Disqus - Latest Comments for brianlittleton

Re: The Internet Ink of Things

brianlittleton — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 16:22:42 -0000

Ha. It takes me time to put together a thought, everyone knows I talk slow. :) Stay tuned to that RSS!!! :)

Re: In Pat Quinn, tech found one of its strongest allies

brianlittleton — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 17:01:41 -0000

I found this article surprising, as in my own corner of the tech industry, Governor Quinn was not an ally of any kind. The Governor passed the Affiliate Nexus Tax, forcing tech companies FatWallet and CouponCabin out of the State entirely - and harming thousands of small businesses utilizing the new tech tools, and growing industry of Affiliate Marketing. (Think online coupon aggregators, bloggers, etc...) The law, which was supposed to help main street retailers level the playing field with out-of-state online giants such as Amazon, did nothing of the sort. It failed to create the fairness that was promised, collected tiny single digit percentages of the tax that was promised, and ultimately was rejected and deemed invalid by the courts, including an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.

This publication (Crain's) even wrote about this issue quite frequently so I was surprised to see this issue completely overlooked in declaring Governor Quinn an ally for the tech industry.

Re: How To Remove or Hide Categories from the Default Category Sidebar Widget in Wordpress

brianlittleton — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 10:38:20 -0000

Approve.

Thanks,

Brian Littleton

President/CEO ShareASale.com, Inc.

www.twitter.com/shareasale

www.facebook.com/shareasale

Re: Thank You Revolution: A New Challenge

brianlittleton — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 10:02:58 -0000

Keep being a leader, Matt - you're good at it. And thanks for all the support over the years re: ShareASale.

Re: Tim Storm on Building a Team

brianlittleton — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:19:04 -0000

Wait... CostPerNews is back??!! Subscribe!

Re: Compliance News for Email Marketers, and Baby Ducks

brianlittleton — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:06:35 -0000

This seemed like the perfect time. It might not be the only one though - those ducks are amazing!!

Re: It turns out that they picked on the wrong industry.

brianlittleton — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:03:19 -0000

Mike - it is hard to say what will happen but at this time the State of Illinois is claiming that the law is still on the books and enforceable even though the judge ruled it unconstitutional. They are appealing the ruling so it is pending appeal in their view.

Re: ASE12 Ask the Affilliate Networks

brianlittleton — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:21:23 -0000

Hey Scott - thanks for the writeup - I agree it wasn't what we had hoped for certainly, and I apologize for my role in disappointing those in attendance. I do think that we learned a lot about the format though and while not wanting to speak for everyone, I would certainly welcome the chance to try that again with a different format.

Re: Taking Early Pre-Requests for Piano Night

brianlittleton — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:49:09 -0000

!$%!#&^ Now i've got serious work to do. :)

Re: ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 Recap

brianlittleton — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:04:20 -0000

Yup we'll have it available in pdf though we are really more focused on the print version - we want it to be something different that comes in the mail. :)

Re: Recap of Affiliate Summit Central and Shareasale Think Tank May 2012 #asc12 #thinktank12

brianlittleton — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:02:49 -0000

The stairs were a nightmare... agreed! Next time... helicopters! Just think - all of those stairs are actually supposed to be underwater!! The lake was some 40-50ft down apparently.

Thank you so much for the podcast inclusion - I really appreciate it! Great feedback as well and glad to hear you enjoyed the "Lake Day". While we won't be back on Lake Travis next year (we always move around) - I think the inclusion of an entirely free, social event for 1/2 day which we were told had a huge impact on the productivity as well.

Tables expensive? That surprised me a little bit... I'll follow up with you later. :) We LOVE having Merchants there because we believe strongly in the direct relationship - which is strengthened even further by the OPM/Agency being there as well. Affiliates love having direct access, even if they already have a great relationship with the OPM. We want more Merchants there, so we'll chat later. :)

Re: Optimizing YouTube Videos, the Perils of Posting Linkbait, and a Cranky @akagorilla

brianlittleton — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:48:46 -0000

Another comment not on the Think Tank topic...

Shareist really is THAT good. If you listened, and haven't yet checked it out, you 100% should asap.

Re: Optimizing YouTube Videos, the Perils of Posting Linkbait, and a Cranky @akagorilla

brianlittleton — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:48:04 -0000

Thanks for including us in the podcast! It's really fun to hear everyone's take on the event because it helps so much the next time when planning. I appreciate the coverage!!

I did find myself wanting to chime in a lot though - if you have a review, maybe next time I can get in on the broadcast? I'd love to provide my real-time opinion to things...

The "lake day", btw - had about a 95% approval rating which we were really excited about. I've also made it my personal mission to convert the other 5% :) Networking and connections is so important in this business and I had a great time meeting people that I hadn't met before out on the lake in a relaxed environment. It wasn't just "bathing suits and beer" which I think was a somewhat unfair assessment of the afternoon...

I think I had an unfair advantage though, as I knew what was coming and knew I could schedule some things out there in terms of meetings, etc... I'll share my knowledge next time we do an event like that and hopefully we'll get up to 100% !

Specifically on the OPM/Private Meetings point that has come up a lot and that I see in the comments... We aren't trying to restrict access at all. We do try to provide quality time for every type of attendee to maximize connections, etc... We just believe very strongly (and are backed up by data) that Affiliates love - and benefit greatly from - meetings with Merchants directly. It is a different dynamic and one that we try to foster as much as possible. For OPMs, we strongly encourage them to bring their clients ... as that makes for a strong connection that spans the Affiliate, Merchant AND OPM/Agency. As I shared in a comment on another podcast earlier... about 75% of Affiliates appreciate the format as it is, and about 80% of OPM responses indicated the same...

