As human beings we are naturally averse to risk. We are more apt to try something new so long as the reward outweighs the risk. That’s why “risk-free trials” kill-it in nearly every vertical.
Another great way to lower risk is through strong money-back guarantees. Let’s face it, with all of the scams out there buyers naturally feel vulnerable. In exchange for their hard-earned cash, they take a huge leap of faith every time they buy. They are always wondering whether their purchase is worth more than the current value of their money. During the entire sales process they experience physiological changes. Their heart rate increases as muscles tension kicks in.
As direct response marketers, our job is to sell them RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! Lower their heart rate and ease the muscle tension by offering the best guarantee in your industry. Strong, long guarantees convey confidence in your brand. This gives prospects confidence to buy.
It also throws into question why your competitor’s don’t offer a similar guarantee. As logic follows, if they had an equivalent or superior product, surely they would back it up with a competitive guarantee. Their product must be inferior therefore prospects will feel that it is less risky to try your product.
I suggest you use a 1+ year guarantee. Studies show that short-term guarantees (15, 30, 60 days) keep customers in return mode. They are more conscious of the return deadline and more apt to act on it. Drew Whitman calls this the “beat the clock” mindset.
Are you afraid that you’ll get inundated with returns? Fear not! Studies show that less than 5% of consumers actually cash in on guarantee policies. Additionally strong and long money-back guarantees have been shown to increase conversion rates by an average of 42%.
As direct response marketers, having strong guarantees also helps hedge us from lawsuits. The key is that you have to have systems in place that allows consumers to easily receive their money back when requested. Guarantees also reduce chargback rates.
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
When it comes to outsourcing programming, I’ve struggled with this question for the past few years: “What are the benefits of paying 3 times the amount for a programmer onshore vs. outsourcing it offshore.“ It’s a fair question that deserves a detailed response. Let’s imagine the following scenario:
You have an offer that is ready after months of preparation. You business plan is stacked, your product formulated, manufactured and awaiting shipment in your fulfillment center. Your CRM is integrated. Your site has been tested and passed all quality control tests. You’ve spent months putting this offer together. Design and copy are finished. You just wired your mailer and he’s getting ready to blast your offer to 10 million recipients.
In addition to copious amounts of testing, you have spent a considerable amount of time and money tweaking shipping prices, re-bill prices, colors, terms and conditions, women vs men images, copy etc….
AhhhhhhYaaaaaYaaaaa! — think of all the work that went into the launch preparation. You should allow yourself a second to breathe because you’re finally ready to hit some volume!
The mailer drops to his entire list. Everything seems great but wait….a SQL database error — the first form sublit leads are NOT going into your auto-responder, PANIC ATTACK — what should I do? Its 4:00pm on Friday and where is your overseas development team? Maybe they’ve got a guy waiting up for you just incase you need their services – PANIC ATTACK AGAIN.
So you e-mail, Skype, MSN, AIM, Call — everything. No Answer.
Where does that leave you? Where does that leave the mailer? You’re left on the middle of a thin iced lake and the sun’s starting to come up. Your mailer is going to demand reimbursement at an average EPC and even if you pay, there’s a good chance you lost your traffic source.
I used to run into this situation all of the time and I can’t tell you how many times it stressed me the fuck out — using an overseas firm to handle your programming and development is not a wise decision.
As an advertiser and affiliate myself, I know how important uptime is. On larger scale campaigns 1 hour of downtime means tens of thousands of dollars lost. Even worse, relationships with your traffic sources can get irreparably harmed if you don’t provide them with reimbursement.
Whether to outsource programming or not is a rhetorical question for high volume campaigns. Even if you’re just getting started out, you can find half-way decent programmers here domestically on sites like eLance or oDesk.
But when it comes to scalable projects, you should always utilize seasoned programmers that understand the direct response space.
My boy Mike Salvaggio has a really good programming team. When I have one of those “we need to 100% Get It Done Right projects”, I have his developers hop on it. Their group actually “gets it” — This past year I’ve had Mike’s team work on a wide variety of programming tasks such as setting up tracking links, coding php, changing .html elements on our pages, fixing SQL errors, database reprograming, and .net development.
I choose to work with Mike for 4 simple reasons:
1. They have 30 full-time programmers, developers and designers in house.
2. Mike works 20 minutes away from me so if it’s super important I have the option of dropping in to meet with his team face to face.
3. Since Mike has run multiple campaigns himself as a direct response marketer, he’s one of the few that actually “get it.” That means that I don’t have to waste time that I don’t have trying to explain the project. I just tell him in a few short sentences what to do and he get’s it done right every time.
4. Mike isn’t just your average joe though. He has an extensive background in business development and had in fact graduated from the #1 rated business school in the world, The Wharton School of Business.
On projects I try to indentify the best of the best. i.e. If I wanted a turnkey system put in place for a new business, I’d retain Hersh Sandhoo. If I wanted to have the best direct response landing pages built, I’d have my partner Rob Shibley build it out. When I need rock solid developers, I turn to Mike Salvaggio.
At the end of the day, you get out of your direct response offers what you put in. When you retain the best services to create the best offer, you are positioning yourself for success. Put yourself in a position of advantage from the very beginning by keeping your programming onshore!
P.S. There are a select few rockstar programmers offshore. If you have a strong referral I suggest you use them for your less program intensive projects. I work with a group that is really solid at general programming tasks that do not have a time emphasis on them. They get the job done right every time. But if there’s a major project, I won’t risk it offshore.
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
Over the years my team has ran campaigns across multiple verticals. As my business partners will attest, I am a nut when it comes to split testing. Even when a landing page is killing it I like to split test with new copy. We split test the split tested split tests…;)
Time and time again I have found that the more specific the benefits are in the copy the higher the conversion rates.
Decide for yourself. Which group is more compelling:
“Greatest In The Universe”
“Lowest Price In The City”
“Best Quality”
or
“10 out of 10 Customers Surveyed Found Our Hot Dogs Taste Better Than Any Hot Dog They’ve Every Tried”
“Our Prices Are 35% Lower Than All Competitors”
“Made Of 100% Pure Louis Vuitton AAA+ Cowhide Leather Imported Directly From Italy”
The idea is to entice consumers through exact imagery. By creating a specific image in the minds of your audience you rent space in their heads. The more specific the imagery, the more exact of a picture you draw. With powerful benefits, the only way they’ll evict you from their minds is through purchasing your product. Become the itch they just have to scratch!
Generality doesn’t hold weight with people. It is like saying “How do you do?” when you have no intention on inquiring whether your friend is feeling better.
Moreover human beings are the best spam blockers in the world. By nature we are suspicious creatures. When someone tells us their service is the best in the world we think:
- Then why in the hell haven’t I ever heard of it!
- This person is full of shit!
- If I feel like having balls today I’m going to tell them to fuck off!!!
Specificity is master!
P.S. Look, Direct Response Marketing is an exact science. Once mastered it is the safest investment in the world.
I don’t invest in stocks, bonds, or companies that I do not control. I invest in direct response campaigns and subsequently beat the market manifold year after year.
A lot of people have reached out to our group wondering how we consistently churn out pages that convert much higher than any page they’ve run before. They want to know the magic secret? The “secret” is simple. Pick up as much literature as you can find on Direct Response Marketing. Read all of Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, and Drew Eric Whitman’s books and watch their seminars. Join direct response associations. Start religiously reading AdAge Power150 blogs.
Spend countless hours building and testing campaigns. Network with other direct response marketers. Live, Eat, Breathe direct response marketing. If you find yourself getting hungrier and hungrier as you learn more, then keep on learning.
