As you know, one of the most integral parts of niche marketing, or for that matter, any sort of internet marketing is keyword research. My tool of choice in the past has been Brad Callen's Keyword Elite. For those not familiar with this keyword research tool, Keyword Elite allows you to find high paying keywords that you can center your niche blogs, Hubpages, and Squidoo pages around.
It was an invaluable tool that honestly has paid for itself many times over. However, within the past couple of months Keyword Elite has not maintained its full functionality. What am I bitching about? Specifically the AdWords Traffic Estimator, the login fails every time. This means to get any information about estimated CTR or CPC, I have to point my web browser over to the AdWords Traffic estimator and keyword tool pages. It's not that I'm too lazy to do these things but rather I'm a bit pissed that I paid for a tool that promised to integrate both within an interface that would save me time. Time=dollars.
Now I understand that this 'bug' is because of something Goog has done to thwart our efforts at keyword goodness but the customer support response to this, not to mention the very infrequent updates to KW Elite and SEO Elite, have made the last couple of months very frustrating.
The only place to get information on the AdWords TE problem is over at Brad Callen's official forum, a forum that edits posts that are critical of Keyword Elite. From the forum, all I got after going through the threads is that the programmer is on vacation and that it cannot be fixed at this time. Pleasure before business? Take notes guys, this is not how you want to run your business.
On top of that, Bing support won't be implemented in Keyword Elite 1.0 until Keyword Elite 2.0 comes out. Yea that's right, the same KW Elite 2 that users of the current edition will have to pay for. What happened to free updates Mr. Callen? I suppose promises are your secondary concern, right behind leeching your customers for every penny.
The reality is that all of us Keyword Elite and SEO Elite users are getting the shaft right now. I guess this is how Brad Callen likes to treat his paying customers. He gives us infrequent updates, no fixes for broken features, and horrible tyrannical tech support. Callen acts as if giving a substantial discount on Keyword Elite 2.0 will solve all of this ill will. Guess what though, Brad? It won't. Why would I pay for the privilege to be be treated like this all over again?
With the emergence of Market Samurai (which I will buy once my free trial is over--and no that's not an aff link!) you're no longer the only kid on the block. From what I've seen Market Samurai does the job much better and the developers know how to interact with their customers. So with this I goodbye Brad Callen and wish others who decide to stay with KW Elite good luck with your niche marketing efforts.
Is anybody else as frustrated as me with the Keyword Elite situation?
What's a great way to take a break from all that link building and article writing you've been doing? The answer is, play the new internet marketing iPhone game called iNetMania. Wait, what? Yep, mixing business and pleasure has never been easier and its available for purchase at the tap of the screen. :)
iNetMania looks basically like a Monopoly clone but with web domains instead of brick and mortar properties. There are also in game cameos from some very high profile internet marketers. I'm not sure how I feel about that last 'feature'. No offense but the last thing I think I want is John Chow yapping at me from inside my phone.
From the iTunes App Store description:
TechPad Productions is proud to present its first game for the Apple App Store, iNetMania! iNetMania is based heavily upon TechPad's popular and award-winning board game, ServerMania.Compete with up to three other players (either human with hot-seat multiplayer or computer controlled AI) to create the most successful website with the highest amount of visitors. The game takes the player from the start-up phase all the way to the finish, line, with plenty of highs and lows (or Spikes and Slumps) along the way. Increase web traffic, as visitors translate into money -- the player with the largest pile of cash at the end of the game wins!
FEATURES
-Great graphics, featuring dynamic animations with fluid, openGL animations
-Quick-play option lets you get into the game quickly and easil
-Keep track of your progress and prowess by creating up to 30 profiles and unlocking special gameply achievements
-Play with up to three other competitors, either your real-life friends or a tough computer AI!
-Gameplay is saved if you quit or have to take a call
-Three un-lockable player game pieces - collect them all!
-Use the Accelerometer to shake the die in a 3D, virtual cup with real-world physics (a first for the iPhone!)
Languages:
English
REQUIREMENTS:
compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch
Requires iPhone 2.0 Software Update
If you're into niche marketing the description makes it sound like a pretty entertaining game and for the special limited promotional price of $2.99 you can download it and not feel too cheated if you don't like it.
Here's to hopin' you don't get de-indexed in game or out.
I just recently finished reading a review post by Lissie, about the affiliate website building system known asSite Build It. As you may or not know, there are a ton of build it yourself website building services online charging exorbitant amounts of money for marketing services and tools that can be had for only a fraction of the price. Some people see these affiliate marketing pitches as scams, some just as very poor bargains.
