Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Wordtracker Releases New Tool- SEO Blogger
Wordtracker's new, free Firefox extension - "SEO Blogger" helps you to optimize the keywords in your blog posts.
"With the click of a button you get a mini version of Wordtracker's keyword research tool right in your browser window." So while you're putting together your post you can do your research all within the same window.
Download it and take her for a spin at
http://labs.wordtracker.com/seo-blogger/
Sunday, June 21, 2009
"How to Outsource Your Traffic Generation- Free Audio"
Willie Crawford is a successful Internet Marketer. He's been working the net for years and walks the talk. He's always willing to share what he knows with others. He's a helpful kind of guy.
In this 30 minute audio you can download for free "How To Outsource Your Traffic Generation For Free" Willie explains how to build a whole army of people who will send you tons of traffic and new ezine subscribers. Like I said Willie is one of the "good guys" online and if you subscribe to his mailing lists you can really learn a lot about online marketing. I know I have over the years.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Google Content Network
"This video explains how the Google Content Network works for advertisers who want to be able to target customers when they browse beyond search."
Sunday, June 14, 2009
“Contextual Ads & Your Website: Options Please”
When it comes to making money with a website, one of the most popular methods is running text and/or image ads on various pages. It's referred to as contextual advertising and “inline 
Probably the largest and most used of the contextual ad programs is Google's Adsense. Google really is a giant when it comes to the Internet, and their talents go far beyond just being a search engine. Adsense is used by many site owners to bring in a monthly income.
If you're interested in running Adsense ads, first you'll need to apply and get approved. Once approved for one site, you can place Adsense on any other site that you own. You can decide to run only text ads or choose from image and text. Various sizes are offered, and you can custom select colors to match the look of your site.Once the code is generated, you paste it on your HTML pages where you want the ads to appear. Simple & easy.
But what happens if you're not approved by Google, or for some reason your Adsense account were to be terminated? What would you do then? There are other ad network options out there and I've gathered some of the best alternatives together here.
Before signing up for any ad program, make sure you read their terms of service and any requirements to make sure it's a good fit for your website. Also, review the payment options so you'll know how and when you can expect to be paid. Let's review:
1) Text-Link-Ads.com: http://www.text-link-ads.com/
Once your site is approved, you insert the code on your
page and they sell simple text ads that appear on
your site. You have final say over any ads being
published. Payments are made via Paypal or Clickbank.
You receive 50% of the sale price for each link they
serve up. This ad network is acceptable to be run
on the same page as Google Adsense as this is not
considered contextual advertising.
2) Adbrite: http://www.adbrite.com/
A variety of ad formats to choose from. You can run
text ads, banners, inline ads or even full page ads.
You can choose to approve or reject ads before they
appear on your site. Pays monthly with the default
minimum check amount of $100.00. Once your site
is approved, ads will appear within 24 hours of your
pasting the code. Adbrite has no policy against using
other ad networks on your site at the same time.
3) Kontera: http://www.kontera.com/
Contextually relevant ads and ad units which are
linked to keywords on your web page. Ads displayed
will match the content of your site. For your website
to be approved it must be in English, be content rich
with more than 50 words per page. You can run text,
image, billboard, and video ads.
4) Quigo.com: http://www.quigo.com/publishers.html
Quigo offers content-targeted advertising to those with
strong traffic. Publishers with 500,000 or more monthly
page views are encouraged to apply. Once approved,
simply copy and paste the code.
5) Yahoo Publisher Network: http://publisher.yahoo.com/
Works very similar to Google's Adsense program. You design
your own ads, choosing colors and formats, then paste
some code on your page. You'll be paid per click. Advanced
ad targeting and display capabilities can sometimes improve
your results. You can choose to be paid via Paypal once
your earnings are $50.00, or a check when you hit $100.00.
6) Chitika.com: http://chitika.com/
A full service online ad network which serves over two
billion monthly impressions across more than 30,000
websites. Chitika ads are not contextual and can be
run on the same page as Adsense. Twenty-four different
ad sizes are available. Payment is via Paypal once your
account is at $10.00, or a check when you reach $50.00.
7) Miva: http://tinyurl.com/oha28n
Miva offers a wide variety of ad formats to choose from:
content ads, inline ads, search ads. You'll be paid on a
per click basis. Payments are made monthly by check
or Paypal once your balance reaches $25.00. You can
also block competitor ads from appearing on your site.
8) AffiliatesGarage.com: http://www.affiliatesgarage.com/
A different type of ad network which allows you to display
affiliate ads in an "Adsense Style". You can run Clickbank
and Paydotcom text ads on your site or blog and earn up
to 75% commission.
9) Bidvertiser.com: http://www.bidvertiser.com/
Display text ads on your website and let advertisers bid
against each other. Ad formats are skyscrapers, banners,
rectangles, buttons. They even have ads for your RSS
feeds. Payout is monthly via Paypal once your balance
is $10.00. This one pays on a cost per click basis.
10) AmaSense Ads: http://www.amasenseads.com/
This service allows you to create Google Adsense
styled ads for Amazon products. Different ad formats
are available which makes it easy to integrate into
your site. Amasense can also be used side by side
with Google Adsense without any problems.
As ads are clicked on, you earn a percentage
of the product which is paid by Amazon depending
on the type of product that is bought. You must have
an Amazon associate account first before signing up.
To get one go to https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
As you can see Adsense is not the only game in town when it comes to running ads on your site. If you have multiple sites, you may want to use one of the services mentioned above, then test, to see which one is a better earning opportunity. You might be surprised at what you learn.
It's against Google's terms of service to run another contextual ad service on the same page as Adsense, but there are exceptions to the rule. Most of the services above will tell you if you can run their ads alongside Adsense.
If your websites are mainly information based, network advertising is an excellent way for you to earn an income with little effort on your part. No matter if you use Adsense or another service, it just makes for good dollars and cents.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
"What are your views on 'PageRank sculpting'?
"What are your views on 'PageRank sculpting'? Useful and recommended if implemented right, or unethical?"
