Janet Thaeler – Speaking Engagements

Date: 17 Mar 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0

I wanted to let you know where I’ll be speaking next. I really should put out press releases for these, but there’s no time lately.

Every week at 2pm MST on Wednesdays I interview people with Nigel Swaby for our podcast called the Web Marketing Weekly Show. It’s secretly how I get to know amazing people. So if you want to be interviewed please contact us on the site. (www.webmarketingweeklyshow.com).

I’m speaking at the Mountain West Regional Public Relations Conference for PR students at Utah State University on Friday March 26. Then later that afternoon I’ll be off to Podcamp at Neumont University in South Jordan, Utah. I need to learn what they are teaching (because I’m podcasting).

Monday March 29th I’ll speak at the Utah Student Summit on a social media panel at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. This is also for students.

This summer I’ll speak at the EVO conference for women in social media (www.evoconference.com). More details coming.

I’m speaking on how to pitch a search engine at this Ragan conference hosted by Cisco Systems June 9-11, 2010 in San Jose California.

See this is what happens when you write a book. I used to be petrified but now I’m pretty comfortable with it. I especially love the enthusiasm of most college groups I’ve spoken to.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-15

Date: 15 Mar 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-08

Date: 08 Mar 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-01

Date: 01 Mar 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0

Jonathan Volk Should Warn Newbies about PPV Affiliate Marketing

Date: 27 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 1

I recently wrote about Jonathan Volk’s new ebook about affiliate marketers. I found out that I’m in a contest to see who can send the most people to download the free affiliate ebook. I wrote my review before I knew that.

Then I found out that I’m in the running – along with some big names in the industry. I’m the only woman on the list. That sort of lit my fire. Women are way-underrepresented in the space.

I still pretty much have no chance though. There’s nothing like seeing other marketers to realize how much more you could do. My big omission is I don’t have an email list. I’m not ready to maintain another thing. But I digress…

So I asked some friends to push the book and help me out. One got back to me with a concern, hence this post. In one of the chapters it goes over PPV (pay per view). This is adware marketing and it’s frowned on in the industry (see this podcast from Shawn Collins about the subject of PPV).

Jonathan does well to disclose that his ebook has affiliate links in it. I have no problem with getting paid on the back end rather than charging up front. The issue is I think he should educate newbies about this practice. That it’s looked on as black hat. Not even CPA networks will accept them (and CPA networks already full of issues as a part of affiliate marketing).

I still find enough value in the book as far as social media ad buys and media buys and affiliate marketing generally that I will continue to promote it. I want to hear your feedback though – look at the part about PPV and tell me what you think of the practice.

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Free Affiliate Marketing Ebook from Super Affiliate Jonathan Volk

Date: 23 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 2

I found out about this free affiliate ebook from a Sponsored Tweet. Which is why I love Sponsored Tweets because if they are relevant they keep me in the know. Plus I get paid to send them and then you’re in the know too.

Super Affiliate Jonathan Volk
Image via CrunchBase

The author is super affiliate Jonathan Volk – that’s him on the right – he has made over $4 million as an affiliate marketer. He’s got a huge following on Twitter and you may have seen his posts on Shoemoney.

On page 15 it talks about media buys – which is something I haven’t read in other affiliate marketing ebooks. I’m also impressed that he covers social media marketing including marketing with Facebook Ads. He walks the talk too.

As you’ll see Jonathan covers a lot of topics – and they’re useful for any kind of online marketing – not just for affiliate marketing. The best part is this is absolutely digestable and streamline. It’s not too complex and long. There are a few valuable links in each chapter to resources. Places to go to get help implementing the suggestions on your own web sites or if you just want more information.

Affiliate Marketing 101

Affiliate Marketing 101

Outline of sections in the ebook

Section 1. Introduction

Section 2. What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Section 3. What Is An Affiliate Network?

Section 4. Recommended Affiliate Networks

Section 5. How Does All This Come Together?

Section 6. The “Pregame”

Section 7. The “Pregame” Pt. 2 – Know Your Demographics

Section 8. The “Pregame” Pt. 3 – Setting Up Hosting / Domain Name

Section 9. Setting Up A Simple PHP Redirect

Section 10. The Landing Page

Section 11. Affiliate Marketing Methods (Basic Overview)

Section 12. Social Media Affiliate Marketing Guide

Section 13. Pay Per View Affiliate Marketing Guide

Section 14. Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing Guide

Section 15. Media Buying Affiliate Marketing Guide

Section 16. After Your Campaigns Are Ready To Launch

Section 17. Conclusion

I see a lot of value in this guide because it’s so current and has very practical advice. I’ve already learned about new resources that I can use on my affiliate sites right now.

Download the free affiliate marketing ebook here.

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I Heart Zemanta – Now with PRWeb Press Releases

Date: 21 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 7

I just learned about Zemanta, added the plugin and started using it. I’m in love. It takes your blog posts, other people’s related posts, your images, other people’s images and you can add the content with a click. Also has tags and I haven’t figured out how, but it also has affiliate links from Amazon.

Now PRWeb has partnered with Zemanta so you can choose related press releases to add to your story – again with a click. The options show up in the right hand column of your blog admin in Wordpress.  PRWeb says over .5 million blogs link to their press releases (see this search of Google).

I’m pretty excited about the innovation I see with press releases, social media and blogging. There’s newcomers presslift.com and pressdoc.com that are not about distributing news but aggregating social content in one place and sharing it. I’m planning to try both out and blog about the results.
PRWeb Press Release Newswire

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Facebook Fan Pages Create More Loyal Customers

Date: 21 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0
Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

I love this study and research from a bakery/cafe in Texas called Dessert Gallery that was featured on the AllFacebook blog. The research documents some of the value that brands get from having a Facebook fan page. Researchers at Rice University published a report to see the dollar value of Facebook fans and how they impact actual sales.