Most importantly don’t get frustrated. This year I saw one of our clients launch a campaign and miss his rebill metric by less than 5%. Mind you there was an issue with fulfillment which affected his cancellation rates big time. Instead of optimizing the entire campaign and then relaunching, he up and quit. After 1 test that virtually broke him even! Obviously he wasn’t cut out for Direct Response Marketing.
On the other hand one of our clients hit $47.5 million in revenues last month. They’ve had more pitfalls than most, yet their love for Direct Response Marketing has fueled their growth. Having started in 2005, this group has grown from 3 employees to over 400. They live and breathe direct response.
What about you? Do you live and breathe direct response marketing?
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
It’s really easy to get caught up in the comfort zone in marketing. We discover something that works really good and then voila, we capitalize off of it. There’s nothing wrong with this except many of us tend to, well, you know, get a little complacent.
One great way to go out there and broaden your horizons is to start attending new conferences. I can’t even begin to tell you how refreshing it is to see new faces and discover interesting new technologies.
The 2 largest conferences I attend every year are Ad Tech and Affiliate Summit. Here’s a list of new conferences my group is attending:
All of the above conferences are ABSOLUTELY worth checking out.
If you know of any good conferences that I didn’t list please let us know!
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
Right now I’m hanging out back at our hotel room in NYC!
Welcome Rick Del Rio as my partner blogger here at DirectResponse.net. Rick Del Rio is a seasoned online direct response marketer. He is also the founder of Limelight CRM.
Nearly everyone in the online direct response space is a client of Rick’s Limelight CRM. The value in the form of knowledge that Rick brings to DirectResponse.net is priceless. Welcome aboard Rick!!!
Please leave a comment welcoming Rick to the team!
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
Believe it or not, there’s still a debate as to whether long copy is better than short. Most of the naysayers of long copy are under the belief that no one reads long copy anymore. The theory is that people are “too busy” these days and there’s “too much other media” floating around.
Although this argument sounds logical, it’s complete BS. Long copy is king. Gary Halbert, the Direct Response Copywriter King, once wrote, “Copy can never be too long, only too boring.”
Thousands of studies have shown that long copy converts higher than short copy. That’s why online direct response offers sell highest when you link to a presale page. Presale pages come in long form – that’s where affiliates do all the selling. BTW, it is proven that the more of an “editorial” look your presale page has, the higher the reader engagement. Logic follows that the higher the reader engagement, the higher the CTR to your product landing page.
It’s a fact that true prospects will read through a lot if not all of your long copy before they buy. Make sure you write a long enough copy to gain your prospect’s attention, create interest, stir up desire, and motivate them to take action. Telling isn’t selling – so don’t just fill the copy up with a bunch of non-sense. Pile on the benefits of your product, add compelling pictures so they can see it, throw on every testimonial you can find for social proofing, and add guarantees/warranties/trials – anything that lowers risk.
A lot of the people that believe short copy converts higher are under the false impression that consumers will actually read all the copy before they buy. That is total nonsense! When consumers read through long-copy ads, if they’re ready to buy after reading the first paragraph they’ll fill out the call to action box and buy. They don’t have a compunction to keep reading. NO! They’re sold right there on the spot.
On the other hand, some consumers will do as much due diligence as possible before they buy. That’s why you can’t go wrong with long copy. People that are instantly gratified will read a paragraph or two and buy. Other’s will read all the way through, feel that they’ve done their due diligence, and then buy. Just make sure to have multiple call to action buttons throughout your copy so you can make it EASYYYYYYY for people to buy.
In Cashvertising, Drew Whitman pointed out an interesting study. MarketingExperiments.com conducted several tests to see what impact copy length has on a Website’s conversion rate.
RESULTS: Long copy outperformed short copy in all three of their tests.
Tell us your experience. Is long copy converting higher than short copy?
P.S. Research has shown that fewer, longer pages converts higher than having the copy spread out across multiple pages.
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in business is to be very, very selective on whom you work with. Bringing on the right talent makes the difference between winning vs. losing in competitive industries. Once in the door, keeping your talented employees happy is even more important. Smart companies will do whatever it takes to bring on and retain talented employees. i.e. Look at Google, who recently paid Neal Mohan $100 million dollars to stay on board vs. take a job with a competitor . The didn’t pay him this just because Neal is a nice guy It was a strategic move that gives them an edge on their competition.
CRITICAL: Hire the right people from the very beginning. It’s a lot more expensive to fire someone that you’ve spent a lot of time grooming than it is to just keep them on. The more time you invest in your staff the more dependent you are on them. That’s why it is critical to hire the right people from the very beginning. Your investment in them will pay dividends over the years.
In the past 10 years I can think of 5 monumental failures in employees I hired:
- LaKeesha and Serse: Do I need to say anymore? A brother and sister crew whose work product was terrible. After I fired them they broke into our office and stole a whole bunch of shit. When Serse’s little faggot thug wanna be friend tried cashing a check they stole (from the middle stack of our business checks, pretty slick huh?) from us the bank reported him and they got arrested.
- Big J: Big J was a nice guy and smart programmer. But damn he had some serious psychological issues. Moreover he was a fat slob. During the day he’d pound 4 to 5 Monster Energy Drinks and wolfe down a pizza at a time. Ironically he liked to bad mouth people behind their backs. Wooh!
- Melissa: Melissa was a pretty, ambitious girl. The only problem is that her ambitions were not backed by a work ethic. She spent more time discovering ways to cheat the clock than she did working.
- Frank: Frank made a few million dollars a year at Wachovia prior to the banking collapse. Frank was so institutionalized in corporate America that he could just never adapt to the fast paced environment of Direct Response Marketing. Moreover, Frank was convinced that he could enter this industry and automatically receive a 7 figure salary – just because he succeeded as a banker. Sorry to break up your delusions of grandeur Frank, not only will you never make 7 figures in this industry, you won’t even be able to maintain a job at the lowest level. Best get back to banking buddy!
5. Eric: Eric was a dear friend that wanted to start an online business with me. Shortly after launching the business I found myself doing all of the work. I’ve chosen the wrong partners in the past. One of the smartest guys that I know in Direct Response, Rick Del Rio, brought up a really good point the other day. When Rick looks for joint ventures, he likes to find a match where a 1+1= 10. Exactly Rick!
(Oh btw – Rick is my new blogging partner here at Direct Response. We’re going to announce that news next week. It’s a 1+1= 10 scenario. If you guys don’t already know Rick, I assure you that you’ll love him. He’s a genius!)
When you hire the right people from the beginning, you are putting yourself and the talent you bring on in a win/win situation. You will spend a lot of money and time grooming your new employees. This new talent will make you a very wealthy person as you will make them wealthy.
Surround yourself with top talent and your businesses will flouring. Here’s how I bring them on top talent:
1. Create An Ad That Attracts Talent
Top talent is attracted to ads that are geared toward them. My colleague and friend Hersh Sandhoo created a title that brought in a sales rep that made him $400,000 in profits in 1 month. The ad was titled:
Headline: Sales Superstars Only
Body: Don’t even call unless you are a truly awesome salesperson. You have a burning desire to succeed, are extremely customer oriented, highly motivated, and never say die. You develop deep and meaningful rapport with your clients, and communicate with piercing persuasiveness. You believe you can be the best at almost everything you do, and you can prove it.
Don’t call unless you fit this bill. Excellent commission structure, unlimited income potential and great opportunity for upward mobility. Typical superstar range is $275K to $450K/year. Build an empire within our fine and progressive company. (COMPANY NAME) is the top online (WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES) that specializes in XXXXXXXXX. We don’t hire backgrounds, we hire top producers. Email your resume to XXXXXXXXXX.
This ad pulls in people that are ultra confident in themselves. If they have any hesitation they won’t proceed further.
