5 Star Affiliate Blogs

What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? Who are some great affiliate managers you work with? What should you do when you have a bad affiliate manager? Should you just drop their program and look for another?

Thou shall not be annoying – Annoying affiliate managers make me want to either kill myself or kill them. In all seriousness being annoying is not a virtue. Unless I have a close relationship with you as an affiliate manager I do not want to hear from you on the phone……EVER!

4th quarter is here! Whether you are an affiliate or a merchant, here are some last minute tips that can help you optimize your chance of having a successful Ho-Ho-Holiday selling season.

What follows are some valuable insights to the industry for both affiliates and program managers. With the massive market encompassing affiliate marketing, getting on the same page as your business partners can go a long way. Use this information to help streamline your affiliate marketing efforts and offerings.

Fundamental rules of engaging a new affiliate, the importance of activation vs. raw recruitment, using social media for recruiting affiliates, wooing super affiliates, the role of networks for recruiting — and the age-old adage of quality vs. quantity.

Our industry’s credibility is damaged by this activity, and we will not be able to grow and mature into a major marketing channel if we tolerate this fraudulent activity.

Harvard assistant professor Ben Edelman, known in the affiliate marketing world for his previous research projects on affiliate parasites, thinks it’s time for a bill of rights for online advertisers.

PartnerCentric President Linda Woods will be talking with an assortment of industry insiders today from CJU in Santa Barbara. You won’t want to miss this live broadcast from the event – especially if you weren’t able to attend.

Affiliate Fraud is an affiliate manager’s worst enemy and fighting fraud is one of the most time consuming tasks managers face on a day-to-day basis. I’m not aware of any affiliate network that has built-in fraud protection for both scenarios

Here are some of the best posts I’ve read recently about starting, managing and growing a successful affiliate program. Enjoy!

The IAB Affiliate Marketing Council has released a new best practice initiative for merchants to encourage better relationships with affiliates. This sounds like something we should have here in the US as well. Maybe a job for the PMA.

In this economy the last thing you need is a stagnant affiliate channel. Let’s face it though, even in the best of times, it makes sense to take inventory to see if you are doing all you can to keep affiliate partners happy, loyal and motivated. Affiliates what do YOU think?

It doesn’t pay to stiff your affiliates. The damage it can do your reputation isn’t worth it. Just think about that! In this day of blogging one upset affiliate can do your brand a world of hurt.

If you are an affiliate manager you know that there are a myriad of projects that need to be done every day to keep your affiliate program healthy and growing. Website Magazine has a good article by Geno Prussakov that offers some practical tips for making your management tasks more manageable.

Schwarzenegger just committed – NO advertising 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!

Today the IAB UK is having their affiliate marketing seminar which looks at the growth of our industry, the need for ROI, transparency and self regulation.

Podcast – 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 an interview with Shawn Collins.

Features dozens of charts based on responses from 450 affiliates. Also includes candid complaints, ideas, suggestions or opinions affiliates have regarding affiliate marketing.

As it turns out, affiliate marketing is very important for TheCuteKid.com. So important, in fact, that Dave told us that as much as 50% of its acquisition is driven through its affiliate program, and TheCuteKid.com devotes about

Commission Junction University (CJU) is coming up September 15-17 in Santa Barbara, California. Register now, save $100. This event normally sells out early.