Survive the Google AdWords Landing Page Algorithm

It's been a tough week for a lot of AdWords advertisers.

With the recent update of Google's landing page algorithm, many marketers that had been paying five or ten cents a click (or less) are now required to bid at least 50 cents to a dollar or more.

There are also reports of some advertisers who have kept their bid prices, but those bids are now buying only 3rd or 4th page ad positions, where they used to buy first page positions.

Before we get into the details of what's changed and how to deal with it, note that not all AdWords accounts have been affected -- ads going to large sites with lots of content have seen no changes to their bid prices.

Four kinds of sites are hardest hit:

- One page sales letter web sites

- Squeeze pages (landing pages whose sole purpose is to gather an email address in exchange for a free report)

- AdSense sites (particularly AdSense arbitrage sites)

- Affiliate sites

Read the full article on the Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter, issue 68.

Also available the Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter archive in XML format!

How would you like to seriously ramp up your profits and launch your site to new levels of wealth online?

You can... joining the ranks of other successful internet marketers who are making in excess of $100,000... $500,000... even MILLIONS of dollars per year!

To start creating this kind of mind-boggling wealth online, you just need to ask yourself one simple question: "How?"

Too many internet marketers make the mistake of focusing on what they're going to sell, instead of how they're going to make money online.

And the answer to how to generate massive wealth on the Internet lies in choosing the right profit models.

That's why I want to look at some of the most straightforward ways to make money on your site... and then dive into the more advanced (and lesser-known) strategies that can catapult your business to new revenue levels -- and create real wealth instead of just "income."

There are three basic models for generating profits on the Internet. Let's start at the beginning, with the basic ways you can get online and start making money.

Urgent: Mailloop Blowout Fire Sale -- Limited Offer! Order Right Now Mailloop 7.0 from this web page and receive additional high-quality products as Extra-Bonuses... everything worth over $472.00 -- ALL Products Include FULL Master Resell Rights for FREE! Click here for more information on Mailloop Blowout Fire Sale!

Technorati Tags: Google AdWords, Google's landing page algorithm, Squeeze pages, landing pages, Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter, generating profits, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

How To Get Free Targeted Web Site Traffic

If you have a web site or you promote someone else's' web site as an affiliate, you need to drive traffic to it.

Without traffic, you won't get visitors.

And without visitors, you won't make money, sales, get subscribers, etc. What good is a web site without any traffic? And if the site is getting traffic, what good is it if it's not targeted traffic?

There are many ways to drive traffic to your site, both free and paid. But we are not going to talk about paid traffic right now. That is a totally different topic and could take hours to cover.

So, back to FREE traffic. Some ways of getting free traffic to your site is by Search Engine Optimization, surfing for traffic, or getting it passively.

SEO takes time and a lot of work. When you join sites that are surf for traffic sites, you have to look at other members' sites in order to earn advertising credits for your site to be displayed when another member is surfing.

The only problem with this is that although the traffic is free, it is not targeted. Everyone who is a member only surfs for the credit and very rarely even looks at the site, they just minimize their window on their PC and multi-task. So, the traffic is crap and worthless.

Now, let's talk about the best way to get free targeted traffic.

It's called Instant Buzz.

Instant Buzz is a service that gives you advertising credits as you surf the web like you normally would. What you do is download the toolbar for free, it only takes a minute. Then, you set up your ads in the members area. And bam, you ads are being displayed on other members' tool bars as they surf.

You can also put Instant Buzz ads in emails that you send to your friends. These are called mail space ads. And your ad will get displayed in other members' emails. The last thing you can do is put a hyperspace ad on your web site which will help you refer other members.

When you refer other members, you will also get a percentage of the credits they earn which will go towards your ad credits.

If someone likes your ad and is interested in what it says, then they click on it and end up on whatever site it was that you were promoting. Now that's targeted traffic! And it was free.

So make sure you visit the link in the resource box to start driving targeted and quality traffic to your web site today. It will only take you a couple of minutes to start bringing visitors to your site.

Click here to download this free tool or get more information about Instant Buzz!

