I like my blog!

5 CommentsJune 15, 2008 Filed Under: Internet Marketing

That’s right, I said it… I like my blog!

I’m not being cocky but my bloglines blog reader is loaded up with over 30 blogs that I follow. Notice I didn’t say read, I just follow (scan) them. I only read about 6 on a regular basis. That is because the rest SUCK! I don’t enjoy reading the posts because they aren’t entertaining and they aren’t teaching me anything.

So here are the ones I actually read and why I read them….

David Fiske - Because he is both entertaining, informative and responsive. If you leave a comment he will answer it, in fact I suspect he will leave a comment on this thread because he follows his trackbacks. I’ve actually learned some things from reading his blog. Most importantly, his site ranks highly for “dragon car porn” - WHAT?! Dave, you’ve got some weird readers!

UberAffiliate - For goodness sakes, the kid is only 20! Legally he can’t drink beer but if Budweiser had an affiliate program he’d make a killing selling it. His posts are filled with great information. Even his “happy birthday to me” post had a great tip in it. And talk about an active blog… he gets huge reader participation. Ever post gets atleast 50 comments and there is gold in there.

CDF Networks - By far one of the most educational blogs out there. If you have a question about affiliate marketing I am sure he’s answered it on his blog. He’s not going to be writing for SNL anytime soon but who needs funny when you’ve got brains and this guys got brains.

Caroline Middlebrook - Because she might be the sweetest British lady I know and she’s got huge balls! She quit a full time job making a decent living to pursue her dream of internet marketing. I am in awe of her determination, focus and genuine desire to help others succeed. She is the most honest internet marketer on the planet. No agenda, no tricks and no scams, just 100% Caroline.

UK Affiliate Marketing Blog - by Kirsty not Kristy. Her blog is more of a guilty pleasure for me. She has great advice for new affiliate marketers but I stick around for the entertainment value. She is a very entertaining writer even if I don’t understand 1/2 of the british slang :)

Shawn Collins - because he keeps me up to date on the latest industry news. He posts a LOT and I skim a LOT but without him i would have no idea what the heck a “Golden Link Award” was.

And my guilty pleasure 45n5.com. He’s got personality and I like it. He can be rude, brash and offensive at times but that’s why we love him. I don’t always agree with his methods but I respect his honesty, his commitment to his readers and his knowledge. However, STOP WITH THE VIDEO! Video is a great medium for sharing info but I like to skim… and I can’t skim video, I’ve tried. Use video only when the topic warrants using video, not just because you can. I like the fact that he gives you a mini-transcript with the video so folks with ADD like me don’t have to endure sitting still for a whole 2 minutes.

And I like my blog. I may not be as responsive as Dave, young and rich as the Uber, smart as Chad, sweet as Caroline, entertaining as Kirsty, connected as Shawn or hairy as Mark but I’m 100% Mike.

I got discouraged with the blog because it wasn’t taking off like I had hoped. Then I realized, who cares! If only 1 person reads my posts then it is worthwhile. For two reasons:

1. Hopefully that person will be entertained or learn something while they are here.

2. This blog serves as a great archive for my journey into Internet Marketing which I can share with my grandkids one day.

So for those two reasons I will breath life back into this blog (again). However, this time I have made a plan. I am not going to try to post everyday. I’m not that interesting. However, when I do post I promise it will be fun and informative. I will finish the affiliate marketing course and give it away right here on my blog (I was going to try to sell it). I will make marketing my blog more of a priority so others can share in this experience.

And to my faithful reader who was so kind enough to email me and ask where I’ve been….. THANKS! That really meant a lot.

Mike

I hope you enjoyed the post and don't forget to sign up for my RSS feed.


Affiliate Summit - Affiliate Marketing Conferences

1 CommentApril 16, 2008 Filed Under: Conferences

So far I have not given in to the lure of Affiliate Marketing Conferences.

They are everywhere! There’s just about one every week it seems. Affiliate networks have them:

Commission Junction University

CPA Empire Breakaway

Industries have their own conferences:

Casino Affiliate Convention

Social Networking Conference

Internet Dating

Webmasters, the PPC community, Bloggers, the SEO guys have ‘em, and there’s even a Virtual Conference (God forbid we have to leave the sanctity of our parents basement and actually interact with other human beings….)

