Not been much to post up recently as I have been busy moving house, and was without broadband at home for quite a few days. It actually felt liberating to not have access to the net, except for a few stolen moments on dial up at a family member's place. Anyway, just getting my new place straight and ready before I resume with the monetisation mission.

Will be interesting to see how I enjoy working from the new home office I am setting up, because if it goes well I will give up my company office in Greenwich which will be a major saving.

Book-Club-Books.com
BusinessBrainstorm.co.uk
ChanceEncounter.co.uk
CityStart.co.uk
FreelanceProjects.co.uk
Life-Coach-Directory.co.uk
London-Computer-Support.co.uk
MindBodyTherapies.co.uk
MyReferrals.co.uk
OfficeRomance.co.uk
PMQS.com
Surrey-Computer-Support.co.uk
Text-Only.co.uk
WhatPhobia.com
YourBlackberry.co.uk

Some of these have previous lifes as websites, some of them were registered but I haven't got round to do anything with. If anything in the list floats your boat, contact me using the link in the side menu.

Labels: domain names

Some web users react strongly against monetisation of websites. I get the occasional glimpse of this on my website, What Process, which lists Windows processes with user contributions explaining what they are. I've linked up with the affiliate scheme for Win Tasks Pro software from Uniblue which is a nice fit with the content.

I get a lot of positive feedback on the site but sometimes, you get a response like this one tha twas posted on the site recently:

what the fuck is it? all u r doing is trying to sell wintask pro
fuck off prick

Posted by Fuck off

Being the geeky type that I am, I performed a tracert.exe command on the IP address and traced it back to the internal network of the electronics company, Philips. I can't help but wonder if their internet usage policy allows staff to spout filth on message boards, but I strongly suspect not.

I guess it's just a webmasters job not to over monetise a site and alienate users, and it's important to find the right balance, but in this case I think this guy was just plain offensive.

I was watching Field Of Dreams the other day, which is a great film. Kevin Costner's character wants to build a baseball diamond, and is told - quite movingly - "if you build it, they will come".

I thought I'd adapt that powerful statement towards affiliate marketing for anyone new to this and with a dream of making a living online.

"If you build it, they might come. They might click. And then some of them might buy. And then the network might track it. And then you might get paid"

Declined via Affiliate Window.
Accepted via TradeDoubler.

The crazy, mixed up world of affiliate marketing.

Paid On Results is a UK affiliate network with a decent helping of merchants to choose from. I recently signed up with a view to promoting LA Star Style which to be honest I havent personally found to be a strong performing program, but I've been generally impressed with the network itself.

The Merchants
There seems to be a nice mix of smaller, niche merchants and also well known names like Panasonic, Warner Breaks, Rymans, Euroffice, Freemans and La Senza. One merchant has the unfortunate name "The Turds" but I try to just scroll past that without looking as I have a sensitive stomach.

Link Options
There's all the usual range of banners in standard. Text links are nice and not too unwieldy, and data feeds are a joy to use.

There's also two great features which should be highlighted too.

Deep linking is a real doddle thanks to a nice little tool POR have. You assign Deep Link Creator tool to your browser bookmarks. Then you browse through the merchant site and find the page you want to deep link to. Click the bookmark you made earlier and you will be automatically taken to page which generates a deep link for you to that site. That's a great innovation.

Also, they have some great content units available. I saw a post on the A4u forum recently that previewed their next generation of content units and they are clearly above and beyond what I have seen offered elsewhere.

Reporting & Notification
Reporting is quicly updated and easy to understand. Changes to your account, like new merchants you have joined, get emailed to you in a daily digest.

Summary
Paid On Results is a great little network. Some of the merchants that I would likely promote are already on other networks I am using, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on POR for opportunities in new sites that I do in the future.

Find out more about Paid On Results

Labels: network review

There was a report yesterday that web users often won't wait more than 4 seconds before giving up on a website. This is of course a factor to consider when deciding what merchants to send your traffic to.

One company which surely must lose many potential customers because of this is DSG - the company behind Dixons and Currys (both on TradeDoubler). As you drill down through the categories on their sites, you eventually get to the point where it might show you some actual products. But before it shows you, you get a mad screen asking you to wait whilst it returns the results, and advises what to do if you wait more than 10 seconds. Well, the evidence is that users probably won't be prepared to wait 10 seconds anyway.

And if it was just the wait, that might be bearable because you might say that having chosen your categories, you will wait a bit longer to see the products. But it doesn't end there - if you use Firefox, after a few seconds you get a messaging from the browser saying it is waiting for a script to run, should it end the script or continue. From two different PCs at different locations, and on several occasions, the Dixons and Currys sites have now crashed my browser (FF2). This is the equivalent of throwing customers away.

