Shawn Collins answers all my questions about affiliate marketing including what's hot, data feeds, affiliate recruitment, affiliate forums, the Affiliate Summit social network, empowering affiliates in PPC and other resources for affiliate marketing.Shawn also shares some of his personal aspirations.What are the hottest new trends in affiliate marketing? Name the big three that you are watching closely? [Shawn] Local, pay per call and video. What are the affiliate trends that are waning? Used to be big part of conversation but are not so exciting anymore and why?[Shawn] I don't know if it could be characterized as waning, but I'd say mobile. It has been heralded as the next big thing for years, and the promise has not been realized.What were the key take aways or most interesting actionable insights for you from Dr. Robert Cialdini and Brian Clark aka Copy Blogger's keynotes at ASW10?[Shawn] I like how Dr. Cialdini have out a tip card at the conclusion of his keynote (http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/principles-of-ethical-influence-by-robert-cialdini/) which boiled down his 6 principles of ethical influence.As far as Brian Clark, I liked his perspective that affiliates should think of themselves as new media producers. What are your best tips for merchants who are willing to let their affiliates bid on their keywords? How can you empower your affiliates in PPC?[Shawn] I think the Animal Farm approach works best, though it can upset some affiliates, whereas all affiliates are equal, but some are more equal. There are some affiliates that are willing to build extensive, long tail campaigns for a merchant, and I think it's good to select a few of these affiliates to allow trademark bidding, as this enables them to make some easier money to balance the work and risk in working the long tail. What are the best resources for finding affiliates if you are a merchant/vendor? How can you recruit affiliates? What are the strategies and practices that are best for recruiting?[Shawn] Google is a great tool - affiliate managers should search for their keywords to find sites ranking well for those keywords. The two ways I recruited the best affiliates were through in-person meetings at conferences and direct mail. Explain product datafeeds and how they work for affiliates.[Shawn] These are simply database files that enable affiliates to build out a variety of sites, such as comparison shopping or review sites, and the database files populate the latest information and images for the products from the merchant. Facebook is the new place to advertise - what tips and techniques can you offer for increasing conversions, for targeting, other?[Shawn] I haven't run affiliate campaigns myself on Facebook, so I can't really speak to what is most effective. What are the best practices for using Twitter to drive traffic to sales pages?[Shawn] The soft sell - Twitter is no different from any other avenue for affiliates. They should add value to the process by solving some sort of problem. A straight up affiliate link is useless for all. How do you find a CPA network that is right for your business? How do you compare and contrast them? What kind of offers work best for CPA nets? Where are the danger points in working with one or more networks?[Shawn] My recommendation would be to monitor the affiliate forums to see what affiliates are saying about each cpa network. That's the best way to get the pulse. On the surface, many of the make the same claims and are difficult to differentiate. True to the name of the networks, pretty much any offers based on leads work well within CPA networks (assuming these is sufficient consumer interest in the marketplace), while retail, revenue share offers aren't as effective - those fare better in the "traditional" affiliate networks. The reputation of an affiliate network can make a big difference, for better or worse. It'sessentialto perform due diligence to determine whether a CPA network tends to engage in unethicalbehavior.Who are three of the most amazing people in Digital Marketing and Web 2.0 and why?[Shawn] Missy Ward: while it's hard to remain objective, since she's my business partner, I am continually impressed by her passion, business sense, and charity work.Wil Reynolds: he has been the speaker with the best marks at Affiliate Summit for several years, because he shares an extensive amount of new information each time, and he's such a genuine guy.Note: Wil is going to be a guest on an upcoming DishyMix.Rae Hoffman: she provides fantastic, honest assessments of the industry at large, and regularly performs SEO site clinics that provide real, applicable, advice that can be quickly implemented for results. Describe why you think these people were the category winners for the Pinnacle Awards at Affiliate Summit West 2010. How do they distinguish themselves? Are they people we should follow and why?