While Internet marketing and the entrepreneurs trying to make a living in it may seem far removed from the credit crunch (aka, financial meltdown), the downstream impact of corporate belt tightening is being felt across the entire land:

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting video on the impact to Silicon Valley;

Money has a great article on Detroit, in particular the auto industry troubles;

NBC has a downtrodden unemployment report.

But fear not. If you, the Internet entrepreneur, need a little pick me up, check out Jim Kukral’s inspirational post. A little inspiration can go a long way when you walk out of the house after 30 minutes of doom and gloom on CNBC.

• million dollar portfolio has a simple contest to enter for a chance to win a Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (Black)
• uber affiliates marketleverage contest
• Enkay Blog has a contest ending on August 4. They are giving away a brand new Asus EEE Laptop PC, a $50 AMEX Rewards Card and 3 2GB USB Pens.  As with many contests this summer, Market Leverage is the affiliate network impetus for the contest. Let me tell you… the laptop in this contest is actually something I crave!

I didn’t play in all of them, but have dabbled for sure. I wonder as to how successful these contests are, and will surely keep up with them after the fact to see the final results.

Site Usability

I always like to check out the website for usability before I sign up for any service. I figure, rightly or wrongly, that if a company that wants my business can’t have a site that works cleanly, they obviously don’t want my business (this goes for online stores and ad networks alike). It’s a pretty enough looking site, and I understand from other posts that this is a redesign from a previous incarnation. Looking back at the archived versions of the site, it is definitely an improvement, but to me functionality is more important that smoke and mirrors.

The site worked fine enough, and I could generally find my way around the site with just intuition. As mentioned above, I think a little more history in the “About Us” section would lend some credibility for someone who just stumbles on the site. I did like that they had a calendar of events, and I can see where I might find them at upcoming conferences (maybe Affiliate Summit east in August in Boston!).

Sign Up

Next step… sign up. Since I had done some prior research and saw nothing that led me to doubt their viability, I initiated a sign-up (about 9:40p EDT — 5/5/08). A simple form (I Like!), easy to understand and quick to fill out), pretty standard terms and conditions. I received the obligatory “we received your application” email which I think is a required step for all online forms of any significance.

Acceptance

I received a followup phone call on Tuesday at about 2p. The affiliate rep was friendly and asked enough questions to learn about my websites and to ensure that I was not some scammer. I can’t recall her name (a fault of mine), but she was pleasant and seemed pretty knowledgeable. She activated my account and then proceeded to update me on MarketLeverage (bonuses, referals, offers, etc) when I told her that I had done a bit of research before signing up.

The Service

While they have some nice exclusives, the offers they provide are not incredibly different from other affiliate networks and the payouts are similar, some higher — some lower. I’ve come to expect this from all affiliate networks, as they all seem to be fishing in the same streams to try and find the next hot offer. One can only expect this. So why pick any affiliate network over another? Service, reliability, comfort level, and the extras are what does it for me.

Their extras…

• Bonuses paid out for good performance. Amex cash rewatds based on the level of commissions generated. We’re not talking about for the super affiliates, but good affiliates to. I mean, with a $1000 monthly commission you can start earning an Amex cash reward. $1000 per month may seem like a lot, but if you really put your effort in to it I think you can blow past $1000 per month.
• They have a nice referal program. Lifetime 5% of your refered publisher commissions. Most networks (ad or affiliate) cap off at a year or less.
• Fedexed checks. While this is not of great importance to me, I see where lots of affiliates are pretty psyched about this extra.

Final Thoughts

It is going to take me a few days to really slide MarketLeverage offers in to my rotation as I like to make sure that I get the right offers on the right pages. I plan on doing a follow up post once I’ve sent them some traffic, seen some conversions, and received a check.

You go through the effort of being an active member of a social network, you make friends, you vote on content, comment on content, and submit content (even your own sometime), all in the name of driving up your own site traffic.  I realize that those in to social networks for the sake of being members would argue that this is not the reason to be a member, but the fact remains that webmasters in the game to make a living are approaching social networks with at least a thought of this in their minds. In the end though, if you get a regular flow of traffic or even sporadic spikes of traffic from Digg, Stumbleupon, Mixx, or any other social network, have you really accomplished anything?

Instant Payoff from Social Network Traffic?

It is widely accepted that Digg traffic does not convert at a level worth talking about.  One could likely extend this belief to other non-niche social networks with a reasonable level of confidence.  We all know… the traffic is not targeted, the social network users do not like to be gamed, many of the social networkers hit your page and are gone in a flash — those that stick around don’t follow through on offers.

With this in mind, one can easily buy the Makak Media premise that social networks can be a huge waste of time if you don’t watch your time. I fall in to that trap on occasion.

Building a Brand

However, I believe that a well thought out social media plan is a great step to take when considering how much time to put in to social marketing. And I view it much like TV advertising. TV advertising rarely has an immediate quantifiable payoff with regards to sales. However, TV ads generate brand awareness, word of mouth brand knowledge and ultimately leads to getting customers in the door or looking at products on shelves. At that point, it is up to the advertiser to close the sale.

In terms of websites, social network traffic is largely filling a branding role.  Creating buzz and/or word of mouth (aka links), and brand awareness (aka RSS subscriptions) for your site can go a long way towards fulfilling that purpose. Why?

Search traffic is the ultimate in targeted traffic.  Consumers search for something, they find your site, they come to your site, they convert (or you learn what is weak about your conversion process). And it is apparent to anyone who has spent more than 15 minutes reading about SEO that links are a significant factor in search rankings. Build your brand, enjoy the links and RSS subscriptions, and enjoy the long term benefits of social networks.

It is the Sum of All Parts

Summing it up in my mind then, seeking out social network traffic for the sake of traffic surely is a waste of time if you are looking to make money online. Seeking out social network traffic for the sake of fulfilling a larger SEO goal is a very valid pursuit. Set some goals, set a plan (including some restraints for your time), set the plan in to motion, and adjust as new opportunities arise.