While they’ve had a large number of sign-ups how could it possibly be a success if nobody actually uses it? The reality is that Google doesn’t care if people post status updates on Google+ instead of Facebook. Google doesn’t care if the average time on site is a fraction of what it is for Twitter. What Google cares about is the fact that using the massive buzz around it they were able to get over 150 millions people to sign up and put in their information into their profile.

Google makes 96% of their revenues from advertising, and advertisers don’t care how often you post status updates – they just want to know who you are.

I really don’t think that Google ever thought they would be able to create the next Facebook and get everyone and their mom to use it. But they did realize that they could get the next best thing – everyone to just create a profile and upload a picture and then most importantly provider: their date of birth, where they live, where they work, and their social graph. Google followed up on this masterstroke by getting everyone to sign their new “simplified” universal privacy policy that allows information to be shared across all of their products.

“Don’t you think that with Google Search – again I must stress with your permission – that Google will do a better job [if it knows] who you are and what you care about?” -Eric Schmidt

What does this mean for you? The ads across all Google products, which are already very targeted to you, are going to become even more targeted.

Google has always had somewhat of a problem with accurately nailing down demographic data since it was very reliant on predictive data. Now Google no longer needs to guess whether or not you are 18-25 working in the advertising industry, since you told them already. If you didn’t tell them they know enough about people visiting similar sites and conducting similar searches to create a look-alike model for you. This will give Google not only the highly targeted search data they are known for but more traditional metrics as well to take an even bigger slice of the advertising pie.

When clients have asked me whether they should be using Facebook or Google I have always said that it depends if you want to know advertise to people based on what they “like” or what they want. Soon they won’t have to choose.

After thinking about it for a little while, I realized that for the past 6 months, whenever I mention “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization” to people not directly involved in the internet marketing industry the majority of them actually have a pretty good idea of what I am talking about. This was not the always the case. When I first started doing SEO in 2007 people always seemed convinced that I either worked for Google (especially if I mentioned AdSense) or they would just say something along the lines of “I’m horrible with computers” to hint that they weren’t quite following me.

What I have realized is that most people that have heard of SEO associate it with some news story, such as the J.C. Penney’s SEO story in the NY Times or Overstock getting caught buying .edu links off students and faculty. Many people have even heard of Google’s Panda algorithm change because it had enough of an impact on the average online business owner (either positive or negative) for it to spring up stories in major news outlets.

Here’s a Google Trends graph for the search term SEO over the past 6 years. While the top graph does seem to flatten off a bit in the past year I do find it interesting to also look at the bottom graph for “news reference volume” which shows a big jump starting in 2007.

What does all this increased publicity towards our industry mean? It means that we are in the right industry. It means that more businesses are seeing the value in showing up in Google, Bing, and Yahoo for search terms related to their own industry. Companies are hiring more SEO consulting firms and expanding their own in-house SEO teams and it means that companies are now searching for more well rounded marketing candidates that can also integrate SEO and social media into their marketing strategies.

As companies hire more SEO professionals and media outlets pay more attention to algorithmic changes the more likely it is that the next time you offer your business card to somebody they will understand what it is that you do.

The next time you are in an elevator ask the person next to you if they have heard of search engine optimization and then post your findings in the comments section!

I will probably come closer to submitting around 3 articles a day because I will be submitting old blog posts as well as articles that I will purchase from some of the authors I have outsourced work to in the past. The goal of these articles are to boost the search engine rankings for Easy Online Money Making while driving direct traffic to my new mailing list the Fast Cash Blueprint.

I have done a little research on my most recent articles and I have found that I typically make $15 per article that I write in commissions from NeverBlue and ClickBank on average. This means that I will get an extra $15 a day if I continue to write these articles, all of which I will be investing into advertising when I finish working on my marketing book.

I have written a couple of test articles each of which gets a few hundred UV’s a month, and most of this is thanks to Google. I started basing my titles off the most searched terms in Google, for instance if you type in paid surveys it will display paid surveys online, so I will optimize my articles for that specific phrase.

In order to continuously pump out articles you simply need to get into a routine, for me I write my articles just before eating lunch. If you are writing about a subject that you find boring, then write about something that interests you instead. Don’t punish yourself just to make a couple extra dollars, and an interesting article will be better in the long run anyway.

