API's, Host n Post, White Labels And So On

White board Episode:

I think affiliate marketing should be moving more towards full sites about a particular product/service. Instead of just linking to a site you can use API's and direct server posts. This will let you make a real website about a product (not just a redirect page). You can then even help people reach their goals (if they couldn't qualify for the initial offer)...

Video is below:


If you want my to whiteboard anything else feel free to contact me.
You can contact me via Twitter or Email (john @ johnhasson.com)

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Pay Per Click Is Not The Endgame

I am sitting in the Denver airport at the delta crown room watching N'West and Minn play, but I was thinking about PPC and my plans for the future. Really PPC is not the end game. It is the beginning. There are lots of different ways to gain traffic, PPC is just one of many.

So what is the endgame? In my mind it is a site sustainable by its users. Users come back to your site over and over because you fulfill a need, not because they saw your ad.

Using PPC in a "big plan" site would be a way to get users, but the litmus for the traffic coming to your site will be generating a user that returns on a regular basis. (What do you think many of the places you have been driving PPC traffic to in the first place are doing? :) )

In summary, sure... making minisites and sending PPC traffic to it is all fine and dandy, but to move to the next level you need a site that people go to on their own without ads.

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High Adwords Score and Good Website Design

A high adwords quality score and good website design go hand in hand. While clearing out all my emails I ran across a few gems that I had saved.

10 Principles Of Effective Web Design

and

10 Ways To Increase Your Adwords Quality Score

as with anything, always verify what people say. Either by testing things yourself or checking to see if others agree or disagree with them.

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Commission Junction's EPC Revisited

Vlad seems to think that CJ's EPC is pretty much a joke. I do see where he is coming from.

Affiliate Managers using CJ seem to lean on a high EPC too much. So if an affiliate with a high volume of traffic but low conversions comes along, it can skew their averages and lower their EPC. They think that this will cause them to lose out on new affiliates because no one wants to work with a loser.

There is some truth to this. So what do you do? Well first of all make sure you have a relationship with whoever you are running a campaign for. Make sure there is a real person behind that CJ offer. (I admit I am guilty of NOT doing this from time to time) But if you can build that relationship up, you can find out what kind of traffic and people they are targeting. I personally like to talk to them on the phone, a 5-10 minute conversation can yield plenty of useful information.. what has worked for them, what hasn't and where they are trying to go. It gives you direction when targeting their offer(s).

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Affiliate Summit 2008 West Wrap Up

My thoughts on Jason's thing, all the other things and the PPC Ask an Expert session I hosted.

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Crazy Things Affiliate Managers Do

Seriously. I get the weirdest emails. But sometimes I get absolutely great emails from Affiliate Managers.

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