Category Archives: Internet Marketing

The Apple iPhone: A Case Study in Eurphoric Marketing

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The Apple iPhone has got analysts all pumped up to stratospheric heights, and while it may or may not reach those optimistic projections, it represents a lesson and an opportunity for Internet Marketers.

apple iphone giveaway

With the impending launch of Apple’s much vaunted iPhone, a hybrid cellphone-computer-mp3 player, on June 29th, optimistic tech analysts like Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster has said: “We estimate they’ll do $15 billion in revenue with the iPhone, and $13 billion in computer sales (in 2009)”

At $500 a piece, that represents 30 million iPhone solds in 2009, coupled with the fact that the yet-to-be-launched iPhone is expected to outsell all Apple’s computers by a factor of $2 billion.

Is the analyst accurate? It’s hard to tell, though most analysts have a track record of being overly optimistic.

It could be seen as a proxy of market sentiment to the new Apple gizmo.

It’ll be a marketing coup for Apple to market it’s new device, dubbed the “Jesus” phone by some at $500-600, considering most cellphones are priced at $100 to $200 now.

Any bad overhangs from Apple’s previous product launches?

Can anyone remember the issue with the Apple iPod Nano cracked screens in 2005?

Apple has certainly pulled itself up the ranks with it’s Continue reading →

Domain Name Monetization and NameCheap Discount Coupon Code

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Many Internet Marketers fail to realize that having multiple domain names can be fundamental to your success in marketing your own product or engaged in affiliate marketing. The good news is that with the availability of domain coupon codes and innovative web hosting, you can build a virtual empire easily, even if you’re just starting out.

Let’s look at this scenario:

You’re a new affiliate marketer starting out, and you want to generate some sales. What do you do?

Maybe you could start a free blog at blogger or wordpress.com. If you’re smart, you’ll register your own domain and get your own webhosting, so you’ll have more control over your web property.

But do you stop at just one blog or website?

Not if you want to have massive success in your affiliate campaign.

What’s to stop you from creating 5 or 10 blogs or websites promoting the same product?

It’s not only an opportunity to occupy multiple positions on the SERPs (search engine results pages), but you will edge out your competition if you push them off page 1 too.

Bear in mind, I’m not asking you to post 10 mirror image copies of the same website. That would be very foolish.

Instead if you can generate content easily, tightly focused around that specific niche, for example, weight loss, you’ll create a virtual fortress centered around the product.

The guys on the Wicked Fire affiliate forum have announced the June discount code for domain registrar NameCheap.com where I’ve been buying the bulk of my domains from.

Domains also come with free privacy protection (so your details aren’t easily available).

Here’s some advice regarding domain names: Continue reading →

The Internet Marketing Long Tail Bashes the “80:20” Pareto Principle

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Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson (also the editor of “The Long Tail: Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of More”) was in Singapore last week for the Media Leaders Series and his Long Tail theory has put paid to Vilfredo Pareto’s 80:20 rule.

An except from the Long Tail reveals how pervasive the Long Tail is, and how it put the 80:20 rule on its head.

Meeting Ecast CEO Robbie Vann-Adib, Anderson is asked what percent of the top selling 10,000 digital music tracks are sold or rented at least once a month.

According to Pareto’s original principle, 20% of Italy’s population controls 80% of it’s wealth.

In today’s context, 80% of car accidents might be caused by 20% of car drivers. 80% of a computer’s resources might be used by 20% of the applications, 80% if your online income might come from 20% of your efforts.

So the Pareto principle should relate to Continue reading →

Open Season For Questions on Blogging, Affiliate Marketing, Social Traffic Generation

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Here’s an open solicitation for questions in the 3 areas I focus on:

  • Blogging
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Social Traffic Generation

I get lots of feedback on general posts, but here’s a chance for you to pose questions and get answers in a future post.

To make things a little easier, here’re some of the foundation between each of the areas I cover, so you can better “get” me and pose a question which might best help you:

Blogging

I see blogging as the next generation of web publishing. It certainly beats the HTML I was bashing out on a text editor in 1997 when I was managing web portals.

The introduction of RSS and Social Networking/Bookmarking widgets means you can easily get a blog from the starting point to more than 10,000 uniques in less than 6 months after starting.

Someone might say, “Sure, I can do that in a single day by getting my post listed on Digg or one of the other big bookmarking sites”, but what I’m refering to is a consistent stream of traffic, as in a consistent 1,500-2,000 page views per day. Not 50,000 page views today, and 200 page views tomorrow.

The underlying philosophy here is that Continue reading →

Internet Marketers Fail When They Get Lazy

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The biggest obstacle that will stand in your path as you start and travel along your Internet Marketing journey can be encapsulated in one word: Laziness. Conquering it is key to reaching your money goals.

People keep asking me why I say that 90% of Internet Marketers drop out of the industry within 6 months.

The truth is I don’t have a fixed answer, but on bad days, it seems like everyone else who started out about the same time as me has moved on to:

  • Network marketing
  • Taken up a 9-to-5 job somewhere
  • Doing the “financial trading cycle” which typically involves day trading or forex or options trading

The sad part is that they inevitably hit a brick wall, then look at what I’ve achieved in the last year and comment “Gee, you’re lucky”.

That kind of stings, considering the amount of effort I’ve spent in Internet Marketing, determining a path, building bridges to other Internet Marketers (sometimes taking a 20 hour flight each way) and taking on more than what others would normally do because I want to move along the road further.

So when I hear about the aspiring Internet Marketer who hasn’t taken action because he bought a new laptop and couldn’t figure out how to use it, and didn’t know how to configure his email, it makes me sad. Very sad.

In 2 minutes I informed him that he ought to call Dell and his ISP’s toll-free number and get his problems fixed by the next day.

Allaying blame on an inanimate laptop is tantamount to Continue reading →

Customer Engagement Makes You The Big Internet Marketing Bucks

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There’s a constant debate about the “best” way to earn online income, and the simple answer is that there is no optimum path to achieving this goal. But one thing is certain, the deeper the engagement with your visitors, the more you’ll benefit.

Here’s why: The whole system of Internet Marketing profits is based on effort and engagement.

Witness-

Web advertising (text links, banner ads, Adsense) has a back-of-napkin payout of about 1-10% against your time and resorces.

Comparatively, CPA (cost per action) marketing where you’re rewarded on leads taking an action (filling in a form, submitting an email address or zip code) pays about 5% to 30% return on your effort.

Affiliate marketing with payouts on completed transactions gives a payout of 10% to 90% (depending on whether it’s a physical product or digital one).

And the big kahuna is product creation with payouts of 20% to 100%, and you control the highway toll booth so to speak.

The higher payouts are proportional to customer engagement, and your efforts to profile and understand them.

With that equation clearly in mind, why would you Continue reading →