Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for April 2010

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

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A couple years ago, I read ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, a book on all of the steps to monetize a blog, by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett.

I liked the book a lot, as Rowse and Garrett didn’t sugarcoat things. They were candid about how it is really a tough grind to produce a successful blog.

So, it was great to see that they’ve put together a second edition of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, and I just ordered it.

The first edition may have been a little basic for experienced bloggers, but I think it was ideal for people breaking into it, and I useful volume of advice for the know-it-alls, too.

Anyhow, I see it’s not a complete re-write, but I understand they’ve made a number of updates to make it current, including new examples, screenshots, updates of new tools, deletions of references to old tools, etc.

It’s up in the online bookstores now – check it out if you’re a blogger.

Rainy Day for the Susan G. Komen Jersey Race for the Cure

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I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k in Newark, NJ today.

It was a rainy, cold day, but the crowd of runners were upbeat and sunny.

After the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Newark, NJ

In addition to being uplifted by the many survivors running the race, I was elated and humbled by the generous support I received when raising funds to support the North Jersey Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

My goal was to raise $2,000, and I ended up with $2,500. Big thanks to the following for their generous donations:

  • Vanessa Branco
  • Gauher Chaudhry
  • Eleanor Chin
  • Bevan Clark
  • Vicky Collins
  • Mike Collins
  • Jennifer Goode
  • Chris Knight
  • Brian Littleton
  • Sharon Mostyn
  • David Troop
  • Missy Ward

My run today was a personal record for a 5k race. Maybe I should run in the rain more often.

Content for Affiliate Sites

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I am a big proponent in using content to build long-term affiliate sites, and I produce lots of my own original content on a regular basis, but that’s just not scalable for many sites.

Shawn Collins, EzineArticles.com Platinum AuthorI’ve used EzineArticles for years to provide fresh content to sites, and I am an author on EzineArticles, too.

But depending on how often you post and the number of sites you’re running, you could hit the maximum quick on EzineArticles, per their Terms of Service…

If you wish to publish/reprint any article from our site in your ezine, website, blog, forum, RSS feed or print publication, you must:

Agree to limit the number of articles reprinted to no greater than taking 25 articles from our site per calendar year per unique domain that you own. In addition, for domain owners of many domains, you may not reprint more than 250 articles per year (10 sites x 25 articles reprinted per domain).

That should be plenty if you’re just looking to supplement other content, but what if you don’t have time to produce your own material?

I’ve been checking out Brafton, and I plan to try them out on some sites.

If you are not familiar with Brafton, they are an online news agency that provides unique and exclusive news content written by in house journalists.

Affiliate Summit’s Cocktails for a Cure Photos

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Affiliate Summit hosted Cocktails for a Cure at the House of Shields Saloon during ad:tech in San Francisco on April 20, 2010.

We’ve posted pictures from the “pink carpet” of attendees at the event.

Rocky Barbanica, Missy Ward and Robert Scoble at Affiliate Summit Cocktails for a Cure

Drinks were served by a series of guest bartenders.

Tips in the amount of $1,027 to the guest bartenders are going to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

If you’d like to support the cause, you can donate at AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com.

The pictures from Affiliate Summit’s Cocktails for a Cure are also up on Facebook.

CouponSnap Browser Bookmarklet from LinkShare

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LinkShare has released a new bookmarklet as part of the LinkShare Bento Box.

The CouponSnap browser bookmarklet from LinkShare enables affiliates to get the latest coupons and offers from advertisers directly from the browser with the click of a button.

In order to use CouponSnap, just follow these quick setup instructions:

  1. Go to the CouponSnap page in the Bento Box, install your token and click the button. Note – affiliates must be approved for the Coupon Web Service to work with CouponSnap. Apply for access.
  2. Drag the CouponSnap text to the browser.
  3. Navigate to an advertiser site you are partnered with in the browser and click the CouponSnap bookmark. A popup window will come up with current offers from the advertiser’s site you’re on.

