Fish and Clicks

Chomping at the bit with Affili.net

Paul Wright — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:12:16 +0000

A big thanks to Affili.net and TopTable whom, yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending a sunny Sunday afternoon with. Combined with a little one to one networking the event for the day was Taste of London, Regents Park and boy was it tasty!

All the top chefs were out to show off their signature dishes and challenging the general public to see just how many Michelin star restaurants they could eat their way round in one day.

Well I gave the last bit a bloody good go. I think I must have sampled about 7 or 9 dishes and discovered some great little gems to add to an ever growing list of fantastic restaurants that I really need to check out.

Fino - lamb cutlet with Ajo blanco

More great pictures here - WorldFoodieGuide.com

It wasn’t all about the food either. By the sounds of things there’s some great things happening over at the affiliate network and with the impending launch of the TopTable affiliate programme things are looking tastier than ever. If you haven’t joined affili.net yet I’d suggest taking a closer look.

Thanks for a great day guys.

We’ve just built an 18ft, 2 Tonne Transformer!

Paul Wright — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:26:52 +0000

Part of the fun working here at Mediaedge:cia is that we’re not just a one trick pony running digital only clients. We’re all about integrating cross media campaigns and executing great ideas whilst embracing all the great things digital has to offer. Whether that is affiliate marketing, social media, tv, press, sponsorships, celeb endorsement or in this case building a flippin gigantic Transformer!

As part of our push to launch Paramount Pictures latest summer blockbuster, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, this weekend we’ve had an 18 foot tall replica of the Transformer Bumblebee installed in the Westfield shopping centre’s main atrium. You may have seen him in press coverage already, attending the première on Monday evening.

The yellow and black Chevy Camaro-turned-robot will be there from today until Sunday, surrounded by Activision gaming pods showcasing the latest Transformers XBox 360 game.

Made from steel and fibreglass, Bumblebee came in 4 pieces with a combined weight of over 2 tonnes, complete with 4 ‘handlers’. We’ve also furnished the friendly fella with his own security guard to keep those pesky mallrats off him.

A big thanks go to Kinetic for making the process run so smoothly.

If you’re out shopping over the weekend be sure to pop along a see him.

Thanks

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MBNA Affiliate Programme

Paul Wright — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:43:32 +0000

A few affiliates have been in touch recently regarding the previous MBNA Affiliate Programme knowing that MBNA / Bank Of America are a client here at MEC. In order to raise a little awareness and point people in the right direction I wanted to let you all know that you can find the MBNA Affiliate Programme here…

MBNA Affiliate Programme - http://www.mbnaaffiliates.com

The MBNA Affiliate Programme previously ran on the OMG Affiliate Network however a decision was made earlier this year to move the Affiliate Programme onto its own private network to better service its affiliates and improve transparency between all parties concerned. In the pipeline is the development of an entire affiliate hub which will serve as an entire content delivery and affiliate portal for all your MBNA needs. Exciting stuff!

MBNA see their affiliate programme as an integral part of their overall online media campaign and as such want to work closer with all of their affiliate partners with the complete flexibility to add and remove products and offer bespoke payment solutions.

The affiliate platform itself is based on the same technology TradeDoubler use to power their pan European network and the same system used by other recognised affiliate agencies and companies such as Walker Media, RO-Eye, Brilliant Media, Media Contacts etc. Any affiliates who currently use TradeDobler will be very familiar with this network.

There are a wide range of MBNA Credit Cards to promote on the MBNA Affiliate Network with supporting creative to match.

Currently there are 5 MBNA Affiliate Programmes to join with endorsed charity credit cards and football credit cards on their way in the near future.

MBNA Platinum Card
MBNA Points Card
MBNA Business Card
MBNA Business Card with Cashback
MBNA Business Card with BMI Destination Miles

To sign up for the new MBNA Affiliate Programme please head over to the network, create a new account and join the programmes you wish to promote.

As always please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you require any help.

Join the MBNA Affiliate Programme here.

Thanks

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Poker face, poker face!

Paul Wright — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:36:55 +0000

Calling all card sharks, downright bluffers and those who love short term high risk investments. Affili.net has just announced another instalment in their legendary poker nights. The competition is fierce and the space limited so be sure to sign up quick and join fellow affiliates in a night of poker mayhem.

