Sam Harrelson

I’m seeing more and more affiliates attempting to monetize the registration path of their offers before the traffic redirects to the merchant or network’s offer page. A few “affiliate gurus” at the Affiliate Summit were even prescribing a complicated version of this method to “better monetize traffic.”

I’m not comfortable with this approach, and find it incredibly disruptive for both the visitor, affiliate and merchant.

How are merchants combating this sort of tactic?

Email has some serious obstacles in the current marketing context:

Spam.

Bounce backs.

Blacklists.

Near zero open rates.

Poor conversion rates on those opens.

Is email still worth it?

Yes.

However, you have to develop a highly relevant and involved format, rather than just an announcement of new programs, coupons or special deals. Those are wonderful “call to actions,” but they are not going to cause your customer base to open an email.

Instead, allow for full transparency and let readers/customers/users know the benefits of subscribing (beyond “GREAT DEALS AND HOT NEW COUPONS!”). Use email like you use your blog (don’t have one yet? tsk tsk… set one up over the weekend). Make email an involved conversational point that readers will want to open.

There’s a powerful place for brand advertising inside of an email.
Speaking of blogs and emails… who would be interested in a weekly or monthly CostPerNewsletter digest with extra content?

Last week, Wikipedia enacted a “nofollow” format, effectively cutting off any credit for outbound links from the popular user generated online encylopedia.

Now, there is discussion as to whether or not other popular, yet easily “gamed” social networking sites will follow Wikipedia’s lead and implement their own nofollow policy. This would help to ease the strain of spam and gaming that occurs on sites such as Digg, Reddit, TailRank and even TechMeme.

Allen Stern of CenterNetworks raises the issue of Digg enacting a nofollow policy and what ramifications it may have on attempts to game the social news site in order to receive increased traffic and better search rankings…

So my question is… should Digg do the same thing? When I look at the upcoming stories in Tech News (the biggest category), the posts come in like hot cakes. Besides the fact that so many are duplicates, how many are there for the sole purpose of gaining more inbound links.

I think going nofollow may remove a good bit of the “corporate” spam we see on Digg. Will people still spam Digg in the hopes of hitting the home page? Yep. But it may help deter users who are using Digg for the sole purpose of gaining inbound link traction.

Inevitably, these sites will seek an easy way to curtail the rise of corporate or adsense-farm driven spam that dilutes communities, frustrates users and drives down the value of a social platform. Even tag spam is becoming a problem for these sites and the core users of the platforms.

Will the nofollow inertia continue over into blogging, social search (think Sidekiq or the coming Jimmy Wales powered Wiki search)? If more of these social media sites see nofollow as the solution to the spam and “gaming” problem, how will SEO ultimately be affected?

When CostPerNews officially launched on November 1, two of my five one year statistic goals included crossing a level 3 Google PR rank and being within the top 50,000 blogs on Technorati.

I’m proud to say that within three months, I’ve met those two goals and the site is now a level 5 on the Google rank and ranks in the top 40,000 on Technorati. I don’t give a lot of credence to page view metrics, but the Google and Technorati ranks are not just about page views. They also represent consistent quality and lots of discussion. I think we’ve achieved some of that here on CostPerNews.

So, to celebrate, I’m pushing CPN out of “beta” and into a more stable backend. I decided while I was at it that I would give the site a complete redesign. If you’re reading the feed, please visit and let me know what you think.

Click around, see what you think and poke holes in the site structure (Jangro). Let me know what I need to improve, what you like, what you hate and what I can do to continue to make this an interesting space for discussion and investigation.

CostPerNews, like life and our conceptions of online marketing, is a constant work in progress! I’ll be upgrading to WordPress 2.1 over the weekend, so a few more tweaks will be coming…

(Thanks for the Love, Carsten!)

Google continues to pour on the Checkout blitz.

Now, products from companies affiliated with the Checkout service are denoted in the top “sponsored links” area with large Checkout images.

I’d love to see data on the effectiveness of these buttons (considering Google isn’t a fan of publishers using images to draw attention to AdSense contextual ads)…

Here’s an image…

By the way, Tim Storm from Fatwallet directed me to a fantastic laptop case that I’d like to purchase. If anyone has an eBags affiliate link they’d like for me to use (or a link from a competitor with similar products), send it over and I’ll use it for the case I want to purchase (and for future purchases). I know that’s not always kosher, but we’re all friends here, right?

