The possibilities for this software are endless.  Its basically a blank canvas.   So far I have build a few bots for Mysql maintenance tasks, some keyword list building and refining, and even to simplify some accounting tasks.   I have a list of at least 10 more things I plan to automate with the tool.   The nice thing about the software is that it creates an .exe file that you can send to contractors or employees for them to use.

As most of my readers know, I don’t do paid reviews or endorsements.  But I do like to share products that I personally use on a regular basis.   So I contacted the owner of the software to see if they were able to give a deal to visitors of my blog.   He agreed to cut $50 off the one time purchase price (this is not a rebill product).  You can buy it here for $199 instead of $249, be sure to use the coupon code cdfnet to get that discount.  That $199 will pay for itself in one saved outsourcing project.

Here is the basic outline of how it works:

I asked Jason many questions about using Pay Per Call, mainly from the perspective of the affiliate marketer.  This is a must listen for anyone looking to get into this emerging field of marketing!   Please click the player below to hear to the full 14 minute interview.

To download the MP3 right-click save as

Also, if you would like to see the slides from their recent Affiliate Summit West presentation you can find them here.

After you listen, feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts on PPcall.  Are you currently testing with it or do you plan in the future?

Another Affiliate Summit is now history. This was my 3rd one in Vegas and I can honestly say they keep getting better every year. My compliments to Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting on such a well run show.

Its incredible how popular these events are getting.  The hallways, sessions and exhibit halls were just packed all the time with affiliates, merchants, agencies etc.  I got to the meet market late on Sunday but it was still overflowing with people were trying to secure their party invitations for later and grab some early freebies.

I ended up going to 2 sessions while I was there.  The first was the Facebook Tactics which is always popular.  There was a lot of interest in the mass upload tool that Facebook reserves for high volume users ($30k per month spend).  They plan on releasing it to everyone eventually, but for now its reserved for high volume users.  Many of the questions from the audience were about what can get approved and what doesn’t.  There were not any big tips dropped that I remember.  I think the main takeaway was that Facebook ads is still growing rapidly and there are dedicated reps that can help you.   If you are a legitimate affiliate and want to work with Facebook, they want to work with you.  If you are going to push the envelope too hard and endlessly submit rejected ads, they have no problem banning you for life.

The second session I went to was CPA opportunities in Europe.  This was a very low key session but I found it interesting.  Not so much in actual content delivered but some ideas that it gave me to for my European campaigns.  I will be doing a full post on Europe offers in a week or so.    In a nutshell there are 2.5 times as many people than the US, traffic is cheaper, sometimes converts better, and Internet penetration is increasing exponentially.   The main lesson from the session was basically there are so many opportunities in this emerging market, everyone really should check it out.

I really wanted to also hit the Pay Per Call session but I ended up getting to Vegas too late Sunday so I missed it.

I walked through the expo area and talked to a few new companies I had never seen before.  The booths actually seemed a little toned down from previous years, nothing really over the top.  I didn’t pick up any schwag this year, which was a first for me.  The only thing that really looked cool that I wanted was some company that was giving away skateboard decks.  I never found the booth where they came from though (if that’s your company, please feel free to mail me one!)

The real networking was done at all the great parties and off site events.   This is the chance to meet all your online friends and people you have read about in a relaxed setting.  There were so many excellent parties and dinners this year as always.   I had a great time talking to everyone and hearing about what people are doing.   I’m just amazed at the quality of people that were there.  You may think you know someone from their online persona but when you meet them in real life its usually much different than you would expect.

If you are on the fence about going to a conference, you should definitely make plans to attend.  I don’t go to a huge number of conferences, but I will keep coming back to the Affiliate Summit event every year.  Hope to see you at the next one.

The Google content network is still one of the most misunderstood forms of online advertising. The confusion is understandable.  At first all the experts and gurus said to “just turn it off”. It was thought that it didn’t convert for CPA offers. After a while people started realizing that it does in fact work quite well, it just requires a different skill set than normal pay per click advertising on Google.  So where does the content network stand today at the start of 2010?

The content network on Google is alive and kicking and stronger than ever.  Although things like PPV are getting a lot of press these days for cheap clicks, I still believe the content network is one of the best sources for cheap clicks.   I am talking really cheap like .01 to .02 cents a click.    Here are the some stats for a campaign we have running strictly on the content network.

For this one campaign Google delivered over 54,000 clicks for about $1,000.   That’s among the cheapest paid traffic you can to buy.   This example is obviously on the lowest end of the scale, there are other campaigns we pay up to $1.00 per click on content.  But the clicks are usually much lower than you would pay for Google PPC.

