Hugh Durkin - Affiliate Marketing & SEO
Whilst doing some rather boring work I spent a few minutes browsing the Sky News website, and stumbled across this little gem. I love the way Richard Branson operates, and his down to earth and relaxed attitude is a joy to experience in a world of dreary CEOs. When asked about his opinion on the current economic climate, he remarked:
“I was going to say, it’s f****d, but I think I had better not have said that.”
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Running a business should be fun. Most of the time it is fun. Meeting new people, learning new things every day, seeing first hand the fruits of your labour – all benefits of running your own business. However, there is one big downside. Boring, tear inducing accounting. Every time I go to start up my version of Sage to do any boring accounts related stuff, I usually double click the icon, run off to make a coffee, and by the time I get back, the bloody thing has only barely finished starting up. Zzzzzz. As well as all this the interface is quite dated, the computer it’s installed on freezes up constantly, and if I ever want to take my work home with me I can’t. Thankfully several SAAS (software as a service) solutions have popped up, with the best looking one (in my humble opinion) being Xero. Only one problem – unless you’re in New Zealand, the UK, or Australia, you won’t be able to use it. Until 22nd December 2008 that is!
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Like a lot of publishers, i’m signed up to Screenclick.com as an affiliate. Conversions are few and far between – no matter what i’ve tried – but links to them exist on Compare.ie for the purposes of allowing users to choose between them and Moviestar (who i’m a paying customer of myself). Today I logged on to Screenclicks’ new website and was rather annoyed. Not only is it totally useless for consumers, it’s sure to piss off plenty of affiliates they’ve signed up through Tradedoubler. Why? Microsoft Sliverlight, that’s why.
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If you’re as interested in d’interweb as I am, and you have a vested interest in it (it pays my bills!), then you’re very likely to have some favourite blogs which you frequent on an ongoing basis. So, I thought i’d share some of mine! Here goes…
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There have been many exchanges in the past on the topic of Google and SEO. Topics range from the best ways to build meta on each page, how to position header elements and how to create nice, static looking urls. One topic that is usually forgotten about, is server speed and the effect it can have on rankings and site traffic. However, investment in server memory can be one of the most beneficial spends you can make to increase traffic from search engines.
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I love Google Trends. Before I throw myself into anything web-based I usually use it for keyword research, and then go about planning whichever site it is i’m thinking of working on. In case you’ve never taken a peek before, Google Trends lets you search for keywords or keystrings, side by side, then compare search volumes. At certain times of the year it’s always interesting to look for spikes or dips in certain keyterms, and we were discussing the merits of New Year diets.
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I check in with most affiliate networks i’m a member of probably once a day – to view earnings, see whats selling (and from that, know what to keep pushing), and also to join new programs that might be of interest to me. Over the last week or two i’ve been amazed at the level of new program launches, and on one of the larger networks, a dozen new campaigns have kicked off in the last week and a half. Am I totally surprised though? Not really.
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I’ve mentioned a few times over the past while my increasing high regard for Drupal. It has come such a long way over the past couple of years, and you may not know it but you’ve probably stumbled across several Drupal powered sites in your travels. Here are just a few of the higher profile ones for you to check out.
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I previously had a bit of a rant about traders and how they can sometimes lose faith in great shares when the going gets bad. One that I particularly had issue with was the half price drop in the Google share price from within on year. Now, thankfully, the price seems to be recovering – again. It still amazes me though, for the last three years Google have been increasing annual revenues and profits by around 30%+ but, in the last year at least, their share price has tumbled. It’d be interesting to see the combined values that have been knocked off pension funds and government investments because of this. Hmmm.
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I just got off the phone from a very, very interesting and entertaining customer satisfaction survey phone call – not. It was initiated on behalf of a service I use most days (I won’t get into specifics), and i’ve had a few problems with them in the past, so I said i’d oblige. My god was it boring. It was based on the multiple-choice, 1 for bad 7 for good formula, and I feel very sorry for the poor woman whose job it is to make those calls every day. My head would be wrecked, and my friends would notice a change in my behaviour over time from human to robot. So, do these surveys work or not, and if not, why?
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