The Secrets of The Shriekers

The Secrets of The Shriekers

by: Adam Senour

I am constantly bombarded with all sorts of advertisements, singlepage sites, and sites offering very little real content but some wonderful new กproductก or กserviceก for sale that purports to make its customers wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.
For the purposes of this article, letกs refer to Amazing Formula (http://www.amazingformula.com) as an example of such a site. (Note: I have never purchased this product and can make no claim, verification or guarantee one way or the other as to its effectiveness. The sole purpose of my mentioning this site is as a study of the ad copy within.)
There isn’t very much in terms of กcontentก; the marketing of the กbribesก is confined to a single page, with a hyperlink to ‘testimonialsก which may or may not be legitimate. Yet, this site has been around in some form for nearly four years, according to The Internet Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.amazingformula.com), with the same basic กcontentก and no significant updates. Why? Because it works.
What makes this website and others like it profitable, even without a significant content update in 4 years? The sales copy. The sales copy of this page uses simple, but effective techniques to trigger the user into buying the product, in this case a CDROM indicating how to sell anything to anyone at any time. Letกs look at some of these techniques now.
Thatกs right, I, Adam Senour, am going to give away millions of dollarsก worth of secrets to you and Iกm going to do it WITHOUT CHARGING YOU A SINGLE RED CENT!!! No ebooks to download, No expensive CDROMs to purchase, No courses to subscribe to, NOTHING! You too will be a website copy writing genius, able to sell your goods and services at will!
Short paragraphs. Users traditionally don’t wish to read long blocks of text. They like information concise, simple, and to the point.
กYouก words/secondperson perspective. This is arguably the most misunderstood and underrated aspect of copy writing. When reading sales copy, users are looking not for general information on the product. They want the answer to one simple question: กWhatกs in it for me?ก Using words such as กyouก, กyourก, and กyourselfก, while being generic in nature, go a long way toward establishing a website rapport with your customers.
Bold, Underline, Italics. Highlighting important phrases with bold, underline, and italics allows your customer to quickly scan and decipher the nature of your copy and the key elements of it. Bold, underline, and italics can be used in conjunction with colour to further distinguish vital elements of your marketing message.
However, it is strongly advised that you use bold, underline, and italics sparingly in order to ensure that only your most important points are receiving the full attention of your customers. Use bold, italics, and underline sparingly.
The colour coding of important words, and the selection of those colours. กCoolก colours such as Blues and greens are traditionally used to relax the user and put him/her in a positive mood conducive to sales; and กhotก colours such as reds, yellows and oranges are meant to incite the user into making a purchasing decision.
Headings and subheadings. Headings and subheadings should be used to break up long blocks of text into shorter and easiertoread sections. In the case of the Amazing Formula website, graphic headings are used to break up the content; however, for search engine reasons, you may wish to consider textbased headings to split up your content into sections.
Bullet lists. These lists can be numbered, as this one is, or they can be unordered, as the Amazing Formula ones are. There doesn’t seem to be much difference in either event, as long as the copy for each bullet remains concise and to the point as in point 2; although the unordered list bullets can be stylized with graphics, as the Amazing Formula website has done.
A call to action. What do you want your customer to do? Where would you like them to go next? Give your customer at least one clear and understandable path to follow to make the appropriate action.
In the case of the Amazing Formula site, there are not one, but 2 กClick to order via our secure server!ก buttons as well as an order hyperlink in the menu on the top of the page. The garden path, albeit a very short one in this case, is clearly laid out for the customer to follow.
These are the seven secrets of The Shriekers. Implementing them on your website should lead to a significant increase in sales and profits.

About The Author

Adam Senour is the owner of ADAM Web Design, a leading web design and development company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Visit http://www.adamwebdesign.ca for more information on ADAM Web Design products and services.

This article was posted on July 04, 2004

by Adam Senour

The Legal Way to Make Money: The Start of Affiliat

The Legal Way to Make Money: The Start of Affiliates

by: Adam Espiritu

The Legal way. How? Affiliates and Ebooks

I hate writing this message because it makes me look like a sellout, but Iกm not.

I just want to help out my friends and make some money doing it. Also, I am broke as hell! The coffee house only does so much.

There are two ways of making quick and continuous (they keep paying you) money on the net. Refer something (affiliate) or make something from your ideas (ebooks)

What are Affiliates? Companies pays for telling others about their products, but only if someone buys something from them. Just check the bottom of any online store or dealer that you like and see if they have a referral or affiliate program. If you can’t find a good affiliate program try www.affiliatematch.com

Then check out this site

http://hop.clickbank.net/?aesp93/affbprint

The Secret to A Steady Income Online Without Creating Your Own Product!

Do you need a webpage? No, but it would help. Just get the link and post or send it to your friends. All a webpage does is get you more people to see your site and hopefully more sales and return sales. Don’t get a free webpage space. No search engine or business will take you seriously. Spend the $ 9 to get a space.