Last Call for Affiliate Summit East 2010 Speaker Proposals

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The speaker proposal period for Affiliate Summit East 2010, taking place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City, is about to end.

The submission deadline is April 30, 2010.

Facebook Advertising Panel at Affiliate Summit West 2010

Accepted speakers will be notified no later than May 14, 2010. Due to the volume of submissions, we will not notify applicants if they have not been accepted. Therefore, if you have not been contacted by May 14, 2010, your proposal was not accepted.

The speaker selection process will be different this time around – there will be a public voting system where everybody has a voice in the selection process of speakers for Affiliate Summit East 2010. Stay tuned for more details.

Submit your speaking proposal at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/10e-speakers.

Affiliate Summit East 2010 Commercial

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Affiliate Summit is running a commercial for Affiliate Summit East 2010, taking place August 15-17 in NYC, overnight on a variety of news, finance, and sports shows in the second half of April 2010.

The commercial touches on the uncertainties in the economy, and how folks can control their destiny by working in affiliate marketing and becoming their own boss.

Video: Affiliate Summit East 2010 Commercial

Newcomer Program for Affiliate Summit First Timers

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Affiliate Summit started up a Mentor Program years ago, based on feedback from attendees that they thought attending the conference would be a richer experience if they knew more people and had a better understanding of the opportunities available.

Over the years, a number of fantastic volunteers have stepped up to help first time attendees find their way around Affiliate Summit, and the process has enabled countless connections.

Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program

But there has been a reoccurring problem. Some folks understood a “mentor” to be somebody who would train or consult them.

Each Affiliate Summit, there would be mentees who expected business coaching, and their mentors were put in a position where they wanted to help, but they weren’t equipped or didn’t have the bandwidth to dedicate themselves in that capacity – since that’s not what they signed up to do.

So, we’ve changed up the name to be the Newcomer Program. No more mentors, but the same program with hopefully a clearer perspective of purpose.

The Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program is provided to help first time attendees gain a better understanding of what to expect when attending Affiliate Summit.

The volunteers offer their time and past experience knowledge to help newcomers optimize their time at the event.

If you’d like to participate as a volunteer or you are planning on attending the show for the first time, sign up for the Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program today.

buy.at Beta Launches a New API

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buy.at Beta launched a new API (Application Programming Interface) yesterday that provides direct access for affiliates to full scale product feed data in real-time.

The API also enables affiliates to create deeplinks directly from the Firefox browser.

buy.at provides SDKs (software development kits) in 8 different programming languages (PHP4, PHP5, Ruby, Python, Java, C#, JavaScript and Scala) with more are on the way, so affiliates can use the programming language that works best for them.

More details at http://www.abestweb.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1013344.

Migrating Affiliates from an Affiliate Network

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Q: have been using CJ and other affiliate 3rd party affiliate programs, but I want to create my own independent deals with publishers. What affiliate program would you recommend, something like iDevAffiliate? Also, is it wrong to bring clients out of your third party programs and onto your affiliate platform?

Shawn CollinsA: Personally, based on the years I was managing affiliate programs, I prefer the affiliate networks, where everything is Web-based, rather than being on your server.

The affiliate networks are constantly improving their features and adding enhancements, whereas the software on your server may see updates far and few between.

Plus, you can count on a high percentage of uptime with most affiliate networks, and if it’s all on your server, it’s something else to worry about there.

The software works for some companies, but I’d highly recommend going with an established network.

That said, if you are interested in the software to cut out the network and have more of a direct relationship with the affiliates, iDevAffiliate is a good option.

As far as whether or not it is wrong to bring affiliates from a network to your own platform, it is not really a morality question. It’s really more of a contractual question.

So, read through your contract with the affiliate network to see if they prohibit this sort of activity (I would expect they do).

If they don’t have a problem with it, it’s not wrong. Pretty cut and dry.

Some affiliate networks have no problem with you creating a second, private affiliate program, but again, read the contract to find out if it is permitted.