R&R B&M #2

Another in my series of Rant & Rave & Bitch & Moan.

What a frustrating week....amid trying to find a J.O.B. after being laid off 3 weeks ago.

I signed up for an online mystery shopper position.......Joke...

I wasted over an hour doing an online webinar for a recruiter position that in the end would have been great had it not cost $297 to be an associate.

I signed up for the "$20.00 in your PayPal account" program... another Joke...

Why on God's green earth do all these companies, survey sites, and prize give away programs, etc., offer nothing that anyone but their old, out of the loop grandma, (no offense) would even think was interesting or signing up for?  I don't want a free credit check, or an auto insurance quote, or to learn about rehair growth.

It's all a bunch of CRAP.   Common  Rehashed Absolutely worthless Products.

I'm about as fed up with internet marketing as the American people are with the government.

When is someone going to invent a money making program with common-sense values, that is easy to implement, doesn't have a bunch of CRAP(see above), or have to jump through hoops to meet quotas, or have a hidden agenda?????

Can someone please offer me some solutions?  Granted, I'm one of the King's of the Free World, so if it costs anything to join or be a member of don't even bother.

What the....?

That's how I feel when I ride the "Affiliate Marketing Roller Coaster."  AMRC stands for:  "Ah Man!  Really?  Come on!"  What's this new term?  I haven't searched it out, so maybe I just invented something.  It goes something like this.

You get an email that you just got a new sign up or referral.  Yipee!  You wait a few days and check to see how your new downline member is doing and guess what you find?  They either haven't confirmed their registration or they fail to surf at all.  When I sign up for a new site, most of the time, I want to check it out and give it whirl. Okay, give 'em a few days or a week.  You check back and keep checking.  Guess what?  You just inherited a "Zombie Downline Member."  Thanks alot for  getting my hopes up.

Ninety percent of the time I email them, thanking them for signing up, and if they have any problems, they can send me a message.  Hope?  Not a peep back.  Okay, so maybe if I send them some free credits, that will encourage them to surf. Maybe?  Nope. Sorry, I'm not going to stoop so low as to bribe them with money. So, what do I do?

These are just the ones that sign up for seeing an offer or splash page.   This doesn't include the ones on my Zombie List, though it should, since they aren't any better.  I'll bet I have about 20 Zombies scattered out there walking around that aren't doing themselves any good, let alone myself.

"No. 5 Needs more input."

Rotators

Do you use rotators in your traffic exchanges?  You should.  Why?
1.  Most TE's will only let you promote, on average, 3 to 5 sites, if you are a free member.
2.  Unless you surf like crazy or have an upgraded membership, your daily credits will be limited, and you have to carefully spread them out for sites, banners and text links.
Rotators allow you to consolidate and prevent your campaigns from being stale and overseen.

I had been looking for a free rotator that allowed me unlimited URL's that I could enter.
Now if you only have 10 or less then I recommend TE Toolbox.  Plus they have a banner rotator and you can create your own splash pages, too.
Well, I found one.  How I found one and where will be the subject of my next article.
This rotator, Pier Rotator, is free but you can also upgrade for added features, like detailed stats.  Unlimited url's is the key here.  I easily set up my rotator to show 21 url's in less than 30 minutes.

I also found another rotator but I'm awaiting details about it from their support before I sign up for it.  I 'll let you know what I find out.

Two Way Street

I've noticed from IM Faceplate that this site appears to be getting quite a few views.  But...no one has anything to comment on?  Come on now, are you all tire kickers or window shoppers?  I'm not asking you to hit the "Like" button or buy something.  (Yes, I thank you for all those that do.)  Sure this blog is mine with my ideas but as No. 5 put it in "Short Circuit"... "Need Input."  I welcome your comments, good, bad, pretty, or ugly.  If nothing else, can I get you to write, "Hey!"?  Or how about, "You dumb ass.  Where did you come up with this crap?"

I'll bet if I told you what I do for a living in my day J.O.B. you'd have all kinds of questions to ask on how to do something, or why won't this work, etc., but that's not what I want to talk about. If I did, I have to charge you.  Hmm!  Idea Hatching.   My passion the last 2.5 years has been centered on computing and the Internet.

Sure, I can moderate comments on this blog but I won't unless someone get's out of line and royally pisses me off.   I used to shy away from blogging until I found that the beauty of a blog is that it's yours and you are in control.