Its a common misconception to affiliate marketing newbies, that you need to spend a lot of money to start a website or an online business. This is a complete falsehood, and one that Ken Evoy and his ilk like to perpetuate so as to make money online from people that don't yet know any better.
While I don't think that Site Build It's $300/year fee is a scam, I believe it to be an extremely bad return on investment. You can do everything that SBI promises to do for you by yourself and for nearly free. An added bonus is the satisfaction of learning an entirely new set of skills that are required to make money with internet marketing...and without all the hand holding.
The system is touted as being a product for people without any computer skills and that's the problem with Site Build It. I urge anyone without any computer skills whatsoever to do some research before attempting a career in affiliate marketing. At the very least you need to know basic html skills, what web hosting is, and how to buy a domain. But even before buying a domain or choosing hosting, I would highly recommend using a free blogging platform, such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com so you can learn the ins and outs of how a blog 'works' first before committing to owning your own of piece of internet property.
This post isn't meant to be a how to guide for beginning affiliate marketers so I'll end this here and get on to what I really want to talk about which is the culture of affiliate marketing itself and it's remarkable attempts at selling the same old shit to noobs over and over again.
You see this all the time in the SERPS with any sort of affiliate product in the internet marketing niche. Its the same old reworked message, played over and over again. There is little diversity in the SERPs with IM affiliate products, other than the few contrary opinions that Google sees fit to push up rankings. However, we've gotten to the point that even the contrarian opinions are the same old rehashed sales pitches attempting to lure noobies into buying their garbage systems or tools. How can anyone, trying to learn how to make money online get an objective opinion when nearly no one is willing to offer it to them?
I think a lot of internet marketers are tired of this song and dance. I really must praise Griz for supporting Lissie with his post, Site Build It - Don't Buy It ...it, I believe, being the product and the message of subordination that SBI sends. As Griz pointed out in the comments on his Make Money With Grizzly blog, he's supporting Lissie not only because he agrees with her but for the fact that he believes she is entitled to have her opinion heard in the SERPs just as much as the Site Built It people do with their affiliate sales pitches.
Many people have followed Griz's lead and have supported Lissie by linking to her or have written their own Site Build It Reviews, which you can see at Vic's site, BloggerUnleashed. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot more people that think Site Build It is a scam and now their voice will be heard.
What I find comical is the fact that the people from Site Build It are bringing all of this bad PR, and soon to be pain in the SERPs, on themselves. Usually unfavorable independent reviews are either met with a vein of indifference or a very polite comment from the proprietor of the bullshit product (Brad Callen?), knowing that the product brand is very nicely represented in the first three pages of the SERPs by glowing affiliate reviews and the higher commission the more glowing the reviews.
However, Site Build It affiliates aren't your usual bunch. Smelling the opportunity to drop their affiliate link onto any website mentioning SBI, their army of failed 'webmasters' decided to descend upon Lissie's post like a pack of hungry lemmings, attacking her credibility. The tactic backfired though as many seasoned internet marketers like Griz and Vic pretty much debunked every argument given as to why anyone would want to subscribe to Site Build It.
Fast forward to today. In my data center, Lissie is sitting at #1 for the term 'Site Build It Scam' and 'Site Build It Scam Review' only in a few days. Now, if SBI's affiliate program rankings are so easily overcome, what does that tell you about their program? Probably all you need to know because I guarantee that their legion of SBI affiliates is far greater in numbers than all of Lissie, Griz, and Vic's friends.
Would Lissie have been able to rise in the rankings without the help of Griz et al.? Eventually, but with all the free content that her opposition provided her with and the help of friends it happened nearly immediately and with more people joining in, the SERPs are about to have a new look.
I think a lot of times, we feel as if we are powerless to change certain things within our environment. What we often don't realize is, is that collectively we have the ability to wield an enormous amount of influence. Knowledge is also power, in this case SEO power. Add numbers and knowledge together and you get a potent mixture.
Given the times we live in, I feel like its very important that everyone learn this lesson. Together we can all push back, one way or another, against the injustices and misdeeds that go on in our world. If not to seek justice for those that are taken advantage of, then to shed light on dark places that would rather remain unexposed. Now I'm not equating Site Build It with the banking industry's commandeering and wholesale ripoff of the world economy but its as good a place as any to start shining that light.
