John Dilbeck Musings

Healthy Coffee House (Murphy, NC US)

Come visit the Healthy Coffee House, Bed & Breakfast, and Bakery.

Have a drink on us!

Buy one, get one free any drink in the Healthy Coffee House.

Stay one night, second night half price.

Free wireless internet service.

Expires: This coupon expires on January 24, 2009.

Restrictions: One coupon per week per customer

Click the “Get Details” link below. You will go a new page where you can have the required coupon e-mailed to you instantly. Then print out the coupon and redeem at:

Healthy Coffee House
215 Peachtree ST
Murphy, NC 28906, USA

Questions on this offer?

Contact: Healthy Coffee House via Phone: 828-837-1515

Get Details and Money-Saving Coupon

In late December 2007, I created a new social networking site for Murphy NC 28906 on Ning.com.

If you live in, visit, or want to know more about Murphy, NC, come join us at the Murphy NC 28906 social networking site.

You can customize your profile, write a blog, discuss topics related to Murphy, NC in our forum, meet and get to know fellow residents, upload photos, and much more — all for free!

Anyone living in, visiting, or wanting to know more about Murphy, NC is welcome. Come join us today.

There are several ways you can promote your business on Merchant Circle: the contents of your basic listing, any items you post to your blog, coupons you create, photos you upload, and the bulletins posted on your directory listing page.

I just learned about Merchant Circle a few days ago and I’ve jumped all over using their system. You can see the profile I’ve created for Dilbeck Marketing on Merchant Circle. I’ve taken the time to use most of the tools and love their system.

(Your business is listed at Merchant Circle, right? If not, you can create a professional looking online listing for your business with our easy to use tools. Free! - MerchantCircle.com.)

There are probably other things you can do at Merchant Circle that I haven’t discovered in the less-than-a-week that I’ve been a member of the site.

What you may, or may not, already know is that every time you blog, create a coupon, upload a photo, or post a newsletter, these things are added to a newsfeed for you, automatically.

At the top-right of your listing, you’ll see “Subscribe to blog and coupon feed” followed by an orange chicklet that says “RSS/XML.” This is a standard news feed that can be syndicated on many services and can be read by anyone using a news feed aggregator or a news reader. Even without sending emails you are broadcasting to the world - potentially.

I’ll write a post later to explain more about making use of this. For now, suffice it to say that you can blog in one place and have it automatically republished in multiple places. This makes it very powerful for getting your news out.

If you don’t know anything about RSS, let me suggest that you read What is RSS?.

One place you may want to syndicate your feed is at Squidoo.com.

To do this, you’ll need to be a member.

Are you an expert on something? Build your own Squidoo lens and tell the world. It’s free, and you may even earn some money from it.

Of course, you’re an expert on your business, so join Squidoo and create a lens about it. It’s worth the effort to learn how to build free lenses on Squidoo, and it’s a perfect place to syndicate your Merchant Circle news feed.

For example, I’ve created a Squidoo lens about Merchant Circle and I’ve syndicated (re-published) my news feed and Merchant Circle’s news feed on that lens.

Also, as part of that lens, I’ve created a list where you can add a link to the Merchant Center listing for your business. I will be syndicating that list on some of my other websites, so you’ll get free advertising just by adding your link to the list. If you don’t understand, just comment on this topic and I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Act on your dream!

JD

So, once you get your listing set up on Merchant Circle, what else can you do to increase the likelihood of being found by a potential customer?

(Is your business listed at Merchant Circle? If not, you can create a professional looking online listing for your business with our easy to use tools. Free! - MerchantCircle.com.)

First, tell people how to find you here.

For example, my listing is located at:

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Dilbeck.Marketing.828-837-2901

I’ve used the custom URL feature to shorten this link to:

http://member.merchantcircle.com/dilbeckmarketing

This custom URL is much easier to pass along, put on business cards, and show in your advertising.