2. Place Ads In Top Directories
Spend the extra money and place the ad in the expensive directories. My favorite are:
Monster.com
CareerBuilder.com
There’s also agencies that hire top talent on your behalf. We also place ads on CraigsList.com. You’d be surprised at some of the talent we find there.
3. Screen Resumes Very Carefully – Be Picky, Be Picky, Be Picky
Closely vet resumes. Look for longevity in past jobs, awesome achievements, and EGOS! Yes, EGOS! Find people that take dear pride in their work. Top talent would rather die than fail. They will work 7 days a week to be on top.
Hand pick only the best of the best resumes. Do NOT waste your time on scheduling interviews with anyone that does not completely WOW! you on their resume.
4. Interview 1 Via Phone – Feel The Talent Out
The idea here is to feel the talent out. You want people that are 100% confident in themselves. They cannot fear rejection. At the end of the interview tell them that they’re rejected. If they give up there then they’re not cut out for sales. If they counter back with a strong rebuttal then let them know you’d like to setup a face-to-face interview. Here’s how we do it:
Be friendly and build rapport. “Hi [Firstname], how are you?” type questions to put them at ease. Then start the official interview process:
Okay let’s get started. Don’t give me the standard interview answers, you don’t know what I’m looking for, this isn’t your typical interview, so the best thing for you to do is to be honest so we can discover if you will be happy here.
To let me understand what shaped you I’m going to ask you unusual questions. So if you try to guess what you think I want all you are going to do is fail the interview so just tell me what you really feel.
1) If you were 5 years old and told your mother you want to be an actor what would your mother say to you?
Most actors starve, don’t do it.
Okay, but you better think of something else to fall back on, so take accounting.
If that is what you want to do I’m sure you’ll be successful.
2) What would your father say?
3) What types of things in your childhood shaped who you are?
4) Tell me about some of your biggest challenges in life, not necessarily work related, and how you dealt with them?
5) Tell me about the toughest sale you ever made? Be specific.
How many times did you call, then what did you do, what happened next, what was the crunch, how did you close it.
6) Tell me about 3-4 things of which you are really proud of?
7) What are you most proud of? Why?
8) Tell me about a time in your life when you surmounted difficult odds.
9) Have you practice or overachieved in any other areas of discipline, like sports, music, specialized knowledge, etc. Tell me about, how long.
10) Can you give me any other examples where your personal determination took you through winning?
11) How would your best friend describe you?
12) Of all the people you know who has the most faith in you? Why?
13) What are some of your best memories?
I’m going to ask you to rate yourself on a number of key superstar and sales traits.
(You’re looking for people that give themselves 9+ across the board.
Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 for superstar traits, with 10 being the highest.
Ego drive – ambition
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Ego strength – confidence
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Ability to face rejection
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Empathy – establishing rapport
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Time management
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Strategic thinking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Market knowledge
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Self-improvement
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Getting around gatekeepers
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Rate yourself on a scale of 10. 10 being the best salesperson you’ve ever known.
Qualify – find need
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Build value
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Create desire
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Overcome objections
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Closing skills
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Follow up skills
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Cold calling skills
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Cold calling discipline
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
14) Who is the best salesperson you’ve ever met? Why?
15) If did not answer themselves for question 14 – what is the difference between him and you?
16) What was the last self-help book you ever read? Or tape you listened to? Or which seminar you went to?
17) Of all the people in the world, past or present, who do you admire the most? Why?
18) What are your top 3 personal goals? What are you doing right now to achieve them?
Review Resume
Why did you leave…. (last 3 positions). What was bad about it? Were you unhappy, why?
Tell me about a disappointment or disagreement with a boss and what happened? Then what? Add then?
Name 2 weak points of your previous boss? How did you deal with this?
How do you handle stress? What is your technique, give some examples.
Name two times when a boss criticized you and why? What was the result? How did you deal with it?
Close of Interview: YOU MUST SAY THIS!!
You seem like a nice person_____________. But I only have one opening and I need a real superstar. While I am sure you’d do well in many other endeavors, this is a very competitive business and I doubt your particular skills and personality would hold up in this business.
How they react to this rejection is CRUCIAL. If too angry it is a red flag; if too meek and appeasing then they won’t be a good salesperson no matter how good they looked on paper or on the phone.
If you like you can throw them a bone:
“When you hear me say that how does that make you feel?”
We are looking for someone to be like honestly, I think it is your loss or question why we don’t think he is a good fit, etc. We want someone who responds to rejection as a challenge.
If bad response: “Okay [Firstname], wish you the best. Take care.”
If good response: “[Firstname],that is the type of response we are looking for. You handled yourself well. Let’s schedule a time for you to come in and meet one of the owners.”
5. Interview 2 In Person – Check Grooming & Aptitude
Have a face to face meeting with the prospect. Traits to look for:
Do they give off a good vibe / gut feeling?
Were they able to establish rapport with you?
Are they well groomed?
Where they on time?
Tasks to conduct:
Have them fill out application for the position that includes permission to conduct a background check.
/li>
Get a copy of their driver’s license and social security number
Find Out Just How Smart They Are:
Have them complete the two online assessments. Set these tests up prior to their visit to the office.
I use HireSelect.com. They have top notch aptitude / personality tests. You’d be surprised at just how crazy someone is through their aptitude test. Find out whether your prospect has a proclivity toward equivocation. In other words, is she straight up or full of shit?
6. Strong Background Check
Make sure you verify everything on their resume. Actually go through the painstaking time to verify all of their references. What are people saying about them? i.e. We had a guy that made it to this point in the process. When we called his references they all said he did great on the interview but was a horrible employee. They talked about his addiction to cocaine and how he would be a superstar if he could just kick that habit. Wow! We were 2 inches away from hiring him.
Next submit a background check. We don’t preclude people that have made mistakes in their lives. i.e. If someone had a DUI in college or was caught smoking pot, they’re not going to have a mark against them. But if someone had a history of theft or fraud, we’d absolutely mark them off our list.
When finished create a review assessment. From the batch of candidates that make it past every checkpoint, only choose those that score the highest.
7. Make An Offer
Make your candidate an offer that will put them in the best position possible. You want your top talent to grow and flourish within your organization.
Don’t get greedy here. I’d prefer to see our talent enjoy a higher percentage of profit than we receive from them. Your business should be the vehicle they use to succeed. Look at it this way: They’re the head and you’re the supporting body. The more they succeed in your organization the more you succeed.
By genuinely looking out for their best interests they’ll become very loyal to you. Make sure you are 100% upfront and honest with your talented staff. If you dangle a carrot in front of them, make sure it is a reachable carrot.
8. P.S. Identify Top Talent In Your Industry.
Then do whatever it takes to strategically align yourself with that talent. Always look for what Rick Del Rio calls the 1+1=10 relationships.
Fortune 500 companies pay for moles in competitors companies to lure their employees away. Google, Microsoft, and Twitter will lie, cheat, and steal to pull in top talent. You should too!
P.S.S.
Never Hire:
- Friends
- Family
- Favors (no matter how much you owe someone)
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Put Your Competition Out Of Business. Work With Direct Response:
#1 Direct Response Designers & Copywriters
#1 Direct Response Campaign Managers
#1 CPA Media Buyers and Mailers
NOTE: Direct Response takes on campaigns on a case by case basis. Please reach out to us and we’ll either provide you with resources or, if the fit is right, Direct Response will develop your campaign with you.
Last night my go-to designer asked me how I bring in so many wealthy clients. Over the past 3 months I’ve sent him a few dozen leads that have turned into large accounts for him. Unlike most of his other referring partners, nearly every single lead I’ve sent him has millions of dollars at their disposal.
