Several advertisers signed up for a time slot at our Meet Market table and Booth, and are looking forward to 1:1 time with affiliates. Listed below is the current schedule of where and when to find them! Sunday, January 8th @ our Meet Market Table (#45) 12pm-1pm: Erica Barry (VA Mortgage) 2pm-4pm: Samir El-alami (Badoo) Monday, January 9th @ our Booth (#404) 10am-11am: Erica Barry (VA Mortgage) 11am-12pm: Greg Hoffman (SubscriptionAgent.com) 12pm-1pm: John Lobrutto (TripAlertz) 1pm-2pm: Alicia Iveson, Ketan Thanki & Elizabeth Chung (BA) 2pm-3pm: Jen Ward (myOptumHealth Store) 2pm-4pm: Cresta Pillsbury (iNetVideo.com) 4pm-5pm: Heather Blackburn (Girly Checks) Tuesday, January 10th @ our Booth (#404) 10am-11am: John Lobrutto (TripAlertz) 11am-12pm: Jeannette Saliba (BargainStation.com) 1pm-2pm: Alicia Iveson, Ketan Thanki & Elizabeth Chung (BA) 2pm-4pm: Heather Blackburn (Girly Checks)

Meet these Advertisers & Their Agencies/OPMs:

Affiliate Summit West is a little over a week away and we’re collecting a set of fantastic advertiser prizes to give away in our “Twitter A Winner” contest!

If you are an affiliate publisher with a valid URL and plan to attend the show, you’re eligible to win one of 21+ prizes throughout the weekend.

Prizes include:

• - Grand prize of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from BargainStation.com
• - Gift certificates to Goldstar, TripAlertz, Value Pet Supplies & more!
• - Gifts from Badoo, CafePress, Designers Guild, Ghirardelli, Girly Checks, Veer, Whittard of Chelsea & more!

In order to enter:

• - You must be an affiliate/publisher (buy.at membership not required!)
• - You must own a valid URL

Look for twitter posts from @buyatUS announcing winners during ASW 2012. Winners must pick up their prizes at the buy.at booth (#404) – and don’t delay!  Each winner has a limited amount of time to pick up their prize before it’s awarded to someone else.

Visit http://bit.ly/ASW12Contest to enter and good luck!

Members of the buy.at team joined Merchant ABCs and Affiliate Buzz podcasts last week to discuss two great topics:

• - Engaging New Customers Following Black Friday (including Amy & Kim)
• - New Advancements for Tracking Your Campaigns (including Jeannine)

Highlights are outlined below – happy listening!

Engaging New Customers Following Black Friday

Merchant ABCs hosts Deborah Carney and Vinny O’Hare joined Kim Salvino and Amy Ely of buy.at to discuss ideas on engaging new customers gained from Black Friday sales.

Topics include:

• - Promotion ideas to recapture the attention and dollars of Black Friday / Cyber Monday customers
• - Helpful data, creative and resources for affiliates so they can generate additional holiday sales

Key takeaways:

• - Consider time-sensitive promotions that encourage customers to keep returning to the site, such as daily deals or a “Countdown to Christmas” – great examples include eBay and Amazon’s daily and weekly deals
• - As the remaining shopping days dwindle, alter promotions to feature gift cards and/or free overnight shipping
• - Promote complementary products or add-ons for gifts they’ve already purchased, such as Kindle Edition books if the original purchase was a Kindle Fire
• - Use Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales data to give affiliates top seller data and popular categories, then let them know if and when you will highlight or offer a sale on these products again
• - Supply affiliates with shipping deadline dates and when gift card sales are strongest so they can plan and promote accordingly
• - Recognize that holiday promotions don’t have to stop at Black Friday and Cyber Monday, give affiliates offers that run through the rest of December and into post-holiday shopping promotions – for example, encourage gift card spending after the holidays

Helpful statistics:

From Shawn Collins’s Affiliate Tip Blog and citing stats from comScore:

• - Online shopping for Black Friday 2011 was a 26% increase versus Black Friday 2010
• - Thanksgiving Day (November 24) was also strong with an 18% increase over Thanksgiving 2010 with $479 million in online sales.
• - There was $1.25 billion in online spending on Cyber Monday 2011, which is up 22% from 2010
• - Cyber Monday 2011 was the heaviest online spending day in history and only the second day ever to surpass the billion-dollar threshold

Click here to listen to the podcast.

New Advancements for Tracking Your Campaigns

This discussion includes a review of basic tools (cookie tracking, deep linking and data feeds) as well as a few of buy.at’s unique tools (OfferCentral and ContentEngine Contextual) and more.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

November was another packed month for Affiliate Summit Meetups, with 16+ meetups taking place across the US & Canada.  Topics included email marketing, seasonal promotions, the affiliate tax, computer technology tips and tricks, as well as preparing for Affiliate Summit West.

Also, Affiliate Summit supplied many meetup groups with a $250 food and beverage budget as a gift for the holidays – thanks Shawn & Missy!!  As a result, many groups used the time for holiday parties, networking and fun.

Taking place on a monthly basis, these meetups are open to anyone with an interest in affiliate marketing or online marketing in general.

To see what’s happening in your local area, visit the Affiliate Summit FB page: affiliatesummit.com/meetups.  If there isn’t a group in your local area – start one today!  Email Mary Poiley to learn more.

In Baltimore, Amy Hollomon from WhatCounts (formerly Blue Sky Factory), spoke about Best Practice in Email Marketing.  She provided a very informative presentation: click here to view!

Key Takeaways Include:

Five components of a successful email marketing program:

1. Social media and email integration – encourage sharing via Facebook and other channels
2. Continuous and effective testing – A/B testing, creative testing, and more
3. Targeted messaging – collect user information at sign up or within emails, then set up segmented lists
4. Automated sending – including a welcome email and messages at different lifecycle stages
5. Strategic planning and analysis – review metrics and compare to campaign goals

In addition to elaborating on the information above, the presentation also includes best practices checklists and tips for improving performance.

In Denver, attendees talked about making the most of Affiliate Summit, regardless of whether or not everyone was planning to attend, although almost half of the group is going to Vegas!

Key Takeaways Include:

• - Check out the agenda in advance, so you don’t miss any of the sessions you really wanted.  The speakers are also very friendly and usually happy to speak with you after the session too.   (Durk Price, eAccountable OPM)
• - As a first-timer, don’t be afraid to ask questions and just start conversations.  People at Affiliate Summit are very friendly and welcoming to newbies, and attending ASW is the best way to quickly learn a lot about the industry. (Brad Crooks, TrippingTheGlobe.com)
• - DON’T SKIP THE EVENING EVENTS — When I first started attending professional conferences, I diligently went to every talk, took notes, and by the time evening rolled around was ready for some quiet time so I’d go up to my room and watch a movie on TV while catching up on email or relaxing. That’s exactly how NOT to attend Affiliate Summit, because you’ll get far more out of going to the dinners, parties and other evening activities (midnight bowling, anyone?) in terms of actually making connections with others in your industry and perhaps even making some terrific new friends. (Dave Taylor, GoFatherhood.com)
• - Don’t decide not to talk to someone just because their badge color code doesn’t seem to be a match – you’ll be surprised at how many people work in more than one area and could be possible business partners.  Just start the conversation and see where it takes you.  (Jeannine Crooks, buy.at)
• - There’s still time for first-timers with a Platinum or Diamond pass to join the Newcomer Program!  (Jen Goode, ProjectsforPreschoolers.com)
• - Even if you’re not attending Affiliate Summit, follow along on Twitter at #ASW12.  Read the thread posted by people in sessions you were interested in, and follow those speakers on Twitter as well.

Also, Jeannine mentioned that Denver set the record for “farthest distance traveled to attend an Affiliate Summit Meetup” – two attendees joined from Holland!

Liz Gazer’s robust recap of the Toronto meetup is written below.  Also, click here to view the presentation shared at their recap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Affiliate Summit Toronto 

November 2011

Tuesday, November 29^th, the Toronto Affiliate Summit community got together for their monthly event. The Clickzoom/Generex team kindly donated their boardroom for this month’s meeting and the group saw its biggest turnout yet.

Roughly 25 members attended to hear Liz Gazer’s talk on Ecommerce Seasonality: Promotional Partnership Value Throughout Peak Season & Beyond (topic inspired by Tricia Meyer of Sunshine Rewards – http://www.tricia.me) and ScaleEngine’s Allan Jude speak on Accelerating WordPress for Pagerank & Profit.

