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Archives for May 2012

Master of Your Domain?

May 31, 2012 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Master of Your Domain? from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speakers:

  • Gary Kibel, Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP(Moderator)
  • Sara Freixa, Brand Protection Manager, Americas, Melbourne IT DBS Inc
  • Peter Marinello, Director, Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program

Session description: The basis of business on the internet is your domain name. Buying, selling, defending, procuring and maximizing domain names is key aspect of any affiliate marketer.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Domains

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/4c-master-of-your-domain

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: Master of Your Domain?

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.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

New Research to be Released at Rakuten LinkShare Symposium New York

May 30, 2012 by Shawn Collins

Rakuten LinkShare has announced the lineup for their upcoming Rakuten LinkShare Symposium New York 2012 event, which is taking place at the Waldorf Astoria on June 25-26.

Rakuten LinkShare Symposium New York 2012This year’s opening keynote session will highlight the findings from a new study that explores the direct and indirect value that affiliate marketing brings to advertisers in today’s multi-channel marketing environment.

The commissioned study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Rakuten LinkShare, includes an updated forecast on spending in the channel, a consumer survey of US online buyers and qualitative interviews with both advertisers and publishers.

Key topics include consumer use of affiliate sites, the impact of affiliate marketing on brands, and why the affiliate channel will grow to $4.5 billion by 2016.

Get more details on Rakuten LinkShare Symposium New York 2012.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Stats

Turn Website & Social Media Traffic Into Gold at Affiliate Summit East 2010

May 28, 2012 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Turn Website & Social Media Traffic Into Gold from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

  • Jay Berkowitz, Internet Nursery School Professor and CEO, Ten Golden Rules

Session description: This presentation will share 10 cutting edge strategies to generate massive website traffic and social media clicks and turn that traffic into revenue.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Soical Marketing

Slides: Turn Website & Social Media Traffic Into Gold

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.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

Dear Ane Howard – You are Cordially Invited to Affiliate Summit East 2012

May 27, 2012 by Shawn Collins

Affiliate SummitI was reading an article by Ane (aka Anne) Howard on the Facebook IPO, and it included a surprising broadside when discussing “But who is really advertising on Facebook?”.

Maybe a clue is Facebook’s large presence at the Affiliate Summit and other events for “affiliate marketers,” often referred to as “spammers” in the online marketing world. These are the people behind the “Punch the Monkey” ads and the flashing banners telling you that you’re the millionth visitor and the winner of a a nebulous prize if you’ll just take a survey and give them your credit card number. The fact that Facebook is courting these advertisers might be the answer to the paradox of growing advertising revenue in the face of brands giving up on it as a viable advertising medium. On the other hand, relying heavily on advertisements revenues from spammers hardly seems to be a viable strategy for a large public company.

I was curious which of the 20 Affiliate Summits Ane Howard had attended to develop this opinion, and I was surprised to see that her name didn’t come up in our database at all.

Has Facebook attended Affiliate Summit in the past? Sure, but a large presence? They’ve never been a main sponsor.

And then there is the part about affiliate marketers often being referred to as spammers?

Well, there are two issues with this assertion:

  1. While there are some bad eggs, like any industry, it seems awfully careless to label a large group in such a manner. It would be akin to stating that online news reporters are often referred to as yellow journalists.
  2. The examples mentioned by Ane Howard (“Punch the Monkey” ads, questionable contests) sound like either media buys or pop-ups from spyware/malware. Is there any data that people who engage in these shady practices are also Facebook advertisers? I’ve been advertising on Facebook since they started offering the option, but not for affiliate offers.

Anyhow, I’d like to invite Ane Howard to come to Affiliate Summit East 2012, which is taking place August 12-14 in New York City, so she can see the conference, the attendees, and the content for herself.

There are a number of sessions on the FTC and compliance which could be eye-opening for you.

Thousands of folks from all sides of affiliate marketing will be there, including retailers ranging from Mom & Pops to Fortune 500 brands, and entrepreneurs at all levels.

