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October 03, 2008
12:43
Linky Goodness, October 3
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Another song for the day, yes? “I’m Gonna Buy Me a Dog.” It’s what’s playing now on my computer.
- Yahoo’s been testing a new design for site explorer, and now it’s officially live. Slick.
- Barry needs the links. So here’s one to one of his posts on SEL. Oh, and you might find it interesting, too: Google Adds Geographic Data To AdWords Quality Score. Too many old people clicking your ads? Too bad.
- Rumors of wars and layoffs: Will Yahoo cut its workforce?
Oh, and how can you beat this—now playing: “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Salute me. I’m about to rock. I know you’re jealous.
12:38
Friendster to Add Facebook App Compatibility
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

I have a little song for you today. It’s to the tune of “Oh Shenandoah.”

O-pen Social, you long to give us
A-a-apps, all open source
O-pen Social, you long to serve us
A-a-away you’re bound to go
‘Cause Facebook’s stealing your lunch

Okay, the last line might not fit so well in the song, but it looks to be happening in the real world. Yet another social network that had pledged its support to Open Social is adding compatibility with Facebook’s application language. Yes, first it was Bebo (in December) and now it’s Friendster.

Announced a year ago, Open Social is Google’s answer to Facebook’s then-proprietary social network app markup language. Designed as a cross-platform, open source language and set of standards, Open Social seemed pretty awesome at first.

But the shine was off pretty quick. With delays in release and some limitations in its application, Open Social partners began eyeing Facebook’s markup language, FBML, as soon as Facebook announced that they’d be allowing their language to be used by other sites. Bebo announced it would work with both Open Social and FBML that very day—just as both LinkedIn and Friendster announced the launch of their own platforms.

In May, Facebook made its platform open source, severely undercutting that aspect of Open Social’s USP. The huge, obvious advantage there is the instant compatibility with thousands of popular apps already developed for Facebook. What better way to encourage developers to work with you than by showing them it doesn’t require any work?

Friendster just barely joined up with Open Social last month. Open Social continues to loses its exclusive partners as they sign on to use both protocols. Is this one fight that Google may be losing? Or have they already won by forcing Facebook to go open source?

I’ll also be taking requests for next week’s song to parodize. Witchy Woman, anyone?
Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!

12:30
The 15 Million Dollar Blog Sale
» ‎ 45n5 - We Make Money Online

Wowzer, a blog sold for $15 million dollars and only had one author.

From Paid Content

Financial info site BankRate is expanding its financial product listings, as it’s acquiring Bankaholic, which provides info on deposits, savings accounts, and money market accounts. The company will pay $12.4 million up front, with another $2.5 million possible earnout over the next 12 months. Bankaholic’s sole employee John Wu will assist in the transition and remain for an unspecified period of time

Problogger says

If this price is true it’s a fairly decent sale for Mr Wu (understatement of the year) - the blog has an Alexa ranking of 42,168 and averages less than 20 comments per post. The blog does seem to rank very well for a lot of bank terms and I’m sure drives targeted traffic and would convert well with affiliate products - but this is still a fairly inspiring sale!

Patrick says

I was looking at this deal and was thinking if this isn’t the highest price tag paid for a single WordPress blog than it must be the most profitable WP blog ever sold! A deal estimated at $15M, seemingly all organic search traffic (so no cost for the traffic, the site is highly ranked for many top banking terms, ie “CD Rates“), and one employee! Well done John Wu.

Of course if you thought 15 million was good, then you'd really like the $30 million sale of paid content who originally reported this sale!

The first million can take 45n5.com, ;)

12:24
A Reluctant Google Looks at Ad Agencies
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

You don’t see a lot of traditional advertising from Google. Their philosophy is to build great products and develop amazing technology and let it sell (and support) itself. Their marketing strategy has relied mostly on word of mouth - and its worked well. It just may not be enough for a company their size.

That is slowly changing. Google looks to be shopping for an ad agency. They’ve looked at Madison Avenue agencies like Wieden + Kennedy and Taxi New York. They’ve hired an agency for a campaign in Japan called “100 Things You Can Do With Google.” However, unlike many top brands Google ads aren’t running on prime time.

Many people outside of geekdom don’t know about Google’s 411 phone service, Gmail, or other Google products. For example, do you know about or use Google’s text message search service? Text message a search query to 466453 (”GOOGLE” on most phones) and they text message back the search results. It’s been around since 1994. I use Goog411 but just heard about text searching last week.

What they have been doing to market though - is they blog. And they actively promote blog posts. And post quirky YouTube ads on creative ways to use their products. There is constant talk of new products, new uses for products, and about Google culture. And we (the online audience) eat it up.

