Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.
This session, Mobile Web Opportunities, took place Monday, January 12, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
The mobile internet is growing fast. The session will cover business opportunities, technical challenges, traffic sources and monetization methods. It is aimed at both advertisers and affiliates.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.
This week on the Brandmouthing podcast, I talk about branding a product or service that has no brand.
You know those lawn signs that seem to be in every city in the country with big, block letters screaming “SINGLE?”, followed by a domain the the name of the local town?
What’s that all about and is there money there?
You might be surprised.
Show Notes
Check out http://brandmouthing.com/ for a collection of all future episodes of Brandmouthing, as well as images, videos, etc. that I mention on the podcast. Subscribe to the Brandmouthing RSS feed.
There has been a lot of talk about the advertising tax, which is being considered by many states, but a lot of folks aren’t clear about the threat and implications.
So, I’ve put together a a short video on the advertising tax. Given me two minutes of your time t find out why you need to start playing a role in the fight against the advertising tax in your state.
Basically, if you’re an affiliate working with companies who don’t have a physical presence in your state, and an advertising tax bill passes in your state, you’re at risk of being kicked out of those affiliate programs.
This tax is also known as the affiliate tax or Amazon tax.
The gist of it is that these states are trying to require companies to collect sales tax even when they don’t have a physical presence in the state.
Currently, if a company doesn’t have a physical presence, they don’t have to charge sales tax. There is legal precedent for this from the Quill Corp. v. North Dakota decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
So yes, the advertising tax is unconstitutional for anybody who cares about the U.S. Constitution.
The contention by the states is that affiliates are a physical presence for these companies. You know that’s not true, and I know that’s not true, but does your state senator know that we’re just running advertising?
Anyhow, this sort of bad legislation became law in New York last year, and the result was a large number of affiliate programs removing their New York affiliates to avoid charing sales tax.
It’s a lose/lose/lose situation.
The state still isn’t getting sales tax from all of these transactions when merchants boot their affiliates, affiliates are losing their “jobs”, and the state naturally has less income tax to collect.
If you’re an affiliate, merchant, or network, it’s imperative that you take action.
One place to find information about fighting current or future legislation in your state is the Fight Against the #AdvertisingTax group on Facebook.
Also, check out Affiliate Voice and the Performance Marketing Alliance for resources and news on the advertising tax.
Lastly, when the vote does come down in your state, be sure to note how your representative(s) vote. And then put them out of a job at the next election if they voted against your livelihood.
This session, The 100% Open Rate Solution, took place Monday, January 12, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
Mobile marketing is the most direct “direct marketing”. In this session, I will demonstrate why all merchants and affiliates should, and will soon be, using mobile marketing.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.
This session, Advertising on Facebook, took place Monday, January 12, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
Learn about advertising on Facebook and how affiliates can reach over 100 million members. Join us for a panel discussion including a Facebook representative covering all you need to know.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.
This session, Organic SEO Site Review, took place Monday, January 12, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
SEO review of audience members sites with real feedback and direction on how to improve their rankings in the SERPs.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.
This was one of those frustrating plateau weeks in the life of an affiliate fatblogger. A week with exercise and eating well, but the result was a scale that remained unchanged from the week before.
But since it wasn’t a gain, that’s not so bad. Just sort of annoying to see a tie in the standings when I want all wins.
Anyhow, I spent a few days last week in New York City for Search Engine Strategies. I’d say that was a success both for business and health.
On the first night of SES, I went to the IM Charity SES NY 2009 event at Heartland Brewery in Union Square. I figured since I’d be drinking some of the beers there, I’d better counter-balance them a bit, so I walked down from the Hilton New York on 53rd Street.
So, if the estimate is correct that 20 NYC blocks equal a mile, I tallied nearly two miles to get to the party. While I made my way down, I finished an episode 3 of Affiliate Marketing Fanatics, which I had been listening to on the way in on the train.
Then, I had a listen to the semi-infrequent podcast from Sam Harrelson and Todd Crawford, GeekTo.me, episode 12.
As I was cutting along 42nd Street near Bryant Park, Sam mentioned that I can’t be the only person with an affiliate marketing blog out there. Aside from that crazed opinion (I would be fine if I was the only one blogging about affiliate marketing), it was a good show.
Also, during the conference, I had a dinner with Jay Berkowitz of Ten Golden Rules. In addition to some nice Italian, we recorded a podcast in the restaurant that will be up in the near future on his site and GeekCast.fm.
Speaking of podcasts, I was thinking about how great it is that there has been an explosion of affiliate marketing podcasts lately.
There were maybe a few podcasts last year, but now there are nearly two dozen on GeekCast.fm alone.
And the combination of podcasts and exercise solves problems for many of us. I often hear that people are too busy to listen to podcasts and/or exercise. So combine the two, and you’ll stat up on the latest issues in the industry while you improve your health. Win-win.
Lastly, I managed to hurt my back playing boxing on my Wii.
I wanted to get some exercise while I was hanging out with my son, so I decided to box. I ended up engaging in the sweet science for about 90 minutes. The next day, my back was killing me.
But the silver lining… I now have Pro status as a boxer. And I burned some calories.
Starting weight: 225
Last week: 217
This week: 217
This session, Whitehat Linkbuilding Strategies: Beginner to Advanced, took place Monday, January 12, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
It’s no secret, links matter. We’ll present everything from basic directory linkbuilding to advanced tactics like .edu & authority linkbuilding. Discussion will include all above board, clean tactics.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.
Jason Rubacky, who runs the affiliate program for Football Fanatics, has decided to move on, so they’re looking for a new affiliate manager over there.
Now, before a bunch of other people ask to have their job openings promoted, let me just say I thought it was interesting that Jason and Football Fanatics are leveraging social media with the search being conducted with the help of Twitter and YouTube.
They are also reaching out on the Football Fanatics forum on ABestWeb and LinkedIn.
I think this is an interesting approach, rather than relying on the job classifieds sites. If you’ve got an affiliate marketing position, put it out there in front of affiliate marketers.
Speaking of Twitter and jobs, check out the positions currently listed on Twitter Job Search with affiliate in them.
More details on the Football Fanatics position at LinkedIn.
UPDATE
Jason Rubacky has joined the ShareASale team – there is a thread on ABestWeb about Jason joining SAS.
This session, Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing, took place Sunday, January 11, 2009 at Affiliate Summit West 2009.
Session description:
There are two sides to ethical issues in affiliate marketing, and we will entertain audience questions for a panel of industry leaders.
More Affiliate Summit West 2009 audio is available at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-summit/.