#but rather just to promote or sell products to an audience

[bad-wolf-circe]

finally watched the barbie movie. guys it's literally just an advertisement. yall hyped up an advertisement. y'all hyped up a 2-hour russian nesting doll of advertisements with surface level feminism that doesn't actually accomplish anything. this is literally just a giant, "edgy-but-self-aware" advertisement. it says alllll the right things, all of the politically correct things, but at the end of the day IT! IS! STILL! AN! AD!!! mattel does NOT care about ur asses and the literal BILLION dollars they made off of this movie only proves that.

[ff7ogzine]

Making a zine?

Consider going ✨ digital first and free/not for profit! ✨

There are so many benefits to this approach:

Eliminates your risk of fraud, embezzlement, tax issues and legal liability (which might be on your mind after the latest scandal)

Reduces scope and logistical complexity while your zine is being produced 

Makes your zine more accessible to readers, contributors, and first-time mods 

Allows you to include whatever content you want without worrying about unfriendly storefront policies (often a concern for NSFW content)

Reduces your zine’s overall timeline to delivery

Allows you to have a nice big simul-launch party

Keeps your zine a community passion project rather than a professional commitment, preserving the spirit of fannish culture

You can still coordinate a print run later, if you want to!

Free + digital first is the strategy we took with Return to the Planet, and everyone on the team feels that it was an excellent decision. Our zine was a success! To give you an idea of our impact:

Our Twitter follower count is about 512, and our zine release has received 444 likes and 289 retweets (a 144% engagement rate), plus 697 impressions to our website, indicating that it has been pretty widely read among the audience we have

Although our zine was completely free, we raised $1300 USD and counting in at-will donations using Tiltify as a charity fundraiser platform – without a mod ever having to handle money or personal information

Even with the digital zine freely available, we still had enough interest to proceed with a print run, and sold 133 copies internationally (which we are now working to fulfill)

I cannot overstate how well this model worked for us! After the cut I’ll go into detail about the logistics and the benefits at each step. If you’re curious about this option, or just want to read about our process, read on!

We chose free + digital first for RTTP because of two constraints on the project:

As an anniversary zine, we had a fixed deadline we were targeting for delivery, which would have given us 7 months total from “hey let’s make a zine” to delivery. A print run was out of the question.

We had a team of first-time mods and wanted to minimize scope, stress and risk by taking money out of the equation

Here's how it turned out.

Timeline

Our mods are spreadsheet-loving workaholics, so YMMV, but the 7 month timeline from inception to delivery turned out to be just right. This broke down to:

1 month interest check and initial planning

1 month contributor applications opened and prep finalized

3 months for contributors to work on their pieces

2 months for zine production and promotion

We saved a significant amount of time that would have gone towards printing and shipping, which could have easily doubled the length of the project. We also had to make fewer decisions and do less research and setup up-front because we didn’t need to make decisions related to costing early on. 

Although we were working towards a fixed deadline we didn’t want to move, choosing a digital release generally affords you better control over your timeline by reducing your dependencies on external factors such as shipping delays and changing import laws.

Contributors and Content

Under normal circumstances, printing or selling your zine comes with contributor and content restrictions. 

The number of contributors a zine has will impact the size and weight of the physical book, which will affect its cost to print and ship. Digital zines simply don’t have this problem, and so our contributor limits were instead dictated by the amount of work our mod team felt willing to handle.

The same physical size constraints tend to cause zines to feature more art than writing because it takes less space per piece. Alternative, fewer writers being accepted with a much more restrictive word count. Because we weren’t worried about the size, we were able to accept many writers with a reasonable word-count, and invite essayists as well as fic authors for content variety.

Our zine was SFW, so we don’t have strong experience here, but going free/not-for-profit will also eliminate issues NSFW zines might encounter with trying to comply with storefront policies.

Charity Campaign

We decided later in the project that although the zine would be free, we should try to raise some money for charity while we were at it. We created digital merch that would be gated behind a minimum charity payment as an incentive. It was very painless to set this up without mods having to handle money directly. We used the charity fundraising platform Tiltify to accept payments on our behalf.

Anyone who contributed to the Tiltify campaign above a certain dollar amount received an email with a link to a Google Drive folder containing all the digital goodies. One could easily use this service to deliver a digital charity zine in the same way without having to manage a storefront. It's an excellent option for not-for-profit mods who want to avoid bookkeeping.

Release

Working toward a specific release date for the zine helped with the sense of community and morale on this project. We were very in control of our own delivery timelines and not beholden to external delays, so building the hype train was fun! Everyone involved got to see their work go out into the world at the same time and share in that sense of achievement.

Contributors also had a pretty minimal publishing embargo on their work, and were able to share their pieces approximately 2 months after the completion deadline, as opposed to having to wait for all shipping and fulfillment to complete.

Print Run

We had always entertained the idea of a limited print run, so we kept the project print-safe from the start, enabling us to do a print-run afte the fact. 

After the zine’s release and a much needed several-month break for our mods, we felt we had the confidence, experience and trust we needed, and we set out to pursue that print run. We were unsure at the outset whether or not anyone would be interested in buying a copy of an already freely accessible zine. Turns out, the interest was definitely there!

We had no trouble at all meeting minimum order thresholds and have been able to move into the production phase. We are still in the process of delivering on our print run, so more reflections to come later, but I think having already delivered on our zine made the process less stressful and created less guesswork for us when it came to working out costs. We knew what our product would be like and we had a pretty good idea about the interest of our audience. This allowed us to stay pretty close to at-cost pricing for the zine.

Minimal Stress and Headaches

Our mod team had two mantras. One of them we repeated to each other whenever things felt overwhelming: “Free digital zine.” Just by removing any money from the equation we lowered the stakes – and therefore the stress – substantially. We were blessedly free of internal problems and drama, but if they had arisen, the “free digital zine” principle also would have helped to protect us, and protect the success of the project.

It also limited the stress on mods to break creating the zine and coordinating the production run into two separate projects. We were able to focus on one thing at a time and make sure that the details were all ironed out to the point that nobody lost any sleep over the project.

In the end, reduced stress + greater accessibility are probably the #1 reasons to pursue free and digital first. If you've made it this far - thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out with any questions. We'd love to see more free digital zines make it out into the world!

[discluded]

Mile's contract being bought out makes more sense than Po renewing (with or without Mile) cause I am sure he has much more lucrative offers waiting for him after his contract is over but I would assume the deal is until the end of 2023 or else why continue to use Po in promotions unless Po actually did renew the contract with a massive increase because he is the face of their top selling product. I am not in the business but I don't understand buying out a contract that was going to end in a few months unless they plan to have Mile promoting it immediately.

so, do you remember this look from the Bento live? this was a $40 uniqlo shirt.

if you love Mile and want to feel close to him in ways a fan might, would you rather buy this $40 uniqlo shirt or a $3000 dior paper bag?

woukd you buy this 299thb ($8.20 USD) sunscreen or spend $40 USD in a lipstick from the brand making him wear weird clothes...

if both were equally available to you, would you buy a 70rmb ($10usd) lipstick or a $40 one? (and weren't insane like me and hoarded lipstick you didn't she cause it smears on the inside of the mask...)

sometimes it's not a about so much the other brand or "devaluing" the influencer's marketpower so much as an opportunity cost for a captive audience. 💁🏻‍♀️

also looking through all that, Mile is definitely still on the taobao store photos and their past IG post was him and October 7

🤔🤔 yeah I didn't even... notice that.

also, four powders. how much setting powder are people buying in Thailand 🤯 I guess their prettiest packaging has been on the powder and most people are collectors they assume?

if Apo does a live with her, I and many other mileapo fans will still watch and cheer him on :) but part of the fun of watching the lives they did together is they always have so much fun doing the silly games with the other

Apo is always polite and people who work with him have nothing but complimentary things to say about him. I don't think there will be the same warmth or rapport with her, but there won't be that either if it's just him doing it solo.

