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FTC Endorsement
Guidelines
By Gary Kibel Page 61
www.affiliatesummit.com
™
Table of Contents
03 The Importance of Branding 18 Living the Life of an 32 Choosing an Affiliate
in Affiliate Marketing Affiliate Strategist Network
Rae Hoffman Erin Cigich Geno Prussakov
04 Video Marketing and the Law 19 Productivity: How to Start 34 Social Media: Rebranding
Mark Rosenberg Your Day Customer Service
Aaron Dragushan Nathan Smith
05 The Quest for Social
Marketing’s Holy Grail 20 The Merchant as Affiliate 35 Increase Landing Page
Larry Bailin Conundrum Performance by 162%
Deborah Carney Kristen Groom
07 The Song Remains the Same
21
Matt McWilliams
Being Different Can Be 36 Affiliate Summit West
Very Profitable 2010 Agenda
Andrew Wee
08 Using Analytics to Identify
Affiliate Abuse 46 Keynote Bios
David Naffziger 23 How Networks Can
Motivate Affiliates 48 Speaker Bios
Bobbi Leach
09 If It’s Wet, Sticky & Not Yours… 61 Implications of FTC
Ask
Lisa Barone 24 Dealing with Latent Endorsement Guidelines
Affiliate Links Gary Kibel
Lori Weiman
11 Money Talks
62 Twitter Beginner’s Guide -
Rob Duva
25 Unleashing the Potential of Ten Tips
PPV Advertising Jay Berkowitz
12 How Trust Leads to Success
Bryn Youngblut
Matt Enders 63
Affiliate Program
26 Fourth Quarter is Over. New Year’s Resolutions
13 How To Recycle Your Affiliate
Now What Shannon Simmons
Blog Content
Vinny O’Hare
Justin Premick 64 Acquisition Strategies for
Mailing in the UK
14 Lateral Thinking in 27 Building a Fortress Around
Cari Birkner
Vertical Markets Your Business
Ryan Osborne
CPA Hustle 65 Become a YouTube SEO
Rock Star
16 Running Email Campaigns 28 AffStat Charts
Greg Rollett
Amy Rodriguez & Shawn Collins
Across Third Parties
Todd Boullion 66 People to Follow On Twitter
31 3 Federal Regulations Online
Marketers Must Follow
17 Is Local The Future Of Anne Mitchell
68 Rio All-Suite Hotel
Affiliate Marketing? & Casino Map
Ad Hustler
The Importance
of Branding in
Affiliate Marketing
By Rae Hoffman
When I discuss advanced affiliate Shopping.com is a prime example of a • Identify and capitalize on your “point
marketing, I often suggest creating affiliate huge affiliate brand. The site, at its core, of difference”. Figure out what sites in
brands instead of affiliate sites and provide is nothing more than an affiliate datafeed your niche are lacking and fill those
these two recommendations: aggregator. But because they bought a holes to separate yourself from the
memorable domain and were ahead of the pack
1. Start buying “brandable” and not pack giving consumers the ability to do
keyword-laden domains. If you can product reviews, they were able to create a Not only does creating an affiliate brand
include a keyword in your domain name, strong point of difference. make it easier to compete in the search
great, but branding is important and engines, but it also opens you up to
necessary. That point of difference has since translated additional revenue streams, as well.
into 4 million unique visitors a month
2. Differentiate yourself and add value. according to Quantcast.com (and those Many branded affiliate sites are able to
Let’s get one thing straight - Google numbers are probably low) and millions of make additional profits off of CPM based
doesn’t hate affiliate sites. Google hates dollars in revenue each quarter. and contextual ads, in addition to their
thin affiliate sites. Treat your affiliate site affiliate earnings.
like any “real business” and develop a Of course, Shopping.com is an extreme
point of difference. success story (and proof that yes, Virginia, The important thing to realize is that
you can not only make an income, but you affiliate marketing has evolved. You’re
Defining a point of difference is something can support an entire company on affiliate going to need to learn how to evolve with
that I’m asked about often. And the bottom marketing), but there is no reason you can’t it and how to create an affiliate brand if you
line is that creating a point of difference create the next extreme success story. want to stay viable in the online world.
essentially means creating a brand.
And even if you can only create the next
In the old days, creating affiliate sites “medium” or “small” success story, it can still Rae Hoffman is the CEO of internet marketing
based on 50 three hundred-word articles be a very lucrative story to tell. firm Outspoken Media and website publisher
all focused on keyword variations was MFE Interactive. She is also the author of the
the norm. However, when it comes to How do you create an affiliate brand? often controversial Sugarrae.com blog.
successfully marketing affiliate sites via
• Buy memorable, “brandable” domain
search engine optimization in today’s
names
economy, those tactics are long dead.
• Make sure that at least 20% of your
If you want to not only survive organically site content is unique, compelling
in Google, but thrive, you need to step up and “flagship” in nature
your site-building game. • Allow for and encourage user-
generated content… the Web is no
So what exactly is an affiliate brand? longer a monologue
Social networking giant Facebook recently offerings. You understand your customer’s Twitter, but the greatest book ever written
surpassed Wikipedia as the fourth largest wants and needs as they relate to your on achieving success in the social space was
Web site in the world while micro-blogging services. written 70+ years ago.
powerhouse, Twitter, reportedly handled
5,000 tweets per minute when the king-of- Most importantly, you know how to speak to In my opinion, Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win
pop passed. These announcements have a customer, and that is what will ultimately Friends and Influence People” is the Holy
businesses scrambling to social Web sites like deliver success in the social space. Grail, the secret to social nirvana. This book
they were, well, the Holy Grail of marketing teaches you to speak, think and write with the
Let the gurus obsess over the perfect formula
success. intent to persuade. Carnegie’s book teaches
of Re-Tweets to Tweets and which shortened
you to think like a customer and provide
Here’s the thing about finding the Holy URL gets clicked the most. You need to
value in order to evoke a desired outcome.
Grail: what do you do once you’ve found it? spend more time strategizing the creation of
Companies large and small, although excited valuable dialogue. Social websites and ninjas come and go.
over the promise of social marketing, often When you master the skills to think like a
Study your customer’s wants and needs,
have no idea what to do in this new and customer and subtly entice, your next quest
misconceptions and objections, then create
unfamiliar space. for marketing’s Holy Grail will be a short
shareable contributions that educate and
crusade. You’ll only need to look inside
Certainly, there is no shortage of social subtly entice. Contributing, educating and
yourself.
marketing gurus, experts and even ninjas subtly enticing - sounds a lot like selling.
(yes ninjas), but you can’t rely solely on these Despite popular opinion selling is not a bad
social Sherpa’s to achieve true success in your thing.
Larry Bailin is the author of the bestselling
social quest. There is nothing wrong with using social Internet marketing book, Mommy, Where Do
A good or even average social media media to attract and convert customers, just Customers come From? and CEO of Single
consultant can help you traverse an learn to sell in a friendly non-disruptive way. Throw Internet Marketing.
unforgiving social terrain by creating a sound Learn to join the conversation as opposed
social media strategy and implementing best to interrupting it. You have to sell without
practices. selling.
However, you can only be catapulted to You may be asking, how do you sell without
success if you have something worth flinging selling? Let me share a little secret with
into the air. you: it’s not so much a secret as an often
overlooked resource.
Success is imminent when you realize that
the knowledge necessary to succeed, no I’m frequently asked to recommend books
matter the marketing vehicle, comes from on social marketing. There’s no shortage of
within. You have intimate knowledge of your books about the intricacies of Facebook and
By Matt McWillilams
The Song
Remains the Same
Remember 2001? Tweeting was I’ve paraphrased some of the 8. Respond quickly. Immediate loneliness that sometimes comes
reserved for birds and a Web site book’s tips that are still true today response gives the customers with being an affiliate marketer.
was an afterthought for most for both affiliates and merchants. a sense of support and service
businesses. Affiliate marketing (and importance). Thinking back to my own
was hardly a viable career option 1. Keep it simple. Don’t require beginnings in online business
and most of us still dialed up plug-ins that some people 9. Keep track of what’s selling. in 2003, not much has really
to the internet. It seems like so might not have. Avoid As a merchant, you have to changed. Email is still my primary
long ago. unnecessary graphics and analyze buying trends and means of communication, but as
special effects. habits to help plan inventory. always, I prefer actually talking to
Recently I was reading one of my Don’t run out of something someone.
wife’s old business books from 2. Provide value. The more that is selling. This upsets
college titled “Understanding information you have, the customers and affiliates alike. The data still doesn’t lie. If one
Business”. In the section about more likely people are to buy. You have to know conversion header outperforms another, it
entrepreneurship, it offers tips rates too. wins, no matter how un-Web 2.0
for attracting customers to an 3. Make buying easy. it might be. And I still believe,
ecommerce site. 10. Build a support network. The perhaps more so than ever, that
4. Display certification. Be secure book says “build relationships customer service is of the utmost
Saying that Web-based businesses and show it. with other Web-based importance.
