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I turned on my computer yesterday and there was a sale for a personalized penguin Christmas ornament. The next email was from ShareASale: “An affiliate transaction has taken place”.

I wondered if it could be from that person with an obsession for tuxedoed birds, and sure enough: “The affiliate who referred this transaction: Jennifer Goode”.

Jen is a respected peer, friend, as well as owner of a little plushie traveling penguin that has become semi-famous. SAS emails give you the option to “Click to Send Affiliate a Bonus for this Transaction”, but I opted to log into Yahoo Chat to bust her chops… er… congratulate her… instead!

As we were chatting, another penguin sale came in – accompanied with another SAS email. Yep! It was Jen again! Amazingly, a third penguin sale and a third SAS email came as we were chatting. And defying all odds, it was another Jen referral!

In the course of an hour, I made money. Jen, who is the owner of Jen Goode Designs and My Penguin Travels (above me and the penguin in question), made money. My outsourced program manager (OPM), TeamLoxly made money. ShareASale made money. My merchant bank and three customer credit cards made money.

I thought about the events that led up to these sales, and if it weren’t for networking, none of them would have occurred. While this article is not a discussion on “the art of networking”, it is a discussion on the importance of networking.

From Networking to Friendships

Four years ago I was posting on ABestWeb (ABW), which is technically networking. At that time I knew Deborah Carney, Owner of TeamLoxly, as a regular poster, but nothing more.

That fall I attended an online convention called eComExpo, for the purpose of, you guessed it, networking. I joined a private chat in a merchant’s booth that happened to include Debbie and a few others. When the merchant left the virtual booth at 5pm, we “trashed the booth” through the middle of the night! Debbie and I became fast friends that day, exchanging IMs, and networking on a daily basis.

The following year Debbie took over the CafePress affiliate program. She brought up a particular CafePress shopkeeper, Jen Goode, frequently. I became familiar with Jen’s work – very talented – but I considered CP shopkeepers artists, not fellow marketers. In an effort to be helpful, an important part of networking, I occasionally gave her marketing advice, and we too became friends.

When Jen first developed her now iconic penguin character, it blew me away! We brainstormed all kinds of different ideas which ranged from the typical to the outright crazy.

The winter of 2006, I finally got to meet Jen in person at Affiliate Summit, which we both attended in order to network (I bet you’re seeing a trend here). I was impressed not only by her artistic talents, but by her passion and intelligence.

My niche is personalized gifts. While the penguins were only “quasi-personalized”, since users could request penguins for all occasions but not necessarily for specific occasions, I told Jen I would add them to my sites where applicable. For example, I have listed her Fishing Penguin in my personalized fishing gifts category.

(Pictured to the left Deborah Carney and Jen Goode at Affiliate Summit West 2009.)

Collaborating with Friends

In the meantime, I had been networking with Loxly, and she had got to know my personalized gift site intimately. As the CafePress affiliate manager, she  knew a lot of shopkeepers whose sites could offer my products. One day she called and asked if I would be willing to develop a merchant site in order to launch an affiliate program. She felt there were affiliates that were a perfect fit for the kind of niche products I had become an expert  at. And we could leverage our mutual contacts from our networking efforts to make it the kind of program we had been  talking about on the forums.

The goal was not to create a Top 10 merchant but rather to create a safe, parasite free, no problem program that could remain on good terms with affiliates in a niche we knew well. I agreed, and we launched the Engraved Crystal Shoppe program.

I hired a second OPM and we all met at Jen’s house in Colorado last June. As happens with creative types, occasionally drama does ensue. What happened with the other OPM has been embarrassingly well documented elsewhere. What I learned is that the ability to meet in person and hash out ideas is an important facet of networking and relationship building often forgot by many online professionals. Why? Well, because they are too busy being online.

Fast forward to last month’s Think Tank in Newport Beach, which was an intimate and intense networking opportunity hosted by ShareASale.

At the event I happened to mention to Jen that I actually carry two personalized penguin items on my merchant site. What I didn’t know is that she had started a site Nothing But Penguins which featured non-Goode original penguin products. But apparently, communicating with Jen paid off and she added my two penguin products to her site, and as I stated above, a lot of people got rich as a direct result (Ok I maybe overexagerating on the rich part – but sales did indeed happen – and without proof to the contrary, I’ll take full credit for their success!).

Moral of the story? Get out there! Network! Mingle! Talk! Good things happen from interacting with your peers.

Read the rest here:
Importance of Networking to Your Bottom Line

The formation of an industry requires the development of a group identity. Often that development is neglected because group members are focused on growing their business. Over the last year the affiliate industry has been experiencing growing pains in the form of legal challenges brought about by such things as the so-called New York Amazon Tax. In the aftermath of that tax being ratified a group of New York affiliates pulled together to provide guidelines to those impacted by the tax. Melanie Seery was part of that group and found herself drawn into the role of advocate on behalf of the affiliate industry. As part of that advocacy effort she recently launched new industry organization Affiliate Voice.

Almost a year after the New York Amazon Tax was passed I sat down with Melanie Seery to discuss her involvement in the affiliate industry, her quick learning curve with political advocacy, and how she sees the tax issues evolving.

How did you get started in affiliate marketing?

I got involved in affiliate marketing about five years ago. Before affiliate marketing I had a business writing employee how-to manuals, which is really, really boring work. I would go into a business, take each and every position and write down step by step everything that employee had to do in the course of the day. Not fascinating and not interesting from a creative perspective. After that I got into multilevel marketing. What I liked about MLM was that I was selling vitamins and health food products. I really enjoyed that aspect of helping people be healthy. But when I started I didn’t realize how big a component recruitment was to MLM. Ultimately it kind of discouraged me. That’s when someone told me about affiliate marketing and sent me off to Commission Junction. After some exploring I found an interesting coffee merchant and that was the beginning of it.

Why is being self-employed and working at home important to you?