Technorati Tags: Instant Buzz, Mail Space ads, web site traffic, free site traffic, targeted traffic, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

Is This the Future of Email?

Your company scans incoming email for viruses and outgoing messages for confidential information. Your spam filter snags most of the garbage, and it gets better as it learns the latest spamming and phishing spoofs.

You're encrypting sensitive email now, and you recently completed a project that keeps your messages safely archived in case federal regulators come knocking.

Indeed, with the right technology, the right policies and a little slice of your budget, you can pretty much manage the messaging madness.

And new technology likely to emerge from the labs in the next year or two will help bring a little more civilization to the world of e-mail, ensuring its continued place among the most popular and important of all corporate applications.

However, email's problems will accompany it into its second act, especially as users deploy a growing variety of mobile devices and discover new ways of communicating -- such as instant messaging, blogs, wikis and virtual reality spaces you've never even dreamed of.

These will offer green pastures for hackers, spammers and phishers, and will require a whole new round of defensive tools, techniques and policies.

While today's efforts to improve email are aimed mostly at curing its ills, research in vendor and university labs points to brave new uses for the humble email message, from knowledge mining to workflow enhancement.

Interviews with researchers, futurists and IT managers yielded the following conclusions about the future of email.

Continue reading this article from ComputerWorld.

Technorati Tags: email. email marketing, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

Rich Schefren's Business Building Presentation

After the Manifesto and Missing Chapter free reports, selling out 150 coaching seats in 2 hours and 14 minutes, Rich Schrefen release a FULL LENGTH video.

In this video, Rich goes into what he thinks about when building his own businesses. It's a long video, but every minute is pure gold.

"This presentation surfaces several of the concepts I think are VERY important when building a multimillion dollar business," said Rich.

The Manifesto exposes the MAJOR problems that are plaguing the home-based internet marketing industry. This video is far beyond...

Watch carefully, and ask yourself how the ideas can be applied to your business and your situation.

Watch Rich Schefren discuss the powerful concepts behind his successful business building career.

Technorati Tags: Rich Schrefen, business strategies, Schrefen video, The Manifesto, business building, internet, profits, marketing, money, business

Stupid Domain Names Will Ruin Your Business and Cut Your Profits

As I wrote a couple of years ago, the first most important key to start an online business reside in successfully finding, registering and promoting a good, memorable and compelling domain name.

A domain name that helps to successfully magnetize a flood of traffic is like precious gold to any online business.

Your domain name will be the very first thing that almost all of your customers, prospects, subscribers will see.

You have to pick a domain name that says something about you and your business that people in your market will remember easily.

A good basic idea is to use your full name or last name followed by what you do. Like JerryTenford.com or TenfordPlumbing.com.

You could also add the town where you live into the name like TenfordPlumbingChicago.com or try a combination of those three elements.

You can also leave out your name and simply become PlumbingChicago.com. This makes you sound like the first choice locally and will help target your local area.

If you are going to be dealing with the big companies you may want to consider a more corporate sounding name. Think of a word to describe your business then add the word "Consulting" -- like TenfordConsulting.com

If you're going for a trendier market you might want a less formal domain name. You may want to name your business after an animal, and use that animal in your logo too.

If you don't have a big marketing budget, this is a good way to get started branding your business.

As a general rule with domain names, try a short name.

Take two or three words that describe your business then shorten them to make it one word. So you end up with IMPC (Internet Marketing Profits Center) -- this is a great way to express what you do without having long hard to remember name.

And when nothing else seems to fit make up a domain name. Just play with your words until you come up with a name that sounds right and the best part is it will be completely unique to your business.

Whatever you do make sure your domain name is easy to pronounce, spell and remember!

Failure to use a proper domain name may result in situations such as the following, when legitimate companies didn't give their domain names enough consideration and get into embarrassing situations!

1. A site called 'Who Represents' where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain:
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views:
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island:
www.penisland.net

4. There’s also the Italian Power Generator company:
www.powergenitalia.com

5. We have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

6. Want legal advice from Morrison and Foerster firm?
www.Mofo.com

7. If you're looking for computer software, there’s always:
www.ipanywhere.com

8. Brainless art designers, and their whacky site:
www.speedofart.com

These domains can be pronounced in different, often shocking ways. If you find more, please add them to this list.

