Oliver Kenyon is a chef turned online entrepreneur. He has been into affiliate marketing for the past 8 years and is the founder of AffiliateFix, the biggest and fastest growing free affiliate community online. The community has over 70,000 members, 400,000+ discussions and 1500+ affiliate companies on board. In addition AffiliateFix, Oliver also manages several CPA websites.
In his interview with Cloudways, he shared his journey from being a chef to becoming an affiliate marketing guru. He also spilled the beans about the fraudulent practices in affiliate marketing and expressed his ideas about the future of the affiliate marketing industry.
Cloudways: Hello Oliver Kenyon, let’s start with the introduction.
Oliver: Sure! First of all, thanks for having me for this interview, and thanks to those who are taking their time to read this.
My names Oliver. I am a 29 year old, fully qualified chef turned online entrepreneur from Bristol, England. I am an incredibly driven and passionate individual and love nothing more than working on my companies and businesses. Aside from work, I am a HUGE Liverpool FC fan and love spending time with my partner and our dog, Dennis!
Cloudways: Oliver, what about your affiliate marketing experience. How did you first get involved in the affiliate marketing world?
Oliver: Of course. So, I first discovered the internet marketing world around 8 years ago. Prior to this, I would spend my spare time online as a member of various hip hop and sports related forums. I soon found a love for forums and communities, and whilst in college studying to be a chef, I created one of my first ever forums/websites, a hip hop battle community.
On this community I met another lad from the UK called Jonezy. We would spend hours discussing how we could make some extra money online and planned to escape our “day jobs”. Not that my day job was like most. I was a full-time chef after college and worked between 13-16 hours a day! Anyway, somehow I managed to find spare time to try and make something stick online, and one day Jonezy introduced me to the world of CPA (Cost Per Action).
My very first success online was when I was about 20, when myself and Jonezy managed to grow a Facebook page for fans of the English football team (back then they existed). I made over £500 in one week which was half my MONTHLY wage. Needless to say, I was instantly hooked!
Cloudways: You are known for running CPA websites. However, you have other websites to your credit as well. Would you like to share those websites with our readers?
Oliver: I’d love to yes. So I and my business partner Andy also run a very successful design and development agency (in the affiliate marketing world) named Landing Page Guys. We design, develop and integrate bespoke landing pages and funnels for everyone from the Fortune 500 companies to your average affiliate Joe.
We also have a new and super exciting start up called Pagesource. This is the ultimate landing page solution for performance marketers. We’ve been working on the software for over a year now and are currently in the beta stage. We are almost ready to shake up the industry, so watch this space!
Aside from the above, I have several other side projects alongside my investments, consultancy contracts and a rapidly growing personal brand at OliverKenyon.com
Cloudways: Let’s talk about Affiliatefix. We know it is an affiliate forum. Tell us a bit more about affiliatefix.com and what you do over there?
Oliver: AffiliateFix is currently the biggest and fastest growing free affiliate community online. It boasts 70,000+ members and 400,000+ discussions.
I set out with one goal: build a friendly and welcoming environment to connect the whole affiliate industry in one place. I believe that we have achieved this purpose. Anyone from the affiliate industry, new or old, experienced or inexperienced should feel welcome and respected. No question is too silly, no achievement impossible. We are all in the community to help each other.
Cloudways: There are several affiliate marketing forums out there. What is the differentiating factor for AffiliateFix.com? Why should affiliates prefer visiting Affiliatefix.com?
Oliver: I honestly believe that we are the biggest and the best!
As far as affiliate forums go, the old ones like A4U and abestweb have been left for dead and I am not personally aware of any other serious (and free) affiliate forums that come even close. I always give a shout out to the guys over at STM as they are doing something awesome. However, they are a paid community so we can’t compare ourselves to them. There is mutual respect, though.
To me, it has always been about building a place to connect everyone, so if your readers want somewhere they can relax and get the help or connections they need for free, then join AffiliateFix. We would love to welcome you.
Cloudways: Recently, affiliate marketing has been growing to newer heights. How do you feel about the overall outlook of the affiliate industry? If you could change one thing about the current affiliate industry, what would it be?
Oliver: It sure has, especially, initially with mobile and then native marketing being introduced.
As for the model of affiliate marketing I absolutely LOVE it. It is not going away and I still believe everyone who has something to sell online should have an affiliate program of some kind. As for changing something, I feel the biggest downfall in the industry is how un-transparent it is.
What I mean by this is there is still a huge gap from the affiliate to the advertiser via the affiliate network. Often, advertisers can refuse to pay affiliate commissions which unfairly leaves the affiliate out of pocket, and there is no real transparency as to why.
I would love to see a better system in place to prevent this from happening. The key is to work with those trusted networks, or if possible have a direct relationship with your advertiser. I would also advise scaling slowly to build and ensure trust. There are still common issues with some idiots defrauding the industry or ruining it for others with non-compliant campaigns.
Cloudways: In your honest opinion, what are some of the best places for anyone looking to become a successful affiliate marketer?
