Vinny Lingham’s Blog

Bidding on Trademarks:

Restrictions due to language concerns - representation of brand. Consistency with brand strategies both offline and online.
Bidding is being capped in an effort to stem competition. Poor strategy? What about Google Adwords?

Canabalization by affiliates on SEO efforts? Holistic marketing - overall beneficial.

Cookie Duration:Up to 120 days. Based on data gathered from CJ (Click Date, Purchase Date).

80/20 Rule - Risk of affiliates not conducting themselves properly - focus on the big ones with revenu generation.

EPC: Campaign selection, not an ongoing measure - Too much emphasis

Success Metrics for Advertisers: Life Value, Bottom Line (Monthly P & L), CPA, Average Sale, CTR, CR, EPC

Data Feed: Poor quality in general - Advertisers failed to mention. Leading to Search Engine Spam - not impressed.

Software - serious issue for advertisers - closely monitored - Forced Clicks are an issue.

MC Elizabeth Chowlasky just introduced Scott Martin & Kerri Pollard from CJ as the speakers for this forum, Performance Marketing 101. This blog will cover this session.

This is going to be a very long piece - it’s a 4 hour session! Mainly quick notes provided here. If you would like to ask me any questions or need additional elaboration, please email me.

Scott just queried the audience - 50% Publishers, 50% Advertisers. Nice mix.

Scott’s Session

Building Blocks - Advertiser Strategies

Advertisers Directly Market to Publishers who Directly Market to Consumers, therefore, Advertisers market indirectly to consumers.
Foundation Blocks:
Will the advertiser’s business model and product offering dirve online transactions?
Will the compensation plan compel publishers to promote the advertiser? Burn versus earn!
Facets of the Advertisers’s Business Model & Product Offering
Merchandise/Service with broad appeal
Defined Core Business
Competitive Market Position
Execution
Facets of the Advertiser’s Offer
Base Payout
Action: Payment Ratio
Incentives & Bonus Opportunities?
Facets of Publisher Management
Responsive & Consistent
Recognizing High Value Relationships
Education and Motivation
Announcements (New Links, Incentive Programs)
Advertiser - Business Model - Compensation - Publishers - Publisher Management - Creative - Customers
Creative
Fresh, Seasonal, Appropriate to target audience
Rich Media, Advanced Links
Flexibility for Custom Requests
Demonstrated Click Through
Open Communications to Publishers - enhanced relationship value
Sample Program: Killing a Solid Program
1800 Number - Kills Affiliates

10 Steps to a Top Performing Program

Step 1
Is it attractive? (Spin)
10% of a $300 purchase or $5 for a 20 second download
Is is competitive?
Is the commision equivalent to your competition or is yours easier to earn?
LTV of customer?
Are you paying more for Partners who help drive down the cost to acquire a customer?
Step 2
Expand your offer?
Consider implementing a lead ($2 for a free trial) and a sale ($10 for paid subscription) commission.
Assess your referral duration - make sure that it is consistent with your site’s purchasing cycle
Is there a decision making process for the consumer?
Step 3
Identify and reward top performing publishers
Performance Incentives
Bonuses
Custom Creative/Landing Pages
Special Offers (Free Shipping, Discounts, etc.)
Recognition for QUALITY performance
Step 4
Teach your publishers how to sell your products
Let them know what the top selling items are
Highlight the product benefits
Share competitive metrics with them regarding competiting products or services
Train your sales force!
Step 5
Communicate with your publishers
Use an external email address for publishers to contact you directly
Monthly Newsletters
One-to-one communication with top performers
Email inactive publishers who have potential
Update and encourage questions
Step 6
Program Promotion
Within the CJ Marketplace
Update your program settings
Use program listing options
Member Messaging: recruitment
Outside the CJ Marketplace
Consistent Standards (Ensure consistency in pricing)
Home page promotion of your program
Include program information in company newsletter
Step 7
Maintain Creative
Use the EPC stats to see which links are converting best
Update banners for seasonality and timely offers
Take advantage of content and advanced links
Be consistent with branding in your channels
Use advanced links - Teamstore.com e.g.
Advanced and content links allow users to navigate directly to the products and services they are interested in
All links are dynamic and update on the sites they are placed upon as soon as you refresh them.
Step 8
Convert!
It’s your job to convert visitors to customers
Make sure your site is easy to navigate and there is a clear call to action for the consumer
Provide publishers with up to date creative
Clean and easy purchase with progress monitor to checkout
Backcountry.com
Searchbox on homepage
LHS Navigation System (Text)
RHS Browing (Similar to BTB.com)
Site Directory on Homepage
Step 9
Hire a dedicated program manager
They should be able to commit to at least 20 hours a week of account management
Invest in your program and reap the reward
Step 10
Create a quarterly performance plan
Use CJ Building Blocks to review key areas:
Objectives for growth of your business
Offer and compensation
Publisher Management
Creative
Complete weekly action items
Report on Results
Bottom Line:
The online environment is a changing landscape. learn from each other and develop success through sharing good business logic and creative ideas.

