Quote of the Day
The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.
-Lily Tomlin
Even though it’s Saturday, I’m stuck in a 10 hour Affiliate Classroom LIVE affiliate manager training. I can haz break?
Read MoreGetting ready for Affiliate Summit West 08
Twitter is alive with activity. The summit has set up a group twitter that tracks whenever someone uses the keyword asw08 in their twits. This is very cool, especially considering I didn’t know Twitter had this capability!
Everyone seems to be in a rush to get things done. Jim Kukral from ScratchBack.com is MCing the keynote on Monday. He’s twittered several times tonight about the video he’s working on for the presentation. At ASE07 in Miami the keynote was Ze Frank, a hilarious individual, so I’m hoping for no less at ASW08.
Stephanie Agresta from Stephanie Agresta Consulting is also a speaker and author of the Internet Geek Girl blog. She’s twittered off and on today about her flight information and getting ready for the trip from out east. Sam Harrelson from Affiliate Fortune Cookies has been twittering as well and he’s even had to change his flight because of inclement Northeastern weather.
Of course myself, I’m twittering here and there about getting ready. I’m not lucky enough to have a nice new company supplied laptop, so I’m on my own personal laptop this weekend. I do have a press pass, so I be working on keeping the interweb updated from the blogger’s room through this blog and Twitter. I’m committed despite my chunky clunky Dell Latitude laptop :p.
As a final note while I’m getting my laptop set up tonight, I encourage everyone associated with affiliate marketing in any way to check out this month’s issue of Affiliate Classroom Magazine. Besides there being a keen write up of the PsPrint Affiliate Program, there’s a lot of great affiliate manager tips. I’ll be attending the whopping 10 hour Affiliate Classroom LIVE affiliate manager training on Saturday in Las Vegas before the summit. I’m eager to get in there and take notes… is it too much to hope for actual desks? :p I know that it’s at the Rio and from all the conference space I’ve seen at hotels in the last year, I’m sure there won’t be surfaces to write on readily available, so I’ll be taking my clipboard with me.
Hope to see you there! I’m considering bringing my camcorder with me to the exhibit hall, so if you’ve used PsPrint in the past, come on by for an impromptu video plug!
Read MoreThe “it” site Snapbomb
It seems that on a daily basis there are more and more opportunities for bloggers to make money. I was Stumbling around earlier and found a blog post about SnapBomb from a blogger than I tend to take pretty seriously, LaTease Rikard. Usually she’s pretty on the mark about opportunities out there, including signing up for the PsPrint Affiliate Program!
So I went to check out the buzz about this and it’s the easiest thing I’ve done in awhile. The interface is super easy to understand and there’s no lengthy approval process like other pay per post/sponsored review sites. I don’t have a lot of experience with this as I’ve never written a paid post in my life, but from reading other bloggers around the blogosphere, most paid per post/review sites are a bunch of hoops to jump through. It’s refreshing to see something so straightforward out there.
Now SnapBomb is not going to make you a millionaire overnight. From what I can see the starting pay rates are between $5-10 when you start out. But for prolific writers there’s definitely a chance to make some extra scratch there. And I’m sure most bloggers who are attempting to make money from their blogs appreciate every dollar they can get. It’s also a good vehicle for blog marketing.
I encourage anyone looking for some extra dough to check it out at www.SnapBomb.com and poke around.
Read MoreSocial Media Marketing: Wave of the Future?
I figured out a really nifty thing to do on LinkedIn a few months ago… creating an HTML email signature with a link to this blog, to the PsPrint website, and to my LinkedIn profile. I was, sadly, highly amused by this function and emailed a colleague to show it off.
Colleague: Oh that is cool…I am still not 100% comfortable with online communication websites but Linked In seems cool because it’s business connections.
Me: But it’s the waaaave of the futurrrrre. And we’re going to start social media marketing, so get used to it :p
Back in August we decided to do a full frontal attack on social media! I can’t say much yet since we’re still fleshing out the procedures and nitty gritty details, but I’ll be taking the lead on it. That was decided back in August and we still haven’t made any progress on it, other than my blogging efforts here.
It was exciting to get some new responsibilities and start working on a new project. Our mailing services is pretty automated and our affiliate program was starting to go places. I couldn’t wait to talk more about it, but mum was the word at the time.
So I got to thinking about it… is social media and online networking really the wave of the future? What are your thoughts?
Read MoreHigher Commissions? Yes Please…
About a month I go, I briefly mentioned that we’ve started a new affiliate program on Commission Junction. Didn’t bring a whole lot of fanfare to the party since we hadn’t officially made the announcement to our customers and current members at that time. I gave up my position as the manager of PsPrint’s Direct Mail Services to focus more time and attention on this little bugger.
Well, let’s get this party started? 8%? Weak sauce of the past. We’re serving up 15% commissions now, baby!
That’s right, we’ve dropped our measly 8% commissions and boosted to 15%. Partnering with Commission Junction has made the program so much better: a better interface, more reliable tracking, the support of a big affiliate network, you name it. It’s all simpler than ever for our affiliates AND us!
I’m really excited about the transition as it gives us a chance to start over and scrap the old program soon. It’s hard to improve on something that’s inherently flawed like our old program.
We’ve made sure to get the word out on this just in time for Affiliate Summit 2008 West. The Summit will be held at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino February 24th through 26th. PsPrint will of course have a booth and I will be there, so if you happen to be a reader of this blog stop by and say hi to me for a special treat :).
Really, I swear!
Read MoreAnother Suitcase in Another Hall
It’s the end of a 2 year streak for me here running our Mailing Services at PsPrint. I’m passing it on to an able-bodied lieutenant and the Customer Service department… probably where it should have been the whole time. At this point the majority of the day to day stuff has been passed on and it is a bit strange to come in and not have to do these things.
But what will I do with my days? More of the same, really, just with more time to focus. We’re still transitioning our current affiliate program into a reseller program and have begun our true affiliate program over at Commission Junction. I’ll have more time to properly manage both programs and follow up with affiliates and resellers alike.
There will also be more time to focus on our email marketing campaigns, trade shows, advertising opportunities, blogging, social network marketing, reputation management, new media, and our green printing initiative.
So the end of an era has come and 2008 will be a fresh year for me here. I’m excited, and yet, anxious. Bring it on!
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