Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins » Affiliate Managers

Free Affiliate Summit Passes at SES NY

Shawn Collins — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:11:03 +0000

I am going to be at Search Engine Strategies in NYC on March 23-25, and I’ll have 20 gold passes to Affiliate Summit East 2010 to give away on Wednesday, March 24.

On the Wednesday of the conference, I’ll be wearing a shirt with a big QR Code, which when scanned will provide a code to register for Affiliate Summit for free.

It’s good for 20 gold pass registrations ($279 each), and it will be first come, first serve.

Here is a photo of my partner, Missy Ward, at SXSW last week with a similar shirt.

I can’t say how long the passes will last at SES, but they were used up from Missy’s QR code before lunch the day she wore it.

Details on the Affiliate Summit gold pass at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/register/.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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Join Team Affiliate Summit for the 2010 Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure

Shawn Collins — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:29:03 +0000

There is an Affiliate Summit team for the 2010 Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure, and we’re looking for more team members.

The 5k run/walk is taking place Sunday, April 25, 2010 at Essex County Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ.

You can also join the team and participate in the 1.5 Mile Fun Walk. And if you can’t make it, there is even an option to be on the team without taking a step with the “Sleep-In for the Cure” option.

If you aren’t interested in running, walking or sleeping for Team Affiliate Summit, it would mean a lot if you donated to our team (it’s tax deductible).

Join Team Affiliate Summit to help fight breast cancer.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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Words That Work by Frank Luntz

Shawn Collins — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:08:40 +0000

Words That Work by Frank Luntz is one of my favorite business books.

You may know Frank Luntz from TV appearances around election time. He has a dial system that reflects how voters react to the words of political candidates.

Frank Luntz has also worked with dozens of Fortune 500 companies to fine tune the use of words in their messaging.

The subtitle of Words That Work really says it all: “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear”.

The book is excellent for anybody in the business of communicating. As a marketer, the case studies and tips are priceless.

In the first chapter, Frank Luntz the ten rules of successful communication (the book goes into detail on each of these rules):

Simplicity: Use Small Words
Brevity: Use Short Sentences
Credibility is As Important As Philosophy
Consistency Matters
Novelty: Offer Something New
Sound and Texture Matter
Speak Aspirationally
Visualize
Ask a Question
Provide Context and Explain Relevance

Anyhow, I’d highly recommend Words That Work as a great primer on using words that have the most impact, whether it be to customers or colleagues.

Frank Luntz will be delivering the keynote address at Affiliate Summit East 2010 on August 16 in New York City.

Video: Words That Work by Frank Luntz

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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History of the Advertising Tax

Shawn Collins — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:09:05 +0000

The advertising tax (née Amazon tax, affiliate tax, and Internet tax) issue is a threat to affiliate marketers across many states these days, but where did this legislative menace originate?

For the uninitiated, the advertising tax is essentially a plan to tax any Internet transactions from merchants who have affiliates in a given state.

The origins of the advertising tax were among the dubious achievements of disgraced former New York state governor, Eliot Spitzer, back in November 2007.

After an uproar, Spitzer backed down on the plan. But then he started working on it again just before the hooker scandal that bounced him from office.

I had hoped his departure from state government would take the plan to scapegoat affiliates with it.

But his successor, David Paterson, was interested in the plan, too.

And so, the wheels on this runaway train of bad legislation were back on, thanks to Governor Paterson, though his political life appears to be short lived, too.

Maybe the next Governor of New York can reverse this poorly conceived legislation, which has proven to worsen state budgets and deter business.

Video: Advertising Tax

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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Great SEO Plugin for WordPress, Party at SES, and Monetizing Corey Haim

Shawn Collins — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:37:08 +0000

Download audio file (affiliatething-031510.mp3)

This week on the Affiliate Thing podcast, Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille talked about advertising tax updates, Shawn aching after a triathlon, merchants with nexus in various states, and the future of buy.at.

Also, the new Scribe plugin for WordPress, monetizing Corey Haim, Affiliate Summit, and an affiliate get together during SES NY.

