With Affiliate Marketing, Start With Your Passion

When trying to pick a niche for affiliate marketing, experts encourage you to go with your passion. Why? You have to do a lot of research and develop a great deal of content on the topic. You don’t want to pick something that bores you to tears.

In internet marketing it's important to find your passion - things that tug at your heart.

The heart is a symbol of passion which can make a difference in perseverence in internet marketing.

 Well, I’ve been struggling with the issue of passion. Back in the nineties, I worked with a nonprofit agency to bring a brand new program to Delaware where I lived at the time.

It was a microloan program called Working Capital that provided business training and very small loans to tiny companies. Based on the Nobel Prize Winning Grameen Bank model created by Muhammad Yunus, Working Capital was supposed to do for America’s inner cities and rural areas what the international loan program had done for India and some African nations.

I can’t remember a time when I felt more passion than those many evenings I spent meeting with groups of small business owners explaining the program and helping them form loan groups. Once groups were formed, members discussed their business plans and sought the group’s approval for loans.

I was a woman on a mission. I really believed in free enterprise and its potential to transform communities.

What made the whole experience so powerful was the atmosphere we created. We held networking events, brought in special speakers and formed a lot of business loan groups. The energy in our building was so powerful you could feel the excitement. During the five or six years the program ran, hundreds of entrepreneurs joined Working Capital.

Our Delaware program was so successful that we won a Presidential Award and were invited to help form loan groups for street vendors before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Thinking back, I realized that I poured so much of my heart and soul into that program that something inside me died with the program. I had a vision of little businesses transforming Wilmington in a similar way as successful minority owned companies changed the landscape of Memphis’ historic Beale Street. My hope died hard.

I created Savvy Marketing Secrets hoping to rekindle some of the passion I felt with Working Capital. By helping very small businesses harness the power of the Internet, I hoped to relight that spark.

Of course it’s not as easy to feel passion sitting in front of a computer screen as it was when I was meeting with real business owners. But tapping into that experience helped me remember my passion.

Many of the smallest businesses are not even on the Internet. But the net holds tremendous promise for business growth for those who take advantage of the various marketing tools. So my passion now is to use this blog to connect the dots to help businesses similar to the ones I worked with in Delaware.

I would love to hear your stories about your passion and how you are shaping it into your small business. Please leave a comment below. 

Advice on Writing Product Reviews and Maxing-out Twitter

How to Write a Product Review

Lynn Terry, BloggerLynn Terry has written a great post on “How to Write a Product Review.” If you review products as an affiliate, you do not want to miss her post.

The Internet is full of people telling you what to do to make money online. Lynn is one of a few people who actually show you how. I like her ideas, tips and reviews so much, that I signed up to receiver her newsletter. And so far it’s been well worth it for me.

I do not currently have an affiliate relationship with Lynn, but I may sign up if she offers an affiliate program — her advice is that good! Go here now to read her blog post: How to Write a Product Review.

Making the Best Use of Twitter

top secret - Don't tell anyone where you got this information!Everyone is trying to understand how to maximize their return on Twitter, the fastest growing social media tool around. I just discovered a great new blog about Twitter — TwitterWatchdog.com created by Skeeter Hansen and Al Ferretti.

With one visit, I was able to download their “Twitter Success Guide 2.0″ and get a special secret link to to 47 videos on how to drive traffic to your website or blog. You don’t want to miss this. Don’t tell anyone, I am sharing this link: 

http://twitterwatchdog.com/promo/training_videos.html

Well, I’m still reading my email, so I’ll see you later. Let me know by posting a comment of what you think of these two great resources. Take care.

Marcia Ming

Savvy Remembers Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, King of Pop - 1958 – 2009

Michael - Leave Me Alone 

Sometimes you have to put business aside and honor the icons of your youth. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was just such an icon for me.

I grew up with Michael Jackson . I remember his performances as a boy on TV. Like millions of other fans, I hummed the words of his hit songs and danced to his music as a teenager and young adult.  So I had to drop everything to find a way to honor his tremendous contribution to the music world.

Brief BIO:

Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958. He began his stellar career as a child star and lead singer of the Jackson Five. Hits like “I Want You Back”, “I Love You” and “I’ll Be There,” took the group to the Ed Sullivan Show and national fame. But it was Michael’s electrifying solo performances that made his one of the biggest musical performers in the world.

No musical performer was bigger than Michael Jackson in the ’80′s. His Thriller CD remains the biggest all-time seller in music history. “Dangerous” remains No. 2.”

Even more significantly, he influenced an entire generation of performers white and black, and that  influence stretched around the world.

His Thriller album was so big that he broke through racial barriers, forcing MTV and over venues to open doors to future African American performers. Even after his star dimmed in the US because of his personal problems, he remained a superstar overseas. His celebrity was unprecedented. 

Here are photos from Michael Jackson’s life:

Here are websites, where you can view his videos and get more information about Michael.

http://www.michaeljackson.com
http://www.myspace.com/michaeljackson
http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/Mi…
http://musicbox.sonybmg.com/artists/mich…
http://www.youtube.com/michaeljackson
http://www.imeem.com/michaeljackson
http://www.legacyrecordings.com/Michael-…
http://www.legacyrecordings.com
http://www.epicrecords.com

Thank you Michael for your unforgettable performances.

May you rest in Peace.