Key takeaways on the Seasonality presentation included:

• - Seasonality matters because it affects buyer behavior
• - We can influence buyer behavior by building promotions around seasonality
• - There is much more to seasonality than just Christmas/Black Friday. We can influence buyer behavior toward higher spends or more frequent buying by using seasonal promotions even regarding those products/services we wouldn’t typically think of as seasonal. It’s all in how you structure your strategy/content/campaigns.
• - Plan well ahead for best results. Use a campaign calendar – there are many templates you can find online or create your own. Get creative!
• - Don’t be afraid to speak to your partners about their plans for seasonality and see where you can ally for success. They may have unique ideas for how you can feature them (or for merchants, on how they can feature you) and how you can each benefit from the partnership. Remember it’s about creating a win:win. Communication makes a world of difference.
• - Historical data is always helpful if you have it, but doesn’t always tell the whole story. Common sense, good foresight and quick response to current events make up other parts.

Download the slide deck from this presentation by clicking here.

Key takeaways on Accelerating WordPress for Pagerank & Profit presentation included:

• - Site speed matters. Google now uses it as one of many key factors in determining your page rank.
• - The only way to know how your site performs is to test it! Test site speed at both peak and non-peak times regularly; watch for patterns/trends and interruptions in them to determine what is most affecting your site speed (positively or negatively). Weekly is recommended.
• - Using a CDN (Content Distribution Network) especially for image/CSS/Java heavy sites, can vastly improve site loading time.
• - Benefits of dedicated vs. shared hosting servers (Dedicated is better)
• -  Full admin rights, no shared resources, more control over performance, increased security
• - ScaleEngine.com offers scalable hosting/CDN services and dedicated server space
• - Plugins on sites like WordPress can bog down site speed.  Avoid plugins written by amateurs; check reviews for performance details before using and reduce # of plugins to reduce risk of crippling site with too much code
• - Ad Networks/social media plugins are usually slowest loading elements
• - Load non-critical elements after page has been rendered. No one will “like” your page in first 3 seconds but they will leave quickly if page takes too long to load.
• - Even Google Analytics should wait until page is loaded to fire

Download the full slide deck from this presentation here: http://www.scaleengine.com/media/Accelerating_Wordpress_for_Pagerank_and_Profit.pdf

Before & during presentations, the group indulged in a tasty spread (generously provided by Affiliate Summit), including sushi, crudites & dip, pizza, Christmas cookies and festive candy canes along with an assortment of wine and non-alcoholic beverages. After the meeting the group moved over to the Watermark Irish Pub down the street for some open networking & holiday cheer, where pitchers were on the house, courtesy of Affiliate Summit.

Photos can be viewed at http://www.meetup.com/astorontomeetup/photos/

The group will meet again end of January.

______________________

Find Tobias Brusegard on Twitter - @adbullpen
For more information about Generex Biotechnology, visit http://www.generex.com

Find Allan Jude on Twitter - @allanjude and/or @scaleengine
For more information about ScaleEngine Hosting/CDN services visit http://www.ScaleEngine.com

Find Liz Gazer on Twitter – @LizGazer
For more information about Growthspurt Media visit http://www.growthspurtmedia.com
Liz Gazer can also be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/growthspurtmedia), Twitter (@lizgazer), Google+ (http://gplus.to/affiliatemanagement) and at LinkedIn.

For more information about the Toronto Affiliate Summit Community, visit http://www.meetup.com/astorontomeetup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to everyone who attended meetups this month and we’re looking forward to the next meetup!

Did you know?

- Black Friday online sales totaled $595 million in ’09 & $648 million in ’10

- The 2010 largest online sales day was Cyber Monday & the peak week was December 5-12th

Seize the revenue opportunity!

To assist you in preparing for Thanksgiving weekend’s shopping frenzy, we’ve collected a list of buy.at advertisers with Black Friday / Thanksgiving weekend / Cyber Monday deals. Categories listed below include featured promotions, apparel & accessories, automotive, events & entertainment, gifts & customizable products, health & beauty, home & office, sports & sports apparel, travel & tourism.

Added bonus: prizes for performance

Designers Guild, Ghirardelli, NutraSonic, and Whittard of Chelsea are offering prizes to affiliates for sales driven throughout the holiday weekend and into December. View their sections below for details.

Not yet a member? Sign up for buy.at today!
If you have any questions contact Kim Salvino at kimberly.salvino[at]buy.at.

*Featured Promotions*

Ferrari Store (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer Title/Details: Free shipping for all products on Ferrari store now Through Cyber Monday!
Official Start Date: 11/25/2011, 07.00 a.m EST
Official End Date: 11/29/2011, 24.00 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Ticketmaster Merchandise (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer #1 Title/Details: Buy 2 items: Get 10% off
Offer #2 Title/Details: Buy 3 items: Get 15% off
Offer #3 Title/Details: Buy 4 items: Get 20% off
Offer #4 Title/Details: Buy 5 items: Get 25% off

Additional details for all four Ticketmaster Merchandise deals:
Official Start Date: 11/23/2011, 12:00 a.m EST until
Official End Date: 11/28/2011, 11:59 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #5 Title/Details: Add Free Shipping on all orders over $125
Official Start Date: 11/28/2011 12:00 a.m. EST *CYBER MONDAY ONLY*
Official End Date: 11/28/2011, 11:59 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Apparel & Accessories

Accessorize (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer Title/Details: 30% off Site Wide Sale
Official Start Date: November 23rd, 12:01 AM GMT
Official End Date: November 29th 11:59 PM GMT
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Capulet London (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer Title/Details: 50% off all netbook and laptop cases
Usual retail pricing is $349 to $395. For the duration of the promotion, this will be reduced as follows:
- Claudia leather laptop sleeve. Usual price USD $395, promotional price USD $197
- Aradia leather laptop sleeve. Usual price USD $389, promotional price USD $194
- Katrina leather laptop sleeve. Usual price USD $349, promotional price USD $174
- Irene leather laptop sleeve. Usual price USD $340, promotional price USD $170

Official Start Date: Thursday, November 24th 00:00 EST
Official End Date: November 28th 23:59 PST
Specific Landing URL: Products will be visibly discounted on the webpage
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Lindsay Phillips (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer Title/Details: Free shipping on any order AND up to 75% off original prices on select shoes, snaps, straps, bags & scarves
Official Start Date: November 28th
Official End Date: November 30th*
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: LPSEASON
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

*Free shipping expires on November 30th, but the sale will continue through the holidays.

LN-CC (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer Title/Details: Exclusive 15% discount as well as Free Worldwide Shipping on selected product for a limited period. Please contact Marie at marie@ln-cc.com for more details.

Swarovski

Offer Title/Details: Swarovski’s Cyber Monday Sale: Save $20 With Minimum Purchase of $150!
Official Start Date: November 26th, 12:01 AM local time
Official End Date: November 28th 11:59 pm
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: CYBERMON
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

T.M. Lewin

Offer #1 Title/Details: Free Shipping to USA on any T.M. Lewin Order this Thanksgiving!
Offer #2 Title/Details: Select any Combination of 5 shirts and ties for $160 this Thanksgiving

Additional details for both T.M. Lewin Thankgiving deals:

Official Start Date: November 25th @ 12:01 a.m. EST
Official End Date: November 28th @ 11:59 p.m. EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #3 Title/Details: Save an extra 10% on any Combination of 5 shirts and ties for $160 this Black Friday

Official Start Date: November 25th @ 12:01 a.m. EST
Official End Date: November 25th @ 11:59 p.m. EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: TMLBLK
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #4 Title/Details: Save an extra 10% on any Combination of 5 shirts and ties for $160 this Cyber Monday
Official Start Date: November 28th @ 12:01 a.m. EST
Official End Date: November 28th @ 11:59 p.m. ESTt
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: TMLCYB
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Automotive

Auto Parts Warehouse

Offer #1 Title/Details: $10 off for every $100 + Free Shipping
Required Coupon Code: THANKSAPW

Offer #2 Title/Details: $20 off for every $200 + Free Shipping
Required Coupon Code: APWBLACK

Offer #3 Title/Details: $30 off for every $300 + Free Shipping
Required Coupon Code: CYBERAPW

Additional details for all three Auto Parts Warehouse deals

Official Start Date: Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011
Official End Date: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Events & Entertainment

Ticket Liquidator

Offer #1 Title/Details: $25 Off Orders of $250 Or More
Official Start Date: 11/25/2011, 1:00 a.m EST until
Official End Date: 11/28/2011, 12:59 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: tixthanks
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #2 Title/Details: $20 Off Orders of $200 Or More
Official Start Date: Already active
Official End Date: 11/30/2011, 12:59 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: turkeytix
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Gifts & Customizable Products

