Jon

When Brandon and I are done giving them out to friends who are good affiliates in the industry that can add value and went to ASW to support us, also to loyal members. After that, the 100+ that are left, will be given out here.

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Miguel

Ok I'm up for one:
What have you found to be the one thing that you see effect conversions the most in terms of landing pages?

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nothing to see here move along now.

Jon

I sale unique ICQ's on the internets.

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0352

Is it worth the time to make a bullshit site with nothing but offers on it? Not google or yahoo ads, but just regular offers from the networks. There are a ton of "freebie" sites out there, just wondering if it is worth the time or if that is asking for a headache.

Jon

Is this like a "I have a friend with a giant mole on his cock.." advice questions that is really about you?

Seriously though..

I'd go with both MSN and Adwords. Dedicate $100 to each one, and focus on much more targeted keywords (long tails?) for max conversions for each click/visit they generate for you, and then take the remainder $100 and put that towards the one that gave you the best ROI... not CTR.. but ROI.

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Jon

Automate all of the things that take the most manual labor/time to do. Also have all the aspects that are huge pains in the asses to do by hand or the ones that cost you the most if you can.

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CorrectAD

If you wanted to develop a software program that you didn''t want the whole world knowing about (on a minimal budget), where or who would you go to in order to get it developed.

I'm thinking of setting up short term in Romania/Russia... what do you think about that idea?

tob

Sounds good.

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Stanley

Suppose you have several large media / entertainment based sites. You're planning on spending a few grand a month on advertising each of these sites. How would you budget it? What would you spend money on?

springer

Jon,

The "guru whores" seem to have succeeded in convincing a lot of people they can make obscene money with no investment of time or money.

I see a few of them wandering in here, looking for real answers after they've been raped by these guys.

What do you think would be a resonable starting budget and time frame for any of these people who are just starting out?

__________________
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk.
Alcoholics go to meetings!

BlondeTM

Damn, I'm too transparent.

Jon

Didn't you hear the news? I retired...

I love money. I love making money. The best thing of them all is finding a way to do it that either no one else has figured out how to do, or to make it by gaming something most others would consider "impossible". It's all about the challenge for me, and the cash payout is the incentive and major perk of it.

I have a tendency to jump from campaign to campaign, or niche to niche just to always be challenging myself and our resources, and to stay sharp on any new developing or underdeveloped markets.

Regardless of what that campaign or niche is.. if it doesn't convert at 3:1-4:1 at the LEAST within 30-90 days, then I cut it loose. I'm here to make money. I already feel like I've put in my time to learn the basics so I may be a lot more spoiled than others, but I see the time spent on it as very valuable and I hate waiting around for something to finally pick up and work. I'm, pretty impatient so it works out well for me without having to wait on an investment to mature and pay off, sometimes it's just easier to get rid of it and move onto something bigger and better.

But that's just me. You should do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

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barman

What is the biggest mistake you see noobs doing most often these days?

__________________
Where Affiliate Marketers go for News. and Weed.

Jon

This may sound strange, and for many years I refused to acknowledge it as a way to pick a solid niche, but since it works time and time again, I use it.

I just trust my gut. If I get a good vibe from it, and after doing some research on both the positive and negative aspects of it, I weigh it out, and try to picture how it can do great, and also how badly it can fail, combine the two, and if the vibe is still there, I go with it. If it's not, I don't.

There is no "correct niche". Every niche can make money. Even killing people, however horrible of a thing it is, there are contract killers out there making a killing (literally!). Think of every bad or evil thing you can, and then think about how it can make money, and there you have it, everything has a way to make cash. Even if it's so against anything you would ever think of, it's still a way to make money.

So if you can come up with really horrible things and then a way to bank from it, then imagine what you can do with a good/legal niche?

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Jon

NO MORE QUESTIONS. CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.

I'll answer the remaining questions though..

All questions after this post are void. Save them and ask them again either on the forum or in the next WF Lightning Round.. whenever I randomly do it again.

Thanks again to everyone who asked normal questions.. and thanks to the usual suspects who try to ask retarded shit.. Lerch, Engaged, etc. -- Dar.. go fuck yourself too.

