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 …

Web2.0: Affiliate Marketing Land of Confusion Continue Reading >

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 …

Keyword Space Continue Reading >

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, …

Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards: Las Vegas Jan 2007 Continue Reading >

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 …

Zanox and AccuQuote: Strong Indication of Things to Come for Online Marketing Continue Reading >

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 …

Social Media, Email’s Rebound and What’s Ahead Continue Reading >

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 …

Affiliate Gonzo: AffiliateCampBeta Goes Mobile Continue Reading >

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 …

How Are Affiliate Marketers Really Using Web2.0? Continue Reading >

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 …

Affiliate Summit Saturday Night Continue Reading >

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 …

Analytics are Holding Back Affiliate Marketing Continue Reading >

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 …

Buy.com’s New Google Checkout Banners Continue Reading >

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 …

Fear and Loathing in Sin City: Affiliate Summit Contact Stuff Continue Reading >

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 …

K2 Games Opens Affiliate Program Continue Reading >

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 …

How to Find Affiliates Continue Reading >

Here’s a short speech I did at Affiliate Summit East this past June in Orlando, FL during the “Lessons Learned” session at the end of the conference (thanks for providing this, Shawn!). http://video.affiliatesummit.com/embed/iframe/panel/cid/P77YJ6Z3KQQGB897

I normally don’t post links without adding something original to the conversation. However, this article by Sally Falkow on building an email list with social media is a must read… http://falkow.blogsite.com/public/item/155255 I came across this via Andy Beal, so make sure to check out his informative discussion on the issue as well.

A company in our space will soon be releasing a platform which allows for the ability to place affiliate links in bittorrent files. Affiliates will be able to place links and check stats while advertisers will be able to select the placements depending on file type in an automated system which looks very much like a CPA network. The company wishes to remain anonymous at this point, but will make an announcement in the next …

Affiliate Marketing via BitTorrent Downloads Continue Reading >

Google is ramping up its Checkout platform. I’ve heard rumblings from my sources within the company and from a few of the merchants involved in the Checkout program that something major is on the way… soon. Tonight, it seems that Google has added Checkout to the main search page in a very prominent way… Here comes the fun. I’ll release some info when I can, but let me know you opinions on how this relates …

Google Puts Checkout on Main Page Continue Reading >