Welcome to the AffiliateTip.com Newsletter for May 2005. Be sure to check out the AffiliateTip.com blog for the latest news and information at http://www.affiliatetip.com/blog/

Topics in this issue:

1. It's an Affiliate Thing, You Wouldn't Understand
2. Affiliate Summit Registrations Close on Friday, May 13
3. Affiliate Tip - Data Feeds for Newbies
4. Affiliate Program News
5. New Place for Affiliates to Ask Questions and Get Answers
6. Top 10 Affiliate Programs - April 2005
7. Affiliate Tip - Leverage the Headlines

1. It's an Affiliate Thing, You Wouldn't Understand
Most any affiliate marketer has tried to explain to family and friends what they do for a living, and they inevitably are met with blank stares.

I suppose the uniqueness of this space plays a role in the various tight knit online communities for affiliate marketers. Nobody else knows what we're talking about.

So anyway, I've created a limited edition t-shirt to celebrate affiliate marketing. It reads: It's an Affiliate Thing, You Wouldn't Understand.

More details at at http://www.affiliatetip.com/blog/archives/
its_an_affiliate_thing_you_wouldnt_understand.html

2. Affiliate Summit Registrations Close on Friday, May 13
The registrations for Affiliate Summit 2005 are closing on Friday, May 13.

The conference is rapidly approaching the maximum capacity of 450 attendees.

This marks the third year in a row that the Affiliate Summit conference has sold out well in advance.

The 2005 show is approximately twice the size of the event that took place in 2004.

Sponsorships are still available - see http://www.affiliatesummit.com/sponsors.shtml for details.

3. Affiliate Tip - Data Feeds for Newbies
Data feeds are a great tool for affiliate marketers to build robust sites dedicated to an individual merchant. The data feeds enable affiliates to create database driven sites with up to date product information for a company.

The catch is that it's not easy. There is a learning curve to either use an off the shelf product like WebMerge or to build your own solution for converting data feeds into HTML pages.

However, there are options out there that make data feeds more accessible to the average affiliate. Cusimano.com Scripts are available for a variety of merchants that enable affiliates to use the cgi-bin Perl scripts into existing websites or to create standalone websites.

Visit http://www.affiliatetip.com/affiliate_tip_42.php for more details.

4. Affiliate Program News
Advertising.com
Join Advertising.com's affiliate network today and earn your way toward a $200 bonus! Our diverse campaign selection features web, email and co-registration offers. Quality advertisers, high payouts, Net 15 payment terms – register today at www.publisher.advertising.com and view our available offers!

Axiom Audio
http://www.affiliatetip.com/out.php?pid=742&lid=2
Top five reasons to join the Axiom Audio Affiliate Program:

1. 180 return days
2. FREE priority shipping in Canada and the United States
3. Expert sales advice on line and on the phone 7 days a week
4. An exclusive Home Theater Wizard
5. High value sales - and recurring commissions

Bodog.com Poker & Sports Marketing Conference Hits Vegas
The Bodog.com Poker & Sports Marketing Conference, running July 6-7th, 2005 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, offers the opportunity to network with and learn from the elite operators, affiliates, advertisers and suppliers of the online poker and sports betting industry. Visit www.bodogconference.com for more information

Oakley
With summer approaching, the highest grossing season for sales, the time to join Oakley's affiliate program is now. Earn cash by introducing visitors to our brand.

Enjoy:

• 7% on sales (avg. order $116)
• 10% commission on orders $5000+
• Catalog that make it easy to promote products

Trilegiant
http://www.affiliatetip.com/out.php?pid=846&lid=2
Join the Trilegiant Affiliate Program and promote the Great Fun and/or Travelers Advantage membership programs. Each program pays a minimum of $8 per lead. The Trilegiant Affiliate Program provides premium incentives with every offer, the program is on CJ, support 7 days a week, and a performance incentive.

5. New Place for Affiliates to Ask Questions and Get Answers
The AffiliateManager.net Forum, which has functioned as a closed community for affiliate managers over the years, has added a public discussion area for affiliates, networks, affiliate managers and anybody else to join the conversation.

The public affiliate marketing discussion is located at http://www.affiliatemanager.net/forums/index.php?showforum=9 and it does not require registration to start a topic or to reply to an existing thread.

This new affiliate marketing forum will enable affiliates to ask any questions to the hundreds of affiliate managers in the AffiliateManager.net community.

The Affiliate Program Announcements area of the forum is also open to all for reading and replies.

Every post to these forums will be placed in a moderator queue before going live, in order to foster civil, professional discussion.

Visit the Affiliate Marketing Issues forum at http://www.affiliatemanager.net/forums/index.php?showforum=9

6. Top 10 Affiliate Programs - April 2005
Below are the Top Ten Affiliate Programs for April 2005 as tracked by the AffiliateTip.com Affiliate Program Directory.

The Top Ten affiliate programs are calculated by the number of clickthroughs each program received on AffiliateTip.com.

1. InstrumentPro
2. Hilton
3. Good Times Entertainment
4. Axiom Audio
5. eHealthInsurance
6. Diet.com
7. Lightspeed Research
8. Western Union
9. AllPosters.com
10. Share Results

7. Affiliate Tip - Leverage the Headlines
Every day, there are stories in the headlines that can be related to a product or service that has an affiliate program. Sometimes the connections are more obvious than others.

For instance, on April 27, 2005, the Associated Press ran a story about how President Bush had just signed legislation aimed at helping parents keep their children from seeing sex scenes, violence and foul language in movie DVDs.

The purpose of the bill is to give legal protection to a filtering technology that helps parents automatically skip or mute sections of commercial movie DVDs.

Hollywood studios and directors had sued to stop the manufacture and distribution of such electronic devices for DVD players. According to the movies' creators, changing the content, even when it is considered offensive, would violate their copyrights.

Visit http://www.affiliatetip.com/affiliate_tip_42.php for more details.

As always, I'd love to hear from you! Drop me a line and let me know if you have any suggestions or questions.

Take care,
Shawn Collins

shawn@affiliatetip.com
http://www.affiliatetip.com/
39 Clark Street, Summit, NJ 07901
908-522-0056
AOL IM: affiliatetip
ICQ: 297448317
MSN: shawn@affiliatetip.com
Yahoo: affiliatetip