This is fresh off the press and is a case study that has been active since January 2nd, 2008.

This time I’ve chosen to tackle WordPress.com.

This particular case study actually came about by accident, and although WordPress.com did NOT pay me directly I still got "free" money from WordPress.com

Let me explain.

I am currently beta testing a new page generation script for a friend of mine, which uses RSS feeds to populate parts of the page (to give it fresh relevant content). And while I’m all for using RSS, I don’t particularly like to "give away" traffic to the links back to the originator of the feed… I really look at these more as a "leak" in my sites than anything else.

I decided that instead of giving away traffic to competitors’ RSS feeds, I’d rather create some blogs on WordPress.com and post some articles on each that I could pull RSS feeds from. This way I could control my own traffic and minimize "leakage" and provide my page with 100% relevant content.

By the way, in case you’re not familiar with WordPress.com, it is a "hosted" version of WordPress, as opposed to a WordPress blog that you host on your own server, and is similar to a Blogger blog in that it’s a free service where you can create as many blogs as you wish. I personally chose WordPress.com because: 1. it’s free; and 2. it creates xml feeds, while Blogger creates an atom feed which was not compatible with the script I was using (unless I passed the atom feed through a service such as FeedBurner).

But I digress.

Once I created a handful of these WordPress sites I noticed that some of them started receiving traffic immediately, which was quite curious.

So, I decided to test it. 

I built a WordPress.com site on a very narrow topic, actually a product range (brand / model) in the "kitchenware" category. Sorry, I don’t want to reveal the product / niche as I’m still doing independent testing on a specific monetization model.

These are the actual results over the past week:

As you can see, this past week I’ve had 361 views (this does not include my own visits to the blog) spread over 4 blog posts. It might not be very impressive, but what’s really surprising and cool about these results is that I did no marketing of these pages, whatsoever…

Zip, Zilch, Zero, Nada…

All I did was post the content and went on my merry way.

I’m sure you’re thinking… "There’s got to be a trick to this."

Actually… no.

So what exactly did I do?

1. I created a blog called xyzreviews.wordpress.com. (replace xyz with product name of choice)
2. Then I named the blog: "All About XYZ", with a tagline like: "The Best XYZ Info Online".
3. I changed the sidebar widgets (go to Presentation -> Widgets) to include only: Recent Posts and Links.
4. All of my Post Titles had the product name in it.
5. As you can see under "Totals", I only have 4 blog posts. I did not write a single "unique" article All the posts are repurposed content, i.e. PLR articles I’ve had on my hard drive for a LONG TIME! I uploaded each article "as is", no re-writing or editing of the articles. Again, I wasn’t really worried about duplicate content when creating these blogs since I was originally going to use these blogs solely for RSS feeds.
6. Once I copied the article over, I proceeded to use a sub-headline (the first sentence of the article) using my product name. Each sub-headline was bolded and used as an anchor text link that linked to an affiliate product.
7. I bolded and italicized several instances of the product name (as well as synonymous words). I also sprinkled some anchor text links throughout the article that pointed back to the affiliate product.
8. I made sure to tag each post using the "Tags" area (this is located just below where you post content). For tags I used the product name, the brand name, the product name + review (e.g. xyz reviews). As you can see above, I only used 6 tags, which I used for every blog post.
9. Click Publish!

That’s it! There were no other tweaks to the codes, templates… anything. Also, there was no other monetization to the site besides the links to my affiliate product page.

Note: When using this method, it is important that you create blogs around products in demand. Otherwise nobody will care to search the tags…

This simple exercise netted me $42.76 in commissions from CJ.com this week (that’s $6 a day for those that are counting). Not bad considering it took me less than 15 minutes to create and publish. By the way in case you’re wondering, this is not an anomaly. I’ve been able to recreate four other blogs that have experienced similar results.

So, where did the traffic come from?

Believe it or not, more than 90% of the traffic came from the tags I placed in Step 8. The rest came from search engines (long tail keyword searches).

Just imagine what WordPress.com could do with some promotional activities…

So, if you have been slighting WordPress.com in your marketing activities, perhaps it’s worth another look.

