Affiliate Programs and the Credit Crunch

Judging from some of the reaction I've read about in the press to the downturn in money supply that has become known as 'The Credit Crunch' you think the world of commerce had come to a full stop.

Friends who know that I'm heavily involved in Internet Marketing have been asking what I'm going to do now that no-one is buying anything. Everyone seems to assume that the online marketing industry has ground to a halt.

Nothing could to be further from the truth.

OK, I've seen a few programs in the financial services sector cease in the last few weeks but there's a high churn in that sector at any time. My advice to anyone involved in a business that might be at risk is 'Don't cut back on advertising. This is your opportunity to steal a march on your competitors who may be cutting back.'

So the money supply has dried up has it? No, it hasn't and neither has people's need for the things they buy. Unless you are in a business that's directly affected your income most likely is unchanged. If you own your home with a mortgage you may have seen your equity fall and in some cases it may even be a nominal negative figure right now. All that means is that if you sold your house you wouldn't raise enough money to clear the mortgage on it. So if you don't have to sell, then don't. It's not rocket science. Negative equity can really be a problem if you're having to move but if you don't just stay put.

I had this situation with a flat I owned when the market crashed in the early 90's. Prices had fallen to the point where I could buy, so I did. All the experts said the market had bottomed out. It hadn't- prices continued to fall. I paid £47,000 for my flat. Eighteen months later it was worth half that. Four years and one child later with another on the way we had to move and the property still wasn't worth what I owed on it. So we rented, and rented the flat out to make up some of the shortfall, and we took in a lodger and I took a second job, working online. Times were tough and I had more outgoings each month than I had incomings and debt started to mount.

The key aout this was it was all planned. Four years later I sold the flat for £75,000, clearing the mortgage and all my debts and leaving a nice balance for me.

So if anyone if worrying - Don't Panic!!!

These things go in cycles but they are so slow in turning that people forget the last time we were at this point.

Anyway back to Internet Marketing. Just this week I've added some new programs to the directory on Global Affiliate Programs. Familiar names such as WH Smith, Yahoo and Wicked Lingerie. Direct Agents have also justed launched their own referal program. They've been running as network fr a while now but have just launched their own program so hopefully I'll start getting paid for the affiliates I refer to them.

I can also confirm that PepperJamNetwork who I have blogged about before do pay on time, through PayPal, as I received my first payment from them since joining a few months back.

I'll leave with a final thought. There's no money around so we're all doomed? Not in this life , we're not and here's why.

On Tuesday a campaign that I support started. It had been planned a few months ago quietly, on the web, between people who knew about it. I've added a link on this blog. It's the link named Atheist Bus Campaign.

A bit of background. There was an article the Guardian newspaper in June which was reproduced in their online discussion forum 'Comment is Free'. It was written by the comedy screenwriter Ariane Sherine and was about how she had been so shocked by a pro-religious ad on a London bus that she had checked out the ad owners website only to be told she was damned to eternal suffering and fire, or words to that effect.

As a throwaway line she suggested that maybe atheists should advertise on buses as well. The small online community that is CIF thought this was a great idea. It was soon discover that a bus ad campaign would cost £11,000. The idea therefore was to raise 2,200 donation of £5 each, the sum which had earlier been suggested as a fair donation.

Ok, so how long should a small atheist online community give itself to raise 2,200 donors?

Firstly in the meantime the biology professor and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins heard about the campaign from somewhere and promised to match any donation up £5,500, so the target was halfed and the blue touch paper lit.

The idea was to run the ads on buses in Janaury, so the campaign launched itself through the justgiving web site at 7.30 am on 21st October, plannning to raise the £5,500 by January 2009.

The target sum was reached at 10.06 am. It took only two hours 36 minutes for word to get around and for people to donate the amount needed. By lunchtime that sum had doubled. By the evening Christian Voice, an extreme right wing Christian group (actually one bloke as far as we can work out but he's very vocal) had started to condemn the campaign and the speed of donations increased.

After just four days the Atheist Bus Campaign has raise a staggering £102,770.93. The largest donation, excluding that of Professor Dawkins being £3,250 paid in two installments from the one person.

So in January if you are in London you may see buses running around with the line "There's probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life."

So anyone still thinking there's no money out there? You just have to have something people will be willing to part with money for, like a rational view that doesn't scare you with fairy stories.

So in conclusion, as this has gone on longer than I though it would.

There's probably no shortage of money, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.

Nokia Comes With Music

The Carphone Warehouse has today announced that it will be offering the ground-breaking Nokia Comes With Music service exclusively on Pay As You Go, with a range of exclusive Nokia 5310 XpressMusic handsets this autumn.

This fantastic offer will attract a double commission bonus, but only while stocks last! For every
handset sold, you will receive a £5 bonus (on top of the usual £5 PAYG commission) for each
completed sale, paid as one lump sum at the end of the month.

The Nokia 5310 will be available with the unique Comes With Music service for a one-off cost
exclusively from over 805 Carphone Warehouse stores and online. Furthermore, the handset will also
be available with eight colour variants, exclusively at The Carphone Warehouse, ensuring that all
customers are catered for.

More information is available on the Insider Page;
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?ARTICLE=MAIN.UK.INTERNET.THEINSIDER.NEWSANDINFO.CPWNEWS.MAIN

This should sell out fast so get in on the selling.

There will lots of Christmas Offers coming soon as well.