New Approach for a New Year in Affiliate Marketing

3 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on January 3, 2007 in Affiliate Information, Affiliate Tips  

I did some reflecting over the holidays of what I did right this past year and what I didn’t. I was glad to reflect back on my successes and my failures equally as I always try to learn from my mistakes. With the start of a new year I decided to continue with my current approach but also try some new ones.
First, KISS principle must always be applied. I like the KISS principle Keep It Simple Stupid. I try to do this in all sites and landing pages I promote. Why you may ask because it has worked for me in the past. Many people sink hours or days into creating a fabulous landing page or a site that leads to not one conversion. I have kept it simple and that has worked great for me, even some CPA offers I just use their banner or ad on a page and push PPC traffic to it and it converts, sometimes at 75% but sometimes it doesn’t.
Second, I am hiring people to do things that aren’t worth my time. As webprenuers a lot of the time we try to do everything our self when we shouldn’t. Find out what you do well and what you can hire people to do for you that is cheaper than doing it yourself. To do this you have to figure out what your time is worth. I have found I am just ok at web design so I have connected with people that are great at it. I pay them for doing the work; it is usually done within hours where if I would have done it, it would have taken days and usually their final product is better.
Thirdly, I said this last year and will say it again this year; don’t limit your revenue to one source. I do my best to try to spread across networks to gain additional offers, compare payouts, plus just to diversify incase one network should happen to go under. I still recommend my Top 5 CPA Networks to anyone trying to get into the affiliate marketing game.
Lastly, I am in the process of applying a new technique or initiative called no visitor wasted. For most of my traffic I pay for it so that visitor is paid for and well I want to profit from them. I am trying some new tactics to help better monetize them even if they aren’t interested in the offer they came to by offering alternatives. But not in their face alternatives, as my goal is to sell the main product but if at the bottom of the page or on exit I put another offer or Google adsense or YPN and I make money from it, then it’s worth it.
I wish everyone the best with their Affiliate Marketing in the year 2007.

Commission Junction why it works and why it doesn’t.

3 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on December 29, 2006 in Affiliate Networks, Affiliate Tips  

I get asked all the time if I use Commission Junction (http://www.cj.com/) on my sites or promotions. I do use CJ on my sites but I don’t use them as much as I could or should. I will discuss the ups and downs with CJ and why I use them sparsely.

First, CJ is great because it has tons of businesses and ads all in one place. If you are looking to do either CPA promotion or Sales promotion this could be the place for you. Of course they have the E-bay affiliate program which can make you lots of cash.  CJ gives you lots of options and products to choose from in one place which is great.

Second, CJ’s interface is not intuitive. While getting to your reports of statistics and sales is easy, but if you are trying to search for new advertisers plan to spend your time searching. The search works but it appears that for some reason some of the biggest companies are the hardest to find. A perfect example is for Bass Pro Shops, If you log into your account choose get links and input in the search box “Bass Pro Shops” you get back 0 results. This is just one example but this happens for many companies. The work around for this is to visit the website you want to join find their affiliate link then choose the link that states you are already a member of CJ, but having to do this makes no sense.

Thirdly, CJ does do charge backs. A charge back is when you provide a lead or a sale but advertiser comes back sometimes weeks later and states that lead or sale wasn’t valid and in turn you don’t get paid. I have talked with many people that have had this happen, while many big advertisers can handle the charge backs those starting out new can be squeezed out of the affiliate game due to this. I believe the charge back issue is something CJ needs to fix soon as this causes many publishers to steer clear.

Lastly, CJ is the only option to promote some goods. Even with its issues if you have a site or a way to promote some of the companies CJ lists you should sign up and try promoting. Be for warned that you may get frustrated at times but also be warned you could make a good bit of money promoting other peoples products or offers.

If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

Elite Retreat with Lee Dodd Dave Taylor Aaron Wall and Jeremy Schoemaker Part 1

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Posted on December 20, 2006 in Affiliate Information, Affiliate Tips, Elite Retreat  

Many of you have been posting or commenting about the Elite Retreat that recently took place in San Antonio Texas. Prior to the conference many were posting negative feedback and saying that it wasn’t going to be worth the $4,850 entry fee. After attending the two day conference I personally feel they should charge more. I will discuss why attending the Elite Retreat was more than worth it to me.

 

First, it wasn’t just about the four main speakers, Lee Dodd, Dave Taylor, Aaron Wall, and Jeremy Schoemaker (Shoemoney). When the conference started the main speakers introduced themselves and then every attendee introduced themselves with a brief background. After the attendees gave their background you realize that you have opportunities to learn from the attendees in addition to the main speakers. I made connections with some of the attendees that would have never happened without me attending and I know that the connections will pay off for both parties.

 

Second, the secrets were shared. Many people had doubts and stated the speakers will not share their secrets. The speakers realize it is the World Wide Web and there is plenty of room for us all to make money. When I say secrets were shared that doesn’t mean a free handout of here is the keywords, here is the ad to use, here is a site to buy, or here is a free buck. It was more of displaying this is a tool I use or created to give me an edge, some are out there for free but some are ones you would have to get made yourself. BUT we now have the edge and knowledge of tools that can help us now and in the future with increasing our search engine rankings and monetization of our sites.

 

Third, we all received real feedback and ideas for our websites. During one of the sessions they asked if people wanted feedback for their sites. Of course people were more than willing to have there site shown on the display screen, but not only was there great input and feedback given from the leaders but the attendees chimed in with nuggets of information also. The information given would help catapult those sites to the next level in sales, SEO, and monetization. If you didn’t want to have your sites up in front of everyone on the second day of the conference you had the opportunity for 1 on 1 time with each speaker. The 15 minutes of one on one time was worth the cost alone, I have over two pages of notes just from the individual attention time.

 

Fourth, you leave with new ideas, and ways to grow your sites or even start new ones. I know every single person left the conference and could not wait to get back and implement some of the ideas that were shared. I will be posting in the near future about some of the ideas I received at the conference and how much they benefited my sites monetarily and even boosting my search engine rankings. I honestly feel within a month I will have earned the money back that I spent on the Elite Retreat.

Goals for 2007

2 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on December 15, 2006 in Affiliate Tips, CPA Affiliate Announcements  

Ok everyone here are my goals for the year 2007!

1. Improve my health as a web entrepreneur, we have atendacy to sit on our rears a lot. I have a gym membership but have been maybe 10 times. (I do play basketball every other tuesday though)

2. Increase Company profit by 40%.

3. Do even more Networking by attending conferences. 

4. Do more experiments with PPC (including 3rd tier)

5. Hire a Web Designer and Programmer. (Ties a little bit to #2) 

6. Finish 3 sites that I have been working on since March 2006.

7. Get my 2nd Business off the ground that I am partnering with my Dad on.

8. Get CPA Affiliates shirts made and give some away!

9. Revamp one of my first sites Based on Investing - http://www.investingpub.com. As in 2006 it basically got neglected.

Well those are my goals for 2007 what are yours?  Again this is goals not resolutions, as for me resolutions never stick but goals usually do.

Search Engine Marketing or Pay Per Click

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Posted on December 6, 2006 in Affiliate Tips  

The question isn’t to be or not to be in the world of internet marketing it is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay Per Click (PPC)? This is a very important question that needs to be answered. The tough part is there is no easy answer.

I was inspired to write about SEM and PPC after reading a free E-book titled, Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game (Click here to get your free copy instantly). First let me warn that I do not back or endorse the E-book, I just found it as an interesting read. It discusses why SEM is so important over PPC. The free E-book had some good points and is a great read for someone just getting into the internet marketing game but the information I found interesting was the PPC vs SEM click statistics.

Let me preface that the information was gathered in 2004 and as any of us in the business know the internet statistics change daily! But the information that was provided stated that on Google and Yahoo people were more likely to click the organic search than the PPC search, but on MSN they were more likely to click on the PPC ad over the organic search. Lastly for AOL it was 50/50 split.

Why is this information important? Honestly it’s not the information that is important but the concept behind it, as the data is really too old to base it on the statistics of today. But it shows that PPC and SEM both have their own benefits. From my point of view both take time and money, but there are two slight differences.

PPC marketing has almost instant results on search engines. This can lead to instant visitors, customers and revenue for your site, but it does come at a cost. As a PPC marketer you must make sure you are not over paying for a visitor as you can go into debt big time if you bid to high for a highly searched term and you don’t get enough return for your investment. Trial and Error and starting off slow with your PPC campaign help alleviate this.

SEM marketing in most cases does not yield instant results. But once your hard work is done to get your listing near the top, there isn’t as much expense as running a consistent PPC campaign. The bad news is that Google, Yahoo, AOL, or Msn could change there algorithm overnight you could go from number 1 to 50 or even worse not be listed. While it is not likely to lose that much placement it can and does happen.

Having said all that, the best plan of attack is both! Why not have a quick solution and a more long term less costly solution for your website. Many people only attack PPC or SEM while I feel most webmasters should be trying to capitalize traffic from both!
If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

Networking Is Key to Growing Online!

1 Person Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on November 29, 2006 in Affiliate Information, Affiliate Tips  

All the time people wonder how I come up with new trends, and areas to venture into with online marketing. The key is Networking, Networking, Networking. If you aren’t networking you could be missing out big time.

First, start by making your presence known online. Post in forums with questions and answers. Many of connections I have made have come from people helping me solve a promotion or programming problem. But don’t just take give back supply answers to people’s questions. You would be surprised as you can sometimes learning something even from a newbie!

Get AIM, YIM, Google talk or at least some type of instant messaging system that other people use. I can’t count how many general chats have turned into idea sessions or end up being long term partnerships. Plus the instant messengers have groups and labels to sort thru the people that just want to suck the information from you or with the people that are really great online contacts.

Lastly, attend conferences! Many people just try to do things online via chat and forums, but a face to face meeting can mean the difference between your site making 100 dollars or 1000 dollars. Yes these conferences cost money to get to but they are more than worth it (plus you can write it off as a business expense). Make sure you have plenty of business cards, and get ready to shake lots of hands.

I will be attending Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, Jan 21-23 2007. If you are planning to attend and want to meet up leave a comment and let me know.

Don’t Limit Your Affiliate Revenue

1 Person Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on November 13, 2006 in Affiliate Tips  

Yes this site is mainly about CPA affiliates and Networks, but we also want to ensure that everyone makes the most money out of their site or promotions. This means that you MUST not limit yourself to one source on revenue. You MUST diversify your income streams.

First, look into what other promotion types you can utilize. Many signup for one CPA network and ignore the rest. Try the others and you will be surprised that some pay more and some offer different promotions or even ad types. Sometimes networks may not get exclusivity of the offer, but maybe the only network to allow email or search promotion. This also allows you to put the bargaining chips on your side as you aren’t limited to using once source for you income especially if one company should hold payment or go belly up. If you are looking for some CPA Networks check out my Top 5 Affiliate Networks.

Second, If you promote one type of offer (CPA, CPC, CPM, links etc..) try another one. Meaning if I have a site based strictly on Google adsense you should try running either CPA offers, CPM, or maybe even sell text links directly as this will help you not rely on one source. I learned this the hard way as I had a site that relied strictly on adsense, and over time my earnings decreased to record lows before I looked into other sources. Once I started trying CPM and CPA offers I started earning more than I was originally when I was raking it in with adsense.

Lastly, don’t get rid of a strong revenue source for another. Try to find ways to implement the other sources while keeping your existing sources running. Sometimes this can be done by promoting the addition revenue streams in your content or maybe with a skyscraper on the side. It varies for each site but the key is trial and error.

Whatever you do don’t limit yourself with one source you are making money try other sources as you may be missing out on more earnings!

If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

Adwords & Affiliates its a Love Hate Relationship

2 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on November 9, 2006 in Affiliate Tips  

Anyone that has been in the Affiliate market long enough and uses Google Adwords has had a day or two of frustration. If you haven’t experienced any major increases in bids count your blessings.

What is going on with Adwords within the past few days? Google Adwords is trying to improve their system, and by doing so it makes it harder on publishers, by requiring them to provide more content and information on their site.

Why is it harder on Publishers? We have to abide by their rules and their quality score. If they don’t like the site they charge us more to list it.

What determines your bid amount? Several factors, but most important is CTR and Quality score and of course other people bidding on those keyword terms. If you can nail CTR and QS most likely you can get your site advertising for cheap bids.

The good news is that Google tells us what they expect.  (https://adwords.google.com/select/siteguidelines.html)
Then why is there an issue?
Some of the CPA affiliates out there like to crank out as many cookie cutter sites with strictly a landing page. Google is putting its foot down and making it harder for you to do that and get cheap bids. So now a little more effort and time needs to be put into the sites.

This is why there is a love hate relationship as Google makes changes, sometimes it will benefit your site, and sometimes it will benefit your competitors. The main key is read their guidelines and build sites according to them IF you plan to promote thru Google. If not design it how you like!

