Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for September 2010

How Many Affiliate Networks for an Offer?

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Q: How many affiliate networks as a merchant we should join to make affiliate program successful? We have joined about top 7 affiliate networks and we are still looking to join more. Please suggest.

Shawn CollinsA: Wait… what? You already belong to seven networks? I am assuming this question is related to CPA networks.

It would be insane to create that many instances of a revenue share affiliate programs on different networks.

Anyhow, rather than try to place your offer everywhere, I would suggest limiting the offer to maybe a couple of networks, if not just one.

When you spread the offer across so many networks, it becomes diluted. If you’re exclusive to a bigger network, you may get attention from the bigger affiliates, and if you go exclusive with a smaller one, ask for enhanced exposure and hype.

My advice is to go with 1-3 networks and determine which one is the biggest driver for you, and then go exclusive with them.

Commission Junction Announces CJYou Award Winners

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Commission Junction has announced the winners of their annual CJYou Awards, which were presented at the Commission Junction University (CJU) last week.

CJYou Awards Dinner at CJU

2010 CJYou Award Winners:

  • Rookie of the Year, Advertiser: BodenUSA
  • Rookie of the Year, Publisher: Natural Intelligence
  • Advertiser of the Year: HP Home and Home Office Store
  • Publisher of the Year: Offers.com, Published by Vertive, Inc.
  • People’s Choice, Advertiser: BuySeasons (BuyCostumes.com & Celebrate Express)
  • People’s Choice, Publisher: Savings.com
  • Innovator of the Year: Freshpair.com
  • Agency of the Year: Gen3 Marketing

More information on the 2010 CJYou Awards finalists and winners at http://www.cj.com/cjyouawards2010/index.html.

Affiliate Summit unConference 2010 Recap

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The Affiliate Summit unConference, sponsored by SeaWorld, took place on Monday, September 27 at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL.

The day kicked off with attendees suggesting topics they’d like to speak on during informal 20-minute sessions.

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We had twelve breakout sessions that focused largely on affiliate marketing, and it was fun to participate in the interactive talks.

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During the day, lots of prizes were handed out, and Jeffrey Evenmo was pretty happy to take home a 32 GB iPad with 3G.

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Since we were at SeaWorld, we got a visit from some of the animals from the park.

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There was a beautiful Bald Eagle there, but she seemed to be giving me the evil eye.

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It was a pretty toasty day outside, so some Shamu Bars delivered some sugar and cold relief in the middle of the afternoon.

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Thanks a lot to Anne Fischer, Jennifer Milhausen, and everybody else at SeaWorld for a great day.

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Check out the soon to launch SeaWorld Affiliate Program – coming in early 2011 on CJ.

Photos: Affiliate Summit unConference 2010

Vote for Affiliate Summit West 2011 Sessions

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Affiliate Summit is repeating the speaker selection process we began for Affiliate Summit East 2010 where folks registered for the conference have a vote on the session topics.

We’ve posted the speaker proposals we’ve received and need your help.

The speaker proposals have been pared down to the titles, speakers, descriptions, and classifications (experience level, target audience, and main subject).

You can vote for submissions you’d like to see at Affiliate Summit West 2011 by clicking the up arrow next to the proposed session. You may vote for as many sessions as you’d like. And if there is a topic you don’t like, you can vote it down.

Voting will be open through Friday, October 8, 2010.

Affiliate Summit West 2011 Session Vote

Create an account now at http://affiliatesummit.slinkset.com/ and start voting if you are registered (or will be registering) for Affiliate Summit West 2011.

Speakers for Affiliate Summit will be chosen based on the combined votes from the public, votes from the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board, and feedback received on past speakers.

Please note: all speaker prospects were given strict session title and description character/word limit guidelines and signed off that all spelling and grammar was accurate. If the submissions went over their alloted limitations, they were cut short and replaced with “…”

Vote now!

Book to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

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Q: I have been looking into affiliate marketing and online marketing pretty hard lately and i have no experience in the field but would like to get started. If you had to recommend one book or e-book to read to get you started with affiliate marketing or online marketing what would it be? i’m just really looking for something that will jump start me into online based marketing. You seem to be a really honest guy and i respect your opinions. Thank you for sharing so much of what you know.

Shawn CollinsA: There are a handful of books out there on affiliate management, but I haven’t come across anything on the affiliate side that I thought was particularly useful.

While this is self-serving, because it’s a book I published, I would suggest “Internet Marketing from the Real Experts.”

