$12 Market Research That Works

Have you ever wished there was a cheap form of market research that would let you try new things? For example, would you like to test different templates on 2000 – 5000 website visitors? Try different affiliate programs on 10 000 visitors? In a relatively short time?

Well, there is a way to do this. I buy traffic. I can buy 10 000 untargeted hits for $12 or targeted for $19. I can try different layouts, different ads, different colors, even different article topics.

I take a look at my stats to compare:

-Click through rates
-Repeat visitors
-Number of page views
-Number of people who left the site
-And, how many people are really interested in a specific topic

Of course, there are intangibles. For example, the time of year, the quality of visitor, etc. However, this form of internet marketing is perfect for bloggers. As ‘hit and miss’ as it is, it gives great information in a relatively short time, as well as increase a blog’s page rank.

It also lets bloggers figure out which blog topics are hot, and which are not. They can test the success of certain topics. This is vital. I post to my blogs once every 4 or 5 days. When I find a ‘hot topic’ I will leave the blog with that topic as the top post. This way, the site always has a large quantity of hot topic posts- as well as a ‘hook’ for new readers.

I’ve even used this method of marketing to test affiliate programs, by sending the traffic to a specific article. I’ve used this method to test books, courses, and affiliate programs. I haven’t used it yet to test embedded Google ads, but that is on my to-do list.

Should You Try to Control Google’s Adsense Ads?

There is a lot of controversy over whether a blogger should put meta code in their blog templates, and use H1, H2, H3, heading tags to control the ads Google puts on their blog.

I am on the pro side. I find that the meta tags and heading codes gives me the freedom to go a little ‘off topic’ without worrying about having random, low paying, and off topic ads appear in my Google Adsense towers.

That said, many bloggers think they are missing Google’s highest paid opportunities by trying to control the system. They argue that the click through rate may be lower, and that google’s sliding scale will slide farther down in Google’s favor. All – reasonable and realistic possibilities.

The answer to the question is personal, but should also depend on whether you expect to earn most of your revenue from Google. Most bloggers do not.

In fact, most bloggers are lucky to receive one or two checks a year. Not Google’s fault. They tell you how bloggers how to succeed. There are a lot of blogs like this one that teach bloggers how to succeed. The problem is that most bloggers do not get it.

I’ve talked to many new bloggers who think that posting 10 articles a month is horrible, let alone 50 or 100. Yet, they want the same income as bloggers who do post this number of blogs. The facts are clear. Bloggers cannot work on their blog ‘in their spare time’ and expect to earn a full time income.

But, if the blogger does put the work into their blog, I think they should stick with the ads that have proven to pay in the past, the ones which their readers click through most often…and to do that, you need to control Google using legal SEO tricks.

Problems With Using Comments to Increase PageRank

There is a new theory that you can comment in a blog and get a link back on a blog with a high PR. I haven't proven this true, or not, but I do see a few flaws in the theory.

Flaw 1: Track Back

The only place to put your link is under your name when signing in. This is a track back. I've commented on quite a few blogs but when I do a link search, links: http://www.writer-writer.com/ I do not see a single link back.

Flaw 2: Google Ranks Pages Not Sites

Google gives web pages a rank - that rank does not filter through the entire site. That means that a website can have a PR6 on the home page, and PR0 - PR2 on the rest of the site.

When you comment on a blog, not only doesn't it come up when Google searches for back links. The comment is not 'on' the PR6 page, so it doesn't receive any benefit of the PR6 page. It receives the PageRank value of the page (URL) that it is on.

Flaw 3: No-Follow

Many of the higher PR rank blogs know that people are only commenting to increase their PR. To protect their own SEO efforts, they have no-follow links for the track backs in the comments.

Flaw 4: Track Back URLs

If you've ever used trackbacks, you'll notice that the trackback URL is different from the main URL. Even if the webpage has a PR6, the comment's PR value will come from the trackback url - most likely PR0

Shopping Online

I'm still shopping at Franke sinks. It amazes me the variety of items that can be incorportated into a home to make it unique and enhance its beauty.

Spending a few thousand dollars on a sink is a little outside our budget, but there are quite a few kitchen accessories that we can add to our home to enhance its beauty without going the 'full mile.' I'd love a delux $30 000 kitchen. I know a lot of people who have them, but we still have a family. We can't turn our kitchen into a show piece - yet.

