Conventional Wisdom would dictate that during a recession, when people are supposed to be spending less an industry such as Affiliate Marketing, based as it is on commissions from other people's spending, would be hit hard.
The logic would be less spend = less commission = less income.
How wrong can you be.
The recession is of anything a boon to the Affiliate Marketing industry because people are spending their money more carefully and are taking their time looking for the best deals. So it doesn't matter whether you're selling clothes, holidays, computers or anything else the key is still to turn your visitors into customers by doing exactly what the Affiliate Industry does best, pre-selling goods so that customers want to buy.
If people are taking time to look for bargains gthey are more likely to find your affiliate site than if they just went straight to the web site of a major store or manufacturer and that's your chance to pre-sell your goods.
Also as I think I discussed previously forward thinking companies will not be closing down their advertising during the recession as it is only those that retain customers who will survive.
In order to do this the companies are competing for customers like never before. The Christmas sales seemed to run in February and the Easter sales started soon after. Then we had Spring sales and now that summer is here, in terms of BST if not the weather, expect Summer sales especially in the holiday, hotels and travel markets. It seems sales are now the norm and not the exception.
To illustrate my point Marks and Spencer has just launched their 'Back to School' sale. This is the first time this happened to my knowledge before the schools have even broken up for summer.
Crazy? Yes, but let's not waste an opportunity to sell thing even if the price is slightly less and the margins tighter than ever.
The merchants are not just competing for customers. They are also competing for affiliates with a range of bonus payments for hitting sales targets, prize draws for first sales, and holidays all currently on offer.
Now is not a bad time to be an affiliate; it is just an interesting time.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Monday, 25 May 2009
New Site Launched and Email Problems
Hi Folks,
It's not often I launch a whole new web site but I've done it this month.
A long time ago, so long in fact that a lot of you were still at school then, I was actively involved in local politics. During that time I took part in a lot of elections at every level. Now I've decided to put the knowledge I picked up online at http://www.howtowinelections.co.uk/ .
I hope the knowledge will help independents fight their campaigns more professionally.
Email Problems : For some reason there was a problem with my email over the weekend and I picked up no messages for about 36 hours. If you have sent me an email and I haven't responded please send it again as it seems to working now.
George
It's not often I launch a whole new web site but I've done it this month.
A long time ago, so long in fact that a lot of you were still at school then, I was actively involved in local politics. During that time I took part in a lot of elections at every level. Now I've decided to put the knowledge I picked up online at http://www.howtowinelections.co.uk/ .
I hope the knowledge will help independents fight their campaigns more professionally.
Email Problems : For some reason there was a problem with my email over the weekend and I picked up no messages for about 36 hours. If you have sent me an email and I haven't responded please send it again as it seems to working now.
George
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
We're Now on FaceBook
When I first set up Global Affiliate Programs one of the things I promised myself was that no visitors would ever get spammed by the site. I even put this pledge straight into the Privacy Policy. Sure, I wanted to know how many visitors the site had and where they came from and what pages or entries in the directory they found most useful and I was able to work out most of that from the page impressions and program click stats.
One of the things that this meant was the site lacked any meaningful form of feedback. Oh, I put my email address on the site and I asked people to let me know if they had problems with any of the programs; a few even did that, but still I felt that there was a distinct lack of communication between myself and the affiliates using the site.
Now all that can be solved as I've launched the Global Affiliate Programs FaceBook Group. OK, I'm only a couple of years late with this but I've been a bit busy trying to build an online business and updating a directory with thousands of entries by hand takes some time.
The aim of the Group is to give affiliates a forum where they can discuss their experiences of the programs in the directory, suggest new programs, discuss methods of promotion and just about anything else they want to discuss. Hopefully we can get Program Managers involved as well. I've invited a few already.
So if you're on FaceBook, and let's face it everyone seems to be these days join the group and make it your own. It's brand new, so still small in terms of members and I haven't even posted the first discussion thread yet, but maybe you can do that.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=73381649229
George
One of the things that this meant was the site lacked any meaningful form of feedback. Oh, I put my email address on the site and I asked people to let me know if they had problems with any of the programs; a few even did that, but still I felt that there was a distinct lack of communication between myself and the affiliates using the site.
Now all that can be solved as I've launched the Global Affiliate Programs FaceBook Group. OK, I'm only a couple of years late with this but I've been a bit busy trying to build an online business and updating a directory with thousands of entries by hand takes some time.
