How even the village idiot can make money with VideoStacker…
August 20, 2008 by Halfagain Team · Leave a Comment
VideoStacker (http://VideoStacker.com) is officially live, totally free and promotable with your affiliate link. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out – it’s one of the coolest freebies that’s been given in the lead-up to a launch. Ever. Eeeeeverrrrr.
Anybody that clicks through your link (even if they don’t download VideoStacker) will be branded with your affiliate ID. When any of your referrals order StoreStacker (which opens Thursday August 28th), you’ll get a commission on the $97-$225 sale.
You can grab your link from the linking codes page of your http://Titanpay.com admin area. New affiliates wanting to promote StoreStacker sign up here also.
“What do I do with free software …
and how the hell do I make money with it?”
Good question. You’re not alone.
I was talking to one of my buddies (Chris: works at a bank, hates it) who’s new to the affiliate marketing game, and, along with griping about his recent and now ex-girlfriend, his ensuing identity crisis and what I was going to have for dinner (BBQ), I mentioned the free software, promo video, articles and other goodies that we’re releasing to our affiliates to help them market StoreStacker. As an interested party, he asked (and not without a hint of sarcasm) – ‘Great. What the hell am I going to do with those?’
So, I gave my usual response to work-related questions – ‘buy me a beer and I’ll tell you.’
After our subsequent conversation in which I explained the basics of marketing with videos, articles and free software, it occured to me that instead of just releasing this stuff with the parting words, “go and do likewise”, that we’ll (both you and us) make many more sales and commissions if I accompanied our promo materials with a quasi-plan to help you get the most commissions out of them.
These tools can be INCREDIBLY effective at getting eyeballs, clicks and affiliate commissions, if employed well. So, what follows is a summarization of our conversation.
If you already know these resources and tactics, no worries – you’re a stud and need no direction. However, if you don’t, give them a whirl – they work (in fact, I’d bet there’s a pricey ebook out there with the same basic information).
Today’s installment will concentrate on the distribution of VideoStacker.
First of all, this is an awesome script. Even more awesome, considering it’s free. And by distributing it, you’re not selling or pitching anything. That’s the diabolical beauty of it.
So, now we have the task of getting people to click through your link to download it. Below, I outline the how-to of this…
These are the basic ways to do it:
1) Download and check it out yourself so you know what you’re talking about (or, if you’re lazy, just watch the video on the website) http://Videostacker.com
2) Email your list (if you have one) with your affiliate link (obtained from http://Titanpay.com).
Do something simple, quick and non-salesy, like:
“Hey gang, I was just turned on to a killer piece of software that both just came out today AND happens to be totally free. I checked it out and it’s the real deal. Here’s a hint – it increases the value of your website, makes displaying relevant videos on your site stupidly simple and is very, very easy to use. Check it out here [your affiliate link from http://Titanpay.com here]. “
3) Post a link to it on your (relevant) website or blog.
If you want more response and more clicks, write up a quick review of it.
4) Create free pages.
Free page sites (there’s a better name for them but it’s eluding me) are fantastic for free traffic. For example, squidoo (http://squidoo.com).
The basic idea is this:
Make an account and create a free page about whatever you want – in this case, VideoStacker. This page can pick up both search engine traffic AND traffic from the site itself.
Pages can be evaluated based on criteria like votes, friends, updates (number/frequency) and traffic. The higher your evaluation, the better your rank in the system. The better your rank, the more traffic you’ll get. So, if you already have an account, friends and a following, you’re in a great position for getting traffic. If you don’t however, you’re still in a good position. I’ve seen many-a-newbie get plenty of traffic. Sign up, create your page, make some friends, vote up their submissions and they’ll likely do the same for you. Here’s a list of some possible targets for you:
http://Propeller.com
http://Bumpzee.com
http://hubpages.com
http://squidoo.com
http://mixx.com
http://ppnow.com
http://spongefish.com
http://gather.com
http://Twitter.com
http://reddit.com
http://vsocial.com
http://wink.com
http://mybloglog.com
http://digg.com
http://ma.gnolia.com/
http://weebly.com/
http://www.mefeedia.com
http://www.scribd.com
http://www.amazines.com
http://www.kaboodle.com
http://feedmelinks.com
http://www.slideshare.net
Next, we talk traffic.
