Commission Junction UK has launched an official blog and it looks pretty nice! Full of good posts. You can check it out here: CJ UK Blog.

I wonder when Commission Junction USA will launch their own blog. Probably pretty soon if they see the UK blog doing well. I think they should seriously consider it, since its a great way to get word out about new happenings at CJ. And there are plenty of interesting and smart people working at Commission Junction, so filling it up with good posts about affiliate marketing and new developments at CJ shouldn’t be too difficult.

Provided by Guest Blogger Seth Sarelson, RevTrax

As many of you might know, RevTrax is an in-store affiliate network. We offer printable coupons from major brick & mortar retailers that pay an affiliate commission on each in-store sale. Considering that 89% of consumers browse online before making a purchase*, but < 7% of retail sales actually take place online**, promoting brick & mortar merchants presents a tremendous opportunity for all types of affiliates.

To this point, I want to share an example from one of our clients:
Jackson Hewitt Tax Service® is a leading tax preparation firm with approximately 6,800 franchised and company-owned offices throughout the U.S. in the 2008 tax season. The company doesn’t accept online filings and has never had an affiliate program before.

In past years, the client has distributed online coupons to save $ on tax prep and distributed frequently via partnerships with large employers. Links to these coupons were typically not promoted heavily because the affiliate didn’t stand to gain financially from driving an in-store sale.

By working with RevTrax, the client was able to approve each individual affiliate to closely control distribution of the coupon. RevTrax tracks the number of times each coupon is viewed and printed and each printed coupon contains a unique promo code that is associated with the affiliate ID. (Many of our clients use a unique barcode instead of a promo code).

Click Here to see sample (you’ll notice that the unique promo code is added when you actually print the coupon)

The client provides aggregate POS data on a regular basis and RevTrax is able to tell the merchant and the affiliate how many times the coupon was viewed, printed, and redeemed for each affiliate.

The IRS started accepting returns on January 16, and since then affiliates have seen response rates ranging from 11% to over 20% of printed coupons converting into redemptions at Jackson Hewitt locations. Jackson Hewitt is paying the affiliate for each redemption.

You can join RevTrax to work with Jackson Hewitt, CompUSA, TigerDirect, S&K Menswear, and others by clicking here .

The author is co-founder at RevTrax, an in-store affiliate network. Seth can be reached at Seth@RevTrax.com or 646-649-4317.

* BIG Research 2007
** Forrester, “The State of Retailing Online” 2007

Hello everyone! It’s with great sadness that Sam is leaving the Internet Marketing industry. Sam and I had discussed possibly selling the site a few months back at which time I told him to hold onto it becuase I thought it was so great. So, I was quite suprised when I read Sam’s post the other day and saw how the site was going to be sold. I reached out and a deal was struck. Good Karma for working on a Saturday I suppose! After I acquired the site from Sam he told me that he was glad it was going to a good home. He did such a great job with the site, I will do my best to take it to the next level.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Evan, live in South Florida, and I have been in online marketing since the late 1990s. My first web project was a free auction site modeled after eBay called utauction.com. At the same time I was selling antiques, vintage clothing, and costumes on eBay and through ecommerce for DecoDermot.com. After that experience, I moved on to join a start-up ecommerce company in the health vertical called Dentalplans.com. It was a tremendous learning experience that lasted 5 1/2 years. When I departed, I decided to go into outsourced affiliate management because that’s what I really enjoy doing. I have worked with thousands of individual affiliates both large and small and everyone in between over the years. I never get sick of receiving phone calls at all hours of the night and weekend from affiliates hungry to learn how to marketing online. I’m really glad I decided to focus my energy into affiliate marketing full-force because it’s such an exciting, dynamic space to be in. My goal is to help as many companies as possible to benefit from my experience, knowledge and methods in growing their affiliate programs and marketing online in general.

So what do I plan to do with CostPerNews.com? I’m not quite sure yet actually. I do plan to make it a level playing field, not favoring any one network, conference or forum. I plan to launch a forum on the site and invite a ton of people in the industry to join. I think that will go over well. I will be asking for blog contributors who would like to post articles on performance-based marketing to the site. I am open to suggestions from people in the online marketing world as well.

I look forward to continuing to make CostPerNews.com a leading Internet Marketing website. I’d love to hear from anyone interested in contributing to the site in any way. If you would like to learn more about what my comapny does please visit Experience Advertising. Talk to you soon!

I stumbled into the affiliate marketing world years ago.

I’m walking out of it today.

My experiences in the affiliate marketing world have been incredibly positive when it comes to interpersonal relationships. However, it’s time for me to move on. I’m not happy.

Why am I not happy?

Mainly because I don’t like the way online marketing continues to debase the human factor of interaction in attempts to “monetize” and find cracks in the sidewalks to plant sour seeds.

It’s not you, it’s me.

I’m just not interested in the day-to-day minutia of being a marketing professional anymore. I’m sure I’ll always keep up with the main trends and I’ll certainly keep up with the space in terms of how it affects social media, etc.

But these questions just don’t turn me on anymore…

“Why doesn’t tinyurl allow for better cookie tracking so that I can make affiliate sales from Twitter links?”

