Friday, November 30, 2007

SpeedPPC - A Powerful PPC Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing System?
As a long-time PPC affiliate marketer, I am always on the lookout for tools and methods that will help me keep a competitive edge. Recently I learned of SpeedPPC, a software program and system claiming to 'revolutionize' Pay Per Click affiliate marketing. I hear similar claims on a daily basis, but decided to take a look. Let me say at the outset, I'm a skeptic. Having been in this business for more than 5 years, I've developed my own 'hype detector'. I've also learned there are no “magic bullets”. Successful affiliate marketing requires understanding and intelligent application of effective tactics. [more...]

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Affiliate Radar - Effective PPC Keyword Tracking Tool?By Michael Ullman
Affiliate Marketers spend a lot of time and money on Google Adwords, most of it for “GoogleCash” type direct-link affiliate marketing. The money is spent “buying” keywords, hoping that when someone searches on that keyword, they will see their ad, click on it, and purchase whatever is at the other end. Their cost is a direct result of how many keywords they have to buy in order to cover all the possible search terms someone might use when looking for whatever they happen to be selling. But as most PPC affiliate marketer learn, all keywords are not created equally. They tend to follow the “80-20 Rule”: 20% of the keywords account for 80% of the sales. If these advertisers could avoid paying for the low-performing 80%, and buy only the 20% that convert into sales, all of their ad campaigns would be successful. Recently I heard of a program called Affiliate Radar which claims to improve the ROI of pay-per-click advertising. Affiliate Radar is a new program designed to track each keyword individually, enabling the advertiser to see which one's are 'winners', and which are 'losers'.
In my blog, Improve Your Internet Marketing, I spend a lot of time going over the basics Internet marketing, as well as the tools that can help to achieve success. I stress the importance of keyword research, particularly for Affiliate Marketing. But even the best keyword research is blinded if you cannot track individual keywords. And while Google offers tracking within Adwords, it often requires code to be placed on the product sales page, which is a problem if you're marketing someone else's product through Clickbank, Commission Junction, ModernClick, or any of the other affiliate networks. [more...]

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Absolute Fastest Way to Index your Website!

Google SERPSGetting your new site indexed is the first step in the ranking process. One of the things you should make sure to do is create a sitemap and submit it to Google through “Webmaster Tools”. Google will send it’s spider to crawl your site and index it, or add it to the search database. Nothing happens with ranking until you are indexed.

Here’s a slick little trick that is the fastest way to get your site indexed. (By the way, that screen-shot shows my sites at positions #1, #2, #3, and #4 on a search term returning 22 million pages!) [Read more →]

Monday, November 26, 2007

Internet Marketing is a unique business for many reasons; technology, scale, growth, well you know, it’s the Internet! It does, however share one characteristic with most other businesses: it is easier to fail than it is to succeed. There are lots of reasons, some of them common to any business, some more Internet-specific.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Unique "Direct Publishing" locks in your referrals
Free IQ has done many evolutionary things when it comes to affiliate marketing, such as 1-year cookies and SEO-friendly affiliate links. But they've also done some truly Revolutionary things; one of the most significant is "Direct Publishing".If you have your own web site, and are referring to Free IQ, it is easy to use your affiliate link. But if you have a large site, or multiple sites, it can be all too easy to miss opportunities by inadvertantly leaving out your affiliate link somewhere. Or, you may have many links and content that can get unwieldly to update and manage.What if... you could somehow just say, "Here's my URL, make sure that I get the referral for anything coming from here" - well, that is exactly what Direct Publishing is. You simply "register" your domain through a quick and painless two-step process, and Voila! anyone coming from anywhere on your domain automatically gets tagged with your name!You can only do this for domains that you can save a small file to (just your email address on a blank page), and this rules out blogs such as Blogger - which wouldn't be your domain anyhow. But for domains that are yours, this is a wonderful feature!Here is a short video showing you exactly how to do it. Make sure you do it today - don't risk losing a referral that may become someone else's first!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

5 Step Plan for Budding Internet Marketers with Little Time and Less Money
I received an email from someone on my list saying:
“Help! I am just overwhelmed. I really want to make money online, even if it never makes me rich, just gives me a decent income stream. The problem is that I’m completely overwhelmed with too much information. Also, I just can’t afford to spend much money, […]
[Read more →]

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

There’s NO SUCH THING as a 10 cent keyword!
A few months ago I wrote an article with that title. It drew lot of attention and criticism. But it’s important to understand the premise. When you create an ad campaign in AdWords, each of your keywords has a Minimum Bid that you must meet in order to trigger your ad for that keyword. One of the ongoing objectives for any campaign, is to pay as little as possible, while getting the best conversion. [Read more →]

Monday, November 19, 2007

Some of you might recall the piece I did about SpeedPPC, a revolutionary PPC system that promised previously unattainable capabilities and near-insurmountable competitive advantage. The gist was, after investigating it, I became a ‘convert’, and even considered making it the first affiliate marketing tool that I use myself that I wanted to keep to myself.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Keyword Research Tools to Improve Your Internet Marketing. We offer Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Beginners & Pro's at Improveyourinternetmarketing.com. Check out Melanie's Tips for “The Mother of All Research Tools Lists” and so much more on Internet marketing. 

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Internet Marketing is a unique business for many reasons; technology, scale, growth, well you know, it’s the Internet! It does, however share one characteristic with most other businesses: it is easier to fail than it is to succeed. There are lots of reasons, some of them common to any business, some more Internet-specific.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Some of you might recall the piece I did about SpeedPPC, a revolutionary PPC system that promised previously unattainable capabilities and near-insurmountable competitive advantage. The gist was, after investigating it, I became a ‘convert’, and even considered making it the first affiliate marketing tool that I use myself that I wanted to keep to myself.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Internet Marketing is a unique business for many reasons; technology, scale, growth, well you know, it’s the Internet! It does, however share one characteristic with most other businesses: it is easier to fail than it is to succeed. There are lots of reasons, some of them common to any business, some more Internet-specific.

Monday, November 12, 2007

A Google Keyword Research “Trick”

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you know my philosophy – it all begins with good keyword research. Whether you’re doing minisites, PPC, article marketing, etc., good keyword research is the single most important factor in success.
Niche research is one of those areas who’s success pivots around keyword research. [Read more →]

Friday, November 9, 2007

If you're new to Internet marketing and don't know where to start, this article will cover the basics that you need to know. Specifically in this article we will be talking about how to evaluate which products and information are right for your business, the number one most important thing to success in Internet marketing, and finally a basic understanding of how all Internet businesses work. After reading this article you should have sufficient information to start your career in Internet marketing.
If you've read a handful of sales pages or information about making money on the Internet, you've probably had your skepticism alarm kicked in. That's because of either hype, flat out lies or half-truths. Usually what you're reading a sales page is a best case scenario. How often do things go perfectly planned in your life? I thought so. Evaluate all information with an extra layer of skepticism. That doesn't mean you should discount it -- only that you should know that what you are reading is likely to be a best case scenario. Being able to have the proper viewpoint means that once you apply the information you purchase or read about, you won't get frustrated right away and quit.
Secondly, creating a great product and making a very functional website doesn't matter one lick if you can't get people to look at it. Traffic is the most important thing for your success in Internet marketing. If you are going to make money, you need to know how to bring in traffic. You can either pay for traffic, if you have the budget, you can get high rankings in search engines for select terms, or you can utilize other strategies such as article writing and posting on free classified ads to bring traffic to your website. But some how you must familiarize yourself with basic ways of traffic generation, and then determine which ones you will use to get people to come to your website. This is by far the most important thing in Internet marketing.
Lastly, in order to run your business successfully, you must know how to run a business successfully. It would be very smart to take a few books from the library on business plans. Learn about supply chains, and customer service in addition to marketing. If you can't manage your resources and time, than all the inquiries you get about your products and services from your marketing will fall apart as you begin to handle them. I cannot stress this enough -- you should create a business plan to save you time and maximize your potential for profit.
With the proper skeptical attitude toward the products and information you read, a good traffic generation strategy and a sound business plan, you'll be ahead of 95% of people in the Internet marketing arena. The reason most people fail at Internet marketing is because they give up too early. The reason they give out quickly is because they have no long-term vision. By doing all the above, you'll cultivate a long-term vision and you will also use your time and resources much better.

