An Interview With Purple Martin - Someone You May Not Know

Here's an interview with a hero of mine - Purple Martin! Its not his real name of course! Purple, as he's affectionately known is a successful affiliate who doesn't like to brag about it. He's also very open to his close circle about his successes and failures. I've been nagging for a while for him to do an interview - and he finally gave in!

So Martin, you're an old-timer in the affiliate world. I remember talking to you on Messenger about 7 years ago about useless rubbish to do with the industry back then, but when did you get started in the industry and how did you get yourself into this racket?

Hi Lee, and thanks for asking to interview me.

You are making me feel old by looking back to when I first got started!! I first went on the internet when I was at Uni at Anglia University in Cambridge in 1993. In those days the internet was all text based using lynx. In my final year the uni got some apple macs, and we were allowed some webspace, so I did a little webpage there.

I did not go on the internet for a few years after that until I got the internet at home, and some free webspace. I did the usual shopping directory sites. The first affiliate programmes I promoted were probably Amazon and Streets Online (An online music store owned by Woolworths at one point). The site got very little traffic but I made money by buying CD's online for mates and pocketing the commission.

I then started promoting music festivals and on a search for companies, I found Latestevents.com. This site was run by Kevin Brown who later expanded his affiliate programme with a few more merchants, and he called the service Affiliatewindow, I was one of their first affiliates. Affiliate Window had a message board and a employee of Affiliate Window at the time was Jessica Luthi who pointed me towards the affiliates4u forum run by Matthew Wood. I pretty much lived on the affiliates4u website at this time, sharing knowledge and chatting to other affiliates through the night. I started setting up sites in lots of different verticals.


Most people know you as "Purple" - how on earth did you get that nickname?

Hmmm why the nickname Purple? Well I get asked this a lot and I would love to come up with some amazing story but it is all together quite boring!! When I lived in Essex I used to go out with my mates and we all had different nicknames over the years. On one night out a mate of mine mentioned that he was watching a wildlife show and there was a bird called a purple martin . The Name Purple stuck so when I signed up to affiliate4u message board that was the nickname I chose.

I do not particularly like the colour purple, however when I went to my first big get together in London, I turned up at Tradedoubler office, dressed in Purple Shirt and Tie !!!


Most people actually know you for your concert and festival ticket site "Warn Tickets" but is this your main site, or do you do niche sites off it as most affiliates do?

I do not have a main site any more, I had one site for about 8 years and then Google torched it and my whole income stream went. Over the years I have gone from just the one main site, to having 100s of domains and sites. In the last couple of years I have clipped back my sites to about a dozen which are all in different sectors and get busy at different times of year.


I know you work full time in your day job. Well I use the term "work" loosely. How do you find time to do that, look after the kids, manage your sites and look after your social marketing strategy?


I do not know how I fit everything in, I have been asking fellow affiliates if they have found the 40 hour day yet, when they do I will be using every hour. I manage to do everything as I enjoy all of it. I still enjoy working my day job which gives me some security and a change from affiliate business. My Blackberry has been a revelation it allows me to keep track of my emails , MSN and Twitter wherever ever I am.

My wife is very supportive without her I would not be able to balance everything. My wife and children are everything to me, I still do not see affiliate marketing as work as I just love doing it, and if I was not earning money online I am sure I would be wasting time on the computer in a less productive and profitable way.


I know you're keen on Twitter as a useful marketing tool, but does it work and can you give an insight how you go about using social media (without giving too much away)?

I love twitter it is a very important tool for me, it is instant gratification. I have a decent following for some of my twitter profiles and you can get to know your visitors better, I ask a question or make a comment and I get loads of replies in a instant.

Twitter is also laser guided for finding new customers, it is customer acquisition on acid - it’s awesome. However, it is addictive and if you get too involved your hard built following will unfollow you as quickly as you found them.


I remember talking to you 2/3 years ago about Squidoo and other social content sites. To me they're no longer part of my social media strategy, do you use them now, and which would you place more importance on now; Facebook or Twitter?

Social Media is evolving all the time, Squidoo is still a excellent Social Content site, I do not use it as much as I did when I mentioned it to you a few years back, However Squidoo if you put the time in can give you instant presence online and can help you own the SERPS. Other Social Content sites I would recommend include Wetpaint, Hubpages and Pagerank10. Leeky who runs pagerank10 is a genius and I would recommend giving his pages a go.The secret to these social content sites is how much effort you put into the content you put on these sites.

If you slap on some spammy, affiliate thin content they will not succeed. However if you put together something generally useful it will succeed.

Depending on what niche you are in there are some awesome Social Media site, ones are like that people might not know include ZiiTrend - the Social Prediction Site. All social media sites you get the most from the from getting involved, slapping a RSS feed to Facebook page, or twitter profile is not getting involved, Join the debate, it is all common sense at the end of the day. If you want to stay on top of the latest social media trends and news, Mashable is a must for your RSS Reader.


And blogging, how has blogging changed your affiliate strategy? I know you've embraced Wordpress, but do you spend any time now installing new features, or do you focus most of your time on content?

I mentioned that I started using the internet in 1993, but for my sins I have never really learnt how to code, be it HTML or datafeeds. I have done sites using basic HTML editors and have had a few sites coded for me using scriptlance etc. However my affiliate strategy changed forever when I started using Wordpress.

Wordpress is so easy to use, you could get your Gran blogging, if they can type they can blog. I am not one for messing around with design and the backend of a website, to me Content is King so Wordpress allows me to churn out lots of content without worrying about all the messy backend stuff.
I do use Wordpress plugins, and I tend to listen to what the experts suggest, like Yoast.


Without giving stuff away, as I know you like to keep things under your hat and don't like bragging about things, but what other niches are you involved with? I know you're giving voucher codes a go with your Twitter account but anything really sexy?

Yeah I have joined the bandwagon and have a Discount Codes which is powered by Leeky's fantastic Icodes site. Other sites I am involved with includes a Horse Racing Tips site which is a joint venture with Keith Bond and Lammo and my latest project is a World Twenty 20 Cricket Site


If you could name three tools and three people (or companies) that have had a positive impact on affiliate marketing for you, who and what would they be and why?

I have worked with lots of amazing people so to list just 3 means I am missing out lots of people.

Tools:

* Wordpress - It has revolutionised the way I build and run sites
* Tweetdock - A excellent idea by one of affiliate marketings rising stars Mark Boyd aka hairycornflakes
* A4uforum - Without THE FORUM as it is known, I would not be doing affiliate marketing today,.

People:
* Keith Bond - Has had a huge influence on my affiliate marketing career, he has helped me no end since I first come across him on a4u forum. Any hour of the day he listens to me, but also has been a great role model. I am pleased that last year I got to work with him on some joint ventures.
* Lee McCoy - He is not everyone’s cup of tea, a bit of a marmite! But he has kept me motivated to keep working hard at a time when I was ready to jack it in, lots of his posts on this blog have given me the buzz back and got me thinking in a different way and not to follow the crowd.
* Chris Bowler ( Aquanuke) Chris was a early influence on me back in the day, this guy was a genius and he provided tools to make fellow affiliates life easier when, content units and datafeeds were not even born. He made me realise they was gold in these websites!


Does your wife get involved in what you do? I take it she understands it, but does she help out with content or stuff, would you want her to?

My wife is very supportive, and she is starting to get involved with a Holiday Parks site. I would love her to do more sites, she has a much better idea for design, and she is very in touch with modern culture and fashion. She has a few fashion sites that she is planning which I hope she can launch in the next quarter.


What's the best ever prize/incentive you've ever won being an affiliate?

I always think I have never won anything in affiliate marketing but over the years I have won all sorts. The best was at Christmas when a merchant treated me to see Fulham v Chelsea in a corporate box, as a huge Chelsea fan this was awesome.
However the best prize could be yet to come as I am off to Barbados with Affiliate Future thanks to sunshine.co.uk.


I know you work late into the hours and often hear about you falling asleep at your pc and waking up at 3am with a keyboard imprinted in your forehead. How do you keep motivated to put the long hours in?

My motivation to keep getting keyboard print on my face at 3am is the love of the industry, there are so many great people working in the industry, and I still get a huge buzz from a new site, or with a new merchant.


If you could give any new affiliate any piece of advice, what would it be?

I would say read Kirsty's Blog for getting started info and the other affiliate blogs, read the a4uforum. I would suggest starting by thinking small. I would say get a Wordpress blog and write about something you’re interested in and keep it fun. Affiliate Marketing is not a get rich scheme, you reap what you sow.


What are your general plans for the rest of the year in terms of affiliate marketing? Is there any tactic or niche you're going to focus on?


I plan to go to the A4Uexpo in October as I still haven't been as well as starting a few sites hosted in the US and targeting the US market.