opinion

Mobile Mania: The Right Promo Tools for Affiliates

Have you ever heard about Ethan Zuckerman? Last year this guy made a big public apology to the world.

Why did he feel like doing it? For inventing the pop-up ad, one of the most common advertising tools presently available online.

Mobile affiliate programs have just started developing strategies to deliver pop-ups/pop-unders on new-generation phones.

Sure, the pop up was invented in the 1990s and a lot has happened, or let’s say changed, ever since. This distinctively applies to the mobile world.

In the past year alone tons of different promo tools have been created to serve the unique needs of affiliates in order to help them with sponsors’ offers.

This month we will have a look at the different options found in the mobile market nowadays and even compare them with the promo tools in the desktop world.

Perhaps the most common promo tool is the direct link. Sponsors give out the link, webmasters send the traffic and then they convert it for you.

In the desktop world you are used to working with different deep links to get the best result, but in the mobile world it is a little bit different: an algorithm is working behind this link, to ensure that the traffic reaches the best fitting offer.

In the desktop world you can send users from the whole world to a cam site, for example. The geo-targeting will change the language and that’s it.

Once again, for mobile it does not work that way. Because of different payment regulations with every carrier, device type, OS and other factors, the program owner administers the routing for the user in the background.

How partners obtain the click on the link is entirely the webmaster’s job, either using banners and text, or even using the clicks for redirects.

If you are a site owner then you could work with a device filter script. With this you can redirect your traffic to a mobile solution. In some cases the program gives you the option to adjust it, so you can redirect for example only 3G traffic in countries with direct carrier billing. This means you will keep the bounce rate low, and have only the most valuable users redirected.

Banner scripts are also popular these days. Webmasters don’t need their own ad server. Simply install the script of your favorite mobile sponsor and they will always deliver the best banners for their partners. In most cases the banner clicks will be tracked and the program will constantly make sure not to use banners with a bad CTR (click-through rate) and try out new designs.

Let’s get back a bit to the pop-ups that were mentioned at the beginning of the article.

It is quite common to use them on mobile as well, but neither me nor you actually want to see pop-ups while surfing the web the mobile way. This is why new generation phones come with a pop-up blocker by default.

So, this turns banners into a good additional revenue source that cannot be tapped into that easily.

I have some good news: Mobile affiliate programs have just started developing, during the past month, strategies to deliver pop-ups/pop-unders on new-generation phones.

Just check with your sponsor if this is already supported by them.

Moving on to the next promo tool: the back button script. You need to know right from the start that you have to use it with care, especially if you buy traffic.

You see, the thing with it is some networks do not like it and can block your campaigns, but if you own the traffic go for it. The way it works is considered a bit aggressive.

A user sees the mobile offer you present him. He does not like it and uses the back button of his mobile browser. Normally the user is lost, but not with this script. It will first show the user an additional product. Hopefully he likes it better and you get a sale.

Saving the best for last ... here comes my personal favorite promo tool at the moment: the full page iFrame overlay. It is a quite new promo tool, so I will explain it a little bit more detailed.

Let’s say you run a website and you don’t want to use redirects. This can have many reasons. Either because you have lots of returning users and you are afraid that Google hits you hard for it.

This is a good scenario for this promo tool: An overlay over the full screen, containing an iFrame with the complete mobile product. So the user can interact, make a sale and everything that he would do after a redirect without leaving your page.

If the user does not like the offer he simply clicks on a big X to close the iFrame.

You also have the option to get it closed automatically after a few seconds. I tested it on several dating sites.

After the log out process, the user is still horny and looking for a date even though he has logged out. Suddenly a video-on-demand portal appears where he can enjoy a “wankaction.” Keep in mind, the user will still be on one of your pages and if he closes the iFrame, he will still see your site with other offers and banners.

Some mobile affiliate programs have the option to set up unique rules regarding how exactly webmasters wish to route their traffic in their system. It is very helpful if you sell, for example, a part of your traffic that can not be converted over mobile billing, or you have a new project that you want to push with some particular traffic.

This is only a small glimpse on some of the promo tools that are out there and waiting for mobile webmasters to use them. And I believe that this is just the beginning.

Other tools will appear, I am sure. If you know promo tools that are not mentioned here, or if you want to exchange experiences regarding them, I would be more then glad to discuss them with you. It would be best to drop me some lines on Facebook, or, we can always talk during the next show.

Stefan Mühlbauer is director of marketing and sales at BrokerBabe.com. If you are interested in the mobile world, contact him in Sitges, Phoenix or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/s.muehli

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

Best Practices for Payment Gateway Security

Securing digital payment transactions is critical for all businesses, but especially those in high-risk industries. Payment gateways are a core component of the digital payment ecosystem, and therefore must follow best practices to keep customer data safe.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Ready for New Visa Acquirer Changes?

Next spring, Visa will roll out the U.S. version of its new Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP), which goes into effect April 1, 2025. This follows Visa Europe, which rolled out VAMP back in June. VAMP charts a new path for acquirers to manage fraud and chargeback ratios.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

How to Halt Hackers as Fraud Attacks Rise

For hackers, it’s often a game of trial and error. Bad actors will perform enumeration and account testing, repeating the same test on a system to look for vulnerabilities — and if you are not equipped with the proper tools, your merchant account could be the next target.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

VerifyMy Seeks to Provide Frictionless Online Safety, Compliance Solutions

Before founding VerifyMy, Ryan Shaw was simply looking for an age verification solution for his previous business. The ones he found, however, were too expensive, too difficult to integrate with, or failed to take into account the needs of either the businesses implementing them or the end users who would be required to interact with them.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

How Adult Website Operators Can Cash in on the 'Interchange' Class Action

The Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement resulted from a landmark antitrust lawsuit involving Visa, Mastercard and several major banks. The case centered around the interchange fees charged to merchants for processing credit and debit card transactions. These fees are set by card networks and are paid by merchants to the banks that issue the cards.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

It's Time to Rock the Vote and Make Your Voice Heard

When I worked to defeat California’s Proposition 60 in 2016, our opposition campaign was outspent nearly 10 to 1. Nevertheless, our community came together and garnered enough support and awareness to defeat that harmful, misguided piece of proposed legislation — by more than a million votes.

Siouxsie Q ·
opinion

Staying Compliant to Avoid the Takedown Shakedown

Dealing with complaints is an everyday part of doing business — and a crucial one, since not dealing with them properly can haunt your business in multiple ways. Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA Profile: Patricia Ucros

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Ucros graduated from college with a degree in education. She spent three years teaching third grade, which she enjoyed a lot, before heeding her father’s advice and moving to South Florida.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Creating Payment Redundancies to Maximize Payout Uptime

During the global CrowdStrike outage that took place toward the end of July, a flawed software update brought air travel and electronic commerce to a grinding halt worldwide. This dramatically underscores the importance of having a backup plan in place for critical infrastructure.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Need for Minimal Friction in Age Verification Technology

In the adult sector, robust age assurance, comprised of age verification and age estimation methods, is critical to ensuring legal compliance with ever-evolving regulations, safeguarding minors from inappropriate content and protecting the privacy of adults wishing to view adult content.

Gavin Worrall ·
Show More