In Episode 64, we continue with our series on  Affiliate Marketing and Affiliate Programs, sponsored by Bluehost. In the third show we are diving back into affiliate marketing. If you are considering taking the plunge, or if you are looking to grow your existing efforts, you’ll want to listen to these tips and insights from Shawn Collins. He has been an affiliate marketer for 20 years and is also co-founder of the largest affiliate marketing conference in the world, Affiliate Summit. Shawn brings a ton of knowledge to today’s show.

We chatted about:

* Shawn’s top two tips for people who are just starting with affiliate marketing or simply trying to monetize their site

* Perceptions around affiliate marketing

* The know-trust-use factor for the products you are an affiliate for

* Why niche affiliate sites work and where people should start when searching for the niche that will work for them and their audience

* Shawn’s top three tips that were not covered in our questions

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download a pdf of the full transcript here: WordPress eCommerce Show Episode 64 April 3 2017

Bob Dunn: Hey, everyone. Bob Dunn here, known as BobWP on the web. Thanks for tuning in for our third show in our four-part series of affiliate marketing and affiliate programs. On today’s show, we are flipping back to affiliate marketing with our guest, Shawn Collins, long-time affiliate marketer and founder of the Affiliate Summit.

Hey, Shawn. Welcome to the show.

Shawn Collins: Now I gave the quick intro, Shawn.: Affiliate Summit. Affiliate marketer. But in a nutshell, can you tell us more about your experience in affiliate marketing and also for those who don’t know, what is the Affiliate Summit?

Meet Shawn Collins, affiliate marketer and co-founder of Affiliate Summit

Shawn Collins: Yeah, sure thing. This year marks the 20th year I’ve been an affiliate consistently. I spent about 10 years as an affiliate manager. Since 2003, we started up Affiliate Summit, myself and my partner, Missy Ward. At this point, it’s the biggest trade show and conference in the world for affiliate marketing. We’ve broadened the tent so it really includes all of marketing. Affiliates are doing everything social and search, content marketing, email, across the board, so the topics cover all of the general marketing and ways to monetize it.

In addition to the conference, we have a magazine called Feed Front that’s free in the U.S. You can get it at FeedFront.com. It comes out four times a year. It’s all people who are practitioners of all these different types of marketing that write all the content.

Bob Dunn: Cool. You know, I just have to say, I went to my first Affiliate Summit,  at the beginning of the year and what amazed me is I’ve been in the WordPress arena. That’s where my affiliates are, but going to it, it was like, “My God,