Alina Nikolenko is the CEO of Adexico affiliate network since 2018. Graduated Odessa Maritime University, Ukraine in 2016. In affiliate marketing since 2016.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from?
I was born and live in Odessa, Ukraine and I'm 24 years old. Studied law at Maritime University. Now I have my own startup and I am passionate about what I do.
2. How long have you been in affiliate marketing and how did you get involved?
I’ve been in affiliate niche for 4 years already. In the beginning I built review blogs and webpages for Amazon products and drove traffic to them through PPC on Google and DSPs. It wasn’t very profitable at the beginning and I started searching of new ways of income. Online income! I found out that one of my friends is starting his own affiliate network and he assured me that I can earn much more through affiliate marketing based on CPA.
3. What is the biggest mistake you made when you first started doing Affiliate Marketing?
I think I've been in the Amazon business longer than it should be. It brought me enough money for a living, and I felt comfortable. But still, large number of competitors in the main categories of goods made it spend much more time, but ceased to bring the desired profit So, I think that I needed to leave the comfort zone and start developing my own network, Adexico, much earlier.
4. What was your biggest success to date?
This is a hard question. I think my biggest achievements are ahead. Of course, I had some goals that I have reached. For now, I am proud that I managed to set up an Adexico company and get successful results in a quite short period.
I am glad that we are able to develop with our team and we have the opportunity to help our publishers become successful with us.
5. Tell us a little bit about Adexico and what you do over there?
Adexico is US based CPA affiliate network. We help affiliates and advertisers mutually have beneficial cooperation. We have grown our own internal media buying team to run unique advertiser’s campaigns as well as teaching our new affiliates the secrets of profitable affiliate work. We try to do everything for our publishers to make them successful: provide high converting offers in big variety of verticals with a wide range of creatives, high payouts and on-time payments. We are confident in all our managers, who are always in touch and ready to provide you with the best support.
As for me personally, I work closely with all advertisers, but also maintain some affiliates and constantly look for new promotional methods. I like to be involved in all aspects of the company.
6. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes Adexico different?
I can’t say that we are super different, have the highest payouts or have offers which others don’t. But I can definitely say that we are doing our job efficiently. We respect our clients and they can always turn to us for a help and get it. At Adexico, we understand the importance of the relationship between a network and a publisher. We strive for honest communication from day one. Keeping our affiliates happy and satisfied is one of our goals. Our publishers are always sure that their performance and investments will be paid. Moreover, we are very flexible with our payment terms and if someone showed good traffic quality, we can easily pay him even weekly.
7. What verticals does your network specialize in? What kind of offers are performing well on your network?
We work with a vast amount of verticals: sweepstakes (CC submits, SOI), adult, dating, VOD, streaming, mobile subscriptions, finance, insurance, casino offers.
There are also quite a few private CPI (CPA) offers, we buy traffic for by ourselves. In 2019 main focus was on sweeps and adult, also VOD and Streaming niches.
8. Which traffic sources prove to be the most effective for your top earning affiliates - Push, Native, Facebook, Email, Search or any others?
It all depends on the vertical, all of the listed above works well for us.
Actually, social media, email marketing and push - performing more effectively no matter which vertical. Doorway traffic (I didn’t say that ) works good for VOD, Streaming and Download offers. Pop, Push, Native are top sources for Adult and Sweepstakes niche.
9. What are the criteria for an affiliate marketer to be accepted at Adexico?
If you are honest, legit and dedicated to your work you will have no difficulty be approved. Publisher must fill out an application form on our website and managers will contact him promptly to clarify the details about his promotional methods. No fraud, total transparency and close communication - are the keys to success with Adexico.
10. For those who are interested in working with you and your affiliate network - What's the best way/time to reach you?
You can reach me in any way convenient for you: Email, Skype or Phone. I am available anytime during the day.
If you are an advertiser, just contact via our website form - https://adexico.com/contact-us/ If you are an affiliate marketer submit your application here - http://publishers.adexico.com/signup
11. What are the best places for the newbie to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?
Internet is overflowing with free information about this stuff. There’s a huge amount of affiliate marketing forums, groups and blogs. A lot of affiliates share their experiences and help each other.
My advice to newbies is to find a niche, a method of promotion which is interesting for you. You need to put your heart and soul into what you are going to do - anything less will not produce the desired results. Do things gradually and move step by step towards success.
12. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign.
There is such a “rule of three”, or as it is called in another way - the "holy trinity". It says that key elements of a successful campaign are: right offer, correctly target audience and catching creative. So, if one three is not good - the company is doomed to failure from the beginning.
Unfortunately you will need to gain some experience first. Experience = spent time and money (usually big money).
13. What's the difference between a Super affiliate and an Average affiliate?
It’s a difficult question, because I don’t know who to consider as a super affiliate and who as an average. Cos someone earns $100 and considers it as a success, but for another $10 000 dollars is not enough. I can simply say in order to achieve positive results, each affiliate should have certain qualities, that will help him achieve success. First of all, the affiliate must be persistent and not give up after the first failure. The desire to learn - constant search for information is the second skill for success. Also, affiliate should choose a strategy and follow it daily, therefore, turn it into reality, and not just leave a plan on a piece of paper.
14. What are the keys to building successful relationships between Affiliates and Affiliate Networks? What are some of the challenges of being a CEO of an affiliate network?
Relations on both sides should be transparent. When a publisher and affiliate network communicate day by day and trust each other, such relationships will lead to success. If a publisher plays by the rules - we will always help him achieve the best results and offer the most favorable conditions.
I don’t see any challenges or specific characteristics of being a CEO of an affiliate network. As in any other profession, you need to be knowledgeable, sociable, sometimes get yourself under control and be able to find common ground with your partners.
15. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?
I would like everyone in this area to be more decent and responsible. So, more companies must comply with contract terms. Maybe the percentage of fraud would decrease since publishers wouldn’t have to worry that their traffic wouldn’t be paid. Furthermore, I would like managers to be more open-ended, educated and polite.
16. What do you think about where the industry is going in 2020? Where Adexico may be going? What advice would you give to affiliates to keep up the pace?
Affiliate marketers are waiting for big changes.
Without constant training, flexibility and strategic thinking, marketer will no longer be relevant. Not because of the introduction of AI, but because of his own professional unsuitability. That’s why our industry is a little bit under pressure. More and more companies are getting engaged in internal media buying and fewer of them promote their products through affiliates.
Affiliate marketing is the booming industry, where each day new quality standards are brought in and have to be implemented imminently. This year we saw a lot of new laws and regulations which have a strong effect on the way companies should comply with the collection and processing of personal data.
As for Adexico, we will expand our media buying team and develop in this direction.
17. What's your favorite movie and why?
I'm not a big fan of movies or TV shows, if I have free time I spend it walking by the sea or in the park, since I spend so much time on the laptop
The last TV show, I liked is «Billions». It is interesting and tells about the cruel and uncompromising world of huge money, where there is no place for wimps. It gives you food for thought.
18. Thanks a lot for this interview. If there is anything else you would like to say to the readers of Affpaying.com now is the time!
Thank you and all Affpaying readers!
One last thing I want to say is, if you decide to engage in affiliate marketing, take it seriously, otherwise, you will fail. This is not an easy job. It requires a lot of time, money and diligence - especially at the beginning. So if you are ready to go through this long way to become successful, you are welcome to Adexico!
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