It’s All About the Cookies!
Philanthropist extraordinaire Missy Ward has announced her latest project to help fellow marketers and share some yummy recipes in her new book, It’s All About The Cookies. As of today, Missy is now accepting folks to submit their recipes! Not only will this be a great book, but it’s ultimately for a great cause. 100% of the net profits will be donated to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which has raised more than $380 million since 2003 to help fight this horrible disease.
This unique book may look like a cookbook, smell like a cookbook, and you’ll be able to make yummy delicious treats like from a cookbook… but here’s the catch. It’s REALLY a marketing book. When you submit your recipe you must also submit a marketing insight to share with other marketers. So not only are you going to get some great recipes (I’m very partial to the one I submitted), but you’re going to get some marketing schooling.
From their website:
Since the 90’s, affiliate marketers have had a love affair with cookies – not the chocolate chip, or oatmeal variety – but the pieces of code that ultimately tracks affiliates’ sales and commissions earned.
These affiliate marketers are a diverse group. Some work part-time and earn enough to subsidize their income while others have created extremely lucrative businesses.
For the uninitiated, Missy Ward is Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, Co-Publisher/Co-Editor in Chief of FeedFront Magazine, VP of Operations for MoneyMindedMoms.com, Founder of Affiliate Marketers Give Back, and all around amazing woman I’m happy to know. Also involved in this great project are Mary Poiley, founder of InternetCareerHunt.com; and Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge of JGoodeDesigns.com.
If you’ve got an awesome recipe, and some keen marketing advice or knowledge to share, please submit a recipe!
Read MoreHelp Support St. Thomas Becket Academy
It’s that time of year again for the Renaissance Dinner & Raffle at St. Thomas Becket Academy in Veneta, OR. If you weren’t following last year, St. Thomas Becket is the church my in-laws go to and St. Thomas Becket Academy is the private Catholic school attached to the church where Dominic’s six youngest siblings still attend.
Times are still pretty tough in Oregon. This year they brought some nuns in to help teach and the school is responsible for housing these nuns, which isn’t cheap. Of course like all schools, public and private, they can use new books, art supplies, sports equipment, and scholarship funds to help some families pay their children’s tuition.
Please consider purchasing a ticket for their raffle! Tickets are $10 each and tax deductible. You have a chance to win big too – the top prize is $3000 cash money!
First Prize is $3000 | Second Prize is $500 | Third Prize is $250 | Fourth Prize is $100
Drawing to be held May 21, 2011 at their Renaissance Dinner & Auction.
If you’re interested in purchasing a ticket, please email me to make arrangements. I can either accept the payment myself and have my mother-in-law Michelle send you the physical tickets or put you in touch with Michelle directly if you prefer to send payment to them. If you’re in Oregon in the Veneta/Eugene area and actually would like to attend the dinner, you can call the school directly at (541) 935-0149 to make your dinner reservations. There are a lot of great items up for auction during their silent auction before dinner, and it’s a fun night.
Please, dig out your checkbook and buy a raffle ticket. You could win some cash, and help out a really good school and some great kids. If you’re on Twitter, please retweet mentions of this blog post so we can get more donations for the school. Also, feel free to join the St. Thomas Becket Academy Cause. Or like St. Thomas Becket Academy on Facebook.
Read MoreInternet Marketing From The Real Experts
I’m excited to say that an article I wrote is included in the book Internet Marketing From The Real Experts
My article on Affiliate Manager Communication Strategies appears on page 15. Unfortunately since I wrote that article towards the beginning of FeedFront’s publication, it says I’m the marketing manager for PsPrint.com, which if you follow my blog you know that’s not true anymore. Oh well! I’m excited to be part of the gang of 88, and look forward to reading the entire book (well, the articles I haven’t already read in FeedFront).
From the back of the book:
What do Jay Berkowitz, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Jim Kukral, Ted Murphy, Jeremy Schoemaker, and Mari Smith have in comment? They all walk the walk when it comes to their Internet marketing expertise. And they also have joined dozens of innovators and thought shapers to share their ideas, advice, and insight.
Internet Marketing from the Real Experts is a collection of affiliate, email, blogging, podcasting, video, search engine, and social network rock stars that break down the how and why of Internet marketing in a clear, easy to understand way.
Their voices, their ideas, their action items, and their lessons learned from mistakes – all for you to grow your business the day you start reading Internet Marketing from the Real Experts.
I know that all those flattering words are really meant for the caliber of people listed on the back cover, but I’m honored to be among them in print! Better yet – all proceeds are going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Maybe now I will write that book I’ve been thinking of!
Read MoreCharity Bowl-a-Thon March 31st
Affiliate Marketers DO give back!
MarketLeverage is sponsoring a Charity Bowl-a-Thon on March 31st at 7pm in Sanford, FL. The proceeds of the event are going to be donated to the Niemann-Pick Children’s Fund in honor of Parker and Brisan Stults, the children of a MarketLeverage publisher. It’s being held at Airport Lanes in Sanford and costs $25 per bowler to participate. There are also a wide variety of sponsorship opportunities available if, like me, you don’t live in the area. Sponsorship opportunities are:
- Players: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down by your chosen player!
- Teams: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down by your chosen team!
- Pins: Donate 10 cents/pin for each pin knocked down for the night!
