Well, we have a new member of staff on the books here at Affiliate Stuff towers who is going to be helping us out with a bit of part time blogging about various subjects (but mainly knickers, bras, and swimwear related type stuff).

The Winner Is…

After careful consideration of a very long list of candidates we awarded a nice contract to….. MY MUM!  After 21 years of working in admin for a construction company she decided to make the big move and take voluntary redundancy. This has given her the golden opportunity to start her internet career and enj0y a nice bit of work from home fun just like her dear old daughter and son in law.  She’ll be writing for us part time and devoting a lot more time to relaxing, having fun, and all those little things she’s been meaning to do around the house for ages.

Like Mother Like Daughter…

She’s doing really well so far and I’m now pretty clear about whom I got my writing skills from.  Her knicker related prose is really rather good and she is even managing to post it all up into a basic HTML framework I have created for her.  It’ll take her a little while to get up to speed with the ins and outs, but she’ll soon be rattling out thousands of words an hour just like me!

I think it’s very cool to get the chance to give your Mummy a go at something brand new and exciting.  So Mum, I know you read this blog  – welcome to the affiliate business and I hope you really enjoy semi retirement!

P.S. I wonder if this means I should bring her to next year’s A4U Expo in London? I’m sure she’d have quite the little migraine after a few sessions of affiliate conferencing fun (not to mention the various after parties!!)

Greetings, and welcome to the third, final, and long overdue installment in the “where are they now series”.  Today’s lovely interviewee is the legendary Chris Frost whose last chat you can take a gander at here.

As you will all no doubt know, Chris and I met up in Sydney and enjoyed 2 or 3 good nights out and himself and my Duncan braved the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb together.  We were supposed to do an interview there, but were having too good a time and had to do it via e-mail when he got home!

So without further ado, I’ll let the star do the talking

In our last chat, you said you’d increased the amount of time you’re spending on affiliate marketing from 4 hours to 10 hours a week. You were also predicting that’d rise as you were looking to develop some new niches. How’s your workload these days?

I’m still experiencing peaks and troughs on the amount of time I spend online, and expect this to continue. It’s more to do with me and my CGAS mentality when it comes to affiliate marketing.

Obviously the winter months usually results in longer hours, as there’s less inclination to get myself down to the gym when it’s blowing a gale outside even though I have another 10k run planned in London this year (running for Diabetes – http://www.justgiving.com/chrisefrost )

Has the recession affected your income at all? Have you found new opportunities from changed times?

I wouldn’t say the recession has affected my income but has certainly affected the programmes which generate my income. Previously great performers have generated less, where other merchants have picked up so it’s equalled out roughly. I’ve suffered a bit with the rubbish £ vs $ rate change over the past few months but that’s something that I can’t really control.

I know you’ve been having some issues with Google on one of your major sites which was slapped just before the busy Xmas season, and it seemed like you were feeling a mite frustrated with it all when we met up in Sydney. Have you any plans to try and recover from your “Google-itis”?

My main frustration in Sydney was turning 35!

Being slapped just before I was due to have a bumper Christmas wasn’t exactly great timing – had it happened in January I wouldn’t have cared too much. It was only the other day that the possible reason behind the slap was found (thanks to the Real McCoy). I’d checked and changed a lot of stuff but still hadn’t seen any change, and Lee found something that was blindingly obvious and one that’s a basic error but was an accident on my behalf. It was so stupid that I’m not going to divulge any more but have been reminded by Lee that if I make Barbados this year, then I owe him a few beers!

You predicted a £3m sales generation figure for your merchants in 2008. I know you more than succeeded with that with £4.8m being your closing figure for last year! What is it that you think makes you able to keep growing your affiliate business in this way and still not working at it full time?

Who said I can keep growing? Being honest I don’t expect to see any rise in 2009 mainly because I’m focusing on areas outside of the UK so my current websites are taking a bit of a back seat.

It helps by having niche sites that are seasonal based such as Christmas, Valentines and Mothers day and again, after following Lee – maybe tap into the easter egg market next year? At least that way my work load is spread out more evenly meaning currently I can cope… just…

Speaking of going full time as an affiliate… any plans to quit the day job on the horizon?

