3 Little Quick “Tricks” That I Use All The Time

Everybody loves shortcuts and I am no exception.

Here are 3 little “tricks” for you that I use on a regular basis. They are not only very quick and easy to do but can also save you a lot of time once you put them into practice.

1. Behind The Scenes Of A Product

How many times have you clicked on a link in an email and been sent to a sales page which might look something like this?

The problem is that there are no controls on the video to fast forward or rewind and you aren’t even told how long the video is!

Very annoying 🙁

So instead of sitting through 20 minutes of over-hyped video about the next get rich quick scheme, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Look for a link which says, “JVs” or “Affiliates”. Something like this:

Click on that link and you’ll usually be taken to the affiliate page where the product owner will give you more information on the product about what it does, the conversions, any upsells and so on.

For more hypey internet marketing products (which I generally recommend you don’t purchase anyway) the JV page will nearly always tell you more about the product than the actual sales page does!

2. Use Google To Search The Pages On Any Site

Have you ever gone to a website and found it extremely difficult to find the information you are looking for? Maybe there isn’t even a search function to use or if there is it’s pretty hard to use.

If so, you can use a special function in Google to solve this problem.

Say you were on gothamgolfblog.com (a random example) and you wanted to look for advice for beginner golfers.

Simply go to Google and do this:

So you’re just putting “site:” and then the web address of the website you want to search. It works for any website that is indexed in Google.

Extra tip: This is always worth doing for sales pages you are sent to – it’s amazing what you can find sometimes! 😉

3. Find The Theme Of Any WordPress Sites

Many times I go to a website which has a rather nice design and layout.

I scroll to the bottom and see “Powered by WordPress” and then immediately start wondering what Theme that site is using.

Here’s an easy way to find out.

1. Right click on the page and select “View page source” (or similar):

2. In the horrible looking code hold down the CTRL button and tap “F” on your keyboard to perform a search.

3. Type “themes” into the search box and look at the result.

See the bit of text after the “/themes/”?

In this example it says “freshnews”. That’s the theme!

For more details on it, go to Google and search for “freshnews wordpress theme” (without the quotes) and you can see if it’s free, premium, the features it has etc etc.

I hope these little tricks help save you some time as they do for me! Please Like, Tweet and drop a comment below if you enjoyed this. I’d love to hear about any tricks like this that you use yourself as well… 😉

46 Comments

Dave on October 16, 2012 at 12:21 pm

or just use this website and copy/paste the url to find out what theme it is

http://whatwpthemeisthat.com/
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 12:45 pm
  
  Hi Dave,
  
  Great tip – thanks for sharing!
  
  Cheers – Rob.
Laurie on October 16, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Thanks Rob. I often wondered how I could fast forward the over hyped sales videos. That will save a lot of time. All the best, Laurie.
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 12:46 pm
  
  It’s a pleasure Laurie, glad you found it useful! 🙂
  
  Cheers, Rob.
JohnTheJock on October 16, 2012 at 12:51 pm

Thanks for the tips Rob.

I already use #3, but I REALLY like tip #1
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 1:46 pm
  
  It’s very interesting what you find sometimes John! Thanks for your comments. Cheers, Rob.
Dave E Wilkes on October 16, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Thanks for the tips, Rob.
I didn’t know about the Search into the page source, and the clicking on the affiliates link is useful, although some affiliate info a bit hyped up.. it is a much better alternative than being faced with a video with no controls and no way of knowing how long it will play for.
In the past I have sometimes just let the video play through in a different browser and with the sound turned down. A link often comes up towards the end of the video and so I can just click on that to see what comes up
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm
  
  Hi Dave,
  
  Another good tip there, thanks for sharing and glad you found this useful.
  
  Cheers -Rob.
Paul O'Neill on October 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm

Thanks Rob,

Great, useful content as usual!
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm
  
  You’re welcome Paul, thanks for letting me know 🙂
David on October 16, 2012 at 1:19 pm

Thanks for all these tips. I have just finished off my main book will get ebook cover from fiverr. Then its’ all systems go.
Thanks
David
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm
  
  Well done on the action David – good job! Cheers, Rob.
John Hammond on October 16, 2012 at 1:30 pm

Great info Rob, very useful.
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 2:50 pm
  
  Thanks John – Long time no speak, I hope you are well and the projects are coming together nicely! Cheers, Rob.
Marcia on October 16, 2012 at 2:44 pm

Very good – thanks 🙂
Esp. liked the method for finding WordPress themes and also the website contributed by Dave.

Another tactic I have used for those annoying hypey videos (if there is not an affiliate link – which I have also used) is to try and close the page soon after the video starts playing and see if you get any “stay on this page” special offer pop ups. They will often give you a discounted price and more information. Sometimes you have to attempt to leave more than once to get the “bottom line” offer. If I decide it’s worth watching the video I can always go back to the original url and/or go thru the funnel again if the offer looks good enough.

Also – when you try to close the page on some of the sales videos you will get a text version which I much prefer since I can scan quickly.

Cheers, Marcia
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 2:48 pm
  
  Hi Marcia,
  
  Excellent tip on the exit pop, thanks for sharing!
  
