Super Affiliate Marketing

Struggling with Web Design

A common challenge for affiliates is building a site that rises above the affiliate noise.  The first sites that I built for University of Phoenix were mediocre at best.  I recently received an e-mail from Jeremy Palmer where he talks about a shift in strategy and launching a new site.  As I looked at his e-mail and checked out the new design I found it was done by a SitePoint Design Contest.  As I dug deeper I was blown away.  Here is how it works:

You create a site creative brief.  You provide all the specs for your project.  You can choose from logo design, web page design (coded), banner ad design, stationary design, print design, etc.  After you’ve created what you are looking for you set a price you are willing to pay for the winning design.  Folks these prices are reasonable.  Jeremy paid $1,000 for his and had 53 submissions.  There were many that were very good.  I’ve paid Logoworks to design several logos and have been less than impressed with the quality that I’ve seen.

So if you are looking for an edge in getting that sweetheart deal, start by getting a quality site, with a quality design.  Rise above the noise!

Partner Fusion America Latina announces CEO

Partner Fusion (http://www.partnerfusion.com) has opened a new office within Latin America (Guatemala) to focus on it’s increasing number of clients from the region. The bio of the new CEO for Partner Fusion America Latina is listed below in spanish.

Zel Giron, CEO Partner Fusion América Latina Mercadologo, con estudios en Publicidad y Ciencias de la Comunicación de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala y Estudios en Comercio Internacional. Trabajo por mas de 8 años en el mercado de la publicidad y los medios de comunicación masiva en Guatemala. Es socio Fundador de varias empresas, entre ellas; Quality Re Print, QualityToner, epyme.net, EspcialHost.com, mitintaya.com entre otras. Con varios años investigando y desarrollando negocios en internet. Actualmente es CEO de PartnerFusion América Latina, Filial de PartnerFusion Inc. Empresa dedicada al Marketing Online y es el responsable de la misma para el Mercado de habla Hispana.

Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing from Ralph F. Wilson

Just stumbled across this interesting viral marketing article. It begins with a simple but quality definition of viral marketing:

 Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence.

The article then proceeds to outline 6 key principles (using the classic Hotmail.com example)

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others’ resources

Spirit Airlines - the power of “specials”

For those not yet familiar with Spirit Airlines they have major hubs in LA, Ft. Lauderdale and Las Vegas and offer a good number of flights throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. They have no affiliate marketing program but they have done a remarkable job of viral marketing via fares that are just too good to be true. The only catch is that the fares are true - I have flown multiple times internationally with them this year often paying less than $20 for the fare (and about $80 in international tax). I have no idea how deep their pockets are and/or if they are taking a loss on these fares but I’m guessing they do it in place of having a huge marketing budget and it appears to work. Atleast once or twice a week they send out an email alert of discounted fares that will only be available for 24 hours and I find myself visiting their site nearly every time - because I don’t want to miss out on a fare that is too good to be true! Today for example they have a $16 each way fare for select destinations. I checked it out and found I could go from Los Angeles to Guatemala City on Christmas eve for $16 plus tax - usually that would cost more than $300. This is the type of special price that causes me to forward it to friends and try to think of who may be interested in this fare. Now that is great marketing.

Blue Man Group to launch affiliate program w/ Partner Fusion

 Las Vegas, Nev. (PRWEB) December 4, 2007 — Blue Man Group, one of the top shows on the Las Vegas Strip performed nightly at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, announced today that it is launching a new affiliate marketing program at the beginning of 2008. The company has selected Partner Fusion, Inc, a performance-marketing agency in Utah, to develop and manage the program.

Blue Man Group plans to launch the affiliate program with its Las Vegas show and add additional shows and venues throughout the year. The company will use an affiliate tracking ASP platform to monitor and track affiliate sales in-house.

“This will be the third Las Vegas show that I’ve marketed through the affiliate marketing channel, and it’s the first time that affiliates will have the opportunity to work directly with the show’s production company versus a third-party, said Karen White, VP of Business Development & Marketing, Partner Fusion, Inc.

Blue Man Group, Las Vegas will also be participating in the “Bloggers Night Out” event during Webmaster World/Pubcon held in Las Vegas Dec. 4-7th. Both Affiliates and Bloggers interested in previewing the show are invited to participate in the event. For details visit www.PubCon.com. For information on the Blue Man Group Affiliate Program, please email bluemanpartners @ partnerfusion.com.

TV Ads made easy - Spot Runner!

Ok, I stumbled across this company and am racking my brain thinking of all the tests I’d like to try with them. Talk about a fun, easy and cheap way to dip your toes into tv advertising. Basically you get a 30-second TV ad (they have ads to choose from that you can tweak and/or customize) and can filter channels and geographic markets where you want to display the ads. You are apparently provided some tracking stats after running your spots as well. I put in a little test to target a very specific city here in the state of utah and found I could run spots repeatedly for 4 to 8 weeks on channels of my choosing for a very reasonable 3 to 5k. This is one site i’m afraid I will spend quite a bit of money on testing variuos ideas I have floating around - updates to come. Congrats to the guys at Spot Runner on a great concept!

One more reason to create MULTIPLE streams of internet income

I stumbled across this article this morning and found it an interesting read. When I first got into internet marketing I was purely doing the organic search game & the highs were high and the lows were terrible. In time, I added paid search, pr, lead gen and some other tactics to the arsenal in an attempt to even out the ups and downs. If you are still relying on one trick / skill to obtain the majority of your traffic you will want to read this article - it’s nothing new - but a good reminder to all of us:

Sanar says he sold $3 million dollars worth of jewelry a year. Then, he says, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) turned its back on Skyfacet.com, condemning the site to Internet obscurity.

Beginning in September 2006, Skyfacet no longer showed up on the first few pages of Google’s results when users typed in search terms like “diamonds” and “engagement ring.” The site’s traffic vanished, and Sanar says his sales dropped $500,000 in three months.

Full Article Here