Archive for the ‘Affiliate Marketing’ Category

Mobiblueprint.com Review - Is Mobile Marketing the New Shiny Object?

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Anyone who pays any attention whatsoever to marketing trends and technology, is probably aware of the explosion in cell phone use worldwide.

I’m in the USA and while we like to think of ourselves as so technologically advanced, there are certain areas where we are way WAY behind the curve, and mobile phone technology is one of the biggest.

The rest of the world has adopted the mobile phone years before we did.  Some countries have put mobile phones in the hands of just about every single member of the population, even down to the lowliest beggar on the street!

What this means to marketers of course, is a massive audience.  And wherever there’s an audience and a means to reach them, there’s going to be marketing, advertising, and sales.  That’s the tricky part for marketers though - how to sell to these people.  Mobile phone use is such a different behavior than a normal computer, the environment of the user, the amount of their attention you can command, limitations of mobile browser technologies… all these things conspire against marketers who only know the “traditional” way of selling stuff online.

Enter the gurus to teach us everything we need to know about making gazillions of dollars in the new Gold Rush.

I’ve seen mobile courses that make ridiculous promises and in my opinion are basically using the “mobile” buzzword to get you hooked, but then delivering something else.  I think most of us would call that “bait & switch”.  I mean, if someone tells me they’re going to teach me to make money with mobile, but proceeds to show me how to list build off mobile and make money via emailing that list, then it’s not really making money from mobile, is it?  It’s email marketing!

This is where Gauher Chaudhry’s MobiBlueprint course intends to deliver the goods.  It’s all about making money directly from mobile marketing.

Gauher has been working on monetizing mobile traffic for a few years now, and in fact I remember speaking with him about some of his earliest experiments when there was barely any mobile traffic even to be had.  The Android platform barely existed, even the iPhone was somewhat of an unknown quantity.

But in his typical fashion, Gauher charged ahead anyway, even though there were a trillion obstacles in the way.  He spent plenty of money without seeing a return, just to test and experiment, in order to find out what worked, and what didn’t.

And this is what, in my opinion anyway, differentiates Gauher from so many other course makers.  Everything he teaches, is exactly what he actually does in his personal business every day.  Despite having authored and sold several Internet Marketing training products, it’s still not his core business.  His true business has always been driving leads via CPA offers using whatever traffic sources were available to him (organic, PPC, PPV, banners, mobile…)  He’s one of those guys who is in the trenches day in & day out.  I’ve spent time with him in his home and watched him sit with Excel for an hour doing his stats.

OK but this is supposed to be a MobiBlueprint review right?  Well the fact is I do have access to the course, and have given it a quick skim… but I’ve been so busy working on my Admob automation tool (not to mention the dozen other projects I have going right now… argh!) that I haven’t had time to really sit down, go through all the videos, make notes, and implement.  I will say though that the content looks thorough… here’s the table of contents:

  1. Fundamentals & Opportunities of Mobile Marketing
  2. How to mobilize your business (Email/Web)
  3. Mobile Commerce
  4. SMS/Text Messaging
  5. Mobile Affiliate Marketing (PPC/CPA/Lead Gen)
  6. Building & Selling Apps
  7. Monetizing Mobile Content
  8. Selling Mobile Marketing to Brick and Mortar

Each module is around an hour in length it appears, with a PDF transcript as well as an MP3 download, AND a copy of the slides used in the presentation!  In my experience, this is unusual and puts the MobiBlueprint course way ahead of the pack.  Rather than going to lengths to restrict you from learning in the way that suits you best, Gauher and his partner Kim are going to great lengths to make SURE you can learn your preferred way!  They even provide links to tools for watching the FLV files if you should choose to download the course videos to your own computer.  Very nice!

There are also helpful links at the bottom of many of the modules, to additional tools or resources, and the whole thing is in a blog-like format where people can comment, so I’m looking forward to seeing what sorts of things people have to add to each module this way.

All in all this looks like a very good course, and I know that Gauher is an excellent teacher and I have no shortage of faith in his ability to deliver what he promises.