For the most part Googlers are great evangelists for their company. But what about the people who aren’t online or who don’t read blogs? As Google branches into cell phones, regular phones, and other products, they’re competing in spaces with more serious competition. Sometimes Google’s products sound compelling but aren’t fully baked and are rarely supported.

When Google releases their G1 cellphone with Google Android as its backend, they are planning to advertise on billboards and TV ads. They are partnering with T-Mobile, a company already doing a lot of traditional advertising. This seems more Google’s style - letting another company take the lead or do much of the marketing for them.

More evidence that Google is doing more traditional advertising is that they hired Andy Berndt, a former co-president of WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather in New York. He is director of a new group called Google Creative Lab where they develop marketing and branding strategies (in true Google style there are quirky contests that reward innovation).

Google may need to invest more in marketing as their growth rate slows (it’s still amazing though - 39% in its second quarter, which was 58% last year). TNS Media Intelligence says Google’s offline ad spending is at about $20 million a year.

While Google is almost synonymous with “search” they are much less well-known for their other products. Mostly I want to see Google’s authentic brand and style in the offline world. Have you seen examples of their ad efforts offline? I’d like to hear about it.
9:52
OMG! Live Search Cashback is Actually Effective!
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

As you know, I’m quick on the trigger when it comes to giving Microsoft’s search incentive programs a hard time. Well, I try to be fair and balanced. With that in mind (gulp), Live Search Cashback might actually be working!

You heard me. New data from Hitwise suggests that Microsoft’s master plan is showing signs of success.

Eleven weeks ago, MSN Cashback represented 3.75% of the traffic to Live.com and grew to 6.29% last week. This rise in Cashback’s traffic underscores the interest in the program, which is likely to be getting a boost from shoppers looking to save money and stretch their budgets given the current economic climate.

And, while Live Search is not showing any increased market share, it’s audience share is stable–suggesting that perhaps Live Search Cashback is helping!

I’m still not convinced that bribery is solid plan to take on Google, but I’m ready to eat humble pie if Microsoft sees continued success.
8:59
Proof a Vicious Rumor Can Hurt Your Online Reputation
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Time and time again, I hear businesses tell me they don’t need to monitor their online reputation because there’s not anything being written about them. Maybe you have a perfect reputation, maybe your business has thus far never encountered an online reputation attack, but I would be willing to bet that somewhere on the web, there is a vicious rumor circulating–and you don’t even know about it.

Want proof of just how quickly a false rumor can start and dramatically hurt your business?

Take a look at this false report about Apple CEO Steve Jobs:

Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath.

Now take a look at what happened to Apple’s stock price:

OK, so you’re not Apple, but you know what? Someone, somewhere, someday, will make a false statement about your CEO, products, services, or company. If you cover your ears, you might lose business and never even know why.

We built Trackur to provide a comprehensive online media monitoring solution for just $18 a month! Surely your reputation is worth 60 cents a day to protect? Even if you have no budget, you owe it to yourself to at least set up some basic reputation monitoring.

Go! Go now! Before you become the next victim of a vicious online rumor.
7:34
Pilgrim’s Picks for October 3
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Today was the first post-summer day where my office felt a little "chilly." I’m hoping for a quick rebound in temperatures. While I go outside and look for the sun, you can enjoy these Picks.
- Hackers are keeping a close eye on Google Trends–it’s helping them build fake blogs on popular topics.
- Don’t be like Rand Fishkin–who once picked RandFish as his social profile name, and now regrets it. Do however, follow his awesome advice for branding your company (or self) with social media.
- First Google removed the handy dictionary links, now SEOs are worried that Google no longer suggests submitting your site to a directory.
- A one-man blog just sold for $15 million! $15,000,000! I’ll start the bidding for Marketing Pilgrim at $5,000,000!
Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!
7:20
Exclusive: Who’s Really Taking Money from “Big Oil” this Election
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

There’s a lot of talk about the rising price of oil and both Presidential candidates have faced tough questions about their stance on everything from tax-breaks to windfall taxes.

After some investigative reporting, Marketing Pilgrim has dug deep to find out just who’s taking money from "Big Oil."

As far as online advertising goes, that’s either very creative or very dumb. You decide!

Free Online Reputation Management Webinar - Andy Beal will host a free ORM training session on October 1st at 1pm ET. Space is limited so register now!
7:07
Have ADD? New Yahoo News Might Have the Solution for…Oh Look, a Butterfly!
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention

Well, Betty, if you’re short on attention, you might just want to head over and check out the newly designed Yahoo News. In addition to some cosmetic changes, the new Yahoo News will attempt to customize your experience based upon how you find the site.

