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Archives for April 2009

Affiliate Fatblogging: The Psychology of Eating Food

April 29, 2009 by Shawn Collins

This installment of my affiliate fatblog takes place on my birthday, so I decided to give myself the gift of a week off from the scale.

Last week, I was out at ad:tech in San Francisco and didn’t really get a chance to exercise from Monday through Thursday.

While I have been hitting the gym each day since then, I figured I’d take the pressure off and enjoy some birthday treats.

That brings me to a whole different conversation… the reasons why people eat.

I have talked to my wife in the past about it, and she mentioned how some people stuff their feelings when they’re upset.

Maybe it’s a difference between men and women, but when I’m stressed or upset, it doesn’t trigger me to pig out.

Instead, I would classify myself as more of a “celebration eater.”

For instance, since it’s my birthday, all rules go out the window and I like to have a feast of stuff that’s not good for me.

Similarly, last week in San Francisco I went to a Giants/Padres game. I love any baseball game and celebrated with some junky ballpark food and beers.

So, I’m not sure what the psychology is behind eating, but based on my weight, I’ve been having too much fun and then celebrating eating.

Since I don’t plan to scale back on the fun, I guess my only alternative is moderation. Damn.

Starting weight: 225
Last week: 217
This week: –

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Why don’t more affiliate programs and networks send direct mail?

April 27, 2009 by Shawn Collins

I started using direct mail for affiliate recruitment and retention back in 2000, and experienced really nice ROI consistently.

So, I’ve always been curious why more affiliate marketers aren’t sending mail.

The email is excessive and essentially useless. I don’t open 90% of affiliate program and network solicitations in email based solely on the subjects. And that’s if they make it past my Spam filter.

But when I get snail mail, I’m good for a 100% open rate. That was the case when I got the following email from the Epicenter Network.

Epicenter Network postcard back

Epicenter Network postcard front

They were an exhibitor at Affiliate Summit West 2009, and part of their sponsor package was that they had the option to send direct mail piece through a third party mailing service to the Affiliate Summit attendees.

Long story short – this sort of follow-up really got my attention, and they’re one of just a few companies that bothered to do it.

What’s keeping all of you from extending your reach?

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

New Version of Offers.com Launching

April 26, 2009 by Shawn Collins

Offers.com, an affiliate deals site that launched earlier this year is rolling out a new version that includes features, My Offers Locker and Alerts.

Now users can sign up for a free Locker, then save offers and stores to get real-time updates that can help them save time and money.

To create their own My Offers Locker, Offers.com users can simply sign up with an email address and password, then save items to their Locker. When offers change, or when new promotions or coupon codes become available, Locker users will receive alert emails notifying them that their favorite retailers have new offers, or that an offer is about to expire. Every Locker is pre-populated with seven recommended special offers from featured merchants, including Carbonite, Diamond.com, Restaurant.com, Travelocity and more.

Offers.com works with over 1,000 merchant partners and provides users with over 5,000 current offers across 150 different categories. Offers are updated daily across the site by a team of editors, who evaluate and categorize every deal.

More details at http://www.offers.com/press/lockerlaunch/.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Love, Hate, and Google Profiles

April 25, 2009 by Shawn Collins

This week on the Brandmouthing podcast, I talk about Google Profiles and whether they are something we should embrace with our brands or run away from quickly.

Thinking

I also talk about a similar service from PeoplePond.

Show Notes

  • Google Profiles
  • Shawn Collins Google Profile
  • Google search for Shawn Collins
  • Shawn Collins on PeoplePond
  • Google Forcing Your Hand, Stealing Your Thumbprint
  • Twitter @lisabarone

Check out brandmouthing.com for a collection of all future episodes of Brandmouthing, as well as images, videos, etc. that I mention on the podcast.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

ad:tech San Francisco 2009 Recap

April 24, 2009 by Shawn Collins

I just returned from ad:tech San Francisco, and it was a whirlwind of sessions, baseball, and networking.

The show kicked off with a keynote from Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia. On the way to the keynote, I got a peek at the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden before it opened.

