While we haven’t exactly been told what it is quite yet, Jeff Vacek over at GoBeProductivenow.com is going to be giving away $697 worth of free personal productivity training over the next week.

As it looks, the exact nature of the content will be based on what issues people are most interested in solving when it comes to personal roadblocks to achieving more time or money…

…so if you have a particular issue that seems to interfere with focusing & making money with your business… or having the time to do so, you’ll likely want to comment on his blog so that he can integrate your feedback for his training.

This sort of approach definitely reminds of me Eben Pagan’s Wake Up Productive blog, which I’ve gotten a lot from, even though I haven’t actually gone through his course (yet) - and it looks like it has the potential to be some pretty cool stuff. I’ll update again later this week, once the training gets sent over.

I recently came across blogger Shane over at AskShane.org and was really impressed not only by the content he offers for the successful internet marketers-to-be, but also by the angle he takes in his posts. Rather than a lot of “oh, you just need some crazy secret tactics to succeed”, he’s genuine in his advice about what it takes to really become successful online.

I think this view is really helpful not only to get a realistic view on the fact that making money online over the long term isn’t always just push-button easy…. but also because I would hope a lot of us internet marketer entrepreneurs desire to have an internet business that’s stable enough to withstand the test of time and changing technology, market conditions, and other variables.

Anyways, check out his post here - http://www.askshane.org/daily-tips/my-blueprint-for-quitting-your-day-job.php - and let me know what you think. Are there any parts of your own business blueprint (if you have one) that you also find to be critical to your success so far?

As we all know, one key aspect of marketing involves delivering exactly what your customer wants.

However, if you’ve been using Google Analytics or another analytics suite (and if not, why aren’t you??) and have ever seen your “Bounce Rate” at a number that’s higher than it seems like it should be… what do you do?

Well, you could go out and split-test to infinity to try to find out exactly why people are leaving… but you could easily miss the very factors that are causing people to leave - simply because they might not be things you’d even think of (Maybe it’s not the hideous brown/chartreuse color scheme you’re using - it’s the fact that your page takes 8 seconds to load while your competitors’ only takes 2 seconds).

Alternatively, you could get a friend, family member, or associate to look over your site… but unless this person is trained to do so or is part of the demographic segment that you’re trying to target, they could also easily overlook the glaring issues that you need to change to up your chances of keeping people around.

Fortunately, there’s a much better option - a set of 14 free (well, most of them) tools that will make your visitor retention rate skyrocket, increasing your profits, courtesy of the Conversion Rate Experts.

I won’t go into great detail about each of them here & steal this article’s thunder… but I will say that you now have no excuse for looking at your 93.1% visitor bounce rate and saying “Ah, wish I could get people to stick around & buy something!”

Check it out - and leave me a comment here on your experiences in raising your conversion rate - or your plans to do so!

Article: 14 (nearly-free) tools reveal why people abandon your website

As internet marketers, we’re generally in the business of making two key things happen: delivering value, and making money.

While there are a myriad of easy ways to increase the former, easy ways to increase the latter aren’t always as easy to come by.

Naturally, in order to make more money, you either need to reduce your expenditures, or increase your income.

But it can be difficult to do both at the same time - if you’re increasing your customer reach, you’re probably having to spend some amount of additional time or money to make it happen. If you’re intentionally reducing your expenditures (particularly on ads), you may be sacrificing potential income somewhere in your affiliate sales pipeline.

However, instead of sacrificing either, there’s a better alternative!

Increasing your conversion rate

While it’s probably not a new concept for you, (and this particular article isn’t particularly new, either) you may not be aware of all the tactics available to you to increase your conversion rates on your site - many of which are super easy to test!

I was reading Aaron Wall’s Interview with Conversion Rate Experts the other day and found this link to Ben & Karl’s site with 108 ways to get better conversions from your affiliate & sales sites… and if you haven’t, you may want to as well - I was really impressed not only by the width and depth of the advice they offered but moreover by their in-depth explanation of why a given element is important to split-test.

Their advice is not only essential to established marketers wanting to increase conversions but it also doubles as an excellent, excellent primer on how to construct a great affiliate/sales landing page. Best of all, the tips are clean & simple - no second guessing what they’re talking about or how to do it… so I’d highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet!

Karl Blanks & Ben Jesson’s 108 ways to improve your sales conversions

If you’ve been following internet marketing for more than a year or two, one thing you’ve probably observed is just the massive flood of new internet marketing tools, strategies, and resources that seem to crop up more and more frequently.

