I am going to take you through a complete start to finish tutorial on
how I make money online. As my regular readers know I took a month
long hiatus recently and aside from doing a lot of much needed
maintenance on my blog network I spent a fair amount of time surfing
the MMO/Blogging niches including most of my friends and readers. One
thing struck me time and again – most bloggers can whip up a fancy
looking site and in most cases fill their blogs with good, original and
even interesting posts. A lot of you have even come to grips with the
basics of SEO and have produced Google friendly pages. The only thing
that was almost universally missing from the hundreds of sites I
visited was the Money Maker – meaning that most of you haven’t focused
on how you intend to earn money with your efforts. The exception are
those who have built Adsense sites.
This tutorial will not focus on Adsense. I have covered this enough for everybody to know the basics by now. I want to look at affiliate marketing and more specifically at lead generation.
Because of the impulse to produce Social friendly blogs I think a good many of you get sidetracked and lose focus. I see countless blogs that have built up PR and alexa ranking and even some search traffic for their MMO blogs but fail miserably at converting visitors into buyers. This is because just about all of you built a social site first and then slapped up a bunch of 125′s as an afterthought. How many times have you seen the same “Bidvertiser” ad?, “Text Link Ads” Ad? or “SEO Book” ad? Never mind the countless “Hosting” ads. The point is that your social traffic isn’t buying (hell they have the same ads on their own site) and the search traffic that you get is not targeted to your ads and they too, have seen the same stuff on every site they visit.
To make money you really have to reverse the current thinking process. You don’t build a site and then figure out what to sell. You figure out what to sell first and then build the site to achieve those sales and only those sales. You must concentrate on the product and resist the urge to slap up more than one type of monetization. If you are selling an affiliate product or generating leads for others then that is what the blog is for. Period.
How do you find a product that isn’t saturated? This can be tough to do but I tend to only sell “new” products or programs or stuff that has nobody else selling it (more on this shortly). You find them by subscribing to all the IM gurus who flog crap weekly – once in a while they actually come up with something decent – not often though. This is the obvious answer but not the best. Quit looking for IM products to sell to other IMer’s. Join all the hobby forums. Keep abreast of new products, books, calendars, how to’s etc in all the other niches online that gather traffic from the mom and pop civilian crowd. Pay special attention to what the teenage crowd is currently raving about. Use the social networks for what they were meant to do – disseminate information. You are looking for anything new that will tweak the public’s interest.
Once you find something interesting the next step is to find a method to monetize it. Most of you will see if the product uses affiliates. If it doesn’t you pass and move on… that is a mistake. I look for things that don’t have affiliates. I don’t want anybody else selling what I’m selling. I prefer to make money selling leads rather than affiliate sales – there is less competition and you can set your price if you are good at it.
An example.
I found a company that sells batteries for 2 wheeled golf carts. This is like a pull cart but has a small electric motor attached so that the golfer can control the cart with a remote hand held controller. I first noticed these being used by a lot of the elderly golfers at a golf club I belong too. The batteries only last a few years and then need replacing. I asked a couple of gents where they got the replacements. Turns out a couple of local firms carried them but didn’t produce them. I found a manufacturer and several dealers in several major centers and guess what – none of them knew the slightest thing about SEO although they all had websites. I quickly created several perfectly optimized blogs targeting each of the major local niches and not surprisingly ranked on top of the serp’s in short order. This brought in a steady if not large stream of traffic.
Now, I had nothing to sell. Just information about the carts and batteries. So how do you make money doing this. Yes you could slap up Adsense but there wasn’t much for advertisers. What I did was simple. I picked a dealer in each city and linked to the dealers site. I left the link up for a week. I tracked the traffic that I sent to the dealer – about 20-30 people a day. (You can use feedburner to give you exit stats if you are using a free Blogger blog – no cost, no hassle)
After I removed the link I sent an email to the dealer and basically told them who I was and what I did. I mentioned that I had sent them a couple of hundred visitors and politely asked if they would like me to continue to do so. They all thanked me and said yes. I asked if the increase in sales could justify a weekly fee for the traffic – I suggested $25 per week to the first dealer. They agreed. I suggested $35 to the second and eventually raised it to $50 a week with the final dealer. (They are all paying $50 per week now during peak season (summer) and $15 per week off season. Yes I had to explain PayPal to all of them but they caught on quickly. One dealer did try to lower the fee stating that his sales weren’t high enough from my traffic. I responded that I would send the traffic to his competition and see how they converted. He said he thought he might just keep paying me the $50 a week. I said fine…
That is lead generation in a nutshell. No competition and if you find a product or service with a high end ticket price you can ask for a high end fee. One thing I have learned is that very few of us can generate traffic but everyone is trying to sell something. Give them the traffic to sell too and they will kiss your ass… and pay you. If they don’t the competition usually does.
I am going to keep these posts short because I want those of you who are interested to work along with me as I go. I have picked a product to promote and will walk you through the whole process in the upcoming posts. I have picked Brad and Matt Callen’s soon to be released Blinkweb software that is designed for total non-techies to use in order to build websites and blogs without needing any coding experience at all. Or at least that’s what they claim. They have released a short intro video about Blinkweb but that’s about it. I have no idea if it’s a piece of crap or not but I am hoping that it isn’t. Brad Callen has created two excellent programs in the past – SEO Elite and Keyword Elite. Matt Callen’s HyperVRE was/is a piece of shit though so it’s a toss up as to what we will get. In the event that it turns out to be a winner I want in early and have already set up the blog. You can see it here. Blinkweb.
I have not done anything to get it ranked yet – just a link from this blog in order to get the new site indexed. Google indexed it yesterday about an hour after I added the link on this site. That is why you should all have a flagship blog at your disposal. I will be getting links shortly in order to climb the serp’s but thought I would wait for the rest of you and show you that process as well.
When I say “wait for the rest of you” I mean to say – get off your butts and find a product or business that sells something and go to Blogger and set up the site just like I have done. (yes you can spend money and use self hosting but remember I like to set up dozens of these types of sites knowing that most will fail – that’s why Blogger is ideal – no cost)
Note: Our friend Frank at OpTempo has built a nice plain SEO friendly theme for wordpress that is similar to this Blogger Minima theme. (Actually it’s way uglier) You can learn more here Boring Memo WordPress Theme or Download the Boring Memo WordPress Theme or view the Demo of Boring Memo WordPress Theme
Don’t worry if the product or business has an affiliate program. Just find something that can be sold either by you or a business that needs traffic. We aren’t trying to make money at this stage. We are trying to find a traffic source so keep that in mind. Find something that you believe will entice a decent amount of traffic. Once we get traffic we will worry about how to convert it – there is almost aways some kind of buyer.
A couple of don’ts
- don’t email me asking what I think of your product idea. Just pick one – if it fails big deal. Find another one. I have shown some traffic stats in the past for my affiliate sites – lots of them were duds and a few were winners. This is a numbers game. Just learn how to set up these types of sites properly and then start mass producing them for everything you can think of. There is no cost other than time if you use a free host. Affiliate marketing is a numbers game. Period.
- don’t pick a highly competitive niche. It will take forever to get the traffic.
- don’t pick a topic that is taboo. No sex, drugs or rock n roll… G frowns on those.
Do pay attention to local niches especially for leads. Who in your town is selling something and would pay you for the traffic?
Ok – if you have been paying attention to my SEO methods then you should be able to see what I’m targeting on the Blinkweb blog and then set up your blog and first post in the same manner.
If you don’t have an authority blog to use in order to get indexed send me your URL and Keyword and I’ll find a link for you.
Next post we will look at getting the backlinks necessary for top serp ranking.
Cheers,
Griz
On a side note;
One of the problems I have when doing these little example blogs is that I usually end up ranking better with this blog for the keyword than the example blog does. Google indexed this post within a few minutes of publishing it and traffic showed up just shortly after that. They were searching for “Blinkweb” and sure enough this blog is on page two already – with no links and no optimization for the term. See below, (click to enlarge)
This is a good sign though – it means there isn’t much competition for the top spot. This is usually the case for new products so it pays to jump on them early.
And the next day…
I’m sitting at number 2…lol
89 comments:
AllAboutTheBenjamins said…
Great Post Griz!
Glad to see that you’re back.
June 07, 2008 11:54 AM
Antonio said…
Alright I have created my blog, I am looking forward to learning a lot from this experience
June 07, 2008 12:27 PM
Terry said…
Hey Griz, That’s a nice tack. I’ve tried this sort of thing before and failed miserably – the product was probably too MMO oriented and too much competition. But I know I should have dusted myself off and got on and done another but never did.
With so much going on I tend to forget some things and then a post like this reminds me that I should try and make some time for this.
I’ll get my thinking cap out of the dog’s basket and try it on to see if it still fits…
June 07, 2008 12:27 PM
Vinny Lingo said…
I’m really looking forward to the rest of this series. I was waiting for you to mention local niche lead generation. My question about that is if they are an offline business that doesn’t have a way of capturing leads/traffic I send their way, should I try capturing the lead myself? Such as with mortgage leads?
June 07, 2008 12:44 PM
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com said…
Hey Griz,
I’ve been lurking for a while, finding your blog just before your month out.
Great series idea!
When you say “lead generation”, do you mean collecting customers’ information?
Cheers,
Alex
June 07, 2008 1:20 PM
Neena (NeenMachine) said…
It really is all about marketing, isn’t it? Blogging is secondary. Build a blog around the product – that is so basic yet eye opening!
June 07, 2008 1:24 PM
Kerri said…
I appreciate you and your to-the-point attitude and dry humor and I am in need of you to glance at my blog
sexy-sassy-sandals.blogspot.com
I was pleased to see it ranked #1 on Google so what is the next step for this to really pay off? Talk to me like i’M two until I get the hang of this!
THANKS GRIZ– carebear
June 07, 2008 2:38 PM
Niche Marketing said…
Another great post Griz, however there is one problem! I sat down expecting to read another epic novel, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I got out of this short post!
Just kidding buddy, great info!
I just registered a new blogger site with a topic that I get a ton of traffic for on a Squidoo lens. I know there are a couple of affiliate programs for it, but I have never had a conversion. I do get a ton of Adsense clickthroughs on the lens though.
Would you recommend just doing posts so far to bring traffic to it and wait to monetize this site, or go ahead and put adsense on it?
I have had over 200 visits in the last week on this lens with about 50 to 100 click outs (i don’t remember exactly).
Thanks!
Elliott
ps…check the forum email for another question…
June 07, 2008 2:49 PM
Mr. Buy Low Sell High said…
Griz:
Glad I found you and Court. I put up a bunch of blogs and sites with zilch results. Turns out each had one or more problems that you and Court have already addressed. So I am now slowly addressing them on the ones that may be salvageable.
Thanks, David Bean
June 07, 2008 2:51 PM
-Stephen- said…
Hey Grizz,
Funny that you are going with blinkweb: I just read the promo email for it a few days ago when I got back from Edmonton (eeew, flat land everywhere, lol) and immediately wondered if it were any good. Silly question time: do you think it will just be software to apply to an existing platform or will there be a free or paid platform offered with it? I only ask because it would potentially be anew source of optimised URLs.
Anyway, good to have your fresh eyes back with us and lighting the way.
Stephen
June 07, 2008 7:38 PM
Chanya said…
I never really understood lead generation – now I do.
After reading your article I visited my Blogger Graveyard which has several sites I’d set up as experiments. I found one that might work well as a lead generation site.
I’m currently in the process of giving it new life . . . looking forward to the next lesson!
June 07, 2008 7:48 PM
costa said…
This is going to be so so good! I got to publicise this! Thanks Grizz.
June 07, 2008 8:03 PM
Frank At OpTempo said…
Thanks for the link in the sidebar Griz!!
I’ve been doing Blogger blogs monitized with eBay affiliate lately and that’s been working rather well. Plus, creating the eBay product search traffic oriented posts on OpTempo brings in more money there plus helps me identify some extra niches to build more Blogger blogs around with the long tails.
One little hitch I encountered recently was that I have to be careful not write too good. Somebody who liked one of my reviews cut and pasted it onto a PR7 forum. Straight to the dupe filter for me so I had to rewrite the post and throw some extra comments onto it to get it out. Well, at least they linked to me so I should get a good backlink out of it.
June 07, 2008 9:09 PM
Justin @ Bloggingzombie said…
Great post buddy. Its nice to see you back. Hope things are going well for you. Let me know when you want to catch up on some things.
June 07, 2008 9:11 PM
Grizzly said…
Benjamins,
Glad to be back and thanks for stopping by.
Antonio,
Let’s hope we can make you a few bucks.
Terry,
I’ve spent so much time explaining SEO that I figured its time to show what can be done with it as far as converting traffic to dollars. There are a number of options but I think this is the simplest for most people to grasp. Quite frankly any site that can generate traffic is a gold mine if the traffic can be sent to those looking for it. I’m curious to see how creative people can be given their own local and areas of interest. Should be fun.
Vinny,
This is not the only form of lead generation – just my simplified version of it. What you mention is the more common form used for driving leads for law offices, travel agents, tour operators, mortgage leads etc. Your process involves gathering lists and selling them to the companies looking for qualified leads. It works but is more involved and I thought I would introduce “lead generation lite” first as it doesn’t require nearly as much work and can be used for low competition niches. Mortgage leads is a highly competitive field and will take a lot of work and time before you see the money – assuming you are starting from scratch. If you are already established with a site then definitely pursue it – you can generate some serious fees in that type of niche.
Alex,
As I mentioned to Vinny I am concentrating on a simplified system with these posts. Collecting customer information in the form of mailing lists is the norm for the competitive niches but that is a whole different ballgame. I think people should get their feet wet generating local leads for local niches first and then once they see how this works they can expand into larger fields.
Neena,
In this case its about SEO and then marketing. Get the traffic and then convert it. I have found a lot of great websites marketing unique products but they don’t have a clue how to get visitors. Send them the traffic and you will find that they will pay you to keep doing it – I love it as I don’t have to sell anything or deal with customers. The internet is perfect for middlemen (and women ) – if you are good at SEO you can find a
lot of ways to make money on the net. I found a site that sells homemade
cookies that are apparently “to die for”. I set up a blog and started
sending visitors to the cookie site – not a lot however and I gave up
and removed the links. A week later the owner contacted me and offered
to pay me for each visitor I sent – apparently they were making sales.
Just nickel and dime stuff but it reminded me just how hard most sites
find it to generate traffic. (I never did charge them anything and they
have since given up the business but it did get me targeting lots of
little niches like “homemade soaps”, “homemade candles” and craft shops
to name a few.) Those were hints for some of you who didn’t catch on…
ha. Hope all is well Neena and nice hearing from you as always.
Kerri,
I will take a look as soon as I can. Is the #1 ranking bringing in traffic?
Elliot,
If you think you can convert affiliate sales then build the traffic and try the affiliate products first. If they don’t pan out then use adsense – I never use adsense on an affiliate site except as a last resort. The reason is simple enough – the moment I slap the adsense on it I am letting G know it’s part of my network and my linking structure becomes known. We have talked about this on the forum so I’m sure you know what I am getting at. If the affiliate sales don’t work then look to see who might benefit from the type of traffic you are getting and send them some traffic for free. Cut them off after a week and contact them and see if they want more…
This doesn’t always work depending on what your niche is but you would be surprised how often it does. You may only get $10 a month but hey – that’s fine for a blog that costs nothing and doesn’t require much work once its set up.
(I’m trying to get to the forum – damn fisherman are a needy bunch! lol)
David,
Nice to hear from a new reader – welcome and I hope we can all help you succeed with your blogs. Btw, every blog is salvageable – just re-edit and move forward as you already have age on your side and hopefully some PR and traffic. Thanks for saying hi David and I hope we hear more from you.
June 07, 2008 9:29 PM
Grizzly said…
Stephen,
They are flogging it as a “free” tool but we all know better than to believe that. I don’t know what the angle is yet but I’m sure there will be dollars changing hands somewhere along the line. The video doesn’t let on much and basically shows a drag and drop demo for creating a one page sales page. (Looks a bit like using Blogger – lol) Hopefully it does more than that but we will have to wait. Nice hearing from you Stephen – been a while but the fault is mine.
June 07, 2008 9:35 PM
Grizzly said…
Chanya,
Glad to see you drop in. Keep in mind there are many types of lead generation and this is the simplest one I could think of for beginners.
The project payday system is another type which involves getting people to sign up for free trials for various products – typically known as CPA sites or Cost per Action. The principles are all the same though – target a topic and gather in the traffic. Nothing to it! ha.
You have the right idea in rejuvenating some dormant blogs – saves you a few steps and any site can be transformed with a few links and some heavy editing. Good luck Chanya and thanks for stopping in.
June 07, 2008 9:42 PM
Grizzly said…
Costa,
Thanks and by all means – get the word out! I hope all is well and you’re prospering from all the hard work.
June 07, 2008 9:44 PM
Grizzly said…
Hey Frank,
You have to be one of the busiest bloggers online. You are a wealth of talent and I encourage my readers to take in your blog. I told you that your writing was far more professional than us hacks so it doesn’t surprise me that the thieves have started lifting your work. I’d say a PR7 link is worth the aggravation though! lol.
If any of my readers are interested in trying their hand at ebay then definitely head over to Frank’s blog and follow his lead – he’s very helpful and you will learn a lot. (He has more than just ebay advice too)
Thanks Frank and all the best – I’d wish you luck but you don’t need it.
June 07, 2008 9:53 PM
Grizzly said…
Justin,
We have a ton of catching up to do and I take the blame for falling behind – just have a few side jobs to complete and then hopefully you, Vic and I can get on with our evil plans! Thanks for your patience Justin and congrats on the site – looks great and you are making fans. Keep it up.
June 07, 2008 9:56 PM
LaughinGaz said…
Hey Grizz, glad you’re back, I was getting withdrawal symptoms….
This post is spot on, but lets turn the tables a bit – I have my own niche product (which I manufacture) and sell online via a traditional shopping cart, now aside from the trade work that I get, I also get a small amount of traffic from the search engines (about 20-40 unique but highly targeted visits per day) which convert at about 1-10 or better for a $40 product.
I’ve always intended to try and get affiliates selling the product but never really understood the mechanism – If any readers want to give it a shot I’d be willing negotiate terms.
The product is extremely niche targeted (vinyl DJ’s) with a Global market, but interestingly the majority of buyers are wives and girlfriends of the intended recipients (buying as gifts) – you can learn more about the product at Slikmats.org
Maybe Frank or Justin could work a little magic – might be an interesting experiment for someone.
Sorry for the long post Grizz, just wanted to highlight the fact that traditional manufacturers are on the lookout for different sales angles, especially within the blogosphere.
June 07, 2008 11:53 PM
Internet Marketer said…
What a great post! People will definitely learn a thing or two from your blog. You’ve offered some great tips and pointers on Do’s and Dont’s.
Look forward to reading more great posts from you.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
Internet Marketer
www.MakingMoneyForLife.com
June 08, 2008 1:14 AM
Nicola said…
Hey Griz, I’m a new reader and I’ve been devouring your older posts so I’m really looking forward to this new tutorial. Just off to put my thinking hat on.
June 08, 2008 2:25 AM
Michal said…
Hi Grizz,
Great information You have here I must say. I have one question about link building though. For every post I create I submit it with BMDemon to around 50 scuttle sites, I tag it with about 30 tags, vary anchor text but I am getting feeling that it might be too much with these tags. Wouldn’t it be better, if I tag it with only 10 tags for example? I am worrying about building backlinks too fast penalty. I will appreciate your thoughts about this matter.
Thanks
June 08, 2008 8:06 AM
Grizzly said…
Laughing Gaz,
I must have had 2 dozen spammers flogging their Ringtone and Credit card trial sites last night in the comments – congrats as you are the only one to suggest something just off beat enough to post. Actually your site is almost exactly the type of thing I was referring to in the post.
On the down side you are already ranked on page 1 for “custom slipmats” which would normally make me pass but I noticed that you aren’t on page 1 for “slipmats” a term that can be easily dominated. I could make some suggestions for you regarding your SEO but maybe I will hold off and see if any of my readers can optimize a site for the term. (If anyone is interested in giving this a go then let me know – if not I may take a crack at it myself.)
The biggest downside are the numbers – only 300 searches last month for “slipmats” and none for “custom slipmats”.
This wouldn’t necesarily turn me off but I would probably ask for a healthy fee.
One problem with this type of situation is the trust factor – we could agree on a price per sale which would leave me at the mercy of your honesty and while you may be the most honest person alive I find this isn’t always a wise move. Rather I would probably ask for a flat fee per 100 visitors – which I could track. Let me ask you – what would you be willing to pay for a flat fee? This could be re-negotiated later once you get a handle on conversions.
All in all your site is ideal for what I am trying to teach though so I would encourage at least one of my readers to give this a shot – there may not be a lot of revenue but the process could be learned quite easily.
Thanks Gaz – let’s see what happens.
June 08, 2008 9:35 AM
Grizzly said…
Jamie,
Well done – two links for the price of one.
Nicola,
Hope you come up with something and thanks for devouring the old posts – that takes some will power to get through… Glad to have you on board.
June 08, 2008 9:40 AM
Grizzly said…
Michael,
I noticed you left the same question on Vic’s blog and as I am not a BMD user it’s probably best to get Vic’s take on this. Some of my regular readers may give you their opinions as well. In general I am a proponent of slow and easy – I always try and maintain a natural look to all link building.
June 08, 2008 9:43 AM
zania said…
Oh shoot!
Now I’ve got to go and find another thing to promote and I’m up to my eyeballs already!
Seriously though, great post Griz and I like your ‘simple approach to leads generation’ – makes it much less complicated!
And I think I have just the product to make a start with, just need to check it out a little more first….
Sigh, I hardly ever get off the pc these days!
But it’s great to see you back with another cracking tutorial (which you added to nicely in the comments). So now I’m off to check out that product and build a new blog, and then another…
June 08, 2008 9:43 AM
DennisJr said…
LMAO.. Grizz, do you have a keylogger installed on my computer?? LOL, I just started a local niche targeted for adsense.
This post comes at a great time since I have not done well with adsense. However, I have been able to move some of my blogs through the serps.
Additionally, I would definately vouch for Franks posts related to Ebay and many other things. I have used his and Terry’s info to set up and sell ebay stuff on my aged domain. People should definately check these out if they are going to work BANS or use EPN widgets on free blogs to sell ebay stuff.
I look forward to more posts. Well, time to pick strawberries to sell at the farmers market. Another way to make an extra buck. LOL
June 08, 2008 9:46 AM
Antonio said…
Grizz I got a question about buying aged domains. I asked it at the end of the post before this one but I’m guessing you missed it.
Basically to keep it short, what type of process should I use to decide if a domain is a good buy or not? I previously bought a 8 year old domain, but after I bought it, the seller told me it had never been indexed. So I am thinking I am seeing the sandbox effect.
Now I got my eyes on a 10 year old domain, and I want to make sure it is a good purchase this time.
June 08, 2008 10:01 AM
Grizzly said…
Zania,
It never ends Zania – I just slap up campaign after campaign and every so often I get a winner. That in a nutshell is Internet marketing – sexy it ain’t! Good luck and remember to go get some exercise once in a while. Lol.
June 08, 2008 10:24 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
Strawberries all ready? You definitely live in a warmer climate. The ice hasn’t been gone a week here yet and there are still snow piles in the bush…
Frank and Terry are great – they work endlessly and always help people out. They are both code monkeys too but I still like them. haha.
Good luck at the market!
June 08, 2008 10:28 AM
Grizzly said…
Antonio,
Funny you should ask about pre-owned domains. The only ones I buy are live sites – the experts on this subject are Terry and Elliot – both links can be found in my sidebar under the “I recommend” label. I strongly advise you to give them a visit and ask them for some guidance.
June 08, 2008 10:33 AM
Antonio said…
Thanks Grizz, I found the info I needed on Terry’s site in about five minutes. Now if you’d excuse me, I have a new old domain to buy!
