Stealth marketing techniques

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Stealth marketing techniques

Associate Programs Newsletter #206

Lots of good stuff for you today...

ClickBank improvements, a new search engine book, stealth marketing techniques and more...

CONTENTS:

1. ClickBank improvements aren't enough
2. "Search Engine Marketing" earns rave reviews
3. Stealth marketing avoids affiliate link turn-off
4. But is URL frame forwarding ethical?
5. Two cheaper options
6. Discover how to bootstrap your way to success
7. CJ drops two-tier program for new referrals
8. Success: A Spiritual Matter
9. NEXT ISSUE: Debunking "themed web sites" theory
10. Thought for today: a Universal Law

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1. ClickBank improvements aren't enough
=============================================

Affiliate network ClickBank has taken steps to improve its security.

"ClickBank has recently become aware of a growing concern by some of our customers that under certain circumstances, affiliate commissions could possibly be subject to manipulation," says Dan Henderson of ClickBank.

"After careful review and analysis, we have implemented new security measures which ensure that commissions are credited to the proper referring affiliate, based on the traffic flow of the buyer. These changes will make it highly unlikely that our hoplinks can be manipulated to redirect commissions.

"The ClickBank affiliate commission system is designed to accurately credit bona fide affiliates for every sale they drive to a ClickBank seller. The integrity of this system is one of our highest priorities and is critical to the success of our business. We will continue to evaluate all aspects of the
ClickBank system, and make changes if warranted to ensure an efficient and secure electronic marketplace."

It's good see that ClickBank has responded to criticism. Any new security barrier will increase the chance that you earn the commissions you deserve.

However, I don't believe the latest changes do enough to ensure that the referring affiliate earns a commission.

I'm not an expert on hijacked commissions, but it looks to me as though a hole remains unplugged.

Now that ClickBank has started plugging security holes, I'm sure it will continue.

======================================================
2. "Search Engine Marketing" earns rave reviews
======================================================

A search engine optimization book which has been getting rave reviews from search engine experts is the new "Search Engine Marketing" handbook by Mike Grehan.

What makes this second edition special is that Mike grills major figures in the search engine industry, including scientists who have created search engine technology.

Instead of just telling you how to construct pages that will be found in search engines, Mike explains how search engines have evolved, what they are trying to achieve, and how they do it.

The "How search engines work" section alone is more than 60 pages.

Among those interviewed are:

* Andrei Broder and Chris Kermoian of Alta Vista.

* Brian Pinkerton, WebCrawler/Excite.

* Google's Director of Technology, Craig Silverstein.

* Yahoo!'s Head of Surfing, Marylynne Wrye.

You'll probably also recognize many of the other experts whom Mike interviews:

Ralph Tegtmeier (Fantomaster), Brent Winters of Web Position Gold, Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineWatch, David Notestine of Zeus, Detlev Johnson of i-Search, John Heard of Planet Ocean/Beyond Engineering, and Roberto Grassi of GR Software.

For some readers, the information Mike provides will be more than they ever expected or wanted to know.

Transcripts of the 14 interviews are included in the 300+ page book, so you can ponder these experts' exact words and see if you reach the same conclusions as Mike.

For example, I was startled when Mike told me: "One of the important issues in my guide is dispelling the myth of 'themed web sites' which has pervaded in SEO circles for a while now."

This book isn't for someone who's simply looking for 10 quick tips on how to build a page to be found in search engines. It's not for someone who ignores off-page factors.

It's for the really serious marketer who's seeking subtle clues dropped by the people who design search engines. It contains material you won't find anywhere else.

MarketingSherpa calls Mike's book "the best handbook on the market today for do-it-yourselfers".

See the Table of Contents here:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/mike

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==============================================
3. Stealth marketing avoids affiliate link turn-off
==============================================

When most people see an affiliate link they know that they are being sold to. Their guard goes up. They're suspicious.

"Regardless of how well meaning and unbiased the recommendation may be, it is all lost because that reader's sales guard goes up and it kills the honest recommendation," says Kevin Wilke.

URL frame forwarding, which I discussed in the last issue - Protect your commissions - is a "stealth marketing" technique to avoid affiliate link turn-off.

It can also reduce affiliate commission hijacking and commission bypassing because the customer doesn't know an affiliate link is being used.

You register a domain name and have it forward to your affiliate link hidden inside an invisible frame.

Here's an example.

Carey Chan of Vancouver, Canada, has earned thousands of dollars in affiliate commissions by using URL frame forwarding.

He wanted to promote Corey Rudl's Mailloop software [UPDATE: No longer available.] but didn't want to use an ordinary affiliate link because it's ugly and just about impossible to remember, as you can see from my affiliate link: http://www.marketingtips.com/mailloop/t.x/7134

So Carey registered the domain name MailloopSoftware and sends people to http://www.mailloopsoftware.com .

The name is memorable and it doesn't look like an affiliate link, but when people click on the link and buy, Carey earns a commission.

Note how "mailloopsoftware" stays in the browser's address box. It looks as though Carey isn't using an affiliate link. If you have a look at View/source in your browser, you'll see that he is.

