RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Designing the DinerDave Website

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So now I have a hosting service, I've done my market research, and I've written pertinent content based on that research for DinerDave.com. Now it's time to design the layout and look of the site. Once again I turn to Ros for recommendations on who could create a professional looking blog.

WHO Will Design DinerDave.com?

I reviewed dozens of WordPress template sites and became frustrated that I could not find the perfect “skin” for DinerDave.com. Then I read a case study on Doglirious.com in the latest revision of the Super Affiliate Handbook (Feb 2009). I was very impressed with the layout and functionality of this particular site and knew right then and there that I wanted the EXACT same layout for DinerDave.com! Well, as fate would have it, one month later Ros recommended Justin Parr, the creator of Doglirious.com, to create these beautiful StudioPress theme sites for her subscribers. After checking out Justin's portfolio of work on Juscott.com and the templates available on Studiopress.com I was hooked! I made up my mind that I would use Justin to create the Diner Dave website, rather than trying to spend hours trying to learn CSS, basic design and editing templates.

Selecting a Theme and Design Package

That afternoon I purchased the same StudioPress “Lifestyles” theme that Justin used to create Doglirious.com (with the bonus “Streamline” theme for free…I can use that for another website later). I uploaded this theme through NetProfitsToday link and selected the Gold Package from the design services page on NPT. I did so because I wanted a strong foundation for the Diner Dave site and that included all the advanced plug-ins and features included in the Gold Package for email marketing, social bookmarking, tag cloud, etc…

Ros said in her recommendation for Justin's design services, it is “preposterous to pay $5000 to have someone create a website” and then not know how to change links, upload pics, or perform any other simple updates. I agree! As someone who has actually spent thousands of dollars to create a static website I'm here to tell you that $999 for Justin's Gold Package I selected is a steal! It is possible to find web designers on Elance.com or Rentacoder.com to create WordPress sites for the same price or maybe a little lower, but I prefer to hire a person that is recommended by someone I trust (Ros) AND that guarantees their work.

Creating the Logo

Creating a logo was the only service offered by Justin that I did not select. I created the logo a few weeks before Ros' post on Justin's design services. I reviewed several logo creation sites like 99designs.com before selecting logoloft.com to create the Diner Dave logo. The main reason I selected them was because of their impressive portfolio of work AND they were running a $99 special on logo creation. I contacted them and described exactly what I wanted. After a few revisions, I received the finalized Diner Dave logo. I was very pleased with the results! Now it was time to get started on the site.

Justin Works his Magic!

After contacting Justin via email we set up a phone and online meeting (via Yugma.com) to discuss how I would like the design and layout of DinerDave.com to look. I already knew what content I would be adding to the site…it was just a matter of organizing it in a website for ease of use and arranging merchant offers on each of the pages. I started by creating a map of the home page on an Excel spreadsheet (because I couldn't email him a cocktail napkin!). Here is a copy of that spreadsheet:

dinerdave-spreadsheet

After discussing my vision of the layout and design of DinerDave.com, Justin had a checklist of items for us to cover before he started in on the design work. The list included:

  • Color scheme – I chose red, a color that invokes passion. Plus, I wanted to make sure the color scheme matched my logo. He matched the primary and secondary colors to those displayed on the site.
  • Layout – Obviously, I wanted to place the AWeber email / RSS opt-in collection form at the top right of every page. I know from experience that I will make 100x more money on merchant offers with my email subscribers than random visitors to the site. I also needed to make sure that my revenue producing merchant offers/reviews were featured close to the top of the page (ie the “Diner Dave Daily Deals”). I relied on Justin's recommendations to determine where to place the remaining content.
  • Google ads – There are several locations in the Lifestyles template where you can place Google ads, but I decided I only wanted one area in the right column for these ads. I really want the emphasis of Diner Dave to be content over ads.
  • Category and tag selection – Once again I chose the categories I selected based on my market research. The categories are based on what people are looking for on google and other search engines: restaurant coupons, restaurant gift certificates, restaurant reviews, etc… Moreover, I already had content for each of these major categories.
  • Navigation menus – I selected a 2 tier navigation menu to give visitors a broad overview of the dining out tips and advice featured on the site. The primary navigation bar contains broad topics: tips and advice, web discounts, the about us page, and contests to win a free lunch (a popular concept I started with DinerDeals.com). The secondary navigation bar lists the most popular categories with my merchant offers – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT to monetize the site.
  • Pictures and graphics – Justin was a huge help when it came to selecting the perfect pictures for the featured article box on the home page! He also taught me how to find and download these pictures myself using sites like Dreamstime, iStockPhoto, and Stockxchange. Plus, he advised me on how to use tools like SnagIt and Picnik.com to capture and edit screen shots, photos, tables, etc..
  • Plug-ins – I added the SEO All-in-One pack and Ninja Affiliate Links to my admin section to optimize the site for search engines and to cloak affiliate links.

After my data dump, a few dozen emails back and forth, and a couple more phone conversations, here is the result of our collaberation (drumroll please…..):

DinerDaveHmPg

I can tell you that one of the great things about dealing with Justin is that he will patiently walk you through how to use WordPress to create and edit posts, create pages, optimize your site for search engines, create categories, and everything you need to know to become a self sufficient blogger. I HIGHLY recommend him to anyone that is looking to create a new website or transfer an existing website to WordPress!

Getting the Word Out

Now it's time to let my DinerDeals.com subscribers know about the NEW DinerDave.com! Look for the next post that deals with how to motivate existing subscribers to join my new list.

Amazon Affiliate Program Changes Affect Arbitragers

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Bad news for search affiliates (arbitragers) out of Amazon today.

Here's what was posted to their Associates Alerts.

After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you're not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.

As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.

This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

So the PPC affiliates get slapped again.

Although I sincerely hope that no one reading this is singularly dependent on Amazon product sales through PPC, if you stand to lose even a small percentage of your affiliate earnings due to this new policy, this is definitely the time to change your strategy – or at least add to your current arsenal of marketing methods.

One thing you might consider is running those Amazon feeds on a niche focused blog with a product like Datafeedr. Get some (core) content to add value. Build a list and connect with your readers regularly.

In other words, build a business blog that doesn't run the risk of getting slapped by the likes of Amazon or Google.

Recommended Autoresponder Services

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Research has shown that the average person needs to be exposed to an ad at least 7 times (and often many more) before they will buy a product. You therefore need to remind visitors to come BACK to your site, making an autoresponder service essential for your online business.

Below I've listed those autoresponder services that I and other Internet marketing professionals have used and trusted for years.

TOP PICK: Aweber Communications

Having used their service since 1998, Aweber's autoresponder service is my TOP pick and the one I most highly recommend. Just some of Aweber's features include detailed email web analytics, activity based segmentation, geo-targeting, broadcast split-testing and an easy-to-use email setup wizard. Try Aweber risk-free for a month to get
more email subscribers, enhance your subscriber relationships, and increase your sales.

Visit Aweber | Read my Aweber Review

Constant Contact

Constant ContactConstant Contact's service includes customizable website visitor sign up form; Over 100 professional HTML email templates (newsletters, promos, invites and more); List management and hosting (including unsubscribe and bounce mgmt); Automatic delivery in the correct format, HTML or text; Real-time reporting (including opens, who clicked on which links and more); You can try it free for 60 days. Every free trial includes a subscription to their email marketing best practices newsletter and email campaign coaching tips.


Visit Constant Contact

Get Response

Get ResponseGet Response is the email marketing / autoresponder of choice by such top-notch Internet marketers as Michel Fortin, Marlon Sanders and Yanik Silver; and has been used by over 500,000 internet marketers since 1998. With GetResponse, your email marketing campaigns are protected by their Delivery Guard™ technology that monitors your mailings 24/7. Support service is also 24/7.

