March 31, 2007 at 3:35 pm · Filed under Affiliates
I hate it.
I really do.
I consider myself a nice guy and try to stay positive about things, even if I’m not a big or small fan (SEO for instance).
There is something very disturbing about the current state of the blogosphere… it’s going negative, quickly. I think this is a moment we’ll look back on and point to as one of the indicators thatthe golden age of “nice blogging” is over.
Young people who ground their coding teeth on MySpace, and now Facebook, are looking beyond the blog to express their opinions, share their views and find content. Blogging has become a stepping-stool platform, or a transitory platform, for us old folk to move from old media to new media. Young people didn’t need this transitory step and are rapidly advancing into the brave new world of new media ahead of us as we grapple with how to monetize and make sure that we’re getting the right “google juice” out of our blogs.
Even in our space of online marketing and media, you can see evidence of this shift towards the negative to get eyeballs. Check out BUMPzee on any given day, and up near the top of the highest voted or highest commented-on posts will be a couple of blogs with negative titles and negative content.
Perhaps it’s one more example of why blogs are on the backend of the innovation curve and why platforms such as Twitter or Tumblr are the new place of discussion rather than dollars-for-eyeballs bonanzas.
Congratulations, you’re expecting a baby! The baby ticker baby countdown pregnancy ticker is a fun way to count down the days to your baby’s birth date. Week-by-week as your pregnancy date approaches you’ll see the baby ticker grow and develop, matching your own baby’s development. It’s amazing to see your baby grow from a… (more) fetus as it develops tiny arms, legs, fingers and toes.
Like any happy bouncing baby, the baby ticker baby will move around. Mom’s who are in there second or third trimester can attest to that!
Customize the baby ticker widget with your own name and pregnancy due date.
The baby ticker fun way to announce your pregnancy to friends and family.
That’s right, a pregnancy widget.
Who’s using widgets? A lot of people besides you, if you’re asking that quesiton.
It’s interesting that in an industry where we tout our ability to cross channels and overcome silo’s that we’ve managed to narrowly defined what we consider to be an affiliate network.
There has been a great deal of talk about the recent revelation that Google is going to be involved, somehow, in the world of cost per action. Some pundits have weighed in to declare that there will be no effect whatsoever on the affiliate marketing or direct marketing world, while others maintain that we should be on cautious alert over this new development.
So, what’s the answer?
It depends on your situation and how you define describe an affiliate network.
Here are some things you should consider when you make your attempt to describe what is meant by the term affiliate network:
What exactly does an affiliate network do?
What type of actions does an affiliate network facilitate?
What exactly is an affiliate?
What is a network?
Was Yoda right when he quipped that “Size Matters Not”?
What type of actions are acceptable within the framework of an affiliate network?
What type of action should an affiliate network track?
What is the currency that affiliate networks encourage (attention, links or clicks)?
What do you want an affiliate network to do for YOU?
I think if you consider these questions, you’ll arrive at an answer of whether or not Google’s latest announcement on its CPA program means anything for affiliate marketing, or whether affiliate networks should be concerned about the rise of CPA networks or whether affiliate networks have a future.
Think before you speak or write, and measure your descriptions carefully as your ideas will quite often conflict with your colleagues.
Perhaps we should start re-evaluating what we consider both affiliates and networks in this industry…
March 29, 2007 at 8:41 pm · Filed under Affiliates
Last week, I posted about a new service called “TwitThis” which allows for users to share interesting links from blog posts on their Twitter pages.
Of course, there are obvious ways to seriously abuse this, and I’m sure it will happen eventually due to the human condition.
However, for those seeking to keep Twitter a somewhat healthy and useful tool, this little tool is a perfect way to distribute content and allow others to share in the joy (or despair) of your experience with that content.
The FeedBurner team has created a little script which allows you to add a “TwitThis” link on the bottom of your page or feed item if you are using FeedBurner to manage your syndication content. Since I do use (and love) FeedBurner (even have a sticker on my favorite laptop), you’ll see an example of the “Feed Flare” in action below this post or feed item.
FeedBurner has done a great job of allowing for the distribution of content with their FeedFlare options. Every producer of content, should be attempting to have their content distributed as much as possible.
But, there is a balance to be found.
Pushing your willingness to have your content shared can backfire in your efforts to have that goal accomplished. There are blogs where I do enjoy the content, but cannot stand to visit on a regular basis because of the heavy pushing of social networking links. In this regard, I am more than thankful that RSS feeds are easily discoverable in FireFox so that I can get the syndicated content without having to deal with the mess.
I do keep a BUMPzee button at the bottom of the posts here, because of the usefulness that it serves for me and for a large majority of my users. I think moderation is a good thing in this respect.
However, as we’ve pointed out many times here, RSS adoption is still relatively low. So, how many visitors and readers are you turning away from your blog because of issues such as your insistence that your content be shared on del.icio.us, Netscape, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc?
The better tactic is to let your users organically choose to bookmark and share your content. The best way to do that is to encourage the use of RSS and syndication, in my opinion. Rather than seeking to gain more traffic by beating your loyal readers over their head with social networking links, allow them to share what they deem is fitting on their own volition.