Take home message: Facebook fans became more loyal customers who not only visit more often but tell their friends about you.

Facebook now has more than 400 million users and they themselves are loyal – visiting the site practically every single day.

Here’s how the study worked:

1. They sent an email to 13,270 customers asking for their participation in the study. Just 689 responded.

2. A Facebook fan page was created for the bakery. They put pictures of their products, “news about contests and promotions, links to favorable reviews, and introductions to DG employees.” If you want to know what to do on your Facebook Page, take note!

3. They asked everyone on the mailing list to become a fan on Facebook.

4. 3 months later they survey the new fans and everyone on the email list.

  • Fans spent the amount of money per visit but they went to the bakery more often than people who didn’t become fans. They visited 20% more. Figure out what that could do to your store if you had 20% more visits from even 5% of your customers.
  • Fans were more likely to recommend the bakery to their friends. Over 20% more likely than people who weren’t fans on Facebook. So these folks will not only come more often but they’ll introduce new customers to you.
  • Fans had a higher emotional attachment to the bakery. Isn’t that interesting? When you engage with people they feel differently about you. They come to visit more often, they talk about you. To me this is exactly why major brands are engaging with B list bloggers right now – to get that emotional connection and familiarity. But mostly to tap into the trust that these bloggers have with their readers.

Just 5% of the 13,000+ customers became a fan of the bakery on Facebook. So the results could be even more dramatic if they launched a campaign to attract more fans. Like giving a coupon for a free cookie or something for people who become fans.

Here’s the part I love: “We also foresee future products that will enable customers to become fans of companies on the spot, which means the opportunity for instant engagement will be much greater in the near future.” I think there’s a real need for this type of product.

I hear there’s a restaurant in Utah that has a computer up in their restaurant which is open to their fan page on Facebook. That would be a great way for people to join and update your wall with comments and reviews right then and there. Most of your customers won’t do that and I bet if they do it also increases loyalty and the relationship in general.

I love seeing ROI attached to social networking. Forming positive relationships and building trust with people is good for business. We’ve known this all along. It turns out social networks are ideal for building relationships with your customers.

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5 Tips for Using Sponsored Tweets

Date: 18 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 0

I got a mention in an article about getting paid to tweet on ReadWriteWeb (thanks HARO!). I occasionally tweet ads for pay on SponsoredTweets. I’m also trying it out more as an advertiser. I’m totally sold on having @Shoemoney tweet something – awesome results! I try to get the cost per click down to less than $3 and most average half or less. I also look for people with high engagement scores.

I’ve made all of $60 total on SponsoredTweets but the great thing is it’s easy. I’ve turned down some offers because they don’t fit my audience but several have worked out. The best is from an outsourcing company. They hired me to tweet. Then they became my client. Now I hire them back.

After reading the article I wanted to try Twittads but I gave up after not really getting how it worked and not having the time to look into all the details.

Here are 5 tips for using Sponsored Tweets:

  1. Post something conversational or like a question – not an advertisement.
  2. You can and should rewrite tweets so they are in your own voice.
  3. Use related hashtags in your tweet.
  4. You can use the term “brought to you by” instead of ad.
  5. Don’t be greedy. It’s crazy what some people charge for a tweet. Keep it reasonable and you’ll get to choose from more offers. I’ve found little correlation between cost and results. As an advertiser I skip the people who are priced much higher than their peers with similar numbers of followers and engagement.

As John Chow said in the article: Since they allow you to use “brought to you by” as one of the disclosure mechanisms, you could write: “Hey guys! I found this great $1.99 web hosting deal bought to you by bluehost. Go check it out. URL” and get away with it.

He was also mentioned in a New York Times article about being paid to tweet.

Who should use SponsoredTweets? Authors (like me). People planning events. People who are launching campaigns and want to attract more participation and visibility. The results are quicker than some other methods like SEO, press releases and articles that build over time. Plus it tends to cost less than Google AdWords which has gotten quite crowded (read: expensive).

Sponsored Tweets made me a hero today – so I’m extra motivated to write about them. Plus I’m so fascinated by the instant feedback you get on the results. It’s like candy to a marketer.

Note: I’m partial to Sponsored Tweets (so far in the past several months I’ve experimented with others & it’s my fav so far). I’m also an affiliate. As mentioned I also manage advertising campaigns on Sponsored Tweets. You can use my links above to give me credit for referring you or go there directly (or not at all).

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Social Media Giveaways that Increase Sales

Date: 17 Feb 2010   Author: NewspaperGirl   Comments: 1

I’m fascinated with this idea of giveaways to increase sales. I’m trying it with my own business. So far I can’t see any difference at all – but I also don’t have ways to measure.  I don’t see orders come in for my book – only a quarterly report – which is a good reason to have your own products. You can see orders as they come in. No one cares or has the time to care about each order as much as you do!

I love this quote – and it illustrates why I preach engagement – the longer someone is on your site, the more comfortable they are asking questions, the more chances there are that they will become customers. Or evangelists. Social media gives you a lot of opportunities to engage. That’s why it’s important to have a presence on multiple sites. The exception is if you cannot maintain them at all (which is the boat I’m in).

“The more comfortable our customers are at using multiple channels to engage with us, the more the average number of orders they place goes up, as well as their willingness to recommend us to their friends and family,” Wohlfeill says (of www.moosejaw.com)

So not only will they place more orders if they are communicating with you on Twitter, Facebook, text, etc. but they are more likely to talk about you. Especially if you have a culture or product worth talking about. You’ve got to read the MarketingSherpa report of the case study which is free until Feb. 27. I copy the articles I want to keep into a Google Doc so I can search them. I would summarize more but I’m busy today so if you’re interested please go read and learn.

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