MelvinBlog

A blog that chronicles my journey on online marketing, blogging, social media, technology and life.

Preachings

Paid Promotion Is The Key

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A lot of bloggers in the industry mostly talk about getting traffic flowing into blogs by doing the traditional things. Blog commenting, forum and article marketing, social media, even offline interaction. These free ways, while it has been used a lot and is certainly a great way to target visitors to your site, it’s not the only ones!

Most people don’t bother to talk about paid promotions because not a lot of people are interested  spending dimes with it. But the truth is it’s actually a powerful way to drive traffic to your blog. I have used some of them here and some of them in other blogs and so far it’s really doing good. Without further ado, here they are:

  1. PPC Marketing – Who said PPC is just for affiliate offers? After about 1 1/2 month my blog has started, I spent some $50 each in Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing. I am getting dead cheap clicks for every long tail keyword and I can say it really did well. The tip is that you need to make the users understand that the ad directs them to a blog of that certain topic. Use a landing page as well! Here I have a welcome page as a landing page so that new users can explore the content of my blog more and figure out how it can benefit them. Believe me folks, it converts the curious dudes into readers/subscribers.
  2. Paid Review – While there are tons of ways on doing advertising on a blog, paid review obviously is the best. Why? Paid review targets the audience well, gives permanent backlinks, and guess what, adds kudos to your blog easily.  Let’s face it, bloggers are paid to review. And I have never seen a negative review, believe me! Most of the times the blogger just recommends the site and that alone can sum it all up against other paid advertising options on blogs.
  3. Paid Social Media – The social media days are getting more saturated. Before it’s like you can put a humor content and get tons of great responses. Now it’s different! Ok, so the idea here is to post some really nice content. Then buy 100 diggs/stumbles/reddit/propells or whatsoever. These diggs wouldn’t get you in the front page but at least they can get you traction. You are getting noticed now. If you’re submitted content is liked, then prepare your server for truckloads of traffic.
  4. Press Release – PR (not to be confused with page rank) is something that I haven’t really utilized for my blogs. Some people however do have some success with it. A release usually costs $100 and up and it’s a high risk, high reward form of promotion. It is gonna either flop so bad or do good. Problem is that most people are tired reading a release stating “this guy started a blog about making money online”. If you’re into the IM niche, Im not sure you should use this as an option.
  5. Sponsor a Contest – Seriously a contest can give you a lot. The quality of traffic that can come back to you depends on what you sponsor. Most users are curious on why this dude gave this prize away so if you sponsored something really nice then more likely people will pay you a visit or even a comment. Look who looks better, one who sponsored an Ipod or one who sponsored an Internet Marketing Book? 😉

There are tons of paid options but basically these are what I think the most effective. If you have some $100 to spend or a credit card, then why not try to invest in it. Quality of Traffic and targeting is what the paid advertising gives that most free promotion tactics don’t.  What do you think?

When Your Blog Runs Out Of Great Content

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A lot of blogs start out well. They post superb content, have nice interactions between visitors and simply they just provide good value. Results? They get the initial boost, the traction, the followers/subscribers.

Then fast-foward, the blog has now posting “not so-good” content, articles that obviously are just rehashed articles seen on forums. Don’t be surprised, its actually the trend of most blogs.

Most blogs really has a “life-cycle” like that and unfortunately if you look at your own blog, that may even be the case. Providing great content is really the key to traffic, fame and possibly income for your blog. What makes it difficult is the fact that we cannot produce superb content all the time. I remember one time I was subscribed (using my feedreader) to almost 150 sites/blogs that interest me. Sooner I found out 30% of them are no longer providing what I used to enjoy with them before.

That’s really the case. Even if you look at most blogs nowadays you’ll see the same trend. Zacjohnson used to be one of my daily reads with his nice post with PPC Marketing. Now most of his posts are just about an affiliate network, some tools and something not as useful as before. Carl Ocab used to have some nice tutorial tips on some basic stuffs as well as some advanced tips but if you look at his blog now, you’ll see a ton of guest post(that promotes their own blogs), some offtopic posts, and none that are really related to making money online (a brand his blog is promoting).

You can look no further by just looking at my blog. Do you think I have run out of good reads for you? Or my blog has never had a great content even before? LOL… Anyway, I think picking the niche of your blog and its goal plays a strong role on how you must distribute great content to your readers. Lots of people starting out say “ah, I would make a blog teaching people about fishing”, and in the end they just ran out of nice content for their niche. Stating clear your purpose and niche helps a lot in defining what your blog is really all about. It helps to the extent that you would understand how much effort, time you need to exert to fulfill that goal. If you are in the helpful niche of blogs, then I’m afraid to say you have to do 100% more work than normal bloggers.

