Internet Marketing Secrets Newsletter Issue #96 Thursday August 10 2006 In this issue: Ads on parked pages... Google's "Official Position" and a way to profit from it, without violating their TOS. The END of Article Underground as we know it. New templates for smArticle Composer. And a cool new Firefox plug-in for SEO professionals Plus... The essential components of a good landing page. Are subdomains a wise idea? And last but not least, Matt Cutts' posts "home made" videos loaded with SEO tips. All this and a lot more in this issue of IMS. Enjoy! - - - - - - Sponsor - - - - - - Want Fast Content, Links and Traffic? Here's fresh content for use in your websites, portals and blogs. Every month you get... - 18 ghost writers - 400 optimized articles - 22 announcement blogs - Instant incoming links - Tons of step-by-step video You don't have to do any market research, creative writing, or reciprocal linking. It's so easy to make money with this system. Just modify the articles to your liking, paste in your AdSense code, upload them to your web properties, and start making money. It's as simple as that. Want Fast Content and Traffic? ==> http://www.cdzn.com/aup Underground Video ==> http://www.articleunderground.com/au/mc - - - - - - /Sponsor - - - - - - INTERNET MARKETING NEWS Article Underground Phase III... Going... Going... Official pre-launch for Underground III was just a few days ago. Last time I checked there were only around 100 spots left. That means it's over 60% sold out. There's a whole batch of bonuses just for signing up for the newsletter. There's video from Michael Cheney, Neil Shearing, Sherman Hu and Mike Liebner. There's an 84 minute audio interview with SEO linking expert Leslie Rohde. On top of all that, there are the PDF reports "Words = Money" and "Ban-Proofing Your Web Sites." There's also several more videos on the PDF download page, showing the potential of how much money you could be making in just three months. Now that's what you get if you don't buy anything. Imagine the true value of what's inside the private membership site. There's people like you. Helpful forums. 400 fresh articles per month. 22 announcement blogs to get incoming links to your pages. Tons of video... Then there's the 400 bonus articles in addition to the 400 regular monthly articles. That's a whopping 800 articles to help jump start the content on your websites and blogs. So don't wait. If you're at all interested in the Article Underground, this is your last chance to be guaranteed a spot. Both Phase I & II sold out in a few weeks. Phase III is going really fast. So don't miss out ok? There won't be a phase four! Go to the pre-launch site and sign-up for the newsletter. You'll be able to claim your bag of goodies - the PDF reports, the audio and video - right away. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and Secure Your Underground Membership before it sells out. Article Underground Phase III ==> http://www.cdzn.com/aup Don't even finish reading this newsletter. You must act quickly if you want to be guaranteed a spot. Who knows... it may even be too late. - - - - - Google's Official Response to Ads on Parked Pages (Update to: Domain Tool Reveals UnTapped Revenue Stream) Last issue I ran a story about putting AdSense ads on parked pages. I thought that if the Domain Registrars can put AdSense ads on MY parked pages, why can't I do it too? Why am I letting the rich get richer? I should be hosting my own domain names with a simple parked page, and putting that ad revenue into my pocket instead of the Registrar. So I set up a whole whack of tests. Sure enough the type-in traffic started arriving and clicking on my ads. One site made over $50 the first month. But then dozens of you emailed me and said... Dude! Good idea... but did you check with Google? Are you sure it's ok with them? Doh! I forgot... So a few days after I ran the story, I emailed Google and asked for their "official" company position about placing ads on parked pages. Here's what I asked and how they answered. (MC) Recently I noticed that the Domain Registrars have put ads on all my parked pages. It doesn't seem fair that a domain name that I own, is earning them click revenue while I'm trying to sell the domain name. My question is, instead of the Registrar hosting my parked page, may I host my own parked page and put a block of AdSense ads on the page (similar to the Registrar), while waiting for offers to come in on the name? I make it very clear that the page is parked and domain name is for sale. The exact text on the page is: This domain is for sale. If you wish to make an offer, please contact Michael Campbell, which is followed by my phone number and a block of ads. If the ads are in violation of your terms of service, please let me know and I'll remove the ad block right away. (But it just seems fair that if the Domain Registrars can do it, why not the individual, who