Specials – Page 7

2011-06-282011-07-14

Why are Gurus claiming that the CPA Industry Dead?

One of the common themes I’m hearing about all the “super-affiliates” of the community is that things aren’t what they used to be like. If you noticed, all those guys who used to be super affiliates are now focused on trying to sell you programs on how they made money. All those guys who used to show you checks of how much money they made on Google, Facebook, and so on are aren’t posting checks anymore. I’ve never paid much attention to those “experts” even when they supposedly were making money, and pay them a lot less attention now that most of them are on the rocks trying to sell you their crappy programs and systems. However, since some of them have come out bashing the affiliate industry, claiming that the industry is “dead” and only their programs, their systems work (if you pay them $5k to listen to them and their friends talk about chicks and how to waste more money) I thought it was time to address some specific issues and then talk about what really works.

First of all, you are not wasting time being an affiliate, and the industry is thriving more than ever. As someone who knows personally the CEO of almost every major CPA network, I can tell you that things are better than ever for most of them, and there are dozens of new networks that are doing wonderful, providing new insight and new ways of revenue production.

Here’s a few things that most of the gurus don’t want you to know, and what most of them are hiding from you:

1) None of them made a lot of money ever. Most of them have never made more than a few hundred thousand dollars, ever. All those gurus that claim that they were making millions, creating companies left and right are mainly liars. When you do a little research into their background, you’ll find that the things don’t match up.

2) What little money they did make was usually using one trick or scheme. They claim to be marketing gurus, but they were more like one hit wonders. Almost all of them manipulated systems to make a bunch of money at once, have spent it all, and now are desperate for you to pay them attention by selling you their programs.

3) They don’t know how to make money on CPA. That’s why they are claiming that the CPA industry is dead, that’s why they are promoting their programs and their own “affiliate systems.” You’ll see them all over AffiliateSummit this year, speaking, claiming that they have a new product or system that is better than any CPA Network. They’ll lie to your face claiming they are multi-millionaires (then why are they still living in a trailer in middle-america?) and that you can have a life like them. Ask the networks and you’ll find that many of them never made a dollar in the industry, let alone millions. Their claims are completely fraudulent.

Here’s what these gurus don’t want you to know, it’s simple tricks to being a great affiliate, stuff that current amazing affiliates use:

1) Learn about all the technology. Do not depend on one secret technology to make you money, but instead try everything out. This means that just because a bunch of guys on a message board says that one tracking system works better than another, doesn’t mean that they are correct. If they are on a message board promoting a tracking system, there is usually a reason. Try everything from Tracking202 to Bevo Media. Do your own research and never trust anyone to tell you, including myself, what is the best. What is best for someone else, doesn’t mean its best for you. Guides are just that, Guides, not the law and the set-truth.

2) Always follow-up. Whatever you do, make sure you have some type of follow-up. One of the most common methods is auto-responders, which allow you always provide another option for your users when the first option does not work: this means that if you don’t sell a product, get someone to sign up, you then try to get them to join your email list so you can monetize them later. Remember that if you are doing “real” marketing (not just tricking people) then those people are interested in the product you are promoting. (Best AutoResponders are still AWEBER and ICONTACT)

3) K.I.S.S. Keep it Simple, Stupid. The best sell is still the simplest sell. Getting the product in front of the consumer, presenting the reasons to buy, signup etc, using the power of three. Simplicity always works better than complexity in marketing, but especially on the internet. Make things as simple as possible, present a clear concise message. If it’s too complex, users will go elsewhere.

2011-06-282011-07-25

More on the Auto Insurance Lead Crisis

Last week, we talked about a growing issue within the auto insurance lead-generation market. The crisis as we describe is the influx of fraudulent leads into the system, but not just a small number. These fraudulent leads are like a denial of service attack on those who sell leads to agents directly.

A group of initially well-intentioned middle men began sending along already passed over leads, tweaking them slightly and frequently trying to trick the filters of those aggregators who have agent bases. Like many attacks, this happens in real time, and the systems of the aggregators are for the most part dumb. They will look at anything sent their way, reject those that don’t match the criteria, accept those that look right.

Complex systems but dumb as to their ability to pick up on certainly unnatural changes, e.g., a huge spike in leads being reviewed, the similarity between leads reviewed, rejected, and accepted. These aren’t neural net machines, and so there will be a natural limitation in their ability to make predictive decisions.

We left off with a simple question. What will happen now that more and more companies are realizing so many of the leads they bought were fraud? The simple answer would be to find a way to turn off those sources, to do a better job of uncovering which leads coming in are fraud and, as a result, cleaning up the system.

By all intents and purposes, that is exactly what should happen. But, that isn’t what is really happening. The question is why? To answer, we must first look at exactly what the rise in fraudulent leads has done and how it began.

As one of these aggregators with an agent base shared, it took a while to realize that the problem was fraud. At first, the only empirical evidence they had that something didn’t look right came from the return rate. Agents return leads for a variety of reasons, and companies will more often than not push back on agents for some of those reasons. In this company’s case, the return rate started to creep up, and in the span of a few months time was double what it was before.

More disconcerting, the number of agents no longer buying leads started to creep up. Their agent base started to shrink rather than grow. When they asked the agents returning leads for the reason, they noticed an increasing trend.

The agents said the leads did not match their buying criteria. This actually happens to some degree quite regularly. Agents will say I wanted drivers with this filter, and this lead didn’t have it. What made this situation different was the percentage of returned leads with that reason.

Usually, when an agent returns a lead because of incorrect filters, the biggest source for incorrect filters is in lead mapping. For those who have worked with any lead buyer directly in a host/post scenario, mapping will sound familiar. The words we see on the form as a user are not how the buyer necessarily calls them. We see “First Name,” but when the seller must post that data, they will have to translate that into “FNAME” for example. If the field has values, such as Credit Rating, Good might be 3 not “Good.”

