Mogga's Internet Marketing Blog

What's in a name? Panda..

2012-01-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

When google makes changes they give it a nice name.

Why?

Because then people say "oh the apple strudel update killed my sites rankings..." rather than "google killed my site".

Let's be honest.

it's not a cute panda doing it, it's GOOGLE making changes.

Call me cynical

2012-01-03T05:49:00.001-08:00

Have just been checking a few links are working - have found several merchants who should do well at this time of year.

1. Travel merchant. The links fail. Well some do, and it's because of a change the merchant made about a month ago that shouldn't have affected the links but it has.
Links showing on the network are also affected. Have emailed this merchant.

2. Diet merchant - Tracking is down. Was just checking a link and thought I'd check offers and noticed that their Conversion Rate and Approval Rate are 0% at the moment - and an email search revealed tracking has been down for a month now.
They will compensate -but the EPC rate will depend on the sales and clicks you generated in the month prior to the tracking being disabled.
Have emailed them for an update too.

Holiday merchants and diet merchants convert well in the New Year.

Am I being too cynical thinking that it's not an accident that the diet merchant will pay for traffic based on an EPC from a worst part of the year?
Selling dieting subscriptions is easy in January. Much harder later in the year like November.

Merchants with split programs

2011-07-22T03:02:00.000-07:00

This has always been something that annoyed me. Merchants who split their business up affiliate wise so you have to be signed up to two programs. Then you've got to ask them if the cookies cross track when you can flick from one site to another easily. They don't always and you've got to be signed up for both.

Well in the last couple of days two programs with split affiliate programs have sacked one part of it - because they've realised that they can do it all from one program.

*sighs*

It wasn't really rocket science was it?
I wonder if it's to do with saving money in these recessionary times that you can cut staff costs perhaps by having less people working on it when it's all together. Maybe. But from an affiliate point of view it means work chasing links and replacing code.

How many H1 tags on a page?

2011-07-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

I was just pondering the answer to this question when it hit me.

One.

The clue is in the name.

Not only is H1 the most important tag on a page but there should also only be one H1 tag used per page.

So what about H2? It's a bit less important - so why not have two...

H3 - three - that works for me!
H4 - four
H5 - five
H6 - why not six? If you've got six sub-sub-sub-subheadings on a page then why not make them a H1?

Useful list of press release sites

2011-06-30T01:42:00.001-07:00

Press release sites - free listed by Google PR rank

Social monkee - get 25 backlinks every day

2011-06-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Join social monkee - it's free and you'll be able to add 25 back links every day
build 25 unique backlinks to your site every day!
Free to sign up.
Use just once a day for free or get the premium version to use it more than once a day!

Dear merchant

2011-06-20T07:38:00.001-07:00

Dear Merchant I wanted to get in touch regarding your program on ANetwork

I have noted that you have not recently successfully converted any leads into sales and therefore, have not earned me any commissions from promoting you.

With the current conversion rate at 0.00%, it is not a great opportunity for me to provide additional exposure for this program,

Whilst your program was one of the most successful and well known merchants in your category I feel your performance is well below the standard I need to keep your program active on my site.

If you wish to contact me regarding this program or have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Comimg home to roost

2011-01-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

As the last years trading figures for various companies are being released I've noticed with interest that some have had a really tough time.

I have little sympathy.

Is that uncaring of me?

It might be if those very companies hadn't been really arsey about their affiliate programs over the last year or so and made stupid decisions that have meant their online selling teams (affiliates) have been put off, gotten rid of, unfairly treated and worse!

One company now having trouble balancing the books was giving one particular voucher affiliate a MASSIVE discount voucher. Clearly this mean that affiliate did really well. However the scores of other affiliates all suffered as a result.

This meant many affiliates pulled the links never to bother adding them again.

One other affiliate program decided in it's wisdom to cull most affiliates and then cap sales - what a stupid idea is that? A huge one!

My advice to affiliate program managers is to not give silly exclusive voucher deals to any affiliate. It antagonises the rest of them! Have unique codes by all means but don't give one an unfair advantages.

And don't cull affiliates.

Asda commission zero - thanks!

