Top 5 Signs of an Unhealthy Affiliate Network

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Monica Vo

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Affiliate Summit

Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of top affiliate networks come and go. Many of them rode the lucrative wave of countless Acai Berry, Resveratrol and E-Cigarette offers. Affiliate marketers made millions of dollars until the FTC came in and started investigating the legitimacy of the claims about their products and billing practices to consumers. Some affiliate networks got caught up as the middle-man between “shady” advertisers who couldn’t pay for the traffic they received, leaving many affiliate marketers unpaid and seeking restitution. So, how do you as a marketer avoid this scenario from happening to you?

You can take immediate steps to protect your income by monitoring for signs that your affiliate network may be failing. Keeping the checklist below in mind can help you to determine whether your affiliate network is going to be there for the long haul, or if you could become a victim of a failing affiliate network.

1. Is the Affiliate Network Consistent with Payments?

Strong affiliate networks will pay you as agreed on a consistent basis. Payment delays of 48 to 72 hours are usually a good indicator of problems with their advertisers and potential cash flow issues. If other affiliates are complaining about not being paid on time, it might be time to jump ship even if you are. Many networks in the past have failed because they acted as banks, paying affiliates before they were paid themselves. Don’t be a victim.

2. Is Compliance a Priority?

Does your affiliate network have a compliance team or at least one person dedicated to compliance? Are they asking you the tough questions about how you are promoting their offers? Sure, you grumble anytime you hear the words “website audit” or your affiliate manager asks how you are promoting their offers. But if they are not doing these things, they aren’t nearly as concerned about compliance as they claim. And if they are not taking appropriate steps towards compliance, you may want to reevaluate working with them. Compliant practices and compliant offers will help to ensure the longevity of the affiliate network and your relationship with them.

3. Is the Affiliate Network Auditing Its Buyers and Advertisers?

An affiliate network that is concerned about compliance is also concerned about the types of offers that they are promoting. An affiliate network that is promoting offers that are non-compliant is usually looking for a fast buck. We all love money, but when the FTC or any governmental agency starts looking at the CPA offer and determines it to be non-compliant, people will be left unpaid. Do yourself a favor and take a look at the offers for compliance issues proactively.

4. Is There A Level of Professionalism at Your Affiliate Network?

We all love to be wined and dined, invited to fabulous parties and flown to exotic places as a reward for our hard work. But if your affiliate network is more interested in selling you the dream of “making you millions” and throwing money around at expensive parties, you may want to evaluate their priorities as a company. A professional, efficiently run network will be able to pay you higher margins translating to more money in your pocket. Money being thrown away on frivolous extravagance can cause a cash crunch, which in turn can leave affiliates unpaid. Look for a company whose affiliate managers treat you in a professional manner and care about their business, as well as your own. That is the company likely to be there for the long haul.

5. What is the History of the Affiliate Network?

People in the affiliate industry form new affiliate networks every year. Some of these companies are good, but others are just a new name for a company that went out of business, had legal issues, or stopped paying people. Make sure to research the company history and its founders well before getting started.

Don’t get left empty handed as the result of another affiliate network going under. At the end of the day, it’s your business and your income on the line!

Image Credit: Affiliate Summit

Mobile Fraud On The Rise

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Nicole Wintzer

Automated traffic via bots has been a part of the Internet from the very beginning, but until recently mobile sites were largely left alone.

A new report from Solve Media has alerted the online advertising community to the fact that a growing amount of traffic to mobile sites, in fact up to 29% of all traffic is fraudulent.

In that report, 14% of all traffic was confirmed as coming from bots. Is it worth noting that this is still quite a bit lower than bot traffic to regular sites, which can be as high as 40%.

Mobile website owners are understandably concerned because most fraudulent traffic is coming from regular PCs running bot software which is coded specifically to appear as if it were a mobile device. Hackers have found that mobile sites are often an easy back door into otherwise secure sites, because most mobile sites have little security.

