Black Hat Affiliate Marketing - Legal? Yes. Ethical? Hmmm...

Summary:

There seem to be numerous methods that affiliate marketers use to earn their commissions these days. Adding affiliate links to websites, emails, instant messengers, articles, e-books, pay-per-click ads, banners, and any other form of media are all popular affiliate marketing strategies. Success comes to them when people click those links, get tracked by a cookie uploaded to their computer and then make a purchase from the affiliate program’s website. Then the affiliate gets a…

This article from The Online Master is about: black hat, affiliate marketing, affiliate, link cloaker, cloak

There seem to be numerous methods that affiliate marketers use to earn their commissions these days. Adding affiliate links to websites, emails, instant messengers, articles, e-books, pay-per-click ads, banners, and any other form of media are all popular affiliate marketing strategies. Success comes to them when people click those links, get tracked by a cookie uploaded to their computer and then make a purchase from the affiliate program’s website. Then the affiliate gets a check in the mail for all the commissions earned.

Recently though, there have been some new affiliate marketing tactics that are creating a bit of a stir in the affiliate marketing communities. It seems that an elite group of marketers are using some questionable methods to increase their commissions that have been labeled as “black hat” affiliate marketing tactics. So who are these elite, and what are their black hat tactics?

The elite group of black hatters is headed by a sly programmer named John Reel. He’s created a program that cloaks affiliate links like no other link cloaker you’ve ever seen before. That’s right; this one does a few things differently.

– One of the black hat features is that it will create framed links. This means that the link you see in the address bar will not be for the actual website you land on by clicking it. Also, the title bar in your browser will say whatever message the black hatter affiliate wants you to see.

– Another one of the more powerful features of this black hat affiliate tool is the ability to embed affiliate cookies into your links. This allows the affiliate marketer to load their affiliate cookie onto your computer before you even land on the destination URL, and therefore there is no need to use the affiliate code tagged onto the end of the URL. It will appear as though the link is not an affiliate link at all, and yet the black hatter will still secretly earn the commission.

– Taken a step further, this cookie embedding process can also allow the black hat affiliate to embed multiple affiliate cookies into their link for the affiliate program that they’re promoting as well as any competitors cookies. This way, if the customer doesn’t buy from the site you send them to and then later ends up on a competitors’ site, the black hat affiliate still earns the commission.

– Now taking this feature another step further, this black hat affiliate tool can secretly hide rotating affiliate cookies embedded within a webpage. This sneaky tactic allows for cookie after cookie to be added for numerous affiliate programs that are all tracked to the black hat affiliate.

– Going even further upon this feature is the ability to embed any link with multiple rotating affiliate cookies. Again this can load your computer with affiliate cookies for any and all affiliate programs that the black hat affiliate desires to earn commissions from. What’s more, is that this sneaky black hat affiliate link will innocently look like any other link, and can be published anywhere without anyone knowing what it’s capable of when clicked!

Sounds like the invention of a mad scientist trying to take over the affiliate marketing world through the exploitation of ingenious black hat programming loopholes.

So are these black hat affiliate tactics legal? Yes, if the affiliate program doesn’t specify otherwise within their terms of service.

Are these black hat affiliate tactics ethical? That all depends on your personal code of ethics, and whether you would use the tools ethically, or whether you would use them in every way possible to earn as many commissions as you can with no respect for your customers.

Do you want this black hat toolkit? Forget it! There are only 1,500 available, and by the time you read this they’ll probably already be gone. After that, John Reel will be parading as an angel, selling his white hat tools, but don’t be fooled by this wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Black Hat Affiliate Marketing - Legal? Yes. Ethical? Hmmm...

Research: The Journey Of Email Marketing

With the overwhelming breakthrough of new, flashy digital marketing channels like social media and search engine optimization, you would be forgiven for thinking email marketing is on the verge of death.

But you’d be wrong.

With just a few clicks you can create emails, send them off and grow your business and that’s why it is still the number 1 tool for marketers. Emailcenter’s latest whitepaper “The Journey of Email Marketing” takes a look at the change in email marketing, with an analysis of data that has been aggregated from hundreds of millions of emails over the past four years.

Far from a reduced effectiveness, the picture we saw showed email marketing as an increasingly useful and important marketing channel.

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There is a steady year on year rise in open rates and a downward trend in unsubscribe rates.

You don’t just have to take our word for it either – Data from numerous trusted sources have consistently shown email marketing to be extremely effective. Studies have found that email marketing often outperforms Google Adwords and Facebook paid advertising.

“A recent study even found email to be almost 40 times more effective in acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter.”

Not only that, it seems that people actually prefer email marketing compared to other types of online marketing. A survey by Marketo.com found that 77 percent of consumers preferred to receive permission-based email marketing. This probably makes more sense when you think of what little is offered in the way of spam filtering on other online marketing channels, such as social media.

Perhaps the most appealing advantage of email marketing is that it’s extremely cost effective.

“Studies have found that email marketing generates nearly double the ROI that other channels can manage.”

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How emails have changed

Our data suggests that there’s not a one-size-fits-all rule for an email subject length.

In fact, the subject line length means absolutely nothing.

Open rates for emails with subject line lengths ranging between two and nine words saw a consistent year on year improvement, meaning the subject length is simply not that important. Email marketing is now much more focused on who the audience and industry is and what it is being sent.