You can create your own custom URL by logging into your MerchantCircle account and then clicking Listing Configuration in the left column. When you click it, several other options will be displayed below that heading. Click Manage Links and then enter what you want in your Custom URL edit box.

You should be careful when you do this if you plan to advertise this URL. Make sure it is something that describes your business and is something you can live with for the next few years.

Remember, if you change this at any time, all advertising you previously did using your former custom URL will be wasted.

This is something you want to think about before implementing. Don’t do something hastily that you’ll regret later.

Also, while you are there, you can enter up to four links to other websites and blogs. Just enter the name and URL of the link and Save. If you have less than four saved links, it will automatically create a new empty listing. Add as many as you want - up to four - and save each time. In a couple of minutes, you’ll have additional backlinks to your websites and blogs from a highly-ranked and high-traffic site.

After you enter what you want in your custom URL box and/or link boxes, don’t forget to save it.

Act on your dream!

JD

First, if you’re not listing your business on MerchantCircle, why not?

Create a professional looking online listing for your business with our easy to use tools. Free! - MerchantCircle.com

Truly, even if you are not a highly skilled web designer or webmaster, you can use the tools provided by MerchantCircle to promote your business and the products and services you offer. It won’t take days, weeks, or months, either! You can get started in a few hours and can continue promoting your business as long as you want through posting to your blog, creating coupons, and publishing newsletters.

This is the kind of business promotion that every owner or manager of a small business should jump onto. It’s free, effective, and easy to use. What’s the downside?

Act on your dream!

JD

There are two approaches to advertising:

1. Put your ads everywhere you can and hope for the best.

2. Carefully plan where you will advertise, track all clicks each ad produces, and test each ad to make it even more effective.

There are several ad tracking services available, and each has its strengths and weaknesses.

I’ve been unsatisfied with what was available until recently, when Dan Moses introduced ProTrackerPlus, which offers full tracking features at an excellent price, starting at free.

Dan Moses offers other quality services, including PageSwirl, which I use to control the advertising I put on dozens of traffic exchanges.

Without PageSwirl, when I wanted to promote something new or discontinue promoting something, I had to go to every traffic exchange and change the websites I wanted to show. This could take hours of work.

With PageSwirl, I simply login, go to a page showing all the websites I’m promoting and add or delete from the list. This takes only a few minutes and automatically updates all the sites I promote on all the traffic exchanges where I’m a member. Yes, it took some time to set it all up, but now I save hours of work every month and it only costs me $10 per month to upgrade to Pro membership in PageSwirl.

But, that’s only part of managing my advertising. I promote products and services on quite a few websites, blogs, Squidoo lenses, social networking sites, and advertisements. Without tracking those links, I have no way of knowing where my prospects and customers are coming from.

ProTrackerPlus provides the ability to track every link I place. I can see in a few minutes where my prospects are coming from and that allows me to more effectively advertise the products and services I choose to promote.

It even emails me a daily update, if I want.

By tracking your links, you can learn where your advertising is effective so you can invest more time and money advertising there. You can see in a short time where you are wasting your time and money and stop doing it.

As with PageSwirl, you can track up to 5 links with ProTrackerPlus with a free account. Learn to use the system and prove to yourself how valuable the service can be for you. Then, at your convenience, you can update to a pro membership and track the full range of your advertising and promotions.

I’m in the process of transferring most of my advertising to using ProTrackerPlus tracking. It will take some time, but, as with PageSwirl, I’m sure it will pay off over time. If I can identify just one ad that is working well and use it more effectively, ProTrackerPlus will more than pay for itself.

The same is true if I can find just one ad that isn’t paying its way.

Plus, if something happens and a product or service is discontinued, or if I choose to stop promoting it, I will no longer have to find everywhere I’m promoting it and change or delete the ad. With ProTrackerPlus, I’ll be able to change the destination for the ad to a similar product, or I can point it to a page that explains why the product is no longer available or why I no longer promote it. Then, I can recommend a substitute, if one is available.