2010-11-26T02:42:00.001-08:00

We regret to inform you that from 5pm on Friday 26th November Asda will no longer be awarding commission on any categories (within the first bullet point list of this notice) on the Asda site. This is due to Asda internal budget restraints.

All currently pending affiliate commissions will be honoured.

The following product categories will therefore be set to 0% commission:

Electricals (including PAYG mobile handsets and accessories)
Furniture
Home
Toys
Baby
DIY & Motor
Sports & Leisure
Jewellery & Watches
Gifts & Party

End date for Commissions:
No commissions will be awarded for sales made after 5pm on Friday 26th December 2010. We recommend that affiliates adjust their campaigns and remove any deeplinks or creative to the direct.asda.com site prior to this time.
This programme pause is only applicable for the ASDA Direct section of the ASDA site. The following categories will continue to operate as normal:

George
Entertainment
Flowers
Optical
Pharmacy
Photo
Travel

Please note the separate Asda Grocery programme will not be affected.

Please accept our apologies for the limited notice period of this campaign change; ASDA Direct will be re-instating commissions on these categories and look forward to working with you in the near future.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch using the details below.

a4u forum down?

2010-11-03T01:35:00.001-07:00

Couldn't read threads and it all looked wrong and now I just got an error.

Stress.

*agghhh*

OMG analytics shows zero traffic for yesterday

2010-11-03T01:33:00.001-07:00

Apart from it nearly giving me a heart attack - the idea of no traffic at this time of year is too frightening to think about.

I assume it's broken though - analytics is showing zero across all my sites - for 2nd November.

Jilted generation

2010-10-30T08:16:00.001-07:00

Not affiliate marketing but certainly something worth a look

Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth

Jilted Generation is a tirade of fury... Ed Howker and Shiv Malik stake out their complaint with a waspishness which comes from personal experience - the struggle to find somewhere to live in London, and to find a secure job...the evidence of pokey overpriced housing and endless unpaid internships piles up convincingly
--Madeleine Bunting, Guardian
Product Description
Born after September 1979? Struggling to find a decent job, even though you're a graduate? Can't afford to buy or even rent a house? No prospects? Welcome to the jilted generation. Things go wrong in society all the time, but rarely do they go wrong for an entire generation. Drawing on their own startling new research and writing with an irresistible polemical energy, twenty-something journalists Ed Howker and Shiv Malik argue that, in stark contrast to their parents' generation, millions of young Britons today face the most uncertain future since the early 1930s. Radical, angry and passionate, Jilted Generation takes a closer look at who's to blame for locking out Britain's youth - and leaving our country not just broken but broke.

Share my code and win $50

2010-10-27T10:44:00.001-07:00

Yeah you want me to share some code I've written and show you how it works and I might win $50....

You know what?

As prizes go that's a non starter.

Any useful code I have is all mine!

Mind you I don't trust people who claim to be so good at SEO they sell their services... if you were, wouldn't you just make loads of money doing affiliate stuff and keep the secrets to yourself?

Just ask if you need anything

2010-09-24T00:37:00.003-07:00

I love emails that are happy and friendly and offer me any help I want with a program - "just ask!"

So when I do ask and they reply with "I'm sorry we don't have that, no we can't do that for you, and no we don't know what the top selling products are for our merchants" it gets a bit frustrating.

Just ask if you need anything

2010-09-24T00:37:00.001-07:00

Emails you get that make you get cross.

2010-09-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

Yes ok I'm having my blood pressure took today so I'm bound to get some frustrating and annoying emails.

Dear Affiliates,

Please note that the MERCHANTNAMEREMOVEDTOPROTECTTHEGUILTY categories in the datafeed have changed.

This is to give affiliates a greater clarity where the datafeed is concerned.

Please get in contact if you have any questions at all.

All the best,

Ooo thanks for the notice. I got this 8 hours ago whilst I was asleep, so by the time I get up and my datafeeds are working it's too late to look at it. I expect our email is bursting with "category changes" that need looking at.

Easy Date - webmasters join now

2010-09-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

Some pretty solid dating programs here at Easy Date

You can get me, SpeedDaterOnline UK, Date the UK, Click and Flirt, BeNaughty

Google instant - instant headache?

2010-09-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

The SEO blogs are going wild. Uproar as google unveils their latest trick.

