Why I Do Not Use FeedBurner
Apr 30 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Reviews, Strategies, Traffic Generation
Ever heard of FeedBurner? Stupid question, huh…
It seems as if the majority of bloggers use FeedBurner to distribute and track the use of their RSS feeds.
Every day I come across blogs showing off the neat little counter proudly displaying how many subscribers they have, just like so…
Here is the thing I have with Feedburner.
Feedburner feeds are, per default, in a format that looks like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/KeywordPhrase
And more strangely, when you view a blog post in a feed reader their URLs look like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/KeywordPhrase/~3/279888022/
Isn’t this a bit strange? How do you know to which site or post you’re subscribed to or what that post is about?
Another thing is word-of-mouth. Imagine you send the FeedBurner URL of a particular blog post to a friend. You eventually provide a short description to entice him/her to click trough. Yet still, it is fairly hard to imagine what one will find when clicking on such a ghost link.
Whereas, when one sends an RSS feed link of one of my blog posts to someone it is clearer what you will find when you click on it since it serves as a “URL headline.”
Do not underestimate word-of-mouth! I get lots of visitors from mail services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Live Mail. Many of them enter my blog on individual pages. (My blog announcement list mentions the home page only.) It is likely some of them picked up the post’s URL from my RSS feed and sent it via e-mail to a friend.
How often did you hear that the headline is the most important part of a message? With a great headline you can pull a reader to your site to read all the rest. You can entice him, brag him and encourage him, but with a Feedburner feed… where is that “URL headline?”
Let’s compare the following two RSS feed links. Assuming both lead to the same location, which one would make you click?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetBusinessGuide/~3/279888022/
http://www.hochstadt.com/aweber-secret
See?
This is my main reason why I’m not a FeedBurner.
Another thing is that FeeBurner owns your feed when you use their services. Theoretically, they could do whatever they wish with it. They could even terminate your account. In such a case, you would instantly lose all of your subscribers. Think that won’t happen?
Recently, there was a guy using myspace.com as platform to social network with others and promote his upcoming first music CD. He built a large following in a fairly short time period. He had lots of friends and even established connections to popular names in the music industry. What happened?
Myspace.com terminated his account two days before his CD came out, without providing any reason.
BANG!
What was supposed to become a hit became a flop.
Bottom line, if, after reading the above, you still think it is advantageously to use FeedBurner, I at least strongly encourage you to remove the counter (unless it shows thousands of subscribers.)
—Marcus Hochstadt
45 CommentsPermalink Tags: feedburner, rss feed, subscription, word of mouth
24 Hour Special
Apr 21 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Specials, Traffic Generation
Surprising Traffic Generation Secrets
Guaranteed Methods For Dramatically Increasing The Flood Of Visitors To A Site
“I Want More traffic!”
That’s a wish most Webmasters express, isn’t it? You have a great idea, you start building a Web site, you may even create a couple products, but then… without traffic you have no business, whether it’s online or off.
The DVD I’m releasing today (my birthday) is another high-profile conversation I had with James Brausch in Costa Rica in March. I tapped his brain and asked him which methods he uses to get 11,000 highly targeted visitors to his blog each and every day.
The entire conversation is, again, on video.
Until noon tomorrow (PDT, which is GMT -7) you get Surprising Traffic Generation Secrets for $35. After this 24 hour special the price will go up to $100.
Here is the link to order the “birthday DVD”…
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00ZHQH7V
—Marcus Hochstadt
10 CommentsPermalink Tags: james brausch, Traffic Generation
It’s The Hochstadt.com Party Contest!
Apr 17 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Contests, Traffic Generation
It’s The Hochstadt.com Party Contest!
Yesterday shall have been the day for my blog to break Alexa’s Top 50,000 rank, if… yeah, if Alexa wouldn’t have changed its ranking algorithm! LOL
While I was eagerly checking and waiting for my blog to break Alexa’s 50,000 mark (so I can celebrate this with you,) I found out Alexa just changed its Ranking algorithm (04/16/2008)…
http://www.alexa.com/site/company/announcement
My blog’s Alexa Rank now dropped from 51,059 down to 174,666!