Either way, mosquitos aren't even worth a thought from me. I'll continue to support their work, solo and together.

[bayleafpsa]

I'll probably regret putting this in the tag but here it goes.

Last week I've seen different posts (not all in the tags, which, good) about ultrakill somehow complaining about shipping or fandom being horny and often there's a certain... connotation to it, that it's somehow doing it wrong or even that there's something morally reprehensible about it that is really grinding my gear.

I get it, ok? I like writing meta, I like gen content, I sometimes get weary of finding the same variations of a couple of premises in fanfic and art. But I want you to take some things into account.

One, Tumblr and AO3 are not "the fandom". Tumblr is a niche site with a niche audience and this is a fandom of limited size. Tumblr's Ultrakill tag is not representative of the Ultrakill fandom or even Ultrakill-related content.

And yes, Tumblr's particular audience prioritizes shipping, but that's going to sex shop and complaining they have dildos. You don't have to buy dildos. You don't have to like dildos. But there will be dildos. Lots of them. It's probably one of their best selling products. What did you expect.

In this fandom it's not even as uniform as people represent? I just opened the tag and there are several posts with nothing related to shipping, sex or relationships. I see memes, posts about gameplay, OCs, general drawings of characters, a couple AUs?

Assuming, however, that it was so horribly shipping dominated... Ok, you don't like it. People are engaging with fandom in the way they find fun and rewarding? These people are engaging in their off-time, they have no obligation to have the same priorities. Especially if they are going through the effort to make their own content. I may find "Gabriel's sexual awakening in the Heresy fight" an overused scene now, but if that particular writer wants to take their time to give their take on it it's none of my damn business.

I like metas, but nobody is under the obligation to write them or give a shit about mine. Not one of them has the reach of my dumb "homoerotic death threats" off-joke that somehow is my most popular post ever. Of course they don't. The competition is with a stupid funny post that people can easily reblog. It's almost like there's this idea that if sex/shipping was off the table the game's fandom would become this cerebral thing about high concepts and not memes and easy, digestible content for entertainment. The memes would just be more about carnage than gay sex, y'all.

And please, please, PLEASE remember that something can annoying, aggravating or even repulsive to you without being a moral issue. Hornyposting about a damn fictional robot is not a moral issue. It's not even a question of the fandom being more or less intelectual or focused on what the game is "really about" (as if that's something that could be specified, or that excludes sexuality in Ultrakill's case), since often people providing gen content and non-shipping analysis are the same that make the shippy and porny stuff.

I'm often out there talking about the lack of F/F content in other fandoms I'm part of, or pushing for more gen and analyses, but my intent and method has always been promotion of what I believe is lacking. You can push for something without making it a moral question, or people that have different interests your rhetorical adversaries.

All of this isn't targeted towards one person, but a small pattern I've noticed and I'd rather not see grow into the bizarre discussions I've seen in the past. Take from this reflection what you will. Ultimately, it's fandom, it's a leisure activity, and if nobody is doing anything harmful preference is just preference.

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

PO THINGS

Opening this weekend:

Kung Fu Panda 4--The titular mammal, Po, has been promoted from "Dragon Warrior" to the more exalted status of Spiritual Leader, and is expected to find and train a replacement for his former position. But he'd rather not; he'd like to just keep having butt-kicking adventures on his own.

This entry, set again in a fairy-tale Chinese past inhabited by talking animals, has Po capturing Zhen, a light-footed cutpurse fox. The "Furious Five" of the earlier films is away on assignment, so the imprisoned Zhen talks Po into letting her serve as a guide on a quest to the distant lair of a villainous shape-shifting lizard, The Chameleon. See where this is headed?

This Dreamworks series has been at the less exhausting, more rewarding end of the CGI animated family flick spectrum starting with the original, back in 2008, and continuing with the first two sequels. It's hard to say if it will be sustainable from now on, but this fourth film, at least, keeps the streak going. The story deals in the usual kid-movie platitudes, but the lighting-fast yet precise slapstick sequences are exciting, and rise at times to laugh-out-loud funny even for adults.  

The voice cast in this film, as in the earlier films, is unusually strong too. Jack Black is exuberant as ever as Po, and is joined again by Dustin Hoffman as the red panda master Shifu, Bryan Cranston as Po's biological father and the great James Hong as Po's adoptive father (a goose, you'll recall). Ian McShane returns from the first film as a sinister snow leopard. New cast members include Ke Huy Quan as a pangolin bandit, and the mighty and menacing Viola Davis as The Chameleon. But the showcase new role is Awkwafina as Zhen; she fits the series like a glove.

In another pretty good touch: Tenacious D rousingly covers "Hit Me Baby One More Time" over the credits.

Opening today at Harkins Shea 14:

Pitch People--Back in the late '60s I was fascinated by the Veg-o-Matic, the infamous manual vegetable chopper sold on TV by Ronco; it's one of my earliest consumerist memories. After numerous appeals to my poor Mom, she wearily ordered one, and we quickly learned that it did not significantly improve the efficiency of her kitchen. Decades later my kid, around the age of eight, insisted on ordering a Snackeez, a drinking cup with a compartment for snacks at the top likewise peddled on TV. The speed with which she lost interest in it was ineffably heart-tugging to me; I could hear "The Circle of Life" playing in my head.

This documentary, directed by Stanley Jacobs, is about the people who have sold products of all kinds, with kitchen gadgets a special favorite, by "pitching" them; demonstrating them with a performer's panache. The art goes back thousands of years, no doubt--it's described here as "the second oldest profession"--but this movie's focus is on the American and British practitioners who took it from boardwalks, notably Atlantic City, to state fairs to shopping malls to TV commercials and later, after Reagan-era deregulation, to "infomercials." 

It's a brisk, amusing, revealing chronicle. Strikingly, many of the veterans we meet here are related to each other, members of the Morris family, with connections to the Popeil family behind Ronco (the credits pointedly declare that "RON POPEIL WOULD NOT GRANT AN INTERVIEW FOR THIS FILM"). They gleefully dissect the strategies for separating audience members from their money, but they don't seem contemptuous of them, and we're told that they truly believe in their products. In any case, they show a certain guileless pride in their performing skills. It's as if the entertainment value of their pitches should offset any disappointment in what they're selling.

Along with Arnold and Lester Morris, talking heads here include Ed McMahon, an Atlantic City pitch veteran before his TV stardom, and Wally Nash, a Brit whose effortless old-school pitch of the "hand-hammered wok from the People's Republic of China" I watched countless times on late-TV in DC. Re-watching it on YouTube I was amazed at how much of I could still say along with him; I wanted to buy one every freakin' time I saw it. 

Inevitably the extended footage of performances makes up the strongest passages of Pitch People. It's also hilarious when we see behind-the-scenes footage of an infomercial rehearsal in which the presenters break several demo models of a slicer before realizing that they're using it wrong.

