Affiliate Marketing Is Dead (Again)

It seems like every year or so the topic of whether Affiliate Marketing is dead or not comes up. It’s usually started by someone that makes some sensational claims in a blog post or interview. I won’t name names, but there have been a rash of these lately, so I felt like a response was necessary.

So is Affiliate Marketing dead? In a word: NO!

In fact, I would venture to say it’s the best it has ever been. The sheer amount of opportunity out there is staggering, and it’s only growing on a daily basis (not shrinking). People like to talk about “the good old days” when things were easier. But they have been doing that for years. It’s always last year that the money was made, and now we are all doomed because Yahoo / Google / Facebook / MSN changed their policy. Funny though, the next year, we’re all still here.

Marketing methods do come in and fall out like the changing of the tide, but the whole point of being an affiliate is to be creative. If the big ad agencies had the patience and ability to try all of the new traffic sources and creatives that affiliates do, then we might be in trouble. But they aren’t doing that. There will always be a place for creative individuals that have a talent for optimizing campaigns. That’s essentially what we are: optimizers.

You can call it whatever you want, but as long as I am making money from the internet by placing ads and getting paid for my sales or leads, then I’m a happy camper. Stop worrying about whether or not the industry is dead. The people that are making money aren’t sitting around reading these blog posts anyway. They are setting up new campaigns and laughing all the way to the bank.

Which would you rather be, worried or rich?

Getting Paid to Play

Yesterday was my 8th anniversary of being married to my amazing and beautiful wife, Amanda. We’ve been through some trying times lately (see her blog for more info on that), so I wanted to do something really special for her to celebrate the occasion. We had a wonderful dinner at the same restaurant that we went to on the night we got engaged, and we followed it up with a horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown Denver. To cap the evening off, we stayed in an amazing suite at the Hotel Monaco (which was where I asked her to marry me 8 years ago) and had Champagne with fresh strawberries for dessert.

Our suite at the Hotel Monaco

Our suite at the Hotel Monaco

Champagne & Strawberries

Champagne & strawberries for dessert

So what does this have to do with Affiliate Marketing? Everything! Not only did I have an amazing night of relaxation and celebration with my wife, I also made enough money to pay for whole thing while I was doing it. You can’t put a price on that. It’s that type of freedom that makes this business the best one in the world, and it’s nice to get a reminder every now and then of what the rewards are for all of your hard work.

Successful Affiliates Create Their Own Luck

I’ve been reading lots of books lately about success, and I always look at them from the perspective of Affiliate Marketing. I’m still convinced that this business is the best one in the world, and I won’t be doing anything different any time soon. Even so, when you read inspiring stories of how people created success, you can always find nuggets to pull out and apply to your own business and life.

Luck

The only one of these posters that I would actually put on my wall.

The best tip that I have found lately that I think can be directly applied to Affiliate Marketing is this: successful (read “wealthy people”) create their own luck. For many people, when they look at someone like Bill Gates, they look at him and say, “He got lucky.” Same thing with Affiliates. They look at [insert name of most popular super affiliate at the moment] and think to themselves, “Man they got lucky. If I could have jumped into this business when they did and had that big campaign fall into my lap, then I could be making bank too.”

Not so.

The successful campaign, the “big one”, the huge moneymaker that sets the men apart from the boys in this industry, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. That’s just the visible part. These guys didn’t wake up one morning and stumble across that campaign by sheer dumb luck. What you don’t see is the hours spent setting up campaigns, the days testing campaigns, the weeks tweaking them, and the months trying out different offers and traffic sources that lead to that massive success.

Affiliate Marketing isn’t easy. You can’t logon to your laptop, press some buttons for 30 minutes, and expect money to come falling out. Are there people who make a good income spending only 30 minutes a day on it? Yes there are. But they didn’t get that way by spending 30 minutes a day. They most likely worked 12 hours a day on those campaigns until they got them to the point where they could be maintained at a high level. Also, if you are resting on your laurels while you’ve got a big campaign running, you are just asking for a world of hurt when it dies (and it will someday).

My point is, don’t waste your time wishing that you were as lucky as somebody you know that is banking it with Affiliate Marketing. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. If you just got into this business when a massive campaign fell into your lap, you wouldn’t even know what to do with it. It’s the time spent learning that will let you maximize opportunities when you see them and take the money to the bank while you can.

Keep setting up campaigns, keep trying, keep failing, learn from your mistakes, rinse and repeat. That’s how the pros do it.

It’s Quiet… Too Quiet.

There has been a major lack of posts on this blog lately. Why is that? Quite simply, because I’ve been too busy making money to blog! I’ve found that my post frequency is inversely proportional to my income. When I’ve got lots of irons in the fire and paychecks are rolling in, I barely can squeak out a post every other week. But when I’m in plotting mode and thinking about the next campaign, sometimes I will post every single day because my brain is working overtime with ideas.