Perseverance

Ah that long word you have to look up in Webster's or use spell check on.

As an Internet Marketer, we sometimes lose site of our goals.  It's easy to get down and find yourself with a lack of confidence when you aren't making any sales or recruiting any new people to your list.  At times, it seems like the best thing to do is cut your loses and move onto something else.  I feel this way, too, at times.  I wonder if I could be doing something better with my time or spending more time with my family?  As time goes by, we need to keep reminding ourselves that Internet businesses take time to develop.  Much like hurricanes, the right elements have to come together to form a dynamic entity.  It takes increasing knowledge and skills and yes, that word, perseverance, to one day bloom like a flower.  Just remember this, the next time you get a message that you have new referral.  Stop for a second, and think that this is one of the keys that drives you to persevere with your business.  Lift your head and carry on.

Useful sites

If someone were to interview me and ask me what are the most useful sites that I know or use today, my top 5 would be:

1.  TE Toolbox -- my number one pick.  It has banner and website rotators, link trackers, and splash page makers.

2.  Roboform -- every get tired of having to type your information into all the sign up and sign in forms?

3.  Vital Viral Pro -- link cloaker and tracker

4.  Viral Traffic Frenzy  -- a toolbar that earns credits while surfing to use for your advertising links.

5.  Instant Banner Creator. --  create your very one banners for websites and traffic exchanges.

These are outside of the usual must haves like an autoresponder, clickbank, paypal/alert pay, and a web host to name a few.

R & R and B & M

This is the beginning of my top 5 segments.  Sorry, David Letterman, I had to borrow your idea.

This is my little corner called Rant & Rave and Bitch and Moan.

It's not very often that I have to be blunt and speak my mind.  Sometimes it's necessary to get it all out and move on to bigger and better things.  Sometimes you need to hear feedback from others and hopefully some will side with you.  This is one of those times when I want to hear what others think about and if my gripe is legitimate.

1.  I hate long-tail ad copy.  Really, does it take a ream of paper to get your point across for your reader to sign up or to make a sale?  As I tell my wife, give me the cliff note's version.  Granted, this trend does seem to be going away.  It's not as bad now as it was 2 years ago, but it's still out there.

2. Who on God's green earth came up with the latest pop up version?  You know the one where it has click here to leave page or click cancel to stay on same page.  I don't have time for this crap.  Stop the Presses.  Well you stopped everything with your little pop up.  If I really wanted to see something then I would look.  Otherwise, you're just ticking me off in a very bad negative way.  I don't know who did it, but already I don't like this person.

3.  It's unnecessary to create splash pages that look like a graffiti wall.  Really?  Does the Internet have a Hood, too?  Must you try to cram every little thing onto every little blank spot on the page?  For example, ASN, and Donkey Emails.  My eyeballs get lost when I see these pages.  I prefer pages that use the K.I.S.S. rule.  If you want to do that on your website, fine, but not on splash pages.

4.  Ah yes, the latest craze.  Let's see how many different badges we can collect.  You know the site.  I shouldn't have to point this one out.  Badges are legitimate if you're in the military, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc.  Can you guess that I'm sick of seeing these badges?

5.  Must a site always have a hierarchy of upgrades?  If you don't want free members, which will probably be the majority, then why offer it?

Email system

My response to Raul at Easy Money for Free traffic exchange, on whether or not a traffic exchange should have an email system to email your downline.

> Most traffic exchanges that I'm a member of have rather strict restrictions
> on spamming your downline.
> If they have one at all, most of the time all you can do is welcome and
> thank someone for signing up under you. You can email them encouraging them
> to surf, give them credits, or inform them about some upcoming surf promo to
> that site only. Other than that, all you can do is promo some links only in
> your signature.
>
> I'm against spamming. I get enough of those in my email box everyday. One
> way around that is if there is a check box allowing the member to
> receive email from their upline. I'm not really against an email system,
> but haven't seen too many of them work for me in traffic exchanges. A lot
> of times, they are just junk so without any incentive or a catchy title, I
> just delete them.
>
> Another thing I would like to see more often is being able for the downline
> to converse to their upline. A lot times it is a one way street.
>
> Irregardless, if you do have an email system, there needs to be some
> boundaries clearly defined. One result might be for banning a member if
> their spamming gets out of hand.

