Adsmarket ErgoTip #5 – How big is your keyboard

Are you sure your ergonomic keyboard is good for you?

Many heavy computer users like to use the Microsoft Split ergonomic keyboard.

It is a great keyboard in that it positions your wrists and hands in proper ergonomic posture, but it has one big disadvantage:  it is too big!  The main consequence is a faulty position of the mouse with bad alignment of the shoulder and arm.

In simple words it is just too far away.

So the big ergonomic keyboard is good mainly for users who spend most of their computer time working with it alone and without a mouse.  Users who spend their time at the computer in a combination of 50/50 (keyboard/mouse) are better off with a smaller keyboard that allows them to position the mouse in a healthier place.

Here are some good options for an ergonomic split size mini keyboard:

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/max-spec.htm

http://www.goldtouch.com/

Mini keyboard:

http://www.fentek-ind.com/minikb.htm

ErgoTips are provided by Dalit Ben Tovim, a renowned ergonomic consultant and trainer who serves Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller corporations and organizations.  Contact her at DalitATergo4u.com, and please visit the ergo4u website.

Affiliate ErgoTip #3: Do you need an ergonomic mouse?

For people like affiliate marketers and those who spend a lot of time in front of laptops and desktop computers, spastically clicking away, the question arises: is an ergonomic mouse really better than a regular mouse? That is, would an ergonomic mouse helps in preventing carpal tunnel syndrome and inflammations of the wrist, two very common complaints of the deskbound? What turns a computer mouse into an “ergonomic” accessory?  And last but not least, given the huge assortment of ergonomic mouse devices on the market, how do we know which would be the best and the most appropriate for us?

You might be surprised to know, but the design process of any product involves certain ergonomic considerations, meaning basically any product can be called “ergonomic”.

Confused? So am I, but the answer is simple – ergonomic means “suited to the user”. That’s right – Suited to You. That’s the greatest secret of ergonomics.

This means that whatever mouse model you choose, it should be chosen first and foremost according to your body size, work needs and desk format.

So, we understand that we need to choose a mouse that is appropriate to our structure and needs, and have arranged our sitting position and desk to enable us to create the right arm and hand position. The question still remains: Should we buy a mouse defined as ergonomic or can we be satisfied with a simple mouse?

The answer is not that simple. Our best advice would be to try out several mouse devices for a period of time, to feel if there’s any change. I believe some of the ergonomic mouse devices sold today have a structure that definitely lessens the pressure on the hand. Those are worth trying first.

Here are some that I personally recommend:

• Microsoft wireless ergonomic laser mouse 6000
• Evoluent vertical mouse

The first one takes the “natural posture of the wrist” approach and the second one the “Vertical posture of the wrist approach”, both are very good and they are both wireless, so all you laptop addicts can take it anywhere and do something good for their wrists.

Dalit Ben Tovim is a renowned ergonomic consultant and trainer who serves Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller corporations and organizations.  For more information about Dalit Ben Tovim, contact her at DalitATergo4u.com,  and please visit the ergo4u  website. Make sure you check out the Ergocloud, an ergonomic forearm support by ergo4u Ltd.

Time for an ergonomic keyboard? – Tips for a healthier affiliate lifestyle.

A few months ago Adsmarket welcomed Dalit BenTovim, an Ergonomic Consultant at ergo4u Ltd to our headquarters in Tel Aviv.  She gave a great lecture on proper ergonomics in the workplace (ergonomics simply defined: proper body positioning to avoid strain and injury), and then visited each Adsmarketeer individually and corrected any ergonomic problems we had.

I invited Dalit to share her expertise in ergonomic positioning with us for our readers who, without a doubt, are as sedentary as we are, optimizing traffic, running campaigns, and being busy affiliate marketers!

Each week Dalit will share a short “ergonomic tip” with you, which we hope will help you with any discomfort you are having, and make you a more successful online marketer!