[tags]wordpress.com, web 2.0, blogging, blog marketing, case study, affiliate marketing, internet marketing[/tags]

Post from: Affiliate Internet Marketing

Free Money From WordPress.com

Related posts:

1. 9 Reasons Why You Need To Use WordPress
2. How to Make Money with Zero Dollars
3. 8 Unique Ways to Make Money Through Social Media Networks

UPDATE – December 25, 2007:

Since I wrote this update on Hubpages Case Study below, the rankings have changed yet again. And since I didn’t actually mention the Scribd rankings from my Scribd Case Study in my initial update, I’ll include these as well. So here are the Google Search Engine results for both Hubpages and Scribd for the various keywords:

Keyword: Project Quick Cash

    Hubpages Ranking: 11 (page 2 of Google)
    Scribd Ranking: 12 (page 2 of Google)

Keyword: Project Quick Cash Review

    Hubpages Ranking: 3 (page 1 of Google)
    Scribd Ranking: 4 (page 1 of Google)

Keyword: Project Quick Cash Reviews

    Hubpages Ranking: 1 (page 1 of Google)
    Scribd Ranking: 2 (page 1 of Google)

Keyword: Review of Project Quick Cash

    Hubpages Rankings: 4 (page 1 of Google)
    Scribd Ranking: 1 (page 1 of Google)

I was actually quite surprised to see such a jump in the rankings… and the Scribd pages all of a sudden appeared from "nowhere". It goes to show you that the maturity of pages is a consideration.

My recommendation: If you are going to promote a new affiliate product (particularly an eBook or other courses on Internet / Affiliate Marketing), be sure to get a jump on the creation of Scribd pages or a Hubs on Hubpages. Preferably 3 – 5 weeks in advance (if at all possible). This will allow for your pages to mature and increases the chances of these to rank well in the search engines (for your chosen keywords).

Perhaps some of you read my case study on how you can appear on the first page of google using Hubpages I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

I initially saw a boost in my rankings for my Project Quick Cash Review Hub… however after a brief "honeymoon" period of a few days, my hubs were nowhere to be seen.

A couple of days later it then reappeared and it has "stuck" on the first page of Google since. There are no external links pointing to this site and it still managed to rank…

Here are some screenshots of the results as of today, December 17th, 2007.

Results for my primary search term "Project Quick Cash Reviews" (First Page, Ranked #7):

Results for search term "Project Quick Cash Review" (First Page, Ranked #8):

Results for search term "Review of Project Quick Cash" (First Page, Ranked #10):

And finally, the results for search term "Project Quick Cash" (2nd Page, Ranked #14):

As you can see, I have been able to get decent results from about 15 minutes of work (setting up the hub). I am certain that if I had taken the time to link to the Hub using the appropriate anchor text from a half a dozen to a dozen decent pages, I’d be able to increase the ranking to appear within the top 5 for the above search phrases (with perhaps the exception of "Project Quick Cash").

I would deem this method (of using hubpages) as a good free method (augmentation to bum marketing) to get sales or traffic to an affiliate product / sales page.

[tags]traffic from hubpages, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, hubpages, affiliate marketing case study, appear on the first page of google, web 2.0[/tags]

Post from: Affiliate Internet Marketing

Hubpages Case Study Follow Up – Appear On The First Page Of Google

Related posts:

1. Case Study Using Scribd.com – Appear on the First Page of Google Part 2
2. Hub Pages Case Study – Appear On The First Page of Google
3. Trend Marketing Case Study – Overview

One of the things I recommend people do when creating a blog for Blogger, whether it’s for Trend Blogging or a general blog, is to create a custom header graphic for your Blogger blog.

In other words, instead of a blog with a boring header like this:

You want to invest a little bit of time and upgrade the header to look a bit "spiffier". I recommend you create something like this:

So, to help you figure out how you can do this quickly and efficiently, I created this new video below. In this video I’ll share with you how I create a header from scratch and how you place the header on your blog in about 10 minutes.

Here is a "blow by blow" recap of the video (It’s not as detailed as the video, but at least you can get the "picture"):

1. My Blogger Template of Choice:

I use the "Mr. Moto" template, as it is one of the easier templates to modify in Blogger. If you haven’t done so already, go to the "Pick New Template" page and choose the "Mr. Moto" template (Template -> Pick New Template). Be sure to click on the "Save" icon once you’ve selected the template.

2.How to quickly find the proper dimensions for your header

Go to the "Edit HTML" page (Template -> Edit HTML). Go to the "Edit Template" section of this page. Scroll down until you find this area:

#outer-wrapper {
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: 0;
  width: 692px;

What you’re looking for is the number in red. This will be the width of your header image. Write it down.

As you can see there is no number for the height… so you’re pretty much free to choose whatever you want. I recommend you use a header height of 160px.

3. Where to find suitable images for your blog

I use a royalty free photo site at SXC.hu. The images here are free, however be sure you read the "fine print" to see what restrictions apply to the photographs.

4. How to create the header with an image editor

As you can see in the video, I use a program called GFXwriter by Incansoft (BigMike’s company, for those familiar with the Warrior Forum). I often use Photoshop as well, but I’ve found this program to be a lot faster to use for creating these types of headers. It’s only about $20, and is a powerful tool for any internet marketer who’s on a limited budget. Be sure to check out the video to see how simple it really is…

And if you’re interested you can get GFXwriter HERE.

