Associate Programs Newsletter #213
All the way from Sunshine…
This edition comes from Sunshine, Dunedin, New Zealand, where Joanna and I are spending the southern summer. We left a heatwave in Queensland and four hours later stepped off the plane into hail and icy winds.
But it’s good to be back with family and friends. Their warm reception makes up for the weather (almost) and the weather forecasters keep promising an improvement.
We arrived just in time to celebrate Joanna’s father’s 85th birthday.
CONTENTS:
1. Rupert’s own site scores No.1 and No.2 in Google
2. Site Build It! case study nearly ready
3. Warning on clusters of affiliate mini-sites
4. Sumantra Roy an honest man who made mistakes
5. Link popularity complications
6. Affiliate managers urged to offer PayPal option
7. Remember, YOU make the rules
8. Be quick to grab the last ad spot
9. Thought for today: How to be boss
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1. Rupert’s own site scores No.1 and No.2 in Google
=============================================
Flushed with success after creating two sites using Site Build It!, my assistant Rupert has quietly built his own affiliate site in his spare time.
This week he proudly showed me what he’s achieved.
He’s scored a No.1 and a No.2 ranking in Google for his MOST IMPORTANT key phrase.
Remember, this is a guy who knew nothing about Internet marketing or affiliate programs when I hired him.
I didn’t help him at all with this site – I didn’t even know he was building it.
Here’s how he achieved those No.1 and No.2 rankings in Google:
* He chose a small niche topic, one in which he already had a keen interest.
* He used the brainstorming tools in Site Build It! –https://www.associateprograms.com/buildit – to find profitable keywords, ones with high demand and low supply.
* He bought a really tacky looking domain name with FIVE hyphens in it, that looks like this: something-widgets-and-other-widget-reviews.com. Yuk! How could he do that? When he told me about it, he had trouble remembering it!
* He created a simple 11-page site, crammed with useful information.
* He designed the site using all the techniques he’s learned while using Site Build It! (When you use the SBI “Analyze it!” tool, it tells you what you’ve done wrong and how you can improve the page to make it more search engine-friendly.)
* He joined one reputable affiliate merchant and wove affiliate links and graphics into the pages.
* His site has only ONE external link – from Yahoo! DMOZ.org rejected it.
“Why waste time contacting a whole lot of other sites asking for links when all you need is a link from Yahoo!?” says Rupert.
I’m trying to persuade him he’s wrong, that it’s absolutely vital that you encourage other good sites to link to you.
He also claims that having keywords in your domain name is what makes the difference between a No.1 spot and an also-ran.
I’m trying to tell him that’s only one of many factors to consider. He doesn’t have enough evidence to draw that conclusion.
I suspect my arguments are falling on deaf ears. After all, how can anyone argue with a No.1 and No.2 ranking in Google for your most important phrase?
He’s beating dozens of companies for top spot with a powerful two-word commercial phrase.
Rupert seems to have discovered a new use for Site Build It! As well as using it to build your web business, you can use it to teach you search engine optimization.
Also, you can use those brainstorming tools over and over.
The “Make Your Content PREsell!” Action Guide that comes with SBI shows you how to create content that attracts targeted traffic.
You convert that traffic into dollars by encouraging your visitors to click on links to high-quality products you recommend.
Next, you do what Rupert is doing. You develop multiple streams of income.
As Rupert has learned, Site Build It! is the total affiliate solution. He’s just one of the many converts won over by the success they’ve had with SBI.
Use it to start earning an affiliate income or to add another income stream.
Get it here…
https://www.associateprograms.com/buildit
======================================================
2. Site Build It! case study nearly ready
======================================================
Rupert is putting the finishing touches to his Site Build It! case study.
We’ll let you know when it’s ready.
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3. Warning on clusters of affiliate mini-sites
==============================================
After receiving some feedback from readers, I’ve been having second thoughts about a tip I offered in the previous issue of the Associate Programs Newsletter.
I mentioned a web host – https://www.associateprograms.com/cheaphost –
where you can have 200 sites hosted for only $29 a month.
Worried that having a lot of web sites hosted at one place would ring alarm bells at Google, I questioned Larry Wentz, who owns a cluster of affiliate sites.
He uses this cheap web host and says he hasn’t noticed any problems with Google.
“IP addresses are harder to come by so I feel that search engines won’t penalize sites that use the same IP address,” Larry said.
Larry directed me to a quote by Director of Technology at Google Craig Silverstein, who said: “Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses.”
From there, I jumped to the conclusion that it’s OK to create a cluster of mini-sites all hosted at the same place. But a few e-mails that I received caused a few doubts.
Now, I’ve come to respect Ken Evoy/SiteSell.com’s philosophy about search engines (as I’ve written in other articles, their Site Build It! product clearly gets excellent results!). It basically boils down to this:
“The search engines product is the delivery of highly helpful, relevant search results. Help them do that.”
So I asked Ken for a second opinion
Ken replied:
“I agree with Larry on IPs, in one sense… Some LARGE
Web hosts assign thousands of sites to a single IP, so
it just makes no sense to discount those sites, on that
merit alone. So there, I agree, for a single site.
“But having a CLUSTER of sites, all within the same IP,
that link to each other, etc…. fishy. Google will
identify these as artificial clusters, likely of low
value since they have no other sites from other IPs
linking into that particular IP.
It would NOT be truly reflective of the Net and the
nature of linking, and why people REALLY SHOULD do it
(in the true, philosophical sense that engines seek out).
“So here’s where I disagree…
“Google (Craig) did not make the point Larry seems to be
indirectly claiming. Cross-linking all those sites that
are on a single IP will prove painful, if not now then
soon – because the #1 rule is don’t put the quality of
the search engine’s product at risk. In other words,
KEEP IT REAL. IF you know how to do it properly, and if
you have the right tools to help, you simply do not need
to fool the engines. JUST KEEP IT REAL,” says Ken.
I dug around on the Net and found two warnings from Google which could relate to clusters of mini-sites.
Google Software Engineer Matt Cutts says that to determine whether a search engine optimization strategy can be considered spam, webmasters should ask themselves:
* Would you use the optimization technique if the search engines did not exist, and
* Would you be embarrassed if others knew what you were doing? Matt calls this the “Grandmother Test.”
(Source: https://www.highrankings.com/issue028.htm#ses )
Here’s yet another warning, published on Google’s site:
“…setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in permanent removal from our index.”
(Source: https://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html )
Here’s my conclusion…
Build your sites for search engines and HUMANS. That works. Construct them soundly, so you’re quite happy if a human examines them.
If you’re setting up clusters of sites, make sure all those sites are genuinely USEFUL – sites you’re proud to own.
If they link to each other, have a good reason for creating those links. For example, a site about widgets can naturally exchange links with a site that is all about how widgets are made, which can link to a site about the best widgets on the market…
(If you’re not aiming for search engine traffic and are just buying visitors from pay-per-click search engines, you won’t have to worry about any of this stuff.)
That cheap web hosting – https://www.associateprograms.com/cheaphost –
works out at only $1.74 a YEAR for each site.
That’s a wonderful bargain…
…but it’s no bargain at all if you’re banned forever by Google.
Tread carefully.
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4. Sumantra Roy an honest man who made mistakes
==================================
Ross Nursey writes:
“Following your report on Sumantra Roy’s pay-per-click scheme I checked my stats from them and found that I’d received only two clicks (on very popular keywords). I was feeling pretty upset that the thing had gone so wrong, and also that I’d followed advice from someone who is basically an affiliate marketer (aren’t we all – no offence meant!). I decided to write to Sumantra expressing my disappointment especially about the fact that he continued to take on work when he knew that he didn’t have the capacity to fulfill it, and asking for a refund of my $500 less the cost of any clicks.”
Within minutes Ross had received the following response from Sumantra:
“I apologize for the fact that we were unable to send you traffic. We have issued a refund of $500 to you.”
Ross says:
“He obviously made some mistakes but I’m delighted to say that the man is honest and obviously had no intention of defrauding his customers. Perhaps a mention to that effect in the next newsletter wouldn’t go amiss?”
I, too, believe Sumantra is honest. I haven’t asked for my money back. I’m giving him the opportunity to keep trying to send me the traffic I paid for.
I hear on the grapevine that one technique he’s now using is to request links to the sites he’s building for clients.
================================
5. Link popularity complications
================================
I published an article by Wayne Yeager on a new way of using affiliate links to boost link popularity – Sumantra Roy disappoints .
JB McKee of FusionQuest comments:
“I just read your newsletter number 212 and thought you should
know that there is a problem with the link popularity trick you
passed on. The link as shown,
https://www.trafficology.com#howtomm, will not work at all in
Netscape 4, of which there is still a significant number of
users. The page simply will not be found.
