A few months later and now Wordpress 2.6 is here …
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Only a few months later and it’s time to upgrade to Wordpress 2.6. As always, you are well advised to upgrade to a stable release whenever possible. I think the most useful feature so far has to be theme preview. In Wordpress 2.6, at the design tab you can preview exactly how a theme will look without actually activating the theme - so you can test design features on live sites etc without messing up what’s already in place. This is a very welcome feature, especially when you are deriving a source of income from a blog.
You can download Wordpress 2.6 here.
Have you upgraded to Wordpress 2.5 yet?
Wordpress 2.5 is out and ready for download. This is a major upgrade and with all wordpress releases you should upgrade as soon as possible - especially for security bugs and fixes which may have been resolved with this release.
Here are 10 things you need to know about Wordpress 2.5
Yahoo Sponsored Search abandons fixed-priced minimum bids, adopts Google model
Yahoo recently announced that minimum bids for sponsored search will change from their flat $0.10 fixed price to a variable model. In a nutshell Yahoo is adopting the Google model of setting a minimum bid price based on what Yahoo values the keyword(s). So some keywords could have minimum bids less than $0.10, and others higher. As expected a lot of affiliate marketers are in an uproar, considering the variable minimum bid pricing model was the reason a lot of them left Google in the first place. If you’re in a highly competitive industry, expect your bids to go up, way up as Yahoo will now take into account factors such as the amount of people bidding on the same keywords and what those people are willing to pay for those same keywords. This of course means more money for Yahoo, and expect the smaller people to get pushed out while those with the deepest pockets move up.
If you build relevant, high quality ads and relevant landing destinations - you’ll be fine. Everyone else better get your account manager at your credit card company on speed dial …
eBay gives Commission Junction the boot - Launches it’s own Partner Network
In case you haven’t heard, eBay has launched it’s own Partner Network and will be leaving Commission Junction. If you’re an eBay affiliate you have until May 1st, 2008 to migrate all your links to the eBay Partner Network with new eBay identifiers. eBay has also announced a 5% bonus for all affiliate traffic through April 2008, so the sooner you migrate the more money you can make.
To get started:
- Register with eBay Partner Network on April 1, 2008
- Confirm your registration, and obtain your new identifiers
- Update your links with your new identifiers
- Complete migration by May 1, 2008 deadline
For more details, visit the announcement at eBay’s Affiliate Blog here
Small Sites, Big Money eBook Review
If you’re still wondering how to make your first dollar online amidst a sea of mutli-million dollar websites and giants, then Small Sites, Big Money might be a step in the right direction for you.
Matt Coddington - the author of this ebook runs a blog at mattcoddington.com, but he’s gained a bit of internet notoriety when he built and sold netbusinessblog.com for $13k in less than five months. Netbusinessblog.com’s focus prior to the sale was on building small niche sites, so it comes as no surprise when Matt decided to release this eBook on building niche sites - Small Sites, Big Money.
Small Sites, Big Money contains a lot of useful information. Matt walks you through building a niche site in the following steps:
- Finding & Researching a Niche
- Monetization
- Website Development
- Search Engine Optimization
The ebook clocks in just under 31 pages, which some people might consider somewhat short - but those pages are filled with solid information. I also own a few niche sites and I was able to pick a lot of useful tips and pointers - so there’s something in this ebook for everyone.
There were a few things that I didn’t like about the ebook - but the main problems I have are not with the content but rather with the layout. The layout could have been structured a little better with clear categories and sections. There are no chapters for example, Pros and Cons are bunched together (would have been better if they were in numbered lists), headers and footers would have been useful to help keep track of what sections you were currently reading. The ebook might seem rushed to some - but again don’t let that fool you because there is a lot of good content. The additional resources section is almost non-existent
Even though Small Sites, Big Money might seem a bit expensive to some at $40 - there’s an affiliate program and I guess the price accounts for sales commissions, and there are some really good gems in here, especially the section “Scope out your Competition.”
To purchase or for more information, visit the Small Sites, Big Money website here.
Aaron Patzer is an example of the Ultimate Affiliate Marketer
I came across a post today at Techcrunch announcing that Mint, an online service that helps you manage your finances raised an additional $12.1 million in financing (in addition to a previous $4.9 million for a combined total of $17 million) - with venture capitals reportedly tripping over themselves to throw money at Mint. They ended up picking Benchmark Capital, one of the most reputable venture capitalist companies in the United States. Benchmark Capital has invested in some of the biggest companies online, such as eBay, AOL, bebo, Ofoto, Prosper and more - see Benchmark Capital’s portfolio here.