I am independent by nature and have been self-employed for the past 12 years. It’s real important for me to be home with my children and my family. My children have neurofibromatosis, so do I. Neurofibromatosis is a neurological disorder that can cause tumors to grow on nerve endings. There are lots of challenges to maintaining health with such a disorder, as you can imagine. I have to keep constantly on top of it with my family. Being self-employed allows me to maintain that balance.

At what point did you feel affiliate marketing was the right business for you?

It was two or three months down the line and all of a sudden I started getting some really good sales. I created sites around my interests. It wasn’t just things I liked to drink like coffee, tea and accessories. After the birth of my children I began reaching out to parents whose children had similar disorders. I would post topics like, “How do I get my child to sleep all the way through the night?” I found myself connecting with other parents and sharing information. The process of creating a support group of sorts became another website.  Before you know it I had several websites going and 10 more ideas.

Affiliate marketing seemed to pull the best of all worlds together for me because I could use my writing to educate while sharing my creativity and connecting to other people. It was like talking with my friends and community; only in this case I’m being creative and making a website. It’s amazing being able to grow a business out of that sharing. It’s very exciting for me.

Everybody seems to start with Commission Junction. At what point did you realize that there were other networks?
Through places like ABestWeb I found networks like ShareASale. The discovery of ShareASale was a major point turning point for me. It was a combination of finding a network that had smaller niche merchants and allowed for real personal contact with the network and with the merchants in the network.

I sort of came out of my shell and found myself becoming part of the industry when I received my first invitation to a ShareASale Think Tank. It was funny but I thought to myself, “They must have me confused with somebody else”. Because even though I was doing well I still didn’t think I was doing as well as everybody else out there. I had never met anyone in the industry prior to that or even spoken with anyone on the phone. The Think Tank showed me the importance of being an affiliate in direct touch with the merchant. It’s all about relationships in this industry.

When did you first hear about the Amazon Tax and how did it affect you?

We had heard rumblings prior to April. But we also heard from New York lawmakers that it would never pass. Suddenly when April came around we learned that Governor Patterson had signed it into law. It took us by surprise because of our “it could never happen here” attitude. I don’t think we ever truly realized how much it would impact our businesses.

Now I see the same process happening in other states like California, Minnesota and, Connecticut. It’s phenomenal how quickly things change.  It’s great to see the industry is actually being proactive and stepping forward to fight these bills before they become law. It’s a lot easier to fix things before they’re broken.

When the New York law took effect many merchants removed affiliates from their programs. This destroyed a lot of businesses.  But what was worse was the lack of communication between merchants, networks and affiliates. There were a lot of behind the scenes activities with program managers and their CEOs about that never brought the affiliates into the loop. That did a lot of damage. We would get terminations with little or no notice. Once they passed the law we started to receive sudden terminations in the mail.  Even retroactive terminations-it would be June 15 and you’d get this email from a merchant that told you were deactivated as of May 30.

Affiliates were kind of steamrolled and quickly our incomes and businesses were gone.

A group of us got together and said this isn’t right. We felt there had to be a solution we could work out. That’s when Kevin Webster and I started talking about holding a meeting among New York affiliates. When we announced it a lot of people stepped up to help, providing us resources so we could find a good corporate lawyer.

At the time I had set up a personal blog that I put together to help keep people up to date about what was going on. It was called New York Affiliate Voice, which is what many people think the name of the group is, but it’s really the Albany Group because that’s where we first  met. We managed to set a course of action and put together a plan for how New York affiliates and any remaining merchants who wanted to work with us could go from here. In many cases it still wasn’t enough because merchants were still terminating affiliates rather than attempting to comply with the new law.

My income was down 72% last year because of the knee jerk reaction of many businesses. From the affiliates I talk to that’s pretty average.

Were you frustrated with the fact that the industry was slow to respond to this threat?

At the time we were all frustrated because all we saw was a lack of action for New York affiliates. There was a sense of hopelessness or resignation in everybody. At the time when we were going through the horrible effects of this law upon our businesses, I kept thinking why doesn’t anybody care about us?

I think the whole industry was in a state of disbelief. I remember two things were said to me after the New York Affiliate session at Affiliate Summit. They were: 1) We didn’t understand how deeply this would impact your, meaning affiliates, business and livelihoods. People sometimes forget that for many of us this isn’t just a hobby. It is the income that we rely on to pay a mortgage, to pay our bills, to take care of our children and our families and, 2)  everybody felt they “didn’t know what to do”.

I think it had to be the affiliates who took control the situation in New York because that was the group directly affected. It empowered affiliates to take a course of action and pull together. It let everyone know this was a serious challenge to our industry. I am proud of the things the Albany Group put together.

Was that your first involvement with political advocacy?

Yes. (laugh) I learned a lot over this last year. I learned an incredible amount about the legislative process, not only in New York but in other states as well. I found myself thinking, I don’t remember learning the ins and outs of how this works back in school. I think people take so many things for granted, including how their local government works.

At the beginning of this year you won several awards including the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award for Affiliate Advocate of the Year. How did that impact you?

One thing it showed me was that we made a difference last year. And by “we”, I mean there wasn’t just me, there was a whole group of us that pulled this together. What the recognition also did was start me thinking about advocacy in general because I knew it was important. Basically, the work on the New York Tax Law took over the whole last 10 or 11 months of my life. Over time it became a larger part of my day whether it was answering emails from affiliates or phone call questions from a merchant. I realized that I had to make a choice of whether I wanted to be an advocate or an  affiliate. I came to the conclusion that the advocacy needed to continue and I couldn’t give it up.

How did Affiliate Voice come about?

When I made the choice to focus on advocacy I was simply going to change New York Affiliate Voice into a type of advocacy group. When people found out about my idea they kept asking why just New York? I ended up speaking to Haiko de Poel Jr. and Rhea Tannenbaum and they encouraged me to form a larger organization and call it Affiliate Voice to open it up to everybody. So I took the ball and ran with it so to speak.

After the beginning of the year there seemed to be a lull then suddenly there was a domino effect of new legislation that came out.   How have you perceived the recent changes?

