Interview: Dylan Stout (RevenueAds)

We're very excited to present our 26th interview with Dylan Stout of RevenueAds. Dylan Stout is the Director of Affiliate Operations at RevenueAds Affiliate Network. A leading CPA affiliate network under the parent company Lead Vision Media, LLC. With over 4 years experience in affiliate marketing Dylan has helped grow RevenueAds into a top tier network for advertisers and publishers to turn when looking to promote and advertise online.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you?

I am from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma born and raised and a huge Sooners fan and as of the last couple years an OKC Thunder fan. I am 26 years old.

2. How long have you been in affiliate marketing and how did you get involved?

I have been in affiliate marketing for a total of 4 years now. It all started when my good friend Matthew Stowe built a website based around social networking. At the time we were using Tripod to build our sites. We had this site in the glory days of internet marketing. It was the late 90's and early 2000's. We wanted a way to pay the bills to keep our site up that we had made just for fun. That's when we came across a company called ClixGalore and we started running Cost-Per-Click campaigns. We were making anywhere from $.01-$.50 per click. After that kind of burned out, Matt went on and started IncentReward a popular incentive network. Then about 2 and half years ago we started RevenueAds mostly focusing on Non Incentive campaigns.

3. How long was it before you realized you could live off your affiliate income?

Since we were so young when we first started doing Internet Marketing it took a couple years before we realized that college wasn't necessary and we could work from our living room and now our office and make a living that way.

4. What was the biggest mistake you made when you first started doing Affiliate Marketing?

Accounts receivable payments can creep up on you in the start if you are not actively making sure your advertisers our paying on time. We are proud to have a solid accounting team in place to make sure we receive all our payments on time, but most importantly that our publishers are always paid on time. We have a really great track record for paying on time or early every single pay period. Big publishers come to expect it, and thats what we provide.

5. Tell us a little bit about RevenueAds and what you do over there?

RevenueAds is a CPA affiliate network that has been around a little over 2 years now. We offer great campaigns, payouts, and support. My job at RevenueAds is basically to oversee all the affiliate operations and affiliate managers we have.

6. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes RevenueAds different?

With so many networks, it is hard to find something that someone doesn't already offer. I would say the main thing we are focused on doing at RevenueAds is understanding each and every affiliate is different in their needs and abilities. So not every affiliate is going to need to the same thing to be a successful as possible. The keyword with us is flexibility. Affiliate A may run rebill campaigns as a media buyer and Affiliate B may run Dating campaigns with a E-mail list. So we try not to set any hard policies across the board. Tell me what you need whether it be campaigns, payouts, payment terms and we will get that for you. I feel like that is our job basically working for every affiliate until he has the exact tools he needs.

7. Do you offer biweekly or weekly payment? If so, how much does one have to make to qualify?

We do offer weekly payments we like to see at least $1000/week to get the weekly payments.

8. Which traffic sources prove to be the most effective for your top earning affiliates - E-mail, PPC, PPV, Facebook, Media Buying or any others?

We have affiliates earning great income in all the above listed traffic sources. If you have the right campaign and a creative way to promote it you can be successful.

9. Do you offer online training for new affiliates?

Yes we help train new affiliates on a daily basis. We are working on building out PPC and PPV tools that will be free to all RevenueAds affiliates to use when promoting there campaigns.

10. I see you are using DirectTrack as your affiliate tracking platform. What made you pick them instead of choosing LinkTrust, HasOffers and HitPath, etc? Do you have a plan to create your own tracking platform?

We chose DirectTrack because of the amount of tools and options it provides us. Being that we are a larger network, we are on a DT dedicated server so we do not deal with the pixel issues and so forth that DT is scrutinized for by publishers due to the fact that are server is not shared with anyone else and it allows for smoother tracking. Also, with the use of our tech team, we have completely revamped the look of our site including a unique sign up form as well as a completely unique affiliate interface that sets us aside from other DT networks.

11. What are the criteria for a marketer to be accepted at RevenueAds? How does RevenueAds prevent and handle fraud?

If you are motivated and hard working then there will be no problem getting accepted into RevenueAds. With fraud we have internal checks in place to remove all the fraud sign ups from our network. Unfortunately, due to the fraud with lead generation and CPA marketing I believe it has kept several of the top advertisers and many branded companies from entering into affiliate marketing. This really hurts everyone involved with Internet marketing from earning more money with companies that have enormous budgets for advertising. But, that is what also sets us aside from other networks, with our rigorous screening process, we only provide the best traffic for our advertisers.

