Oprah Says “Thank God for Google!”
During yesterday’s Oprah “Mothers Battle Autism” show, in which Jenny McCarthy discussed her son Evan’s autism, she mentioned that she went straight to Google after receiving his diagnosis to begin researching a way to help her son out of his ‘trap’.
She immediately found a ton of great dietary information (i.e. eliminate wheat, milk and artificial coloring) that did in fact help her to help her son start breaking down those walls.
Oprah responded by saying “Thank God for Google!“.
No kidding. I often wonder how the heck we all actually managed to accomplish anything before we could ‘Google it!’.
As an online entrepeneur, I probably use Google’s services more than the average person. But like Jenny and Oprah, I use Google.com to find answers to all sorts of different questions - beyond the new and weather that I peruse every day.
Questions related to health, finance, entertainment, shopping, TV and technology.
I use it to expand my culinary expertise and experience, i.e. I found a recipe for lamb shahi korma that was so delicious that an East Indian friend asked for the recipe after I prepared it for him.
I also use Google to find fabulous out-of-the-way vacation spots about which my travel agent doesn’t even know, and use Google Earth to do virtual trips around the planet.
Forget wasting money on long distance telephone calls, my friends and I have agree that Google Talk’s reception is better than either phone or Skype, not to mention free. We share and manage project doduments using Google Docs.
That’s just the tip of the Google iceberg, but here is a list of 15 Google services that I use regularly.
- AdSense
- AdWords
- Alerts
- Analytics
- Calendar
- Docs
- Google Adwords Editor
- Google Earth
- Gmail
- Groups
- iGoogle
- Maps
- News
- Google Reader
- Talk
So, like Oprah, I too am thankful for Google and particularly grateful to its creators, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
So… which Google services do you like and use?
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The Jury is Out on BlogRush
I decided to give John Reese’s new Blogrush widget a try here at NPT and on my Roamsters.com travel blog this morning.
The picture to the left shows how the widget is supposed to display on your site. However, just a few minutes after I installed it, the display was replaced with text that read, “We are currently experiencing some technical issues and the site will be back online shortly. Please come back in a few minutes“.
HUH?
That strikes me as really odd text to use in a placeholder on someone else’s site. MY site IS online, my visitors are already here, so why would I want to show text that reads ‘come back in a few minutes’?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to display nothing at all than an error message?
Anyway, I trust that John will get the technical difficulties sorted out quickly and Blogrush widgets will soon be displayed all over the net… or at least on Internet marketer’s blogs.
So, what’s Blogrush?
BlogRush is a free blog syndication service intended to help bloggers increase traffic to their blogs. When you sign up for the service, place the widget on your site, you earn credits based on the number of impressions of the widget as well as the number of referrals you send. In return, your latest blog post titles are distributed on related blogs also using the Blogrush widget.
All well and good in theory - but as of now, you can’t see your stats. When I clicked ‘Reports’ within the Blogrush interface, I saw “Under Construction - We’re hard at work creating some cool custom reporting features for you! Please check back soon.”
I was surprised to say the least. Coming from an uber Internet Marketer / uber affiliate, I would have expected John to have everything solidly in place prior to launch.
Anyway, let’s just say that the jury is out on Blogrush for now. I may leave the widget up on Roamsters for a day - but I really really hate to waste good traffic.
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Most Affiliates Get this ALL Wrong
What’s your biggest concern as an affiliate marketer?
If your approach is anything like the hundreds - no, thousands - of affiliates whose questions I’ve fielded over the years, your primary concern is probably how to get more traffic to your site.
What I’ve discovered while reviewing their sites however, is that these affiliate marketers are putting the cart WAY before the horse.
All it takes is a quick spin around the site to know that even if they did get gobs of traffic every day, these affiliates probably wouldn’t earn enough to buy their daily Starbucks double tall non-fat no whip mocha.
What the heck are they doing wrong?
Well, more traffic won’t help the affiliate whose copy couldn’t sell air to a drowning man.
In other words, they’ve neglected to address what should be their first objective - turning browsers into buyers, or sales conversions.
