An Affiliate’s Life Vinny Lingham Affiliate Dag May 19, 2009 Twitter: @yolaweb

About Vinny Vinny Lingham Founder, CEO Seasoned entrepreneur who founded award-winning search engine marketing company, Clicks2Customers. Awards: YGL Honoree 2009 by the World Economic Forum, High-impact entrepreneur by Endeavor Global, and 2006 Top Young IT Entrepreneur. Serves on numerous international advisory boards for search engine and affiliate marketing, including Commission Junction and Yahoo! Speaks at conferences around the world and is frequently cited on Web 2.0 trends. Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Vinny Lingham

Founder, CEO

Seasoned entrepreneur who founded award-winning search engine marketing company, Clicks2Customers.

Awards: YGL Honoree 2009 by the World Economic Forum, High-impact entrepreneur by Endeavor Global, and 2006 Top Young IT Entrepreneur.

Serves on numerous international advisory boards for search engine and affiliate marketing, including Commission Junction and Yahoo!

Speaks at conferences around the world and is frequently cited on Web 2.0 trends.

Life as an affiliate Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Clicks2Customers Founded in 2003 Grew the business from 6 people to 70 people Awards: 2004 Commission Junction Horizon Award for Innovation, 2006 Minister's Award for Overall Excellence (Small/Medium Enterprises), 2007 nomination for Best New Affiliate at the LinkShare Golden Link Awards Built a cool technology, which is how Yola (formerly SynthaSite) was created Affiliate Marketing Model and Excellent Customer Service Clients include 3 of the top 30 online retailers in the US, 2 of the top 10 UK travel brands, and the biggest online retailers in both South Africa and Australia. Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Founded in 2003

Grew the business from 6 people to 70 people

Awards: 2004 Commission Junction Horizon Award for Innovation, 2006 Minister's Award for Overall Excellence (Small/Medium Enterprises), 2007 nomination for Best New Affiliate at the LinkShare Golden Link Awards

Built a cool technology, which is how Yola (formerly SynthaSite) was created

Affiliate Marketing Model and Excellent Customer Service

Clients include 3 of the top 30 online retailers in the US, 2 of the top 10 UK travel brands, and the biggest online retailers in both South Africa and Australia.

Benefits of being an affiliate Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Challenges of being an affiliate Change in Terms Fluctuating exchange rates Short term gains Crowded marketplace – many pitfalls and risks Not easily scalable Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Change in Terms

Fluctuating exchange rates

Short term gains

Crowded marketplace – many pitfalls and risks

Not easily scalable

Key to becoming a successful affiliate Keep the team small Stay focused Much value is in the long tail of search Focus on the user Don’t compete against the media agencies who are incentivized by their clients to spend more money by paying them on % of spend models Detailed Business Intelligence Grow revenues by optimizing campaigns, not just increasing bids Align metrics between affiliates and marketers Focus on real value linked to ROI Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Keep the team small

Stay focused

Much value is in the long tail of search

Focus on the user

Don’t compete against the media agencies who are incentivized by their clients to spend more money by paying them on % of spend models

Detailed Business Intelligence

Grow revenues by optimizing campaigns, not just increasing bids

Align metrics between affiliates and marketers

Focus on real value linked to ROI

Key to growing and staying successful Be ready for volatility in earnings Maintain a healthy cash balance Excellent communication between the affiliates and the advertisers Transparency to establish trust and protect merchant brand equity Need to be flexible and able to follow the trends, e.g. twitter Network: Attend Industry Conferences and build your profile and reputation Don’t just be another invisible affiliate Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Be ready for volatility in earnings

Maintain a healthy cash balance

Excellent communication between the affiliates and the advertisers

Transparency to establish trust and protect merchant brand equity

Need to be flexible and able to follow the trends, e.g. twitter

Network: Attend Industry Conferences and build your profile and reputation

Don’t just be another invisible affiliate

Lessons learned as an affiliate Conversion rates are important Try to engage your traffic so that it becomes recurring and reduces your cost of traffic acquisition You have a small window of opportunity to getting $$$ from a customer Work with reputable affiliate networks Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Conversion rates are important

Try to engage your traffic so that it becomes recurring and reduces your cost of traffic acquisition

You have a small window of opportunity to getting $$$ from a customer

Work with reputable affiliate networks

How the PPC ecosystem operates in different economies Information Commerce Entertainment Natural Listings Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc. Good Times Bad Times CPC Price Impact in Current Economy I C E I C E A L A L People tend to spend less time searching People tend to spend more time bargain hunting

Customer Lifetime Value 20% 80% Affiliate businesses can’t be too big because the revenues are only short term. 0 5 24 12 Months Party Affiliates and Merchants share this portion Merchants Typical Company Size 5 100 Ex. Share of money to the Affiliate $50 $200 Duration 1-5 months 6-24 months

Why did I leave affiliate marketing? Merchants did not always understand their own business nor their customers life value Merchants kept running out of a budget (retarded concept) Affiliate Marketing was becoming commoditized I reached the glass ceiling and felt like I couldn’t go any higher Wanted to build my own product and services Didn’t want to make $$$ for other people, instead leveraged my skills for my own benefit Wanted to build a strong business model for affiliates to market Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Merchants did not always understand their own business nor their customers life value

Merchants kept running out of a budget (retarded concept)

Affiliate Marketing was becoming commoditized

I reached the glass ceiling and felt like I couldn’t go any higher

Wanted to build my own product and services

Didn’t want to make $$$ for other people, instead leveraged my skills for my own benefit

Wanted to build a strong business model for affiliates to market

Affiliate Marketing Glass Ceiling Clicks2Customers The chances of building a billion dollar company in affiliate marketing are very small The industry size determines how big companies can grow to Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc. Scale Revenue Level to Achieve % Who Achieve This $100K Easy 50% $1 million Moderate 10% $5 million Difficult 5% $10 million Exceptional 1% $50 million Almost impossible .01% $1 billion Impossible ???

The chances of building a billion dollar company in affiliate marketing are very small

The industry size determines how big companies can grow to

Challenges of now running a start-up company (Yola) More overhead Higher investment Must wear multiple hats Staying on top of your email Many stakeholders Managing growth and capacity Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

More overhead

Higher investment

Must wear multiple hats

Staying on top of your email

Many stakeholders

Managing growth and capacity

Choose: technology company or affiliate?... … You can’t be both Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

… You can’t be both

Do what makes you happy Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.

Thank You Contact Info: Vinny Lingham Email: vinny@yola.com Blog: vinnylingham.com Confidential & Private document. This remains the intellectual property of Yola Inc.