Joe like a quiet guy, till you become aware of the fact that he’s an affiliate marketer focused on the sports niche and does very well for himself.

Since he’s been in the affiliate marketing industry for about 10 years, it was nostalgic and interesting to have him come on the show and talk about:

• How he got started in a SEO consultant role and got involved in affiliate marketing
• A compare of the pay-per-sale versus the pay-per-lead business models
• Why forced continuity affiliate programs will come under greater scrutiny in the future
• How to get started as an SEO/content based affiliate
• The in-your-face realities of being an affiliate marketer
• How much you can realistically earn starting out as an SEO-based affiliate
• Incorporating product datafeeds into your affiliate sites
• How to break out of the rut that experienced affiliates gradually fall into
• How to incorporate video into your marketing campaigns

Joe certainly went the distance in sharing his own experiences during the call.

Check it out below:

Links:

• Joe on Twitter
• “What does Joe think” blog
• Traffic Geyser

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PS: If you haven’t yet, join the “Members Only” private podcast now, the next edition will be sent out on Saturday.

Content: Identifying key issues, especially challenges and problems within your industry and offering a solution to those questions builds your reputation as a problem solver. Experts are those with expertise at solving problems.

It also builds goodwill and encourage reciprocity and a “pay it forward” mentality from those who have benefitted from your advice (which leads to a viral/linkbait effect if they distribute/syndicate your content).

Content was one of the major issues that I discussed with veteran journalist and former editor-in-chief of Revenue magazine, Lisa Picarille, for this week’s Friday Podcast. It’ll appear on Friday.

One of the easiest ways to brand yourself is by starting a blog and start putting out quality content.

One major issue I have with bloggers, especially affiliate marketing/internet marketing bloggers is a tendency to excessively sell ad-space or run banners on their blog. If more than half the screen real-estate is dedicated to ads/banners, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Are you more interested in making money, or providing information.

Looking at your signal-to-noise ratio (content vs ads) and maintaining a 80% content : 20% ad ratio will create a great user experience. Going beyond a 50% content vs 50% ad ratio is pushing the limits.

Guest author and guest post: If you’ve established a reputation and are seen as credible, take the next step to approach the top 10 channels/outlets in your niche and offer to guest author on their site – whether it’s a news site, a content aggregator or a blog.

If you are known and the site publishes guest posts, you stand a good chance. If not, it’s back to step #1.

In the affiliate marketing context, specialist magazines like FeedFront which comprises an online and print edition can provide great visibility.

Public speaking: Speaking at industry-specific events and related events are a good way of getting your name out there. It’ll also help put you in touch with potential partners.

I know some marketers are reluctant to go this route because of a fear of public speaking. If so, start small as many of these events have small group discussions or breakout sessions. If addressing a couple of hundred people sends your heart rate pounding, you might volunteer to be a discussion leader for a small group session.

Networking (and following up): Whether you’re meeting people online, or at a face-to-face event, you’ll build up a network of contacts. The challenge that holds people back from more effectively leveraging on their connections is a failure to follow up. When was the last time you got an email or card within 24 hours of meeting someone?

If there’s a contact that could help you build your business, be sure to stay in touch, ping them when you have something relevant to discuss and the relationship will naturally develop.

Author a book: This may sound difficult, but if you’ve ever had a 2 or 3 hour conversation about a particular topic, that content you shared would easily fill a 200 – 250 page book.

On the average, speaking and consulting fees increase between 50-100% after you’ve had a book published (physical books, not e-books). So it might be worth the time and effort.

Build a community: Finding like-minded individuals and organizing them into a community is a good way to network, share expertise and work on joint projects together.

Finding someone to step up and set up a social network or forum is the major challenge because everyone is “always” busy. Instead of waiting for someone to take the first step, why not step up to the plate?

Integrity: This is the big one in my opinon. Do what you say. If you say you’ll do something, even if it’s as simple as sending out a list of bookmarks, you should do it. With the anonymity and virtual distance created by the internet, it’s easy to make a lot of promises and not keep any of them.

