There is a big unanswered question in affiliate marketing today – how can we give credit for an online sale in such a way as to reward all of the sites that played a part in it? Surely that would be fair but as yet there is no workable answer.

Imagine I’m buying a Pay As You Go mobile phone. First of all I’ll probably read reviews of two or three new handsets I’ve heard about (for simplicity let’s say I’ve visited one review site, although in reality it may be several), clicking through to retailers and back in the process. Having decided I want the new Nokia I’ll then go to my chosen comparison site to find the best deal on it, before clicking through to the merchant. Wait a minute though, here’s a box in the checkout for a voucher code… I’ll just pop back to Google to find a current code for that merchant, which will involve clicking on the site and hence dropping a voucher code cookie, which will win the commission for the whole sale. Wouldn’t it be great if the merchant could store the three cookies (this is possible) and then automatically split the commission three ways on completion? I guess it would be more popular with the review sites but then they probably work a lot harder to put their content together than the voucher sites anyway.

I’ve deliberately omitted another stage of the buying process here, the cashback or reward site. The problem is they need to know what the CPA is in advance in order to offer it to their members, so it would seem they would need a different set of rules altogether – and they may be the sites who prevent this idea from ever getting off the ground. The other problem with this method if it became the norm is that it’s open to abuse. What’s to stop unscrupulous affiliates linking to merchants using a link that momentarily visits another of their own sites, because if the commission is going to be split they might as well bag another share to make sure?

I don’t know the answer to this big question, but I look forward to the debate.

Guest Blog by: Richard Buckton of Digital TV Advice

The Avalanche is coming, The Avalanche is coming, forget it, the Avalanche is here!

I fondly remember back to a conversation that I had with a Sr. VP of Sales at a leading newspaper roughly 5 years ago (who I was an Online Specialist for). It went something like this:

What do you think will happen moving forward with the newspaper, the magazine and the sites?

My response was “watch out because the Avalanche is coming”. What I was referring to was that with online audiences growing steadily and newspaper and magazine ad revenue (and readership) dropping like a stone, it was pretty clear that any irrelevant media source would be wiped out. It wouldn’t happen overnight but it would definitely happen, magazine by magazine, paper by paper, city by city.

“Readers” weren’t readers anymore, they’re now people. They didn’t like yesterday’s news or to be told what was happening. They no longer bought the media, they controlled it, they made the media, had voices and they reached out to places where they could be heard. They used to think we were nuts that we went to YouTube or Blogged, now it’s called things like User Generated Content, Tweets or Postings and these dark dungeons are now called Billion dollar companies. Imagine the pleasure I had back then in being a webhead. How much for a button thingy on the front page? how do I find Google on the web? I must have short man’s syndrome or something but it’s amazing now that people are living the dream – people read newspapers, people watch TV, people listen to the radio but people USE the Internet.

Now that we are USING the Internet we’ve taken media to an absolutely new level. That new level has been incredibly fun for my peeps, my fellow webheads. Before you put on your party hat and print your revolution t-shirt, stop and think for a second about something that this growth has created – Advertisers’ pain. They can’t find you anymore. They’re having difficulty learning how to speak WITH you instead of speaking AT you. Come on tidy demographics, can’t you just congregate at the local newspaper like you used to? It was so much easier when one phone call would buy media for millions of people in a specific demographic.

To make things worse, the economy has gone from “the challenge area” to the “Don’t lose my job at all costs” phase and now these Marketing Managers and agency folk are pressed to sell more products with each Marketing dollar spent. That’s right, selling products is important again. Pass the Rogaine, people are losing their hair out there. The avalanche is here and the snowboarders are winning! It’s ok, we’ll help them out right.

You never know, maybe they’re reading your blog right now, clicking on an ad and helping you make a few affiliate bucks.

Guest Post by: Mike Carney of MediaTrust

Most of you have undoubtedly played the field, some have found the perfect match, some have chewed their arm off. Finding the perfect match in life is hard because you don’t know if your choice is going to continue to be the beauty queen that everyone hypes her to be or she’s going to be the one that leaves creepy messages for you saying Call me, Call me. Affiliate Marketing is like that, sometimes it’s exciting, other times it’s Mrs. Chucky time.