Once you are finished writing your article proof read it twice, then submit it to EzineArticles and use your article submission software of choice to submit to other top directories. Rather than submitting to all the spam directories allow it to spread organically.

There are huge benefits in writing articles, read any marketing forum and you will find example after example of people taking in thousands of dollars in organically driven sales from articles. The traffic generated directly from articles is slightly higher in quality than PPC traffic while at the same time it provides a wealth of high quality links back to your website. Some of my articles have been republished over 2,000 times, this is exposure that would cost a fortune to buy. If you have a mailing list it is amazing for converting visitors as well, 60% of the people that come to my splash pages from articles end up subscribing.

I have been absent from this blog for about a bit because I have been working on a project that I have kept secret until the day it was finished. I didn’t want anybody to see a half finished product, so this will be the first time that I associate my new site with myself. I am giving out a free ebook called the “Fast Cash Blueprint” which I am using as my lure to feed a double opt-in mailing list. By doing so I can accomplish multiple goals:

• Create a long term relationship
• Legally send out highly targeted emails to a responsive market.
• Allow myself more flexibility as I can always test my emails to find the most effective use of affiliate links.
• Give myself a great advertising venue for premium advertisers as well as to help me launch my book next January.
• Share information with others on how to make money, I wouldn’t create a product that doesn’t help my readers.

The process is really quite simple to start a mailing list, you will need 3 basic ingredients: Traffic, a Landing Page, and an Autoresponder. Once you have these three, you just need to figure out what emails will suit your list the best. Unfortunately, this is a bit of an over simplification because as you know, getting targeted traffic is not a simple process. Here’s how to accomplish each of the parts of making a mailing list.

Traffic, this is the most important part of any web property. Everyone has their own ways to drive traffic to their websites so I am not going to list all of the options, but I will say that I do all of mine via article marketing. You will need some kind of incentive to make people want to join your mailing list. My hook is a 23 page ebook that not only teaches people how to make money, but it also has a “giveaway” license so that they can give it to their readers as well. If you would like, you could start out by using my book as a hook, you just can’t modify any of the content (including my name/links).

A landing page is probably the second easiest step in the process, but at the same time it is incredibly important. Unless your landing page makes people want to sign up for your mailing list, your efforts will be for nothing. I would suggest hiring a graphic designer for this to achieve a maximum effect. Take a peek at my new landing page: Work From Home Methods, it took me 1 hour to add the content into the template and use free graphics to spice it up a little bit. As for the price of the graphics and the template, I paid $60 total. I think for an hour of work and $60 that is a pretty nice looking site.

The last thing you will need is an autoresponder, for which I could not recommend more Aweber. Their support is absolutely stellar, I have talked to them about various aspects of my mailing list for the past two weeks and they are true professionals. The autoresponder allows you to create opt-in forms easily while allowing you to send emails without getting blocked by ISPs, and therefore providing extra legitimacy and legal protection. This is the easiest of the three steps in my opinion, the setup for my mailing list was effortless. I would highly suggest using Aweber, they are the best autoresponder company I have worked with to date.

Best of luck in setting up your own mailing list. This is one of the most important ways to turn your internet marketing efforts into a full time income, a targeted double opt-in list with a few thousand subscribers can sell advertisements at $1,000+ per email blast.

I am a 20 year old college student that started an internet marketing company 2 years ago, which I now realize will become my future. I have no plans of working for some other company, I am loving the life of an entrepreneur and quite frankly I am doing well for myself. I realized a few days ago that the original source of my marketing interest was from Billy Mays.

When I was a kid I saw an Oxiclean commercial with the famous wow demo, and the next day when I went into bed bath and beyond with my mom I made her buy a small tub of it. We have never actually used it, and it is sitting under my sink, but we still bought it. Since that point I have been analyzing commercials and advertising ploys.

In short, Billy Mays is the main reason why I have become an internet marketer today. When I found out that discovery was launching “Pitchmen” I could not have been more excited, and I must say that I find the show fascinating. I fully intend to continue my marketing career for the foreseeable future, and I am devastated at the loss of my idol. Billy Mays products are a multi billion dollar industry, he could sell literally anything. I can only wish to eventually reach his level of success in the marketing world.

