“Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby.” - Dave Barry

I’m reminded of that quotation every time I try to explain Twitter to anyone, or defend its worth. As a performance marketer, or someone on the verge of entering into our world, this is a critical piece of information to understand. It may sound counterintuitive, but your lifestream (the daily journal of your life) is worth money.

From where I’m sitting, I’ve can safely say that lifestream marketing has kicked off more performance marketing careers than likely any other cause. Today, getting involved is even easier, due to the development of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and WordPress.

There is virtually no barrier to entry nor learning curve. Lifestream marketing simply involves telling the world about what you are good at and what you enjoy.

One of the largest communities of lifestream marketers includes those in the Tech/IT/Development world. Developers know that if they run into problems they can’t solve on their own, simple Internet searches can yield hundreds of results. This same principle holds true across all hobbies. At some point, an individual will come to the same bridge that an old pro has already crossed. This particular niche has developed some highly recognizable names such as “Experts Exchange”.

There are other niches that are much less developed, and are essentially wide open audiences waiting for someone to speak to them. While there is no current data on this theory, to my knowledge, my educated guess is that the majority of money to be made in lifestream marketing encompasses problem solving.

As most searches on the Internet involve finding an answer to a question (especially those embarrassing to ask in public), so think about what you do well. Are you good at fixing computer problems? Do you have experience repairing air conditioners? Are you an expert car technician? Have you been to the local deli today know what soup they are serving? You get the point.

It is extremely likely that the solution you found can help someone else. No matter how easily the solution comes to you, never make the assumption that the problem isn’t a big one to someone else.

Start with a WordPress blog and, quite simply, just start posting everything you do regarding your area of expertise. It doesn’t have to be technical, nor does it have to be difficult. It just has to solve a problem.

Use keywords or titles in your posts that match what you would say if you were asking the questions. For example: “What are the best low-fat Thai recipes?” Think about how another person would ask the question and tailor your post to that. If you stick to it, you’ll likely end up with a decent amount of traffic that you can begin to monetize using affiliate marketing.

Brian Littleton is the President & CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a performance marketing network based in Chicago, IL.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 10 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/29057000/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-10
FeedFront issue 10 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/04

Until the recent sweeping effects of social media, companies generally were in charge of their brand perception. Companies dictated to us regarding specific products, who the market leaders were, and the reliability of their customer service. Even awards given for things like “Industry Leading Customer Service” came from a closed-looped organization.

The modern combination of powerful search products and social media has created a newly empowered consumer who now dictates, as much as anyone else, how brands are perceived online. How can you position your brand for the best possible survival rate in this new online reality?

Create positive online ambassadors

If you take good care of your customers, they will have good things to say about you online. This offers you an opportunity to mold a happy customer into an online ambassador for your brand. Legitimate customer praise is always better than company generated buzz, so take this opportunity to interact with your customer and help inspire them to take the leap from customer to ambassador.

Don’t be afraid to jump into a conversation and just be real. Customers are just like the rest of us and they love to feel like they have a connection greater than just ID numbers. Be genuine and gracious and you are likely to build up a great group of ambassadors.

Never talk back on the defensive

A customer who feels passionate enough to speak negatively about your brand has likely had a bad experience. Unfortunately, this happens to even the best-intentioned business and is unavoidable.

When interacting online, it is important not to blindly defend yourself from criticism. Instead, just accept that things didn’t turn out well and put forth a message of apology combined with real action to back up your remarks. Never talk back in anger even if the criticism becomes heated; there is no positive outcome for a brand in an online war of words.

Think of yourself in a crowded retail store surrounded by potential customers and one angry one; starting a screaming match would not be productive when surrounded by potential customers.

Monitor those vanity searches

There are a number of tools that can be a great help in managing your online reputation. Google Alerts and Twitter Search are two that you should be using to on a very regular basis.

Watch out for incorrect information

User-generated content is powerful, and you could find yourself in a position where the majority of perception surrounding your brand is simply incorrect if enough people talk about it. If you encounter incorrect information it is important to counter it as soon as possible before it becomes assumed fact.