Well, that’s a good way to describe it. There was that little lull and I was just beginning to think that I could go back to focusing on my business. Then legislators in my area that I had gotten close to working with the Albany Group, pointed me towards pending legislation in several states, including California. It seemed to spring up one after another. Equally scary is legislation on the books in some states that includes sales representatives, solicitors and other representatives in the definition of “nexus”. It is so open to interpretation and in my mind it could easily encompass affiliates as well.

What’s the biggest misunderstanding that legislators have about the affiliate industry?

I think it is important to understand both sides of the issue. See the states are faced with incredible economic challenges right now. They have to find new revenue resources. In the Quill Corp. v. North Dakota case it was ruled that in order for an interstate transaction to have sales tax applied to it, as opposed to a use tax, there has to be a substantial presence on behalf of the business providing the goods.

What’s happening is these tax bills you are seeing are not new taxes. The only thing that is changing is the method which the states are using to collecting the tax. That’s a not just something legislators are saying to make it sound better to consumers. That is in fact what is going on.

If you look at how quickly internet shopping and affiliate marketing have grown over the last couple of years it is easy to see why states want to collect this tax. It’s an incredible amount of revenue they’re losing out on.

But by the same token those states that are trying to enact these anti-affiliate laws have to understand how uneven this makes the playing field for affiliates and publishers in their state. In their current form these laws will prompt many merchants to simply avoid paying the tax by cutting loose all their affiliates or moving to a different advertising model. For those reasons it won’t bring the kind of revenues states are hoping for.

Also legislators have to understand the complexity involved for a merchant trying to deal with the more than 7,500 different US tax jurisdictions regarding interstate transactions. It’s not just a matter of installing some software and remitting sales-tax. Each of these 7,500 different tax jurisdictions has a different set of guidelines a merchant must comply with.  Can you imagine 7,500 different filings every quarter?  What business has those resources?

How do you see this playing out long-term?

I believe it will come down to some kind of federal involvement, maybe through the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which is still gaining momentum. The Streamlined Sales Tax Project is a destination-based sales-tax which allows each state to designate one flat rate. All states that have sales and use tax will have to charge tax on the same items. Because right now items that are taxable in New York may not be taxable in California or vice versa. So the Streamlined Sales Tax Project wants to unify and streamline the process by designating which items are taxable in every state and allow each state to have one flat rate with the tax being paid by the receiving State. That’s the ideal situation. The governors in general are pressing for such a process but to enact it nationwide will be a slow process and require changes to multiple state laws.

Recently Scott Jangro wrote an excellent article posing the question of whether the affiliate industry needs two associations? Are you worried about an us-versus-them mentality creating a split in the industry?

I think having two organizations actually strengthens the industry. I don’t look at the Performance Marketing Alliance and Affiliate Voice as competing. I look at us as two slightly different entities but with the same relative goal which is to help change the direction of our industry, to help spur new growth, and not leave our destinies in the hands of legislators who have no clue what we are all about as a professional industry.

Prior to launching Affiliate Voice I reached out to the PMA to let them know we wanted to work together and complement one another’s strengths. I think Affiliate Voice is well suited to advocate for an Affiliate Bill of Rights and help affiliates maintain their business should these anti-affiliate taxes or other similar legislations be ratified. The PMA can do more with lobbying and organizing challenges to legislation.  They are very well equipped to do this.

I have no interest in wasting energy or time in petty politics or some kind of nonproductive competition.  Every industry has multiple organizations and the affiliate industry shouldn’t be any different.

What are the goals for Affiliate Voice in 2009?

We are working on establishing an industry Code of Ethics. We also want to formulate and ratify an Affiliate Bill of Rights to help improve relationships between all parties in the affiliate industry. In terms of keeping up with all the legislative efforts in various states, well, that will be an ongoing challenge throughout the whole year.

Since affiliates by nature seem to be fiercely independent and private.  Do you feel they will join an organization, any organization?

As people get used to the idea that you can be part of an organization without having to open your business model to scrutiny attitudes will change. Especially if we can demonstrate how organizations can achieve good things. Perceptions won’t change overnight but I think people will come to realize that they need organization.

Right now I feel the affiliate industry is a bit demoralized but, as people see two groups out there fighting for change they will become more encouraged at the efforts being taken. Personally I am encouraged with all the effort I’ve seen over the last couple of months with people rallying and stepping up, including the networks, to take a public stance against this type of legislation. I have seen merchants reaching out to their affiliates to help provide advice. All this effort is such a fabulous change compared to what happened in New York. It shows we have learned as an industry. I think this could be a rough year while we battle this legislation but ultimately we’re going to be able to adjust this industry and be all right.

More here:

Amazon Terminates Associates’ Referral Fees for Paid Search

Amazon announced that affiliates, known internally to the Amazon program as Associates, will no longer receive referral fees for transactions that occur due to paid search. The move impacts both direct paid search referrals and one sent via paid search through an interstitial redirect page. Associates can use paid search to promote their own sites. Officially this change only impacts Associates within the US.

Although the cost and effort that comes with policing a program as large as Amazon’s may be a factor, we believe the primary reasons Amazon made this move are:

Facebook Officially Reaches 200 Million User Milestone

After weeks of speculation Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook has reached the 200 million user milestone. This is a drastic increase from official numbers back in January which listed 150 million users.

Shoemoney Sues Google AdWords Specialist

Jeremy Schoemaker, aka Shoemoney, has filed a lawsuit against a Google AdWords account specialist by the name of Keyen Farrell. The suit alleges that Farrell used his position internally at Google to bypass AdWords’ trademark protection to target the term “shoemoney” which is a trademark of ShoeMoney Media Group. For the moment neither Google nor Farrell has responded to the allegations.

Coupons.com Boasts 192% Increase

According to AdAge, Coupons.com reported $57 million dollars in coupons were printed by its users in March. This represents a 192% increase in coupon dollar value year-over-year. Not surprising when according to ComScore coupon sites were the second most visited category next to jobs on the internet.

