This and That...
Posted On: 2007-04-13
Google goes into action and word of mouth marketing can start with you
Man this week has just gone so fast and it's hard to believe that we've arrived at another Friday. Perhaps having Monday as a public holiday here in Australia (we're not known as the Land of the Long Weekend for nothing) and then spending Tuesday going down to Brisbane to pick up stock made the week seem shorter.
Whatever did it I'm not complaining! Friday is Friday and that's definitely time to kick back and work your way into the weekend.
Google's CPA
If you haven't been keeping up with Google and their advertising news then you may not have heard that Google is about to launch a trial of some cost-per-action advertising. Cost-per-action advertising is nothing new, it's been around for years and it's basically what every affiliate marketer is involved in whether they work in mainstream or adult, but it's certainly new for Google.
Unfortunately the trial will only involve webmasters who have a business address in the United States. That means that those of us who live outside of the US, or don't have a US business address, will be excluded even if we have a huge amount of US traffic.
At first we were a little disappointed that overseas webmasters were excluded but now we're not so sure. You see many merchants who pay affiliates on the basis of cost-per-action often pay a percentage of the sale to affiliates and that can amount to quite a tidy sum but that's not what's happening here. Google is only going to pay a fixed rate for each sale that occurs as a result of a click from a participating webmaster's site.
Somehow that seems to be a bit of a downer and I wonder how many big affiliate marketers are going to be interested in an arrangement like that. And I will still be interested to see if Google extends their cost-per-action marketing into the adult area.
Word of Mouth
Everyone knows that word-of-mouth marketing is some of the best marketing you can ever get. When people talk about your product in a positive way you can see sales really begin to increase but how do you get people to talk about your product?
Obviously providing them with a very positive experience is one way to get it happening. Another way is not to be afraid to talk about it yourself. If you're serious about your business and the product you're selling then be prepared to talk about it when you're out and about.
Of course you have to be a little circumspect if all you're marketing are adult products but if you have some mainstream products in your portfolio then be prepared to talk about them. Look for opportunities; make a simple opening gambit in your conversation and see if that doesn't give you an opening to promote your product further.
You'll be surprised how many times you get the chance to introduce your product to people who are interested in buying it when you're dealing face to face with someone. It's something that Steve and I go looking for whenever we're out and about and when you talk about it to others they begin talking about you and your product to the people they meet.
Those who can do; those who can't teach
There was a time when people who sprouted that little bit of arrant nonsense used to get under my skin. Sure, there are plenty of instances - especially on the Net - where that statement is particularly true but there is no way that you can ever take that statement as the gospel truth in every situation.
In fact, for every one who can't and teaches there are probably even more who can and still teach. The trick is knowing how to tell the difference.
You see, there are plenty of people out there who do try to teach but don't really know what they're talking about. All they do is repeat what they may have read somewhere else and they do it because they like to sound important. On the other hand there are those who do know what they're talking about and are prepared to teach because they don't fear the competition.
Some of us who fall into that category don't tell everything we know simply because the more we encourage you to learn from your own experiences the more effective the lessons will be for you.
So don't be put off by those who want to trot out that useless cliché and use it to put you off learning from others. There are plenty of people out there who can and do succeed in every aspect of online business and still want to share their experiences with those who want to learn.
And now it's time to start looking forward to the weekend - after I've talked to a new client who wants us to work up a proposal for a website for them and get Steve motivated to start taking photos for an online gift shop I'm building.