Yeah, that’s right! Even airlines are playing the forced upsell game. I just booked a flight on Allegiant. I added preferred boarding and seat selection, got my subtotal and when I submitted to the payment processing page, I noticed the cost had increased by $15.98.

Hmmm, I thought. I don’t remember authorizing that.

Sho’ nuff, Allegiant had opted me in to their TripFlex coverage, which allows for flight rescheduling without change fees if you buy it ahead of time. Why, that was nice of you, Allegiant. With this type of dedication to the best interest of your consumers you guys should really consider getting into the acai berry negative option space. Really.

Allegiant – if you want to force upsells like the best of the internet filth you should’ve at least posted the price change on the previous screen, when I selected my seat. That way I never would have known.

-Joe

P.S. Mind hooking me up with your processor?

….wow. I never thought my guest post on Music Soul and Music Sold would create such a dust-up by fellow musicians. I’ve had people calling me names (although for some reason they all got “G” rated when posting here – wimps), questioning credentials, criticizing my approach, ethics, morals, blah blah blah. Flush it.

In the middle of it all, much to my surprise, some readers are more open-minded than I originally gave them credit for (thank you, Baton Rouge). He gets that – as a band/business person/blogger –  you have to be different if you want to be noticed. “Different” might mean unique, controversial, fresh, smarter, better, more obnoxious (as so frequently is the case with me).  Sometimes it just amounts to throwing your readers/fans a curveball.

A band that isn’t very good but dresses up like girls.

A “diva” who open mouth kisses another woman on stage.

A guitar player who makes loud, unfamiliar noises on his very loud guitar and ends the night by torching it.

A guy who changes his name to a symbol.

“Wardrobe malfunctions.”

All of the acts listed above were different – intentionally so – and were listened to and discussed. And they sold records. Wait – what? Discussed? Like 8 pages and two weeks worth of traffic on a forum you’ve never been to? Like driving huge traffic to your blog? I guess we can add “sales tips for musicians” to that list, huh?

Here’s the deal – if I sound like I’m cocky it is because my approach works. I have been using it for years. It grew a Chicago-based band and we played some really cool gigs as a result. To be honest, we had NO BUSINESS playing some of the rooms we played  - but my client, the owner, was always left happy and I NEVER EVER burned a bridge.

I have set sales records at every company that I’ve worked for.

I use the same sales techniques training new internet marketers. Many of them are the most successful folks in the affiliate marketing space, and several of them manage $20 million + books of business.

That said, know your audience and if you are uncomfortable DONT DO IT!  Oh, to address one final question…here’s the point of it all:

Q: What happens when the bar owner realizes what you’ve done to get the gig?

A: Nothing. They don’t care because you have just given them one of their most profitable nights of the season.

If you didn’t pick that up from my 2nd post, you need to slow down on hating and read again.

P.S. Thanks for the inbounds and SERP help guys.

Here’s yet another case in which the FTC teamed up with a BBB office to go after a company generating lots of consumer complaints. I’ve heard through my counsel that the FTC and AGs are starting to surf Rip Off Report and BBB sites to find businesses to target…here’s the latest evidence of that.

FTC vs. Interest Rate Reduction Scams

If you’re unconcerned about your little product or site generating BBB complaints, it might be time to re-evaluate. AGs and the FTC need to generate revenue in order to operate, and in these tough economic times you just might find yourself the target of some scrutiny.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this should not be construed as legal advice. If you are concerned you should hire a lawyer and get their opinion.

Thank God I could get that off my chest. I finally said it – and I’m talking to you, Mr. Assvertiser. (That’s what I am going to start calling advertisers who are a pain in the ass. Which is most of them, including me when I’m talking to my friend Christine.)

One of my newer clients is a retail startup in a fairly…trendy….niche. Thankfully, they have the presence of mind to build their program and technology around the needs of affiliate marketers. They understand that they might have to risk some dough and make a big investment in payouts if the affiliate marketing channel is going to work for them. So far, so good…best case scenario.

Got me to thinking about the worst case scenarios, though. This stuff has happened to me more times than I’d like to admit….any of it sound familiar?

You are approached by an advertiser who thinks they have a phenomenal product/service that would be perfect for the web. It is life changing. A total reinvention of the market. It’s the Keebler model of using tree-dwelling elven sweat shops to churn out delicious confections, except they do prepaid cards. Or shoes. They talk to you about how great the model is and how it is so different from everything else out there. You bite your tongue, worried about those poor, raw-fingered little midgets dribbling fudge all over a graham cracker. AT WHAT COST?!?!?!!?!!?? You close the deal with some over the top credential (“I did Wonka’s affiliate program…”) They offer you no retainer, just $1 per sale (on a $49.00) stating “well, if we sell six million of these things next year I’ll be your biggest customer!” You leave that meeting longing for a tree full of teeny tiny bakers.

They have heard about affiliate marketing from (pick one: an investor/a relative/some guru) and want to build a program. You, being a fan of money and having been tasked by the board to diversify, attempt to oblige (after negotiating a small program management fee that you will soon come to regret).

Over the course of the next few weeks, you meet, talk about his business, and discuss some of the more important launch issues. You hit several impasses. For instance…

Trademark/keyword bidding: Client thinks that his in house team has it nailed even though they haven’t heard about Google Analytics. They are located in Missoula and have “bring your sheep to work” day. You want to let affiliates go to town because any sale to your client is not a sale to the competitor.

The payable action: You talk about building a nice pipeline of incoming data for his people to work and convert, paying $3 per lead. Client (pick one: will be damned if he’s going to pay for anything but a sale/can’t understand why $3 leads don’t convert at 100%/still doesn’t understand what a “pixel” is). You can’t get him to understand that recovering abandons is more important than making sales.

The team: You would like for him to hire an experienced technologist. His staff is comprised of three or four assholes with MBAs who have never actually run a business, as well as (pick one: his wife’s brother/the helpdesk guy from his last job/just him, outsourcing and learning Hindi on the fly/some chick he knocked up a few years back).

Three months later, they’ve paid you $25,000 for $200,000 worth of time and resources. You part ways and refer him to a competitor, figuring that it’ll set them back at least a few months and give you some time to get your core business back together.

Epilogue: A year later, you see that he is running an arbitrage, aggressively allowing TM and keyword bidding, and is implementing everything that you taught him. He calls you and asks why you aren’t running traffic to him. Another year goes by. He’s fired the network and purchased direct track, can’t understand why affiliates call him so much and gets caught up in a fraud ring. He turns anti-affiliate, lowers payouts, cuts subcodes and his sales plummet. He calls you for advice. You chuckle and refer him to Warrior Forum.

Anyway, I put together a brief list of to-do’s. My hope is that it’ll get my clients in the trenches a bit sooner and ensure they have a couple of the basics down. They need to be educated, and not just by me. (This is all intended to be pre-launch, pre-buildout stuff). My hope is that the transparency will make them realize “Christ this is complicated” and further add value to the service I’m providing. Or I might just get circumvented. FML.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Step 1 – Competitive Research

Step 2 – Publisher Research

(PS Sorry Christine it’ll get better)