Content traffic does convert as well.   It’s just a matter of tracking everything, finding the converting sites that your ads are displayed on, and focusing your optimization on those sites.  There are no specific rules for which sites to exclude from displaying your ads.  For example, a lot of people say to exclude gmail.com, but I have seen conversions come from there.  Just like everything else, you have to test for your specific niche.

Quality score is important on the content network, although I have found not as strict as normal Google Pay Per Click.  So if you have a campaign that just won’t run on the PPC network, its possible Google will allow it for content.  As you can see by the example stats, a .09% CTR would be horrible on PPC but runs fine on content in the 3-4 ad position range.

So as 2010 starts, I’d say the content network is still an excellent source of cheaper traffic and should continue to be for the foreseeable future.   It doesn’t work for every niche and offer, but definitely should be tested to find out.

You’ve probably heard the famous line “coffee is for closers” from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. While I’m not into the whole high pressure sales vibe of the film, that line does ring true in many ways. How much time do we waste while there is still work to be done? It got me thinking how that relates to the self employed Internet marketer.

For our industry, Twitter is for closers. Not just Twitter but forums, blogs, Facebook etc… How much time do you spend a day on this stuff? 1-2 hours a day maybe? That might not sound like much but when you add it up, even an hour a day over a year is 365 hours. Given a standard 40 hour work week that 9.1 weeks of work. Think of all the projects that could be accomplished in 9 straight weeks of work. Whole businesses could be made in that time.

One of my biggest goals of the new year is efficient time management. I’m cutting out as much of these time-sinks as possible. No forums, minimal RSS, and Twitter - maybe 5-10 minutes a day to keep up with the news. How much time can you afford?

This year if you see me tweeting, you’ll know I’m “closing”.

• No secrets to affiliate marketing - This was kind of a ranting post, but I think it effectively conveyed the point.
  
• Using conversion funnels to increase profits - A simple yet still very powerful technique to optimize your campaigns.
  
• Create your own lead generation business - This post generated a very good discussion in the comment section.
  
• Facebook workplace targeting -  Another simple technique that many people implemented to make a lot of money.  One reader literally made thousands with this tip.
  
• Tracking phone leads with Google Voice - This helps solve a common need with local affiliate marketing.
  
• How to write a private affiliate agreement - Many people were asking me if I had a local affiliate contract I could share, so I wrote this post as a guide.
  
• Pick one vertical and run with it - A huge part of my current overall business strategy.
  
• Google content network basic strategy - A basic guide for those starting out on the content network.
  
• Pre-qualifying your clicks - A really important concept to all my campaigns online.

Happy new year and best of luck in 2010!

As the year comes to an end, it is a great time to reflect on the state of your business currently and going forward.  Here are some things I like to look at this time of year.

1. Review the past year.

In order to see where you are going, you have to know where you’ve been. Not looking back at what you have done is like running a campaign with no tracking or analytics - it doesn’t work that well.  That’s why reviewing the last year is so important to success.

I like to take a long look at the past year and consider what really happened. Where was I successful? What failed?  Where did I waste work time being unproductive?  What can I learn from all the mistakes made? Being able to honestly evaluate your past performance with a critical eye is very important to future success. But you have to be honest with yourself.  How much time did you spend reading forums or Twitter? Think of all the new campaigns you could have tried with all that time over the year….  Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes, just use them to renew your focus going forward.

2.  Set new goals.

Goal planning should really be an ongoing task, but the end of the year is a great time to set new new priorities.  I have a giant full wall sized white board that was absolutely crammed with writing.   I had to admit to myself that some of the tasks were never going to get done.  I took a picture of the board so I had an archived record of everything, but then I wiped the whole thing clean!  I added some things back that were really important, but a most of it has been filled with new brainstorming.  I forced myself to spend long chunks of time just brainstorming and writing down new ideas.   There are some bold new directions that came about during those long sessions.    I now have a basic roadmap set for all of 2010.

3. Tax Strategies.

You hear about people going out a buying a lot of things for the business to generate write offs before the end of the tax year.  Unless you really need the items, this is flawed logic.  You shouldn’t spend money just to get a 35% tax break, when you are still out the other 65% for the purchase price.  Do meet with your accountant to plan some tax moves that make sense for your type of business.  There are some expenseable things that are expiring at the end of this year that you would need to buy now to take advantage of.  Deferring income until next year is always a good idea if you can.  But, your accountant is the best source of this information so don’t forget to meet or talk with them in December.

4.  Time off

Most important of all I believe is taking time off to spend with family and friends.  You’ve worked hard all year and you deserve a break before hitting it hard in January.  Enjoy any time that you can spend with your family, even if that means working less and leaving some money on the table.   You will never get to the end of you life and say you wish you would have worked more.   Time spent with loved ones and doing things you enjoy is what its all about.

If you would like to read what I said, please go here