The introduction of recipient feedback data has made an enormous difference to email marketing as businesses can now monitor and measure the success of their email strategy.

It continues to be invaluable in the quest for improving the ROI of email campaigns and gives marketers the opportunity to fine-tune their emails for better results.

Not only that, the introduction of behavior based email marketing campaigns has created enormous new potential for marketers and allows individualized email marketing based on a customer’s interests, as well as individually timed and triggered emails designed to gentle nudge the customer to convert.

Trigger based email campaigns are a great addition to any marketer’s email marketing strategy but are often overlooked.

“Surprisingly almost 2/3 companies do not make use of trigger based emails.”

However they are a must for any company serious about email marketing. If you can reach your users on a personal level, they will be more likely to open your emails, read the content and take action. Then you can sit back and watch the conversions come in.

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How the reader has changed

So we can see how email marketing strategies have changed but what about the reader? The demographics of those using email have shifted to the mainstream and the way those emails are read have changed.

“Email opens on mobile devices have shot up from 14.8% in 2011 to 47.4% in 2014.”

This means it’s time for email marketers to prioritize mobile optimization.

Mobile device usage is growing and will continue to do so it’s absolutely essential emails are responsive and optimized for small screens. Waiting for images to load or zooming in to click a link offer a poor user experience.

With responsive email designs easy to setup, there’s no excuse not to optimize for mobile.

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How the time of day has changed

Mobile devices have made a large difference to the way we read and act on marketing emails, especially in the morning and evening due to their use by commuters.

However, the effectiveness of commuter email opens depends on what the conversion goal is. Commuters are less likely to make a payment but are much more likely to open a newsletter.

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So what does all this mean?

It means that email marketing continues to be an essential component of any online strategy. It has consistently performed as well or better than all other online marketing channels and when done right, it can generate impressive ROI which is hard to beat.

Monitoring and measuring the success of your email strategy is key – the most essential tools at your disposal are recipient feedback data and email analytics.

With the ability to measure views, bounce rates, click through rates and many other metrics you can see what works and what doesn’t.

Each audience is unique and will respond differently to different emails and once you have figured that out, it will allow you to push your email conversions to the next level.

Research: The Journey Of Email Marketing

3 reasons to consider affiliate marketing for your business

Dozens of brands, from the online game “Clash of Clans” to superglue maker Loctite, recently gambled millions of dollars by putting out Super Bowl ads.

But it’s difficult to tell how this promotion impacts the success of a business, despite the high cost. Instead, what if you used a marketing channel where you paid for the marketing spend only after a sale was made?

That’s the beauty of affiliate marketing.

This pay-per-acquisition marketing channel is one of the most effective online marketing tools that some merchants have. To help determine whether an affiliate program is right for you, here are three reasons your company might want to consider one:

1. Your vertical is big on blogging

When your business is in a vertical with a large and active blogging community, there will be a wide range of partners who could make good affiliates. For example, companies that sell apparel, home goods and products for kids and moms work extremely well with affiliate marketing. E-commerce sites that sell these things can tap into the large fashion and mommy blogger communities.

Make sure that there are potential affiliates and networks that align with your vertical and strategy. For some very specific niches that have a hard time locating relevant or high-quality affiliates, this strategy might not make as much sense.

2. You have good margins and customization

It’s beneficial if you have a healthy margin so you can offer affiliates an attractive commission. It’s also easier to entice affiliates to sell your product if it’s unique. Merchants with their own brand or an element of customization are much less susceptible to comparison shopping and have better conversion rates for affiliates.

Robert Glazer, founder and managing director of Acceleration Partners, is a customer acquisition specialist with an exceptional track record in growing revenue and profits for fast-growing consumer products and services companies. His clients include Adidas, eBay, Gymboree, The Honest Company, ModCloth, Reebok, Shutterfly, Target, Tiny Prints, Warby Parker, and zulily.

3 reasons to consider affiliate marketing for your business

Network Marketing Recruiting for Facebook: How to Find People to Talk to and What to Say When You Do

You’re about to discover how to find and connect with more people through Facebook. You’ll learn how to Facebook just like Google and target exactly who you want to meet within seconds. The truth is if you don’t know how to find more people to show your MLM Business to, you’ll never recruit more people. You need this book if you’ve been looking for an easier and faster way to connect with more people. Here Is A Preview Of What You’ll Learn… Why use Facebook over other Social Media Sites? How to Set Up your Profile for Success How to Connect with 20 People in 20 Minutes My Personal Daily Success Action Guide Essential Tools for Build Online Much, much more! Wow this book is beautifully written. Everything is so clear and concise and the instructions were so easy to follow. If you’re looking to grow your business or build relationships with people that can help you reach your financial goals, than this book will help you immensely. This is a network marketing bible. Highly recommended! -Graham If the steps in this book are followed I’m confident it will help your business. -Alina Great ebook that gives you the pure basics to prospect on Facebook. Very effective and can get you to start building your influence and network very quickly! -Rodney Poon Some really great information on Facebook networking here. Really love all the visual information which is provided in the book. I’ve also started John’s Daily action success guide and I’ve already begun to see good results! -Dave T

Click Here For More Information

Network Marketing Recruiting for Facebook: How to Find People to Talk to and What to Say When You Do

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SEO For Startup Companies: How One Tech Company Nailed It

Many in digital media continue to underestimate the influence of Google. It’s no longer just a cool tech company; Google is now part of the global economic infrastructure. While many people are caught in the hype of social media, the plain fact is that Internet searches are what drive purchase decisions. You create demand in social media, but you capture demand and steal market share via SEO and your website. Yet even to this day big companies and tech companies often overlook SEO fundamentals.