June 08, 2008 10:52 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
Or anyone for that fact. Has anyone ever created a blog on blogger without immediately putting a post on it? If so, how long before it is deleted or does it get deleted. I made two blogs that after research found to be somewhat promising. I am curious as to how long I can put off to making a post.
Thanks.
June 08, 2008 12:35 PM
gotafish said…
Great Post Griz. Love these tutorial type posts. they make learning much easier for simple minded people like me.
Gotafish
June 08, 2008 1:11 PM
LaughinGaz said…
Hey Grizz, thanks for taking the trouble to look at things – I’ve emailed you with a response to your comments.
June 08, 2008 4:21 PM
Frank At OpTempo said…
Hi again Griz,
I just posted a WordPress theme that is similar to the ever popular Minima theme. I called it Boring Memo.
June 08, 2008 7:01 PM
Anonymous said…
very happy to see you are still carrying on with this amazing blog.
I can’t wait for the serps article as there’s a case study (not mine) I hope to figure out with the info you’re going to give.
And you weren’t kidding about the ugly memo template…man…it’s ugly…:D
mambo
June 09, 2008 5:21 AM
Fiar said…
Dennis,
Has anyone ever created a blog on blogger without immediately putting a post on it?
I’ve created several that have never had even one single post. One of them is over two years old too. They are all still there.
June 09, 2008 6:29 AM
Fiar said…
That sure is one dull theme, Frank.
June 09, 2008 6:31 AM
Fred @ Newest on the Net said…
Hey Griz,
I think I found my product that I am going to promote. Can’t wait for lesson 2. I love these tutorials. They help people to actually build websites and not just read about building them.
June 09, 2008 6:48 AM
DennisJr said…
Thanks Fiar,
That really helps. It gives me a clue to some things I have been considering.. Back to the 8:00-5:00
June 09, 2008 9:47 AM
Terry said…
Hey antonio, glad to help.
Griz, I had a few ideas swimming around the old grey matter for this but suddenly saw a spark with a crazy product that doesn’t have any affiliates, yet is a big seller in offline stores.
I nearly passed on it as monthly searches are pretty low, but then found that there’s quite a lot of sales that can be generated on eBay. I checked some long tails and found very little competition so I thought what the hell.
I only need trickle traffic for eBay so I set up a blogger blog yesterday before my gig, wrote a big intro post, then wrote a big review with a link on one of my established sites in the same niche and linked to it from another with a related post.
When I got home from the gig last night the blog was indexed, so stage one is done. Now to get it some more links inbetween writing my latest paying assignment…
I don’t want to drain your link juice when I can probably help it ok with my own sites. This might be a good test of how useful my agricultural project currently is.
Oh, I’m keeping it’s niche under my hat at least in these comments for now btw, but I’ll email you the blog so you can judge how its going in the next few weeks.
Terry
June 09, 2008 10:43 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
OK. Since my first blog (6 months ago) I have never messed with feedburner. As if you don’t have enough on your plate..Can you maybe make a post on your blogging for begginers site? I am specifically refering to your comment in your recent post:
“(You can use feedburner to give you exit stats if you are using a free Blogger blog – no cost, no hassle)”
Or point me to a website. Thanks
June 09, 2008 11:23 AM
Vic said…
Excellent idea Griz – I could do with learning something useful to replace all the useless stuff I know. I created my blog and am waiting to see what happens next !
June 09, 2008 11:25 AM
JTighe said…
Hi Grizz,
Welome back mate.
Between you and Vic it looks like i’m going to be very busy, LOL.
I have a question, but its off topic.
How did you get your Zoom button? The only one I can see on Blogging Zoom is for Word Press.
Oh, by the way did you check out my site on Sunday? I had a visit from someone in Canada which is unusual (infact any visitor is unusual).
Anyway – good to have you back
All the best John
June 09, 2008 11:29 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
You have a PSA on your blogger for basics site. I forgot to add that to my last comment.
June 09, 2008 12:30 PM
Pettech said…
Hey Griz,
Been following blog for a while. Experimented and ended up on page 1for yahoo & MSN, but keep slipping from page 2 – 3 on google. I think partly cause keyword was too broad and obscure.
Got blog up and raring to go. Good to see you back.
You haven’t posted for a while but maintained PR. What frequency would you recommend for posting?
June 10, 2008 7:37 AM
Grizzly said…
Sorry everyone – a little slow in responding. I’m into fishing season full time now and the guests expect a lot of schmoozing. The fires are finally out and the firefighters should be leaving today so hopefully I can spend a little more time on the computer.
Frank,
You have outdone yourself with that theme – I didn’t think you could out-ugly Blogger but you have proven me wrong! lol.
For those that don’t understand the point of an ugly blog it’s for use with adsense or any other monetization form where you want people to click out as fast as possible. If your site is ugly then you have won half the battle – yes most will just close the page or back out but there is always a percentage that will click the first link they see – be it adsense or whatever you paste in front of their eyes. If anyone tries out Frank’s theme please let us all know how it works.
June 10, 2008 9:29 AM
Grizzly said…
Mambo,
Yup it is UGLY! I hope you catch the drift of this little exercise too.
June 10, 2008 9:31 AM
Grizzly said…
Fiar and Dennis,
Like Fiar mentioned I too have dozens of blogs without posts on them – just ideas waiting for some inspiration but Blogger hasn’t deleted them – at least not yet.
June 10, 2008 9:33 AM
Grizzly said…
Fred,
Good luck with the product and I’m hoping we can make everyone a little cash with this tutorial.
June 10, 2008 9:35 AM
Grizzly said…
Terry,
You have peaked my interest – let me know if you need some support. Wise move keeping it quiet – I have noticed a sudden surge in “Blinkweb” blogs since my post… lol.
June 10, 2008 9:37 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
I’ll make a note to squeeze some feedburner info into a post. You can probably figure it out though if you play around with the options. I can’t remember if you need the PRO version running but you can see your outgoing stats under the “Site Stats” menu.
June 10, 2008 9:40 AM
Grizzly said…
Vic,
Glad to have you on board – just remember your “useless stuff” just might be useful to someone else!
June 10, 2008 9:42 AM
Grizzly said…
John,
Darn, been a while since I added the code for the zoom button. I’ll hunt it down and get back to you.
June 10, 2008 9:43 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
I checked my stats and everything is normal – no smart pricing so it’s possible that there just aren’t any relevant ads available. Thanks for the heads up and I’ll keep an eye on it.
June 10, 2008 9:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Pet tech,
Just be patient with the Google serp’s – they are still updating the system and rankings are jumping back and forth daily – no one knows just what they are doing but the serp’s have been pretty unstable for a month now. One thing that is becoming apparent is that fresh content seems to be playing a bigger role now than it did in the past. Keep posting and things will eventually settle down. I have no recommended frequency for posting but if you can maintain a weekly post then you keep the bot coming back at a decent rate. If you get a lot of comments you can keep the bot busy without many posts as this blog tends to do. Btw – PR isn’t affected by posting – just by incoming links.
Good luck and thanks for the comment.
June 10, 2008 9:59 AM
DennisJr said…
Thanks Griz,
I have messed with feedburner one time when I first started. I put one up on my political blog and thought it was a terrible idea with only three readers.
BTW. ABC news left a message on my Asthma blog and they want me to do a video or a post for them. LOL
June 10, 2008 10:51 AM
WR said…
Hey Grizzly… I have a question.
I’d like to follow along, and I actually have someone in my family that has something to sell. He is a traditional country music artist with about 4 albums and several awards, number 1 hits, has been played on radio stations all over the country, but is still pretty much unknown.
He has no website, and I’d like to set up a site for him to promote his albums, but I’m kind of stumped as to how to go about finding what kind of keywords to target, or how to go about getting him some traffic.
I’m thinking that this is a pretty competetive market, but I’m going to set up a site for him anyway, so I might as well use the techniques I’ve learned from you and courtney tuttle. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,
–Mike
June 10, 2008 5:36 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Hey Griz!
I was wondering what do you use to track your traffic?
Is there a “plugin” for blogpost blogs or do you have to paste a html code into your blog?
Thanks in advance
June 10, 2008 9:13 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Nevermind Griz…I found out how you can get traffic stats from you blogger blogs.
Feedburner has a lot of cool features including all the stats you need about the traffic coming or leaving your blog.
Yes, you need to upgrade to the PRO version of Feedburner, which BTW is free.
June 10, 2008 11:18 PM
JTighe said…
Hi Jack,
I hope Griz won’t mind me jumping in here, but as he will be in bed as I am writing this, it gives me time to leave the country before he wakes up, lol
I can’t say what Griz uses, but I guess it depends on your money situation.
You can either use Google Analytics, but I would recommend Statcounter.com.
Statcounter is free and easy to use. Just copy and paste some code.
PS Under tools remember to block your own visits.
Hope this helps
All the best – John
June 11, 2008 2:02 AM
World Travel, Worldwide Jobs, Nomadic Lifestyle said…
You know, I had just the other day found a keyword that gets a lot of searches, has very little competition – and based on my knowledge, those who are searching are probably disappointed with the information they are getting.
I was ready to jump all over it – but had no idea how to monetize it – much like your battery example, there are no affiliate programs and probably not enough traffic to make adsense worth it – Now, with what you have written here I know how to approach it.
Thanks for helping me understand how to make money online
June 11, 2008 5:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
Well done Dennis. Just make sure the buggers leave you a good backlink (ABC News that is). Let us know if you do the post or video.
As for Feedburner – just don’t show the Feed number widget until you have a decent number accumulated.
June 11, 2008 6:03 AM
Grizzly said…
WR, (Mike)
Hard to give you an exact plan without knowing all the details but I would probably target and optimize a site for the artist’s name to start with. Album and song titles should be optimized on individual posts. I would also optimize posts for the awards and finally work on the keywords that best describe his genre of music.
As I said this is pretty basic but should get you started. I am just guessing but I would think most people searching for music would use either an artist’s name or a song title. If he isn’t well known then this becomes a bit of a problem and you will have to work on more generic terms like “country music” etc.
Good luck.
June 11, 2008 6:10 AM
Grizzly said…
Jack,
Feedburner does have stats but they aren’t the best for tracking your visitors. Use statcounter – it’s free, can be invisible and provides all the basics necessary for tweaking a money making blog. It’s all I use.
June 11, 2008 6:13 AM
Grizzly said…
John,
Thanks and you are absolutely right – statcounter is a great little tool and as I said – It’s all I need or use.
June 11, 2008 6:15 AM
Grizzly said…
Nomadic,
Sounds like you have found one of those sweet little niches I am always looking for. If so spend some time tracking down the people who could benefit from that traffic and if they exist then by all means start gathering it in. Best of luck – sounds like you have something promising.
June 11, 2008 6:18 AM
Vijay Agarwal said…
Hi Griz your suggestions are so helpful. Welcome back after a long absence
June 11, 2008 7:22 AM
Terry said…
Hehe, I guessed there’d be a sudden clamour to make blogs for blinkweb.
Now from my perspective that’s silly because not only is it a MMO product that every IMer and his dog will be promoting, but it means going up against your own blog that is bound to wipe the floor with most of the rest!
To those that did, I guess they didn’t learn their lesson with asia’h epperson…
You should have an email from me with details of what I’m up to buried in amongst your overburdened inbox!
Oh and yes, Google are bouncing all over the place at the moment – my sites in that niche are all over the place – on the front page one moment then gone the next, then back again! Oh what fun…
June 11, 2008 7:29 AM
Grizzly said…
Vijay,
Thanks for stopping in and I’m glad you find this blog useful. It seems to have a life of its own whether I’m here or not. All the best Vijay.
June 11, 2008 7:56 AM
Grizzly said…
Hey Terry,
I am embarrassed to say just how hopeless my emails are organized – I have looked and can’t find anything recent from you – please re-send if you have a copy.
I did make an attempt at catching up or at least organizing everything while on vacation and if anyone is wondering why I am so slow to respond here is my current backlog;
314 sites asking for a review or general help.
1427 bloggers asking for some kind of specific answer re: links, seo etc.
128 blogs asking for advertising.
271 blogs asking for links.
