Author Archives: Josh Todd

affiliate.com’s Economic Bailout

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Today affiliate.com announced their Revenue Stimulus Program.  Here is the official announcement:

Affiliate Economic Bailout

In today’s challenging economic climate, it seems like just about every industry is getting some kind of bailout program.  But, we haven’t heard anything proposed for the Affiliate Marketing Industry.

Rather than waiting for the Congress to institute a bailout program for our Affiliates – we thought we would just do it ourselves.

Introducing the
affiliate.com Revenue Stimulus Program

Our industry was built on the principles of self reliance and innovation.  In the tradition of those guiding principles, we have instituted the affiliate.com Revenue Stimulus Program to help our Affiliates generate some extra income this holiday season.  We believe that the best way to help Affiliates drive more revenue is to give them an incredible payout increase on one of the hottest offers in the industry.

Beginning today (Monday, December 15, 2008) at 10:00am Mountain Time, we will be raising the payout on Ringtones.net (6013) to an unheard of $16.  (This new payout will remain in effect until December 31, 2008.)

Ringtones.net
Payout Increase – $16
(From December 15 – December 31, 2008)

Take advantage of our Revenue Stimulus Program today and watch your revenue soar this holiday season!

This is the time to make some serious money with Ringtones.net.  I’m not just saying this because I work for affiliate.com, this is a HUGE payout on a Ringtones offer.  I remember when Flycell used to pay something similar and people were going crazy for it.  If you already promote ringtones, you owe it to yourself to switch out your links for the next 2 weeks and enjoy the extra revenue boost.  Nothing starts off the new year like an infusion of cash.

Now go make some money!

Affiliate Conferences – Are They Worth It?

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affiliate summitIf you have anything to do with the internet marketing or affiliate marketing industries, then you know that Affiliate Summit West is coming up very soon in January.  Thousands of affiliate marketers, networks, advertisers, merchants, and vendors are going to be heading to the Rio in sunny Las Vegas to meet up.

What you may not know is how big of an effect going to Affiliate Summit or one of the other large conferences (like ad:tech) could have on your business.  Is it worth it to shell out your hard-earned bucks for a plane ticket, hotel room, plus the price of the ticket (which could run anywhere from $350 to $2,000+)?

The answer is yes! These events are absolutely priceless when measured in the amount of opportunities you have to network & expand your horizons.  That might sound a little vague, but consider the following…ad-tech

Affiliate marketing is more and more about relationships.  With 300+ ad networks out there competing for your business, there is bound to be some overlap, and there are going to be a few (if not many) offers shared between the networks.  So what do you do?  Is it better to bounce around from network to network chasing an extra $0.25 per lead?  Or should you stick with one network and give 100% of your traffic to them no matter what the other guys are doing?

I would say neither.  A good affiliate marketer must always be on the lookout for the next big thing, but at the same time it is essential that you develop strong relationships in the industry.  This is what will give you the upper edge.  Imagine if you had been able to jump into the Acai or Ringtones markets a good 3-6 months before the competition.  You would already have found the profitable keywords, you would have your campaigns going full tilt, and at that point the new guys coming in will have to go through or over you before they can get a piece of the market.  That is a very good position to be in.

blogworldSo how does this tie into going to a conference?  Simple.  You will have the opportunity to meet with network reps, AMs, and advertisers in person.  This is so much better than trying to chase someone down over the phone or email.  You will leave a much longer-lasting impression on the people you meet, and a good friendship/connection in this business could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.  Also, a lot of the big networks and advertisers use the events to unveil their new products/campaigns/announcements to the affiliates.  You will have a leg up on the competition because you will be there and get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

search engine strategiesFinally, if you are at the conference and staying at the hotel where it is being held, hanging around at the hotel bar can be an excellent way to network with people.  I would even say that if you are within driving distance of the conference, it might be worth it to take a drive over to the hotel, just to hang out there and network.  After a couple of drinks, you would be surprised what kind of information will come out of the mouths of “super affiliates”.

So there you have it.  If you haven’t been to one of these yet, you need to be there and experience it.  And if you have already been to one, I have little doubt you won’t miss one again.  If anyone is going to Affiliate Summit West in January, drop me a line and let me know if you’d like to meet up for drinks or drop by the affiliate.com booth and introduce yourself.  See you all there!

Don’t Spam Social Media Sites, Or Suffer The Consequences

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facebookIn case you were considering using a Botnet or an army of outsourced data entry workers to farm Facebook and/or Myspace accounts, don’t do it.  Today Facebook sent a sturn message to spammers everywhere by winning an $873 million judgement against a user named Adam Guerbuez that sent 4 million spam messages promoting marijuana, male enhancement projects, and other junk offers.

It wasn’t that long ago that the legendary Sanford Wallace pulled a similar stunt on Myspace, illiciting a $230 million judgement against him.  That figure seemed ridiculously high at the time, but here we are not more than six months later with a judgement almost four times higher.

Let’s look at the risk vs. rewards here.  According to recent studies, spam isn’t as profitable as it was thought.  People have wised up.  After all, how many ads for “Viagkra” have you clicked on when they show up in your inbox?  As fun as it seems to have a network of computers working for you 24/7 to beat the system and fill up your bank account with untold riches is, it just doesn’t happen that way.  With a response rate of 0.00001%, it would be hard to turn any profits, let alone bank it big.

Then you have the Terms & Conditions to worry about.  There are all sorts of Terms & Conditions involved with internet marketing.  The Terms of the ad networks, the Terms of the search engines, the Terms of the social media networks, etc.  If you violate any of these Terms & Conditions, then you are not going to get paid, and you might risk legal action.

How would you like to wake up with an $873 million dollar debt hanging over your head?  I didn’t think so.  So play it safe, there is plenty of money to be made in the legitimate world of internet marketing.  Trust me.

Using YouTube Videos To Promote Your Offer

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It’s official, YouTube has surpassed Yahoo and is now the #2 search engine, right next to Google.  If you are looking for a fast and free way to start getting more traffic to your affiliate offers, you need to add a YouTube strategy to your campaigns.  The concept is simple, you create a video pertaining to your niche and put a link to your website or domain the description on YouTube.  If you want to be really fancy, you can also get software to put a watermark on your video that will display your website on the video itself.  The videos don’t have to be anything fancy, it could be just a few pictures in a slideshow format with some music in the background.  The key is titling the video and tagging it with the right keywords.  A great tool for creating videos for free is at www.animoto.com.  Have fun!

Technology is a Beautiful Thing

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I am writing this from my iPhone. Consider that for a second. A couple of years ago, this would have seemed like a flight of fancy, but here we are in 2008 and it is happening.

It takes a little getting used to, typing with your thumbs and no tactile resistance. That being said, it grows on you, like a fungus.

That’s all the sage wisdom I can offer tonight. Thanks for stopping bye.

Is Affiliate Marketing Recession-Proof?

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The economic meltdown has garnered a ton of press & blog time as of late.  There is a lingering question in the industry about how we will fare during a nationwide recession.  There are the naysayers that cry that consumers will sit on their wallets in a crisis, and when no one is spending money then it is hard for companies to justify their ad spend.  Would online marketing budgets be the first on the chopping block?  Given the nationwide decline of newspapers and their ability to drive revenues, I highly doubt it.

We are in a unique position among most workers in the United States, because when something threatens our position and our viability in the marketplace, we can actually do something about it.  If consumers are behaving differently than they do in an upward market, we can adjust our campaigns accordingly.

What types of offers could do well in a situation like this?  Well let’s think about it…  Consumers are worried because times are tight… They need money.  How about Cash Advance?  Maybe Foreclosure Avoidance?  What about Credit Repair?  These are all verticals that are going to be in high demand during this time.  You just have to be creative, and think about new ways to appeal to consumers.  If they can’t afford to buy a vacation, perhaps they would be more likely to enter an Email Submit offer where they could get a trip for free, or a $1,000 Gas card.  There are a ton of these types of offers on most affiliate networks out there.

In essence, there might be less money to throw away on a Shamwow or the latest diet product, but people always are going to have a need for something or have a problem to solve.  Your goal as an affiliate marketer is to be the solution to that problem.

These hard economic times aren’t going to last forever, just yesterday we had the highest single-day rally in the stock market since the 1930’s.  If you build a solid foundation to your business by diversifying your campaigns, you will be ready to capitalize when the economy comes back.  Look on the bright side, you know you aren’t going to go in to work on Monday morning to hear that you have been laid off!

So forget the noise, it is a great time to be an affiliate marketer.

FlyCell Drops Payouts

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For those of you who have been following the decline of the Ringtones game in Affiliate Marketing, this might sound like a doomsday warning.  FlyCell is going to be dropping the affiliate payout on all of their campaigns to a measly $6.

Remember when FlyCell used to be promoted by affiliates on forums as, “The Ringtones offer that pays $16”?  Those days are gone, and I doubt they are ever coming back.  There have been more lawsuits by the Florida A.G., there have been more talks of the carriers taking control of the market and selling through their own sites exclusively, and now payout drops.