It's surely amazing that in the run up to Christas, Britain's biggest electrical retailer can't operate sites that deliver product information in a timely fashion like just about every other major retailer manages to.

Labels: rant

So I considered it after my tea earlier, and decided that the old URL was a bit too literal and possibly there was unwelcome connotations to the phrase "affiliate schemes". And also, some of the online marketing I'm interested in doesn't really fall under the title of affiliate schemes - Adsense is still my biggest earner - so this new URL will hopefully suit the content better.

So goodbye affiliate-schemes.info and hello MonetiseThis.net - a continuation of my journey to make loads of money through online revenue.

I've used a 301 redirect from the old domain so hopefully this should all be rather painless!

I was reading an interesting thread on the A4u forum about what was the preferred term: affiliates or publishers. Some people were saying how the word affiliate had bad connotations in some quarters. And also "schemes" I guess could be off putting since it is so often used in the context of "pyramid schemes".

So I'm thinking I may have made a boo boo in choosing this domain name for the blog! I actually have a great idea for a new name, but the word has a different spelling in US than it does in UK so I've got a bit of a dilemma there too!

Only thing to do when there's a decision this difficult to be made - go and make a tea.

I conducted an email interview with Roger Elliott - the Managing Director of Uncommon Knowledge. Based in Brighton, they are the company behind HypnosisDownloads.com which is an innovative business offering hypnotherapy MP3s, and other hypnotherapy related services such as scripts and training. I started by asking Roger to explain a bit about his company, Uncommon Knowledge.

Roger: Uncommon Knowledge is a psychology training company in business since 1998. Prior to that, my business partner and I were training people in hypnosis since 1995. We train professional hypnotherapists in cutting-edge psychological techniques. In 2004 we started HypnosisDownloads.com selling single-session hypnosis mp3s as downloads.
The downloads consist of a short introduction talking about the topic of the session, then move into a hypnosis session. We now also sell the scripts of the downloads, not for therapists to read verbatim, but because we had many requests for them as sources of ideas.

Your hypnosis downloads offer a massive saving on the cost of seeing a hypnotherapist in person. Do you believe the downloads can be as effective as receiving hypnotherapy in person?

No, they can't be as effective as seeing a good hypnotherapist. But then, when you consider the fact that all some hypnotherapists do is read scripts to their clients then you start to wonder. That is something we at Uncommon Knowledge are completely against. To be effective, a therapist must be competent and flexible enough to respond to each client in a unique way, to the unique human being that they are. Reading scripts to them is like production line therapy. That's why we teach our hypnotherapists to be fluent in hypnotic language.

People may have some preconceptions or ideas about what hypnosis is like, based on things they have seen on TV. Could you explain what the hypnosis process feels like for someone listening to a hypnosis download?

Generally speaking, the listener will experience relaxation that makes them turn their attention more inward, like when you are falling asleep at night. However, they will usually maintain an awareness of where they are and what is happening, and retain control of whether they continue with the session or not. The relaxation and sense of wellbeing will increase as the session progresses. The more often they go into hypnosis, the better they will get at it until they are able to enter hypnosis at will - an extremely useful skill to have.

I saw on your website that you offer a no quibble refund, which must let people feel like they can buy without taking a risk. Do you get many requests for refunds or is there a good satisfaction rate with the products?

Our satisfaction rate is over 99%. Any product that has a higher than average refund rate we rewrite and re-record. We are highly focused on creating the highest quality hypnosis on the Internet.

Turning now to the affiliate program you run: How long have you operated an affiliate scheme and what kind of impact has it had on your business?

We have operated an affiliate program since the outset and it contributes a significant part of our revenue. Our affiliates are very important people to us!

Can you summarise the rewards available for your affiliates?

Sure. They get 35% of sale on all download products and our membership section and 25% on shippable products.

Do your affiliates get rewarded for recurring sales from the same customer?

Yes, our cookie is 365 days, and our membership section, the Growth Zone is a monthly payment model. Affiliates get paid every time a subscriber of theirs pays an instalment.

How many affiliates do you have at the moment?

Thousands, but only a proportion of those are active, as with any affiliate program. I'm sure more would be active if they really knew what they were missing!

What is your most popular product?

Our Self Confidence Booster and Self Esteem Booster downloads consistently make the Top Ten.

The affiliate scheme is independently run. What made you decide to use that route rather than go with an affiliate network?

At the time I think it was cost, but I'm glad we did. It allows us to retain control of the program and cuts fees, allowing us to pass on more to our affiliates.

I think I'm right in saying that the power of suggestion is important in hypnotherapy, which you are obviously skilled in. I'm guessing this skill must translate well for creating good sales copy and web pages with high conversion rates?

