Web Monitization Archives

Cloaking Links: How To Cloak Affiliate Links for Free

Mark Mason — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:00:24 +0000

Affiliate link cloaking is the practice of disguising long, ugly affiliate URLs behind clean, branded links on your own domain. For example, instead of sharing a link like https://affiliateprogram.com/?ref=abc123&tracking=xyz, you would share something like https://yourdomain.com/recommends/product-name. When I first wrote about link cloaking back in 2008, I showed how to do it manually with .htaccess rules […]

The post Cloaking Links: How To Cloak Affiliate Links for Free appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Link Cloaking for Affiliates: Why and How to Do It the Right Way

Mark Mason — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:00:57 +0000

Link cloaking is one of those topics that has been debated in the internet marketing community since the earliest days of affiliate marketing. Some people swear by it, others think it is shady. The truth, as with most things, is that it depends entirely on how and why you do it. What Is Link Cloaking? […]

The post Link Cloaking for Affiliates: Why and How to Do It the Right Way appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

The Big World Project Is Up and Running: Lessons from a Quick Project Launch

Mark Mason — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:27:10 +0000

Every entrepreneur has projects that start with a spark of curiosity and turn into something real within a matter of hours. The Big World Project was one of those for me — a small experiment that taught me some valuable lessons about what a project launch actually looks like when you stop overthinking and just […]

The post The Big World Project Is Up and Running: Lessons from a Quick Project Launch appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Site Traffic: Building Your Audience Plan

Mark Mason — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:52:59 +0000

In 2008, I was documenting the creation of my “Niche Super-Site” — an Elvis Presley fan site called HistoryOfElvis.com. The entire series was inspired by Caroline Middlebrook's free ebook on building niche sites with WordPress, and it covered everything from niche selection to keyword research to monetization. When it came time to drive traffic, my […]

The post Niche Site Traffic: Building Your Audience Plan appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Social Content Discovery: Beyond StumbleUpon

Mark Mason — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:23:42 +0000

In March 2008, I wrote a post about Caroline Middlebrook's StumbleUpon email course and my somewhat elaborate attempt to win her contest. I quoted Shakespeare, bought the word “stumble” from The Big Word Project and pointed it at her site, wrote a haiku about Web 2.0, and even found a church sign to use as […]

The post Social Content Discovery: Beyond StumbleUpon appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Site Mentoring: Why Having a Mentor Accelerates Your Online Business

Mark Mason — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:33:21 +0000

Early in my niche site building journey, I was working on an Elvis memorabilia project and hit a wall. I had the site set up, the content was coming together, but I was unsure about my next steps for growth and monetization. So I reached out to a more experienced internet marketer named Garry Conn […]

The post Niche Site Mentoring: Why Having a Mentor Accelerates Your Online Business appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Long Tail Keyword Testing: How I Ranked on Google’s First Page and What It Actually Meant

Mark Mason — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:48:40 +0000

I did it. After declaring my intent to test long tail keyword theory with my Elvis niche site, I managed to rank on the first page of Google for the phrase ‘Elvis Aaron Presley Collectible Necktie.’ Was I now an unstoppable SEO powerhouse? Not exactly. But the experiment proved something important about how long tail […]

The post Long Tail Keyword Testing: How I Ranked on Google’s First Page and What It Actually Meant appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Mustangs and Internet Business Mastery: Lessons from Binge-Listening to the Best Internet Marketing Podcast

Mark Mason — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:34:47 +0000

Picture this. A sunny day in San Jose, California. A convertible Ford Mustang with the top down. And instead of music, I am blasting an internet marketing podcast through the speakers. That was me — completely hooked on the Internet Business Mastery podcast, geeking out about online business while cruising through Silicon Valley. It was […]

The post Mustangs and Internet Business Mastery: Lessons from Binge-Listening to the Best Internet Marketing Podcast appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Content Strategy for Niche Sites: How to Source and Create Content That Ranks

Mark Mason — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:45:17 +0000

When you are building a niche site, content is the engine that drives everything. Without quality content, you have no reason for visitors to come, no material for search engines to index, and no foundation for monetization. The challenge for most part-time entrepreneurs is figuring out where that content comes from — especially when you […]

The post Content Strategy for Niche Sites: How to Source and Create Content That Ranks appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Long Tail Keyword Test Results: When Your Blog Outranks Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:42:32 +0000

Here is something funny that happened during my long tail keyword test. I had been experimenting with ranking for ultra-specific search phrases using my Elvis niche site. The target phrase was ‘Elvis Aaron Presley Collectible Necktie’ — a deliberately obscure long tail keyword I chose specifically because it had almost zero competition. The Unexpected Long […]

