My Affiliate Store

Thursday Update

Bruce — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:52:51 +0000

Hi All

How has it been going ? I have been busy with the information Bruce gave us on theming in the last issue.

Bruce by the way is away at The Affiliate Summit this week so we will not have a post from him he will update us next time. Let’s hope he is getting lots of good information to pass onto us here at TG.

So this week we are going to be hearing from Len who is going to be talking about original content verses duplicate content.

As for myself I would like to share with you a story to emphasize the importance of linking.

I am truly amazed and thrilled at the results I achieved in less than 1 hour with this simple linking technique.

Len and I built a blog about allergies (at this point I had only put 3 articles on it) and we linked it to one of our TG sites which has been up and running for almost a year now so it has lots of pages listed.

As I said within 1 hour of putting that link on we had a result…. 14 pages listed for allergyinfotoday.com

When linking one site to another you need to ensure that it has strong relevant anchor text, that creates relevance and a good reason for linking from that site to another.

For instance, I put a link on a site about babies that linked to an article about children’s allergies on my allergy site and used anchor text that made sense to make it relevant.

If you put a little thought into this you can think of a reason to logically link most any other site to another but keep in mind the importance to the search engines that your anchor text is relevant.

Because of the way that TG is built for SEO optimization and all the other cool things that get us noticed by Google once we have a few established sites it becomes easier to get others listed with this one linking technique.

Of course we are not going to achieve over night success with 1 site or even 100 sites, it all takes time and effort, but the more sites you build the more money you will make.

The moral of my story is build lots of sites not just 1 site and make sure you have links between your sites, however ensure that you do not create a round robin effect with reciprocal linking.

I would like to say a huge thank you to the many of you that have registered for TGN, and especially to those who made comments.

I would like to suggest that you put your domain name below your comment as well as in the required field, this will give you links back to your sites from our newsletter, and as you know that is one of the main reason’s for commenting on blogs. I have been adding the domain names for the people who have already commented.

Without further ado let’s have a look at what Len has to say today!

Lesley

Editor of TGN

Original vs Duplicate…

This time I’d like to talk a little bit about Original content verses duplicate content.

There has been a LOT written, talked, prophesied, and preached about the negative uses of Duplicate content.

But WHAT exactly does that mean?

Those that are writing and selling PLR articles will tell you that using previously published articles is the “Kiss of Death”.

And those who own Article Archive sites will tell you the opposite.

While those who sell Articles Spinners are somewhere in the middle.

But the truth is that “RELEVANT CONTENT “is king, whether it’s completely original, just partially original, or borrowed completely as is from another consenting author.

Of COURSE original content will ALWAYS sit better with the search engines. But if you take care to make sure your content is relevant to your site and subject, and informative and useful to your readers, then you will not be penalized for publishing other peoples articles.

Personally, I only publish a few completely original articles per dozen on most of my sites (outside my customer sites), and they do fine. And while I’m quite sure they would do better if I took the time to write all completely original material, it’s not WORTH the time to me.

In the time it takes me to write a dozen articles for one site, I can create and populate a dozen sites with good, relevant, content from the many Article Archive Directories out there.

I would however, suggest that you take a LITTLE time to research how many other sites are carrying the articles you choose. Simply do a search in Google for the title of your article and it will tell you how many times it appears online. If it appears on a thousand other sites, you might want to pick another one.

But as a rule, unless it is very over used, they are safe to publish.

As I said … The KEY is in the RELEVANCE and QUALITY of the content you publish, and if you continue to give your readers good information, the search engines will continue to send you traffic.

As I said, I do not want you to misconstrue what I am saying here and stop writing or buying new original content all together.

I just want you to weigh the difference in the time and resources it takes to do so with EACH of your sites, and make a decision based on the individual sites themselves, whether it is worth it to spend that time writing for ONE site or building several others.

The Duplicate content issue that is REALLY a problem to the search engines has to do with duplicate content on your site, from one page to another.

They are looking for a higher percentage of different content on each page, than duplicated across ALL pages.

For instance, if your sidebar, Top Content, Bottom content, and resource boxes are on EVERY page, but you only have a paragraph or two of different content, or a few different products on each page, then the majority of your content will be considered Duplicate content by Google, and you will NOT be rewarded for your efforts.

And I’d also like to say a word about Google Penalizing you…

The search engines do NOT work on a basis of reward and penalty. They work exclusively on the basis of Reward. In other words, if you do what they want, you will be rewarded, and if you don’t, you will be ignored!

So unless you see being ignored as being penalized, there is NO penalty system.

As a famous SEO Guru explained it to me not very long ago…

“How can they penalize us? If you did too much that they don’t like, you would end up with a NEGATIVE score in their books, and that’s impossible! They will reward you for adhering to their demands, to be sure. But if you play games they don’t like, they will just ignore you and not send you any traffic.”

So build quality sites …

Populate them with GOOD, USEFUL, INFORMATIVE and ON POINT Information that your readers will appreciate having found you for, and the search engines WILL send you traffic.

Here’s to Your Success,

Len

Thanks Len that’s fantastic, now it’s over to you guys let us know what you think.

This Week’s Peek into the Forum

I noticed this last week in the Forum a question was posed by KenM

“I see very little use of the forum lately. Are most people on vacation ? Or is there not to much interest in the forum ? Is the membership dropping off ? I feel alone here, KenM”

Doctor Mark had this to say -

“Forum usage is always sporadic. But as the forum has grown there is always the idea that there is not so much “help” needed or that the answers are already here.

However, if people don’t need help then they can still:

1. Pop in for a chat! I monitor the forums on an almost daily basis along with Marian (llamagirl)

2. Show us your sites - it is good to get feedback about what you are doing and we can all learn from each other. I have stolen good ideas on more than on occasion.

