Are you looking to make money online? Of course you are. That’s probably why you find yourself reading this blog post on John Chow dot Com in the first place. However, you may have found that your current methods have been underperforming.
Standard practices can only go so far. That’s why you might be interested in this review of Rogue Marketing from the Profit Smart team.
Moving to Alaska?
While the term has certainly existed for many years, it seems that “going rogue” came into fashion with Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. It’s unclear whether the Profit Smart people are trying to cash in the Wasilla soccer mom, but the product does seem to evoke that imagery. They even use bullets and red (like lipstick) font in key places.
The primary product being promoted through this review is an e-book called Rogue Marketing. It is 134 pages long and it describes a way that you can make money from affiliate marketing that you may not have considered: media buys.
Rogue Marketing: First Edition
Rather than invest your money in AdWords, pay-per-click and search engine optimization, Profit Smart says that you can be very effective with media buys instead. That doesn’t mean you have to burn through your budget with radio ads and TV spots. Instead, they recommend buying advertising from related websites.
Maybe it’s because I make my living as a freelance writer, but I’ve always been a stickler for good spelling and grammar. The occasional typo is forgiven, but the e-book is littered with all sorts of mistakes.
Over the course of the Rogue Marketing e-book, you’ll learn about demographic research, keyword research, using self-serve networks, optimizing for results, and building a campaign. You get plenty of text, instructions, screenshots, and more.
Unfortunately, in addition to several grammatical errors, there seem to be some formatting issues with the e-book as well. Images have not been resized in many instances and this can sometimes cut out pertinent information.
(Edit/Update: I should note that this is the “first edition” of the e-book and they are working on cleaning it up in preparation for the relaunch.)
Find Websites in Your Chosen Niche
When you sign up for the members area on the Rogue Marketing site, you can download the PDF e-book to your computer or you can view it with Flash. Supplemental materials, OpenX training videos, and GIMP training videos are also provided.
Perhaps more importantly, you gain access to the beta version of Ad Seeker utility from the Profit Smart team.
It can be time-consuming finding the right blogs to buy your “rogue” advertising spots. Using this tool, you can type in your chosen keyword phrase and many sites offering ad space are then listed. You can get their traffic ranks and detailed statistics, as well as direct links to their advertising information pages.
For instance, the list above was generated when I searched for “make money online.” For better or for worse, John Chow dot Com didn’t make the cut.
Getting More with Platinum Rogue Status
If Google goes “on the offensive,” then it may be time “to go rogue” with your marketing efforts. I’m not sure if this is really the right kind of branding for this product, but it does solicit an immediate emotional response.
Getting beyond the basic e-book on media buys, you can consider the Rogue Marketing Platinum Subscription. This includes over 12 hours of video, access to the aforementioned members area, and access to Ad Seeker.
The regular price for the platinum package is $500 plus $25 per month, but a “reserved price” is “just” $300, plus a $25 monthly fee. Is this worth the somewhat hefty price of admission? I’m not quite inclined to say, “You betcha” just yet, but that’s up to you to decide.
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...