Alas, a number of the pitchers featured here have left us, as this movie was made in 1999. It saw play at festivals back then but was not picked up by a distributor, and actually had to be restored before it could get a proper release, a quarter of a century after it was completed. There's a delicious and stinging irony in the fact that this movie about selling failed, until now, to sell. Maybe it needed a better pitch.

[karigarihakase]

Drive Head and Earth Granner were not flops in Japan

Let me start with a small disclaimer. I’m not writing this because I’m a big Tomica fan and I don’t like seeing their anime slandered. I’m also a big Spider Riders fan and have no problem telling you that it was a flop of epic proportions. I’m also not writing this to slander Shinkalion. I think it’s a great show.

This seems to be an ongoing misconception, mainly outside of Japan though I’ve seen some Japanese fans too that assume this (and usually get shot down right away because this is just not true).

I should start by addressing the elephant in the room, which is Shinkalion, as it’s often the context for this discussion coming up in the first place. Shinkalion was a smash success in Japan. It was the perfect storm. Trains are huge, so a series devoted to them, packed with accurate train facts and detail, was going to be big. The work was targeted at young children, but attracted an audience of older railfans as well. The series had a ton of popular seiyuu, so it attracted older otaku who watch for seiyuu. The series had Google as a sponsor, so it had big money behind it from the getgo. It had collabs with hugely popular properties, including Vocaloid, Evangelion and Godzilla. So yes, it attracted fans of Vocaloid, Evangelion and Godzilla who weren’t going to watch it for any of the other reasons listed above. So yeah, there’s no denying Shinkalion was a big success in Japan. But there’s no denying Frozen was a big success in the west (and Japan, and all over the place.) An argument that Drive Head and Earth Granner weren’t successful because they never reached Shinkalion’s level of popularity is like saying Tangled or Big Hero 6 were flops because they weren’t as big as Frozen. (And to be honest, I’m not in Disney fandom. Maybe there are people that argue that? But if there are, they’re idiots.)

Let’s start by talking about the origin of Drive Head a bit, because it’s rather important for explaining what happened. Drive Head was the first TV anime made to promote the Tomica brand of die-cast cars. It was neither the first Tomica anime, nor their first TV series. But it still was something of an experiment, given the brand has existed since 1970. Drive Head was billed as a co-production between OLM (a.k.a. the Pokemon studio) and XEBEC. But as anyone who takes the time to look through the credits can tell you, OLM had very little actual involvement in it. And XEBEC was on its last days. Drive Head had a dismally low budget, with constant off-model animation and two recap episodes, which is another reason that western anime fans were not impressed. Ignoring the fact that the series was aimed at children in Japan as a vehicle to sell toys, not sakuga fanatics.

And the reason that the creators just didn’t care? Well, besides the fact that it was experimental in ways, and that it was just made to sell toys to pre-schoolers? Because Drive Head was merely designed as a placeholder for Shinkalion while it was in production. Takara Tomy wanted Shinkalion to be big. Drive Head was a throwaway. Even the toys themselves were just retools from the Hyper Series line in the first wave.

But Drive Head was a big surprise to the Takara Tomy execs. Because it was big with its target audience. Now, the target audience of Drive Head is not on social media. They’re not the type pouring out fanart on Pixiv. Probably, they can’t even draw (some of the fan-submitted art on Drive Head News Channel, the live-action variety show it spawned proves this.) They’re pre-schoolers! That being said, Drive Head does have aspects that can appeal to adults (as long as they care about more than sakuga). Yeah, I did write that essay and a million fanfics about the villain/heroine romance straight out of Megamind that probably wasn’t written with the target audience in mind. Drive Head did somehow manage to trend on Twitter whenever new episodes aired. Heck, the series character designer posts fanart on Twitter that often treads NSFW territory and has an audience for it. But, Takara Tomy also doesn’t care about that audience, nor should they. They care about selling toys to kids.

Now, the first wave of Drive Head toys went out of print pretty quickly, when the robots were replaced in-universe by their mid-season upgrades. And the price of Sonic Interceptor, the main character’s first mech spiked up right away. There was still a demand for it. This probably should’ve been the first sign the toyline was doing well. Takara did take notice, and this placeholder show that was originally only planned for 37 episodes (an unusual amount when most kids shows run for 4+ cour) was expanded to have a sequel web series and movie. It has been officially stated from the staff that the series was planned to end at episode 37, and changes did have to be made to expand the plot. It must have been early enough in its run for this to be decided. However, given that the web series was primarily recap episodes (and even the entirely new ones were short episodes) and the movie was about an hour long and didn’t have significantly higher production values than the TV series, they clearly still rushed to get these made. The success of Drive Head was said to be unexpected. Even with the movie, they were still surprised. They had planned for two interactive Drive Gear linked screenings (the Drive Gear being a toy that made certain sounds in response to the show itself). Drive Gears were available for loan at these showings. Not only were these showings sold out so quickly that they set up a few more, but many kids brought their own Drive Gear from home, not needing to borrow one. The movie itself was also shown only in limited theaters, which led to enough complaints that they were forced to expand locations (and it still wasn’t enough). Though the movie wasn’t a box-office topping success and it’s actual revenue remains unknown barring in Korea where it seemed to indeed be a flop, it still proved popular with (once again) its target audience. Two theatres even kept playing it for a couple months after all the rest stopped.

Drive Head has continued to be rebroadcast on satellite networks and various streaming services. It is -still- popular with its target audience. You get posts on Twitter like, ‘my kid loves Drive Head and is asking for the toys, but they’re $200 on Amazon. Help!’ There’s still that much demand for these toys.

Unfortunately for these kids and parents, Drive Head hasn’t seen a single re-issue on the toys since its end, and has barely been acknowledged by Takara Tomy at all. There are a number of reasons for this. One is Shinkalion itself. The show that Drive Head was designed as a placeholder for and that Takara Tomy expected to be successful was so successful that it ended up running for longer than planned as well. It held onto the timeslot on TBS where Drive Head once aired until it was prematurely cancelled itself thanks to TBS wanting that timeslot to promote the ill-fated 2020 Olympics. So while there was talk from reliable sources about a Drive Head season 2 happening, it never got its chance to happen. The next reason is TBS itself. They screwed over all their anime programming, barring late-night fare, and it wasn’t until Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury came out in 2022 that they would even consider daytime anime again. So all of Takara Tomy’s properties jumped ship to TV Tokyo. And Drive Head, unlike Shinkalion, is so intrinsically tied to TBS that the likeness of their headquarters and even some of their staff members are featured in the anime. Though, given that real-Sasagawa no longer works for TBS, and has expressed interest in reprising her role one day, it could be feasible to get her on board if a TV Tokyo sequel ever happened. But for a time, there would definitely be some messy legal hoops involved, and there still could be for all I know. Thirdly, XEBEC. While Drive Head could be given to another studio easily enough (perhaps Studio Mother?), XEBEC is no longer of this world. A sequel under a new studio could lead to a radical staff change which might help or harm it. That and well… time’s passed. The time Shinkalion had the timeslot, Covid screwing with anime production after that… Despite new kids discovering the show through streaming platforms, the original target audience is older now and has moved on. It’s the kind of show that could get a nostalgia sequel 10 years from now but for a direct sequel at this point, that ship has sailed, for better or for worse. Even when Shinkalion got its long-awaited sequel, it was mainly focused on new characters and mecha, with the old cast reduced to cameos. And Takara has been releasing toylines with similar gimmicks and aesthetic, such as the currently-running Jobraver. So for that reason, the coveted re-issue of the Drive Head toys is basically doomed.

