Saturday, March 31, 2007

03/31/07 - Your FDA Compliance Notebooks, Affiliate Marketing


VLUeM – 03.31.07 - VITAMIN LAWYER UPDATE e-MEMO

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1. Your SoP & Substantiation Notebooks & FDA Inspections
2. Grow Your Online Affiliation Program!
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1. Your SoP & Substantiation Notebooks & FDA Inspections


I’ve been asked what a Dietary Supplement marketer ought to have available for an FDA visit, in the event of a surprise agency inspection.

Ideally, you ought to have a couple loose leaf note books, (a) one entitled "Standard Operating Procedures Notebook" (or “SoP Notebook”) and (b) the other entitled “Substantiation Notebook.”

(A) The first Notebook should contain your:

(1) Operations Manual/SoPs and Employee Manual
(2) Formula sheets
(3) Label copies (with dates as to when they were in use)
(4) Literature copies (likewise dated)
(5) Copies of your Structure and Function Notices
(6) Insurance Policy binder page
(7) Certificate of Incorporation (or LLC Certificate of Formation)
(8) EIN and Bank Account number information

(B) The second Notebook contains information that substantiates the claims you are making. This Notebook should have a section for each product and each claim for the product, by ingredient.

(1) Abstract pages of scientific journal articles regarding the ingredients
(2) Clinical study reports about the ingredients and combinations of them
(3) Ethnographic reports on traditional uses
(4) Expert opinion letters

If you are ever visited by FDA, for one of their famous "surprise visits" having this stuff together so you can give them a copy would make them very happy.
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2. Grow Your Affiliate Program

The Vitamin Lawyer Consultancy does provide Affiliate Program Rules. Let me know if you want to establish an Affiliation Program.

Besides the right Rules, of course, you need the right software. One good program that I can recommend is the program used by BiomagScience.com for its online biomagnet sales program. It is a two step program, so, typically, you will see two banners from it on Affiliate web sites. One is for retail sales of biomagnets (for which you receive a sales commission), and the other is a “Become a Biomagscience Affiliate” banner, where another web site can join as an Affiliate, and your site earns an override on all retail sales through that site. If you go to the following page, you can see that banner: http://home.earthlink.net/~lifespirit23/support-lifespirit.htm .

But that’s just the start. After you have your web site and your affiliation program, you need to market it! If you do it right, you can expect very significant sales growth!

Here are excerpts from a piece through Add Me Newsletter about being an affiliate marketer.

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www.addme.com
How To Immediately Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Sa'les
By Titus Hoskins

Affiliate marketing is a very competitive field. Savvy affiliate marketers use every tactic they know to get the upper hand over their competition. It can mean the difference of whether or not they get that all important sa'le.

One of the best ways to boost your affiliate sa'les is to take full advantage of brand name recognition. … Popular brand names with popular trendy products sell the best.

If you're an affiliate marketer you must choose the products you promote with the utmost care; in many cases this is where you will determine the outcome of your marketing efforts…

As an affiliate marketer you can promote anything, why not choose the most popular brands and products. Just look for popular trends and join the bandwagon. Sure, the competition might be stiffer but the demand for these products will also be greater.

If you join affiliate networks like Commission Junction [or, for another example, eAffiliatez.com – rf] they will show you the companies with the highest sa'les volume in their system. Study this sa'les data before you pick your affiliate companies or products.

You can even use Google Trends to tell which products are popular and in which countries. Do some market research first and pick the most popular products to promote.

Many marketers keep an eye on their PPC (Pay Per Click) keywords for any surges in searches or impressions. A big jump could mean an increase in popularity for that product or company.

* Be Aware of “The Buzz” Factor …Certain brand names and products have buzz. …

* Can It Only Be Bought Online? … One of my most successful tactics has been to pick products or offers that are only available online. Dell products come quickly to mind. … Online coupons and exclusive deals also increases your affiliate sa'les. Look for these and display them along with your popular brands for they will increase your sa'les. Everybody loves a deal!

* Use Brand Names In Your Site Copy and PPC Advertising … You must always check with your affiliate company what rules they have about displaying brand names and trademarks on your site copy. Most companies will supply their affiliates with web content they can use for promotion.

Most Companies have strict rules prohibiting affiliates from using certain brand name keywords in their PPC advertising. Each company is different, so check before you proceed with any PPC campaigns.

However, one of the most effective ways for PPC advertising is to use the particular brand name and product name in your PPC ads. Savvy affiliate marketers have figured this one out long ago, it mainly has to do with finding the buyer at the right stage in their buying process. If they're looking a particular product ; they may already have their minds made up and are ready to buy…

* A Rose Is A Rose Is A Sa'le! … In conclusion… Keep your eyes peeled for popular trends and shifts in the marketplace so you can adjust your marketing to meet these new demands….

About the Author - The author is a full-time online marketer. For the latest and most effective web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools - http://www.titushoskins.com/ © 2007 Titus Hoskins.

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Well, that’s all for now.

Ralph Fucetola, JD
The Vitamin Lawyer.com Consultancy
http://www.vitaminlawyer.com
All Rights Reserved

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