Will The REAL Michael Anthony Please Stand Up?

Today I am going to try and get to the bottom of something that has been annoying me for quite a while… If you are interested in Pay Per Click (PPC) then this could be the most important article you read.

For those of you who don’t know who Michael Anthony is, I will explain:

I occasionally post at the affiliate marketing forum a4uforum.co.uk at this forum there has been one member who has been causing quite a stir recently. This member is called Michael Anthony, and if what he says is true, he could be the key to making huge profits from Google Adwords.

However, Michael has split the forum into two camps with his aggressive style. The first camp believe that Michael is all bark and no bite, they don’t believe any of Michaels grand claims.

The second camp seem to like his no-nonsense style. They believe that Michael is a PPC expert, and that he is well worth listening to.

I am going to make a confession…

I was firmly in camp one for quite some time. But fortunately I was lucky enough to have a close business contact who had met Michael, he was able to confirm Michaels credentials. Today I am going to be interviewing Michael Anthony, with the aim of discovering…

Who is the REAL Michael Anthony?

1) Michael, what did you do before you had an online business?

I was a trader on the London Stock Exchange, then I owned a travel business.

2) You seem to have made quite an impact on the Affiliate Marketing / Webmaster forums. Is this something you are used to?

Making an impact? Yes, I speak my mind, and don’t need to be liked.

3) Could you tell us a bit about your affiliate marketing school?

As it says on our homepage, “The school exists to help improve both affiliate and merchant businesses and to ensure that all members improve their own lifestyles in any way they wish.”

I originally set it up as I was getting plagued by requests for help from forum members, who had read of my success on forums. As I was sending out the same advice again and again, it made sense to set up a website to share the advice for free. My Headmasters, the expert affiliates who help school students, are the affiliates who originally contacted me for advice over two years ago - most of these guys are now well on their way to becoming millionaires in their twenties.

4) Personally I do not use Pay Per Click much. Could you teach someone like me to start making a profit? And could you do this for any niche?

My Headmasters can teach anyone how to make money from Pay Per Click, but not for any niche. Some areas are so competitive, or the margins so low, that it’s uneconomic to use Pay Per Click to drive traffic. That’s one of the reasons that we have our Recommended Merchants at the school - to take the guesswork out of choosing a merchant to work with, these programs are tried trusted and proven.

5) What are the main mistakes that people make with Pay Per Click?

Where do I start! The biggest mistake is trying to rank in position 1, which is a certain way to lose money. Another is to bid on generic terms that convert poorly, and yet another is bidding too low. This is a huge subject, which is covered in depth in one of our forum topics called “Newbie Guide to Adwords”. Here are some of the main tips taken from that section:

 

* “The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.”

* Only use Google and Search Partners, NEVER the content network.

* Don’t target more than one country with the same campaign.

* Don’t use “accelerated delivery”, it just wastes money

* Ignore the traffic estimator, it’s wrong

* Forget ad position, concentrate on ROI

* Always use conversion codes wherever possible

* Monitor daily to start

 

* Kill non performers very quickly

* Don’t flog dead horses. If it doesn’t work after 3 days/100 clicks/£1-200 spent, it’s never gonna. Start afresh.

* Be very targetted in your adgroups.

* Keep adgroups to 20 or 30 keywords.

* Make sure you do at least 2 ads per adgroup, edit the underperforming one once a week.

* NEVER edit all your ads at once, (you will have no ads being displayed until they review the changes).

* When you find a profitable keyword, DO NOT tinker with it anymore. Let the good ctr and performance go for as long as possible.

 

6) How many staff /employees does it take to run the affiliate marketing school?

Just me. The headmasters help, but they are not employed by the school, they just take a profit share for the students or merchants that they recruit.

7) By all accounts, you are making a lot of Money online. (I have been to your private forum and see your own regular postings for amounts earned) Now, I can appreciate, you may not wish to declare exact numbers in an open website, but are you prepared to give any indication of level of income being generated by the business you set up.

No

8 ) What do you get up to in your spare time?

Kart Racing, gym, property, travel

9) Bearing in mind your phenomenal success, is there anything you would do differently if you was to start over again?

Be less cautious, and not have worked for someone else as I did during my city career

10) Whilst doing some research I stumbled upon http://lifestylemillionaire.com What can you tell me about this?

It’s a work in progress, which I hope to finish this year. I’ve read over 300 self help books and have found that they all lack something - they all value money rather than time. Time is the most valuable thing in the world, which is what my book hopes to get across - in a way it’s my version of everything I’ve learnt over the years, both from reading and personal experience.

11) Michael, you are noted for your “Positive Quotes” in Forum Postings - for example one I like is: “Rather than feeling that you’re about to have the rug pulled from under you, let me teach you how to dance on a flying carpet”

Perhaps you could let us have just a few of your favourite Inspirational Positive Quotes?

* Always do what you know you should be doing

* If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got

* If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right

12) Do you have any recommended books, courses or resources related to Motivation / Business / Internet Marketing / Affiliate Marketing

* My own, of course!

* The Official Guide to Success - Tom Hopkins

* The 7 habits of highly effective people - Stephen R Covey

* Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert T Kyosaki

13) What would you like to be doing 10 years from now?

* Still healthy and fit

* Involved with business but not dependent

* 2 happy healthy children

* Life Family still together

* Lots of friends

14) For our Readers - what are the web addresses of your websites?

www.affiliate-marketing-school.com
www.lead-clearing-house.com
www.traffic-clearing-house.com