17 new emails last night not sorted yet…
LOL
As for G – they are definitely changing things up. I hope things settle down soon or else I am going to start assuming the new algorithm has been programed to keep the serp’s fluid and gone are the days of static listings on page 1. Needless to say my serp visitors have been quite erratic – big bursts followed by lulls every few hours. As you said… Oh what fun!
June 11, 2008 8:09 AM
Anonymous said…
Hi Griz,
Can we use blogs hosted on WordPress instead of Blogger? Or should we only use Blogger?
Thanks for your excellent blog.
June 11, 2008 9:56 AM
Grizzly said…
Anon,
Yes, you can definitely use WordPress (self hosted) if you want to. I only mention Blogger as it is a free option that works just fine.
June 11, 2008 10:32 AM
Terry said…
Griz I have to say I would not want your inbox LOL!
I have a better idea than adding another to its total. In the HW forum there is an even more deeply hidden section for moderators only and you should be able to see it too – I’ve pasted the email I sent in there so whenever you get time to read it, you’ll be able to find it easily!
As for a fluid Google index, that could make life very difficult for some of us – or better in some ways as it might just discourage the spammer element, meaning less competition…
June 11, 2008 2:14 PM
chris traffic secrets said…
Griz, I’m glad you are back and posting. This is my “cup of coffee” blog! I tried enjoying a good cup of coffee reading other blogs in your absence but it just didn’t cut it.
This is the first I’ve seen of anyone talking about the google serps being erratic. I’ve notice my own blogs going from page 1 then page 2…
What the hell would be the game plan if indeed google did change the algorithm to allow for fluid serps?
Thanks for the link in your last post.
June 11, 2008 5:32 PM
Chris traffic secrets said…
One more question Griz. Is it a bad idea to use a redirect on an affiliate blog? I sometimes set up one page blogs that push affiliate products and use a redirect that takes the visitor straight to the landing page. I created about twenty blogs like this…is it OK? DO you use redirects?
June 11, 2008 5:36 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Quick question for Griz,
I started up a blog around a certain topic I noticed on a forum I’m active in.
In my first post, I included as much variation of the topic “keyword”, from the root word to it’s longtail.
Should I wait until my blog get index and see which keywords the “G” thought my blog relevant for. Before I start my next blog post?
TIA (Thanks in advance)
June 11, 2008 7:29 PM
David said…
Griz,
Would you suggest setting up all my sites in google webmaster tools? Isn’t that showing google what I’m up to, similar to having adsense on all your sites? I have seen Court put adsense on all his sites though so it doesn’t seem to effect him negatively.
Thanks,
Dave
June 12, 2008 2:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Chris,
I don’t think anyone is talking about the serp’s at the moment because no one has figured out exactly what is going on. I suppose the serp’s have always been fluid but not like at present. This whole business of “Personalized Results” has made things a lot more interesting and a whole lot harder to peg down your real ranking.
I am still presuming that things will settle down but this has been the most drawn out shakeup in quite awhile – if not ever.
June 12, 2008 6:41 AM
Grizzly said…
Chris… again
I don’t use re-directs primarily because G doesn’t like them and you are open to being reported by your competition if you are targeting a competitive niche. If you do use them try and limit your exposure and never use them with Adsense sites. Be careful of the competition…
June 12, 2008 6:44 AM
Grizzly said…
Jack,
Never wait – just keep posting and adding as many long tails as you can. The more food you give G the more it has to index you for. Once you see some serp traffic you can then bolster the long tails that visitors are using.
June 12, 2008 6:47 AM
Grizzly said…
David,
I have several webmaster tool accounts to spread my main sites around. I only use WT for my flagships and not for my affiliate and adsense sites – no need. SEO Elite gives me all the data I need.
Adsense is a dead giveaway and that is fine if like Court, everything you do is squeaky clean. I am not that squeaky though and don’t advertise all my sites nor do I use Adsense on everything. Those of you who have read my private forum posts know what I am getting at and if you haven’t then you should send me an email asking to join – just use “Private Forum” in the subject.
June 12, 2008 6:53 AM
One Cent said…
This post has been removed by the author.
June 12, 2008 10:40 AM
Irene said…
Geez – I get busy and stop coming around for a while and you set up a whole course! Ok – I’m off to catch up and build me a blogger blog.
June 19, 2008 8:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Great Ideas Griz! (as usual)
Could you briefly expand on how you juggle multiple advertisers with your ‘battery blog’?
Are you rotating sitewide paid ads above the fold or simply adding a text link within one or more posts, or…?
Thanks!
July 10, 2008 10:21 AM
roger said…
Griz,
“I never use adsense on an affiliate site except as a last resort. ”
- when you look at a niche and have keyword to target, how and what determines whether this is going to be an adsense or affiliate site.
Also, I am thinking about: wordpress blogs for adsense, affiliate sites on blogger ( products cool down after initial euphoria but adsense can continue to make money). Wrong assumptions?
تكمن أهمية توفير الحماية للمستهلك لأنه الطرف الضعيف في التعاقد بينما المهنيون في مركز القوة في مواجهة المستهلكين ، وأيضا لأنه في المعاملات الإلكترونية يكون التعاقد عن بعد ولا يكون المنتج محل التعاقد بين يدي المستهلك .
ونظراً للمخاطر الكبيرة التي تنطوي عليها العملية الاستهلاكية في جميع مراحلها ولوقاية المستهلك من مخاطر ما يقتنيه من سلع وخدمات ولوقايته من شر الوقوع ضحية لنزعته الاستهلاكية ، لذلك وجب على القانون أن يتعرض لحماية المستهلك في المعاملات الإلكترونية لاستخراج الآليات اللازمة لإعادة التوازن في العلاقات الاستهلاكية بما يرفع ضرر والخطر عن المستهلك ، وليس ذلك على المستوي الوطني فقط بل أن المعاملات الإلكترونية ولأنها في الغالب تكون معاملات دولية تتم عن طريق شبكة المعلومات الدولية الإنترنت لا تعرف الحدود ومن ثم فهي تمتد لتشمل كافة أرجاء المعمورة مما يستدعي توحيد النظام القانوني الدولي بهدف التنسيق بين المراكز القانونية للمتعاقدين واتساع نطاق الحماية القانونية للمستهلك ، ومن هنا تظهر أهمية التعريف بالمستهلك والعملية الاستهلاكية قبل أن نبين ما هي الضمانات الواجب توفيرها له .
- مفهوم المستهلك في التجارة الإلكترونية Definition du Consommanteur
وعرف مشروع قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي الصادر في 26 يوليو1993 المستهلكون بأنهم هم " الأشخاص الذين يحصلون أو يستعملون المنقولات أو الخدمات للاستعمال غير المهني . ولكن صدر القانون خالياً من أي تعريف للمستهلك .
فالمستهلك الإلكتروني إذن : هو ذلك الشخص الذي يبرم العقود الإلكترونية المختلفة من شراء و أيجار وقرض وانتفاع وغيرها من أجل توفير كل ما يحتاجه من سلع وخدمات لإشباع حاجاته الشخصية أو العائلية دون أن يقصد من ذلك إعادة تسويقها ودون أن تتوافر له الخبرة الفنية لمعالجة هذه الأشياء وإصلاحها .
3- حماية المستهلك في القانون المقارن
أن حماية المستهلك ليست بالفكرة الحديثة على التشريعات الوضعية بل هناك كثير من التشريعات المختلفة التي اهتمت بتوعية المستهلك وتنوير إرادته قبل أن يقدم على إبرام العقود بهدف حمايته في مواجهة المهني .
كما أنشئت أيضا جمعيات تهدف إلى حماية المستهلك وهي جمعيات مدنية لا تهدف إلى تحقيق الربح وتتبع في دفاعها عن المستهلكين عدة طرق ومن أهمها التوعية والدعاية المضادة contre - publicite والامتناع عن الشراء Grève des Achats والامتناع عن الدفع Grève des paiement.
ومن الدول من بادر بإصدار قانون خاص بالمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية وضمنه نصوص خاصة بحماية المستهلك ومنها على سبيل المثال :
- قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي
أصدر المشرع الفرنسي قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي الجديد رقم 949 – 93 الصادر في 62 يوليو 1993 وهو يتكون من خمس أجزاء تتعلق بإعلام المستهلك وحمايته وتنظيم جمعيات المستهلكين وتطابق وأمان المنتجات والخدمات .
ولكن المشرع الفرنسي قبل إصدار هذا القانون كان قد وضع ترسانة هائلة من التشريعات والنظم الخاصة بحماية المستهلك وقد تمخض عن تلك القوانين نظام قانوني قائم بذاته لا يتردد البعض عن تسميته بالنظرية القانونية لحماية المستهلك .
- قانون التجارة الإلكترونية لدوقية لوكسمبورج :
كما أنطوي قانون التجارة الإلكترونية لدوقية لوكسمبورج علي نصوص لحماية المستهلك وأهمها إعلام المستهلك بالمعلومات الخاصة بالمورد وبمواصفات السلع و الخدمات والعملة التي يتم بمقتضاها السداد ومدة العرض والسعر وشروط القرض وحق المستهلك في العدول عن التعاقد ، كما فرض قانون التجارة الإلكترونية بإيطاليا الموردين بإحاطة المستهلكين بالمواصفات التفصيلية للبضاعة أو الخدمة بما في ذلك الضرائب الإلكترونية في الوقت المناسب قبل إبرام العقد .
- قانون المعاملات والتجارة الإلكترونية لإمارة دبي
صدر قانون المعاملات والتجارة الإلكترونية رقم (2) لعام 2002 لإمارة دبي بهدف إحلال الوسائل التقنية الحديثة في المعاملات التجارية محل الوسائل التقليدية ، وقد تضمن من بين نصوصه بيان المعاملات الإلكترونية وإنشاء العقود وصحتها ، إلا أن هذا القانون لم يبين قواعد حماية المستهلك في المعاملات الإلكترونية وماهية حقوقه باعتباره الطرف الضعيف في مواجهة التاجر المحترف ، ولعل المشرع قصد بذلك الرجوع إلى القواعد العامة .
ومع ذلك فأننا نجد في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة ظهرت بعض الجمعيات التي تهدف إلى حماية المستهلك وهذه الجمعيات لا تهدف إلى تحقيق الربح وإنما تهدف إلى توحيد الجهود والخبرة لتوفير وسائل الدفاع عن مصالح المستهلكين ومنها جمعية الإمارات لحماية المستهلك والتي تتطابق أهدافها مع أهداف جمعيات حماية المستهلك في الدول الأوربية ، ومن أهم أهداف هذه الجمعية خلق وعي عام لدي المستهلك وإرشاده وتوعيته بمضار الإعلانات التجارة الخادعة والمضللة وإرشاده لكيفية التأكد من سلامة المواد الاستهلاكية والتأكد من إنها غير ممنوعة من التداول في بلد المنشأ لأي سبب يتعلق بصحة المستهلك وحمايته ، وقد تأسست هذه الجمعية في 11/3/1987 ومقرها مدينة الشارقة وتم إشهارها وفق القرار الوزاري رقم 246 لسنه 1981 وقد انضمت لعضوية الاتحاد الدولي للاستهلاك .
ثانياً : حماية المستهلك في توجيهات المجلس الأوربي
ولما كانت التعاقدات الإلكترونية تتم في الغالب على المستوى الدولي لذلك وجب العمل على وضع الوسائل القانونية المناسبة من أجل الحماية الدولية للمستهلك ، ولذلك أصدر المجلس الأوربي توجيهين في هذا الشأن ، التوجيه الأول ونص فيه على أن من أجل الحماية الدولية للمستهلك يجب عمل المؤتمرات الدولية للمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية وخاصة فيما يتعلق بالمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية التي تتم خارج أوربا ، كما صدر التوجيه الثاني بشأن القواعد التي تحدد ما هي المحكمة الأفضل للمستهلك وبصفة خاصة في ظل معاهدة روما الصادرة في 19 يوليه 1980 ، كما صدر التوجيه الأوربي رقم 13/93 الصادر في 5 أبريل 1993 بشأن حماية المستهلك من الشروط التعسفية التي تفرض عليه من جانب البائع المحترف كالشرط الذي يعفي البائع من ضمان العيوب الخفية ، كما صدر التوجيه الأوربي رقم 99/144 الصادر في 25 مايو 1999 بشأن حماية المستهلك في عمليات البيع وضمانات الأموال الاستهلاكية .