Do that with enough fields, and there are bound to be mistakes. Each person buying leads from the exchange has different ways of handling these errors, many end up sending them off to buyers they shouldn’t. They just don’t know that they do.

This, though, was not the source of the returns. The only conclusion after looking at the data, is that the leads themselves were changed. That made leads which were originally rejected all of a sudden worth purchasing.

The right thing to do is not buy fraudulent leads or to sell leads to companies who are known to modify data. Similarly, in an efficient marketplace, the economics of bad leads would force a change. Of course, the right thing is not always what is done, nor is the most efficient thing. The numbers tell why.

Fraud leads add more “revenue” into the companies. The ones with agent bases may have seen a rise in returns, for example 10,000 instead of 5,000 leads, but they saw an increase of leads sold by more than the 5,000 they returned.

If an agent base company wanted to, they could buy a lead they know to be bad. They would pay a much lower rate, because no one else really wants it. They might pay $2.50, whereas before they paid $8 and made $10. Now, they have a 75% margin not a 20% margin. In the past, they saw more than 20% returns, so they lost money.

Now, as long as less than 75% return they can make money off these bad leads. They are basically taking advantage of the fact that not all buyers will get in touch to know the leads aren’t good.

If enough people knowingly buy fraud leads and price them to make money, the auto insurance lead industry will enter into its own race to the bottom, continually adjusting price to stay ahead of returns and diminishing agent base. The hardest part now comes from forcing oneself to accept lower, real revenue numbers.

If companies don’t, you’ll still have some good short-term gain, but we’ll wind up with a lead bubble that when it pops takes an industry down. And, unlike education or mortgage, it will have been done internally and not externally.

2011-06-282011-08-17

Ugly is best for Landing Pages

Who knew ugly could covert so beautifully? Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ is a prime example. Butt Paste is another. And Craigslist is most definitely puke-worthy. So, what do a rising teen star, an ass ointment, and a classifieds website have in common? Hmmm…that’s a tough one. We’re talking about people, pages, and brands that convert like crazy. But, why on earth are consumers so attracted to this viral decay?

Last week, I read a great article explaining how ‘ugly’ landing pages often times convert better than ‘beautiful’ landing pages (meaning your typical designer’s design). Two very valid statements. However, marketers and designers continue to duke it out over the color of a button and font type. What they need to do is leave their egos at the door and join forces. Landing pages are dynamic creatures and aren’t meant to be aesthetically pleasing. They are meant to be effective.

Create a Checklist

Don’t bank on using a single ad format. Your initial landing page should not look the same after a few months of being live. That’s how you’ll know if you’re doing a good job optimizing and evolving your offer. Landing page creation is not a linear process. In fact, over time you’ll be able to add, remove, and swap out certain elements based on performance. Whatever you do, do not scrap a page that isn’t initially converting, just adapt it. You can start by creating your own checklist specific to each vertical. As I said before, there really is no exact formula that will guarantee conversions. As you’ll see, a combination of elements that works for one page, might bomb for another. Just be mindful of testing minor components on your page, as opposed to a major remodeling.

Keep It Ugly

Alignment (let it slide!)
Logos (web 2.0!)
Call-to-action button (easy to find!)
Above the fold (grab their attention!)
Overall Design (slap your designer!)
Testimonials (proof is in the numbers!)
Before & After photos (real results appeal!)
Fonts & Colors (goodbye color palettes!)
Headlines & Copy (short vs. long!)

Keep It Pretty

Load time (decrease drop-off rates!)
Customer support (put a face to your brand!)
Security verified logos (inject trust!)
Browser Compatibility (test your browsers!)
Spelling/Grammar (no typos please!)
Terms & Conditions (make sure you have them!)

Hold The Ugly…

Keeping it ugly doesn’t mean make your page a total disaster. It means finding a balance between ugly and functional. Unfortunately, humans are inclined to jump on the bandwagon and beat certain concepts to death if they are seeing results. It’s important not to get carried away with ‘uglifying’ your pages. Certain elements like load time and functionality should always run beautifully. Let’s take a look at the landing pages below to see how to properly balance ugly and functional.

iPad Offers

“Keep It Simple & Visual” – Large headlines, Large imagery, and simple sign-up. They convert!

Insurance Offers

“Keep it Drab” – Functional form, minimal colors, play up savings. They convert!

Dating and Weight Loss Offers

“Keep It Real” – Real people, real testimonials, and really ugly designs. They covert!

What’s Your Landing Page Strategy?

In an industry that thrives on measurable results, quantifiable data, and revenue generation, we need to stop thinking that there’s a clear cut formula for top-performing landing pages. We’ve got to start thinking differently. No more cranking out average designs. No more cheapening of brands. And absolutely, no more thinking that huge profits come overnight. Any successful Internet marketer knows that it takes time and effort to make legitimate and steady monetary gains. The question is, how can you secure your long-term success in an industry that breeds money-hungry hounds? With thousands of people like yourselves running offers, optimizing, and looking to increase conversions, you need to ask yourself what it is you are lacking. Take a look at your overall strategy. Is there even one that exists?

Free Traffic Generator here

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2011-06-282011-08-03

What Google’s Anti-Trust Woes Mean to Advertisers

ADOTAS – It was recently announced that Google is going to be investigated for anti-trust issues by the Federal Trade Commission. This action joins the already underway investigation of Google in the EU (U.K. excluded). Clearly Google’ success, like that of IBM and Microsoft before them, is attracting all sorts of unwanted attention. What are the issues and what do they mean to advertisers?

