South African Internet Marketing

[clickz]

Most of my clients to date have been US and UK based. I have just landed a large South African client. I want to be able to provide them with the same level of service that I provide to my international clients and give them the same innovative exposure online. I am stuck however in finding any large South African networks? The only networks consist of small goups of 4 or 5 sites like the Media 24 group. How can i get larger exposure in the South African online arena? and barring that, how can I start my own network? How can I get publishers to sign up to a network?

[Chatmaster]

Until now South Africa has been very ignorant to the online marketing sector. However, this will change. There are several online communities that should offer a fair amount of traffic (depending on the market you are in) Communities will be a good way to go.

Mweb has a very large community. Mail and Guardian also. News sites are by far the most visited sites in SA. Then you get IT orientated sites like ITWeb and Bizcommunity. Youngster communities such as MrSpencer. These are some of the larger communities to market in. You do have to realize that you need to have an excellent website retention program in place to ensure that these communities offer you returning visitors quite frequently.

Off course the process is not that simple. You still need to ensure that the visitors to the sites you want to advertise at fits your profile and all the normal marketing stuff. :).

[Gavin Levin]

OK its been a few months since your original post, and since then the South African online market has ,and is, growing rapidly, even with so called broadband becoming more mainstream. (to the point of totally confusing the public's understanding the best route to get online(ADSL,3G,iBurst etc.))

Yes there are those portals like Media24 and IOL, but there are many more niche sites/portals utilising concepts like social networking to generate good traffic.

Depending on your clients, SEO and PPC never hurt to drive traffic directly. Remember this is more than one type of exposure i.e. CPM (with lead/sale conversion tracking), CPL,CPS ,Hybrids.

I hope you have found your route to generating your clients profiled targeted eyeballs.

[Paz]

Hi Gavin,

Glad to hear from you! How are things going at Traffic Synergy, I mean are things taking off for you guys?

[Gavin Levin]

South Africa is taking off like a Boeing (excluding the A380)!

The response and demand is admittedly even stronger than we predicted.

The South African affiliates love the benefits of an affiliate network, as they don't have to chase after 20 advertisers, there is one place for their stats and since we offer both local and international campaigns,they dont have to wait for $ based cheques.
We have also seen a good deal of international sites monetizing their South African traffic through us, utilising geo-targeting.
South African advertisers looking for international exposure are finding it a great way to get out there, without the $5000 fees some affiliate networks charge.

Just to illustrate what we are offering , today 2 new exclusives went live:
Auto Pedigree : South Africa's largest 2nd hand car dealership
Travelstart : Flight comparison engine(incl 1Time and Kulula)

Hope that answer wasn't too much of a sales pitch, just been an exciting day.

Signup, try some SEO and PPC and see for yourself how we are doing ;)

[Paz]

Hope that answer wasn't too much of a sales pitch, just been an exciting day.

Signup, try some SEO and PPC and see for yourself how we are doing ;)

LOL well it all sounds pretty good! We do SEO and PPC campaigns for clients ourselves actually, but we're not really part of any affiliate network at this time - but of course that will likely change soon!

Cheers,
Paz.

[Chatmaster]

Gavin, Maybe a silly question but I am curios, if I am interested in implimenting an affiliate program on one of my sites. What would you need from me to impliment tracking and soforth on my side?

[Gavin Levin]

From TrafficSynergy's perspective:
Its probably easier than you thought as we handle most of the process.

The majority of admin and technical work is in our systems, all you decide is what type of campaign you would like to run.

CPM : No Tracking code on your site, but we can offer the added service of using Lead or Sale tracking on the campaign to help understand the real value of your CPM to Lead/Sale conversion ratios. i.e Is CPM worth your while?(Normally only ***ociated with very high traffic affiliates)

Cost per Lead/Sale: A piece of Tracking code, e.g. "an img url" on your sites "payment page", that tracks back to our system.

Thats it! You get a login to our advertiser interface and can watch your stats from impressions to clicks, to lead/sale.

Besides creatives , nothing much more required from your side.

Hope it makes sense.

[Chatmaster]

Alright so if I understand correctly you run mainly ppc campaigns. Do you perhaps have an affiliate system whereby affiliates get paid per conversion?

[Gavin Levin]

OK, so maybe 1:30am for such a long post wasnt the best idea...

CPM, Cost per Click, Cost per Lead,Cost per Sale, Click/Sale Hybrids....we offer them all. With the same simple technical implications of a 1 line tracking url pixel for your site.

Most of our campaigns are CPL and CPS.