The TopRanked.io Weekly Digest: What’s Hot in Affiliate Marketing [Week 31]

Quick Disclosure: We’re about to tell you how Kartra runs a top-notch affiliate program to promote. And we really mean it. Just know that if you click on a Kartra link, we may earn a small commission. Your choice.

Mishearing things is often good for all sorts of laughs.

But other times, it’s just a nuisance… like this week when we were discussing a good affiliate program to introduce you to.

Someone dropped a name, I heard the word Kärcher, and immediately responded, “Wouldn’t that kinda suck?”

One dad joke and a brief clarification later, I pretty quickly realized that, no, promoting this brand wouldn’t suck.

Wanna know who it is?

TopRanked.io Partner Program of the Week — Kartra Affiliates

So, as it turns out, this week’s TopRanked affiliate program of the week has nothing to do with vacuums. Instead, it’s an all-in-one online business platform. Kinda like ClickFunnels, but better.

So with that introduction out of the way, let me introduce you to Kartra Affiliates.

Katra Affiliates Products — Forget About ClickFunnels

Okay, so maybe don’t forget about ClickFunnels. While you’ll be promoting mostly superior products via Kartra Affiliates, ClickFunnels isn’t without its merits.

To quote one reviewer — if all you want is a pure sales funnel, then choose ClickFunnels. But, if you actually need the other tools to function (like membership management on your member site), then Kartra is way, way better.

Conversely, if your audience needs more than just a sales funnel, then you should probably just promote Kartra Affiliates instead. (There’s also another good reason, which we’ll get to in a second!)

That should just about cover everything about the Kartra product that you need to know. If you need more info, just check out their website.

Katra Affiliates Commissions — Forget About ClickFunnels

As promised, there’s another good reason to promote Kartra over ClickFunnels — commissions.

In short, Kartra will pay you 33% more compared to ClickFunnels.

Or, more concretely, Kartra will pay you 40% recurring commissions, while you’ll only get 30% from ClickFunnels.

And these commissions are paid on fairly similarly priced products. For example, the starter plan at Kartra is $119/month paid annually.

That means you’ll get $571.20/year just for selling an annual starter plan. (And way more if they upgrade later.)

Over at ClickFunnels, however, you’ll only get 30% on a $127/month plan. That works out to 457.20 a year for you.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone’s offering me an extra $114 a year for every starter plan I sell, I know which option I’m gonna take. (Hint: it’s Kartra…)

Kartra Affiliates Cares

The same passion that Kartra puts into creating its products spills over into running its affiliate program. So expect great affiliate support, and some great perks, such as access to the entire Kartra marketplace.

As for the other bits we might have forgotten:

• Kartra offers a 30-day cookie lifetime
• Kartra pays monthly
• Access to heaps of affiliate resources
• Did we mention the recurring 40% commissions?
• No minimum sales required
• Access the Kartra affiliate community
• Get dedicated affiliate support from Kartra

What more could you want?

To signup for an affiliate program that doesn’t suck (Kartra), head here.

News Takeaways

Meta’s Blocking Links to Canadian News Orgs — Google to Soon Follow?

If you’re anything like me, the only time you follow any Canadian news is when you want to distract yourself from the real world with something… quaint. Like that time when some ranchers were left stunned after a beaver herded up 150 cattle.

Yeah. Canadian news is weird.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that Zuckerberg has made the move of banning links to Canadian news publishers on Meta platforms.

True story. Apart from that bit about the reason why he did it.

For those who aren’t in the loop, the Canadian government recently passed a bill that will require “Big Tech” to pay news publishers for publishing news links on their platforms. Apparently, putting up free backlinks and driving traffic to news publisher websites is depriving Canadian publishers of income.

Now, of course, this isn’t the first time countries have tried to impose these sorts of “publishing links is theft” laws. Australia tried a similar move a couple of years ago and, after a brief kerfuffle with Google, managed to get its way, declaring the move a public policy success.

However, this is the first time we’ve seen Meta join the fray. 

We should also expect Google to join hands with Meta to fight for their right to post links — it was apparently running trials back in February in anticipation of Canada’s news links bill.