Discover the Way of the Tortoise and Leave the Rat Race behind. http://www.sitesell.com/Adam23.html

And win an amazing prize http://specialprize.sitesell.com/Adam23.html

Now ebooks are just your ideas put into a readable form. They are sold or given away. Most people I know have blogs now or some kind of hobby. It really is easy to get money from your rants or obsessions. Writing an ebook is not hard. Here are a few ways to do it without that much money.

33 Days to Online Profits

Or you could use

How to write and publish your own outrageously profitable ebook… in as little as 7 days!

Since I am a lazy as hell I like this one

กGive me 5 minutes and Iกll show you how a กlazy personก can make more money, work fewer hours and have a lot more fun than any กhard workerก youกll ever meet Guaranteed!ก

Most people I know are struggling to get by or thousands in debt due to student loans or car loans. These links will not make you rich overnight, but they could help with any of those payments. They are helping me right now as you read this message.

You can get up to 50% profit if someone buys these products! Don’t believe me. Just check it out.

Have fun and get money with these links. Email me if you have any question. Thanks

Adam [email protected]

About The Author

Adam Espiritu is the Author and CEO of Practical Time Management

http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

He has inspired and help hundreds toward their success and goals.

Learn How to Gain More Time Through Time Management and Networking

http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

This article was posted on August 14

by Adam Espiritu

Internet Marketing, Fact Or Fiction?

Internet Marketing, Fact Or Fiction?

by: Adam Buhler

Iกm sure youกve seen it before, your inbox overflowing with promises of making millions in the span of a few weeks. If your like me you have these กopportunitiesก safely tucked away in your recycle bin faster than you can say กSpamก,

but all the while in the back of your mind is that everpresent question, กWhat if?ก.

What if hidden among the tidalwave of กGet Rich Quickก hype is the one chance for you to turn your life around and take control of your future?

I won’t lie to you, almost all of the garbage floating around the internet today is just that….trash!

I must inform you however, you CAN make your living online if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

There are two main factors in the the prejudice of internet marketing,

[Lack of effort] This is the number one killer of the american dream. Society as a whole would like to believe that success can be achieved with little or no effort on their part and that running a home business consists of firing up their computers and laying around all day!

[Bad experiences] Another large contributing factor in the fear of internet marketing is people who have had less than desirable results from their own efforts. one thing holds true and that is that bad news travels twice as fast and twice as far as good. While a good deed is forgotten a bad experience never is.

If you are serious about going into business for yourself, you CAN be successful.

I know because Iกve been doing it for two years now and quite frankly I am disgusted with the dark cloud that looms over the phrase กInternet Marketingก. This reputation is largely derived from the many scams out there, these are your everyday ขGet Rich Quickข schemes claiming to make you millions with little or no effort on your part.

Sadly, many people fall victim to these scams due to their desire To make money with no effort on their part.

I recently had the opportunity to talk via email with one of my visitors, And when asked what she was looking to gain from my services she stated That she wanted to find something where she could make money while doing very little work.

It all comes down to one final truth….You will get from Internet Marketing What you are willing to put into it. If you dedicate your time and efforts you can reap huge rewards however, If you come into it with the mindset of getting something for nothing All you will end up with are regrets.

About The Author

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter กAffiliate Secretsก. He is offering a free copy of the ebook กInternet Cash Machinesก For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 05, 2003

by Adam Buhler

Don’t Use Markers to Label CDs and DVDs

Don’t Use Markers to Label CDs and DVDs

by: Adam Platzer

Many people use markers to write on the surface of their CDs and DVDs when labeling their media. What most people do not know is that using markers, such as Sharpies, ballpoint pens, or any other sharp object can be very damaging to the media. Most markers contain chemicals that create oxidation, which can deteriorate the CD or DVD. The oxidation can ruin the aluminum, which covers the surface of the media and ultimately can destroy the data on the disc. Additionally, these types of markers can damage the physical structure of the disc.

There are a couple of ways to avoid these problems. Special pens are now sold which are made specifically for writing on media. One brand is called Staedtler Lumocolor CD/DVD Markers (pictured to the right). Another tip to keep in mind is that off the shelf markers can be used on media that has been screen printed because the screen printing protects the data from chemical destruction.

About The Author

Adam Platzer

Marketing & Communications

Spinergy

CD/DVD Replication, Duplication, and Screen Printing

Phone: 8003331328

http://www.spinergymedia.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 08

by Adam Platzer

Shortcuts Will Kill Your Business

Shortcuts Will Kill Your Business

by: Adam Buhler

Think of your business as a living, breathing, organism. It requires you to give it a large portion of your time and effort in order for it to grow and flourish.

You must spend time ขfeedingข it fresh content and searching for ways to improve it.

I remember growing up as a child, all I ever wanted was a puppy. When I finally received it, I realized that it was a large responsibility to feed it, groom it, and provide it with attention.

At times I felt like just ขskippingข a day in order to have more time to do the things that we enjoyed as children. Yet even then I knew that if I failed to give my puppy the required attention, it would suffer. The same goes for your business, without constant maintenance and upkeep, it will suffer.. and eventually die.

One surefire way to ensure that your not neglecting your business is to seek out shortcuts.

By this I mean gathering a list of the ขlittle thingsข that you feel can be put off until a later date.

