Using iMacros to automate Firefox
Jan 28, 2010 Tools
I’ve been using the iMacros add-on for Firefox to automate my web browsing and remember all my passwords and log in details.
It’s like Roboform, only better. and the best bit is that it’s FREE!
You can set it up to do just about anything that a human can do in Firefox. When I first tried it out, I remember thinking – “This is bloody brilliant”
A few examples of the things you can set it up to do are -
- Fill out web forms
- Submit to directories
- Check all your affiliate stats
- Download log files from your server
- Download images from websites
- Scrape websites and save to a csv file!!
- Automate searches in Google and Yahoo
Here is a quick tutorial to show you the types of things you can do.
If any of you guys are using iMacros, I’d be interested to see what for. And if any of you have any scripts that you would like to share, then even better.
How to find good “do follow” links
Jan 25, 2010 SEO
As I keep harping on about it; getting good quality back links to your site is the best way to help climb the rankings of the major search engines.
When I first started out, I just indiscriminately sent spammy emails to webmasters or posted comments on blogs. Obviously this did not work, so I set about to become a link building master! I’m nowhere near that yet but I do think that I have come on leaps and bounds and I would like to share with you a couple of really useful tools that I use.
If your building links for SEO purposes then you need to be able to find good quality links from established sites that will pass on some link juice.
Here is how I do it -
Firstly, you need to download and install the Quirk Search Status plugin for Firefox. This free tool will highlight links on a website that are “no follow”. So when you are researching a potential site for a link request you will know immediately whether to bother or not.
I will head on over to Google and enter the main keyword that I want to rank for. eg “computer desks”
Starting in the number one position, I copy the web address and head over to Link Diagnosis where I paste the address to get a comprehensive back link report.
The brilliant thing about Link Diagnosis is that not only does it give us all our competitors back links it also lists them in order of page rank and link strength. We can also see whether a link is “no follow”.
Now the hard work really begins! After exporting the Link Diagnosis results into a csv file I will slowly work through the websites one by one (I don’t go lower than PR3 ). I will have a look at the site and get a feel for it and hopefully find a “Contact Us” section. I will also double check with the Quirk Search Status plugin that the links on the site actually are “do follow”. If they are “no follow” they are highlighted in red.
Then I will send a friendly email to the webmaster. I always like to mention something relevant so that they know my email is not spam and I have actually looked at the website. I usually don’t ask for a link exchange. I might explain why my site would be of interest to his or her readers and add that they may want to post a link to my site.
Link Building is a time consuming pastime and I try to break it up into small chunks. I aim to send around 10 emails to prospective sites per day. It is also a good idea to keep a spreadsheet so that you can track your progress.
I use Filemaker, and have written a small database so that I can see who I’ve emailed and on what dates etc. If you have a copy of Filemaker it’s pretty easy to do.
Tags: do follow, link building, no follow
Another site, another WordPress custom theme
Jan 21, 2010 Affiliate Marketing, Theme Design, Wordpress
I’m quite getting the hang of creating my own WordPress themes now. I’m still having problems with them displaying correctly in all browsers but I am sure that I will have that problem solved soon.
My new site is – Cross Trainer Sale and I think the subject matter is fairly self explanatory!
I’m doing quite well with domain names that have “sale” on the end. Obviously, I would have preferred “cross trainer” but by sticking the word “sale” on there I should pickup traffic for “cross trainer”, “cross trainers” and “cross trainers for sale”.
Who knows if I will earn anything from the site. I’ve been working really hard creating my latest sites and I am too impatient to wait for natural rankings so I think I will PPC this one too.
Having said that, I have started the laborious job of link building. I use a mixture of forum posts, blog posts and link exchange requests. I’ve wrote a simple database in Filemaker that enables me to track the webmaster’s I’ve contacted and check that my link is live.
The next few weeks I’m going to knuckle down and work on my custom WordPress themes. I am confident that there is a market for affiliate marketing themes and when I have reached a level that I am satisfied with, I’m going to look at releasing some for public use.
Tags: cross trainers, filemaker, link building, Wordpress
Facebook PPC team have the PC bug
Jan 18, 2010 PPC
I’ve just created my first ad to promote my new website by PPC on Facebook.
Here is the picture that I created -
Guess What? It has been disapproved! Here is the explanation that I have been given -
Ad Disapproval Reason(s):
* The image of this ad is either irrelevant or inappropriate. Per sections 4 and 5 of Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines, the image on your ad should be relevant and appropriate to the item being advertised. Images that are overly explicit, provocative, or that reveal too much skin are not allowed. Images that may either degrade or idealize any health condition or body type are also not allowed. Additionally, images may not emulate site features or suggest functionality which is not present (e.g. a video play button). If you choose to submit this ad again, please use an appropriate image that adheres to all of Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines.
What a load of bollocks!
What photograph am I supposed to use? I’m promoting Corsets FFS! The image is not sexually explicit or provocative. It must be that it is idealizing a body type that Facebook does not approve of.
I’m willing to bet that the person who disapproved of the ad was a fat woman 
If that offends you then frankly I don’t give a shit! I’m overweight myself, but I don’t get offended by all the six-pack adverts on facebook.
Don’t you just hate it when these huge corporations decide to start preaching morals?
And I am also sick to death of these people who are getting offended all the time. What’s wrong with been offended every now and then? Nothing happens. Your not going to die. It doesn’t hurt. I get offended by Westlife, but I dont go on about it.
Rant over.
Tags: facebook
I Can’t help it. It’s an addiction!
Jan 15, 2010 General Stuff, SEO
There is not a day goes by without me checking my stats in WebCEO.
Yep, I know it’s wrong but I just can’t help it. Along with checking my emails and Statcounter every 30 seconds, I must be wasting so much of my affiliate marketing time. Just think; If I halved the time I spend twiddling with apps and monitoring my stats I could write loads more fresh content and have more free time to spend down the pub
This is my list of biggest waste of time websites and apps that are stopping me being productive -
- Statcounter
- WebCeo
- Outlook
- Owlstalk (Sheffield Wednesday message board!)
- Youtube
Since I made AFeeds I have also spent more time reading affiliate blogs, but I don’t class that as wasting time because I am always learning new stuff.
So come on. Tell me what websites you spend way too long on when you could be doing something productive? (and no cheeky ones please!)
