Associate Programs Newsletter #61

This week I interview a military guy who earns $100 an hour from his miltary web site, look at a network which aims to keep shoppers on YOUR site, and have my say on LinkShare's spam.

CONTENTS:

1. How John Jones earns nearly $100 an hour
2. LinkShare loses the plot
3. World's first voice mail ID for pets
4. Nexchange lets your visitors stay and shop
5. Job opportunity at TheGift.com
6. Jim Daniels no longer has to commute
7. Casino breaks U.S. state and federal laws
8. Garden.com's non-gardeners
9. Useful link: Wonderport
10. What do you think of Affiliate Radio Network?

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1. How John Jones earns nearly $100 an hour
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John Jones describes his Op Center as "a military search engine, portal, and community". Its target audience is the U.S. military, veterans, and their families.

The Op Center is designed with military precision, and John allocates the time he spends on it very efficiently.

"When I first started out, I worked four to five hours a day in the evening and most of the weekend. After returning from a two-week trip and seeing my not being there resulted in the same amount of traffic, I decided not to kill myself in the evenings and cut back..."

He now spends roughly an hour a day on the site, sometimes a couple of hours at the weekend, averaging about 20 hours a month.

"I am bringing in around $1,900 to $2,000 a month, which averages just under $100 a hour... I can't wait to see what happens when I retire from the military and start working full-time!"

John says one thing which makes his site successful is that it has a very targeted audience.

"There are roughly 1.8 million service members, and the computer/Internet usage tends to run a little higher in the military than in the general population."

Also, because John is in the military himself, his visitors tend to have more confidence in the site's content.

"I have seen some other military related sites in the past fail because their webmasters either were not in the military, had no military experience, or did not do the required research to run a military based website. So I would guess that user confidence is definitely making a difference," John says.

"I run the site in a military style."

John says he has two great promotional avenues: search engines and the use of e-mail lists - the one on his site, and the private lists which he has joined in the military community. John's newsletter has about 300 subscribers, and the military lists have a total of about 4,500 subscribers.

Revenue sharing programs which work best at the Op Center are financial ones, such as credit cards and loans - LendingTree, Futurecard, and Nextcard. A close second are computer hardware/software programs - Beyond.com and Outpost.com.

"I also do some military related software design on the side, but most of that is closed to the general public," he says.

"One of the most important things I have done is obtain my own domain. People just don't seem to have confidence in a site that is on a free server. I originally started out on Hypermart, and would probably go the same route if I had to do it again. But as soon as you get enough revenue coming in go ahead and get your own domain. You will be surprised at the increase in traffic.

"The next most important thing is to actively work the search engines... I submit my site roughly every three weeks, and seem to have pretty good results... I receive around 300 hits a day just from the search engines."

Another factor in John's success is the size of his site. "I have around 550 pages to advertise with on my main site. That doesn't include all of my external sites... The more pages you have to advertise on, the more you will make."

http://www.military-net.com

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[UPDATE: This program has closed.]
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===========================
2. LinkShare loses the plot
===========================

LinkShare's Chairman, Stephen Messer, has admitted that LinkShare used an automated email harvesting system to find email addresses on web sites and then try to recruit affiliates. The solicitations went to Barnes & Noble affiliates and others.

LinkShare apparently believes that the email was "targeted" and therefore isn't spam.

Unfortunately, using robots without actually sending a human to inspect a website inevitably results in UNTARGETED email going to totally inappropriate places, and multiple emails going to the same person.

We're all part of a global community. The things we do have ripple effects. Imagine how much junk email you would receive if every merchant who is running a revenue sharing program began using this tactic ... and if their affiliates copied them.

LinkShare has suspended the project to evaluate it. I'm not happy with LinkShare's marketing methods. If you agree with me I hope you'll write and tell Stephen Messer so. Here's an email address you can use:

contact AT linkshare.com

More details:

egroups.com/group/affiliate-l

What's your opinion on LinkShare? Have your say at the Associate Programs Message Board.

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/index.php

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=======================================
3. World's first voice mail ID for pets
=======================================

If you have a site which attracts dog owners - and most households in America have a dog in the family - you may like to consider an intriguing service offered by Family Safety Solutions.

Dog owners have long battled over the best way to provide their dogs with effective, long-lasting identification. The drawback with the classic ID tag has been that should you move, you need to buy another one. Should you travel with your pet, the classic ID is of little value. What help can be rushed to a lost dog wearing an ID with a home phone number, when its owner is in a hotel?

The traditional ID no longer reflects our mobile society.

Here's a simple solution, the world's first voice mail identification system - the Pet Finder System. Now pet owners can have one private voice mail box where they can record information on all the ways they can be reached, and update that information the minute the owner arrives in a hotel with a pet, or, unfortunately, in a disaster shelter, separated from a pet. A toll-free phone number connects owners to their private voice mail box 24 hours a day.

The affiliate program pays a minimum of $3.79 on each purchase.

Familysafety.com/associate-program/

[UPDATE: This site disappeared.]

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4. Nexchange lets your visitors stay and shop
=============================================

Del Ross, CEO of Nexchange Corporation, has a persuasive marketing line. He says: "Why should you send your visitors away when you can keep them on your site with Nexchange?"

With Nexchange, your visitors can do their buying at your site and then return to your content.

