Associate Programs Newsletter #163

It was a glorious day today in our sleepy little part of the world - Tuan, Queensland, Australia - and Joanna and I spent a while just sitting on our deck looking out to Fraser Island. The bay was as still as a lake.

We haven't had enough moments like that in the past five years, but at long last they're becoming more frequent. Perhaps this really is the year in which I work smarter instead of harder. I hope you are, too.

CONTENTS:

1. E-mail "talkies" arrive
2. Affiliate Metrix survey results may surprise you
3. NBCi affiliate claims $50,000 commission
4. No-holds-barred review of Webmaster Multi Tool
5. How Amin Khan lures new subscribers
6. Taciton dies, and other news
7. Useful resource: FreeDedicatedServers.com
8. NEXT WEEK: Earning commissions without a web site
9. Thought for today: Advice from Phyllis Diller

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1. Email "talkies" arrive
==========================

Just as silent movies became "talkies", so will audio come to e-mail in a big way - absolutely guaranteed, says Nick Hetcher, CEO/President of a new company called Talking-E-Mail.

It will be a HUGE part of the Internet, Nick says.

"Hey, even Jack Warner (of Warner Pictures) thought nobody would want 'talking' pictures. Imagine NOT having them."

Nick says that so far there has been very little audio e-mail, and what has been heard has been of very poor quality and most needed a plug-in just to hear it.

"Ours does not need a plug-in of any kind and most people can hear it when they open their email (not all will hear it, yet. No we're not perfect and never will be)."

Nick has been sending me talking e-mails for quite a while. They're fun - and command attention. (Unfortunately, some of them had an echo. A techie is investigating the problem.)

It's hard to ignore a message which actually talks to you - especially if it's from a lively character who sounds like Bill Cosby or another celebrity.

Somehow you feel you really ought to answer it straight away.

"After it commands their attention, it encourages them to read the text part of the email, thus more email gets read, which means the sender makes more sales," Nick says.

You can use talking emails for sales messages, to send to friends on their birthday, or a get well talking e-mail to a sick friend, etc.

You can send one voiced by the company's professional voice talent in "straight" male and female voices or dozens of celebrity impersonations such as Robin Leech, Christopher Lloyd, Rod Serling, Bill Cosby or Rodney Dangerfield.

If you've discovered the power of autoresponder messages, try a talking autoresponder message. That ought to boost your sales.

Nick has 25 years experience in sales and marketing and also voice production for radio and TV.

"We have decided to become a pioneer of audio on the Internet and have spent the past 15 months working 10, 12 and many 18 hour days, 6 days a week developing a product, marketing plan and two web site businesses," he says.

The affiliate program pays a residual income for a one-time sale. It pays 25% on the first tier and 10% on the second tier. There are also monthly bonuses.

Techies are still hard at work adding to the site.

You can try a free trial. Send yourself a talking email and join the affiliate program here:

[UPDATE: This product is no longer available.]

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2. Affiliate Metrix survey results may surprise you
===================================================

We've all had our doubts about some affiliate program managers, haven't we? Often their companies seem to have thrown them in the deep end and left to sink or swim.

Some managers don't seem to have a clue how help their affiliates succeed.

So the results of a new survey of affiliate managers may not surprise you too much.

However, if you're an out-of-touch affiliate manager, the results probably WILL surprise you.

The survey discovered:

22% of affiliate merchants don't produce an affiliate newsletter.

71% don't provide a discussion board or forum for affiliates to communicate with the merchant and each other.

40% of the respondents had NOT read a book on affiliate marketing!

(Hey guys, you can find some good affiliate marketing books here. Affiliate Marketing Resources:
http://www.associateprograms.com/categories/Affiliate-Resources/ )

I found these statistics in the new affiliate metrix Merchant Report 2001.

The report, by Shawn Collins and Keith Kochberg and available only in hard copy, is the culmination of research from nearly 150 affiliate managers from a cross-section of the industry.

Other statistics covered include conversion rates, separately for pay-per-lead, pay-per-sale and pay-per-click programs.

The comprehensive survey also looks at average number of affiliate sites, staffing issues, affiliate team salaries, and a lot more.

The report not only lets affiliate managers see how their program compares with others, it also gives tips on how you can improve your program's performance.

Affiliate managers: See how your programs stacks up against the others:

AssociatePrograms.com/cj/metrix

[UPDATE: This old link no longer works.]

(Feel free to forward this item to your favorite or non-favorite affiliate program manager.)


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3. NBCi affiliate claims $50,000 commission
===========================================

I wasn't able to verify this tale, but it makes fascinating reading.

A correspondent on the Geek Village forums, "bbv91258", claims he is owed $50,000 in commission from the now defunct NBCi affiliate program "without really having a website at all".

"I advertised just about every page of NBCi on the pay per performance search engines," bbv91258 says.

"For example, I advertised the NBCi horoscope page for .02 a click, NBCi paid me .06 a click. I advertised the NBCi Driving Directions page for .02 a click, NBCi paid me .06 a click. And so on and so on. So there was always profit! I was very lucky that NBCi worked with me and that I got in to GoTo before their .05 a click minimum. I made sure I had daily contact with NBCi's affiliate manager. This way I knew that she knew that everything was on the up and up, and I saved e-mails for her stating everything was approved..."

"bbv91258" says he/she is still waiting for the check to arrive.

More details and discussion:

http://geekvillage.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/006334.html

(At 6 cents per click, an affiliate would need more 800,000 click-throughs to earn $50,000.)

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4. No-holds-barred review of Webmaster Multi Tool
=================================================

Christopher Pearce, who runs LifetimeCommissions.com for me, has given Aesop.com's new Webmaster Multi Tool a rugged going over.

He found parts he liked and parts he didn't.

If you're thinking of trying it, be sure to read his review first:

The tool does all these things:

Analyzes your site for dead links, link popularity and search engine optimization

Submits your site to: search engines, free-for-all sites, and award sites.

Manages and sends messages to your opt-in email-lists.

Helps you plan your day, with a To-Do list.

Tracks your Internet advertising campaigns.

Read the no-holds-barred review here:

http://www.LifetimeCommissions.com/multitool.shtml

[UPDATE: This product is no longer avaiulable.]


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5. How Amin Khan lures new subscribers
======================================

Amin Khan of NicheChallenge.com has come up with a clever way to increase subscribers to his newsletter, The Laser.

You may have seen promotions for Yanik Silver's new ebook, "Million Dollar Emails". It's selling for $19 on Yanik's site at: http://www.milliondollaremails.com/ and for $29 on some sites.

Amin is giving this book away, but that's not all he's doing.

The book reveals the secrets behind the Net's most successful e-mail campaigns. (One e-mail alone brought in over $400,000.)

The book covers e-mail marketing campaigns by top Internet marketers such as Mark Joyner, Corey Rudl, Allen Says, Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver, Jonathan Mizel, Derek Gehl, Michael Campbell, Marty Foley, Jimmy D. Brown and many more.

Amin bought the ebook with complete resale rights and immediately offered it to his subscribers free.

"But to get this powerful ebook for free, you'll have to do a small favor for me. You must refer five of your friends, or associates by sending them a request for subscription to The Laser ezine," Amin told his readers.

"As soon as you send this request for subscription to your friends, you'll be provided a link to download your FREE "Million Dollar Emails" ebook right away!"

The recommend script he's using is simple to configure. It can be found at: http://www.bignosebird.com/cgi.shtml .

The script gets the job done but Amin doesn't like it much for the following reasons:

It has no controlling functions such as blocking certain unwanted e-mail addresses.

It can't prevent the use of offensive words.

It doesn't give any notification by e-mail that your site has been recommended.

It doesn't even check the syntax of e-mail addresses.

It has no way of checking that the specified number of e-mail text fields have been properly filled. (So referring one friend instead of five will get you the free book.)

"I've asked William Bontrager of http://www.Willmaster.com for a script that has all these functions in it. He is working on making a newer and better version of his MasterRecommend script. This new script will process from 1 to 99 referrals, but that version is a month or so away, according to him. The script will have all the functions I've mentioned above with a powerful control panel."

You can see what Amin is doing here - and get a free copy of that $19 ebook:

NicheChallenge.com/recommend-it.htm 
[UPDATE: This link is obsolete.]

If you wish, you can sell the book yourself.

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===============================
6. Taciton dies, and other news
===============================

Taciton.com, a search engine which allowed advertisers to pay for position, appears to have died. "We recently lost our investor and were forced to restructure our business model," Sherri Warren of Taciton told me after a Taciton check was dishonored. Now the web site is dead.

eBay storefronts have arrived. A two-week test involves sellers who deal in musical instruments, jewelry, electronics and collectibles.
ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/11140.html

The RCA.com affiliate program will be discontinued on June 21.

Intuit's QuickenStore affiliate program is ending.

CJ programs closed include: switchonyour.com, All Inclusive Sandals, Debt411.com, kirabo.com, OneIsland, WinCDsFree, Web Site Builder and DirecTVFREE.com.

.CO may challenge .COM. A South American nation could pose the greatest challenge yet to the supremacy of the ".com" Web address if a Colombian university successfully turns the country's Internet code, ".co," into a global domain. Full story:
cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/06/11/internet.colombia.reut/

Blexel.com will withdraw its "hosted" product and its affiliate program. The Blexel service will continue as a full server solution for larger clients, Mark Hopkins says.

============================================
7. Useful resource: FreeDedicatedServers.com
============================================

You can get free dedicated servers. There are no hidden costs, no start-up fees, no running fees, and there's free 24-hour tech support. The service is available to sites which receive an average of 2,000+ page views a day. You can have up to 300 GB per month bandwidth transfer. (That's not a misprint.)

You get your own domain name, full server backup daily, Virtualis HiRize management tools and CartSnap shopping cart, chat room software, etc,etc. (There's a lot more.)

What's the catch?

The company displays a pop-up on every page of your site.

This bargain could save graphics-heavy, money-losing fan sites, such as the ones I've written about recently.

http://www.freededicatedservers.com/

Thanks to Dale Reardon of http://professionalwebhosting.com for that tip.

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8. NEXT WEEK: Earning commissions without a web site
====================================================

I've had fun experimenting, promoting an affiliate program without using a web site, and earning a handy commission. I'll tell you how next week.

If you earn commissions without using a web site, I'd love to hear from you.

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9. Thought for today: Advice from Phyllis Diller
================================================

"Never go to bed angry. Stay up and fight." - Phyllis Diller

 

All the best

Allan Gardyne