Why did all of my leads convert to accounts? Simple, they listened to my advice.
So then how is it that I was able to catch their ear – something that is not easy to do with wealthy people? Afterall, it’s the rich that are the most cynical of all human beings…That is until you make it into their inner-circle of trust. Once you find yourself on the inside, wealthy people are quick to open their purses up.
1. Spend Time Developing Rapport, But Know When to Jump Into Action.
Last year I sponsored DKs Think Tank with a web designer friend of mine. My goal was right in line with my designer friend, to make new contacts and engage in business. Our strategies were much different though.
On day 2, my designer friend started pitching packages to the attendees of this event. Apparently he wasn’t following Sun Tsu’s philosophy of ”know yourself and know your opponents.” By pitching these guys without establishing rapport, he effectively turned them off. The Think Tank attendees are wealthy internet marketers. Unless they trust you they won’t engage in business with you.
During the event I had fun and got to know the big names that attended: Jon Volk, Zac Johnson, Ian Fernando, Eric Enge, etc. When the trip was over we exchanged numbers/emails and promised to keep in touch.
A few weeks later I started dropping emails to say hi and thanked them for such a great time. Slowly over the course of the year we started bouncing ideas off each other…Letting things happen more naturally, I now have multiple projects underway a lot of these guys.
The idea is to establish genuine rapport with smart, wealthy people PRIOR to doing business with them. Once you have a good relationship then, and only then, should you consider taking things to the next level.
It’s sad but my designer friend is really losing a ton of business to our new go-to designer, who has landed well over 6 figures in business from us in the past few months. Wealthy people only do business with people they trust. Establish that trust and new doors of opportunity will open up to you.
2. Never sell. Make Recommendations Based On Logic Instead.
Wealthy people don’t like to be sold. They like to receive help and guidance.
When I recommend a product/service to one of my wealthy clients, I do so furtively. The Soft-Sell always trumps the Hard-Sell with the rich. And make sure you back your recommendation with sound reasoning. Wealthy businessmen tend to act more on calculation than impulse, hence their wealthy.
3. Make Their Lives Easy. Do the Grunt Work For Them.
Wealthy people are extremely busy. Moreover they’re used to people doing the grunt work for them. Your job is to make doing business with you EASYYYYYY.
Yesterday I boarded the biggest affiliate in the world directly with one of my capital intensive clients. We expect to run close to 4 million dollars in traffic during our first month. To make the whole process seamless I:
- created the affiliate account for the affiliate. I manually plugged in his name, email, address, etc.
- took the compliant presale page for our client and loaded the propietary affiliate links for my guy.
- I sent the presale page to his lawyers to review along with the testimonial affidavits, clinical trial studies, and other materials that we anticipated would get tested.
- we ran a pixel test and confirmed it fired.
- we loaded his wire information on the account that we have on file.
Essentially, I am making this affiliate’s life super easy. In return when it’s time for him to set my client’s offer to live, all he’ll have to do is turn the traffic on. Voila! Everybody makes money.
4. Persistence, Persistence, Persistence – Without Crossing The Line To Annoyance.
Ok, continuing the story above. The advertiser client in this case spends over $30 million a month on media. They are extemely litigious and nearly impossible to work with.
For the past 5 months I have worked extremely hard on their online business model. I’ve worked with their lawyers, managers, and even owners in various facets. Through these relationships an opportunity arose to start taking over areas of their online marketing. They needed full transparency and full compliance with all regulations – at their size they can’t afford to play games.
I worked directly with their lawyers on a staunch agreement where I’d introduce them diretly to the top 2 largest affiliates in the world: 1 does display the other does email. After a dozen rounds of changes to the contracts, I finally had a rock solid contract with strong non-circumvention/exclusivity language. Game is now on and I intend to run thousands of leads a day to their business.
99.99999% of people in this world would not have spent the time I did on this account. I had an end goal in mind and wanted to prove to this group that I aggressively pursue my clients best interests. My client is now in an AWESOME position and is 100% satisified with the level of transparency I’ve provided them. We are now gearing up to hit a few thousand leads a day at a massive CPA. Our margins per lead are humble, however we plan to make the majority of our profit on the volume.
5. Leverage Associations To Reduce Risk.
Capital intensive businesses are not interested in working with new companies. They want proven solutions that add real value.
The most powerful form of advertising via B2B is through positive associations. Connect yourself with the who’s who in the industry. It takes time to develop relationships, and even if you’re not doing business with someone, still develop a connection.
I develop connections by discovering ways that I can add value to other’s businesses. With large players, I offer free services to get my foot in the door. That’s right, we’ll offer assistance for free just to add value. The fact of the matter is that the more value you add to others, the more others feel obliged to add value back to you.
Once you’ve created a solid network, leverage it everyway possible. i.e. The other day we were talking to a new client who mentioned another person we know in the industry. We quickly added that we’ve done a lot of work with that person. What did the new client do? As soon as we got off the phone they called to verify the work we did. Once verified, they called us up and we won the contract.
The person that we work with that got the call ended up reaching out to us. He noted that the new client called him to verify that we were the real deal. “Of course we told him that you guys rock!” In return he thanked us for saying such great things about his group. See how it works
6. Only Discuss Costs If Asked. Then, Bluntly State The Cost As If It Is Nothing To Them. If Costs Are Not Brought Up, Send An Invoice For Work Performed.
The rich have a nose for people that are only seeking their company for the sake of money. When discussing business deals, act as if money is a non-factor. Since you are offering a service that is greater than the present value of their money, they’re more than willing to pay you. If you start bringing up money as an issue, a red flag will fly up.
One of my business partners called me today wondering whether $6,250 was too much to charge one of our clients. He was wondering whether he should ask for $4,000 instead.
I quickly corrected his thinking – the client that we’re working with made over $100 million dollars last year. I asked my partner why he was thinking so small! In his defense he didn’t know how much money the client made last year – which then brings up the point that he should have done his due diligence. Ugh, I’ll stop there.
7. Shoot High. Wealthy People Are More Apt To Pay Large Invoices Vs. Small Invoices.
Movers and shakers don’t have time to deal in wasteful activities. Big businesses need to make big moves. By the same token, they like to make the most bang for their buck.
If you have a service that will create them real value, then don’t be afraid to sell them a huge package. You’re creating value for them. In return they’ll gladly pay a large invoice.
This month I had a more difficult time getting a $1500 invoice paid for then I did on getting a 7 figure spend greenlighted. UNREAL!
P.S. Wealthy people love to talk about their success and about themselves. When you converse with them, focus everything around their “exciting” lives. They won’t be able to get enough of you and subsequently you’ll win their business!
It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.
If you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one.
If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Everyday during the weekdays I take an hour break to let off some steam at the local meathead gym. There’s a lot of gyms in the area, such as YMCA and Planet Fitness – eh not really my type of hangout. When I workout, I like to get down in draconian like meat head joints.
The dungeon I work out at is ran by a meathead. I am convinced his purpose is to attract other meat heads. Hence the bathrooms haven’t been cleaned in weeks, he turns the AC off during the daytime, and the only music playing is hardcore metal and trance. Hell yeaaaa!!! Time to work out!
About half-way through my sets last week I heard a loud crash. Apparently this 6’4″ steroid freak decided to throw a 10lb. weight across the gym. He was upset about this other guy stripping the bench while he was in the bathroom.
Well the dude that stripped the weights was a medium-sized local skater with sleeved out tattoos. He seemed a little embarrassed by Steroid Freak’s actions. Skater Boy walked over to Steroid Freak and apologized for stripping the weights.
I’m not sure what Steroid Freak said but within second a shouting match erupted.
