Shawn Collins' Blog

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

Archives for December 2015

Last Chance to Register for Affiliate Summit West 2016

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Affiliate Summit West 2016 passes are just about gone – it looks like we’ll be sold out as early as December 24, 2015.

Time is almost out

Affiliate Summit West 2016 is taking place January 10-12, 2016 at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV.

This three day conference includes networking with affiliates, affiliate managers, advertisers, OPMs/agencies, solution providers, and networks. Plus dozens of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from marketing experts.

And most importantly there will be thousands of marketers to meet and do business with at the conference.

The keynotes for Affiliate Summit West 2016 will be Kerri Pollard on Monday, January 11, 2016, and Greg Gifford on Tuesday, January 12, 2016.

Affiliate Summit West 2016 will feature an exhibit hall and Meet Market with hundreds of booths and tables (sorry, they’re all SOLD OUT).

There are a limited number of sponsorships still available.

Submit Your Affiliate Summit East 2016 Speaking Proposal

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Speaking proposals for Affiliate Summit East 2016, taking place July 31 – August 2, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis in NYC, are now being accepted.

Session at Affiliate Summit East 2015

The submission deadline is Friday, March 18, 2016. There is a limit of one person per company on the speaker roster.

The speaker submissions are chosen based on the following:

  • Public voting scores and comments.
  • Voting scores and comments by the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board (including Affiliate Summit founders Missy Ward and Shawn Collins).
  • Past session feedback if you previously spoke at an Affiliate Summit.
  • Meeting speaker deadlines if you previously spoke at an Affiliate Summit.

Get more details and submit your speaking proposal for Affiliate Summit East 2016.

Affiliate Summit West 2016 Heading for a Sell Out

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Affiliate Summit West 2016 is on schedule to sell out in late December, based on sales patterns of past Affiliate Summits.

Time is running out to register for Affiliate Summit

If you haven’t registered, don’t risk getting buried in your holiday madness and missing out.

Affiliate Summit West 2016 is taking place January 10-12, 2016 at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV.

This three day conference includes networking with affiliates, affiliate managers, advertisers, OPMs/agencies, solution providers, and networks. Plus dozens of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from marketing experts.

The keynotes for Affiliate Summit West 2016 will be Kerri Pollard (Monday, January 11, 2016) and Greg Gifford (Tuesday, January 12, 2016).

Affiliate Summit will feature hundreds of booths and tables from exhibitors. Sorry, all booths and Meet Market tables are SOLD OUT.

There are a limited number of other sponsorships still available.

Read the Instructions Before You Do Affiliate Marketing

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I hear from people once in a while who complain that affiliate marketing doesn’t work.

Guy trying to put a CD into a digital audio player

While there are surely some instances where affiliate marketing isn’t a good fit, such as super niche products with a tiny audience, it is usually a matter of user error.

A recent example of blaming affiliate marketing for the failure of an affiliate program was from Event Espresso, and their affiliate program cancellation says a lot about how they handled their affiliate program.

Here is the main part of the email I received from Event Espresso on Wednesday, November 25, 2015:

event-espresso-kills-their-affiliate-program

Some observations:

  • The notification was sent the day before Thanksgiving when affiliates were heading into a holiday and crazy about Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
  • They gave less than a week of notice before killing the affiliate program.
  • No personalization on the email.

Additionally, Event Espresso gave four reasons why they were closing the affiliate program, all of which indicate a fundamental lack of understanding of affiliate marketing.

Meanwhile, they were using a WordPress plugin to run the affiliate program, and the only option for commission payments was PayPal. The page about their affiliate program didn’t have a name of an affiliate manager. Just a link to the company contact form.

You must invest in your affiliate program if you hope to have affiliates invest in you.

Imagine if a company tried to organize an event, but it totally flopped, due to lack of registrations. And say that company was using Event Espresso for the registrations. Would Event Espresso think it was a valid complaint that online event registrations don’t work?

There is a learning curve to managing affiliate program, and it takes dedicated resources to recruit, educate, and retain affiliates.

If you don’t get it, look into outsourcing your affiliate program with an OPM (Outsourced affiliate Program Manager).

FeedFront Magazine Issue 33 is Now Available

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Issue 33 of FeedFront is headed to the printer and subscribers will be getting their copies in the coming weeks.

Cover of issue 33 of FeedFront Magazine

Issue 33 of FeedFront will also be distributed at Affiliate Summit West 2016.

This issue of FeedFront Magazine includes 4 Lessons Walking Dead Can Teach Affiliates by Missy Ward (that’s why there is a zombie on the cover), 6 Rules for Evolved Adults by Shawn Collins, and No More Duck Lips or Blurry Dogs! by Michelle Held.

Also, articles on Udemy, Amazon, SEO tips, lead gen, outsourcing, dealing with customer conflicts, mobile marketing, list building, CPC email, affiliate recruitment, Affiliate Summit West 2016 agenda and speaker bios, and more.

Issue 33 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 in the U.S. (sorry to everybody else, but mailing outside of the U.S. is very expensive). Also, become a fan of FeedFront on Facebook to see past issues, covers, etc.

Paris Las Vegas Room Block Ends on December 8, 2015

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Affiliate Summit West 2016 is about a month away (January 10-12, 2016) in Las Vegas, and rooms at our group rate at Paris Las Vegas are close to selling out (January 7 is already gone).

Don't miss out on the Affiliate Summit hotel block

The special group rate is $165 per night for rooms with 1 king bed or 2 queen beds.

The Affiliate Summit room rate will be available until December 8, 2015 or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first.

To book your reservation, call 877-603-4389, ask for the Affiliate Summit rate, and provide Group Code SPASI6, or reserve your room online.

More details: Affiliate Summit West 2016 Travel