Resources

A Beginners Guide to Outsourcing

Written By:
Last Updated:

When you talk to different entrepreneurs and successful online marketers and ask them for advice, there seems to be one piece they all agree on: get help!

Not mental help (though that may help some days), but rather help with what you are doing. In other words outsource your work!

What is outsourcing?

What exactly is outsourcing? Well, it’s the act of hiring someone, a freelancer, to do a particular job.

It’s quite different from hiring an employee, as generally contracts are on a single “project” basis, whether that project is to write a single 1,000 word article or work 20 hours a week indefinitely doing admin.

With the growth of the internet, the online jobs market has boomed, and there are numerous websites that you can frequent to find freelancers. Some of these are very general in nature, and some cater to more specific needs and niches.

Why should you outsource?

Barring heeding the advice of successful entrepreneurs, there are numerous reasons why you should consider outsourcing:

To free up time

This is the big one when it comes to reasons to consider outsourcing.

By getting others to handle more of the menial and repetitive work, you free up your valuable time.

This time can be spent on more important things, such as aspects of the business you love, growing the business, spending time with family and friends, experiencing life, trying new projects, and much more.

Remember, you can earn more money, but you can’t earn more time!

To get help with work

This is similar to freeing up your time, but in that sometimes you will have simply too much on your plate to get everything done, and it will just pile up.

Hiring one or more freelancers to deal with different aspects of your work can help bring this workload under control.

When you need particular skill-sets

Let’s face it, we do not and cannot know everything. In fact, being a jack-of-all-trades is often detrimental, as it makes you believe you can cope with everything and instead you end up being pulled in multiple directions at once.

As well as that, sometimes others just know more about something than you do. If my car breaks down, I for one would go to a mechanic, because the extent of my car knowledge doesn’t extend beyond my gas tank.

If I need a suit, I’ll head to a tailor. Why then not do this with aspects of a business?

If your site looks crappy, hire a designer. If you need certain site functionality, hire a developer. If you struggle to write more than 200 words a day, hire a writer.

Very little red tape

Another great reason to hire a freelancer, is the lack of red tape: you say you want X thing done, agree a price and timescale, they do it, you pay them. Job done!

There’s no lengthy contracts, no unions, no healthcare, no taxes to deal with – the freelancer has to deal with any of that which is applicable to them, all you ned to do is pay them when the job has been done to satisfaction.

Is outsourcing right for you?

Only you can answer that, but generally if you are lacking a particular skill set, or are struggling with work load, and you have the cash to spare, then outsourcing is a must.

The cons of outsourcing

While outsourcing is a great way to get things done, there are a few issues with it that need to be noted and thought about, both before jumping in and even while you are hiring people.

Cost

Cost is definitely a problem for most people beginning to outsource work. How do you find the right skills, the right quality for the right price?

Generally, people want to pay peanuts for outsourcers, and with international workforces available and happy to work, paying peanuts isn’t hard.

Paying very little for the work is often a backwards way to handle things though. Poorly paid workers will often produce poor quality work, and you often end up having to pay to get it redone by someone with more skill.

You can still find quality workers for less than the norm, but it’s like finding a diamond in the rough: you have to work for it.

Quality

As mentioned above, quality can be an issue, and really it doesn’t always matter whether you are paying below or above the average for the job. Sometimes people advertise they can do something, but simply under perform.

To help counter this, really review the potential freelancer. Check out their previous work and clients, look for testimonials as well.

Most decent websites for finding freelancers will also allow you to ask questions and request samples; make use of these features as they will help you quickly filter out the unsuitable.

Of course sometimes you simply need to take a risk. The best advice here is to give them a small job to assess their work, and “fire” them if it’s not suitable.

Don’t be afraid to fire a freelancer, the worst thing that you can do is hang on to dead weight, it will merely cost you in sanity and pocket.

Initial time cost

To begin with you might feel that you are spending more time looking for the right freelancer than you are doing your own work!

This is always how it goes, but fear not because once you have hired a few freelancers, you will quickly realize just from profiles and their portfolio which ones are more likely to fit with your needs.

It won’t be exact, there will still be ones you need to fire, but that’s how it goes. Persevere to begin with and reap the rewards later down the line.

Where to find freelancers

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of places on the internet where people sell their skills and expertise and it can often be daunting to even start looking.

I’ve outlined below a few of the key sites that should get you off to a good start.

There are two broad types of freelancer sites (I’m not talking individual here, but more marketplace type sites): general and niche.

General freelancer sites

These sites cover pretty much every type of job that can be done online. Think of them as malls of the freelancing world.

Fiverr.com

If you need something doing, and you need it to be cheap, then Fiverr is a good place to start. IT offers a variety of work types from graphic design to videos, article writing to programming.

The price is often the only reason people use Fiverr, as the cost starts at $5 bucks per “gig”. They do allow their sellers to offer increased pricing for additional or more complex work, which can work out very well for everyone concerned.

Personally I have never had much success with Fiverr, often finding the quality matching the price, but your mileage may vary.

Upwork

This is the combination site for Elance and Odesk, and I often call it the Amazon of freelancers, because it covers such a wide variety of work types and has such a large number of freelancers.

You can also find a wide variety of skill levels here, but even in the broad bands they segment people into the skill range varies.

It differs from Fiverr in that you generally post a job and people will apply and bid on the job. This means you can find people who are interested in what you are trying to get done, once you cut through the chaff that is.

Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is very similar to Upwork, being a large marketplace where you post a job and have people apply for it. In fact Freelancer, was certainly the biggest one before Elance & Odesk merged into Upwork, so now it’s debatable. Either way, there are a lot of freelancers there hungry for work.

Guru.com

This is another large marketplace, but has a smaller focus, mainly supplying freelancers in the IT, development, design and writing areas.

Specific freelancer sites

While the general freelancers sites are good, if you need a specific thing doing, you may want to look at a marketplace that caters solely to that niche. Here are some examples, though it’s far from an exhaustive list.

Writing

There are many writing services out there, but let’s focus on article writing. The 3 most popular that I’m aware of are:

Each has its own pros and cons, but they cater purely to those wanting to find writers.

WordPress

If you are looking for someone to help with your WordPress site, whether it’s a small job or a custom plugin build, the following sites can help:

Graphic Design

When you need some beautiful designs it’s a good idea to check out the freelance networks that focus on graphic design.

  • 99designs is a design contest website, where a brief is given and a price, and multiple designers submit work and you choose the one you want from the selection.
  • DesignCrowd is similar to 99designs, with Design Crowd, you post a brief for free and users submit a design for you.
  • Behance is a network for creatives to showcase their work, but also has a jobs section. It costs a lot to post a job here.
  • Dribbble is very similar to Behance and started out as a site to showcase design work, but now allows job posting. Dribbble is a great resource for finding skilled designers, but does cost a lot to post a job, unlike a lot of other sites.

Other sites

There are plenty more sites out there, catering to a wide and narrow niche alike. Google is your friend here, but make sure to do your due diligence with both the site and potential hires.

How to hire a freelancer

Each freelancing site has different ways to go about hiring, but in general you would follow this procedure:

Write a brief

A brief is a description of the job you want to get done. It should be relatively short but cover the details as much as possible.

For example “I want an article written” won’t yield many responses, but “I would like a 1,000 – 1,500 article for an online marketing website. Topic to be provided to the successful applicant” would make a better brief.

You can and should provide requirements for the job. To keep with the writing example you could say:

  • I require a native or fluent English speaker
  • Articles must be unique, not spun, and must pass Copyspace plagiarism checker
  • Article must be a minimum of 1,000 words max. 2,000 words

The more details you can provide the better, but of course the exact details such as the article title, can be excluded until you have a successful applicant.

