The Blog of Charles Ngo -

A Quick Guide on Direct Linking vs Landing Pages

May 16, 2013 — 8 Comments

an example from Visual Website Optimizer

I’ve been getting a lot of requests to write about landing pages. Creating landing pages / optimizing landing pages are one of my favorite parts of the business, and I am beastly with them.

Even though every business has a “landing page”, their needs are a little more different than ours. As an affiliate marketer, I’m spending my own money to promote someone else’s product. I am like Ric Flair, I will use every trick I can in the book to increase conversion rates (Whhhhhhoooooooo!!!!).

Anyone that’s been in this industry long enough knows a good landing page can make or a break a campaign. I’ve seen stale niches become hot overnight because someone came out with a new angle on their landing page.

The first step is to know whether or not using one is appropriate. Lets get some terms out the way. I’m going to keep things as simple as possible since I have a lot of beginners that read.

Imagine a scenario where you’re advertising on a traffic source such as Facebook hoping to profit. Your offer is dating.

example of Facebook Dating ads Continue Reading…

In Landing Pages

Check out my Interview with WhatRunsWhere

May 9, 2013 — 3 Comments

The WhatRunsWhere (Competitive Intelligence Tool) team reached out to me last week for an interview. Some of my answers are things I’ve never discussed on this blog before so you definitely don’t want to miss this.

1) With an army of “make monies online” gurus, what’s your motivation for dropping knowledge bombs on your blog?

2) You’ve been an arbitrage media buyer in a competitive industry with so many meteoric ups and downs lately. You speak about the motto “adapt or die”, but does affiliate marketing still have a bright future?

3) CPA offers are rampant across various affiliate networks. When (if ever) does it make sense to “go direct” with a merchant/advertiser?

4) Aside from your site, what other resources should serious media buyers tap into for useful information?

5) What paid tools do you use? Do you see value in paid competitive intelligence subscriptions like WRW?

–> Meet the Media Buyer: Charles Ngo <—

In Random

The Secrets of Goal Setting: A Framework and Strategies that Work

May 1, 2013 — 8 Comments

Ah goals, that thing everyone sets at the beginning of the year and forgets about until 50 weeks later. We all have goals and dreams, but what separates the guys that accomplish them and the ones that don’t?

A study done by Dominican University on goals research that found that users in their sample only committed 43% of their goals if they just “thought” about their goals. Another group included techniques such as writing down their goals, creating an action plan, and giving accountability with a friend, allowed them to complete 76% of their goals.

Before we get into goal setting, it’s important to know your values and where do you want to be in the future. Take some time and imagine your perfect life a few years from now. Do you want to travel the world and work from your laptop? Do you want to move up in your company and focus more on your children’s growths? If you don’t know where you’re headed, you’re just going to end up running in circles.

Goals are personal. Set ones that ignite your soul and wake you up each day with a purpose. Continue Reading…

In Success

How to Make Money When You Don’t Have Disposable Income

April 25, 2013 — 13 Comments

It takes money to make money.

The problem is most of start start off without much disposable income. I didn’t have much to invest in my business due to credit card debt, student loans, a car loan, rent, and I wasn’t paid too much immediately after college. However, I never let excuses stop me from trying. If there is a will, there is a way.

The following is my thought process on obtaining more money for your goals. It’s not sexy. The perception of success in internet marketing’s quite distorted. Part of it is that guys who teach internet marketing for a living have an incentive to make it easy in order to sell more courses. Also on social media I guess it’s cooler to show off your success than to talk about your struggles on the way up.

I’m just trying to help you by showing you what I went through and my thought process.

In Success

How to Master & Dominate Traffic Sources Pt. 3

April 19, 2013 — 5 Comments

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - The Different Traffic Sources
Part 3 – The Bidding Process

Introductions are out the way and it’s time to dig into the good stuff.

I’ve tried to make the concepts as simple as possible, but it may still be confusing if you’ve never run paid traffic before. Take some action and re-read the posts later once you have some experience. I’m here to teach how to dominate paid traffic, not how to make $10 a day with adsense blogs.

Bids

Every network has their own algorithm for how they deliver traffic. The right bid price so that you’re profitable, getting the high quality traffic, and still getting volume. Bid too low and you won’t get any volume. Bid too high and it eats into your profit margins. It’s a balancing act. Continue Reading…

In Internet Marketing

A Day in My Life – Getting the Most Out of Your 24 Hours

April 11, 2013 — 31 Comments

When you picture an internet marketer, what do you imagine their day to be like?

Some gurus will paint a picture of a guy working a few hours a week from his laptop on a beach in Thailand. On the other hand, if you follow the updates or tweets of some guys, 4am bedtimes and 18 hour work days seem typical.

I went full-time in this business around late 2008. Very busy time period and working long hours, 7 days a week was the norm. I didn’t understand productivity or outsourcing – the only way for me to get more work done was to put in more hours, at the expense of my health and sanity.

When I started traveling Asia 2 years ago, I was living the 4 hour work week lifestyle for a few months. I had some crazy ROI placements and just spent my time traveling and partying. I had to tone that down because it’s hard to stay competitive working that little, and part of my happiness does come from work.

Anyways what we have now is what a day in my life is like. Keep in mind that it constantly changes according to what my goals and priorities are for the year. Right now I enjoy work and going to the gym. When I’m traveling it looks different. Once I start having a girlfriend or kids it’ll be different. Instead of looking at this as a template to follow, just see if there are elements you wanna add into your day. Continue Reading…

In Productivity

Working Harder and Developing the Excellence Habit

April 4, 2013 — 17 Comments

Around a decade ago I was working part-time in a gas station. 2 shifts a week at $8 an hour – it was enough money for gas and to eat slightly better than ramen noodles everyday. I can’t say I was too passionate about this job so the work I did was just good enough to get by.

One day my manager noticed the way I was wiping the counters. Apparently just wiping the surface alone was a half-ass job – I needed to wipe the sides, the equipment, and scrub harder to get some of the stains out I missed.

“Charles what the fuck is this?!? Wipe that counter like the god damn owner of QuikTrip will walk in any minute. I know you’re in Georgia Tech and this job doesn’t mean shit, but think of it as work ethic practice. How you do one thing is how you do everything. If you’re gonna be lazy at this job, then you’re going to be lazy at your future one. Step it up man” Continue Reading…

In Mindset