Interestingly enough, nearly 71% of the fraudulent traffic cited in the report originates in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Fraudulent mobile traffic is a big concern for anyone advertising on the internet because more and more advertising dollars are being spent on mobile sites, so advertisers and website publishers will need to work together to come up with effective ways to differentiate legitimate from bot traffic.

Image Credit: Julien GONG Min

The Importance Of Your Online Reputation

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Chris Liss

Just how important IS your online reputation? In the age of online networking and connectivity, your online presence is the new business card that harnesses your persona, both personally and professionally.

So why should you be concerned with what your online reputation says about you? Because the Internet is the new phone book and encyclopedia, all rolled into one extensive collection of information that anyone can access from anywhere.

Think of your digital presence as an extension of yourself. Your online profiles are in fact some of the most important assets you own, because they are far more revealing than a business card or 30 second ‘elevator speech’ ever could be.

Nine out of ten people will search for you or your business online immediately after meeting you or being referred to you, to see what else they can find out about you. Those search results may include comments or reviews from people who have interacted with you or done business with you. Are they positive or negative?

The content you post and how you interact with others online directly reflects on you and your online brand and will directly impact your search results. Keep in mind when creating content that all social media platforms are not alike. Each network has a different focus, so it’s good practice to follow the intent of that particular platform. For instance, on your personal Facebook account, your connections will expect to hear about events happening to you as a person. On your business Facebook page however, postings should reflect content that will be engaging and interesting to the people who follow your company.

What if your online reputation is damaged? You’ll have your work cut out to fix it, but it needs to be carried out methodically and diligently. You could hire a digital marketing agency if the job is too big for you to tackle, or go the DIY route.

Always remember to monitor your online reputation and take care to cultivate the online presence you wish to present. Maintaining the appropriate tone and frequently posting relevant content will positively impact your reputation. Much like meetings in person, digital first impressions are EVERYTHING!

Image Credit: Ed Yourdon

What Concerns Americans Most When It Comes to Personal Finance?

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Allan Caravello

Money is something that a lot of people worry about, and for good reason in this economy. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) and the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) recently released their Financial Literacy Survey for 2013. The survey reveals what concerns Americans most when it comes to personal finance.

Financial matters

This is the seventh consecutive year for the survey, which does a great job of showing the trends in Americans’ attitudes and behaviors related to money matters. According to the survey, the six financial items that concern Americans most include lack of financial savings, inability to meet financial obligations, health insurance, credit, job loss and foreclosure.

Alarmingly, 57 percent of respondents stated that they worry over a lack of savings. Major concerns included not having enough savings in case of an emergency and not being able to save for retirement. The data suggested that having money for emergencies took priority over retirement planning. The survey also indicated that approximately twenty-six percent of U.S. adults are concerned about servicing their debts, including credit card debt, student loan debt, monthly vehicle payments, as well as existing medical debt. According to the survey, 25% of American adults worry about health insurance, specifically either not having enough coverage or not having any at all.

Credit access and credit scores are also a big concern. In fact, over 19 percent of the respondents indicated that credit matters are at the forefront of their financial concerns. Additionally, more than 42 million Americans (18%) indicated they were worried about losing their jobs. On a positive note for the housing industry and general economy, foreclosure was listed as the least of Americans’ worries with only 4% of respondents expressing concern about losing their homes to foreclosure. The survey did find that 20% of Americans indicated they have no financial worries, a strong indicator of consumer confidence. This could partially explain why we’ve seen consumer spending trend upwards recently.

In addition, nearly 80% of Americans agree that some form of credit counseling or financial advice would benefit them. This statistic is further supported by the fact that over half of the respondents indicated they would give themselves a grade of C, D, or even F on their knowledge of personal finance. Clearly many Americans feel they could use some help in this area and are looking for guidance.

Image Credit: 401(k) 2013

Online Banking: How Risky Is It Really?

