Text Links vs. Banner Ads
Another common use of text link: they are placed into the body of a webpage. Content is built around the text link. It much easier to built a value proposition, or tell a story when you have content build around a link then it is to tell that same story with [...]

Text Links vs. Banner Ads

Another common use of text link: they are placed into the body of a webpage. Content is built around the text link. It much easier to built a value proposition, or tell a story when you have content build around a link then it is to tell that same story with just a banner/picture with a short tag line.

In other words, if we’re painfully honest with ourselves, ads work best when people don’t realize they’re ads. Ads work best when we trick people into thinking they’re part of the text.  Sad, but true. And something to consider.

I don’t employ this technique, which is probably why I don’t earn much money. I do believe that obvious ads can work if you have the right audience and they have the right relationship with you. It would be interesting to see a test of sidebar text links versus sidebar banners.

Why I’m not watching your videos
It takes too long - I just did a little testing, and it appears that I can scan text at a rate of about 800 words a minute, but only talk at a rate of around 260 words a minute. That means that for a 1,000 word post/video, I can [...]

Why I’m not watching your videos

It takes too long - I just did a little testing, and it appears that I can scan text at a rate of about 800 words a minute, but only talk at a rate of around 260 words a minute. That means that for a 1,000 word post/video, I can read it in around one minute 20 seconds, where I have to sit through you talking for around four minutes (and this doesn’t even take into account buffering time etc). I’m a busy man with little free time, so this is a real negative.

There are several more reasons, all of which I agree with.

Single Serving Sites
Lately I’ve noticed a pattern of people building Single Serving Sites, web sites comprised of a single page with a dedicated domain name and do only one thing. Here are a few examples:
Sometimes Red, Sometimes Blue. Sometimes the page is read, sometimes it is blue.
D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y helps you spell definitely correctly.
The Abe Vigoda status [...]

Single Serving Sites

Lately I’ve noticed a pattern of people building Single Serving Sites, web sites comprised of a single page with a dedicated domain name and do only one thing. Here are a few examples:

Sometimes Red, Sometimes Blue. Sometimes the page is read, sometimes it is blue.

D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y helps you spell definitely correctly.

The Abe Vigoda status page. Currently alive.

There are a lot more examples if you click over. Seriously: wtf? Some of them are at least sort of useful, like the one that tells you if the next episode of Lost is a repeat, but there are about 5 million other ways to obtain this information. Can anyone explain this to me? Have people lost their minds? Lost bets?

What a Bon Jovi Concert Can Teach You About Internet Marketing
For some reason, I always find myself looking at things from a marketing perspective where ever I go.  I could be in the grocery store, at Cold Stone (shhh!), or even just driving and see a bill board and I get inspired.  Sunday night was [...]

What a Bon Jovi Concert Can Teach You About Internet Marketing

For some reason, I always find myself looking at things from a marketing perspective where ever I go.  I could be in the grocery store, at Cold Stone (shhh!), or even just driving and see a bill board and I get inspired.  Sunday night was no different.  I came home and jotted a few notes down that have turned into this post.

This is a nice post covering some fairly basic elements of good marketing, but they’re basics we tend to forget. Are your gimmicks boosting your message or distracting people from it, for instance? There are a lot of good thoughts in that post.

Is Niche Marketing Stupid?
When I look at successful internet marketers or people making money online none of them seem to be going after small or non competitive topics.
When I look at people peddling ebooks and keyword tools or struggling to make a full time income it’s then I see people suggesting to find non competitive [...]

Is Niche Marketing Stupid?

When I look at successful internet marketers or people making money online none of them seem to be going after small or non competitive topics.

When I look at people peddling ebooks and keyword tools or struggling to make a full time income it’s then I see people suggesting to find non competitive niches.

The general conclusion from Mark and his commenters is that niche marketing is not where the really big money is at. A couple of people point out that if you have enough niche sites making modest livings, it adds up. Others argue that it’s a good start for someone learning affiliate marketing.

It’s all true. I think generally the big money is in broader niches, but the trick is always to supply something that a group of people is searching for. Bad example of a tight niche: children’s clothing in lime green. I mean, how many people are looking for that? Possibly good example of a tight niche: clothes color-coordinated so kids can pick outfits that look decent on their own. I really don’t know if many people would look for that, but I’m guessing it would fill more of a need than the first example.

The Less You Know, the Happier You Are
One of the things that holds back many semi-successful people who do not fully appreciate their own value is trying to answer everything possibly before the sale, which focuses too much time and effort on non-customers, while killing the imagination of legitimate prospects.
This reminds me of [...]

The Less You Know, the Happier You Are

One of the things that holds back many semi-successful people who do not fully appreciate their own value is trying to answer everything possibly before the sale, which focuses too much time and effort on non-customers, while killing the imagination of legitimate prospects.

This reminds me of the conclusion I came to when I wrote Creating personas that say yes. You could be turning away easy sales by focusing on the tough ones. But if you start with the easy sales, the word of mouth might spread, which will reassure the tough buyers.

This is easier to do in person, but a way to go about it online might be to write glowing copy about all the problems your product will solve, then provide a link to “more information” for those who want every question answered.