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Jon

Yeah, you can ask as many questions as you want... Just have them be unique and realistic.

Tough call.. I'm not a developer/programmer, so I don't really know what to do. But your best bet is to research what other people may have done. Ask them on forums and on their blogs for the advice, but don't be pushy about it. Their advice can be great, or just plain suck.

I am taking a guess here that the developers who release demos or lite versions of applications do so to create buzz and interest for free. Because if someone really likes what they see, they will end up buying into it. If it's not that kind of program though, then you may want to co-op it with a development firm or a marketing firm.

If it's an app/program for internet marketing of any type, you can run it by me, and I'd definitely be upfront about it and tell you right away what your options are with doing it with us, to generate instant cash from it. But again, that's only if it is something to make webmasters' lives easier.

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Dar

can't we be friends?

Jon

The type of design it is.

We've actually JUST started to accept this too, and it's weird because people in this industry like tech/design saturated stuff, and we poke fun at things that are badly designed and not beautiful or flashy. Well, that's just the opposite on "the outside".

For younger crowds, very web 2.0'ish or media/flash saturated pages do well, whereas for the baby boomers or older crowds they tend to like pages that look like they were made in 1996. I'm not totally sure why, but that's what's been converting and not converting as weird as it sounds.

Also, the type of traffic is a huge part in increasing or decreasing conversions. A landing page made for PPC needs to be done differently than a landing page for a mailing. Why? Because PPC clickers have the attention span of a kid with ADD. I think it's like 3 seconds or less. But someone getting an email advertisement has a much longer one, because they opened the mail, read through it, clicked it, and now they want to read more. So you can pack lots more details and information on a landing page for email subscribers, but you have to get straight to the point and only focus on "deciding factors" or "key points" (main ideas) with the PPC crowd, otherwise they are going to leave and click elsewhere. Not to mention the cost per user is a significant difference, but PPC is much safer in terms of legalities versus email which has anti-spam laws.

Your best bet is to set up 2 budgets for every campaign. The first one is for testing purposes, and the 2nd one is for the real thing.

If your time is limited and this is a niche you don't plan on sticking around for very long, then don't even bother testing it so accurately, but if it's a longer term deal, then it's better to learn the secrets on what works and what doesn't work as well earlier on instead of later.

But that's just my take on it. I'm sure other people have a different opinion on it.

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Jon

If you're talking about zero content and just stuffing ads from offers onto a page and pushing it, then sure, go for it, but you will have reeeeeeally shitty conversions.

There's actually a network that will be having a service like this launched next week or so. I've voiced my opinion on it to them about it not being the best idea out there, but they want to test it out and see what happens. Hey, for all I know, it can do amazing with the right type of traffic, but when someone wants to be that lazy about not sticking anything else but ads onto the site, they tend to be lazy and careless, and out there to take whatever they can get from it. This is part of the reason why domain parking services make so much money on per click ads rather than from network offer ads, because you'll get a lot more quick clicks than you will from something that requires the person to enter information or make a sale. But, I do know a few guys that slap an offer with pretty much nothing else on it except "signup here" and manage to build email lists from it, or get a quick email/zip submit commission from it as well. Again though, that can work both in your favor or against it. If you newsletter their ass later on with other offers, true, they "opted in", but the traffic may be complete shit.

All I'm saying is I'm a much bigger fan of spending SOME time and effort in building a page/site that isn't so 1995'ish with it. Because back in 1995-1998 that's what our landing pages looked like. Just a simple page, ads slapped onto it, and people would click/buy or not. But back then times were different and much simpler but also less understood, so we used what worked for quick cash. Now I would never do that. But that's because I use what works well for me, and has in the past.

If it works for you.. do it. If it doesn't.. don't. It's really just that simple!

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Jon

I went that route many years ago, and had a spam program made that made me a SHITLOAD of money. We're talking MILLIONS within a 10 month period.. but because my programmers were super shady fuckers, they took it, and re-sold it for $80 a pop to everyone else. It quickly became saturated, and the network phased out the way it worked, so although we only had 10 months of being the only ones using it, some people ask how pissed off I was, and I gotta say, at the time, and for a few years later, it was a really sore subject for me. But now, I look at it in a different way, that I'm lucky I didn't approach the programmers sooner and say "here's $25k, now keep quiet" because then they would have caught on to the real value of it, and sold it sooner.

