Tricia Meyer

Affiliate Marketer, Blogger, and Consultant

From Mastermind to Site to Relaunch (Our Affiliate Marketing Journey)

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Over a decade ago, I reached out to someone I had met at Affiliate Summit, asking if he would be interested in a Mastermind Group. He approached another Affiliate Summit attendee that we were both a little acquainted with but not exactly friends with. Little did we know the friendship that was about to be formed as well as the ways that it would change all of our businesses. 

The Mastermind Group

We started meeting as a Mastermind Group every Friday afternoon in 2011. At Affiliate Summit West 2012, we gave a presentation entitled Mastermind Groups Exposed: Success in Affiliate Marketing. Watching that video back today, I realize just how lucky I was to be with those two. Near the end of the session, someone in the audience asked if we had considered any joint ventures. We responded that just before the panel started, an OPM approached us with a client that he thought we could promote. Those little bitty seeds turned into The Wine Club Group. 

Side note: Just about everything we said in that video from 10 years ago is still relevant to affiliate marketers today. Except now we use Zoom or Google Meet instead of Skype. Not much in affiliate marketing stands the test of time for a decade. But if you are interested in how to start a Mastermind Group, it’s still a great video. You can also find the presentation itself on Slideshare.  Even if you don’t start a full-on Mastermind Group, I would encourage you to join some Facebook Groups or Slack channels that do something similar where you can bounce things off of other affiliate marketers that you trust.

The Site

The site we ended up creating together was Wine Club Reviews and Ratings, later redirected to Wine Club Group (after Google stopped preferring long-tail keyword domains and we decided branding was more important). The premise was that we would review wine clubs but do so authentically. We’d take our own pictures, create our own content, and post our own videos of each club. We started with just the one merchant that the OPM recommended to us but over time started adding others.

We dabbled in wine-related content like wine bottle holders and recipes with wine in them. But we kept coming back to the idea that we needed to keep it simple and review the CLUBS. We even tried a beer review site using the same premise and template, but it just didn’t have the legs that the wine had. (that’s a play on words those of you who don’t drink red wine) Once we even did a Facebook live event where we each drank wine and ate Turkey Dinner Candy Corn for hours. That is definitely a night none of us will ever forget.

We divided up the work based on our strengths. This was a direct result of our time as a Mastermind Group because we had learned so much about what each other could do. I focus on content and social media whereas Todd and Eric do most of the technical work, including WordPress, database, etc. We each jump in with reviews, photos, and videos where it makes sense.

The site served us well for many years. Some months we would hardly touch it all. Other months we would be frantically updating plugins, adding new clubs, and writing gift guides. The site has turned a profit every month since we created it. Sometimes we would see traffic spikes and work together to take advantage of them (like when we were the first medium to create a Girl Scout Cookies and Wine Pairing guide). We knew we needed to give the site a major overhaul but then the pandemic hit and everyone was buying wine online and we didn’t want to break a profitable site. 

The Relaunch

Now that shopping habits are returning to normal, we knew that we needed to redo the site from the ground up. As each of us is much busier now with other jobs and projects, we ended up outsourcing a lot of the template redesign. However, Todd and Eric did most of the work on the database, the plugins, and the redirects.

Although everything isn’t perfect, we know enough not to mess with much more before Google has a chance to re-index everything before Black Friday. The site operates better on mobile, which is a much bigger concern than it was when we initially built it. We learned through watching our analytics over the years which pages need immediate attention and which can be dealt with over time.

So I present to you our new site for Wine Club Group!

wine club reviews

Along with that, I would like to thank the two best business partners a girl could ask for– Eric Nagel and Todd Farmer. They have truly been the wind beneath my wings in many ways for over a decade. (for you young folks, that’s an old sappy song) They’ve taught me so much about affiliate marketing but have also been the most incredible friends.

What’s Next?

Although we don’t meet as a Mastermind Group every week anymore, we now keep in touch daily in a Slack Channel and meet every other week via Zoom to talk about either the site or whatever life has brought us. We still do many of the things we did when meeting weekly as a Mastermind–give each other advice, share each other’s content, brainstorm together, etc. I don’t know what the next decade will bring for us in terms of affiliate marketing, but I can only hope it will be a continued friendship!

