The FBI has announced it arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly selling hacked cable modems that provided free Internet access.

Matthew Delorey, 26, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence on each count of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Delorey ran a now shuttered website called Massmodz.com which sold cable modems which were hacked and reconfigured to allow them to be used for free, untraceable access to the Internet.

Delorey, through his website sold two hacked modems to an undercover FBI agent posing as a customer.

Delorey marketed his hacked modems in a Craigslist post advertising “Massmodz Free Internet- Get free untraceable Internet.” He also appeared in instructional videos he posted on YouTube, including videos entitled Massmodz.com How to Get Free Internet Free Cable Internet Comcast or any Cable ISP – 100% works”; “Massmodz.com How to bypass Comcast registration page with premod cable modem SB5100, SB 5101″; “Massmodz.com Cable Modem Hack Cable Modem Mod”; and “Massmodz.com How to get back online Comcast new secure area with cable modem premod, Comcast ready.”

Continued from part 9

Joining a CPA network won’t automatically make you a success at Internet marketing. As a publisher, you still have to understand how to include those CPA offers in your classical Internet marketing strategies. One thing is for sure, if you are only concentrating on PPC-to-CPA strategies, you are missing a huge opportunity to make money in less expensive ways.

A typical PPC-to-CPA strategy will cost at least $1,000 to implement correctly, and that’s with no guarantee of getting any commissions from the traffic that you drive to the advertiser. That’s why advertisers like the CPA model, it pays only for performance, not how much time and money you actually put into it as a publisher. Of course, if you are a wizard at Internet marketing, you will get far more than you put into it, but if you are not, you can end up spending a ton of money because you haven’t focused on post, we’re going to go over some classic examples of Internet marketing that have a proven track record of generating traffic and leading targeted demographics back to the CPA landing page.

But, in addition to that, we’ll give you some ideas on how you can also take advantage of the traffic that you capture to help you promote your own business too, and not just rely on commissioned payouts that are a one-time thing. In that way, you are truly engaging Internet marketing strategies that pay off now and in the long run.

Email Marketing Campaigns

This has been the big standby of all Internet marketing, but it’s gotten a bad rap for all the spamming that’s occurred due to the ease of implementing it. Now, you can even be fined and sometimes even land in jail if you misuse this resource in a fashion that violates Federal rules. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to throw away the baby with the bath water.

The reason email marketing campaigns have been so misused is because they are efficient. Think about it. With an email address, you can send out an email for nothing, electronically. If you were to do this with a postcard, a marketing flier, or some other print media, the costs of doing the mailing alone would be thousands. Instead, you can send out thousands of emails and even if you get only 1% of people to respond, you’ve made 10 viable contacts per every thousand on the list. Now, if you’re a good marketer and have a very tight demographic, your response rate can be higher. So, building up a large email contact list is a great way to integrate your CPA offer with the regular Internet marketing you do.

All you would have to do is set up a regular schedule of emails for people who have opted-in to your email lists on your websites, and use the emails, newsletters, and marketing to add some URL links to your CPA offers.

One way to do this quite subtly is to simply post a hook in your signature line with a link to the CPA offer. People become curious and click just to see what you’re advertising. And, every time you email or respond to someone that link goes in and you have done it all automatically by inserting a permanent signature into your email reader.

Classified Ads

Another great way to market CPA offers, even if you have no websites or email contact lists, is to post classified ads in various third party places that have the potential for large amounts of traffic. This is a strategy that has been abused somewhat and may be banned by your particular CPA network provider, so you need to check. Sometimes they allow electronic classified ads, but refuse to allow print classified ads. Either one of these is a viable way to advertiser the CPA network offer, but you have to make sure you aren’t violating the service agreement with your CPA network when you try to do that.

Since there are so many different CPA networks, even if one says no, another will say yes. For instance, NeverBlueAds is against printed ads. So, checking is better than posting one, being called on it, and potentially losing your account. Just ask the CPA administrator assigned to your account, if you have any doubts about any advertising method you are thinking of implementing.

Free ads can be placed online at Craigslist and Facebook. Many social networking sites have an area where members can place free classified ads for people to view. They may not get the same exposure as paid ads, but they can still generate some traffic.

Paid Ads

Paid ads can be print ads, Social Ads on Facebook, or even using Google Adword PPC to CPA campaigns to start the ball rolling. This strategy means you are going to have to put money upfront, but if posting one ad and running it a month in a leading news magazine or social network pays back a lot more in CPA network commissions, it can be really worth it.

Current Events

When some large event happens that impacts our society, you can bet people will be talking about it and looking for information about it online. That’s your hint to either join in the conversation or create content to put on your site that ties into the current events story and offers some solutions in the form of your CPA network offers. This strategy can be a little tricky as you do have to try to find offers that sort of match up to what is being discussed.

However, with all the economic bad news, you can find some great CPA offers for debt management, foreclosure avoidance, and anything else that can provide solutions to the problems that millions of people are experiencing. Post content on your site with that slant, visit major news sites, and give your 2 cents worth adding a URL link to your page, if that’s allowed. Instant traffic. Once they’re on your site, your CPA offers will be on that page too and you can begin to make a profit, no matter what the economy is doing.

Article Marketing

Another great way to combine your classical Internet marketing strategies with CPA offers is to do article marketing. If you are an expert in any of the niches that you are marketing, which you should be, then you might be able to write and submit articles to free article directories that will publish and provide a wide exposure to your profile. In the resource box for these articles you can post links to other content on your site.

