Affiliate Marketing Fanatics Episode 1: Almost a Fail
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So I’ve returned rejuvenated from my vacation and I’m here to announce that I’ve started a new podcast with Michael Buechele of 11|15 Media called Affiliate Marketing Fanatics. In the podcast, hosted generously by GeekCast.fm, we discuss different tools and aspects of affiliate marketing from both the publisher perspective (Mike) and the affiliate manager perspective (mine).
We recorded our first episode just before I left for vacation and Michael worked on the editing and posting while I was gone… unfortunately as we’re just learning this stuff, there are some strange audio issues and the very end got cut off. We were using Pamela to record over Skype, so if anyone out there has any suggestions to fix them, I’m all ears.
In our first episode we discuss Zemanta, the BAAMC, RingRevenue, the PMA, and Facebook. So please, go check it out and comment and let us know what you think!
Read MoreBay Area Affiliate Managers – Save the Date February 19th
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you’re looking for some networking and a discussion of what’s going on in the industry, come join the Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition. The BAAMC is basically just a group of affiliate managers in the area that get together to discuss current industry events with the Bay Area perspective.
I’ve attended a couple meetings and really gotten a lot out of it. It’s nice to sit around with some colleagues over lunch and discuss issues. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the last meeting in the fall, but the next meeting will be in Menlo Park February 19th. The group tries to meet every quarter, but since it relies on a company being able to volunteer to host the group and provide lunch, it can’t always be swung.
If I didn’t work from home, I’d try to make a case to my boss to host, but I don’t have enough chairs :p
If you’re interested in joining the group, check out the website BAAMC.org and join the Yahoo! Group.
Read MoreCommission Junction University – Day 1
I’m down here in lovely Santa Barbara for Commission Junction University, and day one is in the can. The weather has been nice…although living in California I’m generally used to this weather, but being in the Southern end of the state there’s a distinctly different feel that I can’t quite put my finger on. But I enjoy it.
I flew from Oakland to Los Angeles on a puddle jumper, and from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara on a pack of gum. Between flights and layovers and cab rides, I arrived at my motel at 12:15am. The room is your average motel fare: 70’s floral bedspread, translucent yellow cords on the lamps, inmate furniture. The room also has a mini fridge, microwave, nicely sized TV, free wifi, and a surprisingly comfortable bed & pillows – not too shabby for $77/night. This makes me glad I’m staying at a real hotel for Blog World Expo this coming weekend.
Because of the high cost of cab fare ($25+), once I got the conference hotel I didn’t want to leave until the end of the day. I ran into Lisa Picarille and Wade Tonkin almost immediately in passing after I registered and headed to the first session, which I’ll cover later. Jeremy Palmer from Quit Your Day Job lead the first “course” as CJU calls them, and Olivier Chaine from Magnify 360 led the second. On a personal note, I read his name in the program and knew the pronunciation would be something like “o-live-e-ay shayne” and was confused when the emcee pronounced it very phonetically (olive-er chain). I was disappointed in CJ when Olivier pronounced his own name at the end of his session much like I’d imagined it was properly pronounced…if you’re going to introduce someone, learn how to pronounce their name.
I digress. Both courses were informative and well done, and I’ll be posting a bullet point review of both later on. After the courses were done I took a quick break and then headed out to the CJU Expo, a small area of tables nicely held outside under umbrellas that more closely resembled the Meet Market at Affiliate Summit than your typical trade show. It was mostly merchants and different CJU programs with tables, with the exception of an OPM (Schaaf Consulting), a couple affiliates (SurfMyAds.com), and a table for the Performance Marketing Alliance.
It’s a good thing I saw that PMA table, because it made it easy to run into some familiar faces in the form of Connie Berg & Brad Waller. Also was able to say hello to Michael Brucker from RingCentral at their table, one of the organizers of the BAAMC whose quarterly meetings I attend. (By the way if you’re an affiliate manager with a company in the SF Bay area interested in getting involved and possibly hosting about 20-25 ppl for lunch some day, let Michael know).