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Twitter Resources
SocialToo at http://www.socialtoo.com/ is a useful automated tool for Twitter. At Social Too, you can set your account up to do some autopilot things for you.
First of all, you can set SocialToo up to automatically follow everyone who follows you. This can take the drudgery out of checking all your new followers and then going and adding them to your own list in order to reciprocate.
You can also set up SocialToo to send an automatic Direct Message to people who follow you. Don't do it! Automatic Direct Messages are absolutely hated by most of the Twitter community, particularly experienced users because they can pick them a mile off. It's a sterile and rude way of starting out a relationship with new followers.
The backlash against this has largely been caused because many newbies, and some old hands too, were setting up an auto Direct Message that basically said, “Hello, thanks for following me. Now go and visit my sales page at http://..... “. I'm sure you get the picture. I can't think of any worse way to start a relationship with a new follower on Twitter. In any sort of business, you build relationships before you try and sell someone something and this is even more relevant in the social media space.
SocialToo will also provide you with an email every day of all your new followers and those that have unfollowed you as well.
Another function of SocialToo is that it will automatically unfollow anyone who unfollows you. Personally I don't think this is a bad thing. If people aren't interested in you any longer, then are you really interested in them? If you really want to keep the updates from someone, just go and follow them back when you see their name on your unfollows email each day.
Well you need to remember that the Twitter audience is constantly changing and the tweetstream occurs quite fast. The more people someone follows, the greater the number of tweets appearing and they won't read them all, I promise you. It just isn't possible. By using Tweetlater, you have a much greater chance of catching people's attention throughout the day and in different time zones.
Let's say you have written a post on your blog and you want to drive some traffic there. Rather than tweeting the link and subject once, you can do it every hour for 24 hours if you like using Tweetlater. I'm sure you can see the power of this in terms of driving traffic or getting noticed.
There is a free and a professional version of Tweetlater. Start out with the free version and then if you need it, upgrade to the professional version when you are ready.
Twitterfeed at http://www.twitterfeed.com/ is also a very handy tool. It is far more secure to log into than the other sites I have mentioned as it uses Open ID which is a bit of a pain. However, it is worth persisting with in the absence of an alternative tool.
What Twitterfeed does is that you can set up your blog to feed directly via RSS to your Twitter account. So every time you make a blog post, it gets tweeted automatically on your behalf. You can use this in conjunction with Tweetlater with the first post coming through Twitterfeed and then subsequent ones at times you specify via Tweetlater.
SplitTweet at http://splitweet.com/ is a great tool if you have a number of accounts on Twitter. Rather than switching between them from time to time in order to Tweet, you can set an account up her for free and bring all of your accounts under the one roof.
Splitweet will display the Twitter feed from all your accounts at once, or you can turn individual accounts off and on. When actually tweeting, you can pick an account to tweet to, or you can do a broadcast message across all your accounts at once.
At the time of writing, Twitdom had nearly 500 Twitter related applications in its database. Quite amazing when you think about it that there has been so many third party applications written and is a pretty powerful indication as to the value of Twitter. It also indicates the confidence of the market in that Twitter will become very much the mainstream.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Google Checkout Beta Features
I have to admit it. I love Google. I mean I really love everything they do. And no they're not paying me to say that. If you sell products from your website and you're looking for a merchant solution take a look at Google Checkout. This page identifies Google Checkout features that are currently in beta. It's very cool stuff Maynard......it get's my "Merle Stamp of Approval".
Monday, June 1, 2009
Free Ebook from Jim Edwards- "Guaranteed Success Thinking"
Saturday, May 30, 2009
"Announcing Bing, Microsoft’s New Search Engine "
If you spend any amount of time online, lord knows I do, the buzz these days is all about "Bing". The name chosen for Microsoft's new search engine. Not sure how I feel about the name, reminds me of cherries and oh yes, the show "Friends'. Wasn't that Chandler's last name? Chandler Bing. Maybe it's just me. My sick and twisted mind tends to associate words with people and events.
Anyway, if you want to know more about Bing, as it will be rolling out to the public in the next few days, hop on over to their Blog. I know, I know you're excited! Try to calm down. I promise the world won't stop spinning tomorrow.
http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2009/05/28/the-sound-of-found-bing.aspx
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Google- Top Tactics for Tough Times
2. Use value-related keywords.
3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.
4. Don't waste money on irrelevant clicks.
5. Make it easy for customers to buy.
6. Focus your money on your high-performers."
Monday, May 25, 2009
Logo MyWay- Graphic Design MarketPlace
Free 12 Week Internet Marketing Course
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
"Turn Your Articles Into Videos"
Power Package ($47.00 / mo) - 50 Downloadable Videos Per Month
Business Package ($97.00 / mo) - 125 Downloadable Videos Per Month.
If you have articles at EzineArticles you can pop over and do a free test run to see exactly what your article will look like as a video.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Linking Strategies: "To Buy or not to Buy, That is the Question"
approve of the practice or disapprove, it does exist and there are many website owners who are doing it. I'm not going to debate the issue one way or the other; just shed some light on what some consider a "gray subject."
So why would you want or need to buy a text link on another website? It all goes back to "link popularity." Search engines look at how many other sites are linking to yours when deciding on your ranking. Granted, this is just one criterion, but nevertheless an important one to pay attention to.
If you don't know how many other sites are linking to yours, go to any search engine and type this in: link:http://www.yourdomain.com ... you should get a pretty good idea of your "popularity." Keep in mind that Google never shows all sites linking to yours, so what you see in the results will not be an accurate presentation of those linking to you. Why they do this is not clear (it's one of those "Google Secrets"), but a possible explanation is that it's one of the methods they use to keep their ranking algorithms private.
When considering a link purchase, only buy from sites that are related to your theme and use the Google Toolbar to check their page rank. You can download it here:
http://toolbar.google.com/
A page rank of 4 or above is pretty good but a 7 or 8 is excellent. Never buy a link based on page rank alone. If the site doesn't relate to your site's content, don't do it.
