Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for August 2011

Key Trends in Performance Marketing

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Key Trends in Performance Marketing presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2009, which took place August 9-11, 2009 in New York, NY.

Speakers:

  • Don Mathis, CEO, Epic Advertising

An informative discussion about the current explosion and future of performance-based marketing, including what it all means for advertisers, traditional agencies and publishers.

Slides from this session are available at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/key-trends-in-performance-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.

Video: Key Trends in Performance Marketing

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

The Truth About Coupons

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The Truth About Coupons presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2009, which took place August 9-11, 2009 in New York, NY.

Speakers:

  • Michael Ouellette, Director, Publisher Development, Commission Junction
  • Kim Riedell, Vice President, Client Development – East, Commission Junction

The current economy and the sophistication of online shoppers has created the “perfect storm” for online coupons. Come see how they can be effective for your program.

Slides from this session are available at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/the-truth-about-coupons

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.

Video: The Truth About Coupons

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Hot Topics in Marketing Compliance and Enforcement

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Hot Topics in Marketing Compliance and Enforcement panel from Affiliate Summit East 2009, which took place August 9-11, 2009 in New York, NY.

Speakers:

  • Jeffrey Greenbaum, Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC (Moderator)
  • Leonard Gordon, Director, Northeast Region, Federal Trade Commission
  • David Graff, General Counsel and Sr. Vice-President, Corporate Development, Epic Advertising
  • Peter Marinello, Director, Electronic Retailing Self Regulation Program, Council of Better Business Bureaus

Hear from regulators and industry insiders on critical legal issues facing affiliate marketers today, including advertising practices, affiliate liability, and enforcement priorities.

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.

Video: Hot Topics in Marketing Compliance and Enforcement

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Affiliate Summit West 2012 Registrations and Sponsorships Now Open

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Registration is now open for Affiliate Summit West 2012, taking place January 8-10, 2012 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV.

Early bird prices are as follows: Silver Pass ($99), Gold Pass ($279), Platinum Pass ($879), and Diamond Pass ($1,879).

Affiliate Summit at Caesars Palace

Details on the benefits with each pass type and group rates at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/12w-conference/.

Meet Market tables and booths for Affiliate Summit West 2012 are also available to book now.

Best Places to Find Affiliates

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Q: Where do you think the best place is to find strong affiliates? I did some advertising on ABestWeb for our program, but I am not sure how effective it was. Our product is very unique-we offer a ecommerce platform for merchants to build and manage their own online business, so finding affiliates is tricky. Any suggestions on where to look for a b2b product like ours?

Shawn CollinsA: There are a number of places I would suggest checking for quality affiliates.

But first of all, you mentioned that you advertised on ABestWeb, and were not sure how it went. That’s a big problem. There is no way you’re going to know if a given effort is successful… if you don’t track whether it’s successful.

It’s essential that each affiliate recruiting campaign have some sort of unique element, so you can track performance.

For instance, provide potential affiliates with a code they should use to contact you for a higher percentage of commission, so you can identify how they found your affiliate program.

Anyhow, I’d recommend trying the various affiliate marketing forums, either through ad placements or a co-branded forum, as well as being active there yourself.

You should also have a presence at industry conferences, whether it’s just you shaking hands and chatting with affiliates, or a bigger impact with a booth or other sponsorship.

Google AdWords is also a good tool for recruiting affiliates. Whether you want to broadly target people searching for B2B affiliate programs or keywords more specific to your business, you can reach people as they’re trying to find affiliate programs like yours.

Also, do some research to identify sites that would make sense for your affiliate program, whether or not they are currently running affiliate ads, and reach out to them. You could do this by email (not recommended), phone call (some people won’t like it), or direct mail (unobtrusive, and a high open rate).

Finally, you want to be in the organic search results on Google, Bing, etc. One thing I’ve done in the past, when running affiliate programs, was to create a separate site from the advertiser site, that was solely focused on the affiliate program.

Say the advertiser site is advertiserX.com – go and get advertiserXaffiliates.com, and then mimic the look and feel of the main site, but have it be focused on tools, resources, and information for the affiliate program.

Try those techniques and I think you’ll have success recruiting affiliates.

Affiliate Summit East 2011 Passes on eBay

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Affiliate Summit East 2011 is sold out and the auctions for registrations are starting to pop up on eBay.

Affiliate Summit East 2011 on eBay

If you are interested in passes listed on eBay, please be sure to contact Affiliate Summit to confirm that the pass can be transferred.

All registrations have an associated registration ID number. Request this number form the seller and provide it in your e-mail to the Affiliate Summit registration team, so they can determine whether the pass in question is transferable.

Just search for Affiliate Summit on eBay to find auctions selling the conference registrations.

Also, please note that the transaction is between you and the seller for any registration purchases on the secondary market. None of these passes are being sold by myself or anybody else that works for Affiliate Summit. Please ask any questions about the pass to the seller through eBay.

If you have questions specific to Affiliate Summit, contact us by phone or email.

Bear in mind that Affiliate Summit starts Sunday, August 21, 2011 in New York City, so bid on auctions ending before that date.

Affiliate Summit as Art from @JasonRubacky

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Affiliate marketers aren’t ever just marketers – we’re a diverse group with all sorts of talents, and Affiliate Summit embraces the industry culture of creativity and fun.

This time around for Affiliate Summit in New York City, Jason Rubacky, Affiliate Development Manager at ShareASale.com, has created a unique design with his graffiti art talents that will be the theme for the conference.

Affiliate Summit East 2011 Sign

Entrance to Affiliate Summit East 2011

Registration area at Affiliate Summit East 2011

Not only will attendees be able to enjoy Jason’s work all over Affiliate Summit East 2011, but there will be a charity auction for the original canvas of his art.

The original canvas will be put up for auction during the Meet Market at the Affiliate Marketers Give Back table.

Proceeds of the sale will go directly to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.

Celebrate affiliate marketing with a bid to fight breast cancer. Thanks Jason!

Affiliate Marketing-MLM Convergence: How to Profit

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Affiliate Marketing-MLM Convergence: How to Profit presentation from Affiliate Summit East 2009, which took place August 9-11, 2009 in New York, NY.

Speakers:

  • Debbi Ballard, CEO, International Network Liaison Corporation
  • Kevin Grimes, Member, Grimes & Reese, P.L.L.C.

This session will define MLM, outline the opportunities and challenges, industry evolution, stats, and trends, as well as the comparison to affiliate marketing.

Slides: Affiliate Marketing-MLM Convergence: How to Profit

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.

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Affiliate Summit East 2011 Party List

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There are a lot of evening networking opportunities taking place during Affiliate Summit East 2011, and we’re compiling a list on the Affiliate Summit blog.

ShareASale Party at Affiliate Summit West 2011

Check out the latest list of Affiliate Summit East 2011 parties.

If you’re running a party, dinner, etc. during Affiliate Summit, submit your details to us and we’ll add your event to the list.

Affiliate Summit East 2011 is Officially Sold Out

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Affiliate Summit East 2011, starting on Sunday, August 21st at the Hilton New York, is now sold out.

This conference makes it 17 times in a row that attendee registrations for Affiliate Summit have closed before the event, due to capacity.

As we process cancellations, the registration page will open up and additional registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Affiliate Summit East 2010 002

Check http://www.regonline.com/ase11 for availability. If you’re able to enter your registration — you’re good to go.

In the event registrations are open onsite, based on last minute cancellations, the rate will be $449 for a Silver Pass, $749 for a Gold Pass, $1,749 for a Platinum Pass, and $2,749 for a Diamond Pass.

More information on Affiliate Summit at http://www.AffiliateSummit.com