Read about a journey from event manager to CEO of an international affiliate network with gambling and betting offers.
About Anya’s Journey in Affiliate Marketing
Before becoming involved with the CPA market, you were a freelance designer and worked in the event industry. What were you designing and how much did you make?)
Yes, I was involved in the events industry and design. I mainly designed presentations. I worked for different companies, but there were orders from such corporate giants as Lada, Mail.ru, and such. I didn’t stay in this niche (design) for long, because I was barely interested.
As for my earnings, it depends, but commonly I made about 100k a month. But again, it all depended on the order count, as it was a freelance job.
The first job you took in affiliate marketing was for the Clicklead Network, wasn’t it? Tell us what did you do there and why did you leave the company?
Yes, I started my career in traffic arbitrage as a junior affiliate manager.
At that time, there were complications with the entire affiliate department in the company, which eventually caused my leave.
How did you end up in Alfaleads?
At one of the conferences, I accidentally ran into Roma. We got acquainted, hung out together for a while, and then the guys offered me cool terms and an interesting job, so that’s how I ended up in AlfaLeads.
Were you responsible for standard salesperson tasks in Alpha?
I was employed as a key partner manager and, in a manner of speaking, a spokesperson, so I did it all by little: participated in marketing business processes, webmasters’ supervising, etc.
You left Alfaleads in February 2021, and in March you got a job at Profitov.Partners. Is it true that the owner contacted you on Instagram and offered you a job?
Yes, it’s true. Sasha contacted me from an account that looked like a fake with too many followers and offered to meet and discuss the job. I still don’t understand what prompted me to agree to that meeting. Back then a lot of people contacted me to offer a job, so there was a lot to choose from, but Sasha and I shared a vision and goals.
There is very little information about Alexander Profitov (Agafonov) on the market. Can you tell us something interesting?
True, there is very little information about Sasha available, but I think I can’t speak for him. If Sasha wants the market to find out something noteworthy, he will tell it himself.
For me, Sasha is a great friend and a business partner.
Until 2021, Profitov.Partners was a private network. Why did the project go public?
It’s simple: they intended to grow and develop, which is exactly what we are doing.
We became firmly established and so we wanted to go along. Being a private network means a limited income. It is in our best interest to have something major done and we are confident on this path.
Everyone says “Our AP is the coolest.” So, let’s get the facts straight: do we have to work with you for dress-up parties and free PWA apps?
If you can only mention parties and free PWA apps referring to our company, that makes me a little sad because:
- Dress-up parties with give-away masks took place six months ago;
- We haven’t been offering free PWA apps for a couple of months now.
That aside, we are developing our ecosystem now. We develop products that will complement one another and make business processes as comfortable and profitable for webmasters as possible.
We assist partners with creatives. We also provide partners with apps for free. We have an in-house dev team; our apps are among the best-optimized apps on the market.
Those who have already tried our apps know this and use them only.
These are the PWA apps you mentioned. We provide a very good reference to the service, and in the same way, we can say that we have the coolest PWAs on the market.
We also have revised the company’s vision, and now we are focused on seeking cool offers that are not yet presented on the market. Our major efforts are intended to ensure that there are more private and exclusive offers in Profitov.Partners and we are doing great.
In recent months, we have increased the exclusive offers count. The main aspect indicating the coolness of our affiliate program is that webmasters who try to work with us stay with us.
Why can’t you make an appropriate dashboard design for the affiliate program?
It’s simple: the Affise won’t allow you to customize the dashboard. We have ideas for design and AP business processes, but that’s a secret.
How are things with media buying at the Profitov?
Things are great with media buying. We have an in-house media buying dept, which is constantly developing its traffic sources. It’s not super-large, but it exists. By the way, we’re recruiting media buyers now, so if you want to join our team – you are welcome.
In February 2022, you were CBDO, and now you are a CEO. How did it happen?
I made no secret of the fact that I want more, I want to get better, and I am ready to devote myself to this.
Some companies notice that people are ready to grow, and some companies do not notice or do not want to notice it. In Profitov.Partners, they noticed this and provided me with the opportunity and all the necessary tools, so I became a CEO.
How much did your salary go up?)
I think I won’t discuss my salary in this interview)
What are you doing as CEO now? It is not widely known what this mysterious abbreviation stands for. Are you a biggie?
I manage the entire company and control all business processes like supervising webmasters or international market development. You can say that, yes, I’m a biggie, but I’ll take the lid off: I’ve been one for some time now)
How many employees do you have now? Do you work in the office or in a remote mode? In which countries do you have offices?
Now, our staff includes about 40 employees. At the moment, the team is working in a remote mode only. This is due to the relocation of most of the team; they took off for all parts. Those who live in one country try to get together and work as teams. As for the offices, we are still considering it.
Recently, there have been several complaints in your chat room and others about payment issues. How often do such issues occur and how do you manage them?
