Just a quick heads-up:

We are re-opening ActuallyRank early next week. Currently, our capacity is about 60% filled, so we can take on enough members to fill the other 40%.

However – and this is important – there’s been some changes to the way that ActuallyRank delivers DoFollow inventory, as well as how we handle PageRank. (I’ve copied a recent announcement that went out to our members a short while ago, below).

Also – immediately following this relaunch (within a few days), we will be raising membership prices for new incoming members. So if you want to make sure you get a spot, AND lock in the current monthly rates, you’ll need to join basically as soon as you can, when the order form is live next week.

(Remember that our order form was only live for about 24 hours when we launched initially – we’d filled to capacity in a single day. It wouldn’t surprise me if that happens again).

Stay tuned…

Cheers

~ Chris

P.S. Note that the ActuallyRank Website will be adjusted to reflect the new inventory quotas and service changes before we start taking new members – which is currently in progress as we speak.

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Here’s the Major Change announcement that members received recently:

Subject: A Major Change, re: ActuallyRank & PageRank

Hi {!name}

This is a very important email that directly affects what you receive as an ActuallyRank member.

I know it’s on the long side, but please read it carefully…

First – we sincerely apologize for the wait as we propagate everything over to our new server (and interface).

It’s taken a bit longer than expected, but rest assured we are scrambling and busting our asses in the background to get this back up and running (and keep in mind this is a one-time annoyance, we only have to do this one time)…

Second – and this is very important:
————————————

For three unavoidable reasons (explained in detail below), we are shifting our focus away from PageRank (for the % of monthly inventory quotas) and focusing on metrics that actually matter.

For months we’ve been telling members not just to focus on their high PR URLs, and yet at the same time, it seems hypocritical since when we launched, the core focus was “you’ll get X amount of PR2+ inventory”.

The bottom line is that we’ve learned so, so much from the initial growing pains and harvesting/filtering literally millions of URLs (as well as watching hundreds of members interact with thousands of blogs), that what we NOW know about blog commenting, DF URLs, PageRank and a whole host of other things paints a much different picture from when we first launched this service a few months back.

Here are the 3 main reasons why PageRank will no longer be the standard of ActuallyRank..

1) PageRank = Age.

Since Google only updates the PR ratings 2-3 times annually (and lately it’s only been about ONCE per year), that means that EVERY URL with a PR of 1+ is usually a year old, or more.

Furthermore, the high-PR pages are usually SEVERAL years old.

To put it bluntly:

BARRING VERY RARE CASES, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NEW URL (LESS THAN A YEAR OLD) WITH HIGH PAGERANK.

This might not have any bearing on a link-buying campaign, but when it comes to blog commenting, it means that high-PR inventory actually represents the WORST use of your time, because those sources are LEAST FRESH.

Next…

2) PageRank Simply Doesn’t Line Up With Real Rankings Anymore…

Ever noticed how what ranks these days in Google is the NEWER content from ESTABLISHED sites?

Those are the pages Google views as important. And yes, normally the root domains of the source sites have a high PR rating, but much of what you see ranking strong these days is NEW content (with very active cache dates) and 0 PR.

In terms of blog commenting, the cache date is a far more useful metric. It means that your link will be “noticed” and weighted frequently, and originates from a powerful base domain.

(For this very reason, cache date is one of the biggest factors – along with Domain Backlinks – in the PageJuice score that we display along with each URL).

If you don’t believe me, here’s what SEOMoz and Aaron Wall from SEOBook have to say about PR:

* “Cache Date as the NEW PageRank”

SRC: http://www.seobook.com/archives/001985.shtml

* “PR is Just ONE of 200 Ranking Signals”

SRC: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations

And there’s thousands of other experts/source who will all corroborate the same thing.

But the most pressing reason why we are replacing the PR quota is this…

3) We Cannot Promise a Number That Doesn’t Exist.

This is the big one – and it’s an issue that didn’t really rear it’s ugly head until yesterday when we finally had enough usable data (from when we started months ago until yesterday’s major export from our servers) to run some statistically reliable estimates…

You’ve all seen the “drama” of our first two months, as we scrambed to fix holes in the algorithm, etc.

What we now have is literally a DoFollow search engine scanning around 1.2MM URLs per day, of which anywhere from 7,000 – 9,000 will pass all of our filters as a legitimate, commentable DoFollow link (well under 1%).

This has provided us a very interesting perspective on just how “big” (and small) the web really is, as well as how things actually break down in terms of PageRank ratios.

We have found that approximately 4.5% of URLs originating from blogging platforms (WordPress, etc) have a PageRank of 2 or higher. This means that for every 100,000 DoFollow URLs we find, maybe 4,000 or a little more are PR2+

What this means is that if you want a list of 10,000 DF URLs, where 2,000 are PR2+, what you ACTUALLY need is about 50,000 DoFollow URLs.

And what THAT means, is that for every URL we can provide for our members we are tossing out FOUR perfectly valid, useable DoFollow URLs. Our “waste rate” is quite literally 5:1, or 500%.

Now, that might not be a problem at first glance.

Just generate a crap-load of inventory, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

You see, there is a limited number of blogs on the internet. Period.

We estimate roughly about 150 Million or so that use a commentable platform, perhaps a little more, and yes there are more added each day – but there’s attrition, too.

(For example, WordPress stated in 2010 that there were around 30 million sites using its platform.)

Now, given that estimated figure – and factoring in our own data on % of avg DF count from URLs in general, that means that there is likely somewhere in the range of 1 to 2 Million DoFollow URLs that would pass our filters and offer commenting, that exist in the world, period.

That means that at our current “throwaway” rate of 5:1, there are effectively only 200K – 400K URLs that we can possibly supply our members with, EVER, unless we padded “new” inventory with old data.

And guess what that means?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It means that unless we change the 20% quota from PR2+ to something that’s actually feasible -

August will be the last batch of URLs we deliver, even with just a few hundred members.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To further corroborate this, what we’ve seen in recent weeks is that our massive harvesting system is returning less and less inventory after comparing the freshlists to our previously-delivered data.

So unless we change the quota – there simply aren’t enough DoFollow URLs that exist on the web to burn through.

And – this is important – we are effectively “ignoring” (but still displaying) PageRank values as of TODAY.

We can no longer afford to waste what we now realize is a limited resource (DoFollow URLs).

Funny how much you learn when you build your own search engine.

Obviously, we wish we knew this before. But it would’ve been impossible to predict (or even know) until we’d harvested and filtered millions of blogs.

So here we are.

So…

Where to from here?

The “New” ActuallyRank: Quotas & the Future…

==============================================

URL Quotas:
———–

At this stage, it’s obvious that PR can no longer be the defining factor, unless we only promise a 4% PR2+ quota, which just doesn’t make sense for multiple reasons.

Especially since PageRank – for all the reasons I stated above – really doesn’t mean much anyway.

So going forward, what we will do is set a precedent using the scoring system (which heavily relies on Cache Dating & Domain Backlinks), where each member block receives an even ratio of scored URLs compared to our master database (which feeds the member blocks).

This means that if, say, our master DF database contains 1,000,000 URLs with scores ranging from 0 – 100, where 20% are 40+ (or whatever), then each member block will mirror that average.

This way it’s sustainable, and we are no longer just throwing out perfectly good backlink sources over the “PR Scramble”.

The focus from now on will be TRUE RANKING FACTORS. Not just the “perceived value” of PR.

This way, we can feasibly support about 600 – 800 members, without hitting the critical mass wall, since we estimate that each month there are roughly enough newly-discoverable DF URLs to support that amount.

Share Rates:
————

All member blocks will now be accessed by 15 members (14 other than you), across the board.

For members at the $69/mo level, this is already the case. For others, it will literally make zero difference, especially considering that mass-exports are now a thing of the past (and abuse will GREATLY drop).

Speaking of pricing…

CURRENT Members are Grandfathered, But…
—————————————–

Whatever you pay right now will always be your rate, but as you can likely guess based on the very real limitation on what can be harvested in terms of Quality DF inventory…

…ActuallyRank will no longer be the entry-level service it once was.

We’re not entirely decided on what the new membership fees will be (for INCOMING members, NOT existing ones), but it will be quite a bit higher than it is currently.

The bottom line is ActuallyRank cannot support thousands long-term. Only a few hundred.

And let’s face it – given how hard it really is to find THOUSANDS of DF URLs… it’s a bargain at the current rates.

And finally…

More Than DoFollow:
——————-

Soon – and in ADDITION to, NOT a part of – your regular monthly inventory of DoFollow URLs, we will ALSO be providing you with very choice backlink sources that aren’t explicitly DF.

In reality, and as many of you know good & well, the NoFollow tag only affects PageRank.

NOFOLLOW BACKLINKS GET CACHED, WEIGHTED, AND EFFECT YOUR SERP RANKINGS. IT’S BEEN PROVEN MANY, MANY TIMES.

There’s no sense hiding from that fact.

Especially these days, as Google is quickly adapting to social media, tweets, etc. (That’s where it’s all headed… like it or not).

Obviously, DF inventory will be the mainstay of ActuallyRank because it’s “zero risk” linkbuilding in terms of effect, but we can’t ignore the VALUE that we can provide by using the other half of our harvesting capabilities…

This way we can provide very large volumes of EXTREMELY High-Scoring URLs, in addition to your regular DF inventory.

We hope to have those modules in place by mid August (stay tuned).

Tracking Backlinks:
——————-

Real quick:

This has been our most-requested feature-add (especially since the news about exporting), and rest assured that it’s being developed and tested. Soon you’ll be able to track your live backlinks after commenting from within the ActuallyRank panel.

BOTTOM-LINE:
————

We now view ActuallyRank as an extremely valuable “vault” of DF inventory, which is continually being refreshed and re-filtered.

I have no doubts that, perhaps aside from massive marketing agencies or Google themselves, we have the single largest database of DoFollow backlink sources in the world.

I no longer view this inventory as some sort of intangible, endless resource. It’s not.

There is a FINITE amount, and we are only a few hundred thousand URLs away from what I believe is the international level of critical mass. (There will always be new URLs to bring in each month, but not *nearly* the 400K+ per month that we’d need if using the PR quotas…)

What does that mean?

1) What we have is extremely valuable, and can no longer be wasted for the sake of PR quotas. It also cannot be squandered by allowing mass-exporting.

2) We only have room for members who truly understand the value, and aren’t obsessed with PR or quantity-backlinking.

It’s pretty amazing to think, actually, that so far each month, our $299/mo. members have literally been receiving about 0.5% – 1% of the web’s ENTIRE dofollow inventory that exists, monthly.

