FeedFront Magazine, Issue 13

8/8/2019 FeedFront Magazine, Issue 13

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Its OK to MonetizeBy Missy Ward

Page 2Five Ways to Get an

Affiliates AttentionBy Tricia Meyer

Page 10

New Trends in

Social MediaBy Ricky Ahuja

Page 18

The Secret to Success

in BusinessBy Shawn Collins

Page 31

Affiliate Summit West2011 Agenda

Page 34

Issue 13 | January 2011The Official Magazine of Affiliate Summit


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FeedFront | January 2011

STAFFCo-Editors in Chief Missy Ward, Shawn CollinsCo-Publishers Missy Ward, Shawn CollinsContributing Writers - Ricky Ahuja, Scott Allan, Cindy Ballard, Don Batsford, Jr, Jay Berkowitz, Charles Bohannan, Mike Buechele, Deborah Carney, Daniel M. Clark, ShawnCollins, Rachel Corcoran, Colleen Darwent, Rob Duva, Travis Jacobson, Paul Kemshell, Carolyn Tang Kmet, Logan Lenz, Joe Lilly, Tricia Meyer, Eric Nagel, Le Michelle Nguyen,Justin Premick, Geno Prussakov, Kim Salvino, Jill Swartwout, Mia Vallo, John Vehlewald, Missy WardMagazine Coordinator - Amy RodriguezGraphic Design David Hallock

Affiliate Summit , Inc.522 Hunt Club Blvd. #411Apopka, FL 32703tel (417)-2SUMMIT (278-6648)fax (908) 364-4627

Articles in FeedFront Magazine are the opinions of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine, or its owners. FeedFront Magazine always welcomesopinions of an opposite nature.For more information, visit: www.FeedFront.comInterested in advertising? Please visit http://feedfront.com/advertising/ or email us at: [email protected] 2011 Affiliate Summit, Inc. and Individual Authors.

02 Editors Note: The Stateof the Affiliate Blogosphere

By Missy Ward

03 Effectively Use Datafeeds toEnrich Your Website

By Eric Nagel

04 Five Reasons Why You ArentMaking Money

By Charles Bohannan

05 Grow Your Audience ThroughPodcasting III: Distribution

By Daniel M. Clark

07 Four Keys to Negotiating withAffiliate Managers

By Colleen Darwent

08 Making the Transition fromEmployee to Entrepreneur

By Joe Lilly

09 Is Your Social Media Expert aFraud?

By Missy Ward

10 Five Ways to Get an AffiliatesAttention

By Tricia Meyer

11 Search Marketing vs. SocialAdvertising

By Don Batsford, Jr

12 How to Spot a Good MerchantBy Kim Salvino

13 The New Intersection ofSearch and Social Media

By Jay Berkowitz

14 Can Coupon Affiliates andMerchants Get Along?

By Travis Jacobson

FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE | January 2011 | 1

16 Ins and Outs of AffiliateNegotiating

By Cindy Ballard

17 The Hidden OpportunitiesBehind Attribution

Standards

By Scott Allan

18 New Trends in Social Media By Ricky Ahuja

19 Affiliates Cant Afford to beNon-compliant

By Rachel Corcoran

20 Leaving New Jersey, AnAffiliate Roadtrip

By Shawn Collins

21 Increasing ConversionsRates with On-Site

Messaging

By Logan Lenz

23 How to Get Your AffiliateWishes GrantedBy Mia Vallo

24 Why Use LinkedIn? By Mike Buechele

25 Effectively CommunicatingWith Affiliates

By Deborah Carney

26 Is Offering Pre-paid DealsGood for Merchants?

By John Vehlewald

27 Never Too Young to Start By Jill Swartwout

29 Avoiding the Pitfalls of International Marketing

By Paul Kemshell

30 Affiliate Marketing GoesHyper-Local

By Carolyn Tang Kmet

31 The Secret to Success inBusiness - Persistence

By Shawn Collins

32 Pay-Per-Call - Get Off theSidelinesBy Rob Duva

34 Agenda44 Drew Eric Whitman Bio45 Brian Solis Bio46

Speaker Bios

61 Merchants Choice: CPA orAffliate Network?

By Le Michelle Nguyen

62 Types of ContentPublishers & Objectives to

PursueBy Geno Prussakov

64 Affiliate SummitunConference 2010 Recap

By Shawn Collins

65 Five Places to Find CustomerTestimonialsBy Justin Premick

66 People to Follow on Twitter68 Wynn Las Vegas Map

CONTENTS


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The State o the

Afliate BlogosphereBy Missy Ward

was recently digging into Technoratis State of theBlogosphere 2010 report, which surveyed over7,200 bloggers, and provided great insight as towho is blogging, what they are blogging about,why they are doing it, how often, and where theyare blogging from.

There were some interesting key trends this year,including the growth of mobile blogging, the influenceof women and mom bloggers on the blogosphere, and

the growing trust consumers have for bloggers overtraditional media.

But no other trend was more exciting to me than thecompelling statistic that 36% of bloggers surveyedreported making money from their blogs.

That number, while still low, indicates a significantincrease from 2009, meaning that more bloggers thanever are attempting to make money from their blogs.Additionally, the data also revealed that bloggers whoreceived revenue from blogging generally blogged morethis year than ever before.

According to the survey, while self-expression and

sharing expertise still lead as bloggers primarymotivations, a significant portion of part-time and self-employed bloggers admit to blogging to make money orsupplement their income.

Overall, only 18% of bloggers surveyed reported anon-salary income from their blog in 2010. The mostcommon ways of generating blog revenue were fromdisplay ads, affiliate marketing links, paid postings andsearch ads.

Unfortunately, the mean income reported was $9,985,which, in my opinion, indicates that (A) bloggers stillview blogging as a way to subsidize their hobby, to someextent, or (B) they just dont know how to monetize theirblogs properly, but want to learn.

Over the last year, Ive run into a whole lot of more(B)s. This is very exciting to me, whether the newfoundopen-mindedness to content monetization was economy-driven or because bloggers have finally realized that it isOK to monetize ones blog.

Either way, the affiliate marketing industry wins abrand-new crop of passionate content providers, whoare outpacing other social media and many traditionalmedia outlets, in terms of generating consumerrecommendations and purchases, according to thesurvey.

Affiliate Summit recognized this shift early this year andsubsequently created Monetize Summit, which makesits debut on the Sunday of Affiliate Summit West 2011in January. This series of beginner educational sessionswill focus on turning a blog into a profit center, makingmoney using pop culture content, providing tips andtricks to increase conversions, and teaching attendeeshow to use a datafeed to monetize a site.

With more than half of the bloggers surveyed planningon blogging even more, and 43% planning to expand

the topics they blog about, it is our goal to help thosebloggers be able to afford to spend more time to do justthat.

Affiliate marketing shares in the bloggers optimism forthe future and we welcome you to our growing family.

Technoratis state of the Blogosphere 2010 Report can beread in full at http://feedfront.com/technorati

Missy Ward is a Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine and managesMoneyMindedMoms.com.

Missy Ward

2 | January 2011 | FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE


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atafeeds area hot topictoday, but

many peopledont knowwhere tobegin. Luckily,there are

tools available that makedatafeeds useful to anyonewho has a website.

To start, its best tounderstand what a datafeedis (usually)... a plain-text filewhich contains a list of all ofa companys products, andincludes the product name,description, URL to an image,price, your affiliate link, andmore.

Each line of a datafeedrepresents one product. Adatafeed can be one to tensof thousands of lines long.

Many affiliate networks notonly have ways to downloada merchant datafeed, but also provide a means to viewthe products of a datafeed through their interface. Byviewing the datafeed in the networks interface, you canbrowse through their products, and select which youdlike to promote.

The simplest way to use a datafeed is to search via theaffiliate network for a product youd like to feature, copythe given HTML code, and paste it into your website(much like adding a banner).

Some affiliate networks also have tools which allow youto search and select multiple products to feature onyour site. Similar to a single product, you just copy theHTML code and paste it into your website. The code thatyou paste may be static, meaning when the datafeedupdates, your website does not, or it may be JavaScript,which updates your site when the datafeed is updated.

Once youve reached the limits of what the network

tools can do for you, youmay want to look at thirdparty tools. PopShops and

GoldenCAN are two exampleswhich read merchantdatafeeds and update yourwebsite when the datafeedis updated. This is the truepower of datafeeds: settingit up once, and not having toupdate it every time the pricechanges or the product goesout of stock.

If you really want to getinto datafeeds, you canwrite programs (in PHP, Perl,ASP) that go out, grab thedatafeed, and update yourwebsite. This eliminatesthird party tools (and anyassociated costs) and givesyou greater control overthe look, feel, and contentdisplayed.

While datafeeds may seemlike an easy way to enhanceyour website, there can be

problems. First, not all merchants provide datafeeds. Ifthey do, the information in them is not always the mostup-to-date.

