Associate Programs Newsletter #208
Lots of good stuff today... a new script, a super affiliate, and some down-to-earth talk on building a REAL business that works.
CONTENTS:
1. Awesome 404 script fixes problems on your site
2. Super affiliate earns $30,000 a month
3. Why themed-based content sites work beautifully
4. Useful free resource: World Time Server
5. Thought for today: Avoid over-analyzing
__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
EARN UP TO $80 PER SALE AND $.50 PER LEAD
Employment911's affiliates can earn $.10 to $.90 on EVERY CLICK!
As our affiliate you'll earn money on 4 different resume services
including FREE resume posting. Got B2B traffic? You can also earn
$63 to $1k on a SINGLE job posting sale. Get great FREE CONTENT:
Get articles & a job search box that searches 100 job sites right
from YOUR web page. Super affiliates - call me @ (610) 564-3837
http://www.employment911.com/asp/affiliates.asp?B=40&A=152
___________________________________________________________
=============================================
1. Awesome 404 script fixes problems on your site
=============================================
For about five weeks I've been testing a nifty new script which
does a lot of very useful things, and has rescued me from costly
mistakes.
The script, easyClick404, is a 404 error finder and fixer, a
link-checker - on your site AND on sites linking to you... and a
lot more.
For example...
You know how frustrating it is when you click on a link and
instead of seeing the page you wanted you get a 404 error
message?
It gives you a poor first impression of a web site, doesn't it?
You wonder if the company is just careless, or if it's no longer
in business.
You might never give the site another chance.
How many would-be customers are getting 404 messages at YOUR
site?
One way to find out is to sift through your site's logs. If
you've tried that, you'll know what a laborious, frustrating task
it is.
Or perhaps you don't have access to your web logs.
To the rescue comes easyClick404, created by Adrian Ling.
The script doesn't just identify 404 messages. It also helps
FIX them - automatically.
For example, at AssociatePrograms.com I've discovered that I get
many instances of people seeking a page which doesn't exist...
newsletter.HTML.
In the past, people seeking that non-existent page received a
404 error message (a custom 404 page I created). Now, Adrian's
script makes an intelligent guess and - Hey presto! - sends them
to the correct page...
newsletter.SHTML.
In the same way, anyone making an error and typing in
newsletter078 is now automatically redirected to
newsletter078.shtml.
But there's a lot more...
The script is a sort of friendly link-checker. It emails you when
someone clicks on a faulty link on your site.
Even better, it warns you when search engines find faulty old
links in their databases. I was amazed at how often that happens.
That's not all...
It also alerts you to faulty links on OTHER people's sites.
It even warned me about two broken links I had at Overture!
Like every script Adrian creates, it comes with simple
instructions so that even a non-geek like me can install it. You
don't need to know CGI stuff.
You probably won't need help, but if you do Adrian will quickly
assist or even install the script for you. He's a nice guy.
Once installed, the script sends you an email alert each time it
identifies a problem. I use a special email address just for this
script and filter all the emails into a special folder.
Here are just some of the problems the script has identified for
me in the last five weeks:
* I'm embarrassed to admit that one of my sites had DOZENS of
faulty links. I had hired a student who didn't know as much
about HTML as he thought. Whoops! They're fixed now. How much
was that costing me in lost traffic and lost reputation? I hate
to think.
* I had two links in Overture with TYPING MISTAKES in them.
Those going-nowhere links had been in Overture for more than a
year and were being displayed on Alta Vista. I hope you haven't
done that. If you have hundreds of links, that's a LOT of
checking to do.
* Five web sites that were kindly linking to me had made HTML
errors in their links. People clicking on those links saw only
404 error messages. More potential traffic was going down the
drain. With this script, you can warn your affiliates if they
post faulty links to you.
* I was surprised to discover three sites linking to an old
index page - http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/default.htm .
That's a page I stopped using THREE YEARS AGO. Whoops! For
three years people have been clicking on those links and
going nowhere. More potential customers lost.
* Quite a lot of puzzling alerts, such as ones for .com/& ,
which don't make sense to me. Most of these are probably caused
by amateurish spiders which are scouring the Web. The script
shows you the IP addresses of these spiders.
* A site that has turned all its links to me into lower case,
apparently not knowing that on Unix web hosts links are CaSe
sEnsiTiVe.
* Visits by search engine spiders. I was surprised to see how
often they have really OLD pages in their databases - pages I
dumped years ago.
