Associate Programs Newsletter #84
I almost overlooked my own anniversary. It seems a long, long time ago, but it’s only one year since I “quit my day job” to concentrate full time on AssociatePrograms.com – I quit my day job My heartfelt thanks to all you wonderful readers who have helped me with advice, news tips and – most important of all – your friendship. Welcome, too, to the latest new readers. You helped us top the 12,000 subscriber mark this week.
CONTENTS:
1. Challenge to affiliate program managers
2. Who wants AffiliateUniverse.com?
3. Free enhancement for your site
4. Germans ahead with electronic transfers
5. Generic RealNames OK – if you pay enough
6. LinkShare and Be Free obtain patents
7. Proflowers doubles its commission rate
8. New virus disguised as a Y2K fix
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[UPDATE: Nexchange closed.]>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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1. Challenge to affiliate program managers
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Are you doing something really special? Are you helping your affiliates achieve spectacular sales? If so, I’d like to give you and your program FREE publicity.
At the E-Commerce 2000 conference in Hawaii in January as part of my presentation I’ll give a case study of one of the most effective affiliate programs on the Net.
However, just in case there’s an even better one out there which I’ve overlooked, I’m throwing out this challenge to affiliate program managers. If yours is really special, if you’re achieving excellent results for your affiliates, please write and tell me why I should talk about yours.
Write to me here:
allan AT AssociatePrograms.com
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you $10 for the first qualified offer you send us and $1 for
every qualified offer after that. Plus, you’ll be entered in our
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2. Who wants AffiliateUniverse.com?
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As you’ve probably heard, you can now buy domain names which are up to 63 characters long, giving you scope to buy names which were previously unavailable.
To see if the name you want is still available, the most reliable place to search is
Do you think all the good names are gone? Try a search of recently UNREGISTERED names – ones which someone thought were worth registering but have now lapsed.
To do that, use the BOTTOM search engine on the main page at Whois.net.
You can type in a keyword and find dozens or hundreds of unregistered domain names containing that keyword.
I had a fairly quick look and found that these ones were among the thousands available today:
SomewhereFabulous.com
WhereToMeetWomen.com
AffiliateUniverse.com
Where’s the best place to register a domain name?
TotalNIC charges only $35 to register a domain name for TWO years.
https://www.totalNIC.net
Unfortunately, TotalNIC doesn’t have an associate program, so you won’t find many people recommending it. They’re more likely to send you to a company which charges $60.
If you haven’t bought a good, memorable domain name yet, it’s imperative that you grab a good one now before someone else does.
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3. Free enhancement for your site
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Firetalk is a program that enables you to have conference calls, talk to friends and take web tours. It’s a communication service that allows you to talk with people who visit your site, or even just to chat with friends. You won’t earn commissions with this one – Firetalk is a free enhancement to add value to your site.
[UPDATE: Firetalk is no longer available.]==========================================
4. Germans ahead with electronic transfers
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I received a quick response to my Special Edition on PayPal, the “Beam me up some money” electronic cash transfer system – Introducing PayPal
Hi Allan,
Sounds like a great service offering a great improvement – for the Americans.
From my German perspective, I am always amazed how inefficient
the American payment methods are using checks. In Germany we
benefit from a well developed banking system. Checks are long
since out of use. Nearly all kinds of payments are done as
electronic transfers directly to the recipient’s bank account.
Most German merchants that have set up affiliate programs use
this payment system and consequently most use lower minimum
payout amounts required than US merchants.
Unfortunately due to these advantages I will probably never get
an e-mail saying “You’ve got cash.” What a pity!
Best wishes, Stefanie Puetz-Lehmann
https://www.partnerprogramme.com/english.htm
Thanks, Stefanie. I guess your letter helps explain why PayPal has teamed up with Deutsche Bank. I hope they go international soon.
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5. Generic RealNames OK – if you pay enough
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If you tried to buy a RealName to promote your website and ran into bother because the name you chose was considered “generic” and therefore disallowed, you’ll be fascinated by a new article written by Danny Sullivan.
It explains how RealNames will make exceptions – if you are willing to pay lots of money. Exceptions have been made for MP3.com and jobs.com.
[The RealNames system folded.]=======================================
6. LinkShare and Be Free obtain patents
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The attorneys are going to be busy for a while, working out what all this means.
After three years of waiting, LinkShare has obtained a US patent on the technology it uses to manage affiliate programs.
Linkshare’s announcement is at:
linkshare.com/press/patent.html.
The patent number is 5,991,740. It is available for review from the IBM Patent Server https://www.patents.ibm.com/ibm.html.
Exactly what this will mean to the affiliate industry, no one seems to know yet, but attorneys from the other major affiliate networks are carefully scrutinizing the patent.
Be Free, too, has obtained a patent – number 5,991,735 – for “Computer Program Apparatus for Determining Behavioral Profiles of a Computer User”
The system is not in use yet. It will enable Be Free to study your behavior and create an anonymous user profile of you.
“It tracks how you click, how you surf, how you shop and can be used on a network of sites, not just one. Be Free can target users by anonymous user profiles . . . and target ads and shopping offers based on the anonymous users’ earlier behavior,” writes Ola Edvardsson in the AffiliateTips.com newsletter.
Ola has written a long analysis of the situation:
“The Patent Monday – Playing The Affiliate Game”
affiliatetips.com/aa12.htm
(Thanks to Jonathan Ezor https://www.farrellfritz.com for being the first to tell me about LinkShare’s patent.)
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7. Proflowers doubles its commission rate
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For December, Proflowers.com has doubled its affiliate network commission rate to 20% – currently the highest of all the major flower sites, says Malinda Romine of Proflowers.
This holiday special rate applies to all sites that do not pass the commission on to their customers. With over 60,000 members, Proflowers has the largest affiliate network among all the flower sites. “Affiliates are invited to take advantage of this commission when purchasing flowers for presents or for themselves,” Proflowers has told affiliates.
You can join the program at Be Free
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8. New virus disguised as a Y2K fix
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Computer security experts have warned of a new virus that can update itself with potentially destructive instructions from a website in Japan.
The first of its kind, this virus primarily affects home computers and spreads through Microsoft software used for chat rooms. The W95.Babylonia virus comes disguised as a Y2K fix, making it the sixth known virus preying on the Year 2000 glitch.
With all these viruses ready to pounce, perhaps it would be an appropriate time to promote McAfee anti-virus software. You can sign up at LinkShare:
https://www.associateprograms.com/linkshare
All the best,
Allan Gardyne
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