Interview with James Wallace of 007CPA Network - 11/10/2011
Be sure to check out 007CPA Network - Here.
Hello and a warm welcome from CPAFix.com, kindly introduce and tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is James Wallace and I am the owner of 007 CPA Network. I’m 35 and been in business since I was 11 years old. My family has been in offline publishing and advertising for 116 years, with clients such as General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Proctor and Gamble, Bayer and even The Office of the President of the United States (we printed George Bush Sr’s Air Force One Playing Cards – yes, that’s a thing).
With 007 CPA, I’m trying to drag our century-old experience, reputation and contacts into the digital world, and attaching the integrity and professionalism of the offline world, which the online advertising world sorely needs.
I spend half of the year in Canada and the other half in Latin America… my wife of ten years is Mexican and understandably demands a warmer climate. I enjoy traveling to other destinations any time that I can, and learning new cultures, customs and ways of life. My personal interests are quantum physics, international banking and alternative law (and hockey, of course… I did say I was Canadian!).
How long have you been involved in the CPA industry? and for how long exactly?
I’ve been in Internet marketing for over 10 years; affiliate marketing for 5 years and CPA marketing for over 3 years now.
What made you get involved with 007 CPA, and what is your exact role within the company?
After a few months in CPA marketing I started to hit it big and had several $1k+ days… consecutively. I began paying attention to EPCs and CTRs. I noticed they were horrible and not consistent on most of the “major” networks. Over the last 30+ months I have built up a massive network of IM connections. Those people echoed my concern about poor EPCs, payouts and CTRs. I then began to hear about networks stealing publisher’s earnings, and the network even booting them out for methods/traffic that they had clearly endorsed (I have heard countless first-hand testimonials of such abuses). I created 007 CPA as a 100% private network for myself and my closest friends to insulate us from the greed and unethical behavior of these “known” networks.
However, after getting 007 in perfect shape I saw an opportunity to open the door a bit and allow entrance of friends of friends. 007 began growing its publisher base and everyone involved has benefited from increased traffic and resources.
I built every component of 007, including all of its innovative parts. I still oversee every aspect of the network… although at the rate that it’s growing we are hiring and outsourcing more and more every day. However, no matter how much it might grow, and how much of the work is handled by others, I will always ensure the honesty and integrity of the network remains intact and permanent.
Tell us abit more about 007, and what makes them stand out more than the other CPA networks out there?
Just before I broke out with 007 in February, I had run with Whitefire Network for a few weeks and it paid off huge. Not only in personal revenue, but also just being exposed to a system that was so simple, and so efficient. The concept there was to only run a handful of highly converting offers, as opposed to offering up 100’s or even 1000’s of offers, most of which are total rubbish… imposing on the publisher the duty to find, test and choose the offers that work amongst a vast majority that don’t… this in addition to the seemingly infinite ways to tweak custom gateways that most networks allow for. “Big pubs” don’t want to deal with all this nonsense. They have traffic and a method and want an effective gateway/skin up running the best offers possible… immediately. In other words, they want to concern themselves with acquiring more traffic and better methods and not have to worry about offers and gateway management. I saw the simplicity and power of the Whitefire concept and thought that with “big pub” experience I could take that solid framework and build on it in ways that bigger publishers would definitely appreciate.
How many publishers does your Network run with? and what’s the easiest way to get approved or in contact with you?
007 has approved several hundred publishers, but only a couple hundred that are currently active. I’d like to explain a little more on that point as it relates to 007. We do not want a lot of publishers… this is not our model. We require consistent traffic on the network, and prefer high volume consistent traffic.
We have some fairly steep requirements to get into 007 (all pubs are notified on the phone and via IM what those requirements are, and then choose to join 007 or not). Should the publisher not be able to meet those requirements, consistently and over time, they are removed from the network (and paid their final earnings of course). We warn the publishers several times if they are not in good standing with the network before we remove them. They are given time to adjust. We also reach out to them and see if there is anything blocking their way and to see if we can assist in a resolution. In extenuating circumstances (family crisis, long vacation, etc.), we suspend those requirements. However, what we want most is communication from our publishers. If they have problems, we want to know… often we can assist with solutions and everyone wins.
