Video: Brad explains what affiliate marketing is and how to generate traffic to affiliate offers.
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How Does SEO Work
Video: Brad explains the basics of search engine optimization and how it all works.
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Outsourcing and the Money Equation – Deciding How Much to Pay and How
In any business association, money is of paramount importance because that is why business exists in the first place. So, it is extremely important that you have the money equation set right.
The beauty of looking for outsourcing professionals on the Internet is that you can benefit from a very wide range of budgets. Since it is people who are going to bid on your projects, you can select them according to what you can pay. You initially set a ballpark figure of what you can pay and most people will bid within this range.
Whatever your budget is, you are able to find good professionals to work for you within that range. Remember that you are looking at the global marketplace here, and people in other countries may work for much lesser or much higher than what they do for in your local area.
Different jobs have different money equations. It is quite all right if you bid a low budget project initially just to get the feel of the professional’s work. You can tell them that you will review payments after you have seen their work. This works well and it also keeps the professional motivated because of the better payments that are poised to come their way.
When you are posting your project on a jobsite, do take some time to check out similar projects that are posted by other people. This will give you a good idea of what you should pay. But, more importantly, you must keep your own budget in focus when posting the project.
Escrows
Escrows help the employer as well as the employed in an outsourcing equation. We shall learn more about escrows in the next chapter.
Online Banks
PayPal (http://www.paypal.com/) is the most popular online bank used by freelance outsourcers. It is followed (though not closely) by Moneybookers (http://www.moneybookers.com/). If you are going to outsource a lot, it is also a good idea to have a Payoneer debit card (http://www.payoneer.com/) since it is affiliated with most of the freelance jobsites including GetAFreelancer, ScriptLance and oDesk. Releasing money from these sites to this debit card does not attract any fees either.
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Tracking Blog Traffic
If you are a blog owner and you are not tracking your traffic then you are not doing the best job you can. Tracking your traffic allows you to find out where your visitors come from, which content they are enjoying and which content is making them leave. If you are concerned about traffic then all three of those facts are required knowledge. If you are a blog owner who isn’t tracking traffic then here are three methods that are effective and FREE.
1. Google Analytics – This is one of the most popular traffic tracking solutions available. Google tracks just about everything you would need. You can find out how many people were on your site, where they came from and the keywords they used to find you in search. Unlike the other options I will discuss later you can also integrate your Google Adsense if you use it. The only downside is the stats are not real time and the dashboard can be a bit confusing.
2. StatCounter – StatCounter can tell you just about the same information as Google can. The type of information you can view is slightly less with StatCounter Free. To get to Google’s level of statistics you would have to pay. That said, the free version still tells you just about everything you need to know. As an added bonus you can also get real times traffic stats, so when someone hits your site you will know it.
3. Woopra – Woopra is the new face on the block. They do bring a couple unique twits to the table. First the downside, Woopra’s free option is only good for a certain number of page views, after which you must upgrade to get full stats. The free version will be good enough for most basic blogs though. The good side is Woopra includes a desktop client. This helps harness the power of your computer, as opposed to relying just on the internet. What that means is your flash menus and charts will load quicker and run more smoothly on the desktop client. Like StatCounter Woopra also keeps real time stats. One added function is that the desktop client will allow you to initiate a chat with your web visitors. I haven’t found a reason for using this yet but it is intriguing.
I am not making a case for any of the three above providers. I just want to let you know there are free options out there to track your traffic. You will be able to get great results with any of the above three, so what do you have to lose? Start tracking your traffic now.
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How Do I Choose A PLR Topic or Niche
When creating PLR products the very first thing you have to do is to choose a topic or niche. Obviously, if you are creating a product or writing an article pack, you have to choose what to write about. Basics.
What might not be so obvious, is what to choose! Since you are trying to make money, the key will be to choose something that sells. You need to choose niches or topics that are in DEMAND.
There is demand for PLR in a lot of niches, but having run a membership site for awhile now there are definitely some things to consider when you are choosing your topic or niche.
1. Your Knowledge Base – What do you like writing about, what are you good at writing? Is there anything you know more about than the average person? This is a great way to think of a topic to write about. This won’t guarantee commercial success, but it will let you put together the best product you can, in the least time possible.
Take the time to brainstorm, and write a huge list of your interests, experiences and things you know a lot about. These could all be potential topics for your PLR. When you choose something from this list you will know that you will be able to write about it and will probably save a lot of research time.
2. What’s Hot – PLR is a very web-based business so that means things move rapidly. You have to keep your eyes and ears open on what it is popular – especially when it comes to the internet. If you are creating PLR you don’t want to miss out on a hot topic – these topics can come and go fast so make sure you take advantage. Some of our biggest successes have been from trending topics like Mobile Marketing and Google+.
