AFF Playbook – The Forum for Affiliates

If you haven’t heard the news, PPV Playbook is no more! The popular PPV forum has burned down and from the ashes comes a new forum, AFF Playbook. Created by David Ford, AFF Playbook is what PPV Playbook has matured to and the name accurately describes the forum since there is tons of information on marketing methods other than PPV.

In the past, I’ve constantly heard about how great PPV Playbook is as a resource. I never did join because I was doing quite well with PPV when I first started and there are free forums available online; why pay? It took a name change to entice me to take a peek inside, and boy, I was overwhelmed.

As expected, you’ll see forums for Case-Studies, Follow Along Campaigns, Lessons, and Webinars. For Traffic Sources, there’s a plethora of information from PPC to E-mail Marketing and even SEO! I drooled when I saw forums dedicated to Landing Pages, Tracking, and Coding. If that wasn’t enough, there are also forums to help you improve business wise.

With your membership, you’ll also get access to AffPortal Tools. These tools will help you build your campaigns. There are a TON of tools but a few worth mentioning are the landing page generators, jQuery landing page builder, keyword & URL scrappers, and downloads such as music, landing page templates, graphics, and more!

All of the above comes at a price that should be no problem. The longer you’re a member, the lower your membership will cost. It will cost you $67 the first 4 months you’re a member. The price will then be lowered to $47 for the next 4 months. After that, the price will only be $27 a month! For extra savings, you can subscribe for 6 months at the price of $326 and 12 months for only $450. If you’re serious about becoming a successful affiliate, take the next step to invest in a membership and devote yourself to learning the information provided. The ROI you’ll get is priceless.

With over 50,000+ posts, many will contain gems of information unavailable anywhere else. AFF Playbook has a highly active membership base. With over 2,000+ active members, you’re sure to get the attention and support you need to take your skills and earning potential to unbelievable heights. Join today, I’ll see you inside!

My Facebook Advertising Experience

In August, there was a case-study contest I decided to participate in. You had to advertise a game offer on Facebook with a $200 budget. The contest ran for 2 weeks. This was my first real attempt at advertising with Facebook Ads.

When I learned about the details of the contest I instantly knew what offer I was going to run. I promoted Wizard 101. I had huge success on this offer with PPV, so I decided to port it over. I targeted both Males and Females 13-17 and targeted 18-25 separately. My ads were very generic. I wanted to test how well they’d do before going at it at an angle.

As for bidding, I kept mine at $0.50 despite the high suggested bid prices.
To fast-forward a bit, those ads didn’t perform well. They received clicks but the conversions were close to none.

I decided to go at an angle with my ads. Since I’m promoting a game about wizards, I thought about what things I could add to my ads.
When people hear wizards, what do they think about? Harry Potter! But if you keep up to date on pop-culture, there’s another celebrity that’s gotten a lot of press and is associated with wizards. Yes, I used Selena Gomez. Funny thing is, is that she actually did promote the game awhile back. So, I searched for images and made new ads to test.

After running those ads, clicks and conversions went up significantly.

Unfortunately, I still was not able to profit despite the changes I’ve made. I kept with those ads because they seemed so promising. I thought I just needed to fine tune them. To start, I paused the ads targeting ages 18-25 because the magic just wasn’t there.
To the existing ads, I targeted by interests, which were Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber.

I let the ads run for a few days and paused the ones that weren’t performing well, and I was left with 3 ads.

I let a few days pass and I still was not seeing any profit. I paused all my ads to analyze what was going on. I realized that I needed get my CPCs down lower. To further close the profit/loss margin, I requested and received a pay bump on the offer. Now, I had to figure out how I was going to lower my CPCs. I tried experimenting with daily budgets and lowering my bids after my CPCs drop. Raising my daily budget helped a bit because it allowed my ads to receive more impressions and clicks.

In the end, I was unsuccessful at making my campaign profit. I was nearly at a -50% ROI but I did gain a significant amount of knowledge. I learned that it wasn’t impossible to advertise on Facebook it just takes work. I was also very happy with my ad approval ratio. Only 2 ads I submitted were disapproved. Perhaps my flaw was in not split testing other ad copies because a high CTR (Click Through Ratio) is key to lowering CPCs.

In all, I generated 88 leads, $103.75 in revenue, and spent $200 receiving an ROI of -48%.

In addition to the contest, I was also testing other game offers on Facebook and received similar results. My total Facebook ad spend in August reached over $400. I’m putting off Facebook for awhile and sticking to PPV for now where I have had success.
Don’t let my campaign discourage you. You can find still find success on Facebook. You just need a strong budget, creativity, and patience.

Infolinks Self-Service Marketplace

Have you ever thought about advertising via in-text ads? Or are you looking for the next hot traffic source? I have exciting news for you. Infolinks recently introduced its self-service advertising marketplace; the very first to hit the web! You can easily create in-text ad campaigns just as you would if you were using a self-serve ad platform such as Google Adwords. The fact that this is new should signal you to test campaigns on Infolinks to take advantage of their quality traffic before everyone else does! Promote your sites, blogs, social media profiles, and products.
Infolinks Self-Service Marketplace
The Infolinks Marketplace is user-friendly; you’ll be able to set up your first campaign in minutes. To reach your audience, you target by selecting and bidding on keywords. A huge plus is that you can target by geographical location and dominate areas where there’s no competition. “Is there real-time reporting?” You bet! Monitor and optimize your campaigns to max out your ROI.

Your ads are shown on websites with relevant content and only when users hover over a highlighted keyword that you’ve targeted. That way you only receive visitors that are truly interested in what you’re promoting. If you have never used in-text advertising before, now is the time to start. Think about it. You can potentially reach 350 million unique visitors across 250 billion pages of content!

If you have experience with self-serve ad platforms, signing up with the Infolinks Marketplace will be a breeze. It will only take a few minutes to open an advertiser account in the Marketplace. It couldn’t be any easier. Before you know it, you’ll be cranking out campaigns and seeing profits!

2011: The Year of The Mobile Gadget

We all know how convenient the mobile internet can be when it comes to staying online, no matter where we go. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business broadband user or someone who uses mobile connectivity for purely social reasons, having the right gadget to get the job done counts for a lot too.

With endless options open to the mobile broadband user it can be a little tricky deciding on which device to buy in order to meet your requirements. However, there are three gizmos that can prove highly useful if you’ve got a growing need to stay connected on the go.

MiFi

Mifi
The MiFi is our first suggestion because this is a great little twist on the traditional mobile broadband dongle. Where a dongle normally plugs into an available USB port on your laptop or netbook, and subsequently allows your machine to connect to the mobile network, the MiFi does the same but enables multiple computers to connect instead.

There are quite a few of these MiFi devices around now, and come via numerous mobile network providers. They’re perfect if you have more than one person in the house or workplace who needs to connect to the internet. You’ll need to be mindful of the fact that data allowances get spread out over the connected users, which means your quota may get eaten up rather quickly, but aside from that, the MiFi is a real boon to mobile internet fans.

The Tablet PC

Next up is the humble tablet PC , which has become the tool of choice for many mobile Internet fans and that’s easy to see why when you compare them to bulkier laptops or slightly more svelte netbook computers. While the Apple iPad is hugely popular, there are now plenty of alternative options available too, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

There’s a new version of this device currently available, the 10.1, which offers an improved experience over the original. It runs the Google Android operating system, has a slim and stylish design plus a quality build. If you’re looking for a truly portable gadget that’ll keep you connected on the move, with a decent keyboard and screen size, then this tablet offering makes a sound investment.

