George Avery thought he had a career in professional hockey. But hockey was not short on players riding the bench. While warming the bench 90% of the time, George looked up at all the empty seats. He started to think of ways he could help fill those chairs. He came up with ideas on how to get fans in the stands. He began working with the hockey’s marketing team to bring people in the rink. Finding that niche ultimately led him to online marketing. So hockey may not have had a place for him on the ice, but affiliate marketing allowed him to be a key player. Taking the experience on the ice to online marketing, he has built successful companies form the ground up. He is now CEO of GetAds where the network focuses on having educated affiliate managers and direct successful offers. To learn more about George and the GetAds team, you can follow them on their blog at http://www.getads.com/blog.

If you are in town for the Affiliate Convention in Denver June 21st or 22nd, GetAds is having an open house and everyone is invited. So stop on by and check out the new GetAds office.

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from?
Denver, Colorado.

How old are you?
32.

How long have you been working in this industry?
Going on 8 years.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
Building a few different companies, including GetAds, LLC and seeing where they are today.

How did you come to learn about this industry?
Through a friend.

Why did you choose this career?
I knew the internet was the future and I wanted to be a part of it.

When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing?
Within the 1st month of being in the industry. It was crazy to see the amount of money coming in.

What do you think more affiliates need to understand about the network side of things?
That all networks are not created equal. Look for the networks that are there to take you to the next level. That can help add to your career and help you grow.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations as a network owner?
The biggest would have to be when advertisers don’t pay and we still have a responsibility to pay our affiliates.

Another frustration is when new networks start and really don’t get the industry at all. Because of this they put a bad taste in the affiliates and advertisers mouth and it turns them away from affiliate marketing. If they gave a proven and knowledgeable network a chance, they would have to re-teach them what the industry is really about.

What is the single toughest problem you've had to face in creating a successful company, and how did you get through it?
I would say it’s managing growth. We want to have key people to come in and do their job well and to love what they do. We want to pass our knowledge on to our new employees. We don’t want people to just come in and fill seats.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an affiliate?
You need to be able to take in all the ideas around you and then focus on one and build off that. And, of course, dedication.

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
Not really.

What is the future of marketing?
Sites and media channels are gathering more and more data about their visitors. I think this opens the door for very specific target marketing. Of course mobile advertising will be huge. This is the space you’ll see name brands moving into.

If it’s possible for you to share, are there any particular niches that you currently favor? Or that you aren’t necessarily in right now but that you would recommend?
Our affiliates work in a variety of niches. We make sure to have the offers that convert in the niches our affiliates promote.

Which methods of promotion do you favor?
We don’t really favor one particular promotional method. Our affiliates favor display, email and PPV.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
Our main focus has been to better the network and keep expanding. We are working on different technologies that will create exciting opportunities within the industry.

What problems have you had with those new projects?
We have to create everything from the ground up. We have to explain our vision to the programmers. There just isn’t anything to really compare to what we would like to do. So getting things just right takes a bit more time.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
I played 8 years of professional hockey and it has given me a competitive spirit.

What are your greatest strengths?
I would have to say my charisma and people skills.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
After all these years, I still type with the hunt and peck method. (just two fingers)

What motivates you?
I like seeing the company grow and seeing the people with in the company successful. I don’t want to fail for them.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Be the Best you can possibly be at what you decide to do. If you can’t be the absolute best at something, still give 110% in everything you do.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
I like to look to Steve Jobs. He’s such a free flowing spirit. He’s an innovator. He has created a brand and a following for that brand. I like to look at where he’s come from to where he is now.

What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?
I am really not a fan of working with people who act like your friend to your face then will stab you in the back.

No good stories or I’d be doing the same thing.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
I want to create a brand that is an innovator in the industry. Enough is when I have enough to take care of everyone around me. This includes my employees, my family and my friends. If money were no object I would pretty much be doing the same thing.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?
I want to be someone who left a positive mark on the industry and created opportunities for everyone in the affiliate marketing space.