5) Bookmark and ye shall find.
Social bookmarking sites are also a fantastic source of traffic, especially for free stuff like VideoStacker. You can use them to send traffic:
- directly
- to your free pages (created above)
or
- to your website or blog.
Here’s the jist:
You submit a link. The link is voted up or down. Traffic from the bookmarking site clicks through. Useful free stuff (esp. website/tech related) does quite well in these communities. We’re all nerds, afterall.
Here again, it helps to have friends. Everyone helps vote eachother’s submissions up. The more friends you have, the more likely you are to get traffic. But again, I’ve had submissions voted up (and quite a bit of traffic as a result) with no friends to speak of. There are exceptions to every rule.
Here’s a list of some social bookmarking sites. I had this compiled a while ago, so it may not be perfectly accurate. Any site worth it’s bookmarks though, should be here (there’s also some social networking, and other social sites mixed in … yes, and some repeats. No comments please, it’s a long list 
:
http://digg.com
http://buzz.yahoo.com
http://technorati.com
http://del.icio.us
http://propeller.com
http://stumbleupon.com
http://reddit.com
http://mixx.com
http://fark.com
http://mybloglog.com
http://slashdot.com
http://kaboodle.com
http://bloglines.com
http://newsvine.com
http://blinklist.com
http://netvouz.com
http://clipmarks.com
http://furl.net
http://mister-wong.com
http://dzone.com
http://ma.gnolia.com
http://tailrank.com
http://shoutwire.com
http://simpy.com
http://blogmarks.net
http://bluedot.us
http://spurl.net
http://linkswarm.com
http://spotback.com
http://mybookmarks.com
http://www.gravee.com/
http://www.backflip.com/
http://www.jot.com/
http://www.orkut.com/
http://www.blogmemes.net/
http://de.lirio.us/
http://www.diigo.com/
http://www.looklater.com
http://www.markaboo.com
http://www.queesh.com
http://www.rawsugar.com/index.faces
http://www.shadows.com/
http://www.igooi.com
http://www.hanzoweb.com
http://www.tagtooga.com/db.tag
http://wink.com/
http://www.ekudos.nl/
http://www.complore.com/
http://www.tallstreet.com/
http://indiagram.com/index.php
http://www.goesby.com/
http://www.portachi.com/
http://www.a1-webmarks.com/
http://www.tektag.com/
http://www.wirefan.com/
http://www.linkatopia.com/
http://www.optimiz.us/
http://www.linklog.nl
http://www.wykop.pl/
http://www.blogmarks.net/
http://www.connotea.org
http://www.listible.com/
http://www.wists.com/
http://otavo.com/
http://clipclip.org/
http://www.citeulike.org/
http://www.i89.us/
http://www.smarking.com/
http://www.indiamarks.com/
http://www.meme-stream.com/
http://www.tabmarks.com/
http://www.zurpy.com/
http://clipmarks.com/
http://www.linkagogo.com/
http://www.bookkit.com/
http://www.lilisto.com/
http://www.feedmarker.com/
http://feedmelinks.com/portal
http://www.bmaccess.net/
http://www.linkologia.pl/
http://segnalo.alice.it/?