Technorati Tags: domain names, names, business names, corporate names, internet, profits, marketing, money, business

It's the End of Google AdSense?

According to Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer at sfgate.com, "Internet advertisers paid $800 million for bogus clicks on their marketing messages last year (2005), shaking confidence in the industry and prompting many to reduce spending with Google, Yahoo and other web sites".

These affirmations comes after a market research firm called Outsell released a report that shows what many already knew: click fraud in contextual pay per click advertising is a big problem!

The report reveals that 14.6 percent of all clicks are bogus, and that 27 percent of advertisers reduced or stopped spending on click-based advertising.

"In our opinion, it is not acceptable that advertisers fund the illicit profits of the scammers," said in the report Chuck Richard, vice president of Outsell.

He said that the fraud is easy to get away with and web sites have done little to stop it.

Outsell report found that 7% of advertisers request a refund, netting an average of $9,507. Unsolicited refunds were paid to 4.2% of advertisers, with an average of $9,444 coming from Google and $4,068 from Yahoo.

A spokeswoman for Yahoo in Sunnyvale, denied that her company is lax about click fraud. A spokesman for Mountain View's Google didn't respond to a telephone call seeking comment.

Even more, according to TNS Media Intelligence, online advertising spending will climb to $20 billion in the U.S. in 2006, equivalent to 13 percent of the total anticipated ad spend of $150 billion across all media.

TNS is one of a dozen or more organizations that track and/or report on interactive ad spends, all of whom have different methodologies, categories and driving assumptions, and which naturally produce different actual forecasts.

"Pay per click is a really rudimentary advertising -- a baby step -- and it's destined to decline and be replaced by other advertising methods," said Richard.

In all those years AdSense was a good cash cow for Google and may web site owners.

Google come up with the idea and finally realise what mess was build around the AdSense money roundtable.

To squeeze money from Google, webmasters realize they don’t have to to anything, to sell anything or even to add value to their web pages... they just need THAT click!

Melting these into a whole and we get today's picture: millions of splogs and junk web pages.

A final note: Outsell's survey was based on the responses of 407 online advertisers representing a cross-section of U.S. business.

Their spending ranged from several thousand dollars online annually to more than $10 million. Here's some other findings of the survey:

- clicks believed by advertisers to be fraudulent: 14.6%

- money paid by advertisers for bogus clicks: $800 million (2005)

- advertisers who said they were victims of click fraud: 75%

- advertisers who said they reduced click-based advertising or plan to: 37%

- revenue lost by Google, Yahoo and other web sites, as a result: $500 million

- advertisers who request refunds because of fraud: 7%

Source: Outsell Inc.

PS: if Google AdSense is almost gone... what's next? Well, I guess affiliate marketing will make a strong comeback!

Technorati Tags: AdSense, Google, Google AdSense, pay per click, fraud, outsell, Yahoo, revenue, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

Photo of the Month: Mercedes Airbags

Mercedes introduces its new S500. And it has eight airbags...



Via http://www.autoblog.nl

Technorati Tags: mercedes, airbag, internet, profits, marketing, money, business

The Profit Game: Pepsi versus Coke

It's time to open-up a new era on the Internet Profits Blog.

No matter how much I care to add here a lot of internet marketing tips, I believe this blog had to move forward.

It's show time... lights, camera, action!

Video marketing and advertising is on the way. I will add more and more video presentations (or video ads) because I believe that one video will learn you more than 10 written pages!

So here it is, the first 3 videos are part of a giant battle! Watch these videos because you have a LOT to learn... and feel free to post your comments here!

Coke's "Happiness Factory" Video


Pepsi "Da, Da, Da!" Video


The Big Game: "Pepsi versus Coke"

Technorati Tags: video, video marketing, Pepsi, Coke, profit, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

The Power of Perseverance and Your Business

I just finish to read a new issue coming from one of my favorite copywriters. You probably heard about him -- it's John Forde! If you don't, rush to subscribe to his weekly newsletter (use the bottom link from this post).

