eCa$hTalk

Each day that goes by, Google gets a bit more sophisticated. And, five years ago, you could call someone up and just say, “hey, bud, we have cool sites. Let’s swap some links.” Not so anymore. Getting link juice from others is still possible. But, it just requires a little more originality.

You can still get link juice by “triangulating” your links. Let me throw in this little diagram to explain what I am talking about.

It is a well-known fact that Google is getting “smarter” about reciprocal linking. What worked just a few years ago does not work today. Contrary to what some might say, reciprocal linking will not hurt you. It just will not give you the bang it used to. In fact, it probably will do very little for you - if at all.

Instead of wasting your time with reciprocal relationships that do not work, invest your time in good directory strategies, or triangulate your link building relationships. I would recommend that you become very involved in your niche. That is the mistake that I feel a lot of people make. I have been guilty of this. You want to do too much at one time. You scatter your fire - when, in reality, you should probably focus on one area, build relationships with site owners, and invest time in working with people who you can establish link building relationships with. Then, you can triangulate your links. Instead of saying, “hey, I’ll link to you if you link to me”, instead say “I have site X, it will link to you. You, in turn, link to my other site Y.”

And, the more sites you can include in this the better. In reality, we should talk about another point. So, perhaps instead of a triangle, we should be talking about a square. This should be beyond a triangle. Because the more sites that are involved with this link exchange, the more likely it will be that Google will not lessen the power of these links. But, as I said, this involves getting involved within a niche and even having multiple sites in that niche. Who says you have to scatter your fire over many niches? Get good at one area, build relationships in that niche, and start your little empire from there.

I admit… I picked up a few tricks from “The Rich Jerk“…
but, just a few. There really aren’t many good things I can say about
this particular e-book. It is really, more or less, a hodge-podge of
get rich quick schemes and short-term traffic tactics. For example, it
discusses white hat strategies but also “how to cloak”. Are you kidding
me? Also, who wrote this thing? Look, if an author will not even claim credit for something he writes, it probably isn’t that good. That is, certainly, the case here.

And, the worst part of it is that it really doesn’t delve into
anything deeply. So, it is a cursory view of a lot of things that
should be treated with a greater degree of time. In some ways, I think
you will be worse off by reading this e-book.

Here are the main chapters in the book:

• Creating an affiliate website that sells like crazy.

In this chapter, he walks through the different affiliate networks (Clickbank, CJ). But, he also mentions BeFree. I’ll give them a shot, along with Linkshare. Then, there is another (ClickxChange, ClixGalore, and a few more) that I am not familiar with.

He gets into writing sales letters. His tips in this area are certainly nothing that you couldn’t find for free elsewhere… instill hope, cause a sense of urgency. Blah, blah, and blah. I have always found that the key to a good sales letter is modeling yours after the pros. Frank Kern has just recently completed a successful product launch. I saved those e-mails. I would go look at those sales letters. Very good. The key is to look at who is doing well and to model them. It is that simple. See what they are doing, find a good one, and replicate it.

But, I will say that the jerk’s Hope, Urgency Authority, Unbiased, and Fear tactics are good. But, they aren’t mind-blowing… and certainly nothing you could not get through some good modeling.

The jerk also discusses the idea of offering rebates - since most people never actually take the time to ask for their money back. A good tactic. One that I like - since I am a huge believer of market economics. And, in this case you are competing on price.

Getting paid for leads… now here is an approach that most people don’t think about. There are number of pay per lead networks out there like Commission Junction.

• Unique Search Engine PPC Strategies that kill the competition

The author suggests using Google Adwords and Yahoo to drive site traffic. But, frankly, he oversimplifies how easy SEM really is. Actually, he includes practically no informative information on Adwords that you could not find on even the most basic SEM blog. If you want to learn SEM, I would highly recommend Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. This is a complete course from A-to-Z and not the joke in “The Rich Jerk”. This advice this book gives is, well, Adwords malpractice.

• SEO Strategies

For SEO, The Rich Jerk tells you that you should get links from “government pages”. Well, laddie freakin’ duh… I think that most people knew that. Now, how do you do that, again? Once again… short on details. Heavy on ideas.

Oh, and this e-book also advocates that you buy links. Not a really good idea in today’s web. I am sure I will get into a good discussion of link buying at some point.

The Jerk has a nice list of directories that one should get in: 01webdirectory.com,abilogic,bigall,ezillion, and the majors like Business.com, Gimpsy, Go Guides, and of course, DMOZ. I actually like this part of the book. Look, it is very important to get listed in good directories. Some say it is not as important as it used to be. I disagree. I think it is more important now than ever.

• Selling your own informational product
• Buying wholesale and selling on eBay
• Websites you can make profitable right now
• Other online ventures to consider
• Supplemental info for beginners
• Quality Products/Services I Highly Recommend
  

For the most part, I feel that “The Rich Jerk” was an attempt to just make money. It really is not a comprehensive guide to what one needs to compete online. And, at $10, it might be worth it - if you are an online marketing novice. But, it will not give you a comprehensive treatment of online marketing, in general.