Now you may have never been to West Chester, Pa., but there are some crazy ass white boys here. Skater boy started to walkaway from Steroid Freak, then suddenly turned around and cold cocked him. Baam!
Steroid Freak looked like Brock Lessner in his last fight when he got his ass kicked by Cain Velasquez.
Skater Boy caught Steroid Freak off guard. Steroid Freak swung back and hit Skater Boy. Skater Boy didn’t notice and continued to wale on Steroid Freak.
The fight lasted about 20 seconds, which is pretty long for most fights. A few members of the gym broke the fight up…And I shit you not, Steroid Freak started crying and ran out of the gym. LMFAO!!
A lot is to be said of what Skater Boy did. Winston Church once said: “Never, Never, Never Give up!” I say: “Never, Never, Never mistake kindness for weakness.”
Skater Boy was very respectful to Steroid Freak. Steroid Freak mistook Skater Boy’s kindness for weakness.
Some of the most powerful people in the world wear a smile on their face all day long. They’ll shake your hand, smile in your face, and pat you on the back. If you cross them the wrong way you’re dead.
Bruce Lee, Pablo Escobar, and Ronald Reagan were all gregarious fellas. Those that mistook their kindness as weakness quickly learned otherwise.
When dealing with the largest affiliates in the world, I’ve noticed that they’re all really humble and nice.
It’s the guys that shoot us emails proclaiming about how bad ass they are always seem to turnout as nothings.
What are your thoughts on those that have loud barks? Does their bite match their bark?
Buying media comes at a huge risk. If the campaign doesn’t backout, you’re out real money. Buying media via CPC/CPM is an exact science that few have mastered.
What many people don’t know is that large ad networks such as ValueClick, Engage, and Pulse360 do in fact work on a CPA basis – on a case by case basis that is. There are many advantages to working directly with the ad networks:
- full transparency on campaigns.
- instant access to consumers.
- no bs that comes with dealing directly with affiliates or affiliate networks.
Personally nothing is more aggravating than having to rely on someone else to bring you sales. By working directly with the ad networks, you in effect become the affiliate. (Most affiliates buy their media via ad networks.)
Here’s 3 tricks to getting your foot in the door with an ad network on a CPA basis:
1. Bring them a well capitalized campaign with a proven track record. This tactic only works on campaigns that are well capitalized. If you have a smaller budget <200k a month, then you’ll need to rely on affiliates or buy media on a CPC/CPM basis.
2. Have your presale pages ready and tested. Ad networks are completely risk averse so you’ll need to have 100% compliant presale pages. You’ll need to back every claim you make via testimonial affidavits, clinical trials, etc. So make sure you lawyer is geared up and ready to talk to their lawyer.
3. Price your CPA higher than what affiliates are paying via CPM. Affiliate marketers work on arbitrage. If it costs an affiliate $30 to acquire a customer (that’s what they pay the ad network) and the affiliate receives a $45 CPA (payment from the advertiser), then all you have to do is price your CPA to the ad network above a $30 CPA. Make it large enough for the ad network to want to assume the risk of running your offer on a CPA basis. Afterall, ad networks are buying traffic directly from high volume websites such as Weather.com or WhitePages.com. An ad network’s profit margin is made on the spread between the person buying the media and what they’re paying for the media.
From there you can enjoy lower CPAs, higher volume, and avoid the hassles of working with affiliate networks/affiliates.
P.S. Buy going directly to the ad networks, you cut out 2 middlemen – the affiliate network and the affiliate. Hence your profit margins are much higher.
P.S.S. If you discover the best placements you can cut out the 3rd middleman, the ad network, and buy placements directly on the websites you’re targeting with
Say whaaaat? Today is my last b-day before the big 30! I can’t believe how old I’m getting. After all I still play a lot of video games, watch zombie flicks, and indulge in decadent revelries. Am I really only 1 year away from 30?
I guess so and you know what, getting old is AWESOME! At 29:
1. Seasoned At Internet Marketing.
I’ve hit it hard for over a decade. Through years of sacrifice and hard work, I have mastered every facet of internet marketing - from the affiliate side to the network side all the way to the advertiser side.
Instead of having to spend months getting projects off the ground, it now takes weeks. And for those projects we launch, nearly every single one is an instant success.
Also, over the past 10 years I’ve developed an extensive rolodex of the best of the best resources in the internet marketing space. These groups make us look great and allow me to have a turnkey lifestyle!
2. Well Established Ventures.
By reinvesting most of my profits back into internet marketing, I’ve acquired some key intellectual properties. i.e. The Direct Response Industry – a multi-billion dollar a year industry just here in the US. For a measly $900, I bought DirectResponse.net. The blog is now bringing in over 6 figures from our referral partners – in less than 6 months.
DirectResponse.net now ranks organically for commercial intent keywords such as: Direct Response Campaign, Direct Response Services, and Direct Response. Alone that brings in over 40,000 visitors per month.
Last month I received an offer to buy the domain for $150k. I declined. Blogging is a hobby and I couldn’t care less if the blog ever made a penny. All monies made off the blog is just icing on the cake!
3. Dream Family
Through multiple battles I won the war and now have full custody of my daughter, Alexis. I am also engaged to a brilliant woman who is also blessed with goddess like beauty!
All of my free time is spent with my girls. Also, I have 28 first cousins in the area! Ooops, forgot the rents. Love you guys, just no more advice mom!
4. Solid Friends & Business Partners
I surround myself with people that are better than me. I have true admiration for my friends and business partners. It’s funny because friends and business seem to cross paths when you get older. i.e. A friend of mine that is a lobbyist recently sent business our way. A few months prior I introduced him to new clients.
5. Dream Office & Job
I’ve always wanted to have a nice office. Last year I leased a building in the heart of West Chester, Pa. The space needed A LOT of work. The ceilings were painted black, there was 15 year old commercial carpeting, the lighting was antiquated, and the walls were painted orange.
But the location was right downtown. Moreover, the space was perfect!
Here’s the final results:
6. Giving Back.
Here in West Chester, Pa., 99% of people have never heard of “direct response marketing” or “affiliate marketing.” The acronym CPA is better known here as Certified Public Accountant.
That’s good for local businesses that have the right IT backbone. Traffic is ultracheap and competition online is nonexistant. i.e. In West Chester a DUI attorney can buy the top ranking positions for commercial intent keywords for $.35. Standing diametrically opposed, those same keywords cost $30+ in LA.
This summer I’m giving back to the community. The owner of a local art business is struggling to make ends meet. She is a widow that has invested every last dollar into her business. I believe in her business model and know for a FACT that with the right marketing she could make some really good money.
My team is building her a direct response campaign. We’re putting together landing pages/copy for her right now. When we’re finished we’re going to start geotargeting traffic to her site and get her ranked organically.
We’re also unleashing a big social media campaign around her business. She’s going to have a Wine/Cheese night where she’ll exhibit popular local artists. The idea is to attract traffic to her location and make the business “fun.”
End Note:
Life is a marathon. During the race we all fall. Some of us get up and brush it off. Other’s have a harder time.
If you’re working hard to take things to the next level and come across a spead bump, don’t give up. During this journey I’ve had my fair share of struggles. i.e. Awhile back I made a huge investment that went belly up. I literally lost my office and had to work from home for 6 months. I’ll never forget packing up the office furniture during a blizzard. I had my mind set that things would turnaround, and turnaround they did!
I think the biggest difference between those of us that excel at internet marketing and those that don’t is tenacity. You’ve gotta have a burning desire to succeed.
What are your thoughts?
p.s. Going through a young midlife crisis – hence the MoHawk at the top of the site
That’s why a lot of professional athletes use “performance enhancing” supplements. In tight races, sometimes you just need that “edge.”
