Optimization is a key factor in success for internet marketing campaigns. There are so many variables needed to be tested until a campaign is fully tested & optimized.

One of these variables is frequency capping or also called as individual user capping.

If you are new to media buying, or CPV Marketing, you have to understand the frequency cap concept before setting up your first campaign.

What is a Frequency Cap or Individual User Cap?

Frequency cap or individual user cap is the number of times a unique visitor sees your ads within a given time. For CPM ads, when time period is not specified, the default time period is 24 hours.

In plain English, if frequency cap for a campaign is 2, it means a unique visitor will only see your ad maximum of 2 times within 24 hour period.

Why Do You Need to Set a Frequency Cap?

• Some sites have autorefresh javascript within their code. When you visit these types of sites, every X seconds, the site refreshes itself, by counting each refresh as an extra impression, and charging the CPM advertisers. So, a visitor might leave a page open, leave the computer and come back several hours later. Meanwhile, your ad can be shown to the same user thousands of times, by wasting your advertising budget.
• If a site is getting more than average page views per user numbers, you have to be careful. Forums, social sites, user generated content sites usually fit in this category.

Setting Individual User Cap for CPV/PPV Campaigns

Deciding on individual user caps for CPV campaigns is little different than CPM campaigns. You have to think about cookie length, audience target size (super targeted, or not, etc.), and start by testing.

Every PPV traffic company has its own settings. Below is a screenshot from Trafficvance. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

On CPV campaigns, I usually start with the default settings (1 view per 12 hours), and keep testing it. Some campaigns on CPV tend to lose its profitability after a while, and this is when you start playing with the individual user cap, and find the optimum settings by testing.

Branding or Performance Campaign

If your campaign’s goal is branding, you might want to be more flexible with frequency capping. Even if a visitor sees your banner several times a day, and you are charged for it, it might be worth. At the end, you’d like to promote the brand, and show them the ad as much as possible.

Some branding campaigns don’t even set frequency caps, and that’s also fine.

But if you are running a performance based campaign, you have to take frequency capping seriously, and test until you find the most optimized level for your campaign.

Frequency capping might easily turn a losing campaign into a profitable one. So, make sure you work on it before your next CPM or CPV campaign.

Since PPV affiliate marketing has been pretty popular lately, and many beginners are testing the waters, I wanted to share a tip I personally use to make money with my PPV campaigns.

Showing is better than telling. So, here’s the screencast I’ve created to show you the exact URL research method I use to target local websites, and sell national offers.

In the video below, I’m using 2 tools to do my url research. The first one is AffPortal, which is a must have tool to have if you want to make money in the PPV field, and the second tool is a free desktop tool called Laser URL by Matt Harward.

PPV Local URL Research Screencast

P.S. 10 year old would do a better job with video editing than me, I accept it.

P.S. 2) This is a fairly easy tip to get you started with lateral thinking. Whether you’re an experienced internet marketer or just starting, tips like these might help to start thinking outside the box.

P.S. 3) If you are new to PPV Affiliate Marketing, start with reading my post; PPV Affiliate Guide.

P.S. 4) Tools used in my screencast are AffPortal & Laser URL.

I’ve recently written a blog post about PPV Affiliate Marketing. After that blog post, I’ve received a number of questions related to properly tracking target url’s for PPV traffic sources.

I’ve decided to create this step by step instruction screencast of how to setup a PPV Campaign with proper tracking, by using Prosper 202. I’ve prepared this screencast for affiliate marketers who are new to PPV traffic source, and would like an easy and free way to setup proper tracking.

Some resources mentioned in the video:

• Prosper 202
• Azoogle
• Trafficvance
• PPV eBook for absolute beginners
• Tracking202

PPV is probably the most popular word lately on affiliate marketing forums and blogs.

Everybody is talking about PPV and how profitable this traffic source is.

I have heard about the word PPV first time in my life, almost 1,5 years ago from a good friend, and a very smart online marketer, and I’ve started testing the PPV traffic little over a year ago.

Since the secret about this traffic source is already out, I’ve decided to share my tips about PPV Traffic. Let’s start with the basics:

Here’s a quick menu to let you jump to the advanced topics if you are already comfortable with the basics:

PPV Marketing Guide Index

• What is PPV?
• What are the Popular PPV Networks
• Affiliate Networks
• What Should I Promote with PPV Advertising?
• Cost of PPV Traffic
• How to Start with PPV
• Direct Linking vs Creating Landing Pages
• Keyword & URL Research
• Understanding Your Customer Demographic
• PPV Optimization & Campaign Monitoring
• Tools & Further Learning Resources for PPV Marketing
• Articles and Resources about PPV Advertising

What is PPV (Pay Per View)?

PPV (Pay Per View) or CPV (Cost Per View) is a traffic source created by Adware Traffic.