He was a hard working man that was always looking out for his family, and he will be missed. If there is something positive to come out of all of this, he died in the prime of his life and therefore he will always be remembered at his peak. My best wishes go out to his family.

The content may still be under construction, but the graphics for the site have been made.  I have the full template as well as affiliate resources created, which means that now all I need to do is fill in the sales page with the copy (that will be a 3 week project).  I got the idea for “Weekend Marketing” back in mid-May, and I have already decided on the name, received and paid for my graphics, found a proper web host, and began my marketing campaign.  I would say the project is well on its way.

Since I know you all want to skip through what I am saying to see the pretty pictures, here they are!  Weekend Marketing This is also the first official link to my website, so taking my own advice on getting indexed as soon as possible, I figure now is a good time for the spiders to have at it.  I would love some comments on the graphics, please tell me how they work in your browsers, how they catch the eye, etc.  I especially want input on the “Peel Away Ad” that I have added, because it took me 5 hours to make the simple script work (my web host apparently didn’t have my PHP scripts whitelisted).

Now less about me, more about the process.  The process of hiring a good graphic designer isn’t necessarily a quick or cheap process.  I have dealt with a handful of designers before, and while I have been “satisfied” with the work they did, I didn’t truly love it.  If you have a project you are truly committed to, you need to take your time with every aspect of it.  I went through and got quotes from the 5 biggest direct response graphic designers in the business and looked through every single example in their portfolios to make my choice.

I had a huge range in the quotes that I received, and I didn’t go with the cheapest or the most expensive of the quotes I got.  I was torn between three designers, as all had approximately the same level of skill, and two were within $50 of each other and the third was an extra $500.  I waited a day before responding to any emails to make sure that I had thought through the process as the graphics can make or break a product.  I decided that for my product I wanted a more subdued look while still catching the eye, and for this I ended up choosing Sean Lowery.

I very rarely give out free advertising to business partners, but he truly did an excellent job with this project.  We had about 20 emails back and forth and multiple redesigns as I know exactly what I am looking for.  I couldn’t have asked for any more, I love the design, the affiliate resources, and he delivered on every little detail and more.  If you want to have a big product, you will need big graphics.  If you plan to make an opt-in page, ClickBank product, blog, etc. make sure to get a quote with Sean, he will work until your are satisfied.  The key to success when hiring a designer is to have an image in your head and hold true to the basic design, but allow the expert to make it into something that will sell.

Feel free to check out Sean’s website here: Minisite Graphics and make sure to leave me some comments on the images.  You guys are my first wave of testing!

When I have spare time I usually do some or all of the following, mixing them up every 5 minutes or so to keep myself interested.  I love internet marketing, but I don’t always have the attention span to keep churning out the content so it is fun to do moderately effective traffic driving techniques rather than the high power but highly boring techniques such as article creation/submission.

Here’s where my spare time goes:

• Adding followers on Twitter and starting conversations with some of my followers when they have interesting status updates.  My twitter: James Spinosa
• Adding contacts on MyBlogLog and joining communities.
• Adding friends on BlogCatalog and joining groups, discussions, blogs, etc.
• Posting on various forums that allow me to have a blog feed, this is mainly to build up name reputation but it doesn’t hurt to get some traffic.  Don’t just spam them, post useful content.
• Commenting on a bunch of related niche blog posts.
• Tinkering with my advertisements to find better converting programs so I can make some more money.
• Creating link bait lists, such as “Top 100 dofollow blogs” so that I can get some free links from other bloggers.
• Staring at the ClickBank marketplace trying to reverse engineer the success for some of the products that I have no idea why people buy them.

While these may seem like a waste of time I actually enjoy them, and they do yield results.  Most of these are designed to get a one time visitor, but about 10% of people that come to this site sign up to receive my blog posts, yielding long term traffic.

In terms of things like blog commenting and forum posting, this will yield permanent one way dofollow links, which will make me show up for more search results.  The other methods like adding twitter followers, friends, contacts, etc. make it so that I have another set of people that get updates each time I post.

If you have spare time, you might as well use it for something constructive.  There is always some way you can be promoting your blog even if it isn’t through the traditional methods.

