Reseller has pulled out a post at WebmasterWorld linking to a Google Groups post by a Google Employee saying;

There are a few things to consider about our overall crawl and indexing pipeline. As part of some recent updates (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/bigdaddy/) we're taking a much closer look at affiliate links, linkfarms, duplicate content, and other factors as described in our webmaster quality guidelines.

As with the Florida update, when Google went after sites that were perceived as going against Google Quality Guidelines, some good & clean sites were hit in the cross fire. With this, the same has happened, and it will always happen.

So if you are suffering, you can try posting in the Google Group or emailing Google, as specified in the thread.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

LinkConnector appreciates your business and is pleased to offer two free tickets to the next Online BootCamp , hosted by the widely recognized affiliate marketing guru, James Martell. Classes are limited to 50 participants, so the Online BootCamp provides an excellent forum for getting all your affiliate marketing questions answered and for learning from a top expert in the field. Each ticket is valued at $997.00!

The Online BootCamp runs Wednesday evenings for eight weeks, in an online conference room. Each "night-school" style class is dedicated to one of the eight steps outlined in James Martell's top-selling downloadable Affiliate Marketer's Handbook. You will receive a free download of this Handbook prior to the course starting so that you can become familiar with the material. Kick off for this event is Wednesday, November 15th. Classes typically run for 90 minutes, commencing at 6:00pm PST (9:00pm EST).

You will be able to ask questions as you go, getting immediate clarification from James. Learn to build profitable websites and carve out your own online success!

Attendees of the Online BootCamp also receive 10 hours of new video, taped during a James Martell training seminar in Vancouver. This video provides unlimited access to a virtual library of training, allowing you to access James’ tutorials any time you want, even after the Online BootCamp has concluded.

To Qualify To Win

JOIN LinkConnector Affiliate Programs Here NOW!

To win one of the valuable seats to this Online BootCamp please write a mini essay, only 200-300 words, describing your success within the LinkConnector Network. Perhaps one of LinkConnector’s unique technologies or merchant offers made the difference for you. Writings will be judged based on candidness and thoroughness of the feedback. All entries must be received by Wednesday, November 8th. Winners will be announced on Friday, November 10th! Log into your affiliate account for more details.

The Affiliate Guild has recently posted a great affiliate help list tips of 25 things that new and struggling affiliates trying to make a go of affiliate marketing should take a look at and give careful consideration to.

The Good Advice for New Affiliates post was inspired by Linda Buquet's super affiliate contest going on at 5 star affiliate programs.

Good Advice for New Affiliates
from the Affiliate Guild

25 Affiliate Tips To Success
1. Too much time building websites will bog you down. Make easy to maintain sites.

2. SEO does matter if you want targeted traffic.

3. Get a newsletter email opt-in on every page of every website you own.

4. Either get a forum or get a blog going. (Need one built?)

5. Write about your affiliate programs (article-repository.com). Tell everyone!

6. Focus on conversion not payout. Commissions are important though.

7. Get really, really niche.

8. Find affiliate programs that will be around awhile.

9. Find a search engine friendly cloaking script for your links.

10. There is more to affiliate life than Google! Diversify!

11. Learn about your affiliate programs and speak intellegently about them.

12. If you don't see what you want to represent, go get it. Consider your own affiliate network.

13. Make friends with Affiliate Managers … and if you have a lot of traffic ask for a bigger percentage on payout.

14. Work with reputable leadership (affiliate guild)

15. Buy from the affiliate program if you want to know how they work. We do it.

16. Monetize your websites.

17. If you have enough traffic sell ad space. If you have good SEO ranking, charge more for ads.

18. Ask for the sale. Most affiliate program banners don't close sales, you must do it.

19. You must work 8-10+ hours daily to be a successful super affiliate.

20. Keep it really simple … accomplish your goals with focused resources.

21. Find affiliate programs that offer a wide variety of advertising opportunities from banners to datafeeds.

22. Find affiliate programs that require strong marketing ethics and follow them, WIN-WIN.

23. Find affiliate programs that payout on schedule everytime. You're in control here!

24. Look for affiliate programs with affiliate tracking for phone sales you generate.

25. Look for affiliate programs with solid servers and software that works 100% of the time. Other affiliates write about the bad ones, so be aware and read the affiliate forums and blogs.

Posted by Bobbie Grennier on August 10, 2006 05:53 PM | Permalink

I met Marc Chase in a affilaite focused forum. He's an Affiliate Manager trying to fire up a new affiliate program for MyCreditGroup.