Here are some things to keep in mind before making any purchases:
There are two types of links: one-way and reciprocal. A reciprocal link is when two sites agree to link to each other, a one-way link is just one site linking to another without linking back. Purchasing a text link is an example of a one-way link. One-way links are counted higher by most search engines and therefore are more valuable then reciprocal.
When supplying your text link to other sites, make sure to include your keywords in your anchor text. The anchor text is the part of the link that is clickable. Use a variety of key phrases so as not to raise any red flags with the search engines.
You also want to be consistent with your url. Use the "www." part in all incoming links, as links to "yourdomain.com" and "www.yourdomain.com" could be treated as two different websites by the search engines.
Another tip when buying links is to do it slowly. Don't buy too many at one time. You want it to look natural to the search engines. Hundreds of sites deciding to link to yours in a week is not "natural" and may catch unwanted attention from the powers that be.
Stay away from link farms when choosing link partners. Just associating with "bad sites" can be enough to get you banned by the search engines. You'll also want to make sure you're getting links from different IP addresses. Search engines will give the links more weight if they don't all come from the same IP.
So now that you have the basics, where do you buy the text links? I thought you'd never ask.
1) LinkHaul: http://www.LinkHaul.com
Purchase static links to PR 4, 5,6, 7 or 8 websites. Pricing starts at 3.00 per month.
2) Text Link Brokers: http://TextLinkBrokers.com
Offering a variety of link building programs to increase your link popularity.
3) LinkAdage: http://www.LinkAdage.com
Buy or sell text links within an auction format or buy direct thru a broker.
4) Text-Link-Ads: http://www.Text-Link-Ads.com
Offering $100.00 in free text link ads when you spend $125.00. So you only have to spend
an initial investment of $25.00
5) BackLinks: http://www.BackLinks.com
A service that allows webmasters to trade, sell or buy text links.
When you buy a link, it's usually billed on a monthly basis and you'll always pay more for
a site with a higher page rank, and also for having them put your link on their main page
compared to a page deeper down within the site. Once you purchase a link let it run for
a few months at a time, search engines will need it in order to find and spider them.
Right or wrong, purchasing links is one way to improve your link popularity quickly and
move your site up the ranks in the search engines. Remember, there are many ways to
increase your website traffic, and buying text links is just another means to an end.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Review of Personal Development PLR Content: PLR.me
PLR.me is a breath of fresh air in many respects. While there are a lot of different resources for private label rights content on the market, PLR.me consistently hits the mark.
What's PLR?
Before we begin, I should explain what PLR is all about. PLR or Private Label Rights material, provides you an opportunity to get all the content you need for your website without actually having to write it yourself. Someone else researches, writes, edits, and designs the articles and content so you don't have to.
You pay a small membership fee each month to gain access to the PLR articles and resources. Then you can brand them as your own and use them in just about any way that you see fit.
This really works out well if you don't want to spend all your time simply building your website or creating products from scratch. It frees up your time so you can build your business, establish solid relationships, and drive traffic to your site.
What Do You Get?
When you join PLR.me you’ll have access to more than 80 Web 2.0 documents each month, including articles, PDF downloads, checklists, guides, worksheets, positive affirmations, and even inspirational computer wallpapers. This is a lot of content and you can do an enormous amount of things with it!
How Much?
PLR.me really is a bargain when you price out the costs. This resource offers not only the content that you need, but clear, concise, search engine optimized content. You’ll have the benefit of a North American team who are the best at what they do creating your content for you.
Ask yourself... how much would I spend to create 80+ pages of quality content on my site, blog or email newsletter? If you did it yourself, you'd easily spend half the month creating the content while you could be making better use of your time.
Who's Behind It?
Ronnie Nijmeh, the founder and coach to the PLR.me members, is also an established expert based in Toronto, Canada. He "walks the walk" and "talks the talk" as they say.
He has appeared on radio and television and gets more than 23,000 visitors to just one of his sites each month... all this from using PLR content. He knows his stuff and has nothing to hide.
What Bonuses Should I Expect?
In addition to the great content at PLR.me, you also get bonuses. One of the most helpful bonuses is the Mastermind calls. These exclusive, members-only calls take you through actionable strategies to boost your profits and generate high quality traffic flowing to your sites like never before.
I've seen some gurus charge $97 per month just for a mastermind call, so the value with PLR.me is truly astounding.
The best thing about PLR.me is that you get all of this for less than you would spend on a nice dinner. The trial is only $19!
You get all the content that you could ever need for your website as well as the Mastermind calls to help you profit from your business like never before... it's really a no-brainer in my opinion.
You get great content, traffic, and increased profits from a guy who's been in the trenches for years. Check it out, you'll be glad you did.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Post Pictures to Your Twitter Followers
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. With Twitter's limitation of 140 characters sometimes all that talk can leave you wanting a bit more. Check out http://twitgoo.com - With TwitGoo you can upload pictures from your hard drive and share them with all of your Twitter followers with just a click. Sound like fun? It is. To see what a link looks like, here's a picture I uploaded and posted to Twitter http://twitgoo.com/2xiu
Free to sign up. So what are you waiting for? Start adding more visuals to your Twitter posts. But please, leave your clothing on
Friday, May 8, 2009
“John Reese Launches His Latest Web Venture- Opportunity.com”
Internet Marketing 'Super Guru' John Reese has just released a great free video that will teach 
In this video you'll learn how to quickly and easily set up an "Affiliate Commission Engine."
You can set up as many of these little 'engines' as you want in any market you want and they'll work for you 24/7 - - making affiliate income for you while you're busy working on other things.
Go right now and watch this video and start making more affiliate marketing commissions right away:
Enjoy!
Merle
Monday, May 4, 2009
Microsoft Writer Makes it Easy to Post to Your Blog
I’m picky. It takes a lot for me to say “wow” but when it comes to Microsoft Writer I have to 
The look of Writer is similar to Word you have a toolbar across the top where you can bold, underline, italic, center, right justify and more. You can even insert pictures and change their size and alignment. You can even crop and tilt pictures.
One of my favorite parts is the plug ins for Twitter, Digg and Flickr. When I click on “publish” to send my post up I also get asked if I want the post sent to my Twitter account. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, no pun intended.
You can also download a Digg plug that automatically adds a DiggThis badge to your blog post after you publish it. And a Flickr plug in that allows you to post your photos to Flickr. It’s all neat and clean in one little package. There are also built in tabs so you can “preview” what your post will like like before uploading and a “source” tab if you need to tweak the code. Check your spelling and perform a word count with one click.
All in all if you publish a blog or multiple blogs, you need this software. Trust me here, it won’t cost you a dime and you’re just going to love it. Download it here: http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/
P.S. Another one you might want to check out is http://www.blogdesk.org/en/index.htm
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Free Ebook by Jimmy D Brown-
This free PDF report by Jimmy D Brown, a master affiliate marketer, takes you by the hand and shows you 10 methods of generating an online income. Jimmy's the man when it comes to affiliate marketing and really knows his "stuff". He's the real deal, and has been generating money on the Net for many years, and worth listenting to if you're an affiliate marketer.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Promoting your Affiliate Program with Directories- Part II
Part II we'll look at what you need to do to get the word out to those who may be interested in signing up as an affiliate of your new venture. The best place to start is to list your program with the directories that exist for just this purpose. If you do some research you'll find many "associate directories" to list with. Since these directories are usually the first place people go when looking for an affiliate program to join, getting listed with as many of them as possible will work to your advantage and make it easier for them to find you and what you have to offer.
Here are some of the best free directories:
1) Associate Programs
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/
This site is the gospel for associate programs so you really want to get listed here. You must drill down to the proper category to make your free submission. Make sure you fill in as much
detail as possible and make it good, as over half of the submissions are rejected.
2) Affiliate Channel
http://www.AffiliateChannel.com
Fill in the short form and you're good to go. All submissions are reviewed by a live human, so
make it good.
3) Affiliates Directory
http://www.AffiliatesDirectory.com
Bills itself as "The Net's Largest Affiliate Program Directory." Free listing as long as your program has a website and is not MLM.
4) Associate Search
http://www.AssociateSearch.com
Choose your category, and fill in the short form to get your free listing.
5) Affiliate Guide
http://www.AffiliateGuide.com
A regular listing is free but if you want to come out at the top, you have the option of paying for a 'premium' listing.
6) Affiliate Match
http://www.AffiliateMatch.com
Free listing is offered to all; just fill in the short form with your programs details and you're
good to go.
7) Affiliate Promoter
http://www.AffiliatePromoter.com
Accepts all types of affiliate programs except for adult programs. All submissions are reviewed.
Nice directory broken down by subject and sub categories. You'll have to submit your site to the proper category for inclusion.
So there you have it; the top directories to list your associate program with. Remember, an affiliate program is a great way to increase your sales, but it won't do you a bit of good if no one knows about it. By submitting to as many directories as possible you can be sure you'll be easily found when an affiliate is searching for a great money-maker to join.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
"Make Those Parked Domains Earn Their Keep"
doing nothing. Sure, you keep meaning to add some content tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes. Why does that sound like a movie title? Anyway, your intentions were in the right place when you bought all those domains, right? What if I told you there's an easy way for those domains to start earning their keep? Interested? I thought you might be. It's called "Google Adsense for Domains", and it's got your name written all over it. Unlike Google Adsense, which reviews the content of your site pages then displays relevant ads, Adsense for Domains is just for parked domains that contain no content. Understand, you cannot run both on one site. It's one or the other.
If you already have an Adsense account, you'll see the "domain option" when you log into your account. All domains must meet with Google's approval first. There's also a limit of 1500 domains for submission. If you have more than that, you may have a problem. Nothing that a little therapy couldn't help with. You can enter each name manually, or if you have more than a handful, you can upload them in a spreadsheet to make your life a little easier.
It takes about 48 hours for domains to be approved and go active. Once that's done, there's a few settings you'll need to set up. The first thing you'll need to do is log into your domain registrar and change your DNS to point to Google's servers. Make sure your registrar gives you access to your DNS servers before you submit to Google. There's no reason they shouldn't and if they don't, it's time for a new one. Don't let the technical name scare you. It's very simple to change your DNS servers – you just type in the new numbers, and presto, you're done.
Don't think that just because your domains have no content you can't guide Google in ad selection. Log into your Google Adsense Domain account and click on “edit settings”. Here you can select colors to appear on your site and type in keywords. By typing in keywords, you'll be
helping Google to serve up targeted ads.
You can also set up channels to track how well your domain ads are performing. It's a beautiful thing. Do yourself a favor - if you have some parked domains lying around, implement this simple solution today.
If the day comes you decide to develop content, it's easy to change the DNS servers back to your own. In the meantime, why not make those domains earn their keep? Don't you wish you could apply this same advice to your teenager? <grin>
For more information see http://www.google.com/adsense
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Build your own Sales Force Army With an Associate Program
all at the same time? If you said with your own associate program, you would be correct. An associate (or affiliate program as they are some times called) allows others to to sell your products/services and receive a commission on each and every sale or click. Just think of having a sales force that can grow as big as you'd like... and you only pay them when and if they bring you a paying customer. Make no mistake, affiliate programs are powerful tools that can rapidly improve your online sales. Associate programs can be set up in a variety of ways ranging inexpensive to pricey, epending on the route you wish to take. The important thing is to pick the one that suits your needs and your budget.
First things first: What are your options for setting up your own program? Glad you asked....some people "pay per click," crediting their associates a certain amount every time someone clicks through on their affiliate banners or links. But I prefer "pay per sale," which means that you only pay out when someone clicks through and actually makes a purchase. In this way you're not just paying for traffic but for actual results, which is the sale.
