Is Internet Marketing Saturated?
By Jerry Lunsford
Is internet marketing and the potential for it saturated? I have wondered this many times but pure logic wins me over. It has at many times caused me to give up on an idea or marketing plan based on the belief that there were so many other people doing it my offer would never be considered. But after reading the following article you can get an idea that the internet is like a new city that crops up everyday, under a new sun, with all kinds of possibilities before you. You just need to see them and then take the reins and hold on.
This is how I view internet marketing.
Somebody owns a large plot of land. They put out an ad that welcomes 100,000 people to come build a home and a business on this land all for free. The first thing everyone needs is a place to live. So they must first build a home. “But how do we build a home without lumber?” They ask. Many of the people having the spirit of an entrepreneur see an opportunity to make money ,so 1,000 of these 100,000 people open up a lumber company. And all 1,000 of these people end up making a good profit. “That’s great, but how are we going to build our homes without the tools and hardware?” they asked. So 1,000 more people open up a hardware store. And all 1,000 of these people end up making a good profit.
“I don’t know how to build a house!” many of them said. So 1,000 people offer to build their house for them and another 1,000 write books on how to build a house. And all 2,000 of these people end up making good profits. “How can we continue to work when we have noting to eat?” They all asked. So 1,000 people open up restaurants, another 1,000 open up catering services, and another thousand open up grocery stores. And all 3,000 end up making good profits. “How am I going to see my friends on the other side of town. It’s to far to walk!” They whined. So 1,000 people open up automoble manufacturing plants and each employs 10 people to work for them. All 1,000 plants end up making good profits.
As more house’s are completed lumber becomes less in demand, so 995 lumber yards go out of business leaving those 5 with the best marketing strategy. Because everyone has all the tools and hardware they need 995 hardware stores go out of business leaving those 5 with the best marketing plan. Because people can cook and grow their own food, 995 each of the restaurants, catering businesses, and grocery stores go out of business leaving those 15 businesses with the best marketing plan. And because everyone has a car and/or has found alternate means of transportation 999 auto plants go out of business leaving the 1 with the best marketing plan.
As time goes on all 100,000 people are having their needs met by different businesses which eventually level out the market so their is a healthy competition between all the existing businesses. But there is no need for any more businesses because the market is saturated. That is until 100,000 new people come to town. Then the cycle repeats itself.
The point of the story is this. All towns and cities started out like this with a surplus of goods and services. When a particular service or product was no longer in high demand only the businesses with the best plans survived. Only when the population of the city went up did someone consider opening up another business to meet the need of those people. But even though there was enough businesses to meet the needs of the people, many businesses and people wanted to find out ways to do things smarter, cheaper, faster. So opens up a whole new area of enterprise. And just like a new city the process starts over.
Internet marketing is similar to this. When it started to catch on many saw the opportunity to make money. Some offered tools to make websites while others offered to make a website for those unable. Some offered avenues to market that website, others will market it for you, while others write books to teach you how to do it yourself. There is though one big difference. There is still a large number of people who don’t own computers, while many of the ones who do are still unaware of internet marketing.
Every hour of the day people are coming of age. Every hour of the day people who never looked before are looking for ways to earn more money, have a business of their own, find new products or information that aren’t offered in retail stores. Think of the internet as a new city that has 100,000 people everyday entering in looking for something. Some will buy a product or use a service. Some will set up a business of their own. Some will give up their business only to come back to try something else. So, is internet marketing saturated? No way. The future of internet marketing looks better than ever.
About the author:
Article by Jerry Lunsford. Go to my website http://www.quityourcrummyjob.comto find this and other articles to help with your success as an affiliate, and with the success of those affiliates under you. Use these articles on your website, ezine, or wherever they can be helpful. Copyright (c) 2004
Affiliate Marketing is the latest craze in home-based businesses.Kevin EmswilerNever before has it been easier to start your own business. What type of other business model allows you to sell other peoples products, you dont have to handle customer service or be involved in actual shipping of products and your able to sell to a worldwide audience.