There are a few practical things we are going to add that we didn't even know exsisted. One is a sink strainer with a hose attached. You just press a button and it flushes all the gunk down the sink - no more lifting it out or trying to mash it down.

Will You Leave Digg if They Sell?

A TechCrunch report stated that four companies are competing to bid on Digg–Microsoft, Google, and two unidentified “media companies” are reporting that that the sale of digg is looming on the horizon. It’ll be less than the $300 million that Digg was once rumored to sell for.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington said that Google's bid between $200 million to $225 million and that Microsoft, which also looking at Yahoo, is bidding slightly lower.


Digg’s Jay Adelson,states: “Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this...”

But, “rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate.

“Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren’t true.”

I do not know why he is apologizing. I am glad that Digg is not for sale. But it is hard to ignore the media.

Even ZDnet got into the gossip reporting:

Allen Stern, CenterNetworks, predicts that if Microsoft or Google were to acquire Digg, “the mass exodus will begin swiftly.” The comments (above), if taken at face value, would seem to back this up. The point is, whoever becomes Digg’s new custodian will have to spend a lot of energy managing the transition in terms of the community’s expectations and fears or risk devaluing Digg dramatically before the ink has dried on any such deal.

Who is the Worst Deal for Digg Users?

If Google buys Digg then we can say goodbye. We all know that Google is on a 'Hun' type rampage to wipe out Social Networking and retain its monopoly of the Internet Marketing $$$. I wouldn't be surprised if Digg turned into nothing more than another AdWord website - which of course would help them ban/bench any websites that didn't play in the sandbox 'their way.'

If Time purchased Digg, then I think it would become less social and more news related. The Times owns about.com and you all saw what happened there. NO one wants to go there for 'long term.' The site talks down to the readers, the information is all 'evergreen' because they are more interested in 'degrees' and education than actual passion for the topics.

Yahoo could be interesting. Yahoo has always favored Social Networking, letting the end user control the ebb and flow of the net. I honestly think they would do the least damage. AT the most, I see them opening up the categories - at the moment you can almost create a list of Digg's main advertisers and promoters based on the categories.

Microsoft is right up there with Google. They are more interested with using sites like this to collect marketing data and promoting their product than they are seeing that the average web user can 'have their say.'

Is Digg Ready to Sell?

However, I am one to lean toward believing the Digg owners. They've only had one year to work on the site. I can't imagine that they've reached all their short term goals yet. I think their site will continue to grow as a 'user' promotion tool - not a product promotion - or web content control medium.

I really don't think they will sell. All of the gossip stems from one - very short - report. I think it was a good idea for Digg to Go with Microsoft and not Google for advertising. A lot of large websites I know are leaving Google because their sliding scale is in desperate need of oiling - if it moves at all. Forget page rank and traffic, most blog owners just want to see page counts.


The two companies signed a 3-year agreement, which puts display and contextual ads before more than 17 million visitors a month.

Last summer Digg announced that it would follow the WEB3.0 trend and become more user friendly. Does this mean a few more categories - maybe ones not related to advertising? I personally hope so. I don't actually want to see them become another blogsvine, but open it up a bit, or create a second level.

Will You Leave

A lot of people are saying they will leave. I am not sure if I will. For one, It is still a great site 'as is'. The site still indexes pages - a big bonus. And, in the end, the site does put articles before users.

I will watch for a few things. Will google limit the people who see my 'dugg' articles and turn the site into a big 'pre selling' tool? This is usually their plan of attack after buying something.

Another thing I will watch is the number of hits a month. If a search engine buys the site, and start using it to control web traffic in favor of their advertising (more than happens now) then I will not invest my time in the site.

What is your opinion?

Search Engines Can Help Increase Page Rank

Google Loves Google

We all know this. We all have read SEO reports that working with google products give bloggers and webmasters a benefit over the rest of the world. This is true. Using Blogger or Googlepage gives your blog extra SERP value. (search engine results page)


You don't need to have your main blog on blogger, and your main website doesn't need to be on googlepage, but having a 'landing page' there that leads readers to your website will earn a higher SERP. Then, you link to that blog/page from your home page, increasing your links and increasing your PR.


