Affiliate Smarts

Chitika eMiniMalls

2006-06-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

If you follow my journal, you might probably already know that my application for Google AdSense has been turned down.

Well, I was upset, but I wasn't that surprised though. It's all my own stupid fault that got banned by Google AdSense before. I guess once you got banned, you will be banned forever.

While I lost the chance to make money from Google AdSense's pay per click ads, Chitika gave me a great chance. Chitika eMiniMalls works just like Google AdSense, you get pay when someone clicks on the ad, the difference is, Chitika's ad has product picture.

I have heard a lot of good and bad things about Chitika, but I want to be positive and give it a good try.

Darren Rowae at ProBlogger makes great money from Chitika every month, he seems very happy with Chitika, I'm going to post his links here, great posts, great tips, we should all check them out!

Chitika eMinimalls Review (28 September 2005)

Chitika eMiniMalls - How Much Do They Earn Me? (5 October 2005)

Chitika eMiniMalls Tips (14 October 2005)

By the way, ProBlogger is a great place where provides whole lot of tips and info for people who want to make money through blogging.

And, I'm going to check out Joel Comm's Chitika eMiniMalls Secrets now.

Technorati Tags : chitika, chitika+eminimalls, pay+per+click, pay+per+click+ad, google+adsense

OT: Surprising News

2006-06-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Robert (my loving husband) just phoned me this noon from Winnipeg. The company he is working for will pay my flight ticket and expenses, so I can be with Robert to finish his trip together. Which means I'll fly to Winnipeg this Thursday or Friday then come back next month around 20th.

I was so very surprised. I'm not that kind of person when someone calls and I'm ready to go. I really hate that idea actually, I like to have things well planed and I like to know things in advance so I can plan everything else accordingly. Now, I only have one day to get everything done, the biggest thing is our doggy son Charlie.

When I'm away from home, I don't like to work on internet, well, we do have a laptop and most hotels all have internet access, but I like to use my own computer at my own home office, so when I'm away I don't even bother to turn on our laptop. So the point here is, I probably won't work on my blogs and my affiliate business for the next month. Well, we'll see how things are going, I just got everything started, I don't want to kill them just because I have to be away for a month, I will do my best!

Back To The Basic

2006-06-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

After a slow week, I'm about to do something for my online affiliate business. Just before putting up a Google AdWords ad, I have a second thought.

Well, both Smart Olive and The Dog Talk have good traffic everyday, although I do exactly the same thing to promote the blogs, both blogs' visitors are totally from different places. For The Dog Talk, almost 100% of visitors are from Google Search, as for Smart Olive, most visitors are from Blog Directories and some of them are from WAHM board.

While I have new visitors everyday for both my blogs is great, but it's also a problem, I have no return visitors. This is not a good sign at all.

In order to get the most out of my traffic, I need to build up my own list. So this week, I'm going to postpone my Google ad, and go back to work on the basic, hope I can get a lead capture page done this week, well, maybe by the end of next week.

Technorati Tags : list, list+building, email+marketing

Progress and Thought of This Week

2006-06-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Besides kept posting on Smart Olive, The Dog Talk and Tahitian Noni, there wasn't that much progress this week actually.

I feel a little down somehow, well, Rome wasn't built in one day, to make decent income from blogging won't happen overnight either, but how long is it gonna take to make at least $1000 per month? Right now I have little cents every day here and there, it's not going to make me rich! Sometimes I just wonder what I'm doing, is blogging just totally waste my time?

Everyday I go to WAHM board, just see some blogging newbies there wanna start and make money from blog, well, it's easy and free to start, but how many can really make good money? I don't know and I don't care.

I will keep all my blogs running, I think blog is for long term, if after 6 to 12 months, they still don't generate good money, I will close them all. There is no point to spend time on something which just don't get result. I'm not blogging for fun, there are too much I can do in life for fun, blogging is business, blog just a tool for me to promote affiliate programs.

