Nelson Nascimento is the Head of Publishers at lemonads, one of the thriviest CPA network at the beginning of 2020. In the business for almost 8 years, he was a Mediabuyer, Account Manager and Publishers Director/Head of Publishers into worldwide companies of the industry. Now at lemonads, he is managing the Publishers Team. What he likes the most is the contact with the publishers, help the Team to manage their portfolio and bring new ideas and developments for the publishers to help them improve their business.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from?
I am from Geneva, Switzerland, but moved to Portugal 18 years ago. I’m a dynamic person, always interested in innovations and, of course, passionate about digital.
2. How long have you been in affiliate marketing and how did you get involved?
Almost all my professional life was in this business. I started to work in the business at 23 years-old. I started as a Mediabuyer back then. I quickly enjoyed the job and the industry. Its volatility (on the good side), the analytical part, dealing with people helped me to quickly enjoy the business and make a career in it.
3. What is the biggest mistake you made when you first started doing Affiliate Marketing?
Make assumptions. When I was creating my first campaigns, I was always taking for granted some assumptions like “this banner will never work”, “this will never be good” and so on. Later on, I started to test everything and I noticed that sometimes, the most performing banner is not always the most beautiful one. The best offer is not always the one we think it will be. Now, I never make assumptions, I test, and I push my publishers to do the same every time.
4. What was your biggest success to date?
Of course that the biggest success is always related to the numbers. In my specific case, my success case was to build a mediabuy team and train/teach my mediabuyers to help them be independent and profitable in a short time.
Into lemonads, I’m really proud of our work. The company grows so fast and the good feedbacks or thanks from our publishers is a pretty good success for me.
5. Tell us a little bit about lemonads and what you do over there?
I am the Head of Publishers. Simply put, we (the team and I) help the publishers to generate and increase their revenue by bringing to them our knowledge and expertise in affiliate marketing. It may be to find the most efficient offers according to their traffic or just help them use our platform wisely.
6. There are already so many CPA affiliate networks out there. What makes lemonads different?
Our support and our offers. We are very dedicated. Not only like every network says nowadays. We really analyze and dig into the publishers performance and account to understand how we can help and what is the best solution for him. We fight to get payout bumps, we fight to get cap increases if needed and we fight to get the offers the pub wants. To sum up, we’re determined to become the best on the marketplace. This is what makes us special.
In terms of offers, we have a huge catalogue of offers, they are all direct with some exclusive and in-house in the mix.
Also, we set up the weekly payment and daily payment (under certain conditions). This is another reason we are different from competitors.
7. What verticals does your network specialize in? What kind of offers are performing well on your network?
At the moment, in terms of best verticals, I will stress Nutra, Sweepstakes, Mobile Content and Dating. We cover other verticals like Gambling, Gaming and more but the first ones I mentioned are the ones where I know we can bring a huge added value with strong and high-standard offers.
8. Which traffic sources prove to be the most effective for your top earning affiliates - Push, Native, Facebook, Email, Search or any others?
I cannot say that a specific source is the best. It’s all a matter of method and angle. As long as the publisher knows how to work, almost any source can work. We have pubs of all kind, working with all the types of traffic.
9. What are the criteria for an affiliate marketer to be accepted at lemonads?
There is no specific criteria as long as the publisher is relevant for us. Our onboarding is very quick: in less than one minute, you create your account and within the next 24 hours your account will be reviewed and you will be contacted by our team. Of course that the conversation with our team is very important, it’s where we will understand what is the most adapted offers for each pub.
10. For those who are interested in working with you and your affiliate network - What's the best way/time to reach you?
Simply create an account on our website. You can also reach me on Skype (live:nelson.nascimento_6) or by email: nelson.nascimento@lemonads.com if you need more informations before subscribing.
11. What are the best places for the newbie to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give for them?
The forums as STM or Afflift are always a great sources of advice to improve your knowledge in affiliate marketing and get your business started on the right track. Besides, I advice all affiliates to daily watch on the forums.
For my part, I think that congress are also a very effective way to meet affiliate marketers, CPA networks but also opinion leaders of influencers whose keynotes on stage are always interesting.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to exclusively announce the upcoming opening of the lemonads blog, which aims to inform on trends and innovations in affiliate marketing, but also to advise publishers on new levers or verticals with strong added-values.
12. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements of run a successful campaign?
Be logical, pay attention to the details and remember that being an affiliate is not easy and requires a lot of work, so put effort and hardwork in your campaign. That’s my three first tips to become a successful publisher.
13. What's the difference between a Super affiliate and an Average affiliate?
Numbers and contacts. In my opinion a Super Affiliate is an affiliate that, on top of making big numbers, also knows the companies, the people, the offers of our business.
14. What are the keys to building successful relationships between Affiliates and Affiliate Networks?
Communication (not in quantity but in quality), good traffic and volumes. With these 3 ingredients, every publishers can have a good relation with the affiliate network
15. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?
I would like that a big wave arrives and removes all the fraudsters! I also reckon that in the companies (overall) there is still a lack of professionalism. Maybe because it’s a relatively recent business (comparing to other ones). But into lemonads, human being is at the heart of each of our decisions, and we are adopting a responsible behaviour in each step and services provided, this start with a thorough protection against fraud.
16. What trends do you think we can expect to see in the affiliate marketing industry in the next 1-2 years? Where lemonads may be going? What advice would you give to affiliates to keep up the pace?
I don’t see specific trends, I think the business will be more and more diversified with new verticals appearing and growing, new types of traffic, new tools. Which is normal. I also see more and more good mediabuyers/affiliates which is also a positive thing for us. Not only for the revenue they generate but they also more interesting to speak with. We also learn from them.
In the case of lemonads, we are growing, that’s for sure. And for now, that’s all I can say, new things are arriving. I can give several advices but one of the most important ones I can give to the affiliate is to never put all the eggs in the same basket. Try to diversify, test new things. Even if your campaigns are going well, test other offers, other traffic sources. Our business is very dynamic and what works today may die tomorrow.
17. What's your favorite movie and why?
Shawshank Redemption. A classic that covers different subjects such as injustice, life in prison, concept of freedom (where an old man has more freedom in prison than outside), society, etc.
18. Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.
In our business, there is no typical day. I arrive in the morning, I have a plan but then I need to adapt to what happens. Simple. I leave the office when I think it’s enough.
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