I managed to snag the newest iPhone a few moments ago after arriving an hour early to the local AT&T and I have a couple of first impressions I’d like to share.  Just a little background information, I’ve had Blackberry’s, HTC’s, and every version of the iPhone thus far so I’ve had a pretty well rounded experience with phones in the last couple of years but I’m still not at that level where in my head  I can tell the difference between certain chips, resolutions, etc.

The first thing I noticed about the iPhone was how slim the phone wasn’t.  Yeah, you read that right…  I was expecting it to be a drastic decrease in thinness after Steve Jobs’ presentation and claims but it isn’t much thinner than my 3GS.  In fact, if I didn’t know any better I would almost think that the 3GS is the newer iPhone just because of the transition from smooth to a more boxy approach.  (Usually phones do the opposite and go from boxy  to smooth with design).  That being said, it’s still not a thick phone and the box design is growing on me.  It seems they even went as far as to change the USB cord to have a box design too as well, which is kind of weird.

As you probably know, the camera was upgraded from 3 MP to 5 MP which I didn’t realize was that big of a deal on paper but it really is a huge deal.   The camera is A LOT better and I haven’t done much video but I can only imagine at 720 HD recording, it’s nice as well.  I can definitely say that the LED flash will be a huge help for snapping photos in dark environments, which by judging from my 3GS photos, I frequent.

One of the other big points Jobs’ talked about was the “retina” screen which I really had no idea what that meant initially, the clarity is amazing.   Definitely a huge improvement from the last resolution as it goes from 480×320 to 960×640!  Last but not least, the battery seems sizably better than my iPhone 3GS battery that has been in use since launch date.  I started to think my battery was wearing down with age as I constantly worried about having enough power to last me through the day but so far playing with the iPhone 4 for about 2 hours has done little to the battery so that’s another pro for me personally.

The circumstances in which I got the phone are kind of funny and it kind of helps me sum of my own review of the iPhone in a way.  Basically a buddy and I arrived at the same time at the AT&T store and were 12th and 13th in line.  I happened to be in front of him just by chance and snagged the last 8GB while he got a raincheck for later today.  As he was playing with it in the car, he announced he wasn’t sure he was going to go back… Now you might think that’s kind of crazy for someone who was willing to wait in line for an hour initially to upgrade for $400 but it’s kind of the truth.  Although I am a huge supporter and stockholder of Apple, I’m not so sure this upgrade from 3GS is for everybody.  It’s not exactly a revolutionary device for everyone in my eyes and unless you can gain buyer’s satisfaction in gaining battery life, screen resolution and camera benefits, I would recommend passing it up.   Now I’m not saying that it’s not a quality product from Apple but for $400, under the right circumstances, an iPad may be a better choice to fulfill your Apple fetish.   However, for me personally, this was a great buy and I’ll be enjoying my iPhone as long as I don’t hold it the wrong way?

(Credit to ArsTechnica for the awesome picture of the iPhone 4.)

Regardless of what kind of music you listen to while you mash the refresh button on your stats screen, there’s one noise that every affiliate marketer out there can relate to… the sound of cellphone interference.  I purchased some nice Bose speakers to jam out with while I get in the zone and there’s nothing more frustrating than a different affiliate manager calling me every 10 minutes interrupting me despite my phone being on silent.   A friend passed me over a guide Macgyver certainly would have followed in order for a solution with a couple of my tips.

1. Look for an old USB cable with a small nub/enclosure on one of the ends.  This nub contains ferrite beads that are a form of magnet that will stop the interference.  I found a great set of ferrite beads on an old Sony digital camera cord but I’ve seen them on printer cords frequently as well.

2. Open the little nub enclosure with a knife of scissors.  Some of them simply wont open without smashing them with a hammer, which I don’t recommend, haha.  (I crushed a set of beads before I found one with tabs to open it).  I don’t recommend cutting the cable unless you have to in order to get it off unless you need the cord later.

3. Tape the beads on the speakers, usually both works best, around the back near the cords.  I would recommend testing behind the speakers  and maybe even the top.  I noticed mine work better on the top and I don’t mind seeing them as long as it stops the annoying sound.

I’ve found it doesn’t work 100% with my speakers/oddly shaped ferrite beads combo but it’s definitely better.  The smaller, constant sounds of my iPhone generated interference are blocked but obviously a call directly in front of the speakers does still go off in a blood curling nature.   Are there any other remedies you’ve found for this problem short of putting your phone in airplane mode? Let’s hear it in the comment section!

Props to MacLife for providing the guide, definitely makes my day-to-day easier.

According to CNN, California’s legislature has been throwing a pretty interesting idea around involving digital license plates and advertisements that broadcast after a car has stopped for a few moments.  Kind of reminds me when I first started noticing advertisements on shopping carts as a kid…

“The technology could provide an additional source of revenue for the cash-strapped state, according to Price, the bill’s author, as advertisers and technology companies contract with the Department of Motor Vehicles. He said the plates could also aid small businesses and add jobs to the ailing economy in the technology, sales and marketing, and service industries.”

As mentioned in the article below, the idea was stemmed by the Senate to simply trim down the huge deficit California has of around $19 billion.   However, I feel like this idea could establish a pretty good niche industry in itself with only a handful of concerns. First, as many people have sounded off in the article’s comments, a major concern is safety… However, as long as the car is actually stopped and the advertisement is on for five to ten seconds, it’s not going to be that big of a deal, IMO.  People are usually fiddling with their audio controls or cell phones while they wait anyways so what’s the difference?

Secondly, one of my concerns is who would make the money and why would people be apt to allowing the government to make money off their license?  (Especially if a plug or adapter has to be added to their car increasing costs)  I think the government could most easily get around this by not only installing the equipment somehow but also offering some type of licensing fee discount or bonus.  It would be even better if people could make money off their own advertisements though, or better yet, join a service where affiliate marketers like ourselves can purchase the advertisements from them.  (I can see it now, people driving in rush hour traffic charging X amount more than people who drive during less primetime hours.)  The government could simply license these individuals to do this and charge for the license in order to make their money directly.   The only problem I see with this is that the approval departments for these type of advertisements would be a nightmare… sorting through NSFW images and what not…

You can check out more about the digital license advertisement idea here on CNN.   I think it goes without saying that I would definitely advertise on my licensing plate even if I had to pay a fee but I know one thing for certain, I would really have to invest in a good 8-character domain name… The only question is, what decade will it be before West Virginia picks it up?

A couple of months ago, I decided that I would really help out my school and help some entrepreneurs out with getting  websites for their businesses.  Little did I know how time-consuming and tedious this task would be… especially so in the college atmosphere as alcohol was frequently in between my “clients” and I.  Needless to say, these projects dwindled to nothing with usually my time and money wasted but I learned a couple of valuable lessons that seem to be very common judging from the website that was passed my way.

These relationships really made me appreciate a link that was passed my way for a site very similar to the popular TextsFromLastNight called ClientsFromHell.  A lot of the scenarios seem a little bit embellished but you can’t help but appreciate a couple of these, especially if you dabbled in the biggest thing to hit affiliate marketing since sliced bread, local lead generation.   Here’s a couple of good ones I found…

Hi. I own some websites. I have ads on these websites. I need some quality clickers to click the links on these websites (ads). I am looking for people to click 1 hour, 3 times, for one week. Then I will determine if I want to repeat what I just said.  For doing this gig the compensation will be a coffee or tea or soda at Starbucks or Pete’s coffee and $10 dollars. I will be with you because I am looking for a standard.

Pure genius way to making monies online!

I need you to get me a picture of a black guys mouth and add gold to all his teeth. It should be on every page of my site.

Definitely for a biz opp flog, haha just kidding. Seriously, anybody remember Chedda’s flog?

I already paid for the googles, I just want my website on there!

“Paid for the googles” sounds like a potential candidate for an upcoming WickedFire meme.

Client: I talked to God for a couple hours last night, and he agreed that I shouldn’t have to pay you.

Hahaha, I don’t have any stories as good as these but I think this site will take off if the affiliate marketing industry gets a hold of it.  Sound off in the comments section if you’ve got your own ClientsFromHell-worthy stories.

Washing away the bad taste in your mouth after the painful results from a failing campaign can be a tough task for every affiliate marketer, especially the heavy hitters who are looking at x,xxx or xx,xxx losses right off the bat.  I personally hit a dry spell myself a few weeks back where it seemed like all my campaign ideas were futile efforts against the affiliate marketing gods.   I developed a few points to go over to get my planning back on track and it proved successful with a couple of our recent  campaigns.