The merchants website may show one price, yet there

could be a completely different price in the datafeed.In addition, sometimes products that are no longeravailable on the merchants site are still listed in thedatafeed. When this happens, your user will see theproduct on your site, click through to the merchant site,and be presented with an error message.

Datafeeds may not be the Holy Grail affiliate marketersare searching for, but by using them with your existingcontent, you can enhance your website, improve on yourusers experience, and maybe even increase your profits.

Eric is an affiliate marketer who uses his programmingknowledge to create unique, automated sites.

EFFECTIVELYUSE DATAFEEDS

TO ENRICHYOUR WEBSITE

By Eric Nagel

Eric Nagel



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You need to make real-world humanconnections.

I find the best way to startnetworking is within your localcommunity. Even stopping by acoffee shop a few times a weekgets you away from your computerand around people, which is whererelationships live.

Remember people first. Thencome tactics and technology.

You have nobusiness model.You need a business model to makemoney. Just having a blog or nichewebsite is not a business. Therehave to be mechanisms in place togenerate revenue and turn profits.

The good news is that there areinfinite business models that workon the web. You get the excitementand pleasure of picking your own.

Internet marketing is a really greatplace to be right now, and theresno reason why you cant makemoney!

Charles Bohannan is an editorseditor. Follow his passion forpublishing and marketing atWordful.com.

Reasons WhyYou Arent

Making MoneyBy Charles Bohannan

Blazing a path to Internet riches isnearly impossible if you dont havethe right mindset. I should know

because I didnt make money onlinefor my first two years. EventuallyI got smart and realized what washolding me (and possibly you) back:

Youre not doinganything.Are you constantly brainstorming,taking notes and learning howto monetize things, but notactually doing anything?

Why is this? I think its because itsmuch easier to nurture a great ideain your mind than it is to release itto market.

Acting on an idea demands bona-fide courage and confidence, and awillingness to skip perfection to getresults. And lets face itif you dontact, you dont make money.

You dont reallywant to makemoney.Sounds counter-intuitive, but someof us possess powerful subconsciousthoughts that prevent us fromwanting to make money.

Maybe its the way we were raised,or an incident from our past thatconnects money with pain. Or,maybe were stuck in starvingartist mode.

Whatever the issue, its importantyou immediately identify and fix it.Remember a big secret to makingmoney is mastering the mentalgame.

You arentproviding value.Anyone can slap up a website. Whatyou do with it is what really matters.With that said, think about yourcontent who is it for and whatdoes it do for them?

If you cant answer those questions,then youre not providing value.

Content that entertains or

enlightens, but is poorly written,is far better than a beautiful andoptimized site that says a lot butmeans nothing.

For example, heres an imaginarydescription from an imaginarysurfing website of a real surf breaknot far from my home:

When it gets big it getsintense. When the tide is low youcan get some deep in and outs imean super deep. watch out forsharks.

As a surfer, I dont care about thebad spelling and grammar. Thosethree sentences are pure gold!

Youre not

networking.All the initiative and positive attitudeand value in the world wont do athing unless people know you exist.



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show notes just like you would anyother blog entry, and then enterthe address of your MP3 file fromour last step. The plugin takescare of the rest. Your episode willbe displayed in a player within theentry you just published.

PowerPress will tell you what yourRSS feed address is. PowerPresssupports category feeds, so with acategory dedicated to your podcastepisodes, only your episodes, notyour regular blog content, will besent to iTunes and other directories.

iTunesMillions of potential listeners arelooking for content like yours in theiTunes store! Launch iTunes andnavigate to the podcast directory.The Submit a Podcast link is in theright sidebar. Click that, and youll

be asked to give your shows RSSaddress. Next, youll be promptedfor a title, author, genre, and more.Fill those outor make correctionsif PowerPress has assisted youandyou should be approved and listed ina matter of hours.

Growth is not just about iTunes.Perform a web search for podcastdirectory and youll find dozens ofsites to submit your RSS feed to,and these can all bring additionallisteners.

Next StepsCongratulations, youre a podcaster!Its all about promotion from thispoint forward; producing qualityepisodes and promoting them wellwill grow your audience and boostyour business!

Daniel M. Clark is the founder ofQAQN.com, home of several audio/video productions.

n the past two issues ofFeedFront, we discussed thereasons why you should bepodcasting, the planningstages, and the recording ofyour first show. Next up isthe proper tagging of yourshow and the uploading anddistributing your episodes.

ID3 TagsFew things are as important forbranding as your ID3 tagsthe metadata stored in the MP3 file. Thisincludes your episode title, artist

name, even your shows artwork.A program like ID3 Tag Editor (pa-software.com) helps tremendously.This data is displayed in your sitesmedia player, in iTunes and on iPods,Zunes or other portable players.

UploadingBeware web hosts that advertise

unlimited transfer; putting largepodcast files on a shared webhosting server is asking for trouble.

If your company can provide spaceon its servers, thats fantastic; ifyoure on your own, dedicated mediahosting solutions exist to consider.Your MP3s can be uploaded tolibsysn.com, blubrry.com, geekcast.fm, or comparable services. Themedia host you choose will tell youif you need an FTP (a file transfermethod) client. Some hosts supportweb interface uploads. Upon upload,youll have the unique file addressnecessary to post your episode toyour website or blog.

PostingThough there are many ways to postan episode, integrating a podcastinto your WordPress blog is deadsimple when using the PowerPressplugin (blubrry.com). WithPowerPress, posting an episode is aseasy as posting a blog entry. In fact,its exactly the same!

Once you set the plugins options,a new input field will show up onthe New Post page. Type your

By Daniel M. Clark



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2010 ClickBank All Rights Reserved.


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By Colleen Darwent

Some affiliates like to fly solo andothers prefer to utilize their AffiliateManagers knowledge and resourcesto maximize their opportunities andpayouts. Over the years, I havehad numerous negotiations withaffiliates on offers and payouts.

Before negotiating or discussingpayouts, it is important for affiliatesto understand a networks businessmodel and take full advantage ofmaximizing their relationship with

the affiliate manager.

Here are four keys to negotiatingwhat I believe will create a win-win for both the network and theaffiliate.

1. UnderstandingMargins

A networks business modelis similar to a manufacturer/distributor/retail sales chain. TheManufacturer (Advertiser) creates

the product and utilizes thedistributors (Network) resourcesand capital to generate salesthrough retail stores (Affiliate/Publisher). The network makes amargin for assuming the risk ofacting as the middleman betweenthe advertiser and publisher. Someaffiliates receive payments daily orweekly which leaves the networkassuming risk as most advertisershave longer net terms.

2. Integrity

Just be open and honest. If youare interested in an offer andneed a certain payout, then justask. There have been times whenI have told an affiliate that Icouldnt pay out what they wererequesting. Conversely, there havebeen instances when I approachedmanagement about giving aparticular affiliate a certain payoutwith very slim margins. Bottom line,you have to be able to trust theaffiliate manager and vice versa.

3. Capabilities/Results

Before entering any negotiation, itsimperative to know whats importantto you and what youre willing to

give up for the sake of gettingwhat you want. Whats the leastyoure willing to accept in order topick up the offer? Do your researchand know what the going rates are.Let the affiliate manager know what

type of results you anticipate anddiscuss any previous success orfailures. There will always be hotoffers, but you shouldnt place allyour focus on whats hot. You knowyour business, what youre good atand what youre not. Focus on whatyou know, and specialize in it.

4. Communication

As I stated earlier, some affiliatesprefer no or minimal communicationwith an affiliate manager, which is

FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE | December 2010 7

perfectly fine. However, if you decideto actively work with an affiliatemanager, it is important to talk withthe affiliate manager about yourintentions. Communicate your goals,strategies and what you expectof the network and your affiliatemanager. When it comes down to it,we all have the same goal to makemoney while not compromisingour ethics. Be candid with yourAM about your experience level.Everyone starts somewhere so dontbe shy; the affiliate managers job isto help you grow your business.

Keeping these four points in mindwhen talking and negotiating withyour network affiliate manager helpsfoster a good working relationshipand ultimately will create a longterm partnership.

Colleen Darwent is an affiliatemanager at RevenueStreet.com, adivision of TheMediaCrew.(www.RevenueStreet.com)

Four Keys to

Negotiating with

Affiliate Managers

Colleen Darwent



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be better positioned to recruit whereyou need assistance, and yourbusiness will have a better chance ofachieving stability.

Make a list of all the things yourebad at, and spend some timefiguring out how to overcomethose weaknesses. Industry eventslike Affiliate Summit are full ofeducational opportunities and alsoprovide plenty of time to network

with subcontractors and newbusiness partners. For this reason,Im convinced that conferences are agreat investment.

These are just a few of the thingsIve learned while building mybusiness. Although Im workinglonger, harder hours than everbefore, owning a business is alsofun and really rewarding. If youreconsidering taking the plunge, I wishyou all the success in the world!

