Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Arye Barsky, the director of marketing for Engageya. Engageya supplies a free on-site content recommendations widget for bloggers and publishers, which enables the content owners to develop a new audience and drive fresh, targeted traffic to their site.

Arye comes from the blogging and affiliate marketing field, and as such, he understands the thirst of online marketers to find targeted traffic for an affordable price, and even better, for free. As one who switched careers paths from finance to online marketing, he also understands the struggles, frustrations and doubts bloggers might have at the beginning of their online career.

Not long ago he joined forces with Engageya’s founders, Anat Sever and Barak Frohlinger to assist their exciting start up – Engageya. Engageya realized that exact struggle webmasters are having and developed a unique and groundbreaking solution. Engageya’s plugin not only displays related posts at the end of an article, like many other plugins do, but also creates a readers exchange eco-system. In this eco-system, related websites will promote each other’s related posts, and through Engageya’s crediting system, they will exchange readers back and forth, a reader for a reader.

Not only bloggers will enjoy this. I imagine larger publishing networks that run 20 or 30 websites, each with a decent amount of traffic will see a benefit. Installing the plugin on all of their sites will allow them to keep those isolated readers surfing their network for a longer period of time. This way, instead of struggling to get new traffic, you simply exchange it, and receive a stream of engaged readers in return!

I have asked Arye whether he uses the plugin on his own blogs. He answered that the funny thing was that actually when he met Barak & Anat, he was already using the plugin and that is why they are such a good fit.

And does it really work? Well, according to Arye, yes! Publishers are reporting amazing 6%-10% CTRs, which means readers view more pages, bounce rates are lower, and as some of these clicks are going to related external sites, they are getting fresh targeted traffic in return.

So what are Engageya’s main features you can use?

Internal content recommendations- Engageya suggests additional related articles to readers on your site.

External content recommendations- Engageya displays articles to users on other relevant websites, based on an exchange system that guarantees targeted readers to your site.

Customization- Engageya offers a variety of layouts and designs (view them here)

Reporting- You can monitor your incoming and outgoing targeted traffic

Coming Soon- ability to drive traffic to your related Facebook posts

Engageya’s content recommendations widget support all niches, languages and platforms. They already have a dedicated WordPress plugin, a Blogger widget, a Wix app and a JavaScript code to fit all other platforms. Additional platforms widgets are in development as they aim to reach as many websites and publishers as possible.

Well, that does sound exciting and we wish them the best of luck!

For more information, please visit www.engageya.com or contact Arye directly at arye@engageya.com.

Compared to social media and content marketing, email is a mature channel for engaging online consumers. Its longevity is a testament to its ability to convert leads into buyers and buyers into repeat customers. However, in the age of mobile marketing, customers are viewing emails on smartphones, tablet PCs, and standard laptop/desktop devices. Your email campaigns need to take this into account in order to ensure that you’re reaching everyone effectively. Whatever you are trying to accomplish with your emails; whether to increase sales, get more traffic to your website, or establishing trust between you and your customers,   it is imperative that you do your homework ahead of time.

Keep it simple to avoid information overload. We have all received those emails that cover way too much information, have too much content, or are just plain boring. Maintain the focus of your emails by limiting the amount of test. Write a brief description of the content in your email newsletter, and then include a link to read more on your website. Smaller emails take less time to digest, take less time to open and read, and are more likely to convert. Many users may only glance at an email while on the go; if you don’t capture their attention within the first few lines, they may delete and move on. Shorter messages help you stay on point while creating an atmosphere of respect between you and your customers – you respect their time, so you get to the point. Not only is this easier to consume, but it also drives visitors to your website, provides opportunities for reconversion, and gets you more indexable pages filled with great content to improve your SEO!

Learn the art of the subject line to increase the percentage of people who actually read your emails. There is conflicting advice coming from every corner of the internet, so what should you do? Keep your subject line straightforward, avoid using promotional phrases, or things that look or sound spammy, and know your audience and what will interest them. There’s nothing easier to test (or more important to test) than email subject lines. It’s incredibly easy to break your email list into two parts and simply send a separate email subject line to each and see which one gets a high open rate. Of course, make sure that all other variables such as the time of the send, the size of the list, and the breakdown of email service providers on the list are basically the same. Because email subject line performance can vary so much based on industry segment, it’s important that you test a variety of keywords, calls-to-action, lengths, personalization, and other factors and then make your own list of what is most effective at generating opens of your emails. Starting with the above best practices can help ensure that you don’t have an email subject line that is designed to fail. Ultimately what’s best for your email campaign program will need to be determined over time.

Be useful. Is what you’re sharing relevant, applicable and useful? Give people something they can use and you’ll not only develop thought leadership, but you’ll be seen as a friendly force in people’s lives. People like doing business with someone who helps them.