The first step to getting back on track is taking a break.  Chances are frustration is still looming as you are paying off that credit card bill or checking your bank account to see the bleeding numbers.  The key here is stress relief, I personally like to take a couple hours off, sometimes even a personal day, to wash my car, play golf, spend time with friends, etc.  The World Cup is a great stress relief this month especially. (If they ever ban the vuvuzelas, that is…)

Once you can stand to login to your PPV account without cringing, it’s time to get back to the chopping block.  The most efficient way I have found is to look back at what you did wrong.  Take out a piece of paper and check to see if you can brainstorm what you did wrong.    What can you learn from this experience?  I always tell myself, it’s only a true loss if I cannot pull any type of lesson or information from it.  Information that I can base on a second campaign is a valuable investment and not a loss at all.

Once you’ve figured out what you’ve done wrong, take a look at your previous successful campaigns and the methods you took to getting them successful in the first couple of stages.  Most importantly, did you test efficiently or did you pull the plug too early?  Check out my previous article for some tips to go over for a media buying campaign in particular.  Make sure to apply these tactics/methods in your next attempt.

Lastly, try not to think about how much you lost and the fact that if your future campaigns fail it just builds to more losses.  This is pessimistic thinking and will cause you to subconsciously take less of a risk on your future campaigns, and possibly cause you to flip the off switch quicker than usual.  You should clear your head and remember… no risk, no reward.  Additionally,  if you keep this negative number in your head and happen to achieve profitability on your next campaign, the gains may not be as sweet because you are just digging yourself out of a hole you created previously.

I like to think a little more than luck helped me bounce back from my dry spell and these principles did get me back on track.   Are there any special thought processes you go through as an affiliate marketer to bounce back from a negative campaign?  Can you take it with a grain of salt and keep on grinding or do you dwell on it for days?  I think the more experienced you become as a marketer and the more dollars you gain, the less and less a failing campaign can effect you and your checking account as long as you implement these principles.

No matter how many handfuls of campaigns you’ve managed to get profitable in your affiliate marketing career, there are always fundamental lessons that you learn time and time again.  Ryan and I turned all our focus to a particular media buying campaign this past week to brainstorm creatives, landing pages, and offers once we figured out a prime traffic source.  Here are a couple of lessons that have continued to hold true with all our campaigns that helped us get this campaign to making us ~$1,000 a day…

#1: The more variables that you have between creatives, landing pages, and offers, the more you should be spending.  Most amateur marketers make this mistake as their budget dives down and their CPA commissions balance halts so they try to cancel out elements before they can actually bloom.  One rule of thumb is that we always keep campaigns running for 24 hours.  There are exceptions to this of course… For example, if you are down triple or quadruple the CPA goal; but be careful, sometimes high volume traffic sources are so fast-paced that your commissions just can’t catch up from the initial get-go.   We always develop a blueprint of our campaign by saying how much we are going to spend on each individual landing page that we are testing based on the CPA.  This goal is very generous and we are 90% sure at this point that the landing page/creative will not work out for our campaign at this point of elimination.  Additionally, testing it for 24 hours allows us to see how different times of the day effect our conversions so if the campaign does turn out to be profitable we can further optimize by day parting.

#2: It’s not always what you think will work best, especially creative-wise.  We tried a couple of polished stock photos for our banners and then threw in an amateur photo just for the hell of it.  Judging from this post, you can probably guess which one performed the best and is our ultimate winning creative right now that’s making us bank.   Always, always use a wide variety of creatives that seem to have random styles, fonts, pictures.  Using the same formats and patterns will only get you a small degree of difference in CTR.   Once you’ve figured out a winning creative pattern, alter this slowly to keep it refreshed in the eyes of your audience.  For example, changing colors, backgrounds, small elements of the picture, animation, etc.

#3: Try a wide array of offers, and don’t judge by user costs.   We initially wanted to test between 3-4 offers for this campaign and we usually keep in mind the cost for users to convert so we can estimate conversion rates.   However, this time we ended up testing 5-6 offers and adding in two extremely expensive offers in comparison to the others that ended up with the highest EPC and conversion ratios.  It might sound stupid to explain now but most people don’t realize that higher cost offers usually have higher CPA’s which in turn, require less people to convert in order to be profitable!

