Since you were so young when Bankaholic started, how difficult or intimidating was it working with your affiliate managers in the beginning? And how quickly did you get their attention?

I’ve had great experiences with all affiliate mangers. My first affiliate manager was Bill Gales Jr. at NCSReporting. I’ve met one of the founders of NCS, Scott Langdon, and he takes prides in building an affiliate network that puts great emphasis on customer service. If you feel intimidated by your affiliate manager, you should really get a new one!

I didn’t have any leverage in the beginning, but as the traffic ramped up, affiliate managers were much more willing to work with me to get higher CPAs.

I remember a couple times hearing you negotiate higher CPA’s with your affiliate managers. At what point did you realize you had a lot of power over negotiations, and did that come naturally to you or were negotiations ever trial and error?

I realized I had power over negotiations when rival affiliate networks started reaching out to me out of the blue, offering to beat my existing CPAs. This ultimately created ‘bidding wars’ where I would bounce back and forth between networks as they struggled to beat eachother’s CPAs. A tip for marketers is to keep your afflinks naked, so that affiliate managers can clearly see who you are running with.

In general, I don’t really stress much about CPAs. I rarely proactively ask for higher CPAs, I just let the bidding wars determine the final CPA. I focus more on tweaking conversion rates and driving traffic.

If you were to consult other affiliate marketers, what metrics would you tell them are most important to track to achieve success and why?

Organic Traffic - Self explanatory

Revenue Per Visitor - Segment your RPV by offer categories and plot your monthly RPVs. When you are running a big site with lots of different types of offers, you need to make sure all the gears are running smoothly. If you see a sudden dip, that will alert you that something has gone awry. Having an RPV will also help you set bids for your search marketing campaigns.

Profit Margin - If your margins are too high, you’re not reinvesting enough back into your operations. If you’re margins are too low… well, that’s a sign of trouble and you’ll need to fix the monetization side of your business.

Do you have any tips on negotiating deals with large corporations once your affiliate site has proven it can drive high quality traffic?

Working with corporations was EXTREMELY stressful. Anytime you do ANYTHING with a corporation, you will probably need to sign a contract. This means you need to hire a lawyer to make sure you’re not signing away your soul. At least five lawyers have at one point performed services for Bankaholic, and my overall legal expenses from running Bankaholic are north of six figures. Unfortunately, there’s no way around this. Lawyers are a necessary evil, although I’m thankful all the lawyers I’ve worked with so far have been great.

Now that the deal with Bankrate is sealed, what are your next plans?

I’m already looking for new projects to work on. For people like us who live, eat, and breathe Internet marketing, there is WAY too much opportunity out there to sit on the sidelines.

I’m watching domain auctions like TRAFFIC very carefully… I really want to buy a premium domain and build out a megasite. In times like this, premium domains are a good investment and a handy tax benefit (always amortize!). To some extent, I have some seller’s remorse because I’ve come to become emotionally attached to Bankaholic after working on it obsessively for so long, so I need to get started on something new to keep my brain occupied.

One thing I’m excited about is that a lot of powerful Internet entrepreneurs with insanely impressive track records have been reaching out to me to explore possible partnerships on future projects. Find me on LinkedIn if you want to connect and bounce ideas about all things Internet. Other than that… I’m looking to buy an Aston Martin once things get settled, definitely looking forward to that.

I know that you are a truly inspirational entrepreneur that represents the essence of what we in affiliate marketing seek to achieve. Do you have any final words of wisdom for those out there who are working in the affiliate space but haven’t gotten that first huge break?

Yeah, connecting with the right people in your vertical is really important. Becoming cool with powerful people leads to partnerships that can differentiate you from the crowd. Reach out and email EVERYONE related to your business: advertisers, investors, and even competitors. Some jerks will blow you off, but other that, there’s nothing to lose. And even though it’s inevitable, try your best not to step on other people’s toes as your grow your business. Don’t be shady, evil, or greedy. Karma has a way of finding it’s way back to you, and you never know what kind of obstacles you can overcome with others’ help.

This bus is O!H! K!

Doing a good job or not of keeping it LoPro?

A really cool moment I captured on the way to the Hiroshima Memorial Museum.

I swear this one isn’t Photoshopped.

No comment.

You’ll notice the fourth ad is for Ask.com. Hmmm. Am I the only one that finds that peculiar? If anything, the ad definitely caught my eye first, so the advertiser at least got my attention!

But is Ask.com really advertising search results listings in Google AdWords or is this some weird hoax? It’s not like eBay or Target or even Shopping.MSN.com, where a massive company is leading you to a search listing of goods, comparison sites, or products to bid on. The ad actually leads to Ask’s search results page for the term “coupons.”

So I figured I’d try to play Sherlock Holmes and see where the ad was coming from. If you hover your mouse over the ad and copy and paste the link to a text editor, you’ll find the destination URL embedded in the link. Most of the time these are re-directs. This link is re-directing through Everesttech.net, which appears to be associated with Efficient Frontier. They’re an agency which also allows clients to use their bid management software. Since I’ve never used them, my investigation ends there.

I just think the whole thing is odd…dare I say desperate. Someone needs to Tell.com them to throw in the towel. Is anyone else curious, or have feedback or thoughts on the ad? Are they so lacking in users that they have to place their search results into AdWords paid listings? What do you think?

L-R: Zac Johnson and girlfriend Reena, Gary Lee, Greg Morgan, Derek Semmler, me, Gary Ng, Matt Blancarte.

Nate and Josh were with clients, while some other bloggers were wandering around the exhibit hall, so this is the group that was hanging out at the moment just choppin it up. These are some of the best people a person can know. What’s better than hanging out with some really down to earth, intelligent, like-minded people…in Las Vegas? Exactly…nothing. What was really cool was meeting Derek, since he’s my blog birthday buddy! Alright, I’m taking off to hit up the strip now. Good night.

I’m posting some links to others who are attending BWE and who will most likely be posting updates later on. If you’re attending BWE, please say “Hi!” to me if you see me. Check out these blogs below to see who will be partying like rock stars this weekend.

Nate Whitehill - Co-founder of Unique Blog Designs and really awesome guy. His business partners, Josh Mullineaux and Matt Blancarte will also be pimpin it at the UBD booth.

Derek Semmler - Author of DerekSemmler dot com and Sparkplugging: The Man Page. Also, my blog birthday buddy!

Greg Morgan - Founder of BCMblog and my conference homey. Always good times when BCM is in the house!

Make Money Online Panel - Super Affiliate Zac Johnson (and all-around nice person) will be speaking on this super blogger panel, along with John Chow, Brian Clark, Jim Kukral, Darren Rowse, and Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker. Yowzers!!

Wendy Piersall - Everyone knows her as the original eMom and she’ll be back to deliver on a panel discussing how to sell direct advertising on your blog. Sweet.

and more! If you’re going to BWE, leave a comment here to let everyone know. Or leave links to your friends who will be attending. Hope to see you all there!

Members Project is your chance to join a community that’s passionate about making a positive change in the world. Show your support and vote on which projects get $2.5 million in American Express funding. The possibilities are endless. The decision is yours.

The way it works is that card members submit ideas on how they can have an impact on changing the world for the better. Other card members vote for the winning ideas in a series of rounds. Going though the list I’m thinking, “How do I choose between helping malnourished children and rebuilding New Orleans?” But like the election of 2008, each person must find within their heart what they feel is worth their vote.

So today Amex announced their Top 25 projects, and they’re as diverse as you could ever imagine. I’ve voted for “Rebuilding New Orleans Green” because I feel our fellow neighbors need the support to rebuild that wasn’t given to most of them. I’m sure each of you will find a cause that tugs at your heart strings and ensure your vote. This first voting round is open until September 29. On September 30, the top five projects will be announced and will begin the second round of voting. Voters will choose the number one project that will receive the top funding of $1.5 million.

I have to commend American Express for launching such a project. They don’t have to do it. Of course they will get great press coverage and probably a huge surge of credit card applications, but nonetheless, a few very worthy causes will have $2.5 million in support, making their dream a reality. It falls in the league of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Oprah’s The Big Give. Someone gives a lot and probably makes money off the promotion, but in the end, the world is a slightly better place.

If you’re a card member, go to the Members Project and cast your vote. It only takes a minute, but can have an impact that affects people for the rest of their lives.

Resources: 

• Members Project
• American Express Press Release

A good friend of mine told me he wasn’t going to vote, and that he hadn’t voted in the previous two elections. When I asked why not, he said, “I don’t really know what’s going on.”

I think that’s a common sentiment shared by people who haven’t looked at the issues yet. When it comes to voting for new registrants, I look at it as being pretty black and white. Look at the issues and see who either has more positives or negatives to swing your vote. I understand that people look at Democrats vs. Republicans as choosing “the lesser of two evils” and may shy away from voting, but in the same token, one party may have more pluses than minuses. Looking at the issues from the start may help pull you in one direction or another, and from there you can do further research.

To help you decide, I’m posting links to the candidate’s issues, as well as some factchecking on the recent convention speeches. I’m not going to air my political views here, I’m just asking you to do your part.

*REGISTER TO VOTE HERE*

• Official sites of Barack Obama and John McCain
• Factchecking Obama and Factchecking McCain

Now I’m not claiming to know how many affiliate companies existed in 2006 versus now, since I don’t know that number. All I know is I’m continually learning about more and more. Last week I ran across an article at adotas titled “Can 314 Ad Networks Really Thrive?” which touched on a recent concern of mine. Author Michael Sprouse addresses the growth of the internet advertising management space and wonders if the number of networks will scale down in the near future. His conclusion is No, which for the most part I do agree. However, the one thing that wasn’t addressed in his article, which is a growing concern of mine is, How do we manage the growing number of networks that were born out of our need to scale down management?

My conclusion is that we will need middle men to accomodate the middle men. In other words, let’s say I am a publisher trying to push sales to Merchant F. That makes me an affiliate, or a middle man. The affiliate company, Network C, tracks my data and dispenses the proper commissions to me on behalf of their client, Merchant F. That makes Network C a middle man.

Now, there are an endless number of publishers and an endless number of merchants (or advertisers, in the case of ad networks), both sides of which are growing exponentially every day. How can a small business attempt to manage a large scope of merchants and/or advertisers with the growing and ever-changing landscape of the networks. In the grand scheme of things, they are still in their infancy.

When thinking of the magnitude of online advertising and affiliate marketing, there are so many networks out there that are succeeding that, as Michael Sprouse says, “As long as there is still opportunity for networks to exhibit a fuller value proposition, then fast consolidation … is not necessarily a certainty.” In short, we’re going to continue to see more networks because there’s no reason why we won’t. I believe that beyond that, we will see an additional layer of middle men emerge from this same need that created networks, which is basically a need for additional management. Sprouse notes that “networks were born out of demand in the marketplace,” to which I add, network management companies will also be born out of great demand. It looks like this in my head:

The Norm Now

The Future

In an age where segmenting and growth is as infinite as it is possible, I think this growing class of middle-middle men will be born out of need. Affiliates and publishers will need management companies for their networks, since one company alone might need multiple affiliate networks, ad networks and exchanges to maximize ROI. How many middle men will this industry see? Only time will tell.

[Tell us what you think about the growing nature of online advertising and affiliate marketing. I find it absolutely fascinating!]

I mean, have you ever tried to describe the feeling of love, or what sunshine feels like? For house music lovers who’ve seen Chuck Love perform live, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s just as difficult to verbalize what the experience is truly like. He pulls out all the stops. From guitar to vocals to horn, and then synthesizer to hookaphone (!), he puts on one amazing performance. He killed his set so beautifully and kept my friends and I dancing all over the floor until we were about to collapse from exhaustion. It was awesome.

However, if you don’t have the opportunity to see the producer-slash-DJ in person, I do recommend checking out his new album. The two-disc set includes one compilation of all original tracks, including two of my favorite house tunes, “Back in My Life” and “Soul Symphony.” For you house heads out there, you know what I’m talking about. Disc two features a blend of both Chuck’s remixes and original tracks that will pretty much make you either bob your head like crazy or just get up and dance. In my opinion, it’s an extremely solid album set, and everyone I know who’s heard it also sings his praises.

But you don’t have to be a house head to appreciate him. His production includes influences ranging from soul, funk, disco, and downtempo. One thing I love about albums of this quality is their versatility. Throw it on during a barbeque, house party, or beach bonfire and you’ve got instantly fun mood music. I’m excited to experience such a talented artist, I’m happy to spread the love to you all, and I hope at least a few of you will explore the “Love” too.

Resources:

• Listen to / Purchase Album
• Upcoming Shows [MySpace]
• Live video [Sorry the sound is distorted! I was near the speaker]

Notes: This article is a non-paid review, sponsored by MsDanielle. The Resource links are non-affiliated links. Shout-outs go to my friend Andrew from Ubiquity Records for passing the album along to me, as well as to Lindsay Fagan from OM Records for providing support.

CPC Banners work just like CPC text ads on AdBrite. We’ll enter your max bid (typically 50 cents to $1.50 per click) and then our system automatically optimizes on a site-by-site basis to deliver clicks at or below your target cost-per-click. You’ll only pay when your banner ad gets clicked.

It seems pretty promising, as long as their quality publishers fall within your demographic, the ad placement is decent, and your ad is approved. A few of their publishers include White Pages, Fox News, Photobucket, and Woman’s Day.

Each publisher offers different options: flat-rate ads, CPM text ads, CPM banners, and now CPC banners. If you’re going to test the CPC banners, use the estimates of your average click-through-rate to determine your daily clicks according to the publisher’s estimated daily page views.

For instance, if your average banner CTR is .5%, then your estimated maximum daily clicks might be .005 x 260,000 = 1,300 clicks. Remember that you can cap your daily spend, as well as test different maximum CPC’s. Actual impressions will depend on your max CPC and competitor presence, as well as daily site activity by users.

If you want to see how I test an ad buy for a flat-rate text ad buy on AdBrite, check out the articles below. You’ll get an idea of the buying process from my point of view.
Buying Flat Rate Text Ads
Buying Flat Rate Text Ads Part 2

I’m glad AdBrite is still testing the possibilities of CPC ads. Since they removed the CPC text ads, I haven’t used their system as much as I used to. CPC banners should allow certain advertisers more of the control that is lacking from traditional CPM banner ad placements, which emphasize branding over optimization for ROI.

If you haven’t signed up for AdBrite yet, use the button to the left to register. The network is open to new publishers and advertisers. If you have any questions about AdBrite feel free to leave comments and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. Thanks!

Good luck!