If the system allows questions set some, otherwise set some in the job posting itself.

Questions can be used to gauge the skill and appropriateness of the applicant so make sure to set some that would directly help with this.

Alternatively, or in conjunction with, ask for samples of previous work.

Pricing

For me, one of the hardest things to do is set a price, and one of the best things to do is set a price and learn from it. Most applicants will bid on your pricing anyway and you can encourage that in the job brief.

You will get pricing wrong, but after a while you will learn how to set and accept a fair price.

I would recommend searching the very site you are posting on for similar jobs to see what price range they posted at, as it will give you a ballpark figure to work with.

Most networks like Upwork also allow you to modify the price (with agreement from both parties) after the fact, as well as give bonuses etc.

Set a price, whether hourly or a fixed price, depending on the job and post the job brief.

Choosing an applicant

Once posted, you will then start to receive applications. Personally I recommend leaving the job open at least 24 hours before you even look at the applicants as it will give people time to see the job posting and apply for it.

Once you start looking at applicants, quickly go down the list and discard any that obviously won’t be suitable for the job, for example:

  • Anyone without the appropriate skills
  • Anyone with poor spelling or grammar in their application
  • Anyone that failed to answer or incorrectly answered any questions you set.

Once that is done you can start fine combing through the other applicants. If need be contact them for more information.

Depending on the task your are hiring for, it may be worth hiring multiple freelancers and giving them all the same or similar small job. The one/s that succeed with it should be hired, the others fired.

Communicate

I really can’t stress this enough: communicate with your freelancers!

Normally they only have the brief to go on, so make sure you provide as much information as they need to get the job done, and make sure they know to come ask a question if they are unsure; it’s better to reply a couple of times to questions than have a poor job done and have to hire someone else.

I hired a freelancer, now what?

Well, hopefully all went well and you got your work done satisfactorily and for a fair rate for both parties.

If so, then make sure you rate them on the site you hired them from as this will help them get work later on.

Just remember to be fair and honest.

Then, hire them again! The whole point of outsourcing is to make sure that whatever you consider menial or difficult tasks are handled by someone else.

If your experience didn’t quite go as planned, don’t worry, it happens. Pick yourself up, and go find someone else. You may have to go through a few freelancers before you find ones you like that can do the job.

The Bottom Line

Outsourcing your work by hiring a freelancer is really the only way to go if you want to grow your business and free up some of your time, without taking on an employee.

Yes it has some risks associated with it, but no more than most things that you do when running your own business.

Take your time, ask them questions before hand, give them a test (cheap) project to do first and never be afraid to fire them.

RIP Amazon Product Ads and Text Ads- What This Means For Sellers

Written By:
Published On:

This summer, Amazon announced that it would discontinue its Amazon Product Ads (APAs) program and replace it with Amazon Text Ads. Then, in a somewhat unexpected move, Amazon announced that it would also discontinue its text ads. Both the product and text ads are due to be discontinued this October 31st.

Typically, the product ads were purchased by sellers who did not necessarily have an Amazon store. Oftentimes, this was due to marketplace restrictions, budget concerns, etc. The one major advantage to having the APAs was that consumers would be redirected to the sellers’ sites instead of completing their purchases on Amazon.

Another advantage was lower cost: As opposed to Amazon marketplace sellers, who had to pay a percentage of their sales revenue to Amazon, APA sellers only paid for their click costs.

APA products could appear side-to-side with Amazon products, thus actively competing with Amazon for sales. APAs could even appear all alone on a product page if Amazon sold no comparable product of its own. Thus, the APA seller who researched which products Amazon didn’t sell, and then marketed them on Amazon, could gain a real advantage.

And all for the price of a click.

Amazon Product Ads end on Halloween

Although Amazon doesn’t explain exactly why it’s ending its APA and text ads programs, the reasons listed above suggest that the engine was seeing too much competition from sellers who were merely paying for clicks and directing traffic away from Amazon. In fact, according to the 2015 Online Retail Survey published by ChannelAdvisor, over a third of advertisers noted APAs as providing the most return on their investment.

Perhaps when Amazon was smaller and in need of revenue from any possible source, the APA program was a good idea. But now that Amazon is the 800-lb gorilla in the online shopping world, it is saying goodbye to its lower revenue generators.

What’s a retailer to do?

While the demise of APAs and text ads will leave a hole in many a retailer’s arsenal of sales tools, there are alternatives that can take their place.

Amazon Sponsored Ads

Amazon Sponsored Ads (ASAs) still operate on a pay-per-click revenue model where sellers bid on keywords and pay only when their ads are clicked. The difference between ASAs and APAs is that the ASAs keep the consumer on the Amazon site. Otherwise, the ads look almost identical.

sponsored ads

Google Product Listing Ads

A while back, Google sat up and took notice of Amazon’s highly profitable advertising format. The result was Google’s Product Listing Ads (PLAs), which had a similar look and feel to the APAs and ASAs. These ads are now a great way for sellers to direct consumers to their own websites while still just paying for a click.

google plas

eBay Commerce Network

eBay is another massive shopping site that some sellers don’t immediately think of as an ecommerce platform. However, the eBay Commerce Network (ECN) enables sellers to feature their products not only on eBay and Shopping.com, but affiliated blogs, online magazines, and ad exchanges.

shopping

Bing Product Ads

According to ComScore, Bing gets 15% of all searches compared to Google’s 66%. While Bing is certainly not the search engine behemoth that Google is, it does have some unexpected market advantages, including exclusivity deals with Apple and the Amazon Kindle devices. As a result, it is more likely to be used on iOS-powered mobile devices.

Bing Product Ads make it easy for sellers already using Google as their advertising platform- there is a process in place that enables product data to be imported from AdWords.

Nextag

Another alternative to consider is Nextag, which not only gets over 30 million unique visitors/month, but also seems to garner an exclusive audience of shoppers that don’t shop anywhere else.

nextag

Nextag product ads have an eBay look and feel to them; however, they direct the shopper to a third-party site. Sellers deposit a starting amount of money to get started on a campaign, then pay only when shoppers actually click on the product ads.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads, which are operated under Facebook for Business, enable sellers to target product ads to audiences based on age, gender, geographic locale, and interests. Much like with Google AdWords, sellers can set spending limits and obtain reports of how well their campaigns are doing.

With Facebook Ads, sellers can achieve many different marketing goals, including promoting a post, Facebook page, or video, sending viewers to their own website, increasing downloads of an app, etc.

Twitter ads

Twitter ads have taken a while to really gain momentum, but they are now a staple of Twitter and offer sellers yet another viable platform for offering their wares. With Twitter ads, sellers can promote their brand, website, promotion, etc. Shoppers can be redirected to the seller’s website or Twitter page. Best of all, the ads can be retweeted, enabling them to go viral.

twitter

Summary

While the sad reality is that APAs and text ads are going away, the good news is that there are plenty of other platforms to fill the void. A savvy advertiser need not worry about losing significant market share, even if a giant like Amazon is getting tighter with its advertising allowances.

How to Start Your Own Local Affiliate Marketing Program

Written By:
Last Updated:

Are you frustrated by Amazon’s low affiliate commissions or the fact that everyone and their uncle is selling what you are trying to sell? Affiliate marketing can be a tough field to make serious money in simply because lots of people are already doing it.

But what if you could knock out most of the competition, both in terms of similar products and even SEO? And what if you really could get a bigger piece of the affiliate marketing pie?

Enter local affiliate marketing.

What is local affiliate marketing?

Somewhat self-explanatory, local affiliate marketing is the marketing of local products and businesses in your neighborhood, city or (maybe) state. Basically, rather than scouring Clickbank or Amazon for would-be products and services to market on your website or blog, you go after area merchants and advertise their specific (and unique) merchandise, promotions, advantages, etc.

