My Store

Alright - time to play a little catch up here.

If you are trying to make money online then ya' might want to pay attention. This is especially true if you are one of the thousands out there dabbling in the MMO niche itself or affiliate marketing in general.

First off - the Make Money Online niche.

As many of you know this plain old Blogger blog pretty much owns the niche at this particular point in time. The vast majority of my traffic stems from Google and let me share some stats.

Search visitors per month - approximately 150,000
How many keywords do I receive traffic for? Between 5000 and 6000 different terms.
The top 5 keywords account for 95% of all traffic.
The term "make money online" is not the top drawing keyword... surprise! It comes in second. I am not going to tell you what the other 4 are cuz that would just be stupid but next time you are using a keyword analysis tool - including Google's - just keep in mind that none of them are really all that accurate. Not by a long shot. I get a lot of emails from people targeting keywords that are "supposed" to have 200 or so searches a day and when they rank number 1 for the term they find out that they get next to no traffic or none at all. The reason is simple - the estimates are wrong.

If you want to find the keywords that have traffic then write agonizingly loooooong posts full of terms related to your chosen topic. Then rustle up backlinks for all the terms you think are the main keywords and point them at the post. Rinse and repeat for every post you write. Google will eventually show you what keywords are really being searched for in the form of search visitors. Track those terms and rustle up more backlinks anchored appropriately and soon you will not only have a list of what people really search for but you should be ranking on top for them as well.

Now - what's the point of having a top ranking site in the Money Making niche if I don't know what kind of money it can make selling affiliate products?

Apparently my readers don't want to know how much money can be made or what kind of conversions a top ranking site has in this niche. I base this on the reaction I got from my dear "readers" when I decided to find out...

Sorry folks - I DID want to know and unfortunately the only way I could find out is by slapping up some affiliate courses (Court's) and affiliate products (Vic's Niche Devil). I didn't spend 3 years targeting this niche just to NOT make money or Not learn what kind of conversions could be made with a highly targeted SEARCH audience. So for those of you who were upset and feel that I shouldn't have bothered to find out please skip the following bit of info... (BTW - I have said countless times - if in doubt ask me about something you see on my site. I always give an honest answer. If I had said this on the posts it would have kinda killed the results???)

So - without further ado...

Adsense - after 2.5 years worth of results - maxed out at about $120.00 per day. Some spikes upwards of $200 per day but not an average.

All other CPC that I tried - maybe $20 - $30 a day. I can't get an MSN or Yahoo account so they haven't been tested but every other network like Bidvertiser, Chitika etc don't come close to Adsense.

Alright - Court's Keyword Crash Course.

I picked this course for a number of reason's; it is hand's down the best investment a beginner can make online if they want to learn how to make money online. Court teaches what I do - simple as that. I do SEO and if you don't know what that is just ask yourself how you found my site in the first place? I had no problem sleeping at night sending people to Court - he is as legitimate as they come online and I have yet to hear otherwise.

I added a link to his site above the fold with a short blurb. I still had Adsense up there as well. The results? Dismal at best. Hmmmm... what to do. Maybe pull the Adsense off. I did. The results improved immediately - from a few people a day to a few dozen a day clicking through to Court.

An aside... my first day without Adsense I did $350.00 (approx) in affiliate sales on the site. This has tailed off to between $250 - $300 per day on average ever since and why Adsense is no longer here. I have always said to focus on one form of monetization. It turns out that the 300 - 400 people who would click ads daily are also the ones who buy affiliate products. Adsense, in effect was sending all my potential buyers elsewhere...

(BTW - I have given both Terry of The Honest Way and RT of Untwisted Vortex access to one of my biggest affiliate earners and if you ask them they can verify the leap in earnings after I removed Adsense. I'm telling you this as some people still have doubts that money can be made doing what I do. I have made over 40K on this site from just one source - ask them.)


Back to Court.

To really see what kind of boost I could give him I decided to do a full blown post about the Keyword Academy and the crash course in particular - see original post Keyword Crash Course The results were immediate and pretty decent. I left the post up for 2 full months - roughly 300,000 visitors saw it. How many clicked through to Court's site? Just over 10,000. Yup - just 3%. How many of the 10,000 signed up? Just under 400 or 3.84% to be exact.

Many of you may find the totals shockingly low but let me tell you a little secret - 3% is a pretty standard conversion rate in the affiliate marketing world. I have seen this over and over again in many niches for many different products. And this rate is what I come to expect from products that convert well. What isn't a secret and what I have told many of you over the years - you need traffic, a lot of traffic actually to turn a decent profit and the reason many of you can't make money selling online is that you 1) don't have targeted traffic and 2) you don't have a niche that can produce the kind of volume necessary to make a consistent income. The answer of course is to just build more niche sites and make money through sheer volume.

Vic's Niche Devil

I have mentioned over the years that I have made some pretty decent income using short term strategies. The basic gist is to get in early, cash in and move on. I have done this with blackhat programs like Voodoo Blogger way back when you could slap up hundreds of sites and rank them all for a short time using various linking techniques that worked at the time. Invariably G shut the door on every trick that the black hats could come up with but - and this is the important part - I made a lot of cash while they worked and not once did I say - gee... maybe I shouldn't have done that because it didn't last. Never once did I say oh man - I only made $15,000 gaming technorati but now they don't let me anymore so it was a waste of time...

Folks - I'm not telling you to do or not do anything. I'm just presenting things that have worked for me and what you do with the info is up to you. I knew Niche Devil was going to cause a stir but I couldn't really get into details on who should use it or how it should be used - unfortunately this site is to widely known now for me to elaborate. I had hoped that my regulars would just simply leave the post alone and those who are inclined to the dark arts would find a use for Vic's site builder but it wasn't to be. The comments basically killed the post and once I got Splorked it was dead. I can't give you any meaningful stats regarding sales, conversions etc but I can confirm that my sight is read by people who don't want programs like Niche Devil used - I'll let you figure out who that might be. Needless to say I will stick to Terry's Secret Society for any future discussions regarding the dark side.

Backlink Solutions

I have talked about this program at length over the years and the post was for one reason only - to pass on info to those who have read my detailed instructions on how to use link networks. (On the private forum) The 32 spots sold out within the day and if you are one of the members don't be noobs - use it correctly and you will see results. nuff said.

Now let's talk about Problogger.

It seems many of my readers think I'm a blogger. From the bitchin' and whining I've seen in my comments and emails and on Ben's post Make Money Online with Work and Lissie's post Making Money with an Online Goldrush or Allyn's post Niche Devil (although he doesn't spell it that way - lol - btw - watch Allyn's Video's if you want to see how entertaining a video blogger can be!) I seem to have picked up a lot of readers who think this site is built for readers. It ain't! I built this site for search visitors first and foremost and guess what? I also built this site to "gulp" Make Money. I love my readers - don't get me wrong - but you guys don't pay the bills. By all means follow along and you will learn how I make money online but will you please keep in mind that I am using this site to test and experiment different forms of monetization. I have thousands of search visitors rolling through here each day and some of you seem to think I should ignore them and post fluff like Darren Rowse does? Really? Would you? I didn't think so...

