December 2007 archive
…There’s just a little more than a day to finish what you were supposed to have completed this year.
It’s natural to measure your achievements by how much you have earned, but I think a more important measure is how much you have learned this year.
Even a salaried employee can go through the year, earning a steady paycheck, with a fat bonus on top of it, and not learn much or be very much improved over the past year…not to mention an internet marketer or entrepreneur who spent all year reading, “finding their direction” and still not be much closer to their goal.
Look into the psychological mirror and take a hard look at the reflection, is the “You” on December 31, 2007, very different from the “You” on January 1, 2007?
What are 3 achievements you have made this year, and what are 3 achievements you plan to achieve next year.
In his book “The Magic of Thinking Big” author David Schwartz says if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person because it will get done. If you give it to someone with lots of free time on their hands, it’s likely they won’t get it done because they aren’t able to prioritize and take action. And action is where it counts, because ideas and thoughts are not active till acted upon.
In January, I’ll be:
- Developing and launching a membership site as part of the Super Affiliate Accelerator project I’m working on with PPC Super Affiliate Amit Mehta.
- Interviewing Seer Interactive’s Wil Reynolds (one of the best speakers addressing issues in SEO).
- Launching a guerilla style PPC campaign which I’ve adapted from tactics my buddy Ruck has blogged about over at CashTactics.
- Developing a series of content creation tutorials over at Haiko De Poel’s ABestWeb affiliate marketing forum.
- Launching a contest on this blog with attractive prizes. (I have a $250 prize in the bag now and will aiming to get $1,000 worth by the launch).
And a number of assorted administrative and tax issues for a new Internet Marketing company which Amit and I formed about a month ago.
I can’t really say I’ll get the 8+ hours sleep per day that I’ve enjoyed over the last 2 weeks…
But it’s going to be one heck of a wild ride!
See you in 2008!
I’m filing this blog post from Guangzhou, China, which is on one of China’s coasts, and is pretty urbanized.
In case your mental picture of China looks like this:
Mountains, low rise buildings and tall stone temples.
Here’s a somewhat cloudy picture of the city’s skyline:
Can Internet Marketers thrive in China?
The challenge for newly developed and developing countries is (more…)
Here goes:
“I’m a new affiliate and I’m wondering what’s the best website platform I should use?
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about using Microsoft Front Page to create a HTML site. While others have mentioned blogs.
What do you suggest?”
–
My Answer:
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing your marketing platform, and there’s no “best” platform.
It’s very situational in nature.
If you’re starting out, creating a HTML site might be easier.
I started out using Microsoft Front Page (which has since been replaced by Microsoft Web Expressions). It is alright for single page affiliate sites.
However, with Google’s stricter implementation of Quality Score and having to insert secondary pages like an about us, privacy policy, contact us page, sitemap, etc, using Front Page can be quite cumbersome.
I’ve been using XSitePro quite a bit recently. It’s a pretty intelligent website builder and lets you create sections and sub-sections pretty easily. Best of all, it (more…)
The writing’s been on the wall for some time – merchants and affiliates need to up their game if they’re to stay relevant, especially as the market gets more sophisticated.
Just take a look at the signs of the times:
- Implementation of stricter quality measure (eg Google Quality Score) to clamp down on “thin” sites. Especially hit hard are single page landing sites.
- The noose tightens. You can get somewhat around the QS issue with an about us, contact, privacy page and sitemap. But you can be sure that the quality control noose will continue to tighten.
- Expansion of the PPC and Affiliate market: Just like in the dotcom days, you’ll have fools rushing in, especially as PPC and affiliate marketing start to go prime time. Already, the “pseudo gurus” have shifted from pimping “Adsense in a Box” products to “CPA in a Box” products. [I’ve looked at a number of these products and the only person making anything from them, is the guy who sold it to you].
So is some “guru” out there going to exploit this market by issuing a free “Death of Affiliate Marketing” report?
If so, stay as far away as you can, because most expensive advice you will ever get is “free advice”.
I was reading Jim Lillig’s post “Performance Marketing Makes Sense” especially the part where he says:
“I believe engagement is to blame. The final frontier of advertising is to connect a product (and ultimately a brand) with truly interested consumers in a relevant, meaningful andlasting way at a time when they have the propensity to purchase or consider a purchase.“
In my opinion, it’s very much a “chicken and egg” issue.
If you’re promoting $1 or $2 zip or email submit offers, you’d be wondering what level of “engagement” you can work on, especially if you’re running at a 30 – 50% margin at best (or $0.30 to $0.50).
Granted some of us have the priviledge of getting Super Affiliate payouts which are double, triple or even higher than the posted rate, but what about the average affiliate?
You have a couple of options, and both aren’t exactly easy to take action on.
The first is to promote (more…)
Would you rather be a smart Internet Marketer? Or a rich one?
You might say you’ve chosen one path, but your behavior might be leading you down the other.
Check out this week’s Friday Podcast for details.
Rich Guy Or Smart Guy: The Internet Marketing Truth
And the audio download:
Notes follow after the “more” tab:
(more…)
It’s been more than a week since I left Las Vegas after attending Anik Singal and Jeremy Palmer’s PPC Classroom Live.
So the question is “Was it worth a 20+ hour plane ride each way?”
Certainly a resounding YES!
I got to meet a bunch of great people and the stellar cast of speakers presented great content. Now it’s a matter of hunkering down and putting some of those ideas into practise.
The turnout was very respectable with the room filled to the gills…
It was great to hear how Anik took one of his info product sites, added CPA offers to it and have it generated $42,000+ to date this year.
Andrew Wee and Anik Singal
Just as you’re seeing a convergence of search marketing and PPC marketing, I believe the worlds of info marketing and lead generation/affiliate marketing are going to draw closer in the coming year.
Andrew Wee, Kirt Christensen, Greg Cesar
I look to Kirt Christensen as one of the pioneers in Internet Marketing, together with his partner, Terry Dean.
It was certainly illuminating to hear about his strategies for positioning yourself as a PPC management agency and it was pretty impressive hearing about some of the biggest Internet marketers he manages PPC campaigns for.
Greg Cesar is someone who’s in my mastermind and this was (more…)
