Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for May 2009

Blogging About Affiliate Summit East 2009?

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There is a resource page for bloggers covering Affiliate Summit East 2009, taking place August 9-11, 2009 in New York City.

This page includes the Affiliate Summit logo to download in multiple formats, as well as a photo of the Hilton New York, speaker bios, and social media details (tag on Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc. is ASE09).

Bloggers are welcome to reprint any of the photos and videos we post on Flickr and YouTube. (Please credit Affiliate Summit on pictures – all previous Affiliate Summit pictures are up in our Flickr account.)

Also, if you’re looking for information on the history of Affiliate Summit, you can find those details at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/about.

In addition to detailing the attendee number growth over the previous twelve Affiliate Summits, from 200 in 2003 to over 3,200 this past January in Las Vegas, the page has a recap of each event, and the attendee breakout by percentage.

For instance, the biggest group of attendees at the last Affiliate Summit were affiliates, who composed nearly 40% of the crowd.

Affiliate Summit attendees by type

Visit the blogger page at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/bloggers/.

If you would like to apply for a press pass, you can do so at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/press-pass.

Google AdSense Adds Image Ads to Link Units

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Google AdSense now displays an image ad to the bottom of each of link unit pages, and they indicate that their testing showed revenue improvements for many affiliates.

Google AdSense Image Ads in Link Units

Just like regular AdSense, these image ads are contextually targeted, based on the link unit topic users clicked to reach the ads.

In the event there are no image ads for the given topic, they’ll only show the original text ads (no PSA or blank space instead of an image ad).

More details at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/05/image-ads-join-link-units.html.

Five Successful Strategies for Monetizing Blogs

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[audio:http://geekcast.fm/podpress_trac/web/1733/0/inbound-marketing-summit-2009-edited.mp3]

The “Five Successful Strategies for Monetizing Blogs” presentation was given by Affiliate Summit Co-founders Missy Ward and Shawn Collins at the Inbound Marketing Summit on May 27, 2009 in Dallas, TX.

Session description:

It’s not easy making money with affiliate programs. You’re a blogger, not a marketer, right? There’s no reason you can’t be both. Affiliate marketers Missy Ward and Shawn Collins will provide proven tactics to monetize your blog, and associated photos, videos, podcasts, and Tweets. This presentation will outline the multiple tactics available to provide action items that enable you to be both a successful artist and entrepreneur. Methods will be categorized into one of five focused strategies for blog monetization.

The complete “Five Successful Strategies for Monetizing Blogs” video is available to view on YouTube, and the presentation is available to view or download at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/five-successful-strategies-for-monetizing-blogs.

Best Website Platform for SEO

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Q: From your experience, what is the best platform for an affiliate marketing website, in terms of faster, natural search engine rankings, landing pages, etc.?

  • Traditional silo structured website with a multi-level navigation bar
  • WordPress blog with an SEO plugin by itself
  • WordPress blog with an SEO plugin installed in a sub-folder of a traditional silo structured website

Shawn CollinsA: First, let me be clear that I am not an expert on SEO by any means. But I can say that the sites I create do get indexed well for the keywords I focus on.

In my opinion, WordPress as the sole content management system is the way to go for your site.

There are two directions I’ve taken with WordPress blogs that have worked out well for search engine optimization.

One method is to use a plugin called All in One SEO Pack.

And then another route I’ve taken is to use the Thesis theme without the SEO plugin.

The Thesis site states…

Thesis boasts the strongest SEO of any theme on the market today thanks to its expertly-coded HTML + CSS + PHP framework. Not only that, Thesis also contains additional options that will allow you to fine-tune each and every page of your site. The days of worrying about your in-site SEO are over—with Thesis, your strategy is “just add killer content.”

While I am not going into the code and snooping around the architecture, I can tell you that the sites I’ve set up in Thesis rank well.

Affiliate Fatblogging: Swimming Laps with My iPod Touch

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I am very excited. I was at the pool yesterday and saw this guy swimming laps with headphones on.

He had an armband with his iPod Touch secured and waterproof, and I knew right away I needed to get that setup, so I could bring some music and podcasts to my swim workouts.

As soon as I dried off, I headed over to the local Apple Store to get my gear.

There was one style of these things at the store – the H20 Audio Amphibx Waterproof Armband.

So, I got one for my iPod Touch. I think it’s going to be a little bulky and goofy, but that’s the price I have to pay for water audio.

Yeah, I could get a smaller one and use a Nano or something, but I don’t feel like bothering with another MP3 player.

Anyhow, this flashy armband is pricey – it was $80 at the Apple Store. But wait, there’s more!

The H20 Audio Amphibx Waterproof Armband requires special headphones, and they cost another $60.

I am sure these items or competing brands are available online for a better deal, but I needed to have this contraption in my hands right away.

OK, off to the pool.

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

Affiliate Link Redirecting And Cloaking

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One of the key tactics for an affiliate is redirecting and/or cloaking affiliate links.

Shawn CollinsAffiliates cloak their links for a variety of reasons, but I do it so my affiliate links will be short, so I can use then in text email newsletters, and some people don’t like clicking affiliate links.

While there are many ways to redirect and cloak affiliate links, I am covering two: .htaccess and a software program called Ninja Affiliate.

Personally, I use .htaccess, which is a fairly simple file anybody can create, because it’s quick and easy. Also, it’s free.

One thing about .htaccess though is that if you enter a line in the wrong format, it can bring down your site. So always test, and if this happens, take the file down from your server while you troubleshoot.

The Ninja Affiliate program program is easy to use and has lots of features, but it also costs nearly $100.

Affiliate Tim Jones has been touting Ninja Affiliate since it was released last year.

Anti-Affiliate Legislation Update

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The Performance Marketing Alliance has posted updates to the states where anti-affiliate, advertising tax legislation is currently active on some level.

There are updates from Connecticut, Tennessee, Hawaii, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

And then there’s California. Lisa Picarille had an article in the San Francisco Chronicle last week on the status of California AB178.

Get the details at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/2009/05/19/update-anti-affiliate-legislation/.

The Workspace of an Affiliate Marketer

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I always like seeing the environments where fellow affiliate marketers do their work, and one of my favorite threads on the Wicked Fire forum (What does your workspace/desk area look like for an Aff Marketer?) has tons of photos of spots where affiliates get their work done.

Here is where the magic happens for me:

My Affiliate Workspace

I spend a good part of most days there, and it’s sort of a mullet office. The business end is in the front with my main computer for most work, and then the setup in the back is for editing videos and podcasts.

Anyhow, I am compiling photos of the workspaces of affiliate marketers for the August issue of FeedFront Magazine – this issue will also be the conference program at Affiliate Summit East 2009 (August 9-11, 2009 in NYC).

If anybody else would like to share their workspace picture for inclusion in the magazine, send your photo to contact (at) feedfront.com with your name and site you’d like us to list.

Pictures must be received by Friday, June 5 and in high resolution.

Models for Paying Affiliates

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Q: I run an affiliate marketing company and I am looking to hire affiliate marketers to work for me. I was wondering if you could suggest some remuneration models and incentives?

Shawn CollinsA: An affiliate marketing company? I am not sure if this is a network or merchant? I am not entirely clear on the question, but I’ll answer it assuming you are interested in launching an affiliate program for your company.

As far as the various payment models to affiliates, typically you would pay a percentage of a referred sale to affiliates, a flat fee for a lead, or per click.

Also, you could pull together a hybrid of any of these commission structures.

Incentives to affiliates usually work out in one of two ways: a graduating increase in commission rate based on the volume of leads or sales referred, or else cash prizes for affiliates that reach specified goals.

One thing to bear in mind is that you should budget for a “super affiliate” commission rate. If an affiliate has a reputation for being a top performer, they’re likely not going to work hard to promote your product or service if you’re only offering them the same rate as anybody that drives one sale or lead per month.

Affiliate Fatblogging: Cold Pizza is Hard to Resist

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Let me just get this out of the way, so there is no confusion. I love cold pizza.

My oldest daughter just had her 10th birthday party, and we had a nice, delicious, plain pizza pie left over. It went in the fridge in my office and it’s been torturing and mocking me all day.

How can I seriously eat lettuce and cucumbers when there is pizza 15 feet away? And not some stuff that pretends to be pizza like Domino’s or Papa John’s – I’m talking real pizza.

Anyhow, in the pre-affiliate fatblogging days, I would have inhaled the pie throughout the day with no remorse.

But things are different now. Damn. But I did lose a pound in the past week.

That said, I had some pizza at the birthday party. But cut me some slack, because I didn’t eat any cake.

And I’ve been keeping up with the workouts and all. One thing I’m thinking of adding into the mix is a walkstation. Still having an internal debate on that one.

Starting weight: 225
Last week: 219
This week: 218