Success in affiliate marketing is all about experience, hard work, and sometimes a bit of luck. And many,

many more tests. But who said that data needs to be collected and tested manually? There are many

useful tools in the arbitration arsenal, and spy tools are responsible for gathering information. From the

name it is clear that these tools allow spyware to see other people's links, creatives, landing pages, etc.

Useful for finding new ideas and tracking trends.

There are many spy tools, but their basic functionality is about the same. They differ in size of the

database - how much information they can provide you, and the "responsiveness" of the developers -

are there tutorials and reference books on working with the service, how quickly the team responds to

problems or user requests. In this article, we will talk about what spying is useful for (using spy services)

and how to approach data collection.

Why do we need spy tools

So the basic idea behind spy tool is to spy on what others are doing. But to peep does not mean to steal

someone else's bundle and try to pour on it. Competitor creatives and funnels can be great sources for

inspiration. Looking at successful links, you can understand what is reaching your audience or geo, what

is trending in a particular vertical. Often a situation arises when it is impossible to attract a user - the

creative does not catch on: let's say you did not take into account that blondes are more popular in the

selected geo, and spin creatives with brown-haired women. Spy Tool will show you what is reaching the

audience in your niche, you will be able to see successful approaches. Optimize your creative based on

this data, and chances are your campaign will take off. You can read more about the benefits of spy

services here.

Another plus of spying is the ability to collect a lot of data in one tool and perform multifaceted analysis.

Breaking down the data by geo, source, networks allows you to trace the entire funnel: you can

understand the idea behind the most successful links. This idea can already be tailored: a proven funnel

and a working bundle will save you a lot of time and effort that would have gone to blind tests.

And of course, in order to keep the audience's attention, we all need to stay in trend. Fresh offers that

may not be in your affiliate network, fashion trends in creatives, sudden bursts of geo activity - all this

can be seen with the help of a spy tool. See, analyze, and, of course, immediately put into action.

What a beginner should consider

The most important question of a person who has not used spy tools before is: how to choose the right

service? Despite a similar set of basic functions, all services have a specialization (for example, AdPlexity

offers separate solutions for mobile / desktop, push, native, adult campaigns). Therefore, choosing a spy

tool specifically for your needs is just a matter of time. Look at your niches and verticals, read blogs and

forums (e.g. STM, iAmAffiliate, affLIFT). If one of the services is actively discussed, advised, shared with

cases and tutorials - this is a good sign, try it in your work. Many spy bodies have a trial period, you can

compare different services and choose the most convenient one. Also, try to avoid services that boast of

a low subscription price - those who have nothing else to brag about tend to bet on cheapness. Learn

more about the features of top-end services and how to use them.

As we said earlier, spy services are a great source of inspiration. Let's talk about the most creative

element of a campaign - creatives. Given the abundance of visual advertising on the web, the audience is

rapidly developing banner blindness, that is, the receptivity to advertising is noticeably falling. Your

creatives are simply overlooked. So you need to make a creative that will stand out. But the main thing

here is not to overdo it, stick to the golden middle: stand out, but not too much. Experience has shown

that "super unique" does not mean super successful.

What else is worth thinking about if you just want to download someone else's and start pouring? You've

probably heard more than once that converting bundles become obsolete pretty quickly. Loud trends die

off even faster. To benefit from them, you need to be one of the firsts, and if you find them through the

spy tool, this usually means that all the cream has already been skimmed and you should not run after

the train. In addition, you do not know on what conditions the author of that very successful campaign

works with an affiliate network and how much he pays for traffic. Maybe he has a higher rate in the

affiliate network and discounts in the advertising network.

Do you think that since there is a spy tool, then all the cards are in your hand? Do not forget that

information on the network can be either searched with the help of a spy tool or hidden. Do you want

the creative that you have been optimizing for a long time, scattered all over the Internet in a blink of an

eye? Of course not, which is why there are antipodes of spy services - tools for cloaking. You still need to

break through such protection, but that's another story (more about cloaking and top-end services). The

main thing here is that even the most powerful spy tool with an extensive database will not show you

everything.

The data in spy tools is stored for a long time, but keep in mind that it quickly lose relevance. Watching

statistics and collections that were in the top two weeks ago is not the most useful activity. But there are

also special tactics for which data, for example, a year ago, is useful. Trends are often seasonal, and an

audience “rested” for a year can bring great profit again. For such a campaign, data from past years will

come in handy.

Check out Attila O'drey's article (IAmAttila) to find out what other interesting combinations you can turn

with Spy Tool. Top affiliate marketer talks about diversified sping strategies using the example of the

AdPlexity service.

Spy Tool is a tool worth having in your arsenal. Relevant trends and sources, the freshest offers and top

creatives - all this can be found, studied and used in work. However, the most important thing is not

even to find information, but to be able to interpret it. If you don't know what to look for and don't

notice trends, no tool will help you. Plus, spy services are not omnipotent, many affiliates mask the most

important details of a successful funnel. Therefore, your experience and skills is a more important tool

than any "spy" service.

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