* This is creepy: Multiple attacks by hackers. They're looking
for iBill and ccbill logs, password files, MSOffice backdoors,
old versions of formMail, etc. Now I can type in their IP
address at [Link no longer works] , click
on the "Whois" button and - if no IP spoofing is involved - see
where the attack originated. Fascinating stuff!
I hate to think how many would-be customers I've been turning
away.
As Adrian says, "How much business will you be losing if you
don't install this script?"
Consider the lifetime value of your potential customers - $10,
$50, $100?
I can't calculate how much money this script has saved me
already, but it must be thousands of dollars.
In short, Adrian's new script is awesome. It's one tool every
web site needs.
Learn more about it here:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/404
__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT: Rolex Watch up for Grabs, You Want It?
WOW! Check this out! Brand-new affiliate contest runs 9/15 to
10/15 with a top prize of a Rolex "Air King" men's wristwatch.
Come on, who wouldn't want a FREE Rolex (worth over $2,000!) just
for winning a little contest? CLICK TO SIGNUP ==>
http://AssociatePrograms.com/ads/buyingwebbusinesses
__________________________________________________________
======================================================
2. Super affiliate earns $30,000 a month
======================================================
One thing that most really successful affiliates do is help their
visitors make buying decisions by telling them which products are
best and why.
A perfect example is Rosalind Gardner, who earns $30,000 to
$50,000 a month in affiliate commissions, with a very nice 40%
to 50% profit margin.
On her main site, http://www.Sage-Hearts.com, Rosalind reviews
match-making sites and tells people which ones to join.
There's a lot more to it than that, of course.
If you subscribe to Corey Rudl's private web site, "Secrets To
Their Success", you've probably already read his new Case Study
#22, a long article in which Rosalind describes her methods in
detail.
She explains how she attracts more than 4,500 unique visitors a
day and has sales conversions that are 3 to 5 times higher than
those of the average affiliate.
Because she has such good conversion rates, she is able to use
pay-per-click advertising as an effective strategy.
If you haven't read Case Study #22, it's a "must-read" article
for any affiliate or affiliate manager.
I've been subscribed to "Secrets To Their Success" since the
first issue. It's a fantastic resource.
This isn't vague theory or book learning, it's real-life, down-
to-earth advice from real people like Rosalind.
Find out how she earns $30,000 to $50,000 a month in affiliate
commissions.
Get a free trial here:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/success-secrets
==============================================
3. Why themed-based content sites work beautifully
==============================================
The following letter is longer than ones I usually publish. It
discusses a very important topic, building a business by using
Theme-Based Content Sites.
Here's why this topic is so important.
It's all about building a unique business you can be proud of. No
get-rich-quick dreams, no silly search engine tricks. Instead,
it's about building a business designed to last, one that will
keep generating useful income year after year, long after the
gimmick-laden sites have died.
From first-hand experience with several affiliate web sites, I
know this technique works beautifully.
Ken Evoy of SiteSell writes:
Hi Allan,
We've had quite a few questions about your article in "#207
Associate Programs Newsletter: Debunking themed web sites
theory" which seemed to call into question whether "themed
sites" really work.
Since our premier product, Site Build It! (SBI!), is all
about building what we call "Theme-Based Content Sites," and
since we have received several questions about it, I thought
I'd answer the questions. Mike Grehan's debunking and the
SBI! theme-based process are BOTH correct and sound, because
what SBI! does, and what Mike Grehan debunks, are two
different things...
In the article, Mike Grehan is quoted as follows...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The idea of having to create web sites which
can be summed up entirely in two words has
been bandied about on the web for so long.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
You can have a themed site where every page
is focused and optimized on the same two
words. But the page with the quality links
pointing back to it (citation - co-citation)
is the one that's coming up.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The article also notes the bottom-line advice of some gurus
on this subject...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
People following this theory advise you to
create a web site which can be summed up in
two words.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Naturally, the above comments do not fit OUR definition of a
Theme-Based Content Site. They do fit our definition of MORE
GAMES, MORE TRICKS. There's only one reason to do something
like that, and that's to play to the engines. And if you
try to trick an engine like Google, there are only two
possible outcomes...
1) It doesn't work.
2) It works. In the old days, keyword-loading worked. And
replicated gateway pages worked. But anything that works,
spreads to others. Then it gets on the Google radar screen.
Then it stops working. Then you have to start all over.
Either way, you lose. So we agree, what is defined as a
"themed site" in the article simply doesn't work.
But TRUE Theme-Based Content Sites do work, as you have
documented so well (and so have thousands of SBIers - all
you have to do is follow the Action Guide, as you state
Allan). What's the difference? Why does SBI!'s approach
work so well? Because of the fundamental underpinnings...