CafePress

Offer #1 Title/Details: 60% off Custom Invitations
Required Coupon Code: BFINVITE

Offer #2 Title/Details: 60% off Bumper Stickers
Required Coupon Code: BFBUMPER

Offer #3 Title/Details: Mugs – Buy 1 Get 1 (Up to $15)
Required Coupon Code: BFMUGS

Offer #4 Title/Details: 50% off White T-Shirts
Required Coupon Code: BFTEE

Offer #5 Title/Details: 50% off Custom iPhone Slider Cases
Required Coupon Code: BFCASE

Additional details for all five CafePress deals

Official Start Date: Friday, Nov. 25, 2011
Official End Date: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #6 Title/Details: 50% off Custom iPhone Slider Cases
Official Start Date: Monday, Nov. 28, 2011
Official End Date: Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011
Required Coupon Code: CMCASE
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Ghirardelli

Affiliate Bonus!
The affiliate with the most number of sales between November 11-30th, gets an increase in commission to 15% for all the sales they generated during that time.

Ghirardelli is offering range of discounts (10% to 30%) on selected items site wide, as well as the following offer:

Offer Title/Details: Free standard shipping with $50 purchase
Official Start Date: November 25th
Official End Date: November 28th
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

New York Times Store

Offer Title/Details: 15% Off And FREE Shipping Storewide
Official Start Date: Thursday 11/24/2011
Official End Date: Tuesday 11/29/11
Specific Landing URL: nytstore.com/gift
Required Coupon Code: CYBER
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Organic Bouquet

Offer #1 Title/Details: 3 Herb Wreath for $43.95
Official Start Date: Already active
Official End Date: 12/31/11
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #2 Title/Details: 15% off Sitewide
Official Start Date: Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011
Official End Date: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011
Specific Landing URL: http://www.organicbouquet.com/AFF_BUYAT_BF15
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #3 Title/Details: Free Shipping
Official Start Date: Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011
Official End Date: Monday, Nov. 28, 2011
Specific Landing URL: http://www.organicbouquet.com/AFF_BUYAT_CMSHIP
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Whittard of Chelsea (Exclusive to buy.at)

Affiliate Bonus!
10 FREE prize bags of hot chocolate, tea and coffee up for grabs for the first 10 affiliates to generate 10 sales. Join our program today!

Offer Title/Details: 30% OFF all products online* at www.whittard.com – Black Friday only
Official Start Date: 11/25/2011, 00.01 a.m EST
Official End Date: 11/25/2011, 24.00 p.m EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: WHITTARD30
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

*Discount applied before shipping

Health & Beauty

NutraSonic

Affiliate Bonus!
If you generate 15-24 orders during Nov-Dec (combined) you’ll receive a free NutraSonic Travel Brush Set

If you generate 25+ orders during Nov-Dec (combined) you’ll receive a free NutraSonic Essential Brush Set

Offer Title/Details: Holidays Special Offer: 20% off All NutraSonic Products!
Official Start Date: Tuesday, November 1st 12:01 a.m. EST
Official End Date: Saturday, December 31st 11:59 p.m. PST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Home & Office

Checks in the Mail

Offer Title/Details: Save 75% off Closeout Checks, Labels and More, plus free shipping and handling with code CYBERDEAL at Checks In The Mail
Official Start Date: November 23, 2011
Official End Date: November 29, 2011
Specific Landing URL: http://secure.checksinthemail.com/line.aspx?lineid=317 Required Coupon Code: CYBERDEAL
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Coyuchi

Offer Title/Details: 20% off all robes and sleepwear
Official Start Date: Friday, Nov. 25, 2011
Official End Date: Monday, Nov. 28, 2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Designers Guild (Exclusive to buy.at)

You could be the lucky winner!
Take part in our Black Friday Weekend contest! All Designers Guild affiliates who generate a minimum of 3 sales during November 24 – November 28 will be entered to win one of two $150 Designers Guild gift cards. Good luck!

