Hey Newbie Entrecard Members ~ Either Approve Ad Requests Quickly or Don’t Bother Putting a Banner Up

I’ve been Entrecard Dropping lately and requesting ads on many new blogs.

I check back frequently within a day or two to see whether my ads were approved.  What’s the purpose of putting an EC banner on your blog for people to drop in on, if you can’t bother to check back and approve/disapprove an ad request.  It just languishes there?

I cancel any ad requests I’ve made if it’s not approved within 1 or 2 days tops.  I’m not going to tie up my EC points.  It’s not fair to me, who obviously had taken an interest in your blog.  That’s a sure-fire turnoff to gain new readers/subscribers.

Oh, and one more thing ~ Newbies ~ put your banner above the fold.

Either get with the program, or drop out of it.  SOGOTP.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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The Walls Came Tumbling Down ~ No More Small Potato Affiliate Marketing Companies

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“When the walls came tumbling down
When the walls came tumbling down
When the walls came tumbling down
Everybody ran as they screamed at the sound’… Def Leppard

More titillating tidbits on my WAHM Affiliate Marketing experience!

Today I resigned from all but maybe two, of the small WAHM companies I belonged to as an Independent Consultant for Affiliate Marketing.

That’s it, I’m done, I’ve heard, seen and had enough of it.

I got an e-mail today from a company I was a rep for ~ Beautiful Diva.

The email indicated that affiliate links would no longer take a customer directly to your shopping cart, but rather a “landing/splash” page.  The customer would then have the option to search for a representative by entering their zip code, name or other methods.

WTH?  I’m going to put up a banner link to a site ~ have a potential customer click through to it ~ and then have that potential customer enter their zip code to find a different rep?

Who are they going to search for under “name” ~ Moomettesgram?  My full name used to be displayed before they did a U-Turn on their marketing tactics.

I don’t think so.  Down came that banner and ~ exit, stage left.  No more rep for that company.

My advice to anyone who’s thinking of becoming an Affiliate Rep, is this:

Before you sign up with a new WAHM company, check to see where your customer is going to land.  Otherwise – all you’re going to be doing is putting up a banner for the company gratis, and you won’t see any sales.

How many of my readers know what my zip code is?  I speak often of living in New England ~ Connecticut specifically ~ but I don’t think anyone is going to find me through that method.

If you blog and use banners, do all your readers know what state you live in?  Do you use your real name, or a by-line?

Really, young ones, think this one through.  Don’t just blindly do everything these companies ask you to do.  You are going to be taken for a ride if you do.

Another reason I’ve left several companies is that many are signed up with JROX.  One particular company made their reps sign up at least 3 times for a new JROX affiliate ID.  Talk about confusion.  No sales there ~ the website was down ~ the affiliate IDs didn’t work~ excuses, excuses.  I’m outta there.

Nope.  The only companies I’m with now are basically through big-name affiliate sites.  I’ll stick with those for awhile, and see how it goes.

No more small potatoes.

If anyone has any other experiences and you find you’re rolling in dough, speak up, and add yourself as a subscriber if you’d like to hear my continuing saga!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Foiled by the Cruella de Vil of WAHM Hosting Services!

“Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil.

If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will…“

Well, well, well. As a follow-up to my post forewarning my young, nubile readers who are eager to enter the cut-throat world of work-at-home mom online ecommerce entrepreneurship, I am again chronicling my experiences.  As a Baby Boomer, I’m a little thicker-skinned than some of you younger moms.  But listen-up to Gram here ~keep up your guard and keep your ears & eyes wide open.

I’ll cut to the chase early.  One of my businesses got skinned alive by Cruella Hosting Services.

Read between the lines here.

For those who want to continue reading, this may get lengthy. But it’s interesting, so take a chance.

Continuing my experiences in the Hell Hall world of a WAHM, I posted here about all the e-mails I got to sign up for early renewals of this, that and every other thing. I canceled my annual subscription to Cruella’s hosting and design service that my business was on since it was scheduled for  ‘auto renewal’ through Paypal. I wanted to make sure this site didn’t charge me again because I was going to use the affiliate links provided through the respective companies, rather than having them all on a mini web site that I had created.

Coincidentally, at the same time, I contacted Cruella Hosting Service to ask for a URL redirect for one of my banners. Days went by, and I heard nothing. Surprise Surprise.

I fired off emails to every address I had from Cruella Hosting Service. This WAHM Dame Houdini has more email aliases than a Moose has Ticks at any given time (per recent news articles, that is about 35K).

I finally got one response today, and I am providing a synopsis of the flimsy excuses here:

…you have a yahoo email and some reason on Julie’s server I am not able to write to people with yahoo. I am not sure why. You need not be immature and treat people with respect if you want to get anywhere in business. I don’t take demands. I must of not got your email request. I removed you from my server you need to find another host. I hold the right to refuse service to anyone who acts in a bad or disruptive matter.

…I am sorry I don’t take demands. Your site is being removed. No one demands me to do something.

Just for your information I didn’t ask for money I offered early renewal for discount rate. You no longer need that…

I told you you were removed from our services. You don’t demand your host and designer to do something immediately. I never got your update email. I have a form everyone fills out for updates. I have a forum for people to get the updated info. You don’t go tell your host to do the work immediately specially when I do free updates. You never paid me to work immediately. Updates are sometimes on tuesdays but mainly 1st and 15th. The form makes sure i get the updates. You will need to find you a new host. You can’t go back to Julie because you left her services. You probably owe her money. (proviso, NOT.) I am not sure. We are on the same server so you left Julie to stay on the same server. Respect is demanded with my services.

sorry for the small amount I charge I offer no refunds.

Judy

Keep in mind that Cruella has the audacity to blame me for being impatient because she didn’t respond to my numerous requests for the redirect. I filed off a grievance to Paypal for services not received, although I don’t believe I’ll see any relief.

Here’s my response:

Your excuse is ridiculous about my using a Yahoo email address.

You have more than 3 email addresses I have been writing to.

There’s this one, there’s xxx
There’s the one that payment was sent to on Paypal, there’s the one that’s listed on Paypal
There’s also xxx
I had written to them all, and never heard back from you. I requested the URL redirect quite some time ago, which more than covered your day of the week that you work to make the requested changes. It’s easy for you to use the excuse that you never got an email. I don’t buy that.

And you have the audacity to blame me because you’re not performing up to snuff, and I am the paying customer. And what does bringing up that other person you referred to have to do with our business transaction? Squat.

Not to worry. I have a WAHM tips blog.

No loss on my part.

Some people are just so shady and slick, and operate their market place mama businesses like flea or tick central dot info hell halls.

If you want the down and dirty of it all, just let me know.

Update: And then for some strange reason, after this post went to press, with no warning, I got kicked out of The Mom Pack tonight. No emails, no nothing, just no access.  Coincidence? Technical hiccup?   Gossip Wag?  Wicked Stepsisters from Mom Pack?

What do you think?

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Best Buy Advertising Lifetime Placement ~ Special Rates ~ Will You Fall for the Sales Pitch?

My In Box is overflowing!  Recent emails that I’ve received must be a sign of the times.

I have received so many emails from the various work-at-home mom advertising sites that I’m signed up for.  All of them have been offering best buy specials gimmicks.

“Renew early – sign up for “lifetime placement” and lock in for a one-time rate!

Most of these advertising sites are from mom-owned WAHM businesses.

Yes, I do like to support other mom-owned businesses.  However, I caution you in falling for this common sales pitch tactic.

What I believe is happening, is that these people are in a pinch, and are trying to earn some extra fast cash.

Before you sign up for a renewal, ask yourself some questions:

• **Will your own site be around next year or for a lifetime?  Is it working for you?  Do you think you’ll want to continue with your direct sales or affiliate company/ecommerce site/product?  Is your product flying off the shelf so fast that you need a ‘lifetime’ rate?

• **Will the site you’re going to advertise on be around next year, or for a lifetime?  What is their refund policy should they fold, or should you decide to discontinue your affiliation/shop/product?  If they’re so successful, why are they trying to raise cash now?  That’s what they’re really trying to do.  If they include comments such as “our site is growing by leaps and bounds” ~ they it’s ‘Buyer Beware.”
  

• **Have you checked your statistics to see if this particular advertiser is generating enough traffic for you to renew, especially for a lifetime?

As I keep stressing, read between the lines.  Don’t fall for any sales pitch and part with your hard-earned money that isn’t going to be profitable for you.  It may sound enticing, but I still think it’s a sign of a tough economy.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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The Goodbye Girl of Affiliate Marketing

Well, the saga of my experiences as an Affiliate Marketer continues. My faithful WAHM readers may be familiar with my promise to keep you informed on how things are going with being an Affiliate Marketing Independent Consultant.

It’s not going. In fact, it’s going bye-bye.

My list of banners and buttons is getting smaller. Tonight I resigned from 4 more companies. Another one bites the dust. Why you may ask?

Well, I’m sick and tired of having to meet “Quota” each month or quarterly. Many of these Affiliate sales companies require you to make a quarterly purchase of at least…$25.00, which, I don’t feel like spending on something I may or may not need if I haven’t had any sales. There’s only so much I can put aside for Christmas, or give to my DDs.

I’ve decided to take the advice of a member of a WAHM forum who had commented on the same issue. Instead of spending money on Quota items, I’d rather spend the money and invest it into inventory for my own stores, either my eBay store or my Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes. Actually, the way the economy is going right now, my gas tank might even be a good place to spend this “new-found” money.

The competition on the forums is fierce, with too many moms hawking the same affiliate products. They’re hawking the products through Yahoo Groups (don’t get me started again on those); through traffic exchanges; through forums. Not only that, turf wars exist. For example, before tonight’s drop and run, I had posted on a forum and apparently had stepped on someone’s toes ~ and heard about it. Give me a break. Thinking there were too many cooks in the kitchen, I resigned.

Here’s another example of why I dropped out. I invested in a domain name for one of the companies, and had it redirected to my affiliate URL. Each time I thought I had made a sale, I got an email from the company owner saying “we’re having a problem with the server ~ sorry, it came through the main site, not your affiliate URL ~ commission denied.” This happened one too many times. I wasn’t born yesterday, lady.

To add to this headache, I know I have “downlines” who signed up under me. One company refused to give me the name of my downline, except under pressure when I asked. Think I’ve seen any money in my Paypal account from any of her sales? Not.

I’m still giving the companies a shot that don’t require a sign-up fee, nor require that you meet a monthly quota.

So tonight ladies, I’m just here to suggest that ~ perhaps your hard earned money can be better spent someplace else, rather than trying to meet a company owner’s mandated quota each month and fattening their pockets.

It’s brutal out there, and besides, it’ll cut down significantly on the junior high chit-chat e-mails when I unsubscribe from those Yahoo Groups.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Desperate Housewives ~ You’ll Find them on Yahoo Groups as WAHM Affiliate Reps

The beat goes on, the beat goes on

 Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain 

La de da de dee, la de da de da

Sonny and Cher

You know, being a Baby Boomer has its advantages.  I’m so happy the Internet evolved.  It’s the perfect platform for Boomers to continue to protest and grandstand.  As I came of age in the early ’70s, I was in college during the Peace Rallies, Love-Ins and Protest Demonstrations.  So hang on to your Jimmy Choo’s, now that I have a Blog, I can fulfill my inner New England Curmudgeon, feminist, bra-burning, march-to-the-tune-of-a-different-drummer beat.  “And the Beat Goes On…”

So goes the continuing saga of my experiences as an Affiliate Rep.  I’m beginning to question whether this is something I really want to be associated with.  The products are great, but the methods and tactics some of you WAHMs use to promote and peddle your wares are definitely questionable.

Come’ on ladies, if you’re a WAHM signed up to be an Affiliate Marketer, you a) either have young kids or b) have grown kids.  Don’t you read the news, Blogs, whatever?  - there’s a whole generation of kids being raised  with a bad case of the “gimmies”  who think they should be living a life of entitlement and instant self-gratification.   I posted about this awhile ago during the holiday shopping season here.

This is an actual portion of a post from a WAHM (I’m led to believe) that appeared within the last day or so  on a Yahoo Group Affiliate Membership forum that I belong to:

….I don’t have any teen girls, How is the best way to find them with out seeming like the creeping lady on the corner outside of school? Most of my friends have small kids, (under 10) Thanks for any help.

This person was trying to infiltrate the ‘tween set to peddle products that might be of interest to ‘tweens.

And here was my posted response:

Hi ~

There are many charitable organizations out and around that are really looking for volunteers to help with teen mentoring  programs or the disadvantaged.

I would suggest checking with your local social services agencies, church groups, school PTA’s, after school programs, YWCAs and the like.  I’m sure they’d be more than happy to assign you to work with and get to know some teens!

Sarcasm intended.  Get real.  Now I’m a mom of 2 grown daughters.  One’s a college grad ~ the other’s finishing her Junior year in college.  Ever hear about the credit card offers that come in daily targeting these kids?  Ever wonder why they’re graduating with a mountain of credit card debt (mine did Not and are Not) and student loans before they even get a chance to cash their first post-college paycheck?

Are you WAHMs that desperate that you have to go after the middle school set to push your products?  Shame on you.

While I believe in many of the products I offer, I’d like to think I’m not desperate.  If you click on my banners and like the products enough to make a purchase, fine.  But you won’t find me trying to be a pusher and sell to kids who should instead be learning about money-management.  They get enough of that in ‘tween magazines, radio, TV and peer pressure.

Anyone out there have a conscience?

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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