Tag Archives: internet marketing

Google Come Between Me & My Loved Ones

By Andy Beard | Published: September 5, 2009

Have Google changed the way they handle Double or Indented Listings, removing them from some SERPs from some datacenters? I love my double or indented listings, but it was not to be. We have been together for a long time, but fate has determined that at least for the present, we must separate. The Google giveth, and The Google taketh away

Posted in Google | Also tagged google double listings, google indented listings, reviews, search engine optimization, serps | Comments closed

How To Screw Up Your Internet Business

By Andy Beard | Published: June 5, 2008

Jeff over at Coding Horror has just been taking a small pop at Yelp for requiring email account access to find friends

Email is the de-facto master password for a huge swath of your online identity. Tread carefully: * As a software developer, you should never ask a user for their email credentials. It's unethical. It's irresponsible. It is wrong. If someone is asking you to code this, why? For what purpose? * As a user, you should never provide your email credentials to anyone except your email service. Sites that ask you for this information are to be regarded with extreme suspicion if not outright distrust.

This is the same terrible system used by many large social networks, and 2 scripts I recently strongly advised internet marketers not to use.

Optin Accelerator - due to be relaunched soon
Then there was Viral Optin Generator
Coming soon is Viral Inviter which has some redeeming qualities, it works with old address books from Outlook etc, but it is still asking for highly personal passwords, and there are some other security faults.

Viral Inviter, with even heavier marketing and endorsements, will have a huge long-term negative effect on email marketing, with the rewards quickly being overtaken by a backlash of negative sentiment and poorer email delivery which will be universal. Plurk which has very recently become very popular also suffers from this evil invite and finding friends method, but at least has a redeeming feature.

Posted in marketing | Also tagged email, email marketing, email_delivery, optin accelerator, tell-a-friend, tellafriend, viral optin generator | Comments closed

Some People Don’t Want To Fish

By Andy Beard | Published: June 5, 2008

I think almost everyone knows this saying

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

How many people have old fishing rods in their shed or loft? I bet they even know how to use them, but for some reason a takeaway Chinese, microwave dinner, or eating out is a much more convenient way to eat. Sure, catching fish is satisfying, relaxing and fresh fish on a charcoal grill is extremely appetising. Then of course there is the fun of playing with fishing line...

Photo by John2008

Posted in SEO Blog, marketing | Also tagged jeff johnson, SEO Blog, underground training labs, wordpress | Comments closed

Sphinn Moderation An Insult To Gary Halbert

By Andy Beard | Published: April 7, 2008

Whilst this might be personally biased, it is my opinion that my Gary Halbert quote in my recent Players With Money Review is probably better content than 90% of what is submitted to Sphinn, and on its own might even have been front page material if posted on a blog that was actively promoting their content on Sphinn.

The whole article is better than 99% of Sphinn content

I wonder how many people on Sphinn have even heard of Gary Halbert?

It seems like the Sphinn moderators were having another hissy fit - they see an article written intended to promote a

Posted in web 2.0 | Also tagged affiliate marketing, gary halbert, online marketing, players with money, product launch formula, Social Media, sphinn, sphinn moderation | Comments closed

13 Year Old Wisdom

By Andy Beard | Published: March 12, 2008

My life has been pretty hectic for the last few weeks, the good news is that young Timothy is now "home" and final paperwork we have been informed will just be a formality, and will be completed much quicker than we hoped.

Now things are a little settled I have had some time to go back through correspondence I read whilst travelling, but didn't have time to take action on - the idea of "touch once" broke down for the last couple of months - the "to do" list grew.

I am glad I took the time to revisit previous correspondence

Posted in blogging tips, marketing | Also tagged blogging tips | Comments closed

Guru Internet Marketing Mentorship Programs Abusing Dofollow Blogs

By Andy Beard | Published: March 8, 2008

There seems to be a new trend with internet marketers running some kind of mentorship or bonus program.

It runs something like this (though I haven't signed up to one to get exact details)

You sign up to the mentorship program
One of the tasks is backlink building from Dofollow blogs
The new internet marketer runs around leaving comments on Dofollow blogs, but uses backlinks to the blog or salespage of the internet marketing guru
After dropping a certain number of backlinks, the new internet marketer qualifies for a bonus

The backlinks are sometimes the link reserved for the comment author, or sometimes product mentions

Posted in SEO Blog, blogging tips | Also tagged comment, comment spam, dofollow, no nofollow, nofollow | Comments closed

31 Niche Websites In March

By Andy Beard | Published: February 29, 2008

March is almost upon us, and for many it is a time for spring cleaning.

It is also traditionally when new life is brought into the world, so it is an ideal time to clean up some niche websites and turn some ideas into revenue streams and to experiment a little.

I am frequently asked by email all kinds of beginners questions

How to choose a niche?
How to go about keyword research?
How to promote niche websites?

I am going to steal some quotes from Franck

Taking about John Reese and Blogrush

1. Release crap (improve later, but start making money with your crap) 2. Test everything

Posted in niche website | Also tagged 31 niche websites, niche marketing, niche websites | Comments closed

Sphinn All Unsphunn

By Andy Beard | Published: January 25, 2008

I had intended my next post to be a small tribute to the great articles that have been selected as finalists for this year's Semmys, with links to all the finalists and a subtle link through to the SEO category where one of my articles was selected as a finalist.

