Affiliate Stuff

Should Affiliate Managers Care About Traffic Sources?

by Joe Sousa on January 31, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff

Just a few minutes ago Greg Hoffman (one of the better affiliate managers out there) put a post on Facebook: “As an affiliate manager, I don’t give a rats ass about Pinterest, but I’m glad you like it so much“.

And then a discussion cropped up about how an affiliate manager can benefit from Pinterest. Very good question. I don’t want to get into another Pinterest post but the question is valid so I will tackle it on a bigger level: Is Pinterest a viable traffic source and should affiliate managers be concerned with where traffic is coming from for their affiliates?

Well, yes, Pinterest is a viable traffic source. Depending on the niche and how it is used it can bring in some very solid traffic. According to Shareholic it produced more referral traffic than Youtube, Google+, and LinkedIn combined. And over on Mashable there is a good infographic about Pinterest and traffic. So yeah, it can generate traffic. It still lags behind Facebook, Twitter and other more established social sites but it is growing very quickly. I have no idea if it is sustainable or just a flash in the pan but for now it can be a good source of traffic.

So the second question: Should affiliate managers be concerned with where the traffic comes for their affiliates? The simple answer is Yes. Here are a few quick reasons why:

1. To develop terms of service for their merchants – Do you think there were many PPC restrictions back in 2000 when Adwords started? Probably not. But now nearly every affiliate terms of service contains some restrictions on what words can be bid on, if direct to merchant ads are allowed, and so on. There are a few merchants who have some restrictions on posting links on social media sites and now affiliate managers and merchants need to decide what to do with sharing and curation sites like Pinterest. If an affiliate managers doesn’t know about it how can they advise their merchants?

2. Help their affiliates generate traffic – Of course an affiliate manager isn’t there to hold the affiliates hand and give them all the training on every traffic source but the more traffic sources an affiliate managers is familiar with the better than can direct their affiliates. This doesn’t just go for Pinterest but includes SEO, PPC, Facebook, Youtube, PPV, display advertising, and anything else that can generate traffic and sales. Obviously an AM won’t be an expert in all these areas but they should at least be capable of looking at them and figuring out how they can help their affiliates.

3. Combat fraud – If there is traffic and sales to be generated there is sure to be someone who will be looking for a shortcut. An AM should be aware of any suspicious spike in sales and traffic and research it to see what the affiliate is doing. I haven’t heard of any affiliates who are doing anything too shady on Pinterest yet but you can be sure it is coming. And an affiliate managers needs to be aware of Pinterest (or any other traffic source) so they can follow up on any suspected fraud.

4. Open up new traffic channels for a merchant – Many AMs are responsible for a merchant’s PPC efforts, social media, and other traffic generation methods. Every traffic source an AM knows about the more services they can offer to a merchant. And most likely they won’t handle it directly but will outsource it to someone else but if, during a sales presentation, an AM can show the potential of a place like Pinterest and develop a marketing strategy using that traffic it is yet another value added to the deal.

Basically I think that an AM should be concerned about new traffic sources like this. If they don’t care about it now they will be in trouble in a few years if they have to play catch up. They don’t need to be experts in every form on online marketing but if they aren’t aware of what is going on out there with new sites like Pinterest they could be missing the boat on the next long term, sustainable traffic source.

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What Joe Is Working On This Week – 1-30-12

by Joe Sousa on January 30, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff

Well, let’s first start off with a recap of last week and how I did. I had 6 main things I wanted to work on last week and while there are always gonna be other things that come up week by week I really want to try and start knocking more and more stuff off my list systematically rather than just whatever I feel like working on if that makes any sense.

Here is a recap of last week:

1. Finish up some work for a local client – I got the site done and now I just need to move it over to their host. But a majority of the heavy lifting is done on this one. So I will give myself a “complete” on this one.

2. Set up sites for 4 incoming NFL rookies – I got two sites set up, one mostly set up, and one more to go. The sites are nowhere near complete but I did get over half done of what I wanted but still I have to give myself an “incomplete” for this one.

3. Write 2000+ words for an ebook – Only got 500 words done. It is some OK progress but I need to do much better this week. Incomplete.