Not a chance!
The recent Google slap confirmed the risk and my respect I have for you full-timers. Unless you have shed loads of money to chuck at PPC campaigns, then I feel at times Google has too much of a strangle hold over a business. Something I plan to do this year is concentrate more on MSN and Yahoo positioning rather than having tunnel vision where only the Google logo can be seen.

If you could go back in time to our last chat and warn yourself about one thing that’s happened over the last 12 months, what would it be?

One thing? My god I have lots!

• Don’t let Kirsty go shopping with Jane while stuck up a bridge with Duncan (costs a fortune) (*Eds note – I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.  What happens on the shopping trip, stays on the shopping trip!!)

• Don’t offer a bouncer a mint! (Get knocked back)

• Don’t get drunk with Keith, Shane and Paul the night before your flight home from (you end up missing it)

• Don’t introduce affiliates to the world of Scuba Diving (I still laugh at the vision of James Avery strolling around a wreck on the sea floor, stood bolt up-right at times – classic!)

What’s been the best thing that happened to you over the last year?

It has to be packing in smoking

71 days to date (24 March 2009), 1215 cigs not smoked, saving over £500 and meaning I’ve now extended my life by a possible 4 days and 5 hours. Although this extra time may be spent in an old people’s home p’ing myself so it may not be a plus point after all!

Second on my list has to be popping over to Australia and hooking up with you guys and DGM, researching the Australian market. I think there’s great opportunity to move away from the UK yet not struggle too much with language barriers.

What will the rest of 2009 bring for you as an affiliate?

Hopefully more sites in different countries. I’ve found myself getting a bit tired of the UK and wanting to venture out into other countries. The difficulty is forgetting how Brits browse and search and learn how other countries do it along with their terminology.

Apparently credit cards in Oz is dead easy and very profitable

I can’t quite believe how quickly this has come around, but I’m off tomorrow morning to catch up with one of my favourite affiliate pals, Chris Frost in Sydney.  I’ll be hanging out there for 5 nights and taking in the Mardi Gras whilst there.

Plans for a Saturday night bevvy after the parade type festivities are already in place and on Monday afternoon those very kind and lovely chaps at DGM Australia are having a bit of a BBQ which all affiliates are welcome to attend, so both Chris and myself are going to go say hello to everyone there.

Other than that, I’ve no idea what we’ll be up to – I’ve been too busy to think of touristing activities!  it’s been 4 years since I was last in Sydney and I hope not to get anything like as drunk this time as I did the last.

I’m not holding out much hope mind you… it’s Chris’ birthday while we are there and mine shortly afterwards. It’d just be rude if we didn’t have one sherry too many, wouldn’t it?!?!  I’ll try and post some pics whilst we are there.

Viva Las Sydney!

Oh, and Adtech is on as well when I’m there but I’m too tight to buy a ticket so unless someone gives me a free one don’t expect any conference type reporting

In the second interview of my “where are they now” series, affiliate marketing’s very own Ray Theakston has graciously agreed to answer all my probing questions once more!  You can read his previous interview here.

So without further ado…. over to you Ray!

* How has ShopCodes fared since we last spoke? You mentioned in the 12 months up to the last interview that you’d generated £1.25 million in sales for your merchants. Have you grown on that at all?

Sales in 2008 from the main networks exceeded £1.1m. I’m really proud that I’ve managed to maintain those levels, for the past 2 years, in light of all the extra competition. I read the recent census and I was shocked to see that so many affiliates bring in so little sales.

There were some rare days when I’d get just 200 uniques or made only £30 commission but I’ve now got over 1,300 email subscribers and Google has treated me consistently well for a long time now.

My traffic is mainly SEO and so 90% of my turnover is profit. I could trim that excess 10% further if I could be bothered cancelling some ISP and broadband accounts. So I’m doing my bit for the economy

* Do you think your earning power has been affected by the new IAB rules and the general controversy that currently surrounds voucher code sites? Have you a strategy to deal with any lost revenue?

The IAB guidelines/rules have made no impact to anyone’s bottom line, so now merchants are introducing new rules why they shouldn’t pay you.

