I Could Hardly Believe My Eyes
I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this note in my Inbox a few mornings ago…
Hi, My name is Ian and I am an Account Manager here at Linkshare. Nice to meet you!
I saw your blog post about the iTunes affiliate program. I manage that program here at LS as well as Apple. The holiday season is indeed a big time for iTunes. I noticed that in your link to sign up as an affiliate you mention the Apple Store’s affiliate program and wanted to let you know that iTunes has a separate program. So if you want to sell songs you’ll need to be in iTunes, but iPods and Macs in Apple…so why not be in both!
Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for the good word.
Best regards,
Ian
WHY was I shocked? Well, for a couple of reasons… Read more
Popularity: 5% [?]
Serial Entrepeneurs and Bloggers
One product that I have been recommending for years is the Internet Marketing Center’s “Secrets To Their Success” and for good reason…
Each month STTS shares INSPIRATIONAL stories about and valuable insight into successful netpreneurs businesses. We all need a good dose of inspiration on a regular basis, and a subscription to “Secrets To Their Success” inspiration is cheap like borscht.
Anyway, this month’s issue of “Secrets To Their Success” features a ’serial entrepeneur’ and a blogger… Read more
Popularity: 5% [?]
Affiliate Marketing Sham
Have you read the “The Great Affiliate Marketing Sham” [find out why this link was removed] yet?
It’s a little 56-page report by a fellow known only as “X”. Having managed affiliate programs for others as well as his own, and worked an affiliate, he was tired of affiliates being “sc___ed”. (Note: Don’t read this report if you’re offended by strong language.)
While outlining his evolution as an affiliate marketer, from “Age of Darkness” to “I Began to Build an Affiliate Business”, “X” talks about lousy tracking, poor commissions, terrible conversion and the fact that most merchants can’t sell because “they and their consultants or “webmasters” have no clue what they’re doing, etc, etc, etc..”
“X’ correctly reports “While most affiliates are worried about protecting their commissions from theft by other affiliates or people using their own link to buy, the reality is this only accounts for about 8% of commission loss in the Internet Marketing niche. In other niches, commission theft is negligible in contrast. The greater concern should be on the 25%”.
His mission now is to teach you how to, “Use Affiliate Marketing to Make Money, Build Your Business, Gain Valuable Insight Into the Business of Your Competitors - and Seduce Away Their Customers” — an obvious marketing statement for his upcoming Black Book DVD’s, which I can’t recommend as I haven’t seen them.
However, the report is a quick (lots that can be skimmed through) yet worthwhile read and the point that he makes about how SMART Internet marketers use affiliate marketing channels is absolutely bang-on.
Click here to read The Great Affiliate Marketing Sham [find out why this link was removed].
Popularity: 3% [?]
Outting Myself
If you were looking for juicy gossip, sorry to disappoint. I’m not ‘outting‘ myelf that way! I really do like guys. 
Actually, I decided to come clean after reading Anik Singal’s (Affiliate Classroom) newsletter titled “My “Slap-In-The-Face” Advice For 2007…” in which he detailed how a couple of mistakes cost him over $120,000 last year.
Well, yes, I TOO made a huge error that cost me in the neighbourhood of $20,000 over a period of 3 months near the end of the year. (What a BUMMER… that money could have bought 2 really nice vacations.) Anyway, what happened was… Read more
Popularity: 2% [?]
Disclosure Policy for Affiliates
Here is a question I received from Chris about the new FTC policy and disclosure.
I have read the new FTC policy details, and it really seems that it could easily be applied to every single affiliate marketer. After all, we receive a commission (payment) for promoting a product.
Rosalind, do you intend to change or add to the disclosure policies on your websites? And, if so, do you have a good resource you could recommend for your readers? AutoWebLaw is a great product. But, it was created before this FTC policy.
Hope you have a fantastic New Year!
Chris
P.S. - I think your Blog Classroom Course is awesome!
Thanks for your question, Chris and to answer it… Read more
Popularity: 2% [?]
I Took a Break Today
After I wrote one newsletter, queued up 5 blog posts, wrote more specifications for the developers of my software project, consulted with a partner on an ongoing project via Google talk, consulted with another partner about a planned project via email , read through dozens of email, processed the day’s checks and did some affiliate marketing research - when the snow started coming down in HUGE “Toronto-type” flakes this afternoon, I just HAD to take a break and build this snowman.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Time to Affiliate with Apple iTunes
A December 27th press release from Hitwise reported that Apple iTunes visits skyrocketed by 413 percent on Christmas Day.
NEW YORK, NY – December 27, 2006 – Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service, today announced that the market share of visits to the iTunes website was up 413 percent on Christmas Day 2006 (December 25, 2006) versus Christmas Day 2005 as new iPod
owners flocked to the web to download iTunes.
In addition, the market share of visits to the Apple Store (store.apple.com) showed an increase of 110 percent when comparing Christmas Day 2006 to 2005. The Apple Store was the fourth most visited website in the Hitwise Retail Index on Christmas Day 2006.”
So, isn’t it time you signed up for the Apple iTunes and Apple Store affiliate programs and caught the rest of those folks who are downloading music for their new iPods?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Are You Flushing Potential Commissions?
So, the checks are coming in regularly and you’re quite happy with what you are making on that particular offer… so it’s on to the next project.
Not so fast!
You may be flushing commission potential down the proverbial drain and not even know it! Read more
Popularity: 1% [?]
New Year’s Resolutions: Your Turn
I made my ’short list’ of New Year’s resolutions public which is one of the ways that I stay true and on track with my goals.
So, now it’s your turn. In what ways do you plan to grow your Internet and affiliate marketing business this year? Will you…
- Build a web site? Re-design your existing site for improved conversions?
- Set specific goals to increase your income?
- Start a subscriber list? Find ways to build your current list bigger?
- Invest in training or adopt a mentor?
- Start a blog? Learn to use social bookmarking techniques?
- Produce more or better content?
Tell us what your plans are by leaving a comment below - then commit to the process. We’ll be doing follow-up with you!
Happy New YEAR!
Popularity: 6% [?]
