"Faking news" FTC Article

Bureau of Consumer Protection Business Center

By Steve Wernikoff, February 1, 2012 

Six online marketers have settled FTC charges stemming from their use of fake news websites to market acai berry supplements and other weight loss products.  If you’re an affiliate marketer or you’re thinking about building an affiliate program into your business plan, the cases merit your attention.
First, Affiliate Marketing 101. 

Disappearing Navigation bar: Cool Trick for Blogger Blogs

If you happen to be blogging using blogger, and would like to gain a little bit of real estate, here's a cool trick!  By simply adding a little code in your design via a gadget, your navigation bar (the strip along the top of your blog) will only be visible when it's hovered over.  Wanna try it?  Just do this:

Jeremy Schoemaker: Keynote at Affiliate Summit West 2012

Notes from his presentation: (in the first person)

Back in the day in advertising, newspapers learned to copyright for sales because you had to write a headline, bodytext, people who sold things learned how to do copywriting, then radio, had to make a script, voiceovers, tell a story, get a spokesperson and industry involved   - the internet combines all: video, audio in script, text

Back in the day a locomotive was used to deliver, then stage coaches which would do local deliver. Later  plane, truck - and now with internet can do it faster - download a product immediately

What I do to make money:

"NickyCakes'" First Affiliate Marketing Podcast

I'm about 48 minutes into a podcast interview of 5 young affiliate marketers talking about their observations on affiliate marketing trends, conferences (such as leadscon and affiliatesummit), legal situations, and so on.  So far, the most significant piece of knowledge that I've discerned is that I absolutely do not know sh*^ about what affiliate marketing really is and/or involves.  I've heard in passing Twitter folks refer to the affiliate marketing as, (can't remember the exact words), but basically, somewhat, er, suspect(?)    Hearing the podcast guests reference million dollar affiliate ventures being shutdown, the shock/concern that this creates for them, raises my curiosity even further.  What the hell IS this world?  I have to know more.  

Final thoughts from the guests: 


Daniel: Dig in and concentrate on your campaign, if it's not working, move on, it can take 15 campaigns before it might work, his affiliate network site: gurumedia.biz or gmtraffic.com

Charles: Plans to start a blog soon

Wes:  Make up in hours what you lack in school, use the "70/10 rule" - spend 70% of your time working on it, 20% of your time learning about it,  10% of your time talking to the people who did it

Bofu2U    "Stop fucking changing what you're doing", persistence is key, give it a couple weeks, if you're an organic guy - get tracking micrositemasters.com

Nickycakes: His contact info and website: nickycakes@gmail.com

----------------------------

Now listening to the 2012 WestAffiliateSummit closing keynote address...  then plan to read more posts by Nickycakes and  articles from here.    I haven't ruled out the possibility that affiliate marketing is either too technical for me to absorb, and/or beyond my ability or comfort level.   However, until I know more, I won't be able to make a solid determination. Gratefully, I feel like STUMBLING onto these guys has been a much more solid lead than what I've come across before.  Going solidly in a more fruitful direction, I suspect - which is encouraging and makes me happy.  Also, cool is that they're generous enough to include their Twitter handles which suggests they're open to connecting with folks.  I wonder if the affiliate marketing "community"  (if there is one?) is generally open to supporting each other succeed.  Seems like if folks were competitive they would be too insular to share.   Along the lines of learning, connecting, and giving/offering support - these conferences sound huge.

Wordpress Tool: "Press This"

"Press This" is a bookmarklet: a little app that runs in your browser and lets you grab bits of the web.

Use it to clip text, images and videos from any web page. Then edit and add more straight from "PressThis" before you save or publish it in a post on your site.  It can be installed by dragging-and-dropping a link to your bookmarks bar, you can right click it and add it to your favorites for a posting shortcut.

Wordpress or Blogger?

