Entries in " internet marketing "  

Have Your Visitors Eating From The Palm Of Your Hand

Ever wonder how you can build a relationship with your website visitors? If not, you should be.

Fact: People buy from people they trust. Building a rapport with your visitors is a sure fire way to turn that visitor into a customer. It's not as difficult as it sounds. I don't mean getting into a personal first name basis with every one of your visitors. That's impossible. But there are ways of building rapport and trust with your visitors. As someone doing business online, this is absolutely vital.

I've written in the past about ways to improve your sales and all of them involve some form of building trust with your visitor.

It's All in the Writing

Writing sales copy that the reader can relate with is crucial. You always need to write a sales letter with the reader in mind. Answer any questions they may have in your letter and you are practically guaranteed a buyer. The trick is to get out of your own head and into the visitors. Place yourself in their shoes. Would YOU want to buy your product after reading your own sales letter? It's an ego thing. Forget your ego and consider the ego of the reader.

Just Be Yourself

Personality goes a long way. All to often I read letters that sound so phony. Some marketer is trying to sell me with a "technically" written sales page. Sure all the bullet points, advantages, benefits and bonuses are there. But the sales letter has no personality. It's as if a robot wrote it (and that's probably what happened, using some pre-packaged sales letter wizard software). In my opinion, sales letters — or writing period — are much more effective if the writing feels like a real person. Joe Vitale says you should "write how you would talk". If you use slang, then write with some slang. It gives your writing a personal touch. That is something people can relate with and helps build a rapport.

I am not a technically trained writer. I am not even a very good writer (hey, I admit it). I do try to write in my own personality. I generally have no problem meeting new people and making friends. I feel like I am a likable guy and so I just write in my own personality. So far it has served me well enough. In fact, if you haven't yet, why not take a quick second to subscribe to my RSS feed and judge for yourself ;)

Prove You're Trustworthy

There are other things to consider as well. Your writing and personality are key to building trust but the visitor also has to know his information is safe. They also have to know that their gut feeling is correct — that you are in fact trustworthy! Some key things to help out here are Testimonials from previous buyers of your product. Some people feel these are cheesy. I never understood that feeling. Your visitors can relate to testimonials because they see other "regular people" who have bought your product and were so satisfied with it, they went out of their way to let you know! Video testimonials are best.

Etc.

Some more drastic steps can be paid services that vouch for your character. This can be things like the BBB Online program or Hacker Safe. While these aren't necessarily required, they will go a long way in the readers mind.

Sure there are many other ways of building a relationship with your websites. Far too many to cover in a single post. Think creatively and you will come up with your own unique flares that your visitor can relate to, which will lead to more sales.

Now go get to work...

Technorati Tags: business, internet marketing, personality, sale conversion, trust, writing

Weak US Dollar = Opportunity

It's no secret that the US economy is slowing down. Oil (gas) prices, defaulting mortgage loans and employer cutbacks are causing Americans to stop and think before they go splurge on some new eBook (or whatever) online.

How can you take advantage of the weak dollar? There are several ways. For example, the export business isn't doing so bad. Because foreign money now gets them more for the the same, they are ordering more than ever. Ports along the west coast have a 6 week wait for container space!

But since we all want to make our money online, lets look at another angle.

An easy way to earn extra income is by promoting affiliate products in countries where the currency is more valuable. For instance, England.

AzoogleAds is my favorite affiliate network (right now) and they offer many programs from various European countries where the currency is more valuable than ours here in the USA. You can use Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing to target traffic directly in whatever country you are promoting to.

If you make a few bucks with this, make sure to send me my cut ;)

Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, business, internet marketing, opportunity, weak dollar

Guide to Industry Networking - Entirely Online - Part Two

In my last post about networking entirely online I spoke about the value of various forums that were out there and how valuable they were. While that is an excellent resource it is not the sort of method I like to use when trying to network online. I am a little more bold and I try to get in direct contact with someone. Either via email or telephone. So, how do I go about that?

Say there is this huge mega super star internet marketer that you are just dying to get on the phone with. First off, you have to understand that these people are very busy and probably not going to want to talk to you when you give them a ring — assuming you are able to locate their phone number. That is the tricky part.

How do you get their number? Well, it doesn't hurt if you have a reputation in the community. Even a tiny footprint in the community can be enough. At least it's a starting point. The reason being is you want the person you are trying to reach to be able to do a little research on you. A blog, like this one, comes in real handy in those situations.

So you want to get on the phone with Joe Blow from JoeBlowMarketing.com. There is more than likely going to be a series of gate keepers (people who will screen their communication). If his business number is on his website, just pick up the phone and dial it. Ask for Joe Blow! You'd be surprised how well just calling and asking for someone works, regardless of how big the name is. Most big guys aren't going to have their phone numbers available to the public how ever...

