Amazon aStores… An Almost Amazing Alternative (or Addition) to Blog Advertising

And an awesome excuse for annoying alliteration, as well! Heh. But I promise I’ll stop that now, since what I really want to post is a review of the pros and cons of Amazon’s aStore program. Note: Adding an Amazon aStore to your blog requires no template hacks. It’s as easy as cutting and pasting a bit of code into a blog entry!

About a month ago I got an email from Amazon inviting me to try out their new aStore program, but didn’t get a chance to do more than glance at it until today. It’s actually pretty cool… using your Amazon Associates account, you can build an inline store to display and sell items from Amazon within your blog. You don’t need to know how to code, it’s easy to set up, and to a certain degree you control the content in the store. When readers buy items, Amazon pays you through your existing Associates account. If you haven’t got an Amazon Associates account, it’s easy to set one up and earn up to 8.5% in referral fees.

If you’d like to see an example of how a store looks and works within a TypePad blog, take a look at the store I built. It took me about 15 minutes, but that was because I was being picky and trying out every option. If all you want is an easy potential revenue stream for your blog, you can probably set up a store in less time than it takes to read this review.

There are some things I really like about the aStore program, and some that I don’t. I’ll start with the good stuff.

Here’s where aStore gets it right:

• It’s easy.
• It’s hosted on Amazon’s secure servers, but you can use it on your own site.
• The interface, documentation and steps to create a store are clear.
• There are options— you can create a link to your stand-alone store on Amazon, embed the store in your own site with iframes or use HTML frames to incorporate it into your site.
• When readers click a product in your store, it loads all of Amazon’s info within the same page… I much prefer this to a store that would take readers off-site.
• Amazon provides widgets that allow you to include (or exclude) features such as your Amazon.com Wishlist , Listmania (reader lists on Amazon), Similar Items, Accessories, Customer Reviews, and Editorial Reviews. All but the reviews show up in sidebars on you store page… the reviews are included in the body copy of individual items (or not, your choice).

What aStore could do to improve:

Almost every single suggestion I was going to make about what could be better in aStores is apparently on the slate for the next revision already! According to a post by Darren Rouse at ProBlogger, he just received an email from Amazon alerting him that the following features are to be included soon:

• Build and maintain multiple aStores using a single Associate ID
• Specify products to feature on Category and Sub-Category pages
• Create multiple instances of individual categories and sub-categories (e.g. Beatles Music and Rolling Stones Music)
• Feature up to 54 products on the front page of your store rather than the current limit of nine
• Write longer custom product descriptions
• Better control the layout and design for use in frames by providing
  the capability to remove the store header and category navigation

Darren doesn’t say when these features can be expected, and I can’t find anything on Amazon’s site that includes an actual date but I would give aStores an almost perfect review once these are included.  There are only a few things I would change that aren’t already on this list:

1. Currently, you can enter keywords to restrict products shown on Category and Sub-Category pages… but it only finds products matching all the keywords. I like the idea of being able to select specific products in the new version, but it would also be useful to enter multiple keywords (separated by commas maybe) and have Amazon’s catalog return results based on any of the keywords rather all. For instance, say you want to feature products by several manufacturers in the Hardware category: if you enter DeWalt and Bosch, the search turns up nothing right now rather than displaying all the items by Bosch and DeWalt because none of the listings in the catalog contain both terms.
2. I would like to see Amazon make it possible to create multiple pages for a store, rather than just allowing a larger featured items list. Nine items is definitely too few, and 54 is probably too many for one page. When you view a category page in the current version of aStores, the bottom of the page has numbered links that allow you to see as many pages as the Amazon catalog can generate. It would be nice if the Featured Items part of the store worked this way too. After all, a great deal of the strength of Amazon’s model is allowing shoppers to filter results based on the recommendations of others… The biggest reason to shop on an aStore rather than on Amazon itself is to take advantage of selections edited by someone you trust.
3. It would be nice to be able to choose which order items display in. Currently that is not an option and I don’t see it on Darren’s list. A simple drag and drop AJAX interface would be ideal, but additionally, it would be nice to be able select items and modify the sorting order based on variables like price, availability, genre, author, etc.

