Associate Programs Newsletter #62

I'm proud of myself. I took a day off on Saturday - my first since Christmas Day. That's one small step towards a saner lifestyle. Joanna and I went to a "Farming of the Future" expo and listened to a scary lecture on genetically modified food. If you're interested in the care and maintenance of a small planet, see:
zero.com.au/agen and zero.com.au/agen/html/links.html

My next goal is to manage two days off. Wow! Just like in the bad old days when I was working for someone else.

"Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself." - Chief Seattle, 1854.

CONTENTS:

1. Sack your boss, says George Parry
2. How to find domain names faster
3. PlugInGo.com pays in cash and points
4. $1 per lead
5. AllClicks.com clicks could be on the nose
6. Guess which banner is best
7. Ken Evoy looks dog years ahead
8. Free banner advertising - did you win?
9. Send yourself an email
10. How to rate programs

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1. Sack your boss, says George Parry
====================================

Monday was going to be the day when I tidied up my desktops - physical and virtual. However, I received an intriguing article from rough diamond George Parry, couldn't resist taking a quick peek at his free book - and ended up spending the next five hours studying it.

George's book would make an enthralling movie. The star is a flawed hero who makes millions of dollars, goes broke, and claws his way back up again. It's a ripping yarn, sprinkled with larger-than-life characters who take daring risks, drink too much and for a while forget what is really important in life.

George says his book contains the distilled experience of $70 million in mail-order and Internet sales over 20 years.

"The fastest way to make your first million is to ditch your job and get a business happening," George writes.

Always take risks, he says. "You're going to need to sack your boss and go to work for your customers..."

George's over-all theme: Commit acts of outrageous generosity.

Most would-be entrepreneurs go about things the wrong way, seeking to extract profit immediately, over-promising and under-delivering, he says.

"The key is to help others get what they want and profit will come as a by-product. Look at the sites with the highest profiles: AltaVista, Excite, Yahoo. They didn't start out trying to extract profit. They set out to provide such a brilliant service that visitors made them their home page..."

Expressing the theme slightly differently, an excellent article by Jason McCabe Calacanis in the August 4 edition of Silicon Alley Daily says that "the person who empowers the individual most wins online".

George Parry's advice: "Don't sell it. Give it away. If it costs you nothing to reproduce the material then give it freely. If it costs something, then sell it at cost. What you are buying is goodwill, mind-space. It will take a while to establish your brand or your name.

"Prepare the soil," George says. "The web is full of rip-off merchants promising the earth and delivering a mouthful of clay. Do the opposite. Under-promise and over-deliver. You are building the foundations of an outrageously successful enterprise so take the time to dig deep and well. When you earn trust, people will then trust you with their money."

After many experiences with rip-off merchants, you're probably wondering what George is REALLY selling. Let me reassure you. He waits until Chapter 12 before he makes a fleeting reference to two web sites, and very briefly mentions them again at the end. That's it. The whole book is advice from a winner generously given in an entertaining, stimulating way.

George calls his book "Making Your First Million. An Internet Guide to Principle-Centered Prosperity."

I call it brilliant. I wish this guy was on my team.

georgeparry.com.au

[UPDATE: This site has vanished.]

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==================================
2. How to find domain names faster
==================================

Nathan Wallace of E-gineer.com has created a useful, free tool to help people find domain names. If you're hunting for that memorable domain name which every Internet marketer needs, Domainator will help you find it faster than Network Solutions.

Domainator checks domain availability, US trademarks, definitions, synonyms and similar words. It works well.

domainator.e-gineer.com

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3. PlugInGo.com pays in cash and points
=======================================

Thom Schlip's PlugInGo.com is a new affiliate network which pays in cash and points.

"Points that Pay" are awarded to affiliates for performing tasks such as checking their stats daily or joining a targeted content oriented merchant program. The points can be used to bid for items such as TVs and CDs at monthly online auctions.

PlugInGo says it provides "a complete turnkey third party affiliate network offering affiliate sign-ups, sales tracking, lead generation, payment to affiliates and affiliate recruitment". Banner rotation and tracking are also provided to merchants. Sales can be by pay per lead or pay per sale.

The network is working with more than 20 merchants, says Allicyn Hackett of PlugInGo.com. However, the online list needs to be improved. I wasted time clicking on subject headings to see if a merchant had been signed up in each particular category.

Affiliates will receive one check every month, no matter how many merchant programs they participate in. An e-mail will be sent to both the affiliate and the merchant when a sale is made which includes how much commission is earned.

PlugInGo's CEO and owner Thom Schlip was co-founder and co-owner of NECSAS Corporation, a high-end computer systems integrator. NECSAS was named by Entrepreneur magazine as the 19th fastest growing small business in the U.S. Clients included Lockheed, ABC Television, US Department of Commerce and the US Navy. Thom sold his part of the company a year ago to start PlugInGo.com.

PlugInGo.com merchants and affiliates will receive continuous merchant/affiliate support through discussion boards, chat sessions and newsletters.

"Our banner rotation and tracking system allows affiliates to copy and paste their advertisements only once, after which if a merchant updates their button or banner advertisement it is automatically updated on all of their affiliate sites," Allicyn says.

"This also assures the merchant that their advertisements are always up to date. Banner tracking provides merchants with valuable statistics on their ads' performance, allowing them to adjust their ad campaign when necessary," Allicyn says.

"We do not require affiliates to earn a monthly minimum to receive a commission check ... We do not have any hidden fees, such as postage, check fees or service installation fees. We also offer a lowest set-up fee of $749 and the lowest ongoing transaction fee in the industry at only 18%." (When I looked, the contract said 20%.)

An unusual feature is that affiliates can buy points, and all points expire after each monthly auction unless you have paid $4.95 a month to become a Points Plus Member. If you do that, you can accumulate your points to bid on more expensive items.

For you to receive commissions, the merchant must have funds in his account.

The agreement says: "If the merchant's deposit balance (and therefore payout) has declined to zero, you will receive a zero payout ... until such time that the merchant makes an additional deposit to its PlugInGo merchant account."

Merchants pay various commissions. As well, PlugInGo is a two-tier network offering a 7% lifetime commission for any qualified affiliate referral.

[UPDATE: Plugingo network closed.]

==============
4. $1 per lead
==============

DomainCollection.com pays $1 per lead on every completed quote form received.

Raul Drelichman of DomainCollection.com says it sells only premium domain names and has more than 15,000 names in all categories. Prices start at $1,000.

Webmasters with personal pages are not wanted as associates. Only high quality commercial sites are allowed. You must promote the program on a web site and not alter the provided code.

http://www.DomainCollection.Com

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============================================
5. AllClicks.com clicks could be on the nose
============================================

Robert Mooney's AllClicks.com pays 3 cents per click - wherever it comes from. The company will pay you to link any text, pictures, logos, buttons, etc.

"As long as there is a real live surfer clicking on the link, you get paid," AllClicks.com says.

It's a two-tier program, paying 5% on the second tier.

The agreement is highly unusual. Misleading links appear to be approved by AllClicks. "Link to whatever you wish," it says.

"For instance, you can put a text link saying 'Click here for more info' or 'next page' and link it to AllClicks ... 'Click Here For Image Gallery 2' or 'continue by clicking here' are a couple of good ones," the AllClicks FAQ says.

As one commentator says, you can publish a photo of your nose and if people click on it and go to AllClicks.com, you'll get paid.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

I don't think it's wise to mislead your visitors. I haven't signed up.

=============================
6. Guess which banner is best
=============================

Mike Scanlin of Four Corners Effective Banners tested four banners in July, advertising AssociatePrograms.com.

bannertips.com/BT014_banners2.shtml

Take a look and guess which banner did the best. Then, look at the actual stats here:

bannertips.com/BT014_answers2.shtml

The total number of click-throughs was 212 from 40,000 impressions, Mike says.

"So, if you had bought run-of-network banners for a $20 CPM, you would have paid $800, for a cost-per-visitor of $3.77. An expensive way to increase your traffic! I know you already know this, just pointing it out ..."

Mmmmmmm. I wonder what the lifetime value of a visitor is?

You can subscribe to Mike's Banner Tips e-mail list here:
bannertips.com/joinlist.shtml

[UPDATE: This site has vanished.]

=================================
7. Ken Evoy looks dog years ahead
=================================

The Affiliate Radio Network (ARN) has lined up some interesting new guests. For example, you can hear a prediction from Ken Evoy of http://makemy.sitesell.com on what revenue sharing programs will be like a few dog years from now.

ARN guests include:

Ken Evoy of Make Your Site SELL!
realvoices.com/affiliateradio/shows/08011999/guest3.ram
Mike Curtis of One & Only
realvoices.com/affiliateradio/shows/08011999/guest2.ram
Jefferey Brewer of GoTo.com
realvoices.com/affiliateradio/shows/affsolutions/keynote.ram

More details:
realvoices.com/affiliateradio/

[UPDATE: RealVoices died.]

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=========================================
8. Free banner advertising - did you win?
=========================================

I've just drawn the latest winners of free banner advertising for a year on AssociatePrograms.com. They are:

Douglas H. Aiken
Thingsofnature.com

Dawn Henthorn
Urltools.com

Want to be in the draw for free banner advertising?

No, you don't have to post my banner. Just cut and paste the following link and put it ANYWHERE on your site. (Of course I would like it prominently on your main page or a high-traffic page, but how generous you are is entirely up to you.)

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/
AssociatePrograms.com
Allan Gardyne's comprehensive directory of revenue sharing programs and an award-winning newsletter.

(Feel free to change the wording.)

[UPDATE: This offer has closed.]

=========================
9. Send yourself an email
=========================

I received an email this week which contained not one but TWO typing mistakes in the URLs which an experienced webmaster was trying to promote. If you're in a hurry - and aren't we all? - it's easy to create a new signature, glance at it, and think it's OK. It's often hard to see our own typing mistakes.

See how easy it is to make a mistake. One of the following URLs will make you money. The other will probably just annoy people:

http//www.AssociatePrograms.com/corey
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/corey

Why not send emails to yourself and see if you can spot any mistakes in your signatures?

How to design a signature file
webbers.com/emark/sigfiles-nick-nichols.html

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10. How to rate programs
========================

Are you doing well with a revenue sharing program - or disastrously? Here's a fast way to let other people know.

If you would like to vote for a program listed at AssociatePrograms.com, in the left-hand column, click on the appropriate category, for example Electronics/software, then click on "Rate It" and select the rating you want to give that program, from 1 to 10 (1 is BAD).

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com

All the best

Allan Gardyne