What do you say, Ane? Contact me and we’ll get a pass set up for you.

UPDATE:

Ane Howard has declined.

Weird that she says there are plenty of affiliate marketing conferences in San Francisco, and she has attended them, yet she mentioned Affiliate Summit, which she has not attended, in her article.

That Tweet was later deleted for some reason.

Also, Ane Howard claimed “research was extensively done” on affiliate marketing to form her opinions and claims.

Research was done on those affiliate marketers

However, when asked to share this research, she just kept Tweeting how affiliates are spammers, and declared that she was being harassed.

Spammed on Twitter

Don't correct me, or I'll say I'm being harassed

I guess the strategy was something like this…

  • Write linkbait
  • Hope for traffic
  • If you get called out, label yourself as a victim

On a funny note, I noticed on Ane Howard’s RushPR site that the previous post was a press release from discountvouchers.co.uk.

discountvouchers.co.uk

And yes, that’s an affiliate site.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

Link Building Victories and Failures

May 26, 2012 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Link Building Victories and Failures from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

  • Wil Reynolds, Associate, SEER

Session description: Overview of easy and advanced link building opportunities, using everything from the newest tools to complex advanced strategies for building links.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Other
Niche/vertical: SEO

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/link-building-victories-and-failures

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: Link Building Victories and Failures

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.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

Building a Directory Site

May 25, 2012 by Shawn Collins

I started up a new site project with my wife, Vicky, a month ago, and it’s really coming together now.

Four Points GuideIt’s a directory called Four Points Guide of all things in our area, because there are lots of new people moving in who have no idea where to find doctors, gyms, restaurants, etc.

It’s a project that came out of our own frustrations after moving to Austin, TX a year and a half ago. We found that everybody we met had the same aggravations, and so a solution was born.

The model for Four Points Guide (Four Points is an area that includes a handful of large sub-divisions in west Austin) is to provide all businesses with free listings in the directory, and when we’ve got traffic coming in, we’ll work on upselling them to a selection of paid packages.

In the meantime, we’re using Google AdSense and affiliate programs that have brick and mortar stores in the area to begin monetizing.

I knew the site would be in WordPress from the start, because I wanted to make it easy for my wife, and anybody else we might having working with us, to do things on the backend.

Then came the choice of a theme. I initially purchased the Listings theme from WooThemes, but after days of struggling to make it do what I wanted, I decided to look elsewhere (I’ve got something else in mind for this theme in the coming weeks).

I was really happy to come across DirectoryPress from Premium Press. The features were literally how I would have sketched out what I wanted for this directory.

Since coming up with the name, theme, and logo, I’ve been working on tweaks to the back end, and various functionality issues, as well as building content and listings.

Vicky has been feverishly adding business listings from around the area.

Currently, I’ve put up Facebook and Twitter accounts for Four Points Guide, and I’ll be adding YouTube, Pinterest, and maybe some others.

But for now, it’s all about adding content and listings, plus building traffic through SEO, social media, list building, and some local advertising.

I love this stage when you get to start seeing pages get indexed and the traffic creeps up. But it’s also a different kind of exciting project, since I’ll be promoting it to neighbors, rather than faceless drones around the world.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Affiliate Tactics, Opportunities, and Traffic Comparisons

May 24, 2012 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Affiliate Tactics, Opportunities, and Traffic Comparisons from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

  • Kim Kaplan, Vice President, Plentyoffish

Session description: Affiliate tactics, opportunities, and traffic comparisons will be discussed in this session.

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

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/3d-affiliate-tactics-opportunities-and-traffic-comparisons

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: Affiliate Tactics, Opportunities, and Traffic Comparisons

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.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 Recap

May 23, 2012 by Shawn Collins

I am just now catching my breath after a crazy time last week with Affiliate Summit Central 2012 and ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 back to back in Austin, TX.