Visit Get Response

Aweber Autoresponder Review

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“Aweber is still the best autoresponder service available – bar none.”

If you've been searching for a service that will let you build a list of subscribers, deliver auto-response messages and send broadcast news to those subscribers, then you already know that there are many different options from which to choose.

You may be finding it difficult to choose, so… I'm going to make your choice simple.

Get an Aweber autoresponder.

I have been using Aweber's autoresponder service since 1998. For comparison purposes only, I've tested many of the other autoresponder services available and have ultimately cancelled all but Aweber's service.

With Aweber, you get everything you need to build your email marketing campaign at a reasonable price.

Unlimited Autoresponders, Broadcast & Followup Messages

These are the most basic benefits of having an Aweber autoresponder account:

  • Unlimited autoresponders so you can set build a different for list for each of your sites or pay per click campaigns.
  • Unlimited follow up messages. You can have something as short as a 5-part autoresponder series or build one that delivers a message to your subscriber every week for a year… or longer. It's up to you.
  • Unlimited braodcast messages lets you share news with your subscribers on an ad-hoc basis.
  • Unlimited message length. There are some services that restrict the amount of text you can send.

In addition to support, the Aweber guys frequently blog and write articles about email marketing topics such as “Just Because We Publish, Doesn't Mean You Read” and “Confirmed Opt-in Myths Exposed”.

Personalization, Shopping Cart Integration and more…

The features that you get with Aweber's service is too extensive to list in this article, but here are few:

  • Your messages can be personalized to include your subscriber's name.
  • Send your messages using text, HTML or both — and you can choose from a number of pre-designed HTML templates.
  • A WYSIWYG editor is available for the HTML challenged.
  • Click-through and open rates are tracked automatically.
  • You can send attachments such as ebooks or PDF's along with your messages.
  • Aweber is easily integrated with Paypal and other third-party shopping carts.
  • Free customer support via phone, live chat or ticket submission. This is one of the few autoresponder services that has support available on the weekends – and their support is fabulous — they actually answer the question that you asked! 🙂

Aweber makes it easy for you to start using their system as well, with free training videos that show you how to do everything on a step-by-step basis.

Creating your opt-in form is as simple as navigating to the “Web Form” section, filling in 4 form blanks and selecting one radio button. All you have to do then is copy and paste the code where you want it on your site.

Pricing

Subscribers Monthly Cost
0 – 500 $19.00
501 – 2,500 $29.00
2,501 – 5,000 $49.00
5,001 – 10,000 $69.00
10,001 – 25,000 $149.00
25,000+ Contact Aweber

 

You will have no trouble covering the cost of the service as your list grows, because with MORE subscribers you'll be making much MORE money!




Powered by AWeber

So, as I've been telling new Internet marketers and webmasters for years — with more features and lower prices, Aweber is still the best autoresponder service available – bar none.

Visit the Aweber site now to learn more…

Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Basic Services for Your Affiliate Marketing Business

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“These are services that I wouldn't be without as an Internet marketer…”

Here is a list of basic services that I wouldn't be without as an Internet marketer.

Please note that the services I use and recommend are listed in alphabetical order – not in order of importance. If you are just starting out, the “must-haves” are marked with ***, although in time you will likely discover that they are all “must-haves”. 🙂

  1. Autoresponder ***
  2. Blog Templates and Themes ***
  3. Graphics / Stock Photography
  4. Hosting Service***
  5. Market Research Services
  6. Marketing & Advertising Services
  7. Outsourcing Services (Find Programmers, Designers and Writers)
  8. Webinar & Meeting Services


 
 

1. Autoresponder Service ***

If you don't build a list, you're not building a business — pure and simple. Your list will become your most important business asset.

