RTAM Resources Big Update

I finally did the big update I wanted to for the Resources page of this blog. Just go to the the link in the side bar that says “Resources” or click here to go directly to the RTAM Resources page.

It was a massive addition of links to the resources I personally use, including the following areas:

1. Industry Blogs

2. Affiliate Marketing Forums

3. Affiliate Networks

4. Contextual Ad Networks

5. Other Helpful Resources

For people especially just getting into the industry, I think you will find this very helpful as a reference. I will keep it updated as things and sites change or I discoverer new additions. Enjoy…

Affiliate Marketers Warned By OFT

OFT ImageMore of concern to our British affiliates marketers, the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) in England is now holding Affiliate Marketing Companies accountable for the actions of their affiliates in their programs. So if you are joining a UK based program, you can expect closer scrutiny from this day forward.

For the first time they are saying that Affiliate Marketers MUST PUNISH affiliates for misleading promotions involving their product or service or face legal action. The OFT did not specify the type of punishment that Affiliate Marketing Companies should take against their affiliates – a scary thought!

The OFT recently took action against MoreNiche.com, which is UK based. But in the affiliate marketing world, what usually starts on one side of the pond, eventually travels to the other side (with our similar government agencies). So keep a watch…

The original story is sourced here at Marketing Week in the UK.

 

UPDATE – RevenueWire Post

There is an update in the AFFILIATE ALERT – RevenueWire post (originally published on April 6, 2012).

Please read the response email from Sarah Hume at RevenueWire and their side of the story from Saturday, April 14, 2012. And my response follows…

The Only 2 Ways to Make Money With Your Blog!

A lot of times we make affiliate marketing and blog monetization complex. But it doesn’t have to be…  There are basically two choices to make money online (and hundreds of sub-choices & sub-categories of these).

Before we get started, a lot of people will tell me I am being overly simplistic. But I have been doing this a long time and I can attest to what I am saying. This should clarify your thinking so you can get into the heart of the matter – and get going to make money online. The goal for all of us!

That said, let’s get back to the main point of this article…

The two choices to make money online are:

1. Sell other products or services.

2. Sell your own products or services.

Continue Reading…

How Google Works

Even though this is from 2010, I always thought this graphic outline of how the Google Search Engine architecture works was really cool.

As affiliate marketers, it is worth studying to see where and how we enter into the ‘Google’ food chain… The original Blog post about this appeared in this 2010 post.
(From the SEO Book & PPC Blog.)

WebmasterRadio.FM Still Going Strong…

I was very happy to find out (by chance when I was surfing) that WebmasterRadio.FM is still on the air and going stronger than ever. I may be the only one in the affiliate circle that didn’t know this! I first came in touch with the network in 2007, shortly after they first launched I believe.

They have a great variety of top themed shows including Marketing Nirvana with with Brad Geddes, CEO Coach with Gillian Muessig, Landing Page Optimization with Tim Ash, Strike Point (a show with a European perspective), SEO 101 with hosts Ross Dunn & John Carcutt, ECom Experts, Rock The World With LinkedIn by Mike O’Neil & Lori Ruff, Market Edge with Glenn Engler, State of Search, SEO Rockstars with host Daron Babin, Purse Strings with Maria Reitan (a female webmaster oriented program), Affiliate Buzz with hosts James & Arlene Martell (my personal favorite show!), Domain Masters, Mobile Presence, Cyber Law & Business Report with host Bennet Kelley, Life Tips hosted by Byron White, Entrepreneur Effect, PPC Rockstars, Webcology, with Jim Hedger, and Dave Davies & MANY OTHER SHOWS. They also have a deep quality archive of shows also you wont miss out on anything.

Once you start listening, be careful as it may be addictive and you many not get anything else done for the day! Seriously though, it is a great resource to add to your affiliate knowledge.

Continue Reading…

Offline Tip – Email Signature

Offline marketing for your blog or product page can be some of the most effective branding you can do for you for your affiliate product image. This quick tip is not exactly offline, but it is close… It is so obvious I am surprised more people do not use it.

Besides all of the email newsletters most of us use, we all do a lot a regular email correspondence in a day’s time. This adds up to hundreds or thousands of views in just a short amount of time.

On each and every email you send, make sure your blog name, tag line and url is mentioned in the footer information (more commonly known as the ‘signature’). You can also list specific blog posts too, it they are especially hot and/or popular. Or even a specific product you want to sell, with the corresponding link! Just use your imagination… And if you use an html image as your signature, make sure you have it too as an alternate text version too.

A sample of my actual email signature I use for this blog is here below:

 

Continue Reading…

AFFILIATE ALERT – RevenueWire

Guys and gals – The affiliate program is RevenueWire (http://www.revenuewire.com). They market the common PC Tools mostly. They are also associated with AffiliateWire.

