Friday, July 4th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi 3 Comments »

I’m sorry. Lee McCoy - I love your blog, I really do. I rate it in my top 5. But what the hell is this new Affiliate Bitch thing? Moose (?) describes it as a “no holds barred approach to blogging & posting anonymously. dedicated to telling it how it is in affiliate marketing”. If that’s really “how it is” in affiliate marketing, I’m out of here. I know there are problems, and bitching is just a way of life, but there’s something about Affiliate Bitch that really grates me.

It’s like one of those e-book millionaire “You’re shit, I’m brilliant” types mixed with an 11 year old’s MySpace blog. Add the grammatical and spelling errors, the structurelessness (that’s a word, honest) of the rants, lack of proof/research/discussion/etc and so on that whenever I read a new post it makes me hope in sheer desperation that it isn’t Lee McCoy or another blogger that I respect behind the scenes.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from particular posts:

“So someone copied your site that you put time and effort into. Who cares, you should be flattered, when they get half a brain cell and do their own design, copy it. Revenge is sweet.” (Get Over Yourself - It’s Only Money)

Do you hear that Kieron and Matthew? You should be flattered about your content theft, then copy their design that they are supposedly going to come up with one day, which will be professional enough for you to use on one of your sites.

Just because they are making money they think it gives them the right to flaunt it in peoples faces. Who gives them the right to make the smaller newer people in the industry feel like crap because they are not acheiving the same results. (Look at me, Look at me)

Actually, affiliates like Max, Ray, Kieron and Chris inspire me, not make me “feel like crap”. If I’m not making as much money as them, it’s not their fault by “flaunting” cheques in my face. It’s mine for not reading and learning from their advice which they so generously give away for nothing.

To be honest, you probably don’t deserve it. Are you working until your faces bleeds and you no longer know your name, nor where th past few months of your life went? No? Then work harder. These things take time, and alot of hard work. you have to be the best at what you do, and google isnt going to give you high page rankings for moaning! If your product or website is niche, has the best prices and has lots of content, you should be onto a winner. If it isnt working, you are a dumb ass. That or you are spending too much money on PPC or staff and cant handle your accounts, again - you are a dumn ass. Quit spending time moaning and do something about it! (Boo hoo I’m not making any money)

Yeah, because this isn’t making newer, smaller affiliates feel like crap is it? Oh, and I’ve highlighted in bold a few mistakes that make me wonder if this anonymous writer “deserves” to be making any money.

And that’s why the latest post, Get Over Yourself - It’s Only Money, made me pluck up courage and slap the bitch. What a complete and utter load of tosh. If I want to read a rant, I’ll head over to someone who can write with structure, passion and persuasion like Lammo, Kieron, Jason or even Lee.

I look forward to the bitch’s next post!

P.S. I fully understand the irony of bitching about Affiliate Bitch’s bitching!

P.S.S. Sorry if I just sent pings flying left, right and centre!

Tags: Affiliate Bitch
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi | 3 Comments »

Sunday, May 18th, 2008 C'est Moi 1 Comment »

I’m not a happy bunny, but it is my fault.

The first domain I ever bought was philhancox.co.uk, unsurprisingly because that’s my name. That was two years ago. A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail saying it was due to expire and so I went over to UK-reg where it was registered but, due to the fact I’ve bought every other domain from 123-reg and therefore haven’t visited UK-reg in 2 years, I had forgotten my password.

So I sent a forgot password request and carried on with my work. I didn’t get my password, I didn’t get any more reminder e-mails and I forgot all about it until today and now I find that my site is now parked on Sedo.

There was no content there (as with quite a few of my domains :S), no backlinks or PR so it’s no great loss but obviously it has some sentimental value! Domains is one of the subject areas I’m not too hot on; has my site been caught by a squatter type and then parked until I decide I want it back?

I’ve got a few more domains up for renewal soon but they’re much more valuable so I’m going to make damn sure noone grabs them, and I will be adding all my other domains to my calendar so I get a reminder nice and early. Another lesson learned in affiliate marketing - when you have so many domains floating about, be sure to keep on top of them!