HOWEVER!!!

Despite how great I think the content looks and despite how much I trust and respect Gauher, the fact still remains that this is another “shiny object” in an already way-too-shiny industry.  Should you jump on the mobile bandwagon?  Maybe… but maybe not.

Before you buy this or any course, tool, or other IM related product or service, I encourage you to ask yourself how this directly fits into your current direction, and current business.

If you can’t come up with immediate ways that this is a definite fit for you, don’t buy it.

If you’re firmly on your way down one particular path, the last thing you need is someone to come along and convince you to get on a different path and start all over.  Focus is a huge problem for internet marketers in particular it seems, and while I’ll be the first one to say that I believe mobile is going to be a massive part of the future of online marketing, I don’t want to see people buy this course just because it’s the latest shiny object and they can’t resist, even though they won’t actually end up using or implementing the material and techniques.

OK… now that my rant is over… ;)  It’s time to present to you another shiny object!  LOL

Seriously, if you are in fact going to get into mobile marketing, you won’t be alone.  There’s going to be plenty of other competition entering the same markets at the same time as you.  You need a competitive edge… something they won’t likely have, that gives you a big advantage.

For me, that advantage is usually in the form of some sort of automation or systematization.  As soon as I saw Admob, I knew it needed to be automated.  Facebook Ads has been automated.  PlentyofFish has been automated.  Google, Yahoo, Bing, and the rest of the PPC world has been automated.  Mobile needs automation too… and so I set to work building it.

You may have already watched my teaser video on admob automation, in which case you have an idea of what I’m doing already (though It’s still improving it as I write this).  I haven’t yet decided how widely I’m going to make this available, or what sorts of limitations I’ll place on it.  But I will tell you this…

Those who buy MobiBlueprint through my affiliate link, will be guaranteed a chance to get access to it when I’m ready to release it.  The rest of the world may not ever get to lay eyes on it.

To sum up… *IF* mobile marketing is something that makes sense for you and your business, then I highly encourage you to check out MobiBlueprint and give yourself the competitive advantage of automation that I’m going to be providing.

Enjoy!

Jonathan

Admob Automation Is Coming…

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this video must be priceless!

Those who opt-in to Gauher Chaudhry’s free MobiBlueprint prelaunch information, will be the first to get access to this in the very near future.

www.mobiblueprint.net

If you’re going to make a serious go at mobile marketing, you don’t want to miss this.

Jonathan

Pivot Tables - A Tutorial for Marketers

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

I get asked all the time what I use for tracking and stats.  The answer to this day is still “mostly Excel and pivot tables.”  Even with all these various software tracking solutions that have come out, none of them give me the instant visibility into my data that Excel does.  But very few people seem to use pivot tables, or be comfortable with them at all.  I hope to change that with this quick tutorial.  Enjoy!

Oh also this is using Excel 2007 under Windows. If you’re on MacOS or any older version of Excel, the Pivot Table interface is different and utterly unintuitive. I can never figure it out so frankly this alone is reason enough to upgrade in my opinion.

Jonathan

Buy My PPV Spend Data

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

EDIT: This data is no longer for sale by order of TrafficVance. Sorry!

Yep that’s right. you can now buy my TrafficVance spend data for a tiny fraction of what it cost me to obtain.

Get the details here…

Jonathan

Affiliate Market & Offer Selection

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

I recently did a couple of webinars with my friend & fellow full time online marketer Phoenix Morgan, and they were very well received.  So well in fact that I was contacted by some people who didn’t sign up for them at all for various reasons that really wanted to see the recordings of them.

So, we decided to make them available as a package for a modest price, since the two really go hand in hand to give a complete picture of how and why to choose both an overall market, and specific offer to promote as an affiliate.

No fluff, no hype, just the real techniques and tactics that we use in our businesses.

Phoenix and I have very different approaches but they turn out to be extremely complementary, and putting them together forms a really good final result.

Check out the sales page (such as it is… I had fun with it, make sure you read it all ;) ) and if you think it’s for you, enjoy!