You basically have two options for setting up your own program: Purchase software or use a third party service. The nice thing about a third party service is they manage all the accounting issues, including click-tracking and sending your associates their commission checks, too. This takes a large load off of you so you can spend your time doing more productive tasks... but this luxury doesn't come cheap. Let's examine some of your options:
3rd Party Associate Services:
1) Clickbank.com: http://www.ClickBank.com
Anyone who sells information products online can easily set up an affiliate program with Clickbank. Each of your affiliates will need to have a Clickbank account (which is free) so they can be set up with a special link for tracking their sales. They accept the payment for you by credit card and you'll be charged a percentage of each sale. Simple and easy.
2) LinkShare: http://www.Linkshare.com
The undisputed leader in affiliate programs. You can compensate your people by CPM, impressions, or click thrus, flat fees and more. Expensive to set up, running into thousands of dollars. Just fill in the online form to be contacted by a representative.
3) Affiliate Shop: http://www.AffiliateShop.com
No software to be installed; just cut and paste a few lines of HTML code on your site to get your program up and running. Some of the features include pay per click, pay per sale, accept or reject affiliates who wish to join and much more. Flat charge for set up then you'll have to pay a monthly fee.
Software Options:
You'll want to make sure whatever you buy offers the ability to track real time stats. If you'll be integrating it with your existing shopping cart, make sure they are compatible.
1) Affiliate Tracking: http://www.AffiliateTracking.com
You can buy or lease their software which runs on their server. Choose the basic package or add on their check paying and promotion modules. Basic set up fee of 75.00 plus 34.95 per month. Simple templates are available to get you up and running quickly.
2) Affiliate Software: http://www.AffiliateSoftware.net
Reviews and ratings for multiple affiliate solutions. You’re sure to find something to meet your needs here.
3) My Affiliate Program: http://www.MyAffiliateProgram.com
You design the look and feel of your program and how much you want to pay out. Simple seamless integration with your website. Easy to pay your affiliates with simple Quickbooks integration. You pay a set price for the software plus a small application hosting fee.
4) Ground Break: http://www.GroundBreak.com
If you're at all good at configuring CGI scripts you may want to look at downloading this script and doing it yourself. Ground Break can be set up to work on your server quickly. Can easily be integrated with most Perl based shopping carts. Your program can be set up to pay either per lead or per sales.
As you can see, the options for setting up your own associate program are numerous. It will cost you some time and money, but in the end it'll give you a powerful sales force which will extend your reach on the Net.
Whatever program you choose, make sure it's easy to setup and user friendly so you won't lose people before they even get started. In part II of this article we'll examine some ways of promoting your newfound affiliate program.
Friday, April 17, 2009
"Don't Bore Me! Give Your Ezine "Personality"!
hundreds. You might say I'm an addict. Anyway, as I scan the subject line of my precious beauties when they hit my inbox, there are only certain ones I'm chomping at the bit to read. Why is that? Why does one ezine have me salivating and another reaching for my delete key? Good question, I was hoping you'd ask. The newsletters I can't wait to read are the ones with "personality." Yes, that's right -- PERSONALITY. I just love an ezine that makes me laugh, or cry, or think about things I haven't thought about for awhile. Thought provoking. Enlightening, heart warming.
I do have my favorites and usually those are the ones where I feel as if I know the publisher on a personal level, which says a lot, since I've never met any of them in the real off-line world. So how do they do that? And more importantly, how can you create this warm, fuzzy feeling in your own ezine?
Publishers who have perfected this technique have developed a "unique writing style." A good writing style allows one's personality to shine through in his words and conveys a sense of humanity. So what's your writing style? You can convey many feelings and attitudes through your writing. You can come across as funny or serious, cocky or very business like.
Developing your own special writing style takes time and practice. Ezine writers should always try to write the same way they think and speak. Try to write as if you were speaking to one person and she is standing in the room right in front of you. Don't use big words; most people are not impressed by fancy language and you'll lose those who can't read past a 9th grade level. Talk to your readers as you would a close friend. The genuine part of your personality will shine through as you write. Always use short sentences and paragraphs.
To develop a good writing style you should read as much as possible and practice writing. Really study pieces as you read them and ask yourself what about it appeals to you, or doesn't appeal to you. You can learn a lot by studying writings of others that appeal to you.
Another way to really connect with your readers is to share stories and details about your personal life. Yes, being personal is tough and a lot of people feel funny about it or fear rejection by doing so. But to really connect with your subscribers you need to share and let them see that you really are human and have problems, wants and needs. Some of the best ezines I read share personal anecdotes on a regular basis and I look forward to these tidbits on a regular basis. There are some ezines I subscribe to where I actually know the names of the writer's dog or spouse. Even though I've never met them, they are real to me.
Next time you sit down to write your newsletter, try to let your personality show through. By perfecting your style, you will attract readers who look forward to each and every issue - and loyal subscribers for life.
Remember, keep it simple, be yourself.....and most importantly………..
"Don't Bore Me! Give Your Ezine Personality!"
Monday, April 13, 2009
"The Art & Science of Obtaining Inbound Website Links"
Ever wonder how to build incoming links to your website? In the "old days" you would simply
find a site related to yours and ask for a link. In today's "what's in it for me?" society, it's not that easy anymore. Link popularity, as it's often referred to, is important to ranking well with the search engines. Most search engines use it as a factor when determining your page rank. Basically, it's an indicator of how many other sites are linking to yours. If you have a lot of incoming links, the search engines think to themselves that your site must be pretty good and will give you a boost. Here's a handy tool for checking on incoming links to your website...
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
So how does an honest website owner get those incoming links? I thought you'd never ask. If you look at it with a creative mind, there are many ways to get those links without directly asking for them.
Here are a few of my favorites:
1) Articles: There's been a lot of talk about writing short articles and having others post them on their websites lately, and for very good reason. Since articles all contain a short signature line that leads back to your website, it's a great way to get incoming links.
The other sites get content and you get an incoming link. It's a win-win situation for everyone
involved. You should also submit your writing to the various online article websites that exist for this purpose. This is where many people go when looking for an article to post on their sites or to run in their ezines.
