How long have you been making money online?
I had my start online in the early 90s, firstly being fixated with dial-up BBSes then the initial Internet boom. It was an exciting time for entrepreneurs, as possibilities seemed endless. During those days I realized that I really couldn’t see myself working for anyone else. I dropped out of university and launched several ventures, most of which fizzled quickly, but I kept learning and pushing until I built a successful software company in 1999, still operating today.
How did you become successful?
My first real success was the email software I developed and marketed in 1999. Internet was becoming more and more popular and email usage was exploding around the world. A year or two later I was awarded some great industry honours which helped increase our visibility.
A large majority of my time at this stage was spent on product development. Looking back, despite the enormous effort that went into the product itself, I am most proud of the community we built around the product which survives to this day.
Do you have any experience with affiliate marketing? If so, to what extent?
I started with affiliate marketing in the early 2000s. I didn’t understand it well back then but saw it as a great way to extend your marketing efforts without spending money on advertising. The affiliate landscape was still very undeveloped, and while some savvy affiliates were doing very well, most vendors like myself didn’t catch on early enough. It took a few years until I figured out the best ways to drive traffic through the affiliate channel.
Over the past few years, working with Geordie Carswell and our talented staff, we’ve built a marketing company with focus on marketing our software, as well as variety of products and services in related verticals. Our expertise is in PPC and SEO marketing strategies, although that hasn’t stopped us from experimenting in other areas.
This year brings many changes to our space, as affiliate marketing becomes one of the primary ways many products are marketed online, digital or otherwise. It’s been interesting to watch this evolution and how different verticals are adapting this model. Today, traditional affiliate marketing is as varied as the products being marketed. Dropbox is a great example of a company trying something different: they reward referrals by gifting increased storage, which would normally cost users money. The cost of this promotion to Dropbox is nominal, yet they’ve seen great benefits of increased referrals. My goals for 2011 are to find and invest into interesting new products or services that take advantage of this new landscape.
What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
I have done all sorts of projects over the years but honestly, companies come and go but relationships you build last a lifetime. I have been advised and mentored by a few great people who selflessly helped me fine-tune my approach to business and life in general. If I had one piece of advice to give to new entrepreneurs it would be to take their networking and relationship building very seriously.
And while you can do a lot these days with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Quora, there is no substitute to actually leaving your computer and meeting people face to face. You don’t have to go far, start with local events and actually try and talk to people – find out what they do, how they do it and why! Help them if you can, and if you can’t, connect them to people who can.
Additionally, consider forming a peer support group, with regular meetings or phone calls to keep you all connected and on-target. These are somewhat pretentiously referred to as the mastermind groups but it’s really something that anyone can start or be a part of. Recruit potential peers at conferences, user groups, forums, anywhere you find like-minded individuals.
What do you think it takes to be successful?
Having the right network will help you succeed but be prepared to work your butt off. I’ve spent most of my 20s glued to my monitor. In the beginning the money was tight so that monitor gave out a sickly monochrome amber glow, and this was in the mid-nineties when those monitors were seriously out of fashion. At the time I couldn’t care less – I was just happy to have a conduit through which I could create something cool. I’ve spent many a night working till dawn to finish whatever project I had on the go at the time. It took a good ten years before I was able to work healthier hours – although even today I generally work six or seven days per week unless I’m traveling somewhere.
Today, I find that many people expect success should be a lot easier than that. They expect that it shouldn’t take as much effort. Tim Ferriss has perpetuated this perception with his “The 4-Hour Workweek” book, but when I look at what Tim accomplishes in any given week, including his social media efforts, book writing, book tours and promotional circuit, you realize he hustles a “tad” more than the four hours in any given week.
Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
Of course, the administrative overhead grows over time, and while a lot of it can be outsourced and delegated some tasks are just too important for that, chores like the never-ending contract revisions, financial planning, accounting and taxes, etc.
What is the future of marketing?
The future is pretty exciting – we are still at the early stages of Internet marketing and possibilities are growing by leaps and bounds as more and more people use the Internet daily, and in ways no one could have predicted just three years ago.
For example, I know marketers who have done very well in the mobile space. However, that whole segment will keep expanding at an amazing pace, opening up opportunities for marketing of services not normally seen as a good fit for mobile. Imagine what happens when most of your potential customers access the Internet through their cellphone. And even then, they spend most of that time on Facebook. If you only advertise on Google AdWords then you need to familiarize yourself with alternatives as your ads will be seen by fewer and fewer people. Rethink the best ways to reach your target audience in this new landscape.
What about the sudden explosion of app stores? Apple has pushed ten billion apps to their customers – that is an amazing number. Even Amazon is readying to jump into the fray with an app store for Android phones. Additionally there are at least three new app stores brewing on the sidelines, from Microsoft, RIM and HP. A lot of those apps are distributed for free and can carry advertising, which you can reach through several ad networks.
And if you are selling ebooks, consider an alternative: instead of pushing your $30 ebooks through old-school affiliate networks why not hire a programmer to repackage it for iOS and Android, or even as Kindle and iBooks downloads? You might also find that lowering your price could increase your overall revenue, sometimes dramatically. This is all vertical-specific of course, but the key is to think outside the box. Consider what new platforms would work for your product and then test, test and test some more.
Do you have a Twitter account or Facebook “Like” page?
You can follow me on Twitter at Slaven – I use Twitter to learn and communicate so feel free to engage me in a conversation any time. My blog is at Slaven Radic – come by and say hello!
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