It’s some time since my last post and during that time things have been moving at a hectic pace.

My affiliate activities while still an important stream of income now play second fiddle to my first faltering steps as a merchant, in November Gluten Free Food Products Limited was born and the last 2 months have been a steep learning curve with premises, equipment, stock, Vat reg, e-commerce website, credit card integration and a million other things to sort out, thankfully I have haven’t had to do it alone and my wonderful girlfriend Mandy is also my business partner and we have embarked on the adventure together.

My internet marketing skills and Mandy’s inside knowledge of Coeliac Disease means we cover a fair few bases.

We have now soft launched and are waiting for the trickle of orders to become a torrent, full launch comes this Saturday when we are handing out leaflets and samples at our first food fair as an exhibitor so if you happen to be in Leeds pop over to St Chads and give us some support.

Crossing the divide – a new adventure

Guest post by Joe Williams of SEO Training

“A man can’t see, he can’t fight” [Terry Silver – The Karate Kid III]

Insightful words from Karate Kid villain ‘Terry Silver’.  A principal so profound it can be applied to just about anything, including online marketing. To compete in your online industry, you need to see what works and what doesn’t [a man can’t see, he can’t fight].

So, how do you know what works?

It’s all about successful actions on your site or the ‘conversions’ your visitors take which help drive business. This could be an enquiry (lead), sale, download, subscription, newsletter signup or anything else which helps reach your goals. This is something I often highlight in our SEO courses.

Google Analytics Goals (and how it’s got a whole lot better!)

Google Analytics allows conversions to be tracked as goals. Once a goal is triggered, you can see what contributed last to its success e.g. Affiliate, SEO or PPC, and whether a referring keyword was involved. This is really useful but often there are many referring traffic sources and many keywords that assist in any one conversion.

So only knowing the last referrer is a bit like Terry Silver attempts to blind Karate Kid. You can’t see the whole search journey and this makes optimisation (or fighting) difficult. Much more difficult.

The Rise of Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels

Read more about it here.

Knowing the whole search journey and allocating assists for conversions has been around for a while but only for premium web analytics packages which small businesses and often affiliates can’t afford.

Well, Google has now made this feature free for all. And this makes everything a whole lot easier to plan and optimise in your online marketing efforts.

Every wandered why brand keywords convert so well? Customers must know who you are. But those that only recently discovered you are likely to have found you another way first and now using Google Analytics Multi-Channel funnels you can find out how! A super handy feature.

Google Analytics, Conversions, Multi- Channel Funnels & Karate Kid III

A couple of weeks ago I soft launched my new project Outsource Resource with the aim of setting up a freelance marketplace tailored to the UK.

The seed of the idea was planted at A4expo, for a fair while I have been dabbling in outsourcing work, and have been active on sites such as elance and odesk, however at the expo I was introduced to fiverr a website where every job costs a mere $5, it wasn’t the pricing structure that appealed to me (you get what you pay for) but the simplicity of the website.

http://outsourceresource.co.uk/ uses the fiverr model but it is aimed as an alternative to odesk and elance with realistic prices.

How it works

1. Freelancers list the service they are willing to provide
2. Clients buy the services they require
3. Freelancers are notified when their services are bought
4. Clients are notified when the work is done and can approve the payment
5. Freelancer receives payment

Alternatively if service required is not available

1. Client posts the service they require
2. Freelancers apply to provide the service
3. Client approves application
4. Clients are notified when the work is done and can approve the payment
5. Freelancer receives payment

Payments

• All transactions are made via Paypal for better security and dispute management
• For each task the freelancer receives 80% of agreed price
• The payment is made only when the client has confirmed the task has been done

So if you have a job you require doing set up a free account and list away, or if you offer a service put up the details and hopefully someone will employ you.

Advantages of Outsource Resource for freelancers who are already active on odesk and elance is that your feedback on those websites can be imported to your profile. Also you can record an introductory video.

If you want to introduce freelancers and employers to Outsource Resource there you can pick up your affiliate link on the edit your profile page.

This project is very much in beta so please give feedback, report any bugs, offer suggestions (keep them clean) etc. using the comments below or the feedback form here and I will pass them on to my developer.

Oh btw the logo on Outsource Resource came from the job I posted

Outsource Resource is also on twitter @1outsource and Facebook.

New UK Freelance Marketplace – Outsource Resource

I was sitting in the pub the other night having a quiet drink with a very good friend of mine who expressed her concerns about Google Instant Search, she was telling me how much she disliked the way everything changed as you typed a query into the search box, now this lady is just a normal computer user and not a complete and utter geek (yes I do have none geeky friends).

Well to cut a long story short the conversation ended with the plea “How do I get rid of it?” and I got to thinking many others may want to do the same, hence this article….

so How Do I Turn Off Google Instant Search?

