Affiliate Resource Guide

Friendliest States for Small Business

Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, has released data indicating that Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah are the friendliest states towards small businesses.

Small business owners gave California, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont the lowest ratings.

The Thumbtack.com Small Business Survey drew data from a nationwide universe of job creators and entrepreneurs to investigate the best places in the country to do business.

Some key findings from the survey:

• Texas had three of the top five cities (Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin), while California was home to the bottom three (Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento).
• Small businesses said licensing requirements were nearly twice as important as tax rates in determining overall business-friendliness.
• Among small business owners nationally, women were 9% more likely than men to feel supported by their state governments.
• An important predictor of small business friendliness was whether small business owners are aware of the state or local government offering training programs for small businesses.
• Nationwide, small businesses owned by politically conservative entrepreneurs were 17% healthier than small businesses owned by politically liberal entrepreneurs.
• Idaho, Nevada and Delaware had the most small business-friendly tax codes; California and New Mexico had the least-friendly tax codes.
• Nebraska small business owners were the most optimistic about their business improving during 2012, while Iowans were the least optimistic.
• The South was the most small business-friendly region of the country, while New England was rated the least small business-friendly.

See the full results, which include full sets of rankings, dozens of easily searchable quotes from small businesses nationwide, regional comparisons within states, and Census data comparing states’ and cities’ key demographics against those of other states and cities.

QR Codes, Austin, and Fighting Breast Cancer

This week on the Affiliate Thing podcast, Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille talk about QR codes, parties in Austin, running a 5k in Yankee Stadium for charity, and Value Click stock.

They also talked about affiliate marketer Heather Romiti on the news, the Pitch, coffee shops, and youth soccer.

Show Links

• No Need for Business Cards at Affiliate Summit Central 2012
• Google Map of Stuff in Downtown Austin
• Parties at Affiliate Summit Central 2012
• Who’s Exhibiting at Affiliate Summit 2012 Central?
• Join the Affiliate Summit Team for the Runyon 5K
• Affiliate Summit East 2012 Has Raised $8,498 So Far to Fight Breast Cancer
• Vet Transitions From Army To Business
• Attribution Part 4: By the Numbers
• The Pitch on AMC
• Shawn’s new local listings site: Four Points Guide
• Wine Club Reviews & Ratings
• University of Texas Student Hit by Bus
• Caffé Medici in Austin
• How to avoid scammy social share article and video apps on Facebook
• Barton Springs Bike Rental

Subscribe to the Affiliate Thing RSS feed or listen on iTunes. You can also send a blank e-mail to affiliatething@aweber.com to get each podcast delivered by e-mail.

Affiliate Summit East 2012 Early Bird Ends May 11

Early bird pricing for Affiliate Summit East 2012, taking place August 12-14, 2012 in New York City, ends May 11, 2012.

Affiliate Summit East 2012

The keynote speakers will be Sara Levinson, Ntiedo (NT) Etuk, and Dave Cupples.

The Early Bird registration rates for the Networking Pass ($99), Networking Plus Pass ($279), VIP Pass ($879), and All Access Pass ($1,879) are going up after May 11, 2012.

Starting May 12, 2012, the rates to register for Affiliate Summit will be Networking Pass ($249), Networking Plus Pass ($549), VIP Pass ($1,249), and All Access Pass ($2,249).

For a description of the available pass types see registration options for Affiliate Summit East 2012.

Some Affiliate Summit sponsorships, booths and Meet Market tables are still available. See http://www.affiliatesummit.com/12e-exhibitors/ for details.

Rooms at the Hilton New York are available at an Affiliate Summit group rate starting at $229 a night until July 5, 2012 or the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first. After that, the hotel will charge the prevailing rate.

More details at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/12e-travel/.

Register now at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/.

Leveraging Profits Through Social Media Connections

This was a conference session titled Leveraging Profits Through Social Media Connections from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

• Warren Whitlock, Publisher, BestSellerAuthors.com

Session description: Affiliates using social media for advertising alone are missing most of the profits.

Experience level: Intermediate, Advanced
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Twitter

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/leveraging-profits-through-social-media-connections

More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: Leveraging Profits Through Social Media Connections

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral

This was a conference session titled New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speaker:

• Declan Dunn, CEO, Dunn Direct Media

Session description: Lead generation in the new media game. How to turn friends into fans and customers. In this energizing, interactive session, discover how to drive traffic, leads, and sales in the new media game.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Lead Generation

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/2b-new-lead-generation-models-socialmobileviral

More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

No Need for Business Cards at Affiliate Summit Central 2012

We’re changing up the name-badges at Affiliate Summit Central 2012, so they’ll have QR codes this time around, instead of the barcodes we’ve had in the past.

That means exhibitors won’t have a need to rent scanners, and anybody at the conference with a QR code reader on their phone can read the codes on badges and collect the name, email and phone of people you meet.

Test the code in the sample badge above with your QR code reader. If you don’t see my name, email and phone (some apps I tried were missing one of those three), I’d suggest getting a different app, such as the QR code reader from scan.me.

We’d love to hear what you think of this after trying it out in Austin, and whether you’d like to also see it in NYC.

Leading Advertisers Discuss Their Effective Affiliate Programs

This was a conference session titled Leading Advertisers Discuss Their Effective Affiliate Programs from Affiliate Summit East 2010, which took place August 15-17, 2010 in New York City.

Speakers:

• Steve Schaffer, Founder & CEO, Offers.com (Moderator)
• Darci Grum, Affiliate Marketing Manager, Sears Holding Company
• Nicole A Smith, Senior Marketing Manager, American Express
• Chris Symons, Principal, Partnerships and Alliances, Travelocity.com

Session description: Learn from some of the biggest online stores and brands on what makes their affiliate program successful. Tips, tricks, debate, and discussion on the future of affiliate and performance marketing.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Affiliate Program Management

More details on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

Video: Leading Advertisers Discuss Their Effective Affiliate Programs

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Join the Affiliate Summit Team for the Runyon 5K

Affiliate Summit is sponsoring a team of runners for the Runyon 5k, which is taking place Sunday, August 12 at Yankee Stadium. This is the first day of Affiliate Summit East 2012.

I ran the Runyon 5k a few years ago, and it was a fantastic experience.

The Runyon 5k is a unique cancer research fundraising run/walk that uses Yankee Stadium as its course. You can run or walk the concourses and ramps, climb stairs between levels, and take your own victory laps around the warning track that circles the field.

Affiliate Summit will cover the $40 registration fee for anybody who joins the Affiliate Summit team. Runners are responsible for their minimum of $60 in fundraising.

We’ll also get shirts for anybody running on the Affiliate Summit team (I wish I could, but there’s too much with Affiliate Summit that morning for me).

100% of all donations raised in support of your run/walk will go to innovative cancer research by today’s best young scientists, funded by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

If you’d like to participate, please join our team for the Runyon 5k and then email your confirmation to us, and we will reimburse you.

Let us know how to make out the check, where to send it, your phone numbers, and your shirt size.

Stuff to do in Austin, Google Drive, and Pink Flamingos

This week on the Affiliate Thing podcast, Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille talk about two-foot long hot dogs at Texas Rangers games, ShareASale ThinkTank, stuff to do in Austin during Affiliate Summit Central, and that proposals are open for the next issue of FeedFront magazine.

They also talked about new Pinnacle Award categories, Google Drive, affiliate nexus taxes, and pink flamingos.

Show Links

• I Need a Logo for a New Directory Site
• ShareASale ThinkTank
• Places to Eat, Drink, Shop, and Sightsee During Affiliate Summit Central 2012
• Want to Contribute to Issue 19 of FeedFront Magazine?
• Want to Add New Pinnacle Awards Categories?
• Vote for Affiliate Summit East 2012 Sessions
• Google Drive
• Judge Rules Illinois Affiliate Nexus Law is Unconstitutional
• Amazon, Texas Strike Deal on Sales Tax
• Austin Karaoke 5k
• Pink Flamingos on Amazon

Subscribe to the Affiliate Thing RSS feed or listen on iTunes. You can also send a blank e-mail to affiliatething@aweber.com to get each podcast delivered by e-mail.

I Need a Logo for a New Directory Site

It’s that time again… starting up a new site. But this will be a different sort of site, because I’m doing it with my wife, and it’s going to be monetized by affiliate ads, Google AdSense, and recurring charges for directory listings.

I’m pulling all of the pieces together right now, so if you’re a designer or you know one, I’m running a contest through The Perfect Design with a $300 prize.

The contest is open through this coming Thursday – submit an entry or tell a friend.

In years past, I used a software called phpMyDirectory for a directory site, but it was clumsy and limited for what I was trying to do.

This time around, I am using a premium theme called DirectoryPress, and I’m impressed by the flexibility and ease of use.

Plus, I submitted a couple support tickets over the weekend and they were promptly addressed. Good sign.

Stay tuned for more details.