I was doing some searching for things on Google and I noticed this microphone icon in the search box.
I hadn’t noticed it before even though the feature has been out for about a month. I figure it might have been in beta and I wasn’t one of the lucky few.
Anyway I made a video demo so take it in and enjoy.
Stay with it, stay well and talk soon.
How This Started
I found a video shortly after watching the GoogleWebmaster Help video on article marketing.
I think it is a great follow up to the article marketing video even though it pre-dates it by a year.
The information is an answer as to how to build organic links.
This is all assuming that you are creating original great content in the first place.
There are eleven points made by Matt Cutts and lets take a look at them.
According to Google, That’s Who!
I was checking out things with Google on YouTube and came across this video by Matt Cutts from April of this year.
This was about the time of the Panda update and pertained to something I like to do. Write and push out articles to create some back links.
Indeed, I was writing articles for the hell of it before I even had a web site and would push them to a bunch of article directories.
So imagine my deep disappointment when I came across the video below.
Google Does Not Like Article Marketing
What you will hear in the video is that Matt Cutts and Google are no longer great fans of article marketing.
That’s because these articles are written for the sole purpose of creating back links through content farms or article directories.
For the most part, they are often poorly written with lousy content. They define duplicate content at its worst and duplicate anchor text that goes with it.
None of the links you get from article marketing have great value and you are much better off creating your own original, unique content that generates a natural volume of links from people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say.
Since there is no value add to the process of article marketing as it was practiced in the past, you are going to a lot of wasted effort in pursuing it
How Disappointing
I guess things are changing and the Farmer/Panda marches on.
I see the point though I’m not sure I understand completely.
Not all the content in article directories is garbage. I find good stuff there when researching topics though there is a lot of garbage also. Not everything in the NYT is fit to print either!
That said, when the big guerilla speaks, you have to pay attention.
So what is the solution? On another tape I’ll post where Matt tells you what he considers value. Stay tuned for tomorrow!
Here is the video about article marketing below. Check it out and tell me what your take is.
Stay with it, stay well and talk soon.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5xP-pTmlpY
I just had a comment from a YouTuber about a video I did on the Browse function in YouTube.
When I reviewed the video I saw that some of the Browse feature had changed so I made the video below to go over the changes.
Basically the main change is that Channel listings of the most viewed and popular Channels no longer appear in the results.
What you now get are the following headings:
Each one of these heading has an option to dig deeper by categorie in a drop down or as part of the selection in the landing page that is broken down into different headings.
You’ll see what I mean when you screen the video.
Market Research Using YouTube Browse
The point is that the Browse feature can be used to see trends and what is moving and hot on YouTube and it comes in real handy as an out of the box way of researching niches and products that might be great to market.
So take a look and see if you can use this in your online marketing efforts.
That’s it.
Stay with it, stay well and talk soon.
I was reading my rss feed of Viperchill where Google Sets was mentioned as a nice tool for market or niche research.
I took a look at it and found it can come in handy to get ideas of related keywords and niche ideas.
What it does is drill horizontally as opposed to vertically so you get an idea of what may appeal across the niche or keyword you are researching.
I made this video below so check it out and see for yourself.
The down side of the tool is that is does come up with single word returns that make no sense. You will see a “of” , “and” , “the” as well as other prepositiona,articles and conjunctions appear in the results.
But you will also find suggestions for keywords or related niches that you would not think of at first.
So all in all it is worth a quick look since it is a simple tool and very easy to use.
There you have it. Take a look and see what it can do for you.
Stay with it, stay well and talk soon.
Google announced the roll out of a new feature on the Chrome platform called Google Instant Pages.
What is Google Instant Pages? Well it’s a way for getting you to results you are looking for a lot faster than it otherwise takes right now.
And if you get to those results faster, you will be a happy user and do more searches than your counterparts who have to wait longer for their search results.
More searches for Google means more eye balls, and more eye balls looking for longer periods of time at more results means more ad revenue for all.