I believe in doing whatever it takes to win. i.e. Back in college I did the frat thing. We would go out to bars and start problems. Our goal was to find trouble. The second we found someone that was looking for the same thing, I’d take preemptive action and throw the first punch. Simple philosophy: he who threw the first punch gained the competitive advantage.
Winning today means beating out our competition. My group has a win-at-all-costs attitude and never accepts defeat. Direct response marketing is war. Whether you’re an affiliate or advertiser, or both, you want every advantage possible. There’s always someone looking to one-up you. That’s why you always stay one-step ahead of your competition.
So, do you want to know where affiliates are running your offer at? Are you wondering where your competition is buying their media? Enough rhetorical questions already! Here’s how to find out:
Use What Runs Where to find the exact placements people are buying. WhatRunsWhere’s technology allows for high level searching that makes tracking and viewing competitor’s ads a breeze. They support several thousand banner ad companies, and include both flash and traditional image ads.
WhatRunsWhere allows you to also search the domain and ad text. Additionally WhatRunsWhere allows you to search the text of the landing page behind the ad. Their service is extremely useful, that’s why most “super affiliates” want to detonate a bomb inside the WhatRunsWhere HQ. You can literally discover all of the esoteric placements of elite affiliates/advertisers. Good stuff!
NOTE: Any fool can make a million dollars at direct response marketing online. It takes a wise man to keep it. When you’re building out your campaigns, pay close heed to regulations. Prior to launching a landing page, our clients either have in-house counsel review it for compliance measures or use a firm like Venable. If you’re starting out and don’t have thousandsof dollars to spend on legal, then I suggest you take a paralegal course online.
It’s important to understand the law. I went out and picked up a business law degree and a paralegal certificate. I leverage this knowledge in every one of our campaigns. Once you understand regulations, it’s so easy to build out compliant pages that kill it!
When building out campaigns you need to understand the nuances that can get you in trouble. i.e. If you are using testimonials, there are a number of disclosures that you must have in place. If you turn a blind eye to this stuff, and become big enough in the space, chances are that you’ll lose all of your earnings to an FTC lawsuit. How fun is that?
You can pick up a paralegal certificate from the comfort of your home. Here’s the course I took. Super fast lessons and a lot of great info!
FACT: Prior to buying online, 28% of consumers conduct their due diligence on the brand via search.
FACT: 72% of shoppers that conduct their due diligence and find negative reviews choose not to purchase.
FACT: 94% of customers that do not recognize charges on their billing statements search online for the company.
FACT: 43% of customer chargebacks come from customers who discover negative reviews on a company or brand.
FACT: Having a good online reputation will significantly increase revenues while simulatously decrease chargebacks.
Check it out:
Proactiv: Go to Google and type in “Proactiv”. The entire home page returns positive results. The Google suggest brings forth positive results.
Joliese Tan: Now go to google and type in “Joliese Tan” Kabam, complaints in your face. Yea yea, we all know this was a Dee offer, so brand management was never really an interest.
Joliese Tan is out of business. Proactiv is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars. BTW, if you type in “Proactiv Scam” there are thousands of complaints that come up. Most consumers don’t find these complaints because:
1. Google doesn’t suggest them.
2. The home page of Proactiv searches has nothing but positive references to the brand.
So how did Proactiv obscure all of the negatives while Joliese tan did not?
They either retained a top PR firm such as Reputation Changer or they hired some serious SEO gurus.
When brands gain national recognition, search volume online increases accordingly. Out come the wolves:
- Affiliate marketers create fake review sites and attempt to poach leads searched for online. i.e. An affiliate marketer who ranked highly for Proactiv will make a ton of money by bashing their brand. All they have to do is say: “Proactiv sucks, this is why, click here to try a trial of this other skin care product.” Examples of affiliate sites that are notorious at this practice are:
- Unreasonable Customers that forget to cancel or demand refunds where they’re not warranted will seek revenge online. It takes less than 10 minutes for these people to annihilate a company’s brand.
How do they do it? Easy. They anonymously post on sites like RipOffReport.com, Scam.com, ComplaintsBoard.com, etc. and within minutes achieve ranking online. With a modicum of SEO know-how, they plugin exact match keywords and achieve ranking.
- Companies have a huge financial incentive to tarnish their competitor’s brands. Trust me, it happens every day. Have you ever gone to the affiliate summit? LOL! It’s like a fucking soap opera. There’s 200 “CPA NETWORKS” that all do the exact same thing. Everyone says that their the best and offer “the highest payouts” and have the best “exclusive offers.” Then if you ask about another network, they’ll have some dirt to spill. Barf!
At any rate, if you have an offer online and are doing volume, make sure you retain a service to monitor your brand. By dominating the search results for your brand, you’ll make a helluva lot of money!
Hey guys, here’s a glossary of terms that are industry specific. For many of you these terms are common knowledge. For everyone else I hope this clears up any ambiguities you may have! I am going to update this list over time, here’s what we have for now. If you are looking for a definition on a term please let us know and we’ll list it for you:
Abandons – People that visit your site, fill out the call to action box, but do not purchase. Direct Response marketers often use the user information from the abandons to retarget their message via email, phone, and direct mail. This tactic, when used correctly, will convert a number of those abandons into customers.
Above The Fold – When you first land on a website, “above the fold” refers to the part of the screen that you naturally see without having to scroll down. This is often the best place to place banners as everyone that lands on the page will have the banner right in front of their eyeballs.
Advertiser – An individual or company that has a direct response offer for sale. The advertiser pays for traffic to his website, whether direct from the traffic source or through an affiliate.
Affiliate/Publisher – Affiliates/Publishers are individuals/companies that push traffic to advertisers. They are compensated by a bounty, which often comes in the form of CPA, CPL, or CPS.
Backing Out – When an offer is profitable to the point where the campaign is working.
Bounty – The amount of money affiliates get for every lead they bring in on an offer.
Compliance – In Direct Response marketing, it’s important to pay close heed to FTC, Visa, International, and individual State regulations. These “rules” are referred to as “compliance.”
Conversion Rate: The ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions based on subtle or direct requests from marketers, advertisers, and content creators
Content Curation: The act of finding, grouping, organizing or sharing the best and most relevant content on a specific issue. It is important to offer original perspective and insight expected from an “industry expert”.
CPC (Cost Per Click) – You pay only when someone clicks on your ad. This cost varies depending on how competitive the keyword is that you’re targeting. Some keywords we bid on cost .50 per click. Other’s cost up to $20.
I’ve found that some of the more expensive keywords are worth paying for. Focus on targeting commercial intent keywords that give you the highest conversion rate. Then calculate your EPC and determine what your profit margins are.
You can calculate CPC by:
Total Cost Of Traffic / Total Number Of Clicks
CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) – You pay for a set dollar amount for every 1,000 people that view your add, whether they buy or not. Most people buy their media on a CPM basis.
On some display networks, such as Google’s ad network, you have the option to pay per click. Hence your ad may receive a million impressions, but you only pay if someone clicks it.
Most display networks, such as Value Click and EngageBDR, charge on a CPM basis.
CTR (Click Through Rate) – The number of times someone clicks on your ad vs. the number of impressions. On CPC search engines, a higher CTR means a your ad will achieve a higher position at a lower cost. Your goal is to achieve the highest CTR possible.
You can calculate CTR by:
Clicks/Impressions x 100
i.e. (10 clicks / 1,000 impressions) x 100 = 1% CTR
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) – This is the cost to you for every sale you generate. CPA is a great way to define your profit margins early on in a campaign. If you’re selling a product for $200.00 that has a 50% profit margin, then you know that anything below a CPA of $100 is profit. The lower the CPA, the higher the profit you pay.
