Affiliate Classroom Blog Archives

Affiliate Summit - Vegas Update

Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 8:26 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

I just flew back from the Affiliate Summit and boy are my arms tired! (Sorry, I just had to say that.). Actually my feet are really tired. The Affiliate Classroom had a booth at the event, and I’ve never seen so many people! I overheard one person say that this was the best attendance they had ever seen.

There was a Meet and Greet (cleverly called the Meet Market) late Friday, which was the first networking opportunity of the event. A lot of people attended, and were given a preview of some of the companies that would be exhibiting the next day. Again, I heard people say that at the last Affiliate Summit, this was not a popular event. I guess it pays to try again – even if there is a football game going on!

The Event Hall opened on Monday and lasted through Wednesday. There were a LOT of exhibits to look at – three long rows, with exhibitors on each side. Everyone had something to give away, or something to attract people into their space. I enjoyed the little person dressed up like Elvis, and was more than a little annoyed when I missed the fresh Pretzels that were given away while I was at a seminar :-)

I was surprised to see some very big names staffing their own booths. It’s hard to believe the President of the company would want to stand and talk to people all day, but that’s what I found in some places.

It was a great opportunity to meet some of the people who are making big money in this business, and sneak in a few questions during a discussion.

It was nice that everyone was available and eager to tell you what he or she knew. Even though we had a booth at the event, we were openly greeted by other vendors and freely given their cards, toys and food. I’ve been to some events where the exhibitors think other vendors are just the competition; this was a nice change.

Everyone made the best of the networking opportunities and I’m sure there were a lot of connections made.

There were seminars throughout the entire day. The only thing I didn’t like about them was that there were several going on at the same time, so I had to choose between them. The nice thing though, was that it was very clear whom the seminar was targeted to (Merchants or Affiliates), so I could at least narrow it down to the ones that would be of most benefit. Unfortunately, the big-wigs were not speaking at the seminars, but I guess you can’t have everything.

There were also networking events planned after the exhibits closed. This is nice because it provides something for everyone. If you aren’t an exhibitor, you can go to one of these events and meet other people in a relaxed setting. There are games to play and mixers that require everyone to shuffle around and make the best of the time available.

Overall, I would have to say that the Summit was a success! As an affiliate, I now have a lot of new ideas to add to my web sites. And, as an exhibitor, there are a lot of new merchants and business partner connections that will definitely be useful in future projects.

I can’t wait until the next one in July!

Something Is Rotten in the State of Links. . .

Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 5:02 pm by Matt Van Atta

And that something is called linkrot. It’s an ugly term (then again, any word with “rot” in it is never pretty) that describes a problem for affiliate marketing websites.

Linkrot is the process by which links from one website to another slowly become less accurate, or extinct.

As an affiliate marketer, you drive business to a merchant’s website, so your website will contain links to that site. Say you set up a link to a destination page on the merchant’s site, and turn your attention to other matters. Over time, that link could “break” or become irrelevant due to one of the following:

  • The destination page’s URL may have changed.
  • The destination page may have been deleted.
  • The destination page’s website may have gone down temporarily – or disappeared permanently.
  • The destination page’s content may have changed – the link would still work, but your supporting marketing content may not.

Those who worry about the “big picture” of the Internet – as an interconnected venue for both social interaction and commerce – consider linkrot a serious threat. It’s particularly serious for affiliate marketers.

Broken links on your website can lead your target audience to distrust your ability to deliver accurate, up-to-date information or customer service. This negatively impacts not only your revenue stream, but also your reputation – which could persist even if the merchant broke the links, and even if you sign on with another merchant.

Short-term website offers provide a breeding ground for linkrot. Once such offers expire, remove the related links immediately. Otherwise, your site will have either a broken link (because the merchant removed the page) or an active link to obsolete content. Either way, you look bad, because it appears to customers that you’re not tending to business.

Combating linkrot may be drudgery, but you should regularly do the following:

  • For a new link on your site, confirm that the destination page URL is correct – especially if the merchant assigns the URL specifically to you.
  • Check your site’s links (even links to other pages on your site) and remove those that are broken or no longer relevant.
  • Communicate with the merchant to ensure that your links to the merchant’s website are active and that your descriptions of the destination pages match the content on those pages.

Success in affiliate marketing depends on your effectiveness at communication and information delivery. Keeping linkrot off your website will make you more effective in this regard.

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