And don't even consider building that list without the services of a third-party autoresponder service. My autoresponder of choice is Aweber — no holds barred. I've been doing business with them for almost 10 years (at the time of writing) and they've never lost a lead and their service is fabulous. And yes, I have sampled a number of the other services, but always came back to Aweber. Sign up for Aweber Autoresponder now or read my review. More autoresponder service options are listed here.


 

2. Blog Template / Theme Suppliers

Make your website beautiful the easy way by getting a Professional WordPress theme for your blog. This blog uses the eleven-40 theme by StudioPress.


 

3. Graphics and Photos

You can add visual interest to your blog posts as well as give your readers clues about content by adding clipart, graphics and photos. Don't be tempted however to copy and use any image that you find online. Most images often are copyright protected, and you need permission before you can use them on your site, and many webmasters will not give you permission to use their images.

So, rather than spend time emailing other webmasters and then waiting for permission, I highly recommend using iStockPhoto where you can pick up images for as little as $1 a piece.


 

4. Hosting Service ***

You've taken the plunge and decided to get your own website. Excellent!!! Find out which hosting services I currently recommend for having top-notch features and services.

If you're still debating whether or not you actually need a web site, please read Free Hosting is NOT for Affiliate Marketers and “Do I Really Need My Own Web Site?“.


 

5. Keyword & Niche Market Research

Which keyword phrase is more popular? “Dog training collar” or the more generic “dog obedience training“? Don't know? Knowing which keyword phrase gets the most searches is very important if you want to reach the largest possible audience and hence, increase your sales.

I use and recommend a service called Wordtracker, which lets you optimize your website content by finding the most popular keywords. You can also use Wordtracker to generate thousands of relevant keywords to improve your organic and PPC search campaigns. Last but not least, most marketers use Wordtracker to research online markets and find niche opportunities before they spend valuable time and money building a site around a niche market that may be too small to be worthwhile, or worse not even exist.

Wordtracker offers a FREE trial service, which for starters, may be all you need.


 

7. Outsourcing Work to Programmers, Designers and Writers

Having trouble getting that plugin work? Do you want to tweak your site but don't know where to begin – or are scared that you might break something?

Every so often there will probably be something you want to accomplish with your site that you just don't know how to do — or don't have time for. For example, although I like to do basic design changes to my own websites, I will not even attempt to design an ebook or report cover. For that work, I prefer to use professionals such as Vaughan Davidson of Killer Covers Design Service.

If the company that sold you the script offers only installation services but leaves ‘tweaking' up to the individual webmaster, it's time to hire a professional programmer. I've had good luck hiring programmers and other freelancers through Freelancer and Fiverr.

Here are a few of the categories under which you can post jobs for freelancers:

  • CSS
  • Data Entry
  • Graphic Design
  • Handheld
  • Links
  • Marketing
  • Multimedia Script Installation
  • SEO
  • Security
  • System Admin
  • Translation
  • Website Design
  • Writing

As you can see, the freelancers' skills aren't limited to programming. So, for example, if you wanted to have 25 articles ghost-written for one of your sites, you can post jobs for that type of work as well.


 
 

8. Webinar and Online Meeting Services

GoToMeeting - Online Meetings Made EasyHave you ever wished that you could see what someone else was doing on their computer, rather than try to figure out their explanation of the process?

My partners and I have been using GoToMeeting for exactly that purpose for a few years now — and it has proven to be another huge time-saving tool.

You can perform live demos in real-time to multiple customers, collaborate on projects with your colleagues and host meetings on-the-fly with sales prospects. You can also have up to 10 attendees per meeting. We also use GotoWebinar to hold online seminars and demonstrations – with up to 1,000 people at once.

Both services offer a Free Trial.

5 Reasons Your Blog Doesn’t Make Money

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If you've been working on your web site for more than a couple of months and still haven't made any money, or your sales are dismal to the point of being depressing, you should consider the 5 points listed below very carefully.

One or more of them will likely explain why your site still isn't making any money.