Instead, stand apart from the pack and followthrough.

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For tips on building your online business, check out the InternetMarketingCookbook. For blogging tips, visit Secret Blog Weapon.

In his new role as Affiliate Development Manager, Jason will be recruiting established affiliates into the network and helping them integrate affiliate programs from SAS merchants.

Jason also talked about:

• His intiatives to ramp up the affiliate education elements and a tutorial system he’s working on
• Enhancements to the SAS merchant’s product datafeeds
• Availability of new business models, such as Pay-Per-Call
• Updates on SAS’ Think Tank invite-only workshop
• FTP download capability for merchant coupons

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Jason on Twitter
• ShareASale News on Twitter
• ShareASale
• ShareASale Charity Stars

Jason’s IM details:
AIM: jasonrubacky
MSN: jasonrubacky[at]hotmail.com
yahoo: JasonRubacky

During the call, we talked about:

• How Todd started his own CPA network
• His experience in using the HasOffers affiliate network software
• Strategies for offer selection and promotion for new affiliates
• How to get accepted by CPA networks
• A walkthrough of promoting CPA offers via polls

You can check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Josh on Twitter
• TriFoxMedia CPA network

Peter has been an affiliate since 2000 and has a variety of different experiences in the internet marketing/affiliate industry since then, using a variety of different strategies to generate traffic to his sites.

During his time on the podcast, he shared a number of comprehensive tips to use video hosting networks such as YouTube, Metacafe, Revver and others to generate leads for your affiliate offers.

He also shared some business management tips which he’s used to grow his own business.

Besides his role as a VIP coach for the PPC Classroom program, he consults for clients on their internet marketing strategy, and has recently launched a new training site, AffCoaches, targeted at new and experienced affiliates.

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• Peter on Twitter
• Peter’s blog
• AffCoaches

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

In 2007, he divested his retail businesses, taking the plunge into affiliate marketing.

Along with his experience in operating a business, he’s also skilled at copywriting and has done a number of offline promotion campaigns to generate leads for his affiliate marketing efforts.

I invited Josh on the Friday Podcast to talk about his strategies in building up his retail business which sold products on eBay, Liquidation.com, Overstock, Amazon, and even flea markets.

Having to deal with physical inventory has taught him the importance of managing his cashflow and he shares a number of these techinques during the podcast.

He also talks about the business management aspects of starting and growing your online business, together with the related topics of his copywriting influences and various offline promotion campaigns he’s worked on (which he affectionately calls “Chaos Marketing”).

Check out the Friday Podcast:

Links:

• Josh on Twitter
• Josh’s AffiliateFamous blog

As a self-taught programmer, Jason had one of his first websites hacked into and as he studied what had happened, he picked up blackhat SEO skills, which eventually led him to learn to dominate search engine results for various keywords, using techniques like cloaking and auto-generated pages.

About a year ago, he bought struggling affiliate network Ads4Dough off the Sitepoint forum and has grown the network successfully within a year.

I invited Jason on the Friday Podcast to share some of his experience as an affiliate and creating a successful network run by affiliate managers who are in most cases, successful affiliates themselves.

We talked about:

• Why affiliates should learn a programming language and resources they should check out
• Why and how he’s switched his business model from building sites to buying traffic for his websites
• How affiliates can use his “project partners” strategy to grow and scale their business
• Why money management is an important issue and how to better manage it
• Understand how and why CPA offers are cross-publishing and syndicated across multiple networks
• What is a CPA “exclusive offer” and the type of development that goes into it
• Ads4Dough’s focus on affiliate development and an update on their earlier announcement to look at a 1-week training workshop in San Diego
• Should you be concerned about affiliate managers looking at and copying your affiliate campaign?
• Ads4Dough’s shift to a demographic-targeted marketing approach

Check out the Friday Podcast below:

Links:

• Ads4Dough CPA Network
• Jason’s programming blog
• Jason on Twitter (not updated frequently)