For now I will just be buying the “baby” plan because it more than fits my current usage needs, and at quite a good rate as well.  I am going to buy it for 3 years because their sales department told me that when I upgrade to a dedicated server the money in my account will rollover anyway, so I might as well get the hosting cheap until I hit that point.  There are two basic reasons why I am switching to HostGator, the first is that they provide a much faster shared hosting plan than BlueHost currently does in terms of webpage load speeds, and the second is that it is a scalable operation.  Once I use up too much resources for a shared account, I can simply upgrade to a dedicated server with no interruptions and continue on as if I was still on a hosting plan except with a much faster loading speed .

Normally I put a lot of time and effort into cutting my costs to a minimum, and since I have already paid for the next 6 months of BlueHost I would normally wait until it has expired.  This time around, I figure that I am making good money from my sites and a couple hundred dollars is really just a drop in the bucket, the only real loss would be about $30-40 and since there is currently a 20% off all initial orders coupon floating around I will be saving more than that by buying it ahead of time. I have called their sales department 3 times to see if I could skim out a better deal but this is as low as they are going, at least all of their support is U.S. based.

This will be my first time transferring my sites around to another webhost which doesn’t seem like a complicated process, if I have problems I’ll make a post begging for you guys to help me out   This also works as a great motivator for me, if I want to get to the point where I literally need to own my own server to run my sites, then I would clearly be raking in quite a bit of cash.

Feel free to copy me, this HostGator link + the coupon “Spring” will get you 20% off your first order.  If I have any problems I’ll post them up

I have seen many products come and go throughout the years on ClickBank, but I want to be one of the first to create a product with actual staying power.  I have planning this book for about a year already, and now I am going to start going through the marketing and production phases followed by actually writing it over the summer.  My plan is to create it and have a sales page done by August and to then go into full scale affiliate scouting and promotions for it.

You will hear all about it as time goes on, but for now I will just leave you with a list of the steps I plan to take to promote my book, so that you can replicate my plans for your own needs.

10 Steps to creating and launching  a product on ClickBank:

1. Think of a product to create
2. Do market research to make sure that the niche isn’t over saturated, and check to make sure there is market demand
3. Think of a title, and register that domain
4. Create the product – If you are creating an ebook write it in OpenOffice and use their PDF export option.
5. Work with a graphic designer for the sales page (I’ll post a link to whichever designer I decide to go with, currently there is one that I want to hear back from) – This is my current step in the process.
6. Begin building your credentials as an expert (posting articles, trying to get into trade magazines, newspapers, etc.)
7. Start recruiting affiliates, they will be the primary engine of sales so do what you need to court them.  Many posts to come in the near future about how I plan to get affiliates.
8. Begin promoting the product itself to drive up buzz (well before the actual launch)
9. Capture affiliate and customer emails via opt-in lists on the sales page so you can have big support for the launch date
10. Watch the ClickBank gravity system propel your product to the top as more affiliates jump on board as they sense a profitable product.

This is a very general outline, I will be going into detail on each section of the process as I go along.  I expect to be posting once every 2-3 days until November, and then I will slow down a bit as launch comes closer to happening.

Thank you to all my loyal readers, I’m sorry that I always do this to you but I am going to be back for a while this time.

I have begun a new project in which I will review a large amount of “digital products” such as those sold via ClickBank. Since I intend to go through hundreds of different products, I might as well make my time count in the long run by optimizing my site upfront. Even the slightest error I am going through and correcting, whether it be a slight malformation in URL’s or one of the many Joomla! plugins that I have installed. So far my first experience with Joomla has been very positive, while it is somewhat self explanatory once you add in a bunch of components then your .htaccess file as well as many PHP files become incompatible so it takes patience.

Thankfully I have jumped over most of the hurdles, and I consider the design portion to be almost complete (I am still searching for a better template for the site), but all the behind the scenes work for optimizing load times and intrasite linking for SEO has been done.

I am looking forward to see how this works out, as I will essentially be targeting a list of 3000 long tail keywords I have spent the past days researching.

Once again I am sorry that I don’t post as often as I should, I am working full time on top of marketing during the Winter break from school so it kills the majority of my free time. If you would like to check out my site conceptually at least (since it has no content), it is http://www.productscamreviews.com

Happy Holidays everyone!!