“Why does Google punish me for selling links when TechCrunch does the same thing?”

“How much should I invest in my StumbleUpon account in order to drive 1,000 pageviews a day?”

“Can you help me tweak my Twitter account so that I can drive sales thru my landing page?”

“How can I get more fans to join my (self-created) Facebook page?”

“Who do I need to pay to add outbound links to the affiliate marketing page on Wikipedia?”

“Is FriendFeed worth it? Yeah, I know you say it’s neat for finding out information and learning about new things, but will it make me money?”

And It is these sorts of things that have slowly driven a wedge between my own idealism and (what I see as) the current trajectory of online marketing. Beyond a growing distaste around such issues, I generally find myself on the wrong side of the fence for effective marketing. And I’ve been on all sides of that online marketing fence… publisher, affiliate, CPA network, email marketer, agency, vendor, OPM, and God knows whatever else… I’m coming to grips with my own realization that it’s not for me.

For me, the expectations have never met the promises. These days, I’m only feeling more alienated. As a result, I’m choosing to opt-out rather than becoming a constant nay-sayer or voice of doom and gloom.

To quote Lennon, “I don’t want to spoil the party, so I’ll go.”

On top of all that, I just don’t see myself as an “online” or even “affiliate” marketer anymore. I’m not saying I’ve grown beyond those labels. I just don’t feel that those pairs of socks go with my outfits now.

PLEASE do not get me wrong. I respect, admire and love so many people in the affiliate and online marketing space (and will continue to do so, of course). This is not a personal affront to anyone in the space or the space itself, but more of a realization that I have to move on.

As a result, I’ll be shutting down CostPerNews (or (fire) selling it if someone is interested) and doing my posting over on my personal site.

I’m also going to be working on the podcast network I’m developing (Thinking.fm) around issues I am excited about these days (science, religion, Nascar, parenting, tech, politics… the site is still being developed, so excuse the mess… will be up and going by February). I’m really excited about those sites.

And hopefully, the gang will still allow me to take part in GeekCast even though I’m turning in my affiliate hard card. I hope so (check out the site redesign, btw).

I’m also doing more work in the non-profit world (Hunger Initiative) and continuing my journey towards whatever end awaits me at seminary.

Yes, of course it is my hyperbole than anything to say I’m “quitting” marketing since we are all marketers in whatever we do. I should rephrase that and say “I’m quitting the professional guise of being an online marketer.” There, that feels better.

–

Two and a half years ago, I wrote this and my career only exploded afterwards:

So, with these realizations and my own skewed since of lefty politics and social views I’m embarking on a mission to do better… to make things good… to connect people to good things they might not have known about… to form community… and to use my skills to leave the internet a better place than it was when I found it (way back in the Prodigy Bulletin Board days).

Lofty goals often mean periods of worry, anxiety and joblessness in terms of “career” but sticking to my flower-guns has got to be a better policy than being miserable knowing that I’m not using my full potential.

So, who knows what’s next, but it will be shiny, rusty, exciting, boring, profitable, unprofitable and creative. I will make this work (whatever in the hell this is).

So, who knows what’s next? I will make it work. I will make it worthwhile.

Thank you all so much for the incredible dedication of readership as well as the inspiration you’ve provided me in the comments and emails.

Here’s to a new beginning and learning from the past.

Great stuff:

Social Media Marketing Madness [cartoon]

With much frustration and sadness, I wanted to let you know that I won’t be attending ASW this year.

A close family member has been sick for the last few months and some labs came back this week that weren’t good. All that to say, I’m needed here with family and the baby since they are my first priorities. Everything should be alright in the long term, but for now, family calls.

This is the first Affiliate Summit West or East I’ve missed in a long while, and it tears me up to think I won’t be there with all of my close friends and colleagues. I look forward to these gathering of the tribes so much because we are such a tight-knit community. Plus, I was really excited to hang out with the PartnerCentric team.

All that to say, I’m missing one hell of a show and networking event. What Missy and Shawn have put together really has become an integral part of life/business/friendship to anyone involved in affiliate marketing. It’s a true testament to their hard work and dedication that we all look forward to these shows so much. I know I do, at least.

If you are like me and can’t make it, make sure to check out the live stream of the Gary Vaynerchuk keynote provided by Missy and Shawn.

So, have a Coors Light for me at the All American Bar and Grille in the Rio. I’ll be there in spirit.

See you in New York for ASE this August-

Sam

Will Jangro break the curse??

Lots of good nominees this year and congrats to all the finalists:

Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Finalists Announced — MissyWard.com: “The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Gala is affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space. Award winners are recognized because they are innovative leaders with vision and influence.

The Pinnacle Awards Gala is open to all attendees of Affiliate Summit West 2009 and takes place Monday, January 12th from 5:00pm-6:30pm in the Brasilia room at the Rio Hotel Las Vegas.”

Congrats to all the winners and congrats to ShareASale for being so awesome:

ShareASale Blog » ShareASale Performance Awards: “This marks the inaugural announcement of (to be) annual ShareASale Performance Awards.

While we reserve the right to add awards in the future, it was our goal this year to keep things pretty simple so we have designated 6 specific awards.”