Generally, they don’t allow you to link to an offer directly as that is a solicitation, but there’s no reason you can’t lead the reader to your site and then from there on to your offers. Obviously, this strategy requires that you have an intermediary website or blog set up to be able to capture traffic and then redirect it. Some article directories are starting to get even more strict with this practice of using bridge pages, so join a number of different sites and see which one works best for you.

Blogs

Blogs are very popular these days and easy to check to see how popular they are online with sites like Technorati. After you’ve located a number of sites that are popular, you can comment on the blogs and use a URL link to lead people to CPA offers.

However, if that is caught by the spam filter, you will have to lead people from the blog to you website or some intermediary space. It doesn’t seem like much, but commenting on various blogs, joining a blog community, and making a presence in these forums is a way of networking that can reap rich results. People start to remember your name and associate you with being helpful and an expert.

Create Your Own InfoProducts

Maybe you have some ebooks, some reports, some CDs, or DVDs, that you already market. Even if you don’t, it’s fairly easy to create at least an ebook, save it as a pdf file and sell it online. If you have a huge market reading your products online, you can capitalize on that some more by placing CPA offers within the text that will yield more links even after the sale of the product. And, it costs you nothing but a little line of code.

Videos

Videos are also a popular way to get noticed and people love Youtube.com. Joining is free and as long as you have a camera that takes short videos, less than 10 minutes long, and some editing software, you’re in business. You can respond to popular videos and post a comment telling the publisher there that you’ve responded.

Many times they will add you to their list of favorites and that can get you noticed very quickly! However, that wouldn’t be enough to attract people to your CPA network offer unless you add a splash page at the beginning of your video with the URL of a page you’ve set up on your site that has your CPA offers. In addition, there is a little “more information” URL you can add for each video and there you can post your CPA affiliate URL offer directly, without even having your own website landing pages.

If you’re not into posting videos, that’s okay! You can just look up other people’s popular videos and offer to pay them for taking the “more information” slot. Sometimes, you can even offer them money to take over the entire account and that way, you have an instant audience. Of course, if the star of the show was the personality of the poster, you might have trouble retaining that audience when the ownership switches.

Going Viral

The nice thing about these videos and free articles is that they have a massive potential to “go viral.” By that, the large news agencies can notice them and feature them on their mainstream news sites or comment on them in their news stories. If that happens, you can get millions of viewers is a very short period of time and that’s what’s called “going viral” because the link is being passed around the Internet like a virus.

Tired, Yet?

Whew! That’s a whole lot of work right? Well, no one said Internet marketing was going to be a walk in the park. There is quite a bit of work that has to be done to tie in your offers to your Internet marketing strategies to capture massive traffic streams. If you’re not up to it, that’s okay! There are plenty of freelancers who are willing to do it for you!….To be continued

Churchill pointed to a study from Engine Ready on conversion rates by source of traffic (PPC vs organic). The study found:

- Conversion rates: PPC just barely beat SEO
- Average Order Value: Paid won
- Average time on site: Paid won

She gave the following as advantages of PPC:

- Gives immediate online presence
- Have a new site? Have ads in an hour
- Start getting ROI sooner
- No ramp up time
- Great for seasonal items or time sensitive promotions
- Great for testing
- Easily test effectiveness of new marketing message or site design change
- Quickly gather feedback
- Regulate traffic volume
- Sales pipeline empty? Use PPC to push traffic
- Overloaded? Pause campaigns or cut back spend
- Have limited sales season? Saturate market while demand is high

“PPC is very agile. It’s also has targeting advantages,” said Churchill.

For targeting, she says PPC provides opportunity for high visibility in multiple channels (search engines, content sites, mobile phones), expands results beyond search results, and gives you control over placement on SERPs and better control over landing page/message.

It’s often easier to sell PPC to management because the concept is similar to traditional advertising, and provides for direct accountability. It’s easy to track measures of success. It’s an effective way to drive qualified traffic to your site, and it allows you to expand your opportunities.

Weber says the top five reasons why “PPC rules,” are: speed, flexibility, it’s unlimited, it’s goal-driven, and it’s controllable. You can quickly manipulate keywords to those that drive conversions, you can quickly change bid prices, and you can quickly get in and out of the market. You can turn your campaign on and off, and change ad copy, keywords, etc. You can target a much wider range of keywords, adhere to a budget, and have an immediate impact on sales.

Fishkin pointed out that PPC gets 10% of clicks, but 90% of spend. He said SEO is more challenging and less controllable, but the spend is there and the fact that people click organic results.

Gray said he believes that PPC could make SEO better, but Google is banning people now, so it makes things more challenging. Naylor said he believes SEO is more “open.” Weber and Fishkin both said they would outsource PPC over SEO.

Gray said it’s important to get in the top during the early part of the research phase, especially since Google is personalizing results for everyone now. Churchill noted that Google’s personalization is a better argument for PPC. Like iEntry CEO Rich Ord recently noted, the addition of personalized results could “make people less reliant on organic search results for their traffic and in turn increase their use of Adwords.”

Another point was brought up as we recently discussed - that the search engines are pushing organic listings down with mixed media (blended, universal) results.

Certainly there are many advantages to both PPC and SEO, and they can compliment one another. Actually, a recent study from a couple of NYU Stern professors found that organic search engine results can play a direct role in whether or not a paid listing is clicked.

