March 2009 archive
Veteran affiliate marketer Ralph Ruckman, better known as “Ruck” has gone full circle, from operating as an affiliate using blackhat/grayhat/whitehat techniques to founding his own CPA/affiliate network, Convert2Media with 3 other co-founders.
A presence on multiple internet marketing and affiliate marketing forums, Ruck is a warehouse of knowledge, having been in the affiliate marketing trenches and having seen the good and bad parts of the industry.
Ruck’s known for his brutally frank, no-BS approach to speaking his mind. You either love his honesty, or in the same breath, hate him for showing the ugly side of things.
I’d been looking forward to talking to Ruck for some time and got him to share his thoughts during our call.
We talked about:
- How he got started in internet marketing
- His role in participating in forums and starting the CashTactics blog (now operated by Kris Trujillo)
- His views on the affiliate industry, especially on the recent FTC press conference
- How to look for hot niches to promote in affiliate marketing
- How to build your affiliate business
- Convert2Media’s recent adjustment in sub-affiliate recruitment incentives
- Important facts every affiliate needs to know about scrubbing and shaving
- Convert2Media’s upcoming coaching programs for affiliates
- C2M’s next evolution as a full service internet marketing agency
Check out the podcast below:
Links:
I’m in the process of developing websites in a couple of different niches and going through the process of building sites from scratch has been instructional, especially since the process has changed with the availability of new technologies, here’re a couple of steps to help accelerate your site development.
Choice of niche:
Obviously an important choice which will affect your daily/weekly routine for at least the next couple of months. It’s never a good idea to go into a vertical/industry solely by the perceived high payouts or bonuses you’re being offered.
Choosing a niche based on your affinity and interest seems to work for me, and I don’t feel that passing up on a number of “lucrative” niches has hurt me.
Working the Grind
Any vertical will have a period of “grinding” or what gamers refer to a period where you have to go through some repetitive, potentially painful effort. Any site will require more than (more…)
B. Knoblach, better known as “BillyKay” is a prominent personality on the affiliate marketing forums like ABestWeb and AffSpot.
As an affiliate marketing veteran, he’s been in the business since 1989 and has learned a lot along the way, mostly through trial and error, to the point of owning his flagship site: The Mail Order Shoppe and several successful niche affiliate sites.
Coupled with a quick wit and ready smile, BillyKay’s one of the friendliest personalities in the industry and a quick business mind to boot (plus some skill at video poker).
So even though we’d bumped into each other at the Affiliate Summit, I’d been looking forward to having a chance with him to discover:
- How he first got involved in affiliate marketing
- How he researches and develops unique angles to market his products
- Incorporating the concept of scarcity and urgency in his affiliate promotions
- His experience as a merchant and examples of successful affiliates promoting his programs
- Tips for successful networking and build your affiliate expertise
- Search engine optimization and keyword strategies
- And a whole lot more!
Check out the podcast below:
Links:
Note: The Engraved Crystal Shoppe and Custom Signs and Plaques have affiliate programs listed in the ShareASale affiliate network.
Social marketing is a double-edged sword because what can greatly help you, can also greatly hurt you if you don’t respect the medium and the unspoken rules of social behavior. Here’s a couple of tips to brand and market yourself and your business more effectively in the Web 2.0 world.
Fact: You are naked on the internet, especially with social media.
The fact that most social networks are open systems and have low barriers to communication and sharing of information means that everything you do within the social matrix is transparent and wholly obvious.
A couple of days ago, I got a Twitter public message from: Jodi Joseph Asaiag with the message:
@andrewwee for IP resources, tools and discussions visit http://www.bpcouncil.com – suggestions welcome at editor@bpcouncil.com
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Sounds like a pleasant and helpful message.
I took a look at her (more…)
Return visitor and affiliate marketing veteran Sam Harrelson came on the Friday Podcast to share his thought on social media interaction and marketing and the strategies behind his newly launched podcast network, Thinking.fm.
During the course of our conversation, Sam talked about:
- How he got involved in online marketing and his quest to become a Renaissance man.
- How he has “given up marketing”
- Ethics and morals in affiliate marketing
- What inspires him to podcast
- The origin and direction of his Thinking.fm podcast network
- Monetization options for podcast network owners
- One of his favorite podcasts and why it works effectively
Sam’s one of the deep thinkers in the internet marketing industry and it’s always a pleasure to talk to authority who helps shape the industry.
Checkout the podcast below:
Links:
With the amount of publicity in old guard mainstream media (late night talk shows, old line newspapers), you’d think that Twitter was the best thing since sliced bread, which leaves some wondering if the death knell has been sounded for bloggers.
Take a look at the signs of the impending apocalypse, once proud A-Lister bloggerati have taken a hiatus, stopped blogging, or are pummelled over the twitterstream into irrelevance. Is blogging, once the circa 2006 golden boy of mainstream media, now it’s whipping boy?
More importantly, is anyone going to read more than the 140 character limit imposed by micro blogging platforms like Twitter?
Are we destined to become a SMS/text nation?
Gee… (more…)