Affiliates shouldn’t really try to sell products, however. That’s the merchant’s job.
What affiliates need to learn is what Ken Evoy of SiteSell refers to as pre-selling.
I consider what I do as ‘selling WITHOUT selling‘. Almost exclusive use of that technique is the reason my merchant partners tell me that I’m their top affiliate or have the ‘best conversion rates‘ they’ve ever seen… often both.
Furthermore, I spend far more time trying to get the message just right than on traffic generation.
When you focus on conversion rates first and foremost, any and all traffic to your site becomes more valuable. Furthermore, that focus is absolutely essential to get a satisfactory ROI (return on investment) when using pay per click (PPC) marketing.
If your affiliate site doesn’t convert at least 2 percent of your visitors into buyers or if you want to improve your conversion rate, you need to read my short article ‘How to Sell WITHOUT Selling‘.
Ken Evoy offers MYCPS! (Make Your Content PreSell) as a FREE download.
Ken says “There are actually two ways to build a Web site online. The first way is all about “keeping it real.” Add to the Web. Write, and write well, about what you know and love. Overdeliver great content to please visitors and make the Search Engines love you at the same time.”
What he says is absolutely correct. Furthermore, preselling is about writing to communicate and it is skill that you can learn through this book.
Download MYCPS! (Make Your Content PreSell) now.
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Win a Free PPCClassroom Course with Video of Yourself
If you read my latest NPT newsletter, you already know about the new pay per click course that Anik Singal and Jeremy Palmer are releasing on September 25th.
If not… Anik has convinced Jeremy to completely reveal exactly how Jeremy used JUST PPC to make over $1.4 Million in 2006!
Anyway, they are giving away a free copy to anyone who can convince them!
For more information, visit PPCClassroom now.
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QnA: Can Affiliates Promote Skill Games in the U.S.?
Bob asked the question, “Does this mean that affiliates can promote soft games in the US and not come into conflict with the law?” following my ‘Gaming Affiliates Set Sights on New Opportunites in Lucrative Niche Markets‘ blog post.
Although I’d love to provide a definitive answer (in the affirmative) for you, skill games promotion seems to be a big “gray area” in U.S. law, with some games deemed acceptable while others that one might assume qualify as skill games are not eligible for promotion.
And before I delve into confusing you further, here’s my caveat; a) I do not work in the gaming sphere, b) I live in Canada and c) I am not a lawyer.
That said, I found this answer to the “Is it legal to promote Skill games in USA? ” question in the BetonBattles affiliate FAQ …
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September Emerging as “PPC month” for Affiliates
Although SpeedPPC was released in July, I’ve just accessed a copy and will be writing a thorough review within the next couple of weeks.
From what I’ve seen so far however, it is a brilliant tool for intermediate and advanced search affiliates as well as content publishers who use pay per click search marketing to drive traffic to their affiliate sites.
I advise new affiliates to wait before purchasing this product, as it requires a good understanding of PPC marketing prior to use.
Among the many benefits, the software allows users to track on many levels including on the keyword, ad group and the ad source - the benefit of which is the ability to dramatically improve conversion rates and lower advertising costs.
The biggest advantage of this stand-alone software is fast campaign building, hence the name - SpeedPPC.
Although my full review won’t be ready for a couple of weeks, I convinced Jay Stockwell, SpeedPPC’s developer, to make SpeedPPC available to NPT readers for a SIZEABLE $100 discount, available only through the link below.
Also on the PPC front, my buddies Anik Singal and Jeremy Palmer have combined forces to teach a PPC marketing course at PPCClassroom, scheduled to start on September 25th.
Unlike SpeedPPC, I do HIGHLY recommend this course for new affiliates, ’cause without PPC marketing, your online marketing is just a shot in the dark.
Jeremy, if you aren’t already aware, is THE search affiliate, earning 1.4 MILLION dollars in one year doing only search marketing. (I keep telling him that he would more than double his income if he’d only build a few lists… 
Anyway, Jeremy has the edge on this game like no one else, and he spills a few beans about how to “Find Your First 6-Figure Niche for Pay-Per-Click Marketing” in a video on the site.
