Sam Harrelson

The part of my Affiliate Marketing Manifesto (see below) which has garnered the most attention is #3. Linda Buquet has started a thread on her 5StarAffiliateMarketing Forums, so you can participate in the conversation there as well…

3. Affiliate Marketing Transcends Links
Links hold affiliate marketing hostage. Just as Jeremiah wore a yoke around his neck to show the coming servitude of Israel to the Babylonians, we affiliate marketers should heed the writings on the wall pointing us towards the dangers of positing all of our hopes and futures of industry sustainability and industry credibility on the link. Clickfraud and AdSense farms are just two examples of the sinful state we will enter if we continue down the path of praising the link while ignoring the individual doing the action of clicking. Give readers, consumers and individuals the chance to elevate themselves and your program by not insulting their intelligences with links.

Just before Thanksgiving (Nov. 22… scroll down), I posed the question (and encouraged response… of which I received none!) of how and why affiliate marketing should start to move away from links. Here’s the main point of that argument…

“However, as online marketing continues to mature, we have to confront this question about the long term establishment of links as the primary tool for connecting advertiser to publisher or merchant to affiliate or network to partner because links, by their nature, do not offer enough flexibility and data gathering for developing trends (RSS, social web adoption, social networking, more intelligent web users, uses of the internet outside of World Wide Web).”

Just today I was passed this post about the death of “information architecture” (how information on the internet is spread). There are more similarities in my argument for a move away from links in our marketing programs and the idea that the way we share information in a link-based system is slowly eroding than at first seem evident…

In many ways, the success of Google’s Pagerank algorithm was the harbinger of all this. The simple idea that people’s actions model meaning better than a directory (even a flexible directory) is a critical step forward in thinking about the Web. The innovation we’re seeing with folksonomies, recommendation systems, social networking sites…all have their roots in the idea that modeling what people actually do on the Web is the best way to provide answers for them. And, perhaps more importantly, it is an admission that we simply can’t predict the future…we can’t design a perfect information architecture, and to attempt to implies that the world we’re modeling doesn’t change.

My argument for such an evolution away from links revolves around the idea that as individuals change the way they process information on the webs (web-based office programs, feed readers) and social platforms (Second Life, MySpace, Facebook, etc) affiliate marketing has to change the way it interacts with these individuals based on their attention communications and kinesics.

Rather than trying to rebrand affiliate marketing with a new name, opening up possibilities by moving away from links and towards other means of transferring data, deals and offers could position affiliate marketing as the future of the online monetization experience.

What do you think?

Shawn Collins and Revenue Magazine’s Lisa Picarille are launching a new show on BlogTalkRadio discussing affiliate marketing and host of issues. The show’s first episode is next Wednesday at noon so be sure to tune in and call in…

I have teamed up with Lisa Picarille, editor-in-chief of Revenue magazine, to create Affiliate Thing, a weekly podcast covering the state of affiliate marketing.

The 30-minute weekly program debuts on Wednesday, December 6, 2006. You can listen live at BlogTalkRadio.com every Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. EST or download the show from BlogTalkRadio.com after the fact for on-demand listening.

ReveNews’ Jim Kukral is also launching a show on BlogTalkRadio next Tuesday, so be sure to check that out as well. His show is leaning more towards the marketing B2C advice side of things, and will definitely be interesting…

Have a business? Need some marketing advice? How about some FREE marketing advice? Call in, or email and tell us about your business. We’ll brainstorm marketing ideas live on the air for you, for free

If you haven’t checked out BlogTalkRadio, make sure to spend a few minutes there. It’s an interesting platform. How will it affect WebMasterRadio? Will other industry influentials start utilizing the BlogTalkRadio platform?

Shawn Collins has just announced the Affiliate Summit Awards to be announced in Las Vegas this January. Congrats to the nominees.

What are your thoughts?

