Having tested the service myself I can vouch for its effectiveness, but it is relatively expensive for what is really a simple idea. I therefore decided to write up the process for a virtual assistant instead; the by-product of it is this post.

Link wheels are similar to “the butterfly” linking model that Michael Campbell talked about in Revenge of the MiniNet. The difference between them is whereas the butterfly consists of a number of self hosted mini websites, the link wheel is usually made up of a single post hosted on Web 2.0 properties, although it can mix both self hosted and Web 2.0 hosted content if preferred.

If you have any concept of Internet Marketing then you’ll appreciate the value of backlinks. A link wheel creates a number of backlinks to another webpage; it consists of a number of “spoke” pages Web 2.0 pages – typically 4 to 7 different properties – that provide one link to the “hub” page that you’re trying to boost in the search engines and a second link to the next “spoke” page in the link wheel.

Over time a number of link wheels can be interlink to further focus the PR on the “hub” page you are trying to boost. While this hub can be a page on your website or blog, I prefer to link to another Web 2.0 site or article.

If you’re familiar with the Thirty Day Challenge model (overview above), where a website is linked to from a variety of Web 2.0 properties, each Web 2.0 property would become a hub for a number of link wheels:

Now that’s starting to look complicated. But it isn’t really – it’s simply process that should be done over time to build up content on the Web 2.0 properties and social bookmark all those Web 2.0 properties (preferably using Traffic Bug or something similar).

In fact, it can get slightly more complicated than that, because if your site needs further link love each of those Web 2.0 properties can then become the hub for a new link wheel.

The advantage of linking to a Web 2.0 property instead of directly to your own website is that there is a degree of separation between the link wheel and your site. If Google picks up on your link wheel your site is less likely to be penalised thanks to the Web 2.0 “buffer” zone.

The problem is that although the task is simple, it is time consuming – most of the time is taken setting up accounts, adding content to the Web 2.0 sites, adding backlinks to the hub and next spoke site and with social bookmarking – hence my need to outsource.

Anyway, in my next post I’ll discuss what Web 2.0 properties to use, and how to go about setting up your first link wheel.

Better get this out the way then!

Schadenfreude

Remember kiddies – revenge is a dish best eaten cold.

However, for most of us it isn’t that simple and even with apparently simple step by step guides, there is always something missing that can’t be written down – it’s called experience.

So, it doesn’t matter how many courses you sign up to, newsletters you read, or SEO forums you participate in – most of which are a waste of time IMHO anyway – there is no substitute to actually rolling up your sleeves and taking action.

By acting on those internert marketing courses you are doing you are getting real experience – even if you find out what doesn’t work.

But where do you begin? Who is right?

Probably as good a place to start is with the 30 Day Challenge. And there are some great reasons for taking part:

• It’s free
• It takes you through the process step by step
• There are loads of people doing it, so plenty of opportunity to get advice
• You gain experience
• If you’re successful you make your first $10 online

But what else?

• Download Affiliate Masters Course – it’s free and a good introduction to affiliate marketing.
• Learn about linkbuilding from James Martell’s Backlinks Workshop. He talks a bit too much, but the PAD method does work.
• Listen to Internet Marketing This week. Some great info in a free podcast, although it is slightly irregular.
• Sign up for Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge Plus. It isn’t free, but he knows his stuff.
• Sign up for Immediate Edge. It also includes 30 Day Challenge Plus, it is for advanced internet marketers with a price to match, although I would also say that I haven’t seen much useful info from the Edge for a while and may cancel unless they start delivering useful content but it does also have an automatic social bookmarking tool that is very useful.
• Outsource your directory submissions with Directory Maximizer – a great cheap service from India.
• And while you’re at it do the same for your social bookmarking with Social Maximizer.
• Outsource your content with Need An Article. Sometimes the quality isn’t so good, but often it is excellent. And it’s a bit over $5 per article.

There are probably some others I’ve missed, but that’ll do for the moment.

However, remember what I said at the beginning – the most important thing is to take action – if you’re not going to do anything it is a waste of your own time and money if you sign up for any of those, even if they are free. And once you’ve started taking action, keep on at it, outsource the bits you are weak at or hate doing, a bit each and every day until you see some kind of result.

So don’t buy an internet marketing course ever again unless you’re prepared to do some work.

While I did find some good writers through Elance, and also got some real garbage too and so earlier in the year joined Need An Article, a monthly subscription service with fixed price articles. The price is pretty low and costs $10 per month membership and then a little over $5 for a 350-500 word article and was recommended by Dan Raine at Immediate Edge.

However, once again the quality is completely variable.

