Archive for March, 2009

Posted on March 30, 2009 - by Kelly Verge

Conduit Method Review Sites Battle it Out

I’ve been continuing work on a couple of Conduit sites that have been showing promising conversions. They’re both doing very well so far so I’m doing a side-by-side test of a couple of different tactics to drive more traffic to them.

Conduit Method sites are a specific type of review site based on individual product reviews on a group of products surrounding a niche. Conduit sites tend to work extremely well for products outside of the “make money online” niche. To see specifics and an example, check out Chris Rempel’s Conduit Method as well as his package of conduit-style templates/theme.

By their nature, Conduit Method sites pull in long-tail traffic very well. The more content (review pages) you have, the more long-tail results you’ll pull from. So for one of my sites I have been focusing on adding content (review pages) first. After I add a bit more content I’ll see how the traffic pans out.

So far I am finding that as I add content, the traffic for the site increases incrementally. Given the nature of these pages, I would expect that to be the case. All I’ve done for promotion on these pages is distribute the RSS feed when the site was created and throw out a few social bookmarks using SENuke each time I add a page. The bookmarking doesn’t seem to help the pagerank or SERP position for these pages, but it always helps get them indexed – usually within minutes.

For my other site (kind of a twin of the first site in a slightly different niche), I’ve only created 5 pages/reviews, and I’m focusing on a backlink campaign using the Triple Threat System as each new page is created. I’m finding that the traffic growth happens much faster working in this order. I create the review which is added to the site’s RSS feed as soon as it’s posted. Next I do a round of social bookmarking with SENuke. Finally I set up a Triple Threat module.

Eventually, assuming the Conduit site is built around a niche with plenty of products to review, a site promoted in this manner can’t help but becoming a sort of authority review site.

The best news about my testing is that the conversions are holding steady across both niches. This formula just works.

I’m a strong believer that review sites are the easiest way to succeed as a new affiliate marketer, and that Conduit sites are among the best styles of review sites.

What have your experiences been with review-style sites?

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Posted on March 28, 2009 - by Kelly Verge

Excellent Video Training Series – Internet Marketing 101

A couple of days ago I stumbled across an excellent training resource for those who are wanting to get started in Internet Marketing. I’ve been working with the creator and have ironed out a pretty amazing discount for my readers.

More on that in a bit.

First, this training is a video-based course that teaches a complete system for Internet Marketing using nothing but free resources. Many “serious” IM’ers would scoff at such a system saying that you have to spend money to make money. However, in my opinion, for those who are just getting started or for those who haven’t been able to make any profit yet, such a system is a real blessing.

This course consists of 30 videos covering every single step of this system in exacting detail. I’ve watched several of the videos, and I’m very impressed with the step-by-step detail of the training. Often video training can be full of fluff just to add to the perceived value. That’s not the case with this course at all. Every single video includes actionable steps that will help you build a business. Below is a sample so you can see the level of detail these videos go into:

This isn’t the only system that advocates the use of free resources. Two other notable and popular courses are Travis Sago’s Bum Marketing and the Thirty Day Challenge. Both are great for what they teach. Quite honestly however, this course takes the best of both of these methods and adds quite a bit more detail to them. In this course all of the blanks are filled in – this isn’t a course that’s being used to sell or push a higher-end product.

It’s not for everyone.

If you’re already making sales (even as few as 1-2 per week), I’d recommend focusing on testing and tracking so that you can ramp up what’s already working for you. If you’re here, you need focus, not another system to try.

On the other hand, if you aren’t making regular sales yet and would really like to get started in affiliate marketing, this course will help build a very solid foundation.

I mentioned a discount.

He sells this 30-part video course for $97. In my opinion, he’s under pricing it at $97 (and I’ve told him so). It’s worth every dime and more for those who need the instruction. However, if you enter the coupon code backlinkage in the small box just under the order button, you’ll be able to grab this course for only $37. There are many (MANY) ebook-based “courses” on basic Internet Marketing for that price if not higher that don’t even cover the material in two or three of these videos.

His sales page isn’t the best I’ve ever seen. However, if you take a look at the list of videos, you’ll get a great feel for exactly what is covered in this course. Each of those topics is covered in depth.

It’s not often that I wholeheartedly recommend a product to the extent that I’m recommending this video course, but if you’re wanting to start making money online and need a boost, you owe it to yourself to take a look.

Click here to visit Internet Marketing 101

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Posted on March 18, 2009 - by Kelly Verge

60 Blogs in Two Days

Last weekend I created over 60 blogs.

I’m putting the final touches on a linking strategy I’m calling the Triple Threat System. I put the system through its paces on Saturday and Sunday (hence the 60+ blogs), and I’ll know in a few days what the results will be.

I have a neglected site that’s been getting on average five visitors per day. I’m pretty sure that the results of this weekend’s work should push the traffic well over 100 visitors per day — perhaps much higher.

This system addresses a few specific things:

• Quality backlinks
• Quality visitor experience – I realize how strange that sounds when talking about mass-blogging
• Google-friendly
• Speed of implementation

While I was working through the system I was also creating documentation and recording screen captures. I’m pretty sure that with existing content (i.e. ghostwritten articles) I could work through the entire system in a day. That will be the next trial.

While the system isn’t fully automated, I did make use of two pieces of software that helped tremendously with the process.

First I used Incansoft’s RSSBot for submitting the various RSS feeds. I didn’t use my own RSS aggregating method because I want to have a minimal footprint. RSSBot makes this process very simple and fast.

Finally I used SENuke to bookmark all of the created sites. I made use of the spinner that’s built into the SENuke bookmarker and used quite a few new accounts — again to minimize the footprints. (I also used the article spinner that’s part of SENuke, but that’s really not a time saver since it’s just as easy to buy content.)

The Triple Threat System is a culmination of all of the backlinking research and testing I’ve been doing since I started in IM, and I’m pretty excited about how it’s turned out. I’ll keep everyone posted as I get close to completing the documentation.

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Posted on March 10, 2009 - by Kelly Verge

Review Sites Revisted

I keep getting asked questions about review sites.

I don’t mind answering because I believe that they are a great tool for affiliate marketers.

Review sites make it easy for visitors to make a buying decision.  Done right, the site provides honest unbiased information that the visitor can use to decide which product to buy.

These sites also help pull in traffic from the search engines via long-tail keywords. If your review is detailed and comprehensive, you’ll often be ranked for many phrases that you’ve never considered.

The most common question I get is where to find examples or themes or templates for doing clean and professional review sites.  These questions usually come from people who have tried to tweak free themes or templates to turn them into what would be needed for a review site.

I know that I’ve been a big proponent of Conduit sites (because they work), but for those who want a more traditional review site, I’ve found another resource.

The Review Site Store offers a very inexpensive ($15 each) selection of pre-built review sites.  Each site is pre-filled with content and reviews so that you could just drop in your affiliate link, upload the site, then start building backlinks.

To me, however, the real value of these sites is that you could easily swap out the header graphics and drop in reviews for any products you’re promoting.

The sites are very professional looking and present a clean streamlined look to your visitors. These are important things when you’re trying to get your visitors to take action – limit their options and make the actions easy to find.

$15 is dirt cheap for a template of this caliber, and considering that the sites come with content, it’s a real no-brainer.

Even if you’re capable of designing a site from the ground up, I recommend taking a look at the layouts he uses for inspiration.

Again, here’s the link: http://reviewsitestore.com

Let me know your thoughts!

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