3. The Classic Earners – Since I have been creating PLR products for a couple of years now, I have learned that some niches always sell well. They might not be MONSTER sellers like trending niches can be, but they will always garner enough interest to be worth pursuing. I am sure people will have their own views on this, but looking back at our last 60 or so products, I feel like the following niches seem to consistently be PLR friendly:
Social Media (Twitter, Facebook especially)
Health (Diet, Exercise, etc…)
Online Marketing
Blogging/WordPress
4. Products That Transcend Niches – Another thing that we have found selling PLR, is that products which can be used across a wide variety of niches sell particularly well. This makes sense because the products aren’t limited to small niches. These type of products for us have included:
Time Management
Motivation
Content Creation
That is not a full list by far, but those have been the most successful ones that I have sold. The common theme between them is that they could be helpful to just about anyone who is working online. Everyone needs time, motivation and content!
When it comes to choosing a niche for your PLR product, the above considerations will help you create something that is commercially viable. Now that said, and I may be in the minority, but I also think you shouldn’t lose too much sleep over your choice of topic. I say jump right in, if it doesn’t sell well, you still have a business asset you can use on upsells/bundles and like Jay-Z says “On to the next one…”.
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Search Engine Optimisation Is Easier Than You Think
Some people think that in order to benefit from search engine optimisation that they need to go to drastic lengths and take a lot of time to learn how to do it. But, the reality is that you can benefit from just a few simple tips and you can use these tips for your articles as well as your blog posts.
The best way to go is to start by building a big keyword list of words and phrases that are closely related to your niche. Ideally, you will want to find keywords that get at least 1,500 searches a month and no more than 20,000 competitors.
Once you have your keyword list built all you need to do is to pick one keyword per article and / or blog post and write a well written article around that keyword. You should then include the keyword in the title of your article or blog post.
Please do not make the mistake of thinking that the more keywords you include the better. That is called keyword stuffing and it will do far more harm than good. The search engines have remarkably sophisticated algorithms that can pick up on this and your article will be penalized if you try.
Instead use the keyword once in your article or blog post title, once in the first paragraph, once in the last paragraph and once or twice throughout the rest of your article. You want the article to read naturally.
Remember, you aren’t just trying to attract the search engines, you want to make sure your article makes sense for human readers too, actually this should be your main focus. You don’t have to short change your readers just to keep the search engines happy, you can do both.
You want to strive for a keyword density of no more than 3%. Obviously the longer the article the more keywords you can include and still make that 3% goal. I recommend you keep your article and blog posts at about 350 to 500 words in length.
That is the optimum length because it is long enough to allow you to include some useful information without being so long that it turns off any potential readers. If your article is too short it just looks like it is all for the purpose of keyword stuffing and many search engines and article directories don’t appreciate that.
On the other hand, internet surfers are notoriously short on attention span, so to get the most out of your articles you can also include bullet points and keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Also, don’t make your articles too long, over 500 words, or too short, less than 350 words.
There is a lot more you can do with search engine optimization if you want to invest the time and effort. But, for most people just a little knowledge and keyword placement in your articles or blog posts can really help you get more traffic to your website.
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Turning Your List into Joint Ventures
Now as far as turning your list into joint ventures goes, this is a pretty easy but also open ended and rather variable in results until you actually see what these people are capable of further down the line. Similar to previously, when we talked about gaining feedback from your list you can in the same way, gain joint ventures from your list, again, as in the above example with the affiliates, this is often far more widely used, and for good reason.
I urge you once again, not to relegate your joint venture prospects to those who visit your website, and the individuals you pick out through the top performing affiliates, but to actively seek them through your list. The reason we’re doing this is simply because there’s a good chance someone will be out there that won’t progress down your line of resources otherwise. If they’re experienced, have a big list of their own, or the ability to get in touch with your target market, you’re going to miss out if you’re not telling them that you want their services.
For example, an experienced marketer that subscribes to a selection of lists to keep up with what’s going on around them, happens to subscribe to your list where you’re selling an info product such as this. He or she won’t buy your how to product, because they’ve got their system set up already and it just so happens, that they only promote their own stuff to their own lists, unless it’s a joint venture (this is very common among the big guys by the way), they won’t buy your big product for the same reason, and they won’t be joining your affiliate program for the above reason. He or she is a heavy hitter with a big list, but you’re missing out. These are the people you’re aiming to cater for here. It’s not good if you’re leaving massive holes like this, because you’re missing out on some massive profit potential. In fact, as we speak the majority of marketers out there are very obviously leaving these types of holes.
