Posted on 08-23-2008 by Andy Crofford
UBD
Unique Blog Designs is celebrating their first anniversary by having a context. The rules are pretty simple and I encourage everyone to enter as the prizes are pretty sweet.
How to enter:
- For one (1) contest entry - just reply to this post with a comment. Only one comment per person will be counted.
- For five (5) contest entries - write a blog post about the UBD 1-Year Anniversary Contest and link back to this post. If your blog post does not appear under the “Pingbacks,” leave a comment with a URL to the post.
The Prizes:
Grand Prize - Brand New 8GB iPod Touch ($299 value) and One (1) Copy of the New UBD Citrus WordPress Theme (coming next week).
Three (3) runner-up prizes include copies of the new UBD Citrus WordPress Theme.
Now that my entries are in I sure hope I win the new themes. I was really hoping the grand prize would be a unique blog design but that is asking for a bit much.
Filed Under: Meanderings | 1 Comment
Posted on 08-21-2008 by Andy Crofford
Promote it with blog directories.
Anyone that has been on the Internet, even briefly, can see that blogs are very popular. There are many different kinds of blogs. There are blogs where the author rants about any subject they choose, blogs for the fun of blogging, and blogs created to make money. It is possible, and difficult, to generate income with a blog. The most difficult part is generating enough readers to make it worth someone’s time to advertise on your blog. This is a pretty simple forumla, the more readers you have the more money you can make. The big question is: how can you get this traffic?
One of the best ways of doing this is by submitting your blog to blog directories. Blog directories typically have blogs sorted by category and are very diverse. Regardless of your niche it is safe to say you can probably find a category on a blog directory that is relevant to your blog.
In conclusion, promoting your blog on blog directories is a great way to get traffic as well as build those precious backlinks.
Best of the Web - Blogs
Blogging Fusion
Blogarama
Blog Catalog
Blog Explosion
There are many other blogging directories. Check out the article 20 Essential Blog Directories from the Search Engine Journal.
Filed Under: Meanderings | 1 Comment
Posted on 08-20-2008 by Andy Crofford
If you have been considering purchasing the Build A Niche Store (BANS) software now is the time to do it. Their new site looks great. Much more professional then the last version. As Alan pointed out on Affiliate Confession it looks like the buys who create BANS are targetting a much more serious affiliate audience.
I really like BANS. It is easy to setup and easy to configure. The only thing I ever really hated about BANS was the UGLY default templates it came with. That has all changed with the new updates. The new templates they have released look awesome. Here is an example:
Example of the new BANS templates.
These new templates have actually rekindled my excitement for BANS. I am going to start investigating some niches and get some sites up.
Buy Build A Niche Store today and check out the awesomeness for yourself.
Filed Under: Meanderings | 3 Comments
Posted on 08-19-2008 by Andy Crofford
On Sunday I went over the basics of article marketing. Today I thought I would cover the basics of affiliate marketing.
Regardless of what some people say there is still money to be made in affiliate/internet marketing. Whether you want to make a little extra money or go full time affiliate marketing is a great option.
First I want touch on What exactly affiliate marketing is. Affiliate marketing is a method that allows you to earn passive income by promoting products and services other online businesses are offering. You can earn commissions by generating leads and sales for these companies.
To find these offers you will need to sign up with an affiliate network. Some of the affiliate networks I recommend are:
Azoogle
NeverBlueAds
Market Leverage
Xy7.com
These are just a few that I belong to. You want to make sure you belong to many affiliate networks so you have a wide range of offers to choose from.
If you would like to give affiliate marketing a try here are some tips to follow:
Select Your Niche
This is the most important factor to consider when doing affiliate marketing. The niche you choose can make or break you as an affiliate. My free guide “Niche Store 101 - A Beginner’s Guide to Building a Niche Store” has several methods for finding a niche that will provide you with a great starting point if you are not sure where to begin. To get this guide simply sign-up for my newsletter in the upper left hand corner.
Split Test Your Landing Pages
The most important thing after picking a niche is making sure your landing page works. To do this you will want to split test your landing pages. Split testing is really no fun at all but you must do it if you want to be successful long term. To split test a landing page create two pages and track how each one converts. This can be easily done by using a tracking code in your affiliate link (which you can setup in the affiliate network’s control panel) and a program called Adtrackz. This application will generate a link and split the traffic up evenly between your two landing pages. Once you determine that one landing page works better than the other replace the poorly performing page with another and keep split testing until you have your page fully optimized.
Offer Freebies
There are people out there who make a great deal of money offering freebies. That is because the write a report or eBook on a particular subject and make sure they include plenty of referral links in their free guide. Even if you are not an expert you can use the internet to do research and come up with a great report any way. Plus, after your research you will most likely be very close to being an expert.
Get Targetted Traffic
Now that you have found your niche, created some landy pages and created an awesme freebie it is time to get some traffic to your site. You can have the greatest landing page in the world but it won’t do you any good if you don’t have traffic.
There are several methods you can use to drive traffic to your site. First there is article marketing, which was covered on Sunday. The second is building backlinks to your site. The best way to do this is to set up and maintain social network accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed…) and let people know about your sites as well as comment on blogs that cover your niche. To find blogs within your niche you can use the LinkBuildingBible’s DoFollow Diver search engine. The LinkBuildingBible has a lot of great tips on building backlinks. You should definitely check it out if you want to increase your backlinks.
This article was intended to be a basic overview of affiliate marketing. Hopefully I was able to provide some helpful information.
Filed Under: Meanderings | 1 Comment
Posted on 08-18-2008 by Andy Crofford
The truth
It seems since I returned from vacation I have been way to busy to get any of my Internet projects completed. I stress the term Internet because I have actually accomplished a few things around the house in preparation for the baby that is due in November. Here is the reason I wish days were 36 hours long instead of 24:
1. Working on Build a Niche Store websites.
2. Need to complete the PPC Formula course.
3. Trying to work on a couple of other sites that I have domains and ideas for.
4. Thirty Day Challenge
5. Learn PHP
On top of this when I do get the sites done that I want to I then have to go to work promoting them and building backlinks. I did find a great blog called LinkBuildingBible that has some great information on how to build back links.
On the bright side of things I would much rather be busy than bored. I guess I will have to sit down and prioritze the above list so that I can get all my projects completed.
Filed Under: Internet, Meanderings | 2 Comments