What will be interesting to watch now is whether the band of Big Tech brothers will hold the line this time around.

I’m tempted to say they just might this time around given they paid over $200 million to Australian publishers within the first year. For reference, Australia only has a population of about 25MM. That means, if this sort of thing catches on around the world, it’s gonna start getting real expensive, real fast.

Takeaway

While I wouldn’t count on the Canadian news blackout lasting forever, there’s probably an opportunity for someone to fill the void here.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you go and start a full blown news org dedicated to covering Canada from outside of Canada. That may just be too much work for what could be a very temporary void.

But what I am going to suggest is that you put out some Facebook-native content to help the Canuckleheads get their daily dose of news.

Here are a couple of ideas:

• Create a “What’s Going on in Canada, Eh?” website. Post the links Big Tech is supposed to pay for, along with a short article summary (get ChatGPT to do it). Now implement some kind of monetization on the website, and go promote it on Facebook.
• Create a 5-minute “The Daily Hoser” news video that you’re proud to post. Deliver the daily news in 4 minutes. Use the other minute to work in a few “sponsors”/CTAs… whatever it takes to drive people to a landing page.

DM Spamming’s About to Get a Lot Harder on Insta

Since we’re on the topic of Meta platforms, Instagram has just announced a new feature to “protect users from unwanted images and videos in DMs.”

To summarize the changes in a nutshell (actually, there’s going to be 2 nutshells…), that means:

1. You can only send one DM to someone who doesn’t follow you. If that person doesn’t accept your request, then too bad. No second chances.
2. No images or videos are allowed in DM invite messages, meaning you’re gonna have to make your first impression the old-school way — text only.

As always, the changes are said to be part of the platform’s ever-caring efforts to ‘protect users from harmful content.’ (which, given KOSA’s been getting a revival lately, I’m pretty sure is just code speak for ‘stop pedos from sending d**k pics to your kids’…).

In any case, whatever the true intentions are, the DM restrictions are gonna make life tough for more than a few marketers.

But that doesn’t mean DMs are dead.

What it does mean is that you’re gonna have to make sure your intro text makes an impact.

Of course, being 100% clueless about this stuff, I had no idea about how to make an impact. So, to get some ideas, I turned to the one true source of knowledge… memes.

That could work.

Alternatively, we could always turn to ChatGPT for starters.

Now, I’m not really convinced by most of these. But, you get the point.

Basically, you’re going to want to make your intro message generates massive curiosity, and imply there’s value to be had by replying.

Offering to send memes ticks off those boxes.

Also, pay attention — you’re probably not going to want to promise too much in your intro. Create too much disappointment among those who accept your invitation, and you might end up with zero conversions.

So, if you do offer to send memes, just be sure to send them a meme if they accept. Here’s a good Canadian one if you’re in need of meme-spiration.

Takeaway

While this change is a pain in the rear for some, it’s definitely not the death of Instagram DMs as a means for introducing people to a product/service.

In fact, if it helps drive away some of the method-followers who’re lost without a step-by-step instruction manual on how to market, it might even be a good thing. Less clutter for you to compete with.

The other point that’s probably worth adding is that, for a short window of time, users might treat DMs as being way more trustworthy. But don’t expect that illusion to last any longer than the one that makes them think Meta really is all about protecting them from unwanted DMs.

One Last Thing on Meta

Before moving away from the Meta mothership, one last thing worth pointing out is that Threads is dying.

After setting the world record for the fastest-growing consumer app ever (it hit 100 million users in, like, days), things have gone downhill pretty fast.

The latest data suggests Threads is now under 11 million users, with that number continuing to fall. That’s according to Sensor Tower, at least, who says Threads users are dropping off at a rate of 1% per day.

Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise for regular readers. We did warn you that Threads wasn’t looking good in an affiliate digest from a few weeks ago.

Fortunately for Meta, there is one saving grace here.

Unlike compounding interest, the curve on this is theoretically logarithmic rather than exponential. So, as long as Meta doesn’t do anything to royally screw anything up, the attrition rate in terms of raw user numbers should be pretty slow from now on.

