Screen Glare

I have been giving this a ton of thought lately.

Does blogging without a name hurt the ability of your blog to gain a solid readership?

Does writing under a “pen name” (or other) make what you write less credible? In my eyes, I don’t really care who is writing when I am reading, but as I grow more an more affiliate properties with blogs, I find myself having to not use my real name and I am wondering if those reading my properties have difficulty taking what i write seriously, or have difficulty connecting with my content because there isn’t really a person behind it.

I can build a brand, but am I doing my affiliate business, and my readers/users and injustice by not blogging with a name?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Defensive Adwords Will Save You Money

As an affiliate, it is inevitable that at some point in your journey, you will begin to use Google Adwords to promote your site and the affiliate programs you represent. Most think of Google Adwords as an offensive promotional tactic. Many get caught up in the “glitz and glamour” of impressions, clicks, click through rates, and the like and forget about what really matters: conversions, revenues, and profits! They build keyword lists, ad copy, and landing pages for glitz and glamour. They talk about how many impressions they get and how many clicks, but does any of this matter if you forget about revenues and profits? Hello no! All you are doing is wasting your time and money. Being defensive with Adwords will not only save you time and money, but it forces you to concentrate on what is really important: profits and revenues.

What is Defensive Adwords?

Defensive Adwords can be best defined as building Google Adwords campaigns that focus on deterring errant clicks, browsers (we want buyers), and any other controlable factor that would lead to a non-converting click. The goal of Defensive Adwords is make Google Adwords campaigns that are only attractive to the converting user.

Okay….Give Me an Example

Let’s say I am an affiliate for Dell and I am running a Google Adwords campaign for the Dell XPS M2010. The first thing I do is build a list of factors influencing a potential sale of the Dell XPS M2010. For instance, how much does this unit cost, any special promotions, what price are competitiors selling at, what promotions are they running, is their an alternative product out there, etc. The reason for this is to find out why some would buy this unit from you, but also to find out why someone would not buy from you. So I spend sometime researching the competitve offers and I find out two things: I don’t have the best price, but I have a great payment option.

Ive Done My Homework Now What?

Now the we know why someone would (payment option) and would not (price) buy the Dell XPS M2010 for us, it is time to create a the Google Adwords campaign. Let’s assume that you have already done proper keyword research and have built an acceptable landing page for the product. It is now time to create your Google Adwords copy. Here is an example I would use for this product.

Dell M2010 $2999.99

Purchase for only $90/month

Fast Safe Ordering, Quick Shipping!

www.xxxxx.com/dellm2010

First I started by letting the perspective buyer know the price of the Dell M2010 up front. If my competitors are advertising a lower price, then I want the user to know my price is higher, so don’t click if you are just looking for the best price. Remember, we want buyers. Second, I put the awesome payment option. Since no one else is offering this payment method (with everyone else you have to pre-pay), I let the user know that if you don’t have all of the money right now, you can still purchase the unit (even though it is priced higher). Third, I built in user confidence in the transaction, followed with the ability to get the Dell M2010 quickly.

There are a ton of additional examples of how to employ the Defensive Adwords technique, but this post is winded enough, so I won’t add anymore.

Defensive Adwords Summary

1. Think revenues and profits, not impressions and clicks.

2. Find out why a user would want to convert and why they would not convert.

3. Write ad copy that both shows the reason why someone would not buy (no conversion), and why the would buy (convert).

4. Never write ad copy just to get a user to click (ok, dont lie).

5. Make sure your landing page and offer match your Adwords copy.

Many of you would say that Defensive Adwords heavily relys on the landing page, and it’s ability to convert the user. While this holds some truth, the fact of the matter is the better job your Adwords copy does of filtering browsers, the better any landing page will convert. I have seen users buy a ton of goods off crappy pages because the ad sold them. Regardless, you should be cognizent of the quality of your landing page and strive to make it the best possible, but your ability to make your ad copy sell to the right buyer, is the most important factor of all.

Banner Ads Are Bad For Affiliate Sales, But Great For Branding

Yes, we all know banner advertisements suck for generating click-through’s that result in sales, but there is no reason you can’t sell banner advertisements on your affiliate site. Not only will this add an additional revenue stream to your site, but it will also give you a much more reliable revenue stream.