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Mari Woods Holt

Online Banking: How Risky is it Really? How long has it been since you last looked at your mobile phone and tried to access an email or log in to some app? The most likely answer is probably just a few minutes ago.

We all depend on our smartphones for things like checking our work emails and social media sites, searching for things on the Internet and doing day-to-day things like checking our bank accounts. However, is logging into your bank account really as safe as you think? Is security even something you think about when logging onto your bank account or some other secure website that contains your personal information? If not, this might be a good time to start thinking about it.

We have all heard the recent news that cyber attacks are on the rise, creating legitimate concerns that accessing sites containing your personal information could lead to your security being compromised. According to a recent article from American Banker, cellular networks understand the increased risk of hacking, so they are now adding encryption to their voice and data services. This will add another layer of security for those accessing secure information through a mobile device.

The problem with this is that many of us are accessing these sites away from home and utilizing public Wi-Fi networks at our local establishments. This creates an even higher risk of our information being hacked. Because of this increased exposure, banks have to educate consumers on the potential “issues” of utilizing Wi-Fi in public, since this is not nearly as safe as utilizing your own cellular network or private Wi-Fi.

The question soon becomes whose problem is it? Is this an issue for the banks to resolve? Are they obligated to protect their customers’ information no matter how those customers are accessing their account information? OR is this something that will continue to pose a problem, forcing consumers to become better educated on the topic of personal information security?

Whether it is via smartphone or even snail mail, consumers need to pay attention to protecting their personal information. Banks and public institutions that have access to our personal information can be held responsible only to a certain degree. It is ultimately our job as educated consumers to safeguard our personal information.

Image Credit: Intel Free Press

Top 3 Tips for Using Twitter for Lead Generation

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Nick Taylor

Are you using Twitter to help your company generate leads? If not, you may need to reconsider your lead generating strategy as Twitter already has over 200 million users, some of them the very people your company is trying to target. If you read our previous blog post on Lead Gen Using Social Media, then you already know that Twitter can be a powerful business tool, one that helps organizations not only generate leads but keep up on the latest industry news and monitor their competition.

We present to you our top three tips for utilizing Twitter to drive leads for your business:

1. Use hash tags and Twitter lists.

Hash tags sometimes get a bad rap, mostly because some people overuse them, but there is no better way to keep up on trends and the latest breaking news, while tweeting with a purpose. Think of it as a way to find exactly what you’re after, while anyone reading your tweets will be able to find you. When tweeting make sure you use hash tags, as this will increase the chances your tweet will be “heard”. Lists on the other hand are a custom collection of similar Twitter feeds that keep you informed about a specific group of people. Using both hash tags and lists will allow you to stay informed and share valuable information that is guaranteed to position you as an expert within your industry.

2. Take advantage of Twitter advertising.

This can take many forms including promoted tweets, which are targeted to a specific audience and reach many more people than regular tweets do. While targeting and promotion are nothing new in the world of online lead generation, they have taken on a 21st century spin with Twitter. Now you can quickly and efficiently target specific groups of people with information about products or services that may be of interest to them. Make sure to include a Call to Action (CTA), so that those who are interested can quickly and efficiently download your content, give you their contact information or even directly purchase your product or service.

3. Utilize Twitter trending topics.

One of the greatest features of Twitter is that it allows you to see trending topics, i.e. those that are currently the most talked about and thus getting the most attention. While you should never “hijack” a feed for the sole purpose of pushing your product or service if you don’t really have anything of value to add to the conversation, you can increase the exposure of your tweets exponentially if you use this feature wisely.

We hope you will find our tips useful! If you aren’t already following us, be sure to check out LeadPile on Twitter.

Image Credit: Andreas Eldh

Top 5 Tips To Prevent Fraud in Lead Generation

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Oscar Reynoso

Affiliate marketing has long been a popular and lucrative career for many. It is a global industry that just about anyone can get into, make money and earn some fairly high margins. Some will do this the right way, while others will take shortcuts and willingly commit fraud. Unfortunately, catching fraud is a complex and difficult task that takes a lot of patience.