In a nutshell, the book is a compilation of articles from 88 people in affiliate marketing and related industries, and they share their personal insight and experience.

The book was published in 2010, so it’s current information from the people that actually do this stuff day to day.

Video: Book to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

Lead Generation is Growing

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Online lead generation is now responsible for 42% of sales made by companies to consumers, compared to 40% last year, according to Econsultancy’s Online Lead Generation (B2C) Report.

More than 500 advertisers, agencies and publishers took part in the global survey, backed by the IAB UK and the Performance Marketing Association (PMA) in the United States.

Additionally, search engine optimization continues to be the most widely used channel for this purpose.

Paid search has also increased in lead generation, but the biggest increase was for social media.

Details of the report are available at http://econsultancy.com/reports/online-lead-generation-report.

New Advertiser Dashboard from LinkShare

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LinkShare has released a new advertiser dashboard, based on feedback from advertisers and agencies.

The new LinkShare advertiser dashboard includes hundreds of usability enhancements and new features, such as in-depth year-over-year performance tracking.

Advertisers can now view a range of trending insights and transparency into campaign level performance by individual publishers, and they are also provided new tools for communications.

LinkShare’s new reporting features allow advertisers to see how their programs and campaigns are performing at a strategic program level, and they can drill down to see more details by affiliate.

For example, advertisers get a visual representation of affiliate program progress, which compares performance on a daily or yearly basis including average order value, commissions, impressions, clicks, sales, and other key performance indicators using the new trend charts.

Also, users can download performance data in a variety of ways, and finding affiliates is easier with new filters that enable search by email opt-in/out, data feed availability, and prior acceptance of private offers.

Visit http://www.linkshare.com/ for more information on LinkShare.

You Don’t Have an Audience, Because Your Site Stinks

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I took my four kids to see the movie Alpha and Omega at the theater in my town this past Saturday.

The movie just came out the day before, so I figured I’d better get there early for the 3:45 PM show to beat the crowds and get good seats.

We ended up being the first and last people for the showing at the nearly 40-year-old, run-down Berkeley Cinema.

Lots of empty seats

It was the first time I’d been there to see a movie. I’ve always driven 10 or so miles out of the way to see movies in a modern multiplex.

During the movie, I was thinking about the theater and wondering how the owner was just letting it go extinct. This reminded me of so many affiliate sites – they start up and emulate tons of other sites and nobody visits them.

Why? They don’t give people a reason to go there. There’s nothing different or special. It’s a crappy experience that doesn’t inspire repeat visits.

There is a similar movie theater, the Dunellen Cinema Café, a few towns away from me, that has re-invented itself as New Jersey’s Only Cinema Café. They removed every other row to make space for tables, and they serve food to the theater seats.

There is a decent bar menu and specials like a large cheese pizza and a pitcher of soda or beer for $13.75. They’re doing something that nobody else in the area is doing, and establishing themselves as a destination.

How about your sites? Why should people bother visiting, and more importantly, why should they go back a second time?

Make your site(s) different and better. Innovate. Differentiate.

But don’t stop there – you need to get the word out, too.

As P.T. Barnum once said, “Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!”

Affiliate Marketing and Management with Declan Dunn

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Declan Dunn, who has been an affiliate marketer longer than anybody I know, has created a video series on affiliate marketing and management.

I first heard of Declan when I was given a copy of his book, “The Complete Insider’s Guide to Associate & Affiliate Programs” back in 1999 when I started working for Refer-it.com.

He also delivered a keynote address at the very first Affiliate Summit back in 2003.

Declan Dunn at Affiliate Summit 2003

Watch Declan’s first video in the series: What is affiliate marketing?

Follow the series at http://declandunn.com/blog/.

Launching My First Affiliate Site

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Q: I am excited about launching my first affiliate site however am concerned about the costs involved in building my database. I understand that co-reg partners may assist in reducing the costs but am still worried that my outgoings will end up being more than my incomings during the first few months.

Shawn CollinsA: Start small. It’s not really rational to think affiliate marketing is different from any other business.

You can’t just jump in and have a big, successful business in affiliate marketing.

You have to be patient and put in time to learn and grow.

I would suggest against laying out a lot of money to get started, especially if you don’t have that money to lose, because you probably will lose it if you race into things without an understanding of how it all works.

Focus on building your site organically, and spend more time than money until the point where your time is worth more than your money.

Also, it’s essential that you test everything to determine what’s working the best. Otherwise, you could be wasting vital time and resources.