How Much Will That ZIP / EMAIL Offer Reward Really Cost You?

A few days ago I wrote a post on “Are Zip and Email Offers Worth It?“… to follow up to that post, I went to check out a couple of the latest email/zip offers out there. What I wanted to look at, was what they now require of a new subscriber to receive their prize. The offer in particular that I was looking at was the “Free LG Washer and Dryer“. Even without going through the form process (bypassing a million coregs and subpage offers), you can see what is required, by looking at the terms and conditions, which state:

“Eligible members can receive the incentive gift package by completing a survey and two sponsor offers from each of the TOP, PRIME and PREMIUM offer page options.”

So the next and most important question is… what exactly are the Top, Prime and Premium offers that you have to complete? The terms and conditions page also provides this information and shows the following offers for each section.

TOP OFFERS: (Quick & Cheap Offers)
- Netflix: Two-week trial period. Thereafter membership subscription costs a minimum of $8.99 per month, based on subscription selected, until you cancel your subscription.
- Onlingo: For free trial, pay $6.95 for shipping and processing to try kit for 14 days. If not cancelled during trial period, subsequent kits will be automatically shipped about every 30 days until cancelled for a discounted price of $69.95.
- Columbia House DVD: Buy 5 DVD’s for $0.49 each plus $1.99 shipping and processing per unit (if you buy an additional discount ($14.95) DVD, shipping is FREE). Buy 5 additional DVDs over the next year at prices as low as $19.95 or more plus shipping and processing. You may cancel at any time after doing so.
- Federal Grant Network: Pay $3.87 for the 10 day trial period of the Grant Consultant Kit and access to the directories and training. Thereafter you will automatically be billed a $49.95 reoccurring monthly fee for the Grant Consultant membership. You also receive membership to Network Agenda for forty days on a trial basis, after which you will be billed $23.88 per month for continued access. These programs can be canceled at any time during the trial period or anytime thereafter. Monthly membership fees will be billed to the credit card used by Member to complete the signup process unless/until Member cancels membership or changes billing method. You can call our Customer Service department if you wish to alter the terms of your membership agreement.
- Green Tea 1000: Free 10-day trial of Green Tea 1000 capsules; pay only $4.95 for shipping and handling. After 10-day trial, you will be enrolled in the “Value Direct Program”, where you will be sent a 60 day supply of Green Tea 1000 capsules every 60 days for the discounted price of $89.95 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling until you cancel.
- Purity Mineral: Register for a $1.00 trial of Purity by Mineral Science to receive a full two-month supply of the Purity Mineral Collection. You pay only for shipping and handling ($7.95) & the cost of the trial. You will have 14 days to evaluate the product. If you like the results you will be charged $59.99 at the end of your 14-day trial period, unless you cancel during the trial period. When you register for the trial offer, you will also receive a FREE membership in the Purity Beauty Club. That means 45 days after your sign up date you will be shipped a fresh two-month supply of Purity Mineral Foundation, Mineral All-Over Glow and Mineral Rice Finishing Powder. And so you don’t run out, you’ll continue to get a new shipment every 60 days for the discounted club price of $29.99. Cancel anytime. Please keep in mind, once the order is submitted, trial shipment cannot be cancelled. Trial charges are not refundable.
- Ivory White: Try a free one-week trial of Ivory White; you pay only $4.87 for shipping. After the ten-day trial period, you will be sent a month’s supply of Ivory White for $78.41 per month, unless you cancel.
- Experian: When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring. If you don’t cancel your membership within the 30-day trial period, you will be billed $12 for each month that you continue your membership.
This offer is not related to the free credit report that you are entitled to under Federal law. To obtain that free report, you must go to www.annualcreditreport.com.
- Myomed Pain Reliever: Try a 3 ounce tube of Myomed Cream for free; you pay only $3.97 for shipping and handling. Thereafter you will be sent a 3-ounce tube of Myomed cream each month for $59.95, plus $6.95 shipping and handling, until you cancel. You will also be added to a monthly newsletter and will be billed $4.95 once per month until you unsubscribe.
- Ultimate Green Tea: Try a free sample of Ultimate Green Tea; pay only $3.97 for shipping and handling. After 10 days you will be sent a month’s supply of Ultimate Green Tea once a month for $79.95 per month until you cancel.
- Overnight Genius: Membership subscription costs $78.41 plus $6.95 S&H per month. You will be charged the monthly fee after your trial period until you cancel.
- Disney Movie Club: As a Disney Movie Club member, all you need to do is buy 5 movies at regular Club prices in the next 24 months (starting at $19.95 per DVD), plus shipping and processing of $3.95 for the first title in each order, and $1.00 for each additional title in that same order. You may cancel your membership at any time after purchasing the 5 movies. By agreeing to purchase at least 5 regular-priced movies in the next 24 months, you qualify to receive 3 Disney DVDs of your choice from the list of titles currently available from the Disney Movie Club for $.99 each. Shipping and processing is free.