That means, NO ranking report, NO “showing off” of Alexa’s formerly sky-rocking hochstadt.com ranking graph, NO big numbers—nada of these—and therefore NO “Alexa Top 50,000 In 107 Days” title – BUT…
We will simply change the tag and party anyway! :-D
(Business Lesson: Never ever be dependent on any 3rd party resource!)
You probably remember the astonishing party I held when my blog broke Alexa’s old 100,000 mark? OK, as a reminder…
http://www.hochstadt.com/alexa-top-100000-in-66-days
Now, because of the Alexa thing, now it is…
The Hochstadt.com Party Contest!
I invited a select few Top Entrecarders and Internet Entrepreneurs to join our one-of-a-kind Hochstadt.com Party Contest and celebrate together that it is indeed possible to catapult from no man’s land to popularity in 107 days!
Without further ado, let’s get to the “Party Contest Meat”—or in other words, what YOU can WIN at this Hochstadt.com Party Contest!
NOTE: This is none of those Internet Marketing niche contests… The Hochstadt.com Party Contest features prizes from a broad range of industries and categories. Meaning, there is something for EVERYONE:
Men’s Interest, Women’s Interest, Sports, Internet Marketing, Make Money Online, Technology, Hobbies, Marketing, Self Improvement, Computers and Internet, Art, Environment, Finance and Investing, Web Development, News and Media, Entertainment, Graphic Design, Religion and Spirituality, Blogging Resources, Parenting and Family, Technology, Mixed Bag, Home and Garden, Health and Medicine, Trends, Personal Diary, and Writing and Literature!
Now, take a look at these amazing and unbelievable contributions… the Who’s Who of Entrecard and other friends of mine:
Consultations, Products & Services
- Max from SiteHoppin gives 10 Beer Stock Pages worth $20-$100 each = $200-$1,000 PLUS 50 One Buck Wiki pages worth $20 each = $1,000, altogether making it to a whopping $2,000!
- Martin Russell from Word of Mouth Marketing gives 50 (!) accounts of 10 cards each at SendOutCards.com worth $25 each = $1,250!
- Gary Evans from Law of Attraction Secrets gives 10 (!) of his Manifest A Miracle systems worth $97 each = $970!
- Marcus Hochstadt from Internet Business Guide For First Class Progress gives respectively 1 of each of his 4 DVD products worth $100 each = $400 PLUS one 2-hour Multimedia Coaching Session worth $300, altogether making it to a $700!
- Debbie Lane from Wisdom Hypnosis gives 7 of her Living The Lucky Life! audio CDs worth $23.77 each = $166.39 PLUS a personal 1.5 hour Hypnosis Session by phone worth $250, making it a total of $416.39!
- Pat King from FitnessLifeClub gives 1 month of his Premier Health Coaching Package worth $357.98!
- Keith Goodrum from On Becoming a 2%er gives 2 of his DVDs 10 Minute Blog Post worth $100 each = $200!
- Andreas from XavierMedia.com gives 5 one-year VIP memberships to CreateBanner.com worth $35 each = $175!
- Larry Brauner from Online Social Networking gives a personal 1 hour consultation worth $150!
- Jason from The University Kid gives two 60 minute Blogging Consultations worth $60 each = $120!
- Leisa Watkins from Dream Act Plan Believe gives 3 Robert G. Allan books that are personally signed by Robert (!), as well as 3 Richard Paul Evans books, also personally signed by Richard himself!
- Karl Gechlik from Ask The Admin gives a professional technical e-mail support session worth $50!
- Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives $50 in hard earned PayPal cash!
- Borzack from Making Myself Extra Money gives 5 of his Page Peel Ads scripts worth $8 each = $40!
- Stephan Miller from Stephan Miller gives one copy of Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate worth $29.95 PLUS a Special Report he wrote specifically for the person who wins this e-book!
- Crystal from Ubiquitous gives a Site Review worth $20 PLUS a link on her Blogroll for one month worth $10, making it a total of $30!
- Sam Freedom from Internet Marketing Controversy Blog gives a 2-month membership to a large Private Label Rights (”PLR”) membership site worth $30!
- Kelly Naylor from Aerten Art gives one of her unique art work Acid Rain, an original water color painting worth $25!
- Dwayne from Pro Blog Reviews gives a Blog Review worth $25!
- Frank from Technology Blog and more gives a StumbleUpon advertisement campaign worth $20 (400 targeted visitors)!