Possibilities Online:

Measuring Objectibes
Tracking Events
Adaptability
Accountability

Key Themes:

Objectives
Relationships
Methods and Metrics

“Master the fundamntal elements of online marketing and you will drive results.”

Session Outline:

Strategy
Tactics
Tools

Emphasis on relations - select partners that are loyal, involved, strategic and accountable.

3 Players: Advertisers, Publishers and Consumers

Kerri’s Session

Publisher Strategies, Tactics & Tools:

1. Promotional Methods:
Search
Paid Search
Google & Overture - 90% of Search Traffic
300 Second Tier Search Engines - Findwhat, Kanoodle, Search123, Enhance
Tools:
SID Tracking for keyword level.
BidManagement - Did-it.com, GoToast
EPC = 100 Clicks
Tips & Tricks:

Natural Search
Ranking is dictated by search engines’s algorithms for finding, sorting & listing based on relevancy.
Yahoo, Google, DMOZ
Thousands of smaller directories - check Pagerank first
Tools:
Lynx Viewer - Site compatibility
Site Ranking : PageRank, Alexa
KeywordDensity.com, KeywordCount.com
Tips & Tricks:
Content, Content & more content
Inbound Links
No Keyword stuffing
Like Paid Placement - Niche Terms

Email
Can Spam:
“From Line” - accurately reflects initiator of email
Message includes working return email address in which consumers can decline future emails
Subject Line makes it clear that it’s a commercial advertisement
Scrub list for unsubscribed email addresses
Message must include senders valid postal address
Tools:
List Rental: PostmasterDirect, YesMail, XactMail
List Scrub: UnsubscribeCentral.com
Email Delivery: Topica
Tips & Tricks:
Call To Action
Focus - avoid too many links
Hook: Seasonal Trend, Hot offer, Fad
Email List: Most effective lists are those you build yourself
Test, Test, Test: Send initial email to a subset of overall list (2%) and test different elements - i.e., subject lines, etc

Promotions
Expire
Can be stolen
Coupon sites are making alot money
How does one become the premier destination site for coupons and deals?
1. First Move Advantage: Not only feature any and all promotions, but do so before anyone else.
2. Depend on Others: Establish a forum so your customers can search for and post offers as well
3. Search: Do paid placement campaigns and engage in natural search by building mini-sites for hot selling categories
4. Comparison Shopping

Loyalty
Incentive Sites = Feature a member base in which consumers can ean cash back, points, monies for their children’s college fund, etc. for shopping at a selected loyalty partner - MrRebates.com
Methods:
Ability to negotiate a flat compensation strcuture vs. tiered: In order to pass back a compelling revenue percentage, (minimum of 2%) to your consumbers on a consistent basis, your payout for your performance must be predictive.
Employ all methods of driving traffic: Search - Paid & Natural; exclusive promotions, email, etc.
Tracking - SID
Good Customer Service: Ensure that your consumers’s accounts are being credited appropriately for each and every transaction and their perception is as such

Software - Spyware/Adware
Promotion Notification
Store Notification
Automatic Rewards
e.g. Whenu
Publisher Code of Conduct
Application of Software:
Reward Assurance: Used primarily by large loyalty publishers in which the end user consents to the technology re-directin on their behalf to ensure the receipt of the proposed incentive.
Browser Enhancement: Based on end user Internet behavior, relevant or “in context” information is displayed via banner ads, toolbars, etc.

