October 2005
Monthly Archive
An affiliate program for your website? - Some important considerations.
MattE 30 Oct 2005 | : Marketing, Web
Recently I made this post How to make money from affiliate programs, for those website owners and blog publishers wanting to leverage income through promoting products through affiliate programs.
Of course publishers (or site owners) form only part of the equation - merchants are needed to be promoted. So if you have an ecommerce site (or want to get newsletter subscriptions etc) then you may consider setting up an affiliate program.
Why set up an affiliate program?
The Internet: Opening doors and bringing people out of the closet.
MattE 23 Oct 2005 | : Communications, Marketing, Media, Web
Has the internet changed your life? I mean, more than just being able to access information quickly and easily, or buy something you would not have normally had access to in your everyday life. I mean think of the doors the internet has opened up.
Take for example the millions of people who every day are programming some new piece of software, or applying a piece of software for a useful purpose. Today there are millions more capable database programmers out there than there would have been if it had not been for the internet. Why? Simply because of the opportunity to apply there skills to a useful purpose (well to them if not humanity, but you get my meaning…).
Databases and websites
Sure, in the early days of computers there were geeks who did programming. But not like today. Now there are average people sitting in offices, lounge rooms and spare bedrooms (AKA offices) doing amazing things with databases. Not to mention web page design and associated specialties like graphic design. The use of databases to store large volumes of information that needs to be accessed through functional web interfaces has seen an explosion in adult learning. Today there are men and women in their 60s and 70s learning how to build a database, or how to build a website. Stand aside Bingo, I’ve a website to build!
Telstra is stuffing up??
MattE 21 Oct 2005 | : Media, Web
I think this may be a scam. I have never have a Telstra internet account.
Anyone else have experience with it?
Here is a story about it, but does not answer the question - why are they sending it to non-Telstra (Bigpond) customers
Dear Telstra Member,This is a reminder that from 1st of November 2005, we will begin deleting emails in your WebMail inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders that are older than 120 days (older than the 4th of July 2005).
How to make money by giving things away
MattE 17 Oct 2005 | : Communications, Marketing
I don’t need to buy pens - there is a nice company in America who sends me one every year that is engraved with my business name. They are hoping I will like it so much I will buy lots to give to my clients. Trouble is they send pens to them as well, so my clients don’t need one from me. But someone must be buying, because they have been doing this for a number of years.
But I think they are missing the point…especially after reading this article Interesting Thing of the Day: Giving Away the Razor, Selling the Blades. It is a very interesting read.
If you are a budding entrepeneur, there are some clear gems of wisdom lurking in the text.
How to choose an affiliate program that will make you money
After several years as a professional affiliate, I have come to the point where I have a short checklist of aspects that I go through when deciding on joining an affiliate program, or in fact even persisting with one.
The fact is too many sites merely add an affiliate program on with the hope that the increased expose will lead to more website sales. In these cases it is the affiliate who can lose out badly, as well as the merchant.
No matter what sort of site you have, be it a shopping mall, informational site, blog or specialty product store that features products sold via your affiliation with the merchant, you need to be sure that you are getting the best reward for your efforts. So here are some aspects based on my experience, for potential affiliates of a merchant to consider: Continue Reading »
Humanising the telephone sales call process to convert more cold calls
MattE 11 Oct 2005 | : Communications, Marketing
I read a fair number of business oriented newsletters. Many have the same old stuff rehashed - but sometimes a gem comes along that really strikes a cord. That was the case when I read Ari Galper’s article on how to make better phone cold calls.
One thing I hate is telephone cold calling. I recently had a client who really wanted me to, so I did. I went through the script writing process, then cut that back to dot points of the main items to cover. But I still did not really enjoy it. Which is why this article really struck a cord with me. Ari has a site that has an offer of 10 free lessons for making better telesales calls. Anything for free has to be good … and it is.
Here is Ari’s article, reprinted with permission.
The US of G - Google’s Plan To Connect The World
An article titled The US of G Google s Plan To Connect The World on Web pro News hints at some pretty exciting stuff for US internet users, with a plan to roll out a new fibre optics network that will allow superfast downloads and open up the way for
services like VoIP and Internet TV accessible by hubs within the home receiving programs and services with locally targeted advertising, much like TV and radio today. …..E-paper goes up on billboards, on buses, on buildings far removed from Times Square or Tokyo. Via its wireless network, Google can deliver targeted advertising tailored to zip codes, or even streets, within a city, tuned to specific times and days
(There goes my previous post up in flames)
TV v Internet - will the internet ever catch up?
MattE 06 Oct 2005 | : Media, Web
I was interested to read this snippet of a keynote speech given by Al Gore ( yes the US politician) at the We Media Conference in the USA.
Two things I’ve learend about the Internet: first, as exciting as it is, it still lacks the single most powerful characteristic of TV. Because of IP bottlenecks, it still does not support real time distribution of full screen video, and make no mistake, that is what drives TV, and us. It is true that video streaming is becoming common and cheap storage is becoming possible…and timeshifting is possible now. Bandwidth is increasing..but it is TV, delivered over cable and satellite that will continue to be the dominant medium for the remainder of this decade. full audio in mp3 format
The question is, why wouldn’t TV remain on top?