were “still in their infancy,” the entrepreneurs.”
book offered tips for these baby 5. Post a privacy policy. It’s true in the online world for
ecommerce sites, ranging from While forums were not as popular sure. The more things change, the
Web design to customer care. The 6. Be accessible. Give prospects then as they are now, the advice more they stay the same.
amazing thing is that all of the tips a phone number, email, fax, still rings true. Participate in
are still relevant today. and physical (NOT P.O. Box) forums like ABestWeb.com,
address. AffiliateTrust.org or others. Matt McWilliams is the Affiliate
In spite of, or perhaps because of, Read, learn, and share. Attend Manager for Legacy Learning
all of our innovations online, the 7. Get it right the first time. conferences like Affiliate Summit. Systems’ Learn and Master Courses
simplicity of what was true eight Merchants, note this: Meet with other affiliate marketers at www.learnandmaster.com/
years ago is still true today when Customers who receive the in your area. Becoming a part of affiliates.
it comes to selling and customer right order on time are more a community will not only help
retention online. likely to buy from you again… you with your business, but will
and your affiliates will love this. also help alleviate some of the
• Signing me up to your newsletter, because I handed Spamming with a newsletter I never asked for, so you can
you a business card at a conference – cavalier. get out your marketing agenda, will burn more bridges
than it will build. You should just go sit in your timeout
• Releasing features with a “we know better” attitude
chair now. Because no one wants to deal with you.
and then ignoring the outcry you knew would come
– cavalier. Why is it no longer easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask
• Cold-calling me without at all targeting your sales permission? Because social media is permission marketing.
pitch or knowing who I am – cavalier. It’s the price of admission. Always having to say “you’re
sorry” does nothing but destroy your brand and label you
• Expecting trust instead of earning trust – cavalier. a bully in the eyes of your consumer. Before you throw a
rock through someone’s window, ask them if they wouldn’t
And customers won’t put up with it. It doesn’t matter if you mind opening up the door.
say “you’re sorry”. Their impression is that you’re a jerk. That
you tried to take what wasn’t yours. And that you’re more
concerned with yourself than the privacy or wants and Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer of the
needs of your users. That’s not a brand people are going to SEO consulting firm Outspoken Media and obsessively tweets
do business with. [You really should change that ReTweet at @lisabarone.
feature, Twitter.]
I got involved in affiliate marketing over to speak with someone to get our questions The intuitive campaign creation, call pricing,
a decade ago. I’ve been a publisher and answered. “Will it ship it by Tuesday? What and management tools provided ensure that
an advertiser and have leveraged affiliate colors do you have it in? What’s the return advertisers are able to offer generous per-call
marketing and other performance marketing policy?” commissions and achieve their target ROI
channels to generate over $100 million in objectives.
revenue. Advertisers want these calls because they
convert into sales at an average rate 30-50% For publishers, pay-per-call represents an
I’ve experienced the benefits this industry and at an average sale price of 1.5 to 2 times opportunity to expand promotions online
has to offer when you put the time and that of online sales, but publishers don’t want and venture into offline media: mobile, TV,
effort into building strong long-term win- calls going to advertisers because they aren’t radio, print, etc.
win relationships, and I believe that affiliate able to get credit for them.
marking is just getting started. With pay-per-call, when consumers want
As a result, publishers won’t aggressively to talk, advertisers, publishers, and affiliate
A couple of years ago, I pulled together promote offers that include phone numbers. networks are now all making money.
a team of the most talented people
I knew in the software development This issue has limited the success affiliate
and telecommunications space to start marketing can have when promoting higher- Robert Duva is the co-founder and CMO
RingRevenue. Our goal was to build a end more consultative products and services. of RingRevenue, and you can learn more
platform for affiliate marketing that would This is also one of the main reasons you don’t about their pay-per-call services at www.
allow advertisers, publishers, and affiliate see many successful business-to-business RingRevenue.com.
networks to track calls like clicks. or local business sales transacting through
affiliate networks today.
Let’s start by talking about the problem. For
years, affiliate marketing has faced a simple Did you know that U.S. consumers make
challenge: what happens when people millions of purchases over the phone every
shop online but then buy offline? Many of us day and advertisers spend over $200 billion
live online and are comfortable purchasing dollars a year in offline marketing?
online.
Now, with pay-per-call, we as an industry
But often, when it comes to those more are starting to get access to those offline
expensive or complex purchases, we want advertising dollars.
But remember, trust is a two way street. If an affiliate trusts you with
their business model, you have to trust them with items like your
brand name, VIP commission rates, and special privileges.
Why was this level of success achievable in this particular partnership? Matt Enders is the CEO of mgecom, inc., a leading Outsourced Affiliate
Program Management firm.
• We knew the affiliate well
• We had worked with the affiliate closely in the past
Get that old content out to them and Once you have your emails together, plug
make it fresh again! them into your autoresponder.
Create an Autoresponder Campaign For As you create each email, think about how
Your Blog in 3 Easy Steps much time you want to pass between
those messages and schedule accordingly.
1. Identify Your Best Content
Remember, new subscribers will also be
Justin Premick Go through your old blog posts and getting your new posts (right?), so don’t
decide which are the truly high-quality space the emails too close together.
If you’re one of the many smart affiliate ones that new subscribers need to see.
marketers who blog regularly, I bet you As you create more quality posts, you can
put a lot of effort into creating high- 2. Turn Each Post or Group of Posts into continue adding autoresponders or edit
quality content. an Email your existing ones to work those posts
into the emails you’ve already created, and
Often, that valuable content is timeless, A few ways to go about this: get even more clicks and traffic to your
but only appears on the most-viewed affiliate blog.
part of your blog – the homepage – for • The fastest, simplest way is to
a short time. Other posts push it off your just copy and paste your full post
homepage and into oblivion. Justin Premick is the Director of Education
content into an email, style as you
Marketing for AWeber Communications,
see fit, and save. No introduction,
This is frustrating, after all, new visitors and you can follow him on Twitter @
no conclusion, just the post as a
could benefit from this content, right? justinpremick.
standalone email. A little boring/dry
Even if they sign up days, weeks, months but it can work.
or years after you publish it.
• Paste a compelling excerpt from
your article, link to the full post,
Fortunately, with a simple email marketing
and add a brief introduction and
tactic, you can resurrect your content from
conclusion to the email. I like this
the depths of your blog and keep it in
method because it encourages
front of your ever-growing, ever-changing
click-throughs, but you may find that
audience.
including the full post is better.
Turn Your Blog’s Best Content Into an
Automated Email Newsletter • If you have two or more good posts on
a topic, write an email that combines
There’s no reason to put all that hard work the ideas in those posts and links to
into creating great content, then get just them in context (you might be doing
one round of visits, comments and sales this with blog posts already). Or, just
from it. Why be satisfied with that? write a simple introduction and then
According to the US Email Marketing need to be consolidated, updated and their list against the MD5 hashes in the
Forecast, 2009 To 2014 by Forrester shared again for the next campaign. suppression list. If a match is found, the
Research, “Marketers tell us that they mailer removes the corresponding email
enjoy an ROI (return on investment) that Timing is a critical factor as the CAN- address in their list.
is two to three times higher with email SPAM act requires you to remove
than it is with any other form of direct unsubscribes requests within 10 Here’s what’s at stake:
marketing.” business days. You also want control
and visibility over your opt-out lists. 1) Legal compliance. Hefty fines if you
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that do not comply with the CAN-SPAN and
marketers are increasingly utilizing There are two options to securely remove unsubscribes.
email and broadening their reach by protect consumer data when managing
2) Brand reputation at risk if your messages
running email campaigns via third and distributing email opt-out lists:
are sent to consumers who have opted-
parties. These third-party channels
out.
can be highly effective in generating 1. List Scrubbing - instead of
meaningful revenue and broadening downloading a suppression list of email 3) Industry reputation. If you bend the
an advertiser’s reach, as long as they are addresses to not mail to, email partners rules even a little, few will be willing to
adhering to the latest CAN-SPAM rules upload their mailing list(s) to a neutral work with you in the future.
and regulations. third party to be “scrubbed” against
the advertiser’s suppression list(s). The
The challenge advertisers often face suppression list never leaves the third If you are leveraging third parties to
when trying to remain compliant lies in party’s secure environment. deliver your email messages, you must
securely managing and distributing the take compliance seriously. You can’t
list of unsubscribers, often known as an After the data has been scrubbed, the afford not to.
opt-out list or suppression file, with their email partner can either download a
third-party vendors. “scrubbed,” mailable list, or a list of
matching records that are not to be
As an advertiser you have a list of mailed to. Either way, consumer data has Todd Boullion is the president of
consumers who have opted-out from not been exposed to the third party. UnsubCentral, a leader in email compliance
receiving your email communications. and suppression list management.
