I am pleased to bring you the next interview in my ongoing CEO in the Spotlight series. Brandon and I actually go back a few years and I am very pleased to see his progression in the industry.  We did not see eye to eye on a few things early on but with what he has been able to do and accomplish over the last couple of years has been amazing.

He was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule and do this interview so here we go.

Hi there Brandon – we go back a few years to the Carloan.com days but please tell us something about yourself and how you got your start in this industry?

I was 17 years old when I started in this industry and right out of high school. I got lucky and met the right people at the right time. My good friends at Affiliate.com and Get Ads, which used to be Opt In Real Big, taught me how to sell CPM Email and I never looked back! Ten years later and a few companies bought and sold, I have BMI Elite and Crush Ads. We have been operating for over 2 years have almost about 45 employees in two offices in Florida.

Tell me something new and exciting about CrushAds and your role specifically.

Crush Ads is making a big push into the pay per call arena. We just launched a software in January that will allow us to manage large scale campaigns. This is something we have the entire team excited about.

As CEO, I have my hands in every aspect of the business. I am constantly working on building relationships with our advertiser and publisher base, marketing efforts to continue growth, and most importantly working with the best accounting team to make sure that our pubs are getting paid and our advertisers are paying on time! We have also recently opened a division to drive more internal traffic, so I have been putting a lot of focus into growing that side of the business as well.

How is what you are doing different from the other affiliate networks?

Our #1 priority is customer service. We want that to set us apart from the pack. We like to think of ourselves as a publisher agency that goes above and beyond what a typical network does by doing things like helping our publishers build out their pages, developing custom creatives and being an outsourced sales team. We have an agency division that offers these same services to our advertisers, so it was only natural for us to open these resources up to our publishers as well.

In addition to those points, Crush Ads audits stats every week and adds in untracked sales to ensure that our publishers are getting paid on all of their conversions, even the ones where the pixel misfires. Last but not least, we are direct on over 90% of our offers and we put a lot of effort forth in maintaining this. We feel that the most important thing we can do is operate our business in a way that it is apparent to all that we are here for the long term and we want to be their partner, not just “another network.”

What decisions have you made in your career that you look back on feel were mistakes? What have you learned from them that specifically have helped in getting CrushAds where it currently is? 

Hmmmm mistakes… I don’t regret any mistakes that I have made, as I make sure that I learn from everything that I do. Everyone makes mistakes and if you think you don’t you are definitely misguided. Some of my biggest mistakes have been hiring the wrong people and investing time and resources into them with no real return on investment. It took 10 plus years, but right now I feel like I have built a DREAM TEAM. We have the right people in place and are really starting to take things to the next level!  Call me the Pat Riley, of the internet when it comes to building a solid team

Can you talk a bit about what CrushAds is doing specifically to combat fraud and more importantly is there something being done on a grander scale collectively to rid the industry of that? 

Crush Ads has a strict No Fraud Tolerance policy and we screen every publisher closely before allowing them access to our campaigns. We always prefer new publishers that come in as a referral from one of our current partners and honestly most of our current publishers have been referrals. If a publisher makes it past the screening process and we confirm they are sending fraud traffic their account is immediately terminated from the network and not just the campaign. Internally we monitor click data on a daily basis; we also work very closely with our advertisers to get as much feedback as possible on new publishers.  Last, but not least, we are currently doing demos on various fraud monitoring solutions and plan to implement one in the next few weeks. We feel this is going to be an integral part of expanding into the next phase and limiting the exposure that we have when working with new publishers.

As a whole the industry is pushing itself into a more transparent arena with groups like Super Affiliates and Shady Affiliates on Facebook. The more networks that participate in groups like this, the harder it will be for these fraudsters to jump from network to network. I also feel that in cases where there are large sums of money involved that the industry should consider, as a whole, taking things to the next level and getting the authorities involved. If fraudsters knew there would be stricter penalties to deal with as a result of their actions they may think twice about defrauding the networks and advertisers. Fraud traffic is causing more harm to our industry than anything else.

What is your take on the whole issue with the Copeac shutting its doors? 

They played with fire and they got burned. It’s simple; they pushed the line far enough that the FTC felt that needed to get involved in a big way. Operating like that may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now they are left with a huge mess and a tarnished reputation. The most important thing you need to do is pay your publishers. They pay for their media out of their pockets and I feel that is the biggest responsibility a network has. When things get to the point where you aren’t paying publishers, you need to stop asking them for more traffic.

Right now we feel the time is right for a few new networks to become big players. If these networks learn from the mistakes of the previous networks, they actually stand a chance of being here 10 years from now. It’s not about the dollar you can make today, if you are going to lose out on thousands of dollars over the foreseeable future. The networks that were “big” 2 years ago aren’t here anymore and it’s making room for the new ones. Copeac is gone. Market Leverage is essentially gone. Azoogle is having issues. All of this adds up to a lot of publishers needing solid and reputable networks to send their traffic to and we feel that Crush Ads fits that description.

What are some trends you are seeing in the space and what is CrushAds doing to put itself out in front?

2012 is all about pay per call and mobile marketing. We are working hard to enter both spaces in a big way by the end of the year. We are also developing internal offers and brining on a lot of offers that we are the Agency of Record on. The larger publishers are focusing more on working with direct advertisers and by providing them with offers that we own or are exclusive to us, we are giving them access to work direct with the advertiser. Doing this gives us a lot more freedom to try things outside of the box.  Some of these things bomb but the ones that work end up making our publishers a lot of money.