  1. No Traffic

    People can't buy what they never see, so unless you are actively attracting visitors to your site using a variety of methods – beyond simply counting on the search engines to send you free traffic – it's unlikely you'll start making sales anytime soon.

    The most effective methods for bringing new visitors to your blog are pay per click advertising and social networking.

    If you have a budget, start with pay per click marketing to get visitors to your site fast. If your advertising budget is currently non-existent, concentrate on the latter two methods to get free traffic. Leave valuable comments on relevant forums and blogs. Build traffic through your Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social marketing accounts.

    Then, once your site starts getting traffic and making sales, re-invest your earnings in advertising.

  2. Problematic Site Design

    If you are getting traffic to your site, the next consideration is how visitors perceive your site. If it looks unprofessional, is impossible to navigate or is just downright ugly; it's unlikely that visitors will trust you to handle their orders in a professional manner – regardless of how appealing your products may be.

    Take a look at professionally-designed merchant sites (eg. BlueNile and Hammacher.com) and note how they have simple visual appeal, easy site navigation and basic elements such as contact and privacy links.

    Good basic design is easily and cheaply available to bloggers through professionally designed WordPress themes and templates. If you're not a blogger, consider using the services of programmers at Elance, Scriptlance and RentaCoder or buying a template at BoxedArt.

  3. Untargetted Traffic

    If you're driving traffic to your web site through pay per click advertising and your site design is beautiful, then you may be sending visitors to the wrong page.

    For example, if you are advertising a specific item on Google Adwords and directing traffic from that campaign to the homepage of your online electronics store, you've probably just lost a potential sale and wasted money on advertising.

    When selling specific items, send your traffic directly to the page on you site that provides the most relevant information.

  4. Copywriting Problems

    If you've sent traffic to a beautiful page that promotes a specific product and you're still not making sales, then your promotional methods may be lacking or lackluster.

    Is the landing page one big banner ad? Is the copy rife with spelling and grammatical errors? Is the copy too long or too short? Does the copy fail to clearly communicate what your visitor wants and needs to know?

    The art of good copywriting (and making a sale) lies in your ability to write product reviews that focus primarily on benefits – how a product will improve a person's life.

    Learn how to write product endorsements. Take a copywriting course and keep working to improve your skills. If you don't like writing or don't want to write that much, consider hiring a ghostwriter to write your articles and product endorsements.

  5. No Follow-Up

    You can send traffic to a beautiful, highly relevant page on your site that has a professionally written endorsement and still not make many sales. This is particularly true if you are selling high-end products.

    To nail the sale – and this is absolutely critical regardless of what type of product or service you sell – you MUST followup with your visitors. Every single page on your site MUST MUST MUST include an email capture form (provided by a 3rd party autoresponder service) that allows you to present offers to your visitors via email after they leave your site.

    Craft your autoresponder series and broadcast messages with a view to sharing worthwhile information and building relationships with your readers. Be the first to share information about that new widget that you tested and liked – and say it with enthusiasm! To build trust, let your subscribers know when to steer clear of the ‘bad apples' that they might otherwise be influenced to buy through your competitors.

In summary, EACH of the items listed above is critical to your online business success.

When you're sending copious amounts of targeted traffic to an attractive user-friendly site on which the copy focuses on benefits and your subscribers eagerly anticipate your newsletters – you WILL be making plenty of sales and PLENTY of money.

Traffic Generation Then and Now

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NPT reader Sean wrote this week to ask me a whole bunch of questions about how I was able to get traffic to my websites to the extent that I was able to ‘crack' the $100,000 earnings level.

Because I reached that level back in 1999, and my traffic generation strategies have changed considerably over time, I've answered the questions to highlight those differences.

Here are both Sean's questions and my answers…

  1. Can you please tell me, when you first cracked the $100,000 level, exactly how you were driving traffic to your site(s)?

    I broke the 100K mark in 1999, my second year in business. At the time I was working with only one site, Sage-Hearts.com. Traffic to the site came from 2 primary sources – pay per click search engine advertising and natural / organic search – which were about equally split.

    A larger percentage (between 60 and 70%) of my traffic now comes from natural search and other free methods of traffic generation, primarily article marketing.

    These numbers are highly dependent on the month and season, eg. I drive more traffic using PPC in advance of Valentine's Day and other gift-giving holidays.

  2. Were you doing anything to optimize your traffic source(s) once you found the ones that were working the best for you?

    I used to spend a LOT of time tweaking my pay per click advertising campaigns to maximize conversion rates.

    They're so fined honed now that I barely even check the long-standing campaigns in the dating niche.

  3. Were you offering just one product at that time, if so, what was the price of that product?

    Much as I do today, my visitors were offered a variety of product and service options relevant to their needs. For example, if a surfer found my site via a pay per click search engine while looking for ‘mail order brides' and therefore landed on my mail order bride page, he would have seen services relevant to his specific search on that page.

    However, he would also have seen the sidebar navigation that would present him with alternative options, such as International / Ethnic dating services.

    Dating service membership prices varied according to subscription duration – anywhere from $19.95 for a one-month membership to over $200.00 for a year-long membership.

    Most of the services that I promote (then and now) offer recurring commissions.

    The primary difference between then and now is that I concentrate on sending more traffic to pages that promote higher-priced products – some of which pay between $500 – $1000 commissions per sale.

  4. What was your sales process like, once a visitor got to your landing page?

    Then, as now, I posted reviews of various dating services. Summary reviews were included on primary category pages, eg. faith-based dating services. Two links for each service are generally provided on the category page – one that goes directly to the merchant site and the other to a longer review where the visitor can learn more about the specific service.

  5. For those visitors that did not buy initially, did you do any email or autoresponder marketing to them, if so, how many more contacts were needed before a sale was made?

    Absolutely! I've been using Aweber's autoresponder service since my first year of doing business online and visitor followup lies at the very heart of my marketing strategy.

    Although I've never tracked exact numbers from the time a visitor arrives on the site to the point of sale through the autoresponder sequence and broadcast messages, conventional marketing wisdom states that it takes 7 contacts to penetrate a consumer's conciousness with a specific product or brand.

    The Pareto principle or 80/20 rule is also a common rule of thumb, e.g., 80 percent of your sales are generated from 20 percent of your visitors.

    That said, response rate is highly dependent on the product being offered. For example, the response rate to a very generic free offer (on which you are earning commissions for the lead) will be much higher than on a product targeted at a narrow niche, eg. senior singles.

    For that reason, I generally include a mix of both generic and more targeted offers within each message – whether it be the autoresponder series or a broadcast message.

    How many visitors were you getting on a monthly basis?

  6. Although I no longer have traffic statistics for that period, I estimate my numbers (based on commissions earned and conversion rates) at between approximately 12 and 25 thousand visitors per month.

    What were your conversion ratios for that traffic that was visiting your site(s)?

    At that time, my average conversion rate for traffic sent to a merchant's site was 2.544%.

  7. When making your first $100,000, how much did it cost you, in marketing, to generate that revenue? How much were you spending per month to get your traffic?

    In the early days, it typically cost me $1 to earn 2 bucks.

    My PPC spend is considerably less now and my conversion rates are higher – to the extent that on some product offers I can spend one dollar and make $10 in return. Although those results aren't typical across the board, I now earn approximately $4.6 for every dollar spent on advertising.

Although I've been immensely satisfied with the results of my traffic generation efforts, one area in which I've fallen far short is in tracking.

John Reese (Traffic Secrets 2.0) emphasizes the need for all Internet marketers to track where their traffic originates and at what cost. Basically, you can enjoy even better results when you know exactly how many sales, newsletter sign-ups, or other leads your particular marketing campaigns generate. Once tracking is in place, you will know where best to concentrate your efforts and can therefore ‘work smarter, not harder', make more money… and truly live the affiliate lifestyle. 🙂

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