Do you have a group of trusted affiliate friends that you can go to for help and you know they will support all of your endeavors? How do you cultivate those relationships? What have you gained from them?

 

The Value of the FrieNDA

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If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you likely know that an NDA is a Non-Disclosure Agreement. These are generally legally binding documents that both parties sign to be able to share information without the fear of that information being spread to outside parties.

But have you ever heard of a FrieNDA? 

FrieNDAs are used a lot by my circle in affiliate marketing. As a lawyer, I am compelled to tell you that they are not usually binding. But that doesn’t mean that they do not serve a purpose and shouldn’t be used.

A FrieNDA is invoked when you want to have a serious conversation with someone about issues that pertain to your business and your expectation is that the other person does not share them. It is more than a casual conversation. You may need advice or help. Or you may just have really big news that can’t be shared yet but you have to share it with someone.

When I had my Mastermind Group with Eric and Todd (that eventually turned into Wine Club Group), we had a blanket FrieNDA that everything we discussed about our businesses in our weekly calls was not to be shared. This allowed us to openly share data, strategies, and even struggles without fear that the others in the group would spread that information.

Conversely, I will often have one-off conversations with friends that start with “this is FrieNDA information” or “I need this to be covered by our FrieNDA.” We both acknowledge that and understand that whatever is said can’t be shared with anyone–even our mutual friends–no matter what. It’s more than a promise. It’s an understanding that the information being shared with you is so sensitive to the other person’s business that spreading it could damage them.

Now, we do sometimes jokingly bring up the FrieNDA after some cocktails and karaoke as a reminder that photos and video should be kept private. But the true value of the FrieNDA is when you can trust someone and value their opinion enough to share with them and know that your business is safe. 

Do you ever invoke FrieNDAs for the sake of your business? In what circumstances?

How Affiliate Marketing Has Gotten Me Through the Pandemic

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There are a LOT of things to be sad about this year. A lot of lost opportunities to be with family and friends. A lot of sickness and death. And yet we are all finding our way through it, using whatever coping strategies we can find. (sourdough bread, anyone??)

I was reflecting this morning that my job as an affiliate marketer has actually be one of the things that has helped me the most since March. While walking on the treadmill (one of MY biggest coping mechanisms this year), I started compiling a list of all of the ways that affiliate marketing has helped me get through this year with my mental health intact. Here are the ones I came up with, but I wonder if you could add some as well that I have overlooked?

  1. Working from home: While others were scrambling to set up office spaces or figure out how to do their jobs from their basements, I was already. I’ve worked in a well-stocked home office since 1999, so I didn’t really have to adjust at all (expect to all of the interruptions from everyone ELSE in my house now being at home all day!).
  2. Video meetings: I noticed since March that more people are using their cameras for meetings rather than just their phones. I started seeing the faces of people I have been “meeting” with on the phone for years. I think because everyone was getting used to doing more Zooms in general, my standard phone meetings just naturally migrated to video calls as well. It was actually nice to see the people I was talking to for once.
  3. Exploding workload: Given that the pandemic sent everyone online to buy everything, it created an unbelievable amount of work to keep me busy. And when you are busy, you have less time to sit and think about all of the things that you are missing. In fact, you are kind of glad you have extra time to work.
  4. Money: Along with that, let’s be honest. Affiliate marketers tend to be doing well right now. It feels almost gross to talk about it, but the reality is that we are making more money (in most cases) as a result of the increased online shopping. And when everything else in life sucks, it’s at least nice to have some extra money to dream about how you will spend when life gets back to normal.
  5. Virtual communication: For a lot of people, the loss of in-person events/meetings/work meant a loss of social connection. In some ways, it was the opposite for me. I talk to people constantly all day via Slack, Facebook messenger, email, text messages, Google Hangouts, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram…. you get the picture. I don’t go an hour without having some kind of communication that isn’t work related.
  6. Affiliate friendships: It’s crazy but I now feel closer to my affiliate marketing friends than I do my local friends because the online communications have overtaken the in-person communications. In fact, I have a standing weekly Happy Hour with affiliate marketing friends that has pretty much become the thing I most look forward to. While I knew all of them a little from Affiliate Summits over the years, I have gotten so much closer to all of them through our weekly meetups.

There are a lot of things that I hope will continue post-pandemic (like online ordering for restaurants!), but much will eventually go back to the way it was. I know for sure that some of the things above will continue to be what I appreciate about affiliate marketing.

How has affiliate marketing helped you get through this year?

Calculate Content Versus Coupon Ratio for Your Merchants

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One of my favorite benefits of working with Todd and Eric on Wine Club Group is that they both really dig data. To maximize our profits on the site, we use a LOT of data analysis. Some of it is related to SEO and traffic but a lot of it is figuring out which merchants to better position on the site based on things like Earnings Per Visitor, Earnings Per Click, and Conversion Rates.

You’re probably familiar with all of those, but I have something new for you today that you may not be tracking. Whether you are adding a new merchant to your site or evaluating a current partner, do you know how much of their traffic comes from coupon sites versus content sites? 

Why is this important?

First, it depends on what type of traffic you are sending. If you are sending content traffic and a program is heavily dominated by coupon sales, you might struggle to get conversions yourself. Are coupon sites overwriting content cookies because the merchant isn’t using attribution properly? Conversely, if you are a coupon site and the program is primarily paying out to content sites, maybe it is an opportunity for you because the merchant isn’t working with any of the other big coupon sites.

Second, coupon sites impact conversion rates. If a merchant is paying out 90% of its commissions to coupon sites, you would expect to see very high conversion rates because people often look for coupons after they have already decided to make a purchase. If you are a content site, don’t expect to have as high of conversion rates as a coupon (or cash back) site. If you see a program with a crazy high conversion rate and low percentage of payouts to coupon sites, it might mean that content sites are having great luck with converting for that program.

Third, knowing this information might help you understand why average commissions for a program are low but might actually be much higher for you. If you are one of a few content sites working with a merchant, you may be able to achieve better stats in the program than average, assuming the merchant has its attribution set up correctly so that those coupon sites or toolbars do not overwrite your content-driven cookies.

How do you figure out the balance?

You could just ask the affiliate manager and maybe they would tell you, but usually they will not. So if you are armed with 3 different numbers from the program (which you should be able to get either from the network or maybe even the program description), I can help you figure it out. Here is what you need:

  • Standard Program Commission
  • Average Sale Amount
  • Average Commission Amount

Another number that is helpful but very hard to get is the rate the merchant pays coupon sites. I suggest using either 1% or 2% because if a merchant IS paying a coupon site much less than standard, it will usually be one of those.

Caveats

As with all data, there can be a lot of variance. Not every merchant pays their coupon sites lower rates. Some pay the full amount to all affiliates. Some only lower the commission for the coupon site if it ranks for the merchant name + coupon. There also may be some other factors in the commission rates that throw things off like:

  • Cash back sites paid lower than content sites
  • “Other” affiliates like cart abandonment affiliates are paid a lower rate
  • VIP rates for a large percentage of the affiliate traffic
  • Flat rate bonuses

The way you will know almost immediately if this calculation is important for you is to look at:

  • Average Commission Divided by Average Sale Amount

If that number is smaller than the Standard Program Commission, you can use my calculations. If that number is larger than the Standard Program Commission, it means the merchant is paying out some VIP commissions or bonuses that make my calculations useless. Except that it means you should probably investigate whether you should be asking for a commission increase or bonus! 

So there you have it. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s one more data point that you might be able to use when running your affiliate marketing business. I’m including a link to a Google Sheet that I created that has a place for you to fill in the variables and it will automatically calculate the average commission and the content versus coupon for you.

Please download and a make a copy for yourself rather than trying to change my numbers! 

Or here is the formula if you just want to plug in the numbers yourself. It’s a bit of a bear!

(Standard Commission)*x + Coupon Commission(100-x) = Overall Program Commission

Where Overall Program Commission = Average Commission / Average Sale

Solving for X will give you your content site percentage and 100-x will give you coupon. Remember that you can use either 1 or 2 for that Coupon Commission. I suggest running both if you don’t know for sure and giving yourself a range.

Was this helpful to you? What is your favorite data analysis that you run for your affiliate sites?

FTC Proposes Changes to Disclosure Guidelines

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FTC Disclosure Changes

The FTC came out with two documents this week that are significant for affiliate marketers, influencers, and merchants. For all of the background information on where the FTC currently stands, check out my post Affiliates Take Note: New FTC Disclosure Guidelines. It includes 7 years worth of statements, settlements, and updates from the FTC in one place.

