| LED Digest 2238: Affiliate Marketing... Locally |
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Lori Smart sums it up today: "Let's face it, web development...and
other related industries are NOT rocket science...this stuff ain't hard to do!
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======== CONTINUING ===============================The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com ............................................. September 1, 2006 Issue no. 2238 ............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Small Business Sites ==-- ~ Lori Smart "Let's face it, web development and other related industries are NOT rocket science." --== Browsers & Security ==-- ~ Charles Oertel "...a developer codes differently when they know that others will see their work." --== Income from Affiliate Marketing? ==-- ~ Steve Pronger "...long term we want to draw in a broader soccer- related audience with non-geo-targeted keywords." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== MetroHorse ==-- ~ Jim Berry --== Hotmail not Delivering LED ==-- ~ Henry Swerdloff From: Lori Smart Subject: Small biz sites I feel a need to speak on behalf of the millions of small business owners, SEO's, affiliate marketers, etc. and address Mark Whitman's attacks [issue 2234]. First of all, what qualifications do you have, to speak so boldly, Mark? Did you get your Webmaster / SEO degree from a prestigious technical university? My guess is that you taught yourself by studying other developers code, reading books, and trial and error. Any of us who have been in the web developer field for years (it's been nearly 10 for our company) were learning this stuff way before they even had books written on the subject of creating websites, let alone college courses. In fact, I sort of stumbled into web development in 1995 when a friend walked me through hand-coding a personal site, which then led me into developing a site for a client (at that time, I was in the accounting industry), then another for a colleague of that client, and my new career snowballed. One of the best resources available way back then was the LED, which has helped fledgling web developers and small business owners alike to build their web presence. It's hardly professional to so blatantly put down your peers, customers, potential customers, and just good people in general. By making comments like the following: > A small business owner (without professional level > website development skills) doesn't have the slightest > chance of creating a website that will incorporate effective > operational strategies, one that will convert to the max, > one that will place well in search engines... - Mark Whitman, LED 2234 > ... I have a core of ongoing repeat customers all of whom > are fairly small businesses who use me exclusively and > some even have employees who subscribe to this list. - Mark Whitman, LED 2236 You've just alienated potential new customers and if I were one of those employees of your customers and read your boastful, unfounded remarks over the past few days, I would fire you and look for a much more respectful and educated developer immediately. Who knows more about what keywords are important for their industry than the business owner. Perhaps they need a little guidance, but how do you know what keywords to use for a company that manufactures widgets unless they tell you who would buy them and how they would search for one? I would say it's a safe bet to assume that most of the readers of this list are small business owners and not professional website developers or SEM professionals. This forum is provided as a means for those of us with experience to help those who are trying to market their websites on a tight budget. What good is it to demean their work, while inflating your own importance? They're here to learn from those of us with experience. And at the same time, I have learned so much from this list over the years, much from successful small business owners that have built their own web presence. Let's face it, web development, hand coding HTML, search engine marketing, and other related industries are NOT rocket science. Many small business owners use their teenage kids and even grandpa to develop their first web presence. As staunchly as we wish to protect our high-wage salaries, there is that underlying knowledge that this stuff ain't hard to do! However, the more experience we gain, the more we CAN give our clients. The more programming languages we learn, graphic skills we achieve, search engine marketing skills, the better our work gets. Some of our best clients are the ones that started out creating their own sites and building them to the point where they felt using the expertise of a 'professional' would be the next logical step. We've been very impressed with how much they are able to accomplish on their own. They basically started out the same way most of us did. Let's give them credit for that. Lori Smart InternetDesign.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Charles Oertel Subject: Browser security Dear Tom Aman, All software has vulnerabilities. I could also quote numerous security vulnerabilities regarding IE (and hopefully use quotes a little less dated than yours - in the second half of 2004 Firefox was brand-spanking new while IE is so old Microsoft had disbanded its development team). But your assertion that Open Source software is more vulnerable because hackers can see the source code is just plain wrong. For every hacker going through the code there must be at least 10 developers going through the same code - so the chances of vulnerabilities being discovered and fixed are much, much higher than with IE. The other aspect of Open Source that most non-developers don't realise is that a developer codes differently when they know that others will see their work. I know - having coded both proprietary and open software. Knowing that others, many of them much better than I, will see my code makes me think about every single token, line and subroutine. The effect is generally that open source code starts with a higher level of quality and only gets better. IE is more risky than Firefox for another, totally unrelated reason: IE is a fundamental part of Windows - it runs right from the screen all the way through to the kernel. That is why it is impossible to uninstall IE completely. By contrast, Firefox is just a simple userland program that can be installed and removed completely. When IE is compromised, the whole operating system is compromised. Not so with Firefox. Your system is only secure because you have all security the add-ons (AV etc). But all that aside - Firefox is a better browser just from a