The Super Affiliate Handbook Reviewed

Lenny Balston — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:59:35 +0000

I am very sceptical of anyone who claims to make $436,797 in one year on the internet through affiliate programs. Whether it is through Clickbank, Commission Junction (CJ), Google Adsense or any other affiliate program my experience is that most of the people who make such outrageous claims are just running another scam.

So I am very surprised to tell you that I am extremely impressed with Rosalind Gardner’s, ‘Super Affiliate Handbook’.

Hers is not a get rich quick scheme. It is about building a business that is sustainable, based on good business practice rather than resorting to tactics that might work initially but have no long term growth and leave one feeling like a criminal.

Rosalind’s internet business model is all about building a website in an area where you already have interest, evaluating the business potential of your interests and then monetising your website… doing something you already love.

The information in the book is solid. There is no wishy-washy internet marketing talk to get you to buy even more products.

When you read through the book you know that she’s tried all the methods in the book and that they have actually worked for her. She explains the principles in the book by using examples in her own successful websites. The tone of the e-book and language used is accessible to anyone who can… read really.

Rosalind Gardner’s success as a Super Affiliate is not such a shock when you understand the methods she uses. She’s made it extremely easy for anyone who wants to start making money on the internet. Anyone who is serious and committed will be able to learn from Rosalind.

The topics she covers in The Super Affiliate Handbook include;

How to Find a Profitable Niche
Planning and Building Your Site
Monetising Your Site
Ways to Market Your Site
Managing & Growing Your Site

Everything to get you started, point you in the right direction and commence with a solid online business.

My one criticism is that when she teaches you how to build your site with Wordpress, she suggests setting the file permissions a bit low for my liking. I suggest that you get more information about file permissions from Wordpress or your hosting company.

This is of course only one small criticism and for someone with no prior web development experience she has done extremely well in building her online business.

So if you’re serious about making money online, I highly recommend The Super Affiliate Handbook.

Effective Use of Page Titles

Lenny Balston — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:21:03 +0000

Google (still the no.1 search engine) provides its users with 2 kinds of search results; sponsored results such as Google Adwords and organic results. Organic results are derived from the millions of website pages that Google has indexed.

Nobody knows for sure how Google determines which site is listed first (not even the SEO expert who guarantees a first place ranking), but Google is will always looking at improving search results for a better visitor experience.

When promoting your website you may initially decide to use Google Adwords but focussing your attention on organic search is a better long term strategy for sustained and free traffic. Statistics reveal that users click on organic search results 75% of the time vs. 25% for sponsored search results. But, don’t take my word for it – how often do you opt in favour of sponsored search results when you’re looking for something.

“Untitled”

You are doing yourself a huge disservice by not bothering with page titles. Organic search results have 3 elements; a title, a snippet (description) and a url. The page title is the first item presented to Google’s search users. Having a default page title like ‘Untitled’ or ‘Page1’ tells prospective visitors to your site that you’re not very professional and not to expect much from your website. In all likely-hood visitors presented with ‘Untitled’ pages will move on to the next search listing.

Where is my page title?