The post Long Tail Keyword Test Results: When Your Blog Outranks Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Testing Long Tail Keywords for Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:52:28 +0000

With the Niche Super-Site mostly built and monetized, I wanted to run an experiment with long tail keywords before turning my full attention to traffic strategy. Long tail keywords — highly specific, low-competition search phrases — are a cornerstone of niche site strategy, and I wanted to see firsthand how easily a brand new site […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Testing Long Tail Keywords for Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Setting Up a Favicon for Your Website

Mark Mason — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:46:48 +0000

After returning from eye surgery, the next small but meaningful improvement to HistoryOfElvis.com was adding a favicon — that tiny icon that appears next to your URL in the browser tab. In 2008, this required editing your WordPress theme's header.php file and manually uploading an icon file. It was a minor task, but it represented […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Setting Up a Favicon for Your Website appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Taking a Break (and Why That Is Okay)

Mark Mason — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:20:30 +0000

In February 2008, I had to take a short break from the Niche Super-Site series because I had laser eye surgery — PRK, specifically, not LASIK. I had underestimated how much having my eyes “blasted with high-energy photons” (as I put it at the time) would affect my ability to look at a computer screen. […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Taking a Break (and Why That Is Okay) appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Adding Amazon Affiliate Links to Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:57:50 +0000

The final piece of the monetization strategy for HistoryOfElvis.com was Amazon. After setting up eBay affiliates through phpBay, PopShops for Commission Junction products, and AdSense for display ads, I added the Amazon Omakase widget as a fourth revenue stream. Even in 2008, I believed in not putting all my eggs in one basket. How I […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Adding Amazon Affiliate Links to Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Making Money with AdSense on Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:00:00 +0000

AdSense was the third piece of the monetization puzzle for HistoryOfElvis.com, alongside eBay affiliate marketing through phpBay and product affiliate sales through PopShops. In 2008, AdSense was the backbone of nearly every niche site strategy, and for good reason — it was easy to set up, required no product knowledge, and paid out for every […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Making Money with AdSense on Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Adding Product Feeds to Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:00:41 +0000

Back in 2008, I added a PopShops widget to my Elvis Presley niche site as part of my Niche Super-Site case study. PopShops was a service that let you embed product feeds from major affiliate networks — Commission Junction, LinkShare, ShareASale — directly into your WordPress site. For five dollars a month, you got PHP-based […]

The post Adding Product Feeds to Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Making Money with eBay Affiliate Marketing

Mark Mason — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:00:29 +0000

One of the core principles of the Niche Super-Site project was income diversification. Rather than relying solely on AdSense, I wanted multiple revenue streams flowing through HistoryOfElvis.com. The first affiliate program I added was eBay, using a WordPress plugin called phpBay Pro. How eBay Affiliate Marketing Worked in 2008 phpBay Pro was a $49 WordPress […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Making Money with eBay Affiliate Marketing appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Tracking Your Google Indexing Progress

Mark Mason — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:07:49 +0000

A couple of weeks into the Niche Super-Site project, I checked back on how Google was indexing HistoryOfElvis.com. The results were encouraging: running a site:www.historyofelvis.com search showed that Google had found and indexed multiple pages, including the dynamically generated eBay auction listings created by phpBay Pro. This was a meaningful milestone. It confirmed two things: […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Tracking Your Google Indexing Progress appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: First Signs of Google Indexing

Mark Mason — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:17:16 +0000

A few days after submitting the HistoryOfElvis.com sitemap to Google, I checked in on the indexing progress. The results were modest but encouraging: three pages were showing up in Google's index, including the About page and the login page. In 2008, I celebrated this with a screenshot and a smiley face. And honestly, seeing your […]

The post Niche Super-Site: First Signs of Google Indexing appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Getting Your Site Listed in Google

Mark Mason — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:00:09 +0000

After building HistoryOfElvis.com with a professional theme and essential plugins, the next critical step in 2008 was getting the site indexed by Google. There is an important distinction between being indexed (Google knows your site exists) and ranking (Google shows your site on page one for a specific search). You cannot have the second without […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Getting Your Site Listed in Google appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Essential WordPress Plugins for Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:00:24 +0000

With HistoryOfElvis.com up and running with a clean theme, the next step in 2008 was installing WordPress plugins. Plugins extend what WordPress can do, and choosing the right ones can save you enormous amounts of time while improving your site's SEO, security, and monetization potential. The Plugins I Recommended in 2008 My original plugin list […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Essential WordPress Plugins for Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Making Your Website Look Professional

