February 2010

Say No to the Ad Tax

by Joe Sousa on February 19, 2010

in Uncategorized

The Advertising Tax Hurts Affiliates

I haven’t said much about the advertising tax on this blog but I figured it is time I mentioned it. There are plenty of other people who know much more than I do about it but here is a quick video I put together explaining how this tax would be detrimental to me, to any affiliate, and to the states that try to pass this tax:

As an active member of the affiliate marketing community, I am opposed to any state legislation that would attempt to use affiliates to establish nexus for out-of state merchants.

Also the Performance Marketing Association put out this unified message that I totally agree with that will be able to state things better than I can:

I depend on my relationships with many out-of-state merchants for my livelihood. I put their advertisements on my website and earn a commission when someone clicks on that link to make a purchase or registers with that merchant. I am not an employee of any of these companies. I do not collect any money. I do not make the transaction. And I do not ship any goods. I simply advertise these offers to consumers for merchants.

This type of business model does not meet the definition of nexus.  If bills like this pass in my state, many retailers will terminate their relationships with me and I will lose a large percentage of my income. That will impact my ability to provide for my family. I t will also impact the levels of income tax I pay to the state.

In fact, a handful of states that have passed legislation of this type (such as Rhode Island) have publically admitted that the states never realized the projected revenue and lost many small businesses in the process.

I want the affiliate marketing space to continue to thrive and grow. These types of laws will put small businesses, like mine, out of business.

So please do what you can to fight this. I will do my best to learn more about this, learn how I can better fight this, and how I can support those who are fighting for us daily.

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Is the Video Boss worth the money?

by Joe Sousa on February 17, 2010

in Affiliate Stuff

Simple answer? Yes, The Video Boss is worth the price ($1997 if you are curious).  Want more of an explaination?  Read on…

Let me start out by saying a couple things:

1.  I HATE the sales letters, internet “gurus”, all the terrible training programs that seems to come out every week, and all that crap. I have hated them for years and when I see one I want to puke. For the most part they are pretty bad. Of course there are some good ones out there from time to time but I could probably easily say that over 90% of them are pretty worthless.

2.  I only would recommend one of these products to someone if I knew the people behind it and saw it as something I would actually use.

With that said hopefully you will believe me when I say this:  Based on the preliminary videos I have watched, The Video Boss is pretty dang awesome. What is the Video Boss? It is a new video coaching program put out by Andy Jenkins. I am almost positive I met Andy a few years ago at a conference a few years ago. It was a “sales letter” conference with a bunch of the top “gurus” and such pitching their products. When I see stuff like this my BS detector usually goes crazy but it didn’t with Andy.  This guy really knows his stuff when it comes to video, video production, and marketing.

I already do some video stuff.  I film a quasi-weekly video for my football jersey site, I do some videos to promote some of my other sites, I do some videos for some local companies, etc.  So I know enough about video to kind of understand it. And I do plan to make more posts on how I use video. By no means am I an expert but I do know enough to be able to tell if a video training program is good or a piece of junk.  Hopefully when I tell you Video Boss is worth the money you will believe me. Yeah it does cost $1997 (Or just 6 easy payments of $388!!!) but based on what I have seen with the videos I have done and after seeing even the pre-release videos Andy has done I can confidently say that if you take the information Andy gives,  learn what he is saying, apply what he is teaching, and go out and make your videos you will make that money back.  I can’t guarantee that of course. It is mostly up to you and the amount of effort you put forth.

This really isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme.  You will have to put in a lot of time learning and producing videos. But don’t be scared by videos. They really aren’t as hard as they seem. With a $100 Flip camera and some other cheap equipment you can produce some great videos. Lots of people get nervous about being on camera, speaking in public, etc. but you don’t really need even need to be on camera.

I can’t go over every thing contained in this course here (because there is really a lot of info) but here are some of the key modules:

Module 1: Video Universe – Covers development, script writing, post production, distribution, and other general video stuff

Module 2: Video Laboratory – Real world experience, how to create slides, voice overs, and more practical “how to build your video” type stuff.

Module 3:  Live Video Production – Lighting, how to build a home studio, how to film live videos, etc.

Module 4: Edit Like A Pro – Teaches you editing techniques. Over 35 different chapters in this module.

Module 5: Traffic Boss – Covers Video SEO, Link building, Social media, and other stuff like that to actually start making money off your videos.

Plus a bunch of bonus modules.

Here is what I would suggest you do:  Go check out the first 3 videos Andy released. Just watching those 3 videos will give you plenty of info to get started with videos.  If you decide you like what he is teaching buy the course to learn a lot more.  If you watch those videos and realize that video isn’t for you?  Don’t buy!  Don’t waste your money on something you won’t use.

So go check out Traffic Boss and let me know what you think. 

*** Disclaimer*** the links above ARE affiliate links. If you click on them and buy something I will make money.  If you don’t want an affiliate link you can just click here but come on people. I have a wedding to pay for soon. Help me out here.  This isn’t a paid post or nobody put me up to reviewing this product but if you do decide to buy you can help me out by clicking on one of the links above. *** End Disclaimer***

Also if you ever do anything with video you should also check out Traffic Geyser. In Module 5 of Traffic Boss Mike Koenigs (one of the co-founders of Traffic Geyser) talks about video distribution and stuff like that. This guy really does know his stuff. And my company is one of the other partners in Traffic Geyser also so I pretty much have to tell you how great it is.  But hopefully you believe me when I honestly tell you it is a pretty good program with a TON of features in it. So check it out and I would also love to hear what you think about it.

