Analytics Data Sharing
I’m stumped on this one, what data is exactly being shared with Google, through my Analytics account? Obviously it only shares data via sites that have the Analytic code installed, what the paranoid little man in me wants to deny any access. This is especially true for my sites earning large amounts of scrilla through Adsense, where they could peek into what keywords are scoring highest for me and either slap me or hold me up.
Furthermore, they are requiring your data to be shared with them to gain access to soon to be standard Google features. The Google Analytics FAQ in regards to Data Sharing specifically states that you MUST share your data with Google to gain access to their upcoming Adwords Conversion Optimizer.
The Analytics FAQ does address one of my ranking concerns, but not directly.
Your website data will not be used to affect your natural search results, ad quality score or ad placement. Aggregate data across many customers will be used to improve our products and services.
Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you. Lastly, make sure you do not automatically share your data with an ambigous ‘Others’. Of your two choices when sharing your Analytics data, Anonymously With Google and Others is an option. I wonder how much it costs to get a hold of that information?
Caution When Buying Links
No, this is not a post discussing the SE ethics in purchasing links, this is a warning to new buyers. In the past month I’ve spent a pretty good chunk-o-change buying links, using age old method TLA and through forums like DP. A simple thread stating what I’m looking for, niche, PR, traffic, etc normally nets me several handfuls of offers. A good thing…as long as you do your home work.
I’ve noticed more now than ever I have to check every single site, instead of taking face value, the cons are out there to steal your money. Link sellers are buying domains, which are either black listed, yet have residual PR or are faking Google PR. On more than one occasion I was offered PR5 links that sure enough checked out, but I continued to do some digging. After doing a ‘Link’ search on Google, along with a ‘Site’ search it showed that less than 10 pages indexed and only 2 links. This should throw a red flag!
So, in closing this is just a reminder to check the sites you will be purchasing links on. Using just the FireFox PR add-on is not always enough, do your home work and you’ll be less likely to be burned.
ATT/Yahoo Sending Email Error
Where I work I’m the self proclaimed server administrator and most of the time it’s an ‘Easy Breezy Cover Girl’ hat to wear. Unfortunately, over the weekend ATT.net and Yahoo.com changed their outgoing server settings and requirements. Incidentally, this required updating and patching Outlook and changing everyone’s email smtp outgoing server settings.
No big deal, but would have been nice to know up front and more in depth explanations of what needed to be changed. So, I intend to cover what I did to get our office emal back up to snuff in both Outlook Express and Mozilla Thunderbird. My situation is based on having a basic business DSL and email account with ATT.Yahoo.com.
The first problem I had was that any computer other than the confirmed computer with the Att.net address was unable to send email. After a quick search I found that there were some settings that needed to be changed in our Email clients.
- Set outgoing server to use a secure connection(SSL).
- Change Port used to 465
No biggie, unfortunately this didn’t fix my problem, since my computer was not the original that verified it’s account with ATT. While researching further I found that the computer confirmed with ATT quit being able to send emails. Keep in mind we were still able to receive without any issues, sending was the only function of our email which was giving errors. Once tracked down I found that the employee was using an outdated version of Outlook, which was a partial culprit.
Outlook 2002 required a patch to be compatible with SSL connections. A quick trip to Microsoft.com and updating the program fixed the issue, obviously after adjusting the outgoing server settings. Mozilla Thunderbird comes ready to roll with the latest abilities to use SSL connections, so no update was necessary.
After getting Outlook patched and outgoing server settings changed I needed to setup separate email accounts with Yahoo mail, to allow for other computers to send email, other than the original authorized account. Through the email options section in Yahoo email I was able to add an account for myself, which they authorized all outgoing mail and no further problems were found.
Please, Yahoo, next time you do this send out a notification with detailed instructions for common fixes such as this. My Monday would have been so much nicer..
Conservative Comments Buried In Liberal Fecal Matter
Ok, so I’m tired of my comments being buried in liberal shit at places like Digg, Reddit, and pretty much any other social networking site on the web. Are you kidding me, just because there are more libs on sites like these doesn’t mean what I have to say needs to be shit canned. (In some cases completely deleted at Reddit) So is the birth of my latest creation…
I’ve started FecalAgitator.com for my comments to have a place to set, to be viewed, to be discussed on sites that have an agenda other than mine. It’s a place for like minded individuals to help turn the tides, raise diggs, points, or whatever so that our views will not be lost in the noise. It’s my soap box if you will and I’ll be screaming as loudly as possible and try to remain coherent.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to add your own comments, with a link so that I can help digg or +point for you too.
FecalAgitator.com - think about it.
Adsense Style Sheet Ads
Ok, maybe not CSS style sheet ads, but damn close. It’s now possible to create an ad, place it on your site, and in the future change the ad directly from your Adsense control panel. So, for people like me with multiple ads across multiple sites, when changing the look and feel, it becomes simple. NO MORE EDITING INDIVIDUAL ADS!
