Tag: scams

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PeerFly has few Peers.

Recently PeerFly was awarded the #2 Network in our Annual Survey of Networks. Their CEO Chad French was pretty damn happy about that, considering he only opened the doors in 2008. We decided that it was about time we sat down with him again and see what he is doing with himself, and what we can expect from his network.

We spoke to you a few months ago; you seemed really excited about the future. How does it feel that half a year later your network has blown up and you’re one of the top CPA networks in the world? It’s been an awesome experience.  When I started building the platform for PeerFly in 2008, I had no idea we’d be one of the top networks in less than 3 years time. I attribute our phenomenal growth to my team and the long hours we put in every day to make sure we’re the best we can be.  We’re never content with where we are at any given moment so we continue to push ourselves to the next level. If there isn’t a next level, we create one. We’ve done so much in 3 years… watch what we do within the next 3!

What do you think that you are offering that other CPA Networks can’t provide? I believe the advantages we have over other CPA networks are two things: creativity, and in-house development. We have a list a mile long of ideas that we want to implement into PeerFly and future assets that are not found elsewhere. We are extremely inventive and think outside of the boxes box! Myself, and two others on my team, have web-based programming backgrounds with varying levels of skill. So, when we come together and conjure up something super creative, we’re able to easily implement those ideas within our system. We’ve never relied on a 3rd party to provide value to our affiliates/clients.

Other things we provide that others don’t are several payment schedules based on revenue, several payment methods, daily payments (over a year now), over 1,300 offers in many different verticals, live chat support, a rewards program, and a lifetime 5% referral program.

As you know, fraud is a serious issue. What is PeerFly doing to combat fraud? What types of fraud are you seeing personally? We have been described as one of the most strict and rigorous in terms of fraud and compliance. To begin, our compliance department is composed of two different segments: approvals and traffic. Among other things, all applicants have to verify their phone number using our pin verification system as well as upload a government issued photo ID. If verification passes, they still have to pass another additional 20+ internal points of assessment.  If an applicant is approved and becomes an affiliate, our dedicated traffic manager audits their traffic closely and works proactively with our clients to ensure quality is where it needs to be.

We don’t really see “fraud” like we used to when we first started. Rather, we see non-compliant traffic. IE; traffic that may be legitimate but is not an accepted method or type as described on the offer page. Some affiliates just don’t know how to follow directions. However, most of the time we’re able to catch it before it becomes an issue and steer that publisher in the right direction.

We’ve talked about those networks that don’t pay their bills. What is your philosophy about this? Paying our affiliates on time is something else that sets us apart as well. It shouldn’t even be an advantage because that’s CPA network predicate 101! But, unfortunately for this industry, it is. For the first two years we were in business, we had an extremely low overhead that allowed us to save, save, save. It wasn’t until the beginning of this year that we actually got an office. Even with the office, only a couple of us work there – one being part time. We have had no investors and we’ve bootstrapped everything. Our savings has allowed us to continue to pay everyone on time even when our clients are several weeks or months late on their payment. We’ve been fortunate enough to float money without issues and I attribute that to our non-flashy, low budget, saving mentality style.

For networks that have trouble keeping up with payments and are starting to build a reputation of bad payment issues, you need to step back and reassess what you are doing in this business. The #1 priority we’ve had since day one is paying people what they earned, on time. We will make sure our affiliates are paid on time before our own pockets are paid on time. With the power of the Internet, it’s super easy for a handful of affiliates to take your business down because of your bad financial decisions. I’ve seen it time and time again. Always make sure your output is never more than your input or else you will see failure.

What do you think the biggest mistakes most affiliates are making right now? Giving up. Unfortunately, a lot of people equate this industry with a “get-rich-quick” scheme. They get into it looking to make an easy dollar and then give up when they discover it’s a lot harder than they perceived. I believe there is nothing “hard” about this business. You just have to know what you are doing so you can formulate a strategy. The only thing that separates new affiliates from super affiliates is information. That’s it. You don’t need to have any money, special talent, skills, or degrees. We have affiliates who make $20k a day and it’s not because of their good looks! They understand how to take an offer, formulate an action plan and know whom to target.

Are you offering training for affiliates? Why or why not? What specifically? We’re currently developing a whole new interface and website layout. With the launch of the new design we will also be introducing a “Training & Resource Center” which will focus on providing the information our affiliates need to succeed.  We want to start doing live Q&A sessions, video walkthroughs, a dynamic FAQ system, message board and more. We don’t think our affiliates should be paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars on coaching programs when we can provide all of it plus more for free.

Where do you think affiliates need to go to learn how to be super-affiliates? I believe our upcoming resource center will prove to be a valuable asset and will be able to take our affiliates from “newbie” to “super” in a short time. Other places to frequent for free guidance in this business are forums like: WarriorForum (http://warriorforum.com), DigitalPoint (http://forums.digitalpoint.com) and reading all the latest industry related blog posts at AffDaily (http://affdaily.com) where lots of industry bloggers provide valuable insights and information.

