Five tips to getting started

1. Get over yourself. You look how you look. The rest of the world sees you as you are, and you look no different on camera. Quit worrying about how you look and start filming yourself. Nobody is going to criticize you.
2. Smile. Nobody wants to see a grumpy person on camera. Be pleasant and inviting. Make your viewers feel welcome.
3. Solve problems. People want to watch videos that can help them. Consider making “how to” videos where you show people how to do things you might be an expert at.
4. Don’t sweat the equipment. Anyone can make high-quality videos with inexpensive video cameras and lights.
5. Just do it! The ONLY way to get started is to just do it. Your first videos will not be perfect, but remember, nobody is doing perfect videos right now. Remember too, your competitors are either going to beat you to it, or envy you a year from now. It’s your choice.

Jim Kukral is a video marketer and veteran online marketing expert. You can read more about Jim at www.jimkukral.com. Or learn more about how to make videos at www.onlinevideotoolkit.com.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

My 3 Favorite Blogs You May Not Visit

1. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/ – An all around search blog covering SEO & PPC with great editors.
2. http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/ – I’ve picked up more than a fair share of PPC / SEO tidbits here.
3. http://www.ppchero.com/ – Great and practical PPC advice.

My 3 Favorite Tools You May Not be Using

1. http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends – Use this daily to see what is getting hot every day, jump on trends quickly.
2. http://www.seoquake.com/ – One of the best plugins out there to speed up your research.
3. http://oyoy.eu/ – new comer but has a bunch of great tools, and a good plugin to boot.

Wil Reynolds is an SEO expert and founder of SEER Interactive, a Philadelphia-based Internet Marketing company and a national leader among SEO companies.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

Question: What is the future of affiliate marketing?

“I believe affiliate marketing’s future will to some extent mirror the projected online advertising growth worldwide in the coming years, as several publications have predicted. Right now, affiliate marketing is one of the outlets that is (or should be) in most marketing toolkits and I think this will remain true. I do think the expansion in affiliate marketing will come globally, there will be more education in general on what affiliate marketing is and how to do it right, and there will likely be an increased focus on marketing integrity and compliance.”

-Michael Sprouse
Chief Marketing Officer, Epic Advertising

“I think we’ll continue to see smaller affiliate programs as advertisers grow concerned over knowing how affiliates are promoting their brand. Many affiliate managers don’t have the resources or tools they need to police affiliates and may look to reduce the number of sites they allow in their programs in order reduce their risk.”

-Chris Kramer
NETexponent, Co-Founder and Media Director

“True partnerships between smart advertisers and top publishers will form. I can see some situations where top publishers get stock options or significant bonus pay outs if certain performance levels are reached. There is a “next level” of affiliate marketing that we haven’t seen yet. But it will come.”

-Ola Edvardsson
Performancy, Inc., CEO

“Retailers have learned how to be successful doing online marketing through by advertising from Google, Yahoo and MSN. The “What’s Next?” question is going to lead them to affiliate marketing. Once there they will be excited to see a marketplace that is increasing in strength and sophistication allowing another way to grow their brand or their online presence.”

-Durk Price
eAccountable OPM LLC, President

“Video – Entertaining and informational videos either sponsored or displaying ads in rotation. Although blogs will still be important as a destination, people are getting accustomed to watching video through widgets, video hosting sites (like YouTube, Revver, or Magnify), or from their iPods. Making quality video available at your customer’s convenience is the growing trend.

Social Media – Trusted web authorities selling to communities. An affiliate needs to have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Ning, or another niche community. They must give great value to that community. Think more you must give to get, and less pitching.

Transparency (current Buzz word) – Honesty is the best policy. Web surfers are getting savvier. Be honest with your advertising and they will more likely join your community.”

-Michael Buechele
1115 Media Group, Founder

Question: What is one new thing an affiliate should know?

“Outsource — hire an affiliate manager! There are so many things an experienced OPM can do for you to boost the effectiveness of your program. I finally offloaded this task after running a CJ program myself for 9 years. My new affiliate manager helped me to restructure the program and fix some blunders that were holding me back. They’ve also increased my competitiveness with new creatives, and forged alliances with super affiliates who are already driving new business to Flowers Fast.”

- Bob Rankin
Flowers Fast!, Owner

“Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick program. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. That being said, a successful affiliate business can be very profitable, and provide wonderful flexibility.”

-Adam Viener
imwave, inc., Chairman & Founder

“With the recent explosion of super affiliate and make money blogs, there is no longer a need for new affiliates to buy into the whole “make money” eBooks scheme. With so many “make money” blogs out there, new affiliates can learn just as much, if not a ton more, by reading affiliate marketing blogs and interacting with the blog owners, then spending their money on eBooks with old recycled information. My advice to you is… don’t buy eBooks, read the blogs and invest in yourself.”

-Zac Johnson
MoneyReign, Inc., President / CEO

“Try to find a niche and also something that really interests you.”

-Nik Mohan
PC Tools Software, Affiliate Manager

“The best tip for any new affiliate is they need to do is study the programs which they want to work with. Test everything out and fully understand what is expected of them as an affiliate and how to stay within the guidelines that are specified from the advertiser.”

-Collin De Ruyck
Feed Flare, Owner

“Two things a new affiliate should know:

If you are going to be building a content site, use a content management system. Whether it’s WordPress, or Movable Type, or Joomla, take some time to learn about content management systems. Using a CMS will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Any link that goes out from your site should be through a redirect. There are multiple reasons for this, and if you don’t know what a redirect is, do a Google search and some reading about why you want to use redirects. But this one tip would have saved me a lot of time and frustration if I had known it getting started.”

-Jonathan Kraft
Strive4impact, LLC, Fun Guy

“There is always a better (private) pay-out level that you likely don’t know about.”

-Ola Edvardsson
Performancy, Inc., CEO

Question: What is one thing a new affiliate manager should know?

“If you treat your top affiliates like business partners, you can accomplish great things together. Being a great affiliate manager is a tough task, it takes a lot of negotiation and education skills to deal with top affiliates and fight internal battles. A good Affiliate Manager is worth their weight in Gold!!!”

-Adam Viener
imwave, inc., Chairman & Founder

“A new affiliate manager should know to not always assume things, but research the facts before drawing a conclusion. This can relate to reports, but also relate to affiliates that may look “shady” in the beginning.”

-Jesse Bouman
1 & 1 Internet Inc., Senior Affiliate Program Manager

“Don’t underestimate how much can be gained by working really closely with some affiliates and truly treating them like partners.”

-Chris Kramer
NETexponent, Co-Founder and Media Director

“An affiliate manager should know the ins and outs of their tracking system so that they do not have to pass their affiliates along to multiple team members.”

-Ian Fernando
IANternet Media LLC, Affiliate Marketer and Blogger

“New affiliate managers should be proactive! Reach out to each publisher and learn more about what each one does online. Find out more info about each publisher and develop a friendly rapport with each of them. This helps break the ice and will open up the lines of communication, which will provide the affiliate with more targeted campaign suggestions, and as a result, more money!”

-Debby Banning
Market Leverage, Digital Media Relations

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

Tips from a super affiliate to become a successful blogger.

It seems like every day there is a new “make money online” blog popping up. Where are all of these new bloggers coming from? Are they skilled marketers finally coming out of the basement and exposing themselves, or are they simply trying to make a quick buck in a fast growing niche area?

Either way, the number of marketers coming out and sharing information is increasing daily, and I am going to share several reasons why affiliates and affiliate managers alike should start blogging now.

1. Build Your Name Brand and Trust
   Having your own blog will not only get your name out there, but what you write about will reflect upon your name and build recognition. As you become a prominent player in the blogosphere, your “name brand” could be your next big project. Establish yourself; build the trust of others, and your name brand will soon be your most powerful asset.

2. Make Even More Money
   Making money with your blog is always an option, but the contacts, information, and new relationships that will form as a result of your blog are priceless.

3. Help Others, While Helping Yourself
   Not only will you start helping others by sharing your knowledge and experience with online marketing, but you can also ask for help and feedback on existing projects or ideas you have, as well. Bloggers love to talk with other bloggers on how they can work together or share ideas.

