From the category archives:

Internet Marketing

Social Media, blowing the winds of change

by Damian Saunders on September 5, 2009 · Comments

Social Media, to me, is a nebulous subject, constantly on my mind because of the business I′m in, more importantly, how I choose to conduct my business and my life in general.

When I traveled to New York a couple of weeks ago to attend Affiliate Summit my mind was swimming with thoughts about the significance of this "new phenomenon" called Social Media in relation to our business, what is our strategy, what are people doing with it, how are they monetizing Social Media, and so forth.

I’ve always thought that Social Media is there to be embraced, it fits squarely into my ambition to be free from constraints, able to work, and communicate, from anywhere I have a connection to the internet. I certainly don′t think that it′s a fad. I think it will be quickly identified by what it facilitates rather than what it is.

Peter Shankman’s keynote address at the Affiliate Summit, apart from being really entertaining, put a lot of things into perspective, and reaffirmed a lot of my own thinking on the matter. I wont go into the detail of Peter′s address, you can view that yourself, but the key takeouts for me were;

  • Social Media is a two way conversation, it′s about establishing trust, and your reputation.
  • Social Media has heralded in the age of immediacy – traditional news media is no longer the primary source of ″news″ rather it has become a secondary source of supporting content and background information.
  • Social Media, despite what might be apparent right now, is not Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other applications we use at this point in time, they are merely the applications that support it, for now.

Like all new developments (is it really that new?) on the Internet, I see attempts to pigeon hole, categorize, capitalize, monetize, specialize, and generally go around in ever decreasing circles of analysis paralysis until…well…you know what, then stick on the ″I′m a Social Media expert″ hat and proclaim some sort of insight into it′s future, what it is and what it isn′t, what it means in this that or another context, oh and you’d better buy the e-book before you miss your chance and the whole Social Media bandwagon up and leaves you in the dust.

I′m a Social Media user, and an advocate, I′m certainly not an expert. Contrary to emerging opinion I regard any application that puts me in touch with a broader community, that expands my neighborhood, my peer group, business contacts, or allows me to share my opinion and participate in conversation with people who, previously, I would never have met, as Social Media.

Like many I use a number of applications; Facebook for family, friends, acquaintances, and community. Where the activity is somewhat frivolous and lifestyle oriented. Linked In as some kind of quasi resume or record of my work history, business connections and probably a source of employees at some point in the future. This Blog (yes, I know there are people out there that differentiate blogging from Social Media, but I don’t) where I write and discuss topics I’m passionate about, and Twitter.

CogentDamian

Twitter is like a seething mass of humanity all talking at once. To make matters more colorful we have to deal with the likes of the 15 Most Annoying Types of Twitter Users (thanks to JD Rucker for putting it so nicely) cluttering up the twitter space. It′s been likened to the junction between narcissism, ADHD, and stalking, and now we′re seeing a preponderance of people who need to understand the difference between please buy my product, or, click my affiliate link, and creating the kind of reputation where people trust you enough to be compelled to do business with you in the first place.

But, every so often a wave of congruence flows through the Twitter chatter, we’ve seen it with the rigged elections in Iran, the death of Michael Jackson, etc. and that′s where the real power of the medium lies. Those who once controlled the message now face the reality that they no longer can (unless they turn the Internet off, of course), or certainly not to the same extent. Twitter can get the message out faster than you can say “shit, I hope this doesn′t get out”. I like that.

Denver Business Strategies Examiner, Kevin Boulas wrote, in a particularly astute post titled Four key questions CEOs must ask about social media…

Another question a CEO is concerned with is "How do we control the message?" There is an internal aspect to this question – "how do I control internal communications and proprietary information?"; and an external aspect – "how do I manage my brand if I don’t control the message?"

…the post goes on to look at things, very articulately, from the CEO′s perspective, but, looking at it from a Social Media (ok, my) perspective I′d say guess what, dude, you don′t.

In as much as this is now a two way conversation, and it’s happening almost immediately, you can only control your side of the message, your brand will now, more than ever before, be intimately connected to your reputation, not some one way strategy devised in your marketing department, and your reputation will be determined by the extent to which you participate in the conversation, and should you choose not to participate in the conversation, well, we will have it without you.

Take my recent posts about HP and Mark Hurd (CEO, HP), triggered by nothing more than hearing "if you don′t like it there′s the door" one too many times and deciding, you know what, I′ll take the door, thanks for the golden handshake and, buy the way, I happen to think you′re (Mark Hurd) the living embodiment of everything that′s wrong with corporate America, you′ve never been known for innovation, made all your returns to shareholders by shafting employees, and you′re leading HP down the doom spiral that comes from competing for market share in already saturated markets. Oh, and I blog.

How do you control that message?

Social Media represents, to me, a fascinating blend of democracy, anarchy, and freedom of speech, it′s power is that it′s given us a voice outside of the established news media, and as far as I’m concerned it′s now my primary source of information.

When Rupert Murdoch (CEO, News Corp), a guy who’s probably reminiscing the good old days, when people used to buy newspapers, and the paperboy dropped one on your lawn each morning, decides to deal with the recent massive drop in the overall value, and revenues, from News Corp, a company that dishes up, in my opinion, a steady stream of comoditized, politically biased, dumbed down for the masses, garbage, by making me pay for online content, I just think…

…go ahead…make my day.

Recommended reading

I′m reading this book right now.

Chris Brogan and Julian Smith are Social Media veterans. In their book Trust Agents they discuss how today′s online influencers trade in trust, reputation, and relationships to build their businesses online.

This is fascinating stuff, the Internet has completely changed the paradigm of work and business for me and it′s become obvious, through experience, and emphasized in this book, that the more we participate in transparent, honest, and genuine relationships, the more our business grows.

The book discusses how social networks, and personal connections, have more influence than marketing messages ever will, how the most valuable commodity on the Internet is not cash, it′s trust, and it gives you strategies to use the power of the Internet to build your business through social networks, now, and with integrity.

I recommend it.

NOTE: I always give my local bookshop the first opportunity to sell me a book before I go to Amazon. It would be nice if you did too.

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What recession?

by Damian Saunders on December 22, 2008 · Comments

So, I’m not exactly a prolific writer but hey, I’ve been busy ok?

A little over a year since my first post, and looking in hindsight at what I set out to achieve, and how, I have to say if I haven’t already achieved my goal, I’m pretty damn close.

As we head into the twilight of 2008 the world is quite a different place compared to when I started this blog. We’re surrounded by the fog of economic doom and gloom relentlessly amplified by the media and, largely as a result of the actions of irresponsible and greedy dimwits running financial institutions, millions of people are staring down financial oblivion or, living in fear of it.

My life too is quite different, I have a Son, I have given up my day job and, like I set out to do, I have a business that I can run from anywhere I have a Laptop and an Internet connection. I’ve moved my family out of Sydney, bought a new house on the mid north coast of Australia where the air is clean, the beaches are beautiful and there’s not a traffic light in sight. I haven’t taken a drop in income at all.

The business, in the most generic sense, is affiliate marketing, based around our network CogentAds.com , we’ve grown to a million dollar operation over the past twelve months and already have a million dollars worth of business in the funnel for 2009. Which, by the way, is there for our affiliates to share.

Why am I telling you this, and what is it’s significance in regards to the global financial crisis? The common denominator is fear, and the need to do something about it.

In my ten years in the corporate IT industry I don’t recall a time when the possibility of losing my job wasn’t imminent. Whether it was because of mergers and acquisitions or the persistent reduction of cost, the fear was always there and I decided to do something about it, no one else was going to do it for me. I started my Affiliate marketing career, the corporate position rapidly became one I could do without, and therefore the fear of losing my job, and the consequences, had gone. More about that in a future post.

