On September 8, 2011 I was invited to join some of Vancouver’s top affiliate marketers at the Charlatan pub on the trendy Commercial Drive to listen to some guest speakers talk about some do’s and don’t’s in trying to make some money through affiliate programs.
The event was hosted by Jaxon Lam (@NinjaOnTheGrind) and Sarah Bundy (@SVBundy) of All Inclusive Marketing.
The first speaker at this event was Mark Holder (@TheeHolder) who is the Director of Developer and Affiliate Relations for Hootsuite, a very powerful social media tool who is now trying to promote their affiliate program. I had an opportunity to speak with Mark before the event and we discussed how powerful, if properly balanced, using social media can be for a person. But, he also stressed how important it is to make sure that what you are doing is actually furthering your marketing strategy game plan.
Then Lindsay Viscount (@LindsayViscount) of Longevity Graphics had a talk explaining the in’s and out’s of what being involved in an affiliate program mean, and how to properly measure success in a webpage, or a marketing campaign. She told us about a few tools like keywordspy.com, or google’s Keyword tool and how valuable and essential they are in turning your campaign into an effective campaign. After the event, I had a chat with her, and she also mentioned a tool called Crazy Egg. It basically shows you in hot spots on the screen, when you log into their website, of where the clicks are on your website. This allows you to see where all the traffic is going, and optimize your website to match your desires.
Sarah Bundy then finished off the night giving us a few great steps to making sure your marketing strategy is focused and effective.
- Know what your product is, know who your market is, and know how to solve their problems. This is why you have the webpage in the first place.
- Analyze the competitor. What are they doing that you like, what aren’t they doing, and what makes your value better than theirs?
- What is your main message? What are you trying to sell and it is important to be consistent here with all of your branding.
- Make sure you write down a strategy with how you’re going to attack social media like Twitter or Facebook. If you spread yourself thin, your message is ineffective.
Along with these tips, budget calculators are also a great idea to see what possible gain you can expect to get out of your strategy. Make sure to be realistic here.
All of this and more was talked about at the meetup. It was a great time, and I had an opportunity to ask questions to some of the industry’s most respected people.
I can’t wait for the next one!