And cost wise, this is the only business model I know of where you can start on a shoestring budget.
Many affiliate marketers are now living their dreams. They can work at home, be their own boss, set their own hours and still have plenty of time with their families. Not to mention the freedom this type of business gives you. Youre open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If your ready to start your own home-based business, nows the time. Dont let this opportunity pass you by.
About the author:
Kevin Emswiler is an affiliate marketer and publishes a newsletter called The Affiliate Weekly. If you would like to succeed in affiliate marketing you can subscribe to his free newsletter by visiting http://www.chit-chat-cash.net/newsletter.html
The Truth About The Fallacy Of “7″Dean PhillipsTed Nicholas is a marketer with a proven track record. He
has started, operated and sold 21 profitable businesses, and
is responsible for the direct or indirect publishing of
hundreds of books and publications. Ted Nicholas is a well-
known and respected leader in the information marketing
business.
Ted Nicholas has mastered the art of selling. His million
dollar best selling books and other successful ventures will
show you how you can use the power of the written and spoken
word to grow your business.
His business development strategies are designed to help you
achieve higher profits and lower taxes. Ted has assisted
hundreds of entrepreneurs in building successful businesses.
His skills as a copywriter and direct mail marketer have
earned him the title “Guru of Direct Mail Marketing”.
All of that notwithstanding however, in my not so humble
opinion, he has also perpetrated one of the biggest and most
inaccurate fallacies in the history of marketing.
Ted has convinced countless number of marketers to, when
pricing their products and services end their prices with
a “7.”
For example, instead of pricing your product at
$19.95, price it at $19.97. Or better yet, he advises
dropping the change altogether and pricing your product at
$17
.00 or $27.00 or $97.00. His research supposedly proves
that the number seven dramatically increases sales.
Even more remarkable is how many marketers accepted this
fallacy as gospel, without doing any real testing of their
own.
I have no idea what scientific formula Ted used to arrive at
his conclusions, but with all due respect to Ted Nicholas,
his theory’s a bunch of bull!
How do I know? Because I thoroughly tested his theory myself
and discovered no discernible difference in response or
profits.
I also base my conclusion on perhaps the greatest authority
in marketing: Televison infomercials.
If you want to see marketing at its absolute finest, watch
television infomercials. Yes, I know many of the products
are garbage and don’t work as advertised, but the marketing
itself is simply brilliant! And their market research is
second to none.
In other words, producers of television infomercials are
masters at pricing products for optimum response.
And almost without exception, every infomercial I’ve watched
over the years, regardless of the product, have prices that
end with a five or a nine. For example, $19.95, $39.99,
$249.95.
Of course, you don’t have to take my word on this, you can
check it out yourself at:
http://www.AsSeenOnTV.com
This website features literally thousands of the famous tv
products you’ve seen advertised over the years. Just check
how they price their products.
And I’ll take it one more dramatic step further. I’m sure
you’ve heard of Ron “Veg-O-Matic” Popeil. But just in case
you haven’t, I’ll give you some background information.
Ron Popeil is the undisputed “king” of infomercials and a
multi-millionaire many times over. Over the last 40 years he
has sold more than a billion dollars worth of products. He
was voted by “Self” magazine readers as one of the 25 people
who have most influenced the way we eat, drink and think
about food.
The 70 year old Popeil is still going strong, his latest
product, the “Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ”–which he
invented–flies out the door by the thousands every week.
Here’s his website:
http://shop.ronco.com/
Again, check out how he prices his products.
This man has sold more than a billion dollars worth of
products, so I would say he’s got this pricing thing pretty
well mastered, wouldn’t you?
In conclusion, the number “7″ may be lucky in dice, but in
marketing, it’s just another number!
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Yahoo!/Overture Site Match: A License To Steal Dean PhillipsUnless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere, I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Overture now offers the Yahoo! Search Inclusion under its own branded name–Site Match.