Popular sites such as Time.com, Dow Jones Market Watch, ZDNet, TechCrunch and GigaOM utilize the Sphere widget in order to allow users relevant and personalized search platforms based on their own interests and reading habits.

I’ve just partnered with Sphere to also implement the widget here on CostPerNews to help facilitate conversation and promote good content. I consider Sphere a cross of StumbleUpon and Technorati with a dash of Techmeme thrown in for good measure.

What I do enjoy about Sphere, and the reason I encourage all of you to use it, is the fact that smaller blogs with less traffic but higher quality are easily discovered using Sphere. About a third of the feeds I subscribe to are a direct result of my use of Sphere. These are blogs with well constructed and highly interesting content about Sumerian archaeology, string theory, pencil fetishes (I’m a pencil/pen collector), and of course, online marketing and the social web.

To get the Sphere widget placed on your site is a complicated process involving personal emails with the Sphere team and a regular check of the content you are producing. This is especially true for WordPress blogs. That does help keep the quality of “sphere’d” sites high, though.

So, give Sphere a go and enjoy some new blogs you haven’t found yet.

I’ve also installed a button for the Jaxtr service over on the far right sidebar. The service is still in an invite-only private beta, but I’ve enjoyed the tests I’ve been running through Jaxtr. Basically, if you have VOIP set up on your computer, you can click to “call me” on my mobile without having to go through Skype or a similar service. Behind Jaxtr is a founder of LinkedIn, so I have faith in the service.

Jaxtr is intended for the MySpace/Friendster crowd. When you contact a person through the Jaxtr button on their site, neither the caller nor the recepient of the call has their number displayed, so it is ideal for some types of affiliate marketing programs as well.

Yes, I know it is problematic for some to throw out that kind of immediate access and contact (my number is 803-413-6834 for good measure), but when I’m not at my computer, I have my mobile with me, and it’s a convenient way to reach me.

So, give that a try. It’s for you to use and abuse as you see fit (though please do more of the former than the latter).

Let me know if you have any other ideas to make this site the best possible place for discussion and information!

Sam

In my spare time (all 10 minutes a day of it), I have been working on my Japanese, which along with the mobile marketing presentation at this year’s Affiliate Summit West by Linkshare VP Karen Verelly, has me thinking…

When will mobile infiltrate the US to the point that mobile users begin purchasing things through mobile auctions?

Will it take a mobile eBay with PayPal mobile? Or a GooglePhone pre-loaded with Checkout and Google Buy (or Google Auction)?

I think it will rely on the divorce between the hardware makers and the service companies. The iPhone partnering exclusive with Cingular (AT&T) was a major step backwards when it could have driven the mobile marketing revolution here in the US.

What is Linkshare doing to make this sea change happen sooner than later?

Think of:

Obopay

UnwiredBuyer

ClickandBuy

Wayne Porter is probably my best friend and most trusted colleague in the industry.

That’s why I took him to task after Monday’s Web2.0 Panel Session at Affiliate Summit West. We should have had the cameras rolling to record the 15 minute or so exchange after the conclusion of the panel, because some real insights into the role of web2.0 were made… more insights than came from the actual panel session, I would argue.

Affiliate marketing needs clarity and concise points about web2.0 in order to get more affiliates thinking about these platforms. The panel discussion provided more cryptic questions and scratched heads than reasons to even think about using these exciting emerging social mediums.

I have an incredible amount of passion for this area, and I was let down and even confused by some of the assertions that Wayne and panelist member Andrew Weinreich, founder and CEO of MeetMoi (a mobile dating company using SMS a la Dodgeball) were making. I even sent Wayne a txt message during the panel yelling at him for using Google as his example of “a profitable web2.0 company” when asked for an example of a company that has used these tactics and have actually turned a profit.

As another example, “Monkey Phone Calls” are not web2.0, Wayne. They are not even web1.0. They are silly attention getters that you knows I think do nothing but alienate the person you are calling. The idea of paying a guy $10 to call someone else and scream baboon sounds through a telephone has nothing to do with practical application strategies of web2.0. Including that in a panel discussion as a way for affiliates to use web2.0 seem ridiculous to me. As funny or cute as you might think they are, they have no place in a time limited discussion of how affiliates can actively think about and perhaps implement web2.0 strategies.

Wayne gives a recap of his state of mind and the context surrounding the panel discussion on his ReveNews blog including a leaked watter bottle, a missing panel member and a sleepless night. All were valid excuses, but I still think the panel missed the opportunity to do some ground breaking inspiration for the affiliate familiar with the “web2.0” hype but not familiar with how widgets or MySQL injections work.

Wayne goes on to write that:

I wanted to take a moment, now I am rested, to clarify some of the observations, feedback (good and bad), about the panel. Which I heard en passant delivered some real revelations for some, but for others failed to deliver on “actionable items” and “how-to’s”. Not to mention not taking into account this might have been a more advanced track panel and a huge topic to cover in one hour. Perhaps at the next summit there can be smaller breakouts for advanced topics.

For example, I went in with the assumption that most knew what a widget was…not so! The feedback given to me was the panel was everything from great to confusing. That’s ok- let’s explore…we can only learn by having a conversation and that is one the key elements of the “Web 2.0” movement.

When you are particularly passionate and enthusiastic about evangelizing a certain approach to a group of non-initiated, it is particularly frustrating to see key points missed or mangled. Even worse… as a college professor, I am constantly looking for people to present information in a clearn, concise and well informed matter that provides a platform for educated discussion rather than shots from the hip (which seemed to be behind most of the questions to the panel including the Beth Kirsch question about traffic Wayne alludes to in his post).

I made copious notes during the presentation, but in fairness to Wayne, I’ll respond to the points he makes in his ReveNews post as he does call me out by name to respond and so that we don’t devolve into a “he said he said” back-and-forth.

What is a widget? It appears some did not know, which is surprising since Widgets have been around pre 2000, however they have lacked adopton en masse. Widgets are a portable piece of code that can be implemented and executed within any web page by an end user and does not need any more compiling. Normally widgets come in Flash or Javascript flavors. It is pretty easy to think of how widgets could be used in marketing, from surveys, to product showcases, to interactive pieces, up to transactions inside a widget itself! Sam Harrelson talks quite about it quite a bit about it at CostPerNews.com.

Good… much better than the panel presentation because you point out what widgets are and what they can do rather than jumping straight to the security issues involved (such as your beloved MySQL injections). More examples of successful implementation of widgets at Linda’s blog here. Widgets allow for the user to be reached on their own terms, and turns over the power of browsing back to the original user. If you’re making all of your money on AdSense or contextual ads, this probably is not the route for you. However, if you are running CPA sales or rev-share from products, this is an interesting way for you to reach an even wider audience. I’ve put all of my thoughts on widgets and affiliate marketing here.

Some reasons to embrace the Web 2.x movement as a merchant or an affiliate…

Even better. Nice handling of a complicated topic. Speed to market, scalability, use of user content and building of community are all important aspects of web2.0 adoption for affiliates and merchants. However, those things can be accomplished without web2.0. How does web2.0 make achieving the lofty goal of “community interaction” any easier?

I’d argue it would be through providing individuals and customers with the space to interact with a brand and form their own emotional experiences rather than relying on being told what to think about a certain product or brand. That kind of a community is incredibly powerful and valuable as it provides instant feedback and metric data without the need for a focus group or pricey marketing consultant. Even for smaller affiliates, this can be achieved.

I do want to argue with you over two things you’ve included in this section of your recap… the “viral” nature of widgets and API’s or web services.

“Viral marketing” is a stupid concet that doesn’t work. Rushkoff’s book was a major step forward in understanding marketing psychology and phenomenonlogy, but the resulting “viral” marketers miss the entire point of the book. Beavis and Butthead?? Way to use a pre-WWW example to make a point about web2.0!

Tara Hunt says:

“From my perspective, marketing isn’t about creating ‘buzz’ or ‘viral messages’ – it’s about building great stuff with the intent you are going to fill a need for people, then celebrating each and every person who comes along and connects with your vision.”

Amen, Tara… couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s not about semantics. It’s about approach… and that’s very important.

Your other point in this section which I disagree with is this:

APIs allow people to fuse data together from disparate sources to create new and innovative things! In turn this fusion can throw off meta data- which gives us better insight into what is going on and perhaps more tone and texture to the data.