Here's the deal..

When you have a very limited budget, and you need top quality developers, then you need to either save up for it, or make them sign an NDA. Don't use foreigner programmers/developers for it. I know they are more cost effective, but our rules and laws don't apply to them usually, so having them sign an NDA would be the same as having them sign a blank piece of paper. You MUST use someone in your country so that if they turn around and fuck you over, you have legal options to pursue, and can actually profit off of a bad deal like that. Yes, they are a lot more expensive, but what would you rather do, spend a small amount of cash and get it done, only to find out later that they are selling it behind your back and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, or have someone who may cost more, but if they do fuck you over, you can sue the bejesus out of them and recoup all costs not to mention shut them down for a long time or stop them from ever profitting on your stuff again. Instead of me spending the $250 or so I spent to have that bot created for spamming, I DEFINITELY would have shelled out $10k for a US programmer/developer to ensure that I would remain the only one using it for years and years.

Also, you can try to team up with someone who has the cash to help you develop it and split up the revenues in exchange.

Like someone else asked before about sources.. We are one of those sources. We are ALWAYS looking for developers/programmers with ideas for apps. We have developers and programmers that can do pretty much anything, and/or if the developer/programmer approaches us, we can work out an agreement so that it's mutually beneficial for both parties. Again, we are also VERY upfront in letting you know right away whether we are interested in it or not.. and unlike pulling a Chris Lingle or Lee Dodd, we won't steal your ideas if you bounce it off us.

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CLKeenan

Im still waiting for my definition of "now" from the Jon Dictionary

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Looking for Drupal developers. PM me for details.

Jon

That really depends on WHAT you want to accomplish with your advertising/marketing campaigns. If you just want branding, then banners and videos are your best bet for quick reactions and visits. If you want more quality long lasting audiences, then you will want to target them in a very creative and unique way. Viral marketing is also something you should consider, because it can combine both aspects, branding and loyalty amongst users. Guerrilla and word of mouth advertising, although usually paired with viral marketing, but actually different, can be amazing for you in the longrun as well.

It's not as simple as you think.. But then again, just look into what your competitors have done, what's worked and what hasn't. Try and pick up on the little things. Also survey your current users and get as much information from them as you can. Be upfront with them too, because unlike them, we look at sites we own from a site owner perspective which is like night and day compared to the users.

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Miguel

I'm heading out so I will say thank you ahead of you finishing, awesome thread, printed it out to read over again on my BART ride home. Thank you again for all the info Jon... I'll stop before I start sounding teh gey.

Jon You Rock the Internets.

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nothing to see here move along now.

Jon

If you come across a guru whore, or guru fucker here, report them to me immediately. I will ban their asses so quickly. I don't want that type of filth on the forum to poison our quality with their fucked up views and scammy shit. /disgust for the ebook community

The question is far too general. Instead of asking something like that, look at it in this perspective..

If you REALLY want to get into the business of making money online, you must, no seriously I really mean this.. you absolutely MUST realize that it takes TIME, EFFORT (this would be called hard work), and CASH. Sure, there are probably ways to make money without spending any, but I don't fuck with that sorta stuff because the less you are willing to spend, sometimes the tougher things are to be successful at.

I know it's tough, but you seriously CANNOT give in to these ebook guru assholes. They are selling something called HOPE. Not really selling anything absolutely unique or wonderful. They are selling you on the fact that you have the "potential" to make a shit ton of money. Well guess what, everytime you play the lottery you have the "potential" to win. Doesn't mean you're going to do it. Unlike with playing the lottery, you actually have control over how much you can "potentially" make online, because it all comes down to how much dedication you are willing to put into it, and how open to learning and asking questions you will be.

