Blogging is Publishing

Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.

The Advantages of Creating Your Own E-Book
E-books have become more and more popular in the recent years. Although some people prefer a printed book in their hand, e-books are still in demand.

BANS vs phpBay - International Traffic
I’ve used both BANS and phpBay for my niche affiliate websites for a quite a while and I’ve experienced ups and downs of both scripts. Both scripts are excellent money makers, no doubt on that. I know that because both made money for me. Because BANS and phpBay basically work similar to each other, [...]

I’ve used both BANS and phpBay for my niche affiliate websites for a quite a while and I’ve experienced ups and downs of both scripts. Both scripts are excellent money makers, no doubt on that. I know that because both made money for me.

Because BANS and phpBay basically work similar to each other, I want to spend some time over the next few weeks to compare the two eBay affiliate scripts. In this post, I want to compare how both scripts deal with international traffic to your site.

Both BANS and phpBay were designed to work with international eBay sites. But the main difference is that BANS doesn’t have the capability to provide the international auction listings by Geo-targeting automatically. What I mean by this is that if you want to display Canadian auctions listings for Canadian visitors, you will have to build a separate BANS website just for that traffic.

With phpBay, you can build one affiliate website and make it display the international auction listings to the particular international traffic. In other words, if someone from United Kingdom visits your phpBay website, it automatically matches the Geo-IP and displays the auctions listings from eBay.co.uk instead of eBay.com.

This is a true advantage of phpBay over BANS. This translates more revenue from your eBay affiliate website. But in order to use this feature, you have to go through some steps describe on Brewsterware’s “Optimising your ebay affiliate profits” post.

Now, it took me a while to make it work right because the instruction was somewhat vague. The download file provided on that post didn’t work for me. Instead, when I used the default geo.php that came with phpBay, it worked. So use the downloaded file for country.php but use geo.php that comes with phpBay. Also, they should be placed inside “includes” folder. I don’t think that was mentioned in the post. If you have problems getting it to work, just let me know. I will help you setup correctly.

Four Marketing Tips for Self-Publishers
You may have already noticed that self-publishing is very time consuming. Most of your time is spent on marketing and publicity and very little time on writing.

New PageRanks Coming
Matt Cutts said on his blog that we should see a new Google Toolbar PageRank update over the next few days. He also mentioned that Google will be lifting some old penalties on websites. I’m not quite sure which one he’s referring to, but I think we will see some happy faces soon. To [...]

Matt Cutts said on his blog that we should see a new Google Toolbar PageRank update over the next few days. He also mentioned that Google will be lifting some old penalties on websites. I’m not quite sure which one he’s referring to, but I think we will see some happy faces soon.

To check your PageRank, you can use one of the online PageRank tools, but there’s a PageRank checker that I want to recommend to you. It’s called PaRaMeter. It is a free desktop software that tracks PageRanks on your websites. Instead of typing out a URL at a time, you can store all your domain information and have PaRaMeter update PageRank. It’s a neat software.

Download PaRaMeter and check your PageRank.

When Choosing a Niche for Your BANS Site…
A number of Build a Niche Store forum members suggest that one should target niches that can’t be found anywhere but at auction. But I disagree with this. The majority of my BANS (Build a Niche Store) sites sell things that can be purchased in any retail stores, but I also have vintage auctions that sell only [...]

A number of Build a Niche Store forum members suggest that one should target niches that can’t be found anywhere but at auction.

But I disagree with this.

The majority of my BANS (Build a Niche Store) sites sell things that can be purchased in any retail stores, but I also have vintage auctions that sell only the things that can be bought through auctions.

What I learned from my EPN transaction stats is that people who buy stuff from auction sites already are likely to have an eBay account already.  I have more ACRUs generated from a kitchenware BANS site than anything else. That kitchenware I’m talking about averages $20 and it can be purchased at any local stores like Walmart and Target.

The advice given by the BANS members is good, but ignoring the other half of the market isn’t a good idea. I suggest that you build BANS sites for both, because both work well.

Just a quick thought.

People Are Getting Banned from EPN, but Why?
EPN (eBay Partner Network) has been actively sending out account termination letters to the publishers. The termination looks something like this… “After reviewing your account transactions, we determined that your account has been generating non-bona fide transactions related to new registered users. This violates our Code of Conduct and breaches the agreement between us. Your [...]

EPN (eBay Partner Network) has been actively sending out account termination letters to the publishers. The termination looks something like this…

“After reviewing your account transactions, we determined that your account has been generating non-bona fide transactions related to new registered users. This violates our Code of Conduct and breaches the agreement between us. Your account will be terminated immediately and no pending commissions will be paid to you. You are not permitted to rejoin the eBay Partner Network.

Almost all of the publishers who was banned claim that they’ve done nothing wrong, but I found a pattern from their explanation. People who got banned from EPN usually purchased traffic from unknown sources. I don’t know if this triggered a flag, but I think this is why their account was banned; Not from purchasing the traffic, but from the quality of traffic generate from these traffic brokers.

Like I said, I don’t know the definite answer, but it seems like purchasing traffic to your EPN affiliate website is a big risk. Don’t do it. If you really want to do it, you should filter purchased traffic with a landing page. I think that should be safe.

Please share your thoughts. Why these people are getting banned from EPN without an apparent reason? I hope EPN gives out a warning first before closing an account.

BEA Book Expo America: Smart Strategies for Independent Publishers


Mistakes - Site Updating
I’ve been blogging about niche marketing since 2005.  After a few years, I’ve expanded my blog with several other blogs in subdomains because there was too much information to share in too many different categories.  Since the move, I’ve lost my focus and got sidetracked.  It was a big mistake. Before it gets worse, I’m merging [...]

I’ve been blogging about niche marketing since 2005.  After a few years, I’ve expanded my blog with several other blogs in subdomains because there was too much information to share in too many different categories.  Since the move, I’ve lost my focus and got sidetracked.  It was a big mistake.

Before it gets worse, I’m merging all my marketing-related blogs into a single blog.  Everything’s imported to MarketingSyndrome.com, but all posts need to be reorganized into right categories.  It might take me a few weeks to finish it.  Everything’s in mess right now, so please use the search tool to find information on this blog.

I’m even bringing back the old design I’ve used last year to refresh my memory.  :)

WordPress 2.6 Released
WordPress 2.6 was released today.  I thought it was going to be released in August, but the developers really pushed it.  WordPress 2.6 comes with a number of new features such as post revision tracking, live theme preview, Shift Gears, and Press This! Watch the WordPress 2.6 release video to learn more about it.

WordPress 2.6 was released today.  I thought it was going to be released in August, but the developers really pushed it.  WordPress 2.6 comes with a number of new features such as post revision tracking, live theme preview, Shift Gears, and Press This!

Watch the WordPress 2.6 release video to learn more about it.

Personalize Your Blog with .ME Domain Name
As of today, .ME domains are open for public registrations.  .ME has been the talk of the town because of its potential for internet users.  .ME domains are just perfect for blogs.   Just think about it, with a  .ME domain you can register YOURNAME.ME. .ME domains are not just limited to personal websites.  It can be used as a catchy [...]

As of today, .ME domains are open for public registrations.  .ME has been the talk of the town because of its potential for internet users.  .ME domains are just perfect for blogs.   Just think about it, with a  .ME domain you can register YOURNAME.ME.

.ME domains are not just limited to personal websites.  It can be used as a catchy marketing tool.  For example, verb-oriented domain names such as Contact.me, Drive.me, Date.me, Help.me, Love.me make perfect sense to visitors.

Well, you can purchase those premium domains only through the auction that’s coming up, but you can still get good .ME domain names if you hurry up.

It is little bit expensive and requires 2 years of contract, but it will be well worth your investment.  I was going to register “Prayfor.me” but as I thought.. it’s gone.  But I’ve found a couple of really nice domain names already.  So register a .ME domain name now!

Register a .ME Domain Here

BEA Info


PhpBay 3.0.7 Available for Download
Another phpBay update. PhpBay 3.0.7 is released today and it’s available for download in your member’s area. It is a maintenance release so unless you need to use the new features, you don’t need to upgrade. phpBay 3.0.7 release includes: 1) Fix on items displayed by country. 2) Added “free shipping” as a parameter. 3) Fixes a [...]

Another phpBay update. PhpBay 3.0.7 is released today and it’s available for download in your member’s area. It is a maintenance release so unless you need to use the new features, you don’t need to upgrade.

phpBay 3.0.7 release includes:

1) Fix on items displayed by country.
2) Added “free shipping” as a parameter.
3) Fixes a minor issue with the sidebar widget where the closing tag was not working correctly.

To update, upload all files and overwrite all existing files. Auction.php is not affected by this update.