Web Hostgods

Archive for April, 2006

Incorporate Your Business

Posted by admin On April - 30 - 2006

It’s time to make your business a business. If you’ve been using your social security number when you join affiliate programs and conduct other business, you may want to rethink things.

As your business grows, there are a number of reasons why you might want to incorporate.

Reasons to incorporate your business include people taking you seriously. When you add “Inc.” to your company name, it makes your business appear bigger and more established than somebody working solo in their home office.

Also, there can be tax benefits when you incorporate a business, as well as some liability protection. Check in with your lawyer and accountant (they are also key for a growing business to be sure you are doing things correctly).

If you are aiming to convey that your business is a real workplace, you’ll want to get a business phone line. Do you want potential business partners hearing the cute outgoing message on your regular home phone?

There’s a really neat alternative to getting a business line from your local phone carrier. It’s a company called ConnectMeVoice.

ConnectMeVoice is a great service for affiliates, as it includes all sorts of features to help establish that you’ve got a real company. This service works with your existing phone line.

Packages start at $9.95 a month and enable you to get:

800 number
Automated attendant (”Hello, Thank you for calling Your Company Name. If you are looking for Merchant Relationships, dial 1; Ellen Smith, dial 2; hear about our deal of the week, dial 3; and to receive a fax outlining our placement fees, dial 4.”)
Up to 25 extensions
Voicemail
Fax to e-mail
Vanity numbers
Web interface - view messages and faxes online

Another step to consider to enhance your image as a real business is to have your domains registered and you business mail directed to a P.O. Box or a mailbox at the UPS Store.

Not only does this give a more professional impression, but it enables you to maintain privacy by not sharing your home address so openly.

Affiliate Tips

Recaps from Ad-Tech San Francisco

Posted by admin On April - 29 - 2006

It sounds like the just ended Ad-Tech San Francisco was a big success. Insane growth has been a hallmark of the conference for years, but making the leap from hotels to the Moscone Center - that’s big.

There are some recaps of the show up on ReveNews. Beth Kirsch, who pinch hit for me on the panel, How to Grow a Profitable Affiliate Channel: Recruit the Best Partners for Your Business, touches on issues from the panel in her post on Web 2.0 and Affiliate Marketing.

Dave Cole, a first timer to Ad-Tech, shares his experiences in his post, Ad:tech Notes: Part I. He comments on click fraud and social networking, based on some things he learned at the show.

And then Jeremy Palmer ponders the perils of growth for the conference in his post, Ad:Tech Too Big?. Jeremy asks “with such a diverse group, is it possible to go deep enough into any one subject?”, and goes on to express his preference for “a more specialized show like CJU or Affiliate Summit.”

I wish I could have made it to this one - sounds like it was the Geekapalooza of online marketers. Oh well, November isn’t too far off for Ad-Tech NYC.

Affiliate News

Performics Reporting Adds EPC and Payout Rank

Posted by admin On April - 28 - 2006

Performics has announced that they are now providing network level data for advertisers in the ConnectCommerce SM interface.

The network level statistics now available in ConnectCommerce are Earnings per Click (EPC) and Payout Rank. See example below.

3-Month EPC: Three Month Earnings per Click is the sum of fees paid to publishers in the past three months divided by the total clicks over the same period.
7-Day EPC: Seven Day Earnings per Click is the sum of fees paid to publishers in the past seven days divided by the total clicks over the same period.
Payout Rank: Advertisers are ranked by commissions paid to publishers over the past month. Each square represents a quartile of the advertisers in the network. For example, an advertiser with three squares is between the 51st and 75th percentile.

Similar to the CJ EPC, the Performics values are multiplied by 100.

Affiliate News

Affiliate Tip: Claim Your Name on MySpace

Posted by admin On April - 27 - 2006

So you missed the big land grab of the 90’s when all of the good .com address were snapped up? Don’t fret - there’s a new frontier, and you (may) still have time to get some great names.

