Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for April 2012

I Need a Logo for a New Directory Site

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It’s that time again… starting up a new site. But this will be a different sort of site, because I’m doing it with my wife, and it’s going to be monetized by affiliate ads, Google AdSense, and recurring charges for directory listings.

I’m pulling all of the pieces together right now, so if you’re a designer or you know one, I’m running a contest through The Perfect Design with a $300 prize.

The contest is open through this coming Thursday – submit an entry or tell a friend.

In years past, I used a software called phpMyDirectory for a directory site, but it was clumsy and limited for what I was trying to do.

This time around, I am using a premium theme called DirectoryPress, and I’m impressed by the flexibility and ease of use.

Plus, I submitted a couple support tickets over the weekend and they were promptly addressed. Good sign.

Stay tuned for more details.

Podcasting 101

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This was a conference session titled Podcasting 101 from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speakers:

  • Lisa Picarille, Consultant, LisaPicarille.com
  • Daniel M. Clark, Owner, Host, Geek Dads Weekly
  • Trisha Lyn Fawver, Client Support, For Me To Coupon
  • Joe Magennis, Principal, Baseballisms

Session description: In this era of self-publishing, anyone — including you — can produce a podcast (and make money doing it!) Come learn the basics of producing, monetizing, hosting and promoting your very own podcast.

Experience level: Beginner
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Podcasting

Podcasting 101 slides

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.

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.

Judge Rules Illinois Affiliate Nexus Law is Unconstitutional

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Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed HB 3659 into law back in March 2011, which forced out-of-state retailers to collect Illinois state sales tax for Internet sales, based on the view that affiliate marketers constitute a tax nexus for the retailers.

The Performance Marketing Association filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Revenue over the constitutionality of the law last summer.

And now Judge Robert Lopez Cepero has ruled the law unconstitutional.

Judge Cepero ruled that the law violates commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

This could set the stage for affiliate marketers to get back to business in Illinois.

But how much damage have the bureaucrats already done by driving companies like FatWallet out of the state?

Innovate! New Exciting Applications of Affiliate Marketing

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This was a conference session titled Innovate! New Exciting Applications of Affiliate Marketing from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

  • Joe Stepniewski, Co-Founder, Skimlinks

Session description: Affiliate marketing is increasingly used in new web startups, services and applications. Discover the most exciting new ideas that are helping to grow and highlight affiliate marketing industry.

Experience level: Advanced
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers, Merchants/Advertisers, Networks
Niche/vertical: Innovation

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/1c-innovate-new-exciting-applications-of-affiliate-marketing

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: Innovate! New Exciting Applications of Affiliate 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.

Vote for Affiliate Summit East 2012 Sessions

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Affiliate Summit needs your help to pick sessions for Affiliate Summit East 2012. Voting will be open through Friday, May 4, 2012.

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

Vote for submissions you’d like to see at Affiliate Summit East 2012 by clicking the “Vote” button next to the proposed session. You may vote for as many sessions as you’d like.

You can find sessions that interest you by sorting the Experience Level, Niche/Vertical, or Target Audience from the header, as well as using the search box.

Also, see a tally of the most popular sessions.

Create an account now and start voting if you are attending Affiliate Summit East 2012.

Just click the Register link and then submit a user name and email. A password will be emailed to you.

If you don’t see it right away, check your spam folder for an email with the subject, “[Vote for Affiliate Summit Sessions] Your username and password” from wordpress@affiliatesummit.info

register-to-vote

Speakers for Affiliate Summit will be chosen based on the combined votes from the public, votes from the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board, votes from Affiliate Summit founders Missy Ward and Shawn Collins, 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 at http://www.affiliatesummit.info/vote!

Fast Track Your Business with Outsourcing

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This was a conference session titled the Fast Track Your Business with Outsourcing from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

  • James Martell, President, Net Guides Publishing Inc.

Session description: Learn how outsourcing is the shortcut to online success. 10 year veteran shares proven, low cost strategies and examples you can copy to significantly reduce the time of building a successful business.

Experience level: Beginner, Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Outsourcing

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: Fast Track Your Business with Outsourcing

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.

I Got Issue 18 of FeedFront in the Mail

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Issue 18 of FeedFront Magazine came in the mail to me today. Time to enjoy it with a cup of coffee.

FeedFront issue 18

This issue of FeedFront Magazine includes Dress for the Job You Want by Shawn Collins, Ten Tips for HEO: Healthy Eating Optimization by Heather Romiti, Law Enforcement Perils and Pitfalls for Affiliates by Thomas A. Cohn, and What SOPA Means for Affiliate Marketing’s Future by Brook Schaaf.

Also automation, better affiliate newsletters, FTC bizopp rule, optimizing queries, smooth business travel, USA vs. Europe in affiliate marketing, behind the scenes of the Affiliate Ball, and more.

If you don’t get FeedFront by mail, issue 18 of FeedFront will also be distributed at Affiliate Summit Meetups and Affiliate Summit Central 2012.

