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Sometimes you need to be testing many things in order to be successful, and this time I have something to show you. It’s about the blog I started a while ago called Protein High Foods, it’s a blog that I thought would be easy to fill with valuable content, but it hasn’t been that easy. It’s suppose to be a blog about protein and my life as a vegetarian. I thought my (healthy and food related) life was rather interesting, but that was before I created my blog.

Now, I realize that I have very little to write about, and that I suck as a chef. I hardly make any interesting food, and I am not as creative as I thought I’d be. I was really hoping that creating a blog about it, would be an inspiration and would help me to be more creative, like forcing me to do something about my health and what I eat.

So far, nothing has happened. Well, other than me joining a health club.

But the good thing, is that the blog drives good traffic. I have received a lot more traffic during the first month to Protein High Foods than I have received to any other website of mine during the same amount of time. I guess that I can state that this blog could be fairly valuable.

It can be valuable, if I could just find a way to monetize it (I am still banned from AdSense). So far, I have added a few banners, and a few affiliate programs without any help. I even tried Kontera, but even though their ads had a few clicks every single day, I was earning just cents a day.

Finally, I thought I’d use aWeber, the best autoresponder, to something useful on that blog. Instead of just using it to send out a newsletter, on a topic that I rarely find the time and the passion (so far) to write anything of value, I have added a sales pitch to it.

As you can see at Protein High Foods, I am using aWeber to promote a brand new eBook called Go Green Be Rich! It’s a very interesting eBook about how you can save about $500 a month by helping the environment. The reason I picked this eBook, was because I thought that people that are looking for articles related to health, vegetarianism and protein, also might be fairly occupied with saving the environment. And I guess, most people like to save $500 a month.

All I have done was to add the image from the eBooks affiliate site, and I have added eight pre-written emails also from the affiliate site. It took me no more than 10 minutes, and now, everything is automated. All I have to do, is try to write a few articles a week and publish them at the blog, and aWeber will do the rest.

This is what an autoresponder is all about. Use it in order to automate the process of selling, but you can also use it in order to publish your newsletter. That’s what I do here on this blog, nothing is automated, I do everything myself. That’s because I am not using it to sell anything, I am using it to publish tips about Internet marketing.

Do you see the difference?

When I have a passion about something, I use the autoresponder manually to broadcast a newsletter. When I don’t really have a passion (at least when it comes to writing about it), I use the automated version of the autoresponder in order to sell. Making it as easy as possible to earn profit, that’s what I am aiming for, and it’s working.

Internal Tags:Autoresponder,aweber,environment,newsletter

I was rather curious about a service called Article Marketing Automation. I have heard some really good things about it, and therefore, I decided to give it a try. 

Article Marketing Automation has two types of memberships (at least to my knowledge). One is free, for people just out to use the articles in the database, and one that will cost you a monthly fee for submitting your own articles to the database.

As I am writing this, I can’t remember the monthly fee (but I think it was $47).

I have just tried the free version, the one where I received free articles to post to my blogs. 

I had my first doubts about the service as I tried to sign up. I couldn’t find the price anywhere on their website, and I couldn’t find any of the membership options. I think I might have read some of the sales copy and it said something about the two options, or some of my contacts told me. I am not sure, but I think that I just signed up without paying, and then I got the free version (but I am not sure that’s how I did it).

As soon as I got access to the website, it was all very easy to set up. I added my blog url, my username and password, added the categories and a few keywords that my articles need in order to filter them. And that was it, I guess it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes (maybe less).

Now, a few times a week I receive articles in my inbox from Article Marketing Automation. They have information about how “unique” they are, I get the whole article on e-mail, so I can read it and either reject it or approve it. If I approve it (just one click), the article will be posted automatically on to my blog. I find this fascinating, and it really works. Well, except for the categories and the tags. Not sure if that’s my fault. Because now, the articles I approve will be added to all my categories and not just one. 

In the end, I have to log in and do some editing in order for everything to be ok. So, it’s not completely automated, but almost. One click to approve, and then just a few minutes editing.

