Business Angel Blog
A good friend of mine, Permjot Valia has recently launched a Business Angel Blog. It’s a really good read so I thought I would mention it here as it’s relevant to any small business looking for investment etc.
Who is Permjot? Here’s a bit from his bio:
“By accident, I ended up investing in many of the companies I was helping and I have now invested in 16 companies ranging from mobile phone contract lead generation LeadzOnline to interior design on the web, MyDeco. Cafes producing fresh daily breads, Amano to a company supplying the NHS with vegetarian condoms!
I like to invest in companies and people that I like and I understand (I confess to investing in a business I did not understand and lost my money!). Through this activity I have built up a wealth of contacts and I organise an annual get together which is well attended and helps the businesses by getting together with other interesting people – great things happen. More about the event later!
I am now on the board of the EISA. If you are serious about either raising money for your business or looking to invest in a company – do check out the website for some really good tips on making the tax system work for you. The Chair of EISA, Howard Flight also happens to be one of the best people you could ever hope to meet.
Earlier this year, I also co-founded a Fund Management business called Flight & Partners which now has around £15m under management and invests in the turnaround sector. In order to become a Director of this business, I had to gain FSA approval and had to sit exams last year – they were not easy and I swear no more exams for me!”
So basically Permjot is the guy who has lots of contacts in business, who like to invest in startups and any opportunities that show potential. He knows some serious people who think nothing about investing millions into new ventures. To say he is well connected is an understatement.
But it’s not just his connections that make his blog interesting reading, it’s his posts offering advice and opinion on everything that’s small business related to how to secure a multi-million pound investment. Anyway, don’t just take my word for it, check it out for yourself, I’m sure you will like it. Permjot will no doubt be reading this blog post too so if you have any feedback then please leave it below in the comments.
What I’m listening to right now: Raphael Saadiq - “Love That Girl”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Affiliate Merchants - please ensure you have banners available in ALL sizes
I’m in the process of launching a new website which is all about cars (yeah white ones) so have been looking for relevant advertisers to feature. I have the following 3 industry standard ad slots available:
728×90
300×250
125×125
One of the first programmes I looked at was Carsource on Buy.at. A perfect fit for my site, apart from the fact that they don’t have any creative in any of my sizes, disappointing. So, after giving up on Carsource I log onto Affiliate Window and check out the Halfords creative. Big brand, lots of resources and quite active in the affiliate community so they’re bound to have all sizes covered, right? Wrong. They only have 3 sizes of creative! Yes 3. And guess what? None of them are the 3 sizes I want.
So the result is that I won’t be featuring either merchant on my new white car website which is bound to get billions of visitors as white cars are the future. They’re loss, I’ll just have to seek out some smaller merchants in the auto sector. If anyone has any recommendations btw please post below in comments.
I then thought I’d put together a list of the most commonly used banner ad sizes below, I think that if all merchants can offer some creative in ALL of these industry standard sizes then they’ll have a starting chance of being featured on 99% of affiliate sites.
88×31
120×60
120×90
120×240
120×600
125×125
234×60
250×250
300×250
468×60
728×90
If you have these covered then you’re doing really well. If you want to go one better then visit the Internet Advertising Bureau’s guidelines for ad units to see all available.
What I’m listening to right now: Don-E - “Addictive Love”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Affiliate Marketing Account Manager wanted - Newcastle
Kieron’s public service announcement:
My friends at Altitude Recruitment have asked if I know of anyone looking for a full time role in Affiliate Marketing, based in Newcastle. So I thought I would post the details here to see if anyone is interested.
Please do not email me to apply for the job though, contact Laura at Altitude directly (see contact details below). However please do feel free to mention that you seen the job advertised here 
Job Title: Affiliate Marketing Account Manager
Brief Description:
The Account Management team within this rapidly expanding digital media company requires a technically minded Affiliate Marketing Account Manager to assist the Senior Account Manager and the Head of Account Management in ensuring the growth and smooth running of Client’s accounts.
Key Tasks:
Manage merchant relationships to develop accounts
Recruit affiliates to accounts, maintain and maximise sales potential
Analysis of Sales (stats)
Respond to emails
Account Reports (daily)
Compile commercial emails
Write newsletter copy and Forum posts if applicable
Skills and Experience required:
Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate with internal and external customers
Basic Microsoft office and advanced internet skills would be an advantage
Excellent spelling and grammar
Ability to demonstrate time management and project management skills
Organisational skills
Good analytical skills
Excellent team player
Educated to Degree standard or equivalent in Marketing/Business or similar
Strong commercial awareness
Results motivated
Skills and Experience preferred:
Previous direct management experience
Background in relationship management
Technical ability or experience
A broad knowledge of marketing principles would be beneficial
To apply please email your CV to lauras@altituderecruitment.co.uk or call for more information: 0191 4956247.
Due to the high volume of candidates responding to our adverts we are not always able to provide feedback on your application. If you hear nothing from us in 5 days please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. Your details will be kept on file and you may be contacted about other opportunities.
Hours: Full-Time
This job is salaried – basic up to £25k depending on experience plus £10k OTE
What I’m listening to right now: The Get Along Gang – “Give Me Daylight”
Popularity: 1% [?]
-25.67% ROI is not good. Give it up
Over in the USA, affiliate network Market Leverage and Tyler Cruz are running an affiliate challenge where they are giving away the usual stuff that every affiliate marketing company in the world gives away, (ipod, flip video camera, usb pen and the like) in a competition
To be in with a chance of winning you have to be the best performing new affiliate, or have made the most commission or something like that, I haven’t read all the T’s and C’s. Not a bad idea as it will encourage new users to sign up to the network and will earn Tyler commission for referring them.