Joe Lilly writes about business,music, and dog rescue at

baldguitardude.com

Given the fact that most of us aretrained to be good employeesrather than groomed to becomeentrepreneurs making thetransition from working for someoneelse, tobeing self-employed canoftentimes be difficult.

I recognized that Id be facingnew challenges when I went intobusiness for myself, but I wasntprepared for howdifferent. Although

Im still an entrepreneurial work-in-progress, a few lessons learned in2010 have helped me a lot:

Dont Burn Bridges

Being unhappy with your job canbe a great catalyst for change; andmore than one entrepreneur hasstarted their business for this veryreason. But its always best to giveyour soon-to-be former employerthe respect they deserve, anddepart on the best possible terms.

Once youve made the decisionto forge out on your own, beginby assisting with any transitionalplanning your former job requires.After all, someday you will have yourown employees and youll will wantthem to treat your business withprofessionalism should they elect topart ways. Being professional withyour employer will also help to buildyour reputation; and your reputationis your most important asset whenlaunching a business.

enrai d t

ratent pretra tiolse, o b

en m

Who knows, you just may even beable to transform your former bossinto a new client.

Set Goals/Create APlan

As an employee, superiorsevaluate your performance. As anentrepreneur no one holds youaccountable other than yourself.

It is always best to begin with abusiness plan, one that offers amission statement and documentsyour short term and long-termgoals. The business plan (and itdoesnt need to be more than a fewpages) will help serve as a guidemeasure your ongoing growth.Because business, just likelife, can be quite unpredictable;your business plan needs tohave flexibility. Any number offactors may come into play thatwill require you to make coursecorrections and you need to beready.

Address YourWeaknesses Quickly

Being an employee is a team sport;your weaknesses are offset bysomeone elses strengths. Beinga small business owner is morelike golfing. You can only relyon yourself. If you dont addressyour weaknesses, nobody will.Acknowledge your strengths andweaknesses. When you do, youll

Making the Transitionfrom Employee toEntrepreneurBy Joe Lilly

Joe Lilly



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Lately, Ive received more and morerequests to recommend a socialmedia marketing expert (theirwords, not mine) to help createand manage their companys social

media strategy. Overall, it appearsthat the bulk of the people that haveasked, have not been too keen ontheir existing expert.

Many have even felt duped by thefirm they hired. After looking ata couple of the choices, its easyto see how the companies mightfeel deceived, based on the factthat theyve hired self-proclaimed

experts who I remember claimingto be experts in something else justa year ago.

A while back, I asked readers of myblog to provide some suggestions onred flags folks should look for wheninterviewing social media marketingcompanies. Here are some of theircomments I received on my blog,Facebook and Twitter:

When their email address is @gmail, @msn or @yahoo instead ofa real company address. If youcant set up branded email, I doubtyou can test, measure and optimize

social media campaigns. AnneHolland, WhichTestWon.com

When the first thing they talk aboutfor Social Media is Facebook, Twitterand LinkedIn. Patrick Allmond,AllAboutFocus.com

When the expert negotiates theirconsulting fee in free food. If theydont know how to command properpay for their services, how are youto expect that they know how togenerate actual tangible revenue

for you?- Lori Miller, Twitter.com/PokerVixen

When you look at their Twitteraccount and it states they joined

Twitter six months ago. KarenRocks, SparkFireMarketing.com

When they can only talk tools(Facebook, Twitter) and notstrategy; when they talk nothingbut buzzwords like engagement,metrics, authenticity withoutcontext. Davina Brewer,3HatsCommunications.com

When you cantfind anything aboutthem on Google and their site isnothing more than a price sheet

splash page. Anastasia Hilinsky,HilinskyConsulting.com

When they talk in %s insteadof real numbers 200% growthin Fans! (From 4 to 11) KevinWebster, LevelAnalytics.com

When they neither have an outline,nor a clear plan on how they willpromote your business throughSocial Media Geno Prussakov,AMNavigator.com

When they dont inventory yourcurrent communication channels,know what UGC stands for and havenever used PickFu. Pat Grady,RhinoFish.com

If the social media expert insiststhat you cant measure the ROI onSocial Media, chances are, they dontknow what theyre doing. DerekHalpern, SocialTriggers.com

When you search for the companyname on Twitter (or any social

media channel) and get no results. Sharon Mostyn, SharonMostyn.com

When you also see them in forums

complaining that they cant getany traffic and are thinking ofgiving up. Malcolm McDonough,PregnantByDesign.com

When they call themselves a socialmedia expert in the first place.Josh Todd, InsideAffiliate.net

Unfortunately, I couldnt fit all ofthe comments here, but you canread them at www.missyward.com/NotAnSMExpert.

There are a lot of great firms outthere, and it is my hope this willhelp separate the wheat from thechaff.

Missy is the Co-Founder of AffiliateSummit, Co-Editor-in-Chief ofFeedFront Magazine and manages

MoneyMindedMoms.com.

By Missy Ward

L

Missy Ward



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ith tens of thousands of merchants across a number of differentnetworks, affiliates are always being approached to promote newaffiliate programs.

How can affiliate managers and merchants get the attention ofthe affiliates and ensure that their programs get consideration?

Here are five quick tips.

Look at the affiliates site and tell him exactly how he can promote you. Dontjust say I think we would be a good fit. Everyone says that when they

havent actually looked at the site. Tell the affiliate what speci

fic productsyou have that fit his niche, where your banners might work, and what kind of

copy you can offer. Dont be pushy but give suggestions that show that youare not just mass mailing affiliates; you actually researched their sites.

Give the affiliate all of your contact information up front. Do not sign therecruitment email The X merchant affiliate team. The affiliate wants to knowthat you are going to be easy to contact, and the affiliate may even havespecific questions before applying to your program. If she cannot quickly getin touch with you, she may just pass over the email.

Provide the affiliate with a sample of your product at a conference or by mail.Swag is fun but an actual sample of your product that the affiliate can try outis more likely to compel him to want to promote you.

Tell the affiliate why your program is unique. This is more than just a

description of the merchant. Give the affiliate such a compelling reasonto join that she wont be able to ignore the email. Do you offer highercommissions than other merchants in the same space? Do you allowunlimited keyword bidding? Are you the number one retailer for a specifictype of product?

Lastly, and this one is the most important one, build a relationship withthe affiliate. Affiliates can get thousands of emails a day and often ignoremost of them. The only way that you guarantee to get the attention of anaffiliate is to build a relationship before pushing your program. This mightinclude hanging out together at conferences, engaging them on Twitter, orparticipating in forums that they frequent. The more that the affiliate likesyou as a person, the more likely he or she is to promote your merchant.

Tricia Meyer is the owner of Sunshine Rewards, Helping Moms Connect, andother niche sites.

Tricia Meyer



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By Don Batsford, Jr

Why are my great performing ads on Googleunderachieving on Facebook?

Search Marketers will commonly list distributionpartners they feel online advertisers should bespending money with. This typically includesGoogle, Yahoo, Bing and Facebook listedin a neat little row.

Grouping these together canspell disaster if you dont have acompletely different strategy forsearch engines and social media.

Google InventoryUsers are actively seeking newinformation on any topic.

When building a search strategy,marketers focus on keywords thatare typed into an empty field with asearch button next to it. There areno rules with search queries; anythinggoes. Google does not suggest (atleast not yet) that maybe you should belooking for a new car, finding a deal ona cashmere sweater or ordering a copyof the New York Times new bestseller. Auser goes to an empty search box whenthey need new information and do not knowthe URL of a webpage that can help them withtheir question.

Facebook Inventory Users are passivelysharing predefined interests.

Profile pieces are the main targeting vehicles in socialadvertising. When joining Facebook, users are askedto fill in any of the following information: location, age,gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, politicalleaning, religious views, employers, education, activities& entertainment. These subjects are predefined byFacebook to engage users within a community. There isno section that asks for future predictions on hobbies,dreams or business goals they would like to hit. In

addition, these fields are mostly filled in when a userfirst joins. Each day that passes a social profile gets less

relevant. An untouched profile can drift from an accuratedepiction of an individual towards a time capsule of

interests from 2006.

Google Strategy Trust in the power ofthe confessional box.

With Google, users type in exactly what theywant to see at that moment. Advertisers shouldcontinue to focus on targeted sets of keywordswithin each ad group paired with highlyrelevant ad copy. The advertiser can utilizeunsocial keywords knowing that the searchis between the user and the search engine.Algorithms dont judge and keywords are an

honest view into what someone is searchingfor in real time.

Facebook Strategy Buildoff interests that are ongoing, niche orcommonly updated.

