struggle to achieve them. 

When you understand your values and their impact on how you are currently motivating yourself you will have a wonderful insight into why you achieve the results that you do in life. You will also know how to motivate yourself more effectively in the future. Motivation comes either from within you (intrinsic motivation) or from an external source (extrinsic motivation). Extrinsic motivationis provided by some factor external to you. It can take the form of inducements (rewards) or punishments. The rewards can be tangible or intangible (such as praise). Intrinsic motivationis evident when you engage in an activity for its own sake without any external incentive. It appears from research done by Albert Bandura that if you have more self efficacy (belief in your own abilities to control your environment) you are more highly intrinsically motivated than other people. As intrinsic motivation is the only one you can take with you and call upon at any time, it is the most important in terms of self motivation. Intrinsic motivation can be broken down further into 'towards' motivation and 'away from' motivation. 'Towards' motivation is motivation towards something you want and 'away from' motivation is motivation away from something you don't want. 'Away From' Motivation 'Away from' motivation is driven by pain. Pain motivated performance is not pleasant, produces inconsistent results and disappears when the pain is no longer present. 'Away from motivation' does, however, give you a strong initial motivation to move away from the thing you don't want in your life. 

A problem with using this type of motivation is that you wait until things are bad before you take action to change them. Another problem is that you don't have a target or goal that you are aiming for (just something you are running from) so you don't tend to achieve results. Sophia uses 'away from' motivation in relation to her weight. As a result she is the classic yo yo dieter. Her process goes like this. Sophia looks in the mirror and sees that she is overweight. She says to herself, 'I don't want to be fat anymore'. She then goes on a diet to ensure she is no longer fat. (She is moving away from being fat). At some point she looks in the mirror and sees that she looks fantastic and is no longer fat. As she is no longer fat, she has just lost the source of her motivation (to no longer be fat). As there is no longer any motivation, she no longer stays on the diet and discards her exercise regime. She will not be motivated to do whatever she needs to stay fit and healthy. At some point in the future she will look in the mirror and again form the judgment that she is fat and the process will start all over again. When you are motivated away from something that you don't want in life, you tend to focus upon the very thing you don't want and that is what you attract into your life. As examples: If you constantly say to yourself, 'I don't want to be broke', your focus is upon being broke and that is where your unconscious mind will aim. If you constantly say to yourself, "I don't want to be single", your focus is upon being single and that is where your unconscious mind will aim. 

Motivation away from what you don't want can motivate you, but it doesn't do so for long and you can't be sure what results you will achieve. It can give you a fantastic initial boost of energy, but you can never guarantee where you are going to end up as you don't have a firm direction in mind, just a place you want to get away from. If you use away from motivation in your life, you will tend to create a series of crises to keep yourself motivated. 'Towards' Motivation If you use 'towards motivation' you will take action to move towards your goal and you will achieve them more often than not. 'Towards' motivation is the best way to motivate yourself. When you are motivated towards what you want, you tend to stay consistently motivated until you achieve your goal (provided you desire it enough). When you are motivated towards what you want, you constantly set and achieve goals each time stretching yourself further. By using motivation towards what you want you give yourself a far greater chance of achieving what you want out of life. 

How Do You Know If The Motivation You Use Is 'Towards' Or 'Away From' Motivation? We now know that values drive your motivation and that motivation can be either towards what you want or away from what you don't want. Now it is time to review your values to discover whether the underlying motivation for each of your values is: towards what you want; or away from what you don't want. To determine whether the underlying motivation for each value is 'towards' or 'away from' ask yourself, "Why is that value important to me?" then listen to your self-talk and note what you say to yourself. The clues to whether you are using towards or away from motivation for that value are: You are probably using 'towards' motivation if you: talk about what you do want don't use comparisons in your explanation (better than, worse than, more than) You are probably using 'away from' motivation if you: talk about what you don't want make comparisons in your explanation or use words such as 'better than', 'more than', 'less than', 'best' etc. (These show you are unhappy with where you currently are) use words such as 'must', 'need', 'have to', 'got to' etc  As an example, assume that 'money' was your highest value in relation to your career. You then ask yourself, "Why is the value 'compensation' important to me in relation to my career?" If your answer is, "Because I want to make a lot of money and live in luxury", the response would indicate 'towards' motivation for this value. If your answer is, "Because I don't want to be broke and I have to be able to pay my bills", the response would indicate 'away from' motivation for this value. 

