Affiliate Sales Programs

After the last info-product I purchased (Google Snatch), which turned out to be a dud, I was bit skeptical about this. Anything that appeals to lazy people just has to be a bit sus, right? But I received the recommendation on Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate from Allan Gardyne, a guy with an impeccable reputation in affiliate marketing. Allan doesn’t recommend garbage.

First impression on the sales page was positive. For once, it wasn’t a whole lot of hype. Instead, there are actual techniques discussed. I like this guy. Instead of a whole lot of waffly “this will make you rich” garbage it gets straight to the facts. You know that even before you buy it there’ll be no fluff and hyperbole, and this turned out to be true. You can actually get useful information from the sales page, and that’s very rare.

So, what’s it about?

The author, Chris Rempel, gives you detailed instructions on how to build mini-sites which attract BUYERS, not just visitors. His techniques focus on finding people who are on the “verge” of buying and then simply putting your offer in front of them. It’s really quite simple but deadly effective.

Chris’s advice is quite different to what you usually find in these types of books. For example, he advises against “following your passion”. That’s often-given advice, and I’ve given it myself. Chris tells you why it’s a bad idea. He also says that AdSense sites are for “dummies”. That might upset some people but I think he’s basically correct. And yes, I’ve been a dummy in the past.

Chris discusses various traffic generation methods such as using freeware programs to generate tons of downloads daily, and using that traffic to generate affiliate commissions. Unlike that last info-book I mentioned, there’s some unique and under-used but effective techniques discussed, not re-hashed stuff that’s been around for years, which you can find in any SEO forum. He also discusses ways to increase your affiliate earnings by actually creating your own products.

All up, I give Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate top marks. I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners (there’s a link to a good free guide in the book) but if you’re looking for some new ideas and concepts, and an actual blueprint for putting them into action, then this book delivers.

Oh, did I mention the price? It’s currently $29.95, unless Chris has decided to put the price up. That’s a lot less than is usual for this type of product. It’s about one third the price of that last e-book. It’s not as long, but that’s because it’s not filled with pages and pages of article directories or other useless crap. A genuine bargain.

Technorati Tags: Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate, Affiliate Marketing

It’s been a while since I published an XsitePro review, but with Version 2 just around the corner I thought it was time for a re-evaluation to see if it still stacks up against Dreamweaver. Version 2 promises to add a lot of new features and perhaps correct a few shortcomings.

What is XSitePro?

XSitePro is web design software with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface. This simply means you create a website visually rather than work with HTML. You do have the option to switch to a source (code) view when designing your pages but generally this is not necessary. Typically, you would switch to code view for some minor tweaking. Given that the program is aimed at beginning web designers, small business owners and affiliate marketers, I would suggest that very few users would bother messing around with code.

XsitePro’s strengths lie in its ease of use for non-technical users and speed at which you can create an effective, well designed and search engine friendly website. It is literally quite possible to buy this program in the morning and have your site online that day. A number of templates are supplied to match certain types of websites such as a sales page, shopping cart, sports club, affiliate site etc. Here’s an example of a site I put together for my daughter’s soccer club.

Of course Affiliate-Sales-Programs.com is all about affiliate marketing so how does XsitePro stack up in this regard? Quite well, in fact. Most affiliate marketers do not want to bother with the ins and outs of site building. They want to be able to create a website, have it online quickly, and then move on to the next site. Dreamweaver has a very steep learning curve and I would defy anyone whose never used it to build a site in one day.

Dreamweaver is a far more powerful design tool. It integrates with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which allows a lot of flexibility in design, and uses various other web technologies. It is the choice of professionals. But, are you a web design professional? For its targeted users I believe XSitePro is a better choice. It doesn’t have all the capabilities of Dreamweaver, but it is less demanding, easier to learn, cheaper, and most importantly, has SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools built in. Dreamwever pays no dues to SEO whatsoever.