is trying to recoup registration and hosting fees while entertaining offers on their domain names.) Or, if you prefer, I can add at least 5-10 pages of relevant info on each domain, to keep the ad block on the pages. Please let me know with a definitive answer so I can honestly stay within your TOS Guidelines. I just want everyone to be happy."" (Google) ""I understand you want a clarification on putting Google ads on domain parked sites. In regards to your question, we do not allow AdSense ads on domain registration sites or non-content-based sites in the AdSense online program. We kindly ask that you remove the Google ads from these pages. I understand your unhappiness with these policies, but we've put them in place to help ensure the effectiveness of Google ads for our publishers as well as our advertisers. Please do know that if your site generates more than 750,000 page views per month you may be eligible for our AdSense for domains program. If you meet this requirement and you'd like to learn more about the program, please visit http://www.google.com/domainpark ."" (MC) Just wanted to say thank you so much for providing a definitive answer for me. I want everyone to be happy and certainly do not want to do anything against your TOS. I will remove the AdSense ads from my domain parked pages immediately. Instead, I will put up five or so related articles of content on each site, so I may continue to run the ads to recoup hosting and registration costs. (Google) ""I'm glad I was able to clarify the issue. Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions or concerns in the future."" So in a nutshell, Google doesn't want the little guy putting ads on their parked pages. But if you get over 750K page views a month, then it's ok, and they'll even help you set it up. That's really unfair! Ok, I'm not one to mope about it... so let's go on to plan B. Grab smArticle Composer, take five to ten articles from either your Article Underground or Keyword Avalanche collection, and put up a minisite on the same topic as the domain name. Yes, it's a little more work. But look at it this way... you still get instant type-in traffic from the domain names, you stay within the Google TOS, and you still get to run ads on all the article content pages. - - Adv - - Find Domain Names for Niche Article Sites All the good domain names are gone... right? Wrong. It's just that finding good names is a long, dull, tedious process. What if you could automate the process of finding great domain names, with software that worked in the background, while you did something else? Well now you can! This new software automatically searches for domain names. You'll see how popular a name is. Know at a glance if it's registered or not. Save and export a list of domains. Then paste your list and bulk register your booty of names all at once. Domain Suggest Tool ==> http://www.cdzn.com/dst After keyword research and finding a niche, the next most important thing is the domain name itself. Don't guess or settle for second best. Get the most popular domain name that you can find. - - /Adv - - New Templates for SEO smArticle Composer SmArticle sites look plain and boring. It's gotta be the number one complaint I heard. And it was definitely the main reason - along with footprint concerns - why many of you choose NOT to buy smArticle Composer. Now you can cast those fears and doubts aside, with these fresh, never seen before, professionally designed templates. They allow the addition of many more articles over the stock template, and still get a high click rate on the ads. I've started using them on all my parked domains to satisfy the Google Terms of Service. The templates are generic enough to span several product categories. There's lots of bright colors and photos of people. And you don't need to know any html tricks or edit any graphics. It's so simple, a 10 year old could use them. Just gather up some articles from your Article Underground or Keyword Avalanche collection into a folder. Launch the software. Type in your AdSense code. Add a couple of paragraphs describing your site. Pick your template, push a button and out comes your site. There is literally zero learning curve. From my first launch of the software - being a complete newbie - to great looking site, took less than 15 minutes. Now that I know how to use the software, the biggest time consumer is modifying the articles. Sheesh... with smArticle Composer and these new templates, the site is the fastest thing in the process. These sites look good... drool-worthy even. But don't take my word for it... as a picture is worth a thousand words. Go look for yourself. smArticle Composer Templates ==> http://www.cdzn.com/act Bottom line is... if you're using smArticle to create your sites, you'll definitely want to get these templates. They give you freedom of choice over the look and feel of your sites. And if you've