Some aspects of a Facebook profile willbe constantly updated and should shapeyour strategy for buying social advertising.For example, relationship status will beupdated; while location, gender, birthday and sexual orientation are ongoing.Therefore an advertiser in the dating spacecan trust that a campaign targeting 27 year

old, single, straight, women in New York Citywill accurately reach their target audience. Toimprove click through rate, advertisers shouldmake sure to use profile points in the photo& ad copy to convey why a Facebook usershould engage with an advertisement.

Don Batsford, Jr is a Partner with 31media.com, a Boston

based search engine marketing firm.



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up then overwrite your affiliate cookie? Does a live chatfunction exist on the site, and is the telephone numberfor contact prominently displayed and encouraged foruse? Do you receive credit for orders placed with chatassistance or by phone? Knowing the answers to thesequestions will require that you contact the advertiserdirectly, which leads to the next point.

Can You Locate a Direct Point ofContact for the Affiliate Program?

Either on the site itself, adedicated affiliate support

page, or on affiliate forums are you able to find aname, email address andtelephone number for theAffiliate Manager? If youhave found questionableissues about the programor the merchant, this isalso your opportunity toinquire further. If all youhear are crickets, this couldbe a warning sign that forquestions or issues, youwill be on your own, withpossible wasted effort spent

promoting products, and noresults.

Its my hope that the tips above will save you time andmoney, but in the end go with your gut. If there areexisting issues with the merchant, a test purchase doesnrun smoothly, and no one answers your emails, start toGoogle the competition instead.

Kim Salvino is Senior Account Manager & Affiliate

Evangelist for the US arm of buy.at.

ith statements of the highest payouts,larger than life conversion rates, andother claims to fame; it can be difficultas an affiliate, to find merchants that arethe real deal. Heres hoping the followinglist of tips will help you in your quest to

embark upon a long term relationship with your nextnew merchant.

There is No Escaping PermanentWeb Ink.

If youve found a merchant, and

youre considering adding theirproducts to an existing site ordedicating your next niche siteto them, be sure to do a bit ofresearch. If other affiliates haveexperienced payment issues,communication problems, a highreversal rate or other anomalies, agood old-fashioned Google searchshould reveal these issues. Beyondsearching for the merchants name,be sure to type in Merchant Name+ Affiliate, Merchant Name + Scamand Merchant Name + Fraud.A large amount of complaints

for the merchant, either fromother affiliates or directly fromconsumers, is a red flag.

Make a Test Purchase on theMerchant Site.

Observe the order process as both an affiliate anda consumer. Is the site difficult to navigate? Doesthe merchant place roadblocks in the shopping cartthat will affect your conversion rate? Do they offer adiscount for joining their newsletter, and does signing

How to Spot

a GoodMerchant

If all you hear arecrickets, this couldbe a warning signthat for questions orissues, you will beon your own...



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Your website alone will only bedisplayed a maximum of twotimes for a given search. Your

Facebook Page, Twitter andLinkedIn profiles and YouTubeChannel can get ranked for yourbrand and target keywords.

9. Soci al Medi a Can Be a GreatWay to Build LinksSocial media profiles/pages giveus a great opportunity for linkbait. People love to link to thingsabout themselves. Post itemssuch as the top ten experts inyour field for reciprocal links.

10. Harness the Power ofCommunityCreate Facebook groups,Facebook Fan pages, LinkedIngroups and Ning sites to buildsocial importance and createyour own community.

Jay Berkowitz is the Founder ofwww.TenGoldenRules.com andwww.InternetMarketingClub.org.

Your website alone will only beThe growth of social media sitesFacebook, YouTube, Twitter andLinkedIn has created an excitingintersection between social mediaand search marketing.

Here are five social marketingopportunities to improve yoursearch performance, and five wayssearch can impact your social mediamarketing.

1. Opportunities Arise fromInstant Searchsearch.twitter.com gives us theopportunity to find informationin real time. We no longer have

to wait for search engine spidersto crawl webpages in order tofind instant information. Monitortweets to find people looking foryour products or services.

2. Google Has an Algorithmfor Showing Real TimeTweetsGoogle is now instantly rankingtweets. There is an algorithmfor getting tweets listed whichincludes the number of followersand ReTweets you have.

3. FacebookFanPages G etIndexed in GoogleIf your business does notyet have a Fan page inFacebook, you are missing outon an opportunity to build acommunity among 500 millionusers. Facebook pages havebecome extremely powerfulmarketing tools for severalreasons. First and foremost,Facebook pages index in Googleand the other search engines.

4. Crowd Sourcin g Is APowerful Way To Find

InformationSocial media gives us the abilityto bypass searching throughwebsites to find informationfrom our trusted social media

friends.

5. The Power of Subscri ptionsHaving a strong presence in asmany social media platforms aspossible will increase the reachof your offers exponentially.The more friends you have onFacebook, links on LinkedIn,and subscribers on YouTube, the

more advocates you have foryour products and services.

6. YouTube Is The #2 SearchEngine In The World!YouTube.com is currently the#2 most used search engine,second only to Google and aheadof Yahoo and BING. Optimizeyour videos by adding keywordsand building a popular YouTubechannel.

7. Social Media Profiles Can Be

Optimized For SearchSetting up various social mediaprofiles is only the first step. Inorder to be picked up in search,you need to optimize them.To do this, take full advantageof all the space on which theywill allow you to add contentand add keywords to yourdescriptions.

8. Social Media Can Help YouOwn Mo re Rea l Estate inSearch Engine Result Pages



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As an Outsourced Program Manager, I find myself inthe middle of the debate between coupon affiliatesand merchants quite often. There have been reportsof merchants reducing commission rates for couponaffiliates, not allowing them into their program altogetherand even completely eliminating their affiliate programdue to their frustration with coupon affiliates.

There must be a way for coupon affiliates and merchantsto get along and work together to help each othergenerate more revenue. Kicking affiliates out orlowering their commissions cant be the solution, can it?

One argument I have heard repeatedly against couponaffiliates is that they are taking sales away frommerchants they would have already received. Duringa recession people are looking for ways to save anyway that they can. Who is to say the merchant wouldautomatically receive that sale?

One could argue that the coupon affiliate helped closethe sale because they provided a discount to theconsumer. The merchant had to pay a commission on thesale, but they may have received a customer for life inreturn.

Another popular argument is that coupon affiliates areoutranking the merchants on their branded keywords.Several coupon affiliates have very large sites witha lot of loyal followers. These sites will occasionallyoutrank merchants on their branded keywords innatural search. It is likely that consumers will go tothe coupon site instead of the merchants site to see ifthere is a discount. The merchant may end up paying acommission on a sale he may have ended up getting, butis that a bad thing?

The risk for the merchant in this scenario is that theconsumer will always go to the coupon website first. Ifthe merchant does not have a coupon on the affiliatesite, the consumer will likely be directed to a competitor.Merchants can effectively use coupon affiliates to theiradvantage by boxing out their competitors on theirbranded terms in paid and natural search.

Wouldnt merchants rather pay an affiliate commission togain a lifelong customer, rather than have that customergo to their competition?

Affiliates and merchants can effectively work togetherto make sure their branded keywords are protected andall searches will result in the consumer ending up at themerchants website. In addition to protecting brandedkeywords, coupon affiliates are also very beneficialin gaining traction on non-branded keywords, whichwill help pull consumers away from the merchantscompetition.

Ultimately I believe coupon affiliates and merchantscan create a mutually beneficial partnership. Whilemerchants may have to pay commissions they wouldnot have to pay if coupon affiliates didnt exist, thiscommission is minimal when you consider the affiliate

just helped them achieve a lifelong customer. In myexperience, by eliminating coupon affiliates, merchantsare simply pushing potential consumers to theircompetitors.

Travis is the Affiliate Manager for affiliateCREW, anoutsourced affiliate program management company.



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Its not the size its the size of thein the dog.

Practicing high standards in the industryfor ten years and counting


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egotiate defined in Merriam WebsterDictionary intransitive verb: to conferwith another so as to arrive at thesettlement of some matter.

Every day we negotiate in affiliatemarketing. Whether its AffiliateManagers and Affiliates negotiatingbanner placements, coupons orcommissions, or OPMs negotiatingcontracts, vanity coupons or freeproduct with merchants. Its somethingaffiliate marketers engage in regularly.

But, do affiliates really know how to negotiate, when tonegotiate and what to negotiate with? There are certainfactors which have an impact on your negotiations.

To begin with, make sure that what you are negotiatingfor is realistic. If something is totally unrealistic,whomever you are negotiating with wont even take itseriously and youll lose their interest from the start. Ifyou are asking for a 30% off coupon on a product thathas a 25% profit margin combined with your commissionof 15%, then it wouldnt even be realistic for a merchantto entertain that.

You need to understand the balance that merchants needto find when calculating margins. Sometimes a lessercommission can help you get a stronger coupon, whichin turn can generate more sales and make it worth thelower commissions.