Oliver: As far as resources, you’re not going to get any better place to learn than AffiliateFix and STM.
Be sure to network, go to events, meet up’s, join Facebook groups and don’t ever be afraid to ask questions.
A good starting point is our famous Wiki: https://www.affiliatefix.com/forums/whatisaffiliatemarketing/
Cloudways: Let’s talk about the future of Affiliatefix.com. What are your plans for the future? Where do you see the forum going in the coming years?
Oliver: Whether it is us or someone else running the company, I believe AffiliateFix will continue to be a powerhouse in the affiliate industry. It continues to grow rapidly and has now fully established itself as the number one affiliate community online.
We have plans to expand out from the community and launch more networking events, meetups, conferences, softwares and more. The plan is and always will be to improve the affiliate community and to provide a useful and friendly resource for the whole industry to connect.
Cloudways: Networking is essential for growth. For the affiliate industry, which industry conferences do you usually attend, and which conferences are your favorite? Which conferences would you recommend to those looking to enter the affiliate industry.
Oliver: Unfortunately I don’t fly…..
To put it bluntly, I am petrified, so that’s one issue I need to overcome in my life ASAP.
This prevents me from travelling to the US events like Affiliate Summit. However, I have attended my fair share of European events and my personal favourite and must-attend events are Affiliate World Europe and Performance In London.
I would advise all affiliates to attend the AWA and AWE events, ran by the STM guys. Also, I have heard really positive things about the Affiliate Summits.
I’m also planning on attending DMEXCO this year in Germany for the first time.
One day, I hope to get over my fear and travel to the American shows.
Cloudways: Oliver, how do you keep yourself updated with the latest industry knowledge and update? What Industry sites and blogs do you read regularly and why? Are there any specific individuals in the industry that you follow, like Andrew Haskins, Zac Johnson?
Oliver: Well as far as Andy is concerned, I could not get rid of him as he is my business partner!
So although I try, he keeps coming back….
All jokes aside, I am super lucky to to be able to share an office with Andy on a daily basis. The guy is a genius and we compliment each other very well.
As far as the other industry blogs and news are concerned, I do not tend to follow too much outside of our community. However the following two resources are my favourites:
- Smart Passive Income with Pat Flyn
- NeilPatel.com
I tend to focus more on my businesses these days rather than launching my own affiliate campaigns, so the guys above serve as a great inspiration.
If you are after some good affiliate blogger though, check out:
- CashMoneyAffiliate.com
- ServandoSilva.com
- LukePeerFly.com
- CharlesNgo.com
- PPCMode.com
Cloudways: Let’s step aside from work. What are you hobbies? What do you do to relax yourself? While doing some research, I found out that you are a CHEF! What do you like to cook the most? Can you share your best dish with our readers?
Oliver: As far as hobbies I love sport and fitness.
I spend 3 sessions a week with my personal trainer in and out of the gym. I also regularly run and play football.
Speaking of football, i’m also a huge Liverpool FC fan and rarely miss a game on TV. I also often make the 500 mile round trip to see them play at our beloved Anfield stadium.
I love spending time with my partner Josie and our dog and love nothing more than going away for the weekend to a nice hotel with great food, wine and long walks.
We’re also going travelling this year, so I cannot wait to start exploring new destinations (we will start from Italy!)
Which bring me onto the chef thing. I used to cook mainly Italian foods, hence my eagerness for the month long Italy tour. As far as cooking these days, I tend to leave that to Josie. However, I love doing a special meal featuring 4-5 courses for family and friends. On these occasions, I can spend the whole day in the kitchen cooking up a storm and sipping a glass or two of vino.
My favourite dishes to cook are likely my partner Josies favourite dishes of mine, so if I was to make her something, her ideal menu based on my specialities would look like this:
- Chicken liver pate with caramelised onions and croutons.
- Braised beef shin in a red wine sauce with caerphilly topped bubble and squeak with pancetta.
- Sticky toffee pudding with creme anglaise and homemade ice cream.
I’m getting hungry now!….
Cloudways: Web hosting is an essential part of Affiliate Marketing. How crucial is the role of Managed Cloud Hosting providers, like Cloudways, for online marketing and blogging industry?
Oliver: Essential!
The main element if you’re doing paid traffic is page load speed. You need to make sure your pages load as quickly as they possibly can.
Our company Landing Page Guys could help build high-performance landing pages. However, all affiliate marketers should understand that they need a managed hosting partner such as Cloudways to deal with server management and speed related issues. Cloudways, in particular, handles all server issues, leaving you to focus on your affiliate campaigns.
Cloudways: Finally, just for our readers, can you please send us an image of what your desk or workspace looks like!
Oliver: Sure, here’s my home office:
Here’s my work office:
Umair Qureshi
Umair Qureshi works as Assistant Digital Marketing Manager for Cloudways- A Managed Cloud Hosting Platform. He loves combining creativity with skills and marketing with technology.