Here are the finalists for each category:

Affiliate of the Year

Anne Fognano
Michael Coley
Scott Hazard

Affiliate Manager of the Year

Jamie Birch
Angel Djambazov
Sam Osborn

Exceptional Merchant

Amazon
eBay
OnlineShoes.com

Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award

Linda Buquet
Ben Edelman
Brian Littleton

Best Blogger

Scott Jangro
Beth Kirsch
Jim Kukral

Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend

Todd Crawford
Haiko de Poel, Jr.
Brian Littleton

Last week, the brilliant Hugh McLeod issued a call-for-papers for short (500 words or less) manifesto’s for anything people are passionate about.

Here’s my Affiliate Marketing Mini-Manifesto. Will it apply to you? Probably not. I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one…

1. Affiliate Marketing is Not About Money
If you are doing affiliate marketing in hopes of making large sums of money, you are not going to succeed. Marketing, in the larger scope of the term, is moving past the ill-conceived notion of short term dollar and sense metrics. CPA, CPC and CPM should not be seen as valuations of successes, but directional arrows of sustainability. In affiliate marketing, we have to move past the notion that what we’re doing involves only direct action payouts. Consider the longtail and think ahead.

2. Affiliate Marketing is Not Mainstream
Those of us involved in the affiliate marketing galaxy often wonder why we are not treated with more respect by the rest of the online marketing universe. The easy answer? We don’t belong there. Affiliate marketing, in principle, seeks to democratize and engender the monetized web by allowing producers of quality content, products community situations with the means to continue their efforts. It’s not about gaining riches, it’s about moving past the hubs and nodes of networks.

3. Affiliate Marketing Transcends Links
Links hold affiliate marketing hostage. Just as Jeremiah wore a yoke around his neck to show the coming servitude of Israel to the Babylonians, we affiliate marketers should heed the writings on the wall pointing us towards the dangers of positing all of our hopes and futures of industry sustainability and industry credibility on the link. Clickfraud and AdSense farms are just two examples of the sinful state we will enter if we continue down the path of praising the link while ignoring the individual doing the action of clicking. Give readers, consumers and individuals the chance to elevate themselves and your program by not insulting their intelligences with links.

4. Affiliate Marketing Demands Relationships
Although many will decry such a statement, affiliate marketing must, by its nature, embrace the relationship paradigm. However, this relationship situation between content publisher and individual need not be a handicap. Instead, relationships may open doors to affiliate marketing which other marketing platforms are not able to accomplish and position affiliate marketing as a viable platform of personalized performance. Scale is not everything.

5. Affiliate Marketing is the Future of Marketing
Affiliates, networks and merchants involved in affiliate marketing recognize the power of a platform which celebrates the individual and their involvement in the interaction of a person with a company or website owner providing content. Realizing the personalized conversation inherent (and essential) in affiliate marketing is not a hindrance, but a potential of fulfillment, will allow affiliate marketers to inherent their due place in the world of online marketing.

(Disclaimer: This mini-manifesto reflects my own personal viewpoints and biases and not the viewpoints and biases of the larger Cost Per News and Cost Per Network which strives for meaningful objectivity).

What do you think? Send Hugh your own mini-manifesto or send me your own Affiliate Marketing Manifesto. I’ll post it up to the sight with full credit given to you.

Impulse Marketing Group, associated in the industry with sub-prime credit card offers and lead generation, has been acquired by an unknown entity.

Interestingly, the deal was facilitated by AdMediaPartners who was the same investment bank that providedstrategic advice to aQuantive in its acquisition of sbi.razorfish.

Impulse has had some questionable associations in the past which has landed them in hot water as well (Google search).

Whether or not this begins 2007’s “Silly Season” of online advertising/marketing/lead generating company buyouts by larger entities revolves around the question of who the unknown entity might be.

Why can’t Affiliate Marketing become Performance Marketing or Traffic Marketing or Referral Marketing or SuperCoolLeadGeneratingMachine Marketing?