3. Update us with news, reviews, interesting snippets in the internet world and any useful resources.

4. Sound off, complain, argue, cajoule and generally play devil’s advocate (malicious posts will be deleted)

5. TALK ABOUT SUCCESSES - we ALL like that!”

So come on TG family members lets all get back into the forum.

Lesley

Editor Of TGN

Remember Time, Commitment, Perseverance, Investment and Hard Work = SUCCESS

Until next time

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Update

Bruce — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:27:11 +0000

Lesley’s Update

I don’t know about you but I have been putting more of an effort into building more TG sites and I’ve been promoting them through blogs automated with Len’s Auto Blogger!

In case you hadn’t thought about it yet, blogs are a GREAT way to promote your TG sites and get them noticed by the search engines, and Auto blogger is a great way to maintain your blogs with a minimum of effort on your part!

NOW THEN…

Let me ask you a few pertinent questions…

* Did you read the 1st edition of TGN?
* Do you like the idea of a bi-weekly newsletter?
* Did you notice the comments box at the bottom?
* Is every-one within TG shy?

Now my questions are not directed at any one person nor are they personal, but what I am trying to say is that not one person made a comment, even if you think it stinks. Participation is the name of the game in creating a successful and useful newsletter. So go on and be a devil if you like, be the first person to comment on our efforts, either yea OR nay.

FEEL FREE TO…

* Ask a question of one of the team.
* Tell us what you are doing with your site/s.
* Give advise to the rest of us, we can’t have thought of everything.
* And don’t forget to give yourself a bit of free advertising by putting your domain name on as well, you may just find a new customer within our own community, at the very least it will help your listings.

Remember posting to blogs is one of the most effective social activities you can do to promote your sites, so why not do us both a favor and post to ours.

Well … I feel much better for that!

Now here in England it’s the school holidays and to keep my daughter entertained while I spend time on sites, I have had to put her a table in my office so she can go to work as well. It can be very entertaining for me as well as I am teaching her to write her letters, but she has such a strong mind that the other day she didn’t want to do it free hand and produced one of her stencils and said this is better… What can you say to that!

So Guys and Gals enjoy this weeks newsletter that’s bursting at the seams with fantastic information that you can use right away.

Oh … I almost forgot!

Last week I recommended The 30 Day Challenge in my editorial, if you haven’t already joined you can do so at http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com/challenge/22722

Until next time.

Lesley
Editor of TGN

P.S. Don’t forget I am waiting to here from you so be sure and tell us what you think about the new TGN

Now, Let’s take a look at what Bruce has to tell us about “Theming” and how it can benefit us with our TG websites.

Why has Traffic Genesis designed its system to create websites using silos (Theming)?

Put simply, a well structured, content rich website is better inclined to become an “authority site” from the point of view of the search engines.

The concept of theme-driven silos avoids “jumbled architecture.”(Shown below)

Jumbled Architecture is building a site blueprint that has internal links dispersed chaotically throughout the website. These internal links do not support a unified theme and are not simultaneously supportive of VEO (visitor enhanced optimization) and SEO (Search engine optimization).

Another way of saying this is that an erratic and poorly thought out internal linking structure will not effectively integrate the Direct Response agenda (Marketing) and the Technical agenda (SEO).

Traffic Genesis is designed to help you build a website that simultaneously supports both of these agendas.

Let’s explore the topic of proper internal linking further. In order to understand the true power behind Traffic Genesis it is important that you have at least a basic understanding of Website Silo Architecture.

The basic concept is that you should carefully link internally to silo landing pages inside your own website whenever you use keywords that support that silo theme. It is a very easy concept to grasp, but a concept that, for whatever reason, seems to stupefy webmasters and SEOs the world over.

Usually when you understand why it is beneficial to internally link this way, the concept makes more sense.

When you link internally from “page A” to “Page B” and “Page B” has nothing to do with the theme of “Page A”, you are bleeding your theme.

Google pays careful attention to a KEYWORD or PHRASE that is hyperlinked- but especially the page the hyperlinked (anchor text) is pointing to. This is why Silo Architecture can be extraordinarily supportive to a targeted theme.

To quote Jerry West, one of our (few) trusted experts on link building and citation analysis:

“The text area that is ‘linked text’ is most commonly known in the SEO/SEM space as the anchor text. This text is indexed by all the major search engines and Google gives high priority to the text listed in this area. But instead of giving high priority to the page where the link resides, it gives high priority to the page the link is pointing to.”

In a nutshell, most webmasters are paying little attention to the way they structure their website, and where they link within their site. This creates a “jumbled architecture” with keyword links point randomly throughout the site:

This sort of “jumbled structure” tends to bleed the silo theme instead of supporting and highlighting it.

Google (and soon other search engines) will not easily understand what you are trying to say if you have a jumbled architecture.

Said very simply, when you are writing about peanut butter, don’t link to a page talking About jelly.

You should link to the top of the peanut butter silo if you want to rank highly for the keyword phrase “peanut butter.” Keep your themes together and support the themes with similar keywords.

Traffic Genesis is designed to do all this automatically.

If you are using one of our older “Non-Dynamic Templates” you should contact support for help in updating your site to our NEW “DYNAMIC THEMES”. DON’T SWITCH THEMES BEFORE CONTACTING SUPPORT.

We will shortly be adding additional Dynamic Themes for you to choose from.

Best of Success!

Bruce Safran

WELL NOW… I hope that you got as much out of that as I did, I found it all extremely interesting. That is one of the things that I will be concentrating on over the next couple of weeks.

Let’s move on though now to Len, he is talking to us about Article Marketing.

Article Marketing …

There seems to be a lot of confusion about how to market your sites, and we are going to devote some time in the coming weeks, to giving you a clear picture of what you need to do AFTER you build your sites.

This is NOT “The Field of Dreams” folks!

They WILL NOT COME just because you built it!

SO the million Dollar Question is … HOW do you get them there?