And that’s not even half of them, in fact many affiliates host their own conferences. With all of these options, how do you choose.

I, for one, think conferences are great! They give you the opportunity to learn from the best, hear the latest tips and tricks, and network with other affiliates. Networking is HUGELY important to any business, especially affiliate marketing. There’s nothing like having friends in the industry that you can lean on for advice, new ideas and partnerships.

The great thing is that no matter how shy or socially awkward you are, you are bound to make friends at a conference. It’s contagious. That’s the other wonderful thing about conferences, when you get home you are super-charged with motivation to get your next campaign going.

The supreme allied commander of the free world - Oprah Winfrey once said:

Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.

(Oprah controls over 50% of America’s buying power… Bush can give you a $600 rebate check but Oprah controls how we spend it, now THAT is power.)

Going to conferences allows you to surround yourself with success. There will be plenty of n00bs there like me, however, when else are you going to get the chance to eat lunch with multi-millionaire affiliates?

Sign me up!

Well, even if you don’t go to a conference this year (I think I’m going to try to go to PPC Summit and Affiliate Summit East) you should still take advantage of their marketing ploys.

The guys at Affiliate Summit have decided to release the videos from Affiliate Summit West (in exchange for your email address, of course). This is a great tactic to encourage people to attend this year’s meeting.

There’s never enough time in the day and these videos are long so grab a bag of Cheetos and a Mountain Dew, sit back and soak in the knowledge. And hopefully I’ll see YOU at a conference soon!

Product Launch Formula - Affiliate Bonuses Suck!

Leave a CommentMarch 27, 2008 Filed Under: Product Launches

It’s launch season again.

I have received over 50 emails about the Product Launch Formula launch. I’ve seen virtually dead blogs come alive to support this launch. People are coming out of the woodwork to throw out their affiliate link to make a quick buck off this launch.

This flurry of activity could mean one of two things:

 

From the looks of things this is going to be a GREAT product. If you haven’t followed the launch then you need to catch up. There is over 4 hours of FREE video available. There are some very good tips and tricks that you can learn from watching these videos. It was SO MUCH content that I could barely keep up with it.

 

If the quality of the pre-launch information is any indicator of the quality of the final product, Product Launch Formula WILL revolutionize the industry.

 

Instead of the typical launch mentality, Jeff turns the launch into an event. It is so easy to get swept up in one of these event style launches. Mass Control, The Annihilation Method, Stompernet and now the Product Launch Formula. These launches made me feel like if I didn’t jump in I was going to be totally missing out! And I did :( I didn’t participate in any of them but after the Mass Control launch ended, I thought “Damn! I wish I would have signed up!”

 

The only thing I don’t like about these launches is the mass push from affiliates. I’ve been bombarded by “bonus offers” from random bloggers who I haven’t heard from in years! Jeff has done a great job building a relationship with his visitors and providing value without “selling” them anything.

 

That is the foundation of the new internet marketing strategy.

 

Provide your visitors with an abundance of valuable information, tips and tricks. This builds a level of trust and credibility therefore when you launch your product they will feel more comfortable purchasing from you knowing that they can trust you to provide a quality product.

 

However, once the affiliates jump on it and start offering irrelevant bonus to encourage their subscribers to sign up for the launch using their link, it begins to cheapen the process.

 

PLF is going to be a fantastic product all by it self. Someone’s ebook on “Mastering Yahoo Search Marketing” isn’t going to add much value to this already fantastic product. How about this…. instead of bundling unrelated affiliate products and focusing on “the sale”, why not focus on providing value.

 

If I were an affiliate for PLF (which I am not) here’s what I would offer my subscribers. Let’s do it together! I would sign up for the program also, provide a members only area on my site for my subscribers who also purchased the program then we would work through the program TOGETHER.

 

Share tips we’ve learned from the lessons, I would work to put together a launch using the techniques and give my members complete un-adulterated access to how I set it up, exactly what techniques I used and backstage access to the entire process.

