11 Pro Tips to Improve Your Game 1 The Coaches Jeannine Crooks - - PDF document

11 pro tips to improve your game
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11 Pro Tips to Improve Your Game 1 The Coaches Jeannine Crooks - - PDF document

1/27/20 Knock It Out of the Park: 11 Pro Tips to Improve Your Game 1 The Coaches Jeannine Crooks John LoBrutto Mike Allen @Jeannine_Crooks @JPL65 @mta1 2 1 1/27/20 Tip #1 Get the ball rolling: Start with the right program source


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Knock It Out of the Park:

11 Pro Tips to Improve Your Game

1

The Coaches

John LoBrutto

@JPL65

Jeannine Crooks

@Jeannine_Crooks

Mike Allen

@mta1

2

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Tip #1 Get the ball rolling:

Start with the right program source

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Tip #1 – The Right Program Source

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Network vs. In-House – Which should I choose?

  • Interface
  • Technology
  • Minimum payout threshold
  • Program management

Which Network to choose?

  • Support
  • Tracking
  • Interface
  • Features

Don’t just choose Amazon!

  • Lowest commissions/shortest cookie
  • Weaker technologies

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Tip #2 Next man up:

Improve your traffic & ROI

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Tip #2 – Traffic & ROI

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Traffic = People

  • Readers, shoppers, clients, etc. – they are investments!
  • Make sure you own the source(s)
  • Pay attention to their CR (conversion rate) – it’s like a “satisfaction rate”
  • Win with stellar customer support
  • Build your brand for the long game

ROI = Return on Investment

  • Reality: Negative returns (losses) are unsustainable
  • Look for opportunities but “fail fast”
  • The direction things go might surprise you (embrace it if you can)
  • Predetermine “your number” for success
  • Application / Analogy: Goose & Golden Egg…

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The direction things go might surprise you!

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Tip #3 Hit a home run:

Recruit the right partners

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Tip #3 – The Right Partners

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How to Choose the Right Merchant

  • Product selection
  • Product promotions
  • Buying process
  • Technology
  • Publisher communication
  • Publisher support

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Tip #4 Game of inches:

Deploy effective site optimization

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Tip #4 – Site Optimization (Part 1)

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Spring Training: Learn to Optimize

  • Establish what value your website provides to your audience
  • Define your website. Topic based, Promotion based, Product based?
  • Understand why your target audience will click to your website and what

makes them do it more.

  • Understand the market and competition. Look for similar websites and

identify best practices.

  • Add merchants that fit your business. Excites you? How can I promote?
  • Best way to find and drive the right traffic to my merchants? (Price, reviews,

unique offers?)

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Tip #4 – Site Optimization (Part 2)

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The Fundamentals

Traffic

  • Does the traffic convert & is it a match to the campaign?
  • Are you using SEM or SEO and is it profitable?
  • Use Social Media, Email or other non-traditional methods?

Content

  • Add value to the user experience and promotes the advertiser
  • Is it creating SEO relevance and improves organic search results
  • Does it provide the user with a unique benefit and create loyalty?

Review

  • Review the metrics and determine if your traffic is converting
  • Compare your site’s conversion rate to the Advertiser's overall CR
  • Work with Advertiser for the best practices
  • A-B Test different links, products and promos. Develop new ideas.

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Tip #5 Par for the course:

Enhance your toolset (use best practices)

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Tip #5 – Tools & Best Practices

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Affiliate Tech

  • Ultimately about relationships… but technology can help!
  • Marketing calendar
  • Coupon tracking
  • Premium Tools: FMTC, datafeedr, Skimlinks (alternatives), Affluent
  • FTC disclosure (it’s required!)
  • Site: Email newsletter, SSL, uptime, hosting, contact info, about/privacy pages

WordPress Tech

  • Be careful what plugins and theme you use
  • Pretty Links (or Switchy.io or RocketLink.io)
  • SEO (Yoast, SEOPress, Rank Math)
  • WordPress-optimized hosting (staging, backups, updates, support)
  • Global blocks and calls to action

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Tip #6 Full court press:

Maximize your conversions

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Tip #6 – Maximize Conversions (Part 1)

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Watch the Replay

  • How much am I making and who are the top partners?
  • What products or services are selling the most?
  • What is not selling at all or has a high cancelation rate?
  • Understanding where traffic is coming from and where it is going.
  • Is the Product or Service accurately described on my site and frequently

updated?