These are in most instances, the difference between making large profits from your business, or fitting in with the other 98% of affiliates who cut corners and don’t make a dime.

Once you have established this list, go through it onebyone until you’ve completed the entire list. This will assure you are putting everything you can into your business, which in turn will lead to greater profits.

To this day I still find myself making excuses for the ขlittle thingsข I would rather do tomorrow, at times like these I make it a point to ขbuckle downข and get it done.

One of the keys to success is to think of everything that can be done to improve your business and get the ball rolling.

Good Luck!

About The Author

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter กAffiliate Secretsก. He is offering a free copy of the ebook กInternet Cash Machinesก For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 05, 2003

by Adam Buhler

Superior to Dreamweaver?

Superior to Dreamweaver?

by: Adam Buhler

Iกve heard a lot of good comments regarding Macromediaกs Dreamweaver site building tool.

Does anyone use Site Build It!?, Itกs a website building tool that includes hosting and allows you to research profitable keywords, run a search engine optimization test, build beautiful graphics, automatically and periodically submit each page individually to the search engines, and it handles everything for you.

There is no required knowledge of HTML code, CGI script or javascript, all of this is handled automatically, all that is required is that you input the text information, (for example, paste in an article) and it is built right before your eyes.

Iกm currently researching a few promising ideas using Site Build Itกs keyword research tool and plan to develop a few minisites in the near future, I don’t have any experience using Dreamweaver but I have heard a lot about it which makes me wonder if it stacks up well to Site Build It!.

So if there are any Site Build It! users out there, let me know, and to Dreamweaver users, details on Site Build It! can be found at: http://www.smokesoft.net/buildittour.html . Iกm interested to know if the two products are similar.

About The Author

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter กAffiliate Secretsก. He is offering a free copy of the ebook กInternet Cash Machinesก For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 05, 2003

by Adam Buhler

Effective Email Communication

Effective Email Communication

by: Adam Senour

Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and leads; can be used as a tool to communicate with your existing client base to let them know of upcoming events which may affect them; and as a means of ongoing promotion for your business.
The following is a list of simple guidelines and tips that will help you become an effective email communicator. Please bear in mind that many of these guidelines assume that you have never established any prior dialogue and, as you become more familiar with your customers, can often be altered to meet your clientกs needs.
Send your emails in plain text. While HTML/richtextformatted emails do look much more attractive, they will often be accidentally blocked by antispam filters and either show up incorrectly or not at all in various email programs. Plain text, on the other hand, will show up exactly as intended in all email programs.
Include a signature of no more than four lines. Your signature should provide the recipient with a means to contact you other than email, and should mention your company name. A good email signature format will look something like this:
Mike Leblanc

Any Vacuum Cheap

Website: http://www.anyvacuumcheap.ca

Telephone: (905) 5091661
This signature provides not one, but two ways for a customer to reach you.
Note: Many people will put their email into their signature files. This is, however, unnecessary as the email itself can be replied to directly and the email address may be extracted from it.
Use common file formats for email attachments. There are a wide variety of formats for attachments; however, these formats are not universal and as such, many people cannot open various types of attachments.
The following is a list, in approximate order of universal acceptance (based on my own experiences), of attachments which are commonly accepted:
TXT (plaintext)

JPG/GIF (pictures)

PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader)

DOC (Microsoft Word/WordPad document)

XLS (Excel spreadsheet)
Use short paragraphs. Try to keep your paragraphs to 50 words or less to ensure maximum readability.
Don’t send unsolicited sales information/commercial emails. Unsolicited commercial emails, or spam, are becoming an increasing problem and many organizations are blocking, deleting, and in many cases reporting the senders of these emails to various antispam services and search engines in an effort to curtail the senderกs efforts.
Use second person terms as much as possible. Words such as กyouก, กyourก, and กyoursก personalize your emails, letting your customer know that you’re thinking of him/her specifically.
Check your emails for spilling nก grammer…er…spelling and grammar. A minor typographical error in a lengthy email will generally go unnoticed, but a series of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors will indicate a lack of professionalism and has the potential to cost you business.
Many email programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, include spelling and grammar tools to ensure that mistakes are kept to a minimum. If you do not have an email program with these tools activated, then alternatively you can open up your favourite word processor; type your email; check it for mistakes; and then copy and paste it into your email program.
Respond to all emails within 2448 hours. If you cannot answer your customerกs question in this time period, at least send him/her an email letting them know the status of his/her inquiry and that it is being taken care of. Some things do take longer than one day to resolve, and the vast majority of customers are very understanding of this, as long as they’re kept apprised of the situation.
Depending on your level of familiarity with your customers, some of these rules can be relaxed and altered to meet their specific needs. However, adhering to these general guidelines will ensure that, more often than not, you will become an effective email communicator.

About The Author

Adam Senour is the owner of ADAM Web Design, a leading web design and development company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Visit http://www.adamwebdesign.ca for more information on ADAM Web Design products and services.

