Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for August 2007

Goodbye ClubMom, Hello CafeMom

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Back in March of this year, I reported that ClubMom had shut down their affiliate program, which had been in operation for six years.

It was a tough thing to see, as I’d launched the program back in 2000 in run it for years after.

Anyhow, it turns out that CafeMom, a sister company to ClubMom (both are part of CMI Marketing), launched an affiliate program on Commission Junction while I wasn’t looking back in May.

According to the affiliate program description on CJ, they are paying a $2 CPA and a 5-25% conversion rate.

Definitely worth checking out for all of the old school ClubMom affiliates, and anybody else who reaches U.S. moms.

Jump on it while it’s fresh and generate some leads.

And if you’re not familiar with CafeMom, here’s a description…

CafeMom is an online community created especially for moms. CafeMom enables thousands of moms to come together online to swap stories and advice on a huge range of topics, share photos, and connect with friends. Plus, they can start public or private groups with other moms about common interests. Moms of all ages and beliefs are now meeting, conversing, and having fun at CafeMom.

More details at CafeMom.

Rosalind Gardner’s Biggest Fan

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Rosalind Gardner's Biggest Fan

Rosalind Gardner, author of Super Affiliate Handbook, has a big fan in my son, Jack.

Every time he comes into my office, he takes a look at the bookshelves. There are tons of books to choose from, but the one he always snags is the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner.

Sometimes, he is content to just look at the cover; other times he’ll browse through the pages.

But it never fails. He passes by Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Jay Conrad Levinson, Frank Luntz, Robert Cialdini, John Caples and all the rest. Always straight to Ros.

I think this kid has a future in affiliate marketing.

YouTube Selling Overlay Ads in Videos

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Search Engine Land reports that YouTube is now selling semi-transparent animated flash “overlay” ads on select videos.

While pre-roll ads have been a common online video advertising method, research from Google indicated that such ads result in high rates of abandonment.

The way the ads work, at least in the live example I captured, is that they begin at the 15-second mark in a video. They are largely transparent and run for about ten seconds.

If the ad is clicked, the video being watched is automatically paused while a new video screen appears with the advertisement.

The video ad can be closed at any time by clicking an “x” at the top right of the ad. When this “x” is clicked, the ad disappears and the original video resumes.

According to a report by CNNMoney.com…

“YouTube has been testing the ads for several weeks with a handful of content partners, who receive a share of the revenue that’s similar to what Google gives partners in its keyword-based text advertising network, estimated at a sizable 70% to 80%. Advertisers will pay a flat rate of $20 per thousand consumer viewings.”

So it seems video publishers on YouTube can make in the neighborhood of a $14-$16 CPM if their videos are anointed as ad worthy.

That’s some exciting news for affiliates looking for ways to monetize video.

Affiliates Are Entrepreneurs, Aren’t They?

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There has been some chatter on Twitter lately about affiliate marketers and videos. A common chorus seems to be that affiliates are waiting for merchants to provide them with video.

While some merchants, like Gaiam and Moosejaw, are producing quality video content for affiliates, I think it’s a mistake for affiliates to sit on their hands and wait for everybody else to follow suit.

Successful affiliate marketing is all about innovation and offering up unique value propositions, so why are affiliates no shows when it comes to video?

Well. not all of them. One example of an effective affiliate video is “Small Schooling Bass on Lake Fork” from Scott Hazard at BigBassCountry.com.

Scott combines a short, entertaining video with a text description of his fishing trip. the content includes contextual ads, as well as being flanked by AdSense.

But he is an exception.

So my Affiliate Summit partner Missy and myself decided we’d get in on the action with a video affiliate site.

And so, WeViews.tv was born. We figured if most affiliates choose to wait for boilerplate video creative from merchants, that’s cool, but we’re going to pounce on the opportunity.

We’re going to churn out bunches of videos reviewing products and services that we use, and point the readers to our affiliate links.

Now that I think about it, it’s cool if affiliates don’t want to make videos. After all, comScore Video Metrix reported that nearly 75 percent of US Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video in May 2007.

Ambitious, entrepreneurial affiliates would certainly want to seize this opportunity. But don’t mind me. Run those 468×60 banners and rock on.

Scott Richter – 1, MySpace – 0

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In January 2007 at Affiliate Summit, people were buzzing about MySpace filing a lawsuit against Scott Richter’s company, Optinrealbig.com, alleging that he sent out millions of unsolicited “bulletins” to MySpace members.

At the time, CNET News.com reported…

“According to MySpace, Richter gained access to MySpace user accounts via phishing schemes, or took control of accounts that had already been phished, and then used the service’s bulletin feature, which sends messages to all of a user’s “friends,” to churn out unsolicited messages that advertised products ranging from Polo shirts to cell phone ringtones.

The suit is aiming for monetary damages and an injunction that would permanently ban Richter and his affiliates from MySpace. The amount of money sought by MySpace has not been disclosed.”

After all the headlines, I didn’t hear much about the lawsuit… until just now.

According to a document dated August 13, 2007 from the United States District Court, Central District of California, the Court denied MySpace’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, and granted Optinrealbig.com’s Motion to Compel Arbitration, and dismissed the case.

If MySpace wants to pursue it’s claim, they will have to file an Arbitration Claim.

So despite being on the receiving end of lots of negative media earlier this year, Scott Richter now gets a big win. And I guess MySpace will be issuing a press release that says, “Oops.”

I touched base with Steven S. Richter, Esq., President and General Counsel for Media Breakaway, LLC (f/k/a/ OptInRealBig), about the ruling and he replied…

“We are pleased with the Court’s rulings. Our message to MySpace before and throughout this dispute has been consistent; we believe that establishing a working relationship with MySpace to enforce both of our Terms of Use will send a stronger message to rogue Affiliates, than by fighting with each other.”

