One thing I notice constantly as I read ezines and click through links is the number of advertisers that are obviously not tracking their advertising dollars.

Just so we can be very clear let me express what this means as a simple mathematical equation.

Not tracking your advertising = wasted advertising dollars

Now I know that it may not be possible to track every single ad you place out there. Nevertheless, when you are spending money you should have a tracking system in place so you know whether an ad is generating responses or not.

Ideally you want to be sure that each ad you place is eliciting the actions you want and if not, why not. Furthermore you want to know exactly where the process is breaking down.

Maybe you think, “I’d like to know what’s making me money and where I’m losing it, but don’t those tracking links turn people off?”

Well I had that thought before I started too. But its an easy problem to solve. Let’s walk through the simple method you can use in order to make your tracking links more user friendly. Let’s call it…

The Simple, Surreptitious Redirect

All you need to do is to create a web page that uses redirect code that will forward the user on through the tracking link to the site you are advertising.

For example,

Let’s say I’m advertising a product at http://abizthatworks.com/killerads and I want to run a promotion in ezine1.

What you want to achieve is a URL that looks like http://abizthatworks.com/killeradsoffer.html that redirects you to the final destination http://abizthatworks.com/killerads after logging the hit in your tracking software.

Make the promotional URL look similar to the final destination so it’s not glaringly obvious when the reader gets to the destination that they passed through a tracking link.

You’ll Need This Code

I like the meta-refresh method of redirecting the user - it should work in any environment. If you’re using PHP pages you can use a php method to do the same thing but I usually try to minimize my use of javascript redirects.

So to do this with meta-refresh, enter your ad-tracking link like so…`
(In real life replace [ with <, and ] with > in your file.)

[html]
[head]
[META HTTP-EQUIV=”REFRESH” CONTENT=”0; URL=http://www.yourdomain.com/yourtrackinglink.php”]
[/head]
[body][/body]
[/html]

To apply this using my example above, my file would contain something like

[html]
[head]
[META HTTP-EQUIV=”REFRESH” CONTENT=”0; URL=http://www.abizthatworks.com/trackerscript.php?c=ezine1″]
[/head]
[body][/body]
[/html]

and I would save this file as http://abizthatworks.com/killeradsoffer.html and upload it to my server.

A Versatile Tracker

There are several ad trackers available for you to choose from. You can use hosted tracking services for a small monthly fee. I used one for a while.

When you understand the value of tracking however, you’re ready for a tracking script that you can install on your own domain.

For me and many other marketers who take testing and tracking seriously, Adtrackz is the tracker of choice. What I particularly like about it is that I can create a new subcampaign on the fly just by actually using the promocode I want to track - there’s no need to ’set it up’.

Once your tracking is in place, you can monitor the actions that are taken based on where your ad ran, the way your ad was written, the type of call to action that was made and many more variables. Then, to get better results, simply do more of what works and improve the areas that need work.

Tracking and testing will save you lots of money and hopefully make you much more over the course of your business’ life. The sooner you start, the higher the probability that your advertising will become more and more successful. Whether you start with a hosted service, buy your own or roll your own, there is no better time than now to start tracking.

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Over time you will realise that if I recommend a product to you, it will probably have been around for a while and has time-tested value.

There’s a good reason why I don’t jump on the bandwagon with my hard-earned cash. For example, I didn’t salivate during the Butterfly Marketing Craze and I’m glad I didn’t. Instead I picked up the manuscript when Mike Filsaime released it on it’s own - I was very happy with that purchase and with my earlier decision.

It’s the same reason I’d recommend that you hide your credit card when hard-hitting product launches are coming down the pike - unless you have plenty of discretionary money or have really done your homework and need what is being offered.

First, I prefer products that offer strategies that will outlast fads… they stand the test of time and will still offer value years down the road. A brilliant example of this is Marlon Sanders’ Amazing Formula That Sells Products Like Crazy.

For a second method for deciding whether you should ‘pull your pocket’ read this guest article on a strategy you can use to save - and probably make - a lot of money.

Sabrina..

How To Buy Info-Products

(Guest Author)

In this report I’m going to reveal a secret ‘intelligence’ operation I have been using successfully for years to jump, leap and spin circles around my competition.

This is a strategy that is so, so simple but very, very few people are even thinking about using it.

I don’t know of anyone besides one other extremely well known Internet marketer (you would instantly know him by name) who is using this “method”- if you can call it that-”strategy” might be better… you’ll see what I mean in a moment.

Man… this is so simple, but hard to execute, because there are so few ‘real’ opportunities out there.