But now, Earth Granner. The special anime released to commemorate Tomica’s 50th anniversary. I mentioned above that the Tomica brand was born in 1970, so you do the math. You should see right away why that was an unfortunate year for a big 50th anniversary celebration.

When Earth Granner’s toys first hit the shelves, late April 2020, the biggest of the lockdowns were happening worldwide. While Japan’s lockdowns were not as long lasting or extreme as some countries (barring its extreme embargo on foreign tourism), they did happen, and toy stores were certainly deemed nonessential and were shut down for a brief period. So while yes, you could order the toys online on Amazon or the like, right from the get-go Takara Tomy lost their chance to have kids see the big cool $50 robot toy in the store and beg their parents for one. When it was revealed in a first-quarter sales report that the Earth Granner toys sold less than expected, there was almost gloating from a certain section of Shinkalion fans (-not- the target audience of either show) who were not happy that a new Tomica anime debuted before Shinkalion’s season 2 did. Despite the fact that new Shinkalion toys were still being produced and the brand was still very much alive even without a currently airing anime. This clearly ignoring the global crisis which was quite likely to blame for this new line to not have stellar sales from day one. And note that these low sales were quite temporary. Come December, Earth Granner was -the- hottest toyline for young boys. According to lists of the top Christmas toys, it was outselling both Rider and Sentai. That does not seem like a flop to me.

Earth Granner actually appeared to be a quite ambitious project from Takara. They’d learned from the success Drive Head had and planned all sorts of things for it. This included having tokusatsu-style costumes designed in real life of the two main heroes, who would allegedly appear at events and perform stage shows. But again, this was 2020. There was never one stage show. The costumes were only used for a few special events late into the anime’s run where they had drive-in advance showings of new episodes and Raiga and Kuga would be around to greet the kids though their car windows, assumedly. It’s unknown if there were ever plans to make suits for the remaining three Granners, or exactly what would’ve become of the franchise if it had the chance to be what Takara Tomy clearly wanted from it. But Earth Granner simply ended after its year run without even getting a movie like Drive Head and Shinkalion did, and it’s gimmicky extra-packed Blu-Ray box was canceled, having done poorly on the crowdfunding. Clearly, the show was again not a huge hit with adult fans, perhaps even less-so than Drive Head in Japan which did get a BD release. But the toys were still a top seller that year, despite the circumstances they had to deal with.

Again, Takara Tomy barely acknowledges the franchise anymore, and the toys are out of print. However, it also seems that Takara Tomy is going in a direction of less new anime, given their toys themselves prove to be more successful than the probable cost of the shows that promote them. With Tomica’s current Jobraver line, it’s clearly doing well enough that it’s survived for over a year. Its anime is merely sporadically-released all-CG-animated episodes on Youtube. The other currently airing Takara Tomy works include Go! Go! Vehicle Zoo (2-minute long episodes that air sporadically, and cross-promoting three toylines at once, including Tomica), Bouken Tairiku Ania Kingdom (10-minute episodes, and entirely done in stop-motion), a rebroadcast of Punirines (an all-CG 10-minute-episode anime from last year), Duel Masters (which has been running near-endlessly since 2002), and Beyblade (another long-running franchise which only recently made its return to TV after being relegated to streaming only for a while). Shinkalion may be a special exception due to its massive crossover appeal, but even that has no anime currently, rumors of an upcoming new series aside.

Tldr; Drive Head and Earth Granner did great with their target audience despite being screwed over by outside circumstances. You just don’t hear about them because you don’t chat with too many 4-year-olds in Japan.

[papirouge]

I’m not sure why American evangelicals are obsessed with forcing girls out of schools and making them stay at home. I mean, have they looked at their current selection of males? Porn addicted, abusive, many just plain hate women,

Yet the same evangelical women promoting this are the same that went to college, have a career, their own money and aren’t even married with kids. This has to be a grift. In the Bible they claim to follow, women were business owners. They weren’t banned from schools or told to marry young and forget any career plans.

This whole movement feels like these women are also idolizing men, particularly mediocre men because it shows other women are happier being single. And I guess they wanna be pick mes. I know birth rates are a thing but it seems like Americans would rather kill themselves than look at socialist ideas

I can’t imagine telling girls to stop being lawyers, doctors, artists, etc. For me, I only go to female doctors. No way I’d go to a male obgyn or a male primary doctor. I don’t think the people promoting these ideas have any clear vision for the future they want. They just want to make as much money as possible until they can’t no matter how much harm it causes. Which tells me that they’re possessed by demons of greed

NLOG trad grifter on YouTube are definitely self contradictory because their whole existence on the platform is the definition of girl boss. Straight up developing production companies, LEADING coaching courses, etc.

Real tradfem aren't even online like that. My pet peeve are those "countryside tradfem" selling off their off the grid life when being off the grip is the antithesis of filming vlogs and managing a (successful) YouTube. As someone who's doing both vlogs and YouTube I can tell you it asks A LOT of logistics and all the people claiming to be removed from civilization while consistently updatingare LIARS 🥴

For example, I'm genuinely confused that some people really think Liziqi truly films everything herself and that she's really disconnected from civilization/electricity 💀 Homegirl has a 20" screen Mac in her house, and her videos are movie quality 😭 she DEFINITELY has a whole team!! (btw I need to know whether the rumors the Chinese government seized her channel is true and that's why she hasn't updated since a year 👀)

It's like those hypergamy coach screaming from the rooftop they are hypergamist and how to wife up a millionaire when the actual women who are married to millionaire aren't online and find self professed hypergamist embarrassing lol

but to come back to the subject of YouTube grifters, I find very interesting how these YouTube grifter brand themselves as feminity coach when most of their audience.....is a male💀 It should ring a bell but I guess they're too delusional for that

[coolamramerthings]

Landing Page Copywriting

Introductions

Copywriting is the art of writing for conversion. Your goal is to get people to do what you want them to do, whether that's buying a product, signing up for an email list... or just reading more. But great copywriting isn't limited to ads and landing pages. Any time you're trying to get someone else to do something, it's copywriting! And if you're reading this blog post right now (hi!), then chances are good that you've got some kind of conversion goal in mind -- whether it's getting new customers or simply increasing traffic on your website.

copywriting

Copywriting is a specialized field of writing that focuses on marketing and promotion. Copywriters write the text for advertisements, brochures, websites, sales letters and other marketing materials.

It's important to understand that copywriting isn't just about writing—it involves understanding your audience and what they want from you. Copywriters need to know who they're talking to in order to write effectively. This means taking into account their age group, education level and interests when creating content for them. It also means using language that's appropriate for those demographics (e.g., teenagers don't like being patronized).

Copywriters use persuasive techniques such as storytelling or testimonials in order to convey their message effectively; however, these techniques can be used tastefully so as not to come across as too pushy or obvious (which could turn off potential customers).

Start with headline

The headline is the most important part of your landing page. It must be short, clear and attention-grabbing. The headline should include words that are relevant to the content on your landing page and should have persuasive power.

When writing a headline, ask yourself: "What do I want my audience to think when they read my headline?" As you write your copy, keep in mind that it should sound like something that would appeal directly to them based on their interests or problems (i.e., "I want people who struggle with X to know about my product."). Also remember that headlines are often used as search engine results; therefore, you'll want yours to be specific and somewhat unique so that it stands out from other pages targeting similar audiences.