Here is her full length post:

Are you in the business of affiliate marketing or online advertising, or work at an affiliate network, and suffer from migraines, shoulder pains, herniated discs, or eye strain?   These are just some of the symptoms of what can easily be considered as the Millennium’s syndrome – “Computer pains”.

If these symptoms sound painfully familiar, take heart.  There is no need to rush to the medicine cabinet, make an appointment with the family doctor or even see your physical therapist!

Sometimes even minor adjustments to your workstation can do wonders – eradicate your pain and save you money.

So here’s a Complete Guide to Ergonomics, which may help you chair-bound moneymakers feel better and therefore, be more productive!

1. Elevated computer screen – Working online, whether in online advertising, affiliate marketing, or whatever, and sitting for hours in front of an elevated computer screen puts a lot of strain on the neck vertebrae – an effort that causes ongoing pain. The neck is a sensitive area and neck pain can radiate to other body parts such as shoulders, elbows, hands and wrists. Lessening the pressure on neck muscles may also resolve apparently unconnected body aches.

   Solution: The computer screen should be placed at eye level and lower to allow the neck vertebrae to be in neutral posture and rest.

2. Lateral posture – In my work assisting companies like Adsmarket, I see computer screens located not straight in front of the user but sideways, often due to the need to communicate with clients face to face, or in order to make room on a crowded desk. Working in a lateral posture for long periods of time, sometimes for many hours, puts an enormous amount of strain and pressure on the neck vertebrae. This can cause headaches, migraines and pain in other parts of the body. Angled screens and lateral postures put a constant load of strain on the spine and cause the body to be organized unnaturally with every part turned in a different direction.

   Solution: The best solution for such a situation is placing the computer screen directly in front of the user whenever possible, moving it aside when the user has to serve clients. This can be achieved by using a          multi-directional arm that allows for shifting the screen easily from one position to the other when necessary.

3. Screen distance – too close or too far – a small work area, sight problems, or a smallish desk may result in a computer screen placed too close to the user, causing eye damage and headaches.  On the other hand, placing the screen too far away strains the eyes and causes fatigue, irritability and anxiety.

   Solution: the computer screen should be positioned at a distance of 3 times the screen diagonal, or more simply, sitting at a straight-arm distance from the center of the screen.

4. Prolonged Sitting – Prolonged sitting when working can cause physical degeneration as well as a variety of back, shoulders and neck problems. Sitting for long stretches of time without movement compresses the vertebrae, which in turn exert pressure on the nerves. The muscles surrounding the vertebrae suffer from degeneration and blood flow is also impaired.

   Solution: It is recommended to change posture occasionally, stand up and stretch out at least once every half an hour, and incorporate into your working hours some sort of physical activity that is compatible with    working in front of a computer. The most recommended exercises are strengthening the abdomen and back muscles and performing back rotations.

5. The Correct Sitting Posture Myth– there is a myth that you should sit with your upper body straight up at 90 degrees toward the feet. This is a serious mistake. Actually it’s much better to sit with a 100 to 110 degrees angle – some sort of leaning back or reclining. The reason for that is that when you sit at 90 degrees, your entire upper body weight is exerted directly on your lower back vertebrae. Reclining at 100 to 110 degrees decreases significantly the pressure on the vertebrae.

   Solution: Recline!And the best solution of all:

6. Physical awareness – the most effective tool in preventing ergonomic damages is the development of physical awareness. Developing such awareness under professional guidance can help you purchase cost effective equipment suited to your needs, and may improve your productivity, and prevent health issues.

Gil and Dalit Ben Tovim are renowned ergonomic consultants and trainers who serve Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller corporations and organizations. They are the official Google Israel ergonomic consultants and they work with other global corporations including; NDC of Newscorp and Johnson & Johnson. The team has also partnered with hi-tech companies such as ECI, Aladdin and Nice and government institutions.