The complaint is that Google uses its market position to create an unfair marketplace. Search is such an important source of revenue and traffic for retailers, publishers, travel companies, and nearly all advertisers with a web presence and Google is the provider of nearly 75%-80% of this traffic in the US, and 95% in Europe (according to studies done by Covario), that this concentration of power is considered a major risk to the advertisers. The complaint does not specify the specific competitive issues for paid search versus natural search – however both areas are of concern to the investigation.

For paid search, there is no doubt that Google commands the lion’s share of the market – in Europe particularly. Anti-trust suits are brought when market power leads to monopolistic pricing. The interesting issue with Google is that its ability to enforce monopolistic pricing is very limited given the way its system works – the auction allows the advertisers to set pricing – and Google, for the most part, stays out of it.

They are quite transparent when it comes to how they determine Quality Score –and advertisers who do not benefit from this understanding either have not put in the work, or are simply unhappy with the result (they are bidding on irrelevant keywords, which hurts quality score, which raises price – those are the publicized rules of the auction – play or don’t play).

This issue was under hot debate in 2007 and 2008 by the Justice Department in the U.S., and Covario was asked to comment at the time. Google does have some subtle ways to impact their ability to monetize inventory – but nearly all of these processes include feasible consumer benefits as well.

Take Google Instant. Our belief is that it has two goals. One, it provides useful suggestions to consumers, from which they find value. Two, it also helps create more clicks for paid search which increases revenue for Google.

Is that monopolistic? It is impossible to make that claim, as the auction makes the ramifications of this process completely transparent and the impact one that the advertiser can control.

Our position then, as it is now, is that there is no anti-trust case in paid search due to the way pricing is set in the market for paid search keywords. Google acts as market facilitator, not market enforcer.

On natural search, the argument is slightly different, and this is where we believe the anti-trust case in Europe and the U.S. will focus. Google has one objective for natural search – to return relevant answers to the consumer. It will be this concept of what relevancy means that will determine how this investigation goes.

Relevancy is a debatable standard and the relevancy goals of the consumers (represented by Google) and the advertisers (represented by themselves and the U.S. Congress in this case) are going to always be at odds.

Google makes all sorts of changes to the underlying natural search algorithm. Panda was the most recent significant example – which was designed to address reductions in the quality (read relevancy) of search results due to programmatic processes being run by large advertisers that Google considered against its standard of what constitutes relevancy.

Two things can happen – the process can play out and the governments in the U.S. and Europe can find that Google is or is not creating an unlevel playing field. If found to unlevel, the remedy might be that the government will regulate what relevancy means, and take that out of the hands of Google.

Or the governments might force Google to disclose its algorithms and algorithmic changes more fully so advertisers can see what is going on more effectively than they can today and enforcement of abuses by Google may be reduced.

Again, our point of view on this is that Google is going to be a more effective arbiter of their algorithm and relevancy than the government, and that any action that would allow information to be disclosed that allows advertisers to game the system against those with truly relevant content is bad for advertisers, bad for consumers, and bad for the search industry.

Google is incented to be good at this, and to put the needs of the consumer above the needs of the advertiser. Google provides a service to the market – it organizes information more efficiently than anyone else out there right now, and makes it available to consumers and to advertisers. And they should be allowed to do so unfettered.

Advertisers should expect that the ability of Google to continue to innovate through the acquisition of other technologies and companies will slow. The EU and the U.S. Congress are putting in place the same types of scrutiny that IBM and Microsoft before them have faced. The Yahoo search alliance from two years ago was the first casualty. The furor over their acquisition of ITA is the latest example.

Advertisers should expect more of the same – which will create a more fragmented market over time.

2011-06-222011-07-23

The Affiliate Soup: This Week’s Top 5 Tweets

This week’s affiliate soup is piping hot and conversions never tasted so good. If you’ve ever seen Joel McHale’s weekly recap of completely useless pop culture garbage called ‘The Soup’ then you get the idea. Straight from the twitter pipeline is your top affiliate tweets of the week. Condensed and served hot. No fucking gazpacho here, so please don’t burn your poor little affiliate tongues.

Is the Google +1 button pissing anyone else off? I don’t know what it is about that flashy little fucker, but it infuriates me. Anyways, tracking social conversions has been on the radar for quite some time now. Facebook likes, Twitter follows, Google +1 are some of the hot buttons for landing pages. Have you already slapped these social buttons on your landing pages? Are you tracking them? Here’s what I’m getting at…If you aren’t tracking social behaviors then you’re missing out on a massive opportunity for social promotion which will subsequently increase your ROI. While most social sharing buttons can easily be added to your pages by inserting a little snippet of code, you can’t exactly track the engagement. A “Callback Function” is needed to record social conversions so that you can accurately monitor your clicker’s interactions.

Track Google +1 actions here.

Track ‘Like’ actions here.

Track ‘Follow’ events – get the block of code here.

Search engine land provides a kickass article on how to track social conversions on your landing pages. If you want to read more about this post-click marketing delight and get some handy dandy links to APIs and blocks of code, click here.

We fail to fail. That’s right, we never allow ourselves to fail. Not failing is the biggest mistake we can make as marketers. Most of us are apprehensive when it comes to making drastic changes in testing, and we tend to guess which elements will work and which will not work. Turns out that failing to take risks in testing will actually result in failed campaigns. Sound like a bunch of marketing mumbo-jumbo to you? It’s really not. There’s a science involved in our practice and failure is an essential part of the process.

However, it’s very important to pick and choose your failures. Remember when you were little and your parents told you not to bite off more than you can chew? Take the same approach when it comes to testing elements on your landing pages. Test one element at a time, instead of making major changes all at once – which will inevitably lead to failure. You’ll see greater results by exercising more caution in the way you test. Don’t get this concept confused with not testing as often, but learn to test elements strategically and leave the guesswork to Mr. A and Mr. B (a/b testing). Although you’d like to think you’re the Lebron James of marketing, sometimes you have to let technology take the reigns. So, go ahead…Crash and burn. Black out and don’t look back. Hit rock bottom. Fail and fail again. You get the point. Clickz does, too.

