No Excuses 3 - Official Thread

[erect]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

I love Camtasia. There are a few things that I haven't figured out, like how to have two audio tracks at different volumes. You know, the narration track at normal and a music bed. Oh well, don't really need it, I just want it.

Camtasia's layers suck. You can't have more than one thing happening at a time.

The only workaround that I've found is to save your project as an avi file (audio and video). Open another project and then load up your avi. You can then import your background music (or moaning sounds) and turn the volume down on just the audio layer.

When you export it the 2nd time you'll have 2 "layers" of audio in the same video.

[JonesersRX7]

Glad I finally registered tonight - Would be interested to participate. I started I.M. the end of 08' and haven't done much with it as I have been busy with my offline business. Will utilize the competition to kick my ass in gear.

Things I have:
Fitness related domain name (wordpress installed with a few posts and review of a CB product)
Acceptance to over 12 CPA networks.
Aweber account
$50 Adwords coupon
Desire and dedication.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by JonesersRX7

Things I have:
...........(a bunch of stuff).........
Desire and dedication.

That last one will be your biggest asset. Just try and keep that when things get tough, and they WILL get tough no doubt about it. I'm going to get more coffee and get back to work on the PPC tutorial.

[iggyman]

Prizes: I vote for option 2 - things to help me grow my business.

[TylerDurden]

I also would like things to help grow my business for a prize.

[weiron]

I'm interested in joining this.

[oohah]

I am a raw newbie on this forum, and I would like to join in on the no excuses showdown.

[toppymoney]

Sounds like a plan. I need to get my ass in gear. Im in.

[Helderic]

I would also like to participate if possible.

[gluesniffined]

I'm up for learning anything I can, especially from someone speaking from experience.

[Mike]

Quick update: things are moving along. Still working on the main video tutorial. It's taking longer than planned. The video itself is about 40 minutes long so far and I'm only about halfway done with it.

Prizes: looks like people want to take the practical route. Makes sense to me. I'll see what we can come up with. Also need to work out the qualifications and prize levels.

[Lambo]

Hey, awesome stuff Mike!... I'm in.

[Prypiat_Pulse]

Sounds great :]
Def. count me in. Been a member of ppc-coach for about 2 mos now...very curious to compare and contrast that vs this....

Got my own VPS and domains, ready to bust my ass. Looking forward to starting!

And thanks, Mike, for running these things.

[kinnybaby]

I'm in! I'd definately like to join! Hard work and dedication is not a problem here! Just need the experience!

Thank you Mike!

[grcjso]

I am new to AM and am getting my feet wet. I would like to participate but would need either pointed in the right direction to get upto speed or A LOT OF HANDHOLDING.

Before i get bitchslapped for the second option...i am a quick learner and am keen on learning this

[nat3r]

im in, i dont mind throwing in cash for hosting/URLs

basically I was planning on starting some SEO sites this summer and tweaking those

as for PPC i dont have hundreds to throw at it, the best i can do is maybe a 50 goog coupon along with maybe 50 more bucks, and thats really it.


anyways, sounds fucking awesome.

[nohatter]

Count me in. Got hosting, got domains, got coding and design skills, got some money to throw out... Been doing ppc for awhile in my region. Need this to learn US markets, if that makes any sence.

[gtrplyr]

I'm in. I've been crashing and burning at PPC so this will be exciting.

[Mike]

New Thread -> visit -> signup -> wait

Do not post anything in the other thread besides the info being asked for. If you can't follow those simple instructions, then you're probably already on the failboat and might as well jump in the water to drown.

[erect]

18 and counting after only a few hours ... well done.

You might as well open a new section of WF to make the support process a bit easier. Doing it by PM or on a single thread seems like it might be chaos.

[nat3r]

yeah, its own forum would be nice, everyone can keep a journal thread and receive feedback from eachother

i mean, as much as i want to do well, i wouldn't mind making suggestions for people here and there, I'm just in it to learn

[nat3r]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Unlocking this to see if there is any interest. My goal for the third installment is to get people making money. To that end, this episode will possibly have a "sponsor" and maybe even prizes. (omg)

Of course to make things a no-brainer and no excuses, I'll find a server that we can setup free accounts on for the duration of the...contest(?) and also will provide domain names for those that need them. PLUS - I will make myself more available to help people get campaigns going, etc via AIM, IRC, and PM (no email guys, if you can't reach me through one of the other methods, I obviously don't want to be reached).

does wickedfire have an irc? i read that it was on freenode, didnt see anything

[bay37]

Originally Posted by erect

You might as well open a new section of WF to make the support process a bit easier. Doing it by PM or on a single thread seems like it might be chaos.