Your chances of achieving goals relating to 'money' are much greater if you are using towards motivation. If you find that you have identified 'away from' motivation in relation to any of your values, you will find: This area of your life is one where you will experience the most difficulties; You will not be achieving the results in this area of your life that you might wish; and There are unresolved issues to be cleared away and healed in relation to this area of your life before you will experience the success you desire. This is wonderful information to have as it identifies areas of your life for you to focus upon. Problems With Motivation We all experience problems with motivation at some point. 

Those times when you just can't seem to find the desire to do things you know you should. The problems can arise because: You are low on energy. There are some easy things I'm sure you do when you are feeling 'low' to get your energy back. Remember too that sometimes in life, you need and deserve a rest. The thing you are aiming towards is not something you value. (In this case, question whether you should be exerting your energy in that direction); or You have a problem with your motivation strategy (see below). If it is your motivation strategy that is causing you challenges, identify which part of the strategy is causing the problem and then use one of the following techniques to assist you to change it. 

If you are not motivated because: You feel overwhelmed, break the goal down into smaller steps and do them one at a time. You are only using 'away from' motivation, identify where you are aiming and focus upon the positive outcomes of attaining it. You feel obliged to pursue the goal, either accept the goal is not for you and let it go or focus upon the positive outcomes you will get from achieving the goal. You are scared, identify what could go wrong and what you would do if it did. In Summary If you understand your values, you will understand what motivates you and why. If you discover whether you are using towards or away from motivation in different areas of your life, you will have answers for why some parts of your life are successful and others are not. 

If you use one of the above techniques to overcome common motivation problems... and you take action... you should be on your way to success! 

By Petris Lapis 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Petris_Lapis/1191603

Advantages of Affiliate Programs for Affiliate Marketers

 Affiliate marketing is actually good for all stakeholders. The merchant gets their products as well as services sold through a lot of affiliates and therefore makes even more sales. The affiliate generates cash from home on each sale without a lot of the hassle related to managing a company. Since they receive items and also services without any type of trouble (at a computer mouse click away), the customers are actually delighted. The network makes a big turnover by putting a great deal of affiliates and merchants all together to do business with one another. That said and without further ado, let's examine the pros of this form of marketing for the marketer. 

# 1: Affiliate marketing is actually very easy and also free to sign up with You are certainly not required to have a business training or even marketing knowledge to sign up with a large number of affiliate marketing programs. You do not have to whip out your bank card either to end up being an affiliate of a network. All you need to do to join an affiliate program and also begin marketing the products as well as the services is actually to fill out a simple form in a few minutes. 

# 2: This marketing needs to have no financial investment In a lot of this marketing scenarios, the marketer certainly is not required to spend a singular penny in the merchant's business. The merchant deals with that on their own. The affiliate's cost is limited merely to marketing the products or services. 

# 3: Easy marketing management In most of the affiliate marketing programs, the professional has no need to write product reviews, create e-mail swipes, design banners or create hyperlinks. All the marketing material is actually offered by the vendor for the affiliate to make use of on their marketing channels. Considering that you do not have to deal with orders, send out any sort of stock, or even handle the consumer, you merely concentrate on ensuring promoting the offers to your audience. 

# 4: The professional in this marketing works from home 12/3/2020 Advantages of Affiliate Programs for Affiliate Marketers https://ezinearticles.com/?Advantages-of-Affiliate-Programs-for-Affiliate-Marketers&id=10377821 2/3 You operate from the convenience of your own home, as well as in your pyjamas, if you so desire. The professional certainly must not get up at an ungodly hour, put on job clothing, ride to the workplace via roads crammed with various other travelers as well as churn through tedious activities from 9 am till 5 o'clock. 

# 5: This marketing technique is actually cost-efficient The affiliate seller has no start-up expenses in addition to cash flow to pay for the items being actually marketed. You can possibly do it at a low cost. 

# 6: This marketing expert's work is actually merely to make sales The affiliate likewise certainly does not need to have to source items, take orders, carry inventory, send invoices, handle packaging, manage delivery, or even manage the final consumer in issues like after-sales service as well as reimbursements. All the affiliate marketer must do is actually concentrate on marketing so that the offers come before the right audience. 

# 7: The affiliate seller does certainly not need to offer customer help With the help of the affiliate advertising system, you will not ever need to be actually saddled with customer help or even the client's complete satisfaction. Any kind of issues pertaining to product purchases will definitely be actually routed to the vendor's consumer help staff to cope with. After you produce the sales, the seller handles any kind of customer complaints. 

