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?

Low Cost / High Traffic Niche Markets on DirectCPV

DirectCPV has been sending out some cool newsletters lately. It seems like they are really trying to step up their game and get more people to run traffic with them by actually being helpful! Novel idea, eh? Their latest newsletter actually has two great pieces of information in it so I thought I would share with you in case you aren’t a subscriber.

According to DirectCPV, the top 7 niches that have lots of traffic and not much competition are:

  1. Shopping
  2. Gaming
  3. Sports
  4. Social Networking
  5. Entertainment
  6. Dating
  7. Adult

Honestly I can’t believe that Gaming, Entertainment, and Dating are on this list. Those are all massive niches for CPA offers. Gaming and Dating are self-explanatory, and Entertainment is easy to promote IQ Quiz offers with. You should be able to make thousands of dollars using these three niches alone. If you get creative, you can definitely promote CPA offers on Shopping, Sports, and Social Networking domains as well. It just might take a bit more landing page and campaign design to capture the audience’s attention.

DirectCPV has got the actual domains that have lots of traffic just waiting for bidders listed as well. To see them, just login to your account, click on Advertiser Resources, and choose Low Cost Domains. As an added bonus, they have launched a new Domain Research Tool. You can type in any keyword, and it will give you a list of domains with lots of traffic for that keyword.

I get emails every single day from people asking me where to find the best targets to bid on or how they can make their campaigns more profitable, so I thought I would share this to give you a leg up. There’s no affiliate links for DirectCPV in this post. I just thought it was cool of a PPV network to reach out with some helpful advice for their advertisers.

When EPC Isn’t The Most Important Thing…

When affiliates first get into this industry, they are usually always in search of offers with the highest payout. They figure if the payout is higher then they will automatically make more money. Obviously that’s not the case, since people can bank with $2 gaming offers even harder than someone running a $50 free trial offer.

A much better metric to go by is EPC (earnings per click). If you are making $0.50 a click on an offer, that is much better than $0.25 a click, right? Seems simple enough. It’s true, EPC is a much better measurement of the quality of a campaign that simply going by the offer payout. But is it the absolute best method? Nope.

Here’s the problem. Even if an offer gets $0.50 a click instead of $0.25 a click, you might still want to run the $0.25 offer. Why? Because it may get more clicks. This is where eCPM (estimated cost per mille, or estimated cost per thousand impressions). This one can be a bit trickier to figure out than EPC, where you just divide earnings by the number of clicks. But if you are willing to do the math, eCPM will give you the most accurate picture of which offer makes more money.

Here’s how to figure your eCPM:

eCPM = (revenue/number of impressions delivered)*1000

This really works to find out which offer is working the best for you on a landing page with multiple offers, or if you are split testing two different offers on a landing page. It doesn’t really work if you are just direct linking, unless you are doing PPC and you want to count your ad impressions as the impressions, but that gets a little dicey. So if you are using landers, get calculating and see what you find out, you may be surprised by the results.

How to Strategically Create and Optimize Landing Pages

This is a guest post by Danny Schwartz, lead designer at landing page design team WePixelate.

As a landing page designer and former affiliate, I’ve got the best of both worlds and a ton of knowledge when it comes to creating and optimizing landing pages for conversions.

One thing I’ve come across time and time again in the affiliate industry is that unlike traffic sources, people tend to not approach landing pages and optimizing with a degree of strategy. Perhaps this is because people in general tend to look towards increasing traffic to increase profits rather then optimizing landing pages, or perhaps it’s because there doesn’t seem to be an exact logical path one can take when designing landing pages to ensure that they achieve the maximum level of potential they possibly can.

People tend to approach landing page optimization and creation with the mindset of “oh, I’ll just change out that call to action there” and “hmm, let me try a pink background instead of white”, essentially it’s an approach which favors tracking random elements, as oppose to tracking elements that have a logical basis for being changed.

What do I mean by this? I mean start thinking strategically about which elements are going to have the biggest impact on your conversions, and change them, not the color of some random icon on your page.

Here’s a little insight kind of steps I take to create and optimize landing pages for my clients. I will be throwing in an example of a dating website for a campaign that is specifically targeted towards males that are between 30 – 35 for a Facebook campaign.

