Introducing DC Storm

So, a nice big parcel arrived the other day, great I like surprises. Turns out it was 2 bottles of wine from Neil Sampson at DC Storm asking if I wouldn't mind writing a bit about the new service for webmasters, especially affiliates. OK I can see how this would be of use to my readers, but the problem is that DC Storm is an integrated web analytics and PPC optimisation piece of software and I'm possibly the least analytical person in the world. The most sophisticated ppc tracking/optimisation software package I use is my "gut feel" combined with an excel spreadsheet, and even then I only get Excel out if I'm in the mood, which isn't often. I'm not saying my way is the right way, it's just that I don't have the patience to analyise, I really don't. Yes I'm sure I could do better if I did but what can I say? It's just not for me. So, I asked around and some people I know who do analyise/optimise, and do it well, and they rate DC Storm and Neil. Good enough for me, hence this blog post. It turns out that Neil has been involved in Affiliate Marketing for roughly as long as me, 10 years or so. He worked at DGM first then left to become an affiliate and diversify into other projects. Oh, and he's from the North East too so obviously a good pedigree. So what does DC Storm do? No idea, but here's some of the press stuff:

Key Features

• Automatic end to end tracking between search engine and affiliate network. • Optimise your PPC campaigns easily against your key performance indicators. Storm for Affiliates™ has been designed with accuracy of data and flexibility of features in mind. We provide tools for experts to use, not a black box solution. • Harvest the long tail keywords that your users type in to find you, reducing your overall cost per click. • Analyse your Google quality score over time to see the effects of your landing page and ad copy changes. • Report on custom measures by using your own formulae and calculations • Automate and schedule tasks including PPC optimisation and exporting useful reports

Proven Success

A handful of large affiliate have been trialling Storm for Affiliates pre-release and they all rate the product very highly. One affiliate managed to increase their ROI by over 60% within 2 months of optimising with DC Storm. This truly is a revolution for affiliates and will undoubtedly save hours of time in manipulating data that can be better spent on doing the important stuff like making money. Storm for Affiliates hopes to end the days of affiliate best-guess marketing.

So there you are, I do know some people who I respect who use this and they really rate it. So head on over now and let me know what you think. What I'm listening to right now: Grooves to get down P.S. I really do appreciate it when companies send me gifts, however I have to be honest here and say that I don't actually drink wine. I've actually got over 50 bottles in my garage that have been kindly "donated" over the years. Don't worry it does get drank by guest etc. but I'm fast running out of room in there. So if you're feeling like sending me something in future then chocolate, mobile phones, gadgets of any type or something a little different would be gratefully received :)