Greetings from a Mr and Mrs

[migenzie]

Hi Everyone! Couple team here - we just wanna introduce ourselves to the community

We joined AffiliateFix because we want to learn about Affiliate Marketing and see if we have what it takes to succeed in this space. After diving into the contents of the public forum, all roads seemed to point to the Dojo for true enlightenment

So now we are officially a member of the Dojo (yey!) and we look forward to learning all we can from the community with the commitment to do our absolute best to listen, follow through and grow.

A quick background on us (what we can and can't do):

I'm a programmer by profession - found my roots in Flash Actionscript doing games and animation, then transitioned into Website development (Joomla), and now I program mobile apps for Android and IOS with Corona.

My wife is (was) also a programmer - started out with a company that re-purposed flash ads for Doubleclick but nowadays is managing a support team for affiliates of a gaming company.

We have no applied marketing experience. We know what we have learned through reading and research. We are clueless with the how-to's of generally starting out in Affiliate Marketing.

> Find an ad network. We don't know where to start when it comes to joining networks (as it seems most require some sort of experience with evidence of earnings?). Where is a good place to start when you are at zero?

> Requirements to start a campaign. Tracking, it makes sense for us to use Voluum while we are starting out. Easy to scale once we have a better grasp of things. VPS, is Orange VPS good? We saw it as a recommendation by @servandosilva.

> Tools. There are so many being recommended for this and that - information overload - its easy to lose focus when you're not sure what you really need.

I am keen on going the mobile route. My wife wants to start experimenting on something that is quick to setup so she can look at the data and play around with 'optimizing' small campaigns.

If we're getting ahead of ourselves - let us know! We want to be completely grounded getting into this and the right way is the way we want to go.

Oh - and why affiliate marketing? Well, we decided that we didn't want to be working for anyone but ourselves by the time we hit 40 (EARLIER IF POSSIBLE!!)

Thanks for the taking the time to read. We appreciate everyone's support and guidance

 

[migenzie]

Hah! We just discovered the Wiki! This resource is great!

 

[K]

Awesome intro, welcome guys!

 

[T J Tutor]

Hi Everyone! Couple team here - we just wanna introduce ourselves to the community

Hello @migenzie and welcome to the AffiliateFix! We have an abundance of great people here and look forward to getting to know you both.

We joined AffiliateFix because we want to learn about Affiliate Marketing and see if we have what it takes to succeed in this space. After diving into the contents of the public forum, all roads seemed to point to the Dojo for true enlightenment

Both sides of the forum, paid and unpaid, are going to have great conversations and contributions. The Dojo is growing day by day with great tools, advanced case studies, landing pages, and more.

I'm a programmer by profession - found my roots in Flash Actionscript doing games and animation, then transitioned into Website development (Joomla), and now I program mobile apps for Android and IOS with Corona.

My wife is (was) also a programmer - started out with a company that re-purposed flash ads for Doubleclick but nowadays is managing a support team for affiliates of a gaming company.

Can you say JV? I can see that there will a multitude of opportunities for you both with your coding experience. Coupled with an advanced group of marketers, you may find the path to great joint ventures that you can learn first hand marketing techniques, methods, tactics, and strategies.

We have no applied marketing experience. We know what we have learned through reading and research. We are clueless with the how-to's of generally starting out in Affiliate Marketing.


> Find an ad network. We don't know where to start when it comes to joining networks (as it seems most require some sort of experience with evidence of earnings?). Where is a good place to start when you are at zero?

> Requirements to start a campaign. Tracking, it makes sense for us to use Voluum while we are starting out. Easy to scale once we have a better grasp of things. VPS, is Orange VPS good? We saw it as a recommendation by @servandosilva.

> Tools. There are so many being recommended for this and that - information overload - its easy to lose focus when you're not sure what you really need.

I am keen on going the mobile route. My wife wants to start experimenting on something that is quick to setup so she can look at the data and play around with 'optimizing' small campaigns.

If we're getting ahead of ourselves - let us know! We want to be completely grounded getting into this and the right way is the way we want to go.

You have the right idea and you are on the right track.

1. Get a VPS (there are an abundance of deals in hosting. I use Bluehost for my VPS. Everyone has their favorite.
2. Select a tracker, Voluum, AdsBridge, Bevo, and several more are in the pipeline with Beta releases available.
3. Select a traffic source.
4. Join a couple of networks, here is a thread in the Dojo that will help you with acceptance into some networks. Your credentials should give you an edge on this. Let us expedite your Network Applications.
5. Select a vertical.
6. Create a budget. daily, weekly, monthly expenditures need to be tracked.
7. Create a schedule for you learning to earn curve and your business activities.