Adware traffic is often confused by Spyware traffic. Even though they might sound similar, Adware Traffic is 100% legal and used by millions of people around the world.

PPV (Pay Per View) means you will be charged every time your landing page is viewed by a visitor who has the Adware installed on his/her computer. Visitors see your landing page as a pop up, pop under, or a full page bridge. Since PPV pop up isn’t treated as a regular pop-up, it doesn’t get blocked by most pop up blockers.

When a user who has the adware installed on his/her computer takes a specific action within their browser, such as visiting a URL or visiting Google and typing a word to search, a new browser opens up with your landing page in it. Whether this user browses your page, stays on it, clicks on a link, or simply closes it, you get charged for each view when your landing page is loaded and viewed by the users.

If you are direct linking an offer, your cookie is dropped to the user’s computer.
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What Are the Most Popular PPV Advertising Networks?

• Trafficvance

This is the first network I’ve started testing little over year ago. Traffic quality is pretty good, never had a complain about the quality.

• MediaTraffic

I’ve tested some offers with MediaTraffic. I’ve met Basil from MT during the affiliate summit in NYC. He was a great guy and I’m planning to spend some serious cash on MT during 2010.

• Adon Network

I have an account with Adon, but didn’t start testing anything yet.

These three PPV Networks are usually most recommended. But there are many other networks you can test PPV with. You can check PPV Playbook‘s 10 PPV Network Post to find more about other available networks.
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Which Affiliate Networks Can I Use with PPV Traffic

Whether it is PPV traffic, or any other type of traffic, you have to check with your affiliate managers you work with. PPV traffic is getting accepted by most affiliate networks right now.

Some affiliate networks such as Neverblue have special links (downloadable software link) to use for PPV Campaigns, and for some networks, you need to use the contextual link. Again, check with your affiliate manager for the correct link.

My all time 2 favorite affiliate networks are Azoogle and Neverblue. They both have great affiliate managers who are ready to help you get started.

As far as I know, CJ and Clickbank are some of the networks which don’t like direct linking from PPV traffic. Again, you have to check with your network and make sure they accept PPV traffic (if you are direct linking).
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What Should I Promote with PPV Advertising?

PPV is a relatively cheap traffic source compared to many paid traffic sources. It doesn’t convert like Google Adwords, but if you are smart, you can come up with very profitable campaign ideas.

Before deciding what to promote, you have to clearly understand that PPV marketing works different than PPC marketing. When you are marketing with PPC traffic, people are usually in the buy mood. But with PPV, you have to interrupt the user, and convince them to check your offer out.

Understanding the concept of Facebook Targeting will really help with the PPV marketing mindset. Because targeting a specific customer demographic is one of the most popular ways of targeting in PPV.

After you are clear with the targeting options for PPV traffic, it would be a good time to decide what to promote.

Here’s a little secret. If you know how to target and create the correct list of targeting keywords & URL’s, you can profit on pretty much any type of offers on PPV.

Some people say biz opp converts well, other affiliates say short lead gens only, and some say they bank with CPS.

It totally depends on how you promote it. An offer could be the biggest loser if you direct link, but turns great profit if you create a great landing page. Trying some creative and unique LP’s on PPV really helps.

You have to learn the browser size of the pop-up window for each PPV Ad Network. They all have different sizes. Especially, if you are creating a landing page, you have to design with the pop-up browser size in mind.
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How Much Does PPV Traffic Cost?

In most networks minimum PPV cost starts around 1cent to 1.5 cent per view. Even though you can find PPV networks offering cheaper views/clicks, this is an industry average.

While Trafficvance views start at 1 penny/view, MediaTraffic charges 1.5 pennies/view, these are the minimum bids.

Even though everybody talks about less than penny for each view, you have to test and see yourself the cost of views for different niches. I have personally seen bids on some targets for up to $4.00. Yes, you’ve heard it right, a page view for 4 sweet dollars.

Below is a current screenshot from my Trafficvance account, and the time period is little over one year. My average cost per impression is $0.0293. Little less than 3 cents per view, not bad at all.

In PPC marketing, EPC (Earnings per click) is what matters, and in PPV marketing, EPV (Earnings per view) is important. My overall EPV for the time period of this screenshot is over 10 cents. So, it’s not bad at all.

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How to Start with PPV

Open an account with one of the PPV networks, then install the Adware of that network to one of your spare computers. Start browsing, visiting different sites, searching for keywords, and take a close look at the pop-up windows.

This is simply the best way to start.

See what competition is doing, try to understand the mindset of an Adware user by being one.

After you do enough research about the competition, pick your first offer. Don’t think narrow on this. You can promote your own blog, ecommerce site, or even create an email list. You don’t have to direct link to an affiliate offer.