"Nexchange is in the business of monetizing traffic, not stealing it," says Dave Slovin of Nexchange.

"A typical affiliate program links the buyer from the affiliate's website to the merchant's website," he says. "The affiliate 'sells' their visitor to the merchant in return for a payment or commission. Nexchange provides custom, full-stocked and functional online stores to our affiliates (called hosts), enabling them to sell right on their websites. Hosts can run their website like a business, retaining their customers while they maximize revenues."

Dave says hosts choose what they want to sell from thousands of name-brand products.

"They sell those products... in stores that they create (or we'll do it free) to be an integral part of their sites. Hosts can sell entire category products (housewares), a set of products (coffeemakers), or even an individual product (Bunn Home Brewer coffeemaker). The choice is entirely theirs."

Commissions range from 10% to 25%, depending on the product sold. For example, a sale from the magazines category pays 25%, a hat sale pays 20%, and a luggage sale pays 10%. There are no minimums or commission tiers.

Nexchange host websites receive a single monthly commission check for all of their sales - like the payments CJ.com and ClickTrade make, but unlike payments by Be Free and LinkShare, which issue separate checks for each merchant.

"Our host agreement states that Nexchange will write checks for commissions over $25, although we are currently paying all commissions every month and plan to continue this practice," Dave says.

Nexchange has 16 merchants who provide more than 10,000 consumer products from hundreds of top brands.

A fuller list of product categories can be seen here:

[UPDATE: Nexchange died because it was unable to get funding.]

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=================================
5. Job opportunity at TheGift.com
=================================

TheGift.com is hiring, says Jeff Swearingen.

"We're looking for a world-class individual to become our Director of Affiliate Marketing," Jeff says.

"Our company is exploding with growth and we would like to develop our affiliate program into the best on the web. We're launching with the LinkShare network on August 6, so someone with direct experience managing a program in that environment would be the best candidate. Our affiliate strategy is so important to our future success, we're willing to pay to relocate an outstanding individual to Dallas to join our team."

Here's the job description:

The ideal candidate would have experience managing a merchant's affiliate program and have a strong understanding of recruiting and maintaining great partner relationships. Experience with Linkshare is a plus. Includes salary, bonus, benefits, pre-IPO stock options and relocation package. Please e-mail a resume to: mailto resumes AT thegift.com . Since TheGift.com get lots of resumes, please type "AssociatePrograms.com resume" in the subject line.

(If I find there's a demand for it, I'll start a "Job opportunities" section in this newsletter - only for positions involving revenue sharing companies.)

[UPDATE: This site is now a simple directory.]

=======================================
6. Jim Daniels no longer has to commute
=======================================

Internet marketer Jim Daniels used to have a long commute to Boston. Now he lives in the country and runs his popular site BizWeb2000.com from there. Not bad for a guy who bought his first computer in 1996. Phil Clelland of NETzine has a fascinating interview with Jim at:

netzinesuccess.com/interview6.shtml

If you love reading Internet success stories (and don't we all?), Phil Clelland's NETzine is a definite must-have. Here's how to subscribe...

[UPDATE: Phil's NETzine has disappeared.]

============================================
7. Casino breaks U.S. state and federal laws
============================================

For you, Internet gambling may be illegal. It depends on where you live.

The New York state Supreme Court has ruled that WIGC casino using servers in Antigua violated U.S. law by accepting bets from state residents. The court ruled: "The Internet site creates a virtual casino within the user's computer terminal," and therefore WIGC broke state and federal gambling laws, including the Federal Interstate Wire Act.

The United States is likely to ban Internet gambling, says Merrill Lynch analyst Paul Facey. A bill to prohibit online gambling has wide support in the Senate.

Four states - Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada and Texas - already specifically ban Internet gambling.

In Australia, several states have passed legislation to regulate Internet gambling by offering Internet gambling licenses.

news.com/News/Item/0,4,0-39750,00.html
lawnewsnet.com/stories/A3745-1999Jul23.html
news.com/News/Item/0,4,39317,00.html

==============================
8. Garden.com's non-gardeners
==============================

Still wondering what theme to choose for your new web site? You may be inspired by Garden.com's success.

It's a typical Internet success story - the company isn't actually making money yet but people are throwing millions of dollars at it in anticipation. Garden.com, which is aimed at the people engaged in America's most popular hobby, has 550,000 members, growing by 300% a year. The company was established by non-gardeners.

inc.com/incmagazine/archives/08990701.html

===========================
9. Useful link: Wonderport
===========================

Gerald O'Connell believes that as the Internet gets more chaotic, people will use niche directories more. His new Wonderport helps you find them fast. If you have a Useful Resources page, Wonderport deserves a place.

http://www.wonderport.com

[UPDATE, January 2006: This site has changed. Don't waste your time.]

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10. What do you think of Affiliate Radio Network?
=================================================

You can listen to revenue sharing executives on the new Affiliate Radio Network by going to the main page at AssociatePrograms.com and clicking on links to hear individual speakers such as Sam Gerace, Declan Dunn, James Marciano and Corey Rudl. They invited me but I'm too shy.

Are the interviews useful? I think they're a bit tame, but Corey Rudl's statistics on click-throughs were interesting. What topics do you think ought to be discussed? Have your say at the Associate Programs Message Board. (To find the spot, do a keyword search for "radio".

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/index.php

All the best

Allan Gardyne