Google has added the words “Estimated” and “Finalized” next to “Earnings” throughout users’ accounts. The company says the move was made to be more transparent. The changes in messaging do not reflect any changes to the way finalized earnings are calculated. The company says they’re simply intended to give users a clearer idea of Google’s estimations of earnings and what is actually finalized.

“As you may have noticed in the past, the earnings on the Overview and Advanced Reports pages may sometimes differ from the earnings listed on your Payment History page,” says Elizabeth Ferdon of Google’s AdSense Payments Team. “This is because earnings on your Overview and Advanced Reports pages reflect initial estimations based on our records.”

“We aren’t able to provide finalized earnings on these pages because they still need to be verified for accuracy, a process that takes place a few days after the end of every month. The finalized sum is then posted on your Payment History page by the 10th of the next month,” adds Ferdon.

Google says it can’t say how much amounts would differ for any specific publisher, and that most publishers won’t see a significant difference anyway.

Earlier this week, Google introduced the ability to search for ads in the Ad Review Center. The option is currently available to only a limited number of publishers who are using the new AdSense interface (launched a few weeks ago). The company said, however, it will be rolling it out more widely as they invite more publishers to test the new interface.

HydraNetwork.com

Another popular network whose claim to fame is that it will beat any payout for the same campaign offered somewhere else. It also has a rewards program that can be mouth-watering and certainly provides an incentive to be a top money maker. Although they do have cash prizes, their non-cash prizes can range from an Ipod and plasma TV to a Hawaiian vacation and notebook computers.

It likes to claim that they have the most exclusive and unique campaigns. This, they believe, leads to higher conversions as they are going to provide quality advertisements that are not saturating the Internet and very specifically targeted. It has a very user-friendly interface too.

MaxBounty.com

This site allows multiple campaigns from the same advertiser and they take care of all the affiliate payroll functionality. They are clear that they verify all their affiliates to provide both quality publishers as well as advertisers. The network fees are a low 20% and they have about 4500 affiliates signed up. They do have a wide range of categories and some interesting offers. You can expect to see anything from paid surveys, gambling, and finance categories. They are a network that is trying to attract merchants more than publishers right now.

FluxAds.com

This site has lots of freebie offers. They even have some that work well with MySpace related sites. What’s truly innovative about FluxAds, though, is their rewards program that features their Flux Bucks. The program is a seven tiered program that offers prizes that can be bought with the Flux Bucks that are earned. Publishers earn 1 flux buck for every $5 of commission they make. So, it’s tied to the earnings and rewards high producers. What’s nice is that you may not even have made your first $5, but

FluxAds.com will give all new publishers 500 Flux Bucks for joining. That’s their first level. After that the number of Flux Bucks they earn can put them up to the next level where different prizes are offered. The seventh level is when someone reaches 500,000 Flux Bucks.

XY7.com

This oddly named site used to be known as ROIdealsdaily.com, so it’s really an improvement in domain name. Although it may seem like a brand new site because of the name change, it’s actually seven years old. It has several thousand publishers to prove it too. XY7.com estimates that Internet display advertising increased 14.4% and see a huge demand for CPA marketing. So, there’s still plenty of time to get in on this booming field. And, to make it easier they assign a dedicated affiliate manager to advertisers to help optimize their campaigns.

As you can see, the variety of CPA networks is immense. Some want you to be exclusive with them and others don’t mind if you join many affiliate programs. If you want to find out more about the available CPA networks, there is a ton of information on the Warrior Forum at http://www.warriorforum.com. There you can get the low down on any CPA affiliate program from the people who are already using their services.

You should always check to see if they have a referral bonus program as this can directly impact your bottom line and create residual income for years to come. All you have to do is get other people to sign up with the CPA network that you’ve joined and you can get commissions on their earnings, affiliate bonuses, or other incentives. The more levels that a referral program has the more money there is to be made. If there are two tiers, you can even make money on the affiliate that your sub affiliates sign up, but that’s a harder program to find.

As you start to work with multiple CPA networks, you will start to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It might be a lot to learn all at once, but the beauty is that you can take your time. However, try to find programs that have low payouts if that’s the strategy you want to take as you do eventually want to cash out what you earn.

How To Increase Earnings By at least 400%

Once you start to work with multiple CPA networks, you will want a tool to help you compare the offers across various networks. Go to www.offervault.com and sign into the members area. It’s free! This website allows you to view the different payouts in 30 different sites for the same niche. There can be a huge difference in payout from one network to another. The same niche can have payouts of $1.25 in one website, and when you look at another it can be $3.00 a lead! Don’t be surprised to see even more than go up as high as $4.00 per lead, for the exact same niche!

You get more dollars for your effort just by taking the time to look for the highest paying offer first, in that particular niche and can even increase your earnings by as much as 400% for any single offer. Next, we’ll give out some sample strategies to use the CPA network offers within your own Internet marketing ventures, whether with a website or without.

Enter your niche or keyword (example: Ringtones), then “Search Offers”.

Note the huge differences between payouts ($0.55, $10.00, and $20.00). Always compare to choose the best offer and its related network….

Types Of Affiliate Networks

Okay, so it should be obvious that this may take two or three days to finalize. Sometimes, you may even need to go to a forum like Warrior Forum and get someone who knows the administrator to vouch for you so that you can get accepted. All of this takes time and it is going to be done during business days, Monday through Friday.

