Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for November 2010

Cyber Monday Sales Climb 19%

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Online sales rose 19 percent on Cyber Monday this year, compared with Cyber Monday 2009, and the day was the biggest Internet shopping day of the year so far, according to Coremetrics.

Sales for Internet retailers were up nearly 16% last week for Black Friday.

In addition to overall consumer spending increases from the previous Cyber Monday, there were big gains in the sales of luxury goods, with sales up 24.3 percent over 2009.

The peak time for shopping was 9:00 am PST/Noon EST, and shopping was stronger throughout the day, compared with Cyber Monday 2009.

Read the Coremetrics Benchmark Reports Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2010.

How to Insert an Affiliate Link in WordPress

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Q: How do I add a tracking code url for special sales or coupons for my affliates on my blog site? I am using WordPress.

Shawn CollinsA: The process for creating an affiliate link in WordPress is the same as creating any link for a blog post.

You can get a text link from the affiliate program you wish to promote.

Then you highlight the word or phase in your blog post you want to use with the link, and click “link” in WordPress.

This enables you to paste the affiliate link into the WordPress link tool.

If you wanted to include code from the affiliate program that includes and affiliate link and a product image or banner, you can past the entire snippet of code into WordPress.

Video: How to Insert an Affiliate Link in WordPress

Online Sales Spiked on Black Friday

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Online sales were up 15.9 percent on Black Friday, compared with Black Friday 2009, and consumers had an average order value (AOV) of $190.80 (up from $170.19), according to Coremetrics.

Black Friday

The report also indicates that social shopping is playing a role, thanks to Facebook primarily, though traffic from social networking sites only amounts to about 1 percent of traffic to retail sites.

Mobile shopping was on the rise this year, as 5.6 percent of people logged onto retail sites with a mobile device, an increase of 26.7 percent from the previous Friday.

Read the Coremetrics Benchmark Report Black Friday 2010.

Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing

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Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing panel from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

Speakers:

There are two sides to all issues and we will entertain audience questions for a panel of industry leaders.

More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/

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: Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing

Data Feed Problems and Missing Information

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Data Feed Problems and Missing Information panel from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

Speakers:

  • Beth Kirsch, VP of Online Marketing, CallWave (Moderator)
  • Mitul Gandhi, Director of Marketing, Collectibles Today
  • Asif Malik, CEO, GoldenCAN
  • Christopher Penn, CTO, Student Loan Network
  • Bryan Rhodes, Affiliate Manager, Schaaf Consulting

Data feeds are often missing important information which can help affiliates to bring more value to the affiliate programs.

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.

Copywriting Clinic

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Copywriting Clinic panel from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

Speakers:

  • Lisa Riolo, Founder, Hammock Ventures (Moderator)
  • Adam Gilad, CEO, Gilad Creative Media, Inc
  • Scott Polk, CEO, Purplestream Marketing
  • Anik Singal, CEO, Affiliate Classroom, Inc.

Panel of copywriting experts discuss the dynamics of producing high performance copy.

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.

Vote in the Best Small Business Book Awards 2010

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Small Business Trends is running the 3rd Annual Reader’s Choice “Small Business Book Awards” for 2010, which celebrate the best books that small business people and entrepreneurs should read.

One of the books on the awards is Internet Marketing From The Real Experts, a collection of affiliate, email, blogging, podcasting, video, search engine, and social network rock stars that break down the how and why of Internet marketing in a clear, easy to understand way.

There were 88 contributors to the book, and it’s broken down into 130 lessons that take about three minutes each to read.

Please vote for Internet Marketing from the Real Experts – no registration is required.

Voting is open through December 15, 2010.

Internet Marketing From The Real Experts was published and edited by my Affiliate Summit partner, Missy Ward and myself.

International Options for US Affiliates at Affiliate Summit East 2008

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International Options for US Affiliates presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

  • Speaker: Jim Mansfield, CEO, Intela

Discussion of expanding an affiliate marketing business internationally.

Slides: International Options for US Affiliates at Affiliate Summit East 2008

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.

Lead Generation for EMarketers

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Lead Generation for EMarketers panel from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

Speakers:

  • Kelli Beougher, Senior Vice President, LinkShare Corp. (Moderator)
  • DC Cullinane, CEO, thinkingVOICE
  • John Engler, Vice-President and General Manager, UnsubCentral
  • Dave Wengel, General Manager, Interactive Markets, TARGUSinfo

Lead generation is one of the biggest tools of emarketing. The success of a lead generation campaign is the single most useful tool for advertisers to target their products and services to prospects.

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.

Lessons Learned in Using Video for Affiliates at Affiliate Summit East 2008

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Lessons Learned in Using Video for Affiliates presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2008, which took place August 10-12, 2008 in Boston, MA.

  • Speaker: Jonathan Stefansky, EVP Sales and Marketing, Qoof

A discussion of what we have learned in terms of using video to drive higher click through and conversion rates.

Slides: Lessons Learned in Using Video for Affiliates

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.