Christmas Electronic Gadget Gift Ideas

Here are a couple of ideas for great Christmas presents.

iRobot Roomba 500 Series Robots - feature dramatic improvements in navigation and floor coverage, edge and corner cleaning, brushes, filters and advanced anti-tangle technology. As a member of our latest generation of home robots, the iRobot Roomba 520 Vacuum Cleaning Robot features the newest innovations for dramatically improved performance, reliability and durability. It cleans up to three rooms on a single charge, gets into hard-to-reach areas like wall edges and beneath furniture while avoiding stairs and other drop-offs. Roomba automatically adjusts from carpets to hard floors and back again. A Virtual Wall accessory can be purchased to add on extra functionality, by telling Roomba where to clean or by restricting off-limit areas.

Digital Photo Frames

I thought these would be huge last year but maybe I was just a year early.

PC World are looking to boost activity on their Digital Photo Frames, so have increased the commission on these from 2.5% to 4%! They have a dedicated landing page and are currently offering savings of up to half price.


This commission increase will last until 5pm 7th December 2009.

Christmas Cards and Christmas Landing Pages

When you don't know what to promote at Christmas, because you may not know what this year's latest next big thing is going to be, you can always stick with the one thing that sells in the millions every year.

That's right, Christmas Cards or Holiday Cards if you prefer, or even Hannukah Cards are always a big seller at this time of year.

Minted.com are running a great incentive. The first 10 Minted partners to reach $5,000 in sales in November and December will receive a $250 bonus.
Minted also like to reward early shoppers with the most attractive discounts of the season. Right now, you can offer Free Shipping on Holiday Cards with code AFSHIP09.

The Currys Christmas landing page is now live here. Currys always do well over Christmas, and so can you.

Dixons alos have a new landing page; this one is for Christmas TV offers. You can see it here - so let's start selling those TV's in time for people to watch the Christmas films in HD and on widescreen.

George

Even More Christmas Marketing Offers

Hi everyone,

Well the Christmas shopping rush is definitely on. Here's a summary of the best offers to come out today.

Maplin will be increasing commissions across the board as of 9am November 13th until December 24th 2009.

The default commission of 4% will be increased to 5.5%. This is quite a significant increase therefore don’t miss out on earning even more commission!

Also as part of the Christmas Incentive Maplin are making 6 prizes available in their Prize Give Away.

6 prizes to be announced are up for grabs these are for as follows:-
Most improved like for like (LFL) sales (£’s) percentage increase between 13/11/09 – 24/12/09: open to all affiliates who lodged sales in the same period last year

Most improved LFL sales (transactions)percentage increase between 13/11/09 –24/12/09 open to all affiliates who lodged sales in the same period last year

Most improved average order value (£’s) percentage increase between 13/11/09 –24/12/09: open to all affiliates who lodged sales in the same period last year

Highest £’s sale lodged between 13/11/09 –24/12/09: open to all affiliates joined the programme in 2009

Highest transaction count (sales) lodged between 13/11/09 –24/12/09: open to all affiliates joined the programme in 2009

Highest value sale on Free Delivery weekends in between 13/11/09 –24/12/09: open to all affiliates.

Goldsmiths have just launched their new promotions in the lead up to Christmas. They have supplied creative advertising Goldsmiths as the largest stockist of TAG Heuer & Omega watches, and displaying Diamond gift sets.

From the 6th November – 23rd December 2009 Goldsmiths are also offering a free gift wrap promotional code that should be entered in the Enter Promotional Code box at the checkout. This code is TCWRAP09.

You can earn up to 20% commission of the total order value.

Kitbag have decided to run a great Christmas affiliate incentive - a £50 Christmas bonus for all affiliates that generate 26 or more confirmed sales on Kitbag.com between 20th November 2009 and 20th December 2009 (inclusive).

