It’s amazing to me that after writing about Split Testing so many different times on this blog, that I still receive email’s daily asking me the best methods for split testing, different ways of split testing, which options work best, etc.

If you’ve ever spoken to me via social media sites or via Instant Messaging for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m not the type of person to say one method is better than the other.  Unfortunately in this business, certain methods work for some people, while completely different methods work for others.  There is no clear cut solution or any clear cut path to follow in order to succeed in affiliate marketing.

However, I received an email about two weeks ago with a very specific question about split testing.  I responded to the person with the same advice I’m about to talk about in this blog post.  The email asked…

I know split testing is important, in fact, from what I understand it may be the single most important aspect I can do in affiliate marketing to influence the scaling process of my campaigns.  However, I’ve seen several methods for split testing and I was wondering which method worked best.  Some sites I’ve read say that you should split test two versions of whatever your testing at the same time, while others suggest split testing one type one day and then another the next day.  Which method do you feel would have the greatest impact on my split testing efforts?

Now, when I started split testing, I always used the A/B method of split testing which means that you split test two variations at the exact same time giving both equal exposure.  In fact, it’s not something I have even really thought about thus my reason for never writing a blog post about it before now.  However, after thinking about it, I felt that it was worthy of a blog post because I do believe there is a very clear cut way of doing it that will yield the best results!

The other, most common, method you see affiliates use is the AB split testing method.  The only difference between the two is that with the A/B method you are split testing both things at the same exact time giving them both equal exposure.  With the AB method you are split testing them at different times, or days.  For example, you may split test a landing page on Monday, document the results, and then put up a new landing page on Tuesday, compare the results and pick the best one.

The downside with the AB split testing model is that unfortunately data can be very different on different days and even on the same day but morning vs. evening.  Some campaigns do really well during the evenings, but horrible during the mornings, if you are running one page in the morning and one in the evening, your better landing page may actually be the one that you are running in the mornings but because conversions suck for your niche in the mornings, it looks like your landing page doesn’t do well at all.

However, if you are using the A/B method you know that both items you are split testing are getting the same exact data.  They are sharing visitors equally and both are being displayed both in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  This insures that you aren’t receiving data that is skewed because of changes in the visitors you receive throughout the day.

Now, as I said in the opening paragraphs of this blog post, not every method works best for everyone.  There is one other method that I’ve found works decent and that is the ABAB method.

This works just like the AB method, but there is one major difference.  You split test landing page one on Monday, then landing page two on Tuesday, however, you then continue on giving each one more time.  So you’d split test landing page one on Wednesday for the second time, and then split test landing page two on Thursday for a second time.

Personally I still don’t believe this is the best method and when compared with the A/B split testing method, I’m not sure why you’d choose it, however, there are some that believe that the ABAB method is the best choice.  In fact, it is a common way of split testing in other fields like Pyschology.  These fields use the ABAB method for most experiments.

Ultimately the choice is yours, however, I’d highly recommend going with the A/B method or at the very least the ABAB method.  Using the AB method is in my opinion simply being lazy and it will impact your business in a very negative way!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hey Guys, I’ve been receiving a ton of emails lately asking me why I haven’t posted at all during the month of November.  Also, I’ve received a ton of emails this month asking if I was going to do any consultation specials like I’ve been doing.  So this post is to answer both of those questions.

I’ve been around, no where in particular…  I’ve been doing a ton of thinking this month about my online businesses and some other things going on in my life.  Internet Marketing is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I have no plans whatsoever of ever quitting this business…  I absolutely love it!

I also have no plans whatsoever of quitting blogging here on Click Consultants.  I truly enjoy helping others make it in this industry.  However, there are a couple routes that I may take that may change how I do this.  Some will require a ton of change to the way this blog works.

Also, if you really miss me that much I’ve really been trying to use social media more, so look in the sidebar and friend me if you want to stay in touch more!

Anyways, so no matter what direction I decide to take my business this upcoming year, it will most likely affect this blog in a huge way…  I believe it will be for the best and will allow me to help even more people enter this fantastic industry!

I have a post I wrote about A/B split testing that I plan on releasing either tomorrow or the next day, but as soon as I get that post out of the way, I promise that I will write a post about some of the decisions I’ve been thinking about and hopefully I can get some feedback from my loyal readers!

Moving On… Consultation Rates for December

When I first made my consultation services public, I started offering monthly packages, however, if you remember in the very beginning, I said that I would only offer these special discounted packages if I had the time and open spots.  You see, consultations is not my business… it’s brings me in maybe $2000 dollars a month.  I don’t do it to make money, instead I’ve always done it to try to help people.

Anyways, I’ve been pretty busy these last two months, again because I have a lot of big plans for the 1st of the year and I’m trying to decide which path to take and get the work done to get there…

Because I’ve been so busy with personal projects, I had no intentions of offering any special discounted packages for the month of November or December…HOWEVER, because I’ve had so many emails bugging me, I’ve decided to free a small section of time.  5 hours total.  This is the best I could do for both months with my projects and the holidays…

Anyways, so I apologize to everyone that was wanting to get some consultations done during the month of November and December and thought that I was offering these packages every month.  I’m not!  I simply can’t get more hours during the day…I keep praying for more time in each day, but God doesn’t seem to be listening to me

Good News!

Now for the good news, normally I charge $200 dollars per hour for consultations if you view my consultation page…  Every month that I’ve offered special discounted packages, I’ve charged $100 dollars an hour.

However, because I have such limited space and I feel bad that so many people are wanting to get consultations yet I’ve been unable to offer them, AND because it’s coming up to Christmas and I’m feeling generous, I’m offering these five hours at a rate of only $50 per hour.

This is the lowest I’ve ever offered my consultation services!  There is a catch though….

As you guys know, these special packages are not sold as a per hour type package.  Which means I can only offer this deal to two people…

For the month of November and December I’m offering only two packages.  Both packages are as follows.

2 and a 1/2 hours for $125 dollars.

Again, I have two of those packages available, which would be a total of 5 hours.  Normally I allow people to buy as many as they want, meaning that normally someone could purchase the full 5 hours if they want, however, not this time.  Anyone interested is only allowed to purchase one of the packages in order to allow more than one person to get the benefit of the monthly package.

Okay, this post is getting long, time to wrap it up…

One more thing I’d like to mention.  Depending on the route I decide to take with this blog and my online businesses, I will most likely not be offering any special consultation packages during the month of January as well, so if you are interested, I’d suggest contacting me as soon as possible about picking up one of the two packages listed above!

As always, it’s first come first serve… So if you’re wanting to purchase a package, use the contact form to let me know ASAP!

PS: I’ll get the post up talking about the upcoming changes as soon as possible.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The following is a paid review and is completely of my own opinion. If you’re interested in having me review your site or product, please view my advertising page.

I was contacted by White Fire Media  a couple weeks ago and they requested me to write a review of their network.  One thing I love about this business is working with new people and looking at new networks when they pop up so naturally I accepted!

One of the greatest things about checking out new affiliate networks is when you find one that really stands out and does a great job, has great staff, and offer some awesome payouts on their offers!

When you first sign up for White Fire Affiliate Network and log in you’re presented with the a standard looking user dashboard.  It’s actually quite a simple interface which I like.  It doesn’t add a ton of fluff and is pretty easy to navigate.  At the top there are five links, Home,  My Account, Request Offers, My Offers, and Reporting.  In the sidebars there is Featured Offers, New Offers, News, and your affiliate manager contact details.  That’s pretty much it!

One of the weird things though was that whenever I clicked on any of the Featured Offers or New Offers links, I got taken to a page that said “No Offers Found”.  Definitely something they need to get fixed asap!

Again, the interface is pretty simple and straight forward.  It doesn’t seem to have a ton of bells and whistles but I actually think it’s quite nice that a network isn’t focusing on eye candy and instead on their network.

In order to add offers to the My Offers section, you actually have to first go to the Request Offers section.  If you click on Request Offers you’ll be presented with a page like the one above.  It will have the offer names, the average rating, what countries you can promote the offer in, the payout, etc.  Again, pretty simple and self-explanatory which is nice.

Additional Details

I actually had an extremely hard time finding any details about how they pay and when.  This is definitely something that they need to address.  They need to make a page, either include it on their publisher section of their site, or create a frequently asked questions section which lists this and other important information.  It definitely will prohibit affiliate from signing up if they don’t’ understand when and how they will be payed.

Also, they need to include information about whether or not they do wires, if they cost anything, if there is a certain amount the affiliate must make before they’ll get paid, etc.