4. Write 8 product descriptions (200-500 words) – Never got started on this. Fail. Incomplete.

5. Update the datafeed on 5 old sites – I got two sites updated but they were some of the bigger (150,000+ pages) and more time intensive sites to update so I will give myself a “complete” on this one.

6. Work on getting a new client – I have been talking to a couple local businesses about this so I will say complete.

Overall I completed a bit more than half of what I was hoping to. Not good. I will need to do better this week. Yeah, I did get some other stuff done that isn’t on this list that needed to be done so the whole week wasn’t a waste. But I do need to do a better job this week.

So here is my to-do list for this week:

1. Get the first draft done on the ebook – I am guessing I have at least 2,000 words (maybe up to 5,000) to go to get the first draft done. It isn’t hard to crank out 500 words so I just need to do that a few times and I will be done. This is one of those projects that just hangs there taunting you and you always know you should work on it but you avoid it whenever possible. It would be nice to get this one off my plate.

2. Update 5 more old datafeed sites – This should’t take more than a couple hours. Just have to pick the sites I want to update.

3. Transfer that client site – Site transfers are the type of thing that can go super smooth or they can totally take way more time than they should. Hopefully this one goes quick. Once I transfer it I will need to meet with the client and teach them the basics of WordPress so that might take up a decent chunk of time. I will only be showing them how to add posts, add pages, and simple stuff like that. I really should have charged them more. Seems like I always undervalue my time on projects like this.

4. Write Product Descriptions – Any more than a few a day and I start losing my mind. So if I can get 8-10 cranked out this week I will be happy. I will probably need 30-50 for the site so ideally I can have that site launched by the end of February and then add to it as I go. I really want to do a good job writing these descriptions so they will take a bit of research which could be time consuming.

5. Come up with a plan for an old site – Maybe I should just let this old site go but I just can’t let go! It was one of my first affiliate sites to make any sort of decent money and it has been performing very well up until a few months ago. Panda killed it and I need to rebuild the site, restructure it, and make it more Panda friendly. If Google wants content, freshness and links I really gave them none of that. They loved this site for so many years and then kicked it to the curb. How can they be so shallow and callous? Time to spruce this site up and get it cranking again. I have until April to get this site back and ranking and I really want to do it right.

6. Start revising my datafeed ebook – Last summer I wrote about 20,000 words on how to build a successful datafeed site. The final product was pretty rough and I never really did anything with it but I think it could be useful to some people so I need to dust it off, clean it up, and do something with it.

I think all that could keep me nice and busy this week. Lots of writing in there and hopefully I can focus enough to crank a lot of it out so I can spend next week doing some more exciting stuff.

What else should I do this week?

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When to use Genesis vs Thesis

by Joe Sousa on January 27, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff,Uncategorized

From everything I have seen Genesis and Thesis are the two most popular premium WordPress themes out there. I use both of them regularly (this site runs on Thesis) and regularly recommend both of them (and not just because I get an affiliate commission).

Overall both of these premium themes are very SEO friendly, somewhat easy to use, flexible. But what makes me decide to use one vs the other? Here are a few strengths and weaknesses I see in each for different applications. And yeah, I know there are probably ways to make each of them do what I want in certain situations and from time to time I do mess around with the PHP code and CSS but for the most part I usually want to just install it and go.  And keep in mind I am speaking in big generalities here. But here is when I use each theme and what makes me decide to use one vs. another:

1. If I am going to update the site on a regular basis (like this site) I will use Thesis. I think overall the layout is more conducive to a “real” blog. I like the nice,  clean layout, I like how everything is displayed, and I like the simplicity. Order Thesis today

2. If I want something that looks a bit more complex I will use Genesis. With Genesis when you get the “Pro Pack” you also get access to 45 different child themes. These all look quite different, all have some cool widgets and features, and are all suitable for different projects. BTW, on February 1st the price of the Pro Plus pack will be going up. For the next few days you can get the Pro Plus pack which includes Genesis and 45 child themes (plus all future child themes) for $299.95. And if you use the code TEN you can save 10%. So if you are thinking about getting it do it now and save yourself a few bucks. Order the Genesis Pro Pack today.