Thanks to Darren for the heads up on the new features. I didn’t get the email myself and just happened to notice he had posted about the new features as I was procrastinating typing up this post. It was especially handy ’cause every single thing on the list was something I planned to suggest and thanks to him, my lazy hands didn’t have to type them up. Yeah, there’s a reason I like to provide cut + paste template code… and it’s the same reason it works better to get me on the phone or skype than to IM me.

Don’t Be Ashamed to Regurgitate

Darren’s post 101 Ways to Run Out of Things to Blog About got me thinking about the dangers (or not) of running out of things to blog about.

‘I spent days putting together this great list. I wanted it to be big as a way of bringing new readers in and to show how much I comprehended of the topic…’

‘the results were amazing. I got on the front page of Digg and high on Reddit and Delicious…’

‘I had close to 30,000 visitors in 48 hours!.’

‘the next day I sat down to write my next post and realised that every topic I thought of to write about was covered in my mega list…’

Sure we’ve all been there. I mean, how many times have we blogged about content on Performancing? How can I possibly write another post about that!?

I think regurgitating content — with a new spin and/or flavor — is a good thing, for several reasons.

1. New readers haven’t necessarily read your old stuff. If you’ve been blogging for 2 years, probably half or more of your readers have only been reading for one year or less. Why not introduce them to some of your older posts? (Or put a new spin on the old post, and introduce them to the concepts therein…)
2. It can be helpful to old readers and the blogger alike to take a stroll down memory lane. Football usually comes down to the basics (block and tackle; don’t turn the ball over). So does pretty much any subject. Investing: Buy low, sell high. Amazing how often people forget that one.
3. Revisit and expand: Did you REALLY cover everything you know in your 101 list? I bet you didn’t. Each of the 101 points had a sentence or two explanation. I’ll bet my [valuable appendage here] that you could write an ENTIRE POST on each point. Five posts a week, that’s 20 weeks worth of content you can write!

Bottom line, I knew I wouldn’t like that post when there was a complaint about getting 30k visitors (and probably a ton of secondary links) from a good ol’ link bait. Repeat after me: link bait, then regurgitate!! (That has to be the most disgusting slogan ever!)

What To Do When People Steal Your Blog Content

In a recent comment, Sylvia Forester asked

What can we do to stop Bitacle from stealing our posts and making money off of them?

Rather than responding in the comments, it seemed like a good topic for a full blog post. Copyright and IP law are much too large a topic to cover extensively here, but I can provide a few thoughts on where to start.

I haven’t looked at Bitacle previously, but with a quick scan of a couple pages it appears to me that they do include a link back to the original content when they repost material. This may in fact be a benefit to your blog, as people who use Bitacle for search may find you for the first time and become regular readers… There are a number of sites that I allow to republish content from the TypePad Hacks blog in order to reach a wider audience. They send a fair bit of traffic and I don’t begrudge them a few advertising dollars in exchange. On the other hand, it is possible that your reputation could be harmed by spam blogs harvesting your posts and republishing them on sites that contain offensive or dangerous material.

An important question to ask yourself before taking action is why you object to your content being reused: is it because someone else may be making money from your content or because you don’t want your personal brand to be diluted by appearing in multiple places online? This will help you frame the tone of your response. You should also ask yourself whether your reputation or brand is helped or harmed by broader distribution… If the republishing site contains proper attribution and/or a link back to your site, they may be doing you more good than harm even if they make a buck or two in the process. Remember, Google makes advertising dollars when they list you in their search engine and you wouldn’t want them to stop listing you!

If you prefer to keep your content exclusive to your own site, here are a few options you can exercise.