If you follow this plan and do not get diverted from it by distractions (shiny object syndrome), then you will excel. Master one traffic source, one vertical, one tracker, before expanding into others, then your expansions and additional business activities will flourish.

Oh - and why affiliate marketing? Well, we decided that we didn't want to be working for anyone but ourselves by the time we hit 40

We all want this for you, as well as ourselves. Of course, I passed forty a long, long time ago in another galaxy.

BTW, how did you find us?

We look forward to seeing you around the forums!

T J

 

[migenzie]

Hi K & tjtutor! Thank you for the welcome!

Both sides of the forum, paid and unpaid, are going to have great conversations and contributions. The Dojo is growing day by day with great tools, advanced case studies, landing pages, and more.

Yes, its definitely proving to be a great resource - well worth the investment and very newbie friendly. No regrets here! We've only been members for a few days and have gone through a lot of content. We find that our free time is spent sharing insights and ideas with each other - it helps us digest the information

We also cannot express how helpful the Wiki and As a Newbie, What Stops You From Getting Started threads are! GOLD!

Can you say JV? I can see that there will a multitude of opportunities for you both with your coding experience. Coupled with an advanced group of marketers, you may find the path to great joint ventures that you can learn first hand marketing techniques, methods, tactics, and strategies.

It's exciting to know that there are avenues to collaborate! It would be great to get involved when we have enough knowledge to contribute to projects

If you follow this plan and do not get diverted from it by distractions (shiny object syndrome), then you will excel. Master one traffic source, one vertical, one tracker, before expanding into others, then your expansions and additional business activities will flourish.

Thank you! thank you! thank you! For outlining these key requirements and best practices. Happy to know it verifies the ideas we had on what could be the essentials. You just made it a lot easier to move forward

Our game plan is to use the remaining weeks of March to research, plan and seek advise - then start setting up in April. Hopefully we don't encounter too many bumps but we doubt it! Problems are always good - you fix it, you learn, you grow - fun times (just like marriage!) ugh, got punched

Quick question re VPS - we have shared hosting on Bluehost (mainly for personal use); should we already get a VPS? Is it wise to use the shared server during our initial campaigns (likely small ones) and then upgrading to a VPS once we become more sure of what were doing?

Thanks ahead and have a great day!

 

[T J Tutor]

Quick question re VPS - we have shared hosting on Bluehost (mainly for personal use); should we already get a VPS? Is it wise to use the shared server during our initial campaigns (likely small ones) and then upgrading to a VPS once we become more sure of what were doing?

It's wonderful o see you approaching this business as a business while understanding & planning both your learning curve and your entrance into the industry. This irons out many of the kinks and obstacles you may otherwise encounter. You are getting started on a smooth roll!

In answer to your server question, on a shared server, even a small amount of traffic can be impeded on a shared server. When another individual, or individuals, on a share server run scripts, cron jobs, etc., and sometimes dubious routines, your traffic can slow to a halt. It is a serious risk to your bandwidth and your conversions. A shared host is for exactly what you use it for now, personal stuff. A VPS, is the least of servers for what we do in serving up ads, landing pages, hosting trackers (sometimes), etc. After cash flow stability with your business is established, you may step up to a more advanced VPS, or a dedicated server. Most all of us, at some point, will move into a dedicated server.

Probably the most important aspect of a your marketing from a technical stand point is the speed at which your marketing pages load. For example, with mobile, pages need to load in under 200ms and some of the marketers here have figured out how to maximize mobile landers and maximize server performance to do it in 100ms. Slow page loads are likely the number one cause of someone bouncing.

You need to invest in business and a VPS is one of those investments I (and most) feel isn't something to avoid. This forum has had many threads that revealed that poor server performance has been at the root of some conversion issues.

BlueHost has VPS's starting at $29.99 and their VPS offerings are scalable. Also, you want to learn about using the WHM (Web Host Manager) which is full of great tools and options for managing your server. Stuff like back-end management of email spam control with CLAM and a few other options. It's a great management tool full of options. Later on, when you move to a dedicated server, you will be in a position to have it managed for you. If you learn it first, then you can properly inspect and delegate it's management.

T J