Website Advertising Enquiry Spam
Over the last couple of weeks the email address posted on my domain records has been completely inundated with emails sporting subject lines such as “Website Advertising Enquiry” as shown in the screenshot below.
These emails typically show up with one of the following subject lines:
- Website Inquiry
- Website Advertising Inquiry
- Marketing Inquiry
- Website Partnership
Although it may be tempting to respond to someone who is offering to pay to advertise on your site… do not take the bait and DO NOT REPLY.
They’re spammers and it’s a phishing scam just to get your email address.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Writing: Spare Us the Crypto-Babble
As I was browsing a post on BoingBoing this morning, I came across a comment that is quoted in part below:
snc y ddn’t sy y hld jb n fd srvc .. tht’s n. blh blh. S y hvn’t bn stffd. nd y hv n cncpt f hw tht wrks.
cn tll by yr tn y’v stffd mr n wtr wh rnd tp frm y. Prbbly sm sngl mthr tryng t fd hr kds r sm cllg stdnt tryng mk nds mt. Y cn dny t bt “ptnl” s wht ppl wh dn’t tp sy. sm.zr= yr tp t’s k, t’s yr rght. t’s ptnl.
HELLO!!!???
An occassional BTW or LOL can be forgiven, but in a word - make that 3 words - it’s absolutely flippin’ ridiculous to waste readers’ time with such crypto-babble.
OK, I admit that after scrolling by it once or twice, I was intrigued enough to read the comment to discover if there actually was some worthwhile message hidden in between the consonants — which unfortunately there was not.
I know… it’s my own fault for taking the bait. 
Popularity: 6% [?]
Interview: Converting Visitors to Revenue
Wendy Piersall, of Emoms at Home, posted an interview to her blog this morning that she and I did for her “Converting Visitors to Revenue” series. Other participants in the series (so far) include Jim Kukral of The Daily Flip and Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.
The 3 questions Wendy asked me were:
- Rosalind, you have been affiliate marketing for a long time, and the internet has changed pretty drastically in that time. How have your conversions changed over the years, and what is the most important lesson you have learned in that time about getting things to convert and keeping them converting for longer periods of time?
- When you launch a promotion, new product or service now, what are some of the things you do every single time to ensure that your chances of getting the sales are the highest possible?
- If you were a blogger with an excellently written article/review with affiliate links in the post, how would you go about promoting that post?
You may read my answers at “The Converting Visitors to Revenue Interview Series :: Rosalind Gardner, Net Profits Today“. And while you’re there, be sure to note Wendy’s comments about the Super Affiliate Handbook.
Popularity: 8% [?]
S.eriously BIG Affiliate Checks
Do you want to see some seriously big Google Adsense and affiliate commission checks?
S.eriously.com has posted screenshots of checks, bank deposits and Commission Junction accounts from a number of Internet and affiliate marketers including Markus Frind, Jeremy Shoemaker and a few who wish to remain anonymous.
The checks range in amount from $15,853.00 and $132,994.97 a staggering $901,733.84.
But while you’re drooling over them, consider this … how much did their marketing COST? Were these affiliates earning 2, 3 or 10 bucks for every dollar they spent on Google Adwords and other pay per click advertising or were they making pennies on the dollar?
Then again, even 5 cents on a dollar in a month is a darned site better than what the bank is offering — or, how your stocks are probably doing at the moment.
BTW, above left is my $49,476.92 check for your viewing pleasure.
Popularity: 9% [?]
More Affmeter: Discount for Existing Users
In my earlier post about Affmeter, I neglected to mention the offer for those of you who were already avid users and Beta testers of Affmeter Free and just wanted to let you folks know that the upgrade from Affmeter Free to Affmeter Pro V2.0 Upgrade is available to you for an even steeper discount than that for new users.
In both cases however, the discounts are available only until March 15th, 2008. Enjoy!!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Save Time: Consolidate Your Affiliate Stats with Affmeter
How much time do you spend logging into Commission Junction, Peformics, Clickbank, Clixgalore and other affiliate networks to check your stats everyday? What about your Google Adsense and Adwords accounts? An hour? Maybe more?
I know ’stats junkies’ who check their affiliate commission stats and Google Adwords expenses every single hour — and when I first started affiliate marketing, I used to do it too.
Having to remember all the different network / affiliate program logins used to drive me nuts, especially when I was a newbie and just getting familiar with the different network interfaces and nomenclature was enough of a chore.
Firuze Gokce, who is also an affiliate marketer, felt the same frustration… and she did something about it. Read more
Popularity: 6% [?]