Edit - After a very kind message from Lee via A4U, I’ve learned that my domain has not yet been captured by someone else, merely suspended, explained on Nominet here. I haven’t received an invoice from them though, so I will have to contact them directly to get my domain back. I’m very surprised that it will cost £94 though! :O

Tags: Domains
Posted in C'est Moi | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi No Comments »

No sooner had I touched back on English ground from my Sunshine holiday, I found out (via the forums?) that I had won another prize - this time from Maximuscle and to the tune of £200. (The luck didn’t end there - I also received two cheques from HM Revenue & Customs giving me back money I had wrongly paid in tax!)

So, first of all, I just want to thank Sam and Maximuscle for this lovely prize, which will no doubt be donated to the pubs and clubs of Leeds in exchange for one or twenty intoxicating beverages.

Upon catching up on my favourite blogs, I decided to use this example of my affiliate winning streak to put forward my opinion. Jason asks if incentives are nice prizes, or impossible tasks that most affiliates won’t bother with. Zak questions whether affiliates really do want incentives, or would higher commission be preferred. Kieron, not discussing incentives per se, used my Barcelona site as an example of a thin site created just to win an incentive.

At this stage in my affiliate career (!) I’m not overly fussed about commissions - I’m just happy seeing the pounds rolling in. I’m also not bothered about incentives - as I’ve said before, I simply don’t think I’m worthy of them.

The truth is I’m developing a portfolio of sites to explore my design, creative, copywriting, SEO and affiliate skills and that, to me, is my biggest reward. My discount code site jumped two units to a PR3 this week, a site that was exposed to Google probably about six months ago. I know TBPR means sod all, but I’m still dead chuffed. A few other of my sites also received PR. I enjoy seeing my new sites being indexed by Google, seeing traffic coming in organically and, of course, seeing commissions rolling in.

Whilst browing the A4U forums I spotted the Maximuscle incentive and realised that I wasn’t promoting them on my discount site. So I built a Maximuscle discount code page, broke my virginity with the Affiliate Window branded widgets and thought it quite pretty, so sent an e-mail to Sam with the URL.

But my plans for Maximuscle don’t end there. I used to use whey protein and went to the gym before turning into a lazy student. I still have some in the cupboard, and I’m adamant I’ll start training again. This, in turn, will inspire me to create a website tracking my progress with tips for others doing the same thing, thus having unique and interesting  content and this, in turn, will have Maximuscle banners and links, therefore creating more promotion and (hopefully) mo’ money.

The number of sites with traffic I have is growing, the amount of commissions I’m earning is growing and one day I may (and hope) be a well performing or ’super’ affiliate. Now that I’ve been to Benidorm, I can (and have started to) build a fatter affiliate site dedicated to Benidorm. Sunshine will, naturally, be promoted. Now that I know Maximuscle has an affiliate program, I will promote them on my future training site.

Naturally, incentives where only super affiliates can win will put me off - but only the competition itself. But incentives can peak (or pique?) my interest, expose an affiliate program and initiate a relationship.  Who knows, maybe I and other smaller affiliates who win incentives will become super affiliates and bring in lots of dolly for the respective merchants.

Regardless of the prize (I’d be happy with a keyring), winning stuff is fun and motivates me to promote the merchant more. I will still promote merchants on sites I think they would fit and all that jazz, but with so many ideas floating around my head and so many of my sites floating round the web, a nice incentive can tie down an idea and receive my full time and attention.

And if the super affiliates don’t want to play, I’m willing to win anything else thrown my way

P.S. Thanks again to Maximuscle!

Tags: Incentives
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi | Post a comment »

Monday, May 5th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi 1 Comment »

As some of you may know, I won the sunshine mission to Benidorm last week on the (sort of) condition that I took pictures of my meals whilst there. This was an amazing prize as I don’t believe I’m deserving of such prizes yet, but who am I to complain? So I quickly told work I needed a week off, grabbed the lass and we jetted off to Benidorm for a week.