Michael Ullman is President of Analogy Marketing(http://ImproveYourInternetMarketing.com), a leading NY-based Internet Marketing company. Analogy Marketing focuses on Affiliate Marketing, and markets the tools they use in-house to other Internet Marketers.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

If you're new to Internet marketing and don't know where to start, this article will cover the basics that you need to know. Specifically in this article we will be talking about how to evaluate which products and information are right for your business, the number one most important thing to success in Internet marketing, and finally a basic understanding of how all Internet businesses work. After reading this article you should have sufficient information to start your career in Internet marketing.

If you've read a handful of sales pages or information about making money on the Internet, you've probably had your skepticism alarm kicked in. That's because of either hype, flat out lies or half-truths. Usually what you're reading a sales page is a best case scenario. How often do things go perfectly planned in your life? I thought so. Evaluate all information with an extra layer of skepticism. That doesn't mean you should discount it -- only that you should know that what you are reading is likely to be a best case scenario. Being able to have the proper viewpoint means that once you apply the information you purchase or read about, you won't get frustrated right away and quit.

Secondly, creating a great product and making a very functional website doesn't matter one lick if you can't get people to look at it. Traffic is the most important thing for your success in Internet marketing. If you are going to make money, you need to know how to bring in traffic. You can either pay for traffic, if you have the budget, you can get high rankings in search engines for select terms, or you can utilize other strategies such as article writing and posting on free classified ads to bring traffic to your website. But some how you must familiarize yourself with basic ways of traffic generation, and then determine which ones you will use to get people to come to your website. This is by far the most important thing in Internet marketing.

Lastly, in order to run your business successfully, you must know how to run a business successfully. It would be very smart to take a few books from the library on business plans. Learn about supply chains, and customer service in addition to marketing. If you can't manage your resources and time, than all the inquiries you get about your products and services from your marketing will fall apart as you begin to handle them. I cannot stress this enough -- you should create a business plan to save you time and maximize your potential for profit.

With the proper skeptical attitude toward the products and information you read, a good traffic generation strategy and a sound business plan, you'll be ahead of 95% of people in the Internet marketing arena. The reason most people fail at Internet marketing is because they give up too early. The reason they give out quickly is because they have no long-term vision. By doing all the above, you'll cultivate a long-term vision and you will also use your time and resources much better.

Michael Ullman is President of Analogy Marketing(http://ImproveYourInternetMarketing.com), a leading NY-based Internet Marketing company. Analogy Marketing focuses on Affiliate Marketing, and markets the tools they use in-house to other Internet Marketers.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Keyword Research -- a Secret Trick Most People Don't Know

If you're interested in doing keyword research before entering into a niche or market, then you will want to read this article. Specifically, we will discuss how to do keyword research for free, and the proper way to assure you get the most accurate data so you know which keywords to optimize for. After reading this article, you should have a strategy you can use to start all your keyword research.

If you're going to enter into any niche, you should start broad, then go narrow. This ensures you won't miss important keywords. For example, let's say you were going to do keyword research for dieting tips. To start broad, we'd want to research a term like diet. We are not looking for just keywords with diet in them however, because search engines like Google also analyze relevancy by latent semantic indexing (LSI). What LSI means is that search engines check for similar terms related to diet to determine how relevant the content website is.

To take advantage of LSI properly, do a Google search for diet, but put a tilde (~) in front of the term, so search would look like this: ~diet. Google will return related words in bold such as weight loss, recipes, wheat, meal, eating and foods. Notice the difference from these words and words you'd find in a thesaurus. If you're doing keyword research properly, your best to use terms that search engines tell you are relevant, and not what a thesaurus suggests.

