Ros' Ramblings

Now I've heard everything.

Apparently, sending an appeal for Katrina disaster relief contributions is just another Internet marketer's attempt to 'gouge, gouge, gouge' according to one now EX-NPT subscriber.

I won't go into detail about my response to him.

Let's just say it included the keywords "cynical" "unhappy" and "unpleasant".

Some peoples' kids.

Thankfully, for every jerk in a crowd, there are 100 WONDERFUL people out there... and I heard from you too!

Noteably, Gary Wayne Golden and Dan Moran, of Arkansas and Florida respectively, both sent in first-hand accounts of what is actually happening on the Gulf Coast - heart-warming stories of people helping people.

One reader expressed concern about how the Red Cross allocates donations, refering to the 9/11 funds distribution fiasco.

If you too have concerns about the Red Cross, please know that the situation was strenously addressed and funds intended for a specific relief effort are now dedicated to that effort only.

Frankly, I am much more concerned about the scam sites and phoney emails popping up all over the place.

Go direct to the agency, and you won't go wrong. http://redcross.org

Canadians please note - Until the Red Cross gets a new webmaster who can set things up to accept donations from Canada on their .com site, please use:

http://redcross.ca

Remember - Even five dollars will help.

There I go again... gouge, gouge, gouge. :-)

---

Rosalind Gardner is author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in ONE Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online.

Super Affiliate Handbook

A Pivotal Point in Affiliate Marketing?

On September 6th, Rakuten, Inc. announced that it has a definitive agreement to acquire LinkShare Corporation, for the grand sum of approximately $425 million.

I just LOVE what that says for the future of affiliate marketing!

...um, being that there IS one.

Not that there was ever any doubt, but that announcement should convince some of the skeptics out there! :-)

If it doesn't... that's OK... that leaves more for US!

Signup as a Linkshare affiliate today!

This Old Dog Learns a New Trick

In July, I wrote an article called "How to Keep Your Affiliate Business Orgazined" which shared some insight into how I keep my affiliate program information organized in an Excel spreadsheet.

Well, I figured out a new time-saving trick this week.

I'd been putting straight affiliate links into the spreadsheet, and then would have to add all the 'onmouseover' and 'target="_blank"' stuff.

Sheesh.

Now I pre-format the links within each cell with ALL the 'extraneous' info, and just copy and paste it from the Excel sheet into the HTML pages.

Here is an example.

This is my 'straight' affiliate link for Revenue Magazine.

http://hits.affiliatetraction.com/cgi-bin/redir?pd_link=i1-a3521-o1577-c1690

That's what USED to be in the Excel file.

Now it's formatted like so:

<a href="http://hits.affiliatetraction.com/cgi-bin/redir?pd_link=i1-a3521-o1577-c1690" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true" onMouseOver="window.status='http://revenue.com';  return true" target="_blank">Revenue</a>

Just copy, paste and go!

Old, but can still learn new tricks.

PPC Campaign Help from the Source

Yahoo! Search Marketing is offering a series of unbiased Workshops designed to help you compete and prosper in an increasingly competitive Pay Per Click marketplace.

All aspects of pay-per-click marketing are covered.

To see a list of where and when these events are being held, go to:

Yahoo! Search Marketing

Latest Issue of "Revenue" About to Hit the Stands

Editor Lisa Picarille tells us that:

"The issue is a cornucopia of information on click fraud, ripe new search opportunities and Web analytics software."

"We’ve also harvested a bumper crop of great opinions and facts about running a clean affiliate program. It’s not easy being clean, but most claim it’s worth the effort. You’ll also reap the benefits of our expert knowledge. Jay Conrad Levinson picks apart affiliate myths, Greg Shepard plants the seed for hybrid models and Rosalind Gardner plows into why online marketers shouldn’t use potential click fraud as an excuse not to try pay-per-click advertising."

If you haven't subscribed to the only glossy magazine dedicated to affiliate marketing, get it today!

Revenue

Update on Joel's Story

  "Joel Finds a Peach"

Back in April, I wrote an article called the "$552.50 Movie Ticket", which was about how I thought my assistant, Joel, was missing out on some good bucks.

Well, he recently wrote the review of "28 SureFire Ways to Instant Dating Success", and now all that remains to be seen is how much he rakes in... now that it's on the autoresponder series.

I'll keep ya posted.

You can read his review at:

28 SureFire Ways to Instant Dating Success

See... I told you he could write!

(Unlike dogs, sleeping talent should not be allowed to lie.) :-)

Research Made Easy

This week, I bought a software application that makes research unbelievably fast and easy!

If you want to do web, image, audio, video, reference, word, news, rss/blog, shopping, travel searches and MORE - from ONE source - and WITHOUT having to enter and re-enter your keywords time after time, then you simply MUST check out Search Automator.

Rating: WAY cool!

Search Automator