Associate Programs Newsletter #221

Brrrr. We haven't had a frost yet, but it's getting too cold for us in Dunedin, New Zealand, as winter nears.

On Monday, Joanna and I are heading for sunny Queensland, Australia, for the southern winter, as usual.

I love the way the Internet allows us to do that.

CONTENTS:

1. Affiliate marketing experiment No.2 - $1,000 a month
2. New tool: How to find heaps of good keywords fast
3. ClickBank's testing alarms affiliates
4. Once in a lifetime chance
5. Another affiliate quits his day job
6. Don't be tempted by this garbage
7. How to stop Messenger pop-up junk mail
8. Useful resource: Add content to your site
9. Thought for today: Which door are you looking at?

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=============================================
1. Affiliate marketing experiment No.2 - $1,000 a month
=============================================

Rupert's latest report is now online.

Flushed with the success of his first affiliate web site, my assistant Rupert has built a second site which is even more successful.

(He has also built a third site, but that's another story.)

His second site has earned more than $1,000 a month in affiliate commissions for the past two months.

Here's Rupert's report in which he describes how he does it:

Web affiliate programs experiment 2

If you're already successful with affiliate programs, don't dismiss Rupert's report too lightly.

After all, an extra $1,000 a month in commissions would be very handy, wouldn't it?

If you're fairly new to affiliate programs, you may be thinking that $1,000 a month isn't the sort of fantastic revenue some Internet marketing gurus promise you.

However, consider this...

You've probably spent quite a lot on ebooks that tell you how to achieve fantastic results. But are you getting fantastic results?

Chances are, you're not.

In contrast, the technique that Rupert uses is do-able.

You can do this stuff.

You don't have to write an ebook. You don't even have to have a newsletter.

For his second affiliate site, Rupert followed the same simple steps as last time.

He...

* Chose a topic he already knew something about.

* Did research and selected profitable keywords or phrases.

* Wrote articles using those phrases.

* Used Site Build It! to create a site the search engines love.

* Entwined affiliate links in the articles.

There's no smoke and mirrors trick here. In his report, Rupert tells you the URL of his second site so you can poke around inside and see how he's getting No.1 spots in Google.

He gives you screenshots and tables showing such things as his most popular pages, and the top 50 search phrases people are using to find his site.

We're taking the risk that some lazy idiot will copy the site and we'll have to bring the lawyers in.

Been there, done that.

We're taking that risk because we want to show you exactly how we're earning this income, so you can, too.

If you're fairly new to affiliate programs, rest assured that using Site Build It! isn't too difficult. In fact, Rupert says it's easy.

There's an "Analyze It" button you click which helps you build pages that rank highly in search engines.

Just follow the instructions. Take it one little step at a time.

Do one thing well, and then move on to the next thing.

Rupert isn't a trained writer. He's not wonderfully clever at following written instructions.

He didn't know anything about affiliate programs or marketing when I hired him.

But when he's writing about a subject that interests him, he can produce an acceptable article, good enough for an affiliate web site than generates $300 or, in this case, $1,000 a month.

When he's mastered that, he can build another one, and so on...

You can too.

Here's Rupert's article, in which he proves that his first success wasn't a fluke:

Web affiliate programs experiment 2

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======================================================
2. New tool: How to find heaps of good keywords fast
======================================================

If you're building web pages to be found in search engines or using pay-per-click search engines, you need a powerful list of keywords that are related to your industry.

One option is to use Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool.

You probably know how frustrating that is. You try one search, and that gives you an idea for a new search, and then you do another search, and so on... It takes forever.

Wouldn't it be great if you could do all that and more with just one click.

I've found a way you can, by using Markus Allen's new KeywordSleuth.

Test it, and you'll see how fantastic this tool is. And Markus tells me he's planning improvements that will make it even better.

In some ways, it's not as good as Wordtracker and it does only a tiny fraction of what SBI! does.

However, it gives you hundreds or even thousands of related search phrases in only 60 seconds with only one click.

That's incredibly fast.

For example, I typed in "computers" and KeywordSleuth delivered 500 related search phrases.

Try it.

When I told Markus how much I liked KeywordSleuth, he let me put a demo version on my site.

Try it here:

[UPDATE: No longer available.] 

==============================================
3. ClickBank's testing alarms affiliates
==============================================

ClickBank alarmed affiliates and affiliate managers when its technicians did some testing this week.

Jeff Staniforth of affirmware.com.au alerted me to the problem. He says ClickBank's error message said:

"Direct links to ClickBank in email or pop-up windows are forbidden. To avoid this message all traffic must originate from an outside web page that contains a clickable link to the desired ClickBank address."

I checked with Harvey Segal of ClickBankGuide.com who monitors ClickBank.

The tests horrified him.

Harvey says that at first, all standard hoplinks wouldn't work.

The error message changed during the tests. It became a warning allowing the link to go ahead, and then the warning disappeared.

"I guess they are planning some changes and were either testing it or withdrew it when it caused problems," Harvey says.

"I've identified a link in a newsletter as a big problem if this goes ahead, and similarly an ad in a newsletter would not work. But the biggest problem on reflection are existing links in
ebooks, which are currently circulating all over the Net in their millions. For this reason I can't see ClickBank making this change."

ClickBank advised Harvey that its technicians had been doing some testing "for a short period of time" and apologized for any confusion.

