2009 August | Andrew Wee | Blogging | Affiliate Marketing | Social Traffic Generation

GoDaddy vs NameCheap Customer Service Round 2 August 29, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : Internet Marketing, domain names , 11 comments

Within 48 hours of having posted “Frak GoDaddy: How to Win Enemies and Irritate People“, GoDaddy rep, GoDaddy Guy, who vigilantly monitors and responds to blogs and social media has posted a response to the points I raised. But is that enough to clarify and remedy the issues I faced?

I appreciate any company who’s taking efforts to monitor their brand on the busy social web landscape and craft replies explaining the situation. Obviously, customers like myself may not be aware of everything that takes place behind the scene.

As a customer, have I felt I have been taken care of?

GoDaddyGuy says:

We understand that domain names are unique and can therefore be highly valuable to our customers. To prevent customers from unintentionally losing a domain name, we reach out by email several times, starting 90 days before and continuing past expiration.

Obviously, if I have been receiving email reminders that my domain is expiring and I don’t do anything about it. Then I whine and complain after the fact, I’ve obviously no case.

Here’s a screencapture of GoDaddy emails I’ve received:

godaddy email

Since 15 May 2009, I’ve received 21 emails from GoDaddy, announcing “Last Minute Deals”, “Spring Closeouts” and “Mid-Year Blowouts”. While it has been tempting to get a “closeout” or “blowout” before the [sarcasm]supply of domains runs out[/sarcasm], I’m hard-pressed to find out “email outreach several times” before and after my domain has expired.

I took the effort to read the emails back to July (before I had to give up on reading all this wonderful promotional email…), but nary a reference to expiring domains could I find.

GoDaddy guy’s other point:

Finally, we provide the registrant some time to take care of his or her account by allowing a 19 day grace period to renew without penalty.

I logged into my account about a week after it expired, well within the “19 day grace period” to renew without penalty, and was slapped with the ridiculous $80 registry recovery fee. Grace period? What grace period.

Just in case you think I’m unnecessarily bashing on GoDaddy, consider its illustrious competitor, Namecheap.

Here’s a list of emails (more…)

Popularity: 6%

Friday Podcast: Sports Affiliate Marketing With Joe Sousa August 28, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : podcasts , 1 comment so far

Although I’ve known sports affiliate Joe Sousa for some time and have talked to him, it wasn’t until hanging out at Affiliate Summit that I got to know him better.

Joe like a quiet guy, till you become aware of the fact that he’s an affiliate marketer focused on the sports niche and does very well for himself.

Since he’s been in the affiliate marketing industry for about 10 years, it was nostalgic and interesting to have him come on the show and talk about:

How he got started in a SEO consultant role and got involved in affiliate marketing
A compare of the pay-per-sale versus the pay-per-lead business models
Why forced continuity affiliate programs will come under greater scrutiny in the future
How to get started as an SEO/content based affiliate
The in-your-face realities of being an affiliate marketer
How much you can realistically earn starting out as an SEO-based affiliate
Incorporating product datafeeds into your affiliate sites
How to break out of the rut that experienced affiliates gradually fall into
How to incorporate video into your marketing campaigns

Joe certainly went the distance in sharing his own experiences during the call.

Check it out below:

Friday Podcast: Joe Sousa [40:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (390)

Links:

PS: If you haven’t yet, join the “Members Only” private podcast now, the next edition will be sent out on Saturday.

Popularity: 6%

Frak GoDaddy: How to Win Enemies and Irritate People

Posted by Andrew Wee in : Internet Marketing , 8 comments

If you think choosing commodity services such as domain names, webhosting, email service providers is a matter of choosing the best prices and features, you could not be more wrong. A recent experiences has shown just how much the support factor matters when it comes to your online business.

I have a fairly extensive portfolio of domain names, some of which I use for my websites, with the majority of domains kept in storage till I’ve time to develop them.

This past week, I got a message from one of my domain registrars GoDaddy that one of my domains had expired. Since it’s a pretty high value (though unused) domain related to the dietary supplements niche, I decided to renew it.

At the domain renewal screen, I see:

godaddy nonsense

So in addition to the $10.89 renewal fee for a year, GoDaddy wants to charge a “Registry Redemption Fee”.

This “redemption fee” is going to cost me $90.

What?

I have to pay the equivalent of 9 year’s registration to get my domain back?

And it’s not likely that GoDaddy will budge on their policy.

I like GoDaddy’s support of female race driver Danica Patrick. I sometimes even like (more…)

Popularity: 5%

An Insider’s Guide To The Not-So-Silent Affiliate Auction August 26, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : affiliate marketing , 3 comments

Affiliate Summit co-founder Missy Ward is at it again, raising funds for Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Los Angeles. To motivate supporters for the effort, a slate of experienced marketers involved in the affiliate marketing industry have put up their services and products up for auction.

