CBTool Blog

Something that might be of interest - how to convert FLV files to AVI.

Yep, I’m not updating this blog very often, am I?

White Shadow :: Jul.02.2008 :: Rants :: No Comments »

I’ve created a plugin for WordPress that can cloak links in your blog posts and pages. Read more and download the plugin here.

Features

• Choose what to cloak - all links, only the links you specify or no links at all.
• Choose where to cloak - posts, pages or both.
• Configure the URL - you can set the “prefix” part of the URL (see examples below).
• Exception list - links pointing to domains in this list will not be cloaked. For example, this is useful if you have chosen to cloak all links but don’t want to cloak the links to your own domains.
• Compatible with all browsers - the link cloaker plugin doesn’t use JavaScript so it will work even for visitors that have disabled JS.
• “Smart” cloaking - relative, ambiguous or malformed URLs will not be cloaked. Better safe than sorry.

Get it here

White Shadow :: Jul.28.2007 :: Rants, Tips & Tricks :: 2 Comments »

Squidoo has modules for various merchants (e.g. Amazon) but it doesn’t have a module for ClickBank. I’m a programmer - kind-of - so I after looking at the Module Development Kit I wondered whether I should go ahead and try to create the module. After some thinking I realized it would take a lot of work and that there already was a somewhat usable workaround for getting dynamic CB ads on your lens.

It’s quite simple - just use RSS. You can place a RSS module on your lens and configure it to use a keyword-based RSS feed that you can create with one of the many ClickBank RSS tools. Some of them are even free to use. One advantage of this approach is that you’ll get to keep all the profits from affiliate commissions (This may vary with the RSS provider. Some might use their CB ID for a certain percentage or links). If it was a separate module you’d have to split the profits with Squidoo.

On the other hand using a RSS feed has it’s disadvantages (some specific to a certain RSS provider and some common) -

• Ugly titles and descriptions. If the RSS provider uses the marketplace title/description, you’ve got a problem. Those descriptions are often aimed at affiliates, not buyers. Someone visiting a lens on dog training won’t be impressed by an ad stating “This converts at 10%!!”.
• Weak keyword matching. Some sites will return more relevant results than others and more results overall (e.g. CBMall is better at keyword matching than CBTool. Yep, I’m criticizing my own site :P)
• No product images or screenshots. This problem can’t be reliably solved by a computer at all because vendors are not required to provide a snapshot of their product. Someone would need to manually specify an image to use for every single product.
• Unneeded complexity. You’d need to find a good RSS feed provider, create an account with them and figure out how to configure the feed instead of simply setting up a module.

Personally I think it would be much better if someone who has already solved most of the abovementioned problems wrote a module for Squidoo. This would give lensmasters more options to choose from as you could use RSS, the ClickBank module or neither. The guy who runs CBMall (Jeff Mulligan) would be a good candidate for creating the module - CBMall has a good search engine and usable product descriptions. There’s also a lot of contextual ad scripts designed to show ClickBank products. A script like that could be reworked to function as a module on Squidoo.

I’m surprised no one has done it yet. The module’s author would likely get a good deal of traffic and recognition.

As a final note, I think it would be great if CBMall offered a RSS feed for search results (with some randomization maybe?). It would probably work better than most existing CB RSS feeds for the purpose of getting visitors to click.

White Shadow :: Jul.05.2007 :: Clickbank Stuff, Rants :: No Comments »

By now I’ve seen hundreds of sales pages and many of them use some cliched tactics that tend to annoy me unendingly. Evil, e-e-e-e-v-i-l tactics (imagine a deep, scary voice). Well, do they at least work? Since everyone is using them I assume they probably do. Sales pages aimed at marketing professionals might (should) be an exception as the intended audience is probably well-aware of the techniques and won’t be impressed.