Jonathan

Want to get into CPA marketing?

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Forget all these crazy expensive courses that mostly just recycle the same basic information over & over.

Go to a pioneer in the business.

Go to one of the true innovators.

Raise money for a children’s cancer hospital.

Pay a ridiculously low price.

http://www.cpaquantum.com

As you may or may not know, Gauher’s 4 year old son Shaan - a really cool kid if I may say so - was diagnosed quite unexpectedly with a form of Leukemia a couple months ago.  You can read about it here:

http://www.gauherchaudhry.com/when-life-throws-you-a-curveball/

Fortunately things are looking very good for Shaan, and most likely he will make a full recovery.  This is in large part due to the help of a particular children’s cancer hospital in Toronto near Gauher, and so he wants to raise some money for them, and this is his way of doing that.

So go check out CPA Quantum if you’re thinking of getting into this business, or you don’t already have any of Gauher’s other excellent training products.  If you already have PPC or PPV Formulas, I doubt you really need this… but I know there are people every day wanting to get into this field and Gauher is one of the best you could ever ask to learn from.

http://www.cpaquantum.com

Enjoy!

Jonathan

Remarketing Unleashed!

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

I recently promised a bonus video for those who purchased A.M. Khan’s Adtext Image Creator software through my link.

Well I’m sorry to say you’re not getting a video.

You’re getting *FOUR* videos.

This turned into over an hour of pure content, split into 4 videos, covering the complete process of setting up remarketing for use with PPV.  I call it “Remarketing Unleashed”.

The 4 videos are:

01 - Introduction
02 - Remarketing Code
03 - Adwords Campaign
04 - Adwords Reporting

Frankly I’m very pleased with how these came out, and I think they will give a major leg up to anyone who wants to try remarketing.

Again these videos are available for free to those who purchase Adtext Image Creator through my affiliate link.

Also don’t forget that TODAY, Monday June 28th is the FINAL day for the $97 price on AIC.  This is a steal so if you really think that remarketing and banners are in your future, and you don’t already have another tool to handle that part of the process, I strongly suggest you consider AIC very seriously.

I’m just as excited about remarketing as I was on the original phone call with A.M. - maybe even more.  A bunch of you have been emailing me with your early results, and I must say that while nobody has admitted to hitting it “out of the park” yet, the potential is DEFINITELY there and there are some very cool things brewing for some of you!

I hope that my videos will help you understand how to set everything up, if you haven’t already figured it out.  And even if you have, I throw out a few ideas and possibilities that I think are worth listening for.

If you already bought AIC during this special, grab your Order Number from your receipt and go start watching now!

If you buy AIC today before the deal ends, give me up to 24 hours to add your order ID to my system for access to the videos.

Enjoy all!!

Jonathan

P.S.

Yes I will make these videos available directly in the near future, but I want to reward the new AIC buyers with a head start first.

Update on consulting club & remarketing video

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Boy this was sure a busy weekend.  In addition to reading through all your applications to my consulting club, I got so fired up by A.M. Khan revealing to me the potential of remarketing, that I set up several PPV and banner campaigns to start collecting data.  Now I’ve got to send welcome emails to everyone who’s been accepted into the club, as well as notify everyone who bought AIC how they will get my bonus video.

Whew!  You guys & gals keep me on my toes!

So here’s the important bits:

1)  Those of you who have applied to be in the consulting club, as of this morning I’m caught up on all submissions and will begin notifying those who are accepted shortly.  If you didn’t get accepted, sorry about that… for one reason or another I just didn’t feel it was a good fit for both of us.  Don’t take it personally!  =)  There is a waiting list that I will put everyone else on for the future, in case I accept some more people or others cancel.

I’ve got room for some more people so if you’re still thinking it might be a good fit for you, go submit your application right now.  I’ll stop taking applications soon, probably this week.

2)  For all of you who just purchased Adtext Image Creator through the $97 special, I’m collecting data now in order to create the bonus video for you.  I want to have as much to show you as I possibly can so just be patient.

