I got this email the other day and after looking at all the links realized it was a spoof, but it got me to wondering. Here's the emails content:

This court-ordered notice may affect your legal rights. Please read it carefully. If you purchased online advertising from Google between January 1, 2002 and the present, you are a class member in a class-action lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Miller County, Arkansas. This notice is to inform you of the Court’s certification of a class; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement. Please read the attached notice.

You can get more information at: www.clicksettlement.com.

Don't bother following that link. In my email it was hooked up to a spam site … so, it's definately a spoof. However, given the current climate of hate towards Google by many webmasters, I got to wondering if a change is in the air? Maybe some change? Any change at all???

A lot of webmasters are pretty pissed off with Google for shutting down their AdWords/AdSense accounts without so much as an explaination as to why. Google also lays claim to all income earned when they close those accounts, so webmasters who have Google ads on all of their web properties are none too happy about how this mega-search giant is doing business.

What seems to be happening is that webmasters create web pages with the Google ads on them, and if anyone at the same IP address clicks the ads … Google see that as cheating. It's happening more than you think too. For example, if a webmaster puts Google ads on all the websites of a company and other employees of the company, at the same IP, click on those ads … Google sees that as cheating. It matters not to Google whether those clicks were real clicks with buying interest or not.

This creates a dilema of sorts for webmasters. For those who haven't gotten booted yet, you should seriously consider only serving up ads for targeted keywords … as opposed to allowing Google to determine the keywords served up. You let Google do it and your co-workers will click not knowing that they've just cost you all your Google income and a blacklisting by Google forever.

Back to the spoof … Google has really stirred up a hornets nest within the webmaster community. You see, Google became who they are because the webmasters promoted them. The same webmasters can just as easily swing the tides of the Search Industry by switching to the new Yahoo. I know a lot of webmasters who are applying to Yahoo and others who are waiting for it to come out of beta.

Google's also experiencing a lot of law suits with regards to click fraud. So, getting this spoof wasn't too surprising. Clever really on the part of the spammers to realize that the tides are turning and Google's not as loved as it once was.

I was recently reading a piece by Nicolas Carlson on Internet News about MySpace and the question of whether there's revenue to be made using MySpace.

According to Carlson, Myspace isn't making any money and …

Not only is MySpace America's most popular social-networking site, having earned 79.9 percent of the market in June according to a Hitwise study released this week, but it is also America's most popular Web site, representing 4.46 percent of all Internet traffic.

Everyone seems to be wondering why MySpace's Rupert Murdoch isn't using contextual advertising in addition to the banner ads they run.

Compounding the problem is the fact that MySpace doesn't even get the lucrative blue-chip brand advertisers to buy those banner ads despite the fact that its member demographic is the young and malleable crowd after which marketers lust.

I blogged about MySpace on my Affiliate Program Blogger blog, asking the question … Is MySpace A Waste? And, I find myself still wondering the same thing and apparently, I'm not the only one wondering it.

Here's something to wet the Affiliate Blogger's mouth … more blogs!

Global performance marketing firm Forge Corporation Ltd. has acquired BlogKits Blogging Network. Launching world’s first performance marketing network built for bloggers.

(PRWEB) July 13, 2006 — The billion-dollar affiliate marketing industry has finally caught up with blogging. Forge Corporation Ltd., a global provider of performance marketing solutions, with offices in Johannesburg, Cleveland & Seattle, announced today it has acquired BlogKits (http://www.blogkits.com), a blog network built to help match bloggers with advertisers.

BlogKits was acquired from Jim Kukral, business blog expert, who was also recently appointed to Forge as the VP of Branding & Marketing. He has spent the past 10+ years working in the online marketing and blogging industry.

In a survey produced by BlogKits in 2005, 73% of bloggers agreed that using affiliate links on their website was an acceptable practice. The same survey concluded that the primary reason bloggers use Google Adsense is because "it’s easy" (93%).

"Bloggers want control and ease of use. They want to "place it and leave it", said Mr. Kukral. "Which is why Google Adsense works so well for them. The reason bloggers haven’t embraced the standard affiliate networks as a viable model is because those networks don’t specifically cater any offers to bloggers. There’s too much clutter going on. Bloggers don’t want to work that hard. BlogKits eliminates that."

"Google Adsense has been a revolutionary tool for bloggers, and should always stay part of a successful blog monetization strategy. BlogKit's approach is not to recommend to replace Adsense, but to add to it without penalty. We believe there’s a lot more money to be made on a well-matched cost-per-action (CPA) offer for bloggers as opposed to a few pennies per click from Adsense."