Well the short answer is very easily.

Actually there are 2 ways:

1. You can turn off Google Instant Search by clicking the link Instant is on next to the search box on any search results page.
2. Or by visiting your Preferences and scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking
   Do not use Google Instant.

When researching the subject I discovered this excellent video from Lifehacker which goes though the process.

page.

How Do I Turn Off Google Instant Search?

Many of my compatriots have posted on their blogs reflecting on the last decade or year and very good reading it is too here are some of them:

• CantBarsed.com 10th Anniversary Year! Joe Connor
• Surviving A Decade Of Self Employment Jason Dale
• Goodbye to the Noughties and a New Life in the Teenies… Nadeem Azam
• What a difference 10 years makes… J Lil (aka James Little)
• That’s All For 2009 Folks – What will 2010 Bring? Kirsty McCubbin

For me this is not a time for reflection, the Noughties were ok to me well actually a bit of a rollercoaster ride, however, as one top astrologer put it on New Years Day, they have tweeted their last tweet and updated facebook for the last time, and you cant phone, text, email or skype them, they are gone forever.

Now looking forward to the Teenies (is that the accepted term?) what will they bring, undoubtedly for all of us, a whole world of new changes and challenges on so many levels both personally and professionally.

On a professional level I am going to start by building on the foundations our dear friend the Noughties left behind, 2009 was all about consolidation, I ended the year spending 90% of my time on the few sites bringing in the majority of my revenue rather than wasting time on dead ducks.

The main focus this year will be on building up the brand of Fashion Style You which is now over 2.5 years old and steadily growing month on month (google willing).

Aside from that I am going to remain flexible while continuing other projects and collaborations which have proved fruitful in the past I will also be looking for new opportunities, possibly selling a few sites but above all moving forward.

The Noughties Have Updated Facebook For The Last Time

For a long time now it has been wise to treat any stats provided by Alexa with a pinch of salt therefore I don’t visit very often however I was there the other day and noticed for the first time the Clickstream tab and was mildly surprised and intrigued by what it revealed:

Upstream Sites

Percent of total visits to keithbond.co.uk preceded by a visit to the upstream site.

• 24.17% easycontentunits.com
• 15.83% google.co.uk
• 12.50% affiliates4u.com
• 10.83% twitter.com
• 9.17% affiliatewindow.com
• 6.67% facebook.com
• 5.83% google.com
• 5.83% internetmarketingblogs.co.uk
• 4.17% webgains.com
• 2.50% here.org.uk

Downstream Sites

Percent of total visits to keithbond.co.uk followed by a visit to the downstream site.

• 23.85% affiliates4u.com
• 15.60% google.co.uk
• 14.68% easycontentunits.com
• 14.68% twitter.com
• 11.01% affiliatewindow.com
• 5.50% google.com
• 3.67% amazon.co.uk
• 2.75% discountcodes365.co.uk
• 2.75% here.org.uk
• 2.75% webaffiliate.co.uk

Interesting that 24% of my traffic (according to Alexa) comes via Easy Content Units, obviously due to the two wordpress plugins I developed which can be used with them, more suprising is that 10% of traffic comes from Twitter.

Not quite sure how the downstream is calculated but I suspect it is a combination of both click throughs and browser bookmarks, the bottom stat caught my eye

• 2.75% webaffiliate.co.uk

as 2.78% of the Webaffiliate upstream comes from this site (cheers Chris for the mutual support).

The accuracy of these statistics is open to question but it did give me a geeky half hour while I played with them.

Alexa Clickstream

Those of you who work with me and a few of you that don’t are probably aware that my main area is fashion, as you may appreciate there are a lot of fashion merchants out there and its a often a case of me picking the easy options when choosing what to write about, if I have content about a merchant I am more likely to give them prominence than if I have to do my own research and totally write articles from scratch.

Don’t get me wrong I am not against writing stuff from the ground up and probably between 6 and 12 articles daily are all my own work.

So what do I require to push your programme?

In a word CONTENT!!!

Unique content is best and it will push you to the top of the pile, I have a wonderful agency person who sends me 3 unique articles a week for one of the merchants she looks after, consequently 3 articles a week get published for that merchant.

So what kind of stuff am I looking for?

Well the answer is absolutely anything fashion related, short articles work best for me in the 150 – 200 word region.

One article will get you exposure, one a month gets you regular exposure, one a week… etc you get the picture.

Tell me and my users about your brands, your ranges, your new stuff, your best sellers, your clearance department, celebrities that use your products, media attention they have gained, anything really, it is all useful.

If you send me unique content I will use it.

If you send me generic content I may use it.

If you send me nothing I don’t have a starting point.

What else can you do?

