Archive for Shawn Collins

Shawn Collins

Showing 38 items

  • Waking the Dead
    'Dead' affiliates may only be sleeping. How to revive active participation in your program. Jun 14, 2002
  • Automated Affiliate Communication
    In affiliate marketing, there's no substitute for keeping in touch -- but you can certainly streamline the way you accomplish it. May 17, 2002
  • Sustaining Affiliate Program Success
    Ever think about how to improve the active rate of your affiliate program? Have you actually done anything to it? If you are not going to work with your inactive affiliates, you might as well remove them from your system. Aug 24, 2001
  • The Affiliate Cookie Fortune
    The problem's pretty simple: The average user on the Internet is not buying a product on his or her first visit -- and, in most cases, subsequent visits -- to your site. This negatively affects affiliates if you do not award commission on repeat visits through cookies. Jul 27, 2001
  • Smart Tags Are Affiliate Ignorant
    Imagine all of the sites lining up to pay Microsoft to advertise to the targeted traffic of your affiliates. They could sell each and every conceivable keyword on affiliate sites, which would make your contextual affiliate links impotent. Jul 13, 2001
  • More Cool Tools for the Affiliate Manager
    Shawn shares helful tips on tools and resources for maximizing the effectiveness of affiliate programs. So are you interested in finding super affiliates, helping yourself, rating your program, finding out where you're being promoted? Then read on. Jun 29, 2001
  • What Is the Best Affiliate Solution?
    Although a number of decisions must be made when launching an affiliate program, the choice of an affiliate solution is one that must be given much weight. Chances are, if you don't get it right the first time, you won't have a second chance. Jun 15, 2001
  • Climate Control in Affiliate Marketing
    Many affiliate programs are giving affiliates the shaft, and many affiliates think they're being treated as a free branding tool. The time has come for all concerned to clean up their acts. If affiliates can't get no satisfaction, merchants won't get more business. Jun 1, 2001
  • Incentive Sites: Love Them or Leave Them
    There are two distinct camps when it comes to incentive sites -- those who love them and those who refuse to accept them as affiliates. But Shawn just focuses on which sites are more equal than others. May 18, 2001
  • Affiliate Kindergartner Wisdom: All You Ever Need to Know
    What do you know about affiliate marketing? According to Shawn, all you ever really need to know about how to manage a program you can learn as an affiliate kindergartner. May 4, 2001
  • Fraud: Affiliates Fight Back
    Now that you know how to identify the faces of affiliate fraud, what are you doing to checkmate these cheaters? Take a little more of Shawn's sage advice on how to strike first and fight hard. Apr 20, 2001
  • Fraud: An Affiliate Epidemic
    Not only is fraud widespread in affiliate marketing, it comes in all shapes and sizes, from pimply 13-year-olds to sophisticated crime rings. Luckily, Shawn shows us how to identify all of its ugly faces. Apr 6, 2001
  • Sustaining Affiliate Program Success
    Are you still searching for suggestions on how to maximize your affiliate programs? Well, Shawn's back with more advice on how to spice things up and increase your active affiliate rate. Mar 23, 2001
  • How to Sustain Affiliate Program Success
    Are you interested in maximizing your affiliate channel, but not sure how to improve the active rate of your program? With some advice from Shawn, you can actually achieve and sustain both. Mar 9, 2001
  • Cool Tools for the Affiliate Manager
    Being an affiliate manager is a tough act. But with Shawn's timesaving tools and resources, the job is about to get a lot easier. Feb 23, 2001
  • Making Time to Save Your Affiliates
    Are affiliate managers planning to fail or just failing to plan? Find out why some simple time management tips can translate into a lot of longevity for an affiliate program. Feb 9, 2001
  • Affiliate Program Growth Potential
    If an affiliate program were launched yet never promoted, would anybody join it? Find out why Shawn believes sometimes you've got to knock affiliates over the head. Jan 26, 2001
  • Teach Your Affiliates Well
    Do you truly know enough about the dynamics of affiliate marketing to be a great teacher? Maybe it's time to find out. Jan 12, 2001
  • New Year's Affiliate Resolutions
    Shawn gathers 2001 resolutions and expectations from some of the leading voices in the industry as we teeter on the brink of an economic recession. Dec 29, 2000
  • What Are Affiliates Thinking?
    Listen, if it were easy to run a great program, everybody would be doing it. Here's more on what affiliates marketers are thinking. Dec 15, 2000
  • What Are Affiliates Thinking?
    Although there is certainly value to being book smart, it's equally important to be affiliate smart. And how better than to find out what affiliate marketers are thinking. Dec 8, 2000
  • Affiliate Marketing Is Alive and Very Well
    With the closure of several big-name companies has come the closure of several big-name affiliate programs. But don't think the sky is falling on affiliate marketing. It isn't. Here are some tips to keep your program healthy and growing. Nov 24, 2000
  • History of Affiliate Marketing
    Amazon.com helped bring affiliate marketing into the pages of business journals, but is the Amazon Associates Program the first affiliate program there was? Well, Shawn says, it depends on what your definition of "is" is. Nov 10, 2000
  • Seeking the Super Affiliate
    The quality of your affiliates may be more important than the quantity. And the epitome of high-quality affiliates is the super affiliate, a precious and highly sought after creature. Like other rare birds, the super affiliate might require special care -- but this special care can pay off big. Shawn shows you how to recognize a super affiliate when you see one. Oct 27, 2000
  • Weighing Your Affiliate Program Options
    When you're developing an affiliate program, you've got a lot of choices to make. Will the affiliate manager be an in-house employee of the company, or will you outsource your program? Which affiliate solutions provider or software will you use for the back end of your program? How are you going to acquire affiliates for your program? Shawn walks you through your options. Oct 13, 2000
  • Brave New Affiliate World
    There's been a lot of press about the exploding affiliate marketing industry across the pond in Europe. But little ink has been dedicated to the opportunities just across the border in Latin America. ?Qui pasa? The future of affiliate marketing in Latin America is bright, and business ventures into this region are poised to move quickly as entrepreneurs have learned from the maturation and mistakes of affiliate marketers in the United States and Europe. Sep 29, 2000
  • Outsourcing Your Affiliate Program
    As we all know, a skilled and experienced affiliate manager is nearlyas rare as a Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card. If you're planning to implement an affiliate program at your company, or you already have a program that hasn't met your expectations, you have to make a decision... find an all-star affiliate manager to bring your program into the major leagues, or outsource the program to a company who can do it for you. There are only so many Honus Wagners out there. Sep 15, 2000
  • The Art of the Affiliate Newsletter
    Communication is an essential component of a successful affiliate program. Practically every affiliate program sends out a newsletter, but, unfortunately, most of those newsletters really stink. Shawn gives you a definitive guide for creating a great affiliate newsletter. You can start off with a focus on earnings potential by listing the commission amounts for the top 10 earners in the past month. No names, no URLs, just amounts. Sep 1, 2000
  • The Price of an Affiliate Program
    We often hear about the benefits of an affiliate program: excellent return on investment, branding, etc., but the costs that go against these benefits have not been as well chronicled. To figure the price of success, you've got to factor in the start-up costs, monthly costs, marketing, and staffing. One vital question is whether to create the program in-house or outsource to a solutions provider. Shawn gives you start-up and monthly costs for the Big Three solutions providers: Be Free, Commission Junction, and LinkShare. Aug 18, 2000
  • Keeping Your Affiliates Loyal
    We love numbers. Big, round, sexy, impossible numbers, like having a roster of affiliates that number in the six digits. Tons of affiliates may look good on paper, and surely the investors love hearing about the large stable of affiliates acquiring new customers or members at a low rate. However, as you acquire more affiliates, you also increase the time that will have to be dedicated to activate these affiliates. Aug 4, 2000
  • Communication 101 for Affiliate Managers
    Shawn would like to publicly thank most of the affiliate managers out there, because their lack of communication with affiliates makes him stand out. To all those who can't be bothered with responding to emails from affiliates, who publish the one-paragraph newsletters, and who don't bother to keep in touch with their top affiliates a big thank you. Seriously, you should try to please your affiliates and keep them informed. Shawn outlines his manifesto for creating and maintaining happy and productive affiliates. Jul 21, 2000
  • Jump Start Your Affiliate Program With Internal Support
    Your boss wants an affiliate program, and you've just been anointed as the affiliate manager. So you pick a solution provider, and things are ready to roll, right? Well, not exactly. If you're going to run a successful affiliate program, it's vital that you build internal support. Shawn tells you how to achieve the internal support necessary to jump start a successful affiliate program. Jul 7, 2000
  • This Year's Model?
    In the beginning, there was one affiliate model. It all started back in July 1996 at a cocktail party. Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon.com, chatted with a party guest who wanted to sell books about divorce on her web site. Bezos pondered the idea and thought about having the woman link her site to Amazon.com and receive a commission on the book sales. Since then, affiliate marketing has flourished, and the original prototype has spawned a variety of new and innovative models. Jan 7, 2000
  • New Year's Affiliate Resolutions
    Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? No way! In the coming year, make sure that you remember your affiliates and everybody else who helps your program to succeed. In fact, now is a great time to sit down and make some resolutions for your affiliate program. Shawn gives you the cogent thoughts and hopes of industry leaders for the year to come. Learn. Think. Resolve. Dec 31, 1999
  • .com All Ye Faithful Affiliates
    While affiliate programs are an excellent way to generate additional revenue, increase page views, and generate brand awareness for a product or service, not all affiliate programs will bring you success. Sorry to burst any bubbles, but the affiliate game is more complicated than recruiting a bunch of Webmasters and getting them to add banners or text links to their site. Quite simply, in order to have a successful affiliate program, you must train your affiliates and provide them with resources. Dec 24, 1999
  • Who's Who in Affiliate Marketing?
    On December 2nd, internet.com and Refer-it hosted Affiliate Solutions '99 in New York City, which attracted a veritable Who's Who in affiliate marketing. Over 400 e-commerce executives came together to explore Affiliate Marketing strategies, including keynote speaker Timothy Choate of Freeshop.com and panelists from Priceline.com, ProFlowers.com, NextCard, and BeFree. Shawn gives you a report and reminds you that the future promises to be an exciting road with many new and evolving revenue opportunities for merchants and affiliates. Dec 17, 1999
  • Seven Deadly Sins Of Affiliate Programs
    If you are conducting business online, the question is no longer whether or not you should have an affiliate program. The question now is how to set up a successful affiliate program. But there's more to affiliate programs than a simple flowchart of success. Shawn gives you some of the uncommon knowledge on establishing and operating an affiliate program that can make the difference between success or a failure. Dec 10, 1999
  • Affiliate Programs 101 - A Primer For Success
    Amazon launched the first affiliate program on the Internet. Since then, the novel idea of affiliate marketing has emerged as one of the most economical and effective means of reaching customers online. Affiliate programs are ranked number one in effectiveness, ahead of e-mail, PR, television, and all other marketing methods. What's the best type of company for an affiliate program? One that's selling a quality product at a good price. Dec 3, 1999

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