You can then take each of these terms, and do another tilde search, and write down more related words that pop up. By going through broader words into more specific words, you'll be sure not to miss any words related to your keyword, and also have a list of an exact vocabulary to use in your pages to ensure Google will evaluate your content as being highly relevant.

In conclusion, the strategy I have given you something you should use every time you're going to do keyword research for a new niche. While this is not the only strategy you should employ, it is the best one to use for getting a list of terms to look at and consider as traffic sources. The next logical step would be to determine how many users are searching for each of those terms, and then locating ones with high searches so you can optimize for not just the keyword, but related keywords that the search engines also place value upon.

Friday, November 2, 2007

A Google Keyword Research “Trick”

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you know my philosophy – it all begins with good keyword research. Whether you’re doing minisites, PPC, article marketing, etc., good keyword research is the single most important factor in success.
Niche research is one of those areas who’s success pivots around keyword research. [Read more →]

Thursday, November 1, 2007

3 Stumbling Blocks All New Internet Marketers Face

If you would like to start making money on the Internet, but have had trouble doing so, then this article was written for you. Specifically in this article we'll talk about three major stumbling blocks for making money and the Internet. They deal with the areas of information overload, competition and mindset. After reading this article you should be able to develop a strategic plan to avoid these problems which keep many Internet marketers from succeeding.
Most new marketers suffer from “analysis paralysis”. In other words there are so many moneymaking opportunities on the Internet, it's hard to decipher which ones are worth your time and which aren't. In fact some of the information you come across directly contradicts information from another source. Who is right? You must find out yourself through trial and error. The best way to avoid information overload is to set some goals with your Internet business. That way when you come across a new article, or product you will know if it fits into your business plan or not. Without a plan, you try to go in too many directions at one time.
One thing you must understand is that the Internet can be very competitive. It's not like a brick-and-mortar business where you can rely on location as a competitive advantage. There is not any difference in distance between your Internet website and any other way website out there. Unless you're very savvy at marketing, have a strong infrastructure built or have a lot of money to invest in outsourcing work, it is going to be very hard for you to compete with established Internet businesses unless you do something truly innovating. So you have two choices: locate niches where there is not much competition or come up with an innovative idea and improve upon a solution in the competitive area.
Importantly, many people fail because of their attitude. Making money on the Internet is not as easy as all those sales letters would lead you to believe. It can be very lucrative, and once you really “get it” you can easily double or triple your income in no time. But that doesn't mean there isn't work. The best way to approach Internet marketing is to approach it like a real business. In a real business, when you start you must invest a lot of time and money. Most people start businesses on the Internet because the start up cost is low. But there is still an investment. You have to invest time to build content, and create systems which attract visitors to your website and convert them into paying customers. Do you think you can do that with one or two simple clicks of a button? Probably not.
There are many resources online to help you focus your efforts and improve your skills and tactics. In fact, this was the reason we created Improve Your Internet Marketing, our blog of free advice, tips, and strategies for better Internet marketing. In addition to providing support for both novice and experienced marketers, we send out a free newsletter, Melanies Tips, offering additional tips & tricks. Resources such as these can help overcome “analysis paralysis”.
It’s important to know how to utilize the proper information to build and expand your business. Picking the right areas to compete in, having the proper attitude and realistic expectations, and devoting the time to make it work are three characteristics that are absolutely essential if you want to be a successful Internet marketer. With a decent product, a good attitude, and a disciplined work schedule, you will dramatically improve your chances of success and overcome those 3 deadly stumbling blocks.
Michael Ullman is President of Analogy Marketing, a leading NY-based Internet Marketing company. Analogy Marketing focuses on Affiliate Marketing, and markets the tools they use in-house to other Internet Marketers. In addition to their "Improve Your Internet Marketing" blog, they publish the well-regarded Internet Marketing newsletter, "Melanie's Tips".