5 Star Affiliate Blogs

Are you thankful for your affiliate independence? Think about it! We work in the most “free” country in the world. Plus affiliates and outsourced affiliate managers have the freedom to work from home and the independence to largely create their own destiny.

I hope you all take time to celebrate - your freedom and independence, this wonderful country we live in and this amazing opportunity we have called affiliate marketing.

Enjoy a day off with your family and Happy 4th of July!

Photo credit: Michelle Jones UK

Media buying is something that more and more affiliates are doing. I see lots of affiliate ads on the big sites like MSNBC and Fox news. So how do affiliates play in a space usually reserved for Fortune 500 companies and big ad agencies? Adotas has some tips.

Affiliates can win in the media buy game

“Affiliates actually have a HUGE advantage over agency media buyers - agency media buyers have to buy for their clients, according to their clients specifications. As an affiliate, you make all those decisions. While you are the one taking on all of the risk, this also allows you to reap a greater reward.

Here are some of the steps to get you up and running:”

Excellent news for affiliates in California and Hawaii. Both states vetoed the advertising tax (Amazon tax). Here are press releases about it for each state.

CALIFORNIA

Governor Schwarzenegger just committed - NO advertising tax (affiliate sales tax) in CA. Therefore Overstock overturned their decision to terminate affiliates! So that means Amazon and other companies won’t have to cancel their affiliate agreements in the state either!

We all worked together to fight this tax. We are safe!
Schwarzenegger GETS it!

Official Press Release - Governor Schwarzenegger Remains Committed to No New Taxes, Announces Overstock.com Will Continue to do Business in California

“After passing the largest tax increase in California history, it makes absolutely no sense to go back to the taxpayers to solve the current shortfall - that’s why yesterday I vetoed the majority vote tax increase passed by the legislature. With unemployment at an all time high, we should be doing everything we can to - keep jobs and create jobs - in California. That is why my Administration immediately contacted Overstock.com when we learned of this news and, I am pleased to announce Overstock.com has reversed its decision and will continue to do business with affiliates here in California. I will continue to fight to keep jobs and businesses in California.”

HAWAII

Governor Lingle vetoes online tax bill. She cites Amazon and Overstock’s decision to terminate affiliates. Legislation could still overturn her decision but the fact she vetoed is REALLY great news.

Hawaii affiliates need to stay on top of legislators to be sure this veto does not get overturned on July 15th.

July 1, 2009

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New programs available through Google Affiliate Network:

HockeyMonkey.com	Ebaby.com	Namco Games
TempleStClair.com	Acronis.com

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Read the rest here

MarketLeverage provides Publishers access to hundreds of top-notch advertisements designed to maximize their online profits. We offer the industry’s highest paying rewards program, the industry’s best paying lifetime referral program, payments sent to publishers via FedEx, and the industry’s first affiliate Internet TV Program, MLTV.

MarketLeverage Publishers get the best customer service in the performance marketing industry. Our experienced team of Publisher managers are trained to help our Publishers earn more money from their website, search engine and email marketing efforts.

MarketLeverage Publishers Receive:

» Top Payouts, Massive Ad Inventory, and Tons of Exclusive Offers!
» FedEx payments sent to all Publishers, with Weekly payments available!
» The Highest Paying Rewards program in the Industry!
» The Best Paying Lifetime Referral program in the Industry!
» The Industry’s first affiliate Internet TV program and tutorial videos!

Join MarketLeverage Now!

Top Payouts, Massive Ad Inventory, and Lots of Exclusive Deals – We take less margin on each advertisement so that Publishers will earn more profits for every lead or sale generated. There are hundreds of ads to choose from and a growing selection of unique offers available exclusively to MarketLeverage Publishers.

Rapid FedEx Payments to Publishers – There are no hassles, invoices, or reminders needed. Our Publishers get paid on time every time.

Weekly Payments – Any Publisher with over $1K in weekly commissions can request weekly payments. If you’re interested in this option, please talk to your Publisher Manager today.

The Highest Paying Rewards Program in the Industry – All Publishers are automatically enrolled in our Visa Cash rewards program and receive monthly cash rewards.

