Wiseaff

Imwave Animation Explains Performance SEM and Affiliate PPC

We love talking with new potential partners at Imwave, and have found that many of these partners have the same questions.  What does Imwave do?  How can we work with you when our company does their own search campaigns, etc... 

We recently posted the following video animation that explains a lot of these questions about performance search engine marketing (affiliate ppc / affiliate search) and hope to produce another video in the near future that gets into some of the more technical details that eventually come up.

We hope you enjoy the video, please let us know what you think!

New Conference for Affiliate Managers - Imwave CEO speaking

There is a new conference coming in March 2012 that is geared specifically toward affiliate managers who are responsible for their company’s affiliate marketing strategy, management and operations.

The conference is called Affiliate Management Days, hosted in San Francisco March 8-9, 2012.

This is an interesting premise as its focus is on the affiliate managers and how to run an successful and effective program.

Normally I leary of first year events, but there are some really great speakers lined up and the agenda seems pretty solid.   Also, I will be presenting a session titled:  Is your Affiliate Program an Afterthought? focused on how managers can fight for respect among the other sales channels within their organization and will also be also participating on a panel titled:  Inside the Mind of a Super Affiliate.  Not sure I know what a Super Affiliate really is, but we’re going go inside their mind ;-)

If you haven’t checked out the conference yet, take a look

http://www.affiliatemanagementdays.com/

…it may pique your interest. Early bird registration ends tomorrow!

If you are going, we’d love to see you there. If you are planning to go, let me know!

Google Taking Privacy Policies Seriously Now?

 

I've been working with a particular client for several years now doing their SEM on a performance basis.  Early this week, out of the blue, I received an email from Google with the following Subject:

    Your AdWords account: Site violation

Here is a short excerpt of the message:

We've reviewed your account and found that one of your sites is in violation of our Landing Page and Site Policies.

      Customer ID: XXX-XXX-XXXX

      Display URL: <client-url>.com

Please note that ad traffic to the above URL will be suspended and all new ads pointing to this URL will be disapproved.

This is the client's own website that has been running for years.  After reading the Google guidelines....AGAIN... I could find no reason for a site violation.

I contacted Google and was told that the "violation" was due to the lack of a "Privacy Policy."

I know that Google has always said they are in favor of Privacy Policies but I had never heard of an AdWords campaign being shut down for the lack of such a policy.

On top of that, the site in question DID have a Privacy Policy.  However, the link was not labeled "Privacy" or "Privacy Policy" it was simply labeled "Our Policy."

I was able to clear this up pretty quickly, but I thought it was interesting how seriously Google it taking Privacy Policies these days.  Perhaps this was part of some new algorithm?

Anyone heard of anything like this? 

 

 

What’s Holding the Affiliate/Performance Marketing Industry Back?

The PMA (Performcance Marketing Association) has a great section on their website called "Ask the Expert."

Recently Rebecca Madigan asked me what I thougth was holding our industry back from greatness.   I thought about this for a while and sent her the following answer which they posted under the Ask the Expert section. 

What are your thoughts?

 

What’s Holding the Industry Back?

That question was posed last week.  A hundred answers ran through my mind when I read this.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there are many symptoms, but only few root causes.

1)     Lack of Understanding

2)     Continual Focus on the Negative

3)     No unified industry voice

First, let’s talk about the Lack of Understanding.  For whatever reason, all things Internet related often seem to be relegated to the world of “technology.”  This has been going on since the beginning and seems to be getting better, but still exists.  The online channel is usually not the largest sales channel an organization has.  Couple that with its inherent black sheep aspect of being online and many companies just do not give it the focus it deserves.

Imagine walking into a CFO’s office and explaining Affiliate Marketing, not in Internet terms, not in Marketing Terms, but in the language of the CFO…..NUMBERS.  I imagine the CFO’s answer goes something like this:

“So, let me get this straight….you are selling our product (or service) on our behalf, but I only have to PAY you IF and WHEN we actually sell something….AND I only pay you at a predetermined percentage of the sale that I get to set at the beginning of the relationship.