Adgregate Signs Distribution Deal with DoubleClick

In a move to diversify their inventory DoubleClick has added the TechCrunch 50 startup Adgregate Markets to their distribution option for advertisers. Specifically DoubleClick will use Adgregate’s ShopAds widget to expand their rich media inventory. The widget, which can display in standard banner sizes, allows consumers to purchase displayed products within the banner display itself.

Cashing Out: Week of April 5 – 11th, 2009 in Online Marketing News

I was optimistic all week about fighting these misguided tax bills that make affiliates the losers in the state governments’ quest to tax Internet sales.

We had a great and amazing week in California.  Brook Schaaf, CEO SchaafCo, and Karen Garcia, Co-Owner GTOManagement, organized a lobby day in Sacramento to fight AB 178. All the feedback I got from other lobbyists in Sacramento was that the State legislature was blown away by our story and the education the affiliate lobbying team provided.  Count one for the good guys!

And I was even more pleased as I watched our local community organize politically and fight to protect our businesses as opposes to being steamrolled.

When the critical vote in Sacramento was delayed and our little super surgical strike activist team immediately started trying to figure out how to leverage the delay to put more pressure on legislators.   We were already setting up meetings with press and elected officials.
I was so excited since I truly believe we can win that vote.  California has always led the way for state legislation, and other states look at us for leadership.  I thought if we could win here, it would send a strong message to other states and we could create a model to fight these bills on the state level.

I wanted to try to help facilitate the following

• Create strategies that works
• Draft templates of letters and documents for other states
• Develop leaders and mentors like Brook and Karen to help affiliates and OPM’s in other states.
• Generate network awareness to help – i.e. LinkShare and ShareASale have been great leveraging affiliates throughout the state to help.  They now have all those templates for networks to use in other states.  (Thanks Mark Kirschner and Brian Littleton!)
• And most importantly, help deliver a win! This will help teach this community it can make a difference working together.

The California campaign is working because we put a very, very strong strategy in place.  We developed an effective message and set of lobbying tools. We have executed very well.  I was just so excited on Friday.

But in the back of my head, I kept thinking affiliate tax bills are moving so fast, we might be a little late, but we only have so many resources. Then, my optimistic mood came crashing down when I got this email at 5:00 that day:

“Introduced without warning only days ago, Maryland’s version of the “affiliates tax nexus” legislation likely will be enacted late Monday or early Tuesday, without any hearing in the House. The legislature is set to adjourn within a week and plans to adopt a broad revenue/spending bill Monday/Tuesday.

The affiliates tax nexus is part of this big bill, which almost certainly will get an up/down vote, and the governor does not have a line item veto. The Maryland Senate is unlikely to change course, so it’s crucially important to contact the Speaker of the House over the weekend. Unfortunately, affiliates in Maryland have had almost no opportunity to learn of this proposal and react, so they need to engage within hours, not days.” -AffiliateTip

As the case of Maryland illustrates, the problem is we have no time, now.  I have no doubt other states that we are unaware of are working on this tax and we don’t even know which states are working on it because we have no one monitoring it.

Our greatest strength is our ability to organize and create pressure on elected officials. We have such wonderful stories to tell. And each network has an amazing database where it can identify affiliates in key districts and then help them participate in the political process.

Think what would have happened if all the affiliate networks were working in tandem to fight these bills and they all blasted out emails to their affiliates in Maryland on Saturday asking them to call and write their state Legislature over the weekend.  My guess is that bill would not pass on Monday or would at least be slowed down enough to give us a fighting chance.

We need the PMA, all of the affiliate networks, ABestWeb, grassroots efforts such as – Fight Against the AdvertisingTax and NY Affiliate Voice -  to come together now, not in 6 weeks.  All these stakeholders have the grassroots databases that can match affiliates up by state and assembly district to blast out action alerts to affiliates.  And we can get feelers out in every state to see if an advertising tax bill is coming down the pike.
I know people are working on coming together, but the issue is we have no time now to have all of our differences and politics to fall aside over time. We need action now!

Mature industries understand that you fight it out in the marketplace and work together in a political arena.  Five or six of us are making a huge difference in California.  It’s time the industry comes together to stop these bills.  What we have done in California can be reproduced easily.  We just need leadership and to put our differences aside.

And if you think your segment of affiliate marketing can win this alone, then stop and think about the pressure the states feel to raise revenue due to the economy and the very focused pressure of the booksellers lobby which initiated the legislation in California and several other states.
Political campaigns are won and lost based on how well a coalition works together.

I always think a symphony orchestra is a good analogy.  The lobbyists are the flutes, the media mavens are the violins and all the instruments are the grassroots.  If all the musicians are on a different page of music, the symphony sounds awful, but when everyone is playing in concert that is when everything works.

Let’s just remember what the great Mahatma Gandhi said in India’s fight for independence: United we stand, divided we fall.” Or what a good friend and industry leader said to me this morning via IM “Whatever this is stupid, people just need to work together.”

Go here to see the original:
Affiliates Lobby Against California AB178, While Maryland Piggybacks Similar Legislation onto Larger Bill

California About to Repeat New York’s Amazon Tax Mistake

Governments learn slowly from the mistakes of others. California government proved this week it was no exception as Assembly Bill 178 was introduced by Assembly Member Nancy Skinner. Echoing New York’s now infamous Amazon Tax Law, California’s new bill target’s companies who maintain a marketing nexus specifically through the means of commission based publishers (like in the New York law CPM, CPC, and CPV based sales will be impacted). The bill is a bad idea which will simply cost small publishers their relationships with larger advertisers. The members of ABestWeb have set up a forum at CAAffiliates.com as a rallying point and information source to combat the initiative.

Gary Vaynerchuk is Obsessed

Wine Library.tv owner and wine celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk is stepping into the role of media mogul with the launch of Obsessed. Focusing on the 25-55 female demographic the web talk show is hosted by Samantha Ettus. Will be very interesting to see not only if Gary can duplicate his success but if the show can take a chunk out of a target audience that is friendlier with televisions than computers.

