Here is a global micro business musical business ideas make sense because Ecuador loves music.

and dance

of all types

sizes

shapes

and forms

A subscriber who lives in Quito recently sent this Ecuador Musical Business idea.

“Gary, Saw something on Sunday Morning TV which thought I would mention. Interview with Dan Stoper, CEO of Putumayo World Music. As you probably know they record ethnic music from all over the world and do very well.

Dan mentioned he got his start from a trip to Columbia many years ago. Opened up one tiny store in NYC selling handicrafts from Columbia and then later had 6 stores Got tired of music he was hearing in his stores and tried out bringing some ethnic stuff in. Clients loved it and his new branch of business was born. Just thought it was an interesting development which fits in with your courses as one gets into one line and other things develop from it. All for now, Peter”

Putumayo has done well specializing in folk, Latin and Afro-Cuban music, as well as other genres that may be classified as world music. They began in 1993 starting as a clothing company. founded by Dan Storper in 1975 and sold in 1997 they have built a range of distributors that includes more than 3500 book, gift, clothing, coffee and other specialty retailers in the US and thousands more internationally that play and sell its CDs, in addition to maintaining a strong presence in record stores.

This shows how one simple idea can be expensed into a global business.

Your own global business lifestyle can bring you wealth, adventure, fun and fulfillment. Merri and I know because we have lived such a life for decades. This is why we do as much as we can to help our readers enjoy this type of lifestyle as well.

For example we have been providing a free course on how to have your own internet business written by Michelle Toole.

Here is her 29th lesson showing how to enhance income from your site through affiliate programs.

Best Way to Evaluate Affiliate Programs

By Michelle Toole

Are you looking to add affiliates/partners to your web site but are not sure what affiliate products you should have on your site? Having affiliate products or links on your site can be extremely lucrative if done right! But make sure any affiliate programs that you add to your site pass ‘muster’ before you create a partnership that may impact your reputation.

Keep in mind not all affiliate programs or affiliate products are created equal and it’s your job to make sure you are engaging in a business relationship that will benefit both your readers and you.

Finding a quality affiliate program is easy if you know what to look for……

• High quality product or service — remember, it’s your reputation that is on the line. Don’t recommend products that UNDERdeliver.

• Merchant has a good site that sells effectively.

• Ability for affiliate to link straight to individual products, rather than just to the home page. (If the visitor has to find the product that you recommend, your Conversion Rate plummets.)

• Type of payment model — Pay-per-sale and pay-per-lead are good.

• Affiliate Support…

o Accurate, reliable real-time online accounting, preferably with some kind of ability to “audit” by spot-checking
o Detailed traffic and linking stats
o Notification by e-mail when a sale is made
o Useful marketing assistance, provides traffic-building and sales-getting tools
o High-quality newsletter that educates, trains, and accounts for amounts earned
o Professional marketing materials available
o Affiliates receive discount on products
o Great affiliate support is important for a “between the lines” reason, too. It indicates a high degree of commitment to the program and its affiliates.

• Pays good commission — hard goods have lower margins than digital ones. So their commissions will be lower. Still, you should make at least 10% (hard good) or 20% (digital good) on any product that you recommend.

• Must be free (no charge) to join, no need to buy the product.

• Lifetime commission — if the program pays a commission on future sales of other products to customers that you refer, this is a huge plus.

• Two-tier commission — if the program pays a commission on affiliates who join because of you, this is also great.

• Lifetime cookie — do you receive a commission if the person you referred returns and buys within one month? Three months? The cookie that tracks this should not expire. This policy should also be backed by database-matching — that way a merchant can still identify a customer should the cookie be deleted — heck, the company can even re-write the cookie in that case. A true lifetime cookie.

• Restriction on number of affiliates — you won’t find many of these, but if you do find one, grab it.

• Monthly payment, with reasonable minimum.

Do all those recommendations have to be present for you to consider a particular product? No, but the more, the merrier.

Bottom line…

Don’t put questionable affiliate programs on your site, it’s just not worth your reputation! When your visitors are rewarded repeatedly by your rich recommendations they will keep coming back for more!

Quality Content + Quality Products = Happy Readers
……and of course a profitable business!

Look for my future articles and tips where we discuss monetization options, search engine optimization, incoming links, additional e-zine techniques, link exchange programs and much more…..

You can check out Michelle’s web site at http://healthy-holistic-living.com. To get more great tips, like the ones above and to see how and what tools she used to create a successful on-line business go to http://sitesell-sbi.com

Whether your passion is music, art, or whatever, your own business can help you live it and support your lifestyle.

Cotacachi by the way calls itself the Canton of Music. Here is a sign in the village square.

Join us at a course in Cotacachi.

July Special Save $299

We’ll visit the Otavalo markets.

Courses are centered around this open air courtyard in our colonial Inn Land of the Sun (formerly Meson de las Flores).

You are also invited to tag along to the beach where we visit all types of Ecuador beach property for sale. Here is one of our previous tours enjoying the beach.

Better still join us all year round in Ecuador, the Blue Ridge and Florida.