Interview: Vito G Glazers (CPATank)

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

My name is Vito G. Glazers and I am 25 but ask anyone who knows me and I am going on 47. I was born in Illinois but spent a lot of time in Central America growing up and currently live between Hollywood, CA and my favorite city in the world Chicago.

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

It was 2006 and I was living a 20 year old's dream in the mortgage business banking $10-$20,000 fees off of 1-2 hours of paperwork, but it was easy to see that the party was coming to an end. A close friend at a competing mortgage firm had told me that he had heard someone was making $200 a day chatting with guys online and getting signups for web-cams. The real opportunity was in our ability to predict the declining state of the economy as we created our first “Work from Home Job That Really Paid.” If we gave the training for free people would try it and they did. The first time we paid out payments on time, our business jumped by 1000% over a weekend. I knew that as long as I helped other people make money and made sure everyone always was paid on time that I would always be in business.

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

I was skeptical at first since I just could not find it feasible that I would ever match my income from banking ever again. Initially my checks were $200-$500 a week and my bills were twice that but all it took was one joint venture with (what I considered then) huge affiliate and I quickly saw the unlimited income potential in affiliate marketing.

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

My biggest mistake was trying to chase every project that could be profitable all at the same time. I had ideas for affiliate programs to promote everything from Sex Toys to Coffins. The thing I have learned now is to be an expert and deal with other experts instead of trying to do everything yourself. Just because you have been incredibly successful with PPC does not mean you are automatically qualified to run a network. Stick to what you know.

5. What was your biggest success to date?

It may sound materialistic but the day I bought my first Range Rover was a feeling I have yet to beat. It was less about the material object and more about the fact of wanting something so specific, for so long and thinking it was so unattainable. I am now on my third one and it is the best one yet but I never felt more successful than the day I drove the first one home.

6. What are the best places for the newbie to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?

If you need direction I would just advise you to start with something you are interested in and learn how to make money from there. If you like video games, poker, helping others etc – you are better off finding methods to earn income doing those things online, most likely promoting those offers, since you will be more likely to care about what you are learning and you will be in the frame of mind of the people you are trying to get money from.

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

No matter how good your stats look you can’t call it successful until the money is in the bank. So make sure you work with a network where you will get paid!

8. What's the difference between a Super affiliate and an Average affiliate?

A Super Affiliate to me is one that you can trust to not steal your method and go promote it at another network just for a 3% raise. I give those affiliates the A+ treatment whether they make $100 a week or $1,000 a day.

9. Tell us a little bit about CPATank and what you do over there?

The only way to survive in the CPA industry is by filling an untapped niche. Networks lately have been getting too close with advertisers and I feel that the leverage is being turned against affiliates. I have never considered myself anybody’s boss or manager, I consider myself a business partner and union representative to good affiliates who just do not have the knowledge or desire to deal with advertisers but still want to get paid what their talent is worth. The goal of CPATank is to provide a virtual working environment that encourages the affiliates and associates to interact less like a sales team and more like an army platoon taking over market share.

10. I see you are using HasOffers as your affiliate network platform. What made you pick them instead of LinkTrust, DirectTrack, HitPath, etc?

The last few networks that I ran before CPATank were incredibly profitable and had the most basic interfaces imaginable. When developing CPATank I wanted to stay true to those underground roots that you do not need a flashy website to bring in the best talent to join your network, it should be run like a private club. HasOffers had that simple, logical feel we were looking to provide affiliates with.

11. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes CPATank different?

CPATank is a private affiliate haven. Everyone who rolls with me knows that I have their back 100% and that I am always down to push the limits. When affiliates join CPATank, they should feel safe inside, knowing that we are not like most networks who work with the advertisers to play tricks to milk affiliates. Also I like to pride myself in being an available top decision maker. I talk to anyone and look at every deal and see if there is a way to make money.

12. Which offers are performing well on your network?

Right now we have been very successful with Home Income Black, SnagAJob, Dating offers, Credit Reports, Free Email Submits for iPhone4 and other Apple products, and mobile and download offers. We can get any offer and we will meet and exceed ANY competitors payout. There is not a single excuse for affiliates not to use us.

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

As a network taking traffic, it is important to stay diversified so we have many successful affiliates in all niches. One of my goals for the next 90 days it to really step up our Facebook traffic and Mobile traffic and we will be literally letting affiliates name their payouts if they can deliver real volume.

14. What are the criteria for a marketer to be accepted at CPATank?

Speak good English. Just kidding, I have 3 main criteria that I look for in everyone whether in my personal life or as part of CPATank: 1) Ambition 2) Honesty 3) Loyalty

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

24/7 on my mobile phone – ADMIN@CPATank.com – or on AIM screen name CPATank. You can always add me on Facebook or visit http://CPATank.com/Contact.html for all my alternative contact information. And follow us on Twitter @CPATank, that is where we post all important announcements.

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?

The key to building a successful relationship is honest open lines of communication from all parties involved. People always come back to me because they know they can be completely honest and disclose all their details and that their secrets are safe with me. Many times those secrets lead on to make a lot of money. Affiliates know they can be honest with me because I have their best intention in mind when advising them. But the most important thing is having trust on both sides.

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

I would make an advertiser stiffing a network punishable by the death penalty. I have literally had to text message the owner of a shady advertiser a picture of his own house to collect a $35,000 payment. Everyone is a tough guy behind a computer until you send them a picture of their house.

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

 The industry is going through a lot of changes because of the new attention to consumer advocacy regarding free credit card trials. This reaches from Visa to Wells Fargo Merchant Services to banks in Europe you have never heard of. At the end of the day it is all tied in to the subprime mortgages and bank liquidity. But I know there is plenty of revenue and room to survive for aggressive networks with a niche to fill. CPATank is very new and already we are the 3rd most reviewed site on AffiliatePaying and have an approval list that is taking serious manpower to clear through so there is obviously a demand for what CPATank is offering compared to other networks.

19. What are your goals in 2010?

My goal for 2010 is to help 100 people get rich. I would like to be paying at least 10 affiliates $10,000 a week and 90 affiliates at least $1,000 week. I would also like to give $50,000 to charity.

20. What's your favorite movie and why?

My favorite movie is American Psycho with Christian Bale. I have a saying that there is two types of people in the world, one type that think American Psycho is a gruesome movie, and one type that think it is hilarious. I laugh through the entire movie.

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

I wake up, give thanks for the day, check my overnight stats and my reviews on AffiliatePaying ;) then I get to work. The thing about this business is you can NEVER be online or available enough. I answer IM’s every night before I go to bed and every morning there is always a cue. It is all about contacts and communication and everyone and anyone is welcome to get money with me.

22. And finally, thank you so much, Vito, for sharing your time with us and for sharing some great insight tips here.

Thank you for the opportunity and thank you most of all for the great resource you are creating here on AffiliatePaying, your efforts are definitely not going unappreciated by the community.

Many thanks to Vito G Glazers for allowing this interview! If you have any experience with Vito's CPATank affiliate network, please write a review for them on the CPATank 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.