It’s a shame that many affiliate marketers overlook the money available right in their own backyard, assuming that local accounting firms, lawyers, restaurants, mechanic shops, etc. won’t want to deal with them. However, local merchants often need the most help of all when it comes to attracting customers and placing their wares online. Likewise, without a middle entity (i.e., affiliate network) taking a cut of the earnings, you could easily score a 25% or higher commission for every potential client/lead you refer to your select business.

Local affiliate marketing: Easier than you think

You might be thinking “I don’t want to be going door-to-door” or “I am not standing on a street corner holding up a billboard.” Here’s the thing: You don’t have to. Much or even all of your marketing can be remote and performed exclusively at home.

Also, given what you would typically expect with affiliate marketing, such as content optimization, backlink generation, guest posting, etc., there’s significantly less of it involved. Here’s why:

SEO is fairly easy.

Local SEO, especially in a small to medium town/city, is going to be much easier to do well than if you are trying to sell a world-famous brand. Simply put, the SEO will be easy because, aside from other local businesses that are in the same industry/field,  you won’t have much competition to worry about. Also, because your website is probably going to mirror your client’s to a good extent, it won’t look like the typical affiliate marketing website that is often overlooked by search engines.

AdWords is easy too.

Google Places loves local businesses and its AdWords ad program won’t knock out your keywords or charge you exorbitant fees for referring “real” local businesses. You’ll also be able to track your leads fairly easily because most of them will be local, so outliers in other states or countries will probably be false positives.

How do you find clients?

Depending on your personal style, there are several different ways to do local affiliate marketing.

If you build it, they may come.

If you know the field already, you could launch a website on the topic of personal finance, accounting, etc. Once you have sufficient traffic coming in, you could then approach prospective clients and ask them if they’d consider placing an ad on your website for a monthly/yearly fee. This approach works well if you want to work with several clients in the same profession. However, it also demands that you make a large investment of time and effort before you see any payoff.

Use AdWords only.

You could also contact individual businesses and offer to run AdWords ad campaigns for them. You could launch the ads and direct inquiries to a sales page, which would then provide those leads with additional sales material in exchange for their contact information. You would keep tabs on those ad clicks and collect an appropriate commission for each lead.

Alternately, you could also work with a third party call center and collect AdWords-based calls as your leads. Input the term “call centers” into Google and you’ll find lots of places- including local ones- that you can work with.

Do lead nurturing.

This requires a bit more trust from your clients, but if you know the industry fairly well, and they simply don’t have the time/patience to deal with inquiries, you could offer lead nurturing as part of your affiliate marketing deal. With lead nurturing, you’d be in charge of calling leads that had already clicked on your AdWords ads or sent an inquiry via your website. You’d then gauge how likely they’d be to try or buy your client’s products or services.

In time, your client could even give you entire lists of leads that she had collected over the years. By converting them, you’d be able to command a much high commission because they would be generating actual revenue for the business.

How do you track your leads?

It’s challenging to track leads when you aren’t relying strictly on Google Analytics or sales page conversions to provide you with definitive numbers. You’re also relying on the integrity of your clients to report their business dealings truthfully and not stiff you on (especially) converted leads.

However, most local businesses aren’t looking to rip you off, especially if you’re working hard to promote them. Of course, there will always be that one bad apple in the bunch, but you shouldn’t let the fear of untruthful reporting scare you away. If the hesitation is still there, stick to just generating and reporting your own sales leads via AdWords, for example, or through direct sales calls to your call center.

What kinds of businesses should you target?

It’s far better, and far less work for you, if you target local businesses that make high revenues on each converted lead. For example, consider how much a lawyer makes on every one of his clients. Or think about how much an event venue makes for each conference, wedding, etc. held there.

High revenue businesses are preferable because you’ll do less work for more money/lead. You also won’t need lots of leads, which can be especially difficult if you’re marketing in a small town.

Finally, it’s best if you can work with businesses that have recurring income from their clients, enabling you to re-market to these clients or charge a constant monthly or yearly commission. Also, you should not consider cyclic businesses like tax preparation because these industries will leave you with no leads for a good part of the year.

Free Tools and Data Sources that Help You Create Amazing Infographics

Written By:
Published On:

People get tired of reading words all the time, and your website’s or blog’s readers are no different. Luckily, you can reignite reader interest in your content by presenting it in different formats, including those that are visual in nature. Currently, one of the most popular methods for doing so is through the infographic.

The ideal infographic contains just the right mix of appealing visuals and significant data, plus a smattering of humor or wit to break up all the statistics and reporting.

Finally, the infographic should be equipped with a tracking code that credits the source, such as a website or the blogger (i.e., you).

However, unless you are well-versed in Photoshop, it is challenging to quickly and easily represent information in a graphic manner. As a result, many webmasters and bloggers have shied away from generating infographics. Likewise, many webmasters have the needed skills, but they don’t have the time to be sifting through esoteric information sources for statistical data sets.

Luckily, there are many free or free trial tools out there that enable anyone to become a master of infographic design. Likewise, there are many data aggregator sites that present information on one handy platform.

As a result, you can now create all kinds of eye-catching infographics that will amaze your readers and bring traffic to your website or blog. Here are some of the best design tools that will quickly move you towards professional-looking infographics.

7 free online tools that help you create amazing infographics

1. Google Charts

To create pie charts, graphs and tree maps, look no further than Google Charts, a free tool offered in the Google Developers area. This tool also enables you to display your data in real-time and with animations.

google charts

2. Venngage

This site offers a free version of its infographics-generating software that includes several themes, templates, charts, icons and even ready-to-go infographics.

venngage

3. Easel.ly

This tool provides you with templates that you can customize with your own data, images, etc. If you need extra images or items like arrows, shapes, etc., they are available too.

easel

4. Piktochart

Here, you get three free themes that you can customize with your own color palette, fonts, shapes, graphics and images. You can also add your own images. Infographics generated with Piktochart can integrate with Slideshare and Evernote.

piktochart

5.  Infogr.am

This tool provides lots of great graphs, info maps and charts for free that you can customize via the site’s custom Excel spreadsheet. You can also add your own photos and videos. Infographics generated through this site can also be made mobile-responsive.

infogram

6. Visual.ly

Here, you not only get to create infographics for free, but you can also earn money. Visual.ly connects prospective brands and clients with talented infographics designers looking for work. So, if you want to earn money for your infographic-making skills, be sure to post your current work on this site once you’ve completed it, thus creating your own work portfolio.

visually

7. Dipity

With this tool, you can generate infographics that include video and/or audio, provide location or time info, and which integrate with social media platforms to boot. Dipity’s paid version even offers infographic analytics and iPhone apps.

dipity

Finding reliable data sources

Infographics are only as good as the data they showcase. To find the best data without spending endless hours online or in the library, you should visit the following sites:

AIP– The American Institute of Physics publishes studies on employment, pay rates, undergraduate enrollment, etc. in physics and several applied science fields.

CMS.gov– The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publishes information on its policies, medical and psychiatric health outcomes, insurance providers, and the like.

Data.gov– From agriculture to finance to science and technology, there is all kinds of good, U.S.-based information at this site.

Data Market– This is a good place for finding information on the national economy and healthcare, agriculture and the automotive industry.

FactBrowser– Looking for marketing stats or consumer behavior information? Then look no further than FactBrowser, a site that compiles all manner of data on the latest online technologies and e-commerce trends. Some of this information is even provided as infographics, case studies or forecasts.

Google Public Data– This site publishes some rather large data sets derived from sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, World Bank, World Health Organization, U.S. Census Bureau, etc.

