ACRU TO CRU Ratio
Yes, I'm on an EPN kick this month and with good reason, since it's currently one of my leading earners in the affiliate realm. I'm getting a pretty decent number of bids, considering the limited traffic I'm pulling in, but what I feel I'm struggling with is converting CRU's(When a new user registers to ebay) to ACRU's(when said new user makes a winning bid or BIN).
Below are my stats so far in May:
CRU ACRU Bids Winning Bids
10 4 158 56
Keep in mind that I'm not selling low priced items, so even at 56 winning bids my EPN earnings are fairly high. ;) I guess I'm just greedy for those $25 ACRU's, but they are just not converting. Hopefully as the cookie carries over for the 30 days it will give them an opportunity to win one of the other 102 bids that were placed so I get that commission and ACRU commission.
Is anyone else having similar issues in the month of May?
EPN Announces Problems and Fixes
It looks like the eBay Partner Network is finally addressing some problems that date back to the beginning of April, unfortunately it doesn't look like problems that most are concerned with. You can find a list of fixes and bugs that they've squashed on the EPN Blog. Judging by the EPN discussion forums and other webmaster forums most people were concerned with actual ACRU and revenue reporting issues. Personally, I've not experienced any problems.
According to the EPN blog they have addressed issues like Customer Support downtime, confirming registrations, API Id's and the like. These issues do not discuss anything to do with their possible reporting errors with a small percentage of their publishers. I'm still assuming that the ones having problems are just not use to the swing cycle of online marketing, especially on a garage sale affiliate network. Guess what, people are outside this time of year and they don't have any money anyways.
I think Yoda knows what he is talking about, 'Patience'.
Check out the full post for the list of fixes on the EPN.
Finding The Holy Grail of Adwords
I've been involved in the online marketing game for a little more than 2 years and in those 2 years I've improved exponentially almost daily. It amazes me at just how much free and valuable information is available, if you can spare the time to educate yourself. But don't misinterpret what I'm saying, taking valuable information and applying that same knowledge is two different things and that is often where the breakdown happens. I myself have just recently been able to break the Google Adwords conundrum, after playing around with it for almost 1 year.
Time in the past could have been better applied to perfecting the balance between on-site optimization and attention to page quality score. Just now, in the past 2 months I'm realizing the benefit of optimizing my page score and finding the right balance to get my bid on keywords to an all time low. This my friends is how it's done, this is how people are becoming profitable, and this is how you turn a costly investment into a comfortable daily expense. In a matter of months I've been able to turn keywords I would normally pay $.36-.45 per click for, into $.06 per click opportunities. Apparently my optimization in regards to getting cookie credit was not the problem...it was the cost of getting those visitors to my site.
In the grand scheme of Pay Per Click advertising I'm still a little fish, but what I've learned these past few months is opening up more doors than ever. Furthermore, it's knowledge that is freely available IF you teach yourself how to apply it. Thankfully I have some capital built up in my business, so trial and error while costly, did not break me. Perhaps that is the key, not going upside down in the quest for lower paying keywords.
Could I tell you exactly how to do this for your site and niche? No. I'm not being elitist when I say this? No, because there are so many factors, that no one could possibly write out a step by step scenario to answer your woes. No one is feeding you bull when they tell you to study your niche, focus on lower competition keywords, and start optimizing your site. It works, but it takes time and dedication to be done right and consistently. The payoffs for when you do find the right combination however is enormous and nothing hardly a thing feels better than watching that affiliate revenue rack up throughout the month.
Let this be my motivational post for the month. Good luck.
A Great Way To Make Money With eBay
When you hear"eBay" and "money" in the same sentence you probably think of becoming an eBay seller.
You place product listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin.
There is, however, another way to build a business which still revolves around eBay but which doesn’t involve you selling a single thing in the eBay marketplace.
This "other way" opportunity is based on the eBay affiliate program and a great tool which makes entry into this opportunity not only possible but also super easy. This tool is called "Build A Niche Store".
Now if you don’t know – an affiliate program enables you as an individual internet entrepreneur to promote the products of a company in exchange for a commission on all sales that you refer.
You are basically operating as an internet middleman and connecting internet browsers to particular products and companies through you own network of websites and marketing methods.
If we return to the eBay affiliate program, eBay actually invites you to promote all of the product listings in the eBay marketplace and in exchange for your efforts will pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from each sale you refer plus up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer.
You can have a read about the eBay.com affiliate program here
What this means is that you can earn up to three quarters of eBay’s revenue simply for connecting people to the products listed in the eBay marketplace.
Not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and control over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to stock items, deal with customers, organize shipping or process refunds.
