Ken McCarthy’s latest article titled “My Top Picks for 2007 – Part One” is reprinted here. [Article]


Ken McCarthy’s latest article is reprinted here.

My Top Picks for 2007 – Part One

In today’s report, I’m going to talk about a monetization method that has the same profile:

– it’s time-proven

– it works like crazy in the right markets

– it is – for all practical purposes – a secret to Internet marketers who are not part of the insiders group.

It’s called Pay-Per-Lead marketing.

http://www.ppladsystem.com/

If you’ve been around the Internet world for any length of time, you may also know it as CPA or cost-per-action. It’s the same thing Just a different name.

How big is the potential here?

I had one colleague in the 1990s who made so much from these kinds of deals that he was able to retire in 2000 before he hit the age of 35.

Done. Finished. Living off interest and doing what he loved.

Yes, there’s that much money in this particular pie.

But before I get into the specifics of how these deals work, I want to tell you a little about the trailblazer who is bringing this little known, but highly lucrative area of Internet marketing to light.

Meet Mike

This year I had the pleasure of getting to know Mike Mograbi.

While his name may not ring a bell for some, everyone knows the publication he launched in 2006:

Internet Marketing News Watch (IMNW)

What a great service IMNW is for people trying to keep up with the ever-changing world of Internet marketing.

If you don’t know Internet Marketing News Watch, google it and take a look.

It’s a news site that’s updated constantly (as in hourly) with news from the Internet marketing and high tech industries. There’s nothing like it in the world and visiting IMNW has become a daily ritual for thousands of marketers including me.

What some people may not know about Mike is that he’s based overseas – in Beruit, Lebanon.

If you followed the international news this year, you know what that means.

If not, here’s a conversation you could have had with him in July…

…………………

You: Hey Mike. How’s business?

Mike: Great! The site keeps growing by leaps and bounds and people really seem to like it.

You: How’s the family?

Mike: Well, at the moment my country is caught in the crossfire of a shoot out between Israel and Hezzbollah.

I drove my family across to Jordan to keep them from getting killed. We considered ourselves very lucky to have arrived in one piece. There are folks who weren’t as lucky.

Otherwise, we’re all fine. How about with you?

…………………

While we were all grilling hamburgers in the backyard this summer, this was, in fact, how Mike spent *his* summer vacation.

And here’s the amazing part…

Through all of this, Mike’s business didn’t skip a beat.

And unless you knew Mike personally, you’d never know any of this was going on in his life.

Talk about grace under pressure!

As we go through 2007 and beyond, we might all remember Mike’s summer vacation next time we think we’re facing “adversity.”

If bombs aren’t falling on your city, things are *probably* not as bad as you think they are 🙂

And if you’re Mike-like, you could find a way to deal with it if they were.

Anyway, if all Mike did was start Internet Marketing News Watch and keep it running during a shooting war that would be a huge contribution to our industry.

But he’s done a lot more – and that’s what this letter is about…

This savvy, gutsy businessman – he has an MBA from the American University in Beruit – has cracked the code on the Pay-Per-Lead business and made it comprehensible – and easy – for the rest of us to join the party.

OK. What the heck is Pay-Per-Lead?

First, Pay-Per-Lead what’s known as a monetization method.

Most of us have pretty straightforward businesses. We buy ads, we convert visitors to prospects and then we convert prospects to buyers.

That’s one form of monetization.

People who sell banner ads, monetize their traffic by selling impressions and that’s called Cost-Per-Impression or CPI.

People who are playing the AdSense game are in the Cost-Per-Click business, or CPC.

Affiliate marketers monetize their traffic by sending visitors to merchant sites and they get paid when their leads turn into sales. Cost-Per-Sale. CPS.

Pay-Per-Lead occupies the sweet spot between affiliate marketing and AdSense.

You get paid – and paid shocking well – not for sales, but simply to get someone to fill out a form!

How big can these check be?

How does $8.00 *per lead* sound?

How does $18.75 – per lead – grab you?

Would you say “no” to $60 per lead?

These are actual industry examples of deals that are currently available right now.

It doesn’t matter whether your visitors buy anything or not. If they fill out a form, you get paid. Period.

You might be wondering how on earth can this be?

How can an advertiser afford to pay commissions when there there is no sale?

It’s simple.

The advertisers has done his math.

He knows to the penny what a completed form – a lead – is worth to him and not only is he glad to pay up, he’s anxious to find you and get you generating leads for him because the more qualified leads he gets, the more money he knows he’ll make.

If have traffic, you might be sitting – right now – on the equivalent of a gold mine.

It’s not uncommon for marketers who “get” Pay-Per-Lead to quickly ad 50%, 100% or even more to their incomes – without adding a single new traffic source.

How many Pay-Per-Lead programs are there?

Hundreds – and they’re in practically every niche you can imagine.

If this is so great, you might be asking, what’s the catch and why haven’t you heard about this before?

Well, Pay-Per-Lead deals have been around practically since the beginning of Internet marketing. There’s no mystery there.

But to actually play this game used to require a ton of research and personal contacts.

There was no guide book.

Pay-Per-Lead really was – and still is – largely an insiders game.

But like I said at the beginning of all this, Mike’s applied that razor sharp, grace-under-pressure mind of his to open this new world up to you.

How’s that for a new year’s present?

Check it out.

By the way, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how affordable he’s made it.

Two big thumbs way up on this one:

http://www.ppladsystem.com

Ken

P.S. 2007 can be your best year ever. Why not?

Best wishes for health, happiness and success for you and all your loved ones in 2007 and beyond.

Ken McCarthy

Ken McCarthy organized and sponsored the first conference ever held on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web. His company Amacord Inc., formerly E-Media, was one of the first Internet-based businesses in the world.

In addition to working with small and mid-sized business clients since 1993, McCarthy was a consultant to NEC’s Biglobe, the largest online service in Japan, from 1996 to 2001. His book The Internet Business Manual was the first book on web entrepreneurship published in that country. He is also credited by Hotwired magazine with being one of the people responsible for the development and popularization of the banner ad, one of the key underpinnings of commercial Internet publishing.

A graduate of Princeton University, McCarthy came to the Internet industry with a varied background which included technical consulting for two of New York’s top investment banks, lecturing on educational psychology at MIT, Columbia, and NYU, and founding and operating a number of small businesses, including one that helped produce an Academy Award winning documentary. Ken McCarthy is associated with the following blogs: Ken McCarthy’s Blog, System Video Blog and Internet Video Marketing Letter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Ken McCarthy for granting permission to reprint the latest articles.

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