The Future of Communications from Affiliate Manager to Affiliate

Future of Communications from Affiliate Manager to Affiliate

Tradeshow Panel Presentation by Carsten Cumbrowski at eComXpo 10/2006 - Resources and Slides
Thank you for watching my presentation:
"Future of Communications from Affiliate Manager to Affiliate"
at the eComXpo 2006 - virtual internet marketing tradeshow,
October 24-26, 2006 at eComXpo.com.

Also thanks, also on behalf of Shawn Collins, Missy Ward and Brook Shaaf, for the participation in our panel's Q&A and for attending the eComXpo virtual tradeshow.

Carsten Cumbrowski

Download the slides of my presentation with audio (Zip: 52 MB)
(MS Powerpoint 2003 format/compressed with WinZip)

Download the slides of my presentation without audio (300 KB)
(MS Powerpoint 2003 format)

mp3 recording of panel discussion MP3 recording of the panel discusion at WebmasterRadio.fm (29 MB)

Here are the resources mentioned in my eComXpo presentation plus additional information and resources I did not mentioned.

Blogging

Blogs, Blogging, XML, ATOM, RSS Explained in Simple Words (Article)
Feedburner.com - Feed Optimization, Tracking, Email Subscriptions and more.

Hosted Blogging Solutions

Updated August 2007

TypePad by Six Apart ($5 - $15 per month, business class $89.95 / month)
Blogger by Google (free)
Wordpress Hosted (free)
LiveJournal by Six Apart (free - $2/$3 per month) - compare accounts
Movable Type Hosted by Yahoo! Small Business Web Hosting

Notes:

Blogger blogs are usually located at blogname.blogspot.com, but there is the (free) option to get the blog transfered via FTP to you. Only the plain HTML files and the XML feed file are transfered to your FTP server, comments are entered at Blogger. This is a simple solution to have the blog integrated with your Website without the need to install blogging software. See my personal blog as an example for it.

TypePad supports the setup as blog on its own top level domain. This is important for branding. If you rather have the blog running on its own domain which you own, than yourblog.typepad.com, no problem. This feature is provided by TypePad at no extra cost. Typepad will automatically change all references to the blog, inside the blog itself and from its other resources (like blog directory), to the new domain instead of the TypePad URL.

Blogging Software

To be installed on your servers, giving you full control over your blog. The software and the content will be running on your servers at a web address of your own choosing, such as your website's domain.

Movable Type by Six Apart
Movable Type Version 4
Price starting at $235.95 per year (Commercial), $49.95 (Non-Profit and Education), 5 users License
Personal/Non-Commercial license is FREE
Operating Systems: Linux, Solaris, SunOS, Mac OS X, Windows Server
Databases: MySQL 4.1+, PostgreSQL 7.x and 8.x, SQLite
Enterprise solution also supports: MS SQL Server and Oracle
Web Servers: Apache 1.3x and 2.x, Microsoft IIS 5.x and 6.x (Perl and PHP)
Enterprise solution also supports: LDAP (Active Directory, OpenLDAP, iPlanet and more)

WordPress - Free Open Source Blog Software
PHP version 4.2 or greater
MySQL Version 4.0 or greater for WP version 2.1 or
MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater for WP version 2.0

Community Server by Telligent Systems
Starting at $99.00 for the personal edition and $400 for the small business edition.
Free Express Edition Available
Blogging Software for MS IIS, MS SQL Server, ASP.NET 1.1 and ASP.NET 2.0

... see more Blogging Resources (including Readers, Feed Tools, Submission Tools etc.).
You should also have a look at my Lists of Content Management Solutions and Wikis and more.

Instant Messengers

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
Yahoo! Messenger (now compatible with MS Messenger)
Microsoft Live Messenger (now compatible with Y! Messenger)
Google Talk or GTalk
Skype - at Skype.com, also allows Land Line Phone Calls
ICQ - The Instant Messenger Classic

Trillian - by Cerulean Studios is compatible with: AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and IRC.
I recommend this Messenger for AM's for increased compatibility with the IM Software used by your Affiliates.

Affiliate AIM List (AOL Instant Messenger) - AMs and Affiliates with Name and Company. Also displays current Online Status
Affiliate Skype List - Exactly like the Affiliate AIM List, but for Skype Users

Datafeeds, APIs and Webservices

Merchant Product Datafeeds for Affiliates - 101 (Article) - Especially for Merchants that plan to provide or already do provide a Datafeed
XML Datafeeds and Webservices for Affiliates (Article) - An introduction to Webservices, XML< Soap, WSDL in Affiliate Marketing

3rd Party Datafeed Integration Services (Resources), Datafeedfile.com, GoldenCan, Feedshare etc.
Affiliate Program and Affiliate Network Webservices (Resources), Amazon.com and ebay Webservices, CJ Webservice, Linkshare Link Locator Direct
Implementation Guides for Affiliate Network Webservices and Datafeeds (CJ, LS, SAS, PF).
Programming References and Manuals and Specifications for Web Services and Web APIs.

XML For Everyone - SQL Server Standard Magazine (eMag and Print), 09/2006 Issue
Webservices.XML.com - Articles and News dedicated exclusively to Webservices.

Web and Database Development

MySQL Server Homepage and Free Software Download
SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition from Microsoft (Free Version)

PHP Scripting Language Support Software download and documentation at PHP.net. PHP Support Software is available for Apache, MS IIS, AS/400, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, OS/2, RISC OS, SGI IRIX 6.5.x and Solaris (SPARC, INTEL)

MS Visual Studio Express Editions (Free). Available Editions:

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# 2005 Express Edition

Additional Resources

My Website Cumbrowski.com is packed with Resources, Tools, Articles, Podcasts, Videos, Books, How-To Guides and more.
You can find resources related to the following topics.

I hope you find the provided resources useful.

The Future of Communications from Affiliate Manager to Affiliate - eComXpo 10/2006