When you are wondering what I'm up too why not look at what I'm doing and learn from that as I can't come out and tell you or it will kind of destroy my results. You will see a lot of strange things on here in the future so please let it go. I am always targeting search terms. Or funneling traffic. Or testing monetization. Or reinforcing previous posts for double indexing or keyword authority. (Like this post) Or helping friends with links and traffic - yes even sales if I can. (I know - how terrible!) If you want to learn things from me you have to let me do stuff to learn it myself. It is my intention to use the Make Money Online with Griz blog to answer your questions and provide results while I use this site to run my tests and make money. That said - can we please call a truce on the whining and complaining - if you don't like something just let it be or maybe stop and use your noodle and figure out what I am up to. Please just keep in mind that readers make up a small portion of my traffic. I know you tend to think I am writing for you exclusively but I'm not. I try and include you but my target is the search traffic. As for Problogger - keep something in mind; yes he seems like a nice guy and probably is but he tells you to just write good content as a blogger and the money will come. This is untrue and he knows it. He will never tell people that backlinks are the true source of making money online because he may fall out of favor with G. Yet - check out his main sponsors - the people who pay his bills. Yup - text link ads... people who sell backlinks.

Oh - one more aside. Every time I write a long post like the Problogger article (or this one) and engage readers my affiliate sales crap out big time. Less than a third of normal sales. Straight affiliate marketing posts like Niche Devil don't effect my sales at all. Why? Posts that are more Reader friendly send people hither and yon due to links etc and are time consuming to read. They (the search visitors) just don't end up on my money links. Short posts flogging something are either read quickly or ignored by search visitors and they either click out on the product's money link or one of the convenient links up top should they ignore the post. Keep this in mind if you are trying to sell something and using a typical blog post to do it. The more you engage your readers and the more links you have splashed about your post the less likely you will see results as far as sales go. This assumes that your readers are from the search engines. If they are just social bloggers then you'll fail regardless of what you try.

Let's wrap this up with a short message regarding my comments. This site produces a startling amount of email and comments - upwards of 5000 some weeks. Yes you read that correctly. Insane. Most of it is spam. I get 20 - 30 comments every hour from anonymous posters trying to get a link on my site for some product they are promoting. Not the usual Viagra and sex spam most of you are familiar with but from other MMO bloggers who hour after hour send the same crap. They find my site on top of their niche and assume I'm stupid I guess. Needless to say I delete them all but I tend to delete some real comments by accident from those of you who use the anonymous option while leaving your name in the actual comment. I try and skim all the comments quickly to find the real ones but at times there is just too many so my apologies if you get axed by mistake.

Okey Dokey... I have been busy with several projects but I think I'll get into them on the Griz blog in due course. Right now I have to work on my Golf game since it appears Tiger Woods is beatable after all. Y.E. Yang just handed Tiger his biggest upset at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine and millions of us hackers are smiling this morning knowing that Tiger is human after all!

Cheers

Griz

Subscribe to this feed • 109 Comments

Labels: Affiliate Marketing, Make Money Online Stats, MMO Tips

Related Posts

* Making Money with Affiliate Marketing
* Make Money Online Tutorial - Step 1
* Internet Marketing isn't Blogging
* Blinkweb - Make Money Online Tutorial - Step 2
* Blinkweb
* Answers to your Questions

109 comments:

Online Income said...

Is it possible - have I got the first comment - surely not! I don't really understand why people don't look at what you do rather than what you say Griz - maybe its just too much like hard work! I just did a little experiment on my blog which worked like a charm - but I doubt that many will get it!
Lissie
P.S. - you got the link wrong but thanks for the thought :-)
August 17, 2009 10:24 AM
Grizzly said...

Yes you are number 1 (with a little advance warning lol)

and I fixed the link... damn technical stuff!!!
August 17, 2009 10:28 AM
Grocery Coupons said...

This is another long post. But I never realized you wrote long post so that search engine traffic can go away quickly from your blog. I would try implementing that.

Lissie, what experiment did you do?
August 17, 2009 10:38 AM
Grizzly said...

Actually I write long posts to convey info and introduce content (keywords) in order to attract search traffic using long tail keywords.

Yah Lissie... tell us ;-)
August 17, 2009 10:45 AM
Agrande said...

Hey Griz,
Thanks for the post. I always go away thinking and schemeing when I read some of your writings. I know you take heat from some people but I really appreciate all you have done for me with the information. Reading all your blogs is like a Master's degree in IM.
Thank you for the information you have given out.
August 17, 2009 10:49 AM
Grizzly said...

No problem Agrande... scheming works for me!
August 17, 2009 10:53 AM
Sam said...

Since you removed adsense and put those affiliate ads up, I have had trouble figuring out how you have been making sales. It seems there was rarely and ad up top and they were all towards the bottom or on the side. My experience shows that ads up top work way better than anything else for those lazy people who want the quick fix and don't bother to scroll down.
August 17, 2009 11:23 AM
Grizzly said...

or learn how to funnel traffic to where you can convert it Sam...
August 17, 2009 11:33 AM
Ben said...

Another good post Grizz. Interesting about the longer posts reducing affiliate sales. That makes a lot of sense.

I've been finding a lot of success with adsense by creating 400-500 word posts but absolutely stuffing them with long tails (but in a way so as not to get flagged as keyword stuffing). Of course, you may not get as many natural longtails as a huge honking post, but it does seems to drive a lot of longtail traffic still. Maybe I'm just too lazy to post 3k word posts these days, other than on my mmo blog, lol

It is funny how some people resent your experiments with this blog. Those same people won't end up making any money because they are still thinking like a blogger, NOT an internet marketer.

Best!

Ben
August 17, 2009 11:51 AM
Alex said...

Hi Griz, thanks for the post and your blog. It took me a little while to find a method that works, but thanks to you and now Court and Mark I've started making a few hundred a month with niche sites - this wouldn't have happened without this blog, so I'm very grateful!

Regarding backlink solutions, do you recommend using it for main sites, support sites or both?
August 17, 2009 12:13 PM
Josh said...

He told you how. By using his posts to answer questions, and push products. It doesn't matter where the products are, if you have your users trust. He said that when he removed AdSense, and stuck with one form of monetizaion, that his affiliate sales greatly increased. It's all there. Like he said. Do as he does, and you will "make more money online" from your blog!
August 17, 2009 12:16 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey Ben - I'm not sure they resent it so much as they just get caught up in the whole blogging thing and assume everything they read is aimed at them. ie. how dare I sell something to them. It never dawns on them that they aren't my target. When I start posting my "Top Golf Courses in Manitoba" posts they won't think I'm writing for them though! Lol

Great work on your site Ben - just wait till you've answered the same question for the 100th time - you'll wish you were John Chow! :-)
August 17, 2009 12:23 PM
Grizzly said...