I haven’t been on a plane since I was a little’un and I don’t remember having a fear of flying something which amused the lass greatly as I sat on Row 13, next to an emergency exit on the wing of plane as it landed very bumpily (apparently it’s normal for the engines to make a loud whirring noise as if the pilot misjudged his landing and was ready to take-off again for a second attempt..).

We had a nice apartment overlooking the Benidorm skyline albeit a 15 minute walk from the beach and the other winner, Ray, seemed to have bagged a posh hotel with salsa dancing and everything. But we had german MTV where we discovered the delights of Tila Tequila, scary rock music and what Family Guy sounds like in german.

The week was spent burning on the beach (I’ve come back white than when I arrived as all my skin has peeled off), walking, enjoying all the British bars, more walking, a bit of shopping, more walking, a spot of drunken karaoke (a vodka influenced rendition of New York, New York if you’re wondering), a bit more walking, a trip to the zoo and yet more walking.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the meals we enjoyed whilst there:

The only taste of Spanish cuisine I had was this paella. Probably the most boring thing I’ve ever eaten.

A mixed grill consisting of chips, sausage, bacon, pork chop, egg and that stuff some call salad.

Spaghetti bolognese with what appears to be a the scraps of a pepper sitting on top.

These were cool - mashed potato balls with minced beef inside.

Perfectly cooked pork chops I’ve ever had with fries.

Absolutely cracking home made steak pie and chunky chip shop chips served by a pale guy in shorts at a pub called the Yorkshire Pride. Home from home.

A cheeseburger with chips. Tasted better than it looks.

So that’s it. Big, massive thanks to sunshine for this holiday and I’ll be working non-stop on my Benidorm website, which will be fatter than the site I won with

Some more pictures to end the post:

The view from our apartment at night.

A view of the resort.

Me meeting the locals.

The sun had taken it’s toll on the lass.

Adios…

Tags: Benidorm, Sunshine
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi | 1 Comment »

Sunday, April 20th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Design 2 Comments »

Et voila! My sunshine competition website is now live and kicking… pretty much. Time for a guided tour!

Go To Barcelona is the domain and subject. I think it’s a great domain because I can use it again for other destinations if I wish to do more travel domains, e.g. gotomars.co.uk or whathaveyou. I chose Barcelona because I briefly stayed there last year on a road trip, albeit on a campsite and not any of the lovely hotels featured!

Naturally, I used WordPress to create the site because it’s a fantastic CMS tool, I practically know it inside out and there are loads of plugins to extend the functionality. It’s also my first time with the brand new 2.5, which is quite nice and seems more fluid and easier to use.

Each ‘post’ is a hotel and the ‘category’ is the resort. The great thing about WordPress is that when I add a hotel, it will automatically be added to the category page, but I can customise it to include more information like this hotels in Eixample page which has a brief biography of the area surrounding the list of hotels.

Each hotel has a picture and description (reworded from the sunshine site), followed by a search box to find availability and book that particular hotel. This is followed by a list of similar hotels, thanks to the related posts plugin.

I quite like the design that I quickly whipped up; a clean text-based logo sits above the content, which is backed by a beautiful picture of a beach (which isn’t actually in Barcelona, apparently it’s in Japan). Above the fold has a beautiful summer blue sky and it’s only when you scroll that the whole picture is revealed. Yes, there’s a bit of a crease where I tried to attach a reverse image of the same photo to extend the length, but that will be fixed.

As usual, Internet Explorer doesn’t like it; ignoring the transparent background of the main content box amongst other things. Again, I’m sure there’s a fix somewhere and I will get on to it at a later date, but I think it degrades well with a white background.

The sidebar links are automatically generated thanks to WordPress, firstly with a list of resorts and then a list of articles which I will write throughout the site’s life with information, guides and suchlike.