  Great to see you here on the blog too – welcome along 🙂
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Joe Piroli on October 16, 2012 at 3:02 pm

Hi Rob

Neat trick with the over hyped video, I will be using that in the future.

regards Joe
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 4:42 pm
  
  Yep – works a treat Joe 😉 Thanks for your comment. Cheers, Rob.
Diane on October 16, 2012 at 3:41 pm

Rob,

Really great tips. So useful, and I’m sure most people wouldn’t think of them or know how to do them. But they’re so useful once you know them.

Thank you very much.

Diane
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 4:43 pm
  
  Hi Diane,
  
  You are very welcome – glad you found this useful!
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Graham on October 16, 2012 at 5:09 pm

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the content – glad to hear that the weekend went well! If I recall correctly, Chris Farrell used to advocate utlising the page source view to access keywords – very useful when you’re not sure what to use in your own blog!

Best wishes,

Graham
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 5:20 pm
  
  Hi Graham,
  
  Yes, it’s a useful thing but not much talked about as people know that people don’t generally like looking at code. Easy really though!
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Sydona on October 16, 2012 at 5:09 pm

That’s one of the things I admire about you Rob. Never any pointless ‘Hot Air’, No ‘Waffle’, just straight to the point.
Pure quality!

Thanks,
Sydona.
Reply
- Rob on October 16, 2012 at 5:21 pm
  
  Hi Sydona,
  
  You are very kind – thank you and very pleased you enjoyed the “tricks” 🙂
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Gary on October 16, 2012 at 6:45 pm

Nice tips Rob,Thanks, They will come in handy.
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 7:56 am
  
  You’re welcome Gary, they are very handy indeed 🙂 Cheers – Rob.
Mike on October 16, 2012 at 7:54 pm

Hi Rob,
Liked that 1st tip – those videos always annoyed me. I generally refused to watch them.
Regards, Mike
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 7:57 am
  
  Agreed Mike, especially when you don’t have a lot of time. I tend to turn them off too! Cheers, Rob.
Ismail on October 16, 2012 at 9:30 pm

I liked the tips and am sure going to save time.
Thank you
Kindest regards
Ismail
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 7:53 am
  
  Thanks Ismail, glad you found them useful 🙂 Cheers, Rob.
Brian on October 17, 2012 at 9:49 am

Thanks Rob,

I hope you enjoyed Godfather 2.

Brian
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 9:51 am
  
  Certainly did Brian – I am told it’s the best one although believe it or not I haven’t seen Part 3 yet so I shall reserve judgement!
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Paul Gronow on October 17, 2012 at 11:03 am

Nice one Rob, useful tips cheers,
Paul
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 2:01 pm
  
  Nice to see you here on the blog Paul, I hope the projects are moving along well! Cheers, Rob.
IanWhite on October 17, 2012 at 11:47 am

Rob, I think I may have to stop following you now I’ve discovered you’ve never watched Godfather 3 … disgraceful!

Good job your info is so good … you maybe redeemed 😉
Reply
- Rob on October 17, 2012 at 2:01 pm
  
  Haha – I was a bit embarrassed about admitting that actually. Seems I’m the only one!
  
  Thanks for commenting 🙂
  
  Rob.
Paul on October 17, 2012 at 4:01 pm

Hey Rob
Great to see you again at the KISS workshop. Thanks as always for the handy tips.
Best
Paul
Reply
colin on October 17, 2012 at 7:33 pm

I havn’t seen 1 or 2 either !

Nice relevant info – thank you Rob
Generally , the longer the video the more useless the info. The purveyors substitute length and hype for good content. I just don.t bother with them

Kind regards

Colin
Reply
- Rob on October 18, 2012 at 9:16 am
  
  Cheers Colin and thanks for your comment!
  
  Rob.
Satish on October 18, 2012 at 1:33 am

Useful tips, these. I’ve often wanted to know which WP themes were used, and now I can find out.
About those videos without controls, I am annoyed with marketers who do this and close the browser window immediately I am not interested in anything offered by persons who do not respect me and my time.
Reply
- Rob on October 18, 2012 at 9:17 am
  
  Hi Satish,
  
  Great to see you here on the blog. Yes, it’s a funny one as the tend to use this because it obviously works but at the same time they repel many others. I’ve never done it and don’t think I will.
  
  Cheers, Rob.
Dan on October 18, 2012 at 1:10 pm

When I get a sales video, I click on close ( red “X” ) and get a question do I want to stay on the page or leave the page. I select “stay on page”. I don’t get the video back. I get the transcript of the vid plus other info that I can quickly scan through.
Reply
- Rob on October 18, 2012 at 2:27 pm
  
  Hi Dan,
  
  That is known as an “exit pop” – a way to recover traffic exiting from a webpage. Quite often you’ll get something as you describe or maybe even a discount or different offer as well!
  
  Great tip there and thanks for commenting!
  
  Cheers – Rob.
Peter on October 22, 2012 at 6:40 pm

Hi Rob

Thanks for the tips – especially the video one!

Peter
Reply
Virend on January 29, 2021 at 6:25 am

Great tips. Love ’em.
Reply
- Rob Cornish on January 29, 2021 at 9:40 am
  
  Thank Virend, glad you like them 🙂