Internet Marketing Trip

As some of you may know, I tun the blog Replicas Suck, the authentic fashion blog. Well, I also run more blogs and of course, these require time. Actually, this blog Internet Marketing Trip, and my personal blog are not as updated as the others I run.

Well, of course for now I’m not monetizing this blog and tomleroy.com, so that’s okay, but I would really want to have time to make them grow. Back to ReplicasSuck.com, I decided to make it run in auto pilot, until March.

What do I mean by auto pilot is having article posted every day. You may know there are plugins that will allow you to post new entries from RSS feeds, but that means your blog becomes a splog (spam blog).

So what am I gonna do ?

I will just prepare some posts and edit the timestamp in WordPress. I even already started to do it.

Lots of people already know about it, this is a trick that is used by many bloggers. It is a cool feature of WordPress, that is recommended to use when you are on vacation. This way you can write your post in advance and decide when your posts are published.

I already had this idea in the past, but I also read about the “ping” that could make you banned from saerch engines or ping services.

You see, when you publish a new article, your blog is automatically pinged, and services come to see the new content on your blog. With a future post, there is of course no new content live, since it will only appear in the future.

So the services can think that you’re just abusing the system to tell the world your blog is updated when actually (it will be) it’s not. And then services, search engines, robots… ban your blog.

So there is a plugin I use that only pings when your post is live. Also, when you edit an old post and save it, WordPress is normally pinging the services too. Since it’s an old post, it’s not new content, this plugin will correct that too. No more pinging again for edited posts.

I use the MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer. A similar one, that does the same thing is Smart Update Pinger.

So here is my plan, everyday :

• I choose a category,
• I write 10 articles for this category,
• I post 1 article every week for 10 weeks.

For example, today is Wednesday. I choose the “Watches” category at Replicas Suck. So one article is posted today, and the following 9 articles will be posted the following 9 Wednesdays. They are already written, I just edited the timestamps before hitting the Publish button.

Tomorrow, I’ll choose another category and repeat the process. 10 articles in another category, 1 posted every Thursday.

I have 8 categories to blog about at Replicas Suck. So that means next week, I’ll have articles going live everyday for 10 weeks. That hsould let me more time for my other blogs.

Hey everyone, I already add a post about getting traffic to your website and blog, actually it was an article from Tay, at SuperBloggingTips.com (you can see my post about it here).

I’ve found this article at DigitalPoint Forums, and there were some others I alredy read in the past that you may want to check too.

Of course, you will find some similar tips but the point is to  burn it on a hard drive part of your brain, and also get some knowledge. Plus these articles are in a list form so you just take the elements you like, and maybe add some later.

So here are some resources that will help you to get more traffic to your website. I’ve found these articles at DigitalPoint but I suppose the authors of these articles would prefer to receive a linkback to their blog where they put effort and quality into it. So you may discover some blogs you didn’t know with great resources to use for your blogs.

 The first one is a Sticky in the Link Development section at DigitalPoint, made by Mr Kumar. Link building is of course a fundamental part of SEO.

Link Building Tips and Resources.

(Mr Kumar, if you’re reading this, why don’t you use the /%postname%/ permalinks structure in your blog instead of the Default one that creates a url like /?p=128 ?)

The second one has been published by superflytrainer. The title was 101 ways to get more traffic on DigitalPoint, but at Imutopia, the author’s blog, it sounds better :

101 Muscular Ways To Get More Targeted Traffic To Your Sites/Blogs Today!

For the third one I need to link to the thread by whatadeals, since it has not been published on another blog (at least I don’t know). But here is the website of the author : TeeVeeLive. Here is the article :

50 Tips On Getting More Traffic To Your Website

I hope you will like what you will read there and crash your server :).

Recently, I posted an article about Buzz Marketing, a way to create buzz, or be talked about. Actually I could even add that buzz marketing is in a way a synonym of link bait.

The fact that you say something very opinonated or something shocking that goes against others thoughts, creates discussion. In the blogging world, it can be very fast to get backlinks, or comments. Don’t be affraid to read some bad things about you, it’s part of the game, but you can always explain your feelings in further posts.

Today I posted about a t-shirt I saw on Crack Smokin’ T-shirts, here is the pattern :

Crack Smokin’ T-Shirts title says “Funny and Offensive T-Shirts That Get Attention“. This is some kind of buzz marketing. If you know buzz marketing, you know how to stand out from the crowd.

This is not the most offensive T-Shirt you can see on their website but it gets you the idea. (Yeah I have seen the one that says “ASS, the other vagina”).

Don’t you have ever seen someone with a special T-Shirt and say to your friend : hey, have you seen his t-shirt, or just try to read the message, then smile or laugh.

It reminds me the Graspop Metal Meeting (Hey Metalheads !), there was a T-shirt selling there, the message was : I used to be schizophrenic, but we’re okay now. There are also t-shirts were the message starts in the front and ends in the back.

I even saw a guy without any T-Shirt, he just got written on his back : I’m single and I want to Fuck ! Quite straight to the point. I don’t know if he got what he wanted but I’m sure everyone read his back.

Here are some funny t-shirts messages you could try to modify for some of your articles titles and see if you get attention :

• Tell your boobs to quit staring at my eyes.
• I may be bald but I’ll never have a bad hairday.
• Therapy is expensive, beer is cheap. What to do ? What to do ?
• If I gave a shit, you’d be the first person I’d give it to.
• Everyone needs to believe in something, I believe I’ll have another beer.
• SMILE, if you’re not wearing any underwear.
• I’m not totally useless, I can be used as a bad example.
• Yesterday, I quit drinking !
• Your face and my ass could be twins !
• I’m multi talented, I can talk and piss you off at the same time.
• No school, no job, no problem.
• I am not as think as you drunk I am.
• Front : Sex isn’t the answer. Back : Sex is the Question and YES is the answer !
• War is not about who is right, but about who is left.
• DAMN RIGHT, I’M GOOD IN BED ! I can sleep all day !
• Front : I am not schizophrenic ! Back : Neither Am I !
• KEEPREADINGTHISTSHIRTWHILEICHECKOUTYOURTITS
• Your lips keep moving but all I hear is “Blah, Blah, Blah”
• I live in my own little world, but that’s OK, they know me here.
• NEVER KNOCK ON HEAVENS DOOR……. Ring The Bell Then Run (He Hates That)

I could add more but that’s fine… Okay just one more, just for fun (you can addy our own message in comments if you want :))

I was reading some few posts on DigitalPoint when I saw the signature of a member that linked to an article titled “75 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic“. This is the kind of articles we all like, at least I do. A good list, simple to read. You just take the tips you want or experiment everything.

So as the title suggests, Tay (her name) gives you 75 tips to improve your traffic. A very quick preview here, I won’t steal her content, she developed every points she makes, so visit the link above for a guaranteed good read (sorry, no money back guarantee, it’s free).

“1. Write more content“. This is the number 1 of the list and it should be the most important one for every blogger. Yeah, me included, even if I am busy, I should at least spend few minutes every day to add one article. Focus on quality unique content, and frequency.

“4. Start using StumbleUpon“. A social bookmarking website that will bring you traffic from other people, who will rate thumbs up or down your pages. If you didn’t read my previous post about free web traffic resources, Dean Hunt, interviewed 14 of the top 30 StumbleUpon users, there is also a case study about buzz marketing that you MUST read.

“11. Link to other posts.“ & “17. Establish relationships with fellow bloggers.” That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m blogging about a very helpful article, I will comment on her blog and thank her for her efforts. Tay may be notified of a pingback from this article and may comment here if she wants it.

Just 3 ways here, there are 72 more. Read, digest, take action.

Today, I’m going to talk about an internet marketing guru. No don’t go, wait ! A real guru, yeah, a king with a crown on his head and all.

Name : Dean Hunt

If you don’t know him, then I could call you “sucker”, but I didn’t in July too. At this time I read a thread at DigitalPoint forums entitled “Buzz Marketing Case Study Part 1″. It hooked me, Dean then added a part 2 and 3, that I’ll talk about later.

For those who wonder what is buzz marketing, I think he defines it better than me, in an interview he gave to Carl Ocab. What ? You don’t know Carl Ocab ? Sorry but this time : Sucker !

“Buzz Marketing is the art and science of standing out from the crowd, being talked about and being remembered. Or in other words… it is the ability to create a buzz about a service or product.”

Why is it so interesting ? Traffic for FREE, with only words for weapons, and those can make a killing (marketing speaking of course). Maybe you already read somewhere that writing something controversial attracts people attention. It suggests interest but also creates people opinion. That’s what buzz marketing is about : make people talk about you or your company.

Okay, now where’s the free stuff ?

Dean uses Social Bookmarking websites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious to generate traffic. From his experiences (the buzz marketing 101, 202, 303), he made a Case Study that you can download for free : Web Traffic Orgasm. As you can see there is a book coming soon. If the Case Study gives you some clues, the book will bring you secrets.

Want more ?

Dean interviewed 14 of the top 30 StumbleUpon users. Yes, you can dowload that for free too. I guess you never thought about getting your buzz marketing Christmas gift in advance, so go thank Dean for his efforts, have a good read and start creating some buzz.

Yesterday, I posted here about article marketing. The articles you write have to be published of course, so you have to submit them to article directories. I only use 5 of them (there are hundreds).

You can submit one article to each of them, but search engines penalize duplicate content. That means they won’t index the page where they find the same content. That’s why I only submit to this short list :

Ezine Articles
Go Articles
Content Desk
Article Alley
Article Dashboard

Browse these websites and you’ll see how are written articles. Nothing very difficult, be sure to include a link to your website in the resource box. I know Ezine Articles ask articles have to be 250 words. This is quite short, but if you could do more that’s great. 500 is enough.

I’d also recommend that the articles you submit to article directories are different from the ones on your website

A lot of people write articles to market their websites and get sales from the products they’re promoting. Having articles published on multiple articles directories give you free backlinks. Free SEO, Free advertising, free exposure.

Your articles can be reprinted in full by others. “In full” means with your links to your website. You not only get backlinks from free content websites, but also from others website, that are supposed to be in your niche, related to your website topic.

Writing is one of the most time consuming job for any webmaster/internet marketer. It’s also called content creation.

Of course if you are an AdWords guru, who only pays 1 cent to generate $1,000 a day, you don’t have to spend time to write articles (AdWords gurus don’t read this anyway). But article marketing is proven to be an effective way of driving traffic for free. And traffic = sales.

Well If you know really well your product, why only write only one article about it ? Why don’t you write 3 articles for it ? Go in details, talk about one specific benefit of the use of the product and tell the world how wonderful, useful, fast, easy this is. Tell why, tell your experience. Then do the same with another benefit.

It’s an important copywriting rule : write about benefits not about features. Features are characteristics of the product. Benefits are the advantage it brings to the customer. Focus on the customer, put yourself in their shoes. Now, how do you feel (shoes are too small) ? What do you expect ?

You can also create an article about how you get this or that result. (”How to” articles work good).
Why you shouldn’t use the product this or that way ? Do’s and Don’t.
Who this product will not be useful to ? Know the target.
What is the problem your product is solving ? You can talk only about the problem first without mentioning the product name. Then do the recommendation and say you solved it with it.

In the resource box you are able to put your website url. Well, if you are allowed multiple links, put the product page url + your website url, using the right keywords as anchor text. Remember that if people are reading your article to then end, you may convinced them and get their interest.

So if you don’t want your readers to search for the product page once on your website, put the link to the product page on your website, in your resource box. Plus, this is a cool SEO trick, you get a deep link. (Check if the article directory is allowing this).

It’s easy to understand that if you have many products to promote, you can multiply the number of articles. And so, the number of backlinks.

I’ll tell you more in the next post about how to write good articles.

Okay, so I studied a lot, read a lot, and what I knew is still true : you have to work hard. Working hard is creating content for me, and for you too I guess. This is the hard part. From the DigitalPoint forums, I came to a website : Self Made Minds. Two guys are behind this website, they are sharing their experience and telling how they’re doing and also reporting their earnings (this is the fun part).

I really recommend you read their blog, it’s cool and simple explained and also full of ideas.

They of course built several websites, one of them is Coolest Gadgets, and it earns more than 10,000 a month, mainly about adsense. Again AdSense is for CONTENT websites. But, I also read a post on their site telling about “minisites” making maximum money, and showing us a minisite example.

Here is the post : Mini Sites don’t always make mini money.  All you need is a good idea, work on it, buy a domain and host your files, make some SEO.

Your goal first would be to make $1 a day for this one website. Then, how many websites can you create ? What if all your websites earn now $2 a day… Okay you understand. And don’t forget that with time you may have more ideas to add to each of your minisites.

Now, you have to do some brainstorming. I took a pen and paper and wrote down every topic I was sure I can write about. I have more than 50, and I’m sure you can easily do it too, even more. Then start writing. This is not so hard to write content for these websites, this could be the same process if you had to write articles and submit them to articles directories, to increase your backlinks for your main websites.

If you need ideas, visit forums, blogs, read articles about a topic and rewrite everything you think useful with your own words. You may also want to add links. What are the best websites for these topics ? Just use Google and find what are the top sites.

Even if building new minisites will not consume so much time, you also have to keep working on your main websites. So build your network of mini websites and make them profitable, but keep adding content to your bigger money makers.

Hi everyone, and welcome to IMTRIP.com.

This is a brand new blog about internet marketing (yeah, another one). Internet marketing is my job, actually it involves more than one job, but I love that.

I’ve been officially into internet marketing since september now, but I’ve learnt about it for some years and already have some websites running (hey I needed to know what works before launching my home business).

I could define internet marketing as a way to make money online at home, but to make money, it requires some preparation, optimization, writing, testing, trials (and errors) and this blog is just all about that. I’ll put there my thoughts, ideas and experiences during my internet marketing trip and maybe you’ll find something useful here.

I will certainly make mistakes (not only grammar or spelling ones), but I suppose I will learn from them, so would you like to learn with me ?