We’ve all been there. If you havent I would take a crack that you are a new entrepreneur. Dont worry, your time will come. I think alot of people who read this blog can remember when I used to blog at CashTactics. Remember the burnout that I faced? That one cost me about a month. I didnt do anything differently in that month either. I still came online everyday but nothing got done. Nothing.
You know what the worst part of being an affiliate is? It’s the part where people tell you congratulations after you make your first dollar. You see congratulations triggers certain emotions that equate to happiness. Happiness however is a snake that can bite you in the ass in more ways than one as an Affiliate Marketer. Happiness can lead to laziness, complacency and ultimately egotistical thoughts that make you feel like nothing can go wrong.
I’m not saying to NOT reward yourself. You should reward yourself but right after you do, you better be scheming the master plan on what to do next. It does not matter how deep, far or wide you scale a campaign. It can be swept out from under you in a blink of an eye. God forbid you are horrible with money and treated yourself to a Ferrari you didnt need. You may in fact be giving that car up just to pay the rent.
Let’s identify what exactly leads to burning out, then let’s identify some ways to keep from it.
When you first begin as an affiliate you have nothing and you are nothing. On top of being nothing and having nothing you have people around such as family and friends who are most likely expecting you to fail or dont even understand what you are trying to accomplish to even fathom the idea of how to provide the slightest bit of support. On top of having nothing, being nothing, and no support, you also have to deal with the fact that you probably dont know anything. Where to start? Where to being? Who to listen to? Where to go to read?
In short, Your screwed from the get-go. However…
We didnt cover what you do have.
As an aspiring affiliate/entrepreneur you do have one thing a lot of people dont. You have SPIRIT.
Just like so many negative things that can effect you, your spirit can create positive influences on you. How?
Your “want” to succeed can trigger confidence. Confidence can be a multi-trigger for all kinds of things such as a “will to succeed”, dedication, a never say die attitude and ultimately dedication.
What I am trying to tell you is this. As hard as you think it may be to make money online, it’s 10X harder to keep your momentum and drive going. It’s so much hard to keep the juice going and expanding yourself than it is to get started in the first place. It may not seem like if you are just starting but take it from someone who has done for nearly 5 years and manages nearly 500 affiliates. Affiliates will sometimes become complacent once they reach a certain amount of success. Often times they will think that if I did this once, I can do again and often times they are wrong.
A simple example would be in CPA Marketing. How many offers have you launched that were successful compared to duds? Yes, I think you will know what I mean.
You’ve got to prevent complacency and this in turn will prevent burnout. Burnout long stems from becoming bored of something. While that is not the only factor that comes into play, it is the largest one. You can become bored of launching unsuccessful campaigns. You can be bored of managing your credit to start campaigns in the first place. You can be bored of recommendations for what to promote.
Here are some things to prevent this.
Diversification – This is number one. Much like when you started out you were having fun learning all these new things right? SEO, PPC, the mechanics of optimization, split testing, all of it. It was a challenge and as a marketer a challenge present an opportunity for a multitude of different things to try. When you were trying these things it prevented boredom. After so long though these things will seem second-nature to you and even then you will reach a point where you just get fed up with it all.
If you dont know programming then get a php book or join a programming forum. If you dont know how to design graphics then get Photoshop, read blogs, join a forum. Pick up a new skill and refine it. Keep refining it until it becomes a boring thing and move to something else. A successful marketer is one who takes advantage of everything around them and decides to utilize that skill. Yes, you can hire that out yourself but even then that could becoming redundant. By picking up new skills and refining them to a point of success you will gather new self-esteem and confidence.
Networking – This has so many positive effects that I cannot explain them all. Get yourself available to attend shows and events. Get outside the office and take in truly how big the Internet really is. You will meet so many different people that will ultimately impact your life and business. You dont stay secluded. You open yourself up to potential communications, learning material, opportunities, possible acquisitions, investing and new skills. You will also feel good that you can speak to someone about advertising on MSN and not have the weird feeling that they have no idea WTF you are talking about.
Teach – Teaching has a viral effect. I will just provide a personal example. By teaching others what you know you can open yourself up to a world of business you never thought possible. A PERFECT example of this is Convert2Media. Recognizing an opportunity to actually teach publishers and provide help on a business building level to affiliates has allowed us to grow exponentially. Sure we want high volume pubs but we recognize that anyone can be such a publisher. Where we try to make the difference is to speed the process a bit. In doing so, publishers respect this and loyalty ensues. With loyalty we know we can count on publishers to keep refining themselves and expanding their business. When they expand THEIR business, they expand ours. You get to sit back and feel proud that you had a hand in making this happen for others.