If you’re content is good, it will be distributed. Let your readers choose their distribution methods instead of forcing it down their eye sockets. They’ll reward you with loyal readership and more traffic in the long term (tail).
March 29, 2007 at 12:05 pm · Filed under Affiliates
Is blogging still an effective communication medium?
I’m not so sure. It’s rapidly becoming over monetized, repetitive and as less relative.
Micro-blogs, tumblelogs, social networks and Twitter are quickly eroding the “instant information” strangle hold that blogs once held.
Where’s all of this going?
I’m not sure. I’m thinking of moving to all micro-chunking and aggregating a daily “best-of” here along with long form and developed thoughts. I think that’s the future of blogging, in whatever form it takes. Blogging will act as sort of the standard print edition of collected thoughts rather than the only medium that the thoughts are expressed within.
March 28, 2007 at 5:07 pm · Filed under Affiliates
There are some fascinating conversations going on inside the ABestWeb Web2.0 Forum right now.
We’re starting a conversation on RSS this evening, so it should be an interesting and valuable read to get a glimpse of some of the ideas and opinions that people have over the format and its application for affiliate marketing.
No, not ShareASale as a company… but their Star Thingy in particular. What is it? What does it do? Why a star?
Brian Littleton and the creative gang there have decided to turn to video to help find some answers.
So here is the whole story… At the most recent Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, we ended up with too many of one particular item, the “ShareASale Star Thingy”.
Since video is taking off so fast and making it’s way into affiliate marketing, I thought we could have a little fun with all of the leftover stars and maybe have some people learn about video in the process.
So here it is: We would like to encourage anyone to generate a video, featuring the “ShareASale Star Thingy” … you can turn it into whatever you want. I’ve had people tell me it is a sponge, a doorstop, a coaster, and a hat. Be creative, and if you just want to talk about the Star that is fine too… do whatever you want. (Of course, please nothing inappropriate -let’s try to keep it PG-13ish).
Participants are paid $10 just for entering the contest (now that’s monetizing user generated content), with the chance to win $50 if your video is used in a final collaborative video. The winning video gets an account bonus of $1000.
Best of all is the charity connection. For each of the first 100 videos, a $99 donation will be made to CarbonFund.org to help offset a year of your carbon emissions.
There will be major changes occurring here over the next few hours, days and into weeks.
Details will come trickling out at first and then the levy will break. If you’d like to follow along and see where things are headed, check out the following places:
Each one of these places will play a major role in the changes that are already starting here (and at other places) and will eventually morph into the next iteration of CPN.
Aggregate all of these sources, you say? Nope, that’s your job. I’d like for you to pay attention, but I’d rather earn it from you.
Don’t worry, it will be easy, quick and might even to cause you to think (differently?) about marketing, humanity and how/why we do what we do in this insulated bubble we’ve created for ourselves.
In a nutshell, CostPerNews will remain a site and will retain its basic character. However, the way “content” is produced, compiled and composed here will be altered dramatically. Just as individuals outside the “blogosphere” are creating, sharing and marketing their own ideas, we need to move to the next step.
I would call it blogging2.0, but blogging is dead…
I would say yes. Others would disagree. Nonetheless, we have not overcome sexism within our industry. In a recent post here about an industry conference adopting demeaning and downright sexist imagery to attract visitors, I was amazed at the numbers of “So’s?” and “Duh, it’s marketing that works!”. I was called everything from a “homo” to a “hypocrite” because I pointed out the absurdity of treating women as marketing objects and men as silly sheep more apt to think with their genitals rather than their brains.
Now, Kathy Sierra, a prominent and well-respected blogger (and someone that I’ve gained an incredible amount of insight, wisdom and insipiration from) feels threatened and vulnerable based on threats that she’s received recently.
As a man who is expecting to start a family with his wife within the year, I cannot begin to express how outraged I am over the prevalent sexism that is rampant in our industry. I ask urge you to stand up and not let networks, merchants, other affiliates or super affiliate guru’s dictate your ethics. When you see a “booth babe” at the next marketing conference, think of your own daughter and how they would be perceived in such an industry. To borrow from a Biblical story, participating in such a system adds blood to all of our hands.
Let’s work for change.
Let’s make this an industry that stands up for the integrity of all people.
According to Scott, Zee’s are “Twitter-like mini posts where you can post some small bit of info: news, a gripe, etc.”
This feature just elevated BUMPzee above the crowd and places it on the forefront of social networks. If you’re not active there, you’re missing out. And if you’re not analyzing how the micro- will affect your program, you’re going to be left behind.
March 26, 2007 at 4:56 pm · Filed under Affiliates
Once the SEO crowd realizes that you get better “Google Juice” from Tumblelogs and Twitter streams compared to prototypical WordPress or TypPad blogs, all hell is going to break loose.
If you thought the first few months of blogging and Twitter madness were insufferable, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Micro-chunking is here in the form of widgets, micro-blogs and micro-vids. Are you paying earning attention?
