Advice from the Pros


Today, we are introducing a new feature on the affiliate.com blog called Advice from the Pros, where we will post a question with responses from a variety of well-known bloggers and industry pros. If you would like to respond to the question yourself, submit a comment with your answer. If you enjoy this kind of post and would like to see more Advice from the Pros and similar features in the future, just let me know. Now, on to our first question.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received during your career in affiliate marketing?

Be Like Mike


Growing up, Michael Jordan was my idol. As a kid I dreamed of one day making up half of the Petullo-Jordan backcourt for the Chicago Bulls. As much as I loved watching him play for my beloved Bulls (I was a Chicago kid), I also loved the Michael Jordan ads. My entire room was wallpapered with MJ ads I’d tear out of Sports Illustrated and other magazines. I kept a blank VHS tape in the VCR at all times and would quickly push record any time a Jordan commercial came on TV. I had a tape roll of MJ commercials and notebooks of made up ads I would create for him to use one day. (Yes, I know, I was a little obsessive as a kid.)

7 Tips for Writing Great Copy


While there are lots of factors in creating an ad (graphics, placement, layout, etc.) the text or copy you use is one of the biggest keys to driving strong performance. While writing good copy for a paid placement on Google is a very different exercise than writing good landing page content, many of the principles remain the same. Good copy is good copy, regardless of how long or short it is. So, here are 7 quick tips to help you improve your copywriting.

Reinventing Your Business


We all know that the internet evolves at an incredible rate. One of the biggest challenges for an affiliate marketer or anyone with an online business is successfully adapting to all of these changes and leveraging them to grow their businesses. For many companies, this means has often meant adjusting to selling online vs. in a store and finding ways to connect with customers in a new environment. For affiliates, it may mean learning out how to utilize new marketing platforms, focusing on different verticals, or leveraging new technology. To have a long-term, successful online business, you have to be ready to adjust to and take advantage of new developments as they happen (or before they happen). This means that over time you may actually have to reinvent your business if you plan to remain successful and continue to grow. If you have been in the affiliate marketing industry for a few years, chances are pretty good that you can already look back and see that your business has changed quite a bit from when you began. But, for many companies making these kinds of changes is easier said than done.

The Last Reps are the Toughest…and the Most Important


One of my personal trainers used to have a saying that “the last couple of reps of an exercise are the ones that make all the difference in your workout.” His point was that pushing yourself through those last couple of reps, where you are struggling to keep your form and feel like you can’t do any more, is where you drive the greatest results. This is where you are pushing your muscles beyond what is easy and comfortable and by doing so, build more muscle.

I think this philosophy also makes a lot of sense for affiliate marketers. I have written about pushing your boundaries before and this is a similar idea, but it relates more to getting the most out of every campaign you run.