Buy, Test, Review, Earn Your Money Back, Profit, Use Forever, Keep Making Money… Sound Good?

Over the years we have spent literally thousands and thousands of dollars purchasing products and services online. Quite a bit of it was absolutely wasted money, as we never used many of the products for one reason or another. Sometimes it was because the product sucked, and we were too lazy to ask for our money back. Other times we were lured into purchasing products that we really didn’t need because of great copywriting.

Fortunately for us and our wallets we have learned to be much better about spending, but more importantly… we have learned 2 great lessons that will not only save you a TON OF MONEY, but you will also (hopefully) end up getting your product for free, and then start making you some money.

LESSON 1: Don’t Be Afraid or Too Lazy to Ask for a Refund –

I can’t tell you how many times I have been a victim of both those mistakes. Just looking around my office and closet, I see lots of things that I purchased over the years, that I have never even taken out of the box. Also, on my computer’s backup hard-drive there are lots of ebooks and reports that are just terribly written, and taught me nothing, but I still paid for them. Fortunately, in the last couple of years I have made a conscious effort to cure myself of both those money wasting bad habits. Here are some steps that will help you cure them as well:

First thing… make sure when you purchase something, that it comes with a Money Back Guarantee. Also, READ what the requirements are to get your money back. Most of the time merchants will state that they have a “No Questions Asked” guarantee, but other will make you jump through hoops to get a refund. If you really want to buy something and they have one of those guarantees (that takes some work for you to get a refund), make sure to print out their return requirements. That way, if you end up wanting to return it… at least you will know exactly what you need to do to get your money back.

Secondly… don’t be afraid to ask! If you don’t like a product, ASK FOR YOUR MONEY BACK. Merchants offer a Money Back Guarantee for a reason, and if you are not happy, take advantage of it. Money is money, and in this economy especially, you do not want to be throwing money away at something you are not going to use. There are many unscrupulous merchants out there as well, that prey on the lazy and fearful, by offering money back guarantees on products they know are crap, because they know in general most people won’t ask for refunds. Don’t be one of those victims.

LESSON 2: If You Like the Product or Service, Let the World Know About It –

What about when you purchase a product and you LOVE it? Then you need to let the world know! Since you are going to be telling everyone you know, why not make some money at the same time? MANY (if not most) merchants nowadays offer some type of Affiliate Program for the products and services they offer. Some pay small percentages like 5 to 10%, while other pay up to 75% and even some pay 100%.

An Affiliate Program is basically a program setup to reward you (the affiliate) for referring new customers to their products or service. It makes sense that if you like a product or service, why not take advantage of the merchants affiliate program and make some money with it.

What I try to do when I have purchased something I really like is… I go straight to the merchant’s website and see if they offer an Affiliate Program, and if they do, I sign right up. It is best to do this right away, as you are still feeling that “new toy” joy you get, and you want to use that feeling when you promote it.

Next you want write an honest review of the product or service, with your affiliate link attached. I find that the longer and more detailed you can write about the product, the better conversion rates you will have. Also, if you can show that you actually use the product(s) that makes a TREMENDOUS difference in conversions as well. And for even better conversions, if you can make a video of you using the product or showing how it works, you can really turn up the sales.

Once you create the review, you can post it on your Website or Blog, you can add it to your Review Site (I love those), or you can send it to your subscriber list. Even better, add it to all of them. If you really like the product, it will show in your review and there is a GREAT chance that others will like it just as much and purchase the product through your affiliate link.

Once a couple people purchase the product through your affiliate link, it will probably have paid for your original purchase, and then all the rest of the money is profit in your pocket. Not only did the product end up not really costing you anything, you get to use it forever, and you will hopefully keep earning money from the referrals for months and years to come.

Sometimes it Pays to be a Nice Guy

In one of my previous posts I wrote about how you can make money online by saving money on things you buy. Here I want to share a story of how I saved A LOT OF MONEY by just being a nice guy. This has actually happened to me a few times, but this is my favorite one.

This happened a couple of years ago. I had to get a root canal for a tooth that I let go for too long. I was sitting in the dental chair when the Endodontist came in and introduced himself to me. He was a very personable guy and loved to chat. During the entire procedure he talked to me and it was hard for me to answer, because my mouth was held open with clamps and I had a rubber damn in there to keep the stuff from going down my throat. But he kept talking and asking me questions, so I figured it would be impolite not to respond.