PRIME OFFERS: (Membership / Medium Cost)
- Cordiaburn: Try Cordiaburn for only $1. When you order the $1 Trial of Cordiaburn your credit card will be charged only $1 for a 1 Month Supply of Cordiaburn plus $4.95 shipping and handling for a total of $5.95. You will have 15 days from your original purchase date to decide if Cordiaburn is right for you. If you are enjoying Cordiaburn do nothing and at the end of your 15-day trial period you will be charged $38.95 for the bottle you received. If you find Cordiaburn is not right for you, simply return the unused portion within 30 days of original order date and you will not be charged. Approximately 30 days from your original purchase date and every 30 days thereafter you will be sent another fresh 1 month supply of Cordiaburn and your credit card on file will be billed the Member’s Only price of $39.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling for a total of $44.90, until you cancel.
- Pimsleur Language Program: Try the Pimsleur Language Program free for 15 days; pay only $3.95 for shipping and handling. If you like the course, keep it and you will be charged $59 per month for 5 months.
- Gevalia Coffee: With the free trial, you will receive four 1/2 lb boxes of Gevalia Kaffe and a 12 Cup Programmable Stainless Steel Coffeemaker & Set of two Stainless Steel Travel Mugs. Thereafter the next shipment will arrive approximately one month later with the selections you chose for your initial shipment. After that, shipments will follow approximately every 6 weeks until you cancel your subscription. Prices of coffees and teas vary, ranging from $5.55-$7.45 per package. Prices of coffee and tea pods are $7.95 for Regular and $8.45 for Decaffeinated. You will be charged S&H.
- Investor’s Guide: Free CD and report pay only $4.95. You will also be enrolled in a free trial of the VIP Club Training and Insider Auction House discounted property lists for 14 days. Thereafter you will be charged $39.95 per month for access to these services until you cancel.
- Poster Pass: Get 4 posters for $2.00 each, plus $31.00 shipping. Each month, about 30 days after introductory order, you will be sent 2 posters and billed $44.00 until cancelled.
- Discover Miles Card: Requires signing up and being accepted for the card.
- Great Fun: Join Great Fun and try the service for the first month for $1. The $14.99 membership fee, or then-current monthly fee, will be billed automatically each month to your credit card, which cannot be a debit card, unless you call toll free during your 1-month trial to cancel. You can call any time to cancel your benefits and will not be billed for any additional months. The $10.00 ExxonMobil Cash Card is yours to keep.
Offer for U.S. residents only. If you enrolled in and cancelled a Great Fun membership within the preceding 60 days, this offer is not available and your enrollment will not be processed.
- Hoodia Water: Try a one-month supply of Hoodia Water for only $1 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. You will have 20 days to try the product. 30 days after the original purchase date and every 30 days thereafter, you will be sent a fresh 1-month supply of Hoodia Water for the discounted price of $39.95 + $4.95 for shipping and handling until you cancel.
- Internet Career Kit: Pay a $1.97 setup fee for a 14-day trial of the eCommerce and Auction Management Platform. Thereafter you will be charged $69.95 per month for subscription to the service until you cancel.
- SeattleCoffeeDirect: Pay initial payment of $9 plus $25 one-time handling fee. Thereafter, you will be billed $12.50 for each 12-oz. bag of coffee, plus a shipping and handling fee until you cancel.
- Magazineburst.com: $27.00 for 5 one-year subscriptions. Thereafter annual subscription will be at the preferred rate then available until you cancel.
- Blockbuster: Your first month subscription will be for $9.99. Thereafter you will be charged $19.99 per monthly subscription until you cancel your membership.
- Discover: Requires signing up and being accepted for the credit card. No annual fee.

PREMIUM OFFERS (High End Purchases)
- Angel Beds: Make a purchase that is a minimum of $1500.00 before taxes and shipping costs. Keep beyond trial period of 90 days from receipt of item(s).
- Club Furniture: Make a purchase that is a minimum of $1500.00 before taxes and shipping costs. Keep beyond 30 days of receipt of item(s).
- Rail Europe: Requires purchase of a travel package for two with a minimum value of $899.00 per person.
- Round Square hosting: Requires purchase of a one-year platinum hosting package for $840.00.

