Feed Flare Affiliate Marketing and Performce Marketing Blog With Real Tips That Make You Money

I just wanted to give a little update about something I have known and learned about recently regarding different networks and the platforms they use. It’s no secret that I want my own network in time so it is natural for me to research different platforms that I would invest my money into. I have gone through way to many frustrations personally that I know I can remove owning an affiliate network. Yes I know there are other headaches that show up but I have plans for them as well.

What you might not know, which is something I have known for a while and just had confirmation on today, is that if you are a good affiliate and you are able to really scale a campaign up you may just be losing money and not even know it. Why? Well, if the network you are pulling the offer from is based on a Direct Track Network platform, they have the ability to set your conversion rates on offers to what ever they want them to be. Let me explain!

Example

Advertiser A wants to get traffic to a diet pill offer. He goes to a network that runs on a Direct Track platform. The advertiser lists his diet pill with the network and the network uses there own marketers to test the campaign. Just so you know, all networks have there own in house teams running the same offers you are. During the testing stage of the new offer the network and the advertiser find out that the offer converts on average at 10%. So after testing phase the offer goes live to all the affiliates in the network and sometimes to other networks.

Now, here is where you lose money with Direct Track base networks.

The networks tell there publishers after testing is done that the offer converts at 10% so a bunch of affiliates start running it. There are 5 supper affiliates among the group who are really good at scaling up campaigns to make more then the 10% the offer is currently at. With Direct Track Networks, they can set your conversion rates individually to never convert on a offer higher then that 10% – so no matter how hard you try and scale an offer, you will never make any more money, just lose and the network keeps the difference usually!!!!!! Once the network sees that they lost you as a pub on that offer – they will most likely pull you back in with a higher payout as they know what they can see from you and how it’s converting for you. Shady business eh!!!

Today I spent time with Link Trust, which is another affiliate marketing platform and I went through a 80 minuet demo on the platform and what it can all do. I must say, its one heck of a network system and there is no way for the network or networks using that platform to set your conversion rates to never go past a certain percentage nor will they ever build it into the platform. I have seen the entire back end of the platform as well as I have seen the back end of Direct Tracks and from an affiliate stand point – I would NEVER trust the other Direct Track platform at all.

Examples of a Direct Track Network are – Market Leverage and Copeac

I am sure there are some Direct Track Networks that are honest, but how can you trust any platform that has the ability to set your rates to never go past a certain percentage. I can’t! To be honest with you I have not looked into any other platforms yet but I will, like Has Offers, so I don’t know a whole lot about other systems or the platforms that are custom. When the time comes for me to launch my network I want the best interface and the most honest system I can find. That’s just who I am.

What are your thought’s on affiliate networks having this ability to set your rates to never go higher then a certain percentage???

It has taken a few weeks to get this post put together. I wanted to be able to reflect on my year affiliate marketing in 2009 to make sure I didn’t forget anything I wanted to post about. 2009 was my first real year affiliate marketing and there was a pile of ups and downs I went through.

I saw trends I loved to see and ones that I didn’t – mostly different times of the year types of things. There were advertisers dropping out on me on a regular basis and ones who were stable that I was able to build my business around. There was also some very heavy Celebrity lawsuits I had to over come that hit most of my advertisers as well as some very heavy FTC regulations that hit December 1/09 that caused a bit of a up turn right at the end of the year.

So here is a break down of my earnings by network over 2009!

1. Neverblue Ads – $43,912.00
2. Media Trust – $30,926.00
3. Pepperjam Network – $6539.00
4. Azoogle Ads – $2720.00
5. Hydra Network – $2378.00
6. Copeac – $1863.00
7. Opes Media – $1500.00
8. CX Digital – $1014.00
9. Max Bounty – $845.00
10. Wotogepa – $773.00
11. Market Leverage – $728.00
12. Karaktr Track – $84.00
13. Recurring Commissions – $2000.00

Total Affiliate Commissions for 2009 – $ 95,282.00

I know there is a bit more I have made, like from the reviews on this blog and a few other smaller things I was doing – but as far as my time goes – it’s not worth it to try and remember everything right now. I wanted to see roughly (within a few thousand dollars) what my earnings were for my first full year affiliate marketing. I am happy to report that earnings for January are double what they were for last month all ready too.

As far as expenses go – I wont know that in detail until tax time. There are a ton of perks owning your own business and working from home that you can claim as expenses so it would not be fair of me to post all that on here. But as you can see from any of my other income reports – my day to day costs for running my affiliate marketing business are very low compared to others. Over 90% of my earnings are profit, so to speak!

What I didn’t like in 2009;

There were a few things I didn’t like that happened in 2009. First I guess would be that I didn’t like not having years under my belt of experience. When I was making good money last spring – naturally I loved it but when things started to slow down in the summer I got worried – I had no idea what was next. (keep in mind I am a full time single father of a 9 year old boy, and I am all he has – it’s scary not knowing where or how much money your going to have from month to month) I was always unsure if I could recover  from the slow times, heck I didn’t even know if they were even slow times.