Back to blogs that I mentioned earlier. So, they don’t produce the same great content they used to produce before, but do you see people leaving them? Do you see a decline of traffic in their part? Partly yes! But the truth is they still managed to gain that same attention from the blogosphere despite the fact they are posting less value. At the end it speaks about “not the greatness of content” after all. Content is great, but that doesn’t mean its anything. 🙂

How To Get Sponsors For Your Contest

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“How do I get sponsors for my blog contest?”

There were about 4-5 people who ask those types of questions to me via the contact form. I believe getting contest sponsors is something that has been talked about a lot but I just felt I would add something so that more people can understand more about it.

Just last month I held a contest which is known as The Melvin Blog’s 2009 Contest. There were about 40 entries right now and some really great prizes up for grabs. Anyway back to getting contest sponsors, I think getting some sponsor is SO EASY but getting QUALITY sponsors is what you really have to work a lot. Normally when you hold a contest, the first and easiest way in getting sponsors is by heading into forums that is related to your niche. The downside though is that you’ll pretty much be slapped with tons of free advertising offers from blogspot blogs with over 5,000,000 in Alexa rankings. Since most contest nowadays are really all about like that, I highly suggest you to stay away on accepting those types of prizes.

How bout info products? Well you should and always should ask for a copy first before thinking whether it’s of a nce quality or not. For god’s sake most make money online ebooks are just rehashed PLR products that have ZERO value in real life. It pays to read after all!  My favorite way of finding sponsor is by basically finding sites that link to you. Yes, in my experience these sites will more likely bite your offer because they know your brand. And because they have linked to you it means they (possibly) like you! 🙂

If you’re an affiliate marketer like me I believe you’re way ahead than most people. You can just basically contact affiliate networks and ask them to sponsor your contest. Because they know you’re one of their good affiliates, they have no other choice to make. 🙂  Just be sure you’re not just a dead affiliate like most people. If you signed with them and never produced any lead then forget about it!

You must also never be afraid to contact persons whom you feel can help you in your contest. If they declined to sponsor something, so be it! The thing is you’re putting out your blog in its extended reach. Of course, they’ll look at your blog and if they find out you have a nice blog, then they’ll be receptive to help.

Getting sponsors can really vary. Another thing that I would want to emphasize is for you to be as transparent and honest as you can. You can’t just say lies about your sites. Basically sponsors sponsor something because they want something in return. Exposure, brand awareness, traffic, Search engine boost and etc. If you’re blog is just getting less than 100 uniques a day and you tell them youre getting thousands, what would you think they would expect? The thing is don’t make them feel disappointed by not having their expectations met. Just tell them what your site can give. Like for example this blog, when I started the contest I have a PR0 (still pr0 up to now), then only about less than 200 uniques a day and so. It’s just a so-so figure I must say but look how I rake up some really good quality sponsors!

At the end its just like putting yourself in the situation of the prospective sponsors you’re contacting and asking yourself “what will i get if i give three shirts in melvinblog.com’s contest?” “Will I get something good in return?” Wht do you think?

How to Make Money Outside Internet Marketing

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Although the title looks like that one you have been seeing in email spams and “get-rich quick sales pages, it’s actually not. A lot of people jumping into internet marketing always have this question “How do I start? I dont know anything about internet marketing?” The answer is always read, try to learn, test, then learn again.

But as always there are a ton of ways on how you can make money online if you’re dumb and poor about internet marketing. We all know it takes time before you can completely grasp the whole concept of it, but whats the need on learning it if you can make some cash without it? 🙂 Today I have compiled ways on how you can actually make money online without any knowledge about IM. The only thing you need is the basic read and write knowledge as well as some persistence on your part. I believe all of them costs nothing (although if you have the money, the better)  Here they are:

  • Forum Posting – Forum Posting is basically posting in a forum and getting paid. It’s not really that big but if you can work quick, then you can definitely have your earnings up. ForumsFirst.com is one that pays for it. They are probably the most reliable and better forum posting company. You can also look at some forums like dp and v7n, as normally there are people that look for forum fillers.

SECRET TIP: With this type people often whine “I don’t type fast” While typing fast is a huge factor in this one, it’s not totally the only thing that can give you success with it. Why not use a dicatation software? In my previous stints with doing it, I use Dragon Naturally Speaking. If you’re a Mac user you can use Mac Dictate. What is a dictation software? Basically its a software that converts your voice to text. COol? Definitely! You can make $50 a day easily with forum posting with this type of software. $50 a day? Yeah, something most affiliate marketers cant even reach!