As you can see from the listings, the higher level on the list, the more it’s going to cost you to complete an offer. The “Top” and “Prime” offers are all decent and not to extravagant, but the “Premium” offers at minimum will cost you, $1739, since you need to complete at least two of the four listed.

It would really be interesting to see the backend numbers on these campaigns, not only for how much they make off the massive amount of coregs and offers leading to the final offers page… but how many people only complete 1-5 of the offers out of the six that are required. I would imagine the amount of actual rewards they send out, is miniscule to the amount of leads they receive. Either way, it’s still a legitimate business with a very interesting concept. For any customer that was actually interested or in need of any of the “Premium Offers”, spending a few bucks more on the other TOP and PRIME offers to get a free washer and dryer isn’t a bad deal.

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Make Money with Hydra Network

It’s always nice to do a review on a network that isn’t run off the DirectTrack system, just for the case that the whole setup is different and there are usually more features. Today we are going to look at Hydra Network. I’ve been an affiliate with Hydra Network all the way back to 2003, and since their network went live in 2003, they have shown massive growth and continue to be a prominent player in the affiliate network game. Hydra Network is run by Hyrda LLC, and was named 10th in Inc. magazine’s 2007 “The Fastest Growing Private Companies in America“.

Welcome to Hydra Network
Once you log into your Hydra Network account, you are welcomed with full stats for your account, along with the latest offers and updates added to the network. On the right side of the page you are shown a rotation of “News & Events”, along with “Featured Campaigns”, and a quick break down of each.

The main content area of the main log in page features a full list of “News & Updates”, which goes into detail on new campaigns, payout increases and how to promote hot campaigns. Below the main news and updates sections, you have a section for “New Campaigns”, then four recommended “Hot” campaigns currently featured on the network.

Hydra Network Campaigns
There are currently over 600 campaigns available on Hydra Network. Usually when a network had several hundreds of offers, it’s kind of a turn off, just because they seem to take on as many as they can, and don’t focus on quality and pricing. However, this isn’t the case with Hydra Network, because of the 614 offers currently on the network, 302 of them are EXCLUSIVE campaigns. With over 600 ad campaigns, you should not have any problems finding a success campaign to work with. Campaigns on the network range from $1.00 CPA, all the way up to $122.50.

When hovering over the “Campaigns” menu tab, you have the option to search all campaigns on the same page, or you can segregate your search by New Campaigns or Exclusives Only. For any incentive or form based web sites, the option to choose “Incentivized” and “Pre-Populated” campaigns is also just as easy. For an even more choices, use the “Advanced Campaign Search” for a list of campaigns base don their Attributes, Region or Categories.

Several affiliate networks have their own list of exclusive campaigns, but the majority of them are usually ZIP and EMAIL submit campaigns. Hydra Network has their share of these offer types, but also have an awesome amount of exclusive offers targeted towards health, biz opps, diet, financial services and products.

Hydra Network Stats Tracking
The stats area page is very simple and convenient to pull stats reports. Simply select your date range and click the “Go!” button. You also have the option to show stats based on Sub IDs, Actions and any date range. Some networks limit your stats to only 12-24 months of stats, with Hydra Network there is no limitation on pulling up stats all the way back to 2003.

After pulling setting up your requested stats, you will be sent to a stats page that looks something like the one below.

For anyone interested in setting up tracking urls with a sub id, all you need to do is visit your campaign creative page and scroll down til you are at the Sub ID field. Insert your sub id text and it will automatically create your sub id url for tracking. You can easily create hundreds of sub ids, by replacing your original sub id in the url, since Hydra Network does not over write your sub id name with a new code.

Hydra Network Rewards Program
As you continually earn commissions with Hydra Network, you will also be rewarded for your business and partnership. On top of your monthly commissions, you are eligible to receive a 1% monthly reward. Rewards start at $50, which means you will need to earn $5,000 in monthly commissions before seeing a reward.

Hydra Network Payment Options
Affiliates can opt to receive payments by check, ACH, Paypal or Wire Transfer. Payments are sent out on a Net 15 basis and there is a minimum payment amount of $50.

Summary
Hydra Network has been around for several years now and know how to remain a dominant player in internet advertising. If you aren’t currently working with Hydra Network, I recommend you join their network and see what campaigns they have for you to work with. With over 600 campaigns on the network, it would be smart to join them just to make sure you are getting the highest payouts on your current ad campaigns. I’ve been an affiliate with Hydra Network for many years now and have met with them at several conferences and never had problems with receiving payment.

T-SHIRT BONUS: I still have nearly 400 MoneyReign Shirts, bumper stickers, pens and buttons sitting around. If you join Hydra Network through this blog post, send me an email through the contact page, along with your name, address and tshirt size, I’ll be sure to send a gift package your way. (Due to shipping costs, this offer is limited to US signups only)

- Join Hydra Network

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How to Setup SubID Tracking URLs

I frequently get emails from new affiliates asking how to setup tracking urls for different advertising campaigns. The easiest way to do this, without any outside scripts or software, is to run through the network directly. Many networks are running off the DirectTrack network platform, including MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough to name a few. Through this walk through for setting up SubID tracking, I will use MarketLeverage as an example, but the same process applies to all previous affiliate networks listed.

- Step 1: Login to MarketLeverage and Select an Offer
No matter what offers you select on MarketLeverage or any of the other DirectTrack powered networks, you can setup an unlimited amount of SubID tracking urls.

- Step 2: Setup SubID Tracking URLs
Once you have selected your offer, you should be looking at the page with all of the creatives and banners. Find the email or banner creative that you want to use, then click on the [Add] link in that creative field.

After clicking [Add], five new text forms will open for you to place your subid tags in there. These can be any type of terms you want to use. For my example I threw in a couple tags which would be recognized for search marketing through Google, Yahoo and MSN. You can use whatever text or terms you like.

Once you place your subid terms, click “Update Click Code“, you will be given a new tracking url like the following:

http://payoutdeal.com/a.php?a=CD###&b=19468&d=0&l=
0&o=&p=0&c=3771&s1=searchgoogle1&s2=&s3=&s4=&s5=

The area in RED is your subid tag that you just created to track campaign performance.

- Step 3: SubID Tracking & Stats
Now that you have your subid tracking urls setup and running, you will want to check their individual stats. To do this, all you need to do is go to your stats page as you usually do, but this time instead of clicking “Display Stats“, you should click the “Get SubID Stats” link on the bottom section. You will then be sent to the reports page for performance on your subid tracking urls.

- Additional Campaign Tracking Options
In addition to the SubID tracking setup above, you also have the option to simply setup a “Name Creative for Deployment“, which is how I usually setup campaigns. To do this, you follow the same process as step 1 above, to find your offer. Skip step 2 above with the [Add] and just look for the form (shown below) at the bottom of each creative. Just place your creative name tag in the form and click “Deploy Creative”. The next page will provide you with your new tracking url. For stats tracking, follow the same process shown above in step 3, but instead of clicking “Get SubID Stats”, you should click “Get Stats for Deployed Creative”.

This SubID tracking process will work with any of the following networks: MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough. I will follow up to this post with more ways on how to setup tracking ids through other networks, setting up your own tracking scripts, or using another outside service. Feel free to comment with any recommend scripts or services you have used.

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Are ZIP and EMAIL Offers Worth It?

We’ve all seen them, and most of us even promote them. Yes, I’m talking about those high paying offers that pay for JUST and EMAIL address or a ZIP code. How can these networks pay so much money for just one field? Easy, they put the user through a massive signup process (usually 50+ coregs), then ask the user to complete several CC required offers for the last section. In the end, they make a ton of money off all of the visitors that put in their legit email and contact info, then requested any of the coreg information… and since most of these users will never complete the signup process and terms to get their free prize/reward, they end up banking.

I made a post about a year ago called, “How to Get a Free 42″ Panasonic Plasma TV!” by signing up to one of these offers, then completing all of the annoying offers at the end of the process. Back then it was easier to complete and qualify for your reward and to complete offers. Now most of the offers have put in a new clause in to the terms and conditions, saying that you have to stay subscribed to the services you are required to signup to, for at least 6 months. I can only imagine the backend advertisers were getting a ton of signups that were only staying for the free trial, or canceling within a weeks time… I know I did!

In the end, I did end up getting my free flat screen tv… but it wasn’t without a hassle. After having to signup to a ton of offers, I had to make sure they were all cancelled. Not to mention completing the offers ran me around $200 in shipping costs and trial fees. To make things even worse, since the TV is worth more than $600, anyone that received one, also receive a 1099 tax form which meant you were going to pay taxes on the $1699 TV you were sent. So in addition to paying the $200+ to join all of the offers, you also had to pay taxes (few hundred bucks) on the TV.

In the End, I did get my 42″ Panasonic TV… but it really wasn’t “FREE”!

So the answer the question, “Are ZIP and EMAIL Offers Worth It?“. As a marketer, Yes… they convert well and make good money. I’m sure they do well for the back end advertiser as well, since we have seen no shortage on these offers for years now. (For the record… the EMAIL submission converts better than ZIP submission… which is why they usually pay more.) As a customer, the offer probably isn’t that great anymore, especially since you can’t cancel any memberships or services for 6 months. The only program I’m actually STILL using as a result of the Free TV signup process, is my subscription to BlockBuster Online.

In any case, I saw these offers being promoted all over the place and wanted to see if they were really true. I got my free flat screen tv, then I told some friends about it and they got theirs too. Have you promoted any of the ZIP / EMAIL campaigns, or attempted to get a free product of your own?

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SEOIntelligence: Search Marketing Made Simple

While at EliteRetreat a few months ago, I met up with Jeremy Hermanns and he briefly showed me his new site and webmaster service called SEOIntelligence. Jeremy has a deep background in SEM, which you can read up on at his SimpleSEM blog. When I first saw his new SEOIntelligence site, it was in beta, but now it’s live and available for full use. I really like the program, stats reports and tools available through the system which I will outline now. Paid search is a great way to make money, but if you can master your web site’s SEO and get well ranked in the search engines for free, your site is good as gold! The service has a monthly membership fee of $39.99 a month, but also offers a free 14 day trial to test the system out.

What is SEOIntelligence?
In short, any webmaster or web site owner, will find SEOIntelligence.com as an easy and cost effective solution to study, improve and manage their search engine marketing campaigns. All software is hosted and updated regularly on the SEOIntelligence web site, which makes it easy for you login and find what you need. Once a member, you can pull full data reports on your site’s search performance, keyword listings, linking strategies, full site analysis and more.

SNAPSHOT (Welcome Screen)
- The first thing you see when you login to a web site, whether it be an affiliate network or your facebook/myspace account… you should see the latest updates and what’s new. That is exactly what SEOIntelligence has setup for you when you log into your account. In the “Snapshot” break down, you will see a graph charting your web site rankings, along Daily Statistics from ranking networks such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Alexa, Technorati and Compete. Using the SPOTLIGHT pull down menu, you can change up all of these tracking charts and stats based on Backlinks, Pages, PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati Rank and Compete Rank.

COMPETITION TRACKER
- One of the major attractions and pushing factors behind many online businesses, is to rank better than their competition. Using the “Competition Tracker”, you can make a list of competiting web sites in your niche area, and pull reports on their positions vs. your continuing increase in search position. Competition Tracker reports include Number of Links, Google Pages, Yahoo Pages, PR, Alexa and the ability to re-crawl your competition’s backlinks reports with the click of a button.

Report Manager
- Personally, I love data reports and pulling figures, but it gets really annoying to have files downloaded and having to create new folder and sub-folders… then they are spread all of your computer. SEOIntelligence makes pulling and looking at your site reports so easy, because everything is hosted on their end and a simple click or two will pull up your report and save it for future use. The Report Manager will pull and save performance, backlinks, competitor reports and more.

keyword Locator
- Keywords are always a hot topic with everyone. Whether you are trying to create a new keyword list for a pay per click campaign, or what to target what keywords are best for your seo positioning… keyword tracking and tools are important. With the Keyword Locator, you are given multiple sources of keywords from the top tracking sites online.

Keyword Competition
- Now that you have the Keyword Locator tools, you can focus on what keywords you want to target and where your competition stands. Instead of wondering where your potential customers are shopping, pull a quick report and actually your competition in an easy to read chart.

SEOi Web Stats
- My favorite tool or section on the site is the SEOi Web Stats which is basically a breakdown of all reports and graphs on your site. This breakdown of reports in cludes Site Visitors, Time Spent, Traffic Sources, Links, Searches, Site Content, Referring Sites and much more. Once you are setup with an account, you are given a simple line of code to place on your site to track and report activity back to your SEOIntelligence account.

Though it may have seemed like a long post, it’s just the tip of the iceberg on tools, reports and functionality that you have access to through SEOIntelligence. As a webmaster or reader of this blog, you may think… “Well, I can look up some of that information for free“… which is true, but how much is your time really worth? For less than $1.34 a day, you can have access to instant reports and immediate updates that you can save and study for future use.

Don’t just take my work for it, visit SEOIntelligence and walk through their “Product Tour” and you will see full charts and more trackings/tools available through their site. Remember, if you would like to check your web site statistics and see how you compare with your competition, grab a free 14 day trial today. If you have any questions or comments about the service, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to have Jeremy answer all of your questions.

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