AFFILIATE VENTURE GROUP – VOTE FOR TOP CPA AFFILIATE NETWORK

Well guys, here I am again. Last week I asked you to vote for me in a top blogger  blogging contest (which is still going on by the way – feel free to vote) and I must say the response was absolutely astounding. Competing against the likes of Ian Fernando, Murray Newlands, Mr. Green, and the rest of the star studded cast is definitely a humbling experience. The amount of wealth and knowledge those guys bring is amazing and we as an industry are quite fortunate to have them around.

I now however invite you to participate in the 2012 Winter CPA Affiliate Network Survey sponsored by the Executive Council of Performance Marketing and pick Affiliate Venture Group as your network of choice. Your vote will assist in making our company the preferred CPA Affiliate Network for affiliates and publisher, new or seasoned. It is a privilege just to be in the running and thanks to your support we can certainly come out ahead.

Input from you will enable us to continue to build our company culture and bring attention to areas in which we may currently lack. Because our company believes that “Everyone Matters”, this vote of confidence in Affiliate Venture Group will certainly help the cause.

By clicking on this LINK, you will be able to vote for Affiliate Venture Group so make it count will ya? As a matter of fact, two of our Affiliate Managers are up for the Favorite Affiliate Manager so please vote for Chris Kautz and or Rheya Sahni.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your input.

This is a guest post by Samrath Gupta on Successful Affiliate Marketing

For those who have come upon successful affiliate marketing, they have the ability to “print” money anytime they want to. Simply put, these marketers have what it takes to think up cash and make them into solid checks.

Too good to be true?  This is what affiliate marketing can do.

The amazing thing about affiliate marketing is that anyone can make incredible profits, without much work needed and in as little as 2 or 3 weeks.  This basically means that you can start from nothing and make easy cash, without having to create your own products, website, or write a single ad copy.

This is what makes affiliate marketing a good starting point for those newbies who want to have an idea what it is like to be in a business. It gives them the opportunity to work on their own time, using other people’s efforts and resources, to gain profits while educating themselves in the process.

Affiliate marketing is an earning while learning business. This is where most people get the knowledge to make it big on other forms of business in the future. This is their starting point.

When starting an affiliate program, you do not just go right ahead and choose the ones lid out in front of you. There are certain factors you need to understand before getting into one. Not considering these things can result to wasted time, resources and profits.

1. Know Your Target Market

To collect the big affiliate checks, you must first identify and target your audience. This is a simple case of offering people what they want and need. Many affiliates commit the mistake of giving out these things to the wrong persons.

The result? No buyer and no sales for you. Why would people buy something they are not in need of?

Do you think people will be interested in you offering them affiliate marketing when they are into copywriting? Not many will be.

It is best to find your audience first to be able to maximize your resources and commissions.

2. Know the Quality of Your Affiliate Products or Services

The second mistake affiliates make is that they market a product or service that ends up not delivering what it promises.

It is always wise to examine the product first before recommending it to others. Not only will this increase your credibility and sales, it will also help you promote better because you can give them personal feedback about the products.

3. Know If Their Sales Letter are Affective

Check out the affiliate owner’s website and sales copy before you send any traffic over to them. Inquire about important things like conversion rates and visitor values. This will prove critical once you get people to their site.

Put yourself in the customers’ shoe. Will you be willing in buying the product or getting their services? If you answer positive to this question then many people will be too.

It will be an awful waste of resources if you will to pay for advertising a site, only to discover later on that it has a poor sales copy and that it does not sell. Consider this first.

4. Know If They Have Affective Promotional Materials Available

Most affiliate programs provide their affiliates with tools to be used in marketing. The more tools given, the more chances of you making that sale.

Since the materials are already made for you, you can focus more on the marketing. Having more tools also result to more opportunities to get the sales message through your customers effectively.

5. Know If Your Promotion Has Profitability.

The last thing you must consider is how much you will be paid, in relation to your promotional efforts. A higher commission percentage can be a huge motivation to place higher focus on a particular product in your total portfolio.

Try to seek out products with a higher end pricing or those that present residual income. You would also want to profit based on the efforts you have put up to.

The five tips above are just some of the important factors to consider in affiliate marketing.

If you want to become like the super affiliates you have heard so much about and bank in huge checks every time from affiliate programs, you need to continuously educate yourself with the knowledge required for affiliate marketing success.

Samrath Gupta is a young entrepreneur based out of India specializing in Affiliate Marketing and blogging.Though new to the space – he is very quickly making a name for himself in the blogosphere.

Hey Russell, thanks for taking the time to do this. Tell us some about yourself and what you do.

I got started in the online advertising business back in 1995 and was a pioneer in the email industry by 1996 having run

More details here http://www.optinplus.com/complete

How did you start the group Super Affiliates and when was it started?

I was an early adopter to Facebook and realized how much potential it had for industry people to stay in constant communication. One of the first things I did after joining Facebook was to start the group. I think this was at the end of 2006 or maybe the beginning of 2007.

Are you the only one who monitors the group?

No there are several moderators. Each Friday as a bit of a publicity stunt for affiliate managers we add a new female moderator.  They become the “Friday Girl” and basically have the stage for the day and it’s all about them. The idea behind this is to promote personality and attract business for some of the affiliate networks and managers that participate in the group.

What was the main purpose behind starting this group?

Originally the purpose was so that I could interact more on a day to day basis with my clients. Those clients then added their friends and their friends added more people and it started to grow. Before Facebook made their group changes at the beginning of 2011 it operated more like a Listserv and people would request for me to send out Facebook Messages to people’s Inboxes promoting their offers or services and whatnot. After Facebook made the changes to the way groups operate the group really took off in popularity and has since become the busiest affiliate marketing discussion group to my knowledge. One of the main reasons for the group’s popularity is the rather backward approach to how we appreciate self promotion. The group exists as a venue where it’s okay to toot your own horn.

Where do you see this group going? Is it living up to your expectations?

We are trying to double our membership base currently from 3500 members to 7000 members but we do not want to harm the quality of our membership. There are a lot of well known industry people participating. We don’t want to limit membership too much but it’s important that every member be involved in the online advertising industry / affiliate marketing industry in some capacity.

How does your group help the everyday marketer?

A lot of deal flow happens on the group wall. A lot more of it happens behind the scenes. All you have to do is watch the group wall for a few minutes to realize how great this service is for being able to find publishers, offers, customers, etc.

Will you be able to provide us with a case study on this?

If you want to know how effective the group is, all you have to do is post a question about it on the wall of the group! This is what makes it so great. There is a huge instant gratification factor going on.

Who and why should someone join your group?

Well to reiterate we’re looking for people that are involved in the affiliate marketing industry or online marketing industry in some shape or form.  Join the group, check it out and see if it’s for you.

Do people get banned in your group? If yes, on what basis?

Yes. People get banned mainly for doing things where they are impolite or non courteous to others and for posting off topic.  There is AUP in the docs section of the group if you would like to know more about acceptable behavior.

Who keeps a track of the daily activities of the group?

No one, everyone, it just exists. It’s a great way to reach out to the industry at the click of a button in order to make an announcement or to poll the audience.

Few tips for our readers?

If you join, try to keep it business as much as possible. Don’t be rude for the sake of being rude. Tell us about what you’re doing and how you can help us make more money or ask us how we can help you make more money with affiliate marketing.

The direct URL to the Super Affiliates Facebook Group is http://www.affiliatestalker.net

In the old days of internet marketing, mass emailing was a widespread and profitable venture.  Thousands of reputable companies would send out mailings to their customers who would happily open email and review their details.  It seemed win/win – companies got increased exposure while customers got information about the latest deals available.

Unfortunately, what began as a common sense internet marketing strategy quickly spiraled into a dirty mess of pointless messages pushing enlargement pills and money transfer scams.  In time, spam became more common than legitimate marketing messages, and as inboxes were flooded by unwanted messages the real, valuable marketing emails were pushed from the fore.

Today, the world of mass email marketing is much different.  There are three primary methods by which modern internet marketers attempt to utilize such practices today, yet some are far more valuable than others.  This article will outline each strategy and suggest how it may be used – or avoided – to the benefit of a company.

Untargeted and Uninteresting

Recent studies have suggested that around two thirds of internet users would be willing to review marketing emails if they could be distinguished from spam.  Unfortunately, very few organizations do a very good job of setting their messages apart from junk.  If a subject line reads like spam (or just does not seem interesting) it does not stand a chance of being read.  Think about it – most people receive dozens of emails each day.  Why bother wasting time with a questionable message?

Avoiding Mass Emailing Altogether

While mass emailing may have been a widespread internet marketing practice when the web was younger, it is not today.  Many companies choose to simply ignore mass emailing completely, opting for other methods of reaching customers.  This may actually be a more effective strategy than the one above – customers do not want to receive messages that they perceive to be junk, and if they feel that you are unnecessarily cluttering their inboxes they may just write you off altogether.

Email Relativism

The most effective way to utilize mass emailing, however, is not to ignore it.  Instead, the most successful companies find ways of making their messages stand out as something other than spam, appealing directly to specific kinds of customers.  This strategy discards single messages that are crafted to appeal to enormous audiences.  While still sent to perhaps thousands of people, such messages are fine-tuned to appeal to only a (relative) handful of individuals.  They look different from spam through their subject messages and their content – and they get read.

Finding the right approach to mass emailing is not easy.  Yet those who decide to give it a try must be mindful to keep their messages relevant – or stay away from the game altogether.

Well, as you all know – I am not one to typically blog about internet gurus, but this next post on Zac Johnson is one I felt I had to do. He was one of the first ones to blog about AVG and for that alone, I felt that I owe him this at the very least.

He has just released a book on flipping websites – a topic very relevant with social media and what Facebook has allowed people to do. However, rather than just posting a banner or an affiliate link to his book, I wanted to find out a bit more about this so here it is….happy flipping!

Hi, Zac! Tell us a bit about yourself and when and how you got into writing.

Hey Ricky, first off thanks for doing this interview with me. I’ve been making money online for over a decade now, and started blogging in 2007. I’ve always been a decent writer, but once the blog started, I just kept writing more as I continued to fill the blog with new content.

Last year I released my first free eBook, Six Figure Affiliate Blogging, which did extremely well and documented the process of creating a blog and using affiliate marketing to generate income. This time around I decided to write on the topic of web site flipping. My latest book, Flip This Web Site, just went live this week and covers everything from starting your first web site, to eventually flipping web sites and domains for a full time income.

How did the idea of this book come to you? Can you tell us a bit about it?

Lately I’ve found myself addicted to using the Flippa web site. I could be on there all day and bidding on web sites, but then I realize I’ll spread myself out too thin trying to run all of these sites. However, it’s still a killer place for resources and to start a new business, so I wanted to spread the word and walk people through the process of web site flipping.

One of the great things about site flipping is that you can buy a web site that is already setup, in the search engines, has great content and maybe even already generating income. This removes a lot of the headaches and annoyance of starting a new web site.

One of the driving forces for the creation of Flip This Web Site, was my purchase of BloggingTips.com from over a year ago. This was a big web site buy for me, but I knew the site would be a perfect match for my network of sites and ZacJohnson.com. In the book I have a whole section on the before, during and after process of buying BloggingTips.com and turning it into what it is today.

I am always a bit skeptical of “gurus” releasing books on how to make money – how or why is this book different?

Definitely, there is so much stuff out there and unfortunately a lot of it is overpriced and low in quality. I already have a huge following and reputation through ZacJohnson.com and this is actually the first “paid” product that I’ve launched… so I’ve spent a lot of time working on this product to make sure it’s one of the best out there, while being priced for everyone.

Are you pleased with the final product?

I’m extremely happy with the final product and I’ve received a lot of praise and feedback from the book as well. I’m looking forward to hearing from my customers three to six months down the road when they are finally put what I teach in the book into action.

The purpose of the book was not to be another product in my arsenal, but instead to open up the business mindset of people out there who are seriously trying to make money online. Learning how to build a web site is one thing, but throwing in affiliate marketing, promoting and becoming profitable is a huge task… through site buying and selling, you can skip some of these areas and focus on the growth of a web site.

What was your experience in writing this – what were your frustrations if any?

The release of Flip This Web Site was actually dragged out a couple months longer than it should have been. It’s always tough releasing your own product, especially when it’s your first. Problems can range from occurrences in your everyday life, to waiting for designers or even just getting burned out and not feeling like you have the drive on certain days.

However, that is no different than anything in life. The end product turned out great and I learned some

Mmm – in the event the consumer is not “satisfied” with the book – is there a money back guarantee in place for them to do so?

The absolute last thing I want is for a customer to not to be happy with a product, especially when they are putting their hard earned money up for it. In the event anyone isn’t satisfied, I offer a 100% money back guarantee for a full 60 days. If you can’t back your product up with a 100% money back guarantee, you shouldn’t be releasing a product. Things through the release of Flip This Web Site that will help me do better and be prepared the next time around.

Branding is a fairly complex marketing concept that not many people really understand. When coupled with the complexity of the internet, such a topic can leave marketers utterly dumbfounded, left behind by the way of the times. Yet to be successful in marketing to customers online, mixing the two together is absolutely crucial. Thankfully, when working in tandem, branding and the internet form some pretty simple concepts that anyone can comprehend.

To understand branding is to understand some key traits of the contemporary human psyche. It simply requires that marketers identify the things that their customers hold dear – freedom, the American West, security, etc. – and make their products or services mesh with those values.

So when Coca-Cola wants to sell a can of soda, they no longer say that they taste better, that they have less calories than Pepsi, or say anything at all, really. Talk is cheap – it is action that sells. So Coke shows you what summer is all about: people holding hands on the beach, laughing with each other, and doing any number of other things that have very little to do with soda.

But people buy it because a connection is made between summer and Coke, and since people do like summer, they associate it with Coke and buy the product. This style of marketing can be seen everywhere – young adults associating cars not with quality or price, but with fun and “zoom,” or teenagers not associating jeans with durability but with attitude or rock and roll.

Taking this into consideration, much of modern marketing is about finding people that match up with these interests and targeting advertisements at them that focus on these abstractions. In order to sell 18-24 year olds Coke, you first have to find an avenue through which you can blast them with messages about summer. It takes a lot of time and careful study to identify where to best go after such people, but it can be done.

This is where the internet comes in, because the web takes care of much of this hard part of things. Because of the limitless nature of the internet, there is plenty of room for a niche website for absolutely everything. So if you identify a target audience and go after them through a blog that feeds off of their interests, the only remaining step is to introduce your product or service that plays to their values.

And that is how branding translates into the digital world.

Ok, sorry – affiliate marketing can bite if it is no targeted properly.  Most people understand that affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to monetize your blog and see steady paychecks rolling in –if it is done properly.  Yet far too many people around today fail to understand that some kinds of affiliate marketing simply are not right for their websites, and that forcing them will simply ostracize visitors and lose them money.

A perfect example of this might be Amazon’s affiliate marketing program, which encourages people to post ads on their site that pull visitors over to Amazon.  Some websites can do very, very well with this program, ending each day with plenty of visitors and a PayPal account full of cash.  Many others, however, attempt to utilize Amazon Affiliates without considering whether or not it is actually right for their site.

There is, however, an affiliate marketing situation that can benefit nearly any website, bringing in regular money from various online vendors.  The key to success in this type of situation is to choose the right partner for your site rather than going with an easy, general web seller like Amazon.

Take, for example, a blog about car repairs that someone has decided they want to monetize.  Someone could probably make a little bit of money putting an ad for Amazon on each of their pages that would feature things like books on auto repair, or perhaps apparel with brand logos on them.  If the website had enough traffic those things would sell, but very slowly.  Someone might be lucky to get a commission from Amazon once a month on a book, walking away with something like $10 or $15 at the absolute best.

With a more targeted affiliate marketing program, however, that same person could do quite well for themselves.  By working with an online company like Auto Parts Giant, the tools and parts described in the various posts on the site could appear alongside the content, encouraging readers to make similar customizations and repairs to their own vehicles.  The owner of the website could easily see a dozen or more sales each month if not many more, depending on the amount of traffic he or she might have.

Affiliate marketing does work, and it benefits all parties involved.  The vendor gets products moving off the shelf, you get to make some money from your website, and your visitors get products that they are interested in.  Everyone wins – but only with cautious research and carefully targeted programs.

Ok so it is not – just wanted to get your attention. So you have spent a lot of time thinking about it, and you have decided that social media marketing just does not make sense.  After all, there is absolutely no reason that a company like Facebook or Twitter should set the rules for how companies do their business.  In your opinion, social networking websites should be for updating friends on what you think is useful for others to know, learning more about what other people think you should know, and playing games.  Well, except for that last one you are exactly right and that is precisely why you need to get involved in social marketing today.

The marketing world in which we live is being broken down into a series of links and addresses that are passed around like cigarettes at a party.  Information is the commodity, not whatever product or service you have to offer, and if your business does not stamp its name on a selection of tidbits of information then no one is going to know that you even exist.

Take just a moment to reflect on what you do when you yourself visit a social networking site like Facebook.  You log in, review the things your friends have posted, following a handful of the more interesting things further than others, post a few things of your own, and then you’re finished.  That’s it.  That is the entire social networking experience.

And yet people spend hours on websites like Facebook and Twitter for one reason – they follow links until the trail runs cold.  People simply do not realize how many mindless pages they sift through from one original link.  They can start with the Cincinnati Reds’ box score and wind up with a new car insurance policy.  They can start with a video of a dog doing backflips and end with three Hawaiian shorts on their way in the mail.

But what you need to make sure that they do is start with a link related to your product that gets them caught in your own marketing web, with them reaching the end of the trail by spending money on your goods or services.  And do not pretend for one minute that other companies aren’t doing it – they are absolutely pulling web surfers down those roads, and they’re taking your business along with them.

Before you write off social marketing altogether, perhaps you should consider the ramifications of your actions and the potential business you will be watching click away down a different path.  If you want to avoid being left behind, embrace the future of internet marketing today.

I must admit that in doing this next interview, I had a very selfish motive and much love to Ben for doing this. There has been all this craze of Plenty of Fish dating site and the ridiculous amounts of traffic and data it offers the everyday affiliate – something that Google and FB have turned the shoulder on for the most part. Call me timid, gun-shy, whatever you want – i had not the faintest idea where to start so I thought of approaching Ben and to my pleasant surprise, he agreed. He not only agreed – he took the time to answer each and EVERY question I had in such detail that anyone who was or has been on the fence on advertising on POF can relax. I urge each and everyone of you to read this thoroughly, read it again – tweet it, tweet it again and yeah “Like” it and Like it again for good measure. This is EXCLUSIVE content baby, Happy Fishing!

1) Ben, please tell us briefly about Ben and how you got started in this industry.

I grew up as a chubby kid who watched too much WWF and played too many video games. As a result, I have a wild imagination which lends itself quite nicely to advertising. My part-time job during university was doing sales at a classified advertising company that was very print-based at the time. I knew online advertising would be the future but I had no knowledge or experience, so I jumped at the first opportunity to work in the field. PlentyOfFish.com was that company and I’ve never looked back.

2) When and why did you decide to join POF? Was it the inability of others to deliver or something else?

Opportunity and freedom. I remember Markus telling me, “You’re going to learn more in 2 months at POF then you will at any other job” and that’s exactly what I needed. He was 100% correct! Most companies have entire departments to do the various tasks that I handle on a day-to-day basis. I never get bored because I’m always learning something new. Plus, I get to travel and meet all the awesome people in this industry, which is a nice perk! I didn’t used to be much of a drinker but working in this industry has definitely changed that LOL. About two years ago POF was growing quickly and needed someone to fill in the spot of advertising sales. I think I was employee… #5?

3) Can you share some key trends of usage of POF advertising (adoption, spends, tactics etc).

At this point in time, dating seems to be the dominant vertical. This is not to say that it’s the only thing that works! I remember when I first started, it was all about continuity offers so things trend and things change. As long as you’re constantly testing new verticals, you’ll eventually strike gold. With the number of targeting options that POF offers, there is a lot of untapped opportunity for other verticals. In terms of tactics, I try to document some of my ideas on our blog, https://blog.ads.pof.com. I’ve had some pretty positive feedback about it so I recommend the read! For those who don’t know, minimum deposit for POF is only $25, which gets you access to the 110×80 text ads. A $1000 deposit grants access to IAB banners.

4) In your mind, what are the differences between traditional online advertising vs. social ads??

Targeting. I really like the idea of only spending money on a relevant audience and (shameless plug); this is where POF really shines. I mean, let’s say your money demographic was a US male who has no children, owns a car, drinks socially, likes games and puzzles, makes under $50k/year and has logged into POF less than 200 times, we can do that! Also, you can split test that against men who have children or make over 50k/year and see how the results are there. There is a lot of creative freedom when you know exactly the demographic you’re hitting with your ads, so take advantage of that fact, make the ads applicable and relatable to enjoy better results.

5) Talk to us specifically about your experience and frustrations in dealing with affiliates and publishers?

So far, it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience dealer with affiliates. I love the feeling of accomplishment when someone has an “AHA!” moment and realizes how to monetize POF’s traffic effectively. I also enjoy referring people to the best person that I know to do the job. I’ve literally helped businesses grow this way. I always remind the people I work with that we’re all in this together so help each other along the way. Metaphorically, we would teach each other the best ways to fish but not share the fish that one has already caught.

One of my big frustrations includes affiliates that don’t put in the work but expect full results. I’m sorry but if your only tactic is to copy what others have done and expect me to troubleshoot your campaigns, I’d rather use my time to help the guys that are willing to innovate and trail blaze.

Quantcast is also a frustration for me. Quantcast, as a service, is great but I’m frustrated with how people use it. Let’s say, for a particular offer, Quantcast tells you that the best demographic for offer ABC is demographic XYZ.Well, 1000000 other people know this as well. So instead of doing a proper split test to find out what the most profitable demographic is, people setup a campaign, target what Quantcast tells you to target& run traffic. What are the chances of profiting when 1000000 other people know who exactly you’re targeting?

6) What are the ingredients of a successful advertising campaign on POF?

Creativity, determination, tech savvy, methodic split testing and open communication w/ me and your affiliate manager.

7) What are the metrics you use to measure success of a campaign?

People ask me all the time, “what’s a good # of impressions before you decide if a creative is worth keeping?” I address that question here (http://blog.ads.pof.com/2011/04/26/how-many-impressions-are-enough-to-test-a-creative) but I realize that a lot of people can’t afford to run an ad for a week straight so I offer another strategy that I’m going to explain as an exclusive to http://rickyahuja.com readers.

Instead of aiming for a pre-determined CTR goal, look at the performance of the ads against one another. For example, 0.15% CTRcould be AWESOME for one demographic/product and absolutely terrible for another. So, look at your ads and if one of your ads is doing 4x as good as another, ditch the worst performing ads and continue to split test.

Eventually, this should lead to conversions and I would do the same process but with conversions. Keep testing and you WILL make money. Remember, the most successful affiliates have a harder time quitting than figuring something out.

8) Which are the top 3 industry segments currently using advertising on POF. Have there been any new industry segments that have seen a rise in the past 6 months?

Dating, Information products (usually dating related) and health/beauty. Right now, I think everyone’s waiting for “The Next Big Thing”. What is currently working on POF has always worked on POF traditionally. I put my money on mobile, which.. I’ll get more into on question 9!

9) What do you think is the impact of the “new” media on today’s publishers and affiliates? Are they leveraging it effectively and more importantly – are they leveraging it for the betterment of our industry?

Mobile is going to be big. I’ve always believed that money is made by making things more convenient for people (Look at online dating, you can browse 500 profiles in 1 night and reading a profile provides as much information as you’d discover in 2 dates).Accessing the internet via on a mobile device frees someone from having to sit down at a desk or table. I predict much more profit in mobile once the idea of purchasing things through a mobile device becomes more normalized and convenient (as evidenced in other countries). I think the industry will improve as the demand for more sophisticated mobile technologies increases. POF just released the ability to target people accessing the website through their mobiles, so there’s HUGE opportunity for those willing to put in the work to figure it out. As of right now, June 21, 2011, it’s anybody’s game.

10) There has been a recent craze about “content unlocking” networks and offers, does POF partake in that and what is your overall feedback on it for those on the fence?

POF doesn’t partake in that but if I know affiliates, you give them an inch and they’ll take it a mile. I think, eventually someone’s going to cross the line with “content unlocking” and that gives me the same gut feeling as flogs/farticles did… and we all know how that story ends. However, content unlocking as a marketing strategy is not something new. Just keep things compliant and if a certain offer gives you a bad gut feeling, run something else that doesn’t.

11) Which tools/websites do you recommend to efficiently manage campaigns on POF? Any tips you would like to share with our readers.

#1 would be our blog http://blog.ads.pof.com. It features tips, tricks and case studies of previous campaigns that were successful. Make sure you know what’s going on and what’s hot on the platform first before getting started! There’s also a “getting started guide” available on the log-in screen of our ad platform, https://ads.pof.com (Green link, right hand side).

Mass uploaders help as well. We have one that’s built into the ad platform but if you’re looking for one with more functionality, I recommend Mr. Green’s (http://www.mrgreen.am/plenty-of-fish-ad-uploader)

Lastly, tracking is incredibly important so get to know your preferred tracker ASAP (Tracking202, CPV Lab, Bevo Media). You need to know where you’re making/losing money.

12) Any words of wisdom for my readers who are looking to start advertising on POF but are still on the fence?

Leverage the relationships you have in this industry. No one does it alone! The good thing now is that there is a wealth of information on the internet about advertising on POF.com as well as forums that have members who have made money by advertising on POF.com. The tools are there, it’s up to you to master them. You also have an expert POF consultant at your fingertips: Me! So if you have a question about something that hasn’t been covered, I’m just an email away. Having the opportunity to work with someone on the traffic side of things is huge for someone starting out and it’s more than I can say for some other large social platforms out there.

13) Finally – if you could fill a swimming pool with anything besides water – what would it be?

Giant trampoline, basketball hoop and slam dunk contest music.

Warren Jolly has been a successful Entrepreneur since his High School years. Founding his first business (Nebulant Corp) at the age of 17, Warren quickly established himself as a well-recognized expert in the field of affiliate marketing, also known as online pay-for-performance marketing. The company was acquired by a AIM-listed company in 2003 and gave Warren the opportunity to first experience an M&A transaction.

Warren and I go back to 2005, back in the mortgage and debt lead gen days and had since lost touch. Thanks to social media – we reconnected and I thought it appropriate to bring this interview to you.

1)    Warren, tell us briefly about yourself and how you got started in this industry.

I started in affiliate marketing during my freshman year in high school – I was 14 years old at the time.  I developed an interest in technology at a very early age and computers were my obsession throughout high school.  I would build computers for dad, my friends, and myself just because I enjoyed it.  I eventually convinced my dad to get me an internet connection (back then it was a 28.8 kbps modem) and started to tool around online.  I figured out a way to optimize a website very easily in AltaVista and Excite, which were 2 of the dominant search engines at the time.  One month at the age of 15 I made $15,000.00 as an affiliate and the rest was history.

2)    Do you think being an Indian in this industry has hindered or helped you achieve the level of success you currently have or anticipated?

I think it has helped.  I grew up here.  People can’t really tell I’m Indian but I believe that my work ethic and passion for what I do stems from my roots.

3)    What are the top 3 factors that you feel contribute to your success?

My family and upbringing, being able to jump into business at a very early age, and my ability to build rapport with people almost instantaneously.

4)    How important is it to you to communicate with your readers? Is there a particular message you are wanting to convey?
Extremely important.  I’m very passionate about helping other individuals and companies understand and leverage affiliate marketing for themselves.  In fact, that’s part of our vision for AffiliatePrograms.com, which we’re in the process of revamping.

5)    Talk to us specifically about your experience and frustrations in dealing with people in the industry.

Sadly, there are a lot of shady characters in this industry.  Many internet marketers are actually just fraudsters and aren’t focused on really creating any value for the end consumers that’s buying the product that will end up earning them a commission.  A lot of the folks in the space lack a true “win/win” mentality which is critical for any type of long-term success.

6)    You are well known in the industry, who has been your motivation or inspiration, in other words, who is your driving force?

For me, it’s been Tony Robbins.  I got a chance to spend a bit of personal time with Tony and he’s truly a remarkable individual.

7)    Being a minority myself, there are constant stereotypes that I have to overcome, have you ever experienced this?

I haven’t, but I have plenty of other friends who are successful Indian-Americans that have faced incredible stereotypes, but have yet been incredibly successful through their sheer motivation and drive.  I think that can overcome a lot.

8)    What are some effective tools and products that help you keep your life organized?

I use Evernote, Gqueues, Skype, Dropbox, and Google Apps religiously.  Wouldn’t know what to do without these tools.

9)     If you had a money tree in your back yard and could purchase anything for your business tomorrow, what would it be?

The ability to hire the best of the best talent in the world to work on my business.  I’m a huge believer that people make the business, not the idea.  As Jim Collins eloquently put it in his book “Good to Great”, it’s all about putting the right people on the bus.

10)  Any words of wisdom for my readers looking to get into this space?

It’s a great space to work in, just don’t buy into all the hype and pitches to make money overnight.  It takes time and hard work to make money as an affiliate but in the end, it’s definitely worth the sacrifice.