I think I'm going to have to go back to Wordpress.  Regretably.  And this makes me sad.  So sad.   However, feel free to talk me out of it.   I'm very impressionable.   ::cry::

How do Add MailChimp To a Facebook Page

The MailChimp Facebook application allows you to add your list signup form to any Page you administer and auto-post your campaigns to those Pages or your personal profile. Below we show you how to set up the integration and add signup forms to your Pages.

Random Pieces of Blogging Advice from Douglas Karr

• High bounce rate isn't necessarily BAD. (You have to know whether there's a correlation with conversions).
• Write regularly.  If you right regularly your audience expects it.  A relationship.  A commitment. Keep honoring it every day.
• Don't be afraid. You don't have to be perfect.  There's nothing you can't recover from.
• Your blog shows: your personality, if you're a leader, if people follow you. You get to own it, construct it, craft it.  A powerful tool in your favor!  (As opposed to corporate giants who are slow moving and sluggish. after have mtg after mtg to make decisions)
• Successful business is always about loyalty and relationships.

My "Make New Friends" Blogging To-Do List

• Comment on other blogs. contribute to the conversation. Build relationships.
• Join Twitter chats: introduce myself & my blog, become a part of the transcript.
• Answer questions on Q&A sites at LinkedIn and Quora
• Post daily 
• Review new books
• Guest post
• Interview kewl peeples
• Link it up: to myself, to others, to the the universe
• Make videos, start integrating livestream
• Switch to Wordpress  (boooooo!)
• Investigate keywords (booooo!)
• Investigate "Constant Contact" or "Mailchimp" for FB, and "Ecwid" for a FB storefront
• Eventually consider FB advertising to drive readership
  

  
  

Going Down The Affiliate Rabbit Hole

You see?

This is exactly what I'm talking about: stumbling around in the dark, bumping into things.   Tonight has been nutty.

Nutty I tell you!

Ok, let me back up: last year I went to the "Get Radical Conference" in D.C. and had an absolutely astonishingly amazing, inspired time.  Since then I've been receiving weekly email "Get Radical Newsletters" from the organizer, Doreen Rainey, that I think are models of professionalism and style.  In fact, I think her entire personal branding campaign is pretty spot-on.  Great design, professional images,  knickknacks, she even sold a fantastical music CD produced by her husband and played some of the tracks to kick-off the conference and pump people up during the transitions between speakers.


ANYWAY, a couple days ago, I read some fineprint and noticed that she's actually offering her own affiliate program.  My first thought ~ "Wow!  So legit!"  then "I would totally promote her conference!" then "So smart!" and finally, "Hey ~ how does she do that?!"    And while I sat there pondering this in awe,  a pop-up, well, popped up (duh) and informed me that I could get INSTANT access to a) 7 tips  b) an audio presentation and c) her Ezine.   Cool.  (See how legit that is?)


ANYWAAAY,  being the curious cat that I am, one thing led to another, and next thing you know I had descended deep into the affiliate rabbit hole, and in the process discovered even more things ~ kinda like unearthing some sort of shady secret affiliate society or something.






I'll trace my steps here:

• FIRST I checked out how to become an Affiliate for the "Get Radical Conference" and signed up:https://empoweringmoment.infusionsoft.com/app/affiliateCenter/home
  
• Then I was curious about infusionsoft.com, which appears to be service that she's using to recruit folks to become her affiliates 

• THEN the infamous awesome popup poppedup (probably the first time I've ever referred to popup as "awesome") and I was curious about how she did that!  So, I checked out the fine print and it led me http://popupdomination.com/ a subscription service that allows you to create your own popups & guaranttees a 400% increase in subscriptions

• THEN I noticed that the Pop-Up site wants people to be THEIR affiliate too!  #ayecarumba (this is were I started gettin loopy)  http://popupdomination.com/3/affiliates/#

• AND THEN I noticed that PopUpDomination uses ClickBank, yet ANOTHER affiliate program (likeLinkshare, or Amazon Associates, or VigLin) which you can sign up for, connect to merchants, and earn commissions from selling their products. http://www.clickbank.com
  
• And while peeking at what appears to be a HUMONGOUS list of merchants, and categories, I stumbled into this ebook one: ttp://www.clickbank.com/spotlightProfile.htm?f=mkt&v=savmarriag which captured my interest since I've been giving some thought to writing an ebook (or two) lately, and became curious as to whether this is a feasible/useful way to promote such an endeavor...
  
