The Hitflip UK Blog

In preparation for the CJU, we felt the need to address a new topic.
We are often associated with the topic of Web 2.0 and our first working-title was “Influences of Web 2.0 on Affiliate Marketing”. We started with the classic googling in german and in english. We didn’t find the results very satisfactory. Mostly it was just “blah blah blah” without any concrete evidence and without good examples, and that’s not what we had visualised. Therefore, we have broken the topic down simply.

What is Web 2.0?

As an introduction, we simply took the characteristics of Web 2.0 websites from Tim O’Reilly as a starting point:

1. They improve by getting more active users
2. They integrate data from different sources, including their own users
3. They open their data to other websites, allowing mashups (API)
4. They make people get together and let them create an online identity
5. Make use of modern technologies for creating great user interfaces

Here is an example from Hitflip:

1. Network effect: The more people with items to exchange and the more choice available, increases the demand and the attractiveness of Hitflip.
2. Data Integration (we will publish more on this at a later point)
3. Open API for mashups
4. Online Identity which we call my.hitflip
5. We continously work on our featureset

From Web 2.0 to Affiliate Marketing 2.0

As the title suggests, the subject of Affiliate Marketing 2.0 will be introduced in different stages as this is becoming too long for a blogpost/working day. In the coming days we will post 4 further posts. The next three will be concerned with the main trends that we believe to have recognised in Affiliate Marketing 2.0. Those are:

1. The new work with content
2. Working with Social Networks
3. New ways to generate conversion

Finally, another blog entry is planned which will summarise the Affiliate Marketing 2.0 blogs and will also contain our lecture from CJU.

Looking back at this years CJU EU in London I can put it in the words of Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe and Benjamin Franklin:

” Every second was of infinite value” as “lost time is never found again”

CJU EU was a great place to be and had deep value for all participants.

	Tim Waterstone - Founder of Waterstone (the largest book chain outside the US) held the the opening keynote and shared his thoughts on launching entrepreneurial businesses. It was great listening to Tim and his thoughts on entrepreneurs in general. An interesting thought was that he never wanted employees around him who wanted to work for him till the end of time but fellow entrepreneurs who would one day develop their own projects and companies.Tim pointed out that traditional bookstores haven’t really lost out due to Amazon & co. as online book stores are great for the long tail which traditional bookstores can’t deliver to in-house due to lack of space. He believes that the future will see the end of traditional sales channels for music - even though he believes it will take longer than some may hope. I totally agree with Tim on this point. Tim Waterstone pointed out that charisma is one of the most important characteristics for leaders - He has loads of charisma and I believe he left the stage looking at a ballroom full of inspired faces.
	Liz Jackson - Founder of Great Guns Marketing held Fridays opening keynote. Liz gained experience as a tele-marketer and had a wise boss who told her: “You have got 2 ears and 1 mouth - use them in this ratio.” Liz listened and performed. When asking the bank for a loan so she could start her new business there was only one side laughing - the bank. Liz was lucky though as the Prince’s Trust supported her with a kick-off of GBP 4000. When it comes to human resources Liz believes in intuition - even though her first hire was because she felt sorry for the woman, a mistake she didn’t do twice. Liz says “You can’t await people to invest in your visions unless we invest in theirs” and how right she is. “Luck is where hard work meets opportunity” - Liz worked hard and she believed in what she could achieve. In the first year after she founded Great Guns Marketing she turned blind - but she still has her voice and with her believe that she can change the world if she only wants to she can “see” more than many can dream of. Her main guideline is a quote from Henry Ford “If you think you can, or you think you can’t you’re right.”
	Not only the key-speakers were fantastic. I especially loved Catriona Campbell from Foviance. This girl is so full of power and she has stories to tell. One great story was the story of travelocity and a great example for translation vs. localization. Travelocity launched on new markets just translating the sites language files. When they launched in France the US management was wondering why the site wasn’t taking off. So they asked for a French peer-group. This lady comes in for the peer-group and they tell her that she is to test the french website “travelocity” and she says “no way!!!”. “Travelo” means transvestite in French… so the travel-site had launched with the name “Transvestite City” in France - I would say that this is very long tail
	On the publisher/advertiser breakout sessions Andre and myself attended the advertiser breakouts. On day 1 Martin (CJ), Karianne (CJ) and Andre (Hitflip) presented how you can use the technology of CJ for various innovative advertisement formats. Andre introduced Hitflip to the audience and how you can use web 2.0 sites for innovative affiliate marketing opportunities. In the next few days we will publish an extra blog entry on this topic - so don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up2date.
	CJU EU had loads of opportunities for networking and eating chocolate. On a sidenote: If you love chocolates you need to work for Adobe (just search for “click here” on google to find them) [I love insiders]. The champagne reception was great - the girls reminded me of the last James Bond movie “Casino Royal” and I really needed to watch my consumption as it just tasted great. Dinner was a dream and a signature for the landmark hotel in which CJU was located this year.
	Raffle tickets were sold for charity and we were more than happy to buy some to support “Kids Company“. Kids Company was founded in 1996 and provides emotional, practical and educational support to profoundly vulnerable children and young people in London. The great thing about charity raffles is that you can help and win at the same time and WOW DID I WIN!?! Thanks to Duncan at e-Conversions for sponsoring a fantastic prize: I will be driving a Ferrari and a Lamborghini - two Italian beauties for a day. A quarter million worth of cars - I hope they have a good insurance. Chris from Hotel Chocolat offered me the equivalent of the weight of the car in chocolate as a swap. He sure has understood how Hitflip works and his offer is really tempting

I would have loved to have headed to the airport in my new Lamborghini but life just told me that the time has come for the tube and Stansted Express - Life sure knows how to bring one back down to earth. Andre has noted down his thoughts in German and uploaded some pics of CJU EU to the internet. If you have also uploaded or posted your notes on the net let us know by leaving a comment

P.S. Oogolo.fr were brave enough to let a SEO panel discuss their new website They are in desperate need of links. So here you are: voyages en Egypte

We have just launched our affiliate programme for the UK on CJ.

Hitflip ist Europe’s largest swapping site for media items (DVDs, Books, Games, music CDs and audio books). We give every visitor 1 free flip + 79p - enough to get them going and to grab a free DVD of their choice.

We pay £1 for a free registration lead, a further £1 for each claim of the free item and further £8 for an active swapper. Furthermore we pay a lifetime commission of 30% on flipsales. We have high conversion rates due to the positive customer experience in receiving a free product of their choice.

Here you can find more information on our programme and here you can check out some of our creatives.

Maybe a little more insight on our plans as well:

We will be launching our affiliate programme with Commission Junction ( www.cj.com ) and you can earn up to £10 per new user and a lifetime commission of 30% on flipsales. Obviously this is a great opportunity as Hitflip is new to the UK market and lots of people still want to hear the news of the new swapping phenomena.