2) Blogs: Blogs are big and everyone and their brother has one. Many blogs will allow you to post commentsin response to the postings. Make sure to include your url with your name. Of course, you should never post to any blog or sp-am a blog in order to get an incoming link. This is wrong. Don't do it. If you have something to add, then and only then should you post.
Due to some people abusing blogs for the sole purpose of linking, many have instituted the use of the "no follow" tags. What this does is tell the search engines not to follow posted links. For more information see:http://www.accordmarketing.com/tid/archive/nofollow.html
Of course if you publish your own blog you can include all the links you like. If you have numerous websites that need incoming links, this is an easy way to get them. Free Blogger accounts can be set up at http://www.Blogger.com
3) Discussion Boards: Believe it or not, most posts to discussion boards do get indexed by the search engines. Again, use a good signature line in your postings. I'm still surprised to this day when I do a search at Google and find a comment I posted to a board months earlier.
4) Press Releases: Writing and submitting press releases online is often overlooked when it comes to linking. If you submit your releases to places like http://PRWeb.com they'll be archived for the world to see for a very long time. If you do a search for "free press releases"
you'll find plenty of other similar sites that accept press release submissions. For more information on using press releases to help with your search engine optimization, see:
http://tinyurl.com/9umg4
http://www.pandia.com/features/pressrelease.html
5) Ezine Archives: If you publish an ezine, you should be posting your back issues online. Since your ezine should always contain links back to your website, this insures an additional stream of incoming links.
If you buy ezine ads in newsletters, make sure they post their back issues online so you can benefit from an indefinite link.
6) Natural Linking: Let's face it, the goal of most websites is to provide quality content. Do that and you'll find other sites naturally linking to yours due to the good information that you provide. You won't have to ask for a link, they'll just do it on their own. Here's a great article on this: http://tinyurl.com/88w2v
No man is an island, and on the Web you don't want to be. You want to be "popular" and by getting your link out there in Cyberland the search engines will look at your website in a more favorable light. And as Martha Stewart likes to say, "It's a Good Thing."
----------------------------
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Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Free Download- Twitter Power
Joel is offering up an instant download, free sample featuring two chapters from Twitter Power for free! There’s no form to fill out and no fee to pay. It's in PDF format so grab yours now before he changes his mind.
Friday, April 3, 2009
"Tracking Website Traffic with Google Analytics"
owners track and analyze their site traffic. Back then rumors flew as to what Google had in store for their new found property. They renamed and released it as a free service we all know and love, "Google Analytics." Former Urchin users paid about two hundred dollars a month for something now being offered to millions of users at no charge. So what is "Google Analytics" and why should you care? It's used to track site traffic and will tell you things like how many pages were viewed, keywords used to find your site, and what visitors do when visiting your website.
A single account can track up to 40 different websites. Not only can you track your Google Adwords campaigns, but all of your other online marketing programs, too (such as email ads, banner advertising and your other pay per click campaigns). It automatically imports your
Adwords cost data so you can track the effectiveness of your Adwords campaign. This is powerful information and if you study it, you'll find out what is and isn't working with your website and your advertising campaigns.
Now before you disregard Analytics as a "freebie" service not worth your time and effort, think again. It's a full featured, powerful package with over 80 reports and many advanced features. It's easy to use even for a beginning marketer.
If you already have a "Google Adwords" account you can sign up for Analytics from within the Adwords control panel. Just look for the "Analytics Tab." If you're not an Adwords user you can sign up at http://www.Google.com/analytics
Once you're registered, you'll be given some Java script code to paste onto the web pages you want to track. If you don't use Adwords you'll have to keep it under 5 million pageviews a month. If you're a small business, that should be pretty easy to do. Adwords users are allowed unlimited page view tracking, which is another benefit of being a Google pay per click user.
There's a lot of buzz online as to what Google will be doing with all of this information they are collecting. Some good, some bad and those concerned with privacy believe you'll be letting Google know a it too much about your business stats. Either way, you may want to take a look at it. If you don't have a way to currently analyze your website traffic, this is definitely a serious package to consider. If you do have a service already in place and are paying a monthly fee, switching to Google Analytics will help decrease your monthly expenses an put
more money back in your pockets where it belongs.
==============================================
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Monday, March 30, 2009
"10 Quick Ways to Promote Your Website"
Think fast! If I asked you to quickly name ten things you could do to promote your website, what would you say? If you're like most online entrepreneurs thinking off the top of your head, you wouldn't make it past two or three. Allow me to help; here are ten quickie tips to get the word out on your site.
1) Publish an Ezine: The only way to collect email addresses of your website visitors and build your own opt-in list is with your own ezine. If you're not publishing, I strongly suggest you start and add a sign up box in the upper right hand corner of every page of your site. To learn more about ezines visit http://www.ezineuniversity.com/
2) Use P.P.C: That's "Pay Per Click," for all you newbies out there. If you're not using Google and Yahoo you need to open an account today. By bidding into the top three positions you'll enjoy mass exposure on many of the other top search engines.
To keep costs down, use two and three word phrases and try to stay away from the most popular ones. http://www.wordtracker.com/ can help.
To learn more about pay per clicks go to:
http://payperclicksearchengines.com/
or http://www.payperclickresearch.com/
3) Swap Links: You've heard it before but it bears repeating: find other related sites and swap links with them. Not only will it give you a slight boost with the search engines, but it will also enhance your site for your guests by giving them more related resources to explore.
Check out http://linkpartners.com/
4) Buy Ezine Ads: Ezine Advertising is popular because it works. Look for top spots and solo ads for best response rates. Check out: http://www.lifestylespub.com/
5) Swap Ezine Ads: If you publish an ezine, and you should, find other publishers to swap ads with for some free advertising. Make sure these publications appeal to your target market.