According to the page info from Overture, submitting your site to individual search engines is expensive and time-consuming. But with Site Match you can reach millions of users by submitting your pages through one program that powers search results for top web portals such as Yahoo!, AltaVista, AlltheWeb and other sites.
Summary of Site Match Benefits (according to Overture):
* More exposure for your site–reach more than 75% of active internet users
* A simple, single point of submission to multiple web portals such as Yahoo!, AltaVista and AlltheWeb
* Frequent refresh of your pages–every 48 hours
* Daily reporting to track and optimize performance
* Pricing–Hybrid of Inclusion and Pay-Per-Click
Site Match uses a hybrid of the old Inktomi paid inclusion program and the pay-per-click search listings. When you start a Site Match subscription, a non-refundable annual review fee is charged for setting up your account and for quality review of your pages. Once your pages are accepted into the program, a cost-per-click fee is charged for each lead driven to your site.
URL Submission (non-refundable annual fee, per domain)
First URL: $49
Next 2-10 URLs: $29 each
11th URL and beyond: $10 each
Cost-Per-Click Fee:
Tier 1 Categories: $.15
Adult
Automotive
Books
Computers & Software
Dating
Education & Career
Entertainment & Attractions
Jewelry & Watches
Music & Video
Office
Other
Reference
Sports & Outdoors
Toys & Baby Equipment
Tier 2 Categories: $.30
Apparel
Electronics
Financial Services
Flowers, Gifts & Registry
Health, Beauty & Personal Care
Home & Garden
Professional Services
Real Estate
Telecom & Web Services
Travel
Okay, now that we’ve gotten the preliminaries out of the way, here’s the real deal on Yahoo!/Overture’s Site Match:
It’s a license to steal! It really is. Here’s why:
Site Match isn’t a true pay-per-click program, like Google’s Adwords or Overture’s own pay-per-click program.
What’s the difference? With Site Match, you don’t have any control over how much you pay for a particular keyword. I’ll talk more about that later.
Site Match charges you $49 to “review” your URL, at which point you get included in the databases of several search engines, including the new Yahoo! search engine. By the way, paying the $49 annual fee doesn’t improve your page ranking one iota.
It’s also important to point out, this isn’t the same thing as Yahoo!’s Submit Express,where you have to pay $300 to have them review your site for possible inclusion in their directory, without any guarantee whatsoever.
With Site Match, you’re guaranteed that your URL will be included in their various databases, and will be spidered regularly. This is how it works: If your listing is shown for a particular query and someone clicks on it, you get charged an additional 15 or 30 cents–over and above the $49 annual fee! That’s one reason why I call Site Match a license to steal. Here’s another reason:
If your URL already happens to be in the search engine databases, you’re now paying money for clicks you would have previously gotten for free.
It’s really a bad deal, because for most sites, paying more than $.10 per click will end up costing you money.
If you’ve participated in a true pay-per-click program, you already know that there are many keywords, especially generic terms, that are worth little or nothing, so you’d never bid on them to begin with–or you’d bid very low.
But with Site Match that control is completely taken away from you because, the way the program is set up, you have to pay a minimum of $.15 to $.30 per click, no matter what.
Personally, I think you should avoid Site Match like the Bubonic Plague!
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed–Part II Dean PhillipsAccording to Andy Jones, a member of the Best Practices
Search Engine Forums, fraudulent clicks are just another
aspect of the business. “Any of us that use AdWor
ds or any
other PPC has to pay for a certain percentage of fraudulent
clicks,” he said in a forum discussion. “I factor it in as a
cost of doing business.”
Can you believe that? In other words, he’s saying, I know
the pay-per-click companies are stealing my money, but it’s okay, because I’ve considered that fact ahead of time.
Unfortunately, that mentality is pervasive among pay-per-click advertisers. No wonder the pay-per-click companies aren’t making stopping pay-per-click fraud a top priority. Who can blame them? If their advertisers don’t care, why should they? Heck, with all of the money the pay-per-click companies are making, it’s actually more cost effective to issue an occasional refund, than to develop technology to eliminate click fraud.