As TechCrunch explains:

Yahoo will will also pay attention to where its users are coming from - if a reader comes from Digg or Yahoo Buzz, only five paragraphs of their news stories will be shown initially, with the related links prominently featured (Yahoo figures that these readers are more likely to click through to new stories, and are less concerned with reading the full article). Readers who visit Yahoo News directly will be shown the full articles by default, and there will be an option for all readers to automatically show full articles.

Sounds a little primitive to me. Instead of assuming that all Digg users suffer from cyber-ADD, why not customize Yahoo News based upon an individual user’s habits?

If you want to check out the new Yahoo News, look for the link at the top of the existing page–or just check out the screenshot below.

P.S. Bonus points if you can guess the name of the song the above lyrics are taken from.

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com - Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!
October 02, 2008
13:21
Gphone Sold Out; More iPhone Killers to Come?
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

It’s been just over a week since T-Mobile premiered the G1, the first cell phone with Google’s Android OS. Although the phone won’t be available for three more weeks, T-Mobile has already sold all of its preorder units.

That’s right, folks. The Gphone is sold out.

Of course, T-Mobile most likely set aside a significant number of G1s to be sold direct in stores. One report cited by Business Week said that T-Mobile expects to sell up to half a million G1s this quarter. Their order with the phone’s maker, HTC, naturally, is for a much higher number: 1.5 to 2 million.

As Unwired View points out, two million isn’t a whole lot compared to the iPhone’s early predictions (10 million). But considering the amount of competition we’ll be likely to see among Android handsets, it’s probably plenty.

No other companies have yet premiered Android-based phones, but rumors abound about many in the works. Allegedly, five other cell phone makers are working on Gphones—possibly including Samsung, LG, and Motorola. Qualcomm is supposed to definitely be one of the other makers.

The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, (do you even have to ask?) Nokia, however, appears to be going in a different direction: the new Nokia Tube, also an iPhone competitor, comes with a large touch screen—and bundled subscription music download service. The Tube, like other Nokia phones, will most likely run Java ME apps.

What do you think: will the G1, the Tube or another Gphone be the iPhone killer—or none of the above?
9:21
Apple Threatens to Shut Down iTunes
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Musicians and their labels want Apple to increase the amount they make per digital music download. Apple says they would rather shut down iTunes music store. They are turning down a request for an increase of six more cents per song for music publishers and songwriters.

Apple has insisted on keeping the price at 99 cents per download arguing that any price increase above that will make them unprofitable. The Copyright Royalty Board is scheduled to decide on the proposal by a three-person board appointed by the Librarian of Congress by Thursday. Music publishers want their cut to go from 9 cents to 15 cents per song - a 66 percent increase.

Digital downloads have been at the same rate for 12 years and at the the same rate as the sale of physical albums. The board will also raise royalties on physical albums and ringtones, “for the next five years.” I don’t know if that means in five years they will raise the rates higher.

Wired quotes Apple’s iTunes vice president Eddy Cue as saying:

“Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

Rather than raising prices to $1.05, running at a profit loss, or closing iTunes altogether, Apple is threatening the latter. Given the popularity of iPods and iTunes, I’m not buying what they’re selling. But Apple is taking a hard line stand - just as they’ve done on the DRM issue.

So far Apple has managed to get their way, despite a lot of challenges - not only from Amazon - but from other countries. A consumer group in Norway is threatening to sue Apple for making it difficult to playing music from iTunes on anything other than an iPod. They’re trying to recruit other countries to join the fight to get Apple to make music downloads available on other products - including mobile phones.

Free Online Reputation Management Webinar - Andy Beal will host a free ORM training session on October 1st at 1pm ET. Space is limited so register now!
8:08
Pilgrim’s Picks for October 2 - Last Chance Edition
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
OK, you’re running out of time, if you want to:
1. Have a chance to win an Acer Aspire One nebook computer.
2. Learn cutting edge social media marketing tactics from the world’s top gurus.
That said, you have plenty of time left to enjoy these Picks:
- There’s something arrogant about Google deciding it has the perfect clean energy plan.
- You know you need an online reputation manager. Get Elastic will help you figure out how to find one. Or, you can hire me!
- Google explains how it’s integrating search with its new Android mobile platform.

8:04
Affiliate Summit East 2008 Videos
» ‎ 45n5 - We Make Money Online

I was just watching Shoemoney talk about conferences turning into more networking events than places to catch sessions because you can watch the videos of the sessions whenever you want at home.

Not ten minutes later I see that Affiliate Summit has posted the entire video of all of the sessions online ;) Cool stuff.