No matter how innovative or a disruptive a new product may be, it’s more than likely solving an old problem. With old problems there is existing traffic – specifically, organic search traffic. If you can structure your website, content marketing strategy and user communities around the problem you are trying to solve, your startup website can be structured in a way to cultivate SEO value very early and get the traction you need earlier than later.

Yet, in the world of early stage startups, SEO is almost never considered in the pre-launch phase and rarely addressed post launched. In the tech startup arena, where Non-Disclosure Agreements and stealth modes still prevail, the secretive nature of high-tech startups doesn’t pair up well with look-at-me style of content marketing that dominates the digital landscape today. It’s a pity, because sometimes in those early days of being new, most startups get at least some form of spotlight. It’s in that critical time period when a lot of SEO value can not only be secured, but also positioned in a way to attract SEO rank as a startup ages.

Meet Parcel Audit Pros
One startup tech company, Parcel Audit Pros, got it right. Simply put, they developed an online solution that automatically tracks and processes UPS refunds and FedEx refunds. Money-back refunds from these shipping providers are “by request only.” So many companies unknowingly leave thousands of dollars on the table. While this may be a new concept to you, the niche is quite competitive online, and there are many large freight companies and shipping consulting companies that have offered parcel auditing for years. The business model is unique, because Parcel Audit Pros’ fees are contingency based. They only charge you a percentage of the fees recovered, and their fees are the lowest in the industry.

In this example, the founder and CEO of Parcel Audit Pros, Adam Call, was way ahead of the curve on search engine optimization. He knew early on that SEO and search engine marketing would be an important component of a successful launch and necessary to gain market traction. He knew what questions to ask SEO service providers and met with many before finding a good fit. In just a few short months Parcel Audit Pros has secured first page rankings for targeted keywords. As a rare tech company that focused on Internet marketing early on, they are getting the same organic visibility as other parcel auditing companies that have been in operation for years.

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From a search engine optimization standpoint, they are still very early in the process. Yet the results of an effective SEO campaign are undeniable:

With higher rankings come more search engine page impressions and visibility:

If you have a new company or are in the early stages of launching a new tech company or web application, consider the following to get a jump start on SEO.  There a many ways you can protect the confidentiality of your startup venture while still laying the groundwork for search engine performance:

1. Get a website up and running sooner than later.


2. Start blogging on topics about your industry and problems you are trying to solve.  In other words, start building your industry authority and credibility well before launch.


3. Get your social media accounts setup and active as soon as possible.


4. Work on creating content and establishing a content distribution channel early on.


5. Start the outreach process early so that you can find highly targeted and strategic guest bloggers for your website, as well as opportunities for your team to get published on other industry sites relevant t your niche.

SEO For Startup Companies: How One Tech Company Nailed It

Beware of Affiliate Spamming!

You can see where an affiliate marketer would be sorely tempted to send out email advertising the products he makes money on for promoting. This resulted in so much SPAM being generated that anti-spam laws were enacted. Spammers are severely fined and the newest twist in the anti-spam laws are that the merchants whose affiliates spam are being held responsible for the spamming as well. So caution is well advised to merchants.

Merchants who are considering adding an affiliate strategy to their online sales channel should research the different technological solutions available to them. As affiliate marketing has matured many affiliate merchants have refined their terms and conditions to prohibit affiliates from spamming. Some types of affiliate management solutions include: standalone software, hosted services, shopping carts with affiliate features, and third party affiliate networks.

Spamdexing or search engine spamming is the practice of deliberately creating web pages which will be indexed by search engines in order to increase the chance of a website or page being placed close to the beginning of search engine results, or to influence the category to which the page is assigned.

Right now there is a lot of debate about the affiliate practice of Spamdexing and many affiliates have converted from sending email spam to creating large volumes of automatically generated web pages each devoted to different niche keywords as a way of search engine optimizing their sites. This is sometimes referred to as spamming the search engine results. Spam is the biggest threat to organic Search Engines whose goal is to provide quality search results for keywords or phrases entered by their users.

Beware of Affiliate Spamming!

Chamber Hosts Seminar on Using Facebook & Social Media to Build and Grow Local Businesses

You don’t need millions of fans, you just need to start with three or four people who want to hear what you have to say and that will share what you have to say.”

Mike Coleman, Web Consultant

CULLMAN – On Tuesday, the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce offered an informative seminar on social media. Dozens of area businesses were represented as Mike Coleman, a web consultant, presented lots of information about the top five social media websites. The seminar gave practical tips and insights as to how to use social media to build and grow your business.

“People say, ‘Social media is interesting, but I’ll never get a million fans,’ but that’s not true,” said Coleman.

“You don’t need millions of fans, you just need to start with three or four people who want to hear what you have to say and that will share what you have to say.”

During the seminar, Coleman discussed the following: the value of using social media to reach customers; how it can lead to new customers; how it drives repeat business from current customers; Facebook best practices and strategies; how to get started the “right” way with Facebook; the difference between a personal page and a business page; what should be posted and when it should be posted; and Why Facebook is no longer “free”.

“Most of this stuff you can do in 15 minutes a day,” said Coleman, “or spend an hour over the weekend.”

There are tools online that can help people post to several media outlets at the same time, which saves a lot of time and accomplishes a whole lot more.

The seminar was filled with invaluable content, strategies and insights on how to get the most out of the time you spend on social media.

Beginners and seasoned users walked away with something they could use to build their business using different popular social media platforms.

Mike Coleman is a web consultant, speaker and author who works with organizations, business owners and professionals who want to create a stronger web presence, communicate their message to their target market more effectively, and make better use of their time and resources to grow their business. He is a Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert (ALE) and provides e-mail marketing and social media seminars across the state of Tennessee and surrounding regions teaching best practices.

His business services include content development, SEO, e-mail marketing, social media and web design.

For more information about email marketing, social media management, search engine optimization, Google AdWords, content marketing and web design, contact Mike Coleman at [email protected] or visit his website at www.mikecoleman.net. He can also be reached by calling 615-308-8078.

Chamber Hosts Seminar on Using Facebook & Social Media to Build and Grow Local Businesses

How one author raised $11000 to publish the book that has since helped nearly triple his income

Ryan HanleyRyan Hanley with his book and his one-year-old son, Duke.

In early 2013, Ryan Hanley decided he wanted to write a book.

Outside of his career in the insurance industry, he had been writing about content marketing on his website and running a podcast on the same subject since 2011.

“I started to hear the same story over and over again,” he remembers. “There were all these great books, but there was a step missing — they were tactical, here’s-how-you-do-it-and-make-it-work books. I thought they were missing the first step.”

To raise the money he needed to self-publish an appropriately professional-looking book, using professional cover editors, interior designers, and story and copy editors, he estimated he’d need $8,000-$11,000.

He was earning about $55,000 a year living in Albany, New York, and left his job to focus on his own business the same month his campaign went live: July 2014.

To get the extra cash, he turned to Publishizer, an online fundraising platform specifically for authors. In only 21 days, he’d raised the $10,000 he asked for, finishing the month and the campaign just shy of $11,000.

As to what made his fundraising so successful, Hanley credits the philosophy behind the book: That a content marketer is always building his audience. 

“The whole philosophy is that you’re always building your audience, whether or not you have a product that exists yet,” he explains. “You need to provide as much value as you can.”

Ryan HanleyThe book that Hanley self-published.

Hanley started the campaign with a simple picture of his as-yet-nonexistent book and a blurb about what it would be, then bulked up his appeal with a video, and a “blooper reel” with outtakes from the first video shoot.

“It’s not super professional,” he admits. “My wife helps me and is making fun of my pink shirt, which showed ‘here’s an actual human being, not someone who is untouchable."” He then included a fully edited section of the book “so people could get a feel for what they were actually purchasing.”

A lot of the campaign’s success, he says, is due to his audience: an email list of about 5,000, 10,000 followers on Twitter, 12,000 connections on Google Plus, and a podcast audience of about 10,000. “The podcast is an unbelievable platform,” he explains. “I don’t have a direct metric, but I can tell you from going through the 157 people that contributed, at last 60% are podcast listeners.”

In part thanks to his now-published book, ‘Content Warfare: How to Find Your Audience, Tell Your Story and Win the Battle for Attention Online,’ Hanley estimates that his income has nearly tripled since the days before authorship. He once again holds a day job — in fact, he was only on his own for a month and a half before he got an offer to capitalize on the knowledge he shared in his book doing content marketing with an insurance firm.

It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. “It allowed me to leverage up from a 15-person, one-location agency to this national organization,” he explains. “It’s been great because now I’m putting all the concepts in the book to a scale that’s helping a lot of businesses.”

On top of that, Hanley speaks about content marketing around the country (he has nine events scheduled over the next few months for $1,000-$2,000 each), which he estimates makes up 15%-20% of his income. He makes another 5% through affiliate marketing, and about 10% directly from the book.

He’s just starting to make plans for another one — and he’s considering funding it online.

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How one author raised $11000 to publish the book that has since helped nearly triple his income

Adobe Summit: Audience Manager, Primetime, Internet of Things Marketing Announced

Adobe, a Facebook Marketing Partner, announced Monday night at its Adobe Summit a flurry of new capabilities — including two new additions (Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Primetime) to the Adobe Marketing cloud and marketing options for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Marketing Business at Adobe, discussed the new offerings in a press release:

Marketing has been driving digital transformation at the world’s largest brands, agencies and media companies. Now, marketing is moving beyond the marketing department and transforming how enterprises organize and engage with customers across every touch point. Enabled by a richer view of the customer, digital experiences are starting to change how we shop, open hotel room doors, interact with our cars and buy soda from vending machines.

Here’s a look at the new offerings from Adobe:

Adobe Audience Manager & Adobe Primetime

In addition to Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Social, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Media Optimizer and Adobe Campaign, the company announced at Adobe Summit two new programs into the Adobe Marketing Cloud toolbox: Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime.

The company explained in a press release:

Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime are now part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Audience Manager offers new capabilities to gain greater insight into customer journeys, including a new Audience Marketplace to buy and sell anonymous audience data, and cross-device identification that lets marketers take advantage of user authentications to target individuals in a household that share a single device.

Adobe Primetime is used by NBC Sports, Comcast, Turner Broadcasting, Time Warner Cable and others, now allows marketers and ad operations professionals to import first-, second- and third-party audience data into Audience Manager and execute ad campaigns targeting specific audience segments. With cross-device frequency capping, media companies can now deliver personalized ads across platforms, and ensure that a single user with more than one device doesn’t have to watch the same ad with more than the desired number of exposures.

Ad tech improvements

Adobe is also applying a deeper level of integration to its ad buying solution:

Programmatic ad buying continues to be a challenge for today’s advertisers, with too much focus placed on display ad bidding and multiple data vendors providing different buying methods and billing practices. Adobe today announced a solution, combining a new algorithmic engine and key advancements to Audience Core Services to unify audience targeting, buying, data and billing in one platform. The solution integrates audience and behavior data from a broad range of sources (including Web, mobile app and CRM systems), automates the execution of paid media campaigns through Adobe Media Optimizer and lets marketers use the same audience segments across earned and owned campaigns to deliver consistent experiences.

Marketing solutions for IoT

As the Internet of Things becomes more widespread, there will be a great race to market beyond laptops, cell phones and tablets, and into wearables, appliances and cars. The IoT is a major part of the Adobe Summit, and the company will showcase the newest technology. Here’s how Adobe is preparing companies to market through the IoT:

Adobe Marketing Cloud enables brands to extend the impact of marketing across more touch points including wearables and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Adobe Experience Manager Screens and Adobe Target now bring highly personalized experiences to physical spaces like retail stores and hotel rooms and enable marketers to optimize content across any IoT device. The new IoT SDK lets brands measure and analyze consumer engagement across any of those devices, and new Intelligent Location capabilities allow companies to use GPS and iBeacon data to optimize their physical brand presence.

Adobe Summit keynote sessions can be viewed live online Tuesday, March 10, and Wednesday, March 11 from 9-11 a.m. MST.

Adobe Summit: Audience Manager, Primetime, Internet of Things Marketing Announced

Google Adapting Android To Virtual Reality To Compete With Facebook

Google is ready to go head to head with Facebook in Virtual Reality (VR) according to a report appearing late last week in the Wall Street Journal. Roughly a year ago Facebook bought VR startup Oculus Rift for $2 billion in cash and stock.

At the time of the acquisition Facebook touted Oculus and VR as a new computing and communications platform. Google is nervous that might be right. According to the WSJ Google is adapting Android to VR: 

Google has “tens of engineers” and other staff working on the project. Google plans to freely distribute the new operating system, they said, mimicking a strategy that has made Android by far the most popular operating system for smartphones, powering more than one billion phones.

There are now a range of VR headsets in development or about to launch. They include goggles from Sony and Samsung, which is based on Oculus Rift. At last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain, new a number of new headsets were announced.

It’s very clear that Oculus and VR will take the gaming world by storm; they already have. The more interesting question is how much more broadly will VR penetrate into the entertainment or internet mainstream?

Facebook has been actively courting Hollywood filmmakers to create new types of cinematic experiences for Oculus and has also formed its own in-house studio to produce VR films. One can also imagine sports, travel, education, live events, social networking, shopping and more in a VR context. Accordingly there are potentially significant marketing implications to VR.

Anyone who has worn VR goggles knows that they do represent a future “platform,” which is potentially much broader than just gaming. Very soon, when the Oculus and related Samsung goggles go on sale this year, consumer demand will be known. I expect it will be significant.

At Google’s I/O developer conference this past year in San Francisco the company showed off Cardboard, a kind of quick, make-shift answer to Facebook’s more established an polished Oculus (see video below).

Now it appears Google is making a much more serious push into VR. Google has also invested heavily in augmented reality company Magic Leap, which is developing a separate experience that injects images into one’s actual field of vision. This could be part of the future of Google Glass, when or if it relaunches.

If Oculus is the “Apple of VR” then, as it did with the iPhone, Google aims to be the “open-source” alternative. Recognizing how Google quickly penetrated the market with Android, Facebook will likely be ready if that happens.

In the end, as with smartphones, it will be the UI/UX and software applications built on top of the platforms/operating systems that will be of greatest interest and importance to consumers and marketers.

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Attend Register today!

About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Twitter or find him at Google+.

(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)

The best news in mobile marketing every Thursday.

Google Adapting Android To Virtual Reality To Compete With Facebook

Webulas forges ahead with 'augmented reality' marketing

There’s this nifty new thing called “augmented reality” and Webulas, a Pasadena-based digital web and app agency, is getting in on the ground floor.

So what exactly is augmented reality, or AR as it’s commonly called?

Wikipedia describes it as a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

Drew Iwankiw, who co-founded Webulas along with Roman Gora, puts it more simply.

“It adds another layer of content to an existing reality through a mobile phone or some type of headset or screen,” the 39-year-old South Pasadena resident said. “If you went to a museum and were looking around a gallery you could access additional layers of data through your phone. And if you focused on a specific painting, your mobile phone or wearable device could immersively interact with that and trigger a video or some other layer of information.”

Or someone could walk into a physical space and feel as though they are teleported to another place through the use of trigger sensors, video projection and different types of computer screens.

“There are technologies for children who are sick where they can travel somewhere without leaving the hospital room,” Iwankiw said.