If you are just embarressed, and insist on lurking for months without asking a single question, you won't learn as much as you can. For the first few months, the best possible advice I can give to you or to anyone new in the field is to read forums, and articles. NOT ebooks or blogs. The only reason I wouldn't recommend reading all the blogs is because there is so much shitty information out there, or inaccurate stuff. I see most blogs as an "op-ed" kind of article, they are just opinions of the author, not actual facts that were fact checked, although there definitely are blogs out there that are amazing (mine isn't one of them because it's more of a ranting outlet for me with the occaisonal tip and advice).

Read the forums guys.. ask questions (but real ones), and however dumb you think the question is and you're afraid of being laughed at.. remember one thing.. THIS IS THE INTERNET. What the hell can someone possibly say to you to actually offend you. Also remember the following: IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL, JUST BUSINESS. Michael Corleone knows his shit. Don't take anything that anyone says to you or about you to heart. Forum/blog politics/drama is 90% talk and bullshit and 10% real. Lastly, our memory on forums, well, other forums, not this one, last as long as a Goldfish's. No one will remember you for asking a stupid, but honest question, unless of course it's so obvious and already answered here, then you're on your own.

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dogfighter

What is the best way to take a visitor from your landing page to the advertiser's landing page without causing the domain in the address bar to change?

iframes leave me with a really ugly vertical scrollbar in IE, and I'd like to be able to preload the affiliates page to cut down on load time. I can't just send traffic directly to them because their landing page and the affiliate network's redirecting URL is killing my quality score. I want to put a landing page on my server that looks just like theirs to minimize any loss in conversion rate that could come from putting another click between the visitor and the conversion.

CoLL1eR

I do believe the asking of questions are over.

Jon

There are far too many to list man.. but that's what makes them noobs. The smart ones will read, study, ask questions and learn first. Then they'll start slowly and use my favorite trial and error strategy until they are confident enough to take it to the next level. The rest of them just focus on how much they can make from whatever it is they are doing, and don't bother learning from their mistakes, or can't comprehend how or why something failed when other people were able to absolutely demolish it. These guys are the ones I like to poke fun at and pick on. They are the ones that don't last very long, and get lucky once or twice, and then end up fucking up too hardcore to ever come back.

Another HUGE mistake noobs make is they focus on one blog for all of their advice, and take everything to heart. Fucking idiots, they deserve to fail.

But the best one of all.. and you knew it was coming.. are the ones that buy into the whole ebooks of wisdom or seminar bullshit. Remember.. these people don't want to genuinely help you, they want to make money from you, and keep you strung along to keep selling and upselling you shit instead of giving it to you all at once. If you really want the good, and real advice or really want to learn the real shit, you come here, spend some time reading and asking questions, and then try it on your own.. if you want a quick way to make money, but will just fail, go to all the other forums and buy all of the stupid ebooks, and keep believing the lies that they feed you. I hope to god all of those people don't just fail, but fail HARD. Because you are just as bad as the fuckers churning this shit out.

IF THERE WAS A SECRET TO MAKING MILLIONS QUICKLY, WHY THE HELL WOULD SOMEONE SELL IT FOR $97 OR LESS?!!?

How many sales are they going to get from it? 1,000? 10,000? 100,000? Even with those numbers, it's a lot less than what they could make from it if they kept it a secret. Also.. how many people do YOU really know, in person, who have read their shitty ebooks and accomplished what they preach? Seriously.. how many? What?? ZERO?? Ohhhh yeah I thought so, wanna know why?? BECAUSE THERE IS NO SECRET.

Fools.. all of them.

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Jon

I already answered it dildo.

But since you are a loyal member and a Guide, PM me with your email addy, and I'll send you a pass.

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Jon

Learn to read. The lightning round be over niqqa! Shiiiiet.

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Laura

This would make a GREAT blog post.

Laura

TylerL

This is by far my favorite thread on the forum! I haven't been around for a few days so I don't know what's up with the Lightning Round thing, but I hope you do more, I have some questions ;o

__________________


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Jon

Someone actually pointed that out on the blog post I made yesterday with the reference examples of Darren Rowse, Shoemoney, John Chow, and Lee Dodd. I only poked fun at Lee, I actually respect the other guys in spite of what it may sound like or how it may have come off as. Whatever. I'm just upfront about what I think and how I view things.