Affiliate marketing has become a popular way to make money online, partly because of the flexibility that is offered in terms of working from home. But how do you choose an affiliate program that will make you money? The key to success is picking the right program. But that’s another problem, as there are literally thousands to choose from. Because there are such a large number of affiliate programs to choose from and many are structured differently, here are some tips to keep in mind while looking for a good match. A good affiliate program is a must if you want to make money on the internet.

First, you need to be sure you are comfortable with the product you’re promoting or selling and you have confidence in the advertiser you are linking to. Check the pages on the advertiser’s Web site. If it’s something you yourself would never consider purchasing, or it possibly looks a bit unreliable, then chances are your visitors won’t be interested in it either. If you’re running a content-based site, you don’t want to sell anything that might offend visitors or lower their opinion of your site.

The best rule of thumb is to pick affiliate programs that offer something that’s relevant to your site. For example, if your Web site is about registering domain names, look for affiliate programs that are related to the topic such as Web site hosting, Webmaster tools and software, Web site templates and so on.  There is nothing worse than advertisements that stand out like a sore thumb on your pages (e.g., online casino ads placed on a Web site about elementary school math tutorials). Even niche sites can find affiliate programs that are a good match.

Another important aspect of choosing an affiliate program is comprised of three things:  trust, commissions, and when, how and if they pay. Do your research before choosing a program. Compare the websites and see which has the best prices and products for your customers. Check out their websites and see how user friendly their site is—no one will stay on a site that’s hard to navigate.  Even the best marketing efforts can be wasted if the program isn’t attractive to visitors.

What is the Advertiser really offering to their affiliates? Make sure you understand the affiliate agreement and that you can comply with it. Take the time to check out the advertiser before joining to ensure they really do pay out to affiliates and that their program is not a scam. Will you have a dedicated account manager to work with?

Have a look at what the advertiser is offering in terms of tracking and reporting tools for affiliates. Good programs will provide you with a way to access real-time automated statistics to view conversions, sales and commissions. Be sure you have ad and product display options to integrate the advertising into your Web site. Can you change the colors, themes and choose from a selection of different sized banners and buttons?  With this type of service it means a little less work for you, the affiliate, and it also means your affiliate program meshes with your site.  Some higher-pay programs may look attractive, but may offer a higher commission because they might not provide support and tools to their affiliates. If this is the case, make sure you determine if this program will be too high-maintenance for you before joining.

Are you looking to maximize your affiliate marketing efforts by integrating social media into your strategies? Then be sure to attend our upcoming webinar with Online Marketing expert Evan Weber from Experience Advertising, Inc. where we will discuss and show practical examples including:

- How to acquire more Facebook fans

- How to advertise effectively on Facebook

- How to integrate Facebook into your website or blog

- How to run sweepstakes and contests to build Facebook fans and email optins.

- How to share content from your website effectively on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

- Basic strategies for growing your connections on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

- How to “work” your social networks to increase traffic to your website

Friday, February 15th at 4:00pm est

Hope to see you there!

Read about the latest news from our non-profit, Gulf Coast Giving! http://www.feathersoundnews.com/a16.html

We at Offer Inspector would like to wish you all Happy Holidays!

Recently I spent some time on the phone with Evan Weber, CEO of Experience Advertising Inc., discussing what makes an amazing affiliate manager. For those of you who already know him, I’m sure you know he is a wealth of information on the topic. For those of you that aren’t familiar with him or his company, head on over to their website http://experienceadvertising.com/ and check them out. They have some amazing affiliate resources that will teach all types of strategies for online marketing. Evan is the self-described “ultimate affiliate manager”, who is extremely passionate about what he does, and doing it very well. He has been in the online marketing industry since the late 1990’s, and is well-versed in all types of Internet marketing including: SEO, pay-per-click search, social media, affiliate marketing, ecommerce, email marketing, and more.

Evan, what makes a great affiliate manager?

There are many characteristics to being a great affiliate manager, such as being very friendly, outgoing, proactive, helpful, and knowledgeable about online marketing. Many affiliate managers however get thrust into that role without any previous online marketing experience. They don’t have the background or the skills needed to really help their affiliates become better affiliates; and most importantly they don’t connect with them as friends and build the relationship. Your affiliates are your salespeople on the web and should be treated like gold and spoon-feed whatever they may need. They should be responded to immediately and facilitated as much as possible to promote the company or offer. Unfortunately, too many affiliate managers don’t take the time to get to know their affiliate,; but rather just push offers on them and expect them to produce sales. I like to get to know every affiliate my agency works with on a personal basis, so I can analyze what they are doing with their online marketing and provide helpful suggestions and strategies. I find this is always received really well and I get a lot of positive reinforcement from the affiliates I interaction with in this way. I look at it more as an opportunity to help them expand their online project, rather than a means to an end.