The online world is vast, but using tools available allows for a great deal of understanding about how your brand is perceived. Don’t be shy in engaging the conversation online about your brand; be respectful and honest in accepting praise and criticism alike and you’ll be in a good position to further the image of your brand.

Brian Littleton is the President/CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a retail-focused affiliate network for businesses of all sizes.
Download the entire FeedFront issue 6 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue6.pdf
FeedFront issue 6 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2009/06

I was recently reading a post that my business partner, Shawn Collins had up on his blog, AffiliateTip.com, entitled “Cynical Marketing.”

In the post, Shawn talks about how there are some marketers out there that simply don’t get the fact that not everything they do has to revolve around making money. They forget that sometimes, it’s more important to just give back.

The content of his post was dead on and the timing in which I read it, couldn’t be more ironic.

You see, earlier that day, I was approached by a marketer who read a post on my blog, MissyWard.com, that discussed me coming out of affiliate management retirement to help support breast cancer research and treatment – a cause that is very close to my heart.

This marketer had the chutzpah to ask me “what my angle was and why on earth would I bust my a** to grow someone else’s company when there was absolutely nothing at stake for me”.

Rather than chastising him for his ludicrous implications, I simply told him how I felt.

Giving is in my DNA and since affiliate marketing is what I do best, it seemed like a natural fit.

He followed up with a “you’re nuts.”

You know what, Mr. Cynical Marketer? Maybe I am.

But I keep very good company.

Aside from the folks that Shawn mentioned in his post that give back to the online marketing community without ever asking for a thing back (Haiko de Poel, Jr. of ABestWeb.com, Scott Jangro of Jangro.com, Jim Kukral of JimKukral.com, Melanie Seery of NYAffiliateVoice.com and Kellie Stevens of AffiliateFairPlay.com), I can think of dozens of marketers, including Shawn, who neglected to name himself) who do the same.

Chris Brogan who takes the time to answer every single questions he’s asked on Twitter; Brian Clark who provides amazing free content on CopyBlogger.com everyday; Brian Littleton of ShareASale who takes the time to educate his merchants and affiliate marketers to both make the affiliate marketing industry better and push it forward.

Also, all of the folks that walked 60 miles with me to raise money for breast cancer research on behalf of AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com ; Jeremy Schoemaker who provides dozens of case studies and tips to marketers to grow their businesses — the list goes on and on.

Now, it’s not to say that I’m averse to making money. I think I do a pretty good job at it. So do all of the people that I’ve mentioned above.

Maybe I’m just an idealist, but I believe that when one does well, there is an inherent responsibility to give back to the industries that have helped us get to where we are today and to help the less fortunate.

So, to all of the other idealists out there that give so much, with no strings attached – I salute you. Please keep doing what you’re doing. You ARE making a difference.

Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

Missy Ward is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine. She also manages the ThesisAffiliates.com program in which all of her management fees are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

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

I am not a fan of the “hard sell”. Infomercials, long-form sales letters and persistent aggressive sales calls cause me to zone out, rather than creating any interest, on my part, in the product.

As a sales alternative, I have advocated “soft sell” techniques, focusing on the product, needs of potential clients, and letting demand build organically, instead of by force.

For years, I’ve often been told that I am wrong on this point. However, recent reactions from social networks, with respect to the emergence of marketers, have shown that soft sell techniques are already playing a big role in the new marketing arena.

EARLY RETURNS ARE IN
Many marketers agree that social networks are the next big playground. Unfortunately, most have seen disappointing early results. I believe it is because their marketing approach has been off the mark.
Strong-armed sales techniques are nearly universally ignored on social sites. These types of campaigns can actually have a negative effect on brand; not to mention an enormous waste of time and resources.
Members of social networks prefer to interact amongst each other, peer-to-peer. Hard sell techniques serve as an interruption to that conversation.