Spreadshirt Rakes in €10 Million in Funding

Competition between print on demand companies like Zazzle and CafePress has just heated up as Spreadshirt announced this week it raised €10 Million in funding from venture capital firms Kennet Partners and Accel Partners. Spreadshirt is a leader in this niche in Europe and sees the funding as away to strengthen its international presences especially in the US.

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Cashing Out: Week of February 22nd-28th, 2009 in Online Marketing News

“You can’t put the genie back into the bottle” or so says the idiom. The issues surrounding adware have certainly been a “genie” for affiliate marketing.  We may have the opportunity to see if that genie really can be put back into the bottle, at least for a sub-set of adware applications, toolbars.

Yesterday Brian Littleton, CEO of ShareASale, announced a Toolbar Roundtable Discussion for next Tuesday.  The purpose is to receive input from the community for establishing guidelines for toolbar behavior within the ShareASale network.  This is a shift from the historical policy of ShareASale which has not allowed software in the network. Not unexpectedly, there is some heated discussion around the announcement in the ShareASale Forum on ABestWeb.com.

Many people mistakenly think that I am opposed to adware. This isn’t the case. Adware is just technology, which isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s just technology…ultimately a bunch of 1’s and 0’s strung together to elicit preplanned behavior from the computer of the end user.

What I have opposed over the years is the manner in which many adware applications generate revenue in the affiliate marketing channel.
I have been exceedingly frustrated at times by technology being abused to the point of causing schisms within our industry and stigmatizing the technology itself which, in reality, could have been positive for the affiliates, merchants, networks and consumers it was meant to serve.  On more than one occasion I have stated that adware does not have to be an issue within affiliate marketing.  For years now I have worked outline a model for adware behavior. Not once have I been asked the details of that model, at least until now.

My view is broader than just toolbars. I personally feel that it is possible for any adware application to be respectful of the rights of other internet businesses, benefit the consumer, and generate legitimate revenue, directly and/or indirectly, in the affiliate marketing channel. I now have the opportunity to share some of my views and thoughts on how this can be achieved.

There is a glaring reality that we cannot afford to overlook: the technology is here and it’s not going to suddenly go away. The genie isn’t going to just disappear. My contentions have been with the policy, both written and how acted upon in reality, for how adware is allowed to behave in the affiliate marketing channel. My mantra is behavior, behavior, behavior (to the point I get tired of hearing it myself!) not toolbar, widget or desktop app. I don’t have a problem with Google’s toolbar, but I do have a problem with most software generating revenue through the affiliate channel.

To this point, there has been two primary types of policy by networks and merchants regarding how affiliates can use software in the affiliate channel: not allowed at all (the parasite-free policy) or allowed under a set of conditions that are far less restrictive for affiliates than marketing through other means (the COC/Addendum policy). I have always been opposed to the COC/Addendum policy because I feel it allowed revenue generation that facilitated unfair competition and diminished the overall value of the affiliate channel. I have longed for a working policy (policy that is actually being used) that would address how software can be legitimately used within the affiliate channel sans all the controversy. Indeed, I strongly believe it is critical that our industry be able to produce such a working policy.

Why? So we can demonstrate our ability to self-regulate and foster the healthy growth of our industry. All established industries need to demonstrate this ability for long-term success. To this point, I don’t think we have been able to demonstrate an ability to effectively self-regulate the very technologies our industry depends upon. Affiliate marketing is a technology business after all.

There are currently various technologies used by affiliates in their marketing efforts.  Web sites, email, video, widgets and many other forms of technology are common.  Guidelines for acceptable use have been established for promotion though most of these technologies. Granted, there may be an occasional debate regarding a new way these technologies are used, but none have been as problematic as downloaded software. Nor has a policy of all or nothing been applied to defining their use by affiliates.

Any and all of the technologies used by affiliates can be potentially abused. Questionable revenue generation tactics as well as more malicious behavior can occur through any promotional method. We certainly don’t say that affiliates cannot use web sites, email, and video or social media technology as promotion mechanisms because the technology can, and at times is, abused. Of course we don’t! We set guidelines and then we work towards enforcing those guidelines.

Enforcing a policy for toolbars will not be without its own challenges. But all monitoring of promotion comes with unique challenges. There are millions of web pages, owned by the affiliate or by someone else, where bad behavior can occur. However, once policy is established for promotion through a web site, protocols for monitoring are developed.

While practices may not always be policed by some companies to the degree some desire, we all understand that ultimately it’s a matter of survival for our livelihoods to have a certain degree of self-regulation within these technologies.

The landscape has changed dramatically since 2002 when the COC/Addendum policy was released by the major networks of the time. There is no longer a huge cost barrier for any affiliate having downloadable software and there are several sources for acquiring your own toolbar for free or at a very low cost. Distribution channels are available that do not require bundling, especially for toolbars. This has resulted in literally tens of thousands of toolbars available for download.

Of course, not all of these operate within the affiliate channel, but there is an increasing number which do. Toolbars can engage in a very wide range of behaviors. I don’t feel that a global policy of   “X is not allowed” to be an adequate manner with which to address issues facing our industry in regards to a technology that is not going away.

Brian Littleton has outlined a starting point  on the ShareASale blog for this policy discussion. As someone who has always focused on how adware can behave with regards to revenue generation, I am intrigued by his initial points. He appears to be envisioning toolbar technology used as a marketing vehicle versus a customer service vehicle. Marketing practices would use the toolbar for direct revenue generation, which is the most common use seen to date. Customer service would involve behaviors focused on the consumer experience, thus building branding, loyalty, and visitor retention for the affiliate’s own business. This form is a more passive marketing of the affiliate’s own business and does not tie the toolbar directly to  the affiliate link for tracking a commissionable sale. While I still believe software can behave “nicely” and be used for more direct revenue generation, I find Brian’s outside of the box thinking on this issue very interesting.