And if you read between the lines of the following
statement, Google even admitted as much:
In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Google acknowledged, “We are exposed to the risk
of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid
refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in
the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent
activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new
evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue
refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our
Google Network members.”
That statement doesn’t exactly instill any confidence, now
does it?
And if Overture is asked about click fraud, they’ll just
issue their standard company line:
“Our Click Protection System is sophisticated software that evaluates each of our advertisers’ clicks. This software makes decisions as to the validity of any click. Our Click Protection System uses search and click data to make both rules-based inferences and pattern recognition-based inferences about which clicks are valid clicks. We have two patents pending related to this technology, so we cannot currently disclose too many details about the methods we use.”
Do you honestly think newspaper, magazine, radio or tv
advertisers would just sit back and let those media get away
with blatantly stealing their money? You know they wouldn’t.
Then why do pay-per-click advertisers allow it? I don’t know the exact answer to that question, but I have my theories: First of all, you’re talking about a whole different
level of sophistication with pay-per-click advertisers, compared to media advertisers. Many pay-per-click advertisers don’t even know how to access or even analyze their log files, so they have no idea how much money is actually being stolen from them.
In addition, some pay-per-click advertisers are making more money than they’ve ever made before. And rather than upset the apple cart, they’d rather keep quiet and allow the vicious cycle of click fraud to continue, so that they can keep cashing those big checks.
I also suspect many advertisers are afraid that if they complain too loudly, they may be penalized in the search engines, in regard to their free listings.
If my theories are accurate, silence is one heck of a trade off, if you ask me. Why? Because according to a report on MediaPost, an online study done by Clicklab revealed that fraudulent clicks can account for more than 50 percent of your total clicks.
So, if the goal of pay-per-click search engines is to bring lucrative, targeted traffic to your web site, what are the pay-per-click search engines doing about the click fraud epidemic, to prevent abuse that needlessly drive up your costs and reduce your ROI?
Unfortunately, since so many pay-per-click advertisers are willing to play the role of “lambs going to slaughter,” the pay-per-click companies really don’t have to do anything.
In the meantime, your ROI is going to continue to plummet, and the pay-per-click companies are going to continue to milk those cash cows (AKA) pay-per-click advertisers, for all they’re worth!
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
The Truth About Traffic Exchange Programs and Guaranteed Traffic Dean PhillipsIt’s about time someone let the cat out of the bag,
regarding traffic exchange programs and guaranteed traffic.
I wasn’t seeing the truth being written about the subject
anywhere, so I decided to take it upon myself to reveal the
truth about these programs.
In a nutshell, they don’t work. How do I know? Because I
tested them. I tested them good and I tested them fairly.
While I wasn’t really surprised at the results, I was
surprised at the depths in which these programs failed.
Oh, you’ll get plenty of traffic to be sure. But it’s
garbage traffic plain and simple. Like the saying
says, “garbage in, garbage out!”
For example, I tested the most popular and best known
guaranteed traffic program, run by one of the Internet’s
most famous marketers. I purchased 10,000 pop-under ads for
$99. I then sat back and observed.
Well, it took approximately two weeks for my 10,000 pop-
unders to be displayed. And at the end of two weeks I had
made zero sales. Nada! Zilch!
I have to admit, even though I wasn’t expecting a cash
windfall, those results made me realize the quality of
traffic was worse than I thought. Much worse.
But I wanted to make sure I was being extra fair, so I
purchased 10,000 more pop-under ads from the same company.
Again, it took right around two weeks for all my pop-unders
to be displayed. And once again I achieved zero sales.
Now I’m no novice when it comes to marketing. I’ve been in
this game for over 25 years, so I know what I’m doing. My
offer was strong and my sales letter was a proven winner.
Plus, I was making plenty of sales using other advertsing
methods.