Agreed. A dedicated forum section would definitely make things a lot easier.

[Mike]

Yeah, a dedicated section probably would make it easier, I'll check with Stanley on that, but I doubt it. So, we'll have to make do with the newbie section. Nobody's saying that you can't post stuff here, right?

Once it gets going if you want to mark your thread as related to NE3, just put "NE3" in the thread title. Keeps it simple, no new section needed that way and it doesn't limit us to one or two threads. Also, I'm not sure that a separate section would benefit the rest of the forum. By keeping in the n00b section, others can easily find them and it may spur them into action as well.

Only time will tell.

Okay, my things to do before this starts:

1. Finish PPC Tute video
2. Secure a dedicated server
3. Get a domain account set up
4. Figure out prizes and such

Things YOU need to do:

1. start thinking about your target niche
2. do some research on said niche
3. figure out the demographics of your niche
4. determine how much time and / or money you are willing to invest in your business
5. Get excited! (when I get too excited, I fart a lot - j/k, I just like that smiley)

[Scotty_G]

I'd like to get in on this as well, if you'll have me. By the way, CampaignSniper looks great, erect... I feel uncomfortable referring to someone as "erect", but also strangely excited... is that bad?

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Scotty_G

I'd like to get in on this as well, if you'll have me. By the way, CampaignSniper looks great, erect... I feel uncomfortable referring to someone as "erect", but also strangely excited... is that bad?

Sign up for NE3 Here

[erect]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Yeah, a dedicated section probably would make it easier, I'll check with Stanley on that, but I doubt it.

Yea, it was a bad idea ... too much of a PITA for the powers that be.

The best way to handle this inside of wickedfire is to put NE3 in the title as Mike suggested ... even better, tag the thread ne3 so that all Q&A can be handled here.

[dreamer13]

It is so great of you to put this together! Thank you! (I already signed up in the other thread...) I'm going to be one of those annoying people who asked stupid questions, I'm sure, so sorry in advance! I'm just a n00bie!!

So, here's my first, if you have time to answer... I've been trying to do my "homework" lol that you outlined in that post earlier... (what we should be doing while we wait for NE3 to officially start) and I keep coming up with ideas for niches that I'm interested in, but I don't think they'll be profitable - so

How do you choose a niche??

[Mike]

Originally Posted by dreamer13

It is so great of you to put this together! Thank you! (I already signed up in the other thread...) I'm going to be one of those annoying people who asked stupid questions, I'm sure, so sorry in advance! I'm just a n00bie!!

So, here's my first, if you have time to answer... I've been trying to do my "homework" lol that you outlined in that post earlier... (what we should be doing while we wait for NE3 to officially start) and I keep coming up with ideas for niches that I'm interested in, but I don't think they'll be profitable - so

How do you choose a niche??

Well, I just look for whatever can make me money, then dig around and see if there's any others doing it. If there are a bunch of others, then that means there is a market for the product (most likely).

For example: some "saturated" offers: credit reports, teh berries (acai), anything weight loss, dating, refinance, etc.

The reason I put saturated in quotes is until you can prove to yourself that there is no more money to be made, then it's not really saturated. The reason you see so many advertisers is they are making money at it.

Let's look at berries: berries are the latest ringtones. If that analogy went over your head, don't worry. Ringtones used to be THE offer to run. I got into them after the market was already saturated and still made good money. Berries are probably no different. Not saying you should jump right into slinging acai, but it's an option.

Oh? Am I slinging berries myself? No. Not anymore. No real reason, other than I found something I like better. What is it? It's not really one thing, I'm running about 5 main offers. You'll see one of the newer ones in the PPC tute video. That video will be an actual offer and actual PPC accounts, so you're not going to get some watered down bullshit. If it does well, great! You'll get to see that, if not, well you'll learn what doesn't work for that particular offer.

Back to how you figure out what you want to run:

1. Talk to other affiliates. They may not give you their golden eggs, but most will at least help you figure out what might work for you.
2. Check out the sponsored links in the search engines. Are there a bunch? Few? Might give you an indication of how profitable it is. Pay attention to only the affiliate marketers' links, ignore manufacturers and retailers.
3. Talk to your affiliate manager. They know whats converting on their network and are more than happy to help you out. If you make money they make money.

Once you have an idea of what you want to run, learn everything you can about it. Back to the acai example, find out:

• What is acai?
• How does it affect the body?
• Will it really do what it says?
• What are the terms and conditions of the offer?
• etc.

