Tricia Meyer

Affiliate Marketer, Blogger, and Consultant

Why You Should Join a Slack Group

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Benefits of Using Slack

I wasn’t exactly an early adopter of Slack. In fact, Brian Littleton had to almost drag me to it. But very quickly I came to understand why. I know at the outset it seems like just another tab you have to keep open on your computer, but once you start using it you will see why it might become your most important tab.

Explaining Slack is hard. It’s a combination of instant messenger, meeting place, calendar notices, and file sharing. There are so many integrations that you can include that you can make it do a variety of things that will streamline your processes and keep you organized. You could pretty much use Slack just by yourself and find it useful in a lot of ways, but there are so many benefits to joining a Slack group.

Collaboration is Key

Whether you are working with colleagues in a corporate setting, volunteering with a non-profit, or sharing information with people of like interests, Slack is perfect for collaborating. Once you join a Slack group, you can work with others in a public or private channel, start small group conversations, and send direct messages to people. You can send files back and forth easily and keep them organized. You can tag people you want to respond to something so you know that they will see it. Use a “thumbs up” for simple voting or weighing in on ideas.

Affiliate Slackers

Being a part of a Slack group means you can quickly get responses without interrupting the flow of your day. It’s easy to bounce ideas around. There is also a built-in search functionality so that if you know someone mentioned something at a point in the past, you can search back for it rather than asking them again. [Read more…]

5 Reasons I Work with CPA Networks

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5 Reasons

Over the years there have been MANY conversations/arguments/discussions about the differences between CPA networks and “traditional” affiliate networks. Most of my friends tend to come down on the side of not working with CPA networks. However, I have found that there can be great value in working with CPA networks if you do your homework to find the right ones. I’ve worked with probably 75+ in my 11 years as an affiliate marketer, and here are some of the reasons. (If you are shaking your head at me while you are reading this, at least give my reasons some thought!)

1. Disney Offers

My sites appeal to a lot of Disney fans, but Disney doesn’t run many traditional affiliate offers outside of Disney Shopping. In the past you could find Disney games, Disney Movie Club, and others through the traditional networks. Now everything like that is run through CPA networks. In addition, you can usually find offers for Disney Park information and Disney Cruise Line. My post “Free Build Your Disney Side Stickers” is a great example of a popular post that I often monetize with CPA links.

These are a perfect fit for my audience and tend to convert well. In particular when they run the freebies like the family stickers and the park maps I can offer my readers something I know they will love, and I can make money off of it.

2. Multiple Tracking Methods and Postbacks

One of the biggest complaints in affiliate marketing is not knowing how well transactions are tracking for any particular merchant or network. A number of the CPA networks allow for you to track in multiple ways so that you have more control over the data. For example, you can use the CAKE API to pull reports or you can actually place your own pixel to fire at the end of a transaction and report back directly to you. As a cashback site, I love these options. However, anyone could use them as a method of getting information faster and in various formats. [Read more…]

Boost Your Affiliate Business with Networking

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Affiliate Networking

Affiliate Summit periodically releases the videos of the presentations from previous conferences for free on YouTube. They recently published my video for my session “Getting the Most Out of Networking: Best Practices Revealed” from Affiliate Summit East 2014. It was one of my favorite panel presentations because working with Eric Nagel and Vanessa Branco was terrific!

You can get the slides from the presentation on Slideshare.

Unlike most of my other sessions, this one had an interactive component, so you did miss out on part of it if you were not at the actual session. But there’s still enough good information in it that it is worth watching the video (and they cut that part out so you don’t just have to sit there bored). The first part of the presentation is a little more fun and goofy but we really start getting more into the heart of the topic as it goes on-I promise! Even rewatching the video for this post I found myself learning things from Eric and Vanessa.

Some of the things you will learn:

  • 55% of messages received and processed by your brain are based on body language
  • Places you can network
  • Networking Within the Affiliate Marketing Community
  • Networking Outside the Affiliate Marketing Community
  • Networking Locally
  • Pre-Networking Tips
  • Networking Tips
  • Follow Up Tips

Plus, we provided a downloadable document entitled 30 Things You Need To Do Now. Even after 2 years, this is still a wonderful resource of ideas to quickly grow and diversify your network.

(Plus you have to watch the video to find out the backstory of the photo above. And apologies to my friends once again for using them as an example.)

Check out the video below, view the Slideshare, or just download the tip sheet. Let me know if you learned something new or if there is something else that you would include!

Are You Treating Your Blog Like a Small Business?

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comcast-5

Most bloggers didn’t start out thinking they were going to change careers or become full-time affiliate marketers. Many of us started off the same way with a simple niche blog about our kids or our hobbies or a cause that we cared about. Somewhere along the way that changed. We started making a little money. We accumulated a following. We learned that although blogging can be fun, it can also be a genuine business. But you have to change your mindset. You have to think beyond plugins and site themes and start thinking about technology and business plans.

