Archive of ‘affiliate marketing’ category
Top affiliate Ivan Ong gave a great presentation on promoting international CPA offers at Neverblue’s Interact Singapore event in December last year and some of the attendees inquired about getting additional training or even being personally coached/mentored by Ivan after listening to him speak.
While I doubt Ivan will have much time to do personal mentoring, I’ve arranged the next best thing – he’s agreed to a workshop that builds on and goes into greater detail on his strategy in promoting international offers.
You might be wondering why this might be a useful area for affiliates to pick up on. For one, North American offers, which comprise the bulk of offers in each network’s database still represents the lion’s share of revenue at most networks. If you’re a newer affiliate, this means you’re competing against established affiliates, whether they specialize in paid search, SEO, media buys or PPV. Being outbid or just being unable to run your campaign with major ad networks can be a major stumbling block.
With Neverblue’s focus on establishing a European and Asian presence, I’ve compared the offer database against other networks and am confident from seeing the offers and seeing how well some of my experienced affiliates are doing with the offers that I feel new and experienced affiliates stand to gain from either starting out promoting these kinds of offers or adding these classes of offers to their portfolio of campaigns.
For the upcoming workshop, Ivan will be presenting his system as well as showing campaign data from Europe and Asia campaigns, it’s my intention that attendees will be able to create a blueprint to similarly promote offers, which generally seem to have a higher conversion rate, and usually lower traffic costs across the board.
If you’re not earning the level of affiliate marketing income that you are aiming for, you should attend this workshop.
As it’s additional training by Ivan, it falls outside of Neverblue’s training.
Although there’s a charge for the 1-day workshop, Ivan’s offering a special rate to Neverblue affiliates.
If you aren’t already a Neverblue affiliate and would like me to be your affiliate manager, you apply to be an affiliate via my signup link. (Update: I’m no longer an affiliate manager with Neverblue, but if you apply with my signup link, drop me an email via my “contact” link and I’ll see how I can help you get approved).
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Note: You should be familiar with how affiliate marketing works. If you have run CPA campaigns previously, it will also help you get more out of the workshop.
Note: The workshop has been postponed due to Ivan’s commitments. You can still sign up for Neverblue here.
It seems like new affiliates might have difficulty getting accepted into a CPA network, especially if they’re new and have little or no experience.
I often read of these new marketers having their affiliate application denied, especially at major networks.
Here are some tips to increase your chances of getting accepted.
“Interviewing” for your CPA network affiliate application: Just like interviewing for a job, it’s important to be prepared when you’re “interviewing” to get into a network. It’s not very encouraging to have an affiliate apply then say they don’t know anything about the network, or worse, say “I’m brand new and I’m not in any network yet, so I applied to everyone.
Some tips that will help you get in, especially if you’re newer.
1) Do your homework: Check here and on affiliate blogs on the profile of the network. It’s a 2-way street. How is the network’s offer selection? Payment policy? How helpful are the affiliate managers (AMs)? Are they “agency of record” for the offers they promote, or do they mainly syndicate offers from other networks?
2) Have a game plan in hand. This can be difficult if you’re not already in at least one network, but if you are in one network, you can surf through the offers and get an idea of what your focus will be on. If not, you can use offers202 or another offers search engine as a means of last resort (although you might not be able to see some of the analytics like CTR, EPC, etc) Figure out what niches do you focus on? What is your traffic strategy, what are your primary promo methods? If you can’t understand this, you might score lower on the network’s internal rating system (generally the lower your score, the more difficulty you’ll face in getting accepted), also depending on the network, you might have a smaller pool of offers to choose from.
3) Invest in yourself: A lot of affiliate marketing is knowledge-based. So be sure to trawl through the available resources and know what you need to know to run your business. If you don’t have all the tools and knowledge to be effective, it’s not likely that anyone else is going to do it for you. So this step is just smart business sense.
4) Follow up: There’s a couple of ways to do this. You can call the network after you’ve submitted the application, be sure to be able to answer questions about your background, experience, promo method, niche selection, etc. Alternatively, if you get in touch with someone from the network (either from the AM side or from the biz dev side), and have a conversation with them (tell them especially if you’re brand new), then you have a much better chance of getting in. Applications at the larger networks go through an automated screening process when you first submit and may be denied during this stage. If you talk to someone, they can flag it and the application can be prioritized. It’s more difficult to approve a denied application than to manually review an application that is in the pending pile.
Ok, that was long, but hopefully it’ll give a better idea of what happens during the account application and review process.