- Team Shirts: Support your favorite team and a great cause for $100- they’ll wear your logo on
their shirt! Max. of 10 logos per shirt + 1/10 shirt cost. - Team Shirts (Solo): Support your favorite team and they’ll wear only your brand/product or logo on
their shirt for $1000 + shirt cost. Max. 10 sponsors (1 per team). - Lanes: Pick your favorite team and they’ll play in your lane. Provide us with a banner to
display on your team’s lane for $250. Max. 10 sponsors (1 per lane). - Registration Area: Sponsor the area where our players sign in. Display your signage, and give away
swag for $500. Max. 2 sponsors. - Power Alley: Throughout the event, each team will have the chance to play in our power alley
twice! The power alley sponsor will donate $2/pin for each pin knocked down in
the power alley for the night. The Power Alley Sponsor will be a sole sponsor,
and can decorate with their banners around the lane. - Restaurant: The bowlers are going to be hungry coming from a long day at work to support
Parker and Brisan. If you have a restaurant or would like to pick up dinner from
the in-alley restaurant, they’d appreciate it. Table tents with your logo and
signage will be set up in the food area. - Door Prizes: Provide our teams and supporters with some great swag and a lasting
impression when they display your logo long after the event!
Niemann-Pick Disease is classified as a terminal illness, with approximately 1,200 cases worldwide. Niemann-Pick disease refers to a group of diseases passed down through families (inherited) in which fatty substances called lipids collect in the cells of the spleen, liver, and brain. Hospital costs for Parker and Brisan exceed $100,000 per month, which is why MarketLeverage is sponsoring this Bowl-a-Thon to help raise funds to help their cause.
For information on how to sponsor or participate, contact Dina at (407) 268-7667 or Dina@MarketLeverage.com. You can also make a donation directly at http://www.bripardun.com/. Do your part and give back!
Read MoreWho would you donate $5000 to?
I’ve been asking this question of myself for a long while tonight, after reading about the contest that John Chow is having, sponsored by tiny url service XR.com. In his contest, he’s giving the winner $6000 – $5000 will be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice and $1000 will be given to the winner directly to do with as they wish.
XR.com is a great service that allows you to shorten a URL and create a custom extension. For example, if I wanted to shorten the URL of this post I can enter it in at XR.com and create http://xr.com/donate5000. The beauty of signing up for a free account with XR is that you can keep track of all these redirected tiny URLS so you can use them repeatedly. That URL went from 62 characters to 17! It’s perfect when you’re not allowed a lot of characters to work with, like on Twitter.
The $1000 isn’t that easy either. My gut immediately says that I want to buy Guitar Hero World Tour & use the rest of the money for the Bahamian cruise I’m taking with friends in February. But then there are bills that could be paid off. Hand-me-down furniture that could be replaced. But since I’ve already committed to this trip, I believe I’ll use it for the cruise bills. That way I don’t have to put too much on my credit card.
Back to the donation to charity. A few worthy causes come to mind immediately – The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund, American Diabetes Association, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Make a Wish, the list goes on. These are charities that I believe in and believe that they could do a lot of good things with $5000. But, maybe I should stick with something closer to home? Make my community a better place, eh? So I did some Googlin’ for local charities, and I wasn’t overly impressed by anything. It also occurred to me that deciding to donate to charity based on a quick read of a mission statement isn’t very responsible.
So I’ve decided to donate the money as a way to give back to a non-profit organization that did so much for me in my youth – Girl Scouts of Northern California. Specifically, I will donate the money to a fund that helped me continue my membership for 12 years, go to summer camp in the sierras of California, and attend many other trips and activities that provided vast opportunities for me to learn new things and grow into a confident young woman.
The Opportunity Fund provides financial assistance that helps girls go to camp, covers their Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. membership, and allows them to participate in Girl Scout activities regardless of their families’ financial resources.
I can’t think of a better way to give back to an organization that gave me so much. This donation will give young girls the opportunities to expand their horizons, built their internal strength, and learn how to be better citizens in this global community.
That’s what I’d do… so I’m hoping that I win so I can fulfill that desire to give back.
Who would you donate $5000 to?
Read MoreSquished Boobs Save Lives
Periodically we’re reminded that Affiliate Marketing isn’t entirely about making money. There are good things that can be done with the passive income that we make (or wish we made). Regardless, this is something that affects everyone – even men have mothers, girlfriends, wives, sisters, and daughters.
Missy Ward has started the campaign & many affiliate marketers have joined her. They are raising funds for donation & participation in the Seattle 2008 60-Mile Breast Cancer 3-day walk in September. Along with Missy will be Jen Goode, Tiffany & Irene Spaulding, Anne Fognano & Tammy Carney, Heather Paulson & Jen Campbell, Karen Garcia, Laura Przybek, Angel Djambazov, & Lisa Riolo.
As they say there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and with Missy & Co’s forethought there’s more than one way to donate to the cause. Of course there’s the straight donation, which can be made at 60-MileWalk.com, where the team has already raised $2,312.00 of their $20,000.00 goal as of Friday evening. Your donation is deductible as a charitable contribution as allowed by law. According to the website, donations of $250 or more will be acknowledged in writing.
Or, if you’d rather donate AND support all at once, you can do what I did and make a purchase from their CafePress store. Deck yourself out with all kinds of swag under the sun and not only support the cause but spread the message.
So take time out from your day and spread the word and help the cause. Let’s help them reach their goal. I’ll be with you in spirit ladies! Make this baby VIRAL!
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