Best Of The Web (BOTW) are offering a coupon for March 2010 for 30% off Category Sponsors advertising. The coupon is THIRTY30 . Even better, you get the first 30 days free, so you can determine your ROI before the rebill kicks in at a 30% discount to regular rates.

You may be thinking, “how the heck can someone analyse the results for different keywords when there are usually millions of results“?

Ahh, well, here’s the thing… if you drill down through the Google results for “contact lens”, you’ll see that they stop at position 861. That’s how many useful pages Google thinks there are… the so-called, “Authority Set“. The other 29 million pages are buried in what we used to call the “supplemental index”… they’re pages with duplicate content, too few links or not enough relevance to break into the authority set.

So, Andy simply analysed pages from within that dataset of 861 and noticed something intriguing… the pages at the top almost always contained the phrase being searched for AND most of the other keywords relevant to the main phrase. Andy calls this broad coverage of the niche, “themeing” (also spelled theming).

Andy then analysed many pages for many different niches, and it became clear that better “themed” pages were more likely to be at the top of the search results. Now, intuitively, this makes sense, because experts on their topics will write well-contructed articles that naturally include all the theme words related to their topic. Logic tells us that those “best articles” will get cited by other websites and gain many natural links, which Google loves to see.

So where does this leave us? Is it the themeing which gets top rankings, or the links that expertly-written articles gain because they’re well themed?

The answer is, simply, both. You need a well themed article, and links.

BUT, here’s the kicker… if you get ghostwritten, low-quality articles for a few bucks which only repeat the main keyword a few times and don’t include many theme words, you can kiss goodbye to getting top-10 listings!

SO, check out the Google Authority Set PDF report, verify Andy’s findings and use Web Content Studio to work out the theme-keywords for your niche BEFORE writing an article. Better yet, give the list of theme-keywords to your ghostwriters and have them construct quality articles using as many of the theme-keywords as possible. Then you’re guaranteed to tick the “themed well” box, and give yourself a good chance at top-10 rankings!

If you’re into generating traffic and sales online, you need to check out what Michael offers. Unlike most “fake it until you make it” nonsense, Michael is a true expert and one of my mentors for the last 10 years.

Allow me to quote myself…

Michael Campbell shares his techniques openly and honestly. There’s no hype about Michael. He’s a true marketing expert, someone many online “gurus” owe their success to.

~ Neil Shearing Ph.D.

Michael Campbell’s Dynamic Media Vault.

(NOT an affiliate link)

More details…

In this unique 83-page report you’ll discover:

What is User Generated Content (UGC)
Why UGC has the power to revolutionize YOUR business
The history of UGC and the exciting times ahead
Why UGC is something you can’t ignore if you’re in business
16 valuable benefits for your business
10 ways in which your visitors will benefit
31 ways to get UGC on your site – right now!
16 critical pitfalls you must be aware of
12 tactics to avoid UGC nightmares
4 legal issues you need to be aware of

When I see a scam today it STILL burns me up.

So, here’s a failsafe way to spot a scam.

Check the website’s “terms and conditions” for lines like this…

I understand that my purchase of [deleted] is not refundable and I agree in advance NOT to request a refund or file a chargeback for these products.

See what they did there? You agree to NO REFUNDS AND NO CHARGEBACKS… IN ADVANCE!

The “deleted” part mentions a specific product name… but, as another tip that you’re going to be pumped for cash, it mentions THREE products, the basic, then the workshop, then the coaching. Hmmm, if you pay for the basic product (NO REFUNDS, NO CHARGEBACKS), what do you think will happen next? Do you think you’ll be pitched the workshop (NO REFUNDS, NO CHARGEBACKS)… then the coaching (NO REFUNDS, NO CHARGEBACKS)? I wonder what they cost? Hmmm.

Don’t forget… NO REFUNDS, NO CHARGEBACKS!

Some things don’t change.

Here’s the announcement…

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Dear Associate,

We’re writing to let you know about some changes to the Amazon.co.uk Associates Programme.

After careful review of our Associates programme, we have made the decision that as of February 1, 2010, we will no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.co.uk, http://astore.amazon.co.uk or www.javari.co.uk through keyword bidding or other paid search on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, or any other search engine, or their extended search networks.

In connection with this change, as of February 1, 2010, we will no longer provide Associates who engage in such paid search activities with access to our Product Advertising API or datafeeds. If you are currently enrolled in the Associates Programme as a Paid Search Placement Associate and wish to continue to participate in the Programme after February 1, 2010, you must choose a new category that most accurately describes the method you will use to send users to the Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk site. Of course, just choosing a new category is not sufficient – you will also need to stop sending traffic via paid search links, as you will no longer be paid for such traffic starting on February 1, regardless of what category you choose. You may change your category by writing to us using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central or by following this link:

If you are enrolled in the Associates Programme as a Paid Search Placement Associate and you do not contact us to modify your category on or prior to March 1 2010 your Associates account will automatically be closed.

