Rohail Rizvi

Finally some progress! And along to go with it – finally a brand new theme and upgrade! Hope you guys like it.

Right before ASE 09, my AM progress really started to pick up. I’d been in the “dead zone” or “dip” for about six months. Nothing I tried was working and I threw a whole lot of crap at the wall just to see if something would stick.

Fortunately, things are going okay now and only going to get better. I’m now chipping away at my $10,000 worth of PPC debt from failed attempts and stupid mistakes. In fact, I’ve already paid off one of my credit cards just by using what little credit I had left on it (less than $100) by continually re-investing it into profitable campaigns.

Here’s a recap of spend and revenues for Aug. 2009 so far:

Revenue: $4620.23

Spend: $3104.54

Profit: $1515.69

Add SEO/ old clickbank articles: $395

So around $$1900 for the month. Much better than scraping for nickels and dimes in my room to buy a meal from the dollar menu a few months ago (seriously, it was that bad).

Keep in mind this spend involved a lot of testing during the beginning of the month so most of it resulted in a loss. But I will post another one of these probably two weeks into September. I expect it to be a lot better. This is the first time I’ve ever really posted revenue/spend numbers and it’s kind of gut wrenching to put it out in the open, but I think it’s going to help me bring in bigger numbers in the future because there’s no way I’m satisfied with just that. Grateful yes, satisfied no.

I’m really starting to focus on what I’m good at now. Just because everyone is pushing rebills, doesn’t mean you should too. There are a whole lot of offers out there that can potentially make you money and it’s all about just finding that somewhat hidden offer that not a lot of people are going after and killing it.

This marks a new turning point in my AM journey. I went from easily making $100+ days when I started to losing a lot of money and now back doing bigger numbers than I started off with. It’s so weird now – I was in the garage and saw my old burnt out laptop sitting there with sticky notes on it with a big $250 a day written on it. It feels good to reach your goals, but it also makes you want to work harder. I definitely am aiming to see consistent $500 a day profit days by the end of September (hopefully by next week) and most certainly $1000 by December 31st, 2009.

If there’s going to be a rags-to-riches affiliate story in 2009, it’s going to be me .

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Okay so this post is definitely long over due, but what can I say – I learned so much at ASE 09 NYC that I’ve just been cranking out campaigns non-stop and making more money.

First off – this particular Affiliate Summit (my 2nd summit) was made particular awesome due to two reasons.

1) Ian Fernando inviting me to his private dinner.

2) Adam and the EliteProfits.com team sponsoring part of the dinner and balling out at Club Touch.

I have to say that it was indeed quite an opportunity to take part in Ian’s dinner. If you ever get the chance to go, you’d be dumb not to. It was at a very unique and upscale restaurant only a few blocks away from the conference hotel. There were about 20 or so people in attendance including the sponsors and everyone got to share and learn from each other in a great setting. Really gotta give it up to Ian for letting me come through.

Now another thing that made the dinner so great was the fact that Adam from EliteProfits handed everyone in attendance a vintage 2000 bottle of Dom Perignon! I can definitely say without a doubt that everyone was very very happy with their gift. EliteProfits didn’t stop there though. After running into Adam at the exhibition hall, he invited me to come hang out with his crew at Club Touch in VIP. I thought for sure since I was going there anyway later on and he and his crew were super cool at the dinner.
Biz Markee was due to perform there although he made a quick one song appearance…lame. Nonetheless, that didn’t ruin the party for anyone who was hanging out with EliteProfits. Our table definitely had the grey goose flowing all night courtesy of EliteProfits. I think we had the best spot in the club too. It was definitely a good time getting to talk to Adam about AM as well as meet and talk with the rest of his crew.

Later on in the night we got to chilling in the upper level and I got to meet a lot of affiliates I had only read or heard about like Dennis Yu as well as chill out with Ian and Ad Hustler. This is pretty much the point of the story where the rest is forgotten or withheld haha.

I have to say though that it definitely wouldn’t have been as good of a weekend without EliteProfits throwing it down. Up until recently, they had been a completely private network. These guys have been in the industry since the heyday and definitely know how to look out for their affiliates and most of all they actually know what they are talking about. When I talked to Adam I knew he knew his stuff and that he had done it and continues to make stuff happen in affiliate marketing for himself as well as his affiliates.

I highly suggest you check out EliteProfits today and get in touch with Adam. This is one network you do not want to miss out on.

After you’ve done that, check out this slideshow from the party: Slideshow

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Now the title of this post might be corny, but here’s the thing.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been so hell bent on focusing on failure and embracing failing so much, that I’ve completely been short sighting myself because what I should be focusing on is success.