SBI!'s underlying premise is to BE REAL, not to fake
anything, never to do anything on your site that is ONLY for
the engines and NOT for human consumption.
A TRULY Theme-Based Content Site is far more encompassing
than just hitting on the same two words throughout a site.
The key is to create high-value content, each page based on
a topic that is related to a profitable keyword, and all
pages being related to a central theme. And while you do
this, you aim to please the HUMAN visitors AND to rank well
at the engines.
You quote Ralph Tegtmeier's article along the same lines,
explaining about themed site theory being wrong. Ralph is
one of the cutting edge SEO guys and I love his work.
I've spoken to Ralph, who knows Mike Grehan's book in great
detail (he helped edit it). Ralph also knows SBI! and how
SBI! works with the engines. I asked him to comment on
whether the contents in Mike Grehan's book and SBI!'s
teachings are in sync (if they were not and if we accepted
the differences as being real, we'd improve SBI!, as we
constantly do - SBI! will always be a "work-in-evolution").
To quote him, in a letter to me (with his permission)...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Nothing he mentions or outlines is in ANY
contradiction to the SBI! approach, though he
does insist on debunking the common,
tread-of-the-mill usage of the 'theme' term."
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The only difference is how profoundly we define "theme-based"
and how SBI! assembles and structures and manages these
sites. We agree and debunk ANY maneuver that is meant purely
to cater to the search engines.
And we agree and advise SBIers on exactly the same concepts
regarding linking IN and OUT. We give emphasis to
link-building, with lots of genuine ways to enhance link
popularity. For linking IN, the quality, quantity and
"targetedness" of the link is critical. A mere one or two
good links gets you on Google's PageRank radar and the
traffic really starts. From there, it builds.
Actually, we'll be adding (aside from our recent launch with
e-zines and server-side LogoCreator and NavBar maker, and
aside from the upcoming e-goods e-commerce which will include
one's own merchant account, real-time processing and an
affiliate program), an important link-building/tracking/
enhancing module that is HONEST, GENUINE and that WORKS.
What do I mean by "honest?" No tricks, nothing that works
against the search engine and the #1 goal of delivering
quality search results. Make the engines your friend by
helping deliver high-value, on-target content, and you
sleep well at nights. Why? Because it's all REAL - no
matter what the engines do, you remain relevant for the
engines and don't have to worry ever about being banned.
-----
One important aside about the search engines...
If you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish.
But you'll never actually BE a fish, and the fish will never
actually tell you all his best tricks. So...
Regarding ANYONE'S interview and study of the search engines
and scientific papers on search technology... If I was CTO
(Chief Technology Officer) of a search engine, there's NO
WAY that I would be giving away ANY of our truly advanced,
proprietary technology to ANYONE for publication. In fact,
everyone signs strict confidentiality agreements
prohibiting revelation. Like any company, you don't reveal
the crown jewels ("Coke's formula" the most famous example).
-----SIDEBAR-----
*WE* certainly don't. The SBI! techniques
and information and theory that we make
public is material that does not help our
competition. The rest is proprietary and has
never been publicized, and never will be. If
any serious tech company does differently,
I'd love to know.
-----SIDEBAR-----
So all you can do is "think like a search engine." Or more
precisely... THINK LIKE A SEARCH ENGINE EXECUTIVE. Your
product is to deliver quality search results. Your #1
mission is to make your searchers happy, at the least cost
possible.
So, my advice to Net marketers is... DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT
HURTS THAT. The more you help them succeed, the better you
will do. Back to our Search Engine Executive...
You have long, long ago finished tweaking "on-page" keyword
parameters. So yes, this evaluation is still there (since
Google focused from Day 1 as link-based, the "on-page" is
likely more rudimentary, but it's still there). After all,
if someone is looking for armadillos, you'd be nuts (if
you're an engine), not to be sure that the page does in fact
have some keywords about armadillos.
But naturally, as the Web and tech-sophistication grows,
"off-page" and "cross-page" criteria become important, too.
And, as your technology becomes more advanced and the
hardware becomes more able to crunch the data, you start to
study linking. You study themes, as Mike Grehan puts it...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
To a search engine ("theme") is about linkage
data across the entire corpus of web PAGES in
their database.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Of course, if you can do that across all Web pages, you can
certainly sub-segment themes by site. I'd be stunned if
they are not doing this NOW, and if they don't continue to
do it more and more. I don't know (or care) whether they
use vector analysis or Microsoft Basic to do it. All I know
is we see the results at SBI!.