You must now share that list, in a secure 2. MD5 Distribution – MD5 is a one-
manner, with your third-party partners. way hashing algorithm that renders
email address useless for mailing by
Furthermore, they are sending offers to converting plain-text email addresses
their lists on your behalf and are also into 32 character hashes. Advertisers can
capturing unsubscribe requests to add use MD5 to encrypt their suppression
to your opt-out list. Your list is growing lists before sending to third parties.
and multiple third parties are sending Third parties then encrypt their mailing
you updates at different times that all list and compare the MD5 hashes in
Affiliates are starting to hear more be surprised when they ask you to that you should run away from the
and more about local affiliate redesign their logo for free. Since market like a dog with your tail
marketing. Some affiliates are local businesses are doing business between your legs. In long term
so excited about the prospect of with you in one capacity they get a business plans, diversification is
picking some low hanging fruit that strange notion that they own you key. Having a few local clients can
they claim local affiliate marketing is in every capacity. Set them straight potentially help your bottom line
going to be the next hottest niche. early or suffer the consequences. when affiliate sales are down.
Various bloggers, including myself, Lead Quality: Local clients typically To read the entire Ad Hustler local
have written about their local online cannot close the sale with an online online advertising series please visit
marketing experiences. You often lead. Many businesses do not http://www.adhustler.com/local
hear about the successes, but very have call centers. This leads to a
little about the challenges involved receptionist handling an Internet
in managing local clients. lead. When the receptionist’s Ad Hustler has been advertising online for
terrible sales skills fail them, they more than 7 years, and you can read his
Local Clients Know It All: No claim the lead quality is bad. case studies at www.adhustler.com.
matter how good the results are in Even businesses that assign their
your campaign, local clients think salespeople to Internet leads usually
they know more than you. They get think their salespeople are a lot
hung up on the most bizarre selling better then they truly are. I consider
points about their businesses and the lack of sales skills in these local
sabotage their own campaigns. businesses one of the most major
hurdles faced.
Local Geotargeting Is Weak:
Even the big players have not yet Payment: Affiliates get upset when
perfected geotargeting. I can’t an affiliate network misses their
begin to tell you how many out weekly payment. How about having
of market leads I’ve generated to wait 90+ days to get paid by slow
through Google AdWords. Don’t paying clients? Payment upfront
be surprised when your campaign can alleviate this issue, but many
targeting only the NYC area local businesses will not make this
produces unusable leads from concession.
Florida and Texas.
These are just several of the
Freebies: Local clients love to try to challenges facing anyone
get you to throw in way more then wanting to pursue local business
their paying for free. Doing a local relationships. Just because there
lead generation campaign? Don’t are challenges, does not mean
One of the inevitable questions that campaigns you want to learn more about, Once you finally head to bed, you
always arise when we sit down with one or at the weekly marketing team meeting double check your cell phone to make
of our affiliates for a dinner meeting at (hopefully lunch is catered in from Pei sure your ringer is on in case there are
a show or on a deep sea fishing trip in Weis today!). any developments that require your
Sarasota is “What’s a normal day like for immediate attention.
you?” You grab your second energy drink of
the day and then, it is time to make some If that sounds hectic, it doesn’t even
While no day is typical, they are all calls. Good affiliate managers are not offer compare to what your schedule is like
exciting. If you are heading in to the office, pushers, they are data analysts. Most while attending a conference in New York,
chances are you’re throwing on your flip afternoons are filled with strategic calls Las Vegas, Denver, San Francisco or even
flops, shorts and a t-shirt and arriving with top affiliates. London; or entertaining an affiliate who
around 9 AM. You’ve already checked your has come to tour the office and go out on
stats from home and said good morning After catching up on how their family and the town.
to a few affiliates at that point, too. favorite sports teams are doing, you’ll hop
into discussing their marketing methods, Like most roles in this industry, being
Once there, after grabbing your first free business model, cash flow and goals. This an affiliate strategist is fast paced and
energy drink of the day, you meet with will allow you to develop a plan of action stressful at times, but knowing you are
the marketing research team in order to for the next days, weeks, months and helping people grow their businesses is
take a deeper look at statistics. Are there years. extremely rewarding.
any new offers that are winners? Any
with potential but need a stronger test? The rest of your calls will be touching
Are there any new creative elements or base with prospective affiliates in order
promotional codes? The research team to determine if they are a good fit for the Erin is the Director of Affiliate Publishing
makes sure you are always ahead of network. and leads Clickbooth.com’s team of affiliate
market demands. strategists.
Before you leave the office for the day
Between statistics, emails, AIMs and (somewhere around 7 or 8pm), you’ll
calls, the morning typically flies by. Your review any new campaign information.
stomach starts grumbling and that is After dinner at home, odds are you are
when you realize it is already 2:30 and logging back on to connect with affiliates
time to grab lunch. and do a little market research to make
sure you are staying on top of industry
You either eat with some of the other trends.
affiliate managers, an ad rep whose
PRODUCTIVITY:
How to Start Your Day
The Problem: For most of us, the first thing we do in the The Secret: You’ll find that simply having priorities will give you
morning is check our email. As we start reading and replying, a sense of empowerment and control over your work, even if
it’s easy to forget that we are now in “responding to other there are days when you can’t stick to them.
people” mode.
Have a great day!
Of course responding to others is an important part of work,
but when you start your day that way, you often end it by
thinking, “Argh! I never worked on _______!” Aaron Dragushan is the founder of UpgradeMe.org, a site dedicated to
helping entrepreneurs move faster.
The Solution: Before you start work, take three minutes and
decide on your top priorities for the day. You’re never going to
get everything done, so what’s most important for today?
Plus, it devalues your site and your product(s). Shoppers could get the
uneasy feeling that you don’t believe in your product line if you are
also selling other people’s products through outbound links.
While you may not have enough merchandise to sell, or you think
people are looking for something you don’t have when they land on
your site, the better way to handle that is to be sure that your site
marketing efforts attract the right shoppers.
Then once you have them, you make them feel that you are the only
place they should be buying from. If you are selling blue widgets and
people are landing on your site from searches for pink widgets, then
you need to look at your site structure and content so that you are
getting consumers who want to buy blue widgets.
It is the same for information products and sites selling services. If you
can’t supply the service directly, have your visitors contact you about
what they need, and then you can refer them privately after you have
discussed their needs and determined you aren’t the right fit.
Deborah Carney You built an ecommerce site to make money by selling your own
products. If you want to sell other people’s products, make a separate
Web site.
I am puzzled by a question that has been raised frequently as of late:
“In my store can I affiliate link to other products that I don’t carry?”
Deborah Carney is an Outsourced Affiliate Program Manager and
The short answer is no. The longer answer is to actually ask a question eCommerce Consultant (TeamLoxly.com) with a site dedicated to
back - “Why do you want to send the shoppers looking for your teaching affiliates and merchants (ABCsPlus.com) how to maximize their
products away to someone else?” online earnings.
If you are an ecommerce site (meaning you sell products using a
shopping cart) and you have an affiliate program (meaning you pay
affiliates to make sales of your products) you want to keep your traffic
on your site purchasing from you.
Many affiliates will not promote merchants that are featuring products
not for sale on their own site. They don’t want to send you their traffic
when you might receive compensation, but they definitely will not.
Aside from the affiliate aspect, there is the fact that you as a merchant
In the online marketing world, it can be a moved it up a couple of notches. You won’t know what will or will not work
struggle to get your voice heard, especially when it comes to a traffic or conversion
since many marketers will be adopting Within the affiliate marketing context, most tactic in a campaign. I’ve heard more than
similar tactics when it comes to promoting affiliates are promoting their campaigns my fair share of stories about marketers
products to their prospects. primarily through text and graphics, thin trying something wild and unexpected on a
affiliate sites, which may not provide much whim as they’re setting up a campaign, only
The proliferation of competitive intelligence value beyond specifications lifted from the to have it go gangbusters on them.
and spy tools means that a new affiliate merchant’s site and product pricing.
can create a clone copy of another affiliates Unfortunately, you won’t often read blog
campaign, often within a few hours. Going the extra mile to create additional posts or forum postings about these
content, especially catering to buyers earlier techniques because they’re some of the key
The net result? A potentially profitable in the sales cycle, can help boost your tools of the trade. If you do hear about them,
campaign, although with an uncertain conversions. it’s usually after some time has passed and
lifespan. the affiliate has made a killing and moved on
Although there have been numerous to something new.
Instead, affiliates who are planning to be presentations at trade events and seminars
in the industry for the long haul can better about the power of video in branding The lesson here is to think about what
channel their energy to create a sustainable yourself and getting more sales conversions, you’re doing in your business and find ways
presence on the Internet. The following there are just a handful of affiliates who use to innovate. Creativity can pay off very
factors can help you shape the direction of these services, and more importantly, use handsomely in these circumstances.
your business them well.