Who are some of the networks and or industry leaders you hold in high regard?

Industry leads, that’s a tough one! I have a lot of respect for many members of our industry. Evan Weber and Pace are some of the people that I go to for guidance. They have been in the business a long time and experienced a lot of different things from a lot of different angles. I have high regard for what George and Pat have built at Get Ads in such a short amount of time. The people that I respect the most in this business are the ones that build solid communities around their brands and of course pay their bills!

What advice would you like to give the newer publishers who are looking to get started in the industry? There are so many choices out there – what should they be asking or looking for in a network that would make their decision process easier?

New publishers need to have the capital to test and test again. They also need to be ready to fully capitalize on an opportunity once they find success.
When deciding what network to work with they should look at a few things:

1) What are other publishers saying about this network? – Check out the Facebook groups and forums. There is a lot of feedback out there. If you don’t find what you are looking for, don’t be shy and ask other publishers for their experiences.

2) How experienced is the management team? – Crush Ads is comparatively new, but our upper management each have 10+ years of experience. It’s important to work with people that know what they are doing and aren’t just in this business to make a quick buck and bounce to the next thing.

3) How fast will you get paid? – This is especially important when you are working with traffic sources that require publishers to prepay. The faster you get paid the quicker you can scale campaigns.

What takeaway should my readers have from this interview – is there something specific you care to share? 

Crush Ads is here to stay. We want to work closely with select partners to maximize the opportunities available both on the publisher and advertiser side. If you aren’t happy with your current network or are just looking to expand, we would love the opportunity to talk to you and see how Crush Ads can fit into your plan!

One more thing before I let you go, CrushAds is running a big contest this year to send someone to the 2013 Superbowl!!  Check out http://www.2012mvps.com/ for more info!!!

As you all know, I am partaking in the 200MPH Blogger Challenge sponsored by AffiliateWire and currently in 2^nd place. This has been by far one of the coolest contests I have been in and I thought what better idea than to interview the brainchild behind it, none other than Bobbi Leach.

Hi there Bobbi, please tell us something about yourself and how you got your start in this industry?

Before joining RevenueWire I served as VP of Network Development for PortoLynx, where I helped to empower small businesses across North America to sell their products online. As Executive Vice President of The EI Group, an online lead generation company for the education sector, I launched several new online products and expanded the clientele globally. My experience growing businesses in the online marketplace is what led me to the position at RevenueWire.

Tell me something about AffiliateWire and RevenueWire

RevenueWire has a long history in affiliate marketing, dating back to 2007. From the beginning, RevenueWire has worked very closely with software vendors, their products, and the affiliates who sell them. What makes RevenueWire special is that it was built by affiliates for affiliates. Our intimate knowledge of affiliates and their world led us to create a proprietary, high-converting shopping cart and a powerful analyticsplatform that catered to their exact needsof selling digital products. With this technology as its foundation, the company achieved success very rapidly, growing beyond expectations in its first years of operation. As a result of rapid success, AffiliateWire (our affiliate network)emerged naturallyas a way to further specialize and expand on the affiliate marketing services that had originally been offered under the name‘RevenueWire’. As the affiliate network grew, RevenueWire addedmoree-commerce solutions such as SafeCart and CallStreamto optimize revenue for every facet of our clients’ online business.

How are these different from the other networks?

What really separates RevenueWire/AffiliateWire is the complete 360­º conversion-optimization approach we take. Our network is well, more than just a network. It offers a solution for every key component of our client’s business, from pre-purchase all the way to post-purchase cross-sells and support. RevenueWire also provides among the highest commissions in the affiliate marketing industry; specializing in high-performance software products and a growing catalogue of popular digital offers including group sites, mobile, gaming, dating and more. Another thing that makes RevenueWire standout is that it is always striving to innovate and create new revenue-generating programs for its clients in order to maximize their conversions and make them more profitable. One such initiative is our CallStream Program, which helps our clients better monetize downloads through a global network of remote assist sales agents.

Is there something from your experiences in the past that has helped you run your networks?

I think my 20 years of experience growing new ventureshas helped me tremendously. It takes a specific set of skills to run a small business and help it grow in a profitable and sustainable manner. The leadership skills I acquired through my work with startups, specifically in the online space, along with the specialized market insight I gained through first-hand experience, have given me the skills RevenueWire needs to continually increase revenue, diversify its services, and expand into new global markets while remaining true to the spirit of its core competencies.

Are you worried about being lumped into the same category as other networks that routinely get classified as being in it for the wrong reasons? What sets you apart from the rest?

The truth is, we’ve never been lumped into that category, mainly because we’ve worked with quality products and reputable brands from the very beginning. RevenueWire was built with a clear principle that all our business be conductedin an ethical and sustainable fashion. We’ve always taken the time to do things right. From the word ‘go’ we’ve been recognized as a trusted, professional affiliate network known for high quality products and a personal touch.

Tell us about the how the Blogger Contest came to be and then specifically about this 200MPH Challenge.