I already mentioned the Amazon Affiliate session was worth watching and now I'm looking forward to checking out some of the others like the session on social media and the one on copywriting, for starters.

Here is the link to the videos and here is a list of the current videos to watch, certainly you'll find something of interest:

* Keynote Address
* Sunday: Affiliate Marketing Basics for Merchants
* Sunday: Leveraging Social Media
* Sunday: NY Tax Laws - Issues and Solutions
* Sunday: Which PPC Engines Work And How?
* Sunday: Monetize your Site with Amazon Associates
* Sunday: ShareASale Network Education Clinic
* Sunday: pepperjamNETWORK Education Clinic
* Session 1a: The State of Ad Networks
* Session 1b: Content That Kills
* Session 1c: My 5 Favorite SEO Strategies Exposed
* Session 2a: Anatomy of a Great Affiliate Program
* Session 2b: Compliance. It's More Than a Buzz Word
* Session 2c: Performance Marketing Alliance Q&A
* Session 3a: Landing Page Testing to Attract Super Affiliates
* Session 3b: How is Social Media Changing Affiliate Marketing
* Session 3c: Legal 2.0: Hot Topics in Affiliate Marketing
* Session 4a: PPC Search: Disclosure vs. Free-for-All
* Session 4b: PPC Super Affiliate Strategies You MUST Know
* Session 4c: The Ten Hottest Strategies for Internet Marketing
* Session 5a: The Future of Performance Marketing
* Session 5b: Web 2.0 for Affiliates
* Session 5c: Lessons Learned in Using Video for Affiliates
* Session 6a: Lead Generation for EMarketers
* Session 6b: International Options for US Affiliates
* Session 6c: Copywriting Clinic
* Session 7a: Data Feed Problems and Missing Information
* Session 7b: Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing

7:54
YouTube Cries: “For the Love of Pete, Please Click on an Ad!”
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

There’s a new mantra at YouTube these days.

If at first you don’t succeed, keep showing ads until you do!

Considering the success Google has enjoyed with AdWords, you’d think it would have figured out how to make YouTube advertising a smash hit by now. Unfortunately, despite testing every conceivable type of ad, YouTube is still struggling to find success.

The latest attempt to get us to click on video ads comes by way of new post-roll ads. As NewTeeVee reports:

As we understand it (and this has been confirmed with the company), if you don’t click on an overlay ad when it shows up in a clip you’re watching, the video ad it would have played rolls automatically at the end of your video. Previously a post-roll video wouldn’t play without being initiated by the user. This type of ad started rolling out over the last few weeks.

So please, have a heart. Show you care! Click on an ad and save a life us from any more ad inserts.

Here’s what to look for:

Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!
6:42
Google Blog Search Adds Meme Tracking; Puts Techmeme on Notice
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Just because Google suddenly enters your playground, that doesn’t automatically mean you need to pack-up your toys and go home. Still, Techmeme has every reason to be just a little nervous that Google has launched a new homepage for Google Blog Search.

From the Google announcement:

Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we’re now showing categories on the left side of the website and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event. Grouping them in clusters lets you see the best posts on a story or get a variety of perspectives. When you look within a cluster, you’ll find a collection of the most interesting and recent posts on the topic, along with a timeline graph that shows you how the story is gaining momentum in the blogosphere.

So, is Techmeme quaking in its boots? It’s hard to tell, mostly because it’s thumbing its nose by actually featuring the launch on its site:

I suspect that Google’s reorganization of Blog Search is merely a cosmetic move to clean up its results. Techmeme, on the other hand, has built a business around breaking the "need to know" technology news. My money’s on Techmeme, what about yours?

October 01, 2008
19:01
To Make Money With AdSense, You Must Know AdWords
» ‎ Retired Pay World

Many of us small-time amateurs get into the blogging for profit game because of the big frog in the advertising puddle, Google AdSense. AdSense is a very interesting and valuable tool in any blogger’s arsenal. It costs nothing to join, has no monthly maintenance or carrying charges and can work for virtually any blog or conventional website.

Of course it is also the tool many beginning bloggers love to hate, because AdSense will not produce much in the way of income unless you learn how to use it wisely. There are probably a thousand times more bloggers earning pennies per day from AdSense than there are earning even a few dollars a day … but that does not have to be the case.

It is not the tool, however that is at fault. In spite of articles you read every few weeks about the demise of AdSense it is still a very viable tool and profitable to both Google and to many bloggers, including me.

So how do you move from pennies per day to dollars per day? One key is, you have to understand how AdWords work. The only reason AdSense exists is to provide display area and “eyeballs” for Google AdWords customers. Think of AdSense as the paper that newspaper ads are printed on … AdWords are the advertisements themselves that the newspaper sells in order to earn money to produce the newspaper.