Improve on How Everyone Else is Running Always Be Testing Andrew Wee blogs about affiliate marketing
Their Business Department store pioneer John Wanamaker at WhoIsAndrewWee.com and is co-founder of
Think of companies like Apple, FedEx has been quoted as saying “Half the money the InternetMarketingCookbook.com resource
and Twitter and see how they positioned I spend on advertising is wasted; the site.
themselves above the competition. trouble is I don’t know which half.” Although
Although personal computers, overnight Wanamaker, considered the father of
delivery and social networks had been advertising, came up with the words in 19th
around before these companies were century, the saying still hold true when it
established, these new entrants looked at comes to online marketing today.
where the bar was set in their industry and
Latent links refer to affiliate URLs that are b. Old Offers / Out of Stock: Redirect 3. Out of Stock: Just like with old
for expired offers or are no longer valid, traffic to a best alternative landing offers, you might not be notified. Ask
but are still active e.g. listed in a search page to ensure a good user merchants who you work with what
listing, blog, or other Web page. Because experience. Don’t let consumers their policy is regarding out of stock
the link is not valid, the landing page for a land on an ‘out of stock’ or ‘invalid items including notice to you and
latent link is likely an error page. offer’ page. traffic re-direction.
These links are damaging to the merchant 2. Monitoring & Pro-Active 4. Monitor: If you have it in your budget
due to a poor user experience and Management: Monitor your offers to get some software, it doesn’t hurt to
damaging to the affiliate’s ROI due to poor and landing pages to track and monitor the landing pages where your
conversions. There are several events that divert traffic that is hitting error or traffic points and look for out of stock,
can cause a link to become a latent link: inappropriate pages. error pages, or invalid offer pages
so that you can refresh links without
3. Affiliate Notification: Notify your having to spend your hard earned
• Affiliate Removal. The affiliate
affiliates of changes in offers or if links commissions on traffic that links to
is removed from the merchant’s
are hitting error pages. nowhere.
affiliate program. In this case, the
link usually will redirect to an error 4. Media Provider Notification: If you
page hosted by the affiliate network. aren’t able to redirect traffic or to
• Old Offers. The merchant removes encourage the affiliate or ex-affiliate Lori Weiman is the CEO of The Search Monitor
the offer. In this scenario, the link to take down a latent link, then notify which provides market research on online
may resolve to an error page on the the media providers where latent links advertising covering competitors, brand/
merchant’s web site or hopefully to are displayed – most media providers trademark abuse, and affiliate compliance on
an appropriate alternative page. and search engines will de-activate ads paid & organic search, local, shopping, and
that resolve to error pages. social media.
• Out of Stock. The merchant sells
out of an item. Usually these kinds Advice for Affiliates
of links point to the actual product
1. Affiliate Removal: If you are removed
/ offer page with an ‘out of stock’
from an affiliate program, be sure to
message on the page.
review ALL of your destination URLs
and replace the latent links with fresh
Advice for Merchants affiliate links that actually work.
So what exactly is PPV advertising? The first step is to choose which you’re not sure, why don’t you split test
product or service you want to it and find out? Some offers work well
PPV (pay per view), also known as promote. The most recommended are direct linking to them, and some do
CPV (cost per view) is usually referred simple and short-form submits; but much better with a jump page.
to as contextual advertising. PPV is don’t limit yourself to these.
technically adware; not to be confused If you take PPV serious enough, you
with spyware. Adware comes from After you have chosen an offer, it’s will likely experience a financial
an ad-supported program that a user time to start researching keywords; rollercoaster. You WILL lose money
installed onto their PC, which they and most importantly URLs. There are testing things. You WILL have
agreed to when installing it. PPV allows a number of ways to do this. If you unsuccessful campaigns. You WILL fail,
you to not only bid on keywords but are not familiar with the process, just and that’s life. But if you make it past all
also domains (URLs). search around the Web for keyword the failures and don’t give up, success
researching tools. could be right around the corner...
So what’s so good about PPV? From my
experience, it is incredible if done right. As far as finding URLs goes, it’s
I have some campaigns, for instance, pretty simple, but does require some
where I spend approximately $50 on a creativity. What I typically do is a Bryn Youngblut is a full time
day and they each generate thousands simple search for my offer or things entrepreneur and affiliate marketer, and
in revenue. Not bad, eh? related and copy down the URLs that he blogs at www.Bryn.me
come up. Then I take those URLs over
Why am I sharing this information? to Quantcast.com and get a ton more
Probably because I am a mad man related Web sites using the “Audience
or maybe because I do well enough Also Likes/Visits” feature on the right
that I feel like giving people some hand side.
inspiration. It has always helped me in
the past. Once you have your list of keywords/
URLs, it’s time to setup your campaign.
Now that you know the basics, I It is VERY important that you track
will walk you through the steps to everything, so you can eliminate the
get started. You’re going to need keywords/URLs that are not converting.
to be signed up for a network. For
beginners, I recommend signing up for The most common question I get is
MediaTraffic, and when you are more “Should I direct link the offer or use a
advanced, try out TrafficVance. landing page?” and I always reply that if
The rush of Christmas is over, so now would be a good time to see Some categories that are strong across the calendar year are home
what sold during the holiday season and dedicate a site to that topic. renovation, cooking, tools, automotive, and you can break each one
I normally use January as a time to focus on one brand-new site. of them down into a niche.
You can go into your analytics programs and see what people were
looking for and make a new niche Web site. For home renovation you might just want to focus on bathrooms.
Cooking can be anything from recipes to cooking utensils. Mechanics
I like to make sites that are not just sites that sell products in the use tools all year round, and the automotive industry could be
fourth quarter. Too many marketers focus on making a site just for broken down in hundreds of ways, from tires to auto insurance.
Christmas. You should focus on a site that sells year around. It is also
a good time to make that hobby site that you’ve wanted to make for Speaking of automotive, many people research new cars online
a long time... you know that labor of love that you’ve always wanted before they go into a dealer. They could be doing this research on
to make. your site. Automotive manuals are always a big seller for people
trying to repair that car.
Try to think of things that would sell throughout the year, such as
team sports products. Every time you turn on a game all you see Affiliate programs exist for almost every niche, and if you can’t find
is people in the stands with jerseys on from their favorite team. a good one, you can always turn to Google AdSense or some other
Somebody has to sell them the jerseys it might as well be you. You contextual advertising program.
can also think of all the sports that run the most during the year, my
last site was based on NASCAR, since the season practically runs 10
months out of the year. Vinny O’Hare is the founder of Vincent O’Hare Consulting, (VinnyOHare.
com) an Internet marketing service that provides information on how to
Kids are playing soccer all seasons, especially in the warm weather make money online with affiliate programs and contextual advertising.
states. These kids need new cleats, shorts, balls, etc. You can also look
towards your favorite hobby and develop a site around it. Hobbies
are all year round also, you don’t take a break from your favorite
hobby. Like I’ve said there are many ideas you can get just by looking
at your analytics programs.
Building a Fortress
Ryan Osborne
Around Your Business Registration at Affiliate Summit East 2009
If data truly is “the new oil”, then how are you events or when an aggrieved party seeks • Estimated total cost to company
supposed to protect yourself from the liability further payment for their injuries. $33.8M
and risk that pervade the affiliate marketing
landscape? No doubt you have taken the Your company should obtain insurance Scenario 3:
requisite technical measures to protect your that protects against data privacy breaches,
• Retailer loses customer specific
sizable investment in your business, and intellectual property violations, breach of
information over the span of two years
frequently consider what more can be done. contract, and media/advertising risks.
through firewall security breach
But, what do you do when something With this protection, you have the insurance • 20 class action lawsuits are filed
breaches the defenses? What happens when policy to defend the lawsuit and pay damages
• Retailer had to reimburse expenses
clients, customers, or the public begin making as necessary.
for some customers, undertake
demands “to be made whole”?
data security measures and system
Here are a few examples:
evaluation, address identity theft for all
There are two defenses that each company
lost records
needs, regardless of size, in order to Scenario 1:
withstand the attack: (1) strong licensing • Estimated Total Cost $156M
• Major Oil Company with 10,000 stations
agreements, and (2) insurance.
• Outsources credit card processing/Point
A strong, well-written, licensing agreement of Sale network to third party These scenarios highlight loss of data events
is the first step to limiting the liability each and a loss of network/service event. All
• System fails for 6 hours
company faces after a catastrophic event. The three scenarios could present hurdles too
licensing agreement serves to limit liability • Claim of 20 lost sales per station at an significant to overcome.
and clearly define relationships. In most cases, average of $30 per sale (Total claimed
it will effectively enable the parties to resolve loss of $6M) By structuring the proper licensing
the dispute and continue the mutually agreement and then complimenting it with
• Arbitration panel awarded claim of $4M
beneficial relationship they entered in the the proper insurance policy you will have the
to Oil Company on Breach of Contract
first place. best chance to operate a successful affiliate or
claim
online marketing business in today’s volatile
However, the license agreement will business climate.
Scenario 2:
not stop some parties from seeking an
additional “pound of flesh” from you after • Company deceived into selling
an unfortunate event. In fact, you may have customer information to con artist Ryan is a partner with Citadel Program
acted within the licensing agreement and still • Data included financial data and other Managers which offers insurance services and
face a lawsuit. important personal information can be reached at rosborne@citadelus.com.
This is where insurance comes in. Insurance • Class action lawsuits and 43 states
is the security blanket in case catastrophic Attorneys General became involved
Marketing Stats
3 Federal Regulations
Online Marketers
Anne Mitchell Must Follow
2009 was an interesting year for changes to advertise the vendor’s product or to For example, if Acme provided you for
in Federal regulations which affect Internet otherwise generate sales for the vendor. free with that nifty widget that you just
marketers. There were changes to CAN-SPAM, This means that if your affiliate sends email reviewed, you must disclose in your review
and a revision of rules by the Federal Trade featuring your product or service, and that your relationship with Acme, and that Acme
Commission; both of which directly impact email is deemed to be spam, then you may be provided the widget at no charge.
Internet marketers. legally as guilty of spamming as your affiliate,
especially if you knew or should have known While these three rules may seem onerous or
Below are three Federal regulations which that the affiliate was using spam to advertise burdensome, they are not really that difficult
Internet marketers must follow: your product. to follow once you understand them, and
following them not only keeps you within
1. Email Sent Out Featuring Someone Else’s 3. Testimonials, Reviews, and Endorsements the law, but distinguishes and identifies your
Product or Service in Marketing on the Internet business as being above-board and ethical.
Email sent out featuring a third-party’s The use of testimonials on the Internet is
product or service must also include now being more strictly regulated by the Anne P. Mitchell is an Internet attorney and
information about the entity that is actually Federal Trade Commission, and testimonials law professor, and runs the Institute for Social
sending out the email, otherwise the third- that suggest outstanding results that are not Internet Public Policy (ISIPP), best known for
party can be deemed solely responsible actual typical results must disclose that the their SuretyMail Email Accreditation service.
under CAN-SPAM for handling all opt-outs. results being featured in the testimonial are
Put another way, if your product or service not typical, and must indicate what typical
is advertised in email being sent out by results can be expected.
someone else, be sure that they include
information about themselves in the email, or Additionally, if you favorably review or
you may find yourself legally liable for helping endorse a product or service, and you have
users opt out of the mailings. This is known been in any way compensated or provided
as the “designated sender rule”. with a benefit in exchange for the review
or endorsement (or even if you just have
2. Email Sent by Affiliates a relationship with the provider of that
product or service) you must disclose that
Vendors are legally liable under the Federal information.
CAN-SPAM law if their affiliates use spam
First of all, let’s clarify what we are really selecting. When looking for
an affiliate network, you are looking for a vendor who will handle all of
your affiliate program’s tracking, reporting, and affiliate payments.
TITANIUM SPONSOR
PLATINUM SPONSOR
GOLD SPONSOR
SILVER SPONSOR
BRONZE SPONSOR
Social Media:
Rebranding Customer Service
Your business can live or die based on the friends, family, and others who consider that These social platforms are the new word of
quality of your customer service. But what person worth listening to. mouth and are powerful because you can share
exactly is customer service? your experience with everyone in your sphere of
Recently, I was less than thrilled with a coffee influence instantly and simultaneously, whether
The definition has evolved through the years, product I purchased at a local McDonald’s. they live in New York or New Delhi.
but one aspect remains constant: caring about After tweeting my feelings, I noticed that I
your clients in a meaningful way on a personal was being followed by @McCafeYourDay, a Your thoughts are also archived and displayed
level. Once upon a time, milk was delivered to Twitter profile managed by Jessica Thompson, in search engine results, widening the potential
your door, doctors made house calls, and your US communications manager for McDonald’s audience all the more.
grocer knew you and your family by name. Corporation.
One attribute of social media is whether your
Over the years, customer service moved away I told her about my experience via a direct business is a Fortune 500 corporation, or a sole
from the old-fashioned “take time to care” message, and she ensured that the proper proprietorship, you can compete on a level
customer service model. It was replaced department addressed my concerns. I was truly playing field. Businesses who choose to engage
with catch phrases, upselling techniques, and impressed by her attention, and it prompted me those talking about their product or company
pushy sales people looking to maximize their to further explore her Twitter usage. can reap huge rewards.
commissions. Old-fashioned customer service
seemed to be a thing of the past… until now. What I found was that McDonald’s is getting it Conversely, brands that neglect or misuse
right with @McCafeYourDay: connecting with social media and do not listen and respond to
Social media platforms such as Twitter customers, listening to their concerns, engaging customer reactions will be left behind.
and Facebook have enabled even coerced, in the conversation, and offering exclusive value
businesses to once again engage their via Twitter contests. Be proactive, show that you care, and your
customers personally. I say coerced because business will win!
with email and phone interaction, an Although they have branded their account
organization could hide from the masses. under McDonald’s and McCafe, there is a
picture of Ms. Thompson and her name is Nathan is the founder of Zynali Inc, and
Today, online communities give consumers a clearly displayed, making it easier for followers manages several Web sites including a coffee
venue in which to relay their thoughts about to identify with a personality rather than just a video blog, CoffeeNate.com.
a particular organization or product to their generically branded profile.
Sunday, January 17
Booth Setup Affiliate Meet Market Areas I and II
Location:: Amazon G-T Location: Amazon A-E and Brazilia 4/5
Exhibitor Move In: 8:00am – 6:00pm Time: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Exhibitor Move In: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Registration
Location: Registration Area Affiliate Summit kicks off with an extended session
Time: 8:00am – 6:00pm of structured, face to face networking. Merchants will
have tables set to meet with affiliates to discuss their
Blogger Room affiliate programs and cut deals. Vendors that cater
Location: Coco to affiliates and merchants will also have tables to
Time: 12:00pm – 6:00pm share information about their products and services.
Each table is a meeting spot for teaching, learning,
The Blogger’s Lounge is an area reserved for closing deals, creating partnerships and finding new
credentialed bloggers/press to grab some desk opportunities.
space, blog, interview, relax and network. Heather
Smith will be the BlogMistress of the Affiliate
Summit Blogger’s Lounge, where she’ll be acting
as liaison between Affiliate Summit and the press
and bloggers attending the show.the Affiliate Meet
Market.
OCTOBER2010
36 || JANUARY 2009 | | FEEDFRONT
FEEDFRONTMAGAZINE
MAGAZINE
Affiliate Summit West | 2010 Agenda
A Primer On Search Engine Optimization • Rebecca Kelley, Director of Social Media, 10e20 (Twitter @
Session 1a rebeccakelley)
Location: Brasilia 1-2
• Keith Plocek, Social Media Manager, Mail.com Media
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Corporation (Twitter @keithplocek)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn’t have to be a black art. It’s
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
deceptively simple. Learn the basic and intermediate ways to increase
your ranks in Google that the pros use, and you can too.
Increase Search Revenue While Protecting Your Brand
• Josh Ziering, Owner, Full Speed SEO (Twitter @JoshuaZiering) Session 1c
Location: Palma
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only) Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Effective Social Media Techniques Learn how to increase search revenue by letting your affiliates bid
Session 1b on trademark terms. Affiliate managers present case studies while
Location: Brasilia 6 TheSmartestSearch provides an affiliate’s perspective.
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm • Debbie Bookstaber, VP, Strategy & Business Development, The
JAR Group (Twitter @buzzmommy) (Moderator)
Get insights into the techniques behind effectively using social media
to build your brand and achieve business growth. Includes a question • Brendan Lawrence, Publisher Extraordinaire, The Smartest
and answer session with the panelists. Search
• Andrew Wee, Owner, WhoIsAndrewWee.com (Twitter @ • Lori Weiman, CEO, The Search Monitor (Twitter @searchmonitor)
andrewwee) (Moderator)
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Merchant Challenges in the Affiliate Space • Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Twitter @loxly) (Moderator)
Session 1d
• Wendy Limauge, Blogger, Sweeties Swag (Twitter @
Location: Tropical
sweetiesswag)
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
• Carrie Rocha, President, Pocket Your Dollars (Twitter @
Identify several key merchants and have them speak on new and dollarspocket)
future challenges seen by the merchants in the affiliate space. Open
• Kim Rowley, President, Key Internet Marketing, Inc. (Twitter @
the floor to participants to ask questions as well.
kimarketing)
• Charles Calabrese, Product Manager, buy.at Affiliate Network
• Heather Sokol, Proprietor, Inexpensively (Twitter @justheather)
(Moderator)
• Dave Gaetano, Online Marketing Consultant, The New York (This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Times
• Erik Hom, Sr. Director, Business Development, Ticketmaster Using Pay-Per-Call to Grow Affiliate Programs
(Twitter @Route53) Session 2c
Location: Palma
• Madeleine McGregor, Affiliate Manager, CSN Stores
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm
• Jared Saunders, Affiliate Program Manager, Jenson USA (Twitter
@Pakiha) Online consumers want more human interaction. Learn how new
pay-per-call technology is enabling advertisers to scale their affiliate
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only) programs and improve ROI for both advertisers and publishers.
• Jason Spievak, CEO, RingRevenue, Inc. (Twitter @RingRevenue)
Monetizing Blogs for Affiliate Marketing and SEO
Session 2a (This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Location: Brasilia 1-2
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm
Affiliate Program Case Studies: Strategies and Practices
Learn to maximize affiliate commissions using blogging, increasing Session 2d
your community, and utilizing SEO. Location: Tropical
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm
• Kristopher B. Jones, President, Pepperjam Network, A GSI
Commerce Company (Twitter @pepperjamceo) (Moderator)
Discussion of what it takes for a retailer to get their affiliate channel
• Drew Bennett, Professional Blogger, BenSpark.com (Twitter @ to the next level. Multiple merchant case studies reveal and illustrate
BenSpark) strategies and practices that attract affiliates.
• John Carcutt, SEO Manager, MediaWhiz (Twitter @JohnCarcutt) • Melanie Seery, President, Affiliate Advocacy (Twitter @Mellies)
(Moderator)
• Tim Jones, Owner, TheRealTimJones.com (Twitter @
TheRealTimJones) • Karen Garcia, Partner & Co-Founder, GTO Management (Twitter
@karengarcia)
• Murray Ross Newlands, Founder, Affiliate Heat (Twitter @
murraynewlands) • Kristen Grace, Affiliate Marketing Manager, BuyCostumes.com
(Twitter @kristengrace)
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
• Jon Nunez, Affiliate Manager, Football Fanatics (Twitter @
Jon_Nunez)
MommyBloggers: Changing the Face of Affiliate Marketing?
Session 2b (This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Location: Brasilia 6
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm
Start Monetizing Your Blog Today De-Duping: the Great Unknown in Affiliate Marketing
Session 3a Session 3d
Location: Brasilia 1-2 Location: Tropical
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm
Have a great blog but new to affiliate marketing? Learn from a network De-duping affiliate sales against other channels is common practice,
representative, an affiliate manager, and an affiliate the terminology but what are the rules and how far is too far? Find out common
and tricks behind turning your blog into earnings. practice and why we need an industry-wide best practice standard.
• Marty Fahncke, President, FawnKey & Associates (Twitter @ • Mary Young, Head of Account Management, AffiliateFuture
FawnKey) (Moderator) (Twitter @MaryAffFuture)
• Kristin Kinsey, President/CEO, MadHatter Consulting, Inc. (Twitter
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
@KC)
• Tricia Meyer, Owner, Sunshine Rewards (Twitter @sunshinetricia) Affiliate Summit Mentor Program Meetup
• Carolyn Tang, Director of Client Services, ShareASale.com Location: Tropical
(Twitter @catango) Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only) (Open to all attendees enrolled in the Affiliate Summit Mentor Program)
Video: Biggest Affiliate Marketing Opportunity Since Google ShareASale Under the Stars Party featuring Affiliate Karaoke
Session 3b Location: Rio Hotel, Miranda
Location: Brasilia 6 Time: 8:00pm-12:00am
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm Additional details coming soon.
Discover the secrets of affiliate video promotion. Learn how you can
increase your traffic and conversions by leveraging some of the most
popular video sites.
• Rosalind Gardner, Super Affiliate, Rosalind Gardner Consulting
(Twitter @rosalindgardner)
• Jeremy Palmer, President, Quit Your Day Job, LLC (Twitter @
quityourdayjob)
Product datafeeds are among the most powerful tools available to Luncheon
affiliate marketers. We’ll discuss the current state of datafeeds and Location: Amazon A-E
industry progress, best practices, and moving toward standards. Time: 12:30pm-1:45pm
• Scott Jangro, President, MechMedia, Inc. (Twitter @jangro)
(Moderator) (Lunch is Open to Platinum Pass Holders With Lunch Tickets Only)
Tired of ad disapprovals, low CTRs, terrible conversion rates, and Vertical Exchange will be an opportunity for affiliates, merchants and
inconsistent traffic volume? CPM or CPC? Pages or direct link? Hear networks to find one another by vertical to network and work our
how several super affiliates do it, plus tips from Facebook. deals.
• Jim Kukral, CEO, JimKukral.com (Twitter @jimkukral) (Moderator)
(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)
• Mark Colacioppo, President, Globalizer, LLC (Twitter @
globalizermark)
SEO Site Review/Clinic
• Markus Frind, CEO, Plentyoffish Session 6a
Location: Brasilia 1-2
• Dr. David Klein (dk), CEO, Purpose inc (Twitter @purposeinc)
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm
• Alex Schultz, Manager, Internet Marketing, Facebook (Twitter @
alexschultz) Live Q&A, site audits and suggestions on how to help the internal
site structure, as well as ideas how to build a better site for organic
(This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only) rankings.
• Rae Hoffman, CEO, Outspoken Media (Twitter @sugarrae)
Running a Network: Business, Legal & Practical (Moderator)
Session 5c
Location: Palma • Greg Boser, President, 3 Dog Media, LLC (Twitter @GregBoser)
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm • Michael Gray, President, Atlas Web (Twitter @graywolf )
Networks are on the front lines of positive, negative, profitable, • Michael Streko, Co-Founder, KnowEm.com (Twitter @Streko)
and dangerous issues in the affiliate world. Are they the digital hall
monitors of affiliate marketing? (This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Oprah, Flogs and FTC: Hot Topics 2010 • Jim Banks, CEO, Unanimis (Twitter @jimbanks)
Session 6c
• James Little, Head of Affiliates, AffiliateFuture (Twitter @3wdl)
Location: Palma
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm • Matthew Wood, Managing Director & Founder, existem /
a4uexpo (Twitter @matthewwood)
This session un-muddies the murky waters of the FTC’s ever-changing
focus, the proliferation of IP-related lawsuits, and the legal ambiguity (This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only)
regarding many forms of Internet-based marketing.
• Pete Wellborn, Managing Member, Wellborn, Wallace & Ask the Experts
Woodard, LLC Location: Brasilia 4, 5
Time: 5:00 pm-6:00pm
(This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only)
(This Session is Open to All Pass Holders)
CPA Affiliate Marketing Opportunities in Europe
Ask the Experts will be an opportunity for merchants, networks and
Session 6d
affiliates to ask questions about various specialties and issues.
Location: Tropical
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm
Hand picked experts will handle topics in their specialty, and conduct
chats, answer questions and share opinions during this networking
European affiliate marketing is a few years behind America in some
and education session.
areas, but ahead of it in others. This session will provide insight into
the growth areas in Europe. • KISS SEO: Michael Martin, SEO Director of Project Management,
Internet Marketing Inc (Twitter @googleandblog)
• Dush Ramachandran, Vice President, Sales Marketing & Business
Development, ClickBank (Twitter @DushR) (Moderator) • Landing Pages That Take the Money – Everytime!: Gillian
Muessig, President, SEOmoz, Inc (Twitter @SEOmom)
• Merchants Who Relinquish Control and Trust Affiliates: Matt
Enders, CEO, mgecom, inc. (Twitter @mattenders)
• Niche Site Builder and Content Production: Evan Weber, CEO,
Experience Advertising (Twitter @experienceads)
• Strategies for Long-Term Revenue Growth: Michael Jenkins,
CEO/Founder, MarketLeverage (Twitter @MarketLeverage)
• Video Content Monetization for Affiliates and Advertisers: Liat
Fuchs, Affiliate Director, AffiliatePLY (Twitter @affiliateply)
Sure, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of all of the
dog’s names that have lived in the White House, but will they buy you
drinks? Give you prizes? We doubt it.
Here’s your opportunity to get what you deserve. Join the Affiliate
Summit team and your Trivia Host, Lisa Picarille for the Affiliate Summit
Trivia Tweetup where you can show off your random-fact prowess, get
unexpected high-fives and make some new friends. If you’re lucky,
maybe you’ll even win drink tickets or passes to Affiliate Summit East
2010 in New York City.