The bottom line is that 007 would rather have 100 top quality publishers that it supports in every way imaginable… than 100,000 below average publishers that can’t possibly be supported effectively. With our model the network, the advertisers and the publishers win… with the other model, which is most common, only the network wins. We want everyone happy.
The absolute easiest way to get approved is by a referral from someone else in the network already. In fact, we are quickly moving toward a system that will only allow for applications from referrals. However, in the meantime, you can sign-up at: http://net.007cpa.com/signup_affiliate/. Our applications are normally reviewed within 24 hours. Expect us to be calling shortly after submission.
What offers and methods do you see working best at this current moment?
Our main focus at the moment is content locking. We do offer, on a per-publisher basis, access to other verticals such as dating, biz opp, education, etc. For content locking, simple email submits are the best offers for all parties.
So tell us about your payment methods and how often you are willing to pay publishers?
We pay by wire or Payoneer. We pay monthly net 15 by default, but also have a simple structure for getting publishers to weekly payments. Normally this is accomplished after one month with 007 and earning $5k+ in any 30 day period. However, we are always open to bending the rules a little bit. AM’s at 007 are given authority to make exceptions. A discussion with them on the issue normally leads to an agreeable scenario. Our goal is to get all of our publishers to weekly payments as quickly as possible. The more money publishers are earning and the more consistently they are being paid, the more traffic will come to the network. We do everything we can to make that happen.
Here at CPAFix.com believe publisher support is the one most important things within the CPA industry, so tell us what you offer your publishers?
Between personal access to me and the frequent availability of AMs at 007, most publishers would see a virtual 24/7 support system in place. I make it a policy not to talk on things that are not complete, but I’ll make an exception here to comment that we are currently developing a real 24/7 chat support mechanism staffed by real Internet marketers that are equipped with real-world solutions for almost any Internet marketer dilemma. 007 also agrees that service and support are essential. This is one thing that we do differently and better than any other network we know.
9.Alot of publishers are still using Social Media methods and as it’s increasingly becoming increasingly harder where do you see the CPA industry heading towards and what other methods can you suggest to publishers?
A lot of publishers are still earning big with social media. However, the wild west scenario that played out on Facebook over the last 12 months is certainly over. I’m pleased that Facebook has caught up with the heavy spamming and exploits and put an end to most of it. It forces the immature publishers out of the game and forces the pros to be less lazy and ensure quality content and a quality experience for the end user. This is actually good and necessary for the industry, and its future. I think we’ll be seeing less and less people marketing on social nets, but those people will be earning more and more, as their competition (other publishers) have left the game because it’s too “hard”.
Beyond social network marketing, “legit” social apps and mobile apps are what’s hot now. The bad news is that the window is closing on a fairly easy launch scenario… the competition is growing rapidly. The good news is that it’s quite easy to build a solid app and market it successfully. We have several tested methods for app creation and app promotion (that are quick and cheap) and are more than happy to share that information with our publishers.
What do you make of the current state of the industry? Where do you think it is heading, and what does 007 have to offer in the future?
Well, generally speaking, the current state of the CPA industry is quite frankly, disgusting. I believe we need to first admit we have a problem, articulate the problems, place the will necessary to address and fix those problems, and then and only then will we protect the future of this industry.
Sadly, the “leaders” in the industry at the moment are not leaders at all, they are exploiters… they are greedy, immature and void of ethics… exploiting internet users, publishers and even advertisers. This has in turn spawned legions of greedy, immature and ethically challenged publishers, concerned advertisers and spam-shocked Internet users. It’s a smash and grab, pump it and dump it mentality. It is not a long-term position, and it will kill the industry if it is not stopped.
