Interview: Ryan Eagle (EWA Network & BLAM Ads)

We're very excited to present our 51st interview with Ryan Eagle of EWA Private Network & BLAM Ads. Ryan Eagle is the man that brought the industry up from the ground when he launched EWA Network in early 2009. In Mid-2010 he launched BLAM Ads which revolutionized the content locking industry and set standards that the competition cannot yet match.

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

I'm twenty four years old, still working twenty four hours a day. I'm the man that every guy wants to be, and every girl want's the be with - being modest, I run this industry. I have passion and work ethic that cannot be matched by any competitor on the internet. This relentless persistence to be the best at what I do has brought my affiliate networks to become top ranked properties in less than three years. I've surpassed every goal that I ever set for myself, and the only way to go from here is up into the heights of the clouds.

2. How long have you been working in this industry and how did you get involved? What/Who inspired you to enter it?

I've been working full time since 2004, first generating my profits through top ranked SEO websites. My main source of revenue back then was Google AdSense and quickly transitioned over to Yahoo! Publisher Network where I was a top publisher with them. Overnight I went from making enough to live, to hitting massive success, to hitting numbers that would make your girlfriend faint. In 2005 I discovered affiliate marketing and loved it from the second I saw my first lead fly through. By 2007, I moved fully into media buying and entered the market with huge budgets generated from my previous income. In 2009, I launched EWA Private Network with all the capital that I saved over the years and spent countless nights with Harrison Gevirtz to build the brand up. From launching, EWA was moving millions of dollars a month in revenue back during the rebill craze - another near instant success. In Mid-2010, Eagle Web Assets launched our second public advertising company BLAM ADs with a bang. We plunged ourselves deep into a new industry and improved every aspect that our competitors lacked in and BLAM Ads exploded with publishers. Our team has grown from a couple people to over 125 employees spanning across several companies. We've collectively created the strongest affiliate networks in the industry, phasing out all the competition. Since launching our companies, not a single competitor has made a name for themselves - and we have no intention in allowing that because our combined passion is incomparable to others.

3. Prior to running your affiliate marketing business, do you have a 9-to-5 kind of job? How long was it before you realized you could live off your affiliate income?

Believe it or not, yes - Ryan Eagle did have a job at one point in my life. I worked as a Sports Camp Jr. Counselor when I was 14 and 15. When I turned 16 I worked at BestBuy selling video games, and I remember telling my father that I never wanted to do a job like this and that one day I will be a millionaire. I made the decision at a young age to quit working and focus on my web properties, banking on the idea that I could eventually make more money going full time. Before quitting my job, I was literally working about 20 hours a day between the computer and work through my summer vacation - this is where I got my work ethic. After quitting, within three months I was generating thousands of dollars a day in profit from my properties - which grew month after month as my empire grew. To say the least, I hit my goal a long time ago and I don't need to be working any more 9-5's unless it's for myself. 

4. Tell us a bit more about EWA Network and what you do over there? There are 600+ CPA Networks out there, what makes EWA different? Why should affiliates consider joining EWA?

We love competition, it's why we have sustained our position on top. EWA will beat any payout that any network offers you to build a long-term profitable relationship. Unlike the other affiliate networks we are not here for quick gains, we are in it for the long haul. We actively work with hundreds of merchants directly, operate at low overhead, and are privately capitalized so we truly can offer you the highest campaign payouts around. EWA actively monitors our competitions payouts to always keep your street payouts above everyone else, and we will beat any privately offered payout to you. Between the network newsletters, campaign mini-guides, our Facebook group (http://fb.ewanetwork.com), 45 explicit explaining how to promote niches and on traffic sources, our twitter (http://twitter.com/ewanetwork), and finally our experienced account managers - nobody can top us. We keep our affiliate base exclusive and small so our affiliates always come out the most informed and on top. Our service is incomparable to any affiliate network out there and we do this because our team actually markets campaigns ourselves, openly sharing knowledge with our private publisher base. EWA has over (2900) offers live in (210) countries, over double the next leading network. All we have to do now is outdo what we already have done and we're working around the clock to continue the innovations.

5. There are 20+ Content Locking Networks out there, what makes Ads different? Why should affiliates consider joining BLAM Ads?

We outdid the competitors at literally every single angle possible. BLAM Ads has far higher payouts than any competitor - our fiercest competition has an average 35% lower payouts. In addition, BLAM Ads rewards our publishers with even higher payouts for loyalty - we're all about building long term relationships. BLAM Ads pays faster than any competitor, we entered the industry where the norm was monthly and BLAM pays publishers weekly. For support, we have account managers that work around the clock, a huge Facebook community (http://fb.blamads.com) and a twitter with tips that stream around the clock (http://twitter.com/blamadsincent). In the coming weeks we will be releasing our own technology that will literally blow the competition out of the water: multiple new gateway formats, far superior optimization, faster loading times, and a flexible system that can better handle the millions of impressions and clicks we get daily.

6. Do you still do internal media buys these days? If so, what are your favorite traffic sources?

My internal media buying division is one of the most profitable sections of Eagle Web Assets. I've been an affiliate since 2005 and only took off about three months to build up EWA Network. After the foundation of EWA was created, I began publishing again as an affiliate and quickly organized a team of seven media buyers. The whole concept of EWA was to share the campaigns that we profit from internally to our exclusive base of members. Without the success of our affiliates with real knowledge from the streets, we cannot be successful as a network. EWA still actively shares our internal campaigns transparently with our publishers to insure their success through newsletters. We send out campaign guides and epic guides that explain in detail how to promote specific niches on traffic sources. We promote internally on contextual, social, direct site buys and media buys - so that's all that we can share with affiliates.

7. How do you feel about the health of the Affiliate Industry overall? If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be? What are your plans for the future? Where do you see EWA & BLAM Ads going?

It's really healthy for my companies, but you can just look around at the competition out there - they are falling apart one by one. Between the payment delays, partnership breakups, and the complete collapses affiliates are FLOCKING back to EWA. Two companies emerge from the smoke: EWA Network and BLAM Ads, the networks that always paid them on time. Our overall corporate revenues are way up in lieu of our competitors downfall. When I first launched my companies, I projected that it would take 5 years to reach the same level as them - look what hard work did in less than three. We have increased our projections for Q4 of 2011 and I'm confident that we're going to have a strong close to 2011.

8. What industry conferences do you usually attend, and which is your favorite?

I attend most of the AdTech and Affiliate Summit conferences throughout the year, the next one coming up is AdTech London near the end up September. Because I work with the affiliates most, I prefer Affiliate Summit because it's far more specialized than AdTech. When I go to an AdTech, I feel like every booth is exactly the same with a couple words changed, all of which are traffic sources brokering traffic from RightMedia. When I go to the Affiliate Summits, I get to actually meet the clients that I work with.

9. What are your hobbies/interests/passions? Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.

Over the past year or so I've been working on dividing up my time to actually enjoy my life more. For years, I literally had to be working around the clock in order for my companies to continue profiting. I set the goal for myself that I wanted to take it easy, and the only way to do that was setup an advanced hierarchy of employees to manage my companies - and I did just that. Now I can take time off if I want to and I love traveling, driving my cars, playing video games (murkin' in Call of Duty), hanging out with my girlfriend and spending time with my family. At first, having time off was one of the most frightening and confusing things for a workaholic like myself that was always three days behind - but now, I'm used to it and I love it. I still work as hard as I always did, but the work that I do now is more administrative than anything. Instead of being intrenched with busy work all day, I can spend my time innovating with new ideas and concepts that will help project Eagle Web Assets even further into success. Another very big aspect of my life is sobriety and working with other addicts and alcoholics. I'm heavily involved in maintaining what I have now and helping others with similar problems - it gives me a sense of joy that money cannot buy and it's given new meaning to my life. Because I hit success at a very young age, I made many mistakes that was nearly the demise of me entirely. I've recovered from the depths of a living hell so I never take what I have for granted. Giving back what was so freely given to me is of the utmost importance in my life, and I thank God everyday for what he's blessed me with. I've discussed my journey on my personal blog for people more interested in learning about myself: http://blog.ryaneagle.com

Many thanks to Ryan for sharing your time with us and for sharing some great insight tips here! If you have any experience with EWA Private Network or BLAM Ads, please write a review for them on the EWA Network Review or the BLAM Ads 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.