Manual Approval:

• An affiliate application approval process where all applicants are manually approved for an affiliate program.

This is the method I personally subscribe to since I prefer to look at the affiliates first to determine their quality level before clouding up the program with possibly bogus affiliates.  I had an interesting conversation with Brad Waller back in August at the Affiliate Classroom LIVE event about manual vs. auto approve and he made the good point that it all depends on what your goals with a program are.  For some, manual approval might be cumbersome if there is a large demand for the program but a small staff.  It’s really something to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

____
Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Just a quick recap of days negative 1 and 1 of Affiliate Summit East 2008 before I head off to the Share a Sale Under the Stars party that started an hour ago (give me a break, I’m fashionably late!).

Day  Negative 1 (a.k.a. Saturday)

1. The Affiliate Classroom Live event went well overall.  I feel like the people in most of my discussions were picking up what I was putting down.  I feel like I could have been better prepared, but that was really my own fault.  I hope that I’m asked back in the future of other events and can do a bang up job!  Also met some cool peeps.
2. AffSpot.com forum meet-up was fun – got to meet some new people like Angie & Roger from Snow Consulting, talked at length with the ever charming Lisa Picarille of Revenue Magazine, finally met the lovely penguin Jen Good of JGoode Designs, was thrown schwag by Sam Harrelson & Aunesty Janssen the admins of the Spot, and met Bill (Beachy), Ron (7daysRon), & some others that came & went.  As I was looking down reading something on my phone outside the bar I recognized Jim Kukral of Scratchback soley by his mandals with socks walking by!  Love it.
3. Speaking of Sam, he had to bail on the Affiliate Dinner last night so he graciously gave me his ticket!  I went and had a great meal, lots of laughs at the expense of the roastee Connie Berg of FlamingoWorld.com, and talked at great length with apparently my #1 fan Kim Rodgers from 4Checks.com.  It’s funny that I JUST ordered my new checks from them for the first time last week, so we had a great discussion!  The highlight just might have been Brian Littleton from Share-a-Sale dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow for Connie’s love of all things Johnny Depp.
4. Finally, while the concept of recording a live podcast for GeekCast live was a terrific idea, it ended up being a FAIL of epic proportions.  It was an insanely fun time talking and having fun with peeps but between the audience, topics, & Shawn’s BeerTender, it was too much of a party.  It was a blast though that kept me up until 3:45am.

Day 1 – Affiliate Summit Kicks Off

1. Registration was incredibly easy now that they’ve come up with self check in kiosks.  Love it!
2. Missed the PPC and Social Media tracks I wanted to attend thanks to a righteous headache this morning (no, I DON’T think it was a hangover!) but heard the social media was good.
3. Headed into the Meet Market and MAN was it packed!  Got my fare share of awesome schwag, bought myself an “I Gave Back!” button, and got some good info on some cool networks and programs.  It was a zoo in there so I had to bail, bu t it was good that I did since I’d lost track of time and was able to get to the NY tax laws session.
4. The day isn’t over!  I’m shutting this bad boy down in lieu of blogging about the other session I attended today and I’m heading over to the ShareASale party on the Odyssey Cruise yacht… can’t promise how long I’ll stay but it should be a blast!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Social Network:

• Online networks of communities who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, which necessitates the use of software.

Okay, this seems like an overly technical and complicated definition, so let me throw some commonly known examples at you instead.  Facebook.  MySpace.  LinkedIn.  Social Networks and social networking is a great way to connect with friends, family, and colleagues!

It’s probably too late to register for Affiliate Classroom Live, so now you’re officially missing out on my round table discussion about social digital networking for affiliate managers, which will be happening in T-minus 1 hour and 50 minutes in the Waterfront I Ballroom here at the Boston Seaport Hotel.

Don’t worry – I’m sure to post a recap.  I’m solid like that

____
Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine

 Powered by Max Banner Ads