 

Now THAT is a bonus. Not only do you get a great course but you get hands-on experience with implementing the techniques and guided help for implementing in on your own launch. If someone offered that, I would sign up in a heart beat.

 

What kind of bonus would encourage you to sign up?

Free Affiliate Marketing Course - Lesson 5e

Leave a CommentMarch 26, 2008 Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Course

Email Marketing

I included this as a separate section but actually it should be a part of EVERY landing page strategy. If you aren’t collecting email addresses, you are leaving money on the table.

In my main niche, I started with a simple landing page comparison site. I realized that 100 people were coming to my site everyday but I would only get a sale every other day or so. The other 99 - 198 were looking for some general information and weighing their options. So I decided to write a small ebook (less than 20 pages) and give that away. In that ebook, I give them all of the research information they are looking for. I started building a relationship with these visitors. I wrote a simple 2 email, follow-up sequence using aweber. I sent them the ebook immediately and one email 2 days later. That’s it, simiple, it took less than 5 hours to write the book and set up the email sequence and now I average .98 sales a day. I didn’t change anything else!

And that is with only a 2 email sequence. I know full well that I am not taking advantage of the full potential of my list. I have enough content to do a 12 email sequence which would give me more opportunities to “sell”them on the affiliate product. I am satisfied with the .98 sales a day so I have focused on other projects but think about the opportunity that I’m leaving on the table. I average about 20 new subscribers every day! My list is growing everyday.

Are you collecting emails?

Get started! It is simple. I use aweber. They provide great tutorials on how to use the service and even give tips on writing quality copy that converts. I really like their tracking tools. I get stats on how many people opened the emails, how many clicked the links in the email and more.

If you aren’t collecting emails you need to or else you are leaving money on the table.

Free Affiliate Marketing Course - Lesson 5d

6 CommentsMarch 26, 2008 Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Course

Alright, let’s get through this section so we can get to the heart of the lessons. The last few lessons have been extremely valuable but it is hard to see because the topics seem so dry. However, Jeremy Palmer peaked a lot of interest when he told us that he would be giving away heatmaps for his campaigns. People jumped at the opportunity to find out what a successful landing page looks like. Well, that is what I am trying to show you however, if you are new to affiliate marketing it can be difficult to see the value. Hang in there with me.

Shopping Directories
I recently learned that there are lots of affiliate marketers who make a decent living from these sites. Let me show you an example and then I’ll tell you why I don’t like them and also tell you why some people LOVE them!

Great lingerie store (PG-13)

I found this site from reading a blog about successful affiliate marketers. Kirsty admits that this is one of her newer sites but thus far in her affiliate marketing life, she has managed to equal her salary. And if I had to bet, given the list of here favorite markets I would bet that all of her sites are in this style…. shopping directory style.

Shopping directories are definitely a money maker but let me tell you why I’m not a huge fan.

Why am I not a fan?

#1: Commission structures is based on a percentage of sale. Usually around 10-15%. That isn’t much unless you are marketing high-end products

#2: Website design is very complicated. I am pretty good with HTML but designing one of those sites is above my level… way above! And commissioning someone to make one for you (my favorite technique when I am pressed for time) would be significantly more expensive than other landing page styles. I can have a comparison site made in 2 days for $100 where are a shopping directory would run upwards of $300 and take up to two weeks

#3: Complicated PPC campaign design. In order to successfully market this site using PPC you need an intricate campaign with hundreds of keywords for each product. How many keywords can you come up with for “bra” - I can think of hundreds….PG-13 keywords of course!

Why Kirsty Loves ‘em?

Because she is good at them. That is her bread and butter. She started here career in affiliate marketing with this style of site so why not finish it that way.

Because she makes good money with them. I never denied the ability for these sites to make money. There is definitely a lot of potential for profit with these sites.

Because she is genuinely interested in lingerie. If you look at her list of niches, they are all generally related. That means she enjoys these topics and therefore it isn’t really work for her… it’s fun. (get your mind out of the gutter!)