3. For a datafeed based site I will usually use Thesis. I like the way the archive pages are displayed in Thesis and the layout is a bit more functional for me when I am dealing with a bigger datafeed based site. I do have some datafeed sites using Genesis but for the most part I use Thesis for those ones.

4. For a hand written content based site I will usually use Genesis. I really like some of the fancy widgets and sliders and stuff you can use on the Genesis pages with many of their child themes and think that in many cases it can add a nice finishing touch to a site.

But then again a lot of what I use is just based on what I feel like at any given time. And many times I will start building on Genesis but switch over to Thesis and vice-versa. I really do like having the flexibility of both premium themes at my disposal and I would definitely recommend having multiple options to work with whether it is these two or some other premium themes.

The Genesis Pro Pack is a bit spendy at $299.95 vs. $164 for Thesis but the abundance of child themes makes the price much more tolerable.

Order Genesis Today

StudioPress Genesis Child Theme Marketplace

Order Thesis Today

Thesis Theme for WordPress: Options Galore and a Helpful Support Community

So what factors do you consider when deciding which theme to use for your affiliate sites? Leave a comment and let me know.

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What Joe Is Working On This Week – 1-23-12

by Joe Sousa on January 23, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff

Like I mentioned in a post last week I want to keep you updated on what I have planned for this week. After looking at all the stuff I have to do I decided a set schedule of tasks isn’t the way to go. I just need to prioritize the different projects and sites I have out there and start working down the list.

Also it is hard for me to really work on any one task for more than a couple hours so rather than say “On Tuesday I will write 5000 words” or whatever I just want to make more weekly goals than daily tasks.

So for this week I have a few tasks I need to get done:

1. I have a local client and I need to finish their site. It is mostly done but I do need to move it from the test server to their server and that can always cause a huge set of headaches. Hopefully it all goes smoothly and doesn’t take more than a couple hours.

2. A few weeks ago I registered 6 domains of college players that should be coming out in the NFL draft this April. Two of them decided to stay in college for another year (How dare they get an education and not let me use these domains this year!!!) but there are still four of them who will be drafted in the first round. So I need to get some sites built for them. I don’t think I will do too much monitization on these sites yet (there can be issues using the names of college players like that) but I will get the framework of the sites built, start adding in some content (mock drafts, teams that could use them, etc) and once they get drafted in April I can load them up with jerseys, shirts, etc. But for now I want to get some content on them and start the aging process.

3. Write 2000+ words for an ebook. I have about 1600 words done but haven’t written on this project in a couple months. I would like to get more content in it and hopefully be done in a month or so. I am guessing it will end up around 8,000-10,000 words when it is all finished. I am not totally sure what I will do with it (give it away to build an email list, put it up on Kindle, sell it for a few bucks, etc.) but it will be nice to get it finished so I can start working on the sites related to it.

4. Write 8 product descriptions (200-500 words) for one of my old domains I need to revive/rebuild. There has been nothing on this domain for years but it was registered in 2005 so it has some good age to it. I want to use this domains to pick the best 8-10 products in each category for this niche, handwrite some content, and see what happens compared to just throwing up a 5,000+ item datafeed. It will probably take at least a couple weeks before I have enough real content to set this site up but I want to have the content ready to go for it.

5. Update the datafeeds on 5 old sites – I probably have about 20 that could use an update but I will start with these 5. For a couple of them it will just involve downloading a new feed, making a few modifications, and loading it up. Others might take a bit more work. But I should be able to spend less than 3-4 hours on this.

6. Work on getting a new client – Since I will be finishing up that one client this week (well, mostly finishing. There will be a bit of ongoing work.) I want to find one more client to take on. Maybe it will be another local company I can do some SEO stuff for, maybe it will be some sort of consulting work, maybe I will work with some affiliates to review their sites and help them improve, or maybe I will help out a merchant. If you are interested in any of these services or if there is anything I can do for you be sure to check out How Can I Help You.

Maybe I am being too ambitious, maybe I am setting the bar too low. I guess we will see on Friday when I recap how this week went.