If anyone has any questions, especially about applying to Neverblue CPA network, you can read my earlier post: “I’m looking for a few top Neverblue affiliates”
Alternatively, you’re also welcome to email me.
It’s taken about 4 years to see the launch of a major CPA network in Singapore, but I think the wait has been worth it.
Since the first affiliate summit I attend in 2008, I’d been talking to the affiliate networks about establishing a presence in Asia, especially with the growing number of affiliates in this part of the world.
So it was a great opportunity earlier this year when I started talking to Neverblue senior network manager Samantha Brachat about establishing a presence here, especially since Europe and Asia are the major growth areas for the network.
A Neverblue Asia office was set up earlier this year in Hong Kong and in October I took on the portfolio of Affiliate Consultant, responsible for recruiting and developing affiliates, with a focus on Asia.
So I’m happy to announce that Singapore will be playing host to a Neverblue Interact event later this month, in conjunction with the launch of the company’s Singapore presence.
It’ll be a training and networking session on Dec 15 (Thurs) from 6pm to 10pm at Singapore Management University in downtown Singapore. (suggested attire: smart casual).
If you’re a Neverblue affiliate or if you are not, but interested to find out about affiliate marketing, do come down for the Neverblue Interact event for an evening of training, networking and fun!
I’ve invited three top affiliates who’ll be sharing their experience of growing their online business and strategies for building a profitable business. The three affiliates are:
Ken Lee who’s one of Neverblue’s top affiliates and one of the winners of Neverblue’s recent Out of Bounds competition. Ken lives in Malaysia and rarely speaks at events, preferring to work on his business and this is one of the rare occasions he’ll be speaking.
Ivan Ong who’s a successful Singapore affiliate. He’s blogged about his PPV strategies and tips for a successful campaign at his blog.
Eddy Kuah, an experienced Malaysian affiliate who’s based in Singapore.
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The evening will kick off with a light dinner before the speaker’s take to the rostrum.
If you’d like to come with a friend, do indicate it in your reply.
Be sure to register your attendance at the Facebook event page and drop me a mail via my blog contact form.
Since early 2011, CPA network has been expanding aggressively out of Canada and the US to focus on growing its Europe and Asia business (affiliates and advertisers) and I found out that the network had opened a Hong Kong office to fuel its expansion.
I had a great discussion with Neverblue senior network manager, Samatha Brachat, when she was in town for AdTech Singapore a couple of months ago and after discussion, I’m working with Neverblue as an affiliate consultant to help grow the company’s affiliate business.
What will I be doing?
The role will have some similarities to an affiliate manager – to help recruit and develop affiliates. Although I’ll be focusing on the Asia markets, I’ll also be bringing in affiliates from North America and Europe.
You might be wondering why I’ve stepped into the affiliate management side of things after working as an affiliate and advertiser – it just seemed like the logical next step after about 14 years in the industry.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with various affiliate managers and network owners over the years and I’ve found the most effective AMs tend to be:
- Knowledgeable: It first starts with being familiar with the offers on your networks, being up on what the best performing offers and the most appropriate offers for an affiliate’s method of promotion. An understanding of your network’s platform, facilities like pixel placement and API are key to help your affiliates too. That’s the baseline expectation of a decent AM. The great AMs are the ones who are up on what’s happening in the affiliate space – what’s being discussed on the various IM and aff mktg forums, how various traffic sources/networks perform and how to integrate a campaign with a traffic source. Although tracking and analytics are outside of what some AMs might be familiar with, they’d be important for any affiliate to know what’s working and what’s not.
- Responsive: Getting back to an affiliate’s query in a timely manner helps them get their campaigns up in a prompt manner. After all, if they do well, you do well. So why not help them get started as soon as possible.
- Bringing value to the table: Going beyond what you see when you login to your affiliate account is probably one of the biggest advantages to the table. Beyond just a “how are you doing?” and “here are a few hot offers on our network”, a great affiliate manager will want to understand your business and your goals and work with you to achieve them, not merely push a certain offer. I see myself bringing ideas to the table that go beyond affiliate marketing, on operating and scaling a business if the affiliate wants.
- Following through: Simply, if you promise something, delivering on it.
If you’re not a Neverblue affiliate yet, you can apply here and drop me an email, so I can help you get started.
If you have been inactive and you’d like me to help you grow your business, do drop me an email.
You’ve probably seen the blog and forum posts, promoting the new paid affiliate marketing forum from Lorenzo Green from Mr Green, Jordan from StackThatMoney and Besmir from AffExpert.
Let’s assume you’re suffering from tunnel vision and just see the $99/month price tag. Is it expensive? Heck, yeah.