If nothing else, this might just serve as a wake-up call for a few people who perhaps don’t appreciate what they have access to with ActuallyRank. (Just like it did for us. I don’t think any of us *truly* understood the value of what we’d built until we calculated just how rare DF URLs really are, as of yesterday)

Finally – and I want to make this very clear – this is one of those cases where I really wish life had a “rewind” function.

Ideally speaking, we wouldn’t have built an inventory-based service upon the assumption that the web was “big enough” to support a limitless potential volume.

But we did make assumptions. We had no idea there was literally only a couple million DF sources out there, at a growth rate of just 50 – 100K per month. (I don’t think anyone else did, either).

And for that, I truly apologize. It was a catch-22.

It’s been a learning experience to be sure – and I can only put forward my pledge that we will strive endlessly, as we have been from day one, to come through for our members and provide unprecedented value.

I’d like to thank everyone that has stuck with us so far.

I know that the road at the beginning was far from smooth.

But what you’ve seen the last couple months – and what you will continue to see – is a literal SEO treasure trove of linking sources.

And it will only get better as time goes on- as we add features, types of linking sources, and so on.

Thank you.

=============================================

Well folks…

That’s about it for today.

Keep an eye on the login page – it’s a matter of hours now until we’re back online with the new interface.

As you can imagine, I’ll have a lot more updates in regards to the new quota system, and particularly the new additions & features as they’re scaled out.

Talk very soon,

Chris Rempel &
The ActuallyRank Team
ActuallyRank.com

e: contact@actuallyrank.com

P.S. There’s probably going to be some cancellations today as a result of us replacing the PR quota. That’s totally OK with me, and here’s why:

1) That member is taking the spot of someone who will appreciate true ranking factors

2) They would’ve ceased to be a member come August anyway, since there wouldn’t be enough “PageRank” to go around.

3) It is what it is. I can’t “invent” more DoFollow inventory. If anything, I’m actually blown away at how much more valuable our service just became, considering that our members literally have a monopoly on the world’s entire DoFollow inventory. It’s incredible, and incredibly valuable.

So there’s no hard feelings or anything. If this isn’t the service for you… that’s okay. It makes room for others who can effectively utilize their inventory.

However, do keep in mind that subscription price points are going to be properly adjusted (for NEW members) to the value of the inventory.

(ie. It ain’t gonna be $69 for incoming members…)

In contrast to the previous post, I’ll keep this really short.

We’re calling this one “The Magnitude Method”.

Think “Conduit Method” – with a 7-figure twist.

The package includes a detailed blueprint, and our dedicated CMS (which we call GeoLeads Pro).

Here’s a breakdown of both the Magnitude Method blueprint, followed by a video which showcases a live, real-life “Magnitude” site going up using the GeoLeads CMS.

—————————————————————

The Magnitude Method – What’s Inside…

* How to methodically “sell” high-ticket items all day long

* 4 viable business models that will generate massive revenue – even from trickles of traffic. At least one or more of these biz models can be applied to any industry – even those that are highly regulated. In some industries, you can apply all four.

* Exactly how to sell a network of “Magnitude” sites using 2 different value equations (and you’ll be amazed at how much these sites are truly worth!)

* How to construct a brainless, “can’t-say-no” offer to sell a network generating active leadflow to a major business in a Magnitude market – as well as viable ways to do this even if you’re not a “go-getter”.

* How to protect yourself when you exit (sell off) to ensure you don’t get screwed.

* Big-Ticket deals and regulation – what you need to know, legitimate alternatives, and how to play in regulated markets legally.

* How to “make your own affiliate program” with local professionals. (This is a lot easier than you might think, and my single method has never failed to work).

* How to ensure you get paid from selling leads, contingency-based referrals, and so on. There is one simple setup you can use to completely eliminate even the temptation for your JV partners/clients to “hold back” a dime – and no, it has nothing to do with having a giant contract.

* Comprehensive list of Viable Markets/Niches. This one speaks for itself (and it will have your head spinning)

* How to get listed in Google Places legitimately and easily, regardless of where you live and your sites are.

* How to pull the easiest traffic in your life in local markets (not just from traditional geo-keywords) that will still convert like mad.

* And in general – how you really can (with some initial setup) become a dominant player within massively-profitable markets and sell your network of sites for an obscene figure.

—————————————————————

Now, here’s a glimpse of our CMS in action…

As well as a real-life example of one of my Magnitude sites, getting constructed as we speak:

—————————————————————

The Magnitude Method (including the CMS) goes live this coming Tuesday.

It’s limited to 300 copies, or 72 hours, whichever comes first.

We have no plans to sell this long-term or at any point in the future. This is largely because I’m busy enough with ActuallyRank, larger-scale projects, and in all honesty – I’m actually very busy with my own “Magnitude” campaigns, and I’d rather focus my efforts to that end.

Also – just so we’re all 100% clear on this – I won’t even see a dime from this launch. The only reason we’re releasing this at all is to cover Matt’s time spent coding it. (Matthew Chitty, who developed Affiliate Genie and MAKO as well).

Now, obviously, if you’re one of the few who gets in on this – yes, we’ll have ample support for you. But we can only handle 300 customers, maximum.

So that’s how the cookie crumbles folks.

Personally, I believe this is – as I’ve said – the Final Frontier of affiliate marketing.

You can either keep on pushing $29 products… or spend the exact same amount of effort and start playing with the “big boys” – and my previous blog post shows just how possible that is, even with the smallest influxes of traffic.

The difference being that a site selling $29 offers could maybe sell for, I dunno – a few grand on a place like Flippa? But if you’ve got a small network of sites pumping out leads consistently every week in markets where customers are worth a fortune…

….what’s that worth to a direct-supply business?

(Hint: A lot more than 4 figures)

So stay tuned – this goes live on Tuesday.

Cheers

-Chris

As promised – here’s a look behind the curtain of my own campaigns in the “Final Frontier”…

I’ll start off by simply posting the screenshots with brief explanations, and then I’ll describe the mechanics – and “master plan” – below.

So take a look at how much we’re processing – and with how LITTLE traffic…

A Snapshot of My Results in the Final Frontier

Sample Campaign: Specialty Mortgage Leads, in Canada.

How much traffic, exactly? Well, we have a few sites that reach the Canadian market, with more on the way as we speak. One site (MAKO-driven) currently averages around 200 uniques a day, but that is far and away the highest traffic performer, due to the long-tail traffic (traffic currently comes in from about 2,600 unique keywords – the site is still building its foundation).

The average of our other sites though is more like 7 – 15 visitors a day.

One site in particular hits that range pretty much dead-on, and just because it’s a bit more of a “personal” site, it actually generates nearly as many leads as our leading MAKO (directory) site. From 1/20th the traffic. (Personalizing – which I’ll go over a bit further down – is huge.)

Anyway, here’s a bunch of screenshots, sampling lead-flow and some examples of above-average leads…

It’s Not Often Somebody’s as Proud of Traffic Like This:

(Traffic from our best-converting lead gen site, captures REFI & reverse mortgage leads in Canada)
—————————————-

…But it Brings in Consistent, Quality Leadflow like Clockwork…

(And yes, I’m just using Aweber to handle/store leads. It works just fine, we simply set it up to email us notifications when new leads come in. My biz partner calls each lead within 20 minutes of coming in, unless it’s 3 AM, etc.)

—————————————-

Sample REFI/Reverse Mortgage Lead #1:

($600K equity estimated, with no mortgage balance. There’s a lot to work with here, and credit is almost a non-factor, since it’s all secured by equity. If they want a reverse mortgage, they can get up to 40% of confirmed equity. If they want a REFI or line of credit, basically it’s whatever they’re comfortable with, and that’s when the credit rating matters since it effects interest rate.)
—————————————-

Sample REFI/Reverse Mortgage Lead #2:

($1.2 Million Equity, $40K mortgage balance. This could just be a massive deal for all involved.)

—————————————————–

Sample REFI/Reverse Mortgage Lead #3:

(And here’s one for $2MM, and zero mortgage balance. It doesn’t get much bigger until you get into higher end commercial…)

——————————————–

And Here’s Some Sample Lead-Flow From One of Our Other Canadian Mortgage Campaigns (Challenged-Credit, Self-Employed, Investors, Private Funding, etc.)…

(We use the Instant-Leads application to handle these ones, but we could just as easily use Aweber here also…)

————————————————

Sample Creative Finance/Commercial Lead #1:

(The screenshot obviously cuts out the personal identifiers, but in this case a commercial investor on Canada’s East Coast wants to pull $400K out in equity, secured against his $1.5MM commercial building.)

————————————————–

Sample Creative Finance/Commercial Lead #2:

(This is a classic challenge-credit deal, where it will probably take some creative financing to make it fly. The guy has a solid income, likely self-employed or highly-paid in the oilfield would be my guess – since it’s an Alberta lead. But poor credit is going to be a problem with traditional lenders, and if he’s self-employed as well, income verification can be a tough hurdle if he’s reducing his income too much with aggressive accounting/tax filing.

This type of situation is one where there’s definitely options, but they won’t be cheap – and it’s the “creative” solutions that can yield serious draw as a broker.)

—————————————————————

So folks… that’s just a small snapshot of what we’ve got going on in the “Frontier”.

I’m more or less pulling back the curtain a bit for two reasons:

1) To show you what’s really possible in terms of quality leadflow, even from “nothing” traffic in many cases, and

2) To show you how much money changes hands in these industries every day – and that all it takes to “capture” a section of that market is to simply get visible.

So yes – this really is just like “regular” affiliate marketing, but we’re not dealing with $39.95 transactions. Some of these, as you’ve seen, can literally be in the millions.

It’s an entirely different playing-field.

Speaking of which…

—————————————————————

This is the REAL Reason I’m Now “Playing” in These Markets…

Here’s my endgame with all this stuff, folks. The master plan, if you will.

While the revenues can be pretty staggering in these kinds of markets, and you can certainly generate an absolute killing just by controlling the leadflow in high-magnitude markets – as with most businesses – you make the most money when you EXIT.

Selling the farm, as it were.

Not only from a numbers perspective, but also (at least where I’m from), a tax perspective. You see, when you sell a business as a Canadian, it’s treated as an asset. Therefore, that influx of cash is a capital gain. And only half of the sale amount is applied to your income bracket when you file taxes on it.

That means that if you sell something for $1MM, or whatever, $500K is absolutely tax free. Yours. And even if your tax rate on the other $500K is 50%, (which is insane, the top bracket where I live is about 44%) you still end up walking with 75% of the total. So in this example, $750K.

Do you know how long it takes to bank $750K, even if you’re personally earning, say, $500K a year?

After accounting for income tax (the big one), lifestyle/living costs, carrying costs, unforeseen crap, etc. – saving $150K or more a year at that level would be impressive. And that’s if you’re earning half a mill a year, consistently.

That’s 5 years of saving with a vengeance. And that’s assuming that things don’t change (and they do). And really, that’s still less than $1 Million in savings. Sounds great? Not when it takes earning $2.5 MM in pre-tax profit to get there…

Now…

What if you built and sold businesses, once every 2 years, for about 2.5 times the annual projected revenue – OR – otherwise an equivalent that will net the buyer a solid ROI?

Again, let’s use the 5 year time frame.

Let’s assume that, again, you can generate $500K a year in profit, pre-tax, with each business. I know I’m oversimplifying this, but in this case, you’d be looking at a combined “payday” from both sell-offs of around $2.5MM as a capital gain, if we assume that we can sell each biz for around the 2.5X annual multiplier.

Which means that at the very worst, you would keep, after tax, just shy of $2 Million. That is more than double what you’d have if you just “made a shitload of money online” and tried to save as much as you could. Trust me… I’m well acquainted with the horrible tax sting of just doing the latter.

And – that’s just using the revenue multiplier equation.

What if we shift this a little, and think about the buyer’s perspective…

Now, it’s one thing to sell some big-ass, cash-printing affiliate site in a popular market like fitness, consumer software, public records, etc. You can certainly bring in some nice capital gains by doing so, but your multiplier ALL depends on ROI.

And how much money is really on the table when you’re talking about $40 products, or even $400 lifetime customer values? Even if your site draws in 2,000 visitors a day, or you have an opt-in list of 50K subscribers – what’s that really worth if your niche is “Learn Guitar”, or “Lose Weight”?

Well, it’s probably worth a nice tidy sum – but it’s not worth a fortune. And NOT because of the traffic, or even your revenues. It’s because you’re probably pretty-much maxing out the possible ROI from your visitors to begin with. Your buyer can only expect to see slight gains ahead of what you’re already yielding. For them, it’s an equation of cash-flow vs. risk.

This is why the “12 month rule” is pretty standard when people sell affiliate-driven and AdSense sites on places like Flippa. Yes, some people can sell them off for 2 years rev, or more, but it’s not the norm.

BUT –

What about markets where each customer has an average lifetime value (for businesses at the direct-supply level) of say… $10K? Or $100K?

For example – what would an aggressive direct-lender pay for an entire network of sites generating active leadflow EVERY SINGLE DAY? What’s it worth to them to fund an additional $50 Million (or whatever) in mortgages every year?

Or what about a 5,000 strong opt-in list of responsive day-traders who like receiving your newsletter, and actually act on your recommendations? What’s that worth to an IPO/promotional firm? Or even an investment division of a major bank?

The answer to both scenarios is – MILLIONS.

The effective ROI for a top-of-the-food-chain business in a “Magnitude” industry will undoubtedly realize millions of dollars in newfound revenue from a fresh source of consistent leadflow.

(Think about it. What’s one single mortgage worth to a lender whose borrower sticks with them for the entire duration of a home loan? What – about double the price of the house?)

So here’s the big difference… and the reason why I’m so passionate about the Final Frontier.

You don’t sell your business based on what YOU can make.

You sell it based on what the BUYER will… which can be staggering, even if you effectively guarantee a 500% ROI in the first 5 years for them, based on your historical and projected leadflow.

And best of all…

———————————————–

It’s NOT Saturated! (Yet)

Wanna see an example of this in living color?

Head over to Google and type in:

* parking lots for sale

With or without quotation marks, doesn’t matter.

How many exact-match domains do you see?

How many aggressive affiliates do you see setting up linkwheels, blasting out thousands of articles & press releases, etc?

How many root domains do you see targeting that specific title tag?

CURRENTLY – ZERO.

This is a million-dollar keyword. This makes keywords like “registry cleaner” look like a freakin’ lemonaid stand. It gets 4K searches per month. And it’s GEO-friendly. There’s hundreds of variant geo-handles you can target as well (“parking lots for sale in los angeles”, etc.). You could literally build the pre-eminent authority AND leadflow source in a major sector of the commercial real estate world.

Just by setting up a 3-page site with an exact-match domain, focused title tags, and building 20 backlinks. You could pull in leads for both investor-financing and real estate.

And there’s thousands of other keywords like it.

Literally, just fill in the blank:

“[Big Expensive Thing] for sale”

“[Big Expensive Thing] for sale in new york”,

Etcetera.

Then you set up a network of sites targeting the major scope of keywords in that sector, and just start driving leads. Hook up and ally with brokers/agents as needed to help your visitors, but really – what you’re doing is:

1) Building a pre-eminent force in a market where millions of $$ change hands every day

2) Building an uber-valuable lead-base that you can tap any time you want (or that your future buyer can…)

3) And then selling it off to someone who can pay you $XM, and then turn around and make $XXM for themselves.

———————————————–

Proof of Concept?

Well, aside from the fact that I see people spending $20/click (happily) and racking up $80,000 PER DAY Adwords bills in some of these markets on places like KeywordSpy.com – the proof is inside these industries themselves.

I was first exposed to this kind of buyout-insanity last year, when I was trying to set up a membership site with a investment banker who previously worked with Merril Lynch. Basically, I was just completely and utterly floored at the kind of money his colleagues were happily willing to pay just for SOLO MAILOUTS to an investor list.

Responsiveness was the key – but I remember my jaw hitting the floor when a broker was looking to spend $850,000 just to send a one-off IPO promotion to a list that averaged an open rate of at least 10,000 responsive traders.

(In our market, a solo sendout to a list of 10K subscribers is worth what… maybe $3K? At the most?)

And when these guys would buy up intellectual property, it was beyond staggering.

From that point forward – as well as after my experience with “Rick the Realtor” (look back in last-year’s blog posts) – my view of what’s really possible with the “affiliate marketing” model drastically changed.

And it’s very much the same within the mortgage industry, the merchant service industry, etc. These are things I’ve seen first hand, and I’m sure many of my readers have as well within their own respective industries (and perhaps in a past career-life).

It’s not about the “traffic”, or “12 months revenue”. It’s about what someone can easily make, quickly, from your resources.

———————————————–

No Matter How You Shake It…

This is Unquestionably the Final Frontier.

And, as I’ve shown above… it’s more than possible.

No, it’s not as “automatic” as traditional affiliate marketing. Yes, this takes some setup – and yes, there are some legal issues to consider when you start playing within the realm of regulated industries.

If you can get a cut of the transaction itself – awesome. You’ll make a killing. If not – you’ll still make a killing. Just set up a marketing service contract that gets renegotiated every month based on the client’s overall sense of ROI. Or hell, just sell the leads as a flat fee.

Because at the end of the day – when the EXIT is your true goal – who really cares what the current setup is?

The fact is – especially since these are current NOT markets saturated by the mainstream affiliates – potential buyers will see your network of sites as a force to be reckoned with. You may not realize this, but your skills as an affiliate are MASSIVELY VALUABLE when applied to Magnitude markets.

Not only in terms of leadflow and massive-value client lists, but also in terms of TIME. Major businesses usually prefer acquisitions to boot-strapping. It’s faster and easier. It’s not like selling to another webmaster. It’s actually  the furthest thing in the world, from that.

Is it “brainless”?

No.

Is it “easy”?

Well, the ranking bit probably is. But the other stuff does take groundwork. (Hint: Rank first, then reach out. Much easier to ask someone if they can take on your existing leadflow that you “don’t know what to do with”).

Is finding a buyer “guaranteed”?

Nope. But at the same time, it’s just the law of supply and demand. When a business is hungry, and the ROI makes sense – it’s a matter of simple logic.

But I know for myself – this is the route I’m going to continue following with my “affiliate” campaigns. And from what we’ve generated already, and from what I know is possible first-hand, there’s simply no turning back…

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Oh yeah… How could I forget…

We actually developed a CMS specifically for building sites of this purpose.

It was originally going to be the equivalent of “Affiliate Genie Enterprise Edition”. An authority site builder, database-driven, and designed solely for professional styling mated with ultimate conversion.

Built-in, Aweber-supported lead gen form builder.

Built-in split testing panels.

Professional themeing for the express purpose of building sites that can EASILY pass the “trust test” as being an established local business.

The original idea was to do a full-on product launch. Hitting clickbank, rounding up the big mailers… etc. The whole shabang.

That all changed once we started getting more involved with “Magnitude Marketing”. As soon as we started seeing the results really start to come in, rolling out another “Affiliate Genie” didn’t really stir our souls, in comparison.

Therefore, we’re not going to put it on the market. To support another long-term CMS product would be detrimental to our current projects, particularly our own Magnitude campaigns.

However – because it truly is the cat’s ass when it comes to quickly deploying lead-gen sites (in any market), or even massive authority sites in standard affiliate markets, there’s no sense in not sharing it with my customers. Plus, since Matt (my JV partner on that project) was the one who put in the hundreds of hours coding it from the ground up, it just sort of seems like a waste just to use it ourselves.

So here’s what we’re gonna do:

1) Tomorrow (or shortly thereafter) I’ll show you a real site we are presently building with our “Magnitude” CMS, and go into complete detail as to what it does.

2) Shortly thereafter, we will sell this to a maximum of 300 people – OR – 72 hours. Whatever comes first.

3) All the orders will actually be sent straight to Matt (just a headsup if you see a different order page than usual), since he’s the one who developed it, and

4) That’s all she wrote. You’ll never see it again.

Cool?

Stay tuned for a detailed breakdown of what this thing actually does – as well as a live example of a Magnitude site that we are literally building as we speak, with said CMS.

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Congratulations!

You’ve successfully made it to the end of my gargantuan blog post/novel.

I hope it’s sparked a few ideas, and hopefully, at the very least enlightened you to a whole new world of possibility on the net.

Who knew that it was the same amount of ranking effort to become a dominant player in an industry where the average customer is worth $10K+…

…as it is to rank on page 14 for “best acne removal cream”.

Take care – and stay tuned.

-Chris

P.S. Yes, I’m showing you a real, actual site of mine in the next day or so. Please have the creativity and common decency to NOT copy my content, nor try to set up an identical site.

I do actively send out DMCA notices to hosts (if I have to).

Today’s blog post talks about what I feel is currently the biggest opportunity for “early-adopter” affiliates in 2011.

Markets where earning $X,XXX per transaction is commonplace, the “offers” are mainstream and sell themselves – and where only a trickle of traffic is needed (in comparison to normal/competitive markets).

The way I see it – this is truly the “final frontier” of widescale, untapped opportunity for affiliate marketers.

I’ll explain why in detail, below.

But first – a quick update on stuff:

————————————————————————

Wow… it’s been quite a while since I’ve sent out a mailing/blog post. Several months.

I can sum up the reason for my “silence” in one word: ActuallyRank.

We literally filled capacity on launch day, and I haven’t publicly reopened the doors since (aside from filling a handful of spots here and there from the waiting list).

So what’s the deal? Well, as members have seen first hand – it’s been quite a journey. The last several months we’ve had one sole focus – building the ultimate system. And what started as a scramble to fix our algorithms eventually turned into a massive operation of a different scale.

We literally built our own “DoFollow” search engine. It pulls in about 1.3 Million URLs a day, and filters them down to just a few thousand that are 1) DoFollow and 2) Pass our filters. To do this, it currently takes 5 dedicated process servers and a staging (relay) server running 24/7.

Not to mention, an ungodly amount of IP Addresses & API keys…

Here’s the key “plot points”, in order of appearance:

* ActuallyRank launches

* Algorithm not consistent across large data volumes

* We manually intervene at first. This involves hiring 53 people short term. (Yes, fifty-three).

* Simultaneously, we completely re-build the system. I bring on the guy who literally developed XML to build a codebase capable of processing and filtering thousands of URLs a second. He’s not cheap (his average invoice so far has been about $15,000 per month).

* “V2″ (our internal name for the new system) is launched, tested, and refined. It takes 6 dedicated servers to to load-share so it doesn’t fall over. It’s insane. The new accuracy % is over 80% – infinitely better than when we started.

* We develop our own multi-layered scoring system to provide far more useful information about URLs, with the help of AttackSuite’s PageJuice Calculator

* We roll out a brand-new user interface, based on feedback.  Some functions are removed to eliminate abuse.

* A few days ago, our servers process the largest batch of DoFollow URLs yet (getting about 500K DF’s from almost 60 Million URLs scanned). The data-set is large enough to show us something very important. Namely, that there are FAR LESS dofollow blogs than anyone ever imagined. If it’s inline with our current percentages, it means that there’s only about 1 – 2 million commentable DoFollow URLs that exist in the world. (Keep in mind there’s currently only about 150 Million blogs, total)

* And our system has already brought in the majority of them. Wow.

* This means that ActuallyRank is far more valuable than we’d ever imagined. And it also means that our pricing is going to change (for new, incoming members). Additionally, the PageRank quota makes no sense, since DF inventory is in reality very limited, and the PR quota forces a 5:1 waste rate.

Our members have watched this play out in real-time.

It’s not for everyone, but those who have made the most of their inventory have seen incredible results.

Oh – and we already have 50+ success stories with major ranking boosts – usually just from members building a handful of comments.

Updates on re-launch to come shortly. (In the meantime, if you’re interested, you’ll want to get on the waiting list – which is on the ActuallyRank order page – we have to adjust the salesletter before taking any new members).

Just wanted to let you know what was happening.

————————————————————————

Okay – back to the Final Frontier…

If you haven’t guessed it already, the “final frontier” is marketing big-ticket services (mortgages, real estate, insurance, investing, etc.) in Geo-Targeted, or local, markets.

And yes, I know I’ve already (sort of) talked about this in the past, and on the blog.

However, what I talked about about previously was promoting National/Network offers with GEO traffic. And that works very well, but it’s really just long-tail SEO at the heart of it.

But what I’ve found from my own campaigns – especially over the past year – is that the real money is in directly promoting and teaming up with brokers who can process deals on a provincial/state level. This is where you can make $500 – $5,000+ per “sale”, on a routine basis, and from a trickle of traffic.

Why?

5 reasons:

* Competition. Basically, there isn’t any. You’re competing against busy, frazzled brokers, mom & pop shops, and clueless local SEO firms. There’s the odd player, but in general, there’s few enough that PAGE ONE is up for grabs.

* Conversion. When you team up with a “real person”, you can personalize your site. It won’t just be yet-an0ther lead-gen squeezer. That will instantly boost conversion.

* Magnitude. You’re not selling leads anymore. You’re taking transaction kickbacks. That means that $450K mortgage or real estate transaction you referred (which is just business as usual in much of North America) means you’re getting a 4 figure commission. This also means you DON’T need much traffic. Work with the right broker and you can generate a full-time income from 5 leads a week. Less than one a day.

UPDATE & Note: Transaction kickbacks have legal ramifications in some industries (particularly mortgages & real estate), depending on region and type of transaction. You will need to research these details as they vary widely based on where you are, or where you want to do business.

In some cases it’s as simple as properly disclosing the referral arrangement and making sure that only the broker handles the actual client management, and in other areas it may simply be easier just to get licensed yourself so you can pass deals to another broker and get included on the deal. (The cost and training requirements involved in getting a real estate or mortgage broker license are usually quite minimal. It’s a few weekends, the fees might be a few hundred bucks. Big deal. Keep in mind that lots of people sell real estate / broker mortgages very casually, less than part-time).

* Local Places. This is the big one, folks. Now that you’re representing an actual local broker/business, you can hold an “office” (a virtual one, if your broker already has their own site registered with Places) and gain a spot on Google Maps and, subsequently, the top-fold of Page 1 results for most of the relevant local keywords.

* Scale. You can do this in every major or even mid-sized city in North America, and much of Europe. Think about how many MASSIVE transactions (mortgages, housing, commercial, investments) occur every single day just in your city alone. Now multiply that by several hundred.

The opportunity is staggering. As an example, some of our sites only get about 7 – 10 visitors a day, and yet they bring in about a lead a day. That might sound terrible compared to traditional marketing (list-building, for example). But in the “local” world, it’s HUGE.

One active lead a day (in the right market) can equate to generating massive commissions on a consistent basis. For example, this month we’ve already had two mortgage leads requesting a REFI on properties worth over $1 Million. If they close, then we’ll have a 5 figure month. That is insane for a site that basically receives NO traffic.

And yet, in this New Frontier – it’s just another day at the office.

Yes, it takes a bit more setup than traditional affiliate marketing. But it’s a double edged sword.

Traditionally, affiliate programs are easy to join – but traffic is the challenge.

In the New Frontier, “affiliate programs” need to be created by you (which isn’t actually that hard), but the difference is that TRAFFIC is a cakewalk. Literally, a cakewalk.

In the New Frontier, it’s all about magnitude and conversion. Getting a lot more from a lot less.

Take a moment and think about this…

How many affiliates are busting their ass writing articles, putting up site after site promoting Clickbank’s finest (or whatever other network offer) for $29/sale, in markets getting pummeled with hordes of new sites, pages and affiliate activity every single day…

A lot. The majority.

It takes a LOT of traffic to reach 5 figures a month in affiliate revenue. Traditionally. $10K in net commissions means you’ve sold a crap-load of $40 widgets (or $400 products on Amazon/CJ)

But when you’re talking about $400,000 mortgages, $3 Million life insurance policies, $350,000 home purchases, etc… these are things that happen by the dozens, DAILY – just in your own neighborhood, let alone your city.

In some cases, even referring just ONE or TWO of these a month will equate to 5-figure revenues. And it’s truly not that hard to do. All you’ve got to do is bring in a trickle of traffic. (Something I’m sure pretty much everyone reading this is capable of doing!)

If you have trouble believing this, here’s something to consider:

Despite what you might think of the market, PayDay Loans and otherwise “Personal Loans” are currently pretty hot in the leadgen space. Yes, they’re controversial, and no I’m not saying “promote them”.

However, what I will say is this – in most cases, these services can only offer loans up to $1K, sometimes a little more. That is NOT what I call magnitude. And yet, how much do the aggressive Personal Loan offers pay affiliates per lead (NOT sale, lead)?

$35 on the low end, $60+ on the high end. PER LEAD.

Remember folks, in most cases we’re talking about a $1000 loan, here. And yes, I know the interest is sky-high, but these numbers are NOTHING compared to the numbers in the “real” lending space.

So if a lead for a $1,000 loan is worth $35 – $60….

How much is a lead worth for a $400,000 refinance?

Or a commercial investor lead looking to finance 60% of a multi-family building for $1.2 Million?

This is stuff that happens EVERY DAY, folks.

The only difference between driving “PayDay” leads for $35 a pop VS “real” lending leads for $XXX – $X,XXX+ per transaction comes down to your keyword targets, content and title tags.

Food for thought…

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Part 2 will take you behind the scenes and show the types of leads my sites get, and just how little traffic it really takes to do this.

So stay tuned…

Cheers,

~ Chris

P.S. Yes, this is a leadup to something, but it’s not what you might expect…

I figured the easiest place to conduct this “feedback session” was right here on the blog.

Basically, I’m going to lay out our current plans for significantly changing (and improving) the way we score, sort and display data for your URL inventory.

And I’ll also mention (briefly) the other logistical changes planned to come into effect in your user-interface. And I’ll finish off by asking “what did we miss, and what do you want?”

Sound good?

Great – let’s get started. First up is URL Scoring…

We all know that PageRank is essentially useless when it comes to representing fair link juice value. Not only is it about a year old at any given time, it’s also simply not indicative of REAL factors, such as average cache time, inbound links to the domain/page, etc.

So we’ve developed a scoring algorithm that takes the following factors and scores them accordingly (out of anywhere from 3 to 10 points or so), coming up with a ballpark “total” of a little over 100. To do this, we’re using a combo of the SEOMoz API and our own scraping.

Based on how we’ve been benchmarking this system so far, this is what we’re seeing in terms of how it’s scoring…

100/100 would be URL like google.com’s home page.

60/100 would be a key page on Apple.com

40/100 would be the home page of an established niche authority site

20/100 would be a strong, visible internal page or blog post of a niche authority site

10/100 would be a good link opp on an internal page of a site that has some authority

5/100 would be a an average backlink on a new blog post

1/100 would be the equivalent of an “article link” on some content-farm-style article directory.

And here are the factors we are currently using (and “weighting”) to arrive at these scores… I won’t reveal our weighting for each factor, but you can probably guess which ones get the most attention.

For example, let’s examine the URL: http://www.apple.com/ipad/ using our new link scoring system. The values from our sample link-scoring algorithm are returned in bold.

Our actual scoring algo (how we rate the data) is proprietary, but this should give you an indication as to how much MORE valuable this kind of evaluation is compared to PageRank.

Here’s what comes back…

Page-Specific:

* How many juicy backlinks to this page? 116871
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
This is the # of *followed* links to this page. seoMoz is more along the Google #’s compared to the outrageous Yahoo Site Explorer #’s , but this will all be relative so it doesn’t matter much #’s wise.

* How many total backlinks to this page (inner & outer)? 305452
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
This is the total links in to the page from the same domain, outside, no followed and followed…

* The seoMoz Page Authority of the top 3 external *juicy* links in? 77.27
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
seoMOZ grades every page similar to google’s PR, so this takes the top 3 pages outside of the domain that’s linking to this page and then averages the score. So the top 3 pages linking to this page on apple’s site has a rating of 77.27 / 100 .. which is very high

* The seoMoz Page Authority of the top 3 internal *juicy* links in?94.80
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
This is the same as above, but concentrates on *internal* links

* SeoMoz Page Authority? 90.96
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
This is their version of PR power … which is similar to what we’re using here, but I have no idea how they calculate their ratings. I mean in reality we could just take this number and use it on your links .. but I think it should just be 1 factor

* SeoMoz mozTrust for Page? 7.9
Data Source:  seoMOZ API (time included)
This appears to be a similar calculation to the above, based on SEOMoz’s own internal scoring. We may use this or we may not, depending on manual corroboration.

* How many outlinks from this page? 0
Data Source:  The actual page of the url in query
This is how many links this page is sending outside of their domain (followed or no-follow) (I’m getting this directly from their page)

* What’s the PR of this page? 9
Data Source:  google toolbar search
Google pr from google toolbar search

* How many delicious bookmarks for this page? 621
Data Source:  delicious web search
Grabbing this data from delicious directly to show social power in

* How many twitter mentions for this page? 10
Data Source:  twitter API
Grabbing via twitter’s api, which is rather limited as the # of mention isn’t all that accurate obviously, so this may be a smaller factor. Right now 10 the highest number of tweets received.

* How many facebook likes for this page? 80048
Data Source:  facebook API
Grabbing how many likes it’s getting from Facebook, another social in factor

* How long ago was this page cached? Apr 16, 2011 23:32:11
Data Source:  google toolbar search
A good factor to show how often it’s crawled, and how SOON your backlinks will actually get noticed.

* Does this page rank in the top 10 for the 1st 3 words in their title (not including site.com)? yes
Data Source:  The actual page of the url in query (included) & google search
Basically it will take the 3 words in the page title – not including their domain if it’s there, and see if it ranks in the top 10 of google for it. A really good page should be on the 1st page for almost any title …

* Does this page rank in the top 10 for the 1st 2 words in their title? (not including site.com) yes
Data Source:  The actual page of the url in query (included) & google search
Same as above, but just using the 1st 2 words in the title tag — this will really show a page’s power to rank

* Is this page linked from domain base page? (aka 1-click) yes
Data Source:  seoMOZ API

Pretty simple here, is this page (assuming it’s not the homepage), linked to from the homepage .. aka 1-click from home

Domain Specific:

* How many backlinks to the domain base 953665
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
Same as above but this time for the homepage

* What’s the mozDomain authority for domain 99
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
seoMOZ’s PR for the whole domain, a really good sign of power

* What’s the mozDomain page authority for domain root97.65
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
Same as above, except pertaining to the homepage

* seoMoz mozTrust for domain root? 8.0
Data Source:  seoMOZ API
Same as above, but for domain
* Is this domain in DMOZ? Yes
Data Source:  search of dmoz’s site
Boost if the domain is in DMOZ … (search directly in dmoz)

* What is the PR of this domain? 9
Data Source:  google toolbar search
Google pr of the homepage from google toolbar search

* Is this domain in the Yahoo Directory? Yes
Data Source:  search of yahoo directory  (0.413 secs)
May or not be a factor these days, but shows a little quailty if the site’s in yahoo’s directory .

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Well folks…

That is all the crap we consider when we formulate this new score. Seems a little more accurate and valuable than a PR level, if you ask me…

As I mentioned above, we take all these factors and score them based on their overall importance in comparison to their respective counterparts. As you can probably guess, factors like inbound links and caching times have a much higher scoring weight than the number of bookmarks on Del.icio.us, and so on.

But since we are in the process of integrating all of this into the user-interface, what I need your feedback on is 2 things:

1) Are we missing anything?

2) In addition to the xx/100 score, what THREE data values (eg. How many backlinks to page, clicks from homepage, etc.) do you want to see alongside each URL?

Now is the time to let us know.

Please leave your comment below…

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I mentioned above that we’d talk about logistical improvements to the User Interface here as well, briefly.

I fear that if I go into too much detail this blog post will simply be too long and involved to properly “reply” to from your point of view. So I’m just going to summarize the changes we’ve made (which you will see very shortly) in the new UI:

* Pagination. This is the big one. You now no longer have to click 800 times to get back to the page you were on when you reported a link, or maybe lost your spot. You can easily skip to any page of your inventory in one or two clicks.

* Add Specified Number of Top-Rated URLs to Project. Yet again, another big timesaver.

* Export Projects to CSV

* Create Your Own Standalone Database of “Favorite Links”. These are different than Projects because they’re actually your own database of solid sites/pages that you find as you navigate the system over time, building up your own “ultra-goldmine” so to speak.

* Projects Now Include Work Description Area (Optionally), for people who are outsourcing.

* POSSIBLE: Scan Your URLs and See How Many Backlinks are Live. (This is in development).

Those are the major ones. And that concludes our UI improvements section, for now.

————————————————

Alright folks…

This is truly YOUR service.

So please tell us:

1) What we’re missing (UI or Link Scoring)

2) What you want to see if you had to choose THREE data points from our link scoring algo alongside each URL, in addition to the 100 point score.

As you can hopefully see by now, your input is taken seriously, and we are committed to making ActuallyRank totally untouchable in terms of value.

Thanks in advance…

Chris Rempel

Here are 5 sure-fire ways to absolutely guarantee failure and crappy results in 2011.

If anything sounds familiar… you might wanna re-think your strategy…

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1) Always Gravitate to Whatever is “EASIEST”…

Ever notice how so many people are obsessed with article marketing?

Or how many products/offers specifically focus on things like “you don’t need a website, a product or a list”, etc.?

The reason is because the barrier to entry is basically zero, which makes that appealing to people who think this is somehow “push-button”. That means that any old slob can go sign up at EzineArticles or wherever and start promoting Clickbank’s Finest. It’s so “easy”.

The same applies to stuff like auto-blogging, using PLR, etc.

Easy, my ass.

Everything about it is tough as hell. Go to ANY marketing forum and take a look at all the threads with subject lines like “Help, I’ve submitted 150 articles and I’ve only made $32.75!!”

That’s pretty extreme, and usually it’s because their niche (or keyword) sucks, but you’ll see that a lot.

Let’s talk about why…

You’re limited to targeting long-tail keywords. You’re sending all of your traffic to someone else (who’s actually building a real business from it). You’re not making enough money to outsource your “easy” activities. Meanwhile you’re working your ass off, for hours on end, churning out one article after the next.

Not to mention, you don’t OWN anything. And – considering what just happened to EzineArticles in the Farmer update (a 90% LOSS in SERP visibility), you are also held hostage by what happens to the entity you are piggybacking.

Sound insane?

YES. So why the hell does everybody gravitate to this?

Because it’s “easy”.

Yeah – it’s so much “harder” just to build a site, market it for a month and then let the search engines send traffic to it passively for the next 8+ months (or indefinitely if you run some periodic backlinking from time to time).

Which, in comparison, is actually far easier, less effort, and less work.

Speaking of article marketing…

2) Only Ever Target “Low Hanging Fruit”…

I have received hundreds of emails over the years from people who are obsessed with finding keywords and keyphrases with “under 5000 competing search results”. So they’ll email and ask,

“Chris, I decided to target ‘Cheapest Car Insurance for 1972 Imported Mini Coopers’ because it only has 273 competing organic results and since I can rank really easily for it with basically no effort I think it’s a good way to go – what do you think?”

What do I think?

Well, for one thing I won’t tell you exactly what I think about that, since my thoughts contain several swear words.

However, what I will say is this…

YOU NEED TRAFFIC.

And no, getting 5 visitors a day isn’t traffic. Unless you are selling Luxury Yachts or Pacific Islands, 5 visitors a day is going to put you in the poor house.

And no, the solution isn’t to go and build 100 “poor houses” and hope that the combined effect will be a “not-as-poor house”. That’s just a stupid way to build a business – let alone an online empire.

What is so scary about just aiming for keywords that will actually provide you with tons of traffic?

It’s truly NOT that difficult.

Does it take elbow grease for a month or two, and 5 minutes of research?

Yes, it does.

(But it’s a hell of a lot less effort than being an article slave, or building 500 “low-hanging fruit” miniblogs…)

Not to mention, sites that go after REAL keywords make REAL money. What a shocker.

Turns out it’s actually a lot more work to pick low-hanging fruit than it is to just go get yourself a ladder and have all the good stuff to yourself.

3) Follow the Masses.

Here’s a depressing exercise…

Go to any popular marketing forum.

Browse the threads.

Make a note of what appears to be the most popular activity or method.

Then, make a note of all the threads where people complain about poor results, not making any money, etc.

Guess what?

99 times out of 100, the stuff that DOESN’T WORK is what EVERYONE is doing.

(If you wanna know why, go back and read Steps 1 and 2 in this post).

You wanna know what REALLY works?

Ignore the marketers. Ignore the forums.

LOOK at who’s ranking in Google. LOOK at active marketplaces. LOOK at who’s advertising with PPC, Facebook, etc. LOOK at what people are buying.

And then just reverse-engineer it. Look at how THEY are doing it.

This isn’t rocket-science, folks.

You’ve gotta shut off the noise, and ignore the shovel-sellers – and open your eyes to the logical reality of the web. It’s literally right in front of you. And becoming a player really isn’t that hard, guys.

All it takes is observing obvious success, and then just reverse-engineering that logical path. Not just following the herd.

4) Obsess Over Details, Technicalities and Specific Tactics…

Another way to guarantee failure is to get hung up on “doing everything right” – or to assume that simple actions aren’t as effective as complicated processes.

A good example of this is something I mentioned above – people’s obsession with Organic competition (such as only trying to rank for keywords with less than 5,000 exact-match results). First of all, as an aside – those values are completely unreliable. One day a keyphrase will have 3,500 competitors. The next day it will be 950,000. Try this and see for yourself.

Anyway – the point is – the reality is that you are only competing with the sites on page 1. The only thing that matters is what the sites on Page #1 have done, and whether you’re prepared to do the same thing.

