Why a Product Is Either New Or Improved – Not Both

When a product is introduced, it is important to establish in a prospective customer’s mind what the benefits of the product are. Product improvements usually remedy the existing problems posed by existing products for existing customers. On the other hand, new products enable unknown problems to be solved for existing customers– as well as allowing new customers to be introduced to the company’s products. So product improvements usually deal with past or present offerings, while new products take into account future customer needs.

An improved product generally builds on an existing offering. Any improvements to the product should be done so that they address existing customer concerns, leading to higher usage, sales, or both among existing customers. Unfortunately, for some customers these improvements will occur for aspects of the product which are of little or no concern. In these instances, it is important to stress that the product improvement(s) add very little to the final price, as the cost of improvement is spread out among many purchases. Clearly, the product features (or absence thereof) which receive the most negative comments are among the most important to improve in future product versions. Of course, positive product features can be made better as well, as long as the improvement is noticeably significant. However, an improved product which does not meet some customer demand is not much of an improvement at all.

A new product, on the other hand, can appeal not only to existing customers, but to entirely new customer market segments as well. The new product may fill in the gap of an existing product, either one created by your firm, or by another firm. The new product could serve as an introduction to people who are inexperienced with your other products, or as a more advanced version for those who are extremely familiar with them. A new product must be carefully planned, and its exact purpose will depend on the specifics of a particular industry, as well as the competitive offerings which are currently available to customers.

Thus, a product improvement helps to fix customer complaints with past (and sometimes present) versions of a company’s offerings. New products represent an anticipation of what customers (both new and existing) may need in the future. In using the proper combination of the two, it is possible for a company to both address past failures, as well as make the most out of future sales opportunities for its products, thereby ensuring continued customer interest in all of its offerings.

Copyright 2010, by Marc Mays

What Are Affiliate Products? How Do I Make Money Promoting Them?

Affiliate products offer people the opportunity to make a commission by referring someone to buy a company’s product. This can be done online from the comfort of your own home.

Where to Find Affiliate Products

There are many affiliate programs on the Internet such as Click Bank and Amazon.com where people can find affiliate products to promote and make a commission. You can join either site for free to promote any of the products they have available.

Who Promotes Affiliate Products

Affiliate products can be promoted by people who enjoy blogging about a particular topic.

For example, someone who likes to blog about golf travel can find an e-book on how to improve your golf swing. People who golf are always looking for ways to improve their swing.

If they are on that site looking into golf travel and come across an e-book that could help them improve their golf swing, they can potentially buy the e-book and that affiliate makes a commission on the sale.

How Much do Affiliate Products Pay?

Commissions can be as low as 10% of the product price or as high as 75%. It all depends on how much the company wants to give back to their affiliates.

If you are looking to promote affiliate products to make a commission online, you’ll want to focus on the products that pay a higher commission especially if you want to do paid marketing.

Most companies out there allow people to become affiliates of their products for free. However, people are at a disadvantage when they don’t own the product. If they don’t own the product, they don’t know the benefits of that product. Not knowing about the product will make it difficult for them to sell it.

How to Promote and Make Money With Affiliate Products

The best way to promote affiliate products is to set up a blog. However, it will take you some time to set up a blog or you can pay someone to set it up for you. You will need a domain name, web hosting and security. You might even need to hire a graphic designer to make your blog look appealing.

To start getting traffic to your website, you will need to consistently blog on a daily basis and promote your blog posts through syndication. When making blog posts you will want to focus on particular subject and do keyword research to see what people are searching for so that your blog posts will show up on search engines.

It will take about 6 to 8 weeks before your blog posts are showing up on the search engines so don’t expect a lot of traffic right off the bat. Just understand that you need to keep blogging and eventually you’ll start getting traffic and having people buy the affiliate products that you promote.

How to Make Money Right Away With Affiliate Products

If you are looking to start making money right away, then you might want to do some paid advertising such as Google pay per click (PPC) or Facebook PPC. However you will want to learn how PPC works or else it will suck you dry.

Another thing that you can do if you don’t have money to promote your products is to submit your blog posts to several article directories such as EzineArticles or Go Articles and link it back to your blog.

There are many people who search article directories for what you have to write about. People will find your articles before they find your blog on the search engines.

The Challenge Of Buying 60th Birthday Presents

Does the idea of purchasing 60th birthday presents sound difficult? 60th birthday presents can be hard to find when a gift giver believes the person has everything they need. For some, that may be true but there are many simple wants and needs that can still make the birthday special.

This leaves the gift buyer little choice but to settle on something they know the person will use. The reasoning that everybody has to eat, might serve as inspiration, but with sixty and over, bear in mind that health conditions can become a factor. Common in that age group is diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, each of which comes with its own dietary requirements. However, many specialist food manufacturers do cater for those needs. Shop around and you should find a great variety of delicious alternatives to the usual box of chocolates.

An arrangement of flowers brings a festive atmosphere into the home of the birthday boy or girl. Selecting something with a pleasant lingering scent will remind the recipient for weeks that someone considered them wonderful enough to spoil. During the Victorian era, strict symbols applied for each possible gift of flowers. Roses, orchids, tulips, violets and jasmine – each stood to mean something different. Even color played a role. These days, people are less aware of such customs, although you might want to avoid offending with lavender. To some, it means distrust. Flowers fade quickly, but for a growing gift to last several seasons, consider giving a plant instead. You should inquire about which plants are most suitable for your recipient’s home or garden. Something that wilts after a few weeks from too much or too little sun could cause embarrassment to the giver and the receiver.

Can anyone refuse the opportunity of experiencing some tender loving care, at the hands of a skilled masseur? Similarly, a brand new makeover will give most women a new lease on life. Visit your nearest beauty salon to find out what their gift options are. If that seems too life changing all in one go, you could instead explore the wide range of body-spoilers available in retail stores. If the person you have in mind has mentioned a desire for a fitter life routine, do investigate what levels of gym membership or other exercise programmes are available in the 60 plus age group.

Sometimes a great gift can simply be a night to remember. Whether at the theatre or at a concert, the wonder of the performance will stay with the person for much longer than the running time. Anything that is shared with love can be counted as recommendations for 60th birthday presents.