• So, I peaked at the vendor profile, not because the book fascinates me, but because their request for affiliates interests me, and it led me to this website, which is perhaps, the most interesting site in the entire rabbit hole:  http://www.savethemarriage.com/affiliate/affiliate.html     And while I only skimmed it, I have linked it here for my future reference, and plan to visit it again when it's not 3:25am and I am not actually delirious. 

The End.

• Oh wait. Just one last link.  This appears to be the service that Doreen is using to get coordinate her affiliate marketers:  https://infusionsoft.com/app/affiliateCenter/home 
  Cool, right?!  

Ok.  That is all.

G'nite.

Kisses!

My Very First LinkShare Affiliate Links: Clearly I ROCK

Happy Valentines Day!!

Loooooooooook! 

Fantastical things 
that 
you 
can 
buuuuuyyyy:

They look cool, right?!

OMG I AM AN UNSTOPPABLE EFFIN GENIUS!  

So, in the true spirit of stumbling around in the dark, I stumbled into "Linkeshare" an affiliate service that connects bloggers to over 500 major merchants allowing them to earn revenue by incorporating links/banners on their sites. 

Again, with no idea wtf I was doing ~ I scrolled through page after page of their associates, and selected companies that I would feel comfortable standing behind and/or would like to support.   I was unprepared to receive a rejection notice later that day.  ("What - are they crazy?!  Refusing free advertising?")   Chalking it up as simply somethinguptheirbutt, I sucked it up & moved on.  Until the next day when yet another rejection email rolled in and hurt my delicate feelings. And then another, and another..

SO.

OFFENSIVE.

But thankfully not EVERYONE (just almost everyone) refused my requests to sell their products and make them money.    And while I have to admit, I'm still a little mystified, I remain excited to try out the LinkShare program with the few folks that are willing to give my lowly site a chance.   From my experiments with the Amazon affiliate program, as it stands, I have little to zero hope that this will reap much of a financial return, however, it's still an interesting experience and valuable learning opportunity.

Check 'em out. (Affiliate link for affiliate links) ====>>
#mindblown?


I'm curious about other folks' experience with working with affiliates, and would love to hear about them....

XoXo,


a

New Question: How do Subscribers Affect "The Bottom Line"

Curious, if folks have subscribed via RSS and the such, and content is being sent directly to them, those folks wouldn't be counted as "visits" ~ correct? (I mean, why would they?) And if that's the case, and traffic is a goal, could that be considered counterproductive in certain situations? Just a thought....

What is your favorite Windows video editor?

2/4/12 Addendum: I installed and tried out Windows Movie last night.  As I'd hoped, it was super user-friendly and I found that I was up & running immediately as the interface is intuitive, and there are a number of pre-set features that can be used with a click.   On the down side, I didn't see a way to split audio clips,  and it *seems like there isn't too much control and ability to fine tune timing and the like.  I say "seem" because I haven't investigated beyond what was immediately visible while I played with it.      Going to move on and check out another editor and see how they compare....

2/13/12 Addendum:  You can't import itunes videos/clips!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I'm guessing it's Mac's fault, but regardless - I am SOOOO ticked off! #CRY

2/25/11   Addendum:  Youtube has a built-in editor!  Cool!  It has built music sets, transitions, subtitles and effects which are cool - but, I can't seem to find a way to split the actually video, so, a bit disappointing.  On the bright side - it also has built in adsense banners. H U G E  SCORE!!!!  And for that, I am STOKED.