Technology is More Than Just a Convenience

As I have been working with Comcast Business this last 2 months, I have been thinking more and more about the role that technology plays in my business besides just the fact that I am “online.” The technology that powers my company includes everything from the backbone of my sites to how I communicate with my employees. It impacts how my customers reach me. No matter what your business is, you can’t afford to look at technology anymore as just a way to do things easier or more conveniently.

Your technology plan has to be at the heart of your business. How will you ensure that you stay online? Do you have a plan if your service goes out? The video Creating Your Technology Plan helps explain how you can get from identifying key challenges to building your technology plan. (The video includes Peter Bordes, who is the CEO & Founder of oneQube but I know from his time on the Performance Marketing Association Board of Directors).

When you start thinking about these kinds of things, you start moving your blog in the direction of being a true small business.

Partner with a Company You Trust

2 out of 3 of business owners feel overwhelmed when it comes to technology. The best thing that you can do is find a company that you trust and let them help you fulfill your technology plan. You need someone who is responsive and understands small businesses. Comcast Business reports that you can reach one of their specially trained Business Service representatives within about 30 seconds. 30 seconds! When is the last time you had a tech problem and got in touch with someone that quickly?

If you are like me and started your business on the side, you can get evening and weekend installations to fit your schedule. Use Comcast and their Business Community to help you:

  • Take a fresh look at your business plan
  • Understand how technology can fill gaps
  • Find a trusted advisor or service provider

Let them show you how they can help you keep your business both secure and more productive.

Comcast Business partnered with bloggers such as me for this program. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any product mentioned in these posts. Comcast Business believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Comcast Business’ policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

Understanding Types of Affiliate Coupon Codes

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Many years ago I did an Affiliate Summit presentation entitled “20 Questions and Answers from Behind the Scenes.” I keep meaning to include some of that in my blog posts but never got around to it. Today I was talking to Ashleigh about a merchant who offered us an “exclusive coupon” that wasn’t exactly exclusive. It reminded me of this slide that turned out to be a pretty popular one:

Affiliate Coupon Codes

Let’s talk about coupon codes in terms of these stair steps and their size.

Affiliate Coupon Codes

General Coupon Codes

General coupon codes are the easiest to get and the bottom tier. You might be able to find these on the merchant’s website, their newsletters, and available for all public use. You are not offering your reader any extra value with these codes except maybe just to let them know that the merchant is having a sale if they wouldn’t already be going to the merchant site. Every coupon site will have these, but they are good to include with content so that your readers do not go searching other places for a coupon that might overwrite your cookie.

Affiliate Channel Exclusive Coupon Codes

When a merchant makes a coupon available only to the affiliate channel, you are providing a better deal to your visitor than the customer could get on the merchant site if they went directly. These are great because they give your visitor a reason to keep coming back to your site. When you advertise it as an “exclusive deal,” you are being genuine in that they won’t find the deal if they go directly to the merchant. That said, every other coupon and deal site will likely have these same coupons posted, so they don’t have a lot of unique value for you. Not all merchants will offer affiliate exclusives so be on the look out for them and when they do, take advantage of them.

Vanity Codes

Vanity coupon codes are deals that you can find on other sites (maybe even the merchant’s own site) but with some kind of identifier that the deal is for your readers. Fewer merchants do vanity codes because they have to set them up individually with the merchants. The benefit of a vanity code is that it is clear to your reader that you have a special relationship with the merchant and the deal LOOKS more exclusive than what they could get elsewhere. Just be careful not to heavily promote a vanity code that is a WORSE deal than other deals that the merchant is offering either on their site or through the affiliate channel. Consumers are savvy and you don’t want them to think you are taking advantage of them. Aim for vanity codes that are clearly associated with your site (I try to get either SUNNY or SREWARDS or SR10OFF or something like that for Sunshine Rewards).

Exclusive Coupon Codes

Coupon codes exclusive to your site are the goldmine of all coupon codes you can get from a merchant. This is a deal (usually for a limited time) that a customer cannot get anywhere else besides your site. It may or may not be a vanity code. That matters less than the actual deal itself. Usually you either have to be doing a lot of volume with a merchant or be a perfect niche site fit for them to get a true exclusive coupon code. Even better, some merchants will tie the commissions to the coupon code so that if another site scrapes the code and uses it, you still get the commission. Alternately, they may require that a certain link be used for the consumer to get the deal so people have to visit your site to be able to use the code. This is rarest of the coupon codes and worth the most to you.

Whether you are an affiliate looking for coupon codes for your site or a merchant trying to negotiate with affiliates, understanding the different types of coupon codes and their true value is extremely important!

Are there other types of coupon codes that you use in affiliate marketing? Anything that I missed?