There are challenges of course. Google Adsense still holds a majority of most bloggers’ income generation, and the existing affiliate networks like Linkshare & Commission Junction have thousands of existing merchant/affiliate relationships.

But they don’t have the bloggers. BlogKits does.

"I really like the idea behind Blogkits because anything that can help bloggers earn money fairly, honestly, and easily is a great benefit to the entire blogging community," said Dave Taylor, blogger at www.AskDaveTaylor.com. "I’m looking forward to getting involved with the Blogkits project."

"Jim brings tremendous affiliate marketing and blogging experience to the table," said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Forge Corporation, Ltd. "By acquiring and developing BlogKits, Forge now has a unique stable of highly targeted blogs in our network that no other network has. Merchants can join BlogKits even if they have other existing network relationships. We’re not interested in taking business away from anyone; only bringing new business opportunities that they can’t get elsewhere."

Kukral will be responsible for operating the BlogKits Offerforge Network, including working to recruit and educate new bloggers, as well as assisting merchants with developing creative performance-based offerings.

BlogKits is currently accepting applications for signup from bloggers into the network at http://www.blogkits.com, and is working with merchants to prepare offers for launch, which is set for some time in late summer of 2006.

About Jim Kukral
Jim Kukral knows the online marketing industry from all sides. He is the publisher of ReveNews.com, a thought-shaping group blog focusing the billion-dollar industry of online revenue generation. He has been blogging since 2001 and has participated and or created over 30 professional blogs in his career. Jim has written professionally for Clickz.com and Builder.com, and has been featured in Revenue Today magazine and MarketingProfs.

About BlogKits
BlogKits was created by Jim Kukral in early 2005. Originally, BlogKits was made to help bloggers find new and interesting ways to make money with their blogs. Now as part of the OfferForge network, BlogKits will allow bloggers and online merchants the ability to work together in a reliable and robust network platform.

About Forge Corporation Ltd.
Founded in 2003 by Jonathan Miller, well known affiliate marketing strategist, consultant and public speaker, Forge Corporation Ltd. is a global provider of performance marketing solutions that benefit both advertisers and publishers, with offices in Johannesburg, Cleveland & Seattle.

Forge enables advertisers to distribute online advertising through thousands of targeted websites, newsletters and other online publishers. These relationships are driven by two patented technology ad networks: OfferForge South Africa and OfferForge USA. OfferForge advertisers pay only for performance, which could be measured in sales, leads, visitors, impressions, subscribers or even new unique customers.

The ForgeConsult consulting division specializes in developing and executing affiliate marketing strategies to assist advertisers in reaching consumers more effectively such as affiliate recruitment and affiliate program management.

Jon's Wicked Fire Affiliate Forum has taken off like a wicked wild fire! The forum has officially surpassed the 1,000 member mark in only three weeks time. That's freakin' incredible! Kudos Jon!!!

Why is this happening?

Well, there are a lot of struggling affiliates out there who need the sage advice of some one like Jon, plus there are a lot of us affiliates who are sick of the same old voices and the marketing companies tell us how we should be doing our business. Jon's forum is a breath of fresh affiliate air.

Jon plugs some of the notables in his recent blog post, but Jon if you read this … honestly, those same voices are heard in all the other forums … you have an incredible opportunity to create new voices … and frankly, that would be a real blessing. Perhaps then so many newbies wouldn't be struggling so hard to get into the business sucessfully.

In case you don't know who Jon is, he's a real super affiliate … he is the shit! And his comments and insights are well worth your time to read. He also works hard to keep his identity discrete, like so many real super affiliates do. It's nice to see them starting to step out into the light a little more. We should probably be thanking CJ for that little gift.

According to Jon, "People all over the place are plugging it [wickedfire.com] and calling it one of the best new forums around. Most people like it because of the laid back, no bullshit appeal. " And, that's exactly what's fueled this wicked fire of Jon's.

Personally, I'd love to see Jon get involved with the Affiliate Guild … we need more guys and gals like Jon stepping up to make the affiliate space one of strength and distinction. And frankly Jon, we'd freakin' give you a classroom to teach in!

Zachary Rodgers, from clickz news, delivered an interesting blurb on the recent DoubleClick acquisition of video ad specialist Klipmart. DoubleClick will combine the company's technology and services with its own DART Motif rich media platform. The deal, for which terms were not disclosed, brings DoubleClick a step closer to being an end-to-end solution for rich media advertising. Klipmart ranks among the more sophisticated providers of video production services, an area where Motif is historically weak.