This article was posted on July 20, 2004

by Adam Senour

iKobo Review Part 2

iKobo Review Part 2

by: Adam Senour

Attempt 1 Conclusion
On July 13, 2004, the transaction was cancelled. My MasterCard was never charged.
However, I did notice that my limits as a sender and receiver had been unilaterally raised to $500 USD. I had not contacted iKobo by telephone or email with regard to raising my limits, nor had I sent any of the ‘requiredก documentation.
It also appeared that Penny Wang was correct. MasterCard does appear to cause processing difficulties with the iKobo system.
Attempt 2 Success in Sending Money via VISA
On July 13, 2004, I attempted to resend the $10 USD via iKobo using my VISA. The transaction went through successfully and on July 16, I received the small withdrawal amount on my VISA statement. I entered this amount in and the transaction was verified and the withdrawal amount refunded two days later. However, a loss of $0.23 occurred when iKobo refunded the money due to a change in the USD to CAD exchange rate.
My staff member received the IKard on July 23, 2004; 10 days after the transaction start date and 7 days after its approval.
No transactions have appeared from iKobo or any other retailers before or since the initial two attempts on either of my credit cards.
Support Email
I attempted to send the following email on July 8, 2004 to [email protected], as well as [email protected]:
To whom it may concern,
My name is (nom de plume), and I have been hired by ADAM Web Design to write feature articles for the articles section of the ADAM Web Design web site. This section may be found at http://www.adamwebdesign.com/articles .
I have become aware of iKobo recently and will be writing a feature article about your company, as it is one of the relative newcomers to the payment processing market. In the process of performing my research, I have uncovered some information and comments which I find rather concerning from the standpoint of the end user of your products. In the interest of fairness, I would like to give you the opportunity to state your side of the story to any readers of the ADAM Web Design website.
Please note that I will be publishing both this email and the response to it (or lack thereof) in the ADAM Web Design iKobo article, as a means of documenting my research on this subject. This article will be syndicated throughout various article publication websites and other channels of distribution. These channels of distribution can greatly benefit your company and provide it with some additional exposure, should my findings be favourable. Your response will be a factor in determining how favourable my review will become.
My questions are listed below:
The first testimonial on your website refers to a site (www.everythingforeveryone.com) that is under construction despite the following comments:
กLike every business person goes, I was in search of a reliable and easytouse merchant service. I traveled through each and every search engine to find the best merchant service that would use credit cards. The services I offer, paying online would make things go pretty fast. One fine day, after exhaustion, I found iKobo and it was my lucky day!! I registered right away and launched my site the very next day! Thanks iKobo for launching such a great, reliable and easy service.ก
Fatmah Azam Ali

Owner, www.everythingforeveryone.com
The website mentioned in the second testimonial (www.CyberSamrat.com) does not have any open mention of iKobo.
None of the other customers listed have websites using iKobo as well.
Do you have any merchant websites which openly use iKobo, so that I may question them about their experiences as I research this article?
In your Help section, there is an FAQ that reads as follows:
Q: What is iKobo?
A: iKobo is the fastest most convenient way to send and receive money world wide. You can send and receive money anytime in over 240 countries. Using iKobo you can send funds from your home or office, and your recipient can access the funds at over 800,000 ATMs worldwide using the iKobo iKard. Our Affiliate and Merchant programs are the best and most rewarding opportunities on the internet.
Since there aren’t 240 countries in the world (not counting dependencies and territories), are dependencies and territories being included in this calculation?
Some countries, such as the country of Georgia, are able to send money but not receive it. Why is there a restriction on the receipt of funds?
Why would mailing an iKard be necessary, as opposed to email confirmation of payment similar to the way in which banks perform email money transfers? Does this not add unnecessary expenses to the service, thereby increasing its cost?
Why is information such as a credit card statement, utility bill, and/or birth certificate necessary for the raising of limits, and why do you offer the relatively nonsecure method of email as a possible means of document delivery as opposed to a secure upload/download site?
What do people who don’t have either a driverกs license or a utility bill require in order to raise their limits?
What exactly does iKobo to manually validate information in order to raise a limit? And what do they do in areas where privacy acts may make it impossible to run a check on a driverกs licence?
What exactly does checking this information establish? All you can do with a driverกs license in Ontario, for example, is check to see that itกs valid. That doesn’t necessarily imply that the person who owns it has never committed a fraudulent act. The same logic would apply with a utility bill.
There are many posts on various Internetindustryrelated discussion boards that tend to arouse suspicion. A few such examples are below:

http://www.kwcom.net/cgibin/forumtest/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=228&get=last (all users)
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158896&highlight=ikobo (Mike28)
http://www.wholesale411.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=32940 (any proiKobo poster)

