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Gobala Krishnan, one of my favorite Asian Internet marketers and one of my top selling affiliates for Blog Mastermind (I’ve sent him several hundred dollars worth of commissions every month for a year now) just released a brand new course Super Affiliate Blogger.

I have to admit I’m a bit ticked off that he’s done this because I have it on the cards to release my own training course for people wanting to use blogs for affiliate marketing, however since my program is probably at least six months away I’m okay with Gobala getting the jump on me. He uses a different system to what I do anyway, so it’s worth checking out his methods.

Here’s what Gobala’s new program is about -

Super Affiliate Blogger is more than just an e-book; it’s a complete system for affiliate marketing with blogs. It comes with a special link tracking system, special list building system and most importantly the customized Super Affiliate Pro WordPress themes. The theme is the most important factor here, as without this theme you will not be able to follow the instructions in the guide.

Click here for more details…

Gobala uses Pay Per Click (PPC) to drive traffic to his strategically crafted WordPress blog themes that focus on pre-selling an affiliate product. This is something I do not do - I’m not using PPC at all - I rely only on organic traffic and direct repeat visitors when I sell affiliate products from my blog.

Gobala’s system works with other forms of traffic too, however the great thing about PPC is that the traffic is instant - you switch it on and it flows and you can be making money in a matter of hours. Of course you have to pay money with PPC, so this is not something you want to get wrong for too long or you will lose money, you need to tweak things until you get a positive return on investment, which is what Gobala teaches.

The idea with Gobala’s system is to use a WordPress blog as a “landing page” that is themed and has content designed to pre-sell the visitor on an affiliate product. Obviously the plan is for as many visitors as possible to click the affiliate link on that blog post and then purchase the product, which is how the revenue is generated.

Gobala also makes use of targeted email lists he builds using his affiliate blogs, which is something I can wholeheartedly agree with (I’m all about email list building). His package actually comes with a plug-in called “opt-in forms manager system” that makes the technical part of adding an email list opt-in form to your blog easy. This is something I have to check out myself because I’ve wanted to get a service like this to my students too. If you purchase Super Affiliate Blogger from Gobala you get the plug-in.

Gobala provides a workbook that teaches the system, camtasia videos, a quickstart guide and a bunch of other stuff you can check out on the sales page. One of the best inclusions I think is custom designed WordPress themes you can put to use immediately to implement his system. They are crafted to sell certain types of affiliate products and are set up to use the tracking methods that Gobala teaches.

Testing and tracking is not something most bloggers do when it comes to affiliate marketing and it’s great to see a product that includes this topic and even provides blog themes to make the process easier. Props to Gobala for coming out with such a great feature.

Does This System Work?

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I’m in Toronto living in the suburbs at the moment, trying to find a sublet somewhere downtown.

That means I have to catch a long subway ride to get into the city and whenever I have a commute I like to use my time productively.

Thankfully, Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett were kind enough to send me a copy of their new print book, titled Problogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income - which I have been happily devouring on my train rides.

Initial Thoughts

The Problogger Book is like a condensed version of the Problogger.net website. The style and language is the same and let’s face it, the Problogger website is so darn huge since Darren is so productive and produces crazy amounts of content, it’s nice to have the essentials put into a book in a logical sequence.

I enjoyed the personal anecdotes and background story from Darren and Chris, but unfortunately there wasn’t much of that, which makes total sense of course - the book is about problogging, not the life story of the authors.

If you are new to blogging, enjoy the paper back book as a study format, you won’t find a better book out there on this subject from two guys who know problogging very well.

You can grab a sample chapter and find links to purchase the book from http://probloggerbook.com/

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Three quick updates for you today, starting with a way cool video and tool from StomperNet’s latest Going Natural 3.0 launch series of videos (if you haven’t opted in to get these free videos, go do it now - you’re missing out!).

Assessing Your Website’s SEO with Stomper Site Seer

Today (Friday USA time) StomperNet are making available a search engine analysis tool called Stomper Site Seer (or SSS for short).

It will cost you NOTHING to use it. You can submit your site and get a complete StomperNet search engine diagnostic report.

To prep everyone for the release of this tool Jerry West and Howie Schwartz put together a video that explains some of the key on-page and off-page elements that matter when it comes to your website (and blog) ranking well in Google and the mistakes you need to avoid.

The video is worth watching even if you don’t use the SSS tool because it’s a fantastic primer on some search engine optimization fundamentals, including metrics you need to know about to assess where your site is performing well and where it is not.

The video reviews things you can do to your website internally (on-page), such as how much the title tag matters, what you should do with your Meta Keywords and whether a sitemap is still important or not.

