Tricia Meyer

Affiliate Marketer, Blogger, and Consultant

Naughty Merchants Deserve Lumps of Coal

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It’s that time of year when we talk about who is on the “Naughty” list and who is on the “Nice” list. In the last 48 hours, I’ve decided that there are some merchants who belong on the Naughty list. Because of the nature of retaliation in affiliate marketing, I’m not going to name a lot of names. On the flip side, affiliates need to know just what is happening with certain merchants so that they don’t end up getting taken advantage of the way that I have been.

First on my naughty list, and I have no problem naming names, is Disney Movie Club through Commission Junction. I have no idea how the program is or is not actually related to Disney because it is not run by the same people as the Disney Shopping or Disney Games accounts. But to make a long story short, I had 100% of my leads reversed for October and was told that they reversed 78% across all affiliates that month. The reason wasn’t fraud or cancellation but rather that the leads “didn’t show up in their reports.” I’ve been in affiliate marketing for over 7 years, and I can’t make heads or tails of this rationale. I tried to get more information but in the end just decided to stop promoting them because clearly they don’t care about affiliates. [Read more…]

Walking 40 Miles to Raise Money for Breast Cancer

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Affiliate Marketers Give BackAfter thinking about it all week, I decided today to take the plunge and sign up with the Affiliate Marketers Give Back Team to walk the 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’ve got roughly 340 days to get ready to walk 40 miles in 2 days in New York City plus raise at least $1,800 for my team. You might think the whole thing sounds a little bit crazy, but I know in my heart that it is the right thing to do and I feel so compelled that it was hardly even a choice. I have been wanting to do it for years but every date conflicted with some kind of family obligations that I couldn’t get out of. I don’t have any excuses for next year. It’s time I step up. Why do I feel so strongly about raising money for breast cancer?  [Read more…]

Internet Tax Looming in Indiana?

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Several months ago after speaking to my state representative, I wrote a post about Indiana and the Advertising Tax and the fact that affiliates in Indiana were safe for the time being because our legislature had repeatedly refused to enact an Internet tax and had actually made a deal with Amazon not to make them collect the taxes in exchange for Amazon building distribution centers here. A lot has changed very quickly in the last week.

The IBJ reported yesterday that Simpon Property Group filed suit against the Indiana Department of Revenue to force the state to begin collecting sales tax from Amazon. While I haven’t yet seen the suit, the article made it sound like the issue was mainly about the distribution centers but hinted a bit about an affiliate nexus. My fears were confirmed today when the IBJ reported that an Indiana state legislator is now filing a bill that will force Indiana to collect taxes from online retailers that “have a physical presence or affiliate distributors” in the the state. The exact “nexus” language is not there, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this legislation in basically going to call for an affiliate tax. [Read more…]

Affiliate Summit Indy Meetup 10-25-11

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Last week we continued growing our Affiliate Summit Meetup Group in Indianapolis with a meeting held at the RAM Restaurant and Brewery in Fishers. We had about 15 attend, which was our biggest turnout so far.

Erich Stauffer
Erich Stauffer Speaking

Thanks to Erich Stauffer for being our presenter. Erich runs a technology consulting business that offers marketing, web design, and computer support. He has been doing affiliate marketing since 2009. Here are some of the key takeaways from his presentation on How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business: [Read more…]

Affiliate Marketing and Tribes

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Affiliate Marketing TribeAffiliate marketing can be lonely when you are a solo business owner spending most of your days on the computer. Social media can complicate matters when it feels like a “chicken/egg” scenario of trying to get followers by showing that you already have followers. The one thing that can help solve both of these problems is building up a “tribe” around yourself.

What is a tribe? Most people would agree that at its core a tribe is a social group that exists on the basis of shared interests to help support each other. Since Seth Godin wrote about tribes in business, the terminology has evolved from primarily anthropological terms to more colloquial.  I was reading an article today entitled “How to Build Your Tribe – Finding ‘Your People'” and it really struck me how much we use tribes as affiliate marketers and how we should use them even more.

[Read more…]