You type in a search term and options flick up in the box - scroll down them and you get a flickered mass of nonsense on the page below. The page changes as you go through the different options.

Will give you a headache as a searcher let alone a SEO expert.

Type petrol hedge
and you get various options and some of the results pages include pictures and some don't.

Will show google which results pages we prefer for sure!

I won an iPad!!

2010-09-04T06:52:00.001-07:00

My luck continues this week with a win of a n ipad through a competition run by Azam marketing. My prize was Sponsered by http://www.freecashback.co.uk/!

And you can see my name on Azam's blog here!

An iPad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how fab is that? I'll be able to internet market from the sofa now! Or in the garden, or in the car (not whilst I'm driving obviously!)

Basic things a site selling something needs

2010-08-31T07:25:00.001-07:00

Your site needs to tell people [B]what[/B] the product is.
[B]How[/B] much it costs.
[B]Where[/B] they can buy it.
[B]Who[/B] makes it.
[B]Why [/B]it's essential to buy it.
[B]When[/B] is it available.

Get paid to write articles

2010-06-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

Simpler than affiliate marketing and some articles will sell time and time again - or sell the rights to them!

Sign up to constant content now - The more people getting into affiliate marketing the more articles will need to be written

Communication is key?

2010-05-28T02:09:00.001-07:00

The level of fail within the communication is sometimes breath-taking.

"Please contact us for specific banners relating to this"

"Can I have a banner relating to this"

"Er no we don't have any"

As ways of increasing communication increase it's important that it's backed up with sane and sensible options.

Don't communicate if you can not provide anything further.

And sometimes there's just too much in too short a time to be able to make sense of it.

another new link type spotted

2010-02-03T03:49:00.000-08:00

I've just spotted yet another new link type on Google searches. This time rather than being an body of the text is it's actually one of the sponsored ads so they now got to 2 links in there ad.

Google new type of link

2010-01-30T06:31:00.001-08:00

Is this new or have I just not noticed before?

Favicon more important now?

2010-01-16T02:54:00.001-08:00

Just logged in and found that google webmaster tools sitemaps is showing the favicon. It's all pretty now!

Does this mean google is now putting some attention on whether you have a custom favicon now?

Cash for writing

2009-10-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

Living the dream - get cash just for writing!

This is a program on a new network I've just signed up to called High Profits
They have some downloadable pdfs of information about getting traffic and building a website. That's certainly interesting!

Think Visibility

2009-09-17T04:29:00.001-07:00

Went to see Yoast at Think Visibility 2. Was well worth the trip up the motorway and was well organised and fun.
I enjoyed Yoast's presentation and Julian's from the Telegraph and Judith Lewis's talks. The afternoon was also fun with Tom doing lots of fun graphs showing how important it is to make things easy to interact with. Then Zoe's talk was good.

You can see some pictures of the Think Visbility event here

Expired banners - things not to do

2009-09-11T03:57:00.000-07:00

Do not send me a list of 90 numbers of expired banners and ask me to change them. It's tedious and very frustrating to waste time doing this.

Why?

Because I don't direct link to any graphic - all my banner links go through a network's database/tracking system.
So why should I need a change at my end?

Because going through 90 searches take an awful lot of my time and energy.

Because you could tell me which banners I use and on what urls and then I'd not have such a big list to go through, or at least be pinpoint accurate in what I was looking for.

I've got a useful code searcher that will go through all my sites looking for a number or url so although it's a chore it is possible. Just doing 90 is a bit silly as I know I've never used anywhere near that many banners from this merchant

Think Visibility Discount available

2009-08-31T02:55:00.000-07:00

If you want to go to http://thinkvisibility.com/
you should see Elaine's post here
http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/affiliate-marketing-lounge/120634-help-best-inner-circle-forums-i-should-part.html#post530077
which tells you how to get 20% discount

So comon not worth mentioning the merchant

2009-08-28T00:51:00.001-07:00

If you recognise this snippet of email, I'm not having a go specifically at that company. But more of a general go on how companies act:

The following have been removed:
• Fashion
• Toys
• Baby

To be replaced with:
• Beauty
• Men
• Women
• Baby & Child

Note the use of the "have been removed" so you need to update the links like yesterday.

