Version 3 of SpeedPPC Released
This is exciting news for PPC marketers! Version 3 of SpeedPPC was launched yesterday. Version 1 was developed by qualified AdWords Professional
Jay Stockwell and Allan Gardyne for use in their own PPC marketing. Version 2 was launched publicly last year - to very strong reviews, including my own. (Note that the review applies to Version 2, however.)
Since then, Jay paid close attention to the feedback that he received from hundreds of SpeedPPC users and produced a long list of fantastic new features which have made SpeedPPC 3 even better, even more useful for rolling out intelligently constructed, large, effective PPC campaigns incredibly fast. Read more
Popularity: 25% [?]
No Ideas, Product, Website or Traffic?
How the heck could anyone build an Internet business if they have no business idea, no product, no website, and no traffic?
Here’s a better question still… how could they build that business in LESS than a week?
Well, based on a challenge from an angry blogger, you’ll be able to watch Derek Gehl (IMC) do exactly that.
He’s going to start a brand-new business 100% from scratch in less than ONE WEEK — and he’s going to film the entire process, turn it into a FREE video course and you’ll be able to watch him do it.
Starting April 21st, Derek will be releasing the complete “X-Treme Challenge” video course and over the following 4 days, you’ll have the opportunity to see EXACTLY how he builds a functioning, sales generating Internet business based on one his personal hobbies.
These videos will only be made available to those on Derek’s notification list, so if you want to learn how to build a money-making online business in one week or less, then register today to see all the episodes.
Even if you already have ideas, a product, know how to get traffic and build a website, you’re sure to pick up some great tips from these videos… ergo, I’ve already registered. 
Popularity: 23% [?]
Google Adsense and pepperjamAds on the Same Site?
In a comment on the Pepperjam Network Review: Real Change or Just Hype? post, J. Anthony asked the following question about PepperjamAds:
…does this [PepperjamAds] conflict with Google Adsense? Before I add these to my sites, I want to make sure it doesn’t get me kicked out of adsense…
I understand your concern, J., especially if you are already making good coin with Google Adsense. To answer your question, here are the guidelines for Competitive Ads and Services taken directly from the Google Adsense Policy page.
In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.
Here is an example of a pepperjamAds block:
Just so my readers won’t mistake these for Google Adsense ads, I’ve changed the color of the Heading to a dark red.
Too, as you can see, the default Pepperjamads layout is distinguished by a thick, solid black line at the bottom and clearly marked with the word Pepperjam in the lower right hand corner. I’d recommend that you leave that as the default, unless you want to choose another color that makes it look entirely unlike your Google Adsense display.
I see that you are typically running 2 instances of Adsense on your pages (including the homepage… ugh!). What I suggest you might try - if you decide to try the Pepperjam widget - is to replace one of those instances with relevant Pepperjam merchants embedded in your PepperjamAds display and monitor the revenue from both closely.
Hope that helps!
Popularity: 12% [?]
Google’s Revised Quality Rater Guidelines
Another leaked version of Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines appeared online late last month, which I finally took a look at this morning.
The guidelines are for Google staff who evaluate landing pages and rate whether those pages are quality, vital, useful, relevant (or not), off-topic, not spam, maybe spam and definitely spam.
In his latest newsletter, Allan Gardyne talks about an “alarming section” that pertains to affiliates and the use of ’sneaky redirects’ to qualify a page as probably being spam. You’ll see it on page 38 of the report under the title “Recognizing when redirects are sneaky or non-sneaky“.
The example within the Quality Rater Guidelines of a sneaky redirect shows how a specific Commission Junction affiliate link redirects to a page on the JC Whitney site.
From an affiliate standpoint, I don’t find that assessment the least bit alarming. Google is not referring to affiliate links on a bona fide affiliate page, ie. a link within a product review.
The point is that Google doesn’t want affiliate pages that automatically redirect to merchant sites coming up in the search results. They also don’t want keyword stuffed pages, frame pages used to cloak affiliate links or pages that contain hidden text and links. In a nutshell, they don’t want to see pages that are designed and optimized merely to lure visitors.
From the perspective of a search engine user, that seems fair enough to me.
Once again, Google stipulates which pages do and do not rate as ‘thin affiliates’. Here is a quote directly from the report:
If a page offers some value in addition to its links to the merchant, then it is not a thin affiliate. For example, if the affiliate offers price comparison functionality, or displays product reviews, recipes, lyrics, etc., it is not a thin affiliate, and, therefore, not Spam.
In the report’s Final Notes you’ll find:
When trying to decide if a page is Spam, it is helpful to ask yourself this question:
If I remove the scraped (copied) content, the ads, and the links to other pages, is
there anything of value left? If the answer is no, the page is probably Spam.
A very good guideline for affiliates to follow indeed!
You may still be able to pick up a copy of the Quality Rater Guidelines here.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Not All Bloggers are Thrilled with Wordpress 2.5
Over on the Upgrading Wordpress with Fantastico post Francois asked “Do you think it is really necessary to upgrade in the first place?”