These three lessons all harp on the same message that it’s not always what you think, it’s what the data shows.  Ruling out creatives early because of budget depletion, ruling out offers before testing because of user cost, and not using a wide variety of creative designs in your media buys will instantly put you at a disadvantage to getting your campaign profitable before you even sign the IO contract.   Let your data do the talking and not your gut!

There’s not much relation to affiliate marketing and video games but I figured since I indulged in COD all weekend I might as well blog about what’s been taking up my time.  Judging by a couple of Twitters there are quite  a few marketers out there that play Xbox Live so be sure to check the bottom paragraph for my gamer tag and post yours in the comment section.

As you probably know the map pack is $15.00 which I think is a little steep but I had some spare Microsoft points laying around that I didn’t blow on a 10th prestige lobby so I didn’t mind paying the 1200 points price tag.  Two of the five maps that you receive in the map are part of the Modern Warfare game that was the previous title in the series. (Vacant and Strike) I really liked that they included these because it was good to know these maps from memory so I didn’t get my ass beat as badly as the others where I ran around like a chicken with it’s head cut off.

The other three maps that are brand spankin’ new are Carnival, Trailer Park, and the gigantic Fuel.  The first two are pretty self explanatory and both of them have a lot of props involved in the map.  I’m not a big fan of either one of these because of the sheer amount of places people seem to camp on them.  In the Trailer Park map there are a ton of windows and corners that make it hard to see a head or gun poking out so a lot of people take advantage of that and it’s always super effective on people who just bought the map pack.  Fuel is absolutely gigantic and Infinity Ward claims that it meets the demand of another sniper map.  I’ve played it more than a few times and I’ve never seen someone successfully snipe on it but it’s by far the best map out of three new ones in my opinion.

Overall, I think the maps are a pretty good addition.  I get a little burnt out on video games pretty quickly and this revived my interests for at least the weekend so I think it was worth the $15 to me.  As for recommending it, it all depends on what type of player you are.  If you will play this more than a few days, I would definitely recommend buying it but if you aren’t a serious player of COD then you could definitely skip it.  I’m a level 63 at the time being so I’m not a huge gamer but I still am happy with my purchase as it kept me entertained for awhile.   For those of you out there who play on Xbox Live as well, send me a friend request or post your gamer tag in the comment section and I’ll add you.  My twin brother and I are a deadly combination so I look forward to winning a couple games with you.  My gamer tag is: TXP JKirk

If you skipped out on spring cleaning your server this year, you may want to reconsider after reading my story…

As it became crunch time for me this past April and all my classes were trying to cram in as many projects, tests, and presentations into the last two weeks as possible, one brave man from across the globe decided to really screw me over.   As I woke up extremely hungover from the night before from one of our biggest fraternity parties, I notice my server is down.  (What a nightmare)  I figured it was not that big of a deal, ya know, it could just need an Apache reset or something so I log into HostGator and notice a new ticket.   The ticket led me to my first cease-and-desist order from Warner Bros. Studios for pirating Sherlock Holmes, a movie at the time that I hadn’t seen so I knew something was up.

I log in to check it out and figure out that of course, someone has somehow gained access to my server.  I scan through all my sites/files and finally come to an old Joomla site that I had forgotten was still up that I was messing around with about 2 years ago and knew that was the problem.  Basically the phisher/hacker gained entry through an older version of Joomla and installed some type of proxy site/filter that allowed people to access my server and download illegally.  It made it look like I was the one downloading the movies and my business suffered by being down for 24 hours over the whole ordeal.  I shut it down, cleared it up with HostGator after they scanned my whole server for the file (which I prayed wasn’t on there) and at last I thought it was all over.

To my dismay, I receive a notification for due payment of $351.14 on top of the $219.00 I pay per month for my dedicated server three days ago.  This was for the extra 4TB that “I” used of bandwidth outside of what I was paying for at some outrageous “penalty” rate for not pre-purchasing.    Luckily after much arguing I manage to get them to cut it half after reminding them that I have forked over $7,000 to them in dedicated server fees without using much of their resources.  Missed revenue  from my websites plus this fee really taught me a lesson the hard way… Although I figure I came out lucky because it could have been a lot worse but still looking at probably a X,XXX loss at least.