So how do you learn AdWords? Well you could just open an AdWords account and start spending money for ads to teach yourself how it works … but I don’t recommend that course of action.

Instead, take advantage of valuable and often free resources from experts in the field. My friend Eric Giguere has been wring about and earning money from AdSense for years. Along the way he’s learned a lot about AdWords. Today Eric announced a freebie book detailing some of his knowledge. As with much of Eric’s work I am sure he could have packaged this as a “for sale” eBook, but he has chosen to give the book away. Take advantage. You can’t beat the price and the understanding you gain will be valuable even if you never buy an AdWords ad in your career. Recommended.

Free AdWords Guides
There are many eBooks available about Google AdWords. Most are not free, but there are some good free guides out there, including:
The Only AdWords Affiliate Marketing EBook You’ll Ever Need This is a guide I’ve started to write about using AdWords to make money via affiliate marketing. Unfinished as of yet, but potentially useful. The Unofficial Guide To Google’s Quality Score A great guide to how sites can reduce their advertising costs by increasing the quality score of their advertisements. Free AdWords Tools
As with the eBooks, there are many software tools — online and downloadable — that are useful for AdWords advertisers. Here are some free ones:
AdWords Keyword Tool This tool for AdWords customers is also available for free to anyone who wants to do some keyword research using Google’s extensive search data. Here you can find out monthly search volumes and estimated ad costs for almost any key phrase you can think of. read more AdSense and AdWords tips from Eric here

You can learn a lot from Eric … I certainly have … and I subscribe to his blog, I suggest you do so also.

As a side note, Eric also produces a Gangbuster, sophisticated yet simple Site Builder program which will help a lot in building sites that work well within the AdSense system and comply with all Google’s rules. Also recommended.
Copyright © 2008 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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17:55
Go Website Shopping For Your Next Money Making Website Idea
» ‎ 45n5 - We Make Money Online

Here's a suggestion that might be really obvious to some but might help people that are frustrated they aren't making any money online: When it's time to start your next site, go shopping for websites first.

My favorite places to browse are:

1. Sitepoint Premium Sites

2. Sitepoint Established Sites

The negative to visiting these places is you can read them for hours.

The positives of going shopping are you can see EXACTLY what people are selling, how they made their money, what type of sites are selling and which ones are not, where their traffic comes from, and anything else you would ever need to know by just asking.

These aren't "ideas" for sites, these are real live sites on the chopping block with their stats many times in plain view for everyone to see.

Stuck on your next website that makes money? Go shopping ;)

(ps. of course if you want to enjoy the site your building you might not find building an acne site very fun even though it might make good money)

17:10
To Make Money With AdSense, You Must Know AdWords
» ‎ Retired Pay World

Many of us small-time amateurs get into the blogging for profit game because of the big frog in the advertising puddle, Google AdSense. AdSense is a very interesting and valuable tool in any blogger’s arsenal. It costs nothing to join, has no monthly maintenance or carrying charges and can work for virtually any blog or conventional website.

Of course it is also the tool many beginning bloggers love to hate, because AdSense will not produce much in the way of income unless you learn how to use it wisely. There are probably a thousand times more bloggers earning pennies per day from AdSense than there are earning even a few dollars a day … but that does not have to be the case.

It is not the tool, however that is at fault. In spite of articles you read every few weeks about the demise of AdSense it is still a very viable tool and profitable to both Google and to many bloggers, including me.

So how do you move from pennies per day to dollars per day? One key is, you have to understand how AdWords work. The only reason AdSense exists is to provide display area and “eyeballs” for Google AdWords customers. Think of AdSense as the paper that newspaper ads are printed on … AdWords are the advertisements themselves that the newspaper sells in order to earn money to produce the newspaper.

So how do you learn AdWords? Well you could just open an AdWords account and start spending money for ads to teach yourself how it works … but I don’t recommend that course of action.

Instead, take advantage of valuable and often free resources from experts in the field. My friend Eric Giguere has been wring about and earning money from AdSense for years. Along the way he’s learned a lot about AdWords. Today Eric announced a freebie book detailing some of his knowledge. As with much of Eric’s work I am sure he could have packaged this as a “for sale” eBook, but he has chosen to give the book away. Take advantage. You can’t beat the price and the understanding you gain will be valuable even if you never buy an AdWords ad in your career. Recommended.