Sometimes the articles are fantastic, sometimes they look as of they are made up of random sentences flung together. And so I ask myself – why do these writers think they can write? Writing is more than putting words on a page – anyone can do that – for website articles it’s a case of presenting ideas in a form that can be easily digested by the people they’re aimed at, and should be interesting to read and accurate.

Which doesn’t describe some of the articles I’ve been delivered lately.

Do you have any tips or advice on getting quality articles written?

One thing I have done since the summer though is to go through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 and Stompernet’s Stomping The Search Engines 2.0. As a reminder, TS 2.0 cost $500, caused me a few problems and had lousy customer service, STSE 2.0 cost $10 or $20 postage when I subscribed to The Net Effect, Stompernet’s new magazine, so while there is no contest in terms of price it is interesting to compare them side by side.

Traffic Secrets 2.0

I must admit I was expecting big things from John Reese, as I’ve benefited from some of his pearls of wisdom in the past dispensed in interviews etc, but TS 2.0 didn’t do it for me. There is far too much filler and quite frankly I couldn’t concentrate on the videos for long because of that. The content was added to the website in MP3 format, which at least allowed me to listen at the gym, but still, it is all too vague and lacking the killer content I was expecting to find although maybe I’m not who it’s aimed at, so perhaps there are people who have genuinely benefited.

I also got a couple of DVDs from Frank Kern with Traffic Secrets 2.0, which are quite something. If you’ve come across Frank in the past you’ll pretty much know what to expect, but he really holds your attention and has a completely off the wall sense of humour.

Stomping The Search Engines 2.0

I’ve had issues with Stompernet in the past and for me they come across as being far too corporate for their own good, but I thought I’d check out STSE 2.0 anyway – for that price I’d have been stupid to miss it. I had listened to the original course, so had an idea of what to expect. The course is far more compact that TS 2.0, and better for it IMHO.

Among other things it really gets down to the nitty gritty of keyword research, on page factors, off page factors and a very strong section on link building by Dan Thies. I’ll also say that I had no problem with the order process and delivery of The Net Effect and STSE 2.0, although there are many people who have had issues and are really fed up with Stompernet for it – one of my big complaints previously.

Why is good customer service so elusive?

It seems to be a common problem for internet marketing companies to have extremely poor customer service, and I don’t know if it’s genuinely because they are taken by surprise by the number of orders they receive, poor planning, scalability issues, they’re let down by delivery fulfillers or they just don’t care, but one essential piece of the marketing jigsaw is customer service – get this wrong and it can crucify you.

And I’m amazed that it isn’t talked about more, until just recently I came across Lynn Terry through Internet Marketing This Week, also with Ed Dale, Paul Colligan and Michelle Macpherson. Lynn’s big bugbear seems to be lack support for both customers and affiliates, the latter of which resonates with me as I have been unable to sort out an issue with the Immediate Edge affiliate program that I first raised in September. To be frank, that is pissing me off and I really hope that it is sorted soon and while I value my membership of Immediate Edge, I certainly won’t continue to promote it, let alone push it more.

If you like it then you can continue with the full price after that – BUT get in early to ensure you lock into the current price ($97/month) as they are considering increasing the price to $147. And if you’re not impressed by what you find there you can cancel your trial – simple.

Immediate Edge is about to kick off in a new direction, cunningly titled Immediate Edge 2.0 (wonder which genius though that?). It looks like the addition of a new project manager on board is going to really ramp up the learning, plus you get access to software and other resources for free inside the Edge.

Try it out now – visit the Immediate Edge website.

As usual they have some well produced videos, but my experience with them is that they don’t really deliver on all their promises and are far too corporate. If you do want to join then go join through Ed Dale’s link as you get Immediate Edge membership and some other cool stuff thrown in too.

And if you are an absolute beginner to internet marketing then neither of these is for you – join the Thirty Day Challenge, which is FREE.

One of the tools mentioned – in fact the only tool so far – is Microsoft’s Commercial Intent tool, which has yielded some surprising tools for one of my niches.

In fact, I’m going to see what happens if I use it to screen keywords in the Thirty Day Challenge/Immediate Edge niche research stage, as it may help identify really strong keywords that are off the radar at the moment.

Anyway, go and watch the video, if you’re doing PPC then you won’t regret it.

This weekend Dan Raine and Ed Dale have announced some amazing new tools for members of the 30 Day Challenge, which I would urge you to join if you are remotely interested in online marketing – and it’s completely FREE. The tools, which have been a few months coming, are designed to cut out the tedium of social bookmarking by doing it all for you automatically and will save a ton of time.

At the same time they made an enhanced version available to members of Immediate Edge and another great reason to join.

All in all 2008 is a great time to be an internet marketer – I’ll see you inside the 30 Day Challenge or Immediate Edge.