All of this has been put together with the aid of sunshine’s fantastic affiliate area which allows you to choose your own banners of which there are generic and some customised to the resort of your choosing. I’ve used a generic in the sidebar and resort based on the category pages. Then there’s the search wizard which allows you to create a search box customisable to the hotel, and thanks to the chat tool and a friendly fellow called Alan, I was able to find the boxes I wanted. The spreadsheet helped list all the hotels with URLs of images. It really is a fantastic example of how an affiliate program should be managed.

So there you have it, how to create a site in just over a day thanks to WordPress, a few good plugins, the amazing sunshine affiliate area and a bit of motivation. Your comments are appreciated! Click here to see the site in action.

Tags: Go To Barcelona, Sunshine
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Design | 2 Comments »

Friday, March 21st, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi 3 Comments »

Happy Easter folks! As I write, the sun is shining and I’m sat here comfortably at home instead of gazing longingly out the window. And I will be until Tuesday morning. It’s given me a chance to relax and spend a bit more time on my sites which makes me ask - across the nation suits are being thrown off, cars packed up and people are heading out into Britain’s most tourist friendly areas. But what are you doing?

Are you like me and taking the extra time available to work on your sites? Instead of getting stuck behind a caravan on the way to Scarborough, are you tweaking meta tags, writing copy and optimising your CSS? Or are you lounging around in your pants drinking a beer (maybe both?)?

I’ve taken ten minutes out to post here - I know I haven’t posted in ages which I’m a bit annoyed about but I have been very busy. The last few weeks have been spent getting to know Price Tapestry and incorporating it into my oldest, biggest and most Google friendly site.

I will write some stuff about the site and about Price Tapestry in the next few weeks. There are some fantastic things that can be done with it and I don’t see many other people writing about it so it might prove useful.

In other news…

I’m now a merchant as well! I wrote some time ago about seeing the networks from the other side of the fence, and I’m now happy to announce Webgains have been chosen and the affiliate program for The Retail Factory is now live. I shan’t take up too much space here writing about it; the sign-up page is here and some incentives are over there. If you’re enjoying all the chocolate the Easter bunny has kindly provided, you might like the chocolate hamper we want to give away!

And despite having Friday and Monday off from The Retail Factory, I’ll still be checking my work e-mail so feel free to e-mail should you have any questions/problems/comments/requests etc.

Happy Easter everybody and don’t work too hard!

Tags: Easter
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi | 3 Comments »

Friday, February 29th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Monthly Round-Up No Comments »

Yes I know, I used that title last month but it works, non?

Around the affiliate blog-o-sphere

Innovation was the common theme this month. The biggest news is Webgains have come up trumps again with their new voucher tool! There’s been plenty of talk about it so I shan’t go over it again, but it’s very exciting. Paid on Results have a voucher tool which is great too, but the interesting thing about the Webgains one is that exclusive codes will be attributed to the owner of that code, even if it doesn’t go through the affiliate link. So code stealers will actually be bringing profit to the original owners of that code! For example, if anyone wants to use the code DB1 at justsocca.com, feel free! Spread it around forums, your blog, your website, wherever. The commission will still be given to me. This could lead to offline promotion, which is really opening up the definition of affiliate marketing.

Forget the StripeAd, the peel-away ad is the must-have blog thingy this month! I wonder what’s the next thing I have to have then forget about after a few weeks (don’t say the blog itself, I’ve been busy!).

Keeping with the innovation theme was the sites such as social shopping (osoyou for example) and the flashy 3D mall (can’t remember what it was - which kind of proves they’re not that threatening). They’re pretty, sure, but nothing to worry about. Affiliate marketing is a big pie and there are enough slices for everyone!

The month kicked off with the news that the A4U awards would be voted for by select panelists, not the forum, which didn’t go down well with some members. I can’t say much as I haven’t been around that long, but it makes sense that the people who make up the A4U community should have a say in the A4U awards.

My affiliate stuff

Well I actually made less this month than I did last month, but there has been more work behind the scenes rather than front-end stuff so it’s not too bad. I’ve been very busy on my sites and hence why there have only been 3 posts here this month (that’s bad…).