You need to know your product like the back of your hand. That knowledge will help you market it better, and figure out your demographics / placements faster. If all you know about it is "it's supposed to help people lose weight" then you're going to be that much farther behind the guys that took the extra hour or so to figure out those questions. Don't make it harder for yourself to make money. This is your business, treat it as such.

[dewme5]

that was the single best post I've read so far.

[dreamer13]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Back to how you figure out what you want to run:

1. Talk to other affiliates. They may not give you their golden eggs, but most will at least help you figure out what might work for you.
2. Check out the sponsored links in the search engines. Are there a bunch? Few? Might give you an indication of how profitable it is. Pay attention to only the affiliate marketers' links, ignore manufacturers and retailers.
3. Talk to your affiliate manager. They know whats converting on their network and are more than happy to help you out. If you make money they make money.

Once you have an idea of what you want to run, learn everything you can about it. Back to the acai example, find out:

• What is acai?
• How does it affect the body?
• Will it really do what it says?
• What are the terms and conditions of the offer?
• etc.

You need to know your product like the back of your hand. That knowledge will help you market it better, and figure out your demographics / placements faster. If all you know about it is "it's supposed to help people lose weight" then you're going to be that much farther behind the guys that took the extra hour or so to figure out those questions. Don't make it harder for yourself to make money. This is your business, treat it as such.

WOW! Thank You!! That was a gold mine of info for my simple question! Unfortunately (for you) it just spurred a bunch more questions, but I'll try not to jump the gun and ask them all yet! I don't want to take advantage of you! (hmm, now in the spirit of WF I should twist that into some sort of reverse 'come on', right?! ha!)

ok,
1. so affiliate managers - where to find one, do they charge a fee or just commission, and are they necessary? (that last part might be redundant since you mentioned them in this post...sorry!)

2. how can you tell what is an affiliate's ad vs. someone else's ad? when looking thru the sponsored links?

There's more, but I'll save them for later! THANKS AGAIN!!

[nat3r]

this video is going to be fucking amazing

[Mike]

dreamer: an affiliate manager is just simply your point of contact with the affiliate company you're dealing. After you sign up with an affiliate company, you'll be assigned an affiliate manager. They are free of fees as they are paid by the affiliate company.

#2. Experience more than anything. There are usually clues though:

• Affiliate ads are usually more provocative
• Can be "warnings" or "scam alerts"
• Take you to a landing page for the item(s) and redirect to another page for you to purchase

Originally Posted by nat3r

this video is going to be fucking amazing

Uh, I guess. I thought Transformers was amazing, but I don't have the budget for that level of special effects. So, this will have to settle for informative and slightly amusing at times.

[patrick24601]

Signed up myself. Looking forward to it.

[dreamer13]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

dreamer: an affiliate manager is just simply your point of contact with the affiliate company you're dealing. After you sign up with an affiliate company, you'll be assigned an affiliate manager. They are free of fees as they are paid by the affiliate company.

#2. Experience more than anything. There are usually clues though:

• Affiliate ads are usually more provocative
• Can be "warnings" or "scam alerts"
• Take you to a landing page for the item(s) and redirect to another page for you to purchase

Uh, I guess. I thought Transformers was amazing, but I don't have the budget for that level of special effects. So, this will have to settle for informative and slightly amusing at times.

lol! I'm sure it will rival transformers! a close second anyway...

Thanks for the info!! I probably should have known that... anyway, thanks!! I'll try to lay low on all the questions now for a bit!

[Mike]

Holy crap! 63 signups in two days! This thing is going to be huge!!!! Nice!

Okay, so next week I'll secure the server and start setting up accounts and start acquiring domains for those that need them. It's going to take sometime for me to set up all of those accounts and make sure the server is hardened and optimized, so things will probably start in two weeks.

It's getting close!

Also, next week, I'll announce who the sponsor is, what the prizes will be and give you the official rules to win a prize.

That being said, keep in mind that the prizes are not the reason you should try your damnedest to excel. YOUR business is the reason you should want to kick ass. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I wish there was something like this when I started out in AM (affiliate marketing) but there wasn't so like most of the vets here, I learned the hard way. Luckily, there was Wickedfire and I owe so much to this forum and Jon, I'm happy to give back. Maybe you'll be the next superaffiliate. I hope so!