Is Twitter Just Twaddle?
For example, who the heck really wants to know that I was “up way too early… again” or that I was “force-feeding the cat with a medical milkshake…“?
Mine haven’t been quite as inane however as Chris Pirillo’s “I farted” twit last night — which is silly enough to be funny… almost.
But I guess I’m missing the point.
Fortunately, Maki over at Dosh Dosh has written a blog post titled “17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners” that confirms my problem with Twitter and spells things out about how to use it wisely.
In her preamble, she talks about the problem with Twitter, and says “What really matters is how it impacts your online habits and daily life. For many, Twitter is a distraction…” and “It saps your attention and pulls your focus away from other tasks.“.
No kidding. You get in there and start reading Twit after Twit and next thing you know, you’ve twittered away an hour of your time. It boggles my mind to see some who are supposedly following 2, 3 and 4 THOUSAND other Twitter–ers? How the heck is that even possible?
Presuming you can avoid falling into the pit of distraction, Maki lists 17 good ways to use Twitter for getting feedback, personal branding, setting up meetings and more.
OK, so maybe I’ll give it another try. In the meantime, let me know what you think…
Are you using Twitter? Has it been an effective marketing tool for you, or like me, do you find it more of a distraction?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Domain Tasters May Go Hungry
Google announced yesterday that Google Adsense will start looking for domain names that are repeatedly registered and refunded - a practice known as “domain tasting” or “domain kiting” - and as of February 11, 2008, will begin blocking Adsense ads from appearing on those domains.
Domain tasting is the practice of registering a domain and testing its marketability during the five-day grade period during which the registration is eligible for a refund. Income is generated by placing Google Adsense for Domains on the newly registered sites. On January 24th, 2008, Jay Westerdal of Domain Tools reported that “It was disclosed in court that one partner that Google had was generating as much as $3 million dollars a month from the practice and that was after Google’s revenue share“.
And the practice is extensive. According to Wikipedia, “By February 2007, the CEO of GoDaddy reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept“.
Although I’m always thrilled to see a reduction in web crap, I can’t help but wonder if Google’s recent lowering of Adsense referal bounties (from $250 to $100) and eradication of the $2000 bonus was implemented to somewhat offset what they’ll lose by by killing off the domain tasters. Goodness forbid that honest marketers should make a few pennies when the big revenue generators (profiteers) are removed from the mix.
What do you think?
Popularity: 8% [?]
Prayer for Spammers
If you tried to access the site yesterday, you probably found it a slow load - if it loaded at all.
That’s because some dastardly, rotten, no-good email spammer hacked into the server and used a forgotten test blog to send upwards of a quarter million emails. The server crashed, but fortunately my fabulous web guy, Steve, at DataWebPro, brought her back to life again.
Now, you may remember that Steve provided me with an incantation to solve database errors.
Well, I have a prayer for anyone affected by spammers and it goes like this:
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the crotch of the person who screws up your day and may their arms be too short to scratch… AMEN
Many thanks to my nephew Andrew for sending that prayer to me. I’ve had it up on my bulletin board for years, and always knew there would come a good time to share it.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Underground Seminar: Yanik’s $10,000.00 Wager
I hate conferences that are nothing but “pitch-fests“.
If you’re not familiar with the term (lucky you!), a pitch-fest is a seminar at which the speakers spend the last half of their schedule hour-long talk pumping you up to buy their latest and greatest product or coaching program. Worse, they probably didn’t give you any information that you could actually use during the first half-hour.
That’s just one of the reasons why I keep going back to Yanik Silver’s Underground Seminar year after year - it’s one of the few Internet marketing seminars that is NOT a pitch fest. Actually, it’s the only Internet marketing seminar that I have plans to attend this year.
And to make sure that his presenters provide attendees with real, useful content; Yanik is again putting up $10,000.00 as incentive .
The speaker who provides the best content wins the ‘Top Underground Marketer‘ award, gets a huge trophy and the 10 grand goes to his or her favorite charity… ’cause these folks don’t need the money.
About the speakers - once again, Yanik is bringing in a completely new group of ultra successful marketers who have been making money online selling real products to real people - not just information products about “how to make money online”.
For that reason (and the excellent early bird bonuses which expire on January 25) the Underground Seminar always sells out weeks early. Yanik has also lined up some really good fun for ‘early birds’ during the event, including a secret spy mission followed by a VIP closed-door dinner.
That’s all I can say for now. To get your ticket and learn more about the event, visit the Underground Seminar site right now.
See you there!
Popularity: 6% [?]
