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Is It Easier To Make Money When You Aren’t Focused On The Money?

Today I watched a great TED Talk video. It was titled “The Suprisinging Science of Motivation”. The speaker in the video (Dan Pink) explained how incentivising people to do creative-based tasks does not work. Having an incentive to fulfill a certain task is proven to numb creativity.

This point was backed up using the data from the “candle problem”.

Subjects were asked how to attach a candle to a wall using these objects:

a box matches, a box of thumbtacks, and a candle.

Many people that attempted the test tacked the candle to the wall, and others tried melting the candle wax to use as an adhesive to stick the candle to the wall. Close but no cigar!

The correct solution is shown below:

The solution is to empty the box of thumbtacks, put the candle into the box, use the thumbtacks to nail the box to the wall.

You can watch the video here:

This got me thinking about affiliate marketing…

Affiliate marketing is such a creative job. You need to come up with unique sales angles, ad copy, design, hunt for the perfect demographic, the works. If you are extremely focused on making or losing money, could that harm your chances of being a successful affiliate marketer? I dunno…

I can only speak for myself, but I can honestly say that I didn’t come into this industry for the money. I came here for the stimulation. I came here for the creative outlet. I came here for the competition. I came here to play the game. Being paid was just the reward for playing the game well.

Are you in it purely for the money? Or is there something else that attracts you? If you are in it purely for the money, have you been successful?

Plenty Of Fish Tools #tasty

Disclaimer: If you do not advertise on Plenty of Fish, please scroll to the bottom.

I’m about to explain how you can make $24,944,992.12 in 48 hours from the comfort of your own swimming pool. I know you guys are thinking “Mr Green, you’re speaking absolute bullocks“, my response to this is, you are correct.

I don’t know why I said that. I just didn’t have any exciting opening paragraphs for the tools I’m about to discuss.

I built the Plenty of Fish Ad Uploader about a year and a half ago. The launch was received by a great response so since then I haven’t made any big updates. If it ain’t broke, why fix it, right? Wrong. Mr Green loves breaking stuff. So here are the new changes to the ad uploader.

1.  310 x 110 bulk ad uploading function available.
2. Split testing by sex available.
3. Age group split testing available.

The insanely sexy new POF Ad Uploader updates.

I’m not going to pitch that you buy this because I wouldn’t buy it myself. It’s not like it will save you lots of time and take the stress out of the campaign creation process. It’s not like the majority of big affiliates on POF use the tool…that would be crazy talk.

If you do, for some weird reason, want it you can get it from two places:

1. Mr Green blog here for $100.

2. Free if you are a Stackthatmoney member.

I’d now like to introduce you to…

The newest POF tool on the block.

Disclaimer: This is not my tool. My Kiwi mate Matt built it. I do not get internet monies for promoting it. It will not make you a billionaire within three days (more like four days).

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Matt: Driftnet was created with two main goals in mind. The first was to make it easier to get a grasp on bigger campaigns and the second was make remedial tasks quicker. It’s basically a new interface for POF.

Driftnet makes it easier to compare different ad groups and see what creatives are performing within a group.

When creating a typical campaign I might create six different campaigns in POF so I can split test across age ranges. The amount of campaigns grows exponentially with every filtering element I add, so I can end up in a situation where a single campaign actually has over 20 campaigns in POF.

• The search function allows you to group these campaigns together so you can see the sole campaigns you are concerned with at the time and then pull and filter on the CTR or clicks for the creatives.

In the image below I have searched for a specific campaign name so I just see my six campaigns, one for each age range. I have then pulled the data from two of them and at a glance I can compare stats across them. I can also sort by CTR and almost instantly deactivate poorly performing creatives.

• Driftnet removes elements from the screen so you only have exactly what you need.

From personal experience and the feedback of others, I’ve realised that the large graph at the top of the campaign page isn’t helpful as affiliates tend to have their own reporting means, so that has been removed. The local time in Vancouver has also been added which helps international affiliates like myself.

• The ability to generate a profit report.

Many people were having to copy their spend and conversion reports into Excel, and then join them together using VLOOKUPs and other time consuming and tedious methods. This feature alone saves lots of time if you track your conversions with POF.

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You can purchase Driftnet from Matt’s site for $29.95. Or, if you are a STM member you can find a generous discount code there.

Got a fancy idea for a POF tool?

Day parting, better tracking, whatever, just comment below! Let us know and we can make some magic happen.

Not a POF advertiser?

Your eyes are getting heavy.

You are now falling asleep.

Plenty of Fish is your savior. It is the gateway to internal happiness and beauty. You must buy the two tools mentioned above in order to activate secret super powers. SNAP! Wake up.

P.S. Please let me know my hypnotic skills are up to scratch.

The World’s Best Salesman?

I don’t usually post videos but when I do, they are absolutely brilliant. Thank you Jordan from Stackthatmoney for sending me this. It made me LOL and ROFL, then it educated me.

Watch this guy go:

This guy, Kenny Brooks, is so good at selling. He is so quick with words. And even though I’m sure he repeats those lines to every customer, it still seems fresh and unrehearsed. Once he gets his customers into a trance like state, it really doesn’t matter what this guy is selling or for what price; it could be anything!

I would hire this guy even if I had nothing to sell. I bet I could pick up any product at a supermarket, mark it up by 200%, and this guy could sell it.

“My mom said if it was darker than me and don’t pay the bills it shouldn’t be there.”

“We got the HBO special right here. Do you know what that means? You get to Help a Brother Out.”

Just wow!

Plenty Of Fish – New Ad Case Study And Some.

I’m back!

Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the lack of my posts. I had a break out of hives that kept me bedridden for weeks. I was forced to eat raw catfish and pea puree for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Now I’ve lost the feeling of my top lip.

I kid; I’ve just been busy.

I don't know why I used this image, just thought it looked groovy. Best excuse I could come up with was "Mr Green Ill" as in "Kim Jong Ill"...*crickets*

Let’s get down to business…

Plenty of Fish came out with a new ad format 310 x 110. I thought I’d give it a whirl and share my results with ya. To make things interesting, I decided to promote something a bit tougher than dating. Plenty of Fish recently added a new targetting option. You now have the option to target people who have pets. So I talked to some people who know people, and found a nice dog training lead generation offer, it was bitch’n (pun intended).

I presented myself four questions for this case study:

1. Do 310 x 110 banner ads perform better than the 110 x 80 text ads?
2. Is it better to make the 310 x 110 banners look like the 110 x 80 ads, or is it better to make the 310 x 110 banner ads stand out?
3. Do cheaper CPMs mean lower CRs?
4. Can I make a dog training lead generation offer profitable on a free dating website?

I gave myself an $800 budget. I have used exactly the same ad copy and imagery in all ads.

Test 1: Do 310 x 110 banner ads perform better than the 110 x 80 text ads?

As you can see I made two identical ads; the only difference was they were served as different ad formats.

Results:

Standard Ad: 3.3% conversion rate, 0.031% CTR | 310 x 110 ad:  4.6% conversion rate, 0.034 CTR.

The 310 x 110 just scrapped through. I did not expect such similar results.

Test 2: 310 x 1110 ad that looks like 110×80 vs a 310 x 110 that stands out.

Results:

110×80 look-alike: 4.6% conversaion rate, 0.034% CTR | Ad that stands out: 9.6% conversion rate, 0.17% CTR.

Uhhhhh what the truck just happened there!? DOUBLE the conversion rate, and exactly FIVE times the CTR. I like the colour green for many reasons, this is one of them. That just turned a very weak campaign into a contender

Oooweee I like where things are going. Time to turn the crank up a bit.

Test 3: low CPM vs high CPM.

I tested that lean green 310×110 marketing machine of an ad with a 0.41 CPM and 0.21 CPM.

