Archive for May, 2007

May
31

Down in HotLanta for Stomper

I rode down to Atlanta with Mark Goodman. Of course we had to hit every construction zone in North Carolina and Georgia on the way down …. just in time to get nailed by the parking lot otherwise known at Hwy 85 in downtown Atlanta. Despite the troubles, we arrived just as Andy and Brad took the stage.

It looks like a great weekend is coming up. I hit the stage at 3:30 tomorrow. I met up with David Bullock, Sherman Hu, Leslie Rohde, Dan Theis and had a great conversation with Don Schnure of 1AutomationWiz.

I’m just kicking back with some room service … gotta love the $22.00 turkey sandwich … while watching the Cavs and Pistons in overtime.

Make sure if you are down here to track me down. I ran into “Radar Roy” … he is everywhere, no matter what conference, he is there. He just recently sold his radar detector site.

I’m going to turn in without my presentation done. I always seem to write the best presentations just before I go on stage anyway. :-)

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

May
30

The Long Tail

In Affiliate Marketing and marketing online in general, much has been made of “The Long Tail.” I’m not sure who did it, but someone incorporated the “Long Tail” theory into keyword research and it has screwed up a lot of webmaster’s thinking. The Long Tail is about selling more of less … meaning that you target the lower segments and based on quality of smaller markets, it will make up the difference and make an otherwise unprofitable business profitable.

The issue here is that The Long Tail is being compared to keyword research when keyword research isn’t about sales, it is about search positions. Webmasters need to realize that in order to use The Long Tail theory, they must understand which keyword phrases actually convert … becaues that is what The Long Tail has been about: Selling Less of More, not Searching Less of More.

Remember that. Know your converting keyword phrases and concentrate on them and you will be far and above half of your competition.

Posted in Affiliate Marketing | No Comments »

May
24

Yahoo! Gets Serious Again …


Need More Qualified Traffic? Get the Yahoo! Assisted Setup Offer!

As a lot of you know, I used to be a pretty heavy affiliate for Yahoo! for a number of years. Then some “Yahoo!” was hired, slashed the commissions and made it unmarketable. Add onto that the constant changeover … I had seven reps in just a few months. It seemed that everytime I came into the office my rep was fired or quit. It was getting beyond hilarious. I remember one rep being assigned to me on a Wednesday and I shared my past experience with him and he said, “Jerry, I promise you, I’m not going anywhere.” Two days later on Friday, “Hello Mr. West, this is your new account rep.”

Nice.

They have made ammends and my rep is the same one since last September. That says something. While Yahoo! has had their struggles over the last year or two, they seem to be putting some effort back into their Search Marketing program. So, I am back promoting it and they have given me an offer they haven’t done for about a year ….

Now, let’s talk marketing for a moment, Yahoo! caters to females, and recent studies have shown that in married households, females have strong input in 85% of buying decisions in the home. Reach them with Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Due to my strong relationship with Yahoo!, they are waiving the setup fee of their premium Assisted Setup service (regularly $199.00) through Friday, May 25th (tomorrow). For more information, see our page detailing Yahoo’s excellent offer. As I said, one they have not made in a year.

Get the Assisted Setup Now with No Setup Fee & a $300.00 deposit.

What’s that? You don’t have $300.00? Why are you reading this then? Stop stealing time from your employer and go back to your job.

Posted in Yahoo | No Comments »

May
22

Web Directory List Updated

With the PageRank update that Google did earlier this month I updated the directory list for the SEO Revolution membership.

It is interesting to note that of ALL the directories that we track, no directory increased in PageRank for this update. That’s right, not one. Furthering the notion that this was a “raising of the bar” of PageRank. Over 100 directories lost at least one point and about two dozen lost two points. There were a handful that lost all their PageRank and went down to zero.

This list will greatly help you realize which directories are worthwhile, especially the paid ones … and with so many paid directories going DOWN, it is great information. I also updated the grades as well.

My plan is to have this list updated each time Google does a toolbar update, which is about once a quarter.

Posted in SEM/SEO, Webmaster | No Comments »

May
21

Supplemental Index Update

I have stated that you can have a top ranking for a page that is in the Supplemental Index, and I wanted to clarify something. I have taken top listings, removed the links to the page and forced them in the Supplemental Index and the top ranking stayed. However, I have attempted to take a page that is in the Supplemental Index and achieve a top ranking while keeping it in the Supplemental Index and have been UNSUCCESSFUL in doing so. The testing, of course, was done with competitive phrases.

So, the bottom line is, if you want a good ranking for a page, make sure you get it out of the Supplemental Index. You’ll have the best shot at a good ranking if you do. I’ll be updating the article in the back office this week to reflect these new findings.

Posted in Google, SEM/SEO | No Comments »

May
12

WordPress Upgrade

Well, I finally did it … did the upgrade. I had been sitting on version 1.57 forever it seems and my programmer got us up on 2.1.1 and so far the upgrade looks pretty sweet.

