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Today's Latest Affiliate Programs and Twitter Marketing

2011-01-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Motime has announced the launch of Motime Open Access, its affiliate program centered on the company's Open Access platform. This platform, based on the APIs of Motime's various services, allows the company's partners to advertise its content through their Web or mobile platforms.

SEO Affiliate Program Launched by Brick Marketing

Full service search engine optimization and search engine marketing services company, Brick Marketing, has launched a new SEO affiliate partner program. Personal service, reasonable costs, and an ROI focus are the key factors that have driven the success of Brick Marketing for the past five years.

Twitter Explosion: Explosive Twitter E-Course*

*sponsored

Affiliate and Marketing Trends for 2011

2011-01-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's half a month into the new year. What are some trends to watch for?

From mobile, to local, to privacy concerns here's a round-up:

5 Hot Trends for Affiliate Marketers to Leverage in 2011
17 digital marketing trends for 2011, by Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein
The Big List: 168 Marketing Trends, Predictions & Resolutions For 2011

GreatAuPair.com

2011-01-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

GreatAuPair.com, the leading international online job matching service used by families to hire trustworthy care providers, has selected Paulson Management Group, Inc. to manage their affiliate program in the Commission Junction affiliate network.

The GreatAuPair affiliate program offers commissions amongst the highest in the industry: $25 - $75 for membership subscriptions from one to six months.

If this program sounds like a good fit for your site, you can find them on Commission Junction.

How to Get People to Promote Your Site to Their Friends for Free

2011-01-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Or...

It Pays to be Nice

I've been dabbling in social media for some time now and there are many different ways to get your site out there. Aside from simply maintaining a presence on the big ones, Twitter, Facebook, etc. you can run contests and special offers and hope they catch on and go viral. I'm not going to get into those because they're pretty obvious and there's plenty of advice out there already.

I have an alternative, more subtle, suggestion. Reach out to people in your niche and promote them on your site. This works especially well with creative types, although it could conceivably work for just about anything from specialty automotive parts to other blog posts.

Here's an example:

You have a fashion blog where you talk about whatever it is fashion people talk about (I never developed the knack). You probably either sell something on there, sell advertising, or have affiliate links. Whatever the case, it doesn't matter.

Go to Etsy.com or somewhere similar where individuals are selling their items (and preferably making them) and search around until you find something you like there. Then write up a little article and feature the seller.

Then, and this is the most important part, make sure to contact that seller and let them know they've been featured on your site/blog/whatever.

They will be thrilled and post the featured article on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and sometimes even on their own site. Not only will this generate some pretty targeted and friendly traffic, it will get you some nice backlinks as well.

Rinse and repeat.

Go ahead. Make someone's day.

Blogging Your Way to the Bank

2011-01-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Read this Wall Street Journal article about blogging, what to expect, passion, niches, etc.

CONSUMER FINANCE: Blogging All The Way To The Bank

BoogieBet.Com Launches Sportsbook, Casino and Poker Offering

2011-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

BoogieBet is a UK sports betting, casino and poker operation.

www.BoogieBet.com introducing affiliates to the BoogieBet Affiliate Program which operates off the PartnerMatrix platform and is offering its affiliate partners the opportunity to earn up to 50% commission. Newly registered players to the BoogieBet site will also receive a 100% deposit bonus up to euro100 across all platforms.

Hootsuite Activates Affilate Program and a Few New Affiliate Programs

2011-01-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

HootSuite is ringing in the new year by announcing the HootSuite Affiliate Program designed to help enthusiastic customers monetize their recommendations.
Starting immediately, HootSuite Pro and Enterprise plan holders can earn substantial commissions by referring customers to the HootSuite Pro and Enterprise products as well as the HootSuite University learning program.

Hootsuite Affiliate

And here are some new programs to check out:

Groupenture Partner Network

Atlantic.Net Announces Cloud Affiliate Program

And an affiliate tool: (sponsored)

Mass Money Makers

Happy hunting.

The New Google Adsense and Your Privacy Policy

2009-04-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

If you are a Google Adsense publisher, you undoubtedly received this email regarding their interest-based advertising:

We're writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site's privacy policies. You'll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.

Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user's previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. "sports enthusiast"). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category. To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310.

As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557 to ensure that your site's privacy policies are up-to-date, and make any necessary changes by April 8, 2009. Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we're unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.

For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to this upcoming enhancement.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

And now you are probably scrambling to meet their deadline of April 8, 2009 to come up with some sort of reasonable edits to your privacy policy just so Google can engage in their latest Big Brother routine.

Personally, it irritated me so I gave all of my websites a good long look and yanked Adsense off of the ones where it wasn't performing well. Actually, I guess I should thank them as it cleaned up a lot of junk and had me reviewing some of my older sites I hadn't bothered with in a while.

To make your life easier here's a link to a privacy policy generator to get you started: http://www.serprank.com/privacy-policy-generator/index.php

And to opt out of Google's Dart cookie you can go here: http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

What do you think? Am I alone in being disgusted with this whole thing or do others share my frustration?

Budgets Shrinking for Affiliate Marketing

2008-09-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

I guess it's not a surprise.

Affiliate Marketing Still Cost-Effective, but Budgets Shrinking

Permission Based Email Marketing

2008-09-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

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Collect email addresses of your site visitors with a "join my list" signup on your website. Then, easily create and send compelling email newsletters, promotions and announcements to keep them coming back.

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Record Numbers Joining CJ

2008-09-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Commission Junction announces record numbers of new clients.

A Record Number of New Clients Join the Commission Junction Affiliate Marketing Network

Is Google's Search Within Search Costing You?

2008-03-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

Google has added a search box within the affiliate search results. How does this impact you?

Google Search Within Search Box Hurts Affiliates, Says IDC

Looking for Advertising? See Project Wonderful

2008-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Over the past week I have placed some new ad space on a few of my websites using Project Wonderful. I have also tried out their advertising.

They are fairly easy to set up and offer ad sizes ranging from buttons to skyscrapers, in either text or image format.

A publisher can set up any ad size or configuration that they want and offer it for sale. You can even have multiple rows and columns which allows a large amount of flexibility and more options for more advertisers. Once you have installed the code on your website, your ad space becomes available through their infinite auction. What this means is that you can set a minimum bid (or if you are afraid of the dreaded "your ad here" text you can offer free ad space) and advertisers will bid for ad time shown on your website. Advertisers are buying exposure, not clicks. The highest bidder wins, and this could change at any moment. You have complete control over which ads are shown on your site and you can be as restrictive or as open as you like.

An advertiser can choose from a growing selection of different websites and blogs, and may even be able to score a bit of free advertising. Project Wonderful has a robust search function that will help you target those sites that will work best for you. They also have some nice statistics available on the sites you're looking at.

A publisher can also take the income they make and turn around and use it for their own advertising.

I don't have a good feel for how effective it is yet, but the system is certainly fun and a little addicting.

Get Your Email Marketing Program Evaluated for Free

2008-03-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

Gold Lasso, Inc. has launched a new service, where new clients will receive a complete evaluation of their existing email marketing program.

The evaluation, valued at $2,500, includes a free 15 page report.

The service is designed for new clients' email marketing program by evaluating the key areas required for successful campaigns. Armed with this information, clients will experience increased results and understand what is needed to build stronger email communications. Gold Lasso is one of the few ESPs to offer an in-depth evaluation service for free.

(source: Marketwire)

More on the eBay move

2008-03-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a selection of links offering a little more info:

eBay cuts out the middle-man, moves affiliates in-house

EBay affiliates to be managed in-house

eBay and Half.com Moving Away from Commission Junction

2008-03-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

EBay is moving its affiliate program in-house for eBay and Half.com affiliate programs.

As part of the move to an in-house affiliate network, eBay and Half.com will no longer run their affiliate programs through ValueClick’s Commission Junction platform. eBay’s Tradera AB, ProStores, Inc, Reseller Marketplace, Media Marketplace, eBay Stores and StubHub will not be affected and will continue their relationship with Commission Junction. eBay affiliates working with other platforms, including Affilinet and Tradedoubler, will not be affected.

Affected eBay and Half.com affiliates will be required to move their affiliate links over to the eBay Partner Network by May 1st, 2008.

For more info: BusinessWire

New Affiliate Marketing Program for Metin 2

2008-03-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

G4BOX Inc. announced the launch of its new affiliate marketing program for MMORPG, METIN 2. It's available to both players and webmasters.

Web magazines and websites with gaming traffic can join the program by registering for a free METIN 2 account and then downloading the METIN 2 banners and posting them on their website. If a new account is set up by clicking through the banner on their website, they will receive rewards which can be used for in-game item mall point or can be converted to cash awards of 10% on every purchase generated from their links. Affiliates can also continue to generate awards as the new player’s level up.

Metin 2 - Free 3D MMORPG

(source: GamersHell.com)

Affiliate 2.0?

2008-03-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Personally, I'm a little tired of the 2.0 buzzword, but oh well. Here's a post from Shawn Collins about getting in the game when it comes to video, social, and mobile affiliate opportunities.

Affiliate Marketing Is Dead

Cookie Free Ad Tracking?

2008-03-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Affiliate programs generally rely on cookies to track referred users. This is unreliable as people regularly delete their cookies. Affiliate Future has developed a cookie free tracking mechanism. If this works, it could mean a lot to publishers.

The new technology stores anonymous tracking data in each individual's web browser cache. The cookie-less system cannot be blocked on any of the major web browsers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Affiliate Future develops cookie-free ad tracking

About Bulk Email Lists

2008-03-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about purchasing an email list? The idea can be tempting, but before you wander down this route, you need to know exactly what you are getting into. This post by Mark Brownlow gives a nice, straightforward explanation of the pros and cons of email lists.

Since you can do a lot of damage to your company's reputation by selecting the wrong path, it's worth a read.

Email address lists: buy, rent or leave alone?

Gourmet Coffee Affiliate Program Improves Offering

2008-03-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Mystic Monk Coffee adds a second tier to their affiliate offerings.

Now Mystic Monk Coffee is offering an even more generous reward to those affiliates who recruit new affiliates to join us in selling our incredible tasting gourmet coffees! You can now earn 10% off the total sale amount from new affiliates that join your second tier. This is on top of the already amazing 18% earned off of your own affiliate link sales.

(source: TransWorldNews)

E-mail Marketing Metrics Report

2008-03-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

MailerMailer Email Marketing Metrics Report provides some insight into the world of email marketing.

In addition, this report provides the latest email marketing statistics such as:

* Which industries experienced the highest percentage of open rates
* Who earned the highest click-through rates
* How frequent to send emails for optimum deliverability
* How email format affects click rates

Fashion Wholesale Update

2008-03-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

Shoe distributor CERI Wholesale updates their collection of springtime's trendiest shoes.

As being a one-stop-shop for wholesale shoes already saves retailers the cost of multi-shipping from several wholesale shoes distributors, the company is even offering unbelievably big discounts and even free shipping based on the volume of wholesale shoes ordered. The bigger the volume, the bigger the discounts. This way, retailers are sure to get more value for their wholesale shoes investment and will also be able to use the money saved on other important aspects of their business.

(source: PRWeb)

GotApparel.com has added Bella brand to their online store.

The newest addition of the Bella brand features high-quality clothing and apparel for ladies, toddlers and babies. The stylish products are manufactured from high quality fabrics including ring-spun cotton and ranges from tee shirts, tank tops, spaghetti strap tank tops, shorts, jackets, fleece, sweats, bags and unique baby clothing.

(source: Newswire Today!)

Affiliate Marketing on Facebook

2008-03-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Window has come up with a Wishlist application that will work on Facebook. It's designed with the intent of being a non-intrusive way for advertisers to get their products on Facebook.

Facebook users who add the Wishlist application will earn commission on any products purchased via a link on their Wishlist, effectively turning them into affiliate marketers... Users can also recommend the application to their Facebook friends and earn 50 per cent of the commission on any sales that their friends' Wishlists produce.

The drawback: You have to deposit £5 in order to become an Affiliate Window affiliate.

(source: PrecisionMarketing)

Salesconx New Affiliate Program

2008-03-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Salesconx has launched a new affiliate program.

The Salesconx Affiliate Program provides link sharing, content sharing, RSS feed exchange, cross promotional opportunities and a revenue stream to community owners.

(source: BusinessWire)