• Jacob became Israel.
• Allen Konigsberg became Woody Allen.
• Alphonso D’Abruzzo became Alan Alda.
• Archibald Leech became Cary Grant.
• Margaret Hyra became Meg Ryan.
• Issur Danielovitch became Kirk Douglas.
• Tom Mapother became Tom Cruise.

Are those in the affiliate marketing industry stuck with the name “affiliate marketing” forever?

Yes.

There’s no getting around it

Why? Because what “affiliate marketing” represents is a collection of vasts interests and parties without a spider present to keep the web together. That means that as much as we’d like to rebrand, we can’t.

Why? Because in a network structure with very few hubs and mostly nodes, entities outside of the network define the name and identity. Try as we might, we don’t have the ability to change the name of the affiliate marketing industry, but we do have the power to transform it from the inside-out.

The actors listed above made the name changes early, before they were tagged with an emotional aftertaste. You can’t think of Tom Cruise without thinking of Mission Impossible or jumping on couches. After his image troubles last year and being dropped by his studio contract, it seemed that his career might be fading and in trouble of collapsing in on its own weight. Did he rename himself again? No. Instead of rebranding himself via his name, he had a baby and married a young attractive female.

So instead of trying to rename the industry, let’s push forward and escape the 1999 paradigm that has ensnared our industry.

How do we do that??
Conversations.

Online marketing, for all of its vast niches and insider clubs, is a small community.  In some way, we all know each other and we all are affected when there is either good news or bad news.  We celebrate the births of babies together, we send congratulations for marriages and we mourn when there is a death in this large and extended family we’ve created.

So, this week many in the industry have been touched by the loss of Jai Rajkumar.  Here is a memorial thread at WickedFire with a touching obituary by Jon…

Jai Rajkumar – Affiliate Manager and Good Friend

Over the last few weeks I’ve had more and more people ask me for five or six tips to help them get their program out of the online performance marketing doldrums.

This is especially critical advice during the Holiday Season when more consumers (not just individuals, but people actually looking to consume) are online and actively seeking out deals, offers and services.

You can let this potential traffic (and conversion) spike slip by, or go on the offensive and tweak your online marketing program. It’s really not hard… it just takes dedication and a good staff.

So here are is my 12 Step Program to create a better online marketing program or presence culled from my years of experience online as a network rep, publisher, advertiser, software marketer, CPA Network COO and SVP and email marketer…

1. Try all the services you can and crunch the numbers right away. Give MyAffiliateProgram9 a look. There’s some interesting things going on in the program that could transform how and why you use data either as an affiliate or a publisher or a network. Investigate co-registrations. Consider other types of placements you might not have yesterday.

2. Along those lines, investigate CPA Networks (but don’t replace CJ or Linkshare with them if you’re a publisher or affiliate… more on that later). Call Azoogle, Hydra, AdDrive, Rextopia, CPAEmpire, RocketProfits or FiliNet and speak to a rep who handles your side of business depending on your status as a publisher, advertiser or affiliate. These networks have people dedicated to your particular side of the business. I know… I used to be one and loved it when potential advertisers or publishers called me up.

3. Call CJ, Linkshare, Kowabunga and ShareASale and ask them what they can do for you. Talk to a human at the companies and don’t rely on word of mouth or industry reputation.

4. Blog and send trackbacks to competitors, news blogs like this and people you want to reach (many networks and publishers have their own blogs… whether business or personal). People are much more likely to read your content and take the time to hear you if you’ve taken the time to send them a trackback.

5. Read blogs. Read lots of them from all different viewpoints. Don’t know where to start? Get the Google Reader and start subscribing. Don’t have the time to find quality material? Email me and I’ll send over my OPML file, which is a file of all my subscriptions at the moment that you can upload into your reader. That has taken a lot of time/energy/love to create and maintain. You’re welcome.

