Internet Marketing: SERP Rank Experiment Results

Posted by JR in Affiliate Marketing, Build a Niche Store - BANS, Google, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Webmaster/Website Optimization

One thing is certain, with Internet Marketing something is always changing and the Google SERPS are unpredictable. It is important to stay on top of changes and roll with the punches.

Some of you may have heard of recent issues that thousands of affiliates have had with BANS (Build A Niche Store) sites and similar affiliate marketing websites getting de-indexed completely or massively losing SERP position. There was speculation that lack of original written content was the main reason for this. And for many I know this was true. Time and again Internet marketers do not understand the value of original website content in affiliate marketing.

Many affiliates literally just slap up affiliate sites, whether it’s BANS or Amazon, or other such sites with nothing but affiliate link pages and without any original content. As I have said before in The Importance of Quality Content, this is a really bad strategy and will kill your chances of ranking in the Google SERPS, if you even get indexed at all.

I too was hit with this issue on two BANS sites and it was important for me to correct these issues quickly as my BANS sites make money regularly and the best traffic comes from the search engines, especially Google.

These two sites rose steadily in the SERPS when first launched with regular link building and on-site SEO. A while ago, the two sites began dipping in and out of their high SERP positions on a regular basis, one day they were there, then they were gone. Then suddenly a few weeks ago the home pages were de-indexed all together and only some content pages showed up in SERPS for their keywords, an Internet marketing nightmare! So, I began to do some experimenting, which is your best friend in Internet marketing.

SERP Experiment

First, I added more content, though I knew this probably had nothing to do with the content since both sites have more content pages than auction/affiliate link pages and I add content on a regular basis, but I wanted to eliminate all possible factors.

Second, I built up more links via article marketing, some new forum postings and do-follow blog comments, to see if that would resolve the issues. Neither of those tests did anything to get my sites back in the SERPS.

I then I decided to do a test with the home page.

1. I removed the eBay auction listings (affiliate links) that I had listed below the welcome messages on the sites.

2. I added 2 more paragraphs of wording to the welcome message and a related image with the keywords in the alt tags and some internal links to relevant pages for the keywords that came up within the content of the welcome message.

Experiment Results – Exactly 4 days later:

Site #1 home page appeared on page 1 of SERPS without quotes and has been there for over 2 weeks, holding steady.

Site #2 home page appeared on page 2 of SERPS (higher than it was originally) without quotes and has been there for 2 weeks as well (Page 2 is not surprising since there are some big guns on page 1 that I am currently working to out rank).

Since I had eliminated all other factors the lesson here is obvious, affiliate links on the home page affect SERP position for affiliate sites.

While I have heard this before, it never had affected me until recently and so Google is obviously hitting hard not only on affiliate sites with little or no content but also on those sites that have affiliate links on the home page.

This just proves how important experimentation in Internet marketing really is. While many panic and follow hype instead of using common sense, checking results and testing.

A great example of this is the widespread and ongoing inaccurate hype about duplicate content and how it still manages to be a leading and misleading focus on many forum threads because people just do not check things out for themselves and therefore limit their success online.

About BANS

Contrary to what some haters in the Internet marketing world may say, BANS (Build a Niche Store) is not at fault, in fact, BANS is regularly making lots of money for many affiliates who optimize their sites correctly and bring in regular search engine traffic and now thanks to this experiment I am back on that track.

BANS is really great, because it is cheap and allows anyone without any coding knowledge to build unlimited numbers of great money making websites centered around the eBay affiliate program, as well as any affiliate programs of their choice. One of the best things about eBAy is they have over 10,000 products and so the possibilities and keywords are endless.

Many of the BANS bashers never take the time to actually do the work required for success, instead they think they can use the software to quickly put up some sites that are nothing but mirrors of eBay and start raking in big bucks overnight. Sorry, nothing is that easy in Internet marketing and making money online takes more effort than just buying software.

I highly recommend BANS and you can see my full review with screenshots at: Review of Build a Niche Store or Check out the BANS official Website.

What do you guys think? Have you been affected by recent SERP changes? Do you add content regularly to your affiliate sites?

48 Comments

Pepperjam Network – The Missing Link for eBay Partner Network

Posted by JR in Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Programs, Build a Niche Store - BANS

Recently eBay left Commission Junction and created an in-house affiliate program, eBay Partner Network (EPN). Well, to say the least this was not eBay’s finest moment.

Soon after millions of affiliates switched their accounts from CJ to EPN, the eBay discussion forums began to be bombarded with postings of missing commissions, 0 impressions and complaints of missing ACRU’s and overall faulty tracking.

After some denial and general silence from eBay, they finally admitted that a “small percentage” of affiliates were experiencing tracking issues and specifically with ACRU’s and EPN went on to assure everyone that they are working to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Why am I telling you this? Well, first of all I am an active eBay affiliate and dedicated BANS (Build A Niche Store) user and I have several readers who are as well. I am also one of those that fell victim to EPN’s “non-existent” tracking problem, and as you can imagine I was not a happy affiliate.

Second, in general, in Affiliate Marketing it is crucial that the affiliate management program is accurate and tracks correctly, so that commissions that we all word so hard for in our Internet Marketing efforts are credited back to us correctly.

So while eBay really dropped the ball by leaving Commission Junction and creating somewhat of a fiasco with EPN, they have recently made one good decision and that is to join the Pepperjam Affiliate Network.

While most of my BANS stores tracking seemed to be consistent with EPN, two of them were not and so I decided to switch those store’s tracking to Pepperjam. And within two days of the switch I began to see impressions, clicks and commissions.