We need to show that we are up to the challenges of regulating the very technologies used to enhance and bring value to the affiliate channel. I’m excited to see a company with a track record and reputation as established as ShareASale’s stepping up to the plate to undertake the task of presenting meaningful policy in regards to toolbars. I look forward to having a policy in use that I can point to as an example of how software technology can be used in a harmonious and productive manner.

Will ShareASale be able to put the genie back into the bottle? I don’t think the technology can go back into the bottle. But can we have the benevolent genie? I think so. The real challenge will be whether or not ShareASale can overcome the stigma that has become attached with downloaded software, turning what has been somewhat of a black eye for affiliate marketing into a positive.

I will definitely be at this Roundtable that Brian has facilitated. I encourage any and all who care about the policies driving our industry to attend as well. I’m hoping to see as many merchants as affiliates in attendance as this is not an affiliate issue but an industry issue which impacts all parties in the equation.

Read more from the original source:
Putting the Genie Back Into the Bottle

Here at Revenews we like to try and avoid inundating you with “top” list stories. The fact that the Consumer Electronics Show and Affiliate Summit West are occurring consecutively in Las Vegas this month makes it a little difficult. Affiliate Summit founders Shawn Collins and Missy Ward should be congratulated on a sold out show, despite the current economy which is a feat, while maintaining the quality of the session content.

So before the inevitable mixers and Vegas chaos distract you completely, here is my pick for the top five sessions you can’t afford to miss:

1) Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing

This session can be considered a sequel or encore to Affiliate Summit East’s identical session and lineup. The discussion of ethics is still a major cause of debate and you would be hard pressed to find a more qualified group than this panel who represent a variety of viewpoints on the matter. What has changed since last summer is the increase of toolbar players like Rakeuten’s One-Cause that are at best skirting the gray area of acceptable tactics while hiding behind what the consumer believes to be a good cause.

Last time, despite the diverse viewpoints there was genuine discussion that never degenerated into verbal mudslinging. The only exception was Paul Nichols, Ebates Director of Sales, who at one point not so subtly brandished the threat of suing the entire audience. Despite that brazen lapse in manners the rest of the discussion was very productive. If you take a look at some of the rhetoric seen online that is an achievement in and of itself.

Again whatever your opinion, be it laissez-faire or the ethical high road, this is not a session to miss.

Panelists include:

~Haiko de Poel, Jr., Owner, ABestWeb (Moderator)
~Connie Berg, CEO, FlamingoWorld.com, LLC
~Chuck Hamrick, Affiliate Manager, affiliateCREW.com
~Brian Littleton, President / CEO, ShareASale.com
~Paul Nichols, Director of Sales, Ebates.com

2) The Future of Performance Marketing: The Evolution (part 1) and What’s Next (part 2)

One of the many debates the advent of the Performance Marketing Association ignited was whether the “affiliate” industry needed to rebrand itself as “performance marketing”. It may seem like a subtle difference but proponents feel that the term affiliate has become too tarnished in the court of public opinion while opponents feel that any such rebranding gives even more incentive for the black hats to try and dupe a new audience.

Either way it is apparent that the industry is undergoing massive changes and this two part session outlines the direction those changes are taking the industry.

Panelists include:

~Larry Adams, Product Manager, Google
~Scott Jangro, President, MechMedia, Inc.
~Jim Jessup, Direct Marketing, Yahoo!
~Steve Schaffer, Founder/CEO, Vertive, Inc.

3) Social Media Risks and Rewards

Blogworld, last summer, was the first time I felt the blogging community really begin to grasp the monetization potential of affiliate marketing. As more bloggers and social media firms enter the industry and as more affiliates adopt tactics that reach out to the social media audience, merchants will need to be aware of the potential risks and rewards in the space. The Cyber Fraud Section of the State of Florida is represented on the panel which hopefully means that the risk examples outlined will indeed be very interesting.

Panelists include:

~Gary Kibel, Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP
~Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami, Network Solutions
~Will Haselden, Section Chief, Cyberfraud Section, Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida
~Mike Kowal, Managing Director, Advertiser Services, LinkShare
~Jivan Manhas, President, Advaliant, a Division of MediaTrust

4) Chat Delivers: More Sales, More Affiliate Revenues

With the increase of focus on mobile and video technology some of the basic tools that increase consumer engagement are overlooked. The salesperson-like ability of chat, used at the right time in the purchasing funnel can be a powerful tool.

Panelists include:

~Lisa Riolo, Founder, Hammock Ventures (Moderator)
~Jacquie Matzat, Marketing Manager, Your Baby Can Read, LLC
~Durk Price, President, eAccountableOPM
~Glenn Russell, Co-Founder and CEO, UpSellit.com
~Alan Weissman, Owner, MyNursingUniforms.com

5) The Ultimate Pitching Guide

Sometimes it’s necessary to grab people’s attention. Whether you are trying to hook a merchant, a member of your audience, or the media, a good pitch is the perfect bait.

And for a personal note to panelists Lisa Picarille and Jim Kukral, I expect truly outrageous secrets from you two, just like the panel description promises.

Panelists include:

~ Lisa Picarille, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Revenue Magazine (Moderator)
~Anita Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, SmallBizTrends.com
~Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com
~Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter (HARO)

That’s the rundown of my picks for Affiliate Summit West in Vegas. What sessions are you looking forward to?

Excerpted from:
Top 5 Must See Sessions at Affiliate Summit West 2009

Dustup over Google’s Net Neutrality Stance

The more profit is made on the internet and the more the internet grows the more Net Neutrality becomes an issue. This week the Wall Street Journal published an article claiming Google was attempting to bump its content to the front of the line delivery wise by making direct deals with ISPs. If true this would be a major change in Google’s stance towards Net Neutrality. Richard Whitt, Google Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, fired back at the Journal stating the article was “confused” and that Google was simply trying to take advantage of edge caching.

If you are unfamiliar with Net Neutrality and make a living via the internet in anyway, we here at Revenews highly recommend you take the time to learn more. These fights over access rights will define how the future of the internet develops.