What is the “Secret” that the Big Boys know … that you don’t?

Truthfully, there really are no secrets, just a few simple to understand techniques and a lot of hard work.

There are many ways to get traffic to your sites, and most of them are based around methods of getting the Search Engines attention. And one of the most EFFECTIVE ways to get their attention is “Article Marketing”.

See, the Search Engines put a LOT of emphasis on how many Other Relevant sites are linking to yours. To them each time another site (which is based around the same basic niche) links back to you, they see it as a vote that you have a site worth it’s salt!

And the more sites that link to you, the more your site must be worth ;o)

But unfortunately, getting other sites to link to you isn’t as easy as you might think. Primarily because they are bleeding off their PR every time they link to someone outside of their site (unless they use a No-Follow tag. In which case the link is worthless to you anyway).

Consequently, they have to think in terms of “What’s In It For Me” before they’ll put a link to YOUR site on theirs.

And, over the years there have been a number of techniques devised to get links on other sites, that satisfy the What’s In It For Me question.

Things like …

Reciprocal Linking (linking to each other so that you both get an inbound link out of the deal).

Selling links on their high PR sites (generally the higher the ranking of the site, the more it costs as the search engines put more value on the links according to the ranking of the site the link is on).

Spamming Software (software products that seek out sites and blogs in relevant niches, that allow commentary to be posted to the sites, and then post links to YOUR site automatically on their sites).

Publishing Public Domain Articles (the practice of submitting articles to article archive directories that contain links back to your site).

And a number of other techniques that run the gambit from ingenious to devious!

Now … Most of these techniques worked well, for a while, but since it skewed the search engines premise that the more relevant inbound links you have, the better your site must be, they quickly learn to find and discount such links, through the use of their algorithms.

And in the end one of the few techniques that still works, is Article Marketing!

If you write articles tightly targeted to the niche your site is in, and submit them to the directories (giving other site owners the right to publish them on THEIR sites for content), and if you also put a link back to YOUR site in the “About the Author” blurb at the bottom of the article…

You get an inbound link from a site that is in your niche, every time someone publishes one of your articles on their site!

This is POWERFUL stuff!

It still works because the Search Engines see it as exactly what they are looking for. Quality Content! So it’s a win win situation for you, the site that published it, and the search engines as well ;o)

And because of this, it is a method of link gathering that will ALWAYS work!

Of course it DOES take some work on your part to write them (or money from you if you pay someone to do it for you), but in the end, it is a GREAT use of your time, and one of the safest and most effective ways to get useful inbound links I know of!

It used to be that just submitting your articles to multiple Article Archive Sites was all you had to do, since once they are listed on the Archive sites, you instantly have inbound links to your site from them.

But as is usually the case with any new technique that works, people started abusing the privilege by building software that mass distributed the articles to hundreds of Archive Sites, and the Search Engines had to stop giving credit for those as well.

And while it’s true that ANY inbound link is better than none (including reciprocal links, archive site links, or links from unrelated sites), all links are DEFINITELY not equal. And spending your time and resources to get links that won’t do you much good is just plain silly!

So … Do yourself a favor and start writing articles related to your site, and then submit them to the top directories such as Ezinearticles.com, GoArticles.com, and Articletogo.com

And don’t forget my own Article Directory AAArticles.com

It may not look like much, but it’s the directory that my Article Automator and Article Innovator software products pull from, and there are literally THOUSANDS of people using those products to find Articles. And in the case of Article Innovator to quickly and easily re-write them into usable, submittal, original content.

I know that was a Shameless Plug. But hey, they ARE great products or so many people wouldn’t still be using them ;o)

So till next time
Len

PS…get your Article Marketing campaigns going right away. The sooner you get started, the faster you’ll start getting that all important traffic!

Brilliant Len thanks a lot, if you can’t put in shameless plugs then who can

And here is the techy guy himself with his introduction. Let’s here it for Ash….

Hi,

My Name is Ash, and most of you know me through the forum and Technical support, as my wife and I have been involved with TG from the beginning, and continue to support your needs through Technical support, Program upgrades, and Graphical assistance.

We came to TG through Len Thurmond, whom I have been programming for since 2003, and have been one of the primary programmers for TG since it’s release in May of 2007.

My wife Diana, is a very talented graphic designer and who has designed MANY of the graphical headers and banners on our TG member’s sites, and is readily available to do so for you as well

You can see many of her designs used by TG members on any of the following sites …
http://www.shop-and-compare.com/
http://www.sunlesstansecrets.com/
http://www.youroutdoorsportsmall.com/
http://www.boomersandparents.com/
http://www.breathtakingbackyard.com/
http://www.babytowngifts.com/
http://www.grandfatherclockmarket.com/
http://www.varietygiftstore.com

And you can see large list of her work listed at
http://banners-studio.com/mh.php

As you can see from the examples, she is VERY talented. And you’ll be happy to know that she is also VERY affordable as well!

She has also started a great new Article service where you can get original articles written for you on ANY subject at a very reasonable price!

If you’d like to have Diana turn YOUR site into a professional looking site with one of her beautiful custom graphics, and/or provide you with the original content you need to get and keep the Search Engines attention and rank highly for YOUR specific keywords, just click on the following link …

http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/members/home.php?page=custom-work

At the moment we are working on building new improved DYNAMIC templates to make your sites even more Search Engine friendly and professional looking to your clients.

And rest assured we are constantly adding to the functionality of TG in a never ending list of wonderful upgrades.

Just 4 months ago Diana and I had a new addition to our team - our wonderful daughter Nandika.

Ash and Diana

Thanks for that Ash it’s good to get to know you, Diana and Nandika.

