internet marketing FOR BUSINESSES BOTH LARGE & SMALL

Hooked on Phonics– errr… I mean profits

Do a search for “hooked on phonics” and you’ll see 869,000 results on Google.  If you’re an affiliate pushing this program, you know how much it costs per click on paid search, plus what the payouts are if you promote via Commission Junction or Amazon.com (if you’re not in certain states)– generally 15% or around [...]

The most common way to fail

I’m not talking acai, crush, or consumer scams. This post is about how to avoid the most common form of business failure. The moral of the story- “In God we trust… All others pay cash.”

Joel Smith is a nice fellow. Great design skills, great intentions. His company is Pixel Envy Designs out of Indianapolis. Yet [...]

Google Template Center– want to clone your PPC accounts?

We’ve been testing Google Template Center since November 2008.  As you would imagine, if you want to multiply clones off a master template, this is the tool for you.  You can create a master and then copy it over multiple times.  So let’s say that you have a Denver laser surgeon and based on the [...]

Facebook ads for local businesses– get FREE calls!

We’ve spent the last 4 months porting our Google campaigns over to Facebook.  Just like with AdWords, where you pay for clicks, but not impressions– one trick is to place your phone number in the ad.  Some proportion of folks will call the number right from the ad, which gives you a free lead.
What [...]

Those who risk the most are more likely to succeed

We fire a lot of people in our company.  I’ve noticed that those who have risked to most to join us are the ones most likely to succeed.  Ironic, since you’d think that people who take the “safe” route– work part-time to hold their current job or not move out to Colorado– have less risk.
Or [...]

Microsoft BING Local Listing Center

So much talk about Bing, but not much on their Local Listing Center.  It’s much like Google Local Business Center, but a few key differences:

Way less volume: Like organic results, we get about 1 click from Bing local results for every 20 Google local results.
Not as sophisticated: You have to wait for the postcard to [...]

Learnings from Affiliate Convention 2009– Denver

The folks at Webmaster Radio put on the first Affiliate Convention, ending just a few hours ago.  Billed as “free for affiliates”, many said that the event wouldn’t happen, wouldn’t attract high quality affiliates, and couldn’t secure a sponsor.  Even Shoemoney was considering whether or not he was going to come. But when 10 of [...]

Do you know what Facebook is releasing on June 28th?

3 million users took their names last Friday in Facebook’s vanity url rush.
But even bigger than that is grabbing the vanity urls for your fan page(s), which opens up June 28th. If you have at least 1,000 fans by May 31st, then you can grab them now.  Likewise, if you’re a journalist or a [...]

Raining money from the sky

Golf-ball sized hail is coming down right now in Boulder- our yard looks like a driving range littered with hail chunks. As an internet marketer, instead of hearing hail pelting our windows, I hear clicks from people typing in denver hail damage, as they need new roofs and car repairs.
Shall we say there is a [...]

Microsoft Bing Launch at the Seattle Space Needle– call it BLING, not Bing!

The Space Needle is flooded in Orange light tonight, the color of Bing. A giant searchlight, reminding me of the Luxor, shone straight up the air for which the Microsoft spokesperson told me that they had to get a FAA permit to do.  We saw helicopters circling the Space Needle to capture the epic moment [...]