affiliate marketing

Hawaii Advertising Tax HB105 is Back From the Dead

Some bad news… Hawaii’s HB105 has risen from the dead.

Last week, Hawaiian small businesses in the affiliate marketing industry breathed a little easier when the nexus language was removed from the bill by the Senate.

Unfortunately, when the bill went back to the House this week, the nexus language was added back in.

The lobbyists working with the Performance Marketing Association are trying to get more details on what transpired. Additional information will be provided shortly pertaining to the legislators to contact in order to fight this bill.

Amazon has already noted in this public letter (page 6) that they are prepared to terminate all of their relationships with the small businesses in Hawaii that are working with them on a performance basis.

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Maryland Advertising Tax SB 1071 Gets Squashed

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

Maryland affiliates can breathe a little easier today as Senate Bill 1071 didn’t make it out of committee before the Session ended last night.

A big w00t goes out to all of the affiliate marketers and Lobbyists that worked on the crusade.

Although the bill will likely make a comeback during the next session, we now have the luxury of time on our side to focus on contacting Maryland’s Representatives and Senators to make sure they understand the ramifications of passing this type of legislation.

But, NOW is the time to concentrate our efforts on Connecticut’s SB 806 (which is ready to be debated in the Senate as early as today) and and Minnesota’s SF 282 (scheduled for the Committee on Taxes on April 16th)

It’s so important to get in touch with these state’s representatives to let them know that they will be putting thousands of small businesses that are in the affiliate marketing industry, out of business should this type of legislation pass.

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New State Laws May Put You Out of Business

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

My post earlier this week, “California to Stomp on Small Business Owners“, has spurred a lot of online retailers and affiliate marketers to contact me to find out exactly how they’re going to be affected by the pending legislation in California, Minnesota, Tennessee, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and possibly now Florida.

While I’d love to talk to each of you individually, I’m falling way behind in getting back to you and my day job, so please consider this my personal apology.

That being said, Shawn Collins just put up a brief 2-minute video explaining the threat and implications of this unconstitutional “Advertising Tax (also known as “Amazon Tax” or “Affiliate Tax”.)

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Look Mom, I Was on The Daily Buzz

by Missy Ward For The Heck of It

When Ashley of Izea asked me to do a segment on blogging with Ted Murphy, on The Daily Buzz, I immediately said yes.

Given the fact that the last time I was on TV, I was opening up a “Snake Can” on Wonderama (yeah, I know — I just totally dated myself), I figured this would be a good way for my parents to get a better understanding of what I do for a living.

Mike and Irene (my parents) definitely have a difficult time wrapping their arms around internet marketing. So, it’s been an ongoing exercise in frustration for me to explain to them that just because I didn’t become that CPA, Doctor or Lawyer that they wished for, that it’s OK.

One of the selfish reasons why I was thrilled that my business partner, Shawn Collins and I launched FeedFront Magazine last year was that I knew I could now send something to my parents that was tangible — something they could touch and feel and most importantly, show their friends.

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More on Cynical Marketing…

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

I just finished reading a post that my business partner, Shawn Collins had up on his blog, entitled Cynical Marketing which really hit home.

In the post, Shawn talks about how there are some marketers out there that simply don’t get the fact that not everything they do has to revolve around making money. They forget that sometimes, it’s more important to just give back.

The timing of his post couldn’t be more relevant to me. You see, today I was approached by someone who read my post regarding me coming out of affiliate management retirement to help support breast cancer research and treatment – a cause that is very close to my heart.

This marketer had the chutzpah to ask me what my angle was and why on earth would I bust my ass to grow someone else’s company when there was absolutely nothing at stake for me.

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Save the Dates: Linkshare Symposium East in NYC – June 23rd

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

I’m so excited. I just received notice that the annual LinkShare Symposium East is going to be taking place on Tuesday, June 23 in New York City.

And my favorite awards dinner – the annual Linkshare Golden Links Award dinner is the night before – Monday, June 22.

This is one of my must-attends, every year. Linkshare always puts on a very classy event packed with hundreds of top-notch affiliates, high-quality speakers and awesome networking opportunities.

Here are my pictures from last year’s event:

And here’s my coverage on the event (blog post or view pages 56-57 in FeedFront Magazine Issue 2)

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Affiliate Summit Happenings – Week ending 1/23/09

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

Utterly distracted by the freezing temperatures here in Orlando, and all of the noisy construction going on in my house, I bring to you some cool annoucements regarding the upcoming Affiliate Summit East 2009 in NYC, taking place August 9-11.

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I’m Coming out of Retirement

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

** Update: Feb 5th ** Program submissions are no longer being accepted. I will be reviewing all of the opportunities during the week of February 9th and will get back to everyone as quick as I can. ** After swearing to hang up my Affiliate Management hat 3 years ago to concentrate on some of [...]

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Affiliate Summit 2009 West is Sold Out!

by Missy Ward Affiliate Marketing

All I can say is “Wow”! Like every show manager in the United States, I must admit that half-way through 2008, I was definitely concerned about the effects of the economy on Affiliate Summit 2009 West. Well, while attendance seems to be down across the board at lots of shows this year, Affiliate Marketing is [...]

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