Free Toolsday for June 17th
Once again this week, it’s technically still Tuesday so I’m a bit late for the East Coasters, but hopefully this is worth it.
Tim Carter of AskTheBuilder.com said during the video panel at the last Affiliate Summit back in February that people go onto the internet for two reasons: to be entertained or to solve a problem. A great way to solve 80% of your business related questions is to go to LinkedIn Answers.
I haven’t had occasion to ask many questions since there are SO many useful questions in a variety of topics. In terms of business information that’s relevant to your working life, this tool kicks the crap out of Yahoo! Answers. This is targeted information in a really easy to find format. Unlike forums that can be filled with years of information out of context, LinkedIn Answers allows you to search for the information you need and find it fairly quickly.
Don’t take my word for it… go check it out! LinkedIn Answers. And remember if you’re an expert at something, share your wealth of knowledge and answer some questions too! Karma, people!
Read MoreEarly Bird Price for Affiliate Summit ENDS TODAY
Boston, MA
Want to meet me?! Of course you do! Remember that today is the last day to sign up for Affiliate Summit East 2008 and still get the cheaper Early Bird Pricing. The full conference pass – today only – is just $949 while an Expo Hall Only pass is a very affordable $99. If you’ve been waffling about going, pull the trigger and do it now while it’s still cheap!
After tomorrow, the prices go up to $199 for the expo hall only pass and a whopping $1449 for the full pass. And of course, if you sit on your lazy duff until the last minute, you have to shell out $299 for an expo hall only pass or $1949 for the full conference pass.
There are a lot of great sessions already scheduled and on the agenda for the summit. A full agenda is online already. I’ve already added several to my TripIt account so I can plan out my time, including Sam Harrelson’s Leveraging Social Media, Andy Rodriguez’s Affiliate Marketing Basics for Merchants, and Lisa Picarille’s Content that Kills sessions.
There’s no reason not to save money and really, this is a great event for affiliate marketing professionals – both publishers and advertisers – to network and learn from. So go today and register for Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston while you can still get in with the best price!
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Sponsor My Wardrobe!
That’s right – I’m whoring myself out for sponsors! As I mentioned awhile ago, I’ll be attending Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston this August. This is entirely on my own dime. So I’m looking to soften the costs a bit.
So, space is now available on the back of my shirt! I will be making a custom t-shirt with my logo on the front and YOURS on the back. I will be selling the 5″x2″ logo areas, 10 total. Each area will cost a SUPER CHEAP $15. The shirt will be worn on the first day of Affiliate Summit, guaranteed. The t-shirt itself it simply white. And I will wear my hair up so all logos can be seen!
I am also selling button sponsorship. For $5 you can have a 2.5″ round button of your logo pinned to my messenger bag that I’ll be carrying during the entire conference. Of course, I will also feature your logo here in a blog post as a thanks.
If you’re interested, please contact me at blog@trishalyn.com with “Affiliate Summit Sponsorship” in the subject line.
Read MoreBoston Tips
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
As this is not a travel blog, I have little business posting any travel tips for Boston. However, as many of us are returning to Boston in August for Affiliate Summit East 08, it will be good to know these things for any first-time traveler to the Boston area.
- Boston Cab Co. is the most reliable and easiest to get ahold of when you need a taxi. Keep their number handy – (617) 536-5010. Rates are reasonable for a big city, too.
- Faneuil Hall is pronounced “fan-you-ill” and is home to (among cool historic things) the Hollywood Replica Cheers Bar (complete with gift shop). If you want the original Cheers, it’s in the Beacon Hill district on Beacon St. Faneuil Hall is right in front of Quincy Market, South Market, & North Market. It’ll take probably an afternoon to see everything if you want to just wander around. Very picturesque.
- The Cheers Beer is nothing special, but you do get to keep the glass. I guess that makes it worth $15. The Irish Stew is really good on an overcast Boston day. The Boston Cream Pie was “meh”.
- Delivery.com has HUNDREDS of local places to choose from if you’re too lazy to leave your hotel. A lot have late delivery hours too. Thank you, college town!
- Charlie’s Pizza & Cafe has good burgers (they’re on Delivery.com!)
- There are like a million colleges there – it’s almost ridiculous.
