There is a famous mural painting from Diego Rivera called “Man at the Crossroads” which depicts a man at the controls of his life presented with several paths to take and he’s unsure which road to take. By they way,  check out the story of that mural and the Rivera-Rockefeller controversy it’s fascinating.

To renew, or not to renew... that is the question.

I recently received a “Renewal Notice” from GoDaddy for several of my domains that are up for renewal in the next two months. It’s a hodge-podge of Internet marketing life. Some domains are niche sites that are passively generating income, some are developed but there not doing much at all income-wise, and others are un-developed. Ideas that prompted me to register the domain but I never followed-through. I thought that was a pretty good snapshot of Internet marketing. You win some, you lose some, and sometimes we don’t even take a shot.

It’s silly but looking at that email from GoDaddy got my mind racing. Should I renew these domains? Should I renew only the ones that making me money? Should I get around to develop those domains that remain in “parked” hell? Should I breath some new life on those that are making me money to see if I can increase earnings? Do I want to? Should I let them all expire?

I think it’s helpful to take stock of your business and see where you’re going. Do I want to have hundreds, thousands of micro-sites that rely so heavily on outside sources for success? (Google, Amazon, eBay Partner Network, the California state legislature passing dumb tax laws that hammer California affiliates, etc).

In 2009, that was the path I was on but now I stand here at the crossroads trying to figure out which path to take… which is why, I was just took down my Niche Stores Unleashed course. If I’m at this crossroad, I can’t really sell others on it. I try to walk the walk when I create info products or promote other products. For now NSU is closed.

The popularity of Twitter has given a boost to 3rd party URL shortening services like Bitly, Cligs, Tiny URL, Trim, and many more. Using these services for your tweets is fine…I use Cligs and Twitter themselves shorten URL’s with Bitly but I’m seeing these services being used to shorten/cloak/hide affiliates links in reports, blogs, emails, and other spots and that is putting your commissions at risk.

Exhibit A: Cligs is shutting down.

The forwarding data will be retained so that forwarding can continue for at least till the end of November; after that, there are no guarantees as to how long the service will continue to forward the short URLs to their destinations.

I’ve chatted on Skype with the founder and former owner of Cligs and he’s a good guy, I’m sure this was a tough decision but a decision that affected many people. But as the old saying goes: you get what you pay for. Cligs and the other third party URL shortening services are free so they owe us nothing for using their free service.

Now in the case of Cligs there is a happy ending because he was able to sell it to Mister Wong which is a well known web 2.0 type company so looks like Cligs will live on but what if it hadn’t? Or if Mister Wong decides to shut it down in the future?

Your affiliate links will go down right along with these 3rd party service providers.

So I’d really like to urge to only use these type of services on Twitter or to shorten an inconsequential URL and not your affiliate links. It is very important that you retain as much control as you can with your affiliate links–your hard-earned commissions are at stake.

Personally I suggest you use simple PHP redirects and do those manually or use software. I use a great desktop software called Cloak and Tracker (works on Mac and PC).

Of course stuff can happen with software as well but I’m in much more control of my affiliate links vs. using a 3rd party service like cligs.

I’ve also written a comprehensive guide to affiliate link cloaking. I cover all the possible ways you get can cloak your affiliate links and I discuss the pros and cons of each. I also throw in four videos that will show you the best way to cloak/shorten your affiliate links with the loss possible risk to your commissions.

Click to Download The Link Cloaking Guide

It’s an affiliate marketers nirvana! There is a great new PLR site I wanted to share with you. I don’t know why I do this, I should keep these little gems all hidden for myself.

This site provides PLR with a twist. You get actual product reviews that are PLR!

Watch this video for the details and a look inside, then click here to check out Product Review PLR.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here now to go check out Product Reviews PLR

You might be wondering if you should do product reviews of Internet marketing products on your website or blog.  In most cases, the answer is a resounding yes…but with a small caveat.

The Caveat

If you have visited the current review sites out there you probably realized that most of those reviews are fake. Meaning that the person writing the review has not really reviewed the product. The sole purpose of that review is to sell you the product so the writer can collect a commission. In my book that is not a review but a sales pitch thinly disguised as a product review.

Those people are devaluing the product review format. I don’t know about you but when I’m searching on Google for a product review I know that all the “click here to find out if product review is a scam” AdWords ads are worthless. They won’t have a real product review so why bother checking it out. Sadly even most of the so-called product reviews that rank well on the firs page of Google are fake.