Let me know when your products have been on TV or in the papers and magazines, the fresher the better, I got a heads up about a range of products that were featured on a Channel 4 programme recently, so I wrote a short piece about them, it wasn’t fashion incidentally but a health product which I could use on the main fashion site, from the moment I published they literally started flying off the shelves and I know for a fact a lot more publishers than me benefited, as the product was not unique to one merchant, a few more sales were diverted in the direction of the one I promoted thanks to being guided by the agency looking after them.

I have just realised it is a year as of yesterday that I wrote about this very same subject How To Push My Buttons And Get Me To Promote Your Wares just shows not a lot has changed.

A big thank you to everyone who sends me content, has already sent me content and is about to send me content.

An open letter to affiliate managers and merchants How to get me promoting you

Triple whammy today from Blue Chip Vacations (BCV) the specialists in self catering holidays in Devon and Cornwall who have an affiliate programme with Affiliate Window.

First of all their wonderful affiliate manager Elise Newman informed me that I had won a short break at the gorgeous At The Beach apartments in Torcross. Thank you Elise and Blue Chip.

Also today they announced a change in commission structure to 5% of the sale this was previously £20 per lead, a quick check through my stats reveals that this is a significant pay rise, enough to get me pushing the programme even more.

Thirdly BCV now have an affiliate blog, something I have long advocated that all merchants who are serious about affiliate marketing should have and which many of the most successful merchants now do, so check out the Blue Chip Vacations Affiliate Blog today.

I only started promoting BCV after chatting to Elise at A4uexpo in October but my efforts are already starting to produce a decent return, that is what affiliate events are all about, getting merchants and affiliates together and forging business relationships, so anyone who is undecided about going to events, thats includes merchants, affiliates, networks, management companies and agencies get yourselves to as many as you can you may be pleasantly surprised at the impact it has on your business.

I’ve won a weekend break with Blue Chip Vacations and they are paying all affiliates more money too

Would have called it 100 things I want to do before I die but everyone who makes this type of list does that and also I don’t want to tempt fate by mentioning dying.

1. Live somewhere with a sea view
2. Go skiing (suppose learn to ski should come before this)
3. Tour Africa
4. Ride a tandem (god knows why but a 3 person one like the Goodies had would be cool)
5. Scuba dive
6. Ride in a helicopter
7. Tour Australia
8. Go abseiling
9. Write a book
10. Visit the Falkirk Wheel
11. Learn to ride a horse
12. Go bodyboarding
13. Swim with dolphins
14. Go deep sea fishing
15. Walk the Great Wall of China
16. Visit an active volcano
17. See the Northern Lights
18. Take my mum for a ride in a hot air balloon
19. Be a film extra
20. Fly a microlight aircraft
21. Take a watercolour class
22. Give blood
23. Celebrate Chinese New Year in China
24. Go racing at Happy Valley (Hong Kong)
25. See my great grand children
26. Own a racehorse (had shares in the past but would like at least a quarter not a nostril)
27. Do a charity walk, run or cycle
28. Go dog sledging
29. Drink Guinness in Dublin
30. Learn authentic Chinese cooking
31. Visit the Taj Mahal
32. See a West End Show
33. See a Broadway Show
34. Own a Vineyard
35. Ride an Elephant
36. Go to top of Empire State Building
37. Take a gondola ride in Venice
38. Go to the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
39. Ride the London Eye
40. Fly through the Grand Canyon
41. Attend the Dubai World Cup (horse racing)
42. Visit Lake Titicaca
43. Enjoy Mexican beer at a beach bar in er Mexico
44. Visit the Las Fallas festival in Valencia
45. Take my Daughters to Lapland
46. Own a broodmare
47. Visit Soaring Dragon Cave (China)
48. Take golf lessons (and if I like it take up the game)
49. Go wine tasting in the Loire Valley
50. Visit the Uluru national park (ayres rock) and explore the none touristy bits
51. Do a firewalk
52. Tackle a Jasperizer at the famous Cap’n Jaspers on the Plymouth Barbican (already done the ½ yard hotdog)
53. Get this list up to 99 complete them and write another one. (this is 53)

99 things I want to do that I aint done yet

No doubt you all get strange emails at times, just received the following via one of my fashion blogs, it starts off OK poor misguided soul thinks I manufacture clothing but the next to last sentence is a classic and I still have tears streaming down my face as I type.

HELLO!

My name is Anat and I own a store.

I really like to import your clothing to Israel.

I think you’ll find it a great new knish.

I find your collections great for our girls and boys!!!

I must explain, that the store is an On-line department store.

We also host Sushi parties for girls between the age of 15-22. where we sell the goods.

Our website is currently in process but I will be more
then happy to send you the link when it’s done.

Strange email made me chuckle