Alex,

Never use it for money or flagship sites. Support only!
August 17, 2009 12:23 PM
Grizzly said...

Amen Josh!
August 17, 2009 12:25 PM
Jules said...

Grizz, thanks for all of the stats and great info. So if my math is correct, it took about 782 original visitors for each sale to Court's Keyword Academy. 300,000 search visitors, 10,000 clicks to Keyword Academy, 384 sales. (782 x 384 = 300,288)

So for us small fries we would need to get about 100 visitors per day to expect about 1 affiliate sale per week on an affiliate product that converted well. Otherwise our affiliate sales would be spotty at best. So the reason most don't sell much with affiliate products is because they don't have enough traffic. Does that sound about right?

I have been reading your blog for quite a few months, but this is the first time I have commented. Thank you very much for all you teach us.

Jules
August 17, 2009 12:29 PM
Grizzly said...

Welcome Jules and your math sounds about right. It also explains why most people have very spotty earnings with affiliate products sold from blogs or other non targeted sites. (as opposed to list marketers or using targeted one page sales letters). Keep in mind that Court is only charging a buck - if it was $100 then sales would have been even lower. There are always exceptions to everything though - free trials can convert considerably higher - I've had 45% conversions for that type of marketing. (Lead Generation).

In any event - traffic is the key, lots of recurring targeted search traffic. If they are bloggers though you will starve.
August 17, 2009 12:39 PM
Cat said...

Griz - is it still possible to join the private forum? I've only commented a few times here, but I've been reading for several months & am putting what I've learned from you, Court & Ben into practice - & would love to be able to discuss the details with others using similar techniques.
August 17, 2009 1:17 PM
Grizzly said...

Sorry Cat - we put an end to it as it became apparent that people couldn't be trusted to keep things to themselves. No offense to you and I mean that, but too many things were leaked and networks were exposed. Never again I'm afraid. Get to know all the regulars and pick their brains and you will learn most of our techniques - the more you help others the more they will help you back. Good luck
August 17, 2009 1:24 PM
matt2257 said...

Grizz,

Great to see you back, and hope you're enjoying the life outside of the woods!

As usual, thanks for the insight and evermore thoughts and strategies to ponder.

BTW- I like the term dark arts better than black hat. You can be our Snape!

Matt
August 17, 2009 1:24 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey Matt - the golf is better out of the woods! What? Not "he who must not be named!"? lol
August 17, 2009 1:27 PM
Free People Searches said...

That really sucks to think I do research for long tail keywords and the actual search amounts are not accurate. I keep thinking I will get some great search engine traffic and I wait and nothing comes. I guess you just need to keep working on the terms that really do get search engine traffic. That was crazy to see Tiger not come out on top. Yang played out of his head.
August 17, 2009 1:32 PM
Jerry said...

Hi Grizzly,
I for one am always try to figure out exactly what you are doing (really doing) when I read your posts. I always learn something! I read very few blogs nowadays but yours will most likely always be at the top of the list as you give out some of the best information on making money online and substaining a successful online business
August 17, 2009 1:36 PM
GraduateBlogger said...

Hey Griz, I've read your blog for a while now and you're the only guy in this MMO niche that doesn't BS! I have learnt a great deal from your blog and 3 guesses where I found your blog???

In terms of your stats, they are a good yardstick for us readers to judge conversion rates. And you have every right to test different monetization techniques!

Finally, stop playing so much golf and teach us more!!! lol

GraduateBlogger
August 17, 2009 1:39 PM
Crashin said...

Griz, you simply are a beast at writing long posts and the info you give out is amazing. I don't know why people bitch when you're giving us all the information we need to do it all I guess! I guess you have to go into this business all guns blazing and as you've said before - "See what sticks and what doesn't". That's what I've been trying to do for the least 6 weeks and I hope it'll pay off.

P.S. How can you say that you didn't want Tiger to win! I love my Tiger, he's the one who made me get into golf.
August 17, 2009 1:44 PM
Grizzly said...

The keyword tools are good for providing basic keywords but not search numbers. They rarely ever provide the best long tails though - long posts always do however.

Yang was impressive and Tiger had the yips (a highly technical golf term that means he couldn't make a put) - sadly I have days like that too! It was a great final though.
August 17, 2009 1:46 PM
Grizzly said...

Jerry - you simply have outstanding taste! ;-)
August 17, 2009 1:48 PM
Grizzly said...

Graduate Blogger, 3 guesses... hmmm let's see...

John Chow, Problogger and Shoemoney? hehe

Without Golf there would be no point in making money or anything else... (kidding)
August 17, 2009 1:51 PM
Grizzly said...

Crashin - I never said I didn't want Tiger to win. He will win again (and again...) and break all the records but it sure is fun to see an underdog come through every once in a while. Keeps it interesting dontcha' think?
August 17, 2009 1:56 PM
Anonymous said...

Griz, great idea about having the Q & A more on your other blog and have us studying the MAKE MONEY ONLINE implementation here. Or at least some of us are studying. :-)

I'm with Matt on dark arts. Cool expression. I already wear enough hats. haha


-JL Palmetto
August 17, 2009 2:10 PM
Ben Willis said...

Hey Griz, don't know if you got my e-mail the other day, but I mentioned how much the Google key word tool seemed to be off from reality. Or maybe you read my mind. At least I know for sure now. Ben
August 17, 2009 2:13 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey JL - I think it will work better too if I can just get Splork and Zania to roast my ass on the other site instead of here. (They know I lov em')

Anyhow - I should be getting a post up there shortly so keep an eye out.

Thanks for dropping in.
August 17, 2009 2:14 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey Ben - just read it this AM and thought I'd answer you here (as well as a few others who mentioned the same thing). As for the rest of your email - I'm thinking on it - there is always a way, just have to figure it out. You'll be hearing from me.
August 17, 2009 2:17 PM
splork said...

"Splorked". Great. My shit has been turned into an adverb. It wasn't too bright to comment on ND given what I should have known what you were trying to do. Sorry to do that to you bro. I'll keep the commentary on Lost Ball in the future.

Yea the traffic results via targeted keywords are somewhat bogus. I've got free blogs and static sites that get traffic for keywords that were used to find my sites that are not listed at all in the keyword discovery sites. And not just one offs. Like 10-20 or more a day. Never found in keyword lists.

In sales they say that out of 100 people you contact, three will be interested. Out of that 3 you will make 1 sale. That is the offline world for a typicaly product. It seems to hold true for me in this online BS for the most part.
August 17, 2009 2:24 PM
Cat said...

Hey Griz, no worries - that's a shame about the forum, but I understand why you can't trust people anymore. And I should be spending all my time doing the work rather than posting on forums anyway :)
August 17, 2009 2:32 PM
Grizzly said...