What I don’t like so far, is all the spelling mistakes and the bad grammar. And it seems that the authors don’t write for other blogs, so the articles I have received so far, they have been very impersonal. But, they are free and not bad at all. 

So, that’s the free option. And if you join other categories that I have, you might even have a lot better experience than I have had so far.  For free, I think this is awesome.

The paid option is very interesting if you are looking to drive traffic through article marketing. After you have written your article, you use the service to submit your article to the database. You can add some codes in order for the system to add different synonyms and rewrite/spin some of your article (the free subscribers will get the % of how much the article was rewritten from the original in their email along with the article). I would guess that you will have to use 15 - 20 minutes extra on each article that you submit to the database in order to get a “perfect” article.

Once you add it the database, all members can use this article for their blogs/websites, and they can’t do any editing to the content (other than spelling mistakes/grammar). All your links will be in all the various articles, and this way, your article will be spread all across the Internet.

It sounds like an interesting way to do article marketing. It all depends on how many users they have, and how many blogs is in their system. So far, I have not seen any results from people using the paid membership.

Internal Tags:article marketing,article marketing automation,daniel turner,marc lindsay

Not only twitter, but I think I understand what social media is all about. I am the first to admit that it took me a while, it was I time when I thought I was the only one that didn’t understand why I should be using twitter (and many of the other services).

But, today, on the first day of 2009, it’s different.

I need to think of the whole social media race; youtube, facebook, twitter, myspace, digg, reddit, stumbleupon as a big party. And I need to be a likeable person, I need to socialize.

But, what if I am not really a social person, what then? Do you need to be in order to be successful using social media like facebook and twitter?

Well, it’s actually the name of the game, it’s social media. I finally understand what twitter is all about thanks to Perry Belcher.

Now, join me on facebook and follow me on twitter, it’s time to party!

Internal Tags:facebook,perry belcher,twitter

The absolute most important thing you do when it comes to Internet marketing, is to track your Internet marketing activity. The reason is simple. It takes the guessing away, and turns Internet marketing into science. Well, I am not so sure about the science part, even though a lot of people have been comparing Internet marketing to science (probably because I am a political scientist). 

The reason people say science, is because it’s all about is testing, testing and testing. Even though you find an Internet marketing strategy you prefer above all the others, you will never stop the testing. Because your Intenret marketing activity can always improve. I am not saying advertising, because I am actually not just talking about the regular banner ads, or any ads for that matter. You can use tracking to improve your writing, and to improve your forum signature (or whatever you want people to click on), therefore I have used Internet marketing activity in my headline.

And today, I thought that I give you an example of how I am tracking and testing my discussion forum signatures.

If you haven’t joined the discussion forums at Digital Point, I urge you to do it now. It’s just plain awesome, it’s free and you’ll learn a lot. And if you contribute, you can get a lot of extra traffic from your signature.

I am using my signature for a week, at the end of the week, I take a look at the statistics and I will do some major or minor changes. It all depends on how many people clicked on my link. I change the words, the length of the signature, the colors. Actually, I change everything from time to time. 

I am tracking my signature with HitsConnect, and I have been for many months now. This is the best tracking system I have used. I find it cheap, and it’s really easy to use. That’s all I really need.

With HitsConnect, I track all my advertising, and each and every advertisement will get a unique tracking url (it’s short and a lot easier to use than the regular affiliate url). Every single day, I can see the stats on how many clicks my link got, and I can see the total hits. But not only that, I can also view more detailed statistics.

I believe that the parameters are my most important tool. Whenever I use HitsConnect to track a marketing campaign, I will get a url like this one: http://www.trker.com/go/12345 (the number can be anything). After this unique number, you can put whatever you prefer in order to track the specific ads.

For instance. If I am promoting aWeber (the autoresponder I use to send out my newsletter) at several websites and using my signature in the discussion forums, I can use one campaign at HitsConnect. All I do is this, I add a few extra parameters at the end of my tracking url. Something like http://www.trker.com/go/12345/signature or http://www.trker.com/go/12345/banner. I can use as many parameters as I prefer. At the image above, I used the size of the banners as my parameters (250 equals 250 x 250 px). 