Just wanted to bring this to the attention of those who haven’t made an ad lately. You can see the official Google FAQ on the Ad Management here.
We now offer the option to create new AdSense units which you can customize and update within your account to see changes directly on your site. When you create a new AdSense unit, details of the ad unit (like colors and channels) will be stored in your AdSense account. This gives you faster, simpler ad management, allowing you to make changes to an AdSense unit on-the-fly without needing to re-paste the ad code or make additional changes to the page itself.
Ahh, simplicity.
eBay Affiliate Tracking Boo Boo
eBay announced today another instance when tracking for their affiliate program through Commission Junction failed to record properly. According the email a small percentage of affiliates were effected on Sept 19-20 when their program failed to track ACRU’s and winning bid’s/BINs. As usual eBay will be setting the affiliate revenue earned right and throwing in an unspecified bonus.
Last time this happened I was not lucky enough to receive a bonus, but my earnings did fluctuate. I have a feeling this time, based on my earnings, I was not one of the publishers effected. Although I feel the pain of those that were.
When problems like this arise it makes it difficult to properly track your marketing efforts. I’m familiar with this in regards to my Amazon store and use of Adwords to market the products. As far as you know, when tracking fails, you had no conversions and may have given up almost 2 weeks ago.
Stay strong, affiliate marketing kicks ass!
Going Offline
Nailsblog.com will be going offline today, tomorrow, or at least before the weekend. The procrastination can go on no longer and I must migrate all of my domains over to a new dedicated server. That time, is soon.
I’ve been extremely happy with the performance, customer service, and overall experience with ManageMyBox which gives me faith to completely abandon my old hosting provider. Ironically, it looks like Manage My Box is now advertising on V7N, which means that a testimonial is in order.
If it’s good, shout it on the roof tops just as if it sucked. It’s harder to do, but people will appreciate it more.
Bummer Summer
My internet marketing and sales took off for the first time, in it’s existence this past fall and peaked just after the first of the year. The bummer is that since it turned hot, my traffic has decided to take nose dive into a cool swimming pool. What’s the answer?
I’ve learned that a diverse portfolio does no good, unless you plan for the dog days. Knowing trends is beneficial in keeping a steady income, instead of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best each month. This uneasy income flow has caused me to create a few goals for myself.
1.) Don’t play so much during the summer time, I still have to work, no matter how nice outside it gets.
2.) I know kids are outside playing, because it is nice, so my MySpace targeted sites are gonna drop. Likewise for my gaming blogs, I’ll need to add MORE content to keep their attention and gear content towards a summer time theme.
3.) Plan accordingly, I should have a summer time themed website and/or network of sites. Who cares how full my plate is, I want consistency dagnabbit(1 word or 2?).
4.) Buy new window blinds.
5.) Sell any one of my sites to Google and retire at the ripe old age of 25.
Domainaphobia
Otherwise known as the fear of commitment to a specific domain name and website creation.
Not only am I a member, but I’m fairly certain I’m the president. Lately I’ve been buying up domains like a madman, yet cannot commit on a certain project, at least in regards to what makes the best pair.
Domain names obviously play a huge roll in the marketing of a website, but what makes a domain name perfect? Personally, I think that I own a handful of KILLER domain names, but pairing them up with the right project is proving difficult. I think I just need a bigger budget.
Trends Test
I must admit, I’m confused. There must be more factors at stake here that I’m not able to see, such as articles pointing toward a keyword in Google Trends. My test consisted of me picking a top 10 Google Hot Trend word and then making a post, with the keyword used as the title. Afterward, I choose another ‘Spicy’ key phrase and repeated said process.
How Does a Kangaroo Stay Cool?
My First search phrase netted me over 200 unique visitors in about a 20hr period. The majority of traffic came from my blog link in the Hot Trends page for the keyword. However, in less than 15 minutes my blog was ranking #2 for the same keyword phrase on normal web search.
A very small percentage of my traffic actually originated from normal web search, around 10%. This leads me to believe the only traffic I received actually looking for this term, organically, was a handful or less. The rest of the traffic was webmasters following the new Google Hot Trend train. Needless to say this traffic did not convert, at least with the few Adsense ads I have running on my site.
Iron Carbon Alloy
The second keyword phrase I used was Iron Carbon Alloy, which netted less than 20 hits. My opinion is that less people were interested in this phrase, at least webmasters interested in what Hot Trends could offer their site. All of my traffic came from my blog link on the Hot Trends Page. Although Spicy at one point, ‘Iron Carbon Alloy’ has already dropped off the hot trends radar.
Conclusion
More testing is definitely necessary to see what other external factors play a part in ranking. For Hot Trends blog links some sort of relevance is determined before your site is even listed. Lastly, webmasters hanging on Google’s every move do not convert…at all. So how do we use this in a real world, marketing and converting environment?
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Affiliate Scripts That Work