Take a look at: http://www.swapezineads.com/
6) Discussion Boards: Participating in online discussion boards and posting helpful resources with a good signature line is a great way to increase your traffic. My personal favorite is
http://ablake.net/forum/
7) Write Articles: Write short articles such as this one and distribute them to article lists and other ezine publishers for possible inclusion in their ezines. Try to keep them short under 500 words. Submit them to http://www.ezinearticles.com/
8) Press Releases: Try to come up with a news angle for your site and compose a press release and submit it to the media. If just one person picks up your story you can get a large amount of traffic.
Check out:
http://tinyurl.com/4obb
9) Promotional Products: Have pens, pencils, notepads and other promotional items printed up with your url and give them away. Try http://epromos.com/
Get URL plates for your car at:
http://www.mcpromotions.com/adURL/
10) Affiliate Program: If you sell a product consider starting your own affiliate program where others sell for you and you pay them a commission. Check out: http://www.clickbank.com/
Contrary to popular belief, if you build it they will *not come* -- at least, not without promotional effort on your end. Do it daily and before long you'll see an upswing in your traffic and hopefully a little more cash in your pocket.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
New Adwords Interface in Beta
Google is testing a new web interface for their Adwords program. The new interface is according to Google, "faster, clearer, and more intuitive. Which makes it easier to find your most important keywords across ad groups and edit your account quickly".
As of right now they are still testing and making changes based on the feedback they receive. There is no change to ranking with this update.
New Features Include: Graphs, roll up tabs on every page, in-line editing, new network tab.
Right now it's still in beta but you can switch back and forth between the old and new interface if you'd like to take her for a spin. To check it out go to - http://www.google.com/adwords/newinterface/index.html
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
"The Fast-Track to Using Google Adwords"
Remember back when Al Gore allegedly said he "invented the Internet?" Well, he didn't, it was 
So how does it work? You choose keywords/phrases that are related to your products/services, write the text ads that will be shown when someone performs a search for your keywords, set a daily budget and the cost you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad (C.P.C), and you're ready to run. There is no activation fee and no minimum monthly spend amount.
Ads are called "sponsored links", and appear along with search results on Google, as well as other affiliated search engines and "content sites" in the Google Network. This type of keyword based advertising will help you to reach a highly targeted audience quickly and easily.
Not only can you run text ads, but also image/animated ads - even video. If you're a beginner at pay-per-click marketing, I would suggest you start out with text ads. You'll need to "learn to walk" before you run.
So what does a text ad look like? It consists of a 25 character headline, a description that is 2 lines of no more than 35 characters, and what's called a "display url". This url can reflect any domain you like because when it is clicked upon, the browser will take them to your "destination url". This is set up behind the scenes and does not appear in the ad itself.
A 3 line text ad might sound like a lot of room, but it's not. You've got a small area to make a huge impact on the searcher and make them want to click. Don't underestimate the power of a well written ad. If you don't know a lot about how to write "good copy", I suggest you study up. You'll want to include what's referred to as a "call to action" somewhere in the description. You'll also want to include your keywords if possible in your title and ad copy so they will appear in a bold font when your ad is displayed. For help see: http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/18779.html
You also need to send them to the page that's most relevant to your ad copy. This page is called a "landing page", and you'll want to make sure it converts. A conversion happens when the visitor performs the action you intended. For example, signs up for your newsletter, buys your product, etc. With Adwords conversion tracking you'll be given a snippet of code to paste on your web page wherever any conversion takes place. For example, your thank you page. This allows you to track how well your pages are converting. You can also use Google Analytics. For more see -http://www.google.com/analytics/
Now that landing page load time is being factored into "quality score", you'll also want to pay attention to your page's load time. Quicker is better. For more information on this topic see.... http://tinyurl.com/4bsyaq
Now, let's talk about keywords. The biggest mistake most people make is choosing single keywords. You're much better off with two and three word combinations. For example if you sell dog food, instead of targeting a generic term like "dogs", you'd be better off selecting "dog food". Remember, these keywords will be responsible for triggering your ads to appear, so do your homework and choose wisely. Targeting the wrong keywords can be a very expensive lesson.
For help in choosing keywords use Google's tool located at- https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
When setting up your keywords, you'll also need to choose what's called a "match type". Here are your options:
1) Broad Match: The default setting. Searchers can
enter your keywords in any order and your ads
appear. Not the best option for targeted traffic.
2) Phrase Match: Your keywords must appear in
the exact order for your ads to appear. This is
more targeted than Broad Match.
3) Exact Match: This is the most targeted option.
The searcher must type in your key-phrase
exactly for your ads to appear.
4) Negative Match: You choose words you don't
want your ads to appear for when searched upon. For
example, typing in the word “-free” would stop your ads
from appearing if someone typed that word before
your key-phrase.
So who decides which ads will appear at the top? This is called "ad rank". Ads with the highest ad rank will appear at the top. Here's the formula, at least at this time as it's always open to change. Ad Rank=C.P.C. (cost per click) X Quality Score To understand this formula you'll need to know what factors go into "quality score".
Quality Score is determined by :
1) How relevant the keywords and ad copy
are to the search query.
2) "The historical Click-through rate of the
ad, and of the matched keyword on Google".
3) It also includes your account history,
which looks at the click through rate of
your keywords and ads.
4) Landing page load time.
And, according to Google "other relevant factors". One tip to increase your ad rank is to increase your cost per click, and improve your ad copy and keywords in order to increase your quality score.
Ad ranking is determined slightly differently for the search network compared to the content network. For the content network it looks like this:
Ad Rank= Content Bid X Quality Score
What is the difference between the Content Network and Search Network? Good question. I thought you'd never ask. This is another option you'll have to decide upon when setting up your account. If you choose "search sites", your ads are displayed on search results pages only. Google's search network consists of: AOL, Netscape, Earthlink, Compuserve, AT&T, Worldnet, Ask.com, Shopping.com, Froogle and of course Google itself.