Step One: Email the site that is republishing your content and politely ask them to remove your content from their site. I find that people respond much better to a request than to a threat, so it is important to start out with an email, phone call or letter that is respectful but firm in tone. This is not a step you want to exercise when you are angry or tired.

As more and more companies and individuals are republishing blog content from RSS feeds, you might want to keep a copy of a stock email that you can send out whenever needed. This will save you a fair amount of time.

Once you have taken this step, give them at least a week or two to comply… In most cases, the response will not be instant. Whoever is using your content is going to have to take the time to look through their feeds, archives etc. and even when happy to comply, it probably won’t be at the top of their priority list. Remember that your blog is probably one of hundreds or thousands being excerpted or republished. In your initial contact, you might want to suggest a deadline and request that they contact you with a followup email when they have acted upon your request.

Step Two: If the first contact does not get results, send a cease and desist letter threatening legal action if the recipient continues to ignore your request. Although such letters are usually draughted by a lawyer, you can find many examples online that could be tailored to your situation. In many cases, the letter itself will get results without having to go to trial, but if it doesn’t you’ll have to decide whether or not a trial is worth it to you. In most cases, it will be expensive to take legal action even if you win.

If your content has been formally registered with the US Copyright Office, you will be entitled to sue for legal fees. Even if you have not formally registered copyright, your content is still protected under copyright law. In fact, you don’t even have to label the work as copyrighted in order to seek protection. The main benefit of formally registering copyright is the ability to sue for legal fees, but it is very important to note that even if you win a judgement against someone, that does not guarantee that they will actually pay you. You must register your content three months prior to bringing suit if you wish to sue for legal fees.

The only exception to automatic protection under copyright law is if you have chosen to license parts of the content through a Creative Commons license, in which case that license will grant specific rights based on your choices.

Step Three: This article on the Learning Moveable Type blog provides a good overview of how to use the  DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) to protect your content by filing a complaint through Google. You can file a DMCA complaint through the Adsense team if the site uses Adsense, or file a general DMCA complaint if not. You might want to include a reference to filing a DMCA complaint through Google in your cease and desist letter.

Step Four: If all the above fails and you still feel strongly that heads must roll, you’ll have to actually bring suit against the offending party in court. At this point, you’ll want to hire a lawyer to handle the proceedings. Personally, I feel that in most cases an actual law suit is both overkill and a game of diminishing returns… but of course, many feel differently.

Step Five: Most sites which republish content draw from RSS feeds rather than hand-harvesting content from individual posts… The best way to protect against your content migrating to other sites is to provide a partial RSS feed or no RSS feed at all. BUT— to my thinking, this is really cutting off your nose to spite your face. Sure, it prevents most content theft, but it also limits your readership and exposure.

There’s been a great deal of debate as to whether to offer full or partial RSS feeds of sites in order to curtail article harvesting. The basic gist of the discussion is that full feeds are good for readers but bad for security, while partial feeds keep content more secure but can be frustrating for readers. It’s my feeling that blogs should be more about the reader than the author if they wish to succeed.

Some people like partial feeds because they can scan a lot of headlines quickly. Myself, I favor full feeds. If everyone was as good as Brian Clark at writing headlines and starting their post with engaing copy, I might be more into partial feeds. But in most cases, I prefer to see the whole post so I can give the author the benefit of the doubt when a potentially interesting post starts off a bit slow.

When I have to click through to an actual website or blog in my browser, I get annoyed and eventually stop reading the blog altogether. The only time I want to click through is to leave a comment, and I would be way happier if I could comment on a post from within my RSS reader. The whole point of RSS for me is to be able to collect the info I want to read in one place and manage it by saving the articles I found valuable or marking them as something I wish to link to or comment on, etc. Dropping or limiting the RSS feed makes the entire experience of a blog less usefull and less welcoming to me.

When you punish your readers in order to discourage content pirates, you are effectively treating your readers as though they too may be bad people. Partial feeds discourage your reader from getting your full message, from linking to your content appropriately and from joining the discussion in the comments… take a look at this post by Seth Godin about a site that has made doing business with them almost impossible based on a few bad experiences they had with former customers.