The problem with joint venturing through a list at this stage is it becomes kind of a lottery if you’re not careful. You can’t just send out a mailing asking for anyone with a list over ten thousand people to contact you for higher commissions, because then everyone else feels cheated and you may alienate some potential affiliates. In general terms joint ventures should be a private thing, the deal will also vary from person to person, depending on your product, their list size, what they want in return and what you can grant in return. The best way to go about this is to keep it that way. Don’t do a mass mailing just requesting joint ventures for the reasons above, we can’t do that for this particular resource.
What I’d suggest you do instead, which you should be doing with your list anyway, is carry on as your normally do, sending out your un-intrusive surveys to help with your research and find out as much info as you can about the people on your list, for something in return. For example a short valuable report that you’ve written on your area of expertise. In exchange you’re getting vital info that not only allows you to tailor your ads to your list providing a better response rate, but at the same time you’re building up a picture of who the good joint venture prospects are. Once you’ve done that, you can go through the results you’ve collected, and pick the top performers, the knowledgeable, and the people with the most resources, and contact them individually.
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Free Marketing Mania
Savvy online business owners can take advantage of all the free marketing opportunities the Internet has to offer. In order to maximize the results by using free marketing, you’ll need to put in a little bit of elbow grease and quite a few hours of time, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be astonished by how well you can get the word of your business out there and start seeing real conversions.
The best way to go about marketing your site without spending a dime is definitely the social media route. There has been a literal explosion of interest in sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and Yelp in recent years, and any online business owner who’s interested in getting the word out about their products and services would be foolish to not take advantage of these congregation spots.
The trick for making social media marketing effective is the method in which you go about it. Many business owners simply sign up their businesses for accounts and then send off hundreds if not thousands of friend requests and expect interest to come flooding back in.
The reality of the situation is that it’s not that easy – a smaller approach is definitely much more economical insofar as generating real interest in your business is concerned. Start by friending smaller groups – no larger than twenty people. If somebody sees that you’re trying to friend over two hundred people, chances are they’ll think you’re a spammer and not reply to your query. Smaller groups make you look more genuine and interesting. Also remember only to friend groups and individuals who have a stated interest in the product or services that you sell; to do otherwise is considered spam.
When sending out news feeds on these sites, the number one rule to consider is keeping your send-offs interesting. Before you send anything out, be it a “tweet” or a status update or an email announcement, take a minute and think about whether or not what you’re sending out is relevant or interesting. People will enjoy hearing about your product offers occasionally, but not three times a day. Again, you don’t want to come off as a spammer, because then people will stop friending you and the whole process will be for naught.
Also, be sure to take the time to look at the profiles of your friends and occasionally comment on what they have to say. This helps build your credibility as a “friend” and show that you take an active interest in the people who are following you on the social networking sites. Once again, more personable and less spam-like makes your social media marketing strategy much more effective.
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WordPress Settings
If your website is powered by WordPress, then you know the adminstrators panel is full of different options. I know people who run their blog and barely touch their settings at all. WordPress is pretty much good to go out of the box, but there are a couple settings you should think about tweaking.
1. Privacy – You definitely want to check out this setting. I have heard rumours of people installing a fresh WordPress and their privacy settings are set to block search engines. It is worth a shot just to go into this setting really quickly and making sure that search engines can crawl your site. This is the only option to tweak in this particular settings menu so it is easy stuff. Most people will want to allow search engines because that is where most of your traffic will be coming from.
2. Discussion Settings – You can leave these settings alone if you want but there are a couple things I like to tweak. FIrst off I make sure the top option “Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article. ” is clicked. This means when you have a link to another blog you will send a trackback to that blog. If the person allows trackbacks that could count as a back link for you. Back links are good things!
I also like to change my gravatar picture. This is a small step but it can add a lot to the aesthetics of your site. A lot of people who comment on your site will not have a gravatar, so the default will show up. The “mystery man” might be good enough for most, but if it looks bad on my blog I will want to change it. Sometimes I will go with blank and sometimes I will just pick the one that matches my site colors and theme.
3. Writing Settings – In here I like to set my own Default Categories and Link Categories. You can easily run your blog or website without doing this, but I feel it saves me time and effort. I hate having “Ungategorized” show up in my list of categories. If I change my default category to something else, it means I will probably never have to see uncategorized again. Sometimes I forget to categorize my posts and when that happens I won’t have to worry about Uncategorized showing up all of a sudden. Same goes with Link Categories. I only have one category of links that I use in my sidebar, so it makes sense to make that category the default.
This is truly just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of settings you can tweak for your WordPress site. The above three are just a couple I make sure to do right away when I set up a site. These simple settings save me some time and I hope they can do the same for you.