However, my test further illustrates how important traffic
quality really is. It’s not the quantity of traffic that’s
most important, it’s the quality.
My advice: Stay away from guaranteed traffic programs.
My test involving Traffic Exchange Programs (also known as
Start Page Rotators) brought me to the same conclusion.
(Although these programs are free for the most part and
didn’t cost me any money.) You’ll receive plenty of traffic,
but converting that traffic into sales is an entirely
different matter. Here’s why:
1. There is much more competition for traffic exchange
programs. Many new companies have joined the mix meaning
that any one traffic exchange program has fewer page views
to offer.
2. Many webmasters are members of several traffic exchange
programs, meaning they are seeing the same ads over and over
again, across the board–thus diluting the overall
effectiveness of the programs.
3. Many people have pop-up blocking on their sites making it
increasingly difficult to harvest email addresses using that
method.
4. Cheating is very common. Many unscrupulous individuals
use software to open hundreds of start pages each day in a
variety of traffic exchange programs. Since no one sees the
pages, no one buys the products. Also, many individuals sign
up for multiple accounts making each page view much less
valuable.
My conclusion: Because of rampant cheating and poor
conversion ratios, Traffic Exchange Programs just aren’t
worth the effort.
About th
e author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
today…Guaranteed! For details just visit my website.
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed Dean PhillipsHas anyone else noticed a disturbing pattern in your pay-per-click advertising campaign, of the same IP addresses clicking on your ad, spending one or two seconds on your website and then leaving?
That’s called click fraud and it’s a major problem among all of the pay-per-click search engines.
Click fraud is a scheme that takes advantage of online
advertising programs like those offered by Google, Yahoo/Overture, Findwhat and others. A fraudulent website is
set up and participates in programs like Google’s AdSense
program. Unlike legitimate websites that attract human
visitors to the site, fraudsters use software “hitbots” or
employ boiler-rooms of low-wage employees from other
countries to generate clicks on ads, and then collect
commission from pay-per-click programs.
In June, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against
Michael Anthony Bradley 32, of Oak Park California who was
charged with fraud and extortion for a scheme involving
Google’s pay-per-click program. Believe it or not, Bradley
actually tried to extort Google into paying $100,000 for
click fraud software he created called “Google Clique.”
Click fraud hurts advertisers by driving up the cost of each
click because many online advertising programs adjust the
price of each click based on the popularity of a particular
keyword and the number of competing advertisers. And
depending on how popular your keyword is, it can take just a
few minutes to register hundreds of clicks. Click fraud can
quickly deplete your pay-per-click account and leave you
with little or nothing to show for your expentiture.
In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google acknowledged, “We are exposed to the risk
of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid
refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in
the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent
activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new
evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue
refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our
Google Network members.”
Now, in all fairness to the pay-per-click companies I’ve used in the past, I have to give credit where credit is due. Whenever I complained of click fraud, which was often, all of the pay-per-click companies, without exception, did the right thing and credited the stolen funds back into to my account. Ironically, I have not had a click fraud problem with Google.
You can reduce your risk of being victimized by click fraud,
by regularly auditing your websites log files and
immediately reporting suspicious traffic to the pay-per-click companies. If you are unfamiliar with analyzing your sites log files, there are some excellent software products available to assist you like ClickTracks, WebTrends, and AWStats. These products make it fairly easy to identify patterns in your website’s traffic.
Recently, I noticed the same IP number clicking on my ad over and over again–often many times within just a few minutes. I did some basic detective work and discovered it was actually a competitor of mine devouring my pay-per-click dollars. I approached him with my findings and threatened him with law enforcement intervention, if he didn’t cease and desist. He denied any involvement, of course. But I haven’t had any problems with that individual since.
So, how did I find out who the culprit was? Easy.
When checking your log files, if you notice a lot of
clicks from one IP address, you can trace its origin by visiting the American Registry of Internet Numbers. By feeding the IP address into their “Whois” search, they will tell you who has been assigned that IP address, and whether it’s an actual IP or another business entity.
Should the IP address not be assigned to the Americas, you
can verify RIPE Network Coordination Center for all Russian,
European, and Middle Eastern registries, or the Asia Pacific
Network Information Center. There are only three such sites,
so you should be able to track the source.
However, if someone is using sophisticated software to
generate clicks on your ad, it will probably be impossible for you to trace the IP address yourself. For example, according to alleged Google extortionist, Michael Bradley, “Holland Engine software was originaly written to allow spammers to conceal their orginating IP address from mailservers and to keep it from apearing in e-mail headers.
Holland Engine is the core of LincolnSX, the most powerful
mass-emailing software, running at rates of 5 million e-
mails per day per machine. Holland Engine will actually
tunnel through the internet and connect to the desired IP
address from, not your IP but rather from another, the one
at the end of the tunnel.”
In conclusion, if you choose to use pay-per-click search
engines to advertise, watch your log files closely and report improprieties immediately.
Also, don’t put all of your eggs into one basket, by depending solely on pay-per-click advertising. Utilize a variety of ways to attract traffic to your website, such as ezines, newsletters, writing articles, offline advertising, etc.
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Google’s Trap, DMOZ’s Nap, And Yahoo!’s Crap Dean PhillipsOn November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the
Florida update) which had a catastrophic effect for a very
large number of websites and, in the process, turned search
engine optimization upside down. It is common to give
alphabetical names to Google’s updates in the very same way
that names are given to hurricanes, and this one became
known as “Florida”.
In a nutshell, a vast number of pages, many of which had
ranked at or near the top of the results for a very long
time, suddenly disappeared from the results altogether.
To so many on the Internet, Google has become the omnipotent “hand of God” and it’s sickening! Why are so many people falling into the trap of optimizing their website’s to cater to Google’s ever-changing algorithms? I refuse to play that game! I personally could care less about my search engine rankings. I never have. My search engine rankings go up and down like a yo-yo! They have for years. Yet, I’m still able to comfortably support myself and my family.
If you only remember one thing from this article, remember
this: DO NOT DEPEND SOLELY ON SEARCH ENGINES FOR YOUR
TRAFFIC! Find alternative ways to attract traffic to your
website. If you’re fortunate enough to achieve a high search
engine ranking, consider it a bonus. But DO NOT MAKE THE
SEARCH ENGINES A PRIORITY!
Why? Because when you stop to consider that Google, DMOZ and Yahoo! has millions and millions of pages in their directories, you’d really have a better chance of winning the lottery, than getting high enough in the results pages where it’s going to make a significant difference in y
our traffic.
In fact, I receive a very tiny percentage of my traffic from the search engines.
So, where’s my traffic coming from? Well, the vast majority
of it comes from the dozens of articles I’ve written that
have been picked up and published on popular websites. I
also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters that my
articles are published in, and a few other secret methods
that I use.
Yes, like Colonel Sanders, I too have a secret recipe!
And if all of the search engines disappeared tomorrow, I’d
be just fine, because I’m a marketing man. I know how to
market myself and my service. I was lucky enough to be born
a “baby boomer.” That means I had the honor and privilege of personally seeing first-hand, some of the greatest
copywriting in history. I took lots of notes and learned my
lessons well.
Back then, mailorder was the Internet of its time, and boy
was there marketing talent everywhere! You should really do
yourself a favor sometime and go to the library and read the
old mailorder books. Some great titles to look for
include, “How To Get Rich In Mail Order,” by Melvin
Powers, “Money In Your MailBox,” by L. Perry Wilbur, “How To
Make A Fortune In Mail Order,” by Al Stern and “Building A
Mail Order Business,” by William A. Cohen .
You’ll come away a lot smarter and you’ll discover some
ingenious ways to market your website, besides the search
engines.