Blogging in a Crowded Market

Many of the posts here that talk about starting your blog or site mention the following advice…

Find your niche.

Now this always seems to be pretty high up the list, but for me there’s something a bit more important, The Passion of the Writer. With that passion does it really matter if you are in an already crowded market?

For two and a half years I wrote for quite a big film blog, and for reasons better left unwritten I left and began my own site. I entered a marketplace where the most interesting niche areas are covered and the ones that aren’t are either uninteresting, don’t command an audience, or just don’t arouse my passion.

The film blogging community is crowded, there are many smaller film blogging sites and even those that command a larger audience are still standing shoulder to shoulder with others. Pretty quickly I found I was fighting for an audience alongside many other sites, so what was left?

Well the next piece of advice I see a lot is…

Write an exclusive.

There lies another problem. When you’re a small site in the film blogging community none of the Film Studios or Marketing companies care about you since you don’t have a large enough audience for them.

So that takes care of that one, so what is left? Well for me there are

• Write well and passionately
• Create discussions
• Build an informed opinion
• Market

The first is obvious, whatever you’re writing about write about it well and put your passion into every article.

Secondly, make sure that you’re not just lecturing to your audience or reading the news to them, engage them in the discussion, ask their advice, get them to do something and respond back about it. This doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s very gratifying. Oh, and remember to keep the discussions going, don’t just fire and forget your articles.

Next up is to build an informed opinion. This is pretty easy, if you have a passion for your topic then you already have your informed opinion. If you don’t and you’re writing constantly about your chosen topic, then you soon will. Except having the opinion doesn’t count for anything unless you voice it. Don’t just voice it post to post either, make sure that it spreads across your site and follows through articles on the same subjects, it makes for much richer and deeper reading.

Lastly, market. Get the latest tools on your site, but only those that truly help you and your readers connect. Get your stories out on social bookmarking sites, but try and enable your readers to do it rather than you, posting your own stories can cause quite a lot of negativity on these sites.

Doing these things creates quality and a site that your readers can interact with rather than just read. Of course there are a lot more points to it than just these, and a lot more work, but I’m not giving away all the secrets!

So you see, entering an already crowded blogging community is not necessarily a bad thing or something that should be avoided. If you have a passion and a strong voice, and a lot of time in which to build your site slowly, then you can, a niche isn’t necessary.

Beware though, it’s a long process, and a lot of hard work. Sometimes I really wish I had a niche!

High End vs. Low End Content

In most topical niches, there is an “expertise range”. Some bloggers will try to appeal to the masses by making just about every post “n00b-friendly” (e.g., ProBlogger does this well). Other blogs seem to be written for other experts (e.g., Signal vs. Noise).

The issue as I see it is this: writing for the low-end is going to have a much wider appeal and usually get you more traffic, simply because most people aren’t experts. On the other hand, if you write for experts, you’re more likely to get links, since other experts are more likely to have blogs in the niche; it’s also usually better in terms of building your personal reputation and authority. Bloggers who try to do both (i.e., expert post today, n00b post tomorrow) will usually end up annoying both audience segments with the inconsitency.

Of course, the optimal kind of content is probably the type that appeals to both the masses and other experts; People like Copyblogger and Chartreuse seem to do the balancing act quite well.

Whom do you write for in your blog(s)? N00bs or experts? And why?

3 Reasons Why Delicious Bookmarks Beat Digg Traffic Hands Down

Which is better, del.icio.us bookmark traffic or the stampede that comes with a big Digg?

Well, I was fortunate enough to have a post make both the top of the de.licio.us popular page and the front page of Digg yesterday with my (formerly) private collection of link baiting resources entitled How to Attract Links and Increase Web Traffic – The Ultimate Guide. Of course both events were awesome, especially since they tend to reinforce one another, as well as lead to links from other bloggers.