Faces don’t perform well in online ads. Who woulda thunk it? All this time our Shutterstock account has been loaded up with bikini-clad women, cookie-cutter business men, and token middle class families. All for nothing? “Only one of the top five ads tested featured a person, compared to three of the bottom performing ads that did, according to a study Yahoo has published called ‘Capitalizing on the Creative Canvas.’” It turns out that competing facial images and unappealing faces distract viewers from key messages, halting the conversion process. It pays to be pretty then? Apparently not. Let’s face it, high contrast designs are the new black when it comes to generating clicks. What to do with the rest of your ads’ features? They suggested placing buttons near elements that hold strong emotional appeal (immediate results, instant gratification, huge savings, or exclusivity). Where do your eyes go when you look at a landing page? Do you scan left to right? Top to bottom? Turns out consumers typically scan pages right to left and middle to top. To find out what kind of ads generate the best CTRs, check out Marketing Vox’s latest conversion-crunching article here.

If your landing pages aren’t converting, you must read this article. I’ve had enough of those articles preaching how to build amazing landing pages <–sorry for the shameless self plug. SEOmoz does a much better job mapping out optimization techniques that will honestly and truly boost your conversions. From heat maps, pre-populating cursors, point of action assurances and testimonials to keyword relevance, ad copy, and driving a single call-to-action. Often times we forget about the importance of human behavior when building out landing pages. SEOmoz takes a consumer-focused approach to optimizing landing pages. For instance, why on earth do we think pages need 88 different selling points to make consumers click a button? A single-driven action will do the trick. It’s as simple as that. Click here for more.

Last but not least and strategically placed at #5. Although affiliate marketing may sound like brain surgery, it’s really not. PPC, CPA, CPC, PPV, WTF. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously here. Smashing’s ‘Users Don’t Read, They Scan‘ cartoon teaches us just that. While developing and executing killer landing pages is a feat in itself, we should take a step back and see that people barely spend 5 seconds on a page before making a decision, so design accordingly. Scanner’s Syndrome I like to call it. Learn how to market and design your pages keeping in mind that people will do the quick scroll down, and that’s that. You didn’t actually think you’d make it through all five tweets without seeing one from Smashing, did you? 😉

Top 10 CPA Networks Revealed

I’ve been doing CPA Network Surveys for almost 10 years, and have to say that this year was probably the most successful and interesting surveys that I’ve ever done. In 2004 and 2005, Azoogle was voted by my publication ADBUMB (now ADOTAS), the top CPA and Affiliate company in the industry. Azoogle, now Epic, clearly dominated the space at the time with no major competitor even coming close to what they did in revenue or in influence. However, 6 years later our survey clearly shows that the industry has changed enormously and the field is wide open. No one company dominates the space anymore, allowing anyone to come into the business and create something new and innovative. Perhaps that’s one of the greatest things about our industry.

That is what makes this year very interesting. This turned out to be a race between a 500lb gorilla with $150M a year in revenue, versus the relative newcomer. The newcomer just a year ago wasn’t even a candidate as major player in the industry, but in the last year has grown enormously. On the other hand, the gorilla has been a constant in the last few years, usually named at the top of the list of the most successful companies. So without much ado, here are the top 10 CPA & Affiliate networks overall as ranked by the readers of InsideOV and OfferVault.

10) Adscend Media. Run by part-time college student, Adscend has become one of the premiere content unlocking companies. Content unlocking has its problems, but Adscend believes that it can be a valuable tool in promoting products when working close with the advertisers. If you are wondering how to monetize online content, such as e-books, music, your own short videos of your dog in a tutu, you should learn about content unlocking

9) ClickBank. Clickbank is its own category almost. While it claims to have thousands of products being promoted, it is still dominated by the E-Marketing Business category where affiliates can promote products to other affiliates. Clickbank has made a name for itself for always on-time payments, accurate tracking and a good way to make good money.

8 ) CPAWAY. CPAWAY has become a clearing house for affiliate offers, with almost 1100 offers in their database. For those who are looking to work with one company, and never have to go anywhere else, this is where to start… if you dare to scroll through all 1100 offers.

7) EWA Private Network. Not sure what can be said about Ryan Eagle’s network that has not been said before. While it’s not technically private, Eagle has done an amazing marketing job promoting it as an exclusive network. Whatever you may think about “The Eagle”, he’s proven himself to be a marketing genius, part-time rockstar and tooth-bling aficionado. Plus he’s not going anywhere, and he’ll tell you that to your face if you say otherwise.

6) W4. Named after the IRS form for tax withholding for a new job, this company grew out of the well-publicized destruction of HydraMedia. Now run by a great team of the Walker Brothers and the x-supermodel and super-spy, Abby Whitridge, this has become a mainstay in the industry as one of the most professional teams and companies out there.

5) Convert2Media. Convert2Media is one of the darlings of affiliates, with a huge following on many of the message boards. They have build their company from the ground up, wooing affiliates with huge parties, great gifts and the principle that they are run by “one of the boys.” If you have any doubt how great these guys are, check out this fraudcheck

4) MaxBounty. Despite the Facebook scandal of this year, the Canadian superstar Suave Brothers are still going strong, providing unique offers and great customer service. Anyone who knows these two will probably doubt the claims made by Facebook, and also tell you that the MaxBounty folks know this industry inside and out. They’ve been doing it forever, and will always be in the top 10 networks.

For the top 3 networks, click here

2011-06-012011-07-23

FTC Cracking Down on Testimonials: What Affiliates Need to Know

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) continues its assault on Internet-based false and deceptive advertising, including enforcement of recently published guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials. On May 31, 2011, the FTC announced its first settlement with an individual consumer charged with deceptive representations made in relation to a product or service testimonial.

The matter pertains to a “pitchman” defrauding consumers via a money-making scheme by misrepresenting the earning potential of a so-called “wealth building” program called “Winning in the Cash Flow Business.” The defendants allegedly misled consumers about how much money they could make using the program and how quickly and easily they could make it. The initial cost of the program ranged between $40 and $160. Consumers “were later encouraged to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more on additional products or services, such as multi-day seminars, coaching sessions, and promissory note holder lead lists.”

The Complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and alleges that the defendants’ actions violated FTC Act §5, the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. In 2002, one of the defendants used a thirty-minute infomercial as the primary method to advertise the program. It was broadcast nationwide. The FTC also states that the program was marketed online, as well as through direct mail. The infomercial claimed that consumers could earn substantial income successfully by finding, brokering, and earning commissions on seller-financed promissory notes.

The alleged false and misleading claims included “testimonials” purportedly from consumers claiming to have made “$1.2 million in 30 days,” “$79,000 in a few hours,” and “$262,216 part time.” The FTC and the state allege that this was far from the “typical consumer experience.” One consumer in particular who provided a testimonial in an infomercial reached a settlement with the Agency amid charges that she falsely claimed earning $79,975.01 from one promissory note transaction using defendants’ program and that her total earnings were over $134,000. The complaint alleges that the consumer made this statement, even though she earned $50,000 less than what she claimed. She agreed to a consent judgment prohibiting her from making several types of misrepresentations in the future, and has agreed to cooperate with law enforcers in their case against the remaining defendants.

The Colorado Attorney General joined the FTC in prosecuting this case, both seeking to preclude the individual and corporate entities they control from continuing to make the allegedly misleading claims, as well as consumer redress. The federal and state plaintiffs charged that consumer testimonials in the defendants’ advertising are inaccurate and do not reflect the results that customers are “likely to achieve” if they buy the program. Instead, some of the testimonials reflect earnings claims that were total earnings figures accumulated over several years, rather than in one year. Since the defendants made similar misrepresentations to consumers during sales calls, they also were charged with violating the FTC’s TSR.

What Affiliates Need to Know
With the recent increased state and federal regulatory scrutiny, everyone who markets a product or service online should be on notice – when someone is selling a program designed to help people make money they have to accurately describe how much consumers can expect to make and be truthful about how quickly they will be able to do so.

In fact, the FTC has recently announced that an update to federal advertising rules pertaining to Internet marketing is imminent.

The original Dot Com Disclosures were issued more than a decade ago and do not take into account technological advancements in the Internet, mobile marketing, and social marketing sectors. So, while the FTC continues to vigilantly patrol online marketing and advertising practices, it also appears to be keeping an eye on current technological issues. Regardless of the direction the “revamped” advertising rules may take, one requirement will remain a constant – clear & conspicuous disclosures so that consumers can make fully informed online purchasing decisions. Factors such as the context of the disclosure, its prominence, placement and proximity to the language it limits, are but a few critical considerations that must be mindfully addressed.

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ReactionAds – the only network run by React2Media. React Now!
http://www.react2media.com/contact-us/

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Richard B. Newman is an highly-respected Internet Lawyer and FTC Defense Lawyer at Hinch Newman LLP. He has made a name for himself in the industry having been the lead attorney on several well known cases. He can be contacted at rnewman@hinchnewman.com

“Richard Newman is one of the top, most respected attorneys for Interactive Advertising and Affiliate Law. He has his finger on the pulse of the industry.”– Pace Lattin, InsideOV

2011-05-242011-07-13

FTC Continues Crackdown on Deceptive Internet Marketing Practices

According to a lawsuit filed May 16, 2011 by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, a renowned Canadian online marketing operation that obtained credit and banking information by offering purportedly “free” or “risk free” trials subsequently withdrew over $450 million in unauthorized charges from consumers’ accounts in five countries (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).

As set forth in an FTC press release, a group of online businesses under the control of Internet marketing entrepreneur Jesse Willms promoted free trials or risk-free offers on several products, including acai berry weight-loss pills, teeth whiteners, health supplements, work-at-home opportunities, access to government grants, free credit reports and penny auctions. Once the defendants obtained billing information from unsuspecting consumers, the defendants charged consumers for unwanted and unordered products and services.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants’ conduct violates FTC Act §5 and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). The complaint also cites the following defendants, Peter Graver, Adam Sechrist, Brett Callister, Carey L. Milne, Just Think Media, Credit Report America, eDirect Software, WuLongsource, Wuyi Source, eDirect Software, Terra Marketing Group, SwipeBids.com, SwipeAuctions.com, Selloffauctions.com, Coastwest Holdings Ltd., Farend Services Ltd., and JDW Media LLC.

The defendants’ penny auction offers, allegedly, falsely indicated that consumers would receive free “bonus” bids. However, consumers who provided credit or debit card numbers to participate in future auction buying were charged $150.00 for introductory “bonus” bids and $11.95 per month for ongoing “bonus” bids. Charges that were, apparently, unexpected and unauthorized.

Further, consumers were told that the “free” or “risk-free” trial offers required only small shipping and handling fees. However, once the defendants obtained consumers’ credit or debit card account numbers, consumers were charged in excess of the nominal fees represented by the defendants. The FTC alleges that the defendants charged for the trial product or the extra bonus products and consumers often were charged a monthly recurring fee, in addition to the charges for the “free” trial.

While the defendants “offered” a money-back guarantee, the FTC alleges that consumers were, more often than not, unsuccessful in canceling the recurring charges or obtaining refunds.

In addition to the false and deceptive advertising allegations, the FTC alleges that the defendants provided merchant banks with false information in an effort “to acquire and maintain credit and debit card processing services from the banks in the face of mounting chargeback rates and consumer complaints.”

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Richard B. Newman is an Internet Lawyer and FTC Defense Lawyer at Hinch Newman LLP.

2011-05-032011-07-11

Five Things that Brand Media can Learn from Affiliates

One thing hasn’t changed since I started working in this industry over a decade ago: brand marketers still often look at performance marketers as if they are a crazy step-brother, locked in the basement for fear that he will get out and eat small animals. Yes, there is that part of the performance marketing industry that is a bit unsavory, filled with the gurus and the acne-faced kids who pretend to be elite hacker-wannabes on black hat forums – but there is a lot being developed in the industry that everyone needs to pay attention to, especially brand media buyers. So, without waste of time or resources, here is my concise guide to what brand media buyers can learn from performance marketers.

Provide hundreds of different versions of creatives. Yes, while Microsoft Word still doesn’t believe me that “creatives” are a word, you should be using tons of them. So many media buyers still rely on a few versions of the same creative for some reason, limiting their ability to optimize. Performance marketers have become experts at creative optimization, often making hundreds of versions with slight differences for their media buys. Network buys, placement, color coordination, and even time of the day all can make a difference on how a creative performs.
Discover tools. Performance marketers are crazy about different tools for optimization, content creation, and development. One of the great things about the industry is that many of these tools are actually better than tools that cost 10 times as much made for brand media buyers. Some of these tools are actually free. An example is Tracking202, which is a free media buying PPC tool for affiliate marketers that tracks multiple media buys, multiple landing pages, and gives great reports.
Get people to interact immediately. Performance marketing is all about performance, the ROI, but brand marketing needs to embrace this more and more as a metric. While it might not be a product buy, there are metrics that can easily be created on all media buys. Whether it’s a “learn more” newsletter sign-up button after a presentation or a search function for realtors that carries a product, brand marketers need to start always embracing performance. Interaction is part of the Internet, and it is proven over and over again that when someone does an action, any action, they are more likely to have positive feelings about a brand.
Ignore the press about what is “cool.” I know that clients read everything about the industry, and hear that the newest cool social/mobile/video product is where it’s at. All of these products will promise results, but the cost per user on most new applications is expensive and has little history or real return on its value. Jumping on the bandwagon, wasting the budget, and ignoring solutions that can show a real result is a growing problem in our industry. Yeah, it’s cool now that people can post on their Facebook page that they just got a latte at Starbucks, but in a year when everyone is annoying each other and it’s considered nothing more than spam, how will your brand think about that?

2011-04-052011-07-13

Is Facebook Social Marketing Really That Important?

Right now, perhaps the biggest “new job” in online media is the social media manager, and similarly the social media management company. Agencies all over are scrambling to create social media divisions and every major brand out there has been equally hurried to hire “experts” to assist them in this new empire of social media. All those “new media” and “affiliate marketing” experts have now become “social media” experts in order to get jobs. The pundits are constantly talking about how they engage users on Facebook, how to use it to engage clients and make new clients, how to get people to click on “like,” and so on. I honestly believe that most of this talk is not only self-serving nonsense that is created to fill the plethora of junk journals out there, but more importantly has no basis in reality. Most Facebook “social” marketing has little or no return on investment.

Most people are using Facebook as a communications device between themselves, friends, colleagues, and family. Facebook works because it’s an easy way to get in touch with people you know. It’s great because you don’t have to remember someone’s e-mail address, you don’t have to remember someone’s birthday, and you don’t really have to care all that much for the people to show interest in them. People relate to others on Facebook at the most superficial levels, and that’s partially why people love Facebook.
The actual engagement ratio is close to 0 percent. Here is non-scientific-based proof: I’m a member of the Starbucks group, as are 20 million other caffeine and scone addicts. On a daily basis, some 1,000 people leave short messages on Starbucks’ websites, with things like “I love you Starbucks” and “My Café Latte tasted like cat pee.” That’s approximately a .005 percent engagement ratio. The people who respond to these posts with “likes” and other actions are usually close to few or none. People aren’t involved with the Starbucks’ fan page, even though on a daily basis a large percent of them are involved with Starbucks. However, the “real” posts where there is actual feedback and involvement is close to zero.
In the cases where there is engagement, there is no way to engage the users back. I’m one of the 9 million or so people who “like” the Britney Spears Facebook page. When Britney (I love you Britney!) or her manager uses Facebook to communicate, they receive at least one to two thousand responses back. There is no way they can process those comments in a way that is actually useful to them. It’s like monitoring teenage girls’ cell phone habits and trying to decode what they are saying. Half of it they’ll forget the next day, similar to comments on Facebook, so who really cares?
There are too many groups on Facebook to be truly engaged. Facebook has become the flea market of online media. While everyone once in a while loves going to a flea market, no one would enjoy living in the middle of one. While in real life you can meet a group of friends, sit down for a drink, and talk about subjects that everyone likes, doing this on Facebook is like trying to have that same conversation in the middle of a rave. You’re going to try for a few minutes to have a real conversation until someone slaps you with a glow stick and gives you a hug (or “poke”). Everyone who joins Facebook at first joins the groups, “likes” all their favorite brands, and tries to engage, but eventually just starts to ignore the cornucopia of pages and groups.
Facebook advertising, on the other hand, provides real and immediate results in comparison. If you want to spend money on Facebook, buy an advertisement. With the growing amount of targeting features, the enormous audience buying advertisements and sending to your own landing page seems like a much better spend. Instead of having to worry about all the management issues with having a fan page or group on Facebook, you can send people to a site that you control.

I’m not going to say that there’s no reason to have a page or group on Facebook – that recommendation would be silly indeed. It’s free advertising. However, I am saying that having a “social media” plan with a panel of experts advising you on what the page should look like, 10 full-time employees looking at the comments, and also paying some analytics company $250,000 to give you reporting on how many people responded to your “we are not open on President’s Day” message is just plain ridiculous. Please, I beg of you, don’t waste your money on these “experts” who have about as much experience in media as I have in swimsuit competitions. Most companies don’t pay people to monitor the graffiti in the boy’s bathroom, and much of Facebook is similar to that. It has little or no real-world impact on sales or brand perception. If you disagree with what I am saying, feel free to post it on your Facebook page, and I’ll “like” it.

2011-04-012011-07-27

Epic FKA Azoogle to Leave Affiliate Business

In the strangest news this year, Epic Advertising Announced that they were no longer going to be in the Affiliate and Performance Marketing space, instead focusing on new revenue model based completely on their new DailyDealSite called GroupLiving.com. Epic, formerly known as AzoogleAds, (from the French, pronounced AzoooGleeehhh) was at one time seen as the top affiliate and CPA marketing company. However, in recent times, with the departure of the Founders Alex “Meow-Meow” Zhardanovsky and Joe “Spandex” Speiser, Azoogle has taken a totally new turn in its focus. Both Joe & Alex are still close, loving, partners, having started PetHo, a new pet-porn site that was reportedly growing in leaps and bounds.

When asked about why they were shutting down their affiliate and performance marketing division, Matthew Mirman, the Director of Clickable Solutions at Epic, told us that “the company has decided that cost per performance wasn’t working– agencies weren’t happy with this solution.” One insider in the company told us that this basically meant that agencies were more interested in, “wasting their customers money, charging for banners and impressions instead of having to prove effectiveness.” Mirman, denied this and responded that, “I have no idea who the hell you are, but you need to leave my house now, otherwise I’m calling the police, ok?”

The folks at Neverblue, Epic’s nearest competitor were happy to hear this news. Samantha Brachat, the Vice President of Water-Scooters & Leisure Activities told us, “Damn skippy, bitches. Those guys have been throwing parties at the Playboy Mansion, totally ruining the vibe for our parties in the Caribbean.” Both companies, originally based in Canada have been in heavy competition for years, especially after when Epic moved their HQ to New York City and were immediately branded traitors in the Canadian Press. Brachat commented on this, “We are Canadians and proud of our Heritage, and those traitors just got up and left to NYC..eh.., claiming there was better food, better entertainment, better business opportunities and the such. We stayed here in Canada where there is better… umm… goose hunting.”

We’d love feedback on your opinions.

*Source: Google

Pace Lattin

2011-03-292011-07-11

Lessons Learned While Fighting the Affiliate Nexus Tax

Waging battles in the growing number of states proposing affiliate nexus bills that threaten affiliate marketers is a lot like the classic episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy and Ethel attempt to keep pace with the conveyor belt at the chocolate factory.

Staying on top of what is happening in each state is becoming more difficult yet even more critical. But as the PMA gains a deeper understanding of the affiliate nexus tax issue, its far-reaching impact and we get some hard-won political experience under our belt; many valuable lessons have been learned.

Given that three different sates (California, Connecticut and Texas) will all be holding hearings this week on proposed affiliate nexus tax bills in their respective states, we thought it might be useful to reiterate the importance of affiliate testimony.

Be Prepared
Several affiliates, who have testified in the past, emphasized that “no whining” and doing your homework to be armed with the facts is critical. Being prepared, calm, and polite goes a long way.

Get Personal
Putting a human face on small business is a great way to show lawmakers how real people and their families will be devastated by passing laws of this ilk. Affiliate marketers are a diverse group. There are stay-at-home moms, 1 to 2 person setups and larger affiliates that actually employ others. It seems to play well with lawmakers to be exposed to the wide range of affiliates. Regardless of which side the of the political fence politicians sit on, they don’t want to be seen as killing small businesses and hurting families. Tell your personal story.

Stick to the Basics
There are also arguments about fairness and the constitutionality of these bills. Cases can be made that this law unfairly single out affiliates from other forms of online advertising models. However, it’s just far too complicated to explain the nuisances of affiliate marketing and other forms of online marketing in just a few minutes of verbal testimony.

The most fundamental case to be made is that affiliates do not establish nexus for out-of- state merchants. Affiliates simply advertise offers for retailers on their website and are paid a commission if a consumer takes a specific action. But affiliates do not work for merchants. They are small businesses. They do not sell goods. They do not ship goods or handle the transaction.

These lawmakers are focused on raising additional revenue and often believe that out-of-state merchants are skirting the law and should be collecting these taxes, so getting into the nitty-gritty of affiliate marketing is not always the most productive path.

Know Your State
What may have worked as an argument in one state, may not work in another. In California, using the argument that such laws will devastate more than 25,000 affiliate businesses and affiliates will leave the state just seems to anger lawmakers. Businesses move out of California all the time. While in other states, such as Nevada, a rivalry with Utah over business development opportunities seemed to have some sway with lawmakers.

And in Illinois, legislators are very sensitive to the proximity to other states such as Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. In fact, those neighboring states often specifically target Illinois businesses with messages of being very business friendly. Initially the argument that affiliates will move and can easily relocate out of state seemed to resonate with lawmakers. But ultimately, the Illinois Governor signed the bill anyway, even as large affiliates threatened to move their substantial businesses out of state.

Be Consistent
It’s also important to have a consistent message from affiliates. Again, just tell your personal story. And while marketers are known to be bold and aggressive in their online efforts, taking the same tact for the affiliate nexus tax can backfire. More than a year ago, one affiliate (in a state where a nexus tax bill was proposed) put ads on his site saying something to the effect that “you don’t have to pay sales tax!” to entice consumers. Supporters of the affiliate nexus bill in that state got wind of that message before a hearing and attempted to paint affiliates as people skirting the tax laws. That was certainly not case, nor the intent of that affiliate. But now is not the time to go rogue.

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Lisa Picarille is an online content strategist. She develops online content strategies for businesses using unique and compelling written, video and audio content that is deployed across multiple platforms – including the social Web – to help businesses maximize their reach. She also consults on a variety of issues including online marketing, branding, and social media.

2011-03-212011-07-11

Internet Marketing Dwarfs Its Predecessors

Gone are the days of desperately probing through the yellow pages in the middle of the night, searching for a plumber in close proximity, to resolve an unexpected blockage of inconvenient proportions, only to find that their printed number is no longer in service. Times have changed.

The digital Goliath now reigns supreme and brings with it up-to-date, instant information in the form of Internet marketing. Information is now accessible from anywhere and at any time. It dwarfs traditional marketing, making it an ink spot on dated piece of paper.

Advertising is the backbone of any successful business, regardless of size. Effective advertising is measured by the amount of business generated from a specific marketing campaign. Companies across the board are finding that nontraditional forms of marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and online videos are showing fast, effective results. These companies are using innovative methods to develop outstanding market repertoires.

Finebloom and Haenel is a Florida-based DUI law firm. In March 2010, the firm hired my company Everspark Interactive, an Atlanta-based SEO agency, to create a digital marketing campaign for their business. Within nine months, the firm has seen a 35% increase in business.

“This SEO marketing campaign has done amazing things for us,” said David Haenel, co-founder of Finebloom and Haenel. “The phone rings more and we have been on the first page of Google repeatedly from keyword searches.”

SEO marketing campaigns ensure that businesses make a unique impression to connect with consumers. Unlike traditional marketing, Internet marketing focuses on each business’ unique characteristics and promotes those characteristics to a target audience.

With the prominent shift from print to the internet, more consumers rely on digital sources for information. This information is global, and readily accessible through the use of computers and smartphones. Haenel predicts that businesses who continue to rely on traditional marketing, will soon struggle for survival.

“If you don’t use nontraditional marketing methods, you are going to get crushed,” Haenel warned.

He added that his firm will continue their SEO campaign into 2011, by adding mobile sites to their website, so that clients can access the firm’s information from their smartphones.

Benefits of nontraditional marketing:

1. Internet Marketing is More Measurable

Companies can effectively track marketing spending, as well as track the results of any Internet marketing campaign. Traditional marketing is based on a principle of trust, nontraditional marketing focuses on measurable results.

2. Internet Marketing Makes Strategic Decisions Based on Facts

Based on measurable results, Internet marketing can modify a campaign instantly to adjust to the public’s response. It can base those decisions on detailed analytics. Consumer response can be studied in detail and in real time.

3. Internet Marketing Effectively Reaches a Target Audience

Internet marketing can target an audience of any size and location through SEO tools. In contrast, traditional marketing focuses on a mass audience through magazines or television advertisements

4. Internet Marketing is a Constant Source

Internet marketing is ever-present. A Web address remains in the same spot, all the time. Consumers can find business services by doing keyword searches. In contrast, traditional marketing depends on allotted time-slots or print space to convey a message. If the consumer misses a television commercial, the business lost a potential client. Internet marketing is constant.

5. Internet Marketing Provides Better Word-of-Mouth

Social media sparks conversations that can reach an audience of massive proportions, within minutes. Word-of-mouth remains the most effective form of marketing and client growth.

6. Internet Marketing Increases Conversions

Internet marketing gives businesses the opportunity to track the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. They show which strategies work, and which don’t. This ensures a constant increase in conversions. By contrast, traditional marketing simply creates a campaign and relies on hope as its strategy for success. Internet marketing offers an up-to-date, accurate representation of results, which a business can choose to drop or develop to ensure the best possible outcome of their campaign.

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As the director of SEO at Everspark Interactive, Jason Hennessey oversees search marketing campaigns for high profile celebrities, lawyers, politicians and Fortune 500 companies. Within the industry he is known as “The Secret Weapon” people call on when they want to rank for extremely competitive terms in short periods of time. Hennessey has played an instrumental role in turning Everspark Interactive into a $1.2 million agency in only three months.

2011-03-142011-07-11

New OfferVault

After many months of development, we have released the latest version of Offervault, which has been totally re-written from the ground up. Aside from several new features that you can take advantage of right now, the new system lays the groundwork for the rest of our planned upgrades throughout the rest of 2011.

The new ADVANCED SEARCH button provides new search capabilities including searches by NETWORK, CATEGORY, ALLOWED TRAFFIC TYPE, COUNTRY and PAYOUT RANGE.

The new SEARCH PREFERENCES button allows you to fully customize your search experience with settings tailored to the way you like to work. This includes an updated interface making email alerts
even easier to set up and use. Email alerts allow you to be notified automatically when new offers come out that match your pre-set
search criteria.

Look for the new STAR in the search box to show a drop down of your favorite searches, which you can save and recall with a simple click of the mouse.

Don’t forget to check the WEBINAR tab too. We have added new search capabilities so that you can more easily search among the 75+ archived webinars to find just the topics that you are looking
for, by both keyword and presenter.

http://offervault.com

In another big change, we have opened up the system to allow un-registered users to use the main search function. You still need to register and be logged in to take advantage of most of the more
advanced features, but since you are receiving this email, you are already registered.

We have included a new video tour that you can watch to get an overview of all the new features.

I hope you enjoy the new Offervault and all the new features that are now available to you. This is going to be a big year for Offervault, so keep a look out for more great features to come.

Please let us know what you think! Your feedback it very important to us.