This tutorial will not focus on Adsense. I have covered this enough for everybody to know the basics by now. I want to look at affiliate marketing and more specifically at lead generation.
Because of the impulse to produce Social friendly blogs I think a good many of you get sidetracked and lose focus. I see countless blogs that have built up PR and alexa ranking and even some search traffic for their MMO blogs but fail miserably at converting visitors into buyers. This is because just about all of you built a social site first and then slapped up a bunch of 125′s as an afterthought. How many times have you seen the same “Bidvertiser” ad?, “Text Link Ads” Ad? or “SEO Book” ad? Never mind the countless “Hosting” ads. The point is that your social traffic isn’t buying (hell they have the same ads on their own site) and the search traffic that you get is not targeted to your ads and they too, have seen the same stuff on every site they visit.
To make money you really have to reverse the current thinking process. You don’t build a site and then figure out what to sell. You figure out what to sell first and then build the site to achieve those sales and only those sales. You must concentrate on the product and resist the urge to slap up more than one type of monetization. If you are selling an affiliate product or generating leads for others then that is what the blog is for. Period.
How do you find a product that isn’t saturated? This can be tough to do but I tend to only sell “new” products or programs or stuff that has nobody else selling it (more on this shortly). You find them by subscribing to all the IM gurus who flog crap weekly – once in a while they actually come up with something decent – not often though. This is the obvious answer but not the best. Quit looking for IM products to sell to other IMer’s. Join all the hobby forums. Keep abreast of new products, books, calendars, how to’s etc in all the other niches online that gather traffic from the mom and pop civilian crowd. Pay special attention to what the teenage crowd is currently raving about. Use the social networks for what they were meant to do – disseminate information. You are looking for anything new that will tweak the public’s interest.
Once you find something interesting the next step is to find a method to monetize it. Most of you will see if the product uses affiliates. If it doesn’t you pass and move on… that is a mistake. I look for things that don’t have affiliates. I don’t want anybody else selling what I’m selling. I prefer to make money selling leads rather than affiliate sales – there is less competition and you can set your price if you are good at it.
An example.
I found a company that sells batteries for 2 wheeled golf carts. This is like a pull cart but has a small electric motor attached so that the golfer can control the cart with a remote hand held controller. I first noticed these being used by a lot of the elderly golfers at a golf club I belong too. The batteries only last a few years and then need replacing. I asked a couple of gents where they got the replacements. Turns out a couple of local firms carried them but didn’t produce them. I found a manufacturer and several dealers in several major centers and guess what – none of them knew the slightest thing about SEO although they all had websites. I quickly created several perfectly optimized blogs targeting each of the major local niches and not surprisingly ranked on top of the serp’s in short order. This brought in a steady if not large stream of traffic.
Now, I had nothing to sell. Just information about the carts and batteries. So how do you make money doing this. Yes you could slap up Adsense but there wasn’t much for advertisers. What I did was simple. I picked a dealer in each city and linked to the dealers site. I left the link up for a week. I tracked the traffic that I sent to the dealer – about 20-30 people a day. (You can use feedburner to give you exit stats if you are using a free Blogger blog – no cost, no hassle)
After I removed the link I sent an email to the dealer and basically told them who I was and what I did. I mentioned that I had sent them a couple of hundred visitors and politely asked if they would like me to continue to do so. They all thanked me and said yes. I asked if the increase in sales could justify a weekly fee for the traffic – I suggested $25 per week to the first dealer. They agreed. I suggested $35 to the second and eventually raised it to $50 a week with the final dealer. (They are all paying $50 per week now during peak season (summer) and $15 per week off season. Yes I had to explain PayPal to all of them but they caught on quickly. One dealer did try to lower the fee stating that his sales weren’t high enough from my traffic. I responded that I would send the traffic to his competition and see how they converted. He said he thought he might just keep paying me the $50 a week. I said fine…
That is lead generation in a nutshell. No competition and if you find a product or service with a high end ticket price you can ask for a high end fee. One thing I have learned is that very few of us can generate traffic but everyone is trying to sell something. Give them the traffic to sell too and they will kiss your ass… and pay you. If they don’t the competition usually does.
I am going to keep these posts short because I want those of you who are interested to work along with me as I go. I have picked a product to promote and will walk you through the whole process in the upcoming posts. I have picked Brad and Matt Callen’s soon to be released Blinkweb software that is designed for total non-techies to use in order to build websites and blogs without needing any coding experience at all. Or at least that’s what they claim. They have released a short intro video about Blinkweb but that’s about it. I have no idea if it’s a piece of crap or not but I am hoping that it isn’t. Brad Callen has created two excellent programs in the past – SEO Elite and Keyword Elite. Matt Callen’s HyperVRE was/is a piece of shit though so it’s a toss up as to what we will get. In the event that it turns out to be a winner I want in early and have already set up the blog. You can see it here. Blinkweb.
I have not done anything to get it ranked yet – just a link from this blog in order to get the new site indexed. Google indexed it yesterday about an hour after I added the link on this site. That is why you should all have a flagship blog at your disposal. I will be getting links shortly in order to climb the serp’s but thought I would wait for the rest of you and show you that process as well.
When I say “wait for the rest of you” I mean to say – get off your butts and find a product or business that sells something and go to Blogger and set up the site just like I have done. (yes you can spend money and use self hosting but remember I like to set up dozens of these types of sites knowing that most will fail – that’s why Blogger is ideal – no cost)
Note: Our friend Frank at OpTempo has built a nice plain SEO friendly theme for wordpress that is similar to this Blogger Minima theme. (Actually it’s way uglier) You can learn more here Boring Memo WordPress Theme or Download the Boring Memo WordPress Theme or view the Demo of Boring Memo WordPress Theme
Don’t worry if the product or business has an affiliate program. Just find something that can be sold either by you or a business that needs traffic. We aren’t trying to make money at this stage. We are trying to find a traffic source so keep that in mind. Find something that you believe will entice a decent amount of traffic. Once we get traffic we will worry about how to convert it – there is almost aways some kind of buyer.
A couple of don’ts
- don’t email me asking what I think of your product idea. Just pick one – if it fails big deal. Find another one. I have shown some traffic stats in the past for my affiliate sites – lots of them were duds and a few were winners. This is a numbers game. Just learn how to set up these types of sites properly and then start mass producing them for everything you can think of. There is no cost other than time if you use a free host. Affiliate marketing is a numbers game. Period.
- don’t pick a highly competitive niche. It will take forever to get the traffic.
- don’t pick a topic that is taboo. No sex, drugs or rock n roll… G frowns on those.
Do pay attention to local niches especially for leads. Who in your town is selling something and would pay you for the traffic?
Ok – if you have been paying attention to my SEO methods then you should be able to see what I’m targeting on the Blinkweb blog and then set up your blog and first post in the same manner.
If you don’t have an authority blog to use in order to get indexed send me your URL and Keyword and I’ll find a link for you.
Next post we will look at getting the backlinks necessary for top serp ranking.
Cheers,
Griz
On a side note;
One of the problems I have when doing these little example blogs is that I usually end up ranking better with this blog for the keyword than the example blog does. Google indexed this post within a few minutes of publishing it and traffic showed up just shortly after that. They were searching for “Blinkweb” and sure enough this blog is on page two already – with no links and no optimization for the term. See below, (click to enlarge)
This is a good sign though – it means there isn’t much competition for the top spot. This is usually the case for new products so it pays to jump on them early.
And the next day…
I’m sitting at number 2…lol
89 comments:
AllAboutTheBenjamins said…
Great Post Griz!
Glad to see that you’re back.
June 07, 2008 11:54 AM
Antonio said…
Alright I have created my blog, I am looking forward to learning a lot from this experience
June 07, 2008 12:27 PM
Terry said…
Hey Griz, That’s a nice tack. I’ve tried this sort of thing before and failed miserably – the product was probably too MMO oriented and too much competition. But I know I should have dusted myself off and got on and done another but never did.
With so much going on I tend to forget some things and then a post like this reminds me that I should try and make some time for this.
I’ll get my thinking cap out of the dog’s basket and try it on to see if it still fits…
June 07, 2008 12:27 PM
Vinny Lingo said…
I’m really looking forward to the rest of this series. I was waiting for you to mention local niche lead generation. My question about that is if they are an offline business that doesn’t have a way of capturing leads/traffic I send their way, should I try capturing the lead myself? Such as with mortgage leads?
June 07, 2008 12:44 PM
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com said…
Hey Griz,
I’ve been lurking for a while, finding your blog just before your month out.
Great series idea!
When you say “lead generation”, do you mean collecting customers’ information?
Cheers,
Alex
June 07, 2008 1:20 PM
Neena (NeenMachine) said…
It really is all about marketing, isn’t it? Blogging is secondary. Build a blog around the product – that is so basic yet eye opening!
June 07, 2008 1:24 PM
Kerri said…
I appreciate you and your to-the-point attitude and dry humor and I am in need of you to glance at my blog
sexy-sassy-sandals.blogspot.com
I was pleased to see it ranked #1 on Google so what is the next step for this to really pay off? Talk to me like i’M two until I get the hang of this!
THANKS GRIZ– carebear
June 07, 2008 2:38 PM
Niche Marketing said…
Another great post Griz, however there is one problem! I sat down expecting to read another epic novel, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I got out of this short post!
Just kidding buddy, great info!
I just registered a new blogger site with a topic that I get a ton of traffic for on a Squidoo lens. I know there are a couple of affiliate programs for it, but I have never had a conversion. I do get a ton of Adsense clickthroughs on the lens though.
Would you recommend just doing posts so far to bring traffic to it and wait to monetize this site, or go ahead and put adsense on it?
I have had over 200 visits in the last week on this lens with about 50 to 100 click outs (i don’t remember exactly).
Thanks!
Elliott
ps…check the forum email for another question…
June 07, 2008 2:49 PM
Mr. Buy Low Sell High said…
Griz:
Glad I found you and Court. I put up a bunch of blogs and sites with zilch results. Turns out each had one or more problems that you and Court have already addressed. So I am now slowly addressing them on the ones that may be salvageable.
Thanks, David Bean
June 07, 2008 2:51 PM
-Stephen- said…
Hey Grizz,
Funny that you are going with blinkweb: I just read the promo email for it a few days ago when I got back from Edmonton (eeew, flat land everywhere, lol) and immediately wondered if it were any good. Silly question time: do you think it will just be software to apply to an existing platform or will there be a free or paid platform offered with it? I only ask because it would potentially be anew source of optimised URLs.
Anyway, good to have your fresh eyes back with us and lighting the way.
Stephen
June 07, 2008 7:38 PM
Chanya said…
I never really understood lead generation – now I do.
After reading your article I visited my Blogger Graveyard which has several sites I’d set up as experiments. I found one that might work well as a lead generation site.
I’m currently in the process of giving it new life . . . looking forward to the next lesson!
June 07, 2008 7:48 PM
costa said…
This is going to be so so good! I got to publicise this! Thanks Grizz.
June 07, 2008 8:03 PM
Frank At OpTempo said…
Thanks for the link in the sidebar Griz!!
I’ve been doing Blogger blogs monitized with eBay affiliate lately and that’s been working rather well. Plus, creating the eBay product search traffic oriented posts on OpTempo brings in more money there plus helps me identify some extra niches to build more Blogger blogs around with the long tails.
One little hitch I encountered recently was that I have to be careful not write too good. Somebody who liked one of my reviews cut and pasted it onto a PR7 forum. Straight to the dupe filter for me so I had to rewrite the post and throw some extra comments onto it to get it out. Well, at least they linked to me so I should get a good backlink out of it.
June 07, 2008 9:09 PM
Justin @ Bloggingzombie said…
Great post buddy. Its nice to see you back. Hope things are going well for you. Let me know when you want to catch up on some things.
June 07, 2008 9:11 PM
Grizzly said…
Benjamins,
Glad to be back and thanks for stopping by.