That’s great, wonderful and true. But API’s and web services are not “web2.0,” and like Monkey Phone Calls, don’t belong in this conversation. Carsten Cumbrowki makes the most eloquent statement of API’s late arrival to affiliate marketing here. These technologies are great, and will transform the marketing/advertising paradigm online because of background technologies and ease of use, but they are nothing new. No one who is in the web2.0 world or knows the web2.0 world would claim that a company using API’s and web services is necessarily web2.0 because of that.

Some caveats to think about before you do jump in.

Excellent. This is what your entire presentation should have been about… your passion for protecting affiliates, merchants and customers in their online experience is evident and your knowledge in this area is uncomparable.

Your closing section on traffic and addressing the question of traffic quality which Beth posed during the presentation is right on target and clearly lays out your point of view. I couldn’t agree more with your assertion about the long term value of customers.

Lastly respected colleague Sam Harrelson totally disagreed on my assertion that Google was a “Web 2.X” company. I partly agree in retrospect. In reality Google exhibits many traits that could garner this classification, but they really do not give user’s governing control and power over their own data! So while user’s contribute to applications, they don’t have total control. Fair enough Sam? They do provide APIs, platforms, and other tools that are, depending on your take, Web 2.0.

I don’t know of anyone who claims that Google is a web2.0 company. The fact that you responded with “well, Google makes money” when asked for an example of a company using web2.0 that makes money struck me as totally odd. Do they have Google Calendar, Google Docs, Picasa, Dodgeball, Blogger, YouTube, etc? Yes. However, they did not purchase (or in the rare case build) those properties to promote web2.0 type interactions with a community base of valued customers.

They purchased/built those companies to provide a sure footing as search continues to slip away from the way that people are ingesting and processing data and bits. Google is an advertising company, and a very good one. They are not, and would never claim to be a web2.0 company or a company that uses web2.0 tactics for web2.0 reasons.

As to your statement that Google “exhibits many traits” that could classify it as web2.0… you and I share over 90% of our DNA with oak trees. That does not make us oak trees.

Then again I think Web 2.0 is a misnomer at best.

I disagree. Community responses (and panel presentations) of web2.0 may vary, but web2.0 can be clearly described within a set of marketing objectives, approaches and platform uses. Web2.0 is not a misnomer, even if what we call or consider web2.0 do miss the mark. Web2.0 is not a marketing style, but a life style, which forces someone to know their audience, whether they are attempting to sell a product on the web or an idea on a panel discussion.

Affiliates who partner with merchants to promote a specific brand or site spend a great deal of time, money and effort to move the needle from 0.

Most large affiliates have a pre-determined idea of the amount of keyword space they need to have with a generic merchant in order to make that initial investment worth their time. In order to help faciliate that movement, how much keyword space should merchants afford affiliates?

The answer is invariably dependent on how much control and insulation a merchant hopes to retain over their brand and search strategy. However, in order to attract affiliates which can drive high volumes of quality traffic (“Super Affiliates”), merchants must give over some of that control and allow for enough keyword space to make the upstart move from “0 to 60” rather quickly.

How much keyword space is too much keyword space? Is there a limit?

The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards were announced at last night’s Pure Imagination party held at the Wynn Hotel and Resort…

Affiliate of the Year: Scott Hazard
Affiliate Manager of the Year: Angel Djambazov
Exceptional Merchant: Amazon.com
Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award: Brian Littleton
Best Blogger: Jim Kukral
Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend: Todd Crawford

An exceptional set of winners (and nominees) this year, so a big congrats to all. However, the triumvirate of Legends (Wayne Porter, Tim Storm and Todd Crawford) is quite a group of personalities!

I’d also like to congratulate Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting together an incredible show this year. They have constantly made tweaks here and there that have elevated the quality of the show to an exceptionally high level in terms of education, inspiration, networking and fun.

The floor and sessions are packed, but so are the meeting rooms and hallways. I see deals happening everywhere with confident affiliates and knowledgable networks and merchants constantly interacting. As Jennine Rexon of Rextopia commented to me, “the buzz is tangible.” I completely agree with her.

See you in Miami!

I think so… they are much more fluid, transparent and cost-effective.

This morning at Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, I had the great pleasure to spend a good deal of time with Heiko Rauch, Co-Founder and COO of Zanox, Holger Kamin, Regional Manager / Country Manager USA and Sean Cheyney, AccuQuote’s VP of Marketing and Business Development in an involved and incredibly interesting discussion about affiliate marketing, the international online marketing world and possible futures for marketing in a cross-channel and cross-border world.

