Two Things I've Learned to Profit in the World of Internet Marketing
Hello,
I read these forums a lot. I've noticed and benefitted from some good tips, but there are a couple things that have been a large part of my success I have never seen anyone discuss on here. So I thought I'd give my two cents and see if it helps anyone.
1. There's Two Sides to the Equation. I've seen a million posts starting with "help", or "I'm lost, I can't make this work", etc. People that for every dollar they put into a campaign in PPC or other marketing methods, are only getting $0.85 back, and I always shake my head (figuratively...I'm not actually alone in my room shaking my head...that would just be weird).
There are two sides to the equation...cost, and REVENUE - yet many internet marketers are only focusing on cost. They take the revenue for granted. "What is the revenue per lead, per sale, per etc? Well it's indicated right there on the network, $15/per lead. OK, now I'll test it to see if I can get my cost under that"... The most, most marketers will do is look for that same offer on multiple networks, and find the "best" one....if you do this...you're doing it wrong.
Just as important a part of creating a successful affiliate campaign, as testing, to minimize cost per unit and maximizing number of units (which I don't actually do...as I'll explain in part 2)...is maximizing revenue per unit!
Internet marketers...many of you do not give yourself enough credit. Who owns the power in this relationship?... you do! How much power depends on how much you can produce...but irregardless (is that a word?) you still have some negotiating power to work with.
Everytime I look to start a campaign, it can take me weeks. I will look at thousands of offers, and from that call up 50, or 100 people, who "own" the offers I'm looking for. This either involves calling the affiliate manager...or calling an in-house person, to negotiate. Some of them don't negotiate...click, hang up. Some of them negotiate a bit...and some give you an offer you never thought would be possible.
Don't believe me - that you have power? Think of it this way. Let's say you're a salesperson. Now call up 10 companies at random and ask the owner if they will give you a job...paying you salary. It's a normal telemarketing call...chances are slim you'll get anyone interested. Now, call up 10 companies, and finish with, "oh and I'll work on commission, and you only pay me a dime, when and if I make a sale"...you would get 9 out 10 of those companies talking to you. The 1 company owner who doesn't want to talk to you is most likely a moron (unless his business is so awesome he can't handle anymore sales)...you don't want to work with him anyways. Why does this work? Because they're not risking anything! You're adding value - your time and/or money - and at most, they pay you a price that they know is less than the value they receive for the output you created. It's a win-win for them. This is exactly the relationship you're in, when you do affiliate marketing - who own's the power?...you do.
So what's the benefit of remembering there are two sides to the equation?
I now have people who call me up, to pitch me their offers asking me to take them. So I get the best offers coming my way.
Secondly, I get a much higher price. For example right now I get $20-24/lead for life insurance (variations based on geography by state)...know what the price is indicated on the website? $10/lead - it's a simple form. I get more than double. Is that worth your time? Well let's see...hmmm... yes getting $20,000+ in revenue for the same work and output as $10,000 in revenue does seem worth my time...at least to the same extent as me spending hundreds of hours tweaking my campaign to get it from $9,000 in cost, to $5,000 in cost...wouldn't you say?
People are greedy. Managers and owners, they take a massive share...as they should. It's your right to get back what's rightfully yours, a bigger piece of the pie. It's yours, take it!
2. This is a business like any other business...don't forget it./Think Big!
Just because you can wear your pajamas to work, doesn't mean you're not running a professional business. I believe too many people in this industry, don't treat their internet marketing "business" as they would a normal start-up business.
What would you do if your company was a clothing store, with a retail location? Well you would have a real plan. And you would look for better ways to do things - to succeed. I believe most noobies, and even professionals come into this market, by trying to learn too much. They try to learn PPC, they try to learn creating a landing page. Why? Are you going to be the best PPC marketer in the world? no, no you're not. Are you going to become the best website creator? no. Then why are you wasting time doing this? If these things were easy, then everyone would be an internet marketing millionaire - but they're not, and that's why the opportunity exists in the first place.
I don't do any of it. That's right, I make money doing affiliate marketing, and I don't actually do any of the marketing. I don't even know how to create a website - I really don't. I do know how to do PPC...to the extent that I can put keywords in an adwords account - not to the extent that I can get the lowest CPC or whatever - I don't even know the metrics to the full extent. Why would I? I can pay an expert to focus on what he/she is good at...building a website. So that I can focus on what I'm good at...making deals. Just like I've done in other businesses. Focus on your strengths.
Many website developers make a happy living doing website design. Many marketers make a living "managing people's PPC accounts". That's great. But I don't want a happy living, I want to be a rock star (again..figuratively, I can't sing worth a $#*@). That's my goal.
There are people and companies out there that can create thousands of leads/day. They own banner ad real estate on some of the highest trafficked/largest brand websites available, or they have perfected a type of PPC. They can do things, I'll never be able to do - I know I couldn't do PPC for 100 leads/day at a great price... I work with a company that spends over $2 million dollars/month on banner ads - allowing them to own banner space at ridiculously low prices. Am I going to spend $2 million to create those capabilities for myself...umm no, no I'm not. But they have the capabilities.
And so I hire them. We agree on a price per lead, or CPA. I pay them at price X. I negotiate a company up to price Y, and I take the difference.
Why do they do this with me? Why don't they work with the networks? Well...they do, on many campaigns. But why they include me is because I add value. 1. I pay them in advance. One of the big issues of course is who's going to bankroll it? When you create 1 million + leads/month, as these companies do, if everyone paid them later, that would be a lot of upfront cost. I pay them in advance for my leads, which is great for them. (sometimes, by going to in-house programs, I can also get paid in advance for leads...which is a great situation) 2. I don't necessarily pay them less than the network, I negotiate the revenue of the per lead up...so they're still getting a good price per lead - I just take the difference. 3. I pay them per lead, not per lead that the network decides to accept. That way, they don't deal with any crap or customer service - they know exactly what they're getting. However, I don't put up with crap either. If the network is rejecting too many of my leads...good bye. Their acceptance rates are between 75-90% for the campaigns currently...so I just make sure I negotiate the revenue per sale that much higher than what I pay them.
2.5 Don't trust anyone!
Lastly, 2.5 is a semi truth - not an entire truth. I don't want to be negative, but I've been ripped off so many times in this business to find the right people, the right providers, here's what I can tell you. People's words should equal people's actions. Meaning, if you talk to a PPC person, and they say they can do something for you. "Do you think you can generate 100 leads for my $1000 investment?" "Oh, yes, absolutely". "OK great, then put that guaranteed in the contract". That's how that conversation should go. Don't fall for people's crap. If a marketer truly believes that they can do what they say they can, then they should be willing to do it with a guarantee or on performance - just like we do when we take an affiliate offer. With my trusting nature, it took me many providers, and many wasted dollars to find these types of people.
And that's it! That's my big advice (some of it). Looks like an essay now. Maybe I should have made it an ebook. Hopefully it's not drivel to you.
If anyone's interested, I wrote a post yesterday saying that I would like to start a support group/coaching program...a FREE one! I've taken part in many such programs and always got something of value regardless of whether I was the mentor or the mentee. If you like my advice above, I can recommend the providers I use, or give you some advice. And I'd love to know tricks you've tried.
I read these forums a lot. I've noticed and benefitted from some good tips, but there are a couple things that have been a large part of my success I have never seen anyone discuss on here. So I thought I'd give my two cents and see if it helps anyone.
1. There's Two Sides to the Equation. I've seen a million posts starting with "help", or "I'm lost, I can't make this work", etc. People that for every dollar they put into a campaign in PPC or other marketing methods, are only getting $0.85 back, and I always shake my head (figuratively...I'm not actually alone in my room shaking my head...that would just be weird).
There are two sides to the equation...cost, and REVENUE - yet many internet marketers are only focusing on cost. They take the revenue for granted. "What is the revenue per lead, per sale, per etc? Well it's indicated right there on the network, $15/per lead. OK, now I'll test it to see if I can get my cost under that"... The most, most marketers will do is look for that same offer on multiple networks, and find the "best" one....if you do this...you're doing it wrong.
Just as important a part of creating a successful affiliate campaign, as testing, to minimize cost per unit and maximizing number of units (which I don't actually do...as I'll explain in part 2)...is maximizing revenue per unit!
Internet marketers...many of you do not give yourself enough credit. Who owns the power in this relationship?... you do! How much power depends on how much you can produce...but irregardless (is that a word?) you still have some negotiating power to work with.
Everytime I look to start a campaign, it can take me weeks. I will look at thousands of offers, and from that call up 50, or 100 people, who "own" the offers I'm looking for. This either involves calling the affiliate manager...or calling an in-house person, to negotiate. Some of them don't negotiate...click, hang up. Some of them negotiate a bit...and some give you an offer you never thought would be possible.
Don't believe me - that you have power? Think of it this way. Let's say you're a salesperson. Now call up 10 companies at random and ask the owner if they will give you a job...paying you salary. It's a normal telemarketing call...chances are slim you'll get anyone interested. Now, call up 10 companies, and finish with, "oh and I'll work on commission, and you only pay me a dime, when and if I make a sale"...you would get 9 out 10 of those companies talking to you. The 1 company owner who doesn't want to talk to you is most likely a moron (unless his business is so awesome he can't handle anymore sales)...you don't want to work with him anyways.
Why does this work? Because they're not risking anything! You're adding value - your time and/or money - and at most, they pay you a price that they know is less than the value they receive for the output you created. It's a win-win for them. This is exactly the relationship you're in, when you do affiliate marketing - who own's the power?...you do.So what's the benefit of remembering there are two sides to the equation?
I now have people who call me up, to pitch me their offers asking me to take them. So I get the best offers coming my way.
Secondly, I get a much higher price. For example right now I get $20-24/lead for life insurance (variations based on geography by state)...know what the price is indicated on the website? $10/lead - it's a simple form. I get more than double. Is that worth your time? Well let's see...hmmm... yes getting $20,000+ in revenue for the same work and output as $10,000 in revenue does seem worth my time...at least to the same extent as me spending hundreds of hours tweaking my campaign to get it from $9,000 in cost, to $5,000 in cost...wouldn't you say?
People are greedy. Managers and owners, they take a massive share...as they should. It's your right to get back what's rightfully yours, a bigger piece of the pie. It's yours, take it!
2. This is a business like any other business...don't forget it./Think Big!
Just because you can wear your pajamas to work, doesn't mean you're not running a professional business. I believe too many people in this industry, don't treat their internet marketing "business" as they would a normal start-up business.
What would you do if your company was a clothing store, with a retail location? Well you would have a real plan. And you would look for better ways to do things - to succeed. I believe most noobies, and even professionals come into this market, by trying to learn too much. They try to learn PPC, they try to learn creating a landing page. Why? Are you going to be the best PPC marketer in the world? no, no you're not. Are you going to become the best website creator? no. Then why are you wasting time doing this? If these things were easy, then everyone would be an internet marketing millionaire - but they're not, and that's why the opportunity exists in the first place.
I don't do any of it. That's right, I make money doing affiliate marketing, and I don't actually do any of the marketing. I don't even know how to create a website - I really don't. I do know how to do PPC...to the extent that I can put keywords in an adwords account - not to the extent that I can get the lowest CPC or whatever - I don't even know the metrics to the full extent. Why would I? I can pay an expert to focus on what he/she is good at...building a website. So that I can focus on what I'm good at...making deals. Just like I've done in other businesses. Focus on your strengths.
Many website developers make a happy living doing website design. Many marketers make a living "managing people's PPC accounts". That's great. But I don't want a happy living, I want to be a rock star (again..figuratively, I can't sing worth a $#*@). That's my goal.
There are people and companies out there that can create thousands of leads/day. They own banner ad real estate on some of the highest trafficked/largest brand websites available, or they have perfected a type of PPC. They can do things, I'll never be able to do - I know I couldn't do PPC for 100 leads/day at a great price... I work with a company that spends over $2 million dollars/month on banner ads - allowing them to own banner space at ridiculously low prices. Am I going to spend $2 million to create those capabilities for myself...umm no, no I'm not. But they have the capabilities.
And so I hire them. We agree on a price per lead, or CPA. I pay them at price X. I negotiate a company up to price Y, and I take the difference.
Why do they do this with me? Why don't they work with the networks? Well...they do, on many campaigns. But why they include me is because I add value. 1. I pay them in advance. One of the big issues of course is who's going to bankroll it? When you create 1 million + leads/month, as these companies do, if everyone paid them later, that would be a lot of upfront cost. I pay them in advance for my leads, which is great for them. (sometimes, by going to in-house programs, I can also get paid in advance for leads...which is a great situation) 2. I don't necessarily pay them less than the network, I negotiate the revenue of the per lead up...so they're still getting a good price per lead - I just take the difference. 3. I pay them per lead, not per lead that the network decides to accept. That way, they don't deal with any crap or customer service - they know exactly what they're getting. However, I don't put up with crap either. If the network is rejecting too many of my leads...good bye. Their acceptance rates are between 75-90% for the campaigns currently...so I just make sure I negotiate the revenue per sale that much higher than what I pay them.
2.5 Don't trust anyone!
Lastly, 2.5 is a semi truth - not an entire truth. I don't want to be negative, but I've been ripped off so many times in this business to find the right people, the right providers, here's what I can tell you. People's words should equal people's actions. Meaning, if you talk to a PPC person, and they say they can do something for you. "Do you think you can generate 100 leads for my $1000 investment?" "Oh, yes, absolutely". "OK great, then put that guaranteed in the contract". That's how that conversation should go. Don't fall for people's crap. If a marketer truly believes that they can do what they say they can, then they should be willing to do it with a guarantee or on performance - just like we do when we take an affiliate offer. With my trusting nature, it took me many providers, and many wasted dollars to find these types of people.
And that's it! That's my big advice (some of it). Looks like an essay now. Maybe I should have made it an ebook. Hopefully it's not drivel to you.
If anyone's interested, I wrote a post yesterday saying that I would like to start a support group/coaching program...a FREE one! I've taken part in many such programs and always got something of value regardless of whether I was the mentor or the mentee. If you like my advice above, I can recommend the providers I use, or give you some advice. And I'd love to know tricks you've tried.
Then read up on Vacation Rentals By Owner on my blog!
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