Next week, I will start advertising on Google Adwords, will see how it go then.

Technorati Tags : blog, blogs, blogging, affiliate, affiliate+marketing, affiliate+program, google+adwords

How to Write an Effective Product Review

2006-06-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

How do you choose the products you buy? Do you simply accept as gospel truth all the good things a merchant says about their own product? Or, do you ask your friends' opinions and look for independent product reviews before opening your wallet?

If you're a savvy consumer (which of course you are), then you put more stock in your friends' opinions and independent product reviews.

As affiliate marketers, we become much more successful when we approach our site visitors as friends and take the attitude that they too are savvy consumers.

From that standpoint, an affiliate's real work is to pre-sell our merchant partners' products by writing fair and balanced reviews, also known as endorsement letters.

Sure, writing a review for each product takes a little time and effort, but it's an activity that sets the super affiliates apart from their less-super counterparts in terms of rewards... read 'income'.

Product reviews can be either stand-alone or comparative. The first type focuses on a single product, while the second is an evaluation of similar items that allows readers to choose which product best suits them.

Before you begin to write a product review, you'll need to evaluate the product. (Nothing like stating the obvious, eh?)

I prefer to endorse products that I've actually used. However, buying a product isn't always feasible. If that's the case, affiliate managers will often grant 'proven' super-affiliates access to products for their review. That's especially true of information products and services that are delivered online, such as internet dating services.

But what if you're not yet a super affiliate, and can't fathom a basement full of treadmills to review for your exercise site?

Well, do what your customer would do if product reviews didn't exist on the Internet - go to the store and test those treadmills out!

And how do you review acne medications for your skin care site if you don't have acne? Surely, you have some friends with (previously) pimply-faced teenagers... ask them to tell you what worked for them.

If you can't find out that way, search Google for "consumer reviews" + "acne medications". Read as many as you can to come up with three to five effective products (that have affiliate programs).

Once you've collected information about the product, it's time to start writing that product review.

The structure for a product review is simple, containing an introduction, overview and summary.

The introduction consists of a few sentences outlining the problem and introduces a possible solution for the reader, without going into detail. The overview describes the product's promise, a description of how the product is used, as well as its effectiveness and value. The summary is almost a repeat of the introduction, and contains a strong recommendation for purchase based on your conclusions.

To simplify the review-writing process, I ask myself the following questions when writing product reviews for my own affiliate sites.

Who is my reader and what is their problem?
What does the product promise?
How well does the product solve the problem? What does it do? How does it work?
Does the product offer good value? (Would I buy this product?)

Let's look at each question in turn.

The first question asks, "Who is my reader and what is their problem?"

If acne is your reader's problem and your site visitors are adults, you probably want to avoid terminology like 'Zap those zits!' and use more age-appropriate language.

Remember too, that 'zits' aren't really the problem. The real problem is how your reader feels about having pimples all over their face and how that affects their life.

If you've experienced the problem yourself, say so. Describe your experience, and show understanding and compassion for the reader's plight. Speaking from real experience earns your readers' trust which always improves sales rates.

If you have trouble figuring out how your reader might be affected by his problem, then you can research that online too.

For example, I searched Google for "hate acne" and came across Acne.org, where one young woman lamented, "My sh%tty skin is seriously ruining my social life and my relationships with men. I'm avoiding it all just cuz I don't want to show my face. Its really sad. I also spend a lot of money on make up. I'm not even asking for the most perfect skin (even though it would be nice) but even if I was limited to just a couple zits....and then it would take me under 30 mins to get ready....I would never be home, and I would go back to living the life that I ohh so miss."

That gives you a pretty clear picture of how she feels, right?

Now address those concerns using emotive terms and you'll improve your conversion rates.

Here's an example.

Rather than say, "Product A will cure your acne", start with a question that appeals to your reader's emotion, such as "Is acne ruining your social life? Scared to leave the house - or even show your face? There IS a solution to your plight."

