Welcome to the Media-Mentors Blog

Why We Do What We Do…

I’m going into Year 11 in the Online Direct Marketing space, and while flying to the latest Ad Tech NYC, i got to thinking, why do I love this space so much?  I think first and foremost, is the dynamic nature of this industry, followed by a close second, the people.  You can’t turn your head away from this industry for a moment without missing some amazing new company, new technology, or new way to market to a consumer.  There will never be any justification for being bored in this space.  Secondly, its the people.  I have never run across a collection of more interesting and talented people.  What I love most about it is that I’ve made lifetime friends, from every part of the globe.  The online advertising space is truly a meritocracy of ideas and people.

Take a moment and think about why and how you ended up in this space.  Hopefully, like me, you’ll be grateful you ended up here!

Going to Trade Shows and/or Speaking

You know, getting out of the house is probably one of the best things you can do!  I think often times as Internet Marketers, we work in a “bubble” in the safe and quiet confines of our home or office.  I can tell you though, that getting out and meeting people at events is probably one of the best things you can do.  Not only do you get different perspectives on how people are making money, you often time end up meeting great new friends; fellow travelers on the affiliate/marketing path.   I encourage everyone to get out there and make it happen!

Hope Dealers

I recently was sent the “schedule” of Internet Marketing “launches” and had to stop for a second while I felt my jaw hit the door.  Before you look at this list, let me be clear that I’m not calling to the mat (I do Ju Jitsu) anybody that creates these products; I’m simply pointing out the amount of (mis)information that hits us each and every day.

July 1st – Alex Shelton (With George Brown) – IM Elite
July 1st – Tom Bell + Shawn Casey – Fast Profit Pages
July 6th – Craig Dawber – Google Supremacy
July 6th – Anik Singal + Saj P. – Clickbank Wealth Formula
July 6th – Trey Smith – Penny Traffic
July 8th – Joe Walter + Tom Howe – Ultimate CPA Blueprint
July 12th – Matt Benwell – Rapid Automated Income
July 13th – Jani Ghaffor – FB Siphon
July 15th – Andrew Fox – Nuclear Affiliate
July 15th – Alan Magliocca – List Laundering 2
July 20th – Chris Freville – Internet Marketing Empire
July 22nd – Brian Johnson + Spike Humer – Vision Made Real Business Building 2.0 Summit
July 22nd – Anthony Jones – Affiliate Annihilation
July 24th – Russell Brunson – Instant Social Anarchy
July 27th – Mark Ling – AffiloJetpack
July 27th – Sean Clark – Slide In Code
July 27th – Pawan Agrawal – MaxBlogPress: Subscribers Magnet
July 27th – Mark Lyford – Millionaire Profit Secrets
July 28th – Ryan Deiss – Perpetual Traffic Formula
July 29th – Jeremy Schoemaker – ShoeMoney System 2.0

August 3rd – Ian Ross – Turbo Profit Sniper
August 3rd – Adam Horwitz – Mobile Monopoly
August 5th – Mind Movies 2.0
August 5th – Paul Lemberg – Blueprints To Profits
August 9th – Tim Godfrey + Steven Clayton – Info Prodigy
August 9th – Rob Benwell – Auto Blog System X
August 10th – Steven Johnson + Steven James – Online Income Flood
August 12th – Eric Rockefeller – Quick Cash Concept
August 17th – Chris Cobb – AIS Home Study Course
August 17th – Greg Jacobs -TBA
August 19th – Kieran Gill + Imran S – Auto Traffic Avalanche
August 23rd – Steven Lee Jones – Traffic Anarchy
August 24th – Bill McRea + Mike Williams – Never Fail Listbuilding System
August 26th – Ritoban Chakrabarti – CPA Instruments
August 31st – Sara Young – Easy Paycheck Formula

September 1st – James Francis – Web Design For Internet Marketers
September 7th – Alex Goad – Rank Builder
September 7th – Adeel Chowdhry + Bobby Walker – Hyper FB Traffic
September 14th – George Brown + Andrew X – TBA
September 14th – Norman Freeman – Turbo Business System
September 20th – Paul Ponna – Mega Software Launch (TBA)
September 21st – Oli Tee – Zero Down Traffic Blueprint
September 23rd – Jeff Johnson – TBA
September 28th – Mo Latif – TBA

Shocking, no?  Now let me start by saying this.  I have not purchased any of these courses so I cannot vouch for the validity (or lack of) for any of these products.  I’d even go out on a limb and say that there is probably a few good ones here for the Internet Marketer, Advertiser and/or Affiliate looking to continue their education in this field.  What I am simply astounded at is the rate at which these “products” come out and sheer amount of misinformation that is being dumped on the well intentioned information seeker.  Heck, pull out your wallet and you could probably buy a new product just about each and every day here!  What I’m convinced of is that 99% of the people that buy this will lack sufficient fundamentals even to know what to do with that they’ve just purchased.