So, don’t put your application in on Friday and expect a call on Saturday. You may not get it until Monday or Tuesday. If you really want this process to move smoothly, make your application at the beginning of the business week, so that you have time to smooth out any bumps in the application process, when people are working. Avoid holidays too, as that can really screw up your application process and leave you hanging wondering if they just didn’t reply because it was a holiday or because you were rejected. And, as always, be as respectful of other people’s times, even if you are bugging them on AOL.

Don’t Stress If Rejected

All in all, the process is not hard to do, but it can be a nail biter. If you don’t get into one CPA network, that doesn’t mean you can’t apply to another. Be persistent and learn from the process. If you are rejected, ask why you were rejected and then fix the deficiency in your application for next time. There are so many great CPA networks out there, and you’re only going to have enough time for a few, so it may take a while but eventually you’ll get in and be able to start making money with CPA networks. In the next chapter, we’re going to go over some CPA networks that you want to try to get into. Just be aware that many of them are very selective. Use the techniques we’ve talked about here and put on your best face. This is very much like a job interview and you want to make the best impression possible.

Almost all the CPA networks are going to be pretty much the same. They may offer their advertisers different deals to advertise on them, have a setup or registration fee while others don’t, or created value-added services for their members to differentiate themselves from the competition. However, the bottom line is that they will all have publishers, advertisers, and CPA administrators. Depending on the advertisers they’ve attracted and the breadth of their network, they may have offers for surveys, email list signups, freebies, ringtones, contests and more. In addition, they will vary on the types of categories that they have for offers as that will also depend on the advertisers in their network. So, it can pay to sign up to a number of different networks and check out their offerings to see which one fits in best with your niche markets.

There are well over hundreds of CPA networks out there, and there’s no possible way to name all of them. We’re going to offer a few suggestions, but that doesn’t mean they are the best for your particular niche. They may be large, popular with Internet marketers, or just easy to use. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the best for every niche out there, so it pays to do your homework and investigate a number of different CPA networks.

Azoogle Ads

We’ll start with this particular CPA network because it claims to be the largest performance based ad network online. They have an estimated 38,000 publishers already signed up, so if you are an advertiser it can pay to get accepted here to have a large publishing network. Of course, if you are a publisher it means you are competing with that many more people to try to gain the market share for any particular offer. However, that shouldn’t be a problem as they do offer a large variety of CPA offers.

You can find offers for freebies, ringtones, in very popular categories like finance. It is a well established network that is very solid and credible. So, if you are a newbie, it can be a great way to get a foothold and start to learn the ropes. If you are an advertiser, you’ll probably like the fact that there are phone numbers and emails for customer service for the parent company called Epic Advertising in plain view on that site. Azoogle is a division of Epic Advertising, but they’ve split the affiliate advertising from the publishing customer support. They probably want to make sure that the advertisers get as much support as they need to be successful with their campaigns as they are paying for it.

Affiliate.com

This is another stable site that offers some of the things more networks provide: a large publishers network, great customer service, performance-based ads that work well for advertisers. In addition, they strive to make weekly payments, a definite bonus to publishers. What makes this particular CPA network special is their value-added features. They have a service called Data Overdrive that provides solutions to people who want to concentrate solely on email campaigns. They help to show them how to monetize them more effectively. Another value added feature is called Mbmobileinteractive. According to this site, this service provides “content delivery and SMS solutions to companies interested in leveraging the rapidly evolving mobile platform.”

And, finally, the last value added feature worthy of mention is domain services. So, if you don’t have a website, they will help you set one up, register a domain name, domain parking, design services, banner design, host it, get email up, and do domain/email forwarding too. This is done through a partner called Dynamic Dolphin. In order to start working with affiliate.com you do have to pay a security deposit before you can have access to their network.

ClickBooth.com

This CPA network is very popular with publishers and advertisers alike. It has a referral program that pay 2% gross for life as a credit to any affiliate advertiser that signs people up underneath them. This referral credit doesn’t even include an additional $10 referral bonus for every affiliate that is referred too. Multiple tier programs are very popular with Internet marketers because they supply residual income, and this one is a lifetime program, but not in the form of cash, rather credit. Payment is a little harder to get with Clickbooth.com. As a publisher, you would get paid on a Net 15 schedule, which is 15 days after the end of the month in which you made the monies.

They do have an exception to this payment schedule for affiliates that earn $5,000 per week. These they will pay on a Net 7 schedule, or pretty much every week. You have to earn at least $50 to get a payout in any month. So, if you get $49.95 in one month, you’ll have to wait until the next month to be credited for $50.00 with an extra .05 of revenue, and then you have to wait for the Net 15 schedule to make your payment.

NeverBlueAds.com

This CPA network gets many nods at the Warrior Forum. It is said to have excellent customer service and a very friendly user interface. In addition, they take International advertisers, but only if they speak English and are promoting on English sites. But, that’s better than not taking them at all. So, if you are a newbie to CPA networks, as a publisher or an International affiliate, this is a great one to check out. However, if you are an advertiser there is a bit of a learning curve.

They expect you to know how to make your own landing pages, banners, keyword lists, lead forms, and email creatives. If you are able to do this, it can be a good way to get into a program without necessarily having to be a United States citizen. One thing that they do mention on their site is that they will not approve any sites dealing with adult or gambling niches. However, they are lenient with people who don’t own websites, as long as you can convince them that your Internet marketing strategy without one has merit.