You are no longer limited to selling only those products which you can buy and sell for a profit margin. You can choose ANY niche market and promote those eBay products relevant to your chosen niche outside of the eBay marketplace, funnelling targeted traffic through to eBay and into your own affiliate commissions.
Golf clubs, sewing kits, laptops, dog collars, diamond rings, Florida real estate…
If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO limits.
At this point you might be thinking - well this sounds interesting but in reality is there any money in it? Well, here’s the shocker – eBay's top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. That’s right – 8 figures a year without stocking, selling or shipping a single thing!
Now eBay does provide some basic free tools to help you succeed as an eBay affiliate and build an affiliate business BUT it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.
The tool, as I mentioned earlier, is called "Build A Niche Store" and what it enables you to do is build eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the medium through which you funnel targeted visitors to eBay.
Here are a couple of examples, one targeting Mustangs and the other Golf Equipment:
Mustang eBay Affiliate Website
Golf Cart eBay Affiliate Website
As you can see, these are professional looking websites that contain all of those eBay products related to their target niche inside a searchable store format, each of which automatically contains your eBay affiliate id.
These stores then automatically update as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace and the software has built in development features which enable you to create new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, modify your template etc etc.
Basically, in the space of about 10 minutes (once you are familiar with how the software works) you can create a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choice.
Your store content is all search engine friendly which will provide the foundation for attracting targeted traffic from the search engines and you can then use the development features to attract more targeted visitors which will in turn mean more eBay affiliate commissions.
It really is a brilliant concept and I’ve been hearing great things about the guys behind the project and the member forum which you get lifetime access to when you purchase the product.
Build A Niche Store comes with a step by step user manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website, 9 professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to match your target niche, lifetime member forum access, comprehensive product support and possibly most importantly – an UNLIMITED domain license which means you can build as many of these niche websites as you want for the small one time fee.
Think about how many niches eBay caters to!
How big could your eBay affiliate business be?!
This product gets my full recommendation – check it out today…
Click Here To Read More About Build A Niche Store
Find Out What You Are Selling Through EPN
The new Ebay Partner Network has replaced the Commission Junction version of their program and the new in house method will be exclusive by the end of April. Gone with CJ is the ability to find out what products you sold your visitors on eBay and tracking your EPN affiliate sales can be difficult.
We've installed a script which allows you to view what items you affiliate for eBay and through the EPN program. It's free and I encourage anyone to use it or download their own, via Tropical Web Works. Absolutely NO information will be stored from you checking your EPN affiliate sales via NailsBlog.
Click Here To Check What Products You Sold Through EPN
Steps to find out what products where purchased through your EPN affiliate referral.
- Login to EPN.
- Click on the 'Reports' tab.
- Select 'Transaction Download'.
- Choose your date range.
- Download as a Text File, saving your EPN report to your computer.
- Visit Nails Blog EPN Affiliate Report Page.
- Browse and upload the text version of your EPN Transaction Report.
- Analyze report with eBay product pictures and links to items purchased on eBay by your referred visitors.
Good luck with your affiliate sales!
No Commissions With New eBay Partner Network
I never was a big earner with CJ, being an eBay affiliate, but it was a nice way to supplement my Adsense earnings on a lot of my blogs. Starting April 1st eBay decided to move their affiliate network in house and it looks like there are a number of marketers experiencing tracking issues or no commissions at all. Personally, I think there is a little problem with both, considering the relationship eBay had with CJ and constantly needing to recoup lost sales, incorrect reporting, etc.
According to individuals in forums, whom are using 3rd scripts to market eBay products, some revenue has dropped as much as 90%, even though clicks and impressions remain the same. Because of this it's important to make sure you are using the latest versions of BANs (Build A Niche Store) and phpBay, to work with the new EPN (eBay Partner Network). Making sure you are using the correct campaign ID helps too. 
But is there a problem with the new EPN affiliate reporting? My seeing no sales on my end, where before I was earning a few dollars per day. A quick search will reveal that there a number of angry individuals sending unaccounted for visitors to ebay auctions. Check out the eBay's official affiliate forum to see the 250+ responses to their reporting methods. There are a few official responses throughout the 7 page thread, but none that make me feel any better about my lost advertising costs.
I'm willing to give the new EPN tracking issues (if there are any) another month to settle in and possibly set right. In the past it was not unusual for eBay to have issues with their affiliate program while using CJ, but now that it's in house there are going to be a lot of directly unhappy individuals if something isn't addressed quickly.
Anyone else having issues or do you feel like the reporting is accurate with the new ebay partner network.
