Profit: 2 Simple Ways to Increase the Money You Make On The Internet

Internet profitsI spoke last month at Eric Louviere’s MemberSnap event in Austin. It was easy to see who really ‘gets it’ when it comes to online marketing. As Eric pointed out, if you’ve got a good product or service you’re selling online, if you’re not making as much as you want, it pretty much boils down to traffic and conversion.

1. Increase the traffic to your offer.
2. Boost the conversion rates.

Instead of doing this, most online marketers focus on the latest get-rich-quick or black hat method of gaming the system for a fast buck. Jacks-of-all-trades instead of mastering one.

I’ve yet to meet a long-term successful marketer who has mastered everything necessary to run an online business. Focus on your core strengths and outsource everything else instead of trying to (poorly) reinvent the wheel.

Good at product creation but lousy at web design? Do the former and outsource the latter. It is insanity to devote your time to designing sites when your skills lie elsewhere. Hate customer service but love setting up profitable pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns? Why do both? Spend that time on PPC and get some people-friendly independent contractors to handle your customer service.

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Amazon Attacks AdWords: Paid Search Traffic Limited for Affiliates

Effective May 1, 2009, Amazon.com won’t be paying its North American “Amazon Associates” (affiliates) referral fees for purchases generated by direct paid search traffic from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This appears to be a crack down on affiliate advertising that in essence competes with Amazon’s own advertising campaigns. It probably relates as well to Amazon’s continued efforts to fight trademark infringement by affiliates who use Amazon marks as keyword search terms. Many affiliates continue to violate the terms of the program by using trademarked terms like “Kindle” in their pay-per-click (PPC) search terms instead of “wireless reading device.”

Note that this change apparently is limited to U.S. and Canadian Amazon Associates. European and Japanese affiliates remain untouched for the moment. Another key detail — driving paid search traffic to your website and then having affiliate links that comply with Amazon’s affiliate operating agreement appears to be permitted (for now).

To learn more about these changes, you’ll want to go to FAQ: Paid Search Traffic and the Amazon Associates Program.

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