Do Directories Help Traffic?
When I first started this blog back on Blogger last summer, I somehow got the idea that listing my blog in as many directories as possible was the way to go. I don’t think I read this anywhere but I think my theory was that as many links I could get to my website as possible would be good. I eventually amassed a very large collection of directory listings in my sidebar. The 80×15 banner was my attribution of choice, which I displayed proudly like a badge of honor.
When I made the switch over to WordPress, I kept the directory listings for awhile but I realized that I didn’t really see any traffic from any of these directories. Most of my traffic comes from various social networks & direct visitors, as it did then as well. So I decided the space was too valuable to clutter up with 20+ little directory buttons. I also felt like the only people benefiting from these buttons and reciprocated links on my blog were the directories – not me.
It’s been a month now that I’ve been on this new home of mine and I’m starting to wonder if I did the right thing. I wonder if that “every little bit helps” method I had before was correct, and I got too full of myself in thinking that I didn’t need these links anymore.
So what have you found with directories? If anyone reading has any experience with listing themselves in the many blog directories there are around there on the net I’d love to hear it – please share!
Read MoreWho’s on YOUR A-list?
What does it mean to be on the A-List? It’s subjective, I’m sure… A-List can be different depending on the industry, niche, subject, category, you name it. An actor on the A-List would never show up on the A-list of an affiliate marketer.
My A-List is pretty much the same people who appear in my sidebar links – I’ve chosen to give them the link love. Most of which are affiliate marketers like Shawn Collins, Missy Ward, Sam Harrelson, etc. But I’ve also got to give shout outs to some other good blogs out there like those belonging to Linda Sherman, Jim Kukral, and Andy Beal. These are the blogs I learn the most from, and these people are my A-Listers.
So who’s on your A-List? Give them some love & a shout out!
Read MoreJoel Comm – Scummy or Chummy?
A bit of a scandal broke out last week regarding AdSense guru Joel Comm’s latest eBook offering – AdSense Secrets 4. The landing page as you can see is one of your typical sales pages that usually screams of scam – at least that’s my usual impression of pages like this. Mark Wielgus from 45n5.com noticed many trusted bloggers and affiliate marketers blogging about this book and it’s greatness – people like super affiliate Zac Johnson and Affiliate Summit co-founder Shawn Collins. Mark was ready to go ahead and buy the book, until he noticed the fine print (figuratively…) on the page – when you buy the $9.95 eBook you were also automatically enrolled in a $29.95/mo. program to receive a newsletter with more tips & such from Joel.
To make a long story short since I linked to Mark’s post in last Friday’s Cribbed Content, he called Joel & this offer out as a scam and was none too happy about it. Joel swung by 45n5.com to explain himself – apparently there were glitches with the landing page and the shopping cart process that combined what was originally intended to be an opt-in offer (the $29.95 newsletter) with the main offer of the eBook. Some of the commentator’s over there are still not convinced that Joel’s being honest about the mix up considering his many years in the field – the “he should have known better” argument.
But the good news is that Joel, in either an effort to make good by a screwy landing page or an effort to save his ass from bad PR, has offered to make it up to people who feel like they were duped. Zac Johnson seems to have the scoop – he corrected the landing pages (well, no duh), added some “Fast Action Bonuses”, and for the next two weeks will be donating 100% of the profits to charity. Wade Tonkin over at Christian Affiliate Marketers just today posted a podcast chat he had with Joel about the offer & spam accusations. Again, whether this is an honest apology or an attempt to save face, it’s still a good gesture and good deal.
The moral of the story? Accusing an internet marketer of spam is akin to accusing a home run hero of corking his bat. Keep this tale in mind the next time you formulate a marketing campaign or launch a new product. Do what you can to make sure that there’s nothing shady, underhanded, or illegal about your offer – or anything that could remotely be considered as such. It’s a good thing to have the blogosphere talking about you, but not when they’re roasting you on a spit.
Read MoreA Thorn in My Side
By all accounts, I was certain that moving my blog over to WordPress and onto my own domain was the right thing to do. Many (if not all) online marketers lately are preaching the personal branding… so what better than to move it over, right?
I’ve noticed since the move that my RSS subscriber numbers have dramatically dropped. At first I thought that this was just FeedBurner asleep at the wheel again, but now I’m not so sure. Google Analytics shows a pretty significant drop in visitors as well, but I see today that it’s actually picking back up a bit. My Entrecard point price for an ad has gone from in the 50s range down to 18 today.
In the words of Grant Wilson, what the frig? I’m still writing the same content, if not better with the random addition of videos. Is this just a curve that will pick back up again once people get acclimated to the new site? I can’t imagine that the design is affecting subscribers since they never have to see the design, or visitors since they don’t see the design until they get here. The average time visitors spend on the site is slowing moving up, so I don’t think the design is a factor.
Am I missing the obvious? I’ve received good feedback from some people in the industry that I really respect. I respect their opinions based on my interactions with them via social media and also based on their reputations and the collection of work they’ve amassed in the blogosphere and online marketing. So what gives?
Read MoreNoFollow vs. DoFollow
First, the definition, courtesy of Dot Traffic Glossary:
Nofollow
A website can direct a search engine spider not to follow a link that appears on it. The idea being that the target website’s ranking will not influence the website indexed. Nofollow attribute values are most often used on sites with user generated content, like user comments and blogs.
Dofollow is basically the opposite of this. Many bloggers refer to this as link love. By allowing the search engine spiders to follow those links, you’re increasing their page rank status and allowing their ranks to influence your rank. Which is not what you want if you’re looking to increase your page rank, necessarily.
There’s a debate raging amongst bloggers and it seems like most smaller blogs are going the Dofollow route. By spreading the link love you’re helping out your fellow bloggers, who are more inclined to reciprocate. Blogroll’s are a prime opportunity for this. The larger bloggers don’t seem to be weighing in on the issue (at least not from what I’ve seen) so perhaps for a blogger with a larger audience they couldn’t care one way or the other.
Since this is a bit outside my expertise, I’ll admit, I posed the question to my 59 Twitterati followers for their opinions:
Shawn Collins of Affiliate Tip: “Event with nofollow in my blog comments, the comment monkeys constantly attack with their spam.”
Scott Jangro of MechMedia: “I’ve been fighting so hard with the spammers recently, I’m starting to question my own long-time use of dofollow.” He also added “I agree with Sam on the size of the blog though. Mine was until the past few days a PR6 which has me on every must-spam list.”
Sam Harrelson of ReveNews & Affiliate Fortune Cookies: “I’m all in favor of spreading the love, but there are SO many gamers out there that it makes DoFollow really unsustainable.” He followed up to say “Would just add that if it’s a small blog, you might make dofollow work. As it grows, it’s just too hard.”
Of course, these opinions totally fall in line with that I’ve observed in looking around. The little guys are all for dofollow to get the word out, but once you cross that line you become a “comment monkey” target. Scott Jangro wrote a really reflective post about it back in February called Attack of the Comment Monkeys (don’t know how I missed it from the RSS feed…).
I think one thing all bloggers and internet marketers in general can agree
on is that Spam is a problem. Not only is it definitely annoying, but it also pollutes the well (as Jason Calacanis pointed out in his keynote at Affiliate Summit West last month). It makes a lot of legitimate internet marketing look bad, and it’s a fine line before someone misunderstands persistent follow up and due diligence for the dreaded SPAM label.
Where do I stand? Long time readers of this blog will note that I use links a lot in my posts. Basically I do this for two reasons: 1. I like to give readers an easy reference of what or who I’m talking about. 2. It’s just nice karma. This blog is hosted by Blogger, and according to their Help Center they automatically add the nofollow tag to the templates. Which is probably why I have a page rank of 0.
So I’m going to edit my template as an experiment. For anyone else curious on how to do this for blogger, there’s a great tutorial online here. Let’s see what happens, shall we?
Read MoreThe “it” site Snapbomb
It seems that on a daily basis there are more and more opportunities for bloggers to make money. I was Stumbling around earlier and found a blog post about SnapBomb from a blogger than I tend to take pretty seriously, LaTease Rikard. Usually she’s pretty on the mark about opportunities out there, including signing up for the PsPrint Affiliate Program!
So I went to check out the buzz about this and it’s the easiest thing I’ve done in awhile. The interface is super easy to understand and there’s no lengthy approval process like other pay per post/sponsored review sites. I don’t have a lot of experience with this as I’ve never written a paid post in my life, but from reading other bloggers around the blogosphere, most paid per post/review sites are a bunch of hoops to jump through. It’s refreshing to see something so straightforward out there.
Now SnapBomb is not going to make you a millionaire overnight. From what I can see the starting pay rates are between $5-10 when you start out. But for prolific writers there’s definitely a chance to make some extra scratch there. And I’m sure most bloggers who are attempting to make money from their blogs appreciate every dollar they can get. It’s also a good vehicle for blog marketing.
I encourage anyone looking for some extra dough to check it out at www.SnapBomb.com and poke around.
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