Understand what your users want

You need to know your audience.

You need to know your business.

You need to know your product.

You need to know your competition, and how they're messaging their customers.

And finally, you need to know what it is that you want people who visit your website or landing page (and eventually, purchase) so badly that it's driving them crazy - enough so that they'll pay money just for the privilege of doing so!

Design for conversion

The first thing you should do when writing copy for your landing page is to follow these design guidelines:

Use white space. White space, or negative space, allows readers to focus on the most important parts of your landing page—the headline and sub-headline. If you fill every inch of a webpage with text and images, it can overwhelm people and make them feel like they don’t know where to look or what’s important.

Use color to guide attention. Color helps identify different sections of your landing page so that readers know how each section differs from another section (and why there are different sections). You want people reading through your copy in order from top to bottom and left to right; this way they will see all the features/benefits of whatever product or service you're selling before making a purchasing decision based on those features/benefits alone rather than relying solely on price comparisons found elsewhere online.

Make sure that each paragraph has its own topic sentence; otherwise, it will be hard for readers who skim instead of reading completely through any given piece without seeing any patterns emerge between topics being addressed.

Use bullet points sparingly (only if necessary) because they make content appear denser which may cause users not to want much detail at all when looking into something new such as this particular niche within such a broader category field where there's plenty available already - keep things simple!

Landing page copywriting

Landing page copywriting is a crucial part of any landing page. It's the first impression you give to your users, and it should be simple, direct and engaging. Landing pages should be written in a way that engages and converts users.

To start with, you'll need to come up with a headline that clearly communicates what your product or service does. Your headline should focus on selling the benefits of the product or service on offer rather than describing what it is. You can then expand on this by describing how it works in each paragraph below (if applicable), mentioning any key features such as price and availability at this point too. Finally, you can end by asking for their contact details if they're interested in learning more about your product or service - this allows you to build up trust by showing them how easy it will be for them to get started using whatever it is that you're offering!

The right words will start a conversation

You don’t have to be a professional copywriter to write effective landing page copy. All you need are the right words. And I mean that literally if your words aren’t right, they won’t make a difference in how well your landing page converts.

Think about what types of words work best for you and your audience. You can use action verbs like “download” or “learn more” to give visitors an idea of what they should do next on the site; these kinds of commands push people forward toward completing their goal for visiting in the first place (e.g., buying). If your product is educational or informational in nature, consider using words that relate directly back to it—for example, if you sell dog toys online then use “playful petting toy!” instead of just “fun toy!” which could apply more generally across many different categories within e-commerce stores but doesn't have any relation specifically back toward whatever product category this particular store falls under (and therefore doesn't provide any additional value beyond simply stating its function).

Start with the headline, understand what your users want, design for conversion and use the right words.

There are some important things to remember when it comes to landing page copywriting:

Start with the headline. A good headline will get people's attention and draw them in, but also make sure that you're targeting the right visitors. You should be able to see what kind of person would find your landing page interesting based on the information you provide in your headline, so make sure that you're directing it toward those people.

Understand what your users want. Your goal may be to get the visitor to click on a link or sign up for a service, but there are other ways that this can happen—for example, if they need help from a product or service and are trying to figure out how much time it'll take them and whether or not they can afford it first before making any decisions about purchasing anything from You as well as making sure that you're actually offering something worthwhile enough for them (a lot easier said than done).

Conclusion

I hope I’ve given you some useful tips to get started with landing page copywriting. Remember, the most important thing is to write for your users, not for search engines or other external factors. You need to know what they want and give it to them!

[sherrysicle]

Fiorucci Vs Diesel Strategy

an excerpt.

Fiorucci

Fiorucci’s marketing reflects their target demographic, who is your average person, and that is to say that it’s not very different or unique from other brands like them.

Fiorucci’s marketing budget seems to be pretty small. In the You Will Be With Us In Paradise documentary the Schaffers were discussing Charli XCX who was attending their launch party, and how they hoped that she would have an impromptu performance as they couldn’t afford to pay her (not online but just to illustrate how they don’t have a huge budget).

They mostly rely on sending PR packages to influencers and seem to be resigned to only working with C-list celebrities. The people they choose to promote the brand range from completely basic to slightly edgy).

This actually might not be a huge problem as it portrays a more relatable image that fits their products. Their clothing is for people who might not want to stand out and are just wearing the clothes casually, and they might not even follow celebrities that closely, especially considering they have older customers as well.

Their visuals represent the brand, they are colourful and fun. The casting is conventionally attractive but ordinary-looking people, the styling is trendy but is very wearable and easy to replicate by the average person.

Their marketing might be more typical compared to Diesel but they show their products well and it is effective in attracting their desired customer.

They are a fast fashion company, so they are in the business of large volumes and big numbers. There is more of a focus on selling rather than building a brand image. Their Instagram constantly pushes products, posting multiple stories of their garments every single day.

Instead of marketing, they focus on making the purchasing process as painless and easy as possible for the customer.

Even though they do not employ any wild marketing strategies or especially unique touchpoints, the modern Fiorucci customer isn’t looking for something radically different, so their strategy fits their target audience.

Diesel

Diesel’s main strategy is focused on elevating its brand image, so they spend a lot of money on marketing and improving its designs, and its marketing is focused more on curating a vibe, an image for consumers to aspire to, rather than pushing products.

Despite spending money and effort on marketing and design they do not put the same amount of thought into their website and it shows. It’s practically impossible to find any items in stock to purchase, with no filtering system to distinguish them. The website is cluttered, disorganized, and feels like a maze. It would be much more beneficial to put more effort into proving their user interface and utilise their budget better.

In spite of having a virtually unusable website, they are able to survive probably through 3rd party retailers like SSENSE and Farfetch. These sites come with a built-in customer base who are already familiar with the interface. SSENSE in particular has a younger audience (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/style/the-sensibility-of-ssense.html), which is very in line with Diesel.

However, it is still more beneficial to make sales through their own website as they don’t have to pay commission, they are able to provide a more unique customer journey and they can get more information like user data and analytics. They could also sell on both their own website (after fixing it) and third-party platforms.

A lot of the hype around the brand has been generated through social media, with fashion commentators gaining thousands of likes singing praises for Glenn Marten’s designs, and everyone and their mother posing for pictures with the viral Diesel logo bag.

However, attitudes have changed after scathing reviews on the quality (or lack thereof) of the clothing. Some people even express that AliExpress knockoffs have better quality than the authentic product (eg. comments of https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8PRvLSJ/). It does not seem to have dramatically impacted the brand so far and there will always be uneducated consumers, but if the problem persists this will likely have a large negative impact on the brand and will hinder them from making more sales.

This is especially detrimental to cultivating brand loyalty. Although Diesel is very popular at the moment, its future is still uncertain and it might not stand the test of time. Diesel is no longer the established and trusted brand it once was, and if they want to rebuild their reputation to move beyond being just a trendy brand they will need to fix issues like quality.

Diesel seems to have a pretty huge marketing budget, being able to hire an in-demand designer and being able to afford to send Kanye 100k worth of clothing (and presumably even more as a marketing fee) for a few pictures. Using celebrity endorsements helps  increase the desirability of the brand. 

