Most of us know that online video is exploding, and want to capitalize on it. But before we think about how, we need ask why.

The only two reasons for posting video online are ego and money. Ego can be the desire for attention, to show-off, make someone laugh or capture snippets of life’s kaleidoscope. If you doubt this, one thing everyone checks after posting a video is the number of views. Views = ego.

Money is straightforward. Some create great content to monetize via advertising. Others use video to directly or indirectly sell something. This makes sense, because an online video can be like a virtual sales person. It’s an excellent way to attract, engage and inform customers.

This combination of ego and money is important to understand. If you are camera shy or uncomfortable “selling”, then video is not for you. Either that or you split the ego/money equation wherein a partner is in front of the camera and you just handle the money.

Also, we should understand the only two reasons people watch video. As Jim Kukral, the BizWebCoach, points out, it’s the same two reasons people use the Internet: information or entertainment – and that’s it.

We need to remember this as we ask the next question:

How can affiliate marketers use online video?

First, we can break up much of online video into two formats: long form and short form. This isn’t just about length of time, but about continuity of attention.

If a person is doing weekly “webisodes” with regular characters, vlogging, or hosting their own show (i.e. Gary Vaynerchuk), I would argue these are long form regardless of how many minutes each video is.
The value of long form is building audience over time and then converting that audience into revenue. This can be from ad revenue, affiliate commissions or speaking engagements in Las Vegas. All of which are viable.

Short form is more granular. It’s about three minutes or less, informs and/or entertains, and can stand on its own (no history or context is needed). This is the vast majority of YouTube videos.

If using short form to sell, there’s some corollary to traditional TV commercials, but you’ve got a little more time and can try the “mini Internet infomercial” route.

This is great if your video is atomic down to the product level (one video = one product). You also have the advantage that the video can be surrounded and enhanced with additional information such as images and text.

Unlike TV though, the screen format is tighter, and I would argue it’s even easier to click away then change channels. This is why you’ve got to keep “inform and/or entertain” in mind!

Lastly, you can try a “hybrid” approach. In this scenario, the videos themselves are atomic and stand alone, but you build a longer continuity of attention by establishing yourself within a vertical.

Ken Price is President and Founder of ShopWatchBuy.com, an affiliate friendly video enabled marketplace.

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FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5

Getting the prospect in a “buying frame of mind” helps you maximize the amount of money you draw from your traffic, and you do that with the words you use. Here are three tactics that can bring you immediate and long-term revenue from affiliate programs by communicating more value before sending a prospect to the merchant site.

1. Endorsements

A personal endorsement is the strongest way to pre-sell an affiliate offer, assuming your audience values your opinion. Effective endorsements are sincere and enthusiastic based on real experience with the product or service. That’s not to say that people don’t pitch things just for the money, but that can be a dangerous game that erodes your trust and authority if the product or service is poor.

As with any effective copy, endorsements focus on benefits more than features. You might find that picking out the most compelling benefits is easier in a personal endorsement, because you’ve experienced those benefits first hand. Share how a recommended product or service has changed your life for the better, and you’re naturally talking benefits.

2. Tutorials

Years ago, the easiest way to do really well with content-based affiliate marketing was to release a free ebook loaded up with affiliate links and watch it go viral. That strategy can still work, but generally the content must be much stronger, and the affiliate pitches more subtle. Another long-time strategy is the email mini-course, in which you deliver tutorial-style content by autoresponder that ultimately promotes one or more relevant offers.

These days, producing video tutorials that show how to use a product or service are extremely effective at pre-selling affiliate offers. Remember, teaching and selling are closely related, so “how to” content that naturally gets a prospect more comfortable with a purchase is smart. Plus, you can use broader tutorial content as an “ethical bribe” to get people to subscribe to your blog or a targeted sub-list, which allows for multiple relevant offers to be made over time.

3. Bonuses

Using a bonus or special deal approach is a great way to uniquely sweeten an affiliate offer. You essentially promise to add in an additional item if people buy through your link, or you work out a promotional deal with the merchant that only you can deliver. You then work the extra value into your endorsement, review, or announcement with a great headline and benefit-oriented copy.

You’ll see this strategy used quite a bit in competitive pay-per-click situations, and also during big product launches where lots of people are promoting at once. But it’s a really strong strategy anytime, because it demonstrates that you’re focusing on adding value and delivering great deals to your audience.

It’s All About Value

In each case you’ll see that you’re focusing on the prospect and communicating value before sending the traffic off to the merchant. This can give you an edge in ultra-competitive niches, but also boost your bottom line across all your affiliate marketing efforts.

Brian Clark teaches content marketing and copywriting at Copyblogger.com

Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5

Let’s say you’re a total newbie to the world of Internet marketing, and have heard there is “big time” money to be made in affiliate marketing. After researching different affiliate programs, you’ve decided to enter the highly lucrative (yet highly saturated) commercial ringtone industry.

You have already completed PPC training programs (I recommend Google AdWords training… and it’s free!) and now have a great list of keywords (using keyword list generators like the ones at tools.shoemoney.com). You’ve even purchased traffic via Google, Facebook, MySpace and other advertising vehicles. Now a steady stream of users are coming directly to the landing page provided by the advertiser because that makes sense. Right?

But wait. You are losing money… and fast. This traffic is costing you a lot and not many people are biting at your offer and converting. What should you do? Make your own landing page!

Why will your landing page out-perform the advertiser’s? Because you’re going to pre-qualify your user.

Carriers
Many ringtone offers only cater to specific carriers. Some may convert well for Verizon, some for Sprint, and others for T-Mobile. (Don’t hesitate to ask your affiliate manager which provider is working best on their network.)

Now, on your landing page you’ll ask the user who their carrier is and send them to an offer they can actually use!

Geo-targeting
You can also use your landing page to see what country the user is coming from and then send them to an offer based on their location. There are ringtone offers in over 100 countries now.

Don’t assume that just because you have selected only US traffic that this is what you’ll get. In fact, I often see a 5-10% margin of error here.

Other Ways To Monetize
What if the landing page you made doesn’t offer a user’s carrier? Or what if the user decides they don’t want to participate in the program? This is why your landing page should also include a huge Google AdSense leader board along the bottom. By placing it at the bottom, you are not only getting some money from them (as a last ditch effort), but you are not making the ads so prominent that the user prematurely leaves your site. (Don’t forget, to make money from Google AdSense someone has to leave your site.)

Putting products like Google AdSense on your page will give you back a percentage of your ad spend and you may be surprised at how much you receive.

Test It
Setting up your landing page sounds easy, huh? Almost fool proof? Well, not quite. Don’t forget to test your landing pages. I recommend using Google Website Optimizer to see which versions convert the best. Should I use buttons or text for my links? Red or blue? These variables make a difference, and only testing will give you answers.

So with a little fine tuning, your landing pages should be ready to earn you more revenue – within hours!

Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5

There are a number of things you should look for when deciding which networks to promote. Here are six areas I consider before putting energy into a new network.

1. Reputation
How often is the network spoken about on the Internet? Are the media and blogs portraying the network negatively or positively? Why? Reputation and brand are very important. Reputation is an indicator of how they operate and perform. All networks say they have the best of whatever they may claim but how truthful is it really?

2. Ask About Tracking and Reporting
Which tracking software does the network use? Is it an in-house system or third party software? Do they have a backup system? How do they generate and create subID reports? Also, ensure that the network software is secure and updated on a regular basis.

3. Request a Temporary Account Prior to Joining
Before joining a network, ask for a temporary login or account. This gives you a chance to view the interface and explore offers, payouts, and more importantly to test reporting/tracking. You do not want to join a network and find out they do not have the offers you want to promote. Even worse that their tracking and reporting system are not recording everything accurately.

4. Diversity of Offers
How wide of a range of offers do they have? How concentrated are they? Some networks are solely on particular niches, such as UK offers, credit loans, and insurance. Others may have a wide variety of items to promote, from infant diapers to fashion and clothing. There are also networks who cater to a little of everything but do not have a huge list of offers in each niche. You will need to ask yourself what type of offers you want to run.

5. Talk to the Managers
Is the affiliate manager friendly when you speak to them? Are you able to small talk while on the phone? How many people did you talk to after signing up? You want to talk and get the feel from the affiliate manager or team members of the network. Accessibility is also important – are you able to reach representatives from the network via email, phone, IM, Twitter, etc.? Access and responsiveness will give you a sense of security and comfort when promoting an offer via the network.

6. What are the Methods of Payment?
Check to see how you will be paid: PayPal, wire transfer, check, etc. If by check, how is it delivered? How often are you paid? Weekly, bi-weekly, daily? What is the quota for such payments? Can you get direct deposits? Inquire about the fees for the direct deposits, if any. And if you are located outside of the United States, do they securely ship checks or direct deposit internationally?

Take these steps to perform due diligence on a network, and you will limit risks and headaches down the road.

