Archive for the 'Internet Marketing' Category

Exactly what is Google Adsense?

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

Most of the Internet marketing community is at least somewhat familiar with Google Adsense at this point. Google Adsense can be a very lucrative venture for some so a closer look at just what Adsense is is in order.

Google Adsense are small contextual ads that are published on web sites with the consent of the web site’s owner. The ads are created by publishers that are selling products and/or creating brand awareness. The ads that are created are called Adwords and they are also a Google sponsored program.

Google Adwords and Adsense run hand in hand. Every time someone does a search on Google or one of their partner networks and clicks on one of the sponsored ads, then the person who created that ad will pay Google a predetermined price. This is where the term “pay per click” comes from.

Now the beauty of Adsense is that the person who owns or hosts the web site that the Adwords ads appear on will split the amount of money that Google receives from the creator or publisher of the ad. It is a well guarded secret what the percentage of the split is, and it does vary, but for our purposes let’s say it’s 50%.

If a publisher is willing to pay .40 per click for his Adwords ad, then the host of the website that welcomes Adsense can expect to see roughly .20 every time someone clicks on that ad that appears on their site. The other .20 is kept by Google. So basically it is a partnership of sorts between Google and web site owners.

Adsense is shown in the most relevant way possible. What does this mean? Well, probably the best way to illustrate this would be through an example. Let’s say Mary had a website featuring women’s clothing. If Mary wanted to monetize her web site with Google Adsense the ads that would be shown would all be related to clothing, and more precisely, women’s clothing. If a page of her site was dedicated to shoes, then the Adsense ads appearing on that page would be for women’s shoes.

So how is the price per click determined? This is where the Adwords side of the equation kicks in. Adwords publishers bid on keywords. The more lucrative or sought after a keyword is, the more the publisher will be willing to pay for each click. Keywords range anywhere from a few cents to in excess of $50 per click.

It is not very hard to see how someone with a web site that generates a decent amount of traffic can make some nice money by putting Google Adsense on their site. Many Internet marketers will create web sites with specific content for the sole purpose of attracting high paying Adsense ads with top Internet marketers earning in excess of $10,000 a month on Adsense.

5 Common Mistakes Affiliates Make

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

Avoiding some of the common mistakes made by affiliate marketers should quickly and easily improve your chances of making affiliate sales. Here are five of the top mistakes:

Common Mistake #1:

Not researching the affiliate program before your start promoting it - it really is amazing just how many affiliates grab the first affiliate program that comes along or signup simply because it has a high commission rate or promote it because every other marketer is also promoting it. If the program does not complement the overall theme of your site, you may find it difficult to convince your subscribers to purchase the product if it does not have anything to do with the area you are targeting.

Common Mistake #2:

Not using your signature file correctly - many affiliates will add a signature file to all of their out-going email messages and message board posts that is totally inappropriate. Twenty lines of text full of affiliate links, is not considered a signature file - it’s usually considered ’spam.’ Try keeping your signature file under five lines with an attention grabbing or intriguing first line.

Common Mistake #3:

Not writing your own ad copy - there’s nothing worse than seeing the same advert all over the Net or in an email message from ten different marketers. How much perceived value will your message have when it arrives and the reader is seeing it for the tenth time? Take the time to tweak the ad to suit your target area and readership before sending it out. Personalize it; make the ad your own.

Common Mistake #4:

Not paying for your own domain name and hosting account - yuck, nobody wants to visit a site that looks like www.somefreeserver.com/thisavenue/overhere/mysite.html with a contact email address of bobsnetbiz@somefreeemail.com. It’s very unprofessional and suggests to your subscribers that you haven’t made any money on-line because you don’t know what you’re doing and are too stingy to spend any money on setting up your business properly. $8.95 a year for a domain name at GoDaddy.com and around $4 per month for a small hosting account won’t break the bank; it may just help to add to the bank in the long run.

Common Mistake #5:

Not capturing your leads before you send them through to the affiliate product site - if you can actually get someone to click on one of your affiliate links and they leave the product site without purchasing, what have you gained? Nothing! Nothing that is, except the expense and/or time to get that one click-through in the first place. Set up a squeeze page so you can capture your lead’s email address before you send them onto the product site. That way, if they don’t buy, you can follow up with them later and try again (and again and again and again). Priceless!

How to Profit From RSS Data Feeds

Monday, April 24th, 2006

RSS stands for “really simple syndication”, and as the name suggests, it is relatively easy to take advantage of RSS to make money.

There are many ways you can profit from RSS data feeds. To begin with, since this is a new technology, most people are afraid to jump in and learn how to take advantage of it. This makes it a great opportunity for you because there is less competition.

In the same way you generate traffic, subscribers and money by writing and submitting articles to article directories, you can do the same thing with RSS feeds.

You simply create your RSS feed and then submit it to the various RSS feed directories.

The links within your feeds need to point back to your websites, affiliate links and opt-in list pages so that you can make money.

On the Internet content is king and webmasters are always on the lookout for free content. Especially nowadays, with the Google Adsense craze, a lot of Internet marketers are creating tons of websites constantly with page generators and free content.

This is why an RSS feed will be picked up and used on lots of different websites, and the smart marketers that use RSS feeds stand to profit wildly from this situation.

Since you will be submitting the RSS feed to directories, it is important to use an attractive title, including related keywords. This way, people looking for content will find it when doing a search in RSS feed directories.

Now that you have a fair understanding of what RSS is, and how you can create your own feed, here are some creative ways to put the power of RSS to work and bring in profits:

1. Syndicate your RSS feed in RSS directories to be picked up by webmasters looking for free content.

2. Insert relevant affiliate links in your RSS feed.

3. Insert links to your websites and opt-in list pages. This way you build up your link popularity and attract traffic to your websites.

4. Sell a product directly using RSS by including your sales letter in the feed.

5. Use RSS data feed content from other authors to create a content site using a page generator. Once the content site is done you can add Adsense and related affiliate links.

These are just a few ideas to get you started with profiting from RSS feeds. With application of this technology you will come up with various other ideas, and profit even more. The key is to take action and differentiate yourself from the majority of Internet marketers, many of whom are afraid to deal with technology at all.