Heiko, Holger and Sean were more than gracious with their time, insights and honesty about the position of Zanox in the United State affiliate marketing scene and how partnerships with companies such as AccuQuote may help to quickly make affiliates, publishers and merchants aware of the opportunities that an international approach can bring to their respective platforms.

We began by discussing why AccuQuote decided to partner with Zanox to promote its affiliate and online marketing efforts. One thing quickly became clear as Sean talked about this decision… AccuQuote is giddy with excitement over the prospect of consolidating its myriad and diaspora marketing efforts under one umbrella, while still offering the same sorts of customized and personalized platforms for promotion for which AccuQuote is famous.

Sean continually pointed to the “partnership” aspect which Zanox stresses (even within its logo) and how AccuQuote could better facilitate communications with publishers and affiliates by working with one network rather than upwards of a dozen yet offer even more flexibility and transparency than before.

Sean commented:

“Our goal is to make the process of buying life insurance as easy as possible for our customers. We do that by combining instant online quotes with the personal service of seasoned, experienced professionals. It was therefore very important to us to find an affiliate marketing partner that placed the same emphasis on customer service as we do – and we found that in Zanox.”

As Sean made his case for the AccuQuote decision, Holger was especially passionate about Zanox’s commitment to its vision of e-commerce as a global business and online marketing as the greatest exemplar of that paradigm. He articulately emphasized the point that by helping merchants and affiliates reach each other on a global scale, Zanox has placed itself in a unique position which other affiliate networks have not been able to establish.

Heiko pointed out that Zanox has well established offices in Shanghai, China and is quickly learning how to apply what is working in those offices to its European and American efforts.

That is exciting.

“Zanox was founded on the principle of performance-based marketing. Our customers only pay for results, period. That focus, combined with our comprehensive support program for affiliate partners, means that we can offer the highest-quality, most effective affiliate marketing programs around.”

Holger and Heiko continually brought up their excitement for the Zanox AdRank program as a way for search affiliates to find useful keywords and adequately monetize their programs while providing guidance for publishers, as well. I’ve taken a look at a few demo’s of that program, and it is a nice alternative to AdSense as it provides customization.

Speaking of customization, the Zanox and AccuQuote partnership is grounded in it. Sean says that is a major reason that AccuQuote has partnered with Zanox. The level of customization and immediate transparency is greater than any other affiliate network, and after taking a peek at some of the programs, I can’t argue. I’m impressed with how well Zanox has built the ability to customize banners, links, mobile creative, and web site placements while not becoming so automated in creative generation that the program loses the human touch. Rather, they have been able to provide the merchant with a welcome ability to seek out and establish that happy medium themselves.

I’m more than impressed with what I’ve seen and heard from the Zanox and AccuQuote deal, and I’ll be covering more aspects of the partnership in the coming days as I process them. I’ve got many pages of notes and many neurons full of insight that I can’t wait to share.

Thank you Sean, Holger and Heiko for an enlightening session!

Email is still around, and just as vibrant as ever. As I’ve remarked earlier, social media has helped to drive the consistent toehold of email, as it is the prerequisite vehicle for registration information and new updates. Marketers and consumers alike haven’t joined the RSS movement and “reading feeds” is still something reserved mostly for early adopters and tech geeks. It doesn’t look to be changing either. I’d love to see a study on teenage usage of RSS data, but in my university classes I’m not seeing any use of RSS or feeds by students (or colleagues).

So, where is email to go with this new found authority?

I’d suggest taking a look at Dot Email if you are a merchant, affiliate or network interested in future trends of email marketing and usage:

Dot Email is a FREE online community for email marketers to share ideas, keep up with news, learn tricks of the trade and complain about the vexing issues that hurt the industry. Just as anything communal, you get out of it what you put into it.

There are other forums discussing similar issues, but the niche style of this forum makes it particularly valuable info for anyone in online or affiliate marketing. The innovations that email will drive will come from forums such as this, so you’re doing yourself a favor by keeping on the pulse of this sector of our market.

Thanks to Alan Hume for the post idea and this link with more info on the platform!