Ian Fernando is the Founder of IANternet Media LLC and Blogger/Affiliate Marketer at IanFernando.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
FeedFront issue 4 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-4/

For the last year, my company has been implementing artificial intelligence chat to save sales following cart abandonments. As a performance-based marketing company, we are always looking for ways to improve conversions as a way to helping our clients grow.

We felt that attacking cart abandonments was a really great way to help our clients as we also improved our program performance.

We also required a solution that would protect the affiliate traffic being sent to our client sites.

Most applications we saw were of the DIY (do-it-yourself) variety, or connected to a live chat feature, as in “thanks for the cash, good luck installing it” kind of attitude.

None of these solutions offered best practices models or insights to help clients determine how to make the best offer to keep the cart from being abandoned.

And most importantly, none of these solutions protected the affiliate commission.

Chatting to Save a Sale

We got a recommendation to try UpSellIt, a chat technology company, and began talking to them about their save-a-sale application. We liked their responsiveness, their customer service, their referrals and their performance pricing model and began a rollout with a number of clients.

The results were an instantaneous improvement in conversions; affiliate conversions and PPC and natural traffic conversions too. UpSellIt’s claims of improving site-wide conversions of between 8-15% were well founded.

Now we have about 20 clients using the product. Our client conversions of cart abandons to sales run between 15% and 35% with the monthly average for all clients using it of between 19% and 20%.

Convincing the Client

One of our wins was with a larger client of ours, who has an experienced US based in-house customer support team and a state-of-the-art live chat software.

Initially not too excited about the idea, they added it on a sister site and the results turned their heads. Then they installed UpSellIt on the main site.

Targeting very deep cart abandons, where live chat responses were not fast enough to keep prospective purchasers from leaving the site, they now are experiencing cart abandon conversions to sales of 35%.

We are now so sold on the tool and the relationship with UpSellIt that it is a virtual requirement for us to take on a new client. To make sure the client understands the opportunity offered by this application, we are running numbers to show them how this will impact their site-wide sales.

And these days, making every visitor session count is important.

The Customer is Always Right

Lastly, one of the things we were concerned about was negative customer feedback.

After one year of installations in a broad variety of clients and categories, we have yet to receive one customer complaint.

Durk Price is President of eAccountableOPM, which provides outsourced program management for 40+ clients across most major networks.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
FeedFront issue 4 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-4/

Affiliate Summit relies on opinions and feedback from attendees to continually shape the conference into an event that is most useful to all.

One suggestion we received via the ABestWeb forum after Affiliate Summit 2008 West in Las Vegas last February was to have some sort of “mentor program” to assist first-timers in learning the ropes and getting acclimated at the conference.

You talked and we listened. Teresa Caldwell of 4urworld.com coordinated the first go around of the Affiliate Summit Mentor Program, and by all accounts, it was a big success.

Thank you Teresa for all of your hard work, as well as to all of the mentors who volunteered their time to help along their fellow affiliate marketers.

Affiliate Summit 2008 East Mentors
Adam Riemer, Downtown Ecommerce
Anik Singal, Affiliate Classroom
Beth Kirsch, Callwave
Bob Drumm, ACLens.com
Bob Land, WorkshopLive.com
Brad Waller, EPage / AdJungle
Carolyn Tang, ShareASale
Carsten Cumbrowski, Cumbrowski.com
Chris Kramer, NETexponent
Chuck Hamrick, affiliateCREW
Connie Berg, FlamingoWorld.com
Dennis Dailey, TheUseful
Ian Fernando, IanFernando.com
Ian Larsen
Jeannine Crooks, Digital Instructor
Jessie Jones, PopShops.com
John Hasson
Karen Garcia, GTO Management
Kim Rodgers, 4checks.com
Kim Rowley, Key Internet Marketing
Lisa Picarille, Revenue Magazine
Melanie Seery, NYAffiliateVoice.com
Nick Koscianski, NickyCakes.com
Patrick Grady, RhinoFish Media
Rachel Honoway, Affiliate Classroom
Ron Bechdolt, 7 Days A Week Marketing
Sal Conca, NETexponent
Sam Harrelson, AffSpot
Shawn Collins, Affiliate Summit
Teresa Caldwell, 4UrWorld.com
Todd Crawford, ToddTalks.com
Trisha Lyn Fawver, TrishaLyn.com
Wade Tonkin, GTO Management

Stay tuned for information about being a mentee or mentor at Affiliate Summit 2009 West.
Update since printing: Affiliate Summit Mentor Program for ASW09 - Learn more and sign up today!

Download the entire FeedFront issue 3 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue3.pdf
FeedFront issue 3 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-3/

I’d been looking forward to Affiliate Summit in Boston for awhile now, and I prepared some goals to hit while at the conference.