Well your powers of flattery are well-developed ;-) We work hard on our conversion rates - we're always testing. If any of our affiliates can get a better conversion rate on any other hypnosis affiliate program I would love to hear about it. I think it's highly unlikely.

Your product is available for instant download. Presumably you have affiliates and customers from all around the world?

Yes indeed we do. Although we're a UK-based company, the majority of customers and affiliates are from the US.

Do you have any plans to further develop your affiliate scheme in the future? What about a product feed?

We're about to launch a groovy site search for affiliates. A product feed is something we've considered but we haven't had that much interest from existing affiliates. We may do that in the future I guess.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Roger!

Find out more about HypnosisDownloads.com

Labels: affiliate, independent, interview

Amazon are running a competition to see who can best integrate the aStore into their own website.

Associates can win from a total prize pool of £2750. The prizes are as follows:

• First place: £1000
• Second place: £750
• Third place: £500
• Special award: Best Christmas/Holiday-aStore: £500

Prizes will be awarded according to how creatively aStore features are used and how well the aStore is integrated in to the Associates’ site. The winners aStore should be integrated as seamlessly as possible into your overall website’s look and feel.

Log into your Amazon Associates account for more info and conditions.

Labels: amazon

I had a sale out of the blue from Prezzy box earlier on Affiliate Window. Reminded me, I really have to have a decent gift site up soon and Prezzy Box are probably one of the best firms to partner with.

I took at the affiliate scripts which I have listed, and thought, they look damn good, and I'm kind of busy on other things so it would be great to just get something online pronto. So I've made a £20 quid punt, purchased one and uploaded it to my Gift domain.

Going to be intriguing to see what kind of return I can get on £20 if I get the traffic to it.

I was watching the moderately amusing Catherine Tate show the other day. She mentioned a website in one of the sketches with the url "bummedbytheboss.co.uk". I was at the PC so quickly checked the Whois info and was suprised to see it available, so registered it as quick as I could through 123reg, thinking that it would be a useful acquisition at £6 considering the domain will often be quoted in episode repeats and DVD sales, and some people may be curious enough to check the site out.

All went through OK so I quickly made a little redirect page that took the visitor to an Amazon page selling Catherine Tate stuff. I went to upload it and realised that domain was now pointing at someone else's parking page. So I assume someone else had the same idea and registered it at near enough the same time and managed to beat me to the punch, even though the sale went through for me.

Makes me wonder what the process is for when two people attempt to register a domain at the same time? Also makes me wonder if I can cope with the shame of approaching 123reg and asking for a refund on my attempt to register "bummedbytheboss.co.uk". Oh, the indignity.

New site. Old site. New site. Old site.

Sometimes it's a really tough call where to spend your time: on that hot new idea that could be the one, or that last hot idea that really should have been the one.

I've got quite a few sites which I know i need to revisit because they probably have the potential to do well but it's so easy to get seduced by a new idea for a site.

One of my existing sites is a directory of computer support companies. I got the impression from the members that they didn't believe they ever got any business from it, which I found a little strange because the site is #2 on Google.co.uk for "computer support" and #1 for lots of queries like "computer support in countyname". So I spent time this week setting up the functions to record all click throughs to members sites, so the activity from the site is clearly recorded. I also gave it a bit of an aesthetic make over.

Once it was looking a bit more professional, I set up the facility to have paid for premium listings which appear bigger and above other companies. I was pleased therefore to sell my first sponsored listing that same day. And if I can sell the ad space on other pages - there's a page for each county - it will be a nice new revenue stream from an old site.

       

Permalink // posted by Rob @ 4:13 PM 0 Comments

Well, not so much a wishlist as a suggestion.

It would be really useful to get RSS feeds for the top 10 sellers in all the main book categories. This would make it easy to embed Waterstones stuff as useful content, and not just as banners. If and when they get a product feed sorted, it will probably be huge and I doubt I'll touch it. But some top 10s would be cool and useful.

Waterstones is actually one of my favourite shops, and I do love to check out the different aisles and make some impulse purchases. I was in the Bluewater branch recently and meandered over to the business section and was taken aback to see a smelly tramp-like figure slouched in a leather arm chair, fast asleep. Naturally I retreated to safer ground (Foreign Dictionaries and Atlases). I saw two members of staff finally twig him and walk over. Readying myself for the inevitable confrontation, I watched on eagerly. So imagine my disappointment when the staff turned around and walked back, with one muttering to the other "He's not doing any harm".

Hello? Not doing any harm?? He's dissuading decent people who might actually buy a book (ie me) from checking out that section. Very poor show from Waterstones Bluewater. But if there's any tramps reading (how??!) and you fancy a comfy chair, it seems Waterstones Bluewater is the place to go.

Rant over.