Then they cover external linking elements (off-page) such as keyword cost analysis, how well your site is performing in social media sites and data on the number of incoming links to your pages. This is all very handy stuff for anyone doing SEO.

One of the cool features that the tool offers is information on what Google thinks is the THEME of your website. If your site is not themed by Google how you think it should be, then this is an opportunity for you to create some new pages to target the traffic Google is sending you because of your theme.

This might sound confusing, so if this is the first time you have heard the term theme as applied to websites, you need to watch the video and then grab the SSS tool to find out the theme of your site. I’m not sure what the theme is for my blog, so as soon as the SSS tool comes out I’m going to find out.

The SSS tool and the video are available today. To get them and all the other free videos, all you need to do is opt-in to the newsletter from StomperNet here -

http://www.stompernet.net/

StomperNet are not spammers when it comes to their email list, they send out some very good content, so you should be on their newsletter anyway.

Cow vs Conn a Case Study for Making Money Online

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*** UPDATE ***

The call recording is now available for download [ Zip file - save as ]

******

Anik Singal and I are doing an interview call this Thursday the 24th at 8 PM ET. The topic is blogging, however Anik has a few unusual questions lined up so I don’t think this interview will be quite like any of the interviews I have done so far.

Here’s a sample of the topics we will dive into -

• How To Start Out Your Blog
• How To Drive Traffic
• Is It Worth Paying For Traffic?
• What Are The Best Tools For Traffic In The Beginning
• How To Build Over 25,000 subscribers

It’s 100% content and all about building a popular and profitable blog. If you like blogging and you like my training materials on the subject, you will enjoy this call.

A downloadable recording of the call will be available post interview.

Here is the link with details -

http://blogclassroom.com/yaro/

Blog Classroom

Anik and well known affiliate marketer Rosalind Gardner are launching a blog training program called Blog Classroom and my interview is part of the lead-up to the release of the course on April 29th.

I haven’t had a chance to take a look inside Blog Classroom because I’m in Fiji, but I can tell you one thing - Anik is VERY excited about blogging.

There’s currently a popular pre-course running that is completely free, so if you are curious and have an insatiable appetite for blog training resources, Blog Classroom is worth investigating.

You can take the free pre-course by signing up at the same page with details about my interview -

http://blogclassroom.com/yaro/

Let me know what you think of the course if you decide to join.

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In 2007 I decided my blog was due for a new look, but it was not just about a cosmetic face-lift. I wanted to improve usability, clarity and most importantly, highlight a very important aspect of my business - the Blog Profits Blueprint/Blog Tips newsletter email opt-in.

Blog Designer: Mick Real

I’ve worked with a good designer friend now for over a year - Mick Real - who contributed to the look and feel for Blog Mastermind, the cover for the Blog Profits Blueprint and now, the complete redesign of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com.

Mick and I worked many months, putting together a layout, tweaking it and then implementing it over the top of the WordPress platform. There’s a lot to this new blog design and it was quite a monumental effort for both of us to get it right, but I’m pleased with the outcome and we have plans for enhancements in the future too. It’s great to have a designer who is enthusiastic about blogging and I have to pass on a big thanks to Mick, he’s been a devoted designer throughout the process.

The Importance of the Email List

I’ve already hinted many times in previous blog posts and email newsletters about what having an email list has done for my business. A blog is good, but for all but a few of the very top bloggers, most people will never enjoy significant conversion by marketing purely through blogging, they just never build a large enough following of readers.

Email marketing is more forgiving when you have fewer subscribers and is a very effective direct marketing communication tool. When an email list is combined with a blog as an entry point, it makes for a powerful one-two punch and the basis for an entire Internet business.

I don’t think every blog needs an email list, but I think every blog could benefit from one. Most bloggers struggle with one content commitment - writing regularly to a blog - so to include an email list as an additional outlet that requires content, can be difficult. I would argue that an email list requires a lot less “fresh” content than a blog and is more specific in topic, so can easily be set up and then let to operate effectively without constant attention (unlike a blog), but I digress, that’s a topic for another blog post.

Most bloggers are content to focus on generating income from advertising and don’t think beyond that, so an email list doesn’t factor into the model they are pursuing. I’m trying to change that - and at several points through Blog Mastermind I emphasize the power of email marketing - but for now I’ll probably sit as one of the few bloggers who leverage the blog and the list in a symbiotic relationship.

For me, I’m already convinced about email marketing, so I knew my new blog design had to highlight my email newsletter and better present the Blog Profits Blueprint as the incentive for joining. My last few blog + email list combined promotions have brought in at minimum $5,000, one breaking $10,000 and another closing in on $20,000. I could never have dreamed of doing this with just my blog. I know what a good email list can do and I want to continue to build on the great foundation I have laid so far.

The Opt-in Form

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