5 Tips For Advertisers Choosing a Performance Network

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2012-03-21

As an advertiser, you come in contact with a lot of publishers anxious to promote your offer. And if you have ever been to an affiliate marketing conference, you know it can be overwhelming. There are lots of reputable publishers out there of every size and in every vertical. And then there are lots of others who talk a good game, but may not have the ability to deliver what they promise. Everyone seems to believe that they alone can help you achieve great success and wealth beyond your wildest dreams.

But you’ve been around long enough to know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So how do you weed through this sea of confusion and find the right network for you and — more importantly – for your offer? Keep these 5 things in mind when selecting whom to entrust your offer to…

1) Start Small. When you first get started, there is no need to make a big investment upfront until sales have been proven by the publisher or network. Cap sales and institute a small test budget, but do be sure you have an adequate budget set aside for media so there is no interruption of sales. Starting small will also allow you to gauge results and make sure your offer works for everyone. At this stage, communication with your program manager is crucial. They should be monitoring your offer to see what types of publishers are having the most success. Don’t invest more dollars until you taken the time to understand how your offer is being promoted and determined which traffic sources — email, display, banners, SEO, incentivized vs. non-incentivized, etc. – are working best for you. An honest network will tell you that they do not have all the answers upfront, and starting small is an important part of the process.

2) Know the Terms. Only 53% of advertisers say they read the affiliate agreement before signing. READ IT CAREFULLY. You want to understand the payment policies, and be certain the terms work for you – not solely for the publisher or the network. For many verticals, CPA is the best way to go. Just make sure you understand fully what you are agreeing to and invest in a program that will work for you.

3) Look for a “Hands On” Approach. When it comes to selecting a performance network, bigger is not always better. Make sure your account manager is in regular communication with both you and the publisher to ensure that your offer is getting the proper attention. The best performance networks contact their publishers with offers, rather than waiting to hear from them. Unfortunately many affiliate managers have quotas to meet, and some of the larger networks will lump your offer in with dozens of others. Choose a network that makes you feel like you are their most important client. Your continued business should be a top priority to them and their reward is your offer or product.

4) Set Your Offer Up to Succeed. The success of your offer depends largely on the quality of the relationships your network maintains with the best publishers in your vertical. Choose to work with a network that gives the publishers what they need. Payout increases and bonuses should be set — but with realistic goals for the publishers to reach. Quality traffic – not only quantity traffic — should be rewarded. Set both a Network Payout and a Street Payout to ensure that your offer is competitive throughout the industry and prevents bidding wars. Publishers want to work with affiliates who do right by them, and you will reap the benefit of that.

5) Prepay is a Good Thing. Any good prepay will include a clause stating the time period over which the sales will be delivered. A true performance network will not take your money if they cannot deliver on that. They should only do business with you if they have existing, strong relationships with publishers in your specific vertical.

No matter which performance network you choose, keep this in mind… Performance Networks are relationship based – so choose someone you can trust. Select a performance network that will give both you and your offer the time, attention and respect that is required. Make sure they ask you as many questions as you ask them – because they need to understand your business before they know if they can be successful. Remember, if a network does not have relationships in your specific vertical, they will not be able to deliver and they should walk away. If they don’t walk away you shouldn’t either… you should run.

8 Useful Landing Page Optimization Tips

By

Mustafa Khundmiri

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2012-03-21

12

Ever wondered what it takes to optimize a landing page successfully?

Before we answer that question, let’s look at some key advantages of having a properly optimized landing page:

Helps you deliver a focused sales pitch that is customized to your target audience.
Gives your visitors a valid reason to take the required action.
Increases the return on investment (ROI) and return on time investment (ROTI) on your advertising campaigns.
Boosts the overall conversion rate of your product or service by getting you more leads/sales.
Removes barrier of entries that are preventing your prospects/customers from converting.
Makes it easy for you to understand your customers and gain valuable insight into their behavioral traits.
Gets rid of any preconceived notions about what works and what doesn’t.

Landing Page Optimization Done the Right Way

Now that we know the ‘why’, let’s look into the ‘how’. Given below are 8 useful tips that will give you an insight into effective, result-oriented landing page optimization:

1 ) Know Who You’re Targeting: Before you even start building your landing page, make sure you know who your target audience is. This allows you to tailor the landing page’s experience according to what they want. This step should not be ignored because your conversions depend on your page’s efficiency, which in turn depends on how well it helps the visitors take action.

2 ) Check Out the Competition: Keeping an eye on your competition makes things easy for you as far as your landing page optimization is concerned. It gives you new ideas that you can experiment with. And if you’re trying to innovate, you get to know exactly who you’re up against. Knowing and understanding your competition ultimately gives your page a direction that will be helpful in the long run.

3 ) Keep it Relevant: If you send people to a landing page that is irrelevant and weakly targeted, you will obviously get a meek response. Your focus should be on creating a landing page that connects to your prospects and gives them exactly what they came looking for – without any confusion whatsoever.

4 ) Aim to Give a Consistent Experience: When people click through your ad and land on your page, they shouldn’t feel out of place in any way. It’s your job to make their journey consistent – right from the ad to your landing page to the destination site. So make sure you’ve got properly structured content with a consistent tone of voice that offers a smooth user experience.

5 ) Get Rid of the Clutter: A cluttered landing page is never a good idea. Designing an effective page is only the first step, refining it and removing the unnecessary elements is an ongoing process that comes much later. So the more you observe your page and work on making it clean, the better results you will get once it goes live.

6 ) Say No to Navigation: Your landing page is where people land and take the designated action. It’s not supposed to be a part of a full blown website that gives them a complete experience. Since you’re paying to actually get your prospects there, it’s important that you help them stay focused on the key message that you’re delivering. If they want to learn more about you, they can do so on your main site. For now, every single piece of navigation takes them away from the call to action – and that’s something you don’t want.

7 ) Put up a Phone Number: Building a trusted landing page is all about getting your prospects into a comfort zone. By adding a phone number to your page, you look legitimate and safe to deal with. Besides that, people who aren’t fine with online transactions will be able to ring you up directly.

8 ) Use Social Proof: Social proof works great in winning the trust of your prospects. Using testimonials from existing customers or even product reviews/endorsements from industry experts can do wonders to your page’s conversion ratio. However, resist the urge to fabricate social proof because it will not only look fake but it will also tarnish your reputation when and if you get caught.

Conclusion

It’s clear that most of the advertising money spend on the Internet isn’t fully realized. Therefore, it’s important that you build relevant landing pages that you regularly test and optimize for consistent results. The sooner you take this step, the sooner you start seeing a better return on your marketing investment.

How do you go about optimizing your landing page? Go ahead and share your own tips in the comments section below!

(InfoGraphic) Beat Facebook’s EdgeRank

By

Pesach Lattin

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2012-03-21

1

Perhaps one of the most awesome Infographics on how to get people to pay attention to your status updates, among other things. It’s simple, how to make people pay more attention to you, and in theory go viral faster. What do you care? Facebook is the biggest social network and grouping of people in the world, and this is cheaper than actually paying for ads. Popularity X Relevance X Recency = EdgeRank. Crazy No?

(VIDEO) 5 Common SEO Mistakes

By

Pesach Lattin

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2012-03-20

7

Google’s newest super-star Maile Ohye, has come out with a video that points out 5 common mistakes people are making with SEO and 6 great ways to move forward and correct those mistakes. What’s most interesting about this video is that it doesn’t feature Matt Cutts, the de-facto leader of Google’s SEO push. This is very important video as it addresses point blank things that you need to know about Google from Google itself. With all the changes at Google, there are always a few questions about what really works.

Check out Facebook’s New Privacy Policy and Stop Complaining

By

Pesach Lattin

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2012-03-19

6

Facebook has just released the changes to their privacy policy, and it’s has one huge very noticeable change: it’s called a Data Use Policy, which basically says it all. Basically, they’ve admitted that they are now basically a Data-Sharing company and that their biggest asset is what their users do on Facebook.

Today, we’re letting you know of some changes we propose for the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, an important document that describes our relationship with users and others who interact with Facebook. Many of the changes are administrative (for instance, replacing references to our “Privacy Policy” with “Data Use Policy”) and others make our practices and policies more clear.

Their new policy changes make it clear that they are engaged in extreme levels of sharing, from links, videos, photo and this could be huge to anyone who wants to target users.

I am always concerned about the erosion of privacy over the Internet, but at the same time really wonder about those who complain that Facebook is “invading” their privacy. Seriously, despite the fact that there are tons of people who think they can’t live without Facebook and somehow that Facebook is intruding on their personal lives. The reason that Facebook has a privacy policy is simple: to let you know what they are doing, so you can make an educated decision.

Frankly, we all know that people wont really read the policy – but that is no excuse. If you sign up to Facebook, you need to accept that your data will be shared, and you have no expectation of privacy. For goodness sake, it’s a social network, specifically made for sharing of information. If you wanted privacy, you shouldn’t have joined in the first place.

New Company? Intellectual Property Issues Are Growing

By

Richard B. Newman

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2012-03-19

1

Oftentimes, intellectual property (IP) is considered the most valuable asset of technology companies. As a result, timely action is necessary to ensure ownership and protection of a company’s intellectual property portfolio.

The types of intellectual property focused upon in this article are trademarks, service marks, domain names, and trade secrets. Many technology start-ups are surprised to learn that they do not, in fact, own the intellectual property rights in the technology that form the very core of its business.

The potential legal issues in the early stages of a technology company’s life include situations where intellectual property is developed by individuals who are considered to be independent contractors. Without a written agreement between the company and the contractor that states that a work product is a “work made for hire,” the contractor is considered the owner of the intellectual property rights to the work product. This is true even if the company paid the contractor for the work.

It is of paramount importance that all work involving intellectual property be performed by employees of the company or by contractors working under a written agreement that assigns all of the contractor’s right, title, and interest in the intellectual property to the company.

The issue of what is or is not a “trade secret” is a ubiquitous one within the interactive advertising space. In short, a trade secret is any information that derives its independent economic value to a company from not being generally known to others and that is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain the information’s secrecy. Items that may be protected as trade secrets are, for example, technology that is not patented, customer lists, financial information, marketing plans, and technical know-how.

Given that trade secrets are a critical component of a technology company’s business model, perhaps even more so for start-ups, the design and implementation of strict secrecy procedures are mandatory. A single public disclosure can cost a company trade secret protections.

A trade secret protection program should be fairly simple to implement with the assistance of competent legal counsel. Elements of such a program include binding non-disclosure agreements, maintaining lists of all trade secret information, identifying the degree of sensitivity of various trade secrets for employees, establishing procedures for ensuring the security of trade secrets, implementing computer usage policies, and interviewing departing employees to ensure that no trade secrets are unlawfully destroyed or removed from the business premises.

A trademark or service mark identifies, brands, and distinguishes the goods or services of a company. Marks can become protected simply by use in commerce. However, federal registration is the preferred method of protection and start-ups should work closely with an intellectual property attorney who can assist with securing federal mark registrations.

A federally registered mark grants the owner the exclusive right to use the mark as associated with the particular goods or services throughout the United States. Federal mark applications can be based on actual use of the mark in interstate commerce. Alternatively, and perhaps more important for a start-up, federal applications can be based upon a bona-fide “intent to use” the mark. If an “intent to use” application is filed and accepted, evidence of actual use in commerce must be filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office within six months. The six month limitation may be extended if good cause is established.

Domain names are obviously valuable assets for technology companies. A frequent issue that arises is when a trademark that a company has worked so diligently to register is not available as a domain name because it is being used by a third-party. Unfortunately, ownership of a registered trademark does not guarantee that a company will get the corresponding domain name. Thus, mark development efforts should be coordinated with corresponding domain names.

A Million a Month with Mass Desire Offers

By

Trent Silver

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2012-03-19

12

To be a “super-affiliate” or a high volume advertiser, you need to choose to offer consumers a product or service that affects the masses; an offer that millions, if not billions of people are going to want or need every day. Mass desire/mass market offers have no limit to the amount of sales that can be made in a day by a skilled marketer. Why? Because every male or female in the world is the target demographic. This article is about determining the difference between a mass market vs. a niche offer and how to do the market research to determine if it is a scalable business model – the type of business you can take from fifty leads a day to well over 1,000+.

I define mass markets as the type that affect almost everybody on this planet, now and ten years from now. Women all want to be skinny and lose weight, and they will always be this way…unless cultures evolve in the future to consider obese women “sexy.” Men want large muscles. Everybody either needs money or wants to make money (there is a difference). People naturally want a companion (dating/adult offers).

Examples of offers you are probably familiar with…

To serve the “weight-loss” market are HCG, ACAI, African Mango and other nutraceuticals.
To serve the “male muscle enhancement: nitric oxide supplements and male enhancement pills
To serve the “make money” market: bizopp, work-from-home opportunities
To serve the “need money’ market: payday loans and cash for gold

Each one of these verticals are billion dollar industries.

On the other hand, you have “niche” markets. Niche markets affect a smaller group of the population based on more personal preferences and therefore limit your ability to do 500, 1000, 5000 or more sales a day. On a side note, why do I keep referring to sales by the day, and not the month or year? There’s an old saying that marketers are concerned with how much money they are going to make TODAY, and business owners are concerned with how much their business is going to be worth in five YEARS. I recommend treating your offers and campaigns as real businesses so not only do you make money today, but you also own something of value in the future.

A niche market would be golf instruction, for example. I could create a complete golf training program with an ebook and video instruction. I could have the best testimonials in the world and celebrity endorsements. I could cross-sell a golf fitness program and upsell a joint-relief nutraceutical. I’m still not going to do 5,000 sales a day on this offer. There’s just not enough mass cultural or natural desire to sustain this. I could do a comfortable living at 50-100 sales a day and monetize the back-end by offering training aids, golf equipment, etc.

A good way to determine how scalable the model is is to visit a site analytic tool such as Compete.com. Identify who your largest competitors are on the affiliate networks and media buy channels (google, bing, yahoo, ad networks) and see how much volume (unique visitors) they have every month. If you see 8,000,000 unique visitors every month, you can be fairly certain they have a sustainable model that is making their marketing campaigns profitable month after month. If there’s 30k visitors per month, it could still be a great model that is making money, but either a smaller market, less talented marketing team or a lower budget.

So choose your offer, design your marketing creatives and launch.

5 Steps to Successful Content Marketing

By

Mustafa Khundmiri

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2012-03-19

2

Online marketing is going through a massive change at the moment. Things used to be different a decade ago when Google was new, YouTube didn’t exist, and there were no social networks.

Fast forward to 2012, it’s not that easy to bell the cat any more. You can’t just slap some keyword stuffed article on a website and build backlinks from a link farm to boost its rankings. Nor can you use a bulk email marketing software to spam your way to success. Today, it just doesn’t happen that way.

So how do you really approach online marketing in such competitive times?

The answer lies in ‘content marketing’ – creating great content that begs to be shared, educates your prospects about your products, and helps you become an authority. Sounds interesting?

Let’s find out how you can do content marketing effectively to take your online business to the next level:

1. Know Your Goals

It’s really important that you have a goal in mind before you actually go ahead and execute your content marketing plan. What do you seek to achieve from content marketing? How will it help you achieve your goal? Once you know your main objective, only then you will know what kind of content you should produce so that it’s tailor made for your target audience.

2. Be Sure of Your Key Message

The idea of content marketing is to help you pass on your key message to your audience, without any distortion. In order to make that happen, you should first be sure of what they want to hear from you. This allows you to create content that is perfectly aligned with their needs, which automatically increases your chances of success.

3. Identify Types of Content to Use

As we all know, content is of various types – it could be text, video, audio, etc. In order to make your content marketing strategy successful, you need to determine what type of content you will be using to deliver information to your prospects. What would work best for them? A little bit of testing and playing around will give you a fair idea as to what type you should use, and when.

4. Create Great Content

Your sole aim with content marketing is to create a strong impression on your target audience by giving real value. And that can only be done when you produce great content that gets talked about. When you know how to deliver the right content to the right people, you win. Remember, successful content marketing is not about pushing for a sale, but it’s more about building a level of trust and understanding through targeted education.

5. Be Ready to Alter the Plan As Needed

If your content marketing efforts aren’t giving results then be sure to change them. It’s only through trial and error you create a solid strategy that works for you. Pay attention to the results and see what’s working and what’s not to make the necessary changes.

How have you been using content marketing in your online business? Please share your ideas in the comments section below,

Women in Power: Samantha Murphy Runs Forward

By

Pesach Lattin

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2012-03-18

6

Samantha Murphy is one of those business women that you either really like, or you’re really scared of. She’s known to be one of the most vocal people in the industry and has made it clear her stance regarding fraud, professionalism and anyone who sees her as being weak because she’s a woman. She’s gone after more than a few guys on Facebook making it clear that the industry doesn’t need more sexist comments, let alone half-naked photos of “chicks.” That stance has made her immensely popular with other women in the industry and has allowed her to build in a very short period of time a very successful and growing business at Marathon Ads. She took some time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about what she is doing, how she is pushing forward and what changes she is trying to make in the industry.

How did you start in this industry?
After losing my job with a PR agency in 2001, I answered a newspaper ad for a position in advertising. I had no idea what they actually DID, even after that first interview, but they called me back for a second where they offered me the job. While I was still unsure of what it was they did, it was a nice salary and commission and benefits. So I took it. By month 3 I was bringing home solid commission checks. A few months later, I was hooked. I loved everything about it. One of my favorite things to do in life is to interact with people, get to know them and listen to what their needs are and help them meet their goals. Those also happen to be some of the most crucial aspects in being successful in this industry.

What inspired for you to create your own network?
A few things pushed me to this point. First and foremost, my vision of a network was different from anywhere I worked for. Because my partner, Whitney Bradley, and I both share this same vision, it made things come together for us quickly. Secondly, to be frank, I was getting tired of being called an “AM” or being told I couldn’t do something that I knew would benefit the company I worked for. You don’t spend 11 years in an industry and not have ideas that can work. To be consistently told no…well, its frustrating, to say the least. Already, some of those ideas I’ve had for years are being put to use and have brought us success in only our first month since launch. Lastly, the money factor. Seeing only a small portion of commissions for the hard work you do doesn’t bode well with me after that much time spent.

Marathon Ads is more than just a network, but also the Agency of Record for advertisers. How does that benefit affiliates, and is that where networks need to focus on?
I believe it is where networks need to focus on. Constantly ONLY re-brokering campaigns and relying on other companies to make sure your bills are paid, it can get dicey. Especially when starting up a company. As long as you know and trust the advertiser that you are becoming the Agency for, and have the paperwork in place with them, you are already a step ahead. I also think being the AOR helps cash flow because you are usually able to get some sort of prepay for your services. Affiliates are happy knowing they are working direct with the AOR because you are the only person who they can get the campaign from at the best possible rate. I know that I personally prefer working with other companies when they are the AOR for a advertiser, or, of course, they own a product themselves. Our goal is to have more advertisers that we are the Agency for.

If someone wanted to get started as an affiliate, what source of traffic and what type of offers would you recommend they try first?
I come from the old school world of email and banner display. To me, personally, that is always a good place to start. And I would start with a little of everything, to be honest. You won’t know what works unless you do testing on your lists to see. I have affiliates who do well with 4-5 different verticals. I always ask a new affiliate of mine a series of questions…regarding what has been working best for them and how they promote their offers…before sending them campaigns I think might work for them. I can credit [former boss and CEO of GMB Direct] Gene Mikhov with most of this as he was very clear to me about how this worked best for him, and he was right.

In the time since you opened your network, what have you learned that you’d like to share business owners?
You don’t HAVE to have investment funds to start up. You CAN start off with a low overhead and make money back in your first month. Just have all of your ducks in a row before going live. Work deals with your vendors (tracking platform, etc) and with your advertisers (get prepay where you can). If you have some affiliates that you have known for a long time and trust, see if they’ll work something out with you to give you some better payment terms for the first few months. And repay them in the future for doing right by you (higher payouts, weekly payment terms, whatever you can do for them).

If you could change immediately one thing about the industry that seems to be an overriding issue, what would it be?
Fraud. Nothing makes me want to put my foot through my monitor more than finding fraud. I wish networks were more careful with who they allowed to get through their system. We are so strict. Both Whitney and I vet any applications that come through so thoroughly, you’d think we were the feds. I’ve seen companies lose hundreds of thousands (and more) as a result of (especially) fraud from certain “education lead gen companies”. I firmly believe that the hammer would not have dropped on the world of education lead generation in our industry, this past July, if it wasn’t for this specific chain of companies. It would be remiss for me to believe that fraud will ever just stop, but the rampant use of it now is a black eye on the affiliate world.

How has the industry changed significantly since you started?
Well, when I started, this industry sure wasn’t this big. We did not have this many choices of whom to work with. Sometimes that can be a good thing, on the other hand, sometimes it can be dangerous. There are so many of these new “networks” coming out that either have no clue what they are doing and just think they can make a quick buck or they do know what they are doing…in the shadiest way possible. While I enjoy the choices we have with regards to new business, as a company owner, I have to be extremely careful. Other things that have changed: We worked on CPM basis only when I started. It was all email and display. Networks didn’t work too much with call centers (that was all done by the advertisers themselves), SEO and social were not part of the equation.

You’ve presented Marathon Ads professionally, kept away from drama and questionable publicity. Do you think the industry is moving away from “flashy networks” and why?
I sure hope so. Those who are that flashy have no substance. They aren’t making the core relationships that will last for year after year. They’re making their money now. But in 5, 10, 15 years…where will they be? Look at companies like Rex Direct and Cutting Edge. They are solid companies who have been around for years. They model themselves professionally, not only at the shows, but online (Facebook, Twitter, etc). They don’t have to be flashy or gaudy. They do their jobs, have hundreds of long-term relationships. For some reason, the relationship aspect of this industry is suddenly being crapped on as if its not an important thing. Those people who believe that will suffer in the long run. I know that the only reason I felt confident in being able to start up my own company, was the extensive list of very long-term relationships I’ve kept and enjoyed for the past 11 years. I still work with some companies that I did back in my first month of cold calling in 2001. These are people I know and trust that would bend over backwards to help me succeed. So far, they’ve come through for us.

You’ve been very outspoken about issues facing women in the industry. What do you feel one of the top issues that needs to be addressed is?
I believe that objectification is always going to be an issue in this industry. I’ve worked for companies that held Playmate Parties and didn’t even consider the possibility that a woman might win an affiliate contest (which they did after I brought it to their attention and yes, a woman DID win too!). I’ve worked for companies that treated me like I was to be taking their notes, when I was doing about $50k/month more in margin than they were. The lack of respect is mind-boggling. Yes, there are some women who act irresponsibly but no more than the gaggle of men who act like 12 year old boys. More of the solid women in our industry need to start companies on their own and run them like the rock stars they are.

How do you feel a woman run business operates differently? How does this benefit the industry?
Hmm, well, I know quite a few men who run their companies very well. I don’t think its a male/female difference in operation. I think its more personal. More about the people involved, not their gender.

How would you respond to those that claim that women must “accept” sexism, nudity, and obnoxious sexual comments to work in this industry?
I’d say they’re worthless to me. I would not do business with those who claim that. And in the end, that is their loss. One day, they’ll be about to land a big deal with some other company, and make an obnoxious joke about a woman to a man who doesn’t appreciate it. Egg on their face in the end. Quite frankly, they’re not worth my time.

Who are a few people that have influenced or inspired you in the industry?
I have learned a lot of what to do and also what NOT to do in this industry from working with so many people. It would be difficult to name them all and how they’ve helped me. I can say that there are a few women that have been role models for me: Jennine Rexon, Missy Ward, Trish Hawthorne, Stacey Sicard and Erin Garcia. All of these women have been around for a long time and have been constant reminders of where I want to be. They are strong, hard-working and always remain professional. As a matter of fact, it was an encouraging phone call with Stacey that led me to make my final decision to go start up Marathon Ads. We definitely need more women like them around.

How do you balance raising a family with being the owner of a company? Is it harder for women with children to open companies?
It’s a tricky balance, I can tell you that…and still a work in progress. I’m working really hard at finding a way to balance my family (husband and 2 children) and the business. I am hoping it gets easier after the first few months, because so far it might be my biggest challenge since launch. This is one instance where my aforementioned role models will be a big help for me. I’ve been in touch with some of them already to see what has worked best in their experience. I don’t know if it is harder for women with children to open a company than without, because I’ve only just done it this once. I do think opening a company is difficult and challenging either way, there just might be different challenges each face. Again it comes down to finding that balance. I do hope that I am a role model for my 5 year old daughter. Because women have so many more obstacles than men in the workforce, I want her to believe that she can achieve anything she puts her mind to. If you want to start a company, start one and own it…in more ways than one.

What advice would you give to a young woman starting in this industry?
I remember what it was like starting out. Things were so much different for the women in this industry then. I can recall going to the AdTechs and Affiliate Summits back in the day and the Account/Affiliate Managers were wearing too short skirts and “barely-their” shirts. There was no respect given, but they certainly got the majority of the attention. I would like a young woman starting out to know that angle won’t work if you want to succeed for a lengthy period of time. If you’re planning on becoming something in this industry, you need to act like a professional (or as they say in sports, “act like you’ve been there”) and work hard. Know what you’re talking about, fluff won’t get you anywhere. Learn from the best, as I have. These women (and men) who have been staples of Affiliate Marketing for so long…they’ve been here this long for a reason. The best thing you can do to succeed is to educate yourself. I can honestly say this job isn’t a 9-5 job anymore. The internet doesn’t sleep. Check in on your emails, reports and make sure nothing is going wrong…after hours. Your clients and publishers will be grateful for the attention you’ve given them and be more apt to come back to you for more business. Also, make long-term relationships. They will be there when you need them the most.

What is your dream car?
I’m a super lame mommy…all I want is a Honda CR-V so I have more room to bring my kids and our stuff places.

A little side note…in telling my husband I was doing this interview, he gave me the golden advice of making sure I don’t say “I can see Russia from my house.” Just wanted to share that pointer for those doing your future interviews. Shout out to my hubby!

FCC Tightens up SMS and Telemarketing Regulations

By

Richard B. Newman

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2012-03-18

3

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has significantly amended its regulations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) which governs the use of pre-recorded calls or calls placed with an automated telephone dialing system. The TCPA places limits on unsolicited pre-recorded telemarketing calls to landline home telephones, and all autodialed or pre-recorded calls to wireless numbers, emergency numbers, and patient rooms at health care facilities. These calls are known as “robocalls.”

There is no change to the prior consent requirement for robocalls and texts that are not telemarketing. These include messages regarding school closings or those containing flight information. Consumers do not have to provide consent for these calls to a landline home phone. However, verbal or written consent is still required for these types of calls or texts made to a wireless number.

Both the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the FCC have jurisdiction over telemarketing. The FTC is charged with enforcing the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) but lacks jurisdiction over banks, airlines, insurance companies, and intrastate calls. The FCC’s regulatory authority is derived from the TCPA and extends to all telemarketers.

The good news is that the FCC’s regulatory changes bring the TCPA into alignment with the FTC’s more stringent TSR. Therefore, with the exception of banks, credit unions, insurance companies, savings and loans, airlines, and common carriers, marketers already in compliance with the TSR may not be required to modify their marketing practices.

When the FCC’s new rules go into effect, they will impose clearer requirements for how marketers must obtain consent before they may make a pre-recorded or autodialed telemarketing call to wireless numbers (voice or text) and residential lines. The new rules will require that a consumer must first provide written consent to receive such calls or messages. As with the TSR, consent obtained in compliance with the E-Sign Act will satisfy the requirements of the FCC’s new rule, as long as consent is clear and not conditioned upon the purchase of goods or services.

The TSR already requires telemarketers to obtain signed written consent from consumers before sending robocalls. However, the FCC’s current rules permit telemarketers not subject to the FTC’s jurisdiction to avoid obtaining written consent if they place pre-recorded telemarketing calls to residential lines when the caller has an established business relationship with the consumer. Note that the established business relationship exception does not exist for autodialed calls or pre-recorded calls to wireless numbers, and the new rule does not change that.

Consistent with the FTC’s rules, the new FCC rules will eliminate the established business relationship exemption, requiring all telemarketers to obtain prior written consent for robocalls, with the exception of marketers distributing informational calls to landlines or calls made by non-profits and political organizations. Marketers will no longer be able to rely on an established business relationship when placing pre-recorded telemarketing calls to residential lines.

Also noteworthy is that the FCC requires pre-recorded telemarketing calls to have an automatic opt-out mechanism available during the call. This new requirement means that consumers will not have to hang up and make a separate call in order to stop further telemarketing robocalls. The opt-out mechanism must be announced at the beginning of the call and must be available throughout the call. Additionally, when invoked, the opt-out mechanism must immediately disconnect the call and add the consumer to the marketer’s DNC list. If a call could be answered by a consumer’s answering machine or voicemail service, the marketing call must still also provide an opt-out method the recipient can use after the call is disconnected.

Further, abandoned call limitations must now be measured on a “per-campaign basis. The FTC and FCC consider a marketing call “abandoned” when the recipient is not connected to a sales representative within two seconds of the call being answered. Pursuant to the TSR, sellers and telemarketers must ensure that no more than 3% of answered calls are abandoned in “a single calling campaign” or, if a campaign is longer than thirty days, over a thirty-day period (or portion thereof during which the calling campaign continues).

The FCC’s existing rules measure the abandonment rate over a thirty-day period, but currently have no “per-campaign” limitation. The FCC now adopts the TSR’s rule for measuring the abandonment rate over each calling campaign.

The FCC will exempt from its consent, the identification, time of day, opt-out and abandoned call requirements all pre-recorded heath care related calls to residential lines that are subject to HIPAA. This is consistent with the FTC’s approach in the TSR, which also exempts pre-recorded calls subject to HIPAA from its restrictions.

The new rules will be implemented on different time schedules after approval by the Office of Management and Budget and publication in the Federal Register.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult with an experienced Internet Marketing and Communications Attorney for assistance interpreting the FCC’s new rules.

3 Ways to Become a Super Affiliate

By

Mustafa Khundmiri

-

2012-03-18

4

What separates super affiliates from regular affiliates. That’s one question that gets asked over and over again in the affiliate marketing circles. Even though it may sound complicated, the answer to it is pretty simple.

Super affiliates are smart enough to do what the average affiliates don’t do. That’s what gives them an edge over the majority. That’s how they’re able to pull in bigger, fatter checks. That’s how they live the super affiliate lifestyle earning a six figure income working in their pajamas.

So what does it take to become smarter at the affiliate game? Nothing extraordinary.

Given below are 3 ways to help you become a better, more responsible affiliate who takes his ‘job’ seriously.

#1: Become an Affiliate Blogger

The easiest way to sell is to become an authority and have your target audience eat out of your hand. Having your own blog can help you become a strong authority within your niche, giving you the freedom to spread knowledge and cash in on affiliate sales through recommendations.

People are tired of sales pitches and flashy ads. They want someone who can take them by hand and show them the right from wrong. The good from bad. The beautiful from the ugly. As an affiliate blogger you will be able to achieve that and much more.

By educating your audience and showing them the ins and outs of your industry, you’ll be able to win their trust. Once that happens, you automatically do whatever you can to promote the best products to them and they make sure they buy from you. Why? Because your prospects trust you and you don’t want to break it. This creates a win-win situation.

So go ahead and be an authority affiliate marketer instead of a faceless blackhat marketer that nobody knows.

#2: Create Social Connections

The Internet is wide open and more social than ever before. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have opened doors to a whole new world of web marketing. As an affiliate marketer, you need to look beyond Google and take advantage of the growing social trends.

While all those struggling affiliates are busy trying to rank for insanely-long-tail-keywords working their butt off, you be smart and work on creating strong social connections to leverage them in the future.

Using social media you can position yourself as a ‘guide’ or a ‘helpful expert’ more than a ruthless affiliate marketer. Doing this makes it easy for you to get on the social radar of your target audience. It becomes extremely easy to tap into your own growing network to promote any new affiliate offers that come your way. That’s how you make bank as an affiliate in the web 2.0 era.

#3: Provide Something Unique

If there’s one thing that most of the affiliate marketers cringe at doing then it is hard work. So if you can avoid that ‘cringe’, you’ll be better off than the 95% out there. If you’re ready to put your brain sweat into creating and providing something unique and useful for your prospects, they will not only remember you, but also respect you. Know you. Trust you. Buy from you.

Invest your time into bringing out the uniqueness in your approach, no matter how hard it looks. Create a tool, a report, a white paper, a research document – anything that is not only unique but also gives immense value. Show your market that you mean business, and you will do business. Period.

What kind of steps do you take as an affiliate to stand out of the crowd? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

Tamara Robertson: Cougar Fan Club: Sex & Money

By

Pesach Lattin

-

2012-03-17

4

Murray Newlands interviews Tamara Robertson about her blog, Cougar Fan Club. It’s a site all about having slightly older women having lots of sex, and not being embarrassed about it. Murray definately did not want this review to end and really make sure to interrogate her about her blogging, umm.. skills and try to get her email address. On top of that, Tamara is making money from it… not the sex, the blog. Find out what Tamara Robertson says about blogging and about sex and dating!

Video: Dominos Delivers Social Media

By

Pesach Lattin

-

2012-03-16

0

Murray Newlands talks with Ramon de Leon from Domino’s Pizza about how he uses social media to promote his restaurant. You’d be amazed how many people “like” Dominos Pizza. Find out how Ramon’s franchise has using social media “before the term even existed.”

How to Use Facebook to Build Your Email List

By

Mustafa Khundmiri

-

2012-03-16

7

Ever considered leveraging Facebook to build your mailing list? Facebook is a powerful social platform that can be used to add more subscribers to your email list. Since most of the Internet users hang out on Facebook it shouldn’t be hard for you to build a targeted email list by reaching out to your preferred audience using it.

What follows are a six effective tips to help you grow your email list using Facebook:

#1: Get Prospects to Like Your Opt-in Page: By simply installing a Facebook “Like Button” on your opt-in page, you increase the chances of getting people to join your page. This is one of the most obvious things you can do to boost Facebook traffic to your opt-page.

#2: Add an Opt-in Form to Your Page: Many Internet marketers are adding an opt-in form to a tab on their Facebook page. The key here is to create a strong opt-in page with an appealing incentive to get a higher conversion rate. Also, make sure you don’t go overboard with it because you don’t want your prospects getting confused. Be clear with your call to action.

#3: Promote Your Page Using Facebook Ads: Advertising on Facebook is a cheap way to drive laser targeted prospects to your page and have them fill out your opt-in form. And it has been proven that Facebook ads convert the best when you direct the ad generated traffic to your fan page. However, don’t be hasty in your approach – start small and test out a few ad campaigns before you scale.

#4: Update Your Fans About Your Opt-in Offer: This is one of the simplest ways to make the most out of your existing Facebook fans. People are always looking out to get updates from the page they like. The way to make this tactic work out for you is to consistently deliver value to your fans without too much self-promotion. The more balance you maintain between the offers you send out and the actually value that you deliver, the better it is.

#5: Have a Strong Call to Action: If you’re planning to convert your fans into email subscribers, you should have an effective call to action on your page. Let them know very clearly what they will get if they subscribe to your list. Make sure your incentive is powerful enough to drive their interest and get them curious. Lay out the benefits they get out of joining your list. If possible include testimonials from your current prospects/customers for social proof. All of this contributes to a call to action that actually gives results.

#6: Use Facebook Connect: This is something worth testing because different markets respond differently. The niche that you’re targeting may be more inclined towards joining through Facebook rather than joining your email list. Besides that, when you build a large following on Facebook, you can in turn drive targeted traffic to your email opt-in page.

Do you use Facebook to increase your email subscribe base? We’d love to hear your ideas! Please share them in the comments section below.

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