AVG Blueprint

Ricky Ahuja, a serial entrepreneur, is a twelve year veteran of the online marketing industry and currently serving as the CEO and partner in Affiliate Venture Group (AVG Reviews), a privately funded performance based network located in Richmond, VA. Affiliate Venture Group has quickly become the go to network for some of the hottest and exclusive offers like BullnBearTrade, WhiteyBoard.com and a whole host of others soon to be launched. One of the most accessible guys in the industry, he calls it like it is and continues to develop a loyal following through his blog at www.RickyAhuja.com. 1, We're totally loving the new AVG look. Can you tell us what updates you have made so far? Thanks for the follow up interview, we have come a long way since your 1st interview for Affiliate Paying and looking ahead to bigger and brighter things. Since the buyout last year, we really hadn't put our mark or re-branded from the previous investors group and thought it was a good time for us to do so. Outside of the obvious re-brand, we have switched our tracking platform to better serve the needs of not only our publishers but additionally our internal lead gen initiatives. 2, Why did AVG switch to Cake Marketing? This was a very tough decision for us as the people at Hit Path have always gone out of their way to accommodate our needs. One of our initiatives for this year was to build a complete lead distribution system for our primary verticals and Cake's technology enabled us to do that seamlessly. Jeff and his team have been awesome to work with and I have very high expectations of them going forward. 3, What kinds of offers are doing well right now for your network and publisher base? AVG has truly made a name for itself in the investing vertical weather it be in Forex trading, Investment newsletter, Investment webinars or trading software. We continue to work very closely with our advertisers to help develop a program with a long-term mindset rather than short term gains and that has proven to be an effective strategy for us. 4, What mistakes do you commonly see AVG affiliates making? What advice would you give them/us? I would not classify as them making mistakes as much as them not taking advantage of my teams around the clock availability. We work very closely with newbies and do what we can to make them succeed. There is typically such a cloak behind the affiliate/network relationship and we are trying very diligently to remove that and add an element of transparency that most networks will not care to do (probably rightfully so). 5, Does AVG accept affiliates outside the US/Canada? Affiliate Venture Group accepts affiliates internationally. We are in the process of opening an Indian office to actually handle a lot of that as well as our continued penetration in that market. Take a look at the next issue of Feedfront Magazine and you will see an article I have written on "Rise of Affiliate Marketing in India". 6, Content locking gateway is so hot right now, do you have plans to add it to AVG? There are a few networks out there that absolutely ROCK in this and I feel it is best left for them to handle. We have our verticals that we excel at and prefer to concentrate on that for now. 7, What are your plans for the future? Where do you see AVG going? Our plans for the future - that's a good one. It is to put food on our plate and a roof over our heads. We have some brilliant people and networks in this industry and we can only aspire to be like them. As long as we continue to do right by our publisher and advertising partners, we will be just fine and around for some time to come. 8, What industry conferences do you usually attend, and which is your favorite? We try to attend the main ones - Affiliate Summit, Ad-tech, Leads Con but have been so busy with the relaunch that we have not had much time at all. As a matter of fact - I would like to give a shout out to my partner Chris Kautz and his wife who is soon to be a father. He single handedly spear headed the whole migration from Hit Path to Cake and all this while getting his house renovated at the same time. 9. What would you like to say to the readers of Affiliate Paying? I would like to invite them to come give AVG a test drive and feel free to ask any questions at all. We are not the biggest, baddest or the most glamorous network out there but we will go the extra mile to help you succeed. As I always like to say, "we know you have a choice among networks and we thank you for flying AVG". ;-) 10. How can our readers get a hold of you or Chris? They can contact us at rick@affiliateventuregroup.com or chris@affiliateventuregroup.com or contact us through www.RickyAhuja.com. Thanks for your time, Ricky!