THAT is how you measure feasibility. Not some convoluted pseudo-science based on nothing other than “common knowledge”. (If you rely on common knowledge, you get common results).

End the confusion by focusing on logical, straight-forward thinking.

There is SO MUCH data at your fingertips these days. With inexpensive tools like SEMRush, SEOSpyglass, and so on, it is literally a matter of 20 seconds of research to completely reverse-engineer the entire marketing “blueprint”, tried, tested and proven by your competitors.

All you’ve gotta do is step up, put your work gloves on, and have at it.

That’s how you get results.

Not by embracing over-the-top tactics or pining over convoluted theories.

And finally – if your goal is to fail this year, make sure to…

5) Resist Anything That Requires Initial Effort, Forethought, or Otherwise Isn’t Mundane or Automated

This is the big one.

This will absolutely guarantee ongoing failure for as long as you do this…

Let me explain how it works:

About 2 years ago I started renting an office in a commercial building, simply because I find it a lot easier that way to separate my “work life” from my “home life”. (You find out pretty quick that the “luxury” of working from home can make you stir crazy).

Anyway, I’m one of about 30 other businesses/offices on my floor. I’ve made a few friends, and a few people are curious about the weird guy with no discernable schedule, definitely no dress code, long hair and a collection of Porsches.

So I’ve been asked, numerous times, what I do. I offer a 20-second summary blurb. One that I’ve carefully engineered over the years to convey the fact that I’m not in the Adult industry, and simultaneously vague enough to keep people guessing (since they won’t understand anyway).

Nevertheless, I’ve had a few people pry. So I’ll oblige, and explain affiliate marketing, list-building and in general the online business platform in more detail.

They start getting excited. I can literally “see” their emotions well up, and their eyes sparkle, when their internal gears start turning, and they begin to think “Oh boy! Maybe I can do this TOO”…

Then they ask me how much work is involved. My favorite part ensues…

I tell them the truth:

“You don’t know which way is up, so it will probably take you about 6 months to figure out what’s what. After that point, when you’ve chosen a market and laid out some target keywords, you need to probably produce about 50 – 100 articles. Then you need to go out and build backlinks for about 2-3 months. Then you need to wait for Google to respond to your efforts. THEN – it will start to pay off. You can literally build a crazy income, just by building a few sites like this.”

By this point, the “spark of excitement” in their facial expression will have gradually faded into a glazed-over expression that communicates exactly what they’re thinking…

“Oh, well – screw it. I thought it would be easier…”

Now, I want to draw your attention to the PURE INSANITY of what just happened…

I basically tell someone how to make a solid 6 figures a year (or more), in about a year’s time, and as soon they discover that there’s work involved – forget it.

Let’s see if we can break down their thought process, from a logical point of view:

1) I can continue running my fledgling business or working as an employee, where $45K is a good year, and eventually retire when I’m 75 in some run-down apartment, with no money to have fun, and with a part-time job at Walmart just to get by….

OR

2) I can spend a whopping SIX MONTHS of my life learning a business model that can build incredible wealth and passive income. I can probably eventually sell my online empire for a very nice 7 or maybe even 8+ figure payday. Then I can literally make 6 figures a year, passively, just in interest alone. I can do whatever the hell I want, and I’ll never have to work again.

Hmmm… let me see.

Option #1 please. It’s less effort.

Sorry, I have to go home now and waste 4 hours of my life watching reality TV so I can escape my mundane existance with zero prospects for the future – but it was nice talking to you. You sure are lucky!

I know I’m being very sarcastic, but this is a very serious “mindset disease” that plagues our industry.

People are literally CHOOSING PSUEDO-SLAVERY over and above proven, fundamental strategies that can create life-long financial freedom – simply because it’s “less effort”.

(And you’ve gotta “work smart, not hard”, right?)

Folks, working smart is about realizing WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS, and then focusing on that exclusively.

And what’s ironic is that when you simply DO put in the initial effort – building REAL sites, building REAL links, producing REAL content, sending REAL emails to your subscribers…

…it ends up being FAR LESS effort overall in comparison to all the pseudo-slaves working their asses off all day long spinning articles, setting up auto-blogs, running ScrapeBox and burning through proxies, and intermittently buying “WSO’s” as a form of entertainment disguised as productivity.

It’s a 3 or 4 month effort that can turn into a 6-figure operation.

Instead of a 3-year attempt to “resist effort” that turns into constant tactic-chasing, whining on forums, marital stress and a wallet full of nothing.

—————————-

So there you have it folks.

Guaranteed Failure – in Just 5 Easy Steps!

And anybody can do it. You definitely don’t need a list, a product, or a website.

All you have to do is gravitate to whatever’s easy, automated, complicated-sounding, and requires little effort – and you’ll see “results” almost instantly!

(And as a bonus, when you start using these 5 simple steps today – I’ll even throw in an Employment Application for Walmart that you can use when you’re living in a shitty apartment – absolutely free!)

—————————-

Why the rant?

Maybe you’ve been following the upcoming launch of ActuallyRank.com, on March 29th.

In short, you can use it to easily build hundreds (or thousands) of powerful one-way backlinks – where actual the page itself has major linkjuice and PR’s ranging from PR0 – PR5+ – in just minutes per day. Or even just a few times a month.

Building even 5- 10 backlinks like this can produce RANK-CHANGING results that will directly boost your traffic.

And we send you thousands of powerful dofollow comment sources every month, so you’ll never run out of literally endless, powerful backlink prospects.

But here’s where it all falls to pieces….

“Egad!! You mean I actually have to do something?  I can’t just lay on a hammock somewhere while subordinates shove grapes in my mouth whilst your service simultaneously produces magical Googly rankings for me?”

Yes, you actually have to spend a whole 40 seconds – or possibly even a full 2 minutes – posting your backlink on established, authority pages with major linkjuice.

There isn’t a service that exists – aside from TextLinkAds or LinkAdage (where you can buy backlinks, for about the price of a used car) where you can build BACKLINKS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER, as easily, and for such a tiny investment.

Folks – this is how you rank for keywords that matter. Keywords that can send you thousands of visitors a day – resulting in double or triple digit transactions a DAY from a single site.

You think you can do that with “automated” links from a private blog network?

Or from using software that creates profiles on Web 2.0 properties?

Or from submitting articles to bloated directories?

Or from building spamlinks using ScrapeBox?

(I think the answer is painfully obvious… if you exclusively build links the “easy” way like that, all you have to do is log into your Google Analytics account and look at your stats, and I think the answer will come to you).

——————————————

Now – obviously – ActuallyRank isn’t for everyone.

It’s for serious marketers who could give a crap about “automation” because what they need is RESULTS.

In fact, I’ve had almost 20 people email me now begging to let them in early – and almost all of them are SEO companies. (Hmmm… I wonder why that is? Oh – it’s because they need to generate results for their clients.)

And as excited as I am to open the doors on the 29th and see what happens – and something tells me we may need to cap it off pretty quickly…

…I’m also a little bit disheartened.

I’ve received so many emails (and comments) lately that truly paint a sad picture of just how clueless the majority of people are in this industry.

People asking if it’s 100% automatic. People asking if they can blast the URLs with ScrapeBox. People asking if all the sources are AutoApprove.

They don’t see that the very thing they think they want (“NO EFFORT”) is precisely the cause of their poor results – and – amazingly, it’s the reason why they have to work so hard just to barely eek out a few hundred bucks a month – if even that…

———————————————

Let me end this rant with a question – and I’m being totally sincere…

DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO SUCCEED?

Or do you find it easier and safer just to half-heartedly pursue “shiny new tactics” because it’s temporarily entertaining?

I’m honestly not being facetious or sarcastic, in this last section here.

In fact, if you’re struggling right now – or lost – and you genuinely want to succeed, but maybe you need a bit of guidance…

…then post a comment below and let me know what you’re having trouble with – and I’ll answer it within a few hours, right here on the blog.

Here’s to a SUCCESSFUL 2011.

Sincerely

~ Chris Rempel

Here’s a sneak peek inside ActuallyRank…

(Check out how many HIGH PR link prospects you get – even at the “lowest” member level!!)

Make no mistake – building links with this will have the same effect as buying them from places like Text-Link-Ads or LinkAdage.

Except it won’t cost you $150+ per month, per link.

Again, this goes live on the 29th, and spots are going to be limited, simply because there’s only so many quality, dofollow sources we can harvest each month. That, combined with near-total exclusivity, means that even to support a few hundred members, we need a LOT of sources.

Right now it’s hard to say what our member-cap will be, realistically.

If most people join at the Competitive level, then it’s more “doable”, but we’ve had a lot of interest so far in the Very Aggressive and Total Dominance levels (which SEO companies have to use, by the way).

If we get quite a few members in at those levels, then the cap might be pretty low.

What does this mean?

It means get in early and secure a spot so you don’t have to wait for several months – especially if you want 4,000 or 10,000 DF link prospects monthly…

Stay tuned

-Chris

PS Any questions? Concerns? Post a comment below and I’ll get to it ASAP…

You might also want to check out our updated FAQ as well: http://www.actuallyrank.com/faq.php

I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciated all the feedback the other day in my beta-tester “competition” blogpost. Thankfully, you guys pulled no punches and told it how you saw it.

And hopefully in a way it’s been an educational experience for anyone who writes copy who’s watching this unfold.

(Success in marketing isn’t about “getting it right the first time”. It’s about listening closely, and discerning the source of feedback that comes in. Not everyone will benefit from a given offer, so the key is to listen to those who will. Experience will “tell” you who those people are – takes time to get a feel for it, but the best thing you can do is execute quickly, release something, and see how the people respond. Over time, it gets easier).

And speaking of limited audience – we may have to cap the membership base at a smaller number for a while, especially the upper-level members (Very Competitive & Total Dominance). Quality link sources are not easy to find, and even though we have a pretty substantial “op center” for doing this, we’d rather go forward with confidence, as opposed to running at “redline” so to speak.

So if you don’t want to be stuck on a waiting list – especially for the larger supply volumes – you’ll need to get in as soon as we open (which has now changed – details below)…

But first – some updates:

————————————–

The vast majority of the following adjustments, changes, additions and subtractions (s0 far) are the direct result of your feedback a week ago.

And as a result, I think it’s far more clear and straight-forward as well (which you can check out at ActuallyRank.com)

1) “You Talkin’ to ME?”

By far the most prevailing problem – as spelled out by the overall response from you guys – was that we weren’t clearly targeting a specific audience. You said it was strange to see a service that essentially caters to SEO’s who more than “get it” why commenting is a good thing, or the difference between nofollow/dofollow, etc.

