There's a new social networking site � eons.com � oriented toward the 50+ crowd. Despite the poor choice of name, the site has a good look and could do very well. One sometimes gets the impression reading marketing surveys that only the under 30 market is important. That's just nonsense. Certainly, individuals under 30 are an important market. Techno-savvy, energetic, and eager to socialize, they represent an opportunity for marketers. That market has money to burn and they are ready to spend. Their interests are broad, as is the demographic itself. But far from being the only important market, they are still only one out of many. So, along come the wise folks at eons.com who recognize that there is a lot more money being left on the table. According to Enid Burns in a ClickZ article discussing the new site, the three major areas of focus are finance, wellness, and love. There are several others shown prominently on the home page, but perhaps Mr. Burns knows something we don't. But no matter what eons.com foci may be, the site � as with ... Read More →

Rupert Murdoch is not sorry his News Corp bought Intermix, the owner of MySpace, a year ago. Forget for a moment the phenomenal growth in the user base. According to Wendy Davis' article on Online Media Daily, referencing eMarketer data,

MySpace "last month garnered 17 percent of online display impressions � up more than two points from May's 14.6 percent, according to new data by Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance."

That's half Yahoo! Mail, but double MSN Hotmail. In a more recent article, again using eMarketer data, she reported that MySpace is set to pull in $180 million in revenue this year, on it's way to getting a piece of the $1.86 billion pie predicted to exist by 2010. Ad dollars represent a cost to affiliate marketers, not revenue, it's true. But those ... Read More →

Google has sent Internet marketers - especially affiliates - into a uproar with their latest AdWords �summer cleaning.� Over the past week, advertisers have literally been getting booted out of Google Adwords. That includes advertisers who spend more than 5 figures a month on AdWords. I've spoken with multiple super affiliates, and they are all in an uproar over what appears to be yet another "affiliate-unfriendly" move by Google. I can�t say Google never warned us. They announced new algorithm changes in December of last year. But when advertisers started getting kicked out starting a week or so ago, it hit hard - like it came out of nowhere An anonymous Affiliate Classroom contributor and PPC affiliates complains�

�I had an ad doing 6.7% CTR and have spent well over $150,000 on Google Adwords in the last 2 years � now they�re telling me that I need to increase my minimum bid for 300%! No way!�

So what is Google really up to? Have they gone the way of pure evil? Or is is this part of a larger and more complex agenda? Well, �I... Read More →

In college I had a friend who, as a high school teen, attended rock concerts. He didn't go for the music. He sold T-shirts, though 'sold' is something of a misnomer. All he had to do was show up and they were practically ripped out of his hands. (Come to think of it that happened literally, sometimes.) He made a serious chunk of change, ten bucks at a pop. He understood social network marketing. He didn't have to do a lot of advertising. He didn't spend a lot of money on marketing. But he knew where to find customers... where they congregate. That's the not-so-secret lesson of social network marketing. Many sites try to get customers to come where they live. Not a bad thing, as it works pretty well much of the time. But social network marketing is going where the customers already are. While there you hope to sell them something you have good reason to believe they already want. The team in charge of marketing the recent X-Men 3 movie did just that. They developed a portion of the MySpace site devoted to talking about the movie. They attracted a lot of people they already had good reason t... Read More →

Word of mouth spreads more or less geometrically. Someone likes what you say or sell and they tell two people, who tell four, three of whom tell six, etc. Notice, I didn't say "four tell sixteen, etc" That's because as the web of popularity spreads, not everyone is going to take the effort to spread the word. Worse, not everyone will be pleased with what you say or do. Circumstances, misunderstanding, or a variety of other causes may have given some of those a reason to think you could use a little improvement. That can lead to negative word of mouth. Just as positive buzz helps you by that amplification effect, negative word of mouth hurts you. And, unfortunately, people are often more vocal about what they don't like, than enthusiastic about what they do. There are several ways to deal with that inescapable fact, but one stands above the rest. First and foremost, maintain open and honest communication. Try to avoid letting a customer complaint go by unanswered, especially if they're being anywhere near reasonable. You won't have time to address every possible expression of sour grapes, but any genuine beef should be jumped on at the earliest opportunity. Those w... Read More →

The July 2006 Affiliate Classroom Magazine is on article marketing, a skill you must develop if you want to get an edge in these days of rising PPC costs and constant search engine updates. Download now to get advice from expert writers and working marketers on:

Article marketing best practices: what works and what doesn't. How to develop hot article titles and content, even if you're new to the game. How to make PLR articles unique, with before and after examples.

Plus there's an entire article that explains white hat "tag and ping" social bookmarking tactics in a nutshell. Click here to download the July 2006 Affiliate Classroom Magazine now!

... Read More →

Don't panic! There are no equations in this series of posts � only common sense ideas you can apply to boost your business. First, a pop quiz. What's the most effective form of marketing? Time's up. Wrong, close, and sort of. Well, some of you were right, I'm sure, because some must have thought "word of mouth". (The title is a pretty big hint.) People buy stuff they want in large part because someone they know and trust recommended it. You may not listen very much when your best friend touts a movie � tastes vary and you've been disappointed before. But lots of products or services are much less subjective than that. And, in some cases, it isn't even a question of quality. It may be simply information about a source for a good price, or availability, or rapid delivery. There are all sorts of reasons one product or merchant is preferred over another. But before it can be preferred it has to be known. And knowledge comes � more so on the Internet than anywhere else in the modern world � from the high tech equivalent of low-tech: word of mouth. Word of mouth can spread the literal, old-fashioned way � by words out of someone's mouth. (Hence, the expression... Read More →

Popov and McDonald have done it again. Well, in this case Popov and Pollard. In their recent ClickZ column, the pair offer 10 excellent suggestions for increasing your email deliverablity probability. That's a mouthful, but the ideas are simple. Here's a sampling, with my comments: 1.Two-thirds of senders don't ask to be added to the Safe Sender's list or address book. There's an old rule in sales: you don't ask, you don't get. If you do ask, you may also not get, but if you don't for sure you won't. 2.Nearly two-thirds neglect to provide a link to the website version of the email content, or related content. Emails, as list marketers know only too painfully well, often don't arrive intact. Images can be blocked, special characters can be garbled, etc. Give yourself a second chance by providing the full, unblemished and smartly tailored message in a special area on the site. And on that same page, be sure to provide links to important content � like the product or service you want to sell. 3.Half don't provide a feedback email address. Email marketing is about s... Read More →

Just got a note from Shawn Collins letting me know that a video of me had been put up on YouTube.com! Basically Brook Schaaf from Shaff Consulting was coming around interviewing all the exhibitors and I got to be one of the lucky ones! For your viewing pleasure: ... Read More →

How long should a marketing email be? What style should it take? Should you say everything in the body or tease the reader with a few tantalizing tidbits, hoping they'll click for more? The answer to all these is: Don't confuse the medium with the message. (Marshall McLuhan be damned.) Length. There's a similar long-standing debate in the motion picture business about how long a movie should be. The generally accepted answer is: as long as it's good. Email copy could profitably follow a similar principle. Keep the reader engaged, by offering them valuable information well conveyed, and you can write as much as you need. Or, to paraphrase a quote from Einstein: An email should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. Just get the message across and get out. But make sure you do convey the message. Style. Asked and answered. If you keep them interested you have the right style. If you don't, you don't. Think of article writers or novelists you like. Then ask: "How do they keep me reading?" Tease or Full Monty? A very good question, and one to which the answer is probably: "Either o... Read More →