The Difference between now and then…
When mentoring publishers, I am often asked what is the biggest difference between when I started, and where I am at now. The answer, although seems quite simple, is actually what I believe is the key to success in this industry. I’ve been doing online marketing for quite some time (started in 2001) in all the different aspects of internet marketing and became really serious about search marketing specifically about 4 years ago. Below are some points based on my personal reflection between me now and then:
1.) Start campaigns with $1000 to spend, not $100! When I was starting off, I did the common mistake of depositing $100 into my Adwords account, and seeing where that got me. After I blew through the money in an hour, I would freak out and call my campaign a failure. This is HARDLY the case. There is a TON of trial and error in campaigns, especially when starting off. One ad group may get creamed and lose $80, while your other ad group may get a ton of leads for $20. The important thing to realize is that your statistics are worthless unless you have enough data to prove they do or do not work. 20 clicks and no conversions on an offer that pays $50 a lead does NOT mean it’s a failure. What happens if 2 clicks in a row convert? All the sudden your “failed” campaign is a huge success. It is important to make sure your keywords have atleast 70-100 clicks each before you make any decisions. In most cases, this will require more than $100 for your campaign to figure out. I’d say closer to $1000. Once I started depositing more money into my Adwords accounts, I started finding that MOST of my campaigns were actually having some sort of avenue to profitability. I found my converting keywords/ad variation combinations and scaled my traffic. This was only possible because I had put the proper amount of money into trial and error.
2.) If you’re not a designer, don’t create your own landing pages! There’s nothing wrong with admitting that a professional landing page designer is better at designing landing pages than you. Realize this, and accept it. A solid landing page increases your chances at success substantially. If you are truly serious about trying to succeed at online marketing, do it the right way. Spend the $100 and get your page done by someone who knows what they are doing. It could be the difference between your campaign hitting, or missing.
3.) Develop a healthy disregard for money. Don’t stress over a loss. Look at the situation similar to a college education. You are paying to learn. Be sure to reflect on every swing at a campaign, and develop a conclusion from your attempt. Document what you learn. The only way you really lose money, is if you don’t learn something new.
4.) Scale like CRAZY!!! If you find a particular keyword or niche that is working, SCALE! Do not hold anything back. Go after every single engine, every single language possible. Examine new traffic sources. You need to milk every cent of profit from you findings. You will find yourself in regret for not doing this when your niche dies down. Don’t leave a cent left on the table!
5.) Track your results thoroughly! This is the main reason why I made Bevo Media. I always found it a pain to track my results thoroughly, however it is of the utmost importance. I mean much more than tracking your keywords too. You should track your landing page and ad variations thoroughly. I built Bevo Media based on my needs as an affiliate marketer, and once I started tracking my results thoroughly with it, I found it much easier to draw conclusions about the aspects of my campaign that were successful, and optimized from there.
6.) DO NOT GIVE UP! A full time affiliate marketer, may as well be considered a full time ‘trial and error’ expert. 90% of the game is trial and error. Just keep trying different combination of keywords, landing pages, offers and ad variations. You are bound to hit eventually. Use your resources, such as your affiliate managers to let you know what niche is hot at the time. If you have a niche that is proven to be converting extremely well at the moment, then you know it’s working for somebody. It’s just the matter of figuring out the right combination within you campaign!
These are all points that have cost me both time and money to realize, and feel all newbies can get a jump start to success from my sharing. Do yourself a favor and take these points seriously. Don’t cut corners. Affiliate marketing is a dream job, but it’s still a job. Strive to be the best, but you need to earn it first. Lazy people do NOT succeed in life, no matter what the situation is. So work hard and celebrate after!
-RB
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Would you rather be in the NFL or a be big Affiliate Marketer?
My buddies and I debate this subject all the time, and I figured I’d bring it out to see what everyone else had to say about it. Would you rather be in the NFL, or be a serious, high revenue affiliate marketer? Don’t laugh, this is a serious debate, and if you think about it, it makes sense.
I will start off by saying that I know 7 people who are currently in the NFL. A few starters, a few guys on the practice squads of their respective team. Many mixed reviews, but for the most part most say the same thing…. being in the NFL isn’t all it’s made out to be. Many face the day to day pressure of being cut, or deactivated from their respective teams, meaning their life goes from riches to rags within a day. It’s not all glamour and glory. Most people in the NFL are not super stars. Infact, the average NFL career is UNDER 2 years! The minimum salary of a person who makes a roster in the NFL is $330,000 a year. Being on the practice squad is a $4200 a week paycheck for 17 weeks. Do the math, everyone in the NFL isn’t nearly as wealthy as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but for some reason, the general public see’s players in the NFL as “rich”.
A big time affiliate marketer has the potential to make millions a year. Every single dollar earned by the affiliate, is because of their knowledge of marketing, that CANNOT be taken away at ANY time. I know several people, including myself, who are making a lucrative living, much higher than an average NFL player, doing far less work. I wake up at noon every single day, sit on the beach, drink a Corona, brainstorm, make some phone calls, and THEN go on my computer. There is no one in this entire world, short of God, who can take away my knowledge of affiliate marketing. Their is NO chance of injury, and NO chance of being ridiculed on national TV. Messing up in affiliate marketing is part of the game. If you mess up in the NFL, you may very well find yourself out of a job and humiliated on national TV.
Forbes.com has recently rated an “internet entrepeneur” as the #1 job in the WORLD. This rates above a rockstar and a professional athlete, and there is a reason for this! Being an affiliate marketer is a dream job that allows the best of the best to sit at home, work as they please, and offer the opportunity to make well over the average American salary. It’s the best job in the world, and the reason why I am so thankful for all the blessings that have come my way.