That introduction brings us to the next question which is, 'What does the product promise?'

Does the product cure the problem? Does it work faster, or with less hassle and expense?

You found answers to that question during your product research. In this section you simply summarize your findings.

Next, answer the third set of questions, "How well does the product solve the problem?", "what does it do?" and "how does it work?" based on your product research.

Results are the most important information, so it's not necessary to provide nitty gritty details about how you use the product or what it's made of or how it is packaged, etc. unless the merchant does not supply that information on their site, and you consider the information of importance to your reader.

Too, we're all aware that no product is perfect, so don't go overboard and write a completely glowing, one-sided review. To make the product review balanced and fair, detail what you do and don't like about the product. If you want to avoid negative statements when outlining your dislikes, try phrasing the sentence like "although I'd prefer a slightly less greasy formula..." or "although the bottle lacks a pump dispenser..." and finish on a positive note.

Lastly, make a value statement. For example, "While Product A and B both eliminate most acne problems in 30 days, Product A wins our 'best value' award priced at $20 less per bottle. Or, if you're writing a single product review, you could say something like, "Acme's Acne Product would be great value even at twice the price, but at this price it can't be beat!"

For even better conversions, be sure to include a product graphic on your product review webpage, and a testimonial or two from users that you solicit through your site or use with permission from your merchant partner's site.

In summary, tell your visitors what you would say to a friend if you were telling them about a product that you found and liked. That approach will make writing reviews easier and your friendly attitude will push your conversion rates through the roof!

Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://netprofitstoday.com/

Technorati Tags : affiliate, affiliate+marketing, affiliate+marketer, product+review

Progress of This Week

2006-06-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a week! Busy busy busy!! See what I have done:

Got Chitika's approval, so I put the eMiniMall ad on all my blogs.
Put 2 oldest blogs Tahitian Noni and Network Marketing back on live, so now I have 5 blogs need to run (Affiliate Smarts, Network Marketing, Smart Olive, Tahitian Noni ans The Dog Talk). Yes, I wanna make money from blogging, of course the more the better!
Trade links with several blogs and websites.
Got some more plugins for The Dog Talk (WordPress blog). The more I use WordPress, the more I love it. Plugins give my blog more function and more power. WordPress is a must for any serious blogger!
Selected several high quality and high pay out ClickBank e-products. All the programs I'm going to promote provide great advertising materials, that can make my life much easier!
Submitted all my blogs to RSS Feed Directories, not manually, but with a little software called RSS Announcer (I got it as a free bonus from Sean Wu).
Learn Tag and Ping from Sean Wu! This is the biggest achievement of the whole week! Yes, the course is a little bit expensive, but for the time I have saved on searching and the information about tagging, also all the bonus in the member area, well worth it!

As you can see on my sidebar, I've put up a "my recommendation" section. All those programs I have purchased and used, and I believe they will benefit you in a great way too, so take some time to check them out!

Next week, I'm going to put DataFeed info to The Dog Talk, it will be a whole new adventure then!

Technorati Tags : chitika, eMiniMall, blog, blogging, wordpress, rss, rss+feed, rss+feed+directories, clickbank, affiliate, affiliate+marketing, tag+and+ping

Google AdSense Didn't Accept The Dog Talk

2006-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

I finally received Google reply about my application for AdSense account. Well, nothing but the bad news! They turned me down AGAIN! It's so unfair! This is what they say:

Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. After reviewing your application, our specialists have found that it does not meet our program criteria. Therefore, we are unable to accept you into our program.

We have certain policies in place that we believe will help ensure the effectiveness of Google ads for our publishers as well as for our advertisers. We review all publishers, and we reserve the right to decline any application. As we grow, we may find that we are able to expand our program to more web publishers with a wider variety of web content.

Please note that we may not be able to respond to inquiries regarding the specific reasons for our decision. Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

I so don't understand why? They refused Smart Olive, refused Affiliate Smarts, now even refused The Dog Talk, I guess they just don't like me. Oh well, whatever!

Chitika refused my application for The Dog Talk last week, I'm going to re-apply for Smart Olive, cross the fingers!

Technorati Tags : Google, AdSense, Google+AdSense, Chitika, affiliate, affiliate+smarts, pay+per+click, affiliate+program, affiliate+marketing, make+money+with+google+adsense, make+money+with+chitika, blog, blogging, make+money+from+blog, blogging+for+money

Keyword Is All The Matter

2006-06-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't really started to promote The Dog Talk as Google AdSense hasn't approved my application. I don't want to drive whole bunch traffice to The Dog Talk without putting Google AdSense on it.

I checked The Dog Talk's statistic today, surprisingly I actually had so many unique target visitors from Google Search. WOW! That's definitely the free target traffic, and it's effortless!

Some people were searching some information about dog training, they keyed in a specific word or phrases, and my weblog came out on the 1st page of their searching, in some case, my weblog was even on the 1st position.

So the lesson I have learned is that using keywords in the title and the content, can bring me a lot of free Google Search target visitors.

Today's FeedCount for The Dog Talk

2006-06-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

I was so shock when I saw the FeedCount for The Dog Talk today! 49 readers!

I started The Dog Talk on Sunday June 4th, just 6 days, the FeedCount jump from 0 reader to 7, then 8, and now 49! WOW! I think submitting my feed to RSS feed directories does work!

Ashley posted a question yesterday about what RSS feed is, well, it's a automatic way to send/receive news or info. For example, if you add my feed to your "My Yahoo" page, you can see what new post I have just by checking your own "My Yahoo" page. Does this make sense? If you have several blogs you like to check everyday, just add their feed into your yahoo page, so, instead of going to each blog to see if they have new post, just check your yahoo page, it will show you all!

The Dog Talk is not quite done yet, well, 99% is ok now, the only thing missing is the Google AdSense. I hope they don't turn down my application again.

So far, I'm very happy with WordPress, I think The Dog Talk looks good. I add some code, so every link which brings my readers to other website will open up a new window. Is that cool?!

Next week, I will focus on driving traffic to The Dog Talk, also start doing product review on the blog. Hope Google AdSense let me set up an AdSense account soon.

Have a nice weekend everyone, come back next week to see what traffic tips I can share with you. Take care!

Driving Traffic to The Dog Talk

2006-06-09T02:27:00.000-07:00

There are several ways to drive traffic to my weblog. I'm using the following 5 methods:

submit to blog and rss feed directories
ping
submit articles
press release
forum posting

Submitting to blog and ress feed directories only need to do once, and I have submitted to at least 100 directories, it sould be ok for now.

As for ping, I have set up automatic ping at the WordPress to 52 ping sites, no need to worry about it. Don't we just love that set it and forget it!

So now I only have 3 things need to do regularly to drive traffic to The Dog Talk.

Income Programs for The Dog Talk

2006-06-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

There are 3 types of income programs I can apply for The Dog Talk:

1) Pay Per Click

Google AdSense
Chitika

I have applied both programs, Chitika turned me down as The Dog Talk is too new to have enough content and traffic. I hope Google AdSense will approve my application soon!

2) Pay Per Sale

Tahitian Noni
Click Bank
Amazon
Commission Junction
Share A Sale

I'm not going to put any banner ad on The Dog Talk, banner ad doesn't work, they just waste your website or weblog space. I will write product review article to promote and presell the affiliate products.

3) Ad Space

I'm going to pass this type of income program for now.

Well, although I'm on schedule now, still have a lot of things need to do! I hope Google AdSense will approve my application before The Dog Talk's grand opening! Cross my fingers!

P.S.
Blogger was down today, that upset a lot of blogger users. Well, if you are using blog for business use, then pay for a good web hosting such as BlueHost, and use WordPress!

