It seems that a lot of affiliates like to keep things secret, so they have little interaction with their affiliate managers.  However, good communication with your affiliate managers (generally ones that you have built a relationship with and can trust) can do huge things for increasing your business.

I wanted to write this post as sort of a guide for newer affiliates of how they can get the most out of their relationship with their affiliate managers.  To find out right from the source, I asked multiple affiliate managers, OPM’s, and networks to give me 1 or 2 good questions that they think is beneficial for affiliates to ask them or that they wish you would ask them to improve the affiliates business.  The response I got was great.  There is a ton of valuable information here.

Here is what they said.

1. Demographics of products – Who are the shoppers and buyers for your products? We post ours here for example and it really helps when writing content, doing landing pages (i.e. showing a 40-something versus a twenty-something playing guitar), and especially targeting on sites like Facebook. Affiliates MUST ask for that information.
2. Tell me the keywords that don’t work. Anyone can get a keyword list. Tell me the ones that don’t work and what negative keywords to use. Click here for an example.
3. Ask for general advice. Give the AM an idea of what you are planning and let them hold your hand a bit. Good AMs can give a lot of advice on things you might not have even thought to ask about such as number of reviews, listing product features, deep linking, etc.
4. Ask for testimonials from customers. I wrote an entire article about this somewhere…wish I had it now haha. Testimonials are nearly priceless advertisements and, like the three items above, can make the difference between gaining a customer’s trust (and therefore their business) and having them immediately click the back button to go back to the search results. The easiest way to get testimonials of course is to use merchant testimonials when you refer the customer to the merchant’s site. Ask your affiliate manager if you can use these on your pages.
5. Ask them to review your site when done. IF nothing else, it is an extra pair of eyes. I cannot tell you how many times I find a typo or find that the site looks funky in the new version of this or that browser. Good AMs will usually have at least one or two good suggestions where you can improve, sometimes ten or twenty.
6. Ask for any content, videos or graphics that are not public.
7. The last one is kind of unique. If the merchant has a customer-focused newsletter or email list, ask if you can use the content from it on your own list. I have drawn up special agreements with affiliates that allows them to repackage the emails and send them to their list. Some guys are making 5-10 sales a month just off these emails.

Ask the AM for things like this. Ask them for anything you can think of that might help and ask the open-ended questions. You never know what you might learn.

Above all, do not be afraid to ask them anything.

Matt McWilliams, Legacy Learning Systems

Don’t just ask “give me your best offer”…ill show you a list of our top offers in terms of revenue if that’s what you want. Get more specific….ask for the best offer for a certain niche or maybe a traffic source. Ask if the manager knows how others are doing it or if they have any tips. What kind of volume do you need to get a pay increase? Things like that can help an affiliate manager work with you. If there’s more than 1 LP, ask if there’s a page that’s performing the best.

Timothy Antoian, Azoogle Ads

What is the target demo for this offer?

This will allow the affiliate to better target their ad placements and help them fully utilize their budget. For example the target demo for offer “RED” is 70% / 30% male and the average age of consumer is 25-40 that would be valuable information to use when buying ad space on social media networks

Should I use a 3^rd party tracking software (Tracking202, Google Conversion Tracking, etc)?

One of the biggest hurdles I see new affiliates run into is the inability to optimize their campaigns.  For example a search affiliate will start with a list of 200 keywords but doesn’t have the correct tracking in place and is unable to tell which keywords convert. As a result they continue to spend money on keywords that click but don’t necessarily convert

Peter Varga Jr., Clickbooth

1. Which campaigns are performing well on your network?
2. Which traffic sources are converting well in a particular niche (the niche you are focusing on)?
3. What trends are you seeing in a particular niche or in the industry in general?
4. Also, you could ask for helpful information or links to read up on the industry to give you some insight on the various promotion methods out there. The best thing to do as a beginning is to sit down and read and educate yourself on the industry and the promotion types. Affiliate Marketing isn’t a get rich quick scheme. There is definitely money to be made, but if you don’t know what you are doing, you can spend money and it goes no where.

