Associate Programs Newsletter #329

Google's new universal search; a new tool to help you stay on focus; affiliate branding and more...

CONTENTS:

1. How to benefit from universal search
2. A tool to help you stay on focus and get things done - free
3. How Basecamp helps us organize our business
4. Case study on affiliate branding
5. How Netflix and Blockbuster throw away money
6. Cries for help on our affiliate forum
7. Thought for today: Help

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1. How to benefit from universal search
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As you've probably read, last week Google made some big changes to the way it presents its search results. Perhaps you can turn these changes to your advantage.

"With universal search, we've begun blending results from more than just the web in order to provide the most relevant and useful results possible," Google says. "In addition to web pages, for instance, the search results may include video, news, images, maps, and books. Over time, we'll continue to enhance this blending so that searchers can get the exact information they need right from the search results."

Google says the first stage of universal search focuses on video, news, local and books.

To benefit from these changes, here are a few things you can do:

  * Create useful, attention-getting videos optimized for your most important keywords. Upload videos to other video sharing sites. Here's how to optimize a video for Google Video:
  http://video.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=26574&topic=8692
 
  * Get your website or blog mentioned in Google News. See...
  http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/answer.py?answer=40787
 
  * Submit your old news to the News Archive Search:
  http://news.google.com/support/archivesearch/
 
  * If turning your site into a "news" site seems too much like hard work, here's an easier way to get mentioned in Google News. Go to http://news.google.com and type in some key phrases related to your industry. Watch which websites appear in the search results. For example, if you search in Google News for "business tips" you'll see that PRWeb.com, PR.com and AmericanChronicle.com appear. Submit press releases and articles to sites which are already appearing in Google News.
 
  * Optimize your images for important keywords. In your HTML, use the "alt" attribute to describe each image on your site. Perhaps you could create a few zany, attention-getting graphics which will tempt people to click. Just an idea - it might work.

[UPDATE: Whoops! I should have mentioned that it's even more important to use your keyword in the file name, in the page title and in the text near the graphic.]
  
  * Write a book in your niche and get it published.
 
  * Blog outrageously and attract lots of links to your blog. Make your blog part of your main website so all that wonderful link juice boosts your main website, too.
 

However, is all this the most cost-effective use of your time? If you're aiming to brand yourself as an expert in your field and want to be seen everywhere, perhaps it is.

For the average affiliate, there's no point in scurrying around doing lots of time-consuming, attention-getting stuff unless your actions actually cause more sales. For most of us, I suspect that the most important use of our time is to continue creating keyword-rich copy which achieves sales. Incorporating how-to videos on those pages would be useful, though.

I could be wrong. It will be interesting to monitor search results over coming months to see who manages to capture a larger share of the top 10 search results in various industries. I'll be watching my traffic stats carefully.

Background reading...

Universal search: The best answer is still the best answer
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/universal-search-best-answer-is-still.html

Taking advantage of universal search
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/05/taking-advantage-of-universal-search.html

Behind the scenes with universal search
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/behind-scenes-with-universal-search.html

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2. A tool to help you stay on focus and get things done - free
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In the last newsletter, I wrote an item called "How to actually get those affiliate tasks done" -
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/articles/569/1/How-to-actually-get-those-affiliate-tasks-done

It described how we sometimes start the day with good intentions and end up achieving hardly any of the things we'd planned to do. One way to solve the problem is to use an online to-do list which you can stick on your Google HomePage.

I was delighted by the favorable response to the article, including the following email from Andrew Peacock, who has greatly improved on the idea.

Andrew wrote:

"That was a *fantastic* article. Loved it. But the only problem is, I don't want to use Google.com/ig - I already have a home page that is a simple set of HTML links to my own sites (for example, my blog admin panels, my stats login, my autoresponder login, etc.).

"So I'm about to write a quick and dirty desktop application that I can use to monitor the 7 to dos, and which will pop up every so often and say 'Remember to focus on the next task'.

"Would you be interested in sharing this with your readers? I'll be offering it free of charge, as the support will (I hope!) be almost negligible."

Well, yes, of course I'd love to help Andrew give it away.

I've been testing the to-do list tool that he created. I think it's fantastic. It's beautifully simple and easy to use, and it's MUCH better than the gadget available at Google.

Here's an example of how it helps you stay on focus...

Each night, before you go to bed, you type in the six or seven most important things you need to do the next day.

