On November 4th, 2009, the new Facebook promotional guidelines took effect with little notice.  Whether you’re selling Maggianos or marijuana, the rules have a major impact on you and are strict.  For example:

• You can’t require the user to post, friend, or comment as part of being entered into your contest.
• You can’t notify winners via Facebook’s platform– comments, posts, email, whatever.
• You have to even place this specific text as part of your promotion:
  • “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to [recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user's information].”
• You can’t mention Facebook anywhere, as people may easily be confused into thinking that Facebook is sponsoring it.
• You have to get written approval from Facebook at least 7 days before you run a contest.

I’m paraphrasing here, so you should read the whole article in its entirety itself.  It’s well-written and clear.  Most of the brands I see running promotions and contests on Facebook are breaking these rules. Now let’s see whether Facebook actually enforces these rules.  If the past history is an indicator, Facebook writes policy more to allow enforcement against the bad actors, than to try to bust anyone that may run afoul, but doing so in a non-spammy way.

Confused by these changes?  Need help from a Facebook advertising agency?  We might be able to help.

I was able to catch up Murray Newlands, a famous blogger. We were able to have nice about his work in affiliate marketing, and the secret behind site, Murraynewlands.com, an affiliate blog that came from nowhere and is now everywhere in Google and twitter. Not only has he some great content on his blog, but is getting picked up and noted all over the blogosphere. Google Famous Blogger and you will see his name, I even hear he is working on Celebrity Blogger!

Murray, what ideas are interesting to you at the moment?

Chris Brogan’s writing on Trust Agents hit a chord with me. I have been very successful as a blogger since launching my blog earlier this year. My SEO is great, and a large reason for this is the links that people give me. I put this down to the content which people do like, yes, but there is more to it than that. I get lots of links from some great people I know in the industry become they want to help me. I always try to help other and I have found that truly what goes around in the blogosphere comes around. You want to connect with people who will engage with you and you soon learn who can fulfill that need with you and who will not. Once you get a reputation being engaging and helping others, you are soon introduced to more people who will also interact with you. It is a virtues circle of people who help each other, and these people swim in schools.

Who are some bloggers I should be trying to connect with?

Greg Rollett http://www.rockstarlifestyledesign.com

Drew Benskpark.com

Heather Smith boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com

Joetech Joetech.com

Steve Hall Adrants.com

Shawn Collins blog.affiliatetip.com

Connie brainfoggles.com

Chris Brogan ChrisBrogan.com

Eric Schechter www.ericschechter.com

Missy Ward www.missyward.com

Rax www.raxraxrax.com

How does blogging fit in with your affiliate marketing work?

Well, I blog about my work, and writing is a great way to explore ideas and concepts as well as share industry news. It is also a good means of making new contacts within the industry many of whom I now do business with.

What fears do you have with blogging?

When I first started I was worried about what people would say about my blog, my writing, MY SPELLING. Now I am not so worried about that, what I do worry about is the people who I forget to say thank you too and the missed opportunities. There is so much going on and so little time. I also have other projects which are getting more demanding and taking me away from my blog. I am not giving up.

Footnote: Murray knows how to draw positive attention. He ranks on Dennis Yu via just one interview with me.

The folks at Webmaster Radio put on the first Affiliate Convention, ending just a few hours ago.  Billed as “free for affiliates”, many said that the event wouldn’t happen, wouldn’t attract high quality affiliates, and couldn’t secure a sponsor.  Even Larby Amirouche was considering whether or not he was going to come. But when 10 of us from BlitzLocal went to the Mile High Affiliate Party on Wednesday night– held at a Denver strip club, we saw a packed club of 300+ people. The show had 1,200+ folks registered and over 900 folks badged. The Thursday session I moderated on Alternative Search Engines (mostly Facebook) was standing room only.  And today’s session on lead generation strategies was packed, too.

What did I learn?

• A conference where affiliates get in free draws a different crowd: The usual suspects– Shoemoney, GetAds, Scott Richter, Wes Mahler, etc— were there.  Yet folks such as Mark Brooks, (the pre-eminient expert in online dating), Gillian Muessig (president of SEOmoz.org) and Mark Nelson (Director of IT at Quiznos)– who are not part of the typical affiliate scene– provide expertise in online marketing that you otherwise wouldn’t get.   There are a ton of folks who are part-time affiliates and are quite skilled in their day jobs– usually more well-rounded than full-time affiliates that have just one trick.

Lunch with Wesley Mahler, Mark Nelson, and Mark Brooks

• New perspectives from non-affiliates: For example– if you are a dating affiliate and didn’t attend, you’ve really missed out– dating is HOT.  The downturn in the economy has driven out the folks who aren’t serious, leaving the remaining traffic converting better. Folks in this space are killing it in a market that’s still growing– yet those who are making money will want to tell you that you should stay out of dating, since “it’s not doing too well.”  You would have learned what techniques super affiliates are using, what niches are working, how to tweak landing pages, how to SEO those pages, and so forth.

Super affiliate panel providing tips and advice

• Local and social are the future: I spoke about local lead gen in one of the panels.  Yet a number of other speakers noted the opportunity for affiliates to reach out to the millions of local businesses and sell them on a pay per call basis.  Instead of competing against hundreds of other affiliates on the same offer, you can have the exclusive for roofing contractors in your neighborhood.  Sure, each one might only earn you $300 a month, but what if you could duplicate your PPC templates and landing page templates to 100 of them– and earn $30,000 a month?  That’s steady income for you. Call tracking software, whether offered by BlitzLocal or other vendors, is now easy to use and cheap.  The Facebook and twitter land grab is on, just like domains 10 years ago.  Use that to fuel the fire.

Dennis Yu speaking on advanced local lead generation

• Drunk people tell you their secrets: There has been a party each night and it was in those personal meetings that I’ve learned more than I ever could in a session that’s being filmed and recorded in front of hundreds of people.  If you want to really move up your learning and earning curve, you need to reach out.  The drunker, the better.

Packed house and open bar at Platinum 84

The Mile High Affiliate Party included beer pong action too

I decided to join Technorati today to see how my blog stacks up against the zillion other blogs out there.  I’m not a public figure, nor do I blog much, so I don’t expect much of anything here.  Part of what’s required to join is to verify that you own your blog.  Thus, I am pasting in this code:

I’m competing against my friend, Larby Amirouche, to see who can get a higher ranking in the blogosphere.

Have you heard of Larby Amirouche?  He knows all about how to travel, as he’s a busy man.  Becoming skilled at navigating airports, hotel programs, and all manners of transportation is no easy feat.  But should you need travel tips, this is one guy to talk to– as he knows his way around.  As a businessman, he also has a deep understanding of affiliate marketing.  His knowledge is so deep and his results so impressive, it should be considered a crime or scam for him to particpate.