Isn’t that really a no-brainer?  Imagine elevating the conversation above the internal politics and looking at the real numbers.

Second, is the continual focus on the Negative side of our industry.  I’ve never seen an industry that was so vocal about its own negatives that the noise actually drowns out the good things that we can do.  How many blog posts do we need about affiliate fraud, TM bidding, etc?  Between the Work At Home, Get Rich Quick messages and the fractured message of a vocal minority who insist on shinning a light on the few unscrupulous people in the industry, it creates a “Guilty until Proven Innocent” mentality, which we have to overcome on an almost daily basis.  The message of the hard working and ethical affiliate is lost.   You can’t have the conversation necessary to solve the issue in number 1 above until we can change the message of our industry.

Third, there is no Unifying Voice.  This is a direct effort to address Number 2.  There are a lot of people talking, but what they are saying is so chaotic that there is no message.  As marketers, we should be able to create a powerful marketing effort that educates companies on the value that the industry brings to the table.    Many industry groups have tried to form and I salute the PMA for getting farther than any of the others.  Let’s try to get out of the hamster wheel of fighting about “cookie stuffing” and start talking about all of the good things that we as an industry can bring to the table.

We have an industry filled with great people and great companies.  We just need to tell the world!

 

 

Jumping on the Deep Linking Bandwagon

Attention Affiliate Managers.

If you haven't read this blog post from our good friend, Scott Jangro, then you should take a moment to go trough it.  Deep Linking is so important for top affiliates, if you don't have it, don't expect great results!

"Virtually every affiliate network supports deep linking in some manner, though not all merchants allow it."

Do you support deep linking in your program???

Can an Affiliate Manager Really Know Nothing about Affilate Marketing?

Last week I had an email conversation with an affiliate manager and just had to post it verbatim for your reading pleasure.  I left in all the typos and spelling errors just for fun. Oh and I omitted the names, too.  I'm not that cold ;) 

--- Original Message Separator ---

Hey Tony,

I emailed you last week and still havent heard back from you.

I was going through our list of Publishers to verify our the placement of our banners on thier sites. Can you please direct me to where our banner is on your site?

Thanks

Affiliate Manager

--- Original Message Separator ---

Affiliate Manager,

We typically get hundreds of emails through the CJ Mail, and aren't able to respond to all, so please feel free to email directly at <email address>.

As to your question, we are a Paid Search Affiliate. We generate traffic via paid search and not via banner placement.

Tony

--- Original Message Separator ---

Hey Tony,

Thanks for your email. Can you send me a link so I can go through the steps that a customer would to go through you and get to us to make a purchase?

Thanks

Affiliate Manager

--- Original Message Separator ---

Affiliate Manager,

My apologies, I did not explain our process very well.  I cannot 'show' you a link.  We purchase paid search ads in Google, Yahoo and MSN then create ad copy that links back to our merchant partners.  Once they click on the link in the ad, they are taken immediately to your site where they complete the transaction.   

Tony

--- Original Message Separator ---

Hey Tony,

Thank you for your quick response. So what can I type to search for in Google, Yahoo, and MSN and what would be what I see of yours coming into play from a customer pespective as a means to getting to our site.

Thanks again

Affiliate Manager

--- Original Message Separator ---

Affiliate Manager,

As a company policy I cannot give out the keywords that we use.  The value that a PPC advertiser brings to the table is our ability to create keyword lists and ad copy that converts.  If we share that info, our value is lost.  Is there something specific that you are concerned with?

Tony

--- Original Message Separator ---

Hey Tony,

Thank you again for your response. We are in the process of refining our list of publishers so as to filter out those that would be recieving commissions on orders that we would normally get paid the full amount of the sale on. All I am asking is to see how your company is driving sales for us so we can intern get you more commissions paid. The easiest way I can see to do that is going the route of the customer and experiencing how, first hand, I would get to my own site by the means of your business. Do you have any other suggestions on how this can be communicated?  Also, the way we are set up through Commission Junction, is not pay per click, it is pay per order. Im not sure if that helps or not.

Thanks again

Affiliate Manager

--- Original Message Separator ---

Affiliate Manager,

It sounds like you may not really understand your publishers and honestly it also sounds like you are looking for ways to take these sales in house rather than paying publishers, which is precisely why I won't give out my keywords.

We have only produced $70 this year to date in commissions from your program so honestly the opportunity isn't worth the time to get into a discussion on the value of PPC affiliates.  We will just stop promoting the program immediately.

Tony

So, in review... first we have a situation where the affiliate manager obviously does not know their publishers, does not know anything about Paid Search or what value a PPC affiliate can bring to their program.

 

Second, the merchant is trolling for ways to cut publishers out of the loop in general.   Why don't Search Affiliates give out their converting keywords?  The value of the PPC affiliate is that they can create a list converting keywords that you didn't come up with on your own.

 

Lesson 1: Whether your business is Affiliate Marketing, Performance Marketing or really any other on or off-line business, you really should understand your industry especially before you contact your partners.

Lesson 2: There will always be partners who believe they are paying affiliates for sales they would have generated on their own and are looking for ways to cut the affiliates out.  This is a slippery slope and in my mind the downfall of any good affiliate program.

Some affiliate managers really know how to get you motivated.....

I received this message today via email from an affiliate manager:

Due to lack of sales this year we are lowering your commission payout to the default payout of $45. We’ve only seen XX clicks from your site and XX sales for the entire year. We want to help you succeed, so if there is anything we can do to help kick start your site, please let me know! If you make more than 10 sales in a month I can again up your pay to $55, and if you make more than 50 sales in a month, I will up your pay to $65.

Please let me know if there is anything we can do to get your program back up and running!

Now, I may not be the most motivational guy in the world, but isn't this a little backwards?  We sign on to many programs and sometimes it takes a little longer to get them going, or in some cases, we test them and they don't gain any traction, so we put them on the shelf and test again later.

Either way, is sending a message that you are lowering my commission rate a way to get an affilaite motivated to pick up the program and run with it again?  I'm particularly fond of the last line:

Please let me know if there is anything we can do to get your program back up and running!

I have found that the best programs that we have are ones where we have open communication from either the OPM or the Affilaite Manager.  one where we can have an ongoing dialogue about the program and how to make it better.  In my humble opinion, these kinds of form emails do not go very far to build long term lasting relationships.

Karen White is the Wiseaff of the Month!

I'd like to make a special shout out to Karen White, one of my favorite affiliate managers.  I first met Karen White when she was the affiliate manager for the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.  I had gotten wind of their first affiliate Fam tour and blogged about what a great incentive it was.  At the next affiliate summit, Karen introduced herself, invited me to the next fam tour and gave me a Wynn gift card.  I just couldn't resit working with her.

We grew a very profitable campaign with her at the Wynn, and had a great time at the Fam tour. Our sales for the Wynn the quarter after the Fam tour were $237k.  So their hospitality really paid off, we had done $20k the quarter before.

Unfortunately the Wynn let Karen go shortly after the fam tour, with her went the relationship, and after what we consider to be some bad policy decisions, our sales for the Wynn have dropped off significantly. 

But, we continue to have a great relationship with Karen and we are anxiously awaiting her next program with Partner Fusion.

I ran into Karen at CJU, and mentioned that my wife and 3 of her high school friends were coming out to Vegas for the weekend, and she totally hooked them up with tickets to the blue man group!  Sara and her friends arrived only to find out they were on the VIP list.  They got the first class treatment and got to go back stage afterwords and meet some of the performers, wow! 

 

It's going out of your way to do something so nice like this that totally cements a relationship, we would work with Karen wherever she went.

This is why we are announcing Karen White as our first Wiseaff of the Month!

Congratulations Karen, and thanks for making my wife's Vegas weekend so special.  What happens in Vegas, gets blogged here baby!  You rock!