Thanks for the notice and the slightly strange removal of the toy category so need Christmas. Ah well.

Things I like

2009-08-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

Emails that say "congratulations we've approved you on this program, and to help you here's a basic text link"

This is very useful! Thank you.

2009-08-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Click here to find out more about a4uexpo

Ask questions

2009-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

I'm going to ask every blinking question I need to in that networks section just to make it clear how much I dislike using it, how little it offers affiliates and how rubbish is it compared to places like affiliate window.

It's really frustrating having to spend time moving merchants links but is a million times worse when you have to then try and work out what to replace a really useful widget with.

long redirects drive me mad...

2009-08-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Because they're an abuse imo.

Are you all sitting comfortably?

Once upon a time there as a company who decided they'd not work with voucher code sites again and asked to be removed.

So all the nice little sites did this, but there was one nasty big mean site that didn't. And they put a slow redirect on. They did warn people it could take a long time and offered in the mean time lots of other links for people to click on...

And the link then doesn't work and goes back to the main page of the their site.

Sounds pretty wrong to me.

Another hate

2009-08-21T08:13:00.001-07:00

Yes I know I mostly grumble about things ... but maybe that's I only blog when I'm remembering the bad stuff that happens?

Merchants who close. And then open on my least favourite network. I'm not going to mention my least favourite network.

It's one that is hard work, hard to find things in, and the product feeds are still a mystery to me.

I assume they have some crazy marketing ploy at the moment going on stealing other companies merchants in the promise that affiliates love them.
We don't.

And why steal an existing merchant? Sign a new one up and we'd all be happy.

Clarke has blog

2009-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I've mentioned it before, but Clarke - one of the people I've known longest in affiliating - has a blog - Affiliate Marketing Blog - will be a regular read for me from now on!

Things I get annoyed with

2009-08-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

CJ. Having to agree to terms and conditions that I have already agreed to.

I don't want to sound petty but it's 3 years since equifax made their changes to their t&c ... so why am I having to repeat agree to them.

Dragons Den and websites

2009-08-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

It makes the rest of us look cheap.
£600,000 plus 26k a month to set up and run a website called mydish. That's basically a glorified notebook with recipes.

The 600k isn't jsut for the website, no it's for staff and office costs.

Well 600k should be staff and office costs for about 30 years in my book when a site's not making any money.

This is surely a sign of a dot com bubble we've seen with friends reunited selling for less than they bought it for too.

Things I hate about affiliate marketing

2009-08-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

Bizarre long emails listing ad numbers being removed from a sytem so I have to go through and search them all out or risk sending traffic to a dead link.
Thanks guys, I have nothing else to do with my afternoon than spend it doing this tedious and mindless work.
AND what makes it worse is they're all coded links - so they go through the networks site and get churned off to links, so there is NO NEED for this insanity.

I was going to write a similar list to Kirsty here on her affiliate marketing blog, but decided I'd only blog about it next time I got annoyed.

Other things that annoy me are on one particular network, a "I agree" click needed to terms and conditions that I've already agreed to. It drives me mad. Two clicks and a scroll of my time needed each time. Annoying as heck.

I'll add some more hates as and when I find them. But I do agree with most of Kirsty's list!

Free press releases

2008-09-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

Free Press Release

To get publicity to your site you need to look at press releases.
This site offers plenty of help with the process.

Affiliate Expo

2008-05-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

a4uexpo

Who should attend?

* Marketing Executive / Assistant
* Account Manager / Director
* Marketing / Brand Manager / Planner
* Affiliate / Media Owner
* Merchant / Online Agency
* Business Development Director
* SEO / SEM Professional or Amateur
* MD / CEO

What's it all about? From last year's conference:

The Confluence of Search and Affiliate Marketing
Let's Get Social, Social Networking and Affiliate Marketing
A-Z of Affiliate Marketing
Meet The Super Affiliates Panel
Conversion Rate Optimisation
Extreme SEO Q and A
How to avoid Conflict With Your Affiliates
The Changing Nature of Search
Widgets, Blidgets and The Implications for Affiliate Marketing in the Long Term
SEO on Zero Budget : Case Studies
Will You Need an Affiliate Network in 2008?
Generating Revenue From Mobile
Embracing and Understanding the Loyalty / Cashback Sector

Plus the chance to suggest topics for discussion.