Hopefully you are logging into your FTP right now to check to find any old sites laying around that you don’t use.  Updating software every once in a while is even more important because you are presumably still using/banking on this website so it would be very costly to get phished/hacked.  I mean sure, if you don’t update from WordPress 8.2 to 8.2.1 you will be okay but the older it gets, the more well known the vulnerability will be.  Everyone knows how WordPress, Joomla, and other scripts out there update so frequently and there’s a reason… hackers work day and night to find bugs and loopholes so they can get a free lunch on the dimes of others.

PS: Also learned to never, ever touch Joomla again.

As a full-time affiliate marketer/student, I find myself catching mild cases of cabin fever very easily.  Sitting a computer all day and looking for excuses for leaving the house is always a bad sign.  You are especially prone to catch cabin fever in West Virginia… Most of you probably can’t relate but trust me, there is literally nothing to do here.  (Which I suppose is a good thing, less distractions = more time to make money online but…)

Anyhow, I was invited to this “exclusive” membership site that offers discounts on travel packages across the globe called JetSetter.   It’s frequently advertised on Digg and other social media websites along with their sister site, Gilt.  (Which is also good but a little too fancy for my clothing tastes)  I catch myself daydreaming about visiting all these exotic places and I don’t know whether it’s because I’m stuck in a very slow-paced town or the near perfect pictures of all these beautiful places but wow!  The best part about this website are the inside insight sections, they really give it to you straight even though just about every single one of these places looks like paradise.   The insight sections are based on the editors visiting these hotels and reviewing the area and vacation spot so I imagine it’s pretty trustworthy.   Here’s one for the Nine Zero hotel in Boston I am thinking of visiting this weekend:

Iris scan technology?!  Haha, oh yeah!  Then it gives a section showing what to do for someone in my general age group.  This is a great feature because I feel like with other travel websites it’s either geared at pleasing the “family” or older tourists with suggestions to go to amusement parks and etc.

I did a little test to see if this was just another site with bogus claims of having a cheaper price than all the others out there and it turns out that JetSetter did in fact offer me a cheaper rate than the hotel for a Queen Deluxe room for $85 cheaper per night!  The only problem that I’ve noticed with JetSetter is that they can only offer premium rates on certain nights.   There are some nights that are marked as unavailable for the deal and other nights that are “peak nights” that often are more expensive.  It’s kind of annoying because they will be scattered around and sometimes you can’t get enough days in a row to make a trip.

I’m still on the fence as to when I’m going to make my first purchase from JetSetter because it’s kind of an impulse buy with these vacation deals only lasting a limited amount of time and only available for dates in the very near future.  Additionally,  JetSetter does have an affiliate program that offers $25 upon the first purchase of someone who signs up under your invite link.  I decided to write this post because I think it’s a great website, not to make money so if you need an invite just Google it.  If you can’t find anything, just post in the comments or email me and I’ll send over my link.  Keep an eye out for hotels in NYC and maybe you could catch a deal on ASE!

I haven’t ever used the blog as a place to vent but damn, after blowing up Ryan about it all day on AIM I felt like it might help a little bit and maybe get some suggestions.  I became a regular visitor of an up-and-coming site revolving around the college lifestyle this past year.  I visited almost everyday and all my friends did too so when I saw that the site was ceasing operation, naturally I jumped at the idea of snatching it up and made a quick brainstorm list of improvements it could use based on memory.  I literally couldn’t stop thinking of features and ideas for this site so after shooting them an email I was literally counting the seconds before I received a response.

Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out exactly as I expected.  Despite a sentence on the main page asking potential investors to contact them, it’s been a week and I haven’t heard back from the current owner.   As I sit here and look at all the sent emails, Facebook friend requests, and AOL instant messages, I just shake my head in disbelief as the Alexa reach percentage is continuing its sharp decline and inevitable flat line.  As the clock ticks, the money I was going to pay for this site slowly burns.  (If only they knew that!)  I just have to ask myself, why would you do this to your business?

As a business person why would you suddenly shut down your website and tell investors to contact you at a specified email address that you don’t answer?  Especially if you are thinking about selling the website.  Should I take this as a red flag?  Any advice out there as to getting a response from these guys without seeming like a total stalker?