The Best Paying Lifetime Referral Program in the Industry – MarketLeverage Publishers have the unique opportunity to earn (5%) five percent of the GROSS revenue generated by Publishers they refer to MarketLeverage.

The Industry’s First Affiliate Internet TV Program – Check out MLTV, our weekly webcast of the network’s top offers, the latest industry news, trends, and tips to help Publishers make more money from our extensive inventory of Advertisements.

Green Links – If you’re new to affiliate marketing, Market Leverage makes getting started easy with our Green Links help videos.

Join MarketLeverage Today.

Quick tip o’ the day - Just discovered a slick, free and easy way to embed overlay ads with live links onto YouTube videos. Let’s say for instance one of your merchants has a video demo on YouTube. You can embed the YouTube video on your site and have a small ad with a live link to the merchant right on top of the video.

Visit LinkedTube to see if this video widget can help your marketing efforts.

“LinkedTube is a Flash widget that adds link and sharing options to YouTube videos. With this you can transform any YouTube video into a useful viral promotion tool. Unlike standard YouTube players it links directly back to your URL, for example you can create video product listings linking direct to your shopping cart, music video links to the iTunes store or just link back to your website or blog. Plus, when others share your video they all link back to your own URL.”

Discovered this over at Kirsty’s blog and she has an example to share.
Quick Tips - LinkedTube - Add Affiliate Links To YouTube Vids

Fluctuations in search results happen all the time; the web is constantly evolving and so are the Google search results. Google algorithms are constantly evolving.

When an affiliate has reduced search traffic or loses ranking, two of the 1st things they think of are that either duplicate content issues or affiliate links are responsible.

The Official Google Webmaster blog today goes into those 2 issues as well as architectural issues that can have an effect on traffic and rankings.

Traffic drops and site architecture issues

Myth number 1: Duplicate content causes drops in traffic!
Webmasters often wonder if the duplicates on their site can have a negative effect on their site’s traffic. As mentioned in our guidelines, unless this duplication is intended to manipulate Google and/or users, the duplication is not a violation of our Webmaster Guidelines. The second part of my presentation illustrates in greater detail how to deal with duplicate content using canonicalization.

Myth number 2: Affiliate programs cause drops in traffic!
Original and compelling content is crucial for a good user experience. If your website participates in affiliate programs, it’s essential to consider whether the same content is available in many other places on the web. Affiliate sites with little or no original and compelling content are not likely to rank well in Google search results, but including affiliate links within the context of original and compelling content isn’t in itself the sort of thing that leads to traffic drops.

Continue reading: Traffic drops and site architecture issues

This morning North Carolina and Hawaii affiliates awoke to some really bad news. Ahead of pending advertising tax legislation, Amazon took a preemptive strike by dropping affiliates effective immediately. They took this action early because the date the laws go into affect is unclear and the affiliate program must be closed to state affiliates PRIOR to the law passing or a presumption of nexus will be established.

If you aren’t familiar with the advertising tax (Amazon tax) issue that is threatening our industry, you can catch up on all the coverage here.

California and several other states have similar legislation pending.
Read the rest here

If you’ve ever had your affiliate application declined for a merchant you were raring to partner with… if you’ve ever had a great plan to promote a certain product and got turned down by the network - you know how very frustrating it can be.

Here are some insightful posts featuring important information about what merchants and networks look for, so you can increase your chances of having them hit the approve button, instead of the decline button. I included the eBay specific posts because the advice there holds true for other merchants and networks as well.

6 sure ways to get your affiliate application declined

7 Tips for Getting Accepted into ePN - eBay Affiliate Network

Understanding the eBay Partner Network Approval Process

June 24, 2009

New programs available through Google Affiliate Network:

2m CCTV	Wysong Pet Store	Snowshack.com
SpiritHalloween.com	Threadsmith.com	Shortcovers.com

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Read the rest here

Today the IAB UK is having their affiliate marketing seminar, Affiliate marketing - beating the recession one click at a time. The seminar looks at the growth of our dynamic industry, the need for ROI, transparency and self regulation.

The 1st session of the day was “Standardization and self regulation - what the channel is doing to ensure it remains safe and worthwhile” featuring Matt Bailey from i-level. Here is some of the information he covered.