If their website doesn't have a direct email address, take a few guesses as to what it is. For example, joe@joeblowmarketing.com, jblow@joeblowmarketing.com, jb@joeblowmarketing.com, etc. I know it sounds silly, and it is, but if it pays off in the end is it still silly? Of course not. It was a means to an end.

You now have their email (either given to you on their website or you figured it out). Prepare a nice, personal and honest email explaining why you would like to be in contact with Joe Blow. If you are writing for help, you will probably either be ignored or will get a response from one of Joe's sales guys. Be honest, say you admire his work and would like to try to network with him. Give some of your ideas on how the two of you can earn money together. How are you unique, etc.

Hopefully you will get a response and hopefully it's from Joe himself. Slow build a relationship with the guy. Keep in mind that internet marketers are generally very personable people. I've met and hung out with a few different big name marketers and they never treated me any different than anyone else. Nurture the relationship and eventually it will progress.

Brainstorm ideas to present to him. People, especially marketers, love to hear how you can make them money! Over time it will turn into a friendship and maybe a partnership! Before you know it, you'll be chatting on the telephone with Joe and probably making money together.

(sorry, this post was sort of thrown together and I didn't really edit it... But you get the idea)

Technorati Tags: marketing, internet, networking, business

Guide to Industry Networking - Entirely Online

Everyone knows that networking is a huge part of success in business. With the right contacts, practically anyone can seem like a superstar businessman. In reality, they just have a deep rolodex. The ability to network is a skill that everyone has to be able to get the hang of (if you want to be in business online).

Not everyone has the money to attend those expensive seminars that are held all around the country, many times per year. It might not be a financial setback either. A lot of people, especially "noob's", lack the confidence to get any real networking done at those events. Confidence in ones self, and their knowledge of their particular industry, speaks volumes.

So if you can't make it to the next big conference what are your options? Believe it or not, you can do a lot of networking online. Sure, we all know of the big social networks like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn but there are much more specific methods of networking online.

Specifically in the internet marketing industry, here are a few spots that you may not know about but are absolute gold mines.

Warrior Forum - Most big internet marketers hang out on Warrior Forum. Aside from that, there is tons and tons of information in the posts. The community is geared towards newbies and you are free to ask any question you like.

Digital Point Forums - Like the Warrior Forum above this is an excellent resource. The community here is more geared towards marketers and internet entrepreneurs with a little more experience under their belt. That's not to say that newbies aren't welcome there, but the "hand holding" will be kept to a minimum here.

Both of the forums above are the perfect place to meet people who are successful in the internet marketing business. Best part, they are completely free to join! It's not hard to spot the veterans from the rookies at these places, so why not send some of these people a message and try to get to know them.

If you decide to send them a message you have to keep in mind that they probably receive several messages per day from people like you. Make sure you send a message that will catch, and hold, their attention. Be bold, unique and a little witty (if possible heh). There have been many successful partnerships formed over forums like these so don't knock it until you try it!

Technorati Tags: business, entrepreneur, forums, internet marketing, networking, social network

Twitter - I Jumped On The Bandwagon...

With everyone always yapping and blogging about Twitter, I decided to create a profile and see what all the hype is about. Honestly, I don't see it as being as "friendly" as Groovr (disclosure: I did work for Groovr for some time) so I don't get what all the fuss is about.

I've started following a few people and feel like I've got the hang of it. I will slowly add more people as I continue to navigate the Twitter sea. You can find me on twitter here.

There has been some rumblings this week about Twitter as a service. It appears to be down constantly, although I have yet to notice an outage (but I just started, and still barely use, twitter). TechCrunch has been discussing twitter and their inner turmoils for some time now.

I find it fascinating that Twitter has a service has grown to be so popular, and more importantly, depended upon by it's huge user base. I've seen writings about how to use Twitter to market (something I should probably get into while it's still a fresh & young idea). Can a quick 140 text message really compete with the social networking marketing power that sites like MySpace and Facebook provide?

We shall see (said the blind men.. or something like that)

Technorati Tags: downtime, facebook, marketing, myspace, social network, twitter

JohnChow.com Reviews SmartJabber, Corrections Needed

As you know, I recently announced the launch of of SmartJabber. This is one of the new companies I have been working on the last several months. To help spread the word we ordered a paid review from JohnChow.com. We weren't quite sure what to expect because the review would be an honest one, regardless of the fact that it is a paid review. I am totally cool with that and I wouldn't expect, or accept, anything less.

When we ordered the review we assumed we would be contacted for a free account so the reviewer would be able to fully use the service and get a real feeling for it, how it works, the pros and cons, etc. Well we never got the request for the test account and today I noticed the review had been posted last night (click here to read).