We’re having a company party tonight at my place. No, you aren’t invited. :-) Employees only. I have driven them hard these past two weeks and it is time to relax and get the batteries recharged.

Just a reminder, you can get more of me over at Stomper as I’m one of the faculty members. They are shutting down the dollar offer tonight at midnight. Heck, I’ll even pay the buck for you to try it.

Enjoy the weekend – more posts after some much needed sleep!

Posted in Webmaster | No Comments »

May
4

What Is Wrong With America?

I just had to post this. This is from an ACTUAL job description here in North Carolina. As an employer, if you have to be THIS detailed, something is just very, very wrong…

Uses hands to lift telephone receiver to answer incoming calls. Press telephone keypad with fingers to transfer calls to other locations.

Uses hands and fingers to press keys on computer keyboard or typewriter to enter data into computer or type information on typewriter.

Uses hands and fingers to cut and type checks.

Sits 50%, walk 25%, and stands 25% of the time.

Must be able to communicate clearly in answering members questions.

Must listen well to ascertain the services needed by each member.

Climbing stairs may be necessary in branches that are housed on more than one floor.

Visual acuity is required to complete necessary documentation for loan processing.

Must be able to lift 5 pounds.

Someone please help us! ;-)

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

May
2

SPAM: Just Because You …

… say that you aren’t a Spammer, doesn’t mean you aren’t.

I don’t like to post full emails that I get, but this one is a must. Check out what I got today…

From: cellphone@win-sports-bet.com [mailto:cellphone@win-sports-bet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 3:27 AM
To: info@webmarketingnow.com
Subject: Link Exchange – Cell Phone Plans

NOTE: We are not spammers and are against spamming of any kind.We are sending this mail with sole intention of link exchange for mutual benefit.If you are not intersted in Link Exchange then you can reply simply “NO”, We will never contact you again.

Dear webmaster,

We recently came across your site through Google search and your active links page indicates that you are interested in link exchange. You have an excellent site and we would be delighted to exchange link with your site.

So Taking initiative in this direction we had already placed your link here:

We have placed the URL, Title, and a suitable description of your web site which will definitely benefit your online presence. Please feel free to verify this information and let us know if you want to change your linking information. We will be glad to assist with you right away!

We respectfully request that our web site’s link is hosted on your web site at the following location:

http://www.webmarketingnow.com/resource_partners.html

We appreciate it if you will use the following information to link back to us:

URL =
Title = Cell Phones
Description = Browse cell phones and cell phone plans for Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel and more. Get free cell phones shipped to your door when you sign up for a new cellular plan with Cell-Phone-Plans.net

OR

You can also use our HTML coding to place our link at your site as below :

Cell Phones
Browse cell phones and cell phone plans for Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel and more. Get free cell phones shipped to your door when you sign up for a new cellular plan with Cell-Phone-Plans.net

Once again, we look forward to become your link partner and appreciate it if you will send us the exact location of our link once you add it to your web site.

We look forward to your prompt response.

Many Thanks!

Campaign Manager

Okay, let’s look at all the things wrong with this link request.

1) First they come right out and say they don’t SPAM, when that is exactly what they did. Nice.
2) They tell me they recently came across my site, but they didn’t mention which site.
3) They said they liked my site. Liars! They never went there, they simply harvested my email address.
4) So, they “take the liberty” of posting a link to my site. How nice. They bury it on a crappy page, that has no PageRank and isn’t indexed by Google. Now. why is that? Oh yeah, their site is called FreePageRank. Spam City.
5) And they want me to link, not to the Spam Directory they made, but to a Spammy site about cell phones. Geez.
6) And my personal favorite, it is signed by the “Campaign Manager” as if this is some kind of ghost or something. I don’t care if it is automated, somebody had to press the button to startup the Spam Campaign – get THAT person’s name in here … at least we would have a live person to deal with.
7) And some checking on the email headers produces numerous domains that this email went through and they are on quite a few blacklists.

If you are still doing link building this way, have some pride and do it right – don’t do the above. It is just bad on-line business.

Posted in Webmaster | No Comments »

May
1

Portal Feeder Review

We just finished our review of the Portal Feeder system, and it passed our tests … and we’re seeing some solid production from it on our sites. You can read our full review – Portal Feeder Review - and scroll to the bottom to sign-up direct. Through us, the membership is open until noon on Thursday.

Don’t miss out on this one …

Posted in SEM/SEO, Webmaster | No Comments »

May
1

Google Updates Toolbar Info

As we expected, Google just finished their Toolbar update for their PageRank information. Looks like many links have been discounted, and we suffered greatly as we are a PR4 for the first time in our history. Our site started as a PR6 back in ’02, went to a PR5 a year later and there we stayed consistently until now.

Looks like high profile directory listings are losing value … and there is just a sweeping change occurring. The good news is, traffic and ranking are unaffected … at least thus far. We will, as always, keep our members updated on any big changes.

Posted in Google, SEM/SEO | No Comments »