A display ad builder contest - enter today!

Many of you have heard of AdWords' display ad builder tool, which allows you to create display ads quickly and easily using professional quality templates. Advertisers have used it to make creative ads that get their brand and product messages to their audiences on the Google content network. Inspired by your creativity, we're holding a contest to see what you've been able to create with the display ad builder.
To enter the contest, please fill out the entry form with your basic account and contact information. We'll evaluate entries and choose winners based on creativity and innovative uses of the tool.
The top five winners get AdWords credits in the following amounts:
1st Place - $1,000
2nd Place - $750
3rd Place - $500
4th and 5th Places - $250
The contest ends on March 24th, so get your creative juices flowing!

A change to our display URL policy

Beginning the week of February 24, we'll implement a change to our AdWords policy regarding multiple display URL domains per ad group. Please read on to determine whether your AdWords account will be affected by this change.
In an effort to provide more relevant results and a high quality experience for our users, we've made the decision to disallow multiple display URL domains within a single ad group. Going forward, all display URLs within an ad group must have the same top-level domain. Please note that this amendment to our policy applies to all advertisers, regardless of previous exceptions or acceptability of any ad groups.
For example, an ad group containing the following group of display URLs would comply with this policy because all URLs contain the same top-level domain, “example.com”:
www.example.com
www.widgets.example.com
www.example.com/widgets/redwidgets/
www.example.com/index.html
On the other hand, and ad group containing the following group of display URLs would not comply with our policy because their top-level domains don’t match:
www.example.com
www.example.widgets.com
As a result of this update to our display URL policy, we encourage you to make any necessary adjustments to your ads in advance of the change. This will ensure that they'll run without disruption as a result of future disapprovals related to this policy. Also, remember that your ad's display URL must match its destination URL (the URL of your landing page). All other requirements regarding our existing display URL policy and its enforcement will remain the same.
While we understand there are legitimate use-cases for multiple display URL domains within one ad group, we ask that you use separate ad groups for each domain. This will not only provide a better user experience for your potential customers, but will also allow you to better organize and track the various domains within your AdWords account.

Facebook Traffic

I haven't come out with an official issue of Cool Cash
Ezine and figured now would be a good time.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5T4fe&m=1gj_rKhtJmzRpL&b=5ITNLhSzAvYhfs_EatXljg

But before I tell you how I have jumped into trying to
monetize traffic on Facebook, I first want to tell you
about some free software that can help you get targeted
traffic.

My good friend Neil Shearing is giving away his
"Internet Success Spider" software for free.

This software automatically goes out and scours the
Internet for super affiliates in your niche and shows
you how to contact them. If you can get one of these
power affiliates to promote your product, it could
bring a windfall of profits.

You can download this $80 software for free by going
to:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5T4fe&m=1gj_rKhtJmzRpL&b=cXaTtiaPCDzNqCkEW2SPtg

***

"Discover How Smart Marketers Are Tapping Into
Facebook To Generate Millions Of Dollars"

Many of you are probably already aware that Facebook
allows developers to create applications that can be
used within the Facebook community.

In fact, many smart marketers have made millions of
dollars creating these applications and monetizing them
through banner ads and CPA offers.

Click here to learn how...

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5T4fe&m=1gj_rKhtJmzRpL&b=5ITNLhSzAvYhfs_EatXljg


Take care,

Gauher Chaudhry

Let's meet in person before the launch....

Thanks for being on the Pay Per Click
Formula 2.0 prelaunch list.

After all these months, thank you for your
patience.

The prelaunch for Pay Per Click Formula 2.0
will start next week with a *killer* CPA
report that I will be giving away for free.

But this is not the reason for this email.

I am writing to tell you about the live
seminar I am conducting on March 21 and 22nd
for Pay Per Click Formula 2.0.

I have only 100 seats available and already half
are sold out after 72 hours.

I wanted to let you know in case you were
interested in attending.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5T4fe&m=1azmTW863mzRpL&b=o.iI1BbqoN1ZW35tRtN6HA

You will have to pay a higher price if you are not
a current PPCF customer, but you will get Pay Per
Click Formula 2.0 for free when it is released.

