Archive for category Affiliate Marketing News
Affiliate Advocacy Conference Call about the #AdvertisingTax
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on March 9th, 2010
Just finished listening to the Affiliate Advocacy Conference Call with Melanie Seery. Her main guests were Brian Littleton, CEO of ShareASale, and Jen Goode, who was one of the main affiliates fighting the advertising tax successfully in Colorado.
Here are some of initial highlights that I got from the call.
Brian Littleton offered some great tips for communicating with legislators including:
- Don’t mention the unconstitutionality of any legislation. Legislators don’t like being told that what they are doing is unconstitutional.
- Most legislators have two offices, one in their district and one at the legislature. Go to or call whichever is smallest.
From Jeannine Crooks who was having some audio difficulty unfortunately:
- Don’t threaten to move. They generally don’t care.
Threats never work. Neither does telling them they are breaking the law. Stay level-headed and focus on the negative impact of the legislation.
One of the best tips came from Jen Goode who suggested that you try to find a local tie that affiliate marketing has to an organization in the legislator’s district, such as a non-profit or a school that uses affiliate marketing to raise money. This worked very well for them in Colorado.
More to come on this subject but these were some great tips!
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New ShareASale Traffic Report
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on March 6th, 2010
ShareASale just released their new Traffic Report and it is AWESOME!
It allows you to run a report for a period of time and view the clicks and the data associated with them such as hits, commissions, sales, conversions, EPC, etc.
You can run and order it by the following parameters (there may be more that I am missing):
- various creative types (banners, text links, widgets, videos, etc.)
- each merchant or all merchants
- sales, commissions, epc, voids, etc.
- afftrack and bannerID
As far as I am concerned, it may be the best report they have put out to date…although I do have a few personal favorites.
You can find it Under Reports/Stats.
It looks a little something like this:
Scott on ABestWeb did point out that it is missing default date values such as last month, month to date, and this week. Those would be good additions, but as it is I give this new report a 9 1/2 out of 10 stars!
iPhone App, Perceptual Contrast, Taxes, and more - Legacy Learning Affiliate Podcast Episode One
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legacy News, Podcasts on March 5th, 2010
Episode One of the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Podcast is in the books.
This week on the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Podcast Episode One I talk about our iPhone App, Perceptual Contrast, Affiliate Taxes, Bonuses, and more.
The podcast will cover topics relating to our program, marketing tips, industry news, and more in a quick audio format that you can listen to anytime. I will be striving to make the average episode around 10-12 minutes with occasionally a shorter version if there is not much new or longer if there is a lot to talk about or we have a guest.
You can listen to and/or download Episode One below as well as Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes so you don’t miss an episode!
SHOW NOTES:
iPhone App News - Gibson Learn & Master iPhone App is Rocking! | Top Ten in the iTunes App Store
Perceptual Contrast / Robert Cialdini - Review Chart Example | YES! Book Excerpt (Study)
Ultimately what you are trying to do is to frame the DVD courses in terms of private lessons.
Since people are not searching for DVD courses only, you must first convince them of the concept of learning at home. Many people have NO idea that
a. such an option exists
b. that such an option really CAN teach them what they want to learn.
So what they need is to:
a. be convinced of the extreme cost of private/group lessons and the difference in prices
b. be convinced of the convenience of at home lessons
- no missed appointments and payments for those
- travels with you
- on YOUR time
- can go at your own pace - relevant especially when compared to group lessons
- can repeat lessons anytime
c. be convinced that at home lessons are of equal or greater quality than private/group lessons. Many instructors are not qualified and it may take months to find the right one, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
d. be convinced that Learn & Master courses are by far better than other at home DVD courses AND better than most private instruction or group instruction, at a fraction of the cost, time, and more convenient.
March 2010 ShareASale Bonuses | ShareASale Bonuses Page
Affiliate Advocacy Conference Call
Virginia and Vermont Advertising Tax Updates - Great News!
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on February 24th, 2010
Great news for Virginia and Vermont affiliates today! Both advertising tax bills died.
Here is the latest from the Performance Marketing Alliance (PMA) via Twitter. More to come later 
Breaking News: Colorado Affiliate Tax is Dead!
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on February 8th, 2010
Way to go Colorado affiliates!
The Performance Marketing Association just broke the news that HB 1193 will not include the Advertising / Affiliate Tax in Colorado.