The Blogger Contest really emerged as a way to get more people involved in our annual Live Dangerously event. Bloggers are an active group, with great enthusiasm and insight regarding our industry. Who better to include? So, now the winning blogger will be able to experience this incredible adventure along with our two winning affiliates. As for the 200MPH Challenge, it’s the most exciting contest prize we’ve had to date. I’m actually jealous I won’t be able to go! Winners will have the opportunity to shatter the 200MPH barrier driving a selection of exotic supercars down an airstrip in the Mojave Desert. How cool is that! Just the lineup of cars alone is enough to impress: Ferrari Italia, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Mercedes McLaren SLR and Bentley Continental Supersports. A winning seat includes flight, accommodation, the experience­­­­­­­–- the whole works. It’s going to be an amazing time.

What are some trends you are seeing in the space and what are you doing to put yourself out in front?

Most recently, we’ve identified the strongtrend of online marketing merging with offline in the performance marketing space. And that’s why we’ve taken the step of creating our CallStreamprogram –– to dramatically improve conversions and monetize potential lost revenue opportunities in anticipation of significant change. We’ve been using toll free numbers on our shopping carts for years; CallStream is a natural extension of that experience and one that also increases the average order value for our clients.

On a longer-term basis, we see mobile commerce and growth in emerging markets such as India and Brazil as other significant and relevant trends. We’ll continue to expand RevenueWire and our affiliate network to take advantage of new opportunities in these areas too.

What advice would you like to give the newer networks in the industry?

It’s really important to be in this business for the right reasons and to run your company the right way. That means being transparent, open and doing things with the utmost integrity. It means making your payments on-time, following through on promises you’ve made, and listening and responding to your client’s needs. It’s also important to be in tune with the changing landscape of the performance marketing industry, and being flexible to adapt and innovate on a continuous basis.

What takeaway should my readers have from this interview – is there something specific you care to share?

That’s easy! We want your readers to know that RevenueWire is here to help them succeed. If you’re someone interested in selling digital offers, it takes just a couple of minutes to sign up with us. We invite you to browse through our extensive catalogue and start up your campaigns right away. If they you have any questions you can contact our affiliate managers who are always available to help you getstarted with making money with our products. And, when you sign up and sell, you’re automatically eligible to win a seat in our 200MPH Challenge!

AFFILIATE VENTURE GROUP – VOTE FOR TOP CPA AFFILIATE NETWORK

Well guys, here I am again. Last week I asked you to vote for me in a top blogger  blogging contest (which is still going on by the way – feel free to vote) and I must say the response was absolutely astounding. Competing against the likes of Ian Fernando, Murray Newlands, Mr. Green, and the rest of the star studded cast is definitely a humbling experience. The amount of wealth and knowledge those guys bring is amazing and we as an industry are quite fortunate to have them around.

I now however invite you to participate in the 2012 Winter CPA Affiliate Network Survey sponsored by the Executive Council of Performance Marketing and pick Affiliate Venture Group as your network of choice. Your vote will assist in making our company the preferred CPA Affiliate Network for affiliates and publisher, new or seasoned. It is a privilege just to be in the running and thanks to your support we can certainly come out ahead.

Input from you will enable us to continue to build our company culture and bring attention to areas in which we may currently lack. Because our company believes that “Everyone Matters”, this vote of confidence in Affiliate Venture Group will certainly help the cause.

By clicking on this LINK, you will be able to vote for Affiliate Venture Group so make it count will ya? As a matter of fact, two of our Affiliate Managers are up for the Favorite Affiliate Manager so please vote for Chris Kautz and or Rheya Sahni.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your input.

This is a post by Gina McClain | January 24, 2012 |

This was a post shared with me by a friend of mine and having a daughter myself – I thought it imperative to share with you all, especially the dads out there who have a daughter.

******

Last week I was dropping my daughter off for a birthday party.  As I was leaving a man stopped me asking for direction.  He was standing with one of my daughter’s school friends.  Immediately recognizing her I put my hand out and introduced myself explaining that our daughters sit together at lunch often.  His reaction was sarcastic as he gave his daughter a side-ways glance.  I didn’t fully catch what he said but whatever it was it didn’t honor his daughter in any way.  Looking at her I could tell this was not abnormal behavior.

I’ll be honest… I wanted to punch him.

It’s challenging to articulate the influence a father has on a little girl.  How much of his attitude and actions toward her can determine her future relationships.  I remember how much stock I placed in what my dad thought of me.  I remember how much I wanted him to be proud of me.  To affirm me.  To show me my value.

I remember how he would brag about me on the sidelines of the soccer field.

How he would tell me I’m beautiful.

How he would hug me so hard I couldn’t breathe.

How often he reminded me as a teenager, “Never date a boy you wouldn’t marry.”
(What a way to narrow the playing field!)

Dad’s, don’t lose sight of the impact you have today on your daughter’s future.  Here are three things I encourage you to focus on:

Affirm Her

She looks to you for affirmation, encouragement, & guidance.  As she grows through puberty (ESPECIALLY, as she grows through puberty), she needs your voice reminding her that she is beautiful, valuable and worthy of love.  If she can learn to believe you, then she’ll believe her future husband when he tells her the same things. 

Set the Standard

Be the husband you want her to have one day.  Enough said.  Is it difficult?  Yes.  Does it mean sacrifice?  Yes.  Is it worth it?  Yes.  I watch my husband daily making changes to be a better husband and dad.  He’s amazing.  He demonstrates for our daughter the kind of man he wants her to marry one day.