debated over smArticle because the lack of templates... your wait is over. Stop letting the Domain Registrars profit from your parked pages. It's time to start monetizing your parked pages and put up niche article sites instead. All you need is... Some Articles ==> http://www.cdzn.com/au SEO smArticle Composer ==> http://www.cdzn.com/ace And some Templates ==> http://www.cdzn.com/act After Google asked me to take the ads off my parked page, I set up a seven page article site using a template. And the good news is, revenues actually increased. The results are still early, but the stats show it's pulling in a sweet $15 per week. What are your parked domains doing? - - Adv - - The Future of Search Engine Optimization Colin McDougall can get ANY website of his choice to blast past the other top ranking websites and achieve top 10 position within a short time. And it's a completely legitimate system as opposed to trying to trick the search engines. In VEO you don't play against the search engine algorithm, you ignore it completely. You don't focus on keyword densities, you aim for a happy visitor. You don't hard sell products like an affiliate, you brand a site and soft sell the products through articles. It's revolutionary. And it works. Want the VEO Strategies? ==> http://www.cdzn.com/veo - - /Adv - - Matt Cutts Home-Made Google Videos This juicy tidbit came to me from my friend, SEO expert Jerry West. It's a series of short videos by Senior Google Engineer, Matt Cutts. While not totally revealing or groundbreaking, it's still worth watching if you play the organic SEO game. Videos ==> http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=label:mattcutts One thing worth listening to are the questions and answers. One tidbit revealed that if you have five or more numbers in your url, the GoogleBot might mistake your pages for session ID's and not fully spider your site. Matt suggested that it's a good idea to put a keyword in the directory name if it makes sense to do so. So if you are selling clothing like boots, hats, and sweaters, put each category in their own folder on your server. In usual Google fashion, Matt suggested optimizing for the user experience. It's the same advice that - VEO (Visitor Enhanced Optimization) expert - Colin McDougall uses to get his ultra competitive creditcard sites to the top of the search engines. The Future of Optimization ==> http://www.cdzn.com/veo Other than that, Matt said the biggest problem Google faces is spiderability. Something like 60% of sites have busted links. So that's something to consider. Matt suggested running a "text-only" browser like Lynx on your site, to see how it looks to the search engine. But if you're doing SEO for a living you might seriously consider buying an industrial strength spider like OptiSpider to check your internal linking structures. OptiSpider for SEO Pro's ==> http://www.cdzn.com/ops And in case there are any doubts, Matt confirmed the way that Google works. It no longer does indexing and PageRank calculations on a monthly basis. Instead, Google performs a rolling index along with an ever changing PageRank calculation. It's constantly in a state of flux, which explains why "algo chasers" can never nail it down. Like I said, it's not Earth shattering content, but even if you pick up a couple of tips, this video series is worth a look. Then next week, we get to look forward to Jerry West's in-depth analysis of everything Matt said... sorta said... or wouldn't say at all. ;-) Jerry West's SEO Revolution ==> http://www.cdzn.com/jwr - - - - - Free Business Cards Just a reminder for long-time readers, as I've mentioned this before. If you're headed to a seminar and you need business cards in a hurry, you can get them online from a company called VistaPrint.com. They have plenty of good-looking templates to choose from. Just go to their site. Choose a template. Enter your data and proof how your card will look. Your business cards get delivered in a few short weeks. The only thing you pay for is the shipping. There is a little ad on the back of the card for the Vista Print service. But you can have the ad removed and get a greater choice in template design, if you are willing to spend a few dollars. I've used Vista Print for all my business cards in the past years, along with return mailing labels and other goodies. If you find yourself - all of a sudden - needing some business cards, it's hard to beat the price and convenience of Vista Print. Vista Print for Free Business Cards ==> http://www.vistaprint.com - - - - - Cool Firefox Plug-In for SEO Professionals This tip comes from my friend Sherman Hu. It's a Firefox plug-in that gives a ton of SEO info at a glance. What's cool about this plug-in, is that you don't need to load a web site to get the general SEO info. You get the SEO intelligence directly from the search results page. Just type a keyword phrase into your