Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for May 2014

Working with Affiliates and Adding Value from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Working with Affiliates and Adding Value from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speaker:

  • Adam Riemer, President, Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC

Session description:

This session will help you to learn how to work with affiliates, negotiating, keyword lists, etc., and add value to your programs.

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

Session slides:

Working with Affiliates and Adding Value 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.

Help ShareASale Fight Hunger in Chicago

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ShareASale is walking as a team in the Chicago Hunger Walk 2014, and they have set a goal for themselves to raise $10,000.

shareasale-hunger-walkAs part of their fundraising effort, they are selling limited edition t-shirts designed for their team to wear on the walk.

The Chicago Hunger Walk 2014 is taking place on June 21st.

Buy one and wear it on June 21 to show your support as the ShareASale team walks around Chicago.

I’ll be wearing mine as I lounge around the pool that day.

You can get your ShareASale Chicago Hunger Walk 2014 t-shirt in sizes ranging from YXS to 4XL.

All proceeds from the walk go to pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in Chicago.

See the overall progress for ShareASale so far.

Does an Affiliate Program Have to Be in More Than One Affiliate Network?

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I see lots of affiliate programs that are in a couple different affiliate networks, and it’s always sort of baffled me.

Hmmm...Is it really necessary to be in two or more affiliate networks?

While I prefer some affiliate networks over others, I belong to all of them.

If an affiliate program is in one affiliate network, and I want to promote them, I’m going with the network they are in.

That’s been the case with affiliates I’ve chatted with over the years on this subject. I have run into few, if any, affiliate unicorns who will not promote a brand they want to promote, because of the network they are in.

As an affiliate manager in the past for companies that insisted on multiple programs, I would often see affiliates joined in each iteration of the affiliate program.

There was typically one version of the affiliate program that was dominant, and the other one was there for the scraps.

But they both needed me to tend to them, and I thought the redundancy was wasteful.

Anyhow, I think the most networks I’d seen a cost per sale affiliate program in was three. That is, until I was looking at the soccer.com affiliate program.

soccer.com affiliate program

So, they’re in Affiliate Window, Avantlink, CJ Affiliate by Conversant, eBay Enterprise, Impact Radius, and Rakuten LinkShare?

That just seems like overkill to me.

Cover Your Ass(ets): Online Advertising Compliance Update from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Cover Your Ass(ets): Online Advertising Compliance Update from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speakers:

  • John Monarch, CEO, Connexus Inc.
  • Aaron Kelly, Attorney, Kelly / Warner, PLLC
  • CJ Montgomery, Attorney at Law, Online Legal Group

Session description:

An update on the latest rules and regulations put forth by the FTC, FCC, federal government and international governing bodies. A can’t miss for mobile marketers and anyone who does business online.

Experience level: Beginner
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers, Merchants/Advertisers, Networks
Niche/vertical: Compliance

Session video:

Cover Your Ass(ets): Online Advertising Compliance Update video

Session slides:

Cover Your Ass(ets): Online Advertising Compliance Update 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.

Crowdsourcing for Affiliates and Merchants from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Crowdsourcing for Affiliates and Merchants from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speakers:

  • Matt Mickiewicz, Co-Founder, 99Designs & Flippa
  • David Greenbaum, CEO, BoostCTR
  • Sunil Rajaraman, CEO, Scripted.com

Session description:

Founders of the leading crowdsourcing marketplaces discuss how affiliates & merchants can achieve fantastic results with landing page design, banner design, PPC, and content creation.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Crowd-sourcing

Session video:

Crowdsourcing for Affiliates and Merchants 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.

Advanced Local Lead Gen Strategies from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Advanced Local Lead Gen Strategies from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speaker:

  • Ad Hustler, Chief Hustler, Ad Hustler, LLC

Session description:

Local Lead Gen is still a relatively untapped profit center for affiliates. Learn about the process of local lead gen including landing page styles, lead delivery and alternative traffic sources.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Local lead gen

Session video:

Advanced Local Lead Gen Strategies video

Session slides:

Advanced Local Lead Gen Strategies 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.

How to Attend a Conference Like a Bootstrapped Entrepreneur

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Affiliate Summit Brand Ambassador Heather Diamani has written a new book titled, “How to Attend a Conference Like a Bootstrapped Entrepreneur“.

How to Attend a Conference Like a Bootstrapped EntrepreneurHeather’s book is a quick read with practical advice for anybody trying to go to conferences on the cheap.

Here is the book description…

Attending conferences can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is creating a budget and sticking to it, so you are able to attend the conferences that will help your career.

When I first started my business, I knew that attending conferences would be beneficial to my success, but I also thought as a startup it would be tough to scrap up some extra money to go.

I decided to research the best possible ways to attend a conference, while saving the most money I could. I found that it doesn’t have to be expensive, and now I want to share these tips with you.

Whether you are a startup business, a blogger, or you have been in business for a long time, everyone can benefit from attending a conference. Plus, anybody could do with saving some money with their business travel.

How to Attend a Conference Like a Bootstrapped Entrepreneur is available in paperback and on Kindle.

The book will be free on Kindle from May 21, 2014 to May 25, 2014.

Understanding the Real Value of Affiliate Efforts from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Understanding the Real Value of Affiliate Efforts from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speakers:

  • Paul Schroader, President, PS Web Solutions, Inc.
  • Todd Crawford, Co-Founder, Impact Radius
  • Scott Kalbach, CEO, AvantLink.com
  • Chris Kramer, Founding Partner, NetX

Session description:

An affiliate impact discussion with a focus on attribution, advanced tracking options and budget allocation. Topics: introducers, influencers and closers, assisted conversions, de-duplication, etc.

Experience level: Advanced
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Analytics

Session video:

Understanding the Real Value of Affiliate Efforts video

Session slides:

Understanding the Real Value of Affiliate Efforts 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.

Making Money with Affiliate Programs for Beginners from Affiliate Summit East 2012

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This was a conference session titled Making Money with Affiliate Programs for Beginners from Affiliate Summit East 2012, which took place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City at the Hilton New York.

Affiliate Summit East in NYCSession speaker:

  • James Martell, President, Net Guides Publishing Inc.

Session description:

A visually-rich presentation detailing the 5 industry players, 4 popular affiliate models, 5 tips for choosing profitable topics, 5 traffic building strategies, and 10 tips to get on the fast track.

Experience level: Beginner, Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Affiliate marketing training

Session video:

Making Money with Affiliate Programs for Beginners video

Session slides:

Making Money with Affiliate Programs for Beginners 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 Love Naps During My Work Day

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I don’t always sleep as much as I would like at night. No matter what time I go to sleep, I just seem to spring out of bed early (sometimes before 5) in the morning.

Having a nice nap

This is great for early productivity, but then there is a late morning or early afternoon crash, and that is no good.

I typically medicate myself with Diet Dr. Pepper and coffee to push on through, but some days I just need a nap, and I take it.

Yeah, I know that lots of people take pride in never sleeping and grinding all day and night with their work. They can have it. I like to nap. I like it a lot.

And science is on my side.

Those times when you’re feeling foggy and just not producing stuff. Get out of your chair and into bed.

It helps your creative thinking, productivity, and health.

OK, that’s my blog post for the day. Now I am off for a nap.