My To-Read List

Been a bit quiet here, I know.  Lost my mojo.
But, read about this book (it was recommended by Pat), and I wanted to note so I wouldn't forget!   

Outsourcing Your Blog

 by Ashkan of iPhoneAppCafe.com.

I started iPhoneAppCafe.com back in 2010 with the aim of making it a profitable blog—a goal that I eventually achieved. However, after my first blogging venture, one thing became clear to me: writing is not actually my greatest strength.

I have always had lots of ideas and I recognize a good article when I see it. But when it comes to actually writing one, it often takes me far too long, and time is something that I can’t really spare because of my day job and other commitments.

Businesses' Social Media Marketing

What barriers to using social media do businesses face?

• Can't figure out how it fits with their business
• Fear of giving up control
• Fear of the democratized nature of it - direct lines of communication with customers

Powerful Headlines - "Pretend You're Writing to a 12 Year old"

Make it

• Emotional
• Relevant
• Call-to-action
• Benefit to the reader
• Tempt with free stuff
• Exclusive/secret
• Concise

Aweber

Automate Your Email Marketing with AWeber

"When Pinterest Met Affiliate Marketing" By Tricia Meyer

Finding Pin Sources:
Who is pinning from your site and what are they pinning? What is being repinned?
http://pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITE.com/

Mic Check.

Is this thing on?

Prosper202/Tracking202

Tried to install Prosper202 last night.

Fail.

Trying to install Tracking202 today.

Failing.

Deadends & bad links & missing info.  Videos won't play.  Helpdesk "expired"..

wtf?

Is it just me?

Help needed. 

In Like Flynn. Flin. Flint? (What does that even mean?)

Why do we use weird expressions & have no idea what we're actually saying?   Group thought?   Mass hypnosis?  Laziness?  Follower-syndrome?  For fun?

So, Ads-4-Dough accepted me.  (All thanks to  Nickycakes' intervention.)

At first they thought I was a bad person?

Not exactly sure.

But, now I'm in, and I'm happy.

Then, I tried my very first super official FB campaign with my 70+ creatives and big official awesome sauce bids.   Then, I took a quick break and walked away from the computer for maybe an hour or so.  THEN, when I returned, to my shock, I had already accrued THOUSANDS (maybe TENS of thousands?) of impressions.


Whoa!

What the hell?!     While on one hand,  tens of thousands of impressions ROCK, on the other, at that rate I would be BROKE by sunrise.  So, were my bids too high??   What was happening?  How would I know?   It was my first go around.....  Both delighted and freaked out, I paused the campaign to catch my breath.   Then lowered my daily budget a bit, and restarted. This time though, I watched the numbers like a hawk.

#refresh
#refresh
#refresh
#refresh

Etc.

Then I started to get confused. Ok, so thousands upon thousands of impressions, a good number of click-throughs, but NO conversions?   NO conversions?  Why?!  I mean, if someone is clicking through to a FB app, why WOULDN'T they just go ahead and try it out?  WHY NOT!?  It totally perplexed me.   Was I missing something?   Did I set something up wrong?

I tried out the links a few times.... Was there some secret code or something I was missing?  Some doodad?  Some process that I had no idea existed?

Hmmmmmm...

If only there was affiliate guardian angel on my shoulder, whispering in my ear...

Anyway, after multiple tests of the affiliate link I discovered....

Now, I could be wrong, but that seemed bad.  Doesn't that seem bad??    I mean, if it was me who just clicked on an ad,  and I saw that, um, I wouldn't continue.  Duh!
So, the question was, just because I was seeing it, did that mean that EVERYONE else was seeing it too?  I'm ASSUMING?   BUT HOW WOULD I KNOW?!

I'm a just a newb!

But at the rate at which the campaign was progressing, and Facebook was consuming my dollars, I felt it would be prudent to SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN.

IMMEDIATELY.

And then regroup.

And maybe find my nice new A.M. on Skype?

Or instead, just try it again, but with a new offer....  But this time

ON ADWORDS.

Screw FB!  I blame them for this.  Why are they castigating my poor defenseless harmless link?  Rude!  Wrong!  Evil!

And did I mention that I spent over 4 days waiting for them to respond to my help ticket about the issue?  And then when finally they did respond, it was not only unhelpful, it was ridiculous.  Unhelpful, I can handle.  In fact, I was expecting as much.  But condescending? Unacceptable.  Totally unacceptable.

Rude!  Wrong!  Evil!

Just seems like there's a pattern developing of negative interactions and irritants...     eg: did I mention that I discovered they won't  allow (for a dating ad) to advertise to BOTH men AND women on the same ad?  Apparently Facebook is very proper.

NO BISEXUALS ALLOWED! 

W.

T.

F.

Facebook.

Seriously?

Seriously???!!!


I find it absolutely stunning.  And reprehensible.  And disgusting.  And retarded.  Who is Facebook to dictate such things?  

Oh Facebook... #rant #rant #rant

I will just add this to my list of grievance with you.... And there's getting to be quite a list now....  From customer service, to totalitarianism, to egomania...   I wonder any of this will be affected (positively affected) by going public.  Perhaps now there will be more of a sense of accountability? Responsiveness?  

But, I'll save it for another day.

Anway.

ON TO ADWORDS.

Just after I get this damn prosper/tracking thing figured out.......

If you have a clue and want to help a poor soul out, email a sister out!  pleaeeease and thank you!

What's a Cookie?

No, not chocolate chip.

A cookie is a small data file that certain web sites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain various types of information, including a user ID that the site uses to track the pages you've visited, and traffic patterns.

Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies; however,  browsers can be manually set to refuse cookies or indicate when a cookie is being sent or you can flush your browser of cookies from time to time.  If cookies are disabled or refused, you may not be able to access all areas of some sites.

Is it Good? Checklist for Persuasive Landing Pages

After writing a landing page, ask yourself the following questions to see if it passes the test of effective copy:

Does my landing page....

• Have a great headline?
• Tell a good story?
• Offer proof?   (Testimonials/etc)
• Make the benefits of purchase/action clear?
• Create curiosity?
• Anticipate objections/doubts and counter them?

Other Suggestions.

• Be concise
• Use action verbs and colorful adjectives. (People are moved by emotion)
• Educate/inspire. Nobody likes hard-sells. 
• Use a confident & authoritative tone

Model after the best.  Practice.  Develop over time.  Test.

Web Analytics 101: Definitions: Goals, Metrics, KPIs, Dimensions, Targets

By Avinash Kaushik

It is surprising how often these "simple" things come up.
"What is the difference between a metric and a key performance indicator (KPI)?"
"What is a dimension in analytics?"
"What is segmentation?"
"Are goals metrics?"
And many more.
There seems to be genuine confusion about the simplest, most foundational, parts of web metrics / analytics. So in this short post let's try and see if we can fix this really basic problem.
Definitions and standard perspectives on these terms will be covered in this post:

1. Business Objectives
2. Goals
3. Metrics
4. Key Performance Indicators
5. Targets
6. Dimensions
7. Segments

A standard definition will be provided, but more than that my hope is to solidify your understanding with concrete examples and pictures.  Read More

What is the DMCA?

The DMCA, (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) was created in 1998 to protect provide hosting services like YouTube from being help liable for users who may post copyrighted material.

User's who feel their rights have been violated, and content used without permission can write to the provider using contact info cataloged at the copyright office, state there has an infringement, and request that the material be taken down.   The process is fairly simple.

Sometimes companies will abuse the DMCA provision and overstep and make demands that infringe into fair use territory, (eg: parodies), and other material that may be protected. 

U.S. Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf,