Associate Programs Newsletter #169

CONTENTS:

1. Affiliate links lure forum visitors
2. GreaterGood.com ceases operations
3. Have you agreed to pay Expedia $500,000?
4. 500 merchants can offer much better tracking
5. Question about Las Vegas Marketing Boot Camp
6. Web site idea: TopSellingAds.com
7. New Australian affiliate network has 200 merchants
8. Puzz becomes AssociateLeads, and other news
9. Did the Sircam worm trick you?
10. Top-selling affiliate marketing book
11. From $18 million to $50 million in 5 years
12. "Interview" attracts 6 million visitors
13. Thought for today: Never waste a day
14. How to promote your business

__________________________________________SPONSOR__________

IF YOU CAN TAKE A PICTURE, YOU CAN MAKE A FORTUNE!!

Merchandise Locators Needed Worldwide! The Merchandise Locators
opportunity is taking the country by storm and quickly becoming
one of the best and most profitable home based business
opportunities available anywhere!! If you can take a picture,
you can make a fortune as a merchandise locator/broker for us
in your area. Go here now to learn how to join this awesome
opportunity: roibot.com/w.cgi?R31125_ml
[UPDATE: This link no longer works.]
___________________________________________________________

======================================
1. Affiliate links lure forum visitors
======================================

Neil Shearing of the Scam Free Zone has developed a new technique to help his associates earn money - and it's also a place to practice your headline-writing skills.

Instead of linking to a product or his main page, you can now use an affiliate link to Neil's new marketing advice message board, the "Internet Success Forum".

So you can help your visitors by recommending a useful, busy marketing forum.

"Your link contains your associate ID, which triggers a cookie to be dropped on the visitor when they hit the forum," Neil says.

If the visitor buys any of Neil's products after clicking on "resources", you earn a 50% commission. The cookie is set for three years.

With such an incentive driving publicity, Neil's forum has quickly become popular.

"Your visitors will probably return to the forum quite often seeking new advice," Neil says. "Each time they return, they see the 'resources' link ... another chance for them to buy."

I think the "resources" link is too subtle.

If Neil wants to convert a reasonable percentage of his forum visitors into buyers he should provide a prominent, benefits- laden link to his products. That would help him and his associates.

The products on which you can earn 50% commissions are "Internet Success Blueprint", "Internet Success Diamonds" and "Internet Success Spider".

The forum is a good place to hone your headline-writing skills.

To do that, just look at the number of clicks each post has received. You can see at a glance which topics are popular and which headlines attract clicks.

For example, here are three of the popular posts:

"This is Deadly"
"Poor Man's Webposition Gold"
"32 more high traffic forums"

See which headlines get the click:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/scamfree-forum

Join Neil's affiliate program here:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/scamfrees

====================================
2. GreaterGood.com ceases operations
====================================

GreaterGood, one of the largest affiliate-based e-commerce sites on the Net, has ceased operations.

GreaterGood - http://www.GreaterGood.com - allowed consumers to make painless contributions to their favorite charities by buying goods and services. It promised to pay 5% to 15% of each purchase price to the charity of your choice.

If you run a one-person shopping mall, you'll marvel at how GreaterGood did things. At one stage last year it employed 110 people. By July this year, that had been trimmed to 26.

In February last year GreaterGood announced its acquisition of the Hunger Site, a "click to donate" web site dedicated to fighting world hunger.

In October CEO Randy Dirth estimated that revenues at GreaterGood for 2000 would be about $10 million. He said the company planned to donate about $5 million of that to charities around the world.

It burned through more than $20 million raised from investors.

UPDATE, September, 2001:
GreaterGood is online again.]

__________________________________________SPONSOR__________

"REAL SALES CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED WITH HIGHLY TARGETED VISITORS"

Stuck in search engine dungeons and don't know how to get out?
Confused about the zillions of new PAY PER CLICK ENGINES? We can
help! Save hours of scouring the web for information. Get it all
in one place and watch your web site rise to the top. Get the
answers only from INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS! The Essential Guide
To Search Engine Positioning and Mastering The PPC's. Top
affiliate program too. Learn more searchengine-report.co.uk
[UPDATE: This link is obsolete.]
___________________________________________________________

===========================================
3. Have you agreed to pay Expedia $500,000?
===========================================

If you're an affiliate of Expedia - http://www.expedia.com - I hope you've read the affiliate agreement carefully.

Take special note of Section 2 (Ineligible Party; Liquidated Damages) where Expedia says, in effect, that if you violate its exclusivity clause, you agree to pay the travel company $500,000 in damages.

You can read the agreement here:

http://www.expedia.com/daily/associates/EAP_standard_op_agmt.htm

===============================================
4. 500 merchants can offer much better tracking
===============================================

Five hundred affiliate merchants now have the option of providing their affiliates with hugely improved tracking with unique referral links for EVERY link.

This means the affiliate will be able to tell which link achieved the sale - the link on a banner, in an endorsement, in a newsletter, in a classified ad, etc.

You'll even be able to tell if it's the link at the top or bottom of a particular page which achieved the sale.

So you'll be able to test headings, text, graphics etc, and know exactly what works and what doesn't to achieve sales.

(In comparison, affiliate tracking scripts such as Prolinkz tell you which link gets the CLICK, not which link achieves the SALE.)

The improvement is included in Version 5.0 of My Affiliate Program Software, which is made by Kowabunga Technologies.

Director of Marketing Rachel Honoway says the "Super Track Module" add-on "will allow affiliates to place a special ID of their own in their affiliate links to track specific placements".

For example, if a default URL looks like look this...
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/a/t.asp?id=2031

An URL on your banner on your home page could be:
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/a/t.asp?id=2031&sub=bahome

An URL in an article in your archives could be:
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/a/t.asp?id=2031&sub=arc004

Both the merchant and the affiliate can view reports that show the affiliate's clicks, impressions and sales associated with each Super Track ID.

The improvement is just one of several in the upgrade.

The software now also has two low-cost options, the Lite Version (at $349) and the Featherweight Version (at $99).

If you're a member of any of the 500 affiliate programs which use My Affiliate Program software, you'll be hoping your merchant upgrades to Version 5.0.

You can get Version 5.0 here:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/my-program

Affiliate programs which already provide affiliates with the ability to track individual referral URLs include:

Declan Dunn's Active Marketplace, which offers great products such as "Nothing But Net". UPDATE: Discontinued.

Mark Joyner's ROIbot, which offers a range of small business products and services. UPDATE: Discontinued.

===============================================
5. Question about Las Vegas Marketing Boot Camp
===============================================

Kent Glines of http://www.thevacationplace.com signed up for the Las Vegas Marketing Boot Camp which I recommended but then he began having second thoughts.

He said he was wondering if the tactics taught would be too expensive for him to put into practice.

"If I have to put several thousand dollars into his marketing plan it would be completely prohibitive," Kent said. "Any ideas of the costs involved in implementing his plan?"

I passed the question on to Mark Joyner, who is organizing the boot camp.

He replied:

"Jay Conrad Levinson is the father of 'Guerrilla Marketing'. Guerrilla Marketing is all about small business entrepreneurs getting big time results with far less investment.

"In fact, when Jay first wrote the first Guerrilla Marketing book, it was because his students at Berkeley wanted a resource that told small businesses how to market. There were no books available! All the books out there were geared towards big businesses with huge marketing and advertising budgets.

"I daresay that most of what Jay teaches can be done for free.

"I hope this helps. I can also give this gentleman my personal guarantee. If they aren't satisfied by lunch time that what they are learning will explode their business (no questions asked - it's up to them to make that decision), I'll give them a 100% refund."

Mark has authorized me to offer my readers a gift certificate so you can get a really good deal. Use this number: GC6823

Here's what the boot camp offers...

"Learn an amazing proprietary marketing system - never before released - that guarantees effortless profits during good economic times or bad - and whether you're working in your business or not..."

Continue reading here...

AssociatePrograms.com/gmarketing

[UPDATE: This link no longer works. The conference was very good.]

__________________________________________SPONSOR__________

Do you Buy or Sell Advertising in Online Newsletters?
Then you need Ezine Ad Auction - Register FREE
and receive over $300.00 in BONUS items. Now
you can buy and sell ezine ads in an auction
setting - Pick up great deals daily! Go Now to...
linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=145753
[UPDATE: This link no longer works.]
___________________________________________________________

===================================
6. Web site idea: TopSellingAds.com
===================================

I see one of the domain names which Wayne Yeager has for sale (only $48 when I looked today) is TopSellingAds.com .

It's a memorable name.

I can imagine a useful, interesting site displaying ads which achieve top results. It could also give advice on the best places to advertise... and could sell Internet marketing books and tools...

(The price decreases each day the names aren't sold.)

Here are some other names I saw for sale:

HotBusinessIdeas.com
ClickDoctors.com
RevenueStreaming.com

These domain names look like winners to me. Get more info here:

[UPDATE: ValueNic was a great idea, but Wayne under-estimated how much work was involved. The site has closed.]

=====================================================
7. New Australian affiliate network has 200 merchants
=====================================================

A large Australian marketing firm, Pinpoint Pty Ltd, has launched CyberAffiliates, an Australian affiliate network.

Pinpoint operates loyalty programs for large companies. It has 400 staff and an annual turnover of $A125 million.

CyberAffiliates is using ConnectCommerce technology under license from Performics (formerly Dynamic Trade).

CyberAffiliates will pay commissions monthly, direct to your bank account, with a minimum threshold of $A25. It promises comprehensive statistics.

According to Performics, the new network has 200 merchants. However, before you can see the list of merchants you have to fill in a five-minute application form, including giving your bank account number, and wait until you've been approved.

