Archives for September 2011

Link Redirection Plugin for Affiliates on WordPress

September 30, 2011 by Shawn Collins

There is a new WordPress Plugin called ThirstyAffiliates to help affiliates with their link management.

I’ve been using Pretty Link to manage my affiliate link redirects for quite a while, but I really like the simplicity and ease of ThirstyAffiliates.

I was curious about the name, and asked the creator, Josh Kohlbach, about it.

He said… “I guess it kind of describes the attitude behind the product. You’ve got to stay thirsty to get success, you know? It kind of just walked into my head one day fully formed and I was like ‘Yeah! That’s exactly what I want it to say.'”

I like the link categories with ThirstyAffiliates, so I can list the affiliate network for a given link, and other details.

Also, there is click data for links for this week, last week, this month, and last month.

There are lots of other features to help manage your links. Check out ThirstyAffiliates.

Any affiliates not currently redirecting their affiliate links should start doing it now. Why? Well, there are many reasons, but one of the most important is if an affiliate program closes or kicks you out due to an affiliate nexus law, it’s far easier to change links in one place than to search all over for links.

How to Create an Ask the Expert Affiliate Site with Shawn Collins

September 29, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Affiliate Summit ran a free webinar on creating an ask the expert affiliate site, and it’s now available to watch on demand for free.

Shawn Collins Watch this webinar if want quick and easy advice to set up a new affiliate site.

In the webinar, I go over the main reasons why people go online, how everybody is an expert in something, a method to collect questions, as well as how I publish my answers in the two biggest search engines, and finally how to monetize the site.

This affiliate marketing webinar is based on the advice I provide at ExtraMoneyAnswer.com, where I go step by step through the process of creating, promoting, and making money off a site.

Trouble Posting Affiliate Links

September 28, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Q: I’m a newbie stuck for the last three years because of difficulty posting links. Can you recommend (hopefully free) a basic HTML and CSS primer, as well as which affiliate network is easiest to begin using? And BTW, please hurry the rest of your extra money course (ExtraMoneyAnswer.com) – it’s terrific.

Shawn Collins A: I am a bit confused by the question. I am not clear how you have been stuck for three years, because you cannot post links.

If you go through all of the steps in my Extra Money Answer site, it’s based on creating an affiliate site in WordPress, which is very easy to use.

Also, I have a quick video on YouTube: How to Insert an Affiliate Link in WordPress

By using WordPress to create and maintain affiliate sites, you can get by without knowing HTML/CSS, though it’s definitely an asset to have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS.

Basically, when you are in WordPress, you highlight the word or phrase you’d like to make into a link, click the word “link” in the WordPress toolbar, paste your affiliate link into the field, and click “Add Link”.

Hopefully, that’s not the missing link (rimshot) for you these past three years.

Anyhow, I cannot emphasize enough how you should be using WordPress if you are not using it already. When I started as an affiliate, I was hand coding HTML, and it was a time-consuming process. You’ve got this great, free tool as your disposal now.

I converted all of my affiliate sites to WordPress years ago.

Last Call for Affiliate Summit West 2012 Speaker Proposals

September 27, 2011 by Shawn Collins

The speaker proposal period for Affiliate Summit West 2012, taking place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas, is about to end.

The submission deadline is October 7, 2011.

The speaker submissions are chosen based on the following:

Public voting scores and comments.
Voting scores and comments by the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board.
Voting scores by Affiliate Summit founders Missy Ward and Shawn Collins.

Accepted speakers will be notified no later than October 21, 2011. 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 October 21, 2011, your proposal was not accepted.

Submit your speaking proposal at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/12w-speakers/.

Charity Auctions to Benefit Emergency Services in Austin, TX

September 26, 2011 by Shawn Collins

It’s been a few weeks now since wildfires broke out in Austin, TX and the surrounding areas.

My family, neighbors, and I am eternally grateful for Travis County Emergency Service District No.6, who courageously fought the central Texas wildfires of September 2011.

