Kristin Hall of Google: Mobile Importance in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays |  |
- Kristin Hall of Google: Mobile Importance in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays
- 3 Tips for Success in E-Book Marketing
- Rise of The Socially Conscious Business
- Pinterest Analytics: Shows You What Drives Traffic to Your Site
- Team Connectivity: How to Create Time To “Unplug”
- Time For Small Businesses to Take Mobile Seriously [Infographic]
- 5 Tips for Managing an Efficient Global Supply Chain
| Kristin Hall of Google: Mobile Importance in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays Posted: 13 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PDT Meet Kristin Hall, a seasoned online marketer who heads up Google Affiliate Network‘s Publisher Development team. At Affiliate Management Days SF 2013 (April 16-17, 2013), Kristin will be representing Google on the keynote panel devoted to the role of the affiliate network. * * * * *
Kristin Hall: Mobile. Mobile is driving a fundamental shift in consumer behavior and it's having a material impact on all aspects of affiliate marketing. More consumers are using their mobile devices to research and shop online and offline. Researching on smartphones has proven to influence buyer decisions and purchases across channels. The share of mobile sales for all retail e-commerce is predicted to grow by 4% this year (eMarketer, 2013) and 85% of marketers report that they plan to increase their mobile advertising budgets in the near future (ANA/MediaVest, 2013). Advertisers and publishers must redefine their marketing strategies to engage this constantly connected consumer across all of their devices. Affiliate managers today have a great opportunity to optimize their affiliate programs to reach consumers on their mobile devices to maximize conversions and influence across the purchase funnel. Optimization strategies may include understanding and optimizing your website for mobile traffic, partnering with mobile-optimized publishers and implementing mobile creatives sizes. And, of course, making sure any mobile-only conversion pages are tagged for affiliate tracking. The first step is understanding the data to determine the impact. Question: What do you see as the main areas of opportunity for online and affiliate marketers in 2013-2014? Kristin Hall: Affiliate marketers have big opportunities in front of them to better understand and capitalize on mobile, data and analytics. There's a real opportunity to apply insights from data along with using new ad formats to make the most out of the affiliate channel. There are also opportunities for advertisers and affiliates to partner more closely to bring the influence of affiliate higher up the purchase funnel. Through attribution modeling and data insights, advertisers and publishers can use data to make more informed decisions to optimize and improve their programs. Question: What do you view as the main areas where affiliates can truly help online merchants, adding value to the pre-sale process? Kristin Hall: Smart marketers understand and evaluate the affiliate channel within the digital mix. For too long this channel has been isolated from other paid traffic channels. I think it's important to look at the full impact of affiliate traffic – to understand and value upper funnel contributions. We need to be willing to measure impressions and value clicks, while understanding that the most productive publishers are trying to drive more conversions on fewer clicks. Affiliate publishers are experts at sending customers to advertisers and can help advertisers close deals by reaching the right audience with a higher likelihood to convert. Question: It isn’t unusual to hear that since affiliates operate in the mix with other marketing channels that merchants use (paid search, re-targeting, social, etc), with this multi-touchpoint ecommerce, the last-click attribution model is not longer an optimal one. What do you recommend? Kristin Hall: Google believes that affiliate partners are incredibly valuable to the conversion process. In order for affiliates to continue to play a key role in assisting with conversion, affiliates will need to optimize their offerings to match the advertisers' interest in reaching other areas of the conversion path. This should be done in close partnership with advertisers, who not only have access to their own data, but also have the best insight into their own approach to attribution. Remember, there's no correct answer to attribution – only better insights and better decisions. It's a process supported by understanding and experimentation and closer alignment and partnership between affiliate publishers and advertisers. Question: If you were to leave online advertisers, merchants and affiliate managers with one piece of advice, what would it be? Kristin Hall: Affiliate managers: Invest in mobile traffic and be willing, perhaps, to over-invest in traffic now so that you have a targeted audience as more conversions shift across multiple screens. Advertisers and merchants: Use data to understand attribution at the publisher level. * * * * * The upcoming Affiliate Management Days conference takes place April 16-17, 2013. Follow @AMDays or #AMDays on Twitter. When registering, make sure to use the code SBTAM250 to receive an additional $250.00 off your two-day (or combo) pass. View the rest of the interview series. The post Kristin Hall of Google: Mobile Importance in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 3 Tips for Success in E-Book Marketing Posted: 13 Mar 2013 03:00 AM PDT
