John Hasson

Most of the time Adwords support chat is kinda spotty.  Today they were spot on.  (I apologize for the horible pun.)

Anuradha S: Hello John. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I’m happy to help you.
John: Thanks, I am happy that you’re happy to help
Anuradha S: That was a good one! I see that you have a question regarding the approval of image ads.
Anuradha S: Let me explain that ad reviews do depend on the incoming volumes.
Anuradha S: I will need to check your account.
Anuradha S: Would you mind waiting a moment while I pull up your account?
John: I’ll happily wait
Anuradha S: Thanks for waiting!
Anuradha S: I checked and see that the ads are under review.
John: I managed to stay happy the whole time.
Anuradha S: I will be happy to help you with the review of the ads and will run this past team.
Anuradha S: Thought I could use one ‘happy’ at least!
John: lol, if we were any more happy it would be illegal
Anuradha S: That is true!
Anuradha S: I hope that helped!
John: So, the ads are in review and I just need to sit tight till they are approved?
Anuradha S: I will get them reviewed with the team.
John: Thanks
Anuradha S: Is there anything else that you will need help with?
John: Not right now, I think that is it.
Anuradha S: Great!
Anuradha S: It was a pleasure chatting with you. If you have any more questions, please feel free to visit our Help Center. You can also print this chat transcript for your records. Have a great day.

I think being in a ridiculously good mood on my end helped.  I bet most of the time they just get crap like “you are too expensive” or “why u ban my sight, I not spamming” etc.  So if you have had a bad experience in the past, try again and be happy when you do it.  They will be happy too

Tags: PPC, Pay Per Click by John Hasson
4 Comments »

Woooo, fancy title claiming to make gobs of cash in no time at all.  Well the reality is you have to work up to this point.  Here is an example.  Say you are bringing in 90 leads a day with a payout of $2.50.   Not bad, not bad you say to yourself.  If you have a good relationship with your affiliate manager (and who doesn’t?) then ask for a payout bump.

My conversation went something like this.

8:55:46 AM Me: on another note, there are a few campaigns I am getting some traction on.  wondering if I can get a payout bump on them?
8:55:52 AM Awesome Affiliate Manager: of course
8:56:00 AM Me: <private cool stuff>
8:56:08 AM Awesome Affiliate Manager: you name the campaign and i’ll name the payout
8:56:15 AM Awesome Affiliate Manager: <private cool stuff>
8:56:28 AM Me: this one
8:56:29 AM Me: <private cool stuff>
8:56:31 AM Me: and
8:56:36 AM Me: <private cool stuff>
8:56:38 AM Me: that one
8:56:40 AM Awesome Affiliate Manager: ok
8:59:21 AM Awesome Affiliate Manager: ok, on the <private cool stuff> i can go to <private cool stuff>
8:59:30 AM Me: cool
8:59:48 AM Super Affiliate Manager: and the <private cool stuff> 2.70

So now instead of 2.50 it is 2.70.  If the campaign sustains (if anything I should be able to get higher volume) that is ~90 * .2 * 365 = over 6500.  In less them 5 minutes.

I usually don’t ask for a payout bump unless I am providing a decent amount of volume and I know I can keep it up.  Nothing lamer then getting a payout bump and then dropping the campaign.

Tags: Advice, Affiliate Manager, Affiliate Marketing, PPC, Pay Per Click by John Hasson
1 Comment »

Here is what I mean by this.

Say you are promoting a product.  You need to stop thinking like the person trying to sell it.  “dog training” is a nice general keyword, but really your keyword should solve a problem.  “stop dog peeing on carpet” is a person looking for a solution.  The people looking for solutions are going to be much more interested in your dog training guide.  This concept can apply to just about any niche.

Here is another one

auto insurance quotes vs i need insurance vs i hate geico
look, “i hate geico” has zero ads right now.  Bet you get some killer CTR and conversions with links to someone who isn’t geico

But how do you know which will work and which don’t?  Easy.  Do all of them.  Yes *all* of them.  (caveman speak:Turn off bad. Leave on good)

Tags: Advice, PPC, Pay Per Click by John Hasson
3 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my father asking if I could take him to an emergency dentist to get one of his teeth pulled. He was still waiting for the office to call him back.  I figured I’d call my dentist office, Stonehaven Dental to see if they had something sooner (especially since I had a plane to catch in a few hours).