Here’s a list of some of these sales-page techniques -

1. Shock Tactics And Insults (The Rich Jerk)
   “If you don’t buy my e-book you’re going to feel so stupid, you miserable, poor dumbass! Observe my ridiculous earnings and despair, ye frail mortals!” Et cetera. If you play this right, it can be very effective in evoking an emotional response (emotion -> action -> sales…?). It doesn’t matter whether the reader buys the product because of excitement and anticipation or because of greed and shame. Right?
2. (Unlimited) Limited Time Offers
   There’s nothing wrong with limited time offers as such - it’s a valid marketing strategy. However, I have more than once encountered pitch sites that say “this incredibly low price only available for the next XX hours!”. Maybe they even have a live countdown there or something. If you don’t buy it and come back a few days later… suprise! - “…for the next XX hours!” is still there, counting down to some arbitrary time in near future.
3. Out of Stock Downloads
   “Only 2 copies left!” Sounds kind of strange when the product being sold is an e-book or downloadable software. Not enough bytes left to reprint your product, eh?
4. “They” Don’t Want You to Know This…
   Then there are the “dirty secrets” and “killer techniques” that “the Big Canines don’t want you to know”. I mean, all of the “Top Felines” use them and I had to “practically steal” these pages of priceless information from them so I could sell them to you. I’ll even let you in on some “guru” tricks and give you the opportunity to “spy” on … stuff.
5. Metaphors And “Style”
   If a product is 98% similar to other products in the same niche or simply a retelling of well-known truths it can be hard to sell it. Then it’s time to give the product a unique style or brand. Sometimes the author/copywriter goes a bit over-the-top. I’ve seen Ninjas (more than once) and Space Monkeys being injected with cash. Lets not forget the outdated blackhat stuff. I wonder if zombies and pirates are forthcoming?
6. Is Product X a Scam?! (And The U-Turn Tactic)
   Often used to attract visitors to a review of some product, the advertiser initially creates the impression he didn’t like the product and later turns around and endorses it wholeheartedly. While it is actually possible someone disliked a particular product and became a convert later do to recognising the product’s true value, this is usually not the case with most of the reviews.
7. From the Desk of Jon Smith…
   I know, I know - giving the visitor a name improves credibility. Still, it’s not a damn paper letter. It’s not a letter at all! Letters are delivered to the addressee and, on some level, they are personal. The sales page on the other hand is publicly available and compels the faceless visitor to approach it.
8. This Is A Complete Success Blueprint…
   Enough said.
9. Bonuses Worth $1437.95?…
   If a product costs $47 and I’m also offered ten times more “value” in free bonuses I have to wonder if the product is really worth the price, or is it really worth anything at all? Or maybe the bonuses are worthless? Hmm?
10. Straight Out False Advertising
    I’m not going to look up the definiton of “false advertising” for you. Anyway, some sales letters make claims that are simply untrue. The infamous “Get Google Ads Free” e-book is an example of what could be referred to as a borderline case… maybe… if you’re feeling unusually lenient.

Here’s an amazing site that makes fun of some sales page cliches - Buy My Stupid Book.
And another one - ClickHereYouIdiot.com (not so funny yet interesting anyway).

By the way, if you’re looking for information on how to write a sales page, check out these copywriting resources.

White Shadow :: Jul.02.2007 :: Rants, Tips & Tricks :: 16 Comments »

Read this first : I’m NOT selling anything here. This post simply describes an amazing idea I had today.

Many authors have tried to sell an “automated profit-generating system” of some kind. Actually I’m sure there’s at least one e-book out there with that exact title. Needless to say none of these “systems” are actually completely automated and you’d be lucky to get something more than another rehashed “affiliate marketing for dummies” fluff-piece.

What most don’t realize is that with the recent technological advances and multiple internet marketing related tools appearing recently, we are now closer than ever before to a truly automated moneymaking system. Many typical tasks the affiliate marketer faces have already been automated to some extent - keyword research, conversion tracking, content creation, etc - and if those techniques were combined appropriately we might finally have the proverbial “cash machine” on our hands.

Below I’ve described a general outline of my vision of this ultimate system. It would be a highly complex piece of software consisting of multiple modules (each of which already has existing implementations) -

1. Product Selection Module
   This component would select “interesting” products worth promoting, like highly ranked products at ClickBank or products currently becoming more popular (determined by rankings changing over time).
   Examples : CBTool, CBEngine and many others.
2. Keyword Extraction Module
   This script would visit each product’s website and extract product-related keywords from it.
   Examples : Google and most other search engines.
3. Keyword Research Module
   Once the product keywords were found, they would be passed to a keyword research software that would find more related keywords. This can be done by accessing online keyword tools (like Google’s) or using natural language processing techniques (a subdiscipline of AI research rarely utilised for this task).
   Examples : KeywordElite and many others.

4. Ad Spy Module
   The extended keyword list would be fed to a “PPC spy” script. This script would track the ads appearing on search engine(s) for these keywords and determine
   • Profitable keywords.
   • Profitable ad copy.
   • Profitable products - this one is a bit tricky. You could either take the product already being promoted (could cause URL collisions and other trouble) or select a similar product from the list generated in the first step. Product similarity could be determined by them both having similar keywords (or more advanced techniques).

   Examples : GC Detective, AdSpyPro (note : these don’t implement the product selection)

5. Ad Rewriter Module
   This doesn’t have to be a complex one - just replacing a word or two with synonyms and changing the URL/Title might be enough. You could also throw in some form of split-testing. This module would create modified ads for the keyword/ad/product combination selected by the previous module.
   Examples : Content rewriting software. I can’t give any specific examples as I haven’t used it, but I know it exists.

6. PPC Interface Module
   This component would set up the ads on the PPC engine of choice, e.g. AdWords. It would also extract various data like cost per click, average ad position and so on.
   Examples : Various AdWords wizards and management software.

7. Keyword/Conversion Tracking Module
   This one would track all clicks on the keyword level and find out which keyword/ad combinations convert to sales and which don’t. It would discard the non-performing ads and leave/improve the good ones (small automatic tess and improvements are possible with the help of Ad Rewrite Module discussed above).

   Affiliates usually can’t use Google’s conversion tracking effectively because they have no control over the vendor’s “thank you” page that is displayed on a successful purchase. So an alternative tracking mechanism is necessary - and many do exist.

