Archive for June, 2008
June AC Magazine Discusses Blog Monetization Techniques
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Classroom Magazine, Affiliate Marketing, Blog Marketing Thursday, 19 June 2008 17:16 No Comments
That’s right. This month the AC Magazine focuses on the “Seven Golden Rules of Blog Monetization.” In the cover story, Mark Thompson shows you how to plan your blog so you can make money in the shortest possible time frame.
The Marketing Potential For Blogs is the next article. Here, Kathy Jackson reviews the various reasons that people blog, and why blogs have become the most effective way to market products and services.
You’ll also find information on the wide variety of ways that blogs can enhance your marketing opportunities.
Top 10 Blogging Blogs – Here’s Kathy again, with a list of the top ten blogs. If you REALLY want to make money with your blog, you’re going to need all the information you can get. Don’t waste your time with the others, here’s a list of the best of the best information you will ever find.
Download your copy today! It’s still free, and is filled with ideas that can help you finally become profitable with your blog.
Our Next LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshop
Posted by Rachel Honoway in Affiliate Classroom Events and Products, Affiliate Marketing Tuesday, 17 June 2008 16:39 No Comments
We’re registering attendees for our LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshop in Boston this August.
Like our event in February, this one will take place the Saturday before Affiliate Summit kicks off – and in the same hotel. Come in a day early and spend some time with the expert group that we’ve pulled together to host presentations and roundtables.
Here’s a look at the agenda:
8:00 – 8:30: Check-in
8:30 – 9:15 : Presentation
Affiliate Classroom and Performance Marketing Alliance’s Rebecca Madigan will kick off the morning with her presentation.
9:20 – 10:30: Roundtable discussions
We’ll move you through the following roundtable discussions:
- The Internal Pitch
Lisa Riolo, Hammock Ventures
At this table we’ll discuss selling the value and benefits of your affiliate program INTERNALLY… why to do it, how to do it, how to leverage your agency and networks’ resources to help. We’ll also talk about what to do when you succeed in convincing management of affiliate marketing’s merits, resulting in management’s raised interest and expectations.- NY Tax Law Implications
Brad Waller, ePage and AdJungle
Affiliate Marketing pioneer Brad Waller will lead this table as you discuss the recent New York state tax law and its implications on affiliate marketing. He’ll guide you through developments that have followed since the law passed and offer insight into why companies have or have not acted on the law.- Working the Room
Lee Gientke, LeadPoint.com
Over the years, Lee Gientke has developed an unofficial, yet very effective system for networking and making the most out of face to face meetings at events. In this discussion, Lee will share some tips and advice that you can take with you to successfully navigate through three full days of networking with affiliate marketing professionals at Affiliate Summit.10:30 – 11:15: Presentation
Heather Paulson of Paulson Management Group will offer Advanced Affiliate Management Strategies in this hour-long presentation.
11:20 – 12:30: Roundtable discussions
We’ll end the workshop with another round of in-depth discussion about these affiliate management topics:
- The Changing Search Landscape and It’s Effects on Affiliate Marketing
Peter Figueredo, NetExponent
Peter will talk with you about the changes in search marketing and how these affect you and your affiliates.- Virtual Social Butterflies: Online Networking & Its Importance for Affiliate Managers
Trisha Fawver, Marketing Manager at PsPrint, LLC
Successfully managing an affiliate program relies heavily on being an approachable manager, developing good relationships with your affiliates. It’s equally important to develop good working relationships with your peers in the industry. We’ll talk about the blog community, social networks, social bookmarks, Twitter, and how they can benefit the affiliate manager.- Web 2.0 Practical, Successful Applications for Affiliate Managers
Sam Harrelson
Web 2.0 extraordinaire, Sam Harrelson, will talk to you about the various community networking platforms, applications and systems. He’ll discuss how affiliate managers can apply Web 2.0 techniques to their jobs for more effective affiliate recruitment, communication and motivation.
For more information and to register, please visit: www.AffiliateClassroomLIVE.com
Are You Missing These Opportunities to Use PPC?
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing, PPC Tuesday, 17 June 2008 11:41 1 Comment
PPC is most commonly used for making direct sales of a specific product – but that’s not all it’s good for. In fact, you may be missing out on some great opportunities to use PPC to build your business. For example…
Using PPC to Build an Opt-In List. You get much more for your “click money” by turning one-time traffic into a mailing list. Persuade a certain percentage of your traffic to give you their email address, and you get more mileage for your PPC dollar.