  • Get Paid To Sites – GPT sites are sites that pay people to complete an offer. Maybe a short survey, or signup to a free site, or maybe something that requires a credit card. Believe me there’s no shortage of this sites. Why? Because some affiliate marketers are incentivizing some offers, thats why they come to these sites, pay them and earn. Win-Win situation for all! Jim of TNF has a list which he personally recommends
  • Freelancing – Contrary to what most people are saying, freelancing is really a lucrative thing. A lot of people are looking to outsource (including me). They look for designers, article writers, coders, data entry personnels, and many more. I mean Im sure at least you know how to do one of it right? Freelancers are the one whom I often called as “partners in business”.  Elance.com is one company which probably is the biggest.
  • Starting A Contest Blog – I hate doing stuffs like this but basically lets face it, you can actually make some cash/gadgets with contests nowadays. 85% of contests require blogging and doing it costs you nothing. What are you waiting for? Create a free blogger blog, fill it with some content, then start hunting for contests. I know a lot of people making good use of contest blogs and taking advantage of contests.

SECRET TIP: How do you know a contest is live? Easy, just look at other contest blogs and you will know it. Contest bloggers try to find contest as much as they can so they are actually doing the work for you. Search Google for terms “contest blogs” “blog contests” or so and you’ll find a ton.

  • Selling Photos – Selling photos is something that I have never done and will never do in my entire life. But after countless hours of doing research about it I found out it can really be a good business. If you have a camera, then go into a peaceful place (cemetery?) and take shots. Then sell it to  sites like iStockPhoto and StockExpert.

Now with this list, I dont really see any reason why people cannot make any money online. Although it doesn’t make you that big, I believe seeing your first dollars would make you more inspired. And inspirations do a lot. Anyway if you can add anything valuable to this list then don’t be shy to put it in the comments. Or if you have some questions, then ask them.  My goal is to get more to add in this list and hopefully share it in some of the local forums here in my country. 🙂 What say you?

How to Ask for Payout Bumps

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Payout bump is simply an increase in a payout for a certain offer in an affiliate network. It’s usually a 5 to 10% increase, say for example I am promoting a certain ringtone offer that pays $15 per lead. Because I am generating huge traffic to that offer, I tell my affiliate manager to increase my $15 per lead and after some talk he then upped my payout to $16.5 per lead. A lot of affiliates are getting these bumps, super affiliates, medium and small affiliates. Of course when you’re just starting and you have never driven them a lead and you ask for higher payouts then chances are you’d be ignored. Since 95% of affiliates are “dead affiliates”, only few can manage to get these bumps.

Did I say few? Maybe I can restate myself. 🙂 Actually bumps are applicable to any type of offer, yes even email and zip submits. Most people are not even thinking of asking because they always think what they are making is small. That’s wrong! Actually, you don’t really need to produce a high number of sales/leads a day to increase your payout. Last year, there was an offer I was just making a small $5 proft a day and when I asked my manager to increase the payout, I was surprised that he just sealed the deal immediately. It’s really easy to have an increased payout and I’ll show you why:

  1. They expect you to do that – That is actually so true! Most merchants that have offers with affiliate networks are always hoping to fish a super affiliate. And even before someone asks for a bump, they already have prices in front of them in case someone asks for it. Remember the merchants nevertheless just want the exposure and they understand that in order to get more, they have to pay more.
  2. Saturated market – if you look on offers within an affiliate network what you would notice is that there is a lot of offers within the same niche. With that being said, these merchants understand that in order to stand out they have to make themselves look more lucrative to the affiliates. I mentioned earlier that there was a certain offer that I was just making a small profit yet I still manage to get a pay out bump. Why is that so?  It’s simply because that offer has a lot of similarities with other offers.  they understand they have to stand out. They know that if they would turn you down, you would go elsewhere and they don’t want that. The point here is that you’re giving them no option. Take it or leave it.
  3. Affiliate managers wants you to become super affiliate – this is very true.  Most people don’t really see the value of affiliate managers.  What these affiliate managers want is for us to become super affiliate because they know they would just benefit if we are benefiting from them. They give us the best tips, best offers because they want us to work harder and earn more.