Google Security VIP / Microsoft Security MVP / Affiliate Marketing Legend Wayne Porter and I have been spending the afternoon in a Vegas hotel blogging, thinking and creating some fantastic new paradigms for affiliate and online marketing. It is Day 0 of Affiliate Summit West and we’ve enjoyed ourselves at Affiliate Dinner and this morning’s Gospel Brunch with Wade Tonkin and the Christian Affiliate Marketers crowd.

Tonight we’re at a hotel off The Strip, preparing our gear. I think we’ve solved the whole equation of marketing, social media and how to exist on the web. Email us for the answers.

Mobile is the next big thing, right? So, AffiliateCampBeta.mobi has taken on a mobile nature, constantly moving. So, we might end up in a campsite tonight, we might end up rolling our sleeping bags out in a 7 Eleven on Flamingo Road, we may even end up in jail.

Much in the spirit of web2.0 (Wayne is speaking on that tomorrow so we’ve been trying to think of something unique and post-modern to throw out to the crowds), AffiliateCamp Beta goes to where the action is and seeks to exist in that fragile and tension filled moment between creativity and production…

As Wayne points out in his post about our beta experiment, you can try to find us out in the desert tonight or tomorrow night, but we’re not sure where we’re going to end up. We’ve got our gear, we’re mobile and we’re moving to follow where the conversation leads us.

That may be hell it may be nirvana or a mix of both. Wherever it ends up, it was the path that was the point all along.

Affiliate marketing, in all ways, is a journey of self-discovery and examination and finding a meaningful place to live and exist within that new found location. We place things like links and pageviews on top of that location, but underneath all of those trappings is a living, beating heart constantly trying to innovate and challenge barriers. That’s what our little experiment is all about, and hopefully we’ll help expose some of that delicate tissue which keeps the ingenuity going throughout the veins of the web.

There is a lot of talk about how video, social media and web2.0 applications will impact affiliate marketing.

Why should affiliates really care about web2.0 since websites that have worked to bring in healthy commissions for years continue to bring in high monthly checks?

The basic answer to that fundamental question (which was part of an interesting table conversation at this morning’s Gospel Brunch with the Christian Affiliate Marketers group at the House of Blues here in Vegas) has to do with the way users are processing and using information and services online. Affiliate marketing sites must be useful for consumers and individuals in order to keep a steady stream of traffic and a healthy community at the site.

Affiliates are beginning to turn towards web2.0 tools (and platforms associated with web2.0 apps such as php and AJAX) to better serve the more experienced and tech-saavy audiences using the web now. A practical example would be FatWallet.

Right on the front page of this heavily visited site, Tim Storm and his company have launched a wiki. A wiki is:

is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change available content, and typically without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. The term wiki also can refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a Web site, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (the original wiki) WikiWikiWeb and on-line encyclopedias such as Wikipedia

The FatWallet Wiki is tied in very well to the forums section and makes use of the large community that frequently visits the site. However, what the FatWallet team has accomplished with the wiki is an incentive for users to visit the site for communal and sharing purposes. That’s what web2.0 is all about.

So, visit sites that are actively using these technologies and platforms that everyone is talking about, and see how affiliate and merchant sites are actually putting these these things in their programs. There are some creative and useful applications of these new social platforms, and if you are an affiliate or a merchant involved in the affiliate space you need to see how these technologies can apply to your program.

Lots of great highlights from tonight. At the Schaaf Co. Affiliate Dinner, I sat with Wayne Porter, Revenue Magazine’s Lisa Picarille, Riya’s Beth Kirsch, Blogkits/ReveNews’ Jim Kukral and DigitalRiver’s Todd Crawford while Brian Littleton, Brook Schaaf, Missy Ward and Corey Newhouse gave Shawn Collins a proper roasting.

It was a great socializing event to kick things off here in Vegas. Lots of affiliates, merchants and a healthy dose of fun.

Tomorrow morning is the Gospel brunch with Wade Tonkin followed by Jim Kukral’s guylights treatments and the ShareASale concert show.

Wayne Porter and I are heading out to the campsite tomorrow after enjoying our last night of civilization in a hotel room off the strip. We’re waiting for a late nite pizza now.

More to come tomorrow.

Analytics, as we have known them and constructed them for our use, are stunting the growth of online, especially affiliate, marketing.

Online marketing is still very much in its infancy. This new beast of marketing is only about 12 years old, and has only been taken seriously in the last six to eight years. In order to mark the growth of this infant, we’ve attempted to translate offline metrics and analytical means to put marks on the wall every so often.