Some other features of XSitePro are:

• analysis of your pages for optimum search engine results
• automatic sitemap creator
• privacy policy creator
• pop-up pages
• links pages
• article pages
• breadcrumb trail creator
• automatic Google Site Map creator
• page redirection
• import pages
• export pages from XSitePro into Dreamweaver or other website design applications
• insert Google AdSense
• insert affiliate program links
• script wizard to insert Date, Print Page, Add to Favourites, Scrolling Status bar etc

Which program do I use? Both. As a web consultant I’ve done some website design work for clients. In some cases Dreamweaver was appropriate but in others XSitePro was a real time saver. And time is money. 

I recently had a client who was using both Site Build It and XSitePro to manage two separate sites. One was a sales site (XSitePro) and the other a content site (Site Build It). Being extremely busy running his business, as most small business owners are, he asked me to make few changes to the XSitePro site.

To accomplish this all he had to do was export his complete site to a special file, email to me, and then I import the file, make the changes and email it back to him. Simple. This import/export ability is one of the best features of XSitePro.

So, is XSitePro a poor substitute for Dreamweaver? I don’t believe so. They are aimed at two totally different users. Unless you’re a professional web designer, or are prepared to invest a lot of time learning, XSitePro will be a good choice. It certainly beats just about every other WYSIWYG website builder I’ve come across. I’m looking forward to Version 2.

UPDATE: XSitePro V2 has been released. Review details here.

Technorati Tags: XSitePro Review, Website Builders, Web design software

Since I posted my previous comments on Google Snatch I’ve been reading some of the reviews going around the Web. Most (not all) are positive, but then they are usually written by an affiliate. So, am I being too harsh on Google Snatch when I say it is overpriced, poorly-written waffle?

As I mentioned before I contacted the affiliate who had promoted it to me, and as the author of Affiliate Rockstar Status, which I DO recommend, he is a very successful affiliate marketer himself. His view was that “people like you” forget that you were a newbie once, and that Google Snatch was “solid” advice for beginners. Furthermore, GN was a lead-in to a higher priced item (probably a membership site, he didn’t say). Hmmm, don’t think I’ll be buying into that one.

Is it good advice for beginners? Partly. The advice on keyword research and site structure is solid, albeit poorly presented, but newbies can get this information for free from just about any SEO forum. Heck, you can even get it from my own free SEO guide. When I fork out $97 for something that is NOT promoted as a newbie’s guide to SEO, I expect something a bit different. Some new ideas and concepts. Just have a look at the sales page. Does that sound like a beginner’s guide to SEO to you? BTW, the book is as long-winded and waffly as the sales page – lots of words, little content.

Note this from the sales page:

“And not to forget the world’s most ‘hocus pocus’ technique … SEO! Do you know what SEO means?

Search engine optimization (SEO) just means your website being accessible to the search engines to improve the chances that they will serve your website when your potential customers type in a specific search term.”

Does that sound to you like this book is NOT about SEO? So, writing an article with a link to your site and submitting it to hundreds of directories, after having re-written it each time, is not about SEO? Or doing keyword research? Or optimising your titles? Or writing to webmasters for link exchanges? These are the “cutting edge” techniques referred to in the sales letter. Give me a break.

Yes, these techniques do “work”. Good advice for beginners? I think not. If you want to spend hours every day rewriting someone else’s article and then rewiting it again, over and over, as you submit it to hundreds of article directories, then go ahead. Those inbound links, which apparently have nothing to do with SEO, will push your sites higher in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

Personally, I’d fall asleep after the third re-write. There are far more interesting and involving ways to promote your sites and achieve the same results. Check out Jack Humphries’ Authority Black Book for some great Web 2.0 techniques, totally free. I guarantee you won’t fall asleep reading the guide OR putting the techniques into practice. Instead of spending hours re-writing some fluff article, spend hours interacting, learning and sharing, while building links and direct traffic at the same time.

My opinion on Google Snatch hasn’t changed. Save your money.

Technorati Tags: Google Snatch Review