They lure you in with attractive promises then disable your account. Too bad to get the report in about them, as they have gotten some press in the industry lately. But these affiliate companies must learn to treat the affiliates (people) right who are their bread & butter – not just kiss the company’s ass who they are marketing products for. But unfortunately, this has been a common theme with the BAD affiliate companies recently. You have been warned.  ;-)

Consumers do not seem to be too happy with their products either (from their sister processor site SafeCart). See these recent review at the Rip Off Report and ComplaintNow.

Remember you have a lot of choices with GOOD affiliate companies in the market who will treat you right. Check are Resources area for some guidance.

Have an affiliate alert? Contact me with your bad experience so we can help and warn others.

UPDATE – 4/14/2012

Received an email today in response to my blog post above from Sarah Hume, Marketing Manager at RevenueWire.

Here is the content of her email as sent to my office:

From:     shume@revenuewire.com
    Subject:     Post RE: RevenueWire
    Date:     April 14, 2012 12:57:06 AM GMT+08:00
    To:     joe@realtimeaffiliatemarketing.com

From: Sarah Hume <shume@revenuewire.com>
Subject: Post RE: RevenueWire

Message Body:
Hi there,

I wanted to reach out to you regarding the recent post about our Company: http://www.realtimeaffiliatemarketing.com/affiliate-marketing/affiliate-alert-revenuewire/

I think your site is a valuable resource for affiliates, as there certainly is a lot to be weary of in our industry; however, our network prides itself of being professional, honest, and trustworthy – we are truly ‘built for affiliate, by affiliates’.

To clarify, AffliateWire is our affiliate network division of RevenueWire.  We are a Cost Per Sale network focused on the software digital niche (including offers in categories such as PC and Mac utilities, drivers, registry cleaners, data recovery, media converters, etc).

We have very close relationships with all of our active affiliates.  The affiliate who submitted the post on your site however, has been suspended from our network for valid reasons.  The regulations of our network are to protect both our merchants as well as other affiliates; and in this case, the affiliate was negatively impacting both parties.  I can certainly provide you more information if you’d like.

We’d prefer to continue to our discussions directly with this affiliate rather than in a public setting, and would appreciate if you could remove the post.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions,

Kind regards,

Sarah Hume
Marketing Manager
RevenueWire
Tel: 250-984-1179

This mail is sent via contact form on Real Time Affiliate Marketing http://www.realtimeaffiliatemarketing.com


Sorry Sarah, no can do… I know the affiliate and he is an honest and big player. May I suggest better communication before the fact next time – not just terminating people without any communication or warning. You are dealing with real people with real families…

 

Putting Dates On Blog Posts!

This personally bug me - and if it bugs me I am sure it bugs others too, including potential buyers to a web site.

When I come to a blog I want the see the the date easily that it was posted. The reason for this is I want to know the content is relevant and timely. That gives me confidence. I do not care what style or format it is in (and I don't even care if I have to go to the main posting page to see the number of comments, etc.). But I just want to know the blog is up-to-date and relevant on the the main page. Am I asking for too much?

That way I will have trust in the blog, will believe what they are saying and will have confidence to buy from what they recommend.

BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT SEEMS TO BE A GROWING TREND to keep dates off of posts. More and more bloggers are being evasive on when they put their post up. They think if they do not put a date on the post, they can hide their laziness and keep the blog from going stale. They are so wrong!!! It only hurts them to think this way and that their lack of posting will not go unnoticed!

Continue Reading...

The Cart & The Horse…

You may ask what this post title has to do with affiliate marketing? Read on my fellow loyal blog readers…

Just like the old British saying from “Ayenbite of Inwit” (an English devotional manual from 1340) says:

Reverse the correct order of things

For us in the affiliate marketing world (promoting with niche blogs as a medium), I should say don’t be in too much of a hurry to promote something, when you may not have anything to promote it on yet! Build your content and image up a bit first and get a following. Then the rewards will come in masses, if you have a bit of patience. You will save industry embarrassment and wont be freaking out on no results in the early stages. Plus it takes time to get indexed by the search engines to any agree of effectiveness.

I have tried it both ways, and the slower quality build always wins out with site building and revenues.

There are some quick ways to make a money in affiliate marketing, but what I am referring to especially in this post is the promotion of a product, brand or ads through niche blogging on a website. Niche blogs should be only one of the tools in your arsenal of ‘money-making‘ weapons. Other types of affiliate marketing (like buying PPC, advertising offline, etc.)  is a whole other can of worms that we will tackle in different future posts…

Continue Reading…

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