2. Converting Traffic

Selecting the Right Advertisers for your Business
Featuring them in the correct manner
CJ Account Manager publishers the EPC (Publisher Earnings/Clicks x 100)
Beyond EPC
Advertiser Compensation Terms
Associated Promotions - compelling, competitive, exclusive
Available Tools - i.e., product catalog, keyword link, variety of creatives and sizes, etc.
Site Conversion Review
Registration or Shopping Cart Experience
Toll-Free Number Display
Pop-Ups upon entrance or exit of site?
Search Limitations outlined in advertiser agreement?
Competitive alternatives
Brand Awareness
Site example: GotApex.com? TechBargains.com,
Pick a vertical, become an expert. Build your own email list to push out offers, Vertical Expertise enables one to identify the most compelling promotions, Incorporate keywords where appropriate.

3. Optimizing Traffic
Publisher Control Factors:
1. Final Message
2. Placement
3. Timing
4. Audience

Metrics of Success: Effective CPC (aka EPC)

What do you do when an EPC is below market rate?

Scenario One: Few Clicks, Few Earnings
Review your four areas of control:
1. Final Message: Are you suing the right keywords? Relevant Content? Are you promoting the most compelling products/services that the advertiser has to offer? Fresh Creative?
2. Placement: Where do you rank within the search engines? Should the advertiser be featured elsewhere within your site? Have they been given exposure within an email?
3. Timing: Is this the right time? Summer? Winter?
4. Audience: Is your audience the right one for the advertiser in question?
Scenario Two: Many Clicks, Few Earnings
Before you fire an advertiser, give them an opportunity to address your concerns.
1. Explore increased compensation terms or performance incentives
2. Are there additional tools in the advertiser’s toolbox that could be shared?
3. Request merchandising assistance
4. Communicate: Share successful experiences from other advertiser partnerships.

4. CJ Resources
CJU Online
CJ Wire
“Ask a Question”
5. CJ Account Manager Publisher Demonstration

I’m sitting at CJU on this Sunny Sunday afternoon in Santa Barbara, CA. These guys are going pretty fast - here are some of the notes:

Elizabeth Chalowsky is the MC & VP of Marketing for CJ.

Jeff Pulen is the Keynote Speaker. Ran through a brief history of time in affiliate marketing.

CJ’s Vision:

To be recognized as the leading provider of online marketing solutions because their technology and services deliver superior performance for their clients.

CJ’s Mission:

Advertisers
Publishers
Innovative solutions
People

CJ powers over 47% of top retailers on the web. Top segments are travel, financial services, web services.
Launched over 150 new clients by mid-year.

Commitment to Quality
Pioneered publisher business standards
Updated Code of Conduct
Focused on Enforcement (CJ Network Quality)

Have you ever flown through a thunderstorm? I’m writing this email on board the flight to New York (in a massive Airbus). Last night a bolt of lightning nearly hit the plane - it did make a load bang - scared the sh*t out of everyone, especially Charlene! Fpr more information on the possibilities of this near-death encounter we faced - read this article I found on USA Today Luckily, we escaped unharmed. The plane was grounded at Dakar, Senegal for an extra hour, until the storm cleared.

The chance of dying in a plane crash is something like 81,000 to 1 - a car accident causing your death is more likely at 90 to 1 - but you try rationalising these odds while sitting 32,000 feet in the air! Why aren’t we more rational way up high? Perhaps it’s because most of us are control freaks in our own little way. When sitting in the drivers seat of a car, we feel that we have total control over our destiny, so the statistics don’t apply to us. How short sighted - even I don’t blink at driving 160km/h but shudder at the slightest bit of turbulence (which, incidently, has a 750,000 to 1 chance of downing an aircraft of this size).

What’s my point? Well, for those of your who manage PPC campaign, you know that you’re working with thousands of keywords, each with a unique conversion ratio. So in the first few days, you might get 1 click across 1000 words at $1/click but not convert a single customer. What happends? Well, firstly, you don’t have enough data on a keyword level to determine which keywords are good converting and which ones aren’t. Secondly, you know that it’s statistically impossible to get a 100% conversion rate across 1000 keywords with only 1 click per keyword. Therefore, you should know that you do not have a statistically valid sample size to make any decision regarding the campaign.

So, rationally, the expected outcome of any assessment of the campaign is : PANIC!!! Even though you know that your expectation should be zero, you just spent maybe $1000 without any ROI - most offline marketers wouldn’t even blink - but the savvy online campaign managers want ROI more than anything else. However, this knee jerk reaction is actually more damaging then good (unless your total campaign budget is $1000!). The safest way to launch a campaign with a limited budget is to obviously bid lower amounts for lower traffic volumes, until you have enough data to evaluate a particular keyword or group of keywords, then increasing prices will lead to more volume, hopefully with a directly proportional increase in ROI. You need 2 budgets, 1 for gathering data (test budget) , and the other for the full campaign. Always be prepared to burn the test budget - no burn, no bucks.

