The Link Between Marketing & Physics
As a lot of people know, the talks on TED.com are amazing and I like to go an visit there once in a while. Today I watched a cool talk by Dan Cobley as he spoke about what physics taught him about marketing. It’s a short 7 and a half minute talk that you should watch.
How To Get More Links To My Site?
Isn’t this what everyone on the internet is chasing now-a-days? Links to your website are a valuable commodity that has created it’s own economy on the Internet. Links are being bought, sold and traded all over. Google’s not suppose to know about this of course. 
So how does one go about getting some links to a website without having to break the bank to do it? There is plenty, actually. There is so much you can do that I bet, you will not even get to doing all of it.
The first place to start is creating your own web pages on the Internet from which you can link back to your website. I am talking about adding your own pages on existing, quality, popular websites.
The trick is to create useful content on those pages that is also focused on a keyword that you are trying to rank for. As we all know, quality content is the king, not just content. Google and other players can tell a junk article from a quality one so if we want to play, we need to play nice.
Below is a list of websites where you can create your own page and link back to your site from it.
- Squidoo.com
- NowPublic.com
- NewsVine.com
- CoRank.com
- AssociatedContent.com
- Work.com
- HubPages.com
- ArticlesFactory.com
- EasyArticles.com
- ArticleDashboard.com
- EzineArticles.com
- IdeaMarketers.com
- GoArticles.com
The other thing you should do in the mix with the above is create small topic focused blogs around the internet with about 3 to 6 posts over a period of 3 to 6 months on each blog. Remember to keep it random so there is no pattern that Google can detect. Here is a list of places where you should create your blogs at:
- WordPress
- Ebay Blogs
- Thoughts
- Aeonity
- Blogger
- Weebly
- Tumblr
- BlogWogo
- Blogster
- Blogetery
- Blogsome
- LiveJournal
- Yahoo 360
- Xanga
- Blog.co.uk
- Wet Paint
These are just the basic, no-brainer stuff, and after you are done with all of these or in between them you should also find forums on the internet that are related to your topic and create posts with quality content, while linking back to your site in the body or the bio of the article.
Remember that spamming or junk articles, say a lot about your brand or website, so spend a little more time or a little more money and create awesome content. And also remember to add the best content to your own site and add it often. After you do, submit the URL to those pages to the Social News sites like the following:
- Digg
- Slashdot
- IndianPad
- Propeller
- Spotback
- Tweako
- LinkedWords
- Sphinn
- Killer Startups
- Care2
- Shoutwire
- HumSurfer
- PlugIM
Is there something I am missing? I am sure I am… Please add your advise in the comments.
Chat later.
~ Valik
Here is another good affiliate technique that I’ve stumbled upon. This comes originally from James Jones of MicroNicheFinder.com where he explains how to use his micro-nice finder tool to discover hidden little- or not-at-all-saturated niches, niches that have good demand but low supply.
I’ve talked about the supply and demand in a Finding Your Affiliate Marketing Business Niche article I written in the past. This tool that James has created does the searching automatically so saving a lot of research time.
I get lots of various offers on daily basis and some I send straight to the trash, some I read over and a few per week I find that are interesting that I actually subscribe to. Each offer I learn about I pick up new small ideas on marketing and techniques that I expand on and come up with even better systems. Even without purchasing the systems that are offered I can pickup the concept from watching the intro and sales videos and build the campaign based on that information combined with my other knowledge. Why and I telling you this? As you receive the multitudes of offers in your email, don’t buy every one and don’t dismiss them all but look through them watch the sales videos and listen to the presentations, you will pick up ideas that you previously did not know and new concepts will start forming in your mind which you will be able to put to use in your ventures.
This video series is not directly on the topic of Affiliate Marketing but it is very much about marketing and the psychology behind it. It is also amazing how this information is timeless, created by Eben Pagan, Founder of The Altitude Training Program, in 2007. Yes, this video series was created in 2007 and the techniques and these awesome psychological triggers still apply and will continue as long as we are still human.
The videos are about 7 to 10 minutes long so find time and come back to watch them when you can watch all 3 in the row.
1 of 3:
2 of 3:
3 of 3:
I hope you enjoyed this video series.
Until next time,
~ Valik
What is the purpose of an affiliate website?
The main goal is to build a mailing list… An opt-in email list of people that are interested in what you have to offer.
How do we do that?
We build a website that will offer an information product on the niche topic, whether it be a report, an ebook a video or an audio. We give it away for free…
Bring the interested parties in by offering valuable information on the niche topic in exchange for their email address.
The website will have 3 parts, the landing page, the catalog of niche topic, keyword optimized articles and a contact page. That’s how simple it can be, there is no need for bells and whistles. Our goal is to get the interested lead to the homepage/landing page.
The supporting catalog of articles will help Search Engines correctly index the website so it gets displayed for the correct keywords. The more relevant, unique, content there is on a site the better results.
To build your website you will need to learn HTML to build it yourself, you can purchase a website template or have one custom built for you. You can also find a cheap web designer if you look at eLance.com or place an ad on Craigslist.org
There is the easiest way though, you can also download the free simple email list building site template that I built for this purpose from here:
http://www.remoteaffiliate.com/email-list-site-template/index.php
The idea here is to have a webpage, a landing page that offers something for free, some valuable information, a report, an ebook, audio or a video. Something of value that a visitor will find beneficial and will not think twice about giving up their email to get it.
On the homepage, or we can call it landing page we create an offer, a nice bold title at the top that grabs the visitor’s to attention. Then you could have a subtitle that would create interest and lead into the body of the page.
Because your visitor, according to statistics, will only spend about 4 to 7 seconds deciding if he’s staying on this page or leaving, we need to have the most important information toward the top of the page and the supporting info down below.
The main information would be bullet point benefits, a video or an audio that explains the benefits. Right after the benefits you will want to add the first call to action, whether it will be an order button or in our case and email opt-in form.
After the first call to action we can go into the supporting info, testimonials, proof of results, etc.
With the template I built, that wrote about above, you will find it easy to setup all these sections. Just edit the Config.php page with your own site-wide information and then add your page content at the top of the index.php page. All the information gets set at the top of the pages so you don’t need to go looking for where each part goes.
Also the template was setup in a way that you can take it and replicate it easily and quickly for another niche. Here is the link again, check it out:
http://www.remoteaffiliate.com/email-list-site-template/index.php
Feel free to use this template as the example for your web designer if you decide to have a custom one built.
Website Hosting for an Affiliate Site
There is a sea of choices when it comes to website hosting, how do you choose which one is better that the other?
There are so many hosting review sites out there, but who do you trust?
Those review sites are either owned by the host companies them selves that promote their own product or by affiliates that promote the product that makes the most money. So quality is not addressed in any case.
After doing my own research, I decided there is only one obvious choice, MediaTemple. You may have never heard of them just like I haven’t for a long time. A friend of mine turned me onto them and after I test drove some of the most popular “cheap” hosting companies. I found out that, well, you get what you pay for.
I tried HostGator, GoDaddy, RackSpace and others and MediaTemple is better than any of them. I am talking about the ease of use, intuitive placement of navigation & controls, prompt customer service. The above companies lack in these areas and I found MediaTemple to be a breeze compared to them.
Check out MediaTemple here: http://bit.ly/dsKAa6
The usability is amazing there, specially for beginners. You can get a Dedicated Virtual Server from them for $50 per month and you can add as many websites as you want and you can even resell the hosting services to others. Like I said, very simply… everything in there is very intuitive.
If you feel like you can’t afford the $50 per month, than you should go with GoDaddy: http://bit.ly/cujlvE
Their Business Hosting is only $14.95 last I checked and it’s better and easier to use than most other hosts.