There is some constructive criticism, which I find extremely helpful. However there are some points made in the review that are flat out wrong. The following was taken from the review itself:

This agent then poses a question of your choosing, possibly offering the customer a discount so that they will follow through on the sale. The thing is that this agent doesn’t really exist. They’re nothing more than a photo and an automated script. This is not a true instant messenger in any sense of the word, because the faux agent isn’t really responding to anything that the customer is typing.

This is totally incorrect. The agent responses are completely customizable and tailored to match the users input based on your own keyword/response settings. There is no limit to how many keyword(s)/responses you can use (and each response supports multiple keywords) so you can make your agents seem as real as possible. When a user asks a question that doesn't have a programmed response, it is flagged and logged for your later review. You can then add a response to that question based on the keywords within it.

Because this is the heart and soul of our application, and with the size of JohnChow.com's readership, the fact that they got this wrong is really upsetting. The review appears to be a review of our main website, not the actual service itself. The true benefit was never relayed to the reader because the reviewer never had a chance to see the customer interface, which is where users are able to customize their campaigns based on agents, links, responses, etc.

The review also made no mention of the statistics tracking that we provide. We track everything from the number of interactions, the number of link clicks, the number of sales, CTR, which browsers convert better, etc. All of this is available in the customer control panel but since the reviewer never got to see this they had no idea.

Another issue the reviewer had was the cost. Here is what he had to say:

SmartJabber offers three pricing plans:

$49.95 a month for 3 campaigns
$79.95 a month for 10 campaigns
$199.95 a month for unlimited campaigns

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty expensive for what SmartJabber does. It’s also curious that there is no plan for a single campaign.

He has a valid point about the single campaign plan. I will look into adding that option immediately. While I understand that $49.95/mo is expensive for a web service, especially in today's "free" internet service culture. But when you look at the competition, we are a huge discount. None of our competitors (there are only one or two) offer a flat rate fee for their service. Our competitors charge on a per sale basis. Meaning for every sale their service saves for you, you are charged $10 (last we checked, it was $10 per sale). So if you save 50 sales a month, you are paying $500! Now saving 50 sales a month is being done routinely by us and some of our users. How many saved sales would it take for SmartJabber to pay for itself? That depends on your product & pricing but I am guessing not very many.

I am working on getting in touch with the folks over at JohnChow.com so they can (hopefully) offer a real review of our service. At least update their current review but I am afraid that will not improve the damage that the current review may have done. Oi...

Update: We went ahead and added a single campaign plan for $19.99/mo. In addition, we are going to offer a 60 day free trial to the public. If you want to take advantage of that, click here!

Technorati Tags: business, internet marketing, john chow, johnchow.com, review, smartjabber

Increase Sales Immediately with SmartJabber

What if you had a way to interact with your visitors before they leave your website... What if you had a way to automate turning your visitors into customers. Now there is a way to try and save the people who are abandoning your sales or order page.

Allow me to introduce you to SmartJabber. This is a new tool that I have been working on for a few months. This is part of the reason why I have been so busy lately.

So what is SmartJabber?

Basically it is an automated sales/support chat agent. It is software that sits "in between" your website and your visitor. When the user tries to navigate away from your sales page, they get a notice saying a live agent would like to speak with them. They can choose to continue and leave the page or chat with the agent.

The agent is a programmed "robot" that you will have setup yourself. You are able to program responses based on the keywords of your choice. The agents can be used to offer special discounts to give that final push to purchase your product. It could also be used to offer support based on general issues, etc. A nice tool to handle basic customer service for you. Each campaign can have unlimited agents.

You also have "default" responses which are triggered when no keyword match is found in the users input/questions. When a user asks a question that you have no programmed response for, a default message will be given in response. Also that question is marked and saved for you to review later. You can find which questions are being asked and add answers for them based on your own keyword choices.

There is a series of data that is saved and tracked for you to go over and help mold your campaign. When it comes to internet marketing and sales conversions, numbers are everything! SmartJabber will show you statistics based on date, type, browser, user interaction, user click through (and CTR%), saved sales, conversion rate, clicks per sale and more.

Adding it to any page you want it installed on is as simple as adding 1 line to load the javascript. It literally takes seconds to add this software to your website!

How can YOU get it?

Normally the free trial length is 15 days, but if you're reading this post, I'll double the free trial to 30 days. All you have to do is register your account by clicking here.

The cost of this tool is $49.95/mo for the basic plan which supports 3 campaigns (or 3 websites). I know a lot of people will be skeptical because of the monthly price. We all like free right? Well, I can't give this away for free because it costs me money to run this service and also because I am in this to make money myself!

If you are selling a product then this tool will easily pay for itself every month. If you use it for support, then $49/mo sure is a lot cheaper than paying someone to sit around and wait for a live chat request.