How do you like to spend your free time? What doe work-life balance mean to you?
Free time is spent playing hockey, wake boarding and surfing. Work/life balance is important to me, but it’s a tough balance. Even when I’m at home relaxing or on the weekends my mind still goes to work. I almost feel bad if I’m not working 24/7.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?
I don’t think I would change anything. Everything I did made me who I am and gave me the edge I needed.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
My greatest achievement outside off work would be; I was one of the few Colorado kids and American, for that matter, to go as for as I did in hockey. This was during a time that Canada and Europe ruled the sport.

As for my unfulfilled dream - I feel like I’m living my dream every day.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2010.

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Being an affiliate manager can be a tough job I assume. It's easy for us affiliates to get sick of the never ending pitches, the next hot offer, etc.

I am an affiliate for just about every major affiliate network out there. From AzoogleAds (<3) to EWA to Copeac to... I get so many mass email newsletters every week that I generally don't look at any of them except a few.

I've noticed that the type of emails that I reply to or look at are the ones that are personalized and are not asking me "what are you running?"

You know, the emails that are directed towards me and you can tell because there is something personalized in it like "hey... nice blog post the other day..." and offers some sort of value like "check out this offer, it's doing really well..."

I know that emailing affiliates individually could take a while but if there was an email system that you could use to insert some personalized text in front of a mass email, I bet the amount of affiliate attention and participation would go way up.

Just a thought for those of you with an in-house system.

The people who are exceptional at doing this so far from what I have seen are Elite Clicks Media and Eric from Clickbooth. EWA also always has really great newsletters. I know there are more, but those are the two that come to mind right away.

[Image via Anarchyinyourhead.com]

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2010.

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Ralph Ruckman is the CEO & Founder of Convert2Media. Ralph is one of the people that I highly respect and look up to in this industry. I can tell you first hand that Ralph and his team are highly interested in seeing their affiliates succeed and because of it his network has grown to tremendous levels in a few years time. Without further ado, check it out...

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?
I'm Ralph Ruckman, 29 years old from Kansas. I've been in the industry for over 5 yrs now.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
I've been in and out of a lot of different aspects of being a Marketer and Entrepreneur so my biggest accomplishment really isn't something I've accomplished, it's the people I've met. For me it's my partners Steve and Michael. Together we have created, maintained and will continue to build Convert2Media, our Performance Marketing Affiliate Network.

How did you come to learn about this industry? Why did you choose this career? When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing? When did you first “hit the big time?”
I started learning about this industry back when I was working 3 jobs. A simple search for “make money online” started the journey. I chose to quit my jobs because I had doubled my income I was already making from those jobs in the short few hours each night that I could work on my business. I felt that if I could devote the time I gave to my jobs to this, I could exponentially increase my business. Well, I realized I could make money online when I began my article writing service, I realized the full potential I think at the end of 2007. That's when I was at an all time high in revenue as an affiliate and advertiser but began looking at the possibility of owning a network. I do not remember “big moments” honestly. I remember a few good days here and there but I remember every time I took a hit or failure throughout the businesses I've been involved in. I keep my good days close, but my bad days closer. That way, I don't make the same mistake twice.

What do you think more affiliates need to understand about the network side of things?
That a network is so much more than a place to go get offers to run. I briefly spoke on this in the Scott Rewick interview – http://www.convert2media.com/blog/2010/06/11/ruck-interviewed-by-scott-rewick/.
It would take too long to explain it in text but basically affiliates are very keen on using ppc, social media, media buys and email to get their traffic. I've been showing a lot of our more experienced publishers on how to build their own offers as an advertiser and monetize them as affiliates of C2M. This allows them to let us handle their quality and also allows them to build a side of their business that is performance driven and doesn't have them setting up ppc or media buy campaigns. More on that later...

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations as a network owner?
Failure – Establishing a REAL coaching program. Everytime I've gotten started, 10 other things hit me at once. Frustrations – I can handle everything except non-paying advertisers. Just took a nasty hit recently that still has me wanting to pull some teeth.

What is the single toughest problem you've had to face in creating a successful company, and how did you get through it?
A single tough problem doesn't really stand out, my partners and I are passionate about our company and our other businesses as well. I think the toughest problem has got to be that Steve, Michael and myself have to make calculated decisions together. Make the wrong one, we all suffer but make the right one, we all get to share the rewards together. I just feel fortunate enough to work with guys as passionate as I am and know that whatever decision will be made is one that we will all face together.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an affiliate?
The cliché is determination and dedication but honestly from working with thousands now and watching affiliates go from nothing to something over the last couple of years, I can say that affiliates who SERIOUSLY see this as a business versus wanting to make a few bucks are the ones who will see the most success. However, everyone has their goals, so if you are achieving them, that makes you successful in my eyes. No matter how small or big those goals may be.