The good news is this: despite what you have heard, Affiliate Marketing is not dead. There is still plenty of money to be made out there, and most of it is in the same old verticals and niches that have been around for years now. So if you are struggling still trying to find that first big break, do yourself a favor. Spend some time studying what people are doing in the big niches. I’ve heard them called “evergreen” niches because they seem to have a never-ending demand.

TMNT Pizza Time

Raphael truly understands the concept of supply and demand

The plus side to these verticals is that they have so much potential and longevity. The down side is that there is more competition. But competition can be good. It keeps everyone on their toes. The next question is obviously, “How do you beat the competition?”. The answer to that is simple as well: BE CREATIVE!

Just because there is a lot of competition on an offer or a niche does not mean that there is only one way to promote it. If there are too many people bidding on the offer domain in Traffic Vance, then take a different approach! Think of who the offer appeals to. Think demographically. Think globally. Think of new landing pages or different ways to sell the offer that aren’t so obvious. This is truly what separates the men from the boys in Affiliate Marketing.

The bottom line is this: people are making money hand over fist right now, every single day. Are you going to do what it takes to be one of them?

5 Things I Love About PPV

After I wrote my post called 5 Things I Hate About PPV, some people asked me to write about what I love about it. So here it goes.

1. You Can Bid On Anything

Any keyword or website that exists, you can bid on it. There is no other traffic source that allows you this type of freedom. For example, if you want to advertise on Wikipedia.org, you can. There’s no ads on it, so you can’t buy media on it and Google can’t serve AdSense on it. The only way to do it is with PPV. This allows you to get really creative and think outside the box with your campaigns to break away from the pack.

2. There Is Less Competition

Even though PPV has been one of the most talked-about and blogged-about traffic sources of the last couple of years, there are still far fewer advertisers utilizing it than PPC or traditional Media Buys. Less competition means more inventory and lower bid prices for the rest of us.

3. You Can Direct Link All You Want

Direct Linking has been all but impossible on Google for a long time now. This makes it hard to throw up a quick test campaign and see how an offer will convert. Even though usually Landing Pages beat out Direct Linking in the long run, it is definitely nice to have the option. I always split test a Direct Link versus a Landing Page to see what does better for each offer. You can never be sure until you try it.

4. Incredible Freedom With Your Ads & Creatives

It is super easy to get your ads approved. The only reason they disapprove ads is if they have prohibited content (see the Terms for your PPV network). There are no character limits, or size limits on images (other than the size of the entire browser window that pops). This means you can do things you can’t do on any other traffic source. On Google or Facebook you are limited to a short headline, a short description, and a tiny image (on FB). With PPV you can make the entire ad a big image with all the words you want on it and make the whole thing clickable. You can also add audio and video, which is unique to PPV as well.

5. There Are Less Copycat Advertisers

Even though there are now tools available that let you spy on some PPV campaigns, there is still way less copycatting going on than on practically any other traffic source. On Google, Facebook, Plenty of Fish, or anything else I can think of, you can just go to the site and see the ads that other people are running. This is why dating ads are so often copied on Facebook and then re-submitted ad infinitum (see what I did there?). It is still quite difficult to systematically spy on PPV campaigns, and you will have things run for much longer without getting copied.

The Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Posts of 2010

Here are, in my sole opinion, the Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Posts of 2010. Check these out for sure if you haven’t read them, and let me know what your favorite posts were in the comments!

#1 – The Lifecycle of an Internet Marketer (MrGreen.am)

This is the best post I have read all year. Go read it now. Bottom line.

#2 – Plenty of Fish. Plenty of Money – Part 1 (MrGreen.am)

This post was responsible for turning a whole bunch of new affiliates onto the possibilities of advertising on POF. It also has possibly the greatest photo and caption of any blog post ever.

#3 – An Easy $100 a Day Campaign (PPVPlaybook.com)

This one is about an older traffic method, but one that still works to this day. It is the best place to start for affiliates that have no money to get going with paid traffic.

#4 – Photoshop Guide for Affiliates (MrGreen.am)

I have referred back to this post so many times, I’ve got it bookmarked. I know I’ve got 3 posts from Mr Green in here, but these are some of the most useful posts ever.

#5 – I Am a Failure (PPVPlaybook.com)

Mindset is one of the most important parts of this industry. This post tells you why. They say that Edison failed at inventing the incandescent light bulb over 1,000 times before he finally got it right. Sometimes it can feel that way in Affiliate Marketing as well.

#6 – Getting Traffic For Submit Offers Example (Convert2Media.com)

An extremely practical and insightful post to help you think outside the box when it comes to promoting offers that have been around for a long time. You can apply this strategy to lots of offers, not just Email Submits.

#7 – Too Many Fish In The Sea With PPV (FinchSells.com)

Finch has a lot of great posts, but this one in particular is great. He’s got some very unique things to say about PPV.