Dell Wrings Million Dollars from Twitter

While Twitter is still awaiting an internal monetization model to be developed other companies have taken advantage of marketing to the microblogging audience on their network. According to InternetNews, Dell has 65 active Twitter groups the largest being the Dell Home Outlet Store group which has a Twitter following of 2,475 members. Direct microblogging of discounts and product highlights has produced $1 million dollars in revenue for Dell on Twitter in 2008.

Affiliate Trust Launches

In an industry that is constantly struggling with ethical quandaries it is always a welcome sight when a new site is launched to help provide guidance on the right way to do things. Launched this week by Ed Byerly with support from ABestWeb Affiliate Trust’s purpose is to create an informational source, including campaigns, aimed at aggressively educating merchants about industry parasites. There should be plenty of fodder for Ed and his campaigns, it will be very interesting to see them rollout in 2009.

MOG Music Network Stiffs Affiliates for the Holidays

Speaking of a lack of ethics…the MOG Music Network just announced it was stiffing their affiliates in time for the holidays. In case you haven’t heard of MOG yet they are a network of independent music blogs where the affiliate sites are mostly made up of niche blogs that post the content, create traffic and supposedly share in the revenue. According to TechCrunch, MOG sent out an email essentially changing affiliate payment terms stating that October 2008 payments which hadn’t been issued yet would be pushed out 120 days along with all affiliate payments going forward. A perfect example of how to loose your affiliates.

Synthasite Buys Clickpass

Fronted by Revenews’ own Vinny Lingham Synthasite announced the purchase of Clickpass, which works on improving OpenID technology, for an undisclosed amount. Congratulations to Vinny on Synthasite’s continued growth.

Original post:
Cashing Out: Week of Dec 14th – 20th, 2008 in Online Marketing News

In tough times companies are forced to make difficult decisions. Sometimes they make wrong ones. Best Buy made an epically dunderheaded one this week when it announced via email that affiliate commissions for two of its best selling product lines was being dropped from 1% to .25%. A quarter of a percent is insulting to anyone you refer to as a partner. The backlash on boards like ABestWeb.com has already built up as professional affiliates wonder how such a big player could display such a lapse in judgment.

Anatomy of a Bad Decision
Corporations are prone to knee jerk reactions. Especially in crisis situations or tough times. When it comes to cutting costs often the cutting is done by those not directly involved in day-to-day affairs.

In this case you can almost imagine the thought process: We are practically giving away commissions to affiliates on items that would sell anyways! Why don’t we cut the commission rate and increase our profit margin?

A bad decision is made even easier by the fact the Affiliate Channel is often a nebulous component to most corporations’ online marketing strategy. Difficult to understand, easy to undervalue, corporate advertisers often make the mistake of treating the channel with a “set and forget” mentality or deliver campaigns to affiliates with the expectation they will accommodate last minute promotions which should have been planned well in advance. Many such advertisers also make the assumption that affiliates will not make business decisions of their own and simply take whatever leftovers are handed to them.

Real Troubles
In Q3 of this year Best Buy reported that profits dropped 77% year over year. According to the report 4,000 employees at its headquarters were offered buyout packages in an effort to cut costs. The report also quoted Chief Executive Brad Anderson as saying,

“We believe that there has been a dramatic and potentially long-lasting change in consumer behavior as people adjust to the new realities of the marketplace. We also believe that customers will continue to reward those retailers who understand their needs and desires, and offer relevant solutions at fair prices.”

Obviously the company is taking serious steps to make themselves more profitable. While I genuinely wish the best for their employees, cutting the commission percentages on a few top selling items will not make or break the company. It will however sour relationships with affiliates.

It’s an Affiliate’s Marketplace
Anderson is right that customers will continue to reward retailers who understand their needs. So will affiliates.

Best Buy runs their affiliate program with Commission Junction. According to numbers released by CJ comparing same store retail sales, network wide CJ affiliates averaged 73% growth on Black Friday and 39% growth on Cyber Monday year over year. Impressive numbers when compared to comScore posting of overall online sales during the same time period.

Presumably sales were good for the Best Buy affiliate program as well. The email explaining the commission cuts seems to support that stating:

“The Best Buy affiliate sales force has exceeded our expectations during these trying economic times. These important contributions are greatly appreciated. This commission reduction originates strictly out of economic necessity in a growingly price-sensitive marketplace.”

According to Yahoo Tech News the Wii is the top selling item this holiday season. Laptops are another hot commodity. Many other merchants sell both including Buy.com, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target. All of whom are competing with Best Buy for the same customer.

As an affiliate you have a choice. Are you going to stay loyal to Best Buy and refer your valuable traffic to them for .25%? Odds are you are going to send the traffic to a merchant who is offering better commission on those same items. Whatesmore, as an affiliate it is just as simple to send all of your traffic to a competitor instead of attempting to redirect traffic for those few items whose commission you are being low balled on.

Gut Check
It would be one thing if Best Buy was withdrawing ads from areas that have a poor ROAS.

Because of their footprint it is doubtful that Best Buy will suddenly pull back from television or print ads, nor should they be expected to do so. The stores that provide jobs to the approximately 150,000 employees are obviously their bread and butter. But surely if they are pulling back from the affiliate channel due to a “growlingly price-sensitive marketplace” they are also pulling back from CPM buys online. As typical with corporations more comfortable with offline campaigns than online campaigns, this doesn’t seem to be the case you can still see them in remnant media placements.

So the affiliate channel, the one that creates the most return for the advertiser’s dollar is the one Best Buy has chosen to cut. It’s expeditious to cut revenue to a channel you don’t understand in order to create higher profitability on items you feel you will sell anyways.

The fact is in these tough times affiliates are sensitive as well. The professional ones will send their business to merchants who are truly interested in cultivating a partnership. Only time will tell what a dent .25% will put in Best Buy’s affiliate program and their overall sales.

Read more:
Best Buy Gives Affiliates a Slap in the Face

There are not many things that can bring affiliates to band together. Cheating them out of their commissions is one sure way to do it.