This is what I DO… in other words I’m sharing with you what I REALLY do to help me make more money online … in this case what kind of information I BUY to help me get ideas about how to make money online-and I buy a lot of information in the form of ebooks, reports, videos, etc.

I’ll try to say this as simply as I can.

There is a book that details the “real” trials and errors and successes of one person who found a simple way into getting listed in Google for almost ANY keyword through some dead-simple SEO techniques that are well, so simple no one would ever pay attention to him.

Yeah- it so simple and filled with so much common sense that no one will take him seriously, but he does it and he makes money doing it… (he gets results!)

This is valuable info- much more valuable than the modest price he’s asking. [Note: You can get more info on this book here.]

Anyway…that’s not the point. Here’s what I do when I find this kind of info…

I compare this info - based on real life experiences - with almost any other product on the market that tells you how to get your site listed on Google and then start to list the differences.

The *first* difference that comes to mind is that this book is NOT written by a ‘info-marketer’ - it’s written by a ‘practitioner’ of the method he reveals in this book. Someone ‘in the trenches’ as I like to call them.

So he is NOT a professional information ‘pusher’ or info-marketer.

The *second* difference is that it was a “discovery” he personally made that LATER lead to a report on the subject… it wasn’t the result of a ‘brainstorming session’ or a “google keyword search’ to find a ‘hot market’ that an ‘info-marketer’ would use. He didn’t research his market first then concluded that he should ‘write about’ a simple method to get listed on Google because it’s a hot topic and can make money selling that kind of info.

This guy is a like a scientist who made an important discovery in his ‘lab’.

Do you see this? It’s a distinction that is extremely important to you as a ‘buyer’ of information products.

I told you I buy a lot of information products.

Do you think I am buying the latest ‘ebooks’ and videos produced by Guru #1 or Guru #2?

Actually less than 5% of the money is set aside for buying info-products from any well-known Guru you may have heard of. 95% of my money goes to buy “the written REAL experiences of a person who found a successful method of doing something” - the men and women on the front lines’ and in the trenches. This is the kind of information I buy… willingly - day in and day out.

There’s a difference in these two types of information products.

Two of these differences I’ve already elaborated on.

The last distinction is probably the reason YOU won’t ever buy these kinds of ‘reports’ and ebooks: They don’t look very ‘professionally prepared’- in other words they aren’t ’slick’.

They are, for the most part ‘home made’… they use home made graphics (they don’t hire pro’s to create ‘killer’ graphics for them), they write the sales letters themselves and they tell the story of their ’success’ in their own words… they don’t hire ‘ghostwriters’ to create their info-products for them.

In general these types of books are NOT big sellers … BUT …

… they are FILLED WITH GOLD.

??? because……???

…you are buying the ‘real deal’… someone who actually made a ‘breakthrough’ in marketing or sales or a little niche, etc. FIRST and THEN wrote about how they did it in the first person.

I would rather read and hear about ‘true life success’ and ‘little known discoveries’ from people I’ve never heard of than the ’slick’ stuff and some of the large bodies of works written by ‘professional info-marketers’.

This goes against common ‘wisdom’… but what you want to look for are the REAL case studies of someone who’s got a successful business going who’s writing it down for the first time and doesn’t understand the INCREDIBLE VALUE he’s giving you…

I call this a “success intelligence operation”-basically learning how to do it by someone who has actually DONE IT ‘in the trenches’.

A great place to find these types of reports is on eBay… another is on ClickBank BUT you have to constantly be on the lookout for the BS’ers… the person who writes about something but has never actually done it.

You’ll find discoveries of all kinds that no one has ever thought of- not created in some ‘brainstorming session’ by the edge of a pool… but in the laboratory of sweat and tears while they work at making this “Internet thing” a success.

It’s based on the real success of someone who’s working on the front lines of Internet marketing - finding the ‘holes’ making the ‘discoveries’ and teaching us how to do it too.

You can’t get that kind of info from a professionally ‘created’ info-product -usually.

Don’t get me wrong- creating info-products is MY business, but, like those in the trenches, working everyday online, I only teach you what I’ve tried and tested myself ‘real life stuff’…

…Just like in my course.

NOTHING in that course is ‘made up’ - it’s the trials, failures and successes I’ve had based on REAL experience and REAL success.

Hey-! I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy any info-product that will teach you something valuable - even if it is created by a ‘pro info-marketer’… what I’m saying is you should NOT overlook the ‘little guy’ who has something really valuable to teach you too! And just because his graphics and letter are a little ‘rough around the edges’ it should not stop you from buying it anyway…

In fact, for me, the more ‘home made’ the site looks, the more ‘real’ he comes across in his letter, the better I like it…

:)