Today's article from John issue caught my attention. It's so well written and full of strong and plain advisees so I couldn't resist not to copy and past into my blog. So enjoy reading...

"If at first you don't succeed," says Homer Simpson, "give up."

What a cogent and penetrating analysis of how we all feel sometimes, eh? I'm a sucker for a good quote.

Here's one from another cartoonish character, General George Patton: "A good plan executed right now is far preferable to a perfect plan executed next week."

Mario Andretti, the racecar driver: "If things seem under control, you're just not going fast enough."

Different takes from different folks on whether to plow ahead when the going gets tough... or at least to make sure you're challenging yourself on the way.

And thus, what we'll talk about this week.

JUICE ON A STICK AND THE POWER OF PERSERVERANCE

Enough with the quotes.

Ever heard of Frank Epperson? Sure you have. Epperson, at age 11, invented the "Epsicle."

It all started one unusually cold night in San Francisco, 1905. Epperson had just mixed fruit-flavored powder into a glass of water, a popular kid's drink at the time.

How, he wondered, would this taste frozen?

(Something akin to, say, when our two-year old thinks, would this camera float if I threw it in the bathtub? Inventive little nippers, kids.)

Epperson left the glass on the porch. Lucky for him, it froze (San Fran doesn't dip below freezing often). And voila -- juice on a stick.

He promptly forgot the idea... until 18 years later, with five children of his own in the house, he needed to find a way to make money. The Epsicle seemed like just the ticket.

First hurdle, Epperson was broke.

Second hurdle, like I said, it doesn't exactly get cold enough to start a Epsicle
production line on your back porch every night. And home freezers had yet to be invented.

That didn't stop Epperson.

He gained access to a commercial freezer. He hunted down a machine that could stamp his name on the sticks. Plus, the perfect glass mold for shaping the frozen deserts.

Still, local ice-cream makers weren't interested. "There's just no room for it in our market," they said. Private investors also balked. "Cute idea but it will never sell on a large enough scale."

Epperson pressed on.

On a suggestion from his own son, he swapped "Epsicle" for "Popsicle," the name that's still popular today. Then he applied for -- and got -- a U.S. patent on the idea.

In 1928, he sold that patent for a tidy sum to the Lowe Corporation in New York. Of course, he could have made an even bigger fortune if he'd hung on. Popsicles are now a staple of summertime the world over. Millions are sold every year, just in the U.S.

Point is, he hung in there. And he made it happen.

How, you ask, can this possibly pertain to what we're supposed to talk about here, in an e-zine about copywriting and marketing?

Or perhaps you anticipate the analogy.

(For which I give you credit -- not all people, including some of our best and otherwise brightest, have a talent for understanding analogies, alas.)

GUTS ENOUGH TO FLOP

I was in Baltimore recently, meeting with an old friend who happens to be a fine copywriter.

He was helping me set the agenda for a private copywriting seminar I'm giving this fall, to a group of about 40 marketers and copywriters.

"I'll tell you one thing," said my friend, "one thing that's really made the difference for me is just getting the stuff out there, getting feedback on it as fast as possible, and pushing it through so it can hit the mail."

This guy, by the way, has written some monumental flops. Of course he has. However, he's also penned some enormous successes. A few of which, he can point to directly as the cornerstone of his very successful career.

"Remember that one promo? I must have sent it around to you guys four or five times in just a couple of weeks. But we just kept the momentum on it and got it out the door... it was huge."

Absolutely.

And there's definitely something to this. By contrast, for instance, I knew a young copywriter who cared very much about quality. He would write a headline and print it out.

He'd try it in a couple different fonts. Then he would change one word, move a comma, and then change it all back.

Very impressive.

Except... he never seemed to get past tweaking the headline. He was obsessed with it. All while the other 16 pages of the promo begged to be written.

Sometimes, the only way to get over flops, failures and obstacles is... well... to get over them. Literally. Rocket right over the top. Or plow right through the center.

Get it done, get it tested, get results.

And if it didn't work, go after it again.

In a world as trackable (right to the penny) as direct response marketing, this is especially true.