As technology grows the various affiliate networks, rather than adapting the way their compliance departments look at affiliate tactics, have chosen to ignore the practices of affiliates whose tactics while technically legal break the very agreements set forth by the networks themselves. The networks do so for a variety of reasons: a) often the advertiser/merchant is unaware of the situation; b) it is difficult to keep up with new technology; c) the networks still get paid for such transactions; and d) not enough sustained pressure is put on the networks to change.

While the networks benefit this is not a victimless situation. Affiliates who play fair are cheated out of their commission. Advertisers end up in some cases paying double for transactions and more importantly loosing the source that brought them the customer.

This problem has been around a long time. Folks like Ben Edelman, Kellie Stevens, Center for Democracy and Technology, and ABestWeb (see current discussion with multiple videos on a toolbar by One Cause) have made various attempts to make networks enforce their own rules. After all, how else are they going to earn the role of “trusted 3rd party”?

Personally I feel education is the only way to put pressure on the networks. Education of affiliates as well as merchants. Which is why I am glad to see Scott Jangro, former Director of Product Management for BeFree and Commission Junction and one of the smartest folks in online marketing, compile an informative series of videos that display these tactics in layman’s terms. If you are an affiliate or a merchant get informed on how this technology impacts your business.

Read more:

Affiliate Summit East is only a week away and the conference has grown quite a bit. Before you get lost in the conference chaos and inevitable Boston pub crawls, I thought I should give my top five picks for sessions you can’t afford to miss:

1) NY Tax Laws – Issues and Solutions

The so called Amazon Tax has set the industry abuzz since it ambushed everyone in May. Since then several legal challenges have been launched against the law with Amazon itself weighing in. On a more grass roots basis, New York affiliates have come together to try to provide mutual support and discuss strategies to overcome the impact of the law. Whether you are a New York affiliate or an affiliate in another state the fallout from this ruling is bound to impact you. Same goes for merchants, especially since states like Texas are considering similar laws. I also have to wonder about merchants who are using one of the dozens of CPA networks in conjunction with the more traditional affiliate channel and how this tax might impact them.

The session should be quite informative with Google Affiliate Network, a lawyer specializing in internet law and NY Affiliate Voice all participating.

Panelists include:

-Melaine Seery, Affiliate from NY Affiliate Voice
-Chris Henger , Group Product Manager, Google Affiliate Network
-Clarke D. Walton, Internet Lawyer, Walton Law Firm, P.C.
-Kim Rodgers, Affiliate Manager, 4Checks.com
-Adam Riemer, Director of Marketing and Client Relations, Downtown Ecommerce Partners

2) Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing

If it wasn’t for the timeliness of the Amazon Tax, this session would have been my number 1 pick. It almost feels like a heavy weight fight. Very few in our industry don’t have an opinion about this topic and many have made it out to be a good v. evil contest between the vocal constituency at ABestWeb.com versus the aggressive sales tactics of certain affiliates.

Despite the billing I don’t see things as black and white. Personally, rather than this falling into a session of verbal fireworks, I would like to see an in depth discussion of the issues at hand. I think few are more qualified than this panel to delve into topics beyond the emotional response in order to get to the heart of the matter. Whatever your opinion, be it laissez-faire or the ethical high road, this is not a session to miss.

Panelists include:

-Haiko de Poel Jr, Owner, ABestWeb
-Paul Nichols, Director of Sales, Ebates
-Brian Littleton, President/CEO, ShareASale
-Michel Jones, COO, Pepperjam
-Connie Berg, CEO, FlamingoWorld
-Chuck Hamrick, Affiliate Manager, AffiliateCREW

3) Performance Marketing Alliance Q&A

In many ways my number 3 pick can be seen as logical fallout from my first two picks. The Performance Marketing Alliance was born out of a long standing need for an industry association and the catalyst of the Amazon Tax. Since its birth some very public and bitter fights have broken out on various forums, including ABW, about the purpose of such an agency. Factions seemed to pop everywhere, egos were bruised, and very unprofessional attitudes were displayed. Of course, the ubiquitous conspiracy theories regarding the “true” purpose of such an association followed.

At the center of that storm has been Rebecca Madigan, who has taken on the administrative tasks of putting such an organization together. Hopefully this session will provide a productive forum to discuss concerns and clarify the purpose of the association.

Panelist:

-Rebecca Madigan, Performance Marketing Alliance

4) How Social Media is Changing Affiliate Marketing

Well, my first three picks were kind of heavy however, this one is focused on what I believe will drive a lot of growth in our industry. I think you would be hard pressed to pick a group more in tuned to what’s hot, and more importantly what works, in the social media space than this panel. They are a bit of a dream team: Chris Brogan or Stephanie Agresta could hold a session all by themselves; the fact that Rob Key and Ted Murphy are in the mix just makes it that much more relevant for merchants.

If you are a merchant planning to launch a social media campaign or an affiliate planning to employ social media tactics then this is a session not to miss.

Panelist include:

-Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media
-Rob Key, CEO, Converseon
-Stephanie Agresta, Owner, Internet Geek Girl
-Ted Murphy, Founder / CEO, IZEA

5) State of the Ad Networks

There are plenty of changes in the options and tactics merchants can employ in online advertising. One of the biggest has been the slow transition of display inventory moving from the traditional CPM model to a CPA or CPV model. Much of this change was driven by the success of companies like DrivePM. Ad networks have plenty of new opportunities, publishers and merchants alike. The fact that Todd Crawford is moderating this session just means that it will be insightful and filled with some razor sharp wit.

Panelists include:

-Todd Crawford, Owner, ToddTalks
-Aleck Schleider, VP of Marketing, AOL’s Platform-A Division
-Bob King, CEO, ClickBank
-Don Mathis, President, Epic Advertising
-Michael Jenkins, CEO/Founder, MarketLeverage

That’s the rundown of my picks for Affiliate Summit East in Boston. What sessions are you looking forward to?

Excerpted from:
Top 5 Must See Sessions at Affiliate Summit

Read more from the original source:
Affiliate Summit Wrap-Up: Day 2