Just one quick final note for this issue. I have been browsing through the Forum and there are a LOT interesting Threads going on in there right now, but the 2 I would love to bring to your attention are:

* How fantastic is this…

I am on page 1

I want to brag!!!! Yesterday I just checked my sites on Google and Yahoo and I am number 2 and 4 on Google and 2 and 3 on Yahoo.
http://www.allamericansandcompany.com/ is a MAS site and http://www.rockymountainsandcrafts.com/ is one I recieved from my niece. I have not had to many orders but every now and then one will come in. I need to promote then better but lack the skills for on line promotion. But I did make first page…

To follow up on this conversation visit the forum at … http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8861#post8861

AND …

* What An Awesome Guy - Watch the video….

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5Uraq&m=1eErJnX0BpOv_r&b=NZUoTDueCLej6seVMJIa8Q

To keep up with important events in the Forum you should regularly visit http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/forum

Remember that Ash, Len, and Bruce ALWAYS announce the goings on of TG there first!

Till next time … Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it.

Lesley

Editor of TGN

TGN@TrafficGenesis.net

My Affiliate Store Changes It&#039;s Name To Traffic Genesis

Bruce — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:41:01 +0000

Lesley Tysoe (Head of Support and Editor of TGN)

Hi there.

My name is Lesley and I am the editor of the all new Traffic Genesis Newsletter - TGN. I have been with TG now for about 6 months as Head of Support, and as editor of TGN you will be hearing a lot more from me in the future.

Since this is the first issue of the all new TGN I thought it would be nice for you to get to know the entire TG team who all contribute on a daily basis.

First let me tell you a little about myself and then the rest of the team can introduce themselves to you.

I started dabbling in internet marketing a couple of years ago, but in July 2007 I was introduced to Traffic Genesis at a seminar in London and have never looked back. I have a number of TG Sites and I am constantly building more.

Since joining TG in London my knowledge grows every day about how to work online. With a 4 year old daughter to care for I have found the best of both worlds. I can now do something that I enjoy and work from my home whilst still being able to watch my little girl grow.

Once you start learning what to do and what not to do in online marketing you just go from strength to strength. Dedicate a bit time each day to learning from others and your knowledge and business will inevitably grow.

I have just joined the 30 day challenge, and folks it is well worth taking a look if you haven’t already. It is all free of charge. Just follow this link and you will certainly pick up some new tips and techniques that will inevitably help grow your business. http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com/challenge/22722

So as I said you are going to be hearing a lot more from me and if you have any little stories or pieces of advise that you would like to see in TGN drop me an email at lt@lenthurmond.com and I will try to ensure they get published.

And also be sure to post your comments on a regular basis so that we can make this an interactive newsletter for the whole membership.

Keep up with the good work on your sites and I look forward to working with you.

Lesley

Len Thurmond

Hi folks,

My name is Len Thurmond. Many of you may have heard of me, since I’m one of the old timers that’s been in the Internet Marketing game since the early days.

In fact, I started marketing on the net in 1994! (I think that was just after Electricity was INVENTED ;O)

I was dragged, Kicking and screaming, into the world of computers by my accountant who refused to continue to do my work unless I bought and learned to use a computer to keep my books!

So, begrudgingly, I started the journey down the path that eventually led me to where I am today.

And believe me, it was NOT an easy path to follow!

At the time, I owned and operated an art gallery and published Limited edition art prints for a number of talented young artists, when it suddenly dawned on me that maybe it would be possible to sell these pieces of art on the Internet.

But back then, there where very few aids to teach us the ropes of using the internet, so most of us “Pioneers” had to learn it through the hard and painful “Trial and Error” method.

So when I say I KNOW how some of you who are just getting started feel about the seemingly monumental task of learning this internet marketing thing. I really MEAN I understand!

I only wish I’d had the opportunities and training tools you possess today. It would have shortened MY learning curve by YEARS!

But finally, I DID figure it out, and around the end of the millennium, I decided to share my hard earned knowledge with those who would listen, through the newsletter I started publishing, called “The Affiliate Review”.

This in the end was what brought me fame and fortune.

See, I learned a long time ago that you get a lot more from HELPING people, than from trying to fleece them. And ALL the good you do, will ALWAYS come back to you 10 fold.

If I could pass on one message to the world, that is probably the most important lesson in Business (or life in general) that I could pass on, and I hope at least some of you will take it to heart.

The Affiliate Review became my podium for telling it like it is. And believe me, I pissed off a LOT of people along the way by “Telling It Exactly How It Was”, when many didn’t want the realities known!

But it also made me a lot of friends along the way that respected me for telling the truth about the scams that proliferated the web in those days (Not that they still don’t. You still have to be VERY careful, even today, not to get fleeced by the “Snake Oil Salesmen” out there. But at least today, there are a lot more people who are not afraid to expose the scams.)

Well one thing led to another, and just by keeping my ears and eyes open, I began to see a need for various software products, and started developing them for my customers, to make their jobs easier.

And the rest is history!

There is a great lesson here folks!

And if you take care of your own, and listen to what they have to say, you’d have to be Deaf, Dumb and Blind not to prosper!

Honesty, integrity, and caring about others will ALWAYS see you through.

You may NOT get where you want to go as fast that way, but when the going gets tough, you’ll find you have a LEGION of people at your back to help you get over the rough spots.

And that’s a blessing the Scam Artists will NEVER know!

Here’s to your success

Len

Bruce Safran

It is no secret that 95% of Internet marketers usually don’t make any money on the Internet.

I believe that most of this failure rate is due to lack of education, ineffective marketing systems, and unrealistic expectations.

People don’t know how to effectively promote their business and produce income. They usually fumble around looking for that magic that will provide instant success.

I have had years of experience! Been there, done that. I know what works and what doesn’t.

So here is what you can expect.