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I Have A Problem With Lying…To Myself
Well, 2008 was going to be a year for change, I'd start exercising, work in the garage more, finally remove the stump out of my front yard, and yes, do my taxes early. In every sense of the word I have been a compulsive liar to myself and the little man inside who loves procrastinating. I'm not sure I've done any exercising except for the occasional 12oz curl, you can't open the man door to my garage, and today I finally mailed off my check to Federal and State Tax departments.
During the weekend I was more frustrated with myself for not doing my taxes earlier than anything else, so I began a search. One that would make doing my taxes next year easier, since I had taken no steps to make my profits online a smooth transition to paper, by not recording all of my expenses. I'll be damned if Uncle Sam is going to take more than what he is owed! My research led me to GNUCash, which if I had had this software in 07 would have made my tax crunching almost as simple as a 1-click of the mouse and I'd no longer be whipping myself for utter procrastination.
GnuCash Review
The #1 thing that I love about GnuCash is that it's free and it works, period. It's open source software that is freely available for download from SourceForge and appears to be regularly updated. Sometimes it can be difficult to find good open source software for Windows, but installed and ran just fine on my XP OS, although other versions are available for Linux, Solaris, and Mac.
My online business had required me to start keeping better tabs on my expenses, since my profits had jumped up so much from the year before, deductions were in order. Well, without a nice detailed report of all the software I purchased, scripts, computer parts, utilities, and anything else I was grasping at straws for 2 weeks scared I might miss something. With GnuCash it was easy to setup an initial business account and just start filling in the ledger with expenses I had already accrued in 2008. Each category is very easily labeled with explanations of what should be recorded, such as the specific expense, checking accounts, assets, utilities, taxes, etc.
At first installment it might be a little intimidating to the first timer, but keep in mind I was able to use it fine. My experience in accounting only goes as far as Accounting 101 at the local public college, so fear not entrepreneurs you can use GnuCash too. And, if you get lost there is a detailed help section in the software along with online documentation.
Final Statement on GnuCash
With all of this being said, I know for a fact I am not using it to it's full potential. I'm only using it for very basic daily expense tracking and account balancing, which it does perfectly, but there are features far out weighing my needs. In addition, there are built in mortgage calculators, loan payoff calculators, and other useful tools for the every day person. Also, don't forget, it's FREE!
After getting my feet wet with GnuCash I started checking out some other open source applications that might replace some Microsoft products, like QuickBooks and Office. What I found was OpenOffice.org, so look for a review of those programs coming soon.
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Don’t Trust Text-Link-Ads.com
I write this post with a heavy heart, because I have been with TLA since the beginning and used every tool they offer to earn revenue and advertise. However, on too many occasions I have found that the links I've been paying for have magically disappeared...but I keep getting billed.
Now, I've never had an issue with being credited, nor have I run into a lot of customer service issues, but it negates the point of using their service at all. I use TLA because I don't have the time to monitor my own links, I pay, I play, I move on. But, if I'm constantly having to check to make sure my links are still in place, what's the point? I pay a premium to have them look after my links, frankly they are no longer providing a service I'm interested in.
Thanks for the good times Text-Link-Ads.com, I'll miss you. If you ever come up with a way to better monitor link placements and adjust billing accordingly I'll happily come back.
P.S. What is up with pushing a crappy service like Shopping Ads down my throat when I log in?
Styckr.com Image Hosting
After some testing it looks like my Ad FREE, No Limit, unlimited image hosting site is complete. As of this posting I'm serving up several hundred pictures and the server is wide open for plenty more. I'd encourage everyone to check out Styckr.com for FREE, NO ADS, Image hosting.
At Styckr.com you can upload images up to 10mb, setup a private gallery, public, and get access to all the easy posting code. Ideally Styckr.com is perfect for hosting large photos for your MySpace profile or facebook account.
Granted eventually I may need to do some small amount of advertising, but for now enjoy the clean slate.
Slopsbox.com And Butterfly Marketing
More often than not curiosity gets the best of me, just like my kitty Halo, but I hate giving up any personal information to potential spammers. The ugly truth to Butterfly Marketing is that they will use and abuse your email for sending you time sensitive offers. I'm not interested in that. I want to know the meats and potatoes, methods used, how to compete, and just generally find out what's going on in my niche of choice.
The use of Slopsbox.com allows me to give up an email and check said inbox for a period of up to 24hrs. I can set any email address I want, like dontripmeoff@slopsbox.com or interwebsFTW@slopsbox.com and both will work and receive emails, less attachments. Now, I can sign up to questionable marketing sites, find out what they have to offer and leave without ever having to receive another annoying piece of failed marketing.
Thank you Pirate Bay for another useful tool in my arsenal.
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