To be continued….

The Most Published section is easier to get into so let’s start with that one. First, you need to grab the EzinePublisher URL for your article. You’ll find this at the top right hand side of the page. You’ll see a list of icons with a printer icon at the top. Well, right below the printer icon that says “Print This Article”, you will see a link that says “EzinePublisher”. Go ahead and click on this link. Now, grab the URL for this link and paste it into a text document because we’re going to be using this URL for a little while.

You see, in order to get into the “Most Published” section, you need to get the most clicks onto your EzinePublisher link. To do this, we will be promoting the link ourselves outside of EzineArticles by using social bookmarking, Twitter, and a few other sources. So, first you will need to submit your EzinePublisher url to all of the different social bookmarkings sites like Digg, Mixx, Delicious, etc.. You can do this semi-automatically at SocialPoster.com.

Once you have submitted your URL to all of the different social bookmarking sites, you can then send it out to all of your friends on Twitter, FriendFeed, and other microblogging platforms. By doing this, you will increase the views on your Publisher page, allowing you to get into the “Most Published” section. Once your article has been placed in the “Most Published” section, it will be placed on every single article within that particular category. This means extra exposure for your article. But more importantly, it means MORE LINK JUICE. You see, the internal linking structure within EzineArticles.com is EXTREMELY powerful for ranking in Google. These internal links are very powerful.

By getting your article in the “Most Viewed” or “Most Published” section, you are increasing the number of internal links pointing to that article, which can make a huge difference in how the article ranks in Google.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

First you need to make sure you’re using the targeted keyword phrases in your article title and sprinkled throughout your article. Then, by getting your article placed in the “Most Viewed” or “Most Published” section, you can dramatically increase your Google rankings because your article now has more internal links pointing to it. If you want to get into the “Most Viewed” section, you use the same technique, but this time you will be promoting the URL of the actual article. If you want to guarantee your spot in the “Most Viewed” section you can use StumbleUpon advertising, which is just 5 cents per view. This is one of the simplest ways to get your article in the “Most Viewed” section. Plus, by using StumbleUpon,
you’re also driving lots of targeted traffic to your article and increasing your exposure.

This the make money online with cpa post continued from here, you can also read my previous posts part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 .

CPA networks are far more selective than PPC affiliate networks. Don’t expect to just fill out an online form and expect an acceptance letter in your email. The process is more lengthy and many Internet marketers fail to get accepted because they don’t realize that CPA networks verify everyone who applies. That means that they not only check the information you put in your application, but they often cross-check it with other information elsewhere. Anything that doesn’t match is a red flag and can signal a rejection. And, many of the top CPA networks don’t just want anyone applying. It doesn’t provide value for their advertisers or the network. So, they will want to make sure that you are capable of publishing a CPA network campaign that drives tons of traffic to their advertisers.

So, they will most likely end up calling you up or asking questions relevant to this issue. Being prepared with good answers can mean the difference between a yes and a no. To increase your chances of getting into these selective networks, we are going to review some of the cross checks they perform and questions you might expect to see. Let’s start with the application form.

The Online Application Form

Don’t think that lying on the form as to your actual traffic level or whether you have a website is going to somehow increase your chances of being approved. You can expect they will look up the answers you’ve given on your application form and quickly reject you if they notice disparities. So, it stands to reason that you want to tell the truth, except when truth is something that will automatically disqualify you. Not having a website will not automatically disqualify you, and neither will having a low traffic count. Believe it or not, what they are most interested in knowing is that you can do the job of a publisher in a CPA network, even if you’re doing it on social networks or via email list marketing.

Good IP Address

Probably the biggest fumble on the application process is submitting the form from an IP address that doesn’t match the country you claim to be from on the application. It’s sad, but some networks only take US affiliate publishers and international ones are still going to be confused by this snafu.

So, if you have outsourced the application process to India or China, thinking that they can fill out applications for you, in a mass submittal process – guess again! That IP address will be checked and you will be automatically rejected. The simple solution is to either fill out your own forms or hire someone within the country that you are claiming residency, preferably someone within the United States of America. It may seem a bit unfair, but affiliate networks have dealt with so much fraud originating from would-be Internet marketers overseas that they are particularly cautious, in this area. And, other times, it’s because the money that is made on these sites has to be reported to the Federal government once it goes over $600 in income. For that, they would need a Social Security Number or EIN number issued to the citizen of the United States.

Check Boxes On Forms

There are various check boxes that are going to appear on the application form. In general they have a box checked incentives, don’t uncheck it! If they want to know what advertising method you currently use, make sure you click on PPC. Yes, you are applying to a CPA network, but they want to know if you are a legitimate Internet marketer. Since CPA networks are rather new and about 80% of revenues still come from PPC, then that’s what you should click to make you look knowledgeable. The other reason is that many networks favor a marketing approach of harvesting Google keywords in a PPC campaign to use to market CPA offers. They are also going to want you to tell them how you found out about them. Check off the box that says that you found out from a friend who does not work for them. Word of mouth referrals are very important when trying to maintain some semblance of credibility.

Pay Attention To The Contact Information

Some Internet marketers think they are being smart to submit fake or throwaway email addresses, so they aren’t bothered with spam. But, this is going to be cross-checked to the information on websites that you claim to own. So, it better be an accurate and working email address that matches the ones given on your websites. As for the phone number, expect CPA network administrators to actually call you.

