Disqus - Latest Comments for mikeallen

Re: Clones and Clouds: The Force Unites

Mike Allen — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 13:08:16 -0000

SuperDuper is worth it and does the job very well. Speaking from experience here after a hard drive failure and later a system board failure.

Re: Acoustic levitation: how sound can get physical

Mike Allen — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 21:22:05 -0000

Maybe the ancients moved stones for pyramids and more this way.

Re: Client Spotlight: Shopping-Bargains

Mike Allen — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 01:12:23 -0000

Thank you, Kim. This was fun -- especially thinking back to the 1990s and early part of the 2000s. The Internet sure was different back then!

Re: Network Spotlight : Affiliate Window

Mike Allen — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 11:48:12 -0000

Jeannine is very helpful! I've known her for years and worked with her on many occasions. I highly recommend talking with her and working with Affiliate Window. Thank you for this info, Karen.

Re: Develop An Advertising Tax Educational Website

Mike Allen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:41:18 -0000

Jamie, you asked about 5 things legislators need to be educated on in relation to this tax. How about these:

1. Affiliates are small businesses and employers -- they employ themselves and others in many cases.

2. Affiliates pay federal and, when applicable, state income taxes as well as payroll and other taxes. Foreign-based affiliates are free to operate in the US market and pay no such taxes.

3. Creating an affiliate tax won't substantially change the nexus scenario. In response to such a tax, all merchants have to do is dissolve their in-state affiliate relationships and they can (and will)
continue business as usual. Remember, there is nothing to prevent foreign-based affiliates from operating in the US market (and they do).

4. The bottom line following an affiliate tax adoption is more unemployment as former affiliates are forced to lay off employees and downsize or relocate to another state to continue in business. The state is unable to collect new taxes based on this law when there are no affiliates and suffers additionally due to the out-migration of jobs and small businesses.

5. There are better ways to secure nexus by encouraging online retailers to locate some kind of physical presence within your state. States can creatively develop partnerships with their state universities to provide employee recruitment centers or award incentives for warehouses, data
terminals, call centers, and other facilities. With an actual physical presence (nexus) there are no constitutional questions and sales taxes must be collected.

Re: Develop An Advertising Tax Educational Website

Mike Allen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:17:05 -0000

I like this idea very much! I have a concern relating to not duplicating what the
PMA is doing since I don't want to spread industry resources too thin.
I support them with a substantial annual fee and would want to support your
effort also but if it could be combined there could potentially be synergies. Just my thoughts -- I'm interested in this very much and would support such efforts financially because I think the educational effort is vital.

Re: Offers.com Raises $7 Million To Help Track Down Good Deals (No, Not Like Groupon)

Mike Allen — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:43:05 -0000

H_Dennison, I know Durk Price personally and he is not an Offers.com employee -- in fact, he is a small business owner located in another state.

Offers.com is well-managed and respected company -- and I say this as the owner of ShoppingBargains.com, another coupon site that is technically in competition with Offers.com. Oh, and the links are created automatically. :)

Re: Affiliate Tax in Mississippi

Mike Allen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:24:45 -0000

I'm working on this and I appreciate you writing about this issue in my state, Scott. Thank you for doing the homework for the rest of us. More information about Tommy Gollott including his contact information is found at http://billstatus.ls.state....

Re: Epcot Wine Festival Opening with Gary Vaynerchuk

Mike Allen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:57:05 -0000

Gary is very good at what he does. I also like his positive, "can do" entrepreneurial attitude. He lives the American Dream and encourages others to do the same.

Re: Beach Sunrise

Mike Allen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:07:46 -0000

Nice pics, Tim. I think the one with your silhouette is especially good.

As for thinking, nature is a great place for thought I agree. I also find the daily time showering and shaving especially productive. Another great way to generate ideas is during a conference. It seems the concentrated immersion in a specific subject area provides lots of spin-off ideas for me. Driving and air travel can be helpful if I'm alone and are great times to prepare for or reflect on the materials from a conference.

Re: DIY In The Digital Age

Mike Allen — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:42:18 -0000

I've used a digital camera or my iPhone for the same kinds of things. Other great uses are 1) to "remember" where I parked by snapping a pic of the lot number and location in the parking garage at the airport and 2) to compare products and prices between stores. Of course there are many, many more.

Re: Cafe Press Fail

Mike Allen — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:40:39 -0000

I've been dissapointed with CafePress as well. They dropped "coupon sites" several months ago which I found frustrating. I've not bought from them since then but I have bought from Threadsmith several times including a big order last week.

Re: Plan of Action

Mike Allen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:35:15 -0000

Thank you for what you are doing in this vital effort, Stephanie. Keep up the good work!

Re: Take a cut in pay, stop selling so much or we will drop you!

Mike Allen — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:59:35 -0000

This is about as senseless as it would be to say the following: "The affiliate channel is performing better than we anticipated. Since we don't want to earn more than [insert value here] per month, we will have to cut back our marketing efforts. We know affiliate marketing works and so we are reducing our efforts there since we can track exactly how much we have to cut to avoid exceeding our earnings limit."

Re: Ten Years in Affiliate Marketing

Mike Allen — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:07:47 -0000

Thank you so much, Stephanie, for those kind words. It has been a very interesting 10 years to say the least. The industry has changed and matured so much over that timeframe. Of course, there are many remaining growth needs and opportunities. I am, however, very optimistic about the future in this space.

I expect we'll see you named affiliate manager of the year in the near future since you do such a great job! Thank you again for this complimentary post. It has been a joy to work with you as well.

Re: Linkshare and Overstock Part Ways

Mike Allen — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:20:14 -0000

Angel Djambazov wrote a detailed piece on this split at Revenews - http://www.revenews.com/ang... - that lays a few rumors to rest.

Re: Describe me in one word

Mike Allen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:47:53 -0000

Stephanie, this is such a creative idea. I really like it. Too bad you can't trademark and sell it since it's that good. :)

Re: Loyalty Sites, Toolbars and Networks Oh My!

Mike Allen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:39:03 -0000

I applaud ShareASale for hosting this forum and allowing an extended debate over this issue. I too expected fireworks at the Roundtable -- Jamie Birch wrote a detailed summary of this Roundtable at http://www.revenews.com/jam... -- but am confident that Brian and team will do what is right.

I have no problem with the notion of toolbars as long as they don't interfere with affiliate links and the purchase process. Some toolbars are very helpful for search, accessing multiple webmail accounts, and so forth. The problem comes when they interfere with what you and I have done to attract and convert customers and they inject their affiliate links over ours. That should never be allowed.

Re: Clean Data - Why it’s important to honor coupon policies.

Mike Allen — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:41:34 -0000

Friend and Family coupons are fine for small groups but they are often sent out to a broad base of potential customers. (From an affiliate's perspective, we know the merchant can offer a bigger discounts directly when they don't have to pay us commission and also pay affiliate network fees.) For true Friend and Family coupons, I would suggest single use individualized coupon codes sent to a small group of people. That protects the merchant from them being spread around. If the F&F base is small, it doesn't discourage affiliates as much.

Coupons are marketing tools and should be creative and sophisticated to maximize their effectiveness. They should be somewhat limited or else customers think "ah, they just raised their prices so they could offer us a coupon discount." True, coupon links do require some sophistication on the merchant side of things but the improvement in sales and prevention of tracking leakages would probably more than make up for the development costs. For starters, coupon code boxes should be intelligently displayed and hidden when a coupon link is used. Obviously the discount should be highlighted in the shopping cart but there is no need for a code to appear.

As for compliance, nothing seems to beat policing and following up threats with real action. Three strikes and you're out or some policy even more aggressive will get attention. The death penalty (permanent removal) is needed sometimes but temporary removal can also be very effective. Of course, any action should be preceded with clear policy and communication which is why transparency of affiliates is so important because it enables merchants can know who they are dealing with. I think long-term transparent relationships should be rewarded on both sides (affiliates offering better placements and merchants offering better commissions and/or exclusive coupons). And one final thought -- about exclusive coupons, if a merchant makes a policy that only the affiliate the exclusive coupon was issued to will receive commission for sales that used that coupon then they remove incentives for other sites to scrape and republish that exclusive coupon as their own.

Re: Clean Data - Why it’s important to honor coupon policies.

Mike Allen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:24:22 -0000

Great article, Jamie. I have a few things to add having been in this industry 10 years now.

1. Merchants would be wise to work with and not against human nature. If they are doing a test of their catalog channel, it would be helpful to offer an equally valuable coupon through the affiliate channel. That is especially true given the fact that user-input coupon sites exist where no one will edit the coupon codes posted. From a human nature point of view, though, it is very tempting to dishonestly post a better coupon when you know you have only been authorized to offer an inferior one and your customers are expecting you to deliver the best. Remember, we don't want to lose our customers, especially our repeat customers, to a less than reputable coupon site.

2. Use coupon links instead of coupon codes. Coupon codes can be copied, scraped, republished and so much more. They are fluid and difficult to track. Coupon links or coupons embedded in a specific URL are fixed and easy for merchants to manage. They track well and can be authorized to specific affiliates. They give the merchant control over the landing page and provide very specific data that can enhance decision-making for merchants.

3. Police and communicate. You said it above but I must restate how very important this is. It is unfair to play by the rules and watch others abuse them and get away with it. Even user-generated sites should comply with coupon guidelines. I also like the idea of sending a list of forbidden coupon codes so affiliates can confidently know they are in compliance. That is a great feeling since the waters can appear muddy when managing hundreds of programs with varying terms and conditions.

4. Build personal relationships with your top players. People are less likely to mistreat those they have a professional relationship with. Reward transparency and compliance with better and exclusive offers. Take care of those who take care of you. It's a win-win situation that way.

Thank you for this article, Jamie. We take great care to follow coupon policies and promptly remove when asked (which is very rare). I would also suggest that merchants verify their coupon codes or links before sending out and re-verify frequently because there are a surprising number of errors in this space. Coupons should be verified after every site or server change. Also, be sure to submit exclusions, expiration dates (and the applicable time zone) and any other terms and conditions. Early submission is a real plus as well and can even get premium placement before our space becomes crowded.

Re: Obama’s Inauguration

Mike Allen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:19:27 -0000

Good advice, Tim. I especially liked the part about getting out of debt. Debt is so enslaving as we are seeing so much these days.

Re: My Affiliate Summit Recap

Mike Allen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:32:34 -0000

Great visiting with you at Affiliate Summit. It wouldn't surprise me if you're an awards nominee next year! Nice report.

Re: My Guide to Affiliate Summit

Mike Allen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:42:16 -0000

Thank you for this detailed guide, Stephanie. I look forward to this jam-packed event. Of course, it will be great to see you and the ARC Team again.

Re: Coupon Use - more stats from Internet Retailer

Mike Allen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:31:47 -0000

Looks like many retailers are getting more creative and doing what works. Good to see this effort.

Re: T-Rex Hidden Mickey?

Mike Allen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:40:46 -0000

Looks like a hidden Mickey to me! Good find for you and very clever on Disney's part I might add.