Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for October 2013

FeedFront Magazine Issue 24 is Now Available

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The 24th issue of FeedFront is headed to the printer and copies will be going out to subscribers in late October and early November 2013.

FeedFront Magazine, issue 24Issue 24 of FeedFront will also be distributed at Affiliate Summit Meetups.

This issue of FeedFront Magazine includes Strengthen Your Q4 Site Offense by Shawn Collins, Affiliate Activation: 3 Steps to Maximizing Performance by Geno Prussakov, and Who is your First Defense in Compliance? by Ninfa Cabello.

Also, there are articles on fixing an email list, optimizing long-tail affiliates, FCC’s TCPA, increasing your conference ROI, building your own brand, how to fix online shopping, and more.

Issue 24 of FeedFront Magazine can now be viewed online, downloaded, and printed from issuu.com.

Get the FeedFront RSS if you’d like to get all of the articles as they are published to the feed.

If you haven’t subscribed, you can get the magazine for free at feedfront.com/free-subscription.

Also, become a fan of FeedFront on Facebook to see past issues, covers, etc.

Apply for a Scholarship to Affiliate Summit West 2014

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Need help getting yourself to Affiliate Summit West 2014? We will be sponsoring up to fifty Affiliate Summit Pay it Forward Scholarships for affiliates to attend the conference for the first time.

Affiliate Summit ScholarshipThe goal of the scholarships 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 West 2014, taking place January 12-14, 2014 at Paris Las Vegas.

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; and access to all recorded session videos.

Applicants will be considered based on current participation in and future contribution to the affiliate marketing industry. 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…

All applications will be reviewed by the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board, and winners of the scholarships will be notified on or about Monday, November 25, 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, November 15, 2013.

Early Bird Rates for Affiliate Summit West 2014 Will NOT Be Extended

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I regularly see emails, Tweets, blog posts, and Facebook messages from conferences stating that they will be extending their early bird rates.

Big Cheesy GrinWell, just to be 100% clear about it, our deadlines are firm for early bird, and anything else we do with a deadline attached.

Some people (procrastinators) lash out at us for adhering for our posted dates and rules, and despite their best efforts, they are not successful in getting exceptions.

In the event that our registration system had an outage, we would work something out, but fortunately that has not been an issue.

Anyhow, the deadline to register for Affiliate Summit West 2014 at the early bird rate is October 25, 2013.

Now that we have this out of the way, be sure to get your registration(s) in the system by October 25, 2013 to get the best rate.

Also, reserve your room Paris Las Vegas before the group rate is gone (December 9, 2013 or a sell out, whichever comes first).

Best Affiliate Marketing Blogs Nominations for 2013

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Affiliate Summit wants to know which affiliate marketing blogs you think are the best.

We will be compiling a list of the best affiliate marketing blogs through public nominations through October 31, 2013.

After we’ve compiled the nominations, we’ll post those blogs and have a public vote to determine the winners over the month of November. We will then announce the results in December.

Please nominate your favorite affiliate marketing blog(s).

KissMyAds Introduces Mobile Traffic Switch to Segment Mobile Traffic

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Mobile performance marketing network KissMyAds, based in Cologne, Germany, has announced the launch of their new technology called Mobile Traffic Switch.

Mobile affiliatesThe new feature enables publishers to segment their mobile traffic, and it provides advertisers with a new degree of traffic targeting, according to KissMyAds.

The switch filters mobile traffic, according to numerous criteria like country, operator, mobile device, operating system, 3G/WiFi, and also payouts.

Individual users will be directed to the most relevant offers, based on their parameters.

The KissMyAds Mobile Traffic Switch also ensures that all data is transparent to all publishers and advertisers.

Additionally, reporting is more detailed than previously, and it enables KissMyAds partners to optimize their individual mobile campaigns based on data.

Book Authors Should Check Out Author Marketing Club Premium

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I’ve been getting into book publishing, both ebooks (Kindle and Nook) and paperbacks, on an increasing basis, and I recently started using AMC (Author Marketing Club) Premium to help launch my books.

E-bookAMC Premium is a private, members-only group of new and successful authors and subject-matter experts who wish to work together to master the art of book marketing and publishing.

The community and insight at the Author Marketing Club have been so valuable, but my favorite part of AMC is the tools.

My favorite tool is the Reviewer Grabber Tool, which enables you to identify folks who have reviewed books in your niche, and then get their email and/or website to contact them. I had been trying to do this manually, and it just takes way too long that way.

Also, AMC Premium includes an Amazon Description Generator, so authors can easily add formatting and make their book description on Amazon more appealing.

And there is a Book Widget Creation tool, so you can make widgets for your blog to feature your book(s).

AMC Premium is currently $105 per year, and it has been very well worth it to me for the productivity it’s enabled, as well as accelerating the learning curve for me.

Free Networking Passes to Affiliate Summit West 2014

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Affiliate Summit West 2014 is taking place January 12-14 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas and is a little more than three months away. As we’ve done in the past, we will be giving away free Networking passes to attend the conference.

How to Win a Free Networking Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2014

Free Pass - Lanyard and BadgeEntries for the Affiliate Summit West 2014 ticket contest can be made by submitting your name and email at the Affiliate Summit West 2014 Ticket Contest.

There is an option for additional entry points by referring your friends and spreading the word on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

There will be 31 Networking passes to Affiliate Summit West 2014 given away, each valued at $249 per pass. Winners will be notified in the coming weeks.

Some details on the Affiliate Summit West 2014 Ticket Contest:

  • Prize Eligibility: Only persons residing in United States who are at least 21 years of age can enter.
  • Sweepstakes Starts: October 1, 2013 @ 12:00 pm (PDT)
  • Sweepstakes Ends: October 31, 2013 @ 11:59 pm (PDT)

The passes cannot be transferred, and the pass codes can no longer be redeemed in the event the conference sells out.

Also, anybody registering for a complimentary pass who neither checks in at the conference nor cancels will be ineligible for future complimentary passes.

Enter to win the Affiliate Summit West 2014 Ticket Contest.

Affiliate and Affiliate Manager Relationships in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “How important is your relationship with an affiliate manager?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

They were given three answers to choose from.

affstat-2013-relationships

The most common answer selected was “Somewhat valuable. I sometimes join, promote, or terminate programs because of the affiliate manager” with 51.9% of affiliates selecting it.

Next up was “Irrelevant. I almost never consider joining, promoting or terminating programs because of the affiliate manager”, which was picked by 25.3%.

Finally, 22.8% chose “Crucial to my business. I typically join, promote, or terminate programs because of the affiliate manager.”

For me, it can be a plus if I have a favorable opinion of the affiliate manager, but if the program is working out for me, despite the affiliate manager, I am not going to dump it.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

What Affiliates Do When Rejected from Affiliate Programs in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “When an affiliate program has denied you, you typically…” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

They were given three answers to choose from.

affstat-2013-rejected

The most common answer selected was “Move on, there are plenty of other programs to promote” with 53.8% of affiliates selecting it.

Next up was “Contact the affiliate manager to find out why you were denied and try to see if the situation can be remedied”, which was picked by 40.5%.

Finally, 5.7% chose “Contact the affiliate manager, remedy the situation and successfully negotiate a commission increase.”

I’ve gone all three routes, but most often I touch base with the affiliate manager to make a case for why they should accept me. Usually, I am successful.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.