They will verify that the area code in your phone number goes to the state of residency that you gave them on the application form before that. If it doesn’t match, that’s another red flag and can disqualify you. If you give them a fake number, you won’t get their call and you won’t be accepted. If you give them the right number, and they call and you don’t answer, they don’t call back and you’re rejected.

That’s what they call tough luck. So, keep an eye on your phone after you submit your application. (I actually got a call from market leverage,clickbooth,motive,neverblueads etc.)

Are They Really Your Sites?

And, don’t expect them to take your word for it that you are in fact the owner of the sites that you listed. It’s not a hard thing to check the ownership of the sites by doing a WHOIS record lookup online. So, you should go ahead and do it before they do to make sure you are listed as the owner. Sometimes, if you are using a third-party hoster, their name shows up instead of yours. If that happens, it can be grounds for a rejection. Just call up the host and ask them to put your name in as the owner and that will resolve that issue before it comes back to bite you in the butt.

Is Your Domain Top Level?

This is not as important as the first three, especially if you don’t even own a site. But, if you do, they will want to see that you have a top level domain that ends in .com or .org. If you are on someone else’s hosted site, like a WordPress.com community blog, you won’t have your own top level domain and you won’t look very professional.

However, even if you don’t own a website, you can still prove that you have sufficient traffic if you have a Facebook friends list with thousands of friends or you use mini-sites as landing pages that generate huge traffic. All they’re really interested in is to make sure you have the opportunity to grab massive amounts of traffic for their advertisers.

What If I Don’t Have A Website?

You can still get accepted as long as you can convince the affiliate manager that you have what it takes to be a successful publisher. That means that you will need to outline to them your plan of action for getting traffic into the offers. You can still use PPC-to-CPA without a website, and it is the number one answer that affiliates love to hear. Just be sure you understand what that involves, in case they dig a little deeper.

You can also try some CPA marketing using a popular Youtube channel that you own or if you have an agreement with someone to buy advertising on it, that can work too. As long as you can really make a case for knowing how to drive traffic into the offers, they are going to have to take you seriously. Of course, the website would be nice, but they won’t turn you down automatically for that reason, unless it is part of their service agreement to have one. But, that would kick out many people who love to market behind the scenes and wouldn’t be a smart move on their part.

After Submitting The Application, Then What?

You’re not done! If this were a CPC application, you would just wait around for the email telling you that you’ve been accepted, almost immediately, but this is CPA and the process is lengthier. After you send out the application expect to wait at least 24 hours. Keep a close eye on the phone whose number you used to apply for the network.

Hopefully, you gave them a phone number that matches your current state residency and that you will be available at within the next 24 hours. If they call, answer it, because if you miss the call they won’t call back. It may lead to an automatic rejection and it can be harder to change their minds, but there’s still hope. If you miss the call, and you know for sure, then don’t be afraid to call or email them after 24 hours to check on the status of your application.

This will at least give you another chance at talking to someone within the network who can get you approved. If you can’t get a hold of anyone, there is still one final way to try to contact someone: AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). You can go to the following website: http://affaimlist.com and see a listing of most of the administrators’ AOL usernames and whether they are online or not. Locate your CPA network administrator by the CPA network name and then see if you can IM them to find out the status of your application. At the very least they will know that you are keenly interested in getting approved and will do what it takes to convince them that you are on the up and up.

How Can You Increase The Chances Of Being Accepted?

1. Get Your Own Domain Name – Top level domains increase your chances of being accepted. It’s not expensive or hard to think up a good domain name. Use Host Gator, at hostgator.com, to host your domain name for as little as $4.95/month. Registering your domain name doesn’t have to be expensive either. You can get that done for $8.85/year at domainabbey.com.

2. Start A Blog – If you use Host Gator, you can start a Wordpress blog on your domain for free.

3. Get A Great Niche – Pick a hot niche and attract traffic with less effort.

4. Update Blog Frequently – Start with at least 5 articles. If you don’t want to write your own, get some free from Ezinearticles or Articlebase.

5. Monetize The Blog – Add ads to the blog to get some income rolling in. Use Clickbank.com or any of the affiliate partners listed in the Appendix.

6. Get Emails With Your Domain – Don’t use emails that end in hotmail, gmail, yahoo, or msn.com. Those free emails make you look less credible than putting down your own email address like yourname@yourdomain.com.

7. Answer The Phone – Your affiliate manager will call and you had best answer the phone. Answer the questions and prove to them that they need you more than you need them.

What Questions Will They Ask?

The call is usually a mini interview and you will be asked questions. Be as honest and forthright as possible, but keep in mind that they are asking you the questions to determine if you can do the job. So, be prepared to give them the right answers. A typical scenario might go as follows:

Q: How many uniques does your website get?

A: 50,000 to 100,000 uniques.

Q: How do you drive traffic to your sites?

A: I create blogs or websites and then use PPC on Google (more on this in the next post).

Q: How long have you been an Internet Marketer?

A: 1 and ½ years.

Q: What do you find works for you?

A: PPC.

Q: What types of verticals or categories have you promoted?

A: I’m interested in anything that converts, from gaming and email submits to ring tones.

Q: Do you offer people incentives?

A: No.

Q: What’s your advertising budget?

A: $100 per day.

