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- Jan 30, 2008
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So I spent some money. I bought a premium wordpress theme and plugin. While some might scoff at this and say it isn't necessary because the work can be done by hand coding or outsourcing the coding, I just don't have the time. But I do have some extra cash around.
So first up is flexsqueeze. This theme is a monster.
FlexSqueeze - WordPress Squeeze Pages Made Easy
One feature is the ability to create and save custom squeeze page templates. Again, yes, with some hard coding or simply making my own HTML static pages I can do this on my own. But the idea here is how quickly can I do this because I'm not doing this with one site, but with all the sites that I am building in my affiliate marketing business. One nice thing about flexsqueeze is the ability to import/export your settings so you can carry everything over from one blog to another which will make it easier and quicker to move on to the next site.
Initially, though, there is a bit of a learning curve here as there are a ton of settings. This also came with a ton of sales letter graphics (buttons, action buttons, etc) and a great html squeeze page template. But the theme based squeeze page template is cool in that you can remove the navigation bar, the side bars on the fly to create a true squeeze page.
If anyone is interested in this PM for a discount code of 15%.
Next up, reviewazon: ReviewAZON - The Amazon Affiliate Product Review Plugin for Wordpress
Right now I'm working on the amazon associate program (I'm trying to get into the Ebay one as well but they are slow going at approval). Yes they have low commission but they are a trusted brand and their website has a very high conversion as well as a great upsell/xsell strategy. So the idea here is just to get them to click over to amazon, with my affiliate cookie, and if they buy anything in the next day I get a piece. Anyway, this plugin does a lot. It pulls data and formats it all in a very professional manner. It brings in pictures, item data (manufacturer, brand, etc), the star rating, user reviews and even youtube videos (that you pick out). It also comes with some neat sidebar widgets that help promote xsell items and similar items. You can create entire posts or simply imbed data into your own posts (for a multi-review post example). There is also a way to customize the entire layout but I haven't gotten into that yet.
Also, it can integrates with phpbay (ebay plugin) and an overstock.com plugin (forgot the name) so that you can truly make a shopping comparison site and get commission no matter. I also want to note that the creator (Brad Hanson) has already proven to provide excellent customer support when I had a problem entering in a 35% off discount code.
The need for these items is debatable, because I know that with enough work I can do this on my own. Also, I know that the money could be spent on outsourcing tasks (which I have cash set aside for anyway). Thirdly, this is revolving around a 1-dimensional business model (amazon, ebay physical product reviews). Kind of like the old saying 'too many eggs in one basket'. But I do see this as an investment and I am going to go for this model, with the goal of reaching out into other avenues later on. Plus, I enjoy how much more professional my site has become since tweaking these 2 additions. Now the focus is on traffic, which I will be outsourcing.
Anyway, thoughts, criticisms. Those of you that are more established with your online business, please feel free to flame away or throw your 2 cents in.
(BTW, I am not affiliated with these 2 companies).
So first up is flexsqueeze. This theme is a monster.
FlexSqueeze - WordPress Squeeze Pages Made Easy
One feature is the ability to create and save custom squeeze page templates. Again, yes, with some hard coding or simply making my own HTML static pages I can do this on my own. But the idea here is how quickly can I do this because I'm not doing this with one site, but with all the sites that I am building in my affiliate marketing business. One nice thing about flexsqueeze is the ability to import/export your settings so you can carry everything over from one blog to another which will make it easier and quicker to move on to the next site.
Initially, though, there is a bit of a learning curve here as there are a ton of settings. This also came with a ton of sales letter graphics (buttons, action buttons, etc) and a great html squeeze page template. But the theme based squeeze page template is cool in that you can remove the navigation bar, the side bars on the fly to create a true squeeze page.
If anyone is interested in this PM for a discount code of 15%.
Next up, reviewazon: ReviewAZON - The Amazon Affiliate Product Review Plugin for Wordpress
Right now I'm working on the amazon associate program (I'm trying to get into the Ebay one as well but they are slow going at approval). Yes they have low commission but they are a trusted brand and their website has a very high conversion as well as a great upsell/xsell strategy. So the idea here is just to get them to click over to amazon, with my affiliate cookie, and if they buy anything in the next day I get a piece. Anyway, this plugin does a lot. It pulls data and formats it all in a very professional manner. It brings in pictures, item data (manufacturer, brand, etc), the star rating, user reviews and even youtube videos (that you pick out). It also comes with some neat sidebar widgets that help promote xsell items and similar items. You can create entire posts or simply imbed data into your own posts (for a multi-review post example). There is also a way to customize the entire layout but I haven't gotten into that yet.
Also, it can integrates with phpbay (ebay plugin) and an overstock.com plugin (forgot the name) so that you can truly make a shopping comparison site and get commission no matter. I also want to note that the creator (Brad Hanson) has already proven to provide excellent customer support when I had a problem entering in a 35% off discount code.
The need for these items is debatable, because I know that with enough work I can do this on my own. Also, I know that the money could be spent on outsourcing tasks (which I have cash set aside for anyway). Thirdly, this is revolving around a 1-dimensional business model (amazon, ebay physical product reviews). Kind of like the old saying 'too many eggs in one basket'. But I do see this as an investment and I am going to go for this model, with the goal of reaching out into other avenues later on. Plus, I enjoy how much more professional my site has become since tweaking these 2 additions. Now the focus is on traffic, which I will be outsourcing.
Anyway, thoughts, criticisms. Those of you that are more established with your online business, please feel free to flame away or throw your 2 cents in.
(BTW, I am not affiliated with these 2 companies).
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