Issue # 115, 15-Jun-2005
ISSN 1447-4956
Copyright 2005 Jason Anderson. All rights
reserved worldwide
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/
Hello again, and welcome to this weeks
letter. I hope this week has treated you well so
far. I've found myself running around "doing
stuff" all week, but so far it seems I've got
nothing to show for it! Guess I'd better start
writing down some 'do' lists, and get a bit
better organized. :-)
I'm sure you've heard of RSS by now, even if
you're not sure exactly what it is. RSS has a
lot of uses, but perhaps the one that interests
us the most is that we can add the *results* of
RSS to our own web sites.
Why would we want to do that? Because RSS can
provide us with good quality content that will
automatically update on our web site without us
having to do anything. Visitors to our site
*and* the search engines like it - both see our
site has new content added regularly, so they
revisit the site more often!
Adding RSS to your site may sound
complicated, but Louis Allport has just released
a new set of training videos that will show you
how you can do it quickly, easily, and best of
all, for free!
It normally sells for $24.95, but I've added
it to my subscriber-only specials page where you
can get it for just $13.
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/special/
Of course, there are many other products
there that might interest you, so be sure to
take a look!
(By the way, I won't try and tell you what
RSS stands for as there are several differing
opinions on that! :-) Best to just think of it
by its letters, the same as HTML or IBM).
* * *
This weeks condensed interview is from Barry
Stein. At the time of the interview Barry was
having considerable success using AdWords to
promote products he was an affiliate for
(earning some very large checks almost from day
1!)
While it is now harder to do that with Google
AdWords, the advice he passes on in this
interview is helpful for all affiliate
marketers, and even people who are advertising
their own product with AdWords.
ANP: What do you look for
when you are trying to find a product to
advertise with Google Adwords - commission,
good sales page, search demand etc.
Barry: I wish I could give everyone
a scientific explanation of how to make money
promoting affiliate products, but there isn't
one.
You can eliminate the bad merchant web
sites that have an unprofessional appearance
or unbelievable sales copy, but it is often
hard to pick the ones that are going to be
profitable. Quite frankly it comes down to
doing lots of test campaigns. Right now it
takes me about 20 test campaigns in order to
find one profitable affiliate product.
One question everyone should ask
themselves is, "Would I buy this affiliate
product from this merchant's web site if I
was in the market for it?"
Some of the other things I like to see on
a merchant web site is some type of opt-in to
collect email addresses so that the merchant
can do follow-up emails and try to make the
sale. Contact information on the web site is
also a plus. And finally testimonials are
very important since it shows that some
people actually bought the product and are
happy with it.
Just because a merchant web site has all
the above features doesn't guarantee that it
will be profitable with an Adwords campaign,
but it sure doesn't hurt an affiliate product
or web site if they have those features.
ANP: How do you go about selecting
keywords to use in your Adwords campaign?
What methods do you use to "break out" from
the few obvious ones that everyone is
thinking of, into the less common (and hence
cheaper) words?
Barry: I usually use many keywords
in my test campaigns. I use common or broad
keywords in addition to all the more relevant
targeted keywords.
I've been known to go in as many different
directions with the keywords that I use as I
can. Even if they are vaguely relevant.
My goal is to do a test, which is usually
50-100 click throughs, for the lowest keyword
bids I can manage to get. Especially when it
comes to the common keyword bids, which I
always want to have low bids for.
I usually use Ad Word Analyzer to create
keyword lists based on relevant keyword
searches. Then I place all these keywords
into my Google Adwords campaign and once
inside there I have the option to create even
more keywords with the Google Keyword
Suggestion Tool.
ANP: Do you have any particular
process you go through when you are writing
the ad for your campaign?
Barry: Writing great text ads for
Google Adwords is very important. If you
expect to get people's attention and have
them click through to the merchant web site
you will need to learn how to do it
correctly.
When you write your ads ask yourself these
questions:
Does the headline grab my attention? ...
Does the headline promise a benefit? ... Does
the body of the ad motivate me to click on
the link?
The headline is the most important part of
your ad. If you cannot get someone's
attention with the headline they will not
read the rest of the text of your ad.
What you are actually doing is qualifying
your prospects.
The headline should focus on a benefit or
an end result. Think about what is important
to the prospect and try to work it into your
headline.
You should also try to work your most
important keyword into the headline. If you
are unable to do that then put it in the
text.
The text of your ad has to give enough
information to motivate the prospect to act
and click on your link. It is important to
create interest with your text. What usually
works best is to provide a benefit and
hopefully they will want to click through to
get the rest of the information.
ANP: If your best friend was about to
start experimenting with Google Adwords, what
advice would you have for them?
Barry: I would to tell them to take
it slow when first starting out. Try to test
affiliate products where you can get five to
ten cent keyword bids for the niche market
you are targeting.
Do tests for 50 to 100 click throughs.
Don't fall in love with any of your affiliate
products since there are thousands of others
out there.
Educate yourself all you can about using
Adwords by going through the Adword web site
and taking notes on everything there. Visit
Phil Wiley's forum which is for affiliate
marketers and ask a lot of questions and
learn all you can.
Read some books on writing ads and sales
copy. Learn what makes for good web design.
You need to be able to recognize good web
design and great copy.
Keep in mind that you will fail more than
you will succeed, but you still can be
successful and make money since it only takes
one affiliate money maker to turn things
around. I'll make over $3,000 this month with
just one of my affiliate products.
Also keep in mind that it takes me about
20 campaigns to find one profitable one, so
you cannot think about giving up since it is
just a matter of time before you succeed.
-- Barry Stein, http://awebbiz.com/marketing-blog.htm
Well, that's it for me this week. Be sure to
check out the new set of videos from Louis
Allport that you can get at the subscriber-only
special price (and all the other specials
there)...
http://www.achievenetprofits.com/special/
I hope you have a great week, and look
forward to the next time we meet.
Cheers,
Jason
"There is more to life than increasing its
speed." -- Gandhi
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Copyright 2005 Jason Anderson. All rights
reserved.
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