Category: Affiliates

Shawn Collins has a new video demonstrating his crush on the Dell Vostro(I was waiting for him to lick it at the end).

He compares the Vostro to the Asus eee so I wanted to set the record straight…

The Asus eee (“Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play”) is a fantastic little machine that solves a number of problems in my life. It’s comparable to the Macbook Airor the Sony Vaiobut is still much smaller and much less expensive (around $400-$500 depending on memory, etc) than either of those.

Plus, the Asus is a solid state machine meaning that it boots up almost immediately (takes about 10 seconds), is very rugged and has an incredible battery life (around 3 to 3.5 hours for me).

With a gig of memory, 8 gigs of storage, 3 usb ports and a MicroSD slot, it’s the perfect travel machine.

So, there’s no comparison between Shawn’s bulky 14 inch Vostro that is sure to be dead in 3 years since it’s a Dell and my little Asus which will be humming along for years to come.

Looks like all of our wishes (well, mine at least) are coming true and Brian, Carolyn and the ShareASale gang are going to introduce affiliate marketing into the online video space.

Earlier today, this message was sent out to the ShareASale Facebook group by Carolyn Tang..

Facebook | V-Commerce Playahs: “Alrighty, we’re gettin’ with the times and exploring v-commerce. Nothing like bringing the magic of television online! Our tech team is hard at work developing a player with embedded tracking for affiliates to use on their sites.

So…open ended wishlist style question…in a perfect world, where we had boundless tech and financial resources, what features would you like to see in that player? Customizable? Size? Rating systems?”

This is every exciting indeed and the replies to Carolyn’s initial post have been beyond interesting with a number of affiliates weighing in.

It’s great to see an affiliate network using a channel such as a Facebook group to gather feedback. I only wish more networks would follow ShareASale’s lead on this sort of communication (as well as blogging) and feedback solicitation. You don’t need to control the conversation in order to produce value as Brian and team are clearly showing.

And I’m beyond excited to see an affiliate network getting into video. Take notes.

I noticed on Google Trends that one of the hottest terms this morning was “coupon mom.”

So, I dug a little deeper and it looks like the site received coverage from a local news outlet in Pittsburgh, PA…

kdka.com – ‘Coupon Mom’ Offers Tips For Shopping Online: “Searching for great bargains doesn’t have to be about spending hours hunting for the best prices in local stores. Instead, it can be done with just a few clicks of the mouse.

KDKA’s Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos talked with ‘Coupon Mom’ Stephanie Nelson about some internet surfing secrets that can save consumers money. “

So while we continue to talk mostly about online social networks or web2.0 traffic, don’t forget to include more mainstream outlets if you’re trying to grow your brand.

If you’re in Chicago on June 9, this could be a “fun” talk to hear…

Affiliate Marketing: Far More Dangerous Than You Think: “For many years, Alan has been (and remains today) highly critical of the affiliate channel, so this promises to be a lively session!

Joining Alan on the panel will be Barbara Hurd, VP of Business Development, Harry and David; and Vicki Updike, VP of Merchandising and Marketing, Miles Kimball.

Affiliate fan or foe, come watch the fireworks!”

Or you could head over to the Oriental Institute at Univ of Chicago and ponder how, much like the consultants, false confidence in their own superiority (instead of developing better chariots) cost the Assyrian empire it’s position as a super power in the ancient near east. Both would accomplish the same thing.

TechCrunch has coverage of Yahoo’s 3 year revenue growth plan (slides) and it’s pretty interesting to see their take on the future of web advertising (heavy on mobile and display) and how affiliate marketing fits in…

On last Friday’s “Paying for Performance” podcast, Jeff Molander remarked that I’m rather bullish on AOL’s position in the online advertising market. I think with new president Lynda Clarizio in place, my optimism about them be proven true…

AOL Highlights Platform-A Integration Focus With Unified Search Marketing Services | paidContent.org: “AOL announced that Platform-A has combined contextual ad targeter Quigo’s FeedPoint search marketing tool with Advertising.com’s OutSearch data analysis product.

Secondly, the combination of the OutSearch’s “bid management solutions” for buying keywords and FeedPoint’s analytic tools, also highlights another recent area AOL hopes to be more active in: ecommerce. In February, AOL acquired UK-based affiliate marketing network Buy.at, which was intended to round out Platform-A’s ad network offerings with online sales and performance-based marketing solutions.

AOL has a tremendous amount of potential due to its reach into the global performance and display ad business, which is where Google is lacking (hence the DoubleClick acquisition). Add to that the existing long-term relationships that AOL has with global brands with deep pockets looking for more responsive and performance-based advertising, and AOL’s future looks bright.

It’s been interesting to watch the evolution of AOL from darling in the 90’s to pariah in the early ’00’s into global advertising powerhouse in the late ’00’s into the ’10’s. Keep your eye on AOL and its subsidiaries.

Let me just reiterate that I have nothing to do with the InternetGeekGuy site…

Internet Geek Guy: “Internet Geek Guy”

Personality jacking ftw.

I did the Jeff Molander “Paying for Performance” podcast yesterday since the subject was on marketing to millennials (that age group born between 1980 and 1995). I was born in ’78 and share many characteristics of this much-stereotyped group, so I thought it might be fun to discuss.

Paying For Performance: “So who are these people and is what we hear in the media really true? To what degree and to what degree is this being over-sensationalized? What ARE the expectations of the people entering our workforce and are they out of line with those who are in need of hiring them?”

Here’s the mp3 for download, or you can head over to the site to listen to the stream.