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We Need More Properly Trained Affiliate Program Managers

by Joe Sousa on January 20, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff

Many times in the past, either here or on Twitter, I have railed against the bad affiliate management out there. It is just a part of doing business in this industry but you can’t escape the fact that many affiliate programs are being mismanaged by people who really don’t know anything about the affiliate industry.

Affiliate program management isn’t just a position in your company you can throw anyone with a couple spare hours a month. It is much more than just looking at the sales reports and telling the higher ups in the company how many sales were generated. Affiliate program management is a very specialized marketing position that should be filled by someone who knows what they are doing.

One problem is there is very little quality training or educational opportunities out there for affiliate managers. Most affiliate managers I know basically just learned on the job or were just thrown into the position without knowing what they were doing (read Daniel Feinberg’s story) and had to learn on the fly. There have been a few training opportunities in the past and there is always some great information at Affiliate Summit for affiliate managers but just like most other professions an affiliate manager needs some sort of training.

Recently there have been two big steps forward towards properly training affiliate program managers. We need more of these but these two are a start:

Affiliate Management Days

1. Affiliate Management Days – Geno Prussakov has started a conference specifically for affiliate managers. It is a two day intensive training conference with some great speakers like Todd Crawford, Sarah Bundy, Karen Garcia, TimAsh, Rebecca Madigan, Sam Harrelson, Kim Rowley, and others who have many, many years in this industry and have some awesome knowledge to share. 

I recently asked Geno three questions about this conference and here is what he said:

Why do you see a need for this conference? 

Because affiliates need educated affiliate program managers. Remember the quick Twitter exchange we’ve had between you, me and Tricia Meyer? That one exemplifies the (crying!) need perfectly well.

Besides the educational component, Affiliate Management Days, becoming a regular conference (we’ll start with two conferences in the U.S., but hope to gradually add a third one, as well as an international one) will provide something else. The industry is dynamic, and new threats, issues, and challenges spring up nearly weekly. AM Days is also meant to become a professional forum for affiliate managers and merchants to discuss the most pressing questions, and collaboratively come up with solutions to the biggest problems.

Is this for experienced AMs or people just looking to get into affiliate management?

Both. If one takes a look at the AM Days San Francisco 2012 agenda they’ll see that we’ll give attendees some choice there. The keynotes will be perfect both for people who are new to affiliate marketing, and to the savvy and experienced ones. While with breakout sessions we’ll offer two tracks, and regardless of an affiliate manager’s (or merchant’s) professional maturity level, everyone will be able to pick something of interest.

What do you hope people will take away from this conference?

Three things: (1) inspiration/motivation, (2) a truly holistic approach to affiliate as a way of online marketing, and (3) actionable knowledge — to come back, apply it, and reap higher revenues, as a result.

So all in all this will be a great place for current and prospective affiliate managers to gain knowledge, information, and connections with other great people in this industry.

Today is the last day to get the early bird registration ($1,195) and tomorrow it jumps to $1,495 so save yourself $300 and register today.

2. Affiliate Management Trainers – According to their site “Affiliate Management Trainers (AMT) was created to fill the need for professional and personalized affiliate management training for Internet Retailers around the world.”. So here we have a group of experienced affiliate managers who want to train other affiliate managers.

They are offering one on one training as well as other consulting services. From what I have seen a brand new affiliate manager will learn much more from a one on one approach like this than they could ever learn in a classroom.

Sarah Bundy, Matt McWilliams, and the rest of the trainers are some of the top affiliate managers in this industry and have a ton of knowledge they can share with anyone who wants to learn.

I really do believe both of these opportunities will help train up some new, awesome affiliate managers. How many affiliate programs are out there? 10,000? 20,000? And how many quality affiliate managers can you name? 20?30? Maybe 50? There is a huge need for trained affiliate managers out there and Affiliate Management Days and Affiliate Management Trainers will both help get those people a head start on their job.

Just to illustrate how there is a need for quality affiliate managers: I recently talked to a local manufacturer/merchant about their affiliate program. They do have a private program but they don’t publicize it at all. Overall they have about 20 affiliates that barely produce any sales. I offered to help this company get their affiliate program up and running, recruit new affiliates, set them up on Shareasale, and as much else as I could do for them. I am by no means an expert in affiliate management and I was gonna cut this guy a great deal since I would also be learning on the job.