Antonio,
Let’s hope we can make you a few bucks.
Terry,
I’ve spent so much time explaining SEO that I figured its time to show what can be done with it as far as converting traffic to dollars. There are a number of options but I think this is the simplest for most people to grasp. Quite frankly any site that can generate traffic is a gold mine if the traffic can be sent to those looking for it. I’m curious to see how creative people can be given their own local and areas of interest. Should be fun.
Vinny,
This is not the only form of lead generation – just my simplified version of it. What you mention is the more common form used for driving leads for law offices, travel agents, tour operators, mortgage leads etc. Your process involves gathering lists and selling them to the companies looking for qualified leads. It works but is more involved and I thought I would introduce “lead generation lite” first as it doesn’t require nearly as much work and can be used for low competition niches. Mortgage leads is a highly competitive field and will take a lot of work and time before you see the money – assuming you are starting from scratch. If you are already established with a site then definitely pursue it – you can generate some serious fees in that type of niche.
Alex,
As I mentioned to Vinny I am concentrating on a simplified system with these posts. Collecting customer information in the form of mailing lists is the norm for the competitive niches but that is a whole different ballgame. I think people should get their feet wet generating local leads for local niches first and then once they see how this works they can expand into larger fields.
Neena,
In this case its about SEO and then marketing. Get the traffic and then convert it. I have found a lot of great websites marketing unique products but they don’t have a clue how to get visitors. Send them the traffic and you will find that they will pay you to keep doing it – I love it as I don’t have to sell anything or deal with customers. The internet is perfect for middlemen (and women
) – if you are good at SEO you can find a
lot of ways to make money on the net. I found a site that sells homemade
cookies that are apparently “to die for”. I set up a blog and started
sending visitors to the cookie site – not a lot however and I gave up
and removed the links. A week later the owner contacted me and offered
to pay me for each visitor I sent – apparently they were making sales.
Just nickel and dime stuff but it reminded me just how hard most sites
find it to generate traffic. (I never did charge them anything and they
have since given up the business but it did get me targeting lots of
little niches like “homemade soaps”, “homemade candles” and craft shops
to name a few.) Those were hints for some of you who didn’t catch on…
ha. Hope all is well Neena and nice hearing from you as always.Kerri,
I will take a look as soon as I can. Is the #1 ranking bringing in traffic?
Elliot,
If you think you can convert affiliate sales then build the traffic and try the affiliate products first. If they don’t pan out then use adsense – I never use adsense on an affiliate site except as a last resort. The reason is simple enough – the moment I slap the adsense on it I am letting G know it’s part of my network and my linking structure becomes known. We have talked about this on the forum so I’m sure you know what I am getting at. If the affiliate sales don’t work then look to see who might benefit from the type of traffic you are getting and send them some traffic for free. Cut them off after a week and contact them and see if they want more…
This doesn’t always work depending on what your niche is but you would be surprised how often it does. You may only get $10 a month but hey – that’s fine for a blog that costs nothing and doesn’t require much work once its set up.
(I’m trying to get to the forum – damn fisherman are a needy bunch! lol)
David,
Nice to hear from a new reader – welcome and I hope we can all help you succeed with your blogs. Btw, every blog is salvageable – just re-edit and move forward as you already have age on your side and hopefully some PR and traffic. Thanks for saying hi David and I hope we hear more from you.
June 07, 2008 9:29 PM
Grizzly said…
Stephen,
They are flogging it as a “free” tool but we all know better than to believe that. I don’t know what the angle is yet but I’m sure there will be dollars changing hands somewhere along the line. The video doesn’t let on much and basically shows a drag and drop demo for creating a one page sales page. (Looks a bit like using Blogger – lol) Hopefully it does more than that but we will have to wait. Nice hearing from you Stephen – been a while but the fault is mine.
June 07, 2008 9:35 PM
Grizzly said…
Chanya,
Glad to see you drop in. Keep in mind there are many types of lead generation and this is the simplest one I could think of for beginners.
The project payday system is another type which involves getting people to sign up for free trials for various products – typically known as CPA sites or Cost per Action. The principles are all the same though – target a topic and gather in the traffic. Nothing to it! ha.
You have the right idea in rejuvenating some dormant blogs – saves you a few steps and any site can be transformed with a few links and some heavy editing. Good luck Chanya and thanks for stopping in.
June 07, 2008 9:42 PM
Grizzly said…
Costa,
Thanks and by all means – get the word out! I hope all is well and you’re prospering from all the hard work.
June 07, 2008 9:44 PM
Grizzly said…
Hey Frank,
You have to be one of the busiest bloggers online. You are a wealth of talent and I encourage my readers to take in your blog. I told you that your writing was far more professional than us hacks so it doesn’t surprise me that the thieves have started lifting your work. I’d say a PR7 link is worth the aggravation though! lol.
If any of my readers are interested in trying their hand at ebay then definitely head over to Frank’s blog and follow his lead – he’s very helpful and you will learn a lot. (He has more than just ebay advice too)
Thanks Frank and all the best – I’d wish you luck but you don’t need it.
June 07, 2008 9:53 PM
Grizzly said…
Justin,
We have a ton of catching up to do and I take the blame for falling behind – just have a few side jobs to complete and then hopefully you, Vic and I can get on with our evil plans! Thanks for your patience Justin and congrats on the site – looks great and you are making fans. Keep it up.
June 07, 2008 9:56 PM
LaughinGaz said…
Hey Grizz, glad you’re back, I was getting withdrawal symptoms….
This post is spot on, but lets turn the tables a bit – I have my own niche product (which I manufacture) and sell online via a traditional shopping cart, now aside from the trade work that I get, I also get a small amount of traffic from the search engines (about 20-40 unique but highly targeted visits per day) which convert at about 1-10 or better for a $40 product.
I’ve always intended to try and get affiliates selling the product but never really understood the mechanism – If any readers want to give it a shot I’d be willing negotiate terms.
The product is extremely niche targeted (vinyl DJ’s) with a Global market, but interestingly the majority of buyers are wives and girlfriends of the intended recipients (buying as gifts) – you can learn more about the product at Slikmats.org
Maybe Frank or Justin could work a little magic – might be an interesting experiment for someone.
Sorry for the long post Grizz, just wanted to highlight the fact that traditional manufacturers are on the lookout for different sales angles, especially within the blogosphere.
June 07, 2008 11:53 PM
Internet Marketer said…
What a great post! People will definitely learn a thing or two from your blog. You’ve offered some great tips and pointers on Do’s and Dont’s.
Look forward to reading more great posts from you.
Sincerely,
Jamie Boyle
Internet Marketer
www.MakingMoneyForLife.com
June 08, 2008 1:14 AM
Nicola said…
Hey Griz, I’m a new reader and I’ve been devouring your older posts so I’m really looking forward to this new tutorial. Just off to put my thinking hat on.
June 08, 2008 2:25 AM
Michal said…
Hi Grizz,
Great information You have here I must say. I have one question about link building though. For every post I create I submit it with BMDemon to around 50 scuttle sites, I tag it with about 30 tags, vary anchor text but I am getting feeling that it might be too much with these tags. Wouldn’t it be better, if I tag it with only 10 tags for example? I am worrying about building backlinks too fast penalty. I will appreciate your thoughts about this matter.
Thanks
June 08, 2008 8:06 AM
Grizzly said…
Laughing Gaz,
I must have had 2 dozen spammers flogging their Ringtone and Credit card trial sites last night in the comments – congrats as you are the only one to suggest something just off beat enough to post. Actually your site is almost exactly the type of thing I was referring to in the post.
On the down side you are already ranked on page 1 for “custom slipmats” which would normally make me pass but I noticed that you aren’t on page 1 for “slipmats” a term that can be easily dominated. I could make some suggestions for you regarding your SEO but maybe I will hold off and see if any of my readers can optimize a site for the term. (If anyone is interested in giving this a go then let me know – if not I may take a crack at it myself.)
The biggest downside are the numbers – only 300 searches last month for “slipmats” and none for “custom slipmats”.
This wouldn’t necesarily turn me off but I would probably ask for a healthy fee.
One problem with this type of situation is the trust factor – we could agree on a price per sale which would leave me at the mercy of your honesty and while you may be the most honest person alive I find this isn’t always a wise move. Rather I would probably ask for a flat fee per 100 visitors – which I could track. Let me ask you – what would you be willing to pay for a flat fee? This could be re-negotiated later once you get a handle on conversions.
All in all your site is ideal for what I am trying to teach though so I would encourage at least one of my readers to give this a shot – there may not be a lot of revenue but the process could be learned quite easily.
Thanks Gaz – let’s see what happens.
June 08, 2008 9:35 AM
Grizzly said…
Jamie,
Well done – two links for the price of one.
Nicola,
Hope you come up with something and thanks for devouring the old posts – that takes some will power to get through… Glad to have you on board.
June 08, 2008 9:40 AM
Grizzly said…
Michael,
I noticed you left the same question on Vic’s blog and as I am not a BMD user it’s probably best to get Vic’s take on this. Some of my regular readers may give you their opinions as well. In general I am a proponent of slow and easy – I always try and maintain a natural look to all link building.
June 08, 2008 9:43 AM
zania said…
Oh shoot!
Now I’ve got to go and find another thing to promote and I’m up to my eyeballs already!
Seriously though, great post Griz and I like your ‘simple approach to leads generation’ – makes it much less complicated!
And I think I have just the product to make a start with, just need to check it out a little more first….
Sigh, I hardly ever get off the pc these days!
But it’s great to see you back with another cracking tutorial (which you added to nicely in the comments). So now I’m off to check out that product and build a new blog, and then another…
June 08, 2008 9:43 AM
DennisJr said…
LMAO.. Grizz, do you have a keylogger installed on my computer?? LOL, I just started a local niche targeted for adsense.
This post comes at a great time since I have not done well with adsense. However, I have been able to move some of my blogs through the serps.
Additionally, I would definately vouch for Franks posts related to Ebay and many other things. I have used his and Terry’s info to set up and sell ebay stuff on my aged domain. People should definately check these out if they are going to work BANS or use EPN widgets on free blogs to sell ebay stuff.
I look forward to more posts. Well, time to pick strawberries to sell at the farmers market. Another way to make an extra buck. LOL
June 08, 2008 9:46 AM
Antonio said…
Grizz I got a question about buying aged domains. I asked it at the end of the post before this one but I’m guessing you missed it.
Basically to keep it short, what type of process should I use to decide if a domain is a good buy or not? I previously bought a 8 year old domain, but after I bought it, the seller told me it had never been indexed. So I am thinking I am seeing the sandbox effect.
Now I got my eyes on a 10 year old domain, and I want to make sure it is a good purchase this time.
June 08, 2008 10:01 AM
Grizzly said…
Zania,
It never ends Zania – I just slap up campaign after campaign and every so often I get a winner. That in a nutshell is Internet marketing – sexy it ain’t! Good luck and remember to go get some exercise once in a while. Lol.
June 08, 2008 10:24 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
Strawberries all ready? You definitely live in a warmer climate. The ice hasn’t been gone a week here yet and there are still snow piles in the bush…
Frank and Terry are great – they work endlessly and always help people out. They are both code monkeys too but I still like them. haha.
Good luck at the market!
June 08, 2008 10:28 AM
Grizzly said…
Antonio,
Funny you should ask about pre-owned domains. The only ones I buy are live sites – the experts on this subject are Terry and Elliot – both links can be found in my sidebar under the “I recommend” label. I strongly advise you to give them a visit and ask them for some guidance.
June 08, 2008 10:33 AM
Antonio said…
Thanks Grizz, I found the info I needed on Terry’s site in about five minutes. Now if you’d excuse me, I have a new old domain to buy!
June 08, 2008 10:52 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
Or anyone for that fact. Has anyone ever created a blog on blogger without immediately putting a post on it? If so, how long before it is deleted or does it get deleted. I made two blogs that after research found to be somewhat promising. I am curious as to how long I can put off to making a post.
Thanks.
June 08, 2008 12:35 PM
gotafish said…
Great Post Griz. Love these tutorial type posts. they make learning much easier for simple minded people like me.