For example, for today, my No.1 item was "Write AP newsletter".

I started doing some reading and research on Google's universal search, visited a website, saw an interesting link, and then another one... and 30 minutes later I was still wasting time reading totally off-topic stuff, avoiding doing what I'd intended to do.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a neat little pop-up at the right-hand corner of my screen saying,

  Stay On Focus
  Write AP newsletter
 
Whoops! I'd been gently reminded. It was time to get back to work.

Depending on how self-disciplined you are - or how bad your attention deficit disorder is - you can set these unobtrusive reminders to appear anything from every 5 minutes to every 60 minutes. You can also stop them from appearing.

I have my reminders set to appear every 30 minutes. Experiment to see which timing works best for you.

These ever-so-useful reminders make Andrew's application much more useful than the Google gadget, which is out of sight nearly all the time and far too easy to forget.

Andrew says his application is "quick and dirty" and he's planning to improve it. However, I think it's fine just the way it is. And the fact that it costs nothing makes it even more attractive.

See what you think. If you use it, it will help you to be more efficient and get more things done.

Remember, it takes 21 days to form a habit. So try it for at least 21 days.

[UPDATE: Andrew Peacock's StayInFocus.com has disappeared. Instead, try some of the free applications described here: How to get those affiliate tasks done.]

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3. How Basecamp helps us organize our business
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As I mentioned in the "How to actually get those affiliate tasks done" article, our business uses a more complex, paid tool which is designed to enable several people to share projects and collaborate in various ways.

It's called Basecamp and it's used by more than a million people and small businesses. It allows us to manage all our websites efficiently. Well, much more efficiently than we did before we started using it.

If you're a one-person business you probably won't need it.

When a reader wrote asking about it, here's how my assistant Glennys described it:

"Each member of the AssociatePrograms.com team is able to log in, to check assigned tasks, to add items to the 'To Do' list (and mark them off when done) etc. Allan can allocate us tasks, then check to see if those tasks have been completed, all from one central location.

"The tool we use also has features such as 'writeboards', which we can use for brainstorming sessions, and other useful gadgets.

"It works very well for us, because we don't work from a centralized office, but from various locations around the world, and this way we're able to keep in touch with what's going on with all the sites in our group, no matter where we might be located.

"Allan is much better at using it than I am. I tend to be more at the 'good intentions but easily distracted' stage. Therefore, having something which provides some discipline and structure is extremely useful for me.

"I think whatever system you use, you just have to be disciplined enough to stick to using it until it becomes part of your normal daily routine," Glennys says.

Another useful feature of Basecamp is that if you have a large team, you may not want everyone to see what everyone else is doing. That's OK. You can choose who has access to each project.

I also like the "Milestones" which pop up showing us, for example, newsletter deadlines, and emails are automatically sent to whoever is responsible reminding them that a task needs to be done by a certain time.

My favorite things, though, are the "Writeboards" where we share ideas for future projects and website improvements.

If you have a team which needs organizing, I strongly recommend you check out Basecamp...

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/basecamp

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4. Case study on affiliate branding
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As an affiliate, it's much more effective if your visitors remember YOUR website rather than the affiliate merchant's site. It can be done.

Stephen Prentice created a "branded" search box for a dating affiliate program he's promoting. He did it in such a way that his "branding" also gives him very valuable marketing feedback.

He describes how...

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/articles/573/1/Branding-affiliate-searches---a-case-study

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5. How Netflix and Blockbuster throw away money
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Because of some tricky things adware companies are doing, Netflix and Blockbuster are wasting money paying unnecessary extra affiliate network fees and paying affiliate commissions to affiliates who haven't done anything to earn the sales.

Ben Edelman is one person who cares about this...

Spyware Still Cheating Merchants and Legitimate Affiliates
http://www.benedelman.org/news/052107-1.html

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6. Cries for help on our affiliate forum
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Can you help these people?

Dan is a new affiliate merchant who needs help...

Experienced affiliate needed to help with new program
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic24093.html

...and he also needs advice on datafeeds...

How to create datafeeds?
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic24148.html

Bucky is looking for a ClickBank expert...

Do you know ClickBank?
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic24020.html

and "eyes2005" wants tips on choosing a domain name...

Which domain sounds better?
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/ftopic24157.html

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7. Thought for today: Help
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"But, you know, those three words - I need help. If only I'd said them earlier." - Elton John.

All the best

Allan Gardyne