4. Blogging is Fun & Motivational
   Business can get stressful, and sometimes you just need to step away from your email and ad campaigns. When you have a blog, not only will you inspire others with your posts, but you will also get motivated, as you stir up new ideas with your posts and receive feedback from your readers.

5. Networking Opportunities Await
   It’s one thing to attend marketing conferences and events for networking, but with a blog you are gaining new readers and contacts 24/7. Without a blog, you are losing out on so many business relationships and opportunities. Put yourself out there and make more contacts than you could ever imagine.

Whether you are an affiliate manager at a network, or just getting started in the affiliate space, these are just a few of the reasons why you should be blogging. I started my own blog at ZacJohnson.com just over a year ago, and it’s made an amazing impact on my business ever since day one. Don’t wait another day, start your blogging adventure now!

Zac Johnson is President/CEO of MoneyReign, Inc. You can read more about Zac at ZacJohnson.com.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

Build profitable customer relationships by following these simple email axioms

Email holds distinct advantages over other online marketing channels:

• It is widely used by consumers.
• It enables targeted, one-to-one communication with potential customers.
• It is repeatedly cited as delivering superior ROI over display ads, paid search and SEO (among other channels).

Many affiliate marketers use email to boost their sales. The most successful ones follow the “golden rules” of opt-in email marketing:

Rule #1: Start With Permission

Successful email marketers build their campaigns around a foundation of permission. Spamming undermines that foundation, ruins your reputation and ensures that future emails from you won’t get treated kindly by ISPs.

It might seem like a shortcut to buy or rent a list from someone, but shortcuts don’t lead to a responsive audience that actually reads your emails and makes repeated purchases from you over their lifetime. Besides, spamming people is just… wrong. You don’t like getting spam and neither does anyone else.

Build a list of people who come to your website and sign up to get emails from you. They’ll be your most responsive, most profitable subscribers – and you’ll actually get your email delivered to them.

Rule #2: Give the People What They Want

Even though there’s no money changing hands, when someone signs up to your email list, they are conducting a transaction with you. Basically, they are trading you some of their time, privacy, and attention, with the expectation that what they get in return will be more valuable than those things.
To get potential subscribers to sign up, show them how they’ll benefit from your emails. Sell them on the value of being on your list.

Then, once they’ve signed up, (over)deliver on that promise of value. Don’t hammer them with sales pitches right away – give them what they asked for. Earn their trust first with relevant, valuable, timely email messages.

Relevant, valuable, timely emails lead to happy subscribers.

Happy subscribers not only stay subscribed and become happy customers, they refer other people to you, helping you grow your list (and get more happy subscribers) without increasing your ad spend.

Rule #3: Stick With It

Email marketing isn’t a single-use tool. It’s a process whose benefits grow over time.
Many potentially great campaigns are derailed by inaction – sending so infrequently that subscribers forget they ever signed up. Consistency is the key to building the trust that leads subscribers to become customers.

Email your subscribers at least 1-2 times per month. Better yet, decide how often you’re going to email them and tell them when they sign up how often they can expect to hear from you. Then, stick to the schedule you’ve committed to.

Tom Kulzer is the CEO and Founder of AWeber Communications, the leading email marketing service for affiliate marketers and small businesses. http://www.aweber.com

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

The clumsy and lucrative early days of PPC arbitrage

While it’s been a decade, I remember the indignance, clear as day. To some, it might have seemed unjust, mean, or unworthy (to borrow a definition). To others (including yours truly), it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A casino gone mad.

The bank broken… spilling into our pockets.

Once upon a time, Idealab delivered a goose that ate pennies and crapped out ten dollar bills.

Goto.com smacked the search engine world upside the head, turned it on its ear, and spun it around so quickly that all the enlightened could see were dollar signs (and you thought I was going to say stars).

At the inception of pay-per-click search engine marketing, I gleefully bought clicks for pennies and giddily pushed traffic to affiliate programs that paid out crazy terms for new customer bounties.

All was well and good while the milk and honey and bourbon flowed and the VC and IPO money held out, but as the boom turned to bust and the click values rose, it became tougher and tougher to ride those double-digit long shots drunkenly home for ten races every day.

As the temporary insanity and irrational exuberance self-corrected and bid levels rose, I found myself playing the nickel slots less and less frequently.

All that’s left now is the schwag.

