Affiliate marketing news and opinion from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.
LinkShare has launched a mobile dashboard (“Mobile Dash”) that allows affiliates to login from a mobile device to find and promote links.
The Mobile Dash is not an app. It’s a mobile website.
It works like this:
The Mobile Dash is live now – go to http://www.linkshare.com/mobiledash to use it on your mobile device.
buy.at is has introduced a new product search feature in the Make Links section of the affiliate Management Area (MA).
Affiliates can now type in any search term and the results will show related products from feeds across all their approved programs.
Additionally, affiliates can search for products across programs they have not yet joined to help them discover other relevant affiliate programs.
The results include an image, product name, price, merchant name, link to create a deep link, and the name of the feed where the product resides.
More details at http://blog.buy.at/nifty-new-feature-in-your-management-area/.
I have been speaking to a big book publisher about writing a very basic book on affiliate marketing. I think there is a big need for a realistic guide to getting started as an affiliate.
There are a bunch of books out that targeting this audience, like Affiliate Millions, but they amount to a tragic waste of ink and paper.
However, maybe a printed book through a major publisher isn’t the right format anymore. The publishers I’ve spoken with went out of their way to talk about the versions for the Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc., as well as Audible, Scribd, and a number of other places.
Not to mention the news that Borders has filed for bankruptcy protection.
If the physical bookshelf in a bookstore is becoming a thing of the past, does it even make sense to write for “the man” anymore?
I can get electronic and audio versions made up, as well as securing placement on Amazon.com on my own.
Plus, I like the idea of going electronic and having the ability to update content along the way. Either a blog or Kindle version or some other electronic book.
When I wrote Success Affiliate Marketing for Merchants in 2000, I was horrified that companies I’d highlighted were out of business by the time the book hit shelves.
Also, in speaking with the publisher, they said they’d want around 250 pages. While I could certainly hit that target, I don’t think this sort of guide needs to be that long, so there would be padding.
Anyhow, after evaluating all of the pros and cons, I decided the next affiliate marketing physical book won’t be written by me.
The advertising tax will be coming to Texas in September 2011 if new legislation passes.
Texas House Representative Elliott Naishtat filed HB 1317 on February 14, 2011 “relating to a presumption that certain retailers are engaged in business in this state for the purpose of the use tax.”
The whole thing is a bit complicated, so I’ll try to boil it down. Texas wants to collect taxes when residents buy online, but many companies don’t have a physical presence (tax nexus) here.
So, this bill says that if a company has affiliates in the state then that counts as a physical presence.
Similar legislation in other states has resulted in Amazon.com and other companies simply kicking people out of their affiliates programs, so they won’t have the tax nexus.
The result would be a whole lot of people earning less money, and therefore less money into the Texas economy.
At the same time, the expected incremental tax collected has not materialized in other states, since the online retailers effectively maneuvered around the law by “firing” their affiliates.
This scenario was recently brought to light by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, when they released a special report about the results of this sort of legislation in Rhode Island.
There will be a discussion on HB 1317 on Tuesday, February 22 at meetup for the Austin Affiliate Marketing Group. All Texas affiliate marketers in the area are encouraged to come out to get educated on the issue.
If you’re not familiar with the advertising tax, have a look at a brief history of the advertising tax.
Trust is an essential component in online transactions, and when it’s lost, it can be awfully hard to regain. Just ask Groupon.
I am not talking about their Super Bowl ad kerfuffle. No, this is a whole different imbroglio.
This past Friday, CNNMoney.com wrote how Groupon users revolt against FTD.
Apparently, a “deal” they offered their users ($20 off of $40 worth of flowers and gifts from FTD) was no deal at all, as “prices were higher than on the regular website,” according to the CNNMoney.com article.
This sort of “strategy” has been used by some companies in the past with their affiliate programs, where they would point affiliate links to pages with increased prices for items, so they had the same profit on their transactions, and consumers effectively paid the affiliate commissions.
That didn’t end well.
“there’s always someone, somewhere
with a big nose, who knows
and who trips you up and laughs
when you fall
who’ll trip you up and laugh
when you fall”
– The Smiths, “Cemetry Gates”
Dave Taylor of AskDaveTaylor.com delivered a keynote address at Affiliate Summit West 2011 on Tuesday, January 11, 2011.
More about Dave Taylor:
Dave has been involved with the online world since 1980 and is widely considered an expert on all things digital. He runs the popular tech answers site AskDaveTaylor.com, along with three other blogs, including his daddy blog APparenting.com. He has two masters degrees, 20 published books and is an award-winning speaker and workshop leader, when he’s not busy as a single dad to three fabulous children.
More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/
Q: If i start a blog in order to start with my affiliate marketing, can i promote more than 1 product on it? Am I allowed to even promote more than 1 brand of the same product? Can rival brands be promoted on the same blog?
A: In the past, some companies would prohibit you from promoting them and one of their competitors on the same site.
But I haven’t come across that sort of provision in quite some time.
You should certainly read the terms and conditions for an affiliate program before promoting it.
If you still have any questions, it’s best to ask the affiliate manager.
Optimizing Google AdWords Performance presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2009, which took place August 9-11, 2009 in New York, NY.
Speaker:
Join us to get the tricks for effective Google AdWords account optimization. Learn how you can use paid search techniques on Google to meet your marketing goals through search engine marketing.
More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/
Note: the company(ies) and position(s) listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.
Affiliate Summit East 2011 is taking place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.
The special group rate is $235/night, plus tax & service (single or double occupancy).
Book by June 17th and you will receive complimentary wireless internet per night in your guestroom, as well as one beverage and pastry from Starbucks.
The address for the Hilton New York is 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, USA 10019.
Brian Solis, author of the bestselling book, Engage, delivered the keynote address at Affiliate Summit West 2011 on Tuesday, January 11, 2011.
More about Brian Solis:
Brian Solis is the author of Engage! The complete guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web. Brian is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media agency in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is among the world’s leading business and marketing online resources.