I will be revealing killer strategies at the
seminar including one that helped me make $25,000
extra in CPA commissions (in January 2009) for one
CPA campaign on *free* traffic.

I will also automatically give you access to the
digital version of Pay Per Click Formula 1.0 so
that you will be up to speed by the time the seminar
rolls around.

There are already going to be some major affiliates
attending who do five to six figures a month in CPA
commissions.

If you can just spend 30 minutes talking with
one of these super affiliates, you could learn
a lot.

So hurry and reserve your spot as I think the
remaining seats will sell out shortly.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5T4fe&m=1azmTW863mzRpL&b=o.iI1BbqoN1ZW35tRtN6HA

Feel free to contact me if you have any
questions.

Best wishes,

Gauher Chaudhry

Google is cracking down on multiple industries they have deemed "Illegitimate." This guy isn't the only one BTW…

Below is a comment I got on the blog today. It's from Scott Phares, who is being told that Google considers the industry he's in to be illegitimate. He's not the first, believe me. Nor will he be the last.

He's in MLM. Those of you who know me know I'm no big fan of MLM. But that is totally irrelevant to the subject at hand. I have seen the same thing in totally unrelated industries, things that have nothing to do with affiliate marketing or business opportunities.

Where Google makes a sweeping judgment and sweeps a bunch of advertisers away. Businesses are suddenly DOA.

"Yep, you are right. Google definitely tightened the screws … already. I found out the hard way yesterday. All my PPC ads were disapproved or their Quality Score went so low they won’t ever display. I called an 800 number I have for Google and spoke with one of their adwords reps.

Google no longer considers network marketing, affiliate marketing and MLM businesses as “valid” businesses. As a result, they have disallowed all ads forwarding to affiliate links/sites, bridge pages that then forward to an affiliate site, and any site that contains or mirrors all or portions of a parent company site. Even my ads for my own personal biz site landing page and home business web sites went down.

They did not disapprove them, but they immediately lowered my Quality Score (from GREAT to POOR) so low that the ads never display. The adwords rep. also told me that to get my Quality Score back up, Google would have me increase my bid so high that it would kill my ROI completely. To all - be prepared, you may not see this happen until you edit an existing ad or create a new ad, then Goggle will review all your campaigns, that’s when all your MLM, home business and affiliate ads will drop.

I moved all mine to Yahoo last night until we all can come up with a solution to this. This is going to shut down every ad anyone has running on Google as an affiliate where you have registered a domain and have it forwarded to your affiliate links/sites. I am looking forward to your call on Monday at noon CST, hopefully you will have some suggestions as to a solution."

I recognize that there are some areas that generate lots of complaints, and Google is trying to provide a quality user experience. However this is NOT a trend any advertiser should be feeling good about. First it's anyone Google thinks is an affiliate… then it's an MLM guy… then it's someone who sells a hair growth formula… then it's YOU.

If you're saying to yourself, "Well I'm in a legitimate business, this could never happen to me," think again. By whose definition of legitimate?

Sleep with one eye open.

And don't go down without a fight.

And don't let Google be your only means of getting new customers.

And somebody please, tell Yahoo and MSN to get their friggin' act together. A mutual fund company that USED TO OWN $500 million of Yahoo stock couldn't get them to wake up, 3 years ago. But… maybe somebody else can.

If Google's the only game in town, then Google is Big Brother.

PPCF 2.0 Seminars

The sales page for the Pay Per Click Formula 2.0
Live Seminar will go live at 12:00 PM EST
(Toronto Time) today.

I am using http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
as the official time.

The sales page is located at:

http://www.payperclickformula.com/ppcf2seminar.html

See you in Toronto!

Cheers!
Gauher

PPCF 2.0 Early Bird

For the people who are in the early-bird for PPCF 2.0
(now sold out), I have updated the 2.0 area with a
major strategy that is one of the foundations for PPCF
2.0.

This one strategy helped me generate $25,000+ in
affiliate commissions this past January on a ZERO
increase in ad spend.