What struck me the most about the post however was the similarity between companies like Mint and affiliate marketers. According to the post, Mint makes it money from lead generations. Users click on presented opportunities 12-15% (i.e. click through ratio) of the time. Those are some pretty high conversion ratios, and with a user base of 160,000 ( e.g. RSS subscribers) and 10,000 new users per week - Mint is making some serious money. The online management service is the linkbait, and once you’ve signed up you are presented with “suggestions” (the affiliate offers) on how you could save money here and there.
I have nothing but admiration for companies like Mint, and this just a small example that shows you the possibilities of affiliate marketing. The sky is the limit.
The Revolution Pro Wordpress Theme Contest
Brian Gardner at the Revolution Theme is having a contest where one lucky winner will receive an updated, re-designed & un-released version of the revolution theme - The Revolution Pro Media Wordpress Theme. Brian is a very popular Wordpress designer with a couple of really great magazine and news media style themes under his belt such as:
- The Revolution - for static sites such as businesses, portfolio sites etc
- The Revolution News Theme - for the online newspaper look similar to CNN, US World & News Report etc
- The Revolution Magazine Theme - for publishing online magazines, want to be your Perez Hilton or TMZ? Look no further.
- The Revolution Tech Theme - technology focused, e.g. TechCrunch, Engadget fans will love this theme
- The Revolution Sports Theme - sports focused theme, blog about Baseball, basketball etc
The Revolution Pro Media Wordpress Theme is an upgrade from the Revolution Magazine Theme. It’s hard to tell you what features the new theme will have (it’s unreleased :-)), but from the looks of the theme the new one has a much better layout. The sections stand out better and the icons for RSS, Email Updates & RSS Comments Updates have all been redesigned and placed prominently at top right.
In the new theme the main section stands out and draws the reader in without too much distraction from the other sections. This is a very great looking theme and if I won this theme, I would use it to launch an entertainment related site and start a case study where you - dear reader would follow along step by step as I try and flip the entire domain for 100x my initial investment by this time next year. I already have a few ideas in mind ….
Creating a Long-term Cash Cow with the Rocket Profit Affiliate Network
Originally, the title of this post was either going to be something like “The Killer Guide to Making Money Online with the Rocket Profit Affiliate Network”, or “The Ultimate Guide to Making Money Online with a Rocket Profit Affiliate Program.”
Then I realized that no way truly is the best, the best is whatever works for you depending on your situation.
Landing site or Landing Page?
Most affiliates will go for the fast buck and create a landing page for their offer. You can make money - but conversion rates may be low (you’re only getting ppc traffic), which means you’ll have to spend a lot of money upfront to turn a profit. Secondly, if the offer gets pulled from the affiliate network (this happens more than you might think) - what are you going to do?
I prefer to build a viable online business in the form of a landing site around a product or offer. I can start with no money at all, I don’t have to worry about offers being pulled (you can just substitute another related product), I get my own website in the process - and in the end I can sell the whole operation for 100x my initial investment. It takes longer, but in the long term it pays off more and I’m going to show you exactly how to do this by picking an offer from a hot, new affiliate network - Rocket Profit.
Rocket Profit
First of all, let me just say that Rocket Profit has to be the MOST exciting affiliate network that I belong to right now (and I belong to a ton of networks). Rocket Profit has a lot of great offers, and more especially some really juicy, exclusive offers. The people behind Rocket Profit really know their stuff. There’s a lot to like about the network - for example the parent company is traded on the Nasdaq so that should tell you there’s nothing shady about the company - but 2 of the most important things that should matter to you as an affiliate are:
- Payment - how fast and what’s the minimum payout level?
- Communication
Rocket Profit offers super fast commissions which is extremely important and better yet they have a low payout level, $25. I belong to some affiliate networks where you don’t get paid for months (credit card affiliate programs are notorious for this) and others where you have to earn at least a $100 before you get paid (Adsense anybody?). Better yet, Rocket Profit sends payment by Paypal without any extra fees! See Rocket Profit’s payment options here, click on FAQ.