Going into PPC with a new product normally means treading on existing campaigns which are established and the existing players know what works and will defend their positions if an incumbent starts taking traffic away. All you are trying to do is probe the system and establish which keywords you want, after that, you can lay on an assault. Remember that you are coming from behind, literally and playing catch-up. The existing players know about the keyword’s traffic volumes, their site’s conversion rates, life value of customer at a keyword level, dayparting, etc etc. You need to gather this information before trying to score the goals.

Vinny’s 3 Steps to PPC Success:

1. Gather information from keywords using a reasonable test budget. The test budget should usually be 20% - 30% of your expected monthly PPC spend.
2. Eliminate poor performing keywords (roughly more than 200 clicks and no conversion - site dependent) and negative match where appropriate, to avoid burning cash.
3. Relax, be patient and remember to follow the numbers, stay within budget, and don’t panic - it’s a number game - apply your strategy and stick to it, provided you are within your limits.

I did also manage to catch ” Walking Tall” on the plane, starring “The Rock” - not as bad as I expected - I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10.

I’m sitting in the departures terminal at Johannesburg International Airport, and I’m literally quite amazed at how far we have come in little more than 5 years. I’m connected via a wireless link (Wi-Fi) to a server which keeps me in touch with the office, more importantly, it allows me to write this blog!

Funnily enough after I wrote the paragraph above, I just got off the phone with Andrew from our office. We’re trying to connect Charlene on one of the business ADSL accounts (which automatically give Wi-Fi Access, as I am using my personal account. One of Mweb’s (the largest ISP in South Africa) operators told us that no business has ever requested Wi-Fi on a business ISP account. I find this so hard to believe it’s frightening. Anyways, enough b*tching.

Trying to pinpoint where the market is going is never easy. We have millions of consumers and businesses doing different things for different reasons on the Internet - (which in itself is a unique and different for everyone that uses it). So begs the questions: How is it possible to keep up and still get ahead when things are changing so quickly…. The focus on this

A) Research - gather as much market intelligence as possible before making decisions. Look at market sizes and growth rates. Also, try to find technologies and services which are ground breaking and innovative.

B) Follow the big guns - FindWhat.com just launched Pay Per Call today, an ingenious move to bring small business onto the web, even if they don’t have a website.

C) Follow product updates and releases - try to figure out what the big picture is and how it will affect existing products and services.

D) Subscribe to many newsletters, and keep reading, but weed out the crap - it will just waste your time.

E) Attend Conferences - I have found that networking and meeting with people is often the best way to find out what’s happening in the market (especially after a few drinks ).

F) Don’t be afraid to admit when you’re wrong, you can’t always be right and the trick is to be right more times than you’re wrong (with the exception of major screwups, obviously).

G ) Probably the most important point: GET DOWN AND GET DIRTY!!! There is nothing more hilarious than people who try to have high level discussion about Google Adwords, for example, and actually don’t understand the detail and have probably never even worked on the backend! This gives you insight into what top companies are doing and also where their mindset is - it’s crucial to understand every element within your space, to the finest detail, if necessary.

My point is (yes, I actually do have a point here), is that in order to innovate and strategize, you need to have your finger on the pulse, from all directions within your space. Try taking a step back and look at the bigger picture, have some vision, and infect those around you with that vision. You don’t always have to be the leader, but make sure that you realise that working and living for a dream is sometimes all our lives are about…so make the best of it. Hours, days and weeks might go by, and if you haven’t bothered so see where you fit into the big picture of your company or small business, you might feel that you have wasted time, but if you’re patient and can go the long haul - it just might be the most spectacular experience of your life!

Now, some feedback from dinner last night at Belthazar :

Meals took to long, food was average, which means that it was overpriced. The ambience was good, however it’s nothing to write home about (no chirps please). For being rated one of Cape Town’s finest, I must say that I was disappointed overall & so was Charlene. However, looking ahead at all the airplane food I’m going to be eating, I’m going to miss last night’s dinner
My plane is boarding soon! I’ll be incommunique for the next 24 hours! This is Vinny Lingham, Live from Johannesburg airport, over and out!