“I’m not going to say product owner, but I started a supplement company with a doctor friend of mine. And the whole idea was to take the supplement company online and just become kind of a supplement guy on the internet.” — Gene Morris, Creator of Pay Per Call Blueprint
Gene Morris is a veteran media buyer, affiliate marketer, Affiliate Outreach Manager at PALO Media, and creator of the Pay Per Call Blueprint. The Pay Per Call Blueprint course provides start-to-finish training in Pay Per Call and Affiliate Marketing. We were very excited for the opportunity to gleam Pay Per Call insights and best practices from the man himself.
Watch the interview on YouTube
Listen to the audio version
Read the transcript
Gene’s Advice for Those Who Are New to Pay Per Call
“One of the important things, I think, especially if you’re kind of new to pay per call is I think you’re really going to accelerate as a new pay per caller if you work closely with the network. So it’s really important to kind of find a credible and reliable network to work with, maybe a couple, two or three.”
Finding and working closely with a network is a great starting off point for anyone new to the Pay Per Call space. Knowing what’s going on within a network will provide insights into the offers that they provide. You will begin to grasp concepts, such as how offers get brokered, whether there are multiple buyers in the chain, and how payouts compare to other networks.
Be Upfront With Your Affiliate Manager
“Have a nice conversation with their affiliate manager and really just try to catch them lying. That’s my favorite part, just catch them lying to me. Because to be honest with you, you can look at an EPC, an earnings per click, on a pay-per-call network. And it may look really high, and you’d be like, ‘Oh, my God. They’re just killing it with this offer.’ But that could just be one guy on the backend that’s making it work. It doesn’t mean there’s a whole bunch of guys back there running it.”
Sometimes affiliate managers will pitch you on offers that you just shouldn’t be running. Because of this, it is very important to establish an open and candid rapport with your affiliate manager. It’s very easy for a network to pull syndicated offers, meaning there can be two or three middlemen involved at times. To better understand how offers are being brokered just be courteous, and transparent with your affiliate manager at all times. All of this will likely be reciprocated by your affiliate manager!
Fail Early and Fail Often
“I think more that it’s better if you fail early and fail often. There’s still something to be said about setting up campaigns properly. That way, the cards are kind of stacked in your favor. So even though you’re probably going to start losing money over a week or so, these campaigns that are set up properly, you should see conversions coming in.”
There is something to be said about doing things right. When you afford yourself the opportunity to fail early and fail often, you’re only going to find yourself more motivated when things do go right. The trial and error, the due diligence, A/B testing; all of it gives you stronger fundamentals if you’re willing to roll with the punches, at least occasionally.
Ask Your Network What They Have In Place for Quality Assurance
“Talk to your affiliate network and see what they have in place for QA. Because if you just request it and go, ‘Hey, can you guys listen to one of these calls and get a disposition, what’s going on?’”
Good networks will do this for you. They will provide the feedback you need, which can be particularly useful with certain verticals.
Gene adds, “I’m doing it now, especially with legal. Legal is one of those– I’m starting to discover legal is one those nichier verticals, where it’s just– you’re dealing with lawyers, and they’re going to find a way to game the system. I mean, it’s just in their DNA. They will figure out ways of hanging up the calls before the duration ends so they can call back the caller. And you need QA. You need QA for that kind of stuff, because you’re dealing with kind of market or a personality type willing to game the system.”
Keep Ego Out of the Equation
“Leave your ego at the door. Be super humble and grateful … You’re chapter one; you’re not going to compare that to somebody else’s chapter ten. There’s a lot of guys out there that are doing really good, and they love helping people. ”
Don’t make everything a contest. People are willing to help if you’re willing to ask. Plenty are willing to share their ‘blueprint’ for success knowing that only a small percentage of those who listen will muster up what it takes to implement those strategies.
Final Thoughts: Only the Hungry Are Going to Take Action
“People get scared when they spend $100 or $200, and they don’t see a conversion. And I think I spent my first nine months, probably $25,000 of money just growing that traffic and making dumb mistakes and just wasting away. I had my day job and just trying to save up $500 every two week so that I could test traffic and watch it all disappear in like two days.”
Even with all of the previous insights we discussed with Gene, at the end of the day, knowing is not doing. You’ve got to be willing, no – hungry – enough to commit to building a business around your knowledge. Be willing to commit, show up, and create the necessary relationships, and you will prosper in the Pay Per Call space.