Here are the articles for this issue:

  • 2 Editors Note: Dress for the Job You Want by Shawn Collins
  • 3 Better Living Through Automation by Daniel M. Clark
  • 4 Ten Tips for HEO: Healthy Eating Optimization by Heather Romiti
  • 5 7 Suggestions for Better Affiliate Newsletters by Kim Salvino
  • 6 Step Away from the Affiliate De-Activate Button! by Travis Jacobson
  • 7 Bizopp Rule Hits Marketers Where it Hurts by Slade Cutter
  • 8 Avoiding Federal Government Legislation in Affiliate Marketing by Olga Eskina
  • 9 Educating Affiliates the Right Way by Greg Hoffman
  • 10 Amazon and the Self-Publishing Revolution by Jim Kukral
  • 11 Learning from Affiliate Marketing Newbies by Lisa Picarille
  • 12 Affiliate Summit West 2012 Recap by Shawn Collins
  • 14 Five WordPress Plugins to Keep Sites Sticky by Benjy Portnoy
  • 15 Affiliate Summit Central 2012 – Show Agenda
  • 22 Live Web Events = Lucrative Launches by Jonathan Cronstedt
  • 23 Make Sure Your Queries Aren’t Running Slowly by Michael Colfin
  • 24 Success Maintenance for Affiliate Marketers by Rohail Rizvi
  • 25 Is Affiliate Marketing A Good Career Choice? by Erik Hom
  • 27 Share the Love: Spread Affiliate Marketing by Tricia Meyer
  • 28 Law Enforcement Perils and Pitfalls for Affiliates by Thomas A. Cohn
  • 29 The Road to Smooth Business Travel by Trisha Lyn Fawver
  • 30 Options for Better Tracking Affiliate Links by David Iwanow
  • 31 Social Media Partnerships: Getting Shared by Influencers by Dave Cupples
  • 33 What SOPA Means for Affiliate Marketing’s Future by Brook Schaaf
  • 34 Becoming a Human Changed My Business by Bryan Knowlton
  • 35 Affiliates Must Deliver Real Value by Wade Tonkin
  • 36 USA vs. Europe in Affiliate Marketing by Marcello Pasqualucci
  • 37 Behind the Scenes of Affiliate Ball by Shawn Collins
  • 39 Maribel Sierra – Keynote Bio
  • 40 Affiliate Summit Central 2012 – Speaker Bios
  • 44 People to Follow on Twitter
  • 45 Hilton Austin Map

The issue mailed this week, so it should be hitting mailboxes all over the U.S. any day now (if it hasn’t already).

If you can’t wait to see your copy (or you’re not currently a subscriber), you can download issue 18 of FeedFront.

Free subscription to U.S. addresses at http://feedfront.com/free-subscription.

Affiliate Summit East 2012 Has Raised $6,576 So Far to Fight Breast Cancer

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The Race to Affiliate Summit East 2012, a dailymile challenge where Affiliate Summit will donate $1 to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in support of Affiliate Marketers Give Back team for each mile cycled, run, swam, or walked through the challenge, is running through 7/31/2012.

Affiliate Summit East 2012There are currently 58 folks involved in the challenge, and the top ten competitors have already accumulated 4,158 miles.

Overall, there have been 6,576 miles tallied by all of the participants, so it’s $6,576 raised.

I am at #8 right now (see my dailymile profile) with 277 miles, and I am working on fortifying my position.

Here are the top ten runners, as of April 17, 2012.

dailymile syncs with Garmin devises, Nike+ device and iPhone app, as well as a number of iPhone and Android clients.

You can also manually enter your cycling, swimming, running, and walking efforts.

In order to participate in dailymile activities, you will need to friend me on dailymile and I will invite you to the challenge. The challenge is going through 7/31/2012.

Get more details at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/race-to-affiliate-summit-east-2012/.

Affiliate Summit East 2012 is taking place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City.

The participant with the most total miles at the end of the challenge will receive a VIP Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2013. 2nd to 5th place finishers will each receive a Networking Plus Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2013, and 6th to 10th place finishers will each receive a Networking Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2013.

Please note that all information you provide as part of the contest is public and may be used by Affiliate Summit in our marketing efforts for this event.

Infographics as Content

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Infographics are a great way to repurpose content and reach additional audiences. But until recently, you had to get a designer to work one up for you, and it wasn’t cheap.

But I’ve come across a couple free services that enable the quick and easy creation of infographics: easel.ly and visual.ly

I put together the Venn diagram infographic above in five minutes with easel.ly.

They’ve got a handful of templates, and it’s as easy as drag and drop.

Give it a try, and be sure to include a call to action – infographics get lots of attention on Facebook, Pinterest, and other places.

Search Marketing Campaign Review

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This was a conference session titled the Search Marketing Campaign Review from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speakers:

  • Kate Morris, SEO Consultant, Distilled Consulting (Moderator)
  • Carolyn Shelby, Web Experience Manager, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
  • Christa Watson, CEO of Awesome, TheChrista.com

Session description: Attendees will apply to have their site and campaigns reviewed before the conference. Our panel of experts in SEO, link building, PPC, social, and affiliate will choose 4-5 companies for review.

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: Search Marketing Campaign Review

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.