So, if you are having problems with EPN tracking or if you are not an eBay affiliate and you are looking for an accurate affiliate network that has a variety of merchants, please check out the Pepperjam Network.

I highly recommend Pepperjam, they have proven to me that their tracking works and is trustworthy and they provide me with great piece of mind.

Also, Pepperjam provides excellent support and customer service to their affiliates with response time of less than 24 hours to email support requests.

On top of everything else Pepperjam is now giving all new affiliates a $10 bonus just to sign up.

7 Comments

Affiliate Marketing – Review Of Build A Niche Store

Posted by JR in Affiliate Marketing, Best Website Builders, Build a Niche Store - BANS, Internet Marketing, Webmaster/Website Optimization, Website Promotion

Here is a detailed review of BANS, which stands for “Build A Niche Store” and it is a website builder which enables you to create an Internet Based Affiliate Marketing niche websites focused around the eBay Affiliate Program.

What I love about BANS is that is EASY to build stores and it is different from other website builders, BANS is really a business builder because it has many tools that do not come with regular website software, such as a members forum, affiliate marketing guides and more.

As an eBay affiliate your aim is to connect Internet surfers with relevant eBay products and your BANS built niche stores are the venue through which you can achieve this. And, because eBay is an established, world known and widely used site this is a great Affiliate Program which does not need a hard sell.

As I have mentioned before making money online these days is not so easy and you should take advantage of any edge that’s out there. BANS gives several edges, and while my aggressive Internet Marketing Strategies had a big hand in these earnings, BANS had a big part as well.

The edges BANS gave me was time and marketing support. I did not want to spend a ton of time building sites from scratch and with BANS I was able to build great sites quickly and easily. Also there is the BANS member forum where all topics related to BANS, Internet and Affiliate Marketing are discussed from building BANS stores to getting traffic.

Here are some of the great features of BANS along with screenshots so you can take an insiders look:

The instructions are written very clearly and completely step-by-step from start to finish:

1. How to choose a niche
2. Buying a domain
3. Signing up for hosting
4. Free FTP Software links
5. And actual step-by-step instructions on how to FTP and Install the Site Builder
6. Complete step-by-step instructions on setting up the store.

Here is a screenshot of the BANS Admin Panel from
where sites are built:

Build a Niche Store Admin Panel

BANS is SEO friendly and adding META TAGS to every page is easy, as well as creating seo friendly url’s for every page.

You can also use the auto Meta Tags feature, where BANS automatically places your META TAGS based on your store’s niche theme but I do NOT recommend this technique as I am a true believer in finding your own good keywords for every page for optimal Search Engine Optimization results.

You can learn all the details of Meta Tags and how to optimize them at my post: Simple Guide to Meta Tags Optimization

Here is a screenshot of the the Admin Panel for Meta Tags:

Build a Niche Store - BANS - Content Page Editor

BANS Store Pages Load Automatically and No maintenance is required:

1. Store Pages in BANS load automatically via RSS feeds by just entering the eBay Item Category that is the focus of your site.

2. Your eBay affiliate ID’s are automatically loaded into each item for accurate commission tracking.

3. As each live auction ends and begins on eBay, as per your respective item category, those updates also load automatically into your site without any maintenance.

Two simple Steps to Build Store Pages:
1. Add the eBay Item Category numbers once
2. Add your eBay Campaign ID once

THEN:
RSS feeds automatically create store pages filled with the live eBay auctions as per the category numbers. No maintenence because BANS updates automatically.

Here are screenshots of Store Page Set-Up and how the items look within a live store:

Build a Niche Store - BANS - Store Page Set up

With BANS you can build unlimited Content Pages with the WYSIWYG Builder

It is a well known fact that in today’s highly competitive Internet Market, the difference between success and failure in Affiliate Marketing is CONTENT! I have said it before and I will say it again, content is crucial, Just having a store is not enough.

With BANS adding content pages is very easy because you can do it with a WYSIWYG builder. WYSIWYG is an acronym which means “what you see is what you get.” This means that you don’t need to know code or HTML. You type your content in English and the editor automatically converts it to HTML. You edit the content with colors, bolds, italics, add images and hyper-links and what you see in the editor is how your content page will actually look on your live site!

Here is a screenshot of the Content WYSIWYG Editor from within the BANS ADMIN:

BANS Content Pages Editor

BANS allows for Easy Installation of Ads to your site:

With Bans you can add different ads to your site, like Affiliate Banners and Google Adsense. Simply copy and paste the banner code given to you by the affiliate program and enter into the Ads Admin section and they appear on your site.

Here is banners look on the live on the site:

BANS MEMBER FORUM

One of the best features of BANS which sets it apart from other website software is the members forum and that makes BANS a business builder and not just a website builder. With thousands of BANS members who share and discuss information about BANS, everything from set-up and store-design to getting traffic I am never be alone.

More Great Features:

BANS is also fully customizable with easy step-by-step CSS style guides to change the look and formatting of stores.

Several template options are available, as well as, the ability to upload your own templates.

24/7 Support

BANS makes it super EASY to build stores, and frees up time that is so needed to spend on the all important marketing of my Affiliate Business instead of wasting time on the difficult and daunting task of building websites from scratch. Because in reality one of the most important parts of Affiliate Marketing is getting traffic and marketing sites in order to get sales and BANS gives you the freedom to do just that.

Another edge with BANS is that they are pre-coded for Search Engine Optimization. Make sure to use my 6-Step Checklist for On-Site SEO for your BANS sites and 13 Ways to Link Building.

I have been VERY happy with BANS and I highly recommend it to newbies. You can learn more about BANS and get your own BANS builder at: Build a Niche Store