These are just a couple of things that you can expand on to prevent a burnout. Trying something new, meeting other people, teaching other people are things that can allow you to gain confidence in another aspect rather than moving backwards and causing stress.
How do you prevent burnout?
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You have the offers. You have Myspace, Facebook, Applications, other Social Networks. You have Google, Yahoo and MSN. What happens is you hit a wall or hiccup. Facebook gets worn out, Myspace gets worn out. Competition comes in heavy from monitoring you on Google. God forbid they are smart and track you down on Yahoo and MSN. If a redneck from Kansas can do it, better believe they can too. The thing is this. It doesn’t matter how long or how good you think you are. One of two things usually happen with an offer.
- You wear your traffic sources out
- You bore yourself because you dont know how/where to scale
Dont worry. It’s a block. Happens to every one. Stretch your mind for a bit and think about the mediums you are not hitting. There are so many people on the net and so many impressions being delivered that a 1 million dollar month advertising your favorite offer while it may make you happy could very well be barely grazing the surface of your potential earnings.
Here are some key points of what to look for in an advertising network outside the general realm of social and search engine marketing. While there are more, I feel these are the most important.
1. Site Quality – This is the most important. Ad Networks are quickly becoming a dime a dozen. I should know, I currently have plans of my own in opening one. I figure if I can open an Affiliate Network I might as well have the whole pie right? Anyway, site quality is crucial. Checking out the duration of how long an ad network has been operational will quickly and most generally give you an idea of what the site quality will be like. Some things to ask yourself:
- Is this company funded?
- Is this company new or old?
- What’s their track record look like? (Research that)
- How Professional do they really seem?
- How transparent are they really?
These things will help you quickly determine the quality of sites in their network. This is only a metric to use at gaging the quality. The real deal comes in number two.
2. Site Listings – Do they actually list the sites that your ads will appear on? I find this crucial. This is not a privilege folks, it’s what should be available to you. If they are going to hide the site list from you, I would proceed with caution. Typically a good ad network scam is this.
- No site list supplied
- No demographic or behavior documentation
- A deposit required -without providing the above two
If you see this it’s in your best interest to stop and not go any further. There is a way to in fact counter this and that comes right here in number three.
3. Responsiveness – If I was running an Advertising Network I would be busting my ass trying to answer any/all questions possible ESPECIALLY if I was in startup. Much like C2M’s Affiliate Network I take responsiveness as serious as humanly possible. Often times I simply cannot reply to all the emails, IM’s, PM’s and phone calls. Dont think that I am ignoring. Even though it may come off that way, it’s the total opposite. I can only handle so much communication in one day however I try to follow up as much as possible. Same applies to advertising network ESPECIALLY if they are a new player. Just because you didnt get an answer back the first time, does not mean they are ignoring you. Be persistent. However if you dont get an answer in a week, proceed with extreme caution.
4. Growth – Another important metric is to monitor the growth of the network. I typically will look at Alexa, Quantcast and Compete to gauge how much traffic their domain is getting. This is not a know it all or a specific answer to the question but it’s a good way to get at least an idea of how well they are growing.
5. Capabilities – How much traffic can this ad network get me? Is it even worth my time? An important metric to factor in your time and dollars spent compared to your return on investments.
- Reporting – How detailed or vague is their reporting feature?
- Target Options – How good are their targeting capabilities? Ages/Gender/Income levels?
- Representation – Is this network advertising exclusively or are they there to just broker your ads just to clear their inventory?
These are just a few things to look at and watch for when you think about testing an ad network.
What ad networks have you tried? How did it work for you?
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Everyone is really starting to enjoy the offer training part of the forum. That’s awesome! The more replies and conversations we get from them, the more likely we are going to post even more offer promoting ideas. Today I wanted to share a market, and offer and a way of marketing that absolutely owns. Read the forum thread and you will better understand why.
Peace.
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I keep saying it. “Every industry is still up for the taking”. It all depends on costs and how smarter you go about your business. This is for all of you in the last 3-4 days that keep asking me whether the weight loss industry is even worth getting into. I really dont have a clue how more ideas and tips I got to throw out there before you start taking action but maybe this will somehow alleviate a few of you off my back.
The above paragraph contains sarcasm with a hint of “get off your ass and take some action”.