For more information about Dalit Ben Tovim, contact her at DalitATergo4u.com,  and please visit the ergo4u website. Make sure you check out the Ergocloud, an ergonomic forearm support by ergo4u Ltd.

Want to stay in-the-know?  Subscribe to The Adsmarket Blog by email!

How to Choose an Affiliate Program

Learning how to choose an affiliate program is an important step to earning money

online. There is much competition among people trying to earn revenue as well as

affiliate programs to assist you in this endeavor. 



Here are the tips to choosing an affiliate program:



1. Choose programs that offer hot products – items that people are buying and

that are popular among online buyers. This is an easy step because you can learn

the trends just by reading any social media sites, blogs and watching what is selling

on auction sites for example. The only caveat is that these products change

frequently. 



2. Research the affiliate programs you are interested in. Learn if they have clear

information about their payments and if there are many complaints about them. 



3. Choose a two-tier program. This is where you earn money from the referrals

you send to the affiliate program as well as their business.



4. Make use of mentors. Even seasoned marketers need advice.For example, 

many affiliate marketers and bloggers are always willing to advise others

and make connections. Finding an affiliate program that they endorse is often a

good way to get started.



5. Choose a program that provides support that available to you via phone and

email. You want a partner to guide you along and help you to earn money and

avoid mistakes.



Deciding on the best affiliate program is vital to earning revenue and maintaining

that revenue stream. Research, get advice and make use of mentors. Soon you

may be one of the Super Affiliates too.



Connie Roberts aka ConnieFoggles is the author of 3 blogs, including 

Brain Foggles, her product review blog, and is now writing

at MurrayNewlands.com 

Landing Page Optimization: A Tutorial from XTEND

Why is landing page optimization still important? Get ready for landing page
optimization bootcamp!

It is very simple – more revenue! Take a look at the example below to understand
the magnitude:

A $10K a month media buy generating 50K monthly landing page
visitors converting at 3% will generate revenue of $52,500 (based on a $35 Life
Time Value). Let’s assume a 20% improvement which will increase the conversion
rate to 3.6%, and will increase revenue generated from the media buy to $63,000.
A $10,500 monthly revenue lift over one year will lift total revenue to $126,000!

Before coming to XTEND, I worked at Amadesa (a website testing company),
and in many optimization projects we frequently experienced revenue boosts
ranging from 15% to over 100% with the majority of improvements in the 20-60%
range. So if we want to be optimistic with this example, and assume a 40% lift we
could generate an additional $252,000 a year! That isn’t small potatoes…

Walk Before You Run

Landing page optimization can be complex but once you get the hang of it the
results start becoming addictive. Like anything in life you need to walk before you
run, and practice makes perfect. Landing page optimization or any page or flow
optimization can be confusing as there are many variables to take into
consideration:

1. Should one start with split testing or multivariate testing?
2. What page elements should I test?
3. How many versions of each page element should one test?
4. Do I have enough traffic to reach statistical significance?
5. Should tests be segmented by media source, geography, day of the
   week etc?
6. Do I need to use a new technology or service provider for testing? If so
   which one?

If an organization does not have experience testing, it is recommend to start with a
simple split test or A/B test of the main element on a landing page such as the
layout’s (template) unique selling point (USP) or pictures. It is very important to
test the main elements as they will most likely have the highest impact on the
conversion rate. Make sure each element version in a test is visibly different from
each other, if the changes aren’t bold enough and the versions are only subtly
different then most likely the results will not be significant.

Once you get the handle of split testing you should use more advanced
methodologies such as multivariate (MVT) and traffic segmentation. These

techniques will enable you to test hundreds of combinations of landing pages
as well as traffic sources and other sub segments such as Geography, Browser
type, time of day etc.

Success Will Come

Persistency pays off. Make sure you persist, as it can take a few tests until you get
the handle of what page elements are the most impacting. Also, guiding your
creative team to design and write ideas outside of the box might take some practice.

Remember that you are testing, therefore it is important to experiment outside
stringent brand guidelines as you never know what will make a user respond and
take action.