This also comes shortly after the announcement that Flycell no longer accepts Sprint traffic.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  There are still some Ringtones offers that are doing well.  At CPA Empire we have Ringtones.net with an affiliate payout of $10, and it accepts Sprint traffic (EDIT: As of 10/10/08, Ringtones.net is losing Sprint as well.  Sprint is dropping pretty much all of their ringtones providers).  Jamster is paying out $9 at NeverBlueAds and $10 at ClickBooth.  There are a few other smaller offers, but until someone figures out how to monetize Ringtones better on the backend, I doubt we’re going to see prices much higher than $10 for a while.

The Best Way To Unwind

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Being in Internet Marketing can be grueling.  Sometimes you will sit in front of the computer monitor for 8-12 hours a day and sparcely get up for a drink or a bathroom break.  I strongly feel that in order to enjoy the freedom that you possess as someone who works at home, you need to get out of the office every now and then and enjoy some entertainment!

The problem is, you need to make sure whatever you are doing does not get too addicting, or else you will actually be hurting your business in the long run.  As a recovering MMORPG addict, I know this just as well as anyone.  There was a time when I would spend 8-12 hours a day playing World of Warcraft instead of working or doing anything productive.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy video games, I just make sure that they aren’t of the life-stealing variety.  Some of the best games to take your mind off of things are the most mindless entertainment out there, but it is very relaxing to not worry about anything for an hour or two, or even 30 minutes.  For example, Braid, Assault Heroes, or any of the other Xbox Live Arcade games are excellent.  They are cheap, and they are easy to pick up and easy to put down.  Another series that’s good is the Lego series, like Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and Lego Indiana Jones.  These might seem childish on the surface, but they are actually quite fun, and you can play with a friend as well.  More importantly, you won’t wake up at 3pm the next day and realize that you spent the entire night trying to kill a raid boss with your pick-up group.

If you are looking for a cheap alternative to buying games, which can be $30-$60 a pop, I highly recommend GameFly.  It is an excellent service that works just like Netflix, but for games.  You can even buy the games that you rent at a discounted price if you decide it’s a keeper.

Also, movies are a great way to kill some time.  I cannot recommend Netflix enough as a service.  It’s more than just the ease of renting from home, it’s the insane selection that they have and the matching system.  If you devote a couple of hours to it when you first sign up, and go through and rate the movies that you have already seen with their 5-star rating system, it will get a pretty good idea of what you are into and will recommend some really great movies that you have probably never seen.  I know it has for me.

This might sound a bit off-topic for a blog about Affiliate Marketing, but I want to make sure that you are in this for the long run, and the quickest way to burn yourself out on any business is to work work work and forget to have some fun along the way.  Also, these services have affiliate programs as well that you can promote once you become a believer.  Don’t worry, I didn’t drop any affiliate links in this post, it’s purely informational, as always.  I’ll leave that to you guys.

Google Chrome – Browser of the Future?

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Hot on the heels of the press generated over Internet Explorer 8 and their possible advertisement killing browser come this: Google is officially declaring all out war on Microsoft by releasing their own open-source internet browser.  It is called Google Chrome.  Google has some very interesting ideas about what makes a browser tick, and you can check them out in this informative and humorous comic.  You can download Google Chrome here.

I’m all for new technology, and I will definitely be downloading Google Chrome to check it out.  That being said, this type of announcement from the big G also makes me wonder where the future is headed…  It would seem that they are moving ever closer to becoming the company that ate the internet.

Jump back five years ago.  Internet Explorer had a staggering grip on the browser game, and only tech geeks and open source junkies had ever heard of FireFox.  Now, the “little Mozilla that could” is grabbing more and more share from Microsoft by the day.  With this in mind, it’s not too far-fetched to believe that Google could do the same thing to Microsoft with Chrome that they did to Yahoo with PageRank back in 2002.

The problem is this: if Google controls the browser, the search environment, the advertising on the majority of networks, and even the content on the search results through properties such as Knol, then who is policing them?  If they control the medium, it is not going to be good for anybody.  Forget about Microsoft and Yahoo, what about your average consumer?

What if Google could decide what content you can and cannot view on the internet?  This become a Net Neutrality issue very quickly when you talk about any one entity controlling the access the masses have to the net.  Just ask Comcast how they feel about Net Neutrality after their brush with the FCC.

Competition breeds innovation.   This is how Google became the behemoth that it is today.  The question is, who will be left to compete with Google?