Tracking Data in Affiliate Marketing

Dustin Howes 0:48

Hey folks , welcome to Affiliate Nerd Out . I am your Nerdirator , dustin Howes . Spread that good word about affiliate marketing . You're going to find me here on LinkedIn Live every Tuesday and Thursday at 12.15 , pacific Time , so please consider putting it on your calendar , smashing that subscribe button on YouTube and joining us for some live conversations . My Nerd guest today is Jorge Barbosa , over at WeContract . He's going to teach us all about publisher additional data that they need , and I'm really excited to have them on , jorge , welcome to the Nerditorium .

Jorge Barbosa 1:27

Thanks , it's great to be here , dustin . I'm happy to talk all things affiliate publisher related and how they can track better their data and see where their conversions come from .

Dustin Howes 1:39

Fantastic . I see your festive right now with your Christmas tree in the background . Love the vibe . Yeah , we have a special Christmas episode that I want everybody to know about and I'm going to put up right here real quick . Our affiliate Nerd Out Christmas party will begin on Tuesday , the 19th of December , 12.15 . Come one , come all . Everybody that wants to come on for a few minutes and talk about what they're thankful for is more than welcome to stop by and hang out for a little bit . So please join me then and we will have a good time . Bring your drinks , if you like . It is the season , so let's get going with . Jorge , tell me about what you're doing out there . Big question of the day for you and for others Are you ready for the holidays ? Yeah , definitely , you can see I'm ready for the holidays .

Jorge Barbosa 2:40

You look better , you're ready .

Dustin Howes 2:43

Yeah , we went through a quick costume change , no big deal Now , Jorge who are you ?

Jorge Barbosa 2:52

Well , I'm from Portugal , actually , so that's worth mentioning . I guess here it's evening by now there is lunchtime , right but I've been working in the affiliate industry for the past years . So I was working previously for an affiliate publisher , so they had several websites in different markets , and for the last three years roughly I'm also working for Weekend Track now , so I will explain later what Weekend Track does . But basically I've been working with affiliates publishers mostly for the last five , six years .

Dustin Howes 3:33

Okay , gotcha , and so you were a publisher yourself . You started out in this industry as a publisher , or you were working for publications .

Jorge Barbosa 3:42

I was working for a publisher , so they had different websites . Yeah , I was not a publisher myself , but I was basically working in the marketing and pay that department for them and basically analyzing website performance and some of the topics we are also going to discuss . So I've been doing it for a while now .

Dustin Howes 4:04

Interesting . And how did you get into that field ? That's not something you jump into right out of college . You must have had some kind of experience to get you into this field .

Jorge Barbosa 4:15

Well , actually it was an opportunity . To be honest , I was looking for a new job . I started drifting towards digital marketing in previous jobs and then I just basically I was hired from this publisher a few years back and then , once I got into the affiliate field , I never left . So it was a few years of learning , but it was also very exciting , especially once you start to see everything that's out there . It's an amazing industry and it's so huge , but most people don't even realize how big it is .

Dustin Howes 4:53

And I think that's almost by design . Digital marketing is , in essence , trying to be native . You're not trying to be overly advertising like a hardcore for brands . You're supposed to be giving your own personal recommendations and have it being a natural thing . So that makes a lot of sense . So you got into this industry kind of just by half and sense just like everybody else in this industry . Just an opportunity it came along , it brought you into that . That's a great story , man .

Jorge Barbosa 5:30

Yeah , thanks .

Dustin Howes 5:31

All right , If you'd like to be in Jorge's seat code at DustinOzcom , slash nerd , drop in an application and say hey , Dustin , I want to nerd out about this . I'm always looking for guests with book through February , but let's get on the books for next year . All right , let's talk about . We can track name origin story . Tell me how this name came about .

Jorge Barbosa 5:56

Well , name origin story . As I'm told from my friends , we all met each other previously also , so I know the co-founders very well for a few years , and basically there was a list of names . It's nothing super exciting , but there was a list of names , something that would stay on top of your mind and something that would clearly basically pass the message of what we do so we can track , and that's something that everybody remembers once they see our brand , so they land on our website and they see that basically that's what we do , we can track .