Think what you want, but the next time you start stressing at your favorite sports team…. realize that it’s just a game… and life goes on.
-RB
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I Want Me Some TRAFFIC!
What’s your attitude towards scaling? So you have a landing page which converts, you have a great relationship with the network/merchant and a traffic source. Great! There’s just one problem: most people limit themselves to milking that one traffic source for all it’s worth and then that’s it, end of story.
Why would you do something like that? Don’t you like money? Would you have liked money more if the bills were blue instead of green? Why just that one traffic source? There’s a lot of money on the table, why are you limiting yourself to just that one piece of the pie?
What Scaling REALLY Means
Ok, so you’ve milked traffic source A for all it’s worth? Alright, then move on to traffic source B and then to traffic source C. That’s scaling. Keep the engines running and don’t take your foot off the pedal when it comes to the traffic sources you’re already on top of but on the other hand, always be on the lookout for more traffic.
It’s a never-ending process, expression such as “ok, I’ve scaled, now what?” don’t exist unless you trick yourself into thinking that they do. New traffic sources emerge on a daily basis, why not be there with your wallet open?
Polish Your Negotiation Skills
One word: Facebook! If that’s not a love-hate relationship, nothing is. This is what happens when people depend on just one traffic source: you’re in no position to negotiate. Lots of people were/are earning a living exclusively on Facebook and given their track record, those folks are definitely skating on thin ice.
Once you realize that there’s not just one website which controls everything in terms of traffic, you’ll start being in a far better position to negotiate. This is extremely important when it comes to media buys. Get ready to negotiate everything, absolutely everything. Think everything through carefully before spending your first buck: if they want your money, they need to make the deal worthwhile for you as well. If not, you’ll simply move on and never look back. End of story.
This much is certain: we’re marketers and as a result, hunting down traffic sources is what we do. Depending on just one traffic source is a sign of weakness, plain and simple. If you don’t up your game and start demanding the most bang for your buck as an advertiser, traffic networks can and will take advantage of you.
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Taking It TOO Easy vs. Burning Yourself Out
This “being your own boss” thing is pretty complicated for one simple reason: you have complete freedom, you’re the only one in charge. If you feel like taking the day off because the sky is blue, you can do just that. If working like a maniac is your thing, nobody can stop you from working and working… and working.
Unfortunately, actions have short as well as long-term consequences. While it’s true that you have complete freedom when it comes to your schedule, it’s just as true that you’re the only one who has to assume responsibility when/if things go wrong.
Say What?
Think about it: if you decide to take it easy, you’ll probably have a great time initially. But if you spiral downwards into a trend which takes its toll on your productivity, it’s only a matter of time until you start making more money. Even if you think that you’ve done your job right when it comes to diversification, there are a lot of unpredictable things which can ruin everything. What if most or all of your major advertisers have to close shop as a result of a new bill or something similar? What impact would something like that have on your earnings?
On the other hand, burning yourself out isn’t a great solution easy. Sure, you might be able to pull it off for a couple of weeks, maybe even a couple of months. But you’re only human, what happens if your body finally starts taking action with an “enough is enough” message? What happens if you can no longer physically sustain your schedule? Don’t let short-term gains dictate important decisions, always take the cons into consideration as well?
Ok, What’s the Solution?
No matter how hard some people try to hype time management products, they’re not always the solutions. You can read a motivational time management book today, feel great and energized for a couple of days and then bam… everything wears off and it’s back to the drawing board.
Nobody on this planet is in a better position to figure out the solution to your problems than you. Nobody. Period. Again: if you don’t let short-term gains (and yes, the short term gains associated with both taking it easy and working like a maniac are tempting) cloud your judgment, you’ll be just fine. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure these things out, seriously.
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Time Management 101 – Outsourcing
Remember the first site you’ve ever published? You know, that ugly template-ish thing you spent so much time putting together and which never converted (then again, you probably didn’t even know what conversions are back then)?
The beautiful thing about having money is that you will never ever have to go through something like that again. You have an idea, then pay a designer and a writer to make things happen: bam, there’s your site! There’s so much competition out there that freelancers are working for practically nothing these days.
Finding Freelancers Who Know What They’re Doing
It’s perfectly natural to want things on the cheap but seriously, don’t go too far. If you always chase after bargains, you’re going to end up working with people who don’t have a clue and that’s always bad for business.
Think about it: let’s assume that a decent designer (lots of positive testimonials, an impressive portfolio and so on) charges $100 for a fully coded landing page and that lots of beginners (no portfolio whatsoever and maybe a couple of testimonials) only charge $40. If you go with the person with a great track record, you’ll probably receive a landing page which converts (we can assume that based on the fact that the reputable designer in question has worked with a lot of affiliate marketers) but if you want to save a buck and choose to go with a beginner, it’s hit or miss.
Good Case Scenario, Bad Case Scenario
If the beginner does a great job, you’ve saved $60 but if not, you’ll probably lose a lot of money. Aside from the fact that you’ll have to pay for another landing page at the very least (if you continue to work with the beginner, you’ll probably have to order a handful of landing pages until he finally gets it right), you need to also take the money spent on traffic (probably a good chunk of change) into consideration.
Is it really worth it? Sure, you can save 60 bucks but you’ll probably lose hundreds of dollars as well as time by not working with people who know what they’re doing. Do yourself a favor and learn from the mistakes others have made. You’re better off hiring freelancers with a proven track record, far less variables involved. Given the fact that you probably have a lot on your mind as it is, the last thing you have time for is babysitting a beginner.
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