Results:

0.41 CPM: 9.6% conversion rate, 0.17% CTR. | 0.21 CPM: 6.3% conversion rate, 0.058% CTR.

CRs and CTRs dropped heavily as I dropped the CPMs. The ROI was still better on the lower CPM but volume hit the big time. Note how important it is to play with bids. In this one test I increased my CPM by 20 cents which in turn increased the CR by 50% and double the CTR. Isn’t that just swell?

Test 4: Can I make a dog training lead generation offer profitable on a free dating website?

Hells yeah! Still running at 50% ROI.

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Summary for my ADHD angels:

- 310×110 that stand out fricking rock (in the LOLmoney kind of way, not in the geology way).

- CPMs alter CTRs & CR like a boss.

- Non-dating offers STILL work on POF.

P.S. Targetting info and full creatives will be shared on the forum soon. Why? Well, I’ve been lead to believe that the lead singer from Creed has recently started reading my blog.  I don’t feel like sharing the goodies with him.

Have you guys messed around with 310 ads? What results did you see? Have ya been successful with any whack non dating offers?

Take This Lollipop….Please

Thanks you from Tijn on the STM forum for showing me this. It’s an unreal viral page leveraging Facebook info.

Watch and learn. I love twisted things, this one hit the spot.

Don’t worry it’s nothing bad and it won’t spam your FB friends.

Click here.

This taught me two things:

One, be careful who you share you FB info with.

Two, Facebook connect is freaking awesome.

Whoever are behind this video are genius. I would love to know their reasons for creating.

Did you get creeped out? Or were you hoping he knocked on your door?

Are You On The Grind?

Recently I’ve been drawn to the barrage of tweets and Facebook posts that read something like this:

• “Last night I stayed up till 5am on the grind, yeaaah boi!”
• “Grinding all day, all night, 247, 365, work till I die.”
• “Haven’t slept for 3 months. #onthegrind”
• “@SirBankALot first time I’ve been out in the sun in 2 weeks. Hustling n grinding baby!”

These are then followed by a tonne of “likes” and postive follow-up comments.

I don’t know if it is just a craze within the affiliate industry, but frankly I’m baffled.

Before I get into why I’m baffled, I want to clarify what exactly “grinding” or “on the grind” means.

• Dictionary defintion: To devote oneself to study or work.
• Urban dictionary definition : Staying “on the grind” means to work hard, always be hustling, or otherwise engaged in money-making.
• The affiliate defintion: Working on campaigns all day long, seven days a week.

WHY is “grinding” for 20 hours straight something to be proud of?

WHY is having no sleep for more than 72 hours something to be proud of?

WHY is this idea of working ’til the end of time bannered around the affiliate industry?

Don’t get me wrong, working hard is a great thing; it will get you far. However, working smart is what is going to get you the furthest.

I’ve been burnt out a couple of times from working too hard. Was I proud of it? No. Why would I be? I was totally exhausted. I didn’t go out. I didn’t socialise. All in exchange for (MAYBE) a few extra dollars.

Could I have made those few extra dollars by working smarter and being more productive with my time? Yes.

Check out this productivity graph:

Thank you idontfkingcareanymor for posting this on the forums.

After eight weeks of working a half-ass grind schedule, you’ll be at 10% productivty.

It seems to me that in this industry being “on the grind” is more important than being productive.

Internal voices do weird things to people, convincing them that the longer they stay in front of a computer, the more money they will make. Sorry, but that’s far from the truth.

Want to make money so you can buy swag like Soulja Boy, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent?

Then DO WORK. If you have tonnes of tasks to complete, outsource them.

Don’t spend all your time on Twitter and Facebook telling everybody how long you have been grinding for.

To achieve your goals you have two options. Work smart and be productive, or, get on the grind and “work” double the hours (while getting some mad street cred from your boys on Facebook).

Now this is not an attack on anyone. I just do not understand the mindset. I was chatting to someone in the same confused boat as me, goes by the name of  The Angry Russian, and he said this could just be a US based ideology.

Who knows…I would love some answers!

It would also be refreshing to see someone’s Facebook saying “I worked smart this week. This gave me enough free time to take some saxophone classes“.

I would “like” that comment.

Do you live to work? Or, do you work to live?