 Talk About the Standard

Talk about the future.  As you “Imagine the End” and think about the man you hope she marries… talk about it!  Let her know what you expect.  Set the bar.  She’ll do everything she can to jump over it.

Let me level with you, dad.  The more you affirm her today, the less she’ll seek affirmation in some teenage boy later.

Michael Totti has been in the Internet Marketing industry for several years. He is a very talented young entrepreneur who is the senior manager at fivestarcpa.com and the owner of EmillionForum.

1.  Tell us a little bit about yourself. How old are you? Where do you live?

My name is Michael Totti I’m 20 years old and from Toronto, Ontario. My background is a mix of Italian and Russian. I live life by the phrase, “the sky is the limit” and yes biggie smalls is my favourite rapper.

2. How long have you been working in this industry and how did you get involved?

I have been in this industry for 3 years now. While my friends would go out to bars, clubs, and parties, I would always stay at home and study the game of Internet Marketing. My first business venture started in 2008 with my own personal SEO website. I had many clients that I did SEO for and the word quickly spread about my services.  After several hard working months I sold my website on flippa for a reasonable amount. In late 2009 I discovered Affiliate Marketing and was instantly hooked. My time was spent on many forums learning the ropes, and soon enough I started a couple very big budget campaigns with the income that I generated from my SEO business. I was dubbed, “The Marketing Teen“ by many of my affiliate managers and quickly took over the game by storm. This year I have started up my own Marketing community called EmillionForum. It is rapidly growing, and is quickly becoming the number one place to be for beginner, intermediate, and experienced marketers.

3. What are уουr favourite traffic sources? What niche hаѕ worked best for уου?

My favourite traffic source is PPC. I have had huge success with PPC and I have helped many people setup profitable PPC campaigns.

Email submits has got to be my favourite because they convert really well and you can take a lot of different approaches when promoting them.

4. What was your biggest success to date?

My biggest success was creating Emillion, it has received great positive feedback over the past months, and it continues to grow into a recognized and respectable community.  I thank all the members for the support they have given me.

5. Tell us a bit more about EmillionForum.com and what you do over there?

EmillionForum is a website I launched 5 months ago. It is large community that covers all the aspects of Internet Marketing; CPA, PPC, PPV, Social Media, SEO, YouTube, EBay, Clickbank, and more.  We feature a marketplace, point system, and even our very own shop. All the members are very helpful and we provide a lot of support and aid for the newcomers.

6. There are several Internet marketing forums out there. What makes EmillionForum.com different?

The community has a great vibe to it. We are like one big family, the members are very friendly and we love to help each other out.  Our community has tons of fantastic programs, tools, plugins, and exclusive content.  Aside from the business aspect of things EmillionForum has many topics you can take part in, from music, to sports, to even food.  We even have our own points system where users earn points for posting which then can be redeemed at the shop. Overall we are a tight knit community and we strive each day to provide quality to our members.

7. What are your plans for the future of EmillionForum?

We work around the clock to achieve greatness. We have big plans for the future, and we are constantly working on the community and making it better. In the future our members will be able to use the points they have accumulated through posting to buy advertisements on the site. I`m also working on developing a good quality shop for our members where they can use their points towards, programs, ebooks, and tools. We are really excited for the future development of Emillion and one day we will become the best marketing forum out there!

8. What are уουr hobbies/interests/passions?

Since I was a kid I always enjoyed playing soccer with my friends. I am a very athletic guy and I play almost any sport.  When I’m not busy I like to hang out with my friends, watch movies, go shopping, and play sports. I love watching documentaries on almost any subject, and I enjoy reading facts on Wikipedia.

9.  Give υѕ a little glimpse into what a typical day іn уουr life looks lіkе.

Wake up at 9 am check my messages, answer all emails. At noon ill usually go out for a nice jog around the park. From then on ill promote and work on my websites till around 4. I then go to the local gym and workout to have a good healthy mindset. When I come back I usually spend the evening just relaxing, calling my friends, and listening to music.

10. Thanks Michael, іf thеrе іѕ anything еlѕе уου wουld lіkе tο ѕау tο thе readers οf rickyahuja.com now іѕ thе time!

I would just like to take the time to say thank you to Ricky. I enjoy this blog and there is a lot of great content here. I encourage everyone to check out EmillionForum.com and I welcome you with opening arms. Thank you.

Well guys, hope you have enjoyed my interviews and posts thus far but now I am going to ask you to take a second to read this. As many of you already know, I’ve just entered to win a seat in AffiliateWire’s incredible adventure contest. The contest is Lethal Velocity: The 200MPH Challenge. Yeah, I know. It is pretty BAD ASS. The prize is totally out-of-sight. The blogger with the most votes (currently as of this post – I am in 3^rd place) gets to drive an exotic supercar down an airstrip in the Mojave Desert. The challenge is to crack the 200MPH barrier and take your place in an exclusive group of other drivers who have reached this prestigious milestone.

To win, I need as many votes as I can get and that’s where you come in.

Just click here and VOTE FOR ME or click on the banner below. I would be the one that says, “Ricky Ahuja – rickyahuja.com” – just click on the radio button and then click on VOTE. Simple as that.