# 8: You can work anywhere there is actually an internet connection Affiliates really love the possibility to produce revenue from anywhere on the planet where there is a computer system. The affiliate resembles a virtual assistant to whom different businesses have actually outsourced jobs. 

# 9: This strategy is actually convenient and flexible Affiliate networks are actually sensibly lax with their terms and also services. This permits the affiliate marketer to be flexible with their marketing techniques. Should you be actually banned from one program, you can simply register with yet another providing the exact same or even an identical product. The affiliate marketer has the freedom to specify their very own objectives, pick the items they would like to promote, and also choose their very own working hours. 

# 10: This technique guarantees a several sources of multiple income The capacity for generating passive income makes affiliate marketing seemingly interesting for affiliate marketers. If you possess the expertise and have the time, you could promote products and services offered through a number of affiliate marketing programs as well as networks and grow your gains through commissions (recurring ideally) for the different sales. By utilizing SEO to make articles (if they are actually excellent) to rank for popular buyer search phrases, website traffic will definitely be driven to your site. If your call to action is actually attractive, people will click on your affiliate links and make you earn a commission when they make a purchase from your promoted seller sites. You as a result get funds for your job long after you've performed it. With internet marketing campaigns you generate cash while you sleep. What could be much better than that? Envision this: you get out of bed in the early morning, turn on your laptop computer, and be actually welcomed with messages of money falling into your account! Great, isn't it? Conclusion That is it, the 10 advantages of affiliate programs for affiliate marketers. 

We hope these give you the vigor to continue if you are already in affiliate marketing but not seeing any result yet or to embrace it if you aren't yet an affiliate marketer. Good luck! 

By Akoli Penoukou 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Akoli_Penoukou/4421

Affiliate Marketing VS Product Creation

This is a huge obstacle many people face when entering the online marketing world: Should I become an affiliate marketer or should I create and sell my own product..? Before I get started let me quickly define the two business models so that we are clear as to how money is generated with each. 

• Affiliate Marketing: In this business model you will be making income by referring customers to another person's product or service. So basically you will sign up with the vendor as an affiliate and for every sale you generate you get paid a commission. 

• Product Creation: This business model is pretty self explanatory; you will be creating a product and selling it in the marketplace for 100% of the profits. In this example we will be assuming your product is an information product of some sort. There are a lot of marketers that will say the easiest way to start making money online is affiliate marketing. Just because of the simple fact that you can choose a vendor whose product you want to promote, sign up as an affiliate, start sending traffic to your affiliate sales page and BOOM! You make money. Sounds pretty easy. You don't have to deal with creating a product, setting up websites, dealing with customers, etc. At the same time there are marketers that say creating your own product is easier and the more profitable of the two and allow you to be more in control of your business. It really all depends on what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you're looking to accomplish in your business. Let me get some of the pros and cons of each and put things into perspective so you can have a better idea of where you want to get started. Affiliate Marketing It is a strong argument that affiliate marketing is the easier of the two to start with which is why it is recommended as a starting point for beginners. Here are a few of the pros of affiliate marketing: 

• Most affiliate vendors/networks are free and very easy to join. Most of the time you will answer a few basic questions, set up a username and password and get instant access to the affiliate member's area within a few minutes. 

• Marketing materials are provided. Once you set up your profile in the affiliate member's area you will have complete access to all marketing materials needed to get you going such as banners, pre-written emails, etc. In the members area you will also be provided a unique affiliate link which will take your prospects to a complete sales page which has already been created for you. Armed with these materials all you have to focus on is getting traffic to your affiliate site. 

• All websites are already created for you. As an affiliate you do not have to deal with the headaches that can come with setting up a website. The vendor has done this for you and as long as you use your affiliate link your sales and commissions will be tracked through that link and paid into your account. 

• Do not have to deal with customers. We all know how difficult it can be to deal with customers but as an affiliate you do not have to worry about this problem. Once you make a sale as an affiliate all you have to worry about is cashing your check and the customer is passed on to the vendor. As you can see being an affiliate marketer definitely has its perks. It's quick and easy to join a vendor/network, all the marketing materials and sales pages are provided and you do not have to deal with customers. You can focus your time on generating traffic, making sales and cashing checks! Now let's take a look at some of the cons of affiliate marketing and how you can overcome them. 