My site doesn’t use click-to-reveal as a method to get visitors to view the merchant site and therefore have their cookie. However, some merchants recently have started making dramatic restrictions based on domain names and SEO and not reflective as me as a person, or the page that is built for them.

I can no longer promote Urban Outfitters or Sainsbury’s Kitchen and a dozen other merchants because I’ll either get 0% commission or pittance.

My survival strategy kicked in two months ago and I am now feeling quite bullish that I’m making an extra £100 daily than this time last year, with the same traffic. It’s all about improving conversion rates. So check where those sales are coming from daily and build on and focus around those converting results.

Each time one of the merchants upset me, I refresh their competitor pages. I will also publically blog, twitter and facebook about my annoyances. This has been a masterstroke for getting new converting business and interestingly some of those merchants back onside.

It’s a very very big market out there and as I always say, ‘ShopCodes is not even touching the sides’. So it’s a case of ‘whinge and win’.

* Everyone wants to know how much money an affiliate has. You very generously volunteered the fact that you are “very very close to having over £100k in my bank accounts” when I contacted you to ask for this interview. So the obvious questions arising from this fact:
- Why do you still work 9 to 5 in the face of what is very clearly an incredibly lucrative part time hobby?

Yes, I thought I’d highlight the £100k as it’s a very significant milestone. It does paint a picture of my journey. I’ve already recorded how I was recently £22,000 in debt with credit cards – and I want to show that you can change your life for the better, if you’re determined enough to work hard and make those lifestyle changes.

So here I am with that in the bank, have a good career with a good company, that offers a nice salary, perks and 7 weeks paid leave a year – and a website that earns a few thousand each month.

I’m currently living the lifestyle that having effectively two nice salaries brings. I’ve got no debt, am single and so I’m really just enjoying the moment whilst I can.

Affiliate marketing has infiltrated my day job. Agencies have the audacity to ring me about absolutely nothing of interest and people on MSN spam me with links to posts that I’ve already spotted or chose to ignore. Then there’s the forum, gmail, and twitter. I can’t appear to switch off from affiliate marketing, with so many ways to communicate available but I can just about squeeze in both to my life for now.

* You also said that “I can currently spend £35k as I please, tax free”. What is it that stops you from spending it and the other money you currently have available to you?

Hmm, maybe I do struggle for time because I pay for taxis to get to work. I don’t want for much except for maybe a big HDTV. I seem to get abroad at least 4 times a year and even when I win those trips, I make up for it in the spending department. Maybe it’s because I’m single that I still have it at all lol.

Typically, I spend my monthly take home pay from my day job and the money that my business makes just stays in the business.

Having £35k for my own personal use is a significant amount and seems worthy of using for a house deposit. House or playboy apartment? Lol. Just spotted your next question.

* As one of the most eligible batchelors in affiliate marketing, and as someone with a great and outgoing personality – why on earth are you still single?!?!

I can’t drive. That’s why my rare one night stands don’t turn into two night stands

I’d happily settle down with a pretty woman and if she also works in either marketing, development or design, then we can both become millionaires. I’d even learn to drive.

* In your initial mail to me, you said “If I told my mum and dad, brother and sister I had £100k in the bank, it’d be like for them like I’d won the lottery.” – Is there any reason you’ve not told them about your wodge of cash?

My parents are well aware of what I’m up to with my sites. Every time I see them my dad asks, “How is Google treating you?”

My dad, a ship builder by trade, is now retired and both my pensioner parents live in a Middlesbrough council house. We’ve mooted the idea of me buying it.

It’s not quite right talking about £100k in the bank when you’re hearing stories about the electricity meter about to run out. So it’s getting the balance right. Got no qualms bragging to mates though in the pub.

* Do you think your earning power would increase if you did go full time and really give affiliate marketing a go?

If I had an extra 50 hours a week to work on my site, I’d make more money but I’ve a fear that I’d spend that time in my pants and going blind! Joking aside, I don’t think I could handle working from home alone indefinitely.

* Does the recession have any bearing on your reluctance to go full time?

I’m making more money in February 2009 than previous months and we’re in a recession. So there’s no issues with people spending money online. There just may not be anybody around for me to promote.

If my company made me the offer of redundancy, I’d accept it, as I have no intention of working for another company once I leave this one. That payoff would be a very significant amount and would be a good cushion.

* In our last chat you said you wanted to launch Shop Codes into multiple countries. Is this still a key aspect of your future business plan?

I’ve invested a lot of money in buying the .com domain but I have shelved plans for the development of it since the IAB guidelines announcement. The current set up is not future-proof or indeed 2009 proof.

If I’m going to invest a further few £k on design and development and a lot of hours, then I need to make sure I’m going to receive commissions at the other end. So the plan to be honest is concentrate on what is working now because the goal posts seem to be changing every fortnight.

* What do you plan to do in the next 12 months?

I don’t even know what I’m doing this weekend.

The only things I know for certain is that I’m going to Amsterdam and London to do some networking. See you there.

Almost a year ago I did a short series of interviews with 3 “normal” affiliates (if we can ever be called that!).  I thought it might be interesting to revisit the interviewees and see how they have fared in the last 12 months.  First up is Max Bramwell, you can read his previous interview and see his picture here.

Max has just started the second year of his degree and is balancing study and moolah making.

• Last year you spoke about the sectors you operate in, travel, freebies and general shopping. Have you added anything new since we last spoke and have you seen any credit crunch related differences?

I’ve mainly stayed in the sectors that I was in last year, i’ve developed into a few of them more than others and left the freebie area. The reason for the leaving this area was due to rising ppc costs and the lack of time I had on it.
I have added some new areas which have focussed on issues that I know will be increasing with the credit crunch, so at the moment the credit crunch is making me more money than without it.

• You also mentioned your traffic was 65% PPC & 35% SEO. Have you increased your SEO balance? If yes… Any hints and tips for the readers on how to achieve a better SEO performance?I

Its stayed pretty much the same, which isn’t the best, but im still aiming to switch the ratios so 65% SEO and 35% PPC, but at the moment its the same. I definately need some more SEO lessons!

• Obviously you are now a bit further into uni, how are you finding the demands on your time? You said you hoped to spend more time on your sites in the second year of uni. Have you managed this or is the call of the beer too great?
The demands on my time from Uni is increasing, and so this is meaning its getting bit trickier to fit as much AM stuff as I would like (Ideally i’d love to just do AM full time for 2 days a week then the other 3 be at Uni but my timetable doesn’t agree with that

• Has your definition of a super affiliate changed since we last spoke?

To be seen as a super affiliate on one program can greatly differ from another. i.e you can send say 300 leads a day to one merchant and be seen as their larger(super) affiliate, yet send them 300 leads to another merchant and you’re a small fish.

• You said that in 12 months time you hoped to have grown your business significantly. Has this happened? Care to quantify where your income is by comparison?

Well late last year my hosting packed up, the weekly backups they claimed they did werent there and so I lost quite a bit of data especially from blogs (as i stupidly didnt backup myself) thus my blog www.AffiliateStudent.co.uk was down for a long time (back up now tho ) This affected my earnings quite a lot! In fact in late november I was earning very little! Google dropped lot of my sites due to downtime , anyway back in december it picked up and I found a new niche in late december and this carried on to give me my best ever affiliate marketing month in january! Earnings wise that month brought in (note: not pure profit) the equivalent to a graduates annual salary in that month alone.

• What have you achieved this year that makes you most proud?

This year in terms of since the last interview i’d say achievement wise nothing stands out too much, just that ive actually devoted some decent time to AM.

• Tell us one thing that really worked well for you this past year!

The start of the credit crunch can’t elaborate much more im afraid , that and wordpress! Use wordpress lots and lots!!!

Thanks Max!

Still to come are Chris Frost, although we have decided to do a very glamorous interview as we are meeting up in Sydney next month for a bit of an affiliate jolly.  Recession?  Pah!  Could be some hilarious pics too.  Also Ray Theakston who hasn’t replied to my message asking him to take part just yet.  You can run Ray, but you can’t hide!!!