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Affiliate marketing news and opinion from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

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Archives for February 2013

ShareASale Integrates Two Factor Authentication

February 15, 2013 by Shawn Collins

ShareASale now offers two factor authentication for all accounts.

Google AuthenticatorTwo factor authentication is a safeguard to help prevent unauthorized people from accessing your account.

I have been using it for Dropbox, Facebook, and Gmail, and now ShareASale.

ShareASale is using “soft tokens” for their second factor, which means you will receive your code to login via your mobile device.

Their setup is compatible with “Google Authenticator” (that’s the app I use on my iPhone for this) and “Amazon Virtual MFA”.

The apps display a 6 digit code that changes every 30 seconds.

Once you have activated two factor authentication for your ShareASale account, you will need to append this 6 digit code to the end of your password each time you log in.

I literally got it set up in a minute.

I’d encourage everybody using ShareASale to activate this feature to better protect their accounts.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Learn How to Be an Affiliate Marketer for $1.99

February 14, 2013 by Shawn Collins

A couple years back, I was in negotiations to write a book with a big publisher on affiliate marketing, and I was excited about it.

Extra Money AnswerHowever, things fell apart when it came to the direction of the book.

I wanted to give a real and honest picture of the opportunities – how most people don’t make much at all, and that it requires lots of time, testing, and patience.

The big publisher wanted a “get rich quick” book. Since that premise is horseshit, I walked away.

But I had already written an outline for what I wanted to do, and I figured I would write it up anyway to combat the “get rich quick” propaganda.

I went through my own process of coming up with affiliate sites, creating content, driving traffic, and monetizing the content.

I blogged it step-by-step at ExtraMoneyAnswer.com, and now it’s available for just $1.99 on Amazon.

Get Extra Money Answer on Kindle.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can get it for free.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a review on Amazon if you read it.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

A Domain is Essential for Affiliate Marketers

February 13, 2013 by Shawn Collins

Q: I was so pleased to find your youtube information. Hopefully you can help me. I recently applied for Google adsense and was not accepted. I would like help uniformly monetizing my platforms (youtube, blogger, etc). I am an actress from various Broadway shows. I’ve decided to start a new blog that focuses on giving advice to young actors as I constantly get questions about how I’ve done it. I had hoped that ads for broadway shows or hair and makeup would be familiar with my blog and a great fit for what I’m looking to do. My current blog is about my life but I plan to taylor it to a more helpful/advice column style. I was not accepted into the program. Based on my current blog do you have advice to give to me.

Shawn CollinsA: I don’t want to share the URL and embarrass the person asking the question, but the first problem is that it’s on Blogger.

I know there are Blogger sites that have Google AdSense, but many affiliate programs won’t consider you.

By using Blogger, you’re sending an unintentional signal to affiliate managers that you’re not taking your affiliate efforts too seriously.

You can get a domain name for less than $10 a year, so I would encourage you to go out and get a domain name and hosting for your blog.

Just the simple act of getting your own domain name and hosting will make a big difference when affiliate managers are reviewing your site.

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Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Social Media Analytics from HootSuite

February 11, 2013 by Shawn Collins

I’ve been using HootSuite for a year or so, and it’s a vital tool for my social media monitoring.

I monitor HootSuite all day

It is so key that I have a dedicated monitor for HootSuite, so I can stay on top of Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and more.

But I was neglecting one of the most powerful aspects of tool until I chatted about it with Jaxon Lam, Affiliate & Search Specialist at HootSuite, during Affiliate Summit West 2013.

He encouraged me to set up some of the analytics reports, and I wish I’d been doing this long ago.

I’m mining some great data now, and it’s really helpful to have it all in one interface.

There are some pre-set reports on Facebook Insights, Google Analytics and more, as well as the ability to select a variety of data with custom reports.

I’d highly recommend the analytics from HootSuite for anybody who is managing social media accounts.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

WhatRunsWhere Partners with Advertising Red Books

February 8, 2013 by Shawn Collins

WhatRunsWhere, a service that enables advertisers and agencies to track competitors’ online and mobile ad campaigns, has partnered with Advertising Red Books, a source on advertiser and agency relationships, personnel and billing information.

whatrunswhereThe companies will share selected data for their respective users.

WhatRunsWhere users can now get a brand description from Red Books, as well as contact information, number of employees, revenue and the name and title of a marketing or sales executive.

And when Red Books users look up an advertiser, they will see examples of several of the brand’s current online display and text ads via WhatRunsWhere.

More details on WhatRunsWhere at WhatRunsWhere.com.

In January 2013, Mike Cojanu, CEO of WhatRunsWhere, spoke on a panel on affiliate success stories at Affiliate Summit West 2013.

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Filed Under: Affiliate News

Affiliate Summit Acquires ReveNews

February 7, 2013 by Shawn Collins

Affiliate Summit, the premier affiliate marketing conference, has acquired online news outlet ReveNews.