By the way, here’s a reminder: the header size is 692px wide and 160px high.

5. Placing the Header

Once you’ve created the header, go to the "Page Elements" page in Blogger (Template -> Page Elements). Click on the "Edit" link in the "Header" section of this page (this will open a new window). In this new window, click the radio button for "From Your Computer". Then browse for your file on your computer. Once you’ve selected your new header it will show you a preview of the header. Go to the "Placement" section of this page and choose the radio button for "Instead of Title and Description". Then click "Save Changes" (this will close this window).

6. View your blog

Just click on "View Your Blog" and you will see your brand new header displayed promptly at the top of your page… actually just below the Blogger nav bar.

That’s it folks!

In the next video I’ll show you how you can get rid of the Blogger Nav Bar, and how you add Google Analytics to your Blogger blog. Both of these things are important as you start growing your Blogger blog(s).

[tags]blogger, blogger template, blogger layouts, blogger header image, trend blogging, blog marketing[/tags]

Post from: Affiliate Internet Marketing

Trend Blogging Part 3 – Creating A Custom Blogger Header Image

Related posts:

1. Trend Blogging Part 2 – Setting Up Your Blogger Blog
2. Trend Marketing Case Study Part 1 – How To Find A Topic For Trend Blogging
3. Trend Marketing Case Study – Overview

I know that this isn’t terribly exciting, but I wanted to cover it in case some of you were unfamiliar with Blogger. And instead of writing the method out step-by-step, I’ve created a quick tutorial (it’s 9 minutes long) on how to set up a blog for Trend Blogging. This video show the exact steps on how you can set up a blog in 10 minutes or less.

[tags]trend marketing, trend blogging, blog marketing, blogger, authority site building, authority sites, project quick cash[/tags]

Post from: Affiliate Internet Marketing

Trend Blogging Part 2 – Setting Up Your Blogger Blog

Related posts:

1. Trend Marketing Case Study Part 1 – How To Find A Topic For Trend Blogging
2. Trend Marketing Case Study – Overview

Today, I want to address how I came up with a topic to center my Trend Marketing blog around and also touch a bit on how I actually uncover these current events.

Ok, so before you actually set up a blog, you need to find out what topic(s) you want to cover.

Trend blogging is very similar to the whole Authority Site Building concept of Jack Humphrey, with the exception that you don’t necessarily niche down the way you would in Authority Site Building… but like with the building of Authority Sites you would want to choose an area that you have some interest in. By the way, Trend Blogging and Authority Site Building are the only two times I actually recommend that you choose a topic that you at least have a faint interest in.

This is because you are going to be posting to your blog with a relatively high frequency, and if you aren’t interested in what you’re writing about you will soon lose focus and it will become a chore.

So, if you like sports you may want to do a blog on this topic (there’s plenty of buzz on this topic alone). For some sports you could even create separate blogs since they can drive a ton of traffic on their own… like Baseball, Basketball etc. The downside is that many of these sports are seasonal, which means the traffic on your blog will die down during the off season.

If you are a news junkie, i.e. you watch CNN like your life depended on it, you might enjoy creating a "world news" or a "financial news" blog.

You could even create a blog all about product reviews… writing about products that are HOT at the moment.

There are a TON of options, but I would recommend that you choose a "broad" topic (unless you have your finger firmly on the pulse of your chosen niche). That way you won’t run dry of current events.

If you are stuck and don’t know what topic(s) to cover, have a look at DMOZ.org and check out my video below.

As for finding current trends, here are some of my favorite resources:

• Google Trends (Trends.Google.com)
• Yahoo Buzz Index (Buzz.Yahoo.com)
• Lycos Top 50 (50.lycos.com)
• What’s Hot on eBay (pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html)
• eBay Pulse (pulse.ebay.com)
• eBay Pop (www.mpire.com/ebayPop.ivk)

To get a better overview of the process of selecting a topic for your blog and how you can find the latest trends, check out the video below:

In part 2 of this tutorial, I will be going over how you can set up your Blogger blog (in case you’re unfamiliar).

[tags]trend marketing, google trends, affiliate marketing, blog marketing, blogger, trend blogging, buzz marketing, authority site building, authority sites, jack humphrey[/tags]

Post from: Affiliate Internet Marketing

Trend Marketing Case Study Part 1 – How To Find A Topic For Trend Blogging

Related posts:

1. Trend Marketing Case Study – Overview
2. Are You An Authority? A Case Study
3. Top 12 Resources for Niche Research