The aim of the Group is to give affiliates a forum where they can discuss their experiences of the programs in the directory, suggest new programs, discuss methods of promotion and just about anything else they want to discuss. Hopefully we can get Program Managers involved as well. I've invited a few already.
So if you're on FaceBook, and let's face it everyone seems to be these days join the group and make it your own. It's brand new, so still small in terms of members and I haven't even posted the first discussion thread yet, but maybe you can do that.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=73381649229
George
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Good News and Bad news
Hi again, it's been a while since I posted on here and I'm sorry about that.
First the Bad News.
I've been running Sleep Easy Loans as a meta-Search Engine for the last 5 years or so. I noticed the other day that some of the shtml and php files had been hacked and some code added. I had this happen before with Global Affiliate Programs and I fixed it by uploading my backup copies so I tried the same thing with Sleep Easy Loans and the search function has been seriously messed up, also the style sheets aren't working. I've tried fixing it with everything I know but no luck. So now I have a search engine that can't search, so that's no use.
The hosting for it is due to be renewed at the end of this month and I don't think I'll bother. Any one want to buy a PR2 loans domain?
Now the Good News.
Firstly, I've added a new section to Global Affiliate Programs. The new section is for programs related to Legal and Tax Forms and Services. The idea came from Allen Freeman of StandardLegal.com.
On the form that program managers use to submit their programs to the Global Affiliate Programs directory is a question which asks which section or sections they think their program belongs in. The thinking is simple; I don't assume to more about somebody else's business than they do. Mostly this bit gets missed out and I have to work out what someone is selling from what they tell me which is not always as easy as it sounds; some program managers suggest one or two of the existing categories but Allen to his credit suggested that I add a new Legal category. I've added in the Tax element and expanded it to include services as well as forms to make the page sustainable and searchable and that's how I got the new section.
The other good news.
The world markets are in crisis; we're all going to be poor; and governments are buying out banks as if they were at a fire sale. Therefore it's a great time to start a Foreign Exchange Trading Business. No, I'm not mad. Listen to this.
Etoro Foreign Exchange Trading provide an easy to use web based platform that enables people to conduct foreign currency exchange from home through their PCs and laptops. They run an affiliate program to draw in business and they've been on Global Affiliate Programs since last year. They contacted me this month to find out how I would like to be paid. That's always a question I like to hear.
It turns out that as well as referring affiliates I had referred a few clients their way and upshot was they owe over $3,000. That's nice as I have a couple of unpaid bills that would be just about covered by that with maybe a little left over. The people I had referred to them had made far more; that $3K was only the affiliate commission.
During our conversation Etoro asked if I had an ideas on how I could promote them further. When I suggested white label sites they told me the already did that. They must have added it after I joined their affiliate program as I'm sure I would have noticed that, but better late tha never I have now added the Etoro Forex Trading White Label Site to Global Affiliate Programs. You can find it here http://www.etoroforextrading.com.globalaffiliateprograms.co.uk/ .
Ok, you're think, very interesting, good for you, don't gloat you've had a little windfall, what's that to do with me. Well, since Etoro contacted me I've been looking into it in a bit more detail. The first thing is Etoro is not a scam. It works so well you might think it is one but it is not. It works like an online casino; you put money in, you move it between currencies based on their respectives value and trends, which are all available to you on the Etoro screen. If you trade profitably and sensibly you can make money, a lot of money. It's just like with poker - don't stake more than you can afford to lose, keep counting the whole time and don't do it drunk.
With the markets all over the place at the moment there is a lot of movement in the currency markets and it is that movement that gives you the chance to profit. It's all about timing. Go to the white Label site, suign up and use the 'Play' option so that you get some practice before you trade for real if you've never done it before.
Good luck.
First the Bad News.
I've been running Sleep Easy Loans as a meta-Search Engine for the last 5 years or so. I noticed the other day that some of the shtml and php files had been hacked and some code added. I had this happen before with Global Affiliate Programs and I fixed it by uploading my backup copies so I tried the same thing with Sleep Easy Loans and the search function has been seriously messed up, also the style sheets aren't working. I've tried fixing it with everything I know but no luck. So now I have a search engine that can't search, so that's no use.
The hosting for it is due to be renewed at the end of this month and I don't think I'll bother. Any one want to buy a PR2 loans domain?
Now the Good News.
Firstly, I've added a new section to Global Affiliate Programs. The new section is for programs related to Legal and Tax Forms and Services. The idea came from Allen Freeman of StandardLegal.com.