Webulas was launched in the spring of 2012 and the company recently moved to the newly opened Cross Campus complex at 87 N. Raymond Ave. in Pasadena. Cross Campus is a membership-based collaborative work environment that provides flexible workspace options for creative people and companies.

“We’re really excited about future projects and the companies we’re working with,” Iwankiw said. “We’re excited to be part of the Cross Campus community because we feel it will present new opportunities.”

Webulas offers a variety of services ranging from mobile websites and applications for mobile-device operating systems to online marketing and brand identity.

A graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Iwankiw has an extensive background in new media arts and interactive design. Gora has established many startups and brings to the company a strong knowledge of business management and entertainment experience.

“Augmented reality is something we’re getting more and more requests for and information about,” Gora said. “We still do websites and make applications for mobile Android and Apple platforms, but we’re getting more and more into AR.”

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Webulas is currently building a website for 4dwerks.com, a Santa Monica company that deals with AR technology.

“We are tech-focused and we hired them to do our whole website,” co-founder Damian Scoglio said. “They’re working on it right now. We want it to look great on both mobile and desktop applications.”

Scoglio said he enjoys working with Webulas.

“They are great to work with because I can get a hold of Drew any time,” he said. “That’s really helpful because we’re not a 9-to-5 type of company. I’ve dealt with outsourcing before with other companies and sometimes they are hard to get after hours.”

Iwankiw figures Pasadena is where his company needs to be. The location, he said, gives Webulas access to some of the best programmers, developers and designers in the business

“Pasadena is my backyard,” he said. “It’s a playground for getting into this new kind of entrepreneurial environment. And augmented reality will really be booming over the next 10 years.”

Webulas forges ahead with "augmented reality" marketing

Biggest-Ever Data Breach: 3 Charged

1 Billion Email Addresses Allegedly Stolen

By Mathew J. Schwartz, March 9, 2015.

The U.S. Justice Department says three men have been charged in connection with what they say is the biggest-ever email address breach. The incident allegedly resulted in the theft of more than 1 billion email addresses from more than 100 different businesses and left at least 60 million consumers at risk from follow-on spam and phishing attacks. Two of the men who have been charged are now in U.S. custody, but one remains at large.

See Also: Mobile Deposits & Fraud: Managing the Risk

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As part of the case, two Vietnamese citizens – Viet Quoc Nguyen (a.k.a. Vandehiu, Peter Nguyen), 28, and Giang Hoang Vu (a.k.a. Lee Vu), 25, who were both residing in the Netherlands – have been charged with hacking into U.S. email service providers. In addition, Montreal-based Canadian David-Manuel Santos Da Silva (a.k.a. Jake, Lusitano), 33, was charged with helping the two men knowingly convert stolen email addresses into $2 million in profits via his affiliate-marketing company, called 21 Celsius, which operated a site called Marketbay.com.

“These men – operating from Vietnam, the Netherlands, and Canada – are accused of carrying out the largest data breach of names and email addresses in the history of the Internet,” says Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell. “The defendants allegedly made millions of dollars by stealing over a billion email addresses from email service providers.”

Nguyen was allegedly behind data breaches at multiple email service providers, including Epsilon Data Management, an online marketing unit of Alliance Data Systems Corp. The company notified customers in April 2011 that it had detected a network intrusion the previous month that had exposed confidential data, including email addresses for customers of such banks as Capital One, Chase, Citi, U.S. Bank and Visa, as well as customers of businesses ranging from Kroger and Marriott International to Verizon and Walgreens. Ultimately, email addresses from more than 100 companies and brands were reportedly exposed by the breach.

According to a 29-count indictment against Nguyen and Vu, which was filed in 2012 and only fully unsealed last week, Nguyen – who’s described as a “computer hacker” – targeted at least eight ESPs via phishing attacks from February 2009 until June 2012. When employees at the targeted ESPs opened the messages, their PCs were potentially infected with malware that created a backdoor on the system, allegedly allowing Nguyen to gain direct, unauthorized access to the system and download any customer data being stored there. In other cases, authorities say that the phishing attacks resulted in a keylogger being installed, which intercepted account log-in information and routed it to the attackers. In some cases, the court documents say, Nguyen commandeered the hacked ESPs’ systems to launch follow-on phishing attacks against other ESPs.

Affiliate Marketing Scheme

Nguyen used tens of millions of stolen email addresses in email marketing campaigns that were designed to direct recipients to sites with which he was associated, according to court documents. “Nguyen was paid by an affiliate-marketing company a percentage of all sales completed through those websites, thereby obtaining money from the unauthorized email campaigns,” the court documents allege.

Vu has been charged with helping Nguyen by sending unauthorized email campaigns, as well as producing related artwork and helping to build affiliate-marketing websites.

Biggest-Ever Data Breach: 3 Charged

Online portals help realty players in boosting sales

In a first, Pune-based real estate player Kolte-Patil sold luxury villas worth Rs 10 crore online. Like apparels, electronic goods, vehicles its now e-commerce boom for real estate players. Online home sales is gaining momentum day-by-day.

Kolte-Patil, which recently concluded its home buying festival Nest Fest in Pune, sold close to 250 units online, worth Rs 150 core online.

“We have created history in real estate where over 250 apartments worth Rs 150 crore were sold online in 10 days. We received booking from 25 cities across 80 countries which shows that a typical real estate customer is moving from the conventional physical to online and the market is slowly but surely moving to the digital space,” says Sujay Kalele, CEO, Kolte-Patil Developers. What also came as surprise was the fact that high-end villas were also booked online.