As you can see, all of these people either have relatively low discussion board post counts (one of the signs of a discussion board unsolicited commercial advertiser) or have affiliate hyperlinks (also a form of unsolicited commercial advertising). As a general observation, they also to come from areas outside of North America; a few of the more common countries for which positive testimonials are found are Romania, Pakistan and Russia. Why would there be little to no positive commentary from countries such as the US and Canada, if Canada and the US are two of the countries for which you claim are primary senders and the US is one of the countries which you claim are primary receivers?
Another rather common issue that comes up is that of iKoboกs IPN/antifraud. Many developers are claiming to develop their own set of filters based on your IPN, yet I fail to see how this would be possible or necessary if your antifraud mechanism is accurate enough to capture the vast majority of fraudulent transactions. Could you please elaborate on this issue and explain in practical language exactly how this would work?
Do you communicate with bank servers via Base24 or the newer and more secure Base72?
Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to your response.
A few notes on this email for clarification:
1. Base24 does exist. It is the central banking network through which all electronic transactions, online or offline, are posted. However, Base72 does not. I included a reference to Base72 in an attempt to determine their honesty.
2. I have removed my nom de plume for the purposes of being able to reuse said name for future research.
The Interlude
My attempt to send an email to the email addresses above failed. The [email protected] was returned by MAILERDAEMON with the error message กuser unknownก and [email protected] is configured as an autoresponder, encouraging the user to contact iKobo directly via their trouble ticket system.
The [email protected] email was particularly unusual for two reasons:
1. The email is listed as the administrative and technical contact email for the iKobo.net domain name (see Discrepancies section).
2. Emeka Ohuche is listed on the iKobo website as the president and CEO. One would think that the president and CEO, especially when listed as the administrative and technical contact for a domain name, would have a working and valid email address.
Upon receiving the instructions from [email protected] to use the trouble ticket system, I did so the following day (July 9, 2004). I received a polite response from กStewart Langilleก who indicated that he would be more than happy to discuss these issues with me via telephone. However, I declined this option on the grounds that I wanted to be able to provide the iKobo email response to my article readers.
The iKobo Response 13 Days Later
On July 21, 2004, I finally received a reply from iKobo. However, I did not receive a reply from กStewart Langilleก; the reply came from [email protected].
The reply follows, in its entirety (including the indentation):
Please find the answer to your request below:
www.everythingforeveryone.com is a former featured merchant. This information will be updated with our next release. www.CyberSamrat.com has a large iKobo banner toward the bottom of the page. We have many customers that sell on auction sites. Many online merchants do not show you upfront and in living color the name of their payment processor, because they want the customer to focus on the information on the site itself.
The discrepancy in the number of countries is simple. While you are absolute correct that there aren’t 240 countries in the world. This refers to the ability of sending and receiving money, as not all the countries can receive money and not all the countries can send money. This number is not limited to countries only as it also includes dependencies and territories, as you pointed out. This number has been corrected on our site to reflect correctly that we deal with 170 countries worldwide.
The way ikobo works is that we charge the senderกs credit card, we then make this money available to be withdrawn using an iKard (currently this is the only way the money becomes available). We do not deposit money directly into anyoneกs bank account. We offer email as a means to submit information because it is convenient. We do not have a secure upload/download site that we can offer (at least not yet).
We ask for certain information pertaining to an account holder as it pertains to increasing the limits, because this helps our Verification Department maintain a good level of security, this also helps keep fraud down. We have to not only protect ourselves as a company but also our customers. People are not limited to just a driverกs license and a household bill in order to have their limits increased. There are several different documents they can submit to request a limit increase.
The reason we ask for these documents is not because it tells us specific information about the customer. We use these documents to help verify their information. As far as what exactly we do in order to verify information and how we keep fraud down is not information we share. The reason being security, for both iKobo and our customers.
Studies have shown that when people are happy with a service they tend not to share the experience. Which means that very few people actually share their positive experiences. However, there are people in countries that other payment processing companies do not service, that are happy and willing to share their positive experiences about a company that does provide service to them.
IPN is not an antifraud device; it is designed to provide our merchants an Instant Payment Notification (IPN). This was designed with security of the customersก information in mind. I cannot comment on what developers not associated with iKobo claim to do or be able to do.
We do not share our bank partnersก information. I cannot elaborate on our processes because it is privileged information.
Click here to respond to this email. (do not use the reply function on your email browser)
Thank you for choosing iKobo,
The iKobo Team

iKobo, Inc.

iKobo, Inc.

Customer Support Department

IKobo Service Positive Aspects
1. The IKard showed up at my staff memberกs house within the allotted time frame (35 business days).
2. The daily reminders to input the verification amount were very helpful.
3. กPenny Wangก (the Live Chat representative) seemed to take an interest in what I was asking, although this is somewhat difficult to judge from behind a computer monitor.
4. The VISA verification was relatively quick (two business days).
5. My limit was raised to $500 with no additional verification required.

iKobo Service Negative Aspects
1. A 13day response time for a support email, no matter the complexity of said email, is excessive.
2. MasterCard poses problems for the iKobo system.
3. No debit card or bank information is accepted.
4. The signup process was somewhat confusing, with multiple steps being required where one would suffice.
5. The กForgotten Passwordก link does not function as intended. No password gets sent to the requestorกs email.
6. Because of the IKard concept, an additional $1.50 per transaction USD ($.95 within the US) is added to the overall cost. This renders the iKobo fees higher than the PayPal alternative. This brought the total fees for the $10 USD transaction to $3.50 ($2.00 for the transaction, and $1.50 for the IKard).
7. No satisfactory explanation was offered for the rationale behind the request for additional information.
8. My limit was raised to $500 with no additional verification required. I have placed this as both a positive and negative since, while I do appreciate the right to send and receive additional funds, it directly contradicts the iKobo request for additional information.
9. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, yet the employees seem to have major problems with the grammatical aspects of the English language. There are numerous typographical and grammatical errors both on the iKobo website and in communication with employees.
10. The coding of the iKobo website contained numerous technical errors and relied excessively on Javascript, which is disabled in over 13% of web browsers. For a company that seems to target a global audience, this is a rather abnormal strategy at best.