Gotafish
June 08, 2008 1:11 PM
LaughinGaz said…
Hey Grizz, thanks for taking the trouble to look at things – I’ve emailed you with a response to your comments.
June 08, 2008 4:21 PM
Frank At OpTempo said…
Hi again Griz,
I just posted a WordPress theme that is similar to the ever popular Minima theme. I called it Boring Memo.
June 08, 2008 7:01 PM
Anonymous said…
very happy to see you are still carrying on with this amazing blog.
I can’t wait for the serps article as there’s a case study (not mine) I hope to figure out with the info you’re going to give.
And you weren’t kidding about the ugly memo template…man…it’s ugly…:D
mambo
June 09, 2008 5:21 AM
Fiar said…
Dennis,
Has anyone ever created a blog on blogger without immediately putting a post on it?
I’ve created several that have never had even one single post. One of them is over two years old too. They are all still there.
June 09, 2008 6:29 AM
Fiar said…
That sure is one dull theme, Frank.
June 09, 2008 6:31 AM
Fred @ Newest on the Net said…
Hey Griz,
I think I found my product that I am going to promote. Can’t wait for lesson 2. I love these tutorials. They help people to actually build websites and not just read about building them.
June 09, 2008 6:48 AM
DennisJr said…
Thanks Fiar,
That really helps. It gives me a clue to some things I have been considering.. Back to the 8:00-5:00
June 09, 2008 9:47 AM
Terry said…
Hey antonio, glad to help.
Griz, I had a few ideas swimming around the old grey matter for this but suddenly saw a spark with a crazy product that doesn’t have any affiliates, yet is a big seller in offline stores.
I nearly passed on it as monthly searches are pretty low, but then found that there’s quite a lot of sales that can be generated on eBay. I checked some long tails and found very little competition so I thought what the hell.
I only need trickle traffic for eBay so I set up a blogger blog yesterday before my gig, wrote a big intro post, then wrote a big review with a link on one of my established sites in the same niche and linked to it from another with a related post.
When I got home from the gig last night the blog was indexed, so stage one is done. Now to get it some more links inbetween writing my latest paying assignment…
I don’t want to drain your link juice when I can probably help it ok with my own sites. This might be a good test of how useful my agricultural project currently is.
Oh, I’m keeping it’s niche under my hat at least in these comments for now btw, but I’ll email you the blog so you can judge how its going in the next few weeks.
Terry
June 09, 2008 10:43 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
OK. Since my first blog (6 months ago) I have never messed with feedburner. As if you don’t have enough on your plate..Can you maybe make a post on your blogging for begginers site? I am specifically refering to your comment in your recent post:
“(You can use feedburner to give you exit stats if you are using a free Blogger blog – no cost, no hassle)”
Or point me to a website. Thanks
June 09, 2008 11:23 AM
Vic said…
Excellent idea Griz – I could do with learning something useful to replace all the useless stuff I know. I created my blog and am waiting to see what happens next !
June 09, 2008 11:25 AM
JTighe said…
Hi Grizz,
Welome back mate.
Between you and Vic it looks like i’m going to be very busy, LOL.
I have a question, but its off topic.
How did you get your Zoom button? The only one I can see on Blogging Zoom is for Word Press.
Oh, by the way did you check out my site on Sunday? I had a visit from someone in Canada which is unusual (infact any visitor is unusual).
Anyway – good to have you back
All the best John
June 09, 2008 11:29 AM
DennisJr said…
Grizz,
You have a PSA on your blogger for basics site. I forgot to add that to my last comment.
June 09, 2008 12:30 PM
Pettech said…
Hey Griz,
Been following blog for a while. Experimented and ended up on page 1for yahoo & MSN, but keep slipping from page 2 – 3 on google. I think partly cause keyword was too broad and obscure.
Got blog up and raring to go. Good to see you back.
You haven’t posted for a while but maintained PR. What frequency would you recommend for posting?
June 10, 2008 7:37 AM
Grizzly said…
Sorry everyone – a little slow in responding. I’m into fishing season full time now and the guests expect a lot of schmoozing. The fires are finally out and the firefighters should be leaving today so hopefully I can spend a little more time on the computer.
Frank,
You have outdone yourself with that theme – I didn’t think you could out-ugly Blogger but you have proven me wrong! lol.
For those that don’t understand the point of an ugly blog it’s for use with adsense or any other monetization form where you want people to click out as fast as possible. If your site is ugly then you have won half the battle – yes most will just close the page or back out but there is always a percentage that will click the first link they see – be it adsense or whatever you paste in front of their eyes. If anyone tries out Frank’s theme please let us all know how it works.
June 10, 2008 9:29 AM
Grizzly said…
Mambo,
Yup it is UGLY! I hope you catch the drift of this little exercise too.
June 10, 2008 9:31 AM
Grizzly said…
Fiar and Dennis,
Like Fiar mentioned I too have dozens of blogs without posts on them – just ideas waiting for some inspiration but Blogger hasn’t deleted them – at least not yet.
June 10, 2008 9:33 AM
Grizzly said…
Fred,
Good luck with the product and I’m hoping we can make everyone a little cash with this tutorial.
June 10, 2008 9:35 AM
Grizzly said…
Terry,
You have peaked my interest – let me know if you need some support. Wise move keeping it quiet – I have noticed a sudden surge in “Blinkweb” blogs since my post… lol.
June 10, 2008 9:37 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
I’ll make a note to squeeze some feedburner info into a post. You can probably figure it out though if you play around with the options. I can’t remember if you need the PRO version running but you can see your outgoing stats under the “Site Stats” menu.
June 10, 2008 9:40 AM
Grizzly said…
Vic,
Glad to have you on board – just remember your “useless stuff” just might be useful to someone else!
June 10, 2008 9:42 AM
Grizzly said…
John,
Darn, been a while since I added the code for the zoom button. I’ll hunt it down and get back to you.
June 10, 2008 9:43 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
I checked my stats and everything is normal – no smart pricing so it’s possible that there just aren’t any relevant ads available. Thanks for the heads up and I’ll keep an eye on it.
June 10, 2008 9:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Pet tech,
Just be patient with the Google serp’s – they are still updating the system and rankings are jumping back and forth daily – no one knows just what they are doing but the serp’s have been pretty unstable for a month now. One thing that is becoming apparent is that fresh content seems to be playing a bigger role now than it did in the past. Keep posting and things will eventually settle down. I have no recommended frequency for posting but if you can maintain a weekly post then you keep the bot coming back at a decent rate. If you get a lot of comments you can keep the bot busy without many posts as this blog tends to do. Btw – PR isn’t affected by posting – just by incoming links.
Good luck and thanks for the comment.
June 10, 2008 9:59 AM
DennisJr said…
Thanks Griz,
I have messed with feedburner one time when I first started. I put one up on my political blog and thought it was a terrible idea with only three readers.
BTW. ABC news left a message on my Asthma blog and they want me to do a video or a post for them. LOL
June 10, 2008 10:51 AM
WR said…
Hey Grizzly… I have a question.
I’d like to follow along, and I actually have someone in my family that has something to sell. He is a traditional country music artist with about 4 albums and several awards, number 1 hits, has been played on radio stations all over the country, but is still pretty much unknown.
He has no website, and I’d like to set up a site for him to promote his albums, but I’m kind of stumped as to how to go about finding what kind of keywords to target, or how to go about getting him some traffic.
I’m thinking that this is a pretty competetive market, but I’m going to set up a site for him anyway, so I might as well use the techniques I’ve learned from you and courtney tuttle. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,
–Mike
June 10, 2008 5:36 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Hey Griz!
I was wondering what do you use to track your traffic?
Is there a “plugin” for blogpost blogs or do you have to paste a html code into your blog?
Thanks in advance
June 10, 2008 9:13 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Nevermind Griz…I found out how you can get traffic stats from you blogger blogs.
Feedburner has a lot of cool features including all the stats you need about the traffic coming or leaving your blog.
Yes, you need to upgrade to the PRO version of Feedburner, which BTW is free.
June 10, 2008 11:18 PM
JTighe said…
Hi Jack,
I hope Griz won’t mind me jumping in here, but as he will be in bed as I am writing this, it gives me time to leave the country before he wakes up, lol
I can’t say what Griz uses, but I guess it depends on your money situation.
You can either use Google Analytics, but I would recommend Statcounter.com.
Statcounter is free and easy to use. Just copy and paste some code.
PS Under tools remember to block your own visits.
Hope this helps
All the best – John
June 11, 2008 2:02 AM
World Travel, Worldwide Jobs, Nomadic Lifestyle said…
You know, I had just the other day found a keyword that gets a lot of searches, has very little competition – and based on my knowledge, those who are searching are probably disappointed with the information they are getting.
I was ready to jump all over it – but had no idea how to monetize it – much like your battery example, there are no affiliate programs and probably not enough traffic to make adsense worth it – Now, with what you have written here I know how to approach it.
Thanks for helping me understand how to make money online
June 11, 2008 5:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Dennis,
Well done Dennis. Just make sure the buggers leave you a good backlink (ABC News that is). Let us know if you do the post or video.
As for Feedburner – just don’t show the Feed number widget until you have a decent number accumulated.
June 11, 2008 6:03 AM
Grizzly said…
WR, (Mike)
Hard to give you an exact plan without knowing all the details but I would probably target and optimize a site for the artist’s name to start with. Album and song titles should be optimized on individual posts. I would also optimize posts for the awards and finally work on the keywords that best describe his genre of music.
As I said this is pretty basic but should get you started. I am just guessing but I would think most people searching for music would use either an artist’s name or a song title. If he isn’t well known then this becomes a bit of a problem and you will have to work on more generic terms like “country music” etc.
Good luck.
June 11, 2008 6:10 AM
Grizzly said…
Jack,
Feedburner does have stats but they aren’t the best for tracking your visitors. Use statcounter – it’s free, can be invisible and provides all the basics necessary for tweaking a money making blog. It’s all I use.
June 11, 2008 6:13 AM
Grizzly said…
John,
Thanks and you are absolutely right – statcounter is a great little tool and as I said – It’s all I need or use.
June 11, 2008 6:15 AM
Grizzly said…
Nomadic,
Sounds like you have found one of those sweet little niches I am always looking for. If so spend some time tracking down the people who could benefit from that traffic and if they exist then by all means start gathering it in. Best of luck – sounds like you have something promising.
June 11, 2008 6:18 AM
Vijay Agarwal said…
Hi Griz your suggestions are so helpful. Welcome back after a long absence
June 11, 2008 7:22 AM
Terry said…
Hehe, I guessed there’d be a sudden clamour to make blogs for blinkweb.
Now from my perspective that’s silly because not only is it a MMO product that every IMer and his dog will be promoting, but it means going up against your own blog that is bound to wipe the floor with most of the rest!
To those that did, I guess they didn’t learn their lesson with asia’h epperson…
You should have an email from me with details of what I’m up to buried in amongst your overburdened inbox!
Oh and yes, Google are bouncing all over the place at the moment – my sites in that niche are all over the place – on the front page one moment then gone the next, then back again! Oh what fun…
June 11, 2008 7:29 AM
Grizzly said…
Vijay,
Thanks for stopping in and I’m glad you find this blog useful. It seems to have a life of its own whether I’m here or not. All the best Vijay.
June 11, 2008 7:56 AM
Grizzly said…
Hey Terry,
I am embarrassed to say just how hopeless my emails are organized – I have looked and can’t find anything recent from you – please re-send if you have a copy.
I did make an attempt at catching up or at least organizing everything while on vacation and if anyone is wondering why I am so slow to respond here is my current backlog;
314 sites asking for a review or general help.
1427 bloggers asking for some kind of specific answer re: links, seo etc.
128 blogs asking for advertising.
271 blogs asking for links.
17 new emails last night not sorted yet…
LOL
As for G – they are definitely changing things up. I hope things settle down soon or else I am going to start assuming the new algorithm has been programed to keep the serp’s fluid and gone are the days of static listings on page 1. Needless to say my serp visitors have been quite erratic – big bursts followed by lulls every few hours. As you said… Oh what fun!
June 11, 2008 8:09 AM
Anonymous said…
Hi Griz,
Can we use blogs hosted on WordPress instead of Blogger? Or should we only use Blogger?