The popularity of e-books provides obvious benefits for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and writers, offering a source of revenue, an increasingly viable business model, and a new opportunity for thought leadership among business experts and authors. With prices stabilizing and technology standardizing the publishing process, the time may be right for small businesses to experiment with this growing market. E-book Marketing TipsHere are three tips for success in e-book marketing that will put you ahead in this growing industry segment. 1. Watch Your Pricing StrategyA recent post at Forbes by Jeremy Greenfield suggests that after months of fluctuation, e-book pricing seems to be stabilizing. Obviously, Greenfield is looking at average prices of bestselling e-books, so results may vary depending on how much your title is in demand. Still, looking at the $8.00 price Greenfield is using as a guide, there are clearly some takeaways. First, Greenfield calls $10.00 a “magical threshold” e-book publishers should probably think twice before pricing above. He says few e-book readers want to pay more than $9.99 for a title. Also, few readers want to pay as much for an e-book as for the paper edition. On the other hand, Greenfield observes that customers seem willing to pay any price for an e-book they really want. When pricing, look at comparable titles and consider how much demand there will be for your e-book. 2. Give to GetOne marketing strategy has become so widely used that even industry leaders like Amazon provide special features to facilitate the practice. Amazon’s “Give a Gift Feature” allows you to send someone a free copy of your Kindle book via e-mail. Offering e-books free for a limited time or a limited audience is an effective approach to e-book marketing. Author and blogger Stephanie Chandler explains in a post on her Authority Publishing blog:
3. Follow the LeaderAt the same time, when marketing your e-book, you’ll need to follow the rules of the industry leaders who control the market. For example, as pointed out earlier, Amazon, while certainly not the only place to market an e-book, is a huge player. As e-book writer and publisher Tristan Higbee explains in a podcast on his Osmosio blog, one of the reasons for this is Amazon's KDP Select program, which grants publishers and authors perks in exchange for releasing new titles exclusively on Amazon for at least the first 90 days. But Higbee reports that there’s new rule issued by Amazon penalizing affiliate websites for directing too much traffic to Amazon pages where free e-books are being promoted. The move takes away a major opportunity for publishers who want to offer their e-books free for a limited time in order to boost demand, Higbee says. Sites offering free Kindle books like Higbee’s own fkb.me which still makes most of their money on Amazon affiliate links, would be among those affected. ConclusionRegardless of the limitations, e-book publishing represents an expanding opportunity for writers and publishers interested in developing an additional revenue source or in establishing authority in their fields. Difficulties created by one publishing, distribution, or marketing platform should not stop a prospective writer or publisher from going elsewhere. There are several options from which to choose and no end in sight to the demand for new e-book titles. About Amazon’s Kindle store, for example, Higbee writes:
No matter what your niche, you can write e-books to help fill it and build a readership and customer base for your expertise and experience. E-books could be the newest market for your business and a way to showcase your knowledge while building your brand. eBook Photo via Shutterstock The post 3 Tips for Success in E-Book Marketing appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Rise of The Socially Conscious Business Posted: 12 Mar 2013 03:30 PM PDT
For decades, non-profits and businesses have existed in separate realms. The non-profits focused on helping the poor and providing aid, while businesses focused on raising capital and building revenue. It seemed that the two were destined to stay on their own paths, gawking at each other and failing to work toward a common goal. However, we've recently seen the rise of socially conscious business entrepreneurs, people who are driving innovation and changing systems in order to solve social problems. They have business plans and ventures that are hell bent on changing economies for the better, while at the same time running a successful for-profit business. They are proving to everyone that poverty can be alleviated and money can be made – all at the same time. So how do they do it? What's their secret? Well, it's:
These socially conscious business entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to solving social problems they are passionate about. They find a way to change things for the better, they get going and they never stop running. One such example here in the U.S. was founded on the idea that you could turn trash into reusable compost. EcoScraps picks up old fruit and vegetables from stores and restaurants, composts it, then turns around and sells it as bags of organic potting soil. Their clients include Costco and Whole Foods among many others. They are creating a sustainable, profitable business while solving the problem of leftover and old produce. Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka, has been identifying and supporting individual social entrepreneurs since 1980. He realizes the potential these individuals have and their ability to create impactful and sustainable businesses. By receiving investment early on, social entrepreneurs are able to scale and grow their businesses to have an even bigger impact. Social conscious business entrepreneurs are proving that social problems can be solved with for-profit business models, and they won't take “no” for an answer. Frankly, I think they're onto something. Eco Photo via Shutterstock The post Rise of The Socially Conscious Business appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Pinterest Analytics: Shows You What Drives Traffic to Your Site Posted: 12 Mar 2013 12:30 PM PDT Pinterest just unveiled a new traffic measuring tool that website owners can use to see their site's activity from the social site. Pinterest Web Analytics can show how many people have pinned images from your website, how many other users have viewed these pins, and how many people have visited your website from Pinterest. The photo below shows a site metrics chart. This can illustrate how many pins, pinners, repins, repinners, impressions, clicks, and visitors your site has received on a given day or measure trends of activity over a longer time period.
The thought behind Pinterest Web Analytics is that it not only allows you to measure reach and see how many visitors Pinterest drives to your site, but it can also help you see what kind of content is most likely to attract an audience. Writing on the official Pinterest blog Pinterest Software Engineer, Tao Tao, says:
To use Pinterest Analytics, you must first have a verified website. Then you must sign up for early access to Pinterest's new look, which you can find in the site’s profile menu. Once there, you can select Analytics from the top right menu and immediately begin viewing your site's activity. The tool is free to use today. This is Pinterest’s first official analytics offering. Before the release, there were third-party Pinterest tools such as Pinfluencer that allowed site owners to find similar insights into their Pinterest activity. Some of these services still offer tools that Pinterest does not. For example, Pinfluencer facilitates running contests on the site. But the availability of simpler analytics tools could cause users switch over to the official Pinterest Web Analytics. Pinterest has been working toward becoming a more business-friendly platform in recent months, with the introduction of business accounts and its official business site. The company said that Pinterest Web Analytics is a "first step" toward making business owners understand their audiences and the types of content they want to see shared. The post Pinterest Analytics: Shows You What Drives Traffic to Your Site appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Team Connectivity: How to Create Time To “Unplug” Posted: 12 Mar 2013 11:00 AM PDT
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's recent announcement that employees at the company would no longer be allowed to work from home has lit up the blogosphere with commenters complaining that the change dooms working mothers to second-class citizen status. Mayer says the change is necessary to enable informal employee interactions that lead to innovation and a more engaged workforce. But perhaps the real issue in creating more employee engagement isn't where you work, but how you work. The latest Randstad Engagement Index Study has some interesting findings about what female employees value in the workplace and how they want to work. Working relationships are by far the most important factor affecting female employees' satisfaction with their jobs. A whopping 87 percent say relationships with their coworkers impact their happiness at work, and 85 percent say relationships with direct supervisors do. Half of the women say a work environment that offers flexibility is important to their happiness—and 49 percent say their company is flexible and accommodating when it comes to their hours or working arrangements. But while technology is enabling a lot of that flexibility, it's also the cause of a lot of dissatisfaction. Some 42 percent of women in the survey say they are struggling to disconnect from work during off hours at home. And a majority (68 percent) say technology's blurring of the division between work and home is not making them any more productive. Says Linda Galipeau, Randstad CEO of North America, in announcing the survey findings:
Whether your employees are in the office from 9 to 5, or you helm a virtual workforce that rarely sees each other in the flesh, is 24/7 connectivity taking its toll—on both you and your team? If you or your workers are feeling overwhelmed take these steps. Team Connectivity: Creating Time To UnplugConsider How Connected You Really Need To BeBreak down the various elements of your business and how frequently they need to be attended to. Is it okay to check social media once or twice a day? Maybe you need to respond to customer complaints within the hour, while lead inquiries can wait 12 or 24 hours. These metrics will differ for each business. Figure Out How To Cover The BasesIf an element of your business truly requires 24/7 responsiveness, figure out ways to spread the responsibility among multiple employees so each person has some guaranteed downtime. For example, if you're a website hosting company and need to be there when a site goes down at 4 a.m. Automate Where PossibleFAQs on your website, an automated phone tree menu or prerecorded hours and directions can all help answer customer questions while freeing employees for more important tasks. Eliminate RedundancyWith so many ways to contact each other, often we overcompensate by emailing, instant messaging and calling each other about the same thing. Set standards for what types of situations require each method. Set The ExampleIf you're addicted to urgency, your employees will be too. Your business will suffer from the constant adrenalin overload. Lead by example. Set your own parameters for time off (like not sending work emails on the weekend) and encouraging your employees to do the same. Is connectedness helping or hurting your business? Plugged In Photo via Shutterstock The post Team Connectivity: How to Create Time To “Unplug” appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Time For Small Businesses to Take Mobile Seriously [Infographic] Posted: 12 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PDT It's abundantly clear from the release of Google AdWords Enhanced campaigns that mobile search is big. Most likely, it will be at the forefront of advertising for the foreseeable future. That's no surprise given that mobile searches are up 200% year over year. As a small business, understanding the mobile marketing landscape and how Google plans to play in that space will be critical for charting your mobile search marketing strategy in the near term. Outlined in this mobile infographic are Google's top 20 mobile products. Included is a report card that grades each product based on quality, adoption, originality, value to users, value to advertisers and other criteria. Whether you agree or disagree with the product gradings, the mobile infographic provides a comprehensive overview to Google’s exciting portfolio of mobile products.
[Click image for full version] The post Time For Small Businesses to Take Mobile Seriously [Infographic] appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Tips for Managing an Efficient Global Supply Chain Posted: 12 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PDT
In the face of competition and economic pressures, global supply chains are under more and more pressure to deliver their products at a greater value, on-time and at a lower cost. But if one link in the supply chain is broken, (for example, a delayed payment or late shipment), the consequences to your small business can be problematic. So what can you do to better manage this process and reduce the downstream strain on your business? Tips for Managing Your Global Supply ChainFind Someone with Expertise to Help Oversee Foreign SuppliersWhether your supplier is in Asia, South America or Europe, small businesses can benefit enormously from the services of an in-country representative. There are many global supply chain management consultants who offer these types of services, which include vetting international suppliers and navigating export regulations, taxes and logistics in that location. Try to find one who has expertise in that country and who spends a good amount of time there. Although you'll incur some costs, the payoffs in reduced liabilities, taxes and shipping will be well worth it. A licensed customs broker can also help navigate laws and regulations and help you prepare the documents needed to import goods, as well as facilitate communication between the importer and the U.S. government. You can search for certified customs brokers at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America. Explain Your Buying Patterns and SchedulesBe sure to set clear expectations in regards to your anticipated annual buying scale and schedule. To do this, you'll need a good handle on your sales forecasting. If you are sourcing goods overseas, shipping those goods will take time, so you need to have a good picture of current demands for your inventory and how these are forecasted to shift in the future. Also, be sure to ask your supplier for regular updates on their inventory data. Don't Rely on Just One SupplierWhen it comes to effective supply chain and inventory management, redundancy is everything. Have a back-up supplier (one is good—you don't want to manage too many suppliers). Not only will they prove invaluable in the event of production or logistical issues, they can also give you some competitive leverage and help ensure you maintain the best cost base across your suppliers. Build GoodwillBuilding good relationships with your suppliers can lead to mutual benefits such as better terms at the negotiation table and improved production and delivery schedules. Try to treat your suppliers as partners, and look for ways that encourage them to view you in the same light. You can do this by paying them on time, cutting some slack on one-off mistakes and being flexible. For example, are there things you can do to help them cut costs or better fulfill your order such as being flexible about certain delivery schedules, order volume or ordering alternative product lines? Don't forget communication. If you are able, try to meet directly with your suppliers. Get to know and respect their cultural and business backgrounds and train your entire team to be aware of and sensitive to any differences should they arise. Save Costs and Reduce Risk by Sourcing "Made in the USA" ProductsIf you do find that global supply chains are simply too risky for your business or you find that you can't make the minimum orders for importing inventory or goods, consider options for sourcing more from domestic suppliers. Turnaround time from overseas factories can be substantially slower than domestic suppliers. Sourcing domestic goods can help you meet demand more quickly and react on the fly to market demands. For many small business owners, it's a common truth—investing in a domestic supply chain rather than trying to cut costs from the onset by sourcing overseas can save money in the long run. Supply Chain Photo via Shutterstock The post 5 Tips for Managing an Efficient Global Supply Chain appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Question: If you were to emphasize one important area that every affiliate manager should be paying more attention to, what would it be and why?
E-books are exploding. A 
Entrepreneurs build more socially conscious businesses these days.
Collaboration in the workplace is center stage in the news, but experts say there are ways your team could be too connected.
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