Google Scholar– Use this specialized tool to search on academic information including journal publications, dissertations and theses, as well as research reports published by government agencies and national laboratories.

UNICEF and WHO– World health statistics such as infant mortality rates and HIV infection stats are reported here. Social work and justice statistics are also big foci.

WorldBank– This site provides financial data from all over the world, including national GNPs, debt ratios, etc.

Wunderground– This site provides historical weather information segmented by city or zip code.

Finally…

An infographic must not only be useful, but also pretty. In other words, don’t go stuffing your graphic with endless reams of information, thus making it bore the viewer. Also, viewers do want to see verifiable information, so list your sources at the bottom of the infographic and attribute all direct quotes.

If you don’t find the information you are looking for, consider doing your own research study using a tool like SurveyMonkey and reporting the collected data. You can also survey your email subscribers using a survey tool like MailChimp.

Do you have a data reporting tool or infographics generator that you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.

Why You Should Become a Wikipedia Contributor

Written By:
Published On:

In 2012, Wikipedia came up on the first page for 99% of Google searches, according to the UK-based firm Intelligent Positioning. In over half of those searches, Wikipedia came up as the first search result.

These are some amazing findings, considering that Wikipedia content pages are often Spartan in their provided information, references are iffy or lead to dead links, and much of the information is not verified by primary sources. Web researchers (and high schoolers) are advised to not use Wikipedia as a reference.

And yet, if Wikipedia is so derided, why did Google spend a lot of time and energy creating its Knowledge Graph, which greatly imitates Wikipedia in terms of features and internal links? And why does Google still give search prominence to Wikipedia even today, in 2015, when so many other authoritative and better-referenced sites exist?

5 Reasons why Google still loves Wikipedia

1. Unique, authoritative and in-depth content.

When Wikipedia entries get it right, they really get it right. Much of the content on Wiki is long, in-depth and comes with exemplary references. Furthermore, when links go dead or aren’t correct, a batch of faithful Wiki editors make sure to correct the issue. Both Wiki editors and contributors are encouraged to add references from authoritative sites, not YouTube or private blogs. Wikipedia’s constant harping on what constitutes a good reference versus a so-so one is finally paying off, and much of Wiki’s material is well-researched and referenced.

2. It’s all user-generated.

Search engines love ranking user-generated content above corporate or other types of content. This is why social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have done so well in the SERPs (search engine results pages). A community of contributors is looked upon as more relevant to a topic than a single blogger or marketer.

3. User-generated content isn’t spammy or promotional.

Wiki users that sign up to contribute to the site cannot post content that is full of spam/affiliate links, promotes a particular product or blog, or otherwise functions to openly act as linkbait for the contributor. Anyone who keeps violating this cardinal Wiki rule is eventually blocked from contributing. Thus, the content actually has value- something that Google loves.

4. Entries are keyword-focused.

Wiki entries are usually centered on one keyword, which results in a strong page and domain. This results in Google and other search engines favoring the Wiki page over a comparable website that might just use the same keyword as a meta tag or only in the page content.

5. There are bucketloads of internal links.

Wiki entries link to other Wiki entries, blanketing the entire site with their page and domain authority. Conversely, links on Wiki that lead to outside pages are nofollow, meaning that the referenced site gets no link love from being listed on Wikipedia (although it does get traffic). As a result, Wikipedia does not “leak” its superior Page Rank to outside sites.

With all these reasons why search engines like Google still favor Wikipedia, you are well advised to contribute to the Wiki. In fact, certain businesses exist solely to create Wikpedia pages for their clients.

Obviously, you can’t use Wikipedia to openly promote your affiliate website or blog, but if you generate a neutral Wiki entry around a particular product or topic, you could list your own website as a handy reference. That reference will not give you any link “juice,” so to speak, but it will result in increased traffic. You could replicate your efforts by eventually creating more Wiki pages related to your initial one and internally linking them. Keep in mind that every new Wiki page must have notability or it won’t be included.

Generating entries on Wikipedia also helps establish you as an authority in your chosen subject matter.

How to become a Wikipedia contributor

Becoming a Wiki contributor is very easy and only requires that you fill out a short form to create your account.

Wiki pic

Your user account, once created, is your community identifier. It will display alongside any Wiki entries and/or edits you make. While you can make changes anonymously, you are better off working within your account, as this helps build your reputation on the site. Any and all Wiki activity you generate is listed on your own Contributions area. You can also practice using the site by going to an area called a sandbox.

Wikipedia recommends that you first start out as an editor before creating and publishing entire pages to the site. That seems reasonable and allows you to gain some practice with the site and how it functions. Likewise, editing other pages successfully helps increase your authority to perform restricted functions like adding images or moving pages to the public sphere.

To a large extent, Wikipedia’s content management system has a WordPress-like feel to it and includes markup language akin to html. When making edits, you should provide a brief explanation of your reason for doing so (e.g., typo). You can then click on the bottom button labeled “Show preview” to view your edit to see if it’s correct. If you are satisfied with your work, just click on the “Save page” button and you’re done.

For example, here is what the edit window of the Wiki entry on Cholesterol looks like:

cholesterol

When you’re ready to create a completely new Wiki entry, the Article Wizard gives you a good tutorial and helps you get started. In a nutshell, though, you need to first search on the topic you want to write about. Assuming that you find no identical or related topic, Wikipedia will invite you create an article for the topic you searched on within its search results page. At that point, you can click on the hyperlinked topic idea and get to work.

For example, here’s a search for the topic ‘Cholesterol is yummy.’ Because there’s no such topic on Wikipedia, an invitation to create one was extended through Wikipedia.

cholesterolisyummy

You may wish to paste in the article content from a separate document you’ve already generated or work on your article within Wikipedia. When you’re done, save your work. Afterwards, whenever you wish to return to your article and work on it some more, you’ll find it in an area marked as Creating User:YourUserAccountName/YourWikiTopic.

Be aware that your referenced sources must be reliable and unbiased. That means you can’t link to a blog or a YouTube video and call it a source. Likewise, primary sources such as research publications and direct quotes are preferred over secondary and less neutral sources such as press releases.

Once you have finished creating your article, you will need to submit it to Wikipedia for review. That process can take a few days or even weeks. Once that process is finished, your page will be moved to the public space. In some cases, Wiki editors may make some changes to your content or topic title. Or your article may be nominated for deletion. This can happen if you have included any promotional links or used images that were copyrighted to someone else.

What have been your own experiences using Wikipedia to create entries? Have you had issues with Wiki editors? Did you find the submission process to be difficult or easy? Please leave your comments below.

Should You Start Text Marketing in 2015?

Written By:
Last Updated:

I’m a loyal customer of Starbucks, not so much because of the superior coffee served there, but because the company regularly texts me offers that I just can’t resist. These offers are part of My Starbucks Rewards, a loyalty program that rewards repeat customers with freebies and product discounts.

Such text marketing is common for brick-and-mortar merchants like Starbucks; however, affiliate and online marketers don’t typically engage in this type of marketing. That’s a shame because texts, unlike emails, are not yet crowded out by excessive spam. In other words, text messages still have a good chance of being opened and read.

What is text marketing?

Text marketing, which also goes by the names of mobile marketing, or short or multimedia message service (SMS or MMS) marketing, involves marketers sending short text messages to their mobile subscribers and asking them to take a specified action. That specified action might involve downloading a web page or coupon, signing up for a deal, or just subscribing to the mobile list.

With text marketing, marketers typically use a short code number that is five digits to identify themselves. They also pay for unique keywords that mobile device users must input when sending a text message to the marketers. For example, Starbucks might put up a sign in its store with the following announcement:

Want valuable coupons from us? Text COFFEE to 23198.