[Shawn] The Pinnacle Awards start with an open nomination process by anybody who wishes to nominate folks in the industry (including themselves) and then the nominees are voted on by the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board (~30 folks from different aspects of theindustry), and the winners are those who get the most votes in each category. So, mine is just one vote for each of the nominees. That said, these are all people who have distinguished themselves before a jury of their peers, and I think that makes them well worthy of following.Affiliate of the YearNicholas KoscianskiAffiliate Manager of the YearMatt McWilliamsBest BloggerJeremy SchoemakerAffiliate Marketing LegendScott JangroYou do two podcasts, Affiliate Thing and GeekCast.fm - describe the value of those shows - how do they compare?[Shawn] Thee main GeekCast.fm show went silent, due to the challenge of getting four busy people together weekly for a show. But I've been doing the Affiliate Thing podcast weekly for over three years with Lisa Picarille. On this podcast, we typically chat unscripted for about 30 minutes per show on the latest news, tips, and resources in affiliate marketing. Tell me about your new book - what are the highlights?Internet Marketing From The Real Experts : 3 Minute Lessons On.. Affiliate, Email, SEO, Social and More. The Gang of '88~ Shawn Collins(Author),
Missy Ward (Author), Jeremy Schoemaker (Collaborator), Brian Clark
(Contributor), Jim Kukral (Contributor), Ted Murphy (Contributor), Mari
Smith [Shawn] The book is a compilation of the first seven issues of FeedFront Magazine, a magazine I started with Missy Ward to give a voice to the people in Internet marketing who are the doers in the various areas and continually innovate. We were frustrated by the magazines out there that were researched and written by journalists, because they were often out of the loop on how things were done, and they didn't understand the nuances of affiliate, search, social media, etc. So, we decided to create an outlet where the people with first handknowledge could share their wisdom without filters.As far as highlights, there are 100 or so "chapters" in the book, which are mostly articles of 500 words or less. I am more excited about the concept overall and the easy to digest format of short articles that pack a lot of information over select sections. We tout on the cover how these are all items you can read in about 3 minutes, because this is something we've found to be important with our fellow marketers - they don't want fluff. They want to jump in and grab some key nuggets of information in a short amount of time. What is your plan for yourself 10 years from now?[Shawn]I've always found print to be a really exciting, even romantic (in a non-love way) area. This probably explains why I enjoy getting into magazine and book publishing when many are signing their respective death certificates. Ultimately, I'd like to write the great American novel (or 2 or 10). If you could keynote any conference or event, which one would it be and what would the title of your speech be?[Shawn]I am intrigued by TED, and would love to speaker there, but I'd have no business as a keynote. In what area do you feel superior to most people? What talent or capability of yours is remarkable?Name your single most amazing personal gift/talent.[Shawn] I've always had a passion for writing, and I used to take it for granted until I started editing articles for others. It's a great outlet and gratifying when it can be used to influence people in a positive way. Who has been your greatest teacher?[Shawn] My father was the most influential with direct moral lessons and indirect life lessons. He always reflected back to his post-college years and how he wanted to take a job in advertising, but the pay didn't equal another job as a statistician. It burdened him that he settled for a career he didn't like, and one he worked in until the day he died. That put a fire in my belly to do whatever I could to do work that I loved and wanted to do. I never wanted to have the look on my face on Sunday nights that he used to have, as he was mentally preparing to go back to work and b miserable. If I could wave my magic wand and make one thing work better in your business or career, what would it be?[Shawn] I'd be able to break through more with the younger marketers who are seduced by the easy buck for shady business dealings. What is the axiom by which you live your life?[Shawn] The Golden Rule - (paraphrased) do unto others as you would have them do unto you.How much do you think luck has played a role in your success?[Shawn] I can't deny luck has played a role, but I think it's been somewhat minor. Hunger for success has been far more instrumental.What is on your bucket list? Top 5 things on you would like to do?[Shawn] Visit every MLB ballpark, drive through Ireland with my family, run a political campaign and get the candidate elected, write a book that's been in my head for 20 years, and see that book made into a movie. What activity could you do all day long without getting bored?[Shawn] Write.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? [Shawn] Political marketing