usability, standards and features point of view, I can't for the life of me imagine why anybody would choose to use IE when Firefox is a free download of around 8MB. kind regards Charles Oertel HoneyBadger.net -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Steve Pronger Subject: Affiliate marketing > Ok, I have to ask you, since I've considered going > this route myself recently, exactly how much revenue > does that Soccer site bring in from affiliate links > and Google adsense? - Brett Simpson, LED 2237 Hi Brett, I believe you were actually quoting me and not Steve Rothberg :-) [moderator's fault - I accidentally quoted Rothberg. -adam] I don't think it would be appropriate to quote exact figures but I'll give you some indicators. The site's only been online a couple of months, but at the current traffic levels and clickthrough rates it should earn a few hundred dollars over 12 months. It doesn't sound like much, I know, but to the club every dollar counts (US dollars convert quite well to Australian dollars), and when it comes to fundraising any hands-free system sure beats selling sausages at the local servo (Aussie-speak for gas station) on a cold, wet Saturday morning. But we have bigger plans for it. At present it's only attracting local traffic, which is it's initial objective (bring in new members), and as a result click-through rates haven't been particularly good. But long term we want to draw in a broader soccer-related audience with non-geo-targeted keywords. That would bring in more traffic and increase click-through rates and earnings. To do that, of course, we need content. I've given the club members a list of keywords which would be good prospects to target and said "Go forth, and write me some content." But as anyone whose ever built a website for someone else would know, getting them to actually come up with the content is a challenge. I've set up a blog for them as well, to help grow the site, but again it's difficult to get them to actually post to it. > I'm curious if they actually click through, make > purchases and don't get bothered by your savvy > affiliate marketing on their soccer club website? Yes, they click through. I've cautioned club members to NEVER click on their own AdSense ads of course. It's easy for some members to get it in their head that "hey, we can make some money for the club here". You have to put them straight in no uncertain terms. As for the affiliate program I'm still experimenting with finding the right products. It's early days. It would be true to say that Adsense has been more successful, but again more traffic will present more opportunities. No, the members certainly aren't bothered by the ads. They know why they're there and that they are helping the club. They see it as a fundraising exercise, just like any other activity. > ... how much of this is fully automated by XSitePro? Have > you heard of other software, such as HyperVRE... XSitePro allows you to insert AdSense code and format the ads within the program. All you need is your publisher ID and the program does the rest. That makes it a real time saver, especially if you build multiple sites. But let me stress that XSitePro does not AUTOMATE building multiple sites. It can create multiple pages using a list of keywords but YOU have to create the content for those pages. I'm not familiar with HyperVRE, but looking at the sales page it appears to be a multiple page generator using scraped content. This is precisely the sort of tool which gives affiliate marketers / Adsense publishers a bad name and causes people like Mark Whitman to make edgy comments that many NOT ALL of us are bottom-feeding Internet polluters. Yes, I'm an XSitePro affiliate. But I don't promote it with spam or other dodgy methods. I bought it. I built a couple of sites with it. I determined that it was a good product for it's intended market. I reviewed it on my site and recommended it to my subscribers. I offered personal support to anyone who purchased it through my links. Now, I'm not reeling in the big bucks through affiliate marketing by any stretch, but if you ask anyone who has had any degree of success they'll tell you that the cheap, quick methods don't last long. It's all about PRE-selling. Providing value-added content. And building trust with your visitors. That can't be automated. You may not realize it, but we actually have someone on this list who is the real deal when it comes to affiliate marketing. I'm referring of course to Allan Gardyne [see issue 2236]. I hope we can get Allan to share some of his strategies. Smart LEDers who who want to do well with affiliate marketing would be wise to listen up. Steve Pronger http://www.stevepronger.com ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Jim Berry Subject: MetroHorse.com I came across www.metrohorse.com on a forum I occasionally visit, where someone had done a little "self-promotion". According to a PRWeb release, this site is the "Next Big Thing", started by 2 college kids with their life savings and money from family and friends. They claim an audited statement shows projected revenues of $10 million. At the moment, however, all business on their site are enjoying a "free trial", so it's an ambitious goal indeed! Since LEDers are excellent at seeing through the hype, I'm offering this up for review and discussion. The owners' description of MetroHorse is "A cross between Craigslist and eBay, with a hint of Myspace". Jim Berry -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Henry Swerdloff Subject: LED issues, via MSN Hotmail, are missing. Adam, Microsoft's MSN Hotmail, is not reliably delivering LED issues. I have done all I can, as a paid customer of MSN Hotmail. MSN Hotmail seems to be very reliable, with other periodicals. In the past, most LED issues were reliably delivered. But now, some get delivered, but too many do not. I visit your excellent site, to find and e-mail missing issues to myself. I use MSN Hotmail filters, to send all LED sent issues, to its LED folder. Issues that may not conform, to my filter requirements, remain on desktop. I always struggle, through all mail, in the Junk mail folder. MSN Hotmail sometimes flags good stuff as Junk, but LED is not there. When appropriate, I try to share my LED-acquired knowledge with others. I miss my wonderful LED, and some of the people that contribute. It is one of the very few publications, I reliably read multiple times. I wish I was able to contribute, and not just be a reader. Henry Swerdloff, Boston, U.S.A. <Moderator Comment> I've been in touch with Henry on this problem, but wanted to publish it here in case others are struggling with Hotmail. -Adam
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