Answers Round 1

Keep asking questions on the questions post, since there’s usually a ton I’m just going to start answering them now.

NOTE : DON’T ASK QUESTIONS ON THIS POST, ASK THEM ON THE ORIGINAL. IF THEY’RE ASKED HERE THEY WON’T BE ANSWERED. I LINKED TO IT FOR A REASON.

Gary asks…

How much capital did you have to play with when launching your first ever campaign?

 
I had a general web directory I worked on for months and eventually sold that for $3,000, and that was my PPC starting cash.

Jonathan Volk asks…

How do you like your new car?

 
It’s great! There’s nothing like just unloading on the gas pedal, this thing was truly built to be driven hard. Looks awesome too, can’t go wrong with it.

Megan asks…

Hi, I had a question about building affiliate landing page. I have run over 20 PPC Campaigns with review style landing pages, but can never get a decent click through from my landing page to the merchant page…most people who visit it click out after a few seconds…

what can I do better? How do I get them to make the click….

 
Well first understand that review pages have a lower CTR (I’ll just give a general estimate of 50-60%), but they generally “sell” the product better and boost conversion rates.

You want your page to have a message at the top to let them know that they’re going to find exactly what they need here, and then you have to write convincing reviews. The page has to be attractive, easy to follow, and they for certain should know what button they need to click to visit the site they read a review about.

TipJar asks…

Hey Paul,

whole slew of questions I could ask, but just a few here:

1. What kind of skills do you need as an affiliate marketer? I really want to learn PHP, programming, web design/coding, or other skills. What would be worth my time?

2. As you progressed, how were you able to get high-limit credit cards?

3. For affiliate marketing on a (low) budget, would you recommend I create SEO-based sites or start off with PPC sites?

4. How’s the car treatin’ ya?

 
1. Web design doesn’t hurt, I definitely use those skills all the time. PHP and programming will take you a good amount of time, I’ve always tried to start learning PHP but never really had the time to get far. I just outsource my coding and it works out fine.

2. Most of the time you’ll get a high limit credit card with a lower limit. Just keep paying your bill early and the limit will go up and up.

3. You can start with whatever you think you’ll have success with. Maybe research a campaign and throw some money at PPC and if it doesn’t work out try and make the money back by doing some SEO. I’ve never done SEO so I don’t know anything about it.

4. Great :).

maVin asks…

What do you think about using offline methods to drive traffic?

 
I think there’s definitely potential in things like setting up local dating ads all around big cities, I mean why not. Drop some local dating business cards in bathrooms at bars/clubs or something. There’s plenty of ways to get traffic and offline methods do work, it’s just up to if you want to do all that work or not. Personally I just like getting all my traffic by laying here in bed on my laptop :p.

Neil Newmann asks…

Why is affiliate marketing better than marketing your own products?

What would you recommend to non-americans interested in getting accepted by affiliate networks?

What are the information products that have helped you/other affiliate marketers the most?

What are your favourite books?

Thanks!

 
1) It’s not. There’s pros and cons to both, potentially there’s more money in owning your product, but it’s a lot of work (trust me).

2) Just communicate that you’re a legitimate affiliate that wants to promote their offers, and CALL THEM ON THE PHONE. It’s worth it, if you can get an affiliate manager that will have a conversation with you and you can explain your business, there should be no problem in them approving you. But you have to take the steps necessary, you can’t just submit an app and hope for the best.

3) I didn’t use any infoproducts.

4) I don’t read any business books. My favorite book is Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. I enjoy reading anything Clancy writes, The Bible, a couple graphic novels, and I’m currently reading a Jimi Hendrix biography.

Rix Robinsen asks…

How do u efficently find successfull campaigns. I know about tracking but like how to do u just churn out successful campaigns. How many keywords, how much do u initially invest before u decide to continue or dump. How u decide on choosing a profitable campaign. How good is good enough?

 
Lately I’ve just been picking offers that I know are saturated, but I also know have big profits in them for those who work at it. So my success/fail ratio has been pretty favorable to me as of late. I’ve only really tried running 3 offers this past year, and I had really good success with 2 of them.

Xohaib asks…

How would CPA offers go with viral marketing? Will the conversions look funny?

 
It all really depends on the traffic going to it! A viral marketing effort coming from TeleTubbies.com probably won’t convert on a dating offer, but something viral from a place like Facebook may. If you’re asking “can viral marketing lead to cost-free CPA sales?”, then my answer would be yes.

Jona Raves asks…

How much can you earn only from zip/email submits a day, if you do it the right way?

 
I’ve never ever done zip submits. I guess I would say I’ve known people personally who have done a few thousand dollars a day from zip submits (profit), but I’m sure there’s bigger dogs out there.

Alright keep asking, more will come soon.