Internet Marketing

Do You Appreciate Your Readers?

by Melvin · Sep 28, 2009

It’s kinda sad that most bloggers (even popular ones) don’t seem to show they appreciate they readers/audience. There is a big imbalance between bloggers wanting to get too much traffic and bloggers showing their appreciation to their readers. One crucial factor I think why blogs get loyal readers is the fact that readers feel appreciated and therefore they keep returning because they know the author “care” for them.

Many people misunderstood my posts about not caring for PM’s on contact form and not replying on blog comments as a proof that I really don’t give much value to my readers. It’s understandable but it’s totally untrue. The value that I place to the blog readers is the highest (higher than advertisers). Because no readers literally means no money made at all and no fun.

Well today I am going to list ways on how you can show appreciation to your readers and I hope you guys like it.

Read and reply to their comments – It sure did take long for me to realize this one. Contrary to what I believed before, its not true that readers comment on blogs and don’t come back anymore. It surprises me a lot of times when I replied to a comment that the readers comes back and say thanks for replying. Replying to every comment may look silly but it builds readership and loyalty.
Link out to them – Although its impossible to link out to all your commenters, giving a link love to some of their best posts can be helpful. Believe me, bloggers feel appreciated when someone links out to them, may it be a big blog or a small blog. Most people are afraid to give links because they don’t want to dilute their pagerank w/c is a lame reason. Readers > Pagerank/Metrics.
Ask for their opinion – If you’re a long time reader of this blog, there is a customary question and answer thing here wherein a reader can ask a question and me hopefully me being able to answer it. The mistake that most blogs do is they stuff their readers so much that they are an expert in their niche that their readers won’t anymore do anything which is completely wrong. Ask out your readers for something, post a poll or just simply encourage them to do interactions with you.
Give out incentives – Ok, so here I have never had given an ipod or a flip (and I think it’s far-fetched). The blogosphere is a tight community that every incentive received is a big thing. I can’t stress this more. It doesn’t have to be a physical product or a cash prize but anything that can be useful to them is a nice thing.
Show Social Media Love – I always feel good when someone retweets my post or stumbles something here and stuffs. Another good way to show your appreciation is to actually do the same for them. If you’re into social media (who’s not?), a simple digg, or some buzz on their article can mean a lot to them. Remember it’s ALWAYS giving first then receiving second.
Network With Them! – The reason I put the little social bookmark/network icon on the sidebar is to network more with my readers. Everything we are doing online is marketing. Marketing is not business, but it’s a function of the business. It helps big when you connect to your readers via other social means like Facebook, Friendfeed or maybe Youtube and etc. The good thing with blogging is that it enables us to maximize networking with other people w/c at the end leads to bigger business relationships, joint ventures or just simple friendships. If you’re not doing this, then you’re missing out a lot!

Showing your audience that you appreciate them is a big factor on having a successful blog, successful business. Sad state is that most people don’t even pay attention to it. What do you think? I would love to have your own take about it and you can do so in the comment form.

Note: Interestingly, all people who are in my top commentators list (@ sidebar) would be able to get a free advertising for one month. Just comment here and I would hook you up on something. Thanks. 😉

Affiliate Marketing in Blogs

by Melvin · Sep 16, 2009

It’s been quite a long time since I wrote something on a topic that is my favorite, talking about affiliate marketing. It happened so because of me acquiring and managing AffiliateHat.com and transferring all of affiliate marketing related stuffs to that blog and focusing more on general marketing and blogging tips here in this blog. But anyway today I would like to talk about a simple affiliate marketing topic w/c is about promoting offers in blogs.

Most people make the mistake of thinking affiliate marketing in blogs is just like affiliate marketing as a whole. Totally false. In promoting in blogs, you are more toned down, laid back and careful. When you use a blog, in most cases a make money online blog, you risk your reputation, unlike in the traditional, landing page–pay per click combination wherein people would not even know (or care) your true name and personality.

Another is when promoting outside the blog, the tactic tends to be more of hardselling whereas in blog, you’d more likely have to be transparent and honest to your readers.

Last year I made a post about why some bloggers make so much w/affiliate referrals and I got a lot of responses about it. The truth is, your conversion rate would depend on how reputed you are in your industry. I see a lot of big bloggers promoting shit products and I doubt that they don’t make any money with it. Why? Because they are famous!