All of this is much easier to do if you are just starting out with your online marketing. If you join PageSwirl as a free member, you can use the page rotator on the free traffic exchanges you join. Then, as your marketing efforts bear fruit, you can easily upgrade your membership in PageSwirl and a few of the traffic exchanges you like best. This will leverage your marketing efforts for only a few dollars every month.

If you use custom splash pages on the traffic exchanges, it would be worth your time and effort to use tracking links through ProTrackerPlus. Then, over time, you’ll be able to find the ads and traffic exchanges that are producing paying customers. Those are the ones to promote more heavily.

Or, if you want, you can continue to just throw up ads here and there and hope for the best.

The choice is yours.

Act on your dream!

JD

Scott Boulch, author of Death of Adsense has a new blog for discussing the ebook and topics related to it.

In his most recent post (as of this writing), Scott proclaims The last battle cry of the dying Adsense “Gurus”.

He makes some interesting points, and obviously has more experience than I with earning from Adsense.

If you want to follow this subject, his blog is the logical place to do so.

His follow-up book, Life After Adsense was supposed to have been released yesterday morning, but I haven’t had the time to download it, yet.

Scott sure has gotten a lot of attention with this, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

If you have been reading my blogs for any length of time, you are already aware that I am not one of those people who follow the latest fad or breathlessly tell you why you just have to purchase the next great whatchamacallit.

I’m not going to start now, either.

I’ve gotten several emails over the last couple of weeks about “The Death of Adsense,” and, since I earn enough from Adsense every month to cover my hosting and advertising expenses, I wondered what it was all about.

So, I downloaded the ebook and read it.

The author makes some good points, but I have no idea how it will all play out.

I’m not even going to try to tell you what he says in the ebook. You can download it yourself and get it “from the horse’s mouth.” It’s only 18 pages long and you should be able to read it in less than a half hour.

When you sign up to download the book, you become an affiliate, and for a limited time, he is paying affiliates a half-dollar for everyone who follows your link and downloads the book. Not bad, making fifty cents when someone downloads a free ebook.

However, that’s not why I’m telling you about this. If his analysis (or hypothesis) is correct, then you need to be aware of this if you depend upon Adsense for income.

I am not saying that Adsense is dead and I don’t fully agree with what he says in the ebook.

And, here’s the spoiler, the ebook ends just as he is about to tell you the alternative to Adsense. That’s why I haven’t been talking about this.

Today, however, he is supposed to release the second ebook that explains his alternative income system. Will it be worth the read? I don’t know.

I do know that, in the past, it looks to me as if he created websites that were designed to skim as much money from Adsense with as little work as possible, and I’m sure these sites were low-quality at best. I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m assuming this is the case.

(You know what they say about assuming….)

Anyway, later today you may be able to get the “Life After Adsense” ebook. I’m sure there will be a lot of people trying to download it, so it may or may not be available.

I’m not going to recommend either ebook to you, but I will tell you how to get your own copy and decide for yourself.

I am a full-time affiliate marketer, but this time, I’m not going to use an affiliate link to send you to his site. I don’t want the 50 cents if you download the ebook, because I cannot truthfully tell you that I recommend the information contained in it.

So, buyer (or downloader) beware, use your discretion and think for yourself.

Am I going to download the “Life After Adsense” ebook to go along with the “Death of Adsense” ebook I downloaded a few days ago? Yes, I am.

Am I going to do what it says? I have no idea. I’m going to read it and think about it before doing anything.

What you do is up to you.

Here’s the site to go to: http://www.thedeathofadsense.com/

I have not seen a decline in my Adsense revenue, and I’m hoping it is because I do my best to build sites with the best content I can create. I try not to take any short-cuts and I’m willing to build my business using a slow and steady model - the tortoise approach rather than the rabbit approach.