Affiliate Summit Beer Garden before adtech opens

I was covering the conference as Twitter press, so here are some of my Tweets from the Jimmy Wales talk.

@affiliatetip: @mikebuechele just heard about http://marvel.wikia.com at @jimmy_wales keynote at ad:tech – you edit there? #adtechsf

@affiliatetip: @search_iago I thought Alexa references from @jimmy_wales were odd – rankings are legit to people who rank high there, I guess #adtechsf

Jimmy Wales keynote speech at ad:tech San Francisco

There were big crowds at registration after the keynote. I guess nobody heeded my advice via Twitter the day before.

@affiliatetip: Get your ad:tech badge now – no lines http://bit.ly/qXdAO

The crowds line up to register at ad-tech San Francisco 2009

I met up with Lisa Picarille in the late morning to record our weekly Affiliate Thing podcast. We went across the street from Moscone West and recorded the show outside.

Watch the Affiliate Thing video to see how we dealt with an army of loud children, a cab that thought it was okay to drive on sidewalks, and an attack raven.

Affiliate Thing Live in San Francisco

The beer garden made for a good meeting spot during the days of April 21-22.

Affiliate Summit Beer Garden at ad tech

The latest issue of FeedFront magazine was in the attendee bags, as well as at the Affiliate Marketing Networking Party on the night of April 21. It was great to see so many folks there paging through the magazine.

Some guy reading FeedFront magazine at ad tech

While I was at ad:tech, I was wearing a personalized Twitter shirt in a variety of colors.

Twitter wardrobe 8 days a week

Towards the end of the first day of ad:tech, the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden was filled up with thirsty networkers.

Packed crowd at Affiliate Summit Beer Garden 2

After the beer garden party, a bunch of us headed down the street to AT&T Park to see the Padres at the Giants. Interestingly, my Blackberry, which is on AT&T, was unable to get a data or phone connection in the ballpark of my provider’s name.

Giants and Padres

On the second day of ad:tech, one of the highlights was a panel, sponsored by MediaTrust, with Kelly Powers (Zazzle), Jarvis Mak (Havas Digital), Steve Schaffer (Vertive), and Peter Bordes (MediaTrust). The panel was moderated Neil Strother (Forrester Research).

MediaTrust panel at ad tech SF 2009

That evening, I attended a nice dinner with the eBay Partner Network team and heard about their latest news.

@affiliatetip: @Justdrive @mediatrustpete @trishalyn @ebay_affiliates great to chat with you all at dinner last night #adtechsf

I was able to catch the keynote interview on April 23 with Kevin Rose, Founder and Chief Architect of Digg, which was conducted by Evan Hansen of Wired.

Kevin Rose and Evan Hansen at ad tech keynote 4

They were discussing questions that were texted during the session, and I submitted a couple, including, “Have you considered running affiliate ads on Digg?”

Apparently, that one was too hot to handle, because they didn’t use it.

Questions from audience at Kevin Rose keynote

I’ve got to say I got a little misty as I left the keynote and saw the dismantling of the beer garden.

Affiliate Summit Beer Garden is broken down

I said my goodbye to ad:tech with one last Tweet as I boarded my plane back to New Jersey.

@affiliatetip: guy with popped collar and mini dog on my flight – don’t think I like him

Check out my pictures from ad:tech San Francisco.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

The Baseball Diet

April 21, 2009 by Shawn Collins

My weekly affiliate fatblogging report is being filed from San Francisco, because I’m out here for ad:tech.

Another week, another conference, and the challenge of eating well on the road.

This time I made some advance preparations, though. I brought along a bunch of low calorie bars for breakfast and snacks.

So, just a 100 calorie breakfast and some fruit (if I come across it), instead of flying by a McDonald’s for Sausage McMuffins and other junk on the way to ad:tech each morning.

Last week, I was up in the weight for the second week in a row, but I’ve gone back down by three with a week of good food and exercise.

I wasn’t sure if my work on most of the days would be torpedoed by last Thursday – I went to Opening Day for the Yankees, and had the required beers and snacks there.

But the Yankees kept me pretty straight, since they have a thing at the new stadium where they post the calorie counts for all of the food and drinks.