In the Day to day world of an Affiliate publisher it’s very similar to being at closing time on a Saturday night – who should I commit all of my charm and resources to? Sometimes that choice becomes more difficult because your friends are giving you the nudge, nudge and hyping the beauty across the room. Trust me on this one, look past that one a little further before making your decision. Be a playa’, enjoy life a bit more.

If you’re going to date the Cleansing twins – Acai and Colonia – you have to at least once in your life - find out what else is available and then date them all. A little speed dating action if you will. Shortly you will see which one is your Mrs. Chucky and which one will make you brag to your friends. Just the other day I saw a clear example where a publisher followed the hype, jumped in with both feet with an offer – while throwing little at a comparable offer – and made (chewing their arm off) LESS by running the hyped offer. A LOT LESS. Don’t let this happen to you. Ask for the full roster in each offer category and then do a little speed dating. The one that performs the best in a head to head competition is the one that you should marry your traffic to.

Don’t be blinded by the highest payout, play the field, try different channels, check your head to head EPC’s and laugh all the way to the alter – and bank.

Guest post by: Mike Carney of MediaTrust.

The awesome folks at Affiliate Summit have published another affiliate survey located Here: AffStat Affiliate Survey. It’s chock full of interesting statistics on what affiliates really want. Aff Stat report is very informative and I highly suggest you check it out. The report is very comprehensive and a winner! Great job to the Affiliate Summit team for putting together such a great report on the affiliate industry and what affiliate are thinking and wanting.

Hey all! Affiliate Convention Denver 2009 was a great show with lots of great speakers and awesome attendees. I gave 2 presentations on Affiliate Marketing 101 and I think they went quite well. Got lots of good feedback from the the crowd which was standing room only. In case you are interested here are my Powerpoint presentations (created with Zoho.com):

Let me know your thoughts and feedback and my Affiliate Marketing 101 presentations!

Famous People on Twitter are changing the way Marketing on Twitter works. Twitter is one of the newest social media networks around, so there are few established rules or standards as far as marketing in general, and some social media purists argue that marketing has not place on Twitter at all. From the looks of it, marketing on Twitter isn’t going anywhere- and neither are famous people on Twitter.

Famous people on Twitter seem to have the same magical influence over their Follower base that they have over every other kind of media- public fascination. Ashton Kutcher’s @aplusk profile is the ideal example of this. After his much publicized race with CNN to 1 million Followers he then skyrocketed to over 2 million just 6 weeks later. 6 weeks! Celebrities use Twitter however they want to- just the other day @aplusk tweeted (to his 2 million + Followers) that his friend was writing a book and could really use some feedback on the first chapter. I don’t know the numbers, but if even ½ of 1% of those Followers clicked through to the book, that’s 1000 people looking at a book they probably wouldn’t have otherwise heard of.

Social media does beg a different marketing approach, and the presence of famous people on Twitter has both profound and under-the-radar effects on Twitter marketing. The presence of famous people on Twitter and how they use the micro-blogging service exerts an influence over the etiquette, the approach and the metrics of Twitter Marketing.

Here’s how Famous People on Twitter Influece Twitter Marketing:

1. Tone- Famous People on Twitter utilize the personal tone that is the calling card of Twitter. On any other media platform, their relationship with the general public is carefully scripted. Twitter’s essence is real-time, personal connection, and that changes how famous people on Twitter interact with their Followers, leading to an expected tone with marketers. Marketing messages on any media are traditionally scripted as well, refined to get attention and evoke a call to action These kinds of messages on Twitter are not as effective. Top-down entertainment doesn’t work, and neither does top-down marketing. If famous Twitterers can teach us anything about tone it’s that there is power in the personal.

2. Personality and Trust- Famous People on Twitter have large numbers of “Followers” just because they are already famous. That’s just how it is- they are celebrities. As I have said, Twitter is based on personal interaction- old marketing techniques and a lot of newer online marketing is premised on delivering a message TO people. While there have always been spokespeople or brand representatives, never before has there been such an emphasis on personal reputation and trust- what Chris Brogan called “Trust Agents.” Marketers on Twitter represent themselves and a group of products rather than the product in a group of people. Personal branding people and bloggers utilize strong personal branding abilities to grow their own Follower base- they themselves become famous people on Twitter by using Twitter effectively.