But if you had to choose one over the other, I think there’s no real question.

Bookmarks beat Diggs. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Bookmarks are Enduring.

While it’s true that sometimes someone will bookmark a page simply to come back when they have more time, more often than not the Delicious user views your page as a resource that they might return to again and again. A Digg is simply a one-time vote that may or may not result in big one-time traffic. A Digg is short-term event, while a bookmark endures.

2. Bookmarks Show Commitment.

Related to the idea above, a Delicious user has made a commitment to your resource by adding it to their collection of links, most likely because it provides a benefit to them. Other Delicious users notice that commitment, and therefore your resource gains in credibility thanks to that bit of social proof, which often leads to more bookmarks. I believe this is one of the key reasons why a big day on Delicious translates into subscribers and return readers, while the same exposure on Digg often doesn’t.

3. Each Bookmark is a Targeted Link.

Here’s the real power of social bookmarks. Each bookmark you receive is a separate link on a separate web page. Moreover, those links are classified by tags which define their overall relevance, much like normal link anchor text does. Not only does this help you in the search engines, it makes Delicious itself a search engine. Tagging will no doubt play a big role in the evolution of web search, and Digg’s model misses the boat here.

Ignore Digg? Nope.

Overall, you should continue to strive for both bookmarks and Diggs, since they do have a bit of synergy between them. If your resource is compelling, Diggers will bookmark you too.

But it’s important to realize that flash in the pan web traffic means very little other than high server load if they never come back. Diggers aren’t much for clicking ads, and they often don’t stick around long enough to decide to subscribe.

Creating content with the bookmark in mind tends to make you concentrate more on delivering truly useful resources, rather than just pulling stunts to pull traffic. Getting the right type of traffic (rather than just tons of traffic) is one of the main keys to a successful blog.

So, aim for getting a bookmark, and you just might get Dugg too.

OakFlickr4PFF – PFF Flickr Addon

While we have talked about the new features for the next version of PFF (1.4) including Image-Uploading capabilities , I know some of you really want support now.

So today I’m pleased to announce the OakFlickr4PFF performancing Addon by Chen Zhiyuan for PFF 1.2 and 1.3.

This is an awesome addon that gives direct image uploading to Flickr from PFF.

To use this addon:
Read More…

1) First install it, restart firefox, then enable it in the addons section under settings as shown below;

2) Make sure you are logged in to flickr, if not, go to flickr.com and login.

3) You can then use the normal Image Uploading dialog as you would an image url or ftp upload, and choose the new ‘Flickr’ tab.

4) Now click on the browse button, find the image you want to upload, then click the ‘Upload to Flickr’ Button.
   

Done, now you can insert your new image.

Another great thing about this add-on is that will also catch images dragged and droped into pff from your hard drive, or pasted in via the clipboard on publish.

Once again I want to give a huge hand to Zhiyuan for this awesome add-on.

For any problems or issues check out his Step-By-Step Tutorial or post in the forums and we’ll try and help you out.
   

Technorati Tags: performancing, flickr, blogging, blog editor

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Why Professional Bloggers Should Choose Their Clients Carefully

There’s no doubt in my mind that blogging will be an important marketing communications profession going forward. When it comes to having a good presence in the social media universe, there are simply too many benefits for a business to ignore.

But most businesses will not have a clue how to actually create that effective presence. And that’s where the opportunities begin for you, the savvy business-minded blogger.

Having blogging skills that not only attract attention and traffic, but also translate into sales, is the key here. That’s why I advocate copywriting techniques as the ideal way to accomplish both with a blog.

Professional Business Blogging is a Business

Beyond those valuable skills you’ve been developing, you’re going to have to also market yourself to curious (but not yet convinced) business decision makers. And that’s where the typical freelance blogger will step into trouble.

