Internet Marketing Secrets
IMS #218 - October 31 2012
No trick. Just treats.
Peter,
Happy Halloween! This is the first
IMS newsletter in six months. It's a
potpourri of all things advertising,
marketing and seo.
As always, I reveal the results of my
experiments, mistakes and successes.
No trick. Just treats. I hope you
enjoy it.
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No Trick. Just Treats.
Despite my in-laws coming to Canada for
two months - which I won't go into - I
managed to do a lot of experiments over
the past six months. Here are some
observations that I have for you.
- A plugin for user generated content
- Creating popular video curation sites
- How to avoid Google SEO penalties
- Alternatives to search engine traffic
- CPM advertising that actually converts
I give you some of the goodies below,
but there's WAY more data than I can
share here. If you want to discuss your
marketing goals, call or email my office
to set up a time. Check the end of this
email for more details.
- - - - -
Video Curation Experiment
My friend Adam Black and I developed
a plugin for Wordpress. It allows user
generated content for your site. (Special
thanks to Brian Maroevich of for sparking
the idea.)
Visitors can upload photos and articles,
or embed videos into your site. It's a
great way to get community involvement,
guest posts, run contests, or just get
curated content.
They fill out a title, caption and
description. Pick categories and tags.
Fill out the captcha and click upload.
Once the submit button is clicked, the
post is queued on the inside, or admin
side of Wordpress. You need to log in as
admin to see their contribution, edit it
if you like, and make it a live post.
I've set it up on a test site in the
fishing niche and have been getting
lots of public submissions every month.
Now instead of creating the content, I'm
curating it. I edit the posts if they need
it and schedule them. It's a pretty easy
way to run a site. :-)
Adam and I are seriously considering
selling the plugin, if there is enough
interest in it, around the 97 dollar
range. Heck, I might even share the url
in the next newsletter, so you can see
it in action... if you ask me nice. ;-)
If you think the plugin is worth it, just
97 bucks to get visitors creating content
for you, then let me know, so I can tell
Adam it's a go. We'll get the salesletter
up and I'll try to swing a deal for you.
Oh, one more thing. It also embeds ad
code for AdSense, or affiliate programs,
right into the post, above and below
the main content. Plug and pay.
Now are you interested?
- - - - -
Google "Page Layout" Filter
Apparently, the Page Layout filter
penalizes many graphic heavy sites. We're
talking photographers, news blogs, real
estate agents, the hospitality industry
and curators of all sorts.
If you have an old established site, you
probably didn't notice the rumble. You're
probably still in the top 10. The filter
rolled by like distant a summer
thunderstorm.
But one friend was hit by lightning. They
have an established five year old site,
that slipped from #1 spot, which he owned
for years, down to the #6 spot. He lost
about 80% of his traffic because of it.
Simply put, if you don't have enough text
above the fold, the layout filter might be
what's causing your demise. So if you're
a photographer, foodie, hotel, or blogger,
that relies heavily on photos and search
traffic, you could be at risk, if you
haven't been nuked already.
Rant/
Personally, I think its distasteful that
Google has the ability to mandate your
page layout choices. They can force the
internet into a text only medium above the
fold. Conform or risk being penalized.
Mandating graphic design under the
pretense of "user experience" is
censorship. Graphic design of websites,
or art, must remain freely expressed,
just like freedom of speech.
What's next? All hyper links must be blue?
Sites must be 980 pixels wide? It's a pity
that some Americans don't believe in
freedom of speech - and design - anymore.
/Rant
Your recourse is to install a Firefox
plugin like Firesizer. Set the browser
window size to the official 1322 x 768
and see what part of your site shows up.
You might need to change your layout to
a right column design. Put the text top
left. Delete your banner. Move graphics
further down the page. Reposition ads and
affiliate links. Etc.
You basically have to remove, or
reposition, anything on your site, that
could lessen the (ahem) user experience
quality. (Which is determined by robots,
who apparently know more about aesthetics
than humans do.) Go figure.
If you've lost rankings and would like
some tips on how to get them back, a
website review takes about 45 minutes.
Just call or email my office to set up
a time.
- - - - -
Alternate Traffic Strategies
Right now, new site owners are likely to
face Google's Panda and Penguin filters.
An exact domain name match penalty.
Several over optimization penalties. The
new page layout filter. And not to mention
- what some are calling a witch hunt -
Disavow Links.
There are so many SEO filters and
penalties, that you'll find it hard for
your new sites to get any kind of search
rankings. The exceptions being long tail
phrases and local search, AKA "dirt world"
businesses, which are a little easier.