Payment details is probably the single most important thing that a network needs to have in an easy to find spot on their site!

Another nice feature is that they pay 4% for life on all referrals to their network.  Since I was paid for this review, I didn’t include my referral link in any of the links to their site, but you should definitely take advantage of it!

Bottom Line

Overall, White Fire seems like they have a quick, simple interface with some great offers!

They definitely need to supply some more information for their publisher’s in an easy spot like a FAQ.

The owners really seem to know their stuff when it comes to affiliate marketing and have always been quick to respond to me when I had a question or concern.

They are still in their infant stage, and sometimes this may be the best time to jump on with a network as you’ll get a ton of one on one support from the guys that really know their stuff!

I’d definitely recommend checking them out, and if you have any problems contact Jeff and tell him I sent ya!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Hey guys, quick update.  I started publicly doing one-on-one consultations last month, when I wrote a post and added a link to the top of this blog.  I also offered monthly specials depending on the amount of my work load and how many consultations I was doing for the month.

I offered three packages last month, all of them were filled within a couple hours.  Out of the 3 people that signed up for the packages, two of them are already making a profit in affiliate marketing starting with nothing!

This month, I only have 1 spot available, however, I decided to split it in to two smaller packages this month for those not looking for soo many hours.

Instead of the normal $200 dollars an hour rate, you can get my one on one consultations at the rate of $100 dollars an hour if you purchase the package.

There are two packages each at two and a half hours for $250 dollars.  That’s a rate of only $100 dollars an hour, it saves you 50% off the normal price.

Again, these normally go fast, so if you’re interested you need to let me know as soon as possible as there are only two of these packages this month, and going in to the holidays, I’m doubting that they’ll be any during November or December at the discounted rate.  If there are, again, there will only be maybe 1 or 2 spots.

You can use the contact form listed at the top of this blog to contact me by email, I’ll email you back and you’ll need to submit payment within an hour of getting an email back from me else, I’ll move on to the next person in line in order to give everyone equal opportunity.

If you have any questions, you can email me using the contact form, or you can leave a comment, I’ll answer as soon as possible in order to give you ample time to make a decision before someone else buys up the spots!

PS:  If you are interested in buying the full 5 hours for $500 dollars, let me know in the email you send.  I’ll consider it depending on how quickly others shoot me an email, but if possible I’d like to keep it at two spots to help more people.

Popularity: 4% [?]

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the content network and how if you weren’t using it, you are missing out on a ton of potentially great (and cheap) traffic.

A question I received a lot after writing that blog post was how you could tell what sites your ads were showing up on while running on the content network.  The reason so many people are curious about this, is because if there is a certain site that your ad is showing up like crazy on, yet you aren’t receiving any conversions, it will suck your account dry!

Now personally, I only mess with the content network with Google, so I’m only familiar with how to get to it from within their interface, however, I’m sure the basic procedure is the same on most networks if they offer the feature.

First, you need to log in to your Google Adwords account.  After you have logged in, you need to click on the Reporting Tab, then click on Reports.

Next, click on Create a New Report.

Going off subject for a minute, this next screen will allow you to select from a ton of a different reports that you can run, each on has a small description as to the info you’ll receive.  I’d definitely recommend checking out some of the other reports, but since this post is specifically about finding sites your ads are running on when using the content network, lets move on…

If you scroll down just a touch, you’ll notice that one of the radio buttons says Placement Performance.  Click on the radio button next to Placement Performance.

There are a ton of options now that you can select like level of detail, date range, etc.  Pretty self explanatory stuff, so I won’t go in to detail on all the settings.  If you want more details on all the different settings and stuff you can visit Google’s page about Placement Performance Report Help.

Once you finish editing the settings, you’ll come to the last section which is called Templates, Scheduling, and Email.  This place simply allows you to name your report, save the report as a template for running it again later, setting the report to run automatically every so often, etc.

Once you finish that last section, click on Create Report and voila your done!

After you click on Create Report, it will take you back to the Reports Tab Section within your account.  If can take several minutes for your report to be processed.  You can either wait or feel free to move around your account till it’s finished.  It won’t affect it if you leave the page.

After it’s finished the name of the report (whatever you named it in the last section) will become a link and you simply click on the link and you’ll see all the domains/urls that your ads have appeared on.

Popularity: 3% [?]