Posts from — March 2008
Be Like Jim Kukral and Earn $50 Bucks.
Jim Kukral – Blogger, Online Marketing Guru, Entrepreneur and Geek Extraordinaire is now on Weviews.tv, telling the world what he likes and what he doesn’t through video testimonials. And, he’s getting paid $50 bucks a pop for them.
Don’t you want to get paid for giving your opinions? Watch the video and learn what it takes to be just like Jim Kukral.
The Loose Rules on Submitting Video to Weviews.tv:
• 1 to 2-minute consumer generated video reviews that discuss the features and benefits of the product or service along with the reasons why you are endorsing it.
• Video must display the Weviews URL and product name throughout your video. For instance, if you were reviewing an Asus EEE, you would display http://www.weviews.tv/asuseee throughout your video.
• The video must be transcribed (spell checked and grammatically correct, please).
• The product or service must be available for purchase online through a merchant with an affiliate program.
Any other questions? E-me at missyward at gmail dot com.
March 31, 2008 3 Comments
My, How We’ve Changed…
I was digging in the way back machine for some pictures today so that I can update my blog headers, when it hit me how many of us have changed since the first Affiliate Summit, back in 2003.
Lots of different hair styles (especially in my case), some weight gains and losses, changes in significant others, etc. It was also kind of interesting to see some folks sporting different logo wear from the various companies they have worked for as well.
I guess the coolest thing about digging up these photos is that I’ve realized that although many of us have gone through physical changes, job changes, etc., we’re all really still the same people. I remain friends with just about everyone that I met when I first got into this industry. Anyway — enough of the drivel.
Here are links to all of the Affiliate Summit’s since 2003. I hope you enjoy seeing them again, as much as I did.
1.) Affiliate Summit 2003 - Baruch College, NYC
2.) Affiliate Summit 2004 - The Cruise to Halifax
3.) Affiliate Summit 2005 - The Riviera, Las Vegas
4.) Affiliate Summit 2006 West - Bally’s Las Vegas
5.) Affiliate Summit 2006 East - Hilton at Disney, Orlando
6.) Affiliate Summit 2007 West - Bally’s, Las Vegas
7.) Affiliate Summit 2007 East - Intercontinental, Miami
8.) Affiliate Summit UK - Olympia Conference Center, London
9.) Affiliate Summit 2008 West - Rio All Suites, Las Vegas
March 27, 2008 3 Comments
Burnin’ my Vanity Bra!
I happened upon Lisa Picarille’s post, Videoblogging: Is it a Man’s World? and I have to tell you, it hit home.
“But what about the affiliate marketing space where there are a lot of super smart and successful women? Why aren’t they using video like their male counterparts? It’s a touchy issue to go into but I think it’s about looks. The majority of us fall are average looking and not in the supermodel range.
But for women, I think doing a video is all about vanity. I don’t want to generalize, but more often than not, women want to look our best on video and let’s face it - that can take some work. There’s doing our hair, putting on makeup and finding the perfect outfit. You guys just push record and go. Or put on a baseball cap (yes, you Mr. Collins).”
Lisa, you are absolutely right. I usually arrive at my desk at 10:00am, straight from the gym and the truth is, it’s not a pretty picture. There are days when I don’t even make it into the shower until mid-afternoon because I’m so busy. The last thing I want to do is be seen by my UPS guy when he rings the bell, let alone do a video for public consumption.
My buddy, Jim Kukral chimed in with his thoughts:
“The beauty of all this is that I work even harder because I know that online video is dominated by women with good shows and I am not a 115 pound blonde. So I have to strive to be more entertaining, have better content and do a better job.”
And within Jim’s words, I found liberation from my pretension. I’m just going to go for it — burn my vanity bra, if you will.
So with that being said, here’s my first video, sans enhancements. It’s a video response to Lisa Picarille’s post, thanking her for opening my eyes.
Like, it or don’t like it. It’s just video and you don’t have to watch 
March 25, 2008 6 Comments
McDonalds Succumbs to Social Media Pressure?
The Shamrock Shake is Back!
My Dad was an Irish-Catholic when he met my mother, a Sephardic Jew. When they decided to get married, my Dad opted to convert to Judaism and believe it or not, had his Bris shortly before the wedding. As such, my sisters and I grew up in New York as Irish-Jews – a fairly uncommon mix. What that meant to us, was that we would be raised in the Jewish faith, and twice a year (St. Patty’s Day and Christmas Day), we would delve into our Irish heritage and indulge in the customs that had been passed along from generation to generation.
Our St. Patty’s Day traditions included the never-ending smell of corned beef and cabbage wafting through the house, pigging out on Irish Soda Bread from scratch for breakfast, lots of cousins coming over the house (my dad was one of nine children), dozens of empty bottles of Bushmills, green beer, green bagels (a tribute to my mom), a tipsy rendition of Danny Boy by one of my uncles and of course, shamrock-shaped, green iced and sugar-sprinkled cookies.
In the 80’s, my family discovered the Shamrock Shake from McDonalds, and it was added to the arsenal of our St. Patty’s Day traditions. The Shamrock Shake was a limited-time vanilla shake with some mint flavoring that came out each March. When our family was together, we would all take a ride to McDonalds after dinner to indulge in its wonderful goodness. Even after we went our separate ways, I continued on the custom and introduced it to my current friends and family.