http://www.lookmarks.com/
http://www.30daytags.com/fresh
http://imp.etuo.us/
http://www.librarything.com/
http://www.linkblog.com.br
http://www.oyax.com/
http://www.urlex.info/
http://www.web-feeds.com
http://www.bloghop.com/
http://www.browsr.com/
http://www.bookmarktracker.com/
http://buddymarks.com/
http://www.butterflyproject.nl/
https://www.chipmark.com/Main
http://www.connectedy.com/
http://ez4u.net/
http://freelink.org/
http://www.fungow.com
http://ww2.ikeepbookmarks.com/
http://www.mobleo.net/
http://www2.myhq.com/
http://www.mylinkvault.com/
http://www.mypip.com/home/
http://www.myvmarks.com
http://www.pixelmo.com/
http://www.searchles.com/
http://www.shoppersbase.com/
http://www.sitejot.com/
http://www.syncone.net/
http://www.startaid.com
http://www.zoogim.com/
http://bwsmith.com
http://aboogy.com
http://socialbookmarkingsite.com/
http://www.putvote.com
http://www.tagcloud9.com/
http://kinja.com
http://www.ambedo.com/
http://www.icio.de/
http://www.favoriting.com
http://www.corank.com/
http://www.icio.de
http://www.igooi.com
http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com
http://www.imp.etuo.us
http://www.indiagram.com
http://www.indiza.com
http://www.inspiredrepublic.com
http://www.jeteye.com
http://www.kbcafe.com
http://www.kmfavorites.com
http://www.kopikol.net
http://www.kuro5hin.org
http://www.leze.de
http://www.librarything.com
http://www.lifelogger.com
http://www.lifeslot.com
http://www.lilisto.com
http://www.linkagogo.com
http://www.linkarena.com
http://www.linkatopia.com
http://www.linkblog.com.br
http://www.linkfilter.net
http://www.linklog.com
http://www.linklog.nl
http://www.linkologia.pl
http://www.linkroll.com
http://www.listible.com
http://www.listmixer.com
http://www.looklater.com
http://www.lookmarks.com
http://www.lookthisup.com
http://www.loom.delymyth.net
http://www.maple.nu
http://www.markbo.com
http://www.memeorandum.com
http://www.meme-stream.com
http://www.memestreams.net
http://www.meneame.net
http://www.mesfavs.com
http://www.millionsofgames.com
http://www.motorken.com
http://www.mybookmark.gokodo.com
http://www.myhq.com
http://www.mylinkvault.com
http://www.myprogs.net
http://www.mystickies.com
http://www.myvmarks.com
http://www.networkmenus.co.uk
http://www.newhots.com
http://www.newnooze.com
http://www.newsvine.com
http://www.newzingo.com
http://www.nextaris.com
http://www.nowpublic.com
http://www.onlinefavorites.com
http://www.onlywire.com
http://www.openbm.de
http://www.opencontent.org
http://www.oyax.com
http://www.peoplefeeds.com
http://www.philoi.com
http://www.pixat.com
http://www.popdex.com
http://www.popurls.com
http://www.portachi.com
http://www.queesh.com
http://www.quimble.com
http://www.rawsugar.com
http://www.reader2.com
http://www.recommendit.dehsoftware.com
http://www.riffs.com
http://www.rocketnews.com
http://www.rojo.com
http://www.rollyo.com
http://www.rrove.com
http://www.sandbox.sourcelabs.com
http://www.scoopt.com
http://www.scuttle.org
http://www.searchfox.com
http://www.segnalo.com
http://www.shadows.com
http://www.shurl.us
http://www.sitetagger.com
http://www.smarking.com
http://www.socialbookmarking.org
http://www.socialporn.com
http://www.sphere.com
http://www.sync2it.com
http://www.tabmarks.com
http://www.tag.zurpy.com
http://www.taggle.de
http://www.tagground.com
http://www.taghop.com
http://www.tagsy.com
http://www.tagtooga.com
http://www.tailrank.com
http://www.tallstreet.com
http://www.targetyournews.com
http://www.textnotes.de
http://www.thethingsiwant.com
http://www.threadwatch.org
http://www.thumblicio.us
http://www.ticklr.net
http://www.toread.cc
http://www.tutorialism.com
http://www.ulinkx.com
http://www.unalog.com
http://www.urlex.info
http://www.watvindenwijover.nl
http://www.wazima.com
http://www.web-feeds.com
http://www.webride.org
http://www.wink.com
http://www.wists.com
http://www.wurldbook.com
http://www.yoono.com
http://www.yummy.printfu.org
http://www.zaadz.com
http://smarking.com/
http://segnalo.com/
http://www.shadows.com/
http://www.gifttagging.com/
http://www.wists.com/
http://www.feedmarker.com/
http://lilisto.com/
http://www.hyperlinkomatic.com/
http://www.linkagogo.com/
http://unalog.com/
http://consumating.com/
http://www.blogcatalog.com
http://www.linkedin.com/
http://standpoint.com/
http://www.efamilyties.com/
http://www.9rules.com/
http://www.broadcaster.com/
http://www.dailymotion.com/
http://vsocial.com
http://www.springdoo.com/
http://alexadex.com/ad/
http://www.spinspy.com/
http://www.meebo.com/
http://www.slawsome.com
http://rollyo.com/
http://quimble.com/
http://tailrank.com/
http://swicki.eurekster.com/
http://www.wetpaint.com/
http://pbwiki.com/
http://hipcal.com/
http://www.backflip.com/
http://www.connotea.org/
http://www.citeulike.org/
http://www.tagtooga.com/db.tag
http://tagalag.com/
http://flickr.com/
http://www.slide.com/
6) Forums
With forums, you have to be careful. They’re full of possibility, but if you don’t respect them, they’ll kick you in the ass. Not unlike a beehive of quibbling, whining bees.