If there’s one theme we’re hearing over and over again in regards to the current financial crisis it’s that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Doesn’t that make you feel really comfortable? If there ever was a time to do something constructive about fear it’s now, and guess what, no one’s going to do it for you. I’m not about to get into a deep and meaningful description of the intricacies of affiliate marketing in this post but I am trying to plant a seed in your mind, that affiliate marketing is a very viable option, if you have the aptitude, for weathering the financial storm or making a serious full time living.

CogentAds.com is primarily a Cost Per Action (CPA) network, which means that our affiliates are generating income by producing sales leads which is somewhat easier , as opposed to sales. We have affiliates who are happy generating enough to cover their cost of living expenses and supplementing the income from their jobs, and we have some who are doing tens of thousands of dollars a month.

Advertisers, in economic downturns, are increasingly concerned about the return on investment from their advertising budget and see the affiliate marketing value proposition, where you only pay for results, as a very attractive option. I believe that this will be even more so in the coming year.

Now, if you find yourself going into the new year with a sense of financial anxiety it might just be time to start thinking outside the square. Consider affiliate marketing as an option, find out all you can about it. If you are internet savvy – you actually found this blog so I bet you are – there’s a lucrative option waiting for you. Here’s just some of the things I enjoy as a result of my choice;

  • I work from home or anywhere I have my laptop and internet.
  • I get to see my Son grow up through all the little changes you’d miss if you’re at the office every day. He gets to see a lot of his Dad.
  • I earn good money.
  • I surf every day, when I want to.
  • We don’t have to spend money on Child Care unless we want to.
  • We can go overseas whenever we like for as long as we like because I can operate the business from anywhere.
  • On walk to work Fridays I only have to walk up the stairs to my office.

There’s something for you to think about in all this doom and gloom, remember that there’s always opportunity to be found in adverse situations. You just have to find it.

Enjoy the festive season and good luck for the new year.

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Page Rank, a tale of two sites

by Damian Saunders on November 6, 2007 · Comments

If you recall, in a recent post, I mentioned that I had just gone live with an Article directory site, TotallyAwesomeArticles.com, on or about the 24th September 07. At the time I had resigned myself to the fact that, based on my previous experience, and in direct contrast to the legends of Internet Marketing who would have you believe it will happen overnight, it would take quite some time to get ranked and make some headway.

You can imagine my surprise when, just one month later, it has a page rank of 1. Not that it really makes much difference in terms of traffic, revenue, or anything but it’s rewarding to see that it can happen faster than expected.

In contrast, my freebies site, TotallyAwesomeFreebies.com, has just gone to page rank 1 too, but this is after more than a year, so what was the difference, or better still, what did I do?

Assuming that it’s not some kind of Google Sandbox anomoly and that the site is not going to disappear again, I employed two elementry site optimization techniquies, one on site, and one off site.

The on site approach was to ensure there were no off site links on the home page (ok, there’s one, but that’s an obligation of the script I used to create the site.)

The off site strategy has to be a testament to the power of Article Marketing. I wrote one quality article and had it distributed by iSnare. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less.

Looking at the other posts in this blog so far it’s interesting to note that my post on the keyword Guitar Pequannock shows up on the first page in Google for that term, and my post titled “Revisitors.com does it work?” is number one for that phrase. While this is not really anything significant at all it demonstrates that it is posible to get indexed, ranked and well positioned, very quickly and it’s not very difficult. It is certainly something that you can do yourself and you definitely should not pay someone to do it for you.

Obviously the challenge is exponentially harder when you are dealing with a lucrative, highly competitive niche but, the strategy employed is exactly the same.

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Article Directory – is it worth it?

September 24, 2007

Shortly after I started this blog I decided to create an article directory. God knows why but, considering that a Keyword Analyzer search reveals there are approximately 350 million sites (indexed pages) competing for around 4500 searches a month for the keyword phrase “article directory”, I figured the world needed another one! So, TotallyAwesomeArticles.com [...]

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