[nat3r]

just the fact that we are gonna get to see a PPC campaign that isn't fake is gonna be pretty awesome

is NE3 a purely PPC event? or is there SEO involved.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by nat3r

just the fact that we are gonna get to see a PPC campaign that isn't fake is gonna be pretty awesome

is NE3 a purely PPC event? or is there SEO involved.

SEO isn't really marketing in my opinion. I was talking to the owner of the sponsor network earlier and he agrees.

Here's the reason why I don't believe SEO is marketing:

1. Your primary goal is to get to the top of the SERPs. SERPs don't buy anything visitors do. Granted getting to number one will get you more visitors, which brings me to number 2
2. The visitors you get are free, so you're not nearly as concerned about the landing page they see. In fact, it's probably not going to be a landing page at all, just one of the random pages on your site
3. SEO doesn't require you to know your demographic, or understand their mindset, it only requires that you know how to get links and get to number one.

I could go on, but you get the idea. SEO isn't something I do anymore. I'm a direct marketer. Notice I didn't say affiliate marketer, there's a difference, but that's a whole 'nother thread. As a marketer, I need to know who my buyers are. That requires research that has nothing to do with SEO. Also, I don't have the time to wait for results from SEO. I want to get paid now. That means buying my traffic. If I want to get the best traffic I can, I need to really know my buyers otherwise I'm pissing away money.

Sorry, got to ranting. Anywhooooo.......

There a ton of great places to learn SEO, and I encourage you to learn more about it, but NE3 is going to focus on marketing not SEO. Sorry. Notice I said marketing and not PPC?

[oohah]

Seo mike, sorry this is off-topic. I sent you a PM, I am hoping to take part of the NE3 event and I have run into a big problem. Thanks, Ken

[nat3r]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Notice I said marketing and not PPC?

I wish i had a clue, looks like we'll find out whats up in a few weeks, thanks.

[vtec9k]

SEO_Mike, you made me pop my WF cherry 1st post

Sounds a great idea and will be signing up ASAP, currently taking working on my first few campaign so this is spot on timing for me. Thanks!

[Mike]

So, the first 35 minutes of the video have been uploaded. I skimmed through it and goddamn do I have a bad habit of saying "Okay, so what we're doing...." Fucking horrible. Oh well. That 35 minutes took several hours to put together so I'm not very motivated at this point to change it much.

That just covers some intro stuff, signing up for the affiliate program, choosing your offer, and doing some research. Next, I'll get into building the landing page, signing up for Adwords and creating your first campaign. I'm going to use Adwords for this because its familiar to most people and Google can still provide a shitload of traffic. Also, Adwords is one of the more difficult places to optimize and it will be good for you to see that. I'll get into analytics scripts, and some other scripts that I use and some that I'm going to test on this campaign. I found an open source analytics called Piwik that I've been testing on another site and I really like it so far, also an open source heat map called Heatclicks that I haven't used yet, but looks promising.

Finally, I talked to the sponsor last night and I now have his credit card! Yay! So, I'll be getting some prizes ready, hosting and setting up the domain account. My goal is to be ready to launch this by Monday June 1st. If you're on the fence, get signed up soon. You must be signed up by the start date if you want to participate in the contest portion and take advantage of the free hosting and domain name.

[oohah]

I am looking forward to checking out that video.

SEO Mike don't do no SEO? Maybe you should be renamed PPC Mike?!

I'm new to affiliate marketing, but i have worked in the digital marketing field for a while. I agree with you for the most part about SEO. However, in my opinion, SEO is not "marketing" per se, but it is a subset of the online marketing field and is a marketing tool.

I found Piwik about 2 weeks ago. I wanted an analytics solution that was not in Google's hands. I am a pretty technically oriented guy but I found the installation to be a little annoying so I abandoned it. The "straw" was that they wanted me to edit my PHP.ini file.

It looked like a very simple edit but I didn't want to risk screwing around with it. Did you have to edit the PHP.ini file and did everything work fine once you did? Or did it screw up other scripts you are running? If it did work without trouble, I may go ahead and resume the installation because it looked like a pretty powerful package.

Ken

[Mike]

I don't edit PHP.ini files, I let Platinum Server Management do that shit. FYI, unless you are a whiz at server management, that is the best $30 per month you will ever spend. I can't remember what the change was, but I also needed the PHP GD library installed so they just did it all at once. Plus, their monitoring is very good. And, one of the first things I have them do when I get a new server is harden and optimize it. Takes 'em about 24 hours, but it's worth it.

If you have a shared host, then you can usually just email them and let them know what you need. VPS with Virtuozzo is pretty easy to work with yourself. Just login to Virtuozzo find the php.ini file and add the 2 lines that they ask for. Done.