It’s important to know that you need to fail in order to learn, but when that becomes your sole train of thought it’s no good.

I need to move away from the notion of failing to succeed because I’m comfortable with it now after facing it every single day over the past year and a half. In fact, I think I’ve always been able to embrace failure and perhaps a little too much.

That’s why from today on I’m going to try and post about various challenges and the success I’m having along with them.

The first success of my 60 days of success is choosing to go healthy. I’ve been eating a whole lot of unhealthy fast food and staying on the computer for hours on a day without hitting the gym is doing a lot of damage to my health.

That’s why I’ve decided to try out the V Diet (Lite version). The main reason I’m doing this is not because I want a quick and easy way to gain muscle/lose fat, but rather to get used to and hopefully actually start liking healthy food.
The diet consists of replacing breakfast and dinner with protein shakes essentially. Along with this, I’ll be following a regimen of in house exercises as I’m not quit ready to hit the gym yet (I think the reason I hate the gym is because I hate working out in front of people esp as a noob).

Anyhow, I’ll be starting tomorrow (hopefully) and will let everyone know how it goes. I would post pics of my progress in getting rid of this beer belly gut of mine, but I’d rather not show up on some of those acai flogs you guys have been pushing
Oh and I just felt like putting up that picture of Captain America haha probably because  he has abs of steel.

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So here’s the lowdown on ASE 09 in NYC  (I can’t believe it’s already time)

Truth is ASE is look like its going to be A LOT more scaled back than ASW Vegas was. The reason for this is likely that NYC is expensive as sh** to try to do anything on a large scale.

It seems as though there are a lot of private, invite-only parties/dinners and that’s the route most networks are opting to take. Nonetheless there should be some events here and there to keep your interest. Here are some things to look out for:

• ShareaSale is having a sick looking rooftop party on top of the Empire Hotel. Details for the party and how to get in are here. I don’t know much about ShareaSale except that I won a stuffed panda bear from them back at ASW 09 and they seem like a fun network.

• WF members are looking to have their own impromptu meetup at a lounge/club and if that doesn’t work out one of the members is just going to get us a suite and pay for all the “goods.”

• For a complete list of events, check out this post at Branding100.

• A good idea to remain in touch and up to date is to get on twitter. Just tonight, AdHustler posted a thread on WF for everyone to post their twitter usernames. It makes it MUCH easier to know what’s going on at the moment and where your friends are at/ people you just met. Twitter was huge back at ASW and pretty much everyone was either glued to that or the #cakes channel on IRC. If you’re on twitter, get at me: twitter.com/rohailr

• Meetup202 will be having a huge meetup during ASE, although details are still unannounced.

Even though the summit appears to be scaled back in terms of networks throwing events, I have a pretty good feeling there is going to be A LOT to gain just from attending. Even if you’re a newbie or a seasoned affiliate, networking in this industry is always a plus.

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This is a little late, but just wanted to let you guys know how MeetUp202 in NYC went down.

This was the first time I’ve been able to attend the NYC meetups and although it wasn’t as big or pre-planned as the previous one, I can definitely say it was at least a good time going to and meeting new people in the industry.

It was hosted at a small lounge called Kurve on 2nd Ave and it was well-suited for what the meetup was, which was just a low-key environment giving us the chance to mingle with other affiliates.

I actually drove up there in my car with Ian, who will tell you parking was a pain in the ass. After circling the area for a good 30 minutes, we were finally able to grab a spot.

I got a chance to meet a few WF people as well as my AM from WoToGePa, Liam. Not to mention I got to meet Ahmet Kirtok as well as his brother, both of whom are in the industry. They are also Turkish so when I go off to study abroad this fall in Istanbul, they are going to be gracious enough to let me know what’s good in Turkey

I got to talk to a lot WF members some who were big on dating others who were big on biz opps and it was a good chance to meet other affiliates my age that are doing big numbers and it was inspiring to say the least.

After Kurve, everyone headed to some hookah lounge (no way I remember what it was called), and everyone chilled out there for a bit. This was cool because I’ve been wanting to have an affiliate meetup at a hookah lounge for some time now. We bounced soon after as we were pretty beat. After Ian and I stopped at a diner on 2nd Ave, we headed back home after a good meetup in the city.

Events like these are definitely well worth it and it doesn’t matter how little or how much experience you have as an affiliate. There is always something to be gained at every level. I am looking forward to the next one during ASE and if you haven’t already, join the meetup group by clicking here.

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When you think of what a network should be…you’re thinkin of what EWA network is.