Will somebody wake up DMOZ? I hear they’re sleeping on the
job. DMOZ (The Open Directory Project) is another prime
example of why you shouldn’t depend on search engines or
directories. I’ve heard and read countless horror stories
about DMOZ taking 9 months to a year or more to add new
sites to their directory, and in many cases not adding
perfectly qualified sites at all. I’ve also heard their directory is not kept up to date, because the editors can’t keep up with the workload.
In addition, it’s been widely reported that they don’t respond to e-mails, don’t inform you if and when you’re site is rejected, and that some of the editors are rude and arrogant.
Who cares how much weight Google places on being listed in
DMOZ? You don’t have to put up with that nonsense! Find alternative ways to attract traffic to your website.
Yahooooooooooooooooo! I want you to read what it says on the
info page for submitting to Yahoo! Express:
“We established Yahoo! Express as part of a suite of
services that Yahoo! has created to service small business
needs. Through Yahoo! Express, we can ensure that sites
suggested by merchants such as yourself are viewed and
evaluated in a timely manner by Yahoo!’s editorial staff.
Your payment and participation in Yahoo! Express guarantees
that within seven business days a member of Yahoo!’s
editorial staff will look at your site and consider it for
inclusion in the Yahoo! directory.
Please keep in mind that payment does not automatically
guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or
site commentary. As with all sites suggested to us, final
judgement remains solely with Yahoo! editors.
Yahoo! Express Guarantees All Yahoo! Express submissions
will be evaluated within seven business days.
You will receive an email response within seven business
days, stating whether your entry is accepted or declined.
(If your entry is denied, you will be told why.)
The Cost of Yahoo! Express Yahoo! Express requires a US
$299.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee per submission,
or US $600.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee for
submissions offering adult content and/or services.
Yahoo! Express does not guarantee a listing in the Yahoo!
directory, nor does it guarantee the type of placement or
description that your site will receive if accepted.
Please read our Yahoo! Express Terms of Service to review
the terms and conditions of Yahoo! Express.”
Are you kidding me? What a bunch of crap! Why, why, why
would anyone want to just hand over their money to Yahoo!
that way, without any type of guarantee?
I’ve just given you shining examples of the arrogance and
total lack of respect Google, DMOZ and Yahoo! has for the
very people they depend on to keep them in business.
I say we show them the same kind of respect they show us. Get out of the Google trap, let DMOZ nap, and don’t accept
Yahoo’s crap!
Remember: DO NOT DEPEND SOLELY ON SEARCH ENGINES FOR YOUR
TRAFFIC! Find alternative ways to attract traffic to your
website. If you’re fortunate enough to achieve a high search
engine ranking, consider it a bonus. But DO NOT MAKE THE
SEARCH ENGINES A PRIORITY!
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website: http://www.lets-make-money.net
“Super-Affiliate’s! What Are They… How Do I Find Them and Why They’re Your… TICKET To Online Success!”Cory Threlfall
Super-Affiliate’s!
What are they?
Do you see this term often online and end up confused to
what it means and the purpose they serve online?
It sounded really mysterious to me when I first came across
the term which peeked my curiosity and led me to research
the term further to find out exactly what the term meant
and more importantly what there roll was in the Internet
marketing world.
The information I discovered was Astonishing!
What I’m about to reveal to you in this article will blow
your mind and hopefully take away the mystery and answer
the questions you once had about what a ‘Super-Affiliate’
is and why they ARE your…
…”Ticket To Online Success!”
Let’s first take away the mystery behind what a
‘Super-Affiliate’ is so that you’ll have a clear picture
inside your head of how they’ll benefit your online
business for years to come.
A ‘Super-Affiliate’ is simply either or both a High Traffic
website and/or a eZine/Newsletter owner with a HUGE
targeted opt-in mailing list that are able to sell more in
a given day then you could in a month.
As you will learn, the internet is nothing more then a
numbers game and the super-affiliate’s are simply the one’s
who have already put in the time and have the highest
numbers when it comes to ‘Website Traffic’ and targeted
‘Opt-In’ mailing lists.
Are you starting to see the BIG picture yet?