3. Conversation- People on Twitter expect conversations and respond to them positively- even @aplusk or @THE_REAL_SHAQ are talking to people they probably haven’t met in person. Most messages in traditional marketing have been one-way and top-down. Again, just as famous people on Twitter interacting with people who aren’t famous and breaks the content delivery mode of traditional entertainment, so is the normalizing of conversation on Twitter challenging marketers to change the traditional content delivery mode of marketing.

My own blog competition has seen a lot of traffic from even semi famous people on twitter tweeting about it to try and get votes. And as Twitter continues to grow, the influence of what one trusted person has to say will only grow.
The personal nature of Twitter is changing how we view our relationships with famous people on Twitter, and that changes the way people expect marketers to act and interact on Twitter.

Guest post: Murray Newlands works in affiliate marketing and affiliate management. You can find out more about him at www.MurrayNewlands.com.

Hey CostPerNews readers! Again you are hearing from me because I wanted to let you know about a fantastic new service for advertisers, merchants, affiliates and anyone else interested in protecting their brand or trademark from poachers. It’s called BrandVerity. Very cool because it lets you track who is bidding on your brands/trademarks in the search engines. It actually shows you the ads they are using and any tracking which is present via actual search screen shots. I’m extremely impressed with the service. Click here to get a special promotion on the product only available through me.

Brandverity has many excellent features that you simply must check out. Whether you allow affiliates to bid on your brands and trademarks or not, it’s great to be able to monitor what is going on and be in “the know.” It’s very affordable and in my humble opinion an absolute must, check it out here.

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you have any questions. I can connect you directly with the people at BrandVerity to discuss any special needs you may have or to answer questions. If you need anything from me you can always reach out to me anytime.

Solar affiliate programs are a new and rapidly growing slice of affiliate marketing and the LOHAS sector. Should you be starting to promote environmentally friendly causes and become a solar energy affiliate? Absolutely.

Promoting carbon offsetting with solar panels is an important way you can use your skills and talents to save the environment. Solar affiliate is a pioneer in the affiliate marketing world who understands how to use their affiliate marketing expertise to promote ventures that make sense both for the Earth and for their business.

Going green and encouraging others to go green is close to my heart. One way for anyone to start earning money in a way that helps the Earth is to become a solar affiliate. It’s good for the planet, good for the people who live here (Us!), and it can be good money. Businesses in the green world are embracing a concept called the Triple Bottom Line- People, Planet, Profit (PPP). Becoming a solar affiliate means becoming part of that conservation-minded business model.

If you are interested in a solar affiliate network, here are two networks to look at:

1. EDF Energy
EDF Energy is Britain’s largest electricity generator. They have committed to a 60% reduction of the intensity of British electricity production carbon dioxide emissions from by 2020. They currently provide customers the Eco20:20 green option as well as other green and environmental friendly products.

The EDF Energy affiliate program has a great solar affiliate commission structure that pays £40 for dual fuel (electricity and gas) and £20 for electricity only. This is a fantastic opportunity to become a solar affiliate and do something that helps both your commissions and the environment. And further, they give you access to micro-generation technologies like solar thermal panels to generate your own electricity.
The EDF Energy affiliate program is available on Affiliate Window, one of the sponsors of my blog competition.

2. GoGreenSolar.com
GoGreenSolar.com is another fantastic opportunity to become a solar affiliate. Their website is an active and responsive online destination for solar panels, wind power and energy efficiency. They have great customer service support, a wide variety of products, and a community forum that is thriving and frequently updated.

They offer customers products, services and financing to reduce their energy expenses. For a solar affiliate, each purchase by a referral from your website equals a 5% commission. Some of their best selling products are solar panels, complete solar energy systems, inverters/chargers, and even wind turbines.

If you know of any other quality solar affiliate programs, please contact me with the information in the Author Bio.

Author Bio: Murray Newlands is a blogger and online marketing expert. www.MurrayNewlands.com is his blog about social media and online marketing, from the affiliate side to the green world. The blog is widely read by bloggers, online marketers, affiliates and people trying to change the world. The blog regularly features interviews with prominent bloggers and reviews of social media apps and affiliate networks.