The online banner ad is the online version of the print ad in newspapers and magazines. If you know anything about business marketing, print ads are used primarily as a branding tool - a way to build an image for your company, product, and or service. The same can be said for online banner advertisements. If you site attracts any type of traffic (obviously the more specific niche traffic the better) you should be able to open-up a few spaces for banner ads.

Setting Your Pricing on a CPM Basis

Most sites that sell banner advertisement’s do so on a CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) basis. If your site does not recieve at least 10,000 impressions per month, it probably is a better idea to just sell the spot at a set rate. CPM’s vary based on the specific niche you are in. The best way to gauge what your CPM price should be is to take a look at similar sites within your niche and see what they are charging. Other then that, check out the online advertisement networks mentioned below in order to get a better idea of where to set your pricing.

Depending on your niche, and your readership, it is entirely possible for you to attract advertisers at non-standard rates, or who will work with you on non-standard terms. I have one site, for instance, where I charge a flat rate per month for banner ads, that is currently fetching me $33 per thousand impression, which is almost unheard of not only for a small site, but for large sites a like. You are in control, if your site has enough percieved value, advertiser WILL pay you what you want.

Selling Your Online Advertising Opportunities On Your Site

The best way to sell advertising opportunities on your site is create a seperate page dedicated to advertising opportunities. On this page, don’t just list the options, sell them! Reveal some of your sites stats (hits, uniques, page rank, Alexa rank), describe your readership, and have some testimonials, if available. If no testimonials are available, describe the benefit and the ultimate outcome and advertiser can expect from advertising on your site. If you are so inclined (this is also recommended) create a .pdf that details your entire advertising “menu”. This will make your site appear more professional and will et advertiser know that you are serious about delivering a return on their dollars spent.

If you are short on time, lazy, or are not confident in what I would consider “offline sales skills”, it might be best to consider letting an online advertising network sell for you.

Let an Online Advertising Network Do the Work For You

If you don’t have the time, resources, or skills to necessary to sell your online advertising opportunities it is probably best to join an online advertising network and let them do the selling for you. Essentially, online advertising networks are nothing more then an aggregator of niche advertising opportunities. The online advertising networks attract advertisers who in turn browse their “inventory” of opportunities looking for the best possible match for their goals. For this service, most online advertising networks charge a 20-30% fee (you never actually have money taken from you, it is done prior to getting your payout). Some of the best online advertising networks include:

• Adbrite
• Casale Media
• Tribal Fusion
• Google Adsense
• Federated Media

Selling Banner Ads on Your Affiliate Site Summary

For most affiliates, selling banners ads on your affiliate websites can generate result in an increase of 25% in monthly revenues, revenues that are more reliable then Adsense, or even an affiliate program. You can sell banners ads yourself, but if you don’t have the time or sales skills, consider using an advertising network such as adbrite, Casale Media, or Federated Media. This diversification of revenue streams is a great way to not only add to your earnings, but also protect yourself from any dips in your other affiliate revenue streams should any unforeseen events occur during a particular month.

Like a Good 401K, I am Diversified

A big question that many affiliates ask me is where my affiliate revenues come from. The first thing I tell them is that I am diversified. I am diversified as an affiliate, but as an individual, I also have multiple streams of income stemming from numerous affiliate, affiliate management, internet marketing, and even a day job. Now without getting too personal, let’s take a look at one of my sites that is just four months old.

Affiliate Revenue Sources

The site in question is a PR3, has about 300 backlinks, and 100 - 200 page views per day (not this site). Certainly nothing special, but my strategy is to have multiple sites making consistent revenues month over month. By not putting all of my egg’s in one basket, I am protected.

Here’s the Numbers

• Commission Junction - $211.36 per month - The three month average from one CJ affiliate program.
• Private Ad Sales - $150 per month - This site has a solid target audience and is currently displaying two banner ads. This is a $33 CPM.
• Google Adsense - $97.62 per month - Currently using a header and skyscraper.
• Text Links - $24 per monthSelling them for $10 per month. PR is not high enough yet to command much more.
• Kontera Textual Ads - $15.72 - This is something I have never used before and decided to give it a shot. I probably won’t coninue with this much longer as I think it detracts from the site.
• SITE TOTAL: $498.70 per month

Your Only Making $498.70 per month?

