Ralph Ruckman is the CEO of Convert2Media, one of the fastest growing online affiliate networks, as well as the CEO of Ruck Media, its publisher. He, along with his partners, are network owners, affiliates, and advertisers, all bundled together in one big chaotic business.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you?

I’m Ralph Ruckman, 29 years old. I enjoy nice walks outdoors, crotch and knitting. There is nothing to do, my passion is the performance marketing industry. I love it, work it, breathe it, live it.

2. How long have you been in Affiliate Marketing and how did you get involved?

I have been involved with affiliate marketing for over 6 years, online full time for over 5 of them. I originally started making money as a freelance content writer, but eventually I realized that companies would pay my work for small fees and use my content on their websites to display advertising with it and in turn, I was making more money month after month. month. outside. My start would also include a small SEO company that owned and marketed to local businesses to increase their search engine rankings.

3. How long was it before you realized you could live off your affiliate income?

A little over a year. I figured it out about 10 months later, but went through a couple of months of deliberation within myself before throwing in the towel on 3 jobs.

4. What is the biggest mistake you made when you started affiliate marketing?

I don’t really remember a single mistake that stands out in my mind. People always say “failure is not an option” but I live by a different rule. “Failure is a requirement.” If you don’t know what or how you screwed up, then you can never learn from it and strategize how to avoid it again. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’m still making them. I love failure, it means I don’t know everything. Failure is key in my business. The more I fail, the smarter I become.

5. What was your biggest success to date?

Partner with Steve and Michael and help make Convert2Media what it is today. The people you can meet online can change your life and your business.

6. What are the best places for newbies to learn affiliate marketing? What advice would you give them?

First of all, some of the best places, of course, are my blog and forum. Also, guys like NickyCakes, Jonathan Volk, and Gauher Chaudrhy have some great courses and guides to get you started. The best advice I can give you is to take some introductory courses or guides like that and put them into practice. Beginning affiliates will have to develop some really tough skin and learn to adopt the mindset of figuring out information that is either worth using or not. You can do it on the Wickedfire forums. Building a real business and investing in yourself are key ingredients in the early stages of becoming an affiliate marketer. Read enough to get started, then get started.

7. In your experience, what are the three most critical elements to running a successful campaign?

one). Capital – If you don’t have the money to get started, you’re dead in the water as a paid traffic affiliate. Is that critical? Yes in business because I mostly work with affiliates who can flip traffic like a switch.

two). Traffic Sources – Without them, you can’t even get started. Without capital you cannot buy traffic.

3). Research / Selection of offers / Follow-up: I included a bunch here because they are essential. Talking to your AM about what offers, tips on how to promote them, and being able to track your optimization is crucial to determining profitability.

8. What is the difference between a Super Affiliate and an Average Affiliate?

The word “big”. It’s a label, get over it people. I have met many Super Affiliates who make 1K a day and then I have met some who have made 50K a day. Being considered a Super Affiliate is not as important as making money, right? But technically, organization, motivation, marketing savvy, cash flow all play vital roles in those who are able to succeed day in and day out compared to those who shut down a month later.

9. Tell us a bit about your affiliate network and what you do there.

I am a co-owner along with my partners Steve and Michael. I’m labeled as the CEO but it’s trifecta. It is an affiliate network with over 3,000 publishers and over 100 direct mail relationships. We make the world a better place for Advertisers and Affiliates to come together.

10. I see you are using HitPath as your affiliate tracking platform. What made you choose them over LinkTrust, HasOffers and DirectTrack etc? Do you have a plan to create your own tracking platform?

We are currently on a new platform called Cake Marketing. We originally started with Direct Track but switched to Hitpath as we felt it had more functionality for our business. However, technology is always improving and now Cake provides us with our functionality for our future plans, so now we are with them. We don’t have a plan to create our own platform no. Cake works very closely with us to allow us to incorporate whatever we want. There is no reason to go anywhere else.