The question on everybody’s mind right now has got to be whether Tom will send a friend request to Scott Richter.

LinkShare Japan Blog

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Tony Torres of MediaScope reports that LinkShare Japan has launched an affiliate news blog authored by Japanese LinkShare employees working in New York City.

Here I am, a New Yorker living in Japan writing about the Japanese affiliate marketing business, and somewhere in New York is a Japanese writing about The American affiliate marketing industry…did I just blow your mind?

LinkShare Japan blog

Based on my very elementary understanding of Japanese, it appears that the latest entry references “our fearless and suave leader, Steve Denton.”

Visit the Linkshare Japan blog at http://www.linkshare.ne.jp/usreport/.

Real Estate Agents as Affiliates

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I’m currently trying to sell a house, and I figured the seller and real estate agent relationship is somewhat parallel to the merchant and affiliate relationship.

However, in this partnership, the onus is on the real estate agent to provide the creative.

I’ve sold a couple houses in the past, and was a underwhelmed by the marketing of the real estate agents. Also, this property is in a somewhat rural area, so it’s not really practical to run an open house for it.

So this time around I decided to add on some creative of my own to the campaign.

Rather than settle for trying to get the word out via a listing on realtor.com, I’m also incorporating video on YouTube, photos on Flickr, and a site with a keyword rich domain.

I’m also using Google AdWords to drive targeted leads, and will be issuing a press release about the house sale.

Hopefully, this will all combine to get the real estate agent her affiliate commission nice and quick.

I’ll circle back in the future on how this is all working out.

Visit the site promoting the house at http://www.poconos-house.com/.

Managing Your Program

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This is chapter 11, Managing Your Program, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants.

There are a handful of issues you should address when managing your affiliate program.

One thing is your personnel requirements. With that you really have to focus on finding the right team members.

It’s pretty tough to find a seasoned veteran in affiliate marketing who can manage your affiliate program, so I think you are probably better off just training somebody.

Get somebody who is raw and have them learn the industry from the ground up.

As far as compensation, that varies widely depending on your region, the experience of the person, and some other factors.

Based on statistics I’ve gathered, I would say you can expect to spend $30k – $40k for an entry level affiliate manager.

An affiliate manager that has some years in the business will typically command a salary in the $50k – $60k range.

Also, the affiliate manager’s compensation should include a performance component, where they are getting a piece of the action as an incentive.

Another option is to just outsource your affiliate program management. Just search on the various search engines for affiliate manager, and you’ll see a lot of companies to consider.

The plus there is that the outsourced affiliate managers bring relationships with affiliates to the table.

Also, the compensation when outsourcing can often equal the cost of one employee, but you’re potentially getting access to the relationships of the entire agency.

Another essential element in managing an affiliate program is to keep the affiliate program fresh.

With that, I just mean that you should be on top of seasonality. Don’t have expired or out of date creative. Make sure it’s current and relevant.

Don’t leave the same creative up for extended periods of time. The longer the creative is out there, the less effective it’s going to be.

Additionally, provide creative that the affiliates need. It’s as simple as just asking them what they need, what sizes they want, and then give it to them.

They might just choose not to promote you if you only offer a few standard sizes for banners.

Another important aspect for effectively managing an affiliate program is to monitor what’s happening in the industry.

We went beyond the banner a long time ago. Provide affiliates the latest options in creative. These days affiliates are using video, mobile phones, applications on Facebook, etc.

So keep your finger on the pulse and know what’s going on; what affiliates are looking for from an affiliate program.

And be on top of promotions and special events. Try to have something new every few weeks or so to keep things nice and fresh.

For instance, provide new promotions when applicable for holidays, special occasions, vacation, back to school; whatever is pertinent for your business.

Ultimately, ask the affiliates what they need, and give it to them.

Videos of other chapters of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants are available for free at http://www.affiliatemanager.net/videos.shtml.

New aStore Features for Amazon Affiliates

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The Amazon affiliate program has rolled out a new set of features for their aStore affiliate creative.

Here are the new aStore Features:

  • Access to every Amazon.com category and subcategory for automatically populating your product categories – If Amazon.com has created a group for it, such as Biographies of Frank Sinatra, you can create a category page to automatically pull in those products and organize these categories however you like.
  • Unlimited category/subcategory nesting – Create as many levels of product categories and subcategories as you like, and populate the products in each category by Amazon best-sellers, hand-picking them, or importing a Listmania list.
  • Build your own category navigation – Advanced users can take integration with their existing websites a step farther by hiding the aStore category navigation and building their own directly within the core site navigation.
  • CSS control – Advanced users can also now directly edit the stylesheets for their stores, and share those with others.
  • aStore Widgets – Advertise your store to your site visitors using these new banner links, and increase your aStore traffic.

Amazon encourages affiliates to share other things they would like to see added to aStore in the future.

More details on the Amazon affiliate program at http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/.

Become a Shopzilla Affiliate and Get $39.99

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The Shopzilla Publisher Program allows website publishers to earn money by displaying sponsored shopping content on their site.

For a limited time, AffiliateTip.com readers that register for the Shopzilla Publisher Program will have $39.99 deposited into their account when approved for the affiliate program.

With the Shopzilla Publisher Program, affiliates have access to a growing suite of tools to create and select contextually relevant shopping content to display on their sites, and will generate earnings from activity associated with the display of Shopzilla’s Sponsored Shopping Content.

In addition to the typical banners and text links, Shopzilla also provides RSS feeds for popular products and great deals, as well as customized display ads called “Product Pods”.