Think creative, and make up your mind for the first campaign you are going to run.
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Direct Linking vs Creating Landing Pages

Since you know what you will be promoting, it is time to make a decision on direct linking vs creating a landing page. I’d recommend testing both.

But, internet marketers are usually not very patient and we want to start testing right away. That’s fine, start testing a direct linking if you like, then think about creative landing page ideas.
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Keyword & URL Research

This is the key to success in PPV marketing. You can have the most creative landing page in the world, but you won’t turn a profit if you target wrong URL’s & keywords.

When you create a campaign at your PPV Network, you need to enter targets. These targets are both URL’s and keywords. Some networks let you enter queries, etc.

Let’s say you’ve entered a target google.com , this means if somebody types google.com on their browser, your ad will pop up, and you will be charged for the view. So, you have to be very smart and careful about creating your target list.

Most affiliates recommend bidding on URL’s only, and not using keywords. Even though I’ve found some profitable keywords, I also agree that targeted URL’s are better for PPV Marketing.

You have two options when creating a URL list. First option is manual. You simply visit Google, Yahoo, MSN and start searching and copy pasting the result URL’s into an excel sheet. This might work when you are new, just starting to test, and don’t have high budgets.

But if you want to create profitable campaigns with huge keyword lists, you have to automate the process.

There are two tools I highly recommend to automate the target creation process. The first one is AffPortal which has a number of tools to automate your PPV Marketing process including a URL generator. AffPortal is a monthly membership system which costs $37/month. The second tool is Laser URL from Matt Harward. This is also a great tool, and it is absolutely free. What beats that?

Whether you create the targets manually by searching Google, or use a tool, your target list is the key to profits in PPV. More targets you test, higher chance that you will find some gems.

Even though this is time consuming, I’d highly recommend a manual check for target URL’s created by automated tools. This will keep you from wasting your money on untargeted URL’s.
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Understanding Your Customer Demographic

You cannot be successful in internet marketing unless you understand your potential customers.

Start with Quantcast and do an in depth research about your potential customers. Visit related websites to your offer and try to understand the browsing habits of your potential customers.

When doing customer demographic research for PPV Marketing, you have to keep in mind the “Buying Mood” of customers. Remember, you are interrupting them from what they are doing. Your offer needs to be convincing to pull their attention.

Think about your offer and interruption relation. If your potential customer is watching a related video, and she sees your pop-up, would she change her focus from the video to your landing page? If your answer is yes, add that video URL to your target list, if it is no, don’t bother, it will just cost you money.

I have found my most profitable targets by thinking about the buying mood of my potential customer demographic. There are billions of URL’s to target, be wise and and understand the needs of your customer demographic before running a PPV Campaign.
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PPV Optimization & Campaign Monitoring

I use Prosper202 to track and optimize my campaigns. This is a self hosted, open source and free solution from 202 Team. They also have a great affiliate network called Revolution 202 which I highly recommend.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any all-in-one solution to manage PPV Campaigns. You have to do the optimization process manually or find a way to automate it.

If you can’t get a custom solution programmed to manage your campaigns, you can use iMacros (free firefox add-on) to automate the bid optimization process to some extent.

Increasing attention to PPV marketing has also created a terrific business idea to offer an all-in-one solution for PPV Management similar to PPC Management tools. Any entrepreneurs out there who want to take the task?
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Tools & Further Learning Resources for PPV Marketing

Some people are self learners. I personally like to test new things to learn after checking a few resources.

But for some, having a guide, training video or an ebook is much more productive.

I have gathered a list of available PPV training courses and tools available in the market. Even though these resources have pretty good feedback, I haven’t used any of them other than AffPortal. So, check them out yourself and see if they will help you to get started faster.

• AffPortal – $4.95 for 7 day trial and $37/month after that.
• Mass PPV Traffic – $77.00
• PPV Riches – $47.00
• URL Keywordz – $47.00

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Articles and Resources about PPV Affiliate Marketing

When I first started testing PPV traffic, there weren’t any resources about getting started. It wasn’t like starting with Google Adwords, but nowadays, more people are talking about PPV and more bloggers are blogging about it.

I’ve gathered a list below, and I hope it will help to get some further understanding of PPV Traffic Source. If you have good blog post, video and article recommendations, please add them to the comments below, and I’ll be happy to review and add them to this list.

• Ian Fernando has a good tip about using coupons with PPV traffic, and a video explaining what PPV is:
• Justin Dupre has created a 2 part guide for PPV marketing. Checkout the PPV Walkthrough Part 1 & Part 2.
• Bryn Youngblut has a good post about PPV Advertising.
• PPV Playbook is a $47 eBook, but also has a free blog about PPV. It has a good PPV Case Study you should definitely check out.
• Inside Affiliate has some good posts about PPV, and here is a good 2 part guide; Marketing CPA Offers with PPV Part 1 & Part 2
• Ad Hustler writes about PPV, and has a case study of a PPV campaign which he’s lost $14.05.

Conclusion

If you are in the internet marketing business, you have to be on top of all the latest trends. PPV is one of many popular traffic sources currently.

If you haven’t tested this traffic source yet, now would be a great time to start testing.

If you are already experienced with PPV, please share your experiences and tips in the comments below.

One of the most popular questions I get asked all the time is;

How Do I Get Started with Affiliate Marketing?

There are so many forums, blogs, ebooks, tools, etc. about affiliate marketing. In a way it’s great, but it’s also too much information overload if you don’t know where to start.

When I was new to affiliate marketing, there were only a few discussions on DigitalPoint and on couple of other forums, and it was it. I had to learn pretty much everything by testing.

I was pretty excited when I first heard about affiliate marketing, and I was ready to jump into it. But just like other newbies, I didn’t know where to start. Affiliate marketing has grown into a multi billion dollar industry, and I’m happy & excited to see it growing every day.

10 Tips to Start with Affiliate Marketing, the Right Way

1. Start with Setting up the Right Mindset

You have to have the right mindset for success in affiliate marketing. You need to have serious self discipline to be able to succeed in this business.

If you have a habit of coming up with excuses for your own failures, you need to reshape your thinking.

Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick business. You need to work long hours, be consistent and creative to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing.

2. Research, but Avoid Getting Burnt by Information Overload

You have thought about the mindset, and you trust that affiliate marketing is the right business model for you to get in. Congratulations.

Now, start with researching. Try to focus on one project at a time. Especially if you are new to the game, you cannot learn everything about all different marketing methods and venues (e.g. PPC, PPV, Article Marketing, etc.)

Do your general research, pick one method and start working on it until you start making money.

3. Improve Yourself by Adopting Continuous Learning

Affiliate marketing is an ongoing learning process. If everybody is talking about a hot promotion method, chances are probably somebody was making millions with that method couple of years ago.

You have to create a balance between ongoing learning & implementation. There are new things to learn every single day.

Good part is, there are so many available resources online to get you started.

4. Start Testing

Research & learning is the key. But they mean nothing if you don’t start testing. I know, everybody says the same thing; Test, test, test. Almost 9 out of 10 newbies in affiliate world are failing because they don’t test at all, or they don’t test enough.

If you want to make serious money with affiliate marketing, you need to start testing the things you learn every day.

5. Plan & Organize for Optimum Productivity

If you are not productive, it doesn’t matter if you work 48 hours straight. Sometimes, very productive 4 hours of work is worth a week’s work.

So, plan and organize everything to increase your productivity. Most affiliates work from home, and it’s not easy to be organized while working at home.

If renting an office will double your productivity, do that investment for your business. Whether it’s the tools you use, your work environment, work hours, or your computer, simply plan and organize everything for optimum productivity.

6. Treat Affiliate Marketing as a Business & Setup Goals

If you don’t treat affiliate marketing as a long term business, it simply won’t be long term.

Use a project management tool, do short business plans for each promotion method your are getting into, increase efficiency while cutting cost, and treat treat affiliate marketing as a real business by doing all the necessary things a real business owner would do.

7. Create and Expand Your Team

Learning curve is the hardest part in affiliate marketing. When you have passed the initial phase, it is time to create a team.

Whether it’s 100% outsourcing or not, plan and create a team of employees helping you to take your affiliate business to the next level.

8. Start Networking

Networking is important for any business including affiliate business.

Pick up the phone, attend local meetups and industry events. Keep in touch with the people you’ve met at these events.

Don’t be shy and don’t be scared to share what you know. There’s no secret in affiliate world. Believe in KARMA. Trust me, when you share more, people will start sharing more with you.

9. Don’t Trust in Everything You Hear About Affiliate Marketing

You will hear so many things about different promotion methods to new tricks in the affiliate world.

Don’t trust in everything right away until you test yourself. Chad has a great blog post about Misinformation in Affiliate Marketing. Check it out and you will understand what I mean with this.

10. Reinvest into Your Business

If you take the right steps to plan and launch your affiliate business, it is not hard to create a cash positive business fast.

While the cash is coming in, reinvest into your business to create a strong foundation. Create organic websites, invest in SEO to distribute your risk, and generate passive income. Get your employees and yourself the professional training and consultancy. Investing in your employees is investing in your business.

Invest into the right tools, resources and right people to take your affiliate business to the next level.

These are my 10 tips to get you started with affiliate marketing.

Whether you are a beginner or you have been in affiliate marketing for a while, I’d love to hear your tips also.

What are your tips to newbies in affiliate marketing?

When I talk to people who are just starting with affiliate marketing, I get tons of newbie questions. One of the most popular questions is;

Should I buy an affiliate marketing education product/course/eBook?