Now I’m not writing this because I was asked to write this or anything…I’m writing this because these guys just made my day.

First of all, Ryan Eagle is the fuckin man. Without him, I’d probably still be struggling. I’ve been on every network you can think of and there are very very few where you’ll get a direct response and GUIDANCE from the network owner. Now, granted Ryan Eagle is a busy man, he still helped me get on the road to profitability and continues to do so today and that counts for a lot.

At the same time, don’t expect anyone to hold your hands through setting up a campaign (not with any network). This isn’t PPC Coach and it shouldn’t be. These guys appreciate you making your own out of a campaign if with some tips and guidance on their end (which are extremely helpful).

In fact, because he knows I’m strapped for cash right now, he did me a huge favor in terms of getting me my payment for the week asap. He can be assured that I’ll be running traffic on EWA for as long as I’m an affiliate. You just don’t get that kind of service, not to mention tips and tricks from any other network.

Now, EWA is a private network, but that doesn’t mean you can’t apply. Just make sure you’re serious about making shit loads of money and that you’re not there to waste anyone’s time. If you wanna become a baller like these guys, go check out EWA network right now.

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The guys of Tracking202 and Tracking202 PRO fame have just recently launched their own affiliate network, notably called Revolution202.

Now aside from the fact that Wes and Steven are stand up guys along with the rest of the 202 team, why is Revolution202 itself a pretty exciting thing for the industry?

It’s probably because Revolution202 is the most highly integrated network that exists today. For years affiliates have had to constantly deal with their network and their tracking separately. Now, with the launch of Revolution, I know for a fact that we’re going to see a whole lot more convergence between tracking and managing our offers, and who better to bring that to us than the 202 team.

There are just so many different arrays of the industry that 202 is starting to bring together and it seems like a network was just inevitable…and I too am surprised at how early we were able to get one from them. Things like Offers202 and Stats202 have made it exceedingly simple to find and keep track of everything in one place. With Offers202 you have the ability to search for any particular offer you might be interested in and see which affiliate networks are offering them (even if they’re not on Revolution). With Stats202, you can have your subids updated automatically every ten minutes and combine all your affiliate stats and subids into one interface.

Usually convergence is something that’s frowned upon in terms of a business. I mean…how many people do you know that wear a TV wrist-watch to work? However, I don’t see this as that type of convergence. What we’re getting from 202 is integration and simplification like we haven’t seen before from other networks…but something that I think most affiliates have been craving for a long time. 202 isn’t in the tracking business…it’s in the business of helping affiliates make more money. And with the launch of Revolution202, I couldn’t imagine a better, more useful network to join.

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Many of the following guidelines might seem like obvious obvious stuff that you’ve heard a million times, but it’s worth it to really make sure you’re not committing any of these fatal errors. It is easy to make these mistakes, even if you’ve heard the guidelines before like I had.

1. Waste money on useless products/coaching. I’ll be honest here. It’s a huge waste of time and money for the most part. I was part of PPC-Coach for since December 2008 and just came to cancel my membership this month. It’s great if you’re starting out, but you could do a lot more by just TRYING stuff instead of hoping someone will hand you down their magic campaign. Seriously, all you need a few good posts from WF, your brain, and the determination to test, test, test. That’s what it all comes down to and it’s what I failed to realize the first time around. Almost ANY offer can be made profitable, if you do the right testing.

Using PPC-Coach I actually wound up LOSING money. Why? Well I thought I had it made with polls and moved onto their search strategy (which was along the lines of bid HIGH and Google will discount your clicks). Well that didn’t really happen and by the time you knew it I was out $10,000. Yeah. Big mistake. Better idea- follow your gut, use your  brain, and be rational. (*While I liked the tools and there were some insightful posts, the quality died off as the program went on.)

2. Don’t track. This one is huge. I was lazy and part of the reason I didn’t make my grants campaign work was because for some reason T202 wasn’t showing my stats even though I had installed the tracking code, and I didn’t bother to figure it out. I figured oh well, I’ll just go by the daily profit and loss. Uh NO. Before you do anything, do yourself a huge f***ing favor and make sure your tracking is working. In all honesty, I wish I had gotten Tracking202 PRO so my lazy ass wouldn’t have had to worry about most of the usual stuff involved with tracking.