In this case, COFFEE is the keyword and 23198 is the short code number. A mobile customer who wants to access those coupons would create a text containing the word COFFEE and then send that text to 23198. This would result in the customer receiving a second text with a link to a coupon page. It would also place that customer on the mobile marketing list for future promotions.

Other keywords might also be used by text marketers. For example, you have probably received the following text message at one time or another, and usually included with a text message that advertised a given deal or offer:

To Opt-Out, text STOP to 22155.

Much like with email marketing, marketers pay for text marketing by the number of text messages sent. They also pay per number of keywords used. Marketers favor using several keywords over one or two because separate keywords allow them to segment their audience and/or offers and perform analytics on who opens and acts upon which texts.

How can you use text marketing?

As an affiliate or online marketer, you can also use text marketing to alert your readers about new blog posts, new product reviews or sales, or even send out a coupon or discount notification. Just because you don’t have a physical store or a cash register scanner doesn’t mean you can’t create coupon codes and have your readers use them on your website.

The real challenge with text marketing is how to get your website readers and/or email subscribers to agree to receive mobile messages. Much like with email marketing, you may wish to entice potential subscribers by offering them a special discount or other incentive.  Be sure to notify them of how they may opt-out of your messages too; while the CAN-SPAM Act does not technically apply to text messages, the FCC has covered unwanted text messages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991.

Also, while in the past SMS messaging was pricey, text messaging platforms have multiplied over the last few years. These days, you can even do SMS marketing for free if you limit the number of messages sent or if you have a small contact list. Here are a few platforms you may wish to investigate and try out in 2015:

SlickText

This mobile marketing platform enables you to get one keyword (called a textword) and send up to 50 texts/month for free to unlimited contacts. With SlickText, you can schedule your text messages, create auto-replies, and also integrate your text messaging with a social media platform like Facebook or your own website. The platform also allows you to track who clicked on your provided link and which texts performed better than others.

slick text

ezTexting

This budget text marketing service currently offers you 500 free texts/month along with one keyword. Incoming messages from your subscribers are not charged. With ezTexting, you can perform a lot of different texting campaigns including Text2Vote, Polls and MMS. You can also post your texts to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter or your personal website (via widget). Basic reporting and analytics are offered, allowing you to track message delivery and open rates as well as signups.

eztexting

Mozeo

At 3 cents/text and $24.99/first keyword, Mozeo offers a decent deal on text marketing without requiring you to sign a contract. Within this platform, you can access a lot of Mozeo’s features such as Text-2-Win and mobile coupons. The service also includes a handy website plugin that you can install and have your website visitors immediately opt-in for your texts. You can also build and maintain your mobile contact list on Mozeo.

mozeo

Opt It

This service runs $20/month/keyword and 2 cents/text, or $50/month/keyword and unlimited texts. With Opt It, you can easily create mobile contests, coupons and redemption codes, and with or without expiration dates. Text campaigns and contacts are managed from a dedicated Web-based software program, which comes complete with real-time reporting and activity snapshots.

optit

Will you be text marketing in 2015?

With the start of the new year, you may wish to try out text marketing and see if this important yet often overlooked marketing channel can help you grow your contact list. If you do try text marketing in 2015, let us know how it works out for you in the comments below.

Get Crafty with Etsy- and Make Money Too

Written By:
Last Updated:

Do you have a particular hobby or craft that you enjoy like knitting, candle making or painting? Would you like to make some money from that hobby/activity or at least enough to cover your expenses? Then Etsy may be the place for you.

Since 2005, Etsy has offered an e-commerce platform for artists and craftspeople to offer and sell their goods. The only requirement is that those goods must be personally handmade- i.e., no re-selling is allowed. As opposed to bigger sites like Ebay and Amazon, Etsy offers the following advantages to sellers:

Long listing time: Etsy listings last 4 months as opposed to Ebay’s one week time span. This is important because, as an artist or crafter, you need time to build up your fan base. Likewise, many clients buy a small quantity initially and then, if satisfied with the product, come back for more at a later time.

Lower fees: Etsy charges just 20 cents to create a listing and a 3.5% commission for sold items. This is important because many homemade products cost just a few dollars. In contrast, Amazon’s fees can be pretty steep for sellers who are just starting out. A per item fee of 99 cents is applied to any sold item along with a variable closing fee. Amazon also tacks on a referral fee which, for craft items, could run as high as 15%.

Ebay fees can also be cost-prohibitive; the site waives insertion fees for sellers that are just starting out, but at the close of sale a 9% commission is taken for traditional auction-style listings. Fixed-price listings can result in the seller paying a 50 cent insertion fee and as much as a 13% commission at final sale.

Community: On Etsy, each seller offers a personal and unique set of items that other Etsy sellers and buyers can connect with. There is an opportunity to “admire” (akin to Facebook’s “Like”) a particular Etsy item and to engage the seller in a conversation about his/her items. Furthermore, Etsy offers a Community area where fellow “Etsians” can trade ideas, submit blog posts, participate in events in their geographic areas or post/attend a workshop.

As if this were not enough, Etsy teams such as Handmadeology provide useful tips to fellow Etsians on subjects like item photography, social media marketing and keyword selection.

My personal experience with Etsy

Because of the focused nature of Etsy, it is much easier to sell handmade items here than more populated spots like Ebay or Amazon. I should know: For several years now I have tried to sell handmade jewelry and creams through Ebay and Amazon with limited success. Then, in July of this year, I decided to list some of my homemade deodorants on Etsy.

Almost immediately, I had interested customers writing to me about my products. By September I had sold my first deodorant; by October I had sold my fifth deodorant. I also recently had a “batch” sale of three deodorants in town thanks to an Etsy client referral.

Meanwhile, when I posted these same items through Ebay, no one even viewed my offerings, much less bought them. As a result of my small but growing success in making people less stinky, I am now considering posting a few handmade hand creams and seeing how much interest they generate.

There are some downsides with Etsy too. It does take a while to get your shop to see sufficient traffic; my first product sale didn’t happen until after I’d had my shop up and running for over a month. Part of this has to do with the fact that many merchant Etsy stores look alike and even carry the same (and sometimes plagiarized) content; as a result, they suffer Google search rank penalties.

Also, the site offers limited customization for item listings; storefronts consist of a “sheet” of photos with prices, no more. With Ebay listings, you can do much more in terms of organizing your items and how they are shown in your “store”.

Finally, all Etsy shoppers must register with the site, which can be a hassle if someone just wants to quickly browse through the site on his/her lunch break. This registration requirement may be leading to a shopper “bottleneck”, where many of Etsy’s shoppers are also Etsy sellers.

Alternatives to Etsy

Etsy’s merchant revenues for 2011 were rather impressive, crossing the half billion dollar mark and then some. The company has also expanded into other countries such as France, Germany and Australia. However, there are competitors out there, and some of them don’t even charge for item listings or sales.  These competitors include the following:

eCrater This Craigslist-style site allows you to create an online store for free. There are no fees whatsoever associated with selling on this site.

Bonanza This Etsyish site charges no listing fees, with sellers paying only when their items sell. Listings can be posted indefinitely. A live chat function allows sellers and buyers to talk and even haggle over prices in real-time.

With the economy still in a slump, many crafty folks are turning towards sites like Etsy to earn extra money or even make their hobby into a full-time profession. If you are skilled at making some homemade goods, you may want to give this site a try.

Want Extra Sales? 10 Daily Deals Sites for Affiliate Marketers

Written By:
Published On:

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching, and this reality may be causing you to panic as you search in vain for some online deal to display on your affiliate marketing websites. Luckily, there is no shortage of great online deals for affiliate marketers- if you know where to look. The answer to your troubles lies in daily deals sites. Such sites not only offer great deals and deeply discounted items, but they often also work with affiliates.

What are daily deals sites? They are sites that scour the Internet on a daily basis for the best online deals and discounted merchandise and then post these deals on a website and/or app. One example is DealTrunk, which offers heavily discounted brand name merchandise on a daily basis.

So, if you are still looking for that great online deal, here are 10 daily deal sites that will work with you- and give you a nice commission too:

1SaleADay

Each day, this site lists one product that is discounted by up to 90% off at midnight. The items can include electronics, perfume, jewelry, etc. There are also deals for hotel stays and vacation packages. Affiliates earn 3%-7% and get a 14-day referral period.

1saleaday

Gilt

Affiliates of Gilt are paid a 4% commission on every sale. While this may not seem like much, consider that the designer clothing sold through this site can easily cost $1,000 or more. We’re not talking about a $25 pair of shoes here.

Gilt group

Groupon

Through the Groupon Partner Network, you can become an affiliate and make 10% on Groupon and Ideel purchases. Because Groupon offers many different items, you can pick and choose which deals best integrate with your affiliate sites in terms of product theme.

groupon partner network

Living Social

This site offers a hefty 30% affiliate commission on purchases made by new and existing customers, plus $2.50 for every new email subscriber. Affiliates sign up through Commission Junction.

living social

 

nCrowd

If you’re not familiar with nCrowd, it’s a daily deals site that includes U.S.-based Dealfind and Tippr and the Canadian site TeamBuy.ca. Through this company’s affiliate program, you can earn up to 15% from consumer purchases. There are also tiered incentives for volume purchases. Affiliates obtain a 30-day referral period.

nCrowd

 

RetailMeNot

This site offers daily deals typically in the form of coupon codes to all kinds of online retailers. Users of the site can also get rewarded for submitting coupon codes they locate online (and elsewhere). Affiliates receive 50% of net revenue.

retailmenot

 

Teefury

This site posts one new T-shirt every 24 hours for $11. T shirt designs are often one-of-a-kind and may not be resold by the site ever again- although the designer could go to another website and sell the design elsewhere. Affiliates of Teefury sign up through Commission Junction. Although referral information is not listed on the site itself, affiliate forums report that affiliates earn $1 per each T-shirt sold.

teefury

Wayfair

This daily deals site features all kinds of home furnishing deals that are delivered to subscribers once each day by email newsletter. Affiliates with Wayfair can earn 5% commissions and get a generous 45-day referral period. You sign up to the program through ShareASale.

wayfair

 

Woot

Woot was one of the first daily deals sites to hit the Internet, and even today it is still going strong and has offshoots like Kids.Woot, Wine.Woot, Shirt.Woot and Deals.Woot. Affiliates- or minions, as Woot likes to call them- earn 2% on computers and electronics sales, and 4% on everything else (except wine).

woot

Zulily

This site offers upscale childrens’ clothing and accessories at discounted prices. Affiliates earn up to a 10% commission on all sales and receive a 7-day referral period. Sign-up to the program occurs through the ShareASale platform.

Zulily

Are daily deals sites good for affiliate marketers?

Some of the criticism surrounding daily deals ads and text links being posted on affiliate websites is that they distract visitors and redirect them to third party sites. Also, most customers will typically only go through the affiliate link once. After they have signed up with the daily deals site, they will go to that site directly, eschewing the affiliate site and depriving it of any further profits.

Another criticism about daily deals ads is that their profit margin is too low for the amount of disruption they cause to an affiliate site. In the case of Groupon, for example, the site’s profits are divided up between Groupon and the actual retailer providing the deal. So, the affiliate doesn’t really receive the full percentage of the deal.

However, there are some good reasons to include daily deals ads, at least for a limited time. If you coordinate the theme of the daily deal site to match items you are already selling on your site, the additional traffic to the deal could spill over to your own products. Also, because you must typically add in media and text that describes your daily deal ad, you could end up improving your site’s SEO for a particular product.

How to Start Rewards and Loyalty Programs on Your Website

Written By:
Published On:

According to BusinessWeek, nearly 90% of Americans participate in some kind of rewards program. The average household belongs to 22 loyalty programs- even if participation in all these programs is not always active (Colloquy). Furthermore, in a survey conducted by Maritz, 57% of respondents stated that they modify when and where they buy their items in order to maximize the points received from purchases; 46% stated that they modify which brands they purchase in order to maximize points.

Clearly, rewards and loyalty programs work. Indeed, customers who belong to a loyalty program are twice as likely to visit the same merchant and end up spending four times as much money as non-loyalty program customers.

With data such as these, you cannot ignore the potential that loyalty and rewards programs have in terms of growing your business and its revenues. However, if you own just an affiliate or other marketing site, how can you implement loyalty marketing into your online sales?

Install an E-commerce Plugin

To sell online, you will first need to download and install an e-commerce platform plugin to your website or blog. Luckily, there are many e-commerce plugins out there that are not only easy to install but are free.  Four plugins in this category include WooCommerce, WP e-Commerce, iThemes Exchange, MarketPress, Jigoshop and Cart66 Lite.

An e-commerce plugin such as WP e-Commerce enables your site to accomplish several merchandising functions, including using Paypal Payments (standard, Pro or Express) and integrating various payment gateways such as Google Wallet, BluePay, Sagepay, Paystation, and Authorize.net. You also gain access to selling options such as coupons, quantity discounts, catalogs and drag-and-drop shopping.

Integration with Google Analytics and Sitemaps, as well as SSL certificates for shopping security, are other advantages of most e-commerce plugins.

Install a rewards plugin

There are many rewards plugins out there that award points, purchase percentages or other incentives to site visitors who subscribe to the rewards program, like your FB page, follow you on Twitter, refer you to a friend or make a purchase. Here is a list of some of the most popular:

Beans

Although technically in its beta stage, the rather popular Beans plugin works with WooCommerce and enables shoppers to get rewarded for subscribing to the rewards program, taking social actions (e.g., liking your Facebook page), referring fellow shoppers, or making a purchase.

beans

One of the nice features about Beans is that your rewards program can be promoted on the Beans Platform, which means it gets indexed by search engines.

Loyalty Rewards

This plugin costs $89 for one site and operates through WooCommerce. It enables your customers to earn points through purchases and redeem the points later on for coupons or credit. You can set the amount of awarded points per product or purchase total. You can also create reward tiers and manually edit rewards points for any of your customers. The Loyalty Rewards plugin also integrates with Gift Certifictes Pro, so your customers can either be rewarded with gift certificates or buy them for others.

Finally, existing customers can have their past purchases grandfathered into their rewards accounts so that they are not left out of your loyalty marketing plan.

Shopper Rewards

This plugin works with WP e-Commerce and is free to install; the basic version of the plugin, which offers additional features, costs $20.

Shopper Rewards enables customers to take charge of their rewards program and earn points based on the amount purchased, to convert points to coupons, discounts, free products or percentages off, and to view points history. The plugin also integrates with the WP e-Commerce Coupon System.

You can reward current customers by importing their past purchases and assigning them rewards based on those purchases.

The Shopper Rewards Premium plugin, which is on the horizon (though with some delays) is expected to enable shoppers to earn points by completing social actions such as liking your Facebook page or following you on Twitter.

Rewarding Your Affiliates

You can create loyalty programs for your affiliates too- or nudge customers to become your affiliates. The Ambassador plugin, for example, not only tracks shoppers who come to your website via an affiliate’s link, but it also enables those customers to socially share their purchase information with their social network. This optional sharing feature advertises your online store to other potential shoppers.

Ambassador operates through WooCommerce and is available for $49 (for one site).

