Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for October 2009

ShareASale ThinkTank 2009 Recap

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I just got back from ShareASale ThinkTank 2009, which took place October 23-25, 2009 at the Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, CA.

ThinkTank wasn’t a typical affiliate network event. It’s exclusive, and all invited affiliates (there is an application process) are treated to the weekend’s accommodations, food, and entertainment.

The first day started with attendees playing golf with CEO Brian Littleton. Some of us weren’t accomplished golfers, so we took to the course in a golf cart to heckle and network.

Shawn Collins removes Jason Rubacy from the golf course.

Afterwards, there was a welcome reception that was great for catching up with old friends in the industry and meeting lots of new ones.

Some attendees were so taken aback by the networking that they jumped in a fountain to sort of recreate the “Friends” opening.

Missy Ward, Eva Klein and Jeremy Palmer in a fountain

The next morning kicked off with a networking breakfast, followed by a series of sessions.

ShareASale ThinkTank Networking Breakfast

ShareASale ThinkTank Session with Live #thinktank09 Tweets

Lunchtime was another opportunity for getting together for some business. Many companies had dedicated tables, so folks attending ThinkTank could drop by, ask questions, and get acquainted.

ShareASale ThinkTank Affiliate Summit Table

Then there was a four hour period where merchants hosted cabanas around the pool, and affiliates signed up for meetings.

ShareASale ThinkTank 2009 Cabanas

ShareASale ThinkTank Cabana Networking

ShareASale ThinkTank Cabanas at the Coliseum

Saturday night was open and a bunch of us got together for a dinner, and then some business talk back at the hotel.

The final day kicked off with yet another tasty networking event, followed by the closing ShareASale “Things We Need to Fix” Session.

ShareASale ThinkTank Things We Need to Change Session

This is a sort of town hall meeting where any attendees can bring up things they’d like to see changed, improved, etc. about ShareASale.

I’d say this was my favorite portion of the ShareASale ThinkTank, as anybody could add their two cents, and while Brian Littleton presided over the session, the ShareASale crew logged all of the suggestions.

ShareASale ThinkTank Logging Things They Need to Change

People in the crowd could either take the microphone or share their opinions anonymously.

ShareASale gets comedy points for the signs being held up during sessions to prompt the crowds for laughter, applause, etc.

ShareASale ThinkTank Laughter and Applause

This was the fourth ThinkTank, but my first, and it left me wondering why I didn’t make it to the previous years. But I plan to make it next year for sure.

Sunset on ShareASale ThinkTank 2009

Check out the Tweets from ThinkTank with hashtag #thinktank09.

The Current State of Online Lead Generation

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The Current State of Online Lead Generation presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.

  • Jay Weintraub, Director, Corporate Strategy, Oversee.net

A thorough walkthrough on where lead generation is at today, helping to explain it through a historical perspective by looking at the verticals and also the trends, challenges, and advances.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: The Current State of Online Lead Generation

Optimizing with Your Merchant Partner

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Optimizing with Your Merchant Partner presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.

  • Jake Bailey, Affiliate Program Manager, Overstock.com

Tips for affiliates on optimizing their sites and traffic, based on techniques tested by Overstock.com for each type of affiliate.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: Optimizing with Your Merchant Partner

Mobile Phone Affiliate Marketing

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Mobile Phone Affiliate Marketing presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.

  • Karen Verelley, Vice President, Marketing, LinkShare.com

Explore the opportunities and challenges m-commerce provides in Affiliate Marketing to expand your footprint and monetize your engagements both in the U.S. and globally.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: Mobile Phone Affiliate Marketing

Tale of the Affiliate Done Wrong

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There was a post on Search Engine Journal a few months back, No Precedence For Social Media – Amazon Hangs Us Out To Dry, that railed at Amazon.com’s affiliate program, because “Amazon.com refused to pay any commission on a link that I distributed through Twitter and Facebook.”

affiliate-done-wrongThere was a lot of buzz about the issue, so I figured I’d use the Amazon.com Associates Central Contact Form to ask about promoting affiliate links on sites I didn’t own and included my Twitter name:

I understand that you prohibit including affiliate links in Twitter, since an account there is not owned by the affiliate.

Just wondering if you can clarify where the line in the sand is drawn – if I have a blog on WordPress or Tumblr, where it’s my site, but on their servers as a subdomain, is that my site?

I got back the following reply the same day:

I have reviewed the Twitter site and approved its addition to your Associates account. Links established through this URL to Amazon.com will qualify for referral fees. We ask that you add this URL to your account online. Please follow these steps after logging into http://associates.amazon.com.

  1. Click on “Account Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of the main page.
  2. On the following page, choose “Edit your Web site information.”
  3. In the description field titled, “Briefly describe your web site” in the center of the page, add the new URL(s). Be careful not replace your existing URL displayed in the box titled, what is the URL of the main web site.
  4. Click on the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

If you would like to add your WordPress page or Tumblr, you will need to provide us with the URL so we can review the sites and okay their addition as well.

That is certainly reasonable to me. Affiliates should list all URL’s they will be using to promote an affiliate program, so the affiliate manager can review them.

Anyhow, I’d forgotten about all of this until an email came in today in response to getting a rejection email for the Affiliate Summit affiliate program.