Though, the share of online property business in the overall realty market in the country is still minuscule, it is growing fast. Experts expect it to grow to 15-20 per cent in the next couple of years. Online portals like Magicbricks.com, 99acres.com and makaan.com are increasingly becoming a tool for research on buying, selling and leasing residential or commercial properties in many parts of the country.

Tata Housing which pioneered the concept of online home buying in India and also partnered The Great Online Shopping Festival by Google in December 2013, sold over 50 units in the affordable and luxury segments. The price range for these properties was in the range of Rs 12 lakh to Rs 12 crore. Post that, Tata Value Homes formed an alliance with Snapdeal.com and also launched its own e-commerce platform tatavaluehomes.com – the first of its kind, to sell homes. Another much talked about tie-up was its exclusive partnership with Housing.com in 2014.

“The real estate industry has witnessed a sea change in the past few years basis changing consumer demographics. Adoption of the online platform by the modern day consumer has added a new channel of sales for the industry and led to a wider reach for consumers. We believe this is the right time for consumers to buy their dream home and would like to help consumers realize this dream,” said Brotin Banerjee, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Housing Developing Company.

In December 2014, Tata Housing and Tata Value Homes, partnered again with GOSF to exclusive launch its properties in Bangalore (The Cascades) and Mumbai (New Boisar Project) and make its other properties available to customers across the country at exciting prices. The company received booking orders worth Rs 130 crore against 200 units in the three-day festival.

Rather Banerjee further added that the company will continue selling homes on its own portal as well tie up with other e-commerce companies in the future. “These various partnerships along with launch of our in house e-commerce portal have resulted in the sale of over 1,000 apartments translating in over a million sq.ft,” he added.

“Real Estate category on Snapdeal has seen a tremendous response from customers since its launch in August last year. The category has grown significant in the last six months and has exceeded all our expectations. Our aim for this category is to become the most trusted channel for customers to buy apartments online and in order to do so, we have tied up with renowned developers like Tata Value Homes, Godrej Properties and Kolte Patil among others. We work alongside our partners to design the great value offerings for our customers. We believe that with time, we will be able to significantly change how people buy their homes by bringing the best of the offerings on Snapdeal’s marketplace platform,” says Amit Maheshwari, vice president, fashion, Snapdeal.com

Another real estate player Gera Developers has witnessed its sales almost doubling in the past year through online which is now contributing to approximately 19 per cent of its overall sales.

“We have seen sales almost double in the past year through online which is now contributing to around 19 per cent of our overall sales. With 1/5th of sales dependent on online channel and especially with the minimum unit size starting at Rs 1 crore and going up to Rs 5.5 crore it has helped us in lowering the cost of overall client acquisition to quite an extent. Although, we haven’t done it yet, but in the next years marketing plan we are looking at apportioning 20 per cent of the online budget into tie ups with e-commerce sites and leveraging the popularity & reach of websites like Snap deal and Flipkart,” says Yogesh Dhoot, vice president – sales & marketing, Gera Developments.

Other than joining e-commerce portals, real estate players are also making use of digital marketing companies to help them create solutions that makes it easy for buyers to use the online platform while making purchase decision.

“With trusted brands it’s easier for customers to make the decision of even buying homes online. With developers uploading all relevant project-related information and site pictures to their websites, customers can have a complete digital sales experience. Choosing inventory has become a much more transparent process, says Vikram Kotnis, managing director, Amura Marketing Technologies. The company develops a customised technology platform to manage the marketing and sales for real estate players.

Kotnis added, “Investors, NRIs and people wanting to buy real estate in a different city prefer going online to book the apartment of their choice. Although rest of the buying process happens offline, it’s the convenience of booking a home from the comforts of their current residences that entices customers to prefer ecommerce in real estate.”

Online portals help realty players in boosting sales

Social Marketing Tools That Build Your Reach and Credibility

As an early adopter of media since the early 80s, I love everything about media, its immediacy, urgency, fluidity, and ability to impact the masses and unify people and ideas in real time, in the moment.

Social marketing continues to be a powerful force for good, but as we know it can be a dangerous platform for bad too.

Through prior careers in entertainment and broadcast radio sales, and celebrating 8 years in my current social media consultancy, social marketing clearly is the most effective way to build branding, credibility and the bottom line.

Below are social marketing tools that can build your reach and credibility in today’s business world.

LinkedIn

This is by far a “must have” out of all the social marketing tools for anyone in business.

LinkedIn is a professional platform, that has become a standard for presenting and promoting yourself and your professional career. Not only can it be your online hub and resume, but it can be a content marketing platform, with it’s Pulse publishing feature.

A professional head shot, developed profile and consistent posting activity are what make you stand out and build your following on LinkedIn.

Facebook

Probably the most evolved social platform since it’s inception, Facebook combines the ability to get more personal, have a little fun, and promote your business now in an educational way. The benign monster of social networking, Facebook has and will continue to be a must in the world of social marketing tools.

A branded timeline photo and profile picture and defined content strategy can build a following and make your Facebook page grow.

Twitter

Still the most effective, real time, immediate, “in the moment” source and tool for getting and receiving information, alerts, announcements, events and using hashtags (#) to aggregate people around a particular topic or community. You can say a lot in 140 characters. Twitter is the viral platform of choice.