Right now the FTC is talking a lot about “influencers” and doesn’t distinguish how they are paid. In affiliate marketing, we might want to know if they are being paid when people click on their links or use their exclusive coupon codes or whether they are flat fees (or maybe a combination of both). But for purposes of this discussion, the FTC does not seem to care about payment details and is more concerned in general about the practice of influencer marketing and how brands are using the influencers to get away with advertising that doesn’t look like advertising (they actually call it “launder advertising” and “illegal payola” which makes it sound even more sketchy!)

Statement of Commissioner Rohit Chopra

Let’s start with the Statement released on February 12, 2020. Regarding the Endorsement Guides Review.

The Commissioner cites that influencer marketing will reach $15 billion for 2022 and that it is getting harder for families and small businesses looking for truthful information. It also believes the tech companies are part of the problem and not the solution right now.

In an interesting statement and a change from the website that was fined last week, the Commissioner says that they want to “focus on advertisers, not small influencers.” Specifically “When individual influencers are able to post about their interests to earn extra money on the side, this is not a cause for major concern.” Chopra seems most frustrated that past enforcement (like the Lord & Taylor settlement) isn’t “deterring misconduct in the marketplace” and wants to be able to pursue larger sanctions against companies in violation.

Chopra wants to review the Endorsement Guides and would like the FTC to:

  1. Develop specific requirements for any technology platform that facilitates or in any way profits from influencer marketing.
  2. Turn the “guides” into codified rules that will allow for both civil penalties and damages.
  3. Give specific contractual requirements that all influencers will have to follow in their campaigns.

So after a long time of wondering if the FTC was going to actually take the disclosure guidelines seriously, I think we have our answer. There’s just too much money being made not to.

FTC Looking for Public Comment

As mentioned in Chopra’s statement, the Commission wants to review the current Endorsement Guidelines and is now seeking public comment: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Its Endorsement Guidelines

This is an opportunity for our industry to officially tell the FTC what we like and don’t like about the Guidelines. What is possible for us to do and what isn’t.

A proposed Federal Register Notice gives a lot more detail about what the FTC is going to be considering. The questions are just a starting point and not a limitation on comments. Further, the FTC would like commenters to submit any available evidence and data that they have, including consumer complaints. You can read all of the proposed questions yourself but these are the ones that stuck out to me with my comments in the parentheticals:

  • Do the Endorsement Guides describe any practices that are not deceptive or unfair? (maybe for us, we think we should be able to use the word “affiliate”?)
  • What is the degree of compliance with the Endorsement Guides? Do covered businesses and others following the Guides’ suggestions self regulate…such as through trade associations? (We know that many, many affiliates do not comply. If most are not complying, what incentive is there for the ones that are?)
  • What burdens or costs have the Guides imposed on small businesses in particular (OPMs, I think this could include you)
  • There are a few questions regarding the reviews of free and discounted products as well as incentivized consumer reviews.
  • This is a big and important one so I am just going to copy it all in!! “Some endorsers (including the authors of some product reviews) include affiliate links that can be used to purchase the products they are endorsing. Should the Guides address such links, and if so, how? To what extent do consumers expect that these endorsers are compensated for purchases through those links? If so, what compensation arrangements do consumers ordinarily expect? To what extent would knowing of such compensation affect the weight or credibility given to those endorsements? Is there a distinction in terms of either consumer expectations or the weight ascribed to an endorsement between affiliate links to a product’s marketer and affiliate links to one or more retailers? If so, how, why, and how should that be addressed? “
  • What disclosures, if any, do advertisers or the operators of review websites or review platforms need to make about the creation, collection, processing, or publication of reviews or ratings in order to prevent those reviews or ratings from being deceptive or unfair? (This one seems to come out of that settlement from last week that I mentioned above. Does it mean they ARE focused still on the publishers when it comes to affiliate links versus the advertisers when it is social media influencer marketing?)

This is just a sample of the included questions. The FTC clearly knows that their Guidelines are not really useful, not being followed, and don’t have as much teeth as they want them to. Now is our opportunity to help set the course going forward. The Federal Register notice gives more information on how to submit your comments (including online or paper). While the date isn’t set yet, it will be around April 13, 2020.

How do you think the Guidelines should be changed? Should they be enforced more or less?