And I agree completely. Obviously, ActuallyRank isn’t for the star-crossed newbie, or those seeking the elusive “one-click system” (which doesn’t exist). It’s for people who don’t need an SEO kindergarten course on a salesletter – so we’ve made some changes accordingly.

The site now focuses more on comparing AR to other types of services and spelling out exactly how the User Interface functions. (Note: The video will also be updated/replaced in a few days time, once I get back from Mexico. My laptop microphone sucks beyond all understanding).

2) “Who the Hell Came up with the Color Scheme – Joseph Stalin?”

Yeah, I know, I know. Fine arts really ain’t my strong point. And sometimes I wonder if my dog has a better sense of color than I do…

Gone is the mish-mash of puke inspiring Soviet-grays, and I think the new color scheme on the home page (I’ll update the inner pages shortly) is at least somewhat passable now. Who knows, maybe I’ll even hire someone to pretty it up if I have time before it launches…

(And yes, I know that the comparison graph is ugly and weird looking, visually. I’ll pretty it up somehow when I’m back in Canada. Same goes for the adaptive layout, I know that some folks with lower resolutions are seeing the site “break” ).

3) “I Can See Clearly Now…”

The first draft left a lot of questions unanswered.

And while we actually shortened the total amount of text on the front page, I think it comes off as less confusing now. Plus, we’ve added an in-depth FAQ section that answers pretty much all the main question-themes that came up a week ago, including:

* Auto-Approve vs. Moderated

* What about “Relevant” Backlinks?

* Automation?

* Cancelleation Policy & Other Rules, etc.

You can see them all at: http://www.actuallyrank.com/faq.php , or in the 1st blog comment below

Also, speaking of seeing clearly – we enlarged the text size so now you don’t have to pull out the spectacles just to read the damn page.

4) SubGroup Sizes – Adjustment, and Clarification

A lot of folks were justifiably confused by the subgroup numbers. Was it 14 or 15? 9 or 10? AAAHHH!

Well, this is the scoop. The total in each subgroup for Competitive members (@$69/mo) is 15 members per exclusive DoFollow list. Which means that as a member – you only share access with 14 others, the 15th member being YOU. What I realized is that it all makes perfect sense if I just choose one descriptive path, and just keep it uniform throughout – which I’ve now done.

Speaking of subgroups, we’ve adjusted them to make it more realistic for us in terms of supply, as follows:

* Competitive Members are unchanged – they still get 2K DF sources shared with 14 others

* Very Competitive members now share their 4K list with 11 others

* Total Dominance members now share their 10K list with 9 others

This has literally zero effect whatsoever on the quality and exclusivity of the lists. And even now, they’re still ridiculously exclusive. This is “adjustment” is akin to buying a cereal box that comes with just one free 60″ HD Flatscreen, instead of 3.

But for our guys who actually harvest DF lists all day long, it significantly reduces stress and needless excess URL inventory. And the result would actually be that a lot of these sources would be “wasted”, as there’s only so many fresh sources to go around.

And last (for now), but not least…

5) The Logo

Of the near 250 comments on the first blog post, about 200 of them explicitly said the logo sucked horribly. So we changed it. And while it won’t win any awards any time soon… hopefully it’s not as revolting as before

————————————–

Now – the Launch Date:

It was March 16th.

But for a few reasons – primarily to ensure a streamlined user experience AND to load up the member’s area with tons of training material before the launch date, and secondly so that all of our key people are “on the scene” when the doors open (some will be on vacation on the 16th) – the doors now open on:

March 29th, 2011

I know, it sucks waiting, but trust me – this one is worth the wait, folks.

And finally…

————————————–

BETA Testers:

There were literally OVER 100 comments/critiques that were easily more than good enough to “win” a beta position. And in addition to what you saw on the blog, I actually received tons of additional email feedback and even some people who tracked me down on Facebook, submitting their feedback from there.

It was very hard to choose and I quite honestly ended up just randomly choosing 4 out of the 5 on my shortlist, which wasn’t so short – simply because it’s like deciding which car to rent at an exotic car rental office. You want all of them. But you can only choose one.

So if you were chosen – you already know it, because I’ve contacted you, and it was basically a roll of the dice.

I hugely appreciate all of the feedback guys. To say it “helped” is a complete understatement.

————————————–

So with all that said – stay tuned for the 29th…

And if you have any remaining questions or comments – post ‘em below.

(I’ll have some further updates before the launch as well, so stay tuned for those too).

Buenos Tardes from Tronconas, Mexico

~ Chris

P.S. No doubt you’ve heard about the tragic unfolding of events yesterday in Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami that literally swallowed a city within a few seconds, and most news sources are saying that around 6000 people are missing as a result.

If you’re in a position to do so, I’d encourage you to consider making a donation at http://www.redcross.org

This blog (and my list) has been a ghost town the last month or so, and here’s why…

—————————–

1) My Latest VIP Product, “Ruthless Rankings”, was only supposed to be about 20 pages long. I got carried away and spent several weeks on it. It now weighs in at 116 pages. Oops.

In a nutshell it’s basically the Bible of Gray-Hat SEO. Lotsa cool stuff in it. (But more on that later).

And the real reason why I’ve been hibernating is this…

—————————–

2) ActuallyRank.com – The Easiest Possible Way to Get TONS of Powerful, Quality Backlinks from REAL Sites…

Eg. Authority News Sites, Government Sites, Education/University, Community Sites, etc…

(These are links that will actually get you ranked for REAL keywords. Not just obscure, long-tail or product names.)

And it costs 3 CENTS Per “Link”. And you get Thousands each month.

What??!!

Here’s how it works (if you have a minute, watch the video):

http://www.actuallyrank.com

The doors open on Mar. 16th.

Which is why…

I NEED BETA TESTERS. To give feedback on user experience, find bugs, try and break things, etc.

Now, I’m guessing that if you like the idea of getting bus-loads of REAL backlinks (on real sites), you’ll probably wanna become a beta tester. And obviously, it only makes sense to bring on a few testers right now…

So here’s the deal:

I need 5 dedicated beta-testers who, in a few days time, will work with me and my team to make this service completely streamlined and efficient.

It won’t necessarily require you to spend that much time to test things, but I do need thorough feedback and comprehensive testing/bug detection.

In return, you get free access to ActuallyRank for 6 months, after we go live. I think it’s a fair incentive.

How to Apply:

This is a “win/win” application process…

Since there truly is NO OTHER real service remotely similar to ActuallyRank, I would like to have honest feedback about the current salesletter draft (which is the home page) at http://www.ActuallyRank.com

* What are your first impressions?

* Does it make sense?

* Are their sections that cause confusion?

* Should I somehow justify the inclusion of pictures of scantily-clad bikini models draped over Porsches?

This is the kind of feedback I am desparate to receive right now.

So, to apply for the beta-tester position, please share your honest feedback on the current ActuallyRank.com salesletter, pointing out any issues and making any suggestions that you feel are relevant.

Please do this in the form of a comment below this post.

The “best” 5 feedback comments will “win” the position of Beta Tester.

And possibly a scantily-clad bikini model. (Or at the very least, I will wear a bikini and drape myself over a car.)

Fire away!

(And in all seriousness, thanks so much in advance to anyone who helps out with this – it’s greatly appreciated. I would say that this is presently the most valuable service/offer I have ever released, and for those who use it, it is quite obviously a goldmine).

Thanks guys

~ Chris

Happy belated new year – I hope the Christmas holidays treated you well – and of course I wish us all the best of luck as we endeavor to fulfill the resolutions of losing weight, finishing renovating the damn basement,  laying off the juice a bit and making this year “the big one”.

But in all seriousness, I wanna start this year off with a “BANG” in the affiliate community by doing something a little… weird.

Today, I am going to expose a vicious, unrelenting and damaging conspiracy.

It’s a conspiracy that wholly pervades the entire marketing and entrepreneurship industry – not just affiliate marketing, or what the majority of us know to be “internet marketing”.

The primary vehicle that propels this conspiracy forward – creating a vicious, ever-accelerating misinformation campaign – is a single, simple and outright LIE.

And the majority suffer for it – while the “elite minority” can either see through it, and therefore ignore it – or they’re benefiting from “the big lie” directly.

No – I’m not being facetious or ironic. Yes – this is for real.

And no – don’t worry -  I’m not part of the “lunatic fringe”. This isn’t going to turn into some delusional blog post connecting the ancient Sumerian Annunaki aliens with Obama and his new world order run by illuminati reptilians.

But I will say one thing – as I pull back the curtain on this “conspiracy”, the process will be refreshing and encouraging for you – especially if you currently find yourself overwhelmed with “what to do” in 2011, to make this your best year yet.

So with that said… let’s take a trip down the rabbit hole…

——————————-

~ The Shaving Conspiracy ~

The Greatest Marketing Deception of All Time

——————————-

What the hell does shaving have to do with a big bad marketing “conspiracy”?

In a sense – everything. Let me tell you how I arrived at this connection over the last few weeks…

Like most men, I shave my face in the morning. And like the majority who really value a close shave, I use a handheld razor.

The part that always “gets me”, though, is how quickly the damn blades go dull. It seems every other day I’m throwing down hefty sums at the checkout till for those $28 “value packs” of blades that will last me another 3 weeks. (And no, I don’t pay any attention to those stupid color-strips that “tell me” when a blade is going dull. I use another indicator, known as PAIN, CUTS and PULLING HAIR, which are far more accurate and usually “extend” blade life a few days or so.)

And for the longest time, I basically just accepted it and chalked it up to yet another living expense, albeit a pretty expensive one in comparison to other hygiene-related things like brushing teeth, etc.

That all changed one day, not too long ago…

My wife organizes vintage clothing/jewelry trade shows in our city, and as you can probably guess – I’m the designated helper monkey for the day. My tasks usually involve really simple, ape-like things like setting up tables, moving heavy objects, etc. (I leave the thinkin’ to the brains of the operation – my wife).

Anyway, at one of her latest shows, one of the vendors was selling these really old, vintage razors. He had both the classic “straight razor” (like the ones in Sweeney Todd), and the 50′s era “safety razor”, which was sort of the Genesis story of the current handheld razors (like the Mach 9, or whatever ridiculous number they’re at now).

On a whim, I decided to pick up a safety-razor kit, with a nice brass razor from 1955 – it comes with a brush and shaving soap – and the blades are purchased separately.

This picture is similar to the kit I have:

I basically bought it from the guy because he liked cars (as do I), and because I was bored.

But a few days later, at home – I thought to myself – “what the hell, let’s give it a shot and see how badly I maul my face with this primitive artifact”.

