Invite Only Affiliate Marketing Mastermind Event
How do you get invited to an invite only affiliate mastermind group?  Sales – pure and simple.  We supported Nick Ortner in the recent Tapping Solution Summit which focuses on Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).  Our email list was very responsive and we received an invite as we ended up #11 in sales for the most recent Tapping Solution Summit.  The amazing thing is that every other affiliate marketer in the room the first two days were in or around the same caliber as we are.  All email lists are not created equal – we have a dedicated double opt in email list through aweber which has open rates and click rates that are off the charts.

Affiliate Marketing and Networking
What better place to find targeted affiliates then at an invite only affiliate mastermind group.  The purpose of my trip was to contribute to the group while networking with everyone.  Above all else I forged some great personal relationships.  Spend 2 days in a room with someone and they will reply to your emails and take your calls.  :)  I have spent lots of time trying to network with affiliates via Skype, emails and phone calls and two days at this mastermind was 1000 times more productive than any amount of emails and voicemails I have left over the past six months.  I was also fortunate enough to meet a few speakers that have appeared on Healing With The Masters and put faces and smiles to phone conversations and email exchanges.  I was even able to meet and solidify a speaker for an upcoming event we have.

Location Location Location
I am a fan of going to events in amazing locations.  The tapping solution affiliate marketing mastermind took place in Time Square in New York. Sure we spent a lot of the time in conference rooms, and lunches and dinners were great for networking but we also had down time to relax a bit and play.  What better place to spend an hour running through the streets and along the waterfront.  Time Square seemed to be more alive as the nights grew longer.  You will see an image I posted to my Facebook profile durning the event at around 1AM with thousands of people.  I was also able to go to a new club called Pacha which was only a few blocks away from the Westin where the affiliate marketing mastermind took place.

Hosts of the Affiliate Marketing Event
Nick Ortner and his brother Alex Ortner know how to put together an amazing affiliate marketing mastermind group.  I spent quality time with both of them and look forward to working together and supporting each other for years to come.  I am excited to have been given the opportunity to meet them both and we will be shooting for a top 10 spot next year.  I don’t have enough space to list everyone I met but I am fortunate to have finally met Carol Look and Arielle Ford in person.  I have exchanged lots of emails and had numerous phone conversations with them but have never put a face to a voice.

Takeaways
I learned a number of key strategies that I have already implemented or are in process of.  We talked through everything from latest internet marketing industry trends, to which platform to use.  It is apparent that there is not one platform that rises above the rest.  We talked through infusionsoft, 1shoppingcart, Premierwebcart, Office Autopilot among the top 4 most commonly used platforms.   The spread for email was even larger.  Topics covered included hiring processes, contracts, follow up processes, continuity programs, tips, tricks and more.  The main takeaway was what was discussed in the room stayed in the room.

Follow Up With Everyone
In previous positions I sounded like a broken record when going to and attending trade shows.  Not all leads are created equal, but if you can have a conversation with someone and learn what they need and want you need to follow up.  If for no other reason to say thank you – follow up with everyone.

Looking forward to another successful JV.

Max Simon is the CEO & Founder of Big Vision Business, a cool little company on a mission to train one million entrepreneurs to create thriving businesses that are on-purpose, in-service, and wildly profitable. His signature live event “What’s Working Now LIVE” is widely considered to be THE premier gathering for big-vision entrepreneurs looking to play a bigger game. He believes business is your greatest spiritual practice.

Max Simon is a rock star.  We had a VIP day with him and went through all of the questions about what is working and what we should be focusing on.  He made us realize at the most basic level that we need to be committed to how many people we can reach instead of what our conversion rate is.  Yes – we need to convert people into customers in order to stay in business but our mission is about much more than that.  A lot of our focus were in areas that they didn’t need to be.

1. Affiliate Management
This is the most sacred and coveted position in a company.  Whoever runs and interacts directly with top affiliates should have a vested interest in the company.  Affiliate managers will come and go in most cases, especially if they are rock stars but that should not be a deterrent about hiring the best people available for the position.  His point was simple.  Help support affiliates as much as you think about your own business.  Find out what “lights them up” vs running a contest that will not keep them engaged.

2. Hiring

Hiring can be a seamless and easy process if done correctly.  Max taught us an intuitive way to hire great talent and we are walking through that process right now with excellent results. I am going to share a little bit of this now.  I have always been a fan of  gmail and email filters but this takes it to a new level.  Max taught us that it is possible to find great talent from your own mailing list – you just need to make the potential hires jump through hoops and earn the position before it is offered to them.  Here is the golden nugget –  you can automate the process 80%.   Here is how you do it.  Set up a new gmail account – something like great jobs@gmail or something that resonates with your business.  Step 1: send an email to your list with a clearly defined job description (email me if you want a sample of what I am talking about).  Make everyone who applies follow directions to a tee or they are disqualified.

Step 2: in the job description give them a simple task.  Email a specific phrase to the email address you just set up.  Actually as I am writing this I realize I am getting ahead of myself.  Step 2 should actually be setting up filters and auto responders within gmail.  Go to labs and enable the “canned response” plugin.  From here you can create a filter based on a specific phrase or keyword and then reply with a set auto responder.  It works brilliantly and can be duplicated many times.  Here are the steps we walked through in the most recent round of hiring.  1. send an email to great jobs@ with the phrase “I love life” and a paragraph about why you would be great for the job.  The filter is looking for the key phrase – if people did not put that they don’t make it to the next round.  If they do put the phrase it triggers a filter to label the email and send a specific auto responder or canned response.  Congratulations – you made it to round 2 – please do XYZ and respond with the new phrase “XYZ” in your email.  You can’t imagine how many people don’t make it to the next round.

At this point it is not necessary to worry about the responses until all of the steps have been completed.  Once candidates are successful in making it through a couple of rounds it is time for a group interview and one last task.  At this point when narrowing down the candidates go back through the initial responses to see who did the best work.  You will be amazed at how many people are not able to follow simple instructions.

Step 3: Hire someone and get excited – they are going to do amazing things.

3. Affilate Launch Strategy/ JV management

Your affiliates are your best friends.  Do whatever is possible to keep them happy and keep them supporting you.  I wrote an article a bit ago from another guru in the field who coined the term JV crack.  Yes you are paying your affiliates good money but the opt in rates and sales are easy.  They are established lists with great customers and leads and they are hungry for great content – as long as you can provide it.

For the first time we are putting together a few amazing contests and I can’t wait to see the results.  It won’t be about winning iPods as that doesn’t get people excited, it will be about an amazing experience for our top affiliates and partners.  If you are sending to your list and sending quality leads you will be rewarded with not only monetary compensation but also an amazing experience.  Details are TBD but will be pretty awesome.

We went through so much with Max Simon in 5 hours it is hard to comprehend.  What I can say is his guidance is phenomenal and he is direct.  He is humble beyond his own being and a great guy.  I am grateful to have been able to work with him and am excited to work with him on future projects.

Doesn’t Everyone Want to Generate Income while They are Sleeping?

I think the only response to this is YES. The answer is how can it be done in such a way that you don’t have to do any more effort or do less effort than you are currently doing. Enter into the picture InfusionSoft. Our company decided to start using Infusionsoft last summer and are still in process of implementing new ideas, tips, tricks, etc. on a daily basis. I had the opportunity to attend InfusionCon this Spring. InfusionCon is a yearly event where some of the best and brightest marketers come together to share their stories, inspirations, and how to automate your workflow using their software Infusionsoft. I can say that I was blown away by one of the speakers in particular – Jermaine Griggs. This guy simply gets it, understands it and implements it. AND – he is entertaining. Overall, the sessions I participated in were a combination of entry level beginner type things to advanced follow up sequences and API discussions.

Keynote Speakers

InfusionCon had some great keynote speakers: Clate Mask – CEO and Co-Founder of Infusionsoft, Gary Vaynerchuk – Entrepreneur and Best Selling Author, Jermaine Griggs – Founder Hear and Play Music, Rich Schefren – Founder and President of Strategic Profits who had a stand in for him as he had some emergency dental work done – Tom Beal – CEO Strategic Profits , Pam Slim – Author Escape from Cubicle Nation, Ali Brown – CEO Ali Brown International just to run through the top of them.

I had two favorites – one of them I mentioned above: Keynote Speaker Jermaine Griggs. He exudes passion from the moment he walks in the hall through his speech and even walking off of stage. Jermaine won the title of Ultimate Marketer at InfusionCon 2011 and it shows as to why. Jermaine Griggs has an impressive sales funnel that never stops working and is multi tiered depending on where a prospect or customer clicks and a at what point in time. My second favorite was Tom Beal. Tom was a last minute addition because Rich Schefren had to have emergency dental work done (ouch). He was giving Rich’s presentation that almost turned into a movie with the speed he was going through the slides. He understands marketing, conversion, and metrics really well.