Another big factor is how you write your reviews. Obviously, the only good way to promote something in your blog is through product reviews. Again most people do wrong with it by stuffing their readers too much to buy the product, making it obvious that they are being biased. What happens then is that readers get annoyed and leave.

You see, things are about different when you do use your blog as a marketing tool for affiliate offers. If you are looking out to use your blog as a tool for affiliate promotions, make sure you’re not doing it wrong, or maybe you should rethink of the strategies that you would use. Remember, it takes a lot of time to build a reputation online. But it only takes a while for you to completely ruin it.

Look, We’re Not Idiots Here

by Melvin · Sep 12, 2009

Note: This is a spontaneous rugged post with no proof-reading whatsoever..

Internet marketing is all about sales pitches and good copywriting skills. Those who make a good amount of income as a marketer usually do things right, good sales talk, then proper marketing. But 90% of people just don’t. I’m really very pissed off on how a lot of marketers do hardselling the ugly way. Of course hard selling is theoretically ugly but exaggerating it makes it then 1000% more ugly.

I have read a lot of pitches, either in a sales page, squeeze page, peel away, or just pop up javascript. They don’t lack the selling point, what they lack is realism. Most of them are thrashy and are fool in expecting prospective customers to buy their stuffs.

You probably have seen a package wherein you would pay the main product for $37 and then get bonus packages worth $5999 right? Well isn’t it hyperbolic? You’re not giving away that value of items, would you? Who’s fool would do a hardwork, get paid $37 per item, and give away $5999 value per item? None! That’s because it’s totally untrue.

Another is the bullcrap use of strikethrough where the price starts at $1000 and for some reason, goes down up to $10 w/some bullshit reason. Ok, the use of strikethrough is nice, in fact I have used it a lot in this blog and some sales page. But must be used in a realistic manner…

The problem with marketers today especially in the MMO niche is that most of them play things wrong. Look, you’re marketing your product, ebook, whatever to a fellow marketer. Whatever tactic you have, the other end knows it completely well! Well don’t market to me, I’m a marketer. What say you?

Your Blog Can’t Survive This Year

by Melvin · Sep 7, 2009

Early this year I made a challenge post about if your blog can survive 2009. The post was made specifically asking my readers and partly the blogosphere if they can sustain their blogs up to the end of the year and hopefully for life. Although most bloggers really can, there are several factors though that can still make it the other way around. Blogging is so cheap that any man making a minimum wage can pay for it without having a problem at all! The problem I think lies on other factors like lost of desire and passion, or simply being too busy and stuffs.

Well I was scanning pretty much of the blogs that used to be a loyal reader and some blogs that I used to visit and notice a lot of them have died (literally)… Here’s the long list (blogs in mmo niche) of them (most of you know them) and the reasons and stuffs:

SuiteJ.com (stopped blogging)
MoneyBites.com (stopped blogging, heck I even one several contests with this blog)
BlogSmartly.com (The owner was a promising teenager but for some reasons he just stopped posting)
SplendidKid.com (The owner was a fellow Filipino. It looks like he either had his blog hacked or database corrupted (no backup), hence has to start over.
BloggerVenue.com ( The blog was a promising one but he decided to sell it and the new owner just totally sucks.
TheGermz.com (Another student who has been super duper busy)
Blogsessive.com (Not died, but decreased his posting frequency to once a month, wtf?)
MakeMoneyDynamo.com (site had a thousand subscribers. Eventually, it looks like Jason just completely abandoned it… sad)
Flimjo.com (The guy was one of my first blogs to read because he blogs interestingly about how passive income and the usual misery of having a day job.. Stopped posting for a long time)
Courtneytuttle.com (Another established blog that seemed to just vanished off)
InternetBabel.com (I love this blog! Even when there’s a change of ownership I thought the posts were still great. Apparently Dave’s lack of posting and interaction (and theme change?) killed the community. from 60K alexa to 1M+ today, sad)
TheBlogEntrepreneur.com (Stopped Posting as well)
Green-Flamingo.com (The guy had struggles with maintaining this blog and have seemed to be tentative since then)
Blogriffic.com (The owner is experiencing health problems, get well soon Salwa)

I want to keep that longer but that’s it for now. Although it’s been stressed many times that blogging is just blogging and cannot be put ahead of more important things, it still feels sad to see a former blogger/reader stop blogging or struggle with it. The blogosphere is a tight and enjoyable community and that’s the main reason why it’s sad.