So naturally, while search engines do, as Mike Grehan says,
"return web pages at the interface following a query, not
web sites"... he's right. Hey, I'd hate to get home pages
only. But engines WILL look across a site and across a
whole bunch of related sites, before returning those "best
match" individual pages in their search results.
While on-page remains, off-page will indeed become more and
more important. And that's why we put a lot of emphasis on
those areas. And it's also why your advice in your second
article, Allan, was spot-on...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
* Keep building sites that concentrate on one
subject. They work beautifully - what better
reason do you need?
* Build pages that concentrate on one topic.
* Look carefully at links to your site, and
at the keywords in and immediately
surrounding those links.
* Do the same with your internal links.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
That is exactly what SBI! preaches... and provides all the
tools to do, from brainstorming, to registering the perfect
domain name, to sitebuilding (no tech skill needed) and
SEsubmitting-SpiderTracking-IndexChecking-Ranking, and
automatic re-submitting as necessary.
The key phrase in your comment above, Allan, is of course
"they work beautifully." True, full-blooded themed sites
work well because they are REAL - they have depth and
genuineness... because they ARE! What they are NOT, is
search-engine-focused "two word" trick ponies.
So which is more important? On-page or off-page criteria?
My answer to that perennial question is...
"Yes!"
Seriously, who cares? Keep your life simple and just get
them both right. So when Mike Grehan says...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
You can have a themed site where every page
is focused and optimized on the same two
words. But the page with the quality links
pointing back to it (citation - co-citation)
is the one that's coming up.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Naturally, we agree. Because BOTH are important. For
example...
Let's say that you do the opposite, where the incoming links
are the same and everything else is equal (everything from
length of time on the Web to hair length of each site's
Webmasters!). The narrowly targeted themed site (for example,
the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla) will do better than
the wider site (for example, Caribbean islands) when the search
is Anguilla-related, even if the two sites have an identical
page on Anguilla.
Just think about the two sites, for a moment, from the
search engine's point of view...
a) a general Caribbean site has a page or two about Anguilla.
b) a Theme-Based Content Site on Anguilla, with a wide
variety of topical pages, each of which focuses on a
specific keyword that you know people search for, and that
has been specifically optimized for that word (yes, all of
which SBI! makes easy), and all of which are related to
Anguilla.
All other things being equal, which will do better for
Anguilla-related searches?
Even if some of the engines are not sophisticated enough to
do cross-page analysis, theme-based sites certainly don't do
worse - and as the engines get smarter and smarter, this
tight-theme-based favoritism can only increase. Why?
Well...
Remember the engine's central mission...
RETURN RELEVANCE.
Yes, search engines do return, as Mike Grehan says, "Web
pages and not web sites" - that's the very nature of an
engine - it would be near-useless if they only returned the
home page of every site. Heck, you'd still have to dig to
find the right page on your own.
But the more tightly-themed site will have an advantage,
everything (for example, links) else being equal, simply
because it will be more relevant (than a general site) for
the search terms that are related to that theme.
We know... we have the largest, proprietary database on the
Net of theme-based sites that do exactly that. SBI! houses
every function that a site could ever need, all under one
roof (ours). We know EVERY TIME a site submits (actually, we
control it all, automatically, for best results). We know the
specific keyword for each page. We know when a page gets
indexed, and how it ranks. We know when the spiders visit
each and every page, etc., etc. In short, we have an
incredible amount of REAL data, and that data will ONLY
become more and more helpful in generating simple, real
advice and tools to SBI! users that WORK.
(By the way, if any SEO experts (and I mean major, known
experts) would like to work with us to mine this information
IN DETAIL, let us know. It's a project that's on our "to
do" list. Right now, we analyze the big picture and we know
that this REAL, themed approach works well. But there's
tons of spider data, results, etc. that will generate
awesome information. We'll ultimately choose one person/
group to work with us, on this, on the basis of the strength
of the proposal. Signing a strict non-disclosure agreement
will be required.)
By the way, our data does not indicate that even Google
ignores on-page or on-site (cross-page) content - nor would
it make sense. Your "Rupert" articles bear that out, Allan
- and he's not alone. SBI! users rank well at Google, and
they do even better as the links start coming in. In a Net
with millions and millions of sites, it simply makes no
sense that you'd rank pages purely on the basis of
linkage... it's too simplistic.
It's just common sense - an engine would be negligent not
to have some sort of reasonable ON-PAGE relevancy check.
And if an engine can check "across all sites" for a theme,
it can certainly check across one site for a theme.
