Associate Programs Newsletter #152

Phil Tanny's web site gets 10,000 visitors a day - and he's looking for more...

CONTENTS:

1. Want traffic? Go out and get it
2. Bad news on the last 25% from PhoneFree.com
3. "Wz-ards" offer tempting titles
4. SearchFuel program ends
5. How to profit from the dot-bomb mess
6. Mainly for women
7. ReveNews and Cashpile co-operate and other news
8. Latest winner of free banner advertising for a year
9. Gomez signups not paid for
    ...hot topics on the message board
10. Useful articles you may have missed
11. Affiliate program managers: Here's a challenge
12. NEXT WEEK: A guy who hates selling
13. Thought for today: Which are you?

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1. Want traffic? Go out and get it
==================================

If you want to attract traffic to your web site (and who doesn't?) one way is to go out and get it.

That's what Phil Tanny does.

Phil spent several years running OakNet Publishing before selling it to Advertising.com (which wrecked it, but that's another story).

He's reinvesting the proceeds of the sale in new projects and all income is being put back into promotion.

"I've got $50,000 sitting here (with more available) ready to go out the door as soon as possible to whoever wants to come grab it," he says.

One of his sites is http://Subscription-Service.com where visitors can sign up for a wide variety of e-mail newsletters.

Phil works about four to five hours a day on this project, which he launched a bit over a year ago - "just before the bottom fell out from under Internet ad sales. Bright eh?"

Most of the visitors to Subscription-Service.com have been attracted by diligently building partnerships with a handful of web site owners.

"By diligent I mean that I have to write about 50 site owners to get one who will even reply, let alone work with us."

He says Subscription-Service.com is looking for quality web sites to host its subscription form pop-up. He pays site owners 30 cents for each unique person who submits a subscribe request, which works out to $8 to $10 CPM (cost per 1,000) for most sites.

"I can provide coding for two configurations of the pop-up. In one case the pop-up does not appear until users leave the hosting domain (uses frames). In the other case the pop-up is shown only once per day per user (does not use frames)."

He has an online real-time tracking/reporting system where users can check stats.

"I am a very reliable payer and am flexible in regards to how often payments are made."

What he finds frustrating is that most web site owners want to sell banner ads, while Phil wants them to host his pop-ups.

Web site owners want to accept "only ads that they have learned how to ignore".

"But if you do the work you eventually get somewhere and right now these relationships are bringing in about 10,000 visitors a day."

The next project he's working on is unusual. Ad agencies usually send Requests For Proposals (RFPs) to publishers. Phil is sending RFPs to ad agencies.

"Results so far, 25 sent, 2 replies, neither of which provided ANY of the info I requested in the RFP. I'm going to continue sending until I reach 100 but I predict this will be the biggest waste of time I've ever engaged in as all my experience with agencies has been poor. But I'm plodding on just to keep an open mind (I need only one good agency). . ."

Phil says he can set up a test drive for interested site owners so they can make their final decision with hard numbers from their own site.

"I'm not trying to build a large affiliate network but am instead seeking partnerships with a handful of quality sites with decent traffic, thus not all applicants may be accepted."

Phil, who has just turned 49, lives in Gainesville, Florida, in the north central portion of the Florida peninsula, "two hours to the beach!"

Subscription-Service.com works in partnership with PostmasterDirect - http://www.PostMasterDirect.com .

"I own the lists and have outsourced both ad sales and list management to Netcreations. They're doing a great job.

"Thus I no longer do all the stuff I did 24 hours a day for OakNet. This leaves me free to focus on promotion, the important part of the puzzle I always neglected with OakNet because I was so involved in providing support, babying servers and so on.

"The chief motivator for me is that outsourcing ad sales means that for the first time in 20 years of self employment I no longer have contact with customers. Years ago I discovered how to make it without a boss, then without employees, so this latest step is part of long-term quest for personal freedom and a sane life. Now that everybody else is gone I can take full credit for any remaining insanity!"

Phil says he is making what is for him a substantial investment in the Internet ad sales business "just as a significant portion of that niche is swirling around the toilet bowl on its way to somewhere else".

"A year from now we can look back and determine whether this was a brave and brilliant contrarian investment strategy or just final proof that some folks have more dollars than sense."

The current downturn in tech stocks and Net ad sales has a lot of folks concerned. His advice: "Don't watch the news too much. Keep your energy focused on advancing your learning and skills."

