Affiliate Networking: My Recommended Conferences
Affiliate marketing conferences are a great way to connect with fellow marketers, industry professionals and program managers. If you haven’t yet attended a conference, I highly recommend attending at least one or two a year to gain important insights, connections and tips from leaders in the industry. Back in 1999 when my wife and I first started affiliate marketing, the industry was just emerging and aspiring marketers faced a steeper learning curve. At the time there were no conferences that I was aware of. In 2002, events such as CJU (Commission Junction University) started to help bring together thought leaders in ...
It’s Time to Have Some Fun in the Warm California Sun with Our Favorite Mouse!
It has been a wonderful but busy summer in the Martell household. James and I had our 25th anniversary party and enjoyed getting the kids off to their own to camps, trips, events and beaches. With the end of summer comes our ramp up for fall and James and I are overdue for a break-ation! On October 23-25th, James and I will be again attending the ShareASale Think Tank, this year, at the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, California. Since we are already in California the event, it's a great excuse to sandwich these events with a little break-ation. This event ...
ShareASale Think Tank 2009 – October 23rd-25th Newport Beach, California
In 2007, I was lucky enough to join 60 other top affiliates and 12 ShareASale merchants at the gorgeous Gainey Ranch Property in Scottsdale Arizona. The merchants were able to present their offers and receive valuable feedback about their websites and business practices. All in all, the 2007 event is a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and share brainstorming sessions with fellow affiliates as well as merchants whose ultimate goal is for all of us to help each other. And the best part of this, was that it was held in the beautiful, warm, desert landscape of Arizona. What a wonderful ...
How Big Is Affiliate Marketing?
I chuckle when recalling how friends and family used to ask, "is it legal?", after they saw how much money I was making from affiliate programs. This was back when affiliate programs were totally new, -- 1999-2001. I guess one could hardly blame them because in those early days very few could see where the Internet was headed. I mean, this was before Google, YouTube, iPods, Blackberry's or social networking, just to name a few recent innovations that are here to stay. And it was definitely way before anyone could foresee a candidate for President of the United States using millions of small ...
Social Media Lesson: United Airlines Breaks Guitars
I love this story. I was driving along in the car one day, listening to the radio. The host was interviewing a guy from Halifax named Dave Carroll, frontman for the Atlantic Canadian group Sons of Maxwell. Dave was talking about a song he wrote that was quickly gaining popularity. The tune was a tongue-in-cheek account of a bad experience the band had with United Airlines in 2008, where they witnessed Dave’s Taylor guitar being tossed around by a baggage handler. Sons of Maxwell were on their way to Nebraska for a one-week tour – arriving only to discover that the $3,500.00 guitar ...
Making Memories in Victoria B.C.
I love surprises - and this trip was packed full of them! It was a great weekend away and even though it was only 3 full days, it seemed longer and we got so much sightseeing done. We arrived at the condo after a beautiful BC Ferry ride through the gulf islands that border the west coast between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. The condo was the top floor overlooking the Victoria harbor and it was the first pleasant surprise. It had a beautiful warm living room with leather couches and flowing drapes, fireplace, TV, wonderful fully stocked kitchen with a chandelier, ...
Industry & Events
15 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Trip To The Affiliate Summit West 2010!
Back to Las Vegas we go! Expecting over 4,000 attendees, the Affiliate Summit will be held January 17th through January 19th at the Rio Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. I’m really excited about this! If you haven’t already made your plans to go, you best hustle up or you’ll be left out. ...
Tips & Techniques
Learn How to Create and Add Great Content FAST with Dragon Naturally Speaking
Every online business owner knows how hard it is to keep adding high quality content as fast as they really need it. Many of us aren’t super-fast typists, and when we try to speed it up, we end up with more typos than we can count.
It’s a frustrating problem, but the great news is there ...
Travel & Lifestyle
Just What We Needed! Breakation @ Whistler, BC. (Video)
James & I had been toying with the idea of flying south for some warmer weather before the Christmas Holiday rush, but ended up spending several days in Whistler, BC on a mini-vacation. We call these get-a-way’s “break-ation”, because we really do get a way, but still bring out our laptops to catch up ...






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