You've seen it, and you just don't have time for that type of social networking. You've outgrown that type of 'time waster.' Well, I just want to let you know that if you answer questions on Yahoo answer then the back links do count toward your Page Rank.

Yahoo Answers


I've posted answers, but until now I've never posted comments. In a few weeks I will check to see if the answers were 'counted.' If so, I will come back to this post and tell you.


Participating in Wikipedia is another way to build inbound links to your website. Most writers think they are not allowed to post on Wiki. Yes, if you are going to post with no thought for anything but building a link, then yes - stay off wiki.


But, if there is a topic that you know a lot about, and you can 'add something' to the information on wiki, then you are free to add your URL in the links at the bottom.



AMAZON BLOG


Do you have a blog at amazon? Why not? If you are looking for a site with a lot of traffic, then this is the place to find it. Your amazon blog doesn't need to sell book. However, it does need to meet the amazon 'reader's expectations or they won't read it.


I usually post topics, and then suggest books, and include a link to my blog.



Other Places


There are other places where you can trade links for good content. If you have anything to add, feel free to post it in this content.


I've spoke about blogged.com, blogcatalogue, blogowogo, digg, blogsvine, forums, in another post that focused on Social Networking.

How to Increase Your Blog's PR: Pt2

In part 1 of this article I tried to explain some of the basics of increasing to PR4, PR5, PR6.



Now I want to help you put this information into practice:



Step 1



If you have a PR4 blog, and you want to use it to increase the PR rank of your other blogs, then look at the page carefully and remove all the outbound links (or links to other pages) that you can.



Add a link to the new website in keyword anchored text. Do not add the link in a blogroll or menue. Never make it disappear by matching the color to the background, this type of Black Hat SEO will get your site banned.



Google gives more value to 'deep' pages and article pages. So if you build a link building campaign around an article instead of the home page, you can use that page with its high value, to increase the PR on the rest of the website.



Your PR will climb faster if you build links to an article than if you link to the home page.



Step 2



Try to get links on high PR pages. Don't worry about trying to get free content articles spread across the net. They often have high numbers of outbound links - decreasing the value that your blog will get.



Step 3



Keep your blog targeted, keep it focused on a single topic, and make sure that your keywords are not varied. Compare your topic to the Google ads and make sure they are for the same things.





Step 4



Links have value - Not all links are equal.

• Those which are anchored inside text are given the highest value.


• Forums appear to be valued more than articles.


• The keywords in the anchored index text (the inbound links) must match the keywords that are most common in the blog

Shot In The Dark

There are some other methods that people are trying, but I don't know if they work.

Commenting on PR6 blogs: While in theory this is true. I do not see the value. If the blog has no-follow links then there is no value commenting on that blog.

But, most comments are attached to the page, and not the index page. They are only 'on' the index page through database code. The URL of the article is 'not' the home page. If you click the article URL, you'll find that it has PR0, even if the home page had PR7

This might give you some PR value, but I haven't found anyone who has proven this works.

Free Content Articles: Again, even thought the PR value of the content's home page is high, the article page will not be. The value is questionable. You should only count this PR as PR0.

That said - nothing is a waste of time. You will always get traffic and a few thousand PR0 links may reduce the number of high links needed to increase the PR.

Buy Directory Links: Again, buying links in directories may have some benefit, but the PR is calculated from the PAGE the link appears on, not the site's home page. Also, as the pages are buried, their value is decreased. After a while, a page that hasn't been changed for a long time is 'dumped' by the search engine spiders.

This means that many people out there are buying PR5 links for $50 - $200 that have no value, because they are buying based on the home page .... and their link is pasted 1200 pages deep in the directory.

If you want to try this then test the PR of a high website. Find one with PR6. Then, start pasting the pages from the site into a Google Page Rank Tool and watch the PR drop to PR0 - PR2

What to Avoid

• I've tried to use the signature line to build links - It doesn't work.


• Adding headers and footers to newsletters and blog posts will not work. Text links inside them will.


• Text links in side bars will work


• Links in menus do not 'appear' to have as much value as keyword anchored text. Avoid building long lists of links in your side bars, this will only decrease their value.


• links inside of articles and forums have more value - but not the sig lines.