However, these translations of offline analytical methods have not enabled us to adequately record or understand many of the aspects of affiliate marketing which is the sole reason for using such measurements.

In effect, the translations of offline analytics into our online experience have held back some of the developments and keen data driven insights which could have been gained if a false analytical structure had not been superimposed on the situation.

Kowabunga’s CTO Jeff Doak, SearchingForProfit’s SEO guru Amanda Watlington, The Partner Maker’s Jeff Molander and myself discussed this issue on yesterday’s “Weekly Insight” podcast. The show is really coming into its own because we are all beginning to seriously debate one another and allow our own personalities to come out and stake their respective territories. There are many things that I disagree with Molander on, and there are many things that Jeff D disagrees with me on, and there are other things that Amanda and I don’t see eye-to-eye on. Now that we’ve exposed some of those disagreements, we’re able to mine that valuable space in between all of our opinions and experience.

That is incredibly valuable for you as well.

Here’s what we discussed:
* Future of Media Analytics, Metrics
* MSN Enters Analytics Game
* Multi-channel Marketing Challenges
* Cam Balzer & “Offline Multipliers”
* Google Acts Weak: Monopolistic AdSense Rules

On the show, I articulate my idea for how online marketing, especially the affiliate side of things, can move beyond analytics as we know them. My basic argument is that a top-down superstructure artificially imposed on human communications will never work.

This is especially true with the types of human interactions afforded by the new emerging media platforms. I see a time when everything we do is linked back to some sort of personal affiliate link that we can share both online, offline and over mobile, without having to take the time to embed any links or share any paper coupons.

So, give this week’s show a listen. It’s well worth the hour and will hopefully provoke you to think some new thoughts and help push our industry forward.

Here’s the mp3.

Google has picked the Western North Carolina town of Lenoir for its new $600 million data center.

The center will bring 210 needed jobs to Lenoir, which is a charming little town just down the street from me. Lenoir is well known for it’s furniture production, but that market has seen a collapse in recent years.

Buy.com is leveraging its relationship with the Google Checkout platform in its newest set of banner and web placement creatives.

The newest newsletter from the Buy.com affiliate program (managed through Commission Junction) includes the following banners…

The embedded link in the creatives take you to a landing page which explains the Google Checkout and Buy.com relationship…

“In an effort to provide our customers the broadest selection of checkout options, Buy.com has implemented Google’s new checkout service ‘Google Checkout’. The Google Checkout service assists customers in two distinct ways. First, it shows Google Checkout customers more relevant information in Google search results by displaying the Google Checkout badge on the sponsored links of merchants that offer Google Checkout. Second, it helps simplify the buying process.”

What follows is a graphical set of instructions on how to use Google Checkout from the consumer point of view.

Many argue that eBay’s PayPal is the undisputed champion in the consumer pay service platform, but I’ve argued in the comments here that PayPal is hampered by its close knit association with eBay and it’s inability to reach its customer base via email because of the severity of phishing scams.

Google Checkout stands to broaden the idea of an “online wallet” (though I wouldn’t use those terms because that idea is so tainted with history and baggage) with participating merchants. These co-branding campaigns, along with the placement of the Google Checkout feature on the front page of Google points towards an immenent Checkout/PayPal showdown.

I quote Hunter S…

“There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.”

Amen.

As most of you already know, Wayne Porter and I are hoping to avoid the inevitability of the second coming which will be caused by 1700 money hungry affiliates, tax collectors, CPA networks, Whores of Babylon, and suit-cladded silver-tongued affiliate network devil reps gathering in the midst of Sin City.

It’s going to be epic, folks.

Here’s some info on our gonzo activities:

Article
5 Star Coverage
Shawn’s Take
Wayne’s Word

When we’re not burning dollars out in the desert, we will be at the conference. I fly in tomorrow (Friday) night around 10 and have already heard of a few goings on. I’d like to have a signficant level of intoxication while I attempt to set up my tent in the cold dark desert by myself (Wayne flies in on Saturday) in order to properly greet any rattlers that may be sharing the space with me. So, if you are doing any pre-partying or socializing on Friday night please let me know.

