It’s like this irresistible force…must…resist…leprechaun…………

Impossible.  Let’s do this.

How it works:

For the ten days before St. Patrick’s Day, every affiliate that drives at least $500 in gross sales will be entered into a drawing.  On St. Patrick’s Day, four winners will be drawn from me lucky hat.  Each winner will receive a vacuum-sealed bag of corned beef brisket, and one head of cabbage.  One of the four winners will receive a special bonus prize that I’m sure will be cherished for generations to come.

Rules: Affiliates with $500+ in gross sales between 12:01a CST March 6, 2010 through 12a CST March 16, 2010 will qualify for the drawing.  Winners will be notified via email and/or phone.  Prize will be sent via FedEx Overnight.  ShareASale is not responsible for any smells that emanate from package.  If you do not wish to claim your prize, you may notify us at jason@shareasale.com.  We reserve the right to substitute tofurky for the corned beef for vegetarian/vegan winners.

Questions?  Holla back now: jason@shareasale.com

You will not see a tax form if….

Your organization is a corporation (Inc., Corp., etc…)
You earned less than $600 collectively
You aren’t based in the United States

Please note: You do still need to report all income, regardless of whether or not there is a 1099 in your account.

If there are any corrections or errors, please let us know through the Help Center and we can make corrections. The deadline for getting this information to you is January 31st, but the next deadline (us transmitting to the IRS) is not until March. We have time to correct any errors in your information prior to filing.

We have added a new affiliate timesaver to ShareASale! Affiliates are now notified if a merchant changes their custom, group or default commission.

Example: A merchant has a current commission of 20% and decides that they are going to increase their overall commission to 25%. All current affiliates of that program will be notified via email that these changes have taken effect. This new feature will work the other way around too. So if a merchant decreases their commissions all current affiliates will be notified.

So, now is a perfect time to make sure your email in your ShareASale is up to date!

As always, Please let us know what we can do to improve things at shareasale.com/fixit And if you have any questions, definitely feel free to drop me a note at jason@shareasale.com!

Thanks!

Unsure about what “grouping” is? Grouping is a way to organize your affiliates. You can assign affiliates to any number of groups within your program. For example, you can create a VIP group, and set that group at a higher commission level than your base commission rate. Or, you can segment out PPC affiliates from coupon affiliates, etc. To create a new group, simply click on the View/Create Groups link under the Affiliate Management column in your merchant account.

Once your group is created, you’ll be can to set a group commission rate, generate group reports, or send specific newsletters to a targeted group. If you have any questions on how to use this feature, feel free to contact me directly at sarah@shareasale.com!

You’ll find all the usual suspects in social networks such as searching for and making friends, groups, blogs, events, etc…

Our goal is to create a more open communication platform where Affiliates and Merchants can be introduced to each other based on their mutual interests (either professional or personal). It has been our experience that increased communication leads to greater realized profits for both parties.

We are going to donate $5 for each person (Affiliate or Merchant) who sets up a profile on the Affiliate Aquarium platform between now and the end of the month (Jan 31). After we add all that up - we are going to double the amount… Whatever number that is, up to $15,000 - we are going to donate to the Mercy Corps to help their efforts in Haiti.

So for the next 5 days or so, if you are interested in learning about how social network can strengthen relationships within an affiliate network … you’ll also be helping us help those who need it in Haiti.

To find your Affiliate Aquarium account, and get started… just log into your ShareASale account. On the bottom right side of the main menu you’ll see a link for “Affiliate Aquarium”.

We’ve got a live walkthrough scheduled for February as well, feel free to sign up!

And, there is an additional writeup on the Affiliate Aquarium at Affiliate(Tip)

• 8-12PM on Sunday January 17th
• Miranda Room at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino
• Karaoke
• Wii, darts, and a bunch of other games
• Outdoor areas
• Open Bar
• Pizza, various appetizers, served early.
• Chocolate fountain
• Pick up an invitation at the Meet Market on Sunday @ the ShareASale Table.
• Dress is casual

See you all there!!

What that means is that you don’t necessarily have to be the biggest earner in the network to win this award. We look for Affiliates who continue to be the model for Affiliate Marketers everywhere by bringing creative solutions to the marketplace.

a) Affiliate Feedback
b) Creativity
c) Earnings/Commissions
d) Exclusivity/Consistency
e) Responsiveness.

Again, it isn’t necessarily just the biggest that are the best, but those Merchants who are the best to work with.

a) Responsiveness
b) Willingness to listen
c) Creativity in Problem Solving
d) Affiliate Feedback
e) Results

4. PowerRank Champion 2009 - This award is given to the 1 (one) Merchant who leads the “PowerRank” statistical category for the most cumulative days in an individual year. “PowerRank” is a ShareASale specific statistic encompassing things such as EPC, Volume, Reversal Rates, Conversion, Program Uptime, etc…

5. Emerging Technology 2009 - This award is given to the individual Affiliate or Merchant who displays above board, industry changing technological innovation. The Affiliate or Merchant does not necessarily need to be “new” to the industry, but their innovation must be new within the year of the award. The winner doesn’t need to be big or small, just innovative and inspiring.

6. Pay It Forward 2009 - This person doesn’t even have to be a ShareASale client. In summary we are going to recognize someone each year who is doing something positive and special within our internet marketing community. Something that makes our industry stronger, which in turn will help all of us thrive. The name is, of course, inspired by the movie of the same name which involved a boy doing remarkable things for his community, and asking those receiving help to then give it. On that note - while we will give this award annually, we will also be asking that the recipient of this award name an additional winner next year at this time - 2009. Of course, the choice will be theirs - but that is the spirit of the award.

Karen Garcia - Industry Adovocate Karen was a lead member of a very important group of people who fought for the industry in the #AdvertisingTax battle in California. Karen was tireless in organizing, recruiting, and scheduling in-person sit-downs with State Representatives. There were dozens of people who sacrificed their time and energy this year in this battle - and I’d like to take this moment to thank each and every one of them - and while it was difficult to name just one person, we felt that Karen’s contributions were critical to the success of this year. We need everyone to continue their efforts in 2010 as it promises to be an even more difficult year regarding the #AdvertisingTax. So - congratulations to Karen Garcia…. and thank you for your contribution to this industry that we all share.

As you may remember from last year, the spirit of the “Pay It Forward Award” is that winners from the previous years are then able to name additional winners … so we have 2 more to give out!

Scott Jangro - Industry Advocate (Paid Forward via 2008 Winner Missy Ward) Congratulations Scott!

“The reasons why I’ve selected Scott are because he’s been a vocal affiliate marketing advocate for many years, enriches the industry through his blogging efforts and participation in multiple advisory boards and has been outspoken when it comes to industry issues such as affiliate tax, software, etc. In addition, with the launch of Affbook.com this year, Scott continues to contribute to the advancement of the industry by providing tactical no-nonsense information on building sustainable online businesses utilizing affiliate marketing.

To sum it up, Scott gives his knowledge freely all in an effort to champion the affiliate marketing cause.“

Michael Coley - Education (Paid Forward via 2008 Winner Melanie Seery) Congratulations Michael!

“Michael Coley goes above and beyond in trying to educate merchants, affiliates and networks on ethical and fair practices. He takes the calm and quiet approach and is able to diffuse volatile situations without shutting down communication. Michael does not hesitate to speak out on controversial issues and express his opinions. Active in the affiliate marketing communities, Michael is always willing to share knowledge and advice to help other succeed.

Michael’s approach and dedication builds bridges in our industry and empowers others to succeed.“

Wanted to give you all an idea of how things went for Affiliates and Merchants on ShareASale this past week on Cyber Monday.

Here are some highlights:

• Overall, Black Friday was nearly a 100% jump from last year (measured on overall Gross Sales)
  
• About 35% more Affiliates participated - which is great - but also shows that a lot of growth was from existing Affiliates - which is also great.  :)  (Congratulations!)
  
• Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw huge jumps compared to the growth between 2007 and 2008.
  
• There was approximately a 50% increase in usage of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals Database
  
• Cyber Monday saw 95% increased transaction activity compared to last year.

Congratulations to all the Merchants and Affiliates who put in the time and preparation towards these special shopping days - it paid off.  !!

Remember that every Monday until the 25th, historically, lends even better results … so keep those sites running and those carts converting. 

I’ve comprised the following list which, I admit, is just my own personal opinion. I probably even forgot or accidentally left out an important one that I’ll remember later. Please feel free to share your opinion or top 10 in the comments below!

#10 “Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants” – by Shawn Collins

Published originally in April of 2001, this book represented the first centralized source of information directly related to running an affiliate program. With so many retailers at the time getting in to the Affiliate Marketing industry, this book became the de-facto standard by which a number of programs were run, and spawned an industry of handbooks, guides and other resources.

The quote on the front cover told the whole story at the time… “If you manage an affiliate program, you need this book.” (quote from Allan Gardyne, AssociatePrograms.com)

#9 Facebook and Twitter change the way we live

I questioned this entry, as in reality – it is based on our lives as a whole, and not necessarily related simply to Affiliate Marketing. However, it is impossible to debate the impact these two social platforms have had on our industry.

I don’t know the official launch date here, although I do know that my very first “tweet” came on December 20th of 2006:

Since then there have been a number of community initiated “improvements” such as the “Birth of the Hashtag (#)”, the huge watershed moment in 2007 at the SXSW festival which merged the real-time chat like interest of Twitter with live conferences, and the ReTweet.

Communication will likely never be the same.

#8 The launch of ______________

Yes, I realize that there is a conflict of interest here … but since this is my list of most important moments, I thought I should probably include the launching of my own company. Feel free to substitute the launching of your company here instead.

In March of 2000, I launched ShareASale with the goal of providing a true competitive choice to the platforms that were available at the time. I still remember some of our earliest clients, as well as our first introductions to places such as ABestWeb.com and Affiliate Summit. I had so much to learn, and seemingly not nearly enough hours in the day to program!

I count as impact to this industry, ShareASale’s unique stance regarding adware and other software that was prevalent (more) at the time. In the early 2000s, some of the most “powerful” affiliates were those involved in adware, spyware, and a number of other questionable practices. Companies would “bundle” these applications in games targeted at children, and then reap the benefits through automatically generated commissions upon sales being generated on those machines.

I doubt that anyone would argue the merits of this form of advertising now, but at the time is was extremely prevalent. I admit that I didn’t know too much about it prior to being asked “What’s your stance on adware?” – but it was very clear to me that this was a type of business that did not fit with my ideals of what Affiliate Marketing was, or could become. ShareASale unilaterally rejected all software affiliates, and at the time was the only network to do so… The decision was personally satisfying to me, as well as professionally – and I’m glad we ended up on that road.

#7 DirectTrack births the CPA Network Industry

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the original press release on DirectTrack’s Network Version (approximately 2003). Perhaps one of my more well informed readers can help me out – and I can update this post at a later date… but it was in that document, that lay the entire CPA Network industry.

Prior to that moment, growth in Affiliate Networks was relatively slow. The reason, of course, is that the development of the software platform, infrastructure, human capital etc… was a tough road to go down. With the introduction of the DirectTrack Network Version – seemingly anyone could launch an Affiliate Network… and depending on who you ask, this was either a great or terrible thing.

This swift growth in networks came with a differentiation that we are all very familiar with – the difference between a traditional “Affiliate Network”, and a “CPA Network”. I won’t go into the ins and outs of this distinction, but it is clear to me that the CPA Network industry was born to DirectTrack – as today there are some of the largest names in the CPA industry (Rextopia, CPA Empire later Affiliate.com, ClickBooth, XY7.com, and a ton more…) who run the DirectTrack software according to their website.

#6 Pay Per Click advertising, pioneered by ….

… if you thought I was going to say Google, you were wrong. While technically happening in the previous decade – I waived that requirement for this list, due to the massive influence that this one moment had on the future of Affiliate Marketing.

Goto.com was a spin off company of Idealab in early 1998, when it offered the first real opportunity to advertisers the option of bidding for the right to appear at the top of a search listing for a given keyword. As most everyone reading is aware, this model of advertising was arguable perfected by Google – and is a huge source of traffic for Affiliate Marketers today.

Goto.com was successful in court battles as well – after previously negotiating a settlement for over $20 million in their favour in a dispute with Disney, GoTo (later Overture and Yahoo) technically still holds the license to “Pay Per Click” marketing which is granted to Google in a perpetual license according to the following article. (http://news.cnet.com/Google,-Yahoo-bury-the-legal-hatchet/2100-1024_3-5302421.html)

The history behind GoTo.com is actually quite an interesting read in itself, here is the Wikipedia article link.

#5 ABestWeb is Born, and later Sold…

Prior to 2001, there wasn’t much public discussion going on amongst Affiliate Marketers. Sure, there were some network specific forums, some webmaster forums and a few email lists that boasted a variety of levels of participation – but nothing quite like what was founded by Haiko de Poel Jr. in 2001. ABestWeb was founded on the premise that all Affiliate’s voices had a right to be heard, and that a third-party was needed to ensure that Affiliates always had a forum for their concerns.

Through the years, it would have been impossible for any Affiliate Marketer to navigate this industry without coming across ABestWeb and the often heated discussions that lived there. I personally met some of my best friends in the industry there, and continue to be an active reader, poster and enthusiast.

There is a wonderful and interesting article on Haiko and ABestWeb that ran in FeedFront Magazine.

Cheers to Haiko, who recently sold ABestWeb to iNet interactive, in another huge news moment of the decade.

#4 ”Affiliate Marketing is Bull****” – Jason Calacanis

One really should listen to the full speech before judging - as there were a lot of misquotes and such… but the keynote speech by Jason Calacanis regarding Affiliate Marketing brought a lot of emotional responses, and also a lot of introspective thought.

I wrote at the time that the speech was powerful, and filled with great insight - but that it was delivered in a disrespectful manner. There was also a great post from Scott Jangro regarding how difficult it was to sometimes look at yourself negatively, and how Jason’s speech helped us really look critically at our industry.

Jason even came back with a little bit more information and clarification … in the end, we all learned a lot about how the outside world views us… and how important it is for us to all come together in resistance to negative forces in our industry such as spam, adware, etc…

#3 “Google is NOT your friend!” – Stephen Messer

At the time of this speech, in June of 2005, the comments of then Linkshare Chairman Stephen Messer were greeted with the equivalent of loud boos. There were only a few audible boos, however, as Stephen was (at the time) sponsoring the lunch which we were all enjoying at Affiliate Summit 2005 in Las Vegas.

However, looking back … and with the knowledge of several years to our benefit … Stephen’s comments have an almost prophetic quality. He encouraged all affiliates to look critically at their relationship with - and their reliance on - Google. As we enter a year in which Google will likely move even more aggressively within the Affiliate Marketing industry, Stephen’s comments are remembered by more than a few.

For a good review of the whole talk, check out Revenews…

#2 “The Headline” – New York State to Tax Goods Bought on Amazon

Despite the misleading and misinformed reports from those first early days – Affiliate Marketers knew how big this headline was when it came across the wires. The legislature in New York State had decided that operating an affiliate program constituted nexus in a State where those affiliates lived and worked. Thus, a retailer with no ties to the state, but with affiliates in the state, essentially would be treated just as businesses located in the state.

Amazon (among others) sued – and New York courts upheld the tax although the case is still pending with appeals and the situation could still change drastically.

This one moment sparked not only legislative efforts in dozens of other States around the country, but also served as a catalyst for unprecedented collaboration in our industry. I credit this one event as the main driving force behind organizations Affiliate Advocacy and the Performance Marketing Alliance.

Hundreds or Affiliates began tweeting, blogging and interacting in ways that were previously unseen – as we all defended an obviously flawed law that threatened our collective livelihoods.

#1 Affiliate Summit 2003

The first Affiliate Summit was not on a boat, as I commonly hear, but was instead held as a one-day seminar at Baruch College in New York City. With about 200 registered attendees, the seminar was a watershed for the now universally attended East and West shows every year.

The industry changed with Affiliate Summit from a collection of people across the world who interacted solely through vague email channels and online message boards, to a full-scale interactive and connected industry. We recognized how similar we all were, how important networking and collaboration were to our youthful industry, and along the way had some fun to boot.

Industry veterans and newbies alike will probably appreciate this walk down memory lane, as the original photos from the Affiliate Summit in 2003 are on Flickr.

Lastly, if you haven’t made it to an Affiliate Summit yet, just stop what you are doing and go sign up for the show this January in Las Vegas.

Well, that’s it. A decade worth of memorable moments… and there were a ton more that I didn’t mention. Feel free to share your favourite and newsworthy moments of the past decade (or more) as they relate to Affiliate Marketing below in the comments….

My honourable mentions (almost made this post) … Google IPO, AffNapa, CJ/BeFree Merger, Rakuten purchases Linkshare, Revenue Magazine, Pepperjam v. CJ, The Triple Jangro, DirectTrack v. PrimaryAds, Geico v. Google, and a whole host of others.

Here’s to a great 2010 and beyond!

1.  In the root directory of your FTP account, there is now a file for every day - named yyyyMMdd.txt

2.  There will be files for the last 7 days available.

3.  That file will give you a list of Datafeeds that were updated that day in the form of…

13455|2009-11-23 02:51:00

55731|2009-11-23 02:55:34

11000|2009-11-23 03:01:11

21441|2009-11-23 03:36:37

11449|2009-11-23 04:26:13

24658|2009-11-23 04:39:06

3.  The first column is the MerchantID number, and the second is the Date/Time of the update.

4.  Thanks for reading, and hope this saves you some time!