Baltimore Affiliate Summit Meetup

Last night was the first (of hopefully many to come) Affiliate Summit Meetups. Shawn Collins set this up to be a great way for local affiliates to get in touch with one another, meet each other, and find out more about the industry from other’s eyes. At least that’s how I see it…

So onto last night’s recap from my eyes. For those of you that don’t know who “Admin” on this site is, I’m Robert Adler. The main reason that I bring that up is because I don’t feel like describing the next few paragraphs as “Rob Adler presented about…”. So before I even get into it, I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Last night started out well. My business partner and I (our company site) arrived at the buy.at office at about 5 or so PM, which was an hour early. So we just relaxed, took advantage of their extremely comfy couches, and talked some strategy with Amy and Kim.  Within the first 30 minutes I knew the meetup would be a success, mainly because I now have 2 more vendors to promote – and one of them being for a niche that I’ve been wanting to re-enter for a while (for those that know me: I’m coming for you Fortune 500′s… No trademarks in the domain this time). So after that as people started to roll in from all over. We had one of my friends from Harrisburg PA drive down for the meetup, as well as others from all over Maryland. So let’s get into it.

I gave a presentation that was entitled “SEO 101″. It stayed with the “101″ about 20 minutes before people started asking more advanced questions, and then went into a full blown Q&A.  I tried my best to cover the basic as well as the more advanced, I just wish I had more time to go into the more advanced tactics (but I actually doubled my time anyway, 1 hour presentation in the alloted 30 minutes – oops). So just to recap some of the more basic (and I do mean basic)  tips/tricks I went over:

• Title Tags
• H1 Tags
• H2 Tags
• Meta Descriptions
• Meta Keywords (with the one small curve-ball tip: obey)
• Keeping your keyword density at a decent level, and not to over-optimize

Then after that a few questions came in regarding situational optimization – as in their own sites and needed help/an example. One of the best questions I’ve gotten in a while was from Sid from the Webmechanix Maryland SEO Company. His original question was how to structure multiple categories within a site to optimize the juice flow from root-page links. I took it one step further to explain how to limit a penalty (if you should get one) to a section of your site rather than site-wide. Here’s basically how I explained it:

• Use a tree structure. Root to categories, categories to sub-categories, sub-categories to products, etc.
• Never link from products in one category to products in another, keep the “branch” isolated off.
• Always link from the tips of the branches (product pages) up to the sub-categoeis with the optimized anchors, and from sub-categories to the categories.
• Other tips & tricks that I won’t put on here (You had to be there. Come next time!) that helps really limit penalties as well as optimizes link juice flow for ranking bonuses.

There are some other tips and tricks that I won’t list here and will be remembered as the “exclusive” for the people that attended. Not that I don’t want the traffic for throwing out some nice tips to have you share this page with friends, but some things have to be kept exclusive to encourage going to the meetups. There are meetups in 48 49 states now, so I’m sure there’s one near you (unless you’re outside of the USA … in which, sorry )

Here’s a link to the pictures that were taken by the buy.at crew.

After the “presentation” (see: Rob Adler ranting and rambling about SEO) we went over to the Sly Fox Pub in Federal Hill for some drinks/food/chatter. That ended up well and we left around 10:00-10:30ish. I don’t regret a second of it. I hope some of the attendees can say I taught them something, as well as I know we walked away with some leads and I know it’ll result in money in my pocket. Bottom line: the Affiliate Summit Meetups are a necessity for all internet marketers. Period.

Of course, what a great way to start the day. I log onto Facebook to see an article posted by Shawn Collins about HB 1317, the Advertising Tax of Texas. This would make sense as Shawn Collins recently moved to Austin (you go, baller). Allegedly, on February 14th, the bill was referred to the Ways & Means committee. If anyone remembers the post I wrote up regarding the Maryland Affiliate Tax I went into detail regarding my view on the bill, as well as why I believe it shouldn’t be passed in any of the states. If you’re reading this from the Ways & means committee, please do take a look at that article as well – it explains a view you may not have heard yet.

What a lot of people aren’t grasping is that if this passes people will literally lose their sources of income. On the flip side, it’ll generate another source of revenue for the state – oh wait, no it won’t. If you look at the writeup by Amazon’s Paul Misener (Vice President for Global Public Policy) that he composed for the Maryland Affiliate Tax, you’ll see that the plan clearly won’t do anything but put people out of the job (in my opinion, of course). As we’ve seen in the past with New York as an example, this isn’t exactly a plan that will be executed correctly.

I highly urge you all to share this story (whether it’s my site, or any of the other writeup’s) to try to generate more eyes on this. This is a serious problem for people in this industry and if people keep taking the stance of “it’s only a problem when it hits my state” then your state won’t have a choice when every other state in the USA passes it.  If this bill is allowed to pass in Texas, people who earn the majority of their incomes through Affiliate Marketing (primarily CPS (Cost Per Sale) programs) will literally be cut off overnight and thrown into a situation where they have to recover their lives. I have a feeling the politicians that look at this don’t actually believe that some people make full time incomes through Affiliate Marketing – nor do they even understand what the definition of an affiliate is. Who knows, it won’t hurt them at the end of the day, right?  Just some random people who do that “online thing”.

Here are a few more sources to look into to get more information regarding this bill, as well as to get your voices heard:

• Affiliate Summit Forum Post About HB 1317
• Austin American Statesman Post 1
• Austin American Statesman Post 2
• Austin Chronicle Post 1
• Austin Chronicle Post 2
• Domain Name Wire
• KXAN Austin News
• Pegasus News
• The WSJ

Operating a business takes the right mix of hard work, dedication and ideas, but prior to even getting the ball rolling you need the capital to put your plan into action. Few small business owners or business hopefuls have the necessary money in order to completely put their plan into action, but with the help of the right small business loan your dreams of business proprietorship can become a reality.

Small business loans can be secured in a variety of ways, prospective or fledgling business owners can look to acquire the capital that they need through the Small Business Administration ( government institution that works with lenders to facilitate small business funding), through traditional lenders, like banks or through non-traditional lenders, like private investors.

It can be difficult for a brand new business to secure a loan through a commercial bank due to the fact that there is no financial history available. When a commercial bank prepares to lend money, they usually want to see a track record of success in order to be able to assess the businesses worth. Small business loans from any financial institution will have prerequisites that must be met in order to secure the money necessary to grow and develop your business, but loans from commercial banks often have stricter guidelines and more involved paperwork in order to move forward with the application process.

If your business is already open and operational and you are looking for a loan to expand, a small business loan from a commercial bank may carry a lower interest rate than a loan from a non-traditional lender, but you’ll need to have all of your documentation (including personal and business financial records, your business plan, business performance statements and detailed projections for your business moving forward) well organized and accessible if you hope to be taken seriously and have the best possible chance to be approved.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) can be a good option for start up companies who don’t have a proven track record of sales or business credit. Though the SBA does not provide money to small businesses directly, they work with financial institutions to help small businesses get the money that they need to move forward with a business plan. You’ll have to go through an application process with the SBA that will include providing the necessary financial documentation and business plan in order to move forward. Businesses that meet all of the requirements of the SBA will have to apply for a loan with a connected financial institution, but a portion of the loan will be guaranteed by the SBA so the risk isn’t nearly as great to the financial institution.

A third option for attempting to obtain a small business loan is to go through a non-traditional financial institution or private lender.  This is the route that many brand new business owners must go because there aren’t nearly as many rules and restrictions when dealing with a private lender as there are with a commercial bank, but you’ll often find that the interest rates with non-traditional lenders can be a good bit higher than they can with commercial banks and larger financial institutions.  If you’ve got little in the way of financial history to show for your business and are unable to secure a loan with a commercial bank, a non-traditional or private lender can be a great way to get the capital you need to start your business.

Obtaining a small business loan can seem like a complex and daunting process, and the fact that there is any number of sources out there to apply to can add to the confusion.  In order to be successful in gaining the capitol that you need to start or grow your business, you need to be well prepared.  Applying for a small business loan is the first major step in your business venture and in order to have your business plan taken seriously (which is completely necessary if you hope for a loan from any lender); you need to show prospective lenders that you are serious about doing business with them.

Research the materials that different lenders require for the application process and be certain that you have all of that information ready to submit with your application.  Remember that without this money that it would be difficult or impossible to develop and grow your business, getting the right small business loan is a very serious step in the development of your company and in your financial future and plenty of research, care and thought should go into preparing to secure the right loan for you.

As more comes to light…

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Transocean, the company that owned the ill-fated drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, lashed out at well owner BP Thursday, accusing the oil giant of stonewalling the investigation into the Gulf disaster.

The drilling company accused BP of failing to provide documents critical to determining exactly what caused its drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, to explode and subsequently sink last April.

Source: CNN

Definitely had no idea about this one… I didn’t know the sales taxes were so high in certain states.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Tennessee has the highest combined state and average local sales tax rate of any U.S. state, at 9.44%, according to a research group’s report released Thursday.

The Tax Foundation report also said that, among major metropolitan areas, two Alabama cities are tied for the highest combined state, county and city sales taxes. Birmingham and Montgomery both levy an average of 10% on purchases.

Source: CNN

Entrepreneur.com has a writeup regarding how to manage a business twitter account – and of course while covertly plugging their Facebook promotion book at the top.

While all this sounds simple enough, conducting an effective Tweet Chat can be a little awkward, especially for the ill prepared. Although this feature is referred to as a chat, it is much more cumbersome than chatting online with any of today’s popular instant messaging platforms. Personally, I would rather conduct such an interview on a Facebook Page in the comments area of a Status Update; there at least the discussion is all in one place and easy to follow, instantly archived, and associated with whatever brand’s page it appears on. On Twitter, there’s no branding, the discussion is not archived in any reasonably accessible manner, and the platform itself is entirely devoid of the type of analytics today’s businesses need to gauge the effectiveness of the effort.

Be that as it may, Tweet Chats are another way to get the word out about your business and products, especially if you conduct an effective session. Following are some suggestions on how to do just that

Source: Entrepreneur.com

CNN has writeup regarding at least 32 new iPad “knock offs” coming soon to the public, an interesting read overall – but makes you think about how Apple has to be completely thrilled and flattered.

Nothing breeds imitation in high tech like a runaway Apple (AAPL) success. Even before the iPad was unveiled, Cupertino’s competitors were scrambling to catch up. Now that Steve Jobs’ latest invention is clearly a hit, the rush is on.

How many iPad wannabees are out there or in the works? Technologizer’s Harry McCracken stopped counting at 32, but he seems to have captured all the important ones in what is, for now, the definitive list. You can see his annotated round-up here.

Source: CNN

CNN has a good writeup regarding why Entrepreneurs and the approach on net neutrality. The real question is have you read up on it yourself and come to your own conclusion?

(A VC) — I’ve written a bit about Net neutrality on my blog in the past few years. Every time I do, I hear about problems with regulating the Internet. The readers of my blog are a fairly “laissez faire” bunch. Guess what? So am I.

Somehow Net neutrality got painted as “regulating the Internet” when it is really all about not regulating the Internet. Net neutrality is about keeping the way the Internet works today: an open Internet where innovation is allowed and freedom reigns.

Source: CNN

Let’s go back to another thing that BP is in the news for, but definitely not enough to even be seen over the oil spill. Back in 2005 BP had an explosion at a Texas refinery of theirs that resulted in the death of 15 employees and a lot more injuries. Now they’re being held for a $50 million dollar fine in relation to this explosion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal regulators said Thursday that BP will pay a record $50.6 million fine for failing to correct safety issues at its Texas City refinery, where an explosion in 2005 killed 15 workers and injured scores more.

“The size of the penalty rightly reflects BP’s disregard for workplace safety and shows that we will enforce the law so workers can return home safe at the end of their day,” said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a statement.

Source: CNN

A good writeup over at Entrepreneur.com mentions that a few BP gas stations feel so tarnished by the actions of BP that they’re considering switching back to the Amoco name. When it comes to brand recognition the reverse is definitely possible as well – which is where reputation management comes into mind. In my opinion BP gave the cleanup and all of that jazz a good run on the PR and reputation management aspect but there really wasn’t too much else they could do about it – it was simply out of their hands.

BP and Amoco merged in 1998 and quickly abandoned the outdated red, white and blue torch logo for the now infamous green and yellow BP flower. But now, desperate to convince customers that they’re not linked to the oil giant responsible for dumping 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, some station owners are seriously considering rebranding.

Today’s feature on Entrepreneur.com “The PR Crisis Playbook” offers tips to ensure your business’ image isn’t seriously tarnished–like BP’s–the next time a calamity arises. However, the Amoco rebranding plan doesn’t seem to follow the PR steps outlined in this article. Would this rebranding effort really be effective? I’m not convinced. It seems like a fairly desperate move. Besides, it would be costly to convert the sign and paint colors back to red and blue. Can a new (read: old) name really repair a company’s critically damaged image?

Source: Entrepreneur.com