Free AdWords Guides
There are many eBooks available about Google AdWords. Most are not free, but there are some good free guides out there, including:
The Only AdWords Affiliate Marketing EBook You’ll Ever Need This is a guide I’ve started to write about using AdWords to make money via affiliate marketing. Unfinished as of yet, but potentially useful. The Unofficial Guide To Google’s Quality Score A great guide to how sites can reduce their advertising costs by increasing the quality score of their advertisements. Free AdWords Tools
As with the eBooks, there are many software tools — online and downloadable — that are useful for AdWords advertisers. Here are some free ones:
AdWords Keyword Tool This tool for AdWords customers is also available for free to anyone who wants to do some keyword research using Google’s extensive search data. Here you can find out monthly search volumes and estimated ad costs for almost any key phrase you can think of. read more AdSense and AdWords tips from Eric here

You can learn a lot from Eric … I certainly have … and I subscribe to his blog, I suggest you do so also.
Copyright © 2008 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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14:31
StumbleUpon Changes: No Toolbar, Partners, Better Ads
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Maybe the big change coming for StumbleUpon last month wasn’t a change in ownership after all. While rumors of eBay’s planned sale of the website-discovery toolbar have yet to be confirmed, StumbleUpon has come out with a few big changes this week.

Originally designed as a toolbar that delivers recommended pages in your specified areas of interest, StumbleUpon has seen great popularity. It even had a decent revenue model: selling some of those pageviews for a nickel a pop. ClickZ reports that one out of every 20 to 30 pages stumbled is a paid inclusion. But the toolbar may soon be a thing of the past for all users.

But now you don’t need the toolbar to stumble: StumbleUpon is launching, according to RWW, an alternative way for new visitors to use the service without signing up. The download-free version will be accessible from their website. In addition,

It’s also ushering in a partner program to allow individual Web sites to offer StumbleUpon on their properties. That program launches this fall with four partners: HowStuffWorks.com, HuffingtonPost.com, National Geographic.com, and Rolling Stone.com.

Called Property StumbleThru, the new service will work within sites, serving up popular pages at random (or according to a user’s interests). HowStuffWorks and HuffPo launch the service today:

StumbleUpon will also ramp up its current ad sales efforts and offerings with a larger staff. The new staff will help advertisers target their stumblers better, including:

making recommendations on specific categories where an advertiser’s content may do well. (Most StumbleUpon advertisers are media and entertainment companies.) Improved analytics will show how that content is being received.

As TechCrunch noted when it reported of the sales rumors, StumbleUpon has six million registered users—but its popularity has waned over time, with worldwide visitors in July down 70% over the same month in 2007. Will this be enough to save the service?
7:37
Pilgrim’s Picks for October 1
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
October? Already?

Anyone figure out how many shopping days we have left until Christmas?

While I go outside and glue back the falling leaves–in protest of Fall–you can read today’s Picks.
- StumbleUpon announces some new stuff, including the ability to “stumble” without having to install the toolbar.
- It appears to be a glitch, but at one point it looked like Google’s stock (GOOG) tanked $200 as market close yesterday. Ouch.
- Want to search like it’s 1999? Well, you can’t but Google did manage to find an index from 2001 and you can search that until your heart’s content.
- Matt McGee’s new ebook will show you “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.” If I get to the end of the book and see Andy Rooney, I’ll spew my coffee!
- October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. If you’re on Twitter, Barbara Boser wants you to do your part.
7:10
What’s Your YouTube “Hot Spot?” Cute Kittens, Bikini Babes, or Soulja Boy?
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

As marketers, we often hear discussions about making a video "go viral." Some claim to be experts in viral marketing, while others debunk the concept claiming you can’t make a "viral video." Well, thanks to YouTube’s new Hot Spots, you can at least figure out which parts of your video are popular and which parts send viewers running for the exits.

Here’s how Google explains Hot Spots:

The Hot Spots tab in Insight plays your video alongside a graph that shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video. We determine "hot" and "cold" spots by comparing your video’s abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards. So what does that mean? Well, when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content’s gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.

And here’s how it looks:

YouTube Hot Spots is an addition to the recent rollout of its Insight Dashboard. As marketers get to grips with it, expect to see more cute kittens, bikini-babes, and Soulja Boy–the perfect recipe for a "viral" video, right?

Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!
6:48
Why I’m LMAO at Microsoft’s SearchPerks Incentive Scheme
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

When Microsoft has a search related announcement to make, I typically hear from someone on the PR team. However, with the launch of Microsoft’s SearchPerks–which gives people points for using the search engine that can later be redeemed for prizes–I didn’t hear from anyone. And I think I know why.

I would have laughed out loud.

Listen, I have no ulterior motive towards Microsoft. I happen to believe the company does some awesome things, but I just cannot help but LMAO at yet another lame attempt to bribe you to use Live Search. In fact, this one goes one step further. You have to use Live Search and Internet Explorer and you have to download a program that sends all this data back to Redmond.

While MSFT’s last incentive effort–Live Search Cashback–did see a short-term increase in market share, the latest numbers show a decline in audience. (Meanwhile Google roars ahead without any incentives).

So, will SearchPerks help Microsoft increase its search audience? Even Live Search Senior Director Frederick Savoye is not confident.

On the broader goal of boosting Microsoft’s share of the commercial search business, Savoye said, Cashback has yet to make a meaningful shift in share. "We haven’t seen it move significantly yet," Savoye said.

Microsoft has to be careful that it doesn’t end up like a car manufacturer–an endless cycle of new incentives and rebates, which becomes hard to break away from.

So, who’s ready to switch to Live Search, Internet Explorer, and share data with Microsoft?

Free Online Reputation Management Webinar - Andy Beal will host a free ORM training session on October 1st at 1pm ET. Space is limited so register now!

September 30, 2008
19:17
How Will the Financial Crisis Affect Your Business?
» ‎ Internet Business with Pat B. Doyle
Photo by alfons069
I don’t believe that we have seen the worst of this financial crisis yet. No matter whether the bailout bill finally passes or not, this country is in for some tough times. There will definitely be job losses and the housing market will continue to go down.

What does this mean for your business?

First of all, if you don’t have an internet business yet, why not start one in your spare time? This way, you will have a jump start on a new business, just in case you lose your job. I think this is definitely worth thinking about.

If you already make a living online, then this is the time to make sure that you are diversified. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket. The online world is not immune to what is happening in the economy. There will definitely be changes coming.

Some niches and business models will be more affected than others. You or I can guess at which ones might do better, but it’s hard to be sure. That’s why it’s important to have multiple sources of income, or at least be in multiple markets. If all your income is coming from one place now, start thinking about how else you can make money.

I believe that as more people lose their jobs, more people will be trying to replace their income by attempting to make money online. This could be an opportunity if you are selling products to help these people. On the other hand, this could also cause more competition in the “make money online” area.

If you are an AdSense publisher, then your results will probably vary by niche. Yes, I’m sure Google and AdSense will still be around for a long time. But the particular advertisers that are advertising on your blog might go out of business or just cut back on their advertising. But others might do more online advertising, finding that to be more cost-effective than advertising offline.

As people start trying to save money, they will be spending less. There are some things that people always spend money on, and other things that will be vulnerable. I’m not in the gambling niche at all, but I think gambling and other forms of escapism will grow larger as times get tougher. People will want to forget their troubles.

Also, luxury items might not do badly, if rich people continue to spend. After all, it is mostly the poor and middle class that will be really hurting in a financial downturn.

If you create information products, think about what kind of information people will need in tough times. If you guess correctly, you might do really well.

I think your guess is as good as mine, as to what will happen and how best to continue to profit in your internet business. I really think you should start thinking about it, though. And it won’t hurt to experiment with new things.

What are your thoughts?

- Pat Doyle

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Related Articles at Internet Business with Pat Doyle:

17:54
Affpinions - Like Epinions For Affliate Companies
» ‎ 45n5 - We Make Money Online

Ian Fernando recently launched Affpinions which is a review site for affiliate marketing companies. Users give their opinions on tracking, support, offers, and payouts, plus anything other info you want to share.

With more and more and more and more affiliate companies appearing there are tons of options on where to spend your time, with some growth Affpinions can turn into a cool place to help find the right company for you.

Personally I don't like sites with "offers", I like products, so I personally would like to be able to filter between "offer" based companies and "product" based companies.

Also, if you aren't interested in affiliate company opinions you might want to stop by Affpinions just to check out the software it's running. It's called Wordpress Review Site, which is simply a plugin for wordpress (for $97), but makes a cool looking review site.

So there's two reasons to visit ;) Affopinions.com

17:28
Bloggers Increase HP Laptop Sales 85%
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

It’s uncommon to see sales increase by double digits. HP had a new laptop called Dragon. Sales were flat after trying traditional marketing. So they decided to try another way - engaging bloggers. A quick way to do that is to send bloggers an ultralight $5,000 laptop to give away to one of their readers.

Nine months after launch, the 15 pound laptop with a 20.1-inch screen and 500-gigabyte hard drive wasn’t selling that well. HP hired social media marketing firm Buzz Corps Inc. and they brainstormed with bloggers and HP to come up with the campaign.

Scott Ballantyne, vice president and general manager of the personal systems group at HP, said:

“The technology keeps changing and people keep chasing the next social technology. The key is to remember that social media is about people talking and interacting with people. Technology can help with distribution. But people need to remain at the center.”

Here’s what they did. They called it 31 Days of the Dragon. They contacted 31 tech bloggers with influence (based on number of links, Google ranking, and recommendations from other bloggers) to give away 31 laptops in 31 days. So essentially a month of contests. Each blogger made up their own rules about the contest but each agreed to promote the contests of everyone else in the group.

The result was that the first five pages of Google results for searches on HP and HP Dragon were blog posts about the contest. According to HP they had over 380,000 links to the 31 sites discussing the contest. Bloggers got over 25,000 contest entries and an average 150% increase in traffic. Here’s the kicker though - almost 85% increase in sales of a computer that was released nine months ago!

I spoke to Chris Aarons at Buzz Corps who told me how HP was not doing any social media prior to engaging them. Today they showcase their employees blogs and have HP blogs, videos, and podcasts. He explained how PR firms typically get the inital push on a product. Social media campaigns keep the buzz going or in the case of HP - they resurrect it.

I was impressed with the collaborative approach that Aarons described - it’s quite high touch. Normally people wonder how to get ROI from blogs - this shows it can be done.
Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com - Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!
13:42
Linky Goodness, September 30
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
There’s always something bittersweet about the last linky goodness of the month, don’t you think?
- The launch of the G1 Gphone generated instant interest—almost enough to match that of the iPhone (at the time). In searches, anyway, as Hitwise reports.
- I’m sure you’re all experts at Google Webmaster Tools, but just in case you’re not, the Google Webmaster Central blog today gives some tips for getting Advanced Website Diagnostics with GWT.
- Maybe I’ve got corporate blogging on the brain; who knows? But I was excited to see the Top 5 corporate blogging mistakes and how to avoid them from David Meerman Scott.
- The privacy saga that is Street View continues. One German town has announced its intention to require, then deny a permit to take the Street View pictures. That’s one way to do it—but can they enforce it?
13:36
Facebook Redesigns Homepage
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Last night, my husband was logging in to Facebook when he noticed something was different. He asked me if I’d seen this before:

Nope. Conspicuously absent from the redesign, of course, is the phrase “social utility,” Facebook’s high-falutin’ euphemism for “social network.” (I swear I noticed that before I read the TechCrunch post, too.)

I’m guessing the new homepage is not the harbinger of major changes at Facebook—rather, it’s probably the last step in the extremely long roll out of their latest redesign.

It looks cooler, it matches with the new interior design better, and it loses the pretentious autonym—that is, it explains what it’s for more simply. Not bad.
Free Online Reputation Management Webinar - Andy Beal will host a free ORM training session on October 1st at 1pm ET. Space is limited so register now!
11:18
Why Martha Stewart Needs Trackur’s Reputation Monitoring (and so do you!)
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

If I were Martha Stewart, I might already realize that I pretty much need to monitor my reputation 24/7–actually maybe more often than that!

Well, Martha might want to check out this custom Trackur RSS news feed, we just created for her. You see, it appears that she’s crossing Google’s link-building guidelines and Michael Gray (and others) are not shy in spreading the word.

Now, here’s the thing: did Martha Stewart have any idea the hot water she was getting into? Probably not, and that’s my point. You may have a spotless reputation, but you never know when someone’s going to call you out and question your good name.

If you used Trackur–or your reputation monitoring tool of choice–you’d always know the moment someone–such as Graywolf–decided to hold you accountable for your actions.

So, Martha, drop me an email and I’ll hook you up with a free trial of Trackur–cos, girl, you need it!
7:06
Contest Reminder: Win an Acer Aspire One Netbook Computer
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Don’t forget, take Trackur’s online media monitoring service for a test drive, provide your feedback, and you could win this fabulous new computer.

Full entry details here.

Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!
September 29, 2008
13:10
Reminder: Free Online Reputation Management Webinar this Wednesday!
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Here’s a reminder for my FREE online reputation management webinar on Wednesday October 1st at 1pm ET–yes, that’s this Wednesday!

The webinar is open to everyone, but registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please go ahead and register, but please only do so if you know for sure you can attend the webinar–that way you don’t take one of the limited seats.

The webinar is being sponsored by–you guessed it–Trackur, but I can promise you that this won’t be a sales pitch event. You’ll come away from the webinar with at least one new tactic–or your money back!

Please help spread the word. How often do you get to attend a free webinar?
12:46
Linky Goodness, September 29
» ‎ Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
Do the Linky Goodness Dance! It’s a bit like the Safety Dance, but longer: L-l-l-l I-i-i-i N-n-n-n K-k—you get the picture.
- Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the best online mapping service of them all? Google Maps, of course, who’s spent the last year innovating while their rivals “stagnate.”
- And Danny Sulli