Since the day I’ve started doing affiliate marketing, I have never purchased an affiliate marketing education course, product, or an ebook. (but I have received many review copies from several gurus/experts without asking for it).

I have received several recommendations from friends I trust, but after reviewing some of the sales pitches, I didn’t feel like buying any of them.

Internet marketing information product niche has become a huge market and I have nothing against this market getting bigger every day.

The problem I have is;

Most of these self-claimed gurus don’t tell you the truth. They have one and only one goal; To sell you their information products.

It All Starts with The Learning Process

When I was first getting into online marketing, the resources were limited. It was pretty hard to find quality, solid information about internet marketing.

But, now this has changed. You can find tons and tons of information on the net for absolutely free. Like everything else, internet marketing has its learning process.

If you are a total newbie to internet marketing, you have to start reading blogs and forums to learn as much as you can.

Some people are self-motivated, and they can handle this themselves, but for some, it’s a harder process. So, if you feel, buying an affiliate marketing introduction ebook will speed up your process, go ahead and buy it. But with careful research, and study, you can find almost all the information online for free, just keep in mind.

When You Need Support

While learning internet marketing, you are usually alone. Sometimes, you can get frustrated. If you are much used to team work, I understand. Some of these affiliate marketing courses come with private forum accesses, and 24/7 support line, etc. It’s definitely not for me, but if it will help your learning process, you should buy it.

Stay Away Signs Before You Buy an Affiliate Marketing Course/Product/eBook

1. Quick & Easy Cash: Almost all of these courses will promise for quick and easy cash. If you are a newbie, there’s almost NO way of making quick and easy cash with affiliate marketing. This is also true with any type of internet marketing. Nobody owns hope, but everybody has hope. So, these self-claimed gurus will use the hope factor in every sales trick.
2. Almost No Work Required: If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing, you need to work harder than anybody around you. There is absolutely no way that you will start making money right away without any work. After you get pretty good experience, you can always get into JV projects, hire people and only manage things. This is a different story. But for newbies, you need to be ready to work 24/7. So, if any of these affiliate marketing courses promise millions of dollars without any work, run as fast as you can.
3. Outdated Information: Some dude gets lucky, makes a few thousand dollars with a trick, and when his trick starts dying, he writes an ebook. In affiliate marketing, trends are extremely important. Most of the affiliate courses out there will teach you outdated tricks and trends. For ultimate affiliate marketing success, you need to be on top of all the new trends before the everybody else, plus, you need to be the one who sets new trends.
4. Over and over again (scaling): Most of these gurus who sell these affiliate marketing courses will promise you that if you can start making money with their tricks, you can duplicate what you do, and do it over and over again. I love this slogan; “over and over again”. They never tell you, you need people helping you to do it over and over again. Every new website needs traffic, organic or not, you need to work extra for each new website. So, it’s not a magic trick to duplicate what you have already done successfully, but it is time consuming. So, it’s not easy to duplicate what you did over and over again.
5. Fake Testimonials: I’m tired of seeing fake testimonials. One of the new courses sales page had a video of an elderly guy (the guru says his student) talking about how he does an absurd amount of money by working a few minutes a day. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE. Stay away if you see testimonials like this one.

Just like I said, these gurus spend their valuable time to create these affiliate marketing courses. So, I have no problem with them charging for these courses. Probably, some of these gurus deserve more than what they charge. But, the affiliate marketing space is flooded with these courses, so if you want to buy one of these courses, be very careful with the “stay away signs”, and do your research before you buy.

I and many other successful affiliates have succeeded in affiliate marketing without the help of affiliate marketing information products. But, I also have good friends who are very successful in affiliate marketing and they have tried many affiliate marketing products, ebooks and membership sites when they were newbies.

So, it all depends on you. Can you succeed in affiliate marketing by working 24/7 without the help of these affiliate marketing courses or not? You are the only one who will make the right decision. Good luck.

I have been involved with affiliate marketing business for almost 4 years now. Like any other online marketing method, I have started with reading and researching about affiliate marketing. I have read every single blog post, forum topic and article I could find about affiliate marketing before running my first campaign. While researching about affiliate marketing, I was getting more excited every single day.

I had the feeling that affiliate marketing would be the next big thing for me and for the internet advertising. Later, it was proven… Affiliate marketing was the next big thing for me.

Lately, I have been getting involved more in affiliate marketing industry, and trying to network more often with fellow affiliate marketers and networks. During these networking events, I have been meeting with many smart people who are new to the industry and just getting started with affiliate marketing business.

I am a huge believer in the benefits of networking and helping the newbies. I help people without asking for a return or favor. It might sound too naive, but this is a part of my character, and I’m glad I have this in my genes. As much as I would like to help all the newbies in affiliate marketing, my crazy busy schedule doesn’t let me to be flexible. Therefore, I have decided to share almost everything I know about affiliate marketing via my blog posts. I am also planning to add videos and screencasts.

Let’s start with the mindset I had when I was first starting affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing Mindset

I was already making money online when I first got involved with affiliate marketing. Whether you are a newbie in the online game or not, you can be successful in affiliate marketing if you have the right mindset.

Most people fail making money online because they are lazy. Making money online is not rocket science. You have to start by setting your mindset. Please take a few minutes and read this blog post I’ve written some time ago about failing to make money online.

Get rid of all the excuses you’ve had before.

If you are total newbie in affiliate marketing, and still trying to understand the basic logic behind it, please spend a few minutes reading this blog post I’ve written about CPA Arbitrage. It’s the basic introduction to CPA marketing.

If somebody is trying to sell you an ebook promising a 4 hour work week, and millions of dollars made online, pass the opportunity and save some bucks.

If you are a newbie to making money online, there’s absolutely no short way to success without working hard, I mean really hard work. But if you work, and keep improving yourself, affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding professions I have ever found.

You have been doing research and reading about affiliate marketing for a while, or maybe you have already started testing some campaigns, or you are a full time affiliate marketer making a great income. The question is; Do you have the right mindset to take it to the next level?

Ask this question to yourself, and come up with an honest answer.

When you read success stories of affiliate marketers, see the pictures and videos on their blogs, you only see the final outcome. You don’t see the countless sleepless nights we put into work, you don’t understand how much we sacrifice for ultimate success. If you have been in online game for a while, probably you know what I am talking about.

While doing your research about affiliate marketing, you will get a good feeling about it. You have to make sure affiliate marketing is right for you. This is extremely important, you have to be happy and love what you do to be able to become a huge success story.

Love What You Do

It doesn’t matter what you do for living. Unless you love what you do, you will NEVER become the most successful person in your profession. Affiliate marketing is no different than other professions.

You have to get excited, and love affiliate marketing, PERIOD. If you treat affiliate marketing as a regular job, you might still make lots of money, but in the long term, you will never be one of the most successful people in this field.

Life is short, do not spend your life working on something that doesn’t get you excited.

If you get so excited with affiliate marketing, and can’t even sleep sometimes working online, you are absolutely on the right track. You can become one of the most affiliate marketers in the world.

Let’s talk about how you can be more productive with setting up goals and self motivation.

Setup Goals

Setting up goals with affiliate marketing is more important than anything. Setup both short term and long term goals. Trust me, setting up goals will keep you targeted and motivated. If you have a next level dollar amount goal, write it down on a paper and hang it everywhere.

Setup meaningful goals, if you are a newbie and if your first goal is $10.000/Day net profit within 30 days, it’s not a goal, it’s a dream.

Short and long term goal examples for affiliate marketing:

• I will launch my first campaign 30 days from today
• I will increase my net profit per day from $100 to $150 within 3 weeks
• I will make $6000/month net profit after taxes within 6 months and quit my day job
• I will work at least 5 hours/day on affiliate marketing
• I will buy a Porsche within 24 months
• I will hire my first employee within 3 months
• etc. etc. etc.

Depending on your age, situation, financial condition, schedule, time etc. you can setup the right goals for yourself.

Setting up goals is the most important part of self motivation. And self motivation and hard work will bring financial freedom to your life.

Big Secret in Affiliate Marketing

Everybody is in search of the big secret for ultimate success in affiliate marketing.

I will one more time repeat what other successful affiliate marketers have been saying for years;

1. Read, research, be on top of every new trend in affiliate marketing world
2. Don’t wait, and test whatever you learn. You will fail many times, but testing is the route to success.
3. Back to #1

You can be a successful affiliate marketer by doing the things above. But to become the best in what you do, especially in marketing, you have to be different. You have to learn the big secret:

Thinking outside the box is the key and the big secret to become a successful affiliate marketer.

Do you want to follow the latest trends in affiliate marketing world, or do you want to be a trend setter?

This whole article might sound like a motivational speech, but you will understand the importance of setting up your mindset first when you get really involved with affiliate marketing.

How Do I Qualify to Give You Advice About Affiliate Marketing?

Simple answer is I don’t.

I am not a guru nor a super/uber affiliate. I’m just a guy who happens to make more money with affiliate marketing in a month than most of the people make in a year with a regular job. I work at least twice more than any regular person who works a 9 to 5 job.

This is my personal blog, I write what I want, and I share my personal experiences. So, take it or leave.

But if you are a hardworking person, who is also serious about making money online, I will be happy to help.

Spend some time on researching and reading about affiliate marketing and make sure this is right for you. I have written this post to let you know that setting your mindset is the most important part of the road to success in affiliate marketing. Take it as a motivational article and laugh about it, or take it serious and start thinking about it now.

