Affiliate Blog

And Now.....Back to the Future!!

I was thinking this morning of back when I was in the third grade. You may ask yourself, was he thinking of the time he sang "I Love Rocky Road" by Weird Al in the school talent show? Or was he thinking of when he used an entire jar of Vaseline in his hair to add authenticity to his "Greaser" Halloween costume? Though both of these memories are forever etched in my mind, the answer is "no". What I was thinking about was the future. I remember one day our teacher asked us to draw what we thought the future would be like....and at the time, the "future" was the year 2000. I remember everyone I drew had sunglasses on, I assume because everyone futuristic-looking wore them, not because of a foreseen ozone problem I predicted at age 10. Plus, the world had gotten a bit lazier, as everywhere you looked was a moving sidewalk. No more of that pesky walking, when the moving sidewalk could take you where you needed to go- and seconds faster! Here are a few other things I once hoped would be around by this time that could do wonders in this world of marketing of ours:

Jetpacks: Where is my jetpack? I thought for sure we would have those by now. The ability to pop one of those things on like a backpack, hit the accelerate button, and zoom all around the place seemed inevitable. Even the Rocketeer had one, so I just assumed that was a foreshadowing of what technology was going to bring me. I guess the closest we got was a segway, and let's face it, it is really tough to look remotely cool on those things. Can you imagine if we had those now? You could zip around the city, meeting to meeting, in no time. Fly on over, park your Jetpack in the special "Jetpack Visitor Parking Only" spot, and you're there, ready to seal that deal!

"Warping": Come on.... they did it on Spaceballs! And that was supposedly a long time ago in a galaxy far away! It's like we have regressed, not progressed! How crazy would it be if you were on a call with a potential finance affiliate you've been wanting to have promote your credit card offers and you could, with the press of a button, beam yourself over to their office? "Oh, Mr./Ms. Affiliate, you would like to meet in person before doing business? No problem...." ZAP!!!! There you are, right there in their office. I think we need to put some more tax dollars into warping. It just seems so obvious!

Now of course, the above probably won't happen anytime soon (or ever) however, there are some technological advances that do exist that I think are actually underutilized. 

Skype/Video Conferencing: Putting a face to a name is important in this business. Granted, meeting in person is the ultimate goal, but for everyone it may not be feasible. Phone calls are great and are my preferred method of communication, however, having the ability to have a conference room meeting with another company hundreds of miles away, and actually see who you are talking to, in my mind, is something we don't take advantage of enough. I have Skype, and it's free, so sign up and feel free to reach out to me with any questions on your Credit.com affiliate account. Just please note that I work remotely, so give me a heads up in order to change out of my pajamas.

Webinar: Have you ever had to go back and forth, trying to explain an idea of how a credit card offer would look on someone's site, only for them to not quite "see" what you mean? Webinars are tools that can easily allow you to walk someone through visually what you are trying to convey verbally. These too, for the most part, are free, so create an account for easy access, so the next time you can invite someone to see what awesomeness you are trying to sell them on!

I think way back when to where my dad went to work everyday. There was no email. There was none of this crazy "world wide web" phenomenon. Random side note: I think it is safe to omit the "www" when conveying the name of a website to someone over the phone- think of all the time we would save! Continuing on, it's crazy how everything was accomplished with the lack of expedient technology. Nowadays, if you can't get someone on the phone, you can email them. If email isn't fast enough, you can IM them. But then? You call someone and leave a message.... and that was about it. Today, you need that IO signed fast. You email it, scan it, and done. But back then, you either fax it-- if you have a fax machine, or you drop that agreement in the mail and wait for it to get there and back to you. And don't even get me started on computers! They actually existed without email AND internet access! They served two purposes: 1. To save data and 2. To play Oregon Trail. I can only assume that productivity back then had to be at an all time high, seeing that fantasy football scores and Facebook weren't around to take people's focus off  the task at hand.

To summarize, take advantage of the many advances that do exist today and utilize them to the best of your ability. They may just get you over that stumbling block you have encountered so many times in the past. Share ideas you have with others as well, to perhaps create even better ways to engage with your clients. Just think, you could be the next Marty McFly (I know Doc Brown makes more sense here, but Marty has that "ring" to it)

-Ryan Zimmerman

Ryan Zimmerman is a Senior Affiliate Sales Executive for Credit.com and has worked in the affiliate marketing arena for almost a decade. Ryan shares his experience and insight on email marketing and affiliate promotional tactics.

Do Not Forget the Long Tail

A recent post by Tom Demers on Search Engine Land caught my attention this week. The post discussed the difference in CPC and conversion rates between short and long tail queries in paid search (although this could apply to organic optimization as well) and shows some very interesting data. Tom took a random sampling of WordStream clients Adwords accounts with about a million dollars worth of spend, spread across roughly 15 million impressions and analyzed the aggregate cost, number of conversions, and cost-per conversion across the data sample.

Based upon Tom's data there is obviously enormous value in long tail search queries if used properly. As you can see from the charts below the advertisers within his data set convert 90% of their traffic from keywords that only get between 1 and 99 clicks. The majority of their conversions came from keywords getting only 1-5 clicks! The cost for conversion is also much lower when comparing the 1 to 99 click terms with the more competitive and larger traffic terms.

What does this mean? Long tail works! Get out your favorite keyword research tools and start looking at your log files to find more targeted long tail queries to add into your campaigns now. Another good article you might want to check out is Query Mining for Gold which covers some great ways to find these hidden gems. Best of luck!

Montana Thomas is a Senior Affiliate Sales Executive for Credit.com and has more than 10 years of online marketing experience in the affiliate market. Montana shares his unique insight and experience about affiliate marketing, paid search and SEO.

Credit.com Makes Top 10 Lists for Fast Company & Money Magazine!

It's been an exciting day for Credit.com and we have great news to share with our publishers, affiliates and partners.  Earlier today we were pleased to learn that Money Magazine featured us as one of the 20 Best Money Web Sites (#7 in the list)! Our Credit Report Card was listed as the best free tool for consumers to find out how good their credit is for free:

"For a quick sense of where you stand (for free!), you can't beat Credit.com. Click on the Credit Report Card and answer a few questions."

The excitement didn't stop there.  Only hours after making Money Magazines Top 20 List, Fast Company included us in their list of Top 10 Most Innovative Finance Companies!  Seven is our lucky number and we hit the sweet spot twice in one day:

"Winner of Finovate's 2009 Best of Show, this free service makes credit scores easier to understand: Credit.com does a "soft inquiry" on your credit report, then gives you a letter grade that's an estimate of the range of scores you'd get for $15 a throw from the credit bureaus. A grade of B correlates to a FICO score of 700-749, a TransUnion score of 765-844, or a PLUS score of 695-739."

It's been an amazing day for all of us at Credit.com. Kudos to the amazing staff and team members who put their heart and souls into this effort. All the hard work truly shows the dedication and love for what we do. 

And last, but certainly not least, we can't forget those that help make our jobs possible; our publishers, affiliates and partners. Our success would not be possible without your continued commitment and support!

Affiliate Update: CARD Act Changes for Platinum Zero Card

In preparation of the new CARD Act changes that are scheduled to go into effect on Monday, February 22nd, the issuer for the Platinum Zero Card has made the following changes:

• ZERO - 0% FIXED APR on Purchases - No Intro Rates!
• ZERO - 0% Rate Won't Change - Even If You're Late!
• ZERO Application Fees
• ZERO Worries - FREE Personal ID Theft Protection

If you are using any other terms, please remove them immediately and replace with the issuer authorized bullets listed above. Please note that the maximum credit limit for the Platinum Zero card is now $500.

These changes will be effective on Monday, February 22, 2010. We apologize for the short-notice and any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions regarding this change, please contact your account manager.

The Speed of Sound!

"Word of Mouth" Marketing has been around for ages. It may have just not been defined as clearly then as it is now. You know those 3 friends at poker night you told about the new sushi place up the road and how good it was? You were using "Word of Mouth" marketing. Remember the other day at Target where you bumped into an old co-worker and you couldn't stop raving about how good the movie Avatar was? Not that Avatar needs any more exposure, but yup, that too, was "Word of Mouth" marketing.

Sounds incredibly simple and obvious, but those unintentional recommendations that you make off the cuff are about as effective of advertising as any PPC or SEO team can put together. Granted, the reach may not be there right off the bat, but it eventually could be.... To quote Simone from the iconic 80s movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious." Did Kristy Swanson, the actress that played Simone, have any clue to what incredible insight and marketing foreshadowing that simple statement would provide the youth of America? Probably not, but it just may have helped her land that lead role in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie a few years later. Nothing says "Job Well Done!" like getting a role opposite "Old Sideburns" himself....Luke Perry.

The fact of the matter is, it's the influences of those around you that either knowingly or subconsciously help shape your opinions and choices. There really isn't a greater marketing "nudge" than a friend putting a buzz in your ear about the latest and greatest. How do you apply it to your site or product? Make it memorable and make it exciting! You aren't going to have the neighborhood a buzz with a website chock full of banners about numerous and blinding unrelated topics. However, if you create a site with a purpose to be informative and viral, then it can help spread itself. You're going to have much more success and credibility if you design a site with multiple options for getting your own credit report and why credit reports are important, opposed to cluttering up the site with glaring images and neglecting to list any relevant financial content. Keep in mind though, that while news travels fast, bad news travels faster...