Remember to check with the affiliate merchant before using URL frame forwarding, and especially before buying a name that includes a trademarked name. Some see the technique as acceptable, innovative marketing. Some may see it as unacceptable weakening of their brand. So ask first.

Here are some other ways to use URL frame forwarding.

* Close variations: Choose a close variation of the merchant's domain name. If the company is called XWZCompany.com, you might grab the name TheXYZCompany.com.

"I have a funny story for you about the 'close variation' technique," says Matt Gill of NameStick. "We once got a free $20,000 in revenue promotion at one of our other sites when a well known Internet marketer tricked himself and sent out an endorsement with the real domain in the copy. His NameStick domain was so close to the real one that he didn't notice."

Matt says that slight changes to the domain are sometimes imperceptible and don't register in the customer's mind when they see a real domain name inside compelling ad copy.

Close variation examples:

Say you are promoting an affiliate program called toptastytreats.com

Try these types of variations - an extra letter, or minus a letter, adding "the" or a hyphen...

toptastytreat.com
thetoptastytreats.com
gettoptastytreats.com
top-tasty-treats.com
top-tasty-treat.com
top-tastytreat.com

"Great variations are endless - get creative!" Matt says.

You can use:

- words that mean the same as the master domain
- words that sound the same
- words that look the same - slight changes are easily overlooked

* Different domain endings:

toptastytreat.net,
toptastytreat.org
toptastytreat.info
toptastytreat.biz

"You'd be surprised how many of these are still available."

* Subdomains.

NameStick domains come with the ability to create an unlimited number of subdomains for forwarding to another location. Some affiliates are using creative subdomains to hide different affiliate links.

You can put anything you want in front of the main domain, for example:

anything.cooldomain.com
www1.cooldomain.com
www2.cooldomain.com
a.cooldomain.com

You can create keyword descriptive subdomains such as:

namestick.cooldomain.com
yanik.cooldomain.com
gardyne.cooldomain.com
ebook.cooldomain.com

* Special offers: Instantly create a special offer:

august.cooldomain.com
september.cooldomain.com
todayonly.cooldomain.com
bonus.cooldomain.com

Again, the possibilities are endless.

* Your own name.

Have you ever seen an email address and, curious, typed the domain name into a browser to see what the writer's web site is like? I often do that.

Do you own YOUR name yet? Matt suggests you register your name (like BobSmith.com). Forward it to your best money-making site AND use the email forwarding so you can be using the cool email address of Bob@BobSmith.com.

"Using the email forwarding with your NameStick domain creates awareness and traffic to your domain name every time someone sees your address," Matt says.

* Fun, memorable names.

You may remember I registered YanikPlatinum.com. Better than silver, better than gold... Yanik Platinum. With the click of a few buttons, I can easily switch it to any of Yanik's sites. I've switched it since the last newsletter.

Click on it and see... http://www.YanikPlatinum.com [This link no longer works]

[UPDATE: I bought the YanikPlatinum domain name as a gimmick and let it lapse because I wasn't promoting it. Here's one of Yanik's top notch books, 33 Days to Online Profits -
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/33-days ]

* Recommendation names.

If they're not taken, you could grab names like:

favoritewebhost.com
topcreditcard.com
topmarketingmanual
thebest...
thegreatest...

If you saw a prominent link to TheBestMarketingManual.com wouldn't you be tempted to click on it to see where it took you?

* Teaser names.

You'd be tempted to click on TheBestBookIveEverRead.com wouldn't you? That name is available today.

* Benefit-laden names. For example, "Bobby" of the Shelby Trading Company bought the domain name http://www.LearnHowFSBO.com .

If you're interested in FSBO - for sale by owner - that name will attract your attention.

Bobby is using it to send visitors to a ClickBank-tracked product.

If you have a bit of imagination, you'll have a lot of fun using URL frame forwarding.

==================================
4. But is URL frame forwarding ethical?
==================================

Where do you promote things using URL frame forwarding domain names?

You're limited only by your imagination. You can use them on your site, in signatures, on your vehicle, on your business cards, in forums... anywhere you can place an URL.

I've even seen URL frame forwarding being used in spam. Yuk!

Essentially, this is a stealth marketing technique.

There's huge potential to use URL frame forwarding in unethical ways.

You could pretend to own a web site, when you're just an affiliate.

On a message board, in an email discussion list or in a newsgroup you could praise a company without revealing that you'll earn a commission if people click and buy.

Beware. If people think they're being deliberately deceived, they can turn nasty and tell 10,000 or more people.

You may remember a case years ago where an unscrupulous marketer praised a company in a forum without revealing his financial interest. It wasn't long before another marketer administered swift justice, rubbishing the self-promoter in the forum. It could happen to you if you're not careful.

The URL frame forwarding technique is great for people who don't want to build a web site and don't want to deal with email.

Not everyone wants to capture email addresses, set up autoresponders, and act as a free help desk.

It's great for someone who enjoys taking part in forums - just use the domain name in your signature.

URL frame forwarding is simply a tool. Please use it wisely and ethically.

================================
5. Two cheaper options
================================

"Bobby" uses URL frame forwarding provided by http://www.directNIC.com and says he has nearly 100 domain names registered with the company.

