Keyword Research Now
With the demise of the Yahoo! Search Marketing / Overture Keyword Selector* and View Bids tools, NPT readers have been asking which tools and methods I now use for keyword and niche market research.
The answer is easy — and the process has actually gotten faster! 
Popularity: 19% [?]
Adsense Arbitragers to Lose Accounts
According to Jennifer Slegg over at Jensense.com, webmasters with MFA (Made for Adsense) sites are getting emails from Google stating that their business model is unsuitable and that their Adsense accounts will be disabled as of June 1st.
WOOHOO!!! YeeHA!!! and it’s about time!
FYI - Webmasters with MFA sites send quanitites of inexpensive pay-per-click traffic to their sites for the sole purpose of having visitors click their Google Adsense or other contextual advertising network ads such as the Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN). The business model is known as arbitrage.
These sites contain absolutely no content. No informational articles, product endorsements, news or anything else a good affiliate / publisher would place on their site.
Here is a graphic image of a site that came up after searching for ‘running shoes’ at at SearchFeed. Read more
Popularity: 36% [?]
Online Sales to Soar in 2007
The State of Retailing Online 2007, a study conducted by Forrester Research, Inc., forecasts that online sales will soar again this year.
According to report, 2007 online sales (including travel) are expected to rise 18 percent to $259.1 billion. Sales excluding travel will reach $174.5 billion. This strong growth will come off of an impressive performance in 2006. Online sales last year rose 25 percent to $219.9 billion. Excluding travel, online retail sales rose 29 percent to $146.5 billion, representing six percent of total retail sales in 2006.
Apparel has taken over the top spot in terms of online sales volume. Online clothing sales are forecast to hit $22.1 billion in 2007, and 10 percent of all clothing sales are expected to occur online in 2007.
Why such dramatic growth?
“Retailers are doing such a great job online that in some cases it’s easier to find and buy clothing on the web than it is in a store” said Scott Silverman, the executive director of Shop.org. Free shipping policies, more merchants and making the buying process easier are also responsible for the increases.
Computers, autos and auto parts, and home furnishings round up the top 4 online retail sales categories. For more information about the study (and more niche market selection ideas), read the full National Retail Federation press release.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Got Bills?
Of course you have bills!
But, this post isn’t really about your bills. It’s about your merchants’ search policy and restricted trademarks.
By using “Got Bills?” in the title of this post, I may be in violation of LowerMyBills affiliate search policy, as ‘GOT BILLS?’ is a ‘Restricted LowerMyBills TMs’.
Here is a portion of the LowerMyBills.com search policy:
There are many ways for affiliates to market LowerMyBills.com. While we encourage entrepreneurial creativity among our publishers, we would appreciate your adherence to the following regulations regarding our affiliate marketing practices.
The email mentions specific promotional techniques and Restricted LowerMyBills TMs to avoid, including:
- Linking to our site directly from any search engine.
- Using triggered-event headlines such as “Get a $600K mortgage for $300 a month”
- MORTGAGE QUOTES. FAST. EASY. FREE.
- EASY COMPARISONS. MORE CHOICES. BIGGER SAVINGS.
- LOWERMYBILLS.COM
- LOWERYOURBILLS.COM
- GOT BILLS?
- BILLPAY PLUS
- LOWERMYBILLS.COM
If it seems ludicrous to worry about using the phrase ‘got bills?’ in the title of a blog post simply because it is one of my merchant’s registered trademarks; you may have missed my ‘Affiliate’s Corner’ column in Revenue magazine in late 2006.
In it, I wrote about the struggle I had to retain affiliation with a credit card merchant after being accused of allowing their trademarked terms to appear in comment spam on one of my blogs.
That accusation was completely ludricous because I didn’t own the ’suspect’ blog, and their failure to do proper research cobmined with a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ approach wasted so much of my time that I could not in good conscience continue to promote their product. BTW, I get more junk snail mail from this bank than all the others combined. How’s that for ironic?
Anyway, if that merchant took issue with blog comment spam - how might your merchants react if you post their trademarked terms in your blog titles? Is that an infringement of their policy?
The point is that if you don’t know — ASK.
Read your merchants’ search policies, ask questions and abide by the rules if you want to continue your affiliation. Most reasonable merchants will send you a warning - however, as you now know, not all merchants are so reasonable.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Join Our Affiliate Program - Just $2000!
Here’s a portion of a letter I got the other day about a site and affiliate program built to profit from the overwhelming current interest in the movie, “The Secret”.
Please note that the emphasis in italics is mine.
“I am writing now to invite you to join me in an affiliate opportunity called The Science of Getting Rich (SGR) Program. You can read all all about it and join at my site (link removed). In brief, for an initial cost of $2000.00 you purchase the SGR program AND the opportunity to become an affiliate!”
What a joke!
First of all, I would NEVER consider paying 2 grand to join an affiliate program — and I hope you wouldn’t either!
Secondly, I guess this promoter has never heard of Rebecca Fine whom I met at Yanik Silver’s first Underground seminar and is by every account a first-class human being who really cares about giving her very best on every level.
Rebecca has built an entire business around the “Science of Getting Rich” book by Wallace D. Wattles, which she offers as a free download to her visitors. Her site model is much like this one, in that she offers additional value through a free newsletter, open forum, articles and more. Furthermore, Rebecca’s affiliate program is free to join and pays up to 35%.
So, here’s a caution for you.
DON’T pay to join an affiliate program just because it coattails on the book or movie of the moment - despite that book or movie’s great content or popularity.
DO your homework and you just might find a better program that is not only equally relevant, but provides more value for your valued visitors and subscribers at lower cost.
How’s that for a good-for-the-soul-and-pocketbook profit model that makes everyone happy?
Popularity: 17% [?]
Your Destiny Switch
Is it possible that your destiny can be influenced by the flip of a switch… and if so, who controls the switch?
OK, if you haven’t already guessed the answer, here it is —- YOU do!!
If you’ve been struggling to ‘locate the switch’, fellow Canuck and friend (true again) Peggy McColl has written a book that will help, called Your Destiny Switch.
It’s not just another self-help book, but a powerful concept and process that can consciously and creatively transform your life. Learn how to balance your key emotions and reach your destiny - check out Peggy’s Your Destiny Switch today and seize the opportunity to win an OUTRAGEOUS Grand Prize!
Popularity: 12% [?]