Offer #1 Title/Details: 10% off orders over $150 and free shipping
Required Coupon Code: HOLIDAY10

Offer #2 Title/Details: 15% off orders over $400 and free shipping
Required Coupon Code: HOLIDAY15

Offer #3 Title/Details: 20% off orders over $750 and free shipping
Required Coupon Code: HOLIDAY20

Offer #4 Title/Details: Free shipping on orders over $75
Required Coupon Code: HOLIDAYFS

Additional details for all four Designers Guild deals:

Specific Landing URL: http://www.designersguild.com/usa-shop-online/shop-home/

Official Start Date: November 24, 2011
Official End Date: November 28, 2011
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

DiscountOfficeItems.com

Offer #1 Title/Details: Black Friday Week Deals from DiscountOfficeItems.com! $5 Off Orders over $40
Required Coupon Code: ADEAL

Offer #2 Title/Details: Black Friday Week Deals from DiscountOfficeItems.com! $10 Off Orders over $99
Required Coupon Code: A99

Offer #3 Title/Details: Black Friday Week Deals from DiscountOfficeItems.com! $15 Off Orders over $150
Required Coupon Code: ONE

Additional details for all three DiscountOfficeItems.com deals:
Official Start Date: 11/21/2011
Official End Date: 11/24/2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Deal Restrictions: Offer valid once per customer. Excludes Technology Ink/Toner and Paper

Girly Checks

Offer Title/Details: 30% off any order $15 or more with the use of special code
Official Start Date:Friday, Nov 25, 2011
Official End Date: Monday, Nov 28, 2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: APBLACKCYBER30
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Sports & Sports Apparel

Fathead

Offer #1 Title/Details: Buy More – Save More! Buy 1 – Save 10%, Buy 2 – Save 20%, Buy 3 – Save 30% + Free Ground Shipping On All Orders!
Required Coupon Code: SAVEMORE
Specific Landing URL: Default URL

Offer #2 Title/Details: Black Friday Doorbusters! Save 50% On 50 Top Fatheads While Supplies Last
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Specific Landing URL: http://www.fathead.com/black-friday/

Additional details for both Fathead deals:
Official Start Date: 11/23/2011, 03.00 AM EST
Official End Date: 11/27/2011, 24.00 AM EST
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Offer #3 Title/Details: Take 15% Off Your Entire Order & Get Free Ground Shipping!
Official Start Date: 11/28/2011, 3.00 AM EST
Official End Date: 11/30/2011, 24.00 AM EST
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Logo Sportswear

Offer Title/Details: Save 10% plus free shipping on orders over $100
Official Start Date: Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011
Official End Date: Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: EARLYBIRD10
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Tactics

Offer Title/Details: Thanksgiving Special from Tactics.com – Save 20% off all men’s and women’s apparel, footwear, watches, sunglasses, accessories and backpacks.
Official Start Date: 11/24/2011
Official End Date: 11/27/2011
Specific Landing URL: Default URL
Required Coupon Code: TURKEY2011
Deal Restrictions: Excludes outlet items

Travel & Tourism

British Airways (Exclusive to buy.at)

Offer #1 Title/Details: British Airways Black Friday sale: up to $100 discount per adult on flight + hotel packages to the UK
Offer #2 Title/Details: British Airways Black Friday sale: 20% discount on car rental in the UK

Additional details for both British Airways deals:
Official Start Date: November 25th @ 12:01 a.m. EST
Official End Date: November 28th @ 11:59 p.m. EST
Specific Landing URL: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/black-friday/public/en_us
Required Coupon Code: No coupon code required
Deal Restrictions: No restrictions

Affiliate Summit Meetup Day is next Tuesday, November 29th for many regions across the country (currently 16+ meetups scheduled!) Anyone with an interest in affiliate marketing or online marketing in general is welcome to attend!

We’ve highlighted a few below, but you can look for details on meetups in your local area on the upcoming events section of the Affiliate Summit Facebook group.

***This month, Affiliate Summit offered budget for drinks and appetizers to celebrate the end of the year, the upcoming holidays, and (for several locations) our last meetup before Affiliate Summit West!***

Baltimore
Time/Location: 6pm @ the buy.at Office – 921 E. Fort Avenue, Suite 200
Speaker: Amy Hollomon from WhatCounts (formerly Blue Sky Factory)
Topic: Best Practice in Email Marketing
Learn More: Meetup.com

Denver
Time/Location: 7pm @ Braun’s on Blake (2401 Blake Street)
Plans: Holiday Party!
Topics: Getting ready for Affiliate Summit & getting approved by merchants
Learn More: Meetup.com