So how do you ask for increase?  The thing is it really varies and it depends on how people do it.  But I think it’s interesting to let you know how I do it. Here’s is exactly the message I keep on using everytime I email my affiliate manager. 🙂

Hi, I think I’m driving nice traffic to this offer and I have been doing it consistently for almost 2 weeks now. Basically I want more profit and I would like to ask for  an increase in payout. Let me know what you think. Thanks

So you see, it’s really easy. Most people say it more unhumble, but again if you’re just small and medium affiliate, just remember to be super polite. You know what I mean. 🙂

Can Your Blog Survive 2009?

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I know the title is a little funny for you guys and most of you will not even take it seriously. This is the first time my blog will face the month January , February, March, April and to be serious Im dead excited about it. It feels like I am going on to a fresh start. Im also thrilled because I have a plan already laid out for the blog in its first 6 months and I can assure you its gonna be exciting. There’s something in me that screams I should focus more on maintaining this blog more than anything else. 😉

Anyway back to the question. Actually its a question to a more broader bloggers/audience and not just for the readers of the blog. I know and I’m 80% sure of my top commentators and those who were following me since I started can survive. But then its like most just won’t. Yesterday I was reading my old posts and those people who commented on it. Some do not have the blog anymore but the domain is parked, some just stopped posting and seemed to have lost interest with it or maybe busy and unfortunately some have completely abandoned it. I can’t blame them (and you can’t) but its just like these things happen and sometimes its inevitable. There were times were I want to tell people that no matter how busy and crappy their life is they should still hold on to their blog. I’ve realized then its not fair to tell them that.

As some of you know, this blog is hosted on a monthly basis (via subscription) and while I am thrilled to experience paying monthly bills because its more challenging and hassle-unfree, maybe their’s a day where all of a sudden my paypal balance goes $0. You’ll never know. Right now, Im more inclined of receiving checks as a form of payment and in my country its not possible to transfer money from the bank to paypal. After all I realize that maybe I am in the same situation with most bloggers who were unsure about the future of their beloved blogs. But of course, thinking today, its goddamn impossible.. 😉

I see a lot of guys setting a goal for your blog and Im thrilled reading those things. But you see, things happen very quick! Maybe tomorrow my flip is gone, then next month my camera, then my computer! How about you, do you think you have everything it takes to maintain a blog for another year? Can your blog survive the year of the ox?

Are You Slacking Just Because It’s Holiday?

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With the Christmas getting closer and closer, I know most people are slacking, relaxing and have stopped working on generating more income for themselves. I know most are busy shopping and thinking of what to do this holiday season and I know some people are busy spending this holiday maybe in a romantic place to spend some time with their love ones? I know that all too well, because I am, too! 😉

Of course, it’s not really that I have not generated any sort of income this month but I just received some of the payments so I became lackadaisical. It’s really hard to work harder now because of a lot of things. First is that i was just coming off a bloody school week wherein we did defend our application project, we did some thesis which worth about 1000 pages, took exams that are mind boggling(somehow) and think of gifts to give for Christmas. And honestly it just made me think i need to take a break now for all the stuffs I am doing online. Just gotta relax for quite sometime

But then you gotta be thinking, “Melvin, I thought you’re business is autopilot?” Actually affiliate marketing could be and couldn’t be an autopilot business. Of course you can run campaigns and sleep but if you don’t pay much attention to it, chances are you’re not gonna make any revenue at all. So, another problem for me that hindered me from affiliate marketing is that my credit card isn’t functioning well. I mean Adwords have stopped my campaigns because they couldn’t get to process the payment through my cc. wtf! It’s like close to a month now and I don’t have a spare credit card and they don’t accept debit card payment here in Philippines. That’s why. It has also become apparent that my chances w/regards to winning some aff.marketing challenge has become thinner! What the fuck!

Anyway, with me slacking and doing nothing like an asshole I started to see the value of some of the things I do. First is my 3.5 ft coinbank. It hasn’t even reached the middle but when i opened it’s close to $80 which is nice since I just started it last month. Now I have extra $80 in case I need it for something. Also with my PPC campaigns getting paralyzed for the mean time, I have started to think creatively and do something different to make some pennies at least. For me its good because I have been w/pay per click for the rest of my life and have become dependent on it.

So w/us slacking this Christmas I don’t really see wrong with. Christmas is the time for relaxing and giving and whatsoever. Everyone is entitled to do what they want for this holiday. I might be slacking w/these things online but sure I never slacked w/my studies, sure I never slacked w/preparations for Christmas. I might have not made a lot for a month that most people think they should do the most but at least i know I can bounce back next year. So maybe I’m not slacking at all. 😉

Are you slacking w/your thing this Christmas?