ReveNews by Affiliate SummitReveNews is a news blog that focuses on B2B topics in the online marketing industry with a special focus on affiliate marketing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will include absorption of the ReveNews site into the overall Affiliate Summit umbrella.

“While we’ll be keeping the site’s original intent, we’ll be introducing some exciting new features,” said Missy Ward, co-owner of Affiliate Summit.

“We wanted to provide another platform for affiliate marketers to have their voices heard on matters that affect our industry. Since ReveNews already had 15 years of affiliate marketing content under its belt, it seemed like a natural fit for us to acquire,” she added.

If you are interested in writing at ReveNews, get details on becoming a ReveNews contributor.

As part of a digital revamping initiative, the company will cease publication of the Affiliate Summit Forum on February 15, 2013.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate News

Analysis of a Month of My Email Processing

February 6, 2013 by Shawn Collins

I’ve long subscribed to the daily ideal of inbox zero, and I work towards it based on the ideas on productivity in the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.

ProductivitySo it has been fascinating to me to see a monthly analysis of my email activity through Gmail Meter.

I really don’t know how this volume stacks up with others, but I think I get a whole lot of email, and it sure it satisfying to keep it in check.

For the month of January 2013, I got 5,688 emails from 1,186 people, and I sent 1,182 emails to 227 people.

My inbound email tends to hit a peak around lunchtime, so no wonder I usually eat at my desk.

daily email flow

My email decreases, but doesn’t take off on weekends, and I tend to stay on top of it 7 days a week. I’d have a case of the Mondays every Monday otherwise.

weekly email traffic

When it comes to Getting Things Done, I consistently try to adhere to David Allen’s Two-Minute Rule: if there’s anything you need to do soon that can be done in two minutes or less, do it now.

About 20% of my email responses happen in less than 5 minutes from the time I’ve received an email.

time before response to an email

I’d say one of the keys to my productivity is in being succinct with my messages. If only everybody else would economize on their words. 😉

word count for emails

Oh no, I’ve gotten three new emails since I started writing this. Gotta run, so I can reply and have good stats for this month.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

Video of Pinnacle Awards Winners at Affiliate Summit West 2013

February 5, 2013 by Shawn Collins

The seventh annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards were presented on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at Affiliate Summit West 2013, which took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Pinnacle Awards at Affiliate Summit West 2013

The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards are affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space.

Award winners are recognized because they are innovative leaders with vision and influence.

Congratulations to the winners…

  • Affiliate of the Year: Rhinofish Media (Pat Grady)
  • Affiliate Manager of the Year: Jon Nunez
  • Exceptional Merchant: Under Armour
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate: Senator Dick Durbin
  • OPM/Agency of the Year: Schaaf-PartnerCentric
  • Tool/Service of the Year: BrandVerity
  • Affiliate Marketing Legend Award: Mike Mackin

Thank you to everybody who submitted nominations and congratulations to the finalists, too!

Video: Affiliate Summit West 2013 Pinnacle Awards

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

Video Highlights from Affiliate Summit West 2013

February 5, 2013 by Shawn Collins

Affiliate Summit West 2013, the premier affiliate marketing conference, took place January 13-15, 2013 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas with over 5,200 affiliate marketers.

affiliate-summit-2013-logoThis three day conference included an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, vendors, and networks, as well as multiple tracks of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts.

The keynotes for Affiliate Summit West 2013 were Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, Julie Clark, and Tim Ash, as well as a keynote panel featuring Amanda Orson, Brandon Adcock, Jason Akatiff, Mike Cojanu, and Cyrus Lohrasbpour.

See highlights from the conference, as well as some of what you missed if you didn’t make it to Affiliate Summit West 2013.

More information on Affiliate Summit at AffiliateSummit.com.

Video: Affiliate Summit West 2013 Highlights

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

Video of Tim Ash Keynote at Affiliate Summit West 2013

February 4, 2013 by Shawn Collins

There was a keynote presentation by landing page optimization expert, Tim Ash, at Affiliate Summit West 2013, which took place January 13-15, 2013 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Tim Ash Keynote at Affiliate Summit West 2013

Tim Ash is author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization, and CEO of SiteTuners, a firm that specializes in improving website conversion rates through landing page diagnosis and redesign, conversion consulting, a/b-split and multivariate test plan creation, and client training/mentoring.

Since 2002, SiteTuners has improved conversion rates for over 1,000 clients large and small, including Canon, Google, Expedia, CBS, Sony Music, Facebook, Nestle, Verizon Wireless, Texas Instruments, Cisco, and Coach.

Tim is a highly-regarded keynote and conference presenter, and the chairperson of Conversion Conference – the first worldwide conference series focused on improving online conversions.

He has published hundreds of articles about website usability, best practices in landing page design, tactics to improve website conversion rates, and is the host of the Landing Page Optimization podcast on WebmasterRadio.fm.

Video: Tim Ash Keynote at Affiliate Summit West 2013

More details on Affiliate Summit at AffiliateSummit.com.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Summit

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