As we enter the middle of January 2017, it’s worth looking back on the past year.

More importantly, if you’ve been reading my content, you’d realise that the last entry was Jan 7, 2015.

So what’s happened over the past 2 years?

The last couple of years have been hectic ones, as I received more gigs to do project management and marketing in-house for various clients. While this meant less freedom as an affiliate running my own campaigns and developing and promoting my own products, it’s also given me an opportunity to work on projects with a bigger scope than I would work on.

As an online marketer working for yourself, there’s a tendency to work sufficiently to provide for your living expenses, buy a nice car and if you’re inclined, purchase a home and/or office and start paying down the mortgage on them.

Being involved in managing existing online businesses where the challenge is managing feature development, dealing with vocal (and sometimes irate) users, growing revenue and profit numbers, is sometimes a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants business. Even growth hacking (which seems to be the new buzzword for marketing) is a process of continual split-testing, pivoting to find validation, then starting the process over again.

In the process of trying to start a new venture about 2 years ago, I almost lost this blog and 9 years worth of content. But that update will come in a future post.

So what’s there to reflect over the past 2 years –

1. Always think and plan before you act: All of us have the impulse in us to want to do something immediately. What’s more important is to take a few minutes (or more), thinking through the issues, mapping out the project on paper, figuring out likely outcomes, and perhaps more importantly, figuring out contingency plans if things go south. So what is you see a terrible take-up rate for a new product or service? Can you recover from the initial launch? What’s your “Plan B”? Is there a “Plan C” if Plan B doesn’t work out?
2. Keep working towards the Big Picture (even in a crisis): Mistakes are part of the learning process, and whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,right? Sounds nice in hindsight, but it doesn’t seem like a “learning opportunity” when you’re in the midst of it. On one of the projects, we rolled out site updates on a Friday morning. Bad idea. The service started showing system instability on that afternoon and the site crashed that evening. The bad news was that Friday and the weekend were the peak hours for the site (no, it’s not casual dating) and I spent most of the weekend managing the business’ social media accounts, giving updates, doing minor troubleshooting. Through the crisis, the users recognised our efforts at site recovery and giving regular tech updates and in the process, I believe we built a number of lifelong customers through pro-active tech support and customer service. So as a comedian once said, the word “problem” is also the same word for “opportunity” in Japanese. With that said, there are so many people out there with credit card “opportunities”…
3. Do what you say: So in the business world and in everyday life, people say lots of stuff. The fact is that 90% of it probably never gets done. When you say you will do something, then just do it. If you don’t know, or can’t deliver on something, then don’t make promises, especially if it’s beyond your control. If you say stuff just to make a customer happy, then imagine how UNhappy they will be when you can’t deliver on it. You’ll look like an idiot. If you can’t commit to a solution now, then be upfront and say that a solution is being worked on and that you’ll provide regular updates. Be sure to provide the regular updates. People are not likely to forget something (or let you off the hook) if the issue is bugging them.
4. Making mistakes and moving on: The surefire way to avoid mistakes and messing up is to do nothing. But the fact is that you can only learn something and build something by finding out what’s not working, then not doing it again (or at least not a third, fourth, fifth time…) Conducting a post-mortem, analysis, and deciding how you can do stuff better the next time is part of the growing process. Besides, if you bid $10 per click, instead of $1 per click on a traffic campaign, the lesson is likely to stick with you for some time.

So in summary, I’m back and will be posting stuff more often. Stay tuned.

Check it out here: Members Only Podcast

Rebecca’s just taken up the portfolio of Directo of Social Media at internet marketing consultancy 10e20, where she’ll be taking up blogging duties on the 10e20 blog as well as take up social media work with clients.

I had the opportunity to invite her on the Friday Podcast where we talked about:

• How she got involved with search engine optimization
• The role social media can play in job searches
• Which are the relevant social networks now
• How companies can better use social media in their branding and marketing
• Key elements that can make or break your social media campaign
• The big picture view for social media. What users are looking for, how to make that traffic work for you?
• An example of a company which is using social media effectively and how they’re doing it
• Her new role at 10e20

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

Rebecca on Twitter
10e20 blog
10e20
Mediocre Athlete
Fresh Edge Media

As a programmer, Kyle’s approach to affiliate marketing involves a great degree of automation and he’s been able to roll out a successful campaign on MySpace’s MyAds network promoting CPA offers. The project involved the mass creation of advertiser accounts about half a year ago.

