Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for January 2008

What is nofollow?

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Q: I am brand new to the affiliate marketing industry and I am trying to break in with a simple coupon site, which will soon debut. I read a short conversation on your blog about nofollow links, and I was wondering if you could explain it more in depth for me?

Shawn CollinsA: Rather than potentially give you some inaccurate information, I’ll reference the Wikipedia entry for nofollow:

nofollow is a non-standard HTML attribute value used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine’s index. It is intended to reduce the effectiveness of certain types of search engine spam, thereby improving the quality of search engine results and preventing spamdexing from occurring in the first place.

So, I guess in layman’s terms, nofollow is a notation (rel=”nofollow”) you put in your HTML code for a link, so that the site where you are linking doesn’t get any improved ranking in the search engines, because of the link.

Finding an Outsourced Affiliate Program Manager

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Q: I represent a Scandinavian web hosting company that recently launched in the U.S. The way that you do affiliate marketing in the U.S. seems rather different from Europe. Therefore, I am considering outsourcing the affiliate management for the U.S., but how do I find a perfect match?

Shawn CollinsA: There are tons of vendors out there who offer outsourced affiliate program management (OPM) services.

I created a section on the Affiliate Buyer’s Guide, which is part of Affiliate Summit, and we’ve got dozens of companies listed in the Outsourced Program Manager section.

The services offered and the pricing vary wildly, so I would suggest reaching out to a variety of companies to determine which is the best fit for you.

As far as the pricing, you can find OPM companies in the range of $2,000 to $2,500 a month, but I wouldn’t expect much in the way of service and support at that rate.

If you have the funds to partner up with an agency for $7,500 to $10,000 per month, you can bring on a top tier team for your affiliate program.

Be sure to perform due diligence on the various vendors; ask for references, client lists, team biographies, and case studies, if available.

Just because somebody carries a big price doesn’t mean they know what they are doing.

Elite Retreat San Francisco Announced

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I saw last week on the ShoeMoney blog that Jeremy and his crew were “about ready to announce the 2008 elite retreat (april 3-4 in san fran).”

Elite Retreat - April 3-4, 2008 in San FranciscoWell, it looks like everything is firm, because they’ve got the details on the Elite Retreat site now.

First off, a warning! We’re capping attendance at 35, regardless of how many apply to join us, so if you’re interested, you need to apply right now so you don’t miss your chance! We will only have ONE retreat each year. Cost for participating in the Elite Retreat? $4,950 per person.

It’s a bit pricey, but Elite Retreat has an attractive agenda with Guy Kawasaki as the keynote, and a roster of sharp folks in search, start-ups and PR.

Here are the speakers for the two day event, where attendees will be able to get face time with reputable experts:

  • Jeremy Schoemaker (widely known by his nickname of ShoeMoney) is an important player in the search engine marketing world, and his knowledge and expertise make him one of the top go-to guys for PPC, arbitrage, SEM, branding, and online income optimization. His weekly Internet radio show Net Income allows listeners to hear Jeremy’s honest assessment about his failures and successes in the online marketing space.
  • Neil Patel is an Internet marketing consultant and the founder of Advantage Consulting Services which was started in 2002. He has lead Internet marketing strategies for small and medium sized businesses as well as top companies such as Hewlett Packard and Wal-Mart. His experiences include search engine optimization, social media optimization, reputation management, and viral marketing.
  • Aaron Wall is a search engine optimization expert who blogs about search at SeoBook.com. He also wrote a popular book by the same name, publishes numerous other websites, and has consulted clients large and small about how to increase their search exposure.
  • Margie Zable Fisher is the president of Zable Fisher Public Relations (www.zfpr.com), a public relations and marketing firm based in Boca Raton, FL. Margie and her team have helped clients land local and national publicity placements, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Associated Press (AP), the Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah, CNN, CNBC, Fortune Small Business, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Inc. Magazine, Money Magazine, Kiplinger’s, Entrepreneur Magazine, More Magazine, Redbook, Woman’s World, Daily Candy and many others.
  • Andy Liu is CEO of BuddyTV, the largest independently held TV site on the Internet reaching over 4.3MM monthly uniques. Prior to BuddyTV, Andy served as President and CEO of NetConversions from 1999-2004 prior to its sale to aQuantive and served as VP and GM of its Site Optimization unit from 2004-2005. He’s also a founder of a non-profit focused on technology in developing countries and is very passionate about entrepreneurship. He brings deep experience in building companies, site optimization, SEO, community building, and product development. In 2003, he was named to Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and holds an MBA from Wharton.

And the Elite Retreat has a cool “Better than money back guarantee”:

“If you are not completely satisfied with the knowledge you receive from the Elite Retreat we will fully refund your registration fee, PLUS we’ll refund your flight and hotel fees.”

Chicken and Egg Affiliate Marketing

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Q: I’ve decided to make a niche blog. Once I’ve created my blog, how soon can I start promoting products? Can I start off with a review, or should I wait? And if so, when is the right time to promote stuff?

Shawn CollinsA: When you’re just getting started with a blog, it is sort of a chicken and egg situation. You won’t have much of an audience early on, so it would seem fruitless to try and promote anything.

However, as you start gaining momentum with your blog, you’ll have readers finding you through the various posts as they’re indexed in the search engines, and others could reach the older posts via your internal search.