To see the video, visit PPC Classroom and enter your details.
Happy PPCing!
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Gaming Affiliates Set Sights on New Opportunites in Lucrative Niche Markets
This year’s Casino Affiliate Convention held August 27 - 28 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Montreal, Quebec was considerably smaller than its past conferences, primarily due to the passage of the US Anti-Online Gambling Law in 2006.
Regardless, the convention was well-received by those in attendance - comprised in large part of never-say-die gaming affiliates who moved with the times and into the European space in order to continue their lucrative gaming affiliate businesses when Bush cracked down on online gambling.
However, because gaming affiliates earn a portion of the revenue generated by players who signed up for casino sites through their affiliate sites, these affilites had to start building player pools again from scratch.
As such, many of the affiliates at the Convention had started working in, or were still actively seeking new lucrative niche markets into which they could expand.
During my second speaking gig of the convention, the ‘THE Adam Anhang Memorial Final Panel Debate‘ (aka ‘The Beer Session), 2 potential niche markets were discussed at length, the viability of which I had to vigorously concur.
Those markets are… Read more
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How Not to do Business on eBay… or Anywhere Else
I like sharing ‘learn from the mistakes of others’ stories for the valuable business lessons they provide, as well as the fact that they may save you from suffering through a similar ordeal on the customer side.
What follows is a timeline account of some of the worst customer service I’ve experienced to date on eBay - or anywhere else for that matter.
(The people in this story should have availed themselves of “The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay” by Derek Gehl and the Internet Marketing Center’s Advanced eBay Mentoring Team.
To set the scene - the cell for my saltwater pool gave up the ghost in late June. With 100 degree temperatures and no cell, we were pouring chemicals into our pool like there was no tomorrow. Simply cleaning the rapid algae growth took a LOT of time, not to mention made for a high YUCK factor. Read more
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Ros to Speak at ad:tech New York
I will be moderating “The Evolution of Affiliate Marketing” panel at ad:tech New York, currently scheduled in the 4:15 - 5:15 timeslot on November 8th, 2007.
Panelists include:
- Josh Greene, Director, Online Marketing & Business Development, DiscoveryStore.com
- Chris Henger, VP of Affiliate Marketing, Performics
- Jivan Manhas, Founder and President, Advaliant, Inc.
- Michael Hines, Country Manager, North America, Zanox
The description of our panel reads as follows:
Last year, MarketingSherpa estimated that affiliates worldwide earned $6.5 billion in bounty and commissions in the areas of retail, personal finance, gaming and gambling, travel, telecom, education, publishing and forms of lead generation other than contextual ad networks. Far beyond revenue sharing, today’s affiliate marketing channel is evolving more and more into performance marketing and playing a larger role in online marketing strategies. Discover which industry sectors are the most active for affiliate marketers and those that are poised for the greatest growth. Learn the pros and cons of running affiliate programs in house versus using third-party services to track referral traffic or sales. And understand how advertisers are connecting with publishers through affiliate networks and how to extend, and protect, your brand through affiliate marketing.
The ad:tech New York conference is taking place November 5th through 8th.
Will I see you there?
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Hip Hop, Lounge Chairs and Bird Seed
This month’s issue of “Secrets To Their Success” profiles . . .
- With the help of IMC’s Internet Entrepreneur Club, 22 year old Aaron B. sells his R&B and hip-hop beats to aspiring artists all over the Web to the tune of $11,000 a month! … and he’s just getting started!
- Karan K. put $500,000 in the bank this year offering handcrafted garden furniture on the web that sells out of stock before summertime even hits! Part of her secret is product quality and an unbeatable guarantee. Learn more about how she outdoes her competition…
- Bird lover, Michael C. sells everything a bird owner could possibly need to care for their feathered friends and uses all the profits to support his own bird rescue project! IMC helps Michael get his business airborne this month - to improve his traffic and conversions.
Each and every month “Secrets To Their Success” features 2 inspirational web business success stories and one website makeover from which you can learn EXACTLY how these unlikely Internet entrepreneurs do it as well as “steal” their strategies and duplicate their success!”
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