If you are lucky enough to be approved to use the eBay Partner Network (EPN) expect this latest round of changes to make your returns diminish father. Of  course in typical eBay fashion these days they’re making the rules even more complex to follow.

If you couldn’t make it all the way though the email sent to the partners – here are the highlights:

• If you make less than $25.00 in a month, eBay will roll it over until you do make $25.00 and then pay out. In other words if it takes you several months to reach $25.00 eBay will hold the money in reserve till such a time as you reach the payout.
• You may only put the EPN affiliate links on your own websites and blogs (and newsletters if you have been approved) – no affiliate links on pages like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace. What I didn’t read was whether the EPN considers a ‘blogger’ (google) blog your property or not.
• No hiding the URL – you may not use a tiny URL or similar

Of interest, and despair to me was the paragraph about copyright infringement….

“We have also updated the language in the Network Agreement to make it clear that our partners may not use promotional methods that violate intellectual property or proprietary rights of third party trademarks. This includes, but is not limited to, using a third party trademark (or a term confusingly similar to it) in your URLs.”

While I feel it is completely within a copyright or patten owners right to have terminated any violators – it’s that eBay will be involved. The VeRO program is broken and a mess – any eBay seller can tell you that.  And now, it sounds like that very same team will be visiting the EPN.

Setting up a Wordpress or a web site is fairly easy to do. That’s why affiliate marketing is so popular. The trick is figuring out how to make that site compelling enough to get visitors to stick around, read a little bit, and click on a link or banner.

Did you know you have about 3 seconds to do that? That’s faster than an elevator pitch!

Knowing where your visitors eyes go during that first few seconds will help you place banner ads and improve stickiness on your site.

 The video above is about a technology called ‘heatmapping’. Don’t worry, it’s easy to do and I’ve found a place that will give you a heat map of your site for free.

I just received an email from eBay announcing a new line of widgets.

These new widgets showcase eBay’s Daily Deals.

Here’s the word from the Partner Network:
About the Daily Deal program:
“Every day we feature four items from trusted sellers that are deeply discounted (usually between 20% and 90% off) and offer free shipping with every item. The four daily deals are backed by major eBay Power Sellers and retailers such as TigerDirect, Eforcity, Toolup, SmartBargains & Buy.com. Expect to see a wide variety of super low priced items in categories such as: home electronics, computers, home & garden, appliances, parts & accessories, sporting goods and much much more.
What’s the catch to the Daily Deals?
It’s important to let your visitors know that if they love an item, they shouldn’t wait and risk losing out on the amazing deal being offered.
How to promote the Daily Deal program:
To showcase and promote the Daily Deal on your site, there are several simple to advanced integrations options available including static banners, javascript banners, and dynamic XML feed.”

EBay tracks that buyer for 30 days – so anytime within the next month that the computer returns to eBay you’ll get credit for the next purchase (only one). However, eBay gives credit to the last link that was clicked affiliate link. Which means if the buyer clicks on someone else’s affiliate link after yours they’ll get the revenue.

Happy St. Patrick’s day! Luck O’ The Irish To You.

One of my daily rounds on the Internet is Google Trends. The application shows you the days top 100 searched on terms. This is a great place to get Niche ideas.

Over the last week I’ve noticed the number of  “Irish” searches on the rise, with today being the crescendo.

Here’s a sample of things Irish people are searching for to make their St Patrick’s Day complete:

corned beef and cabbage recipe
st patrick s day drinks
guinness beer
reuben sandwich
where was st. patrick born
pressure cooker corned beef
corned beef
how to cook cabbage
green beer
shamrock shake
leprechaun jokes
listen to irish music online
irish beer
irish whiskey
darby o gill and the little people
sherlocks san antonio
jameson whiskey
leprechaun movie
blarney stone
blood pudding
are leprechauns real
st. patrick s day
shamrock seeds
crock pot corned beef
leprechaun
shamrock fest
pressure cooker corned beef
chicago st patrick s day parade 2009
irish car bomb
irish drinks

This made me stop and think….

While it might only make money once a year – wouldn’t it be a real traffic magnet to create an “all things Irish” site?

It’s something to think about. You’ll have a year to put it together.