ExCeL is Located in London's Docklands - easily accessible

Expect all the networks to be at the exhibition plus a great chance to meet many merchants to build up a great relationship with them. Plus relax and meet other affiliates at the parties!

So keep 14-15 October 2008 free
Conference And Exhibition 35+ Educational Presentations and Panel Discussions, 75+ Exhibitors...
Networking And Parties

Meet like-minded Entrepreneurs, Advertisers, Affiliate and Search Specialists at 3 All Inclusive Networking Parties..

Task for the day

2008-04-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Write down ten reasons why someone should go to *a site of your choice*

Fun to try this with big name sites as well as your own.

If you can't write down ten reasons quickly then there's got to be another reason for going to that site. Whether you've spend several million on branding and are positioned to be first in people's minds or whether you have a high street store and people want to shop with you online, or some other reason ... Without reasons why people should visit your site, they probably won't.

I tried this with a big name electrical retailer a while ago. Without visiting their site first to refresh my memory I managed to come up with 8 reasons to visit. When I checked their site out for comparison one of the features I'd given as a reason had been removed from the site!

Reasons might include:

Buy a specific type of product only available at this one site
Low prices
Price matches
Big brand name I trust
High street store I can make returns to
Free delivery
They compare prices and keep them low
Biggest range of products available
Interest free credit
Free gifts with purchase
Recommended by a friend
Real reviews by real people
Site is easy to use.
Easily compare similar products
Great product info
Handbooks for products online
Shopping guide for buying new products I don't know much about
Guaranteed cheapest price with a price match promise
Easy hassle-free returns at no cost
Have bought from them before.

This list just took me a few minutes to put together . Give yourself a few minutes to write down reasons why people should visit your site. Are you missing out on anything?

Win things with internet marketing - books direct competition

2008-04-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

Current competitions include one to win an amazing trip to the Monoco Grand Prix

Win a trip to the Monaco Grand Prix With Books Direct at Affiliate Window! To celebrate launching on Affiliate Window Books Direct are running an amazing prize draw, offering you the chance to win a fantastic trip to watch the Monaco Grand Prix, including flights, transfers and accommodation.
The prize package includes return flights to Nice, 3 nights hotel accommodation including breakfast, airport transfers by coach, track transfers by train, and welcome drinks and nibbles on both Saturday and Sunday.
Fantastic prize - so what do you have to do to enter? You have to sell Books Direct memberships.
I've got my books direct page on my book site

Do you want to know more about books direct? Books Direct's website

Want to sign up to Affiliate Window and start promoting them?

Book Clubs - why promote them?

They offer the consumer a great deal and provide the book club with people interested in books.

Their largest clubs are Books Direct and Books for Children. The Fantasy &
SF Book Club also attract large volumes of new members. A full range of banners
and text links is available for these clubs.

As well as large popular clubs they offer more niche book clubs ideal for selling related products on niche sites

Books Direct

Books Direct is our primary club with the most generic appeal, and offers a
range of romance, contemporary fiction, real life reads, lifestyle and reference,
adventures and thrillers, and crime titles.

Books for Children

Books for Children is the club that grows with our members' children. Our
experts review every title from babies to 12 years of age so that members can
find the right books for their child. We select titles which are both educational
and fun, to stimulate, capture and develop a child's imagination.

The Fantasy & SF Book
Club

The Fantasy & SF Book Club is the gateway to the best books on fantasy and
science fiction in the universe. There is a galaxy of choice ahead. Discover
new worlds. And always benefit from the massive savings.

Specialist Clubs - very useful for promoting on niche sites

The Military & Aviation Book Society

The History Guild

Railway Book Club (www.railway.booksdirect.co.uk)

TSP (The Softback Preview)

Welcome to Mogga's Marketing Blog

2008-04-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I've finally decided to start my own blog about online marketing. I've contributed on many forums over the many years I've been working on the internet and have some ideas I'd like to share.

I'll tell you about my favourite networks, programs, merchants and all the things that you need to know about online marketing