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
Well, I hate working period right? I mean seriously, when I came into this business I thought I was gonna be sippin my martini's from the pool on my laptop. 5 years later, that still isn't happening. You have to have an absolute passion to stay ahead in this business. If you “hate” ANY aspect of your work, you will always suck at it. Sorry if that sounds harsh but “hate” is a thought stemmed from NOT WANTING TO DO SOMETHING, and if you don't have what it takes or the determination to see every aspect and task of your business thru till the end, well you are going to develop a thought process that will spill over into other areas of your business or quite possibly, other businesses you create. EVERYTHING you do with your business, is an experience. Treat it as so. Don't hate it, Respect it.

What is the future of marketing?
I'm not a psychic but some of the things coming down the pipe are iphone formatted offers. Cellular advertising will start ramping as well as instant messenger ads and mp3 players/ipods. I have so much faith in Marketing and Advertising that if I had my way, my ads would be in your face 24/7. If you are on your phone, I'm advertising to you. If you are chatting away on AIM, I'm advertising you. You want to go for a walk and listen to your ipod? Well, if it were up to me, I would advertise to you thru it. Some other things are the Mobile Dating marketing, especially localized. With more mobile type dating offers, and the communications industry at the top of it's game, this is a vertical definitely worth looking into. Pay Per Call has been ramping up as well. Matter of fact, I believe Steve has a Pay Per Call deal coming to C2M soon.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
My life the last 6 months has been a rollercoaster. I went thru a really bad negative period of my life and was able to pick myself up. I've gotten myself back into a healthy frame of mind and that started with weight loss. I have lost exactly 90 lbs since February 1st. I am trying to get those abs, like Volk. C2M has also developed themselves into being advertisers as well. We now own some of our own offers and will continue to build more.

What problems have you had with those new projects?
Running an affiliate network and owning your own offers has become a bit chaotic. I wouldn't say it's a problem but it definitely has become a test of patience and tolerance. Juggling the two is a challenge and I'm loving every minute of it.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
I dropped out of college, went back, dropped out again. I held shit jobs all my life. I am never going back. Has it helped me? I cant really answer that for sure, but I can tell you it has motivated me enough to do whatever it takes day in and day out to continue to do WHAT I LOVE and not work for someone else's benefit.

What are your greatest strengths?
I'm truth. I won't bullshit you. I won't sit back and be the guy who tells you everything will be ok when it won't. You want brutal honesty, you get with me. Most people like to “think before they speak”. With me, what you see is what you get. I'm not going to tell you that I went to school, got a marketing degree, had investors help me start my company. You want truth? Nobody ever gave me shit. Everything I have is because I put my own ass on the line and took a chance. I keep my friends close and my enemies closer. My greatest strength is probably that when it REALLY comes down to it, I know and realize that when it comes down to it, I only have myself and the guys I am in business to rely on.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
Letting Steve and Michael talk me into shit. Seriously, I've never met or known two guys who can reason with me like these two. For the longest time, I had this defense wall in my business that it was “me against the world” and these two have shown me there really is good people in this industry that you can trust and rely on. That's my weakness. You know you have it good when your greatest weakness is having two partners who knows what it takes to perfect the trifecta.

What motivates you?
I would be lying if I didn't say money right? Yes, of course money motivates me. It motivates everyone. But do you know what really tickles me? Going to tradeshows and traveling around and meeting people face to face and to be told that you've somehow helped. Not to sound conceited, but here's a taste of what I have awoken to the last few days from my blog, twitter and facebook.

PunchMyFace
June 9th, 2010 @10:30 am
EPIC Post. Listen to this man, I am living proof. I listened to Ruck and it changed my life.