Do you recommend that affiliates try many networks, or stick with a few proven networks? Why or why not? Stick with the proven networks. There should be no need for you to go out looking for or working with new networks that don’t have any history. If anything, let them prove themselves first. If they seem attractive because of payout claims on a certain offer or the types of offers they have, simply ask the current proven network you’re with if they can get those offers or match those payouts. Nine times out of 10, not only will they be able to get that offer but also beat the payout on it as well. The proven networks have a lot more clout and can negotiate better payouts with advertisers. Not to mention – if you work with an unproven or unheard of network, they are more than likely brokering the offer from a bigger, proven network anyway.

What is your opinion of all the FTC lawsuits? How are you guys protecting yourselves from legal actions by the government, and what do you recommend for affiliates? Our industry obviously needs regulation. I want to help build an industry of value, integrity, and sustainability. Not scams, lies, and falsehoods. Advertising powers the Internet so we really have a bright future ahead of us just as long as we can stay accepted and compliant! I applaud the efforts of groups like the Performance Marketing Association, the Executive Council of Performance Marketing and even the Federal Trade Commission for creating standards and keeping both sides straight.

As for us, we work with our attorney to ensure our practices stay within FTC guidelines. We have absolutely no intentions of going outside the realm of veracity and standards this industry relies upon to grow.

Check out Peerfly here

 

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The Four Pillars of Building Trust to Increase Conversions

Human beings are social creatures that seek out companionship and relationships. Our map of reality can be viewed as a series of concentric circles which include the most trusted relationships and those who are in our hearts at the very center.

We crave trust. Without it, we would be consigned to a world where we must examine everyone’s actions with suspicion and assume that they are working only for their purposes and not ours. Because of the sheer number of social interactions that we have with complete strangers, we must at least extend some trust.  Otherwise many acts, both small and momentous, simply could not happen at all.

Even with total strangers in the “real world” we at least have their appearance and body language to go by. But what do you do online? Almost anyone can quickly create a website or landing page and masquerade as a wide variety of businesses. Many of these enterprises are untrustworthy. We are often barraged in the media about various scams perpetrated online and have our guard up.

As an online marketer, your job is very difficult compared to your bricks-and-mortar marketing counterpart. You must not only overcome anxieties, but do so in the most challenging of circumstances.

Online trust must be developed without any face-to-face contact, and it must be created instantly in the few precious seconds it takes a website visitor to evaluate your value proposition.

So how can you build instant trust online?

The following pillars of trust can be employed with great effectiveness.

Appearance

First impressions matter. We do judge a book by its cover. Recent research indicates that people will form an initial impression of your landing page or website within fifty milliseconds. This is almost as fast as visual processing happens in the brain, and can be considered as an instantaneous and automatic response. In other words, we subliminally decide where the page falls on our “cheesy” to “professional” continuum. And this initial reaction extends to a more considered review of the page, and will impact out likelihood of taking the desired conversion action.

Don’t get disqualified based solely on how you look

We prefer well-dressed and groomed job-candidates. We try to put our best foot forward on first dates. The same should be done online.

  • Professionalism of design – Regardless of the intended audience or your business purpose, the visual design should be professionally executed. It should hang together and function as a single unified whole. Fonts, colors, and graphical elements must combine into a single visual “look”.
  • Sparseness & neatness – Clutter can be your worst enemy, whether it is visual embellishments, or dense longwinded text. Less is more. Ruthlessly edit everything on the page until it is pared to its essence and has a natural and unforced feel. Give your page room to breathe.
  • Organization & clarity – Too many choices of what to do on the page can be paralyzing. Similarly, a disorganized page increases the visitor’s “cognitive load” and forces them to spend time simply trying to figure out in what order they should digest the information that you have presented. As the title of Steve Krug’s excellent book on web usability so elegantly puts it – “Don’t Make Me Think”.

Transactional Assurances

Will we be spammed if we enter our email in a form? Will the goods promised ever be delivered after we order from an online catalog? Will our very identity be stolen? Such questions are always in the background when we navigate around the Web.

Relieve point-of-action anxieties before they arise

The mechanics of the conversion action matter. Whether you are trying to collect an email for an online newsletter, or have someone purchase an expensive item or service, reassurances are needed about the transaction.

  • Forms of payment and delivery – Many ecommerce catalogs only show acceptable forms of payment and return policies after the checkout process has been started. In fact, they must be seen before they are needed, and prominently displayed above the fold on every page. The same is true of well-known delivery and shipping methods.
  • Data security and privacy –  The site that you transact with must be certified as safe by outside experts in terms of its ability to protect your data. Having privacy policies and computer security trustmarks from well-known vendors will instantly show someone that you have safeguarded their data properly.
  • Policies & guarantees – Often the transaction is not at issue. It is what happens afterward that concerns people. By prominently featuring your warranties, return policies, and guarantees, you can assuage these anxieties. Often, a visual seal can be created to draw the eye to these important elements.