Show Links

Subscribe to the Affiliate Thing RSS feed or listen on iTunes. You can also send a blank e-mail to affiliatething@aweber.com to get each podcast delivered by e-mail.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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Internet Marketing Legal Issues Book

Shawn Collins — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:27:12 +0000

Internet Marketing from the Real Experts is not really a legal book. There are 130 articles in Internet Marketing from the Real Experts, and 9 of those articles are about legal issues that impact affiliate marketers.

The book has 88 authors, and in addition to the legal coverage, there are articles on affiliate marketing, email, search engine marketing, social media, productivity, and more.

Here are the titles and authors of the items on legal issues in Internet Marketing from the Real Experts:

Advertiser Liability for Affiliate Spam – Anne Mitchell
Affiliate Marketing in the Regulators’ Cross-Hairs – Thomas A. Cohn
Compliance in Advertising – Stacey Sicard
Finance Affiliates: Compliance 101 – Brad Norton, ESQ
Legal Issues Surrounding Sweepstakes and Games of Skill – David O. Klein
Privacy Is Good Policy – David Klein
Reduce Fraud Risk Through Your Affiliate Agreement – David Naffziger
The TOS that Bind – Janet Attard
Using Trademarks in Affiliate Marketing – Mark Rosenberg

Most of the articles are 500 words or less and you can read through them in about 3 minutes each.

Since marketers don’t want fluff, these articles are designed to get to the point quick.

Video: Internet Marketing Legal Issues Book

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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SEO Copywriting for WordPress

Shawn Collins — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:40:00 +0000

Scribe is a new WordPress plugin from Brian Clark, publisher of Copyblogger, that helps writers optimize content.

I have never been much of an SEO guy, so I was excited when I heard about this tool to improve my blog posts. I’ve been using the All in One SEO Pack plugin for quite a while, but I’ve wanted more.

Anyhow, Scribe certainly delivers more. The software analyzes blog posts before you hit the “Publish” button, and the Scribe API reports back to the WordPress interface with details on tweaking the content to get more search engine traffic, while maintaining quality reader-focused copy.

When I’ve used some other SEO tools, the process didn’t feel natural, where I’d be asked for a keyword phrase and then guided to construct content around it. That method felt forced to me.

Instead, with Scribe, I write the content naturally, and then it’s analyzed, so my natural flow is preserved.

Also, Scribe reveals what search engines will think I’m writing about, and it suggests changes to better reflect the language searchers are using. The software also guides me through remaining content elements based on SEO best practices.

I’d highly recommend Scribe – I’m using it on all my blogs now.

The only downside is that Scribe makes me neurotic when I write short posts, because the software recommends a WordPress post be 300 words or more. Otherwise, great stuff.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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New Advertising Tax Resource from LinkShare

Shawn Collins — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:26:43 +0000

LinkShare has created a new resource focused on advertising tax news.

The page enables affiliate marketers to select a state from a drop down menu for the latest advertising tax status there.

LinkShare has also posted a map that indicates the status of legislation by state.

More details at http://blog.linkshare.com/2010/03/11/new-internet-tax-page/.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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New Quality Assurance Considerations

Shawn Collins — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:43:34 +0000

New Quality Assurance Considerations presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.

Kellie Stevens, President, AffiliateFairPlay.com

We’ll look at new quality assurance considerations with sub-affiliate transparency, cross-channel company layering in ad delivery and new behaviors by adware using real life examples and videos.

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.

Video: New Quality Assurance Considerations

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Affiliate Nexus Database

Shawn Collins — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:44:46 +0000

Affiliate nexus laws are being discussed in many states, and this sort of advertising tax legislation could be around the corner in any of the other states, as well.

It’s vital for affiliates to know which merchants could potentially drop them if an advertising tax is instituted in their state.

GTO Management, an outsourced affiliate management agency, has created a useful tool for affiliates called NexusAware to stay on top of merchants and affiliate nexus.

The NexusAware tool enables affiliates to query which merchant programs already claim nexus in their state of residence or are already collecting sales tax on purchases made to customers within their state.

This is helpful, because affiliates won’t be at risk with these merchants of being booted if advertising tax legislation is passed in their state.

If I were still an affiliate manager, I’d certainly be touting it as a value proposition if my company already claimed nexus in the state of a given affiliate.

When legislators give you lemons, figure out a way to leverage it.

This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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