• The competition. Even though it can argued that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make money online it can be strongly argued that it's the most difficult due to the competition. There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate marketers you have to compete with to make a sale. At the same time many experienced marketers agree that most new affiliate marketers do not know what they're doing since it's such an easy business to get into. - One of the best ways to overcome this obstacle is to educate yourself. Always be a step ahead of the competition by learning what the top affiliates are doing to give them that edge needed to make the sale. 

• Profit Margins. As I mentioned before with affiliate marketing you are making a commission for referring a customer to a vendor as opposed to you being the creator of the product and earning 100% of the sale. So there can be a lot of profits you are leaving on the table by promoting someone else's product instead of your own. - This obstacle is really not in your control when it comes to affiliate marketing but the best thing you can do is promote a product with a higher payout of 60-80% as opposed to 25-50%. This way you will be making more income with less sales. 

• Building someone else's business. As an affiliate not only are you generating sales and profits for the vendor you are also helping them build their business instead of your own. Once you make a sale and are paid a commission that customer is now in the hands of the vendor which can continue to sell additional products and services to that customer for the lifetime of their relationship. - The best way I know of building your own business through affiliate marketing while also sending customers to the vendor is to set up a landing page of your own that requires the prospect to input their name and email before they get access to the sales page. This way the prospect is on your customer list as well and you can now email them future offers and affiliate products directly. Now of course you will have to provide an incentive to the prospect for them to enter their email like giving away a free report, video training, audio file, etc. We will touch on this in a future report. 

• Lack of control. With affiliate marketing you really don't have much control of anything but generating sales. Should the vendor/network decide to shut down or no longer sell the product you are promoting you are left back at square one. When it comes to product creation you have a lot more control of your business and can profits but we'll be touching on that in a few. - Unfortunately this is a huge downside to affiliate marketing and something you really can't prepare for. Building your email list as mentioned before is the best way to ensure that you still have an ability to make sales with your current list of customers while you set up a new campaign with a new product. There are just as many cons as pros with affiliate marketing but none of these reasons should stop you from getting started if it's a business you wish to pursue. One important thing that you want to keep in mind is to take time to invest in your education and skill sets to put yourself ahead of the curve. By doing this you set yourself apart from the competition and a step ahead to making the sale. 

 If you are interested in learning more about affiliate marketing and jump starting your way to success visit my author resource box. Now, just for a second picture yourself being the product creator and having an army of affiliates promoting your products as we move into the pros and cons of Creating and selling your own product. Product Creation Product creation can be a scary subject for many because as a newbie you are most likely skeptical and completely in the dark as to how an online business operates, let alone creating a product from scratch. But to your surprise it can actually be one of the easiest ways to make money online. Let's get into some of the pros of creating and selling your own product and see why it can be an avenue you consider: 

• Control. When it comes to product creation you are in complete control of just about everything. You are in control of how you market your product, the price, its delivery, and you are in full control of every customer you bring into your business as well as any future purchases they make from you. 

• Profits. Of course this is a huge reason why many people create and sell their own products. As a product creator you get to keep 100% of the profits from every sale you make. Now there is an exception to this when it comes to setting up your own affiliate program and having other affiliates promote your products but we'll touch on the power of this next. 

• Affiliates. Once you create your unique product you can choose to leverage others to help build your business. Setting up an affiliate program can be a powerful way to explode your business on autopilot. You can offer your affiliates a commission of 30-50% and have them sell their butts off for you especially if your product brings high value to the marketplace. Also you can make money while you sleep as you know your affiliates are working hard to make you sales. 

• Building a Brand. Being the product creator gives you the opportunity to build a brand for yourself in the marketplace of your chosen topic. Since your product is unique you are able to name the product whatever you like and build a brand around that topic. This is very big if you want to build your business through word-of-mouth advertising which we all know is the strongest form of advertising. As you can see there are also some great advantages to creating and selling your own product. You are in full control of everything, you will earn more money, you can build an army of affiliates, and you can build a brand for yourself and your business. But as in everything there is a downside so let's get into that next. Here are a few cons of product creation and how you can overcome them: 

• Time. When it comes to your time, creating your own product will definitely take up more of your time then simply signing up as an affiliate. Not only will it take time to create your product, but you also have to create a website to sell your product from. And that can be a headache of its own which we will talk about next. - The great thing about product creation is you can outsource just about every process involved in starting your business. You can literally pay a professional writer to write your information product for you and you take the credit for it. Of course you always want to proof read it and modify a bit to fit your personality and style. 