Most of my drops in income were due to re brandings my advertisers were going through – which was another thing I hated seeing. It honestly felt like when I was finally getting somewhere – I would have to re due a bunch of my previous work because of re branding. I was not able to keep growing at the pace I wanted to keep growing at.

I will say that some of my affiliate managers and networks I deal with really need to take a look at how they treat affiliates, the good affiliates. Networks have the ability to help affiliates beyond belief by giving them campaigns and setting them up to make some good money – but when an affiliate comes along that needs that help to grow – they sit of there hands and say we can’t tell you anything because we have to protect our affiliates.

Networks can tell who a good affiliate is, one who will be around for a long time and who wants to build a solid affiliate marketing income. Help them!!!!!! You have all the data in your network to work with these affiliates so when one needs a budget to get going and after you are able to tell what kind of affiliate they are – give them a money maker. It does not always need to be the super affiliates getting these types of deals. The up and coming guys need them more in my opinion. Luckily for me, I recently found an affiliate network who is willing to do just that with me. Look out for some way better income reports in 2010.

What I liked about 2009;

Well the first and most obvious would have to be the fact I have been working from home this whole past year, which carries the added bonus of being my own boss – in most ways. There is still a ton out of my control but I am working on that.

Even though I have had my ups and downs I have always been able to bounce right back, and in a shorter time frame then when I first started. I am able now to ask the right questions about certain offers so I know which ones to avoid and which ones I need to focus on. I can even pick out the good or higher converting landing pages when looking at offers.

I have also learned a completely new aspect of affiliate marketing called Media Buying, which I had no clue even existed a year ago. I would be rolling in that right now if it was not for the up and downs I have gone through with my SEO sites.

I have defiantly built some great work relationships with a few very key people in the industry – which is starting to pay off this month. I have also had my Google account banned. I look at that as a plus because now I don’t have to waste my money bidding on keywords that are way over priced – lmao. See Ya Big G! The ban is only on my ad-words account to btw.

What my favorite tool I used to make money with is;

This by far has to be the Unique Article Wizard tool. In December, I took the entire month off from submitting articles for a few reasons ( mostly because I didn’t know the full impact of the recent FTC regulations that hit Dec 1/09) but I also wanted to see exactly how much money the tool actual generates through articles. I dropped down to just over 3k last month total earnings not using the tool, this month I fired it back up and am double what I made last month in the same time period. The tools simply works well for my niche!!!!

If you want to join Unique Article Wizard, use the peel page add at the top right of this blog to sign up – or, if you guys want a detailed post on how I use it, just leave a comment saying so after this post and I will get to it as fast as possible.

My Goals for 2010;

These are simple goals actually. First is build an email list. I have over 30k unique visitors a month all targeted to health offers. I want a list based on that traffic source. I also want to branch away from one niche and build many profitable campaigns across a wide range of niches. Less eggs in one basket type of thing. And last but not least is hit 30k per month steady income.

2009 Conclusion;

Looking back at everything, I am darn proud of what I was able to do and build off of a very small monthly commitment. My over head is super low and my income is very high for what I am putting out. I have a system in place that is completely repeatable, even with all the crap that has gone on. I have a ton of freedoms I never had before in my life and the possibilities to go almost anywhere with what I am doing professionally.

All in all, 2009 was a great year for affiliate marketing and I look forward to seeing what 2010 brings!

Happy New Year everyone and good luck!

Up Coming Post – A follow up on the Profit Kings Media Review. Profit Kings Media claims they will work with any affiliate (new and old) to build profitable campaigns and I am putting that to the test. One of the owners of Profit Kings and I spent some time on the phone last week going over campaign idea’s and what I needed to do to get it profitable as fast as possible. I am going to report on what we did, how we did it and what my earnings are from it. Lets see if this network is going to do more then just promise us  higher payouts and dumb contests. Will they actually do what they claim they can do??? Stay Tuned!

Seeings how it’s been a few weeks since I have posted, I wanted to start off this post which is a review of the  Profit Kings Media Network by first saying Happy New Years to all my readers. 2009 was a great year for learning for a lot of us and now we need to take what we have learned (all my ups and downs) and apply that knowledge to building a solid business for 2010. Good luck everyone!

Profit Kings Media

Ok, lets get onto talking about Profit Kings Media, which is an affiliate network where you can get a wide variety of offers from. One thing you may be asking yourself right now is “What makes Profit Kings Media” different from all the other networks. There are a few key things you should be keeping in mind at this point as I am going to point out what I really liked after taking a peek around the network.

First is – higher payouts. I like knowing that I am going to be getting max dollar out of the gate. I hate having to barter for more money from networks. That to me is a pain in the ass and is something I should not have to do. Myself, I like service and affiliate managers who know something about the business. It’s not always about the money but when I know I am getting the max, I feel better knowing that.