Undoubtedly a lot of them are decent, & worth checking out, but like most products, there’s some that are decidedly better than others.

However, the interesting thing is that, unlike you might expect, some of the better resources for certain things like PPC analysis, SEO optimization, Campaign creation are actually the ones that are free - not the high-end,  spendy ones.  And nothing is more frustrating than purchasing an expensive tool - and then finding a faster, better, free way to do it!

I got an email from CPA guru Gauher Chaudhry, and included was a link for his new, free 89-page CPA/PPC guide which details a complete strategy to take the best free & paid internet marketing utilities - and start really leveraging them to make some solid cash.

Unlike some other guides, he offers a pretty objective look at a fairly wide range of resources, making it easier to figure out which ones are most appropriate for your marketing efforts.

Additionally, I was glad to see that it’s all new material, not based on outdated tricks from a year or two ago - and very modern/relevant to people who are making a lot of money out there with PPC strategies leveraged against CPA offers.

As you’re probably aware, there’s a lot of money out there to be made with CPA… but knowing how to cater to the right crowd, do the proper research, and test/track your efforts isn’t always as straight-up intuitive as you might hope it would be… and that’s where I was really impressed with this particular guide.

Further.. if you haven’t done much with CPA, there’s a lot of helpful info here to get you started - basic terminology, strategy, and even some more subtle details of making CPA profitable for you.

Normally, I’d expect to see a guide like this packaged up as an ebook on Clickbank and sold for $39.99 or more.. but in this particular case, Gauher is really pushing the free line by putting this guide up for anyone to download.

So - check it out - and let me know what you think.

PDF: The Insider’s Guide To CPA Marketing Profits

So, I was thinking the other day…

My #1 goal for this site is to provide you, the readers, with the best, high quality, free marketing resources and tools for use with your online business.

While I could take some guesses and post up a bunch of stuff like SEO tools & PPC articles & marketing perspectives, and it *might* be useful….  but probably not as much as just asking what you’d like most to see.

So! If you’re up for it, I want you to tell me what kind of marketing resources I can post up here (for free, of course)! It could be anything - from an advanced Adwords tutorial… to effective copywriting tips… even a profitable campaign walkthrough & setup from start to finish.

Just leave me a comment on this post with what resources you’d like to see here, and I’ll do my best to put ‘em up! Thanks!

Do you use Adwords or other PPC services?

If so… are you split-testing your ads for better conversion rates?

In case you’re unfamiliar, split-testing is the process of continually trying new headlines, ad text, copy text, images, etc etc…. anything you use in your marketing to see if it converts better.  If you have successful ad headline A,  you might try new headline B to see if you get a better clickthrough rate, more overall conversions, longer visitor time on site, etc etc.

Since the difference between two different ads can mean the difference between a profitable campaign and one that just gradually turns into a money-sucking vortex of doom (or just plain is unprofitable!)… it’s definitely something you want to be doing on a weekly, even daily basis.

eBook: Adwords Copywriting Tips

But how do you split test - when you’re not sure what you can do differently, or better… and you don’t want to waste a lot of time or money trying things that you have no idea about?

Well, to a large extent - it comes down to testing - seeing what works & what doesn’t - in your own niche.

For instance, is your headline solid, but your call to action week?

Or maybe you’re using all the right buzzwords for your niche on your landing page, but your ad CTR is poor because your display URL is more like “MyGenericReviewSite.com” than something highly targed for your audience.

At any rate, chances are, no matter how good your PPC conversion rate, you might be still leaving money on the table that you could be putting in your pockets with 5 minutes of tweaking your ad.

Anyways, I recently found a mini-eBook with a whole bunch of stellar Ad copywriting tips and split testing stats to back their suggestions up… and figured I’d post it up here for anyone whose interested in fine-tuning their ads just a bit further.

Download the free report below & leave me a comment with your thoughts - is there anything in it that you can use to help fine-tune YOUR campaign?

eBook: Adwords Copywriting Tips

Just in case you were wondering when a new PPC training course might come along on DVD for free, today(well, yesterday, technically) ’s your lucky day!

Anik Singal & Amit Mehta have formed up a pretty cool deal over at the acclaimed PPC Classroom… they’re giving away PPC Classroom 2.0 for free on DVD (well, plus a small shipping charge).

These guys are definitely some of the most well-respected in the affiliate/PPC community (Anik was listed as #2 of Business Week’s top entrepreneurs under 25), so this offer’s one I’m looking forward to for sure… even moreso since it’s free!

This offer is one I’d normally expect to see go for $97 or even $197 or $297, so at $0, it’s worth checking out.

Of course, there are a fair number of upsells after you enter your info to receive the free DVD, but as far as I can tell right now, they’re all totally optional (but may be just the ticket for you, if that’s what your IM career needs at the moment).

Going to claim your free copy? Heres the Link:

Link: PPC Classroom 2.0 for free

I was browsing Jennifer (PotPieGirl’s) blog recently and found a link to a pretty nice free SEO package she put up from WebCEO.com.

After downloading it, I was pleasantly surprised by the options it offers, considering its price.

Structured into 4 main categories (Find your Niche, Promote your Site, Analyze your Site, and Maintain your Site), it goes beyond traditional free bare-bones SEO programs by offering a more comprehensive suite of tools.  Not only can you find keywords & optimize your pages; you can upload files via FTP and monitor site uptime.

As far as its core SEO features, WebCEO delivers all the basics: Checking Search Engine Rankings, Search Engine submission, Finding similar sites for link exchanges, Managing PPC campaigns, Checking backlinks, Analytics & optimization strategies with their “HitLens” service. Additionally, their “Auditor” tool helps check your site for errors and warnings, helping seal up any leaks due to broken links or misstyped URL.

It’s a bit of a different workspace compared to SEOElite (more of a full-featured desktop application than a widget), but it’s definitely not a bad thing. If I were to mention anything I’d like to see in a future version, at least from a surface level, it would be making the app a little faster & crash a little less overall (trying to access some of the functionality seemed to cause it to soft-lock on me).

Otherwise, if you’re looking for a little extra help in the SEO department, it’s worth a look.

Link: WebCEO SEO Software

Well, I might be a bit late to the party on this one, but today I ran across the new Search-Based Keyword Tool (SKT)that Google implemented back in November. (If you’ve already discovered & used it, please feel free to leave a comment telling me any fabulous tricks you’ve come across with it!)

So…My first thought was, “Neat, but how does it differ from the existing Adwords Keyword Tool (AKT)?” Considering you can use both to find real search phrases based on your site… I was curious to find some differences.

Well, according to Google,

“The main difference between the Search-based Keyword Tool and the Keyword Tool currently in AdWords is that the former generates keyword ideas based on your website, and identifies those currently not being used in your AdWords account. Additionally, the Search-based Keyword Tool provides more detailed data for each keyword, such as category information, suggested bid that may place the ad in the top three spots of a search results page, and ad/search share.”

Ultimately, what they’ve done here is to give Adwords/CPC advertisers an easy way to grab some more relevant keywords for campaigns, landing pages, etc and easily stick them into Adwords campaigns. Of course, this is a nice financial win for Google (more keywords = more ads displayed = more money) but if the keywords it recommends bring in more conversions for marketers’ campaigns, it’s a win for them too.

Back to Google’s description of the differences between the two tools…. as you’re likely aware already, the Adwords Keyword tool can also pretty easily generate keyword ideas based on your website by using the “website content” button instead of the “Descriptive words or Phrases button”.

However, the SKT presents it more efficiently and distinctively than the AKT… instead of a hodgepodge of keywords assorted by keyword relevance, the SKT nicely displays not only the general category for the keywords but also the specific page on your site that it forumulated the keywords from.

Not that you couldn’t do it on a page-by-page basis with the AKT… but that would take far too long to be of much use.

Instead, the SKT makes it much faster & easier, even allowing you to group the keywords it generates based on the page they were generated from, allowing you to find out just what Google thinks every single page in your site is about…. very helpful for SEO, relevance & PPC testing, and so much more.

Additionally… the SKT seems to have more refined estimates as far as the Cost Per Click (CPC) prices go.

One of the main columns presents the predicted cost to get you into the top 1-3 ad positions on a page. In the AKT however, all you get is the “estimated average CPC”, which from my experience can vary widely.

This is not to say that your real-world CPC is always going to match the SKT prediction, but chances are it will be a lot closer… especially if you have a good Quality Score (QS), meaning your Ad headling, Ad text, Ad grouping, and landing page (among other factors) are all highly relevant to each other.

Finally, the SKT adds some fantastic filtering options for marketers really looking for certain kinds of keywords to add.

For instance, looking for more keywords for your “Improve your Golf Game” niche that have at least 12,000 searches a month, low-medium competition, with a suggested top-3 bid of $0.40-$0.70 where the URL contains “Golf Game”? Well, now you can find those keywords - and add them to your Adwords account and begin seeing results quickly.

So, while the SKT may not redefine the Keyword Research process, it does allow you to “see your site” through Google’s relevancy eyes, looking for extra profitable keywords that you may have missed - and extra places to tighten up your overall relevancy. And sometimes, that’s really all there is between a wildly successful campaign, and one that just ends up costing you money.

Link (tool): Google Search-Based Keyword Tool

While we as affiliates often spend a lot of time reading up on the right way to do things, we sometimes overlook the opposite perspective - what NOT to do.

In the case of PPC, it’s easy to make a lot of mistakes, and the reality is that without knowing what went wrong, it’s hard to correct mistakes & really be successful.

Anik & Amit over at PPC Classroom recently came out with a report aimed at helping to overcome some of the major issues newer folks have with PPC, and after reading it, I figured it was worth putting it up, since it’s free.

Let me know what you think - do you see yourself making any of these ‘big 5′ mistakes in your PPC campaigns?

5 PPC Mistakes You’re Probably Making.

As you probably know, Frank Kern launched (and as of now, 11pm on Tues. night) & is sold out of his famous (or infamous) Mass Control 2.0 earlier today… and just about every marketing also guru simultaneously launched a promotion for it with their own bonuses.

Since this type of “<Big Product> Just Launched, Get It And My Bonuses” email flurry seems to happen every time a major Internet Marketing product releases, and since a deciding factor about who to buy it from depends on the bonuses they’re offering, I figured I’d do a review of all the bonuses I’ve heard about from the guru’s who’ve emailed me about it.

Since Frank’s website currently says that he’s planning to put Mass Control 2.0 back up once more copies become available, I figured I’d do a rundown of all the people with a bonus for you if you buy it through them (If you’re an affiliate & have a bonus but don’t see your name on the list, let me know here). The bold bullet point under the Free Bonuses denotes this blogger’s personal favorite bonus of the set.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Rich Schefren

The Free  Bonus(es):

• Invite-Only call with Rich & Frank
• MP3 Call transcript with Rich & Dr. Robert Cialdini discussing a broad range of marketing tactics
• MP3 Call transcript with Rich & Dan Ariely discussing cutting edge techniques to understand your prospects’ behavior
• Access to Strategic Profits Social Media experts’ insiders call discussing the step-by-step process to constructing a profit-winning social marketing network
• Access to interview with Mark Earls, author of “Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature”.
• Private access to hang out with Frank, Rich, and several other top gurus at Frank’s invite-only marketing summit in March.

The Link: Access Rich’s Mass Control 2.0 Bonus Package Here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Keith Wellman / Gary Ambrose

The Free Bonus(es):

• Complete “Quality Lists” coaching series to help you build a list of qualified prospects very quickly
• A 2-hour, personal one-on-one call with Gary
• Guest Invite status for free to future live events to help improve all of the aspects of your business
• 3 “Diamond Memberships” - “The List Machine”, “Your Lucky List”, “The List Bandit” to help get you access to even more qualified prospects

The Link: Keith Wellman & Gary Ambrose’s bonus package available here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Travis Sago

The Free Bonus(es):

• Personal email/phone/skype access to the master Bum Marketer.
• Personal Niche Selection assistance, helping you pick out a niche to launch into & be successful in it from the get-go
• Personal coaching with Travis and his small ‘mastermind’ group to follow up & give you a virtual ‘kick in the butt’ when you need it most
• Chance to potentially partner/JV with Travis on future affiliate products & daels
• Free Dinner with Travis at the MC Mastermind conference in March
• Some other mysterious/secret bonuses (which are usually pretty good, from my experience).

The Link: Grab Mass Control 2.0 with Travis’s all-star bonus here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Jeff Walker

The Free Bonus(es):

• Super secret day-long affiliate conference with Frank Kern, Jeff Walker, Jeff Johnson, Mike Filsaime, Ed Dale, and Andy Jenkins.

The Link: Get in the know with the secret affiliate summit with Jeff Walker & others here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: David Deutsch

The Free Bonus(es):

• Personal launch sales copy review for a product of your choice
  

The Link: Pinpoint the holes in your sales copy with Mass Control 2.0 & David Deutsch here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Eric Rockefeller (”erock”)

The Free Bonus(es):

• PLR (Private Label Rights) to a niche market product Eric’s researched for a hot market…. Includes: Ebook written by expert ghostwriter, expert converting copy, professional marketing graphics
• Resell Rights to another high-converting, ready-to-sell ebook.

The Link: Get Eric’s ready-to-go eBooks & specially designed marketing materials with Mass Control 2.0 here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Amish Shah

The Free Bonus(es):

• 1 Hour of video & 30+ slides revealing Amish’s highest-converting PPC tactics for CPA marketing.
• Full strategy to leverage Mass Control 2.0 through ad copy & landing pages, called “PPC Mastery using Mass Control”
• Insight into Amish’s personal live crowd-control techniques drawn from Mass Control 2.0 & applied to a live audience
• Free Hexatrack Pro account to help pinpoint niches & narrow down the most profitable keywords for your niche.

The Link: Get Amish’s PPC mastery package with Mass Control 2.0 here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: Andy Jenkins / StomperNet

The Free Bonus(es):

• 2 Months free StomperNet Elite membership
• 2 Free tickets to any StomperNet Live event of your choice
• Beta Tester access to Don Crowther’s NEW SMARTS 2.0 Social Media Traffic Strategies
• Entry for a chance to win a genuine Frank Kern Surfboard!
• Super secret day-long affiliate conference with Frank Kern, Jeff Walker, Jeff Johnson, Mike Filsaime, Ed Dale, and Andy Jenkins.

The Link: Find out what StomperNet is all about with Andy Jenkins & leverage mass marketing with Mass Control 2.0 here.

———————————-

The Affiliate: John Reese

The Bonus(es):

• Full audio recordings from John’s “2009 Business Accelerator Web Class”
• Choice between: “Reese Report Collection” (900 page / 40 CD internet marketing curriculum covering nearly all areas of internet marketing)   — or — John’s “Internet Marketing Advisor” (internet-marketing targeted sales, includes full digital downloads (PDF’s, etc)

The Link: Leverage John’s internet marketing knowledge & prowess along with Mass Control 2.0 here.

And finally, if for some reason you don’t find reason to take advantage of the incredible affiliate bonuses above, you can grab Mass Control 2.0 directly from Frank when more copies come up for sale here.

I was browsing the forums over at the Wealthy Affiliate the other day and found a really cool thread…

This guy known as “C.” (whose real name is Christopher Dittemore) was very generously offering a PDF eBook called “Not Making Money?” - a complete info Internet Marketer’s startup guide, actually - in return for a small donation to a charity….

… annd wow, after reading it, I’ll definitely say that C. knows his stuff.

It’s totally packed with nuts-and-bolts content… solid stuff that you could pick up & use to market & make money… even if all your previous attempts have fallen flat!

Not only is a terrific primer….

….on how to set up and run a solid, profitable Adwords campaign….

….on how to test and track your ad, landing page, headline, and offer conversion stats…

… about the best ways to do it all quickly and efficiently…

… but most significantly, it lays out for you the marketing mindset you MUST have in order to be successful online. Even if you’ve never made a single dime online, if you have the right mindset you WILL succeed!

Of course, the most fantastic part about this eBook is that it’s 100% free. Just head on over here & pick it up! I know it will be worth your time.

PDF: “Not Making Money?”

Looks like Brad Callen’s decided the old PPC Web Spy look & feel was a bit too.. gloomy!?

Not only that, but he’s fixed a number of bugs in it as well, so if you downloaded it the other day (read my review here, you’ll want to download the new version for free here.)

Lots of the changes are GUI-based… but there’s a few others that are just nice feature upgrades/enhancements. Check it out here.

As I mentioned the other day in my post about Frank Kern’s hands-on way to make money, Frank’s put up the second part of the video.

Check it out here!

In this next installment, Frank does a great job of a few key things:

First, he lays out a concise formula that goes against what old school, ‘traditional’ marketing teaches…the whole “put your pressure on the prospect until they buy” type of deal.

This type of marketing is pretty common - but is really more of a one-way street: the marketer makes the sale… but the customer feels pushed into the deal… I won’t give away his secret… you should probably just watch the video (if you haven’t already!).

Secondly, and throughout the video as well, Frank does a stellar job at showing how important (and easy, once you know how) it is to relate to your market, - and more specifically - your potential customer.

As Frank casually demonstrates, few things are as effective in gaining your prospects allegiance as being able to show that you can identify with them & validate their feelings & frustrations. It makes sense, since we naturally tend to gravitate towards people who have similar points of view as we do… but in marketing, this kind of empathy is pretty uncommon in a marketplace that doesn’t often cater to the individual.

Anyways, it’s definitely worth watching, even if you’re already making it big.

Video: How to build trust with your customer even if your butt’s hanging out