Informational Discrepancies
1. iKobo.com and iKobo.net, despite appearing to be websites for the same company, are two different websites with two different sets of domain information.
Due to legal restrictions with regard to the publication of WHOIS information, I cannot reveal the results of the domain name WHOIS lookups for both companies: however, for those of you who are curious, a website such as http://www.domainsearch.com will allow you to verify this information.
2. iKobo claims to accept MasterCard, yet MasterCard posed difficulties for iKobo during my initial transaction.
3. iKoboกs head offices appear to be in Marietta, Georgia, with no listing of offices outside of this area. However, they charge $9.95 USD for express delivery of the IKards to Canada and the US, while issuing said cards for free to countries such as Andorra, Spain and Belgium. This would suggest that iKobo is targeting the European market and/or not entirely based in the United States.
4. Cybersamrat.com did not have a banner promoting iKobo services on either the day I had sent the email or one week later, when I reviewed this particular site.
It should also be noted that cybersamrat.com sells web design services and, as such, would not be especially likely to have the iKobo banner up strictly for the purposes of informing customers that iKobo can be accepted. The affiliate code contained within the cybersamrat.com banner also indicates other purposes.
5. While many online merchants do not reveal their payment partner info, a large percentage of others do in order to let their customers know that their online purchases are made in a safe and secure manner. To date, I have not yet seen an iKobo merchant website other than cybersamrat.com.

Final Analysis and Conclusion
iKobo does not appear to be a scam, as many have suggested. However, it is a company with a number of technical and support problems and needs to do a great deal more to both expand its service offering and lower its fees.
iKobo also needs to be more upfront in terms of disclosure, in order to ensure that its users have the full benefit of knowing what is being done with their information and whom it may be directed toward. Another recommendation would be to include optout information directly on the initial signup form, rather than forcing users to click on a subtle hyperlink that many people would not see.
It does not, at the present time, pose a serious threat to PayPal in the marketplace; however, if they can improve on the issues mentioned above, this may change in the future. If this does change, an updated review will be posted accordingly.

About The Author

Adam Senour is the owner of ADAM Web Design, a leading web design and development provider in the Greater Toronto Area. Please visit http://www.adamwebdesign.ca for more information on ADAM Web Design products and services.

This article was posted on July 30, 2004

by Adam Senour

A Common Problem

A Common Problem

by: Adam Buhler

During a survey of my new subscribers, I heard many common challenges facing online marketers today.

I could spend hours rambling on about this problem or that, and what can be done to minimize the difficulties that each presents but, instead I will focus on what has proven to be ขyour most difficult challenge.ข

My inbox has been flooded as of late with many problems found in affiliate marketing but, one stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of frequency, ขI would like to make more money from my affiliate programsข.

This is a problem every internet marketer will unavoidably face at one time or another. There are many contributing factors in the struggle to maximize your efforts from affiliate programs however, the single greatest cause I see occurring almost regularly (remember, 95%98% of affiliates don’t make a dime!) is a website that is not optimized to ขcreateข a sale!

Thatกs right! You can make every effort to direct traffic to your site and you may even be quite successful in doing so but….

If your website is incapable of bringing in the sale once your visitors have arrived, you will have very little to show for your efforts. Statistics show that on average 99/100 visitors to your website WILL NOT buy from you! And thatกs an average, chances are that if your having problems pulling sales your average is much lower, probably somewhere in the area of 0.5% or 1/200 visitors!

A recent article featured in our newsletter discussed the importance of ขPreSellingข to your visitors, which means you have to provide quality content relevant to the specific needs of your visitors.

Once you build your website around your specific theme and add good content, you should see your clickthroughs AND sales rise dramatically.

Good Luck!

About The Author

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter กAffiliate Secretsก. He is offering a free copy of the ebook กInternet Cash Machinesก For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 05, 2003

by Adam Buhler

Affiliates: The Legal Way to Start Making Money Th

Affiliates: The Legal Way to Start Making Money The Extended Version

by: Adam Espiritu

There are two ways of making quick and continuous (they keep paying you) money on the net. Refer something (affiliate) or make something from your ideas (ebooks)

What are Affiliates? Companies pays for telling others about their products, but only if someone buys something from them. Just check the bottom of any online store or dealer that you like and see if they have a referral or affiliate program. If you can’t find a good affiliate program try

http:/www.affiliatematch.com/

Then check out this site

Discover the Way of the Tortoise and Leave the Rat Race behind.

http://www.sitesell.com/Adam23.html

And win an amazing prize http://specialprize.sitesell.com/Adam23.html

The Secret to A Steady Income Online Without Creating Your Own Product!