And I am proud of it. Why? I have 10 other sites just like this, and best yet, I spent ZERO hard dollars on link building, marketing, or advertising. The site took me four hours to build, another four hours for launch promotion, and on average one half hour per day to update. As time goes on, my daily maintenance will decrease to about one hour per week.

Remember when I spoke about being able to scale your affiliate business? This is what I was talking about. The ability to systematically create, launch, promote, and monetize numerous properties. This is exactly what I have done with my affiliate efforts, to the tune of over $5,000 USD per month.

Sure it isn’t a $100K per month Google Adsense check, but for most affiliates, this process of diversification of affiliate revenue streams from multiple properties is realistic and attainable with some hardwork, dedication, a bit of online marketing knowledge.

Many Affiliates Swear By Cloaking Affiliate Links Through PHP Redirects

I use them on some of my sites. On some of my sites I don’t (like this one). Sometimes I notice lower click through and conversion rates with PHP redirects, so when working with a new site, or a site with a less savvy audience I don’t cloak my affiliate links. This isn’t something that every affiliate has to do, but it is fairly straight forward, easy to set-up, and leaves no question as to whether spyware or bots are filtering our your affiliate tracking or affiliate id’s robbing you of commissions.

Not only are PHP redirects good for protecting from filtering, but the also streamline the process of managing the multitude of affiliate links you might use for a particular site. Using a PHP redirect will eliminate the need for you to keep a seperate spreadsheet with affiliate links, log-in to multiple affiliate management portals, and shorten the overall length of the affiliate links which makes them more “user friendly”.

Simple PHP Redirect to Cloak Affiliate Links

This technique will allow you to manage thousands of affiliate links within one PHP file. To begin, create a PHP file. I suggest naming it links.php, but that is totally up to you. Next, enter the following:

In this PHP redirect, ‘afflink’ is the name convention you would use to describe your affiliate link (ex program name or offer). ‘http://myaff.com/index.php?id=myaffid’ is your unique afiliate link provided by your affiliate program.

Now here is the easy part, to add additional affiliate links that need to be cloaked, simply add the following:

Remember to follow the earlier redirect, and all successive redirects with a comma (,) so that multiple affiliate links would look like:

Using this PHP redirect the affiliate links that you will use now look like:

http://www.yourdomainname.com/link.php?id=eBay
http://www.yourdomainname.com/link.php?id=google

That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course there are numerous other ways to cloak your affiliate links, but in my experience, when forced to cloak my affiliate links, using PHP redirects has proven to be the easiest and most effective.

• Overall Rating: 6.0
• Sound Quality: 4.0
• Reliability: 2.8
• Customer Service: 5.8
• Features: 5.3
• Price: 4.8

• Overall Rating: 6.0
• Sound Quality: 4.0
• Reliability: 2.8
• Customer Service: 5.8
• Features: 5.3
• Price: 4.8

So, you want to know a secret?

A few weeks ago i unexpectedly and unintentionally was able to view the Google Adwords performance of over two dozen sites. They ranged from technology sites to home and garden to clothing. Some of the sites were even generating weekly revenues in excess of $4 Million per week through Google Adwords. Although the sites varied in size, niche, budgets, and revenues, one thing remained the same; their brand name keywords were not only the highest converting, but they were generating more then 50% of the sites total revenue generated through Google Adwords.

That’s right brand name keywords. Brand name. That necessary evil, that investment with no directly measureable ROI, was the primary reason behind these sites success or failure with Google AdWords. I wish I could have ethically taken screenshots to show here, but your just going to have to take my word for it.

So What Does This Mean For You?

Well a few things.

