David & Corey from PPV Playbook Forum hosted a webinar with Dani Neighbors from TrafficVance last night.    Here are some highlights:

Account Approval

As an affiliate, you need 1 referral from an active advertiser.  We’ve all heard this before, but some people seem to think you need 2 referrals.  Not so.

The interesting bit is when Dani spoke about web site owners advertising their own online business.  In these  circumstances, they need only apply and don’t require a referral.  This could be the “in” some people have been waiting for.  Dani was careful to say that you can’t simply throw up a web page with your contact info and expect to get approved.  She said that it needs to be a real, actual online business.  And they need to verify ownership, history, etc.   I guess the idea is you need to be legit.   That being said, I’ll bet more than a few affiliates have a web property that could qualify and this just might be a great way to get approved.

International Traffic

When asked about how much international traffic they have, Dani didn’t give out numbers.  I thought that was  a bit odd considering they are a traffic source.  I mean just about every other traffic source on the planet is touting their numbers and reach, trying to attract advertising dollars.  Weird.  She did say they were expanding as fast as possible.

Text Links

When asked how text links get served (e.g. do the top 2 or 3 bidders get the majority of the traffic) she said no.

Pay attention kids: Dani said the amount of traffic you get is mostly influence by CTR.  If you have a high bid but low CTR you won’t get a lot of inventory.   They’re optimizing for what their audience considers useful/relevant, so the higher the CTR, the more traffic you’ll get.

CTR is calculated keyword by keyword.   Not at the creative or campaign level.

When asked what’s a good CTR, she said 5.5% is average.  But she’s seen as high as 12-15% CTR on some text links.  She also recommend not bothering with offers with less than $1 CPA.  She recommends sticking with $2 CPA offers and above.

Frequency Cap with text links works differently than it does with pops.  If you have a 24 hour freq cap on a text link, that link will show multiple times until a user clicks on it.  Then it won’t be shown until the next day.  So the impressions aren’t counted, it’s the click thrus.

Wrap Up

There was quite a bit more info that was good.   Dani did a great job.  The only criticism I would have is that they didn’t seem to accept spontaneous questions from the attendees.  Asking questions beforehand in the forum was fine and I’m sure helped everyone prepare.  But some things she said made me think of more questions and it would have been great if  we could have asked those.   I mean, we HAVE a chat window.  Why not use it?   She did say she’ll be watching the forum for any post-webinar questions though.

The whole replay is up on PPV Playbook Forum.  Check it out if you’re a member.  And if you’re not, you’re missing out!

Speaking of PPV Playbook Forum

They are now offering loyalty pricing discounts.  They’ve tiered the pricing so the longer you stay, the lower your subscription rate goes.   The offer is good for returning members as well! I think this is a pretty smart move. As people progress in this industry they use forums less for learning and more for socializing and keeping up with industry friends and trends. It’s a no brainer that to keep successful members sticking around, you temp them with a sweet renewal deal!

Tags: CPV, PPV, TrafficVance