During his time on the Friday Podcast, we talked about:

• How he got started in affiliate marketing
• Tips on PPC strategies and how to incorporate automation in your affiliate campaigns
• Campaign organization and an example of demographic targeting in a live campaign
• How to manage your time effectively, especially if you’re married and have kids and how to stay in shape

Kyle gives his uncensored, in-your-face take on starting and building your affiliate business.

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

Kyle on Twitter

Some of the issues we discussed included:

• Kris’ affiliate wishlist for CPA (cost-per-action/cost-per-acquisition) networks
• His top picks of CPA networks (including the top 2 – Convert2Media and Market Leverage)
• CPA offer databases (including CashTactic’s new branded offer database in conjunction with Offers202)
• How to get the most out of your relationship with your affiliate manager
• His recommendations for affiliate campaign management software (Tracking202 and Prosper202)
• CashTactics’ plans for Affiliate Summit East
• A teaser for his upcoming project with Ian Fernando

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Kris on Twitter
• CashTactics
• Convert2Media affiliate network
• Market Leverage affiliate network
• Kris’ previous appearance on the Friday Podcast

Having been involved in brick-and-mortar businesses, operating mature entertainment website MrSkin.com, speaking multiple times at Yanik Silver’s highly rated Underground workshop series, operating seafood retailer Lobster Gram, and finally launching his own affiliate network, Offeratti.

It’s hard to imagine Jim as someone able to sit still. He rarely does, and just like the last time he came on the Friday Podcast in January this year, Jim was chatty and gave a number of great tips to both affiliate marketers as well as lessons from launching his own affiliate network.

Here’re some of the topics we talked about:

• 6 months on – lessons learned from launching the Offerati affiliate network
• Combat affiliate fraud – how to work towards “zero fraud” on your affiliate network
• How international affiliates, especially from Asia and Europe can increase their chances of getting accepted by affiliate networks and CPA networks
• How Offerati’s MONKS system improves conversion rates for affiliates and how it works
• Tips for new affiliates launching their first campaigns
• Why and how you can incorporate predictive keywords and demographic targeting into your campaigns
• Plans in the pipeline for Offerati

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Offeratti affiliate network
• Jim’s previous appearance on the Friday Podcast (Offeratti network launch)
• Jim’s blog
• Jim on Twitter

Like successful affiliate Dr Ngo (AKA Charles Ngo), Brandon got his start managing the SEM (search engine marketing) operations for a major retailer and had insight into the workings of traffic and lead generation.

He’s had more than his share of challenges and obstacles along the way to his current level of success and during the Friday Podcast, he talked about:

• How he started promoting credit card affiliate offers and how he dealt with challenges when the programs started imploding
• How he encountered a series of failures when he started promoting weight loss CPA offers and the platform where he managed to hit his first $1,000 day.
• What you should do to research an affiliate/CPA offer before you start promoting it to increase your chances of success
• Advice for new affiliates starting out

There’re quite a few nuggets of information for new and experienced affiliates which you can check out at the link below:

Links:

• Brandon’s blog
• Brandon on Twitter (as MajorBTA)

I invited Dina on the Friday Podcast to give her insight into intiatives like:

• What social media marketing means to Market Leverage
• Some of the past social campaigns that the network has led
• How the online social media projects tie in with real-world tradeshows and events
• Market Leverage’s new mobile application for affiliates
• The launch of the WhoIsAndrewWee.com Affiliate Challenge

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Dina on Twitter
• Market Leverage
• WhoIsAndrewWee.com Affliate Challenge
• Dina’s previous appearance on the Friday Podcast

During the Friday Podcast, we talked about:

• How Charles got his start in internet marketing
• How to work around and deal with cashflow issues as you’re building your business
• The importance of networking within the industry and key affiliate events to attend
• His strategy in working with affiliate networks
• How relationship building can build your business

Check out the Friday Podcast below:

Links:

• Charles on twitter
• AffBuzz

I had the opportunity to invite Ali Croft on the podcast to share public relations strategies to enhance your business.