In addition, as of February 1, 2010 we will no longer pay referral fees on purchases made by customers who are referred to www.amazon.co.uk or www.javari.co.uk via Free Search Results. Free Search Results are links containing an Associate’s tag displayed in a search engine’s free, natural, or organic search results in response to a search query which send customers directly to an Amazon site without the customer first being sent to an Associate’s site and the customer clicking on a link to arrive at the Amazon site.

These changes do not prohibit you from purchasing paid search advertisements or submitting links to search engines so long as the links that appear on the search engines send customers to your site. If customers arrive at the Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk site by clicking on Special Links displayed on your site (ie, links on your site pointing to Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk with Amazon Associates tags), you will continue to earn referral fees in accordance with the Associates Programme Operating Agreement. There are a number of tools available through Associates Central to assist you with integrating Special Links into your sites, such as aStore by Amazon, various customisable widgets, and the Product Advertising API.

These changes apply only to the Associates Programme in the UK. If you are conducting paid or free search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programmes outside of the UK, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Programme Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

For a summary of these changes please visit this page See what’s changed, and to review the Operating Agreement please visit this page Operating Agreement. If you’re not sure if these changes affect you, please visit this page for FAQs.

Best regards,

Your Amazon.co.uk Associates Team
—

Wow. Not exactly a “change”, more like a “bombshell”.

I hope all you advertisers sending clicks directly to Amazon.co.uk have a backup business plan!

I found out from Twitter that many other people are upset and frustrated.

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AndroidSPIN: Not that it helps, but everyone on enom is down… http://twitter.com/#search?q=enom

half a minute ago from web elliothaughin: I often forget how much I rely on companies till they let me down, as the current enom situation as reminded me!

half a minute ago from TweetDeck davidmoffitt: Pro tip: If your DNS service (for millions of sites) is down, you might want to update your Twitter feed w/ status (yes @enom I mean you).

half a minute ago from web laurabetterly: Extremely frustrated #enom is down, so are we, so are all our clients
-

Best Of The Web (BOTW), has announced a new promotional coupon for January 2010. For the last few years we’ve been bringing you these coupons because they’re very popular. People love money-saving coupons, especially ones for getting listed in a web directory that Google seems to trust more than most others. Here’s what BOTW say about this latest coupon..

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Twenty-Ten is upon us, and with each New Year, most of us feel the need to establish new goals and resolutions. Here at BOTW, the goal is pretty much the same – supply and grow our relevant and comprehensive collection of websites and local businesses. With more than 20 million listings spread across the Web Directory, Blog Directory, UK Directory, and BOTW Local, BOTW is a proven platform for driving more traffic and better rankings for your business. We are pleased to now offer our valued members a fantastic promotion good through the end of January: SAVE 20% on All NEW BOTW Submissions and Sponsorship Advertising.

When prompted, enter the following Promo Code: NEWYR

Get Started today and Save 20% on new:

Directory Submissions - Discount the annual or the one-time review fee and get listed in the Internet’s Oldest Directory.

Monthly Sponsorship Ads – Save on the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads.

Blog Directory Submissions – Feature your blog and save on the annual review fee.

Blog Advertising – Discount on all new sponsorship ads in the Blog Directory.

Premium Local Listings – Discount the monthly and annual rate for your Local Business Profile listing.

Bundled Marketing Package – Get your US Business listed in BOTH the Web Directory and BOTW Local for a fraction of the cost. Save 20% on the yearly fee!

Be sure to enter the Promo Code: “NEWYR” during the sign up process and you will instantly save 20% on ALL Best of the Web products and services.

The promo code may be used multiple times for multiple products and services during the month of January. Remember – the code will expire on January 31, 2010 so be sure to jumpstart your marketing efforts and take advantage of the 20% discount before it’s too late!
—

Enjoy!

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The FAQ: Are frequently asked questions. Real life internet marketing questions from people like you.

The Jam: A panel of experts discuss your questions and provide the definitive answers.

The Result: Tested marketing strategies that are proven to work.
–

So, in the FAQJAM you get several sessions of top marketers tackling the hot questions every Internet marketer struggles with and brainstorming answers!

Check out the full details here.. Michael Campbell’s FAQJAM

“To unsubscribe, click here and change your Notification Preferences. Please note that it may take up to 14 days to process your request.”

I’ve never understood why an almost-instant unsubscribe isn’t possible. In fact, what can possibly make an unbsubscribe request take up to 14 days? We’re using computers here, folks, not pen and ink. Just search the database(s) and delete the record(s), or at least amend them. What’s so hard about that?