3. Link your credit card to Adwords, etc. Bad idea (in the beginning). I was desperately throwing shit against the while trying to get something to stick…and nothing did. The higher my credit card bill went up, the more desperate I got to try just one more thing and maybe have it turn around. That didn’t happen. I had my $100+ profit days with PPC in the past and thought I could get another one to do it for me, but unfortunately not before I maxed out my cards. And now I’m pretty much stuck with a very large PPC bill that I’m looking to get rid of using SEO/free methods of marketing. Really ONLY start off in PPC with what you have, and not what you wish you had. Not only is it safer, it will force you to look at your numbers much more carefully and not go balls out setting $150/day spending limits.

4. Don’t track your Landing Page to Offer CTR. What a really dumb thing to do when I look back on this. Although I did on a daily basis keep track of my EPC, rarely did I put as much importance on my landing page to offer CTR. This is probably one of the biggest metrics you have because….any clicks that you’re not getting to your offer is the same as burning piles of cash. You just want to make sure you burn as little cash as possible. Another metric to look at is which ad is producing the most conversions. An ad might have a higher CTR, but converting less than another ad with a lower CTR.

5. Advertise on Google Search. The longer I’ve been in this industry, the more I realize just how MANY different sources of traffic there are. We’re all suckered into Google Search in the beginning until we wake up and realize…WHY GOOGLE SEARCH? Dealing with QS, getting slapped, and inflated click prices…why bother when you have so many other traffic sources to test out. NickyCakes posted a huge list of places you can advertise that you can find here.

These don’t have to obscure traffic sources. I still recommend Google content network as its the easiest way to get a ton of cheap traffic. The first place I started off with in AM, Facebook- while it isn’t looking like the greatest place to advertise right now with clickbot issues, is still a great place to get cheap traffic provided you think outside the box.

All these tips sound repetitive and obvious I am sure, and like I said I myself had heard many of these guidelines before…but it still happens! When you’re starting off, you might think you know all the answers and will follow everything according to guidelines, but trust me it’s easy to mess up when you play the game with emotion as opposed to being rational and getting your math skills in order.

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Affiliate marketer extraordinaire, Justin Dupre, from JustinDupre.com and Tatto Media are sponsoring a blazing hot contest.

What’s up for grabs?

Good question. You can get either an Asus EEE 10″ netbook (these things are awesome, I own an Acer netbook and they’re way better than lugging around a giant laptop) OR you can win a 25.5″ Samsung SyncMaster. That’s freakin huge and I could definitely use one of those to pimp my workspace out.

All you have to do to get a chance at winning (and the odds are pretty high considering the competition) is apply for Tatto Media using this link. Joining Tatto Media by itself gives you a chance to win, but if you want to ramp up your chances you obviously gotta start marketing! For every $100 of revenue you generate, you gain five more entries into the contest.

Check out Justin’s blog for all the details here and get your hustle on, because I really do like that Samsung .

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Everyone’s trying to figure out how to monetize Twitter these days so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I bought TwitterSnipe, a product put out by Ian Fernando and his team, and so far it’s been pretty good at doing what it’s supposed to do: Follows people in your niche based on keywords and unfollows people who aren’t following you.

I’ve learned a couple things about using TwitterSnipe and marketing on Twitter in general since I started.

1. Always use a real person as your avatar. One of my accounts thats aimed at selling to the “I just broke up with my ex” crowd has just 6 follows and I think a big reason for that is that people know it’s not a real person right off the bat when they see a non-human avatar.

2. Conversation is key. If you’re not posting daily and conversing with you’re followers, you’re at a loss. Unfortunately, Twitter monetization isn’t as easy as adding followers and spamming them with links. That should be obvious. I see my Twitter follower count shoot up whenever I tweet @ other people or post about popular topics. And when I don’t, even for a day, I see that the people who I’ve set to follow the night before aren’t following me back.

3. Follow and unfollow strategy. Because I’m impatient I want to build my number of followers up as quickly as possible and so I’m not going to wait around for someone to follow me back. I want active participating followers and if they take longer than 24 hours to follow back they get unfollowed. This is why every night I run TwitterSnipe to follow around 50 people in my niche and the next night I unfollow whoever hasn’t followed me back. It’s a slow process, but I’d rather get active Twitter followers than those that rarely log on. I’m learning to up the number of people I follow and unfollow each day though to make this process faster.

That’s all I’ve learned for now. It’s MUCH harder than I thought to get a good number of quality followers. But it’s not about the number of followers you have, it’s about whether they’re responsive and trust you in the end. And that’s where I’m trying to focus. A fake, but genuine Twitter profile is the goal.

So far it’s been a good experience and I’m sure once I reach critical mass, it’s going to be easy to recommend something and see leads come in. If you want to see what all the hype is about and test out Twitter marketing for yourself, check out TwitterSnipe.
If anyone has any suggestions, tips, or ideas, feel free to post them.

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