Popularity: 10% [?]

As you’ve noticed, it’s been rather quiet around these parts.  Taking a break for the Christmas Holidays.

I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year!!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Since I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for almost 3 years now, I’ve come to wonder how I could make my affiliate links look a little bit more eye-appealing without looking completely like an affiliate link that many people wouldn’t want to click with a 10 foot pole. I’ve also wondered if having such obvious affiliate links would leave me open to losing commissions - because sometimes people cut the affiliate part off the links and just go to the site. Maybe I’m just worried that I’m losing clicks generally over my very big affiliate links.

I don’t know, and to be honest over the years I’ve tried many scripts and links. I’m not a programmer, so I’ve often loaded up a program and then just stopped using it. Because it was so much of a hassle. Or after loading it up - the thing didn’t even work like it was suppose to - and I’m left adding more code to my sites and wondering why things aren’t working and I’m back to square one and have lost hours and hours of my time trying to figure them out.

I was frustrated.

Then I cam across the Affiliate Link Tracker software and I had an opportunity to try it out. The owner of the product, Will has been really nice and helpful and I thought I’d give it a try - because at least I could talk to Will if anything went totally pear shaped with the script.

So since I downloaded the software and read the instructions and uploaded it to my server I went to load the program. Um… it didn’t work. I rattled my brain trying to figure it out. Today I’ve figured it out. Um… yes, it was a “me malfunction”. I created the folder for the script through my ftp program, but really I should have gone directly through my cpanel to do it. Today I did that and in 2 minutes I had the script set up and working.

I feel so dumb.

This is the dashboard screen - totally easy to understand and has a really nice layout. From here you can add groups for your links, manage or add links, and config your layout of the dashboard and the server side.

Can I say - so far I’ve added a group and a link and now I’m going to test it out.

So I enter this link from Clickbank.com

http://**MyID***.**offer**.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=***LinkyThing***

Yes it looks completely horrible and I think it could be easily ripped off. So I put that into the Affiliate Link tracker and got this:

http://www.buildingmyempire.com/recommends/affiliate-link-tracker

I think this looks so much better. Now you can set up the link to be search engine friendly and you have the option to load the script into any folder. I named mine “recommends”, but it could be anything you want .

If you’re interested in covering your affiliate links and having 100% control over the software that will re-name the links, then the Affiliate Link Tracker script would be ideal. I had everything up and running in 5 minutes. I am in love with this script and thought I’d share it with you.

I found this video at YouTube about how to set up the script to work on your site:

Popularity: 16% [?]

Yesterday I was checking my stats, which I’ve not done for a couple of weeks - which that on it’s own is weird because I’m usually a daily stats checker. I think it has a lot to do with me trying to prioritize things that I’m doing. I find that I’m often distracted from the task at hand and things take way longer to complete or I don’t get around too. I’m getting better - but it’s not perfected yet. But anyway… see totally off on a tangent!

Back to my stats.

On one of my sites that I’m trying to be more active in promoting has picked up quite a bit. I’m happy to see more traffic coming my way. I took a peek at where people were coming from to the site - to see if my advertising was paying off - was I getting clicks, etc. It was kind of funny to see on this site that someone had used an online keyword digger - not for the site itself but for Advertising. A few weeks ago I was using Google AdWords to do some promotion, and if you’ve been reading - you will have noticed that I stopped because they were asking for way more of a budget than I have on hand currently.

So currently I’m not running anything like that online - but this software that was used - checks that. Checks the keywords I’m running on my ads. Holy Crap. I don’t think I’ve ever been seen on that level of competition before. It’s interesting and this software is online - so you can check out the demo of it. It’s called Keyword Spy and to be quite honest I’m not sure what to make of it.

On one hand I think it’s pretty tricky and somewhat unfair. Maybe I’m looking at it from my point of view that I’ve spent HOURS looking up good keywords to use for my campaigns and their my keywords damn it. Then there’s that other part of me who thinks this is pretty darn cool and I want to use the service to SAVE ME TIME and see what I might be missing out on when it comes to wedging my way into this market. It’s not an easy game to play and I think this would be one way to level the playing field a little and maybe a little voyeuristic to see what other people are doing to market their sites within your niche… or whatever takes your fancy.

It’s not even that I meant to write about this, it was just really trippy that someone out there thought my site would be seen as competition. THANKS! It was just the ego boost this lady needed to know that I’m going in the right direction and maybe I need to turn on the PPC again - currently I’m doing alright, we’ll see how this month’s stats turn out. I’m looking to do a bit more 125×125 marketing since I’m seeing good clicks from those I’ve bought from so far.

The Keyword Spy program looks interesting and I’ve signed up to their affiliate program (as you can see) and I’m thinking of giving it a spin when the time comes to up the game a bit. I think apart from being slightly pissed that it’s so easy for someone to find the keywords I’m bidding on (after all that work), I’m kind of happy I found this software now, because I’m all for saving time. It’s a bit of a double edged sword I guess. But I’m leaning more towards trying it out. See where it takes me - see what new keywords I could try out on my limited budget, but it’s a start right. That’s what I need.

Anyway… I’m still happy that someone sees me as competition

Popularity: 21% [?]

I guess you could say that I’ve made a decision here at Building my Empire. One of them is that I’m going to have a bit more fun and share the things that I’ve found on the ‘Net that I enjoy and have in my RSS feeder.   There are millions of sites out there and I like to give a little shout out to those sites that really make me happy to read, are insightful, or just catch my attention.

So without further ado:

    Sushi Day

I think I’ve talked about Sushi Day before… and I seriously am still addicted to the site and the fabulous Sushi recipes that come out of there.  I haven’t always been a fan of Sushi, but since moving out to the coast maybe things are a bit fresher out here and the sushi tastes better!  Anyway, if you are foodie or love Sushi you should stop by and check it out.  Yummy, mouthwatering photos to showoff those recipes.  Ok… I’ll stop now… I’m getting hungry!

     Gala Darling

I think it was Darren Rowse who first showcased her site.  I can’t be too sure - my memory isn’t what it use to be.  But I love her site.  She’s so what I wish I had the balls to be.  A non-conformist who loves fashion, tattoos, crazy hair and you just can’t help but really like her.  Her writing style is easy to read and I guess you could say she’s my Internet crush of the moment

      Unclutterer

I guess this is just what I need.  I should show you my desk.  This site is chock full of inspiration to get uncluttered.  Since I’m a bit of a pack-rat/lazy woman most of the things that need to be filed away or put away kind of sit around… collecting into piles and I swear some of the paperwork I have reproduces!  Unclutterer is one of those sites that feeds my photo addiction on pretty offices and uncluttered workspaces.

      Self Made Chick

I love this site.  I guess as I am wanting to be “better” at this online/independent affiliate marketer / designer / jack of all trades sort of entrepreneurial lifestyle - the Self Made Chick gives me inspiration.   I have to say some of her articles that she writes about, her thoughts - I’ve had those same feelings, issues, dreams and I guess it just makes a connection with me.  From articles like “What Hitchhiking Across America taught me about taking business risks” to “How I made $100,000 by spending 25 minutes and $0 on Marketing”.  This is where good Content goes to work.

So there you be.  Something new to check out, maybe get a little inspiration and a laugh.  I just think for my sanity I have to break up the routine on this site a little and actually get back to enjoying what I’m doing and give a little shout out to those who I think are really pretty awesome and different on the Internet.

Popularity: 24% [?]