They were awesome.  The owner (or one of the owners) of the place came down and met us there after hours; he did everything, the paperwork, xrays and consultation as well as pulling the tooth (when my Dad decided that was what he wanted to do.)  It was kinda funny watching them be certain which tooth to pull…  “Does this hurt?” followed by screams and involuntary spasms or a nope (depending on which tooth).  We were in and out in a little over an hour.

I kept the tooth.

Tags: Personal by John Hasson
1 Comment »

Ever wonder what links from top bloggers will get you?

Shoemoney – 80 Visits (1 page) ~ 80 visits per post
John Chow – 69 Visits (1 page) ~ 69 visits per post    [ed note: 69 DUDE!!!!]
45n5 – 131 Visits (4 pages) ~ 32.75 visits per post
Ian Fernando – 75 Visits (3 pages) ~ 25 visits per post

This data is all from a 2ish month period from the first link.  You can even see which pages the link came from.  John Chow’s readers seem to stick around longer then Shoemoney’s though.  However Ian’s readers definately stuck around the longest.  Yet another data post

Edit: None of these were “GO HERE NOW” links.  They were just hotlinked text.  I would imagine a “go here now” link would get more traffic

Tags: Data by John Hasson
2 Comments »

Day 1 started out with me talking about PPC engines for an hour.  Lots of people were there and there were some really good questions asked.  I had a blast speaking on PPC.  Then I went to the meet market and walked around doing the “networking thing.”

I ran into a bunch of friends while there.  Lots of good times.

Ian Fernando put together a great networking event that about 20 or so of us attended just before the Share A Sale party.  John Chow was there filming everything.  Not sure if everyone there wants their name mentioned so I’ll leave it at that.  (Was a blast)

The Share-A-Sale party was pretty good, although the consensus was that their party in Vegas was a lot better.  It could be that the boat was so much bigger or that it was kind of rainy and wet.  All in all lots of fun meeting new and old friends.  I even found a bunch of people right in my backyard (Salt Lake City) that I’ll probably be talking to later this week.

Day 2 – The morning was spend in the exhibit hall doing more of the same.  I got a cool skate board but then lost it somewhere   I’ll try to go and pick one up later if they have any left.  I am here now in the Anatomy of a Great Affiliate Program learning from Ian and a few other people.  (Mostly I am here to see what Ian will do )

So if you are looking for me, that is where I am.

Tags: Affiliate Summit 2008 by John Hasson
1 Comment »

View of Boston in the morning

Tags: Personal by John Hasson
No Comments »

So I am here loading data… My 8 year old wants me to watch her play the wii.  Sure.  I am not really watching, I am sitting in the same room working on my laptop.  Every now and then I’ll glance over and be a good dad.

This gives you an idea of what she wants me to watch her play.  Yeah I am an awesome dad But… I noticed something…

Yeah, that is right.  She is cleaning Horse poop in the stables as part of the game.  Seriously.. WTF?  What kind of game makes you clean Horse crap.  (Let alone any type of fecal matter)  I was busting out laughing and I still don’t think she gets why it is funny (to me).

So kids.  If you are really good, maybe one day your mom or dad will buy you a video game where you too can clean horse crap.

Tags: Advice, Personal by John Hasson
7 Comments »

Ok, I have a question for you all. I have had products I have created in the past cracked and stolen via piracy (Encrypted Messenger) which is one of the biggest reasons I stopped updating the software and just gave it away for free.  Since I moved into affiliate marketing I have had entire websites copied and ripped off.  I figured that was just the way it went.  Am I wrong?

So I did some digging and research and found keywordspy and spyfu and even shoemoney tools as well as some clickbank products and others which all copy keywords and ads more or less.  Some people use this information for inspiration, some just copy the ads directly and test which ads work.  I have done both.

I got an email from a super affiliate (who apparently makes a ton more money than I do) getting mad at me for copying one of his ads. Is he right? Did I copy him? Not him personally.. no.  I really don’t know who he is. I would guess his ad came from one of those places I linked to above.

Is it bad/evil to use the tools above to test different existing ads out there? Feel free to comment, I am really curious what people think about this one.

Tags: Advice, PPC, Pay Per Click by John Hasson
5 Comments »