So get your free account and try it out for 30 days. If you don't think it will pay for itself then simply cancel your account and you will never be charged a penny!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR SMARTJABBER ACCOUNT!

Technorati Tags: business, chat agent, internet, internet marketing, marketing, sale conversion, support

No, I Am Not Slacking Off

Word on the street is that I have been slacking off and that is why I haven't been posting much on my blog lately. I wish that was the case but the truth is I have been super busy with work. My partner and I are launching our new company/service this weekend at a seminar here in Los Angeles this weekend. I will announce it next week to the world via this blog, of course!

Launching 2 companies in 4 months is not an easy task. It's been a lot of work and a lot of slow progress but we are very positive it will all pay off, and soon!

As you can imagine it is serious crunch time right now. Days away from the launch of our new service and still putting the finishing touches on small design changes, etc. Oh, and the mixup with our servers hasn't helped either. We were shipped the wrong servers, built to the wrong specs, and have been running ourselves ragged trying to resolve this and get these machines provisioned in time.

Anyways, hang in there. I will post more frequently soon enough. I need to get past this weekend and take a few days to decompress... Wish me luck!

Technorati Tags: marketing, business, tired, entrepreneur, internet

Making Money Selling Leads To Offline Companies

We've all seen the offers in the various affiliate networks for lead generation. A lot of companies pay, and pay nicely, for a qualified lead. I'm sure a few of you reading this are using this method to put money in your pocket every day. But there is a lot of money to be made if you expand outside of the affiliate networks.

Selling Leads To Offline Companies

Ever considered generating qualified leads online for resale to an offline company? I can tell you that this can be very profitable! This takes a lot more work and you will definitely need some salesmanship, but if you are able to build this type of relationship with a company than you can turn a very nice profit!

How does it work? Well let's look at an imaginary example...

Say you meet a dentist who is looking to improve his client base. He know he can find customers online but has no clue how to go about it. He obviously has no clue how to generate qualified leads online and doesn't have the time, or desire, to start learning how. How can you help?

Well, since you are an internet marketer you will be able to bring your skill set to the table and start providing qualified leads for a fee. You can usually get a much nicer payout than on the affiliate networks but the downside is that the dentist probably doesn't have the money off hand to pay you for as many leads as you can bring to the table.

What Type Of Companies To Focus On

Any company that has a sales and marketing department. Any company with an established sales department will usually pay for qualified leads. You can also focus on individual sales people themselves, for example an insurance salesman. You can charge per lead or go for some sort of revenue sharing. There are many options and they will depend on the company, people you deal with, profit potential, conversion rates, average sale amount, etc.

You will have to be a bit of a salesman yourself to land this type of deal. A lot of these companies will be skeptical because they are not familiar with internet marketing. It would probably be a good idea to throw them some leads for free to prove you are able to give them what they are looking for. If you are able to continuously provide qualified, highly targeted, leads then their sales department should be able to close at a nice percentage.

But Is It Worth The Trouble?

As mentioned above a lot of these companies may not be able to afford a high number of leads. So how do you make sure it's worth the trouble? Well, focus on companies that are selling higher priced items. They will usually pay more for a good lead or be willing to do a revenue share. A good example might be a plastic surgery center. If you are able to land a revenue sharing deal then they can handle as many leads as you can bring and your profit will sky rocket as long as they have a decent sales floor.

I know someone who makes $500-$600 a day, every day, selling leads to 2 local businesses. The total cost of generating those leads is less than $15 per day. So, if you can find a good niche and work out a deal with a local company that fills it, you can make a very nice chunk of change.

Technorati Tags: business, lead generation, marketing, revenue sharing

How To Kill Your Affiliate Manager

Ever wanted to take out an affiliate manager you do business with? If you've done any sort of affiliate marketing, I'm sure you have. While we don't want to actually kill (murder, rub out, smoke, ice, put down, etc.) the person, we can get pretty frustrated with them and the company they represent. This post is about a real gripe I have with a real affiliate manager. That's right... I'm calling out names.

WebHostingPad.com

I was contacted by Ben Hong (ben@webhostingpad.com) a few months back. He is the affiliate manager for webhostingpad.com, a new web hosting company that has launched recently. Apparently the company is a spawn of Omnis Network of web hosting companies. I have a website that does a lot of web hosting promotion and so Ben wanted placement on my site.

After a sweet offer of $200 per sale for the first 30 days I said I would give them a shot. I hopped on the phone with Ben and talked numbers with him. He promised me a minimum of 4% conversion on qualified traffic. I sent him traffic slowly and I realized their conversion rate was no where near 4% (more like 1%). Still, I got new sales notification emails and watched my account balance grow. I was happy because the payout was so high and I would just throttle the traffic. I had planned on dumping them after the first 30 days if I didn't notice an increase in the conversion rate.