Still only go with GoDaddy if you really can’t afford MediaTemple. I guarantee you that after you start making money from your websites you will want to move over to MediaTemple and then, you will need get all your sites moved and downtime and all the stress. I say go with MediaTemple now and save your self the headache later.
Finding A Good Domain Name
Many settle for low quality domains because they believe that there are no good domains left to choose from. From experience I am telling you that you can still find good domains, it just takes a little bit of effort. It is well worth it.
To have a good domain you need to have 4 things, the domain needs to contain your keyword, needs to be short as possible, consist of no more than 2 words and needs to be a .com. If you can make your domain bebrandable, even better.
Ok, so first we need to check the obvious. If your top niche word is “basket weaving”, you need to check if that is available. We would type “basketweaving.com” into GoDaddy and see if that is available. Chances are your main keyword will not be available so we need to do some work.
If basketweaving.com is not available I will use Thesaurus.com to see what other words I can use. Some ideas that pop into my mind is:
- Basket making
- Making baskets
- Basket factory
- Basket art
- Beautiful baskets
- Basket school
You can take these now and run them through Thesaurus and see if you can get some more ideas.
I will type in “weave” to see what other words I can use to say the same thing.
A bunch of words are returned:
braid, build, careen, complect, complicate, compose, construct, create, criss-cross, crochet, cue, entwine, fabricate, fold, fuse, incorporate, interfold, interlace, interlink, intermingle, intertwine, introduce, knit, knot, loop, lurch, make, make up, manufacture, mat, merge, mesh, move in and out, net, piece together, plait, ply, put together, reticulate, sew, snake, spin, splice, twine, twist, twist and turn, whip through, wind, wreathe, writhe, zigzag
I see a few I can try, basketbraiding.com, basketloop.com.
Then I do another search, enter “factory” and I get:
branch, cooperative, firm, forge, foundry, industry, laboratory, machine shop, manufactory, mill, mint, salt mines, shop, sweatshop, warehouse, workroom, works, workshop
and it also suggests these:
arsenal, center, depot, dump, factory, headquarters, magazine, plant, range
armory, depository, depot, dump, factory, magazine, ordnance, plant, repository, stock, stockpile, store, storehouse, supply, warehouse
cartel, concern, corporation, establishment, factory, firm, fly-by-night operation, house, institution, market, megacorp, mill, monopoly, organization, outfit, partnership, setup, shoestring operation, shop, store, syndicate, trust, venture
Maybe I can try:
- Basketcenter.com
- Basketdepot.com
- Basketplant.com
- Baskethouse.com
- Basketmill.com
These are pretty descent domains, if I find them to be available. But I would not stop there… I would continue through and keep digging. Make a list of the ones you find so when you’re done you can pick out the best one.
Here is another sweet list of prefixes and suffixes that I use all the time. I found it here: http://bit.ly/bkrDKv
Once you go through all these and try them you should have a nice list of domains to choose from.
I recommend registering the domain at the same place where your website will be hosted just to make it easier to set it all up.
I find GoDaddy to be the easiest place to register and admin the domains. For personal reasons and GoDaddy’s lack of values I refuse to use their services but they are the cheapest and easiest to use, especially with the coupon codes you will find online.
I personally use MediaTemple, they are a bit more expensive but are also very easy to use. Check them out.
Chat later,
~ Valik
Don’t settle for the ads that your affiliate product company provides, just a few small changes even, can make a huge improvement on your Click Through Rate (CTR). This especially help on your CPM campaigns.
Just think outside the box on this and think of any way to get your visitors to become curious about that your ad is offering and makes them want to click. There are so many things that can be done but here are 9 that should help for sure.
I created the ad below for eHarmony that we will start with.
Let’s say this is the ad that was provided by the company. Here are the things that we can do to it to improve the CTR.