Rumor has it that ALL Wordpress sites are
next, since so many spammers are using
the platform. This has made some affiliates
switch to static HTML sites just in case.
If you come out of the gate all gung-ho,
and add a page or more per day, it will
often take six months to get any traction
in Google. Bing and Yahoo are easier, but
unless you have top spot for a popular
query, traffic is negligible.
Your best bet is to create a small site of
15-20 pages. If you have a blog, do only
one post per week. Then spend at least
30-60 minutes per day promoting that
site via social media and blog comments.
Getting active in the Twitter community is
a great way to make like-minded friends.
It's also a good way to attract traffic
and links. Just be sure your content is
original and high quality. Spinning
anything doesn't cut it anymore.
Blog commenting - via the Goobert
Conversational Marketing Method - still
works wonders for links and traffic. You
basically comment on high traffic blogs in
your niche.
But to make Goobert work, you really need
to know what you're talking about. You
must have personal experience. You can't
outsource passion and empathy.
Join the conversations and commit to them.
Have a real opinion and expertise. You'll
be surprised how quickly the community
responds to authenticity, rewarding you
with traffic and links.
Another old idea that's regaining
popularity, is buying old, established
sites that have been abandoned. You might
need to drop a few grand to purchase some
sites with decent rankings and PageRank
though.
But buying old, established sites, are lot
less work than trying to start new ones
from scratch. You can develop one of the
properties as your flagship site, or use
the purchased sites to promote your main
site. Either way still works.
These are just a few of the alternate
traffic strategies. Finding one that
resonates with you, your personality and
busy lifestyle are the hard part. If you
want a marketing strategy that works,
call or email my office and we'll create a
custom fit for you.
- - - - -
Skip the Search Engines Altogether
A bad attitude would say I blew several
grand on PPC ads. A good attitude would
say I bought a ton of data. And that's
essentially what you have to do in the
beginning, if you want to find out what
works.
The premise is simple. Run ads on a
private network like Plenty of Fish. Send
the traffic to a landing page. Set the
cookie and follow the prospect around
the internet with retargeted advertising.
It works like a charm.
I don't want to throw the baby out with
the bathwater (being a good consultant),
but a nugget I will share, is that banner
ads work up to three times better than
classified style ads. All it takes is a
good graphic along with a byline in the
form of a promise.
Once the prospect arrives at the landing
page, you keep the conversation going.
You spell out the promise as the headline,
then tell them how you intend to deliver
on that promise.
I managed to get good conversions to
the affiliate program straight from the
landing page. For those who didn't
convert, my ads follow them around the
internet, relentlessly for days and weeks.
Retargeting works even better than email,
because it's unobtrusive. They've already
shown an interest and I don't pester them
at their inbox. People are cookied and the
ads go to work.
There's no SEO involved. Just a little
creative. All you need are graphics and
copy, for the ads and landing pages.
The search engines don't matter in this
reality. It's the parallell universe of
CPM and PPC. Results are instant and
scalable. And its the most fun you can
have in advertising.
Need ads and graphics that get clicked?
I'll be glad to help you with that.
- - - - -
Where Do We Go From Here ?
I suppose I could fill four new ebooks
with everything that I've learned in the
past six months. But who wants another
thing to read. You only want advice that's
meant for you and the situation you're
currently in.
So if you want coaching in SEO, a website
review to help with conversions, creative
for your ads and graphics, a little
motivation, or an entirely new strategy,
you know where to find me. (The reports
surrounding my retirement were greatly
exaggerated. ;-)
I've been a marketing consultant since
1988 and selling on the internet since
1994. I bring 23 years of advertising,
marketing and creative to the table.
I welcome you to pull up a chair.
Call or email my office and we'll set up
a time to chat. I still charge the same
rates as 2006 for my time. The minimum
session is still 30 minutes. Plus you get
unlimited access to my private site, the
Dynamic Media Vault after the call.
I look forward to helping you achieve your
internet marketing goals.
chat soon,
Michael
P.S.
Dont forget about that content curation
plugin. If it's something you'd be
interested in, let me know. Thanks!
Michael Campbell, CEO
Dynamic Media Corporation
Phone: +1 (360) 450-5880
Email: dynamicmedia@me.com
Skype Name: dynamic888
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcorp
Web: http://InternetMarketingSecrets.com
Private Vault: http://DynamicMedia.com
Copyright 2012 Dynamic Media Corporation
Terms: http://www.dynamicmedia.com/terms/
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