For the case of Blogsessive, CourtneyTuttle, DoshDosh, they really don’t need to post everyday, every week and stuffs. These blogs are authoritative blogs and they can go on w/o posting that much and still rank below the 50k mark of Alexa w/o any problems at all. My bet is that they’re getting a ton of organic traffic because they have their blog indexed really deep (both quality and quantity) on search engines.

But in most blogs, it’s really kinda sad. Of course we can’t say a blog is dead until it’s domain is already parked, but a blog w/a dead atmosphere and community is 3/4 dead anyway! The surprising thing is when you ask people time from time, they usually respond saying ‘yes they will be patient and can hold on with their blog for a long time’. At the end it just goes to show you how really unpredictable things are. Today, you’re blog is in top 100, the next month it’s for sale, the next few months its nearly dead, in a year all the content is completely wiped out and the domain is not even renewed. Things move very rapid. It’s profitable, all of a suddent its not. Of course, it’s still nicer if there’s such a thing as farewell post every time a blogger kills his/her blog. But that happens very rare…

What say you? Any other blogs to add in the list? Or if you’re one of the bloggers listed above, any reasons why you’re blog got killed?

Why Most Blogs Couldn’t Just Get It Going..

by Melvin · Aug 16, 2009

One reason why the ‘blogging tips’ niche is growing larger and larger and becoming more and more profitable is that because there’s still a huge number of persons/market that consume/need it. It’s no secret that a lot of people who have a blog or who is just trying to have their own blog is seeking to become a problogger, and make tons of money from their blog just like famous guys do. While there is an overflowing of good stuffs and content about blogging, a lot of people still couldn’t have it going.

While the rule of ‘reading too much, implementing less’ still follows, I think still almost 90% of the bloggers are not satisfied with the way their blog is performing. Either they feel they aren’t making that much money, or not a lot of people reads their blog or for whatever reasons. The truth about blogging for fame and for money these days is that providing good stuffs alone is not enough. I have read some blogs with really superb content yet they’re not getting the traffic (I think) they should deserve. They say content is the king but experience and observation tells otherwise. Here are some of the things that I realized why most blogs don’t just fly:

Bloggers are just idiots – No offense to the statement (I was thinking of a better way to express it). What I mean is that everyone starts out from scratch and is an idiot himself. Two to three months later, it’s either that a blogger has learned a lot (hopefully implemented what he learned) or is still an idiot just like when he started. The basic explanation in this is that blogging is like schooling. Some people never get to pass on some levels primarily because of their lack of knowledge (and drive maybe).
Lack of drive and determination – Please do take note that bloggers like Darren Rowse, Shoemoney and Chow had blogged for over a year without being recognized and now look where they are now! I could even testify that making a blog popular and profitable is easier these days rather than before. If you’re entering the blogging business, then make sure you have the necessary juice of determination and patience to keep it going for a long time. Do you really think you can handle blogging for a long time?
Not enough Marketing – Blogging is internet marketing, remember that! Carving out a successful blog includes giving out good content first, then finding a way to reach the most number of audience as possible. Sure it’s not hard to create good content but marketing and promoting what you got is something to really focus on. Content is the king no more! 30% content. 70% marketing.
No clear goal – This one should’ve been written first I guess. Anyway, everytime a person starts a blog and has no goal, it’s like driving without a map or like shooting the basketball with a blind fold. Make sure to set your objectives and goals on blogging. Are you going to just create a personal blog? Are you going to create a flagship blog that would boost your online brand? Or you’re just creating a blog to be flipped soon? Either way, a blogger really has to be clear on this one. Saying ‘I just want to start a blog period” is a retarded statement. Believe me.
Proper funding – Starting a blog is a low-risk investment I must say. But when one does start a blog that he intends to monetize later on, he must understand that a blog may not get its initial income return on it’s 6th month or even a year. I do really feel bad for a lot of my friends who do start it out alright, provides good content and then flop afterwards because of lack of budget. It’s either the site got suspended by its host or the domain just not renewed. $100 for a year is the safe number of budget needed. You’re gonna be needing more of course when you want to fast track your progress.
Afraid of trying Out New Things – Assuming you are NOT one of those things listed above, then you must not be afraid to try out new things. If you have a blog and its consistently getting 50-100 pageviews a day and is doing good interactions, are you just gonna stop there? Why not take your efforts a couple notch higher? Or try to experiment new stuffs? It’s a common misconception that when an experiment fails, expect tons of drawbacks. Don’t be afraid to try untested things, or to do something different. If you fail miserably, then chances are you’d benefit more in the long run, unless you’re an idiot. 😉
Not Building Relationships – In my guest post on ThouShallBlog about using blog as a reputation tool, I stressed how a blog can make you reputable and do a lot of good things more than just making money from it. Blogging is a very large, yet tight and accomodation community. I have met a lot of bloggers, talked with them and shared insights with them. Like any other business, building relationship with other bloggers within your community is a key. If you’re not then you’re missing a lot.

