Archive for August, 2008

I live the Internet lifestyle and find it really unconventional. It has many advantages like the freedom to work your own hours and not commuting. Lately, I realized that over 70% of my spending are made online. All of my electronic goodies are purchased on the Web. For apparel, I still like going to stores but sometimes go direct for a few brands I am accustomed to. Sizing can be tricky too. UK8, US6, IT40, FR38, EU3, 28 are all the same size and indicates that I need to shed some pounds

Of course, buying from your favorite website is only half the fun if you didn’t click on an affiliate link. I used to go out of my way to sign-up as an affiliate before making a purchase. But since I matured and developed an extreme appreciation for blogs and websites I visit and learn from – I now go out of my way to check if they have an affiliate link for the product or service I’m itching to buy. I no longer see the benefit of being mercenary and profit from everything. Besides, the meaningful sites that entertain, educate and inspire me have tremendous value and I will be saddened if they no longer existed.

It’s amazing, really. We are very spoiled to have free access to the minds of industry leaders, heroes and really cool folks who openly share their knowledge. Clicking on their affiliate link is the least I can do to support them. Paying for their web hosting can work too, especially if they have host affiliate links.

There’s so many ways to give back. And it also makes one feel good and well behaved.

Google Checkout offers AdWords advertisers free sales processing for up to 10X their monthly AdWords ad spend. In addition, merchants using Checkout get a nice graphic near their ad which helps increase the clickthrough rate of their ads, effectively lowering their click costs while driving more traffic to the merchant sites (in exchange for giving Google an excuse to market Checkout).

More recently Google has added coupons to some of these buttons, making them even more appealing to click on.

I saw one competing site (in the retail vertical) using this coupon ad for their own brand. How silly is it for the advertiser to pay Google per click for AdWords ads targeted to their own brand AND give their customers a discount for going through Google rather than going direct?

I have been seeing a lot more Google shopping results in the organic results, which also act as an advertisement for Google Checkout.

Some AdWords advertisers have a “show products from” plus box that goes with their PPC ads

Once that box is extended the search results look like a thin affiliate site

Currently a lot of these extras appear on brand related searches, but that will change as Google…

• gains experience and confidence
• gets merchants to give away more data

Google has their own affiliate network through the Doubleclick Performics purchase. While Yahoo! is busy signing a deal to syndicate Google ads and Microsoft is playing catch up, Google is quietly setting themselves up as an inventory management system with more interactive ads…offering merchants convenient “free” extras each step of the way.

3 big questions from the competitive landscape

• How long until somebody buys Valueclick?
• When will one of the big 3 start offering publishers feeds that can be bolted onto newspapers and other large trusted sites?
• When will one of the big 3 offer a Chitika-like AdSense ad unit that charges advertisers on a per conversion basis rather than a per click basis?

I have acquired enough knowledge in Internet marketing to help bring food (mostly desert) to the table and finance my good habits. Earlier this year, I was confident enough to introduce Internet marketing to my family. I told them that it’s a great medium to compliment their income provided that they go after sustainability and offer value to Web. My dad asked how I’m different from Carleton Sheets and those “Make Money Online” commercials on TV. I was dissapointed because I thought he knew better.

I showed them what it is I do and they appeared to be paying attention. My proposal was:

1. finance initial marketing costs
2. finance all the start-up costs (web design, premium domain, host)
3. they will get full support about anything Internet marketing from me and Aaron – Anytime
4. I’ll throw in a fast, brand new laptop
5. they get to keep 100% of the profits

After an hour of me selling the idea and how this is really good for them, they finally agreed to learn this Internet marketing. They were given a very simple homework assignment of figuring out what they’re interested in or passionate about that was due the following week.

I came to visit them the following weekend and brought with me their new laptop. They were excited with the computer but admitted that they weren’t able  to figure out what the site will be about. To me, that was the first blow and despite my disappointment, I went ahead and taught them the ultra beginner’s guide to the Web. The tutorial lasted a good 3 hours and they were clearly bored with every second of lecture.

It came to full realization that it’s tough to teach uninterested folks about Internet marketing even if they are piqued with the idea of making money. It’s even worse if family is involved because they tend to expect more from you and contribute less. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family but getting them to leech off our experience for their financial gain was a pain in the neck.

I just finished reviewing Mike Seddon’s/KKSmarts Adwords Course (not an affiliate link) and found it to be quite useful and loaded with lots of clever tips. His material is easier to understand than the default guide on Adwords. I was a bit overwhelmed with Adwords when I first started and a program like this could have easily reduced my learning curve. The program includes one workbook and 4 video series covering important Adwords topics. The videos can be viewed online or downloaded.

What You Will Get:

Online Version

There are 38 total videos in Google Adwords Course and each folder is conveniently sub-divided for easier access and quicker reference.

I think both PPC beginners and intermediates can learn a lot from Adwords Course. Even if you’ve been an Adwords advertiser for over a year, you can still learn by going through over-looked Adwords features. I like Lesson 3 about Landing Pages and Ads the most because it’s a good “refresher” on conversion.

For more information – (Not an affiliate link) Adwords Course by KKSmarts

I appreciated the sales letter for the program because it was straight to the point without any hype.