From the PMA:
An agreement was reached today on HB 1193: the inclusion of affiliates establishing nexus will be removed from the bill entirely. HB1193 will now become a bill solely focused on collecting use tax, and nothing to do whatsoever with affiliates.
State of Affiliate Marketing Part Two from ReveNews
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Revenews Posts on February 8th, 2010
My latest article on ReveNews.com was posted Saturday.
The Way I See It: State of Affiliate Marketing Part Two
covers some of the challenges facing our industry. The three biggest that I cover are the affiliate/advertising tax, Google’s finicky nature, and the emergence of way too many shady programs in the past few years.
It’s not all doom and gloom, but affiliate marketers and managers must be cognisant of the threats to our industry and take action to prevent them for worsening and to fight to remove them.
Feel free to comment on ReveNews and voice your opinions!
About ReveNews: ReveNews is a trusted, unbiased source focusing on Internet related industries such as online marketing, SEM, affiliate marketing, retail (e-commerce), analytics, spyware, blogging and much more. ReveNews authors consist of highly respected thinkers, commentators and business people who have real experience and insight. ReveNews readers include industry gurus, top-level executives and CEO’s, plus many of the industry’s top net-repreneurs; all coming together to create a global Internet community to distribute, discuss and analyze the industry at hand.
Breaking News: Affiliate Tax Passes Colorado House
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on February 1st, 2010
House Bill 1193 (the Affiliate, Advertising, Internet tax) just passed the Colorado House of Representatives by a vote of 33-32.
Brian Littleton, CEO of ShareASale, and Lisa Picarille both reported that Rep. Joe Rice may have been the first Democrat in any state to speak out against the tax, so perhaps there is a silver lining there. According to Littleton, he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea of the tax, but he knows that it won’t work. He is right! It won’t! It just means good affiliates in Colorado are going to seek out homes elsewhere while others have to give up.
One vote! That was the difference.
It’s on to the Senate now. From there, the last line of defense is the Governor and the outlook is bleak there.
As a side note (and I will post much more about this later), I do want to to say that at first glance, Colorado affiliates really had their act together and were really organized. Way to go guys!
Is your state organized? Because it’s likely coming your way, unfortunately. In case the threat didn’t seem real before, it’s getting all too real in some places now.
If you are a Colorado affiliate it may be time to take Melanie Seery’s advice and “Identify vulnerable merchants and find replacements.”
We will keep standing up for what is right. No affiliate terminations on my watch!
Breaking News: New Mexico Affiliate Tax Tabled in Committee
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News on January 28th, 2010
In what can be considered a small win, House Bill 50 (AKA the “affiliate tax”) in New Mexico was tabled in committee today.
This was first reported by one of my favorite people in the business, Daniel M. Clark via Twitter.
What does tabled mean exactly? I am not sure…waiting on more details!
EDIT: Additional information:
Affiliate Tax in Colorado #advertisingtax
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on January 26th, 2010
Colorado has introduced House Bill 10-1193, introducing the affiliate/advertising tax.
I have been meaning to post this and add my own commentary since yesterday but I finally decided to just link to Geno Prussakov’s post from Sunday.
Urgent action is needed…the committee is meeting tomorrow (January 27) on this!
Check out Geno’s post and learn more about the Colorado Affiliate Tax. Also, check out what you can do about the affiliate tax, whether you live in Colorado or not.
Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Announced
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Awards, Legacy News on January 19th, 2010
Earlier today I was extremely honored to be named the Affiliate Manager of the Year at the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards.
I was not at the awards ceremony (I was busy serving you here after all) but I did have one of our affiliates Joe Sousa notify me of the results and accept on my behalf on the off chance I won.
Well, I was incredibly surprised and honored by announcement that I won. I really don’t know what to say at this point other than thank you…
- To my Heavenly Father for creating me and endowing me with the gifts I simply try to use to the best of my ability each day and fall woefully short of doing so…and for leading me here to Legacy Learning Systems.
- To my wife, Tara, for being the voice of sanity in usually hectic days and always encouraging me to serve our affiliates better, among much more for which I am thankful to her. I love you so much, Sweetheart.
- To you for being such great affiliates. Truly, you make it absolutely a true joy to serve you each day. Coming to work is a blast…except when our internet goes down or my printer doesn’t work haha.
- To this company. To Gabriel Smith, our CEO, for trusting me to do what is right with this program and to our entire team for making such great products.
