Līve Ambitions

My friend, Daniel Scocco, of Daily Blog Tips has officially launched OnlineProfits.com.  You can think of Online Profits as an exclusive all-in-one learning center for SEOs and Internet Marketers.  Online Profits is limited to the first 300 people, so once it’s gone, it’s gone.  The program offers training material and resources for both beginners and professionals, so there is something to learn at each level.  The price is reasonable – 4 payments of $98, which comes out to $392 total.

As a member, you’ll get lifetime access to:

• Training material
• Tools section
• Resources section
• Content library
• Social clubs
• Private forum

I’m personally most interested in the social clubs and private forum, as I think it’ll be a good way to network with people who share the same interests as you.

Sign up today before it’s sold out: OnlineProfits.com

What not to do. Buy a list and email blast everyone and their mom.

Email blasts have become all the rage when it comes to marketing. They’re cheap, they’re quick, but you’ll also be surprised to find out that they’re not as effective as you would’ve hoped.  For starters, email blasts are easily blocked out, very impersonal and at times a nuisance – especially since spamming has become a huge thing.

Furthermore, email blasts are often deleted or ignored.  I think we’re all guilty of this and rightfully so.

Years after the introduction of email marketing, many companies have started realizing (from market and research studies) that email blasts, especially when sent too frequently, actually hurt their reputation and even lead to being labeled as a spammer.

To top it off, many lists out there are outdated or inaccurate because the list isn’t properly maintained.

Like most things in life, there are pros and cons, and email marketing is no exception.  If done right, email marketing can be a business’ best friend.

Do it right. Build your own opt-in list.

Got a website?  Good.  Place a form somewhere on your website where you can harvest opt-in emails.

More than ever, trust has become the primary goal of email marketing.  Readers pay attention to individuals or companies they trust.  Afterall, it’s why people initially opt-in to receive emails.  Once you have created a list of opted-in emails, the odds of your email ending in the spam box or being deleted is slim to none.

Email marketing is ideal for ecommerce sites and retail stores because it allows them to pitch their products and services to targeted consumers who have agreed to receive promotional emails.

It also works well for blogs and forums that want to share information or keep their members updated.

You can think of advertorials as a cross between an informative article and a sales copy. Advertorials usually start off by presenting a problem, and ends with a solution of some kind.  The solution they offer is typically a sales pitch to subtly persuade the reader into buying something.

To give you a better picture of what I’m talking about, here are 2 ads that are frequently seen on Yahoo.  The ads themselves are not advertorials, but once clicked, you are directed to the corresponding advertorial page.

The 1st is an ad from HowLifeWorks.com, and the other is by ARALifeStyle.com.  ARALifeStyle was the 1st to use these types of ads, but HowLifeWorks was quick to jump on the business model.  It was kind of innovative because the design of the ads sort of made you feel like those articles were just a part of Yahoo.

Once you click on one of those links, you are directed to a simple looking website. The landing page offers an article, a few related articles, and some sponsored PPC ads.

So you may be asking “what is the big deal?”  Well, there really isn’t.  Simply put, these websites are nothing more than beefed up arbitrage sites.  Except, instead of flipping PPC traffic, these websites are buying CPM traffic and flipping them to PPC and affiliate revenue.  We can easily spot the PPC ads, but the affiliate links are embedded within the article itself.  So, someone who has no clue about affiliate marketing would have no idea that the article’s true intention is to promote an advertiser’s service or product.

The advertorial business model is not entirely new though.  We see it almost everyday.  Websites like eHow, About.com and HowStuffWorks.com all have the similar business models.  When you break it down, they are all websites that provide informative articles about certain topics, and they all make money from PPC ads.  The only difference is that these sites do not include sales verbiage in their articles.  For this reason, we do not look down on eHow or About.com like we do the advertorial sites.

What are your thoughts on advertorial sites?

Commission Junction, North America’s largest affiliate network, has launched a new advertising service called CJ PayPerCall.  We’ve typically seen this type of advertising platform on “Yellowpage” type sites, but it’s still a new concept in the affiliate marketing realm.

Here’s the gist of how the program works:

1. Publisher signs up for pay-per-call campaign (CJ is using a pay-per-call platform called RingRevenue.com).
2. Publisher applies for affiliate programs and selects phone numbers.
3. Publisher promotes the phone campaigns.
4. Customer likes what they see and places a phone call.
5. CJ tracks the phone call.
6. Advertiser receives phone call.

According to CJ, PayPerCall will not only pay higher commissions vs traditional methods, but also increase conversion rates.  At the same time, the advertisers will have increased targeting capabilities and have the ability to reach new markets.

You can sign up for PayPerCall via your CJ affiliate account, or visit: www.cj.com/paypercall

Do you think an advertising platform like this will work?

I knew this was coming.  Because Twitter is so immensely huge and popular, Izea decided to create an advertising platform based solely on tweets.  So, if you have enough money to blow, sign up with SponsoredTweets.com and have your favorite celebrity tweet something about your offer.

It’s a pretty clever idea.  A celebrity with a big following can potentially influence thousands of followers to buy.  Obviously to maximize ROI, the key here is to target the right celebrity to promote your product or service.

This post was inspired by ShoeMoney’s post about how he made $1,120 in one day via Sponsored Tweets with only 4 tweets.  Man…I would be happy with $1 per tweet.  Anyways, if you ever make it to web celebrity status, SponsoredTweets.com may be worth checking out.  I don’t think they accept peons like me. 

Business Listings with DoFollow Links:

VentureBeatProfiles.com
MerchantCircle.com
Kudzu.com
HotFrog.com
JigSaw.com
LATimesInteractive.com
BizCommunity.com
MyWikiBiz.com

Business Listings with NoFollow or Redirected Links:

AboutUs.org
GetSatisfaction.com
InsiderPages.com
Yelp.com
FreeIndex.com

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to manage PPC campaigns in Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing), MySpace, Facebook, Adsonar and even Business.com.  Here is how I rate them (1-7):

#1 Google Adwords - Google has not only proven to be a very effective tool for marketing, but also consistent.  Needless to say, Google brings me the most conversions at the most cost-effective rate.  In fact, in my experience, Google has brought in more conversions than all the other PPC traffic sources combined.

#2 MSN Adcenter (Bing) - Although MSN Adcenter was the late bloomer in the PPC industry, I think they’ve made significant progress in a short amount of time.  I see consistent conversions from MSN on a daily basis, however, their traffic is only about 1/10 of what Google brings.  Cost per conversion is also good.

#3 Yahoo Search Marketing - I’m a little biased against Yahoo because I never really liked them as a search engine.  Google has always been more superior in terms of relevancy, for both organic and sponsored search, so it’s no wonder why Yahoo has lagged so far behind.  Conversion volume from Yahoo may be slightly higher than Bing, however, you can also expect to spend more per click. 

#4 Facebook Ads -  I was running an ad through Facebook with a targeted audience of a little over 1 million members.  Soon after the campaign was set to active, I was surprised to see the volume of views and click-throughs.  I think I received 200 clicks within a matter an hour or two.  I tried them out for about a month, but unfortunately I couldn’t continue due to the high cost per conversion rate.

#5 Adsonar – Adsonar has a massive content network (ie. Fox, AOL, ET, People.com and many more).  In fact, their coverage is so big and fast that your balance may be used up in a matter of minutes.  If you don’t have a big budget, it may even be hard to test out a campaign.

#6 MySpace – MySpace is pretty similar to Facebook ads in that they both allow you to target a large number of members based on specific categories.  I used them for about a month, and dropped them due to lack of traffic and conversions.  At least, I didn’t spend much money to test it out.

#7 Business.com – I was pretty dissappointed with these guys.  I received a bunch of click-throughs, but 0 conversions.  I think their traffic may cater more for B2B type of businesses.

Remember, this is my personal opinion, and it is only based off my own experiences.  Your results may vary based on the type of products or services you’re selling and the profit margin involved.  Some type of products may perform better for certain types of audiences.  The bottom-line with any ad campaign is that it should be profitable.  If you spend $1000 and make $1200, you’ve still made a profit (even it’s small).  If your business is still in its infant stages, you may even opt to break-even just to get some exposure.  Finally, if you’ve tried to optimize your ad campaign and you’re still losing money, then it’s time to move on to a new PPC program or marketing strategy.  Don’t try to force something that doesn’t work.

I know there are other PPC programs out there like Bidvertiser and Clicksor, but I’ve never tried them out.

Update:  After I wrote this post, Microsoft and Yahoo joined forces to “change the search landscape.”

Have you heard of this?  The FTC plans to monitor blogs for false claims and a lack of disclosure for compensation.

As you know, there are tons of blog owners out there that recommend products or services in return for some sort of compensation, whether it be cash or free products.  I would be curious to know how the FTC intends on tackling this massive challenge.  Also, I’m a little split on this subject because on one side, you have the issue of freedom of speech and on the other side, you have the issue of protecting the consumer.

I’m all for protecting the consumer, but where do you draw the line?  At some point, the consumer needs to take responsibility for their own actions.  If you get ripped off, it’s partially your fault for not doing sufficient research.  I know fake reviews on the web are easy to fabricate, however, you shouldn’t buy something solely based on a single review you read on the internet.  There will always be people who stretch the truth and even lie to make money.

I personally do not find anything wrong with promoting a product or service you believe in.  And, hey, if you can get compensated for something you would’ve written about anyways, why not?  It’s a win-win situation.  Now, the FTC wants you to disclose when you’re getting compensated for a review or recommendation.

I’m assuming the FTC is not so much concerned about monitoring personal blogs, but more interested in detecting flogs (fake blogs) or marketers that practice fakevertising (fake advertising).  An example of a flog would be a fake news site set up on an “official news” sounding domain to promote certain products or services.  An example of fakevertising would be using the name of a famous celebrity to promote a product.  I’m sure you’ve seen those fake ads featuring Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil.

Jay Weintraub offers an interesting look at flogs.  These unscrupulous marketers aren’t simply exercising their freedom of speech, they are taking it one step further.  They are blatantly misleading and lying to the public by using fake celebrity endorsements.

I just went over Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.  It’s a solid foundation to have if you’re just starting out in SEO.  The PDF file provided by Google is only 22 pages long, but I decided to make it even shorter.

1.   Create unique, accurate page titles
       a.   Accurately describe the page’s content
       b.   Create unique title tags for each page
       c.   Use brief, but descriptive titles

2.   Make use of the “description” meta tag
       a.   Accurately summarize the page’s content
       b.   Use unique descriptions for each page

3.   Improve the structure of your URLs
       a.   Use words in URLs
       b.   Create a simple directory structure
       c.   Provide one version of a URL to reach a document

4.   Make your site easier to navigate
       a.   Create a naturally flowing hierarchy
       b.   Use mostly text for navigation
       c.   Use “breadcrumb” navigation
       d.   Put an HTML sitemap page on your site, and use an XML Sitemap file
       e.   Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL
       f.   Have a useful 404 page

5.   Offer quality content and services
       a.   Write easy-to-read text
       b.   Stay organized around the topic
       c.   Use relevant language
       d.   Create fresh, unique content
       e.   Offer exclusive content or services
       f.    Create content primarily for your users, not search engines

6.   Write better anchor text
       a.   Choose descriptive text
       b.   Write concise text
       c.   Format links so they’re easy to spot
       d.   Think about anchor text for internal links too

7.   Use heading tags appropriately
       a.   Imagine you’re writing an outline
       b.   Use headings sparingly across the page

8.   Optimize your use of images
       a.   Use brief, but descriptive filenames and alt text
       b.   Supply alt text when using images as links
       c.   Store images in a directory of their own
       d.   Use commonly supported filetypes

9.   Make effective use of robots.txt
       a.   Use more secure methods for sensitive content

10.   Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links

11.   Promote your website in the right ways
         a.   Blog about new content or services
         b.   Don’t forget about offline promotion
         c.   Know about social media sites
         d.   Add your business to Google’s Local Business Center
         e.   Reach out to those in your site’s related community

12.   Make use of free webmaster tools

13.   Take advantage of web analytics services

You should keep these things in mind whenever you decide to develop a new website.  It’s easier/better to launch a website having all these things already implemented vs. fixing any issues later down the line.

I’m a little late on this topic, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it.  I think it was Google who first implemented it, but the others quickly followed.

To me, the search query suggestion feature is just another blow to the SEO industry.  Although the feature adds convenience and saves time, I believe it also alters natural search behavior.  This hurts the little guys the most because people aren’t typing in the long-tail keywords anymore.  Now, people simply select the most popular suggestions even before they’re done typing the entire search query.  I often do this myself.

Undoubtedly, the search suggestion feature only helps to bring more traffic to the bigger websites (and corporations) that are already ranking in top positions for popular keywords.  Therefore, the mom-and-pop sites will have to work twice as hard to compete for the same keywords.  In addition, more money would have to be spent for SEO and marketing.

This may seem unfair for small business, but I think there is an ulterior motive behind the search query suggestion feature.  This is my theory: Since the little guys (small business) can’t compete for top 10 rankings naturally, they would have to resort to paid search marketing or PPC.  This would generate a lot more PPC business for the major search engines.  Why would they target small business?  Because small businesses account for 99.7% of all firms in the U.S.  This is a huge market, especially now that more and more small businesses are looking towards the internet for new customers.

How does this affect the users?  Sure, it adds convenience.  But does it alter natural search behavior?  I think so.  I’m not sure about everyone else, but when I do searches now, I catch myself choosing from the top 3 list of suggestions.

Has it changed your search behavior?