The author of the ground-breaking “Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net” (McGraw-Hill/1999) and other fine and dusty tomes, Daniel Gray is currently a recovering raconteur and metaphor mixing breakfast cereal Internet entrepreneur.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

If you paid attention during your high school or college Economics class, you undoubtedly were exposed to the axiom of supply and demand. Video advertising must abide by this law just as a falling rock obeys the law of gravity.

We are about to witness a classic lab experiment of the economic law of supply and demand, and it will give any economics professor who is monitoring the online video advertising world enough lecture material to last a semester, maybe two.

Currently, there are billions of video-advertising dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting to stream into the Internet marketplace. Part of the reason, in my opinion, that the dollars are not already flooding into the marketplace is the absence of an Internet Video Advertising Standard.

We have had an advertising standard for regular network television broadcasts for many years. Many might agree that the standard is a 30-second commercial that plays at the beginning or end of a show.

It makes perfect sense for the ads to play at these positions as both spots take advantage of deep-rooted psychological triggers that are hard coded into the human brain. Tuning in early to a show pulls the scarcity trigger as the viewer does not want to miss out on any of the programming. Watching the ads at the end of the show is a reciprocal response since the viewer was allowed to watch free programming.

Ask Randall Rothenberg, the President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and he will tell you that the accepted standard for video advertising online has not yet been cast in stone by the industry. We are close, but not quite there. Some of the things that are part of the standard and must be decided are:

• Length of a video ad.
• Type of ad.
• How many ads within a given video.
• Manifestation of the ad (overlay, preroll, postroll, interstitial, etc.).
• Behind-the-scenes high-powered metrics for measuring ad effectiveness.
• Cross-platform ad buying allowing an advertiser to buy multiple websites at one location.

Once the online video advertising standard has been accepted by the marketplace, I predict a green tsunami of cash to wash across many of the websites that host great video content. The advertisers will be looking for high-quality video that is contextually connected to their products. The videos that offer solutions to everyday problems will do well. The ads that appear with these videos will be accepted by the viewer as helpful additions to the content.

Let’s talk about this in the world that I work in each day. My AsktheBuilder.com videos might appeal to any number of large brand advertisers. For example, consider videos that would be in my Plumbing category for just a moment.

As soon as the advertising standard is decided, the marketing manager at Kohler might call the Ad Sales department at YouTube and purchase all of the ad spots in the AsktheBuilder.com videos that have anything to do with plumbing fixtures and faucets. This is very likely as Kohler has the budget to do this.

Moments after the deal is struck, the phone at YouTube rings again. But this time it is Moen, another powerhouse plumbing faucet manufacturer, calling. Unfortunately, YouTube tells the Moen ad buyer that the entire ad inventory is sold. Moen reacts by finding another video-hosting site that features AsktheBuilder.com videos.

Oh, we are not finished. What about Delta Faucets, Elkay, American Standard, Price Pfister, etc.? Where will these companies buy video ad space to showcase their products within plumbing videos? My hypothesis is in videos that are hosted on other video-hosting websites scattered across the Internet.

There are at least two major dynamics at play in this situation. The one is the supply of high-quality video content and the other is the number of different places where this content is playing in syndication. In both cases the owner of the video content is sitting in the driver’s seat. The owner of content on the Internet is king.

I was quoted as saying that in the best-selling book, StrikingItRich.com, by Jaclyn Easton. But just a few days ago, a colleague of mine said the owner of video content is going to be the king of kings. Having survived on the Internet since 1995, I have to agree with this statement.

In the meantime, I suggest you move to high ground to watch what happens when the green tsunami crashes ashore.

Tim Carter is the author of the nationally-syndicated newspaper column Ask the Builder and the founder of AsktheBuilder.com.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

Affiliate marketers rally for two worthwhile charities

Affiliate Marketers are definitely an eclectic bunch. Put a group of 10 in a room and you’ll get 10 different opinions on various industry issues, with each individual view passionately expressed.

That being said, you will never see a group band together more strongly than a gathering of Affiliate Marketers who have just had their collective cookies overwritten or website content stolen.

All differences will be put aside and for a moment in time, the industry will become One.