Motivation is another factor to consider. How can youconvince, or motivate the other person to give you whatyou want? Finding a way to make them want to helpyou out by convincing them it will help them out also isthe best motivator. Have the most information possiblewhen negotiating. Generally the person with the mostknowledge is the winner.

As an affiliate, know your competitors commissionsand how they promote the merchants products so youcan compare what you can do for them. Know whatquestions to ask, like prior experiences, what they like ordislike, etc.

Ironically, even with our Internet world, the best way tonegotiate is through personal, face to face contact. Thatis why the conventions and seminars are so importantfor the people in our industry to attend.

Body language and actions can play a huge role in how

you proceed with an offer. For example, if someonemakes an offer to you, and you dont like it, or are justtrying to counter the offer, flinching is a sure sign to theother person that its not the offer you want. This in turngives you a moment of the upper hand since youve nowmade the other person uncomfortable. Here is the besttime to get the concessions from them that you will becomfortable with.

Above all, be confident. Dont show fear or insecuritywhile negotiating. Know when to walk away when youmust, sometimes the concessions are too great. Practicenegotiating at every opportunity you get. Build yourconfidence, and dont let a no inhibit you. Learn from

them instead and keep forgingahead.

Negotiating is a technique tobe mastered. Realize that youdont have to like negotiating,but in life and in business, it isnecessary.

Cindy is the Affiliate Directorfor Greg Hoffman Consultingand a former Affiliate MarketingSpecialist.

Ins and Outs of

Affiliate Negotiating



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ith IT industry analystsat Forrester Researchpredicting that multi-channel e-commerce willbe the biggest growth areain 2011, its only naturalthat the performancemarketing community

is focused on figuring out a way toseize this opportunity.

The definition of multi-channel isstill somewhat amorphous givenhow many customer touch points itencompasses online and in store.Yet for most e-commerce providers,it has come to represent more thantwo channels of interaction with acustomer during the sales process.

For example, it can include acustomer purchase made in-storebased on an online deal or an onlinepurchase resulting in an in-storepickup; or an in-store offer presentedat checkout for an online deal. Thereare an almost unlimited number ofchannels through which to reachtodays consumers, especially whenyou consider the rise in mobile

marketing.

Yet properly crediting first touchversus last touch continues to be aheated debate. Since affiliates aretypically the last touch point in multi-touch interactions and the industrytends to measure the last click, thebenefits to publishers are clear.

With so many touch points, includingthe word-of-mouth channel largelydriven by social media, giving creditwhere credit is due is becomingincreasingly complex. Certainly there

are solid arguments to be madeby the first click introducers, the

influencers who represent themid-cycle non-converting clicksand the closers who are behindthe converting clicks.

This issue is the driving forcebehind Shop.orgs creation of the

Online Marketing Attribution SIG(special interest group), which wasestablished to define standards andbest practices for credit allocation.

Since being founded in 2009, theSIG continues to attract a growingcommunity of advertisers andretailers who are committed torethinking the current standardwhich only credits the last click.

The most obvious challenge thispresents to the performancemarketing community is thepotential redistribution of creditamong introducers, influencers andclosers. However, this inevitablemarket shift also presents anopportunity for advertisers to

revisit their attribution model inways that will benefit all channelsincluding affiliate. This is whyperformance marketing communitiesshould act now to:

Get involved in the SIG sothat all voices are equallyrepresented as standards aredefined.

Actively solicit feedback fromtheir networks to fairly representheir views to the SIG.

Align with advertisers andmarketers to better understandeach channels role in measuringcampaign ROI and its impact onaffiliates.

Invest in technology to gaingreater visibility into allcustomer touch points to avoidcredit discrepancies.

Revisit current commissionstandards and create moreflexible reward systems that

reflect industry best practicesand the affiliates involvement inthe sale.

Just as the number of customertouch points continues to expand,so will the market opportunities foradvertisers, publishers and networksas new attribution standardscontinue to evolve.

Scott Allan is Vice President ofMarketing at LinkShare.

The Hidden

Opportunities BehindAttribution Standards

Invest intechnology to gain

greater visibilityinto all customertouch pointsto avoid creditdiscrepancies.



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ocial media can be considered many things;time-consuming, exciting, scary, necessary;but definitely not stagnant. Each day bringsnew developments in the world of social media,as evidenced via the popular trends that areemerging on the current landscape.

Where is social media today? Its not important, becauseitll look different tomorrow. That said, there are severaltrends marketers (and consumers) need to be aware ofin order to maximize their time on Facebook, Twitter,Foursquare, and countless other networks.

The notion of free social marketing campaigns will soon

give way to highly budgeted campaigns. This should notcome as much of a surprise, since the potential to reachmassive audiences should involve a much wider scope inadvertising campaigns.

Does that mean low budget ad campaigns will be a thingof the past? No, but they will be sharing space with thebig budget campaigns.

I dont expect there will be marketing campaigns thatdo not involve social media in the near future. Socialmedia advertising will be incorporated into all marketingcampaigns. If the goal of your campaign is success, its ano-brainer that social media plays an integral part in it.

Listen: There will be a new interactive component tothe advertising campaigns of the future. Due to amazingdevelopments in social media, listening tools willprovide the marketer with feedback on activity via socialmedia profiles in a way that is much more expansivethan what is currently available in analytical tools. Theenhanced feedback will allow for greater marketingtweaks designed to make future campaigns moresuccessful.

Social Gaming: Social gaming is here to stayas audiences spend more time gaming online, fusingit with social media will lead to tremendous publicitygains for the client that opts to employ such a strategy.

Additionally, social gaming is fun! Anything that can turna social media profile into something hot, happening,and exciting will boost potential marketing successpotential dramatically.

Location, Location, Location: There willalso be a great deal of enhanced integration, sharing,and connecting the offline with online. While this alreadyoccurs, it will become more enhanced and pronouncedover time. This will allow for an expanded amount ofcommerce via location based services and word ofmouth.

Group Buying: Direct commerce sale willintegrate with group social media, making it one of themost critical and innovative trends in the coming monthsand years. It is less about selling product and moreabout expanding reach and awareness.

Already, social media has expanded far beyond whatanyone thought possible. The concept may have beenpurely social; connecting with friends and family in theearly days, but has now developed into a brilliant andnecessary internet marketing platform.

As online time increases and integration of daily life intosocial platforms continues, the way marketers reachaudiences will experience a more dramatic shift than

ever before.

What are some trends you feel should be included in thislist?

Ricky is the CEO of Affiliate Venture Group, a leadingperformance based affiliate network.

By Ricky Ahuja



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practices. Youll get noticed asan expert in your field and willbe more likely to be tapped for

preferred payouts and specialopportunities.

5. Think long-term to reap long-term rewards.If you burn bridges to reapimmediate rewards, you maysacrifice long-term gain. Geton board with compliance ifyou want to have continuousrevenues in the affiliatemarketplace.

Rachel has extensive internet adver-tising experience and is Director ofCompliance for Adknowledge Affili-ate Division.

Lets face it, the Internet is nolonger the wild frontier it once was.Increasing regulation and heightened

consumer awareness have forgedindelible changes to the onlinelandscape.

As a result, compliance is not thedirty (or worse, boring) word itonce was, but now more of a hipcatch-phrase among advertisersand marketers who recognize itas the key to ultimately gaining acompetitive advantage in changingtimes.

Here are five compelling reasonswhy you can no longer afford to benon-compliant if youre an affiliatemarketer.

1. Never-ending regulations.Through recent enforcementactions, the Federal TradeCommission (FTC) has made itabundantly clear it is committedto protecting consumers fromthe wiles of unscrupulousonline marketers. Their 2009release ofGuides ConcerningEndorsements and Testimonialshad floggers squarely in theircross-hairs, and just this yearthey expanded the reach of the

Telemarketing Sales Rule toinclude the online marketing ofdebt relief services. Even theDepartment of Education, in asweeping overhaul of the HigherEducation Act of 1964, hasredefined the permissible limitsof education marketing in orderto improve program integrity.With potential regulatory risksat every turn, advertisers arediverting their budgets to onlinemedia sources where they havegreater control or that they trustto be compliant.

2. Greater cooperation amongnetworks to police affiliates.In a move that seems to defy

conventional wisdom, networkcompetitors are now cooperatingas allies, sharing intelligenceon non-compliant affiliates andopting for more self-regulationin an effort to clean up the poolof players and hopefully avoidfurther legislated regulation.It is getting harder for badaffiliates to hide.

3. Prime opportunities forfavored affiliates.Networks often get opportunitiesfrom advertisers to allocateextra budget to specialpromotions. In determining whoto recommend for these oftenprivate campaigns, networksdraw from their best-performingand most compliant affiliates. Ifyou havent already establisheda stellar reputation withnetworks, its not too late. Starttoday to build your reputationas an uber-compliant affiliateand you could be a candidate forthe next exclusive campaign.