Well, the short response is that after reading a number of posts from webmasters who have done the Wordpress 2.5 upgrade, I’m more inclined to believe that my penchant for keeping things simple really pays off. (Although I’m already using WP 2.5 on a couple of smaller, very simple blogs; I haven’t yet updated my larger blogs such as NPT).
WebBlogToolsCollection has posted a FAQ on Wordpress 2.5 that answers a big whack of questions about the new version, and many of the 67 commentors to date have added still more questions to the already sizeable list.
The biggest complaint around the blogosphere seems to be that the widgets don’t work for some bloggers who use multiple column templates. One might assume that they are using templates not yet verified as being compatible with WP 2.5. However, even templates that were listed as compatible on the Wordpress site were later discovered not to work completely with the latest version.
Ergo, my statement about simplicity above. I don’t bother using widgetized sidebars and prefer instead to hardcode elements so that they will work regardless of template compatibility… and goodness knows that I like to tinker with templates!
So, to answer your question, Francois — if you are uncertain about whether or not you should upgrade at this point, it’s probably best to wait — especially if you’re not big into tweaking and want something that works ‘out of the box’.
Here’s some sage advice that Jon of Ninja Blog Setup left as a comment on the earlier post:
For major upgrades, like the one just released from 2.3.3 to 2.5 it is advisable to wait a couple weeks to allow plugin authors a chance to test and revise any problems in their plugins, but with minor upgrades, like from 2.3.2 to 2.3.3, which are often security related, these should be done ASAP and the Instant Upgrade plugin works fantastically.
Hope that helps!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Clickbank Starts a Blog
On March 27th, Clickbank joined the 21st century - in terms of communications - and started a blog. The first post, written by their Marketing Communications Manager, Kristen M., outlines their reasons for launching the blog and sets forth a few points about how communication on the blog will be conducted.
One of those points includes:
We do not allow URLs in comments in order to avoid having the blog serve as a means of advertising for any one participant. So please don’t include them. If you do, your comment either won’t be posted or the URL will be edited out.
Knowing affiliate marketers’ penchant for driving traffic through links on blog comments, it therefore surprised me to see 62 comments made on that first post. Then again, how many MORE comments might they have received had links been allowed? Hmmmmm.
Despite disallowing links on comments, open exchange between Clickbank’s network reps, merchants and affiliates is a truly welcome improvement and a good indicator of their commitment to ‘expand our communication with our clients‘.
Well done, Clickbank! Check out the Clickbank blog….
Popularity: 9% [?]
Bank Rejects Clickbank XACH Payment
Yesterday, Clickbank sent me the following email:
We recently sent you payment via XACH (International direct deposit) but it was returned to us by the bank.
What bothers me more than the fact that my payment will now be late to arrive, is that it seems like NO ONE LISTENS!
Before sending Clickbank my bank account details for the XACH direct deposit setup, I corresponded with them to confirm that the payment could go into my US Dollar account here in Canada. I was assured that would be no problem. So when I received the email from Clickbank, that US dollar account issue was the first thing that popped into my head.
Fortunately, when I got on the horn with Clickbank this morning, I ended up speaking with a representative who actually understood what I was saying and knew how XACH works. She confirmed that sure enough, that WAS the problem — Direct deposit must be made in the local currency.
Duh. So, will the first rep with whom I consulted please fork over the interest that I didn’t earn on that deposit? It wouldn’t be much, but it might prove to be a nice little lesson about the need to listen, understand and provide factual - not fanciful - answers.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Successful Sites: Scrapbooking, Shoe and Dentistry
This month’s issue of “Secrets To Their Success” features…
- Julie S., who turned a corporate downsizing into a brand-new start when she launched her travel-themed scrapbooking supply website in 2002. Now, just six years later, she’s a small business expert running a $2 million dollar niche empire!
- Lorinda V. — a born entrepreneur who has been selling on the Web since she was just 21 — relaunched her unique shoe website and saw $160,000 walk into her bank account in just TWO MONTHS!
- And IMC’s revamp of Dr. Don’s expert eBook site… a site that needed some expert help to take a solid bite out of its promising niche market.
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!”
An STTS subscription also gives you a chance to win $5,000+ in FREE consulting — just by entering your name and email address! Once each month, they draw the name of one lucky member who gets their web site or business plan critiqued by the Internet Marketing Center team.
Sign up for “Secrets To Their Success” today to learn and be inspired by the success of others.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Pepperjam Network Review: Real Change or Just Hype?
David asked me the following question:
Do you have any knowledge of or experience with Pepperjam’s Affiliate Network? Just wondered, since I didn’t see them mentioned in your book.
Thanks for the question, David… and here’s a review of my findings about the Pepperjam Network.