If you'd like a share of Phil's ad dollars, you can learn more about hosting his subscription form pop-ups here:

http://www.subscription-service.com/aff/intro.cgi

[UPDATE: This WAS a nice little earner for a while, until the Internet changed.]


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2. Bad news on the last 25% from PhoneFree.com
==============================================

LinkShare is telling affiliates who ask that the 75% payment which PhoneFree recently announced will be the final payment. Affiliates won't receive the remaining 25% they are owed.

"We (LinkShare) worked with PhoneFree to get this payment for affiliates. We felt that it was the best solution and mitigated the risk of you not being paid at all," one affiliate was told.

The final payment will be for fourth quarter 2000 through February 2001.

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3. "Wz-ards" offer tempting titles
===================================

Here's a new affiliate program which I expect will have a high conversion rate.

It's run by Wz.com, a new competitor for the About.com directory.

Wz.com is the home of "WZ-ards" (pronounced "wizards") who are "experts and enthusiasts who share your passions and can help you quickly find the very best, most helpful online resources on what you love to do".

Volunteers review what they consider to be the best web sites.

Wz.com offers 45-Second Newsletters on a huge variety of topics.

Wz.com will pay you 30 cents for each new subscriber. You earn 30 cents whether the visitor chooses one newsletter or several.

As well, busy affiliates can earn a bonus. Wz.com will take 2.5% of its gross profit every month and divide it among its top performers. You qualify if you've delivered 5,000 new subscribers and 100 a month after that.

Once you persuade someone to go to the site, I think there's a good chance they'll select at least one title.

Tempting newsletter titles you can choose from include:

Advertising on a Shoe String Budget
B2B Ecommerce
Business Freebies
Creating Your Dream Job
Search Engine Optimization
Audio Streaming
Best Weight Loss Programs
Board Games
Building High Self-Esteem
Dating
Dream Interpretation
Eating Right to Prevent Cancer
Florida Vacations
Getting Rid Of Debt
Gourmet Cooking on a Budget
Harry Potter
Home Remedies
Horror Fiction
Hot in Hollywood
How to Get Published
Humorous Quotations
PlayStation2
Reducing Taxes
Role Playing Games

...and a whole LOT more...

You can see the whole range of 45-Second Newsletters here:

[UPDATE: Wiz closed.]

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4. SearchFuel program ends
==========================

SearchFuel.com has announced that "due to the loss of a significant search partner", it has ended its affiliate program effective immediately.

"We will only be crediting accounts for traffic received up to March 22," affiliates were told.

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5. How to profit from the dot-bomb mess
=======================================

When times are tough, smart companies snap up the opportunities.

If you want to profit from the "dot bomb" economy and learn how to make money while your competitors run for cover, I have some good news and bad news.

The good news is that Jonathan Mizel, an astute marketer who was running a highly successful fee-based web site long before it became fashionable, has written the best in-depth article I've seen on the wonderful opportunities which are available for you to grab now because of the "dot bomb" economy.

It's a fantastic article, containing valuable insights and do-this-right-now tips I haven't seen anywhere else.

If you take his advice you could add thousands of dollars to your profits this year - and next year.

The article is one of many in the latest issue of his Online Marketing Letter.

The bad news is that you'll have to pay for these tips.

So if you're not prepared to pay for excellent advice from one of the winners, don't bother clicking on this link:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/jonathan

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6. Mainly for women
===================

Here's a new listing in the AssociatePrograms.com directory which caught my eye - eHarlequin.com, which sells romantic fiction.

There's a huge demand for this stuff. Women hooked on them often buy four or five books a month.

If you have a web site or newsletter aimed at women, this program could be worth trying.

The program, tracked by Commission Junction, pays 5% of net book sales plus $1 for every new customer.

You can link to romantic content, offer free Internet-exclusive books and sell Harlequin, Silhouette, MIRA and Steeple Hill titles.

Affiliates receive commissions on sales made up to 45 days after an initial visit.

You can join the program at Commission Junction:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/cj

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http://www.writeabooknow.com/affiliate.html
___________________________________________________________

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7. ReveNews and Cashpile co-operate and other news
==================================================

ReveNews.com has announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Cashpile.com. ReveNews has also bought Wayne Porter's AffiliateHelp.com and Wayne is joining the ReveNews team.