The key here is to refrain from spamming your links. Here are some strategies:
a) simply place your link in your signature. (safe, but only slightly effective)
b) respond in other threads that are already on the topic of free software, other like tools or videos in general (just use the forum’s search feature to find posts with keywords like youtube, video, widgets, adding video, free scripts, free software, etc), with the link to Videostacker. This way, you’re on topic and helpful. (fairly safe and more effetive)
c) take your chances and make a thread about it. Be up front about it being an affiliate link, but let them know it’s worth it. If you’re honest, they’ll respect the offer. (risky, but as with everything, more risk leads to big possible payoffs)d) in all cases, you can use a redirect so the affiliate link isn’t so in-your-face. This can help ease the tension and keep the bloodhounds at bay.
Here’s a list of possible forums (again, these were compiled a while ago, so pardon any mistakes):
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/default.asp
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://www.submitexpress.com/bbs/
http://www.startups.co.uk/
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/
http://bzimage.org/
http://www.clicks.ws/
http://www.earnersforum.com/forumsindex.php
http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/
http://www.davidcastle.org/BB/
http://6pins.com/blog/
http://iq69.com/forums/
http://forum.hot4s.com.au/
http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/i…/en-us/Forums/
http://forums.cnet.com/
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/cate…?categoryID=84
http://www.dnforum.com/
http://forums.webcosmo.com
http://atdinner.com/excellent-forums/
http://forum.hittail.com/phpbb2/index.php
http://www.affiliateseeking.com/forums
http://siteownersforums.com/index.php
http://www.webmaster-forums.net/
www.geekpoint.net
http://www.smallbusinessforums.org/
http://opensourcephoto.net/forum/
http://www.businesss-forum.com
www.9mb.com
https://www.computerbb.org/
http://forums.ukwebmasterworld.com/
http://www.webtalkforums.com/
http://www.bloggapedia.com/forum/
www.directoryjunction.com/forums
http://forums.seroundtable.com/
http://www.submitexpress.com/bbs/
http://www.startups.co.uk/
7) Blog commenting
Some blogs allow links, others do not. The ones that do (if they’re trafficked) can give you some very nice residual traffic to wherever you want. Many have no-follow tags, but we’re not really worried about these, because you want traffic, not links.
The key here is to be on topic. Search in google, yahoo, et al., for blogs that discuss “widgets”, “free scripts”, “youtube tools”, “how to put video on websites”, etc. Any keywords that relate to what Videostacker does. Then, make a comment on the post highlighting how cool VideoStacker is. Include your link, redirect or website that links to us. Done and done.
Disclaimer and fine print: Forums (and all of the sites listed above for that matter) can be one of the most powerful marketing tools in your proverbial quiver. They’re perfect for word of mouth and can give very targeted traffic. But, just in case you come off as spamming and your account is banned, Halfagain LLC takes no responsibility for your actions. You’re on your own baby!
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