There is no doubt that if you are an affiliate marketer, product reviews are an excellent way to offer more information about a product than what a sales page delivers.  This is a great opportunity to set yourself apart and really deliver the goods because you will have more knowledge about the product because you have purchased it, love it, and are now selling it, or you have been asked to review it by the product creator.  Either instance puts you in the position of product expert, so take this job seriously.

I suggest you start by reviewing the products you already own. If like me, you’ve been in Internet marketing for longer than a minute you’ve already purchased an e-book or 10. Plus you probably have already purchased some sort of Internet marketing related software. I’m sure all those products you already own have an affiliate program. If can’t find the affiliate program email the author and ask them about it. This will allow you to have REAL product reviews on your site.

If there is a product you want to review out there check the merchants terms. Many do not mind if you buy via your own affiliate link if you’re planning to provide a review so you can promote their product. However if you found the product because another affiliate sent you to it than you can not buy it via your own affiliate link since you’re basically stealing the other affiliates commission by buying via your own affiliate link. Don’t buy via your own link to get a discount do so only if you plan to review the product for a review.

You can also ask the merchant for a review copy. If you’re just starting it is very unlikely that they will acquiesce to your request. But once you get established and your review site becomes popular you will not only find merchants will send you a review copy after you ask them but many will contact you offering you a review copy.

Setting Up a Review Page

A review page can be done in different ways; you can follow a set format or just wing it with some pros and cons.  The main thing to remember is that you are not selling the product here.  What you are doing is warming them up and then sending them on to the sales page through your affiliate link. This is also called a pre-sell.

A great product review page should tell more about the product, give some insider scoop, be your honest opinions, talk about the benefits to the review reader, mention a negative, explain precisely how you have benefited, and allow your enthusiasm to shine through.  You are not only educating the reader, you’re making them want to click through to the product’s sales page.

I think the most captivating thing you can do in a product review is offer personal proof.  For example, if I bought product xyz and found it to be:

easy to install and use (and I’m not techy at all),
cut my research time in half,
allowed me to write double the number of articles,
which then got me double the traffic and double the sales…

I’ve got personal proof as well as a list of benefits.  Do you think my enthusiasm for the product will shine through?  You bet.

People want to know about a product because they want to know if it will save them time, make them money, allow them to make money while they are sleeping, is easy to use, and is a good value.  If there is something wrong with it, you need to be honest and tell them.  It might not be for beginners, or it might be grey hat, or maybe it’s for beginners and not experienced marketers.  There should at least be some small negative or two that you can share, because you want them to continue to trust you and your reviews.  No one product is good for every person.

Product reviews are tailor made for blogs.  You might have a product review blog that is nothing but product reviews, or you might have an Internet marketing blog where product reviews can be one of the things you share with your readers.  Make yours honest and believable and tell your own story.  If you do, you should have readers clicking through your affiliate link and one step closer to purchasing.

If you want to see an example of my Internet marketing product review page you can click here:

http://www.imnirvana.com/alanreviews/

As you can see, WordPress is perfect for this. I use a wonderful review blog style theme and plugin that makes setting up the reviews a snap. The reviews come with “star ratings” and readers can even add their own reviews which makes my reviews even more powerful since social proof is huge. Readers don’t only get my reviews but also reviews of others. This is one of the reasons why Amazon is so popular. You get to see the reviews and ratings of other customers. You can check the review WordPress theme and plugin I use here.

If you’re new to affiliate marketing Rosalind Gardner’s ebook, The Super Affiliate Handbook, is a fantastic guide. She made millions as a super affiliate by setting up a review style site in the dating niche. Click here to learn more about The Super Affiliate Handbook.

If you’re looking for real affiliate marketing training there is no better program out there than Jimmy D. Brown’s Affiliatenaire. When it launched it quickly sold out but now he’s opened up again for new members!

I just registered for Jeremy Palmer’s Black Ink Project 2.0. It appears to be a phenomenal 15-day course on affiliate marketing from one of the best affiliate marketers out there, Jeremy Palmer.

Plus I’ll get Jeremy Palmer’s new PPC management/affiliate link cloaking program, Optimize My Site. All for free!

In this video I describe the Black Ink Project 2.0 course and how to get it for free. It’s only open to 415 registrants.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One important item to note is that in order to get to register to Black Ink Project 2.0 and get Optimize My Site program for free, you will need to sign up for a free 14-day trial to WebEx. You will need to cancel it so you don’t get charged. Here is the video on that process.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just got a follow up email from Chis of Google Nemesis that 3,600 people have signed on. At $67 per month that’s $241,200! Not bad for a days work. Although I’m sure more than half at that goes to his JV’s who have been bombarding us with promotions, still not a bad take.

Who knows how many will stay on for 12 months but at this pace he’s looking at 241K per month so just shy of $3 million dollars per year ($2.8 million and change).

It’s incredible the power of making money online “easily” has on people. I did not and will not be buying Google Nemesis. Might be a great software but anything that cranks out similar looking sites causes my red flag to go up. You’ll now have at least 3,600 people creating the same looking review sites and paying $67 per month to do it.

That is a reason I chose phpBay over BANS for my eBay niche sites. All those BANS sites using the same out of the box templates leaves a huge easy footprint for Google and the other search engines to slap.

If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to setting up affiliate sites that sell, I suggest buying from another Chris. Chris Rempel’s great guide: Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate. At a one off charge of $29.95 you’ll get a great blueprint for setting up affiliate sites that will make you money.

You do have to do the work yourself. There is a fancy button to press that will create your super charged affiliate site for you but in my opinion-that’s a good thing.

I’ve said this before…PPC (pay-per-click) and AdWords scares me! I’ve bought Perry Marshall’s fantastic AdWords Guide but I’ve only dabbled in PPC.. Even the phrase PAY PER CLICK is scary. You are paying for each and every one of those clicks. I’ve known folks who have lost hundreds of dollars within hours. And I’ve heard of others spending $1,000 and getting only $200 sales.

I’ve known for a long time that the big hitter super affiliates use PPC. Rumors of super affiliates spending 500K to generate those million dollar affiliate salaries. Which is fantastic…I would love to spend 500K to make 500K but I don’t have 500K to spend.

I’m sure you’re on a lot of IM lists (just like me) and Google Nemesis is about to hit today. And no I’m not promoting it (not sure if I could anyway…I don’t have the keys to the guru executive club). But Chris (affiliate marketing legend…you know Mr. X, Day Job Killer, Google Assassin, and now Google Nemesis). He released a video promoting Google Nemesis. First , let me say, I’m not getting Google Nemesis. Looks fine (helps you put up quick landing pages, etc.) but at $47 per month…I’ll pass. Anyway…his video showed one of his successfully run PPC campaigns. Proof again that all the big hitters are using PPC.

So I figure I need to get over my apprehension over PPC. So I decided to buy a software that looks phenomenal. I just bought it so I can’t say if it’s any good yet but it’s called Xtreme Conversions. It’s pricey at around $100 and I was being good about buying expensive software but Xtreme Conversions really looks like it can make a bid difference in my PPC endeavours.

The few times I’ve tried PPC I was using a slew of spreadsheets to try and track things like which keywords were converting. Xtreme Conversion manages that for you. It’s been called the “secret weapon” off super affiliates.  And think of this. In this world of IM hyper promotions…how many times have you received an email about Xtreme Conversions? If your like me…not many at all. I can’t even think of one and I’m on most IM big hitters list.

I’ve done my due diligence and this software has a rabid following. I hate to go conspiracy theory on you all but maybe that’s why our mailbox isn’t being bombarded every day with promotions for Xtreme Conversions.

Like I wrote, I just bought Xtreme Conversions for my PPC plans yesterday so I the jury is still out on it for me. Rest assures I’ll be blogging about it. I have a 30 day money back guarantee to try it out so if I don’t see results you’ll know right here.

I’ve been blogging about how I outsourced the directory submission process to someone from Digital Point forums.  He was charging $90 for five sites to 1,300 directories.  All done manually.

He did a great job and I was impressed with the results but as I publish more and more eBay niche stores his fees start to add up.

I’ve found Brad Callen (Elite series products like Keyword Elite) and his directory submitting software, Directory Submitter.  He has a free version (300 directories) so I’m going to give a try.

His gold edition costs $76 but has over 2,000 directories listed and it allows you to add more directories manually.  I like the ideal of paying $76 once for all my sites vs. paying $18-27 per site.

I’ll try the free version of Directory Submitter tomorrow and if I like it, I’ll upgrade to the gold edition.  So, stay tuned for updates.

Content is king.  It is so true.  Although I’m building some rather thin-ish eBay niche stores the bottom line is for long-term success they needed to be fattended up with quality content.

This article about the future of thin sites by Mark Hansen is an eye-opener.  He has some pretty popular BANS sites like ShopFamilyGuy.com.