Breakout Sessions

My trip to Phoenix was a quick 2 days so I missed out on day 1 of the conference. I participated in a few great presentations and a few not so great presentations. Three of the best were Words that Convert: How to Write Copy that Sells, How to Create a Website that Works When You’re Not Working, and Infusionsoft Funnel-Vision.

Key Takeaways

• Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. An old quote but a good quote. You will never achieve perfection if you are afraid to launch a product, service, website, email, etc. 95% is just as good if not better than 98% due to the speed to market.
• Review every page to make sure there is a defined call to action
• Add your bio to the bottom of every blog post
• Remove Facebook and Twitter on your homepage unless your intent is to have people follow you
• Know your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and leverage it
• Make sure your graphic designer thinks inside the box

Here are specific takeaways from How to Write Copy that Sells:

• Personality – make sure all messaging sounds like a conversation and in in you own tone. Dear Mike is more correct then Hey Mike – but I would much rather start with the ladder.
• Messaging: Instead of saying My company has 30 years of experience (boring) – make it fun and say ” We’ve been doing this for a long time”
• Segmented conversations
• Talk about things your target market likes
• Regionalize – United States vs abroad
• Benefit statements on those new to the concept
• Features for those who know and understand the product
• Persuasion – identify a pain or opportunity then present yourself as the best solution
• Compare apples and oranges
• Leverage urgency and scarcity
• Leverage social proof
• and my favorite – keep it short and sweet whenever possible.

Value

Was there value in attending InfusionCon? Yes. For me it was not the sessions or keynotes that were beneficial but the networking during lunch, in between session, and after hours that were of the most value.

Spoiled by affiliate traffic.
Close joint venture affiliates spoil us in so many ways. They send broadcasts to their lists who trust them, read and listen to their recommended products, websites and resources. I work with affiliates who consistently send over 65% opt in rates to various squeeze pages and/or opt in pages. Not only do those conversion rates exceed industry standards but the customers who opt in also convert into paying customers exponentially higher than cold traffic.

JV Crack
I have run lots of campaigns to generate traffic, leads and customers from Facebook, Twitter, youtube, media buys, sponsored ads, sponsored links, sponsored articles, PPC, SEO, etc and I have yet to find a higher converting campaign when comparing to a JV or affiliate partner. Hence – JV Crack – once you partner with the right people who are closely aligned with your interests and share much of the same target demographic they should be your new best friends. I search long and hard and have not found any better way to generate quality traffic that converts.

Conversion
Joint venture traffic vs everything else. Several years ago when I ran google PPC campaigns where there was not much competition ROI was amazing. Now that PPC has become much more competitive (i.e. prices are much higher for terms), it is harder to justify the spend on prices where margins are lower or you cannot quantify customer lifetime value. In the offers I have helped run, a single affiliate email can drive 65-70% opt in rates – and these are double opt ins via aweber. Those who opt in from JV traffic also have a much higher likelyhood to purchase products thus driving up conversion rates. Cold traffic, media buys, etc typically fall underneath the 15-18% opt in rates. The conversion cycle is also much different.

The message I am trying to convey is that if you are not already working with JVs or have a dedicated affiliate manager or at least a part time affiliate manager you need to focus and prioritize. JV partnerships drive volume and revenue in so many ways that once you start on JV crack you will be hard pressed to give it up. Yes – you might try other options but you will want to focus the majority of your time on affiliates.

This is my first blog post for the newly redesigned thinkmike.com on a my wordpress.com theme.  A little bit of a background on me in this first post.  I have been on the internet since the mid 1990′s and launched my first internet business in the Fall of 1997 while working on my undergraduate degree.  In a way, I was doing internet marketing before it was an actual keyword.

I launched thinkmike.com in 2001 and began blogging before it became a way of driving traffic.  I missed out on the big rush as I was focused on mainly personal information instead of sharing tips, tricks and knowledge.

The goal back then, much like it is today is to drive as much traffic to your site as you can with one caveat.  Today you need to drive quality traffic to you site in order to convert.  In the late 90′s it was all about clicks and traffic.  My highest producing day in 1999 was over 80,000 unique visitors to a niche site in 24 hours.  The traffic was not “quality” but it drove in a high number of clicks and revenue.

Since then I have worked at a variety of companies in a variety of different verticals and have now come full circle back to where I started.  The goal of thinkmike.com is to provide tutorials, tips and tricks for internet marketing, and how to make money online and how to outsource effectively.

Talk soon,
Mike Pearson