1. Branding Works - Yes, branding works, so you should invest in it and build a brand name for you, your company, and more importantly your site.
2. If Your Not Buying Branded Keywords, You Better Start - Buy them now, before your competitor reads this and starts buying yours.
3. People Searching For Your Company, Not the Products You Sell Convert the Best - If they are looking for your site, especially if you primarily sell “things” chances are users know this and are going to with intent to buy. Users searching for a specific product might just as well be looking for product information, reviews, and other ancillary data as they are searching with the intent to buy. I guess broad keyword phrases can work well.
4. Brand Name Success Masks Overall Google Adwords Performance - If you were to take away the brand name keyword campaigns, there overall performance stunk. There is great opportunity to beat your larger, more established, more well known competitors by paying attention to product specifc and “long tail” campaigns that are defensive in nature (to prevent no buying users).
5. Study Your Campaigns - From the outside many of the Google Adwords campaigns were doing awesome, but when you took out the performance of the brand name campaigns, the overall Google Adwors campaign did not look so hot. Why? These companies were only looking at the big picture. Had they drilled down and taken a closer look, they very well could have been doing twice as well.

Take Advantage of the Brand Name Affect

Take advantage of the affect brand name has on Google Adwords performance, by maximize the points addressed above. Build your brand name, drill-down and build your product specific and long-tail keywords campaigns. Never bank your success one just one element. You might be doing well, but maybe you could be doing even better.

When Did People Stop Digging Stories?

I have noticed an inverse relationship over the last two years that I have been using blogs on my affiliate sites. As time has gone I (and those that write for me) have consistently gotten better at writing excellent posts and headlines Brian Clark would be proud of, but have seen less and less of our posts get “digged.”

Now, this is not a “why isn’t anyone Digging my stories?” post. After all, getting Digged does not do much for generating affiliate sales, and while getting your site exposed to thousands of new potential users in a short amount of time is great, it is not something I bank my affiliate revenues on. This is a post that comments on the changing nature of the digg community, getting Dugg, and how affiliates might want to look elsewhere for short term traffic boosts.

Dig is Reducing the Influence of Top Diggers

Digg has recently given less exposure to the top diggers, by removing their top users list from the home page, and also the number of stories promoted to the front page that was visible next to a users name, digg has made it clear that they are looking to control the social media popularity contest that is digging anything and everything, just to be one of their top users. But will this move truly effect the habits of Digg’s top users or will they simply continue on?

Getting Dugg is Becoming Harder - Here’s Why

In giving less exposure to the top digg users, top digg users will change their habits. After all why would anyone want to be a top digg user if it wasn’t for the recognition that comes with being a top digg user? Therefore, with little reason to digg every story they can find, many publishers will (like me) gradually see less and less of their stories getting dugg. Why? Because with a de-emphasis on being a top digg user, there will be a shift in the total amount “diggs” to towards those sites that are larger, more popular, and have a larger readership. This will occur because posts will no longer get dugg just because a digg users wants to be a top user.

In giving less exposure to top digg users, they have made it difficult for smaller publishers to have their stories dugg and given larger publishers an advantage due to their size and popularity. Not that these larger publishers have bad content, but the true power of digg was the little guy could compete with the big, and with less motivation given to users to go out and find content on the far reaches of the Internet, that power is lessoning.

How Can An Affiliate or Blogger Combat The Changing Nature of Digg?

There is no way to directly stop the changing nature of digg. The best one can hope for is the occassional spike from getting a story dugg. As I said before no one should bank their business on the traffic they can/could receive from digg. Affiliates and Bloggers alike should get back to the basics of build traffic and readership; quality content, building a peer network, linking to other sites in their niche, on-page search engine optimization, and whatever little hints, tips, and tricks that you pick-up along the way.

What is AGLOCO?

For those of you who have been living under a rock and do not know what AGLOCO is, AGLOCO is the new company from the folks behind AllAdvantage.com. The purpose behind ALGOCO is to build an economic network that enables individuals on the Web to share in the profits that their data and their actions help create. AGLOCO is more than a Web site and it is more than a Viewbar company. It is a network that links people, their information and their friends together to form something bigger.

Originally I was skeptical, but back in college I made a great deal of money gaming systems like AllAdvantage.com through the use of dynamic page loading scripts that basically turned one of my computers into a 24/7 random web page viewing machine. So, I decided to join-up!