The Dog Talk's FeedCount

2006-06-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Just checked The Dog Talk's FeedCount. WOW! 7 readers! I know that's not that much, but I jump from 0 reader to 7, that's good, isn't it?

I don't really understand how this FeedCount works, but it's a way to promote my feed. It is a dynamic graphic that always displays my feed's current circulation, as calculated by FeedBurner.

I guess The Dog Talk has a great start, I'll keep working on it!

By the way, I'm on schedule, will put up some affiliate programs these two days.

Stay tuned for the grand opening!

Plugin Is Done

2006-06-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've quite a bit of achievement so far!

Some files have been installed into my WordPress Plugins, such as:

Google AdSense
Amazon Affiliate Program
Chitika Affilate Program
FeedBurner
Google Sitemap
Blogs of The Day
RSS NewsFeed

Well, if you are familiar with WordPress, you know I'm taking baby steps now to set things up.

If you are new to WordPress, I highly recommend Brandon Hong's WordPress Videos, it's a great course that guides you through the whole setting up process.

Please take a look at The Dog Talk, let me know what you think, and of course, stay tuned for the grand opening on Saturday 10 June!

WordPress Is Super!

2006-06-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

I stayed up a little late last night, tried to find a template (or as WordPress call "theme") for my new blog site The Dog Talk.

I coun'd find any template with doggy theme, so I chose a basic one, which has the simple clean look I want, it will do for now, If down the road I get tired of it, I will do more search, even get a paid template. (If you know any doggy theme template for WordPress 2.0 please drop me a line!)

Setting up a hosting account with BlueHost was quick and easy, didn't even take me 5 minutes. Getting WordPress under my domain is very simple and easy as well, by following Brandon Hong's (a WordPress guru) step-by-step instruction, the whole setting up process was very straightforward.

Although I'm using Blogger's free blogging service, I have to say WordPress is much better than Blogger, it has much much more powerful functions, and with "plugins" button, you can put even more stuff into it. WordPress is super!!!

So, I've set up the basic stuff, I'm on schedule according to my to do list, I'm very excited now and looking forward very much so to launch The Dog Talk officially on the June10th.

Oh, by the way, here is an invitation for all dog lovers, dog owners and dog owner wannabe.

--------oOo--------

Your Are Invited

The Dog Talk
Grand Opening

Date Saturday 10 June 2006
Time 8:00 AM PST
Place www.thedogtalk.com

A Mystery Gift For Every Guest!

--------oOo--------

To Do List for My 1st Project

2006-06-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

So far every things are going slowly but smoothly.

Dog Lovers Community is the niche I want for my 1st affiliate project.

I spent hours this afternoon just to get a domain. Man oh man! Is that ever difficult! My top choice domains all got taken, and I had to settle with theDogTalk.com

I'm setting up my Weblog on WordPress, it's a free blogging software but users need to get their own hosting service, so I signed up with BlueHost.

BlueHost is recommended by WordPress and Brandon Hong (a WordPress guru), they do have pretty decent package.

So, I've got my domain and hosting account, I still have a lot of things need to do! I've made a list as follow, just to keep everything on track.

Step	To Do List	Date
1	set up WordPress basic functions	6/3
2	set up WordPress plugins functions	6/4 - 6/5
3	place affiliate programs	6/6 - 6/7
4	work on traffic programs	6/8 - 6/9
5	grand opening	6/10
6	keep working on affiliate and traffic
-	Post! Post! Post!

Stay tuned for the grand opening!

Choose My 1st Topic

2006-06-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

I got a topic list the other day, after searching the keywords, I decided that my 1st niche would be Dog Training.

Now, I'm going to think about a name for the domain, tomorrow I'll start setting up a niche blog by using WordPress.

Website or Weblog?

2006-06-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't finished my market research, haven't chosen my niche topic yet, but I have been thinking about instead of building a niche website, why not build a niche weblog?