Viral Marketing

It's funny how when I first started promoting The Customer Advantage, no one was promoting, let alone even heard of it.  That was about a week and half ago.  Wow! How viral has this become?   Everywhere I look in every traffic exchange I surf, there it is, with someone else promoting it.  Mind you, it's not the same person but a different person every time I see it.  I'm not talking just one traffic exchange.  I'm talking about at least a dozen that I actively surf.

Check your links

I can't stress enough how much you need to check your links.  Don't assume that your link(s) is/are directing your audience to where you want it to go.  If your link isn't working properly and you are using credits or you paid for your advertising, then you are wasting your effort and or money.  This is especially true if your into affiliate marketing and you are cloaking and tracking your links/stats.

If you use traffic exchanges or the like, be sure to check your link(s) either before you start surfing or before you assign credits to them.  Some sites will have a test button.  Also check all your banners and text links that you may be using.  If you know what you are doing, most of the time, you can fix the problem yourself.  If not, you might want to either contact support for a site, or a friend/mentor that can help you out.

Computer Cleanup Tips #3

Today we are going to talk about programs that you can use to keep your computer free from viruses, etc.
Most important to anyone owning a PC/laptop is having an Anti-virus program that is up to date.  It's not a bad idea to change programs every six months or so just to make sure there isn't a virus hiding somewhere.  I try to stay away from ones that are hard to delete or leave behind left over files.

For anti-virus I use Avast coupled with the program of ThreatFire as they are compatable to run together.  Plus, they tend to update themselves frequently and regularly.

Always be sure your operating system updates are updated.

For other programs to use:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Spyware Blaster

Spybot Search and Destroy

Super Anti-Spyware

These free versions can be found at http://www.CNET.com

I recommend that unless you have a pop up stating that there is a problem.  You should update and run these programs at least once a week.

Chasing my tail

It seems all I've doing for the past 2 weekends is making sure my affiliate links work.

We're told by our peers to cloak our links so that others can't steal our sign ups and commissions by inserting their own affiliate link in place of our own.  That's fine.  I get it.  What I don't get is the cloaking services that stop working without an even notice to it's consumers.
You know, something like, " We're sorry our service is temporarily down."
That's just wrong.  I'd really be pissed if I was using SEO or PPC advertising.  What it boils down to is this:  If your advertising links aren't being seen by the Internet world, your not advertising.
I've learned from the old adage to not keep all your eggs in one basket.  This is definitely true when it comes to Internet/Affiliate marketing.
I won't name any names for libel reasons, but I'm now on my third and fourth  cloaking services.  The first one I used, I really liked.  It gave me statistics and even a downline builder.  I used it for about a year until one day I realized it was no longer working.  They just shut down, closed the doors and didn't even say good-bye.  The second one I used, got hit by a hacker causing my links to be redirected to some other site(s).  The third one I 'm on, has recently switched servers and is still having glitches with the move.

For all my troubles over the last two and a half years, I've learn to spread out my cards and not keep them so concentrated in one place.  I'm thankful for fellow online members that email me and tell me when one of my links is not working.

My advice:  If you use a link cloaking service, regularly check your stats and your link(s) to make sure they are properly working.  If you are not happy with the service, change to another one.  Use multiple cloaking services so that at least some of your links are being seen if one site goes down.

Computer Cleanup Tips #2

I highly recommend cleaning up your computer at least once a day. 

Don't wait until your pc or laptop starts running sluggishly.

I have a regiment of processes that I use to keep my pc running about as fast as I can.
1.  Restart your computer.
2.  I run a program called CCleaner to clean both the disc and the registry.
3.  I run Atomic Cleaner which is no longer available.
4.  I run window's disc cleaner that comes with your windows program
5.  I run a program called Wise PC Engineer
6.  I run a program called Glary Untilities
7.  I run a program called Auslogic disc defrag.

You can find these free programs on CNET.com.

In the next segment, we look at programs to keep your computer free of viruses and the like.

Affiliate Marketing Tips

It's a good practice to cloak your affiliate links so that no one else can steal your commissions and sign ups.  Periodically, check to make sure your links are working.   On two occasions, I've found where one link cloaker went out of business leaving my links up in the air, and the other had been hit by a redirect hacker.  I use several but you need to find the right one that works for you.  Most cloakers serve two purposes.  One to cloak your link and the other to keep track of your visitors and where they came from.  Free cloakers are limited but some paid services can track even the I.P. address that the person comes from and possibly even more.

If you would like a list of some of the ones I use, please feel free to ask.