That is fine, I really did not care for the attitude anyway ! This is good example of stupidity ! You have no idea what web site I going to promote it on, what blogs I may have, what social sites or forums I have a following on, so how do you know if I am suited to your snooty program ??

Exactly. We had no idea about this affiliate’s relevant sites, because they were not in their profile. There were a handful of other sites and descriptions listed, all of which were for a vertical that has absolutely nothing to do with our affiliate program.

Moral of the story… if you’d like to participate in the “snooty program” for Affiliate Summit, please include your sites in your profile.

Step-by-Step Process to be an Affiliate

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Q: Where is the money on the Web? I’ve got years without success, how can I make it happen? What can someone who would like to be your copycat do as a step-by-step process I can follow?

Shawn CollinsA: I am not going to encourage copycats, which is one of the reasons I don’t talk about all of my affiliate sites. I don’t see any upsides to assisting people in emulating my original work.

As far as where you can find the money, it’s not as easy as that. Trends are changing all the time, but I would encourage you to follow your passions and create a site or sites based on your interests, so your efforts will have staying power.

Successful affiliate efforts don’t happen overnight, and I’m sure you are too aware, since you say you’ve gone years without success.

That’s way too long, so you should scrap whatever you’ve been doing.

Start from scratch, focus on what you like, and put out a constant stream of original content. It’s vital to be patient, because it will take months, at a minimum, to get some momentum.

MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac

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The MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac by Gary Rosenzweig is the book I wish I could have read a couple years back when I bought a MacBook.

macmost-guide-to-switching-to-the-macI heard all of the Mac fanboy chatter about “once you go Mac, you never go back.” But I got it, played with it, preferred the PC and went back.

The MacBook was nicely designed, but I was underwhelmed by it after all the hype. In the afterglow of experimenting with it, the MacBook has largely been a coaster for my drinks.

But after reading MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac, I have to reconsider the Mac.

Back when I bought my MacBook, I was excited to edit video with it and got a “Quickstart Guide for iMovie.” But those hundreds of pages didn’t give me much of a quick start.

Then I looked at this MacMost.com Guide and found the simple basics for iMovie in just a couple pages. And that’s typical of this book… it covers all of the questions and issues I had back then about moving over from a PC.

Here are some areas that are covered in the book:

  • Discover what’s different about your Mac’s hardware and software and what’s similar, too
  • Navigate the Finder and learn how Mac files are organized
  • Make the most of the Mac’s built-in applications
  • Move your stuff from your PC to your new Mac
  • Use Safari, Mac’s great built-in Web browser
  • Set up Mac email, instant messaging, and audio and video chatting
  • Share, back up, and archive your files
  • Choose and use Mac business and productivity applications
  • Organize your music and buy new songs with iTunes
  • Import, manage, edit, and share your photos
  • Create awesome videos with iMovie, QuickTime, and iDVD
  • Run Windows on your Mac, if you must
  • Keep your Mac up to date and running smoothly

One thing I liked a lot about the MacBook was the built-in camera. I’ve had a couple Dell laptops with the built-in camera and they didn’t measure up for recording video.

Anyhow, I am thinking of giving this Mac thing another try. Either way, don’t ask me for this Mac. I’ve got four kids and they get all of my hand me down hardware.

And I’d definitely encourage Mac users to check out the site of the book author, Gary Rosenzweig: http://macmost.com

Video: MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac

Engaging in the Conversation Online

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I met up with blogger Murray Newlands at IZEAfest a couple weeks back, and he did a quick video interview with me on conversations.

The version he posted was take 3 or 4, since we kept getting interrupted by trucks and other assorted noises.

Conversations online take place where people want to be, rather than where bloggers and others might prefer, so I end up talking to lots of people in different venues on the same subject.

When it comes to my blog, I use JS-Kit to manage the comments. But these blog posts also flow out to Twitter and Facebook.

So different crowds are talking about the same thing in all of these environments.

My RSS also extends my posts to LinkedIn. And through various plugins and tools, my comments and posts go out to FriendFeed, Tumblr and other spots.

We also talk about what sort of blog posts tend to generate the most active conversations. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured that one out, as some of the mundane things I post get lots of folks talking, while items that I find compelling sometimes fall flat with everybody else.

Another environment where I encourage conversations to start is at AskShawnCollins.com. This is a simple site where anybody can ask a question about affiliate marketing, and I’ll answer it on my blog in video and text.

I don’t divulge any information about the person asking, so there are no dumb questions. I figure by sharing the answers, I can provide a sort of video FAQ on all things affiliate marketing over time.

Build Your Own Online University

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There is a new service called Prfessor that enables you to create your own online university.

This could be a really interesting and lucrative opportunity for somebody with a wealth of original content.

Prfessor

The system enables you to publish courses in whatever area you’re focused on and charge students through a Paypal or Authorize.net account.

I am taking a look at Prfessor as a potential platform for videos from Affiliate Summit.

More details at Prfessor.com.

Marketing Your Affiliate Site Outside of the Box

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Marketing Your Affiliate Site Outside of the Box presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.

  • Scott Hazard, CEO/Plan Manager, Cooperative Affiliates Inc.

Ideas and strategies you can use to gain new customers, build your brand and create a buzz around your site, and how to accomplish this while working within a responsible and profitable promotion budget.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: Marketing Your Affiliate Site Outside of the Box