Tumblr

According to Tumblr, “We’ve they’ve “made it so easy to use it’s hard to explain”. This community is for anyone that wants to have a blog and put anything they want on it. Content, pictures, video, gifs, music, links, surveys, art, deep stuff, shallow stuff are all allowed as Tumblr has built and created an amazing blog community.

Instagram

We feel with our eyes. Nothing is more powerful than visuals, pictures and video and the popular mobile app Instagram is the most active, fast and fun hub for posting them with some highlighted text. Its slogan, “share your life” kind of says it all. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. Careful with what pictures you do post, especially since they can impact your brand and professional image immediately.

Blogging

By far one of the most effective activities that can establish your authority, credibility and stature as an influencer. With content marketing’s purpose to educate, inform and inspire, blogging is tops on the tactics that can really make you stand out, get noticed and remembered more. You can launch a blog, guest post on established blogs, or join a blog community, like Tumblr).

The stats speak for themselves when it comes to blogging. According to the 2014 The Blogconomy report, 77 percent of Internet readers read blogs, 61 percent of U.S. consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post, and 70 percent of consumers learn about a company through their articles rather than their ads.

Email Marketing

Building permission based email lists and harnessing them into professional email marketing programs, is one of the most effective ways to directly and personally communicate and build trust with people. Companies like iContact, Vertical Response, Constant Content and several more offer Free and low coast programs to set up an email marketing program.

Podcasting

Twenty-first Century radio that is archived and saved, podcasting is on the rise and is becoming a very popular format for content, interviews, features, profiles, and education across any industry. Adopted by sports, music, business, politics, as well as food, hospitality and several smaller niche industries, podcasting is easy to do, easy to find and podcasting communities such as Blogtalk Radio, Spreaker, and iTunes are thriving.

Listening to the spoken word is a more personal experience.

Video

Again, we feel with our eyes. Watching and listening is still the king of content. Recently, YouTube has been greatly challenged by some newer players including Netflix, Vimeo and Yahoo Screen. Again, let the stats speak for themselves:

• 1.8 million words – the value of one minute of video, according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research


• 45.4 percent of Internet users view at least one video online per month, according to comScore


• 100 million Internet users watch a video daily


• According to the Online Publishers Association, 80 percent of Internet users recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days.

If you own a small business or are in business for yourself, there’s a lot of compelling evidence suggesting that online video marketing should be in your marketing mix.

Networking

The trend is shifting back to networking in person, either at events and groups, or in small groups and certainly one on one, or on the golf course or at a sporting event. Nothing accelerates a relationship or connection more than meeting in person. Owning our time with people in person allows us to personalize and maximize our time. Social media is an amazing, effective bridge, but ultimately the goal should be phone calls or in person meet-ups.

Finding that right balance of online and in-person networking is essential to stay in touch, grow relationships and make new ones. Get more social, visible, and engaged in your community, industry, and primary social communities to reap the benefits of being “top of mind.”

Speaking

If you are comfortable with speaking in public, it can really open doors and give people a glimpse into your personality, story and style.

Volunteer or submit yourself to speak and if chosen, prepare focused content that gives people good information, tools, tips and insights that can help them grow their business or brand.

Training

Opportunities to educate, train or facilitate builds interest, credibility, and trust. If you have a training idea, workshop, webinar, course, or outline, find organizations, companies, or groups that can benefit from it. If you want to stand out, get noticed and be remembered, educate and help people learn something that can help be better at what they do or be more successful.

Get out, get involved, show up, join, share, connect, help, educate, inspire, and watch what happens.

Choose the social marketing tools that work best for you, your community, and your customers.  Focus on, own and commit to a few as your key hubs for activity and engagement and become known for them.

Social Image via Shutterstock

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Social Marketing Tools That Build Your Reach and Credibility

Best Way to Add ClickBank Amazon, eBay and Google Adsense

Summary:

Do you want to add relevant content using google, adsense, amazon, eBay and clickbank to your site? I have discovered an inexpensive, easy to install and very attractive script that can do just that.

This article from The Online Master is about: internet marketing, affiliate revenue, work at home, make money online, google, google adsense, eBay, Clickbank

I have just discovered perhaps the best way to add Clickbank, Amazon, eBay and Google Adsense to a web site. It is Common Sense Search. Just type your search term in the search box and hundreds, perhaps thousands of relevant results will be returned form search engines all over the web. Google, Amazon, ClickBank, even eBay auctions. It is really a handy site. It’s a great way to add relevant content to your site, and give visitors a reason to come back time and again to find resources that they need.

As nice as the results look, you would think it would take days, perhaps hours of programming. Well that is not the case. Installing the search on any number of sites is as easy as 1 2 3. You just enter your Amazon, Clickbank, Google Adsense and eBay affiliate codes in a simple text file, upload a few files to your site, change the permission on one directory to 777, and you are ready to offer your vistors an incredibly rich search experience.

You can customize the appearance if you like, that is up to you. You can add your own logo by just uploading your gif, jpeg or psd file to the images directory or you can use the included images. I think the basic layout is quite clean, simple and easy to navigate, so for the most part, I haven’t changed anything.

This script is a great value, take a look and see if it’s right for your web site. Visit my website’s blog , cheapesywebhosting.info and you can see the script in action

Best Way to Add ClickBank Amazon, eBay and Google Adsense