- Kacie from Sense to Save gives a StumbleUpon advertisement campaign worth $10 (200 targeted visitors)!
- The Fool from Foolsville 2.0 gives $10 in hard earned PayPal cash!
- Lightening from Lightening’s Blogworld gives 2 Blog Reviews worth $5 each = $10!
- Constantin Codreanu from INconstantIN gives a one year .com domain registration worth $10!
- Iris from thebuzz gives a link on her Blogroll for one month worth $10!
- Layne from Reward Rebel gives 1 copy of Reward Rebel LOOT worth $7!
- Fitz Villafuerte from Ready To Be Rich gives 2 stumbles & diggs per week for one month!
- Theda K. Rogers from Crayon Writer gives a full-blown site review on her blog which will certainly increase the buzz for her winner’s blog!
- Mert Erkal from Search For Blogging gives an Invitation to the May issue of www.bloghology.org, which has more than 3,000+ subscribers!
- Alexys Fairfield from Soul Meets World offers to interview her winner (about his/her product, service, Web site, life, etc) PLUS providing a link from her site to his’/hers! (She used to interview celebrities, so this one is PRICELESS!)
Ad Space
- KiwiPulse from KiwiPulse gives 3 x 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $15 each = $45
- Deimos Tel´Arin from ahkong.net gives a 468×60 top ad banner box for one month worth $36
- Anna from My Cornerstone Trio gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $35
- Turnip from Turnip of Power gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $35
- Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives a top ad space (125×125 or 468×60) for one month worth up to $30
- Caleb Hartley from environmentastic! gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
- Kathleen from Entrepreneurs Only gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
- Marty from Money Maker Times gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
- Constantin Codreanu from INconstantIN gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $15
- Mirjam from Me Myself and I gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $10
- Lee Doyle from Lee Doyle - Contains Nuts gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $10
Entrecard Credits
- Marcus Hochstadt from Internet Business Guide For First Class Progress gives 12,966ec
- Layne from Reward Rebel gives 5,000ec
- Caleb Hartley from environmentastic! gives 3,000ec
- Constantine Balbozar from Ideas and Money gives 3,000ec
- Kacie from Sense to Save gives 3,000ec
- Larry Brauner from Online Social Networking gives 2,500ec
- Joan Joyce from Joan Joyce Dot Com gives 2,000ec
- Tim from Yimto Affiliate Marketing Blog gives 2,000ec
- Crystal from Ubiquitous gives 2,000ec
- Lee Doyle from Lee Doyle - Contains Nuts gives 2,000ec
- Art from Article Specialist gives 2,000ec
- Jonathan from Archon Digital gives 2,000ec
- Jonathon from Tech News Source gives 1,500ec
- Gary Evans from Law of Attraction Secrets gives 1,000ec
- Suzanne from Dot Com Mogul gives 1,000ec
- Dwayne from Pro Blog Reviews gives 1,000ec
- Michael Aulia from Michael Aulia’s Tech Blog gives 1,000ec
- Stephan Miller from Stephan Miller gives 1,000ec
- Dave from Is A Man’s World gives 1,000ec
- Scott Main from Scott’s Space gives 1,000ec
- Kumo from Toast & Egg & Me… gives 1,000ec
- Mirjam from Me Myself and I gives 1,000ec
- Jasmine from Pixelated Thoughts gives 1,000ec
- Lincoln from Canucklehead gives 1,000ec
- KiwiPulse from KiwiPulse gives 1,000ec
- Lightening from Lightening gives 1,000ec
- Wangbu from Hulag gives 1,000ec
- Juliana from Juliana’s World gives 1,000ec
- Juliana from Juliana’s Lair gives 1,000ec
- Juliana from My Library gives 1,000ec
- Iris from thebuzz gives 1,000ec
- Anna from My Cornerstone Trio gives 1,000ec
- Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives 1,000ec
- Collin LaHay from Mixed Market Arts gives 600ec
- Shelia from Black Tennis Pros gives 500ec
- David Thorne from Media Morgue gives 500ec
- Stan from Fantasy Baseball gives 500ec
- Borzack from Making Myself Extra Money gives 500ec
- The Fool from Foolsville 2.0 gives 500ec
- Marty from Money Maker Times gives 300ec
- Fitz Villafuerte from Ready To Be Rich gives 300ec
Phew! Wanna count? OK, I made it easy for you…
These are contributions for 200+ winners (!) with a monetary value of more than $7,000+ (!!) and exactly 66,666ec (”ec” = Entrecard Credits)!!! This is by far the BIGGEST Party Contest in Entrecard’s History!