Here's the details:

Any affiliate that generates 26 or more confirmed sales on Kitbag.com between 00:01am on 20th November 2009 and 23:59pm on 20th December 2009 is eligible to receive the £50 bonus. The £50 bonus will be in addition to the normal affiliate (tiered) commission rates. Any Kitbag affiliate within Kitbag's 3 affiliate networks (Affiliate Window, Affiliate Future and Tradedoubler) will automatically be rewarded if they reach the target of 26 confirmed sales in the incentive period. Affiliates that have qualified for the £50 bonus will be advised in an email from the affiliate
network shortly after the incentive period is over. The £50 bonus will be paid into all qualifying affiliate's accounts directly as an affiliate bonus on their respective network.

Just Tech Jobs are expecting an upturn in the ITJibs market and are offering any affiliate a $10 bonus when they generate their first sale by the end of January 2010!

And finally Currys, who always do well at Christmas as people splash the cash, or at least the credit are now live on their site with a special Christmas landing page.

That's all for tonight.

George

Another Christmas Special Offer - SECRET SANTA with a Twist from Ann Summers

You know you love it....everybody does... really... Secret Santa has become a bit of an institution and no self-respecting Office Christmas-party would go without it!

YES, we're always buying the gifts last minute and YES, there's always that one person who went and bought a pair of socks... but this year will be different!

Ann Summers had the party-season in mind when they put a 3 for 2 offer on a selection of their raunchiest Secret Santa gift ideas... Just imagine the face of your colleagues /Uni mates/ Tuesday evening Yoga pals when they open your neatly wrapped parcel, expecting to find the usual scented candle, and find in its place: A Chocolate Willy, or Stress Relief Boobs, or Pecker Party Whistle, or Sculpta Sutra Set, Willy Wine Opener.

Priceless...
So get onto the Ann Summers website for a giggle, more gift ideas, and the perfect opportunity to get those Secret Santa presents wrapped up early!

10% off a £50 spend from Friday the 6th to the 13th.

Use Voucher Code: VCODES

Ann Summers, Like BeCheeky yesterday have let me know their current Best Sellers which are -
Sexy Dice £3


Show Off Mug WAS £5 NOW £3


Man Flu Pill WAS £5 NOW £2


Sparkle Gym Bracelet £8


Ravishing Solid perfume £10


Rude Doodle Pad WAS £3 NOW £2


Sexy EYE Mask


Advent Calender £6


Sexy Gone Wild Board Game £10



These are all on the 'Fun' side of rude but if you need to more more about one of the products just click the link.


I don't why the ladies undies retailers should be first off the mark with the Christmas offers but that's who has contacted me recently. Hopefully the range of offers will expand in the run up to Christmas.

Have fun with these in the meantime.


George

Another Christmas Offer

BeCheeky

Hot on the heels of the Figleaves Offer of Free Knickers I mentioned yesterday BeCheecky are offering a free thong in Gift Tin. This cheeky Lou Lou thong in a gift tin by Playful Promises as a great present for any occasion. A round metal tin with a retro pin-up design in pink and peach contains a cute and sexy translucent white thong in a hipster cut. The contrasting gathered red tanga sides have chic bows on each side, whilst the rear features a cheeky cut out teardrop shape. Finished with red bows at the front and rear, wear this thong by Playful Promises with pride!





BeCheeky have also let me know their Top Sellers for this week:



Sans Limites Open G-String Suspender Belt by Sielei: £18.00


Viola Brazilian Brief by Sielei: £10.00


Fleur Embroidered Gel Bra by Caprice: from £20.00


Fleur Embroidered Thong by Caprice: from £10


Viola Animal Chemise by Sielei: £25.00


Viola Long Robe by Sielei: £35.00


Can Can Padded Plunge Bra by Caprice: £20.00


Invisible Pleated Chiffon Babydoll by Sielei: £30.00


Invisible Pleated Chiffon Thong by Sielei: £10.00



Men’s Pro Mesh Brief by Calvin Klein: was £20.00 now £15.00




These should make for a romantic Christmas.



