MySpace is getting into the music business. They announced today that they will allow nearly 3 million unsigned bands to sell their music directly to Myspace users. Snocap will provide the back end technology for the service. The agreement also includes performance-based warrants to purchase stock in SnoCap. The music will be sold in MP3 format without copy protection of any kind. This comes as major labels such as Universal Music Group are starting to experiment with free music downloads, albeit with copy protection.

It’s unclear whether Myspace will also offer music from major labels pursuant to the deal. The agreement does not prohibit these sales, and Snocap has deals with most major labels. Downloads of music from labels would require copy protection pursuant to Snocap’s existing deals. Look for additional deals from Myspace as they continue to develop their overall music (and revenue) strategy.

Question: How Do I Keep My Web Site Visitors Coming Back?

Answer: Getting qualified prospects to your web site is one thing. Getting them to keep coming back is a whole different subject. Using Google Analytics you can keep track of new and returning visitors. Sign up with Google Analytics before getting started and insert the JavaScript code from Google to track your web sites traffic. The information I am about to share with you will turn your customers into repeat buyers and turn visitors into conversions.

Content Is King

Don’t waste your time updating your web site if it’s really not necessary. If you run a blog, your visitors will expect updates everyday. If you run a web site that reports housing trends than your visitors will expect updates on the housing market very often. If your web site sells tables and chairs, then your content probably won’t need to be updated very often.Secondly, write your own content. Citing references on every article you put on your web site or completely copying an article from another site and citing the source will actually turn visitors away from your ‘expertise’ on what you sell. If you’re selling a particular product, there should be no one the wiser on your product than you. It is your duty to share your knowledge with visitors to help turn a visit into a sale. Focus on the benefits and features of your product or service. Some of the best articles you can write begin with “Top 10 Ways to…” or “New Ways To..”

Open Their Eyes

Tell your visitors about new products or services you offer. These updates should be on the main page or main subcategory of your main page. Of course, new products and services will hold a premium in comparison to your older and staler listings. Keep things fresh by notifying your visitors. Offer a simple “fill in your e-mail and receive updates on our products” form too. Your newsletter can be a powerful force for driving in more repeat buyers. People notice a large “NEW” icon as they scan through your page. People simply do not have the time to read everything. As it was discovered in the Nielsen Studies, the human eye reads a web page in an F shaped pattern. Put your new products or services in the area of your site that follows an F shape.

Give Them Something To Do

A web site is like a person. When you first meet someone new you need to build rapport and create meaningful interactions to make a connection. Make your visitors comfortable by offers suggest box. Let your customers give their feedback, suggestions, and more. Have your visitor’s help you sell them!

Run a giveaway. Ask your customers to submit a short questionnaire while gathering important information about them and offer one of your products or services as a prize. Have monthly or weekly giveaways to ensure repeat visitors and sign ups. Offer a “refer a friend” option in the contest entry section to help drive new prospects to your site interested in the contest. Give the person who refers a friend an extra entry for every person they refer. Your giveaway will act like an online survey.

Search The Archives

You know why people keep 30,000 downloaded MP3’s on their computer? People love archives and giving your prospects the ability to search your site’s article or product archives will be useful to your visitors. Believe me, your customers will be glad you kept all the ‘oldies’ around.

Having archives also helps build your sites credibility. You’ll have more listings on the search engines, your customers will be able to see how long you’ve been around, and most importantly your customers will hang around your site.

Keeping Track Of Your Results

Sign up for Google Analytics. It’s a simple procedure and you can see if you’re doing everything right. You’ll be able to see where customers are clicking on your site, how long they spend on your site, daily visits, and much more.

You’ll also be able to find weak points in your marketing plan. If no one is signing up for your newsletter or contest, make sure you make those sections more noticeable on the main page. Use Google Analytics to see where people are clicking and where they aren’t. If all else fails, don’t waste all your hard work on a lost cause. Spend it on producing higher quality content and all else will fall into place. Watch your profits grow, work hard, and succeed!

 Got A Question That Needs An Answer? Ask The Sandman!

Here’s a few AIDS awareness advertisements that are just visually appauling. At the same time, very interesting in their metaphorical undertones. The scorpion one struck me first with the connect between a poisonous bug and the AIDS virus. Well, maybe it isn’t as deep as I thought. Then again, magazine and billboard ads need to be quick for the 2 second glimpse they receive.

Another truly innovative product of cross branding and product development courtesy of Apple and ZMP Inch. After the onslaught of Apple vs. PC Commercials we are dealt everyday, Apple has stepped it up by pushing the iPod Music Player to the extreme-ly weird.

A new Japanese robot Miuro is turning heads as it turns an iPod music player into a dancing boombox on wheels. The 14 inch machine from ZMP Inc. blares music as it jives through your living room. Apple’s iPod player locks on the top of the Miuro robot and comes in black, red, or yellow.

The cost of the Miruo? A staggering $930. The 11 pound Miruo has a gentle look unlike many of the newer robotics emerging from large corporations. The robot went on sale officially on Thursday in Japan and is expected to become available overseas at the end of 2007. ZMP is hoping to sell 10,000 Miuros the first year. Another fun thing you can do with the Miruo is add a camera and sensors to the robot to help it remember routes throughout your house. Creepy and cool all in the same bundle!

