Affiliate Websites – Good or Bad?

Posted by admin on Apr 15, 2012 in Op/Ed | 0 comments

I got to thinking about affiliate marketing and wondering why many people have a negative view on it. I also wonder why Google has an issue with them. Most of the time Google will not allow you to run ads on their AdWords system if you are running an affiliate site. Let’s talk about Google for a minute.

In my experience, Google does not allow you to run ads on AdWords if you’re running a site that contains nothing but affiliate products/links. Google gives us a vague explanation as to why. They essentially say that they are trying to do what’s best for the person doing the search. They are trying to give us the best possible result. And that sounds perfectly fine to me at first glance. But let’s delve into this a little further…

The companies, Fortune 500 to mom & pops, that are members of affiliate networks have voluntarily joined them. They want to have lots of online sales people hocking their products for them. In return they agree to give the sales person a commission for their hard work. Yes, it is hard work.

So, what’s the problem? Who loses here?

Company X selling their widgets? Nope, they factor the commission into their pricing, sell a lot of products, and rely on their branding and customer service to keep the customers coming back. Nothing new about this concept!

Sales people? Nope, they are paid for their hard work including; building websites, making them search engine friendly, make them look professional, make it easy to find products, write good sales copy, analyze what folks are searching for (what They want) and optimize the pages for SEO (Google). You know, good old fashioned hard work. Nothing new here either!

The customer? Nope, they find what they are looking for. In many cases, the customer now has the added benefit of going to a store (affiliate site) that contains different brands of similar products in categories with different prices. Sounds like shopping at a department store to me. Once again, nothing new.

This sounds like good ol’ capitalism to me.

So, then why does Google have a problem with affiliates running ads on their sites? Hmm… Like my dad always said, “Follow the money”.

Is Amazon an affiliate website? Of course it is! They don’t make any products themselves. They sell other people’s products and take a commission. Nothing wrong with that. They literally spend millions each month on Google AdWords alone. Amazon also has their own affiliate network. An affiliate network within an affiliate network! Guess what? They are allowed to run Google AdWords all day long.

Is eBay an affiliate website? Of course it is! They don’t make any products either. Guess what? They spend millions and run Google AdWords all day long.

Do you think it has something to do with money? Greed? Collusion? One hand washes the other? You bet.

So, what’s the problem with this scenario? Who loses here? This certainly makes Goliath an even bigger, fatter monster. Your choices are now more limited. But, do you really lose? And, what do you lose? I’m not sure. It’s all starting to become so grey.

If you can’t beat them…join them.

All I want to do is make a decent living, feed my family, and enjoy life the way I want. Don’t you?

So, I’ve built a few affiliate websites for myself. Guess what? I’m selling products for the large corporations I just talked about. Oh, the hypocrisy of it all. But, here’s my view on the subject.

By purchasing thru an affiliate, you’re actually helping the economy. The large businesses we’re selling for will ultimately sell more of their products. In turn, they will have better buying power and be able to offer more choices and lower prices to you as the consumer.

We as responsible affiliates need to offer authentic products from reputable companies. We need to work hard to make sure we’re selling real products from real companies. What’s wrong with giving an honest working man a small cut for his efforts in bringing you to within a few clicks of purchasing the product or service you’re looking for? If we point you in the right direction, then everyone wins!

So, don’t get upset when you go to a site that has the product you’re looking for and it takes you to another website so you can make your purchase. You’re going to pay the same price no matter what. Why not intentionally find an affiliate site and help your fellow 99% make some money in the process? It’s already factored into the product price. Isn’t it better to give that chunk of change to a worker than a large corporation? Just sayin…

Oh, I guess I should give you links to my affiliate sites. Just in case…

http://www.baskets-n-more.com/

http://www.save-on-petsupplies.com/

Send me your comments on the subject. I’d love to hear them!

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2011 – A Year to Remember

Posted by admin on Dec 18, 2011 in Op/Ed | 0 comments

Another Year Over…A New One Just Begun [John Lennon]

It’s been a helluva year hasn’t it? From the crazy political climate to the high unemployment rate. The middle east conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, Israel, and on and on. The occupy movements sprouting up all over the world. CEOs taking an average wage increase of 35%. And, the killing and exploiting of peoples all over the world is still a way of life for many. It’s hard to find a positive note, except for those very cool flash mobs. But, I think I have.