Dustin Howes 6:33

Yeah , yeah , probably the most straightforward and topical name of any company that I've ever had on this podcast . Like it is straightforward and to the point . You guys say what you are , absolutely yeah . So tell us about what you do and who you're servicing out there .

Jorge Barbosa 6:52

Yeah , so basically we can track is for affiliate publishers . We service affiliate publishers of any kind and we provide them with conversion tracking , attribution and integration . So basically we are all in one suite where they can connect their websites , they can connect their affiliate networks and they can get a lot of different insights into their conversion data . So , yeah , they have a reporting . They can push that data to their tools that they use , like Google Analytics , ad networks etc . And , yeah , we have some more advanced features that I will also probably get into after , but that is the core of what we do . We service affiliate publishers and media buyers . As long as they are publishing affiliate links , we can work with them .

Dustin Howes 7:53

Excellent . So your clients are predominantly affiliates that need help about the affiliate marketing efforts , right ?

Jorge Barbosa 8:09

Yeah , exactly , you know . If you're a traditional affiliate publisher , I don't know if you have a review website or a content website or a blog . Even you have no idea where your conversions are coming from . Either you use manual sub IDs in your affiliate links , but once you reach also a certain size and you have hundreds of affiliate links and hundreds of articles on your website , then you have no clue to know which page is generating your sales or where are they coming from . And that's basically what we do . We show you exactly this was the landing page that generated the sale . It came from this traffic source . So it came from Google Organic . It came from Facebook it came from any source .

Dustin Howes 8:58

Yeah , I think that's something we all need a little bit more in our life , especially if you're just getting started as an affiliate and you don't know exactly what is performing for you . This is an excellent tool to get rolling and get more eyes on it , to make the content or at least replicate the content that is working for you now .

Jorge Barbosa 9:21

So it's a great service .

Dustin Howes 9:23

Love what you guys are doing . Tell us how important is the tracking solution . I can get data in any affiliate network that I go to , but you guys are really pumping it up and showing me a lot more than what the affiliate networks are doing out there .

Jorge Barbosa 9:39

Yeah Well , I mean , this data is important , in my view and in my personal experience , for basically your strategy , in order to decide your strategy , in order to identify what is actually working on your website or on your affiliate activities , to know which partners perform the best , what type of content , so you can replicate that content . You can , for example , push that content into additional traffic sources , like if your content is performing really well organically and you have a page that you can identify wow , this page is really as a high conversion rate I'm making a lot of sales on this page . It's good , users like it , they convert then you can push it , for example , in Google Ads , facebook Ads , and as a bonus , you get the conversion data also integrated in your campaigns . So then we push your conversion data to your Google Ads campaigns , your Facebook Ads . It opens up a whole world of opportunities . So you can then . Yeah , so you can . Yeah , so you can then sorry , just checking the STIN , because I think somehow I lost you .

Jorge Barbosa 11:23

Okay , I'm gonna start with my little . Well , I guess Dustin left us for some time , but he will be back soon . Do you want to空 over andsound Okay , check .

Dustin Howes 12:49

Thank you .

Jorge Barbosa 13:04

It should be a few moments and I believe Dustin will join us again . Alright , guys , let's take a break and I will check in with Dustin and we'll catch you up in a few minutes . Hey , dustin .

Dustin Howes 17:28

It says we're still alive unbelievable .

Jorge Barbosa 17:30

Yeah , I also left . I stayed for a while , but then I didn't want to continue without you , so You're trying to hang in there .

Dustin Howes 17:40

I don't know , what my technical difficulties were . But you know what ? Let's keep on rolling . I'll edit it in post For those that stuck around . Thank you so much . Alright , so we're talking about how important this data is . Let's jump right back into it .

Jorge Barbosa 17:55

Yeah , exactly so I think I was just saying about how important it is that you have an understanding of what works and what converts on your website . So if you're running media buying campaigns , if you're running Google ads , the crucial part of it is for you to know where your sales are coming from . So you can then bet extra on that content , you can improve it , you can then expand it as well , Because I believe if the content converts , that means it's helpful content , it's good content that you're creating and the user also converts with it . So you should have more of that , instead of having I don't know 50 articles and then at the end you don't know and only two of them are actually helpful in generating conversions .

