For several years affiliates in many states have been fighting the affiliate nexus tax. Many of us have hoped for a federal solution to put an end to the fights and the legislation coming back time after time. Is this the solution we have been looking for? I am all for fairness and the way the states have been dealing with the issue have not been fair.

Senator Dick Durbin Friday introduced a bill that would require all retailers to collect sales tax. If passed, the bill would overturn a Supreme Court decision that prevents states from forcing Internet retailers to collect sales tax unless they have an in-state physical presence.

Come check out our Session at Affiliate Summit! I am humbled to be included with this awesome group of coupon experts!

Affiliate Summit East 2011, the premier affiliate marketing conference, is taking place August 21-23, 2011 in New York City.

The Future of Coupons in Affiliate Marketing
Session 4a
Location: Gramercy Suite
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm

With the introduction of mobile & local deals to affiliate marketing, coupon affiliates must evolve. Experts will discuss the future of affiliate coupons & what trends benefit coupon affiliates.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Coupons

• Trisha Lyn Fawver, Client Services Manager, For Me To Coupon (Twitter @TrishaLyn) (Moderator)
• Connie Arnold, Head Bird, FlamingoWorld.com LLC (Twitter @conniejarnold)
• Carolyn Kmet, Director of Affiliate Marketing, Groupon (Twitter @catango)
• Carrie Rocha, Owner, Pocket Your Dollars (Twitter @carrierocha)
• Kim Rowley, Owner, Key Internet Marketing, Inc. (Twitter @kimarketing)

This three day conference includes an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, vendors, and networks, as well as multiple tracks of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts.

If you aren’t registered, it is a not to be missed event for all affiliate marketers. Register Here!

A few years ago I was frustrated trying to keep up with the thousands of coupons to hunt down in the networks and add to my coupon site FlamingoWorld.com. There were so many emails coming in daily and it was hard to keep up. Some of the networks had rss feeds or coupon feeds but they were sorely lacking. Because of the issue I decided to become the solution to the problem by founding ForMeToCoupon.com.

ForMeToCoupon.com is a service that aggregates all of the network coupon feeds, all of the emails and edits them, makes sure the links work, make sure the coupons work and put them in a standard form. It is a lot of work and I really wish the networks did a better job so ForMeToCoupon.com wasn’t needed.

I am heading a Coupon Feed Standards Working Group for the Performance Marketing Assocication. We a have a few people already interested in joining, but could still use some members. I would really like to see network involvment so we can fix the issues from the source.

Too many merchants add their offers and coupons into the network coupon feeds, but much of the information they add is not standard. They add the coupon code in the deal text, not in a separate field, they do the same with the expiration dates instead of putting them in the expiration date fields. Some add long descriptive text and it isn’t a deal at all. Maybe the networks themselves could do a little quality control before the offers go out? And if they notice issues they could contact the merchants to train them better. I really think if the networks were to require certain information, and in specific fields it would be easier for affiliates to use.

If anyone is interested in joining me on the working group email me at connie(at)flamingoworld.com Or feel free to just email me your gripes and suggestions on the network coupon feeds.