Tricia Meyer

Affiliate Marketer, Blogger, and Consultant

How Affiliate Marketers Can Work Anywhere

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(Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Comcast Small Business but all of the ideas and content are my own, whether you agree with them or not!)

A huge thing happened when I was working for Lexis about 13 years ago. One day I figured out how to forward my work email to my mobile phone. Why was this so huge? Although I was a home-based employee with a flexible schedule, I hated being away from my desk during business hours and missing possible opportunities. But at the same time, I had a baby and a toddler who liked doing things like going to the library or the park during the day. Now I could see if anyone sent me an important email that I needed to get back home to respond to. All of a sudden, I felt like I could leave the house and not miss anything.

Fast forward 13 years and that scenario is laughable compared to what we have today. I can access my bank accounts, family photos, and kids’ grades from my phone. For better or for worse, I can be notified whenever my job needs me, a package gets delivered, or even my doorbell rings. I’m accessible everywhere.

Today is not for debating that because it certainly has its pros and cons. Let’s assume that one of the biggest pros of being an affiliate marketer is that we can work anywhere we want and with almost the same amount of efficiency as if we were sitting in our home office. Here are some tools and tricks to help YOU make the most of working from wherever your day takes you. [Read more…]

Using Datafeedr and WooCommerce for Affiliate Site

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Datafeedr and WooCommerce for Affiliates

Recently I decided to try some different options for my sites to populate them with affiliate products. I’ve used PopShops, GoldenCan, and custom programming. Each had its pros and cons. My next step was to try Datafeedr. I decided to implement it using WooCommerce because it seemed like the easiest way to get it up and running quickly without any outside programming help, which is what most affiliates using WordPress would want to do.

Please note: I am NOT including screen shots of the steps that I took because Datafeedr has AMAZING documentation on getting everything set up, including a screen shot for every single step. I’m merely running through the steps basically so you can see what each entailed and how long it took.

Installing Plugins

My first step was to install first the WooCommerce Plugin and then the Datafeedr WooCommerce Importer. Both were no problem and installed on the first try. Both plugins had recently been updated, which is always a good sign!

I had to go back and install the following plugins later, so you might as well just do them at the same time: Datafeedr API and Datafeedr Product Sets.

Time: About 5 minutes [Read more…]

To the Merchants Changing Networks

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Merchant ChangesThe last few weeks every time I check my email there’s an announcement about affiliate programs moving and closing. I grumble about it because it can be a lot of work to change the links. This post isn’t to complain about merchants moving networks because I know sometimes it is for really good reasons. Rather, it’s to give some affiliate perspective on how the affiliate managers can make things easier on the affiliates.

1) Don’t say that the program is “closing.” We start to panic because we aren’t sure if it means that the program is closing totally or if it is really just moving. I know some networks have rules about what merchants can say when the emails come through their system. The easiest thing to say if you can’t say anything about another network is “The Merchant X program is closing on the Y affiliate network.” This at least gives us a clue that there is already a program open on another network or will be soon.

2) Give us at least a 2 week notice. A month is even better if possible. We may need to swap out entire datafeeds, update old blog posts, stop PPC campaigns, or make changes to our databases. When we get multiple emails like this in the same week, it becomes impossible to get all of these changes made in one week.

3) Tell us where you are moving. Get the word out any way that you can without violating network policies. If you can email your top affiliates directly, do that. But also don’t leave out everyone else. Simply posting on your social media at least gives us a chance of finding it if we do a quick search, especially if you are an OPM. When we find out where a program is moving we can start making plans for either changing out the links or dropping the merchant completely if it is a network we don’t work with.

4) Have the new program ready with the basics. I’ve gone in and applied for a lot of newly moved programs only to discover that they didn’t have all of the standard banner sizes loaded into the system or the datafeed ready. Have the basic necessities ready in the new program before affiliates even start applying so that we can move everything over as soon as we get accepted.

5) Approve existing affiliates quickly. Speaking of the application process, make it as quick as possible for affiliates to be able to pull the new links. If a program is closing on one network on Friday, don’t wait until Friday morning to approve existing affiliates. When possible, extend offers to us so we can start pulling links as soon as we accept the terms in the new network.

6) Keep terms the same. It’s incredibly disappointing to see a merchant move to another network and then drop the commission in half. Unless the program itself is in danger, don’t use the move as an opportunity to lowball affiliates.

7) Offer incentives to move. This isn’t a “must” but it is nice when merchants offer something for affiliates to get links moved more quickly. It could be a higher introductory rate on the new network for a few weeks or an exclusive coupon there or anything like that. If an affiliate is dragging their feet on making the switch or unsure whether they even want to spend the time making the changes, an incentive can help.

8) Keep the lines of communication open. More than anything else, let the affiliates know that you are available for questions and respond to emails in a timely fashion. They may not be as familiar with the new network or may have problems applying for the new program. Be patient with us and understand that while you may only be migrating one merchant this month (or even 5), we might be having to switch over 10 or 20.

Do you have any other tips for affiliate managers who are moving their programs? Any pet peeves?

Taking a Break with the Free Affiliate Summit Coloring Book

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Affiliate Summit Coloring Book

I know I’m just about the last person in the world to get into the adult coloring crazy. It’s not that I have anything against coloring. It’s just that I have so many other ways that I want to spend my free time and other things that relax me (like wine). But when I saw today that Affiliate Summit was giving away a free affiliate coloring book, I thought it was time to give it a try.