Thanks for your excellent blog.
June 11, 2008 9:56 AM
Grizzly said…
Anon,
Yes, you can definitely use WordPress (self hosted) if you want to. I only mention Blogger as it is a free option that works just fine.
June 11, 2008 10:32 AM
Terry said…
Griz I have to say I would not want your inbox LOL!
I have a better idea than adding another to its total. In the HW forum there is an even more deeply hidden section for moderators only and you should be able to see it too – I’ve pasted the email I sent in there so whenever you get time to read it, you’ll be able to find it easily!
As for a fluid Google index, that could make life very difficult for some of us – or better in some ways as it might just discourage the spammer element, meaning less competition…
June 11, 2008 2:14 PM
chris traffic secrets said…
Griz, I’m glad you are back and posting. This is my “cup of coffee” blog! I tried enjoying a good cup of coffee reading other blogs in your absence but it just didn’t cut it.
This is the first I’ve seen of anyone talking about the google serps being erratic. I’ve notice my own blogs going from page 1 then page 2…
What the hell would be the game plan if indeed google did change the algorithm to allow for fluid serps?
Thanks for the link in your last post.
June 11, 2008 5:32 PM
Chris traffic secrets said…
One more question Griz. Is it a bad idea to use a redirect on an affiliate blog? I sometimes set up one page blogs that push affiliate products and use a redirect that takes the visitor straight to the landing page. I created about twenty blogs like this…is it OK? DO you use redirects?
June 11, 2008 5:36 PM
Jack Mihada said…
Quick question for Griz,
I started up a blog around a certain topic I noticed on a forum I’m active in.
In my first post, I included as much variation of the topic “keyword”, from the root word to it’s longtail.
Should I wait until my blog get index and see which keywords the “G” thought my blog relevant for. Before I start my next blog post?
TIA (Thanks in advance)
June 11, 2008 7:29 PM
David said…
Griz,
Would you suggest setting up all my sites in google webmaster tools? Isn’t that showing google what I’m up to, similar to having adsense on all your sites? I have seen Court put adsense on all his sites though so it doesn’t seem to effect him negatively.
Thanks,
Dave
June 12, 2008 2:47 AM
Grizzly said…
Chris,
I don’t think anyone is talking about the serp’s at the moment because no one has figured out exactly what is going on. I suppose the serp’s have always been fluid but not like at present. This whole business of “Personalized Results” has made things a lot more interesting and a whole lot harder to peg down your real ranking.
I am still presuming that things will settle down but this has been the most drawn out shakeup in quite awhile – if not ever.
June 12, 2008 6:41 AM
Grizzly said…
Chris… again
I don’t use re-directs primarily because G doesn’t like them and you are open to being reported by your competition if you are targeting a competitive niche. If you do use them try and limit your exposure and never use them with Adsense sites. Be careful of the competition…
June 12, 2008 6:44 AM
Grizzly said…
Jack,
Never wait – just keep posting and adding as many long tails as you can. The more food you give G the more it has to index you for. Once you see some serp traffic you can then bolster the long tails that visitors are using.
June 12, 2008 6:47 AM
Grizzly said…
David,
I have several webmaster tool accounts to spread my main sites around. I only use WT for my flagships and not for my affiliate and adsense sites – no need. SEO Elite gives me all the data I need.
Adsense is a dead giveaway and that is fine if like Court, everything you do is squeaky clean. I am not that squeaky though and don’t advertise all my sites nor do I use Adsense on everything. Those of you who have read my private forum posts know what I am getting at and if you haven’t then you should send me an email asking to join – just use “Private Forum” in the subject.
June 12, 2008 6:53 AM
One Cent said…
This post has been removed by the author.
June 12, 2008 10:40 AM
Irene said…
Geez – I get busy and stop coming around for a while and you set up a whole course! Ok – I’m off to catch up and build me a blogger blog.
June 19, 2008 8:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Great Ideas Griz! (as usual)
Could you briefly expand on how you juggle multiple advertisers with your ‘battery blog’?
Are you rotating sitewide paid ads above the fold or simply adding a text link within one or more posts, or…?
Thanks!
July 10, 2008 10:21 AM
roger said…
Griz,
“I never use adsense on an affiliate site except as a last resort. ”
- when you look at a niche and have keyword to target, how and what determines whether this is going to be an adsense or affiliate site.
Also, I am thinking about: wordpress blogs for adsense, affiliate sites on blogger ( products cool down after initial euphoria but adsense can continue to make money). Wrong assumptions?
تكمن أهمية توفير الحماية للمستهلك لأنه الطرف الضعيف في التعاقد بينما المهنيون في مركز القوة في مواجهة المستهلكين ، وأيضا لأنه في المعاملات الإلكترونية يكون التعاقد عن بعد ولا يكون المنتج محل التعاقد بين يدي المستهلك .
ونظراً للمخاطر الكبيرة التي تنطوي عليها العملية الاستهلاكية في جميع مراحلها ولوقاية المستهلك من مخاطر ما يقتنيه من سلع وخدمات ولوقايته من شر الوقوع ضحية لنزعته الاستهلاكية ، لذلك وجب على القانون أن يتعرض لحماية المستهلك في المعاملات الإلكترونية لاستخراج الآليات اللازمة لإعادة التوازن في العلاقات الاستهلاكية بما يرفع ضرر والخطر عن المستهلك ، وليس ذلك على المستوي الوطني فقط بل أن المعاملات الإلكترونية ولأنها في الغالب تكون معاملات دولية تتم عن طريق شبكة المعلومات الدولية الإنترنت لا تعرف الحدود ومن ثم فهي تمتد لتشمل كافة أرجاء المعمورة مما يستدعي توحيد النظام القانوني الدولي بهدف التنسيق بين المراكز القانونية للمتعاقدين واتساع نطاق الحماية القانونية للمستهلك ، ومن هنا تظهر أهمية التعريف بالمستهلك والعملية الاستهلاكية قبل أن نبين ما هي الضمانات الواجب توفيرها له .
- مفهوم المستهلك في التجارة الإلكترونية Definition du Consommanteur
وعرف مشروع قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي الصادر في 26 يوليو1993 المستهلكون بأنهم هم " الأشخاص الذين يحصلون أو يستعملون المنقولات أو الخدمات للاستعمال غير المهني . ولكن صدر القانون خالياً من أي تعريف للمستهلك .
فالمستهلك الإلكتروني إذن : هو ذلك الشخص الذي يبرم العقود الإلكترونية المختلفة من شراء و أيجار وقرض وانتفاع وغيرها من أجل توفير كل ما يحتاجه من سلع وخدمات لإشباع حاجاته الشخصية أو العائلية دون أن يقصد من ذلك إعادة تسويقها ودون أن تتوافر له الخبرة الفنية لمعالجة هذه الأشياء وإصلاحها .
3- حماية المستهلك في القانون المقارن
أن حماية المستهلك ليست بالفكرة الحديثة على التشريعات الوضعية بل هناك كثير من التشريعات المختلفة التي اهتمت بتوعية المستهلك وتنوير إرادته قبل أن يقدم على إبرام العقود بهدف حمايته في مواجهة المهني .
كما أنشئت أيضا جمعيات تهدف إلى حماية المستهلك وهي جمعيات مدنية لا تهدف إلى تحقيق الربح وتتبع في دفاعها عن المستهلكين عدة طرق ومن أهمها التوعية والدعاية المضادة contre - publicite والامتناع عن الشراء Grève des Achats والامتناع عن الدفع Grève des paiement.
ومن الدول من بادر بإصدار قانون خاص بالمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية وضمنه نصوص خاصة بحماية المستهلك ومنها على سبيل المثال :
- قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي
أصدر المشرع الفرنسي قانون الاستهلاك الفرنسي الجديد رقم 949 – 93 الصادر في 62 يوليو 1993 وهو يتكون من خمس أجزاء تتعلق بإعلام المستهلك وحمايته وتنظيم جمعيات المستهلكين وتطابق وأمان المنتجات والخدمات .
ولكن المشرع الفرنسي قبل إصدار هذا القانون كان قد وضع ترسانة هائلة من التشريعات والنظم الخاصة بحماية المستهلك وقد تمخض عن تلك القوانين نظام قانوني قائم بذاته لا يتردد البعض عن تسميته بالنظرية القانونية لحماية المستهلك .
- قانون التجارة الإلكترونية لدوقية لوكسمبورج :
كما أنطوي قانون التجارة الإلكترونية لدوقية لوكسمبورج علي نصوص لحماية المستهلك وأهمها إعلام المستهلك بالمعلومات الخاصة بالمورد وبمواصفات السلع و الخدمات والعملة التي يتم بمقتضاها السداد ومدة العرض والسعر وشروط القرض وحق المستهلك في العدول عن التعاقد ، كما فرض قانون التجارة الإلكترونية بإيطاليا الموردين بإحاطة المستهلكين بالمواصفات التفصيلية للبضاعة أو الخدمة بما في ذلك الضرائب الإلكترونية في الوقت المناسب قبل إبرام العقد .
- قانون المعاملات والتجارة الإلكترونية لإمارة دبي
صدر قانون المعاملات والتجارة الإلكترونية رقم (2) لعام 2002 لإمارة دبي بهدف إحلال الوسائل التقنية الحديثة في المعاملات التجارية محل الوسائل التقليدية ، وقد تضمن من بين نصوصه بيان المعاملات الإلكترونية وإنشاء العقود وصحتها ، إلا أن هذا القانون لم يبين قواعد حماية المستهلك في المعاملات الإلكترونية وماهية حقوقه باعتباره الطرف الضعيف في مواجهة التاجر المحترف ، ولعل المشرع قصد بذلك الرجوع إلى القواعد العامة .
ومع ذلك فأننا نجد في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة ظهرت بعض الجمعيات التي تهدف إلى حماية المستهلك وهذه الجمعيات لا تهدف إلى تحقيق الربح وإنما تهدف إلى توحيد الجهود والخبرة لتوفير وسائل الدفاع عن مصالح المستهلكين ومنها جمعية الإمارات لحماية المستهلك والتي تتطابق أهدافها مع أهداف جمعيات حماية المستهلك في الدول الأوربية ، ومن أهم أهداف هذه الجمعية خلق وعي عام لدي المستهلك وإرشاده وتوعيته بمضار الإعلانات التجارة الخادعة والمضللة وإرشاده لكيفية التأكد من سلامة المواد الاستهلاكية والتأكد من إنها غير ممنوعة من التداول في بلد المنشأ لأي سبب يتعلق بصحة المستهلك وحمايته ، وقد تأسست هذه الجمعية في 11/3/1987 ومقرها مدينة الشارقة وتم إشهارها وفق القرار الوزاري رقم 246 لسنه 1981 وقد انضمت لعضوية الاتحاد الدولي للاستهلاك .
ثانياً : حماية المستهلك في توجيهات المجلس الأوربي
ولما كانت التعاقدات الإلكترونية تتم في الغالب على المستوى الدولي لذلك وجب العمل على وضع الوسائل القانونية المناسبة من أجل الحماية الدولية للمستهلك ، ولذلك أصدر المجلس الأوربي توجيهين في هذا الشأن ، التوجيه الأول ونص فيه على أن من أجل الحماية الدولية للمستهلك يجب عمل المؤتمرات الدولية للمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية وخاصة فيما يتعلق بالمعاملات التجارية الإلكترونية التي تتم خارج أوربا ، كما صدر التوجيه الثاني بشأن القواعد التي تحدد ما هي المحكمة الأفضل للمستهلك وبصفة خاصة في ظل معاهدة روما الصادرة في 19 يوليه 1980 ، كما صدر التوجيه الأوربي رقم 13/93 الصادر في 5 أبريل 1993 بشأن حماية المستهلك من الشروط التعسفية التي تفرض عليه من جانب البائع المحترف كالشرط الذي يعفي البائع من ضمان العيوب الخفية ، كما صدر التوجيه الأوربي رقم 99/144 الصادر في 25 مايو 1999 بشأن حماية المستهلك في عمليات البيع وضمانات الأموال الاستهلاكية .
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