There is no reason to wait before including promotional efforts on your blog. Start working in the affiliate activity from the start with the intention that people will discover these posts in the future.

By the way, I started my blog back in 2004, and there are products and services I haven’t mentioned since way back that still generate affiliate commissions for me.

The Affiliate Marketing Reputation Thing

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Sam Harrelson posted to ReveNews how “Smartest Guys on the Web Don’t Know What Affiliate Marketing Is.”

Angry dog

He provides excerpts from the latest Gillmor Gang podcast, where Jason Calacanis brought up affiliate marketing as part of a charity ad placement from Affiliate Summit.

Doc (Searls) calls Jason out as a speaker and asked what he’s going to be speaking about. He says “web pollution and how affiliate companies can either police their web pollution or not. A lot of the affiliate stuff going on is a little suspect. People making landing pages and what-not.”

Jason’s Affiliate Summit keynote should be a gem!

Also, Sam has an interesting exchange in his transcript about perceptions of affiliate marketing.

Looks like I have some good listening tomorrow at the gym. Thanks Jason.

Legitimate Outsourced Affiliate Program Managers

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Q: What paperwork and agreements does one need to legitimize their business as an outsourced affiliate marketing manager? Companies in the same industry, I’m sure, are going to want some sort of agreement that we are not going to resell or use the affiliate names or contracts for yourself or other companies.

Shawn CollinsA: As far as legitimizing yourself as an Outsourced Affiliate Program Manager, or OPM for short, the contracts you reference are just basic business contracts.

Just speak with your lawyer and ask them to include clauses that touch on issues like restrictions against working with other companies from the same vertical.

Beyond that item, in order to legitimize your business, I’d say the best way to do it is to have a track record.

You’ve got to put in the time to earn a good reputation. There aren’t any shortcuts. You need to put in hard work and exhibit loyalty to your customers and clients.

You cannot just write a document to earn legitimacy.

Keyword Conversion Primer for Affiliates

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Ian Fernando made a helpful post on his blog on keyword conversions. This hashes it out for affiliate newbies.

So my excel video did pretty good that I got emails to help with excel and keyword manipulation. I think I should get a job with the infomercial guy “The Video Professor!” So there were some emails on creating excel formulas on keywords and how to track and how to see conversion and all that stuff. Well Google AdWords gives you all that information, impressions, clicks, CTR, etc.

But I decided there were a lot of noobs out there that want to learn how PPC keywords work. There were emails where someone asked about how to determine CTR and CPC, I simply redirected them to the Google AdWords section or Wikipedia. What is the point of asking when you do not know the basics? I learned by reading and understanding how these functions worked, thus creating excel tools for my benefits.

Well since there are newbies out there that want to learn I decided to go ahead and create a simple Google Docs file for everyone to view and learn from. Everyone needs examples and actual tools to look at. Some people learn by looking while other learn by reading. I learn by taking what I read and just playing around and testing.

Check out Ian’s spreadsheet on Google Docs: http://www.ianfernando.com/suggests/keywordclicks.

(In)Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008

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Linda Buquet of 5 Star Affiliate Programs made a spot on post today about a significant error of omission by Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.

Her post, “Complete Web Marketing List Omits Affiliate Marketing,” points out how Mr. Owyang composed an exhaustive, but not exhaustive enough, list detailing “Forms of Web Marketing.”

A Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008 and the 2007 version, which was one of the top viewed posts of 07, does not even feature affiliate marketing. SEO, SEM, Email Marketing, Contextual and every other type of online marketing is featured but not AM. The only time it’s mentioned, it’s lumped in with unrelated marketing methods under “branding”.

Last month, Shar VanBoskirk, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, sort of acknowledged affiliate marketing, but ultimately dismissed it.

Come to think of it, when is the last time Forrester Research really covered affiliate marketing? I remember a report from Jim Nail called New Affiliate Marketing Models back in the 20th century.

I’ve got to wonder what else Forrester folks are missing in their research if they’re blind to affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award Finalists

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The votes have been tallied for the finalists of the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards. These awards recognize exceptional performance in affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards - January 22, 2007 The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards will be presented at Affiliate Summit 2008 West, taking place February 24-26, 2008 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Affiliate of the Year
Mike Allen
Connie Berg
Tim Storm

Affiliate Manager of the Year
Stephanie Harris
Melissa Salas
Carolyn Tang

Exceptional Merchant
Amazon.com
CSN Stores
Sierra Trading Post

Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award
Haiko de Poel, Jr.
Scott Jangro
Revenue Magazine

Best Blogger
Carsten Cumbrowski
Sam Harrelson
Jeremy Schoemaker

Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend
Connie Berg
Haiko de Poel, Jr.
Brian Littleton

The First Annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Show took place on Monday, January 22, 2007 during the Pure Imagination Party hosted by oneNetworkDirect and Wynn Las Vegas at TRYST the nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas.

There were six awards presented to recognize outstanding affiliate marketers.

Below are the winners for each category from the First Annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards.

  • Affiliate of the Year: Scott Hazard
  • Affiliate Manager of the Year: Angel Djambazov
  • Exceptional Merchant: Amazon.com
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award: Brian Littleton
  • Best Blogger: Jim Kukral
  • Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend: Todd Crawford

Don’t miss the Second Annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Gala, taking place on Monday, February 25, 2008 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.