Affiliate WP is another $49 WooCommerce-based plugin that enables you to track your affiliates and their activities. Furthermore, you can integrate Affiliate WP with other loyalty rewards plugins and provide your affiliates with coupons or discount codes. Such leveraging enables you to increase not only your own sales, but the sales and referrals of your affiliates. 

affiliate wp

Creating Your Own Rewards and Loyalty Programs

You may also consider creating your own loyalty program and tracking subscribers individually. This can be completed by segmenting your email newsletter subscribers into those that have purchased from you and those that have not. From there, you might consider sending unique emails to your current customers with a bonus or bulk purchase offer and inserting specially discounted products into your email. For audience members who are not yet customers, you might consider offering them a freebie or discount if they make a purchase by a given deadline.

While it is more time intensive, email segmentation offers a greater possibility of rewards customization. Doing so also gives your loyalty program less of a cookie-cutter feel to it and directly tunes into shopper sentiment and needs.

Facebook Fraud: Is Facebook Using Click Farms for Fake Likes?

Written By:
Last Updated:

You may want to rethink paying money to promote your Facebook page. Why? It appears that those “likes” you’re paying for are actually fake. Furthermore, these fake likes are coming from Facebook itself, not some shady click farms or black hat SEO operations.

And even worse, Facebook has still not addressed the issue.

What are click farms?

Before we talk about Facebook fraud and fake likes, let’s first discuss click farms. Akin to content farms, click farms employ masses of low-paid clickers who are paid solely on the number of clicks they generate. Many such click farms are often (though not always) located in third world countries. In some cases, these “click farmers” are paid to like something on Facebook. For example, a click farmer might like your donut shop Facebook page.

However, unlike a regular clicker, the click farmer has no further interest in seeing your news updates or commenting on your Facebook posts. No, the click farmer is socially uninvolved with you and your product. Aside from that like, you’d never know that this person is a fan of your page.

Because the click farmer is making X amount of money per 1000 clicks, he will also indiscriminately like other Facebook pages. As a result, the profile of this clicker will show him liking all manner of unrelated people, places or things- and a lot of them too.

Veritasium’s strange case of zombie Facebook fans

It’s reasonable to assume that, if you retain the services of a shady SEO firm, you will collect bogus Likes through click farms. However, what if you take the higher moral ground and actually pay Facebook to promote your page?

Facebook states that, for a discrete fee, it will actively promote your page, increasing its likelihood of reaching a wider audience and accumulating likes. For example, if I pay Facebook $20, I can get up to 70 new likes per day on my Evansville Area Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club page.

facebook

Back in 2012, Derek Muller, the guy who operates Veritasium, decided to buy some Facebook advertising. Almost immediately, he saw his Facebook like number jump from a mere two thousand to over seventy thousand. However, what he also noticed was that engagement levels on his Facebook page were no better than before. In some cases, engagement levels were actually worse.

How could this be?

When Derek analyzed his new likes, he noticed two disturbing trends: first, the majority of his new fans originated from countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and second, almost 0% of these thousands of new fans engaged with any of his posts or other content.

More fans = less engagement?!?

Having those fake likes was actually worse than having a few real likes. When Derek had previously published a post on Facebook, his fans were likely to engage with that post. This high level of engagement enabled the post to later reach a wider circle of his Facebook fans.

However, once Derek’s posts started going out to his fake fans, those fans did not interact with the posts and Facebook used that non-interaction as an indication that the posts were not interesting and should not be sent to a wider fan base. It’s as if the fake fans just absorbed the posts and made them die. This is how having those extra fans actually made Veritasium’s engagement levels worse.

Derek tried deleting his new likes but there was (and still is) no systematic way to perform this action. As a result, Veritasium’s fan engagement levels were actually harmed by Derek’s paying for Facebook advertising.

How bad is the problem?

Veritasium is not the only case study of fake Facebook likes. After a few drug and biotech companies got burned by fake Likes, the bioscience consulting company Comprendia advised them to steer clear of Facebook advertising. And then there’s the State Department, which last year spent $630,000 to acquire Facebook likes- and saw only a 2% engagement level from its “fans.”

But what if an advertiser simply blocked her page from being promoted in click farm-associated countries like India or Pakistan? Because advertisers can select the countries in which their pages are promoted, sticking with countries like the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Canada should alleviate the issue of click farm likes- right?

Unfortunately, as an anonymous source named “Bob” found out, limiting Likes to certain countries does not completely solve the problem. Click farmers will sporadically like Facebook pages that they are not even being paid to like. They do this to avoid spam/bot detection by Facebook. Obviously, if a click farmer is generating likes on just a select few advertiser pages, it’s easier to get caught. But if the click farmer is going everywhere and liking a lot of different advertiser pages, the likes seem more random.

What is Facebook doing about it?

In a nutshell, not much. While Facebook claims that it takes aggressive action against fraudulent Facebook accounts and fake likes, the most obvious action- enabling Facebook users to delete fake likes in bulk- hasn’t been considered.

You’d think that Facebook would get on the stick about removing bogus likes or just trying to eliminate the problem from occurring in the first place. However, consider what a frustrated advertiser who is suddenly inundated with 10,000 new likes yet no increased engagement might do. Yep, he might decide to pay Facebook, yet again, to promote his posts to his newly expanded audience. Such promotion is termed boosting, as shown here on my own Facebook page for my I&E Club:

facebook1

So now, not only is Facebook making money by promoting a page (i.e., accumulating fake likes), it is also making money by boosting posts that the fake fans have no interest in seeing and engaging with.

In other words, fake likes are a boon to Facebook, and the company actually benefits twice from this “unresolved problem.”

In summary…don’t buy Facebook advertising

If you’ve been considering buying Facebook advertising, don’t do it. However, if you’ve already bought Facebook advertising, please let us know in the comments below regarding how your new likes and engagement levels have turned out.

8 Outdated SEO Techniques You Should Avoid

Written By:
Published On:

The world wide web is an ever changing beast, in constant flux as new things get added and old things get changed.

SEO is no different and internet marketing has to keep up with constant developments coming out of the search engines.

A SERP boosting tactic that worked last week, might well get your site penalised this week.

I’ve compiled a list of the top SEO tactics that you should simply avoid using now!

1. Spammy Guest Blogging

Guest blogging might not be dead, but it has certainly taken a battering. Matt Cutts wrote back in January 2014…

So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy.

Three months later, one of the larger guest blogging sites, MyGuestBlog.com, was Google slapped. You can now only find it by Googling for myguestblog.com. For every keyword that matters, it’s as if it doesn’t exist.

Publishers using this site also had their rankings drop by simply being associated with guest blogging.

It is obvious then that associating yourself with sites like these will most probably cause you more heartache than it is worth.

All that being said, doing direct guest blogging with a reputable site is still a valid way to gain backlinks and exposure.

2. Over-optimized Anchor Text

Google’s Penguin algorithm has been around for a while now, since 2012, and has had a few updates to it. The core focus of this algorithm change was to target spammy backlinks and penalise the users of them.

This means that highly targeted, keyword stuffed backlinks got slammed.

Google isn’t looking for anchor text to be over optimized, they are looking for natural text. This is because natural text suggests that the site is linking to the content because it is useful and interesting, rather than just a marketing ploy to push a site up the SERP’s.

3. Links: Quantity over Quality

For a long time if your webpage had over 100 links on it, it was considered spammy and would be penalized. This has been the case since at least 2009 when Matt Cutts went public with it on his blog.

Times have changed, for the better in this case. Google no longer has the arbitrary 100 links per page limit.

Instead you can have as many as you like, so long as it is “reasonable”. If Google find that your site is spammy because of the number of links (think hundreds to thousands of links, with little or poor quality content), then they will still take action against you.

Along with that the Page Rank each link gives is reduced by a division of the number of links on the page.