#8 -How To Really Build a List and Keep Them Engaged (JustinDupre.com)

This post definitely got me thinking about different possibilities with list building. His example is a great one because it shows that you can go outside of the typical niches and verticals that everyone else focuses on.

#9 – Affiliate Tradeshow Floor Tips (Oooff.com)

Going to trade shows is a rite of passage for the Affiliate Marketer. Once you’ve got the ticket & hotel booked however, read this post and make a game plan for what you will do when you are actually on the show floor.

#10 – Outing Bankable Websites Affiliates Should Buy – Being Sold On Flippa (StackThatMoney.com)

As you have been reading in my Case Study, this post impressed me so much I decided to go out and buy a website just so I could try my hand at something different. There is excellent advice here that could lead to a solid income that will survive no matter which campaigns come and go.

An Affiliate’s Creed*

Dean Alfange

Dr. Dean Alfange

I do not choose to be a common man.

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand [tall], proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”


“An American Creed” by Dean Alfange – Originally published in This Week Magazine, later reprinted in The Reader’s Digest, October 1952

*This was not written by an affiliate or about affiliates, but I think it applies.

Exposed: How Shady Networks Shave Leads

The other night I was relaxing at home after work and watching a movie. I have my AIM forwarded to my cell phone in case anyone needs to get in touch with me in the evenings. So I get this text from a guy that went by “Nicky Noodle”. Check this out:

Nicky Noodle: Josh, my name is nick, I run a service for 17 networks currently, I’m not sure if getads shaves leads, however we provide a service
Nicky Noodle: if you are interested we can have you set up within 24hrs
Me: A lead shaving service?
Nicky Noodle: correct
Nicky Noodle: our system works on any platform and you can shave leads by offer by entering a %
Nicky Noodle: most networks using our service shave 15%-30%
Nicky Noodle: we recommend 20%
Me: How did you hear about us?
Nicky Noodle: When we are out of networks from word of mouth we go affiliatepaying and approch a few networks
Nicky Noodle: we never share our clients with anyone, or name names ever.
Nicky Noodle: set up time takes less then 24 hours
Me: Sorry, we are not interested.
Nicky Noodle: np

Now I’m not naive, I know that there are networks out there that shave leads. Even so, I never would have guessed that somebody has started up a 3rd party service to cater to these shady networks and provide a way for them to shave even more leads away from their affiliates. As an affiliate myself, this really pisses me off. Sort of like when Packet Stuffer came out. It never ceases to amaze me how people will try to cheat each other out of a buck instead of working together to make more money and legitimize the industry as a whole.

The most interesting part of this conversation to me was that he has already got 17 networks that are using this service. I wish I could have found a way to get his client list from him, but I felt like if I went any further in the conversation or showed any interest (just to lead him on) then people would accuse my network of trying to shave leads.

The moral of the story is this: know who you are doing business with. The best way that you can protect yourself from lead shaving and other shadiness is to build strong relationships with your Affiliate Managers and your networks so that you know you can trust them. Also, if you want to make sure you aren’t being shaved, just split test the offer that you are currently running with the same offer at another network. It doesn’t automatically mean that you are being shaved if there is a discrepancy, since offers will often convert differently across multiple networks. However, if you find that you are consistently seeing anywhere from 15-30% less conversions on a bunch of offers from a single network, run somewhere else.

I’m a firm believer that integrity will win in the long run. I hope that someday we won’t have to worry about this type of thing happening in our industry. But until then, keep an eye on your stats to make sure that you are getting paid as much as you deserve for your traffic.

PPC Is Dead, Long Live PPV

It’s funny to see the different cycles that affiliate marketers go through when it comes to traffic sources. One thing will be hot for a while, then it’s dead and the next big thing is the only way to make money. As you know I personally love PPV and use it to promote things every day. But whatever happened to that old stalwart of traffic sources, PPC?

I work at an affiliate network, and I know from experience that there are very few affiliates running PPC these days. It’s true that Google hates affiliates, for the most part. They made it extremely hard for people to make money on their platform. There are some people running offers on Google, but certainly a lot less.

Steampunk iMac

This steampunk iMac has nothing to do with PPC or PPV. It's just awesome.

So why am I bringing this up? It may be time to take a second look at PPC (yes the title of this post is sarcastic). I’m not saying to drop PPV, but there is still lots of money to be made on Google and also Bing/Yahoo. These are some of the largest traffic sources in the world. Their sheer volume trumps all the PPV networks put together. It’s going to take more work. You will have to build quality landing pages and deal with the possibility of a Google slap. But for those who persevere, the rewards can be great.

Don’t count the PPC engines out. They aren’t down for the count just yet. While the majority of affiliates have moved on to greener easier pastures, that leaves a lot of inventory out there for the open-minded and experienced affiliate. Go get it.