What? How you can win? I’m glad you asked… ;-)
Here is how to enter the party contest and belong to the lucky winners…
- Subscribe to the Hochstadt.com Blog Announcement List (see the sign-up field in the top right hand corner of this page, right below my image? Yup, there it is.) Not only does it bring you 2 points but I may send you a cool gift when you do :-) – 2 Points
- Post a comment to this blog post - 1 Point (one point per person)
- Stumble and digg about this contest and fav me on Technorati - 1 Point respectively
- Use the below party contest image(s) on your site (linking to this party contest) - 2 Points
- Write about this blog and this Hochstadt.com Party Contest on your blog, linking to both this blog and the Hochstadt.com Party Contest. Use your own wording, one that fits to your audience. (It shall be easy because the above prizes fit to ALL audiences!) - 10 Points
- Write about this blog and this contest on your blog, AND link to ALL contributors (just like you see my list above including all the prizes) - 30 Points
- *PSSST* When you write about this contest on your blog it may be a good idea you indicate which of the above prizes you would like to win most. Perhaps Santa is listening and your wish comes true, who knows… ;-)
Hint: Use the same e-mail address and Web site’s URL when performing the above contest actions. That way, I will be able to track your entries. ;-)
NOTE: I changed the point structure slightly because it turned out to be a bit unfairly weighted. Hopefully it is fair now so more people can win something. And I now give 2 points when using the party contest image below.
The more points you accumulate the higher your chances to win one of the BIG prizes worth up to $357 per single prize! And yes, all above sponsors are entitled to enter the contest, too! :-)
Wanna use the party contest image on your site? Here are three versions to choose from…
Now let’s party!
Draw of the winners will be held on MAY 1st!
—Marcus Hochstadt
Internet Business Blog James Brausch
Mar 15 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Traffic Generation
It’s happening again; this time a bit more obvious though.
A few days ago, I reported that my Internet business blog cracked the Alexa Top 100,000 Rank. To my surprise, these days I surpassed my Mentor’s Alexa Rank…
Can you do me a favor? Would you please download & install the Alexa Toolbar (or the SearchStatus add-on if you’re using the Firefox browser,) and then visit his Internet business blog so we get his Alexa ranking above my own again, where it should be…
Not only for that, his blog is also a must read & bookmark since he offers top notch advice & tutorials on how to build a thriving Internet business.
Thank you very much! Really appreciate it.
—Marcus Hochstadt
How To Choose A Good Domain Name
Feb 29 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in SEO, Traffic Generation
Ever wondered how to choose the right domain name for your Internet business?
Choosing a good domain name can make us gripe especially in terms of SEO. What I mean is when you want to have your Site Concept keyword in it as well. Depending on your site’s theme, the domain name may become very long, making it difficult to remember properly.
Let’s say you target the audience of tennis, therefore your Site Concept keyword (i.e., the keyword you focus on on your site) may be tennis. tennis.com is already taken, so you end up searching for a good alternative. And to decide upon that alternative may take a little while.
Here are the rules I follow when searching for profitable domain names in my Internet business endeavors…
- If possible, include your Site Concept keyword. It shall give you a 20% ranking nudge in terms of SEO.
- Keep the domain name as short as possible. Every character counts (more often than not!)
- OK, I agree it depends on your Site Concept keyword, because when that is “bed and breakfast” you already have three words—15 characters—plus any additional characters that make the name fairly long already. Still, keep it as short as possible or word of mouth may not work so well.
- Use a memorable, perhaps even remarkable name. Is it easy to remember? Or do people ask you several times to repeat the name?
- Is it easy to spell? The more difficult it is to spell the more names you’ll need to register (in order to “get them all”.) Speaking of which…
- How many equivalents does it “contain”? For a good live example… You do know the most popular video sharing site, don’t you? Yes, youtube.com. Now, did you ever happen to enter utube.com instead? I assume lots of people do. Go to alexa.com and take a look at utube.com’s 3-year history graph. (Link goes to alexa; once there click on the “3y” link in the history graph.) Speaks volumes, doesn’t it? So make sure you register the “misspelled versions,” too.