There are hundreds of amazon affiliates who make a decent living from shopping directories. Digital cameras, Flat screen TVs, perfume, DVDs, CDs, bedding & furniture, you name it…. there is an affiliate using a shopping directory to market these products.

While this landing page style doesn’t fit my current portfolio, I do plan to give them a try in the near future. In June I will reach the 6th month (since the restart) mark where I will begin experimenting a bit more. Until then I am sticking with my bread and butter. However, until then…. here are a few considerations to keep in mind if you plan to use a shopping directory:

I’m looking forward to starting one of these sites. I’ve got an idea for a fairly untapped niche but I’m a bit intimidated. For now I’ll stick with comparison and blog-style sites. I don’t want to rush into anything and get my panties in a bunch.

Projects, Projects and More Projects

Leave a CommentMarch 19, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Updates, Uncategorized

It is crazy how once you get started in affiliate marketing new projects keep popping up.

New ways to make even more money online!

It all started with the 30 Day Challenge. That was my first experience with affiliate marketing. The goal was to make $10 in a 30 day period starting from scratch in affiliate marketing. I made my first $40 on day 16 of the challenge. (that was in August)

After the elation of that first sale wore off I realized that the techniques we learned during the challenge were only a small snippet of what was possible with online marketing. Granted that small snippet made me $212 in 2 months.

So I was hooked. If I could make $212, how much more could I make if I expanded my affiliate marketing arsenal of weaponry. That is when I stumbled onto PPC. You mean I can create an advertisement and only pay for actual clicks to my site? And I can do it for pennies on the dollar as opposed to paying thousands of dollars for a finite number of impressions that may or may not result in actual page views for my website. I’m sold, let’s learn more.

So I signed up for PPC Classroom. *Caveat: If I could have gone back I would have saved my money. You can learn everything you need to know by studying free information available on the internet. They promised a complete system, total exposure to a super-affiliates campaigns, strategies and techniques. Well, unlike the reported 90% of other people who don’t utilize what they learn from these type of courses I immediately applied what I learned to my 30 Day Challenge Niche. The result….. total failure!

My keywords were great but my landing page sucked, my affiliate program sucked even worse and my adwords campaign was a complete debacle. I did some research on optimizing Adwords campaigns and revamped my landing page, the result….. $400 in one month! Now we are talking.

I spent all of November testing a new niche, which failed but my main niche site still brought in $560 in December. The holidays always make a good time for reflection and reevaluation. I started to have my doubts about Affiliate Marketing. $560 is nice but it isn’t going to allow me to quit my job any time soon. So I looked at other business ideas, wrote a few business plans and reviewed some new opportunities. It wasn’t until Jan 21st when I received a check from Share-A-Sale for $400 that got me motivated again. I earned $400 by doing absolutely NOTHING! My site sat there for 30 days making me money while I went about my daily routine as normal.

Passive income is awesome! For about 45 hours of work designing a website, writing content and a few SEO tactics I was making a steady stream of income that will continue to come in like clock-work.

Re-energized and excited I decided to revisit this whole “Internet Marketing” thing again. With a totally optimized PPC campaign and refined landing page I scored big in Feb generating $2000 in commissions! And that was from only 13 hours of work.

And March I am on track to generate over $4500. Granted I had to put 10 more hours of work into the site but it sounds like a good trade off to me.

I must have lost my mind in December…. “internet marketing can’t generate a significant amount of income.” What, was I crazy. I’m not even done scaling that campaign. I am positive that I can reach the 6K level in May.

All of that success has opened my eyes to what is possible. That means I get new ideas every single day. Some good…..some TERRIBLE. So what’s next for me?

As you can see, I started out no different than you. I could barely spell affiliate 6 months ago.

Now I’m up to my ears in projects! I’m confident that in 6 months you will be surpassing my results. My goal is to prevent you from making the mistakes I made and put you on the fast track toward success.

So buckle up your safety belts because it happens fast!

Mike

Free Affiliate Marketing Course - Lesson 5c

Leave a CommentMarch 16, 2008 Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Course

Comparison Sites

Comparison sites are one of my favorite landing page strategies. Before we get into why I like them so much, let take a look at what one looks like.

The dating niche was extremely lucrative for a lot of affiliates. So when I started doing research about affiliate marketing I looked at those hotly contested niches to find out what the experts were doing.

Granted I had no intention on trying to compete in the dating niche but by studying their landing page design, copy writing techniques and campaign strategy I leaned some valuable lessons about what it takes to be successful at affiliate marketing for FREE.

Here a site that has been in the top 1 or 2 of Google’s paid search for over a year (that is a good sign that this campaign is wildly successful. )

Dating Website Comparisons

Look at the simplicity of that site. Once you have the template, you can duplicate that page for new niches in a matter of hours, not days. As a matter of fact this affiliate has done just that. Take a look at:

Spyware Remover Comparisons

Another over saturated market but it looks like our hero is doing well there too and I’m sure it took him less than 2 days to get these campaigns up and running.

But what about the visitors perspective. Sure it may only take 36 hours to get the campaign up and running but if it doesn’t convert that it was a waste of 36 hours. Comparison sites are designed to capture visitors who are in the buy stage of the buying cycle and present them with all of their buying options so they can make an informed choice.

The last major purchase I made was a flat-screen LCD tv. I searched the internet for hours trying to figure out which brand, which model, 1080p or 1080i, 52″ or 46″, etc. It was a mind-boggling array of options. I read reviews, looked at pictures and checked out prices. Finally I was ready to go shopping (I still don’t trust ordering high-end electronics over the internet yet. I like to touch it, feel it and smell it before I buy).

So there I am in Circuit City with the hours and hours of research I had conducted consolidated onto a little sheet of notebook paper and I begin the hunt for the TV with the perfect specs. 52″ Plasma, 1080p, HD-Ready, preferrably Sony or Panasonic. Simple enough….

I finally found exactly what we were looking for: A 46″ Samsung LCD 1080i. After all of my research what I wanted came down to sitting in front of the TV for a minute and seeing if I liked it. I liked the LCD picture a LOT better, I realized 52″ is way too big for my needs (actually the 46″ also), and 1080p really only matters if you play video games, which I don’t.

So Circuit City gave me the perfect opportunity to look at the features of each TV but also let me experience them for my self.

That is what is great about a comparison site. They give you all of your options in one location, tell you about the features and benefits and even give you the opportunity to check out each site before you decided.

If I were searching for an internet dating platform to use, I would love a site like Dating Website Comparisons. He/She gives me a little info about each site, specifically what they enjoyed best about each one and a ranking of each site. Then I would click on the one’s that sounded most intriquing to actually check them out, coming back to his/her page to go to the next option. In the end, no matter which program I chose, it’s money in the bank!

Comparison websites are perfect for competitive niches where there are multiple merchants with similar products. Why choose only one to promote when you can promote them all!

I love comparison sites and as you’ll see in the case study, they can be extremely profitable.

So it is simple,

Haha, I wish it were that simple but you get the idea. It is an easy process to replicate and scale.

Think Critically

~Mike

Free Affiliate Marketing Course - Lesson 5b

2 CommentsMarch 15, 2008 Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Course

Location, location, location.

In real estate the absolute most important factor is location.

A business is no different. Pick the wrong location and you could be doomed. Gus’ Fried Chicken in Memphis is world famous for its fresh fried chicken. Located downtown on main street, Gus’ is always packed with locals and tourists who’ve heard the lore of Gus’ Famous Fried Chicken.

The bad thing is Gus’ isn’t really that good. Their sign says it was voted the best fried chicken in the world, which is hard to believe because it isn’t even the best in Memphis. The best is Uncle Lou’s fried chicken. Hands down, no contest, the absolute best fried chicken in the world. Everyone I’ve taken there absolutely LOVES it. In fact the Food Network is doing a special on Uncle Lou’s chicken that will air this summer.

But why aren’t tourist flocking to Uncle Lou’s? Location, location, location. It isn’t downtown like Gus’, in fact is in a fairly unsavory part of town. Therefore his business will never be as successful as it could be.

So as we are planning our affiliate marketing business, choosing the proper location is very important because at the end of the day no matter how incredible our chicken taste, if people can’t find it we won’t make any money.