How would you advise affiliate managers to become better affiliate managers?

There definitely needs to be a good process in place in place for how everything is handled related to the affiliate program, from screening and approving, to maximizing the EPC average, to sending quality newsletters on a frequent basis. The two most important factors to growing an affiliate program are recruiting new affiliates and managing current affiliates. Many companies have a good amount of affiliates signed up, but not really many participating. You need to do something to set yourself apart from the other 1000’s of companies they could be spending time promoting, like running exciting sales contest with guaranteed prizes. Also, communicating and messaging your affiliates is of the utmost importance and should be done amazingly. “Being there” for your affiliates on a 24/7 basis is always the best policy in my opinion, so people don’t have to wait to be approved or for their question to be answered. It also shows you are there for them, whereas your competitor may not be, so you will win their loyalty.

Another valuable part of the affiliate management process is to have a really good affiliate strategy in place; ask yourself “What are we doing to grow our affiliate program?” This needs to be evaluated on a monthly basis. Focus on how you are inspiring your affiliates to produce more traffic and sales, as well as how you are recruiting new affiliates from sources like affiliate networks, search, and Facebook. Personally contacting each and every affiliate and offering to have a phone call with them is a great way to increase participation and get more affiliates inspired.

So it would seem a good affiliate manager has to be knowledgeable to be effective?

If you want to be a great affiliate manager you have to educate yourself! You need to have a strong skill set in HTML, SEO, site building, site editing, search engine marketing, newsletter sending, content strategies, and social media. In order to help your affiliates learn, grow, and produce, you have to be an expert in your field. There is so much free information out there, use it to become a better online marketer yourself so you can impart that knowledge to your affiliates. Also, make sure to always build relationships with your affiliates, and be accessible. They shouldn’t have to wait until Monday to be approved to be your affiliate. While they are waiting for you to approve their application, they have already been accepted to your competitor’s affiliate program.

What do you think about how to fully maximize an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is never fully maximized. You always have a certain amount of people participating and a certain amount producing traffic and sales. The key is to increase the overall recruits and participation levels, so more traffic and sales will be generated. Regarding recruiting…there are always more producers out there, and you need to go out and find them. Remember, your affiliates are not a means to an end. Get to know them, their niche, their needs, and work on building the relationship. Then you can expect to have a large, productive affiliate program.

There was a somewhat heated discussion recently about whether affiliate marketing was a long term, sustainable business or not. It’s tough to come up with a definitive answer to this question, because it depends what you definition of a good business model is.

I think this topic brings up something bigger regarding the way affiliates think which hurts their business.

Check out the rest of David’s article here.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you?

I am 24 years old. I went to school at Illinois State University. Now, I live in Florida.

2. How long have you been in affiliate marketing and how did you get involved?

I started after my freshman year of High School. I was looking for way to make money off websites I was developing. I ended up selling my website to the owner of XY7.com and started working for him. He had me managing that site and portfolios of sites he owns. I did affiliate managing remotely through my sophomore year of High School. I quit when I started college until I realized I needed the money back. Thankfully, I was welcomed back with open arms. Then, I met Chad with PeerFly and I saw a better opportunity.

3. Tell us a little bit about your company and what you do over there?

Peerfly is built on a custom platform, and has been since day one. We are very unique in that. No one had the look and feel that Peerfly had. We have features other networks don’t have. We work in every vertical and handle a wide spread of everything. Our philosophy since day one was that we want to bring everyone in and work with everyone on managed level. Now, we have over 1,200 affiliate offers active; over 20 main verticals; and about to pass 100,000 people to apply to our network. That is a sweet milestone.

4. What are the criteria for a marketer to be accepted at your network? How does your company prevent and handle fraud?

To be a part of Peerfly from a publisher’s stand point, you must be interested in affiliate marketing and possess some strategy to promote our offers. It is also very important to remain honest in your application.
To prevent fraud we require people to upload a copy of their ID to prove they are who they say you are. Hard to sign up and use someones complete infomation and be approved..we don’t let it happen.

5. In your opinion, what are the best places for a new affiliate to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?

There are a ton of great resources out there. However, none, in particular, is going to teach you everything you need to know about affiliate marketing. I am still learning, even. Do your research.
www.Warriorforum.com is a good place to start. It provides good information from people who genuinely want to help get others started on their path to success.
www.Google.com is your best friend. There is a ton of information, blogs, and articles to learn from. I also have a bunch of information on my affiliate manager blog as well: http://www.LukePeerFly.com

6. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign?

