Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for February 2014

Clean Up the Crawl Errors on Your Sites

by

I was looking at my Google Webmaster Tools account a while back for my blog, and I had an awful number of crawl errors, also known as 404 errors, where there is a file not found on a site.

internet error 404 - file not found

In my defense, my blog was started in 2004 and I’ve used multiple platforms over the year, which resulted in many directory setups, file extensions, etc.

At the end of last month, I had over 900 crawl errors on my blog, and I set up a reminder to tackle them. But I have been putting it off for weeks, because it doesn’t look like a particularly fun project.

Then it finally struck me this past weekend – I have to fix this stuff ASAP. I’m voluntarily giving a lousy experience all over the place to my site visitors.

So I figured I’d make it a point to knock out 10 a day until I was done.

I’ve been going through one at a time with the Crawl Errors in Google Webmaster Tools, and creating redirects to fix them with the a redirection plugin.

As I fix and test them, I click “Mark as Fixed” for each error link and make that list smaller.

I’ve been doing more than 10 on a lot of days, and now I’m down to 548 bad links. I think I’ll knock this out by the end of the month.

How about your links – are they all working OK?

Advanced Retargeting Tactics at Affiliate Summit West 2012

by

This was a conference session titled Advanced Retargeting Tactics from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speaker:

  • Joanna Lord, Director of Customer Acquisition & Engagement, SEOmoz

Session description:

I’ll cover what retargeting is, how to segment and sequence retargeting, as well as how you use this as a cheap testing vehicle, a branding campaign, and a bottom-line gain to your returns.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Paid Marketing

Session video:

Advanced Retargeting Tactics video

Session slides:

Advanced Retargeting Tactics 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.

Mastermind Groups Exposed at Affiliate Summit West 2012

by

This was a conference session titled Mastermind Groups Exposed: Success in Affiliate Marketing from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speakers:

  • Eric Nagel, President, Eric Nagel & Associates, Inc. (Moderator)
  • Todd Farmer, CEO, PerformStreet Media
  • Tricia Meyer, Owner, Sunshine Rewards

Session description:

Although Mastermind Groups sound complicated and mysterious, they are an easy way to network with other Internet marketers regularly to grow your business. Learn why and how to start your own.

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

Session video:

Mastermind Groups Exposed: Success in Affiliate Marketing video

Session slides:

Mastermind Groups Exposed: Success in Affiliate Marketing 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.

I’m Reading Tested Advertising Methods, Again

by

I was just looking around on Amazon for business books, and thought about reading Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples. It’s been a while – over ten years since I bought it, according to Amazon.

bought-tested-advertising-methods-2003

I guess I loaned it out at some point, because I can’t find it around here, so I bought another copy.

The reason I am reading it again is that I think it’s one of the best books for anybody in advertising/marketing. The book is packed with timeless advice on copywriting and advertising techniques.

You’ve probably seen the iconic John Caples ad, “They laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!–“. It’s possibly the most famous ad, and the formula has been copied countless times over the near century since it came out.

they-laughed-when-i-sat-down-at-the-piano

Shortly after I read Tested Advertising Methods, I took a shot at adapting the ad concept in a postcard promotion for the second Affiliate Summit. It was a struggle selling some companies on the idea of a conference on a cruise ship, but instead of playing down that fact, the ad made it the headline.

Affiliate Summit 2004 promo

In the end, Affiliate Summit 2004 sold out well in advance. Did the ad make a difference? I don’t know, because we weren’t tracking anything back then.

Fortunately, we’ve learned a lot since those days.

If you haven’t read Tested Advertising Methods, I’d highly recommend it. And no, you can’t borrow my copy. I’m holding on to it this time.

The Growing Potential of Diversification and Innovation at Affiliate Summit West 2012

by

This was a conference session titled The Growing Potential of Diversification and Innovation from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speakers:

  • Penny Stevens, Account Manager, Google Affiliate Network (Moderator)
  • Allison Garrison, Director, Partnership Marketing, Provide Commerce, Inc.
  • Michael Herrera, VP, Affiliate Marketing, Citibank
  • Howard Schaffer, VP of Business Development, Offers.com Published by Vertive, LLC

Session description:

Take a closer look at how top advertisers and publishers invest in innovation and diversify their performance marketing “portfolio”.

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

Session video:

The Growing Potential of Diversification and Innovation video

Session slides:

The Growing Potential of Diversification and Innovation 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.

Performance Tracking Technologies at Affiliate Summit West 2012

by

This was a conference session titled Performance Tracking Technologies from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speaker:

  • Todd Crawford, Co-Founder, Impact Radius

Session description:

In this session, Todd will detail the various methods for tracking performance-based relationships and outline the pros and cons of each tracking method.

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

Session video:

Performance Tracking Technologies 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.