favorite search engine and the plug-in does the rest. You'll be able to tell at a glance the value and competition in any market. And it appears right under the search results. For every listing appearing in the engine, you'll know it's PR, age of the site, Yahoo links, total incoming links, social bookmarks, Alexa rank, DMOZ links, bloglines and whois info. Sheesh... that's a lot of data. In short, it's a very quick and handy way to get inside information about the competition, without ever leaving the search engine page. Just go to this SEO Book site, and look under the "Tools" tab to find the SEO for Firefox plug-in. SEO for Firefox ==> http://www.cdzn.com/seo - - Adv - - An Avalanche of Abundance Imagine getting 300 fresh articles a month. Long term revenue strategies. Step by step article marketing. Hundreds of training videos. Keyword research tools. And helpful forums with thousands of posts. If your goal is to make money online, then just about everything you need is here. And it's very well organized, so you won't get lost, or suffer from information overload. Right now you can get "grandfathered in" and lock-in your membership at the old monthly rate. So if you want to be part of this fast growing community, with it's Avalanche of tools, ideas and content, don't wait to click, ok? Ready for an Avalanche of Abundance? ==> http://www.cdzn.com/ka - - /Adv - - INTERNET MARKETING & SEARCH ENGINE FAQS Are SubDomains a Wise Idea? Question: In regards to SEO smArticle Composer, do you think it would be wise to use sub-domains to create more sites, or should I just stick with registering more domains for the sites I want to build??? Answer: The topic of subdomains is an entire article in itself. In short, the condensed version is... Yahoo can - and does - filter out excessive linking in subdomains with their Web Map filter. Google treats each subdomain as its own site and doesn't really care if you use them. MSN will reward you - at this time - if you put a relevant keyword in the subdomain as in keyword.yourdomain.com. All this will change on a continual basis... so that said, maybe an eclectic mix and a few experiments are in order. 1) Try a few SEO smArticle designed minisites on separate domains. 2) Try a few SEO smArticle designed sites on subdomains within the same domain. 3) Try an XSite Pro designed site using subdomains. 4) Try an XSite Pro designed site and keep adding articles to build a larger, more "top-level" category site like health and fitness. For each new "related" sub-topic start a directory page, and then link to the articles from the directory page. If subdomains are "wise" or not, I cannot give a definitive answer... other than MSN sure likes them at this time. Just don't put all your virtual eggs in one basket, and make sure you have several other experiments snagging revenue at the same time. Like I've been saying since 1997... when it comes to online marketing... Test and track. Keep what works. Trash the rest. Repeat the process. - - - - - Essential Landing Page Components Question: I read Clickin' it Rich and am very excited. I have one question that is bothering me about Adwords and their recent changes. Do your example landing pages in the Action Plan, still represent an acceptable approach for selling products through affiliate programs? Answer: I would suggest putting more text on the landing pages these days. The Googlebot is going a little crazy on the affiliate sites at the moment. Just make sure any page has real content value - like an article - and is worth at least a five minute read for the average person. Here is a sample of the type of landing pages I've been creating since last year. This one is for Adrian Ling's Power RSS software: Landing Page ==> http://www.justclickherenow.com/rss-tools.html After looking at your landing page it's a little bit dull and void of emotion. Maybe add a picture of happy people enjoying your product and a few testimonials from satisfied customers. In addition, while Google is making us create longer landing pages with value added articles and other content, the consumer's attention span is getting even shorter. It's down to eight seconds or less. It's sad but true. According to recent research by Marketing Sherpa and their eye movement, heat tracking studies... no matter how good your content is, you have less than 10 seconds to capture someone's attention and bring them into the story. Thinks of it as 20 words or less. Now I didn't read the Sherpa book, but I have studied eye tracking charts and heat maps. The only problem I have with them, is that the sample size, or number of people used to collect the data was very small. So after my own extensive testing and tracking... here's what works. All landing pages must have a headline at the top. The headline should state an overt benefit. It should mirror the same message as the ad, link, or story that brought the visitor to the