Marketing Experts On Demand video webinar series for search engine marketing and PPC campaign optimization.
This webinar covers using A/B and multivariate testing to help make important business decisions.
Let Your Customers Decide: Using Testing to Provide Relevant Content
By online marketers
Sebastian Buerba from Stamps.com
Lily Chiu from Omniture Test & Target
Ebay recently moved their affiliate program from Commission Junction to their in house Ebay Partner network.
This is some code that will help you quickly build ebay affiliate links without logging in to their website and using the auction link building tool https://www.ebaypartnernetwork.com/PublisherToolsHome
PHP functions:
< ?
function get_country($country_code) {
$US = "711-53200-19255-0";
$IE = "5282-53468-19255-0";
$AT = "5221-53469-19255-0";
$AU = "705-53470-19255-0";
$BE = "1553-53471-19255-0";
$IN = "4686-53472-19255-0";
$CA = "706-53473-19255-0";
$SG = "3423-53474-19255-0";
$HK = "3422-53475-19255-0";
$FR = "709-53476-19255-0";
$DE = "707-53477-19255-0";
$IT = "724-53478-19255-0";
$ES = "1185-53479-19255-0";
$CH = "5222-53480-19255-0";
$UK = "710-53481-19255-0";
$CN = "4080-53484-19255-0";
$NL = "1346-53482-19255-0";
return $$country_code;
}
function aff_link($url,$text,$customid,$country){
$target = get_country($country);
$prefix = "http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/";
echo "”.stripslashes($text).””;
}
?>
place this PHP code in your website to generate the ebay affiliate link
< ? aff_link("URL","link text","custom ID","country"); ?>
where
* URL is the eBay URL to link to
* link text is the anchor text you will use - will also appear as the link title attribute)
* custom ID is like the CJ SID, append a specific ID to any link, for granular affiliate link tracking
* country is the two letter country code relating to the auction program being promoted (US, UK, FR, DE, AU etc.)
You can see more php code to create custom ebay affiliate links at Tamebay.
Technorati Tags: affiliate, ebay, ebay partner network, ebay php
Goal setting and steps to attaining greatness. Your definition of success depends on your goals, and the end result is realized in a multi step process.
Use the S.M.A.R.T system of goal setting
Specific
A specific goal has a much greater probability of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific
goal the six “W” questions must be answered:
Measurable
Establish concrete criteria for measuring your progress toward the attainment of each goal. Measuring your progress forces you to stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs the continued effort required to reach the goal.
Attainable
Identify goals that are most important to you, and begin to figure out ways you may make them come true. The first step is to develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach your destination. See previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
Attain most any goal after planning your steps wisely while establishing a time frame that allows you to follow through. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. List your goals to build your self-image. Visualize yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the habbits and personality that allow you to possess them.
Realistic
A realistic goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. Your goal may be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide precisely how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is often easier to reach than a low one because a low goal only exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love. A goal is realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished.
Timely
Your goals need to have a specific time frame. A limited amount of time will give your goals structure. We may want to find a new job or start our own business but this must have resource bounds. Some people spend a lot of time talking about what they want to do, and fail to take action. Without an end date there is no sense of urgency, no reason to take any action today. Listing a specific time frame gives you the impetus to get started, and helps monitor your progress.
Using the 5 step S M A R T system of goal setting and realization will help your dreams become reality.
When setting up an online business or e-commerce website, remember people buy benefits and your main service is peace of mind. Write content and present products for your clients and from a users perspective.
Starting today, we begin to roll out Going Natural 3 - our
third pre-launch video series. Going Natural 1 & 2 were responsible for the 1st and 3rd largest IM launches in history.
Stompernet search engine optimization training was previously closed buy will reopen at the end of May.
On June 1 this search engine training program will close again. If you want to get this unique hands on SEO training and search engine marketing assistance learn more today.
And with all the attention we’ve been putting on video this year, you’d better believe the videos we have in the
works for our free line promotions will be better than 99% of the products people are charging for.
People RAVE about the content. People GASP over the quality. Our blog for the SMARTS launch was overflowing with comments from people flabbergasted by these videos.
We’re going to give you the heads up before each video in the series drops, every one designed to create a growing frenzy in the marketplace. This will all culminate in the historic reopening of StomperNet to the general public THE LAST WEEK IN MAY.
That’s THIS MONTH. Don’t miss out on the Stomp.
This is not web news, but environmental news. The Danes have kicked their dependence on foreign oil and are spared from entering costly and bloody global conflict to keep their hummers humming and lights lit.
In 1976 the Danish public got behind an ambitious (and expensive) program to become entirely energy-independent, and, with the development of new, clean energy systems, to get out of the foreign oil business completely.
in 1973 Denmark was 99% dependent on foreign oil. Today in 2008 they produce enough energy to cover all their own needs and sell the extra to other countries, the only European nation to do so. And their energy conservation programs have been so successful that over the last 30 years, even with extensive modernization and a 7% increase in population, their annual energy use has remained basically the same.
Denmark is a small country with only 5.5 million people, but it shows what can be done with solidarity, ingenuity and conservation. Full article.
I am both a car nut and a technology nut, so the combination of future technology, basic transportation and sports cars merged into one is too much for me to ignore.
The Tesla roadster is the coolest car so far this century. It uses no gas, and plugs into your household electricity network. There are zero greenhouse gas emissions with blinding on road performance. Unfortunately the cost is fairly steep at $109,000.
