Ad HustlerConfessions Of A Serial Internet Entrepreneur

Quite some time ago I wrote a post called How To Fix Prosper202 If Spy/Analyze Stops Working.  If you run a lot of traffic to your Prosper202 setup you probably find yourself having to dump the databases often.

Yesterday, the one and only Wes Mahler left a comment on that post stating:

Updated so you don’t have to manually do it each time, we just change the MYSQL TABLE type so it’s no longer a memory table, which removes having any limit at all.

the issue with the above post is it dose clears it, but it’ll fill up again if you have lots of traffic. this fix changes the table type so it won’t have a memory limit any more and will never happen again

The fix can be found at the Prosper202 forums but I’ll copy it here just to make your life easier:

To fix this problem, run this command in your phpmyadmin

ALTER TABLE `202_clicks_spy` ENGINE = MYISAM

ALTER TABLE `202_last_ips` ENGINE = MYISAM

The discussion thread can be found here.  Hopefully this saves you from having to dump your databases on a regular basis.

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One thing that bugs the heck out of me about Prosper202 is that it never got a really good offer rotator.  One thing that happens to me when I start new campaigns is I tend start a new “affiliate campaign” under an “affiliate network” with the intention of running that campaign with that affiliate network.  After some split testing I find that another affiliate network is getting much better epcs so I run the campaign at the new network.  The problem is that I forget about it for a while and then when something happens with the campaign and I need to make some link changes, I can’t find the campaign anymore in my prosper202 setup.

One way to solve this issue is to tweak the way you use Prosper202.  For instance rather then creating an “affiliate network” you can create a “campaign type instead” and then put campaigns underneath it to stay better organized and not tie campaigns to affiliate networks.  Here is an example:

Rather than having an affiliate network name as the top level of that campaign, you have a campaign type.

I just find this helps me stay better organized.

Do you do this or have any other hacks for Prosper202 that you use?  Let’s discuss in the comments.

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Affiliate/Online marketing is an interesting industry.  A lot of the players are younger guys & girls with very little business experience.  Being young I think that the language and attitude of a lot of people you’ll meet in this industry are different then other places of business.  There’s also a lot of joking around, partying and a friendly nature between different business associates.  Take the affiliate/affiliate manager relationship.  A lot of affiliates are very friendly with their affiliate managers and vice versa.  What I find obnoxious, is when people don’t know the difference between joking around and wasting my time when I’m talking serious business.  Here are 2 examples:

Affiliate: Hey man, I’m looking for an auto insurance lead gen offer that accepts social traffic.
Affiliate Manager: Better Get Geico
Affiliate: haha, seriously
Affiliate Manager: I got one so easy a caveman could do it.
Affiliate: ok what is it?
Affiliate Manager: Did you know 15 minutes could save you 15%?
Affiliate: OK, im going to go ask another network because your a jerkoff.

Or This example:

Yesterday I saw an ex-affiliate manager of a certain network say they were looking for a job.  I have some connections to get people jobs as affiliate managers.  I sent her a message

Me: How good of an affiliate manager are you? Do you have a lot of really big affiliates? I may know of a company looking for AMs – Lemme know
Her: Im an awesome affiliate manager of course What company are you referring to? Thanks!!
Me: Do you have a big book of business?
Her: These fuckers know me all over the world!

Uhhh, ok.  With a response like that, she’s the last person I’d recommend for a job.

Joking around is fine and fun but know the difference between when someone is talking serious business vs. just killing time.

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Affiliate Summit West 2010 is officially over.  Yesterday was the lasy day.  I went to the exhibit hall to meet with some more people and did some more networking.

Nickycakes won the “Affiliate Of The Year” award which I think is pretty cool considering its usually some geriatric merchant based affiliate that wins.

Overall Affiliate Summit was a great conference with a lot of networking opportunities.

In one of these previous posts someone asked “but what did you learn?”  It’s a fair question and everyone gets something different out of the conference.  My main goal is always to network and talk to other affiliates/networks.  I don’t attend a lot of the sessions, however that doesnt mean someone else wouldnt find value in them.  My gameplan at these shows is always the same.  Meet people that are smarter than me who I can pick up some knowledge from.  You would be surprised what affiliates will share in a relaxed bar setting.

I highly recommend going to affiliate summit, if youve never attended.  The next one is in NY.  It may cost you some travel related expenses but you will make it back many times over.

A lot of thanks goes to Missy Ward & Shawn Collins for putting the conference together and allowing guys like me to cover it.

P.S. Shawn Collins looks gangsta as a cowboy.

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