• Websites. Once your product is completed you will not be able to make any profit unless you are able to get it published online. For some this can be your worst nightmare. This can cause you a lot of headaches especially if you are not tech savvy. This can easily cause you to quit or never begin to try to make money online, or it can cause you to have to hire a web designer to build a site for you which can be a few hundred to a few thousand dollars in cost. This leads me to my next topic. - Again building a website can easily be outsourced to a web designer who can build you a clean professional website usually within 48-72 hours. 

• Cost. When it comes to creating a product it can easily be said you will have more start up costs then an affiliate. When it comes to setting up your sales funnel you have certain costs like buying a domain, hosting your website, hiring a web designer to set up you site unless you're doing it yourself, paying for the graphics to brand your product, etc. - A lot of you may be asking yourself how much are you going to expect to spend on your product creation business? Don't worry take a deep breath..a lot of the things you will be paying for are really inexpensive. 

Now I want to introduce you to a site that will dramatically change the way you do business it's called http://www.Fiverr.com. This is a community of people that are willing to just about anything for $5. Go ahead and visit the site and see for yourself. You can literally have an information product created on a topic of your choice, the graphics and ebook cover created, and a website build for $25-$30. 

• Customer Support. As the product owner you will be responsible for your customer service and support and this alone can drive you insane and drain a lot of your time and energy. As in any business on or offline you will have your happy customers and your not so happy customers. Your customers will have questions, demands, concerns, etc and it is your responsibility to make sure they get the support they deserve. - Customer support can also be outsourced but unfortunately this comes with the territory of any business and something you will have to deal with. Yes you can have someone take care of your customers service but you should definitely be as involved as possible to make sure they are getting the best support possible. As you can see as a product owner, yes you will be in control, yes you will make more money, and yes you can build a brand, but with all this comes a lot more responsibility then an affiliate marketer. Before wrapping things up lets touch on a few things that we can all agree on in both affiliate marketing and product creation. 

• Work from home. Whether you are an affiliate marketer or promoting your own products both allow you to be in control of your time and work from home. For many this a highly sought after luxury to be able to spend more time with family, friends, spouse, etc. 

• Your day job. Unless you are a super marketer and were born with super online business skills most of you will still be working your day job as you build your online business. With that said you can build your online business on a part-time or full-time basis around your current work schedule whether it is one hour a day or ten hours a day whatever it is that works for you make sure you keep it consistent. Make sure you schedule your online business time just as you would schedule any other activity and make this non-negotiable. 

• You're the boss. No matter if you're marketing as an affiliate or your own product, you are your own boss in both situations and your income is directly influenced by your efforts. This also allows you to make money on demand. If you're looking to take a vacation or buy a new car and you need a few thousand dollars you can just jump on your computer and set up a new marketing campaign. If you are leaning more towards creating your own products visit my author resource box. In conclusion there really is no right or wrong, better or worse, that was not the point of this article. 

The point of this report was to shed some light on both business models so that you can be more aware of what you can expect in moving forward with your online business. In my opinion there shouldn't have to be a choice between affiliate marketing and creating your own product. You should integrate both into your business plan and become educated in both arenas. By doing that you will quickly see that many top affiliate marketers make a killing selling their own products and many people who sell their own products make a killing as affiliate marketers. One thing I do want to stress is no matter what you do it is going to take time, effort and hard work. 

Don't fall into the trap that many newbie's do which is consistently searching for the next plug and play system that is going to make you the next overnight millionaire. And there are plenty of "Guru's" out there who prey on the newbie community and put out junk products promising overnight millions with pretty sales pages and you continue to fall for them. STOP!! Map out a business plan, decide what you want to accomplish, find one reputable mentor you want to follow and get to work! Focus on following that chosen mentor all the way through to your first online dollar. Lastly, make a promise to yourself that you will not quit before starting the journey! 

By: Joshua Zamora 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Joshua_Zamora/809902 12/3/20

How To Start Making Money Online As An Affiliate Marketer

The field of affiliate marketing is probably the quickest developing way to make money online. After all, billions of ordinary people use internet every day. Affiliate marketing gives you the opportunity to target potential customers regardless of their location in the world. 

For this reason, it isn't surprising that a huge number of people make a considerable amount of money through affiliate advertising and marketing. Many skilled affiliate marketers end up making more money in this field than they did in their previous job, and hence some of them even resign their normal 9-5 job and pursue affiliate marketing full-time. 