If you choose for your ads to appear in the "content network", this includes community websites, online publications and other information based sites that choose to display Adwords ads. Partners in the content network include sites such as: Google's Gmail, About, Lycos, NYTimes.com, Infospace, Reed Business, HowStuffWorks, Business.com, Food Network, HGTV, MarthaStewart.com and many other content based websites.
Ads are targeted to the content of the individual pages. You'll also have some control over where your ads appear and don't appear with what's called "placement targeting". You can actually pick and choose from websites you'd like your ads to appear on, or not to appear on. For more on placement targeting see http://tinyurl.com/5zwfy9 You can opt in to both search and content networks, or just one.
At this point you're probably thinking this is a lot to learn. And you're right - it is, but there are plenty of online resources to help you such as: Adwords Help Center http://www.adwords.google.com/support/
Adwords blog
http://adwords.blogspot.com/
Google is a powerful Internet giant and makes for a mighty advertising partner. Make sure you harness some of that muscle, and you too can become an Internet force to be reckoned with.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
"What's New in Social Media?"
A lot like the fashion industry things come in and out online too. The hottest thing right now is "Social Network Marketing". This involves using sites like Facebook, Myspace, Digg, Reddit, and other types of social sites to softly promote your site or brand. Check out this video which covers the latest happenings with social media.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Right and Wrong Way to use Twitter
An interesting video that covers what you should and should not be doing on Twitter. Watch it now and share your thoughts by leaving comments below.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Twitter Handbooks and Guides- Just For You
Anyway, if you use Twitter, and you should, you may need some guidance getting started. You know, learning the ins and outs of what you should and shouldn't do. This website is loaded with helpful Twitter guides and handbooks that will teach you how to use Twitter more effectively. So what are you waiting for? Twit yourself right over there and then start becoming the Twitter Rock Star you were always meant to be. Go to http://www.bookmarket.com/twitter-guide.htm
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Pipl
Monday, March 9, 2009
"Social Network Marketing: Advertising to Facebook Users"
In the "old days", if you wanted to meet someone, you had to get dressed up and drive to a public place. Not anymore. The Internet has changed all of that with the popularity of social networking sites. Two of the biggest are MySpace and Facebook. Basically, a social network website allows you to register, display photos and some personal information, then you can invite others to become "your friends". You can meet thousands of people right from the comfort of your living room. How great is that?
Facebook has an audience of over 100 million people with over 24 million active users. The majority of visitors to the site are between the ages of 18 to 34. Next to MySpace, it is the second largest social networking site online. If you'd like to advertise on Facebook and reach this young, highly targeted audience, now you can.
When setting up your ads, you can choose to target people by age, location, gender, interests, education and more. For example, you could choose to target 26 year old women who are interested in men and are single in the U.S. When making your audience selections, you'll be shown the number of users who fit your chosen profile that will see your ad. Facebook ads are displayed in the side column of almost all pages. There may be up to three ads appearing on each page.
You can also choose to buy ads on a CPC (cost per click) basis, or CPM (cost per thousand) impressions. The title of your ad can be up to 25 characters and the body text up to 135 characters in total. A small image can also be uploaded, but must fit inside a 110X80 box ad format. You are also asked to select keywords that relate to your ads.
If you decide to advertise on a CPM basis, the minimum budget you can set is $1.00 per day, with a minimum per one thousand impression bid of only $.10. They will give you bid suggestions, but you are free to set it to your needs.
If advertising on a pay-per-click basis, again, the minimum daily budget you can set is $1.00, with the minimum cost per click being one penny. Again, suggested bid amounts are given. You can set your ad to run continuously or only during specified times.
Facebook makes it easy to track your progress with downloadable Excel reports. It's easy to see how well your ads are performing at a glance.
There are three different types of reports:
1) "Responder Profiles"- This information is gleaned
from users profiles, and will tell you what types of
common interests people have who are clicking on
your ads.
2) "Responder Demographics"- This report tells you
the sex, age and geographic location of those clicking
on your ads.
3) "Advertising Performance"- Detailed reports which
show you impressions, click-throughs, etc. This report
can be broken down by month, week or time of day.
As part of their advertising program, you'll automatically be subscribed to Facebook's newsletter which will keep you up to date on news, updates and tips for best ad practices.
Social network marketing is an effective way to reach a highly targeted audience, and shouldn't be forgotten when putting together a well rounded marketing plan. If you haven't considered this type of advertising in the past, now's a good time to take another look. Social networks continue to grow in popularity as millions of people continue to flock to this type of website daily.
For more information see: http://www.new.facebook.com/advertising/
To receive a hundred credits to advertise on Facebook, check out this site at http://www.tinyurl.com/3h2fk0
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Advertise in Your Twitter Posts
Twitter is all the rage. It's everywhere you turn online and everyone seems to be talking about it and how to use it and cool add ons to extend its capabilities. If you use Twitter I'm sure you're hit over the head daily with these cool tools. I collect em like candy
With Adjix you use their link shortening service which creates a new link that you use in your Twitter posts but when someone clicks on the link the page they visit has a text ad across the top. It's small and not bothersome at all. You can choose specific types of ads or all.
Adjix also recently created a new ad format that allows you to embed ads at the end of your tweets. "Payment is based on the number of followers that a Twitter user has and how much an advertiser is willing to pay for an embedded ad." For an example of what these ads look like visit this link http://adjix.com/5grg
For more information visit the link above.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Free PLR Giveaway- Round 6- Don't miss this!
It's time once again boys and girls for the Free PLR Giveway, Round 6.Now there are a lot of give-aways online but this one is special.
Each product will come with Unrestricted PLR Rights - you can do ANYTHING YOU LIKE with them! (read the terms of use that comes with each) "Because of the extremely high value of the PLR resources, and the extremely high demand for them, most partners WILL NOT be leaving their gifts there beyond the event dates, so be sure to grab all of your free gifts today". If you know what you’re doing you can get a lot of mileage out of these babies.
http://www.beachbums.biz/cgi-bin/x.cgi?a=r&id=435&aid=10475&p=2
Hey, Where’s everybody going? We want some private label rights too!