Second Part of the Primeq Interview

Here is the second half of the interview that Nadeem Azam published in the PrimeQ Newsletter. I posted the first half earlier this week.

What challenges do you face in carrying out your interviews?

Sometimes it’s hard to convince people to take part! But now at times people are getting in touch requesting an appearance. Sometimes it’s difficult to draw people out and get them to talk but then, at other times, it’s hard to get them to stop!

Technically I’ve had to learn quite a bit and, as with all technology, it doesn’t always go smoothly. Most of the podcasts are telephones calls over a VOIP line that I record on my PC so a computer hang-up can mean the line drops and you need to try and pick up the conversation where you left off.

Producing good quality audio is the biggest challenge when you don’t have the benefit of studio conditions and it’s something I’m continually trying to improve.

Quite often the interviews I conduct come to 5-6,000 words long when they are typed up and then I cut them to around half the length so they are easier to digest. Are your podcasts heavily edited?

I tend not to edit too much. I’ll go through the interview and try to edit any excessive “ums” and “ahs” or coughs to improve the overall sound but most of the conversation is just released as it was. I follow that with a bit of editing to include an introduction and adverts, then make sure all the different parts are at the same volume level.

Have you had interviewees asking for approval before the podcasts go live? How do you feel about that?

Yeah, a few have asked for that or for questions in advance. I think the main problem is that most people, myself included, don’t like the sound of their own voices and can tend to be too critical of themselves.

I hope that people will trust me though and I don’t set out to make them look bad, so if it was a really bad interview (I haven’t had one yet!) then I would make the decision myself to review it with them and don’t really need the interviewee to approve it first.

Your podcasts are non-controversial and you don’t challenge interviewees. My own interviews are similar: I sometimes feel guilty for not pushing my interviewees harder and asking less ‘nicey nicey’ questions. Do you ever feel you should grill the people in your podcasts more? Or do you feel that your pally style is more likely to tease information out of your subjects and result in a more interesting conversation?

Yeah that’s true and it is something I’ve taken some criticism for. Getting the right balance of discussion and not seeming like an advert is difficult. The interviews with networks are generally the ones where people feel I should be tougher. I think it tends to be influenced by the listeners own opinion of the company involved though.

I deliberately set out with this strategy at first as I needed to prove the concept of podcast interviews and people were never going to queue up for an interrogation! I think as time goes on this may start to change when answers are really needed to specific questions.

How would you like to develop your blog over the coming months?

I’ve just launched a redesign of the blog which gives it a more professional feel and tries to give the blog posts and the podcasts equal profile.

I need to help people develop an understanding of RSS and what it means to subscribe to the blog so that it’s easier for them to read. Many people still think they need to keep visiting the blog every couple of days to see what they might have missed when instead they could get the content delivered to them via email, blog readers or personalized homepages.

I’ll be continuing with the short podcast series on getting started in affiliate marketing as I think it’s important to encourage people to get involved in the industry. I’m also about to start some group discussion podcasts which will involve a few different people at once and deal with one or two issues per episode rather than an interview format.

In the longer term I’ve been keeping an eye on the technology for more user interaction and I hope to try a live phone-in format at some point soon too.

I want to continue to develop the written blog content too. The podcasts tend to be filled with the opinions of my guests but the blog posts are based round what I am thinking so it’s good to get a chance to express that.

What do you like about affiliate marketing?

Freedom and flexibility. I don’t need to answer to anyone and I choose my own hours. That’s the main appeal for me.

And, conversely, what gets up your nose about affiliate marketing?

It’s the unethical stuff that really winds me up. I did what I could to raise awareness of spyware a few years ago by publishing videos demonstrating what was going on but I think this type of thing is probably still happening.

Many affiliates don’t really want to work together on these kinds of issues and it’s more of a case of keeping their head down and quietly earning their money. To me there doesn’t seem to be all that many people that care about the industry as a whole.

The other thing that winds me up is networks that won’t enforce terms and conditions to protect affiliates. Dropping commission rates and closing programs with two hours notice is unacceptable but it goes on all the time. The whole payment system that affiliate networks use is outdated too. The model of only paying out when the network has been paid leaves the affiliate taking all the risk and often losing out in the end.

A couple of years ago I lost a few thousand dollars when a merchant went into administration and then relaunched a few weeks later. In situations like this the network should support the affiliate and ensure that they hold enough credit from the merchant to cover affiliate commissions or, at the very least, not allow the merchant back on the network.

How do you envisage affiliate marketing developing over the coming years?

It worries me a little but I think the big affiliates will just get bigger. We have all been guilty of saying that affiliate marketing is based around small content sites but in reality now I would say the main channels are just paid search and loyalty/cashback sites. There are a few great content sites out there but PPC and cashback must dominate most of the turnover in the industry. Matthew Wood in his recent podcast interview with me talked about cashback being 40% of a particular networks turnover. Paid search is probably another 40% and only the leftovers will be from genuine content sites.

Do you feel that we are getting to the point where there are too many merchants and not enough quality, performing affiliates?

Yes, I think there is some truth in that and it must be hard for any small merchant to get a foothold in the industry. Once they do, however, I think it can really pay off for them but it needs to be a long term commitment and not just an add on. Time properly invested in working with a network and communicating with affiliates will pay off.

The merchants that just pay their sign up fee and expect the affiliates to find them are in for a shock. It concerns me how some networks may have been selling affiliate marketing to their merchants. I’d suggest all merchants to at least take on a part time affiliate manager and really give their affiliate program attention if they want it to succeed.

Do you feel that Google’s incursion into the CPA arena is a threat to existing affiliate networks?

It’s strange, some people do seem to be predicting the end of the networks but personally I can’t see that happening.

Google have great products but I don’t think their customer service is a strength. Merchants need more than just a technology platform, they need a service provider. Google isn’t going to show up in their offices and talk to them about getting started in affiliate marketing… and a badly managed affiliate program quickly goes wrong.

To me it looks like more of an automated solution that will meet a specific need. It’s not a direct competitor to established networks.
For affiliates I think it’s another quick alternative to Adsense but it’s not the same as an affiliate network. They aren’t offering banners, promotions, data feeds, api’s etc. It just simply placing an advert and forgetting about it: that isn’t the route to major success.

However, I think it’s good for affiliate marketing, when a giant like Google starts using CPA. It validates the model and will get people looking at affiliate marketing.

There seems to be a new network launched every month: do you think there is room in the market for them all?

I don’t think there is enough space in the market for them all. I think it’s a difficult job to get a network started now without a decent angle or staying within a particular niche. People have been talking about consolidation for years and it has to be on its way at some point!

Moving onto your personal life, you’re expecting your first baby in a few weeks time. How do you feel about that and have you decided on a name yet?

Our baby is due in October and both Fiona and I are really looking forward to it. We haven’t managed to agree on any names yet but there is still time!

When the baby is born I may find myself returning to my affiliate marketing roots and working at 2am again!