MySpace The place to claim your name, your brand, your site, etc. is MySpace. The way your name is represented on MySpace is like so: www.myspace.com/yourname

Why MySpace? Well, that’s where the masses are going. According to Alexa, MySpace is one of the top sites, right behind Google, MSN and Yahoo.

If you check the list at WordTracker for the most frequently searched keywords in the search engines, you’ll see multiple iterations of MySpace in the top 20 searches.

And if you think it’s a passing trend, consider that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp purchased Intermix Media, owner of MySpace, for $580 million in 2005. Don’t expect it to go away any time soon.

Some critics try to minimize MySpace as a hangout for kids where anarchy reigns. There is an interesting White Paper on the dynamics of MySpace at http://www.danah.org/papers/AAAS2006.html to provide a more informed view of the social network.

And it’s most definitely a venue for business - witness the many thousands of groups dedicated to Business and Entrepreneurs on MySpace.

So get your company name, your name, your site name, whatever, on MySpace - do it before somebody else squats on it.

Affiliate Tips

Hungry for Affiliate Marketing Knowledge in NYC?

Posted by admin On April - 27 - 2006

There is going to be a get together for affiliate marketing in the NYC area on May 4 at 7:30 PM.

Location is Churrascaria Plataforma, located at 316 West 49th Street (between 8th and 9th Aves.).

This affiliate marketing dinner is open to all in the industry. If you’d like to be added to the reservation, please send an e-mail to Amanda Lucas at amanda(at)partnercentric.com

There is no host for this event - everybody is responsible for their own tab. It promises to be a fun night of affiliate chatter and networking.

According to a review in the New York Times, “Two things are required to truly appreciate Churrascaria Plataforma: a large appetite to keep you eating and a large group to cheer you on.”

Bring a mind and belly ready to be filled with good stuff.

Affiliate News

Affiliate Marketing is Dead

Posted by admin On April - 26 - 2006

Can it be… is affiliate marketing really dead? No, not really. Just wishful thinking from the CEO of IntegraClick?

Being the affiliate geek I am, I keep an eye on new domains registered with “affiliate” in them, and this past Monday, John Lemp, CEO/Owner of IntegraClick (or one of his underlings) registered AffiliateMarketingIsDead.com.

IntegraClick runs a CPA network, ClickBooth, so I would imagine they want to see the industry thrive. Perhaps they just want to kill the vernacular.

I notice they’ve adopted the newfangled titles of publisher and advertiser, rather than affiliate and merchant.

Affiliate Opinions

Behind the Affiliate Network Curtain

Posted by admin On April - 26 - 2006

There is a new publication, Project Black Book, that has launched in conjunction with Ad-Tech San Francisco. They tout themselves as “the Journal for Interactive Marketing,” but the content is a lot saucier than the mundane tagline.

The initial Letter From the Editor (Thomas Hynes) is titled, “The Journal of Disruptive Thinking,” and that more aptly describes the content in this publication.

According to Brandon Shalton, CEO of Project Black Book, “the core mission of the journal is to allow companies currently in the affiliate marketing space and those thinking about entering the space, to fully understand the issues involved, as well as to provide transparency and truth.”

Some really neat information in here (not sure if the affiliates will agree), such as the following stats on AzoogleAds, ClickBank, Commission Junction, LinkShare, RegNow, and MYAP:

Total number of links found
Number of unique merchants
Number of unique affiliate IDs
Number of affiliate domains

This data has been compiled from a data base of over one billion records that spider the Internet to map out linking relationships. I’m not exactly sure of the methodology here - are programs with private domains being associated with MYAP (i.e. ClubMom uses clubmomlinks.com for their affiliate links - no reference to MYAP in the click sequence)?

Project Black Book also reveals the top merchants being promoted by affiliates for the networks covered in the first issue.

Also lots of articles covering control of ad placement, patent issues, and commission shaving (an issue I think is a reality in the adult space, but not with big consumer brands).

The premier issue is available as a PDF at http://www.projectblackbook.com/.

Affiliate News