There are affiliate offers and then there are winning offers. Are you interested in making the latter? I’m sure you are.

A lot of people fall into affiliate marketing programs in one way or another. A friend drags you in. You watch a YouTube video and think, “yeah, I can do that.” Read some material from a few bloggers that sold you on the idea. Or career choices lead you there unexpectedly.

Raanan Rosenbaum had quite the interesting path. From gemologist to adult industry compliance at a payment processor to Director of Business Development at MaxWeb. And the beauty of it all is he’s been able to apply knowledge from every job into his current one at an affiliate network, MaxWeb.

We interviewed Raanan last week about compliance and traits of top-performing offers. You won’t want to pass this one up, so keep reading to find out what it takes to make a killer offer and position yourself as a good affiliate.

Cross-Industry Compliance: Taking Knowledge Across Industry Lines

Raanan gave us a great quote:

“If you go into every day thinking you’re the best… you’re not going to be the best [tomorrow].”

It’s what we keep saying about industry experts. You can call yourself an expert, but how long is that status going to stick with you? Technology changes, the world moves forward, the types of affiliate programs change. Calling yourself an expert keeps you stuck in the present which quickly turns into the past.

Maintaining Expertise

The trick is to keep learning. You have to be willing to learn about connected industries. In fact, 10% of your time should be dedicated to discovering what’s new, where things are headed, and what’s happening. If you only ever keep doing “what’s working”, you’re going to be wiped out fast.

No one in the industry has been around long enough to call themselves the be-all know-all. But that’s a good thing. It gives everyone enough space to enter and learn, from entrepreneurs to industry veterans.

There’s always an area where you can learn something new. It could be from the marketing-side, CRMs, traffic sources, metrics. There’s always something you don’t know enough about. Take some time to learn about it. You’d be surprised at what you can apply to your current work.

Compliance in the Adult Space

Raanan worked in the adult space for a payment processor for quite a long time (sound familiar?).

When you work in an industry like that, shock value wears off fast. So instead of seeing porn, you see sales and quality content creation and e-commerce. It’s one of the more interesting sides of getting an adult lead. Many adult content creators sell fetish content and sometimes very funny material.

That’s the kind of thing that gets you interested in compliance. Is a woman wearing lingerie reading the newspaper while popping balloons compliant? Probably. But it’s more involved than what you see in the foreground.

Since Raanan worked in the high-risk side of online business, one of his daily tasks was to check content on the adult sites his company worked with. Some things that might be shocking to the average viewer are totally compliant. But when you get publishers who have videos where they smoke weed or have an empty liquor bottle in the background, then the merchant gets flagged.

The point here is that you become discerning. You can instantly point out what’s what. What’s compliant, what isn’t, and what needs to be monitored. And that skill carries into any position, whether you’re working with adult merchants, affiliate marketers, or physical product retailers.

Compliance No Nos

We asked Raanan about the most common things he sees advertisers do that they shouldn’t do. Here’s what he had to say:

–       Regional regulation differences. Using CBD as an example, digital marketing it in the US is very different from marketing it in Canada. You can’t just take a digital product and put it into a new region. You have to check for compliance differences.

–       Payment methods. When products are region-specific, the type of payment processing attached to the offer matters. If there’s just one method or a payment app that isn’t popular where the offer is being marketed, then it’s a bad offer.

–       False claims. If a diet product says results were achieved on a specific study, then that study needs to be linked. You have to back up your claims. That goes for whatever referrals or influencer marketers you use. Keep them in check, because if they say something wrong then it goes right back to you.

–       Testimonials. These are subject to compliance regulation, too. You have to check your testimonials for outlandish claims and extreme statements. They act as pieces of online marketing, too. It’s not just what’s in your marketing campaigns.

Common Traits of Top Performing Affiliate Offers

Enough about compliance. You want to secret to making a top performing offer, and we’re ready to provide it.

Keep compliance in mind when you write up and publish your offers, though. It could have all the traits we’re listing below, but if it doesn’t comply with your payment processor or region, then it’s a dud.

Here are the top tips Raanan had to give about nailing it with your affiliate sales. Though it’s not mentioned below, always keep SEO (search engine optimization), target audiences, and the typical successful affiliate marketing strategies (e.g., hosting webinars, offering coupons) in sight.

It’s Not What, It’s Who

Sometimes, it’s not about the offer itself. It’s about who’s selling it. For Raanan and MaxWeb, it’s important to see how invested the advertiser is on their offer. How are the MIDs set up? What about payment processing? How’s the checkout page? What about the landing page? Is it hosted on a global platform like WordPress or is it on some small local web hosting platform that’s inaccessible beyond the US?

These are important factors into gaining the attention and traction your offer needs to succeed. You can’t just publish something trendy and priced to win and expect leads to start flowing it. You’ve got to put in the effort. This applies to veterans and beginners, alike.

Flexibility Is Key

You, as the advertiser, have to be flexible. What we mean is, are you willing to make a new product if the platform asks?

Raanan specifies this a bit further. Let’s say you sell supplements. CBD and male enhancement are great products that typically do really well. But there are super niche products that do even better if you’re willing to take it for a spin.

MaxWeb does really well with supplements that treat fungi or something like tinnitus. Are you willing to sell that on the platform if they ask? How flexible are you in your offer?

An offer owner with just one really good offer is attractive, but it won’t get anyone very far. If you’re serious about your small business or startup, then being open to creating new offers in the future will help you succeed on any platform.

And offer owners who own multiple, mildly successful offers are much more attractive to account managers than an owner with just one really good offer. Not to mention multiple offers means higher affiliate commission potential.

Be in It for the Long Run

You need to be willing to support your offer for the long term. They don’t want to get the feeling that you are only here to make a quick buck, otherwise there’s no incentive in becoming your affiliate manager.

That means coming up with your own creatives (social media posts, email marketing efforts, high-quality affiliate product images, etc.). Of course, platforms like MaxWeb are willing to step in and help, but if you put in the initial effort and they see that you’re serious about your offer, then they’re much more willing to help.

That also applies to backend support for your offer. Do you have good team? What about your payments infrastructure?

If you aren’t already making money but you’ve got the right foundation, platforms are more than willing to get you there. And that means they can hook you up with affiliate partner programs (and set you up with attractive attribution), optimize your offer, tweak your business model, and so much more.

A Killer Offer Needs Solid Payment Processing

Affiliate marketing is a high-risk, high-paying business, To successfully run a high-risk business, you need a high-risk payment processor if you want to create a passive income machine with 6-figure payouts. DPN can help.

We’ll set you up with a high-risk merchant account and link you with a processor that backs your business. Now, all you have to worry about is tweaking your offers just right to get your conversion rates up whether you’re on MaxWeb, Amazon Associates, ClickBank, CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction), or one of the other best affiliate programs.

Get in touch with us now to get your recurring commission rates up and your monetization game on point with a merchant account your business can thrive on.