If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

The Key to CPA conversions on your Existing Websites

2 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on November 6, 2006 in Affiliate Tips  

Many people that get into affiliate marketing already have a site with traffic. This is a great place to start some trial and error with the various CPA offers. Here are some tips to make your current traffic convert. ( A Little disclaimer: every site and the traffic it receives is different. I am not going to lie some sites just do better with Adsense but most will benefit from CPA offers or see a drastic increase with revenue by using CPA offers)

So you have a site that gets traffic already and want to monetize it with more than .05 clicks. Here are a few questions I ask myself when selecting the CPA offers:

1. What is my demographic? (Male Female Age Income etc)
2. What is my target country? (90% of CPA’s are US only)
3. What are their interests? (is the site generic or niche targeted, What is the niche)
4. Do I have enough traffic or should I work on getting more traffic first?

Now you have answered those questions this gives you an idea of what to target. Below are a few examples of what offers I would choose dependant on some of the answers above.

Site 1:
US women, Age 18 to 40, targeted at mothers.
A Great offer for this site would be a CPA offer from Maxbounty. It is an easy signup offer for Club mom. Another offer I would try is 3 Year Free of Women’s Magazines (Allure, Cosmopolitan, & Glamour). While these don’t pay out high dollar the do have EPC’s of around .45.

Site 2:
US Teens, Age 12 to 25, targeted at social networking
A great offer for Teens is ANY easy signup offer for cool gadgets, like laptops, ipods, cell phones etc. If you have a teen site you have to TRY promoting ringtones. Maxbounty and Azoogle have many ringtone offers to choose from. You will need to try different ones to see which one converts best with your site.

Site 3:
US Men, Age 18-35, targeted at professionals
This audience at times is very tough to convert as they aren’t dumb and will not signup for just any offer. BUT most professionals don’t have time for dating so they turn to online dating services Maxbounty and Azoogle both have great dating offers that convert well. Depending on the site it could do well with some of the investor or start your own business kits.

The 3 sites above are just examples, but the main key is you know your traffic better than anyone. Target them and give them what they want and it will convert. The last question #4 is a tough one… but usually if I am only getting 10 to 100 unique visitors a day I try increasing that traffic before I try pushing to many CPA offers.

My last advice is don’t just your banners!!! Be creative, use text and images. If you want to change the text and the ways you promote the offer just ask your account manager and they will let you know if you change the text or not. I wish you the best of luck!

If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

Making Money as an Affiliate. Where do I start?

5 People Speaking Their Mind - Put In Your Two Cents!

Posted on October 27, 2006 in Affiliate Information, Affiliate Tips  

I get asked all the time on how I make money and how others can get started. I will give an overview of what needs to be done before you take the plunge into being an Affiliate and promoting offers.

First – Research Research Research

Research is the key and gaining knowledge of the Affiliate market. You are at the right place by reading Cpa-Affiliates.com Blog but there are many other places. Below is a few forums and blogs I read that can help you gain information.

• Earners Forums
• Digital Point Forums
• SitePointe Forums
• Wicked Fire Forums
• Capitalist Pigs Blog
• Shoemoney’s Blog
• The News and online news sources.

Second – Decide to do it.

I get asked all the time should I give this a try or is it worth it? Yes everything is worth a try get a plan together and just do it. Start small and get bigger. Do you want to look back on your life wondering what would have happened if you would have tried? I know I don’t! If you have existing sites use them, if not start a site. Learn some html or web programming. Start posting some of your questions as comments in this blog or in the forums I recommended.

Thirdly – Signup

Now you decided you are going to do it and you have a plan, start signing up. Get going with a diversification. I suggest trying at least one contextual, one CPA network, and one advertising network for the best success. My suggested signups are listed below:

Contextual:
Join Google Adsense

CPA:
Join MaxBounty
Join Azoogle

If you want to signup for more networks check out our Top 5 CPA Networks.

Advertising:
Join Google Adwords

Now you’re signed up get going and implement your plan. Once the pennies start rolling in your will be driven to make quarters, then dollars, then thousands. The biggest thing to remember is to learn from both successes and failures. If you only learn from your successes then you are missing some major knowledge gaining experiences.

Lastly give yourself time Rome wasn’t built over night and neither will your success. Remember that the internet is constantly changing and you need to change with it to truly be successful. I wish you the best of luck!

If you have any suggestions or feedback feel free to leave us a comment.

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