I received a question today by email that’s worth answering publicly.

From a concerned student, worried about the fact that (as has been explained by other marketers), this new Google update is attacking auto bloggers and scraped content sites. And that that whole business model might now be compromised…

Wait… I feel like it’s 2005 again.

Newsflash: EVERY Google algorithm update cracks down on autoblogging and scraped content sites. EVERY update they make is designed to get more and more crappy pieces of content out of their index.

Newsflash: Autoblogging as a business model is ALREADY compromised and has been for a long time. I’m sure there are still people making money with it, but why the hell would you want to? So you can be constantly running from the Google programmers, constantly having to comply with their latest attack on you… constantly having to change your approach to keep your income stream from drying up? I have played that game before and it’s not much fun.

Autoblogging will always exist, and Google will always hate it and make new algorithm updates to crack down on it. Get used to it.

For those of you Firepow members reading, you probably have a simple question: What about Firepow’s Content Blitz tool?

Yes, our Firepow software does have an auto-generated content tool. And anyone who actually reads my training on the tool will know just how it is to be used. NOT as a tool to run whole sites with, but as an add-on, to be used gently, in combination with your unique content that is the focus of your site. That’s it.

BTW, you know why autoblogging keeps existing? Because lazy people keep wanting to believe that they can still make big money without having to do any work. And someone has to make tools and write courses to please those people, REGARDLESS of whether those tools and those courses actually work.

Something to think about.

So generally I don’t mind Google.

Apart from the occasional slap that is.

They send me traffic, Adsense checks, organize my email pretty well, let me find new niches and so on.

But today, I’ve lost all respect…

It’s mega old news (3 years ago?) but I’ve only just learned recently that Google did a deal with the Chinese government to give them a version of the search service that would omit all listings considered inappropriate by government officials.

In other words, helped the Chinese govt. restrict the free flow of information on subjects like Taiwanese independence or the Tianamen Square massacre and in doing so participated in repressing “the world’s information” rather than “organizing” it as their mission statement reads.

The company who by their own admission lives by the principle of “do no evil”…

Obviously there’s big money in the deal so it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the thought of them going to all that effort (well I guess it probably wasn’t much work) to make the search software restrict all the right terms… when they could have so easily just said no…

It’s disgusting in my books and I know I’ll never look at G the the same.

It also leads to the question of how “natural” really are the search engine rankings we see?

If they’re willing to take money to alter the search results for a foreign government, what might they do with the search results in America for the US government? (to which by the way CEO Eric Schmidt is now a technology adviser!)

Scary huh?

Whaddya think folks?

P.S. A little more about the move at this (old) article

Soon after the completion of Disney World someone said, “Isn’t it a shame that Walt Disney didn’t live to see this!”

Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios replied…

“He did see it – that’s why it’s here.”

What vision do you have for your business? For your life?

Yep, I’m back and slightly embarassed…

It’s been waaay too long since I’ve posted here.

It’s been a crazy couple of months I can tell you that much, with preparing for moving, travelling, and actually moving, I’ve had just enough time to answer emails and that’s about it.

But it’s all about to change.

Finally I’m all setup at my new place in Montreal, Quebec Canada

Here’s the view out our window… not exactly a sunny Queensland beach, but a cool new experience that’s for sure!

There’ll be plenty of posts here in the coming weeks about what I’ve been up to, what I’ve been learning online and off, and plenty of new ideas and news about making more money online than ever before… something I want us all to be doing in the new year!

So keep checking back, and let’s get ready for some crazy things in 2009.

We’re going to talk today about an affiliate marketing technique that a certain lady is using to dominate my Firepow affiliate rankings.

She doesn’t have the biggest list, andshe’s certainly dominating many affiliates with twice as much leverage, I believe all due to this one technique. (as well as all the basics we discuss here quite often.)

Wanna know what it is?

Of course you do!

It’s something that’s popular in the “make money online” niche, and something that I started to see more of from niche marketers after it was popularized in the”Rich Jerk” report.

I’m talking about the practice of “Incentivized Offers”.

I mean as an affiliate, giving the customer a reason to order from you as opposed to buying straight from the merchant, OR another affiliate.

The thing is, as affiliate marketers we have a lot more competition than product merchants. There might be 10 000 products on Clickbank but I guarantee there’s probably 1 million affiliates.

Most of us affiliate marketers work on the principle of being successful by “getting to the customer first”.  We have the job of making sure our affiliate offer is seen before the offers of the merchant and other affiliates.

So we have to find new keywords that aren’t being utilized by other marketers – put our offers in places where other aff marketers haven’t been yet – and so on.

Here you’re doing everything you can to get the visitor to your site. But how about when the visitor gets to your site? What are you doing once they are there to make sure that they DEFINITELY make the purchase?

Affiliate marketer or product merchant there’s only two ways you can increase sales right – increase traffic or increase conversions. We often get so caught up in traffic generation that we forget about conversions!

So, what’s a great way to increase conversions as an affiliate?

Well there are alot, and which you should use can depend on your market, and the product you’re trying to sell.

Let’s look at a few:

The most obvious is to start with a landing page. When you’re taking your visitor to your affiliate link, you’re not affecting the “slippery” effect too greatly by pushing them to a simple page of your own first which could sweeten the offer…

Something like:

“You’re just about to check out this ebook on how to train your dog – you’re going to love it!

I just wanted to let you know that you can get a 10% discount on it by clicking through the link below.