Selling HOPE is what those guys do to gain massive audiences where the large majority of them are fucking stupid people.

The smart ones are here!

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JamesH

Thanks Jon, I appreciate your tips and advice. Time to take action, after a little bit more research.

DomainRealty

Jon,

Although I did not get the chance to ask my question(s)...the information provided was very helpful

Here's to another Lightning Round!

Jason

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COPEAC + NEVERBLUE ADS = MONEY!

BlondeTM

This is an excellent thread. Thanks Jon.

Jon

Yeah, they are kinda draining to do them, especially since it takes me like a fuckin hour to catch up and answer them even after the damn thing is over. But I try to pack in as much info as possible to give an accurate answer..

It also causes me to have a Cocaine energy drink (which tastes like the shitty cough syrup we used to have as a kid, and has the worst after taste and spicy/numbing aftertaste and after effect), but has the most concentrated caffiene/B12 than anything I've ever had before, so it gives me the boost I need.. and yeah, look at these long answers, gets me super focused and makes me give huge, in-depth answers.. hahahaha

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Jon

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Now go take care of that rash on your cock. And please wash your hands before you ever shake mine.

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DomainRealty

Yeah, there is a lot of work involved with reader-based content

Kindof like Robitussen?

Jason

__________________
COPEAC + NEVERBLUE ADS = MONEY!

Fewleftstanding

Great thread Jon, Thanks.

He is going to shake your cock? Or your hands?

BlondeTM

I don't have a cock.


I kinda miss having one around sometimes. Not often though, they're too high maintenance and whiny (or at least the one I was married to was).

BlondeTM

I am a girl! Hence the title "girl geek".

I have boobs. No cock.

barman

pics of boobs?

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Where Affiliate Marketers go for News. and Weed.

BlondeTM

Yes, I do have pics of my boobs. They're attached, so they tend to end up in every photo.

Jon

Let's see some proof.. make a new thread and post!

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springer

Jon, thanks for taking a stab at my question.

When I read your answer, I realized the question was way too generic. It was close to the end and I was trying to get in under the wire.

I've never been good at asking questions. I knew what I wanted to know but didn't do a good job of getting the point across. Sorry about that, my bad!

Actually, I was curious what advice you might give to some of the people who ask what seem like lame questions after having been raped by the "guru whores" with their e-books and such. They get the impression that making a living online is easy and cheap. I was looking for your counter-point to that. I know what your opinion of the self-proclaimed gurus is, I was just wondering... if you had the opportunity to tell people the truth, what you might say.

I got a real good answer to that part of the question. Nothing further expected.

When I asked about the time involved and the budget to expect, that was directed at your real-life experience in the PPC arena. I know it's probably impossible to nail it down but I think a lot of people need to realize the importance of the term, "you have to spend money to make money."

So many people believe they can throw $25 or $50 bucks into an account at G, Y or MSN, throw out some keywords, never do any testing or adjusting and be in profit before their account runs out. Then, when they're out of money and they haven't broke even, they say, "This doesn't work!" and just quit, never to try again.

I thought maybe I'd get a general estimate of what you'd expect to spend and how long you'd expect it to take, if you were starting from scratch. I wondered what you might tell someone to expect when just getting started with affiliate marketing and driving traffic with PPC.

I appreciate the answer you gave. There was plenty of valuable info there.

Next time, I'll try to do a better job of asking. I'll tell my friends, if they have big moles on their cocks, they should come to you for advice.

Thanks again.

__________________
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk.
Alcoholics go to meetings!

gladi8tor

Gumby,

If nothing else, I think this is a great question. Possibly the best question of the entire thread.

It cuts right at the heart of the issue of the mindset of a new marketeer and what mindset they MUST DEVELOP in order to be successful in this industry. I was reading another forum and a poster said it best when he told a newbie that he(the noob) would not be successful until he gained some of the neccessary traits of a business owner as opposed to someone attempting to take part in a "get rich quick" thinggy.

jamiejelly

Am I the only person that thought... yawn to all this?

ffblueocean

You totally walked into that one!

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klingerrr

very motivating for a newbie.