Your page title is in the html tag within the <head> section of your web page. It is also displayed at the top of your internet browser. <h3>What should I put in the title?</h3> The title for each and every page on your website should be unique. This will help both visitors and search engines differentiate between pages. The page title should accurately describe the contents of the page. Do not load overload you title with SEO keywords The title of your home page could include the name of your business, perhaps the location of your business if this is relevant to potential customers or even key areas of your business. <blockquote>Eg. Let’s take the example of “Bloomin Good” a fictitious company in Salisbury, UK. They specialise in bridal bouquets and centre pieces for the tables. A possible page title could be ‘Bloomin Good – Bridal Bouquets and Centre Pieces – Salisbury, UK’.</blockquote> Always think about what your customer will search for. <blockquote>A small point that is often overlooked … when visitors to your site bookmark a page, a good page title will help them find your site easily again.</blockquote> <h3> How long can I go?</h3> A frequently asked question is “What is the maximum length of the page title used by Google?” The opinion on this varies but based on my research only the first 65 characters (including punctuation and spaces) is displayed. Anything thereafter is ignored. <h3>A final word</h3> Avoid over focus on SEO tactics. Concentrate rather on a quality visitor experience and you will always be on the right track. If you’re not sure about the recommendations made by your SEO company then check with Google. They provide a wealth of <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/" target="_blank">information and guidelines for website owners</a>. </article> <article> <h1>This Website is Best Viewed with…</h1> Ceri Balston — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:48:23 +0000 <div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 235px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonsoleil/482610357/" target="_blank"></a>Flikr image by MoonSoleil</div> How many times have you been to a website that has something along the lines of “This site is best viewed with IE7, Resolution 1024×768, blah blah blah…”? This is usual discreetly tucked away in the footer, but just today I found myself on a site that upon entering opened a little warning screen telling me that I was using Firefox and not IE to view it and that I might not be seeing their beautiful work just as they meant it to be seen. Hmmm… Ok, I might be getting a little bit carried away so I’ll step off my soapbox for a minute and just explain, calmly, why this is such a problem. IE (Internet Explorer) used to be the super dominant web browser that people use to do their surfing but that has changed in the past few years. With the rise of Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome, IE now (according to our stats from about 10,000 visitors to one of our sites) is sitting at only about 63% ownership of the market. Now the big problem is with the styling rules that developers have to follow in order to get the websites they create to display in a consistent manner. There is one set of rules Microsoft apply with IE, and then another that everyone else has agreed upon. The long and the short of it is that if you make your website look good in IE only it could end up looking terrible in other browser (that 37% of your visitors are using). The buzz word is “cross browser checking” (which sounds a bit like something you do in secret and don’t tell your parents about) and everyone should be doing it. </article> <article> <h1>Maximise Your Website’s Potential in 7 Steps</h1> Ceri Balston — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:27:29 +0000 <div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoabdeh/3644808648/" target="_blank"></a>Flikr image by yoabdeh</div> The internet can be an extremely unforgiving place and with billions of pages floating around competing for attention it is absolutely vital that your website stands out from the crowd. If you implement the steps I’ve outlined below you’ll be guaranteed to; <ul> <li>Build trust and confidence in your company’s products and enhance its reputation.</li> <li>Drive more visitors to your website.</li> <li>Attract new customers, generate and convert more leads.</li> <li>Improve the browsing satisfaction of your visitors/potential customers.</li> <li>Help them to find the information they are looking for more quickly.</li> </ul> Ok, let’s get down to it. Your website is very often the most visible marketing face of your company/brand – it has to kick ass. I’m going to take you through seven steps that will help it to do so. 1. Change content regularly – There is nothing more damaging to a company’s reputation than seeing content that is way out of date. We often get asked to refurbish websites and are constantly amazed at how out of date the content is. You need to give visitors a reason to come back to your website, if they know that the next time they visit they’ll see something new you can be sure that they’ll be typing in your url into their browser more often than that of your competitors. Think about the websites that you visit everyday, I bet you only go to them because you know that you’re getting some new and valuable information. Depending on the nature of your website and what you want it to achieve we recommend that you update its content at least every month, preferably every week, ideally everyday. Idea: One of the easiest ways to keep your content fresh is to post news items on what your company’s up to (successes, new clients etc) or highlights of new products/services/special offers onto your website. You’d be surprised how easy and quick it is to type out a couple of hundred words on a regular basis on something you already know so much about. 