I will be writing about affiliate marketing and online marketing more often. I will get into details, share some case studies, and will try to help you succeed in affiliate marketing business. Thanks for stopping by, and please leave your comments. I love reading your comments.

Email Marketing is one of the best online marketing options available out there. Despite its long term advantages, many online marketers still don’t embrace the email marketing fully.

Email marketing needs initial hard work and long term dedication.

But if done right, email marketing is the most profitable online marketing method in the long run.

Why Am I Writing This Email Marketing Guide?

I’ve read many email marketing guides written by bloggers, professionals, and gurus. To be honest, none of them goes beyond providing the basics of email marketing, and unfortunately most of them are plain sales letters.

This is my personal blog, not one of the commercial blogs I own. Anything I write here has my signature along with my personal reputation. Any method I teach here is tested by myself, any product I recommend here is used by myself, and my main goal is to share my experiences, so you can make a comfortable living by doing what you love. If you read the right resources, and start implementing the online marketing methods you’ve learned right away, there’s no reason to fail making money online.

Remember, online marketing needs hard work and dedication, and email marketing is no different. But if we look at the industry return on investment rates, email marketing has the highest ROI for the long term. Why? Because it doesn’t need much investment, in fact most of the time it doesn’t need any investment other than your valuable time.

This is going to be a very detailed article series starting with basics, and going in very depth with specific successful email marketing case studies tested by myself. The language of this guide will be beginner level, but some further advanced techniques will be shared to become an expert in email marketing. Here are topics I will cover in this email marketing guide.

Email Marketing Guide Index

1. Email Marketing Guide – This is the page where you are right now.  I’d recommend bookmarking it, because it’s the easiest way to see when a new article is added.  I will be adding the links to the articles when they are live here on this page.
2. Email Marketing Basics – This is an absolute Email Marketing 101 Guide. If you feel good about the basics of email marketing, you can pass this article, and start with the next one.
3. Email Marketing Terms 101 – In this article, I talk about the laws for email marketing and the basic email marketing terms you need to know before launching your first campaign.
4. Email Marketing Strategy – How to setup a strategy for your email marketing before you start, and a roadmap to a successful email marketing campaign.
5. Email Marketing Solutions – Before starting to build your list, the most important part is choosing the best email marketing solution for your needs.  Free or paid, we will discuss all the popular options out there, and go in depth reviews with pros and cons.
6. Email Lists – Email Marketing List Guide from building a targeted list to buying an email list.  All the information you need to create and maintain a money making email list with my personal success strategies.
7. Email Newsletters – From creating your first html email template to advanced email newsletter tips.  All in one guide for email newsletters.
8. Autoresponders – What is an autoresponder? How can you setup your first autoresponder email marketing campaign, and some advanced tips about profiting from autoresponders that the “gurus” never share.
9. Email Marketing Best Practices – We will share and discuss a number best practices for email marketing along with real life case studies.
10. Advanced Email Marketing – This article will share the techniques, and the mind blowing creative ideas for a successful email marketing campaign.  I will share some techniques I personally use for email marketing to make money online and I bet they will make you money, too.
11. Email Marketing Guide Bonus – This will be surprise bonus.  Only a certain number of people will receive this bonus who have read through this email marketing guide, and implemented the methods they have learned here.  If you are one of those people, and if you are lucky enough to get this bonus, I will hold your hand and walk you through the next step to make some real cash with email marketing.

Is This a FREE Email Marketing Guide?

Yes, absolutely. This is a 100% FREE Email Marketing Guide.

Sharing is caring I am in the mood, so don’t bug me, I will share more in 2009. Some gurus will be mad at me, because they have been making tons of cash selling ebooks which tell you so little about email marketing.

What do I get in return?

I want you to take action this year, and implement the techniques I share and tell me about your success story. I will be more than happy if you share your success through implementing the techniques you’ve learned from this email marketing guide. So, add your comments and also ask any questions you have at the comments. I will try my best to answer every question in the comments. This guide will walk you through from basics to advanced techniques in email marketing. You will need a total of $0 investment to start making money via email marketing. I will also share some software and tools I use within my email marketing campaigns which might require a one time purchase, or a monthly subscription. You are not required to purchase any products to start your email marketing campaign, but if you decide to, I will offer my recommendations and they will include my affiliate link (which you are free to go through my affiliate link or not). So, are you ready to make some real money in 2009?

My Personal GUARANTEE – Return Policy

You will be paying $0.00 to use my personal guide to succeed in email marketing. I want you to focus on success this year. As you probably know, all the junk ebooks out there have refund guarantees. Even though this guide is 100%, I have a surprise for you.