Profit Kings Media takes low margins on their offers and so their default payouts are usually higher than what most get BUMPED to. They are even willing to run margin-less to earn your business. They literally WANT your traffic – big or small, Profit Kings Media appreciates every cent and do not discriminate.

If you are wandering how can a network run with out making profits for a while when you first join them, I can explain that. In the grand scheme of things, in order to attract bigger and better advertisers, the new advertisers want to know that your network can deliver a volume of traffic – so, by running on little to no margins to get their volume up – they can then go after bigger advertisers and grow their brand. It’s simply re-investing their own profit back into the business type of thing to grow it. So in short, a little profit here for a lot more profit later – smart actually when you think about it.

The next key feature I want to point out to you is the fact, Profit Kings Media was started by affiliate marketers. This is really important to you because if you need help scaling a campaign and or optimizing a campaign – you have people who know what there doing and can give you that help. Unlike a lot of the networks I deal with where I get no support from, Profit Kings is there to make sure you do not fail!

Profit Kings also pays weekly (every Monday) REGARDLESS of your volume; no threshold. You can make $30-$300,000/week and they will still pay you weekly. So if having a budget is an issue – consider that gone now. Your cash flow is back up. To be honest, there is no reason for anyone to have to wait 30 days to get their money – everything runs electronically so….

Profit Kings Media also sends daily tips/mini campaign guides via network emails which are INFORMATIVE versus the junk/spam you get from other networks pushing you to run offers. They show you where offers work and how to push them.

All in all I am impressed with Profit Kings, what they stand for and there payouts. With weekly payouts and the ability to go and get any offer you want – you really do not have anything to lose. Like me, you should only gain!!!

Join Profit Kings Media Here

Seeings how I had some major re-vamping to do half way through the month with a pile of my offers going down. I am not surprised at all that my affiliate marketing income report is as low as it is.

Here we go!

Affiliate Marketing Income Report for November  2009

Regular Earnings (SEO Sites)

• Neverblue Ads – $2343.36
• Media Trust – $2255.81
• Copeac – $81.28
• Max Bounty – $222.41
• Wotogepa – $105.56
• Hydra – $80.22
• Karaktr track – $44.33
• Ultimate CPA – 369.46
• Opes Media – $844.48

Affiliate Marketing Regular Earnings Total = $6343.84

Recurring Affiliate Commissions

• Inlinks – $50.02
• PPC Coach – $115.00
• Unique Article Wizard – $115.00

Recurring Affiliate Income Total =$280.02

Monthly Sub Total = $ 6626.86

Expenses For Regular Earnings in November

• Dedicated Server – $154.00
• Unique Article Wizard – $70.00
• PPC Coach – $49.00
• Media Buys Coach – $100.00

Total Expenses = $373.00

Total Net Income For November 2009 = $6253.86

For Decembers report just inside t he new year we will have stats posted for Media Buying. I have two different sites live that I am testing with to see how they run and preform. They are both completely different niches as well so I am also trying to branch out a bit too.

Stay Tuned!!!

One of the hardest things for me going forward with my business is having the capital banked to do so. I make good money on a monthly basis and I live very comfortably too, but Media Buying is a completely different fish financially. Media Buying takes a fair amount of money to test campaigns out and to keep going once you have a campaign profitable. So what can you do to insure you are able to test and keep campaigns going once you start rolling?

Here’s what I did first;

The first problem I addressed was the “Keeping a Campaign Going” issue once I got a campaign profitable. If I spent 2k on something and got it profitable on my dime by the end of spending that 2k on traffic, I was sometimes running out of money and waiting on networks to pay me. To keep cash flow coming in,  I moved all my major networks I work with to weekly or by – weekly payments system. Problem solved! You need to hit a minimum of 1k per week or 1k per 2 week period in order to get that type of payment arraignment made. I have been making that for quite some time now but it was not until I started into media buying that I seen I needed the payments faster.

The second step;

I Found me some investors!! This was key for me to achieve and very important. Why? Well, it’s very common in Media buying to hit a 3 to 400% ROI. When you do hit that, you want to keep those campaigns going for as long as you can. Having investors lined up who you are willing to pay a 100% roi too on their investment, gives you capital to really blow something up. Yes, I know you can get investors at a 20% roi and make more – but for me (I am not greedy) I plan on matching what investors put in so instead of me making 3 to 400%, I am now making 5 to 600% roi on what I am spending. I am fine with that!

The Final Step!

When your stuck waiting for money to come in on a regular basis, it is hard to really test out a traffic source or keep campaigns going. So how I solved this problem was to ask a traffic source I like (affordable and it converts) to extend me a line of credit, which I just locked up yesterday. This allows me to test out offers and campaigns on their dime and once I hit my target roi, I just make a few calls and get my investors involved plus start using the money I have banked that I normally would of used to test with, to further fund the campaign while I am waiting on my weekly payments to come in.

This is the process I used to insure that I can keep going and growing. If you know another way, by all means – let me know in the comments below. Lets chat!