Ali leads the public relations consultancy at Just Drive Media, a PR and online marketing agency. She has about 10 years experience in the industry and most recently had been PR manager at auction site/marketplace eBay, where she led the team to a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil award for excellence in PR.

During the podcast, Ali spoke about:

• What public relations is and why it’s important
• Tools for monitoring your online reputation (with tools like Radian6)
• Tips for reputation management and building your authority status online
• How to effectively communicate during a crisis
• Keys to building and maintaining awareness with your core audience

You can check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Ali on Twitter
• Just Drive Media

Having left affiliate management, Gerodie’s focused on his new venture as an affiliate marketer and actively oversees and manages several properties with his business partners.

I invited Gerodie on the Friday Podcast to get his insight on:

• Techniques on setting up and optimizing PPC and SEO offers
• How your AdWords account history can impact your PPC campaigns
• PPC bidding strategies
• His perspective on spytools and analytics services
• How to continually keep yourself motivated to succeed and scale your business
• Business management and growth tips

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Geordie on twitter
• Geordie’s previous appearance on the Friday Podcast

Having racked up experience at affiliate management firm PartnerCentric, as well as serving as a contractor for Microsoft’s iSEM team, Heather also sits on the boards of the Affiliate Summit and Affiliate Classroom.

During our discussion, Heather talked about:

• Issues and considerations for merchants adding affiliate marketing as a new component to their marketing strategy
• Advantages and disadvantages of using an outsourced affiliate program agency compared to hiring an in-house affiliate manager
• How affiliate managers can enhance programs they manage with some best-of-breed industry practises
• Tips for better affiliate project management (from the affiliate and affiliate manager perspective)
• An insight into how super affiliates operate and key strategies and techniques they use
• How affiliates can get more out of working with their affiliate managers
• Resources for affiliate marketers and tips for growing and scaling your business

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Paulson Management Group
• Heather on Twitter

In fact, with the scarce information available on PPV techniques, Josh has quietly been the go to guy for such information for many marketers.

Although some may loosely associated PPV with PPC or even media buyinig, there’re a number of differences and Josh came on the Friday Podcast to give specific tips on PPV. He also talked about:

• What is PPV and how does it work
• PPV traffic networks explained
• The 2 recommended PPV networks for new marketers
• Top mistakes when using PPV and how to deal with it
• Offer selection and optimization with PPV traffic
• PPV tracking and analystics
• The 365AdSolutions network

Check out the Friday Podcast below:

Links:

• Josh’s blog
• Josh on twitter

Uppdate: Josh has since left 365 AdSolutions and has started his own CPA network, TriFoxMedia.

You can also check out a recent interview on CPA offer promotion strategies.

Having worked with large campaigns, I had a chance to ask her about setting up and launching new websites, especially for internet marketers with smaller operations.

During our discussion, we talked about:

• How Danielle got involved in internet marketing
• The elements to create a long term and sustainable web business
• How to organize your site structure for user accessibility and search engine crawlability
• Conducting competitive research and using that data in your campaign
• How to optimize your site, including specific techniques
• A case study of a successful website which is tweaked regularly
• How to incorporate specific techniques to increase repeat visitors and customer retention

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Danielle’s MsDanielle blog
• Danielle on twitter
• Bankaholic

He’s also a Google AdWords Certified Professional and has managed a number of marketing campaigns for businesses going the online route. I invited him on the Friday Podcast and he mentioned a recently client for whom he increased monthly revenue from $2,000 to more than $40,000 mainly through the use of AdWords and Google’s suite of webmaster tools and other resources.

In many cases, Rachit often goes to free resources, even though he subscribes or has bought paid ones.

This’ll be an interesting interview for new and intermediate level marketers, as you’ll discover:

• How Rachit got started with internet marketing
• AdWords campaign set up and optimization tips
• Keyword tools to enhance your PPC campaigns
• How you can use analytics tools to enhance your profits
• Rachit’s conversion system including techniques you can use now
• Alternative uses for Google AdWords for your marketing efforts

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Rachit on Twitter
• Rachit’s blog
• Rachit’s upcoming Google Marketing workshop

Other resources:

• Avinash Kaushik
• Conversion University