Interview: Josh Todd (GetAds)

We're very excited to present our 16th interview with Josh Todd of GetAds. Josh Todd is the Director of Marketing for GetAds Affiliate Network, as well as an affiliate marketer and blogger at http://insideaffiliate.net. GetAds is a network founded by some of the biggest veterans in the industry in 2008.

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

I’m from Denver, CO, (I’ve lived here my whole life) and I’m 27 years old.

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

I got started in affiliate marketing in 2008 when I got a job at CPA Empire (now affiliate.com).

3. Tell us a little bit about GetAds and what you do over there?

I just got promoted to Director of Marketing for GetAds. I started as a Sr. Affiliate Manager. My new job is to oversee the marketing efforts of GetAds as a company, both to potential advertisers and to potential affiliates. It’s my job to make sure that everybody in the industry knows who we are and gets the opportunity to work with us.

4. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes GetAds different?

The biggest difference with GetAds is the people. I've never seen such a family-oriented environment at a company before. Everybody here loves working together, we have a lot of fun, and we are serious about success. We also know that success for us only comes with the success of our affiliates. We work hard to make sure that they are reaching their full potential and earning more money with us than they could with anyone else.

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

Yes we do offer weekly payments. You need to be making at least $1,000 a week to qualify. And we typically need you to run for a couple of weeks before you go on weekly payments, if you are brand new and have just signed up to the network. We have to make sure that the advertisers like the quality of the traffic.

6. Which offers are performing well on your network?

We do a lot of volume on our Education offers. Course Advisor has many different flavors of their offer, and we do a lot of volume for them. We also have a lot of unique Email Submit offers that affiliates really like, we get new ones in all the time to keep up with trends. Also we’ve got some great UK offers that a lot of other networks don’t have.

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

Email is our powerhouse, but we have more and more affiliates that are killing it with PPV, Social Media, and Media Buying.

8. Do you offer online training for new affiliates?

We don’t have a formalized online training program, but we do take a very hands-on approach to training our affiliates while they work with their Affiliate Managers.

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

We have been with LinkTrust since the beginning, and we have worked extensively with them to help grow the platform into what it is today. It tracks much better and quicker than DirectTrack, and we are not going to be leaving LinkTrust anytime soon because of the great support they have and the relationship we have with them.

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

We require that you be a real person. It sounds simple, but there is so much fraud out there that it is getting hard to tell the good from the bad. Just make sure you are clear and upfront about what you are looking to promote and how you are going to promote it when you apply. We do accept International affiliates as well as US affiliates, they just need to be able to complete our verification process, including a phone call.

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

The best way to get started is to sign up for an account at http://getads.com/affiliate.html and then be prepared to answer the phone when we call you back about the app. The number one reason that apps get denied is that we can’t get in touch with the applicants to verify their information.

12. 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 there is a lot to be learned on blogs and forums, but the best way to learn it is to do it. Don’t get caught up doing a bunch of research and trying to make sure you don’t fail on your first attempt. It’s unavoidable. Just get out there, spend some money on a campaign, and if it fails then you will learn. That’s the best education you can get. Nobody is going to tell you exactly how to make money in this business, but you can pick up the basics and then make it your own from there.

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

1). A well designed landing page

2). Targeted traffic

3). An offer that converts

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

I don’t like the term “super” affiliate, but there are definitely those affiliates that have made a habit of being successful compared to those who haven’t. I think the main thing that separates them from the pack is their determination and creativity. They have up days and down days just like all affiliates, but they don’t let the down days frustrate them. They take what they have learned as motivation to do better. They test things. They try new offers and landing pages. They are confident when they are about to break through on a campaign and they don’t give up too quickly. But most of all, they just do it. They don’t worry or think about it for hours, they just do it.

15. 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?

There is really only one key to building successful relationships in this industry: communication. So many of the problems that we face on a daily basis could be solved by simply talking to one another.

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

I would get rid of all the fraud that happens and just have people focus on delivering good leads for the advertisers. It only hurts the industry as a whole when fraud happens, and some people spend so much time figuring out how to cheat the system that they could have setup a legitimate campaign in half the time.

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

I think the industry is headed for bigger and better things. More advertisers, more campaigns, and more affiliates. I think that there are still a lot of growing pains to go through before it hits critical mass, but affiliates that pay attention and stay up on the latest happenings and trends will be able to make a huge amount of money.

18. What are your goals in 2010?

Since I just started a new position, my goal is to recruit 500 new affiliates for GetAds by the end of the year. And my personal goal outside of work is to buy a new house for my expanding family.

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

My hobbies are music (writing, producing, and listening to it), watching movies, and playing video games. My favorite movie was Fight Club, but I think it was recently dethroned by Inception. That movie blew my mind on every level. Superbly written, directed, acted, edited, and scored. The effects were amazing too. Plus the story was completely original, not an adaptation, a knock-off, or a sequel.

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

Living the dream.

Many thanks to Josh for sharing your time with us and for sharing some great insight tips here.! If you have any experience with GetAds Affiliate Network, please write a review for them on the GetAds 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.