Today news is spreading that Google have had an update and none of my sites have dropped .My voucher codes site, which is about 2 months old with no link building has been given a PR of 1. Taking little steps…

I finally sat down with caffeine and nicotine and got my head around Price Tapestry. It’s fantastic, it really is. Very flexible and there is phenomenal support at the forums. It’s my new toy for the next month or so and I’m sure it will prove useful.

Highlight of the month was making a particular sale on Webgains and receiving a text from my flatmate saying “Proof we can really sell anything, including a guide on how to inspect your own s**t. Excellent!”

This bit could now be called my merchant stuff because….

Personal life

…I’m a few weeks away from being a merchant! The company that I’m on placement at has finally signed off the proposals. I’ve chosen the network, got a load of ideas together and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens. I’m not in the position to reveal anything but there will obviously be news in the next few weeks or so. This blog shall remain an affiliate blog as I will be leaving all my promotional spam and what-have-you at the forums

Apart from that life has been pretty boring this month. I went to see Cloverfield; brilliant movie - highly recommended. Oh, and I slept through the earthquake. My flatmate revealed the flat was shaking violently, our ‘home office’ was having a fit, things fell over and so on whilst I slept blissfully unaware. The apocalypse could happen and I wouldn’t know till I wake up, have a brew and open the curtains to see the city in smoulders.

Have a great March!

Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Monthly Round-Up | Post a comment »

Monday, February 4th, 2008 C'est Moi, SEO 3 Comments »

Last year, two friends and I took part in the Student Brakeaway, a rally to the south of Spain. It’s like the Gumball Rally but just for students and with much, much cheaper cars! It was a phenomenal holiday, overtaking drunk students on a French motorway in a battered Nissan Micra (yes, really!) by day and drinking in a different town by night. The guys at Student Brakeaway have released the route for this year, a1900 mile trek through France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Needless to say, I really want to go again.

Herein lies the issue. The ‘holiday’ is actually quite expensive. There’s the car and it’s servicing, accessories, petrol and insurance; the holiday itself and associated expenses such as food and (lots of) drink; accomodation for the drive back and finally, the hidden expense of last year, the bloomin’ plethora of toll roads. The majority of other cars on the route had sponsors and accessories paid for by businesses (including a sex doll, bizarrely). We had some electrical hazard tape slapped on the roof and our team number printed out on colour A4 and sellotaped to the back window. Proper students!

Obviously, we pay for the holiday and holiday expenses ourselves but I really want sponsorship or a nice slush fund paid for by fundraising to help accomodate the other costs of the trip ie. the car, petrol, tolls etc, with a substantial percentage going to charity as that’s part of the reason the rally runs. So far, the event has raised £75,000 for several charities including Teenage Cancer Trust.

How do I raise the funds, then, and will people sponsor me? I have a few ideas, and I’d like your advice on whether you think you they’re decent ideas, and whether you’d be willing to put forward a quid or two!

I was thinking about setting up a site/blog for our ‘team’ to detail the event, have a shop with stuff other drivers will need, details of last year’s event; that kind of thing. My idea is to place some kind of “sponsor a mile” bit, where you put forward £1 for a mile. Each pound gets a link back to your site, almost like the Million Dollar Pixel Page. That’s 1900 miles with the last few miles being sold for a bit more than £1 if it works out. If I could get around 500 miles sponsored, I would start taking the idea to the press releases and see if I can then get it filled that way.

However, Google obviously isn’t going to like 1900 links but perhaps I could separate these onto other pages e.g. a page for England, a page for Belgium etc. Also, I don’t have a strong domain with which to really interest potential ‘link buyers’ or sponsors. My strongest is Hanlor, a shopping portal which is currently being massively redeveloped. It has no backlinks (that I’m aware of), is almost 2 years old but has a PR of 2 with pages one level down with PR1. Our team name last year was don’t tell my mom (long story) and I have that domain which is also 2 years old but due to it being redirected incorrectly and having no content, it has no PageRank. I also have about 13 other domains, most of which aren’t yet developed but I’m open to sponsorship requests.