Am I curious about what’s in “Life After Adsense?” Yes, I am. But, at this time, I don’t have any plans to change my business model or redo my marketing plan.

That may change tomorrow. Maybe, maybe not.

What do you think?

If you own a business, you already know that all businesses need new customers.

Two months ago, a new online service was introduced with the purpose of making it easy for merchants and business owners to offer special offers to attract new customers (or reward existing customers).

Not only is it easy to do, but it costs absolutely nothing to register your business and create your special offers.

You, as a business owner or manager, can decide what kind of offer you want to make. You can offer a percentage discount on the next purchase. Offer a special price or a freebie. Buy one, get one free. Buy one, get another at half price. Buy lunch and get a free beverage. $500 off at closing when you buy a new home. Whatever kind of offer that works for both you and your customers or clients.

You know all about these kinds of offers.

So do your customers and potential customers.

And your competition.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one.

You can advertise for free and set all the conditions of the offer. All we ask is that you pay a bounty for each coupon that is redeemed by a paying customer. And, to top it off, you decide how much you’re willing to pay for that customer to redeem the coupon. It’s entirely up to you. You advertise free and pay only for results.

How much are you willing to pay to acquire a new customer?

How much are you willing to pay to get new business from your existing customers?

What is the lifetime value of a new customer for your business? How much are you paying to acquire a customer now?

Are you willing to try something new where you control the offer and the amount you’re willing to pay, and to pay only when someone actually purchases from you?

You don’t have to pay for advertising and hope it works.

You don’t have to pay when someone clicks your advertising link.

You pay only when someone actually redeems your coupon and makes a purchase from you. Guaranteed results.

When you create an offer, won’t you think about making your expiration date at least a year from now? That way, more people will get a chance to try your offer, you’ll have less administrative efforts in renewing the offer, our affiliates (thousands of them) will have an easier time promoting your offer, and we’ll all save time and effort in promoting your business.

Of course, if an expiration date a year from now doesn’t suit you or your offer, you’re free to set the offer and the expiration date to exactly what you want. That’s one of the beauties of this new service.

We’re working hard to promote you.

I’m asking you to give us a try.

If it doesn’t result in new business for you, it won’t cost you a penny - just a few minutes of your time.

I’m also asking you to make an offer that is exclusive to our service.

How many people promote your coupon when you advertise in your newspaper?

We are ready to actively promote your offer. Since you’re saving money by not paying for advertising that doesn’t work, we’d like to ask you to make a offer that is better than your usual offer. You’ll benefit and so will your new customers.

I want to promote your business.

If you go to http://ShowYourCoupon.com you can see our service in action.

To register your business and start creating your special offers, go to http://merchant-info.showyourcoupon.com and sign up for free.

I’ll syndicate your coupon at http://SyndicateYourAd.com and to other websites, weblogs, and other venues — all at no extra cost to you.

Give us a try.

You have nothing to lose, and the potential of attracting new paying customers at a cost you set.

Remember, no customers, no sales, no cost.

Register your business for free and make your offer to new prospective customers.

I want your business and I’m willing to work to help you promote your business and make more sales.

Your coupon will be actively promoted at SyndicateYourAd.com and many other sites that are fed from that weblog.

Sign up today.

(This service does not accept offers for business opportunities. We are happy, however, to help you promote your products and services.)

Thank you, and I look forward to promoting your business.

I hope you have a wonderful 2006.

John L. Dilbeck
Dilbeck Marketing
Murphy, NC 28906

You will find tips, advice, training, and answers to your questions about the NOC program at the NOC Forum and UBC Forum on the SFI discussion board.

If you are not an affiliate and would like to participate in the NOC coupon system, I invite you to sign up as a free affiliate.

To learn more about all the details about NOC, visit the NOC Launch Announcement.

Take advantage of Nice Offers, today.

If you are a merchant who would like to offer your own special offers, learn more and register your business at no cost.