Toronto  
Time/Location: 7pm @ Location TBD
Speaker: Liz Gazer
Topic: Seasonality in e-Commerce: Maximizing Promotional Partnership Value throughout peak season + beyond
Learn More: Meetup.com

Standard Agenda (timing varies by region)
6:00-6:30 Arrive and mingle
6.30- 7:00 Meetup leader welcome, guest speaker
7:00-7:15 Questions
7:15-7:30 Announcements/discussion
7:30-?? Networking

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

-buy.at US

As Affiliate Window and buy.at continue to expand their global presence, our teams remain focused on providing excellent service to our affiliate partners.  Part of this commitment includes improving our business based on feedback and the competitive landscape, and actions that will enhance the overall user experience.

Responding to requests from existing and prospective affiliate partners, we are pleased to announce a new, reduced payment threshold.  Particularly attractive to affiliates who receive payment via international transfer or in a currency that is not their primary source of funds, this change will make commission earnings more accessible and in a shorter timeframe.

Moving forward, Affiliate Window and buy.at are adopting the same payment threshold structure, which is outlined in the table below. (more…)

Members of the buy.at US team are speaking at BlogWorld Expo and PubCon this week and next week.  If you’re attending either show, let them know!  They’re looking forward to meeting new contacts as well as familiar faces.

Meet Jeannine Crooks this week at BlogWorld Expo! 

BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2011
Los Angeles Convention Center: Los Angeles, CA
November 3-5, 2011

Track: Business of Blogging & Podcasting
Session: Promoting Your Blog in the Age of Social Media
Date/Time/Room: Tuesday, November 3^rd / 3:45-4:45pm / Room 409 A
Speakers: Jeannine Crooks, Dave Taylor, Brett Greene, Doyle Albee & Joshua Dorkin

Session Description:
“Successful blogging isn’t just about writing great content, it’s about all the myriad of ways you need to drive traffic to your content. More and more, it’s about social media, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn or a new social network that just launched last week. What are best practices? How do you manage time? What differentiates each audience?  This panel discussion will highlight best practices and case studies that will illustrate how you can tap into the massive audiences on the social networks to gain more, better, smarter readers to your own blog starting today.

Key Points
1. Differences between the major social networks and how to appeal to each audience
2. Best practices with building audiences on social sites
3. How to incorporate “like” “tweet” “repost” and similar links on your own site to increase buzz”

**Connect with Jeannine Crooks**
Email: Jeannine.Crooks[at]buy.at
Twitter: @Jeannine_Crooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeanninecrooks

 

Meet Kim Salvino next week at PubCon! 

PubCon Las Vegas 2011
Las Vegas Convention Center: Las Vegas, NV
November 7-10, 2011

Track: Affiliate Conference
Session: Essentials Overlooked by 90% of Affiliate Managers
Date/Time/Room: Tuesday, November 8^th / 4:15-5:30pm / Salon E
Speakers: Kim Salvino, Jerry West, Keith Posehn & Karen White

Session Description:
“A number of crucial affiliate program management elements are being overlooked by the majority of merchants. Discover what these essentials are, and how to use them to your competitive advantage. What’s working? What’s hot? What are the biggest trends in the affiliate space today? What are the best strategies? Find out in this session.”

**Connect with Kim Salvino**
Email: Kimberly.Salvino[at]buy.at
Twitter: @Kim_Salvino
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.salvino

Adding on new locations this month, affiliate marketers gathered  in the US and Canada to share knowledge, network and enter for a chance to win a ASW 2012 Gold Pass and DVD set from Affiliate Summit.  Topics included PPC, link building, SEO, the Google Panda update, affiliate marketing best practices, the changing affiliate landscape, working with networks and affiliates using Facebook ads.

Taking place on a monthly basis, these meetups are open to anyone with an interest in affiliate marketing or online marketing in general.

To see what’s happening in your local area, visit the Affiliate Summit FB page: affiliatesummit.com/meetups.  If there isn’t a group in your local area – start one today!  Email Mary Poiley to learn more.

In Baltimore, we welcomed more new attendees and Charlie Calabrese lead a discussion on PPC Challenges & Tips.  Rob Adler, Morgan Thomas and several others joined in to share insights.

Helpful Resources:

• - Charlie shared a pay per click search engine marketing flowchart which includes links from each stage in the process to additional resources
• - He also suggested using tools like Wordtracker for keyword research

Key Takeaways Include:

• - Pay attention to trending terms on places like Twitter, Google Trends, consumer news sites and news feeds
• - Keyword research is the single most important thing you can do
• - Consider intent to purchase (rather than Baltimore Ravens try Baltimore Ravens Apparel)
• - Copywriting is key!  Use your skills to stand out from the competition, capture the viewer’s attention and aim to answer their question to generate a response

Congrats to Susan who won the ASW 2012 Gold Pass and DVD set!

In Denver, Jim Kreinbrink spoke about “The Most Common SEO Mistakes” and covered topics including the Google Panda update.

Key Takeaways Include:

• - Be very aware of your site speed, as this is now part of the Google algorithm
• - Google has come to love brands, so include brand names, trust logos, etc to improve rankings
• - Including video on pages is a way to get into search engine results more quickly

Bottom line – ask yourself “Would you trust this page with your credit card?”  If the answer is yes, Google will probably like it.

Also, congrats to Wendy Pearson and Jim Brown who won the ASW 2012 Gold Pass and DVD set!

Moving on to New York, Deborah Carney posted a full recap (complete with pictures!) in the Affiliate Summit Forum.  From her post:

“We had a small group which worked out great because there were two newcomers to our group that had questions about getting started in affiliate marketing. Their questions were relevant to half the group so we informally split into two groups, one with basic discussion and one with more SEO focused discussion. Everyone came away with information they specifically needed, which will help them start or grow their businesses. It’s exciting to see someone hit that “ah ha” moment

There wasn’t anyone in the group going to Affiliate Summit that didn’t already have a pass, so the Gold Pass will be awarded to an attendee at our November AdTech Meetup. Elizabeth, who won the dvd set is anxious to learn about affiliate marketing and was very excited to have the set.”

Congrats to DVD winners – Elizabeth and Friend Patrice!

Providing another recap with a wealth of great information, Liz Gazer described the Toronto meetup below.  Also, click here to view the presentation shared at their recap.

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Affiliate Summit Toronto

On Tuesday, October 25^th, the Toronto Affiliate Summit Meetup community gathered in the semi-private California Room at Brix Napa Valley Grille & Wine Bar, for their monthly meetup hosted and organized by Growthspurt Media’s Liz Gazer.

Due to heavy rain and a transit strike, numbers were thinner than expected but only by a few. Members travelled from as far as 200+km away, for networking with fellow industry folks and a presentation given by the event’s host, on Affiliate Marketing best practices for merchants, affiliates and networks.

While the group had originally been slated to hear a talk on best practices for specifically Canadian merchants looking to compete globally, the agenda was changed last minute as more affiliates than merchants were expected to attend based on RSVPs. Instead, “Affiliate Marketing: A Changing Landscape” was presented.

Group members were reminded that for long term profitability in this business that we are each dependent upon successful relationships with other parties in order to succeed and that it’s counter-productive to the mission to operate with disregard for overall performance-partnership goals of the other parties.

The discussion gave some insight into what Merchants expect from their Affiliate channel in order to  justify the investment, as well as insight for what Affiliates look for before investing in  promotion of a brand. The presentation also covered some discussion on the Google Panda Update, and how online marketers can protect their online business efforts from tanking, in the face of those types of changes.

New members in attendance, included  Mark N. (an independent programmer/affiliate), Sharon Lee & Kat Ward from Gunggo.com, John Martinuk of SuccessfulMatch.com, Allan Jude of ScaleEngine Hosting and Marine Zhang of Zebra IT Solutions.

This month the group had some awesome goodies to giveaway courtesy of Affiliate Summit, including a Gold Pass to Affiliate Summit West 2012 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, and an exclusive DVD of all recorded presentations from Affiliate Summit East 2011 in NYC. A draw was held for those in attendance to select winners.

Congratulations to:

• - David Michaels of http://www.intelliguard.com for winning the coveted DVD
• - Allan Jude of http://www.ScaleEngine.com for winning the Gold Pass to ASW12!

For more information about Growthspurt Media visit http://www.growthspurtmedia.com.

Liz Gazer can also be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/growthspurtmedia), Twitter (@lizgazer), Google+ and at LinkedIn.

For more information about the Toronto Affiliate Summit Community, visit http://www.meetup.com/astorontomeetup.

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Thanks to everyone who attended meetups this month and we’re looking forward to next month!