A final word on SEO... don't worry about "the theory" too
much. No one really knows the nitty-gritty of what they do.
So... as a result, as another of my favorite SEO writers,
Bob Massa, said in a recent article (tongue-in-cheek)...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SEO's can speak more and say less than just
about any one group of people I'm aware of.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
So don't get too caught up in all the theory. Do what
WORKS.
Seriously, unless you're married to the CTO of Google who
talks while asleep, no one knows the detailed inner
workings. Every now and then, you'll get a broad hint.
For example, in your second article in your last issue,
Allan, you quote Andrei Broder of Alta Vista as saying...
"...obviously, it's good to have a site which
is focused ... as opposed to a site which
just seems to be about everything."
That's as close as you'll get to being told what to do -
read the tea leaves. And, as I said, our database of
results across thousands of SBI! sites bear this out.
Bottom line?
Use common sense, think like an engine, be real, and try to
help them.
By giving (to both your human and spider visitors)...
... you'll get.
-----SIDEBAR-----
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a pitch for SBI!. You can do a
great Theme-Based Content Site without using SBI!. SBI!
just blends strategies and tools into a process that makes
it all work, efficiently and very cost-effectively.
For more info...
http://makemy.sitesell.com/buildit/
-----SIDEBAR-----
Moving beyond theme-based sites and their search engine
effectiveness...
There are tons of great reasons to focus on a single niche
theme, not too narrow and not too broad, the way SBI! does.
I'll try to keep this short, so here's the bottom line...
Theme-Based Content Site (the way WE mean it, as outlined
above) ARE LOVED BY ALL...
1) Human visitors - They find information that is tightly
targeted to what they seek. This powerful PREselling leads
to the sale, either at related merchants' sites (for
affiliate income) or for people/companies who sell their own
services, and ultimately who want to sell e-goods (yes,
we'll be adding that next).
2) Human directory editors - Directories (for example, Yahoo!,
Open Directory, etc.) simply don't need any more general sites.
Niches are favored. And "niche directories" look for quality
in your field - so once again, deliver high-value content.
3) E-zine content - Naturally, the related e-zine will have
the same tightly-targeted content. Repeated, high-value
exposure is a powerful way to PREsell-and-then-sell services
(SBI! has started many people selling a service on the Net
- it's very cost-effective for building a client base), or
to sell anything else.
4) The whole, real Theme-Based approach is all about
becoming an authority (i.e., have great information about a
topic) and then become a hub (i.e., have many links pointing
in that are related to the theme, as well as having links
out). More and more, in the future, this will be critical
for search engine success.
5) pay-per-clicks - Since the whole site is so nicely
packaged for a certain theme, and since each page is clearly
focused on one topic, the relevance for important keywords
is high. So, no hassles with the PPC editors.
6) When you do a theme-based content site right, it's just,
plain and simple, REAL. So not only will you do well,
you'll sleep well. You'll never have to worry about the
search engines catching your tricks, because you have not
used a single trick - not even an invisible link! In short...
You'll be building a REAL business, not a site that's
dependent on a bunch of tricks and tips. It doesn't make
sense to work any other way.
The most important reason, though, is what you said in the
second article of your last issue...
It works beautifully.
All the best,
Ken
---
Ken Evoy is President of SiteSell,
author of the phenomenally successful
"Make Your Site Sell" and the brains
behind "Site Build It! -
http://makemy.sitesell.com/buildit/
---
__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
Are you ready to make REAL money from Your website?
Have you considered affiliate programs for their many
advantages... but found you barely make enough to take home a
commission check every month? The answer is simple, You NEED your
OWN program. Here it is:
http://mydtmm.com/7387
___________________________________________________________
==================================
4. Useful free resource: World Time Server
==================================
Is the person you're phoning in bed?
We sometimes receive 2am-or-so phone calls from the other side of
the world and I hear Joanna saying groggily: "No, I don't know
what time it is. I'm in bed. It's dark!" Now Joanna usually
unplugs our phone at night.
If it's 2pm in New York, it's 7am in London. But what time is it
in Hawaii, Sydney or South Africa?
You can find out quickly at the World Time Server. It provides
current local times around the world and adjusts for Daylight
Saving Time.
http://www.worldtimeserver.com
================================
5. Thought for today: Avoid over-analyzing
================================
"Do your homework and then get to it! Avoid over-analyzing. At
some point analysis becomes an excuse for procrastination. If you
truly desire financial wealth and freedom, then you need to act -
NOW!"
- super affiliate Rosalind Gardner in "Secrets To Their Success" http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/success-secrets
All the best
Allan Gardyne