All you need to do is copy down my email address me@whatever.com and contact me after your

purchase and I’ll arrange the rebate for you!”

etc etc

Remembering that most people will forget to even get in touch makes it an easy way to boost sales.

And of course the price is only one way you could do it.

A good idea is to assess your niche and try to determine what is valuable to them.

If your niche is dog training you might consider going to Ezinearticles.com compiling a bunch of articles and creating your own “bonus ebook” to offer them for ordering through your link. Then your page would say “buy through me and I’ll send you this bonus ebook FREE”

If it’s a niche you’re interested in and have knowledge of yourself you could offer:

“Free email consultation with me so that I can help you get your dog trained in the shortets time possible!”

The things you can offer are endless, but again it’s about looking at what the people in your niche really want and giving them more of it.

The last thing worth mentioning is for if you’re in the other kind of niche where stickyness is required more than slipperiness. That’s where you can forward the traffic to an email opt in and boost your conversion rates on product offers by developing a relationship of trust with your readers. But that’s a whole new story.

So what about the big Firepow affiliate?

You’ve probably seen her out there. She does the WORKS – she offers a price discount, a HUGE bonus package, after sales support, experience because she actually uses the program herself…

Her conversion rate is through the roof too – is it any wonder??

It doesn’t mean she doesn’t work on traffic generation, it just means she converts the heck out all the traffic she gets!

Are there any ways you could boost conversion rates on offers that you’re running?

Even if you’re just bum marketing, could you create a simple landing page to make more of your visitors buy from your aff link?

Something to think about..

So I’m mainly about marketing to small niches rather than the “IM crowd”.

It’s for many reasons,  but let’s face it – there’s money in selling in the IM niche too. I’m in that game and so are all the marketers you get emails from.

Matter of fact, I believe there’s money in it, even if you’re a newbie.

Even if you think you don’t know anything about online marketing – there’s always someone who knows less than you. That’s why a new guru pops up every day in our industry – it’s a pain in the neck to those who choose to think about it that way – but it’s an opportunity if you’re open to it too.

I don’t generally advise people to get into the IM niche if they aren’t already – so this post is for those who are either already started in, or looking to get started in the business of selling other ‘make money online’ products, either as an affiliate marketer or a merchant.

A friend of mine Soren, has written a new little ebook that contains some very real and very powerful strategies for profiting in the “online biz”, “work from home”, “internet marketing” niche.

It got my interest because I learned that the report was actually the techniques he used to get started online too – so they’re proven and real.

He’s taken things from using these techniques to now being a bit of a ‘god’ in his little segment of the web.

Anyway it’s a valuable little report and here’s why I like it:

1. It’s FREE

2. It’s got 41 pages of fluff free advice on things like building email lists, driving traffic, setting up profitable autoresponder series’ and more.

3. There’s an offer after you sign up that seems like your every day “resell rights package” OTO but it actually has an important focus. You can use these reports with the methods you learn in the free report. You can make them your own and use them to give away for free – spread virally, split them up and use the content in your Autoresponders, or even sell them as your first product.

This extra offer is optional of course, but it’s valuable if you’re heading down that path.

4. You also get the rights to the report, so you can give it away to your future IM lists as valuable free content and grow your own authority.

5. While I wasn’t expecting it, I also learned a few things from it. So I know you will too.

It might end up being your stepping stone to greater things, like it was for Soren…

It might end up being a quick little cash spinner for you… something that will let you invest more into a bigger, better (niche) project.

But regardless, I know there’s money to be made from getting your hands on this report. I wouldn’t tell you about it otherwise

Check it out by clicking this link and let me know what you think!

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but things are going pretty crazy over at Firepow.

People are making sales from their Firepow blogs already… quite a few people actually… people are cranking out niche blogs at a rapid rate, and everyone getting involved is loving it. I’m excited!

I thought I’d let you know here as well that tomorrow, 2nd of August, the price of Firepow is increasing.

Not alot, but it WILL be going up. So if you’ve been on the fence about it, now would be the time to email me with any questions you had, or just get over to

http://getfirepow.com

And claim your spot.

I’m more confident than I’ve been with any product before about this thing’s ability to generate you a real online business and get you started making cash as quickly as possible. Not only that but now people are experiencing it for themselves – sales after 15 hours, after 3 days, 5 days, a week. It’s real and it’s happening to people like you. If you’re serious about Firepow I suggest you check it out today.

Andrew

I’m interested to hear from everyone reading, What Host Do You Use?

I use and endorse Hostgator, but I know alot of people use something different.

Please make a comment to this thread letting me know what hosting service you use.

If you do, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get a sneak peak of Firepow as a beta tester…

Look forward to your responses!

Those more informed marketers amongst you will know that [tag]Wordpress[/tag] released a much anticipated update last week – WP 2.5

Apparently it’s got some cool features like media libraries and a customizable admin interface.

Here’s a great post that goes into depth about it’s new features and how they’re different from WP 2.3:

10 things you need to know about wordpress 2.5

From what I can gather so far, feelings are mixed – people are digging the new look and feel but there seems to be a few features that underwent somewhat unnecessary changes.

Personally I’m holding off on upgrading for two reasons:

1.  There’s more than likely a number of bugs that will be revealed as the new version gets put through it’s paces by the blogging community – not a dig at wordpress, just the reality of a major update to any important piece of software.

2. On this blog for example, I’m so high on plugins and extra add ons to my WP that alot of the new features in wp 2.5, I’ve already got happening in one way or another anyway – as I suspect will many of you.

Anyway that’s my 2c on it. I’d love to hear from people who’ve upgraded and how you’ve found it so far.