Goal 1: Network with Merchants
I gave 100 business cards away, and received a stack to go through. The networking was great. There were two events set up for affiliates, publishers, merchants, and networks to get together.
Before the show really began there was the Affiliate Meet Market, which is a stripped down version of the exhibit hall. This was a chance for those that did not buy a booth, to have a table. It reminded me of a comic convention dealer section (yes I used to be that guy), with all the tables together and not much elbow room.

It was a bit of a whirlwind of exchanging information. I loved it though, and by the end of it I had a much improved pitch.

The other event was the exhibit hall held in a large open area with booths instead of tables. Some were plain and got right down to business, and others brought a little Vegas with them.
If you’ve been to an expo before, you’ll know what I mean. I found all of them to be sharp and helpful.

Goal 2: Meet Affiliates and Publishers
I also wanted to meet other publishers to compare notes, exchange ideas, and maybe do business. Everything at the conference was set up for interaction.

The breakfasts, lunches, after expo hours lounge, blog room and even just walking around the hotel was perfect for interaction. I met new people every time I took an elevator.

There were after hour parties and plenty of restaurants in Boston where I met more publishers. Jay Berkowitz of Ten Golden Rules scheduled a wonderful networking dinner and recorded a podcast at a restaurant around the block from the hotel.

Goal 3: Say Thanks to Some Bloggers
There were a few people I wanted to personally thank for their work on blogs, podcasts, and videos I’ve enjoyed. There is a willingness to share and teach in the affiliate marketing industry and I’ve learned from the work that these people have contributed.

I also wanted to stand out, so I gave them flash drives with personalized video messages. They came in handy since Sam Harrelson used his to save his presentation.

Goal 4: Get My Name Out There
Well those that got the drives know my name, but I really loved bumping into people that recognized me from Twitter, forums, and video posts.

With the mix of custom business cards, memorable gifts, a little pre-show personal marketing, getting on the mic for the Un-Keynote, and I’m getting contacted by more than just networks.
Affiliate Summit in Boston was one of the best things I’ve done to build my business. I have connections, a growing network, insight to affiliate networks, and a lot of phone calls to make.

Mike Buechele is a publisher and founder of www.1115media.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 3 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue3.pdf
FeedFront issue 3 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-3/

Going to Affiliate Summit can be very hectic. You plan your schedule ahead of time and when you arrive you do not even look at your calendar or time of events anymore.

It seems you have just thrown it out your window. You wanted to attend all these sessions, meet up with specific networks, have private lunches but it seems you are just lost with all the hysteria these types of events bring.

Every time I attend Affiliate Summit, I get lost in time and my appointments. There are ways to help control time as if you controlled it.

As you know, time is money and we are all limited on time, but what if we can just use every minute and make it very productive and reach our goals?

Earning the respect of time can be hard but also can be very simple. We just need to learn how to control ourselves and not time.

There are many ways to benefit from our day to day routine at the conventions we attend.

1. Make Appointments Prior to any Convention
This puts your mind in a state of ease. You already know who you want to talk to, so schedule appointments with them. Regardless if they are merchants, affiliates, networks, or beer handlers. Make it a point to meet up with them ahead of time. This way you do not waste time trying to chase them around.

2. Get a List of the Sessions You Want to Attend
Attending these conventions can put a strain on your mind, especially if sessions overlap one another. Look who is speaking and if the speakers interest you, then attend the sessions. Write it down and add it to your calendar. This stops the research when you are at the convention or at the hotel room.

3. Take Breaks
Breaks are important…take them! Get yourself situated by sitting down and taking a deep breath. Do not even bother looking at your tasks. Do not bind your mind with your current task, just sit and relax.

4. Update Your To-Do List
To stay up to date with every new event you receive at the events, make sure you update your calendar and task lists. This stops cross contamination of other appointments and other prior agendas you may have created.

5. Apply the 80/20 Rule
Identify 20% of your meetings and tasks which will contribute to 80% of your outcome later on. Review your agendas, look at the sessions, and reschedule less important meetings. Make sure you have a good list of agendas in which you will benefit in the long run.

Time management should not take control over you. It should be beneficial to you at all times. Remember you can say ‘no thank you’ to smaller meetings.

Satisfying every need will just get you into trouble and even some time wasted. Remember to take a break and breathe once and a while.