So let look examine the different location choices for our affiliate marketing business.

Blogs
Setting up a blog is quick and easy. Lately a lot of gurus are recommending using a blog as a first step. Caroline Middlebrook wrote a great ebook on setting up niche websites.

It is a great FREE ebook that teaches you everything you need to know about getting your wordpress niche site up and running.

Here are a few examples:
The Airplane Blog - by Gary Conn
History of Elvis - by Mark Mason

The Airplane Blog is a great example. Notice how Gary uses posts to generate mini-articles. Each post helps build a relationship with his customer and demonstrates his expertise within the industry.

History of Elvis on the other hand doesn’t take full advantage of the blog platform. If the purpose of the site is to sell Elvis memorabilia then I think a more straight forward content site would be more suitable.

Blogs are great for building a relationship with your visitors. By providing fresh content regularly you encourage your readers to stop by frequently. This works well for visitors in the research phase of the buying cycle. For example, buying an airplane requires a LOT of research. So The Airplane Blog provides news, reviews and ads for planes for sale.

Typically affiliate programs aren’t suited for blog-style sites. With most affiliate programs, you want to capture visitors who are in the buy phase of the buying cycle and therefore need a simple nudge in the right direction. For example, someone who searches for “Elvis vintage albums” is ready to close the deal. A simple list of albums and a little commentary about the songs on each album is plenty.

So in summary, blogs are quick and easy to set up and work well for niches that require extensive research before a purchasing decision.

Where have you been?

Leave a CommentMarch 15, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Updates

Life as a no-so Super Affiliate can be hectic.

I still have a J.O.B. that keeps be extremely busy with traveling, meetings and projects. Just last week I spent the entire thing in San Francisco. I was up at 7, working and entertaining customers until 11 or 12 every night. The week before was Indianapolis and next week is Colorado.

And that’s not even the fun part. My most profitable affiliate program decided to switch from Share-A-Sale to their own self-hosted affiliate program. Which was actually great news because the new system would have higher payouts and incentives for meeting certain goals. BRING IT ON!

Unfortunately, the transition wasn’t as seamless as we had hoped. It turns out that the new system didn’t work at all!

Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t let the fact that I wasn’t getting credit for any sales hold me back. I was so pumped about the higher payouts and incentives that I doubled my PPC spending, reformatted my landing page and added two new traffic sources.
After 800 visitors and no sales I started to get suspicious that something could be wrong.

I learned a valuable lesson…. only change one thing at a time!

I panicked when I went 3 days with no sales. After all of the work I had done, I expected to take the campaign from converting 2-3 sales a week to 1 per day. Well I’m glad to report that we have reached the goal of a sale a day and things are back on track.

So that is good news for both of us. Now I can get back to focusing on Free Affiliate Marketing Lessons and I can get started on my next campaign. Remember, as part of the lessons I will be doing a case-study using my next campaign.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming……

Direct Linking Case Study

3 CommentsFebruary 20, 2008 Filed Under: Direct Linking

I guess my direct linking post was pretty timely.

I just read a post on Amit Mehta’s blog about direct linking.

Amit is an internet marketing guru who made his millions long before you or I got interested in the game. He, like most of the other guru’s, caught on to this internet marketing thing back in 2002-2004 time frame when competition was much lower but resources were also limited.

Now he is recommending that beginning affiliate marketers us direct linking to click bank products as the best way to start a career as an affiliate marketer.

The good news is, he’s doing a case study to show you exactly how to do it.

I’m not a huge fan of this technique but it will be fun to watch this case study unfold. So don’t miss out but remember think critically. Can it really be that easy? How successful is this technique over the long term. What would your follow up strategy be? Is Amit really using this strategy in his current business?

This type of campaign can be a great start but you have to follow this up with a solid plan. How long do you stick with this campaign strategy? Do you plan to develop a landing page if it is successful? Do you plan to offer supplemental products and upsell to the affiliate product? Is it possible to develop a give-a-way to collect email addresses?

Direct linking is a start, but where do you go from there?

Mike

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