• Straight Talk - My opinion about products and services. Should YOU spend your money on GOOD PRODUCTS? Maybe not! What products are CRAP and you should avoid like the plague!
• Killer Resources you Must Have - There are tons of FREE TOOLS that will power you to success. When I find them I will share them and teach you how to use them!
• Cutting Edge - If you are not using these strategies you will loose the game and fall inside the 95% group. I will keep you up-to-date on what is working and where the Internet is heading.
• Lifestyle - Ideas to integrate into your life. Creativity, Spirituality and personal growth and how they can make your life successful and fulfilled.

What I am Not:

• I am not the smartest guy on the planet
• I am not the best copywriter on the planet
• I am not the best marketer on the planet
• I am not the best speaker on the planet

But….

I am the best teacher on the planet (according to many).

I have visited the past lives pavilion and discovered that I was Socrates in one of my past lives. (A reference to the film “Defending Your Life” - a must watch)

Defending Your Life is a 1991 romantic comedy/fantasy movie about a man who must justify his life-long lack of assertiveness after he dies and arrives in the afterlife.

NOW FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CARE ABOUT CREDENTIALS - HERE ARE A FEW OF MINE

• I have over 30 years of business, investment and securities, legal, Internet and entrepreneurial experience.
• I have been marketing on the Internet for over 7 years.
• I am the co-creator of AutoWebLaw and The Intellectual Property Protection Package. (Both programs are the best selling legal software for Internet Marketers.)
• I am an expert on using Public Domain content and co-created Find Your Fortune In The Public Domain.
• I presently own a vast network of very profitable Affiliate eCommerce websites created by My Affiliate Store, which IS the best solution on the market for selling affiliate products.
• I am an SEO & SEM expert
• I am in the process of launching a China import/export company, importing goods from China and exporting raw materials to China.

Here is past experience:

• I created several highly profitable start-up business and have raised over $30,000,000 in venture capital.
• Was the principal partner in a successful law practice specializing in litigation, estate planning and Internet and securities law.
• Senior Vice President at Bear Stearns where I created and managed a highly profitable tax arbitrage center and designed an orchestrated sophisticated securities transactions for corporations and individuals.
• Senior Vice President at Oppenheimer & Co. where I engineered an executed the single largest non-institutional tax arbitrage ($1 billion) in the company’s history.
• Vice President at Drexel Burnham Lambert where I partnered with Michael Milken and his team in bringing Lorimar and other companies to a successful public offering.

Doctor Mark Clayson (Forum Moderator)

After spending many years in the medical field I have increased my interest and knowledge in online marketing. I really enjoy interacting with people online and the satisfaction of sharing what little knowledge I have with others. There is room for us all on the internet and the world is a big place. I have set up a number of MAS stores and am seeing the fruits of all that effort. I am earning money on virtual autopilot and I never cease to be impressed by how well pages rank in the search engines.

Those that know me realise that I always advocate doing WORK to your sites. Nobody makes a living online doing nothing and your MAS sites are no exception. So I have continually build links and written articles for my sites and have recently given some of them a jolly good spring clean! It seems to have had the desired effect.

I am proud that Len and Bruce have trusted me as a moderator. I enjoy the work and the challenge in helping people. However, I must say that I learn as much as I teach and there are plenty of people that know far more than I do. Everybody should do as I do, and that is “steal” the proven ideas that work and make others money.

I could not do this task without Marian. she is always around helping on the forums and showing those that are new to the program how to get things done. In fact, Marian helped me right at the start of my “MAS Career”!

Right now, I am involved in much more than just MAS stores and, when I have the time, I am working on several online projects and am in the process of writing a book. In fact, I finished the first chapter just the other day (it has only taken me a year!).

Keep on developing your stores!

Mark Clayson

Marian Hartsough (Forum Moderator)MAS/TG is a very comprehensive program and Ash has added so many great features over the year plus that TG has been out. I have to say, TG is one of the best content management systems out there and I’ve tested many.Most of the questions in the forum have to do with how to use the program to it’s fullest. Over time, more flexibility has been added, but with that comes a little more of a learning curve.

For the most part, I try to help out when people are trying to figure out the ins and outs of TG, and Doctor Mark has a good handle on the SEO/Marketing side of things, we make a pretty good tag team.

The TG forum has a great search engine, and serves as a great frequently asked questions and answers resource. Doctor Mark and I are always happy to help out anyone with questions, and of course, we don’t forget Ash, who is a wonder and handles the more technical questions.

I have to say, every TG member I’ve met or communicated with has been great and it’s a really wonderful community.

On the personal side:

Aside from building my TG sites, I have a book production service and publishing consulting business which keeps me pretty busy. Everyone has a book in them, and I try to help authors make their way through the publishing process.

I live on a small farm in Central California, raising llamas (thus llamagirl) and thoroughbred horses. Someone gave me a couple of mares a few years back and now I raise race horses (quite an experience).

I’m completely addicted to Internet marketing, so in my spare time, I’m learning everything I can.

Sincerley

Marian Hartsough

Noroxin

23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies

Bruce — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:31:27 +0000

Eye-tracking studies are hot in the web design world, but it can be hard to figure out how to translate the results of these studies into real design implementations. These are a few tips from eye-tracking studies that you can use to improve the design of your webpage.