Ian Fernando is the Founder of IANternet Media LLC and Blogger/Affiliate Marketer at IanFernando.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 3 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue3.pdf
FeedFront issue 3 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-3/

Jobseekers are often presented with a challenge: imagine you’ve just stepped into an elevator with the CEO of a company you really want to work for, they’re told. You’ve got thirty seconds before the elevator reaches the executive’s floor to explain why he should employ you. What would you say?
It’s a tough question but fortunately, a restricted pitch isn’t one that Internet marketers usually have to struggle with. There’s no limit to the number of pages you can put on a website and no checks on the size of the pages.

The result is that for years now the standard sales tool for Internet marketers has been the long-form sales letter. These can go on for thousands of words, offer testimonial after testimonial, sub-heading after sub-heading and postscript after postscript.

They’re enormous, often repetitive and it’s unlikely that anybody has ever read one all the way through to the end. So why do marketers still use them?

The answer is simple: they work.

In one test conducted by the Marketing Experiments Journal in 2004, long-form sales letters consistently outperformed short copy, sometimes by as much as 400 percent.

In my own experience, I’ve seen up-sells and one-time offers produce conversion rates as high as 70 percent. That doesn’t happen often – but I’ve never had it happen with any other sales technique.
The reason they work is that a well-written, long-form sales letter will do two things.

First, it will push every sales point and answer every objection from every member of the audience. That’s something that’s always going to take up a great deal of space. But it’s also why marketers don’t expect the audience to read all of the copy.

The sub-headings are meant to provide easy entry and exit points for readers. Different readers will have different objections and they’ll be persuaded to buy because of different benefits. As readers scan a sales letter, the format of the page will naturally help them to notice the points and arguments that are most likely to persuade them.

Of course, they’ll also miss a lot but that’s important too. The Internet is the ultimate comparison shopping tool. More information about a product and more products that do the same thing are never more than a click or two away.

By providing readers with an overdose of information, marketers keep truly interested buyers on the page. If they can’t even finish reading the information in front of them, they’re less likely to feel a need to look for more information elsewhere.

It’s why a common reaction to a long-form sales letter is “Okay, I get it. How much is it already?”
When you can make a lead ask that question, you really should be able to turn them into a buyer.
Long-form sales letters need top quality copy. They need careful testing and tweaking. But when the information and the words are right, they’re also surprisingly effective.

Joel Comm has been building profitable sites since 1995. Visit his blog at www.JoelComm.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 3 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue3.pdf
FeedFront issue 3 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-3/

As another inspiring Affiliate Summit drew to a close, I thought about the conversations that I had over the course of 3 days with some incredible affiliates. These businesses live and die by financing the marketing efforts of thousands of multi-channel advertisers, which begs the question: How much money are affiliates losing to in-store sales?

Untapped Opportunity in Affiliate Marketing
It’s a fairly typical story; a consumer clicks on an affiliate link to an online retailer, browses the website, and decides to go into the store to make the purchase.

In fact, the story is far more typical than most affiliates may know. Recent research suggests that 89% of consumers browse online before making a purchase (BIG Research 2007), but < 7% of retail sales actually take place online (Forrester, “The State of Retailing Online” 2007).

Another important data point is that online advertising drives $6 of in-store revenue for every $1 online (Yahoo! & comScore, “Research Online, Buy Offline” 2007). Commissions have traditionally only been earned on online revenue. Imagine what kinds of commissions could be earned by promoting in-store purchases.

What Does This Mean for Affiliates?
For most affiliates, this means that valuable time and money spent promoting a multi-channel merchant can often lead to under-compensation for affiliate marketing efforts that result in an in-store purchase.

This also means that there is a broader opportunity for affiliates to promote new categories of advertisers with in-store purchases, such as manufacturers and restaurants.

In-Store Affiliate Marketing
The inability to track online advertisements to in-store purchases has also impacted merchants, who have a need to understand the impact of online advertising on in-store sales.

Having an affiliate marketing solution would provide the transparency and tracking solution desired by most large advertisers to bridge the gap between online and in-store.

Affiliate Marketing 2.0
As online affiliate marketing continues to grow and merchants begin to break down silos between in-store and online marketing teams, we are entering Version 2.0 of affiliate marketing.

Version 2.0 means expanding from e-commerce to the 93% of retail sales that take place in-store. Version 2.0 also means expanding the affiliate community to include mobile and print affiliates.
The next generation of affiliate marketers will be developing new technology to connect online ads to in-store purchases. We should all be incredibly excited for the possibilities that this will provide for both affiliates and advertisers.

The authors are co-founders at RevTrax, a leading in-store affiliate network, and can be reached at Seth@RevTrax.com or Jonathan@RevTrax.com

Download the entire FeedFront issue 3 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue3.pdf
FeedFront issue 3 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-3/