A means to encourage conversation and interaction, such as a person or application is far better suited for this marketing channel. Marketers shouldn’t be afraid of jumping in to social networks, but they need to be respectful of the people who make up the community, and the unwritten rules of engagement.

SOFT SELL
In social networking, a marketer’s best play is to become part of the community, not just to market to it. This approach takes considerably more time, effort, and creativity, but has far greater long-term potential.
Quality conversation, sincere opinions, and just being an interesting person to follow, builds loyal bases. Followers don’t want to see just your latest and greatest deal; they also want to get to know you.

Social networks are communities, and, as such, have different expectations and tolerance levels for the marketers among them. Carry yourself more as if you are a new guest at a party.
You wouldn’t be to popular if you just walked in saying “Buy my stuff!”

REPEAT BUSINESS
Repeat business is the core of any business’ success. Selling a customer on a product which doesn’t deliver on its expectations or providing poor customer service will result in less overall success – even if the original sale technique is working.

On the flip side, marketers drawing in followers or friends in social networking will have difficulty in the long term if their feeds don’t continue to deliver.

Even worse, a marketer can experience a drop in followers if their feed is consistently filled with over-marketing that annoys their readership.

Using social networks to interact with and help current customers is one of the soft sell techniques gaining a lot of traction as well as media attention.

Companies who have a real presence on message boards, blogs, and other social platforms can build brand loyalty and increase the chance for repeat business.

Brian Littleton is the President/CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a retail-focused affiliate network for businesses of all sizes.

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/

Earlier this year, the State of New York passed legislation using affiliate programs as a way to force merchants to collect sales tax.  Rather than rehashing the legal ramifications, I’ll focus on three choices that merchants are making regarding this new law – and share some of my opinions on each of them.

Before I share my thoughts, I would like to go on record that I believe the fault ultimately lies within the law itself, and those who wrote it.  It is ambiguous, confusing, and I believe overreaching. 

In enacting this law, New York placed Internet retailers in an impossible position, and I believe the law has a very good chance of being challenged successfully. 

Merchants Dropping New York Affiliates

Personally, while I understand wanting to “be on the safe side”, I think this was a mistake.  I’ve read through the law countless times and didn’t find anything that allowed for amnesty from the law if affiliates were dropped. 

Assuming a merchant qualified, it would appear the only way to receive amnesty for prior tax periods was to begin collecting tax – there was no such allowance for closing the program to New York affiliates.  

In a non-Internet analogy, imagine having an office in Manhattan for 364 days/year, and then closing on December 31^st and pretending it never existed.

Merchants Modifying Terms

One of the more ambiguous sections allowed for the presumption of nexus to be rebutted.  The allowance was possible when an affiliate’s only action was placing a link on a website.  Some merchants re-wrote terms to disallow affiliates from email, PPC, and several other channels.  

It is my opinion that rewriting terms could only be considered if the merchant had already received approval from New York.  The law indicates a process whereas a merchant establishes proof, and possibly gains exemption.  

I gathered that merchants who were taking this route were assuming that they could declare themselves exempt when I am not sure that is truly the case. 

Merchants Who Began Charging Sales Tax

I argued on my blog that this was the only real option available to merchants.  While the ambiguous and confusing law has many gray areas that could be exploited – most merchants are very conservative when it comes to pushing tax law. 

 I anticipate other states emulating New York and enacting similar legislation.  When other states follow suit, there will be two groups of merchants:  those who geared up for this and are ready to begin collecting tax for certain states, and those that are not prepared.  I believe it will be a competitive advantage for merchants that are equipped to adapt. 

Those who dropped New York affiliates, for example, will be faced with the prospect of dropping another group, and then another, and so on. 

There will come a point when they will be forced to start collecting the taxes, but will be far behind in the process, and the alienated affiliates will be busy promoting programs that have already adapted.

Brian Littleton is the President/CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a retail focused affiliate network for businesses of all sizes. 

Download issue 2 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue2.pdf. 
Articles from issue 2 of FeedFront will also be posted at http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-2/.