I really appreciate it. Should I win, I’ll be sure to blog about the experience when I get back!

Many thanks and Much love,

Rick

Choosing quality products is an important factor for every affiliate campaign, because you want to make sure that you are setting up campaigns around products that are likely to convert. What this means is that you need to spend time carefully researching and evaluating any and all products in order to create your “affiliate swipe file”.

When it comes to choosing a niche, there are two methods that will help you get started:

1) Choose a niche that is likely to be around and consistent
2) Identify demand and profitability based on existing competition

Take notes of possible products and niche markets that look interesting to you. Then, search for related forums, groups and blogs to determine what people are looking for, how big the market is and what is current demand. Then, investigate keywords to determine how much competition is in the marketplace as well as how many searches take place each month for specific keyword phrases relating to each niche market.

If you plan to promote digital products, the best place to start looking for quality products is through ClickBank, available at http://www.Clickbank.com. ClickBank is the largest online marketplace for digital products, and you’ll be able to quickly pinpoint hot sellers by browsing through their many categories. ClickBank.com offers detailed statistics and information regarding each specific product making it even easier to quickly evaluate the profitability of potential campaigns.

Here is what this means:

$sale: The amount of money you earn for each sale.
Future $: Average rebill revenue.
Total $sale: Average total $ per sale, including all rebills.
%sale: The percentage of the product sale price that the sale represents.
%refd: Fraction of publisher’s total sales that are referred by affiliates.
grav: The measure of how many affiliates are promoting the product.

For each affiliate paid in the last 8 weeks Clickbank adds an amount between 0.1 and 1.0 to the total. The more recent the last referral, the higher the value added.

The Gravity indicator will tell you how well a product is selling. So a gravity score of 100 means a product is potentially selling better than one with a gravity score of 20.

When it comes to gravity assigned to any specific product, a gravity of 70 or higher is usually a good sign that the product is still in demand, and being actively promoted by other affiliates.

To take things a bit further, you can use free services such as www.CBTrends.com or www.CBEngine.com to further evaluate each product, in terms of performance, demand, and the number of affiliate marketer’s that are promoting it (which is always a good indication of how profitable the market is).

There are many other affiliate networks and marketplaces worth exploring, with many offering a combination of both digital and physical products, one of note as a matter of fact is by the owner of this blog – http://www.affiliateventuregroup.com

This is a guest post by Samrath Gupta. Samrath is a young entrepreneur based out of India specializing in Affiliate Marketing and blogging.Though new to the space – he is very quickly making a name for himself in the blogosphere.

I am especially please to post this next interview as he is truly a stand up guy in a typically not so stand up industry. I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions and truly a breath of fresh air. I am thankful for him taking the time to do this in-depth interview so here it goes.

Phil, tell us something about yourself

My name is Philip Shapiro, I’m 22 years old and was born, raised, and reside in NY.  I’m the owner of the affiliate network CPATrend, which has been by far my greatest achievement as an entrepreneur.  A few random things about me:  I’m a huge sports fan, I play the guitar (unfortunately terribly), and I’m a work-a-holic, just like you Ricky!

How did you get you get a start in this industry?

I’ve owned various online companies/websites since I was 13 years old.  A friend of mine at the time got me involved.  He owned a game server provider for games like Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, etc.  He got me involved and we partnered up on it.  At age 13, we had an operation with 6 dedicated servers across the country, and 75 monthly clients.  We then ventures onto different things, messing around with YPN when it was in Beta version, followed by getting into affiliate marketing with incentivized websites.  After running a GPT site, I moved my incentivized focus over to the TV show site niche.  I purchased up just about every single major tv show streaming site until I built a network of 25 sites, all ranking #1-2 for multiple major keywords in google, delivering insane amounts of traffic.  I monetized with content unlockers and pulled in 6 figures from that network of sites.  In the meantime, I had been an affiliate marketer at various affiliate networks and felt that I had the right background, experience, knowledge, and capital to start my own network, which looking back was pretty accurate.

Tell us something about CPATrend

CPATrend isn’t like every network out there.  We’re a small network, but we’re competing with the large networks both figuratively and literally.  We put 100% of our focus on the needs of our affiliates in terms of the offers we pull in, payment terms, and overall customer support.  We do not pull in thousands of offers and hope that people will latch onto at least 1 of 5,000 offers.  We do, however, pull in offers that we’re confident will work for our affiliates based on our knowledge of the offers, and the history of certain offers/advertisers.  CPATrend is small in staff as well.  We’re currently in an exponential growth phase, and will be hiring accordingly, but it is currently owned and operated by myself, with my life-long friend Andrew Maya running much of the network’s duties as well (particularly Affiliate relations, while partaking in quite a bit of business development aspects as well).  We are two like-minded, and equally motivated people who will go out of our way for our clients, and that has been proven by the immediate, and incredible success of CPATrend.

How is this different from the other networks?

Our network is different than others because we cater to our clients’ every needs.  Whether you’re an advertiser or an affiliate, we will focus on what YOU need to make your campaigns as profitable as possible.  We will match up your traffic sources with offers that WILL perform well for you.  If you’re an affiliate sending high quality traffic and are facing a bit of a cash flow issue, we will pay you more quickly to make sure you’re campaigns never have to shut down.  We have extremely close relationships with our advertisers and rather than letting affiliates simply run traffic to an offer and hoping the advertisers don’t say anything, we actively engage with our advertisers to make sure quality is good, and if quality isn’t holding up, we will work with our affiliates to increase quality to hit our advertisers ROI targets.  It’s really our work ethic at CPATrend that sets us apart from other networks because we do every single thing in our power to make sure everybody that is working with us is more than satisfied.

Is there a minimum traffic level needed to join CPATrend?

Realistically, yes and no.  We don’t require that a publisher has a website with 10,000 uniques per month or more.  In fact, most of our publishers don’t even use “websites” per se.  Most of our publishers are driving paid traffic to landing pages, or directly to the advertisers websites.  We also have quite a few very high quality email marketers.  We obviously welcome display publishers as well, but there is no set “minimum requirement of traffic” – more so a minimum requirement of experience/knowledge of the industry.

What kind of advertisers and publishers does CPATrend seek out?

We seek out the highest quality of advertisers and publishers in the industry.  In terms of advertisers, we are always searching for reputable, trustworthy, honest companies who are willing to work with us, and our talented affiliates who are always willing to comply with the advertisers needs/guidelines.  We are an ever-compliant network, and we are always happy to take on new advertisers that need high quality leads to their service, or are looking for distribution/sales of their products.

In terms of affiliates, we do have a level of experience that we require.  We are “noob” friendly, but we are not affiliate marketing teachers.  That’s simply not a part of our business model.  However, we do work diligently and closely with each of our affiliates in order to help them optimize their campaigns.  I don’t want to take credit for the hard work that our affiliates put in, but I can safely say that CPATrend “breeds” successful affiliates so-to-speak.  We have countless stories of publishers who have made $50-$100 in a day, to publishers making $500 – $1,000 a day (and quite a few making even more!).   Sometimes affiliates are just at the cusp of making it big, but they just need a nudge in the right direction, or a partnership that makes their expansion possible, and that’s certainly what we’ve seen.  So although we wont spit at your feet if you know nothing about affiliate marketing, we do require that you have a knowledge of the industry, since like any job, you will need knowledge/experience, and an affiliate network’s business model is not to provide you with that entire education, only a fraction of it (while providing you with the tools you need to become a successful affiliate).

Is there something from your experiences in the past that has helped you run your networks?

I think just my vast knowledge and experience of the affiliate marketing industry has helped me grow the company properly, but I believe that my patience, and willingness to work closely with so many different people/companies has truly bred the success of our clients, as well as our company itself.

Are you worried about being lumped into the same category as other networks that routinely get classified as being in it for the wrong reasons? What sets you apart from the rest?

Honestly, I try not to worry about being lumped into a category.  Those that work with us know that we’re not the same.  When you work with us, you will feel like our partner.  Working with other networks has that “corporate” feel, with rigid structures that don’t bend for anybody.  CPATrend is like a piece of rubber with lungs.  We bend, and we breathe.  We’re always evolving based on the needs of our clients, and the needs of the industry.

The reason that people should not lump us in the same category as every other networks is as follows:

I started CPATrend because I saw flaws in most companies that I worked at, and like most entrepreneurs (not inventors), I saw something that works and decided that I could do it better.  If I did things the same way as every other network, sure I’d make money, but I’m not only in business to make money.  I’m in business to change the way people work with their affiliate networks.  I’m in business to develop strong, trust-worthy, bonds and relationships with my clients.  I’m in business so that when I walk through a conference floor, people have nothing but positive things to say about me, my business, and how we represent ourselves, and the industry!  Sure running an affiliate network is a great way to make money.  Ricky, you’ve been in the industry for 10 years, so who knows that better than you!  Having said that, you’re also an honest man, and I’m sure that when you go home to your family, you sleep very well at night.  I sleep well at night as well and I can’t foresee that pattern ever changing.  (The point of that novel is – do not lump everybody into one category!)

What are some trends you are seeing in the space and what are you doing to put yourself out in front?

CPATrend is what I like to call a “minimal-risk” affiliate network.  The affiliate networks that took big risks and saw huge rewards are currently facing FTC charges, went out of business, or are not paying their publishers.  This is disgraceful to me, and it makes me feel very proud of myself for not trying to chase a quick buck, but for realizing long-term potential in building up niches that are low risk to our company.  We work with companies that we’re confident we will always be paid by, and in turn our affiliates never have to worry if we’re going to take a million dollar loss and decide not to pay.  We’ve been stiffed a few times, and each time, we’ve paid out of affiliates in full.  We mainly focus on dating offers, but also have quite a few other lead generation offers such as credit reports, gaming offers, mobile offers, etc.  The past, the present, and the future will always be dating, and I am firmly animate about that, as we have built a large percentage of our business around this.  The other present and future is mobile!  We are diligently working on building out our mobile department with the help of some of our best publishers, who are supplying us with the traffic we need to build this out.

Who are some of the networks you hold in high regard?

I obviously hold AVG (Affiliate Venture Group) in great esteem, and although we have very different focuses, I have happily referred anybody who deals with financial offers to work with AVG!  I have a lot of respect for Brian and Paul over at Envyus Media as well.  Envyus and CPATrend literally started at around the same time, with quite a few other networks, and together (but completely separately) our businesses have grown exponentially in a very short period of time, while many of the other networks just died off.  I hold lots of other networks in high regard, most of which are a part of the ECPM (http://ecpmgroup.org/).

What advice would you like to give the newer networks in the industry?

The affiliates and advertisers that you allow into your network are a representation of YOU.  Be selective, and only work with people you have a mutual respect for.  We are diligently seeking out quality traffic, but we will never allow a publisher who can send high volumes of poor quality/fraudulent traffic into our network just to try to make a quick buck.  If you have a legitimate business model, and stick to it, you will succeed.  In an industry with tremendous competition, it’s NOT EASY to succeed.  In fact, a huge percentage of affiliate networks fail.  Legitimate networks that are marketed properly tend to prevail, so if you’re not making as much as you’d like to right away, stick with it and hopefully in time, you will do well.  Or, you can just give up now and I’d be happy to harvest your publishers! :)

What takeaway should my readers have from this interview – is there something specific you care to share?

I spent a lot of time promoting myself and my company in this interview, which Ricky, I truly thank you for taking the time to put these questions together and posting this on your site! Aside from everything I’ve said about CPATrend (which I would obviously hope your readers absorbed), I think the major point I’d like to stress is legitimacy.  Affiliate marketing is like any offline job.  If you’re looking to make a quick buck, it’s possible (at networks other than CPATrend ;) )  .  If you’re looking to make a legitimate career, it’s much more difficult, but it’s much more rewarding.  It’s just like the old adage; “If you catch a fish for a man, he’ll eat for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.”  So what that should tell everybody is; don’t try to eat for the day.  Try to eat for the rest of your life, and put in the hard work to achieve your goals, rather than relying on illegitimate business practices and scams to get you by on your day to day life.

Thank you so much Ricky for this interview and as always, I wish you the best of success, health, and happiness!

Thank you everybody who read this (and if you read it all the way to the end, pat yourself on the shoulder because you just read a novel).

This is a guest post by Jennifer Mansfield, a Digital Marketing Consultant, www.digital-mesh.com. The motivation of this post was a similar article written by Pace Lattin – Kim Kardashian is Dead.

Kim Kardashian: Demise of a Brand

Several years ago I was working on a project for a client who was looking to get their brand into the hands of willing celebrities to announce their official launch. So I coordinated with an old client who was able to help with a few relatively unknown, but up and coming celebs, who would give us the anecdotal, ‘Oh, you caught me off guard while buying this great new brand,’ shot.  It was 2008 and among those willing up-and- comers was Kim Kardaishian.  Her Calabasas, California clothing store, Dash, had been open for 2 years, and she was soon to compete on Dancing with the Stars, but her celebrity status was just starting to emerge, and she was willing to take an unpaid gig for a friend.

Admittedly, I didn’t know who she was, and I wasn’t overly impressed with her style from the picture submitted, but our client was happy and that was all that mattered.

So the press release went out, sales came in, and life went on.

Then something happened in 2009, and that same girl that I was so unaware of, was suddenly everywhere.  From clothes to shoes, jewelry, cupcakes and diet pills (yes, she endorses both sugary sweet deserts and the diet pill to counter act them!) to nail polish and more, Kim Kardashian has successfully planted her face on just about every product that will take it.

Here’s a quick list of where you can find her bold brows and pursed lips touting a product’s value:

•  A nail polish line for OPI
• Four DASH boutiques
• Clothing line for Sears called KardashianKollection
• An endorsement deal with QuickTrim, weight-loss supplement
• An Armenian-inspired jewelry line called Virgins, Angels, and Saints
• An endorsement deal with ShoeDazzle.com
• H own signature perfume
• An endorsement deal with Signature Series Couture Lollipops from The
• Endorses fast food for Carls Jr.
• Endorses Muscle Flex VATA athletic wear
• Endorses Midori Licquer
• Has a sunless tanner called Kardashian Glamour Tan
• Has a line of bathing suits called the Divinity Collection for Beach Bunny Swimwear
• Has an endorsement deal with her sisters with Perfect Skin
• Has an endorsement with Skechers (hence the super sexy Super Bowl ad)
• Has her own line of signature watches
• An endorsement deal with “For Every Body” candles, which created the Kardashian     DASH signature candle
• An at-home laser hair removal product called Tria Beauty

And here she was in 2008 endorsing my client’s clothing line, Graffiti Pink.

So given all that she endorses, I couldn’t help but wonder if she hasn’t outdone even her own goals of brand saturation.  I have never watched her show, nor do I intend to, yet I’m still sick of seeing her face everywhere.   From a Midori billboard near my block (remember, she claims to avoid alcohol) to virtually every magazine cover, I just can’t seem to escape her. I know I have a marketing mind, so I’m probably more biased than most when it comes to brand efficacy but I have to wonder, does anyone really care about her endorsements anymore?  I find it surprising that brands still believe she carries much clout for them, or that they are willing to shell out big bucks for her face.  And just as I was wondering when I can count on a Kim Kardashian-free world, Pace Lattin of PerformInsider raises this very point which I have been pondering; has Kim Kardashian finally met her demise?

You can read his article here, but one point he makes, which I can believe, is that Kim’s show has lost most of its viewership and is about to be cancelled.  If that’s the case, will the rest of her endorsements follow? Will she be left to ride the curtails of her clothing stores and perfumes?  I honestly don’t care, but what I do care about is why it happened and what it means from a marketing perspective.  Thanks to the many incredible entrepreneurial minds out there, technology and marketing have merged to create a world where we are relatively free of brand identities; we are no longer a Pepsi nation. And I don’t believe we are a Kardashian nation either. That said, I do believe that the occasional endorsement is OK. In fact, I think the Olsen twins backing Stylemintis a good example of a celebrity endorsement that works. They are known for their off-beat and unique fashion sense, and launching a custom T-shirt line makes sense for them. However, Kim Kardashian endorsing Midori liquor is like Madonna endorsing abstinence. It doesn’t fit, and we don’t buy it.

So why the celebrity endorsements anyway? The idea is pretty simple; we like celebrities, celebrities like a product, so we must like that product too. If a = b and b = c then a=c right?  So can celebrities, like magic, transfer their popularity from themselves to the products for which they choose to endorse? Does the celebrity cool factor ooze over to the product making us all want to run out and buy it? And if it does, is there a point after which enough is enough?  According to some industry insiders, the opposite is true. In fact, a friend of mine who works in the Marketing department of a well known health and beauty product company states that their landing pages which contain celebrity endorsements under-perform those with an unknown model. They haven’t done any official research to support their belief but they’re guess is that consumers just don’t believe that celebrities actually deal with acne (for example).

Then why bother paying huge fees for their endorsements? And in the case of Kim, has she gone too far? Was her marketing demise coming before her marriage demise? Or were the two connected? In my opinion, Kim Kadashian, brand extraordinaire was on her way out before the wedding, and the wedding sham simply broke the camel’s back. I think it was just too much for us to swallow, along with all the other over the top crap she has fed us for years.

So, to all you celebrity endorsers and endorsees out there, I caution you to remember; Americans are idealistic dreamers and occasionally over-indulge, but even we have a breaking point. Please don’t shove a falsified image down our throats and expect us to take it with a smile. It seems even the brand strength of the incredible Kardashians can crumble.

Jennifer Mansfield,

Digital Marketing Consultant, www.digital-mesh.com

Founder, www.wellnessdish.net

jen@digital-mesh.com

This is a guest post by Samrath Gupta on Successful Affiliate Marketing

For those who have come upon successful affiliate marketing, they have the ability to “print” money anytime they want to. Simply put, these marketers have what it takes to think up cash and make them into solid checks.

Too good to be true?  This is what affiliate marketing can do.

The amazing thing about affiliate marketing is that anyone can make incredible profits, without much work needed and in as little as 2 or 3 weeks.  This basically means that you can start from nothing and make easy cash, without having to create your own products, website, or write a single ad copy.

This is what makes affiliate marketing a good starting point for those newbies who want to have an idea what it is like to be in a business. It gives them the opportunity to work on their own time, using other people’s efforts and resources, to gain profits while educating themselves in the process.

Affiliate marketing is an earning while learning business. This is where most people get the knowledge to make it big on other forms of business in the future. This is their starting point.

When starting an affiliate program, you do not just go right ahead and choose the ones lid out in front of you. There are certain factors you need to understand before getting into one. Not considering these things can result to wasted time, resources and profits.

1. Know Your Target Market

To collect the big affiliate checks, you must first identify and target your audience. This is a simple case of offering people what they want and need. Many affiliates commit the mistake of giving out these things to the wrong persons.

The result? No buyer and no sales for you. Why would people buy something they are not in need of?

Do you think people will be interested in you offering them affiliate marketing when they are into copywriting? Not many will be.

It is best to find your audience first to be able to maximize your resources and commissions.

2. Know the Quality of Your Affiliate Products or Services

The second mistake affiliates make is that they market a product or service that ends up not delivering what it promises.

It is always wise to examine the product first before recommending it to others. Not only will this increase your credibility and sales, it will also help you promote better because you can give them personal feedback about the products.

3. Know If Their Sales Letter are Affective

Check out the affiliate owner’s website and sales copy before you send any traffic over to them. Inquire about important things like conversion rates and visitor values. This will prove critical once you get people to their site.

Put yourself in the customers’ shoe. Will you be willing in buying the product or getting their services? If you answer positive to this question then many people will be too.

It will be an awful waste of resources if you will to pay for advertising a site, only to discover later on that it has a poor sales copy and that it does not sell. Consider this first.

4. Know If They Have Affective Promotional Materials Available

Most affiliate programs provide their affiliates with tools to be used in marketing. The more tools given, the more chances of you making that sale.

Since the materials are already made for you, you can focus more on the marketing. Having more tools also result to more opportunities to get the sales message through your customers effectively.

5. Know If Your Promotion Has Profitability.

The last thing you must consider is how much you will be paid, in relation to your promotional efforts. A higher commission percentage can be a huge motivation to place higher focus on a particular product in your total portfolio.

Try to seek out products with a higher end pricing or those that present residual income. You would also want to profit based on the efforts you have put up to.

The five tips above are just some of the important factors to consider in affiliate marketing.

If you want to become like the super affiliates you have heard so much about and bank in huge checks every time from affiliate programs, you need to continuously educate yourself with the knowledge required for affiliate marketing success.

Samrath Gupta is a young entrepreneur based out of India specializing in Affiliate Marketing and blogging.Though new to the space – he is very quickly making a name for himself in the blogosphere.