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Hello everyone!  My name is Curtis and I started working at AKMG on June 1st of this year and joined the AKMG Accounting Team. I moved here after I graduated college at Arizona State University (Sorry USC and UCLA fans). I graduated with a degree in Computer Information Systems so I have a slight familiarity with the industry through school. I love being able to combine both of my career interests in Finance and Computers for my day to day job. As fast paced as this industry is I feel that I have learned a lot in the few months that I have been here and will continue to learn more as I spend more time in the industry. Being a social person I like the fact that personal relationships can play such a key role in this industry. I think its great that associates can travel to different trade shows around the country and world to get to know parters on a personal basis instead of just another name on the page. Anyway I look forward to working more with everyone and keeping people posted on things that stick in my head. Until next time peace out ttyl...

There are many techniques online advertisers use to drive traffic to their campaigns. Call me old fashioned, but many of the campaigns we run on our network have great potential to generate additional traffic (and revenue) as an exit pop on another campaign. Although, it is important that you know your consumer demographic and that it matches the demographic of the consumer exiting the campaign they were initially interested in. For example, if you are an advertiser with a debt campaign, it might be beneficial to run your campaign as an exit pop on a credit card campaign. Your debt campaign may capture the consumer that has a change of heart about purchasing or signing up for the credit card, but still needs financial assistance.

This is just one campaign category that exit pops can be successful with. Think about a consumer’s purpose when they click on an advertisement. What is the value of that product for them? And if they have second thoughts about the product and exit the window, can your campaign provide a similar value?

If you are reluctant to display your campaign as an exit pop with the concern that it may attract poor quality leads, we can do a small test to gauge its performance on a campaign that you as an advertiser and we at AKMG decide it’s compatible with. Hey, it’s worth a try and potentially worth the traffic!

I'm not sure if you all have heard or not, but marketers and bloggers will soon have to disclose any freebies and payment arrangements made in exchange for product reviews.  The Federal Trade Commission voted this month to alter specific guidelines beginning December 1st that address the endorsements that consumers, experts, organizations and celebrities make on certain review sites or blogs.  Basically, the message conveyed by these consumers will have to clearly disclose the results that a user can generally expect, opposed to posting unusual results that promise something drastic (usually followed by a 'results not typical' asterisk).

These revised guidelines also require that any "material connections" i.e. payments or free products - between advertisers and endorsers has to be disclosed.

This may bring forth a lot of changes to the social media world, and fairly soon.  It may be hard for the FTC to prove that the conduct of the blog or review site actually violates the FTC Act, but then also, they may want to prove their point at the beginning (remember the whole Napster situation when they sued young children for having songs on their computers?)  At AKMG, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of FTC/CAN-SPAM compliance.  It will be interesting to see how the FTC will impose these new guidelines and how hard they will crack down because this could potentially bring a heapload of changes to the online marketing world.

As an online advertiser, you have one goal in mind – revenue. As soon as an IO is in place, we are as ready as you are to drive traffic to your campaign so you can meet your goal. Seems simple, right? Send us creatives and we’re good to go… Not exactly. Here is a short list of assets…seemingly minor, but crucial assets necessary from every advertiser for every campaign prior to going live. And believe it or not, 95% of the time, at least one of these items is not provided. So take note: 1. Html and/or banner creatives 2. Tracking URL w/ open sub ID parameters (and make sure you are able to pass order IDs) 3. Opt Out Link (if email traffic allowed) 4. Physical opt out address (if email traffic allowed) 5. Suppression file (if email traffic allowed) 6. FROM Lines (if email traffic allowed 7. SUBJECT Lines (if email traffic allowed) 8. Search restrictions (if search traffic allowed) If you have an expected launch date for your campaign, providing these assets to us simultaneously will guarantee your offer is live and ready for traffic by your requested date. As always, if you need assistance or feedback on any of the above requirements, gimme a shout, and I’ll be happy to help!

In the online advertising industry, affiliates and networks are always looking to promote the next best campaign. But just like any other trend, when an offer saturates the market, affiliates and consumers alike begin rolling their eyes at it. Before you know it, a new campaign is born, marketed, sold…then inevitably, dismissed. (Moment of silence for the fallen soldiers, the hoodias, the pedi paws, the ped egg.)… It doesn’t take long to notice the real trend. Reinvention. Very rarely do you see a campaign that’s so novel, it blows you away. Most campaigns that have died have reincarnated. Granted, they’ve had a bit of a facelift, but the idea of the campaign is still intact. For example, diet and continuity offers have pretty much ran their course in the US. But advertise it in another country, and your conversions potentially skyrocket. Or take car insurance lead gen campaigns, where the consumer fills out a page of contact info – they became so oversaturated in the market, that affiliates stopped running them. Now, car insurance campaigns with just an email submit or state drop down convert considerably better. If you’re an advertiser and you notice that affiliates haven’t ran your campaign in a while or that EPCs have declined, think about what you can do to freshen it up a bit. Need help coming up with ideas? Gimme a shout and I’ll be more than happy to transform your oldie campaign into a goodie again!