6. Optimize your page for organic search engine growth. Also optimize your conversion page if you have one.

7. Interact with existing, potential and even non-potential consumers/customers/individuals. How? Blog, answer the phone, open a forum, check Google Groups for your company’s name, watch the forums of the industry/area you are serving.

8. Focus on organic growth of your program. SEO is wonderful and great, but it has a glass ceiling. Don’t blow your budget as an advertiser, network or publisher on keywords (unless you are purely a search marketer, which is short-sighted in this market). Realize the power and effective ROI that organic growth distribution can supply to your site.

9. Research potential affiliates, publishers, networks or partners that you think you could (or could not) do business with in the near future. Make a file and keep that data. It’s invaluable to you. Read that file before bed every night and allow your brain to work its wonders as you sleep. You just might stumble upon a new platform, campaign, metric, keyword, incentive or recruitment tool that could make all the difference. This has worked more than a dozen times for me, and now I have an impressive file cabinet filled with priceless data on everyone I’ve done business with and hope to work with one day. In case of a fire, I’m running for that cabinet.

10. Attend conferences. Affiliate Summit is in Vegas this January. Don’t miss it. Not interested in affiliate marketing? It doesn’t matter… this conference has outgrown its namesake and is helping to create a new brand for partner/performance/affiliate/traffic marketing.

11. If you’re a network or work with publishers and affiliates, give your account representatives a face and a name. The most successful programs in the industry have personalities that have grown out of the collective personalities of the account reps. These people are not easily replaceable. They are your generals, your eyes and your ears. Treat them like royalty because they can make or break your program depending on their enthusiasm or their apathy. If you’re a publisher or affiliate, get to know the people on the phone. Make business personal. If you think business is not personal, you’re a fool.

12. Know Thy Partners. Research, research, research. Listen to account reps, have an eye on the traffic flow and don’t allow people with less-then-ethical standards to bring your program down. In online marketing, you only get one strike and then you’re out.

Agree? Disagree? Anything you’d add? Comment!

If you’d like to see something covered or participate in the conversation here without commenting, there are two simple options.

-If you use del.icio.us, tag a page with “costpernews.”

-Or, if you use ma.gnolia.com, you can also tag a page with “costpernews.”

Most of you are already using one of these two services in your daily browsing, so if you see something interesting, don’t hesitate to tag “costpernews” and I’ll take notice.

I’ll feature the top taggers in a special article/interview/podcast/video post every week or month depending on their preference.

If you’re not following Shmuel Tennenhaus throughout the interwebs, you’re missing some interesting reads and insight. There are three seperate links in that last sentence, and as you know I am not a fan of links.

The fact that I’ve put three links into one sentence should alert you to the potency of the content that Shmuly is producing.

Hell, he’s even been credited with the destruction of a TV show.

For another example to learn from the Shmule…how should bloggers position themselves for the the longtail of coupon searchers and consumers looking for a deal? Shmuly has an answer…

You see, I just checked by blog stats for the day. And of course, it was another pitiful day of traffic. However, there was a glaring glare facing me in the face.

The blog got a bunch of traffic from people googling for a “j crew coupon code“.

Makes sense. After all, today was Cyber Monday. Many moons ago, I wrote a post titled “yahoo suggests jcrew coupon code“. As a result, if you make a search for “jcrew coupon code“, my blog is on the first page of results. (If that achievement alone does not make me sexy, I give up.)

Problem is…that specific post does not contain any coupon code. So, essentially, people are coming here for nothing; cause you and I both not, there aint nothing to read in this joint. (To defend myself just a bit; that blog post does inform people how to find current coupons…)

Follow along or get left behind in the path of content providers who are taking the road less traveled in a yellow wood and realizing that it makes all the difference. Learn from these early trailblazers and make sure that you are not being left behind in the content consolidation of Web3.0.

Grab the longtail by the horns… it’s going to be a bumpy ride.