As corny as it sounds, I think love is still the answer. It’s difficult to explain this thing called love. It’s something that is a win-win for everyone. When you give it, you get it back. When you do something out of love for another person, it’s amazing what can happen to the person. Even a small gesture can change a person’s life forever.

Yes, there is evil in the world and probably always will be. I don’t want to be accused of over simplifying things. But, if we could all view our world from a perspective of love rather than greed or power, we could really change the world. I’m remembering John Lennon’s song Imagine.

Speaking of love. This year, I moved in with my girlfriend and her two teenage daughters. This was a difficult decision as you can imagine. Volunteering to live with teenagers? Am I nuts? Maybe. But, I feel their mother is the most special woman in the world. I thought the love I felt for her would make it all worth it. I still feel the same.

I’m now a mentor, teacher, advisor, and friend to two teenage girls I now consider step-daughters. I find myself continually trying to make love the primary motivator whenever conflicts arise. Oh boy has that been difficult sometimes! But, it seems to be working. They have already enriched my life beyond words and may have taught me more than I’ve taught them.

In a selfish way, it’s so cool to see how I have affected their lives in a positive way. It makes me misty when I see or hear them doing or saying something that I have taught them. Especially if it’s something I didn’t intentionally foresee. They are both quickly becoming so smart and mature that it’s scary.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how important my woman has been throughout this entire process. Her intelligence, wisdom and groundedness (I made up that word) have really been my inspiration. When I think it’s all gonna fall apart, she will put things back into perspective for me and I fall even further in love with her.

Oh, about this past year. For me it’s been a roller coaster in both business and my personal life. I won’t go into any nasty details. Sorry, no dirty laundry here! Here is a list of some highlights of my 2011.

• Finished recording my 1^st music CD, The Apple, with original songs. You can have a listen or buy it here: www.spidergroove.com.
• Wrote a ton of new songs and recorded a few rough drafts.
• Made some new friends. Made some new friends in business, too.
• Gained a ton of knowledge in my career in design and programming.
• Started a business with my girlfriend making fairy houses. She’s very talented and you can view and purchase her work here: www.ausrasfairyhouses.com
• Joined and volunteer at the South Lake Art League.
• Cooked some great meals and ate at some great restaurants.
• Saw my niece turn her life around in a positive way.
• Watched my nephew grow his own business into a successful company. www.jandjhardwood.com
• Watched my girlfriend make huge strides in her career at Disney. Her self-confidence is at an all-time high and I’m loving every minute of it.
• Spent a week with my mom which was great fun.
• Spent a few days in St. Augustine with my new family and had a blast.
• Went to a friend’s wedding in Miami which was one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve been to.
• Watched a friend race a real race car on a real race track.
• Teaching my step-daughter how to drive.
• Watching my other step-daughter perform in The Nutcracker.
• Went to a few live musicals in Orlando.
• Had my best friends stay with me for a few months and had so much fun.

Overall, I’ve had a wonderful year and given the circumstances around the world today, I can’t complain. I have the love of my family and that’s really all that matters in the end. I wish you all the very best in the upcoming year. 

Tell me some of your highlights in the comments area below.  I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Holidays everyone and be safe.

 

 

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Web-Listings.net – Don’t waste your time!

Posted by admin on Nov 15, 2011 in Op/Ed | 0 comments

I recently received a letter in the mail, (yes, snail mail), from a company called Web Listings, Inc. Their website is www.web-listings.net. They are selling a bogus SEO service. Here is the scoop.

Firstly, the mailing is made to look like an invoice. This is to fool the novice into thinking this is part of their new website agreement and they should pay it. It does say it’s “not a bill” however.

Their “offer” is to submit your domain to “20 established search engines”. Then, they claim they will send you a monthly report on your listings, up to 8 keyword phrases.

Here’s the thing. There is no longer a need to submit your site to the search engines. This used to be the case many years ago. But, Google has especially gotten quite good at finding your site, and quickly, without you ever submitting it to them.

Believe me. Today, developers like myself need to block search engines from finding our sites while they are in development because they find them so fast! So, hiring a service to submit your site is simply a waste of your money.

About the reporting. They say they will send you a monthly report. My guess is they probably have a program like Web Position Gold where they simply enter the domain name, your keywords, and it automatically generates reports and sends them to you. While you may find some of these reports useful, you can get most of the same information by using Google Analytics. And, it’s free!