It will also explain to you why I *rarely* ever direct
link anymore and why YOU shouldn't if you want to
maximize the return on your cost-per-click (CPC).

I want you guys testing on this right away because I
want to hear the *guaranteed* success stories coming
from this one strategy alone.

There will also be new videos posted this weekend that
will really open your eyes to advanced PPC tactics
never been revealed.

***

PPCF 2.0 Course

The prelaunch will begin in a few weeks culminating
with the launch of Pay Per Click Formula 2.0 at the end
of March 2009.

As a valued PPCF member, you will get a free digital
upgrade to the non-software version (software version
of PPCF 2.0 will be bundled with programs such as LP
Gen, Speed PPC and many more), which many of you
already have.

Also as a customer, you will have the chance to join as
an affiliate in helping me promote the course since you
guys have been through PPCF 1.0.

I will send out affiliate details shortly as the
prelaunch date nears.

***

PPCF 2.0 Live Seminar In Toronto

It is official.

The live seminar for PPCF 2.0 will be on March 21 and
22nd in Toronto.

I am limiting the event to 100 people and I don't
expect many seats to last because anyone who purchased
Frank Kern's "Mass Control" course thru my affiliate
link last year gets to come for FREE.

That eliminates a potential 70 seats right there.

The sales letter will go live on February 9th, 2009 at
12:00 pm EST (Toronto time).

The seminar will also include the release of Pay Per
Text Formula, which will *probably* never be taught
outside this seminar.

The sales letter will be located at:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=P9ciZ&m=1dpsl40VDbfFpL&b=7YTwITOhJoNMS_LZvO9f0w

***

Giveaway Riches

I don't really promote other products to my PPCF buyers
list, but with the quality level and price for Jason
James "Giveaway Riches" at attractive levels, I suggest
you pick up a copy.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=P9ciZ&m=1dpsl40VDbfFpL&b=3fgKdqlLdnQKLCbMdN8O7g

He is only charging $37.00 for a limited time for his
course on how he amassed a list of over 100,000
subscribers using free giveaways.

I love this course because it is unique and it adds
value in my opinion. I don't want to spoil the course,
but I think it actually would work well the "Workhorse"
method that I taught in PPCF 1.0.

Along the lines of the baby diaper example, you could
in theory do a giveaway in the HUGE baby market using
other people's contributions (i.e. baby ebooks) and
build a large email list.

The OTO could be a CPA offer and you have your JV
partners sending the traffic. Everyone wins because
they capture opt-in email addresses when their products
are downloaded.

Jason's course is hands-down the best resource if you
want to attempt something like this.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=P9ciZ&m=1dpsl40VDbfFpL&b=3fgKdqlLdnQKLCbMdN8O7g

If you are not interested in pursuing this from a CPA
aspect, it is still a good educational lesson on how
James amassed a list of over 100,000+ subscribers and
almost always finishes in the top ten of any affiliate
contest.

It also includes a swipe file of emails to use during
your own free giveaway.

There are a lot of high priced list-building courses
out there that cost up to $2,000, but in my opinion,
you can easily get into the game with two really good
courses.

Jason James' "Giveaway Riches" - $37
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=P9ciZ&m=1dpsl40VDbfFpL&b=3fgKdqlLdnQKLCbMdN8O7g

Michael Rasmussen's "Get More Buyers" - $97
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=P9ciZ&m=1dpsl40VDbfFpL&b=GexEWh1laDVxZ.EpBzG5Mw

That is all you really need. Just these two "out-of-
the-box" courses.

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,

Gauher Chaudhry

Make Huge Profits Online with (your own) Products

This is a guest post written by Scott Skinger. Scott is the founder and president of www.TrainSignal.com, an ecommerce company that produces and sells computer training products for IT pros.

If you REALLY want to make more money online you should strongly consider producing and selling your own product. I am not talking about manufacturing a product (i.e. a computer, TV, Slap Chop) or reselling someone else’s product… those cost a lot of money to produce and/or the profit margins are too slim. I am talking about making "information products" that cost close to nothing and are sold at prices that allow you to make huge profits.