Somehow we got on the topic of what I did for a living, and at the time I was making a good percentage of my income with Google Adsense sites. I think at the time I was bringing in about $300 a day pretty consistently just from Adsense. So, during all the drilling and water flushing I was trying to explain to him how I was doing it. I was surprised to see how interested he was in my business, as I knew he made good money at his profession. He explained to me that he did make good money, but he only made money when he was drilling teeth. He said he had always been intrigued by people running Internet businesses, and he would love to have a business that makes him money 24 hours a day.

So, when he was done with my root canal I asked him if he had a few minutes so I could show him the basics of my business. To my surprise he said sure and told his assistant to tell the next patient that he was running a few minutes behind. So we went into his office and got on the Internet and I spent about 30 minutes showing him my Adsense account and the basics of what I was doing. I also gave him my business card and told him if he had any questions to give me a call. That was it!

I then went into the reception area to pay my bill. The girl behind the counter told me it was going to be $795 (which they had quoted me on the phone). I had just pulled my checkbook out to start writing the check when the doctor peeked out from behind the door and said to her, “I’ll take care of that for Mr. Dillard” and thanked me for all the information. My jaw almost hit the floor and I asked him if he was sure, and he said “Absolutely”. So I shook his hand, thanked him, and went on my VERY HAPPY way.

How about you guys… have you ever had anything like this happen to you? If you have or you know someone that has, please let us know in the comments section below. I am sure the rest of our readers would love to hear about it.

Two EASY Ways to Make Money Online

I was reading a post of one of my favorite bloggers the other day and he was writing about how to save money registering domains at Godaddy by searching for online coupons. That made me think about two of my favorite ways to make money online.

Now making money online does not always mean bringing in cash. I believe if you can find a way to save money when purchasing something that you need, you’re actually making money. That’s why they say, “A penny saved, is a penny earned”. So here are two ways that will definitely save you money if you always try and put them to use.

1) Before you purchase anything online, do a search for a discount coupon. MANY online merchants offer discounts all the time on different products they are selling or discounts on entire orders if you purchase at least a certain dollar amount. You will notice that many merchants have a special box at the end of their order process asking if you have a coupon code. That means that there quite possibly is a coupon out there waiting for you to save money. All you have to do is find it.

Just last week I saved money when purchasing some business cards I had printed, and another $20 on my office supplies I ordered from Staples. Now I believe I only saved $5 or so on the business cards, but 5 bucks is 5 bucks. That’s not bad when you consider it only took me about a minute to find the coupon code on Google.

2) The second way to make money online (ok… save money) is to just ASK! This actually works offline even better, but it works on both, as I use this all the time. I owe this great tip to my brother’s ex-Father-in-Law. He was this little old grumpy (and very wealthy) man and everywhere he went, he ALWAYS haggled at the price. He treated every shop merchant, restaurant server or service provider as a garage sale operator, and tried to get a better deal than they were offering. Now it didn’t work all the time, but he told me he saved a TON OF MONEY over the years just asking and that has always stuck with me.

I have used that method many times myself over the years, but not to his extreme. I cannot tell you how much money I have saved, but I am sure if I totaled it up it would considerable as well.  I actually used this method last week as well to save money on some software I wanted that an internet marketer was selling. I remember he had it on sale several weeks before “For a Limited Time” and I missed the cutoff date by at least a couple of weeks. So I sent him a heartfelt email explaining that I really wanted to purchase the product, but at the time he had the sale I just didn’t have the extra money (which was the truth). So I ASKED him if there was anyway I could still get that sale’s price. The next morning I got up and had an email from him saying that he usually does not do this sort of thing, but he would make an exception in my case, but not to let anyone else know he gave me that deal. He then gave me a special link to make the purchase at the discounted price. Now that saved me about $50 and all I did was send a very simple email.

So the lesson here is to try to SAVE MONEY wherever you can and that will keep more money in your pocket! I have couple great stories of how I got some really EXPENSIVE services for free for just being a nice guy, but I will save those for another post.

If you have some money saving tips, please add them to the comments below so our other readers can benefit as well.