Test in Waves…

As traffic is usually limited and testing many page elements can be a daunting task,
I recommend testing in waves. Your first wave of testing might be only for the
page layout (template) and your second wave can be for the main graphic and
USP. Your third wave might still be for the main graphic or image but this time you
will test bolder images. In each wave you should strive to learn something, and
even if you don’t gain a lift in conversion rate you can still learn. If your conversion
rate dropped you learned that the tested elements do have impact, therefore you
should continue to test these elements but make sure to create versions that are
different. If the tested elements had no impact (the conversion rate didn’t change)
you should test different elements in your subsequent waves. Basically each wave
provides an opportunity to build on the results and conclusions of your previous
waves until you’ve reached satisfactory results.

The single most important aspect
of optimization is patience and persistence – it will most likely take you a few tests
to see first successes but as shown in the above example it pays off big time.

Useful Links
Tips and tricks from optimization experts:

1. Google Website Optimizer FAQ’s
2. Jonathan Mendez – Founder of Omniture Test and Target one of the first
   Optimization Platforms.
3. Tim Ash – Author of the “Landing Page Optimization” book
4. Bryan Eisenberg of future now

Web site optimization platforms:

1. Amadesa – A complete platform for website optimization and personalization
2. Omniture – From analytics to optimization a complete suite of online
   marketing technologies
3. SiteSpect – None Java script based A/B and Multivariate testing platform
4. Google Website Optimizer – Google’s free website testing and
   optimization tool.

Tools:

1. Website Optimization ROI Calculator
2. Traffic Estimators

Consultancies

1. Conversion Rate Experts – international conversion consulting company.
   Google Website Optimizer Authorized Consultants.
2. Widemile – Multivariate testing for agencies.
3. Maxymiser – UK based Optimization Company.

Dov Yarkoni is the VP of Business Development and Sales at XTEND

We thank Dov Yarkoni for this post. It originally appeared on the
Xtend Blog on October 19, 2009

Tips for the Most Conversions: Ad Size

This is a guest post by Gal Topaz, an account manager at XTEND. You can view
XTEND’s blog here.

Hi Adsmarket Blog Readers,

This being my first guest post for the Adsmarket Blog, I wanted to make sure my
experience working with an ad network like XTEND would contribute to the
audience of an affiliate network like Adsmarket. There are so many things that ad

networks and affiliate networks have in common! So, to start off, I wanted to share
with you my thoughts on their recently released “Global Benchmark Report 2009″,
which, in summary, finds that bigger is not always better when it comes to ad size.

Interestingly, Eyeblaster found that standard banners achieved an average
click-through-rate of 0.1% worldwide, compared with 0.3% for rich media ads. So
if used correctly, the rich media banners have a much higher ROI. From our
experience on XTEND’s ad network, bigger banner sizes have always been equal
to higher click-thru-rates and better performance. This trend was also found in a
study conducted by the IAB [i]. It was found that larger ad units are 25% more
effective in key metrics.

I can use XTEND as a recent example. We are seeing increasing numbers of
Publishers that are offering larger and larger ad sizes in the hope of increasing
their revenue. Advertisers (assuming they have a limited budget and resources)
are facedwith the decision to invest in larger-sized regular banners or rich media
(which, due to their interactivity, make the creatives more appealing).

Of course, size does have an impact on rich media banners but it is not the best
indicator for their performance. What we came to realize is that when adding rich
media to banners, ROI may improve, but the equation becomes more complex.
The report indicates that the effectiveness of rich media banners has much more
to do with creative and placement than it does with size.

What is important about this report is the performance trade-off between size and
creativity. To add a personal note from my experience, I think content is the name
of the game. Size is never as important as a good creative, so I suggest spending
more time creating original content and detecting online trends. Stay simple in
creative and have users put their imagination to work for you.

[i] 1 Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Available at: http://www.iab.net/about_
the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/4426