Anything’s going to be expensive if you only look at the cost side of things.
Disclaimer: I don’t know Jordan that well, aside from a brief email exchange where he asked if I wanted to submit a picture of myself with my car for a blog post on StackThatMoney.
I then asked him, if he wanted me to pose with my regular weekday drive-the-kids-to-school car or my sports car.
No, I’m kidding, I politely declined and said that I felt it’s a little lame to feel like you have to prove you can buy (or probably lease) some $40,000 car and brag about it online so you can feel better about yourself.
But Lorenzo and Besmir I’ve known for some time and I was a little surprised that they posted the offers and campaigns they’d been running. They had told me about these campaigns confidentially over skype/AIM and it was surprising to see them appear as case studies on the forum.
Now before you break out your paypal account or credit card and start signing up with dollar signs in your eyes, just wait a sec.
Some caveats: Obviously if 100 affiliates (newbie or experienced), start cloning the offer, landing page, keywords, url targets and run it on every single PPV network they can get their hands on, the offer will probably tank. It will go from 50% ROI to maybe 5% if you’re lucky.
The best way to benefit from the forum is to study the techniques being demonstrated and see how they might apply to your existing campaign, or better yet, adapt and combine two or more techniques to get an even higher response/conversion rate.
The best tool any affiliate can get isn’t one you can buy online, or even in the store. It’s the one that lies between your ears. Joining a forum can help spark an idea or introduce an element that brings your campaign to a new level.
“Is the forum any good?”
That’s a bit of a silly question in my opinion. Since the forum is brand-new and its three owners are focused on building the brand and bringing in the members, they’re not holding anything back. The case studies contain a lot of detail, the owners are frequently online and replying to questions. Short of calling any of them on the phone, I think the forum is the next best thing.
But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for at least a month, spend at least a decent amount of time following along and setting up your own campaigns and see what you’ve learned and more importantly, how you can benefit from it.
And there’s an opening offer:
$99/month promotion, goes up to $149/month later.
Check out: StackThatMoney for more details.
If you’re just looking for the ASE2011 discount code/coupon code, you can follow these steps:
1) Click to go to the Affiliate Summit website. (opens in a new window)
2) Click the “Register now” link.
3) At the registration page, use the discount code “ASE11WIAW” (it’s good for 10% off silver, gold, platinum or diamond)
PS: The prices for early bird registration end May 20th (Fri). If you’ve been procrastinating or waiting for some reason, perhaps the increase in price after May 20th may motivate you.
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Ok, let’s look at some of the details for Affiliate Summit East 2011 (also known as ASE2011).
The upcoming conference is back in New York.
- When: August 21-23, 2011 (Sunday to Tuesday)
- Where: Hilton New York
I suggest flying in or getting there on Saturday and taking it easy during the day and meeting up with friends or arranging meetings that evening.
Some affiliates have been known to party hard on Saturdays before the conference begins, then have to nurse a pounding hangover the next 3 days. Generally, not very fun.
New York is generally more expensive than Las Vegas (where Affiliate Summit West is typically held).
The turnout tends to be smaller than ASW – this means you have more time to meet up with your advertising or CPA network reps, and have more time to networks with other affiliates.
Vegas seems like a flurry of parties and non-stop meetings, so the pace at New York might better suit you if you’d like to turn things down a notch.
Having said that, ASE2011 will feature 4 keynote speakers – I’ve heard Seer Interactive’s Wil Reynolds speak a number of times and he always delivers great stuff. I had a look at the other 3 speaker’s bios too and they looked pretty interesting, even if you’re probably not going to follow their business model.
As always, be sure to check out the Meet Market on Sunday, even if you might miss some workshop sessions.
The conference sessions look interesting, although the speakers aren’t all listed yet (I believe they’ve probably not submitted their speaker agreements yet).
I’ll post more about the sessions as more info become available in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, you might like to get your ticket.
Which one to get?
If it’s your first time, you might like to get the Diamond or Platinum pass which gives you access to all the workshop sessions. They’re kinda like “all access” passes.
The gold and silver passes are good if you’re mainly there to check out the tradeshow and have meetings, cos you won’t have access to most of the workshops.
Here’s the registration info again:
1) Click to go to the Affiliate Summit website. (opens in a new window)
2) Click the “Register now” link.
3) At the registration page, use the discount code “ASE11WIAW” (it’s good for 10% off silver, gold, platinum or diamond)
PS: The prices for early bird registration end May 20th (Fri). If you’ve been procrastinating or waiting for some reason, perhaps the increase in price after May 20th may motivate you.