So other than the ’sponsor a mile’ idea, I could simply sell adverts on the new ‘team’ website or hope that this affiliate marketing takes off and I raise enough money regardless of sponsorship. Most students took the normal route of selling space on their cars, something which I would be very happy with, but I don’t know who would sponsor the car.

What do you think? And more importantly, do you fancy sponsoring me to drive to Croatia and back?

Posted in C'est Moi, SEO | 3 Comments »

Thursday, January 31st, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Monthly Round-Up 1 Comment »

Seriously, where has January gone? As this blog started at the beginning of January, I thought I would do a monthly round up of affiliate news, my personal stuff, how my sites are going and so on throughout the year but I have work in the morning and besides, my memory is appalling. Jesse seems to have the weekly round-up wrapped up on his blog, so I’ll just throw a couple of things down.

Affiliate Blog-o-sphere

Like I say, I have an appalling memory and I don’t have enough time to go through my blogroll but the month started off with, as one would expect with a New Year, the future of affiliate marketing. It made for fairly daunting reading and set the ball rolling for a very negative month until blog title of the month popped up - ‘Accentuate the Positive - Eliminate The Negative‘ . The topic of the month was discount codes with posts here, there, everywhere and even a podcast. Oh, and a small blog was set up by a new affiliate which was met with great acclaim. Max said “I like the blog design”. That reminds me, two of my favourite blogs changed their skin. Sorry, but I did prefer the old themes. What’s with the fruits?
My affiliate stuff

All of my sites have been moved to Heart Internet and now I look forward to developing them. The Discount Blog is really rocking and rolling with daily updates and a trickle of visitors. Commission wise, the sales are starting to come in and I don’t want to reveal too much except - do people really spend that much on towels?! Google have also sent a PIN to verify my address, but I don’t live there any more. D’oh!

Next month I’ll continue designing and adding content to my biggest and most established site and hopefully launch another one or two WordPress powered sites. I purchased Price Tapestry and so far I’m just confused. I can see the support is amazing, so I’m saving it for when I’m not up all night with work the next morning…

 Personal life

I won a competition at my ‘real job’ to go see Man City vs West Ham in Manchester. Tickets included a meal in the executive lounge (we had to be suited and booted to gain entry) - I’ve never had such a posh meal in all my life! I mean - cheese and biscuits! This was the first football match I’ve ever been to so it was a great experience.

Also, I took the lass down to London for her 21st and despite spending way too much, it was amazing. We hit London Tower, the London Eye, watched Avenue Q (absolutely hilarious), stayed in a Kensington Hotel (only 5 mins walk from a Lamborghini garage!) for only £60 and had another posh meal on a Thames Cruise. Nice, but a bit exhausting.

And finally… 

I hope you all had a great - and wealthy - January 2008! Do you have highlights and lowlights, or was it just another month in the affiliate world? When I speak to you next I’ll have another month automagically appear in the sidebar. I love WordPress.

Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi, Monthly Round-Up | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi 3 Comments »

Noone wants to be the kid who’s never even heard of a Yoyo let alone own one and that’s why I’ve hopped on to the bandwagon with these cool kids and got myself a stripe ad. ^Up there, like. I’m not going to use it for advertising as this blog is very new and I only get a very faint trickle of visitors so I’m going to sort of copy Ray (sorry!) and just use it to show off some posts I’ve written with my very own hands.

I thought it would be cool to use on my discount code blog to display random codes and visitor retention stuff, but it appears someone else has had the same idea. I wonder how long it is before a) they become really tacky and unoriginal b) someone creates a different StripeAd without the mandatory ‘Powered by’ link (even if it does have your clickbank hop thing in it) or c) I forget to update the bloomin’ thing.

Tags: Plugins, StripeAd, WordPress
Posted in Affiliate Stuff, C'est Moi | 3 Comments »