- Does your name stand out from the name crowd? Does it have some sort of uniqueness? Google was fairly unknown five years ago. Nowadays?
- Does the name make people click through to the site? Is it “attractive”? Are they curious to know what’s behind it?
- Is it “you”? Does the domain name describe you in some way?
- Does the name convey a clear message? Does it give them an idea of what to expect once they clicked?
- If you use 2 or more words, register both the hyphenated and the non-hyphenated version (using the non-hyphenated version for the content site.)
- The best TLDs regarded by surfers are .com, .org, or .net.
Here’s an Exercise…
With three (or more) possible names in hand, ask 20 people for their opinions in terms of memorability, uniqueness, and meaningfulness.
The results may surprise you. ;-)
(It took me 2-3 months before I decided upon MyGermanCity.com. I had a bunch of shorter names, but MyGermanCity.com surpassed them all big time.)
Using Two Domain Names?
Some folks say one could register a longer name for the Search Engines and a short “non-keyword” name for use on business cards and in e-mail.
Hmm, just imagine this…
You hand out the shorter name that has no content but simply brings visitors to the longer SE friendly name with all the content. Though, these folks may only be aware of the shorter name, so they start linking to that one. What happens?
SEs assign PageRank (PR) values to that shorter name. Although it has no content, yet still, folks link to it. (SEs seems to love honest human activities like this.)
With this in mind, I would use only one domain name in both cases so I don’t miss out on any “link love gifts.”
Bottom Line?
Keep it short. Make it memorable. Make people want to click through.
The most important of all though is to do proper market and keyword research BEFORE you register a domain name for your Internet business!
—Marcus Hochstadt
16 CommentsPermalink Tags: domain name, keyword, SEO
Top 4 In 43 Days
Feb 13 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, SEO, Traffic Generation
My blog is #4 on Google for its main keyword internet business after only 43 days.
Yes, you read that right.
If you ever researched keywords and/or markets and niches, you probably know that internet business is a highly competitive niche market. Yes, it’s not a niche, it’s a market. Some folks wouldn’t even consider entering that industry. They think they would never make it against the “big guys.”
I’m about to beat ‘em. :-)
As a disclaimer, when you go to Google you’ll likely see different results. The screenshot above (click on it to see the large version) was made on the Brazilian version google.com.br. On the U.S. American portal google.com, my blog is on #847.
Still, as you can see I compete against 179,000,000 (!) other Web sites, and I’m on #4. Cool… (It has a reason my Alexa Ranking in Brazil, as of today, is at 15,675…)
I’m going to share my tips and strategies that I think are responsible for this with you soon, so stay tuned.
Just wanted to give you a quick heads up. :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
12 CommentsPermalink Tags: alexa ranking, google, high rankings
E-mail Follow Up Plugin For Comments Section?
Jan 29 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in HTML, CSS, Design, Traffic Generation
I seek your help. :-)
I’d like to implement a plugin that sends e-mail notifications (or follow-up messages) to those commented on a blog article. Anyone knows of a plugin that works like a charm? Instead of testing and headaches, I’m more after using the collective wisdom of my wonderful readership as for which works best. :-)
Opinions and experiences, anyone? Which e-mail announcement or e-mail follow-up WordPress plugin would you recommend to your best friend?
Submit your findings, experiences and knowledge by posting a comment to this post.
Thanks in advance!
—Marcus Hochstadt
You Comment, I Follow
Jan 22 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in HTML, CSS, Design, Traffic Generation
I feel the urge to let you all know that when you comment on my blog, I follow. I thought you guys would figure it out, but I learned not everyone takes the time and looks into the source code. ;-)
It was one of the very first plugins I enabled when I launched this blog. We have the ability to control and eliminate spam, therefore I saw and still see no reason why outgoing links are assigned with the “nofollow” tag.
Yes, it is a time consuming process to get rid of all the spam and delete spammy link-to URLs. Up to this point it is worth the time.
So again, when you comment on my blog I’m going to follow; provided your comment is in “good shape.”
That’s the way it should be. My 2 cents anyway.
—Marcus Hochstadt
6 CommentsPermalink Tags: comments, nofollow
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