Text attracts attention before graphics. Contrary to what you might think, the first thing users look at on a website isnâ€™t the images. Most casual users will be coming to your site looking for information, not images, so make sure your website is designed so that the most important parts of your text are what is most prominent.
Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page. It shouldnâ€™t be surprising that users look at webpages in this way, as most computer applications are designed with the top left hand side as the main focus. You can do your website a favor by keeping this format in mind when creating a design. Remember, while you want to have a personal style, you have to keep the habits of your readers in mind if you want your site to be successful.
Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right. Users were found to generally scan webpages in the shape of an â€˜Fâ€™. Make sure the important elements of your content are located in these key areas to keep readers engaged. Place headlines, subheadlines, bullet points, and highlighted text along these lines so readers will be enticed to read further.
Readers ignore banners. Ads may be the bread and butter of your site, but studies have shown that readers largely ignore banner ads, often focusing for only a fraction of a second. If youâ€™re trying to make money from ads, you need to be creative in your ad placement or in the types of ads you have on your site.
Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored. Why? Because users assume they are ads and donâ€™t have the information they need. In fact, studies showed that users had difficulty finding information in large colored letters formatted in this way because visual clues told them to ignore it. Keep your site streamlined and not so shiny that important elements will be glossed over.
Show numbers as numerals. Readers will find it much easier to find factual information on your site if you use numerals instead of writing out numbers. Remember, youâ€™re writing for readers that are going to be primarily scanning your site, so make it easier for them to find what they need and keep them interested.
Type size influences viewing behavior. Want to change how people look at your page? Change the size of your font. Smaller fonts increase focused viewing behavior while larger fonts encourage scanning. Depending on your needs, you may want more of one than the other.
Users only look at a sub headline if it interests them. Donâ€™t put in subheadlines just to stick to a particular formatâ€“make sure that they are relevant and interesting. You can also help yourself out by making sure they include keywords that will bring search engines to your site.
People generally scan lower portions of the page. You can use this to your advantage if you give readers something to latch onto when theyâ€™re scanning your page. Highlight certain sections or create bulleted lists so information is easy to find and read on your page.
Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones. Information on your page should be designed for the short attention span of most Internet users. Keep paragraphs and sentences short unless context mandates otherwise, such as descriptions of products on an e-commerce sites.
One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats. Donâ€™t overwhelm visitors to your site with too much information. Simpler really is better in some cases. Multiple columns will more than likely by ignored by users, so eliminate clutter from the get-go.
Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most eye fixation. If youâ€™re going to place ads on your site, try integrating them into the top left portion of your page, as those will get the most visual attention. Of course, just because readers see them there doesnâ€™t mean theyâ€™ll click on them, so donâ€™t sacrifice design just to gain some extra visibility.
Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often. If you want to get your ads seen and hopefully clicked on, incorporate them into your design in a way that places them near the most interesting elements of your content. Users will still be able to find what they need, but youâ€™ll gain an advantage in advertising.
Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested. Like we said earlier, the average Internet user generally doesnâ€™t waste much time looking at things that immediately appear to be ads. Thatâ€™s why text ads perform so much better. They arenâ€™t distracting and blend in with the rest of the content on the page, making them less visually irritating to the reader and ultimately more successful.
Bigger images get more attention. If you are going to use images on your page, bigger is better. People are more interested in an image where they can see details and information clearly. Just make sure that any image you are using is particularly relevant to your text, otherwise it will most likely be ignored. Most readers have high-speed connections these days so donâ€™t be afraid to stick a few larger photos on site.
Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation. While they might look good with your design, abstract and artsy photos arenâ€™t going to garner much reader attention. If youâ€™re using photos with people in them, make sure they are clear, easy to read shots. It should also be noted that photos with â€œrealâ€ people, not models, perform better.
Headings draw the eye. One of the first things readers have been found to look at on a webpage are headlines. Make sure yours are unobstructed by other items on the page and that they are engaging enough to draw the reader into looking further through your site.
Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus. Because of this, youâ€™ll want to put in some extra time making sure that yours are well-designed. After all, they not only draw a lot of eye fixation, they are one of the most important elements of your site.
Lists hold reader attention longer. One way you can break up the paragraphs in your content and keep users looking through your site is to make frequent use of a list format for your articles. Use numbers or bullet points to highlight important information within your content. It will make your site more scannable and easier for users to find the information that theyâ€™re looking for.
Large blocks of text are avoided. Studies have shown that that your average Web visitor isnâ€™t going to take the time to study large blocks of text no matter how informative or well-written they might be. Because of this, you need to break up these larger blocks of text into smaller paragraphs. Highlighting specific areas and pulling out bullet points can also help to keep user attention.
Formatting can draw attention. To keep users from skipping over the main and most important points in your content use bold, capitalized, italicized, colored, and underlined text. Use these things judiciously however, as too much will make your page hard to read and send readers away.
White space is good. While it might be tempting to put something in every corner of your page, itâ€™s actually better to leave some of your site free of any text. Sites with too much going on tend to overwhelm users and they ignored a large part of the content. So keep things simple and allow some visual open space for readers to rest their eyes.
Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page. Ideally, you donâ€™t want readers to just look at the initial page they came to on your site, you want them to stick around and look at other interesting things as well. You can help send them in the right direction by making your navigation easy to find and use by placing it at the top of the page.

Happy Thanksgiving

Bruce — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:39:10 +0000

Consumers will spend 21% more online this holiday season than they did in 2006.

As more people rely on the Internet for holiday shopping, retailers have stepped up their game to compete. This year, promotions on Cyber Monday are extremely competitive as online retailers use an assortment of one-day specials to send shoppers online.

Not surprisingly, one of the main reasons consumers shop online is the convenience. According to a Nielsen Online survey of nearly 1,000 respondents, 81% said the convenience of shopping whenever they wanted was the main reason they chose to shop online over the holidays, while 77% said they shopped online because it saved time. About 46% of consumers said they shopped online for lower prices.

Experts offer these tips to online shoppers.

1. Sign up for e-mail newsletters and price alerts so you can get the best deals and sometimes exclusive discounts.
2. Log onto comparison shopping search engines.
3. Shop early at sites that post new deals at 6:30 a.m.
4. Do some research and shop only at trusted online retailers.

Trend

Better user reviews

New sites that gather reviews from all over the Web are making it a lot easier to get a good read on what other people think of a product, be it a camera or a pair of slippers.

Another development is how brutally honest user reviews have become–even on retailersâ€™ own sites. Ouch. Why would retailers let customers diss their merchandise?

Research shows that consumers prefer sites that have customer reviews and ratings, and that reviews build a sense of community and enhance customer loyalty. All that ultimately translates into higher sales.

