Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for May 2013

Good Niches for Affiliates to Promote

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Q: I’m very curious if you happen to know what are really good current niches to promote or if you cannot release any tips? I’m looking into Commission Junction products. I plan on promoting my fat loss campaign from ClickBank next year.

Shawn CollinsA: Some niches that are currently hot include dating, dog training, gaming, web hosting, and weight loss.

You can try focusing on any of those, but bear in mind that they are not secrets, so they’re pretty competitive.

One thing I’ve mostly done is focus on niches that truly interest me. That keeps me interested in the sites. I continue working on and promoting those topics that I like.

I have fallen into the trap where I chased trends, and then lost interest.

This played out a handful of times where I did all of the grunt work to set up a site, and then didn’t want to bother with it after investing time and money.

If you are able to stick with it as a gun for hire and chase the niches, you should give it a shot. Be sure to have some unique value proposition – original content or something else that will give people a reason to visit your site.

Whichever way you go, there are a couple things you ought to do:

  1. Build a list – you need to continually remarket to interested people to keep bringing them back to your site. I use AWeber for my email lists.
  2. Be a specialist – when you decide on your niche, drill down to be more specific and become the specialist in that sub-niche. Work the long tail.

Either way I think you can do well if you really dedicate yourself to it – either some topic that interests you or a popular niche.

MaxBlogPress Strip Ad

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Everything old is new again. Five years ago I tried out the Stripe Ads plugin from MaxBlogPress and saw some success from the results.

MaxBlogPress Strip Ad example

The Stripe Ads plugin enabled me to put some sales copy with a call to action in a stripe across the top of my blog.

Over time, I switched themes and phased out the plugin.

But now I see that they’ve got a whole new version of it.

Some of the new features include…

  • The frequency of which an advertisement is displayed can be defined.
  • Ability to display it in selected sections of a blog.
  • Option to modify the font size, type and color, and background color.
  • Mask affiliate links.
  • Stats for the ads.

I am trying out MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad PRO on my Shawn Collins Consulting site.

If I like the results I will spread it around to my other sites.

Customer Behavior in a Hyper Connected World at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Customer Behavior in a Hyper Connected World from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speaker:

  • Larry Bailin, CEO, Single Throw Internet Marketing

Session description:

Humorous and motivational business speaker, Larry Bailin will show you where, when, how, and why customers connect with marketing messages and how to make them connect with yours.

Experience level: Intermediate, Advanced
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers, Merchants/Advertisers, Networks
Niche/vertical: Internet Marketing

Session video:

Customer Behavior in a Hyper Connected World video

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.

Content Marketing: The Inbound Recipe for Success at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Content Marketing: The Inbound Recipe for Success from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speaker:

  • Chad H. Pollitt, Director of Social Media and Search Marketing, Kuno Creative

Session description:

This session will explore the tangible benefits of content marketing to include SEO, lead generation, social media, and affiliate marketing. It will answer, what, why, and how to deploy a campaign.

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

Session video:

Content Marketing: The Inbound Recipe for Success video

Session slides:

Content Marketing: The Inbound Recipe for Success 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.

Where to Find Non-Spammy Affiliates

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Q: Where can I find non-spammy affiliates that aren’t just running coupon sites?

Shawn CollinsA: Without revealing your affiliate program, I see that you are running it through an affiliate network, and they offer lots of opportunities for enhanced placement and exposure of your affiliate program.

Check with your representative at the affiliate network about opportunities there.

Also, have a look around at who is promoting your competition on paid search and Facebook ads. Reach out to those affiliates if they are driving the traffic to their own sites, rather than directly to the merchant.

Another approach, which I did years ago to recruit quality affiliates, was to send out direct mail pieces.

I would research sites that made sense for my niche, and then pull together a database to contact those sites. Then I would have a postcard made with 3-5 value propositions for the affiliate program.

And then you’ve got your customers. Many are likely already unpaid evangelists for your company, because they like what you are doing. Harness their satisfaction and work on scaling up their voices.

Finally, I would suggest looking into conferences, where you can meet up with large volumes of affiliates in person.

I am not objective on this one, since I am a Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, but each of the twice yearly conferences provide you a chance to meet more than 1,000 affiliates over three days – way more than you have time to meet.

Live Merchant Site Reviews at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Live Merchant Site Reviews from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speakers:

  • Jeannine Crooks, Account Manager, buy.at (Moderator)
  • Mike Allen, President, Shopping-Bargains.com, LLC
  • Cresta Pillsbury, CEO, Superior Affiliate Management

Session description:

We will identify strengths & weaknesses separating top performing merchant sites from the masses, what makes sites affiliate-friendly & how affiliates should evaluate new merchant relationships.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Merchant

Session video:

Live Merchant Site Reviews video

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.

Affiliate Improv! at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Affiliate Improv! from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speakers:

  • Daniel M. Clark, Founder, QAQN (Moderator)
  • Drew Bennett, Blogger / Photographer, BenSpark.com
  • Mike Buechele, Chief Performance Marketer, Adalytical
  • Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge, JGoode Designs
  • Wade Tonkin, Affiliate Manager, Fanatics.com

Session description:

Five industry veterans brainstorm marketing ideas for items/services with audience participation. Ideas to actionable solutions in one fun, lively hour. Come get your creative juices ?owing!

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

Session video:

Affiliate Improv! video

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.

Need Help Selling Your Boss on Affiliate Summit East 2013?

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So you’d like to go to Affiliate Summit East 2013, but your boss is not sure that it is worth the investment?

Affiliate Summit East 2013Well, I’ve written up a quick summary you can share with the boss to point out how Affiliate Summit East 2013 is…

  • The largest gathering of affiliate marketers in the world.
  • A chance to connect with nearly 100 expert speakers and thousands of affiliate marketers.
  • An opportunity to meet hundreds of companies as they exhibit across the 3 days of the conference.
  • Located in Philadelphia, where they have non-stop domestic flights from nearly 100 different airports, and a hotel group rate of just $169 per night.

Download the letter I’ve written for you, fill in the blanks, and pass it on to your boss.

Also, here is a video to share with your management that gives a quick peek into what goes on at Affiliate Summit.

Video: Highlights from Affiliate Summit West 2013

Has Facebook Killed Commenting on Blogs?

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I’ve had a complicated relationship with blog comments for a while. They are great when they are authentic, but with blatant comment spam, as well as people making lame comments to drop a link, they were always a mixed bag for me.

Is blog commenting dead?Over the years, I tried all sorts of solutions, such as Akismet, Bad Behavior, Disqus, IntenseDebate, and JS-Kit.

It didn’t matter. The comment spam kept coming.

At the same time, comments were slowing down on my blogs, but I was seeing an increase of comments on Facebook when I posted links there to my posts.

I’m just as guilty as anybody else. I have commented way more on Facebook than on blogs over the years.

Gradually, I shut down comments on my sites. And it looks like I’m not alone.

I saw yesterday that Sté Kerwer recommends closing them down in a new post, “Disable Comments for a Better Blog”.

But he has comments open on the post. 🙂

Research Highlights from AffiliateBenchmarks at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Research Highlights from AffiliateBenchmarks from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speaker:

  • Peter Figueredo, Founding Partner, Netx

Session description:

The AffiliateBenchmarks research study compiles data from the largest pool of affiliates, advertisers, and agencies in the industry.

Experience level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers, Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Research

Session video:

Research Highlights from AffiliateBenchmarks video

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.