What I mean by "Information Products"

Information products teach people how to do something or solve a problem. They contain information that people are looking for and find valuable. Of course there is all sorts of free information on the Internet but people are willing to pay for GOOD information that is well organized and from a source that they deem a trusted authority. Information products can be produced in many formats, including eBooks, online videos, DVD courses, online sites and more.

Picking your Niche Product

My niche is computer training. Train Signal creates "information products"(video training on DVDs) for IT professionals who are hungry to learn. We sell a lot of products because IT pros want this information, it is valuable and we are a trusted source.

The beauty of this is that the information product model applies to just about any niche! I have been preaching this model to my family and friends for years, because you can create video training on all sorts of topics, including things like quilting, how to train a dog, building a vintage car, mountain hiking, how to use a Blackberry…anything! What are you passionate about? What do you know a little bit about that others might find useful? Start brainstorming from there.

And please don’t start whining about how you don’t know anything that would be useful to others. Bullshit. Unless you are dead, you have some knowledge that others would find useful…I guarantee it. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be able to put together GOOD information that people are looking for.

Want an example? I don’t know anything about Blackberry phones… how the OS works, the features, network integration, synching, etc. But, I guarantee you that I could study the Blackberry inside out, look for common problems in forums, read information on different websites and in a month be ready to create kick ass videos that people would buy. I would solve their problems and make it easy for them to learn. Money can be made from this, I guarantee it. Same thing with the quilting idea or all sorts of other ideas. Find your niche and take action.

3 Reasons Why I Love Selling Information Products

1. High Profit Margins
I mentioned this above, but let’s talk details. At Train Signal, we produce high end video courses. The image above is one of our best selling information products. If you buy this product from us you get a professionally created course consisting of a DVD case, DVD cover, DVDs and all of the digital content. This course costs us about $5 in materials and we sell it for $397. You do the math.

To be fair, we DO have substantial operating costs with 20 employees and a slew of independent contractors, so we are spending a lot of money just to keep the doors open. This isn’t a bad thing though, as we are able to leverage our time and create a lot more products at any given time. It just makes things a whole heck of a lot more complex!

Keep in mind, when I started the business it was just me. I knew nothing about business. I researched the topics, recorded the videos, edited the videos, posted them on the website, etc. I busted my ass to make things work. Starting off, your biggest investment should also be your time. I never said this was easy.

Most sites with information products have even higher profit margins than we do. Videos, ebooks, tool sets and other online products have NO material costs. You do have to pay for hosting and bandwidth but these are very scalable and cost effective…you will pay next to nothing to get started.

Examples? Take a look around, ShoeMoney’s Tools, SEOBook andTeaching Sells each do it a little bit differently but all are taking advantage of the information product model. I read a case study that Brian Clark of Teaching Sells wrote recently, talking about how Aaron Wall turned his SEOBook site into a subscription service that charges $100/month with 500+ subscribers. He is grossing $50K/month with sick profit margins. He also just switched to this model, so it is very realistic that he could get his subscriber base much higher. Nice.

Lastly, don’t forget what I said before, the product model works for all different niches. Get out of your Internet marketing mindset and potentially look for a niche that you can exploit… outside of the Internet marketing space.

2. Repeat Business
Having one product is a great start. But once sales start flowing in, wouldn’t it be nice to have another product to sell to your happy customers? This is where you start to get ridiculous growth. For example, I know nothing about quilting but I am guessing that there are a ton of different sub-topics within quilting that you can create new courses on.

Think about it. I create my first "How to get started in quilting" course and sales start to come in on a regular basis. When I create my second more specialized course, "How to sew big red buttons on your fancy quilt", I can sell this to all of my happy customers who ordered previously AND I can sell it to new customers who have an interest in just this specialty. The more courses you have, the more products you sell. Your growth is exponential.

The subscription model can be even more powerful! Instead of selling individual quilting courses you are now selling a quilting learning community. You create quilting videos on a regular basis, post patterns, pictures of quilts, start a forum, etc. Now you are charging people a monthly recurring fee. Your mission is to keep your customers happy by creating content and adding value to ensure that you are always gaining more subscribers than you are losing.