4. Act like the expert you are and attract expert benefits.

Despite the somewhat sulliedreputation affiliate marketinghas garnered over the years,virtually no one disputes the factthat affiliates are the cutting-edge Internet marketing expertswho continue to blaze trailsof marketing innovation intothe virtual landscape. Conductyourself like the expert you are,or aspire to be: study up on thelaws and regulations that affectyou and your industry; knowyour business inside and out;apply your knowledge to your



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ve often thought about how being an affiliatemarketer means you can work from anywhere,and Id daydream about one day making amove.

The idea got some legs this past summer, whenI was chatting with my wife, Vicky, about fleeingNew Jersey for Austin, TX. Before we knew it, oursummer vacation to the Jersey shore was scrapped,and we flew out to Austin in July with our four kids to

look around.After everybody fell in love with the people, food,weather, etc. in Austin, we contacted a real estateagent about listing our house. It went on the marketshortly after Affiliate Summit East 2010 in August.

We got an offer in a little more than two weeks, andclosed on the sale of our house on November 11.

After spending more than five years there. It was abittersweet experience to leave, but exciting to headoff to a new, exciting, scary experience in Austin.

There were so many moments in the house; thebirth of my son Jack, Christmas mornings, times with

family and friends, birthday parties, etc.

Also, it was here that I did much of my workon Affiliate Summit, as well as learning how tomake videos and podcasts, work on a book, writethousands of blog posts, and all sorts of other stuff.

Lots of happy memories locked into those walls. Butit was time for a change.

Since it was going to take a bunch of days forthe moving company to make it out to Austin, wecouldnt just fly directly out there. Well, we could,but we wouldnt have any furniture or anything.

So, my wife and kids made a pitstop at her sistershouse, and I went on a solo roadtrip with my dogsand computers.

It came to around 1,800 miles by car, and I split itup into four days.

I had grand plans of listening to industry podcastsand audio books, but that didnt happen at all. I wentwith working the AM/FM dial the whole way through,and that was great for some brainstorming andhatching plans.

We moved into our new place on November 16. Iam still figuring out my way around here, and oftendont know quite where I am, but I know I am home.

Its never too late to take advantage of thefreedoms, big and small, afforded by this business.

States visited on my roadtrip (in the order I drovethrough): New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, WestVirginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Shawn is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine.



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By Logan Lenz

As someone who manages ahandful of sites daily, I understandhow difficult it can be to breakdown conversion rates andseparate the methods that are

working from the ones thatarent. When you spend money onadvertising your website(s), thereare so many variables that comeinto play that can get in the way ofyour success.

Reviewing and improving uponeach of those variables is oneof the main reasons affiliatemarketing can be so tedioussometimes.

Wondering if your purchase buttonis in the right place on the site or

questioning whether you are usingthe right color scheme shouldnt bewhat drives us so crazy everyday.Dont we have more importantthings to worry about when weremanaging multiple sites? Whatabout actually engaging withcustomers to make the sales?

I recently installed an instantmessaging platform on mywebsites that allow me (or anemployee of mine) to chat withevery single website visitorautomatically. The platform is

called SnapEngage, and it hasproven to be one of the bestinvestments I have ever made as amarketer and website owner.

I know what youre thinking,Nobody wants to be botheredby some IM window when theyrebrowsing a website. I wouldagree with you to a certain extent,but because SnapEngage is soextremely customizable, I urge youto give it a try.

Since I installed SnapEngage onseveral of my websites, I updateda few things in order to optimizeconversion rates.

I only advertise the websites

during my work hours whereI know I will be online to chatwith visitors.

I make sure I am signed intoGTalk whenever I can be toengage with visitors as often aspossible.

I utilize SnapEngages gotofeature to direct websitevisitors to the product/pagetheyre looking for. Thisfunction actually reloads thevisitors page for them.

These changes have not onlygiven me more freedom from theheadaches of running numbersand assessing variables all day, butits also yielded me an immense

increase in my conversion rates.

In November alone, with a smalleradvertising budget than the previousmonth, I saw close to a 300%increase in conversions and moresales than I had seen with the largerad spend prior.

My findings just go to show thatpeople value human interactiononline. If Im able to chat withpotential customers that will makeme money all day long, I am morethan happy to do it.

Since it personalizes my website andbuilds trust with my customers, its astrategy that I dont mind spendingmy time on every day.

Logan Lenz is the Founder ofEndagon. He also helps aspiringentrepreneurs at www.loganlenz.com.



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5. Build a Rapport

Its easier to get a yes from affiliatemanagers if youve establisheda relationship with them. Reachout to them even before you havea request. Attend an affiliateconference and arrange a personalmeeting there; an informal coffeebreak for fifteen minutes will do.

Make sure to follow up after yourmeeting and reiterate your request.

Aside from the five tips listed above,dont make the mistake of notgetting what you want because yousimply dont ask for it. So go aheadand ask. If you get a no, thank themfor their time and keep in touch incase they change their mind or theirprogram policy changes.

Good luck in your next attemptin getting your wishes granted byaffiliate managers!

Mia Vallo manages the NetworkSolutions affiliate program(networksolutionsaffiliates.com).

s an affiliate manager, Iget all kinds of requestsfrom affiliates. Ivefulfilled many requestsand said no to a fewothers. To avoid that no,

here are five tips to get your wishesgranted by affiliate managers.

1. Find Out Who TheyAre

First, find the right person to talkto. Youll find the affiliate managersemail in the network account andwelcome email. You can also usethe networks online contact form. Ifthis is your first attempt to contactthem, go through the contact form.The manager will see that they havea message when they log in to theiraccount and your message wontget lost among other emails in theirinbox.

You can also search for them onvarious social networking sites, such

as Twitter, LinkedIn and affi

liateforums.

2. Do Your Research

Get a background on their programbefore you submit your request. Ifyou want to ask for vanity couponcodes, search coupon sites to seeif that merchant has vanity couponcodes. If you want to ask for anexception to their current policy,read their policies first so you canintelligently position your request.

3. Emphasize theBenefits

Show them how your request willbe beneficial to their program.The goal of affiliate managers isto increase sales, so focus on thenumbers. Youll get their attentiononce you start talking aboutincreasing their sales or earningsper click.

You can also show them that youcan save them some money. Forexample, offer a premium paidplacement on your website for free,if they are willing to fulfill yourrequest.

4. Show Them ThatYoure Worth It

Run a performance report to showhow much sales youve generatedfor them. The affiliate managermay already review your program

performance before your meeting,but its better to be prepared. Plus,you wont make a good impressionif you dont know your numbers.

If youre new to that merchantsprogram, let them know whatyouve done for their competitors.Mention that youve grown yourreferrals for them by 50% in thepast three months, for example.You can also show your websitestatistics, such as unique visitors.



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e all use social media networks toengage people and get our brand outthere. I use Twitter more for sharinginterests, discussing sports, and for someof my more geeky interests (like sci-

fi). Facebook is a mix of friends, family, and businesscontacts. LinkedIn is all business.

You should use LinkedIn to increase your network reach,get brand exposure for your business, and positionyourself as an expert in your field. When you do thosethree things, then vendors, customers and possiblebusiness partners will come to you.

Have a complete profile with aprofessional picture.

Your history doesnt need to read exactly like aresume, but you should include the titles youve held,the companies youve worked for or started, and akeyword rich summary under them. Add industry relatedkeywords in your headline, as well.

You can include apps in your profile to keep it morecurrent with items such as the RSS feed of your blog.LinkedIn also has a status bar and an optional Twitterupdate. I use Tweetdeck to post all my social profiles,and suggest posting industry related topics on LinkedIn.

Build your contact network.

When asking someone to connect with you, look to seeif you have a mutual contact (youll see it) and ask thatperson to make an introduction for you. It always helpsto have a middleman break the ice for you. If not, thensend an invite to connect.

Dont just send the generic Id like to add you to mynetwork message that LinkedIn provides. Tell the personwhy youd like to connect. Do they have a businessyoure interested in? Are you in the same industry? Didyou meet previously at a networking event, or have youworked with others at this persons company? Make itunique and take the time to show the person yourenot just trying to increase your contacts for the sake ofcontacts. You can also export your contact list into aCRM tool.

Use LinkedIn Answers.

It works the same way as Yahoo! Answers. You cansearch questions to answer or ask a question. This isgreat for market research, searching for reviews of aservice or software youre thinking of purchasing, andniche research. Above all, LinkedIn Answers is great tobrand yourself, increase exposure, and establish yourselfas an expert.

Join and start groups.

There are groups and sub-groups for everything. Ima member of school, company specific, and industrygroups. Some are very selective and require approval.By joining these groups, you are further increasing yourbrand and exposing yourself to more professionals

I get requests every week for my consulting services, allthrough word of mouth on LinkedIn for free.

I highly suggest reading LinkedWorking by Frank Aginand Lewis Howes for some great ideas on using LinkedInin your professional life.