I’m also guessing once they have their hooks in you, they will try to upsell you on other SEO related services. In my opinion, if they are willing to sell you a service that is not needed for $85, I’m sure they will sell you more services that are either not needed or have inflated prices. I say stay away!

And lastly…how did they get your information? Probably by using the information you provided when you purchased your domain. If you did not choose to use “private registration”, then it’s easy for them to take this information and solicit. Should you choose private registration when purchasing a domain? Maybe. You also need to consider that many folks know how to do a WhoIs lookup to see who owns the domain and if they are legit, before making a purchase on your website. If it’s private, some may consider this a red flag and go elsewhere.

I hope this helps someone avoid spending hard earned money on worthless services like these.

Oh, by the way. If you look up the owner of web-listings.net, you’ll see they have registered it privately! I guess they don’t want to be solicited with worthless services too!

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Ask yourself these questions before and not after

Posted by admin on Oct 25, 2011 in Op/Ed, Web Design Tips | 0 comments

• Should you build a website yourself?
  It’s certainly cheaper in the short run. Can you afford to take a chance?
  Don’t sacrifice your brand image. Your website IS your company and we understand the importance of first impressions.
• Do you have time to learn how to build an effective website?
  Wouldn’t you rather spend that time working on your business? We’ll do our job so you have more time to do yours. It’s not just pretty pictures nowadays. It’s serious business and we take your business seriously. Trust our years of experience.
• Do you know what Google likes?
  We do! One small mistake and you’ll be wondering why you’re not getting any hits. Don’t take a chance on getting banned by Google. It’ not worth it. We use “white hat” SEO techniques, assuring you a long-term friendly relationship with Google.
• Do you know how to sell on a website?
  It’s much different than traditional marketing. We know the secrets to successful designs that sell online. We use proven tactical placement of web page elements that increase conversion rates.
• Have you heard, “If you build it they will come”?
  Maybe ten years ago. It’s not that simple anymore. A lot of thought and hard work goes into designing as well as making it function like you want. You deserve nothing less. A great deal of focus is spent on SEO for Google to help you gain “natural result” traffic. This takes time. An on-going relationship is encouraged so we can maximize your website potential in the long term.

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Unethical Online Tactics – Not a pretty story

Posted by admin on Sep 12, 2011 in Op/Ed | 2 comments

I just finished reading an article about deceptive online marketing practices and felt the need to give my opinion on the subject. Especially since I have first hand experience with a former client that engaged in not only deceptive practices but unethical and down right dirty practices.

Honesty and hard work used to be the cornerstone to building a successful business. At least that’s what I was taught while growing up. The internet seems to have changed that mindset. Many successful online companies have lied and cheated their way to the top. So, in a way I empathise with companies starting out online and want to use these tactics because “they’re doing it, why shouldn’t I?”

For many years the internet has been a “wild west” of sorts. There weren’t many rules. And, the rules that were in place were easily circumvented. Since there was no internet police, companies acted like outlaws raping and pillaging as they pleased. And yes they made a lot of money doing so.

Link building. Thanks to Google making back links such a big part of their page rank algorithm, companies sought to get as many links to their websites as possible. This spawned “link farms” which are sites that had thousands of links to other websites. They would then run advertisements on their site in hopes of generating some income. Google caught on and devalued links on these link farms. Thankfully, these types of sites are not showing up on the top pages of Google any longer. As a consequence, some company websites still suffer today from having their links on these link farms and can’t get them removed. A quick fix comes back to bite them in the ass.

But, Google still regards back links as very important to ranking a website. So, this has spawned yet another tactic. Now, there are webmasters selling back links, with or without the knowledge of company owners. Most of these webmasters are very discreet with this tactic and only accept links that are related to the site they are adding the link to. Google likes to see links to and from related sites. For example, if a pet related site links to a penis enlargement site, this would not be good.

The problem with this tactic of buying and selling links is that it’s not a natural process of linking to each other. It’s bottom line driven. So, the consumer suffers because they are being told (by the top Google search results) that these sites are better than the others. There may be many other sites that deserve better rankings but simply don’t have the money to pay other sites to link to them.

What about the companies that engage in ethical link exchanges? Many times these companies are manipulated by the online marketing company that is trying to build their back links. So, they will write “marketing copy” in their link requests instead of telling the truth.

An example was talked about in the article I read this morning that prompted me to write this one. You can find the article here: Deceptive Marketing: A Necessary Evil for Search Marketers?. (Now, this is how a natural back link occurs folks! I found the article interesting and wanted to give them credit. Simple as that.)

The example was a marketer that sent a link request that mentioned that he had a favorite site from which he liked to buy stuff for his son on birthdays and holidays. But, he had no son! It was a marketing tactic. A lie to help him win the link. So, in my view, what else is this marketer willing to do? How far is he willing to go with the lies?

Another “black hat” SEO technique is to buy a lot of different but related domain names and create small websites on each. These sites are built for one thing only…back-links. They offer no real value to a consumer. Many companies have tens or even hundreds of these types of sites. I know of one very large company that hired a staff for this task alone. Remember the JC Penny story just a few months ago?

Google got somewhat wise to this tactic and now takes into consideration if a bunch of inter-linked sites are within a specific IP range, they get lower rankings. Of course, the black hats then simply create multiple web hosting accounts and place 4 or 5 on each, in order to get around the IP range issue. Some web hosts are now offering SEO web hosting that deal with the IP range issue. What a game!

In my opinion, Google should scale back on the value of back-links in their algorithm.

Now let’s talk about so-called customer reviews. You don’t have to worry about companies like Amazon or eBay. Their reviews are from real people that made real purchases. Nowadays, there are third party companies like ePinions, Bizrate, etc. that allow folks to post reviews about other companies. The problem is many of these services allow you to review a company you may have never purchased from. They don’t really have any way of knowing. So, they accept the review (good or bad) and you as a consumer trust they are real.

Google now uses Bizrate reviews as part of their ranking algorithm. Now, companies create fictitious email accounts and submit reviews to these services in hopes of getting better search result placement. There are many companies doing this. More than you think.

Google also allows webmasters to submit reviews site maps for individual websites. This means a company can create fake reviews on their own site and submit them to Google. Not to mention the fact that you as a consumer are being duped into trusting the company because they have so many great reviews on their site.

In Google’s defense, they have made and continue to make improvements to their algorithm to try and defeat the cheaters. Their latest Panda update being one of them. But, it’s a very big job to tackle. For every update they make, someone thinks of a work around.

How about contests? You’ve all seen them. Win a $50 coupon. Send us a photo and you could win blah blah blah. These can very easily be rigged and sometimes are. I know a company that did this. They went so far as to look thru all the entries to see if the person ever ordered from them. If not, their entry was disregarded. If they found a customer that spent lots of money with them, they would win the contest. If they couldn’t find anyone, they would make up the winner and nobody would actually win anything.

Ah, but now they have your email address. What will they do with it? If they are willing to deceive you into entering a contest, what else are they willing to do?

How about companies that claim they give a percentage of their revenue to charities? I know a company that claimed they gave 10% of their annual revenue to charities. They they did not. They listed on their website about 10 different organizations they claimed to give to. In reality, they gave a few hundred bucks to only one of them.

This is yet another ahem…marketing tactic used by many online companies. They are trying to build your trust. You see lots of great reviews. They give to charities. They have great contests. They must be a company I can trust. It’s sad but true. We’re being lied to and most of the time there is nothing we can do about it.

Having said all that. Again, I can empathize with some of the smaller online companies using some of these tactics. After all, they didn’t invent the game. They are just trying to play it. And, if everyone else is cheating, why can’t I?

In my opinion, lying and cheating is not a way to run a business or run your life. Most cultures (if not all) consider lying and/or cheating to be wrong.

I’m also a step-parent of two teenagers. At the expense of sounding old, this new generation seems to think that it’s ok to lie, cheat, be lazy, etc as long as they get something out of it. They think of only the quick fix that will satisfy their needs now. They do not think of the long term consequences of their actions. They are children and that’s what they do. But, it’s our job to point them in the right direction and hope they make wise decisions. It’s very difficult to do this when there is so much successful deceit.

Many online companies think just like teenagers looking for a quick fix no matter how they go about it. Is this really want we want to be teaching our children? If you’re a parent and engage in these kinds of tactics, let me ask you a question. Do you tell your children not to lie to you?

By the way. I made up the first review below in hopes of getting you to add your comment.

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Hosting sites on multiple IP addresses for SEO

Posted by admin on Sep 3, 2011 in Op/Ed | 6 comments

There is much debate on whether hosting multiple websites within the same class C IP range will hurt SEO efforts. In my opinion, this something that Google needs to stop doing. FYI, Matt Cutts of Google claims this will not affect page rank.

I sure hope this is the case. Consider the web developer, like myself, that also offers web hosting as a reseller. This is great for the client because they now have a single point of contact for all their web needs. And, I can offer more flexibility for the client because I have direct access to the server.

A web hosting reseller account comes with a range of IP addresses. If some of my clients websites are similar, it might be mutually beneficial to add links to each. Many web developers specialize in a particular market and it would make sense to link between them in some cases. If the search engines like Google penalize this, they need to stop.

It does suck that there are so many people practicing black hat SEO techniques. This makes us honest internet professionals’ jobs that much harder. I understand Google’s need to continually try to thwart these kinds of efforts. But, I think they need to also consider and recognize the honest web developers offering web hosting as part of their service and not consider the IP range their websites are on as a negative.

The same type of story can be heard in many different markets, not just the internet. Remember the lady that sued McDonald’s because she burned herself with their hot coffee? We all now suffer with higher prices for coffee because McDonald’s needs to recoup their losses, pay their attorneys, and print warning labels on their coffee warning people that it’s hot.

So, do web developers now need to have multiple web hosting reseller accounts and increase our pricing because of the black hat SEO scumbags? I can tell you that this will just send more business overseas to places like India.

A small web developer cannot afford to have multiple reseller accounts to appease Google. We’re honest, hardworking people trying to run legitimate businesses and keep costs down, just like the larger companies. To penalize us and our clients simply because their websites are hosted on the same IP range would be absurd and simply unfair.

There are SEO web hosting accounts being offered by some hosting companies. This is their way of trying to circumvent the possiblity that Google is penalizing sites within an IP range. And, round and round we go.

To all you black hat SEO folks, how about you spend your time trying to get your sites ranked well by using the good old fashioned way…hard work!

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Observation about jobs for Web Designers

Posted by admin on Jul 2, 2011 in Op/Ed | 5 comments

I am creating this post to help try and educate the public about the differences between a Creative Designer, a Web Designer, a Technical Designer, a Web Developer, and a Software Engineer.

* A Creative Designer is an artist in the space. He/she is AWESOME at creative thinking, and at conceptual based design in the digital space, like UI, UX, Experience Design, and Brand Experience Design. You will find this type of professional in Design Studios across the world, like Fantasy Interactive, and II Advance! The guys who win FWA awards!

* A Web Designer is a “Designer”. He/she uses Photoshop, and illustrator to create visually appealing websites for customers. He/she then uses HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other cool stuff for the layout and interactivity of the website, or web based application.

* A Web Developer writes code, and usually only code for the web. He can usually write HTML, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, Dojo, XML, Json, SOAP UI, he can generate a wsdl. These guys usually suck at CSS and design skills.

* A Technical Designer is the combination of a Web Designer, and a Web Developer, and at times a Software Engineer, too! This professional is rare! I’ll call them the “Hybrids” of our industry. They may be able run an entire IT department by themselves.

* A Software Engineer writes the mother languages like Java, C#, C, C++, Objective C. He/she can be a DBA and can easily set up an open source environment and is for the most part pretty damn good at math.

All these professionals have one unique thing in common… THEY ALL HATE INTERNET EXPLORER lol

You are probably wondering why I wrote all this crap?

Well, it’s frustrating when I see posts for jobs/projects, say on CraigsList. It’s hard to believe the sheer number of people that want everything for nothing. And, they place an ad for a “Web Designer” and they actually need a “Web Developer” or vice versa. Oh, and it would be great if you can make some graphics for me…like my logo. Oh, and I also need a “small” event application. Geeze…

I see posts for “quick” or “easy” updates to websites. Then, I come to see the actual updates they want are NOT quick OR easy.

Or, I see the posts for “the next big thing”. And, they will share the profits with someone that will do ALL the work. Really?

It seems like so many people believe that those cool buttons just do magical things without ever giving any thought as to how much time and thought developers put into each piece of functionality.

So to conclude…please title your job posts accordingly. And, if you want a Technical Designer please PAY THEM ACCORDINGLY! Most of us have been doing this for years and are college educated. It’s insulting to be offered $10 or $12 an hour. How much do you think you’re worth? And, please don’t expect us to get all excited about your “next big thing” and be willing to work hundreds of hours in the hopes that you know how to run a business.

Be willing to pay for quality work. If you want to share your profits with us, that’s awesome. But, please help us pay our bills in the meantime.

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