Click the damn link

http://amzn.to/bZNPiP – Just CLICK the damn link.

Most everyone understands affiliate marketing well enough to recognize or suspect it when they see it, to resent it, and to agonize over somebody getting money-for-nothing.  Your mother taught you not to trust strangers, and she taught you well.  The world is full of people who will beguile you with smooth talk and insincere recommendations of questionable books, in selfish pursuit of internet riches.

It’s an ambitious plan to make a living by means of affiliate marketing.  It sounds easier than an Avon business, which I see is advertising on broadcast TV these days, but the math is not promising.

Earning a six percent referral commission on a twenty-dollar book through Amazon’s affiliate program yields $1.20 per.  By selling 20,000 books a year this way, a person could support her family at just above the poverty level.  That’s about fifty-five books per day sold through an affiliate link, every day.

Suppose, for example, that one in ten blog visitors click an Amazon affiliate link and one in ten of those actually buy something within the affiliate window of opportunity, without first clicking some other’s affiliate link.  These numbers are optimistic, but if applied they mean a blog would need an average of 5500 visitors per day.  That’s over 2 million visitors per year.

If, as a blogger, you can attract 2 million visitors in a year, I suggest you come up with something to sell that has a higher profit margin than an Amazon referral, and which falls into the category of money-for-something.

Deal or no deal? What’s the deal?

Looking at internet marketing for local business – LivingSocial.com, Groupon.com, and eWinWin.com. Preliminary observations and questions.

1. Businesses must be counting on the gift card effect, where a certain percentage of gift certificates and coupons are never used.  Betsy’s Hot Yoga in Louisville recently sold 1072 yoga class packages for $20 each through LivingSocial.com.  It was a good deal with an 82% discount off  the normal price for ten 90-minute yoga classes, but impossible to deliver if all 1072 discounted enrolments show up at the same time.   

2. What’s the deal for businesses to participate?  Although the deal for buyers is spelled out online, the cost to the business for these  programs is a big secret.  It is impossible for a small business owner to evaluate the potential benefits of the programs without having some clue what the cost is.  I is necessary for a business to go through the screening process to find out.  This makes sense only if the deal is negotiated separately for each business applicant. 

3.  There seems to be an imbalance between buyers and sellers.  LivingSocial.com has offered seven deals in Louisville, Kentucky during the last two months, and Groupon.com has offered two during the same time period.  More than 1000 buyers for each of those deals is fairly common.  The task is to recruit more businesses to participate.

 4. Both LivingSocial.com and Groupon.com have referral programs where consumer-users can earn rewards by referring new consumer-users to the program.  There does not seem to be any comparable referral program aimed toward recruiting businesses.

5. Recruiting local businesses to participate in these programs might be more effective if it incorporated off-line solicitations.  Many of the small local business owners I know don’t spend a lot of time  online researching the latest thing in local social media marketing.  It needs to be explained to them, but given 2 and 4 above, that isn’t going to happen.

Social media before web 2.0

Long before the influential people announced the birth of social media, and even before the web took off, there were Usenet discussion groups. Before the end of the 1990’s the idea of Usenet discussion groups inspired the creation of email discussion groups, such as eGroups. 

Yahoo! purchased eGroups for the foundation of it’s popular Yahoo! Groups, and Google purchased Deja News, an online searchable archive of Usenet groups.  Google incorporated Deja News into its own email discussion group system named Google Groups. 

All three of these systems still exist and are being used today.  Many of these discussion forums are wholly unmoderated, and it is nearly impossible to exclude uncivil discourse from an unmoderated Usenet group.  It was on such groups that I first learned the meaning of sockpuppet, troll, and spam.

Like Willie Sutton, who robbed banks, “Because that’s where the money is,” internet marketers were drawn to Usenet and public email list discussion groups from the start, because that’s where the people were. They quickly learned the meaning of “flame.”

There may be an effective internet marketing strategy that incorporates these discussion groups, but it would need a very high-touch / low-b.s. ratio to do any good.  One of the main benefits of Web 2.0 is the ability to easily give feedback. Usenet participants are not the least bit shy about providing helpful feedback.