Life was good until about 5 or 6 years ago – not 100% sure of the year – when the Shamrock Shake just never made its scheduled appearance in March. The Golden Arches simply discontinued it without any prior notice. My fond minty-memories of Uncle O’Grimacey (resembled the Grimace as we know him today) were gone forever and worse – my boys would never know the wonderful goodness of the scope-like aftertaste that the Shamrock Shake left behind.
Then, lo and behold… 2008 marks the year that the Shamrock Shake makes its delightful return. No explanation on why it was coming back and not a single commercial. Hmmm…..
Was it because McDonalds felt the pressure of the social media environment on them as witnessed by the 40+ Facebook groups that address the growing concerns about the effects of no Shamrock Shakes on the environment?
Was it because they were tired of the deceitful Shamrock Shake sightings on www.ShamrockShake.com?
Maybe. Well, it’s my conspiracy theory and I’m sticking to it.
All I know is that after tonight’s dinner, I’m loading up the SUV and taking the boy’s to the McDonald’s in Apopka for their first of many (St. Patty willing), Shamrock Shakes. I have already confirmed said shake availability with the location, so we’re all in for a treat.
Tomorrow, I will be working off the damage done by its ingestion. See here for nutritional facts from the McDonald’s website.
To end this post, below is my Dad’s favorite Irish saying for St. Patrick’s Day, which I wish you all:
May your neighbors respect you,
Troubles neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And Heaven accept you.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
March 17, 2008 No Comments
This Blog is on Vacation
I am headed off to vacation, somewhere in Punta Cana this week. My husband actually arranged for the entire trip and I found out the destination, only yesterday. The resort however, remains a mystery.
In exchange for my hubby planning the entire holiday, he has asked that I limit my “online time” to 30 minutes per day. I think that’s somewhat fair and I intend to play along (for the first few days anyway.) 
During the last few vacations that I’ve been on, there has always been one “Top Story” that dragged me back to my PC numerous times each day:
This time, there are so many good “stories” going on that I don’t know how I’m going to disconnect! Here are the ones I’m going to be keeping an eye on:
PepperJam vs. CJ
The Eliot Spitzer Fallout (insert evil laugh here)
The SXSW Music and Media Conference coverage
and of course the Elections!
So while I’m gone, instead of boring you with blog posts about my new favorite island drink, how great my tan is coming along or about the things that have scarred my eyes forever (think speedo), I’ve decided to just point my readers (or lack thereof) to the content that I’ll be following so that we can all be on the same page when I get back
Voy a la playa - Adios!
March 10, 2008 No Comments
Are you going to LeadsCon?
A buddy of mine, Hagai Yardeny, the Publisher of DMConfidential, a newsletter for the online marketing industry just turned me on to a new conference taking place next month in Las Vegas, called LeadsCon.
According to the site, this conference aims to increase the effectiveness of those operating in the online lead generation industry and is taking place at the Palms on April 2-4, 2008.
The keynote address will be delivered by both Ed Ojdana, the former CEO of Experian Interactive and Founder of ConsumerInfo.com (aka FreeCreditReport.com) and Jordan Rohan, the Managing Director of RBC Capital Markets. Some of the other sessions can be found here.
Exhibitors include Leadpoint, Reply.com, Datran, Oversee.net, Mobile Messenger, CollegeBound.net and others.
If you are interested in attending this conference, I have secured a 45% discount off the registration fee, if you use this link.
I’d like to personally wish Jay Weintraub, the founder of LeadsCon, lots of mazel for his first event.
March 6, 2008 No Comments
Just Give Me My Proper Respect
“I’m not concerned with you liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson
Brian Littleton, CEO of Shareasale.com and the winner of the 2008 Affiliate Summit “Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend” Award, posted a great blog entry today, which really hit home with me. His overall theme in his post deals with treating others with respect – something that I believe can definitely be improved within our industry.
Now I’m not saying that we are ALL deficient in our abilities to show consideration for others. That is certainly not the case. However, over the many years that I have been in this industry, I have witnessed a fair share of insults, inconsideration, disregard for other people’s opinions and a general lack of sensitivity for other people’s feelings. A couple of cases that come to mind that I have seen recently include:
- While I was at several parties that took place at Affiliate Summit 2008 Las Vegas, I witnessed a lot of networks in attendance at their competition’s parties. Now that’s cool. That’s the kind of spirit that embodies our industry. What wasn’t cool was that several of them actually had the audacity to try to poach affiliates, merchants and OPM’s, while they enjoyed drinking their host’s booze and eating their host’s food. How did they not know what the proper etiquette would be?
- I saw an affiliate raise-up their hand, turn around and walk away from a CPA Network employee while that employee was in mid-sentence. There are a lot nicer ways to say that you don’t want to do business and excuse yourself than that.
- A former Affiliate Manager, turned “network owner” who apparently doesn’t like the Affiliate Summit show (although hasn’t attended the last few) decided to flame Shawn and I on various forums and blogs, citing that he could do it better, although he has never actually ran a conference before. (Dude, have at it. Any additional exposure for Affiliate Marketing is awesome for the industry – just make sure I get an invite to attend.) Since when did it become acceptable to publicly bash other people in an effort to make yourself look good? Don’t most people still see right through that?
Here’s the way I see it. We work in a diverse industry made up of many different business models, business sizes, work ethics and experience. It is this kind of diversity that can make all our business and professional lives much more enjoyable, interesting and worthwhile - but only if we get along with each other. And to do that we have to respect each other.
As I’ve said many times before, people need to treat others as they want to be treated, because what goes around comes around. Besides, no one will really care how wonderful or brilliant you are, if you respect nothing.
‘Nuff said.
March 5, 2008 1 Comment