Experts & Media

Your visitors are not likely to have heard of you. Unless you represent a truly world-class consumer company, people are unlikely to know your brand promise. They do not know what you stand for.

Borrow trust from better-known brands

  • Reviews & awards – Many services and products have won awards or at least been reviewed by relevant industry publications.  Using the award seals or “Reviewed by” language can be very effective.
  • Paid endorsements & spokespeople – Paid endorsements can transfer the trust or at least the celebrity of the spokesperson to the product or service in question.
  • Marquee clients – Using client logos with permission, or at least prominently featuring a written list of clients (unless specifically prohibited from doing so by contract language) will create powerful visual proof of your legitimacy. They confer an implicit halo effect – if you have worked with large companies, of course you can handle smaller “regular” ones.
  • Media Mentions – Media companies are experts at self-promotion and drumming their brands into our consciousness. Any association with them confers a notoriety and solidity to you landing page. Often “media” outlets can also be broadly defined as bloggers or authoritative voices in your specific niche.

There are several caveats to the use of hen using expert and media logos. They must appear above the fold and be seen at the same time as the call to action (not below or after it) in order to provide the context for the content on the page. On the other hand, they must be displayed subtly, so they do not dominate the visual conversation. The logos are often well designed, distinctive and instantly recognizable. So you may have to actually de-emphasize their impact by reducing size, decreasing color saturation (possibly using grayscale), and decreasing contrast with the background color chosen to display the logos.

Consensus of Peers

We often follow the lead of people like ourselves. If we see many friends driving a particular make of car, we are more apt to consider it. If our circle of acquaintances  turn us on to a new musical group, we are more likely to pay attention. Regardless of the actual cultural “tribes” that we belong to, our peers exert a very strong influence on us.

Support automatic compliance by demonstrating “social proof”

There are two important preconditions for “social proof” to be effective: 1) have to be many people who are taking similar action, and 2) they must be as much like us as possible.

  • Objective numbers – “the many” can be demonstrated by showing how many people have bought, downloaded, or started a free trial. Number should be cumulative since the inception of the business or product. Spell out the digits of each number (e.g. “Over 1,000,000 downloads”), and use larger fonts  to draw additional attention.
  • Likeness – Create affinity by demonstrating that the people taking action are similar to your website visitors. This can be done by picking appropriate colors, editorial tone, and graphics to make your visitors feel at home. You can also have a large number of detailed testimonials that discuss common situations faced by similar people.

If you build on the four pillars of trust above, you should have a solid foundation for improved conversions.

——-
Tim Ash is the CEO of SiteTuners.com, a landing page optimization firm that offers conversion consulting, full-service guaranteed-improvement tests, and software tools to improve conversion rates. Tim is the author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization and a highly-regarded presenter at Search Engine Strategies, eMetrics, PPC Summit, Affiliate Summit, PubCon, Affiliate Conference, and LeadsCon. He also chairs  Conversion Conference, a two-day event focused exclusively on improving online conversions.

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Have we confused Affiliate Marketing with Get Rich Scams?

Regardless of what you personally think of all the guys who are trying to sell their newest program about how to make money on the internet, there is something to be said for those people who believe that it has nothing to do with affiliate marketing. Yes, some of their blogs are extremely popular, but then against so is Scientology and I wouldn’t recommend anyone join that unless they want to be scanned and probed anally by aliens. And honestly, I think many of the make money guys might do the same thing to you if it made them money. Come on guys, Affiliate and Performance marketing has nothing to do with “get rich” schemes.

I’ve probably with that statement pissed off 10 of the most popular bloggers on the internet. Yeah, some of them probably have something to do with affiliate marketing, but most of them are just trying to get as many people to sign up to their newsletter so they can promote their or some other guys DVD that claims that for $5,000 you can buy all the secrets to Affiliate Marketing. While more than a few of them have made money in the industry, most of them are just guys who made a few thousand dollars here and there and figure that they could make more money convincing idiots that they learned the secret to affiliate marketing and how to make money.

As a friend of mine Jon (the owner of wickedfire, and hopeful DWTS contestant) pointed out to me, most of these guys are just selling DVDs that teach basic thing that you can find on the internet. Honestly, I give them credit in being able to market these products, but I’m curious how ethical it is to charge someone $5k to teach them how to login to Google and add keywords. Many of the people who read these blogs are honestly desperate to learn about interactive marketing, and will believe anyone who tells them that a DVD will teach them the secret. Selling them this crap is really preying on them, especially in this economy.

There are some people who are real superstars in our industry and really know how to make money in the industry. These guys aren’t selling DVDs on how they made money, because they are often too busy to make money. I’ve personally made millions in this industry, owned a major display network, ran one of the largest affiliate networks in the world – because I’ve been doing it for ever. Frankly, I don’t have time right now to create a program and sell people my “secrets.” I’m too busy trying to figure out the next secret for myself.