landing page. Think of it as continuing the conversation, the thoughts the person was having when they clicked on the ad. If possible, use numbers in the headline to quantify results. Use things like "Want to Increase Sales by up to 50%? Here are the Same Tips the Pros Use:" It's the old "If you... then" direct sales tactic. Ask a question, and offer a solution to the question. Next, every landing page must have a graphic. Either a person for services, or a picture of the product. Usually the photo appears right underneath the headline or after the subhead. A subhead appears above or beside the photo. Its job is to mimic the headline and offers an additional benefit. "Professional Marketing Tips Increase Sales and Customer Retention. Raise your Sales by 50% or More with Sneaky Strategies that Your Competitors Don't Want You to Know." By now, the visitor is into your message, or they've clicked off. Unfortunately Google's quality control robot wants us to add volumes of content on every landing page. Fortunately, with a good headline, subhead and a product shot, followed by a whole lot of yadda yadda yadda, we can still satisfy the GoogleBot and get happy customers at the same time. - - - - - Passionate Words Deliver Results... and Peace of Mind Question: I bought Revenge of the Mininet. Its a great book. In it, you mention that Mininets work best when you optimize pages for specific product and model numbers. When I search my keywords, the results show stores selling that particular product. Are you saying that a properly set up Mininet will help get your pages in amongst the stores at the top of the search listings? Or should I optimize pages for "low hanging fruit" keywords related to products that I "want to" promote? Answer: Yes, a properly set up mininet can compete on just about any level. The keyword you are targeting, has Google competition with pages in the PR0 to PR2 range. You could easily bump them off using Dynamic Linking on a five page site. Especially if you start linking into that five page site with a few Article Underground blogs and directories. That said, I would always suggest optimizing pages for something that you "want to" promote. That way you don't have to worry about writing the words, as they literally write themselves. It's so easy to talk about something that you're passionate about. The words will flow right off the top of your head. I'm sure you can find the "low hanging fruit" in just about any topic that you choose. Go to NicheBOT.com to do your quick research. Look for lots of searches, but relatively little competition in the ratio column. Spend as little as five minutes on this tool, and you'll quickly find the sweet spots that you'll want to promote. And finally, I'll leave you with the opening words from Nothing but 'Net. As relevant today as they were in the summer of '99. ""If you really want to be successful on the internet, love what you do. If you want to be successful in life, really enjoy what you are doing, enjoy the process and get a real thrill out of doing it. The money will come. Success will follow. Don't worry if there are already a lot of people doing the same thing as you, no one else is YOU. You have your own gifts, your own God given talents, and no one sees the world quite like you do. Start today with a single step. Write a list of things to do and prevent the feeling of overwhelm by taking positive steps each day. Plan each day, and instead of running round taking care of the urgent, look after what's truly important... to YOU! Stay focused on your goal, let others laugh, let others ridicule, let them say it can't be done, let focus and perseverance be your guide. And when all is said and done, you'll be standing ahead of the rest, with a smile on your face and money in your pocket. So let's get to work... shall we?"" _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ That's it for this issue my friend. Thank you for reading. We'll chat again soon. Until then, here's wishing you all the best for online success. Michael Campbell Author of.... Clickin' it Rich ==> http://www.cdzn.com/cir Revenge of the Mininet ==> http://www.cdzn.com/rev Internet Marketing Secrets ==> http://www.cdzn.com/yes = = = = = = = = = = Legal stuff... Copyright 2006 Dynamic Media Corporation. All rights reserved world wide. All trademarks and servicemarks are property of their respective owners. The information contained in this newsletter is the opinion of the author based on his personal observations and years of experience. Neither Michael Campbell or Dynamic Media Corporation assume any liability whatsoever for the use of or inability to use any or all of the information contained in this publication. Use this information at your own risk. Privacy Policy: I never sell, rent, trade, or lend my email list to anyone, for any reason, whatsoever. I assure you that your privacy is respected and well protected.