The network, which calls itself an "affiliate program", earns its revenue on a performance basis. "When we invoice merchants for the commissions payable to affiliates, we add a margin. This means that affiliates receive fully 100% of the commissions each merchant is offering," the company says.

Peformics' news release:
performics.com/about/press/pr_07-11-01.html

CyberAffiliates:
http://www.CyberAffiliates.com.au

[UPDATE, September, 2001:
There was a mistake in the Performics news release which said that CyberAffiliates had 200 merchants. Performics was confusing CyberAffiliates and Pinpoint's CyberRewards.com, a rewards program for online merchants and shoppers, which does have 200 merchants signed up.]

===============================================
8. Puzz becomes AssociateLeads, and other news
==============================================

Puzz.com affiliate program has been renamed AssociateLeads.com. You don't need to change your links if you don't want to - they redirect to AssociateLeads.com and contain your affiliate ID, if applicable, says Bill Bultas, CEO of AssociateLeads.

[UPDATE: AssociateLeads has merged with OffersQuest.com.]

FindWhat.com became profitable during the second quarter of this year, six months ahead of projections, says CEO Craig Pisaris-Henderson. It generated positive net income of $0.01 per share. Revenue for the six months ended June 30 exceeded $7 million. The net loss for the six months was $4.9 million. Details:
findwhat.com/content/pressrelease.asp?a=62

Yahoo! Stores now offers its merchants simple, easy integration with Commission Junction's affiliate technology. Details:
http://store.yahoo.com/cj.html

About 300 merchants have abandoned Commission Junction since it began the Open Marketplace system and dropped its pay-per-click programs, reports Ken Magill. CJ sees the exodus of mostly small merchants as a necessary step.
imarketingnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=16248

Essential.com filed a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on June 29.

Sparks.com filed a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 on March 12, LinkShare told affiliates last week.

CyberRebate's bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for July 30 at 10am, at 111 Livingston Street, Suite 1102-Room B, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Twenty Questions With LinkShare CEO Stephen Messer
affiliatehandbook.com/voices/20010716a_messer.html

AOL-Amazon Contract Has Takeover Provision
newsbytes.com/news/01/168310.html

Wall Street boos Amazon's juggling act
news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-6656828.html

================================
9. Did the Sircam worm trick you?
================================

Just in case you haven't heard about the Sircam worm...

The virus chooses a file at random from your hard drive and sends it to addresses in your e-mail address book. It also sends messages to addresses in your Netscape or Explorer caches. It may delete files from your hard drive.

I've received dozens of copies of this message:

"Hi! How are you?
"I send you this file in order to have your advice
"See you later. Thanks"

(The message can be in one of three languages.)

Details:

"SirCam clogs mailboxes, spreads secrets"
cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6647394.html?tag=tp_pr

You can find detection and removal instructions for the Sircam virus here:
http://www.symantec.com/search/ (Search for "sircam")
http://mcafee.com

I suggest you don't open an attachment from a stranger. Don't even open an attachment from a friend unless the friend has told you what's in it. If in doubt, don't open any attachment.

Use up-to-date anti-virus software.

========================================
10. Top-selling affiliate marketing book
========================================

According to Amazon and BN.com, "Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants" is the best-selling book in affiliate marketing, co-author Shawn Collins says.

"It's not exactly bringing in Harry Potter numbers, but it's at the top of this crazy, little niche," says Shawn, who is manager of the ClubMom affiliate program.

You can get the book here at 30% off retail ($19.25 US):

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/performance

"On another note, it looks like the ClubMom affiliate program will be returning to national recruitment on August 15 - more details to come," Shawn says.

==============================================
11. From $18 million to $50 million in 5 years
==============================================

This article doesn't have anything to do with affiliate marketing, but reading it could change the way you run your business.

Geoff Williams of Entrepreneur magazine describes how Larry Gaynor's Nailco Group pushed sales from $18 million to $50 million in only five years.

Fascinating stuff.

"Tall Sales"
entrepreneurmag.com/Magazines/MA_FrontDoor/0,4430,,00.html

================================
12. "Interview" attracts 6 million visitors
================================

Reata Strickland, a graphic artist and wife of a Methodist minister in Alabama, spent two days creating an "Interview With God" in Flash and put it online.

She expected perhaps 20 people would see it.

However, 500,000 people saw it in the first five days.

In two months, Reata's interview has had more than 6 million visitors.

She didn't do any advertising. She just created something interesting and word of mouse did the rest.

http://www.reata.org

(Thanks for Trevor Rieger of http://www.TVTalkShows.com for the tip.)

========================================
13. Thought for today: Never waste a day
========================================

"...I make sure I do at least ONE THING every day to increase my business's awareness every single day. It can be a listing on an engine, contributing to a list, responding to a query. Something, anything. Just so that a wasted day never goes by." - Rob Frankel.

================================
14. How to promote your business
================================

Send a blank e-mail to:

classads AT AssociatePrograms DOT com

All the best

Allan Gardyne