Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Affiliate Marketing MADNESS!

I find it ironic how just last week I wrote article about avoiding disaster with affiliate marketing and here I am pulling out my hair like a madman. It's been a tough few weeks. Some of it my fault, some of it not. I finally got my computer de-virused and de-spywared after about two weeks of constant fighting it (on a good note, I avoided having to re-format my hard-drive, which I was very close to doing!). I did find some damn good anti-virus and anti-spyware, which I will write up in an upcoming blog. In this whole process of fixing my computer, I am now about two weeks behind on a campaign that I started developing back in July. And to add insult to injury, my main campaign's website has fallen off not only the top 10 positions in Google, but the top 1000! That has dropped my traffic in half, and with it, my sales in half. Very frustrating to say the least! Keep in mind, too, that I do have a 40 hour per week job and my time is fairly limited on these tasks.

So what to do? Of course, I want to do EVERYTHING and NOW! But that won't get much accomplished. This is the point where you need to step back from the problems and outline a plan:

1) Fix my computer and protect it better (DONE!). Viruses are now gone and I have some bitchin' protection installed.

2) Finish up my new website and campaign. Yes, this will cost me money on my "big" website, but the solution to that problem may just be time. I have been reading a lot about this phenomenon. Some call it the "Google Sandbox Effect". Others refer back to last year and the "Google Jagger Update". But a lot of these theories still seem out of date. I will find out, though, and pass on what I discover...but not until I finish my current campaign!

3) Figure out what the heck happened with my rankings! I'll spend a few weeks working on SEO research to strengthen not only my new website, but my old website as well.

4) Re-vamp my big website and start promoting it at a higher level.

One point I am trying to make here is that time is definitely a factor when it comes to promotion. PPC's allow us to get out their immediately, but SEO, good page rank and position does not happen over night. The Google problem I am having may only require time to fix it (that I what many are telling me). So instead of freaking out and trying to "quick fix" the problem, my time will be better spent on things that I have more control over. Like I said last week...this is just a bump in the road, not a cliff!