Today I was looking over the website for a growing Affiliate Marketing Software “HitPath.” At first it didn’t really wow me and just seemed like another version of LinkTrust. So as I dug a little deeper into the features I found some great ones that could potentially make my accounting life much easier. The reporting is still very similar in the ways you can filter data by Affiliates, Campaigns, Advertisers, and Categories. What really caught my eye was the customizable accounting reporting that is available with the software. You have the option to finalize month by month numbers to ensure that test/ fraud leads have been removed from the system.

 The best feature that I noticed on the list was the custom export to QuickBooks reporting. The HitPath team will consult with the Accounting Department of your company and create specific reports that the accountants can export and use for their day to day accounting procedures. Seeing that our company uses QuickBooks as our software this would be great to be able to reference and combine everything to one platform! The accounting features that blend with the Tracking Software sound great with this system. Now that we are growing to focus on an International Market more and more we have the need to track revenues and commssions in international currencies. With Hit Path we can trak them in Euro’s, Pounds, etc. This makes it much easier on the accountant not having to convert every international campaigns revenue to get a true report of earnings or payments owed to affiliates. These are just some of the few features that impressed me with this system. You can view all of the features on their website at http://www.hitpath.com/. Have a Happy Halloween!!!

It’s finally here…the highly anticipated Ad:Tech New York trade show. Why am I so excited? Let me count the ways…

First off, this is my first industry trade show. After this, I will no longer be considered a rookie! My eyes will be opened to a whole new dimension of the online marketing world - a world I am pretty anxious to explore and to learn about from old trade show pros.

I also cannot wait to finally put faces (and personalities) to names of all the advertisers I work with day in and day out. There’s just something about meeting someone in person that helps makes business/professional relationships a little more casual. Or maybe it’s the drinks that you told yourself you would only have one glass of….

Most importantly, I am eager for the opportunity to network and begin to build long lasting, quality relationships with more online advertisers and other industry folks. 

And yes, my friends, Ad:Tech NY will also be the debut of our coolest skate deck to date, handed out to only our favorite affiliates! Make sure to sign up as an affiliate at http://www.akmg.com/affiliates/SignUp.html for your chance to snag this one-of-a-kind collector’s item!

Come visit us at booth #1734. See you in New York!  

Many people have been waiting patiently for Microsoft to unleash Windows 7 - and it’s finally here.  Microsoft’s Vista was plaguing an unfortunate number of Microsoft Windows users for far too long (many considering Vista as Microsoft’s biggest failure).

Some of the features of the New Microsoft OS: Windows 7 were simply enhancements from now-mature technologies that were introduced with Vista.  New hardware and improved security seem to be some of the key highlights of this new OS.  Some of the obvious features within the new user interface is something called Aero Peek, which makes every open window transparent except the one you’re focusing on.  This feature, along with the new ‘Jump Lists’ feature can be a gift from heaven.  Jump Lists file and organize all of your most recent documents directly in the taskbar.  Now for people like me who have 14,309 windows open at a time, this is something that I find pretty useful.  Another obvious upgrade is the Taskbar.  This taskbar (after 14 years of very subtle changes) has finally changed for the better.

I would recommend Windows 7 to any PC user.  I’d say it is their best OS yet.  And let’s be honest, anything is an upgrade from Vista.  Windows 7 is a solid, easy, and eye pleasing OS.  The new features, along with the hardware, are all improvements that should make Windows 7 a great success.

The Ladies of AKMG are headed out to Ad Tech New York, and to say we are excited would be the understatement of the year. And while I will undoubtedly forget to pack until the very last minute, let me tell you a few tips I won’t be forgetting and neither should you.

1. Study Up. Do your homework on who you want to meet. Affbuzz.com should help you narrow it down to a few industry peers to look out for. And for goodness sake, if you see someone you follow on Affbuzz but don’t quite had the gumption to approach just yet, do like Mike and just do it. No time like the present to introduce yourself to him or her, lest you wait yet another three months to try for round two.

2. Comfort trumps fashion. Ladies, why would you wear heals, and fellas, skip the sweat stains and the suits. The venue is busy, the lights are hot, and the show room is (aff)buzzing. 

3. Are you gellin? Dr. Scholls Gel-ins are mandatory. Because lets face it ladies and gents, after 18 hours straight in stilettos you will adapt quite the pimp limp by day two.

4. H20 is your friend. Be sure to pack a spare bottled water or two, and have plenty on hand at all times. I mean, let’s face it. You’re going to stay out far later than originally planned, you will then drink too much coffee to overcompensate for your lack of sleep in the morning, and this is surely a recipe for dehydration. That, coupled with the two long days of jib jabbering sure to come, leaves for one very sore throat. So keep the H20 within arms reach at all times.

5. Come armed and dangerous. Bring your business cards or be forewarned, I will make you fill out your contact info in my little black biz dev book. Always keep an extra pen and if you’re a pro’s pro, a Sharpy for those weird glossy to write on, for each card you get from someone, you should jot down a quick note about that particular person so you remember them post show.

6. Keep your eye on the prize. Maximize your showroom time by making meetings, keeping a mental wish list of your goals in coming. Make meetings with everyone relevant, and be sure all for your conversations keep on point.

***Mandatory stop by booth #1734 for the best affiliate managers in the biz and quite possibly AKMG’s sickest skate deck yet. Had to go out with a bang, and the final deck in the Gary Taxali series does not disappoint. Oh, and if you don’t work with AKMG yet, you better sign up. Just 100 decks for current affiliates…. http://akmg.com/affiliates/SignUp.html

Ready to take a big bite out of that shiny apple…

Blog-O-Rama Mama!

Hello everyone!

 My name is Curtis and I started working at AKMG on June 1st of this year and joined the AKMG Accounting Team. I moved here after I graduated college at Arizona State University (Sorry USC and UCLA fans). I graduated with a degree in Computer Information Systems so I have a slight familiarity with the industry through school. I love being able to combine both of my career interests in Finance and Computers for my day to day job. As fast paced as this industry is I feel that I have learned a lot in the few months that I have been here and will continue to learn more as I spend more time in the industry. Being a social person I like the fact that personal relationships can play such a key role in this industry. I think its great that associates can travel to different trade shows around the country and world to get to know parters on a personal basis instead of just another name on the page. Anyway I look forward to working more with everyone and keeping people posted on things that stick in my head. Until next time peace out ttyl…

Bonjour, AKMG connesuirs! I just wanted to drop a line to introduce myself to the blogosphere! As AKMG’s International Sales Director and I’m excited to be bringing you great new opportunities from around the globe. I just moved to West LA all the way from Boulder, Colorado! Things are different here but much warmer! My passion is international affiliate marketing because I believe it is still very much uncharted territory in our space, although some might say it’s just because I love the cool accents (I have to admit this is also true). Traffic is cheaper internationally, consumers are more responsive, and the market is far less saturated. We have seen enormous growth at AKMG in Europe in such a short time, and we are excited to continue to expand throughout Europe in the coming months!

AKMG will be exhibiting once again at Ad:tech in New York next month! Stop by our booth and get to know a little more about our international flair!

For all those who do not know there was a unique diet product that started in the UK called The Pink Patch. The product is a small patch that you stick on your body in an inconspicuous place that is similar to a band aide that suppresses your appetite and gives you energy. This product was marketed so heavily in the UK a few years back that it has developed quite a recognizable brand.

This product has many features that help it sell:

- appetite control
- boost energy levels
- contains 5-HTP, which is a natural mood enhancer
- relieves symptoms of PMS
- contains natural ingredients such as Lecithin and Flaxseed which help break down cholesterol and boost your immune system.

There are even additional tips you can blog to the user about to make it work at its optimum:

- If you drink alcohol, step away from the keg and drink vino, as its better for you - packed with anti-oxidants.
- Drink lots of water: clears your skin, flushes your system, keeps skin supple and less likely to wrinkle prematurely.
- Need energy? Drink Green Tea instead of Coffee.

Who doesn’t want a magic little patch to get them skinny?? This is a unique diet product that stands out amongst the rest that already has a creditable, recognizable brand name .

The Pink Patch product available in France, Spain and Germany. France is showing the best conversions right now and would be the one to try first.

There are many techniques online advertisers use to drive traffic to their campaigns. Call me old fashioned, but many of the campaigns we run on our network have great potential to generate additional traffic (and revenue) as an exit pop on another campaign. Although, it is important that you know your consumer demographic and that it matches the demographic of the consumer exiting the campaign they were initially interested in. For example, if you are an advertiser with a debt campaign, it might be beneficial to run your campaign as an exit pop on a credit card campaign. Your debt campaign may capture the consumer that has a change of heart about purchasing or signing up for the credit card, but still needs financial assistance.

This is just one campaign category that exit pops can be successful with. Think about a consumer’s purpose when they click on an advertisement. What is the value of that product for them? And if they have second thoughts about the product and exit the window, can your campaign provide a similar value?

If you are reluctant to display your campaign as an exit pop with the concern that it may attract poor quality leads, we can do a small test to gauge its performance on a campaign that you as an advertiser and we at AKMG decide it’s compatible with. Hey, it’s worth a try and potentially worth the traffic!

I’m not sure if you all have heard or not, but marketers and bloggers will soon have to disclose any freebies and payment arrangements made in exchange for product reviews.  The Federal Trade Commission voted this month to alter specific guidelines beginning December 1st that address the endorsements that consumers, experts, organizations and celebrities make on certain review sites or blogs.  Basically, the message conveyed by these consumers will have to clearly disclose the results that a user can generally expect, opposed to posting unusual results that promise something drastic (usually followed by a ‘results not typical’ asterisk).

These revised guidelines also require that any “material connections” i.e. payments or free products - between advertisers and endorsers has to be disclosed.

This may bring forth a lot of changes to the social media world, and fairly soon.  It may be hard for the FTC to prove that the conduct of the blog or review site actually violates the FTC Act, but then also, they may want to prove their point at the beginning (remember the whole Napster situation when they sued young children for having songs on their computers?)  At AKMG, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of FTC/CAN-SPAM compliance.  It will be interesting to see how the FTC will impose these new guidelines and how hard they will crack down because this could potentially bring a heapload of changes to the online marketing world.

I recently saw an infomercial of a great As Seen on TV campaign that AKMG boasts a winning exclusive - “Your Baby Can Read.” Let me tell you , I was excited and you should be too; the impact of marketing an affiliate campaign that has a diversified media mix means exponential opportunity for the affiliate!

At my old advertising agency, we helped create direct response TV shows for our clients, and when we aired the TV spots, donations would spike for both call in and online sales. Problem was, we were only be able to attribute the phone sales to our commercial. We weren’t getting credit for online sales because they were getting credited to the internet team (which had a different budget, different goals and a different AOR).

Of course, when you cut the spots (just like when we tested pausing the radio campaigns), the sales across all channel decreased. Clearly, people were watching the show and then going online to make their donations/purchases.

Now my AKMG affiliate friends, we can use this in our favor. Leverage the free advertising and exposure that the advertiser is already paying for on other channels! You already have the name recognition (and thus credibility in the minds of the consumer) in place to tap into.

But wait, there’s more! In addition to an established brand name, you already have an established level of consumer interest in the product. Think about it oh affiliate wonder children… Infomercial production costs start at around $50,000 and go up to $500,000+, of course the average costs fall in the 150-200k range. Oh yes, and then there is the issue of actually buying media time… needless to say it’s not an insignificant cost invested by the advertisers in their product.

And as all direct-response marketers can attest too, this is a business based on results. If you are seeing the commercials on again and again, it’s because that offer is selling and they are making the money they invest in advertising back and then some. So what are you waiting for? Check out AKMG’s As Seen on TV offers and be handsomely rewarded with sustainable revenue.

E

PS - The Holidays are just around the corner! Start creating sites now for the gift-giving season ahead of us!