“The link will work in Netscape 4 if you add a / to it before
the #, so it would look like this:
https://www.trafficology.com/#howtomm
“However, there is a very important point that I discovered in
the process of making links provided to affiliates from the
FusionQuest solution count towards the merchant’s link
popularity that may apply here as well (have to experiment with
the # to be sure). Let’s take an example of three links:
https://www.merchant.com
https://www.merchant.com/?aflt1
https://www.merchant.com/?aflt2
“Now, one would think this would be great as the affiliate links
are pointing to the merchant’s domain. However, this is what I
discovered. Google (which now supplies the main results for
Yahoo, making it King of search engines) will index these as
three separate pages. In other words, there will be three
listings in Google for this same page (each with its own
popularity score). This is critical because all customers who
come through the link https://www.merchant.com/?aflt1 as listed
on Google will be credited to affiliate aflt1.
“If that were real life, I would have to pay that affiliate for
each customer who came to my site through that Google link.
This is not just a theory. It is a fact that I discovered in my
experimentation. This could very well hold true for the
https://www.trafficology.com/#howtomm format.”
JB
FusionQuest Support
The Affiliate Tracking Solution
https://www.fusionquest.biz
I don’t see a problem here. Surely if affiliate links appear in Google because of work done by an affiliate, the affiliate deserves to be rewarded? The only problem would occur if the merchant was competing in search engines with affiliates. Some do, some don’t.
[UPDATE: In 2009, FusionQuest was bought by ShareASale, a good affiliate network.]=============================================
6. Affiliate managers urged to offer PayPal option
=============================================
More affiliate merchants should give affiliates the option of receiving commissions via PayPal, Trevor Johnson says in a post to the Associate Programs Message Board.
He says he is seeking good quality, reputable affiliate programs which pay directly into to PayPal accounts.
The advantages for BOTH SIDES are considerable, Trevor says.
“For the affiliate, immediate receipt of payments is a wonderful advantage. For non-US affiliates, the savings in bank charges are considerable,” he says.
“For the program manager, the simplicity of paying commissions into PayPal accounts is a major reward in itself – but that is just the beginning.
“The very tangible costs of cutting checks, mailing them – even more so when snail-mailing checks offshore – not to mention the additional staffing and other administrative costs that all entails, means that every affiliate program manager should seriously look at implementing at least giving affiliates the OPTION of receiving their commissions via PayPal.
“It is simply a much more efficient and far more cost-effective means of paying affiliates than writing and snail-mailing checks.”
Like Trevor, I appreciate being given the option of receiving commissions via PayPal. It costs money, but it’s immediate and checks never get lost in the mail.
Good reputable affiliate merchants who pay this way include Marlon Sanders, Neil Shearing and Yanik Silver.
Neil Shearing from scamfreezones.com even adds 3% to his generous 50% commissions to account for PayPal’s fees. That’s something I wish they would all do.
Affiliate merchants, if you pay via PayPal, please tell me. I’ll compile a list and publish it in the next newsletter.
Check out PayPal here:
https://www.associateprograms.com/pal
===============================================
7. Remember, YOU make the rules
===============================================
I’m sick and tired of seeing articles that lay down precise rules for running an online business.
“You must answer emails within x hours.”
“You must publish your newsletter on a regular schedule.”
“Here are five things you should do every day…”
“You must… You must…”
What garbage!
If you want to squeeze the absolute last dollar out of your business, yes, there are efficient and inefficient ways of doing things.
If you upset potential customers, you can lose them forever.
But here’s my advice. (You don’t have to take it – it’s YOUR decision.) Don’t get sucked into the trap of letting your business run you.
You’ve put a lot of time and effort into building it. YOU are the boss. YOU make the rules – not some petty-minded misplaced bureaucrat.
You don’t have to run your business to someone else’s timetable. I’ve been there, done that, and it’s stupid.
Joanna and I are busy having fun buying furniture and stuff for our house in a Dunedin suburb called Sunshine (doesn’t that name make you smile?) which overlooks the beautiful harbor. We have a great view of yacht races and wind surfers enjoying the outdoor lifestyle of this lovely city.
So if I’ve been a bit slow answering email lately, that’s why. Don’t take it personally.
Next month I’ll be even busier having a life apart from this keyboard, so there will be only one issue of this newsletter next month, on December 13.
If you’re feeling abandoned, don’t. You can always go back and re-read some of the previous newsletters.
I’ve been making a good living purely from affiliate programs since 1998, and in this newsletter I’ve published a wealth of tips on how you can do that.
Check out the newsletter archives here:
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8. Be quick to grab the last ad spot
===============================================
If you want to advertise in the Associate Programs Newsletter in
December, there’s only one ad spot left.
Get your January bookings in now or you might miss out.
Details are on an autoresponder:
classads AT AssociatePrograms DOT com
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9. Thought for today: How to be boss
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“By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.” – Robert Frost.
All the best from Dunedin
Allan Gardyne
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