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Shawn Collins - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Shawn Collins has been an affiliate marketer since 1997 with a number of active affiliate projects, and a decade of affiliate management under his belt. He is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit, the leading global conference and tradeshow for the affiliate marketing industry and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine. He authored the book Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants and publishes the annual AffStat affiliate marketing benchmark reports.
Shawn blogs daily on affiliate marketing at Affiliate ... [More]
[View Shawn Collins's Extended Author Bio]
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Shawn Collins Email Alerts
- 5 Minutes With Gary Vaynerchuk
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] Gary Vaynerchuk, known as the "Social Media Sommelier" and for his in-your-face videos, is the host of Wine Library TV and the Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey. His new book, "101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World", puts all of his energy and passion for wine into print. Gary will also be the keynote speaker for Affiliate Summit 2009 in Las Vegas.
- My Tools For Podcasting
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Podcasting] I am frequently asked what I use to create podcasts, so I thought I'd put together information on the various equipment, programs, etc. for anybody interested in getting into podcasting. First off, why podcast? Well, it's an additional area for you to reach your audience to share information, generate revenue, and create more content for your site(s).
- Tracking Your Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 9, Tracking Your Affiliate Program, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. It should go without saying that your affiliate program tracking and reporting have to be reliable.
- The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 2, The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. There are a number of benefits for your company when operating an affiliate program, including increased sales, driving traffic to your site, generating qualified leads, as well as extending the reach of your brand.
- Supporting Your Affiliates
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 13, Supporting Your Affiliates, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. This is the final chapter of the book, and it's a pretty quick and easy one.
- Planning Your Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 4, Planning Your Affiliate Program, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. As the old adage goes, businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan.
- Paying Your Affiliates
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 10, Paying Your Affiliates, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. There are a handful of issues to contend with when paying affiliates.
- Managing Your Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 11, Managing Your Program, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. There are a handful of issues you should address when managing your affiliate program.
- Getting the Word Out About Your Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 6, Getting the Word Out, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. I've got a handful of steps on how to promote your affiliate program, to get some awareness of the affiliate program and recruit for it.
- Creating Your Affiliate Agreement
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 8, Creating Your Affiliate Agreement, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. This is a pretty quick and easy chapter. I just want to go over some of the key elements for an affiliate agreement.
- Communicating With Your Affiliates
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 12, Communicating with Your Affiliates, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. This is one of the most important chapters of the book, because as I mentioned before, it's all about relationships.
- Choosing the Right Affiliates
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 7, Choosing the Right Affiliates, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. I've got a couple points you should consider in choosing affiliates.
- Become an Affiliate Yourself
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 3, Become an Affiliate Yourself, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. The reasoning for an affiliate manager also being an affiliate is that they will have a 360 degree understanding of the industry.
- Affiliate Manager Guide to Creative
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 5, Affiliate Manager Guide to Creative, of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. This chapter was originally called "Choosing Your Program Model." I wrote this book a long time ago, and I don't recall why I would have used that title, but I'd say it should more correctly be called something along the lines of Affiliate Manager Guide to Creative.
- What is Affiliate Marketing?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] This is chapter 1, What is Affiliate Marketing? Of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants. In brief, I usually describe affiliate marketing as the online equivalent of Avon. Back when I was growing up, we had the Avon lady in the neighborhood. She would sell cosmetics door to door, and if she made a sale, she earned a commission.
- Stock Audio and Video
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Video-Streaming] Video can be a little plain and boring if it's just a talking head or maybe some action with no narration.
One way to spice up your videos is to add some stock audio and/or stock video footage. There are lots of sources for audio and video, but I'd caution you to be sure you are getting it from a source where you have permission to use it.
- Top Video Sharing Services
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Video-Streaming] After you've created your videos, you will need to upload them to one or more video sharing services, so the world can see them. The video sharing services are free and they vary in the size and length of videos you can upload, though most of them have a cap of ten minutes in length and/or a file size of 100 MB.
- Why Can't I Edit My Video?
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Video-Streaming] I took some video with my digital camera and the resulting files were in the AVI format. When I imported them to my video editing tool, I was not able to edit them. Help!
- The Cameras I Use for Web Video
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Video-Streaming] I create videos with both a Mac and a PC. They serve different purposes for me, but eventually I plan to move all of my video activity over to the Mac.
- Defining a Successful Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] When measuring the success of an affiliate program that you manage, what do you consider to be successful? Doubling the sales of the program from the previous year... tripling it? I have some clients that are still unhappy, no matter how high sales amount to, because their profit margins are very small.
- Interview with Super Affiliate Scott Hazard
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Lisa Picarille, Editor-in-Chief of Revenue Magazine, and myself recently sat down for a chat with super affiliate Scott Hazard, and chatted about his venture backed Cooperative Affiliates, issues with data feeds, and more.
- Interview with Todd Crawford -Vice President of Sales and Business Development at oneNetworkDirect
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Lisa Picarille, Editor-in-Chief of Revenue Magazine, and myself recently sat down for a chat with Vice President of Sales and Business Development at oneNetworkDirect, Todd Crawford.
- Interview with Gene Kavner-Former World-Wide Leader of the Amazon.com Associates Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I recently sat down for a chat with Gene Kavner, Former World-Wide Leader of the Amazon.com Associates Program, and asked a bunch of questions about affiliate marketing and Amazon.com.