"They offer domain name registrations for $15 year, and in my experience, they have good customer service," Bobby says.

"Among the five to seven options available when you register a domain name are 'Forwarding with No Frame' and 'Forwarding with Frames'. I may not be exactly correct on the names of those two options.

" 'Forwarding with Frames' works the same as the NameStick.com service you described. I currently have about 25 to 30 of my domains forwarded with frames and about half of those are forwarded directly to my affiliate links.

"There is no additional fee for this forwarding service, you just pay the $15 domain name registration fee and the forwarding service is provided," Bobby says.

James Huggins uses an even cheaper option, which he says is excellent.

He says the domain name registrar http://www.NameCheap.com will register a name for only $8.88 a year, and will provide subdomain specific URL forwarding and address specific email forwarding.

For example, suppose you registered YourDomain.com

You could have www.YourDomain.com forward to one place, YourDomain.com by itself forward to another, offer2.YourDomain.com forward to a third, etc.

It also preserves the information after the domain, James says. For example, his short domain, jsh.info, forwards to http://www.JamesSHuggins.com .

So http://jsh.info/webmastering forwards to
http://www.JamesSHuggins.com/webmastering
AND at that page, he forwards you to the REAL page at
http://www.JamesSHuggins.com/h/web1/webmastering.htm

Regarding email forwarding, you could have Bob@YourDomain.com
forward to one address and Sue@YourDomain.com forward to another.

"And you get all this, plus complete and direct control of your name through easy to use web panels for $8.88 per year," James says.

NameCheap doesn't have an affiliate program. DirectNIC.com does.

I asked Kevin why I should recommend NameStick instead of NameCheap.com.

Kevin gave me a list of reasons. Here are some of them:

"We are affiliate marketers FIRST, which means we have an extensive amount of knowledge we pass on to our customers free," Kevin says.

"This alone will be worth 10 times the price they pay for the domain. I don't think any domain company can offer this kind of service - they are a technology based company, not a marketing based company. The worst thing people can do online is get advice from programmers.

"And we are always looking to improve our service based on the needs of the affiliate marketer. For example, we offer the ability to customize your title and meta tags for search engine placement - we have numerous customers who have received excellent search engine results just from this option and it only took them a few minutes...

"And we have made it very easy for the non-technical person to use our service. Every other company we looked at has a very technically oriented approach - you need to know about MX records, CS Names, etc...

"One other thing to consider... assuming this site (or any similar site) does enough volume to get maximum discounts, they are still making, best case scenario $1 to $1.50 per domain. With customer service costing on average of $3 to $5 per email inquiry - they lose money if a customer ever contacts them... what is the chance of getting good, if any, customer service from a company like this?"

When you get advice on affiliate marketing, make sure you get it from someone who is successful.

In the last 12 months, Kevin has sold more than $650,000 as an online merchant, paid more than $130,000 to affiliates, and earned more than $100,000 from the various affiliate programs he promotes. So he has a very good understanding of affiliate marketing.

=============================================
6. Discover how to bootstrap your way to success
=============================================

On the subject of learning from experts...

Check out the Millionaire Boot Camp.

It's one of those REAL conferences, where instead of being sold stuff, you'll learn how millionaire entrepreneurs Ted Nicholas and Mark Joyner make their millions.

Ted, who bootstrapped his way to success, has sold over $400 million worth of products and services in his own companies.

Mark Joyner doesn't speak publicly very often. I was fortunate enough to hear him last year and I strongly recommend you grab this opportunity while you can.

He'll reveal powerful psychological techniques that you can put to use immediately to increase your sales. They work for me.

I'm very sorry I'll miss this conference. Joanna's elderly parents are staying with us here in Queensland for the southern winter, and we're making the most of our time with them while we can.

Joanna and I have just had our best year ever financially. We DOUBLED our previous year's profit, thanks in large part to techniques we learned from Mark at his last conference.

Discover how to bootstrap your way to success...

[UPDATE: Link deleted because the seminar is over.]

===============================================
7. CJ drops two-tier program for new referrals
===============================================

Just in case you missed the announcement, Commission Junction has dropped its two-tier program for new referrals, but has added a grandfather clause for old referrals.

This means that if you referred affiliates ("publishers") to CJ before July 20, you'll continue to receive residual commissions on sales they make.

You won't earn a second tier commission on new referrals after July 20.

CJ's announcement offered no explanation. I guess it's simply a cost-cutting measure, and yet another reminder that affiliate agreements are easily changed.

For the full statement, look under "Commission Junction" on the Associate Programs Message Board.

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/index.php

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8. Success: A Spiritual Matter
===============================================

I've just finished reading a new book called "Success: A Spiritual Matter".

I'm utterly swamped with stuff to read. Of all the books I've seen this year, this one is by far the best.

Truly successful online entrepreneurs reveal what makes them successful.

This is the book Paul Myers was talking about when he said:

"I've read probably 1000 books on the topics of
business, spirituality, and motivation. Rick
Beneteau's book,'Success: A Spiritual Matter,'
is the best I've seen at addressing all these
critical issues in one place."