A Quick Overview On Affiliate Marketing Now that we have a little idea about the capacity of affiliate marketing, Let's dig in and discuss what it truly includes. 

The easiest way to describe affiliate marketing is when you help another company sell their products online, and then you get paid a commission for each sale you bring to them. If you are promoting a product priced at $200, and the company pays you 10 percentage commission of the sale, you would make $10 for each sale. However how do you refer sales? You can begin promoting your seller's products on your website, which receives targeted site visitors in the same niche as the product you are advertising. For example, if you have a website that sells makeup you would not advertise health insurance, but instead you could promote makeup related products. Every time one of your website's visitors clicks on your affiliate link which was supplied to you by the seller, you will be paid a commission. How To Choose A Good Affiliate Network One of the largest errors new affiliate marketers make is becoming a member of nearly each affiliate network they encounter. This is without a doubt considered to be a totally incorrect technique. That is due to quite some reasons. 

Firstly, being an affiliate marketer is an undertaking which calls for a lot of awareness. So, if you try and work with many affiliate networks at the same time, chances are that none of your initiatives might go as planned and consequently, none of them might end up being very successful. Secondly, focusing on just one or a few products without a doubt will let you research them thoroughly before you start to promote them. This method also helps you refine your strategies, making the required adjustments, and thus making your marketing a whole lot more powerful. An effective approach will yield better outcomes, and reward you for your efforts and time. Thirdly, make sure you do some research on the affiliate network as there are some networks that will only pay you once a month which might not work for you or worse they could not pay you at all. I am not telling this to discourage you from being an affiliate marketer, but instead I want you to succeed in finding the correct network and products to market and make your commission. There are affiliate networks that resort to "shaving", a very common exercise in affiliate marketing where the networks display a discounted number of sales than what you referred, consequently paying you drastically less in commissions. Hence, to avoid been a victim to this action I would suggest that you stick to known and trusted affiliate networks. In any case, they only way you will succeed with a network is if you are comfortable with them and the products you are promoting. 

How To Start Getting Sales As An Affiliate Marketer Getting instantly to the point, some affiliate marketers use social media web sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more, for doing associate marketing, other decide to build out their own site. Getting your own site is an exceptional approach to affiliate marketing, because it gives you control over everything. So we will focusing on affiliate marketing using your own site moving forward. First matters first, as mentioned earlier, you will want to find an affiliate network you're comfortable with. This includes being knowledgeable about the products you are promoting, so that you don't come to be selling products you don't know anything about. Amazon's Associate Program That being said, many marketers look at Amazon's associate marketing program as one of the best. It's possibly the most trustworthy network, and has a large inventory of products to promote and get your commissions. 

This offers you a possibility to promote nearly any product in the market, or pick a niche with low competition and you could be earning commissions in less than a week. Finding A Good Keyword That is considered to be one of the hardest parts of marketing. You simply cannot blindly choose any keyword and expect to start making sales quickly. One of the reasons why many affiliate marketers fail is due to using a wrong keyword. If you are new to the affiliate marketing, you are going to want keywords that have low competition. Start your keyword research by finding long tail keywords with a low search volume, that means much less money, but not really with the ones that have large competition. You may test the top 10 and 20 results and do a few studies to discover if you may outrank them. Review keywords being used by the competition to determine if they are using identical key phrases you are looking to target. If they are, and they have a high authority website in that niche, I would recommend that you keep away from that niche, and opt for a brand new, less competitive. Quality Content This is significant. If you think you will make a lot of money creating items that doesn't help the visitors in anyway, you are very wrong. Although your goal is to earn cash by means of referring visitors to the offer, you will have to offer one thing of importance to them. Merely posting your hyperlinks along with lame sales pitches like "this is a wonderful solution, purchase this product via my personal hyperlink and get a discount", and so on, you might be only heading to disaster. If you decide to join Amazon's associate program, you could write an informative article on your homepage and include your primary keywords and some secondary keywords throughout the article. You could have the purchasing guidebook, and write your brief opinion of each product you are marketing. Remember that the greater the cost of the product you market, the greater the commission. 