Let me leave you with one more quote, the one that actually inspired this issue. It's from Mike Bloomberg, current mayor of New York and founder of the Bloomberg network. He's talking here about how he grew the business that made him a billionaire:

"We made mistakes. Most of them were omissions we didn't think of when we initially wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again and again. We do the same today.

While our competitors are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design perfect, we're already on prototype version no. 5. By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on version No. 10. It gets back to planning versus acting: We act from day one; others plan how to plan--for months."

Makes sense, doesn't it?

John Forde, author of Copywriter's Roundtable.

Oh, and one more thing... John could really use an epsicle right about now!

Technorati Tags: perseverance, copywriters, writer, John Forde, Copywriter's Roundtable, internet, profits, blog, marketing, money, business

Fresh Testimonials Works Best

So what are testimonials really all about? The following post includes some fascinating information about testimonial -- info you can use, not just the old stuff other people used to tell you.

Testimonials are one of the most powerful, cheap and easy-to-use internet marketing tools available to you and if you're not using them on your web sites (but you do it, right?), then you're missing out on potential sales.

Regardless of what stage you're at in building your internet business you need to focus on establishing credibility with your visitors and subscribers. Doing this can build trust, which in turn creates big profits.

Now think about it...

Since many things online looks like a scam, most of us need proof that something works and would be more inclined to make a purchase based on this rather than rely on a sales pitch alone.

Using complimentary, fact-filled testimonials on your web site from satisfied customers is one of the most high-impact ways to let your visitors know that the product or service you want them to purchase lives up to their expectations and will actually do 100 percent what it says it will.

The main question is: how do you get testimonials?

The information about testimonials presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know abouttestimonial or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

So... if your customers have given you positive feedback on your product already, then you may already have some great testimonials to add to your site.

However, if your customer response is a little slow -- or if you're just starting out -- getting testimonials from happy customers will take a little more effort.

So how do you collect the testimonials you need to help grow your online business and increase sales and profits?

The easiest way to collect testimonials is to include a link on your site with a form that allows your customers to give you their vote of confidence:

"Tell us how this product changed your life!"

or...

"Click here to let us know what you think!"

Basically you give them a chance to share their experiences with your product or service.

A good method for getting this type of testimonial is to place a request next to some testimonials that you've already gathered to give customers an example of the kind of feedback you're looking for!

A more effective method is to create an autoresponder that contacts your buyers after they've purchased your product -- even a month later! -- to ask how they're enjoying the product, as well as giving them a chance to offer feedback on their experience with your business.

If you receive a great letter or email from a happy customer, always ask them if you can use their comments on your web site to recommend your product to others. If they were happy enough to let you know, they're bound to want to spread the word.

If they allow you to do this, in return you can include their web site address in the testimonial. This way there is a benefit to them as well.

If you haven't yet begun selling your product and have no feedback yet, offer your product or service for FREE to a select group of customers in exchange for their thoughts on the product or some details on their experience with your site.

Once you've got some testimonials to share with your visitors, you need to make sure that you're putting them to the best possible use on your site.

You can do this by make sure that you...

- Include your best testimonials on the most prominent positions in your main sales page, such as in the top fold or the side bars.

- Place some testimonials right in the middle of your homepage to keep your readers focused on your credibility as you outline the best benefits of your product or service

- Set up a separate page that is totally dedicated to your testimonials, as well as including snippets of their comments throughout your site. Be sure to put a link to your testimonial page next to each of those snippets!

- Include a link to your testimonials on each and every page of your web site. No matter where your visitors go on your site you want them to find positive comments about of your product or service.

- Don't edit your testimonials to exclude a comment or add information you want to hear. If you're not comfortable with using the comments as they are, then you need to ask yourself whether the testimonial is suited to your site.

- Never use a customer testimonial without permission.

But above all, never invent testimonials!

This is fraud. There's just no good way to say it. Lying just to get a sale will undermine your credibility and it will result in destroying your business.

Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in testimonials. When people start looking for more information about testimonials, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.

Technorati Tags: testimonials, autoresponder, customers, customer feedback, internet tools, free opinion, internet, profits, marketing, money, business