Mike Buechele is the Founder of Adalytical, a DigitalPerformance Marketing and Consulting company.


Stephanie Lichtenstein, Jen Goode, Mike Buechele, Trisha Lyn Fawver


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Affiliate marketing forums alsooffer advertising to affiliates thata merchant wouldnt otherwise beable to reach. Forum software isoptimized for search engines, andyour ad can show up quickly, as wellas in RSS feeds to social networksand blogs that you wouldntnormally have access too.

Online relationships built in forumsand other social networking canthen be expanded easily to offlinenetworking conferences like AffiliateSummit, making the limited time

you get at conferences moreproductive.

Deborah Carney is an OPM, as wellas administrator of ABCsPlus.comand the Affiliate Summit forum.

ffiliate marketingforums are a great wayto communicate withaffiliates, yet manyaffiliate managers,merchants and OPMs(Outsourced Program

Managers) ignore or fear them. Thebasis of online forums and socialnetworks is to build relationships.

People go to forums of interest tothem to learn about a topic andto meet other people interested inthe same topic. Affiliate marketing

forums are filled with peopleinterested specifically in affiliatemarketing. They want to talk aboutit and find other people that dowhat they do.

General affiliate marketing forumsare a good resource for recruitingand communicating with affiliates,because affiliates are able to speakfreely without the conversationbeing controlled by the merchant ornetwork.

Even negative feedback about a

merchant is a great opportunity foran affiliate manager to come in andaddress issues they may not haverealized were a problem, plus showaffiliates that they are not afraid ofconstructive criticism.

Being a vocal participant on affiliateforums helps establish an affiliatemanager as an authority in theindustry, as affiliates read whatmanagers have to say. Helpingaffiliates by answering questions not

just related to the program(s) theymanage shows affiliates that they

care about the industry and helpingtheir affiliates succeed.

Managers that restrict posting onforums to just information abouttheir own program are limiting theirreach and not taking advantage ofa wide range of affiliates that arewatching, reading, and ultimatelydeciding who to work with.

Forums are the original socialmedia and should be a part ofa plan to use all methods ofcommunication with affiliates

instead of relying on specificallysocial networking via sites likeTwitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Social networking sites are greatplaces to offer communication andsupport, but some affiliates alsoprefer to be somewhat anonymous,especially when they are firstgetting to know a manager or wantto learn about a specific merchant.

They want to be able to askquestions, discuss problems andissues without managers and

merchants knowing who they are.Some affiliates fear retribution ifthey bring up problems or supportissues that have gone unanswered.

Forums are a great place formanagers to do damage controlby allowing issues to be discussed,and then providing support andsolutions. Even if a managerhas an issue that isnt able to betotally resolved to some affiliatessatisfaction, how the situation ishandled can make affiliates decideto work with a manager (or not).



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ne of the most popular promotional methodsfor businesses lately has been pre-paid deals.Weve all seen them from places like Groupon,LivingSocial, or DealEx, but are they a goodthing for merchants?

They are known by many names, such as flash deals,Groupons, group buying, or simply pre-paidvouchers. Names aside, they allow a merchant to offerdeals to consumers that are so good thatthe consumer will pay for them. Generally,they offer consumers a hefty discount(40-60% off in many cases) in an effort toacquire a new repeat customer.

There have been some horror stories frombusinesses that trying these sorts of dealshad a negative effect on their business. Arecent study from Rice University foundthat 32% of surveyed businesses thatoffered a deal with Groupon found themto be unprofitable, and 40% said theywould never do another one.

Statistics like this can make it a scaryproposition for many businesses.Fortunately, with a little planning itdoesnt have to be.

Many merchants wonder how they cantake advantage of this new revenue source, without therisk to their business. There are some key questionsmerchants should ask themselves when considering thisavenue to drive additional revenue:

Is your goal short-term revenue, orlong-term growth?

This may seem obvious, but its important. Offeringa deal like this to consumers generally will meanthe merchant may take a loss initially to acquire thecustomer. If a merchants margins support the initialdiscount, its a great way to drive short-term revenue.

If a merchant doesnt have the margins to supportthe initial discount, they need to look at this loss as acustomer acquisition cost, and work to make these newcustomer repeat customers.

Does your business lend itself to thissort of promotion?

Just about any business can find a wayto structure this sort of deal to be goodfor them. Services, high margin items, oranything with a subscription attached tendto be great fits due to the high lifetime

value of bringing in a customer. If yourenot sure how a deal could work for yourbusiness, the providers of these sorts ofservices can talk you through ideas basedon their experiences.

Do you have a realunderstanding of howcustomers interact with yourbusiness?

Knowing things like average purchaseprice, lifetime value of a typical customer,

and time based buying trends can really help. This sortof data can help you to calculate the return you canexpect to see by offering a deal, and ensure that it isgoing to be profitable for you.

There can be a delicate balance between creating adeal that works for the merchant, but is still compellingenough for the customer to actually buy. There are noabsolutes, but if a merchant asks themselves thesequestions, creating a pre-paid deal can be a great way todrive additional revenue.

John Vehlewald is the VP of Affiliate Products at Inuvo,Inc.



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The affiliate marketing industry has a number of parent/child teams working together, such as Greg Rice andGreg Rice Jr.; Andy Rodriguez and Andy Rodriguez Jr.;and Deborah Carney and Liz Fogg-Ababon. In recentyears I have become more involved in working with myfather, Bill Swartwout, in what is now ourcompany.

Bill started planting the seed for my love of working inthe Internet industry when I was a young teen, when hefirst got on the Web. Im currently working on instilling apassion for technology with my three-year-old daughter,who has known how to find the browser on my iPhone so

that she could see the sports page icon, since she wasjust 18 months old.

Now, at just three, she manipulates her two pages ofapps on my iPhone like a pro. It just goes to show, itsnever too young to start teaching your child how to usetechnology, or to get them interested in our industry, forthat matter.

In addition to affiliate marketing, my other job hasbeen an elementary school teacher. It has been myexperience that not every student is fond of working ona computer. As I have surveyed my students families tofind out what kind of technology they have available intheir homes, the students with no interest in computersoften do not have access to them at home.

Kids need to have a foundation in computers, asproficiency has become essential in education and theworkplace. . Todays children will not have much choicebutto learn to use computers as we are engulfed in acomputer-centric society. As a teacher, I do whatever Ican to introduce the use of computers into my studentslives through daily lessons, kick-starting their computerliteracy skills - and they love it!

As a mother, I am sure to include my daughter inlearning to work whatever piece of technology I happento be using whenever she is nearby.

That said, Im going to go out on a limb and say that itis never too early to encourage an interest in affiliatemarketing. My three-year-old certainly doesnt know howto do what I do as President and Affiliate Manager. Butshe does know that Mommy works on the computer alot, Mommy works with these things called checks thathave cool pictures on them, Mommy types a lot, andthat Mommy has fun with her work. She even loves towear Mommys company hats and ID badges from pastAffiliate Summits saying that shes going to work withMommy one day.

Jill, affiliate manager of www.GirlyChecks.com, ispresident of the parent Beaches and Towns Network,

Inc.

The affiliatd teg RiDe

rs Ier



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For any growing databasemarketing business, internationalcommunication is crucial forsustained success, however, thereare several pitfalls to consider beforeembarking on a global marketingoperation.

By researching individual countrylegislation and preference,organizations set themselves up

for successful ongoing internationalcommunication in the future.

Paul Kemshell is co-founder of globadata owners and brokers www.wrm-media.com (+44 (0)1924 229 200).

here are many intricacieswithin international digitalmarketing, which oftenencourages marketingcompanies to remain within

the safety net of their own nationalperimeters.

However, these are exciting timesfor international email marketingas a cost-effective way of

communicating with consumers.

Companies such as StrongMail,CheetahMail and Datran Mediaare all US email vendors thathave expanded globally, so goingglobal makes sense for the emailmarketing specialists targeting theirconsumers.

But where do you start if you haveyet to dip your toe into internationalwaters?

Communicating internationallyinvolves much more than simply

gaining access to email addressesabroad, as so many companies failto recognize.

As the number of different, targeteddemographics you need to tailortowards suddenly soars, the timezones you work in clash and thebehavioral and cultural expectationsof your consumers differ, its easyto see why some companies fall intothe trap of sending internationalcampaigns using the samestrategies as their own nationalcampaigns.

However, international expansionwill be detrimental to the survival ofdata owners and direct marketers,which means a consideration of thedifferent nuances across geographiclocation is vital.

The first difficulty in internationalemail marketing is the differencein time zones. This can make ahuge difference to the success of

campaigns, as emails received atthe start of the day are proved tobenefit from a much better open andclick rate. Not only this, but considerthe difficulties encountered byseasonal campaigns when you sendout an international email aboutbikinis it might be summer in theUS, but with winter in Australia,your campaign suddenly loses allrelevance.