3. Build Business Value
There are lots of ways to make money on the Internet…affiliate marketing, SEO, PPC, advertisers, etc., but in a lot of cases no long term business value is created. For example, you can make a lot of money as an affiliate but when you decide to quit being an affiliate marketer your cash intake stops, and in most cases your business has little or no value to someone else.

In Train Signal’s case (and in the other examples as well) business value is built by creating products, attaining customers, garnering leads and building a recognized, quality brand. So beyond the crazy money you can make just selling your products, if/when you sell your business, you are in line for a significant payday on the backend. For me, that is the icing on the cake.

Where do you go from here?

Take action. Your first step is to identify your goal. For most of you it is going to be money related, "I want to make $100K/year" or something similar. This number is important. For some people they truly might not be happy making a $100K and their goal is $1M/year. This will help you to determine a niche. For example, I know that quilting products could be a $100K/year niche but I am not sure if it can be grown to $1M/year. You need to evaluate your niche and have realistic expectations.

Next, you need to start thinking about several possible niches and formulate a very basic business plan. I am talking basic to get started, like jotting down some ideas for product/content, prices you might charge, number of products you would sell (or subscribers needed), etc. Focus on taking small steps forward and build on your momentum.

After you have some basic ideas in your head, it is time for you to start learning how to make a good information product. I recommend that you check out TeachingSells.com by Brian Clark. Teaching Sells is a subscription site that teaches you how to build your own information product/site. It is very well done and will save you a lot of time, money and headaches.

You probably know who Brian is, but if you don’t, get familiar with him. I met Brian at Elite Retreat last year and have been a reader ofCopyBlogger for a few years. Brian’s stuff is dead on; you can’t find a better person to mentor you. Read/Watch his stuff, follow his advice and work your ass off…you will reap huge rewards.

Conclusion

I have given you some reasons that the information product model is solid, now it is up to you to take the next step. Take action. Take small steps and get your momentum moving forward. I will answer your questions and help out with ideas, just post below in the comments.

Twitter Contest Wrap Up

Why do a Twitter contest?

Why do a Twitter contest? Well before I answer that question, let’s back up for a minute. Since I started using Twitter, I’ve determined that it’s a tremendous tool. In fact, I’ve even went as far as to say that I believe Twitter is the biggest communication tool since e-mail. I’ve often used Twitter in order to connect and network with other people and companies, seeing if one of my followers knows another person at a particular company or something to that affect. More often than not, I find out the information I’m looking for - if not immediately.

Since using Twitter and becoming more interested in other people’s experiences with it, I’ve spoke with some of my good friends including Neil Patel, Chris Winfield, and even some people we met at blogworld from Southwest Airlines to see how they ”value” Twitter followers. Essentially, everyone gave me the same sort of response - each Twitter follower is worth about two dollars (that is what companies are evaluating each follower).

Honestly, I think that sort of valuation is actually somewhat low. When it comes to Twitter, I often see a much better click-through-ratio for my followers than I do from my RSS subscribers (about 8 times better to be exact!). Since I’ve always valued RSS subscribers at about one dollar per subscriber, you can understand why I believe Twitter followers are worth more. (I know it sounds crappy to put a dollar value on a human, but in the end you need to put some sort of value on these things. If you don’t, you can never truly measure your effectiveness or ROI.)

After talking to my friends and nailing down an estimated value for each Twitter follower, I brainstormed a list of prizes (reasonably priced) that I thought people would be interested in. I then chatted with my friend Kris Jones (the owner of Pepperjam Affiliate Network) about sponsoring these prizes for something I called my “Twitter contest.” He thought it was a great idea and said they were down. Once I got the thumbs up from him and had the prizes locked down, I was ready to have my contest. The ultimate goal would be for me to gain more Twitter followers while also providing a new follower with the chance to win a pretty cool prize. (Sounds fun and it costs me basically nothing.)

Google shows every site as harmful

This morning for about 45 minutes Google was displaying every site as harmful and throwing up their interstitial.

Sure these things happen but… wow

click for full image:

Results for Gauher:

Results for google:
Results for eBay: