There are more than a few sites out there that claim to train you like a super affiliate or are run by super affiliates. I read on Shoemoney a few weeks ago about a guy with a $3.5 million balance.

I’ve yet to come across any of these guys/girls, or at least any that are willing to reveal their “black hat” methods.

Does anyone out there know any of these “Super Affiliates”?

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Just wanted to re-cap the promotion/traffic building efforts I been working on for AcesDeals.com over the last few days.

• Google Adwords - Working with a small budget of $25 per day. The number one keyword for this group has been “coupon”
• Press Release - This is something that has been effective in the past. If you searched for acesdeals.com last week, you would have gotten about a page of results. We’re up to six pages now and growing.
• Social Networking - Some of the obvious things like sending an annoucement to friends, updated my LinkedIn Profile. I’ve also created pages on Facebook, Squidoo, and Blogger. I’m trying out Facebooks social actions marketing, which is kind of like Adwords, but it’s not driving much traffic right now.

I’ll be busy most of the weekend with my son’s seventh birthday party…

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It’s been almost a week since I posted here, but with good reason. I’ve been busy getting over a cold and launching Ace’s Deals.

Ace’s is my largest affiliate marketing project to date. Built on a Joomla 1.5 back end, it’s designed to be a one stop shop for higher end brand merchandise. I’ve added some great brands to my roster, including Dell, Baby Phat, and Oscar de la Renta.

Now that the site is built, the real work begins. Although I’ll be making minor tweaks to the site and then the process of driving traffic.

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Up until recently I’ve been getting my hair cut at a high end salon in Manhattan Beach, CA. I was in a hurry one afternoon and didn’t have time to make an appointment, so I dashed into Floyd’s Barber Shop on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach.

I guess I was expecting something a little old fashioned based on the name-a throwback to The Andy Griffith Program and Mayberry, RFD.

I was completely wrong. Floyd’s is the Starbucks of barber shops. The walls are decorated with Rock and Roll posters and photos from Rolling Stone. The “barbers” are tattoo covered twenty somethings. And there are a few terminals lined up with Internet Access.

Whoever is running Floyd’s hit the nail on the head. With it’s rock and roll atmosphere and $20 cuts with a shoulder massage, they are catering to anyone under 60 who wants a good haircut at a fair price. They have taken the Mastercuts model and brought it into the 21st century.

It got me to thinking - Are they any other aging brands or business models that can be Floyd-ized?

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What can I do to stand out in this crowd?

That’s a question that I ask more and more these days. As a professional photographer and marketer, it’s essential to get the attention of prospects and then sell them on the differences between yourself and the competition.

Sometimes the answer comes in the most unexpected of places.

Friday night after dinner, my wife, her friends and I headed to the Karaoke Lounge on our cruise ship to relax and be entertained. After a rousing rendition of “My Way” by an intoxcated wheelchair bound veteran, I noticed wash of color in my right eye.

I turned to find seven people headed toward me, all with bright yellow shirts that read “BUY TOM A SHOT!!!”, followed by an eighth person with a slightly different shirt reading, you guessed it, “I’M TOM!!!”

On the back of each shirt was a tequila graphic and another message, “TOM’S 30th Birthday Cruise”

Here are the three things I learned from this little group who made themselves known on a cruise ship filled with 2000 guests.

1. You don’t have to spend a fortune. The shirts probably cost less than $10 a pop, but definitely got attention.
2. You don’t have to be original. I’m sure this has been done before. I’ve probably even seen it, but in the small eco-system of a cruise ship, this group made themselves know.
3. You don’t have to be creative. There was no brand consultant, expensive logo, or focus group. Someone just thought of something and did it.

Tom - Thanks for the eye-opening moment. I hope you enjoyed the shot as much as I did.

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