This way, I understand what works for me and what doesn’t work at all. 

It’s important to understand that Internet marketing is not about guessing, and it’s not about your thoughts about what works. I try to be really creative, but I always track my creativity… that’s the only way I can figure out if the campaign was a success or not.

Internal Tags:advertising,aweber,HitsConnect,tracking

I have no doubt about it, if the product or the service is of high quality, then, the best marketing is the free trial.

This way, people can test the product/service for free and if they like it, then they end up buying it.

I have been using an awesome word processor called WriteRoom for a while, and yesterday, I downloaded another awesome software called TaskPaper. Both software was developed by Jesse Grosjean of Hog Bay Software. He is offering a free trial of the complete software, no sign up needed. If you like it, and I really did, you end up buying it.

This is fairly common when it comes to software, but not as common when it comes to other products and services.

For instance, I have just joined a health club. I had to join it for 12 months to get the discount. The health club is brand new, it hasn’t even opened yet, so no other people (except the ones working there) have been inside. What I would have preferred was that they offered a two-week free trial, and after this trial, offered a discount (the same one I just signed up for) for the next 12 months. Only then, will they know for sure if their members are really satisfied from the moment they join the health club.

Sometimes when you visit the local grocery store, you get free samples of various food. If you like the samples, you might end up buying.

Too many companies think that they are using the power of free trial marketing, when all they are really doing is applying the money back guarantee. This is not by far as effective. With the money back guarantee, the customers have to pay, and if they don’t enjoy the product or the service, they can ask for their money. Few people will want to tell the company that their product or service sucks, and that they’d like to get a refund.

Customers like to have the money back guarantee opportunity, it works from a marketing perspective. People think that they will ask for a refund. What they end up doing instead is canceling the service or stop using the product without asking for a refund.

One of my local video stores offers a guarantee, if people don’t like the movie they rented, they can get another one for free. They have had this guarantee for several years, but I have never heard of someone who have used it though. I have watched a lot of “bad” movies, and I should probably have told the people in the store, but I always think it’s my own fault. Why did I rent the latest Steven Seagal movie, when I could have just checked the reviews at the Internet Movie Database?  

In the end, it’s all about the quality of the products and services. If the quality is superb, use the free trial. It’s the most powerful marketing technique.

Internal Tags:Hog Bay Software,Jesse Grosjean,TaskPaper,writeroom

I have just visited the Christmas tree at MacHeist, and they have some really nice gifts for their visitors. I have downloaded two of them, I could have downloaded them all, but I really didn’t need more than two. Actually, I didn’t need any of them, but I thought, why not?

As I was about to leave, I noticed that there was two gifts that didn’t have exactly the same nice colors as the others. 

When I moved my cursor on top of them, I saw a pop up window that said “refer a friend to get me!”.  I find this interesting, viral marketing at Christmas.

It could be that MacHeist is giving away to crappy gifts for people who refer their friends, or maybe they are hiding the best gifts, you’ll never know until you refer a friend.

Great viral marketing from MacHeist.

Internal Tags:christmas,internet marketing,MacHeist,Viral marketing

I have had a few problems with our car lately, and monday was the day I drove it to the car dealership. They had to fix some stuff that I really don’t remember the name of. I am one of those guys that when it comes to cars, the only thing I understand is how to fill gas, I contact the dealership for everything else. I am not proud of it, but that’s how it is, and that’s how it will always be.

When I was about to drive to the dealership, I discovered that our car was really dirty. I hadn’t washed it for months, I guess I just didn’t notice, well, I noticed a few minutes before I was going to let someone else take a look at it.

I didn’t really have time to wash the car, so I just drove it to the dealership and gave the keys to the car mechanic.

Now, I didn’t expect anything other than that the car mechanic would repair the actual damage. So, I was rather surprised when I returned to get my car and saw that it had been washed. It was shining, it was like it was a brand new car.

I didn’t pay for it, it was all part of their service.

Now, that’s what I call great marketing.

