Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

Archives for October 2006

Affiliate Marketing Best Practices Webinar

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Media Breakaway, home of CPAEmpire.com, has announced the next in a series of Webinars for their affiliates and advertisers entitled “Advertising Best Practices.”

Steven Richter, President and General Counsel for Media Breakaway, LLC, will focus on how advertisers and affiliates can limit their legal risks associated with advertisements and still effectively market online.

In the presentation, Mr. Richter will discuss advertising content and privacy concerns that are actively being scrutinized by the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He will provide case examples of advertising hazards and present the legal consequences of not adhering to recognized best practices.

The Webinar is scheduled for Friday, October 27, 2006 at 2:00pm EST and it is only open to active affiliates or advertisers with CPAEmpire.com.

Apply to be an affiliate at CPAEmpire.com to attend this and future Webinars.

Gaming Affiliates Going to Mainstream Affiliate Marketing?

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Kate Kaye has written an article at ClickZ on how recent legislation may result in a migration of gaming affiliates to mainstream (i.e. insurance, financing, dating) affiliate programs. As far as I’m concerned, the more, the merrier.

Affiliate marketing drives the online gambling space. Now that the industry is dealing with recent legislation outlawing U.S. Web gambling transactions, some gambling affiliates are searching for new markets to sink their teeth into. As a result, some say mainstream affiliate marketers are in for a rude awakening.

“I am extremely worried about this ban that Congress will put on online gaming,” wrote an affiliate webmaster in a post to the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association forum earlier this month. “We now have to turn our attention to the European market but one can only do so little marketing in Europe!” continued the concerned affiliate under the Net nom de plume Tropics.

“A lot of affiliates are going to bail,” said Marc Lesnick, operator of the Casino Affiliate Convention conference series. “They want to create their own niche markets,” he added, suggesting segments such as men’s dress shirts.

Continued at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623671

Podcast of ShoeMoney and Shawn Collins

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I was on Jeremy Schoemaker’s (aka ShoeMoney) show on Webmaster Radio on October 10 and it’s now available as a podcast.

Missy Ward, Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney), and Shawn Collins

Jeremy’s show, Net Income, is broadcast every Tuesday at 6pm Eastern and you can access the archives at Webmaster Radio.

We chatted about affiliate marketing in general and took questions from callers.

By the way, Jeremy is going to be a speaker at Affiliate Summit next January.

Social Networking for Affiliate Marketers

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Affiliate Summit is running a social network to help facilitate networking before, during and after Affiliate Summit conferences.

This affiliate marketing social network includes a number of features to help affiliate marketers get their name out there and meet new business contacts. The social network enables Affiliate Summit attendees to do the following:

Join the Affiliate Summit Social Network at http://network.affiliatesummit.com/.

Business Training Courses and Workshops from Dave Taylor

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Blogging guru Dave Taylor is running a series of training courses and workshops with a faculty of experts.

Angry dog

There are currently three topics covered by Dave and his co-hosts:

  • Exploding Your Business with Blogging with Brad Fallon.
  • Amazing Results with Google AdWords with Joy Milkowski
  • Growing Your Business with Google with Steven Van Yoder

Very interesting looking primers with top names – worth checking out if you’re trying to leverage blogging, AdWords or Google to grow your business.

Mobile Affiliate Marketing

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Buzz is building about the fusion of mobile phones and affiliate marketing, and it looks like it’s only a matter of time until mobile affiliate marketing hits the U.S.

Artisan Live, a company that touts itself as “North America’s premier full-service digital signage developer,” has launched the Mobile Affiliate Advertising Program (MAAP).

MAAP will bring together merchants and affiliates to create brand campaigns with the push of digital signage and the pull of mobile technology.

“Artisan Live is proud to announce MAAP, the first affiliate marketing program for the digital signage industry,” explained Marketing Manager, Kris Matheson.

“MAAP serves as a marketplace for digital signage network owners and advertisers to fill signage and mobile phones with relevant, high impact content that moves the consumer.” said Matheson.

MAAP will enable advertisers to make content available to leading retail, out-of-home and place-based digital signage network publishers.

Campaigns are measured by consumer interaction via mobile phone text messages, and affiliates will receive a commission for those interactions.

More details at http://www.artisanlive.com/MAAP.

Shawn Collins on the ShoeMoney Show

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I will be a guest on Jeremy Schoemaker’s (aka ShoeMoney) show on Webmaster Radio on October 10.

Jeremy Schoemaker's (aka ShoeMoney) Net Income show on Webmaster RadioJeremy’s show, Net Income, is broadcast Tuesdays at 6pm Eastern, and exhibit hall passes for Affiliate Summit will be given away to listeners who call in during the live show.

We’ll talk about affiliate marketing, Affiliate Summit, or whatever direction the show goes.

You can submit questions in the ShoeMoney forum to be asked live on the show.

Jeremy is going to be a speaker at Affiliate Summit next January.

Affiliate Summit Opens Nominations for the First Annual Pinnacle Awards

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Affiliate Summit is accepting nominations through October 31, 2006 for the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards.

These awards recognize exceptional performance in affiliate marketing.

The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards will be presented at Affiliate Summit 2007 West on the evening of Monday, January 22, 2007.

The categories for the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards are listed below:

  • Affiliate of the Year
  • Affiliate Manager of the Year
  • Exceptional Merchant
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate
  • Best Blogger
  • Affiliate Marketing Legend

Nominations can be submitted at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/pinnacle-awards.php

Affiliate Marketing is Exploding in the UK

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The UK affiliate marketing space is expected to grow 60% in 2006, breaking through the £2 billion mark to an estimated value of £2.16 billion, according to E-consultancy’s Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide.

The Affiliate Marketing Networks Buyer’s Guide features useful insight from key industry players like Jess Luthi and Steven Brown, as well as detailed profiles of the affiliate networks for the UK market.

Some other highlights from the report:

  • Affiliate marketing networks seek to differentiate themselves through service and specialization within increasingly competitive marketplace.
  • ‘Super affiliates’ lead the way in move towards ‘Affiliate 2.0‘.
  • Rise in number of merchants using affiliate marketing for lead generation and brand building activity.
  • Wider adoption of hybrid payment models, with some publishers charging advertisers on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis and cost-per-mille (CPM) basis as well as cost per acquisition (CPA).

More details at http://www.e-consultancy.com/

Google Ad Scheduling and Daypart Affiliates

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I frequently conduct searches for trademarked terms to be sure that affiliates are compliant with the terms for affiliate programs I manage.

Shawn CollinsOne way that cagey affiliates have tried to beat affiliate managers in the past has been to exclude certain geographic areas when they bid on brand names and other trademarks.

Their strategy is to bid for these terms everywhere except the city where the company is based. Pretty sneaky, sis.

Affiliate managers have been on to that technique for a while, and they’ve come up with workarounds to beat the geo-targeters.

The latest trick from a handful of paid search affiliates is to engage in daypart targeting with Google AdWords.

If you were not aware, Google AdWords has a feature known as Ad Scheduling where affiliates can specify the days and times they want their ads to run.

In other words, even if you are keeping an eye on trademark bidding during business hours, it’s pretty easy for affiliates to automate their campaigns with your trademarks to only run during evenings and weekends.

Welcome to the seven day work week.