(Breakfast is Open to Platinum Pass Holders with The following awards will be presented:
Breakfast Tickets Only) • Affiliate of the Year
• Affiliate Manager of the Year
Coffee Service
• Exceptional Merchant
Location: Amazon A-E
• Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award
Time: 10:00am–12:30pm and 2:00pm–6:00pm
• Best Blogger
Registration • Affiliate Marketing Legend
Location: Registration Area
Jim Kukral, CEO, JimKukral.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
Time: 8:00am - 3:00pm
Blogger Room Brian Clark, Co-Founder, DIY Themes
Location: Coco (Twitter @copyblogger)
Time: 8:30am - 4:00pm
(This Session is Open to All Pass Holders)
(Exhibitors may set up beginning at 9:00am) • Lyndsay Walker, Director of Online Marketing, Canada’s Web
Shop (Twitter @lyndseo)
Opening Remarks, Pinnacle Awards & Keynote (This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only)
Location: Penn & Teller Theater
Scaling Article Marketing For Affiliate Marketers
Time: 10:00am – 11:15am
Session 7b
Location: Brasilia 6
The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards are affiliate Time: 11:30am-12:30pm
marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor Drive millions of high-value free traffic/visitors with articles. Avoid the
7 common pitfalls that could hurt your pocketbook & reputation.
(Lunch is Open to Platinum Pass Holders with Lunch Tickets Only) GeekCast.fm Live!s
Location: Palma
How To Get Motivated For Success! Time: 3:15pm-4:15pm
Session 8a
Location: Brasilia 1-2 A mixed bunch of podcasters from GeekCast.fm will have an open,
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm candid discussion about the hot topics in affiliate marketing.
Get off your butt and get to work. Motivational tips, tricks & strategies (This Session is Open to All Pass Holders)
that can put you on the path to online success.
• Jim Kukral, CEO, JimKukral.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
Brian Clark
Brian Clark is a ten-year-veteran of Internet publishing and marketing. Brian’s
companies produce millions of dollars in annual revenue thanks to a mix of online
educational content and direct response copywriting, and his influential blog
Copyblogger is read by over 67,000 people. Brian is also the co-founder of DIY
Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress; the Teaching Sells
interactive training program; and the creativity blog Lateral Action.
Affiliate Summit West 2010 Speakers
Larry Adams Drew Bennett
Larry is a product manager for affiliate marketing for the Google Drew Bennett is a Husband, Father, Photographer, Traveler, Wired
Affiliate Network, formerly known as Performics. He has been an Kayaker and Transformers Fan. He has taken a Photo-A-Day for
advocate for affiliate marketing within DoubleClick and Google as nearly 5 straight years and he blogs about them on BenSpark.com.
well as the industry at large for the past five years. Prior to Google/ BenSpark.com is a personal blog where Drew builds community with
DoubleClick/Performics, he was an engineer and technical architect his readers through conversation, contests and compelling content.
for software and consulting companies specializing in eCommerce. Drew also builds community through his newsletter Behind The Lens
Larry graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997 with where he offers his photography tips. Drew is constantly looking for
a bachelors degree in Industrial Management and a masters in opportunities to expand his brand. You’ll often find him at industry
Information Systems. conferences and tradeshows.
Jim Banks
Jim Banks is the CEO of Global Direct Media a UK based CPA network.
He speaks at events around the world, on a wide range of industry
topics, and having been in the online space since 1999 has seen a lot
happen. Jim was a committee member on the inaugural UK-Search
Marketing Association (UK-SMA) as supplier liaison.
Erik Hom
Michael Gray As Sr. Director in Business Development for Ticketmaster, Erik is
Michael Gray has worked in the internet world since 1998, when he responsible for the daily direction of Ticketmaster’s Affiliate Program
became Webmaster for a major retailer in New York. He developed as well as managing its larger strategic marketing partners. Erik also
their website strategy and grew their online sales from $100,000 to acts as the head of Ticketmaster’s social media marketing community
over $25 million in annual website sales. Michael then moved into promotion efforts. An early pioneer in online marketing since 1997,
affiliate marketing and started his own consulting firm. Michael has Erik has been a corporate advocate for affiliate marketing since the
worked with many businesses to develop and implement their Social early days of affiliate conferences run by Refer-it.com (later Internet.
Media Strategy. He also specializes in blog development and Search com), creating Reel.com’s affiliate program and serving on the board
Engine Optimizations for businesses of all sizes. Michael has been a of Shopper Connection, a consortium of retailers. Erik built one of the
speaker at Search Engine Strategies, PubCon, SEOClass and SMX. He is largest affiliate programs while at Reel.com, an experience that helped
also moderator at Sphinn and Webmaster World. Michael is President to shape his philosophy that merchant mass marketing online is about
of Atlas Web Service, located in Long Island, New York. building social networks of informed merchandisers. Erik has also
acted as an advisor to such companies as The Gap, Williams-Sonoma,
Visa, Netflix, Idealab, Travelocity, and Amazon.
Chuck Hamrick
Chuck Hamrick is an outsourced program manager (OPM) at
affiliateCREW, a Salt Lake City, UT based internet marketing company, Scott Jangro
managing Register, Little Giant Ladder, Rug Doctor, Bosleyinfo, Sole Scott Jangro is the president and co-founder of MechMedia, Inc.,
Treadmills, Proform, WORX Yard Tools, 1000Bulbs, and more. Active a performance marketing company started in 2004. MechMedia
in online marketing since 1999 with SEO, PPC, email marketing and specializes in niche retail community websites, such as Shoehunting.
lead gen. Full time Affiliate Manager since 2005 previously managing com and Costumzee.com, giving consumers a place to share their
ToolKing, Backcountry and Ancestry. You will also find Chuck as a passions and favorite products with like-minded individuals. Prior to
moderator on ABestWeb.com. He also had a prior 13 years career MechMedia, Scott served as a Director of Product Management at Be
in manufacturing as project management. To learn more visit Free, Inc. and later Commission Junction, both divisions of ValueClick,
affiliateCREW. Inc. Through industry events, affiliate network advisory boards, the
Performance Marketing Alliance, and his writing activity on Jangro.
com, Scott remains an active and vocal member of the affiliate
marketing community.
Carrie Rocha
Carrie Rocha is CEO of Pocket Your Dollars, a website devoted to Steve Schaffer
helping people keep their money where it belongs, in their pocket. Steve Schaffer is the founder and CEO of Vertive, Inc. and Offers.com.
She became a money-saving expert after she and her husband got out Offers.com is the first place to go for all the best offers – from online
of $50,000 in debt in less than 3 years. She started Pocket Your Dollars coupons & coupon codes for retail stores to service and travel offers.
to help others learn to do the same in March 2009. Pocket Your Dollars The site combines intuitive categorization and design with unique
has had explosive success and she has moved from a full-time role as editorial content. Updated daily, Offers.com provides 10,000+ offers
Chief Operating Officer at a Minneapolis-based nonprofit to part-time from 1,700+ merchants in 150+ categories. Vertive was founded
Strategy Consultant to allow herself to focus on growing her business. by Steve Schaffer in 2003. Steve has been involved in the Internet
She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the College of Saint Benedict, industry since 1995 and is an active speaker at industry conferences.
is mother to two small girls, an active volunteer in her community and Offers.com is a charter member of the Performance Marketing
dreams of living in Brazil one day. Association where Steve is on the Board and serves as President. Prior
to Vertive, he spent 10 years in product management and marketing
roles at companies including eRegCard and Symantec. Steve is a
Kim Rowley graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of
Kim Rowley @KIMarketing has been in the affiliate marketing space
business administration in finance.
since 1998 and is the founder of Key Internet Marketing, Inc. where she
authors several niche blogs, including ShoeaholicsAnonymous.com.
Ms. Rowley has been featured in several publications including USA Alex Schultz
Today and Revenue Magazine and has presented on specific topics of Alex Schultz has an MA, MSc. in Physics from Cambridge university.
ecommerce entrepreneurship, content creation and affiliate marketing He paid his way through college through ppc arbitrage and seo.
secrets at such events as BlogWorld New Media Expo and Infotec. After college he joined eBay.co.uk moving to eBay HQ in San Jose
Kim volunteers her time as a SCORE counselor to share her marketing in 2005 where he subsequently managed international paid search
expertise, is a regular panelist on TheSpew.fm podcast, and serves as a and affiliate marketing. He currently heads Facebook’s internet
member of the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board. marketing team as a manager in the growth, mobile and international
department focused on user growth, user activity and advertiser
acquisition.
Nicole Williams
Nicole Williams is an Advertiser Account Director at Commission
Junction managing teams growing revenue for top-performing retail
accounts in the Northwest region. Prior to Commission Junction,
Nicole spent seven years working on the publisher side of the affiliate
business and also held online marketing positions at Wells Fargo. She
has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.