In my business career, I’ve made it a habit to try to turn right, when most people turn left.  I’ve tried to study fundamentals first, then tactics later.  I cannot help but feel this unnerving sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I view a schedule like this, knowing full well that 99.5643% of people are going to fail.  They will fail LESS because the content is bad.  I’m sure there is some really amazing stuff here.  However, honestly, how is one to sift through this list and know what will work and what won’t, when they most likely get tied up with words like “Perpetual, Domination, and Zero Down”.  Doesn’t this all feel like a bit too much?  People are going to fail because they are buried underneath a avalanche of  information and misinformation, and will spend more time pulling their wallets out than sticking to something and seeing it through.   I believe there is a death of fundamentals in this business, and certainly a lack of focus (that almost goes without saying).

Listen, if you WANT some of this stuff to work, believe me, it can.  But it starts with S-L-O-W-I-N-G down and building a foundation within Internet Marketing before you jump off into the next Course-Of-The-Day.

There..I feel better now after saying this….

Blinded By the Light

I read a really interesting email the other day which spoke about simplifying one’s life.  Approaching everything in life with a minimalist attitude. Most certainly the same philosophy should apply when it comes to being successful at buying online media.  Can there be any doubt that we are awash with information?  We are bombarded constantly with “how to make money here” or “hidden” traffic secrets.  I know.  I get two or three a day from these supposed experts.

The biggest disservice you can do right now is believe the hype and get caught up into the latest and greatest media buying traffic scheme which promises to take you from zero to thousands in days.  I have little doubt that some to all of the information in these supposed courses might be relevant, however when you (meaning the person that just bought this) are also cycling through 3 other courses, the results will undoubtedly be disastrous.

What I believe is missing today is fundamentals.  Getting good at the basics (sorry, this requires time and EFFORT) is something that is not sexy.  Don’t we all want to be making $10k per day on Facebook, like right now?

The message here is simply.  Simply your media buying efforts.  This starts with understanding where you are at (product owner vs affiliate) and what you’d like to accomplish.  Start with this and focus and I’ll see you in the success club.

IAds Platform Offers 5x CTR and 300x CPM

Day 1 of Apples New iAd looks either a novelty or pure genious.  With CTR’s of 5x that of industry standard  and ECPM’s in the neighborhood of 300 times greater than comparable system, Apples new IAds is certainly off to an amazing start. A developer who has begun using the system went into a public forum (after you see these stats, you’ll know why), and posted the data:

Product Owners Dilemma

Slap Proof

Odds are that if you do online marketing long enough you’ve been slapped around.  It reminds me of the slap fights I used to get in as a kid, or the Catholic nuns that used to carry paddles around and give students a quick whack if anybody got out of line.  Physical violence aside, being on the receiving end of an online slap has almost become a right of passage.  And to be sure, there is a whole lot of slapping going on.  Let’s take a look at a few slaps (in order of severity) that go on, and ask ourselves, can we ever be slap proof?

FaceBook Slap – The FB slap is becoming more commonplace as their standards continue to evolve and change.   The result is likely that a particular campaign gets suspended without warning, and your campaign becomes “disapproved”.   While frustrating, these slaps normally are easy to remedy, but as Facebook continues to evolve and grow more powerful, look for this slap to become more painful.

The Google Slap – This slap is bordering on routine nowadays, and for most of us, it’s the most common slap you can get.   It can be a painful one because many Affiliate Marketers and Small Businesses have relied so much on Google’s steady flow of online traffic.  Slaps here (15,000 affiliates had their accounts slapped recently) can quickly turn into an all out beat down, as the next step is a lifetime ban from Google.  Once you’ve been Google slapped, it signals that you’ve arrived as an online marketer.

Mastercard/Visa Slap – This slap will suck the air out of your business faster than MMA fighter George St. Pierre can take you down.  While not unrecoverable, once MasterCard or Visa determine that you are a bad guy, they can make it very difficult (and expensive) to ever process another credit card in your life.  Once you’ve been put on the TMF (Terminated Merchant File), it’s like having a Scarlet Letter (for those of you who still read books) tattooed across your chest.   This is most definitely a slap you do not want to get; it can take down an online business very quickly.

The FTC Slap – Let’s get one thing clear.  The FTC doesn’t slap.   They donkey punch.  The FTC punches harder than Brock Lesnar raining down hammer fists on his ring victims.   Let’s be clear, this is the one slap above all others you don’t want to get.  The FTC rarely loses, and they don’t just shut down your account, they take your entire business, your personal assets (oh, and I’ll take ALL of last years revenues too, thank you very much), and can be a gateway towards more serious criminal charges.

It really is next to impossible to completely slap proof yourself when you are an online marketer.    Online marketers face a litany of random rules, spotty enforcement, and a landscape that changes overnight.   Make no mistake about it, online marketers have become a glutton for punishment as we are attacked on a variety of fronts.  Here are a few tips to help you from being on the receiving end of a slap

Read The Rules- I know, this is often times hard one for us online marketers but take the time to learn the game you are playing before you start playing it.  If Google tells you not to do something…don’t do it.   Easy right?  Hahaha.

Gut Feeling – If you are doing something that doesn’t feel right…it probably isn’t, and the likelihood is that someone else (doing the slapping) probably feels that way too.   Go ask your mother.  She is often times a good read as to whether something is right or wrong.

Get A Lawyer – My least favorite option for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into.  However make sure it’s a Lawyer with specific online experience; someone who can help you navigate around the obvious landmines.

Having been on the receiving end of three out of four of the above listed slaps; I can tell you that being hit isn’t fun.  Goodness knows how much time and effort we spend just trying to compete in this space that the last thing we need is for something or someone to take away our business.  Do yourself a huge favor and try to play by the rules (even if they are unfair and you don’t like them).  You’ll end up keeping your money and you’ll stay alive longer in this space.

Super Affiliate Mindset

What I find most frustrating about the current wave of Guru’s and the barrage of IM products that tell you that you can make “$5k/day on Facebook” is the lack of discussion of fundamentals.  Without a solid understanding of what makes a Super Affiliate, you are setting yourself up for a disappointing end.  I’ve outlined 8 major “mindsets” of the Super Affiliate. Ways of thinking, or habits that make them significantly different than the average frustrated affiliate.   Look at it this way…after 10 years, I can definitely tell you that the more of these habits you have, the greater likelihood you will succeed in this space.  I’ll go into greater detail in later posts, but here is the list for your review….

Mindset #1 “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks”

MindSet #2 “You Will Quit Before I Do”

Mindset #3 “I Don’t Have An Opinion, I like Numbers”

Mindset #4 They Are Engineers First, Marketers Second

Mindset #5 They Don’t Keep Normal Hours

MindSet #6 They Are Part of A Community

MindSet #7 They Embrace A Lifestyle

MindSet #8 Be Methodical

Plenty Of Fish Interview!

For those that don’t know Benjamin over at Plenty of Fish (POF), he is an all around great guy, and easy to work with.  Recently Benjamin and I did an interview and here are some notes from that interview…

Short video on some of the basics of setting up your first facebook campaign

Sign up for Unleashed today!

Did a great interview with Tim Houston over at Affiliate Lifestyle.com.  An amazing guy and an amazing Affiliate!

Media Buying 101

Successful Media buying follows some basic tenants, that if followed, dramatically increase your chance of success.

Pick Your Channel

Knowing where to buy is key.  Most people either never start or fail massively because they spread their resources (money and focus) on too many online advertising opportunities.   I recommend Facebook for a variety of reasons, one of the biggest reasons being that its the easiest to setup and the targeting is the best.  Stick with a channel.  Don’t leave it until you know it from the inside out.

Be A Direct Marketer

Understand how to utilize the tools necessary to ascertain profit and loss.  Don’t buy media blindly, without having a very quick understanding of what makes money and what loses money.  The tools out there (a lot more than when I started) are easy to use and somewhat easy to master.  Start with Excel and move out from there.  Understand Impressions, Clicks, ClickThroughRate (CTR), Visitors, Users, Conversions, $$/Sale-Lead, Cost Per Click (CPC), Revenue Per Click (RPC).

Implement Your Changes

Understand where media fails (or wins) is the key.  Isolate each of your variables (above) and figure out where you can improve.  Doing this on each variable will give you the answer your need to understand whether you stand a chance of making your media profitable or not.

—————————————-

The 5 Deadly Sins Of An Accomplished Media Buyer

•Failure to Focus on one network at a time – Decide on a network and don’t go wandering off into another network until you’ve mastered the first. There is a deadly sin in this industry, and that is lack of focus.  Most people don’t spend enough time understanding a network, before jumping off to the next one.  Stick to one at a time, and get really good at it.