Archives for November 2012

I talked about the WordPress plugins that are most important to me as a marketer at the Affiliate Summit Meetup in Austin, TX on November 27, 2012.

Here is a list of those plugins, in no particular order:

• AWeber Web Forms
• Easyrel=authorPlugin
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Pretty Link Lite
• Redirection
• Simple Page Tester
• WordPress Backup to Dropbox
• Datafeedr
• WordPress SEO
• Video SEO for WordPress SEO by Yoast

My presentation from the meetup (link below) explains what each plugin does.

Thanks a lot to everybody that came out for some shop talk, food and drinks at the Flying Saucer in Austin.

Presentation: 10 Must Have WordPress Plugins slides

Rakuten LinkShare has reported significant growth throughout their network for the third quarter of 2012.

Overall same store sales in the Rakuten LinkShare network in the U.S. increased by 36 percent year-over-year (YOY) for the third quarter.

During the same period, the overall increase for online retail was 15 percent, according to comScore.

The company also signed more than 125 brands in the third quarter in the US, UK, Canada and Japan.

Additionally, the Rakuten LinkShare network in the UK experienced an increase of 28 percent year-over-year for overall same-store sales in Q3.

This compares to an overall industry increase of 16 percent in UK retail sales for the quarter, according to the Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.

Rakuten LinkShare currently operates in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia with plans to expand further internationally.

The Performance Marketing Association (PMA) has announced their new Board of Directors for 2012-2013.

The PMA is a trade association, founded in 2008, by people in the performance marketing industry.

• Brian Littleton – CEO, ShareASale, Inc. (incoming Board President)
• Karen Garcia – CEO, GTO Management
• Robert Glazer – Founder and Managing Director, Acceleration Partners
• Patrick Grady – CEO, RhinoFish Media
• Peter Hamilton – CEO, HasOffers
• Mike Nunez – CEO, AffiliateManager.com
• Tony Pantano – CEO, Imwave
• Craig O’Neill – Merchant Support, Savings.com
• Oliver Roup, CEO, VigLink
• Isabelle Meyer Stapf – Senior Director, Advertiser Development, Commission Junction
• Missy Ward – Co-Founder, Affiliate Summit, Inc.

I look forward to seeing where this new crop of affiliate marketers take the PMA.

Like many affiliate marketers, I work from home, but there are some times when it’s a little crazy around my house, and I find it hard to concentrate.

So, I decided it was time to get a non-home office for the first time since 2004.

I heard somebody mention that they found space on Craig’s List, but I was skeptical.

Then I checked it out at housing > office & commercial on Craig’s List and there were a lot of options in my area.

I found a place that had a nice rate that was pretty close to my house.

I was able to get a short term lease and it includes utilities, WiFi, etc. And I can access it anytime I need.

Plus, it has a conference room, which I figure I’ll be using for small meetups in the future.

And I’m digging the deck with lake views and fenced in yard for dogs to play (there are a handful of dogs that “work” there).

If you’re working from home and need a change of scenery once in a while, check out Craig’s List. I was surprised by the volume of options in my area, and they were exponentially larger if I was willing to travel a little more.