1. Side Scroll Bar
The side scroll bar makes you think that there is more below and makes you want to scroll down. Also, you will notice I added the word “Perfect” below the button, and positioned it right at the bottom edge of the image which adds to the feeling that there is more below.
2. Play Video
Adding the “Play Video” layer to the ad might be a little misleading if there is no video to view after the click, but it will definitely drive the clicks.
3. Coupon
Adding the red coupon borders to the ad will first attract attention and also will create a feeling of a discount or that there is a good deal hiding behind it.
4. Flashing Button
A subtle animation effect on the button will attract the visitor’s eye to at least check out the offer. Make sure you don’t over do it, animation effects can be very annoying to the visitors.
5. Subtle Animation
Another example of subtle animation that will have a positive effect on the CTR is this shining or dancing lights. Use very subtle shades of color so not to irritate the visitor.
6. Simple Text Looking Ad
This very simple ad will sometimes over-perform the fancy ads. Only testing will tell. Never rule this one out.
7. Simple Coupon
Here is hybrid of the coupon and the simple text ad. It has the same effect as the plain text ad but the obnoxious red coupon borders attract attention to it a lot better.
8. Multi-Click Zone Ad
This multi-click zone ad would work well on a news or a magazine site. It looks like a cluster of featured stories and will blend nicely in with the rest of the content. Also with this ad you can have multiple offers or different titles to apply to different audiences.
9. Story
Here is an ad that is disguised to look like a block of text, a story. This will also work nicely on a magazine or a news site.
Do you have any other ideas for image ads to improve CTR that you found to be effective? Share with us in the comments.
Until next time,
~ Valik
To be successful in any business online or offline, you need to find a place for you in the marketplace. You need to find a market where there is demand and not too much competition, supply.
All though you might think there are so many online businesses that there really is not many niches left in this world that are nit saturated with competition but you will be surprised once you get into it that there is still plenty of space in the pool.
Here’s what we do to find our niche.
There is a great tool available that you can purchase membership to that will allow you to do all the research that you will ever need as well as instructional videos on how everything is done. Go here if you want to have access to this great tool: http://bit.ly/ayOK00. You can also just keep reading as I explain to you how it can be done with free tools.
The first thing we need to do, since this is an affiliate business, is to find out what affiliate products are available out there that we can sell.
The concept of affiliate marketing is really simple in itself, doing the work is the part that most give up on. Yes like in any business there is work to be done, but in this business, a lot less work for a lot more profit.
In a nutshell, it’s 3 steps, find a need, pick a product to sell and direct traffic to the offer.
Finding a need
You can choose a market first by thinking about what you are interested in, something you’re passionate about. If you find something that you are or can be an expert in it will help a lot in credibility and trust. The other way to fond a market to sell to is to check out the Google Keyword Tool and search for random topics while noting the searches per month, then run the same keywords (in quotes) through the Google search engine to see how many websites are available on this topic. This will give you the Supply vs Demand figures and this way you can determine the hotness of that market.
Picking a product to sell
This one is pretty easy… There are a few places I like to work with when doing this. First and the most popular is ClickBank.com of course. If you do not find at least 5 good products to sell there then you can check out the other places like PayDotCom.com, eJunkie.com, RegNow.com, PlaySpan.com, and than there is CommunityJunction.com (cj.com).
Driving traffic
Obviously you would need a webpage of some sort to display your offer and once that is up you will need to drive traffic to it. There are many different ways to do this but here are some of my favorite ones. Article marketing is the most popular and probably the easiest way to drive traffic to your site. The other one is social media… become a regular with people that are interested in this topic and be active with them and people will come and see what you’re offering. When all else fails there is always PPC but you have to be cariful with this one because you can blow lots of money in one night if you don’t pay attention.
All of this info and more will be discussed here at Remote Affiliate Blog in more detail so stay tuned. I recommend subscribing to the Remote Affiliate Newsletter so you do not miss anything, subscribe at the top of the right sidebar on this page.
Have an awesome day!
~ Valik