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I’ve been in the Affiliate Marketing game a while now so I thought I’d take the opportunity to pontificate for a few minutes on some of the do’s and don’ts that publishers should follow to navigate themselves through our crazy business.  

Ok, lets focus on the positive and talk about the Do’s first!

Understand the difference between “activity” and “productivity” - All too often I see / hear people work all day on activities that really aren’t making them money.  Designing your new business card or talking to Go Daddy about domains you want to buy are activities.  They are not money-making, “productivity” exercises.  Don’t worry about spiffy company websites & nice business cards or updating your Facebook page 15 times per day...concentrate on making money.  Once you do that, you can then work on all the other stuff.

Talk to intelligent people – One of the best things about our industry is that there is lots of free information out there and lots of people willing to talk to you.  Let them talk!  Find yourself a great affiliate manager at a top tier network that you vibe with and talk to them about what they see working in the industry.  Even schedule a call with them after hours so you can talk at length and you aren’t taking up their entire work day.  Most of these individuals are on commission, so they are incentivized to see you do well.  Leverage their respective knowledge of the industry and use it to your advantage.

Tradeshows – Industry events /  tradeshows are fantastic places to learn more about the industry and to meet new people, but don’t feel like they are the #1 key to your success.  Yes you will learn things at tradeshows, yes you will get lots and lots of new marketing ideas and YES, they are fun....but only go to tradeshows if you can truly afford to go. Affiliate Summit is in my opinion the best show for our industry.

Visit Ad Agencies / Networks You Work With – Not a lot of publishers do this, but I think its one of the more productive activities you can do as a marketer.  It puts a face with a name and it separates you from the hundreds and in some cases thousands of other pubs a network works with.  It doesn’t have to be a lengthy meeting...just call ahead to say you are in the area and swing by.  I personally enjoy meeting the publishers AKMG works with when they stop by the office.  In that environment, it gives you time to actually talk with someone and get to know them vs meeting them on a noisy, crowded tradeshow floor.  

Run Your Business Like a Business – Be available during business hours.  Reply to emails, phone calls, text messages.  Show up for meetings on time. It probably seems elementary, but it constantly amazes me how many people don’t do even the most basic of these activities.

“If First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” - Understand that business, in general, is difficult.  If it was easy, everyone would do it.  It’s ok to fail!  I try not to look at a failure as a negative (as difficult as that is to do sometimes).  If / when you fail...look at why you did.  Analyze what you could have done better / differently.  The more you do this, the sweeter your success will be when it happens.

Travel – You may think this is a strange “Do” from me, but I’m a firm believer in travel and exploring.  I just came back from a trip that so exceeded my expectations that I have no doubt that my experiences on the trip will change me and make me a better person forever.  We are so fortunate to make our living on the Internet and our “office” can be accessed from most anywhere in the world.  So why just sit at your desk all day?  Work outside by the pool, go visit a college friend in a different city and work remotely for a week, travel to a different country and experience new people.  I promise you, you will be a better person because of it.  One of the reasons you became an entrepreneur was for freedom from the man!  So, go be free and reap the reward of all the hard work you put in, day in and day out.

Ok, now the Don’ts

Don’t Provide Fraudulent Traffic – Don’t do it.  You are going to eventually get caught and give yourself / your company a bad name.  It isn’t worth it.  

Don’t Talk Sh*t – It boggles the mind how much unproductive talk there is in our industry these days.  I urge you not to get caught up in it.  If you have an issue with someone, handle it with said individual and as a last resort get your attorney involved.  Don’t blog your feelings about this person or update your Facebook post that “such and such is an asshole”.  That sort of posture doesn’t make you look professional and it throws up a red flag with potential partners and makes them question what your emotional stability is going to be if a business deal with them doesn’t go 100% your way.  It's business...things happen.  If you do ample due diligence in advance on the advertiser / traffic source / ad network you are doing business with, this will reduce the amount of stressful and tenuous situations down the line.

Don’t Be Cocky – Its perfectly ok to be confident and know without hesitation that you are ultimately going to be successful in your life.  I know I am and I act as such.  I would urge you, though, to be humble and not pontificate about how much money you have, or how you are a bigger baller than such and such, etc.  This falls into the activity vs productivity bucket.  I was taught long ago by someone with a lot more money then me that “there is always someone with more money, so why talk about it?”  People with means, in most cases, don’t talk about what they have.  It's unbecoming and beneath you...honestly.

Don’t Be Secretive – Give your trusted partners as much insight and transparency as to where you are buying traffic, creatives you are using, what is working for you, etc.  If they are loyal to you, they can use this information and suggest opportunities to make you even more money.  If they aren’t loyal and use this information against you for their own gain, stop working with them and work with better people!  There are lots of unscrupulous individuals in our industry, but there are also many, many fantastic people who have enriched my life by working with them.  I urge you to find those individuals if you aren’t already working with them.

So, there you have it.  Hopefully I didn’t get too philosophical on you.  Lots of these items can cross over into many different industries.  

Thanks for your time to read my thoughts and thanks for working with AKMG.  If you don’t work with us presently, we look forward to the opportunity to earn your business.....

I often think about the difference between an executive who runs a great company and the one who runs a truly phenomenal one. Are these individuals so different? Do great achieving executives have a better upbringing or attend a higher quality school than low achieving execs? Are they more connected in the workplace, or does this individual just want it more.... I recall many years ago hearing a quote from a young kid fresh out of USC. Jared Pobre, now President of Ideal Exposure, said to me.."Successful people do what unsuccessful people DON'T do." It's a simple enough statement...not difficult to remember or recite, but I think about its meaning often and try to abide by those words on a daily basis. Are you truly committed to the success of your company? Are you willing to sacrifice personal time with friends and family to ensure its success? Are you willing to do whatever is legally necessary to make sure it is not only successful but the leader in its field? If you answer an enthusiastic YES to those questions, I commend you. Few people are willing to make that sort of sacrifice for the betterment of their business. This, in my opinion, is what separates the good companies from the phenomenal ones. I'm so fortunate that AKMG has a team that understands this philosophy. They bring 110% every day, to make this new, small company the leader in our field. We know the ad network space is crowded with formidable competitors, but we also know that we are successful people and are willing put in the extra effort to make this company a phenomenal one. It occasionally humbles me to see the work ethic and enthusiasm our team brings to the office each day. I thank each of you for that.... So, be SUCCESSFUL in your life. Put in that extra effort and do whatever is necessary to achieve greatness.