Q: Have you joined other networks?

A: Yes, and then name those that you are in.

Q: How did you find out about us?

A: A friend told me about you.

The biggest fumble to avoid is in this question:

How Will You Drive Traffic To Advertisers’ Offers?

For this question, you are going to answer PPC to CPA. That’s pay-per-click to cost-per-action models. You will have to have a Google Adwords account and have some experience with Google keywords to set up a PPC advertising model. When you set up an advertisement in Google it will ask you for the display and the destination URL. The display URL is usually what the potential customer sees.

The destination URL is where the advertisement will lead them when they click on the display URL. That’s where you would use a CPA network URL for the offer that you’ve chosen to link PPC to CPA. Of course, you have to pay for the Google Adwords campaign, so there are definitely upfront costs here.

CPA networks love this particular model because it rests on Google’s ability to dominate the Internet and get the advertisement out before a large demographic that is targeted to your ad. Is it the best way to drive traffic to advertisers’ offers? That’s debatable. However, that’s what they want to hear. So, tell them that. After you are signed up, you can investigate other ways to promote the ads the way you think will generate the most revenue.

And, don’t forget that if your content needs grow as you work with PPC as well as CPA, that you can use websites like EzineArticles or ArticleBase to get more free content. They will also give you plenty of ideas on how to explode traffic on your sites.

In the next post (post I will write about some sample networks,and how to join them.

What the hell is Twitter? And how to use it,tips for beginners

Twitter is an online service that enables you to broadcast short messages to your friends or “followers.” It also lets you specify which Twitter users you want to follow so you can read their messages in one place.

A popular Twitterer

Twitter is designed to work on a mobile phone as well as on a computer. All Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters, so each message can be sent as a single SMS alert. You can’t say much in 140 characters. That’s part of Twitter’s charm.

Twitter is useful for close-knit groups (although there also are some fairly large mobs on Twitter). If you follow your friends, and they follow each other, you can quickly communicate group-related items, such as “I’m going to the pub on Fourth Street, come on along.” Twitter is conceptually similar to Dodgeball but is simpler to use.

If you enter items into Twitter, they can be private, so only friends you’ve authorized can see them. Items can also be made public, which means anyone who knows your Twitter ID can read and subscribe to them.

Twitter is free.

Continue reading to learn how to get started, hook up your mobile, send your first “Tweet,” follow friends, and direct Twitter. We also show you some advanced features and Twitterers worth following.

How to get started

Go to Twitter.com and click “Join for free.” For best results, use your real name when signing up; otherwise your friends won’t be able to find you easily. It’s also helpful to upload a picture. If you select the “Protect my updates” box, people won’t be able to read your Twitters unless you authorize them. You’ll have more fun if you leave this box unchecked. Just be sure not to Twitter, “Leaving house open and unlocked for the weekend: 1520 Main Street.”

Now that you have a Twitter account, tell your friends your username or send them the link to your Twitter page. Each users has his own page, in the form twitter.com/username. (Example: my Twitter page is twitter.com/Makemoneyfree.)

Hook up your mobile phone and IM account

The Twitter network works for you even if you’re not at your computer or browsing the Web. Once you are registered, you can connect your mobile phone and instant messenger account. Go to Settings > Phone and IM. Connecting your phone and IM programs to your Twitter account is a straightforward process. Note that messages you view on a phone or an IM program also are readable on your personal Twitter Web page.

You can make Twitter send you a message every time a user who you are following has posted a Twitter message. This can be fun, but it will drive you crazy if you are following a lot of people. If you don’t want to be barraged by a stream of random messages but still want friends to be able to reach you, select “Direct Message.” Then when other users send a message to you and you alone, you’ll be alerted on your phone or IM account. Otherwise, you won’t get an alert.

Sending Twitter messages, or “Tweets”

Sending a Tweet from a mobile

You can send a Twitter message, or “Tweet,” from any of your registered devices. From the Web page, enter a message in the entry window at the top of the page. From a mobile phone, send an SMS message to 40404. Your phone’s caller ID is attached to your Twitter account, so the system will know it’s from you.

From IM, message TwitterIM if you’re on AOL, or twitter@twitter.com if you’re on Jabber/GTalk. In all these cases, all your “followers” will see your message on their own Twitter pages and possibly on their mobile devices as well.

Following and joining friends

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re able to send messages into the Twitter system, and your friends can find your account and follow your updates. Here’s how you can see their messages.

On the Web: to add a friend, first be sure you are logged into your account. Then go to his or her Twitter page and press the “Add” link in the “Actions” box. To find a user page, use the search box on your own Twitter page.

Once you click “Add,” you’ll start to see his or her Tweets on your page if his or her account is set for public access. If the account is private, the system will send a “friend” request that must be approved before you start to see updates.

You also can see who your friends are following by hovering your mouse pointer over the pictures in the sidebar on your friends’ pages. Those pictures are of their friends–the users they are following. If you click on one of those pictures, you’ll go to that user’s page, where you can add him or her, too.

You can see all the Tweets from any person’s friends by clicking the “With Friends” tab above his or her message window. Or you can turn that off and see only his or her Tweets by clicking the obliquely named “Previous” tab.

On the phone or IM: send the command follow username to register your phone or IM account to receive public Tweets from a user. You also can invite people based on a phone number: SMS add phonenumber to 40404, and you’ll start following the user at that number; if the person at that number isn’t a Twitter user, he or she will get an invitation to join.

