Category Archives: affiliate marketing

Are Your Holiday Affiliate Promotions Creating Value For Shoppers?

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Research agency Nielsen Online has released a recent survey of 1,300 online shoppers polling their reasons for shopping online:

nielsen

Some of the factors are native to operating a website like: being able to shop 24 hours a day, saving on gas, saves time.

But the smart affiliates know that a number of site-dependent factors like:

  • sales/discounts/promotions
  • available product information
  • selection
  • comparison shopping

Are dependent on the type of site you’ve developed.

I’m fortunate to be working with a Continue reading →

Affiliate Networks: How To Talk So Affiliates Listen

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One of the keenest observations I’d heard from Sam Harrelson from an older episode of Geekcast is when he was in the process of adding Twitter to an affiliate network’s communication channels, some of the affiliate managers were happy that they had another channel to send out new offer information to.

how to talk to affiliates

If you’re an affiliate signed up to multiple networks, you’d receive a constant barrage of daily emails with subject lines like “network exclusives, promote now!”, “Highest payouts!” and “Hot new offers”.

Likewise, I’ve checked out a couple of affiliate marketing forums where networks have sponsored sections of the forums and populated these sections with “These offers are hot!” then proceed to list down payouts and offer caps.

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I don’t know how you feel, but this is pretty much tantamount to email and social network spamming by overzealous affiliate managers.

A good affiliate manager should know when to promote offers and when to back off. And emailing/hounding me when I say I’m busy is one way to get on my really bad side.

The other thing that’s disturbing is Continue reading →

Where Do You Fit In The Affiliate Marketing Value Chain?

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I had the opportunity to discuss topics shaping the affiliate marketing industry with Haiko De Poel Jr, founder and owner of the ABestWeb affiliate marketing forum for my Friday Podcast series out this week.

affiliate marketing success

During the course of our conversation, the topic of the value added to the affiliate-merchant relationship came up multiple times, and it’s certainly a point worth focusing on, especially if you’re in the affiliate marketing game for the long haul.

Let’s start off with the definition of “value” for affiliates.

As a performance-based affiliate, you’re only paid upon the successful purchase or adoption of a product or service you’re promoting. In the past and also today, value manifests itself in making your affiliate site more visible than the merchants. In some cases, this means having your site show up when someone types Continue reading →

Blogroll Update Dec 2008

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One of the best aspects of having a regular podcast like the Friday Podcast is being able to tap the brains and get ideas and inspiration for some of the brightest lights in blogging, affiliate marketing, PPC and search engine optimization.

And the inertia of business and projects has kept my intended blogroll update moving forward for a couple of months (yes, months).

If you’re headed to the Affiliate Summit next month, do drop a note in the comments below and be sure to say “hi” especially if we meet up at one of the parties or at the booths.

Here’re some of my old friends and new friends I’ve made in the last year (and recently added to the blogroll).

Miles Baker: A work-at-home dad who’s tried just about everything on the internet, Miles is a successful affiliate who’s built a healthy number of profitable sites. He’s one of the panelists at the affiliate panel on the first day of the Affiliate Summit.

Check out Miles’ appearance on my Friday Podcast.

Miles’ Twitter account

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NickyCakes: Nick calls himself a “reformed blackhat” whose main focus is on pay per click-based affiliate marketing. He’s posted a number of innovative affiliate strategies on his blog (in between pointing out perceived pretentiousness among certain affiliates). Nick will also be one of the panelists on the affiliate panel at 1230pm on the first day of the summit.

Nick’s previous appearance on the Friday Podcast.

Nick’s Twitter account

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Geordie Carswell: Geordie’s the 3rd and final member of the affiliate panel. Though he doesn’t actively blog, he’s focused on building his new outfit, Diversion Marketing. Although he’s quite accomplished at PPC, he’s since started work on a couple of different projects and I might have him on a future episode of the Friday Podcast.

In the meantime, you can check out his previous appearance on the Friday Podcast where he talked about affiliate success strategies.

Geordie’s twitter account

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Chad Frederiksen: Better known as “CDF Networks”, Chad has the distinction of being one of the top 10 Continue reading →

Affiliate Summit West 2009 Las Vegas Highlights

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One of the perks of heading to Affiliate Summit West at the Rio hotel this coming January is the opportunity to meet the various guests on the Friday Podcast, some for the 1st time and some of the 10th time.

las vegas

Next on the list would be the terrific networking events and parties, especially the near legendary ones hosted by the ShareASale affiliate network, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to bring home a polaroid with SAS founder Brian Littleton in his trademark sweatervests.

This isn’t to say that the sessions are to be unrated. Continue reading →

Are You In For A Profitable Affiliate Christmas?

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Christmas is the biggest shopping season of the year and not getting even a small campaign up means you are facing a huge opportunity cost.

Talking to a couple of experienced affiliates, I got the sense that even they were somewhat jaded after years of doing Christmas and holiday promos.

christmas angel

Luckily eBay has released market research on toy ideas for the holiday season. (see the study here)

Continue reading →