I would rather have 3 big beers for less calories than one pretzel

630 calories for a pretzel… what?!

I guess it’s good to keep me from snacking at ballgames, though.

Starting weight: 225
Last week: 220
This week: 217

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Bathing Suit Weather for Affiliate Fatbloggers

April 17, 2009 by Shawn Collins

I delayed my weekly weigh-in by a couple days this week, since it was Easter and I overdid it a bit.

It was a fun Sunday of relaxing, watching baseball, hanging out with the kids, eating jelly beans and M&M’s, a big dinner, dessert, etc. It was just a mess in terms of a healthy diet.

So, when I finally hit the scale, I was up 2. I was hoping things would level out after a couple days of exercise and eating well, but no dice.

Anyhow, I wore some cool goggles for my latest affiliate fatblogging video, because I incorporated swimming laps into my exercise this week.

Hopefully, that new form of working out will shake things up for me a bit. I have to read up on the optimal water workout, but I did 26 lengths in the pool my first time, and that knocked me out.

One weird thing about the scale is that even though it’s gone up for two weeks, my mirror is telling me I’m getting more toned in various places.

The only thing I can figure is that the swimming has resulted in a muscular look like Michael Phelps. Those big muscles weigh more than fat, so that explains it, right?

Starting weight: 225
Last week: 218
This week: 220

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Monetizing the Susan Boyle Phenomenon

April 17, 2009 by Shawn Collins

Every time there is some sort of phenomenon online, there are a bunch of angles affiliates can figure out to monetize it.

Earlier this week, the Internets were buzzing about the performance of Susan Boyle, who sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables” on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Shortly after Susan Boyle’s appearance on the show, a Magnify.net user created a channel as a fan site, and got over 150k page views/day in less than 48 hours, according to Magnify.net.

Susan-Boyle.com

The site has been adding hundreds of members an hour (up to 8703 currently).

In addition to featuring videos, the site incorporates Tweets related to Susan Boyle, as well as comments from fans. And there are a variety of affiliate banners on the site pages.

This is a great example of how a quick thinking affiliate was able to grab a domain for 10 bucks, quickly setup a channel on Magnify, and drive a huge amount of traffic with an engaged community of users.

There is always another big viral video coming along. Are you going to be the one to create a community and a revenue opportunity for the next one?

Check out Susan-Boyle.com.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News, Affiliate Tips

How to Monetize Your Site with Widgets

April 14, 2009 by Shawn Collins

[audio:http://geekcast.fm/podpress_trac/web/1421/0/ASW09-How-to-Monetize-Your-Site-with-Widgets2.mp3]

This session, How to Monetize Your Site with Widgets, took place Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.

Session description:

This discussion by Amazon Associates will go over how to enhance your site using various widgets, what works and what doesn’t, and how effective different widgets are to your site. We’ll show you easy ways you can implement widgets to monetize your site right away.

  • Zahid Khan, Product Manager, Amazon
How to Monetize Your Site with Widgets at Affiliate Summit West 2009

More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Resources, Affiliate Summit

Create a Site Like Gary Vaynerchuk’s PleaseDressMe.com

April 13, 2009 by Shawn Collins

Q: I want to know if I create an online catalog, a site that looks like a store with affiliate links, can I put pictures and descriptions of the products with affiliate links, or is this going to violate their terms of service? I am building a site with affiliate links, similar to Gary Vaynerchuk’s PleaseDressMe.com.

Shawn CollinsA: If you’re building a site like that, what you’ll need to do is get the product data feed from each merchant – you’ll have to request access from the merchant or affiliate network.

I hope you weren’t planning to put this sort of site together manually, as that would take forever, and there would be no each way to update out of stock items, price changes, etc.

This information is included in the product data feed, so you will have access to that data, as well as much more.

You can combine the product data feeds from multiple merchants to create store for whichever vertical you’d like to focus on.

An important thing to note – don’t just repackage the data provided by the merchant. Incorporate some unique value proposition, like comparison shopping for a niche, original content to complement the products being offered, etc.

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Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

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