Sometimes a business will get lucky, very lucky. Sometimes it’s all due to accident, yes, sometimes a product can become very popular due to something the company are not in control of at all. Let me give you an example. I guess you have heard of the now famous shoe thrower, this one incident has made a Turkish shoemaker really popular.

Last sunday, Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw his shoe at George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. This happening has been all over the news, all across the world. The journalist is now in prison, he has been tortured and he might be sentenced to as much as 15 years (the trial will be December 31st). Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, which makes the now famous “Bush Shoe” has been swamped with orders from across the world.

So many orders, that they are hiring an extra staff of 100 people.

Incidents like this one will have shoemakers all across the world think, why didn’t Muntazar al-Zaidi use our shoes instead of a pair of Baydan Shoes? Well, it’s coincidence, or maybe not. If you’re creating an already popular brand, it’s more likely that it will be used by people, by shoe throwers and others. But at the same time, it’s more likely that it will be worn by people that will have a negative impact on your sales as well (think about it, what if this guy was a terrorist and not a shoe thrower). It’s all about accidental branding. Some people are really lucky, and some people are not.

But, this episode with the Bush Shoe will soon be forgotten. If Bayden Shoes are not quality shoes, they will soon have to fire the 100 people, it’s about using this incident for all that it’s worth, and keep up the level of service and quality.

What if you use a Guerilla Marketing strategy, and provide a guy with your shoes in order to throw them at Bush? It sounds like a really interesting strategy at the moment, but that’s only because we know that it had a positive impact on the company, and we wouldn’t have known this before the incident. And the thrower is in jail and tortured (so I guess it’s not something you should consider).

Speaking of accidental branding, a while ago, I wrote a short review about an interesting book that I recommend that you read.

Internal Tags:Baydan Shoe,Bush shoe,Muntazar al-Zaidi,Ramazan Baydan

You might think that you can just advertise using banners on some of the top blogs and that’s it. At the end of the month, you’ll receive a nice commission without doing hardly any work at all. That might be true, but you should really watch out for your ads.

I’ll give you an example.

If you visit one the hottest blogs around, ProBlogger by Darren Rowse, you can see nine banners. One 468 x 60 at the top, and eight 125 x 125 banners in the right sidebar. This blog receives a lot of visitors each day, and I bet that if you advertise on ProBlogger, you will get many clicks no matter what you are advertising.

But, you need to watch out for your ads, because sometimes your landing page might not be ok and if it’s not, it doesn’t really matter how many clicks you get.

If you visit ProBlogger and click the “links” banners, you will end up with an error. This is happening as I am writing this. I clicked the advertisement from “links” a few days ago as well, and the same thing happened.

I am not sure why this error occurs (all you see is a blank page with the text “the given language () does not exist).

I really hope that the person paying for the advertisement will get some sort of discount, because running an advertisement on ProBlogger is not cheap, and that’s because it’s a very powerful blog to be advertising on, but then your landing page have to work.

I have been looking to find out about the error, and it seems that “links” is identical to Text Link Ads. When I tried to put their affiliate code (I am an affiliate, but I haven’t been advertising) on my blog, I received the same error. So, apparently, this problem is with the company and not at ProBlogger.

The moral of the story is that you need to watch out for your ads in order to fix the problem the moment it occurs. Because if you do, you might not loose that much money, or you might earn more money. Either way, don’t ever think that everything is alright and just wait for your commissions to arrive at the end of the month.

Internal Tags:banners,Darren Rowse,Links,ProBlogger,Text Link Ads

A few days ago, I received an interesting offer from my pals at Healthspan. If you’re not familiar with Healthspan, it’s the place on the web where I shop all my vitamins. Their customer service is awesome, their prices are great, and their vitamins are perfect for me (they have a category for vegetarians).

The subject of the email I received was: £5 OFF - Happy Christmas from Healthspan

As I opened the email, I found the real offer was £5 off when you spend £20.

I find this interesting.

They are using the best part of their offer in the subject, they reveal the necessary information in order for me to open up the email.

If I had seen the £5 off when you spend £20, I don’t think that I would have opened the email.

To me, this is great copywriting.

Internal Tags:christmas,Copywriting,email marketing,healthspan