- To those who nominated me. I found out there were more of you than I ever knew. I appreciate you thinking of me.
- To Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting on the awards.
OK, I will spare you anything else, but I did want to write this and express my heartfelt gratitude for this honor.
Back to working on our Pay Per Call Campaigns on ShareASale!
About the Pinnacle Awards: The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards are affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space. Award winners are recognized because they are innovative leaders with vision and influence.
Your Voice is Needed in North Carolina Regarding the #AdvertisingTax
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News on January 18th, 2010
Just came across a post by Rich Owings on ABestWeb:
Hi all,
I learned the other day that the Governor has established a Budget Reform and Accountability Commission. The link goes to a form where citizens can make suggestions. As of last week, they had only received 400, and they have the web suggestions on their agendas, so it appears they will consider anything submitted. I urge you all to submit your take on the nexus legislation, and how it has decreased income tax revenues and not resulted in increased sales tax.
Rich Owings
If you are in North Carolina, please visit the comment form and let them know what you think about the advertising tax!
Early Odds on the Pinnacle Awards
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Fun Stuff on December 21st, 2009
One of my favorite people in this business, Joe Sousa, put up some early odds on the Pinnacle Awards winners. He is calling for a close race in the Affiliate Manager of the Year award. He is definitely right. Jamie Birch and Stephanie Harris are two of the best and very deserving. It should be fun to see all the winners this year!
You can check out Joe’s full post here.
Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards Finalists - Thank You!
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legacy News on December 16th, 2009
A Big THANK YOU to everyone here at Legacy and to all of our affiliates for helping me to be named one of three finalists for the 2009 Affiliate Manager of the Year award at the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards. The Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards are affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space. Award winners are recognized because they are innovative leaders with vision and influence.
I am truly honored to be in the same company as the other two nominees, Jamie Birch and Stephanie Harris. I look up to them and have learned a ton from them and so many others in this industry. Congratulations to all the finalists for the other awards as well…including a few of our very own affiliates. You guys and gals rock!
I am so thankful to my team here, to every affiliate, to the many I have learned from, but most importantly to God and to my wife. My even being here at Legacy is the result of a series of events that I still find to be hard to believe. It’s a pretty long story that I will spare you, without Tara, I would not even be here. For that and so much more, I am filled with gratitude beyond mere words.
Here are the finalists for the Pinnacle Awards at Affiliate Summit West 2010:
Affiliate of the Year
* Nicholas Koscianski
* Eric Nagel
* Kim Rowley
Affiliate Manager of the Year
* Jamie Birch
* Stephanie Harris
* Matt McWilliams
Exceptional Merchant
* Amazon.com
* BowlingShirt.com
* eBay Partner Network
Affiliate Marketing Advocate
* Angel Djambazov
* Karen Garcia
* Rebecca Madigan
Best Blogger
* Murray Newlands
* Geno Prussakov
* Jeremy Schoemaker
Affiliate Marketing Legend
* Scott Jangro
* Heather Paulson
* Brad Waller
Full release is here on the Affiliate Summit site.
Attention Affiliate Managers: Time to “Get it!”
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Affiliate Tools on November 5th, 2009
One of our affiliates and someone I consider a friend posted a great post today with some very clear-cut, easy to follow advice for Affiliate Managers out there. Joe Sousa posted on his blog “Affiliate Managers who Get It“.
He offers 8 great tips, such as be available, be quick, be nice, and have answers for your affiliates. And in the end, he says some super nice things about me, for which I am very thankful. I learned from some great people including Andy Rodriguez, Geno Prussakov, Deborah Carney, and many others, including a ton of affiliates over the years. You know who you are, so THANK YOU!
Please note: I normally NEVER share affiliate names, web sites, or any information about our affiliates, including stats or ideas that are confidential. I only share this because Joe has publicly made it available. Unless it is absolutely made clear that you are OK with it, I will never share your information with anyone.
Read What Joe Thinks
Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award Nominations
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News on October 29th, 2009
Affiliate Summit announced yesterday that they are now accepting nominations for the annual Pinnacle Awards to be presented at Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas next year on January 19.
From now until November 30 of this year you can submit nominations for Affiliate of the Year, Affiliate Manager of the Year, Exceptional Merchant of the Year, Affiliate Marketing Advocate, Best Blogger, and Affiliate Marketing Legend.
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