How do I build a successful publishing business with multiple streams of income? How do these offerings work, where does the revenue come from, what works well, and how do I figure that out for myself?!
Ricardo Bohn started at Mycitydeal (later Groupon) 13 years ago, where he found himself at the center of a rapid online growth story. Today, he is the CEO and co-founder of Salesbutlers, a company that operates several portals and newsletters and now has 17 employees. He shares his experiences with Tobias Rast in this episode of #Partnermarketing!
This episode is about:
- From Employee to Entrepreneur – How Did That Happen? (01:07)
- Just give it a try—and how important is your mindset (12:41)?
- “World of Discounts” in the realm of bargain websites (6:08 p.m.)?
- What does a good and successful deal look like (28:05)?
- Content, portal, and display ads (31:48)
- Newsletter: CPO vs. Newsletter Cost Calculation? (42:06)
- How much of a focus is SEO for you (48:46)?
- Tracking quality is a huge topic (53:20)
- To me, affiliate marketing is… (1:03:15)
PM27 –HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL PUBLISHER BUSINESS, RICARDO BOHN (SALESBUTLERS) #PARTNERMARKETING
From Employee to Entrepreneur – How Did That Happen? (01:07)
Back when he was at Groupon, Ricardo was still young—20 or 21—but he quickly learned to think like an entrepreneur at Mycitydeal/Groupon. The entire Groupon ecosystem is a kind of pool of potential new businesses.
In 2011, Ricardo and a colleague switched sides; the idea was that if they worked for the merchant instead of Groupon, they could make good money. In the end, it only worked out so-so, but Salesbutlers was born nonetheless.
Growth was a bit of a tricky thing: You can expect small margins when you’re dealing with large volumes. But if those large volumes don’t materialize, or if something in the supply chain goes wrong, things get difficult. So growth was slow in coming.
Just give it a try—and how important is your mindset (12:41)?
Things don't always have to be perfect, and Ricardco really embodies that philosophy: the main thing is to get started with an idea—it doesn't have to be perfect just yet. Then you'll quickly see which client successes you can celebrate and where you can build on them. A website doesn't always have to be polished down to the last detail; it just needs to be legally sound.
Mindset is key here. At 19, Ricardo worked briefly in the sales division of a large insurance company. One lesson he learned: How do you motivate yourself every morning, even when things aren’t going so well? How do you still perform at your best? That experience taught him a lot; mindset really is important.
“World of Discounts” in the realm of bargain websites (6:08 p.m.)?
Competition among deal and coupon websites is fierce; this was already the case when Welt der Rabatte launched. Salesbutler’s strength has always been in sales and newsletter reach. In addition, a white-label technology was developed, allowing deals to be displayed on various partner sites.
Deals can be secured both through public networks and by contacting stores directly. User behavior, the product, and the brand are also important—because if no one knows who you are, your conversion rate will be lower.
What does a good and successful deal look like (28:05)?
Many factors come into play here: First and foremost, branding and the trust it builds in the product and the provider. Then there’s the level of innovation, as seen, for example, with “Die Höhle der Löwen” products. Unknown products there take on the branding of the TV show. In summary: branding + innovative character + trust-building measures (e.g., TÜV certification or similar). Then comes, no less important, the price.
What does my store need to do to use sGTM? (28:49)
You need your own infrastructure (the client should run on your own server) and you need a subdomain that redirects to that server. The container (Google software) must run on this server and be configured to receive the correct information for operating sGTM. But don’t forget about server maintenance: administration, ensuring it runs smoothly, and keeping the software up to date.
In other words, if you “simply” set up a server on Google Cloud, you’re responsible for its operation. You also need to consider reliability, since the central tracking and data tool must always be available. These are the kinds of tasks typically handled by professional web hosting services.
So if you can’t or don’t want to manage the server yourself, you’ll need a managed server hosting service. To make sGTM accessible to everyone, Ingenious offers sGTM hosting, leveraging its many years of expertise with tracking servers. This means Ingenious handles the hosting, and as a shop owner, you don’t really have to do anything except define the sGTM domain.
Conclusion: sGTM provides effective tracking for everyone and solves many of the industry's problems quite easily.
Content, portal, and display ads (31:48)
Sevenroomz, the home and living online magazine, doesn't use CPO at all—it relies on display ads instead. Google AdSense, in particular, works well. The goal here isn't to get quick clicks but to keep people on the site for a long time. These are very different KPIs from those in the deal business.
Display ads can sometimes become overwhelming; when there are too many ads, they become distracting. Currently, display ads are being served automatically, which is too much for us—this will change again. Interestingly, more ads don’t necessarily mean more revenue. We’ve also removed many distracting ad banners from our Newsflash24 portal to encourage longer reading sessions.
Newsletter: CPO vs. Newsletter Cost Calculation? (42:06)
Advertisers always want newsletters sent out on a CPO basis. The problem: it incurs costs. In other words, not every deal works out. A simple formula: 10% open rate, 10% click-through rate, and 1% conversion rate. This makes it easy to calculate whether a deal is likely to succeed. Salesbutlers prefers to work with a revenue-sharing model, meaning fixed costs are simply split with the shop.
From the retailer’s perspective, affiliate marketing and CPO-based models sound simple—but there’s more to it than that. If products don’t perform well, partnerships can be damaged for both the affiliate and the retailer. It’s important to strike a balance between CPO and additional costs, for example, through a “branding-performance campaign.”
How much of a focus is SEO for you (48:46)?
Salesbutlers is also trying to improve its SEO, but let's be honest: they've never been particularly good at it. Now there's an agency helping 7roomz with its optimization. However, the focus remains on push-based online marketing.
Tracking quality is a huge topic (53:20)
Example: Current campaigns without an affiliate connection (network or private) that were tracked using Google Analytics. Just looking at the number of clicks: We delivered 5 to 10 times what Analytics recorded. Can I even enter into such a partnership on a CPO basis anymore? If the partner thinks they generated 2,000 EUR in revenue when it was actually 10,000 EUR, that becomes a problem.
Are there any simple tracking solutions for publishers? Yes and no… Effective tracking is definitely possible; we’ve just recorded two podcasts on the topic: First-party tracking and server-side tracking work well, but the data must come from the store itself, and third-party systems are blocked. So it really comes down to the store’s infrastructure.
One possible solution, even for SMEs, is server-side GTM (sGTM)—it’s kind of like a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to tracking. The most complex part of the setup is hosting the tracking server, but Ingenious offers a solution for that.
To me, affiliate marketing is… (1:03:15)
… genuine cooperation that arises from talking to one another and pursuing common goals
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