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On this episode of the Amplify Podcast we talk with Jared Easley about Podcast Movement. Who should you try to meet there and why? What makes some of the speakers special? What makes them amazing individuals? Got 22 minutes to get smarter? I'm afraid you can't afford not to. Listen to this week's episode.

Welcome to the PMA Industry Report. PMA Board of Directors member, Angel Djambazov of Lab6 Media, hosts this episode which includes Publisher Recruitment Council Members: Carrol Lee, Business Development Specialist, for Schaaf-Partner Centric and Meaghan Causton, Publisher Development, for All Inclusive Marketing. Today's discussion centers on a new informative one sheet created by PMA Publisher Recruitment Council that outlines the benefits of performance marketing and the affiliate channel for bloggers. We go in-depth covering topics including: how affiliate marketing can empower bloggers; advantages of performance marketing over more popular monetization channels like AdWords; ways to find the right advertising partner; flexible types of ad units a blogger can use; and FTC disclosure when using affiliate links Resources covered in this podcast include: Official One-Sheet Guide: Benefits of Performance Marketing for Bloggers (click on image to download) Overview of FTC guidelines with examples created by Tricia Meyer of SunshineRewards.com Carrie Rocha's site Pocket Your Dollars is mentioned as a great example of FTC disclosure in action Learn more about becoming a PMA member and joining a council. http://thepma.org/our-councils/  

There are so many things to think about when your work gets shared like a virus. Whether it's hosting, calls-to-action, social share buttons or Facebook Likes . . . we talk about the things you need to do if you find your posts going crazy. Take a listen and add your suggestions. What kinds of problems have you had? Regrets? And what are you doing to change that going forward. If you've got suggestions, ideas or comments leave them here or connect with us on Twitter at @AmplifyPodcast.

It's true. On today's episode we talk about Facebook's auto-improve features of photographers. The idea that you only post unadulturated photos. . . well that's a lie. Don't miss the viners who are making movies. . . What about noknok?  Do you need that app? Perhaps you do. And then there's the Snapchat email question. Is it possible Twitter is buying Foursquare? Or are they working together for some greater end? And is this the only episode we aren't talking about Dropbox. All that and more on today's episode of Amplify Podcast.

Welcome to the PMA Industry Report. PMA Board of Directors member, Lisa Picarille, hosts this episode which includes Publisher Recruitment Council Members Carrie Rocha of Pocket Your Dollars and Carrol Lee of Schaaf-Partner Centric. The discussion centers on PMA Publisher Recruitment Council and goes in-depth on the council’s mission, what they do, how to join them, and what to expect during January, which is their spotlight month. The Publisher Recruitment Council is chaired by Lucy Bartlett of VigLink. Recent work from the Publisher Recruitment Council: • The Benefits of Using Affiliate Links over AdSense for Bloggers • Guide: The Benefits of Performance Marketing for Bloggers Learn more about becoming a PMA member and joining a council. http://thepma.org/our-councils/

We are reviving the PMA Industry Report. Yes, we are back. This episode features Tricia Meyer, Founder and CEO of SunshineRewards.com and Secretary for the Performance Marketing Association’s Board of Directors, along with Lisa Picarille, an Online Content Strategist and PMA Board member. The two go in-depth on the PMA councils’ respective missions, what they do, how to join them, and what to expect from the new spotlight months that highlights each council. Tricia is a special liaison to the councils to facilitate any output and vet it through the Board of Directors for approval and additional ideas. Lisa works with each of the councils to help generate content and expedite it through the process. There are currently, 5 PMA Councils •Compliance – (David Naffziger BrandVerity) •Publisher Recruitment (Lucy Bartlett – VigLink) •Industry Advancement (Choots Humphries – LinkConnector) •Measurements and Insights (Julie Avila - Schaaf-PartnerCentric) •Offers & Rewards (Howard Schaffer- Offers.com) Tricia and Lisa discuss the new Council Spotlight Months, which are an effort by each of the councils to use a designated month to raise awareness for their council, talk about issues that the council is focusing on, and recruit new council members. January 2015 will kick off the Council Spotlight Month for the Publisher Recruitment Council. That council has plans to educate current and potential members through social media, podcasts, highlighting their whitepapers and content, as well blog posts on issues and more. You can learn more about becoming a PMA member and joining a council.

In this edition of the Affiliate Buzz, host and Instructor of the Affiliate Marketers BootCamp, James Martell, is joined by his wife Arlene, who has been away for a few weeks. In this edition they mainly discuss how you can manage a remote team to expand your business quickly. To start with however, they talk about the 2015 Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas being held at the Paris Hotel. The Affiliate Summit began in 2003; the inaugural meeting was attended by 150 people. James was unable to attend the first summit. He also couldn't attend the latest held in New York. When he can’t attend he is actively watching the Twitter conversation. The next summit will be held between January 18th and 20th. It is expected 5000 people will attend the event. Those interested can receive a special discount on the VIP access passes. Many affiliates think the cost is too high; but as has been previously mentioned on Affiliate Buzz Episode 329 these fees can be written off against your taxes. At the same time as going to these conferences, James and Arlene take a little breakation in the area. They have been many times before. On a previous visit, James and Arlene drove to Death Valley. Arlene believes the area is beautiful although it can be a little spooky because there is limited lighting along the highways. The highlight of the trip was visiting Scotty’s Castle and seeing a huge crater, which they were told about but happened upon almost by accident. Both James and Arlene really do recommend this area for getting away from it all. One of their suggestions is to go to the summit and then take two or three days out afterwards for a mini holiday. The Biggest Mistake Of Affiliates Arlene states the biggest mistake affiliates make is not being organized enough with their work, passcodes and usernames. In a business where a single affiliate can have literally dozens of codes, being organised is a must. James believes the biggest mistake for affiliates is them thinking they have to know how to do everything themselves before hiring an expert. James states that it takes too long to do any task this way and the quality is never at the level to yield the best returns. That is why he states you need to build and manage a team. One of James’ favorite statements and pieces of advice is: do what you do best and outsource the rest. During the episode, James and Arlene will discuss the following: What the problems are with doing the majority of the work yourself. What the advantages are with growing a team for your business and hiring professionals. Why Elance can be a really effective marketplace for finding the talent your business needs. Who James and Arlene hire to support their business operations. What the 15 minute rule is. To help manage this, James and Arlene use a tool called Basecamp. They have talked about Basecamp previously on Affiliate Buzz, episode 338. James and Arlene love Basecamp. The site offers a 60 day free trial without the need of a credit card. Everyone who they hire on Elance is immediately added to Basecamp. It helps with the management of projects as tasks can be assigned with specific deadlines. There are also options available for discussions and files on the system. If you do a lot of similar projects you can also create a template as a guide. This can save you a significant amount of time. James and Arlene have 180 to-dos set up in their template for starting a new website. Arlene and James both found the tool very easy to use and state their team members also find the system intuitive. Who Should An Affiliate Hire? Affiliate marketers should hire a number of professionals to support their business ventures. One of the first positions they should hire is a writer. These are people who can help with a blog post, auto-responder series and web copy. There are a number of different types of writers who write different content. It is also important to hire a graphics designer a...

On the August 25, 2014 episode of 7 Minutes in Affiliate Heaven podcast (listen to 7 Minutes in Affiliate Heaven), I talked about dealing with shady companies that try to scam people, the pictures from Affiliate Summit East 2014, and the top sessions from the conference. I also covered videos of keynotes from the recent Affiliate Summit, booking hotel rooms for Affiliate Summit West 2015, and fighting breast cancer. Please review 7 Minutes in Affiliate Heaven on iTunes. Show Links Affiliate Summit Corporation vs. Sales Online, LLC Official Photos from Affiliate Summit East 2014 Top 10 Sessions by Audience Growth at Affiliate Summit East 2014 Top 10 Sessions by Attendance at Affiliate Summit East 2014 Top 10 Sessions by Ratings at Affiliate Summit East 2014 Video of Julie Gurner Keynote at Affiliate Summit East 2014 Video of Rich “Big Daddy” Salgado Keynote at Affiliate Summit East 2014 Book at Paris Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West 2015 Help Affiliate Summit West 2015 Fight Breast Cancer by Exercising Subscribe to 7 Minutes in Affiliate Heaven on iTunes.

In this edition of the Affiliate Buzz, host and Instructor of the Affiliate Marketers BootCamp, James Martell, is joined by Ricky Shetty, Amazon bestselling author and owner of Daddyblogger.com. James and Arlene begin this edition by talking about their attendance at the ShareASale Think Tank 2014, which they have previously discussed. It will be the 9th annual ThinkTank and while Arlene has been able to attend most meetings, James has been able to attend all of them. There is a lot on the agenda and it is difficult to decide what sessions to attend. Whichever sessions Arlene sits in, she is likely to take copious notes. James is planning to go to the advanced monetization sessions, which he always enjoys. Included in this will be website reviews and a bonus / incentive sessions. James and Arlene are also planning to take the time to have a little breakation. They plan to go to Memphis and visit Graceland, the former home of Elvis Presley. This is the most visited private home in America with 50,000 visitors a month. The private home turned museum has just recently opened a new archive experience, something which Arlene is particularly excited about seeing. The ability of being able to take this breakation and this ‘lifestyle business’ is something which James loves about being an affiliate marketer and working from home. The point has been further highlighted by one of James’ friends who was frustrated at not being able to see the Canadian Snowbirds because he couldn’t take the time off work. The Dad Who Blogs Ricky Shetty then joins the podcast. Ricky is the founder of Daddyblogger.com, which is a site for fathers and has authored a bestselling Amazon book, Wisdom for Daddies, where he interviewed one hundred dads from across the world. Ricky also runs the YVR media group which includes very niche meeting and networking groups including the YVR Bloggers, YVR Foodies and YVR Dads. James and Ricky have met a couple of times previously. The first at the Internet Masterminds Meet-up and the other time was at the West Coast Podcasters Network. During this episode of the Affiliate Buzz you will learn: Where Ricky is from and how that has influenced his choosing of his target market. His teaching career and how it influenced his career so far. About his travelling across the world. Why he decided to become an online entrepreneur and how it ties in with him becoming a father. Just like James, Ricky finds that being his own boss gives him the freedom to arrange his own time. James admits he does take it for granted. Ricky started daddyblogger.com in September 2012, just before he was going to be a dad for the first time. At the time he had a little fear about being a father because of the experiences he had as a child. Previous to his blog he processed his thoughts in a journal, now he blogs. However, sorting out his own thoughts isn't the only reason for the blog. Part of the blog is about discussing things which men rarely do and to keep a journal to remind his children what they did when they were young. Success And Failure The first real success for Ricky was within two months of launching. One of his blog posts got 10,000 hits and media attention when he discussed his feelings of a restaurant not catering for children. Within three to six months Ricky also states he was being offered free products for a review and was starting to monetize the blog. Ricky admits that he has had many failures. However, he states that this is a good thing because he has learnt so much from each one. One of the biggest mistakes he has found is that it is difficult to manage multiple ventures, even though it feels natural as an entrepreneur. Ricky states that when focused his projects are a success; yet when his attention is diverse the results are only mediocre. How To Obtain $30,000 Worth Of Free Products Ricky is able to benefit from free products thanks to his work of reviewing father related pr...

In this edition of the Affiliate Buzz, host and Instructor of the Affiliate Marketers BootCamp, James Martell, is joined by Vinny O’Hare, online entrepreneur, speaker and author. In this edition they talk about why it pays to think outside of the box when marketing your business. Vinny has not previously been on the Affiliate Buzz, which was a surprise for James. The pair have known each other for over a decade and been to many conferences, including Affiliate Summit and ShareASale Think Tanks, together. James considers Vinny to be a good friend and an affiliate marketing talent. The Start Of Vinny’s Career Vinny’s first career was placing adverts in the subway for the New York Transit. While he was doing this he noticed which adverts were giving the best results. He took elements from the best performing adverts and used them for buying and selling products on eBay. He then realised if he could write content for an eBay page and make money, he could easily do the same with a website. In 2002/2003 Vinny decided to leave eBay and make money from being an affiliate marketer. His first success from affiliate marketing was almost immediate. Vinny met James very early on in his affiliate career. It was 2004 and James was getting ready to get on the second Affiliate Summit cruise. On the night before the cruise, ShareASale CEO, Brian Littleton, put on a small event in a little bar in Soho. This is where the two met. This was also Vinny’s first affiliate event. Ten years later Vinny has become such an authority on unique marketing activities that he now regularly speaks at Affiliate Summit. This year he is speaking in New York about how last year he published 18,000 blog posts and built a house. Many affiliate marketers struggle to create enough content, yet Vinny has unique methods to generate content and attract traffic. One method Vinny tried was distributing business cards which had the URL to his website on one side and the URL to an affiliate link on the other side. James liked the idea so much he now has business cards for all his sites. Images are another important part of his marketing strategy and he uses them on his sites, social media and in books. Vinny would definitely agree books are better than a business card, as mentioned by Jim Kukral in a previous podcast. During the podcast, Vinny talks about many of his successes with the visual medium including: How his photos of a space shuttle grabbed the attention of national news and generated 10,000 visits to his website. Why a photo of a blue bird is helping him generate interest for one of his 30 websites. How he generates some other visual content for his car websites. Why your target audience can be so helpful in generating some of the content for you. Vinny also discusses the advantages of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform and Createspace for creating books which you can sell and use in your marketing. When Vinny started out using books he only sold digital books, but he found some of his market wanted physical copies. Hurricane Sandy And Vinny One of the defining moments in Vinny’s career is when Hurricane Sandy hit his home town. Vinny’s home is situated with about another 1000 homes on a small island. They constantly have hurricane warnings and in the previous year they had a false alarm. So when news came of Sandy they were not so worried. It was also going to be tough to move all their animals with such short notice. Then when the storm hit their area the water rose very quickly. In a matter of 15 minutes the water level went from being about 3 inches to four or five feet deep. To escape they went to their neighbour’s house that had an upstairs area they could use. During the storm, Vinny and his wife kept their Facebook followers updated with photos of what was going on. This resulted in a huge boost to his online Klout score. As James states before the hurricane,