Meet Tim Burd Co-Founder of AdLeaks & Agency Y – a serial entrepreneur with multiple 7-figure exits over the last decade. He’s been in the spotlight by Forbes, Bloomberg, and continues to grow in the media.
Tim now lives in California and runs the largest Facebook advertising community in existence and owns a digital ad agency called Agency Y. He does high-end advertising, CRO consulting, and hosts popular shows with other experts in the industry.
Cloudways: Hi Tim, let’s start with a traditional question. How did it all start? What’s your story?
Tim Burd: I started in affiliate marketing back when I was 19 years old. I had been a mortgage broker prior to that and was desperate to get out of the corporate world and learn to make money online. After finding quick success as an affiliate, I got a call from the affiliate program owner and he asked me to be an affiliate manager and help teach other people affiliate marketing. From there I started my own affiliate network, my own offers, my own agency and so on and here I am!
Cloudways: You have sold many online businesses? Is it pure luck or a well-executed growth strategy?
Tim Burd: Yes I have sold many now and I would say its a mix of preparation and luck like much in life. I haven’t made a business plan for any of my businesses funny enough but always have strategies in my head I implement as well as a vision for what the company could be and then typically after just 12-24months I sell it.
Cloudways: To what extent are Facebook Ads essential for affiliate marketing?
Tim Burd: I wouldn’t necessarily say they are essential as many affiliates run traffic on sources other than Facebook Ads but obviously Facebook is a huge source of traffic and has so much scale so it is definitely a great platform to learn and implement as most of the largest affiliates do utilize Facebook Ads.
Cloudways: What are the key elements for a successful lead generation campaign? What’s the role of well-optimized content, effective distribution strategy, and paid ads?
Tim Burd: Successful angle to your ad copy, great creatives (copy, image & video) as well as a super-fast loading simple landing page with a desirable offer. Many verticals within lead generation also can definitely benefit from content creation, blog posts, short videos on youtube, IG, etc with a mix of direct response style ads for retargeting.
Cloudways: While running Facebook advertisements, what key aspects an affiliate marketer should focus on to maximize campaign ROI?
Tim Burd: For affiliate marketing, the most important things are your angle, creative and pre-sell/squeeze page. The make it or break it though seems to be the creative and copy.
Cloudways: As affiliate marketing is becoming more competitive, What tips would you offer to affiliate marketing beginners?
Tim: Simple! Take the time to make your own creatives and get that CTR up! Creatives are basically the name of the game these days.
Cloudways: What should a marketer do when Facebook campaigns stop performing?
Tim Burd: Check your KPI’s first, CPC, CTR and so on but typically when your campaign starts to die its time for new creatives, a new angle and a fresh pre-sell.
Cloudways: When you realize your campaign has a below-average conversion rate, how would you optimize it for continued performance?
Tim Burd: Ultimately if its Facebook telling you your conversion rate is “Below average” I wouldn’t really worry about that as you could very well have a higher value per click and ROI which is ultimately all that matters right? For optimizing the conversion rate though I would run some multivariate tests
Cloudways: Reach, Visits or lead conversion. What funnels should be the key focus for Facebook ads with affiliate links?
Tim Burd: Conversion ads for sure ideally with your pixel on the thank you page so you can optimize for leads or purchases or whatever you are optimizing for. If you cannot do that you can still optimize for conversions and do an on-click event for when someone clicks through your pre-sell to the offer/landing page.
Cloudways: With so much on your plate, what are your future plans?
Tim Burd: My plans are to keep focusing on my communities like Facebook Ad Buyers and AdLeaks, my ad agency called Agency Y and continue to throw amazing events and bring people together. Bringing people together really is my passion.
Cloudways: Let’s step away from work. What do you do to relax and unwind?
Tim Burd: My favorite thing probably is to watch Netflix or something and just turn my brain off for a bit. Maybe go out to grab drinks/dinner with friends. I also really love traveling!
Cloudways: Last question. Who would you recommend we interview next?
Tim Burd: Tough question…If its affiliate specific, maybe Attila if you haven’t already, or Maxwell Finn or Nick Shackelford 🙂
