I’ve Jumped Into The Adsense Promotion Thing
Posted by Mitch on Apr 30, 2008
Well, it seemed to make sense, so I’ve now officially become an affiliate for Joel Comm’s Adsense programs, especially his Adsense Secrets 4.0 book. I wrote a review of it on my Reviews of Everything site if you’re interesting in learning more about it.
So, now you’ll understand why I have the affiliate link below; I never said I didn’t enjoy the book, or that I didn’t learn anything from it, when I wrote about the bit of controversy a little bit ago. So, read the review, then think about buying the book. Or just click on the ad below and go to the site on your own.
Getting Into The XP Vs. Vista Debate
Posted by Mitch on Apr 29, 2008
After over a year of marketing, Vista hasn’t come close to the numbers that XP did early on. While most people are saying that this makes Vista one of the worst operating systems ever, people seem to be forgetting two things.
The first thing is that there was this abomination called Windows ME that almost no one purchased, so to speak. That’s because around the same time Microsoft also released Microsoft 2000, which was supposed to be more for servers than personal computers, but turned out to be the most stable platform they’d had to date, such that many people decided to load it anyway, and it worked wonders. I know because I was one of those people, and I loved it.
The second thing is that people have short memories, so many of them are forgetting that the initial version of XP wasn’t exactly manna. It had a lot of bugs and changed a lot of things, and many people refused to let go of Windows 98 because they just didn’t trust XP. For me, I refused to let go of MS 2000 until 2004, and only then because they had come out with the second service pack, and therefore had cleaned up all the mess that was contained within the original OS.
I have to admit that there are some cool looking things on Vista, but I’ve learned with many other things that jumping on the new kid in town when it comes to my computer isn’t always a wise thing. I’ve lost that thing about having to have the newest thing on the market; I want someone else to discover the bugs, hope that they’re corrected, then I’ll come and play along. That’s how I’m treating Vista at the moment. I’ve heard the first service pack didn’t take care of enough things, so I’m content to sit back and remain with XP for awhile longer.
But I just wanted to remind everyone that we weren’t always so happy with XP either.
Trying An Adwords Campaign
Posted by Mitch on Apr 28, 2008
Trying to build upon my attempt at marketing my new ebook, I’ve decided to try to run an Adwords campaign for it. I’ve set myself up with the starter program, rather than the standard package, mainly because I’m not ready to deal with all the extras that the standard package gives you. I wanted to start slow, see what happens, and then see how I feel about it all.
This isn’t my first attempt at using Adwords. I first used this same program to market my first book, Embrace The Lead, where I had many clicks but didn’t make a single sale. Then I tried to use it to market my Evaluation Module, but got very few clicks. I ran each of those for three weeks, then discontinued it.
This time around, I’m not sure how long I’ll be running it. My first thought is that this may be more useful to more people, and therefore I might get more clicks on it. The second thought is that it looks like I’m being hit for $1.05 for each click, and with what I’ve budgeted, that’s not going to get me all that far. I know the ad is showing up because it tells you how many impressions there are, which means how many times the ad is showing up on their advertiser pages, so I know it’s showing up. And one of the difficulties you have is that you get three lines, the first line 25 characters, the next two 35 characters each. One really has to be creative about this sort of thing.
So, we’ll see how effective this all turns out to be. I’ll keep you posted.
Someone Else’s Top 20 Blogs
Posted by Mitch on Apr 27, 2008
I don’t know this guy’s name, but on his blog titled Money and Success (great name, don’t you think?), he recently posted his list of 20 sites that will help you learn more about online marketing that he calls Top 20 Blogs You Should Read To Improve Your Online Business. I went through the list and checked out every single site, and they’re all good. I added 15 that I’m going to be tracking from this point on with the program I use for following feeds, called
Great list; one day I’ll know your name, but until then, thanks!
I also have to thank my wife’s cousin for sending me the link; thanks Pat!
Wordpress Automatic Update Plugin
Posted by Mitch on Apr 27, 2008
This blog was created using the Wordpress software. I think this is pretty good stuff, and I recommend it to everyone. One thing they do often is update the software to provide protections against the sneaky guys who are always looking for new ways to break into your system. I love that; what I didn’t love was figuring out each time how to get it done, because I’d always forget the process and have to figure it all out again.
Then I came across this today, and I guess it’s actually been out since last year. I learned about it off another site, with the topic being Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin, and man, what a wonderful find. Basically, it allows you to activate the plug in, decide whether you want things to run automatically or manual, and off you go.
I’m a slight control freak (don’t ask my friends about this one), so I chose “manual”. And, I’m serious, in just under a minute I had upgraded from 2.3.1 to 2.5.1 safely and securely. It offers you the opportunity to back things up as you go along, just in case there are problems, but I had none. Very smooth experience.
So, this one is easy to recommend if you’re running a Wordpress blog; get it now.
Watch Out For Secret Shopper Scams
Posted by Mitch on Apr 21, 2008
Just because some of us can spot a scam a mile away doesn’t mean everyone can. I’m usually pretty good, as in the case I’m about to tell you about, but I know I’ve been at least confused a couple of times by something. However, I’ll then do some research on it to figure out just what’s going on. For others,… well, if they know me, you know who they come to. 
Such is the case of the letter that came to a friend of my wife’s. She had applied to some people to become a secret shopper. For those who don’t know, some companies hire people to go shop in their stores, then report back to the company how they were treated, what the store looked like, or any other comments that are requested. This is an industry that’s estimated to generate nearly $600 million in revenue a year in the United States; ouch.
Anyway, the woman was suspicious for one reason, luckily; they sent her a check to start off with, for $3,850.00. I’m not exactly sure how much real secret shoppers get up front, or even if they get paid up front, but that certainly is an odd amount. So she showed it to my wife, who brought it home to me.
The first thing that struck me is that the business name and the corporation name weren’t the same. Also, the corporation address was listed as being in New York City, but I didn’t immediately recognize the area code, which, upon research, I learned was in Canada. Nope, that didn’t jibe.
Now it was time to look up the companies listed. The first one I looked up was Monster Market Place. And there is a company with that name, but it’s an online company that’s actually a shopping directory. Nothing about secret shoppers there, but a host of news stories come up talking about the topic of scams and what they term “monster market place”.
So, the scam had been outed, but I needed to make sure. So I looked up the second name, Lamarche Associates, and there is a company with that name; an independent insurance company with offices in 4 states, but none of those offices in NYC.
Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you about the letter. This was the “deal”. They wanted the shopper to go into a specific store to test out how well they handled the process of wiring money through Western Union. The amount they were supposed to wire was only $250, yet they were getting a check for the amount I mentioned above; very much overkill. And come on, a wiring money test? Who’d fall for that, right?
Well, it seems a lot of people all across the country are falling for that. One of the news stories highlighted a guy who got a check for $2,500, kept $250 and wired the rest of it to the number he was given; yup, bogus. And, unfortunately, you have to pay back the bank; this guy was already out of work, so he took a major hit.
Don’t fall for obvious scams, folks. As always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are a couple of websites you can go to in order to learn about legitimate secret shopping gigs. One is the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, and another is Volition. Secret, or mystery shopping, doesn’t pay well, but some people think it’s fun.
It’s Launch Day!
Posted by Mitch on Apr 21, 2008
It’s launch day for my new ebook Using Your Website As A Marketing Tool, and the special introductory price is only $9.95.
Just so anyone who read the previous post on this topic knows, this link is different than the other one. It went to a pre-launch page that will be gone in a day or so; this one goes directly to the book.
And, because, for once, I want to highlight myself, no extra ads on this one.
Rapping About Web Design
Posted by Mitch on Apr 20, 2008
Every once in awhile you come across something that you just have to share with the world. In this case, yeah, a second video in a row, but this one is instructional. I’m not quite sure who this guy is, or where his original website is, but what he does is “rap” about the basic structures of good web design. And it’s not bad:
I got it off a site called QBN, which looks pretty interesting and weird in its own right. Check it out; there’s plenty to see.
Pulp Fiction? Not Quite
Posted by Mitch on Apr 18, 2008
I’ve sometimes wondered if many of the top movies would have still made it if they’d been cast with different people. Often I hear how one person was wanted, but they turn down a part for some reason, often becaue they end up making another movie that was much worse.
In this case, I’m thinking that I would have appreciated the casting about as much as the original, if not more:
Even The Big Time Marketers Make Mistakes Sometimes
Posted by Mitch on Apr 18, 2008
It would seem that, sometimes, even the big boys, the ones who really know what they’re doing, might make a misstep.
I subscribe to a weekly newsletter written by a lady named Lynn Terry called Self Starter Weekly Tips, which gives tips on internet marketing; I’m always trying to learn more from someone who’s already there.
A couple of days ago, she sent out a newsletter promoting the new book by Joel Comm (perfect name for an internet marketer, don’t you think?), a big time internet marketer who’s knows as the “Adsense Guy”. He’s known by this name because he is probably the first guy to become a millionaire by using Adsense.
Anyway, in one of her emails, she mentioned that he had a new book out, and that, instead of charging what he normally does, which is around $97, he was having a major league sale and only charging $9.95. Heck, this sounded like a great deal to me, so I clicked on the link and went to the page so I could check it out. And it looked pretty good, I have to say. However, I’d had an experience with something else I’d purchased from his site many months ago, where I had inadvertently been signed up for something on a monthly basis, and didn’t notice it on my bill until I couple of months later. Seems you get automatically enrolled in one of his special programs that they don’t charge you for in the first 30 days, then hit you up with the fee afterwards. So I went looking through all the add-on deals, and there it was, plain as day.
I decided to pass on the deal. Sure, you can cancel at any time, but I have all sorts of things going on, and I didn’t want to take any chances of something happening like it did the last time.
Yesterday Lynn sends out a follow up email mentioning this very thing, which she indicates that she herself had missed. And she had a link to her blog so that we could all read more about it. I decided to go there, and saw how some people had commented on the topic. I also noticed that Joel himself has joined in the fray, which I think is kind of neat because one wouldn’t expect a big time internet marketer to pop onto someone else’s blog to defend himself.
Still, he’s having to defend himself, and he’s taking a lot of heat because of the way he’s set this thing up. And I’m kind of surprised by it; not that people are complaining, but that this interaction keeps occurring, and that someone who’s supposedly as savvy as Joel wouldn’t just think about pulling that particular “offer” after seeing how many people are angry about it. Of course he has a defenders, people who have purchased other products and services from him, but they’re in the minority, and they’re also missing the part.
People don’t like add-ons that could possibly cost them money later on, especially when they don’t know about it. We don’t mind joining membership sites, but we really like it to be our choice. Also, the sales page is extremely long, and if you’re not someone who regularly reads all of the copy on pages like that, you’d have missed it because it was almost all the way at the bottom, the very last thing mentioned as a “giveaway”. It’s not in small print, but it might as well have been.
So, even the big boys make a misstep every once in awhile; I feel a little bit better this evening.
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