Archive for the ‘Marketing Tips’ Category
Traffic Exchange Rankings Have Evolved…
Since the first website traffic exchange went online nearly a decade ago, We have seen countless variations of the original manual traffic exchange model. As competition among an ever growing number of exchanges heats up, innovation is at an all time high.
Traffic exchange ranking systems on the other hand, have essentially remained the same. In most cases the rankings have been based on some organizations stats and figures, maybe some opinion thrown in for good measure, while we the surfers put blind faith in the stats and experiences of these 3rd parties.
Last week marked the beginning of a long overdue change in the way exchanges are ranked. The hardworking team over at Affiliate Funnel launched their brand new member based ranking system for traffic exchanges. Affilliate Funnel members can now rate each exchange listed in the AF database with a score from 1-10. At the end of each week, points are tallied and the best of the best rise to the top. Truly a useful tool and a welcome addition to this already powerful free downline builder.
Now, anyone with experience in the exchanges will tell you, no ranking system should dictate your advertising focus. Rather you should track your own results and promote in exchanges that give you the best results. But until now, there has never been a better starting point for your tracking efforts than the top sites in the AF ranker. Why? Well, it only makes sense that sites receiving the most votes would have the most active members using them doesn’t it. I mean, why would you vote for a site you don’t even use? So it’s safe to assume that if you promote in a site that ranks high at AF, there should be a lot of eyes waiting to see your ads. More eyes = more possible conversions wouldn’t you think?
So, If you were under a rock these past couple of weeks and have yet to check out the new and improved Affiliate Funnel, go ahead and have a look here. Don’t forget to Vote!
Can you hear me now?
When you read that headline, I’m willing to bet that many of you instantly got an image in your head of that guy in the Verizon commercials, testing his cell phone reception. You really have to admire the genius of their advertising department for what they’ve managed to achieve with this particular ad campaign.
Let’s take a moment to look at 2 strategies they’ve implemented and how they can relate to your online businness.
- They’ve created a spokesperson or mascot that we instantly associate with their product.
- They’ve created a mental association linking a common phrase uttered by cell phone users to their product.
All of this fits under the label of branding. I cannot stress enough how powerful effective branding can be for your business. Look at any multi-billion dollar company in the world today and I guarantee you will see heavy branding incorporated into their advertising efforts.
So what can we learn from these highly successful comapanies? What do they know about branding that we can incorporate into our own advertising?
The power of repeated exposure
It’s quite obvious that the ad department at Geico auto insurance saw the value in pounding their british gecko’s image into our heads eh? Do you recall when they first debuted their gecko campaign? The little guy spoke only 2 words… “well hello”. By the end of the month we all recognized that gecko even if we weren’t quite sure what he was trying to sell us. In fact, I don’t think the folks at Geico intended to do anything other than branding their mascot at this stage of their campaign.
We can duplicate this strategy quite successfully with traffic exchange marketing. A splash page, branded with your
image,logo or name, in constant rotation in several high traffic exchanges can achieve a similar effect. If you’ve been surfing the exchanges lately, I’ll bet you recognize paul kinder’s face when you see it eh?
List building
I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who makes better use of list building than the pizza delivery industry.
When you order a large pepperoni, delivered to your door, Your address is instantly added to that pizza shop’s mailing list and you’ll soon find their advertisements in your mailbox. Usually right when you get home, hungry after a hard days work.
Add on opt-in form to the page you’re advertising, and you’ve now combined 2 powerful marketing strategies into your advertising. This is really all you should be focusing on when utilizing Traffic exchanges anyway. I mean, do you really expect to close a sale in 10-30 seconds? It’s doubtful. Instead, concentrate on branding yourself, and building your mailing list. Then you can build a relationship with your list. If you take a patient approach, and stay honest. You won’t have to do much “selling” at all.
In the coming weeks, I will be adding a bunch of step by step instructions to help you accomplish these tasks using your own custom built pages, however if you’re in a hurry to get started right away, I can point you toward an excellent set of free tools to give you a jump-start.
Head over to Affiliate Funnel and grab a free membership. You’ll get a quick loading splash/lead capture page which will help you to build your own mailing list, while branding your image in the exchanges. Once inside, You’ll find several other benefits included in your free membership as well.
Remember, the effects of branding don’t happen overnight. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can reap the rewards. Best of luck to you!
Did you overlook this branding technique?
Since the first banner ad appeared on “The Global Network Navigator” in 1993, banner advertising has gone on to become the most widespread form of advertising on the net. Over the years, the debate has been back and forth as to the effectiveness of banner advertising and it seems everyone has their own opinion. There is one fact about banners however that can not be denied. When used effectively, banners can be a powerful tool for creating brand name recognition.
By now, I think we can all agree that branding is a crucial part of any affiliate marketers advertising strategy. Yet many newbie affiliates fail to see the value of banner advertising. It is very easy to get stuck in a consumer mindset when putting together an ad campaign and when it comes to banners, we find ourselves thinking,
“I never click on banners, I’ve learned to ignore them and so has the rest of the world.”
Whether or not this is true is irrelevant when it comes to branding ourselves. For the sake of getting our face/logo in front of potential customers a simple banner impression gets the job done. Click-thru or no click-thru.
Those of you’ve read my e-mail series know that I am a HUGE fan of traffic exchange advertising and they are quite possibly the best place to begin your branding efforts. For one thing, the vast majority of traffic exchange users are internet marketers themselves. This translates into highly targeted views for your ads and banners. When you also take into account that banner impressions are considerably easier to come by, (some exchanges will give you 40 or more impressions per pageview credit), you can see that it’s relatively easy to bombard potential customers with your face or logo on a regular basis. How many times a day do you see a Coca-Cola or Pepsi logo? Apparently these multi-billion dollar companies are fans of branding as well hmm?
So how do I make a branded banner?
Well, if you don’t have any image editing software, I recommend you pay a visit to StartXchange. They offer a custom banner creation feature which allows you to add your photo and custom text to create your own banners. It’s extremely easy to use and you can be branding your mug all over the exchanges in a matter of minutes.
Once you have your banner set up and ready to go, you may want to stop by Paul Kinder’s Traffic Splash. Here’s just a few reasons why I love using traffic splash for banner branding…
- Six second surf timer=600 credits earned per hour
- Surf rewards – Surf 100 pages, get 500 banner impressions, Surf 250: 2,000 banners, Surf 500:3,500 banners, Surf 750: 5,000 banners
- Convert credits into banner impressions up to 30 banners per credit for pro members.
Are you beginning to see the branding power of banner advertising? If this isn’t part of your strategy thus far, I suggest you incorporate these ideas a.s.a.p. and see what effect they have on your results. I think you’ll be pleased.
What can a custom splash page do for your business?
Well, after much preparation, I’ve opened the doors at Black Hat Graphics. Finally, custom splash page design that’s affordable for the average Joe. Now, I really have trouble “tooting my own horn” so Here’s what some of my “pre-launch” customers had to say about Black Hat Graphics.
So, if you’re ready to take your advertising to the next level, give Black Hat Graphics a try today.
Oh, I almost forgot, I have a bonus for my list members. Any one who is on one of my mailing lists will receive a custom banner ad free with their purchase of a custom splash page. Just mention it when you order.