How Do I Get People to Work with Me?
This is an answer to questions I receive frequently about getting people to join their affiliate programs or getting people to contribute to an ebook or some other joint venture idea. I hope you’ll find the answer helpful. [Read more]
June 27, 2006
142 MB of Spam And I Didnt Have an Email Address
Okay, we all know spam is a problem, but I got a bit of a surprise today. I know that catch-all addresses are havens for spammers because they’ll just email you at support@yoursite.com, admin@yoursite.com and any common name for email addresses.
Well, I didn’t realize that one of my web hosts has the catch-all address set up as a default. So, little did I know that over the past year or so, emails were being accumulated on my server.
Today, I got a notice from my host saying I’d used my nearly 200 MB of space. And I’m thinking - WHAT? I only host HTML pages, some PDFs and have a relatively small database. Well, apparently there was 142 MB of spam being saved on the server because of the catch-all address.
That’s a lot of spam being sent to nobody in particular. Needless to say, I have to go back and remove the catch-alls on all my accounts with them!
June 26, 2006
Do They Never Learn?
A while back, I posted a couple blog entries about an affiliate manager who kicked me out their program for inactivity. If you can find the blog entries, I’ll send you $25 to your PayPal account…just post the links in the comments area.
Well, I got kicked out again. Here’s the wonderful mass email I got:
Dear Alice Seba:
We regret to inform you that XXXXX Jewerly has removed you from their Affiliate Program. There are many possible reasons as to you why we may have removed you from our program, including violation of legal terms, inactivity, changes in site content, etc. If you feel that you have been removed in error, or would like further clarification on why you were removed, please contact XXXXX.
Please feel free to reapply after two weeks or contact the Affiliate Marketing Manager, Lara Stache, to discuss a marketing plan to generate activity with your site.
I admit, this was an affiliate program I signed up for in LinkShare and I never did anything with it. I’m sure a lot of affiliates sign up for programs in the various networks and never do anything with it. But in a world of abundant affiliate programs, it is an affiliate managers job to make sure their affiliates are promoting their products.
I find this email is ridiculous and incredibly rude. They’ve told me I’ve possibly violated their terms. I know I haven’t, but couldn’t they personalize this email a bit more to separate inactive people from the violators? How lazy.
Just like the last time I got kicked out, I’ve received nothing from this affiliate program besides the welcome email. So, instead of trying to help their affiliates, they’d rather slap them in the face by saying get lost.
I don’t do a lot of stuff with LinkShare, Commission Junction, etc. because I find many of their affiliate managers just don’t do what they need to serve their affiliates. I hope that with the release of Anik Singal’s Affiliate Manager course tomorrow, that some of these network affiliate managers will sit up and start listening. Anik is connected with a number of affiliate networks and I hope this might help make some changes to the way their clients run their programs.
Until then, I’m going to keep concentrating on the independent programs run by people who do more than push pencils and occasionally write disciplinary emails.
Is Just Using PayPal for Credit Cards Professional?
Q: Is it professional for a small business owner to accept only PayPal, money orders and checks? [Read more]
Alice’s Autoresponder Recommendations
There is no perfect autoresponder, that’s for sure. There are always deliverability issues because more and more legitimate email is being filtered…and not all autoresponders work to ensure their good delivery rates.
With that in mind, here’s some suggestions on autoresponders you can use:
QuickSales: I use QuickSales to manage everything for me including my autoresponders, shopping cart, affiliate program and tracking. There are occasional deliverability issues with 1ShoppingCart, but I still prefer to have everything in one place
Aweber: Aweber is an autoresponder with a stellar reputation for good features and excellent deliverability. It is also very affordable. As a disclaimer, I am NOT an Aweber customer, but post it here because it comes highly recommended by countless numbers of my fellow online business owners.
People often ask me about server-based solutions. In other words, they want to manage the list on their own server, instead of using a 3rd party service like QuickSales and Aweber. When you run your own script, you need to ensure that your script continues to run properly, is secure and that you stay on top of any spam filters and blacklists you may find yourself on. I just don’t think it’s worth the effort.
If you really want to manage your list on your own server, check out ListMail for a good basic program.
If you’re on a serious budget than you might want to check out the low-cost Email Aces. They have a decent deliverability rate and offer a basic autoresponder service. My only complaint is that the system tends to run quite slowly and you’ve got to have patient when adding messages
June 20, 2006
Working as a VA or B2B Service-Provider?
In a few minutes, I’m about to get onto a call with Russell Brunson and Stu McLaren and they have opened my eyes to a tremendous opportunity for people who are providing B2B services for an hourly wage…or a less than desirable salary.
(I’m just thinking about the poor lady on one of my forums that hasn’t slept since yesterday because she’s busy helping her VA clients…that’s just not right!)
If you’re on my affiliate manager tips list, you would have already received a private invitation to the live call. If you’re not on the list, get on it now and I’ll tell you more about it later today.
June 19, 2006
The Internet Marketing Sweetie Library
If you haven’t been watching the menu on the right side of this blog, I’ve been pretty busy expanding the “Sweetie Library”. Some are paid courses, but many are just free tips list that you can sign up for. They’re just bite-sized chunks of advice coming to your inbox each week that you can easily apply to your business.
Recently added the “Sweetie Library”:
By now, you probably know, I have the free affiliate manager tips (and tomorrow, we have a free call you should join us for) list…but there’s also:
- Outsourcing tips: You know, it’s my favorite topic to help you make more money by getting other people to do the hard work.
- Copywriting tips: I not only talk about sales copy, but article writing, writing for your blog and more.
- Email marketing tips: Tips on building a responsive list that loves to hear from you.
I probably have a few more sweetie tips lists in me…so if you have a suggestion, speak up.
June 14, 2006
Keeping Business Going in Lazy Summer
As soon as the weather turns nice, I start to feel a bit lazy and a little unfocused in my business…and I definitely work a lot less - but I definitely don’t let it affect my bottom line. I put together some tips in the FAQ on how to keep your business going in Summer.
I do hope you’ll like ‘em. If you have more tips, feel free to post them in the comments area.