In other words, Google knows I’m always on the prowl for photo tips because I’m an avid photographer.

Because I often start my searches at Google, the all knowing robots tracks my movement through the Internet based on my unique computer address by adding a cookie.

This means that any site I land on that has the AdSense displays will not only target me based on the theme of the blog or website, but also recommend photography stuff based on my web browsing history. This should make the ad’s much more targeted to me. Or, to any other searcher – no matter what topic or interest you have. Thus, in theory we’ll be more likely to click on them.

I kind of think this is really bordering on ‘big brother’ but I don’t want to get into the politics of this issue here. I need to make a living and if this will get users to click on those ads – well,  I will with hold my judgements…

I do want to point out that if you are an advertiser and you don’t have in your privacy policy stuff about tracking users via the doubleclick dart cookies, Google wants them in now.

Update your privacy policy asap – go here to read the google announcement: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557  to be sure you are in compliance with the new rules by April 8th, 2009.

So, here is the idea:

 Build a website that provides more information about the tax credit – how & what home owners can use the credit for and then set up a number of pages with product reviews, and how to buy/what to look for when purchasing with affiliate links to amazon.com/eBay.com or even commission junction links.

With a few google searches, buying a domain, set up a wordpress or website the whole project could be up and running in an afternoon.

Set it up soon – people will be looking to find out more about the stimulus package and how they can benefit from it.

Here’s the email announcement:

“In an effort to ensure you know the eBay Partner Network payment dates well in advance, we have decided to implement a consistent payment date each month. Starting in April 2009, the eBay Partner Network will process payments to publishers on the 25th of each month, unless it’s a weekend, when you will be paid the next working day.

For example, if you are eligible to receive payments from the eBay Partner Network, you will be paid for April activity on Mai 25, 2009.”

While some members are experiencing difficulty being approved by the eBay Partner Network (EPN) I think this new direction will improve the program overall. Anyone who has done a search on the web has come across those link farm sites, with little content and lots of banner and pop-up ads. They’re frustrating to the searcher, and as the EPN is starting to see, not bringing in quality traffic. Quality traffic to eBay is someone who clicks through, stays on the site and makes a purchase.

The bottom line here is how much we make for eBay when we affiliates drive traffic to the site. Once the visitor lands on eBay will they register and purchase? If so, will they return again? Traditionally, the larger affiliate sites who sent massive volumes of traffic to the site received bonuses and rewards (just like a salesperson in the real world receives bonuses for bringing in large clients). But did those massive amounts of clicks to eBay pay off by sending  buyers to the site?  This paper seems to indicate that eBay is rethinking that strategy and focusing their monetary incentives on smaller, more focused sites that are much more likely to send highly qualified traffic (or purchasers) to eBay.

What does that mean for us? Well, the silver lining here is that using a system like How To Make Money Using The eBay Partner Network  you can create a customized site around your niche. I teach you how to set up and add quality content that focuses specifically on what your visitor is looking for. Once the searcher spends a little time on your site and you have built a rapport with them you can gently recommend a product or service found on eBay. These customers are much more likely to click over and purchase from eBay. And, as a result, the EPN is much more likely to reward your efforts.

In the future perhaps, we’ll even see a more fair division of the affiliate share in the form of a ‘performace bonus.’

OK – I’m just dreaming there, but this article seems to be indicating there might be some thoughts along that line.

For example: In one move last year eBay changed it payout commission to match the value and pay more for high-quality leads by changing the payouts for Active New Registered Users who came in through affiliate click-through. In the four months since the new pricing launched the number of new users referred by the affiliates qualifying to the upper tiers of payout increased by 80%.  Which sure seems to indicate that the affiliates who paid attention to building their site put a little effort finding in out ways to engage their audience by offering quality content instead of a bunch of banner ads had a higher payout rate.

This article is a very informative look at inside the eBay Partner Network. I think it highlights their current thoughts on direction of the program as well as answer a few questions about why they took this program ‘in house’ last year. If you’re interested in affiliate marketing I suggest you read it. You can download a copy here.

For more information on how to create an affiliate website, including tips on how to get accepted to the partner network check out How To Make Money Using The eBay Partner Network