Question: Tell me some new ways to advertise my business online.

Answer: There is no doubt that the world of online advertising is simply exploding. Therefore, we need to explore some untapped advertising hot spots in our quest for growing our wallets. Not every ‘idea’ is worth your time though. That’s why I’ve gathered some of the best opportunities for you to explore this year. An online entrepeneur myself, I spend 10 hours a day on the computer doing somewhat tedious work. Time that I could spend doing something more productive. What I’ve learned is that it’s fine to have a great web site with quality content.

The key to success is positioning yourself in front of a qualified audience of eager individuals interested in what you have to offer. This is no more true than in the world of blogging and blog promotion for businesses. To begin exploring, lets look at the Top 3 Lesser Known Online Advertising Mediums.

BlogAds

For years, critics have stereotyped blog readers as nerdy teenagers and young adults. More and more, and as the internet continues to grow, we see that blog readers are in the $45,000 per year and above category with high buying power. Blog readers are anyone from journalists, business people taking a break from their work schedule, authors, professors, and more. To better understand BlogAds and their potential check out the two graph links below.

- This graph by eMarketer shows why people read blogs in the first place.
- This graph by eMarkter shows how many people click on blog ads.

The people that go to blogs are interested in ‘text’. They come to the blog to read something and the idea of placing text based advertisements on blogs to confuse readers into clicking on contextual ads is up to debate. Personally, I would believe that after reading a long exaustive article that a blog reader would psychologically look for a person’s face or an image on the web site to ease their mind. Graphical based advertising on a blog might be a good idea. We should really do a test on this theory.

The world of blogging is becoming widely influential on the world of advertising. With the buying power of these blog readers you might be wondering how your business can tap into the world of BlogAds. The first thing to do is:

- Sign Up with BlogAds
- Start Advertising on PFBlog.com, BlogShares.com, and others.

You also might want to check out the Creative Weblogging Network which has over 5 million unique page views per month. They have a variety of blogs and blog topic sites to help target your audience.

CPA Programs

With how the Google Adwords program has miserably failed to prevent click fraud, one has to wonder what is next in the world of online advertising. The answer comes in form of the CPA - Cost per action. In this advertising model, you only pay the publisher when a qualified visitor converts to a sale, registration, or sign up on your web site. The benefit of the programs are less risky and more profitable. Unfortunately, publishers will suffer in the long run from this form of advertising.

To start a CPA - Cost per action campaign you must first choose a company to advertise through.

-  AzoogleAds - The top CPA network. You can use their network to advertise on web sites such as True.com, Stamps, Blockbuster, and more.
-  ClickBooth - Gain access to thousands of web site publisher’s advertising hot spots.
-  Hydra Network - Reaches over 100 million internet users

Comparison Shopping Engines

If you currently sell products online then your main advertising sources should be comparison shopping service engines. Most online sellers do not use this untapped advertising medium though. If you sell products online and do not currently use one of the following, click a link below and get your company signed up. Sellers undervalue the benefits of this advertising option but buyers use these comparison shopping networks frequently.

-  Yahoo Shopping
-  Google’s Froogle

Google’s Froogle will actually let you do a ‘bulk upload’ of all your products in one large excel file. I did so at the online Costume Shop I used to work for. We uploaded 3,000 costumes after arranging an Excel file in under 3 hours. The thing about comparison shopping engines is that you can position your product based on a number of factors. We quickly learned that we could put our products on top by adjusting our prices, user rating, relevancy, and click through rate. We did so by adding columns to our Excel file for categories and keywords. Google’s Froogle has a huge section on columns you can add to your Excel worksheet of products to help optimize your listings.

Froogle is free too. Start with Froogle and watch qualified visitors come straight to your web site prepared to buy.

Circuit City is desperate for your money. So much that it is willing to trick young kids who are looking to buy a new Xbox 360. A new ad shows that Circuit City will “install” a backward compatible device to help your Xbox 360 work with the original Xbox console. This photo is from a shop outside a Newport Beach, California Circuit City.

Preying on unsuspecting or uneducated customers, Circuit City convinces customers that the new Xbox 360 is not compatible with the original Xbox. But it is already! All you have to do is download the software for backward compatibility from Xbox live. Even if you do not have internet connection you can contact Microsoft and they will send you the software in the mail. Whenever I go into a Circuit City they harass me to sign up for an extended warranty or aftercare but this goes too far.

Notice the asteriks above. Circuit City trys to cover their own promises by failing to point of that Xbox games playing on an Xbox 360 look the same on an analog TV. The ad reads:

“Want to play your original xbox games on your new Xbox 360?
Backward compatibility on the Xbox 360 is done through software*

Let Circuit City install it for you
For just $28.99

What are the benefits to playing original Xbox games on my Xbox 360 console?

• Every game* will be playable in high definition.
• Every original Xbox game* will be upscaled to 720p and 1080i, and will take advantage of Xbox 360’s anti-aliasing capabilities, delivering a picture that is clear and crisper than anything available on Xbox.

*Refer to the original Xbox games list to ensure compatibility on the Xbox 360.”

Question: What are the downsides of SpiralFrog’s Launch?

Answer: As I discussed several days ago, the largest of the music companies, Universal Music Group, announced it will offer free music downloads as part of their new startup SpiralFrog. Various other music labels are currently negotiating with SpiralFrog. I report again on the expected December release of SpiralFrog after both the New York Times and various bloggers brought many important fine print items to my attention. The ‘free’ service supported by advertisements is not all it’s cracked up to be.

- Your music will be in WMA format so you cannot put the songs onto an iPod or CD.

- You have to go to the SpiralFrog web site each and every month to view advertisements (become an ad drone) or the songs you’ve downloaded will expire.

- You have to listen to a 90 second audio commercial every time you download. What a pain!

- The files you download expire after six months. Forget the days when you had Napster Unlimited (illegal downloads) and were able to build a list of 20,000 songs. After six months you’ll have to download every song again and listen to more ads.

The New York Times also reports that Kazaa will be relaunching later this year with a business model similar to SpiralFrog’s - free music downloads supported by ‘ad drone’ viewing. Napster and Rhapsody already offer free unlimited listening for monthly fees but they are also experimenting with the ‘ad drone’ type of music download.

With all of the restrictions above, who will take the time to listen to a 90 second commercial just to get a few songs for free? Most of us would rather slam down the $9.99 at BestBuy for all 15 tracks. What really makes me upset is all the media frenzy surrounding SpiralFrog’s upcoming release. The media has been over simplifying the ‘get free music for watching ads’ concept.

Here’s another problem with SpiralFrog. For every 40 music downloads on the internet, only 1 is legally downloaded. From a business standpoint, the people who are going to be downloading and using SpiralFrog’s software will likely be that 1/40 who are already downloading legally and only want to find a cheaper way to download music. Instead of paying $0.99 per download they figure they can download songs for free just by viewing ads. But how do we target the 39/40 people who will continue to use Torrents and ICQ to exchange music?

I remember years back when I used to ‘get paid to surf the internet’ with All Advantage. Hackers and techies quickly figured out how to break the code and ‘get paid for sleeping’. That was years ago. What SpiralFrog is doing is not very innovative. It’s an age old concept applied to music downloads. Think about the TiVo trend, satellite radio, and television in general. No one sits around through the commercials and completely pays attention to them. They either:

- Change the channel (channel surf)

- Do something else.

- Talk about what they just saw with friends and family.

What SpiralFrog is doing has been done before. If you’re like me, you’re in that 39/40 people bracket that downloads music illegally or just buys a cd when it comes out in the stores. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The fastest growing internet advertising next year will be online video according to a new report released by eMarketer. Although online video accounts for only 2.3% of the $16.7 billion spent a year on online advertising, it will pull 8% of the $29.4 billion expected to be spent in 2010 writes Business to Business. This year alone, online video ads are expected to grow another 71% every year til 2010.

A gang of computer fraudsters used this Internet Cybercafe in Nigeria to send out spam scams. This pretty exciting video lasts 5 minutes and it is truly thilling to watch these jerks get arrested by the bad ass Nigerian Police.

These super cool series of outdoor ads were created by Scholz & Friends for JobsinTown.de (German). Each outdoor ad features a lifelike illustration of someone inside either a coffee machine, bank machine, or vending machine. The message is that if you are unsatisfied with your current job, it could always be worse. Find your new job at JobsInTown.de.

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Agency: Scholz & Friends, Berlin

WebSideStory and Patricia Seybold Group released a new study showing that most searchers use a one or two word query when searching on a major search engine such as Google. On average, the study showed that 83% of all searches contained one or two word phrases. On e-commerce web sites that number shot up to 91%. Of course many of us online marketers and search engine optimization specialists already know that if we use and utilize the benefits of a keyword tracker tool.

However, the newfound discovery of the study showed that nearly 12% of searches lead to no results - a lost opportunity for online marketers and search engines looking to profit from pay per click. This study examined more than 34 million searches on 42 different web sites, 15 e-commerce sites, 13 lead generation sites, and 14 media sites.

Although this informaiton might be useful it brings about quite a few problems from my standpoint. For one, if someone wanted to optimize a web site on the search engines for “mp3 player” a two word phrase there would be many problems. First, the web site that would appear on the first page of results would likely be the “sponsored results” and those web sites that have been optimized like crazy with tons of reciprocal links.

Those sites are usually the corporate web sites. The way a smaller business like Costumes Galore, a business I helped boost in the search engines, gets to the top of search results for those two word key phrases that WebSideStory mentions is to utilize marketing niche holes. For example, the Costume shop sold Mickey Mouse Costumes, Queen Amidala Costumes, etc. We optimized an individual costumes page for that particular costume rather than keeping the optimization generalized as WebSideStory insists we do to capture on the one to two word keyphrase searches. By using a niche at the costume shop, we were able to catch on those people who were looking for a specific product (Queen Amidala Costume) and produced top results on the search engines leading to more sales to higher qualified searches.