Secondly, I haven’t seen a more pro-communication network than Rocket Profit. They have 24/7 customer service, and when you login - your affiliate manager information is displayed prominently on the top right of your user panel. Which brings me to my first step towards creating your long term cash cow …
Know your Affiliate Manager
This factor is often overlooked by a majority of affiliates. Upon joining a new network - most just look through the available offers and pick the offer with the highest payout. I used to be guilty of doing this. What you might not realize is that sometimes the offers with the highest payouts are the hardest to convert - that’s why they pay so high! Unless you are a super affiliate, stay away from those kinds of offers. Now, I always make it a point to introduce myself to my affiliate manager for two major reasons:
- Your affiliate manager will tell you what the hottest offers are
- Your affiliate manager can provide you with conversion rates and eCPC - essential if you are going to be run a PPC campaign
Choose an Offer
So after introducing yourself to your affiliate manager, the next step is to pick an offer. You can take your affiliate managers advice and pick a hot offer - or you can pick your own offer. The two main criteria I use to pick offers are:
- Exclusivity - why market something thousands of other affiliate marketers are promoting the same thing? I want something nobody else has and I like to get in early. Plus common offers means a lot of competition - which in turn means my keywords might cost me more in a PPC campaign
- Promote something I’m interested in - I’m in this for the long haul, and I’m going to put in the hours. I pick something I would enjoy telling my best friend about. If I really don’t care about a product or offer - my campaign will turn out sloppy.
The offer I decided to pick is Shaq’s Big Family Challenge. It’s in a very hot niche - weight loss. It’s a family oriented activity which is excellent because it opens up avenues for cross selling opportunities to everyone in the family, and best of all, it’s associated with one of the most famous athletes on the planet, Shaquille O’Neal. By default, the product has already sold itself by association - who would you rather listen to about weight loss, Shaq or some guy in a white frock on a herbal supplement site?
Next, I always try to increase the amount of my payout by looking for the kinds of offers that send free samples of a related, complementary product and all the customer has to pay for is s&h. The customer gets this as a sort of thank you for signing up - and it turns out to be a win-win situation for everybody. Rocket Profit has such an offer, the Power Tea Weight Loss Sample.
Build a site
I would start a self-hosted Wordpress blog as opposed to a site - primarily because I can rank easier for organic search traffic and Wordpress has so many free design templates and plugins this makes it easy to build a really professional looking blog in no time. Plus a blog allows me to build a connection with my potential audience and most importantly - I can easily build a RSS base which I can also monetize. I won’t go into the details of building a Wordpress blog - but Caroline Middlebrook has an excellent resource here. I would name the blog something like familyweightloss.com - notice that there’s no mention of the actual specific product in the title. This is important because if for some reason the offer is no longer available, I can just substitute another weight loss product.
Another advantage of picking an offer based on a famous celebrity is that you just might run into this person and grab the chance for a photo. Post that prominently on your blog and your credibility is through the roof! Anybody attending NBA All Star Weekend 2008 this year?
Create a Target Customer Profile
I’d create a profile of my target audience. In this case they are families - where do families hang out online? Weight-loss forums? Health & Fitness sites? I would target Dad & Mom, especially Moms because they often control the diet for the entire household. Plus, Moms will tell other Moms and you can’t beat word of mouth advertising.
Drive traffic to my site
Traffic can either come to your offer directly, or indirectly (organically) via a search engine. I focus 80% of my efforts in driving direct traffic to my site, you are at the mercy of the search engines for organic traffic. I would do these things to send direct traffic to my offer:
- Article Submission - submit well written, original weight loss articles to ezinearticles etc on the challenges families face trying to stay healthy, obesity in teens, etc with a link back to my site
- Leverage social media sites such as squidoo, stumbleupon
- Hang out at weight loss forums
- Hang out where parents hang out online - school message boars, community bulletin boards etc. This will not be difficult if you have an accurate customer profile
- Become an active, relevant commentator at high powered health related blogs in my niche
- Employ some offline marketing such as leaving some flyers at a gym or fitness club, buying some custom t-shirts with my url - handing these out to friends etc
All the above items also have the added benefit of creating organic traffic for you. I would also launch a PPC campaign with a focus on highly targeted keywords and phrases. There’s an excellent article here that I recommend you read on running a PPC campaign on a low budget. Even if you have lots of money to spend, this article will help you stretch your dollars longer.
Conclusion
There’s no secret to making money as an affiliate marketer - it takes working smart and time. Build something valuable, something that fills a need with an eye towards long term growth. You have the solution, drive the people who need your solution to your site directly or organically. Install free tracking software on your site such as Google Analytics, optimize and tweak accordingly. Turn yourself into an authority in your niche. Rinse, dry and repeat. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a long-term cash cow to go build.
A Few Mentioned Resources
Sign up for Rocket Profit here
Lose Weight with Shaq’s Big Family Weight Loss Challenge
Receive a Free Sample of Power Tea Weight Loss
No Country for Duplicate Content
A word to the wise - always take free content from your affiliate merchant networks, especially articles with a grain of salt or risk getting penalized by Google for duplicate content.
Love it or hate it, Google has the lion’s share of traffic on the internet. A duplicate content penalty means you could end up in the sandbox, and this will impact your site negatively in two major ways:
- You will see a huuuge decrease in your Pagerank, e.g. pr 6 to a pr 3 or even a pr 4 drop to pr 0!
- You won’t get anymore organic search engine traffic from Google
That last part is the most problematic, because as an affiliate that’s going to hit you in the wallet - the only way you can drive traffic to your sites now are with paid campaigns.Free resources are great, the problem is hundreds or thousands of other affiliates promoting the same product also have access. However, if you’re not the original source of the content, you have a duplicate content problem. When googlebot indexes the web, who gets credit for the original content if more than 1 copy is found?
Duplicate content is a very touchy subject - what’s a webmaster to do if a hot original post gets picked up by a higher ranking SERP site such as Digg or Reddit? Some say the first site to get indexed gets the credit, others say the site with the most relevant links does - because google equates relevant links with authority.
It’s hard to say exactly how Google checks for duplicate content because Google is very secretive about their methods, but Google is very good at catching it. I like to use free content as a springboard to writing my own original content. I try to retain roughly 30% of the free resource (in order to maintain keyword relevancy) and rewrite the other 70%. A big advantage I get from re-writing the free content myself (as opposed to paying someone to do it for me) is that it helps me think of keywords and search phrases for the related ppc campaign.
Either way, the ORACLE has spoken …. How do you deal with duplicate content?
Is The Starwood American Express card the best rewards Credit Card for Affiliate Marketers?
As an Affiliate Marketer, the kind of credit card that you use can make all the difference in the world. You should be treating affiliate marketing as a business, and as such you need a serious business card. If you are using your personal credit card for your online efforts you might as well be flushing that money down the toilet.
- Separate business expenses from personal expenses - your accountant will love you come tax time
- Build a business profile and credit which qualifies you for a Dun & Bradstreet profile and EIN number
- Qualify for 2x the amount of rewards you would be eligible for as an individual
Affiliate Marketers spend a lot of money to drive traffic to their sites, often in the thousands per day just to test a campaign to see if it’s profitable or not. If a particular campaign converts really well then a smart affiliate marketer will throw a lot of money behind the campaign, anywhere from $5k, $10k on up. Try that with your personal credit cards.
The best card for Affiliate marketing in my humble opinion has to be the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card, and what I especially love about the Starwood card is:
- The User Management portal is very organized and detailed
- They have a great number of some of the coolest hotels anywhere (W hotels, Westin, Starwood etc)
- Redeem any 20,000 Starwood points to mileage and get a 5,000 bonus on any airline - adds up quicker than you think!
Plus you get a 10,000 starwood points signup bonus.
One important thing to note is that a lot of people think Amex cards do not have spending limits, and this is a lie. Once you get an Amex card or any other business card for that matter - you should always set a spending profile with the credit card company. Let them know what the card is mainly going to be used for and the amounts of money you expect to spend. You don’t want to wait until after you’ve launched your campaign to realize you don’t have the money to keep them running. You will miss out on a hot offer and feel like kicking yourself in the head later - trust me I’ve been there.
Cash back cards? Puhlease - a majority of them don’t even come close, here’s a quick example why:
Say you’re going to Affiliate Summit West and you need a hotel to stay. Pull up the Starwood Preferred Guest site and search for hotels in Las Vegas. The site returns two options, the Westin & Planet Hollywood. Planet Hollywood gets my vote because they just re-opened recently after a total renovation and it’s on the main strip - close to all the action.
Change the options from cash to Starpoints to see how many points I would need to get a free night, and the answer is 16,000. The cash amount is $235 per night.
So a 1% cash back card would mean that you would have to spend $23,500 vs roughly $16,000 for the Starwood card. That’s a $7500 difference. Plus you get double Starpoints for every Starpoint property you stay at. Go figure.
If you don’t have the Starwood American Express Preferred Business card yet, get yours here …. and get 10,000 Starpoints with your first purchase.
This post was brought to you by the Ultimate Credit eBook - Do you have A+ Credit?
