From Jonathan Volk, a primer for you newbies and some reminders for the veterans out there. My comments, with specifics about HometownQuotes and insurance are in bold italics

Here are some good tips to get you started with your Google Adwords campaigns.

• 1. Don’t start a campaign with broad matching. Use phrase and exact. This really helps to narrow down profitable keywords which you can then use as a model for expansion. Turn broad match keywords on once you are making a profit and ready to start expanding your volume.

Additional Notes: The plural version of quote (quotes) converts better than the singular. Also, consider running ads only at certain times of the day based on conversions. Contact Matt for details on conversions by day and hour.

• 2. Turn off content network and search network. Get comfortable with the conversions from straight search results before turning on the methods that can really hurt or help your campaign. The content network is really for advanced users only in my opinion. (Of course this is all my opinion haha)
• 3. Geotarget. Make sure you’re targeting your Ads directly to the audience you are wanting. If your campaign allows for Canadian traffic, make sure you target it! Many people seem to forget that there is traffic outside of the United States and let publishers like me make extra money with a lot less work.

Additional Notes: State specific keywords are GREAT - Kansas Home Insurance (for example) - If you do this make sure the title of the ad is Kansas Home Insurance not “Home Insurance Quotes” or something generic.

Same goes for city specific - Chicago Auto Insurance - San Diego Renters Insurance (for example)

Geotarget out traditionally low-converting areas (feel free to ask Matt for this list)

• 4. Group Your Keywords. Group your keywords into tight groups that are all related to both your ad and landing page. The better the quality score, the happier you’ll be, trust me, it’s worth the time it takes
• 5. Look at what others are doing. Yahoo has a tool that you can view other people’s ads while writing your own by clicking a keyword. Google doesn’t have a tool like this but a simple Google search is fine. See what ads are good performing ads and which seem to suck. The higher they are, the better that ads probably are.
• 6. Be smart! Track your results. I’ve tried setting up Prosper202 and had some trouble getting it to work but maybe you won’t have the same issues as me. It looks like a good app either way.
• 7. Buy an Adwords Voucher if your account is under 14 days old. Buy the biggest one you can get! I find Digitalpoint forums are a great place to buy these vouchers.

Additional Suggestions

• 8. Use the negative keyword lists to filter out the low converting keywords
• 9. Use the budget cap but not the budget optimizer

So those are probably the MAIN things I would tell any person looking to start advertising in Adwords. These things can really mean the difference between making a lot of money and flopping so do it right the first time so you won’t have to lose money!

More great advice on AdWords, affiliate marketing, and more at Jonathan Volk’s blog

Google Street View driver ticketed in San Francisco

Read all about it here

I stumbled upon an oldie but goodie today.

If ancient Rome had the internet…

• The destruction of Pompeii in 79AD is the most viewed video at YouTube. The first comment is…”OMG so cool! Volcanos ROCK!”
• Attila the Hun has his own MySpace page. Nobody ever rejects his “invite a friend” emails.
• The soothsayer’s “Ides of March” email fails to get Caesar’s proper attention as it’s inadvertently filtered into his junk folder.
• But at least Caesar’s “Et tu Brute?” comment is available as a free ringtone download.
• The owner of hadriansucks.rome is compelled to hand over both the domain name and selected body parts by an independent domain tribunal chaired by…Emperor Hadrian.
• “Naked Cleopatra” is the top search term on Google.
• Unfortunately, the Queen of Egypt dies an early death after misunderstanding IT’s call to embrace an ASP solution.
• Hannibal blogs his way across the Alps with posts like, “Whoops, lost another elephant today.”
• But he runs out of money when his PPC budget is plundered by an iberian click scam organized by Publius Cornelius Scipio.
• Tiber.com opens, initially selling scrolls and tablets before expanding to include togas, pottery, and do-it-yourself mosaic kits.
• Websites like handsome-literate-male-british-slave.com pollute the search listings thanks to generous commissions at the slaves.co.rome affiliate program.
• Roman programmers moan about projects outsourced to cheap coders in Mesopotamia.
• The Colosseum is renamed the eBay Colosseum, with free wireless hotspots outside the lark’s tongue restaurant.
• The volume of spam collapses when the penalty for not providing a working opt-out mechanism becomes equal billing with the lions at the eBay Colosseum.
• But we still get emails featuring Brunhilda, the lonely Visigoth, and hot deals on cheap peacock livers from Gaul.
• Nobody invents a spam filter good enough for the House of the Vestals.
• Classical geeks wear t-shirts proclaiming, “there’s no place like CXXVII.0.0.I” (bonus points if you get that one)
• Finally, Rome burns to the ground while Emperor Nero battles online with Hakkar the Soulflayer in World of Warcraft.