As for my name, I though about changing it to Big_Mike or Fat_Mike, but I've used SEO_Mike since the beginning. It came about because I used to do SEO for a living, then moved on. Mostly I don't like SEO because it bores the fuck out of me and I don't create longterm sites. Every site / landing page I make is expendable and generally only has a shelf life of a couple months.

[prathsgd]

Wow I am amazed at Mike's dedication.

[dreamer13]

Is the video going to be released on June 1st then? Or am I missing the boat and you've already posted the first 35 min? (ok, i just reread, you've uploaded it, but not posted it yet... right?) I'm just so anxious! I've never been a very patient person.

Which leads me to another question. I know the faster way to make this all happen is to use PPC - it takes money to make money - But if I seriously don't have any to spend, am I wasting your time by joining NE3? I SOOO want to be doing this NOW - but I don't even really have the credit (let alone real money) to spend for a campaign right now. :cry:

Should we kick me out or will I be able to be involved without being able to buy ads?

[Mike]

Originally Posted by dreamer13

Is the video going to be released on June 1st then? Or am I missing the boat and you've already posted the first 35 min? (ok, i just reread, you've uploaded it, but not posted it yet... right?) I'm just so anxious! I've never been a very patient person.

Which leads me to another question. I know the faster way to make this all happen is to use PPC - it takes money to make money - But if I seriously don't have any to spend, am I wasting your time by joining NE3? I SOOO want to be doing this NOW - but I don't even really have the credit (let alone real money) to spend for a campaign right now. :cry:

Should we kick me out or will I be able to be involved without being able to buy ads?

Don't cry. There's no crying in baseball!

Seriously, you'll just need to come up with some more creative methods than PPC. Nothing wrong with that, and I'm sure we'll discuss some. Twitter anyone? Craigs.....nevermind. Yahoo questions. There are a shitload of ways to make money without spending a lot or any even. Yahoo questions is great actually. Combine it with some good landing pages, or Squidoo lenses and it can do quite well. The only problem with it: it's a lot of work. If work doesn't scare you then try something like that out until you raise enough to do some PPC or branch out into other areas.

Here's another idea along the lines of Yahoo! Questions: have a friend call into a radio station with a story about something (related to your offer), then have another friend (or yourself) call in and say "Hey, I don't know if this will help that other caller, but I saw a website - {insert your website here } - that talks about that very thing and they have a solution to it as well." or something a little more polished and less obvious.

Get creative, think outside of the box. Remember, this isn't about just PPC, it's going to be about marketing. Just because we do most of our marketing online doesn't mean you can't do any offline marketing as well. I'm very seriously considering some DRTV in the next 6 months. DRTV = Direct Response TeleVision. Infomercials. There are a ton of products that we market online - and do well with - that you don't see on TV. Why not? I don't know, but I'd like to find out. A television, radio or print media buy is not much different than a large online media buy. The only difference is the media you're advertising through.

You are correct, BTW, I haven't released the video to the masses yet. Only one or two other people know where to find it. I don't think my Dad is going to post on Wickedfire and my wife doesn't care (it bores her). Speaking of the vid, I'm off to do some more work on it. Time to get to building the landing page and such.

Originally Posted by prathsgd

Wow I am amazed at Mike's dedication.

I enjoy this shit, amazingly enough. TBH, I like the mentoring as much as making the money.

[dreamer13]

I can definitely tell that you enjoy it, otherwise you wouldn't give such clear, thoughtful answers to my incessant questions! Thanks again. The crying has left the building. *shudders* too much blubbering, it had to leave. lol - well I'm willing to put in the elbow grease for now, but believe me, as soon as I have some money to play with it will be time to try PPC, etc. Part of why internet marketing appeals to me is the idea of being able to set something up (eventually) and then be able to let it roll without me babysitting it. - Once I actually learn it and stuff.... ya know, the minor details

[Mike]

Important Update!!

Last day to sign up for NE3 will be friday. This is especially important for those that want to participate in the contest portion of the project, and / or need hosting or domains.

Sponsor and prizes will be announced later today (possibly) or tomorrow.

[musiconly]

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Important Update!!

Last day to sign up for NE3 will be friday. This is especially important for those that want to participate in the contest portion of the project, and / or need hosting or domains.

Sponsor and prizes will be announced later today (possibly) or tomorrow.

just wanted to say thanks for everything never seen anyone willing to spend so much time just to help noobs and create himself a competition