As mentioned earlier, it is for these reasons that 007 was created. Ethics and integrity are central to everything… everything we do with publishers and advertisers, right down to the campaigns that touch Internet users. We want to ensure that all parties are winning… in doing so, we believe we are doing our part to protect the industry and perhaps even reverse some of the damage done by these other networks.
I’m not going to attack individual networks, even though they have attacked 007 with bogus complaint posts, criminal libel and character assassinations on popular forums, ddos attacks and even attempts to steal 007 databases. That’s how unethical, childish and brutal it really is at the moment – it honestly feels like a bunch of kids who think this is a game because it’s digital and virtual, not realizing that on the other side of these computer screens there are real people and families (i.e. real world consequences). This needs to change, immediately. And I’m going to be saying that loud and clear until it does.
So, even though I won’t go at networks by name, I will speak plainly and bluntly about the realities of the industry in general. It is clearly essential… the voice in the wilderness. I think that if a certain number of networks adjust their ways, this will force the other networks to adapt and/or force them out of the game entirely. Either way, that’s ok with me.
What resources and websites can you recommend to publishers and entrepreneurs?
CPAfix.com of course. There aren’t very many I would recommend actually. Most are filled with terrible advice… and trap you in analysis paralysis and information overload.
I’d recommend Warrior Forum’s War Room for specific bits of information, and Digital Point for a broad sweep (be careful, stay focused, or you’ll get lost there). MMD and BHW can be important sites to bend your brain a bit. I’m a whitehat marketer, but blackhat marketing ideas are often crazy cool. And looking at them can actually help all marketers expand their view on things and ultimately adapt their strategies in ways that would be most effective, regardless of how strict they might be ethically. On those sites, because there’s virtually no censorship, you’re often going to get the whole story… you can then reverse engineer your strategy to where you’re comfortable ethically.
At 007, the goal is to get the AM’s and support staff so informed that it is the natural first stop for our publishers. While we can’t obvious support the use of scripts and hold hands the whole way, it is our intention to find the best information out there and have it ready for publishers when requested… saving them countless hours/days digging through all the rubbish out there.
What is your number 1 tip to publishers and affiliates?
I would ask first how experienced a publisher is, as the advice would be very different.
If someone was new to IM I would tell them 2 things…
1) Avoid the mass products (clickbank crap) as they’re usually half the story and won’t work without all the pieces (which the “gurus” normally withhold). It’s a waste of money, but more importantly it’s a waste of time. Instead…
2) Focus heavily on building your personal network. Find people in forums and chats that have similar views and intentions. What’s the best way to start building this network? Learn a few very important things within your area of IM… then look for people that you can offer that to as a solution, and you’ve gone a long way to proving yourself with them. Instant Messenger is critical and new IMers should be building that up with high quality contacts in as many areas as possible while creating, if possible, an inner circle of their most trusted contacts where they talk, troubleshoot and even JV on a daily basis.
For someone that had been around for a while and was banking fairly decent money regularly, I would warn them to diversify… Google search has its Google sandbox… Google AdWords has its Google Slap… Facebook has a tough security department… other areas of IMs are riddled with pitfalls and sudden traps. Too often smart affiliates put all their eggs in one basket, and too often someone bigger than them (supplier or competitor) comes and stomps all over it… without (successful) diversification your entire living is snuffed out in one colossal slap-down.
To any and all categories of IMers, I’ll say it again: social and mobiles apps. Get in while you can.
and now for the quick fire questions, (just one word answers are fine)
Facebook Or Twitter?
SEO Or Social Media?
Social Media
PPV Or PPC?
PPC
Externals Or Internals?
Externals
Content Locking Or Banners?
Content locking
EPC Or Payouts?
EPC no doubt
Paypal Or Wire Transfer?
Wires, PayPal sucks(.com)
Surveys Or Downloads?
Surveys
Thanks alot for taking the time to talk to us guys. Have a great day!
Be sure to check out 007CPA Network - Here.