Amidst much fanfare from Super Affiliates (which seemed to get a tad overblown and hypey by the ReviewMe and ‘make money’ blogger types), Internet marketing agency Pepperjam launched its own affiliate network 2 and a half months ago, on January 15th, 2008… which is why it isn’t mentioned in the latest version of the Super Affiliate Handbook, released in December 2007.
Having missed the opportunity for a ’sneak peek’ and without enough merchants listed under ‘Featured Advertisers’ in my verticals to pique my interest sufficiently to join ‘yet another’ affiliate network, I postponed signing up until yesterday when I learned that WebmasterRadio.FM had started their affiliate program with the Pepperjam Network.
What I discovered was surprisingly refreshing.
The affiliate signup process is quick and easy, and unlike Commission Junction, the form doesn’t require that you state your site’s monthly traffic figures - which is nothing more than a convenient way for CJ merchants to auto-reject applications from publishers who are ‘too small’ to be bothered with.
My affiliate application approval arrived shortly after my email address was confirmed. On logging into the interface, one of the first things I noticed was the “transparency rating” in the upper right-hand corner.
Pepperjam prides itself on making its affiliates’ promotional methods more transparent to advertisers, and affiliates with higher transparency ratings - a 4 or 5 - automatically qualify for higher payouts with various advertisers on PJN. In order to achieve higher ratings, all you have to do as an affiliate is state which of the following marketing methods you use:
- Comparison Shopping
- Coupon / Value Proposition
- CPA / Subaffiliate Network
- Direct Link
- Email Marketing
- Incentive
- Loyalty
- Merchant / Product Review
- Online Mall
- Product Feed
- Search Engine Marketing
- Search-Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Software
- Video
- Web Site/Content
When you click on ‘More Details’ for a particular program, no time is wasted on taking you to a new page. Instead, a dropdown box appears below the basic information with commission amount info, cookie duration, commission incentives, EPC’s and links to banner and text link creatives.
Tracking and reporting are slick, allowing sub ID tracking to track sales on any criteria you choose. The main reporting interface shows Account at Glance (totals) and Account Quick-View (broken out by program), as well as pie charts, bar graphs and the ability to run reports by date range. Reports include SID reports, Transaction Summary, Sale Transaction Details, Lead Transaction Details, Commission Summary and Payment History. What more could you possibly need to know about your stats?
BTW, I logged my first Pepperjam Network commissions within hours (maybe minutes… I didn’t check that soon).
Link generation is swift and easy, but what I appreciate most about program list is that beside each merchant partner with whom you’ve associated, Pepperjam lists the name, phone number, web address and program terms - a great testament to their stated commitment to open communication with a view to relationship building.
The ability to communicate with program managers gets even better than that, though. There are clickable ‘Chat Now’ buttons that show blue when the account manager is available online.
Oh but wait… it gets better still. Shortly after I joined and had signed up for a couple of programs, I received an email from my personal account representative for the Pepperjam Network, inviting me to contact her directly at anytime.
I decided to take her up on the offer and immediately wrote back to inquire about approval for a program to which I’d applied an hour or so earlier and for which I was awaiting approval. Less than a minute later, I received approval into the program, which was then followed by a ‘sorry for the delay‘ email from the account rep.
Sorry for the delay, indeed. I’ve waited WEEKS for account managers at Commission Junction, Performics and Linkshare to even review my program applications — even after a little prompting email!
I have only one complaint about my experience with Pepperjam to date. I HATE the white on black interface, which is a complete design no-no from a usability perspective.
Other than that, I give the network a big 2 thumbs up and highly recommend that you sign up for a Pepperjam Network publisher account and check out the 200+ offers currently available.
About Pepperjam: Comprised of a team of industry experts and veterans who are lead by Kris Jones, the company was recognized by Inc. Magazine for two years in a row as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Premium News Themes Compatible with Wordpress 2.5
Phew!
I think I heard the huge collective sigh of relief from bloggers the world over this morning when they checked their email and read that their Premium News Themes are compatible with Wordpress 2.5.
Here is a portion of the blurb that Adii sent out:
We are happy to announce that all of our Premium News Themes (Original, NewsPress, Flash News, Gazette Edition & Live Wire) is compatible with WordPress 2.5 and that you can upgrade to the new version (of WP) without worrying about any incompatibilities.
The only incompatibility we found, whilst testing was related to the Popularity Contest plugin. According to the plugin author, he is working on a fix and will release an updated, WP2.5-compatible version soon. Unfortunately we can’t update the plugin accordingly and thus take no responsibility if you upgrade to WP2.5 and find that the plugin doesn’t work.
Oh well, no great loss. I suppose we can all live without the Popularity Contest plugin for awhile… much better than finding out that your sidebar ends up in the header in Firefox or something equally horrific.
BTW, I use Adii’s Premium News Theme on my RosalindGardner.com blog and will be upgrading to Wordpress 2.5 as soon as it is available through Fantastico.
Popularity: 6% [?]