- Tracking- If you’re not tracking all the data you can possibly from the campaign, there is not much you can do. You need to be able to optimize the campaign as much as possible. This starts with tracking.
- Optimization- After you get the data from the campaign you need to be able to use it to improve on your campaign’s results. When it comes to split testing multiple landing pages, you need to track and properly monitor the results of test
- Finding a good traffic source- You cannot properly analyze statistics without good traffic.

To sign up to become part of PeerFly, or learn more about how they can work for you please visit http://www.PeerFly.com.

1. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes your company different?
We pace so much higher because we don’t depend on affiliates to bring in revenue. We do our own stuff. We have our own internal offers, media buys, and emailing. One thing about this industry is that you have to think out of the box and have to be able to adapt. One issue I see new affiliates doing is that they want to copy what the other guy is doing. Well, it’s okay to use ideas but not 100 percent. We get a lot of guys asking what they should do, and where they should get traffic, and what are the best offers? Well, the best offers are basically what you make it to be. Anything can be good. You just have to concentrate on that one offer and go for it.

2. Do you have any exclusive offers that other networks don’t have?
We have direct relationships. Our revenue core comes from Tony and me running traffic and emailing our own offers. We’re not the traditional affiliate network because the fact is that we drive our own traffic. Our main goal is to educate the affiliate and make the industry stronger as a whole. Everything comes to us and we have full control of who we promote to it. This cuts down on fraud big time.

3. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign?
- Know your product. This starts with the creative. Don’t use what comes with the offer if you can get around it. If they allow you to make your own, make your own and get it approved. A simple image can make a big, BIG difference.
- Know your target group. If you’re promoting a product that is only of value to a consumer age 40+, you don’t want to market that product on a social site. Targeting is very important!
- No matter what type of offer it is- numbers, numbers, numbers!

4. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?

Affiliates being honest. If they have unique traffic that no one else has- be honest and open with the account manager. Your AM can be your best friend or worst enemy in your industry. They can make or break your campaign. Be open and honest with the network, so we know what will fit the affiliate’s traffic. We have an open door policy. We are always available for our affiliates. We never lose touch with the people beating the street for the simple fact that the affiliates make us. They are our partners; our family. We go the extra mile because without us having a solid communication we don’t know if something is going on. We value that personalization. We share it with our partner/family members.

John Dutt and Tony Camara are Co-Owners of CPAAlpha, a full service online advertising agency.

Here’s the quick story behind what may be one of the last frontiers left for companies who generate leads over the Internet to help them outdistance their competition; and why CEOs better take notice.

Dave Elkington and I started InsideSales.com in 2004. We bought the name from a guy who needed money right before Christmas. The first day we turned on the website we got eight leads. With the name InsideSales.com, and the strong trend toward Inside Sales, we built our entire business on responding to web leads. Even though our technology was designed to help companies cold call; we didn’t do any cold calling back then.

In early 2007 our salespeople kept telling us that they noticed when they responded quickly to leads they seemed to get the sale. They couldn’t prove it, but they all noticed the same thing. Intrigued, Dave and I started calling around to some of the industry experts. Dave called Laura Ramos, who was a VP at Forrester and specialized on the topic of Lead Management. She confirmed that there was a lot of buzz around the question of how fast do web leads cool off, but she wasn’t aware of any research to answer the question.

Then we called James Oldroyd, soon to be Dr. James Oldroyd, as he was just finishing up his graduate studies at the Kellogg School of Management, at Northwestern University. He got very intrigued with the question and received approval to do a large survey through Kellogg to determine if there were any best practices around responding quickly to leads. Weeks later he found interesting correlations but basically proved nobody knew.

So there we were; two strikes. But our reps were more adamant than ever.

We called Dr. Oldroyd back.

He said the only way to really answer the question was to do a true research study, not a survey. But we needed call center data (the calls) combined with the customer relationship management or CRM data (the results of the calls.) Dave Elkington assured him the data was available if we could get permission from many of our corporate customers of all sizes and industries, B2B and B2C. We gave him 100,000 data points; far more than he needed to be statistically accurate.

He told us Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to call if you want to contact somebody (by 49.7% over the worst day.)

4pm to 6pm are the best times to call to contact a lead (114% over the worst time, right after lunch.)

8-9am and 4-5pm are the best times to call to qualify a lead, or set an appointment with a lead (164% better than 1-2pm, the worst time.)

RevenueStreet made the Top 50 Digital Advertising Networks on the WebSite Magazine pole in September, 2012.

This is the 3rd straight year RevenueStreet has made the top 50 ad network!

This ranking is based on traffic only no votes.

This is a great list to be a part of.

The number one company was Google, #2 Yahoo and #3 Microsoft.

RevenueStreet was #42.