Associate Programs Newsletter #188

Today I review the web site of an affiliate who is getting lots of things wrong.

I hope you're not making the same mistakes.

CONTENTS:

1. Web site review - PART 1
    Don't let this happen to you
2. Scott Covert's banner ads work surprisingly well
3. LeadCrunch increases payout
4. Brilliant bargain: "Buy-1-Get-1 free"
5. Thought for today: A self-made man

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1. Web site review - PART 1
    Don't let this happen to you
===============================

Have a look at TheInternetMarketingStore.com . How many mistakes can you spot in this affiliate-driven web site?

If you're fairly new to affiliate programs - or if you're not making much money with them - there's a fair chance that YOUR site looks something like this one.

You can learn a lot from David Collins' and Patrick Woods' site. It's a good example of what you should NOT do.

David, who is 39, says he has been on the Internet for about seven years and has spent thousands of hours searching the Web for ways to make money with his computer.

"I can't even tell you how many web sites I've built and rebuilt, how many affiliate programs I've joined, how many scams I've witnessed (and experienced!)," he says.

David, of Dallas, Texas, asked me to check out his site and let him know what I think.

When I did I was, to put it mildly, not impressed. In fact, I was so underwhelmed that I asked David's permission to review it, in the hope that this review will help YOU avoid the mistakes that he's making.

I warned him that he wouldn't like some of the things I had to say.

David replied: "I'm a bit excited that you want to use my story and my website TheInternetMarketingStore.com for the newsletter, but I feel kinda like Lucy in the episode of 'I Love Lucy' where she finds out a book she wrote is being published in another book's chapter entitled 'Don't Let This Happen To You'!"

So that's what I called this review.

Here are the main things wrong with this site.

FIRST IMPRESSION:

The site is like thousands of other affiliate web sites. There's nothing that makes it unique, specially useful, interesting or helpful.

WHAT'S YOUR GOAL?

Your goal seems, pretty obviously, to earn money via affiliate links. You could argue that your goal is to help your visitors by directing them to good affiliate products, but something MORE is needed. There are far too many sites like that.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISM (instead of optimization)

Using View/Source in your browser, have a look at the meta tags for the main page. Wow! I admire David's optimism.

He's boldly challenging the best Internet marketers on the planet. "Internet marketing" is one of his most important keywords.

Type that into the best search engine - http://www.Google.com - and you'll find that he's competing with 3.5 MILLION other web pages. If you place quotation marks around the phrase, he's still competing with 824,000 pages.

A MASSIVE NICHE

David's niche, Internet marketing, is much too broad, especially for a newcomer. That's a classic mistake, building a web site giving advice on Internet marketing when you're just starting to learn about it. (I did it, too, back in 1997.)

Of all the thousands of topics you could have chosen, Internet marketing is the toughest, the most fiercely competitive, and its audience is probably the most cynical. That's quite a challenge for a newcomer to face.

DAMAGING YOUR IMAGE

Oh dear! Are companies REALLY called "Go4Millions" and "Mega Prosperity"?

I'm outa here, fast!

They sound like multi-level-marketing outfits which persuade you to part with your money so that you can persuade other people to part with their money so that...

Think carefully about the image you wish to project. Dump any program which harms that image.

TOO MANY CHOICES

David, imagine you're visiting your own site for the first time. Scroll down the main page and look at all those links, boxes, and buttons. Which one will you click on? It's confusing, isn't it?

Try doing more to help your visitor make a decision. The fewer choices you give, the more chance you have of getting a sale. Try ending your page strongly with a recommendation.

In total contrast, have a look at Ed Osworth's http://www.SuccessProfessor.com . See how neat and clean it is. See how he gently leads you in one direction.

MISLEADING MENU

People expect links in a menu to take them to pages on YOUR site. Instead, some of the links in your menu whisk people away to other sites.

This may increase your click-throughs to those sites, but you risk losing your visitors very quickly before they have explored your site.

One option would be to have a "Recommended Sites" section under the menu.

NO BENEFITS

In your menu, you give no reason why people should click on the link to Active Marketplace, Internet Marketing Center etc.

Instead, if you said something like this...

"MYSS! 2002 is the BIBLE of
selling on the Net. It's a
fantastic resource. Download
the free trial and see for
yourself."

MYSS! 2002 free ebook trial

... I'm sure you'd have better results.

One enthusiastic, honest recommendation to a top-notch resource is better than 10 lukewarm links.

CONFUSING NAVIGATION

Try to keep your site navigation simple and easy to understand. It's a good idea to keep your main navigation links in the same place on every page.

Spend a few minutes clicking around http://www.Amazon.com. See how easy it is to find your way around? Compare that with your site.