We realize it's probably the trickiest method to accomplish, unless you are an SEO guru. Contacting site with high authority and guest posting on these sites is a really well-known means of getting great backlinks. These great backlinks, along with guest posting in related sites in your niche will get you ranked on the first page of the search engines as long as the keyword you chose has really low competition. However, even when your site doesn't reach page one, as long as you have guest posted on a number of sites in your niche, you will be bringing substantial amount of targeted traffic coming from these sites. So that it is a great tactic anyway. Mistakes To Avoid Now you are aware of the process to becoming a great affiliate marketer with your own website, I want you to also keep in mind some of the most common errors brand new affiliate marketers make. Not Providing Any Good Value Though we've got covered this item, it's certainly important to remind you if you try to be extreme with your words to pressure the visitors to click on your affiliate link, it's likely being deemed as junk or spam by many websites. Rather, it's suggested to help these individuals select the right solution determined by their particular wants. This method makes these individuals feel more, which in return will check out the products you are marketing based on the value in your article. 

Product Research Numerous online marketers will not do proper product research to gain knowledge on the product they are promoting, instead they are only worried about the amount of commission they will earn per sale regardless whether it will provide value to their visitors. This is an oversight, and will at some point lead to your readers not relying on anything you tell them. Tracking Your Links When you begin advertising on Amazon or even some other affiliate network, it will be beneficial to track your affiliate links. It can help you find out which website is doing more sales and then you can make your other websites have the same kind of setup. 

Final Thoughts I would like to say that despite the fact that affiliate marketing can be very fulfilling, it has a steep learning curve to it. You might face disappointment on numerous occasions prior to making a nice amount of money online. That said, affiliate marketing it's suited simply for individuals who are likely to deal with several failures, but will come back with a positive attitude and willing to learn from their mistakes. 

By Noel Cruz 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Noel_Cruz/2242161

10 Things You Didn't Know About Affiliate Marketing

Most people have heard of affiliate marketing, even if they haven't actually started doing it. Affiliate marketing is basically referring people to various products and services around the internet. For each sale you generate through your affiliate link, you earn a commission. The size of the commission depends on the products themselves, who is selling them and the percentage offered by the seller to the affiliate. 

But what is actually involved in affiliate marketing? What do affiliates do on a daily basis? How do they earn money and how do they learn what to do? 

1 An Example Of A Successful Website 

There's several ways of marketing products and services online. Many affiliates create a blog first and sell products and services through their blog. Martin Lewis has a very successful website called moneysavingexpert.com. This is also an affiliate website. By creating content and helping people decide which service to use: which credit card offers to choose, the best interest rate etc. moneysavingexpert.com makes money by sending website visitors to various offers. If a sale is made through this website, the link this credited to it and a commission is made. By creating content, offering value and helping people make sensible choices, the website has built a reputation and become more prevalent over time. Google ranks the site highly in the search engines and thousands of people use it to make purchasing decisions every day. 

2 How Can I Get Started As An Affiliate? 

Affiliate marketing is huge. There are thousands of people already making their main source of income from the internet. To get started as an affiliate you need to learn some basic strategies and build various methods of generating traffic from the internet to those offers. A lot of affiliates start with a simple blog. Many travelers 'blog' about their travels. If you don't have a passion or interest to blog about, you can start by following an online course which will help. See my bio for more info on this. 

3 How Long Does It Take To Make A Living?

Some people want to make big money. Depending on how much time you can dedicate to your affiliate business, and how dedicated you are to it, is a big factor in determining your results. Results vary from person to person. With a large advertising budget and the right business model, some affiliates have replaced their living in 6-12 months. For others it can take years before it replaces their existing income. Depending on your approach, advertising budget, and business model, it can take between 3 months and several years to build it to a point where it can replace an existing income. 

4 Can Anyone Do It? 

One of the great things about affiliate marketing is that the technology is now available to allow anyone to build their own online business. As long as you are prepared to learn and implement that knowledge, anyone who can operate an email, can use online platforms and tools to build their own online business. The main thing you need is the desire to learn. Affiliate marketing isn't for everyone though. It does take a lot of hard work and it can take years before you are rewarded financially. 

5 What Are The Pitfalls Of An Affiliate Business? 

You need to dedicate some time to your affiliate business for it to work for the long term. Some people go into affiliate marketing thinking it is some magic pill which will pay them instantly in cash. Much like a job you can't expect to get out more than you put in. Affiliate marketing is performance related. This means you don't get paid unless you can successfully sell products and services online. If you don't know what you are doing it can take years to do this. You can't be a dabbler and expect to earn the big money. The big earnings are created over years of hard work. Don't expect to achieve this with only a small amount of input. 