Dustin Howes 18:47

Yeah , I think that's where all affiliates kind of a problem . They have it on , especially early on in their campaigns and learning . So very helpful . Talk about those publisher pain points that you're coming across . What are some of the biggest pain points that they see ?

Jorge Barbosa 19:05

Well , some of the biggest pain points . First , one of them is time consuming to do all the manual reporting , especially as you grow your affiliate business . You start working with 10 , 20 , 30 different affiliate networks , you have countless accounts , and then how do you get all that data into one place ? So that is the first step . You know that's I believe that's the first pain point from a publisher is to then have their own reporting all in one place . So that is something we do . We fetch all the conversion data from all the networks they connect . They can have access to all of it in one dashboard .

Managing Pain Points in Affiliate Marketing

Jorge Barbosa 19:45

The other pain point is exactly what we also talked about before , like tracking traffic sources , identifying where their converters are coming from , using manual sub IDs . As soon as you start having hundreds of affiliate links and you have to set up a sub ID for all of them , that also becomes quite a significant pain point . And , yeah , and basically , you have no access to session landing page , no attribution , no integration in Google ads . If you're running campaigns , you have to calculate your arrow eyes manually in the Google Sheet or something . So , yeah , I believe those are the things that we can help with and those are the biggest pain points . If I was myself an affiliate publisher nowadays , yeah , I would be spending a lot of my time doing that , while it's something that can be outsourced and I can get all that extra data and really focus on my content instead of getting all this data in one place , for example .

Dustin Howes 20:51

Yeah , great call . And with that , sub IDs is something that goes underutilized , especially from the affiliate manager standpoint on the brand . That can be difficult for us to interpret and help out affiliates . How do you guys educate affiliates that are out there early in the journey and just starting to use your product ? How do you educate them to utilize sub IDs more often ?

Jorge Barbosa 21:18

Well , that is the beauty of it is that they don't have to use sub IDs if they use our system , because we automatically place click IDs as a sub ID in their links so we can then track each sale back to the correct session from their website user source , etc . So if they were making use of manual sub IDs , they don't have to do it any longer , because then the information that you get , with the information that you place on your sub IDs , you will then get it in our system automatically . So it will eliminate the need to basically manage all of those sub IDs .

Jorge Barbosa 23:03

But , if they also want to use it . We also have users who want to keep using sub IDs for some reason , for some other information they can define . In our system . We give them flexibility to where to place ours automatically . If it's in sub ID 1 , sub ID 2 , they have full control over their sub IDs and also they're reporting with us . But for most cases then what I've seen usually is you use sub IDs to identify a page , to identify a certain offer on a certain place , and then our system will provide you that information .

Dustin Howes 23:43

Thank , you Gotcha , and taking back in on that , that last thought , the sub ID . I've got a curveball of a question . I use pretty links to cloak my links and , yeah , how redirects through my affiliate links and then they're placed all over the internet like who knows where at some point for some of these brands . Right , will it track where that click is coming from , even if it is cloaked like that ?

Jorge Barbosa 24:09

Yeah , exactly , it will track it because you're using pretty links , so our system it redirects through your website , so our system will be active on your website . We have a plug-in as well which is compatible with pretty links and most clucking cloaking plug-ins , and then that even gives you additional options , because , imagine , you share your pretty links on an Instagram post or Facebook post , you can add some utm's to it additionally , and then in our reporting you can then see UTM for campaign source , you can add your post number , post title , you know something like that and you can see exactly how many users clicked on the pretty links that you place in one of your Facebook posts , and you can also see if you generated sales or not . So it yeah , it gives a lot of flexibility . If you work with cloaked links is the best , because then you have tracking as well outside of your own website .

Dustin Howes 25:11

That's really impressive something I've got to implement with your guys . This technology , that's awesome . And you mentioned integrations . You guys have 350 plus . I saw on the on the website . That's that's a lot . You guys are really getting after it .