I really hope this post doesn’t come off too salesy or anything. I really do hate stuff like that. I rarely will recommend a product like Traffic Boss unless I really think it is good and from what I have seen so far I think Traffic Boss will be very good. But if you would like to never see a product review or recommendation like this again from me please leave a comment and let me know. I don’t want anyone to think that I am just promoting every product out there just to make money (although I am realizing how expensive weddings can be so you could just buy Traffic Boss and help me out a bit.)

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Affiliate Marketing Recap – The past couple weeks

by Joe Sousa on February 11, 2010

in Affiliate Stuff

Of course you want to hear my opinions on some recent happenings in the world of affiliate marketing.

Since I don’t really want to take the time to focus on one specific topic I think I will just briefly comment on some of the stuff happening in the industry over the past couple weeks.  Let’s jump right in:

The “affiliate tax” hearings in Colorado: I will readily admit I don’t know anywhere near enough about this tax issue.  I have been a total slacker in doing my research, writing to my state legislators, and all in all getting involved on this issue. Luckily there are some great people like Jen Goode, Jennine Crooks, and others that took up the fight in Colorado. It was a close vote and for a while it looked like the law could pass but through the hard work of those ladies and hundreds of others the bill was passed but it didn’t include a tax on affiliates.

So if (more likely when) this becomes an issue in Washington I will definitely be calling on my friends for help and information in fighting this issue.  If you want to read more about what happened there are many more people who know much more than I do: 
http://www.jgoode.com/things-i-learned-from-battling-the-government/
http://affbook.com/what-really-happened-in-colorado/
and http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com/blog/2010/02/08/colorado-advertising-tax-is-dead/ are good places to start. Thank you all for your hard work!

Affiliate Summit West is moving from the Rio to the Wynn!

http://missyward.com/2010/02/08/affiliate-summit-west-2011-january-9-11-at-the-wynn-las-vegas/
http://www.affiliatesummit.com/2010/02/08/affiliate-summit-west-2011-at-the-wynn-las-vegas-%e2%80%93-save-the-date/ 

I gotta say, this is one of the best announcements I have heard lately. I for one hated the Rio. I love Affiliate Summit, I love Shawn and Missy, but the Rio pretty much sucked. The walk to get back to the conference was like walking down an endless hallway in an Escher drawing. The rooms were nothing special. The casino was pretty lame. The restaurants (other than the 50 cent wings at the All American Grill) were pretty lame. The Wynn is a HUGE upgrade from the Rio and the rooms probably won’t be that much more. Also since it is on the strip there are a ton more good lodging options for attendees. This last Summit I stayed at the Palazzo and having the conference at the Wynn could have saved me a couple hundred in cab fares.

Also since it is the 9th-11th that means I will once again be in Vegas on my birthday. So keep that in mind for next year.

Legacy Week from Legacy Learning Systems: For the second time in the past year Matt McWilliams ran the Legacy Week promotion. http://www.legacyaffiliateblog.com/bonuses/legacy-week-final-398  All in all they paid out just over $2300 in bonuses. This is just one of the reasons Matt won the Affiliate Manager of the Year Pinnacle Award.

On the Both Sides of the Tracks podcast a couple weeks ago Jason and Eric were talking about running contests and this Legacy Week promotion was a perfect example of one that works. In my mind an affiliate contest should have three main goals: Recruit new affiliates, encourage existing affiliates to get off their butt, and reward performing affiliates. With the 6 different incentives Matt used I think he accomplished all three.

I for one already work with Legacy and I sell a few ballroom dancing courses a month. Nothing huge. But when I saw the triple commissions on the painting course for the week I decided to give it a shot. So throughout the week I think I ended up selling 10 painting courses. Without the triple commissions I might not have tested it out but now I see that it converts better than the ballroom dancing and I will definitely be promoting that more in the future. So because of the bonuses I was able to find another program I could make money with.  And I know a couple affiliates who tried out Legacy for the first time.  Well done Matt.

Google Buzz launches:  What is Google Buzz? Kind of like Twitter but different. Kind of like Facebook but different.  Basically it is another “social media” type site that pulls in content from your profiles on Twitter, Youtube, Picasa, Youtube, and other sites. The thing I like about it is that it is right there when I go check Gmail so it isn’t really another social site I need to think about going and visiting. I don’t know if it will hurt Twitter that much but I really do like the threaded discussions.

The Saints Win the Super Bowl!!! Well, this doesn’t really have a ton to do with affiliate marketing but it does give affiliates a bunch of new stuff to promote. Within a couple hours of the game concluding I put up Saints Championship Gear and today I finished it off by adding in over 300 products from a datafeed. Hot markets like this are always good ones to jump on. It doesn’t have to be sports though. Maybe you want to somehow capitalize on an oscar winning movie or some merchant or product mentioned on Oprah. There isn’t necessarily a ton of long term potential for stuff like this but I do still see some sales now and then from the Phillies World Series win a couple years ago and the Steelers Super Bowl last year.

The Video Boss: Don’t want to say too much as I might keep this for a longer blog post but I am very impressed so far. I usually hate this type of stuff but Andy Jenkins knows his stuff and his new Video Boss videos are pretty awesome. Can’t wait to see the final product.

I think that is all for now. It seems like I am missing something. Was there something you would have liked to see me talk about? Leave a comment below and let me know.

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