Why Your Affiliate Website Sucks! And What You Can Do About It

April 21st, 2010

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Affiliate Marketing SuccessCincinnati & Columbus, OH – Marketing online can be a frustrating experience for an affiliate or network marketer. You can work like mad making countless social networking connections, tweeting your tail off, and blogging till your fingers bleed. The problem is, if you’re using the website and page content your affiliate program provided you with, then you’re likely going to struggle.

Here’s a little secret your affiliate program provider probably didn’t tell you: Google, and other search engines, will usually only rank the pages of the first affiliate website it indexes—likely the original affiliate website run by the merchant itself. Google will regard all subsequent affiliate websites as containing duplicate content and therefore will leave them out of its search results or push them very far down in the results. I’ve even heard that all the subsequent affiliate websites may boost the rankings of the initial affiliate website, but I haven’t confirmed this claim.

Keep on Blogging, Tweeting, Posting…

When you blog, tweet, and post comments with active hyperlinks to your affiliate website, you are doing the right thing. Each link provides a doorway to your site, and if you’re really persuasive and productive, you can push and pull a lot of targeted, qualified people to your affiliate website.

So, I would suggest keep blogging. Blogs are a powerful way to develop a loyal following of many people and to get your message into Google, which loves frequently updated blog content, especially from WordPress blogs hosted with your own hosting provider. Also keep tweeting and posting comments, guest book entries, and so on.

On their own, however, these efforts have a limit on what they can accomplish. You can add only so many posts, comments, profiles, whatever, in a day, week, month, or year. Even if the number of things you can post in a year adds up to an astounding amount, it’s still finite.

There is at least one other thing you should do to scale up the traffic you can drive to your affiliate program…

…Update Your Affiliate Site’s Content

To give your affiliate site a major boost in its traffic flow potential, you should revise the written content on it. That way, Google will see it as containing unique content and will allow it to achieve high rankings in its search results. As well, if you do thorough keyword research and analysis, you’ll know the most effective keywords to use in the site before you rewrite it.

By enabling Google to rank your affiliate website, a few good things will happen:

  • Your site will possess the foundation to rank well in searches for your affiliate product
  • Your site will possess the foundation to rank well in searches for relevant terms, especially if you conduct good keyword research and analysis and implement the keywords strategically in the site
  • All of the backlinks you create to your affiliate site in your blog and elsewhere will enhance its search rankings (not all backlinks are created equal, though, but that’s a discussion for another day)

When you rewrite your web page content, aim for a difference of at least 35 percent from the original content. It is estimated that Google will regard any web page 30 percent or less different from another page as duplicate content, so it’s good to be conservative and aim for 35 percent. To check the similarity of your pages, use a tool such as this one, http://www.duplicatecontent.net/, and pay attention to the “text similarity” results.

Even More Affiliate Website Marketing Tips

In addition to making the site content unique, there are other things you can do to enhance its search engine rankings and lead to more conversions:

  • Write compelling content with a clear unique selling proposition (USP) and benefits
  • Host your blog and affiliate website under the same domain name
  • Implement other effective SEO strategies, including the right backlinking techniques
  • And more…

As well, if you really want to drive traffic to your affiliate website, add hundreds or thousands of related-but-unique web pages to the site. If you target each web page to a unique keyword phrase, then you’ll amp up the number of unique pages than can achieve top Google rankings and, hence, the number of people who will be exposed to your offer. We have a system for creating up to a million unique-content web pages in under a month. It’s called our TOP DOG Technology. For more information about it, please read our TOP DOG Technology White Pager.

Last but not least, consider the quality of your offer. If the product, service, or program you are selling inherently provides little value to anyone, or if the merchant fails to deliver on their end, then it won’t matter how much web traffic you drive to your website. Conversions simply won’t happen in the volume you need them to. So make sure that what you’re putting so much of your precious time and effort into selling is worth it. So many smart and industrious people languish because they simply choose the wrong opportunity at the start.

If you need further advice or assistance, please feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to help your affiliate marketing program deliver all you expected from it and give you the tremendous success you desire!


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

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Top Ranking in Google for 1000s of Keywords

April 5th, 2010

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Top Ranking in GoogleCincinnati & Columbus, OH – SEO has a new secret weapon. Now you can obtain top ranking in Google for 1000s of keywords and drive massive amounts of targeted traffic to your website in 90 days or less.

No way? Way.

We can now provide businesses in Ohio and elsewhere with an innovative search engine optimization (SEO) system that utterly transforms any languishing website into a potent traffic magnet nearly overnight. It’s called our TOP DOG Technology. TOP DOG stands for Thousands of Optimized Pages to Dominate Online in Google. It’s the real deal.

Cincinnati & Columbus, Ohio SEO Revolutionized

How do we generate such a traffic deluge through advanced SEO for Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio and nationwide clients? It’s a matter of generating useful, unique content that Google craves, as well as search engine optimizing those pages effectively. But writing the content for thousands of pages by hand could literally take years to complete. Fortunately, we know how to both automate this process and create useful, unique content of value to Google and human visitors alike.

It’s all here in our white paper:

http://www.topdogmarketinggroup.com/TopDogTechnologyWhitePaper.pdf.

Check it out. And when you’re ready to dominate your niche and drive massive amounts of targeted traffic to your website, give us a holler. We’ll transform your website into the Top Dog it’s longed to be.


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

Republishing Rights: You may republish this article in your website, e-newsletter, or e-book on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's byline and signature, and all links completely intact. For more information, see our Article Republishing Rights page.

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Truly Effective SEO Takes a Little Time and TLC

December 12th, 2009

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Cincinnati & Columbus, OH – A misconception we often hear from prospective clients about search engine optimization (SEO) has to do with its time frame. Some have gotten the idea that through SEO their website can be elevated in the search engine rankings virtually overnight. That is simply not true; at least, not for useful keywords. Truly effective SEO takes a little time and TLC.

Keywords that web users are actually searching for in any meaningful volume naturally become highly competitive keywords as many site owners optimize for them. Therefore, ranking highly in the search engines for those keywords becomes no quick and easy task, and it takes a concerted effort using many different strategies to effectively target those keywords. And it takes time.

It can take four to six months’ time or longer to achieve top rankings for competitive keywords. The activity required for best-practice, effective SEO is significant, too, and that’s why proper SEO is no bargain basement service. Good SEO simply can’t be. And that’s also why businesses with a healthy marketing budget—and a willingness to delay gratification—can dominate the search engine rankings for the most valuable keywords: they’re willing to invest the money and time to fund the type of comprehensive SEO campaign necessary for premium results. Also, once they’re ranking at the top, there’s no time to let up on the reins, because competitors are constantly gunning to knock them off their perch.

For the business owner without a strong budget for SEO, however, there is an option. They can aim for what’s called the “low hanging fruit.” These are keywords that are not especially competitive yet typically not searched for in an especially high volume. High rankings for these keywords are easier to achieve and can be had for a lower budget—and sometimes a shorter time frame—although the ROI likely won’t be as significant as what is offered by keywords of greater value. But sometimes limitations require the pursuit of low hanging fruit, and that’s okay. They’re an easy target until the budget can be increased.

For the business owner with a very healthy marketing budget and a desire for immediate results, there’s an option for them too. They can combine their SEO efforts with other online strategies, such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. With adequate funding, a PPC campaign can yield immediate results. For example, effective advertising in Google AdWords can place a business among the paid advertising links above or beside the natural search results at the top of the page. This strategy allows a business to be visible to web users immediately while their natural search rankings ramp up through consistent SEO efforts.

One must be very cautious, however, when employing a PPC or any other paid advertising campaign. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can burn through your budget quickly with little results. You should always use a knowledgeable and experienced campaign manager to handle your online advertising initiatives. Managed properly, a PPC campaign should target keywords that are not only in demand but also have a high rate of sales conversion—an inexperienced campaign manager may not properly make this distinction. As well, a well-run PPC campaign should be testing a number of different keywords to discover the ones that provide the highest ROI. This also benefits your SEO strategies because it identifies valuable keywords you can integrate into your SEO efforts. A mixed strategy of PPC and SEO, therefore, is an ideal one for most commercial websites.

So, now, depending on your budget and tolerance for gratification postponement, you have a few options for SEO and other online marketing initiatives. Just make sure you are realistic about the time frame and results, willing to sufficiently fund the required efforts, and employ a team that truly knows what it is doing. With the right combination of expectations, budget, and expertise, your online business venture should be a tremendous success.


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

Republishing Rights: You may republish this article in your website, e-newsletter, or e-book on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's byline and signature, and all links completely intact. For more information, see our Article Republishing Rights page.

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Research Shows Your Website Can Drive Offline Sales

August 7th, 2009

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Website SuccessCincinnati & Columbus, OH – Web design implemented effectively is a crucial factor not only in your online success. A website that is strategically implemented can also boost your offline sales.

Online market research and analysis firm eMarketer published a report concluding that consumers are increasingly conducting online research to augment their offline purchases. The results show that all retail businesses, whether in Columbus, Cincinnati, or elsewhere in Ohio or the world, need to take advantage of this rising trend.

“Any retailer who isn’t using the online channel to promote offline sales—as well as online sales—is missing a sizable opportunity,” says eMarketer.

eMarketer estimated that, in 2007, a total of $471 billion in offline store sales were influenced by consumers conducting online product research first. The research firm also predicted that this online-to-offline dynamic will translate into $1.124 trillion in 2012.

Armed with this information, you now have a prime opportunity to influence more sales through your website. Your e-commerce website should, first of all, be a funnel that skillfully persuades Web visitors into making a purchase online. However, for those consumers intent on only conducting product research, your website should also provide them with the right balance of information to both answer their questions and convince them of your product’s and store’s advantages over those of your competitors—in other words, your unique selling proposition (USP).

If you struggle with creating compelling product descriptions, however, do not fret. You can still leverage the expertise of a skilled online marketing firm—such as Top Dog Marketing Group—to help you craft descriptions that accomplish the online and offline results you seek.


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

Republishing Rights: You may republish this article in your website, e-newsletter, or e-book on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's byline and signature, and all links completely intact. For more information, see our Article Republishing Rights page.

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Should You SEO It Alone?

August 4th, 2009

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Cincinnati – SEO (or, search engine optimization) is a technical and time-consuming undertaking. As a small business owner, should you take the time to learn the art and science of SEO? Or are you better off hiring out this essential Web marketing task?

To help answer this question, let’s look at some numbers involved with SEO.

Since you own a small business, one of your primary goals is obviously to make money. Your time is extremely valuable and cannot be wasted away on ineffective tasks. Therefore, it’s imperative that you focus your precious time on the competencies that are most profitable for you, whether you do business nationally, internationally, or locally in Columbus or Cincinnati.

Is SEO, therefore, a profitable activity for you to take on yourself?

SEO—The Breakdown

Let’s assume that your time is worth $100 per hour. Here’s how the value of your time breaks down when spent on the SEO efforts of about a 10-page website:

• Time to teach yourself how to conduct bare-bones adequate search engine optimization—40+ hours.

I am estimating on the low side here. It took me, a guy who earned a perfect GPA in grad school (I’m not bragging, just making the point that I’m no dummy), many more excruciating hours than 40 to learn SEO sufficiently enough to do it right. And I’m still constantly learning, because the field of SEO is constantly evolving; as well, to be the best, one must maintain a competitive edge over other SEO specialists.

• Time to research and analyze keywords—3+ hours.

• Time to integrate keywords in HTML code—4+ hours.

• Time to integrate keywords in website copy—12+ hours.

This time could be even greater, because keyword phrases can be very awkward in syntax and therefore difficult to incorporate gracefully into the text. It takes a master wordsmith to do this task well.

• Time to obtain sufficient inbound links—4+ hours (per week).

This task is an ongoing one that requires much time and careful effort to do right. Today’s best practices advise building links through time-intensive manual efforts. Trying to take shortcuts, such as by employing automated link-building software, can actually cause the search engines to penalize and degrade your website.

• Time to keep website content fresh—4+ hours (per week).

The world’s #1 search engine, Google, loves new and frequently changing content. So, you’ve got to keep your website consistently updated. But you can’t just slap on any website copy: it has be both appropriately keyword rich and compellingly valuable to your visitors.

• Time to conduct all other various SEO tasks—8+ hours.

SEO—Final Analysis for Your Business

Okay, so in total all of the time required to conduct effective initial search engine optimization is at least 75 hours. Furthermore, add at least 10 hours per week of ongoing work—really powerful SEO work can easily be a 40-hour-per-week endeavor—to keep your website at the top of its SEO game.

So, 75 hours multiplied by $100 per hour (the value of your time) equals $7,500. Is this not-so-insignificant sum of money worth your time to spend learning and executing SEO on your own?

Before your answer, also consider the fact that the 75 hours plus 10+ hours ($1,000+) per week you spend conducting search engine optimization is also taking you away from the things you do best to make money in your business. Moreover, if you do a lousy job on your SEO work and end up essentially no better off than when you started, it’s like taking you away from your business and core competencies for 150 hours (75 hours on SEO plus 75 hours of lost time that you could have spent on more lucrative activities), or $15,000. Is that risk and expense—including the $1,000 per week, or $4,300 per month, in ongoing work—worth it?

For significantly much less than the $7,500 (or $15,000) initial cost of your time plus $52,000 annually (or $104,000) in ongoing cost of your time, you could instead hire an expert search engine optimization firm—like Top Dog Marketing Group—to do your SEO dirty work. That firm would do a far better job than your novice efforts could likely produce, thereby saving you many thousands of dollars and much frustration if you inevitably yield miserable results on you own.

With time and patience, the SEO firm will move your website up in the search engine rankings—effective SEO is no overnight gimmick—and manifest a flow of quality leads to your business. If you have a solid sales department in place, many of these leads will then convert into customers.


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

Republishing Rights: You may republish this article in your website, e-newsletter, or e-book on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's byline and signature, and all links completely intact. For more information, see our Article Republishing Rights page.

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OMG! Who’s Doing Your Web Design?

August 2nd, 2009

By David Lee Cummings, Top Dog Marketing Group

Columbus, Ohio – Web design is a specialized endeavor. Wait—let me rephrase that: quality web design is a specialized endeavor.

These days, just about anyone can throw together a website. But, consistent with the way things have always been, only a highly trained professional can create a website that does justice to a serious business.

I can’t tell you how many times lately I have heard a small business owner say they’ve had or are having their nephew, friend, spouse, or other self-taught acquaintance design a website for them. Every time I hear this, I mentally slap my forehead.

Over 80% of your potential customers will visit your website at least one time before they decide to do business with you. Moreover, studies have shown that the majority of customers will make their decision to do business with you within 10 seconds of viewing your website.

If you are truly serious about your business, leaving the design of your website to anyone other than a professional is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

The most common result I have seen from a friend or family member designing a website is one that looks amateurish, functions poorly, and does not contain the features the site needs to be effective. Quality Web design is hard enough for a professional; impossible for a novice.

Cincinnati & Columbus Web Design Done Right

Your website is a digital representation of your business. It reflects your professionalism and capabilities. Therefore, don’t risk letting a sloppy website be your online ambassador.

Ask yourself, is it okay for my company to look amateur and inept? Or is it more advantageous for us to look like all-stars?

If you want your business located in Columbus, Cincinnati, or elsewhere to be appropriately represented online, you really should hire a professional for the job. But do consider that not all professionals provide the same level of results.

I have seen numerous businesses get gouged for Web design or search engine optimization services—and yet receive sloppy or underperforming results. This type of business practice really irks me, and I will write more on this topic soon.

For now, know that if you plan to design or redesign your business website, please be wary about putting the project in the hands of a friend or relative who says they can do the job. Chances are, they will waste a great deal of your time and enough of your money and leave you severely frustrated.

Additionally, you will offend your friend or relative when you soon turn the website over to a professional to redesign. Or, if you are too loyal or too uncomfortable to turn the site over, you will then have to suffer with a website that makes your business look awful.

Keep in mind the idiom “penny wise, pound foolish.” It applies most aptly when it comes to whom you hire to design your website.


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About the Author
David Lee Cummings is Director of Creative Services at Top Dog Marketing Group, a Cincinnati and Columbus, OH web design and Internet marketing firm. David is a designer and Internet marketing expert who has written and edited marketing copy for some of the biggest technology companies in the world. As well, he has propelled many clients to top search engine rankings through search engine optimization.

Republishing Rights: You may republish this article in your website, e-newsletter, or e-book on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's byline and signature, and all links completely intact. For more information, see our Article Republishing Rights page.

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