Case in point: You work your whole professional career to be the best at what you do. In a world as incredibly tight knit, yet so huge at the same time, as internet marketing, your reputation and the way you conduct yourself is imperative to survive. Many people hear about you when you do good things....it's just that simple. However, many more people could also hear about the bad things. Don't be that girl at the Affiliate Summit After Party that thinks it's a good idea to drink 14 Grey Goose and vodkas, and then try and climb over a dozen clients seated next to you, while wearing high heels and a skirt. Or the guy that is trying to set his personal best at consumption of whiskey shots in one evening, surrounded by potential publishers who aren't even close to thinking that is impressive. Always remember, that when you're surrounded by your peers, no matter the setting, to conduct yourself responsibly. Not only is it your image and reputation that is at stake, but even worse, it could be your company or your career. 

So whether you are an affiliate, head of an affiliate program, or just someone involved in one of the many aspects of this crazy lovable internet marketing world, take advantage of your professionalism and share it positively with those around you. It's contagious, and in the marketing world, "viral" is definitely a good thing!

-Ryan Zimmerman

Ryan Zimmerman is a Senior Affiliate Sales Executive for Credit.com and has worked in the affiliate marketing arena for almost a decade. Ryan shares his experience and insight on email marketing and affiliate promotional tactics.

Are You Using Social Media in Your Online Marketing Initiatives?

If you're not yet, it's definitely something to consider as many other companies begin to embrace social media as a marketing tool on the Web. Think about it this way, if even the Pope is pushing for the Church to blog and utilize social media tools online, it’s probably time to acknowledge that social media isn't a fad and it's here to stay. (You can read about the Pope’s love of social media here.)

MarketingSherpa recently released a study that shows how companies are allocating their online marketing budgets and even though email and PPC still garner a big piece of the pie, social media is moving up in the list, accounting for 11% of online marketing budgets. Take a look:

Social Media's Share of the Online Marketing Budget

Considering the drastic growth of Twitter and Facebook over the last year alone, there's no question that social media is ripe with opportunity for affiliate marketers. To date, Facebook has more than 400 million active users. (The keyword there is "active".) Then there's Twitter, which in January passed 1.2 billion tweets per month – an average of almost 40 million tweets per day!

Over the next few weeks we'll be delving into the ever evolving world of social media to share insight and tips on different ways that affiliate marketers can use social media for online marketing initiatives. If you've already joined the social media wave, feel free to share any tips, tricks or advice as we go along. We'd love to hear from you!

Deanna Templeton is the Director of Consumer Education for Credit.com and has more than 10 years of experience in the online credit and personal finance markets and works closely with the affiliate marketing side of the business. Deanna shares her unique insight on everything from credit and personal finance to affiliate, social media and email marketing.

Adwords Support

First off, I want to start off by saying that I am in no way trying to bash Google in this post. I love Google and over the years I have found their support to be pretty good and honestly, I have never had any issues with them that I felt weren't of my own doing. With that said, I do feel like Adwords support has changed drastically in the last few months. They no longer offer phone support and I have heard from many of our affiliates that their quality scores have dropped recently for no apparent reason. And when they try and speak with an Adwords rep regarding the issue, they only get canned responses and no real clear answers to their questions. My question to Google is "How does this help anyone?"

Google has apparently changed the way they look at a site to determine a quality score. I have no issue with progress and their efforts to clean up results for a better user experience. What I do have a problem with is that they provide their advertisers no real information or clear direction on what they are looking for in terms of site quality or how to correct the issues. I understand the need for some secrecy because if everyone knew exactly what they wanted it would be very easy to game the system, but with no clear definitions outside of canned responses, how can their advertisers work to make their sites better and continue to use Adwords?

It seems to me that the lack of support and transparency will eventually cause many advertisers to move away to other advertising platforms which will result in both parties losing money. I already know several affiliates who were long term Adwords advertisers that have moved away from their platform due to pure frustration and I am hearing more and more complaints every day.

What has your experience with Adwords support been like? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

- Montana

Montana Thomas is a Senior Affiliate Sales Executive for Credit.com and has more than 10 years of online marketing experience in the affiliate market. Montana shares his unique insight and experience about affiliate marketing, paid search and SEO.

Communication Breakdown

A wise man once said, "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!?"... Okay, so that "wise man" was Chris Tucker in the movie Rush Hour, but that still leads to an important topic: Effective Communication.

Regardless of what business or social setting you are in, clear and effective communication is essential. It's like that first time you heard the song "Loser" by Beck. The song itself was different and new and refreshing and something about it was catchy. You'd prep yourself to belt out the chorus, but there was that mysterious line that preceded "I'm a Loser Baby...". Ahoy Matador? Toy Humidor? Keep in mind that this song was released before the "internet" as we know it today, so just Googling the song wouldn't get you the answer, so you actually had to listen to it over and over for clarity. In the end, the mystery was revealed. Not only were my guesses way off, but it was Spanish! I never would have guessed "Soy un perdedor", because I really didn't pay too close attention to my Spanish teacher in 3rd period....except on "Fiesta" days (we got to bring in our own nachos, so that was cool). 

My point is this...You can't truly enjoy something or convey the appropriate message if it is not communicated properly.

The same can be said for Affiliate Marketing. Have you ever been in an "Email Tug of War"? The kind where you and another person email back and forth, back and forth, trying to verify what the other is trying to explain? Not only does it waste time, it also still puts the task at risk. If it takes multiple emails to explain the process at hand, simply pick up the phone and talk it through. You'll be surprised how easy it is. The last thing you want to happen is to have an issue come up where you or your client/affiliate have totally different expectations, which in the end could cause panic, stress, and potentially the end of that relationship.

The way you communicate isn't the only key of communication. It's your accessibility that is just as important. Think of it this way. If you are out with your friends and end up spending the whole night talking with some attractive new acquaintance, rather than playing Golden Tee like you promised your best friend you would (You know who you are!!), you want to make sure that you can be reached at a later date with minimal effort on their part. You wouldn't tell the person to send you a message in Morse code or throw a message in a bottle and hope it reaches you. You would provide that person adequate information to reach you effectively. The same can be said in Affiliate Marketing. In this world of lead generation, changes happen on the fly and many negative changes can be prevented if you were more accessible. Ignoring emails or not returning voicemails won't help you to get ahead in the affiliate arena. Get that Instant Messenger set up. Text if you need to but make the effort to be there for that person. The more failed attempts to reach you a person encounters, the more likely they are to move on to someone else or another company. I actually got a business card at a recent conference and the phone number on it was out of service!! That's about as frustrating as getting the "Domain by Proxy" information in WHOIS when trying to contact a website.

We have focused on expanding our communication channels at Credit.com by opening up our Twitter account, Facebook page, as well as this very blog. We want to provide as many means as possible to reach us for our Credit Card, Credit Report or Debt affiliates so we can be readily available for questions and provide precise and expedited answers. So email me, text me, call me, ping me-- heck even pong me, but don't hesitate to reach out......that's why we're here.

-Ryan Zimmerman

Ryan Zimmerman is a Senior Affiliate Sales Executive for Credit.com and has worked in the affiliate marketing arena for almost a decade. Ryan shares his experience and insight on email marketing and affiliate promotional tactics.

Affiliate Update: 3 New Card Offers Now Available!

We have great news to share! The Discover® Student Open Road Card is back. With unlimited cash rewards on all purchases, it's no wonder why it's one of the leading student cards in the market today.

But that's not all. We've also just added two new Vision Prepaid card offers to our affiliate program. Take a look:

Discover® Student Open Road Card:
	Earn unlimited cash rewards on all purchases with the Dsicover® Open Road Card. With this card, card holders can build credit and save on driving, dining and everything else.
Vision Platinum Visa Prepaid Card:
	The only Transaction-Fee Free Card. Spend $1,000 or more a month? Platinum is for you. No monthly fee, free transactions, free ATMs and more.
Vision Preferred Prepaid Visa Card:
	The Load 'n' Go Card. Want the conveniences of a prepaid card but don't want Direct Deposit? Preferred is for you. Safer than cash, use anywhere, pay bills faster.

If you have any questions or need links for any of these new offers, please contact your account manager for details.

Free Credit Report Disclosure Rules Under the CARD Act

We recently posted a list of all the credit card provisions that are scheduled to go into effect on February 22nd under the CARD Act.  The list only included the upcoming laws that were specifically intended for credit cards. However, there is another law that isn't related to credit cards at all but was included to protect consumers from deceptive marketing practices.  Or more specifically, the prevention of deceptive marketing of credit reports.  

Basically the provision states that all credit report ads will require the disclosure that the report being offered is NOT the free credit report provided under Federal law at AnnualCreditReport.com. Here's what the CARD Act states about the rule:

So, when does this particular provision under the law go into effect?  Good question - especially to those of us in the affiliate world.

The CARD Act states that the FTC shall issue a final rule to carry out the new law no later than 9 months from the date the Act was signed.  President Obama signed the Act in May so we're on that 9-month mark but we haven't really heard much about this particular provision. Based on the verbiage, it's quite possible that the rule could go into effect with all of the other changes scheduled for February 22nd.  We'll soon find out.

From an affiliates perspective, what do you think about this new law?  Will it hinder your ability to market credit report products or will there be little, if any, impact at all?  Speak up and let us hear your thoughts in the comments section below!

Deanna Templeton is the Director of Consumer Education for Credit.com and has more than 10 years of experience in the online credit and personal finance markets and works closely with the affiliate marketing side of the business. Deanna shares her unique insight on everything from credit and personal finance to affiliate, social media and email marketing.