The take away from this is if you are using links to boost SEO then stop it. It won’t help. If you just a have a lot of links alongside quality content, then you have nothing to worry about.

4. Stuffing Keywords in Content, Title, and Meta Tags

This is a really old school way of gaming the search engines and many people still think it’s a viable way of gaining search results. Only problem is, this is one of the biggest offenders that can get your site sandboxed.

The theory is that by adding lots and lots of relevant (and probably irrelevant) keywords to the content and the various meta tags, the search engines would understand that your site was to do with that topic and those keywords.

Years ago it MAY have worked in your favor. These days it doesn’t work at all. In fact, it will get your site penalized for blatantly trying to over optimize your site.

Some SEO advice suggests that there is a specific percentage for keywords in an article – this is called keyword density.

Unfortunately, there is no real hard and fast rule for this, so my best advice is to include the keywords when it is natural to include them and leave it at that.

5. Invisible Text

Using invisible text is virtually the same as keyword stuffing, but instead of the keywords being visible they are normally at the bottom of the page or in the footer and colored to match the background of the page. This is so that the user doesn’t see the spam but search engines do.

As the search engines can see it, they are treating it as content. The problem with this technique is that it will still be considered as keyword stuffing, even if the user experience is improved.

6. Backlink Reliance

This is a situation where the site generally has little or poor quality content and maybe it is SEO optimized, maybe it isn’t. Then the site owner sends backlinks to the site in the thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands.

Now, backlinks are important, there is no doubt about it, but just sending backlinks is a poor way to do SEO.

If a manual reviewer was to look at your site which has 20,000 backlinks but 3 pages of fluff, your site will get penalised. Why? Because it will be obvious that those backlinks have been managed or bought as few people will naturally link to a crap website.

By all means include backlinks in your SEO strategy, just don’t make them the focus of the strategy, and include onsite SEO, quality content, and social media and so on.

7. Article Directories & Article Syndication

There was a time when you could upload an article to an article directory, include some backlinks and get a ton of quality link juice from the site. The articles would, hopefully, be linked to from other sites. Even better they could be downloaded, backlinks included, and added to other peoples sites.

Since Google has been harshly targeting duplicate content, this tactic is simply not worth it. Matt Cutts briefly discusses the issue here and in a roundabout way suggests not using article directories.

On top of that, the directories themselves have taken a hit in previous Google algorithm changes, making backlinks from them less effective.

8. Duplicate Content

Google has stated that in general duplicate content should not be a cause for concern. That is unless it is spammy content and/or is being used to intentionally try to manipulate the sites search results position.

That being said, it is still a good idea to limit the amount of duplicate content, especially if it is internal content.

Having the same content in several places on your own site is likely to incur the wrath of Google.

Depending on the type of content, there are ways to avoid being penalized. You can use the noindex meta tags to help tell the search engine not to look at that page. Or if you have changed your sites pages, you can use a 301 redirect rather than have the duplicate content showing.

The Bottom Line

Internet marketers often try to come up with ways to game search engines, or to find loop holes. For a while these might even work, but search engines like Google are constantly on the look out for techniques like these. As more people in the marketing circles get wind of a technique that works and use it themselves, Google finds out too (they do read the same blogs as us you know!).

The best way you can help your SEO is to follow the guidelines set out by the search engines, and to try not to unnaturally modify your search rankings. If you don’t it will come back to bite you on the ass.

7 Free or Cheap Marketing Automation Software Platforms for You

Written By:
Last Updated:

Your eyes may dazzle at the mention of marketing automation, but there’s not much to the name. Marketing automation, or MA, is simply the systematic generation and tracking of sales leads (aka, customers), usually through a software platform that allows you to create and run marketing campaigns.

With MA, you can create, categorize and test your emails, for starters. You can also generate and store various landing pages, as well as different versions of those landing pages. Many MA platforms enable mobile marketing as well as e-commerce integration. You may even be able to do ad retargeting, wherein the ad viewer is cookied and then sees your ads later on via his/her browser.

Marketo, Act-ON and Oracle/Eloqua are some better-known MA brands. These top-of-the-line platforms enable medium and large companies to do all kinds of snazzy marketing things like lead generation, email marketing, retargeting, A/B testing, etc. Unfortunately, smaller businesses, individual marketers and bloggers are hardly in the position to afford such platforms, which often run over a thousand bucks a month.

Luckily, there are discount MA platforms that offer many of the services of the “big box” platforms for a fraction of the price. Some of these platforms are completely free. Here are some bargain-priced MA platforms that you may want to consider using:

1. Azuqua

This platform takes a heavy-handed approach with social media marketing, monitoring the various social media platforms for any mention of your business and the exact sentiment (e.g., anger, praise, criticism) being expressed. Such cloud process optimization, as it’s called, is then integrated with the platform’s CRM and can also be routed to different departments within your business (e.g., customer service). The basic monitoring service costs $0 per month and may be all your business needs to use for a very long time.

azuqua

 

2. JumpLead

If you have only 100 visitors/month and up to 500 contacts, JumpLead’s free MA platform allows you to identify website visitors, generate landing pages, optimize content for up to 5 keywords, perform analytics and set up email and social media campaigns for $0/month. The next price increment is only $49/month and gives you 20 keywords to manage plus live chat support.

jumplead

3. Leadsius

This MA system is completely free to use if you limit it to one user and 2,500 contacts or fewer. Within the free version of Leadsius, you can create web forms and landing pages as well as emails and custom email templates. Contacts are stored in a dedicated database. Basic web and email analytics are also included in your free trial. Additionally, you gain access to a community support forum and a rather comprehensive knowledge base.

leadsius

 

4. LeadSquared

This MA system starts at $125/month, which is a bit pricier than the other systems noted here. Luckily, you can “try before you buy” with a 15-day free trial.

What’s great about LeadSquared is that it offers a extremely comprehensive marketing platform. You not only get the usual MA features like lead generation and landing page creation, but specialty items like keyword analysis, API integration, and phone call tracking.

LeadSquared also dedicates significant effort to contact acquisition and analysis, employing individual measurements for contacts gathered from your website, blog, social media pages, chat and webinar sites, plus phone calls and email opens.

leadsquared

5. Nurture

For $95/month and fewer than 1,000 contacts, this platform offers a massive number of MA features including visitor tracking, email campaign management, A/B testing, analytics, automated messaging, real-time sales lead alerts, and landing page creation. The only thing that is not included with the $95/month plan is CRM. If you’re not sure about using Nurture, the company does offer a 30-day free trial of its software.

Nurture

6. Sales AutoPilot

You can have an unlimited trial of this MA system as long as you send fewer than 400 emails per month and maintain one system user. Sales AutoPilot not only offers email marketing, opt-in page creation and A/B testing, it also includes customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce options, and it can link to a call center. Finally, the system is available as an API, meaning you can work with it from your smartphone or other non Web-based device.

 

sales autopilot

 

 

7. Spokal

Spokal focuses on two big marketing ‘arms,’ namely, social media and content marketing. If you just want to try out the social media marketing (i.e., Twitter) side of this platform, the basic subscription is $19/month. However, for another $30 (or $49/month), you can also test the platform’s content marketing side, which is where Spokal really differentiates itself.

To begin with, Spokal offers a keyword research tool that enables you to generate SEO’ed content and rich media. The platform also performs optimization analysis after your content is generated, offers SEO advice, and scores leads gained through your search marketing efforts.

Spokal

 

Is MA right for you?

If you wish to score additional sales leads, find out what your potential customers are doing and where they are going, and make repeat sales of your products/services, then it’s almost a given that you’ll need some kind of automated software to help you manage your business. Luckily, many MA software platforms are free to use- or almost free.