Lakeway Spa & Resort on Lake TravisShareASale ThinkTank 2012 took place May 16-18, 2012 at the Lakeway Resort & Spa on Lake Travis.

ThinkTank is a different kind of affiliate network event.

It’s exclusive, and all invited affiliates (there is an application process) are able to register for the accommodations, food, and entertainment at a nominal fee ($50 this year).

The first day started with attendees playing golf with CEO Brian Littleton. I didn’t make it out to the course this year, because I was wrapping up Affiliate Summit Central, and then I had to run a practice for one of my daughter’s soccer teams. A benefit of having the event near my home.

ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 shirt frontAnyhow, I got there just in time to check-in, and part of the package they gave to all attendees was a personalized, color-coded shirt to indicate the type of attendee they were.

I got orange, which was the color for merchants/advertisers (Affiliate Summit affiliate program).

Then I went to the OPMs & Appetizers Welcome Reception, where there were a series of OPM (outsourced program manager) tables, and each had a signature appetizer.

Networking went late into the evening, and it was great to meet a lot of new folks.

The next morning started with an 8am breakfast, followed by a couple rounds of educational sessions.

Then we had a number of Affiliate-Merchant Private Meetings, where dozens of companies got face time with a bunch of current and future affiliates.

This was a great opportunity for us to meet with affiliates to chat in 15 minute segments on how we could better work together.

We then headed out to a tasty barbecue lunch outside, followed by an afternoon on Lake Travis.

This was a fantastic time where ShareASale arranged for a fleet of pontoon boats, ski boats, jet skis, a yacht, and a party boat.

Networking, sun, and fun!

After everybody got cleaned up, Affiliate Summit hosted a poolside party for the ShareASale ThinkTank attendees.

We provided a mixture of hors d’eouvres: mini beef wellington, mini BBQ beef slider on challah bun, chicken quesadilla with peppers and jack cheese, mini jumbo lump crab cake on jalapeno aioli, lobster and mango spring roll, tuna tar tar with toasted sesame seeds in a cucumber cup, and vegetarian eggrolls), as well as a mashed potato martini bar, Texas fajitas, and a prime rib of beef carving station.

And then there was an open bar with cocktails, wine and beer, plus live music from FallenAsh.

This was followed by some more networking and ShareASale Founder & CEO, Brian Littleton, playing the piano and singing with the crowd.

This was a good time to sing poorly and chat up more attendees of ThinkTank.

I made sure to do plenty of both.

The final day kicked off with yet another tasty networking breakfast.

More tasty food, much needed coffee, and chatting with a table of smart affiliate marketers. That’s always a great thing.

After breakfast, there were more Affiliate-Merchant Private Meetings, and then some educational sessions.

One that I liked in particular was a discussion with Scott Jangro about the platform, Shareist, which he currently has in Beta. Those who attended Affiliate Summit Central or ShareASale ThinkTank got codes to join the Beta.

I’ll be playing with it a lot in the coming month.

The sessions were followed by a nice lunch, where I really enjoyed the food and conversation, but was most intrigued by the debut of the ShareASale Merchant Catalogue.

This is a printed directory of affiliate programs in the ShareASale network.

I can’t speak for other affiliates, but this is a really neat thing to me. I don’t typically keep tabs on the latest news in the affiliate networks, but I’ll read it all in print.

I hope this is a regular resource for affiliates in the future.

Finally, there was the closing ShareASale “Things We Need to Fix” Session.

This was an open forum, hosted by Brian Littleton, where attendees are able to share their thoughts on improvements and changes.

It’s a gutsy thing to subject yourself to any and all comments and questions about your company, and I comment Brian for doing this each year.

Thank you to Brian Littleton and his team for a classy event filled with business, tips, new relationships, and great times.

Check out the Tweets from ThinkTank with hashtag #thinktank12.

Pictures: ShareASale ThinkTank 2012

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate News

Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery

May 21, 2012 by Shawn Collins

I gave a solo educational presentation at Affiliate Summit Central 2012 last week – my first in the 19 Affiliate Summits that have taken place to date.

free your brainThe title of my talk was Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery, and I went over how it is scary to go out on your own to start a business.