I always try to negotiate good CPAs. Did you know that large ad networks will allow you to buy traffic on a CPA basis vs. a CPM basis? That’s right. If you have a good offer and solid budget, everything is negotiable.
CPS (Cost Per Sale) – The cost that it takes in advertising to generate a sale.
CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) – This is the average dollar amount each customer is worth. There are a number of factors to include, such as how many times did they reorder/get rebilled, how much are you earning from the data monetization per client, and how much business did they refer.
Crawling the web: Search engines send out algorithms throughout the entire internet. The point is to determine which sites should rank where.
Direct Response Offer – An online offer that has elicits a direct response from the consumer. Many pages have a strong call to action above the fold.
Double Opt-in: A user has subscribed for a newsletter or other email marketing messages by explicitly requesting it and confirming the email address to be her own. This is usually done by responding to a confirmation email sent to the email address in question.
EPC (Earning Per Click) – EPC shows how much money are you making every time someone clicks on your ad.
EPC is what most advertisers/affiliates base their earnings off of. In the past it was conversion rates. EPC is an indicator of conversion and is also an indicator of what the click is really worth.
Geo targeting: In geomarketing and internet marketing is the method of determining the geolocation of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other criteria.
Impression: An “impression” is a single view of your ad. If 10 consumers view your ad, then you received 10 impressions.
Inbound Link: Inbound links send visitors to your web site from outside web pages. Generally, this is seen as a good thing. The greater the content on your site, the higher your inbound link rate will be.
Keyword Research: Researching identified keywords to determine which phrases will provide the most search traffic.
Inventory: The banner and contextual space available for advertisers on websites, along with the number of impressions available. Here is an example of inventory available on MSNBC.com:
Lead – A lead is a new customer/contact that you brought to an offer. A lead can come in the form of a new customer that purchased a product or just a person that filled out a form.
Media Buy – This is where an advertiser/affiliate places a banner ad on a website. “Super Advertisers” (coined by Peter Nguyen) often buy ads on Quantcast top 1,000 websites. The more traffic the better. Other “Super Advertisers” often buy banner placements on thousands of niche sites at a time.
TIP: Buying in the members section of sites where customers paid via credit card has higher conversion rates vs. buying run-of the mill.
TIP: Buying remnant traffic is a good way to get traffic inexpensively.
Negative Keywords: In search engine advertising, “negative” keywords are used to filter words that are unrelated to the product or service being advertised but are in other categories that have the potential to generate impressions and clicks that are not relevant to the search query.
Offers: A product or service that’s for sale.
PageRank: A Google patented method for measuring page importance or relevance; ranges from 0 to 10, 10 being the best. PageRank is a Google link analysis algorithm and should not be mixed up with high rankings.
Paid Search Marketing: Paid search marketing is the process of gaining traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. It is sometimes referred to as CPC (cost-per-click) or PPC (pay-per-click) marketing, because most search ads are sold on a CPC / PPC basis.
Pop Under Advertisements: An ad that displays in a new browser window behind the current browser window.
The pop-under ad is the sneakier relative of the pop-up ad. While pop-up ads are often shown (and closed) instantly, pop-under ads linger behind the current browser window, appearing only after other windows have been closed.
PPV: PPV stands for pay-per-view, a type of ad campaign that is usually used with pop-ups, pop-unders and interstitial advertisements. Advertisers only have to pay when their ad window appears on a user’s browser. This allows for a more high impact advertising campaign.
You can advertise via PPV through sites like TrafficVance.com. TrafficVance.com has software that people download free and unbeknownst to them, adware is installed. From there TrafficVanace.com allows advertisers to deliver popup and popunders.
I am not a fan of PPV traffic as it is “interruptive marketing” and doesn’t work as well as other methods out there.
Presale Page: A presale page is a website that consumers are directed to after they click on an ad. This pages is used to create interest in DR offers and provides links to those offers. Presale pages often attempt to sell multiple items in one instance through a multiple step process, commonly known as “step 1″ and “step 2.”
Publisher (Ad Network Version): A website that sells advertising space in the form of banners or contextual.
Publisher (Affiliate Version): Affiliate marketers are often referred to as “pubs” or “publishers” because they “publish” offers, which means they advertiser offers.
Remnant Space – Unsold advertising space that is usually available at a discount. You can buy this space super cheap.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM):
The process of gaining traffic from or visibility on search engines. The phrase is also sometimes shortened to “search marketing.”
SEM is an umbrella term that covers two broad areas:
Gaining traffic through free SEO efforts
Gaining traffic through paid search advertising
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such asGoogle, Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.
Search Engine Result Page (SERP): the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keywordquery. The results normally include a list of web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the Keywords have matched content within the page. A SERP may refer to a single page of links returned, or to the set of all links returned for a search query.
Social Media Marketing:
Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites.
Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”
Vertical: The category or type of affiliate campaign you are running. For example: dating services, vacations, health care, etc.
My “Aha!” moment as an advertiser was learning that EPC is key, not only to understand my side as an advertiser, but the affiliate side, as well. This EPC formula is what affiliates use to find out how much money they will make for every click they send to an advertiser (or the product-owner).
EPC = CPA x CR
(Earnings Per Click) = (Cost Per Acquisition) x (Conversion Rate)
For example, let’s say we are selling a product and for every sale we will pay $10 to an affiliate. An affiliate accepts these terms and sends over 100 clicks, 3 of which lead to the purchasing of our product or service. Since 3 of the 100 clicks converted, we know CR is 3% and the $10 per acquisition is the CPA.
EPC = CPA x CR
EPC = $10 x 3%
EPC = $0.30
So the advertiser would have paid $0.30 for every click sent over. It is important to understand that affiliates will generally look to make a 50% margin, which means in this example the affiliate would be limited to paying for traffic worth $0.15 a click.
It also imperative to understand, as an advertiser, that affiliates are on a quest to find the highest EPC possible. If an advertiser is offering a $0.30 EPC, like in the example above, and another advertiser is offering a $0.50 EPC for the same sort of product, why wouldn’t the affiliate send all of their clicks to the second one?
Many advertisers rely heavily on affiliates for large amount of traffic to their site. This amount has a direct correlation to our ability to have the best EPC within their industry or niche. In fact, your entire emphasis if you want to become a successful advertiser should be these two main things:
1) Getting the highest CPA possible.
2) Getting the highest CR possible.
Think of your CPA as your backend – it’s how much it costs to run your business. And think of your CR as your front end – this is the customer’s experience on your website to want to purchase.
The reason why I am treating both CPA and CR as equal is because when it comes to EPC, they are. It does not matter whether you increase the CPA by 50% or the CR by 50%, either way; they both affect your EPC equally.
For example, let’s say our company has a CPA of $20 and a CR of 2%. Our EPC at this point is $0.40. But what if we wanted an EPC 50% higher than $0.40, which is $0.60? We could either increase our $20 CPA by 50% to $30 or we could increase our 2% CR by 50% to 3%. Those adjustments would affect EPC equally, and to an affiliate they are exactly the same. Below the formulas represent this important concept:
(EPC x 150%) = (CPA x 150%) x CR
(EPC x 150%) = CPA x (CR x 150%)
Now that we understand that CPA and CR have equal effects, what can we learn from this? The first thing I want you to think about is margins. If we have a CPA of $20 and are making $38, then our margin or what we get to keep is $18. If, however, we increase that CPA to $30, then we are not left with much. You could however have the exact same effect by just increasing your CR from 2% to 3%.
Many advertisers make the mistake of not putting enough emphasis on their conversion rate because they just focus on their CPA. But you need to focus your time on the one you can increase most in the same amount of time.
There are really two main things you can do to increase your CPA.