There were lots of fundraisers and events shortly after the wildfires, but things have quieted down since then.

But the needs Travis County Emergency Service District No.6 are ongoing, so I wanted to start off a series of auctions to raise some funds for those heroes.

Here are a couple auctions to start:

Both will end on October 7, 2011. Opening bid for each will be $5.00, and there is no minimum after the opening bid.

The winners of any auctions will pay directly to these heroes via PayPal on their site at http://ltfr.org.

An Open Letter to Everybody on the Information Superhighway

September 24, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Dear Everybody,

Most of you may not realize it, but you’re all affiliate marketers. Every last one of you.

Even if you haven’t acted on it, the opportunity is in your hands to make money online.

But first… what is affiliate marketing?

It’s simply a process where you can get paid for referring people as prospects or customers. It’s a simple concept that can be done in countless ways to earn some extra cash or a salary.

Affiliate marketers are individuals trying things out in their basements, as well as large corporations.

These are people writing blogs about their favorite sports team, hobby, city, dog breed, etc.

Others are making videos or podcasts about their passions.

And still others are focused on price comparisons, coupons, trends, daily deals, incentives, rewards, news, niche content, discussion forums, B2B, and social networks.

Affiliate marketings are using pay per click search engines, content management systems, email, Facebook ads, radio, photos, Twitter, webinars, pay per call, paper fliers, QR codes, white papers, meetups, domaining, SMS, television, search engine optimization, mobile, local marketing, etc.

Any way out there that can be used to help somebody that needs helping can be leveraged by affiliate marketers.

Hope to see you in Las Vegas!

Take care,
Shawn Collins

California Repeals the Affiliate Nexus Tax Law

September 23, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Governor Jerry Brown of California signed his budget into law, which included the affiliate nexus tax, back in June.

This legislation effectively put legions of entrepreneurs and their employees out of business.

But there has been a reversal, as Governor Brown signed AB 155 (Calderon) into law earlier today that repeals the affiliate nexus tax law for one year, according to the Performance Marketing Association.

More details in the PMA press release: California Repeals the Affiliate Nexus Tax Law

Stay gold, California and Ponyboy.

Neat Affiliate Model for MyJobChart

September 23, 2011 by Shawn Collins

I was searching around last week for a solution to manage chores for my kids and provide them rewards, and I stumbled on a really useful, free service called MyJobChart.

Not only is the site a significant evolution from the paper job charts that we’ve had on the fridge in the past, but it’s a service I would pay to use.

But it’s free, sort of. They enable users to support the service by shopping through their Amazon affiliate link.

There is a call to action in the header that explains “You can help support MyJobChart every time you buy something from Amazon.com.”

That is not the cool integration, though. What I like is how the points earned through the site can be redeemed for a list of things like going to a movie or TV time, but also for a variety of toys and entertainment items.

In addition to the suggested rewards, there is a search option, so you can bring up results from Amazon and turn any of them into rewards for kids.

When you open up a specific product from the Amazon datafeed in MyJobChart, you have the option of changing the number of points needed to redeem.

The default is that one penny equals ten points.

And so when a child redeems their points for a given product, the product is purchased through the MyJobChart affiliate link for Amazon.

I am curious to see where this model goes. I’d love to see it open to more retailers.

Also, it’s a great example of providing a unique value proposition that people want, and then monetizing it through affiliate marketing.

Datran Media and CONTEXTWEB Merge to Form PulsePoint

September 22, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Datran Media and CONTEXTWEB have merged to form a new digital media technology company called PulsePoint.

The PulsePoint platform will deliver services for data management, media mix optimization, content distribution, contextual exchange and RTB technology, and crowd sourcing.

Datran Media and CONTEXTWEB have been partners for over a year, and they have measured the results of nearly two thousand advertising campaigns.

More details in the press release: Datran Media and CONTEXTWEB Merge to Create PulsePoint