Below, we present to you the top five tips that can help you to prevent fraud in lead generation:

1. Do your homework and ask for references from your publisher.

This will immediately let you know how long the publisher has been in the industry and weed out the fraudsters. Get to know your affiliate before going into business with them and thus exposing them to partner relationships that took you months or years of effort to build.

Fraud Lead Generation

2. Investigate incoming traffic and be proactive.

There should be checks in place to verify 3^rd party submissions, IP addresses, geolocation, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, emails and other field validations that pertain to the particular vertical you work in. All of these data points should be thoroughly vetted before you pass the lead on. It’s preferable to do these checks upfront for your partners, instead of relying on them to do it themselves later.

3. Consider hiring a company that specializes in lead fraud detection.

This option makes especially great sense when your company doesn’t have the manpower or the resources to do these types of checks in house. One of the best companies that we’ve dealt with in this sector is Fraudlogix.

4. Talk to your buyers

The most important thing you can do is have an open conversation with your buyers about the process and how you can tackle lead fraud by working collaboratively. Fraud has become so commonplace that daily conversations between the lead seller and buyer are critical. The sooner you can spot fraud, the better.

5. Talk to your competitors

Although we compete against each other, we’re all in this together! If we don’t let each other know about the con artists in our industry, they will simply continue to hop from one provider to the next. Also worth considering is that if we don’t police ourselves, we run the risk of a market collapse or government encroachment, which could potentially lead to overregulation of our industry.

It is our sincerest hope that these tips will help you take a bite out of fraud! If you have any to add, please comment below.

Image Credit: Los Amigos Del Fuego

Using Social Media to Drive Leads

Posted on February 25, 2013 by LeadPile Marketing

In the last decade, the use of social media to drive leads has become standard business practice. To anyone in the business world, this should come as no surprise since businesses have fully embraced any method by which they can gain an advantage. However, for those of you who do not know which social media platforms are best at driving leads, below we present a list of the most effective ones.

1. LinkedIn

While LinkedIn does not necessarily receive as much press coverage as certain other social media platforms, that does not mean it is any less effective than its more widely known counterparts. In fact, LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for driving business, especially for B2B companies like LeadPile, as it allows companies to both expand their customer base through networking and develop those leads into long term relationships.

2. Twitter

Twitter is currently the biggest name in social media. However, ask any company that has been using Twitter (guilty as charged!) to drive leads and they will tell you that it is not just a place to find out what your friends are doing. Twitter can be a powerful business tool, one that can help organizations not only generate leads but also keep up on the latest industry news and even keep close tabs on their competition.

3. Facebook

The other big name in social media is the ever controversial Facebook. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Facebook is an essential communications tool for any business (including LeadPile!). By using this ubiquitous site, a company can not only attract a lot of attention, but also give its customers and potential customers a good idea of what they’re all about.

4. Blogs

A great blog provides deep insight into the inner workings of a company. This perspective can clearly demonstrate in what direction your company is headed. In fact, it is this kind of valuable perspective that can motivate customers to continue doing business with your company and recommend your company to family and friends.

5. Newsletters

While some may consider newsletters a tad old fashioned, the fact is that those companies that send out electronic newsletters often generate far more leads than those that do not. Simply put, the more people know about what is going on with your company, the more people might want to establish a business relationship. Even if newsletters only drive people to your website, newsletters are still an undervalued method for driving leads.

6. YouTube

Finally, depending on your target market, as it works better for B2C, YouTube might be one of the more effective ways to drive leads. For much the same reason that television ads are more effective than print ads, YouTube engages more of a customer’s senses and thus offers the company another modern way to establish a relationship.

In today’s technology driven world, any company looking to drive leads needs to explore the possible ways that social media can help them to achieve their goals.

Image Credit: webtreats

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