Jorge Barbosa 25:27

Yeah , yeah , most of them are affiliate networks . So we covered all the big affiliate networks worldwide . Most of them we cover already . Then we also have the affiliate software is covered , like Everflow , tune and some others , and then we also have smaller affiliate networks . We we really focused on that because we wanted our clients also to have all their data into our system , so for that it was important to integrate all those networks . Apart from that , then we have our integrations with Google Analytics 4 , so you can push your sales and conversion data to Google Analytics 4 . You yeah , you basically have access to a Google Analytics account , just like any e-commerce business . Then , because you can see all your pages . You can see Some of the information you see in our system how many sales were generated , what's what your commission for each landing page , etc .

Dustin Howes 26:27

Yeah , and Google has a little bit of a fault in like they can change Updates at any point and just ruin everybody's SEO day In the blink of an eye . But when G4 was coming out , they give everybody like six months . Hey , get prepared , this is what's gonna happen . You need to like migrate . That gives you guys time to implement the the necessary updates to make this a better product . And get prepared right .

Jorge Barbosa 26:55

Yeah , exactly , we've been working for a while on the G4 integration . It was released a couple of months ago as well , and as G4 is improving also themselves , our integration is also improving , so our attribution coverage in G4 is improving as well . So it is to me , to be honest , personally it was quite a change to go from universal to G4 and still not 100% used to it , but I think it's becoming also a great product and definitely useful for affiliate publishers . You know , especially if you rely on SEO , don't organic traffic , then you definitely need to have that also .

Dustin Howes 27:40

Yeah , I think that's true with any software updates , right , like you get used to one way and you're setting your your ways and then they update it and you're always gonna be a little bit hesitant . But in the long run it ends up being a much better product and , at least in most cases , yeah , yeah exactly , the adaptation period takes a while once you're used to something .

Dustin Howes 28:04

Yeah , yeah , I can't say that with all products , but I'm gonna leave their names out of this equation . So , affiliate publishers , what are some of those other things that we could track can help them with ? That we haven't talked about yet .

Jorge Barbosa 28:20

Yeah , well , so basically we can help them grow by analyzing better than data . Right , that's something we already touched . The other point is if you are an affiliate publisher , you can diversify your traffic sources , because now you can use native ads , you can use Facebook ads , you can use Google ads , because you are able to integrate all your sales and Clearly see if they are coming from those sources . You can make your campaigns profitable . You can stop basically wasting budget on Keywords that doesn't bring you any sales , but you might think that they are super relevant and it often happens that you think , oh , every stand keywords , they are really relevant for what I'm advertising , but then only three of them are actually generating 90% of your sales .

Jorge Barbosa 29:14

Yeah , and then we'd . That's how we can help them grow , because then , basically , they can analyze their data , they can make informed decisions . Plus , they can also use Automated strategies , automated bidding strategies Based on the people that converted , because Google , then your Google ads , then , as the information of the converters , they know which users actually purchase . You can try different bidding strategies on your campaigns . Based them on ROI , etc . Or CPAs .

Dustin Howes 29:47

Yeah , okay , gotcha , and Speaking of that , like are , do you guys have a book of consultants that are experts that we Contract that could help me , like , implement your , your service and your , your product to the best of its capabilities ? Because I'm just scraping the surface with my account , can I hire somebody that's an expert in this ? You guys have , like a field of experts .

Jorge Barbosa 30:14

Well , we do some audit calls . So after a while , after you set up your account with us , and if you're running traffic from multiple sources , you can schedule an audit call . Basically , it's the same as just schedule a call with us and someone from our team will go over your data together with you . They will look at your website and maybe we will recommend something that we think we have advanced features . For example , we have also features that allow you to pull all the data from our system into an API , a BigQuery database . You can utilize that data , for example .

Jorge Barbosa 30:56

A good example I like to give is you can sort content on your website automatically based on the conversion data , so based on clicks and conversions , or conversions where people convert the most if you have multiple deals in the same page or multiple offers . So , and then also your Google Ads account . Of course , if you're running ads , we can check your setup . We can go in your Google Ads account . We don't give advice on how to run your ads , but we can check if you're making the most out of Weekend's Rack and if you set up everything correctly . And we also give some help with looking at the data and analyzing the new data that you have access to .