Yes, some of this is uber-geeky.

However, if you’re an online marketer, it’s in your best interest to keep an eye on the horizon.

What is quickly coming towards us is the “real-time” web that includes our laptops, mobiles, netbooks, iPhones, TV’s and just about anything with a chip in it.

Why is this so valuable?

One word: Track. If you don’t know what Track is or why it’s important, you missed a good part of 2008. Welcome to the web.

Track will be the grease that keeps online marketers on the tracks in the coming years. Twitter might not be the service to provide it, but somehow and someway, a real-time firehose of specified keywords and info will be available to you.

Track will make our current marketing paradigm of Google keyword buying based on passive searches look like print advertising from the 60’s.

FriendFeed takes us a big step towards the real-time web with the beginning of SUP implementation…

FriendFeed Blog: Simple Update Protocol: Update: “Several months back, we announced SUP (Simple Update Protocol), a proposal for making RSS and Atom feed updates faster and more efficient. Since then, a number of services have added SUP support, we’ve SUP-enabled our feed fetcher, and there are now thousands of SUP enabled feeds being imported into FriendFeed. Among the services that now support SUP are Disqus, Brightkite, Identi.ca (and other Laconica-powered micro-blogs), BackType, and 12seconds.tv. Whenever one of these feeds is updated, the new entry appears on FriendFeed within seconds (non-SUP feeds typically take 15-30 minutes to update). Check out the public feed of Brightkite updates to see this in action. “

I’m not kidding when I tell you to watch this space if you want to be doing online marketing five to ten years from now.

Must read on affiliate marketing’s real value in the sales chain during these tough economic times from Scott Jangro (aka Jerry Maguire).

Be warned… this is not a cheerleading piece.

The Year Affiliates Saved Christmas, Really? | Jangro.com: “As affiliate marketing gets a larger and larger percentage of retail sales, and taps more and more into ‘already had’ customers, it becomes devalued. For the health of this industry and channel, these things need to be understood and addressed.”

Way to go, Jangro.

According to Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille, I hate Top 10 Lists.

So, to get out of my shell a little, I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort putting together the most meaningful things I’ve read over the past year (thanks, Delicious!) to help you stay on top of the coming trends facing online marketing.

See, I pride myself on catching things early. Jeff Molander called me a futurist once. That was the biggest honor I’ve ever received from an online marketer.

I throw a lot of play-doh at the wall to see what’ll stick, but occasionally I get things right. I called Twitter early and my marketer pals thought I was ridiculous when I tried to explain myself here or at the Affiliate Summit in early ‘07. Tumblr has been a decent success. RSS is still developing but I’m still pushing it hard. The semantic web is quickly catching up to web2.0, so I’ve got my eyes on a few things there.

All of that said, here are the things I’m keeping my eye on in 2009 and beyond. It’s a little glimpse into my mind… if you will.

I sincerely hope you learn something and that you enjoy!

1. Joseph Priestley (uber marketer): This guys is (was?) a brilliant marketer. You’ll love him. Just read the whole thing. Trust me.

2. Marketing Vision: John Updike nails the marketing theory of discovery and changing landscapes.

3. Philosophy of Marketing: Insight, relevance and connections…what all good great marketers strive for in their campaigns.

4. Social Media Marketing Defined and Refined: Yes, social media marketing is the new hotness. But do you know how to turn it into reality?

5. The Possibilities of Marketing: Process Marketing will be huge in 2010. Know what it is? You should. Read this.

6. Viral Marketing 2.0: Forget that old-skool viral marketing mumbo jumbo. Pathogen marketing is going to be hot in the twenty-teens. Get your prescription for success now!

7. The Goal of All Marketers: At the end of the day, this is why I do what I do.

8. Marketing Yourself at Conferences: You must have these skills for conferences.

9. Advanced Twitter Usage for the Advanced Marketer: Do you use Twitter? Are you a marketer? Know all the basics? Then read this.

and last (or first if you’re starting with 10, which is cool) but not least:

10. Putting it All Together for the Future: Marketing is rapidly evolving. This guide will help you plan out your next moves to keep you relevant in the coming decade of media upheaval.

Anything I missed?

Here’s to a successful 2009 and beyond!

Along with the bone-headed “affiliate tax” that New York state has tried to implement in the past year (head here for more great and in-depth discussion on that topic) in hopes of collecting about $50 million, Gov Paterson is now considering levying an “iPod tax” to collect revenue from music and digital downloads:

NY Governor Proposes iPod Tax - MarketingVOX: ”
Slot machine 2.0

Hoping to expedite the close of the state’s $15 billion budget gap, New York Governor David Paterson is proposing a tax on music and other downloads made online.”

Insane.

Look, I’m a tax-and-spend liberal. However, I’m also a realist. Taxing individual consumption of things such as digital music is not only impractical and dumb, but considering the other avenues of revenue available for NY state, it’s insulting for the citizens of the state (not to mention the ludicrous affiliate tax).

I think the Beatles sang it best… “my advice for those who die, declare the pennies on your eyes, cause I’m the taxman and you’re working for no one but me.”