Turn the fine print into bold print

Nobody reads the fine print except me. That’s not a true statement, but you ought to assume it is true if you’re in the business of writing commercial advertising copy. The second thing, it’s good to remember is that nobody likes being surprised and embarrassed.

My spasm of inspiration comes today courtesy of my inbox, and today’s deal from Groupon. The title of the deal, as posted on Goupon, “$10 for $20 Worth of Eclectic Fare and Drinks at The Bard’s Town.” It is from a local Louisville Bardstown Road pub coyly named The Bard’s Town Pub. The offer is to spend $10 today and get $20 worth of beer and burgers no sooner than tomorrow. That’s what the extra-fine print says. “Can’t use until day after purchase.”

Remember rule number one: Nobody reads the fine print.

Here’s the scenario. Some guy is going to buy this deal and take a girl to The Bard’s Town Pub tonight on a date. All the while he is feeling smug about being able to afford to take a girl to The Bard’s Town Pub on a date, not knowing the clock is ticking like a time bomb strapped to his self-esteem.   The moment is soon approaching when the waiter will tell the young man, “Your really good deal is no damn good until tomorrow.”

Why go through that at all?  You know it will happen.  Instead, put the limitation in the headline offer: Spend $10 today for $20 worth of beer and burgers tomorrow.  It works, and you’ll save yourself a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Oh, forget about “Eclectic Fare” and stick to “Beer and Burgers.”  That’s what’s in your ad image.

Remove the incentive for stupidity

Seth asks, “What to do about Detroit,”and he give his thoughful suggestions.

My two cents is for the SEC to prohibit any NYSE-traded company to base executive compensation or bonuses upon current year profits or current stock prices.

If the company is still doing good three or five years later, then give the bonuses.  There’s too much opportunity for accounting and market buggery in the short term. Plus, compelling short term personal benefit seems to result in really bad business decisions.  It is impossible to serve two masters.

Who owns your logo?

You paid good money to some graphic designer to cook up a logo for you, and now you own your logo . . . or so you think. The sad truth of the matter is that you might have only rented it.

U. S. Copyright law aims to protect those who produce original creative works. In graphic arts, like logo design, the person protected is generally the artist.

Title 17 U. S. Code Section 201– Ownership of copyright

201(a) “Initial Ownership. – Copyright in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work.”

In the case of logo design, instead of “author,” read “artist.”

The next part of this statutory section is what usually sends folks off on a road trip to an erroneous conclusion. 17 U.S.C. Section 201(b) states:

“Works Made for Hire. – In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.”

People read this and think, “I hired my cousin to design my logo, therefore it is a ‘Work for Hire,’ and I own it.” But they stop too soon. It isn’t important what you think the phrase “Work for Hire” means, the important thing is what Congress said it means.

Title 17 U. S. Code Section 101 – Definitions, states that a work made for hire means:

“a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or . . . if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire . . . . “

If your graphic designer was a freelancer or an outside agency (i.e. not an employee) , the designer likely owns the copyright on your logo unless there is an express signed written agreement that says otherwise.

If you were not aware of this, it might pose a problem.

Someone else might own your logo.

I can’t get past the monkey

I’ve been aware of Prints Made Easy (PrintsMadeEasy.com) for a few years now. It consistently spends money for good placement on Google AdWords, and I just keep tripping over it. The thing is that the web site is dominated by this full screen jungle scene . . . in motion . . . with this animated monkey, and a sign that says “No monkey business.”

It might as well say, “No monkey business, honest. Really. You can trust us. Doubt not.”

I’ve checked this business out every way I can think of. I checked its domain registration. I checked the Better Business Bureau. I even checked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to see if the claimed registered trademark was really registered. It was. Prints Made Easy is a legitimate business as far as I can tell.

But, I can’t get past the monkey. Try as I might. The monkey is a deal killer.

There is something in my backwoods mentality that short-circuits every time I see this grinning monkey that wants me to trust him. There is a huge disconnect between that image and the boring solidity I want from a printer.