Getting the coloring pages was the easy part. I just clicked through to the Affiliate Summit Coloring Book Slideshare and downloaded it. I paged through different things like “affiliate,” “commission,” and “disclosure.” (I bet you thought I would pick that one given how much I harp about FTC disclosures!)

I ended up with “Super Affiliate”–a term I have never once called myself because I’m not even sure what it means. But I thought it might be inspirational to me.

That’s where things got tricky. I had no idea what to color it with. We are remodeling our basement, so we threw out all of the kids’ old stuff. I texted my daughter in high school to see if she had any colored pencils at home and she replied they were in a Skittles box. Of course, because that’s totally normal.

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I found the Skittles box and noticed that the pencils were all in pretty bad shape–none were sharpened. I figured I would try the other daughter’s desk. I didn’t find any pencils, but I did find a sharpener. Ironically, it was a “Philadelphia Love” sharpener that I picked up for her at Affiliate Summit East one year.

Armed with my coloring page, pencils, a sharpener, and some random markers, I headed to the kitchen table. Here are just a few of the things that went through my mind while I was sitting there:

  • I need sharp pencils! Let’s get these things sharpened up. Why are they so hard to sharpen? These pencils are crap. But they are Crayola! Isn’t that supposed to be good? Maybe it is the sharpener. My kids deserve better pencils than this. How do they even use them??
  • Is this supposed to be relaxing? What should I think about? Oh! I know…a blog post. I’ll think about writing a blog post about coloring.
  • When did my kids stop coloring? They used to color a LOT. I think I kind of liked it.
  • This isn’t so bad. I kind of like it. I can see how it would be relaxing. As long as it doesn’t take me too long. I don’t want this to take too long.
  • These pencils are total crap. I’m only using like 5 colors because I don’t have time to figure out how to sharpen any more of them. And why is this one sharpened on both ends??
  • I think my hand is cramping. 
  • It’s a good thing this isn’t a coloring contest. I would totally lose. Well, I might not lose. But Jen Goode would win. Or Shannon Weidemann. They are both really good at coloring on Instagram.
  • I’m making such a mess with these pencil shavings. I should have done it over the trashcan.
  • I’m such a boring colorer. (is that a word?) Look at me just coloring in the lines. Dang it! I got outside the lines!! Well, I’m not starting over now.
  • Look at me getting fancy! I pushed hard with the purple to make it dark and then did it really lightly to make lavender. I’m totally getting the hang of this coloring thing.
  • What am I going to do with this when it is done? Hang it on the refrigerator? Maybe I’ll Instagram it….yeah. I’ll Instagram it. 
  • Wow! Taking a break from my computer has been nice. But my hand is cramping again. Like “writing thank you cards” cramping. I need to use a pen more often.
  • Whew! Done. That took longer than I thought it would. I wonder how many messages are in my Inbox now?

So as you can see, the coloring DID give me a little bit of time to think. And get away from the computer. And realize that my kids’ pencils are crappy. Will I color again? Not until I get them some better pencils. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely. A few minutes of stirring up creativity is necessary when you sit at a keyboard all day.

Thanks to Affiliate Summit for the pages and the excuse!!

Are you an adult who has rediscovered coloring? 

Be Careful When Accepting LinkedIn Requests

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This morning as I was making my way through emails I found a LinkedIn request from someone I didn’t recognize. When I recognize a name, I always accept. When I don’t recognize the name, I go through a few steps to figure out whether I should accept. This (likely) spammer almost got me! Here are the steps I took and how they almost made their way into my network. More importantly, I explain why it’s a good thing I didn’t accept.

The Invitation Email

At first glance, nothing in the invitation jumped out at me as being fishy. Sometimes the whole invitation will be in another language or the company they are with is clearly something I don’t want to be involved with.

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The fact that the first name was in all caps was a little weird to me but not enough of a red flag to ignore it completely. I wasn’t sure if that might just be a LinkedIn formatting issue. Plus, it would be plausible for someone in Indianapolis to want to connect with me, especially someone in marketing. So I clicked to view the profile.

The Profile

The profile had a couple of things going for it. First of all, I recognized all of the companies listed. The positions made sense as did the years in each position.

Even more importantly was the “How You’re Connected” section.

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Now, I have blurred out my friends’ pictures because I don’t want to embarrass any of them. But suffice to say there were a LOT of Indy friends who were 1 connection away from “Sharon.” Many of those Indy friends are bloggers or other people in marketing. So in my mind it would make total sense that someone from Kellogg might possibly want to contact me about some kind of Brand Influencer opportunity (see my last post on that).

The Profile Picture

My last step is always checking out the profile picture, and this is where I hit gold. See that profile image? I saved it and ran it through Tineye. The result? This:

linkedin3We’ve got a match! The only way that profile picture is “Sharon Morris” is if Sharon is “Isolated Indian Professional Business Woman Presenting With Hand.”

What If I Had Accepted?

So what is the worst thing that would have happened if I had accepted the request? At the very least, I would have received some inbox spam that I could have ignored.

More importantly, my own network reputation is on the line. Using LinkedIn is all about building up trust and sharing connections. Clearly this spammer was targeting Indianapolis business professionals. If I had accepted their request, the next person they invited would have seen that I was a direct connection to the spammer, so they would have been more likely to accept the request. Once they started getting spammed, they would have looked back and seen that I was the one who basically vouched for the spammer by being the connection.

Do yourself a favor and look closely before accepting LinkedIn requests. You may not care if you get a little spam in your inbox, but your own connections might. Keep your network clean so that people will trust your recommendations and connections.