  • Create 6 or so completely different styles of landing page, that all deliver exactly the same message, for example “Free exclusive account, only 1 left, find your match now” with a description of the account they will be getting. One page may for example contain a picture of a 30 year old professional kind of guy making out with a similar girl, another may contain a set of pictures of girls who are “using this service”, another will have a picture of a really sexy girl lying down, each page having a different call to action and fonts and what not. Point being, each page is drastically different, with the only similarity being the message.
  • Once my client has tested each one to a reasonable standard, e.g. 100 clicks, I then take the best converting page and change out the message that’s delivered to the visitor, taking the offer they’re looking for and spinning it into a different perspective, so for example I’ll have “We’ve got the kind of women you’ve only dreamed of” or “Women so sexy that you won’t need to Facebook stalk people any more” or “Over 1,273 people have found their perfect woman”. Point is again, drastic differences so that differences can really be felt.
  • My client then tests each new page to a reasonable standard, e.g. 100 clicks and tells me which one is converting the best. I then take that page begin changing smaller elements and working with the client to do back and forth tests, until we reach a point where continuing to optimize is no longer worth mine or my clients time, e.g. where any changes are too small to make any significant impact.

This is what I define is a strategic way to create and optimize pages. Unfortunately, being affiliates, there’s a certain “peak” level, where optimization becomes ineffective due to merchant landing pages play a significant if not, the most important role in attaining those conversions. Pre-selling and pushing visitors to make a purchase or fill in a lead form is one thing, but ultimately, it depends on the merchant to secure that lead or sale.

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.

Case Study: Buying A Site on Flippa for Profit – Part 2

It’s been about 12 days since I started this Case Study (check out Part 1 here), so I thought it was about time for an update. Unfortunately due to the holidays, I haven’t been able to spend as much time working on the site as I wanted to.

I really haven’t made many changes to the site itself at all, other than some small on-page SEO fixes. The main things that I have done are link building and social bookmarking. If you don’t have the time to do social bookmarking yourself (like me), I highly recommend Red_Virus’s $25 package. I have used Amit for several projects and he always does a great job. I’ve had a site get ranked just from these bookmarks alone.

Here’s what the traffic has looked like since I took over the site:

Case Study - Traffic Stats

Click to enlarge

As you can see, the site has a good amount of Pageviews and a decently low Bounce Rate. So the people that get to the site seem to be sticking around and browsing for a bit. I just need to continue increasing the traffic. The good news is the trend is definitely upward for overall visitors.

As far as monetization, the affiliate banner I put on it has failed so far. It gets barely any clicks and it has not generated a single lead. I’ll have to test out different banners or offers to optimize this. For AdSense, it’s averaging about $0.75 – $1.00 a day right now. So at this rate, if I leave it alone, it will pay back the money I spent on it in about 2 years. Obviously that’s no good, so more optimization will follow!

The next step is to start an email list so that I can capture addresses and send them relevant articles and affiliate offers on an ongoing basis. That’s all I’ve got to report for now!

5 Things I Hate About PPV

1. When People Press “Make My Bid Highest” on TrafficVance

Like I said in another post, this is the absolute dumbest thing you could ever do. Every time you hit that button on TrafficVance, you are raising the bid price by 5x higher of an increment than is necessary. There’s nothing worse than logging in to check my targets and seeing that I have been outbid by $0.005, because I know exactly what caused it. Stop the madness now!

2. Waiting for Ads To Be Approved

It can be very frustrating waiting for your ads to be approved by the PPV network, especially with Lead Impact. At least with TrafficVance or DirectCPV, if you are very impatient you can hit up your rep and tell them to approve it. With Lead Impact though, you are stuck waiting for up to 72 hours or longer. That makes me pull out my hair.

3. A Great Converting Target with Barely Any Traffic

There are lots of little gems out there in the world of PPV targets. Great URLs and Keywords that convert like white hot fire, with an ROI of over 1,000%. The only problem is they only get one or two views a day. There is absolutely no way on earth to fix this, but they are always there tantalizing you with the promise of ridiculous profits.

4. PPV Networks Don’t Allow Download Offers

Before you start jumping down my throat, yes I know that some PPV networks somewhere do allow some download offers. But my favorite ones still like to deny my favorite kind of download offers: the very profitable ones. So that leaves me either trying to run some lame download offer that maybe might work, or running with a lesser PPV network that maybe might work. It’s not worth the hassle.

5. Bid Prices Can Be Ludicrously High On Competitive Targets

It’s no secret that PPV isn’t the cheapest form of traffic on the planet. Even at the minimum bid of $0.01 per view on TrafficVance, you are still paying $10 CPM. That is a very high price in the world of display advertising. But when people start bidding $0.40 or more per view on a target, you are talking about a $400 CPM. That is insanity! That’s not to say that there aren’t some offers that could still be profitable at a bid of $0.40, it’s just that a lot of times these bids are driven up by people who are losing money hand over fist and have no idea what to do about it.

So there you have it! My list of 5 things I hate about PPV. Be sure to take these all with a grain of salt, because as I’m sure you know, I love PPV. It’s my favorite type of traffic and that’s not going to change anytime soon. But if I could have 5 wishes come true for Christmas, it would be to change these things.

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.