A key factor here is the load time you experience when you are searching for information. Or even more importantly, the time it takes for your customer to get information from your website. That is because Instant Pages will apply to all searches and sites when it is fully rolled out and that can mean more conversions if your site is set up right.
In the video below, there is the Google video that shows you the difference in load time between a site with Instant Pages and one without it.
So take the time to take in my review and then go to Webmaster Central to see for yourself if you want to process all the information for yourself.
There you have it.
Stay with it, stay well and talk soon.
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There has been a lot of ink spilled about the Google Farmer/Panda algorithm update and what it all means to Internet Marketers and more specifically to Affiliate Marketers.
Well there is a post on the Google Webmaster Central Blog about what specifically the Google team wanted to achieve with these changes.
I just recorded a video that takes you through the information about what Google wants you to do when you create content for your websites.
They list 23 specific points you should be aware of and implement if what you are doing is relevant to each one of these points.
They also give some more pointers of what affects your site ranking in the closing paragraphs of the post.
Suffice it to say, that you should be writing or researching your content to make sure what you present is unique and adds to the body of knowledge of your niche or whatever it is your site is about.
They are looking for good writing, grammatically and stylistically. And they are looking for material that is well developed and given the length and time to offer value to the reader.
This is all about the user experience and the importance Google places on giving people the information they are asking for.
So take in the video and see for yourself straight from the source what Framer/Panda is all about. I think that is more valuable than letting someone else do it for you and you may see things that others don’t.
So have a look and I hope this helps you succeed online.
CloudBlueprint Video Course
I make a point of learning as much as I can from people I trust. Here is a course that is just out and I know there is going to be some really great information about making money online. Not BS but useful actionable information.
I follow Glen on all matters about affiliate marketing and blogging and always come away with something new.
Now if you want to find out more about this guy just go to Viperchill and check him out.
For now here is what he is offering and all it will cost you is your time and effort.
Go for it.
CloudBlueprint: Intro from ViperChill HQ on Vimeo.
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In my previous post I put up a great graphic offered by Rae Hoffman Dolan that shows 9 basic steps in the affiliate marketing process.
The graphic is a easy way to understand the basics in getting your head into affiliate marketing. And in that sense it is helpful in getting the newcomer to the business thinking more clearly about what is involved.
I thought I’d take a stab at filling in some of the blanks, given I have been at this for three years now and can shed some light on how to set up your expectations of what it takes to learn affiliate marketing.
I think before you do anything you should do a lot of reading and observing. That’s because affiliate marketing is a sophisticated and tricky business that calls for technical knowledge of how the internet works along with business common sense on how to set up and run a real business.
The temptation is to dive right in and start launching sites and stuff online. While that is a noble instinct, I think you are better off just watching how the game is played before you get on the field and try out a few shots.
How long should you wait? That’s up to you. You will find plenty of people ready and willing to teach you for a price and I found it real hard to figure out who was right for me and who was just interested in taking money off my hands.
With some time just watching and seeing what people are saying about products and services, you will find out soon enough who is the real deal and who you should avoid.
Whatever you do, pick a program that fits your level of understanding. Move to more sophisticated programs once you get a grasp of the basics. For example I stayed away from Pay Per Click at first because it was way over my head and it can cost a lot of money if you don’t know what you are doing. You might want to do the same.
I have a list of people listed in my sidebar that you can take a look at. I wish I had known about these folks in my first few months and that would have saved me time and money.
So there is my rant about the early learning phase.
[Image provided courtesy of the Sugarrae affiliate marketing blog.]
Let’s look at the steps of the How Affiliate Marketing Works graphic.
Affiliate Program Sign up
This first sounds simple enough, but it really is the last step in a multi-step process.
Before you can sign up with an affiliate program you have to decide what you want to sell.
Before you decide what you want to sell you have to do some market research. More specifically you want to do some keyword research to determine the level of demand and the level of traffic your keywords can gererate.
All of this requires some experience and knowledge of what keywords are; how they work; where they are in the buy cycle and how you can use them to your advantage given the competition there is for them.