MAS Newsletter, 1-15: Are You Using Koinonia?

Bruce — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:37:33 +0000

========================================
Welcome to

THE ONLINE NEWSLETTER FOR â€œMY AFFILIATE STOREâ€
The Internetâ€™s #1 Affiliate eCommerce System
========================================

MAS Newsletter Vol 1, Issue 15

The physicist David Bohm, while researching the lives of Einstein, Heisenberg, and Bohr, noticed that their incredible breakthroughs took place through simple, open and honest conversation.

He observed, for instance, that Einstein and his colleagues spent years freely corresponding and brainstorming with each other.

During these interactions, they exchanged and dialogued about ideas which later became the foundations of modern physics. They exchanged ideas without trying to change the other’s mind and without bitter argument.

They always paid attention to each other’s views and established an extraordinary professional fellowship.

Other scientists of the time, in contrast, wasted their careers bickering over petty nuances of opinion and promoting their own ideas at the expense of others. They mistrusted their colleagues, covered up weaknesses, and were reluctant to openly share their work.

Why were Einstein and his associates able to collaborate so effectively? How were they able to avoid the mistrust, suspicion, and covering up that which often occurs when a group of people attempt to collaborate together? Why were they able to share their work openly and honestly with each other, while their contemporaries did not? What was their secret?

Einstein and his associates had discovered and used a set of ancient Greek principles of intragroup communication, which was developed by Socrates. Socrates and other Greek philosophers would sit around brainstorming and debating various issues. Their discussions, however, rarely got out of hand.

Although hot tempers emerged, the participants were bound by seven principles of discussion Socrates established to maintain a sense of collegiality. Socrates called these principles Koinonia which means “spirit of fellowship.”

Their basic principles were:
1) Establish dialogue.
2) Exchange ideas.
3) Don’t argue.
4) Don’t interrupt.
5) Listen carefully.
6) Clarify your thinking.
7) Be honest.

The following are guidelines for establishing Koinonia in your group:

HOLD PRACTICE SESSIONS.

Put together a small group to serve as a pilot test. Meet at the same time once every week. Tell people to talk about whatever they want to talk about. There is no set agenda. There may not be any noticeable results the first few sessions. And people may gripe that the sessions are a waste of time. Hold firm and tell the participants that the purpose of the sessions is to build teamwork.

ESTABLISH DIALOGUE.

In Greek, the word dialogue means a “talking through.” Socrates and other Greek philosophers used dialogue to establish and uncover hidden truths. Socrates believed that the key to establishing dialogue is to exchange ideas without trying to change the other person’s mind.

This is not the same as discussion which, from its Latin root, means to “dash to pieces.” (In many groups, even the polite ones, the purpose often is to “dash” the other person’s ideas in order to promote your own.)

The basic rules of dialogue established by Socrates and his friends are “Don’t argue,” “Don’t interrupt,” and “Listen carefully.” Participants should focus entirely upon whoever is speaking. This will be difficult at first. With practice, however, communication will become truly two-way.

CLARIFY YOUR THINKING.

To do this, you first must suspend all untested assumptions. You might think that certain people are not creative. When you think that, you’re not likely to give their ideas fair thought. Check your assumptions about everything and look at everything with an unbiased view.

BE HONEST.

Say what you think, even if your thoughts are controversial. Once people realize they know what you thinking, they will be comfortable and open around you.
Follow these steps diligently and Koinonia will follow, sooner or later.

Most people naturally like to interact. Koinonia can help remove barriers which prevent people from collaborating honestly. When a spirit of Koinonia prevails, people are less likely to withhold information. As a result, intragroup communications are enhanced and ideas flow more freely within a group.

MAS KOINONIA

Our forum is a perfect place to establish Koinonia with a like-minded group of people. Let’s try an experiment. I Created a new Forum Main Topic Section titled KOINONIA.

Let’s make this a place where people can set up Threads that can be used for weekly discussion groups where a group of people all log on at the same time each week and spend 1 hour in a creative mastermind dialogue.

It can be moderated or not moderated, it is up to you.
It can be topic oriented or free flowing. (I would like to see the topics not directly related specifically to MAS.)
You should employ the basic principals of Koinona.
You can require that people who want to participate sign up 24 hours in advance or keep it open to anyone who happens to drop in.

I am starting a Koinonia on the topic of CREATIVITY. The Koinonia will take place on Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 6:00pm Pacific, 7:00pm Mountain, 8:00pm Central, 9:00pm Eastern. To participate you need to sign up no later than Wednesday, November 7, 2007. Sign up by going to the Creativity Koinonia in the forum and post your interest by saying something like “I’m in”, or “I’ll be there”.

http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/forum/showthread.php?t=979

Can’t log in? Send a support ticket to
http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/esupport

If we have success, I will work on making a more interactive vehicle we can use for our Koinonias.

Enjoy your week and work smart.

Bruce

The DoubleClick Bootcamp is Here!

Bruce — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:35:43 +0000

Several months ago I approached DoubleClick Performics (aka ConnectCommerce) and told them that their service was being under utilized by our members because the perception was it was more complicated than the other networks.

Over the last few months, I have been helping DoubleClick define what affiliates need to hear from them to make it easier to use their system.

DoubleClick is one of the premier Affiliate Networks. They provide superior support and powerful tools to affiliate marketers (that’s us). They have some of the best and biggest vendors.

It is a mistake not to use their Vendors and services. In addition, we have a great relationship with them and can get almost anything done for our members.

DoubleClick has put substantial resources into this bootcamp and has decided to make it available not only to our members but to their entire affiliate network. This will be an introductory bootcamp. You will be able to ask questions at the bootcamp.

Later on we will have more advanced follow-up webinars with them just for our members.