Splork - lol. Ya' know I'm just messin' with ya'.

It does have a catchy sound to it though - watch what you say or you'll get "splorked!" hehe

I've never been in direct sales offline but it wouldn't surprise me if the parallels are there - after all, why would it be so different? Sounds like you have found the same results as me - some of my best keywords have never shown up in a search tool. And those they do give are rarely accurate - "make money online" is supposed to have a half million searches a month - not even close! Kinda sucks as I was already spending the money before I made it! :-)

Hope all is well old buddy and if the adverb takes off just remember who coined it!
August 17, 2009 2:38 PM
Grizzly said...

Cat - thanks for understanding and you're right - forums are a huge time sink in this business. All the best and if you need help just ask on here. I'm sure you'll find the answer freely given.
August 17, 2009 2:41 PM
KS said...

Hey Griz,

Unlike most people here it seems, I found out about you through TKA instead of the other way around. Everyone there seems to know you, now I know why. You seemed to be a mysterious person and I would've bet you were actual some 14 year whiz kid from some remote part of the world but I saw your picture. So you're really a 40 year old genius from... some remote part of the world.

Anyhow, the legends about you are true. Making money and changing lives at the same time. What can be better? You must have like a billion karma points.
August 17, 2009 2:48 PM
Grizzly said...

KS - nice to meet you. 46 actually and my wife might use the term idiot rather than genius but I appreciate the intent and thank you. You got the remote part right although I am in the process of moving South to civilization for the sake of my kids. As for the Karma it's nice but you can't eat it - I'll take the money! Lol.

Be careful - if they didn't warn you - I'm just suckering everyone in and then wham! I'll fleece the lot of you with an ebook full of my comments collected over the years. You have been warned!

(Thanks for stopping in and I hope things are going well with Court, Mark and crew)
August 17, 2009 2:57 PM
KS said...

Do you know how many 46 year olds out there who still think the computer is their monitor?

Have you ever considered writing a book?

Grizzly: Nature's Greatest Fisherman/Internet Marketer.

You write it, I'll buy it. Back to work. Cheers.
August 17, 2009 3:21 PM
Grocery Coupons said...

Griz, if I may ask, why don't you use backlink solutions to your money site? I thought you said a link is a link. You cannot be punished if a link is coming to you.

I am not yet a member of BS, but I might join in the future. I would like to rank for the keyword "grocery coupons", but you saying BS is not good for money site is making me think.
August 17, 2009 3:21 PM
Ben K said...

Thanks Grizz. Kind of surprised people like the blog -- it wasn't my intention to really make a big blog, just to document my personal method of MMO. Seems to have hit a nerve, somehow. But all credit goes to you and your blogs for "teaching" me most of my SEO/MMO skills.

John Chow, never! Though in a few months, I may say different. In general, I find his drivel quite annoying and I think Vancouver would be better without his BS! I don't like seeing people pointed in the wrong direction. Ah well, everyone's trying to make a buck.

Cheers,

Ben K
August 17, 2009 3:40 PM
Ariston | Money-tise Online said...

Hey Griz,
You're right, lots of your avid readers really think that you are a blogger. And it seems that they don't have any clue from the beginning that you're an IM, and all your free blogs (including this one of course) are made for your MMO experimentation and not just written for them but more on your readers from the search engines (the ones who really clicks and buy stuff).

Btw, I wrote this just to say thanks to you! If not for you, I don't think I can set-up a blog or a dozen of 'ugly blogs' on different niches.

And oh, now I know what's special about Tiger and Brears, both of them like not only the woods... but also the golf course! =)
August 17, 2009 4:07 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi Griz :)
I do use g's keyword tool for domain searches, but I usually add in my first longtail posts on what I think the surfer will be typing in (as I have got to know my 'niches' quite well now:)) and then watch the stats over 3 or so months and add new posts (and often new sites) targetting those search terms.

It's a bit haphazard (and costs a fair bit in domains and hosting), but it works for me in Stats you can take to The Bank.
But I do work in pretty high traffic niches, even for smaller keywords.

As to your posts on how beginners make money, I always look at what you do, rather than what you say (and that applies to everyone else as well).

So I will try not to roast your ass again - not on this site anyhow :)

I only made a cutting (and rather tongue in cheek) remark on your ND post, because it irked me that some of your commentators, despite having read your real posts, were falling for the hype, without understanding how things like ND should really be tackled.

Zania
(who has to remain anonymous for various reasons)
August 17, 2009 4:36 PM
Anthony said...

Im actually finding out what you said about keyword research tool being off.

sometimes keywords that are flagged as not enough search data can bring in as much as 100 a day.

and those flagged as 1000 only brings 10.
August 17, 2009 4:49 PM
DinoEntrails said...

Hey, I was wondering if it is possible to make sites targeting a typo, and make money. The problem is that one that I have found supposedly has 2000 searches a month(Which I now know is wrong) and I am pretty sure that 90% of them click the good 'ol "Did you mean xxx?" link that google gives. So, have you ever tried this? Do you get any traffic?
August 17, 2009 4:54 PM
Grizzly said...

KS,

What's a monitor? :-)

Ugg.. the dreaded Book - oh it has been discussed but trying to write it is a whole different can of worms. There are bits and pieces of it spread around several hard drives... seems to allude me for some reason.
August 17, 2009 4:56 PM
Grizzly said...

Grocery Coupons,

Several reasons - it will leave a trail that will point directly to a link farm. Not good and you could be de-indexed as link farms are treated differently. Yes someone could sabotage your site by linking a network to you and G does take malicious attacks into account and normally doesn't penalize you for incoming links but it is still risky. The main reason not to link directly is two-fold; when/if the network links get slammed your main sites will loose all their juice and drop quickly on you and your competition can track your sites by the links as well. The more removed you keep them the harder to track and the less fallout your main site will sustain. This assumes that you use many sources for your support sites and not just a single link network. I could go on at length about this but won't suffice to say that linking has to appear natural and should be done cautiously to avoid fallout to all sites - support and money sites. Just don't do it.
August 17, 2009 5:05 PM
Grizzly said...

Ben,

The funny thing about Chow is he is mocking the folks who follow him. Brilliant if you can get away with it but his foundation is like a house of cards - not much holding it up.
August 17, 2009 5:09 PM
Grizzly said...

Ariston,

Ha - nice pun. Now if only I could play like him!

I'm glad to hear you are making headway - keep it going.
August 17, 2009 5:13 PM
bk said...

Re: the Keyword Tools. The longer the tail, the more likely the KW numbers will be less accurate.
Also, the 40% number often cited for the #1 spot is 40% of total click throughs, however, the KW tool is estimating total searches.
Total Searches does not = Total Click Throughs.
August 17, 2009 5:18 PM
Grizzly said...