Then I started noticing sales emails with no record of it in my affiliate account. I got on the phone with Ben and he investigated. After a few weeks, and many annoyed emails/calls from me, he explained it was a "bug" in their software (which is iDevAffiliate, something everyone uses).

I started seeing the writing on the wall so I immediately stopped sending traffic his way. Figured I would let the relationship go and collect what's owed to me at the next payment cycle. Well, when that cycle came I got an email notifying me that I had been paid via Paypal. Well, I hadn't received anything from Paypal confirming and when logging into my account, the payment wasn't there. Now it gets interesting.

I email Ben and got no response. I call Ben and leave voicemail and get no call back. I email again and finally get a response. It was another "bug" in the software and I will get paid on the next billing cycle (a month away) because the sales I was to be paid on had not reached the 30 day requirement (in other words, if the user cancels, my commission is voided). OK, that's fine and I understand that.

Well the next payment cycle has come and gone nearly 2 weeks ago. Ben is no where to be found. I call their number and it's changed to a new one. I call that one and I get no option for his extension. I can only get a tech support rep who promises that he as no way of transferring a phone call. Oh and he is unable to get me on the phone with Ben Hong, or anyone else for that matter. There is no other number I can use to reach Ben or anyone in their affiliate department. It's only him, the mighty tech support rep, and guess what, he is not able to help me with affiliate issues. Of course not.

What are my options?

At this point I am calling it a loss. I'd rather forget all about them and try to get the word out.

I should head down to their office (also in So. Cal. where I am located) and ask to see Ben in person. Thing is, I would rather let the affiliate world know how they run their business and hit them where it hurts, their bottom line.

Funny thing is, I am not the only one with a negative experience. A friend of mine jumped right in with them (after I told him about the $200 offer) and began sending them a lot of sales. See, he has a string of new clients who require a website to continue working with him. He was sending them 4-6 new sales a day. Now these are confirmed sales because these users are his clients and he is on the phone with them while using their WebHostingPad.com accounts.

Guess what? His sales started disappearing. Ben claimed they had cancelled their account, but of course they hadn't. Obviously they are my friends clients and he can easily confirm their accounts were active and the user had not requested cancellation. At least he was able to collect payment on most of his sales. Now he has no way of reaching Ben either. Shady shady!

Feel free to link to, republish, whatever this posting on your blog, forums, etc. Be good to help out our fellow marketers and let everyone know not to deal with these clowns.

Update: - This morning (3/13/08) I received a call from Ben Hong saying he apologizes for all the "mixups" and I have been sent a payment via Paypal. Word travels fast in the blogosphere and less than 24 hours later I was paid in full. Funny thing is, it wasn't a lot of money that was owed to me (less than a thousand) so it wasn't the end of the world and that's why I decided to call it a loss and write the post to begin with.

So for anyone out there having trouble, write a blog post about your issues. The social web has given us a powerful tool to "fight back", so why not use it?

Technorati Tags: affiliate, affiliate marketing, ben hong, commission, shady, webhostingpad

Million Dollar Goal - February Update

My head has been stuck in a washing machine. That's the easiest way for me to summarize the month of February. Looks like March & April aren't going to be very different either. In any case here is a quick update on the status of my making a million smackers this year.

Business

It was a bumpy month business wise. For being the tiny company that we are some people found us and decided to start attacking us, apparently in an DDoS style attack. After a little bit of kung fu I was able to get that under control. We did have noticeable trouble for about 2 days though. Nothing looks worse then 2 days of degraded service on a 2 1/2 month old company. Luckily our customers understood it was out of our control and we were trying our hardest to rid ourselves of the issue.

The month wasn't only bumpy because of the attack. Once thing you have to remember when involved in a partnership is that you have a partner. A few heated exchanges took place but when the dust settled we were better off because of it. It can be tough to compromise on issues you feel strongly about, but it is needed to keep a happy and productive environment.

During the next month's update I will finally give out the company name, website. Also early next month will be the launch of a new product we are working on. It is a tool designed to help users convert their website visitors into buyers. Obviously those in the affiliate marketing world would be a little bit interested. The product will be launching at a seminar here in Los Angeles next month.

My affiliate marketing progress has really been hampered due to the amount of work I've had related to the businesses. I do need to find some time to sit down and really find what needs changing, where to tweak and strategically plan out the next few months. Otherwise I am afraid I will lose the momentum and progress that I've made so far.

Personal

Well I have been dieting more and making good progress. The real real motivation for this progress is below (keep reading) ;) I've been making it a point to do cardio exercises at least 3 times a week. My knee has been bugging me and I need to make a decision soon. Lighter squats or go buy some strong knee supports. Probably going to go with the supports as I couldn't see myself killing the progress I've made by not pushing heavier weights.

March Goals

Well, on the 14th I am taking off to Cancun (the motivation I mentioned earlier). I am only going for a few days but it will be a blast! Sort of a mini break from work because the next few months I will be glued to my MacBook. So a big goal for me is to finish up fixing any bugs in our new products user front end before the trip. I don't want any of that on my mind while I am out there. No work this time, all play!

As if I didn't have enough on my plate, I was tapped to coach my youngest daughters soccer team for the spring season. Not enough coaches for the spring and if people didn't start stepping up, a lot of kids wouldn't have been able to play. Oh, and just my luck... One of the kids on my team has parents slugging it out in a very nasty divorce. We've only held 2 practices and I have already been asked for a document stating their child hasn't been to practice — for the judge!

Business wise I want to continue to grow this company and have a successful launch of our new product. Both of them will help me reach my goal this year. It's so close I can taste it, but still just slightly out of reach.

Wrapping Up

This post is more of a rambling than anything. Trying to finish it before the train comes (see future post on commuting via train/subway in LA.. oh boy!). All in all, the year is on track and I still think I have a shot at hitting my goal!

Technorati Tags: cancun, partnership, business, millions, make money online

How To Deal With Click Fraud

Today TechCrunch has a post written about the rise of click fraud in 2007. The article references a new report from a company named Click Forensics. The report states that click fraud rose 15% for 2007. If you are using PPC to help you make money online, then this news is obviously important to you!

The TechCrunch article notes the following: "According to this data, nearly one out of every three clicks on a Google or Yahoo ad is fraudulent." Yowza!

Detecting Click Fraud

There are lots of options for software solutions on how you can track click fraud. Some options are more expensive than others. But how can you detect it on the cheap?

First, you need to make sure you track your incoming clicks. Usually this is done by sending the user to a specific URL when they click one of your ads. That URL will handle the tracking for you by making a note in a database. This is easily accomplished in PHP (and other scripting languages). If you aren't one for writing code, there are scripts available for download that are either very cheap or completely free.

The easiest — and most obvious — way to spot click fraud is seeing multiple clicks from the same IP address (or IP address subnet). There are companies out there who's sole purpose is to commit click fraud. They have multiple servers running 24/7 submitting phony clicks. So pay attention to the IP addresses and look for patterns.

Filing Click Fraud

So if you happen to notice that one of your campaigns has been the victim of click fraud, what do you do? For the big search engines the process is usually very simple. Give their advertising department a call and let them know about the trend you spotted. They will usually ask you to submit a ticket of some sort with the evidence you have as well as a URL where they can see the evidence for themselves. So if you keep your data password protected, you may need to add a new account for the search engine folks.

Some companies — like Google — issue a credit pretty quickly (48 hours or so) but it can take up to a week for them to investigate. I've noticed that Yahoo tends to take longer than most to issue a credit. I had one case with Yahoo open for nearly 3 weeks before credit was issued.

Conclusion

Since PPC advertising is so important to affiliate marketers, the trend of click fraud is costing you money (after all, time is money!) If it starts to become a serious issue for you it is probably worth the time and effort to submit the trouble to the advertising platform and get some credit issued to your account.

Even if the fraud isn't denting your pocket too much, it is a good idea to keep track of it. Removing fraudulent clicks from your over all tracking will help show you your true conversion rate.

Technorati Tags: click tracking, advertising, click fraud, ppc

Page Peel Away Ad - For Free!

I ran across this article today by John Chow talking about the more and more popular peel away ad. It's basically an ad that sits in the corner of your website and "peels away" when your visitor places their mouse over the ad.

Some people are reporting a lot of success using this type of ad. In John's article he is promoting the product for the special price of $37. While I am sure this is a good price — and I hate to step on any toes — but there is another option.

You can get a script that does the exact same thing for free. The script is called PageEar and can be downloaded here. I don't personally use this script for anything but I have buddies who do and they claim it works fine and functions properly across all standard web browsers.

I have no clue what is involved in adding this to your blogging platform (wordpress, etc.) as I use custom software that I created. I am sure it's quite easy using your systems template editor.

So there you have it, my gift to you. If anything I saved you from doing a google search and finding this yourself :)

Download PageEar here

Technorati Tags: free, john chow, page ear, peel away ad

Web Designers Are Worth Their Weight In Gold

I realize that the title is pretty obvious in the internet marketing world but it's something that many of us forget far too often. A good web & graphics designer can sky rocket your conversions (profits) and turn an OK campaign into a great one.

One thing I usually try to do when creating a new web page is take a free template and tweak it into something I think looks good. Problem is that I don't have a creative bone in my body — at least in the web design sense. The end result is I wasted time because I still end up paying someone a few bucks to make a nicer page for me.

I am a programmer not a designer and because I know how to write HTML, and CSS to a lesser degree, doesn't mean that I should. I've also purchased templates in the past and that has been OK but my best results have always come from a unique design created by someone with the proper mind for it. Meaning, someone who can envision the website and then bring it to life.

Finding a good designer is not always easy. I use two guys who I got via a referral and they give me a break on the price. I usually only need a single page from them and I can create any other pages needed from their one page template. So that helps lower the cost but I still have to pay for any additional graphics I may need.

Here is a recent example. I built a "rating" type site for a niche I am starting to promote. After the usual test, tweak, repeat process I didn't feel it was performing very well. The next step was the design and that cost me money that I was trying to save for advertising costs. After the new design was ready and put in place, I saw conversions jump up at least 150%. I still can't explain it because the site doesn't look so great to me, and presents the same information as the old design, but it obviously has something that is more appealing to the end user. My brain just doesn't see things in that way.

As a programmer I tend to want to do things myself. Sort a control freak I suppose. I am slowly learning that design is something I need to outsource because in the long run, I'll save time and money.

Technorati Tags: advertising, graphics, marketing, web design

Million Dollar Goal - January Update

This is a quick recap of my progress for January. I made a crazy goal for this year and so I am keeping people updated here.

Business

The company I co-founded is doing well for our current stage. We are live and actively getting subscription sales. We are right on track for the volume of business that we are currently able to handle. One negative is our customer up selling. It's progressing slower than we would like but we still need to put together a proper training system for our only sales guy. I am still not ready to announce the company name / website; maybe in the February recap.

My affiliate marketing efforts fell a little behind because I was super busy with other projects. I have been spending my personal time catching up and tuning campaigns, etc. I still made slightly more than 6K profit for the month. I am positive if I had more time to focus on these efforts I could have squeezed out another thousand or two. These are small numbers compared to others, but I am very happy with my progress in these ventures.

Personal

One thing that has been really tough is my dieting. Well, the issue is, I haven't been dieting! Prior to this year I had been working from home for quite a while and got used to the convenience it provided in terms of making a healthier lunch, etc. Now that I am commuting into Los Angeles again, lunch is usually the nearest place selling a hamburger. Not good.

February Goals

I will spend more time on my affiliate marketing efforts. I do have a full plate on my hands this month but I will make the time to tweak my campaigns and try to up my profit for the month.

I am also starting on a new project that should have a beta available by March. It should be ready for full public consumption by the end of March. I don't want to say too much about this yet, but it will be a service to help with visitor conversions. More on this later.

I will continue to hit the weight racks every morning. I need to design a new work out routine, as it's been far to long since the last time I switched it up. It's generally smart to switch routines every 6-8 weeks to keep your muscles guessing. I will also focus on running a little more, though my left knee has been pretty sore for the last week.

I have to start eating better. My usual lapse here is my lunch. I have to make the effort to get a lunch ready the night before and take it into work with me. If I could drop 10 pounds of fat I think I would be satisfied and try to maintain at that point.

Wrapping Up

That's a basic recap for January on my progress of hitting the $1 million dollar goal I have for 2008. When I announce more about the company I co-founded I will give more details in terms of financial gain, etc. Will I hit my goal of a million bucks this year? I don't know, but I sure will try! Regardless, it is shaping up to be a very good year in my life. A life changing year.

Technorati Tags: affiliate, business, make money online, marketing, weight lifting

Getting Rich Quick - Online

I stumbled across an article today titled How To Make $1,000,000 By Blogging. It's an awesome read and pretty funny through out the entire piece. It's basic outline is that you use the money you make from your blogging to buy lottery tickets to win $1,000,000+.

The moral of the story is that blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. I've written before about how I plan to make a million bucks this year and in the post I give an outline of my overall plans to achieve this goal. A lot of people feel that they can throw together a blog, mix in a few ads and post a few times a week and they are good as gold. Unfortunately, it's never that easy!

When you look at the TechCrunch's and the John Chow's of the blogosphere, there is an underlying theme to be found — hard work. There isn't much in life, that's worth anything, that comes to you easily. Building a million dollar blog, or website in general, is no exception.

If you are willing to put in the blood, sweat & tears you will be successful. Stay motivated and never give up, even when you fail (and continue to fail). Get up, try again, repeat. Throw enough sh*t on the wall and eventually some will stick (probably have that saying incorrect but I'm a city boy, what do you want from me)

In my opinion there is no better opportunity for an entrepreneur than the internet. Instant access to a global marketplace and relatively inexpensive methods to setup shop. It's never been easier for us dreamers to "make it happen" than right now. My question to you is... what are you waiting for?

Technorati Tags: blog, make money online, marketing, millions

$100 Yahoo Credit Coupon

I got this heads up from UberAffiliate.