Mike
June 9th, 2010 @12:12 pm
This is damn good stuff, exactly what a newb like me needs to know, because this is exactly what I am doing…jumping around all over the place. I am not signed up with you all yet, but this post combined with those two millionaire posts show me that I need to be. I will be filling out your app ASAP. Thanks again for the wake up call.

OHH SNAP, WHO'S THIS?

Jonathan Volk
June 10th, 2010 @7:45 am
“Whatever level of success you want to achieve, I assure you that there will be some form of sacrifice you will have to make. The difference between those still dreaming and the ones living it, is that some will make those sacrifices without hesitation. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to achieve yours?”
Great truth right there.

@ruck listened to the interview with Scott - loved it

@ruckCool story bro

@ruck great interview man, just listened and really enjoyed it!

Darryl Thomas Jr.
"people have dreams about what they want their business to be, but they dont realize the nightmares of what it'll take to get there"...best. business quote. Ever.

If this isn't motivating, I dont know what is!

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Believe it or not, the best advice I've been given was in the last two weeks. Never look at a situation in a negative state of mind. Everything happens for a reason but if you dwell on the bad, that's what you will get. Look at everything from a positive state of mind and that's how things will come to you. I've never been into that “hokie pokie” shit but over the last two weeks, things have changed so dramatically for me that I cannot stress how important staying positive no matter what will do for you.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
My partners Steve and Michael. People reading this might start to get sick of seeing it but I cannot stress how much more you can achieve having people work with you who support, reason and will pay the same dues as you if things don't go according to plan. They'll be there picking themselves up too.

What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?
Non-Paying Advertisers and Fraudulent affiliates. Of course now that everything is all legal and political I really got to watch what I say here. I can tell you for sure though, don't ever do business with a Patrick Terry or Chris Hopson. These two guys owe millions of dollars across many networks and merchant processors. That's really all the name dropping I will do there because everyone else has their ass either in collections or a legal swing with us.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
I would like to put a decade in this business and re-evaluate what I am doing. There's probably a set number of money to make and be comfortable with but fortunately for me, you can read those comments above. How do you stop working on something you love? How do you stop taking compliments from people like that? Seriously, how can you stop? If money was no object, and I had to pick a hobby, you would catch me fishing. That's not going to happen though, so you are stuck with me for a long time.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?
In a country not paying these bullshit taxes. Seriously, I want to be moving forward. I'm not a past dweller and I don't really even live in the “moment” anymore. The most important days are in front of me and hopefully in ten years I can say again “The most important days are in front of me”.

How do you like to spend your free time? What does work-life balance mean to you? 
I spend my free time with my kids, my girl and her kids. Work-Life balance? It didn't mean much to me until recently. I've taken a step back and started to enjoy life a bit more. It's hard NOT to work when you love it so much but really you have to take breaks and see life from all angles.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?
I would have ran the living crap out of email submits on myspace a helleva lot longer than I did . Honestly for me being a believer in everything happens for a reason, had I chosen a different career path, I probably wouldn't be where I am now, and I wouldn't get to have what I have now.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work?  What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
My greatest achievement is my kids. My second greatest achievement is meeting someone who actually gets me and has shown me a different side than what I was normally used to. Out with the old, in with the new! Unfulfilled dreams – Catching a Mekong catfish in Thailand, going to Venice, Italy. I'm a pretty simple guy and will be achieving these dreams just as soon as I take a break.

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2010.

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I've been thinking for a while that there is no really good place for someone to find a coder, designer, etc specifically for Affiliate and internet marketing.

I then began to think of putting up a Job board on my website just for that purpose. After thinking about it for a little bit longer, I decided to expand that to all affiliate marketing related jobs.

So without further ado, if you would like to look for or post (it's free) a job related to affiliate marketing, This is your place!

The current categories are:

• Advertiser Manager Jobs
• Affiliate Manage Jobsr
• Graphic Designer Jobs
• Internal Marketer Jobs
• Management Jobs
• Media Buyer Jobs
• Programmer Jobs
• Sales Jobs

http://Jobs.JonathanVolk.com

Let me know what you think and feel free to post!

Thanks!

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2009.

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So today I finally got access to twitter lists! Yay! I love them, seriously!

I decided to compile a list of affiliate marketers and marketing people.

I tried to find everyone I could but obviously I didn't find everyone, so please comment below if you have more people to add!