Zania - No explanation needed and I wouldn't want you or Splork any other way. We all need a BS detector and I've got two! :-) The day I fleece you two (tongue is in cheek lol) will be the day I cash in and retire to that hut in Mexico - not sure how the heck I'm going to do it though. Hope all is well and always glad to hear from you.
August 17, 2009 5:20 PM
Grizzly said...

Anthony - Yup. That's exactly what happens. You really have to test them yourself and that's the key to finding the keywords that bring in the money that no one else knows about. They are hard to find but they are out there and the reason I use blogger - it would cost a fortune to pay for all the testing I do using self hosted domains.
August 17, 2009 5:23 PM
Grizzly said...

Dino,

I've talked about this before and do indeed target typo's but you have to do it right. You can't use it in the url and you can't use the typo repetitively on the site or G will only index you for the correct spelling. Use the typo once only in the post title on any given post and then use the proper spelling each time thereafter. You will get indexed for both spellings.
August 17, 2009 5:27 PM
Grizzly said...

BK,

Yup and some goes as far as to claim 70%. None of it matters though as Total Searches is bogus in a lot of cases if there is any competition for a keyword. I could guess that fully half the "searches" for the MMO keywords aren't searches at all - just website owners checking their ranking. This goes for just about any niche that people are trying to rank for. On niches with 200 searches a day or less the accuracy is horrible - all the searches could be the result of just website owners on page one through 10 checking their stats and the reality is that no civilians are searching for the term or terms at all.
August 17, 2009 5:35 PM
Smalls said...

Grizz:

Once again, great post. I am an avid reader but not an avid commenter. I was one of the lucky ones that got into backlink solutions and was wondering if you'd mind giving a couple tips that you use to maximize it's benefit.

I was once a member of the private forum but got the boot for inactivity (I guess I should have been more active!).

Thanks again.
August 17, 2009 5:48 PM
bk said...

@Grocery Coupons "You cannot be punished if a link is coming to you."

huuuurrrrr duurrrrrr
\\oh yes you can!



hmmmmmm, "the darks arts" ╦ôΦ hehe, they say once you go black......................but I wouldn't know about such things.
August 17, 2009 5:50 PM
Allyn said...

Griz, thanks for the link big baller! I think you should have let the nay-sayers just keep complaining. I love it when people assume this blog is for them instead of the other way around.
hit em' long!
AL
August 17, 2009 5:52 PM
bk said...

Like Ben mentioned, a quick and dirty way to find the long tails in a micro niche is to throw up a Hub (any Web 2.0) and run a bunch of your niches keywords and tails through that Hub (Ben, it takes me about 1100 words) and just use the Hub to mine the data. I know most of us that have KW sniped like to max those Hubs for top CPC but use them for research as well.

The other more advanced approach to finding both Volume and Converting keywords is to do a combo on the search network and content network and pay for the data. I do it but it takes practice and a few $$ but you remove all doubt.


The best way, of course, is the Griz way, pound away at em til you win. haha, Griz, I wish I had your patience.

BK
August 17, 2009 6:06 PM
Costa said...

sneaky sneaky.. So now you are getting serious about golf. There'll be the day when I too would like to putt a hole or two,but I'll never be in the same league as Y E Yang. Was quite a surprise there to see someone beat Tiger Woods at the PGA. Never thought Tiger Woods can be beaten in a game of golf, what more by a virtual unknown golfer like Y E Yang.

So yea, put some effort in your golf my friend. Some day, you might get to skin a Tiger!

LOL!! Now you can buy me a Tiger beer.
August 17, 2009 8:13 PM
Casey said...

"linking has to appear natural and should be done cautiously to avoid fallout to all sites"

This isn't a joke. I have been updating an old site and started backlinking from my owned sites and my free sites. I haven't been going crazy, just 5 sitewide deep links from 7 sites and a couple links from inside pages and posts added over the course of 3 weeks.

Yesterday I woke up to find all of my owned sites I was linking/to from missing from the SERPs, including my pages that were on the first page for my keywords.

I have stopped the backlinking in the hopes that whatever penalty I've incurred will drop off. Has anyone ever had this happen, and if so, what did you do to get back in the SERPs?
August 17, 2009 8:35 PM
Grizzly said...

Smalls,

I'm sorry you missed the private forum sessions but I don't want to discuss this topic in public anymore. I got your email and will jot down a few ideas for you when I get a moment.
August 17, 2009 8:41 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey Al,

Your welcome and I'm waiting for the next vid! Did I mention how impatient I am? :-)
August 17, 2009 8:43 PM
Grizzly said...

BK,

Thanks for the tips - great ideas and efficient as well. I'm not really patient as I use BLS and a few other networks to speed things up... :-)
August 17, 2009 8:46 PM
Grizzly said...

Thanks for the keywords Costa - can't fool you my friend! Hope all is well and sent a link to your last post. Hope it helps and keep plugging away.
August 17, 2009 8:48 PM
Grizzly said...

Casey,

Before panicking wait a few days to a week. It's possible that you are just experiencing a serp update - the old G dance. You may find things return to normal in a few days - happens all the time. It is unlikely from what you've said that you have been penalized. Your description is little more than common linking practice that everyone does. If the sites don't come back it will likely be for other reasons.
August 17, 2009 8:57 PM
LarryG said...

As usual...great post.

I was talking with bk about the accuracy of the number of searches a while back.

I have learned from experience that G does not always tell the truth.

To quote a wise old bear...you just have to throw a bunch of crap against the wall and see what sticks...seems to be what works best :)
August 17, 2009 9:21 PM
Grizzly said...

Hey Larry,

It always has for me... :-)
August 17, 2009 9:33 PM
Cleveland Browns said...

Great stuff. This would be 2 weeks of posts on any other make money blog.
August 17, 2009 9:59 PM
Tracey said...

Hey Griz,

I love stats. I'm such a nerd sometimes. I found it really interesting your results from both Adsense and promoting Affiliate programs. Thanks for sharing.

I do tend to focus a bit too much on G's keyword tool for finding keywords, but I don't mind too much because it's working for me using it to promote Amazon products. But for make money online keywords it's crazy!

I had to laugh when you said how much spam comments you get. 20 - 30 per hour! Yikes.

Well I hope you don't axe my comment by mistake since it always seems to have to get approved before you print it (and I'm really trying to rank for the term 'Tracey' I hear it's a money tree keyword - LOL)

Hey Lis, how did you get first comment - are you stalking Griz? Climbing that tree outside his house waiting for him to sit at the computer and press publish - yeah I know your tricks LOL

t.
August 17, 2009 10:31 PM
PotatoChef said...

I tried playing golf once, about 25 years ago. It was at Castle Rock, CO.

I couldn't hit the ball off the tee. Nobody ever told me that it hurt so much to hit the ground with a golf club.

I honestly did not make it off the first hole. I turned into the driver of the golf cart. Was good practice for the Smart Car I now have.
August 17, 2009 10:56 PM
Dexter said...

It is great to read your ver looong post , But I think I git the message, You make this blog to target some keywords and those keywords converts well. So I say you are a business man :)

Cheers
August 18, 2009 12:34 AM
Wesley B said...

Grizz,

I hate to feed your already massive ego by saying to you are a genious but I will.

When I saw the ads for Niche Devil and the Keyword Accademy I knew exactly what you were doing. After all if you rank #1 for "make money online" and you have repeatedly told your "readers" that you make money from organic traffic and not them, than why wouldn't you want to see if there are some higher payouts than adsense. Especially with what your niche is about. See, I have often wondered why so many people try to start a MMO blog when they know that particular keyword is a) cuthroat b)highly competive b/c the people ranking for it really know what they are doing and c) if you do get popular and to page one you have Matt Cutts looking at every move you make. But as it turns out there is not a better keyword (including the synonouns) for that phrase. WHY? People who are looking to that want instant gratification! They are ready to buy. I got to page #1 for a sports site I started, did tons of work, and leanred that people aren't looking to buy anything when they are looking up sports. But when they are looking up "make money online" they either lost their job, hate their job, need money, want more money, want monetary achievement, and so forth. And they are looking up "MMO" with their pocketbooks wide open and the first big sign they see they are going to jump on it. Thats their "EXIT." And thats why the conversions and dollars are usually higher for this niche. So Grizz, knowing this, I had been waiting for you to do what you did for months. You not only have "organic traffic" but organic traffic that can easily be pushed (when emotions are high your intelligence is low) virtually anywhere. Drolling

By the way it seems that after tiger got married to his wife his performance has sunk. Is there any validity to this thought or is it just me???
August 18, 2009 3:51 AM
Make Paella Online said...

Hey Griz,

Thanks for the link - looks like you managed to post after I'd shut down and cracked open the regulation cold beer for the evening, so I'm following a guzillion commenters again!

Yeah, it sucks about the forum, but that's life. With hinsight, I suppose it was inevitable that by getting a lot of people together like that, a few of them would act like dumbass noobs and shout their mouths off, or worse, go bleating to the Omnipresent Ones and get some people's networks shat upon, mine included. So now I'm branching out into the "Make Pork Chops Online" and "Make Donuts Online" niches if anyone wants to go report me for them too, go knock yourselves out LMAO...

...we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get right back in the saddle again!

Pity golf and me don't get on too well. I must have an aversion to whacking little balls in straight lines cause whenever I tried it, they always seemed to curve off into uncharted territory. I had more fun walking my dog along the perimeter of the local golf course when I was in still the UK several years ago - she'd always find balls in the undergrowth. Maybe I should have trained her to be a caddy...
August 18, 2009 6:02 AM
Grizzly said...

Tracey,

Lissie's first comment is even more impressive given she lives about as far from Canada as a person could - Oz! That's a hell of a tree she climbed. :-)

As for ranking your name - wouldn't it be sweet if the next global pop star showed up using it - you'd be all set!

Always a pleasure hearing from you and I hope things are good.
August 18, 2009 6:24 AM
Grizzly said...

Potato Chef,

Lol - I'm teaching my 7 yr old daughter Golf this summer and you won't want to hear this - she made 8 on a par five! Woo my retirement is looking good! Hopefully I'll be caddying for her in a few years on the LPGA tour. :-)
August 18, 2009 6:30 AM
Grizzly said...

Dexter,

I'm not so sure the "Golf" keywords will convert for anything - sometimes I just like to yak about stuff I like. Making money is nice but it sure is dull to talk about!
August 18, 2009 6:32 AM
Grizzly said...

Wesley,

No need to add anything to the first part of your comment - it could have been a post (thanks) and is dead on.

As for Tiger getting married effecting his golf, absolutely. Retief Goosen openly admits that once he settled down with kids he doesn't/can't spend the same amount of time pursuing golf. Tiger's still won 5 of 9 tournaments this year so he's far from a "has been" but he may not ever dominate the game to the degree he did in 2000 when he "lived", "ate" and "breathed" golf. Or I could be wrong... :-)

Great synopsis re: MMO and loooong!
August 18, 2009 6:40 AM
Reza Winandar said...

If you want your blog full of traffic, just focus on low competition keywords and you will get pagerank 3 in a month.
August 18, 2009 6:50 AM
Grizzly said...

Hey Mr. Paella (Terry)

I figured you were out jammin' on Bass at some gig or getting drunk (or both). :-)

Btw - I've been getting no shortage of requests by folks wanting back in to the forum so I'll tell everyone reading this that Terry owns the forum and makes the rules - so don't ask me. If you can bend Terry's ear you might have a chance but I doubt it. (Sorry Terry - that's called passing the buck! Good Luck) Lol

It's a shame you live in Spain and don't Golf! Spain has a lot of quality golfers on tour so the courses there must be awesome - and you can play year round. We really should trade places!

If the dogs find any Titleist Pro V1x golf balls - save em' - that's what I play!

Have a good one Terry and enjoy the emails... LMAO
August 18, 2009 6:53 AM
Grizzly said...

Reza,

Are you spammin' me?

Pagerank doesn't get traffic and low competition keywords are by definition keywords that have little traffic...

Ya' might want to read my blog and learn how to really get traffic - especially if you are trying to sell yourself as a MMO blogger.
August 18, 2009 7:01 AM
LarryG said...

I have to give mad props to Terry for a most excellent signautre...who wouldn't want to rank #1 for learning how to make pork chops or paella online. Beautiful LOL!

BTW, I love golf, but suffer from Happy Gilmore syndrome. I can get that little white sucker to the green...but it just won't go in the hole! Guess I need to practice my putting :)
August 18, 2009 8:47 AM
Grizzly said...

You and practically all of us Larry. Last week I hit a 574 yard green in 2 and took 3 putts to cover the last 20 feet! The damn hole kept moving!!! Lol
August 18, 2009 8:53 AM
Online Income said...

@Tracey We don't actually do trees very well in Australia - I spy on Grizz using Google maps - doesn't everyone?
Lissie
August 18, 2009 9:04 AM
Leo said...

Hey Griz,

I don't know why you would have thought any different in regards to affiliate programs outpacing adsense but if you look at the numbers it makes perfect sense.

If you adsense cpm is $27 and an affiliate product is converting at a measly 1% (or even half a percent), then you will easily outpace adsense since most affiliate programs will make above $10 a sale in most cases.

However, all that said, it really depends on how responsive the market is. And although the MMO niche is ripe and ready to eagerly grab the next 40 page fifty dollar e-book because they are used to that price point in the market, another niche may look at it sideways.

If you think that a 3% conversion is typical across the board in all markets, that is debateable. I have seen unresponsive markets that convert at well below the 1% line. The key is to figure out what items convert and what don't. And since most people are laboring away in micro-niches that get a handful of traffic daily, they could spend a couple months on testing before they pull the plug on the affiliate product and test another one.

Anyway, that is my .02 on this subject. Good Post
August 18, 2009 9:58 AM
Frank said...