Look Who's Making Money Online - including SharperImage, a LinkShare program
ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/8233.html

Infonautics (Sleuth programs) and Tucows Announce Merger
newsbytes.com/news/01/163767.html

Some Question Staples.com Plan
msnbc.com/news/548611.asp

Free Ride Gone For PayMyBills Customers
news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-5225608.html

GoTo Says It Will Top Previous Forecasts
news.excite.com/news/r/010322/07/net-goto-outlook-dc

HotJobs.com Cuts 15% of Staff
cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/03/26/news/hotjobs/

Trading Places: Merchants Swap and Drop
affiliatehandbook.com/nws/20010328_vendorswap.html

======================================================
8. Latest winner of free banner advertising for a year
======================================================

I've just drawn the latest lucky winner of free banner advertising for a year on AssociatePrograms.com.

The winner is:

Bill Enross
http://www.home-based-ebusiness.com

Would you like to go in the draw to win free banner advertising for a year? It's easy. All you have to do is provide a link to http://www.AssociatePrograms.com. Thank you!

[UPDATE: This offer has closed.]

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9. Gomez signups not paid for
    ...hot topics on the message board
=====================================

Recent discussions, allegations and hot topics on the Associate Programs Message Board include:
"Gomez alliance FINALLY updated their program so that you can actually see your stats. NOW I know what they were hiding. More than 80% of the signups they got from me weren't paid for."

"Having recovered from another round of dry-retching from seeing "but you will be driving traffic and establishing name recognition for your site" in print YET AGAIN, could I suggest YET AGAIN that CJ deletes their default text from the Merchants "program details" field, so ALL merchants are forced to write something relevant."

"...why are you (LinkShare) letting new affiliates join deadbeat programs?" (ones which aren't paying affiliates)

"Entertainment Sleuth ($.50 to $1.00 per lead) deactivated at CJ with no notice to affiliates. I thought they were taking steps to stop this kind of bullroar. Sports Sleuth ($.50 per lead) also deactivated effective immediately."

"France-Hotel-Online.com have had THREE different commission rates in the last two weeks. Last week they increased their commission. I added their links to several of my websites. Now, a few days later, they've emailed to reduce it again! What kind of business operates in such a way?"

"CJ Merchant ThinkHost.com used to pay 25% of their recurring monthly hosting fees to the affiliate that got them the business. . . . they've reduced that to a sliding scale . . . what I DO have a problem with is that they are back-dating this . . ."

To find out more or join in the discussions, go to:

http://AssociatePrograms.com/discus/index.php

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10. Useful articles you may have missed
=======================================

Previous articles:

17 strategies from highly successful web sites
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter151.shtml

How fast learner Yanik Silver succeeds
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter150.shtml

15 ways to cope with GoTo.com's price rise
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter149.shtml

Seven tricks the search engines don't want you to know
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter132.shtml

At last! Practical Guide for affiliate program managers
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter145.shtml

15 things super affiliates do to achieve super results
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter128.shtml

Are you new to affiliate programs? I highly recommend the free "Affiliate Masters" e-mail course. Download it here:

Free Affiliate Masters Course

===================================================
11. Affiliate program managers: Here's a challenge
==================================================

Potential affiliates should ask merchants for these statistics:

Conversion rate (the number of sales as a percentage of the number of referrals from affiliates).

Total number of affiliates.

Average earnings per month per affiliate.

Average earnings of the top 20% of affiliates..

When this challenge to affiliate program managers was suggested on the Associate Programs Message Board, one manager quickly accepted. You can probably guess which one. That's right, Shawn Collins of http://www.ClubMom.com - the guy who works hard to promote his program, help affiliates and make it a success.

He provided the February 2001 numbers for the ClubMom affiliate program (these numbers are aggregated for all promotions and all affiliates for the month):

Click-through rate: 4.37%
Conversion rate: 14.15%
CPM conversion: $7.72
Average earnings for affiliates who earned a check in February:$517.07
Average earnings for top 20% of affiliates who earned a check in February $2,211.09.

Is any other affiliate program manager willing to provide similar stats?

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12. NEXT WEEK: A guy who hates selling
======================================

Do you hate selling? If so, you could learn from next week's Associate Programs Newsletter. I'll have an interview with an Australian who hates selling but has a web site which brings in a useful income.

=====================================
13. Thought for today: Which are you?
=====================================

"Are you a stranger with a sales pitch or a knowledgeable friend making a recommendation?"

- Scott Covert, author of a book I recommend,
"The Banner Advertising Traffic Machine"

All the best

Allan Gardyne