They sell to the young, trendy, and fashionable, so their customer cares a lot about how they will appear as a person wearing Diesel. The Diesel customer wants to stand out, they want to be fashion forward. So, Diesel portrays themselves as new and fresh, with innovative and artsy campaigns that captures a unique, youthful spirit. They stand out from other brands.

Diesel’s bread-and-butter is its designs that are at the end of the day done very well, and although marketing is important it’s only as successful as the designs are good.

The brand’s success speaks for itself. Even though their brand experience for enter to extend is not up to par, Diesel proves that in the end, if they can get the customer to buy into the brand and get to the website, they have succeeded.

However, even if Diesel is undoubtedly bigger than Fiorucci, it’s still the worse example because it has potential to be much better with relatively easy-to-fix problems, while Fiorucci, without a big name creative designer or money to burn on marketing, manages to make a lot out of the little they have.

[madhukumarc]

How to engage your [inactive] customers?

Engaging inactive customers can be a challenging task, but it is essential for any business that wants to retain its customer base and increase revenue.

There are several strategies that you can use to re-engage your inactive customers, and the most effective ones are shared below. In fact, these have been proven to produce great results, referring to several case studies.

“The marketing tactics you deploy to engage customers should lead to a positive return. Utilizing channels you own to communicate with your customers is the best way to drive engagement and track success on your terms” - Wunderkind and Retail Dive Report

Top 5 strategies to engage inactive customers:

1. Personalize Your Communication: One of the best ways to engage your inactive customers is to personalize your communication with them. This means tailoring your messages to their interests and preferences, rather than sending out generic messages.

You can do this by segmenting your customer base and sending targeted emails, messages, or offers based on their past purchases or browsing history.

“80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that personalizes experiences but 71% of consumers feel frustrated with impersonal experiences” – Litmus Email [on email personalization]

Image Content Source - Global Consumer Trends, US 2023, Qualtrics

2. Offer Special Promotions: Another way to encourage your inactive customers to come back is by offering them special promotions or discounts. This could include a limited-time offer or a personalized discount code that they can use on their next purchase.

“Communicate value to your customers regularly, via discounts or unique experiences. Regular communication reduces price sensitivity and leads to fewer sales losses” - channable and Marketing Dive [2022]

3. Send Regular Updates: Many customers become inactive simply because they forget about your business or lose interest in what you have to offer. 

To combat this, you can send regular updates to keep them engaged and informed about new products, and services, sharing inspiring content, or any promotions you may have.

“The key is that you must have a nurturing system that lets your audience see who you are and what world you’re working to create (through your business), not just what you sell” - Social Media Marketing Trends 2023 by Social Media Examiner

4. Request Feedback: Customers appreciate feeling valued and heard. By asking your inactive customers for their feedback on why they might have become inactive, you can gain valuable insights that will help you improve your customer engagement strategies.

“Understand how people really feel through more genuine, human listening. People want companies to listen more — and that doesn’t mean just sending more surveys. They want companies to really listen, and that means tapping into omnichannel listening and new tools like video feedback, so you can respond in the right ways” – Qualtrics [Global Consumer Trends 2023, US]

5. Create a Rewards Program: Creating a rewards program that incentivizes customers to stay active is another effective way to engage them. 

Offering exclusive discounts, early access to products or services, or freebies can all be great incentives that keep customers coming back.

“Create a loyalty program that suits your needs. For example, rather than having a free item as the reward, make it a “buy one, get one” to encourage a future visit or offer a discount when they shop with a friend to incent referrals” – American Express and PayPal Survey [Retail Dive Newsletter]

Pro-Tip: It is important to use multiple channels to reach out to your inactive customers, such as email, social media, or even direct mail, to ensure that your message is received and resonates with them. 

Make sure they don't feel spammy. In other words, start with a gentle approach.

In summary, re-engaging inactive customers requires effort, but it is well worth it in the long run as it helps you retain your customer base and also boost revenue.

So, by personalizing your communication, offering special promotions, sending regular updates, requesting feedback, and creating a rewards program, you can effectively re-engage your inactive customers and create a loyal customer base over time.

Here's related information that you may find helpful – Customer Engagement Using AI [Discover 3 major ways you need to know]

[wernher-von-brawny]

One man's quest to understand why a “country band” with 10 million TikTok followers has almost zero presence in “country music”.

It reminds me of when Barbara Walters asked Kim Kardashian what she did for a living, while then-Bruce Jenner looked on and nodded.

The olds were still thinking in terms of selling products and services to customers, while Kim made her living by turning media attention into an audience.

But for her, the audience were not her customers, at least not primarily. They were her product, which she then sold to advertisers.

Towards the end of this video, the essayist wonders aloud why TikTok content is so nonsensical and pointless and cringe. The question reminded me about that Barbara Walters interview, but also about when, a couple or more years back, that question was asked about meme culture.

Did we ever come up with a good answer? I think the philosophers may have come up with something, but I don’t know that the general audience cared.

But my intuition is that “TikTok culture” -- setting aside the popular conspiracy theory that for audiences outside of China, TT deliberately promotes content that warps the brains and values of the young so as to undermine the future competitiveness of other nations, which is frankly such an old strategy in the culture wars between nations that it seems performatively naive to doubt it -- is just the next iteration of a cyclical trend in media I call post-literacy.

Post-Literacy

I first grokked onto this idea when I was pondering how Jimmy Fallon could be so successful as host of The Tonight Show.

When he first got the gig, everybody who knew good TV from bad was just embarrassed for the lad. Particularly those old media folks -- Paul Simon (clearly doing Lorne Michaels a favor) comes to mind -- who would radiate anything from pity and incredulity to discomfort, disdain, and contempt from their seat on the couch.

But somehow, Fallon delivered the ratings. He kept his job. He became a hit. Or "a hit".

How? Why?

I decided it was because he clicked with the actual point and purpose of The Tonight Show: It's not meant to be watched, but rather to be "left on".

Johnny Carson learned this when a movie called Middle Age Crazy came out in 1980.

The film opened on a couple in bed having marital relations, while The Tonight Show was playing in the background. Carson described how seeing that made him realize that many of his viewers simply used his show as “a nightlight for sex”.

You didn't need to speak English to enjoy Carson's Tonight Show. His monologue was never more pleasing to the audience than when the jokes died. His comedy skits were so broad that they functioned more as signifiers of comedy, rather than, y'know, actual jokes.

Carson's Tonight Show was a bright light we all gathered around to feel a sense of community. So even if a joke might not actually be funny, it's supposed to be funny, so go along with it. You don't even really have to pay attention to what's going on, just don't sour grapes the party.

I think this is part of the reason that Letterman and Conan weren't really Tonight Show permanent host material: for their comedy to work, you had to pay attention to setups and punchlines. Also, Letterman could be a bit smug and abrasive and Conan a bit effete and elitist.

But a guy like Leno? He waggled his head, did the funny voice, and whether you were paying attention or not, you got the message: the affable host of the party just said a funny, so laugh along.

And Fallon also fills this same Johnny Bravo jacket.

He's SO enthusiastic and happy to be there, and he laughs SO HARD at his own jokes that you don't have to pay attention to the show. He's cute and friendly and almost violently inoffensive, and he'll double over in convulsions to let you know that you’re having a good time.

You don't need to listen close, or follow along, or even understand the language to enjoy the proceedings.

And you'll never feel like you're too dumb to "get" a joke, because the point isn't the joke, but the communal experience of laughing together.