George

Christmas has Started

The nights are getting darker, the temperature's dropped and daylight is becoming scarce; unless you're in the Southern hemisphere of in which the opposite applies. It can only mean one thing - Christmas is here and we all know what that means. People shop, and with it being cold and dark outsided, more of them shop online.

Merchants are of course well aware of the Christmas Shopping rush; many depend on it for their profits. For affiliates of course this means a wealth of opportunites, some intended for custiomers, which aid sales, and some aimed at affiliates to increase marketing efforts.

I will try to post as many as possible in next few weeks but here are a few that have already started.

Argos

The big news on the Argos Affiliate program this week is the launch of their Christmas competition. Argos have two fantastic competitions this Christmas including a chance to win a £1500 holiday and a weekly opportunity to win double commissions. The affiliate that shows the biggest growth in sales in November and December (compared to September and October) will win a £1500 holiday for themselves or someone in their office.

To help drive those revenues and to improve your chances of winning the competition Argos have their usual plethora of fantastic offers at argos.co.uk. These include our 7 day deals offering lots of price cuts including 25% off selected top toy brands.

This week sees the launch of a fantastic range of special purchases 'when it's gone it's gone' offers. To celebrate the launch Argos are offering 6% for one week on all of these products.

This week's voucher codes

The Sony television voucher codes we ran a few weeks ago is back from today (3/11/09). You can get up to £100 off a Sony television;

Save £25 when you buy any Sony TV with a screen size between 26"-37
- Enter code SONY25 at the checkout
Save £50 when you buy any Sony TV with a screen size of 40"
- Enter code SONY50 at the checkout
Save £100 when you buy any Sony TV with a screen size of 46" or bigger
- Enter code SONY100 at the checkout


Free Delivery over £50 is being extended for another week. The end date is now 10th November.

Figleaves

The festive season is almost upon us and Figleaves have a whole host of festive gifts for you to treat your loved ones with.

Also don't miss thweir Offers page with special offers on some of your favourite brands such as Calvin Klein, Diesel, Midnight Grace and Wonderbra:
http://www.figleaves.com/uk/ts_hf.asp?item=offers_of_the_week&cm_re=lhn-_-features-_-cta1_offers. Also shop the figleaves.com outlet & discover purse-friendly gems before they?re gone forever.

Figleaves are also offering a free pair of knickers when you spend £75 or over at figleaves.com. Simply add the knickers to your bag and continue shopping. Enter promo code figaff1 at the checkout to redeem the price of the knickers.

George

SEMRush.com

SEMRush.com

Do you know, how much your competitors spend on AdWords? SEMRush.com will tell you!


SEMRush provide the following data : Competitors' sites with common Google keywords; The list of Google keywords for any site; Estimated SE and AdWords traffic for any domain; The sites' spending for AdWords; Hidden related (and low-cost) keywords to optimize your AdWords campaign; Potential advertisers for any site; Potential traffic sellers for your site.



This promo-codes will give you access to SEMRush for two weeks free of charge.




P7J2-621B-6P03-3Y72. - Use it.





SEMRush.com. The new tool for Search Engine Marketing.
US database 25 000 000 keywords. Learn everything about your competitors!

Site Redesign

I've just started a major redesign of the site at http://www.globalaffiliateprograms.co.uk that looks like it's having a detrimental effect on some of the content pages.

This is being rectifies as a top priority.

The redesign finally moves the site from being a portrait (XP and prior formats) layout to a landscape or widescreen (Vista, Windows 7) layout. So it should resolve better for most users and lead to more completions, once these bugs are worked through.

I wish there was an easier way to do this.