The Smartphone

HTC Phones
A smartphone is the third mobile gadget that has become an essential part of any well connected Internet fans hardware arsenal. Right now, there are endless options to choose from, although one of the leading manufacturers, HTC, is proving a hard act to follow when it comes to producing a raft of excellent handsets, many of which come armed with the pretty bulletproof Android operating system.

Combine slick performance and some super cool designs and you’ve got a range of phones that have something for everyone. While some might say that it’s the Apple iPhone that is top of the smartphone tree, it’s well worth investigating one or two models from the HTC camp if you’re looking for all the toys, but without quite the same sort of financial outlay. Shop around and you may even get all three of these gadgets bundled into one super deal, which is just about as good as it gets.

Joe Linford writes for Broadband Genie, the consumer advice site for mobile broadband, smartphones and tablets.

Using Smartphones as Wireless Hotspots for Blogging on the Go

As a blogger, connecting to the internet is essential. You need access to update your blog, respond to visitors’ questions, and give feedback. However, if you are away or in a remote place without internet or Wi-Fi access, you have two choices: purchase a wireless broadband stick for 3G or 4G wireless access, or save yourself the trouble and use your smartphone to achieve the same effect. Smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone, several Blackberry models, and any phone powered by Android, can be turned into a broadband modem and be tethered to your notebook for wireless internet access.

How to Turn a Smartphone into a Wireless Broadband Modem
wireless hotspot
Smartphones today are equipped with data capability for high speed internet access. The process of setting up a smartphone as a modem to another device, such as a notebook or desktop for connecting to the internet, is called tethering. First, you need to make sure you have a wireless data-access plan. The tethering fee for each carrier is different; you need to do your research. You can check if your wireless carrier includes tethering in your current plan. If it is not, you can request this for an additional fee. Many phone carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint offer tethering plans in their wireless services. Additionally, make sure to subscribe to a data plan that gives you a large amount of bandwidth—such as 5 GB per month.

Next, you will need software to tether your smartphone to your notebook. Usually, the wireless provider will include the software when you choose their tethering plan. Alternatively, Android users can use an open source application called PdaNet. You can connect your smartphone directly to your notebook through a USB cable, or Bluetooth.

Benefits of Having a Wireless Broadband Smartphone

Having your smartphone as a modem for your notebook is beneficial when you are stranded in a remote place, especially when you need internet access. In another instance, say in an environmental disaster such as a flood or earthquake, a wired internet connection may be slow to get restored. Using a smartphone to tether is convenient and helpful to connect to the internet.

Most free Wi-Fi hotspots are not secure, and chances your data will be intercepted can be high. However, using your smartphone for wireless broadband access is more secure. This is important if you want to log into your blog or use your email. The traffic is encrypted, so you do not have to worry about anyone stealing your data.

The use of a smartphone as a modem for tethering is a great backup for your regular internet service. You are still able to access the internet and can continue updating your blog in the case of power failure and other circumstances. This has become a life saver for bloggers.

You can receive a phone call and still remain connected to the internet if you are using your smartphone. Furthermore, you can save the battery life of your smartphone and your notebook, when you are connected through a USB connection.

Drawbacks

Despite the advantages of using your smartphone as your wireless modem for your notebook, it has several drawbacks. First, you can only access the internet where the wireless carrier has coverage. Second, if you subscribe to a small bandwidth the connection will be slow. However, these drawbacks do not eclipse the many benefits in making your smartphone a modem for your notebook.

Conclusion

For a blogger, the ability to use your smartphone as a wireless broadband modem to tether your notebook for accessing the internet is convenient. It is secure and you will not have to worry about not being able to access your blog. You can log in into your blog account virtually anywhere your phone service is available. A smartphone can be a wireless broadband modem that allows for mobility while you maintain your blog.

Blake Sanders writes tech at Australian broadband comparison site Broadband Expert and specializes in wireless broadband, mobile phones, and the latest in wireless internet provider news and information.

http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/

Note: Photo courtesy of smurfmatic via FlickR Creative Commons.

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