But as an affiliate for the past 14 years or so I do have quite a bit of knowledge and experience that would have been valuable to them. But they decided to just let their website manager run the program. I have little doubt I could have turned their affiliate program into a very viable sales channel for them and am pretty confident I could increase their affiliate revenue by at least 10x what they are doing now but they decided to let someone who has no clue about affiliate marketing run their program. Just imagine what a properly trained affiliate program manager could have done.

Sadly this is not an uncommon tale. We need more good affiliate managers!

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3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Buying a Domain

by Joe Sousa on January 19, 2012

in Affiliate Stuff

Like I have mentioned somewhat recently, I have a ton of domains I have registered and have never really done anything with. Some of them were part of a bigger project that never got off the ground, some were just domains I stumbled across, some were just ideas I registered before giving them much thought.

In order to protect myself from registering so many domains I will never do anything with I have come up with the following three questions I want to ask myself before buying a domain:

1. Are you really gonna build that site? Is this really a project you will sit down and work on from start to finish?

2. No, really, are you gonna build a site on this domain? It seems like such a good idea right now. I really do need to register this domain because this site will be awesome.

3. Dude, seriously. Are you gonna build the site? Well, OK. Probably not. I guess I can pass on this one.

Pretty simple thought process there that could save me hundreds of dollars a year.

But seriously, is it just part of the affiliate business that we register domains with visions of grandeur but never even get around to setting them up on the server? Or is there a way to focus on current projects and only get a new domain when a site will actually get built?

This is something I have been thinking about a bit lately and while I am sure I will fail and fall back to registering any domain I think of here are a couple safeguards I want to put in place for myself to keep me from buying so many useless and unused domains.

1. Write 10 pieces of content – Blog posts, product reviews, informational articles… I don’t care what I write I just want to have some content ready to go when I register the domain. If I do this there is a much greater chance of me actually building the site.

2. Create a graphic – I suck at graphics. So if I take the time to make a header or some sort of graphical element to the site there is a very good chance I will build the site. Or even if I just pay someone to do it I wouldn’t want that money to go to waste.

3. Prepare the datafeed – If the site will be based on a datafeed I want to have the feed ready to go when the site is up. So many times I will get nearly everything ready to build but then lose steam fixing up the datafeed.

Basically I want to have some sort of investment in the site before I buy the domain. Yeah, there will be some hot domains I will want to snap up as soon as I see them and won’t have time to do this other stuff but for the most part I want to have put something into the site before the domain gets registered.

What else can I do to invest some time or effort into the site before I get the domain?

 

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Can Pinterest and Affiliates Have a Happy Marriage?

January 18, 2012 Affiliate Stuff

TweetA few days ago I got an affiliate agreement update from a merchant saying “Submitting affiliate links to social sharing sites such as Pinterest, Reddit.com, Digg.com, Twitter, StumbleUpon.com, and others is prohibited”. I put up a tweet about it and Scott Jangro expanded on it a bit and I figured it was a topic worthy [...]

2 comments You know you want to read more →

The Great Domain Sale of 2012

January 4, 2012 Affiliate Stuff

TweetLike probably every other affiliate marketer out there I have amassed quite a bit collection of domains over the years. Many of the sites have been up and generating sales for years, many of them have just partially completed sites, and many of them have nothing on them. All of them were good ideas in [...]

0 comments You know you want to read more →

Running a contest to build links

October 3, 2011 Affiliate Stuff

TweetThis isn’t a new concept and I know I didn’t invent the idea but I just wanted to share with you how I used a contest to build links, traffic, and visability to one of my sites. The basic idea is this: Create a contest of some sort like “Top 5 _______ Bloggers” or “Find [...]

1 comment You know you want to read more →

“Custom” Datafeed Descriptions

September 2, 2011 Affiliate Stuff

TweetTwo things before we get started: 1. I love datafeeds. How great is it that merchants give you a list of hundreds or thousands of products with titles, descriptions, categories, URLS, prices, etc. to use on your site? That is instant content I don’t have to create. 2. I am not a programmer at all. [...]

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