Be sure to follow the list for all affiliate marketing updates on twitter.

Happy Halloween tomorrow!

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2009.

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What is HasOffers?

Often the natural progression for successful affiliates is to begin to run their own affiliate network. Although many have failed but a lot of really amazing affiliate networks have stemmed from this progression.

Some networks like Convert2media, Ads4dough, Eagle web assets, etc have been started by some super affiliates.

Normally starting an affiliate network costs tens of thousands of dollars and then you need the capital to be able to pay your affiliates. All in all, you should expect a network to cost you 6 figures or more in startup capital before you see a paycheck.

Direct track, one of the more popular affiliate network software packages out, cost (unconfirmed) $10,000 to start and around $1,000 per month.

Thankfully there is some good news now!! If you are looking for a way to create your own affiliate network, HasOffers is a good choice. It reduces the cost of starting a network and provides unbelievably good software.

First of all, the basic version is free. You get a subdomain.hasoffers.com and up to 250,000 clicks! Most people will want to run on their own domain which only costs 99 bucks a month and you get up to 500,000 clicks!! Sick! I almost think it's a bit under priced for everything you get. Here are some of the features that you get.

The design is very intuitive and logically set up, making for extreme ease of navigation even for those completely unfamiliar with setting up their own affiliate network. And even for those who are familiar with other similar sites, HasOffers is still definitely worth the time to look into as you will likely find it improves upon any other system you're using in several different ways.

Seriously, if you're wondering if it has a certain feature, it probably does plus more. So many that I'm not even going to try to list them. Instead, check out the site.

I've actually signed up for hasoffers to see how it works out a while ago after seeing it mentioned on Shoemoney.com's site. I've since considered using it for a couple offers that I am promoting locally to allow friends to promote the offers.

A couple of highlights about the Has Offers Affiliate Network Software.

It's very customizable so just check it out. It's set up in a way so that you can easily customize the color design, upload your own logo, and choose how to setup your offers and accept new affiliate accounts, amongst so much else.

HasOffers has made creating your own affiliate network easier than ever before. You can go create an account now while it is still free. It's a decision you will not regret, especially at this price of FREE!

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2009.

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About The Author Of This Post

Paul Coughlin is an affiliate at NeverBlueAds. This is his Bio.

Pay-per-click and affiliate marketing, along with blog marketing, have fascinated me for years. I’m a techy guy, but also love working in business. After years of doing all sorts of things around internet marketing, I focused on PPC and particularly CPA offers. That’s how I came across Michael Crouch over at NeverBlue. Interestingly, another friend Chris, also in the UK who I chat with over in Gauher Chaudry’s PPCFormula 2.0 forums, also says NeverBlue is his favorite (and most profitable) CPA network.

Michael from NeverBlueAds

Although most of the affiliate managers will call you, Michael was also very cheerful and helpful, which makes you feel good when you talk with him! The very first time we spoke, he took the time to find out what my areas of interest were, and recommended current offers. We always get asked the question ‘what verticals do you like to work in’ - I always say ‘the ones that are the most profitable’

I always ask for specific tips on what is converting well for PPC right now - Michael mentioned this week that Cellfish - an IQ quiz (phone/sms - NeverBlue exclusive) - is doing well, a number of affiliates are doing between 15k - 60k per day on social media traffic. Great info - so after checking the offer, I cheekily asked which creatives were doing best.. Michael was more than helpful - giving me specific id numbers, and recommending types of creatives for the different mediums..

As a last note, Michael also sends out a weekly spreadsheet with the latest and greatest performing offers - saves a huge amount of time.

Check out NeverBlue here

Feature Your Favorite Affiliate Manager And Get Your Referral Link On This Site!

I'm looking for more people to write guests posts about their favorite affiliate managers.

Write about your Affiliate Manager

If you would like to write a post about your favorite affiliate manager, please email me with the following:

- First paragraph about yourself.
- 2+ Paragraphs about your favorite affiliate manager. Why are they your favorite affiliate manager? What have they done to help you grow your business?
- Optional offer / affiliate tips.
- Your network affiliate link. (free affiliate link exposure )

© JonathanVolk.com - A Blog about Making Money Online, 2009.

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