Freelance writing communication professionals typically make three business errors that tend to hurt them in business:

1. They devalue their own work. If what you do creates sales, revenues and profits, then you are worth your weight in gold. But many people for various reasons don’t believe in themselves.
2. They take on lame projects that they not only don’t enjoy, but the work product itself does nothing to further the writer’s career.
3. They wait for work to find them, which puts them in the position of having to accept those lame projects just to create some income.

I’d like you to consider looking at professional business blogging in a different way. Why not view each business you work with as a partner, rather than a client?

Partnering for Profit

Let me share an example that I believe applies to the business blogging world as well.

When it comes to developing information products, I employ a joint venture model. I find a compelling demand that needs to be met, and then find a person with the right credentials to partner with and jointly develop the product with them, which I then sell online. If I do take on fee-based copywriting work, it’s because I see an opportunity to do bigger and better partner deals down the road, and I want to establish a relationship.

This same mentality can and should be applied to pro business blogging. Find someone who is doing exciting cool stuff offline, and approach them with your pitch to increase their revenues with a blog online.

Whether you seek a fee or a revenue share is up to you—it’s the mindset that’s important.

How to Become a Rich and Famous Professional Blogger

The way to become successful as a marketer is to be a successful marketer. In other words, what you sell is just as important as how you sell it.

If you take on blogging projects from any poor soul who happens by, who you know doesn’t have a chance of succeeding, why do it? Just for the quick money?

That’s incredibly short-sighted. You want to associate yourself with winning companies that have killer products and services, and a great story just waiting to be told with a blog that you produce.

That’s how you raise your profile as a pro business blogger. That’s how to have people banging down your door to get you on their team. And that’s how to make a lot of money in this type of business.

So, choose your clients carefully, and always be proactive. Only take on projects that you are genuinely excited about, and you’ll never feel like you’re working.

And if your choices are on the money, you’ll be in the money.

Why You’re Not Getting on the Digg Homepage

I stumbled across DiggBait 101: 8 Ways to Help You Get to Digg’s Front Page today. I appreciated both the helpful tips themselves, and also the picture-in-a-picture-ness of it all (How to get a blog post Dugg? Make it about Digg and include “8 Ways to…” in the title).

Most of the tips were standard how to link bait stuff, but two really stuck out, as I think they’re the ones that most bloggers miss.

4. Get a Few People To Digg for You:
Sending some emails and bugging some friends to Digg you is not gaming the system.  It's just savvy marketing.  Don't necessarily expect the  momentum to build unless you put in some effort to make it so.  It also affords you the ability to control the title and description for the Digg.  You can count on your competition to do the same, making it even more necessary.  If you're really against this, then send the article around anyway, but without explicitly asking them to digg it.

Didn’t Calacanis say something to the effect of, “it’s all about the IM list”? Stop being so dang high and mighty. You need to promote yourself a bit — others sure as heck aren’t going to, if you don’t!

6. Keep trying.  Don't give up.  Don't expect Instant Gratification:
I tried for awhile and posted lots of interesting stuff. I still didn't get Dugg.  I never expected it with the aforementioned post either; but 100 or so posts later I finally got it.  I didn't look for it; I just posted good stuff with a few of the above tips in mind and eventually got what I wanted.

Ya know what? Maybe I shouldn’t have written this post. I’ll be happy to let everyone else not ask their friends for bumps, and get frustrated after a few flops… meanwhile, my sites can continue get on the frontpage

Call for Performancing Authors

As some of you will have noticed, we’re working like hell on Partners right now, and are not spending as much time as usual on putting out posts for the Performancing community.

We’ve had some great contributions over the last few weeks, but we could certainly use a hand right now. So, Performancing Authors past, present and yet to be, give us hand!

On the right, hit the ‘create content’ link or use PFF of course If you know a little about blogging, or related pro blogging topics it would be great to hear from you, not to mention appreciated right now!

If you’re not happy just jumping in and submitting a topic, feel free to email me at nick@performancing.com to run an idea post me or just discuss what you might like to write for the perf folks.

Thanks everyone! Normal service will be resumed in October with a bit of luck heh…

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