And I couldn’t believe the results…

THIS DAMN THING SHAVES CLOSER, SMOOTHER AND BETTER THAN ANY “MACH 9″, “ULTRA FUSION” CONTRAPTION ON THE MARKET TODAY.

In fact, I have literally thrown out my old razors because there is literally no comparison in feel, shave quality and the feeling on my face afterwards.

Let me state that again:

The “new” technology doesn’t come close to its original 1955 ancestry in terms of what it’s actually designed to do – shave close and shave smooth.

And it got me thinking… why do all the latest and “greatest” razors/shavers SUCK compared to stuff that’s almost a century behind technologically?

Well – you can probably guess the answer, but before I lay it out – let me first of all compare the costs I have now as a “vintage shaver”.

————–

Avg. Cost of Current Razor Blades (“Gillette Fusion Power”): About $30 for an 8-pack.

Avg. Cost of Vintage Razor Blades: Roughly $3.00 for 10 blades (ten times less, for more blades).

————–

Avg. # of Shaves With NEW Razor Blades: About 4 shaves.

Avg. # of Shaves With VINTAGE Razor Blades: About 5-7 shaves.

————–

Avg. Cost of NEW Bottle of Shaving Cream: $3 – $8, depending on brand/size.

Avg. Cost of VINTAGE Shaving Soap: $5

————–

Avg. Lifespan of NEW Shaving Cream: About 1-2 weeks.

Avg. Lifespan of VINTAGE Shaving Soap: About 2-3 months.

————–

Okay, so let’s summarize everything here, just to get an accurate, birds-eye view of the whole situation…

Vintage razors shave closer, smoother, the blades last longer and cost literally 10 times LESS, and the old shaving soap costs LESS and lasts as much as 6 – 10 times LONGER than “new” shaving cream.

Ummm…. what??

What about all the ads you see on TV, showcasing the latest “technological advances” from Gilette, Schick, and whatever the other big-dog shaving corporations are. It seems every freakin’ month these guys are bragging about some big “breakthrough”…

…with some Calvin Klein model showing off his shirtless body while using a 38-blade, self-lubricating, space-foam construction razor – and of course the ad ends suggestively, as the obligatory Victoria’s Secret model of the year clings off of him, caresses his face and moves in for the big wet kiss.

But… just who is all this “new technology” and “breakthroughs” really serving?

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on.

Obviously, the NEW blades are purposely designed with alloys that dull quickly so that you’ll need to buy them more frequently – and for insane prices. (Combine that with those helpful “color strips” that tell you “when to replace”, and they can increase order frequency even more).

On top of that, their handy dandy shaving cream only seems to last a few shaves as well, so you’ll need more of that, too. But then, by this point – it should be obvious.

So to answer my question above, obviously, all of this “NEW” and “BREAKTHROUGH” technology is designed solely, and strictly, for the purpose of PROFIT.

The “technology” is for the Company – not the Customer – who would obviously be better off locating and using a vintage, “collectible” product that is now over 50 years old. Not only is the shave quality literally twice as good – it also costs a fraction of what it does with all the “new” crap today.

This also unearths a very powerful “law”:

The fundamentals will always outperform the gimmicks.

And if you’re a real smart cookie… I’m betting you’re starting to see the emergence of a connection forming between the travesties of the Shaving Industry…

…and one that hits a little closer to home…

——————————-

~ The Big Lie ~

And The Myth of “New”

——————————-

I received an email the other day from a lady – a self confessed newbie (nothing wrong with that) – who had purchased “Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate”, read it, and as a result contacted me…

She loved the processes and the strategies I discussed, but at the end of the book – she found out it was published (egad!!) all the way back in 2006. Oh, the humanity.

And so she kindly requested a refund, and asked where she could find more relevant information about “what’s working today – since we all know that social media is taking over everything, and I have to be on the cutting edge if I’m going to make any money”.

In reading this – the veteran marketers and established affiliates are probably sporting that odd facial expression that results from the combination of a slight grin – and a sad, knowing frown.

She has no idea what kind of disappointment awaits her.

She’ll be twittering her brains out for the next 6 months, wasting her time, annoying the hell out of her online “network” – hitting one brick wall after the next. One more victim of the “New” conspiracy.

That misinformation is very likely going to kill her motivation and eventually turn her into one of the scores of cash-strapped skeptics… always looking for “the big ticket”, the “thing that really works”, and – obviously – never finding it. (See this in action at your choice of any popular IM forum).

Even though it couldn’t be MORE clear, or simple: Sell that which sells, in the marketplace where it’s bought.

But let’s not go down that road here – it’s well trodden on this blog.

Instead, let’s talk about the “conspiracy” in the marketing industry at large that literally produces this kind of mindset and fans it into flame…

And in most cases – this isn’t some “evil” act. Many of the instigators are simply following a fundamental element of marketing – giving the people what they want…

The Root of All Evil:

The primary problem with our industry in general is that the AUDIENCE (especially the beginners) are obsessed with “what’s new”. The cutting edge. The latest proverbial IM “stock tip”.

In their minds, this is day-trading. Fast-paced, wall-street style, high-tech “online alchemy” where it’s the most technically-inclined hypergeek who “cracks the latest code” that makes the big bucks – and the idea is for the collective audience of beginners & wannabe millionaires to discover his or her “secret”.

This is, of course, total bullshit.

Consider the proverbial jackass who’s selling his latest course on Facebook Ads, Twitter, iPhone Apps (or whatever, and for whatever obscene price point) – we’ve all seen lots of that crap lately…

…why is it, then, that he’s marketing it almost exclusively with – you guessed it – the fundamentals? He’s hitting up his lists and orchestrating JV’s. Maybe they’re doing a bit of SEO/PPC. They’ll milk it, and hope that the sales run lasts maybe a few months.

But you can bet your ass they’re NOT going to be using the actual strategies they’re selling – at least not primarily. (The simple reason is because it’s not profitable or effective enough to do so).

And then they’ll whip together some other sorry excuse for a course, interview a few morons, and “ta da” – another breakthrough. Another world-exploding techno-secret that will change your life.

Thousands of “seekers” will buy it, and they’ll cash in – and then it’s back to the drawing board – figuring out what all the clueless hordes are talking about on the forums, so they can wash, rinse and repeat the same thing again and again. Because THAT, folks, is where they’re making their real money.

Now – don’t worry – that alone isn’t the big “conspiracy”.

That’s simply a stimulus response effect, where the sellers in our industry have to adapt to what the market-at-large really wants.

And this is where the big conspiracy really gets exposed…

A Sad Reality For Most – And Yet a Very Simple Road to Wealth for Others

This is both “good” and “bad” – because I’m not just talking about those who sell the secrets, picks, shovels, etc.

I’m talking about the fundamentals themselves.

You see, getting back to the “razor” analogy, most people think it’s the technology behind the “blade” that makes it work. Whereas anyone who’s successful online, following with this analogy – realizes it’s the blade itself.

All the gimmicks, the tricks, the shortcuts – the diversions – ALL of that is designed for the seller. Not the user.

Just like the shaving industry.

And the reason why this “Myth of New” is so prevailing (and so prolific) in the marketing community at large is for 4 core reasons – and this, folks – is the most important part of this entire post:

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1) People have a subliminal aversion to SIMPLE TRUTH. They either want to justify their lack of results with an acceptable excuse (“I don’t have the latest gizmo method…”), or they want to believe it’s more complicated than it really is – so that they can “secretly” never complete anything lest they potentially face failure.

2) People secretly want the thrill of the hunt over and above the spoils of the catch. For the majority of people in this industry, the thrill of discovery and embarking on a journey (with some “new” method) is infinitely MORE enticing than putting on some proverbial overalls and hammering out some results with really basic methods – methods that have always worked and always will.

3) The Market Serves Demand. And our market contains an audience with an aversion to simplicity and an insatiable desire for the “new” and the “exciting”. That’s what gets ordered. So therefore – that’s what’s on the menu. Therefore…

4) The PRIMARY News Topics, Discussions and Points of Interest in our Industry Always Focus on “What’s New” and “What’s Hot”. It’s just like the regular media. People don’t buy “fluff” headlines – regardless of the reality. And even though most North Americans have a better chance of getting struck by lightning whilst being attacked by Shark than they do compared to being the victim of “terrorism” – the news must deliver what is interesting. What’s… “new”.

And so the cycle continues. Indefinitely.

And as always – as in ANY society, ever – the masses concern themselves with daily distractions, all the while the “big dogs” simply enrich themselves by doing what they’ve always done…

Understanding the masses – and serving them accordingly.

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The reality is that Gillette would have probably gone out of business a long time ago if all they ever did was sell the fundamentals – a sharp blade.

Even though, not only is that all one needs…  it actually works better than all the latest “trappings” on offer.

This applies to affiliate marketing in kind.

The people who make ridiculous amounts of money with affiliate marketing care about two things:

1) Traffic with Commercial Intent. This translates into either keyword research or email marketing/advertising demographics.

2) Offers that the Market Eats up.

Then they build sites that a) target the proper traffic/keywords and b) sell the proper offer.

And they simply repeat that again, again and again.

The processes are simple. The approach is simple. Even the RESULTS are the product of simplicity.

And yet why is this all so “complicated” for so many people?

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Closing Thoughts

I remember the year where everything changed.

Some of you know my “story”. If you don’t you can read it here. But the important thing is that, what really happened – what really “changed it all” for me, was the realization that what actually produces results – is the simple stuff.

Not the “secrets”.

This is a very encouraging thing to realize if you find this whole “world” a big, loud maze of confusion. Everyone and their dog seems to have their big “formula” for success.

So now – now you know. This really CAN be your big year.

It’s not about “discovering”. It’s about deciding.

In fact – you wanna see a formula for “success”? Go to any major affiliate network. Look at the top selling offers. Write down the main keywords pertaining to those markets. Google them. The top 10 sites in each of those niches are very likely pulling HUGE revenue. And with a decent amount of effort yourself – you could be one of the A-listers. Just takes…

…a simple process…

…called…

WORK.

(Not nearly as sexy as Twitter – I know).

But it pays a hell of a lot more in the long run.

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Just some thoughts for 2011…

Over and out

-Chris

P.S. If you’re reading this on January 16th (Sunday), then keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow. Speaking of “simple stuff that works” – when we’re talking about getting traffic organically, basically it’s just a matter of keyword targeting and backlinks.

Regarding the latter (backlinks) – I have something very impressive (and very limited) for you tomorrow. So if you like the idea of PR5+ Links from real, established authority sites (not some shitty scraper blog with inflated PR), it’s worth a look

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s email.