Watch out! Lissie's doing photo recon now!

Chitika has done OK for me as a eBay 'backfill' on Blogger blogs. Since EPN doesn't allow you to use Blogger anymore, I had to switch them over and most weren't Adsense material, generally in the 1-5 cent click range. I get a little more than that with Chitika and the CTR is better, probably due to them having pictures. Not as good as EPN though.
August 18, 2009 10:15 AM
SAP ABAP said...

Nice to see grizz back in a very short intervel and I welcome it.

Hope you are going to compete with Tiger wood soon and seems like having the same passion to Golf and Blogging.

You rock and waiting for the next post.
August 18, 2009 11:26 AM
Jo Ann said...

Hi Grizz,

I am a long-time reader (but rare commenter) of your make money online blogs, and I always look forward to your next posts.

I have learned a ton from your massive posts and I am still in the throwing-things-against-the-wall-and-hoping-something-will-stick stage. But still reading and working on my ugly blogs!

Thanks for all you do for any of us who are willing to stay the course and keep chipping away at this stuff.

Jo Ann
August 19, 2009 12:38 AM
Daniel said...

Hi Grizz

I’m one of your silent followers and I’ve used your teachings on and off since last year, I’ve been busy with offline stuff so I have not done much lately but a bunch of clickbank niche blogs and 2 adsense blogs consistently makes me 200-300 dollars a month witch is nice bear money. Thank you! It is obvious that what you teach does work and I’m ready to commit to internet marketing full time from now on.

I’ve read your blog from start to finish couple of times since last year but there are a few really basic things I wonder about but could not find the answers in your “make money online” posts so I’m asking you in person. I have a couple of Swedish niche blogs that are in easy niches (the sweds are not good at SEO) I have a blog on the second page for a decent make money keyword and I know I can earn money when I rank it but the resources for links is really limited for the Swedish language, goarticles works though.

So I’m planning to create a little support group of sites and build them up like vic does to link to the goarticles I write for it and I want to use blogger, I remember that you said once in a comment of one of your posts about “how to make money online” that when creating blogs its important to change passwords on the accounts to reduce foot print, but how about the name? Could I use different names on each g mail account? Am I allowed to do that? Just want to get it right before I start, and also, when using conectcontent, would you recommend requesting links for money sites or support sites?

And a another thing, I have done some experimenting with link building for keywords that has to do with clickbank products where I used bmd and the free version of article submitter and others where I only re wrote the original article to submit once to goarticles and other good article directories the way you explained it in one of your posts here on how to make money online for beginners, and it seems to me that the blogs with links from 10 original articles do better in the serps than blogs with 1000 spammy links. Would you agree to this or is it that my 2-3 months old blogs are to new to get the benefit from all the scuttle links?

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and discoveries with the rest of us for free by the way. It means a lot.
August 19, 2009 2:10 AM
Anonymous said...

hi grizz , i need your help, i wanna know about something where people exchanges comments or trade comments. is there any place like that. you know the power of comments.
August 19, 2009 2:47 AM
nezrulh said...

Dang it!
Just bought Rowse 31 Days to Better Blog whatnot have you guide...
Well, looks like tis one gonna collect dust on the virtual shelf...hmmm...
August 19, 2009 3:28 AM
GraduateBlogger said...

Damn, this is a lively section. Griz, you really should employ a PA to answer all these questions people are throwing at you! I was going to ask a question, but decided against it!

Now imagine if you spent all the time you spent on answering comments on setting up another niche blog and making money through that? This goes to show that you 'invest' in us regular readers/commenters and everyone should be thankful!

Maybe you should bring out a boring ebook and fleece us all???
August 19, 2009 6:26 AM
George said...

Hi Grizz. I sent you an email on this topic because I didn't want to post the address of another site, which I believe is tying to accomplish the same thing as Niche Devil. Basically, I'm asking your opinion if that is indeed the case. The other site charges a hefty monthly fee, but if Niche Devil does the same then it's bargain just went through the roof for me and I'm hoping it is released sometime soon again. Anyhow, a response in terms of a posting or back to my email would be great. Looking forward to it.

George
August 19, 2009 6:27 AM
Grizzly said...

Leo,

Nice to hear from you. What I have noticed over time is that affiliate sales outpace cpc ads on sites with high daily traffic (5000 or more visitors daily) but don't keep pace with Adsense et al on small traffic niches. My 6 largest sites all have in excess of 10,000 daily visitors and run at 3% or better conversions. I've never run affiliate promos long enough on the smaller sites to even get a conversion rate (you are right though - definitely would be less than 1%) as I find cpc provides a small daily income when used as opposed to weeks between an affiliate sale. For the most part I don't monetize the small sites and use them to funnel traffic elsewhere. There are exceptions to everything though and short term blogs (hot topics) are usually a mix of affiliate and/or cpc depending on what is available. Sometimes I can round up a lot of traffic and can't find anything that will get conversions - think Susan Boyle.
August 19, 2009 7:05 AM
Grizzly said...

Hey Frank,

I was wondering what you did with all your ebay sites once they pulled the rug out from under you. I must admit that my testing with Chitika has never been particularly good - perhaps my sites are just too damn plain and ugly? Likely they just aren't set up right and need a little re-formatting. From what Allyn says and now you it appears they go over with the online shopping crowd. Hmmm... back to the drawing board.

Hope all is good Frank!
August 19, 2009 7:11 AM
Grizzly said...

SAP,

Compete with Tiger? Lol. I'm 20 years too late and short on the genetic makeup (talent) but we can dream...
August 19, 2009 7:13 AM
Grizzly said...

Hi Jo Ann,

How's the cake decorating business going? Good idea for a niche - especially if you also target your local communities. (Cities, towns etc) If you are available for hire then dominating that market in your vicinity shouldn't be too hard. The site is off to a good start and I can see a number of ways to branch out. (ie keywords like Birthdays, Weddings etc)

Keep at it and lots of success.
August 19, 2009 7:20 AM
Grizzly said...

Daniel,

Lets see - that's quite the comment... :-)

First off - reading the whole blog through a couple of times... ouch! lol

As for finding links in Swedish - add your email and request to the niche support page on the Griz blog. Couldn't hurt. Leave both the Swedish and English versions of the keywords.

You should create your blogger accts using different emails and passwords. You don't just have to use gmail accts.

Connectcontent links and niche support page links can be used directly to any site - money or support as long as the linking sites are legit (and they should be as you folks are helping each other out with real sites)

I am in the minority here but I have always advocated original articles on the article directories. It takes more work but 10 original articles on 10 different directories will give you better results than the same article posted across a hundred sites. Keep in mind this allows you to change up the anchor text on all 10 rather than having 100 identical anchors coming from 100 identical articles.

Hope that helps and good luck dominating the Swedish MMO niche!
August 19, 2009 7:42 AM
Grizzly said...

Anon,

Trading or exchanging comments? It's done all the time between friends who drop in on each others posts. Is there a program that does it? Not that I know of aside from the spammer software and you don't want to go down that route.
August 19, 2009 7:46 AM
Grizzly said...

Nezruhl,

You didn't really think Rowse's 31 Days to Better Blogging was going to make money for anyone other than Darren Rowse did you. Ask for a refund.
August 19, 2009 7:48 AM
Grizzly said...

Graduate Blogger,

I have a tittle for the ebook now...

"How to Fleece your Readers with a Boring Ebook"

What do ya' think? ;-)
August 19, 2009 7:50 AM
Grizzly said...

George,

I didn't get the email. Just post the name in a comment - no link - just the name.
August 19, 2009 7:52 AM
Jo Ann said...

Thanks for the ideas Grizz!

I did the cake site because I enjoy doing them on the side, but my intent was for it to eventually be an Adsense site - if I can ever scare any traffic in that direction.

I started doing this over a year ago and have about 40 other sites that I hope to do the same with (Adsense). But even after reading every word you have written (that I can find) on your make money online blogs, and implementing most (but obviously not enough of it) I'm still just getting a hit here and there.

In fact, I finally removed Adsense from all of them (except Hubs of course) because of 1 cent (or nothing) clicks.

My weight loss (I linked to here), affiliate marketing, golf, and a few others are finally starting to get a trickle of traffic after a year, but I've got a lot of re-working to do on them when I can get back to them.

These super competitive niches (that you warn against) are kicking my a**. Like most others, I'm having a 'heckuva' time finding good low-competition niches.

Thanks again for the reply!
August 19, 2009 9:00 AM
DinoEntrails said...

Hey Griz, this may seem like a really stupid question, but how do you write crappy content? How do you not help the searcher at all. The problem is that you still have to provide long-tails and keyword-rich content at the same time.

For example, I have a blog called How to get rid of possum. So, I tell people how to get rid of possum. How am I supposed to not help them while at the same time, providing keyword-rich content.
August 19, 2009 1:33 PM
Ric said...

Grizzly, I appreciate all the various insights you have given, as a recent reader I am encouraged by your success using blogspot. I also use blogger and began to think it was a negative for starting an Internet business, now I see it's not. The only downside is if Google kicks me out. Thanks again for your no nonsense lessons.

Regards
August 19, 2009 2:21 PM
GraduateBlogger said...

Great title man! Now all we need is to slap up a site and get backlinks to it with the anchor text "Boring Ebook"???

Nah, I'm only joking man. Dont let me waste your time with unnecessary jokes (although you seem like a guy that can take a joke).
August 19, 2009 5:16 PM
Online Income said...

Grizz I think your crappy little PR2 blogspot blog made my crappy little (but at least self-hosted WordPress) blog an authority site LMAO! Well at least for my name ROTFL! So for my next trick how do I persuade Google to let me rank for my keywords LOL
Lissie
August 19, 2009 9:39 PM
Grizzly said...

Lissie - hmmm maybe all your friends could use your keywords in a link... (was that subtle enough?) lol

Hey Liz - check out my new post - Allyn Hane interviews Darren Rowse on Blogger Illustrated. Just put the post up.
August 19, 2009 10:07 PM
Mikael Rieck said...

It is just so awesome that you're back (testing) Griz. I've missed reading your posts. Your strait out of the bag talk is why I follow guys like you, Court & Mark and Chris Rempel. No fluff, just facts (and the occasional sarcasm).

BTW, what happened to the linking project you had going where your regular readers were to send you an email with the term that they wanted to rank for? (I'm not talking about the link exchange post you have). I sent you an email and you replied that you would get back, but I never heard anything. Did the idea die?

Regards,
Mikael
August 20, 2009 2:04 AM
The Wedding Guru said...

Daniel,

I was going to try my hand at Swedish niches as well, probably very different from yours. Maybe we could collaborate on some links and stuff?
I'm the strange American living in Sweden.
August 20, 2009 1:49 PM

Review: Wii Sports Resort

Wii Sports Resort is many things. The sequel to the most popular single-format videogame of all time. The pack-in justification for a peripheral upgrade that, many will argue, only delivers the Wii functionality originally implied by Nintendo itself. The Kyoto giant’s major software launch and system seller in a year when its detractors are rubbing their hands with glee, citing sluggish sales of the previously unstoppable Wii as evidence that the empire is finally beginning to crumble. It is even, beneath all these layers, an occasionally great videogame.

Sports Resort almost gets off to a flyer with the three modes of Swordplay, but the niggles here are emblematic of the game as a whole. Sword Slice is a reaction test: objects are thrown at two Miis, overlaid with the direction of swing required, and the first player to respond correctly gets a point. It’s perhaps a little generous in interpreting the swings – a horizontal left-to-right slash, for example, will count when diagonal left-toright directions are given – but never less than frantic fun. Duel mode misses the MotionPlus point altogether: a determined waggler will frequently win out over someone trying to use the Remote like a sword – and why do you have to hold down a button to block attacks?



The Swordplay Showdown mode is a singleplayer romp through tens of opponents, an energetic and magnificent extended battle, with one fairly big problem: the MotionPlus frequently loses its position. The device is somewhat self-righting, gradually sorting itself out over time, but you’ll often find yourself stopping to recalibrate the accessory. The fact that this begins automatically when the game is paused, along with the reminders that pop up telling you to do so, tells its own story.

So the MotionPlus technology has its problems. Not as a one-to-one sensor, but as a controller accessory that needs a little rest more frequently than the player does. Fortunately it’s not as pronounced in any other Sports Resort mode, though we’ve also experienced it in longer Table Tennis rallies, the accessory requiring syncing before nearly every game in fourplayer sessions. Place these niggles in the context of the MotionPlus delivering one-to-one motion sensing and they seem minor, but, when compared to the hassle-free vanilla Remote, it makes Nintendo’s vision of accessible gaming for all somewhat more complicated.




Far more serious is the fact that only canoeing offers simultaneous play for four players, and of the games that can handle two players at once – Table Tennis, Swordplay, Basketball, Cycling, Power Cruising and Air Sports – only the first two are really any good. Basketball is truly limp, and cries out for the use of the Nunchuk and a little more ambition. Cycling is done much better in Wii Fit Plus, believe it or not, where the combination of controls and Balance Board approximate the real thing more accurately, and the challenges around it are more explorative and fun than Sports Resort’s drudging races. Power Cruising uses the Nunchuk unnecessarily, in a poor attempt to disguise the fact it’s another tilt-to-steer minigame, and fails to create much of a sensation of movement across the waves. Air Sports is mixed: skydiving is hardly involving, but the delicious little touch of making you pose your Mii for photos every so often drags the player in; an island flyover is dull (of which more later); while the dogfighting is a game mode so unremarkable, so boring, so Popcorn Arcade, that it hardly seems fit for release under the Nintendo brand.