- Duck Boats truly caught my imagination – I wanted to take a Duck Boat tour, but it’s too expensive for my blood (~$32).
- New England Style Clam Chowder eaten IN New England isn’t any better than what we have here in San Francisco. At least not at the Boston Chowda Co. (I tried it at the Prudential Center Food Court).
Boston really is a beautiful coastal city.
Read MoreMaking It Big
This week has been full of win, and it’s only Tuesday!
All the Cool Kids (and me)
My humble little blog TrishaLyn.com has been featured on Alltop.com under the Marketing category. Alltop is a digital magazine rack, per se. At each Alltop site, they display the latest five stories from 30+ sites on a single page, aggregating the information as a starting point. Alltop is a great way to expose yourself to blogs and websites relating to your interests that you may not have stumbled upon before. The interests range from women’s interests to sports, religion to geekery. In the marketing category my humble blog is mentioned amongst the likes of Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim, Michael Martine’s Remarkablogger, and Seth Godin’s blog. I’d say that lives up to the “all the cool kids (and me)” slogan!
Guest Co-Host of AffiliateThing on WebmasterRadio.fm
Regular host Shawn Collins of AffiliateTip.com and co-founder of Affiliate Summit invited me on to co-host the weekly Affiliate Thing podcast in lieu of regular co-host Lisa Picarille of Revenue Magazine who can’t make it tomorrow. I’m excited as I know this is a well-produced, professional podcast broadcast on Cranberry Radio, so I can’t wait. I’ll be recording from the pleasure of my own home in the morning and can’t wait to chew the affiliate fat with Shawn. I will say that I’m glad I’m not the one who has to edit it! it’s all recorded over Skype, so it’ll be great quality I’m sure!
Featured Expert on EzineArticles.com
That’s right, yours truly is also now a featured expert author on article site EzineArticles.com. So far I’ve submitted my Top 10 Things That Improve Work Ethic article and plan on submitting many more. If you’d like to see any of my former blog posts as articles on Ezine, drop me a line and let me know!
So that’s it! I feel like all this work I’ve been doing is paying off, and let me tell you, it’s a terrific feeling! I’ll be sure to report back on how the recording of Affiliate Thing goes tomorrow!
Read MoreJoel Comm – Scummy or Chummy?
A bit of a scandal broke out last week regarding AdSense guru Joel Comm’s latest eBook offering – AdSense Secrets 4. The landing page as you can see is one of your typical sales pages that usually screams of scam – at least that’s my usual impression of pages like this. Mark Wielgus from 45n5.com noticed many trusted bloggers and affiliate marketers blogging about this book and it’s greatness – people like super affiliate Zac Johnson and Affiliate Summit co-founder Shawn Collins. Mark was ready to go ahead and buy the book, until he noticed the fine print (figuratively…) on the page – when you buy the $9.95 eBook you were also automatically enrolled in a $29.95/mo. program to receive a newsletter with more tips & such from Joel.
To make a long story short since I linked to Mark’s post in last Friday’s Cribbed Content, he called Joel & this offer out as a scam and was none too happy about it. Joel swung by 45n5.com to explain himself – apparently there were glitches with the landing page and the shopping cart process that combined what was originally intended to be an opt-in offer (the $29.95 newsletter) with the main offer of the eBook. Some of the commentator’s over there are still not convinced that Joel’s being honest about the mix up considering his many years in the field – the “he should have known better” argument.
But the good news is that Joel, in either an effort to make good by a screwy landing page or an effort to save his ass from bad PR, has offered to make it up to people who feel like they were duped. Zac Johnson seems to have the scoop – he corrected the landing pages (well, no duh), added some “Fast Action Bonuses”, and for the next two weeks will be donating 100% of the profits to charity. Wade Tonkin over at Christian Affiliate Marketers just today posted a podcast chat he had with Joel about the offer & spam accusations. Again, whether this is an honest apology or an attempt to save face, it’s still a good gesture and good deal.
The moral of the story? Accusing an internet marketer of spam is akin to accusing a home run hero of corking his bat. Keep this tale in mind the next time you formulate a marketing campaign or launch a new product. Do what you can to make sure that there’s nothing shady, underhanded, or illegal about your offer – or anything that could remotely be considered as such. It’s a good thing to have the blogosphere talking about you, but not when they’re roasting you on a spit.
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