That's not set in stone or 100% certainly... but it does indicate that a lot of people like it the way it is, and are able to benefit from the time that we do have setup.

Re: ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 Recap

brianlittleton — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:27:06 -0000

Thank you Shawn for the writeup! I'm glad you enjoyed the event, especially the boats ... I thought it was a great addition to the event, personally.

We tried to basically mix it up because as a general rule, I think sessions (in general) are poorly attended. This could be my fault considering I put together the sessions - but to be honest, they were packed this time with amazing information and to miss them was a mistake on an attendees part (I feel).

Anyhow - I figured that if people weren't in to sessions, maybe they'd be in for a little fun and casual networking. In general, it worked great as the people that don't like boats made their own party at the pool and so we had networking all over the place... big success in my opinion.

Thanks for your feedback on the Merchant Catalogue as well... we really look forward to getting this in your hands!

See you next time - and thank you so much for the party on the "off night" of Think Tank ... that was over the top awesome and really made the event so much better!

Re: Affiliate Marketers, Drum Circles, and Barbeque in Austin

brianlittleton — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:56:50 -0000

Maybe 1 wash, 1 iron... the t-shirts aren't THAT bad. :) Great seeing you two in Austin - great podcast I enjoyed it. :)

Re: New Internet Tax Law in Illinois Strikes Chord With Online Retailers

brianlittleton — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:56:58 -0000

First let me start by saying that I do believe in "fairness" and would love to see a level playing field for our local retailers who are very important pieces of the economy.

However, and this is really the key part: This bill did not accomplish the goal of fairness.

As of this morning, only a few days after the bill was signed and with the bill still not in effect until July 1, ShareASale has received 30 termination notices. That is 30 advertising programs on our network alone that are now not open to marketers in Illinois. This number will only continue to go up as people are made aware of the new law in Illinois.

In other words, for those 30 along with the host of others running on our competitors - there is no level playing field. They've completely removed themselves from the grasp of this bill. They no longer have nexus (as claimed by Illinois) and thus will not collect the sales tax.

These are the realities of the bill. We can talk fairness all we want, but at the end of the day a law has to accomplish what it was set out to do, otherwise it never should have been passed in the first place.

Governor Quinn and his staff in Illinois, Senate President Cullerton, and a multitude of other lawmakers in Illinois were fully aware of these dangers - we discussed it with them at length and told them of the futile nature of the bill.

We offered other solutions to help local retailers, we offered help with a federal solution, and we offered assistance going forward with the writing of other bills.

All of this help was ultimately rejected - and Illinois instead went ahead with a bill that is fundamentally flawed (doesn't do its job), and unfortunately one that greatly harms what was a very large and growing industry of over 9,500 affiliate marketers in Illinois.

If you live in Illinois - go ahead and test it out. Try to apply for an affiliate marketing program for an online-only retailer....see what happens. (examples, Amazon, Overstock) Then go shopping at an online-only retailers... check to see if that tax is being collected. You don't have to take my word for it.

When a bill fails to do its job, and also harms Illinois businesses - that is called a "lose-lose" for Illinois.

Re: Affiliate Summit West What Really Happened Part Deux

brianlittleton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:17:12 -0000

Wow - i'm dizzy. How did you do all that???

Can't wait for NYC ASE - see y'all there. :)

Re: Affiliate Summit West What Really Happened Part One

brianlittleton — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:45:59 -0000

Great recap and post - I can't believe you get to so many of the events that you do! Thanks for coming to see us at the ShareASale party, I just got all the photobooth pictures in the mail today ... !!

Re: ShareASale Think Tank 2009 Video

brianlittleton — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:15:53 -0000

Cool - thanks for the great review ... I miss California too, especially that big heated pool!!

Re: Now That’s a Guru Check!

brianlittleton — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:10:46 -0000

Good stuff! Glad to see it arrived safely. :)

Re: Happy Festivus and Happy New Year 2009

brianlittleton — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:24:45 -0000

Ha - happy festivus and have a great holiday... see you ASW10

Re: Is Seth Godin Holding Brands Hostage?

brianlittleton — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:58:37 -0000

I think this will pass without much of an impact... reason being that I think consumers overall won't go for a company managed, company filtered version of online reputation.

To me, it will mean more if companies interact directly and not expect consumers to come to them (their owned page) for their own reputation.

Re: The Sustainability Of Social Media

brianlittleton — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:31:54 -0000

Jason - my first read on your blog, really enjoyed the post. The emotional connection is not something I had thought a lot about but definitely agree it is there.

I think that my favourite aspect of the emotional piece is that in order to be successful in a medium where you deal with all those folks (customers, employees, friends, family, occasional angry customers, etc...), the content of the message has to be honest and real.

Re: Take a cut in pay, stop selling so much or we will drop you!

brianlittleton — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:49:37 -0000

My mind is spinning on that one. Sorry that you're going through it. :(

Re: Affiliates - Focus on delivering new customers in 2009

brianlittleton — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:09:43 -0000

Thanks Wade... I think it is a huge opportunity for affiliates in 2009.. Huge.

See you in Las Vegas, maybe we can chat this topic up with some affiliates and get some momentum going. :)