6 What Are The Best Things About Affiliate Marketing? 

Affiliate marketing offers an incredible amount of flexibility and freedom. You can work an affiliate business from anywhere in the world providing you have a laptop and an internet connection. You can choose your own hours and build it up around existing work. Many people come into affiliate marketing because it offers this kind of flexibility. They can choose their priorities in life: spend more time with family, choose your working hours, travel and work abroad. No more commuting to work or working long hours for a boss you don't like. Affiliate marketing also offers incredible scalability. A business which is local is always limited to the people who can travel to that business. An online business can be global. Using digital products in conjunction with a global reach, you can scale using tools and software to reach thousands of people through digital technology. By using automation much of the work involved with an online business can be pre-built. By building automation into the business model, you can focus your activities on reaching a larger audience through content creation and paid advertising. 

7 Why Am I Struggling With My Affiliate Business? 

A lot of people struggle with their affiliate businesses.This can be for a number of reasons. Firstly building up an affiliate business takes time. You need to dedicate a lot of time to an affiliate business in the first place. Only when you reach a 'tipping point' do you really start to see your progress. Many affiliates simply don't realise how much work is involved. They underestimate how much time they need to dedicate to their online business to make it work. Paid advertising can allow you to grow your affiliate business quickly. But it costs money and you need the right products too. You can't advertise small value items with paid advertising. You won't generate enough profit to cover your advertising costs. You need a range of products and an email list to advertise through. Content marketing takes much longer to work, depending on your chosen area of business. If you find an untapped niche to market your blog in, you can make some fast progress. However, with a competitive niche you will struggle to get noticed above all the other content which you will have to compete with. There's several reasons why you might struggle. The main one is lack of knowledge. Get the right education first and your affiliate business will move much faster. 

8 What's The Best Affiliate Model To Use? 

There are many different affiliate models, all offering something different to suit the individual. Some affiliates target search traffic and aim to get their content found on Google. Some create their own products and sell them directly to customers. However, having a range of products which you can sell over and over to existing customers is a great model for long term success. Selling a single item online is limited. It means you can only make one commission from each sale. By choosing membership products to promote which also offer back end sales and a built in sales team, you can benefit from monthly 12/3/2020 10 Things You Didn't Know About Affiliate Marketing https://ezinearticles.com/?10-Things-You-Didnt-Know-About-Affiliate-Marketing&id=9671646 3/3 commissions and up-sell commissions for the lifetime of any given customer. Selling membership products is definitely a game changer when it come to affiliate marketing because you make an income from each customer, rather than a single commission. But a good model to choose is one in which you have a passion for and can keep doing for the long term. Choosing products which you have no interest in is a short sighted plan. Think about what you would like to do online to generate an income. If you choose to go with your passion, your business will last much longer, and be more successful. 

9 Can I Just Sell My Own Products? 

Many affiliates create their own products to sell online. However, when you are starting out it is a good idea to learn the basics of marketing first. That way you can start earning more quickly from your affiliate business. I spent a long time creating my own products when I first discovered affiliate marketing. But I didn't sell anything because of a couple of reasons. Firstly I didn't research whether my products would have a big enough demand. Secondly I didn't know how to market them. By joining a program which teaches you how to market products first, you can start making money more quickly. Don't waste time creating products if you don't know how to sell them. Marketing is a much more important skill for making money online. Once you know this skill, you can then apply it later when marketing your own products and services. Also your own products will be limited in range. By using an existing product range, you can benefit from products which are already selling. You can choose a program which offers high ticket commission, monthly memberships, back end sales and a built in sales team. Building your own products which offers all of these things not a possibility for most people when starting out. 

10 What's The Point Of Affiliate Marketing? 

Some people struggle with the concept of affiliate marketing.They think it sounds too 'salesy'. When I understood affiliate marketing I immediately found it appealing simply because I needed a flexible way to work around my contract work. I had to drop what I was doing at a moments notice if the phone went. This meant other jobs were awkward to juggle around. No-one wants to employ a 'flaky' employee. I wanted to work from my laptop and affiliate marketing gave me that opportunity. For many people this is the reason why they choose affiliate marketing. They can earn an income from their laptop, choose their working hours and not have a boss or place of employment. You don't have to sell directly to anyone or even talk to a customer. There is no stock to hold. Added to this, the scalability of affiliate marketing which lets you scale up to a global audience and deliver products on autopilot, makes it the best flexible business of the future.

By Tim Halloran 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tim_Halloran/488644