From Sam Harrelson, a recap of the link-buying debate between SEO Expert, Wil Reynolds and Mahalo CEO, Jason Calacanis, complete with video of the “throwdown.”

The question, should you buy links?

Click here to read the post and view more

But we still suggest referring people to our site to save money on their insurance!

Just a reminder…

Free Affiliate Summit Passes on June 11, 2008 | Affiliate Summit Blog: “We’ve got a special Affiliate Summit deal that’s only good for 24 hours - the day of June 11, 2008 EDT.

Everybody that is currently registered for Affiliate Summit 2008 East, taking place August 10-12 in Boston, is welcome to share the following coupon code with their friends and colleagues who are not yet registered:

ASE08JUNE11

This code is good for a free exhibit hall only pass (value $199).”

Anik Singal, with Affiliate Classroom, one of our recommended resources, wrote a great article about article marketing. For some, this is new information, for others a review and a reminder. Either way, it’s a quick read and definitely should nudge you to do article marketing…if you are not already!

Click here to read the article

From the Affiliate Summit Blog Today:

Free Affiliate Summit Passes on June 11, 2008 | Affiliate Summit Blog: “We’ve got a special Affiliate Summit deal that’s only good for 24 hours - the day of June 11, 2008 EDT.

Everybody that is currently registered for Affiliate Summit 2008 East, taking place August 10-12 in Boston, is welcome to share the following coupon code with their friends and colleagues who are not yet registered:

ASE08JUNE11

This code is good for a free exhibit hall only pass (value $199).”

If you missed this (and I did admittedly) you missed an important announcement from Google.

Load time is now a large factor in determining your landing page quality score for AdWords.

This effects everything from the design of your pages to the hosting company you choose. Ultimately, in this department, you have to choose between quality and price. Saving $20 a month on hosting could end up costing you much more in the long run if your quality score drops and your marketing costs go up.

It’s something to think about!

Google has a lot of information here (this is a direct link to the part about load time and quality score)

Yahoo! announced last week that it is changing the minimum bid for Sponsored Search from $0.10 to…well not $0.10.

They go into an explanation that somehow involves Van Gogh and hog auctions, but the long story short is that some minimum bids will be lower and some higher.

The objective, according to Yahoo!, is to reward advertisers for better ad quality by allowing lower entry points for certain keywords.

While this move is likely to hurt some affiliates and advertisers, I believe that overall it will help those that are willing to put in a little effort and will go after QUALITY!

You can read the full post at the YSM Blog here

Enjoy!

Many of you know (and love) Ed and Ion, two of our European programmers.

Recently they came to visit us in America for THREE WEEKS! It was great to finally have two of our family members here.

They had to leave but will be back in a few weeks. I hope to have some more of their adventurous pictures (there were a lot) soon but here are two that I found:

Ed, Me, Ion

Ed

OK so this post is quite tongue in cheek, but it is so true and worth a quick read.

The Sleepy Surfer shares his 7 tips that was given by an Affiliate Marketing Loser who just got dumped by his girlfriend.