I am reminded of Seth Godin’s book, Meatball Sundae.

My advice is: Kill the monkey.

VistaPrint’s up-selling and cross-selling gauntlet

I like VistaPrint quite a bit, but its relentless marketing can be a bit tedious. The basic strategy seems to be to hook you on the low end and build profitability through add-ons and upgrades. VistaPrint has built this into its checkout process, resulting in many more screens and steps than what is the norm.

Although what is shown here is first of ten steps! in the checkout process for VistaPrint’s “free” business card offer, the system works the same for any order. Don’t you want more? We can send you email with valuable offers. What about backside printing? Want thicker cardstock? A glossy finish is nice. How about a matching t-shit, business card holder, return address stamp (offered twice), imprinted ball point pen, or an electronic business card? Did you know we can host your web site? Our partners sell postage meters, and Google adwords are something to think about.

Then VistaPrint works to up-sell you on delivery time. Don’t doubt it makes money on your impatience too.

Oy! I’m worn out just thinking about it.

Selling your advice – service fee comparison

Continuing my investigation of on-line tools that facilitate selling and delivering expert advice, from tacky to technical, by phone, here is a comparison of the service fees charged by the major players.

Keen.com: Advice sellers charge by the minute of phone time, and set their own price. Minimum charge is $0.75 per minute. Keen’s fees are calculated by first deducting a flat $0.27 per minute connection fee and then splitting the remainder, with 38% retained by Keen.com and 62% going to the advice provider.

Examples:

$0.75 per minute fee. $0.45 to Keen.com – $0.30 to advice provider.

$2.00 per minute fee. $0.93 to Keen.com – $1.07 to advice provider.

$5.00 per minute fee. $2.07 to Keen.com – $2.93 to advice provider.

LiveAdvice.com / Ingenio.com: Advice sellers charge by the minute of phone time, and set their own price. Minimum charge is $0.75 per minute. The fees of LiveAdvice.com / Ingenio.com are calculated by first deducting a flat $0.20 per minute connection fee and then splitting the remainder, with 40% retained by LiveAdvice.com and 70% going to the advice provider.

Examples:

$0.75 per minute fee. $0.37 to LiveAdvice.com – $0.38 to advice provider.

$2.00 per minute fee. $0.74 to LiveAdvice.com – $1.26 to advice provider.

$5.00 per minute fee. $1.67 to LiveAdvice.com – $3.36 to advice provider.

Ether.com: Flat 15%

Examples:

$0.75 per minute fee. $0.11 to Ether.com – $0.64 to advice provider.

$2.00 per minute fee. $0.30 to Ether.com – $1.70 to advice provider.

$5.00 per minute fee. $0.75 to Ether.com – $4.25 to advice provider.

Kasamba.com: Two different percentage rates. 37% for “Spirituality & Religion” advisers and 30% for all other advisers. Special rate of 14% applies to clients referred through advisers referral link.

Examples – Spirituality & Religion advisers:

$0.75 per minute fee. $0.28 to Kasamba.com – $0.47 to advice provider.

$2.00 per minute fee. $0.74 to Kasamba.com – $1.26 to advice provider.

$5.00 per minute fee. $1.85 to Kasamba.com – $3.15 to advice provider.

Examples – All other advisers:

$0.75 per minute fee. $0.23 to Kasamba.com – $0.42 to advice provider.

$2.00 per minute fee. $0.60 to Kasamba.com – $1.40 to advice provider.

$5.00 per minute fee. $1.50 to Kasamba.com – $3.50 to advice provider.

BitWine.com: BitWine is still in beta testing. For a limited time, during the beta phase, BitWIne is not charging any advisor fees, although advisers do incur PayPal’s standard transaction fees.

Selling your expert advice – online options

I’ve identified several different providers of pay per call technology.

1. AT&T Group:

– Ingenio Live Advice

– Keen Personal Advisor

– Ether

2. Kasamba (soon to change its name to LivePerson)

3. BitWine

There may be others, but these look to be the major players in this market. My next step it to dissect them, poke them, prod them, and see how they work.