Let’s get the newbiness out of the way first. If it’s trademarked then you probably should not mess with it. This post is for example only. Try thinking outside the box a little bit and understanding a bit more of where I am coming from. If you get your ass in a sling for bidding on Dr. Phil, dont come crying to me. I didn’t tell you to do it, I am merely providing examples.
The following keywords could each be broken down into their own adgroups with even more keywords generated. Adding all of these into an adgroup may bring a positive ROI but I dont suggest it. Grab a few of these and throw them into Google. I think you will understand where I am going with this in regards to competition. While they may not produce record breaking volume, it’s ideas like these that separate the people from asking questions from the people cashing checks.
I simply got these by typing “weight loss doctors” in my keyword tool. I could type “weight loss ingredients” and come up with the same concept just different words. If you understand any of this, I have to ask, why are you not doing it?
dr bass weight loss
dr bob’s weight loss
dr bonilla weight loss
dr burtman weight loss
dr dillard weight loss
dr g weight loss
dr gates weight loss
dr girard weight loss
dr green weight loss
dr ian’s weight loss
dr john fisher weight loss
dr lara weight loss
dr levine ultimate weight loss
dr ming weight loss
dr phils weight loss
dr rivas weight loss
dr sanchez weight loss
dr simeon’s weight loss
dr smiths weight loss
dr susan’s girls only weight loss
dr vitkin’s weight loss
dr vitkins weight loss
If you were in another country, you would be targeting their doctor names as well.
Easy Peezy.
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I talk to Search Marketers all day long. Now just a little bit but alot. As a matter of fact, 90% of the publishers and friends I speak to are or have at some point been into Search Marketing. The other 10% would be my family who have zero idea what the hell a search engine is. You would think I could distinguish between the two percentiles into actually enjoying the conversations I get to have with Search Marketers. Unfortunately that is not the case. I love you all, but sometimes I feel like I am talking to a robot. Loosen the hinges and grease the wheels because the following could be a MAJOR tip to you PPC Marketers.
I want to play a game.
When I say the word “acai berry” what comes to your mind? Other than ppc.bz of course.
- lose weight
- weight loss
- oprah
- rachel ray
This is because the offer has already jumped into your head and you’ve already started thinking about promoting it. While this is not a mistake, you are doing the exact same thing most of the other marketers are doing. It’s human nature to come up with the easiest scenario possible. In this case, relating heavily searched keywords because at the back of your mind you are already figuring this equation:
Lots of traffic + lots of clicks on my ads HOPEFULLY = A lot of money
This equation sounds awesome. Dang, it’s time to get to cracking on keyword research.
Holy Shit.
Look at that competition. Oprah is gonna be pissed that I bid on her and the offer right there says not to do that either. Damn. It sounded good to begin with right?
Let’s fast forward…
What follows next may or may not make you rich but I can almost bet you are going to tap into some nuggets here. “Acai Berry”…OK STOP RIGHT THERE. Dont be generating any keywords in your mind. Dont you dare start figuring that damn equation. Just stop. Hear me out.
You have the offer good. Put yourself into a position as if you were talking to someone and try preselling the offer. What would you say? Would you just garbble some shit like:
Weight loss oprah lose weight rachel ray
Is that even english?
Who in the world is going to understand that crap. Instead dont even think about keywords. Say you are a door to door salesman/woman and you aint gettin paid diddly until you get rid of this acai berry bottle. What or how would you speak? Would you say something like:
Weight loss oprah lose weight rachel ray. Would you like a free bottle?
Nobody in there right mind is going to understand you because your stuff does not make sense. Try a REAL, passive conversation and note the keyword phrases in bold here:
For people who cant lose weight, find it hard to stop eating or just generally dont like to exercise, this dietary supplement has provided outstanding fat loss effects and helped millions around the world not feel hungry which has helped them slim down in size.
This post ends here. For you search marketers, those links in the above paragraph are hyperlinked for a reason. Just because it looks like ass in a keyword tool, doesn’t mean it dont get searched. You want in the weightloss industry where billions of dollars are generated in revenues each year but too afraid to go into this niche because you think it’s too competitive? You may not get a ton of volume but guess what. How much volume do you have to get to actually make some money in one of the most competitive multi-billion dollar industries?
Aussies, Europeans, Canadians and everyone else does the same thing. This doesn’t just apply to the US.
Visit the links. Make it rain. I can already tell NONE of you I know are even doing that. Peace.