So Please Join Us and Them For:

ConnectCommerce Boot Camp

Webinar Date: Thursday, November 8, 2007
Webinar Time: 2:00 PM CENTRAL

ConnectCommerce Boot Camp Features:

* A basic overview of ConnectCommerce
* How to:
o Join Advertiser programs
o Get links
o Run reports
* And more!

Space is limited so please click on the Register link and Register Now.

Register

The Search is Over

Sandy Swain — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:34:40 +0000

Sandy’s new Toyota Matrix XR.

MAS Newsletter, 1-14

Sandy Swain — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:31:18 +0000

========================================
Welcome to

THE ONLINE NEWSLETTER FOR “MY AFFILIATE STORE”
The Internet’s #1 Affiliate eCommerce System
========================================

MAS Newsletter Vol 1, Issue 14

The search is over!

I had to find myself a new car because I was involved in a
car accident a couple of months ago. (I was unhurt, the car
was not so lucky).

I decided on a 2005 Toyota Matrix XR. It is a bright white
color with tinted windows. (I feel like I’m driving an
iPod!) Not only is “Matrix” the name of a SciFi movie, I
was also delighted to learn that one of the definitions of
“Matrix” according to NetDictionary.com is “A superset of
the Internet that includes all networks and computers that
can exchange email.” A car that is techie, yet stylish.
How perfect for me!

Of course I turned to the internet for ideas on what was out
there as far as a new vehicle for me. I looked at car
photos, read articles, checked reliability ratings, and
found reviews from car owners. After that, I was able to
narrow down the few car models that I was considering, look
for a good price, and eventually purchase the vehicle and
drive it away.

It’s so great to have a tool like the internet to help me
make a decision on what to buy and then make it easy for me
to do so. Search engines have become the first place many
people turn when looking to purchase just about anything.

So speaking of search, let’s look at three different search
techniques I used to find information about my new car and
that you can use to get your affiliate site in front of as
many buyers as possible:

1. Paid Placement: This is where you buy your way on to the
search engine listings. You bid against others to get your
advertising at the top of the results page. Google AdWords
is the most popular of these. You can usually tell if
someone has paid to have their ad on that page because it
will say “sponsored listings” or something similar.

When I put “Toyota Matrix” in to Google, I see sponsored
ads from Toyota.com, some car review sites, and some local
car dealerships. (Google can tell my location from my
computer’s IP address and only show dealerships local to
me.)

2. Directory Listings: This is a category list that is
usually run by human editors who put your site in the
category they deem most relevant. The oldest and best known
is Yahoo! Directory but there are others such as Open
Directory Project at www.dmoz.org. This is where I found a
site for owners of the Toyota Matrix that actually have
get-togethers where people meet to have barbeque and talk
about their cars! Seriously! www.matrixowners.com. And yes,
of course I joined it…

3. Organic Search: This is where the search engine finds
(hopefully) the most relevant match for the searcher’s
query. Google is the best known organic search engine. As
marketers, we optimize our pages the best we can and then
wait for the search engines to notice them and include them
in their listings. The results are supposedly “organic” or natural.
The engines are getting pretty good at finding relevant results
but they are not perfect. I used several search engine “tricks”
to narrow down my search and find what I wanted like exact
phrase searches and using negative words.

http://www.google.com/help/basics.html

I ended up finding my car on a local directory site where a
used car dealership had a listing. They said to print out
the ad with the “Internet Special” price which was $3,199
less than the price on the windshield of the car. And, of
course I negotiated further from there, but again I was
quite happy to have the internet on my side.

The more useful information you have on your site, the happier
people will be to find you. And doesn’t that just feel good?

========================================
THE BEST OF THE MAS FORUM
========================================

I got to meet Paul Renner in London (Hi Paul!) and he
always has useful things to contribute to the user forum.
Here are some tools to help the search engines find our
sites relevant for the organic search results by minding the
keyword density (or what percentage of the time a certain
word appears on your site) and also similar words to your
main keyword.

Check out this forum thread:

http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533

Can’t log in? Send a support ticket to
http://www.my-affiliate-store.com/esupport

========================================
LESLIE ROHDE WEBINAR SATURDAY 10/20/2007
========================================

Hear from the man who knows all about search engines results
this Saturday! We are privileged to have Leslie Rohde as our
guest to give us his expert advice on getting our stores
ranked highly in the search engines.

Here are the details:

What: Join us for a one hour “webinar” (like a seminar,
only you watch from your home on the internet) on “How to
Maximize your My Affiliate Store Rankings”

When: Saturday, October 20th. 1:00PM Eastern time. (That’s
10:00AM Pacific time). We’re having it at that time so our
UK folks can join us too at 6:00PM.

Where: Right in front of your computer! Point your browser
to www.gotowebinar.com and select “join a webinar”.

The meeting ID is 952670451. To hear the audio, dial your
phone to (605) 772-3434, access code 619-186-905.

Two questions I have been getting asked are:

Q. Will this be recorded? A. Yes, if you cannot make the
time on Saturday, we will be recording it and archiving it
in the members area.

Q. Do I need to pre-register? A. No, simply log on to the
computer and dial in at the appointed time.

————————
Well I’m going to go sit in my car now with the user manual
and push buttons to see what everything does.

Anybody want a ride?

Talk soon, Sandy

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”

Internet Success Bootcamp in London

Sandy Swain — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 04:23:08 +0000

UK MAS member Mike Tan having fun with Malcolm the Will Smith look-a-like!

My Affiliate Store

Thursday Update

Update

My Affiliate Store Changes It&amp;#039;s Name To Traffic Genesis

23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies

Happy Thanksgiving

MAS Newsletter, 1-15: Are You Using Koinonia?

The DoubleClick Bootcamp is Here!

The Search is Over

MAS Newsletter, 1-14

Internet Success Bootcamp in London

My Affiliate Store Changes It's Name To Traffic Genesis