Oh, and did I mention the prize? Only a trip to the final in Palma, Spain! Kerrrching!

Full details below:

The evening will involve 50 publishers playing no-limit Texas Hold’em, where the final 10 will win a trip to our European wide final in Palma, Spain (where the winner will win a trip to Las Vegas), in addition to battling it out for prizes kindly donated by our sponsors (to be announced at a later date).

For those knocked out early or not keen on poker, there will be an open bar provided in addition to food and we think this will provide a great opportunity to engage with both new and existing publishers.

Attendance will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis and all details of the event are below:

Date: Thursday, 16th July
Venue: Devonshire Terrace, Liverpool St, London
Time: 4pm onwards with the intention of prompt start for poker at 5pm

Should you have any questions about the event or wish to register please contact me on 0207 400 0306 or drop me an email at jjames@affili.net.

Rumours that Triple J has been ousted by a new member of the affili.net team are unconfirmed at this stage but an insider leaked photo would seem to suggest this is true.

Shuffle up and deal!

Paul

Going for a run with Affiliate Window

Paul Wright — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:53:18 +0000

The affiliate marketing industry is notorious for being quite an unhealthy one. If you’re not sat behind a computer starved from daylight and munching junk food then you’re attending one of the many affiliate marketing events and tucking into the complementary drinks and nibbles. Lately this has started to play on my mind so I’ve decided to do something about it.

Run Fat Boy Run!

Soooooo what am I up to? Well I’ve gone ahead and signed myself up for The Asics British 10km London Run taking place Sunday July 12th. Ok, ok, so it’s not quite the London Marathon that takes place this weekend but you have to start somewhere.

As part of this event I’ve teamed up with the guys and girls over at Affiliate Window and will be joining them in their support for the Princes Trust Charity.

If you’d like to show your support and can spare a few quid then please make a donation to charity; we’d all be very grateful. Collectively the goal is £2,500 which in itself is quite a stretch. Please donate generously - http://www.justgiving.com/affiliatewindow

The Race Route Map

The race track on the day is an absolute cracker and takes the runners though the very heart of historic London. Much of the course we will be running on the day is the same as the route for 2012 London Olympic Marathon.

Setting Personal Goals

Never in my life have I entered myself into one of these organised runs but I’m really looking forward to it. In fact that’s an understatement; I’m totally buzzing about the idea which in turn has been really helping when it comes to the training.

I’ve always believed that it’s important in business to set yourself targets and it’s by no means any different when it comes to fitness. To key is to set realistic goals that stretch you beyond your normal capabilities but with a little hard work are 100% achievable. I don’t think I’ve ever run this far before on one go and normally stick to a regular 30 mins on the treadmill. For me then 10k feels just about the right stretch for now and the right balance between challenging and fun.

My personal goal? Well to finish the face obviously but also to set a time of 60 mins or under. I’d be very happy with 55 mins but I guess this all depends on having clear run though the crowds on the day.

About the Princes Trust

Youth charity The Prince’s Trust needs to raise £1 million a week in order to help change young lives in the UK. The Trust gives practical and financial support, developing skills such as confidence and motivation. It works with 14-30 year olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Since 1976 The Prince of Wales’s charity has helped over half a million young people and continues to support 100 more every day.

And remember you can show your support for the AW team and myself by making a small donation here. - http://www.justgiving.com/affiliatewindow

Wish me luck

Thanks

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There is a chicken in my office

Paul Wright — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:45:48 +0000

It’s not every day that a human sized chicken rocks up at the office and asks at reception specifically for me. Unless of course it’s Easter weekend and that day is today. How eggciting…

Exciting for everybody else that is, I was stuck in a client meeting and missed the whole spectacle, however there were some lovely Easter treats left on my desk (see pics below).

Thank you very much to Webgains for a nice little surprise and well eggsecuted idea, but apologies for my whereabouts.

In side the mystery box was a little note that raised a cheeky smile, not only for the cheesy puns (such as “cutting egg technology”) but for raising an extremely valid point…

Are you talking to the same old affiliate networks? When was the last time they hatched any new ideas to add value?

The Chicken didn’t leave empty handed though and managed to steal a photo with a couple of my colleagues who were apparently “quite friendly”, ooh er! Please send the pics Webgains :)

Thanks

Keyword maps

Paul Wright — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:11:22 +0000

I was messing around with Wordle before I got to work this morning. It’s a tool (toy?) that scans a section of text, a website URL or RSS feed and then generates a word cloud or relationship map based on word count. Looks like I need to chill out on talking about Twitter!

Is it useful? Well at a stretchy you could use it to monitor keyword density however I’m guessing it’s just a pretty way to map out buzz words.

Here’s what the front page of this affiliate marketing blog produces.

What do you think? Pretty little pictures or something useful?

Thanks

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Affiliate marketing jobs

Paul Wright — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:13:32 +0000

Looking for jobs in the affiliate marketing industry? With a growing number of recruitment websites, agencies and specialist headhunting firms it can be hard to know where to start. Help is at hand though; I’ve put together a collection of some of the best places to help set you up and find that dream affiliate marketing job.

Industry news, magazines and portals

A great place to kick the job hunt off are the affiliate news websites, industry portals and magazines. The variety of job roles listed is wide and you’ll find companies promoting affiliate marketing vacancies direct or recruitment agencies promoting job positions on their clients’ behalf.

Recruitment agencies

One of the most popular routes to securing a job in affiliate marketing is through one of the many specialist recruitment agencies. Many of these recruitment agencies are also the preferred route for companies looking to source high quality candidates. From a job seekers perspective the recruitment agencies are also a great way to get your foot in the door into the more prestigious roles and provide a more personal service helping you to hunt down that perfect job. One word of warning though, the agencies often charge a substantial fee to the company recruiting which may influence the salary you could otherwise achieve by going direct.

Mainstream Recruitment Websites

Of course if you can’t find any suitable affiliate marketing jobs from the above then there’s the mainstream recruitment websites and companies familiar to all.

Going direct

Don’t forget the most obvious route, go direct! The downside here of course is that there may not be a position available at the company you’re applying for but a polite letter along with a quality CV will get noticed. Just make sure you address it to their human resources department or to the head of the affiliate department by name. It may not get a response straight away but it doesn’t hurt to try. It’s not uncommon for companies to “create a role” if they spot exceptional talent.

Networking

Finally, do yourself a favour and get yourself along to the affiliate marketing events, whether it’s the annual a4uexpo, network specific or one of the many regional events. They’re certainly not the time and place to be handing out your CV but that doesn’t mean you can’t find out if companies are recruiting, if business is booming or if there are opportunities available at that dream company you’ve had your eye on.

Good luck, and happy job hunting.

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Are affiliates abusing twitter?

Paul Wright — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:55:39 +0000

As you’ve probably guessed by my last post I’m a bit of a twitter fan but for me the jury is still out on whether or not recent affiliate twitter practices are acceptable/advisable/ethical (delete where applicable) and should be allowed to continue.

Today Lee over at leemccoy put up a great post on how best to use Twitter for affiliate marketing purposes. Not just the usual “how to make more commission” but also touches on gaining feedback and engaging with site visitors, networking with merchants and PR companies. All good stuff.

It’s the first part however (the making money bit) that got me thinking and wanted to explore a little more.

Put yourself in the users shoes

I totally applaud Lee’s use of technology and out of the box thinking but for a second put yourself in the users’ shoes…

There will be those users that are more than happy that you’ve helped them out. There will also be others that might find this type of contact uncalled for and inappropriate.

Initially the user is sending a tweet to their followers or friends - who best to get trusted advice from than your friends right? Most affiliates on the other hand were never part of this group, do’t know the person from Adam but have been using tools to monitor keywords and have detected an opportunity to step in – all very Orwellian :)

To be honest I still think that’s fair play, affiliates have made use of publicly available information and tools. But… what if we fast forward 12 months and this type of thing is common practice amongst affiliates? What if 20 affiliates all get back to a random person they have never met “recommending” products? What if 100 affiliates did it?

What if the affiliate has never even tried or owned the product they are recommending? Does that even matter? At what level would this be considered spam by the user? I spoke to an affiliate recently who was thinking about creating an automated twitter script that does the hard work for them. I shudder to think how well that’ll go down.

On a different note

And then of course there’s the old age question, should you or should you not disclose the fact that you stand to earn commission? Another topic, another day I guess.

Users can of course opt out of the “public timeline” so their tweets are not visible to all and sundry but I believe this is set to “off” by default when you create a Twitter account. Perhaps twitter will reverse this in the future?

Like I say I’m still undecided on whether this type of activity is completely fair game or borderline abuse. I guess time will tell but in the mean time I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

Tutorial on how to create a custom twitter background

Paul Wright — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:59:05 +0000

Inspired by Frostie’s “make more of twitter” article I thought I’d give creating a custom background on twitter ago myself. I also thought I’d make a mini tutorial out of it as I went along to share with others. Here we go…

Picking a theme

First and foremost, what is it you want your twitter profile to say about you? Do you travel? Do you have a specific hobby or a particular job? Is your twitter account tied directly to a website around a certain subject? These are all things that can be put to good use and style your background theme.

I like to think that I’m not the type to take myself too seriously and I wanted my Twitter profile to reflect this. Nothing too corporate, nothing too serious, just something that’s personal and fun. The end goal was to hopefully reflect a little part of my personality but to also tie twitter back my affiliate marketing blog.

As there’s not a great deal to customize in twitter other than the background a font colours I was also interested in how I could be a little more creative within twitters constraints.

Background size and template

Ok, so what size should you make your background? A question that’s not as straightforward as it sounds. You will have to take into account the many different screen resolutions people use and how your background will look across the majority of them.

Long gone are the days when 800 x 600 was the most popular. In fact 1024 x 768 is now been surpassed with much larger resolutions available on wide screen laptops. Personally I use 1680 x 1050 so I wanted to make sure my images was at least that size however the details and main focus should cater for people using 1024 x 768 and the popular wide screen resolution of 1280 x 800.

The most important thing to consider however is the centralized content that you have no positional control over. This is the main content section in Twitter and no matter what resolution you have always appears in the center of your screen. This has a width of 763 pixels so you only have the remaining workspace around the sides to work with.

1024px – 763px = 261px (or 130.5px each side)
1280px – 763px = 517px (or 258.5px each side)

Opening up Photoshop I mapped out the various screen sizes to produce something like the following:

What does this mean? Well it will probably make more sense if we colour some bits in.

The blue sections will be visible to everyone with a 1024 resolution and the green sections with a 1280 resolution. The white section is the “no go zone” where the twitter content will move about and cover the background depending on resolutions. Anything here will be more than likely hidden.

Let’s get designing

I wanted a rough, textured feel for my background and eventually settled on a royalty free photo from Flickr. It’s actually a close up of a rusting car and I liked the combination of reds, blues and peeling paint.

Ok next up, I wanted to focus on the very left column that everybody will see no matter what his or her resolution. Here I wanted to have some fun so found a silly picture of me, added a few effects and then also some text with my blog address.

Next up, the far right section for those on the larger 1280 resolution. A few more pic but this time I wanted to give them that Polaroid look and feel.

Having got to this stage I felt like things were almost done but I didn’t quite like the way the photo’s on the right sat on the background. I thought it would be good to have them “pinned” to the desktop or taped together. So as a last little touch added a white stripe which runs as the background for the existing twitter navigation and add a red map pin to the first photo and sticky tape to the others. Like so…

And we’re done

The finished background showing how it all looks with the tiwtter content in place. You can see it live and follow me on twitter here. If you’ve got a custom back ground post a reply below and show us your pimped up twitter page.

Thanks

Fish and Clicks

Chomping at the bit with Affili.net

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We’ve just built an 18ft, 2 Tonne Transformer!

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MBNA Affiliate Programme

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Poker face, poker face!

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Going for a run with Affiliate Window

Run Fat Boy Run!

The Race Route Map

Setting Personal Goals

About the Princes Trust

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There is a chicken in my office

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Keyword maps

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Affiliate marketing jobs

Industry news, magazines and portals

Recruitment agencies

Mainstream Recruitment Websites

Going direct

Networking

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Are affiliates abusing twitter?

Put yourself in the users shoes

On a different note

Related Posts…

Tutorial on how to create a custom twitter background

Picking a theme

Background size and template

Let’s get designing

And we’re done

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