1K Post: AMA Time

[mont7071]

Thanks Mont!!!

From your experience in being a publisher (Affiliate) and having other publishers run your offers. What do you think separates the high volume successful affs and non-successful affs?

is there any strategy or system that you've used/seen on testing offers/campaigns etc that increases the chance of being a successful affs??

Last at least, anymore tips you'd recommend to affs these days? (FB cracking down hard etc, etc, cloaking becoming hard etc)

Thanks againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~

That's changed a lot lately, it used to be the standard stuff like testing, fine-tuning demo targeting, etc. Anymore, it's basically become "who can get the most FB accounts or cloak the best". Not nearly as much creativity/variety on ads anymore, everyone uses the same presell landers pretty much, so bidding strategy and access to accounts becomes more important that creativity, generally speaking.

My tips in that are basically don't put all your egss in one basket. I see a LOT of affiliates go from 1k conversions a day, to zero, simply because they got their one FB account slapped, or their lander got blacklisted, so it's good to have a few other angles in the background to keep things afloat when a slap happens.

 

[mont7071]

What's your relationship with caffeine?

A cup or two every morning, and sometimes meet some business associates for a Starbucks in the afternoon, nothing too excessive.

We keep cases of Red Bull at the office, but I try to limit my intake of that unless I'm really dragging.

 

[StackCash]

1) My tech knowledge goes as far as HTML/CSS and very basic PHP. Do you feel it's necessary to further my knowledge in coding when I already have a profitable business - or will outsourcing carry me through?

2) When trying to make the jump from low 6-figs in rev to high six-figs and above - is it best to scale a single project or diversify into other businesses/projects?

 

[conjamuk]

Any sites you recommend learning about lead gen, books ect? Any books in general you would recommend?

 

[productionhead]

What are some of the worst things that offers do that bring on AG / FTC action, that they could have not been doing, and still had a profitable operation?

Is AG / FTC action inevitable when a certain volume is reached? What revenues is when an advertiser should be worried about possible scrutiny? I mean, obviously an AG or FTC is not going to after an offer with only a few complaints, so there must be a connection between volume and possible legal action.

 

[slayerment]

There are hundreds of people who try IM/Business and never amount to anything. What are you doing different than them?

 

[eliquid]

There are hundreds of people who try IM/Business and never amount to anything. What are you doing different than them?

hundreds?

 

[bluechinagroup]

What are some of the worst things that offers do that bring on AG / FTC action, that they could have not been doing, and still had a profitable operation?

Is AG / FTC action inevitable when a certain volume is reached? What revenues is when an advertiser should be worried about possible scrutiny? I mean, obviously an AG or FTC is not going to after an offer with only a few complaints, so there must be a connection between volume and possible legal action.

Sounds like you're very excited about hearing the answer to this question because I noticed that you posted it twice on the same page!

 

[papajohn56]

Ever considered M&A as a method for growth, or are you looking to keep it more of a business you can manage like you do now?

 

[mont7071]

Thank you for that insightful answer.

I always figured that the FTC is much worse. I didn't expect the FTC to have budgetary restrictions.

I've heard the California AG is a hard ass when it comes to consumer protection, but doesn't the California state government have major budgetary issues right now? Does that affect the CA AG in anyway?

Since you mentioned that some of your clients had criminal charges on on top civil action, does your law firm offer criminal defense too?

Uggh, California's consumer protection laws are the worst, they are so misguided. It's not just their AG in that state either. They basically allow any private party/attorney to shakedown any company in any state that has ever sold to a customer in Cali, they are terrible. A California attorney can literally bring a class action lawsuit on behalf of unnamed California consumers against a company from another state for literally any reason, even if it's complete BS. The relevant statutues are Cali's "Unfair Competition Laws" specifically 17200 and 17500, the "Consumer Legal Remedies Act". The kinds of lawyers that bring extortion lawsuits under this @$#!% statute are the kind that give lawyers a bad name.

My firm does handle crimininal defense, though I don't personally.

 

[mont7071]

Whenever I see your name, I read your posts with interest Mont.

Two random questions -

Favorite web analytics software for your web pages?

Random legal question: Can a Canadian citizen(located in Canada), without entering the United-States, hire a lawyer to act on his behalf in American courts? - This would be specifically to handle copyright complaints with works already registered US Library of Congress.

We use some in-house logfile analytics stuff for our ecommerce sites, and off-the-shelf Sawmill (and even G Analytics) for some of our feeder sites. Lately we've started using Ipyxel's Thrive tracking software for certain aspects of our tracking, which we've really liked so far.

Yes, I've represented foreign citizens and corps on several issues, usually related to intellectual property stuff on their websites, or to file DMCA paperwork against US companies that are violating their copyright. Any foreign entity can hire a US attorney to represent their interests in the U.S. on a civil matter without having to come into the US, criminal law is different.

 

[mont7071]

There are hundreds of people who try IM/Business and never amount to anything. What are you doing different than them?

I'd be lying if I didnt admit timing had something to do with it. It was a lot easier to scale up and make money in 2011 when there were hardly any other competitors bidding for the keywords I wanted, and they were much cheaper. I doubt I could have the same early profitabiity coming into the more competitive landscape now. Early success allowed me to grow and expand into more online opportunities, and change with the times as the industry got more crowded.

Other than that, a variety of factors, the main one IMO is that I will work harder than the next guy. Intelligence plays a big factor, risk-taking, long-term vision, reputation, ability to pivot, etc but being willing to work harder than the "next guy" probably has the biggest "multiplier" effect on my other skills. I'm terrible at technical stuff, pride stops me from cutting my losses early, I don't delegate very well, and I don't have much of a work/life balance, but I will at least always be willing to work hard. There are few substitutes for sheer effort.

 

[mont7071]

1) My tech knowledge goes as far as HTML/CSS and very basic PHP. Do you feel it's necessary to further my knowledge in coding when I already have a profitable business - or will outsourcing carry me through?

2) When trying to make the jump from low 6-figs in rev to high six-figs and above - is it best to scale a single project or diversify into other businesses/projects?

I'm probably the worst person to ask on those, because I think the "right" advice is the opposite of what i do. I think coding skills are very valuable, but I also think they can be a bit of a "commodity" on the run-of-the-mill stuff. Right now, I could bust ass learning coding for a solid year, not focusing on other things, and probably be an OK coder after a year, but I still wouldn't be any better than one of my Indian coders that works for <$10/hr. If you are in a field that requires higher-level coding, its probably good to learn it, but nothing my companies do requires any level of coding that I can't find hundreds of Odesk type workers to do. So I don't consider it that value-added for me, when there are other things I can work on that have a higher return.

I think anything that can get to low 6-figures in rev is enough of a "proof of concept" that it's worth focusing on exclusively for a while to take to the next level, even though my path jumped around a lot, I didn't strike out into new territory before getting to more of a "plateau" where the growth rate was slowing down and it was worthwhile to enter a new higher-growth project.

 

[GerardWon]

Well done. Rep plus'd

 

[mont7071]

Ever considered M&A as a method for growth, or are you looking to keep it more of a business you can manage like you do now?

I've tried in the past, with mediocre results. I tried to buy out one of my biggest competitors years ago, but the deal fell through.

I've acquired a couple smaller brands in the nutra space that were cheaper to buy out an existing company that to create from scratch, but overall my M&A efforts have been mixed at best. I still look at other companies in my space for acquisition from time to time, but I run into a lot of people who have unrealistic expectations about the long-term value of their companies. This is especially true from original founders who started the company and don't have very objective views on it's value to a third-party.

 

[Kiopa_Matt]

I've acquired a couple smaller brands in the nutra space that were cheaper to buy out an existing company that to create from scratch, but overall my M&A efforts have been mixed at best. I still look at other companies in my space for acquisition from time to time, but I run into a lot of people who have unrealistic expectations about the long-term value of their companies. This is especially true from original founders who started the company and don't have very objective views on it's value to a third-party.

From the way you talk, I think I found you!

 

[productionhead]

 

[mont7071]

What are some of the worst things that offers do that bring on AG / FTC action, that they could have not been doing, and still had a profitable operation?

Is AG / FTC action inevitable when a certain volume is reached? What revenues is when an advertiser should be worried about possible scrutiny? I mean, obviously an AG or FTC is not going to after an offer with only a few complaints, so there must be a connection between volume and possible legal action.

I don't think it is inevitable, but the more people calling up the Attorney General's office in their state screaming, the better chance that a deputy AG will get assigned to the case.

The one that usually gets them is hitting the credit card for a bunch of "other" transactions from "partners" that were hidden upsells, resulting in multiple different charges from different merchants. The ROSCA law was put in place specifically for that type of shadiness, and it's a hot-button with the FTC and State AGs. The 2nd biggest "gotcha" is no way to cancel/return products. Companies that don't answer their phones or don't provide a return address or some way for people to later cancel their rebills besides cancelling their credit cards attract the wrong kind of gov't attention. Misleading what the charges are going to actually be is pretty much an invitation for trouble.

The "As seen on TV" Snuggie maker's got hit for $8 million in fines today actually for that type of thing, so it doesn't affect just smaller merchants.

 

[productionhead]

Thank you for your answer. You'd think those companies who don't offer returns or cancellations wouldn't be able to achieve any significant volume that puts them on a government radar since improper customer service would lead to chargebacks which would lead to inability to process payments.

 

[ayzo]

Thanks for answering all these questions mont, I have a few if you don't mind.

When dealing with overseas workers have you found any reliable way to filter out the ones who are able to deliver vs the ones who can't? Are there any particular signs or words you look for when you read their profile or interview them?

How do you know when a worker (overseas or in house) has enough experience and insight into the business that you can trust them to make the right day to day decisions without having to check up on everything they do?

What is the first thing you think a business owner should delgate/outsource, and what is the last thing you think they should give up control over?

Thanks!