Another, more dangerous, issueis legislation. Many countries varyin their laws on email marketing,and an awareness of these

differences is vital in maintaininggood international relations. Lawson privacy regulations and use ofpersonal details vary significantlydepending on the country, and youcould find yourself on the wrong sideof the law if you dont take the timeto investigate these differences.

Collecting data in countries that areyet to take full advantage of emailmarketing will enable you to buildbrand awareness in a developingindustry. Sooner rather than later isthe adage here.

Avoiding thePitfalls of InternationalMarketing



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o you remember the days when an animatedbanner was all the rage? The affiliatemarketing industry has come a long way fromthat. Affiliates are no longer confined to theonline arena.

One way affiliates are blurring the online/offline realmsis by partnering with sites that distribute local deals,featuring brick-and-mortar businesses. The inventory ona daily deals site changes daily, making it natural fodderfor bloggers who are constantly looking forfresh content to share with their readers.

Affiliates also seek to partner with sites

like Groupon and LivingSocial becauseof the regional relevance local deals canprovide to any website. While a websitehas a national based audience, readers arestill finding content that works for them intheir little area of the world. Instantly, itmakes that website even more applicablefor them, explains Jenny Martin ofSouthernSavers.com.

To help affiliates display geo-targeted dealcontent on their sites, Groupon createda dynamic widget tool that automaticallyfeatures the deal most relevant to thereader based on their geographic location.Affiliates can customize this tool to either feature deals

from a specific locale, or to display deals based on thereaders location.

With this widget in place, the affiliate extends theirrelevance offline and becomes a resource for deals intheir visitors neighborhood. And, if our widget doesntmeet the affiliates requirement, then theyre welcome tograb our API and have their way with it.

But its not just all about getting online shoppers intooffline stores. Matt McWilliams, an award-winningaffiliate manager with Legacy Learning, a company thatproduces and sells multimedia training courses, paysaffiliates commission for each call they refer to the callcenter. Our affiliates are thrilled with it and we are

reaping the rewards, says McWilliams.

The concept of pay-per-call is pretty simple. However,the methods by which affiliates are finding theirconsumers are revolutionary, at least for this particularindustry.

Affiliates are taking out ads in local newspapers, securinglistings in local business directories, even going afterspots in Google Places, so when a consumer completes

a local search; the affiliates pay-per-callnumber appears in results.

All these advertising methods existed pre-

Internet, but now theyre being leveragedby traditionally online affiliates. Pay-per-callalso enables affiliates to tap into the mobilemarket. These affiliates have run mobilecontests, built cell phone apps and createdvarious click-to-call campaigns. For us,mobile affiliates are becoming a bigger partof the program and we make customers outof people who simply will not buy online,McWilliams explains.

Mobile is undoubtedly the next step in theevolution of affiliate marketing. It willcompletely remove the computer from theaffiliate marketing equation, and has the

potential to secure incremental sales for the affiliate

marketing channel.

By harnessing cell phones, the affiliate has near constantaccess to the potential consumer and can take advantageof all downtime, from commute to commode. Grouponexpects to track affiliate-referred mobile transactions bythe first quarter of 2011.

Carolyn is the director of affiliate marketing forGroupon.com.



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I went out for a three-mile run the other day, and almostimmediately I was looking for reasons to cut it short andtake a hot shower.

It was windy and cold. Rain was coming down. My footwas hurting. Side stitches.

Then I got to thinking about Edison Pea.

He was the Chilean miner who was who was trapped for69 days. Pea would take three to six mile underground

jogs in the dark to kill time and stay sane.

Hefinished the New York Marathon back in November2010 on a busted knee.

Think of Edison Pea when youre struggling with yourproject or company. He could have stopped at five miles,and everybody would have praised him. But he refusedto quit.

This reminds me of a blog post from Rob Rammuny,19 Entrepreneurs Reveal Why People Fail to Build aProfitable Business (http://feedfront.com/fail).

I participated by answering

My favorite insight about the line betweensuccess and failure came from a keynote address

at Affiliate Summit East 2006 by Jim Bouton(former New York Yankee, best-selling author,and the inventor of Big League Chew):

I stumbled on to the secret of success, and thatis persistence.

I just kept going out for the team anyway, eventhough I wasnt successful.

By Shawn Collins

Every summer out there playing ball.Persistence persistence was the key.

You dont have to be educated, you dont have tobe talented, you dont have to be rich, you donthave to be lucky its available to anyone.

Im convinced most people dont fail, they simplystop trying.

I love that ending. If you want to make your breaks andbe your own boss, you need to keep trying.

Shawn is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine.



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ere all motivateddifferently, but letsassume for a momentthat were all in businessto make money.

Are you familiar with the famousGordon Gekko greed is goodspeech in the original WallStreet? Well, thats why you shouldget off the sidelines and startrunning pay-per-call campaigns.

(You might need to stand up anddo your best slicked-back MichaelDouglas when reading the nextpart.)

The point is, ladies and gentlemen,that Call Performance Marketing isgood. Call Performance Marketingis right. Call Performance Marketingworks. Call Performance Marketingclarifies, cuts through and capturesthe essence of performancemarketing. Call PerformanceMarketing in all its forms. CallPerformance Marketing for online.

Call Performance Marketing foroffline. Call Performance Marketingfor mobile. Call PerformanceMarketing has marked the upwardsurge of performance marketing.And Call Performance Marketing you mark my words will not onlysave your business but the entireindustry of performance marketing.

Okay, joking aside, Call PerformanceMarketing is working for advertisersand publishers, and its easy to getstarted. Pay-Per-Call campaigns aregenerating millions for advertisers

and paying out millions incommissions to publishers.

Nearly all of the leading affiliatenetworks now offer pay-per-call, including CJ, LinkShare,ShareASale, and the Google AffiliateNetwork. Over 25,000 publishershave signed up for pay-per-call sofar this year.

Top publishers are earning over$75K/month promoting pay-per-callcampaigns. Calls are converting 10xbetter than clicks. Click-through

rates improve 5-30% when phonenumbers are included in the ads.Advertisers are earning 1.5 to 2xas much for converting calls asthey do for online transactions.

When it comes to most things, Iwouldnt describe myself as anearly adopter. So, I get it. CallPerformance Marketing is new.Youre not yet sure how it willwork for you, how to get started

or how to prioritize it against theother things you are working on.Maybe validation from the peopleyou trust some of the leaders inperformance marketing will helpmove you along:

Not all sales convertonline. Thats why weprefer using a solutionwhere we can trackcalls and clicks for ouradvertisers.

Don Batsford, Jr.,Partner with 31 Media

After weeks of precisemonitoring, I must admitthat Ive been convinced:there is a very brightfuture for pay-per-callaffiliate programs. If youarent using PPCall yet,I certainly recommendgiving it a shot

Geno Prussakov,AM Navigator

Call PerformanceMarketing has been such ahuge success. After addingpay-per-call to our affiliateprogram, I cant imaginegoing back to a worldwhere all we measuredwas clicks and onlineperformance.

Travis Hopkins,Progrexion Marketing

Pay-per-call is poised to bethe next big thing. Lots ofopportunities for affiliates get off the sidelinesalready

Shawn CollinsAffiliate Summit

Well, ladies and gentlemen, werenot here to indulge in fantasy butin a performance marketing andeconomic reality. Opportunity iscalling. Get off the sidelines already!Just ask your network partners howto get started. Its easy.

Robert Duva is the co-founderand CMO of RingRevenue - www.RingRevenue.com



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Big Brands. Big Commissions.Earn up to 75% commission by joining oneNetworkDirect, the networkwith the biggest brands in software, electronics and games.

> Commission payments in multiple currencies

> Localized contracts, signup pages and affiliate interface

> Merchants with localized shopping experiences

> Website content and translation services

> Exclusive coupons and offers

> Email suppression list scrubbing

> Industry exclusive achievers bonus

Afliate Summit West | 2011 AGENDASaturday,January 8

Early RegistrationLocation: Registration AreaTime: 4:00pm 8:00pm

Come by Saturday evening to pick up your badge andattendee bag so you can enter immediately at noon onSunday when the show opens!

Sunday, January 9Booth SetupLocation: Lafite Ballroom 4-9Exhibitor Move In: 8:00am 6:00pm

RegistrationLocation: Registration AreaTime: 8:00am 6:00pm

First Timers Guide for Affiliate SummitLocation: Margaux 1Time: 10:00am-10:45am

Advice for people attending the Affiliate Summitconference for the first time.

Shawn Collins, Co-founder, Affiliate Summit (Twitter @affiliatetip)

(This Session is Open to all Pass Holders)

Affiliate Improv!Session 1aLocation: Margaux 1Time: 11:00am-12:00pm

Five industry veterans brainstorm marketing ideas forfictional items/services with audience participation. Ideato actionable solutions in one fun, lively hour. Come getyour cr

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FeedFront Magazine, Issue 13