If you think choosing commodity services such as domain names, webhosting, email service providers is a matter of choosing the best prices and features, you could not be more wrong. A recent experiences has shown just how much the support factor matters when it comes to your online business.
I have a fairly extensive portfolio of domain names, some of which I use for my websites, with the majority of domains kept in storage till I’ve time to develop them.
This past week, I got a message from one of my domain registrars GoDaddy that one of my domains had expired. Since it’s a pretty high value (though unused) domain related to the dietary supplements niche, I decided to renew it.
At the domain renewal screen, I see:
So in addition to the $10.89 renewal fee for a year, GoDaddy wants to charge a “Registry Redemption Fee”.
This “redemption fee” is going to cost me $90.
What?
I have to pay the equivalent of 9 year’s registration to get my domain back?
And it’s not likely that GoDaddy will budge on their policy.
I like GoDaddy’s support of female race driver Danica Patrick. I sometimes even like (more…)
Being perceived as an expert in your niche can play a great part in generating buzz, momentum and ultimately profits from your marketing efforts. If you’re a small or medium business, being able to establish mindshare (the perception of yourself or your company as a player in your niche) is a key strategy for newer players. Here are 7 tips to achieving that goal.
Content: Identifying key issues, especially challenges and problems within your industry and offering a solution to those questions builds your reputation as a problem solver. Experts are those with expertise at solving problems.
It also builds goodwill and encourage reciprocity and a “pay it forward” mentality from those who have benefitted from your advice (which leads to a viral/linkbait effect if they distribute/syndicate your content).
Content was one of the major issues that I discussed with veteran journalist and former editor-in-chief of Revenue magazine, Lisa Picarille, for this week’s Friday Podcast. It’ll appear on Friday.
One of the easiest ways to brand yourself is by starting a blog and start putting out quality content.
One major issue I have with bloggers, especially affiliate marketing/internet marketing bloggers is a tendency to excessively sell ad-space or run banners on their blog. If more than half the screen real-estate is dedicated to ads/banners, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Are you more interested in making money, or providing information.
Looking at your signal-to-noise ratio (content vs ads) and maintaining a 80% content : 20% ad ratio will create a great user experience. Going beyond a 50% content vs 50% ad ratio is pushing the limits.
Guest author and guest post: If you’ve established a reputation and are seen as credible, take the next step to approach the top 10 channels/outlets in your niche and offer to guest author on their site – whether it’s a news site, a content aggregator or a blog.
If you are known and the site publishes guest posts, you stand a good chance. If not, it’s back to step #1.
In the affiliate marketing context, specialist magazines like FeedFront which comprises an online and print edition can provide great visibility.
Public speaking: Speaking at industry-specific events and related events are (more…)
The availability of web-based services like gmail, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Prosper 202 and Basecamp means that your internet marketing or affiliate business can be run off a low-powered netbook or even off a cheap computer at an Internet cafe. But are you taking enough safeguards to protect yourself?
If anything, the earlier attacks this week which took down Facebook and Twitter for a couple of hours highlights the perils of (more…)
When it comes to your marketing arsenal, words can be your most powerful weapon when it comes to getting killer results when you’ve launched a marketing campaign. Unfortunately, too many marketers take a step in the wrong direction and instead kill their leads with poorly developed content.
I was reading through some of the newer business/marketing blogs and articles/content posted on the social networks, and the content out there is (more…)
One of the major ways I’ve been able to help marketers get their business up and running has been through posting on this blog, publishing the Friday Podcast and participating in various internet marketing and affiliate forums.
The one limitation I faced, similar to everyone else, is having enough time to work on my business and being able to answer questions that blocks a new marketer getting started.
It was at the Affiliate Summit earlier this year that I sat down with Danielle Nagami (AKA MsDanielle) to see if we could help create a resource site for newer internet marketers.
Enter the Internet Marketing Cookbook – a resource site/monthly newsletter that aims to give you access to tips and techniques to help you grow your online business.
The site will feature monthly updated content which build on MsDanielle’s strength’s in pay-per-click traffic, search engine optimization and other forms of traffic generation. While I’ll be focused on social media, product development and affiliate marketing.
If you’re a newer internet marketer, be sure to check out the:
–> Internet Marketing Cookbook
In the movie (adapted from a graphic novel) Watchmen, the protagonist, Rorschach, fights a one-man crusade against crime. Though brutally effective, he’s ultimately beat down by the system. Within the internet marketing arena, unfortunately, too many marketers adopt a similar “Rorschach” approach to running their business, sometimes not realizing they’re getting beat down in the process.
“If you want something to be done well, you need to do it yourself”
This is probably the most commonly cited reason why (more…)
