Associate Programs Newsletter #300
Welcome new readers, if you've just arrived.
We've had an exciting time with the launch of a free traffic tips report, a whole lot of new readers, and a massive site re-design.
And readers are using our report to enhance THEIR reputation in all sorts of different ways.
CONTENTS:
1. Woohooooo! What a ride
2. It's cheeky, but I like it
3. To increase your traffic, start with two lists
4. PLRPro plans massive improvements
5. Thought for today: Perseverance
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1. Woohooooo! What a ride
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Is there any value in giving away a report instead of selling it? I reckon there is. Here's our experience...
We could have sold our "77 Ways to Get Traffic" report but I like giving away valuable information. Doing so helps enhance your reputation and makes people feel good about you.
If they feel good about you, they're more likely to trust you and buy things you recommend.
It also encourages people to talk about you...
For this campaign, I deliberately chose a unique title for the report we were giving away. Before we started, there were zero results in Google for "77 ways to get traffic" (using quotation marks).
Giving away the "77 Ways" report created quite a bit of buzz and enabled us to draw attention to the fact that we've relaunched AssociatePrograms.com with a brand new design, new sections and new articles.
Here's the spike caused by relaunching the site and giving away the "77 Ways to Get Traffic" report at the same time. See the column shooting much higher than the rest? That's a nice surge in page views.
We received some wonderful mentions on blogs, by people such as Neil Shearing, Chris Pirillo, Kevin Wilke and Yaro Starak.
A recommendation on a blog can start a chain reaction. Other blogs pick up the news and spread it.
We also received some friendly mentions on forums and social bookmarking sites.
Campaign results
As a result of the site relaunch and "77 Ways" give-away...
Our page views have soared, newsletter sign-ups have tripled, AdSense revenue has doubled. (Just in case anyone is wondering, AssociatePrograms.com is designed more for affiliate revenue than AdSense revenue.)
With thousands of pages on the site, I doubt if things have settled down yet, but it looks as though we've gained rankings for some important keywords, and probably lost rankings for a few.
Our SEOmoz Page Strength score - http://www.seomoz.org/tools/page-strength.php - has increased from 6.5 to 7.
We still have a lot more testing and tweaking to do, as well as adding more useful articles. However, the results so far are very pleasing.
Best of all, visitors tell us they like the site, they find it much easier to find things, and they're exploring more pages.
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2. It's cheeky, but I like it
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If you want your marketing to be noticed, often it pays to be a bit cheeky.
Whenever you're doing any marketing - and isn't that almost all the time? - ask yourself, "Is there a more useful, attention-getting way of doing this?"
It's been fascinating seeing the different ways marketers are using my "77 Ways to Get Traffic" report to enhance THEIR reputation.
[Link deleted in archived version. To get the "77 Ways to Get Traffic" report , subscribe to this newsletter. Use the form on this page.]
As I say in the "77 Ways" report...
"Impress your friends, colleagues and customers by giving them a copy."
Many of you are doing exactly that. It's wonderful to see.
Ranging from boring to brilliant, here are different tactics I've spotted, all involving the "77 Ways" report...
Boring: Repeat an item on your blog word-for-word the same as an item written on someone's else's blog. No wonder so many blogs have low traffic.
Rewrite a news release you find at PRWeb or PrLeap, etc. It's an easy way to create keyword-rich articles. They can be boring or brilliant, depending your skills. People who do it well add their own useful facts and comments.
Simply mention the "77 Ways" report and provide a link telling people how to get it. You enhance your reputation by providing useful information. However, if you want your page to be read, I suggest you liven it up a little.
Some affiliate merchants have provided a download link for "77 Ways" on their affiliate tips page. Smart move. If your affiliates get more traffic, they're likely to make more sales.
Write a lively, ORIGINAL comment on the news. Chris Pirillo often does it. His RSS feeds are picked up by many other sites, because they know he writes original, useful stuff. Here's how he mentioned the "77 Ways" report:
http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/08/16/77-ways-to-get-traffic-to-your-site/
Instead of a brief comment, write a keyword-rich article commenting on our news. Doing this provides fodder for the search engines to bite on. Yaro Starak wrote a beauty here about our site re-design:
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/529/the-ultimate-affiliate-marketing-resource/
Tempting stuff... Mike Choroszewski wanted to impress his friends, colleagues and customers by giving them the report. So he created an impressive, keyword-rich page listing the report's contents. Smart move. Here it is:
http://advertising-notes.com/Website-Traffic/
Guerrilla marketing... Weng Yee Lee of WangInternet used my Traffic Tip #56. He answered a question on Yahoo Answers promoting the "77 Ways" report - linking to HIS site.
http://tech.yahoo.com/qa/answers/20060814023246AAQTMPv
Ask if you are allowed to translate the report into a foreign language. I've received requests for French and Spanish. If you want to, just ask.
And here's my favorite - it's cheeky but I like it...
Kai Virihaur created a squeeze page to give away the "77 Ways" report. This means he collects email addresses using as bait a report I've written. The sales copy could be improved with more emphasis on the benefits, but the idea is brilliant.
http://www.thehostingfinder.com/free-ebook.html
If you want to do what Kai has done and create a squeeze page to give away a report, the simplest way is use an autoresponder/newsletter distribution service which provides you with a sign-up form you can paste into your page. My choice is Aweber - http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/aweber . It's modestly priced, very reliable and provides excellent support.
Here's an idea for a technique I haven't seen yet. Write a review of the "77 Ways" report. Display your knowledge and enhance your reputation by describing techniques you use which aren't in the report.
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3. To increase your traffic, start with two lists
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You've downloaded the "77 Ways to Get Traffic" report. But what have you done with it so far to increase your traffic?
I must admit, a list of 77 traffic tips all at once could be a bit daunting. You have so many choices, so you may end up doing nothing.
To your rescue comes marketing veteran Kevin Wilke of Nitromarketing.com. He's offered some excellent advice on how to handle the 77 tips.
Print the "77 Ways" report, he says. Read it and mark the traffic tips you're already doing. Separately mark the ones you're interested in doing.
Look at the ones you're already doing. Ask yourself, are you doing them effectively or do you need to improve them? What are your results from them?
From the traffic tips you want to do, pick out the top 3 to 5 items.
"Focus on getting those up and running and bringing traffic to your site," Kevin says.
"Don’t get overwhelmed by the entire list of 77. Just find a couple that interest you and you feel you can do.
"Then, once you get those going, add a few more."
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4. PLRPro plans massive improvements
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Just a very quick alert.
PLRPro, a really good site for private label rights articles, is going up in price very soon.
I've had lunch with one of the owners, Daniel Turner, and I know first-hand that these guys are dedicated to providing a superb service.
They're making massive improvements and are planning more - exciting ways to help you get high quality links to your sites, as well as high quality articles.
Check it out here...
http://www.plrpro.com/associateprograms
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5. Thought for today: Perseverance
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"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." - John Quincy Adams.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