He started off by saying Affiliate marketing should be a ‘no risk channel’

Read the rest here

Affiliate link disclosure is a hotly debated topic. Well now it looks like the FTC is planning to regulate disclosure, as well as false or exaggerated claims.

FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments - Washington Post

“New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.”

Read the rest here

If you are looking for a simple 10 step formula for how to launch and run an affiliate program, well here it is! Jay Berkowitz from TenGoldenRules.com recently did a podcast interview with Shawn Collins.

Shawn shares his 10 steps in the podcast. In the blog post the steps are outlined and some of the resources he covers during the interview are listed.

Ten Strategies to Launch and Manage an Affiliate program

Affiliates are up in arms about a recent surge in click fraud on Facebook ads. This thread at WickedFire is at the center of the controversy and is filled with scores of complaints and threats to discontinue Facebook ads due to click fraud.

Over the weekend TechCrunch did a big story about the problem. Then later in a 2nd post TechCrunch reported that “A spokesperson for the company admits there’s a problem and says a fix is coming today. Advertisers will also be credited for any fraudulent clicks.”

I’m sure Facebook was already working on the issue, but having TechCrunch back affiliates up and report on it no doubt helped light a fire. I hope the problem gets resolved quickly.

AllFacebook has a good story about the click fraud but also shares some background about all the affiliates that are using Facebook, describing it as a “land rush”. Affiliate Marketers Flock To Facebook And Click Fraud Skyrockets

The California advertising tax has been revived in a desperate attempt to help California’s budget crisis. AB178 was tabled earlier in the year, but they just added the anti-affiliate nexus language to the budget bill which could be voted on as early as this week.

Karen Garcia from GTO Management is organizing a group to go to the capital this morning to lobby against this bill. Her blog has more details about what you can do to help fight this anti-affiliate legislation. AB178 Nexus language added to CA budget bill Read the rest here

Happy Father’s Day
to all the Affiliate Dads out there!
This is one blog I hope you don’t read, because I hope you took time away from the computer today to go have fun in the sun and play with your kids.

If you are reading this - LOG OFF NOW & go Play!
Enjoy your day. Hope it’s the best Father’s Day ever!
Image From .:. Boxed Art

Affiliate Convention is on full swing in Denver right now. For those of you that missed it, you can listen in to some of the sessions at WebmasterRadio.  They are covering the conference live.

Yesterday I listened to the Keynote by Kristopher Jones, President and CEO of Pepperjam with Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney) and Daron Babin. Now that podcast is up so you can listen on-demand. Kris Jones Keynote-The Future Of Affiliate Marketing.

I missed today’s keynote by Peter Bordes, CEO of MediaTrust. But it will be rebroadcast at 2PM EST and then will be put in the archives for your on-demand listening pleasure.

Listen on-demand here: Affiliate Convention Podcasts

June 18, 2009

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New programs available through Google Affiliate Network:

iFloor.com	GlobalTestMarket.com	Goldwing Country
Real Hog	RingCentral	Modern Furniture Warehouse

Read the rest here

The latest development in the advertising tax front is not good news at all. North Carolina is so close to enacting the anti-affiliate sales tax that Amazon just sent notice to all NC affiliates letting them know that if the law is passed Amazon associates in the state will be dropped immediately.

“We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.”

Read the rest here

Here to report today on 2 big affiliate parties/networking events.

The CPA-LAX “Surf and Turf Affiliate Bash” is coming up June 27th in Southern California. The party is sponsored by CPA Fuel. I have not heard anyone in the industry talking about it, so I wanted to spread the word.

This exclusive party, held at the fashionable Laguna Estates Beach House, will bring together affiliate marketing industry insiders and experts for an evening of beachfront fun and networking. This party runs from Noon til 8 PM and features 3 of LA’s hottest DJs, an open bar, private cabanas and lots of beach fun.

Hot, hot! Register Here.

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There is a FREE “Affiliate Tax Talk & Crab Feast” in Baltimore July 9th. The event is sponsored by Affiliate Summit and the buy.at network.

A discussion about the advertising tax and how it affects our industry starts at 4 PM, followed by a demo of the buy.at interface. Then the crab and networking goes from 5 - 8PM. Space is limited, so reserve your spot.