Which, to my mind at least, is a key ingredient of TikTok, and of the massive international popularity of content that is -- outside of China, at least -- unfailingly silly, stupid, or pointless.

The pointlessness is kinda the point.

Call it post-literacy, post-meaning, or post-content. (ba-dum ching!)

You don’t need to think about it or understand it or seek reason or rational sense in it.

It's post- “the gatekeepers of acceptable media”. It's post-reality TV, where anybody, anywhere can be famous if they are outrageous enough.

You’re just meant to enjoy it for seven seconds and move on to the next one. It’s a world party, and we’re just here for a good time. Chug, chug, chug!

If we accept that “the Medium is the Message”, then I'll leave it to you to ponder on what message a medium consisting of millions and millions of seven-second videos -- many or most showcasing “wacky hijinks” -- is sending.

It is here, it is now, and it is the intermediate step between itself and the more extreme next thing which will elevate, accelerate, or exacerbate whatever effect TikTok is having/will have on us.

Like Rat Pack-era Sammy Davis Jr., baby!

But in the here and now, being Wacky™ and attractive and colorful and laughing, laughing, laughing is a business plan. And if it please the court, I present as evidence the subjects -- or are they objects? -- of the above video: the redheaded triplets known as Taylor Red.

They may have named themselves Taylor to capture some of you-know-who's reflected radiance, but these girls are not a band. Not any longer.

Like the Kardashians, they bypassed the intermediate step of achievement/accomplishment and went straight to celebrity -- although they kinda/sorta bypassed the "celebrity" part too, didn't they? -- and became a brand.

They are in the business of turning eyeballs into audience, and then selling that audience to advertisers.

World-Wide

The dude in the video wonders why Indonesia is their biggest audience.

Well, setting aside that there's probably some link farm-esque purchasing of likes and subscribes, one can easily imaging that three redhead triplets wearing tight costumes and jumping on balloons ticks a lot of boxes.

Language barrier, gone. Context, irrelevant. And as everyone from Florenz Ziegfeld to Hugh Hefner knew, figure out a way to commodify cute American girls laughing and having fun, and you're practically printing money -- world-wide.

A researched piece like this video getting 1-2 million views is something like a $1-2k YouTube payout. The dude suggests that the girls are likely pulling in $250k/mo just from TikTok.

From what I’ve heard about how TikTok pays creators, I find this number kinda sus, but hey, it’s not like I actually know enough to refute it.

I suppose it's just a matter of time before Jimmy Fallon invites them to appear of the Tonight Show.

Maybe they'll discuss Post-Literacy, perhaps citing Marshall McLuhan or, IDK, Bertrand Russell.

Or maybe they'll all just jump on balloons, because frankly, that's just better content.

Or should I say, "content".

[sabezyhaina]

8 WAYS TO START PROMOTING YOUR AFFILIATE LINKS

To boost your affiliate sales, you don’t need to be a marketing or internet whiz. In the end, it’s the little things that can boost your income.

Whether you’re a total newbie or an internet-savvy person, affiliate marketing is the best method to generate money online. It can provide a ton of passive revenue, is scalable, and is easily accessible.

If you want to boost your affiliate sales and income, consider changing the following three factors:

The Footfall

The Levels of Conversion

Commissions Paid On Each Sale

You can definitely raise your affiliate income by boosting one or more of the aforementioned elements. Because more people will see your affiliate offer if your traffic doubles, your sales will most likely double as well. The majority of affiliates boost their earnings with this strategy. You can increase sales while maintaining the same level of traffic by boosting the conversion rate. Even if, as an affiliate, you have no influence over the sales page, there are still a number of strategies to boost conversions, one of which is by employing a bridge funnel. Simply increasing your share of each transaction is the third strategy to boost your affiliate income. Once the applied strategies start delivering the desired results, you can re-evaluate and request a reasonable increase in your per-sale commission. You can see that there are a variety of techniques to raise your affiliate income. Your income is actually determined by the three aforementioned variables. You’ll learn how to improve affiliate earnings and sales in any niche in this post. Any affiliate marketer can use any of the advice listed below. Let’s get started right this moment:

The Best Ways to Boost Affiliate Sales in Just about any Niche

You’ll find 8 practical suggestions below that other affiliates have utilized to boost their earnings in every niche they’ve worked in. The following steps ought to be taken if you wish to increase your affiliate earnings:

1. Find your safe zone:

Finding your safe zone is the first piece of advice for growing your affiliate marketing sales. 99% of affiliates neglect this step, even though it is incredibly easy. You would want to establish your own safe haven rather than compete with big affiliates and sizable businesses. Simply said, a safe zone is a portion of your niche where there is little to no competition.

2. Advertise the top products:

You can find products to market in any niche through an E-commerce affiliate program. You have everything you require in one spot, which is a terrific thing. You commission out of each sale you generate as an affiliate for an e-commerce site. You’ve struck gold if you can locate an affiliate network that offers fair commissions. The relevant products must be promoted at the appropriate moment. Since the majority of people you encounter will not buy, you do not need to sell to everybody you encounter. Therefore, make sure your pitch for a product is sensible and logical before you present it to your audience.

3. Implement a bridge funnel:

Too often, affiliates direct their visitors to the sales page. Create a bridge funnel, also known as an in-between. It is the best way to boost your conversion rates. A bridge funnel is utilized to pre-frame the product you really want to sell or to connect two disparate but connected ideas for the customer. This is especially useful for network marketers or affiliates who have little control over the pages they send potential customers to when they’re ready to sign up. You can presell them on the pre-frame bridge page prior to sending them to the sales page. More money has been made by affiliate marketers using this idea than any other idea.

4. Establish an Email List:

Utilizing a bridge funnel for affiliate marketing also gives you the opportunity to gather email addresses. Every single affiliate marketer should use email marketing. Once set up, it doesn’t require a large portion of your money or time but can significantly boost your income. Your own audience expands and you have more options to promote your affiliate products as you establish an email list. You may use auto-responders to boost this process and generate income faster.

5. Gain More Visitors:

Your sales will increase by twofold if your traffic doubles. All virtual businesses must follow these rules. One cannot conduct business online without traffic. Since one of the few tasks we have as affiliate marketers is to generate traffic, we should get quite excellent at it. When you first started in the business, you must have directed some traffic toward your affiliate products. You could boost your income if you could double that traffic along with the quality!

6. Take after other profitable affiliates in your niche:

You may have already heard this, but affiliate marketing doesn’t need you to start from scratch. Investigate what other prosperous affiliates in your niche do, and then adopt their tactics.

The best advice we can give you to boost your affiliate revenue is that you must learn from someone who has achieved the goal you are pursuing. Look up successful affiliates in your niche on YouTube or Google. Then start taking in how they are doing it. This is significant since every niche uses affiliate marketing in a different way.

7. Make content that is pertinent towards your affiliate product:

It’s time to start developing content now that your system is set up, with a bridge funnel, email autoresponder, and the correct traffic in mind. You see, the money will come when you provide valuable content and add value for your audience. The best course of action would be to focus on producing stuff for search engines such as Google or YouTube since that is where the majority of users are online. However, it may be based on your particular niche. After deciding on a platform for your content creation, you must get started on it.

When writing an article or producing videos, concentrate on developing content surrounding your affiliate product. Make evaluations, analyses, comparisons, lectures, etc.

8. Add call-to-action:

It’s crucial to integrate Calls-to-Actions once your marketing campaigns begin to take off!