But that would be gaming the system based upon whatever level of popularity I have achieved within the Online Marketing community and it seems that popularity of whatever kind isn't necessarily a good thing, because the masses or individuals start accusing you of gaming the system for your own

Posted in marketing, web 2.0 | Also tagged Social Media, social-bookmarks, sphinn | Comments closed

A Marketing Hodge-Podge Of Good Karma

By Andy Beard | Published: January 8, 2008

With my continuing internet connection frustration, I have had to prioritise work-flow, thus my posting schedule has been reduced, and regrettably I am a lot less responsive to comments and email.

Here are just a collection of things I have looked at which are worthy of your time.

Stompernet have yet another video (50 minutes) which contains some useful actionable items in the second half.

I got to meet Armand Morin whilst I was in London and I got to spend an hour or so with him and Kirt Cristensen whilst skipping a session at a seminar. Among other things, Armand currently

Posted in marketing | Also tagged ebook_publishing, home_study, social_media_marketing, stompernet | Comments closed

Are You A Sucker For Marketing Resource Lists?

By Andy Beard | Published: December 27, 2007

Tamar must have spent a huge amount of time compiling this enormous list of what she feels were the best Internet Marketing Blog Posts of 2007. I gained a few mentions on some key articles which was great.

From what I can see she concentrated on timeless content that is educational, so this isn't just a list of the most popular content on Sphinn, and many of the articles I didn't get to read during the last year.

As Tamar didn't feature videos in her list, I should also mention the high quality website optimization videos that the guys from

Posted in SEO Blog, marketing | Also tagged resource_list, video | Comments closed

Gooruze Preview

By Andy Beard | Published: October 16, 2007

I have only just found out about Gooruze, it seems only the cool kids get to beta test anything these days ;) Actually I do get to peep at exciting new stuff once in a while, but this one slipped past me.

Gooruze seems to be a misspelling of "Gurus"

Gooruze is a new social network for Online Marketers. You can post articles and news items, there are lots of discussion groups covering specific online marketing verticals.

Even the discussion groups seem to be based around a limited blogging interface.

When you publish articles, it seems as if you or anyone else have the

Posted in marketing, web 2.0 | Also tagged gooruze, online_marketing, social network | Comments closed

Iphone – Lost $200? Learn from Steve Jobs and Mike Filsaime

By Andy Beard | Published: September 6, 2007

How can you profit from spending $200 more for your Iphone than the new retail price and at the same time learn a valuable marketing lesson?

Thousands of people were willing to pay $600 to own a fancy new gadget

Many wrote about it on their blogs (for traffic or enhanced credibility)
Thousands were the envy of their friends (did you really keep it hidden?)
Lots no doubt benefited from some level of enhanced productivity or connectivity

You Have Now Been Scammed Out Of $200?

Lots of people are coming down very hard on Apple, posting about how you might be able to get a rebate

Posted in marketing | Also tagged iphone, iphone_unlocked, marketing, mike_filsaime | Comments closed

Business Growth Systems Review | Stop Working on Sundays

By Andy Beard | Published: March 11, 2007

Are you sick of regurgitated lists full of tips from people who have never made any real money online?

Rich Schefren

My respect for Rich Schefren started with one of the smallest details possible, actually one I had the cheek to criticise John Reese about not too long ago. In fact I would say 95% of Internet Marketing guru blogs overlook this one small factor.

Rich Schefren's blog uses SEO friendly permalinks

If you are on lots of internet marketing mailing lists, I am sure you have received a few emails about Rich Schefren over the last 6 months. You might have even

Posted in blog monetization, blogging tips, marketing, reviews, web 2.0 | Also tagged business_growth, Business_Growth_Systems, Business_Growth_Systems_Review, business_management, business_strategy, free_videos, internet_business, marketing, online_business, outsourcing, Rich Schefren, sales, strategic_planning, training_videos, videos | Comments closed

Conclusive Proof: Affiliate Marketers Can Recommend a Site Without a Referral Link

By Andy Beard | Published: February 18, 2007

I just read over on Sam Harrelson’s CostPerNews that Jim Kukral will be taking a little bit of a breather on Blogkits. He will still be running it, but no longer on the payroll of Forge Corporation.

Posted in marketing | Also tagged affiliate marketing, pixel_ads, pixel_advertising | Comments closed

UK & Euro Laws Apply to US Businesses?

By Andy Beard | Published: January 8, 2007

It is taken as fact that a UK online business has to comply with US FTC regulations if that UK company is doing business with the US.

Surely if you are a US company, doing business with the UK, you should have to comply with UK regulations.

Posted in Uncategorized, marketing | Also tagged disclosure, ftc, online_business, paypal, si3429 | Comments closed

Zoobie – Funny Cartoon on Internet Marketing

By Andy Beard | Published: December 8, 2006

I just found out about this on one of the forums I visit frequently.

Zoobie vs Adsense

Zoobie vs Ebay

I have no association with the guy who created it but it is done with so much class, I thought I had to mention it here, and also submit it to Digg. (though Digg is down as I write.