Both Rosalind and Jeremy gave whole lot of details instruction about building money making websites in their ebooks, but they didn't mentioned too much about blogging. From my understanding, they treat blog as an assistant role, use it to attract free search engine traffic and keep your visitor interested in your website.

Well, my thought is, why bother to build a website while a blog can do more and can play the main role itself?

Brainstorm Topic Ideas

2006-05-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

The 1st step in affiliate business is to choose a topic, not just any topic, but my best nich topic, and this will lead me to what kind of products and/or service to sell in the future.

Man oh man, this isn't easy! Today I'm just going to make a list of topics in which I'm most interested:

Beauty - Skin Care, Make-Up, Spa, Medicure, Pedicure
Fashion - Shoes, Handbags, Lingerie, Women's Clothing, Jewelry
Craft - Sewing, Beading, Greeting Cards
Cooking, Dining Out
Books, Magazines
Movies
Travel
Bonsai
Dog Training
Salsa Dancing

I know this is not a long list, but those are things interest me, and I can talk about them a lot.

So I have my list ready now, I will need to do Market Research to see how popular those topics are, and that's gonna be my next task!

High Performance Affiliate Marketing

2006-05-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Palmer's High Performance Affiliate Marketing is another great ebook that I highly recommend to affiliate marketers.

Besides the introduction on affiliate marketing, the book covers 4 main topics:

finding products and services to promote
keywords - the foundation of your success
build a website that sells
driving traffic to your website

This book is well-written, professional and very informative. It features real life case studies and examples from Jeremy.

As you can see Jeremy's sales page is short and to the point, he doesn't even mention that you will receive free and frequent updates, you'll also get access to the book's support forums.

High Performance Affiliate Marketing is a great read and worth every penny!

The Super Affiliate Handbook

2006-05-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

I mentioned Rosalind Gardner's The Super Affiliate Handbook in my previous post.

The Super Affiliate Handbook is a great ebook that will give you a solid foundation for starting your affiliate marketing career. It's 274 pages, and it's definitely 274 no-fluff pages. There's no large-sized print, double spaced lines, triple spacing between paragraphs, or pretty but useless pictures included just to add bulk to the book. Some of the pages do contain only a paragraph or two, but as a whole, there's a lot of information covered in these 274 pages.

The book covers everything in details on the 9 steps affiliate business building process:

choose your topic
choose product and affiliate programs
plan your website
register your domain and arrange web hosting
build your website
plan and develop your website content
market your website
mange your business
grow your business

The Super Affiliate Handbook is stuffed with information, both basic and advanced, and will help you get started, and keep moving forward in affiliate marketing on the right track.

I love this ebook very much, I've even decided to use it as a blueprint for my own affiliate marketing career, therefore, I denefitely recommend The Super Affiliate Handbook to all the affiliate marketers.

Ready, Steady, Go!

2006-05-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog! Affiliate Smarts will be an online journal for me to record my affiliate marketing progress.

I'm not new to affiliate marketing, but I'm not good at it either. Well, actually, I was never serious about it. You know when you don't treat someone or something seriously, they for sure won't treat you seriously back. And that's why I've never made any decent money from whatever affiliate programes I ever joined.

My Google AdSense account got closed the other day (that's all my own stupid fault), affiliate marketing is the only thing left I wanna do online to make money. Without the Google AdSense revenue, I must make this affiliate marketing work!

Recently I got two great ebooks, Rosalind Gardner's The Super Affiliate Handbook and Jeremy Palmer's High Performance Affiliate Marketing. I decided to use both ebooks as a buleprint for my affiliate marketing career. I hope one day I can become a professional affiliate marketer, a super affiliate just like Rosalind Gardner and Jeremy Palmer.

Stay Tuned

2006-05-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hi, thanks for stopping by! Sorry, the blog is still under construction, please check back later.

In the meanwhile, you might like to take a look at my other blog - Smart Olive. Thank you!