Do you need a webpage? No, but it would help. Just get the link and post or send it to your friends. All a webpage does is get you more people to see your site and hopefully more sales and return sales.

Don’t get a free webpage space. No search engine or business will take you seriously. Spend the $ 9 to get a space.

Now ebooks are just your ideas put into a readable form. They are sold or given away. Most people I know have blogs now or some kind of hobby. It really is easy to get money from your rants or obsessions.

Writing an ebook is not hard. Here are a few ways to do it without that much money.

33 Days to Online Profits

http://aesp93.edzau.hop.clickbank.net

Or you could use

How to write and publish your own outrageously profitable ebook… in as little as 7 days!

http://hop.clickbank.net/?aesp93/7dayebook

Since I am a lazy as hell I like this one

กGive me 5 minutes and Iกll show you how a กLazy Personก can make more money, work fewer hours and have a lot more fun than any กhard workerก youกll ever meet Guaranteed!ก

http://hop.clickbank.net/?aesp93/efbook

Most people I know are struggling to get by or thousands in debt due to student loans or car loans. These links will not make you rich overnight, but they could help with any of those payments. They are helping me right now as you read this message.

You can get up to 50% profit if someone buys these products! Don’t believe me. Just check it out.

Adam Espiritu is the Author of Practical Time Management

http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

He has helped hundreds towards success and obtaining their goals.

Learn More at

http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

About The Author

Adam Espiritu is the Author of Practical Time Management

http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

He has helped hundreds towards success and obtaining their goals.

Learn More at http://www.practicaltimemanagement.com

This article was posted on August 24

by Adam Espiritu

Are you building a business or a downline?

Are you building a business or a downline?

by: Adam Buhler

A common mistake *A LOT* of affiliates make is to focus too much Energy on building their second tier and not enough on selling Their business on the first tier.

I myself belive that twotiered affiliate programs are overrated, If you have a website that PREsells effectively you stand to make Quite a bit more by concentrating your efforts on your first tier.

Simply put, if you plan to make a living online and build a serious Source of income from affiliate programs, you cannot rely on others To sell products for you.

When I got started I had this ‘great’ idea of applying to a few programs, Then signing a ‘motherload’ of subaffiliates and reaping the benefits of THEIR efforts.

Did it work?

Ahem………… NO. I came to the realization that it is nearly as difficult to Sign subaffiliates as it is to make direct sales. You cannot simply join A program and promote your team building link everywhere you go.

* Remember between 9598% of affiliates never make a profit!*

Even if you sign a hundred affiliates under you, you still cannot make a decent living off of the commissions generated by their sales.

The best way to generate a good source of additional income from affiliate Programs is to find a high paying affiliate program that is compatible with Your business’ theme and blend your ‘recommendations’ (affiliate links) into Informative content that is beneficial to the reader.

The ขGo here, buy thisข approach will yield minimal rewards for you and your Visitors. No one wants to feel pressured into buying a product, if they feel Informed and not ‘sold’ they will be far more likely to click to your merchant.

Building a downline through your affiliate programs is an excellent way to ENHANCE your business and generate some ‘additional’ income but, if you spend Too much time on this, you’ll be neglecting the heart of your business.

About The Author

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter กAffiliate Secretsก. He is offering a free copy of the ebook กInternet Cash Machinesก For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 05, 2003

by Adam Buhler

A Visit with Adam Soroca, a Representative from Te

A Visit with Adam Soroca, a Representative from Terra Lycos

by: Robin Nobles

A Glimpse into the Lycos Search Engine. . .

A Visit with Adam Soroca, a Representative From Terra Lycos

By Robin Nobles

Recently, the Academy of Web Specialists (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com) had the good fortune of having Adam Soroca, a representative from Terra Lycos (http://www.lycos.com), attend a chat session to visit with our students. Mr. Soroca provided some excellent information about Terra Lycos as well as their plans for the future.

As means of introduction, Adam is the Group Product Manager for Lycos InSite and is in charge of building a comprehensive suite of search marketing tools. He has general management responsibilities for the vision, execution, and delivery of the Webbased platforms.

Adam explained further,

ขI am charged with building a search marketing platform for Lycos. We launched our first product based on paid inclusion into the FAST Web index in February of this year. We were very quickly able to prove that by nature of our brand and presence, search marketers would come to visit for search marketing services.

ขTwo weeks ago, we launched our second product, InSite AdBuyer, a costperclick ad auction engine. Both of these products are designed around the concept of contextual advertising, so that a searcher is presented with highly relevant information when performing a search.

ขWhile our platform is currently focused on our own index, we seek to provide onestop access for all search marketing needs, including multiple index submission and multiple bidmanagement capabilities. All of these are designed to drive traffic (i.e., customer acquisition). We are also looking further down the visitor experience to the ROI side to encompass campaign management.ข

The following are questions asked by Academy students to Mr. Soroca.

Question: ขI see when I do a search on Lycos that there is an กadvertisementก on the right side. Is this the InSite AdBuyer?ข

Adam: ขCorrect. Those are the AdBuyer costperclick ads. Our advertisers bid to be in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd positions.

