Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for September 2008

New York Affiliate Tax Laws – Issues and Solutions Video

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One of the sessions at Affiliate Summit East 2008 was a discussion on the New York Affiliate Tax, and the issues and solutions surrounding the new law.

The moderator for the session was Adam Riemer, Director of Marketing and Client Relations for downtown ecommerce partners.

Panelists were Chris Henger, Group Product Manager of the Google Affiliate Network; Kim Rodgers, Affiliate Manager of 4Checks.com; Melanie Seery, an affiliate who runs NY Affiliate Voice; and Clarke D. Walton, Internet Lawyer, Walton Law Firm, P.C.

Watch video of New York Affiliate Tax Law session from Affiliate Summit East 2008.

Other Affiliate Summit videos are available at http://www.affiliatesummit.tv.

Video Spokes Models for Your Site

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A couple years back, we had a hologram thing on the Affiliate Summit site where my partner Missy and I gave a little video testimonial.

It was effective to get more people to click on through to the registration page, but probably not the best use of it, since conference registration is more of a considered purchase.

Anyhow, back when we did it, the process was more complicated and expensive, and I thought it was cool to see this company Video Spokes Model, where you can get a video spokes model on your site, reading your script for prices starting at $299.

Video Spokes Model

The videos are clickable, so not only could affiliates and merchants use them to help sell their products and services, but I could see this as affiliate creative, too.

Roundtables at Affiliate Summit East 2008

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Attendees at Affiliate Summit 2008 East, which took place August 10-12 in Boston, had a chance to chat with experts on various topics related to affiliate marketing.

Have a look at excerpts from discussions from the various roundtables.

This session took place on the morning of Tuesday, August 12, 2008, and discussions are shown for about five minutes.

eBay Affiliate Program Commission

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Q: Is it true eBay pays $12 if I drive traffic to their site, and the person registers and places a bid?

Shawn CollinsA: I know the eBay affiliate program has had various arrangements for how they pay out affiliate commissions over time, but on August 1 of this year, eBay announced a new value based pricing structure.

“As you may have heard, we’re in the process of implementing a new pricing structure for Active Confirmed Registered User (ACRU) compensation. The new value-based pricing scheme is based on quality, instead of just volume, and will reward affiliates for the amount of quality traffic they drive to eBay advertiser websites. The new value-based pricing system is part of our ongoing effort to reward our best marketing partners and promote trusted commerce on eBay.”

I would suggest visiting the eBay Partner Network site to get a thorough explanation on how the affiliate commissions are structured.

On the site, eBay has a drop-down menu where you can select which country version of their affiliate program you are going to promote, and the associated payment structure.

eBay affiliate commission structure

More details at http://www.ebaypartnernetwork.com.

Vote Anik Singal as America’s Best Young Entrepreneur

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BusinessWeek is conducting their fourth annual search to discover the most promising young entrepreneurs in the U.S, and Anik Singal of Affiliate Classroom is one of the finalists.

Anik Singal at Affiliate Summit East 2008BusinessWeek readers were asked to nominate candidates aged 25 and under who are running their own companies that show potential for growth and establish the talent of the founders behind them.

Anik Singal’s business has 10 staffers and 15 contractors, and he expects $2.5 million to $2.8 million in revenues in 2008, according to his profile on BusinessWeek.com.

I’ve known Anik for years, and just voted for him.

I think this is a good opportunity to bring more positive focus in the business community on affiliate marketing, and Anik has done an impressive job in building up his company.

Rock the vote now. Just click on Affiliate Classroom (Anik Singal) and then click “Vote” – that’s it. Voting ends on September 22.

Check out Anik Singal’s profile at BusinessWeek.com.

Does Your Pitch Suck?

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Jim Kukral has launched a new service to help companies perfect their public relations pitches called YourPitchSucks.com.

Jim Kukral

The purpose is to help companies avoid spending thousands of dollars a year on press release wire services only to get their pitches thrown in the trash.

“Businesses waste a lot of money sending out poorly crafted press releases. Then they wonder why they never get any return on investment from them,” commented Jim Kukral, founder of YourPitchSucks.com.

“It’s because most people don’t know how to pitch. YourPitchSucks.com is a free service that helps businesses fix those pitches before they get sent out. Quit wasting money on bad pitches, they don’t work!” continued Kukral.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve issued volumes of press releases over the years without particularly knowing what I’m doing. And I don’t have the budget for a PR agency or in-house public relations person.

So this sounds like just the thing for me and tons of entrepreneurs that have been dropping press releases and crossing their fingers.

The YourPitchSucks.com PR team has placed news stories in The New York Times, Washington Post, Good Morning America, Today Show, Time Magazine, Business Week, Oprah Winfrey show, and hundreds of other national and local media outlets.

Affiliate Marketers on September 11, 2001

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It’s hard to believe it’s 7 years since 9/11. I was working in NYC that day as affiliate manager for ClubMom, and wasn’t sure if I’d make it home that night.

09-11-01When I did finally get back to my town, after a long, circuitous journey involving a failed attempt to escape by train, then a ferry, bus, and some hitchhiking, I was dropped off at my train station to get my car.

It was late afternoon and the lot was still packed. I had to wonder how many of the people I rode the train with each day wouldn’t be making it back to the lot that night.

Turned out to be five guys.

There is a small memorial in the town for them that reads in part…

September 11, 2001

We Shall Never Forget Our Friends And Neighbors
Who Rode The Rails With Us That Morning,
But Did Not Return With Us That Night

It was a tough, freaky time, and fellow affiliate marketers made it a little easier.

Back then, I maintained a discussion list of affiliate managers called the USAMC (United States Affiliate Manager Coalition), and the folks on the list ended up being a sort of support group with their posts.

Looking back, it’s neat to see all of the people who were posting that day who are still active in affiliate marketing.

Amazon Video On Demand for Affiliates

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The Amazon affiliate program has announced Amazon Video On Demand, where customers can instantly watch movies and television shows commercial-free on Macs or PCs.

Affiliates earn 10% on all movies, TV seasons, and TV episodes, and creative includes Amazon Video On Demand’s Preview Player widget, which enables you to add movie trailers to your site.

In order to encourage site visitors to decide to rent or purchase a movie or TV show, the first two minutes of videos automatically play at no charge to customers when they visit the product detail page.

At any time during this 2-minute viewing period, customers can choose to purchase or rent the title to watch it in its entirety.

Also, TiVo customers can download movies and TV shows to their TiVo DVR and watch on their TVs.

So you can watch on TV with TiVo or download to a PC, but I don’t see any mention of downloading to an iPod, Blackberry, etc.

Looks like an attractive offer, but I can’t see using it myself unless I can take the movies and shows on my phone or iPod.

Speaker Proposal Deadline for Affiliate Summit West 2009

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The submission deadline for speaker proposals for Affiliate Summit West 2009 is September 12, 2008. Any submissions after this date will not be considered.

Accepted speakers will receive a complimentary Platinum Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2009.

As far as what we are looking for… submit a proposal based on your expertise, not what you think we want to see.

Proposals should be of an advanced nature. We are not interested in introductory material.

Also, there is a limit of one person per company on the speaker roster. No exceptions.

More details and form for submitted proposals are at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/09w_speakers.php.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Scare Follow-up

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I wrote about how my hands were hurting about six weeks ago, and how my doctor thought I was in the early stages of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Working too much - suffering from a Carpal tunnel syndrome - you

Well, I’m happy to report that the aching and pins and needles feeling in my hands has gone away, thanks to using some splints and making my office more ergonomic.

Here are the things I purchased to help out my condition:

If you’re feeling uncomfortable sensations in your hands, I’d definitely encourage you to get over to your doctor and address it right away.

The whole experience freaked me out, because I was worried my ability to do this work I love was going to evaporate.