When I clicked on "Articles" I was surprised to see the page opened in a new window, with a new navigation menu. I can't think of any good reason for doing that.

What do your visitors do when they can't find their way around a site? They become frustrated and leave.

CREDIBILITY

You want people to trust you, to believe what you have to say. One small way to help boost your credibility is to add your name and physical address. Consider adding a photo.

WHERE ARE THE BENEFITS?

A pop-up welcomes visitors, saying:

"Please join our mailing list."

Why?

Why should I join your mailing list?
What are the benefits?
What will you send me if I do?
How often will you send me stuff?
Will you sell my e-mail address to someone else?

Most important of all...

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET TRAFFIC?

If you're an expert at selling online, you can build a small web site and pay for traffic.

If you're not an expert at selling, I think it makes good sense to aim to receive substantial free traffic from the main search engines and by encouraging other sites to link to yours.

However, it's almost impossible for a newcomer to get free traffic if you build a web site based on an "Internet marketing" theme. You have too much high-quality competition.

Do you really have enough good content to encourage people to bookmark your site or provide a link to it? No. People link to really useful sites such as http://www.MarketingExperiments.com .

If you decide to pay for your traffic by using pay-per-click search engines that will be horrendously tough, too. Competition for your Internet marketing keywords is really fierce.

You could buy classified ads, keywords on Google Adwords, banner ads etc, but if your site isn't credible you'll just be throwing away your money.

SUMMING UP

No one will find you in the search engines.

Almost no other sites will link to you..

The traffic you buy will be too expensive..

You haven't won trust and credibility so you can't make a profit on the traffic you buy..

Let's start again...

NEXT WEEK:

Web site review - PART 2
Let's start afresh

[UPDATE:
Not surprisingly, TheInternetMarketingStore.com has disappeared.

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===================================================
2. Scott Covert's banner ads work surprisingly well
===================================================

If you think banner ads are dead, take a look at what Scott Covert is doing.

A year ago (Scott Covert's banners generate $1 million in sales) I described how Scott creates banner ads which achieve high click-through rates.

These days, he's achieving 2%, 3% and 4% click-throughs.

Elsewhere on the Net, people complain of banner click-through rates of only 0.2% or worse.

While the effectiveness of banners has continued to decline, Scott's techniques keep on working.

Last month, companies including current and past clients made $37,000, $198,000 and $100,000+ (gross, not net) in ADDITIONAL sales because of his strategies.

Scott says that the amount of money he's making using his own banner tricks is far in excess of what he's earning selling his book, "The Banner Advertising Traffic Machine", and managing the affiliate program.

"In fact, I don't really want $1,200 banner design jobs any more - what I DO want is to pick two or three companies a year with a PROVEN profitable web site so I can work with them closely and get paid an ongoing commission."

Scott also wants to transfer his affiliate program to a respected company in the online marketing world by the beginning of April.

"In the last two months I've gotten too busy to do the program the justice it deserves."

He says he won't allow a transition to anybody else unless he's 100% confident in their integrity regarding his customers and affiliates.

If he can't find someone to take over the affiliate program to his satisfaction, he will simply stop selling the book, probably in March or April.

Scott is going to increase the price of "The Banner Advertising Traffic Machine from $47 to $127 on January 15.

"The Banner Advertising Traffic Machine" provides high quality information, tightly written, with a no-nonsense, easy-to- understand style, describing proven techniques.

I'm really impressed with it. It will still be great value at $127, but if you're quick, you can get it now for only $47.

[UPDATE: Scott sold this business.]


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[UPDATE: This site vanished.]
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==============================
3. LeadCrunch increases payout
==============================

LeadCrunch advertising network has increased its payout. Now, in addition to the 5% you get for referring web site owners to LeadCrunch you'll also earn $1 for every approved account.

"We have a pile of new offers, new creatives and increased payout changes to make next week," says CEO Brian Welch.

[UPDATE: In July, 2005, LeadCrunch was acquired by JP Sauve's CPA network MaxBounty - http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/maxb ]

========================================
4. Brilliant bargain: "Buy-1-Get-1 free"
========================================

Just in case you haven't heard...

SiteSell is having a "Buy-1-Get-1 free" sale. Buy any one of SiteSell's excellent products and you can have the next one free for yourself or to give to a friend.

So, if you're considering getting Site Build It! to take the hassle out of your affiliate business, now is the perfect time to grab two for the price of one.

I grabbed the opportunity to do exactly that.

However, you'll have to hurry. The sale ends on January 1.

Check out the sale now:

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5. Thought for today: A self-made man
=====================================

"There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others." - George Shinn.

All the best

Allan Gardyne