Coupon Codes Explained

In my last post, I gave away some cool Hertz Rental Car Coupon Codes, which I might add are coupon codes for 2010.  Since yesterday a few people asked me what the heck is an online coupon code.  Well if you don’t know then you are seriously missing out on some great chances to save some cash.

I’ve decided to repurpose/repost a previous article explaining what online coupon codes are and how they actually work. 

Just last month my wife had mentioned to me that she had just spent a certain amount of money for a shirt online, but was angry because her girlfriend had told her that she had coupon code to use for the website, which would have saved my wife 20% on the purchase. I thought to myself, oh cool! "Where did she get a coupon code?", I asked. She told me that there is a cool website that posts coupons codes to all sorts of products.

Since my job is to know about online marketing, the first thing that came to mind was "HEY! Coupons and rebate codes? Sounds like some kind of affiliate program!" She then showed me the site and then low-and-behold, the links on the coupon code and rebates sites where for stores and products that had actually promoted in the past from Commission Junction and Linksynergy!

Clicking on the store links from the rebate and coupon code website revealed the all-too-familiar cj.com and linksynergy "hop links." Immediately I felt that my wife and her friend had been tricked by a shady affiliate marketer. I searched around for more coupon and rebate websites and found pleny more. Most are community and forum based. ALL with affiliate links. I even went over to cj.com and searched a few links and found that almost all of my affiliated vendors had coupon codes that you could pass out.

I never really knew what to do with those things, but thanks to my wife, my mind has been opened and I’ve been exploring new ideas in affiliate marketing.

If you’re not too familiar with affiliate marketing, briefly explained it is like this: Many commercial companies (Target, Walmart, Eddie Bauer and others) reach out to online marketing and promotion companies to drum up business. Websites such as Commission Junction, Linksynergy and others act as an intermediary for affiliate marketers and commercial companies.

The premise is this: The big company says "If you promote our products, we will give you a percentage of the sale." All the affiliate marketer has to do is use the provided promotional items provided by the affiliate intermediary, tied in with their assigned affiliate id. The promotional items can be anything from text ads, email campaigns, banners, and YES, coupon, rebate and promotional codes.

The next step is for the savvy online marketing dude to start a website that says "HEY! I’ve got coupon codes for the stuff you are looking for!" When in actuality, the codes are simply promotional incentives provided by the company in the first place. Some people may think they are getting a deal by discovery a super kept online promotional code and rebate website when really it is there for anyone to use. Like many people, the fact that there is a coupon code will really entice you to purchase items you may not have purchased in the first place. So the natural flow is this:

1. Big Company provides the Affiliate Marketing Person with awesome, hard to find coupon and rebate codes
2. Affiliate Marketing Person tells his users of the new code
3. User goes wild, uses the promotional code and purchases the product
4. Big company gets a sale, affiliate gets a percentage of the sale users feels like they made a good decision :)

So there you have it, in a nutshell, coupon and rebates websites exposed. I’m not saying they are scams….coupons are good! But don’t think you have to buy something just because you have a coupon or promotional code! :)

How to Make Money Working from Home

People are always asking me, Tony, how do you make money working from home?  My answers is always the same…garage sales and lemonade stands!  Seriously folks, if you are compelled to click the salesy banner on this page, well more power to you. But honestly the whole working from home thing works like this:

• Ask somebody to give you money to tell them how to work from home
• Provide them an ebook that explains how to do what you just did

If you want to learn more about working from home as well as pick up my tips and secrets, take a peek at my affiliate marketing category of this site.  Every blog post in that category was written for the sole purpose to push some kind of product sale for which I get a commission.

The Best Father’s Day Gift – Fisher-Price Smart Cycle

Many of you don’t realize this, but this Father’s Day is coming soon and now is the best time of year to start blogging about stuff.  There is a ton of "stuff" going on to blog about…Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Ramadan. This is your chance to get pegged by Google for certain key phrases.  Especially for Father’s Day Gifts

Last year I blogged with much success about the Nintendo Wii.  The post was written because the impending pre-order and release of the Wii.  I noticed, using trends, that Wii was getting searched upon quite frequently.  I knew also that Walmart was accepting pre-orders soon. 

I then took the opportunity to first of all, plug the new Nintendo Wii, and then secondly, plug the Wii pre-sales using my Walmart affiliate link. The end result was that I pre-sold 14 Nintentdo Wii units within one week.  This turned out to be a nice little check to help with buying presents.

This time I’ve noticed a buzz at the local malls for the newest and hottest, gotta have kids toy… Fisher-Price Smart Cycle Physical Learning Arcade System:

Short and sweet, this is an interactive video game for kids that helps them learn everything from the alphabet to math.  I like the Smart Cycle so much that I bought two of them for my nephews!  Hey, dad could use some math tutoring and some exercise…right?  This is why it would make a great Fathers Day gift.

Go ahead and see for yourself this buzz that is encompassing the Smart Cycle.  Next thing you know your wife will be asking you two months from now if you picked on up yet…only to see that they are the next Tickle Me Elmo or Cabbage Patch Doll.

Self Aggregating Wordpress Tool

As you know, I don’t promote many products. Frankly, most aren’t worth the time. But, every now and then one comes along that REALLY blows me away.  Ok, maybe I lied just a bit, because you know I DO promote quite a few products…this one however is stinking awesome.

Many of you are in the business to blog for profit, but can’t find the time to post those articles.  Well, this tool does it for you.  All you need is a Wordpress blog, a few affiliate links and blammo, you’ve got instant aggregate Wordpress blog, complete with your plugged in affiliate codes…on autopilot! This is easily the most profitable tool I’ve seen all year.

BlogProfitz was launched a month ago to a select group of marketers. These marketers ranged from total beginner to genuine expert. I’ve been using it over on http://japanese.emailfriends.com to supplement my posts with affiliate links and I’ve got to say that it is working!

If you have a blog:
BlogProfitz enables you to add a completely new level of monetization to your blogs – earning more the traffic you already have.

If you’re an affiliate marketer:
BP is the fastest way I’ve EVER seen to develop new traffic/revenue sources.

As you’ll see on their site, BlogProfitz takes 5 minutes or less to fully monetize and build an affiliate blog. Literally. This is not a flagrant misrepresentation or a statement to just sell you on the system. It really is that fast.

BlogProfitz will…

1. Add thousands of targeted affiliate products to any Wordpress blog, fully monetizing your site in less than 5 minutes.

2. Display targeted videos, articles (from our private database of 15k) and news to your blogs for more content and reader value.

3. BP is integrated with with CommissionJunction, Clickbank, Affiliatebot, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, Regnow, Overstock, Paydotcom, and more.

4. BlogProfitz can be used on any blog, new or existing.

I’ve never seen any tool so easy to use, of such a simple concept, that makes such a profound impact on its users’ businesses.

BlogProfitz is helping its users earn more right now. They’re earning more from the traffic they already have, getting more and better search engine rankings, increasing their websites’ value, increasing readership, increasing retention, increasing traffic, giving their readers more and making more money because of it. They’re doing ALL of this with 1, simple service. It’s happening right now. And it could be happening to YOU.

Grab your copy today and see how quick and easy it is to automatically post articles to your blog and to make the cash you’ve been expecting with it from affiliate marketing.