It is that “Rallying” style that is witnessed each time Affiliate Marketers are called upon to support a worthwhile cause.

Since 2007, the Affiliate Marketing community has raised nearly $80,000 through Affiliate Summit selected charities such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada, March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Starlight Starbright Foundation.

In the next few months, Affiliate Summit will be supporting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure again as team Affiliate Marketers Worldwide, takes to the streets to raise money to fight Breast Cancer.

This September in Seattle, I will be leading a team of incredibly generous Affiliate Marketers who will be walking 60-miles, over the course of three days with me.

Angel Djambazov or PopShops.com and JonesSoda.com, Jen Goode of JGoodeDesigns.com, Karen Garcia of GTOManagement.com, Anne Fognano and Tammy Carney of CleverMoms.com, Laura Przybek of buy.at and Heather Paulson of PaulsonManagementGroup.com are just a few of the terrific folks that will be donating their valuable time for this worthy cause.

Some people have asked me why I’m doing the 60-mile walk again, even now that I know what I’m in store for. I guess for me, it’s all about the facts. I know that without a cure, 1 in 8 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. I also know that EVERY advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant.

I can’t think of a better way to use my feet so that one day men and women won’t lose their breasts or their lives.

I am still looking for additional walkers to take on Breast Cancer with us.

If you would like to join our team, or make a donation, please visit www.AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com to do so.

On that site, you will also find a terrific discount to Affiliate Summit Boston, which is available to folks that make a donation. Information on sponsorship packages can also be found on the website.

Additionally, the LEAGUE is the charity that Affiliate Summit has chosen to support during the upcoming Affiliate Summit Conference in Boston.

The LEAGUE, in its first year, is getting tens of thousands of kids involved in improving their communities and ramping up quickly.

It provides a structure, the curricular resources for the classroom and the planning resources for students and teachers to effectively address a community need through school year events.

The LEAGUE also provides recognition of student efforts, and works closely with local and national media partners to highlight and celebrate our youths’ contributions that are changing their community for the better.

For more information about this wonderful charity, please visit www.TheLeague.org.

Fundraising efforts will begin shortly and will also include the customary and highly-coveted Affiliate Summit Staff Shirt and Videos sponsorships.

For up-to-date information on these fundraising efforts as well as other Affiliate Summit happenings, please visit the Affiliate Summit Blog at http://blog.affiliatesummit.com

Missy Ward is the Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, the premier conference for the Affiliate Marketing Industry.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

The growth of Web2.0 over the past few years has caused an explosion of new apps and sites that help web workers get things done. For affiliate marketers, these applications can be incredibly beneficial and provide cheaper alternatives to the more traditional (and traditionally more expensive) desktop applications that solved the same problems.

So, here’s my Top 10 List of Web2.0 Apps to Help Affiliate Marketers GTD:

1. Harvest: Great time tracking application to keep track of where you spend your time. Includes a great invoicing system as well as a must-have desktop widget available for Mac and PC users. Freshbooks is my second pick for time tracking.
2. Google Calendar: Sharing, mobile access, Google-backed. ‘Nuff said. Essential for any web worker.
3. Remember The Milk: To-do Lists are not always sexy, but this app combines the best of simplicity with full-features to give the user a customized experience. As an added bonus, you can integrate your RTM to-do list with Gmail and have your list appear right in your inbox.
4. Jott: Jott allows you to record short voice messages. The key part of Jott’s worth is its ability to integrate into many other apps including RTM (see #3), Google Calendar (see #2) and even Twitter.
5. Google Docs: The ability to share, create and quickly edit (now online or offline) makes Google Docs indispensable for affiliate marketers (especially those on a limited budget since you can read and create Word Docs, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations).
6. Basecamp / Backpack / Highrise: All of these web apps come from the same company called 37Signals and they all offer varying degrees of product management and CRM. My day begins and ends in Basecamp.
7. Ma.gnolia: While I use and love Del.icio.us for bookmarking, Ma.gnolia fills a handy GTD niche by allowing me to keep my bookmarks in groups, private or public and share them with others. All of my affiliate logins, message boards and various places of destination dealing with affiliate marketing are organized nicely in my Ma.gnolia account.
8. Sandy: Sandy integrates nicely with your email and calendar (Outlook, Mail.app or Gmail) and sends you reminders wherever you’d like them to appear. Plus, Sandy also integrates with RTM, Jott and even Twitter.
9. CallWave: Everyone hates voicemail (at least I do). CallWave helps you get around the voicemail problem by sending your transcribed voicemail either to your phone as a txt message, to your email or to the CallWave desktop app (works great on a Mac).
10. The Kitchen Sink: Here’s everything else I use to GTD and highly recommend you at least try out… Gmail, Twitter, Google Reader, and Google Notebook. Web 2.0 is certainly a concocted marketing term that has lost its once hip buzz. But some Web 2.0 apps can greatly improve your business and make you a better Web worker.