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Tip #6 – Maximize Conversions (Part 2)

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Move the Ball: Why clicking to co-branded pages/promos are important

  • Validates you as a referral source for the Merchant
  • They are usually the Merchants' highest converting pages
  • It creates SEO relevance and improves organic search results
  • Provides the user with a unique benefit and creates loyalty
  • Custom pages have competitive pricing and unique offers
  • Builds a closer relationship with the Merchant

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Tip #7 The ball is in their court:

Negotiate commission

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Tip #7 – Negotiate Commission (Part 1)

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How do you get paid?

  • CPS/Rev Share – Cost per sale. Paid a portion of sale amount
  • CPL – Cost per lead. Usually paid a fixed amount
  • CPI – Cost per install. Paid when an app is successfully installed.

What is the EPC (Earning Per Click)?

  • What products or services are selling the most & not selling at all?
  • Do I get paid on gross or net sale and what is the validation period?
  • How do cancelations & return rates effect my commission?
  • Am I getting paid on gross or net sale and what is the validation period?

Do you understand how Click-Through, Conversions and Cancelations effect commissions and revenue?

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Tip #7 – Negotiate Commission (Part 2)

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Impressions 25,000 Results CTR - Click Through Rate 4% 1000 CR - Conversion Rate 3% 30 CX - Cancelation Rate 10%

  • 3

CPA - Cost Per Action $200 27 x 200 Publisher Revenue $5,400 Impressions 25,000 Results CTR - Click Through Rate 4% 1000 CR - Conversion Rate 1% 10 CX - Cancelation Rate 20%

  • 2

CPA - Cost Per Action $200 8 x 200 Publisher Revenue $1,600

Example A: EPC $5.40 High Volume (Optimized) Example B: EPC $1.60 Low Volume

Performance dramatically effects Publisher’s Revenue

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Tip #7 – Negotiate Commission (Part 3)

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What is the current EPC for each Merchant?

  • Is the reversal rate (cancelation/ fraud) low or high?
  • Are you seeing higher value orders and only paid a flat fee?
  • What is the current & historical click through rate?
  • What is the current & historical conversion rate?
  • What is the Average Order Value?

Create a compelling reason to increase commission:

  • Develop ideas for a win-win joint venture
  • Established a relationship with the Merchant and discuss their model
  • Share the competitive landscape with your Merchants
  • Explain how more commission can be turned into increased sales volumes
  • Create an opportunity for an exclusive or premium placement
  • Participate and excel in Merchant Commission Boost Programs & Contents
  • Identify commission attribution model and discuss how it impacts you

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Tip #8 Monday morning quarterback:

Use vital metrics

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Tip #8 – Vital Metrics

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Affiliate Metrics

  • Simple vs. Complex? (KISS wins!)
  • Key indicators: Clicks, Pageviews, CR, EPC
  • Affluent – tracks across multiple affiliate networks & programs

Site Metrics

  • Your visitors: Google Analytics, Clicky, Visitor Analytics
  • Server load at web host
  • Page load testing (recommend GTMetrix)

Financial Metrics

  • You have a business!
  • Bookkeeping: QuickBooks, Wave Accounting, Kashoo
  • Tax time – hire an accountant

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Tip #9 Don’t drop the ball:

Communicate and participate

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Tip #9 – Communicate & Participate

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Read merchant emails

  • Specials
  • Contests
  • New products

Reach out to the affiliate manager or program manager

  • Seasonality
  • Most popular products
  • Special opportunities

Raise your profile

  • Special deals
  • Commission bumps
  • Tester

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Tip #10 Hail Mary:

Take some chances

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Tip #10 – Take Some Chances

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  • Always watch new merchant announcements for hot new opportunities
  • Quickly build a website about the “new hot thing”
  • Try out new technologies
  • Work with Merchants that you may not usually engage
  • Accept a lower CPA and work with a lower ROI at first
  • Invest in campaigns that look interesting or unique
  • Share ideas/collaborate/create something new (get NDAs signed first)
  • Get noticed by Top Merchants in your vertical
  • Walk away if not working even if you need it (free up resources)
  • Spend money on great ideas. Try to share costs when possible.
  • Look for co-branded opportunities to cross-promote
  • Is it time to hire help?

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Tip #11 Slam dunk:

Enjoy profitable campaigns

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Tip #11 – Profitable Campaigns

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  • Pay attention to seasonality
  • Consistent Testing and Optimization of your site and business model will

yield the best possible results for your campaigns.

  • Publishers & Advertisers must work closely together to find out what

works and what doesn’t.

  • Each campaign is unique and sometimes you need to walk away and try

again with another partner or partners.

  • Once a working model is developed, duplicate, duplicate, duplicate.
  • Look for ways to scale (without adding more of your labor)

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The Coaches

John LoBrutto

@JPL65

Jeannine Crooks

@Jeannine_Crooks

Mike Allen

@mta1

Slides at go.affgeek.com/asw20

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