Author: Andrew Bishop

It’s not rocket science.

The transformation that takes place around an affiliate ascending into the 20k plus per month range is one of the most often discussed topics in our industry.  How did they do it?  Who did they bribe? What secret handshake did they learn to pull it off?

Every month I see multiple affiliates pull down more than 20k in revenues.  And each month I wonder why more affiliates aren’t doing it.  Though it’s not anything close to impossible, it does require some work.  But more importantly, it involves working smart.  I’ve attempted to define what “working smart” means by outlining the basic fundamentals that help create 20k a month affiliates.

First, we need to discuss the importance of relevant and thorough SubID Reporting.  The SubID is an alphanumeric value that is added to your Tracking URL.  It enables you to see conversions via these specific values, which can be extremely beneficial for tracking conversions for email lists, sub affiliates,  etc.

If we, as your affiliate managers, are able to gain even the smallest of insights into your mailing operations and access to your SubID reporting, we can help optimize your traffic to get some of the best payout and improve your overall ROI.  Affiliates that allow us this access perform far better than those who do not.

Another major aspect that 20k a month affiliates share would be Custom Creatives.  If you have the capability to develop your own creatives – do it.  It’s that simple.  Of course you need to be sure that the creatives pass our compliance standards and are approved by Adknowledge before you run them.  Providing your clickers and users with creatives that no one else is sending, will prove to be a phenomenal competitive advantage.  If you don’t have the resources, ask your account manager if they can provide you with additional resources for helping with custom creatives.

Finally, we come to probably the most important hurdle on your way to becoming a 20k per month affiliate.  Rigorous Testing.  It’s so simple, and we hear people say it all the time.  But it’s by far the most overlooked and neglected aspect of affiliate marketing.  Testing is the oxygen your data needs to thrive and survive.  Our most successful partners got to where they are today by eating a balanced breakfast, exercising, and then testing their affiliate butts off.

Good testing has to become a habit.  It’s not something you can work on for a couple days, and then conveniently forget about the remainder of the week.  Is it nice outside?  Too bad- keep testing.  Are the Olympics on?  Too bad- keep testing.  Wife having a baby?  Spoiler alert- It poops.  Keep testing.  Keep testing, and then keep track of what tests you have run, and ask for feedback from your account manager about how things looked from the advertiser end.  The more information you can provide, the better we can help improve performance.  Hold your account manager accountable to provide you with the information you need.  We will do everything in our power to provide you with the stats and reports to improve your operations.

So that’s it.  Those are the major components that all of our 20k a month affiliates share.  SubID Reporting, Custom Creatives, and Rigorous Testing.  So reach out to us, let us help you.  We would like nothing more than to see you reach the same income level.  –Or more.  Here is a link to one of our microsites, see what you think, and fill out one of the “get started” forms.  I would love to talk to you about your data, and walk you through your options.  We can get you there one day.

It’s not rocket science.

Affiliate marketing is not for the faint of heart. At every turn, the risk of financial doom lurks, waiting to suck your bank account dry. Despite your best efforts most campaigns fail, and you will waste a lot of time and money trying to find that one winning campaign.  If you’re new to the industry, expect to work hard and lose money for about a year. That’s how long it takes the average marketer to figure things out and turn a true profit that makes affiliate marketing worthwhile.

If you’ve been at this for more than a year and you’re still hemorrhaging green, it’s time to take a cold hard look at your operation because you’re doing something wrong. Here are three of the best ways to go broke with affiliate marketing.

Don’t Do Anything. Affiliate marketing gets easier the longer you do it, but your business will never run itself. To keep your customers coming back for more, you still have to create viable campaigns and publish fresh relevant content on your sites. Furthermore, you must continue learning about the industry and its latest trends, and you have to actively participate. Most importantly, you have to understand your target audience. Your customer base evolves so quickly it can make your brain spin faster Linda Blair’s head in The Exorcist. If you’re losing money on promotions that once garnered a high-profit margin, it could be that demand has dwindled. Or perhaps the demographics of your audience have shifted, and you need to take a different approach. Or maybe the majority of your visitors have gone mobile while you’re still churning out e-mails. There’s no time like the present to review and revamp your efforts.

Allow Your Affiliate Program To Cheat On Your Paycheck. “Cheating” may be a bit harsh, but my point is that miscalculations do happen from time to time. If you are running multiple campaigns on multiple networks, keeping the financial end straight can be overwhelming. Invest (yes, spend some dough) in a credible tracking service that supplies regular reports on who owes you what. You might be surprised at how much money is slipping through the cracks.

Make Your Site(s) the Ugly Step-sister. With e-commerce, appearance is everything. Is your site is loaded with distracting ads? Is it unappealing, unprofessional, or of low quality? Do potential customers have to hunt to find exactly what they are looking for? If so, you are scaring away potential sales. Customers are more likely to click through sites that are clear, concise, aesthetically pleasing, and clutter-free. They also demand relevant and fresh information. If they can’t achieve that with your site, they’ll click away to one of your competitors. If you can’t critique your sites objectively, enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague.

Yes, affiliate marketing involves financial risk, but with a little common sense and a lot of work and effort, you can keep your shirt and maybe afford to buy one or two more.

In the past few months, three of the industry’s largest affiliate networks – shut their doors, leaving their affiliates high and dry. From the looks of things, many more will follow suit in the near future.  Here’s a look at why affiliate networks fail and what you can do to protect yourself.

1. No money. This is the biggie. For various reasons, the flood of cash that keeps networks above water slows to a trickle and eventually dries up. Two main reasons trigger this. In some cases, advertisers stop paying their bills. In the interest of doing the right thing and to keep their businesses afloat, networks continue paying their affiliates even though they really don’t have the funds to do so. In other cases, the FTC and state attorneys general knock on the door. The networks are crushed under the weight of legal fees, fines, and insurmountable actions lobbied against them. Expect to see more activity from the government as it cracks down on what it deems illegal online marketing practices.
2. No growth plan. Eager to turn a quick buck, some networks enter the game whole hog without first creating a long-term business plan. Executives expect the network to grow itself and neglect to actively recruit qualified affiliates. Operating under the assumption that more publishers will mean more sales, they “grow” the network by hiring any and every affiliate that applies. They don’t research the background or performance records of these potential partners. Consequently, their bank accounts and their reputations eventually suffer to the point that the business fails.
3. No new ideas. Many affiliate networks don’t plan for what will happen when demand for their current products and services wanes. They jump into the market with the latest hot trend and get so comfortable that they stop innovating. They don’t generate ideas for how to move their network forward. When demand dies, they have no backup plan and no direction. Out of desperation to find the next big thing, they partner with companies who have not been vetted and who prove to be unreliable. Over time, the money and resources they pour into these unproductive relationships vaporizes.
4. No commitment. Some affiliate network executives view affiliate marketing as a way to get rich quick instead of as a long-term business investment. As such, they tend to treat their affiliates as expendable employees and necessary nuisances instead of business partners. They don’t understand the purpose of building positive relationships with affiliates or sharing relevant information. They may pay their affiliates late or not at all. What they don’t understand is that their affiliates have options, and those options are fairly easy to exercise. They also have mouths and social media accounts. As soon as word spreads that a particular network isn’t worth the time, effort, and money, it begins a slow and painful downhill slide. After all, without affiliates there is no network.

Some of these reasons for failure can’t be controlled, but others can. My advice, whether you are a manager or a publisher, is to do your due diligence. If you’re running a network, read up on recent court cases, investigate advertisers and affiliates before signing on the dotted line, and realize the power that your publishers hold. If you’re an affiliate, research the networks you’re interested in, ask colleagues what they know about these networks, and pay attention to what’s going on in your industry. With these actions, maybe we can prevent the demise of another affiliate network.

In a down economy, marketing budgets suddenly become extremely expendable. Typically, they make a company’s list of “Top 5 Areas to Slash and Burn.”  Yet, affiliate marketers still need to squeeze out a greater ROI with the shredded remnants, right? Why not ensure these precious ad dollars land where they can get the most green for the go? Using response-based targeting is one way to do this.

When it comes to potential customers, marketers may not be dealing with who they think they are dealing with.  While a product may be marketed toward a specific audience, that doesn’t mean that every person clicking through the ad and ultimately making a purchase is a member of that group. Relying solely on demographic or psychographic data may exclude a whole segment of potential sales. Response-based targeting can help marketers reveal this potential.

With response-based targeting, a product is presented to consumers who have been the most responsive to specific advertising efforts, regardless of their demographic/psychographic profile. To gain this information, sales data must be analyzed for patterns that reveal which customers purchased the product because of their exposure to advertising or based on previous shopping habits. Once those patterns are set, data is organized in order from most responsive to least responsive. Voilà!  Often times, the data determines that an entirely different population of consumers is responding and buying. That is exactly why Adknowledge uses response-based targeting with its affiliate marketers – to unlock the hidden money-making potential for its clients.

Migrating from the current comfy-cozy target marketing strategy to response-based marketing might require a major shift in thinking. Before taking the leap, conduct a little research. Determine which offers from the past year performed best and why. Look for buying patterns during those times, and use that research to help you decide if a change is needed.

Response-based targeting isn’t without its pitfalls. Affiliate marketers should keep the value of the customer vs. the cost to advertise in mind to avoid overspending. It’s a bit of a balancing act, and careful data analysis is essential. Even if the numbers suggest a move into pricier media outlets, it may not be the right move, at least not right now. Using a combination of response-based marketing and demographic/psychographic marketing methods might make the most sense. At the very least, analyzing sales data using a response-based approach is worth the time and effort.

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