Now, lets move on and break this down a little with some
rough numbers so you’ll be able to have better idea of what
to look for when it comes to locating an ‘Super-Affiliate’
via search engines and/or eZine/Newsletter directories.
Let’s first start with the Search Engines.
When your searching the web for super-affiliate’s with high
traffic website’s this is the general guide line I use to
gauge there importance.
But, in order for me to do a proper traffic analysis of
there website I need to use a special webmaster toolbar
offered through Alexa.com.
This toolbar is essential and a must have when it comes to
locating super-affiliate’s and the reason why is because it
reveals the ‘Traffic Ranking’ for that particular website
you are viewing making it easier for you to tell the
difference between the super-affiliate’s and the other
website’s that are just getting by.
Here’
s the link to where you can download your own free
Alexa toolbar if you choose:
– http://download.alexa.com/
Now… for the numbers.
When I’m searching for an super-affiliate related to my
Product, Service and/or any of the affiliate programs I am
promoting via the search engines and I happen to come
across a website that has a traffic ranking of 50,000 or
lower using the Alexa toolbar to gauge the TR then these
are the website’s where the super-affiliate’s reside and
are the one’s I will want to contact with a business
proposition.
As a general rule using website analysis, the lower the TR,
the BETTER.
Why?
Because it means that particular website is receiving
Lots… and Lots of traffic which is just what you’re
looking for.
Now… that’s the general idea behind locating
super-affiliate’s through website analysis and the search
engines.
This next part I’m going to show you where to locate the
super-affiliate’s with HUGE targeted mailing lists.
This is where you stand to benefit the most and could in
turn make a substantial amount of money within the next 24
hours of your business proposition if accepted by the list
owner.
The best places to locate an ‘Super-Affiliate’ with a HUGE
mailing list are through eZine/Newsletter directories. I’ve
listed a few of the Top directories below to save you the
hassle of having to search for them yourself.
– Ezine Universe
http://www.ezine-universe.com
– Ezine Hub
http://www.ezinehub.com
– Go-Ezines
http://www.go-ezines.com
– Netter Web
http://www.netterweb.com
– Ezine Search
http://www.ezinesearch.com
These directories databases are searchable and are full of
thousands of ezine/newsletters with list sizes that range
from 1000 subscribers to 250,000 subscribers and up.
It’s pretty easy to figure out who the super-affiliate’s
are going to be here.
The Bigger the list size, the BETTER.
But… as a general rule I would have to say that any
ezine/newsletter owner with a list size of 75,000 or more
subscribers I would consider an ‘Super-Affiliate’.
Remember, this is just a general guide line.
Don’t discard the list owners with smaller lists. The more
eZine/Newsletter owners you contact the greater your
chances are of SUCCESS!
Now that you know what a super-affiliate is and how to find
them Both on the Web and through ezine/newsletter
directories your probably wondering how…
… “They’re Your TICKET To Online Success!”
Well, its actually quite simple.
If you own your own Product and/or offer a Service, and
this will even work if your an affiliate to someone else’s
program, all you have to do is simply locate and approach
related website and/or ezine/newsletter owners with a
JV(Joint Venture) and/or business proposition offering them
a reasonable share(percentage) of the profits if they were
to accept your business proposal.
That’s It!
And the best part about this approach is that you don’t
even have to spend a penny on advertising and the traffic
you’ll receive will be ‘Laser Targeted’ making your chances
of SUCCESS that much Greater.
I really hope this article opened your eye’s up and cleared
up any unanswered questions you once had about what a
‘Super-Affiliate’ was, what there roll is in the Internet
marketing world and more importantly… How you can locate
them via the Web.
About the author:
============================================================
Cory Threlfall is the Editor and Publisher of a Internet
marketing newsletter called the ‘Internet Wonders eZine’.
http://www.internetwondersezine.com; He is also an owner
of a very popular virtual mall called CBmall… The Net’s
##1 Infoproduct Site. http://compactURL.com/wqvg