Explode The Net

StomperNet Issue Update

Adam — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:12:17 +0000

Here is the status of my complaint with StomperNet for producing a product full of factual errors.

1: Stompernet has NOT responded to my email

2: I have since found additional factual errors

3: I have discovered that StomperNet is rated “F” with the Better Business Bureau.

4: I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, though I doubt it will do any good.

StomperNet’s Magazine, TheNetEffect, Is Full Of Factual Errors!

Adam — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:18:29 +0000

I was just looking through my latest issue of TheNetEffect from Andy Jenkins and the guys at StomperNet, and was disgusted to find multiple errors in one of the articles. I fired off the below email to Andy…we’ll see what response I get:

Andy,

I’m reading the article Up For Grabs! in the latest edition of The Net
Effect. I am quite shocked by the low quality of the article. This
article is full of factual errors. Here are 3 I’ve found:

1: Article states that Squidoo pays publishers 10% of revenue from
their content. That is wrong! Squidoo.com says “Any time someone stops
by your lens and buys a product you recommended or clicks on a Google
ad, you get 50% of the royalties.”

2: Article states that EzineArticles.com only allows 4 resource boxes,
and does not allow custom resource boxes for each article. That is
just false. I have over 1,000 articles published on EzineArticles.com
and they all have a unique resource box.

3: Article states that Hubpages nofollows links if you have more than
two links to the same site in a hub, or if you have less than 3
published hubs. Again, this is simply false. Nofollows are added based
on the Hubscore of the author and the hub. I have hubs with 3-4 links
to the same site, and they are not nofollowed.

I must say that I find this completely unacceptable for a marketing
publication that claims to be written by experts that are actually
doing what they teach. Where did this article come from? The author is
apparently not even using these social sites much, let alone an expert
in using the social sites, or he would not have including such factual
errors in the article.

If an article in your magazine has such inexcusable errors, how can I
trust anything in the magazine? How do I know that the other articles
are not just as misleading? I have already canceled my subscription
to the Net Effect and the DVD of the Month.

I would appreciate hearing your feedback and thoughts on this issue.

~Adam

I’ll post the response here, if I get one…for now, though, my respect for StomperNet just went down.

~Adam

Ask.com PPC No Longer Worthwhile?

Adam — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:15:12 +0000

Last year, I was getting great conversions from my Ask Sponsored Listings campaign – 2.63% conversion on average. This year, though, my conversion rate fell from 0.72% in January to 0.13% conversion in May. Conversion rate is practically 0% now.

What happened? I don’t know. What I do know is that Ask no longer seems capable of providing quality search traffic.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Free Search Engine Marketing Tools

Adam — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:02:40 +0000

I decided to make a quick list of my favorite search engine marketing tools (for SEO or PPC) that are free and I use regularly. This way I’ll have the list for my own reference, and you can also benefit from it, too.

Free Keyword Research Tools

Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Keyword Discovery Keyword Tool
Wordtracker Keyword Tool

Free PPC Management Tools
Adwords Wrapper – creates exact, phrase, and broad match keywords from a keyword list.

Backlink Tools
Reciprocal Link Checker – check to see if your link is present on a list of urls.

Have a favorite free tool? Tell me in a comment!

Content Infinity Review

Adam — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:20:27 +0000

If you haven’t already heard of Content Infinity, it’s the latest article generating software on the market. I decided to test it out and see if it could do what it claimed to do, namely:

“Powerful Article Writing Software Churns Out Thousands Of High Quality & Perfectly Unique Content”

OK so basically, I needed to find out if it 1) created high quality articles, and 2) created unique articles.

1) Does Content Infinity create high quality articles? Yes, pretty good. You’re going to have to do a little formatting and editing to make the articles usable, though.

2) Does it create unique articles? Absolutely not. Copyscape shows it to be pretty much entirely duplicate content, and DupeCop says it is only 12% unique.

3) Additionally, apparently you have to include an author resource box with the article, since they are using free reprint articles to create your article for you.

Conclusion: I would definitely NOT recommend Content Infinity to anyone.

GoDaddy: Enough Is Enough!

Adam — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:51:10 +0000

I don’t like GoDaddy’s marketing strategies.

I’m switching to NameCheap as my domain registrar of choice.

I realize that most people would rather buy from a cute chick that some old, bald, geeky dude (Bob Parsons), but in my opinion, GoDaddy’s marketing goes way beyond that. I guess I would rather buy from a registrar that doesn’t market domains with Playboy cover girls and commercials that make beer commercials look prudish.

Yentoo.com is giving away $25

Adam — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 23:48:35 +0000

Yentoo.com a new blog focused on health and life topics, is giving away $25 to one blogger – to enter to win the $25, you just have to make a post kinda like this on your blog. Visit the Yentoo contest page for details.

Yentoo.com has a hilarious video they’ve posted, too: Victor Borge – Comedy Piano. Check it out!

BlogRush: The Latest Way To Get Blog Traffic

Adam — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:03:48 +0000

You may have heard of BlogRush, the latest product from John Reese. It’s touted as being “the fastest and easiest way to drive a flood of visitors to your blog”. It’s basically a advertising exchange program designed specifically for blogs.

I believe that BlogRush may become a powerful, dependable tool for driving blog traffic. The key to success with BlogRush is getting other bloggers in your network/downline, though. Leverage is where the power is with this system…

Click here to learn more about or join BlogRush

New Web 2.0 Sites…Hot & Fresh out the kitchen!

Noah — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:36:07 +0000

This past week I had the privlage of attending an entrepreneures meet up at the home of 23 year old multi-millionare Ryan Allis’ home. Ryan Allis is the owner of multiple internet companys. Most well known is icontact.com. There were some great new sites to consider for hot new web 2.0. First off was BookMesh, a site that is in invatation only phase for networking based on books. You like certin books it links you up with other users and has recomendations on books that you like based on other users. The second company which I realy like is ShoeBoxed.com, a very cool service that allows you to enter a shoe boxed email so that you dont have to worry about getting spammed. The shoeboxed account also keeps all your recepts in a well formatted interface so you can look back for historical purposes. I have already registered and look forward to using it for business purposes. Please check these hot new web 2.0 sites and let me know what you think!

Todd Falcone, Jefferey Combs and Susan Sly

Adam — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 01:59:28 +0000

As I type this post, I’m on my way back from a “More Heart Than Talent” seminar in Philadelphia, PA. The speakers were Jeff Combs, Susan Sly, and Todd Falcone. The event was focused mainly on network marketing and direct sales, but a lot of the material was good for any entrepreneur.

Here are a few of the gems from the training:

Your inspiration for building your business has to exceed your desperation. If you are starting your own business because you want to buy a new car, you’re probably going to quit when the going gets tough. You have to find a motivation that’s big enough to keep you going.
For network marketers: you need to find out what your business builders’ inspiration and motivation is when you sponsor them. This does two things. First, you can avoid wasting your time on people who don’t have a bid enough motivation. Secondly, you can use a person’s inspiration/motivation to help them stay going and stay focused when the going gets tough.
Selling is all about listening and asking questions. If you want to become a better salesperson, become better at listening and better at asking questions. As the cliché goes, questions are the answers.

To be honest, I didn’t as much from Jeff Combs training as I hoped, mostly I think because my Christian worldview conflicts with some of his life philosophies. Susan Sly had some good stuff…

I really liked Todd Falcone’s stuff, though he only had an hour and did not get into much detail. I think I could have learned a lot from him if he had more time. Not to mention the fact that Todd makes a good stand-up comedian!