Matthew Wood
Matthew graduated from Bristol University in 2001 and after travelling
through Asia opted out of the corporate .com world and incorporated
Existem Ltd, of which he remains Managing Director. Matthew has
built a strong team of talented developers, designers and marketing
professionals based at the Paintworks in Bristol, UK who wireframe,
develop and monetize consumer focused websites utilizing the
many corners of affiliate marketing, including paid search, organic
SEO, social media, voucher codes, product feeds and cash back. In
mid 2006 Matthew launched a4uexpo, Europe’s leading affiliate
marketing conference and June 2008 saw the birth of Existem Events
Ltd, coinciding with the launch of a new black tie awards ceremony
for the affiliate marketing industry. Matthew continues to diversify as
an entrepreneur and also invests in start-ups and joint ventures on a
national and global scale.
Implications of FTC
Endorsement Guidelines
On October 5th, the Federal Trade to make certain disclosures online. Marketers
Commission (“FTC”) announced revisions will do their best to set forth policies in this
to its Guides Concerning the Use of area, and then seek to hold the bloggers
Endorsements and Testimonials (“Guides”). liable if they violate such policies and expose
As the most significant changes in almost 30 the marketer to liability.
years, the regulators had a lot of catching up
to do. Results not typical – Try and forget that tag
line. What might become typical is the harsh
The revised Guides (which went into effect response from regulators if marketers seek to
on December 1st) make clear that traditional avoid disclosing typical results to consumers
marketing law principles apply equally to and mislead them into believing that one
the world of blogs and social media. While person’s experiences with a product are
there were many aspects to the revised typical.
Guides, the two key changes for the affiliate
marketing industry are: (1) disclosing Social media policies – Before taking any
material connections between a marketer actions against a marketer, the FTC will
and a blogger (or anyone online) and (2) consider the existence of a social media
insufficiency of the “results not typical” policy. Therefore, all companies should have
disclaimers. written social media policies that bloggers
Gary Kibel affirmatively accept.
It is well known in our industry that bloggers
occasionally receive free products from
marketers in the hopes that the bloggers will guidance regarding advertising disclaimers.
speak positively about such products. Some We are all familiar with the “results not typical” Gary Kibel (gkibel@dglaw.com, Twitter @
marketers will even pay bloggers outright to tag line. The revised Guides now require GaryKibel_law) is a Partner with the law firm of
influence their comments. that if the results displayed in the ad are truly Davis & Gilbert LLP and practices in the areas of
not typical, then the typical results must be marketing, new media and privacy law.
However, the FTC is worried about the disclosed. So if the ad says that the user of
effect upon consumers when such reviews a dietary supplement lost 50 pounds but
are presented as unbiased. If the blogger is in reality typical users of the supplement
writing positively about a product because spontaneously explode, then the marketer
they have been paid or received free needs to disclose the typical result.
products, then the Guides demand that
such relationship be disclosed because the What does this all mean for
comments may be considered “sponsored” by affiliate marketers?
the marketer and are therefore an “advertising
message.” New terms and policies from marketers
- The FTC has stated that if a material
The revised Guides would also require that relationship between a marketer and a
celebrities disclose their relationship with blogger is not disclosed, it is the marketer
a marketer when touting the marketer’s who will likely be liable. Therefore, bloggers
product or service on talk shows, interviews who previously received free items from
or social media sites. marketers can expect to either see fewer free
items, or receive such free items only if they
Another major change in the Guides was agree to agreements that require the blogger
Jay Berkowitz
By Shannon Simmons
With the start of a new year, it’s the perfect appreciation to them. Frequently
time to give your affiliate program a fresh contacting your top performers will
new start. Here are 10 great ways to renovate ensure that they continue to promote
your affiliate program and optimize it for your offers.
success in 2010:
9. Merchandising – Ensure that you are
1. Audit Your Affiliate Program – This creating link templates for top products
is vital to the success of your program and sending them to your affiliates via
and it also holds the greatest potential weekly newsletters, affiliate blog, or
impact. An affiliate program audit Twitter.
should look at every area of your affiliate
program. The purpose of an audit is to 10. Content, Creative & Collateral – The
identify areas within your program that more of these items that you create, the
you can alter or modify as well as identify better! Keeping these items up to date
additional opportunities that will grow will definitely help your program be
the performance of your program. You successful.
should look at everything from a detailed Shannon Simmons
competitive and banner/link analysis to a I plan on implementing each of these steps
paid search analysis. for all of the programs I manage in 2010. I
hope that you find this information helpful
2. Respond to Affiliate Inquiries Within 5. Ample Notice of Promotions to and prosperous with your programs too.
24 Hours - Taking care of your affiliates Affiliates – Giving affiliates plenty of
should always be your main priority. By advance notice about new promotions
answering their inquiries promptly you will ensure that they will keep your Shannon Simmons is an Assistant Affiliate
show them you value their partnership offers current. Two weeks at minimum is Manager for the affiliate management agency
and will promptly assist them as they generally considered ample notice. JEBCommerce.com, MyAffilateCoach.com and
continue to work with you. NewsForAffiliates.com.
6. “Activate” Affiliates – Are your affiliates
3. Confirm that Your Creative and Links performing as well as they should? Reach
are Up to Date and Valid – This will out to those affiliates that you feel could
make a huge difference in revenue for be performing better and see what kind
your affiliate program. Confirming that of offer you can provide them with in
your creative and links are always up order to boost their performance and
to date will make your users shopping commissions.
experience easy and more productive.
7. Correct & Complete Information for
4. Tracking Testing Procedures – Creating Promotions – When you are sending
a process that is frequent and consistent out coupons or promotions to affiliates,
for your tracking procedures will boost be sure that they have start/end dates,
confidence for your program’s affiliates. restrictions (if applicable), etc.
Affiliates rely on proper tracking for their
livelihood and they won’t promote offers 8. Exclusive Offers to Top Performers –
that aren’t easily monitored and tracking Offering your top performers exclusive
correctly. offers is a great way to express your
Kim: “There are definitely better open and click rates in the UK. More
revenue is made off smaller amounts of data compared to US data.
However, more often than not, I am seeing lower payouts for UK leads.”
“The open rates and click rates are great right off the bat, but a Cari Birker
record in the UK is only responsive for about two weeks. In the US,
it would take at least a month for a static list to go cold.”
“Most traffic comes from the US to other countries because we
The UK advertiser has a different time table for processing payouts (in understand the space. Hosting your own UK sites allows for better
pounds, not dollars). filtering and reporting, and ultimately better lead quality.”
“In the US, most payouts are net 10, net 15, or net 30, meaning If you’ve heard expanding into the UK is the right move, I’ll end with
you’ll have your money by January for traffic from December. In some words of wisdom from Zack that ring true in affiliate marketing
the UK, advertisers pay net 60, so payment for traffic is delayed and perhaps in all business ventures:
considerably, and hinges on the exchange rate on the last day of
the month.” “Email in the UK is lucrative, if you work with the right people.”
“CJ Pay-Per-Call is a great opportunity for many of our clients: Advertisers get access
to large numbers of high-quality publishers who can expand their affiliate programs
online and offline, and publishers get access to top-brand advertisers and an additional
Kerri Pollard, General Manager revenue stream.”
“Pay-Per-Call offers higher ROI potential
because calls can increase conversion
rates and give us new places - online and
Russ Pechman, VP of Lead Advantage offline - where ads can show up.”
“Pay-Per-Call offers a great new revenue opportunity for both merchants and affiliates.
Affiliate marketing is no longer just online. The system is simple to set up, easy to use,
Brian Littleton, CEO and integrates with a merchant’s traditional online initiatives.”
“RingRevenue has built a very powerful platform that Bret Grow, President
integrates call centers and performance marketing in a “The potential to reach consumers making
very intelligent way. We can now allow the consumer purchases over the phone is huge. We’re committed
to choose how they interact with our advertising to providing the best solutions to our customers,
Peter Bordes, CEO partners and allow our affiliate partners to participate so it was a natural fit for us to partner with
in the revenue.” RingRevenue, the leader in tracking and managing
call-based campaigns.”
“The Pay-Per-Call Affiliate Program has been a valuable tool in our efforts to integrate our acquisition
strategies and extend the reach of our marketing promotions.” – Rita Zahir, Sr. Marketing Manager
“RingRevenue enabled us to
incorporate a phone number into
our email creatives, which allowed
“We’ve been looking for ways to grow our affiliate us to generate up to a 30% lift on the total conversions
program, and this is it. We want more calls. They we delivered to the advertiser. Add RingRevenue to your
convert at a much higher rate than clicks.” marketing efforts. Your email publishers will thank you!”
– Todd Wilson, President – Mike Stocker, CEO
...about RingRevenue
Opportunity’s calling. Sign up for Pay-Per-Call now!
Contact your affiliate network or call 877-871-4338
RingRevenue, Inc. 125 E. De La Guerra St. Ste 204, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 www.ringrevenue.com
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AUGUST 15-17 - HILTON NEW YORK
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