“The company told the Associated Press that it is impressed with demand: it has taken 600 orders for the Roadster and has a waiting list of another 400. CEO Elon Musk owns the first one produced. The fancy showroom near Beverly Hills takes its inspiration from Apple stores, Musk said. […] The company plans to make a luxury sedan next year called the Whitestar that will come in two versions: an all-electric model that will run entirely on its lithium ion battery pack, and a range-extended vehicle that will also use liquid fuel to extend its range. The Roadster will have a range of 220 miles per charge and the mileage equivalent of 135 miles per gallon.”
Tesla is opening a Los Angeles store in the Westside city of Santa Monica in one of the most congested (and wealthy) areas of the state.
I found a coupon for $100 credit for a Yahoo Search Marketing PPC ad campaign.
YSM coupon: USDM0148
Go to Yahoo to get $100 towards your ad spend on search advertisements. Yahoo may be testing Google adwords ads on its search results pages, but they still display ads from their own inventory. Yahoo is a good place to test keywords in a less expensive environment than Adwords.
I saw a great post about a fantastic business man and salesman at MindValley Labs. MindValley live blogged a speech given by mr “I Like You” Joe Girard.
Joe Girard turned selling cars into a business love affair with his customers, and he must have made a great living selling 6 cars a day, over 600% higher than the average auto salesman. I say salesman because I have never personally seen a woman car saleswoman. I will update this post when I see a female sell me vehicle.
Excerpts from the post about Mr. Girard’s speech:
Joe Girard did not get into selling right away. Whenever someone came into Joe’s office he would hand people an “I like you pin.” “Even if you don’t buy, I like you… but I know you will buy.”
Life is a game and you gotta know what you are playing. Whatever you do and whatever you are selling you are not selling. You must never stop learning more about this game… of what makes people tick, what makes people buy, what makes people do what they do.
Constantly strive to improve yourself… “I am never satisfied.” If you are satisfied… then you are dead.
I watch both the smart people and the dumb people so that I can see what makes people good and what makes people bad.
“Every morning that I get up, I say that somebody is going to pay for getting me out of bed. I love to sleep.”
“The night before tomorrow I plan my day. You must have a plan to make sure they pay.”
“Whatever it is that you are selling… I will proof to you that you are not really selling those things.”
Joe… “what’s your secret?” “If there is one word I detest is the word secret. There is no secret. If there was a secret nobody would be sharing it with you. There are no secrets.”
“I have tried all the shortcuts to make the fast dollar but I could never do it.”
First you must find the job you love. Joe says “I never worked a day in my life, I played!”
Never leave because the grass is greener on the other side. You stay and grow like a tree and the bigger the tree gets, the more money you are going to make. A lot of times I wanted to quit because of a problem. But you want to know something… a problem is like a gift from God… it is your opportunity to grow stronger.
Always hang around people that can help you, successful people, people that know about the power of positive thinking. I never want to talk to somebody unless they have something good to say.
“I like to look at people’s lips. I learn more from people’s lips than from any other part of their body.”
People ask Joe… how can you keep up and sell so many cars per month?
He started hiring people to assist him. He ran his office like a doctors office. He created a well tuned system… that would keep him free so that he could do what he could do best.
How did you service so many? He made a deal with a nice Italian restaurant and treated all of the people in the service department. The mechanics loved him and took good care of Joe’s customers. He told his customers that if they every had any problem with their car that he would take care of them right away! Within 15-20 minutes they could walk into Joe’s office and have 3 mechanics look at their car.
Read more about this inspiring salesman.
Search engine optimization review for FreeCreditReport.com
Free Credit Report clearly had a weak search engine optimization effort into their site. Experian has spent millions of dollars on Television advertising and created a strong brand for their product. The problem they faced was FreeCreditReport.com is really just a single landing page with no supporting content. Great type in and domain name search value, lousy natural search engine ranking.
So did Experian create dozens of quality content pages to backup their homepage? Unfortunately no. They weakened their brand perception and spammed the bottom of the homepage, simultaneously insulting their users and search engines.
Here is the top half of FreeCreditReport.com. This is a very nice landing page with well placed conversion elements and usable text usage. There is a clear call to action and an engaging photograph of an attractive person.
Here is the bottom of the Free Credit Report homepage. Notice it is plain text, keyword stuffed and not meant for human users:
Don’t be like Experian and cheapen the website you’ve spent millions of dollars to brand. Spend a few thousand and hire a quality SEO. View this online credit lead generation site at http://FreeCreditReport.com.
For those of you who promoted the Microsoft AdCenter affiliate program you know it converted well and was a goldmine for any search engine marketing related blog. Then on March 31 they sent all Microsoft Affiliates a termination email.
The good news is the adCenter affiliate program is still active and available to all!
Here is what you need to do:
The process is really simple, and I received confirmation from both the Microsoft Partner application and adCenter affiliate manager in 1 day.
One big change in the program is they now record sales only after the user has spent $75, so affiliate conversions may not be immediate.
I completed this process and received this email from the Program Manager, Microsoft Affiliate Network.
Thank you for your interest! I have updated your account to reflect your Partner status. The next time you log in you should see the adCenter Partner offer appear as the others do.
In regards to the tracking—it is a little confusing right now as we are still in the beta version. It is not reflected in real time—once you have a customer sign up, you won’t see anything appear in your transaction history. Weekly, we update the Partner stats, so once we update them, you will see a transaction labeled as adCenter Partner. This transaction will remain as Pending until your customer spends the $50 or the $75 minimum spend requirement.
I have included the terms of this program below for your reference. http://www.microsoftaffiliates.net/forms/ Addendum-adCenter_04022008.pdf
As always, please let me know if you have questions.
Thanks you and best of success!
It was extremely easy for me to re-enable my adcenter affiliate account, and it should be for you as well.