Get $100 Yahoo credit for search pay per click advertising. Minimum deposit required is $30, so spend $30 and get $100. Quick way to test out those campaigns you have been wanting to try! If you already have a YSM account, just create a new one to activate the $100 credit.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: coupon, ppc, yahoo

Up Your Profits With Google Checkout

I, like many, have been frustrated with Paypal the last few years. Their policy is a little one sided and it's the merchant who gets the short end of the stick. I know I am not the only one who has had their entire account locked—with all funds frozen—as a result of a single complaint from a buyer. I slowly took my payment processing to other venues and basically only use Paypal for eBay purchases now.

How are we supposed to process orders without a payment processing partner? There are many options out there that are suitable for selling goods (digital or not) online. If you want to go all out you can get a merchant account and setup an account with a gateway processor, such as Authorize.net or USAePay. That is a little extreme for most of us, especially those sites that are only selling a digital product (eBook, spreadsheet, etc.)

ClickBank is a very popular alternative for people who are selling eBooks online. I am one of those odd people who has never used ClickBank before so I don't have a real opinion on them. The people I know who use it say it's a decent system that they don't have too many complaints about. One thing I don't like about it though, is the $50 account setup fee. That's one of those things that makes me go Hmmmmm...

The option that is getting more and more popular is Google Checkout. I have been working with Google Checkout the last few months and honestly haven't had many issues. It does require a little more work on the merchant's part if you are selling digital goods. Basically you need to have a script running somewhere to process orders on your end and automatically email out the download information for your product.

It's software integration ability makes Paypal's look like childs play. Since I am also a programmer, I have been working on a system to automate my side of the Checkout purchases. I have been using gchecky module (written in Python) for my development and it's been a breeze to work with. There are also multiple libraries that you can use for your own development. Maybe once I am done with my system I will give away a free, smaller, version of it for all of you out there.

Google dispute policy is much more neutral than Paypal & others. The few times I have had to deal with it they have been fair to both sides and resolved the dispute accordingly. I have a friend who charges 5-10K a day using Google Checkout and since Google does a lot of the verification work, his charge backs have nearly disappeared!

If you are looking for an alternative to Paypal, try out Google Checkout! I don't think you'll regret it.

Technorati Tags: click bank, development, google checkout, marketing, paypal, python

Reach Your Audience With Grand Central

Ever wanted to literally speak with the visitors to your website? There are many options for this, for example Skype, but none are as complete as GrandCentral. The service—which was purchased by Google—is an all-in-one service for your telephone(s).

The service has an awesome web button which can allow website visitors to call you straight from your website (without giving out your phone number). I recently started testing this on a website I own and in the last week have seen a 15% increase in conversions (even though I have only been called once!) I suppose it provides extra peace of mind to the visitors. It is important that your visitors trust you if you expect them to buy something you are recommending.

I use GrandCentral for more than my website traffic. I now only give out my GrandCentral number so I can easily screen the callers. The feature list resembles the features of a mini PBX system and the service is completely free (for now)!

The service is in beta, but you can go ahead and reserve a number now. I have five four invites left that I can give away. These will allow you to setup a GrandCentral number immediately. No waiting the days/weeks for your beta account to be accepted :) I will give those invites to the first five four readers who email me requesting an invite.

I will be testing the web button on another site beginning next week. Assuming it goes well I will be adding it to nearly all the websites I own. If you decide to try this out on your sites, let me know how it goes. I am very interested to see if adding these buttons makes a big difference across the board.

Technorati Tags: conversion, grand central, marketing, telephone

Monetizing Adult Websites

I normally don't like to write about the sites I use to generate income but I have blogged about this before. I co-own the NSFW website AhCabron.com. The basic idea is that users upload their photos so others can comment and vote on them. Most of the work that I need to do on this site is just help approve the uploads. We try our best to make sure that the uploaded photos are not obviously copyrighted, etc. and the users take it from there.

Adult sites that are free to use are usually more difficult to monetize. A good chunk of the users will be 14-18 year old boys who have no credit card and rarely click ads. The only form of monetization we currently use is text ads via BlackLabelAds (or AdBrite) and some affiliate banner ads.

In the past we were working hard doing direct deals with advertisers. That made much more money than just text ads do, but was a lot more work. We didn't feel the return was worth the effort, so we slowly phased that out and went back to text ads.

We also do ZERO advertising. All our traffic is, and always has been, referral traffic. Some how word got out about it and people starting flooding in and bringing a friend with them. So much so that we had to buy a second server to split the load.

With all this traffic success, I still haven't figured out how to turn that traffic into real money. We are averaging 250K page views per day, but our checks every month are very low compared to our traffic. I have a few ideas I want to try to up the websites income but I have been thinking...

How do I successfully monetize a "free to users" adult website? I am hoping someone out there in the blogosphere will have some experience in this area and send me a tip. Any takers?

Technorati Tags: adult websites, ahcabron, make money online, advertising