With that said, Threads does have a few loyalists ready to Stan for it. A couple of days ago, Mashable published a “Why Threads is about to eat Twitter’s lunch” article.

Sadly, the author argues that the reason why is because Threads is about to add new features to its platform. But that kinda misses the point — the whole reason people use a platform isn’t for the features.

It’s for the culture.

Sure, adding a better timeline and a web version might help with the attrition (features don’t make a platform, but a lack of them can definitely break one…). But, until Threads does something to clean up its reputation for being little more than a wasteland of clout chasers and cheesy, kid-safe brand content, don’t expect anyone to come back just for the “features.”

Takeaway

There’s probably not much point putting too much effort into any Threads strategies yet. While user attrition continues to be a problem, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll just be wasting your time.

With that said, if you’ve got something to promote to mommy influencers and other miscellaneous clout chasers, maybe it’s worth a shot.

Just don’t forget to tell them that they’ll need Kartra to run their membership program/online course/whatever…

TikTok and the EU

The EU has been ushering in a bunch of additional requirements for “Very Large Online Platforms” under its so-called Digital Services Act. And, as you would probably expect, it’s all about “policing content and sharing data with authorities.”

That has TikTok running scared, meaning some big changes are on the horizon. And when I say big, I mean big.

The headline change here is that TikTok will now let EU residents turn off personalized recommendations. Which, if users actually adopt this option, isn’t that far off from just shutting TikTok off. After all, if the theories hold correct, most of TikTok’s pulling power is down to the power of its recommendations algorithms.

Of course, we can expect TikTok to throw up plenty of UX dark patterns to dissuade users from switching off recommendations. And, if it turns its algorithms on some sort of mass A/B/C/D/…/ZODAF/… dark pattern tests, don’t be surprised if the average EU user ends up signing their life over to TikTok when all they thought they were going to do was turn off personalized recommendations.

Takeaway

It’s still too early to tell how much of an impact this will actually have.

While there’ll no doubt be a bunch of EU users who will manage to turn off the algorithm, that doesn’t mean everyone will. Even if a majority wants to, chances are TikTok will probably stump them with the dark patterns.

However, if the end result here is some sort of mass extinction even for the TikTok algorithm in the EU, get prepared to rethink how you do TikTok marketing if you’re targeting an EU audience.

Closing Thought

It’s no secret that we like James Clear around here. His 3-2-1 newsletter is always full of good, practical advice and, more importantly, thought provocation.

Here’s an example of that last point.

Yesterday, James put the words “the value of books” in the headline.

What then followed was a quote from the creator of Star Trek (Gene Roddenberry) about the power of books for such things as living vicariously and accessing a person’s entire lifetime of knowledge.

That kinda left me wondering… “so, what exactly is the value of books? These are all things I can do with an internet connection and a Netflix subscription, no?”

But then I remembered the real problem of the internet — there’s just too much damn information.

I mean, these days, you can consume 6000 TikTok videos, get ChatGPT to summarize 10 books for you, and still have time to read Jame’s newsletter before lunch.

But, at what point exactly do you sit down and actually make any of this count?

Sure, it feels kinda nice when we read, “Goals are for people who care about winning once. Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.” (Another quote from the same newsletter.)

But what are you actually going to do with this knowledge?

I bet you’re going to forget about it by the time you come back from lunch. That’s the unfortunate byproduct of information overload.

And even if you don’t forget about it, how much sense can you actually make of it?

Should you abandon your goals and start implementing systems?

And what things should you actually be systematizing?

If you’re left stumped on the follow-up questions, then let’s call that information underload.

So that had me thinking — maybe there’s the true power of a book. It fights the paradoxical forces of simultaneous information overload and information underload.

It forces you to commit to a single work, thus combatting information overload. And then, it goes into depth on its subject matter, thus combatting information underload.

This means a single book could leave you 1000x more knowledgeable at the end of it than if you’d just hung out online.

Not to mention that books are a total productivity hack — it’s pretty hard to check your socials from the book jacket.

In any case, when you do come back to the internet, you’ll be armed and dangerous, ready to convert massively on an affiliate program that pays out 40% commissions. (Wink wink…)

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(Featured image by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS via Pexels)

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