Hi George Forsyth,

If you haven't already, could you please publish our latest time-limited promotions and give your visitors the chance to save £15 GBP at Forzieri.com

Please hurry up, as promotion ends next September 30th 2009:

Offer: Save £15 GBP on orders of £95 GBP or more
Coupon Code: 153C16
Expires: September 30th, 2009
URL: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=rXimpCeZM3Y&offerid=172627.10000028&type=3&subid=0


If you have any questions or feedback, then please email me at affiliate-support@forzieri.com


All the Best,

Patrick Goodfellow
Your FORZIERI Affiliate-Team


Patrick,

Consider it done.

George

Wall Street Journal Offer

Earn a Bonus with MarketWatch

The Wall Street Journal is offering an exciting bonus opportunity for the month of August, earn an additional $5 for every MarketWatch order you generate from August 15 – 31, 2009. Help your customers track the pulse of the markets with the leading innovator in business news, personal finance, and investment tools and data while earning additional commissions this month. Take advantage of this limited time bonus offer by placing a MarketWatch link on your site today.

An amazing once in a life time opportunity for financial freedom - Learn how to buy and sell businesses. It is not as hard as you may think

Business Brokeragesecretsrevealed.com is finally revealing there secret formulas for buying and selling businesses successfully to the public. Learn the exact same methods and tactics we have used for well over 30 years.


Have you ever wanted to start your own business, better yet, buying an existing successful business that all ready turns a profit? If so and if not, achieving your life long goal of owning your own business is not as far off as it may seem, especially with today’s current market.

“Where problems lie , opportunity awaits.”

While everyone is screaming recession ,thousands of people are finding new and innovative ways to make money . One common misconception is that most people would much rather start a business rather than buy an existing one. It has been proven that people that buy a business are far more likely to succeed than someone who attempts to start and maintain a business.

As this is quite startling, there are most definitely many perks to buying an established business versus starting a new one. The main reason is that you have knowledge and proof of what the business has done in the past, which in turn , can help you gauge the future success of the business. Buying a business or selling a business can be a very complex game of research and crunching numbers and should not be attempted without proper knowledge and professional assistance.

We are announcing our exclusive “Business Brokerage Secrets Revealed Training Course” pre launch event as a solution to the many problems of buying and selling businesses. Our exclusive course is written by real and very experienced business brokers whom have actually maintained a business brokerage and consulting firm over the past thirty years. As you can see our training course is backed by thirty years of actual business buying and selling experiences which will help solve all of your major problems and questions you may have while bringing to your attention all of the major pitfalls of a business buying and selling deal.

As an exclusive and limited time offer the actual authors of the book are offering up there actual time for business consultations and business valuations at an amazing rate compared to the leading competitors.

Take advantage of this once in a lifetime and life-changing opportunity today, http://gaponline.jayleo.hop.clickbank.net

George

The Latest new programs to be added to Global Affiliate Programs



Maxim
Magazine - Digital Downloads - Maxim, the world's leading men's
magazine gives men what they want -- beautiful women and intense sex.
Maxim features beautiful women, cool gadgets, fast cars, sports, entertainment,
and other male obsessions. Maxim: 36 Issues for $17.97 Maxim is a
Guys\' Ultimate Guide to Celebrities, Gear, Hot Girls, Photos, Videos,
Sex, Women, Sports, and Hot Gadgets. Everything that makes a Guy a
Guy is found in the pages of Maxim. The latest issue of Maxim offers
up the “The Hottest 100 Women in the World”. With the brand new digital
edition of Maxim you can now really zoom in close-up and do some serious
navel gazing – be careful don’t hurt yourself. Open to Banner, Search,
Email, and Incentive. Offer open to traffic from anywhere in the WORLD!
Earn $7.00 per sale.