- Are Affiliate Programs Pwned by Google
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] There is a lively discussion at Cost Per News about bloggers, affiliate marketing, and whether the twain shall meet.
- Interview with Super Affiliate Wendy Shepherd
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Lisa Picarille, Editor-in-Chief of Revenue Magazine, and myself recently sat down for a chat with super affiliate Wendy Shepherd, and asked a bunch of questions about how she got into affiliate marketing.
- Time to Close the Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] After three months, my company's CEO is getting antsy regarding our affiliate campaign. We're a somewhat niched market and we've had an account with Commission Junction that has so far yielded very little activity and even fewer sales. At what point should we simply pull the plug on our affiliate campaign?
- Interview with Holly Preuss of Granular Solutions
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I recently sat down for a chat with Holly Preuss, Principal of Granular Solutions, and asked a bunch of questions about the state of search engine marketing.
- Interview with Lily Shen - Senior Manager of eBay's U.S. Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I recently sat down for a chat with Lily Shen, Senior Manager of eBay's (NASDAQ:EBAY) U.S. Affiliate Program, and asked a bunch of questions. As senior manager of eBay's U.S. Affiliate Program, Lily Shen leads eBay's affiliate marketing efforts in the U.S. and works closely with the global eBay affiliate teams.
- Baby Steps for Starting an Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I want to set up an affiliate program for my business, but I really do not know where to start. We have a booking system that clicks from the main site to the reservation form which is on a separate URL. I am new to this affiliate stuff so any advice would be welcome.
- How to Get Clients as an Outsourced Affiliate Manager
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I am looking at offering my services as an affiliate marketer to small businesses. Where can I look for clients who are looking for people to run their affiliate programs and what would be the average salary expectations for a small business?
- Tell a Company to Get an Affiliate Program
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I see many companies in my industry that I want to promote, but they don't have an affiliate mechanism in place. What is the best way to interface with them? In other words, what mechanism can I suggest to them to allow me to promote their product and make a commission, short of them actually signing up with an affiliate management company like ShareASale or CJ?
- Affiliate Tip - Incorporate Your Business
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] It's time to make your business a business. If you've been using your social security number when you join affiliate programs and conduct other business, you may want to rethink things.
- Affiliate Tip - Backup Your Files
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] As an affiliate marketer, you code, your content, your copy, etc. is your business. So what are you going to do if your hard drive or machine dies on you?
- Affiliate Tip - Testimonials as Text Links
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] One of the most effective advertisements for a product or service can be a customer testimonial or a review from an objective source. With all of the hyped up advertising copy out there, consumers are skeptical of marketing efforts.
- Affiliate Tip - Pen is Mightier Than Web
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] We get a bit one dimensional with the way we promote affiliate sites at times. Sure, affiliates come in all shapes and sizes.
- Affiliate Tip - Create Custom Error Pages
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] If you are like most people, the error pages on your site are the default pages provide by your host. In the past, I've encouraged affiliates to customize these pages, but many affiliates have come back to ask how to get the error traffic to the customer error pages.
- Affiliate Activation Strategies
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] My affiliate sales haven't been what they usually are. I keep them informed with relevant product/site updates, and I offer incentives each month, too. I'm always available and try to answer any question promptly and professionally. What can I do to entice affiliates to feature us on their pages and bring us more clicks?
- Affiliate Tip - Domain Forwarding for Affiliate Links
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Have you ever wondered how Super Affiliates make the big bucks? Well, they use some key tools (and don't tell anybody about them!).
- Analyzing Affiliate Programs
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Can you please tell me how I can do analysis to determine if my affiliate program is good, and can you please give some references of the affiliate Web sites or books?
- Affiliate Newsletter Tool for Affiliate Managers
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I speak with lots of affiliate managers and hear a recurring frustration - many simply don't have the toolset to effectively communicate with their affiliates.
- Set Up a Cash Back Affiliate Site
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] I am launching a site for school programs and want to add a page with affiliate links. While checking out, the buyer must select the school they wish to benefit by that sale (a portion of the sale goes to the school). How can we have that tracking for each school?
- Affiliate Tip: White List Your Affiliate Manager's Email
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Any good affiliate manager will consider their affiliate partners to be their sales team on the Web. And a successful affiliate takes advantage of the tools and support at their disposal. But all too often, the tools, updates, and mission critical information from affiliate manager to affiliate are not getting through.
- Affiliate Tip - Remember Your Logins
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] According to the AffStat 2004 Report, 40% of affiliates actively promote 51 or more affiliate programs. That means a whole lot of affiliates are juggling a whole lot of affiliate logins.
- Affiliate Tip - Protect Your Affiliate Links
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] The Web Publishers' Code of Conduct was created by Commission Junction/Be Free and Performics in December 2002 (and updated in February 2003 and July 2004) to help protect affiliates against badware.
- Affiliate Tip - Make Links Clickable for AOL Users
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Do you know how many of your newsletter subscribers have AOL addresses? AOL has approximately 24 million subscribers, so it's likely that a good portion of your subscribers are getting your e-mails at an AOL account.
- Affiliate Tip - Go Beyond the Banner
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] Did you know the most popular method for promoting an affiliate program is with a 468x60 banner? That's all fine and good, except that the 468x60 banner is also the least effective way to promote an affiliate program.
- Affiliate Tip - Test Your Links
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Affiliate-Revenue] It may seem like a very basic suggestion, but you would be surprised how many people upload affiliate code that is accidentally corrupted.
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