Myspace Was Built to Market AGLOCO

The best way for an affiliate to start making money from AGLOCO is to refer friends, family members, and colleagues to sign-up for AGLOCO, and have them sign-up their friends, family members, and colleagues. Some would consider this to be nothing more then another Viewbar MLM scheme, but it’s not. Heck these guy’s even got on Robert Scoble’s PodTech. Now I REALLY wanted to get in this action and I knew just the place to find all of my friends, family members, and colleagues; Myspace!

The great thing about Myspace, in addition to having all of my immediate revenue generators, is the fact that the heavy Myspace users are easy to market too with “get rich schemes.” I mean what 17 year old can resist making easy money through a simple sign-up and download?

How to Promote AGLOCO Through Myspace

Well the first thing you need to do is go to ALGOCO and sign-up. Once you have signed-up, you will receive a confirmation email that requires you to click through to activate your account. Now that you have set-up your account, you will be given an reference code that can be used for on and offline promotion of AGLOCO.

Now the easiest thing you can do is go to your Myspace profile and edit your profile to include a quick pitch about AGLOCO. Here is a simple example of some text you can use:

• Get Paid To Search The Web Just Like I Do, Sign-up For AGLOCO Today!

You could always get more creative, but honestly, why do that when the real ways to drive traffic are through bulletins, comments, and of course MAP’s (Myspace Affiliate Profiles).

Promoting AGLOCO Through Myspace Bulletins

This is method requires the least amount of work, but is also less effect then the other direct, more aggressive methods. Essentially, all you do is log-in to you existing Myspace account, click “Post Bulletin” and enter text similar to this:

Get Paid to Search the Web Just Like I Do

Hey everyone, no this is not some automated MYSPACE spam. It is really me, insert name, writing this.

Recently a friend of mine told me about the return of a program that I used in college to make some decent cash for doing something I day everyday - surf the web.

AGLOCO is building a new form of online community that they call an Economic Network. They are not only paying Members their fair share, but they’re building a community that will generate the kind of fortune that YouTube made. But instead of that wealth making only a few people rich, the entire community will get its share.

What’s the catch? No catch - no spyware, no pop-ups and no spam - membership and software are free and AGLOCO is 100% member owned. Privacy is a core value and AGLOCO never sells or rents member information.

I have been using it for over a week now and I am already making money from it. What’s better is that you can also make money from getting others to participate in the program.

I would not be writing this if I did not think it was a great idea, so do yourself a favor and sign-up for ALCO today!

Thanks,

insert name

Hit submit, and watch the sign-up’s pour in.

Promoting AGLOCO Through Myspace Comments

This is an excellent way to directly market the program to your friends who ignore bulletins, and to expose the program to individuals who are not in your direct network. Now, there are a number of scripts that can automate this for you, but that is beyond the scope of this post, so let’s just say you have to do this manually. Again, log-in to your Myspace account, go to your friends section and begin posting comments on all of your friends pages. Due to the nature of Myspace, I suggest using an linked image and a brief one line message.

Here is an example:

• Get Paid to Search The Web Just Like I Do!

This is very time consuming, but hey, nothing worth getting is ever easy…

Promoting AGLOCO Through Fake Myspace Profiles

This is my favorite. This is also pretty easy, and honestly, if done right, like any other Myspace Affiliate Profile, takes on a life of it’s own. The basis of all of my MAP’s is a lovely young lady. I usually make them appear to be a little more professional and sophisticated, so they are seem capable of pulling of a pitch of a product, service, or promotion. Once i have the images (use Google images) and content build I put the final touches on the site. Now that the site is live, I go and find guys, any guys, and start adding them as friends. I do this everyday, for a couple of weeks (not all day). After that, you will start to see more and more requests to add your profile as a friend….the true “viral” effect.

Sign-up and Start Marketing!

Now that I have given you the business plans to make a ton of cash, all I ask is that you use my refferal code BBBT3500 or this use this Sign-up Link to get started with AGLOCO. That’s not too much to ask is it?

Does Your Affiliate Program Have a Blog?

It better.

Blogs were built to be personal. Blogs were built to be social. People being social is what we call networking. Networking builds contacts. Contacts build business. So in a nutshell, Blogs are the online equivalent of a networking receiption for potential business partners. If your affiliate program does not have a blog, you are missing out on one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to build your affiliate program.

