Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for May 2013

The Importance of an Optimized Affiliate Profile

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We got an irate email this past Friday from somebody who applied to the Affiliate Summit Affiliate Program.

How could you turn down my affiliate application?

We turned down the application, because we decided the site was not relevant.

It usually ends there, but in this case, the interested affiliate turned out to be somebody who is going to be a speaker at Affiliate Summit East 2013.

And recently I encouraged speakers to apply to the affiliate program, so they could make some money promoting their upcoming speaking role.

In this case, the affiliate had just the one site listed in his profile.

We figured out the confusion and peace was restored, and he was accepted into the affiliate program, but too often affiliates run the risk of being rejected, because of the site(s) they do and do not list in their profile.

Had there been multiple sites, we either would have made a different decision or contacted the affiliate to ask which URL we should be reviewing.

Our affiliate program is on ShareASale, and affiliates can list additional sites in their profile, as I have done in the example below.

ShareASale additional websites

So go and check all of your affiliate profiles and ensure that you’ve got the most up to date information in there.

Don’t let outdated profiles hold you back from doing more business.

Not Getting Enough Sales and Leads? at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Not Getting Enough Sales and Leads? from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speaker:

  • Derek Halpern, Founder, Social Triggers, Inc.

Session description:

During this session, you’ll learn how to optimize your sites to convert traffic into sales and leads. You’ll also learn the psychology behind why people buy and how you can take advantage of it.

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

Session video:

Not Getting Enough Sales and Leads? 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.

Early Bird Rates for Affiliate Summit East 2013 End on May 17

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The Affiliate Summit East 2013, early bird pricing will be ending on May 17, 2013.

May 17, 2013 is the early bird deadline for Affiliate Summit East 2013Starting on May 18, 2013, the rates to register for Affiliate Summit will be going up across the board:

  • Networking Pass ($99 to $249)
  • Networking Plus Pass ($279 to $549)
  • VIP Pass ($879 to $1,249)
  • All Access Pass ($1,870 to $2,249)

Register now to get the lowest rate. There are no exceptions after the deadline.

The keynote speakers will be Rae Hoffman, Dr. Randal Pinkett, and Wil Reynolds.

But that’s just a small sample of what’s happening – see the full agenda.

For a description of the available pass types see registration options for Affiliate Summit East 2013.

Limited Affiliate Summit East 2013 sponsorships, booths and Meet Market tables are still available.

Rooms at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown are available at an Affiliate Summit group rate of $169/night until July 19, 2013 or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first. After that, the hotel will charge the prevailing rate.

More details at Affiliate Summit East 2013 Travel.

Register now at AffiliateSummit.com.

After you register, be sure to join the Affiliate Summit East 2013 event page on Facebook to begin networking and stay up on news about the show.

Anybody Need Help with Affording a Pass to Affiliate Summit East 2013?

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If you need some help getting yourself to Affiliate Summit East 2013, we will be sponsoring up to fifty Affiliate Summit Pay it Forward Scholarships for affiliates to attend the conference for the first time.

I need help getting to Affiliate Summit

And we’ve extended the deadline to Friday, June 7, 2013 to open this opportunity to as many people as possible.

The goal of our Pay It Forward program is to make the education and networking experience of Affiliate Summit available to affiliates who might not otherwise be able to attend.

Each recipient of the Affiliate Summit Pay It Forward Scholarships will be awarded one VIP Pass (a $1,249 value) to Affiliate Summit East 2013, taking place in Philadelphia on August 18-20, 2013.

VIP Passes include breakfast and lunch on Monday and Tuesday; admission to the Meet Market, exhibit hall, keynotes, all educational sessions on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; participation in the Newcomer program; access to all recorded session videos; and presentations.

Applications will be voted on by the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board. All applicants must also have valid US addresses to qualify.

Interested candidates will answer one of these three questions in essay form in 300 words or less:

  • What is something broken in affiliate marketing and how can we fix it?
  • What do you hope to accomplish in affiliate marketing?
  • My idea for an affiliate site is to…

Winners of the scholarships will be notified by Monday, June 17, 2013.

In order to be considered for an Affiliate Summit Pay It Forward Scholarship, please complete the online application.

The deadline for submission is Friday, June 7, 2013.

Merchant Basics: Launching a New Affiliate Program at Affiliate Summit East 2011

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This was a conference session titled Merchant Basics: Launching a New Affiliate Program from Affiliate Summit East 2011, which took place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

Affiliate Summit East 2011Session speakers:

  • Deborah Carney, CEO, Merchant ABCs
  • Jeff Grill, VP, Marketing, Mimeo.com

Session description:

This session will combine the fresh perspective of a new merchant with the seasoned perspective of a pro that has advised many companies on how to get started.

Experience level: Beginner
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Merchants

Session video:

Merchant Basics: Launching a New Affiliate Program video

Session slides:

Merchant Basics: Launching a New Affiliate Program 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.

Affiliate Summit is Offering College Scholarships

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Affiliate Summit was created for the purpose of providing educational sessions on the latest industry issues and fostering a productive networking environment for affiliate marketers.

College scholarship from Affiliate Summit

As part of the ongoing education initiative of the conference, Affiliate Summit will be providing scholarships to U.S. college students this summer.

These Affiliate Summit Scholarships are only open to currently enrolled students at a college or university in the United States.

There will be as many as 10 scholarships awarded of $1,000 each.

In order to submit for a chance to receive the scholarship, qualified entrants must submit an essay of 250-500 words answering the following question by June 1, 2013:

“What is your biggest frustration with online shopping and how would you suggest fixing it?”

Submit an entry for the Affiliate Summit Scholarship.

Winners will be contacted by August 1, 2013.

Over the 10 years and dozens of events in the Affiliate Summit portfolio, each successive year has been bigger than the last, despite years of challenging economic times.

This trend shows no signs of changing with the upcoming Affiliate Summit East 2013, taking place August 18-20 in Philadelphia.

The top sponsorships are sold out for Affiliate Summit East 2013, and many of the smaller sponsorships are already gone.

Also, the exhibit hall and Meet Market are quickly filling up, and both are expected to sell out again.

This three day conference will include an exhibit hall with affiliates, 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 East 2013 will be Rae Hoffman, CEO of PushFire; Dr. Randal Pinkett, Chairman and CEO of BCT Partners, as well as a philanthropist, author, and season 4 Winner of NBC’s The Apprentice; and Wil Reynolds, Founder of SEER Interactive.

More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com.

Never Stop Climbing

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Never Stop Climbing – that is the motto of Affiliate Summit.

Never Stop Climbing

Affiliate Summit was founded by Missy Ward and Shawn Collins in 2003 for the purpose of providing educational sessions on the latest industry issues and fostering a productive networking environment for affiliate marketers.

Over the past ten years of Affiliate Summit, there have been more than 50,000 attendees registered for the conferences (see the historical Affiliate Summit attendee numbers).

Some affiliate marketers have been to most or all of the couple dozen shows so far, while others have been to a handful, one or none.

But they all have one thing in common – their journey, their evolution as affiliate marketers is ongoing.

There are always new relationships to begin and updated strategies and practices to learn.

We hope to see you again or for the first time at Affiliate Summit East 2013 as you continue your climb.