The focus was my story of turning two bad experiences into a great lifestyle change.

But it wasn’t that simple. I also incorporated a costume change, and had some musical segues.

When I say costume, it was a suit. It’s not something I usually wear. The last time was Valentine’s Day. But I didn’t go all the way. I wore it with flip-flops.

Shawn Collins and Missy Ward at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

I ended up with a wardrobe malfunction with the suit. As I was grabbing it out of my closet, I also pulled out the first blue shirt I saw. It turned out to be a shirt that was accidentally sent back to me from the dry cleaner, and it was a couple sizes too small.

But I needed to wear it, so I sucked in my gut and squeezed into it.

The presentation was something of a sequel to the editor’s note I wrote for the current issue of FeedFront magazine.

Anyhow, the first part was titled “You Can’t Leave”, and I talked about working in New York City on September 11, 2001, and how when I decided to go home to be with my pregnant wife and two year old child, my boss told me I had to stay.

Long story short… I left, and that was the start of an awakening for me to trust my instincts.

I later learned that eight people who commuted with me every day from my town perished that day, and that only reinforced that when I know I have to leave a situation, I can.

I figured the worst case scenario was that I’d get fired for insubordination or something. But in order to be fired, you have to be alive.

Then, as “Alive” from Pearl Jam blasted over the speakers in the room, I started undressing.

Shawn Collins at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

Shawn Collins at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

The second part was titled, “Do It Tomorrow,” and I talked about how my dad always regretted not taking the job he wanted when he was getting out of college. Instead, he took a mundane, but better paying, job.

This was the start of a trend where he would defer happiness, in favor of practicality.

It happened with work, cars, vacations, etc. All the good stuff would be tomorrow.

But then he died shortly before he was going to retire. He was just 61. He was waiting for a tomorrow, but he died on a today.

This was just nine months after 9/11, and the two events really opened my eyes. I realized it was important to live for today – not at the detriment of investing in the future, but just not only living for the future.

“Seasons in the Sun” from Too Much Joy then came on over the sound system, as I stripped down to my boxers.

Shawn Collins at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

Shawn Collins at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

As the song played on, I got dressed in my everyday work clothes… cargo shorts to go with my t-shirt.

Shawn Collins at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

The third part of my presentation was called, “Your Move”.

I talked about how I worked out a different sort of math, where 1 + 1 didn’t equal 2 to me, but rather it now equals “new”.

I went on to discuss how I decided to write my next chapter, and anybody else could do the same.

My next chapter happened due to conference friendships, where I met my partner Missy Ward about ten years ago, and we both identified a problem in affiliate marketing – the lack of a serious, quality, industry-wide conference.

Soon after, Affiliate Summit was born.

I finished up by urging everybody to make their move, do it afraid, but do it! And then Eminem came on with “Lose Yourself.”

You can leave. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Seize the day.

Slides: Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery

Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery

View more presentations from Affiliate Summit

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

Last Call to Contribute to Issue 19 of FeedFront Magazine

May 20, 2012 by Shawn Collins

Issue 18 of FeedFront Magazine has reached mailboxes and the attendees of Affiliate Summit Central 2012, and now we’re on to issue 19.

The next issue of FeedFront will be coming out in August 2012, and the deadline for article proposals for issue 19 of FeedFront is May 25, 2012.

If you are interested in writing an article, go to the FeedFront article proposal form to submit a one sentence summary on what you’d like to cover.

No ghost-written articles. We only want content from people writing from their personal industry experience.

If you have previously been accepted to write an article and either failed to meet the deadline or did not adhere to the editorial guidelines, please submit your article proposal elsewhere. We take our deadlines and guidelines seriously.

Do not submit a complete article now – just a one sentence summary.

We will contact everybody who submitted a proposal on whether the article ideas are accepted or denied.

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