You are going to want to learn how to register a domain name. You are also going to want to learn how to set up a web site to go along with that domain name and you are going to want to create articles and content to put on that website in a way that optimizes what the search engines are looking for.
You get the picture?
This is a real business that takes time and effort to master.
Now we are still at step one.
The thing is this is a crucial step to get right because it makes a lot of difference in whether you stand a chance to succeed at making some money.
Affiliate Link
When you get through all the steps in phase 1 and succeed in getting approved, then you get your product or service affiliate link from an affiliate program.
This is a piece of code that has an identifier on it that is specific to your account with the merchant. It tells the merchant that the traffic it is receiving with that code on it is traffic you have sent to the merchant. If that traffic buys you get a commission.
You put that affiliate link on your website. Your link can take different forms. Sometimes it is a visual banner display that a visitor can click on. Other times it can be a product image that is clickable. Or it can be a text link in the copy of your site content in an article or in the product description.
Whatever the form, it is a link that sends your visitor to a merchant’s site and with some luck or good pre selling you get that visitor to buy the product or service.
There is a whole body of information about masking or cloaking your affiliate link to prevent bad guys from stealing your link but that is something for another time.
Customer Visits Your Website
The next step is pretty straight forward. You set up you website, get traffic and visitors are coming to your site.
Customer Clicks Your Link
You have a visitor arrive at your site. He/she reads what you have to offer and clicks on the banner, text link, product image and is sent to the merchant site. Bravo! You got a click.
The Cookie
When the visitor clicks on one of your links, a piece of code is put on his/her computer with your identifier on it. It is called a cookie. It tells the merchant who belongs to the link and who should get a commission. It also tells the merchant that the cookie is good for 30-45-60 days so that if that visitor doesn’t buy right away you still have a shot at getting a commission.
Vistor Buys on Merchant’s Site
You luck out and the visitor buys a product or service and your cookie is still on his/her computer.
Merchant Checks Cookie
When someone buys something from the merchant and the transaction goes through and is confirmed, that merchant looks for an affiliate link and a cookie to find out who referred the sale.
Merchant Confirms Cookie
When the merchant finds the cookie and ties it to the confirmed sale, that sale generates a commission for you the affiliate. The amount is determined in the affiliate agreement which you have read and are familiar with.
Commission Report
A record of all your sales and commissions is filed in a report kept by the merchant in your affiliate account.
Payment Period
At the end of the payment period specified in the affiliate agreement, you will receive a payment by check or direct deposit or by whatever means agreed to in the affiliate agreement. This payment reflects all the commissions generated for that period of time, usually on a monthly basis.
Conclusion: The Affiliate Marketing Process
This whole process takes time to learn and digest.
As was mentioned earlier, the research and set up of an affiliate relationship takes time and effort. You have to learn a whole bunch of things about keywords, domain names, web site set up and design and content creation.
There is the issue of getting traffic and getting links to your site that haven’t been covered here but that you will also learn how to do.
Take Your Time
The whole point here is to take your time and learn to take in information in small digestible pieces.
It took me just about a year before I began to put things together and the next two years of trial and error to feel confident I could work in this business.
Now my experience was starting from total ignorance and going in the wrong direction more than once.
So just give yourself plenty of time and plenty of slack in learning how to do affiliate marketing online.
Here is a graphic that shows how affiliate marketing works.
The diagram below is a visual rendition of the process that unfolds when you sign up with a merchant to sell his or her product/service. It takes you through the various steps that occur and lead to your receiving a commission.
It was commissioned by Sugarrae, aka Rae Hoffman Dolan, a professional online marketer – ( I’m really tired of the term super affiliate since I’ve been taken by a few) – who is happy to see it propagate far and wide.
It’s a great short explanation of the essence of affiliate marketing.
Sugarrae is the real deal and you should read what she has to say. You’ll learn more in one paragraph from her than in some 80 or 100 page ebooks. Her site can be found at http://www.sugarrae.com/
This graphic is one sample of that.
Enjoy
Click here to view a larger version.
[Image provided courtesy of the Sugarrae affiliate marketing blog.]
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