   Examples : X-Ray Domination, CBTool Keyword Tracking (free), Xtreme Conversions and many more. While the existing tools don’t automatically determine which keywords are profitable (just conversion rate & income/click) that feature could easily be added because this hypothetical system already includes a PPC Interface module making it possible to get the costs/click. This means it could calculate profits/click (or losses/click) on its own.

… and there you have it! A system like that would automatically find products to promote, create ads, track and improve the results. All you’d need to do would be to configure it (like set maximum ad expediture per day and such) and let it make money for you.

While it might seem unbelievable, everything described above is already possible. Of course it would require a truly tremendous amount of programming work and would need powerful server(s) to run on - but it can be done.

With that said, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a software like that anytime soon. Even if someone could afford to spend a fortune on having it developed - and I assure you the costs would be high- it would most probably be kept secret. This system relies on the existance of “normal” marketers whose ads are used for research so it simply cannot be allowed to spread.

Another problem is that creating such a system would require lots of knowledge, marketing skill and money (as already mentioned above), meaning the author must be pretty close to a “marketing guru”. And a guru doesn’t really need an “automated cash machine” - he’s doing well already. Why would (s)he spend a huge amount of resources on what is essentially a newbies dream? Creating it and selling it to newbies would not be possible due to the problems discussed in the previous paragraph.

While possible, and automated moneymaking system is very unlikely.
Feel free to comment on this craziness

White Shadow :: Jun.26.2007 :: Rants :: 2 Comments »

This evening I went walking at the dusk and inexplicably my thoughts turned to the unpleasant topic of the many worthless “make money” products out there (and many more coming every day). They just don’t seem to ever get anywhere. There’s one popular e-book, then another comes out, and another one, and at least a half of them promiss to give you the exact steps to getting rich and famous, or at least rich. There seems to be some misconception that drives newbies to purchase another “adwords+clickbank+magic=profit” course and lets some authors churn out one book after another. There might be more than one, but this time I’m going to go for the”plan” stuff, also known as the “blueprint”.

Let me show you what I’m talking about. Here’s an ultra-simple three-step success blueprint to becoming rich quick :

1. Create a product based on a unique idea in a hungry niche.
2. Create a professional website and ell the product on the Internet (use ClickBank or whatever).
3. Drive massive amount of targeted traffic to your site.

…and that’s how you can become a millionaire!

… what, are you still reading?! Why aren’t you excitedly rushing to implement the steps I laid out before you so clearly? Ohh, you don’t know how to accomplish them? Tough.

The truth is that while the process described above can actually work, it takes a huge amount of work and experience to be able to accomplish those steps. Also, it’s not very specific. However, a newbie purchasing a “blueprint” expects an explicit, specific instruction set, because that’s what “blueprint” means - “a detailed plan or design” (I just pulled this definition from Google). Many e-books just assume some things “happen” and don’t go into detail.

Another thing a real blueprint has and most “make money” plans don’t is completeness. If you’re the guy who builds houses you don’t have to worry about things like where to put the doors. The blueprint already has that. In fact, there are machines - robots, if you will - that manufacture hardware stuff (like cars) using a “blueprint” or a program (which is just that - a detailed plan). Newbies expect to receive something like that. They want an automated money printing press (I bet there’s a product named like that!). Well, there’s no such thing. There can be no such thing. Anyone implying they’ll teach you how to get/buy/build such a device is deceiving you.

If it would be possible to precisely and unambiguously define the exact steps to making money online, someone would write a software to do it. There’s no such (working) software in sight.

To use any of the “blueprints” available, you must have this one thing, this one ingredient no product will give you, whatever the price - creativity. And that, my dear reader, is not what real-life blueprints require of their implementator - being creative is the task of the architect designing the blueprint.

Many E-Book authors would have their customers believe they (the author) are the architect, providing the complete blueprint. All the inexperienced customer needs to do is implement “these exact steps“… “Even if you’re an total dumbass/average Joe/lazy git, you can make money with my ubercool product!”. Ah-ha. Right. That’s not how it works.

In internet marketing (and in most other parts of your conscious life, too) you must be the architect. You must invent, create and improvise. E-Books, reports, newsletters - they can give you tools, inspiration, ideas and knowledge, but they can’t give you “the exact steps to achieving financial freedom”. You’ll have to work and be creative to achieve that.

Sure, you can survive without creativity… but would you really want that?

Well, it’s 0:47 now and I’m going to watch an old episode of Battlestar Galactica before I go to sleep. Congratulations, you made it to the end of this rant!

White Shadow :: Jun.13.2007 :: Rants :: 1 Comment »

Here are some of my reasons for starting this blog -

• Once in a while, I add a new feature to CBTool, fix a bug or perform some other update. I can tell you about these updates here and avoid clogging the front page.
• I read some affiliate-marketing related forums, and I see the same questions asked repeatedly by different people. Well, I’m just too lazy to answer them most of the time Instead, I’m going to post some related articles here, mainly focusing on technical topics, like link cloaking, click tracking and so on.
• Product reviews. Yeah, everyone does them.
• …anything else I find interesting that’s related to internet marketing and affiliate programs.

White Shadow :: May.15.2007 :: CBTool News, Rants :: No Comments »