Because you provide your traffic with clear instructions when you have a strong call to action, you have the potential to enhance your affiliate sales. Unbelievable as it may seem, people want you to direct them. Make sure your content has numerous call-to-actions since you never know when readers will decide to take action.

LAST THOUGHTS

Your visitors and conversion rate need to change if you want to raise your affiliate marketing revenue. You’ll start to make more money as an affiliate if you raise even one of those factors. This is why:

More individuals will visit your product sales page as your traffic grows. Consequently, you have more chances to make sales.

Without expanding your visitors, you might earn more money when you boost the conversion rate.

Nowadays there are many affiliate marketing programs and this can cause a lot of issues. Just for your benefit, we are giving you a list of the 5 best affiliate programs.

Amazon Associates

Flipkart Affiliate

Sabezy Affiliate

Reseller Club

ClickBank

These are good platforms to start affiliate marketing for beginners and experts. Do check the above-mentioned list of affiliate marketing websites.

Hopefully, this post was beneficial to you; if it was, be sure to put what you learned into practice. Keep in mind that all of the advice we provided above is applicable to a variety of niches.

Start your affiliate marketing journey today with all the advice above and many more brought to life with the Sabezy Affiliate Program. It is totally free and enables members to earn revenue by sharing affiliate links with their friends, family, colleagues and even on social media. The standard commission rate is currently 15%.

Keep Sharing | Keep Earing

This article was originally published on Sabezy.

[askyourgirls]

How to Find the Right Solutions for All Your Skin Care Needs Online?

There may be a lot of things that you need and can find solutions to online. The trend of looking online for all sorts of solutions is not a new one but the way in which people now look for solutions online has not changed. More and more women are exploring ways to sell their products and run businesses off the web and the main target audiences of these women entrepreneurs are also women. A major reason for such a shift in trends is that women understand the needs of women the most and that is why the Best Women Entrepreneurs seek to sell their products online to other women.

Among a lot of online shopping trends, it is seen that a lot of women seek to buy the best and the most trusted skin care products off the web. If you find yourself one among the people that need to get products for skin care online, you need to make sure that you buy them from women entrepreneurs. There are a lot of benefit of buying your skin care range of products from women online, which when you understand, you can use to your benefit as well. Here are a couple of important reasons why you need to get your Skin care products from women entrepreneurs online:

They understand the female skin:

When you buy from women as another woman, you can be sure about the seller understanding your exact needs. Women’s bodies work in different ways and are very unique from men’s bodies, which is why it is important that you are able to get skin care products that are promoted by women on the web. The best platforms help you find women that can be trusted with their skin care products.

The understand the unique skin issues:

There may be a lot of skin issues that are particular to women and only women can truly understand how to deal with them. There may be solutions that the Best Women Entrepreneurs can give to the other members of their gender, which is something that you can choose to trust. These solutions could work better than some major brand offering you generic solutions for problems that thy may or may not be able to truly understand or even relate with.

They create the products with emotion:

The women that are out there to give you solutions for your skin problems do it because they want to really help you get rid of your issues. They do it with emotion and love, which are ingredients that are important in helping you get the best respite when you are dealing with something that is in your skin. You can be sure about connecting closely with the products and their sellers effectively.

These are some of the reasons why you need to make sure that you choose to get your skin care solutions from women entrepreneurs at platforms like AskYourGirls, rather than getting them from just about anywhere else.

[fiestavalery00]

Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your own website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short reports related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset to you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest time.

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Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your won website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.

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An in-depth look at the iconic luxury brand Chrome Hearts

introductory Chrome Hearts are probably familiar to you if you enjoy luxury with a little rock 'n' roll. Renowned for its distinct fusion of punk and gothic style, this brand is well-known in the upscale fashion industry. But what really is The Chrome Hearts Sweatshirts, and how did the fashion world come to regard it so highly? Let's get started.

Chrome Hearts' Inception Richard Stark: The Creative Mind Behind the Name Richard Stark launched Chrome Hearts sweatshirts in 1988. He had a distinct idea for a company that would combine luxury and a sense of rebellion. Stark, who had a background in leatherwork, recognized a need in the market for well-made, handcrafted goods with a distinct rock 'n' roll aesthetic.

Early Decades and Design Concepts Initially, Chrome Hearts was a tiny business that sold leather riding apparel. Fashion-forward consumers were immediately drawn to the brand because of its unique style, and soon jewelry, clothes, and accessories were added to their inventory.

Chrome Hearts' Distinctive Look: A Mix of Gothic and Rock Chrome Hearts' designs are blatantly influenced by rock 'n' roll culture and gothic architecture. The brand frequently uses daggers, fleur-de-lis, and crosses as motifs, which give their clothing an edgy, gloomy vibe.

Famous Brands and Designs Jewelry Perhaps Chrome Hearts' most well-known product is its jewelry. Their jewelry is opulent and flamboyant, with items ranging from striking necklaces and earrings to exquisitely crafted bracelets and rings.

The apparel collection from Chrome Hearts is equally amazing; it includes everything from denim and high-end leather jackets to graphic tees and hoodies. The same care and quality that goes into creating their jewelry is also applied to every item.

Extras Along with a vast array of accessories, the business also sells handbags, home design products, and eyeglasses. The gothic themes and premium materials that characterize the brand are frequently present in these works.

Star-Powered Promotions Stars Dedicated to Chrome Hearts Celebrities who wear Chrome Hearts include Rihanna, Kanye West, and the Kardashian family. The brand has a large popularity among these people. Its fame has largely been attributed to this famous endorsement.

The Brand's Growth Through Celebrity Culture A domino effect occurs when celebrities are spotted wearing Chrome Hearts, making the brand extremely appealing to both fashionistas and fans. For any luxury company, this kind of exposure is priceless.

The Flagship Stores for Global Expansion Worldwide Major global cities like Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, and Paris are home to Chrome Hearts flagship stores. These shops are immersive experiences that showcase the distinct look of the company rather than just being somewhere to shop.

Internet Awareness and Online Sales Apart from its physical storefronts, Chrome Hearts has a robust online presence, featuring a website that provides global followers with e-commerce choices. The brand is now more approachable to a worldwide audience thanks to its digital expansion.

The Brand's Power to Shape Fashion Trends In the world of fashion, Chrome Hearts sets trends. Many other businesses and designers have been motivated to push the boundaries of traditional fashion with its daring and unique creations.

Motivating Further Designers A new generation of designers has been encouraged to experiment with gothic and rock-influenced aspects in their own collections by the brand's distinctive style.

Issues and Disputations Trademark disputes and court cases Chrome Hearts has been involved in several difficulties, such as trademark lawsuits, similar to many well-known firms. These difficulties have put the brand's tenacity and dedication to preserving its distinctive identity to the test.

rivalry in the market Being at the forefront of the fiercely competitive premium fashion market requires Chrome Hearts to continuously innovate. The brand has succeeded in keeping its place as the industry leader in spite of these obstacles.

How to Wear Chrome Hearts Every Day: Pieces from Chrome Hearts are sufficiently adaptable to be worn daily. For a touch of luxury, wear their jewelry with casual attire; alternatively, go casual with their graphic tees and hoodies for a chic yet relaxed vibe.

Particular Occasions Chrome Hearts provides more ornate items that can make a big impression for special events. Their fine apparel and elaborately crafted jewelry are ideal for leaving a lasting impression.