After the expo it was zoo time with the welcoming event being held down the street at the Santa Barbara Zoo. As much as I wanted to go, my phone was practically dead for some reason and my stomach was a bit upset, so I opted to head back to my motel. Tomorrow is a day full of sessions that look pretty good, and a keynote from Guy Kawasaki…who I think may literally be giving me the nifty orange Alltop shirt off his back afterwards. More about that if/when it happens 😉
Online Marketing Glossary: Cost per Aquisition
To begin, isn’t it sad that I’ve just NOW got around to reading Issue 22 of Revenue Magazine?! I think our subscription might have run out since I got this copy from the stack that editor Lisa Picarille brought to last week’s BAAMC meeting.
Regardless, I’ve let my glossary series’ go once the link series was done. I just haven’t found another good list of definitions to share with you. But here’s a beauty, all online marketing related terms. So this starts the series, first the term and definition, then how this affects me so far and my take. Let the fun begin!
Cost per Acquisition:
- The cost metric for each time a qualifying action, such as sales and registrations, takes place.
Most affiliate programs use this model. Many retail merchants prefer to pay for performance to guarantee that they’re making money while paying commissions. The frequently used abbreviation CPA, however, doesn’t mean cost per acquisition, so watch out.
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Glossary Definition From ABCs of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
June BAAMC Meeting
After running to the bank to take out money for bridge toll, heading west towards the big scary city, and rifling through my car & wallet for change for the meter while praying that the meter maids were taking a day off, I finally made it into the June Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition meeting, this time hosted graciously by Real Networks. As an aside, I like their building… older, brick, kinda funky and unique but still professional.
Last time I did a video because it was my first venture over there and I had a lot to say. I was happy to receive some kudos on it from BAAMC organizer Michael Brucker. We had some special guests at this meeting… Lisa Picarille from Revenue Magazine came over and Brook Schaaf from Schaaf Consulting flew up from LA just for this. Aren’t we special? 🙂
I was going to write a good long post about it, but it seems Lisa in her diligence as a journalist has beat me to it! So here’s her take at RevenueToday.com. She mentions a few other special guests that attended the meeting, but I didn’t see them (and yes… I’d recognize them!) so maybe they were on the phone listening in… I did arrive a touch late.
So, some notes not mentioned from my take. It was nice to finally meet Lisa in person, especially after subbing for her that once on Affiliate Thing. Very gracious…although I have to tell you, it’s totally surreal sitting in a room looking at a person speak that you listen to every week without an image in your head. Strange lol. She was surprised that I’d had time to come to the meeting given how busy I usually am, which prompted me to mentally review how busy I must sound on Twitter and this here blog without actually intending it!
Also said hi to Karen Garcia of GTO Management who came to the meeting directly from SFO – what a trooper! And had a nice conversation with a fellow affiliate manager who’s used PsPrint a lot in his former life of being an event promoter and loves us! Always great to hear!
Brook talked about the up-and-coming Performance Marketing Association (PMA), which got a lot of people in the room revved up. We also talked at length about the NY affiliate tax and how we wish the networks would get more involved. What’s definitely clear is that there’s a lot of confusion on how we’re effected as managers and the programs we represent. A vague law will only vaguely be enforced, NY!
Incidentally as a side note, the PMA launched their blog this week and today Rebecca Madigan posted their plan of attack.
We also talked a bit about some miscellaneous things like video widgets and the like. Since most of us in the room have our programs through Commission Junction, we collectively wish they’d buck up on offering some more interesting and innovative creative options, like widgets. One opinion was that video is pretty good for buzz, but general consumers never think to click on the video so it doesn’t convert as a sales tool. I think the jury is still out on video as a traceable seller like a banner ad.
That’s the meat & potatoes of it, really. Our next meeting should be sometime in August. And I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that I managed to escape parking-ticket free!
Read MoreMarch BAAMC Meeting
Last week I was happy to attend the March lunch meeting of the Bay Area Affiliate Manager Coalition. It was a great meeting and I was super jazzed afterwards. I found, when trying to sit down and write this blog post, that I was way too excited about it. I’ve been looking for a subject to test out a video with, so I decided to bust out my trusted Aiptek HD Camera and throw a little HD action at you.
Please feel free to give me any feedback. And leave comments! Thanks!
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