Some marketers run PPC ad campaigns for the sole purpose of building their opt-in lists. Offer a free ebook, email course, audio or video, or a special report in your ad. Yes, you’ll mostly get freebie seekers on your list, but it’s not difficult to turn freebie seekers into buyers with the right follow-up emails. And now you have the opportunity to convert them into buyers over and over again.
When using PPC to build a list, from the very beginning you’ll need to keep a close eye on your budget and conversions. Constantly calculate what it’s costing you to get a subscriber, and compare that to what it would cost you in time, effort, and money to get those subscribers in other ways.
Using PPC as a Lead Generator. Many people confuse lead generation with building an opt-in list. You’ll end up with some percentage of freebie seekers on an opt-in list – and those are not necessarily leads. To generate true leads, you need to compose your PPC ad copy to attract clicks from people who are not merely interested, but “almost ready to buy.”
To generate leads, you might very well use some “mystery” in the ad, but you must still be clear enough to get the right people to click the ad. Telling the visitor that they can get specific information about a specific product or service – such as a loan quote – often gets the best results.
Using PPC as a Viral Generator. Viral marketing still works handsomely on the Internet, and is a perfect way to reach the largest portion of your market without having to do all the work yourself.
First, you need a viral marketing vehicle, such as an ebook, a report, or an article, and it needs to be brandable, so that others can give it away for you (a PDF brander like ViralPDF is a great way to make reports brandable).
Second, create an ad that’s directed not towards potential buyers but to potential sellers. You need other marketers who play in your niche to give your freebie away. Within the freebie, be sure to encourage everyone to give it away, so that it becomes truly viral.
Using PPC with Unique Landing Pages for Your Own Product. Let’s say you have developed a product that covers many different aspects of weight loss. Obviously it’s going to be difficult to compete in the huge weight loss market with other PPC marketers.
But you could select keywords that target specific sub-groups within the weight loss market. Write ads around those keywords that target each individual group. Then create landing pages, with different targeted sales copy, for each of those individual groups. Custom ads + custom landing pages for your OWN products can really increase conversions and put more money in your pocket.
7 Golden Rules of Successful PPC
Posted by AC Editorial Team in Affiliate Marketing, PPC, Tracking Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:26 No Comments
#1 – Get Focused, Think Narrow. When you’re paying for every click, a one size fits all effort just to get your website some “exposure” is guaranteed to do one thing: break the bank. PPC campaigns that zero in on specific, targeted objectives – like getting opt-ins or generating click-throughs to a specific product – are always more successful.
#2 – Do EXTENSIVE Keyword Research. Sure, broad-based keywords such as “golf clubs,” “dresses,” or “cars” are searched more often. But the bids for such terms will also be through the roof and rarely generate sales. Focus on more specific, niche-oriented keywords in two, three, and four-word combinations, and keep trying to think of related keywords. They’ll always tie in better with specific searches made by a buying audience.
#3 – Work Hard on Your Ad Copy. Ad writing is part science and part imagination. It’s not easy to write ad copy that adheres to Google’s standards AND grabs the attention of a searcher with a problem or a passion. So put yourself in the searcher’s shoes. What are your audience’s hot buttons? What’s driving them to search those keywords?
#4 – Test! Ad copy, display URL, placement of keywords in your ad, landing page layout and colors… test all these things and focus on conversions and ROI (Return On Investment). Be prepared to let the marketplace tell you what combination generates the highest conversions.
#5 – Forget About Number One. Decisions, decisions… how much to bid? There’s no “right” amount or magic formula, but obsessing about being number one is a waste of effort and money. Being number two through five will get your ad “above the fold” on most user’s screens, and that’s what really matters to start. If your click-through rate is sufficient, Google will bump up the placement of your ad.
#6 – Think Conversions, Not Clicks. PPC marketing is a business model. So from a business perspective, it’s not about the clicks, it’s about the sales. Does your visitor sign up for your newsletter? Does the visitor make a purchase? Of course you have to focus on click-through rate to keep your ad performance acceptable in Google’s eyes, but what matters to YOU is whether your ads turn into sales, or sign-ups, or leads. If clicks are high but conversions are poor, look for the cause.
#7 – Watch Your Budget. Beginners aren’t the only ones who need to monitor their ad spends. In today’s PPC environment, you usually have to lose some money on a campaign in the early stages – That’s the price you pay to discover what really works. But once it’s working, it’s just smart business to check your campaign reports daily and keep a close eye on conversions and ROI.