12. For those who are interested in working with you and your affiliate network - What's the best way/time to reach you?

I am available anytime of the day and I am best reached through E-mail: Dylan@revenueads.com or phone 405-455-9053 x.102.

13. In your opinion, what are the best places for a new affiliate to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?

I think very good information can be found in many of the affiliate marketing forums and blogs. Lots of affiliates are willing to share to share their failures and successes saving you hours of testing. A couple sites that I enjoy reading are wickedfire.com and affbuzz.com. My advice to new affiliates is hard work and determination can equal success and great rewards. Do not be afraid of failing. Keep pressing and don't be quick to throw in the towel.

14. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign.

I would say the most important being willing to put in the time and effort it takes to scale a campaign. If you do not have automatic traffic sources that you are able to just switch on, it's going to require tweaking and lots of testing. Choosing the right campaign is essential in this area. Your affiliate manager can come in very handy in helping you choose a campaign that is going to perform well enough for you to be successful. They have the inside information on the convention rates and EPC's of campaigns for various traffic sources. Once you have decided to put in the time and you have selected a good campaign to promote, your going to need a good ad-copy, jump page, or creative. From there your ready to scale it out.

15. What's the difference between a Super Affiliate and an Average Affiliate?

This is a tough one because I don't know where the determination is made that this affiliate or that affiliate drives enough leads to be considered a Super Affiliate. Some of the publishers that are driving high amounts of volume have just found something that works for them usually a traffic source that they are able to make profitable with a good campaign. An affiliate that runs a lower volume of leads is just a Super Affiliate waiting until they find that traffic source or campaign that they can crush.

16. What are the keys to building successful relationships between Affiliates and Affiliate Networks? What are some of the challenges of being an Affiliate Manager/Owner?

Well as an affiliate network we basically have two parties we are trying to make as profitable as possible while keeping a small piece. The advertiser and the affiliate. The affiliate is making the money for the affiliate network and the advertiser is paying the bill. So the most valuable affiliates to an affiliate network are the ones that work closely with the affiliate manager to ensure the advertiser is getting quality traffic. A good affiliate manager should ALWAYS have the back of an affiliate that is working with them to run traffic to campaigns. Affiliate networks need to understand the struggles of an affiliate, fighting for everything they can get to help make the affiliate successful, after all if the affiliate is not successful then there is no traffic.

17. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?

Honestly I really can't complain to much here. There are things that make it difficult sometimes, but for me it's much better than most of the other jobs I could have right now.

18. What do you think about where the industry is going? Where RevenueAds may be going? What advice would you give to affiliates to keep up the pace.

I hear things on a daily basis about this new and amazing traffic source or great idea. Most importantly I think being able to adapt in an field that changes at a rapid rate is key. There may be changes in what you do just be ready to evolve with what comes your way. At RevenueAds we're looking to get more into owning are own campaigns and properties. For Affiliates I would say the dollar signs should be enough motivation.

19. What are your goals in 2010? And how is the progress so far?

Our goals for 2010 have been to continue growing at a rapid pace while coming out with our own in house exclusive offers as well as tons of direct relationships with advertisers.

20. What are your hobbies/interests/passions? What's your favorite movie and why?

In my spare time I really enjoy watching and playing sports. Being in Oklahoma we haven't had much by way of professional sports until the NBA came to town when the Seattle Super Sonics relocated. So were all huge college sports fans down here and the Sooners are king. The favorite type of movies I really enjoy are comedy's. There are so many good ones it's tough to pick a favorite.

21. Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.

My day is usually consists of getting out of bed around 7 am and heading into the office. I check E-mail look at how things are performing and make sure nothing is out of place. Then it's pretty much talking with affiliates all day until I head back home around 6 pm. Once home I like to unwind by spending some time with my girlfriend or checking out some of the shows I record like Always Sunny, The Office, and The League. Then get back on the laptop and finish up any business before heading to sleep.

Many thanks to Dylan for sharing your time with us and for sharing some great insight tips here! If you have any experience with RevenueAds Affiliate Network, please write a review for them on the RevenueAds review page. Ps. If you are an affiliate marketer, AM or Network owner and are interested in answering a few questions about you, your network and affiliate marketing, please drop us a message.