How To Build Your Affiliate Program Through a Blog

Building your affiliate program through a blog is really quite easy, here are some tips to get you started.

• Do Not “Hype” Your Program - There is a time and a place for everything. Your affiliate program blog is not the time or place to hype your program. The top notch affiliates, the ones you who are the true revenue generators, will see through this and move on. Save the hype…spend your time promoting your blog, not your program.
• Show How to Best Promote Your Program - It’s your program, so you should be the expert on how best promote the program as an affiliate. Show potential affiliates specific examples of how they can promote your program through their site.
• Give Affiliate Best Practices - It’s not enough to just show people how to use your affiliate program, give them the knowledge of how to become a better affiliate for any program. You will not only attract more affiliates writing about best practices, you will also be branding you and your program as an expert in affiliate marketing. Being a respected authority will build trust with perspective affiliates.
• Leverage Third Party Content - Do not be afraid to link to, discuss, or build upon content that is not your own, even if it is from a competitor. You can’t be expected to know everything and come up with every new idea, but part of having the best affiliate program and being the best affiliate manager possible is educating your affiliates on the lastest in affiliate marketing. Leverage other’s content to improve the performnce of your affiliate base.
• Bait Potential Affiliates - I have said it before that linking is the best way to get someone’s attention online. Want to land some large affiliate marketers? Start linking to and discussing what they are talking about. They might not notice the first time, but eventually they will.
• Avoid Reporting on Industry News - That is what Google News and dozens of other sites are for. Don’t waste your time. Write some more affiliate best practices.
• Be Creative, Original, Open, and Honest- This is the toughest one, but the most important one. I like to think that being open and honest will lead to being original. Original companies, people, and blogs are almost aways creative. Start with being open and honest, the rest will follow.

Are You Building an Affiliate Program Through A Blog?

If so, add your thoughts, ideas, experiences in the comments section about what has worked best for you in building your affiliate program through your affiliate program blog!

20% of Your Affiliates Will Produce 80% of Your Revenues

According to Shawn Collin’s AffStat Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report, Affiliate Programs are starting to fade, and the number of large affiliate programs is also declining.

Here are some of the number’s:

• 9 percent of retailers now have 10,000 or more affiliates. This is a significant drop from the 15 percent last year.
• 37 percent of retailers now have 500 or fewer affiliates up from last year’s 24 percent

Affiliate Programs Are Concentrating on the 20%

But is this a mistake? After all, isn’t one of the purposes of an affiliate program to proliferate your brand across the Internet in a cost effective manner? One of the best parts of an affiliate program (and Internet Retailing in general) is the “long tail” effect of having the ability to have an “unlimited” amount of sites promoting your products. As long as it is not costing you anything, why would you want to make your program smaller?

Why You Should Concentrate on Both the 80 and the 20

Is it easier for 10,000 affiliates to generate one sale per month, or to have 500 affiliates generate 20 sales per month. Theoretically it is easier to have 10,000 affiliates generate one sale each, but getting all of those affiliates to produce consistently is often challenging. It is challenging in the same way that giving 500 affiliates all of unique tools and resources they need to generate 20 sales a month.

No matter what the current size of your affiliate program, you need to pay equal attention to growing your 20% and your 80%. Give your top 20% affiliates unique tools, resources, contests, bonuses, and a dedicated account manager. The cream of the crop wants to know they are the cream of the crop. Treat them like you would your best sales associates, because they are (in an online sense.) Consistently grow your 80% - your affiliate program should be in a consistent state of affiliate growth.

Promote, promote, promote.

Keep your affiliate acquisition costs low by starting an affiliate program blog, where you can attract new affiliates through affiliate tips, news, and information. Find some excellent affiliate directories and get your program included. Even if an affiliate only generates one sale a year, that sale is valuable…How much more will that customer buy from you in the future?

Affiliate Programs Are Not Going Anywhere

They represent one of the (if not the) lowest costs per customer acquisition across all marketing channels. The affiliate marketing game is always changing, and therefore affiliate managers need to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and trends.

I would highly suggest any affiliate program or affiliate program manager pick of a copy of the 2007 AffStat Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report. For only $129, you get an in-depth look at the state of industry. There is no doubt this report will pay for itself 10 fold.