Adv Mktg with RAP

If you're like the average RAP customer, you'll study the RAP User's Guide for a while and conclude that while RAP has some terrific features, in other respects it's fairly limited. I mean, right out of the box, the models V3.0.2 supports include (V3.0.3 has even more!):

Of particular note, there are lots of options, meaning they're supported but not required in every situation:

In fact, there's not much about any given RAP site that is required. This can be incredibly perplexing to people who think RAP is only good for throwing up a quick sales page and making sales. Worse, just as you think you've figured out what RAP can handle directly, you're very likely to run smack into something that it looks like it won't support. For example, what if you're looking for solutions like these:

Yes, believe it or not, RAP can handle ALL of these situations, and more! It just takes some lateral thinking and an occasional snippet of code to accomplish them.

They're all discussed in detail in my new eBook, "Advanced Marketing Solutions With Rapid Action Profits".

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.0 GETTING STARTED

1.0.1 Planning your site
1.0.2 Installing RAP
1.0.3 Configuring RAP
1.0.4 Creating One Or More Product Definitions
1.0.5 Structuring Your Site
1.0.6 Embellishing Your Site
1.0.7 Inviting Affiliates and/or JV Partners
1.0.8 Traffic Issues
1.0.8.1 Affiliate Redirects
1.0.8.2 What about your own redirects?
1.1 Planning your site
1.1.1 What more does RAP offer?
1.2 Embellishing Your Site
1.2.1 How RAP Works
1.2.2 RAP Template Files
1.2.3. WYSIWYG Editing Challenges
1.2.3.1. Template Variables
1.2.3.2. Image Locations

2.0 MULTI-PRODUCT AND PRODUCT-UPGRADE OPTIONS

3.0 PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL SALES OPTIONS

4.0 MAGICAL AFFILIATE LINKS

5.0 REPLICATING WEB SITES

6.0. BASIC SALES MODELS
CONCLUSION

Here is the Introduction chapter so you can get a feeling for my writing and what's discussed.

INTRODUCTION

This ebook evolved from a short report that explained how I addressed a specific problem for a client using the Rapid Action Profits (RAP) sales script. This problem required an innovative solution for handling affiliate sales that seemed like it should be possible, although it was anything but obvious.

I figured it out and documented it so others could benefit from it. Then I started to get questions from readers asking, “Will it work thisaway” or with some different criteria, products, or assumptions. After a while, a whole new set of patterns began to emerge in my thinking about how to configure RAP to deal with different situations.

So I decided to expand that initial report to encompass the larger patterns now obvious to me. In the process, I hope that they’ll help you configure a web site that can best fit your particular needs.

I cover some basics just to be sure everybody is on the same page, such as installation.

In case you might be wondering, this is not intended to replace or even have much overlap with the RAP User’s Guide. Here’s an analogy:

Consider buying a bicycle. There’s a User’s Manual you get with your bicycle. It talks about setting it up, caring for it, and it may even have a few basic suggestions on what to do with it. But if you think about some of the applications where you could use a bike, you’ll end up with quite a list. Here are some I thought up in just a few minutes:

Riding for fun
Riding for exercise
Commuting to work or school
Around-the-block vs. across town
Cross-country rides
Racing – on asphalt
Racing – on dirt paths
Racing – in forested areas
Riding in moist, humid, and rainy environments
Riding in snow
Riding in summer heat
Motocross-style riding

You can probably double the size of this list without much trouble. The thing to notice is that you’ll never find a “User’s Manual” that comes with a bicycle that covers all of these topics. Yet any given bicycle rider is virtually guaranteed to be interested and/or involved in two or more of these particular applications – that is, how they use their bike.

Now, think of a script like RAP in this manner. RAP is a script that falls within an ill-defined category of products that can be roughly described as “shopping carts”. It has the following properties:

Single sales page
Opt-in form (optional)
Buy-now button(s)
Integrated payment processing
Various options for up-sells, down-sells, and cross-sales
Direct and immediate protected fulfillment of a digital downloadable product
Support for affiliates and immediate affiliate payments
Tell-A-Friend forms
Direct support of multiple products on the same domain

It also supports four independent ways of allocating payments:

Affiliate commission rates
JV Partner commission rates
Support for both 1-tier and 2-tier commissions (separate rates)
Equity Partners (up to two)

And there’s even a “wild-card” function in it: Shared Affiliates

All of these different options are like buying a bicycle that comes with 47 different accessories to adapt it for any imaginable situation and environment. But, sadly, the RAP User’s Guide merely discusses what these features are, how they work, and any rules that apply to them. It gives little information on HOW TO USE THEM – that is, how they fit into a bigger picture. How to apply RAP is left up to you.

I’ve written this book to begin to address this larger issue, and I’ll expand it as RAP evolves and more application patterns turn up.

Most of what’s covered in here requires that you set various options in a specific way. If you’re not sure what the options are or where they’re found, please refer to the RAP User’s Guide.

I’ll include small screen snapshots here and there, but it’ll work best if you learn your way around the rap_admin pages. If I’m teaching you to drive in your car and I say “slow down”, it doesn’t work very well if you need me to explain what the brake pedal is, where it’s located, which foot to use, and how to apply pressure, every time I want you to slow down. Similarly, when I say something like “add a product to your RAP site”, I’m not going to go through the litany of things needed to do that. I’ll just refer to specific settings that you need to set one way or another. The rest will rely on you knowing, for example, how to find and manipulate the brake pedal when I say “Slow down!”

So make sure your copy of the RAP User's Guide is handy; that RAP is installed on a site that you can play with it a bit; and get ready to start learning how to RAP outside the box!