Dustin Howes 31:42

Excellent , that sounds really cool . All right , switching gears a little bit . Google's last update . How are the affiliates affected ? I don't know enough about this , but I'm sure you're living this every week .

Jorge Barbosa 31:54

Well , I've seen on the web also on some forums , I've heard from some affiliate colleagues as well that these year affiliates were impacted with the last Google update and I just wanted to touch on that point because that just highlights the importance of diversifying your traffic sources as an affiliate . Also , of course , doing analyzes on the content of your website . But this is related also with the helpful content , with the design of your website . So if you know what converts , you know what's helpful for your users , you can target better , you can create better content . So you also have less chance of being affected by a new update in the future . But I would recommend also diversification . If you have a website , if you're an affiliate , you should try , test and test and test multiple traffic sources . You never know for sure . Maybe TikTok ads is going to bring you a completely new audience . That's actually converting very well .

Dustin Howes 33:07

Interesting . All right , so you're . Diversifying is an important aspect of this , and especially when those updates happen , you're going to get visualization on which one of your blog posts were affected negatively and positively . That's going to be a huge help for you to adjust your content in the future as well .

Jorge Barbosa 33:26

Yeah , yeah , exactly . That's a good point that I didn't even mention that you can have less traffic , but more relevant traffic as well that can also happen , and then you know exactly how your content is performing .

Dustin Howes 33:42

Great and , as we wrap this up , affiliate managers are the folks that watch this show the most , those out there . I'm always preaching the importance of suggesting really good tools to their affiliates so they can up their game and get better and drive more traffic to your brand , so this seems like it's right in that vein . How can this tool help affiliate managers out in Malawa ?

Jorge Barbosa 34:09

Well , it will take some of the work from them because our system will do an automatic tracking . The users will be able to access all that transaction data in our system . So they will probably ask us as well for some of the questions they ask their affiliate managers . But most importantly , I believe it will help affiliate managers in the way that their own partners , their affiliate publishers , will perform better . They will increase their performance . So it's good for the affiliate networks as well . The publisher does the better the affiliate network is doing and usually also the less support they will require . Because they are set up with us , they have access to all this data .

Jorge Barbosa 34:59

And yeah it's a win-win situation , in my opinion .

Dustin Howes 35:04

Agreed . And for all those affiliate managers out there this is one of my big lessons of the day as we wrap this up Affiliates out there , this is a great tool to diversify what you're doing and take better care of your website and the traffic that you're driving , so you can replicate the things that are working . But on the affiliate manager aspect , this could be a tool that you promote as an affiliate . This could be your start in the affiliate world , because if you have a big program of thousands of affiliates out there you can become an affiliate of , we can track , make this suggestion casually in your conversations and make some income . You guys have an affiliate program yourself right .

Jorge Barbosa 35:49

We do have an affiliate program . It's on our website , so you guys can find it at the footer of our website . It's a new program . You just send us an application or , if you're interested in having a call with me anytime , we are always open for new partnership or just to have a talk and see how we can help each other . Basically , Beautiful . Ok .

Dustin Howes 36:12

What's the best way to connect with you ? Is it via email ? Linkedin ?

Jorge Barbosa 36:16

Yeah , email LinkedIn on our website , but just add me on LinkedIn . My email is pretty easy , so it's georgethweekintrackcom and yeah .

Dustin Howes 36:30

Very easy indeed . All right , awesome . Thanks for being here , jorge . As we wrap up , I want to thank you guys for being an amazing sponsor of Affiliate Nerd Out and thank you for joining me today and educating the folks out there . I want to make one more quick special announcement for all of those that are going to be here Tuesday 12.15 . We are going to have a Christmas party for Affiliate Nerd Out , so be here Tuesday , december 19 , 12.15 . All guests are welcome . I'm going to put the link in the invite so that you can come in and be in Jorge's seat . Jump in and talk about what you're thankful for . Hope to see you out there and for those affiliate managers , business owners , all of you that are out there . Thank you for listening . I am thankful for you and happy recruiting , take care .

Jorge Barbosa 37:24

Thank you , so it's a pleasure guys .