Managing your friends is much easier by using a full Web browser, but you can do everything on a mobile phone if you wish. See this page of the Twitter Help file for full commands, including details on the all-important Leave (to stop following) and Drop (to remove from your friend list) commands.

Want to be a Twitter nag? Send nudge username and they’ll get a request to send a current Tweet.

In case you were wondering what the numbers mean…

A bunch of numbers are on your Twitter page. The most important figures are these:

• The number of “followers” you have. These are the people who are paying attention to (following) your Tweets.
• The number of “friends” you have. This is the number of people you are following.

Public figures and Twitter celebrities will have more followers than friends. People who want to watch more than participate will have more friends than followers. People who just use Twitter to communicate just within their own social group will have roughly the same number of friends and followers.

Person-to-person Twittering

You can send a Twitter message directly to another Twitter user with the Direct command. Enter d username message, and users will get your ping if they have direct messages enabled on their phone or IM account.

If you enter a Tweet with @username at the beginning of it, your message is understood as being intended for that particular person, although others will be able to see it. (However, @ tweets won’t show up on your home page unless you are the intended recipient.) Be sure the person who you want to see your message is following you, or they won’t get it.

Turning off Twitter

Twitter messages may drive you insane. If you want to turn them off, here’s how: send the command Off, Sleep, or Stop to Twitter. To turn it back on, send On, Wake, or Start.

If you’re sick of Twitter on the PC, just avoid the Web site! In a Web browser, in your settings page, you also can define a period of time during which Twitter will not bother you by phone or IM. This is useful if you ever want to sleep.

Advanced features

You can apply your own design to your Twitter home page: it’s fairly straightforward. Our advice is to avoid using the “tile” option for your background image unless you are aiming for the assaultive MySpace design aesthetic.

Twitter also can be used via third-party programs that run on your desktop or in your widget/gadget engine.

Twitterers worth following

In addition to your friends, you might want to follow some of these famous (or useful) Twitterers. Many people are still experimenting with Twitter, so we can’t vouch for the long-term quality or frequency of updates from these users:

• CNN: Newsfeed of high-profile CNN breaking stories.
• John Edwards: Twitters from the campaign trail
• Robert Scoble: Popular feed from ubergeek and Twitter fan Robert Scoble.
• Evan Williams: Founder of the company that built Twitter.
• Rafe Needleman: I wrote this, I must be interesting.
• Caroline McCarthy: Another Webware writer and ardent Twitterer.

Happy Twittering! Got tips for other users? Add them in the comment section.

Next you can read this article.

There is concern from some that Google is trying to eliminate the need for users to leave Google and even visit a small business’ web site.

I wonder if this is an “assault against the small business websites”, Google wants people to spend more time on Google. Yahoo wants people to spend more time on Yahoo. Facebook wants people to spend more time on Facebook. Several of these large online “media” [companies] are doing everything in their power to keep the eyeballs on their website (unless you pay them for an outbound link).

Google has always claimed to do everything with the user’s experience in mind. Unfortunately for SEOs and webmasters, however, it also could mean that people have less reason to go to their sites.

To me, this would really depend on the information that the searcher is hoping to acquire. It’s going to be about finding the right balance of useful information and providing an incentive to still go to your site (if that is your goal). The Place Pages would certainly bring a new element to the online reputation management table. You’re going to want to keep an eye on what’s showing up on your Place Page, and address the situation accordingly. They can include user-generated content.

Another concern that has been voiced about Place Pages, is that Google could start ranking them in natural search results – outside of Google Maps. In fact, Erick Schonfeld points out that this is already occurring for at least the Burdick Chocolate Cafe (the example Google used when it announced the feature).

This could theoretically reduce clicks to actual sites, but again, this would just emphasize the need to manage your reputation on your Place Page. Your site is likely to be easily located from the Place Page anyway.

Blogger Eric Fredline says Google’s Place Pages are “designed for optimization,” but that something is missing. “For one, Google would need local merchant’s to define some sort of ‘conversion event’.  This is conceptually as easy as defining a new ‘block type’ that will appear on the landing page and be optimized,” he says. “For example, a restaurant might view a phone call or an Open Table registration as a conversion event.  If it’s a phone call, I imagine the merchant could be encouraged to use Google Voice to provide a closed loop analysis of the conversion event.”

“Perhaps more likely than having individual merchants doing this (at least in all cases) would be a small army of SEO and SEM experts doing it on the businesses’ behalf – but within a closed looped system managed by Google,” he adds. “Google could potentially create a whole new eco-system.”

Another interesting factor of Google’s Place Pages is the fact that they have sponsored results on them. This could raise more concerns, such as competing ads showing up on a business’ place page. In Google’s chocolate Cafe example, the Page is showing ads for chocolate companies like Godiva and Ghirardelli.

There are a lot of questions about the Pages, and answers will likely come in due time. In fact, Google Place Pages will be discussed in more than one panel at next week’s Search Marketing Expo.

The Place Pages come with their own structured URL. The example Google gives is http://maps.google.com/places/us/cambridge/brattle-st/52/-burdick-chocolate-cafe. You can see how it is structured by places/country/city/street/address/business name. Google discusses the feature here.

Google says that while not all businesses have a place page yet, they will soon. Businesses can update their info through Google’s Local Business Center.

Will this help your business ? what do you think?