Building a ‘good blog’ takes more work than what you think, yet it’s not as rocket-science as building your own company or making a male baby. Remember the 7 things I listed above and make sure you enjoy what you are doing. If not, then maybe you should re-assessed whether blogging is for you. Feel free to share your own piece please.

Monetizing Your Local Traffic

by Melvin · Jul 5, 2009

Just a quick post today, I need more rest. 🙁

It’s so easy to monetize a local traffic from a website or blog if your country is in US or Canada. But if you’re like me who’s country resides on an unpopular Asian country, squeezing out something from your local traffic can be hard. If you’re trying to use Adsense and you have a ton of say, Asian traffic then I would say that is not a good idea. There are really few Adwords advertisers who target traffic outside US. why? Because the money is really inside the US (and countries close to it), sounds unfair? No.

Well the short answer is by selling your own product. The thing about local traffic is that they are usually more loyal than international traffic. It can be an info product, consultation or whatever, just make sure you are well-reputed in your country first before implementing it. Luckily for me, US is my largest referrer of traffic, followed by Australia, some Asian countries and then Philippines. At the start of this year, I really worked hard on getting more loyal followers that are Filipinos and so far I am seeing the benefits of it. Back on monetization, the second next option is direct ad sales, although it can be real hard since most local advertisers are also advertising international products targeted at bigger countries.

Any other ways you can suggest?

Is There Such A Thing As Overrated Blogs?

by Melvin · Jun 27, 2009

When blogging started almost a decade ago, no one really perceived it as something ‘useful’. Since blogs are just diaries that convey confessions and love stories, a lot of people don’t pay too much attention to it. Fast forward, blogs now have become a source for useful informations, a must-read if you’re going to make a decision or going to do something. Because of its evolution, people are now putting a high expectations in it. If you started a blog the right way, then all of a sudden get stucked with stuffs and started posting those ‘oh so personal’ posts, then people would now call you and your blog OVERRATED. Nowadays, people always EXPECT something.

Over the years a lot of what used to be good blogs are getting started to be labeled as overrated blogs. Name it, techcrunch.com, time.com, icanhazcheeseburger and plenty more others… The criteria for them is simple for ruling out that a blog is overrated. If a blog is well-trafficked, has a ton of good press around the internet yet its not really showing up good content for what it gets, then it’s easy to label the blog as overrated. For example shoemoney.com is a famous blog for this niche. It gets a ton of comments per post, sold out ad spots and humongous rss list. But it hardly (varies for different type of people) gives out helpful tips that are related to internet marketing (maybe except now, because he started the x thing membership). Does that make it overrated? You judge!

I have a mixed take on these so-called overrated blogs and the whole concept of this overrated thing. After all they are only blogs. And blogs aren’t required at all to post useful/helpful content right? It’s also not their problem that they got famous for posting personal stuffs or pictures of cat.s After all it seems like blogging goes back to what it really is before content-wise. Just play w/the game of blogging… My piece of advice as always is that never ever claim to be an authority. Unless you can commit to it for life..

How bout you? What are the blogs that you think are overrated? You think yours is overrated? or mine? 😀