3
Minute Website - Make, Create & Build Your Website Quickly & Easily!
Think you don't have the time, resources or technical know-how to
create, manage and promote a successful website? Think again. 3 Minute
Website offers a one-stop-shop of simple, powerful website tools and
services that make it fast and easy to grow your business online.
Best of all, they're simple. Just like our name. Our monthly customer
subscription rate is $24.95. Our affiliates make 25% residual commissions
for the lifetime of the customer




Overnight
Prints - is one of the leading online printing companies in the
world. We have over 1,000,000 customers worldwide, the fastest year
over year growth in the industry, and an affiliate program that is
designed to help you generate commissions easily. Check it out for
yourself. • 30% Commission on Sales & $16 for 100 Free Business Cards
for new customers • 20% Commission on Sales & $3 for 100 Free Business
Cards for existing customers • Average Order Size $110 • Average Conversion
rate 7.2%.




Indo
Board Balance Trainer - Indo Board Balance Trainers are the leading
balance training devices for those that want to improve balance, build
core strength, improve fitness or rehabilitate and prevent injuries.
Indo Board products have been the most recognizable and respected
brand of balance training devices for over 10 years. Affiliates receive
a 10% commission on all sales. Indo Board want to align themselves
with sites that are innovate, inform and inspire and that cater to
sports, health and fitness.





Games
Frenzy - is one of the UKs leading video game rental services.
You can rent as many games as you like, delivered right to your door,
for one low fee (by default we will bill you every 28 days). There
are no late fees and all postage is free (both ways). Earn £9.00/lead.




BBC
Magazines - Fantastic subscriptions offers from BBC Magazines
- promote the entire portfolio of magazines! This is the official
website for all BBC magazines and you can now promote the full range
of BBC titles which are: Gardeners' World Magazine, Top Gear Magazine,
Good Food, Match of the Day, Dr Who Adventures, Lonely Planet Magazine
- new!, Radio Times, olive, GirlTalk, CBeebies Weekly, Easy Cook,
BBC Wildlife Magazine, BBC History Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, Countryfile,
Homes & Antiques, Who Do You Think You Are?, Gardens Illustrated,
Focus, Sky at Night. Great reasons to start promoting today: - official
BBC magazines - earn 15% commission on all standard 1 year subscriptions
within the UK - up to £12.15! - earn £5 fixed commission on all direct
debit trial offers within the UK.

Easter in July ?

I thought Easter was the traditional time for resurrections but this month, in July, we have witnessed the online rebirth of two of the recessions most high profile casualties.

Woolworths, a seemingly permanent fixture on most British High Streets closed last year amongst debts and falling sales, taking Zavvi with them. Zavvi was the rebranded, management buy-out that had previously been Virgin Megastores, the music, DVD and games store.

Zavvi bought most of their stock from a wholesaler owned by Woolworths and so were left without stock in the run-up to Christmas, the usual sales high-point. Unable to fulfill orders or even stock shelves, they closed.

Now both brands are back as online sales points, Zavvi offering their previous lines and Woolworths offering electricals, clothes, toys and what must bed the 21st century equivalent of pick n mix, click n mix.

Aside from the warm feeling that comes from seeing the dead rise the significance of these brands to affilikate marketing is important. Prior to their collapse last year both Woolw0rths and Zavvi ran affiliate programs. Zavvi are back with theirs, now on the www.buy.at network. Woolworths are yet to launch theirs but as the brand is now owned by Shop Direct it can't be long in coming.

How to ride out the Recession

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year,

Ok, so Christmas is over and we're all sick off the sight of leftover turkey but it's 2009 (at last) and time to get things into order.

That's where Resolutions come in. You know the promises you make to yourself that are usually forgotten by now.

Mine should be to post here more often, but actually they are more complicated than that and involve a hospital appointment, a surgeon's knife, a legal process a lot of as yet un-earned money.

While resolutions for the New Year give us a wonderful sense of positive intent, they are extremely hard to stick with unless we turn them into clear, well-defined goals.

Here are 2 goal setting videos that will help you to stay on track with your resolutions and make the upcoming year unforgettable:

http://www.goalsettingstudio.com/george.html

All the best,
George