The auction closes this Friday, August 28th, 1159pm. Some of the bid prices are ridiculously low at the moment, so if you put in a bid for charity, you’ll either get the product or service at a steal, or you’ll be doing your part to aim in breast cancer research and relief.

You can check out Missy’s fundraising auction post.

Here’re some of my personal top picks for the auctions:

Two hours of consulting with Lisa Riolo: Lisa was formerly affiliate network Commission Junction’s senior vice president for business development and has had management roles at brick-and-mortar institutions like Bank of America and Peet’s Coffee. Besides the obvious affiliate marketing issues you might raise with her, she’d be pretty experienced in the operations side of running and growing a business too. The auction is currently in the $100+ region, and even if you were to contribute the retail value of $1,000, there’s no doubt that her advice would bring your business to the next level. (check out my Friday Podcast interview with Lisa R).
Two hours of consulting with Lisa Picarille: Affiliates might know Lisa as the former publisher/editor-in-chief of Revenue Magazine, the performance marketing standard, as well as co-host of the Affiliate Thing and TheSpew podcasts. You may not know that she’s a wealth of experience with print, radio and online content publishing. Whether you’re a merchant, network or affiliate, you’ll be able to bounce ideas off Lisa which will help you on the media and content elements of your business. Again, the $100+ bid is ridiculously low, and even the $300 retail value is lowballing the potential benefits. I’d realistically value the advice you could get from Lisa at at least $1,000. (check out my Friday Podcast with Lisa P).
Affiliate Summit West 2010 Platinum conference pass (Las Vegas): Gives you all-access pass to the conference sessions and trade show. If you network effectively at this event with merchants, networks and fellow affiliates, there’s no reason why your affiliate business won’t double or triple (at the minimum) from the networking you’ll be doing. In a number of cases, affiliate incomes have increased exponentially as a result of face-to-face meetups at the event.
Thesis WordPress template/framework developer’s pack: Thesis is a SEO-friendly WP template that can be customized easily to replace other website publishing tools you’re currently using. I’m developing a new set of affiliate sites using Thesis and with the SEO features, it get much more visibility from organic traffic. Also, designer Chris Pearson has placed a strong emphasis on typography, so readability and usability are greatly enhanced. The lifetime upgrades and great support at the forum is worth its ticketed price many times over. Again, the bids are ridiculously low at this point ($30) on a $164 retail value. (read my Thesis product review for more information)
Market Leverage A-List Experience: The highlight of this package is dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant at the Paris Hotel and Casino with Market Leverage social media manager, Dina Riccobono. If that’s not enough, you’ll also get coverage on MarketLeverage TV and be featured on JohnChow.com. With a little out-of-the-box thinking, this package can significantly boost your branding and bring a number of benefits to your business. (Disclaimer: I’m also bidding on this package). (Check out some of Dina’s tips from the Friday Podcast on videocasting and social media branding)

Although I’ve mentioned just a few of the packages up for auction, do check out the various packages available, you’ll be getting resources to grow your business and doing a lot of good for charity too!

Popularity: 4%

The Death of CPA Marketing August 25, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : affiliate marketing , 9 comments

One tired refrain heard among some marketers is that because they’re late to the game, all the “good” niches have already been taken. If you believe everything you hear, there’s “little” money left in CPA/Affiliate marketing because the boat has left for ringtones, dating, Acai, payday loans, etc.

Added to that, with Google AdWords Quality Score, the search network is a much harder game to play, compared to before.

While some of these “facts” have some truth to them, your success as an affiliate marketer mirror that of a brick-and-mortar entrepreneur. If every possible restaurant concept has already been created, why bother starting another?

If anything, this question is pretty self-reflective. If life is so hard, why (more…)

Popularity: 5%

Friday Podcast: Effective Content Marketing Strategies with Lisa Picarille August 22, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : podcasts , add a comment

For those active in affiliate marketing, Lisa Picarille will be a familiar name, as she’s helmed Revenue Magazine, the Performance Marketing Standard as publisher and editor-in-chief, before working on her own projects now.

What you may not know is that Lisa has a wealth of journalism experience having worked for news organizations dealing with print media and radio work, including Wired.com, TechWeb.com, TechTV.com and CRN.com. Her work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, CRM Magazine, PCWeek, MacWeek, Computerworld and InfoWorld.

I invited Lisa on the Friday Podcast to get her take on using content to effectively brand and market yourself, whether you’re an internet marketer or a merchant.

Here are some of the topics we discussed: