VigLink

Monetizing Your Sites: Your Questions. Answered. [You're Invited 6/31]

May 10, 2012

VigLink is teaming up with CloudFlare to get your site monetization questions answered.

On Thursday May 31st at 6:30pm, we’ll be meeting up at the CloudFlare loft for a panel discussion on the breadth of site monetization options available today, and how to make them work for you.

Overview

Are you monetizing your sites? If not, have you thought about it and just aren’t sure how it all works? With so many monetization options out there – banner ads, Google AdSense, content monetization – it’s hard to understand what works and what doesn’t. This meetup will focus on the best practices for site monetization, and tips and techniques for turning a profit on your sites.

We’re bringing together SF’s leading experts on site monetization to dive into these specific areas:

  • Site monetization tech: what’s out there, what works, and what doesn’t
  • What kind of an impact (positive/negative) can these solutions have on readers
  • What’s the payoff? How much can you really make on site monetization?
  • How website performance and security impact your bottom line
  • Recommendations on how to use what’s out there

Schedule for the Evening

Drinks & Networking | 6:30pm – 7:00pm

Panel Discussion | 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Meet the Panelists

Eoin Matthews, VP Business Development at VigLink

Matthew Prince, CEO & Co-Founder of CloudFlare

Evan Young, Media Development Manager at Say Media

Our moderator will be Greg Barto of TechCrunch.

Space will be limited, so be sure to reserve your spot soon!

Posted in News and Updates, Publisher Best Practices

Tips for Improved Content Monetization [Performance Marketing Insider Interview]

May 3, 2012

Earlier this week Oliver Roup, VigLink’s CEO & Founder, caught up with Murray Newlands of Performance Insider TV.  They talked a bit about how VigLink approaches content monetization, but also a few of the things publishers can do to maximize the value of their content from a monetization perspective. A few of the highlights:

  • Maximize user generated content. Allowing users to create content (in a forum or other community) creates repeat traffic and fresher, more comprehensive content — a significant SEO bonus.
  • Maximize authenticity. Users understand the need to monetize, but striking the right balance between commercialization and authenticity is critical. Making content informative, rather than explicitly commercial, will ultimately earn you more revenue.
  • Move the conversation closer to the purchase decision. Build content that helps readers make more informed purchasing decisions, and as close to the time when they’re saying “I want that right now” rather than “I want that someday”.
For the tips in their entirety, check out the video below.

Posted in News and Updates

May Spotlight on the Merchants: Mother’s Day Edition

May 1, 2012

Each month we take a look at a few of our favorite VigLink merchants as part of our Spotlight on the Merchants series. In our May edition, we share a few of our favorite merchants for finding that perfect Mother’s Day gift (Mother’s Day is May 15th).  

Each of these merchants is an eligible VigLink merchant, which means if you are a VigLink user and send traffic to any of these sites that results in a sale, you’ll get paid!  When you are creating content centered around Mother’s Day, consider linking to these merchants when you reference products and services.

SpaFinder.com

SpaFinder.com is your source for spa, travel, and wellness experiences worldwide. A perfect resource to find a great spa gift certificate for Mom this year.

Wine.com

For the Mothers that double as wine lovers, Wine.com offers a comprehensive selection of fine and bargain wines — and they ship across the United States!

Jewelry.com

With free shipping and free 30-day returns, Jewelry.com makes jewelry shopping for Moms, wives, and significant others low-risk and hassle free.

Shutterfly.com


Whether it be a perfect print, customized coffee mug, photo book, or tote, Shutterfly offers a world of ways to share your picture perfect memories as a gift that Mom is sure to love.

CoffeesofHawaii.com

For the coffee drinkers, CoffeesofHawaii.com offers a large selection of gourmet coffee beans. Readers will be sure to fine just the right selection for the Mom in their lives.

KitchenAndMuchMore.com

KitchenandMuchMore.com offers a full selection of kitchenware, gadgets — even kitchen storage and furniture. The perfect spot to find that perfect gift for the culinary whiz in your life.

Posted in Merchant Spotlight

Illinois Affiliate Nexus Tax is No More

April 27, 2012

Thirteen months ago Illinois state governor Pat Quinn signed into law an affiliate nexus tax that forced 9,000 affiliate marketers either out of the state of Illinois, or out of a significant portion of their affiliate marketing revenue.  Shortly thereafter the Performance Marketing Association (PMA) filed suit against the state of Illinois challenging the constitutionality of the law.

We’re pleased to report that this past week a judge ruled in favor of the PMA — ruling the law unconstitutional and taking it offline.

You might recall that at the time the law passed we had offices in Chicago, which we chose to close as a result of the law.  We’re pleased today that so many affiliates that were unable to leave the state will be able to get back to business as usual — but more so, hopeful that this will push us closer towards a Federal solution that would address the issue of affiliate nexus tax laws nationwide.

Check out the full story here or via the video below, courtesy of ABC News.

Posted in News and Updates, Relevant Reading

Publisher Spotlight Part II: Audizine [Fan Video]

April 25, 2012

In January we had the pleasure of catching up with Anthony Marino, a graphic artist, avid car enthusiast, and owner of Audizine – the Audi enthusiast community. You can read up on the conversation in our January publisher spotlight here.

We’ve kept in touch since and were excited to see the video below pop into our email box this week after a recent trip to the beautiful Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. In it, Anthony shares why VigLink has proved to be such an excellent monetization partner and how the solution allows him to continue to deliver an incredible end-user experience while still earning significant revenue for the site.

“We’ve tried several different monetization methods. The most important thing for me of course is the memebers. We don’t want to flash [banners and graphics] in their face to make money. It’s more important that the users have a good experience. We found VigLink and … we couldn’t be happier.”

Anthony Marino, Owner, Audizine

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Posted in Publisher Spotlight

Join us at Affiliate Summit Central to Talk Maximizing Click Revenue

April 25, 2012

Affiliate Summit Central, Affiliate Summit’s inaugural event in Austin, Texas, is taking place May 15 – 16th at the Hilton Austin. Our very own VP of Customer Success, David Gorcey, will be giving a talk on maximizing click revenue. He’ll dive into what the 2 billion clicks VigLink processed and analyzed in 2011 can tell us about top-performing (as well as under-performing) publishers — and how you can use that data to increase your click revenue.

If you haven’t already purchased your ticket, you can do so here. And for those of you already planning on attending, full details on how to catch the talk are below!

Maximizing Click Revenue: 2 Billion Clicks Analyzed

Session 8b
Location: Salon B
Time: 10:30am-10:50am

David, VP of Customer Success at VigLink, saw 2 billion clicks within the network in 2011. He examines which were most valuable, which didn’t earn a dime, and “click best practices” to earn more.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Data analysis

See you in Austin!

Posted in News and Updates

Murray Newlands on the Evolution of Brand Trust, Social Media, and Enagement [Interview with Forbes]

April 24, 2012

Murray Newlands, advisor to VigLink, was interviewed by Forbes contributor Sarah Austin this past week and they discussed some of the key ways social media has revolutionized the way brands build and keep consumers’ trust and how brands can leverage social media to build stronger engagement. Check out the video in its entirety below and the full article here.

Posted in Relevant Reading

How to Successfully Create Video for your Blog [SF Blog Club Recap]

April 18, 2012

Great written content may no longer be enough to engage with your evolving readership — it may also require great video. Video, depending on the topic it’s addressing, can sometimes more easily communicate key points to your readership, while also being easier to engage with.

What this can mean for your site is more traffic, deeper engagement, and ultimately more revenue. At last month’s SF Blog Club we heard from professional blogger Murray Newlands on some of the in’s and out’s of building video for your blog or business. His slides in their entirety are below — glance through them for access to all the resources he shared.

Looking forward to next time — we’ll be shooting for a night without a Giants Game to ease parking problems. Baseball season is officially upon us in SOMA!

Anna Cunningham | Social Media Manager | VigLink

How to Make Videos for your Business or Blog

View more presentations from VigLink

Posted in Publisher Best Practices, Relevant Reading

Financing, Growing, & Monetizing Forums: ForumCon Chicago Highlights

April 16, 2012

A bit overdue, but better late than never! With ForumCon San Francisco less than 60 days away (are you as excited as we are?) we wanted to share a few of the video highlights from the previous conference.

And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to grab your ticket.

Financing & Exit Opportunities for Forum Companies

In this fireside chat with Jeremy Liew, Managing Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Oliver Roup, Founder & CEO of VigLink, asks how a forum can go about raising capital, and when it makes sense to do so.

3 Users Walk Into a Bar

Three users walk into a bar: search visitors, n00bs and power users. In this presentation Dan Gill, Co-Founder & CEO of Huddler, discusses how to think about the user experience in each of these scenarios and how to think about monetization when it comes to each of your sites’ unique audiences.

Performance Marketing From an Advertiser’s Perspective

JJ McCarthy, Global Director of the eBay Partner Network, shares an inside look at how eBay approaches performance marketing.

A Closer Look at the Affiliate Nexus Tax

As affiliate nexus taxes are being enacted in more states, online merchants and forum owners are increasingly facing a number of business challenges and difficult decisions. In this panel discussion, experts on both sides of the issue weigh in on the key issues, and share how their respective companies are managing the issue.

Real-Time Content Marketing

Content marketing continues to gain momentum. In this presentation Tyler Tanaka, VP of Business Development at PostRelease, will discuss why brands and agencies are gravitating towards content marketing, and the content marketing tactics you can leverage to help grow your own community and it’s brand.

Making your Forum Mobile

Michael Wechsler of TheLaw.com shares how forum owners can make their forum mobile seamlessly and painlessly.

Affiliate Marketing for Forums

More than likely you are already doing the obvious when it comes to monetizing your forum (running banner ads and perhaps Google AdSense). Intuitively, these kinds of ad models are easy to easy understand. They “sell” pieces of white space on your site.

In this panel, we’ll discuss one of the more technically difficult and often misunderstood monetization options available to forum owners: affiliate marketing. Four experts in the affiliate marketing space will discuss best practices and answer your questions.

Future of Forums

Many refer to forums as the “original social network” — they were bringing individuals together en masse long before Facebook, MySpace or Twitter did. In a space that has already covered so much ground, what’s next? In this panel four forum & community experts will discuss the trends they anticipate sticking, which will likely subside and the overall direction they see the forum space moving in.

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Posted in Building Communities & Forums, Company Milestones

How to Make Image Monetization Work for You: Future of Publishing

April 16, 2012

In last month’s Future of Publishing episode, we caught up with Chas Edwards of Luminate and Rey Flemings of Stipple to talk image monetization: how to make it work for you, what to take into consideration when selecting a solution, and how much you can earn.

Check out the two part series below, and then read on to meet the guests!

Part 1: What are a Publishers’ Options When it Comes to Image Monetization?

Part 2: How Much Money Can Publishers Make with Image Monetization?

Meet the Guests

Chas Edwards | CRO and Publisher Development | Luminate

Chas joined Luminate in 2010 as CRO and head of publisher development. Before Luminate, Chas served as publisher and chief revenue officer at Digg, the site that allows readers to organize content from across the web by voting on what they consider to be the best. For the four years prior to joining Digg, he was the co-founder (with John Battelle), publisher and chief revenue officer at Federated Media Publishing (FM), a next-generation media and publishing company that connects the highest quality conversational content (eg, Boing Boing, Mashable, Inhabitat, Dooce, NOTCOT and The Pioneer Woman) with leading brand marketers.

Previously, Chas was vice president of sales and marketing for CNET Networks’s B2B Portfolio, managing the team representing News.com, ZDNet and TechRepublic to business-to-business marketers. Chas also served posts as VP for CNET’s broadband & webcasting unit and as VP of business development for mySimon, CNET Networks’s comparison-shopping portal. Prior to joining CNET Networks, Chas was the National Sales Manager for TechTV, a 24-hour cable TV channel and Web site dedicated to computing and the Internet (now owned by Comcast and called G4).

Rey Flemings | CEO & Founder | Stipple

Rey, a repeat entrepreneur, investor and advisor, conceived Stipple in 2008 and has led the company since inception.

Prior to founding Stipple, Rey led the Justin Timberlake family fund and technology incubator, Tennman Digital leading investments in numerous startups including Tapulous and Particle. His career has included founding and senior executive roles in several leading technology and media companies.

Posted in Publisher Best Practices, Re-Inventing Affiliate Marketing, Relevant Reading

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