Mark Mason — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:00:05 +0000

With WordPress installed and running on HistoryOfElvis.com, the next step in 2008 was making the site look professional. First impressions matter on the web, and a polished-looking niche site builds trust with visitors — trust that translates directly into clicks and conversions. How I Designed My Niche Site in 2008 I chose the K2 WordPress […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Making Your Website Look Professional appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Getting Your WordPress Site Up and Running

Mark Mason — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:00:43 +0000

With a domain name registered and keyword research complete, it was time to actually get HistoryOfElvis.com live on the internet. In 2008, this meant choosing a web host, installing WordPress, and configuring the basics. The process has gotten considerably easier since then, but the decisions you make at this stage still matter. How I Set […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Getting Your WordPress Site Up and Running appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Choosing a Domain Name for Your Niche

Mark Mason — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:00:22 +0000

In 2008, after settling on the Elvis Presley niche and completing keyword research, the next step in building my Niche Super-Site was choosing a domain name. This is one of those decisions that feels enormous when you are starting out but becomes less important over time as your content and authority grow. Still, a good […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Choosing a Domain Name for Your Niche appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Choosing Keywords for Your Niche Site

Mark Mason — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:00:21 +0000

In 2008, I was building an Elvis Presley niche site called HistoryOfElvis.com, and the very first strategic decision after selecting the niche was choosing the right keywords. Keyword research is where your niche site strategy either comes together or falls apart. Get this step right and everything downstream — your domain name, your content plan, […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Choosing Keywords for Your Niche Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: How to Select Your Niche

Mark Mason — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:45:45 +0000

Niche selection is one of the most discussed topics in internet marketing, and for good reason. Picking the right niche can make everything else easier, while picking the wrong one can doom a project from the start. In February 2008, I laid out my approach to selecting a niche for the Niche Super-Site case study, […]

The post Niche Super-Site: How to Select Your Niche appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Super-Site: Begin With The End In Mind

Mark Mason — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:37:19 +0000

Day one of the Niche Super-Site case study. As an engineer by training, I believe you need to know what you are trying to accomplish before you get started. This does not completely explain why I always needed to make seven trips to Home Depot per home improvement project, but at least the intention was […]

The post Niche Super-Site: Begin With The End In Mind appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Site Case Study

Mark Mason — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:06:02 +0000

In February 2008, after almost two months of research and experimentation, I was ready to take my internet marketing education to the next level. I had spent that time reading everything I could find about making money online, experimenting with different blogging platforms, and playing with various affiliate programs. Now it was time to put […]

The post Niche Site Case Study appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Niche Stores: phpBay an Excellent Choice (Review)

Mark Mason — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:15:09 +0000

In January 2008, I wrote a review of phpBay Pro, a WordPress plugin that embedded eBay auction listings directly into your blog posts and pages. At the time, this was an exciting tool for anyone interested in building niche stores, which were a popular internet marketing strategy in the late 2000s. What phpBay Pro Did […]

The post Niche Stores: phpBay an Excellent Choice (Review) appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Great Internet Monetization Site

Mark Mason — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:57:32 +0000

In January 2008, while browsing ShoeMoney's blog late one night, I stumbled across Caroline Middlebrook's blog and it immediately resonated with me. Caroline had quit her day job about six months earlier to follow her dreams of becoming a full-time internet entrepreneur. Her blog documented that journey with refreshing honesty, which earned her the nickname […]

The post Great Internet Monetization Site appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Making Money Selling eBooks

Mark Mason — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:45:05 +0000

In December 2007, one of the ways people talked about making money online was through the sale of eBooks. Being the curious engineer that I am, I decided the best way to learn about this was to investigate directly. So I bought an eBook about making money with eBooks. Very meta, I know. The eBook […]

The post Making Money Selling eBooks appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

My Plan for Making Money on the Internet

Mark Mason — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:05:10 +0000

About a week after catching the internet marketing bug in late 2007, I had been reading blog posts, eBooks, and forums nonstop. Based on everything I consumed, I came up with an initial plan for making money on the internet that was consistent with the goals I had set for myself: family-friendly, value-added content with […]

The post My Plan for Making Money on the Internet appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.

Making Money: Begin with the End in Mind

Mark Mason — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:04:21 +0000

About 36 hours after publishing my very first blog post in December 2007, I had already started down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out how to make money on the internet. My mission was straightforward: try to make money online in an honest way, part time, and blog about the entire experience. In […]

The post Making Money: Begin with the End in Mind appeared first on Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason.