FeedFront Magazine, Issue 25

Affiliate Summit East 2014 in New York City: August 10-12

Issue 25 · January 2014

Get Excited About Affiliate Summit East 2014 in NYC

Screw Resolutions, Plunge into Affiliate Marketing Now

By Missy Ward - Page 2

Tips for Achieving Tech–Life Balance in Your Family

By Randi Zuckerberg - Page 5

Observations from an Affiliate Rookie

By Casey Pavlick - Page 12

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Agenda Page 35

Issue 25 · January 2014

Table of Contents 2

Screw Resolutions, Plunge into Affiliate Marketing Now

3

Building Sustainable Networks Through Meaningful Partnership

4

Safeguard Yourself from Host and Post Fraud

5

Tips for Achieving Tech–Life Balance in Your Family

6

5 Steps to Improved Business Communication

7

9 Easy Tips for Writing Good Content

8

Building Relationships in a High Turnover Industry

10

Diversify Your Traffic and Affiliates to Thrive

11

Attracting Customers with User Generated Product Reviews

Missy Ward Matt Mirman Bret Grow Randi Zuckerberg Travis Glenn Jackie Eldridge Choots Humphries Jeremy Palmer Corey Post

12

Observations from an Affiliate Rookie

Casey Pavlick

13

Attacking from a Diversified Publisher Site

Alysia Dupuy

14

Understanding Workplace Personalities - Our DiSC Story

15

Ensuring Compliance with the .Com Disclosures

16

The Profound Economic Power of a Link

17

Influencing Affluence in the Thriving Luxury Market

18

Get Your Affiliate Emails Noticed

19

Top 10 Tips for M&A Affiliate Deals

20

Six-Figure Blogging Formula

21

Using Text Links to Elevate Your Website

22

5 Ways to Fix Your Affiliate Program

23

Successful Public Speaking Strategies

24

Which Affiliate Coupon Strategy Works for You?

25

Go Green - Advertise Online

26

Tackling Unethical Activity in the Affiliate Channel

27

7 Habits of Highly Successful Software Affiliates

28

Keep Advertisers Happy with Targeted Search Intent

29

It’s the Little Things That Matter

30

Creating a 2014 Budget and Sales Projections

31

When the Government Comes Knocking

32

Thin Content Penalty on Google Explained

33

Why Affiliate Managers Should Become Affiliates

34

Why Billboards Could Make Good Affiliate Banners

35

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Agenda

51

Steve Denton - Keynote Bio

52

Derek Flanzraich - Keynote Bio

53

Other Speaker Bios

66

People to Follow on Twitter

68

Thank You Affiliate Summit West 2014 Metal Sponsors

STAFF Co-Editors in Chief Missy Ward, Shawn Collins Co-Publishers Missy Ward, Shawn Collins

Contributing Writers

Iain Bundy, Sarah de Diego, Heather Diamani, Liane Dietrich, Alysia Dupuy, Jackie Eldridge, Matt Enders, Sam Engel, Karen Garcia, Travis Glenn, Bret Grow, Stephanie Harris, Rachel Hirsch, Choots Humphries, Travis Jacobson, Zac Johnson, Frank Kasimov, Gary Kibel, Karen McMahon, Matt Mirman, Jeremy Palmer, Casey Pavlick, Rebecca Pollard, Benjamin Pomerantz, Corey Post, Oliver Roup, Brian Secrist, Jessica Severson, Breanne Storey, Matt Swan, Missy Ward and Randi Zuckerberg

Graphic Design Logan Gattis Designs www.logangattis.com Magazine Coordinator Amy Rodriguez

Stephanie Harris Sam Engel Oliver Roup Liane Dietrich Jessica Severson Gary Kibel Zac Johnson Travis Jacobson Karen McMahon Heather Diamani Matt Enders Sarah de Diego Matt Swan Breanne Storey Benjamin Pomerantz Karen Garcia Iain Bundy Rachel Hirsch Frank Kasimov Rebecca Pollard Brian Secrist

Affiliate Summit 522 Hunt Club Blvd. #411 Apopka, FL 32703 tel (417)-2SUMMIT (278-6648) fax (908) 364-4627

Articles in FeedFront Magazine are the opinions of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine, or its owners. FeedFront Magazine always welcomes opinions of an opposite nature. For more information, visit: www.FeedFront.com Interested in advertising? Please visit http://feedfront.com/advertising/ or email us at: feedfront@affiliatesummit.com © 2014 Affiliate Summit, Inc. and Individual Authors.

Missy Ward

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Editor’s Note

Screw Resolutions,

Plunge into Affiliate Marketing Now

I

by Missy Ward

f you’re like most people, you think of New Year’s Day as a fresh beginning, a chance to start new projects, or a time to tackle that thing you’ve been meaning to get to – like

getting started in affiliate marketing.

called “Extra Money Answer; How to Create, Promote and

Snap out of it!

Monetize an Affiliate Site”. You can pick it up on Kindle for

In reality, a new year can start at any moment. Why are

just $1.99 at FeedFront.com/extra-money-answer.

you waiting? What’s holding you back from setting up a website and embedding affiliate links right this minute?

#3. You’re Afraid It Won’t Work – And It Won’t, If You Don’t Try

I’ll bet I can guess why.

Fear is the number one reason we never begin some-

#1. You Think You Don’t Have Time

thing new, whether it’s launching your own business or rid-

– But Now Is The RIGHT Time

ing a roller coaster.

In my experience, waiting on a specific calendar date

You may have heard that fear means “Forget Everything

to make a change in your life rarely produces long-lasting

And Run” but it also means, “False Evidence Appearing Real.”

meaningful results. We’re all busy - we all have mortgages,

The truth is this: if you take a deep breath and a small step

car payments and are juggling holiday activities. Making

forward, you can eventually do ANYTHING. Break the proj-

time for something new isn’t high on the priority list.

ect down into actionable chunks, and push past your fear.

But this is the busiest time of year in retail. You need to

We built Affiliate Summit in order to help people take

step up NOW so you can begin to reap the benefits. Even if

that step toward success in affiliate marketing – whether

you missed the holiday shopping season this year, you’ll be

they’re new to the industry or a seasoned veteran.

ready for all of the shopping holidays in 2014.

We believe in you. You and your big ideas are worth investing in and Affiliate Summit has the FREE resources to

#2. You Don’t Know How To Set Up A Website – But It’s Easier Than You Think The truth is that you CAN set up an effective affiliate

help you, including: » 600+ Affiliate Summit session videos at YouTube.com/ AffiliateSummit

site in just a few evenings once you know how. Using blog

» 30+ affiliate marketing related podcasts at GeekCast.fm

platforms, self-hosting and autodidacticism, you can get it

» Quarterly magazine featuring dozens of articles written

done on your own for very little money.

If you’re looking for help on how to get started, Shawn Collins, Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit has a great book out

2

by the folks that do this every day at FeedFront.com The only thing from stopping you is YOU. Push aside your fear and get started today.

Missy Ward is Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine and blogs on MissyWard.com

Matt Mirman

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Building

Sustainable Networks

Through Meaningful Partnership

by Matt Mirman Walk Before You Run Instead of exploiting a hot offer that you think will do

O

well by throwing everything behind it at once, try building ne of the most common mistakes affiliate net-

campaigns out slowly. Test it against a few channels and a

works make is prioritizing short-term rewards

few audiences to see what really works, and build out from

over long-term gains. It’s easy to get caught up

there. Advertisers know that budgets go much farther when

in fast cash promotions and tactics that skyrocket and then

they’re spent wisely, even if sometimes that means slowly

quickly fizzle out. After all, everyone likes watching their

at first.

numbers soar.

But, it’s prioritizing relationships that offer longevity and opportunities for returning business that generate the highest dividends and ensure sustainability for your network.

Optimize for What Counts There are more metrics than sales, leads, and clicks; use them. Talk to your advertisers, find out what’s most

The key to building strong partnerships that produce

important to them, and make that your top priority. The

value for years to come, is to not just seek out lasting value,

difference between optimizing for sales and optimizing for

but to add it. It’s true of relationships of any kind that you

average order value can be huge. Customize your tracking

get out of them what you put in. If you substantially contrib-

and in-flight optimization based on the areas that matter

ute value to a relationship, it will provide significant value for

the most to them, even if it means spending a bit more time

you. Here are some ways we add meaningful value for our

crunching the numbers.

partners at my company.

Invest in Your Infrastructure Find the Perfect Match

Are you continuously building out your capabilities and

Whenever you land a new advertiser, are you examining

backend support in terms of technology, reporting, and

every publisher in your network on an individual basis to

quality control? Advertisers want to be able to easily and

find the exact partners who will produce the highest per-

clearly see what’s happening with their campaigns, and

forming campaigns? Are you evaluating their strengths for

publishers want to be able to traffic new offers without

this particular offer and their history with similar offers? You

jumping through hoops. Investing your resources in key ar-

should be. Getting down to this granular level is inevitably

eas such as traffic fraud prevention and campaign manage-

time consuming, but going beyond surface level compatibil-

ment tools might be a big hurdle to face initially, but it will

ity to find five-out-of-five matches in the areas that matter

provide a lot of value for your existing partners, and open

most isn’t just good dating advice, it’s good for business too.

up many new opportunities you might otherwise miss.

Matt Mirman is Vice President of Performance Marketing at Dedicated Media.

3

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Safeguard Yourself Bret Grow

from Host and Post Fraud

by Bret Grow

T

here’s a problem becoming more common as lead generation resurfaces in popularity, but there’s a

ally easy. So advertisers are hesitant to expand their reach

solution that can make everyone happy.

without some way of protecting themselves.

Affiliates doing lead generation want to host and post.

It’s the best method for them for many reasons. However,

How can you make both affiliates

for the advertiser and the buyer, it can be a risky move to

and advertisers happy?

receive leads from a host and post affiliate, because of the high potential for fraud.

The best way for advertisers to protect themselves from host and post fraud is a secure post.

When advertisers allow host and post affiliates to use

Why do affiliates like host and post?

secure post as a method for lead generation, it makes the

Affiliates are always worried about an offer’s longevity.

work easier for the affiliate, because they can pass fewer

No affiliate wants to waste their traffic, so when they own

parameters. It benefits the advertiser because they can

the site, the traffic and the lead data, they can make sure

monitor the traffic that is creating the leads they are buying,

their traffic is being sent to the best place. If one buyer stops

as well as limit the leads they buy to only those that were

buying the leads, host and post allows the affiliate to sell

created from approved sources and creatives.

their traffic to other buyers immediately, without wasting

With a secure post, the advertiser can protect their

time finding an entirely new offer and changing out links

brand and eliminate fraud by enforcing that their own ap-

and creatives.

proved creatives are used to generate traffic and ultimately

Affiliates don’t want to build brand loyalty to an adver-

any leads they buy. They can even filter or redirect suspi-

tiser’s site. They do all the work to get the traffic and they

cious clicks as if they owned the traffic, even though the

want to keep that traffic coming to their sites. With host and

website is owned by the affiliate, making host and post as

post they can send traffic to their own domain and send the

safe as traditional lead generation.

This is all accomplished by matching a consumer finger-

advertiser the leads.

print (created at the time of a click) and then validating that

Why don’t more advertisers

fingerprint against the lead that is submitted.

allow host and post?

Now everyone can be happy! Secure post allows affili-

With so many affiliates preferring host and post lead

ates to host and post leads to more companies. Advertisers

generation, advertisers who aren’t utilizing this method are

can use secure post to protect their brand and proactively

missing out on leads and limiting the reach of their offers.

monitor and filter for fraud before the lead is created and

But sending in fraudulent leads with host and post is re-

4

after it is submitted to them. Now that’s a win-win!

Bret Grow is the CEO of LinkTrust, the leading affiliate tracking and lead generation software.

Photo: Delbarr Moradi

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Tips for Achieving

Randi Zuckerberg

Tech–Life Balance

in Your Family

by Randi Zuckerberg Work. Sleep. Family. Friends. Fitness.

Pick Three.

Sometimes the demands of work must take priority

of dedicated human interaction. It’s a tool to be utilized for

over the needs of our children. Sometimes the demands of

good and then put away when it’s no longer needed. And if

family mean there’s no time for our friends. Sometimes the

you’re not raising your kids, someone else is. Don’t trust the

demands of our friends mean there is no time for the gym.

Internet to do it for you.

Don’t beat yourself up about it. Focus on the few things that are important to you, each day. The beautiful thing about

Digital Identity Begins Before Birth

life is that each morning is a fresh, new start, and your pri-

Digital identity no longer starts at birth. Even before

orities can change from day to day. We can’t be great at ev-

our kids are born, we can post their ultrasound photos on-

ery single thing every single day. As long as it pretty much

line. Make sure you proactively secure your child’s digital

balances out in the end, it’ll all be okay.

identity as early as possible. Register e-mail addresses and a .com domain for your kid, and at least Google your baby’s

Good Digital Habits Begin at Home

name once before choosing it. A more common, conven-

Kids mimic the way you behave. If you want your kids

tional name will be less Googleable than an exotic one. But

to have good digital habits, you must set the example. If el-

don’t get carried away by this process. Kids need love, not

bows were once banned from tables for being impolite, now

search-engine optimization.

perhaps it should be cell phones. If your kids see you texting and driving, chances are they’ll do it too. The technology will

Stay Safe Online—Be Authentic

always be a part of their lives, and it’s your job to teach them

Online safety is not something that happens with a

how to live those lives. As your kids are experimenting with

single setting of certain filters. It is a conversation that takes

technology, don’t be afraid to experiment with them. Sign

place over a long period of time. Your children should feel

up for the new sites they’re using. Experiment alongside

empowered to come to you when there’s a problem, not

them. By staying knowledgeable about current technology,

feel intimidated that they’re always being watched. Setting

you can keep up with what your kids are doing—and help

up a family computer in a common room or maintaining a

keep them out of trouble.

“white list” of appropriate sites could be ways to keep your family safe online. Limiting kids’ time on sites that permit

The iPad Is Not the Babysitter Technology can entertain, educate, bore, and amaze our children. But it will never be a substitute for the benefits

anonymous interaction may also help cut down on their exposure to bullies. In the end, the Internet is a web of people, not computers. And it’s up to us to keep it safe.

Excerpted from DOT COMPLICATED: Untangling Our Wired Lives, by Randi Zuckerberg, published by HarperOne. Copyright© 2013 by Randi Zuckerberg..

5

Travis Glenn

· Issue 25 · January 2014

5 Steps to

Improved Business Communication

by Travis Glenn

T

he performance marketing industry, like most industries, requires A LOT of communication. On a daily

3.

Set realistic expectations with your contacts. You

basis, affiliates are in contact with networks and traf-

can let your contacts know if there are circumstances

fic sources. The networks are communicating with advertis-

that might delay your response to them, or if you will

ers, agencies, legal council, and industry organizations.

be unavailable. If you’re on vacation, traveling for busi-

There are emails, phone calls, instant message conver-

ness, or otherwise indisposed, you can setup an auto-

sations, video chats, and face-to-face meetings to facilitate

responder to inform those who contact you of your

communication. With the constant volume of correspon-

expected response time. Also, if you are involved in a

dence, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and find yourself be-

process that takes a couple weeks to finalize, let the cli-

hind in this area.

ent know that early on in your communication.

Here are some steps you can take to keep communica-

4.

Cut out unnecessary contacts. When you find your-

tion flowing and prevent excessive backlog:

self too busy to keep up with your day-to-day tasks,

1.

Find the preferred and/or optimal method of

make sure that you aren’t spending your time on un-

communication for the specific contact. For the

necessary issues. If you’re receiving emails and phone

people that you are constantly in contact with, such

calls from someone who you don’t want to do business

as an affiliate manager or advertising account rep, find

with, a simple and polite message explaining that is the

out what their preferred method of communication is.

best solution. There is no need to waste their time (or

Some people love to jump on the phone, while others

your own) leading them on.

prefer a Skype chat or an email. Take note if the com-

2.

6

5.

Be considerate of others’ schedules, and don’t

munication methods you’re using are the most time

over-communicate. If you have emailed someone

effective, as well. Are you spending 30 minutes on the

about a non-urgent issue, allow a reasonable amount

phone when a twenty-word email would have accom-

of response time. Perhaps the person you are writing

plished the same task?

is out of the office that day, or stuck in the middle of a

Prioritize your time. If you have a large number of

pressing issue. Sending several emails back to back can

contacts to make in a short period of time, make sure

seem unprofessional.

that you are taking care of the most important or time

Working to improve the effectiveness of your commu-

sensitive ones first. Some days there’s not enough time

nication will make you more productive and facilitate strong

to do everything you need to. Don’t let that stop you

business relationships. I think we should all strive to work

from accomplishing your primary goals.

smarter, not harder.

Travis is PeerFly’s Director of Business Development, you can follow him @TravisPeerFly on Twitter.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

9 Easy Tips for Writing Good Content

G

Jackie Eldridge

by Jackie Eldridge

oogle does rule the world. If you don’t keep up with Google’s algorithm changes, related to content, you may be traveling in reverse. The fresh-

4.

ness and quality of your content are more important than ever before.

Post as often as you can, and update trending topics

Keyword Placement Do not overuse (stuff ) keywords. The best way to use

them is in the beginning of paragraphs and subheads.

5.

Keep it Short

related to your business, if you want to make Google happy

Readers want short, succinct information blocks that

and ultimately obtain better search engine rankings. The

can help them learn something, solve a problem, or make a

most effective search engine content appeals both to read-

buying decision. Four to five lines in a paragraph is plenty.

ers and search engines.

6.

Subheads, Bullets and Numbering Each complements short paragraphs and provides a

Nine tips to help create successful content:

visual break for the reader. People don’t have time to read

1.

Create Your Own Voice

everything they see. It’s up to you to make it as simple as

Write in a manner that is memorable and credible.

possible for them to grasp your message by using sub-

Fresh, well written content will make you the authority in

heads, bullets and numbering so they can get the gist of

your vertical and ultimately successful.

your content in a quick scan. Since most readers are “skim-

2.

Choosing the Right Keywords

mers,” subheads can be a terrific tool to engage readers and

Search engines identify your website content with the

keep them moving through your content.

help of keywords. These are usually closely related to the

7.

The Final Check

search terms that are entered by the users in search en-

Read through your content only looking at the subheads,

gines. Use keyword research tools like Google AdWords’

numbers and bulleted lists. Do you get the gist of your con-

Keyword Planner for help.

tent by only reading these? If so, you have done well.

3.

8.

Relevant Content

Proofreading

Remember you are writing for your readers, not search

If you’re like most, you are bound to make a typo or two.

engines. It may be difficult to use some of the popular key-

Make sure you proofread your content for typos, clarity and

words grammatically, but try. Although search engines look

grammatical agreement.

for the keywords in particular, they want quality, relevant

9.

content. Make sure the content is interesting and adds value for the readers.

Copywriters Never underestimate the value of a professional copy-

writer on your team.

Eldridge is a marketing professional and currently Affiliate Manager for DollarDays.com (Alexa: 3,913).

7

Choots Humphries

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Building Relationships

in a High Turnover Industry

by Choots Humphries

I

n the old days (yes—I am that old), employees worked at the same company for many years at a time. It was actually a black mark to have a position on your résumé that

tire team, not just the one person with whom you are

was shorter than three years.

working. In a high turnover industry, it is probable you

Of course, this has changed. To move up faster, it is

will encounter a customer team member change. If you

easier to move out. This is compounded in a fast growing

lose your main point of contact to industry turnover,

industry like ours. High turnover is the inevitable result of

other members of your customer’s team will be there

an over abundance of opportunities.

to aid in a smooth transition.

We all work in an industry that requires strong relation-

4.

Document everything. Good programmers know

ships to thrive. One challenge we face every day is building

that well documented code is essential to collaborative

and developing lasting relationships in a fast-paced, high

coding. Good documentation allows one programmer

turnover industry.

to pick up where another left off. This is true in custom-

Here are five key steps to overcoming one of affiliate

er service too. If you document your relationship deci-

marketing’s toughest hurdles…

sions and the reasons behind the decisions, it makes it

1.

Start at home. A customer relationship, essential to

easier to continue forward with a new team member

the growth of your business, involves you or your em-

on either side of the relationship.

ployees. If you don’t retain your employees, you’ve lost

2.

3.

8

5.

Nothing beats an old fashion face-to-face meet-

before you’ve begun. You have to value your employ-

ing. Ever notice the bars late at night at an Affiliate

ees and give them opportunities for career challenges

Summit conference? This is where much of the work

and growth—regardless of the size of your company.

gets done. It is also a chance to strengthen relation-

Well done is better than well said—Benjamin

ships. Emails, instant messages, video chats, phone

Franklin. Focus your customer service on this impor-

calls, and social media posts are essential and con-

tant philosophy to build strong relationships. Make the

venient forms of communication. But, none replace a

time to listen to what your customers desire and need.

face-to-face meeting. Make the time to talk in person

Then, do it. Your dedication to solving your customers’

with your customers (and their entire team).

problems will create an essential value in these rela-

Turnover is inevitable—especially in the affiliate market-

tionships.

ing industry. To the extent you can minimize it, you should.

Diversify relationships. Branch out from your one

To the extent you cannot control it, proper planning and

point of contact and take time to get to know the en-

strong relationship building can minimize the impact.

Choots Humphries is the Co-Founder and Co-President of LinkConnector.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Diversify Your

Jeremy Palmer

Traffic and Affiliates to Thrive

T

by Jeremy Palmer

he performance marketing landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. When I started in this business, affiliates driving traffic through paid

search dominated most affiliate programs.

From 2005-2009 Google made a series of policy chang-

Sales attribution also plays a role. In the affiliate channel, last click wins the sale (for most programs).

es to AdWords, which killed off a lot of paid search affili-

As an Affiliate Manager why should you care? As long as

ates. In addition to the changes at Google, many merchants

merchants keep offering coupons, consumer behavior will

started becoming savvier with paid search, and no longer

stay the same, which means your program will continue to

needed their affiliates to run campaigns.

drive predictable volume month over month.

Merchants who relied too heavily on their paid search

But attribution has changed (for the better) and there’s

affiliates saw big decreases in their programs. Many affili-

a good chance your CMO or VP of Marketing is looking

ates who had no other traffic sources simply gave up. Mer-

into it. I think the days of “last click wins” are limited. Sev-

chants and affiliates who pivoted continued to thrive.

eral merchants are now using tag management scripts and

At this point, some merchants committed to diversifying their traffic and affiliate partners, others doubled down on the next big thing - coupon affiliates.

Coupon sites have been a big traffic source for merchants for a long time, but in recent years they have taken

multi-channel funnels, which more accurately credit traffic sources.

When the decision makers see the role that each traffic channel plays in the buying process, the structure and compensation for your program might change.

over many retail programs. I’ve had several conversations

I recommend you get ahead of the change by diversify-

with affiliate managers and performance marketing agen-

ing your program now. Invest more time, money, and effort

cies over the last few months about this.

into your content affiliates. Show them how to drive more

Many have told me that coupon sites make up to 75% of their program’s sales. Some have even admitted that one particular coupon site drives over 50% of their volume.

What’s driving the trend? Consumer behavior and sales attribution.

Online shoppers are smarter than they were a few years ago. Once they see that promo code box, they know they’re paying too much, and will open up a new browser window to find a promo code.

10

traffic to your offers and convert browsers into buyers.

They may make up a small piece of your program today, but with a long-term commitment to content affiliates your program will continue to thrive.

Charles Darwin once said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.

It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

The same thing could be said about your affiliate program. Diversify and thrive.

Jeremy Palmer is a performance marketer from Austin, Texas.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

with User Generated Product Reviews

by Corey Post

U

Corey Post

Attracting Customers

ser generated product reviews often provide a

messaging relevant to a particular consumer segment. For

welcome, and trusted, antidote to the long form

example, if you have a hiking site, you could serve informa-

sales pages that list bullet after bullet of product

tion about hiking boots on pages that deal with footwear.

features and benefits.

Another strategy to generate reviews, as well as pro-

And the data backs this up – 63% of customers are

vide an engaging experience for your customers, is contest

more likely to purchase from a site that has user reviews

marketing. Hold a contest, with a market relevant prize,

(iPerceptions). Further, reviews deliver an average 18% up-

where users write a few paragraph about the benefits of

lift in sales (Reevoo).

your product.

However, attracting user product reviews can prove a

In addition, don’t forget email, particularly if you have

challenge to even the best marketers. So, to help get you

a newsletter. Provide a link for readers to share their expe-

started, I’ve provided strategies and tactics to lift your re-

rience with you company. This strategy works particularly

view program off the ground fast:

well if you have an active customer email list.

First, make sure you ask for the reviews. Ask your cus-

Also, consider sending out sample “test products”

tomers to share pictures, video and comments about their

to users who have made repeat purchases from you. Af-

experience with your product.

ter they’ve had time to use your product, follow up with a

You can surface “The Ask” through your company social

phone call or email and ask for a review.

channels, including Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget

Of course, you’ll need a system to capture your reviews.

paid social advertising, which can help spread asks rapidly.

There are a variety of out of the box programs to help you.

Not all your fans and followers will be customers, of

But if you are using a Content Management System (CMS),

course, but social media will give you an opportunity to

like WordPress, consider using conditional logic forms and

reach a large number of your brand advocates quickly.

custom post types. You’ll be able to inexpensively incorpo-

In addition, surface “The Ask” on your site. Use call to action buttons that read, “Leave a Review,” or “Write a Cus-

rate user reviews into your CMS and display them through sidebars or widgets.

tomer Review.” And place those buttons near your existing

Finally, treat your review program like you would any

reviews so that users can see how their feedback will render

other marketing campaign. Test messaging, calls to action,

on the page.

and review opportunities. Data will tell you what works and

You can also use an ad server on your site to promote

where you can improve. Eventually, you’ll be able to assign

current reviews and ask for new ones. An ad server will al-

a monetary value to a review (i.e. x number of reviews in-

low you to target visitors and content in order to deliver

crease sales y%).

Corey Post is the founder of consulting firm AgileLeverage.com. Connect on his blog at ContentAndContests.com.

11

Casey Pavlick

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Observations

from an Affiliate Rookie

by Casey Pavlick

W

hen I first graduated from college the word “affiliate” meant absolutely nothing to me; some-

2.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Veteran affili-

one could have told me an affiliate was a new

ates are the best source to obtain knowledge about

type of car and I would have believed them. Today, roughly

all things affiliate. They have been in the space since

two and a half years later, I could probably talk to a wall for

it started and know the industry inside and out. Trying

hours about affiliate marketing and all that goes with it.

to learn this space while also holding your own against

Since for whatever reason affiliate marketing is rarely, if

veteran affiliate marketers can be intimidating, espe-

ever, taught in college, it is not the easiest career space to

cially for a recent college graduate or someone new to

jump into. “Pub”, “CPA”, “network”, “credits”, “load time”, “page

the space. However, as you will quickly learn, those who

conversion”, “pixel”… the list of affiliate jargon seems to never

have been in the space the longest are often happy to

end. Learning what these terms mean and how to use them

share their wealth of knowledge with you.

on a daily basis forces a new person in the space to earn an-

3.

other degree of sorts, but this time not in the classroom.

Network. The affiliate space truly is all about who you know. Since the space is still relatively new those who

In my short journey so far I have made a few observa-

are most successful know everyone, as well as each

tions about the space and how to succeed in it as a rookie:

other. It will be a rare occasion that you meet some-

1.

The affiliate marketing space, as a whole, is very

one you do not already have a link to. In order to be

different from the traditional marketing that is

successful, it is vital to not only make key connections

taught in textbooks. The more conferences and sum-

with those who are well regarded in the space, but also

mits you go to, you will realize how new and young the

maintain those relationships. Every new relationship

space really is. Everyone in relatively young, upbeat and

you build now will help to build your success and open

looking to have a good time, while also doing some seri-

doors in the future.

ous work. College students often claim to “work hard,

12

4.

Finally, relax. You were brought into the space be-

play hard,” however if I had to guess, this quote is prob-

cause someone, somewhere, thought you would be

ably more likely to have started in the affiliate space.

successful in it. Chances are they were probably right.

Casey Pavlick is the Email Marketing Supervisor at Atlantic Coast Media Group.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Attacking

Alysia Dupuy

from a Diversified Publisher Site

by Alysia Dupuy

S

preading ourselves too thin is a danger in all walks of life, and it poses an equally impending crisis in the

dardized test preparation options. For New Year’s we usu-

world of affiliate marketing. For some publishers, di-

ally see an uplift in health and nutrition, as everyone sets

versity of site content can make monetization seem like a

their resolutions, and winter sports highs will most likely

behemoth of a task. Without a resident specialist consulting

carry on into March.

us on what’s in season and where the big wins are, we could all use a little help.

If you have too many categories and too little time, it’s

Creating a seasonality calendar can help organize what time of year you should be paying special attention to certain subjects.

good to be aware of some tricks for satisfying a large variety of consumer groups, without working yourself to the bone.

Build a foundation of farreaching advertisers

Encourage your network reps and affiliate managers to work for you One of the beauties of affiliate marketing is that all parties want to see the same things happen: programs activated, placements optimized, and success achieved. Your reps and account managers can do a lot to help you get there.

Instead of frantically searching through hundreds of offers, send over a monthly or quarterly list of your hot categories and ask for a hand with the matching game.

They can give background on what’s worked for other

Searching for one-off matches to each of your categories can be extremely time-consuming. Prior to unearthing where the big wins will be, it’s good to lay a foundation of partnerships that can cover a lot of ground. Some quality fillers: » Lead aggregators: business/finance, insurance, consumer services, software » Big e-commerce providers: consumer goods, fashion, electronics, home & family, coupons » PPC (Pay-Per-Call) partners: health, insurance, large consumer investments

publishers and point in the direction of high-performing

After building a strong base of monetization, you can

programs. This will cut down on wasting their time, sending

begin to test in specific categories, by dedicating more time

you incompatible deals, and lead to a much more efficient

and energy to high win subjects and niche markets.

relationship for both parties.

Execute program management Create a seasonality calendar

with strength and speed

Winter holidays can bring big wins for affiliates, but

Overall, the key lies in making sure you have substantial

there are plenty of other seasonal occurrences that you

coverage and quick reactions to not only what works, but

should capitalize on.

what doesn’t perform.

What about April, when heaps of tax-paying citizens are

Consistently keeping watch over program performance,

in search of the best software or financial advisor to simplify

regularly checking in with the big money-makers, and main-

their filing process? College application season hits in early

taining positive relationships are all important factors in

fall, and there are plenty of students searching for stan-

successfully managing a diversified site.

Alysia heads up the Affiliate Partnership team at FindTheBest.com.

13

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Stephanie Harris

Understanding

Workplace Personalities

Our DiSC Story

by Stephanie Harris

T

hese are actual snippets of conversation I heard at work today: “I know that’s the diplomatic answer,

As you read the above, you might already be thinking,

but I’m an ‘S’ after all.” “He needs more data to make

“Which one am I?” In a long and thorough half-day session,

that decision, so channel your inner-’C.’” “What style do you

our team learned each other’s results and how to identify

think she is?”

the styles in those we interact with every day. Suddenly

We are completely entrenched in our practice of DiSC®

the frictions, the affinities, the “I don’t understand them”

- a personal assessment tool used by companies, organiza-

thoughts were seen in a different light. We came to appreci-

tions and government agencies to improve teamwork and

ate how each style was viewed by others, and which style

communication. We implemented DiSC during a team re-

combinations had the strongest conflicts.

treat in 2012, and it was transformative for us as individuals, and as a company.

For example, the I/C and S/D pairings are the most opposing. An “S” might view the aggressiveness of a “D”

It changed how we viewed each other, how we worked

as overbearing or even rude, while an “I” might view the

with each other and how we talked with, and about, each

matter-of-factness of a “C” as critical or even cold. As we

other (in annoying shorthand, as you read above).

learned, these differences are not negatives. It’s simply how

At the beginning of this journey, everyone in the organi-

the different styles process the world (differently).

zation took a simple questionnaire. The assessment catego-

When we’re going about our work in a typical day, it’s

rized each of us into one of four styles: D for Dominance, I

not uncommon for the team to make comments pertain-

for Influence, S for Steadiness and C for Conscientiousness.

ing to DiSC profiles. Someone who always focuses on the

A little crib sheet for illustration:

bottom line, for instance, might be told, “You’re such a D!”

D-styles are direct, strong-willed and forceful. They are results-oriented and like to be in the driver’s seat.

I-styles are sociable, talkative and lively. They are people-oriented and very good at influencing others.

When we find ourselves in conflict, we might say “typical I/C friction.”

But the frustration has certainly eased. We all start using four-letter language instead (and not the expletive kind).

S-styles are calm, diplomatic and loyal. They are bal-

I’d like to say that after implementing DiSC, our produc-

anced between tasks and people, and are excellent listen-

tivity shot up by 87% but I’m not the ‘C’ in the group; you’d

ers and rapport-builders.

have to ask one of them. I’m sure they have that number

C-styles are private, analytical and logical. They are focused on tasks and data, and ensure accuracy and high quality work.

14

somewhere.

I’m an “S” and I build rapport among our team, clients, and partners with a combination of diplomacy and calm.

Stephanie Harris is Chief Operating Officer at Schaaf-PartnerCentric.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Ensuring Compliance Sam Engel

with the .Com Disclosures

by Sam Engel

Standardize Disclosures for Each Channel Different types of disclosures are appropriate for different media. The FTC provides a general framework for how

T

to effectively communicate disclosures in various formats, he FTC’s (Federal Trade Commission) most recent

from product pages to blogs and Tweets. However, it’s still

.Com Disclosures have expanded the applicability

left to the merchant to work out specifics.

of FTC law to various forms of digital marketing, in-

By developing a set of standards for each channel, a

cluding the affiliate channel. At this stage, it appears that

brand will not only have a defensible plan it can demon-

merchants are solely liable for any breaches in compliance.

strate to the FTC—it will also be well-prepared to catch and

This has been cemented by the outcome of the Lega-

respond to non-compliance from its affiliates. For Tweets,

cy Learning Systems case, where the company was fined

this may mean including “Ad:” at the beginning of the Tweet

$250,000 for misleading product reviews placed by its af-

or the #ad hashtag at the end of the Tweet. On blogs, this

filiates.

may be more difficult to standardize, but could include a

To complicate this issue, the FTC’s document is only a

short boilerplate of text for the affiliate to mention.

general set of principles—it does not dictate the exact measures that merchants should take. Merchants will have to

Develop a Monitoring Process

establish their own standards and processes. So, consider-

Once you have your standards established, you’ll be

ing that the onus is on brands, what steps should they take

much more prepared to detect non-compliant posts, pages

to maintain compliance?

and Tweets. Since you already know the text string you’re looking for on a blog post, you can use your browser’s Find

Seize the Opportunity to Be Proactive with Your Affiliates

function to locate it.

On Twitter, you can take things a step further. Twitter

There are numerous advantages to being an early

search will actually comb through the redirects associated

mover with FTC compliance. By involving your affiliates in

with affiliate links, so you can readily find your affiliates’ posts

the process from the onset, you can gain valuable feedback

by searching for a string that combines your brand name and

about what disclosure tactics are most reasonable for them

affiliate link structure (e.g. “Rhapsody shareasale.com”).

to adopt. That could increase the likelihood that they’ll stick with your plan over the long term.

Brands with smaller affiliate programs may find it sufficient to manually check up on their top 10-20 affiliates

Furthermore, by taking a leadership role, you also stand

periodically. Other brands may operate at a scale where

to establish additional rapport and build good will with your

automated monitoring could prove useful. Regardless of

affiliates. Considering how challenging affiliate activation

which option you choose, it certainly helps to stay ahead of

can be, this level of engagement may prove invaluable.

as many issues as you can.

The Marketing Manager at BrandVerity, Sam informs the industry about compliance-related topics.

15

Oliver Roup

· Issue 25 · January 2014

The Profound

Economic Power

of a Link

by Oliver Roup

T

he balance of power in affiliate marketing is under-

be willing to pay more. As a result, publishers end up taking

going a dramatic shift. The link economy, today an

whatever they can get.

inefficient and complex market, is rapidly gaining

competition, transparency, and liquidity.

Here’s an example of this inefficiency… at VigLink, on behalf of publishers, we’ve sold a lot of links to retailers offering

Link optimization technology —technology that points

the $99 Apple TV and we have found wide discrepancies in

links to the highest bidder in real time— is revolutionizing

what retailers are willing to pay for the link. One merchant will

the future of affiliate marketing by letting all the players —

pay 700 times more for a click to their Apple TV page than

publishers/affiliates and retailers— earn the value they de-

another. Can you guess who? Neither can most publishers.

serve.

A fundamental element of the Internet, hyperlinks deliver traffic (and sales) by connecting one page to another.

But the value of a link is often grossly misvalued by all the players in affiliation.

On the other side of the equation, retailers don’t really know what the optimal bid should be to maximize sales and profit.

In the existing link economy, retailers have historically dominated the pricing game, but in an optimized link econ-

The link economy has always provided publishers with

omy, publishers automatically link to the highest bidder. As

a “choice” of whom to link to, yet very limited information for

link optimization becomes commonplace, the balance of

making that choice. Link buyers can’t easily find sellers and

power among publishers and retailers will even out.

sellers can’t find buyers without the assistance of affiliate networks.

In a mature and efficient market, publishers will earn the maximum value for their clicks and retailers will receive

Prices are set by the retailers in the form of commission

the highest quality traffic. The prosperity of the link econ-

rates, but it is difficult for publishers to know what these

omy and the future of affiliate marketing depend on tech-

prices end up being on a per-click basis, let alone who might

nologies like link optimization to thrive.

16

Oliver Roup, Founder and CEO of VigLink.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Influencing Affluence

in the Thriving Luxury Market

by Liane Dietrich

D

iamonds, high-end watches, designer handbags.

they typically use more than three connected devices.

All those luxury goodies retailers previously kept

Five Ways to Attract Luxury Shoppers

locked behind glass, wired with sensors, or chained

1.

Create a fantastic online shopping experience that

to poles, have found their way, untethered, into e-commerce

engages customers with personalized experiences, in-

channels as more consumers buy higher-ticket items online.

cluding interactive content, video and image galleries,

This signals good news for the affiliate channel, espe-

extreme product close-ups, and 3-D views. The more

cially when you consider the following two research findings.

personalized the experience, the higher the likelihood

According to Bain and Company, the luxury market is estimated to have grown six percent in 2013. And a Luxury

of conversion.

2.

Provide a seamless experience across different devic-

Interactive/ShopIgniter survey found that 85 percent of

es, yet be sure you’re accommodating the way content

luxury brand marketers planned to increase their digital

is displayed on a smartphone versus a tablet versus

marketing spend in 2013, anywhere from one to 40 percent.

a laptop. With tablets driving the majority of luxury

Yet, don’t let these positive signs lead you to believe that

sales, consider creating a tablet shopping app that of-

the commissions will simply roll in. Recognizing that reaching

fers simple navigation, while taking advantage of rich

buyers in the luxury market is not the same as, say, selling an

functionality, easy and secure sign in, and fast check-

e-book, following are important facts about this audience, as

out through a trusted provider such as PayPal.

well as recommendations for effectively reaching them.

3.

Excel in providing outstanding —not good, but outstanding— customer service. Some ways to do this

Who Are The Luxury Shoppers?

include offering insurance, support for multiple cur-

1.

They come from all over the globe, yet the Chinese cur-

rencies and languages, flexible shipping, generous

rently represent the single biggest group of buyers at

customer service policies, and proof that shoppers are

29 percent. However, North America is expected to

buying an authentic luxury item.

take the lead as the top region for luxury growth, ac2.

Curate products based on luxury trends, hot brands

cording to Bain.

and seasonal patterns. This makes it easier for the

While they are shopping for luxury items, this doesn’t

shopper to get what they want online, and, therefore,

mean they’re not on the lookout for a good deal. Half

publishers to earn commissions. As you’re curating

the respondents of a September 2013 Google/Ipsos

content and creating promotions, be mindful of the

global survey of luxury shoppers believe purchasing

geographic sources of your traffic.

online leads to better deals.

3.

4.

5.

Capture their attention during the research process

They are digitally savvy – more than 70 percent of luxury

by providing the most current information about your

shoppers go online to research products before they

luxury items and be sure to include third party data to

buy, 99 percent use the Internet on a daily basis, and

back up your claims.

Liane Dietrich is Chief Operating Officer of Rakuten Marketing/Rakuten LinkShare.

17

Jessica Severson

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Get Your Affiliate Emails

Noticed

by Jessica Severson

Y

you may also want to acquaint them with unusual or overou don’t have to be a blogger to understand how

looked products your merchant offers. Bonus points if you

overwhelming an email inbox can be. Seriously, just

offer these products for review or giveaway. If you want

sign up for Old Navy emails and you’ll see what I

someone to write about your products they need to have

mean. Every day there are press releases, new products,

something to say.

discounts and newsletters. It’s not unusual for bloggers

Review opportunities give your affiliates a stronger re-

to receive hundreds of emails a day, and most of them will

lationship to your brand and lead to higher quality content.

never be opened.

Giveaways can also give your merchant an opportunity to

It’s not uncommon for merchants or affiliate managers

build Facebook likes, Twitter followers and newsletter sub-

to send emails to their affiliates that don’t stand out and are

scribers. It’s pretty typical to have these options as “bonus”

doomed for the trash can. To avoid this, you want to make

entries in a giveaway. If you’re giving away a really big prize,

sure you’re providing your affiliates good content from the

you could even set up a Rafflecopter widget yourself, which

message line forward.

allows multiple sites to post the same giveaway.

Promoting a discount? Beware. It’s not uncommon for

Back to the subject line. If you regularly write quality

people to just click delete when they see “save” or “sale”,

emails to your affiliates, this will matter less and less. They’ll

because it isn’t what they’re looking for in terms of content.

recognize your name and they’ll want to open your emails.

Email from merchants more than once a week, promoting

But to get past that first step, work on sending extra-strong

yet another deal, can lead to major fatigue for affiliates.

emails for a couple months to get that recognition.

Consider separate email lists for content bloggers and

Make sure every email you send is promoting some-

deal bloggers, or allow people to sign up for daily, weekly or

thing extra fantastic on your site, whether it’s a promotion

biweekly updates. Even better, give bloggers a calendar of

or a product or some great new creatives. Go for quality

your promotions for the month, so they can decide what will

over quantity. Spend time on the subject.

be the best fit for timing and products with their readers.

Want to get people to create some quality content for you? Introduce them to new products, of course. But

18

Finally, consider signing up for a few brand newsletters.

If you know what makes you delete an email without opening it, you’ll be in great shape to stand out.

Jessica Severson is a blogger, speaker and social media manager. Follow her at @jessicaesquire

Gary Kibel

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Top 10 Tips for M&A Affiliate Deals

by Gary Kibel

“W

third party service providers are under reasonable contracts that allow for your business to grow. Overly

hat’s your exit strategy?” Unless you are

restrictive exclusivity clauses, lengthy terms and as-

already a public company with a market

signment restrictions should be avoided to preserve

cap in excess of a small country, you’ve

maximum flexibility.

heard this question before. In the affiliate industry, as in

5.

Client Contracts. Conversely, revenue generating

many others, the answer is often to cash out through an

contracts should tightly bind clients to the organiza-

acquisition.

tion. A company is less attractive if key revenue sources can quickly terminate.

Sometimes the answer is to acquire other companies to augment the organization, eliminate a competitor, quickly

6.

Protect Intellectual Property. All valuable intellec-

expand service offerings, or become more attractive to an

tual property should be properly registered, if appli-

eventual buyer.

cable, and subject to written agreements with developers and users in order to protect assets key to any

A prudent company should plan for a transaction well in

potential transaction.

advance of considering an offer or negotiating a term sheet.

Therefore, be proactive and consider the following steps: 1.

challenging points to resolve in any deal. Avoid long

structures, including corporations (s-corps / c-corps),

term real estate leases that limit flexibility or prevent a

limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships and sole

successor company from assuming the lease.

Best Practices / Compliance with Law. It should go without saying that every company should comply with

corporate structure should be well thought out and

all applicable laws and observe best industry practices.

properly documented. A potential partner should be

Rectify any problems now.

9.

Legal Audit. A potential partner will conduct due dili-

your structure.

gence to uncover all applicable information about your

Employees. A company’s most valuable assets are of-

company. Therefore, conduct a dry run now so that

ten its talent. Key employees should be subject to em-

there are no surprises when a partner appears and

ployment agreements and incentivized to remain with

any problems can be remedied in advance.

the company through a transaction.

4.

8.

including tax benefits and ownership structures. Your

able to quickly review the documents to understand

3.

Real Estate. Leases are often one of the last and most

Corporate Structure. There are many corporate

proprietors. There are pros and cons to each structure,

2.

7.

10. Advisors. Have your team lined up in advance so that

Restrictive Covenants. Should key employees

you can move quickly when that offers of a lifetime

choose to leave, they should be contractually restrict-

shows up!

ed from going to a competitor with the company’s ac-

These steps can be time consuming and involve some

counts or soliciting other employees to leave.

costs, but are well worth it in order to make one more at-

Service Contracts. Ensure that all vital vendors and

tractive to a potential partner.

Gary Kibel (gkibel@dglaw.com, Twitter @GaryKibel_law) is a Partner with Davis & Gilbert LLP.

19

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Six-Figure

Blogging Formula Zac Johnson

by Zac Johnson

you are going to have to spend a lot of time networking at conferences, writing on various sites and working on your social presence. The more out there you are the more peo-

H

ple will see and remember your name. Be sure to keep your ow many of you are still laughing at silly bloggers

profile pictures and name consistent across all platforms.

that are wasting their time by writing blog posts

This way it will be easy for people to find and track where

that nobody reads? You might be laughing, but

you are.

there is a good chance that these bloggers are laughing, too

Leverage Your Blog

– but all the way to the bank.

Blogging is a serious business and now it’s become a

While it may seem like everyone has a blog, only a small

necessity for some of the largest brands in the world. Blogs

percentage are actually doing it right. Once you get to the

allow you to engage with your audience, build a brand while

point where you have a loyal following and are an authority

providing quality content and also increase your site con-

in your space, you can reach out to major news organiza-

tent that ranks in the search results. Best of all, you can cre-

tions and companies to see how you can start working to-

ate a six figure business for less than $100.

gether. The best way to find success in the world of blogging

Enough with the basics... how can you make six figures

is to use your connections.

a year from blogging? Let’s get started.

Show Me the Money Be the Authority

You have the authority. Your name and face are all over

I don’t care what you are awesome at... as long as you

the place and now you have leverage with a blog. This is when

are awesome. I’ve become awesome at business and inter-

you focus on making money with your site. No, this doesn’t

net marketing, so that is what I have become an authority

mean throwing as many ads on your site as you can. It means

in. You need to find what you are the best at and capitalize

you need to put everything that you have been working for

on it. When someone searches for “XYZ” on the internet,

into action. This is the high-end type of monetization that

you want your name and business to be at the top of the list.

makes real money, such as consulting, writing a book, creating a learning course, opening a membership area on your

Be Everywhere

site or even putting together a conference or an event.

One of the best ways to become an authority is to get your name out there, and I mean everywhere. This means

20

The bottom line is once you are an established authority within your niche, you are golden.

Zac Johnson is a branding expert who blogs at ZacJohnson.com and Brand.com.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Using Text Links to Elevate

Travis Jacobson

Your Website

by Travis Jacobson

T

he times of publishing a website, throwing a bunch

It is important to make sure your text link copy will en-

of banners on it, and watching the money roll in are

gage your visitors and prompt them to click through to the

long gone. Talking with long-time affiliates, as they

merchant you are promoting. Don’t just rely on the text

reminisce about the early days of affiliate marketing, makes

links your affiliate manager provides, make sure to allocate

me wish I could go back in time and publish my own website

enough time and focus on your text link copy to make it rel-

full of sparkly, flashing banner ads.

evant for your website.

There are several factors that have made it harder to be

Websites that produce quality content are highly fa-

a successful affiliate. Consumers are savvier, search engines

vored by not only your visitors, but also search engines. The

have changed their algorithms, and the competition within

many recent updates from search engines have focused on

the industry has been elevated. I have been very impressed

providing quality content to their visitors. This means lon-

watching affiliates change their marketing strategy to ac-

ger articles with valuable content. Affiliates can benefit from

commodate the changing times.

this by placing their text links within the copy, providing the

I think an increased awareness on text links can help affiliates navigate some of the difficulties they are currently facing.

quality search engines are looking for, and putting affiliate ads directly where visitors are looking.

Competition within the industry has increased. This has

Consumers have become accustomed to ads flashing,

caused affiliates to have to elevate their website to match

blinking and scrolling in front of them as they browse their

the demand. In my experience I have found the most suc-

favorite websites. I wouldn’t go as far as to say they are blind

cessful affiliates I have worked with have great content that

to these ads, but they don’t pop out to consumers like they

pre-sells their visitors so that when they click over they are

used to.

ready to buy. Text links, in addition to well-placed banners

In addition to consumers becoming numb to seeing ads, some internet browsers have developed ad blockers, which will remove the ads completely from your visitors view.

and product images, can be very valuable as consumers are pre-sold on the item they are searching for.

Banners are still valuable, as long as they are used cor-

Due to consumers becoming blind to banner ads, text

rectly. A well placed banner, that is relevant to the website

links are becoming much more valuable to affiliate cam-

content, can provide great value to consumers. They can

paigns. Text links are very easy to integrate within your web-

also assist in the design and make your website visually ap-

site and are highly visible as consumers are reading your

pealing. I would recommend focusing primarily on text links,

content.

but don’t give up on banners just yet.

Travis Jacobson is an Affiliate manager at BlueHost.com.

21

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Karen McMahon

5

Ways to Fix Your Affiliate Program

by Karen McMahon

I

f your affiliate program is in a downward slump, here are

trust with your affiliates. Create new text link offers and, if

5 ways you can turn it around and start seeing immedi-

possible, update your banners at least quarterly (monthly

ate results.

is better). Make your affiliate think, “Wow! This advertiser is really active.” You want to become the go-to company an af-

1. Carefully Check Your Account and Links

filiate can count on when they have a space to fill. Also, don’t

When you decide to extend the dates on your previous

be afraid to send out more than one newsletter a month, as

offers in your affiliate network(s), be sure to review the ac-

long as there is something NEW to share.

tual ad copy and details. Affiliates often see offers showing one date in the copy or title field and a different date in the

4. Re-Establish Contact With

end date field. Any end date confusion means affiliates will

Your Top Performers

skip your offer and go onto the next. Also make sure all of

Run performance reports. Go back several years and

your general account information is up-to-date, especially

monitor who is in your Top 25 Performer list. Take note of

your contact information. Make it easy for affiliates to get to

any affiliates who slid down or slipped off the list. Then get in

know you and reach you if they have questions.

touch with them, let them know what you are seeing and ask how you can best help them increase their performance.

2. Update Your Active Links

Never be afraid to ask the publisher what is new with them

Updating your banners and text links does one very important thing: It gets your offers in front of affiliates again.

and what you can provide them with to re-focus marketing efforts on YOUR company.

Most affiliate networks acknowledge those changes and put your updates into their cue. They get sent out again to affili-

5. Meet Some New Affiliates

ates who are automatically receiving links through an API or

Take the time to meet new affiliates and encourage them

RSS feed. For those manually searching for links, they show

to promote your company. Review who is signed up with

up as recently changed offers within the network’s interface.

your affiliate program, then sort out who has strong network participation, active Earnings-Per-Click (EPCs) and good

3. Push Out Completely New Offers

transparency ratings. Then pick up the phone and say hello.

Affiliates deal best with what is right in front of them, so

This is a relationship building business. By reaching out and

the more you have something new for them to talk about,

showing affiliates how easy it is to promote your company

the better your program will do. Sharing new sales, prod-

and product lines, you become a team player. Make your af-

uct lines, hot deals and top sellers on a regular basis builds

filiate’s life easier and they will work hard for you.

22

Karen McMahon is “The Affiliate Whisperer” and works as an Affiliate Marketing Strategist.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Successful Public

Heather Diamani

Speaking Strategies

by Heather Diamani

D

id you know more people fear public speaking over

you keep the same drab tone, people will be more like-

death? An article published in “Psychology Today”

ly to start to get sleepy, or will want to start checking

in November of 2012 reported that the number

emails or social media mid-way through your session.

one fear over death was pubic speaking.

3.

Avoid Speech Disfluency. When someone says “uh,

There’s nothing to fear about public speaking if you’re

um, well, or so” in between words it distracts the au-

prepared, use tone variety, avoid disfluency, use good body

dience. These words are also known as “filler words”,

language, and engage your audience.

which are not recognized as purposeful speech. Those

As a member of Toastmasters International, and as

words can make the speaker seem less credible and

a 4-time winner of speech contests, I have learned many

not confident. *I’ve personally left a session at another

ways in which one can succeed in public speaking.

conference because the person was monotone and

If you’re going to speak at Affiliate Summit, a meetup,

said uh, and um, every other word. It was too distract-

or any other event, I encourage you to be prepared and improve yourself by following these tips for how to be a suc-

ing and it made him not seem credible.

4.

Use Good Body Language. Stand tall, have good pos-

cessful public speaker:

ture, keep your hands out of your pockets, don’t fidget,

1.

Be Prepared. Know your material and be able to have

and try not to lean on the podium. Think as if mom was

a back up plan should any part of your presentation

in the room, she would tell you not to slouch, so make

stop working. If something should go wrong, don’t

her proud! You don’t want to look sloppy because that

apologize, mistakes may happen, but this is where be-

will not only keep your energy low, but the audience’s

ing prepared will help. Also, practice your material by

energy will be low too. If you fidget, lean on the podium,

rehearsing out loud in front of a mirror, record yourself

or keep your hands in your pocket the audience will

on a camera, or rehearse in front of a small group of

think you are either nervous, or you’re not confident.

friends that can provide feedback. If you only rehearse

2.

5.

Engage your Audience. Don’t just talk to them, but

something in your head, it doesn’t always translate to

ask questions and engage them. Even if it’s a simple

how you will actually say it out loud.

“raise your hand” question. Move around, and use

Use Tone Variety. When you start your presentation,

good eye contact so you can keep the audience en-

start with a loud fresh tone that will capture attention.

gaged.

Throughout the presentation, make sure to vary your

I wish you the best of luck and all the success in your

tone and avoid staying monotone throughout. When

speaking endeavors.

Heather is a health coach, affiliate marketer at Blendhappy LLC, and Affiliate Summit Brand Ambassador.

23

Matt Enders

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Which Affiliate

Coupon Strategy

Works for You?

by Matt Enders

I

f you have an affiliate program, it is likely that you have

pon Site” or “Other”. Once you have classified all affiliates,

approved coupon sites to your program. This article will

add a final column for “Percent of Total Sales by Affiliate

help you understand how to set your goals, understand

Type”. Using another quick formula and you can see the to-

the value of your current affiliates, and create a coupon

tal contribution of coupon affiliates versus non-coupon af-

strategy for use in your affiliate program.

filiates in your program.

Armed with this data, we can now evaluate our reality

Setting Your Goals

versus our strategy.

In order to set your goal, you have to decide what you want to accomplish. Let’s use the following question as the driver of your thought process:

Creating Your Coupon Strategy Let’s assume that you want to implement a strategy which is more involved than the “provide coupons to all af-

Do I want my affiliate program to drive top-line

filiates” approach so commonly used. There are a variety of

revenue, or do I want to focus on incremental

options you can implement, each with its own set of pros

sales?

and cons to consider.

I will not go into those pro and con considerations. Some

If you are interested in driving sales that are focused on

of the options you can consider implementing include:

creating incremental value, you need to develop a strategic

» Offer no coupons via the affiliate program

plan for working with coupons and coupon affiliates. If not,

» Offer limited coupons to select affiliates

focus on mass distribution of your brand name and consum-

» Change your commission structure for coupon affili-

er offerings as a method of generating top-line revenue.

ates versus other types of affiliates » Encourage the acquisition of new customers via com-

Understanding Your Current Affiliates Within your affiliate program interface run a report

mission bonuses, first-time only customer coupons, and other strategies

spanning a significant time duration (12 months, for ex-

» Pay commission at different levels to multiple affiliates

ample). Organize the data from this report in an Excel file

who may have been involved in the conversion path of

so you can see the individual affiliate and their total sales

a particular customer

volume. Add a column for “Percent of Total Sales” and use

Note that the above are only a few options for crafting

a formula to calculate each affiliate’s total contribution in

coupon strategy, but vary widely in design. When crafting

sales volume.

your particular coupon strategy, you have nearly limitless

Now, add another column for “Type of Site”. You’ll need

options at your disposal.

to manually review each affiliate site so that you can classify

The key to devising a successful strategy is to decide

them (broadly is okay) into specific groups. You can simplify

upon your goal, consider possible pros and cons, and base

this step, if you like, to classify each affiliate as either “Cou-

your decision upon facts which you have gathered.

24

Matt Enders is the CEO of MGECOM, Inc.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Go Green -

Advertise Online

W

Sarah de Diego

by Sarah de Diego

hen I return from Vegas after Affiliate Sum-

What makes no sense is that the Yahoo postmaster can

mit, my mailbox will be crammed full of junk

unilaterally block junk emails from hitting my inbox, but the

mail, and unlike my email inbox I won’t be able

USPS refuses to stop cramming junk mail in my mailbox! In

to simply hit the delete button. Instead I will have to sort

fact it is a federal crime, punishable by up to 5 years in pris-

through this junk mail and walk it out to the recycling bin.

on, to obstruct correspondence, so if the USPS postmaster

According to an article on EPA.gov, 4 million tons of unsolicited junk mail is produced every year in the United

or a mail carrier filtered out or blocked paper junk mail it would be a federal offense.

States and over 50% of that ends up in our landfills each

At least with junk emails, you can delete, block, or un-

year. The website 41pounds.org estimates that each year

subscribe from receiving more - all with the quick click of

you receive 41 pounds of unsolicited mail; which is created

a button. Why is there no postal mail unsubscribe button?

from at least 100 million trees; with 48 million gallons of wa-

Where is the postal version of the CAN SPAM Act?

ter used to produce and recycle that junk mail; and creating

There is no unsubscribe button for postal mail because

and shipping it produces more greenhouse gases than 9

postal mail accounts for a significant portion of the post of-

million cars.

fice’s annual revenue; according to the USPS in 2010 Adver-

It wastes your time, too, with an estimated 70 hours per

tising mail brought in 17.3 billion dollars.

year of your time spent sorting and trashing (or hopefully

Since junk mail helps support the post office, why would

recycling) junk mail. Even when I find myself inundated with

Congress regulate it or require an unsubscribe mechanism?

junk emails it still does not take more than a couple seconds

Don’t get me wrong, I love opening my mailbox and finding

per day to delete emails or hit unsubscribe buttons.

a handwritten note from my Grandma, but what I hate is

Compare this to online advertising: how many trees are

that her note is buried under piles of advertisements that I

used to make a banner ad or an email creative? None. Except

do not want, that I cannot stop, and that are damaging our

for a few dinosaurs that still print out their emails, almost no

environment.

emails end up in landfills. Of course there are energy costs

Online marketers should really be called environmen-

in creating and delivering online advertisements, but these

talists, because for every banner ad you place, and email

seem minimal compared to the environmental impact of cre-

you send, you’re helping save our planet. Go Green! Adver-

ating, delivering, and recycling unsolicited paper mail.

tise Online!

Sarah is an experienced affiliate marketing attorney and frequent Affiliate Summit speaker.

25

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Matt Swan

Tackling

D

oes affiliate marketing have a problem with brand abuse and fraud, and if so, is this holding back in-

Unethical Activity in the Affiliate Channel

by Matt Swan

creased investment in the channel?

Addressing this issue can provide a dilemma, as it’s

a relatively small problem in the channel overall with few advertisers in certain sectors affected, so how should it be raised without causing unnecessary concern?

It is important to define what is meant by ‘unethical’ activity. If advertisers are not aware of the potential threats, they will be unable to address them correctly.

For sale driving affiliates, understand where their traffic is coming from. If you are unsure, ask the network for their referrer details or speak to the publisher directly to identify how they are driving traffic to your site.

If an affiliate who has previously done little activity on

Two issues have traditionally caused the most concern:

your program suddenly becomes a top revenue driver, the

Paid search – unethical activity has typically meant

network or affiliate needs to be able to explain how they

brand abuse. This is the breaching of an advertiser’s terms

are generating this traffic and what activity or promotional

and conditions related to how affiliates can promote them

method has caused the increase.

within PPC advertising.

There can be instances however where the advertiser has not thought to include certain activity within their T and C’s, so this can be rectified by making them watertight with the help of a network.

Fraud – this consists of false orders or fake leads submitted by either unscrupulous customers or affiliates. The

Additionally, suspiciously high conversion rates should be a red flag to find out more about the affiliate and their methods of promotion.

For lead based programs, conversions from submitted leads to confirmed customers should be closely monitored.

Affiliates with poor lead to conversion rates should have a close eye kept on them.

easier it is to earn commission, the more at risk an adver-

It is important to remember it is not necessarily the

tiser may be. For example, lead generation programs that

affiliate that is responsible for the unethical activity them-

require minimal information when submitting a lead are

selves, it could be the customer. Do not assume the affili-

most at risk.

ate is guilty without first having run the necessary checks in conjunction with your network.

Avoiding unethical activity

Unethical or fraudulent activity remains far from the

Affiliate networks should provide the first line of de-

norm on affiliate programs – the perception of the threat far

fense. Challenge your network on the processes they have

outweighs the likelihood of experiencing it. By addressing

in place to ensure affiliates signing up are legitimate. This

the issue in conjunction with your network, relatively simple

will give you peace of mind when approving affiliates onto

pre-emptive steps and ongoing monitoring can ensure the

your program.

risks are significantly reduced.

26

Matt Swan is a Client Strategist at Affiliate Window.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Highly Successful Software Affiliates

by Breanne Storey

O

Breanne Storey

7 Habits of

to the fullest. They learn as much as they can about the ver the past few months, I’ve witnessed several

product and its competitive landscape, and then dedicate

affiliates step up their game and double, or even

all their resources to dominating that corner of the market.

triple, their earnings. It had me wondering, what

makes a super affiliate?

Sure motivation is part of it, but it’s not the whole story.

5. Committed to Testing and Optimizing Campaigns

From what I’ve seen in the software industry, the top play-

By regularly analyzing performance data and research-

ers have a specific set of habits that separate them from all

ing the competition, the top affiliates make subtle improve-

the rest. These affiliates are:

ments to their campaigns and gradually expand their consumer base without jeopardizing core profits. They see the

1. Dedicated to Affiliate Marketing Serious affiliates see their work as a long-term business

value in investing in paid tools from a number of areas, including analytics, split testing and competitive research.

and a full-time career. They understand that hard work and commitment are essential to achieving success, so they

6. Think Differently

dedicate themselves to making their business successful.

Successful affiliates are masters of pushing the perceived limits and boundaries of their niche. They are always

2. Engaged in the Industry Top affiliates in the software industry actively participate in the affiliate community—they attend networking

at the leading edge of the industry and consistently look beyond traditional forms of thinking to find new and innovative ways to promote their products.

events, read blogs from influential people in the space, contribute on forums and spend the time to build relationships

7. Overcome Adversity

with other affiliates and industry experts.

Affiliates are entrepreneurs at heart, and the best ones are willing to take risks. They’re resilient and are able to

3. Eager to Learn

identify and act on opportunities. They thrive in the con-

Every successful affiliate I’ve worked with has been

stantly changing environment of online marketing, but are

eager to learn and improve their skills. They invest in pro-

still able to make pragmatic decisions in order to achieve

fessional development by attending the Affiliate Summit

the best possible results.

educational sessions and subscribing to paid forums. These affiliates also ask a lot of questions, dig deeper into the data,

Start with Changing One Thing

talk regularly with their affiliate managers and have a desire to gain knowledge from top minds in the industry.

Changing your daily habits doesn’t have to be a daunting task—in fact, the best way to become successful is to pick one thing at a time and stick to it. You’ll start to see

4. Laser Focused The best affiliates pick a product and exploit its niche

a lift in your revenue quickly and then use that success as motivation to change another habit.

Breanne Storey is the Manager of AffiliateWire, RevenueWire’s affiliate network.

27

Benjamin Pomerantz

· Issue 25 · January 2014

A

Keep Advertisers Happy

s an advertiser, you are probably no stranger to

with Targeted Search Intent

last year’s changes Google made to AdWords. With starting to roll out enhanced campaigns back in

2013, Google had one goal – more simplicity in managing ad campaigns.

by Benjamin Pomerantz

The reality: advertisers were faced with more complex and time-consuming targeting. As so often, advertisers weren’t the only ones being affected by a more complicated work process. In fact, advertising agencies were also put in

As founder of a mobile advertising agency, I was also

front of new challenges: how is it possible to keep advertis-

put in front of the decision to keep business going and cli-

ers happy? How can agencies still provide same results in

ents satisfied. There is a solution to the problem, but it re-

terms of targeting offers and ROI?

quires investing some money.

2014 has just started, and if you are still struggling to rise above the chaos enhanced campaigns may have created for you, keep this solution in mind.

The Solution If you can’t beat them, join them. I am sure, you have heard of this saying. But have you actually considered using

The problem

it in this situation? I saw huge possibilities in the upgrade of

Making the decision to upgrade AdWords with enhanced campaigns, Google aims to keep up with the “con-

AdWords, but I was also prepared to invest in the technical side of the company.

sumer of today”. Since users are no longer satisfied with

With hiring qualified developers, it is possible to turn

only one electronic device, they make use of a wide variety,

Google search into your success. Developing a system that

often simultaneously, to feed their needs – communicating,

allows filtering useful clicks from waste, makes it possible to

shopping or staying entertained.

match the right advertiser to the right click coming in from

The idea behind enhanced campaigns is to cope with

Google.

this multi-device world – by targeting users based on their

A specially created algorithm helps in analyzing the

search intent and showing ads according to their devices.

characteristics of that particular click. With investing in the

What seems to be a relief for advertisers turns out to be

right people that can create a platform for you, it is pos-

more of a struggle.

sible to not only avoid waste in advertising budgets, but also

Why? Google put a little, but noticeable, twist to its up-

provide transparent reporting features for your advertisers.

grade by removing the so important targeting features. Now, it

And let’s be honest, without transparency and advertising

seems to be impossible for advertisers to create ads that are

budgets, us agencies would not be able to exist.

targeted to specific devices or carriers. As a result, advertisers

Remember, it is not about fighting, but embracing chang-

have to buy traffic that may not be intended for their audience

es and using them for the better. So start getting technical

and waste huge amounts in their advertising budgets.

and use enhanced campaigns for your advantage.

28

Pomerantz is a performance-based mobile marketing expert and founder of Pocket Media Group B.V.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

It’s the

Little Things Karen Garcia

That Matter

by Karen Garcia

I

n our fast paced, modern world, millions of conversations happen digitally every day. Social media, chatting, email, texts, forums... they all have one common problem. They

reaching out to people, rather than brands and companies,

tend to make us lose sight of the flesh and blood person at

and you’ll find the tone of your communication, as well as

the other end of the conversation.

the questions you ask, will fundamentally change.

As we rush to get everything done in our daily crush of work, we can become neglectful of other’s feelings, schedules and situations and business conversations can unintentionally come across as cold and aloof.

Learn to Apologize There’s a lot of conflicting advice about the two little words “I’m sorry”, and their place in business, but when it

Here are four great ways to improve your business re-

comes down to it, apologizing takes a lot of courage and is

lationships that you can use, whether you’re a merchant or

the first step to fixing a broken relationship or even fashion-

an affiliate.

ing a new one.

Even a simple “I’m sorry we haven’t touched base per-

Be Sincere

sonally with you in a while” can go a long way in building

There’s no quicker way to opening a door than by just

trust. Realize however, that an apology isn’t the place for an

being yourself. Authenticity shines through conversations

excuse or for blame. If you’ve made a mistake, own it and

brightly and the most successful relationships, business or

move forward.

otherwise, are built on truth and respect.

Through the years, I’ve found that my best conversa-

Say Thanks

tions with affiliates are the ones where we can both be hon-

My favorite way to express my gratitude is a bit old-

est and open with each other about what’s working, as well

fashioned but never fails to delight. I send actual handwrit-

as what’s not, which can sometimes be hard to take. Since

ten thank you cards. It’s such a simple way to make sure you

sincerity rules in these conversations, the outcome is posi-

stand out from the slew of emails and makes the recipient

tive momentum for both of us.

feel appreciated. Who doesn’t love getting mail that is actually personal?

Listen Well

Also, I find that taking the time to write out my thanks

It sometimes seems that everyone is so busy getting

personally forces me to slow down and think about the per-

their own message out that no one listens to what anyone

son receiving the missive and how grateful I am for that in-

is actually saying. Differentiate yourself by demonstrating

dividual.

good listening skills digitally.

These four simple things can make a tremendous dif-

If you’re an affiliate manager, take the time to learn

ference in improving your business relationships and you

about an affiliate as a person and what their needs are, not

might even find, as I did, that they improve your own posi-

just in terms of their sales data and network id. Think about

tive outlook and productivity.

Karen is the CEO of the affiliate management agency GTOManagement.com and loves managing affiliate programs.

29

Iain Bundy

· Issue 25 · January 2014

I

t’s a new year and that means implementing a new annual budget. If you’re a merchant just starting an affiliate program and haven’t already completed your 2014 bud-

get, it’s easy to catch up if you know the basics for formulating a complete, yearly performance marketing budget,

Creating a

2014 Budget and Sales Projections

by Iain Bundy

including sales projections.

Merchants need to consider a lot of metrics and key variables when planning their annual budgets and sales projections:

partner will send you on a daily basis (in this example,

» Partner growth rate

let’s say 2 clicks from each partner per day) and multi-

» Activity rate

ply that by 31 days to get your monthly partner traffic.

» Partner traffic

Based on these numbers, you can calculate that by

» Site conversion rate

month two you would have 94 partners with 28 of those

» Average order value

partners actively sending you a total of 1,736 clicks on a

» Cost of goods

monthly basis.

» Performance fee » Network fee

To determine your estimated sales: » Multiply your conversion rate (I’ll use 3 percent) by the

» Management fee

number of clicks, and then by your average order value

» Placement budget

(again, an example would be $250), and you have your

» Incentives

gross sales for the month - $13,020.

» Conference attendance

To determine net profit:

It’s important to note many factors impact these cal-

» Subtract your cost of goods (about 50 percent) from

culations – program size, market segment, product pricing,

gross sales and you’ll have your sales before expenses

etc. So, for the sake of example, I am using specific percent-

($6,510).

ages. Not all of these percentages are averages amounts

» Multiply your performance fee (10 percent is fairly

(pretty close) but your individual merchant program results

standard) by gross sales; then subtract it from your net

may be higher or lower.

sales ($6,510 - $1,302 = $5,208).

An easy way to determine your estimated traffic is to: 1.

2.

3.

30

» Subtract the network fee, management fee, placement

Estimate how many partners you expect to recruit and

budget, incentives budget and conference fees to get

join your program and project that growth rate over a

your net profit or loss.

year. Month 1 equals 75 partners; and then multiple

It’s important to note not all expenses will be incurred

that by a 25 percent growth for the total of each month

on a monthly basis, like conference representation, place-

for the rest of the year.

ments or incentive budgets. And keep in mind these calcu-

Estimate your activity rate (let’s use 30 percent). This is

lations are a projection over 12 months.

dependent on how quickly can you provide your part-

Your program may be running at a loss for up to six

ners with the tools and education on your products

months. However, once you build up a solid partner base

and brand.

and optimize your website, your performance marketing

Estimate the average number of clicks each active

channel can be very profitable and successful.

Iain Bundy is the COO and CFO at All Inclusive Marketing.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

When The Government Rachel Hirsch

Comes Knocking

by Rachel Hirsch

I

n the fast-paced moving world of affiliate marketing, there may be little time to invest in anticipating a problem

company and coordinates employees as necessary.

3.

Identify Purpose of the Visit. Identify the scope of

that has not yet reared its head, but taking some time to

the visit to understand the issues involved. Does the

develop strategies now will resolve severe headaches later.

investigation relate to matters involving the company,

A surprise visit by a government official could result in

matters involving an individual employee, or matters

a host of problems if a company is unprepared. Sometimes,

involving a third party. Even if the investigation initially

the investigation will begin elsewhere, with your affiliates or

relates to matters involving an employee or third party,

publishers. An unexpected government visit, however, does

these issues could ultimately implicate the company,

not necessarily signal a business’ demise.

as online marketers are often held responsible for the

Whether the purpose of the visit is to serve a subpoena,

actions of their affiliates and service providers. The

interview employees, execute a search warrant, or conduct

best strategy in these cases is being able to demon-

an audit or investigation; there are five steps that online mar-

strate that the company has established policies and

keters can take to curb further government involvement.

procedures to ensure that their third-party affiliates/

1.

Educate Employees. Educate employees before the

vendors comply with all applicable federal and state

government comes knocking. This means distributing

laws and regulations.

practices and procedures to employees who are most

Contact Counsel. Communicate with counsel before

likely to come in contact with government officials so

any information is provided to the government and

they know how to respond. The message to these

make sure that the government understand that attor-

employees should be that they should not provide in-

ney input is routine and company policy.

formation or documents to the government without

2.

4.

5.

Involve Counsel Post-Visit. When the government

understanding the purpose of the visit and that they

leaves, involve counsel in conducting an internal in-

should refer the government to the company repre-

vestigation to determine the scope of inquiry, facts in-

sentative for information.

volved, and potential defenses. Counsel can respond

Designate a Company Representative. Designate

to any subpoena and determine what documents to

a company representative who can speak on behalf

produce.

of the company. This can be an in-house attorney, a

The key to success in any case is retaining counsel who

human resources representative, or a company execu-

understands your business and long-term goals. With ex-

tive. The benefits of a company representative are that

perienced counsel by your side, if the government comes

he or she provides a unified message on behalf of the

knocking at your door, you shouldn’t be afraid to answer.

Rachel Hirsch is a Senior Associate at Ifrah PLLC, a law firm in Washington, D.C.

31

Frank Kasimov

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Thin Content Penalty on Google

Explained

by Frank Kasimov

H

ave you received a message from Google that reads, “As a result of your site having thin content with little or no added value, Google has applied a

How to create original research?

manual spam action to [domain name].”?

I want to explain what thin content means and help you

You can compare your product or service with what your

understand what to do if you get that message in your web-

competitors offer and publish your findings on your website.

master console.

Another type of research you can do is conduct a survey and

Examples of what is considered thin content:

publish the results of the survey on your website. Starting a

» Doorway pages. If you create a website of a bankrupt-

survey is cheap and easy these days.

cy attorney that has a page for every city in California, and if the only difference between the individual city pages is the name of the city, this is a clear example of a thin content doorway page.

How to create an original video?

Creating an original video has never been cheaper. You can hire a freelance writer to create a video script and a video

» Thin affiliate pages. A web page created using an af-

professional to create the video for under $100.

filiate feed for product description that merchant makes available without making any changes to the copy. Often

What if you have many pages and not

these pages are competing with many other similar pag-

sure which ones have thin content?

es created by other affiliates and therefore add no value.

Go to your analytics reports and look for pages that have

» Scraped pages. A web page created pulling in content

a high bounce rate and pages where people don’t spend a

from other places like a low quality article bank or RSS

long time on.

feed or scraping someone’s site. » Cookie cutter pages. Pages that are similar to many other pages on the internet about the same topic are most likely going to be flagged as thin content pages. » Automatically generated content. Paragraphs of random text that makes no sense to the reader.

Steps to recover from thin content penalty: 1) Remove or re-write content that is thin or does not add much value.

2) Add new original content to your website that can include videos, reviews, infographics, ebooks, white papers, and other value added content.

What is Google looking for?

3) Add social sharing buttons on every page to make it

Google is looking for original content, original research, and original insight. Content that will make the site compelling, convincing the visitors to bookmark the site, sharing it with their friends and returning to the site in the future.

32

easier for people to Like, Tweet, Pin, +1, and share new original content you added.

4) Request reconsideration of your site inside Google Webmaster Tools.

Frank Kasimov is a co-founder of LeadsMarket.com, an advertiser for loan and legal leads.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Why Affiliate Managers Should Become Affiliates

by Rebecca Pollard

S

tarting out as an affiliate isn’t always easy – so much to learn, so much to do, and not enough time or money to get it all done. As an Affiliate Manager, I try

to keep that in mind every time I hop on the phone with a

Broad Industry Knowledge

new recruit. How can I make it simple for my affiliate part-

If you’re an Affiliate Manager for a company that’s got

ners to get started? What resources can I give them to help

a niche, you likely haven’t explored what other industries

them succeed?

outside of your own are doing. DO IT! Become an affiliate in

If you make it easy for them when they’re just getting

another industry, and you’ll learn a ton more about affiliate

started, then as they grow, your program will grow right

marketing. Plus, it will help you generate new ideas for ways

along with them. Had I not been an affiliate, I would have

your affiliates can be promoting your brands, and you can

never truly understood the challenges that come with try-

test them out firsthand to see if they work.

ing to build a site and develop affiliate relationships at the same time. Being an affiliate helps me recognize the challenges other affiliates face every day, and it helps me solve for those challenges as an affiliate manager.

Earned Respect from Affiliates Affiliate management is all about creating successful relationships. When an affiliate asks you a question and you can reply, “On my own blog, I’ve seen this work really

Familiarity with Affiliate Tools

well,” you’ve given them a reason to trust you. The affiliate

Affiliate managers often rely on their networks to help

now knows that you can help them along the way because

affiliates that are having trouble with the technology. As an

you’ve got experience and because you understand their

affiliate, I’ve seen that getting bounced from affiliate man-

objectives.

ager to network and then back again is not only annoying,

There are tons of Affiliate Managers out there who can

but it’s also a waste of my time. It leaves a bad taste in my

speak to the benefits of playing both sides. Joe Sousa, Affili-

mouth.

ate Coordinator for Fanatics, says, “Being an affiliate let me

As an affiliate manager, I’ve learned that the more familiar I am with the products my affiliates are using, the easier

see what affiliates really want and need, not just what an affiliate manager thinks they need.”

it is to manage and build upon the relationships I have with

Affiliate management takes hard work, time and energy,

them. My affiliates are also more likely to be happy with my

but so does being an affiliate. Don’t forget that if you’re go-

brand. Take the time to understand the experience your af-

ing to make the leap, you had better be ready to make the

filiates are having with your network and with your programs.

commitment. Your affiliates are doing it – so should you!

Rebecca Pollard is the Marketing Specialist for Pet360, Inc. and fashion affiliate blogging at CanYaHeelMe.com.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Brian Secrist

Why Billboards Could Make

D

Good Affiliate Banners

riving down the highway, we are likely exposed to many billboards. Some we never see, others briefly grab our attention, and some we may even re-

member long enough for the rest of the drive.

by Brian Secrist

This is similar to most people’s web experience. The difference with outdoor advertising, possibly because it has been around longer, is that, in general, it does a better job

When developing the template, remember a couple of

of grabbing our attention and conveying a simple action-

things. Keep the banner in three or four visual layers. Think

oriented message.

Billboard marketers understand that their audience is likely very distracted, because they are driving. Billboards

about what your eye sees first, second, third, etc. Those are visual layers.

have only a second or less to grab our attention and, if they

Also, the eye travels from top left to right, to bottom left

are good, they might hold it for another 2 seconds before

and then back to the bottom right (think “Z”). This of course

we speed by. The same is true for affiliate banners.

would be the opposite in a country where the reading for-

Too often, banners have too much clutter, lack a single

mat is right to left.

clear message, or are missing a call to action. Some design-

Here is what I suggest you consider for each layer:

ers forget that even if their audience glimpses into their

Layer 1 - Hero image or headline: Your target audience

banner’s general direction, they only have a fraction of a

has less than a second to look and decide if they are going

second to convey their message.

to investigate further. It’s very important to have one main

Many banners have multiple messages, loud images that are quickly ignored, or, worst of all, the expectation that

overriding image or text that immediately invites further investigation.

Layer 2 - Clear message: The message should be just a

they will hold the viewer’s attention for multiple seconds to

few words. If you can, avoid using bullets, as they can often

convey their company’s entire About Us page.

Many of the common mistakes in affiliate banners can

create an additional visual layer.

Layer 3 - Call to action: This should stick out. Be warm,

be overcome with a few simple pointers. When creating a new banner set, first decide on 5 things:

yet confident. Buttons are effective for this, and are often

1.

Why are you making the set; what goal do you want to

overlooked. A small button or arrow that states “Shop Now”

accomplish?

or “Learn More” can be the most important part of any ban-

2.

What is your value proposition?

ner.

3.

What is your message?

By clearly defining your target audience, and by crafting

4.

Who is your audience?

a clear, simple, and powerful message, you can avoid many

5.

What is your call to action?

of the common mistakes in affiliate banners.

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Brian Secrist is a Senior Affiliate Manager at JEBCommerce (Rakuten Agency of the year 2012).

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Day 0 Saturday, January 11

Session 1a: 30 Real Life Examples Of Affiliate Tools & Strategies @ Champagne Ballroom 1 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Early Check-in @ Paris Foyer Time: 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm Come by Saturday evening to pick up your badge and attendee bag so you can enter immediately on Sunday when the show opens!

A look at the vast array of affiliate tools available to publishers, complete with commentary on strategy and screenshots of each tool.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Tools » Chad Waite, Marketing Manager, AvantLink.com (Twitter @ChadW8)

Day 1 Sunday, January 12 Booth Setup @ Rivoli

(This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 1b: Get Compliant. Get Conversions! @ Champagne Ballroom 4

8:00 am – 6:00 pm

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Companies with booths in the exhibit hall on the Monday and Tuesday of Affiliate Summit can setup their booths during this period.

Learn how to keep your landing pages clean and your business out of the FTC spotlight! This interactive session will review pages and provide tips on how to make compliant pages that still convert.

Check-in @ Paris Foyer 8:00 am – 6:00 pm Pick up your conference badge and attendee bag, and get started with Affiliate Summit.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser, Network Niche/vertical: Compliance » Amber Paul, VP, Business Development, GlobalWide Media (Twitter @ambspaul) (Moderator) » Sarah de Diego, Attorney, De Diego Law » Blaine LaBron, Director of Affiliate Marketing, One

First Timers Orientation for Affiliate Summit @ Champagne Ballroom 1 10:00 am – 10:45 am Advice for people attending the Affiliate Summit conference for the first time.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser, Network Niche/vertical: Networking » Shawn Collins, Co-founder, Affiliate Summit (Twitter @affiliatetip) (This Session is Open to all Pass Holders)

Technogies, LP (Twitter @blainelabron) » Nate Seibert, Media Coordinator, Madrivo Media LLC. (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 1c: Writing Pages to Rank in the Search Engines @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Have you heard a rumor that Google hates affiliate sites?

Learn to create SEO friendly pages.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: SEO

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

» Adam Riemer, President, Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC. (Twitter @rollerblader) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 1d: Finding the Golden Nuggets in Mature Affiliate Programs @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Find the “golden nuggets” of growth opportunity using data available only with mature affiliate programs. See 10 actual examples in this sequel to “Growing a Mature Affiliate Program.”

Experience level: Advanced Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Affiliate Program Growth » Jeannine Crooks, Senior Account Manager, Affiliate Window (Twitter @Jeannine_Crooks) (Moderator) » Mike Allen, President, Shopping-Bargains (Twitter @mta1) » Rick Gardiner, CEO, iAffiliate Management (Twitter @rickgardiner) » John LoBrutto, Director of Affiliate Partnerships, 1&1

programs and cut deals. Vendors that cater to affiliates and merchants will also have tables to share information about their products and services.

Each table is a meeting spot for teaching, learning, closing deals, creating partnerships and finding new opportunities.

Session 2a: Secrets of Top Six Figure Bloggers @ Champagne Ballroom 1 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm A panel with some of the top bloggers in the game, discussing everything from blogging, monetization, product creation and how to become an authority within your niche.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Blogging » Syed Balkhi, Founder, WPBeginner.com (Twitter @wpbeginner) (Moderator) » John Chow, Titles Are For Wimps, John Chow dot Com (Twitter @johnchow)

Internet, Inc (Twitter @1and1affiliate)

» Zac Johnson, CEO, MoneyReign, Inc. (Twitter

(This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

» John Rampton, Editor, Search Engine Journal (Twitter

Blogger Lounge @ Burgundy 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm The Blogger Lounge is an area reserved for credentialed bloggers/press to grab some desk space, blog, interview, relax and network.

Heather Diamani will be the BlogMistress of the Affiliate Summit Blogger Lounge, where she’ll be acting as liaison between Affiliate Summit and the press and bloggers attending the show. » Heather Diamani, Owner, Blendhappy (Twitter @blendhappy)

@moneyreign) @JohnRampton) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 2b: Affiliate Marketing On Facebook @ Champagne Ballroom 4 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Learn the foundations of affiliate marketing on Facebook.

There will be free tools for everyone in attendance, and the tactical strategies to a 1,000% ROI campaign that you can implement today.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Facebook » Jeremy Schoemaker, MFCEO, PAR Program.com (Twitter

Meet Market @ Concorde 9:00 am – 12:00 pm (Exhibitor Move In) 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm (Meet Market Hours) Affiliate Summit kicks off with an extended session of structured, face to face networking. Merchants will have tables set to meet with affiliates to discuss their affiliate

36

@shoemoney) (Moderator) » JJ Alan, CEO/President, Creative Ventures Media » Ian Fernando, Founder, IANternet Media (Twitter @ianternet) » Rohail Rizvi, Owner, Riz Media, Inc. (Twitter @rohailr) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 2c: Marketing Your Business with Data, Rather than Feelings @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2

Session 2d: Coupon Sites: Is There Life After RetailMeNot’s IPO? @ Champagne Ballroom 4

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Don’t rely on your gut. Discover tips, tricks, and hacks to use data to drive efforts in your marketing processes, on site optimization, and social media.

RetailMeNot went public last year with a market cap exceeding $1.5 billion. Is there hope for existing coupon sites? Should you consider starting a new site. How else is the coupon space changing?

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Data » James Thompson, Co-Founder, Daft Labs (Twitter @jtgraphic) (Moderator) » Ashley Coombe, Internet Marketing Consultant, dobizLo (Twitter @ashleybcoombe) » Bhavik Modi, Owner, Inkdatabase.com (Twitter @Bhavik_modi) » Shannon Vogel, Owner, The Be Scene (Twitter @thebescene) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Coupons » David Lewis, Director, Business Development, Shopzilla (Twitter @thedavidlewis) (Moderator) » Heath Bradbury, eBusiness Marketing Manager, Advance Auto Parts (Twitter @HeathBradbury) » Todd Crawford, Co-Founder, Impact Radius (Twitter @toddcrawford) » David Perez, Co-Founder & CMO, Convertro (Twitter @daveperez) » Steve Schaffer, Founder and CEO, Offers.com (Twitter @steveschaffer) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 3b: Generating Massive Traffic and Profit Using Facebook Pages @ Champagne Ballroom 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Learn how I use Facebook Pages to reach over a million people a day for free and where I funnel that traffic to make money. Seriously, this is better than the other session you’re considering.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Facebook » Luke Kling, Director of Marketing, PeerFly, Inc. (Twitter @LukePeerFly) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

VIP & All Access Snack Break @ Champagne Ballroom 2 & 3

Session 3c: The Link Economy: Exploring the Economic Power of Links @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Take a break from the networking and education for some snacks and drinks in a relaxed networking environment.

The link economy, the market of buying & selling links, is young & woefully inefficient, but due to new optimization tech that harness the economic power of links the future of affiliation is changing.

(This Event is Open to VIP and All Access Pass Holders with Snack Tickets Only)

Session 3a: SEO Site Reviews & Q&A @ Champagne Ballroom 1 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm The panel will help you get your SEO questions answered and search engine optimization strategy, as an affiliate or a merchant, formed.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: SEO » Kenny Hyder, Founder, Hyder Media (Twitter @kennyhyder) (Moderator) » Ben Cook, President, SEOcoaches (Twitter @skitzzo) » Michael Martin, Senior SEO Manager, Covario Inc. (Twitter mobile__martin) » Roger Montti, Owner, martinibuster.com (Twitter @martinibuster) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Network Niche/vertical: Affiliation » Oliver Roup, CEO, VigLink (Twitter @VigLink) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 3d: 5 Steps to Accelerate Your Affiliate International Expansion @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Replicating the home country model may not always be the best solution when going international. Learn about the key aspects that you should consider when launching an international affiliate project.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: International » Cristian Miculi, Sr. Affiliate Marketing Manager, Avangate (Twitter @affiliatedoc) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 4a: How Video Marketing Drives Sales @ Champagne Ballroom 1 3:30 pm – 3:48 pm Session will provide an overview of the video marketing ecosystem, including metrics and monetization. Attendees will also learn how they can drive sales and generate value with digital video.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: Video » Steve Winterhalter, Vice President Business Development, Coull (Twitter @S__Winterhalter) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 4b: How to Diversify Your Affiliate Portfolio for Better Results @ Champagne Ballroom 4

» Jeremy Palmer, President, Palmer Digital Assets (Twitter @jeremypalmer) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Opening Remarks & Elevator Pitches @ Champagne Ballroom 1 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm Step up on stage to let the crowd know what you’re looking for (leads, affiliates, certain types of affiliate program). » Marty Fahncke, President, FawnKey and Associates (Twitter @FawnKey) (This session is open to all pass holders)

Newcomer Program Meetup @ Bordeaux 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

3:30 pm – 3:48 pm

The Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program helps connect first time attendees with Affiliate Summit veterans.

Learn how to identify new affiliate types to save money while driving higher value incremental sales. This session will show how to recruit affiliates who can get you that beloved first time customer.

Conference veterans volunteer their time to share their past experience ideas and information to help newcomers optimize their time at the conference.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Growth » Sarah Bundy, Founder & CEO, All Inclusive Marketing (Twitter @svbundy) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 4c: Sexy Search Results @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 3:30 pm – 3:48 pm Learn how to create search listings that compel people to click through. Discover the 5 factors you can change to get more traffic and sales from organic search.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: SEO

This is an opportunity for those first time attendees and conference veterans to meet. » Heather Diamani, Owner, Blendhappy (Twitter @blendhappy) (Open to all attendees enrolled in the Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program)

ShareASale “Under the Stars” Party @ Chateau Nightclub in the Paris Las Vegas 8:00 pm - midnight The theme is Super Heroes vs. Super Villains. Costumes are encouraged.

In order to attend the party, you will need the official invitation or your Affiliate Summit badge. Invitations can be picked up at the ShareASale Meet Market Table (#930) on Sunday.

There will be lots of desserts, as well as entertainment, and the ShareASale photobooth to capture you in your heroic or villainous glory.

Start thinking about costume ideas!

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Day 2

Monday, January 13 Check-in @ Paris Foyer

Coffee Service @ Concorde 10:00 am – 12:30 pm Get some caffeine and take advantage of the tables and WiFi to have meetings or catch up on work.

7:30 am – 5:00 pm Pick up your conference badge and attendee bag, and get started with Affiliate Summit.

Exhibit Hall @ Rivoli 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Blogger Lounge @ Burgundy 8:30 am – 6:00 pm The Blogger Lounge is an area reserved for credentialed bloggers/press to grab some desk space, blog, interview, relax and network.

Heather Diamani will be the BlogMistress of the Affiliate Summit Blogger Lounge, where she’ll be acting as liaison between Affiliate Summit and the press and bloggers attending the show. » Heather Diamani, Owner, Blendhappy (Twitter @blendhappy)

Buffet Breakfast @ Concorde 9:00 am – 10:00 am (Breakfast is open to VIP and All Access pass holders with breakfast tickets only)

Meet with a wide selection of affiliate programs, networks, affiliate program managers, and vendors.

(Exhibitors may set up beginning at 9:00am.)

Session 5a: Advertisers: Take Your Lead Gen Beyond the Desktop @ Champagne Ballroom 1 10:00 am – 11:00 am Advertisers: it’s time to take your lead-gen campaigns beyond the desktop and onto mobile and tablet devices. Discover strategies on how to mobilize your offers and track across various mobile traffic.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Mobile Advertising » Alex Tsatkin, Vice President, Mobile, Matomy Media Group (Twitter @tsatkin) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 5b: Your Baby Is Ugly: Rapid-fire Live Landing Page Critiques @ Champagne Ballroom 4 10:00 am – 11:00 am Your landing page stinks – its just a question of degree.

Bring your URL and noted author and Conversion Rate Optimization expert Tim Ash will give you some quick and actionable conversion help.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Conversion Rate Optimization » Tim Ash, CEO, SiteTuners (Twitter @tim_ash) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 5c: Grill the Affiliate Manager: Questions You Want Answered @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 10:00 am – 11:00 am In-house and outsourced program managers take the hot seat to answer questions about commissions, promotions, recruitment, coupon sites, communication, and more.

Nothing is off-limits!

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Affiliate Management » Tricia Meyer, Owner, Sunshine Rewards (Twitter @sunshinetricia) (Moderator) » Greg Hoffman, President, Greg Hoffman Consulting (Twitter @akagorilla) » Mike Nunez, CEO, AffiliateManager.com (Twitter @MikeNunez) » Rebecca Pollard, Marketing Specialist, Pet360, Inc. (Twitter @RebeccaP_Pet360) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 5d: Beyond Affiliate Income: Diversification in the Industry @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4

Get an overview of the day ahead, as well as hearing the keynote address. » Marty Fahncke, President, FawnKey and Associates (Twitter @FawnKey) » Steve Denton, Vice President of Marketing Solutions, eBay Enterprise (Twitter @eBayEnterprise) (This session is open to all pass holders)

10:00 am – 11:00 am The affiliate landscape has changed dramatically in the past few years. Use your skills, industry knowledge & unique competitive advantage to diversify your income within the affiliate industry.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Diversification » Joe Sousa, Affiliate Coordinator, Fanatics, Inc. (Twitter @drcool73) (Moderator) » Robert Adler, President, The Link Builders, LLC (Twitter @Bofu2U)

Luncheon Buffet @ Concorde 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm (Lunch is open to VIP and All Access pass holders with lunch tickets only)

Coffee Service @ Concorde 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm Get some caffeine and take advantage of the tables and WiFi to have meetings or catch up on work.

» Eric Nagel, PHP Programmer, ericnagel.com (Twitter @ericnagel) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 6a: Mobile Display: How to Make Money Off of Such a Tiny Screen @ Champagne Ballroom 1 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Opening Remarks & Keynote @ Champagne Ballroom 2 & 3 11:15 am – 12:15 pm

RTB, DSP, Ad Networks, Ad Exchanges, SSP, Trading Desks, and more! Learn how to navigate the tricky mobile display landscape and generate profits for you and your clients.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 6c: 22 Effective Ways to Recruit Quality Affiliates @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm There is an array of ways advertisers may recruit new affiliates. Unfortunately, most use only a few. This session will equip you with a rich arsenal of methods and tools to recruit quality affiliates.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Affiliate Recruitment » Geno Prussakov, CEO & Founder, AM Navigator LLC (Twitter @ePrussakov) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Mobile » Brett Kaufman, VP of Mobile, Double Positive (Twitter @brettmkaufman) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 6b: The Top 5 Affiliate Management Myths Debunked @ Champagne Ballroom 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Four top producing affiliate managers dispel the myths and mysteries of program management and show a clear, grounded path to doing it right.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Affiliate Management » Kim Rowley, CEO, Key Internet Marketing, Inc. (Twitter @kimarketing) (Moderator) » Vanessa Branco, Founder, Versa9 (Twitter @vanbranc) » Amy Ely, Ecommerce Acquisition Manager, Under Armour (Twitter @aely) » Karen McMahon, Affiliate Marketing Strategist, TheAffiliateWhisperer (Twitter @Aff_Whisperer) » Kim Salvino, Director of Publisher Development, Chateau 20 (Twitter @kim_Salvino) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 6d: Why Compliance is a Tough Pill to Swallow – Nutraceuticals @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Discussion of strategies for manufacturers and marketers of nutraceuticals to avoid both FTC and FDA scrutiny, as well as recent FDA warning letters and trending enforcement tactics.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Compliance » David Graff, General Counsel and Privacy Officer, 50onRed (Twitter @50onRed) » Rachel Hirsch, Senior Associate, Ifrah PLLC (Twitter @FTCLawyer) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 7a: Super Affiliate Publishing with WordPress @ Champagne Ballroom 1 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Learn how super affiliates use WordPress to easily publish large amounts of content. Product-feeds, site cloning and other WP strategies can help you scale your business and increase your bottom-line.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: WordPress » Ben Metcalfe, Co-Founder, WP Engine (Twitter @wpengine) » David Vogelpohl, CEO, Marketing Clique (Twitter @davidvmc) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 7b: It’s Not Just List Size, But What You DO With It @ Champagne Ballroom 4 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Reality check: With email and social, size doesn’t guarantee success. To really drive results, you need awesome content.

Learn how to get it and use it to increase your list size and sales.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Content » Hunter Boyle, Sr Business Development Mgr, AWeber (Twitter @hunterboyle) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 7c: Ensuring Incremental Growth in Any Affiliate Program @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Learn specific tips on growing an affiliate program incrementally by empowering high-value affiliates, focusing on

the program’s bottom line, removing channel overlap, and monitoring for fraud.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Growth » Robert Glazer, Managing Director, Acceleration Partners (Twitter @accelerationpar) (Moderator) » David Naffziger, CEO, BrandVerity (Twitter @davenaff ) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 7d: Generating Affiliate Income with a Branded Blog @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Everyone tells bloggers to “build a brand” – but how? In this session, affiliate veteran Rae Hoffman will discuss the ins and outs of building a branded blog and increasing its affiliate income.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Affiliate Marketing

E-mail info@docler.com | Tel +352 261 118 23 | Mobile +352 621 338 298

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

» Rae Hoffman, CEO, PushFire (Twitter @sugarrae) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

» Melissa Filipkowski, Advertising Director, Clickbooth.com, LLC (Twitter @MellyFlip) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 8a: Internal Advertiser Platforms & What it Means to Affiliates @ Champagne Ballroom 1 4:40 pm – 4:58 pm We will explore why Groupon built out it’s own internal platform along with looking at the tools we created within the platform to help make it easy for affiliates to be successful.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Platforms » Steve Manes, Head of Affiliate Marketing – North America, Groupon (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 8c: Best Practices for Leveraging Coupons in Affiliate Channels @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 4:40 pm – 4:58 pm Learn best practices used by Affiliate Managers who effectively leverage coupons with affiliates. From the right affiliates to complete reporting, see what it takes to execute a profitable campaign.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Coupons » Rachel Honoway, CEO, For Me To Coupon (Twitter @rachelhonoway) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 8b: It’s a Small World After All – Expanding Internationally @ Champagne Ballroom 4 4:40 pm – 4:58 pm International expansion is a core strategy in broadening the reach of your product. In a World that’s smaller than ever, is your backend set up to successfully capture and retain global consumers?

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: International

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Session 8d: Targeting Your Customers Using Google+ @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 4:40 pm – 4:58 pm Don’t be a spammer on Google+. Learn how to use Google+ the right way to drive traffic to your affiliate products. You’ll learn the key ways to use Google+.

Experience level: Advanced Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: Google+

· Issue 25 · January 2014

» Kim Beasley, CEO & Social Media Strategist, Kim Beasley Consulting (Twitter @kimbeasley) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Media (Twitter @benpof) » How to Talk to Bloggers: Jessica Severson, Blogger, Don’t Mind the Mess (Twitter @jessicaesquire) » The Case for Reactivation Over Finding New Affiliates: Christopher Park, Affiliate/Partnerships Manager, Blair.

Ask the Experts Roundtables @ Champagne Ballroom 2 & 3 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Ask the Experts will be an opportunity for merchants, networks and affiliates to ask questions about various specialties and issues.

Handpicked experts will handle topics in their specialty, and conduct chats, answer questions and share opinions during this networking and education session. » 3 Innovative Things Your Competitors Did in 2013: Debbie Bookstaber, Owner, Element Associates (Twitter @buzzmommy) » Current Situation of Affiliate Marketing in Europe: Adam Opuchlik, Director Product Development, Traffective GmbH » FTC Compliance Tips for 2014: Bill Rothbard, Attorney, Law Offices of William I. Rothbard » High-Octane Outsourcing for Productivity and Profits:

com (Twitter @BLAIRAffiliates) » User Generated Reviews: Earn Traffic, Trust and Conversions: Corey Post, Founder, Content and Contests (Twitter @coreypost) (This session is open to all pass holders)

Affiliate Ball @ Chateau Nightclub in the Paris Las Vegas 10:00 pm Affiliate Ball will be co-hosted by legendary recording artist and TV personality, Flavor Flav.

Flavor Flav will also co-host the AFFY Awards, which are given to industry veterans for their outstanding contributions to the internet marketing world.

RSVP at affiliateball.com. Passes can be picked up at the Affiliate Ball Meet Market table (#744) on the Sunday of Affiliate Summit.

Nick Loper, Chief Side Hustler, SideHustleNation.com (Twitter @nloper) » How to Create Quality Links Using Community Outreach: Lance Bachmann, President, 1seo.com (Twitter @1seocom) » How to Niche Market on POF: Tips for 100%+ ROI: Benjamin Louie, Senior Account Manager, PlentyOfFish

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Day 3

Tuesday, January 14

between Affiliate Summit and the press and bloggers attending the show. » Heather Diamani, Owner, Blendhappy (Twitter @blendhappy)

Check-in @ Paris Foyer 8:00 am – 3:00 pm Pick up your conference badge and attendee bag, and get started with Affiliate Summit.

Blogger Lounge @ Burgundy

Buffet Breakfast @ Concorde 9:00 am – 10:00 am (Breakfast is open to VIP and All Access pass holders with breakfast tickets only)

Coffee Service @ Concorde

Jan 14 @ 8:30 am – 4:00 pm

10:00 am – 12:30 pm

The Blogger Lounge is an area reserved for credentialed bloggers/press to grab some desk space, blog, interview, relax and network.

Get some caffeine and take advantage of the tables and WiFi to have meetings or catch up on work.

Heather Diamani will be the BlogMistress of the Affiliate Summit Blogger Lounge, where she’ll be acting as liaison

Exhibit Hall @ Rivoli 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Meet with a wide selection of affiliate programs, networks, affiliate program managers, and vendors.

(Exhibitors may set up beginning at 9:00am.)

Session 9a: Transitioning to Working At Home: Your Questions Answered @ Champagne Ballroom 1 10:00 am – 11:00 am Considering working from home? Join this panel of accomplished entrepreneurs with over 30 years of combined work at home experience for a lively discussion about how you can do it too.

Experience level: Beginner Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Productivity » Shannon Weidemann, Owner, Marketingelf (Twitter @marketingelf) (Moderator) » Deborah Carney, Founder, Team Loxly (Twitter @loxly) » Karen Garcia, CEO, GTO Management (Twitter @gtoman) » Scott Jangro, President, Shareist (Twitter @jangro) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

» Greg Shepard, CEO, AffiliateTraction (Moderator)

Session 9b: Getting Out of Irons: Re-Setting Your Course @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 10:00 am – 11:00 am An obstacle or opportunity causes your ship to change course… how do you remain afloat? Gain insight into how advertisers and networks are evolving and what publishers can do to stay the course.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Strategy » Brian Marcus, Director, Global eBay Partner Network, eBay, Inc. (Twitter @eBayPartnerNet) (This session is open to Networking Plus , VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 9c: Beat the Competition With the Right Intelligence Tools @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2 10:00 am – 11:00 am How merchants can provide affiliates with the same competitive intelligence smarts that top marketers deploy on paid / organic search and display ads, plus the impact of PLA’s on affiliate page rank.

» Max Teitelbaum, COO, WhatRunsWhere (Twitter @maxteitelbaum) » Lori Weiman, CEO, The Search Monitor, LLC (Twitter @Searchmonitor) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Session 9d: Update from the Performance Marketing Association @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 10:00 am – 11:00 am The PMA is the industry’s leading advocate and a valuable resource to you. Hear from its leadership about key initiatives such as the nexus tax, standards/best practices, PMA Councils and more.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser, Network Niche/vertical: Affiliate Marketing » Gary Kibel, Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP (Twitter @GaryKibel_law) » Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association (Twitter @pmassociation) (This session is open to Networking Plus, VIP, and All Access pass holders only)

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Merchant/Advertiser Niche/vertical: Advertising Intelligence

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Opening Remarks & Keynote @ Champagne Ballroom 2 & 3 11:15 am – 12:15 pm The eighth annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards will be presented. These awards recognize exceptional performance in affiliate marketing.

Also, get an overview of the day ahead, as well as hearing the keynote address. » Marty Fahncke, President, FawnKey and Associates

Luncheon Buffet @ Concorde 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm (Lunch is open to VIP and All Access pass holders with lunch tickets only)

Coffee Service @ Concorde 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Get some caffeine and take advantage of the tables and WiFi to have meetings or catch up on work.

(Twitter @FawnKey) » Derek Flanzraich, Founder & CEO, Greatist (Twitter @thederek) (This session is open to all pass holders)

Networking Pub Crawl @ Rivoli 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Refer to your Pub Crawl map of participating sponsors and visit each one for great networking opportunities and, of course, free beer.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 10a: The Power of Asking: The Simplest Way to Increase Revenue @ Champagne Ballroom 1

Session 10b: Buying and Selling Websites @ Champagne Ballroom 4

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Publishers and merchants are always trying to come up with ways to increase revenue. Surprisingly, an oft overlooked opportunity is to simply ASK. We will discuss real examples and strategies.

Expanding your affiliate business through website acquisitions and sales? Our experts will provide detailed strategies for buying and selling websites guaranteed to maximize your revenue potential.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: Revenue » Paul Schroader, President, PS Web Solutions, Inc. (Twitter @pswebs) (Moderator) » Joseph Hansen, CEO, Evolved Group (Twitter @entremarketer) » Travis Hopkins, Merchant Relationship Manager, DBG Loyalty (Twitter @seaturkey)

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Buying/Selling Websites » Chuck Mullins, Owner, CashForYourSite.com (Twitter @chuckiii33) (Moderator) » David Gass, President, Jump Profit, Inc. (Twitter @davidgass) » Jason Yelowitz, Senior Business Adviser, Quiet Light Brokerage Inc. (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

» Travis Jacobson, Affiliate Manager, Blue Host (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Session 10c: How to Improve the AffiliateAdvertiser Relationship @ Versailles Ballroom 1 & 2

Session 11a: Mobile RTB – How to Hyper-Target on DSPs @ Champagne Ballroom 1

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

3:10 pm – 3:28 pm

Can affiliates and advertisers ever get along? This panel examines how to improve the relationship to achieve common goals and the types of advertiser campaigns that work best for affiliates.

Come learn how to most efficiently use mobile DSPs to hyper-target and hyper-optimize your campaigns. Get tips, tricks, and advice on which platforms and tools to use for different campaign types.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Relationships » Daryl Colwell, Senior Vice President, Matomy Media Group (Twitter @dhcolwell) (Moderator) » Eric Evans, Director, HyperTarget Marketing » David Smith, Media Acquisition, United States, Caesars

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: Mobile » Tom Desaulniers, President, Go2mobi (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Interactive Entertainment » Drew Thorne-Thomsen, VP, BD, RingRevenue (Twitter @drewtt) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Session 10d: Promoting Software Isn’t Dead @ Versailles Ballroom 3 & 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm The panel looks beyond PPC to discuss new ways of promoting software, and how to make money through toolbars, free software, bundling, cross sells in the cart, post download offers and white labels.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/ Advertiser Niche/vertical: Software » Breanne Storey, Manager of AffiliateWire, RevenueWire (Twitter @breannestorey) (Moderator) » Chris Dykstra, VP Business Development & Sales, Red Brick Media » Paul Herdsman, COO, Inbound Call Experts » Phil Schnyder, Director Online Business Development, Avanquest Software (Twitter @philschnyder) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

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Session 11b: Email Marketing 3.0 Adapting to Mobile 1st World @ Champagne Ballroom 4 3:10 pm – 3:28 pm Most emails are opened on mobile devices but email marketers still send desktop optimized emails. Affiliates should think mobile first.

Experience level: Intermediate Target audience: Affiliate/Publisher Niche/vertical: Mobile » Frank Kasimov, Co-Founder, LeadsMarket.com (Twitter @leadsmarketcom) (This session is open to VIP and All Access pass holders only)

Closing Cocktail Reception @ Concorde 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm Come to network at the closing cocktail reception – have a couple drinks and meet with new and old Affiliate Summit friends for one last chat before everybody goes on their way.

(This session is open to all pass holders)

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Keynote Bio: Steve Denton

S

teve Denton is the vice president of Marketing Solutions for eBay Enterprise. Denton joined eBay Enterprise in 2010 as the president of eBay Enterprise

Media and was most recently responsible for leading the company’s display, retargeting and performance marketing organizations. Denton has more than 13 years of digital media experience and has been successfully helping retailers and ecommerce companies for the past 20 years acquire and maintain customers using technology and services as an effective and efficient way to grow their businesses. Prior to joining eBay Enterprise, Denton served as the president of Rakuten LinkShare and has held leadership positions at FedEx, Pepsi and Cross Commerce Media.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Keynote Bio: Derek Flanzraich

D

erek Flanzraich is an entrepreneur on a mission to make everyone a “greatist,” someone who simply makes better choices for their fitness, health, and

happiness. He is the founder & ceo of Greatist, a health & fitness media startup working to make healthy living cool.

Greatist is currently the fastest-growing site in the space, with over 3 million unique visitors per month. Flanzraich was previously with Clicker.com (acquired by CBS) and NBC Universal’s Digital Entertainment Strategy & Operations, graduated from Harvard in 2010, and has been building brands and organizations that last since his dog-walking business at 10 years old. Besides everything health and wellness, he also loves theme parks & theme bars.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Speaker Bios Robert Adler

Robert Adler is a link building individual from Baltimore, MD that has been in the affiliate space for about 8 years. He runs campaigns organically for CPA, CPS, and eCommerce.

and innovative perspective. Tim is a highly-regarded speaker at industry conferences worldwide. He is the founder and chairperson of Conversion Conference and a frequent contributor to print and online publications. Since 1995, he has authored more than 100 published articles.

JJ Alan

Lance Bachmann

What began as an idea in JJ Alan’s entrepreneurial mind 16 years ago, laid the groundwork for his innovative and creative journey online. JJ Alan is a successful marketer, who has exploded into the affiliate marketing scene and is known for his “Scared Money Don’t Make Money” motto. His aggressive approach to online advertising and creative strategies is what really sets him apart from the pack. Armed with creativity and passion, JJ Alan offers entrepreneurs advice to make money online.

Founder and president of 1SEO.com, Lance Bachmann knew exactly what it took to start one of the most prestigious digital marketing agency’s in the industry. From his early days his ambition, respect and knowledge of the business world are what catapulted him to form what we now know as 1SEO.

Mike Allen

Mike Allen founded Shopping-Bargains.com in February 1999 and currently serves as President and “Chief Executive Shopper.” Designed to help people save money shopping 2,000+ trusted online retailers, Shopping-Bargains.com was a finalist for the LinkShare Golden Link Merchant’s Choice Award in 2005 and the LinkShare Golden Link Advertiser’s Choice Award in 2008. Mike received the Affiliate of the Year award at the 3rd Annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards in 2009. In addition, Shopping-Bargains was inducted into the Mississippi BBB’s Business Integrity Circle of Honor in 2007. Mike attends most affiliate marketing industry conferences and has presented at Affiliate Summit, New Media Expo, Affiliate Management Days, and several affiliate network conferences. Mike serves and has served on a variety of industry and business advisory boards, founded Businesswright Consulting in 2013, blogs regularly, writes for various print publications, and is a frequent guest on WCBI-TV.

Tim Ash

Tim Ash is the author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization, and CEO of SiteTuners, a conversion rate optimization firm that helps companies make their websites and online marketing programs more effective. Over the past 17 years, Tim has helped a number of major US and international brands to improve the outcomes of their web-based initiatives. Companies like Sears, Google, Expedia, eHarmony, Facebook, American Express, Canon, Nestle, Symantec, Intuit, Autodesk, Yahoo! and many others have benefitted from Tim’s deep understanding

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

com. Back in 2009, President Bachmann had a vision to provide businesses with SEO, PPC, social media, analytics, and much more for a full service Internet marketing strategy for both local to Fortune 500 organizations. Prior to the establishment of 1SEO.com, Lance founded YellowPages.com, a division of AT&T, becoming their first employee. He did not let his ambition and dedication get in the way of anything and was responsible for taking the organization from $0 to $157 million in revenue.

What it boils down to for Lance is that he enjoys everything about his work and what he does, it is his passion and what he loves to do. He takes pride in providing clients with successful marketing campaigns.

Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi is a killer online marketer with design & development experience. He’s the founder of WPBeginner, List25, and many other sites. His work has been featured in: New York Times, Wired Magazine, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and others. Syed has been working online since he was 12 years old, and has a very successful online business.

Kim Beasley

Kim is a weekly contributor for KRNV News4 which is a Reno, Nevada NBC affiliate. She delivers a news segment about technology and social media so that viewers can learn how to reach their target customers. The top tools that Kim shares about are: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest. It is a live weekly news segment that normally airs to local television on Tuesdays and streams live via a Google+ Hangout On Air. The Google+ Hangout is integrated into the live 11 am (Pacific Time) news broadcast which is hosted by Emmy-award winning newscaster Melissa Carson. Kim was a speaker for Ultimate Internet Boot Camp (UIBC) in LA, Sydney, Singapore & NJ from 2010 – 2012.

The sole purpose of UIBC was to train participants in how to develop their own website and monetize it in 5 days. She is a member of the Advisory Board for Social Media/Web 2.0 Consultant-Women Partner International.

Debbie Bookstaber

Debbie Bookstaber is the President of Element Associates, where she leads integrated social media, affiliate marketing, PR and blogger outreach campaign for her clients. Debbie brings a unique perspective to projects based on her experience as both an affiliate manager and a successful blogger. As the blogger behind Mamanista.com and Bloganthropy.org, Debbie was recognized as one of the “Top 25 Parent Bloggers Who Are Changing the World” by Babble.com in 2012 and as a “Best of the Net” Blogger by Working Mother Magazine in 2013. Debbie has over a dozen years of marketing experience at brands such as Expedia and Travelocity. She has managed online marketing programs responsible for several hundred million dollars in annual sales. Debbie has advised PR firms and Fortune 500 companies on blogger relations and effective social media strategies, and she serves as the Director of Social Media for Child’s Play Communications in New York, NY. Follow her on Twitter @ buzzmommy.

Hunter Boyle

Hunter Boyle leads business development for AWeber, which helps businesses grow with email and social media tools.

A seasoned speaker, content marketer, and former editor of

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Marketing Experiments Journal, Internet Marketing Report, and What’s Working in Sales Management, Hunter has been helping organizations optimize their digital initiatives since the dot-com days. Outside the office, he’s an avid traveler, photographer, volunteer, and craft beer lover. Connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+.

Heath Bradbury

Heath Bradbury is the eBusiness Marketing Manager at Advance Auto Parts. He manages a variety of marketing programs for Advance Auto’s burgeoning e-commerce business including affiliate marketing, retargeting & SEO, as well as many of the business development initiatives in the social/local/mobile arena. Recently, he has been leading the company’s foray into the omni-channel space, bridging the gap between the ecommerce and in-store retail groups within Advance, driving innovation in promotional and customer engagement strategy.

Prior to his 4 years at AAP, Heath spent 5 years with Commission Junction, spanning several roles, including tech writing, product management and marketing. Heath holds a bachelor’s degree in Business & Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Vanessa Branco

Vanessa Branco is an accomplished online marketer with a decade of experience in affiliate marketing, creative optimization, traffic growth, customer retention, and new customer acquisition. As head of online advertising for a NASDAQ traded DR brand, Vanessa grew the affiliate program from 3 to 9,000 plus affiliates in less than three years, 15 million unique visitors monthly, and generated a 40%+ margin for the company. Vanessa was responsible for all new customer acquisitions, website visits, as well as growing the “word-of-mouth” customer through new and innovative downloadable products. Vanessa formed an online marketing company, Versa9, in 2008. Through Versa9, she handles the digital marketing for companies with yearly online budgets ranging from $250k to over $18 million.

Vanessa is responsible for building and overseeing affiliate programs, creative optimization, and display advertising on cpm, rev share and CPA basis.

Sarah Bundy

Sarah Bundy is an award winning digital marketing strategist, performance marketing specialist, consultant, trainer & author. She is founder & CEO of All Inclusive Marketing, a full service performance marketing agency delivering innovative, experience driven results. She is ranked in the Top 40 Digital Marketing Strategists of 2012 and Top 25 Affiliate Marketing Bloggers of 2012. Sarah’s clients range from e-commerce start ups to billion dollar global corporations such as Best Buy, Sea World and Sandals Resorts. She has won over a dozen awards, is an international speaker and contributes to periodicals such as FeedFront Magazine, Small Business Trends and Revenews. com. Sarah actively contributes to several boards and advisory councils and is considered a thought leader amongst her peers.

She teaches at the Online Marketing Institute and The School of Internet Marketing, and is in the process of publishing her first book entitled “The Art of Performance Marketing”.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Deborah Carney

Deborah Carney is founder of Team Loxly Outsourced Affiliate Management & Consulting. She is also the host of the popular ABC series of podcasts, which include AffiliateABCs, BloggingABCs, MerchantABCs, BookGoodies & Work at Home Moms & Dads. Deborah, along with her many co-hosts, has been interviewing successful work at home parents & has amassed a great deal of tips & tricks to help others. A successful Outsourced Program Manager, past in-house affiliate manager & consultant for many networks & companies, Deborah’s experiences have brought her to a point to start sharing new information with affiliates to help them repurpose their content into books that teach or entertain & generate new traffic for their sites. Deborah founded BookGoodies.com where writers can connect with readers & learn to create successful books plus market those books. This successful community is growing rapidly to enable authors to collaborate, brainstorm & grow their audience.

John Chow

John Chow, a damn fine person, friend of the community, Ultimate Fighting Championship contestant, member of the Save the Whales Foundation, the man who controls the black market on baby seal pelts and member of the “probably yo’ daddy” foundation.

Shawn Collins

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 books Affiliate Manager Boot Camp: Recruiting, Educating, and Retaining Affiliates, Extra Money Answer, and Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants, and was an editor and contributor to Internet Marketing from the Real Experts. Also, he co-publishes the annual Aff Stat affiliate marketing benchmark reports. Shawn blogs daily on affiliate marketing at Affiliate Tip and co-hosts the weekly 7 Minutes in Affiliate Heaven podcast on GeekCast.fm. Additionally, Shawn has been quoted in numerous publications, including Entrepreneur Magazine, Internet Retailer, Inc. Magazine, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Daryl Colwell

Daryl Colwell manages client procurement efforts for Matomy Media Group’s North American business units. Advertiser partnerships he has forged for the company include such bluechip marketers as American Express, HSBC, Nielsen and The Home Depot.

Ben Cook

I was told once the key to writing a great bio was to write from the perspective of your mother. I decided to go a step further and have her actually write it for me. Enjoy! As a full-time college student, Ben Cook started working as an SEO for Proquest Technologies. It turned out to be something he was good at and enjoyed. So, instead of completing his BA in history, like some of us thought he should, Ben worked fulltime on SEO (an acronym he repeatedly explained to me). He kept at it, running

an SEO forum, becoming SEO manager for Network Solutions, discussing his web sites on local radio and TV blurbs, presenting at BlueGlass, BlogWorld, and multiple Pubcons. In 2010 he founded Direct Match Media and this year he launched SEOcoaches.com to help small businesses market online. His business is growing (he even convinced his dad to come work for him), and I couldn’t be prouder, although you could mention to him that it’s always good to have that diploma to fall back on…

Ashely Coombe

Ashley Coombe is an Internet marketing consultant through Denver based Shuffling Madness Media and DoBizLo. com. She has leveraged her years of experience as an elementary school educator, Internet entrepreneur, and online marketer to instruct dozens of local businesses on developing their online presence. Through her experience, Ashley has a deep understanding of what is necessary to promote a business using search and social media. Ashley gives freely to her community through her popular CastleRockNow.com website, and is passionate about helping women, and particularly moms, find their own freedom and success online.

Todd Crawford

As a co-founder, Todd Crawford evangelizes the opportunities presented by a multi-channel approach to the performance model. Prior to Impact Radius, he served as vice president of sales and business development for Digital River’s affiliate network, oneNetworkDirect. Todd also contributed to the founding team at Commission Junction in 1998 and led its business and sales development efforts as vice president for more than seven years.

Jeannine Crooks

Jeannine began her career in affiliate marketing in 1999 by creating a program for a motorcycle parts company, and her love of the industry began immediately. Now, as a Senior Account Manager with Affiliate Window US, she is responsible for optimizing program performance for powerful merchants like 1&1 Internet, Lonely Planet, LivePerson Experts and ProBikeKit as well as working closely with numerous large affiliates. She is also the organizer of the Denver Affiliate Summit Meetup, and is a frequent speaker at numerous events, including Affiliate Summit, Blog World Expo, Bloggy Con and the DaVinci Institute. She is a prominent affiliate advocate in the fight against the affiliate tax, and was instrumental in the modifications of the original Colorado legislation. Jeannine believes that the most important take-away from any session is truly actionable information – so that every attendee leaves with ideas to make their programs perform better quickly.

Tom Desaulniers

Tom Desaulniers is the President and Co-Founder of Go2mobi, one of the leading mobile real-time bidding DSPs and ad networks. Go2mobi is specialized in mobile lead generation, direct response campaigns and app installs. Since 2011, Go2mobi has delivered millions of profitable actions for some of the mobile web’s largest advertisers. In his position, Tom leads a team of media and tech professionals in creating some of the most leading edge mobile ad technologies in the affiliate space. As an industry veteran who has been employed at major affiliate networks and large performance advertisers, Tom brings a wealth

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

of hands-on knowledge to both the performance and the mobile aspect of the business. Go2mobi’s RTB platform is focused on helping affiliates take advantage of the super-optimization that is only available through RTB.

Sarah de Diego

Sarah de Diego is an experienced Internet attorney and founder of De Diego Law. She represents networks, advertisers, publishers, software and data providers and many other companies involved in affiliate marketing. Her practice focuses on helping her clients maintain compliance with the constantly changing laws and regulations that impact affiliate marketing.

Among other things, her time is spent reviewing and approving creative materials and landing pages, drafting and negotiating contracts, defending against regulatory action and civil litigation and assisting with general business matters. She is an active member of the Performance Marketing Association and chairs the PMA Attorney Special Interest Group. She is co-chair of the California State Bar Cyberspace Law Committee and is a member of the legislative sub-committee. Ms. de Diego is licensed to practice law in the State and Federal courts of California, Colorado and Nevada.

Chris Dykstra

A veteran of the online marketing world, Chris Dykstra, has a breadth of experience ranging from digital brand development and strategy, free2play gaming and software distribution. As VP of Business Development and Sales, Dykstra has played a pivotal role in Red Brick Media’s explosive growth. Within a short span of two years, Dykstra has helped transformed Red Brick from a small startup to an industry leader. Through globally sourced software partnerships, Red Brick has seen an exponential increase distribution and revenue, driving an average of 150k software installs per day in the US alone. Red Brick’s predominant property, Air Installer, is a pay per install platform that enables software publishers to maximize their revenue per install while giving advertisers access to millions of high-value, active users.

Amy Ely

Amy Ely manages the affiliate program for Under Armour, one of the world’s most technical performance apparel, footwear and accessories brands. Her role includes growing program performance across the US, Canada and UK markets and her efforts contributed to Under Armour receiving the 2013 Pinnacle Award for Exceptional Merchant of the Year. Actively involved in the affiliate community since 2006, Amy also managed US marketing operations for buy.at, a leading global affiliate network, where she designed and executed a marketing strategy to grow the company’s worldwide presence. Prior to this position, Amy spent 4+ years working for AOL as a Product Manager for Advertising.com’s Affiliate Network and as a Marketing Manager to support buy.at and Advertising.com’s Publisher Services division. Amy’s publications include articles in FeedFront Magazine, the book “Internet Marketing from the Real Experts” and she participates in ABCs podcasts to share best practice knowledge and advice.

Eric Evans

Eric Evans has nearly a decade of experience working in all facets of digital marketing, in publisher, network, and agency roles. Eric currently specializes in call performance market-

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ing as the head of HyperTarget Marketing, a company whose early adoption of the pay per call model has been a big driver of growth. Eric’s hands-on experience both managing profi table campaigns and working directly with advertisers on call flow and quality issues gives him a broad perspective on the industry as a whole.

Marty Fahncke

An expert in multichannel direct response marketing for more than 25 years, Marty M. Fahncke brings a unique and proven track record of success to his audiences. Having been involved in marketing campaigns that have generated more than $1 billion in sales, Marty has seen what works… and what doesn’t. He presents to audiences across the country on topics related to internet marketing, social media, affiliate marketing, direct response television and more.

Ian Fernando

Ian Fernando is an influential blogger and affiliate marketer. His views and insights have been seen all over the Internet as he provides useful tools and tips on online marketing, affiliate marketing, blogging, and related topics. His blog, IanFernando.com, is geared to providing substantive advice to the up and coming online entrepreneur. Ian is an aggressive Internet marketer. He has utilize the power of the internet to become an influential and respected blogger and affiliate marketer. Ian is an ‘out of the box’ thinker and is an example of a successful entrepreneur that has made and continuous to make money online.

Melissa Filipkowski

As an Advertising Director, Melissa Filipkowski successfully manages one of the largest portfolios of lead generation and cost per action advertisers at Clickbooth.com. She provides direction for her own Exclusive Marketing Partners’ strategies, and facilitates the development of Advertising Consultant’s accounts for overall team growth. Her breadth of knowledge transcends multiple verticals in the CPA space including, but not limited to, insurance, weight loss, education, debt/mortgage and skincare.

She has successfully delivered proactive account management by providing business solutions to clients, as well as offering ideas/ methods of increasing revenue through unique marketing programs. Melissa also acts as the advertising liaison between Advertisers and Clickbooth’s full service compliance department, the first of its kind in the CPA industry. Melissa holds a double Masters in Business Administration and International Business from the University of Florida.

Karen Garcia

Karen Garcia, CEO of the affiliate program management company, GTO Management, has fifteen years of experience in e-commerce and marketing. Since 1999, she has consulted on and profitably managed dozens of affiliate programs on many different network platforms ranging from large national brands to niche merchants. She was awarded the 2009 ShareASale “Pay It Forward” Award for Industry Advocate for her work, speaks often at conferences, and has several published industry articles.

She has served on the Board of Directors for the Performance Marketing Association for three terms and as Secretary for the board since halfway through her first term.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Rick Gardiner

a frequent speaker and presenter on issues related to compliance and internet marketing.

Rick Gardiner is the CEO of iAffiliate Management, a leading affiliate management agency for software and consumer technology brands. Rick has over 10 years of performance marketing and eCommerce experience and is responsible for finding and developing partners that align with client needs and the agencies core values. Prior to founding iAffiliate Management, Rick worked on the network side and was instrumental in growing oneNetworkDirect—Digital River’s flagship affiliate network. His tenure there enabled him to work with brands like Symantec, Microsoft Store, Uniblue, PC Tools, avast!, Targus, Roxio, Logitech, and Trend Micro. When unplugged, Rick enjoys spending time with his family in their Minneapolis home.

He and his wife enjoy cooking and discovering new restaurants with their two sons. Rick holds a B.S. in Communications and Marketing from the University of Minnesota, where he was a member of the University of Minnesota men’s swim team and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Since 2007, Joseph Hansen has founded and sold several e-commerce companies. He has extensive merchant and retail experience in the e-commerce space. Joseph has developed a focused, yet comprehensive, online marketing program for his companies including, but not limited to: search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, social media, conversion optimization, backend site automation, visitor retargeting, sequenced email campaigns, multi-site delineation, landing page customization for specified lead targeting, referral based partnerships with gift registries, blog review sites, banner ad networks, and national daily deal companies. He is the founder and current CEO of Evolved Group, an internet marketing business specializing in Marketplace Optimization (MPO) and e-commerce sales. He is also the managing partner of Elucent Capital, a venture capital firm based in Lehi, Utah.

David Gass

Paul Herdsman

David Gass is a serial entrepreneur who has started businesses with $200 and grew to multi-millions. His companies have been listed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the United States three years in a row. David is an entrepreneur, consultant, author, and sought after speaker on the subject of entrepreneurship, marketing, business finance and buying and selling websites. He also is an investor of websites and a buying and selling website expert. He invests in websites full-time and has a mastermind group he facilitates monthly to provide tips and opportunities for others to learn how to buy and sell websites.

Robert Glazer

Robert Glazer, founder of Acceleration Partners, is a customer acquisition specialist with an exceptional track record in growing revenue and profi ts for fast-growing consumer product and services companies. In demand by top consumer brands and investment firms, Bob and his team have launched and managed several of the industry’s most recognized new customer acquisition programs. Over the past fi ve years, Acceleration Partners has driven more than $200m in online revenue for its clients, was awarded the 2012 Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award for the industry’s top affiliate program, and was named to the 2013 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.

A top-rated speaker and published author, Bob has presented at many industry conferences and serves as president of the Boston Chapter of EO and on the board of the Performance Marketing Association.

David Graff

David Graff is the General Counsel and Privacy Officer of 50onRed, a digital marketing and solutions company with offices in Philadelphia and New York. Prior to joining 50onRed, Mr. Graff served as the CEO for Online Intelligence, LLC, a company focused on digital forensics and fraud prevention, and the General Counsel and EVP, Corporate Development, for Epic Media Group, an affiliate network and marketing platform. Prior to Epic, Mr. Graff served as the General Counsel for Edison Schools, Inc., which he helped take public in 1999. Mr. Graff is an active member of several trade association groups, and is

Joseph Hansen

Paul has over 10 years of experience in consumer software and online customer acquisition. He is the Co-Founder and COO of Inbound Call Experts (ICE), part of an all-star team dedicated to ensuring that its clients are monetizing their online traffic and getting the highest return on their marketing spend. Paul first engaged in online marketing in 2004 when the company helped launch a security software product into an already crowded market. The software evolved into an extremely robust consumer brand with tens of millions of users.

The inbound sales effort was one of the key growth drivers of the business, driving new revenue through premium technical support services.

Rachel Hirsch

Rachel Hirsch is an attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Ifrah PLLC. Ms. Hirsch advises clients on compliance with FTC and state consumer regulations. Her clients include, among others, a variety of networks, advertisers, publishers, software and data providers. Her practice covers all federal and state consumer protection and privacy laws and regulations. Rachel focuses her practice counseling clients how to implement measures to reduce their exposure to liability. Often litigating cases against the government, Ms. Hirsch and Ifrah PLLC have achieved a string of victories for their clients in federal and state enforcement actions. Ms. Hirsch is a regular contributor to her firm’s blog, www.ftcbeat.com, where she writes about issues affecting online marketers.

Greg Hoffman

Greg Hoffman (@akagorilla) is President of GregHoffmanConsulting.com, an agency specializing in affiliate program management, public relations and social media. GHC was nominated for a Pinnacle Award for Best OPM/Agency at ASW13. His team has been voted Best OPM by ABestWeb for three years in a row. Greg is a vinyl record lover, a tropical fishkeeper, a comic book collector and he writes with pencil to annoy his digital minded colleagues. Greg is the author of the 8-year-old Marketing Gorilla blog, which serves as a resource to his affiliates.

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Rae Hoffman

Ten+ years ago Rae started a small website about her son and his medical condition that became one of the first international support groups and largest website in general on the topic. It earned national media coverage and helped further medical research in the field. Investigating ways to support that site, she found affiliate marketing and became one of the most well known voices in the affiliate landscape and organic search engine optimization. Today, her current area of research is site auditing and advanced organic link development techniques relating to all of the major engines. Ms. Hoffman is Co-Founder and CEO of PushFire. Known widely in the online marketing community as Sugarrae, she is also the author of the often controversial Sugarrae blog and Co-Founder and Co-Owner of website publisher MFE Interactiveand the Co-Owner and SVP of Marketing for Speedy Incorporation Service.

Rachel Honoway

Rachel is an affiliate marketing veteran who got her start at former affiliate network/software provider KowaBunga! back in the late 90′s. She spent 10 years there in a variety of roles from Sales and Marketing Director to VP before joining Affiliate Classroom/Lurn as VP of Marketing and later Chief Product Officer.

She now serves For Me To Coupon as the CEO.

Travis Hopkins

Travis is an experienced Affiliate Manager who has worked in the industry for 7 years. He has worked as an Affiliate Manager at at well-known companies like: Overstock.com, Progrexion and Backcountry.com. Currently he works for DBG Loyalty as a Merchant Relationship Manager. DBG runs Loyalty programs for many of their clients including: Bank of America, Marriott, American Express, American Airlines, Tracfone, Savernation and Rewards.com.

Kenny Hyder

Kenny Hyder has been helping businesses with their online and SEO strategies since 2004. Originally starting as an in-house SEO, Kenny eventually branched out to start his own internet marketing business. His first business was eventually bought out by a much larger internet marketing firm. Today he runs Hyder Media, servicing clients in the areas of: SEO, social media & ORM. His experience has led him to work with some of the largest brands online, including several Fortune 500 companies – helping them with their search marketing strategies.

Kenny is also a speaker at some of the largest internet marketing conferences including: Pubcon, SMX, Blogworld, Affiliate Summit, & DMA.

Travis Jacobson

I currently operate as the Affiliate Manager for Blue Host where I am tasked with recruiting new affiliates, increasing sales through the affiliate channel and helping optimize affiliates as they promote bluehost.com on their websites. With over six years of experience in both the e-commerce and lead generation verticals of affiliate marketing I have been able to manage a wide range of affiliate programs and work with several types of affiliates. When I am not at work I can usually be found with my wife chasing our kids doing one of the many activities that we love. Some of those activities include; long-boarding, skiing, viewing the bottom of the

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ocean as I try to surf, soccer, BYU Football, coaching my kids soccer teams, hunting and anything else that allows me to learn something new or be with my family.

Scott Jangro

Scott Jangro is the president and co-founder of Shareist. com, a content marketing platform service that helps individuals and teams efficiently create content, publish, and share. He’s also the president of MechMedia, a firm specializing in performance and search engine marketing since 2004. Prior, Scott served as a Director of Product Management at Be Free, Inc. and later Commission Junction, both divisions of ValueClick. Scott is best known as an active and vocal member of the affiliate marketing community through his blogging, writing, and advocacy efforts.

He served three years on the Performance Marketing Association board of directors, and the founding advisory board. Scott has been honored with multiple industry awards including the Affiliate Summit Affiliate Marketing Legend Award, the Best Blogger Pinnacle Award, as well as awards from ShareASale and Linkshare.

Scott’s a Boston sports fan, a bad golfer, and an obsessed cyclist.

Zac Johnson

At the age of 15, Zac Johnson began making money online designing web site banners for $1 each. A self taught entrepreneur, Zac’s been making money online for over 10 years and been involved in nearly every facet of affiliate marketing. Still a one man company, a recent highlight of Zac’s success is “How I Made $860,538.38 Profit in 4 Months!” from one web site, and can be read at his Super Affiliate blog. Zac’s latest focus is his personal blog “Inside the Secret Life of a Super Affiliate”, where he provides readers firsthand accounts of his experiences, successes & failures. In addition to his own success stories, Zac reviews affiliate networks and informs readers how & where they should be making new money. He plans on releasing a case study of his secret tips free through his blog instead of in an eBook.

Zac’s blog has grown to over 15000 subscribers and has referred over $5,000,000 in new business to his advertisers and network partners since launching the blog.

Frank Kasimov

Frank Kasimov is a co-founder of LeadsMarket.com. Many marketing methods created by Frank still remain a proprietary secret of LeadsMarket.com. Only affiliates that join LeadsMarket.com get to access to secret white papers written by Frank.

Brett Kaufman

Brett Kaufman is the VP of Mobile Marketing at DoublePositive, a performance-based online marketing company headquartered in Baltimore that serves lead buyers, lead sellers and direct response advertisers. Kaufman oversees the media, product, and technology of DoublePositive’s mobile click-to-call division. In his role, Kaufman works with developers and publishers on helping them better monetize their mobile traffic.

Kaufman strives to deliver quality calls at a scalable volume for DoublePositive’s advertiser partners. Currently, Kaufman’s division facilitates more than 250,000 phone calls a month. Prior to DoublePositive, Kaufman was the Senior Director of Marketing and eCommerce at PropellShops, a leading on-demand merchandise company that acquired his startup, The Branding Spot. Kaufman has held leadership roles at Livescribe, Sprout, and Financial Content. Over the span of his career, Kaufman has

· Issue 25 · January 2014

purchased more than two billion impressions across CPC/CPM/ CPV/CPA metrics.

zilla syndicating great product listings to compensate for the state of affiliate data feeds.

Gary Kibel

John LoBrutto

Gary Kibel (gkibel@dglaw.com, Twitter/GaryKibel_law) is a partner with the law firm of Davis & Gilbert LLP (www.dglaw. com). He practices in the areas of New Media, Advertising/Marketing and IP law. Gary regularly counsels clients with respect to issues such as interactive advertising, search marketing, affiliate marketing, enterprise technology implementations, behavioral advertising, privacy and security, gaming, content licensing, wireless services and entertainment, joint ventures, copyrights, trademarks, corporate matters and laws affecting the Internet. Davis & Gilbert is widely regarded as the premier law firm in the U.S. representing advertising, marketing and promotions agencies, from specialized shops to the largest advertising holding companies in the world, and also represents prominent technology and entertainment companies, marketers, and advertising trade associations. Prior to becoming an attorney, Gary was an Information Systems Analyst with Merrill Lynch.

John P. LoBrutto is the Director of Affiliate Partnerships in North America for 1&1 Internet, Inc., the world’s largest hosting & web services company. 1&1 offers domains, a full suite of hosting products and the MyWebsite web builder. John’s previous positions include; Head of Global Distribution for AllHotels, Sales Director for Holiday Autos USA (both divisions of Travelocity, LLP), President of Pencils Plus, and Technology Director for Sabre Travel Network. John has over 15 years experience in the travel, retail & technology sales channels and has managed affiliate programs for the last 5 years. He specializes in developing new programs with a focus on emerging markets, and recently launched the first rev-share affiliate program in Mexico for 1&1.

He believes, “the best approach to affiliate marketing is to keep things smart, creative and out of box, whenever possible.” John is married with two children and is based in New York.

Luke Kling

Nick Loper is an author, entrepreneur, outsourcing consultant, blogger, podcaster, and life-long student in the game

Nick Loper

Luke first started working in the affiliate space as an Affiliate Manager back in 2005 when he was 17 years old. He had been developing websites for a few years and sold one of his sites to the owner of a very popular affiliate network at the time.

Since then he has continued to work in this space almost entirely as an Affiliate Manager. Earlier this year, he was promoted to Director of Marketing at PeerFly, and he now manages their affiliate management team, so they can provide the best service possible to their publishers. In his spare time, he can typically be found sitting in front of his old 13″ Macbook hammering away at his keyboard developing websites or blogging. If he’s not at his computer, he’s probably out playing fetch with his dog or sitting at the beach with his beautiful wife, Heidi.

Blaine LaBron

Blaine LaBron is the Director of Affiliate Marketing for One Technologies/Free Score 360 which has grown to become one of the largest providers of direct-to-consumer credit scores, reports, and monitoring products in the United States. Blaine got his start in affiliate marketing at One Technologies when the Free Score 360 affiliate program was being formed and has been integral in growing it into one of the leading offers in the affiliate space. Blaine also cofounded a company where he functioned as a paid search publisher for various products giving him a point of view of both a publisher and advertiser. In response to increased regulation in the credit space Blaine has been integral in helping form and execute a vigorous customer advocacy/compliance program for Free Score 360 which still allows publishers to be profitable, substantially grow traffic to his offer, all while maintaining One Technologies’ compliance goals.

David Lewis

David has been on every side of publishing in affiliate marketing. He founded and led his start-up, sold the business to Ebates which continues to operate AnyCoupons. David worked for well-established players in the online space such as Edmunds and GoTo.com (acquired by Yahoo). With over a decade of experience, David now runs the Publisher program at Shop-

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of business. He’s been working in affiliate marketing for nearly 10 years and has just about every mistake in the book. Nick’s short-term goal is to help as many people as possible improve their businesses and their lives, and that’s to support the (much more selfish) long-term goal of never having to get a real job again. If you find him pacing the halls at Affiliate Summit, it’s because he normally logs 6-8 miles a day on his treadmill desk and probably got restless. Nick is the author of Virtual Assistant Assistant: The Ultimate Guide to Finding, Hiring, and Working with Virtual Assistants.

Benjamin Louie

Benjamin Louie is the primary contact for all advertisingrelated inquiries, including maintaining and supporting new and existing advertisers on POF. Also, he’s involved in product development on their advertising platform to increase usability, efficiency and profi tability. He does business development by attending conferences across North America, creating and delivering presentations, seminars and webinars, staying engaged with the affiliate community and ensuring the best support for referrals. He manages the PR for the POF advertising department by actively participating in forum discussions, attending meetups/conferences, ensuring their blog (http://blog. ads.pof.com) is updated and responding/resolving criticisms in various social media platforms. He’s also done media buying internationally in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Germany & France. He has delivered presentations on the topic of online marketing in various cities in North America, South America & Europe.

Rebecca Madigan

Rebecca Madigan is executive director of the Performance Marketing Association. Since leading the formation of the PMA in 2008, Rebecca has built the PMA to be the only trade association representing performance and affiliate marketing. Rebecca was formerly director of product management at Commission Junction, Impact Radius, and at Lurn, Inc., where, with Anik Singal, they launched the formation of the PMA in April 2008.

She has collected 25 years of leadership experience in product management and marketing. She has had the pleasure of working with many very talented people in pioneering industries such as wireless data, voice-over-IP, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and online affiliate marketing. She has been a member of technology standards and professional organizations such as WAP Forum, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN Special Interest Groups (IEEE 802.15 and 802.11), Mobile Advisory Council, and GSM, CDMA, TDMA and CDPD mobile technology standards groups.

Steve Manes

Steve Manes serves as head of affiliate marketing in North America at Groupon. He is responsible for growing the affiliate business along with managing an affiliate team of four. He has also been a key contributor in developing, promoting and growing Groupon’s newly launched affiliate platform, Groupon Partner Network. Before joining Groupon in January 2013, Manes spent the greater part of six years running affiliate programs at Sears Holding Corporation, Intertwine Interactive and Rakuten LinkShare. On top of his affiliate experience, Manes ran SEM, SEO and display campaigns for YearsAhead.com, a subsidiary of Sittercity. Manes has a BA in Communications from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Steve currently lives in a suburb of Chicago with his wife and two kids.

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Brian Marcus

Brian Marcus is the Director, Global eBay Partner Network (ePN), where he leads one of eBay’s most important and valuable sources of quality traffic. eBay’s affiliate program was established in 2001, and has steadily grown to include more than 300k global partner websites. Brian has more than a decade of experience in various sectors of affiliate marketing, including his previous role as the head of account management for Google Affiliate Network. Here, his team was responsible for the growth and retention of thousands of multi-channel online retailers and credit card issuers. Brian previously led e-commerce at a niche online automotive direct marketer, driving internet marketing customer acquisition programs in the affiliate, search, comparison shopping and e-mail channels. Prior careers in consulting, marketing management, and marcom have contributed to his unique perspective on integrated marketing, brand building and marketing operations.

Michael Martin

Michael Martin is the SEO Manager at Covario and owner of Mobile Martin in San Diego, Ca while also being recognized throughout the search marketing industry as one of the leading authorities on Mobile SEO. He teaches accredited SEO courses at San Diego State University, writes for Search Engine Land, and is a contributor to The Art of SEO : Mastering Search Engine Optimization published by O’Reilly. In his 10-plus years of Internet marketing experience, Michael has spearheaded online marketing campaigns for such global industry leaders as Research In Motion, Dell, T-Mobile, Samsung, IBM, SC Johnson and IGN. He has previously spoken at Affiliate Summit West, Affiliate Summit East, SMX Advanced, SMX East, SMX West, SES San Francisco, SES New York, SES Chicago, SES San Diego, WordCamp LA, several PubCons, and the PMI Project Management Institute Annual Conference.

Karen McMahon

Karen McMahon is “The Affiliate Whisperer,” providing strategic planning, in-house evaluation and coaching to guide advertisers to make the most of their affiliate programs. Karen has worked as an affiliate publisher for the last eight years, heading up a successful loyalty model affiliate program. In addition, she has worked as a high growth affiliate manager for over six years. Karen began her career in advocacy and politics before joining her husband’s family business, helping to build it into a nationwide multi-million dollar company. Karen’s wide range of business experience, think out-of-the-box ideas and natural intuition direct her to successfully meet the needs of her clients.

Ben Metcalfe

Ben can track his involvement with the WordPress community way back before it was even WordPress (B2, in fact, which was the name of the former project that was forked and became WordPress). Ben helped build the BBC News Website.

He also rolled out the BBC’s blogging platform (sadly not WordPress) and its developer platform. Since moving State-side in 2006, Ben has worked as a technologist, strategist and entrepreneur – launching the MySpace Platform, founding various startups in the tech/media landscape and advising numerous startups in his portfolio – including Apture (acquired by Google)

· Issue 25 · January 2014

and NutShellMail (acquired by Constant Contact). After being asked to rearchitect the WordPress install for a highly successful, high-trafficked blog, Ben realized that there was a gap in the market for premium managed WordPress hosting – and the rest is history. He has blogged since 2004 on all manner of technology topics at http://benmetcalfe.com/blog/ and tweets at http://twitter.com/dotBen.

Blogging, Social Networking Applications, Landing Page Optimization, as well as Team Building & Training. Eric was a finalist for the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Affiliate of the Year in 2010 & 2012, and won the Best Blogger Pinnacle Award in 2011 for his blog at www.ericnagel.com.

Tricia Meyer

Tricia Meyer (@sunshinetricia) is the owner of Sunshine Rewards, Helping Moms Connect, and other niche sites. She frequently speaks and writes about affiliate marketing topics such as monetizing blogs, affiliate and affiliate manager relationships, and the basics of affiliate marketing. She is a member writer for ItsAWahmThing.com and Corporate Member of the Performance Marketing Association. Tricia leads the Indianapolis Affiliate Summit Meetups and is a partner in WineClubGroup.com.

David Naff ziger is CEO of BrandVerity, a firm that provides technology solutions to affiliate managers to combat trademark abuse and advertising fraud. BrandVerity’s services monitor paid search and social media for abuse by affiliates. Affiliate managers, agencies and networks use BrandVerity’s service to monitor and protect thousands of brands. Prior to BrandVerity, David was VP of Engineering at Judy’s Book a Seattle-based local search company. Prior to Judy’s Book, David co-founded and was Director of Research at Quova prior to its acquisition

by Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR). David received his BS from MIT.

Cristian Miculi

Mike Nunez

Cristian is a seasoned professional in the digital landscape since 2005. He has been in charge with the Avangate Affiliate Network since 2008, coordinating its development and growing it many fold both in terms of affiliates joining the network as well as the software & SaaS product catalog. With hands-on experience in affiliate program management, Cristian is currently focused on growing merchants’ affiliate channel using internal resources and through outsourced program manager partners.

In his spare time, Cristian enjoys traveling and playing the piano.

Bhavik Modi

Bhavik Modi has been in the affiliate marketing industry since 2010 as an affiliate. In addition to affiliate marketing, Bhavik is a process improvement consultant. He works with many organizations to reduce waste in their processes, which leads to improved quality, delivery performance, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. Bhavik has been consulting for over 8 years, and is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Chuck Mullins

Chuck, a serial entrepreneur and early pioneer of the internet, built his first profi table website in 1996 at 18 years of age. In college he studied computer software engineering which taught him the skills to analyze search results and implement strategies that take advantage of the observations he makes.

Throughout his career of creating, managing, and consulting for dozens of internet-based companies, Chuck has been instrumental in developing strategies that lead to growth and profi tability. Among people he works with, Chuck is regarded as “the idea guy.” He is known for his ability to spot opportunities, create a plan, and execute. After seeing an opportunity to leverage his time by acquiring under-performing sites, he has participated in several million dollars worth of acquisitions, which have all shown significant growth and returns.

Eric Nagel

Eric Nagel is an award-winning, entrepreneurial, dynamic, and self-directed Web expert with more than 14 years of solid experience in Internet programming, marketing and service.

He delivers key solutions to corporate marketing challenges.

Eric’s specialties include PHP Programming, Affiliate Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Strategic Planning,

David Naffziger

Mike Nunez began his affiliate marketing career while taking Computer Science classes at UCF. He leveraged his newfound knowledge to launch the Wyndham Vacation Ownership affiliate program, which quickly became the highest converting lead source in the company. Mike was then recruited to launch the LastMinuteTravel.com affiliate program, where sales grew to 15% of overall revenue. Upon realizing that affiliate management was in high demand with a low supply of quality managers, Mike co-founded www.AffiliateManager.com. After their first year, the firm won “Best New OPM” on the most popular affiliate forum. To better serve affiliates, Mike spearheaded the creation of BounceLinks.com, a tool to monetize user-generated content as well as streamline product level link creation. Most recently, Mike launched www.AffiliateRecruitment.com, a full-service tool that allows managers to recruit relevant affiliates. Lastly, Mike has served as a member of the PMA and Affiliate Summit Advisory Board.

Adam Opuchlik

Adam Opuchlik has a M.Sc. In Application Architectures and have been in the internet industry for 10 years. He is Cofounder at Traffective – a German based affiliate and site revenue optimization agency. He also Co-founded several other companies in Europe and the US.

Jeremy Palmer

Jeremy Palmer is an experienced digital marketer, who has launched dozens of successful websites. Jeremy is a vocal supporter and strong advocate of the performance marketing industry. He’s been a featured speaker and trainer at dozens of internet marketing conferences. Jeremy’s e-books, webinars, and videos have been consumed by thousands of affiliates. In addition to training new affiliates, Jeremy has consulted with dozens of merchants and e-commerce companies about their affiliate programs.

Christopher Park

Christopher Park has been Blair.com’s Affiliate/Partnerships Manager since it all began in January, 2001, and has been working with Blair’s paid search program since September, 2004. Additionally, he has been employed by Blair for over 25 years. He recently took over the management of the Old Pueblo Traders, Bedford Fair and Willow Ridge affiliate programs, as

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well. The Blair.com affiliate program was featured in the “premier” and Sept./Oct. 2006 issues of Revenue magazine, and Chris has been interviewed for articles in publications such as Multichannel Merchant and Marketing Today. Chris is a frequent speaker at affiliate marketing events, including Affiliate Summits East & West, Performics Client Summit, ACCM, AffiliateFORCE, local community colleges and the eMarketing Learning Center in Erie, PA. When he’s not living the dream that is affiliate marketing, Chris coaches football for the Warren Area High School Dragons.

Amber Paul

Amber Paul currently operates as the Vice President of Business Development for Globalwide Media, parent company of Neverblue Media. Prior to acquisition by Neverblue in April of 2011, Amber acted as one of the managing partners for AKMG and has held roles on the executive teams of leading affiliate networks, Hydra and Bloosky Interactive. Her areas of specialty within affiliate marketing include email, display, social and mobile advertising, in addition to comprehensive knowledge surrounding Can Spam compliance and FTC guidelines.

David Perez

David Perez is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Convertro, which provides advertisers and agencies with cross-channel analytics and recommendations to attribute, optimize, monitor and adjust marketing strategies. He is an experienced online acquisition marketing professional with more than 1,000 websites in various stages of development. Prior to joining Convertro, David was the head of online acquisition marketing at eHarmony.

Rebecca Pollard

Rebecca Pollard is the Affiliate Marketing Specialist for Pet360, Inc., where she oversees the affiliate programs for Pet360.com, petMD.com and PetFoodDirect.com. In addition to her work managing the company’s relationships with hundreds of affiliate partners, Rebecca is heavily involved in the acquisition team’s Comparison Shopping Engine and SEO strategies and supports key email marketing initiatives. As the founder of one of the top shoe blogs in the fashion industry, CanYaHeelMe. com, Rebecca also brings with her two years’ experience as an affiliate herself, having worked with brands such as DSW, Zappos, Bergdorf Goodman, Macys and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Corey Post

Corey Post is the founder of digital consulting firm Agile Leverage. Most recently, he was the VP of Marketing at Shoeboxed.

With over a decade of experience in content marketing, Corey has served as the Director of Online Marketing at Cornerstone on Demand, a California-based SaaS company that went public in 2011. Prior to Cornerstone, Corey held director level roles at leading companies such as IAC and Landmark Communications.

His resume also includes social media consulting work at LegalZoom and ReachLocal, the latter of which went public in 2010. Corey holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, where he was awarded a full tuition scholarship for achievements in media. Connect with Corey on Twitter (@coreypost) or at ContentAndContests.com to learn more about content marketing.

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Geno Prussakov

Geno Prussakov is a graduate of the University of Cambridge. He is the CEO & Founder of AM Navigator – an awardwinning OPM agency. As an affiliate program manager and consultant he has contributed to the online marketing success of Forbes, Nokia, Hallmark, Warner Music, Skype, Forex Club, and hundreds of small businesses. Prussakov has authored “A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing” (2007) and “Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day” (2011) which have trained thousands of marketing professionals. In 2011 for influencing “change within the industry” LinkShare named him one of Performance Marketing’s Most Vocal Advocates, while Small Business Trends recognized him with an “honorable mention” in their 2011 Small Business Influencer initiative. In 2012 Geno has launched Affiliate Management Days conference. He shares his knowledge through major digital marketing magazines, blogs, conference presentations, and also maintains his own blog (named Best Affiliate Blog in 2010 & 2011).

John Rampton

John Rampton is an entrepreneur, blogger and tech enthusiast. He is also the founder of PPC.org and Blogging.org.

Adam Riemer

Adam is the founder of Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC. (ARM). Adam has over 10 years of online marketing experience and is the trusted source for strategy, campaign creation & execution for companies from the Fortune 500 to mom & pop shops. Adam has spoken and been booked on panels internationally at various conferences & events. Some of the topics he has spoken on, and some of the services he can offer your company include; affiliate marketing, PPC, SEO, CSEs, email optimization, channel development, sales funneling, online strategy, user experience & conversion rate optimization & more. Prior to starting ARM, Adam worked in house at various Inc. 500 companies. He played a key role in the strategy & the implementation of their campaigns helping them grow into multi-million dollar corporations. Adam would like to invite you to join his managed programs as well as contact him at adamr (at) adamriemer (dot) me if he can help with your marketing.

Rohail Rizvi

Rohail Rizvi is the founder of Riz Media, Inc. Originally from New Jersey and now living in NYC, Rohail has been in the affiliate marketing and advertising space for fi ve years now. He started off as an affiliate and now has grown into owning an agency as well as being an advertiser. His company, Riz Media, is dedicated to generating quality leads for it’s clients through a vast array of traffic sources and specializes in being on the cutting edge of traffic technology and capitalizing on any new market trends. Currently the company’s focus is on large scale media buys, social traffic, and mobile traffic to generate leads for it’s clients. You can find out more about Rohail and his ventures on his blog at www.RohailRizvi.com or his company site at www.

RizMedia.net.

William Rothbard

Bill Rothbard has over three decades of experience counseling advertising and marketing clients on all aspects of compliance with FTC and state consumer protection laws.

· Issue 25 · January 2014

His clients include a wide variety of online and direct response marketers. He represents clients in federal, state and self-regulatory advertising investigations and enforcement actions. He also negotiates and prepares advertising and marketing agreements and prosecutes trademark applications. Mr. Rothbard draws on his experience as a former FTC attorney, serving in the Advertising Practices Division and as Attorney-Advisor to the FTC Chairman. He also served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antritrust, Monopolies and Business Rights. Mr. Rothbard is a graduate of The University of Michigan and the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

Oliver Roup

After 15 years of software experience, most recently as a Director at Microsoft in charge of various media properties including XBOX Live Video Marketplace, Oliver founded VigLink. A tech executive who understands the power of native monetization like few others, Oliver is a board member of the Performance Marketing Association and chair of the PMA’s Content Monetization Council. Oliver received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from MIT and his MBA from the Harvard Business School and holds issued and pending patents covering micro-transactions, media and metadata. For more, check out @ORoup and @VigLink.

Kim Rowley

Kim Rowley (@KIMarketing) has been in the affiliate marketing space since 1998 and is the founder of Key Internet Marketing, Inc. where she authors several niche blogs including shoe blog, ShoeaholicsAnonymous.com. She also helps people save time and money at ShoppingBookmarks.com. Ms. Rowley has been featured in several publications including USA Today and Revenue Magazine and has presented on specific topics of ecommerce entrepreneurship, content creation and affiliate marketing secrets at such events as BlogWorld New Media Expo and Infotec. Kim is also an Adjunct Professor for the University of San Francisco teaching Advanced Affiliate Marketing Techniques. Kim volunteers her time as a SCORE counselor to share her marketing expertise and serves as a member of the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board as well as several local civic organizations.

Kim Salvino

Kim has been an active member of the affiliate community since 2005, when she began managing the 4checks affiliate program. Kim then established the foundation of the buy.at US Account Management team in 2008, growing the department to provide strategic guidance and revenue growth for 70+ clients and moving on to recruit and grow publisher relationships in her role as Head of Publishers. A self-proclaimed “Affiliate Evangelist,” she takes great pride in providing publishers with world class service and looks forward to taking Chateau 20 to new heights as their current Director of Publisher Development. An Affiliate Summit panelist, regular attendee, and 2012’s recipient of the Pinnacle Award for Affiliate Manager of the Year, Kim is a passionate advocate for affiliate marketing and a self-taught industry expert. She often speaks at Affiliate Summit and PubCon, and is a published author in FeedFront Magazine and the book “Internet Marketing from the Real Experts.”

Steve Schaffer

Steve Schaffer, Founder and CEO of Vertive, is an Internet strategy, performance marketing and product marketing professional with a more than 20 year record of growing start-ups and established Internet and software companies. Vertive is a leading publisher of websites that save consumers money when they shop online. These premium destination websites include Offers. com, CouponCodes.com, Subscription.com, and DailyDeals.com.

Vertive has been recognized with some of the leading industry awards including the 2010 Commission Junction’s Publisher of the Year Award. Vertive is a Charter Corporate Member of the Performance Marketing Association (PMA), and Steve Schaffer served as the first president of the PMA board of directors.

Phil Schnyder

Phil is Director of On-Line Business Development for Avanquest Software, a leading global software developer and publisher. With over 20 years in the software industry, Phil has a wide range of experiences. In 1984, Phil helped start North American Software, a company based in Munich, Germany that translated and republished U.S. software titles in Europe. He later took over as President/CEO of askSam Systems, the developer of some of the world’s most popular freeform database and information management tools. Phil has helped design the askSam products that have won numerous industry awards including PC World’s “Internet Utility of the Year” and PC Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice”. With Avanquest, Phil has the opportunity to search for interesting software products, and help launch these products in channels and markets around the world.

Jeremy Schoemaker

Jeremy Schoemaker, aka “Shoemoney”, is a serial entrepreneur made famous by running one of the highest-trafficked websites in the world, Shoemoney.com, and by being a pioneer in the world of internet marketing dating back to the early 2000′s. He launched and subsequently sold three successful businesses — AuctionAds, FreeSEOReport, and Fighters.com — and in 2010 was named the “Most Influential Person on the Internet” by Fast Company magazine. Jeremy has been featured in major news and media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, ABC News, Techcrunch, the New York Times, Business Week and dozens more, and earlier this year published his first book, an autobiography, called “Nothing’s Changed But My Change: The Shoemoney Story”.

Paul Schroader

Paul has been in Interactive Marketing since 1995 and he has spent the last 14 years focusing on Affiliate Marketing. Since founding PS Web Solutions in 2001, some of the clients Paul has worked with include TMP Worldwide (Monster.com), Oreck, Tabasco, Logoworks, Blanchard and Company, and Blue Man Group. Paul has worked with brands both big and small in pursuit of integrating efficient online advertising techniques into existing marketing plans. He has helped build very profi table online programs for numerous clients and constantly works to stay on top of developing trends. As the President and Founder of the Rocky Mountain Affiliate Marketing Association (RMAMA), Paul has helped affiliate managers and affiliates stay current on industry issues by providing a forum for networking since 2003.

Paul recognizes affiliate marketing as a tremendous opportu-

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

nity for clients and marketers, allowing for an extensive online presence within a set marketing cost structure.

Nate Seibert

Nate is responsible for ensuring advertiser campaigns are optimized compliantly while also acting as a data provider liaison for many email affiliates in the industry. Nate is a graduate of Saint Ambrose University and Hamilton Tech. Originally from Iowa, Nate now resides in Las Vegas. Nate holds over 13 years of sales experience and specializes in identifying new business opportunities, email marketing, data management and FTC compliance.

Jessica Severson

Jessica has worked in offices, courtrooms, classrooms and on her living room couch. She blogs at Don’t Mind the Mess about life and parenting. From her years of blogging experience, she writes for and speaks to bloggers about best practices online as half of the Lawyer Chicks. She also curates a book review site and runs a small WordPress business. She is the Social Media Manager for a Boston startup.

Greg Shepard

Greg Shepard, the founder and CEO of AffiliateTraction the largest multi-national affiliate marketing agency with offices in US, UK, CA, AU. Greg is has contributed to Revenue Magazine, ReveNews, DMNews, DMConfidential, ThoughtShapers, MThink, PerformanceIN, and the American Marketing Association. Greg has spoken at the University of Southeastern Louisiana, PerformanceIN, The Online Marketing Summit, Affiliate Management Days, AvantExpo and contributed to WebMasterRadio; and serves as a WebAward judge.

David Smith

In David Smith’s most recent role with Caesars Interactive Entertainment, he led online media planning for both WSOP.com and CaesarsCasino.com US real money gaming launches in both NJ & NV. Prior to Caesars he joined Zumbox leading b2c acquisition in the Digital Postal Mail space. David has more than 15 years entrepreneurial experience in marketing, ROI analysis, BizDev and consumer targeting. Mr. Smith has worked for privately held and publicly traded companies in the online games, bill payment/ presentment, and sports memorabilia sectors, leading customer acquisition and CRM efforts. Maximizing partnerships with Yahoo!, AOL, eBay, Microsoft and many others over the years, he has successfully planned, executed and optimized multi-million dollar annual marketing budgets. Mr. Smith holds a BA degree from UCLA where he minored in Business and Administration and was the recipient of the Los Angeles County Association for Corporate Growth Entrepreneur Award while still in High School.

Joe Sousa

Joe has been in the SEO/Affiliate industry since 1998. He started out doing SEO for clients but transitioned into a full time affiliate and affiliate manager. Over the years Joe has built hundreds of different sites in many different niches and has experience in PPC, SEO, video, and social media. Joe is currently the Affiliate Coordinator for Fanatics.com and their related properties. He blogs about affiliate stuff at http://whatdoesjoethink.com.

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Breanne Storey

Breanne has held several key positions for prominent companies in the performance-marketing sector dating back to 2007.

Breanne currently heads up AffiliateWire; one of the industries leading software affiliate networks, where she manages an allstar team she believes is capable of changing the face of online marketing in the download vertical. She was previously the Senior Performance Marketing Manager at Yellow Pages Group, where she helped transform the company from a primary print publication to a digital leader to SME’s. Prior to that she was the Marketing and Communications Manager at Neverblue, where she played a pivotal role in branding the company from a small niche network to a globally renowned player in the CPA space.

Max Teitelbaum

Max has been working in the online advertising industry since he was 15 years old. He made millions before he was 20 as an affiliate promoting offers via media buys. He is now the Co-Founder and COO of WhatRunsWhere.com a company that helps people buy media more effectively by providing data on competitors and verticals within the online advertising space.

James Thompson

James Thompson (@jtgraphic), from Brooklyn, NY, is the co-founder of Daft Labs and Passive Metrics, a tool for managing social media analytics for brands. He started building websites in 1996 as a hobby and became a part of the affiliate industry in 2005. Most of his affiliate websites were focused on building free tools to add value to available offers. Since 2005, he’s made a migration from singular affiliate to merchant as he started charging for his tools. Now he operates on the other side of the table, employing affiliates of his own. James has built over 300 enterprise scale websites, been a partner in a real estate company as well as a popular online magazine, and done successful exits from 3 of his companies. Because of those experiences, he has learned how to build and manage highly effective business and tech teams.

Drew Thorne-Thomsen

Prior to joining Invoca (formerly RingRevenue), Drew was CMO at Trident Marketing, where he was responsible for customer acquisition for several Fortune 500 brands. Drew drove millions of phone calls to their own performance call centers through traditional and non-traditional marketing strategies. Before that, he spent nearly a decade at Commission Junction, where he launched and developed CJ Media and CJ PayPerCall. Drew spent six years on the United States Alpine Ski Team and competed at the World Cup level. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Alex Tsatkin

Alexander Tsatkin has more than five years’ experience in performance marketing from all sides of the industry, including advertiser, network, affiliate and analytics provider. Alex now focuses on mobile as vice president of mobile at Matomy Media Group, a global performance marketing company. Alex has helped hundreds of affiliates unlock the mystery behind mobile traffic to generate profitable campaigns. You can find Alex’s writing on publications like Mr.Green, Tracking202 and Stack That Money Forum and may have heard him discuss mobile during

· Issue 25 · January 2014

speaking engagements for Affiliate Summit East and LeadsCon.

Shannon Vogel

After more than 10 years in retail, Shannon Vogel changed her focus from helping people one at a time to helping business owners and executives grow their companies through social media. Her passion lies in education, teaching the use of social media to create conversations that lead to long lasting relationships and turn customers into brand ambassadors and advocates. Shannon currently works with several different industries throughout the country including consumer products, local brick and mortar businesses, and food & beverage companies, helping each to strengthen their brand awareness, as well as create and maintain a positive, productive online reputation.

David Vogelpohl

David Vogelpohl is the founder and CEO of Marketing Clique, a full service agency which helps clients build websites, create applications and manage online marketing campaigns.

David has over 17 years of experience in web development and online marketing including affiliate marketing. David’s team at Marketing Clique provides advanced WordPress solutions for large enterprise customers around the world. David is a leader in the WordPress community, speaker at multiple WordCamps and speaker at national online marketing conferences about WordPress optimization. With a 17 year background in affiliate marketing, David provides a unique perspective on how publishers can effectively use WordPress to deploy massive amounts of content to increase traffic and add revenue to their bottom line. More information about David can be found at http://www.marketingclique.com/about/.

Chad Waite

Chad Waite is the marketing manager for the AvantLink. com affiliate network. He is a lifetime learner of all things online marketing, specifically affiliate marketing and SEO and has a special affinity for hilarious cat videos. You can find him on Twitter at @ChadW8 likely asking for help on writing better bios.

Shannon Weidemann

Shannon Weidemann has been working in the Affiliate Marketing space since 2002 when a friend introduced her to the industry. She is the owner of Marketingelf where she writes about being a work at home Mom and affiliate marketing. She has been published in Feedfront magazine and is a regular contributor at ItsaWAHMThing.com.

Lori Weiman

Lori Weiman is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Search Monitor, a leading provider of market research intelligence for search and shopping and affiliate/brand compliance. Lori has been a speaker at SES, SMX, Affiliate Summit, and AMDays, and writes a column for Search Engine Land.

Steve Winterhalter

Steve was lured away from his first career in energy management by the excitement of the dot com era. He was an early hire at LinkShare, then went on to start one of the first OPM agencies called WAM. Steve has helped build networks for Commission Junction both in the US and UK. He also worked on the buy.at platform during the time it was owned by AOL. In 2010 Steve founded a performance marketing agency called Parallel Performance, which he sold to his current employer: the video performance network called Coull.

Jason Yelowitz

Jason has been Quiet Light’s top broker for the past three years and specializes in selling web businesses valued at $500k$5MM. Prior to becoming a broker in 2010, Jason was a Super Affiliate in the real estate lead-generation vertical and generated over $15MM in revenue with 60% net margins during a four year period while working less than 30 minutes a day. Jason is the author of The Bathrobe Millionaire, a book about his experience as a Super Affiliate. Jason has started four companies and was the creator of the first automotive affiliate program for Autoweb.com back in 1998. Jason lives in Nevada with his family and enjoys business, travel, volunteer work and outdoor activities.

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

People to follow on Robert Adler

Jeannine Crooks

Travis Hopkins

Mike Allen

Steve Denton

Kenny Hyder

Tim Ash

Amy Ely

Scott Jangro

Lance Bachmann

Marty Fahncke

Zac Johnson

Syed Balkhi

Ian Fernando

Frank Kasimov

Kim Beasley

Melissa Filipkowski

Brett Kaufman

Debbie Bookstaber

Derek Flanzraich

Gary Kibel

Hunter Boyle

Karen Garcia

Luke Kling

Heath Bradbury

Rick Gardiner

Blaine LaBron

Vanessa Branco

David Gass

David Lewis

Sarah Bundy

Robert Glazer

John LoBrutto

Deborah Carney

David Graff

Nick Loper

John Chow

Joseph Hansen

Benjamin Louie

Daryl Colwell

Rachel Hirsch

Rebecca Madigan

Ben Cook

Greg Hoffman

Brian Marcus

Ashley Coombe

Rae Hoffman

Michael Martin

Todd Crawford

Rachel Honoway

Karen McMahon

http://twitter.com/Bofu2U http://twitter.com/mta1 http://twitter.com/ tim_ash http://twitter.com/1seocom http://twitter.com/ wpbeginner http://twitter.com/ kimbeasley http://twitter.com/ buzzmommy http://twitter.com/ hunterboyle http://twitter.com/ HeathBradbury http://twitter.com/ vanbranc http://twitter.com/svbundy http://twitter.com/loxly http://twitter.com/johnchow http://twitter.com/dhcolwell http://twitter.com/skitzzo http://twitter.com/ashleybcoombe http://twitter.com/toddcrawford

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http://twitter.com/ Jeannine_Crooks http://twitter.com/eBayEnterprise http://twitter.com/aely http://twitter.com/fawnkey http://twitter.com/ianternet http://twitter.com/MellyFlip http://twitter.com/thederek http://twitter.com/gtoman http://twitter.com/rickgardiner http://twitter.com/davidgass http://twitter.com/accelerationpar http://twitter.com/50onRed http://twitter.com/entremarketer http://twitter.com/FTCLawyer http://twitter.com/akagorilla http://twitter.com/sugarrae http://twitter.com/rachelhonoway

http://twitter.com/seaturkey http://twitter.com/kennyhyder http://twitter.com/jangro http://twitter.com/moneyreign http://twitter.com/leadsmarketcom http://twitter.com/ brettmkaufman http://twitter.com/GaryKibel_law http://twitter.com/LukePeerFly http://twitter.com/blainelabron http://twitter.com/thedavidlewis http://twitter.com/1and1affiliate http://twitter.com/nloper http://twitter.com/benpof http://twitter.com/pmassociation http://twitter.com/eBayPartnerNet http://twitter.com/mobile__martin http://twitter.com/Aff_Whisperer

· Issue 25 · January 2014

Ben Metcalfe

Adam Riemer

David Vogelpohl

Tricia Meyer

Rohail Rizvi

Chad Waite

Cristian Miculi

Oliver Roup

Shannon Weidemann

Bhavik Modi

Kim Rowley

Lori Weiman

Roger Montti

Kim Salvino

Steve Winterhalter

Chuck Mullins

Steve Schaffer

Eric Nagel

Phil Schnyder

http://twitter.com/philschnyder

Affiliate Summit related

David Naff ziger

Jeremy Schoemaker

Twitter Accounts

Mike Nunez

Paul Schroader

Affiliate Summit

Jeremy Palmer

Jessica Severson

FeedFront Magazine

Christopher Park

Breanne Storey

GeekCast.fm

Amber Paul

Joe Sousa

Shawn Collins

David Perez

Max Teitelbaum

Missy Ward

Rebecca Pollard

James Thompson

Corey Post

Drew Thorne-Thomsen

Geno Prussakov

Alex Tsatkin

John Rampton

Shannon Vogel

http://twitter.com/wpengine http://twitter.com/sunshinetricia http://twitter.com/affiliatedoc http://twitter.com/bhavik_modi http://twitter.com/martinibuster http://twitter.com/chuckiii33 http://twitter.com/ericnagel http://twitter.com/davenaff http://twitter.com/MikeNunez http://twitter.com/jeremypalmer http://twitter.com/BLAIRAffiliates http://twitter.com/ambspaul http://twitter.com/daveperez http://twitter.com/RebeccaP_Pet360 http://twitter.com/coreypost http://twitter.com/ePrussakov http://twitter.com/JohnRampton

http://twitter.com/rollerblader http://twitter.com/rohailr http://twitter.com/viglink http://twitter.com/kimarketing http://twitter.com/kim_salvino

http://twitter.com/davidvmc http://twitter.com/ChadW8 http://twitter.com/marketingelf http://twitter.com/Searchmonitor http://twitter.com/S__Winterhalter

http://twitter.com/steveschaffer

http://twitter.com/shoemoney http://twitter.com/pswebs http://twitter.com/jessicaesquire http://twitter.com/breannestorey http://twitter.com/drcool73 http://twitter.com/maxteitelbaum

http://twitter.com/affiliatesummit http://twitter.com/feedfront http://twitter.com/geekcast

http://twitter.com/affiliatetip http://twitter.com/missyward

http://twitter.com/jtgraphic http://twitter.com/drewtt

http://twitter.com/tsatkin http://twitter.com/thebescene

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· Issue 25 · January 2014

Affiliate Summit West 2014

Thank you!

Top Sponsors!

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ENDURANCE International Group

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PA R I S L A S V E G A S C O N F E R E N C E C E N T E R Meeting Facilities Map

PA R I S L A S V E G A S C O N F E R E N C E C E N T E R Meeting Facilities Map

Loading Dock

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