I can’t say there were several complaints, but there was one for sure. Arguments happen, just like everywhere else in this business and it’s totally fine. Some unscrupulous webmasters drive fake traffic intentionally, and some do it unintentionally out of ignorance or due to lack of experience.
Sometimes a traffic source may provide a low-quality audience. Also, some guys just ignore a minimal KPI rule for the offer they promote.
With scammers, it’s simple: as soon as the fraud is proved, we demonstrate it to the webmaster and disconnect them from our platform. At other times, we negotiate with webmasters and try to compensate for the situation in some ways.
We may compensate the spent amount for those whom we have known for a long time and whose traffic is consistent, or we may offer other options and compensation. We are adaptable in this regard since good relations with our partners are of utmost importance to us.
About Traffic Arbitrage
We know that you were working with betting offers. Was it profitable for you or not?
Yes, there was a stage of life when I worked with betting, but it was short and, to be honest, I don’t remember my outcome in this regard.
I was actively involved with gambling and tested different sources. At first, it was unprofitable, of course, then it was net-zero, and finally, there was profit. The outcome varied.
There was a source with the ROI of 1,500%, but of course, I won’t tell you about it)
Do you work with traffic now?)
No. I haven’t been doing that for a long time now because I don’t even have time to have a day off. At the moment, there’s no way I’m up to traffic arbitrage again. But I’m actively involved in assisting our webmasters so that they can stay profitable.
FB or TikTok?
I don’t have an answer since at different times these sources behave differently.
At one point, everyone switched from FB to TikTok, but now, it’s otherwise — everyone’s switching back because no one has a BC, and those who have it, won’t tell how they got it, or they just create it by themselves.
Therefore, you must consider the market situation first. As for the quality of traffic, I can’t say that the sources are very much different.
Why are you drawn to gambling and betting verticals in traffic arbitrage?
I think this is because I started my career in affiliate marketing with these verticals, and it so happened that all my work was associated with gambling and betting. I don’t want to switch to something new for now, I have the most expertise in these verticals.
By the way, I considered other verticals but I do enjoy gambling and betting the most, and I can’t even explain why.
Don’t you feel like you’re a part of a huge mechanism that bleeds people dry? After all, players often lose money in gambling and betting.
It’s a frequently asked question and my answer will be “No.” As I see it, this is up to a person.
Besides, I don’t go around the streets yelling or posting on the Internet something like “Folk! Let’s gamble at the casino! Give us your money!” This business is like any other: in the past and present, and well into the future people will spend their money on gambling. If not us, then someone else will cash on it.
What has changed in gambling and betting over the past few years? Give us three to five key trends.
In broad terms, nothing has changed. Approaches and schemes are all the same.
The only thing that changes is that some sources emerge and some close, some webmasters switch to new ones, and some discover private sources. It’s the same as before: people are seeking new ways to earn money.
What are your top GEOs in the non-CIS market?
One may consider any GEO a top GEO. Some offers work in any GEO and there are local offers, some know how to manage tier-1, and some – a tier-3. It depends on the needs of the webmaster and on the offers the sales department finds. We are working with all kinds of offers now.
Will you entrust us with a secret of a creative with good CR?
The trick is that the creative must not be overused and must be unique and localized for GEO (for the non-CIS market, you’ll require a native speaker, not a Google Translate), and tailored to an offer (which you’ll work with).
It must not mislead or motivate, etc. because it will provide a CR against the quality. You must test it and seek various approaches for different sources.
Additionally, a lot depends on the apps. Considering common traffic sources such as UAC and FB, you’ll require high-quality creatives and not overused apps that will bring conversions.
We have gone to considerable lengths to ensure that we do not produce apps that a million men will work with because everyone steals creatives, which then get featured in SPY services and last for a couple of days at most.
Today, we do not give out one app to several webmasters, therefore creatives work much longer.
About the Alfaleads & Clicklead Controversy
After you posted info about problems with the Alfaleads Security Service, the media quickly made it public. Can you tell us a couple of words about the bottom line of the controversy?
I won’t comment a lot about Alfaleads. I believe that this situation is outdated, and I do not wish to push the issue and rake up dirty laundry once again.
For all that has happened to me in Alfaleads, I’m fine about it. I have no complaints about anyone.
I understand that each company has its work model and people do it the way they hold true. Therefore, I treat the owners and people who work at Alfaleads well.
We have come a long way together and have been a big help to each other. I think it was an awesome tandem that ended the way it did, it just so happened.
I don’t want to bring up this topic again talking about what happened and how this situation was resolved. I have no complaints here, besides when I interview webmasters that want to work with certain verticals that we don’t have, I refer them to Alfaleads because I know that they do well in these verticals.
So, that is off the table. I treat this AP well and I am ready to communicate and even cooperate.
They say that you also had some nastiness with Clicklead. What happened?
It’s a three-year-old story, so I find no sense in catching it up. The matter is settled both for me and Anton. We’re on great terms now.