11. Many CPA affiliate networks already exist. What makes your network different?

We are not trying to be different. We’re just doing our thing. A couple of things is that you don’t see many Affiliate Network owners doing what I do publicly.

We also run our own affiliate marketing forum, along with a soon to be available live chat room (which we once did), I also run a live uStream channel on Monday nights dedicated to answering questions from publishers and advertisers.

Most people complain that their Affiliate Managers are not educated. Not the case with us, ask anyone the service that Mike, Ryan and Aaron provide to members. it is impeccable

As an owner I started this business in my underwear, that’s what we cater too. Affiliates working from home, other networks, agencies, it doesn’t matter. Everyone receives the same treatment and that is with an attentive response capacity.

12. What offers work well in your network?

Difficult with so many verticals. Dating, games, business opportunity. The list goes on. I won’t list details because it only creates competition for our existing affiliates. But if you call me, I’ll connect you.

13. Which traffic sources are proving to be the most effective for your highest earning affiliates: pay per click, pay per view, Facebook, media buys or any other?

The short answer is media buys and email. Facebook is a good source of traffic, but determining how good the quality is is another matter. Pay Per View is also good, however keeping it for a long time is difficult. Pay Per Click is always good, it will always be good. Getting affiliates to go outside the box and try an offer they would never have thought to introduce is a different story. I’m a big fan of optimizing any traffic source for the right offer. They are all different and require logical thinking as well as imagination to optimize them correctly.

14. What are the criteria for your network to accept a marketer?

Go through the painful application process lol. If you get past that, chances are you’ll be accepted. We have been able to customize our application process, so now all you really need to do is take a look before proceeding. We drill affiliates. Most networks are looking to get as many affiliates as they can. I am looking for motivated and serious people to work with. If you are serious and motivated, we will be too.

15. What are the keys to building successful relationships between affiliates and affiliate networks? What are some of the challenges of being an affiliate manager/owner?

Communication is vital. Without her, nothing happens. I also believe that transparency and appearance play a fundamental role. That’s why I try to be available for interviews, the blog, the forum, trade shows, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, I could go on and on. The more people see me, the more they want to work with me.

challenges? where do i start Cash flow, fraud monitoring, handling the ins and outs of everyday business. 9 out of 10 apps are fraudulent affiliates. Just the way it is. Hopefully with our new application process this will be easier.

16. If you could change one thing about the affiliate industry, what would it be?

That the barrier to entry for publishers who work with networks is much higher. It pains me to see how many publishers complain that junknets don’t pay them. On the other hand, I have to say that you really deserve it. Hard right? That’s the part of being a successful affiliate and developing a tough skin. Sometimes some people have to be hit with a hammer before they pay attention. Networks look for quality affiliates and affiliates look for quality networks. Who is publicly available every day to interact with you?

17. What do you think about where the industry is headed? Where is your affiliate link headed? What advice would you give affiliates to keep up?

The industry is undergoing many changes when it comes to regulation. The “industry” isn’t going anywhere, but the offers we receive and the ways we advertise will play a huge role in the lifespan of affiliates and networks. We strive to work closely with government agencies on these regulations to ensure our longevity. It’s a pain in the ass, but what choice do we have, right? The advice is to keep an eye on industry forums, blogs, networks, and any other medium that spills these things.

18. What are your goals in 2010?

To complete the migration to our new platform. Open the new branch in Kansas and continue as before.

19. Give us a little glimpse of what a typical day in your life looks like.

It changes daily, but I try to make my rounds social through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I get a lot of business from those 3. Evening email follow-ups. Followed by organizing my daily agenda for what I want to do. Then I go to the network and look at the statistics, I look at the new offers that come to us. Monitor the production of offers in our affiliate network, the short answer is to pay attention to the 1000 things that happen. I am a big fan of an early morning workout and 2 late night workouts to keep me healthy.