Scott Mclaren, Neverblue

First thing I always look for is to see if the program is actively managed.. (not really a question, but a good starting point)

If so.. then you can ask stuff like:

How long as the affiliate program been active? Is there steady growth? Is there a type of site that seems to convert best w/ your product? Coupon/Review/Blog/Shop Comparison/etc? Do you allow PPC and/or direct linking from paid ads?

Jason Rubacky, ShareASale

1. Do you provide custom (size, color, etc) creatives?
2. Do you have some kind of tutorial on what we can do to best promote your program?
3. Do you offer lists of keywords we could use for SEO and PPC?
4. What are your bestsellers? Are they contingent on seasons?
5. Do you provide any content help?

Geno Prussakov, AM Navigator (OPM)

1. What campaigns are doing good (clicks Vs. leads, not EPC)
2. What is the scrub rate for XXXXX campaign?

Janell Kowalski, Amped Media

1. What specific ads are working best for your affiliates?
2. What marketing techniques do you guys recommend?
3. What is the target audience for your product or service?

Wade Tonkin, GTO Management

What other questions do you find valuable to ask your affiliate managers?

UPDATE: Also check out this response to this post from Jamie Birch of JEB Commerce.  He adds a few great points that could be added to these questions.

Two of my friends, Eric Nagel and Jason Rubacky, started a weekly podcast back in January that is actually really good called Both Sides of the Track.  Well, generally you got to fast forward about 15 minutes to get to the good content, but once there, it is golden.  Eric is an affiliate/programming genius, and Jason has been an affiliate manager and now works over at ShareASale, so you hear topics from both sides of the spectrum.

So far they have had some great guests on the show such as Ian Fernando, Nickcakes, and Joe Sousa.  If you’re not into the podcast scene, this may be the show for you.  No, this is not a paid endoresement, I just really like these guys and want to get them some extra exposure.

Check them out weekly here.

The past few weeks I have been noticing an increase in sales for a small niche site I built a few years ago that I don’t really spend much time updating. Although I was a bit surprised when it went from 2 sales a week to about 10 sales a day, I quickly realized it was because of an increase of back to school shoppers. The site targets apparel for teenagers, which greatly increases with the back to school rush. This has got me thinking of how I can plan my niche sites based around the calendar.

Pretty much every affiliate marketer will tell you they love November and December because of the Christmas rush, but what if you where to plan your sites so that you would have a rush all year long? For one you would have a little more stable stream of revenue, and two you would probably be making more money.

To be successful, you can’t wait until the last minute to work on your sites. Don’t wait until October 29th to start planning your Halloween costume site. Try to get your sites built at least a month prior to, if not longer before the specific season starts.

Off the top of my head, here are a few seasons and niche ideas your could build that go with them. I know there are tons more so use your imagination as well as Google Trends to help you find what is going to be hot in the next few months.

New Years – Party supplies, weight loss and health sites, journals

Valentines – Gifts, flowers, cards

St. Patrick’s Day – Green gifts

Easter – Egg dyeing, candy, gift baskets, flowers

Mothers and Fathers Days – Flowers, gifts, be creative

Halloween – Costumes, candy

Thanksgiving - Decorations, kitchen utensils, art supplies

Christmas – Pretty much everything

Winter - Jackets, ski & snowboarding gear, sleds

Fall – Back to school supplies, kids and teens apparel, backpacks

Summer – Swim gear, pool supplies, camping gear

Spring – Gardening supplies, hiking gear

What are you building now that is going to be hot 3 months from now?

Check out the site if you haven’t already. No, I’m not suggesting this site just because they listed my blog, but I think it is a pretty good resource. http://www.affbuzz.com

While there are many interesting people, think of this list as a starting point of some great people to follow that I have found to be worth while tweeters in this industry. Notice a few I had to stretch to get their names to work, but in the end it worked out. So here is my list…

Andrew Wee – @andrewwee – Affiliate Blogger

Brendan Smith – @brendansmith – CEO of Motive Interactive

Deborah Carney – @loxly – Affiliate Diva of Team Loxly

Dina Riccobono – @mldina – Marketing Manager at Market Leverage

Ed Byerly – @affiliatetrust – Owner of Affiliate Trust

Trisha Lyn Fawver – @TrishaLyn - Affiliate Manager at Paulson Management Group

Geno Prussakov – @epruusakov – Owner of AM Navigator

Heather Paulsons – @heatherpaulsons – Owner of Paulson Management Group

Ian Fernando – @ianternet – Owner of IANternet Media

Joe Sousa – @drcool73 – Entrepreneur (he likes the Seahawks so is a must add)

Jim Kukral – @jimkukral – The Biz Web Coach

Logan Thompson – @drumminlogan – That’s me

Michael Buechele – @mikebuechele – Entrepreneur

CarolyN Tang – @catango – Client Services Director at ShareASale

Scott JangrO – @jangro – Entrepreneur

Jeremy Palmer – @quityourdayjob – Owner of Quit Your Day Job, LLC.

Linda BuQuet – @LindaBuquet – 5 Star Affiliate Programs

Kim Rowley – @kimarketing – Owner of Key Internet Marketing, Inc.

Shawn Collins – @affiliatetip – Affiliate Summit Co-Founder

Wade Tonkin – @affile8warrior – OPM at GTO Management

Jason RUbacky – @jasonrubacky – An all around cool guy to follow, works at Shareasale

Vinny OHare – @nyfalcon – Affiliate Guru

Missy Ward – @missyward – Affiliate Summit Co-Founder

AleX Schultz – @alexschultz – Head of Internet Marketing at Facebook

AYako Bingham – @ayakobing – Online Marketer at Buy.at

Zac Johnson – @moneyreign – Super Affiliate

Don’t forget to follow me @drumminlogan if you aren’t already and have a great day!

If you are like me, I’m sure before you jump into a new advertising space, you do a search around the net and see what other people have to say about advertising with that particular site. Searching for info on Facebook advertising will bring you tons of opinions from all points of views. Some people are extremly succesful with it, while others fail and think that Facebook is the devil. While it is good to do your research, the best way to learn if it will work for you is to jump in and try it.

Facebook advertising does have a learning curve, and it is worth it to get some advice on how best to create your ads to be successful. I wanted to give you a few good blog posts and sites that offer some useful ideas to help you be succesful when starting out. Take each post with a grain of salt as some of them offer conflicting advice, but it is a good way to get your brain in gear.

• Jonathon Volk – The Beginners Guide to Advertising on Facebook
• Inside CRM – The Facebook Marketing Toolbox
• Zac Johnson – Split Testing With Facebook Ads
• Facebook Guru – Facebook Marketing Tips
• Inside Facebook – Tracking Facebook
• CDF Networks – Increasing Facebook ads CTR by 2,166%

Anyways, I have put together a list of my favorite blogs and resources for affiliate marketing, of where I learn and get new info. I’m sure yours will be different than mine, but hey, this is my blog. Hopefully this will help those of you just starting out in the business of where to go learn the ropes.

FORUMS

ABestWeb
This is my most favorite forum on the net. Pretty much everything you can think of has been discussed here regarding affiliate marketing. If ever I have questions, I start my search at these forums. Plus the founder of the site, Haiko, is a great guy who has really been a strong voice in the affiliate community regarding parasiteware and ethics in affiliate marketing.

BLOGS

5 Star Affiliate Programs Blog
This is one of my favorite blogs for keeping up to date with relevant news. Great to put in your RSS feed to keep in the loop and always has great content.

ReveNews
Discussion of online advertising, CPA, SEO, and affiliate marketing.

Christian Affiliate Marketing Blog
A great blog on Christian affiliate marketing by Wade Tonkin, who is a great affiliate manager at GTO Management.

Cash Tactics
Another great blog with some great posts on CPA marketing.

OTHER SITES

AFFpinions
This is a sweet site designed by Ian Fernando, where people can share their opinions on affiliate networks. A great place if you are curious about signing up for a new network.

Twitter
Ok, so this isn’t necassirly an affiliate site, but I have learned so much from the top people in the industry by following them on Twitter. Not sure who to follow, start with the Affiliate Twit List. (While your at it, follow me @drumminlogan)

For the record, I tried about 8 or so of my programs with Facebook and MySpace, and about half of them did fairly well. Today I want to talk about Facebook advertising and may save MySpace for another day. Here is what I did and some results that I got.

Facebook

The first ads I setup were with Facebook. I actually started because I got a $100 ad credit by signing up with The Visa Business Network on Facebook. Once signed up, they make it very easy to create and target your ads based on things such as geography, age, education, colleges attended, and even what books, movies, music, and activities the user likes. Although the ad is text, they allow you to add an image. Through a little trial and error, my most clicked on ads where those that actually had people in them as users of Facebook are in a “people looking” mood.

I am still running some ads so I don’t want to say the exact programs that I tried out, but they were the following types of offers:

• Apparel
• Contests
• Games
• Kids
• Outdoor Gear
• Tickets

I’ve learned a few things while tweaking my ads about how to increase click rates that has worked for me so far and has saved me money as the higher the click rate, the lower price you need to pay for clicks is.

1. If applicable, always use real people in your ads.
   Especially if your offers have to do with apparel or kids.
2. Keep your ads short and to the point.
   There is now need to explain every single detail in your ad. I like to try and keep the ad to 3 lines or less.
3. Target as much as you can.
   You will get higher click thru rates if you target your ad. Make sure your ad copy reflects this as well. For example, if your offer is for college sweatshirts, target people that attend or are fans of the University of North Carolina, include a picture of a Tar Heels sweatshirt in your ad and direct them to a landing page with Tar Heels apparel. This can be time consuming as you are needing to create more ads, but it will be worth it.
4. Read and understand Facebook’s advertising guidelines and help section.
   Trust me, this will save you a lot of time by understanding what is allowed and what isn’t. I had a number of ads that I created rejected for different reasons listed here. Take a few minutes and read through it entirely.
5. Include prices when you can.
   The most successful ads that I had on Facebook included pricing in the headline or text for products that were on sale. This might not always be the best option, but if you have a low price, people love to know about it.

Overall I had decent success with advertising on Facebook. Below you will see my results for 1 campaign. This was one of my first so the profit wasn’t as large as others due to the fact that I was still learning and tweaking. One thing you will notice is that there are more click throughs in my affiliate network report as there are in my Facebook report. This is due to the fact that when I was starting out, I was sending traffic to a landing page that had multiple products on it and what was happening was people were clicking through to a product, hitting back, and clicking on other products. This skewed the click throughs and made the conversion rate lower than it really was.

Facebook Data

Affiliate Network Report

As you can see, this campaign was succesful in the fact that I didn’t lose money, I learned a lot, and I am confident these numbers will look a lot better in future campaigns.

If you have been thinking about trying out Facebook advertising, I would suggest you try it out for yourself. If you have a Facebook account, sign up for The Visa Business Network and get your free $100 in advertising and do some testing. Good luck.

1. I wanted a better design.
2. The previous blog was a little to restricting as far as topics.
3. I want my blog to be more personal.
4. The old domain was to long.

So why the domain loganthompson.me you ask? Well it is my name. The domain loganthompson.com was already taken (and I am still kicking myself for not registering years ago when it was available). My middle name is Richard, which is where the R comes in (It could also stand for Renee which is my beautiful wife’s name).

My goal for 2009 is to write at least 1 post a day 5 days per week on multiple topics pertaining to affiliate marketing, design, SEP, and other Christian related internet topics and expand this blog greatly.

Thanks for visiting and make sure to update your bookmarks.

What a lot of people do is use it more as a marketing tool and try to spam you with their updates. That is not the best way to approach it. Look at Twitter as a great networking tool. I’ve met a lot of new people and have learned a ton in the short time I’ve been twittering.

So if you haven’t started, get signed up and try it out for awhile. Here are a few fun tools for both new and old Twitter users alike.

1. Tweetwasters
   This is a new site that shows you the approximate amount of time you have “wasted” on Twitter. They also have a WordPress plugin so you can show this information on your blog.
2. TweetWheel
   Just enter your name and it will show you how your Twitter friends are connected. It shows it all in a pretty cool looking diagram.
3. thwirl
   twhirl is a desktop client for social software such as Twitter, Friendfeed, identi.ca, or seesmic.
4. TwitKit
   This a Firefox sidebar addon so you can post Twitter updates right from Firefox.
5. Crowd Status
   View the status of multiple people all on one page.

Have fun Twitter and meet some new people. Send me a message and follow me on twitter @drumminlogan.