Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

5 Lessons Affiliates Can Learn From SEOs

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 11:00 AM PST

I've known Jeremy long enough to know that he's not necessarily a raging fan of SEOs. And if you're a fan of Jeremy's, you may not be either. And that's cool. But just because you're not an SEO BFF, doesn't mean you can't steal some important lessons from them to use in your own business. By keeping an eye out and understanding the evolution SEOs have had to undergo over the last 18 months, you'll find ways to strengthen your own sites and affiliate business. And who's not a fan of that? I mean, Jeremy's great and all, but I wouldn't expect him to come over and pay your electric bill for you. He's not Oprah.

As the co-founder of an SEO consulting company named Outspoken Media (a company on Jeremy's short list of Internet marketing companies he trusts, BTW), I live my life in the SEO world. Today I thought I'd break out and share some lessons I think affiliates can take from SEOs to help build their own businesses and rake in more cash.

I should note that the advice listed below is aimed at affiliates looking to create (and profit from) long-term sites and niche sites in non-competitive industries. If you're trying to make money off burning and churning, then I've got nothing for you. Except maybe that you should change your business model to be less douchey.

All good? Let's carry on.

Five Lessons Affiliate Marketers Can Learn From SEOs

1. Brands Survive

A little over a year ago Google let loose its Vince Update, a Google tweak that gave brands a boost in the search engines simply for being "a brand." Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has put his foot in his mouth several times saying that brands will clean up the cesspool of the Web, and Google is now pushing brands directly from its search engine result pages by encouraging users to refine searches based on brand.

While Google can't outright say they're giving preferential treatment to brands, they will say that they're valuing high-quality sites with trust, authority, and reputation. So, you know, brands. As an affiliate marketer, this is important information. It means that if you're going into the game hawking nothing but a thin affiliate site, you may as well get out of the water now because you're not going to rank and you're definitely not going to convert. The reason I have the obnoxious title of Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media is because we understand that companies live and die by brand. If you're not creating a site that a customer will want to engage with and become loyal to, you're creating something to be ignored. Remember, it's not just Google who loves brands, users do too.

2. Invest in Content

If you've been watching the SEO sphere over the past year, you may have noticed a shift to investing in real content. And frankly, as a content producer, nothing makes my heart swell more. As an affiliate, you also need to be hopping on this bandwagon. And when I say you need to invest in content, I don't mean simply writing your own product descriptions instead of swiping them from the manufacturer. That's not content, it’s just not being outright lazy. I mean using tools like Quarkbase to identify the content your customer base is seeking out, and then finding a way to give them that. Stay away from all-the-rage infographics and other link bait gimmicks that will be out of style in six months, and invest in evergreen content that will help you to become THE authority on your niche. Make your site a resource by writing how tos, by providing answers, and by giving your audience a place to connect around a certain topic. You know, the type of content that helps to build a brand.

3. Have a Plan for Tomorrow

If you're just starting out, beware of buying a domain that is too keyword-focused or of locking yourself too tightly into a specific corner. Just because you're an affiliate site selling knee socks today (yeah, I did that), doesn't mean tomorrow you won't want to expand to sell shoes, other women's accessories or women's clothing in general. Yes, you need to start small and grow out from there, but have an idea of where you want to grow to so that you can work on getting your ducks in a row. Who are you today and who do you want to be in five years? How about ten years? Make sure you have a growth plan figured out so that you're not shooting yourself in the foot with an iPad-specific domain name that will be too faddish to be useful in two years.

4. You Can't Rely on Google

One reason SEOs have been jumping head over heels into social media is because we've seen Google begin to incorporate social signals into its secret sauce ranking algorithm. However, that's not the only reason social has become attractive to marketers. By going above Google's head and connecting directly with our audience, it helps lessen our reliance on Google by creating alternative sources of traffic. As an affiliate marketer, you want to be doing the same for your own sites. Google's sudden mood swings ranking changes become a lot less scary when you're creating a defensible site. One that will continue to attract users, convert and engage whether or not it stays in Google's good graces because it genuinely connects with its audience. Get involved in social, create your own relationships with those influential to your business, and always have your eyes open for new sources of traffic. That's how you Google-proof your Web site and survive in today's more competitive era.

5. Sometimes Street Smarts Make All the Difference

The one thing that separates the good SEOs from the bad is the same thing that separates the good affiliates from the bad – street smarts. You can be marketing book smart all you want, but if you don't have that gut feeling that tells you when it's time to jump, to launch and to go in for the kill, you'll probably always be one step behind your biggest competitor. And, unfortunately, that's something no blog post is going to be able to teach. While some degree of street smarts can be learned through past experience and watching the game, the bulk you're either born with or you're not. If you're in the game and you're noticing that you just don't have a "feel" for it the way everyone else seems to, maybe it's time to get out. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but without street smarts, your site is deemed to life a mediocrity. You don't get rich on mediocre.

Those are five ways I think affiliate marketers can prosper by watching the evolution SEOs have been forced to undergo over the past couple of years. What are you doing to give your site the best chance it can to compete in today's market? Or what do you think SEOs can learn from their affiliate cousins?

Get a sneak peak at the all new ShoeMoney System

Interested in advertising on Facebook? Check out my latest post on Facebook Advertising

How Being Fat Gives Me a Huge Edge

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 03:44 AM PST

Some of you may know I used to be fat. Well, not really fat, morbidly obese is more accurate. Years ago I wrote about it.

This is probably going to surprise you – When I go to search conferences, I get as many people who tell me after reading that post I inspired them to lose weight and change their life as much as I hear from people about how much I changed their life financially. But people always ask me what my life has been like since I wrote that post years ago. So I decided to make another one that’s way more up to date.

When I was 15 years old, I weighed over 300 pounds. I remember because my friends would joke about how I weighed more than the size of their engines (the Chevy v8 305).

By the time I was 25, I was over 420 lbs.

I had weight loss surgery in 2003. My official weight was 432 lbs. I remember them telling me there was about a 20-pound margin of error because the scales were not made to go over 380lbs and it was merely an estimate. The surgery I had was called the duodenal switch, and compared to today's surgeries it was pretty barbaric. They took out a huge portion of my intestines so that I did not absorb any fat . This is called malabsortion (I think). All I know is that they told me I had basically 3-4 years to get my eating habits in order before the effects would wear off.

Here is a photo of me taken 2 days before I had surgery:

As they said happens with everyone, I lost about 85% of my excess weight only 7 months after having surgery, and the rest slowly melted away. By mid 2005 I was down to 185 pounds and was so skinny I looked very unhealthy. No matter what I ate I lost weight.

But there was a price. If I ate any fatty foods, I would shit like a goose. I could tell you the fat content of anything I ate without looking at the label…. Unfortunately….

In early 2007 I started a hardcore workout routine. I was pumping iron 3x a week and feeling great. Within 6 months I was able to easily bench press my own weight, run a mile, and do a pull up. To a lot of people this may not sound like a big thing, but I had never done any of those things before in my life.

In June of 2008 my 2nd kid was born. This was a game changer for me. I started working out less and less. I honestly think I have been to the gym less than 10 times since the birth of my 2nd child.

Last April (and this is the first time I have ever publicly talked about it), I had a procedure called a full body lift. If you read my original post, I said this is something I never would do because I did not think it was worth the pain and life risk.

But, my excess skin around my abdomen was becoming a major health issue. I will spare you the details.

To keep the description short, basically they sawed me in half, removed all excess skin, cut off my nipples and moved them around, pulled everything super tight, and sewed me back together. When it was all said and done, they had removed over 15 lbs of excess skin from my body.

I soon realized why I never wanted to do this. I had forgotten what it feels like to have your stomach muscles cut and sewn back on. I now know why they say abdomen injuries are the most painful way to die. I don't know how to describe it other than every time you feel your stomach muscles clench, it feels like the worst muscle cramp you have ever had times 10. I once sneezed and popped an internal stitch… It was not fun.

Currently my diet is as good as it has ever been in my life. Without working out though, I lost a bit of muscle and put on some fat. I have hovered around the 225-pound mark for a while now.

I believe being fat the first 29 years of my life is really one of the keys to my current success. I know, sounds weird, right? Let me explain.

Fat People are Givers

Fat people who have been fat all of their lives are natural givers. They always want to please others. Ever heard the joke about "Why do fat chicks give the best blowjobs? Because they have to." I know… I know…. That's a bit harsh, but can we be real here? Overweight people are treated as second-class citizens and are always looking for acceptance most of the time through constantly trying to please others.

I still have this mentality and give people a lot of value without asking for anything in return. It took me a long time to be comfortable with actually charging for anything. At conferences around the world I am not the guy who speaks on stage and then flies home. I really enjoy talking with others and trying to help them. Just ask anyone who has ever gone to a conference and met me.

I am Used to Working Harder and Outperforming

We are such a superficial society that when you are fat, people automatically assume that you are lazy.

Because of this fact, I think I became such a well-rounded (no pun intended) person. I can understand and write programs in almost any language. I can make websites. I can administrate dns, virtual hosts, email servers, load balancers, and about anything in between. Plus I know a thing or two about marketing.

I believe this is because all my life I have had to go above and beyond and so far out of my normal job role to be on the same playing field as people with 1/5th of my skillset and abilities.

I am Used to Public Ridicule

There is nothing that will hurt you more than growing up with constant ridicule from kids. But after a while (by high school), like anything that has been beaten for so long, you get used to it. Hell, you expect it. It's all that you have ever known.

In public, if you are not harassed you don't feel normal. As you get older it becomes less for comedic reasons and more just because people don't consider your feelings. For instance, people will always look at you and what you eat. The skinniest hot girl can grab a cookie or brownie and nobody thinks twice. But the fat chick grabs one and everyone looks at her like, "OMG NO WONDER SHE IS SUCH A FAT FARM."

I honestly don't think I will ever get used to thinking people are genuine when they give me compliments on my looks. It was very strange to have people tell me that I look good and not just do it because like, “Hey, there is our fat friend, let’s make sure we say something positive about the way he looks.”

People always ask me how do I deal with my haters who call me fat and say mean things about me. Please….

It's a Great Story

Honestly, it's a great story… fat kid in debt loses weight and within 5 years brings in over 10 million dollars. I have actually had independent filmmakers approach me about making a documentary about my life. Ya, that's not weird….

In the end, honestly I strongly believe that being fat all those years is a huge key to my success.

The only thing I can think of as a good analogy off the top of my head is that if you take a high performance engine out of a dump truck and put it into a normal car, that normal car is going to outperform all other normal cars.