Affliate Marketing for the Average Joe

So Affliate Marketing is definitely not my area of expertise but I love Viral Marketing. Mostly because I love buying things. This used to be a problem for me when I was younger (read poor) but coupon codes and affliate programs help me rationalize my shopping. Hey I'm saving money it's a deal! Currently, I'm working on getting this tacky ads off of my homepage. I'm visiting some of my favorite sites to see if they have affliate programs (waiting for my AdSense account as well). Lulus.com uses ShareASale. Sign-up literally took 3 minutes and they have ad creative ready for you. Which is smart - you don't want to destroy your brand by having non-professionals messing around with valuable assets.

The World of the Business Card

So now that I have been officially not working 50 hours weeks for 1 whole week. I am finding myself looking for hobbies to take up the time. Tonight I found myself thinking about Business Cards - sounds simple enough right? But choosing your calling card is not too much easier from designing your own personal stationary or business letterhead. I love all things Graphic Design but good design and clever marketing are not always symmetrically aligned interests.

I think for any Marketer (self or business) one of the most important things to remember is clarity and communication. For my interest I am looking for a card that stands out but more importantly I do not want any of my contacts needing to look at my card for more than 3 minutes. In order to find the information that he or her are looking for. Then there is the cut or shape of your card. I'm guilty of leaning towards rounded edged cards - or anything with a rounded edge - when given the option. Then there's the material - do you want a smancy fancy paper or something straight forward? I feel like at a certain point if your card is too over the top then you stand the chance of your contact considering you as being all show and no action. Or even worse yet too fancy or sophisticated to work with.