Find him on Twitter @MurrayNewlands.

Guest Blog by: Jeff Flowers

Advertising is everywhere.

The average American is exposed to more than 3,000 ad messages each day. In fact, we see more ads in one year than a person living 50 years ago would see in an entire lifetime. Everyone is vying for our attention these days. Have you seen the ads in the bottom of golf holes? TV ads at the gas pump? Ads in bathroom stalls?

How can a consumer expect to sift through this clutter to determine what products and services he should buy? Who can he trust to give him unbiased input?

Today’s consumers are relying on advice from trusted sources for recommendations and referrals. This is the power of affinity marketing.

How do you know that the offer for cell phone service that is being extended to you by your employer is the best deal out there? If you are like most consumers, you think “it must be a good, legitimate deal or my company would not be offering it to me as a benefit”.

The same influence can be found within trade associations, professional groups, unions and other organizations. As a marketer, the challenge is to “influence the influencer.”

Almost every consumer belongs to at least one affinity group. Whether it is the company he works for, his church, his bowling team or his professional association, he belongs to some kind of organization. And that organization has some level of influence over his purchases.

The key to affinity group marketing is to position your offering as a group benefit.

Benefits can be as simple as offering a member discount. Everyone likes to save money and everyone understands discounts.

Another type of offer is a “value-added” benefit. This type of offer is limited only by the marketer’s creativity. Value-added offers include “gift with purchase”, “exclusive sales”, upgrades and other perks. Consumers like to feel special and any offer that gets them past “the velvet rope” will be received well.

The important thing to remember is that you must offer legitimate value that the member can understand and appreciate.

Find out what groups your customers and prospects belong to and integrate your products and services into their member benefit programs. And then, take care of the members…and they will take care of you.

For more information visit The Perks Company.

Can you write decently? Do you want to earn some extra cash this month? We are running a LinkedIn affiliate group contest this month for the best articles on the affiliate marketing industry! Here are the rules:
- Article must be 100% original and not currently on the Internet
- Article must be about the affiliate industry and not about your company
- Article must be 350-500 words
- Permission granted to publish the article on CostPerNews.com. All submissions will be published on the site.

Prize Money:
- $500 for the best article (judged by me)
- $200 for Second place
- $100 for 3rd, 4th, and 5th place

If you are interested in possibly earning some extra money this month start writing your article and send it to me. Get cracking!

Let me know your thoughts!

Email me at: evan “at” costpernews “dot” com

RingRevenue, a company dedicated to generating calls for advertisers on a perfomance basis, has secured their initial round of funding. They have also partnered up with the Commission Junction affiliate network, the leader in the affiliate marketing space, to bring their pay-per-call platform to affiliates and advertisers. Affiliates will now be able to get paid on a per call basis for calls they generate into the advertiser’s call center. Affiliates are assigned a unique tracking 800 number to publish and promote on their sites. When site visitors call the designated 800 number, the affiliate gets paid on a per call basis. This pay-per-call model represents an additional way for affiliates to make money with their traffic. Advertisers can hand-select the affiliates they would like to test the model with and see if the per call model will work for them. In my opinion, this will be a huge benefit to affiliates that will now be able to market and promote the advertiser and their assigned 800 number in order to generate revenue. No longer does the consumer have to visit the advertiser’s website and perform an action for the affiliate to make money. If they simply call the 800 number, the affiliate will make a per call bounty. I look for huge things from RingRevenue in the coming months!

Everyone knows social media is on fire right now, but how leverage it for affiliate marketing seems to be up in the air. There are so many social networks out there it’s hard to know where to start. Using an effective social media strategy for promoting your own sites is a great way to increase traffic and build followers and friends. By building up your friends and followers on social media networks you will have more people to broadcast your messages to and more people to interact with. Once you starting building up your friends and followers you are well on your way to promoting via social media. Another thing you can do is add “follow me on Twitter” logos and icons to your websites/blogs, so people will do so. You can also add it to your email signature to futher build your friends and followers. If you would like to read a more in-depth social media guide for affiliate marketing click here.