On the form that program managers use to submit their programs to the Global Affiliate Programs directory is a question which asks which section or sections they think their program belongs in. The thinking is simple; I don't assume to more about somebody else's business than they do. Mostly this bit gets missed out and I have to work out what someone is selling from what they tell me which is not always as easy as it sounds; some program managers suggest one or two of the existing categories but Allen to his credit suggested that I add a new Legal category. I've added in the Tax element and expanded it to include services as well as forms to make the page sustainable and searchable and that's how I got the new section.
The other good news.
The world markets are in crisis; we're all going to be poor; and governments are buying out banks as if they were at a fire sale. Therefore it's a great time to start a Foreign Exchange Trading Business. No, I'm not mad. Listen to this.
Etoro Foreign Exchange Trading provide an easy to use web based platform that enables people to conduct foreign currency exchange from home through their PCs and laptops. They run an affiliate program to draw in business and they've been on Global Affiliate Programs since last year. They contacted me this month to find out how I would like to be paid. That's always a question I like to hear.
It turns out that as well as referring affiliates I had referred a few clients their way and upshot was they owe over $3,000. That's nice as I have a couple of unpaid bills that would be just about covered by that with maybe a little left over. The people I had referred to them had made far more; that $3K was only the affiliate commission.
During our conversation Etoro asked if I had an ideas on how I could promote them further. When I suggested white label sites they told me the already did that. They must have added it after I joined their affiliate program as I'm sure I would have noticed that, but better late tha never I have now added the Etoro Forex Trading White Label Site to Global Affiliate Programs. You can find it here http://www.etoroforextrading.com.globalaffiliateprograms.co.uk/ .
Ok, you're think, very interesting, good for you, don't gloat you've had a little windfall, what's that to do with me. Well, since Etoro contacted me I've been looking into it in a bit more detail. The first thing is Etoro is not a scam. It works so well you might think it is one but it is not. It works like an online casino; you put money in, you move it between currencies based on their respectives value and trends, which are all available to you on the Etoro screen. If you trade profitably and sensibly you can make money, a lot of money. It's just like with poker - don't stake more than you can afford to lose, keep counting the whole time and don't do it drunk.
With the markets all over the place at the moment there is a lot of movement in the currency markets and it is that movement that gives you the chance to profit. It's all about timing. Go to the white Label site, suign up and use the 'Play' option so that you get some practice before you trade for real if you've never done it before.
Good luck.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Adsense and Interest-Based Advertising
I suppose it's time I got back to work.
The catalyst for this is today's earth-shattering news that Google have just launched what they refer to as 'interest-based advertising'. It sounds like good old profiling to me but what do I know.
As an Adsense user I received an email from Google this morning letting me know that I should update my Privacy Policy to reflect the changes Google have made to Adsense. This is what it said :-
We're writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site's privacy policies. You'll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.
Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to display ads based on a user's previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. "sports enthusiast"). To develop interest categories, we will recognise the types of web pages that users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category. To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Centre at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310&hl=en_GB.
As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557&hl=en_GB to ensure that your site's privacy policies are up-to-date and make any necessary changes by 8 April 2009. Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we're unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.
For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.
OK, so like a lot of you I was familiar with the old concept of Adsense, that being that you put the code for the ads on your page, it read your page, especially the title, description, and content tags as well as the text content and throw up an ad that was meant to be relevant to the page thus increasing the CTR. So far so good. Now Google are saying that the ads they are going to throw up will also be based on other pages that your visitor has been too which have also had Adsense ads on them to build up a profile of the visitor. The link above includes this explanation :-
The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher's website and either view or click an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user's browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web more effectively.
Sounds OK, but up till now you could basically see the sort of ads that were appearing on your site now with the ads being linked to the visitors profile what you see and what one of your visitors see may be totally different which means you have relinquish some control over your sites. At the end of the day if it increases the CTR advertisers will love and if it doesn't they won't.
I'm going to watch developments closely.
The catalyst for this is today's earth-shattering news that Google have just launched what they refer to as 'interest-based advertising'. It sounds like good old profiling to me but what do I know.
As an Adsense user I received an email from Google this morning letting me know that I should update my Privacy Policy to reflect the changes Google have made to Adsense. This is what it said :-
We're writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site's privacy policies. You'll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.
Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to display ads based on a user's previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. "sports enthusiast"). To develop interest categories, we will recognise the types of web pages that users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category. To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Centre at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310&hl=en_GB.
As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557&hl=en_GB to ensure that your site's privacy policies are up-to-date and make any necessary changes by 8 April 2009. Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we're unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.
For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.
OK, so like a lot of you I was familiar with the old concept of Adsense, that being that you put the code for the ads on your page, it read your page, especially the title, description, and content tags as well as the text content and throw up an ad that was meant to be relevant to the page thus increasing the CTR. So far so good. Now Google are saying that the ads they are going to throw up will also be based on other pages that your visitor has been too which have also had Adsense ads on them to build up a profile of the visitor. The link above includes this explanation :-
The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher's website and either view or click an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user's browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web more effectively.
Sounds OK, but up till now you could basically see the sort of ads that were appearing on your site now with the ads being linked to the visitors profile what you see and what one of your visitors see may be totally different which means you have relinquish some control over your sites. At the end of the day if it increases the CTR advertisers will love and if it doesn't they won't.
I'm going to watch developments closely.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Grace Rebecca Ellen Forsyth (2008 - 2009)
Back in November I was delighted to post that work on the site had slowed because we had been joined by Grace.
Now it is with shock and a sadness so deep it is impossible to measure that I have to report that Grace passed away suddenly and in her sleep on the morning of Saturday 14th February.
Grace was a wonderful baby; she loved company and would complain if she wasn't being held by someone. Every day she would fall asleep in my arms and I would work on the site one handed knowing she would wake up if I lay her down in her bed.
Grace brought joy and light to everyone who met her. She leaves a hole in our lives that can never be filled. A part of me died with her yesterday. Her brother Mark was weeping; her mother Charmaine is not coping at all. Her sister Abigail wept herself to sleep last night. Jacob is in tears.
No matter how bad you can imagine this to be trust me when I say that it is worse than that. You go over in your head the events that led up to her death asking yourself if there were any signs you should have seen, but there were none, you blame yourself even though everyone is telling you not to.
Grace was sleeping in the bed next to me. I had been working late the night before and was having a lie-in. Her mother checked on her before going downstairs to dress Lucy when she came back 10 minutes later I was still asleep and Grace was gone.
The exact cause of her death is yet to be determined but trying to find out what happened in those ten minutes is the only thing keeping me sane right now.
Grace was perfect she was beautiful; she was 88 days old. Our friend Cathie has started an online memorial on Gone Too Soon for her here http://grace-rebecca-ellen-forsyth.gonetoosoon.org/ .
Update to Global Affiliate Programs and Sleep Easy Loans are postponed until further notice out of respect for Grace.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
New Program for the New Year - 121Doc.co.uk
This has got to be the easiest way to pick up $100 I seen yet. The program is run by 121doc.co.uk
121doc.co.uk - leading online clinic offering patients access to doctors for the treatment of a variety of medical conditions. 121doc only deal with doctors and employ services of network of pharmacies that have been verified for their authenticity and codes of conduct. Patients need to complete consultation online for treatments, and may be charged if deemed suitable. With a variety of revolutionary treatments available online, millions of people across the globe are looking for safe and secure treatment every day to treat their lifestyle related conditions privately within the comfort of their home. The ease and comfort of online treatments have truly made a positive difference in people’s lives in every corner of the world. As a webmaster, you can join the 121doc affiliate programme and make a very good income from referring visitors to their site. Just inserting either text links or a banner link to 121doc.co.uk, you will earn 13% from every order placed.
You can easily make your first $100 by doing business with 121doc.
That sounds like the surest way to earn $100 I've seen in a while.
Speak Soon
George
You can easily make your first $100 by doing business with 121doc.
- 121doc will deposit $25 when you sign up for 121doc affiliate program.
- 121doc will add to that $10 bonus to place a link or banner on your website or blog.
- 121doc will also add $10 for writing a 100 words review about 121doc on your blog or forum which may encourage the visitors to visit 121doc from your website or blog.
- 121doc will also add $10 for doing forums posting about 121doc on relevant forums related to health.
- 121doc will also add $10 for referring a webmaster to join 121doc affiliate program.
- 121doc will also add $25 for generating 250 unique clicks from your website, blog or forums or any other way of online marketing.
- and finally, 121doc will add $10 extra bonus when you generate your first successful sales order.
That sounds like the surest way to earn $100 I've seen in a while.
Speak Soon
George
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