Everything has returned to normal now.

Let's hope that if ClickBank is planning changes, it will first ask affiliates and affiliate managers for their opinion.

==================================
4. Once in a lifetime chance
==================================

If you don't do anything about this, you're going to miss a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Mark Joyner is getting out of the industry. In the process, he's offering you all the software, "back-room" tools and secrets that he's used to produce astounding results in Internet marketing.

Mark is a highly controversial figure. He's been incredibly successful. He's built massive lists and sold millions of dollars worth of products.

He's also upset many people. Judging by the feedback I've received, quite a few people will be glad to see him go.

If Mark has offended you, I suggest you look beyond the person to the information that's being offered.

Because he's leaving, he has no reason to hold anything back.

The information offered includes his secret "Internet Marketing Theory": How money is really made on the Internet. This is probably the most important strategic concept you need to learn.

Whether you want the source code of a program that currently generates $80,000 a month in revenue, or just want to read the 12 revealing interviews, there's something in the Farewell Package for you.

Ask yourself, if you get hold of this information now, what will it be worth to you one year from now?

Only 2,000 people will get it.

Make sure you're one of them. I am.

It's all explained in the farewell letter...

[UPDATE: The Farewell Package sold out.]

================================
5. Another affiliate quits his day job
================================

I love receiving letters like this one...

Super affiliate Jeff Ostroff writes:

I remember some time back in one of your newsletters you said you
wanted to hear when we quit our day job.

I wanted to let you know that I have finally decided to leave
Motorola after nine fruitful years with the company, so that I
may concentrate full time on our ConsumerNet, Inc. web sites
going forward.

It was not an easy decision. I have a great position at Motorola,
but I leave one great job for another great job that allows me to
spend more time with my family.

I actually could have left Motorola a couple of years ago, but
kept putting it off, making excuses, then I finally paid off the
mortgage, and decided to pull the trigger and make the transition
to the next important part of my life. So there you have it!

Best Regards,

Jeff Ostroff
http://www.CarBuyingTips.com
http://www.HouseBuyingTips.com
http://www.BridalTips.com
http://www.DebtWizards.com
http://www.BabyResource.com
http://www.ToyAvenue.com
http://www.ByTheBooks.com

P.S. What are the Top 10 Car Dealer Scams?
Find out at http://www.CarBuyingTips.com

I interviewed Jeff a couple of years ago:
How Jeff Ostroff became a top earning affiliate

[UPDATE 2011: New interview - Jeff Ostroff is still an Affiliate Marketing Success Story.]

=============================================
6. Don't be tempted by this garbage
=============================================

Someone - let's just call him Rudy - wrote the other day urging me to have a look at "a software program that can assist affiliates in increasing their revenues".

I had a look and was disgusted.

Rudy is offering a fairly new form of  S P A M.

He's trying to persuade affiliates to use instant messaging to send pop-up messages to millions of computers, located via IP addresses.

If you're using Windows XP, 2000 or NT you're a potential target. Thanks to Microsoft, you already have the necessary software on your computer.

Rudy's company says you can send out millions of pop-up messages every day from your home computer.

I don't usually correspond with people like him, but I was so annoyed I wrote back to Rudy and told him he should be ashamed of himself for clogging the Internet with junk mail.

He acted surprised, replying:

"That was an odd thing to write. It is a legitimate product, and is no different from a pop-up on a web site."

Actually, there's a huge difference.

People choose to visit a web site. If they don't like the site, they can choose not to visit the site again.

Rudy's product tries to remove your choice. That's a really ugly thing to do.

Rudy replied:

"Ok we disagree. don't contact me again."

Isn't that ironic? Rudy wants to opt out. But he doesn't want you to opt out from receiving his unrequested advertising.

Don't be tempted by this harmful garbage.

Don't help Rudy pollute our global village.

If you use this method to promote affiliate products, any decent affiliate manager will quickly throw you out of the affiliate program and you'll forfeit any commissions earned.

If Rudy doesn't know that, he's really ignorant.

===============================================
7. How to stop Messenger pop-up junk mail
===============================================

The idea of Rudy persuading affiliates to bombard millions of computers with pop-up messages really upset me.

So I hunted around and found some instructions to help you protect yourself from his junk.

Here's how to stop Messenger pop-up junk mail...

One way is to buy some software for about thirty dollars. However, you don't need to do that.

Instead, just disable Messenger.

Go to Start, and then Run. Type in "services.msc".

Click OK.

Scroll to "Messenger". Select it, right-click it and choose "Properties".

Under Startup, choose "Disabled", and then choose "Stop".

When the process has stopped (it won't take long) click OK.

(I've tested these instructions on a PC with Windows XP.)

Good luck!

===============================================
8. Useful resource: Add content to your site
===============================================

Here's a question I received this week.

"What resources might I locate to find various industry headlines I could embed into my web site?"

The best source I know of for such info is FreeSticky.com.

You'll find not only info on how to add news headlines to your site, but also marketing articles, financial content, sports tickers, stock tickers, news tickers, jokes, cartoons, weather, games and all sorts of other web site add-ons and tools.

If you're looking for ways to add content to your site, you could spend hours researching at this site.

http://www.freesticky.com

===============================================
9. Thought for today: Which door are you looking at?
===============================================

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. - Helen Keller.

All the best

Allan Gardyne