November 2008 - Page 10 of 11

GeekCast 43: Valley vs Affiliates

Sam Harrelson on November 6, 2008

GeekCast 43 is up and it’s a good listen. The entire gang of Shawn Collins, Jim Kukral, Lisa Picarille and myself chat about online marketing, gadgets, web2.0 and all-things-geek for 70 minutes.

If you’re new to the show, start with this one b/c it’s one of our best (in my opinion).

Here’s the mp3 or head over to GeekCast.fm for the stream if you’re of that persuasion.

Show Notes:

– Shawn Got a Blackberry Bold
– AT&T’s Marketing Woes

– Calacanis Redux: Affiliates v Silicon Valley
– Of Runways and Layoffs
– Ad:Tech’s Mood
– Examples of Good Businesses (FatWallet, Zac Johnson, Scott Jangro)

– Twitter Woes and Feature Complaints
– Revenue’s Marketing

– Ask500People.com
– More AdTech Talk

– Branding: affiliate.com, Izea and Coke
– Netbooks

Jangro on Affiliate Networks and Social Media

Sam Harrelson on November 6, 2008

Must read from Scott on why some affiliate networks “get” social media (or just social participation on the web) and some fail every time:

Affiliate Networks and Social Media | Jangro.com: “Commission Junction is, again, the only one missing from the party. Surely if Todd Crawford, Lisa Riolo, and Brian Caldwell were still there this would be a different story. Or me, for that matter.

It seems to me that the basic pre-requisite to a company attaining a successful social media presence is that they’ve got at least one person who is (a) interested and already heavily involved in social media, and (b) in a position that the company trusts them to represent.

How does that not happen at a company like CJ? This is not to judge (though I’m sure somebody will), but to ask the purely academic question, seriously, why?”

Personality, personality, personality.

(The Awesome) Remember The Milk Now in the App Store

Sam Harrelson on November 5, 2008

I absolutely love Remember The Milk. I’ve been an active (and heavy) user for well over a year and upgraded to their “Pro” level (best $25 you’ll spend this year) to take full advantage of their BlackBerry and iPod Touch syncing capabilities. Not to mention, they have amazing integration with GMail and your task lists stay in sync and in front of you whether you’re in GMail, on your mobile or on the web.

Obviously, I can’t recommend Remember The Milk enough. Honestly. Stop what you’re doing and go sign up if you already haven’t.

Anyway, my endorsement aside, they now have a designated app in the Apple App Store (for iPhone and Touch users). It’s free for Pro users (and works great as usual).

Remember The Milk – Blog: “To say that we were excited when Apple made it possible to start developing native apps earlier this year would be a massive understatement (we’re big iPhone fans!). There was no question that we’d be developing an app for the iPhone and iPod touch… the only question was, ‘how big?’ :)”

Go support a great company, team and platform that is constantly innovating… RTM is the embodiment of what we’ve all been asking for web2.0 in terms of real functionality and a business plan. Vote with your feet and head over there.

(end rant)

President Obama

Sam Harrelson on November 4, 2008

NBC: Obama elected 44th president – Decision ’08- msnbc.com

CPA Empire Rebrands as affiliate.com

Sam Harrelson on November 4, 2008

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CPA Empire has been rebranded into the choice domain affiliate.com.

This move reminds me of how Pepperjam has successfully rebranded itself as a “next-gen” network in the mindset of many affiliates. It will be interesting to see if affiliate.com can do the same for CPA Empire, which hasn’t always had the sunniest of reputations on the affiliate forums, etc.

Here are some excerpts from the press release…

“affiliate.com provides us with a premier name to go along with our leadership position in the affiliate marketing industry,” said Steven Richter, President and General Counsel for Media Breakaway. “However, we are doing more than simply changing the name of our affiliate marketing division. Our goal is for affiliate.com to become the next generation of affiliate networks.”

The company also announced that it will be undertaking a number of key initiatives as a part of the name change. These initiatives include the development of a proprietary tracking system that will provide affiliates and advertisers with accurate, real-time reporting and an easy to use interface to access performance data on all their campaigns. In addition, business development efforts are being focused on bringing in more top performing international offers, as the company continues to increase its presence in the global market. The company will also be expanding its affiliate management and advertiser support teams and enhancing the affiliate manager training program to ensure that the team is providing the highest level of support in the industry.

“Through each of these initiatives and others we will put in place in 2009, we plan to take affiliate marketing to the next level in technology, services, and support,” said Richter. “We are dedicated to helping our affiliates and advertisers grow their businesses and become more profitable.”

Sounds like there may be some competition in store for Affiliate Classroom as well (“enhancing the affiliate manager training program to ensure that the team is providing the highest level of support in the industry”).

The affiliate.com team also has a blog up and running as well.

Shawn Collins also has a post about the rebranding.

Dunkin Donuts is Now on Twitter! OK, I Like DD Too Much

Sam Harrelson on November 4, 2008

Continuing the rise in the use of Twitter as a tool for companies to communicate with loyal and potential customers, Dunkin Donuts is now spreading 140 character goodness.