I was moving some feeds to a new plugin in FireFox and had to go out and grab some from blogs I read quite often. I was a little surprised though, when I saw that some of the blogs I read on a daily basis don’t have that great of RSS buttons. In my experience, the RSS button was always a orange button with a little broadcast type symbol in it. However, on some of these blogs, I noticed people using something like a grey button that says “RSS”. I even saw some bloggers with hyperlink instead of a button.
In my opinion, using anything other than the standard button is a bad idea. Yeah, it’s great to think outside the box, but you have to make the button visible and immediately recognizable.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
If you have visited Chad’s blog at Cdfnetworks.com you will have noticed that he has a contest running right now for a free week of mentoring which ends on April 30th, 2008. This is a great concept for a number of reasons, but primarily the winner gets something much greater than most other online contests.
How many times have you seen a contest on the internet (within affiliate marketing circles) which awards the winner with TVs, gift cards, and cold hard cash? Well, I see them all the time. To tell you the truth, I get a little sick of seeing them. Yes, it is amazing that the people giving out the money are giving it in the first place, but they could at least be creative with the requirements to win.
A lot of people might think that money is the best prize in any contest, but when it comes to affiliate marketing, (or any field for that matter) experience is the greatest thing you can receive and gain.
You now might be wondering why I gave you the above quote, but I think it relates quite well to Chad’s contest. In terms of the traditional contests, if you win money, the money will at some time be used up and you will have to find another means of getting more. Yet, if you are given the ability to make your own money, you will be given something much more valuable. You will be given a way of sustaining and growing your income.
In conclusion, I definitely think that experience tops a hand out in any situation. It will also be interesting to see how Chad manages his 100+ comments (as of now). I tried to be a little creative with my response by meeting his requirements, but also getting around the rules a little.
Hopefully you saw this link back to your post Chad. I didn’t want to fill up your comments with a massive book, but I did feel that I had much more to say.
Hello Chad,
My name is Jason and I’m definitely interested in this opportunity. Why should you pick me? - If you pick me, you will find out how devoted, punctual, creative, and passionate I can be. I just turned 22 yesterday and have been blogging for about a year now. For about two months I have been religiously reading your blog and learning everything I can about affiliate marketing. I have been reading a few other blogs, but I can say for certain that I already look to you as a mentor on my journey.
Where do I ultimately see myself?
This might sound funny, but I’m not doing it for the money. Yes, money is great, but when it comes down to it money is nothing. I’m in it for the long haul for multiple reasons:
Community - I want to build lasting friendships with other people in the field.
Freedom and Success - Right now I work at a children group home. Even though the job is very fulfilling, there is a need that I must meet within myself. At heart I am an entrepreneur and already have a business plan or two written for other projects I will begin. However, I require more money to get the ball rolling.
What is my experience?
As far as my technical background goes, I have experience programming in: HTML, some Java, PHP, and Actionscript. Actionscript is a programming language used in Adobe Flash (a program I have been using for a long time.)
Conclusion
Well Chad, once again I hope you found this post because even though I already learn a lot from your blog, I really look forward to working with you one-on-one.
My thoughts on affiliate mangers. Take note that I am fairly new to everything, so this is just my opinion.
Affiliate managers are supposed to support you or motivate you on some level, any level, to promote their offers. My understanding is that affiliate managers make a percentage of what the affiliate makes, so this is why they should strive towards bettering their affiliates.
I understand that affiliate managers are busy people. Affiliate managers manage, as you might have guessed, affiliates… So it is no wonder that they are probably receiving a ton of e-mails on a daily basis. This is a bad thing for affiliates who are trying to contact their manager for something they desperately need. If the lines of communication break down, people start to let their anger get the best of them, and in the end make assumptions about the other party.
I can assume that most affiliate managers don’t put too much effort into newer affiliates for a big reason- a new affiliate will most likely not do much of anything for them. If someone is not giving you anything, they why should you give back? Affiliate managers probably invest X amount of time into new affiliates, but do not invest 100% in the hopes that the affiliate will become a super affiliate and make them big money.
Room for Improvement for Both sides
Yes, I may have to prove myself by giving something to the company, but I want to see the initial open arms from my affiliate manager. E-mail and tell me that you have some offers I might be interested in. E-mail and ask me what I’m doing. Or better yet, answer my e-mails and I’ll ask all the questions for you.
In conclusion, I think I understand how and why the affiliate manger does what he/she does, but I just expect a little more. I expect what I get from most customer service - even if you don’t want to, try to treat me like I am your best affiliate. Who knows, I might surprise you and turn out to be some day.
This is probably the best Affiliate Network I have delt with so far. My affiliate manager’s name is Adam Dufresne, and I have to say that this guy really does his job. I know they are mass mailed for the most part, but he gives information on specific campaigns almost every other day. I should also add that when I initially talked to him on the phone, he was the most enthusiastic affiliate manager I have spoken with.
I can’t say that I have had a great experience with this network so far. Everything started out nice when I was approved almost immediately and received a call within hours of signing up. However, since I am new to affiliate marketing, I was hoping for a little bit of help. I know that affiliate managers are busy people, but if I have a question that is plaguing me, and only they can answer it, I don’t like to be answered with generic e-mail. When I ask for some information, I want you to at least write me something personal back. Don’t cut and paste something you e-mail to everyone. I’m not stupid, so I don’t appreciate the non-effort. (hah, sorry for the rant)
All I’m trying to say here is this… I have worked in customer service before and can smell effort very easily.
I just signed up with this network yesterday… wait a minute, I actually signed up about two weeks ago, but for some reason had to call to get approved. Like I said, I filled out the application two weeks ago, was not approved right away, but received an e-mail requesting more information. So I e-mailed them back with the required info, and then waited, and waited, and waited some more. I shot about two more e-mails at them before actually calling yesterday. The lady on the line was very friendly and fixed whatever had caused a problem with my application. After speaking with her I was able to log in within minutes.
Azoogle -
So far, it has also been about two weeks since I have heard from this network. I sent my app, received an e-mail for some extra info on domain ownership info, and then never heard anything back from this network. I have sent them close to 4-5 e-mails so far requesting at least a reply, but none yet. I even called them and left a message with my name, age, weight, height, serial number, etc… (no operator), but even that doesn’t prompt a return call. I would probably have given up by now, but I really want to work with this network, so I figure I will keep trying and calling. My only two guess as to why Azoogle hasn’t accepted me are these:
They declined me and thought it would be hilarious to not send me a decline e-mail. Instead they are running an experiment to see how many attempts I will make.
They just plain don’t care to add me on as an affiliate.