3 STEP Guarantee for this Email Marketing Guide

1. Read my article about Why You Fail to Make Money Online first, and set your mindset.  Feel 100% ready to succeed in 2009 first.
2. Read every step in this email marketing guide, and implement, test, track. Basically, put some hard work in.
3. After doing step 1 and step 2, if you haven’t made your FIRST DOLLAR via email marketing, I will send you a personal check for $20.00

Yes, you have read it right. If your mindset is ready to make money online, and if you read through every single step I personally use for my email marketing campaigns, and start implementing them, I personally guarantee that you will make money. How much? I don’t know, it all depends on you, and the work you will put into email marketing.

Start with reading my post about failing to make money online for the step 1, and set your mindset first. I really appreciate your feedback and comments. Your feedback helps me to understand your needs and write better articles to help you succeed this year.

So, I’m all pumped up, excited and ready for this challenge.  Are you READY?

Important Update: This post is the 101 information about CPA Marketing, also known as CPA Arbitrage. I see many visitors coming to this page to look for more information about an affiliate marketing course called “CPA Arbitrage”. If you are looking for further information on this course, please visit this link. If you are here to learn more about CPA Arbitrage, and CPA Affiliate Marketing, please keep reading below.

Let’s Start with the definitions of CPC and CPM

In online advertising, widely known two advertising methods are CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPM (Cost per thousand impressions). In the CPC method, advertiser pays a fixed or variable $ amount per each click its site receives. In the CPM method, advertiser pays a set or variable $ amount per 1000 impressions its advertisement (banner, contextual, etc.) is shown regardless of CTR (Click Through Rates).

There are many advertising venues in the market which sell both CPC and CPM methods, some to name; Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN AdCenter, etc.

What is CPA ?

Compared to CPC and CPM methods, CPA is a newer advertising model. CPA is called “Cost per Action” or “Cost per Acquisition”. In the CPA method, advertiser doesn’t pay for the impression or click. Advertiser pays when an action is taken by visitor. Here are some popular CPA advertising offer types:

• User registers for the website/service (free or paid).
• User buys something (also called as CPS, cost per sale).
• User fills a short form (short survey, email, zip code, state, etc.)
• User fills a long form (insurance quote, long survey, school information, etc.)
• User registers for free trial (blockbuster, email marketing software, etc.)

Depending on the offer type advertiser sets a fixed $ amount per action. Advertisers either run an inhouse affiliate team and program or go to affiliate marketing companies.

In a higher level, affiliate marketing companies are the ones doing the CPA Arbitrage. But, affiliates also known as affiliate marketers sign up with affiliate marketing companies and promote the offer. Let’s show this with an example:

Blockbuster would like to do a CPA advertising campaign. They are ready to pay $80.00 per “free 30 days subscription”. Since they have the historical data on how 30 days free subscriptions work, they are happy with the amount they are willing to pay. They will win in this situation. (p.s. $ amounts are not related to blockbuster, they are given as an example).

Blockbuster doesn’t want to deal with every average Joe (this is a regular affiliate marketer). Therefore, bigger affiliate companies go to Blockbuster and promise certain level of volume (subscription numbers). Before or after going public with the offer, these large affiliate companies offer these offers to smaller affiliate companies with a lower payout (see the CPA arbitrage starting).

Here’s a quick diagram I’ve drawn to visualize the CPA arbitrage in general:

This is a very general diagram to show the CPA arbitrage in affiliate marketing. Depending on the vertical or niche, this diagram might change. For instance, in debt consolidation niche, same lead could be sold to different companies (unsecured debt, less than $10.000 debt, etc.)

I don’t want to get into details of CPA or affiliate marketing in this post since I want this post to be a clear definition/explanation of CPA Arbitrage.

Why did I need to write a post about basics of CPA Arbitrage? Because many beginners want to learn the basics of affiliate and online marketing. And I’ve seen many experts use the phrase “CPA Arbitrage”, but talk about totally different things.

If you’d like to test some CPA offers, I’d recommend NeverBlue, and Azoogle. These are two of the most reputable and trusted affiliate marketing networks in the industry. They have tons of offers from free zip submits, to CPS type offers, and they have one of the best tracking systems (which makes the beginner affiliate marketer’s job easier).

If you are a hard worker, if you love to test and track, CPA Arbitrage might be the best opportunity for you in the online world. Many online marketers, including myself, are making great amount of cash every day with CPA Arbitrage.

If you are new and interested in getting into affiliate marketing, here are some posts I’ve written about affiliate marketing with newbies in mind.

• Mindset for Affiliate Success
• Important Tips to Read if You are New to Affiliate Marketing
• Do You Need to Buy an Affiliate Marketing Course to Get Started?
• More Tips about Affiliate Marketing for New Starters
• Craigslist Affiliate Case Study – Step by Step Guide to How I’ve Generated over $5000 within 48 hours on Craigslist

I hope these posts will give you some basic direction about setting up your success mindset in affiliate marketing. If you put some hard work into it, affiliate marketing is the most rewarding and fun thing in the world. Good luck!