ขThese are highly targeted ads as they are exact match keyword driven. So behind the scenes, advertisers are involved in a bidding auction to vie for that space.ข

Question: ขWhen someone clicks the กplace your ad hereก link, does it show what the bids are for the keywords in question, so you know what you have to bid against?ข

Adam: ขNo, actually we don’t display the prices on the front end. To view the prices for particular keywords, advertisers must sign up for an account and view that in the advertisers’ area.ข

Question: ขWhat results does FAST supply to Lycos?ข

Adam: ขFAST currently provides Lycos with our search results. Our paid inclusion platform enables Web site owners and marketers to guarantee that their Web content is included in the Web index and frequently refreshed. This differs from paid placement in that the paid inclusion customers do not necessarily show up in the top of the results just because they paid us. This content is viewed by the relevancy algorithm and displayed appropriately.

ขCurrently this program is available to small/mid size companies for an annual subscription. For larger companies, it will be available at a costperclick (those sites >1,000 URL’s). Paid placement and paid inclusion are two separate products. If you bid for placement, you pay for actual clicks. If you buy paid inclusion, that means that your pages are guaranteed to be in the Web index (spiders can’t find everything), and the content will be updated every 2448 hours. So, if your content changes, the index will reflect that much more quickly. With an index of 2.1 billion documents, it can take FAST a while to recrawl the entire index. This program guarantees you are in there.ข

Question: ขSo, you have to pay for inclusion before you bid for placement? Is this what I understand?ข

Adam: ขThey are two separate programs. The paid inclusion relates to FAST and the Web index. The paid placement relates to the three ad panels that display on Lycos Search.ข

Question: ขAnd your placement number in Lycos is then based on the algorithm of the page submitted?ข

Adam: ขCorrect!ข

Question: ขWhere the paid placement is a cost per click, your placement is then based on the bid placed for a particular keyword?ข

Adam: ขYes, exactly.ข

Question: ขIf you aren’t indexed and would like to buy pay per click, where would the cost per click be linked to?ข

Adam: ขThe costperclick ads go to any page that you want provided that you have content that is relevant to the keyword that you bid on. The costperclick ads are completely separate from the index. You do not have to be in the index to bid on the ads. The ads are the กadvertisementก on the right hand side of the page.ข

Question: ขWe are talking about cost per click (ad placement) and paid inclusion. My question is, if you don’t pay for inclusion and pay for ad placement, would you be indexed with FAST or Lycos search engines?ข

Adam: ขNo, they’re completely independent. Paid inclusion gets you into the Web index. Paid placement buys you space on the Web results page. You can have either or both, but they do not work together per se. However, it helps to purchase both for broad exposure through paid inclusion and targeted exposure through the CPC ads.ข

Question: ขIn your new InSite AdBuyer program, FindWhat provides the technology but NOT the results for your payperclick ads, is that correct?ข

Adam: ขWe have private labeled the FindWhat ad auction platform endtoend. Lycos engages in relationships with the advertisers directly.ข

Question: ขWhere are the sponsored listings from?ข

Adam: ขThose are provided by Overture, which is similar in concept. Advertisers are bidding for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions throughout Overtureกs network.ข

Question: ขWhat is the purpose of the ขFast Forwardข button in your search results? I notice that using the button opens up a framed page where the left frame shows the search results including Overture ads, and the current site is highlighted. Does this button make it easier to visit the current results, and is that its purpose?ข

Adam: ขThat is exactly the purpose. We are trying to give the searchers an easier way to browse through the pages that are served as results.ข

Question: ขIs it necessary to submit to both FAST and Lycos, either through free Add URL or pay inclusion, or does submitting to FAST get your site listed in both indexes?ข

Adam: ขWeb site owners and marketers can submit to the FAST index either through Lycos or directly to FAST. There is no difference in the indexes. Lycos search results are powered by FAST.ข

Question: ขDoes the #1 result from Kanoodle still show up in some Lycos searches?ข

Adam: ขNo. Kanoodle does not provide results on Lycos.ข

Question: ขAre the results from the Lycos Web Sites Directory (ODP results) mixed in with the FAST results or only available through the Web Directory link at the top of the page?ข

Adam: ขOnly FAST results appear in the Web result listings.ข

In Conclusion

If you don’t have visibility in the Lycos search engine (http://www.lycos.com), you have several choices. You can pay for inclusion in the FAST index (http://www.positiontech.com/fast/index.htm), which will get you in the regular search results for Lycos. You can also participate in their InSite AdBuyer program (http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/), a new costperclick advertising program. Or, purchase keywords through Overture (http://www.overture.com), which will also get you visibility in Lycos.

At the top of the Lycos page, you’ll see a link to the Web Directory, which is where ODP results are found. ODP results can only be found through this link, and they’re not mixed in with the FAST results. However, making sure that your site is listed in the ODP (http://dmoz.org) is another way to get added visibility through the Lycos search engine.

About The Author

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com) and is the content provider for (GRSeo) Search Engine Optimizer software (http://www.seoptimizer.com). She also teaches 4day hands on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 15, 2002

by Robin Nobles