My intent with the video is to show you a complete start-to-finish waklthrough of adding remarketing code to a PPV campaign, building remarketing lists, and creating the banner campaign to go with it.  For sheer simplicity I’m not even using AIC for this demonstration.  Using it will give you much greater flexibility and ad coverage, but I would have to make this a complete training video on how to use AIC as well and I’m just not up to that right now.

By the time you finish watching the video, you should be able to build your own remarketing lists without any difficulty using PPV or actually any traffic source of your choosing.  From there, it’s up to you how well you can convert them from your Adwords content network campaigns.

That’s it for now… oh one other thing, I just got wind of something a couple friends are doing that also sounds really top notch.  I’ll write about that separately.

Jonathan

Talk About Unexpected…

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

I had a phone call with a friend and fellow internet marketer, A.M. Khan the other day. I had planned to ask him some questions I had about Google’s new remarketing features, since I knew only a little bit and was genuinely curious about it.

I watched his video about remarketing.

I thought I pretty much got the picture.

I thought I knew where the conversation would go.

I thought it would last around 15 to 20 minutes.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

You’ve got to listen to this, especially if you use PPV at all and have an Adwords account (or plan to get one).

Remarketing Call With A.M. Khan (mp3)

This is 100% for real, totally unscripted and completely unexpected. PPV and PPC people need to listen to this!

Of course A.M. also had something to promote, even though I kinda hijacked the call for my own selfish interests! LOL

He makes an offer on the call of his Adtext Image Creator 2.0 software for $197. That’s half price and I thought it was an awesome offer.

But then we talked a couple days later.

One thing led to another and he agreed to drop the price from $397 to only $97 for 2 weeks just for my readers & customers!

Before you buy, make sure you read the rest of this post!

www.tooltrainer.com/aic

If you don’t already have a tool for mass-producing banners in all the appropriate sizes for your content network/remarketing campaigns, you should really give AIC a try.

Now for the really fun stuff… it doesn’t stop there. This is where you’re going to want to pay attention if you use PPV or plan to.

I got so excited about the potential of what we discussed on the phone, that I immediately set up a few test campaigns to see if it actually was possible.

Well sure enough, IT IS possible! I’m now building remarketing lists that I can zero in on again later via PPC, from the cheapest of the cheap PPV traffic.

I can target these people EVERYWHERE they go on the Content Network.

Screw site targeting.

Forget trying to guess what websites they might visit.

I can show ads to them REGARDLESS of the sites they’re on, even if they aren’t related to the original niche!

I was able to add 1,000 targeted people to my first test “health products” remarketing list for just $15 from PPV traffic.

I’m working on another list now for auto insurance, and another for credit.

The possibilities here are staggering.

I’m producing a video documenting the technique and my findings, and will make it available as a bonus to all who buy Adtext Image Creator through my link.

www.tooltrainer.com/aic

You’ll get to see me developing and refining the technique as I go. This is so new I’m not sure there’s even anyone else in the world who’s done this (if there is they certainly aren’t talking about it!)

But listen to our call first, as it may even be all you need to get started with this technique. Still I expect my video will help clear the whole process up a lot for those who don’t quite get it just from hearing us talk about it.

I really think this could breathe new life into PPV and PPC in specific, and even affiliate marketing in general.

Seriously, go listen to this right away. Shut the door, turn off the phone, open your ears and pay close attention when I start getting really excited. You won’t miss it.

Applications being reviewed

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Thanks to everyone who submitted an application for my private consulting club. I’ve been scanning them already and will be going over them in depth this weekend, and begin sending acceptance letters to those that are the best fit. If you don’t get accepted at this time, I’m going to keep your information for future reference so that if I decide to bring on more people later, I can revisit with you and see if you’re a fit at that time.

There is still time to apply, I doubt I’ll get through all the applications this weekend alone. After reading the original post on the subject, please do apply if you think it will benefit you. Nothing to lose and you might just get in! :)

Jonathan