2. Content must visitor focused – It’s a simple rule – put the customer first. You must tell them exactly what they need to know about your company and your products – “they are the best!” and why they should stop their search with you. It’s very tempting to bang on about what your company does, your history, your employees but ask yourself this; “Does your customer really care? Will this help to make that vital sale?” Idea: Create an “About Us” section on your website and put in it everything to do with your company’s history, staff, philosophy etc. Remember to keep this information to absolute minimum on the home page – it really won’t help your cause. Idea: Read all of the content on your website as if you were the customer or better still get a friend who doesn’t know much about what you do to do it. Ask them if the content on the website is clear and if they now feel encouraged to buy your products/services. 3. Optimise your homepage – The home page is the first point of call for the vast majority of your visitors, it has to; <ul> <li>Be visually engaging – make sure that your visitor’s attention is grabbed straight away, use subtle animation to draw their eye.</li> <li>Offer a platform to showcase your very latest products – choose a spot on your homepage to promote the products/services that you are most excited about and the visitor will most want/need.</li> <li>Offer easy access to all and any information that the visitor needs - any important page, be it a product/service or vital information must be just one click away from the home page. Make sure that you’ve got all the appropriate links.</li> </ul> I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now – in order to encourage visitors to come back regularly your homepage must change regularly, it must be FRESH. Idea: Get that trusted friend to help you out again (you can do it yourself but it won’t be as effective). Ask them to look at your homepage for just 30 seconds and get them to write down/tell you anything they can remember about it. If they just say things like it was pink and there was lots of text to read then you’ve got a problem. They should be saying things like – you’ve got 3 different products and they are x,y and z, if you’re lucky they may even be able to tell why they need it. 4. Visually appealing – How many websites have you visited that have made you cringe and lunge for the ‘close window’ button. Yep, it’s shocking how many sites ignore simple rules of design and also use pictures of poor quality, considering how readily available design tips are these days (visit www.websitedesigntips.co.uk for some ideas) there really is no excuse for it. Here’s a few things to consider to help make your site more visually appealing; <ul> <li>Use stock photography – using professional images on your website is a sure way to make it look professional and they are far cheaper to buy than you’d imagine. Check out websites like www.istockphoto.com which sells images from $1 each and www.shutterstock.com which has great deals on bulk purchases.</li> <li>Be consistent with your layout – make sure that the layout of your website’s pages are consistent. Visitors need to become familiar with the structure and layout of the site.</li> <li>Choose an appealing and complimentary palette of colours - be careful of choosing your favourite colours, often they won’t translate well onto the web and they don’t always work well together. Check out www.website-colors.com for some suitable palette choices.</li> </ul> Idea: Go to www.istockphoto.com and type in a few words that you’d use to describe your company and its products/services, you’ll be amazed at how many extremely good images you’ll find and how effective it’ll be at enhancing your website’s look and feel. 5. Make it professional - This is probably one of the easiest things to do but again is often neglected and seen as one of the least important aspects of building and maintaining a website. You’ve got to give your visitors confidence in your company/brand and your products/services. Making sure your website is professionally presented is vital to achieving this. <ul> <li>Be consistent with style and font – avoid the temptation to use lots of different fonts, choose just one or two and stick with them for the whole site. Also decide what size font you’re going to use for the main content, headings etc, and stick to them.</li> <li>Check spelling and grammar – always check and recheck all your content no matter how small (you’d be amazed how many mistakes you’ll find in menus and footers).</li> <li>Fix broken links – As your website grows you’ll have more and more links and so the easier it’ll be for a typo to creep into one of your links. Search through your site on a regular basis and check every single link.</li> </ul> Idea: Find a regular day and time to dedicate 15 minutes a week to checking for spelling and grammar mistakes and hunting down broken links – and then of course when you find them get them fixed! Probably not a good idea to get your trusted friend to do this, they might be getting a bit tired of it all by now. 6. Search box – It’s amazing how many websites don’t have a search function in their website. Including one your site is one of the best ways to ensure that your visitors find the information that they wanted from your website. If they find what they’re looking for they’ll be happy with their visit, if they’re happy you can be sure they’ll come back and they’ll also be more likely to tell their friends. Tracking your visitors searching habits is also a great way to up-date your content for their needs. For example – If you’ve got a website that sells books on gardening and you notice that visitors keep searching on “Pruning Rose” bushes, you’ll know where you need to improve your stock. 7. Footer menu – This may seem like a small and insignificant menu but it’s one that you shouldn’t overlook – it’s something that visitors look for more and more on a website. In no particular order you should include at least the following; <ul> <li> Contact Us - you’ve got to give your potential and existing customers as many opportunities to find out how to contact you as possible. If they contact you’re far more likely make that sale and it’s easier to keep them happy.</li> <li>Privacy Policy – with spam becoming an ever increasing problem it is vital that you reassure your visitors that you value their privacy – put together a short document to this effect stating that you won’t share their details with anyone (etc.) and put a link to it in the sitemap</li> </ul> </article> </main></body></html>

Salsanet Says

The Super Affiliate Handbook Reviewed

Effective Use of Page Titles

“Untitled”

Where is my page title?