Even long after, we discussed it, understood each other, and there are no negative vibes between us now. We just went our own ways. When we meet, everything is great. I have nothing more to add on this one.
About Future Plans
Do you think you have hit a ceiling in the niche?
Of course not. In our field, the “ceiling” concept is vague. It depends on limitations in one’s mind. I believe that the affiliate industry has a lot to offer, so my answer is “No, this is not the ceiling yet, a lot more is coming.”
Imagine that the CPA market is no more. What are you going to do then? Will you work for bookmakers?
It’s a very interesting question)
Depends on the amount of money I’d have. If it’s enough to invest and start something of my own – cool, I’ve often thought about it. If not, I would probably go back to event management. I still miss the event industry, I enjoyed doing it, and I like participating in major events.
What do you do in your free time?
While I was living in Moscow, in my free time I visited my horses and spent time with them. Now, due to my moving, I don’t have much free time. I try to go for a walk sometimes, grab a bite somewhere, and communicate with people, but I wouldn’t say that it happens often.
I’m usually working: I wake up and start working and I finish in the middle of the night, and go to bed day by day. My job is my hobby, and it’s cool.
Aren’t you afraid to burn out?
I think I might be immune to that)) just kidding. Sometimes I feel it, of course, I’m a human after all. But it doesn’t take much time to replenish the so-called vital energy reserve. The key is to track it in time, realize what was the trigger, and give me some rest.
What are you investing in?
At the moment, nothing.
I have a couple of dreams and I’m saving money for them, that’s why I do what I do.
In the future, I’d like to have a mini-stable. I’d also like to start some kind of residual business that, if I may say so, will function without me. But it’s too far from here, I don’t want to consider it now.
I’d rather consider things I already invest in and develop them to a certain level. Therefore, I am investing all my efforts in affiliate program development, in a team, and in something large-scale.
Is the CPA market less complicated for beautiful girls compared to guys? Why do they make them the faces of affiliate networks and services?
I wouldn’t say that the CPA market is less complicated for girls compared to guys.
It’s a two-way situation: beautiful girls are often considered meat, to put it crudely. At first, they treat them well, trying to hit on them. But if you turn them down, you may lose partners and colleagues, which is bad. In this regard, as I see it, it’s even more challenging for girls than for guys.
But generally speaking, we are all human, and we all have to consider the kind of person we work with. At this point, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a girl, a young man, or an alien. What matters is mutual understanding, being on the same page, and communicating with pleasure.
It’s no secret that most affiliate specialists are men. Is it easy to attract them to the affiliate program with nice pictures on Instagram?
Instagram pictures are just a cover. Professionals consider the expertise of the people they work with. You might have great photos on Instagram, but be a cheap specialist, so what’s the point? So the answer is “No, it’s not easy.”
How often do webmasters hit on you?
At first, it was very common. Now, only newbies approach me, they probably do not know who I am and that it is a pointless enterprise.
I am very glad that our communication is developing only professionally. But if so happens, I make it clear right away that I feel uncomfortable and that we are here to work.
Can you name the TOP three women influencers in the CPA market? Why them?
I like Marina Chernova. She is no doubt a striking character on the market, I love how she behaves and she’s fly.
Nika Kuzmicheva also generates sympathy. I don’t know her face to face, but I’ve heard that she’s a wonderful person, and I agree.
I don’t know who’s the third, so let it be me)
Will you get a tattoo related to traffic arbitrage?
Easy!
All the tattoos I got are associated with some moment in my life. Traffic arbitrage is a big part of it, so if I want to, I will do it without a moment’s hesitation)
I won’t ask how much you earn. Let me just guess: is there enough to buy a house in Italy?
- Depends on the type of house)
- I have another question – do I need this house in Italy?
Let’s assume CRYPTO KATYA, Anya Vlasova, or Marfa Chernova offer you to establish an affiliate network. What’s your pick and why?
Why do I establish a new affiliate network if I already have one?)
I would not pick any one of these three, because I already have people to work with, I feel comfortable with them, and I believe what I do is right.
Are you going to move somewhere? We saw that you were selling a car on Instagram.
I’ve already moved. It took a long time and it was challenging, but I did it. However, the car is still on sale, lock-up not included.
Where to? Can you tell us more?
I moved to Georgia. Now, this is the nearest place with a large community (apart from Armenia, but I didn’t like it there). That aside, I thought I wouldn’t like Georgia either, but it turned out to be completely different: it has a European vibe, sometimes even the US vibe, and it’s very atmospheric in its way.
The most important thing right now is staying calm. For me, this place is calm, pleasing, and cozy. There are a lot of nice people there and I don’t get any negative vibes.
I haven’t got any workspace, so I just work wherever I can. My top workspaces are the kitchen, sofa, and hookah bar)
I didn’t have any difficulties with it since I worked in a remote mode a lot. The only problem I have at times like this is that I can’t stop working)
We wish you all the luck at your new place!