But…someone needs to tell Tyler to give up his own entry right now. Every day or so he writes an incredibly detailed blog post of how he is getting on in the challenge, he includes spreadsheets and all sorts, he clearly puts a lot of time into these posts. The things is that he is currently on day 25 of the challenge and he has lost money.
“After 24 days I’ve spent a total of $1,558.15 to make $1,158.25, putting me $399.90 behind at the moment. “
Great. I get that the point of this “challenge” is to get sub-affiliates to sign up under you Tyler but it’s embarrassing to see you posting every day that you have “improved” your ROI from -31.76% to -25.67%. Yes those are minus signs! Tyler seems really pleased about this, however I have to say that if you are still losing money after 24 days, it’s time to do something else.
Seriously, if Tyler had devoted all the time and effort that he did from (a) his (failed) ppc efforts and (b) his detailed blog posts - into something more constructive then he could have earned some money instead of losing it.
So please put us out of our misery and end your participation in the challenge as I almost can’t bear to look at your blog and see how much money you have lost today.
What I’m listening to right now: Lil Wayne - “Let The Beat Build”
Popularity: 2% [?]
Top 10 excuses given by people who rip-off your site
As many of you will know my various sites have been ripped-off more than once. So much so in fact that I’ve compiled this handy Top 10 list of excuses given by dodgepots who have no talent:
1. I’m new to this and didn’t know that it was wrong to copy.
2. My business partner/outsourced designer from India must have done this. I will sack them right now.
3. Sorry I thought your design was just a template and therefore free to copy.
4.It’s not a copy it’s just a coincidence that it looks…erm…identical to yours.
5. I’m so busy I can’t remember where I got the design inspiration from, I run a lot of sites you know.
6. I didn’t copy all of your site, just certain parts so that’s OK.
7. I can’t deal with this right now there’s been a death in the family.
8. I didn’t copy it from your site I got it from another site. So they must have been the ones copying your site, not me.
9. I don’t make much money so it’s cheaper for me to get “inspiration” from websites already out there.
10. I credited you on my site so that makes it OK.
What’s the best excuse you’ve heard from people either copying your design or your content?
Mariah Carey Feat TI – “I’ll Be Lovin’ You Long Time” (Remix)
Popularity: 2% [?]
Send Me Free Stuff And I’ll Blog About You - Littlewoods Bingo
A big thankyou to Littlewoods Bingo for the radio controlled helicopter that I received the other day, awesome!!
I have to be honest, I really like the Littlewoods Bingo affiliate programme. Not only does it convert well but along with top Newcastle online marketing agency Oxygen, they communicate really, really well with affiliates. I get supplied with regular fresh content and promotions to feature on my bingo site as well as a very competitive commission rate. Also, every month they have affiliate incentives and prize draws - all you need to do is send 1 depositing player to be in with a chance of winning. Well done guys, Littlewoods Bingo is a great affiliate programme.
In fact I think its so great that if you aren’t already promoting Littlewoods Bingo then please drop me a line. I’m doing some work with them and for the right traffic we can get you a great rev share, CPA or hybrid deal.
If you would like to be featured in the next installment of “Send Me Free Stuff And I’ll Blog About You” click here for details.
What I’m listening to right now: Missy Elliot – “Best Best”
Popularity: 2% [?]
Affiliate Window launch truly fantastic Offers Blog
I’ve said it time and time again…the Webgains blog is brilliant and why don’t all affiliate networks have a blog that communicates their merchant’s special offers, discount codes and bestsellers etc. to their affiliates?
Well Affiliate Window have been listening and today launched their Offers Blog and it too is brilliant. It’s full of some great special offers, deep links to hot products, competitions, giveaways, contact details for their account managers and lots more. Well done AW, this is a fantastic way to communicate really relevant and useful stuff that affiliates need and can use - all in one place. I’ve bookmarked it and will visit daily.
On another note, CJ launched their “news and promotions blog“ over a year ago now and it’s STILL in beta and it’s STILL frankly awful. It doesn’t contain anywhere near as much information as it should - I feel as though the author has just slapped the bare minimum of info on the posts to get the message across. It’s badly formatted, contains some coding errors, hasn’t been categorised properly and is published using the most tiniest font in the world so you can’t even read it even if it was worth reading. It’s a real underwhelming effort from one of the biggest global affiliate networks. Come on CJ, sort it out please. In fact pay me and I’ll consult with you on how to make it brilliant.
What I’m listening to right now: Joe – “Why Just Be Friends”
Popularity: 2% [?]
Another talentless affiliate: Wiks-Store.com
If you’re a new affiliate looking to enter a certain sector/niche, then do yourself a favour and don’t rip off the site design of another affiliate site.
Yes I mean you Michael Weinreich.
My site:
Rip off site:
What I’m listening to right now: Stephanie McKay – “Jackson Avenue”
Popularity: 3% [?]
My Bingo Summit pass out on the town
I attended the Bingo Summit last week, however had to go home on the second night so missed the festivities. Seems my pass didn’t though…
My pass enjoying a Mai Tai!
Jasper from Jackpotjoy impersonating me. Notice couple in background thinking “what’s that all about?”
Helen from DGM doing the same.
Jason from Loquax wishes he were me.
What I’m listening to right now: John Legend ft Andre 3000 – “Green Light”
Popularity: 2% [?]
Maserati GranTurismo S in all it’s glory
Last week I blogged about how gorgeous the new Maserati GranTurismo S is and especially how well it looks in red. However at the time I couldn’t find any decent pictures online. That’s changed now as Maserati have released some new photos of the car in red, black and yes…..white!!
Is this the most gorgeous looking car in the world? Ever?
What I’m listening to right now: LL Cool J ft Trey Songz - “Girl If I”
Popularity: 2% [?]
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