On Saturday, I think Wayne and I are doing a pod/video cast for anyone interested in joining. We’ll tape it at Bally’s for ease of use. You won’t miss us, so if you want to participate, just join in. Maybe we’ll be there to greet you at the door as you check in and we’ll push a camera in your face and ask you what you hope to accomplish at the Summit. Or maybe we’ll flush a cherry bomb down Shawn’s toilet and record the results. It will inevitably involve a camera.

Saturday night is Affiliate Dinner (sold out… great job, Brook)

Sunday morning is the Gospel Brunch with Wade (anticipating the Second Coming again and hedging my bets). Jim Kukral is buying everyone drinks on Sunday afternoon at the main Bally’s bar downstairs so make sure to be there from 3-6 for free drinks. Jim’s hair dresser has been on vacation, so I’m volunteering to do a guy-lights application at the bar. It will be on YouTube for those of you who miss it, of course.

Sunday night is the big music party, then Monday is the floor walking, hand shaking, card making experience. I have a few meetings and interviews set up but do have some free time for a chat, podcast or pontification.

I have to fly out late Monday night (around midnight) to be back in NC so that I can teach at 8:00am, but I will be at one of the Monday night parties until I have to exit.

SO, if you’d like to meet up and share a drink and some conversation you can contact me the following ways:

1) Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/samharrelson. Add me as a friend and I’ll be shooting out periodic updates and gossip (as I’m sure everyone will). ShareASale is doing some cool stuff with their twittering, so sign me up as a friend just to follow that experiment along.

2) Mobile: 803-413-6834. Feel free to text or call me on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday. I’ll have it on my possession constantly. Hopefully there is reception in the desert.

3) AIM: sbharrelson22

4) I’ll be live blogging here on CPN as well. So, check CPN while you’re sinning it up.

My advice? Stay away from the crap tables. While that normally refers to a betting game, it can also mean certain booths of companies with ill-repute. You know who they are.

My other advice? If you’re an affiliate, dress as casually as possibly. The less formal you are, the more important your affiliate status must be because it appears you aren’t trying to impress anyone. So, don’t comb your hair, wear flip flops, forgo shaving and look like you’ve been sleeping in the desert for the past few nights… oh… wait.

We’ll leave it with Gram Parsons…

This old town is filled with sin,
It’ll swallow you in
If you’ve got some money to burn.
Take it home right away,
You’ve got three years to pay
But Satan is waiting his turn

This old earthquake’s gonna leave me in the poor house.
It seems like this whole town’s insane
On the thirty-first floor your gold plated door
Won’t keep out the Lord’s burning rain

I recently posted about a new Partnercentric managed program called AdventureQuest focused on the exploding online gaming market.

Another gaming company, K2, has also opened an affiliate program with a 90 day cookie, 10% payout and PayPal only payments.

The K2 Network, Inc. Affiliate Program provides a way for you to be a part of the exciting and constantly growing universe of online gaming. K2 Network’s games have a large audience and our subscription base is increasing at a steady pace. You can make money as an affiliate of K2 Network – all you need is a website.

Until gaming companies such as Capcom and BioWare are snagged up by the large media companies, expect more gaming companies to follow suit. It only makes sense that these companies would seek to use the affiliate platform to increase word of mouth advertising and reward loyal gamers.

I think there’s a great overlap between the world of gaming and affiliate marketing in terms of metrics, performance incentives and general macro percentages. Perhaps they will implement mobile into their ad platform as well and begin to recognize the power of Jeff Doak’s “Marketing is Flat” philosophy.

Email me or comment below if you’re a merchant or network looking for affiliates and I’ll post you below…

Forums? Email newsletters? Blogs? Email blasts? Plaxo? Web2.0 stuff?

The question that merchants and networks always have is how they can they find more affiliates. Here are five quick tips I’ve been successful with while working in the network space…

1. Have attractive offers (more is not better… we all know what FreeSlide did). Attractive offers are offers that are easy to understand, are consistent in payout and can even be niche focused.

2. Blog, podcast or do videos that discuss the industry and important issues rather than just producing fluff content describing how super awesome your network or program is.

3. Participate participate participate.

4. Don’t have long and annoying signatures on your email messages. Put them in text, make them quick and easy to read and understand, and put your phone number or maybe url at the most. If an affiliate wants your AIM or your Skype info, they’ll ask.

5. Have a gimmick that makes you stand out… use Twitter for communications, have a crazy color scheme, send Lego toys to affiliates… do something different.

What did I leave out?