Interview with Ian Fernando + OfferSnitch.

I'm extremely excited to bring you our latest interview with a personal friend of mine and "influential blogger", Mr Ian Fernando! Ian has been making money on the internet for several years now and has established himself among the elite of internet marketing and blogging. Known for his blogs, affiliate marketing and all round entrepreneurship. Ian is a true inspiration to me and i had the pleasure of meeting him this year! We now chat most days and have a lot of ideas and projects to hit you guys with in the future! Without further a due let's dive into the world of a super affiliate!

Welcome Ian, for those who don't know much about you why not fill them in,

Ian Fernando is the name and money making is my game. I am a blogger and entrepreneur at heart. I actually love to travel a lot as well. The blog started out to be more of a log of my online lifestyle. I talked about my first attempt at real estate, my ebook business, my case studies in affiliate marketing, and my traveling ventures.

We all see you as an entrepreneur and successful affiliate marketer, but how long have you been in the industry and when did you start making money online?

I started in the online space around 2006 researching on how to make money so I can get rid of at least 1 of my 4 jobs. The first attempt was having an eBay business. I think everyone started on eBay at one point or another. Anyways, my eBay business did very well that I was not able to support the customer base but I was able to knock 1 out of the 4 jobs I was working. Then my next goal was to knock another one out of the 3. I then started Myspace marketing and selling digital ebooks, again the growth of customers didn't allow me to cater to them as I still have 3 jobs. I needed something where I can earn money and not deal with customers, that is how I found affiliate marketing and I been doing it since then.

Everyone always asks how to get started in the industry, what did you do and how would you advise affiliates to make there first bits of money?

I would stick to affiliate marketing and understand how data works. Some people say make your product, make a membership site, make an offer, etc. I think affiliate marketing gives you a great basic understanding of marketing in general. It taught me how to look at data which can range from age groups, to audience demographics, colors, landing page styles, font sizes, what part of day works, forecasting traffic, etc. Affiliate marketing teaches you how to market and that is the best thing about affiliate marketing, you can grow out of it and continue to market your own product because you know marketing.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ian in London this year, and we talked about your software company. For the readers, tell us about the company and what it does?

My software company are basically all my tools I had custom made for myself to help me with my marketing efforts from spy tools, to tracking, to multi variant testers. I made these tools for myself because I felt I can market better than the other tools out there. Yes there are a lot of tools out there but those tools are base on an idea to a problem at the masses. My tools are geared towards marketing to the masses as well but very advance. For example I have a software OfferSnitch which basically watches affiliate offers of any down time and changes to the landing page.

The reason why I made this tool is because the problem I had was offers going down and no network telling me about it. Another is the network rotating links or advertisers changing their landing page without our notifications, this tool helped me and I know it will help others. This is the reason why I decided to start making my software company public. All my tools again were made for me as a single marketer and I am now slowly releasing some of my tools to the masses because if I had a problem another marketer is also having that same issue.

Is OfferSnitch your biggest ever product? Please tell us exactly what it is and how many users you have etc?

OfferSnitch did go through an evolving period because what I thought looks good doesn't really mean it looks pretty to another. OfferSnitch is one of the first and only service that does what it does. We have several hundred users and several affiliate networks on our platform, we help the network raise their brand and we help affiliates with network issues or advertiser issues.

Companies, networks, blogs, products, affiliating, must keep you busy man. However what is your favourite thing to concentrate on business wise?

I like creating products, I enjoy creating and deploying a new project and then making it money. I start getting bored once its done and earning income. The reason is because I already accomplished a goal and I get bored. I like the challenges and once I start earning earning money off a project I tend to get bored with it. This is why I think I like to create products and services and look at the numbers to see why it isn't working or why it is.

Speaking of Blogs, can you suggest anyone or people who influenced you as a entrepreneur?

When I first started I started reading Jonathan Volk, Shoemoney, and John Chow. I was in awe at the numbers they were hitting and hope to be like them. I soon climbed the ranks and now I am very good friends with all three of them. I have partied, met, and chilled with them and other top marketers and bloggers in the industry.

The money must be on your side man, let us into your life. Big house? flash car? girls on each arm?

Like a Boss! I have a house, I have a regular Accord car, I enjoy women but I like to travel a lot that is what I enjoy the most. I don't like to stunt with big houses because one I can probably hear myself speak in a big house. My car still works no need to really splurge. I grew up with nothing and now I appreciate things. I don't want to act better than someone but I would rather pay for the convenience. For example I wouldn't drive to a state, I would fly. I don't want to wait in line, I would pay to cut. Paying for connivence I think is worth more than having a big house.

Looks like it's all work and no play. Do you ever get time to relax. and if so what do you enjoy doing?

You have to work hard to play hard. When I was getting into this internet marketing game with 4 jobs, I barely slept. I was determined to knock 1 job out of the 4. I def enjoy going out but again if you haven't notice from the other answers is I enjoy traveling a lot. Getting lost in someone else's country is just an amazing feeling and being able to taste the culture. Traveling is my long dream to do for a full year.

So we just chilled and partied together in London, but what's your favourite city and favourite show?

If we are talking industry wise, I think Affiliate Summit is one of the better shows I have been to. It definitely is geared towards marketers and performance marketers. As for city, I enjoyed Rabat, Morocco a lot because it was alley ways of just culture and amazing foods.

What does Ian Fernando's future hold?

Being a bigger boss than what I am now. I have a lot of things on my plate and I am setting up a lot new ideas and projects along the way. With the internet growing and the ease to make money online, I will be in almost every aspects of making money online. You may see me with a new diet product, a new software coming out, more sites in several verticals etc.

When I first started on the internet, I bought the domain theIANternet.com and my motto was "the internet was just spelled wrong" soon I will be taking over. smiley face goes here.

Thank you.

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