1) Increasing your profit for every order
2) Increasing your margins that you are putting on the market
How can you increase your profit? Well one way is just to increase your price. However in doing this, you might lower your CR. The easier thing to do is lower your costs. You can do this by buying things wholesale, working directly with manufacturers and/or building relationships with partners.
There is also not just product cost, but overhead and overall costs, as well. The guys with the leanest businesses, who have reduced start-up and ongoing costs, will eventually become the winner. They have higher margins and therefore can offer a higher CPA.
Another way to increase profits is through up-selling or cross-sellingother products. When your customers are buying two or more products, rather than just one, it helps to increase you’re ATV (Average Transaction Value).
How can you increase your margins? You may have heard a lot of offline business people putting 10% of their revenue into marketing. I’m not saying you can’t do that, but some of the biggest advertisers, direct response or affiliate marketers, are using 20% – 40 % or more of their revenue for marketing.
The Internet can be sometimes a pretty expensive medium to acquire customers. However, the bright side is that you can get a ton of more users through the Internet. Not just from your neighbourhood or general area, but nationally or even worldwide.
But because there is so much exponentially growing traffic, the Internet is a very competitive medium. That means that the ones who are putting out higher margins into acquiring customers are the same ones taking the bigger market share of their online niche.
For example, let’s say your ATV is $30 and you were using 10% of your revenue to attract new customers. This would give you a CPA of $3. Let us also say that you have a CR of 10%, giving you an EPC of $0.30. If you increased your marketing margins to 30%, the result would be an EPC of $0.90. This is a significant jump and will result in you being able to take a much more significant market share. You can’t be too stingy and not put enough of your budget into marketing. A lot of advertisers don’t realize this and are therefore unsuccessful in their campaigns.
Every aspect of your website, from your landing page to your checkout, can help increase that extra 0.1%. This is just as important as increasing your margins or lowering your costs when it comes to increasing your EPC. To illustrate this, research some of your biggest competitors and find some out the best practices that are working for them.
You want to try and level the playing field when you’re first entering a market. I regularly research what my competitors are strong in. If they have an immaculate site, then they will have a high CR. If they don’t, then they likely have a high CPA. In order for you to compete, you have to match them or have similar numbers or outright beat them.
There are hundreds of various traffic sources out there and not all advertisers know all of these sources. Keep in mind that you have to constantly be optimizing your site to increase your CR, because your competition will. You need to study your competitors’ trends or upcoming competition, and see if they are changing. Continue testing to stay on top of your market. Strive to have the highest CR and CPA and ultimately the highest EPC. In the affiliate and Internet space, EPC is king. The one with the highest EPC will have the most traffic and generate the most revenue.
3 Key Factors
Volume (EPC)
I have shown you that having the highest EPC will provide you with a large share of your market. What I want you to ask yourself is how big your market really is. You may have a high EPC but if your market is too niche or specialized and without any volume, you may not get the traffic to generate revenues you want.
Being niche is important, but the biggest money is in tackling the bigger markets with verticals like diet, weight loss, teeth whitening, and business opportunities (i.e. how to make money programs). The fact is that most Americans want to lose weight, have healthier skin and whiter teeth. You want to be somewhere in between to start.
When you cover a broader market it gets you higher volume. If you are too niche or specialized you might not have enough traffic. Keep that in mind as you are analyzing which type of market you want to get into.
Cost (CPA)
If you are going into a market without a direct source from a manufacturer or distributor that your competition may have, then it will be difficult to compete on a CPA basis. Whether you are selling a product or have some type of online service, you must establish necessary contacts. I have a rolodex of importers and exporters, direct manufacturers and business connections that I’ve built over the years. Such connections can come from all over the world and they can help you reduce your costs. Finding cheap ways to start your businesses, phone lines, mailbox, virtual offices, and so forth are all important factors, as well.
Conversion (CR)
When doing competitive analysis, make sure to look at your competitor’s conversion rate. If they have a phenomenal brand and attractive site, then you must ask yourself, can I compete or get a similar conversion rate? You might be able to, but you will need a great designer and programmers to build your brand.
The two best ways to increase your site’s conversion are focusing on these two things: 1) increasing motivation (you should read Robert Cialdini’s Influence to learn the 6 Principles of Persuasion) and 2) removing friction (your site’s usability and addressing all your customers’ major concerns).
I did a 2-hour presentation at Gauher Chaudhry’s (creator of PPC Formula and PPV Formula) underground seminar in Toronto last November, 2010. I am making the seminar available only for a limited time for Direct Response readers. Be sure to check it out here!
“The Key To Every Organization is Organization” – Rich Gorman
When was the last time you went through your closet to pick out an outfit and thought to yourself:
- Can’t wear that shirt, it’s too small.
- That one won’t work, it has a stain on it.
- Maybe this will work, although it’s a little outdated.
Yesterday I found myself at an impasse. For the past few weeks I’ve worn a variation of just a few outfits. It’s worked well except now it’s finally warm enough to wear polos. And that was the problem. All of my polos were either antiquated, stained, or too small. Does anybody remember Bugle Boy or Stussy? LOL, I’m not even gonna go there!
So I finally did it. I went through my closet and pulled every single piece of clothing that was suspect. Six trash bags later, I realized that my elaborate wardrobe was merely a few nice outfits. You wouldn’t believe some of the clothes I pulled – stuff dating all the way back to freshman year in high school!!!
At any rate, my fiance and I headed over to the King Of Prussia mall and spent a few thousand bucks on new clothes. The end result: a fully optimized closet. I’ll save a few minutes every morning easily identifying an outfit for the day. That means my life is just a little more optimized and efficient today than it was yesterday.
Which brings me to the point of this post. It’s the little things in life that add up, not the big things. Try adding up all of the little expenses you’ve had in the past month. You’ll find that they add up to more than big expenses like car payments or mortgages.
How can you cut back on wasteful activities/expenses while simulatneously improve your efficiency/bottom line?
Easy: Six Sigma Your Life!
Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. As of 2011, it is widely used in many sectors of business, although its use is not without controversy. i.e. A lot of bonehead union workers in Detroit lost their jobs to machines. These machines handled the processes more efficiently and didn’t have the ability to file workers compensation claims. Hence workers lost became obsolete.
Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization (“Black Belts”, “Green Belts”, etc.) who are experts in these methods.
Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction or profit increase).
Advertisers use Six Sigma all the time. We identify areas to cut costs, from fulfillment to manufacturing. At the same time we optimize campaigns. i.e. One of our clients setup fulfillments centers in France for his teeth whitening campaign. French traffic costs a few dollars to convert and has a very high retention rate. By fulfilling in France his shipping costs are reduced by 40%. French customers receive their whiteners within 3 days vs. 7-10 days via US international shipping. Refunds and chargebacks are reduced. End results: Lower Costs and Higher Profits.
You can apply Six Sigma principles to every aspect of your life. The end goal is to make more money and have more time via efficiency. I work with Webmation on all of our business systemizations. Their group has turnkeyed my entire operation while dramatically improving my bottom line. Are you applying Six Sigma to your life?
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Crush Your Competition. Build Your Own Direct Response Campaign With Us.
It was a strategic move that gives them an edge on their competition.
Last night my go-to designer asked me how I bring in so many wealthy clients. Over the past 3 months I’ve sent him a few dozen leads that have turned into large accounts for him. Unlike most of his other referring partners, nearly every single lead I’ve sent him has millions of dollars at their disposal.
Life is all about competitive advantages.
My “Aha!” moment as an advertiser was learning that EPC is key, not only to understand my side as an advertiser, but the affiliate side, as well. This EPC formula is what affiliates use to find out how much money they will make for every click they send to an advertiser (or the product-owner).
