Squeeze Pages

I just read a really great article on squeeze pages at StomperBlog.com. Truly a must read for anyone building an email list.

Andy Jenkins goes into an interesting discussion a method he calls a reverse squeeze. Rather than requiring the email address to get the bonus or product, he freely offers the prize first, and then asks for the opt-in.

Friday, April 25, 2008 1:14:37 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses

Google support

I'm having some difficulty with one of my Adwords campaigns. After being online for 4 months, and having just begun going profitable, Google raised the minimum bids to $10.00 from $.05-$.50. It looks like there was a technical glitch in the linking that may have caused the problem, but I won't be able to tell until Google crawls it again.

Well, when this happened, I emailed Google support. It truly amazed me at the incompetence of the support personnel. After waiting 5 days for their response (they say on their web site it is usually within one business day), I received a generic email pointing me to the help area in Adwords. It was obvious they had never even looked at the site.

I responded by asking for a more specific answer to the problem. They came back with a detailed analysis that Google didn't like the business model because this was a review site. Of course there are thousands of review sites using Adwords all over the Internet. This might cause a small increase, but shouldn't cause this kind of slam.

I responded by focusing on some specifics of his answer. Then it got complicated. The person that was handling my case got sick and they moved it to two others. The first told me I didn't have a positive ROI, and didn't see that I had not enabled conversion tracking. He later emailed back and apologized. A complete waste of time.

Then I received an email from another support person who told me that I hadn't included my billing information, and that is why the ads weren't showing. I responded with an email that explained I had already spent $3000.00 over the last 4 months, and that most of my campaigns are running just fine. I can't wait until I see her response.

In over a decade on the internet and 2 decades working with computers, I have seen some bad support. This may well be the worst ever. One would think a company the size of Google would hire people that were basically competent. I'm sure there will be more to come on this debacle.

Friday, April 11, 2008 8:20:46 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses

Yahoo is Testing Google ads to Monetize their Search Results

Since I'm using Yahoo ads, this is of particular concern to me. Yahoo's search results will contain Google's Adsense ads alongside Yahoo's results. I assume this will bounce Yahoo's ads on the pages that will be server. The test will include 3% of search results and will apply to US traffic, and the extended network will not be affected.

One thought that occurs to me is that Yahoo may be poking a stick in Microsoft's eye, perhaps to get them to raise their bid.

Learn about it here. The war continues.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/microsoft/~3/267242184/

Thursday, April 10, 2008 2:07:03 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

The Geeks Will Love This

According to the BBC, a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation, has shown that caffeine may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the risk cholesterol can inflict on the body. UK experts said it was the "best evidence yet" of coffee's benefits.

While the study is about rabbits, and how a barrier between the brain and their main blood supply was protected when they were given caffeine supplements, all the programmers out there living on their coffee, can rest a bit easier.

Thursday, April 03, 2008 8:31:56 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  general

Google is Selling Performics

Part of the Google purchase of DoubleClick was the Performics division. Performics provides Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization services (SEO), and also runs the third largest affiliate network on the internet.

Google didn't want to get into a conflict of interest situation with a company working on SEM and SEO. Google announced they are splitting the company into two pieces. They are selling the SEM/SEO part, and keeping the affiliate marketing part.

Looks like Commission Junction, Pepperjam, etal. have reason for concern.

Thursday, April 03, 2008 7:47:07 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

The Advantage of SBI

SBI (Site Build It) is the greatest thing for web site newbies since sliced bread. Even though I develop my own web sites, and I'm pretty good at it, I bought an SBI site myself.

The fact is, they have a huge array of tools to help you get your sites noticed. When you add up all the things you will have available to you, the admission fee is small change.

They step by step tutorials to walk you through the process of building your web site. Anyone who can read can do it. You don't need to have technical knowledge at all.

Bottom line is... if you're interested in a real internet web site, that you can build into a profitable home business, you need to check this company out.

Here is a page of SBI owners that have made videos about their SBI experiences. I love SBI.

The following video is the heart warming story of a successful SBI mother.

 

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 2:32:47 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses

Google is Having Problems With the Patriot Act

 

It seems that people are avoiding Google's applications because of spying by the US government. According to Slashdot, "many firms are only just starting to realize the risks they assume by embracing Web-based collaborative tools hosted by a U.S. company".

Monday, March 24, 2008 5:05:06 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

8 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Traffic is the holy grail of website marketing. Building website traffic is sought after by everyone from the smallest business to Google itself. Everyone running an internet business knows they need to get as much traffic as they possibly can.

Some ways to get traffic are:

• Article marketing
• Link exchange
• Pay Per Click
• Traffic generators
• Blogging
• Search engine optimization
• Email lists
• Social networking

Article marketing is a slow process, and a lot of work, but the results are long lasting, and if you can write reasonably well. There is a lot of upside.

Exchanging links with relevant sites is a good idea. Be careful that you're not linking to sites who are banned by the engines as that can hurt you. You want to find site with decent page ranking, and that are in the same field as your site.

Pay per click (ppc) is a quick way to get started. Be careful though, it's very easy to have your per click costs exceed your revenue. While works, you will need multiple revenue streams to pay for it.

Traffic generators work in different ways to generate traffic. They will use popups, popunders, browser toolbars, and various other methods. There are two main problems with traffic generators. One, the traffic is usually not well targeted, and two, some of the techniques used are not always above board.

Blogging is a great way to increase your web traffic. You can generate interest in your product or service by not only making entries in your own blog, but also posting to other's blogs. You will need to make good posts here so the owners of the blog won't consider your posts spamming and delete them.

Within reason, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be used to improve your ranking in the engines. While it is important to have your titles, and content focus on the subject, your content should be pointed more to the reader. These days the SEO that still works is very limited. Most of the tricks have been made irrelevant by the search engines. One thing you should do is to be sure the engine is traveling all the way through your site. Make a site map, and keep it updated. Also, have text links to your inner pages, not just graphic buttons. Many times I'll use graphic menu buttons on the top, and duplicate the links with small text links on the footer of the page.

Email lists are very important. You need to create a list and see too it that you are providing good information to your readers. It may be the most important marketing tool on the net. Provide your readers valuable information, and they will repay you well.

Social networking can also be very effective. There is a lot of traffic on these sites, and if you can get links to your site in your posts, you will increase your traffic a great deal.

We ran across an e-book on ways to get traffic, some of which are new. Many of which work very well. Check out the new review at http://www.reviewopportunity.com/nam.htm

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:28:48 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

Google introduces Ad Manager

Google just purchased DoubleClick who has 60% of the display ad market. Now they've released Ad Manager. Ad Manager is a free tool that will help target ads, manage inventory, and optimize yield. You can sell direct ads and hook them to any network you want.

https://www.google.com/admanager/login/en_US/index.html

Thursday, March 13, 2008 5:06:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

Windows Live Writer

I'm trying out Windows Live Writer today to edit this blog.  It's a new free app from Microsoft. So far I'm impressed. Makes entering new info less of a chore, and it saves the drafts and posts in so they're handy.  It's at http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/

It really does simplify the process.

Thursday, March 13, 2008 9:09:03 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  tips