Sam Harrelson is the publisher of the AffiliateFortuneCookies Podcast.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.

Microblogging is great method for communicating with affiliates and consumers.

Brevity is not only the soul of wit, it is the foundation of Twitter, a free, burgeoning social networking/micro blogging service that provides savvy online marketers a highly effective way to communicate with consumers, peers and influencers 140 characters at a time.

On first glance Twitter resembles a glorified version of instant messaging that allows you to send out text-based updates (albeit a 140 character limit). These updates or tweets are displayed on the user’s profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them via Twitter.com or through a third party application such as Twhirl or Twitterific.

And while Twitter is still primarily the domain of early adopters it is gaining traction.

Since its launch in the summer of 2006, Twitter has been one of the fastest-growing apps on the Internet. According to March figures from the company, Twitter is likely to reach 1 million users by June. However, other statistics claim that based on registered Twitter IDs, the number of Twitter users already exceed nearly 12 millions users.

Although, Twitter asks its users to answer the question, “What are you doing?”, it’s gone way beyond just personal updates from friends and peer and is now being used to pose questions, do crowd sourcing, conduct informal research and market products and services.

Twitter appeals to online marketers because, like other presence platforms, is an immediate way for people to communicate their thoughts and ideas. Marketers can leverage it by selling to the user directly or by seeing major trends in the millions of daily public posts.

There are several strategies for making the most of Twitter. For marketers, it can extend the reach for companies that already have a blogging strategy in place and want to deepen or further ties to its users. It allows merchants to announce sales and deals immediately to its consumers or to affiliates. It can be used to link to blogs, websites or news updates. Twitter is useful to build consensus or a community of supporters and fans. It can also help build buzz and shape personal or corporate branding.

Some merchants are using Twitter to put a human face on their brand and communicate directly with their users. According to Forrester Research’s web strategies analyst Jeremiah Owyang, Twitter is a great way to establish a trust with community members – to get personal and be personable.

For example: Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh, has attracted more than 2,000 Twitter followers through his amusing tweets and shoe giveaways. Airlines Jet Blue and Southwest are also active on Twitter and use the platform to promote blogs, contest, flight updates and answer customer comments.

Gary Vaynerchuk or WineLibraryTV.com has built a huge and rabid following of Twitter followers (more than 7,000 at press time) and uses his popularity to promote his online videos, his books, and sales of wine from his retail outlet. Jason Calacanis, CEO of human powered search engine Mahalo, has more than 22,000 followers and recently used Twitter to get input on a new design for Mahalo.com.

Social media consultant, Stephanie Agresta, president of Stephanie Agresta consulting, says that Twitter is not only an excellent way for merchants to communicate and engage its audience, but for affiliate managers to communicate with affiliates.

Because affiliates vary in how want to receive information – some like phone calls, some prefer email and others want RSS – Twitter messages can be received a variety of ways: on Internet- capable devices, the Web IM, and phone – which makes it a flexible solution for affiliate managers. The more affiliates know about what is going on with a program, the more they can tailor their marketing to convert their traffic into sales, according to Agresta.

Although Twitter is not a magic bullet for sales or success, any platform that improves communication, increases transparency and encourages dialog is worth adding to your arsenal of marketing weapons.

Lisa Picarille is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Revenue, a bimonthly magazine focusing on performance marketing (www.revenuetoday.com). She also co-hosts the weekly Affiliate Thing podcast with Shawn Collins on WebMasterRadio.FM and is a regular on the GeekCast.FM podcast.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.