Marc's got some strikes against him, as he's got a spanking new affiliate program in a niche that's flooded and really hard to rank in.

Marc's Affiliate Program is in the Finance niche with a focus on Credit Repair, Debt Settlement and Mortgages. It's one of the toughest to break into, and most expensive to participate in.

I know this niche very well as I used to own a business that generated leads for Merchants as large as Bank of America. I used to earn upwards of $50 per lead. That's per lead, not per sale. Money was good way back then, but not anymore if you're new to the game.

So, when I saw Marc's post announcing his offering to the affiliates … I saw some really good things and I saw a few things that could be better.

Marc's post read something like this…

We've put a lot of effort into building a flawless reputation before launching our affiliate program.
We put just as much effort into creating support for our affiliates. 

Some Features:
- Multi Tiered: $50.00 per 5% second tier
- $1000.00 bonus per 100 sign ups
- Additional bonuses of 500.00 for second conversion
- Huge industry and we are hands down the most trusted.

We're even working on health benefits (lots of details of course)

The affiliate page can be found here:
The Best Credit Repair Affiliate Program - My Credit Group

Feel free to research our company thoroughly and you'll see the effort we've put into ethics and integrity.

If you have any questions, or suggestions we'd love to hear from you.

Thank you in advance
Marc Chase

• They're listed with Dunn and Bradstreet.
• They have a flawless seven year old BBB record, which in that niche is unheard of.
• They are registered with the Attorney General and Secretary of State.
• They offer the affiliate a lot of incentives.
• They offer the affiliate revenue potential for the client's many possible trasactions.
• Their payout for sales seems generous.
• They offer a second tier opportunity.
• They don't compete with the affiliates.
• They are very responsive to their affiliates.

What I didn't see caused me to ask Marc a few questions and offer some suggestions:

• I wanted to see a short form for affiliates to put onto their websites to generate sales easier.
• I wanted to see a 365 day cookie set because in this niche clients take a long time to sell to.
• I wanted to see a first-in cookie so that affiliates who really work it can benefit and not have to worry about cookie theft.
• I wanted to know what states they could service, because this niche has lots of legal limitations.
• I wanted to know who owned the company.

Marc was prompt to respond to all my questions, and lightning quick to supply all the elements I suggested. He also gave me some more insights into his company and their ethics:

Debt Settlement. Its rather lengthy so I'll paint some broad strokes
1) Greed - average fee is 14% we charge 8%. It still makes a ton of money. I dont understand 14%.

2) Because we have a credit repair mentality, credit scores are first things we think of. So, while client is saving their "settlement" money, we keep the debts tied up with validation, method of validation, FCBA requests etc. What this does (not always) is prevents them from marking the accounts late while they are saving. Goal being to get them debt free and preserving their credit.

3) Greed again: Settlement companies get paid on the total amount of debt settled. Many debts that arent even necessary to settle are included because its more commissions. We work on repair first (where applicable) if we can get something removed, then its less the client has to pay. Again, still a ton of money.

4) We always attempt to pay for deletions (credit repair mentaility). Collection agents usually just care about money and will delete the tradeline entirely as long as they get paid.

Again, settlement companies don't do credit repair, so those things aren't their concern. Since we want everybody to eventually turn to a mortgage, it is in our best interest to perfect their score no matter what service we're providing.

I am impressed with company's business model, and after chatting with Marc, I'm also impressed with their attention to details and customer service for their affiliates.

I decided to join their affiliate program and if you have finance sites that focus on CPS more than CPM/CPA, this would be a good affiliate program for you too … very ethical todate.

Article Marketing for Affiliates

This video from DiamondSEO does a nice job of summing up the two methods of article marketing by affiliate marketing affiliates. Can you see the difference in where to publish your articles and why?

Author: [Jim Kukral]
Friday May 12th 2006, 1:39 pm
Filed under: Forge Corporation

To download the white paper… Please visit www.forgebusiness.com and use the contact form in the right-hand side navigation to get your free copy of the PDF. It will be emailed to you instantly.

Affiliate marketing is hard work, and takes a lot of skill and insight to do it successfully. Want to learn more about how to run a successful affiliate marketing program? Now you can. Forge used their years of experience in the Affiliate Marketing Industry to create this comprehensive white paper entitled Affiliate Marketing Do’s & Don’ts.

The Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Internet Marketing Advisory Board announced a Best Practices for Online Advertising Networks and Affiliate Marketing.

The DMA list is a simple five rules, but important rules that set a generalized guildline for the Affiliate Marketing Industry … something sorely lacking.

The only rule I see as having possible difficulty in obtaining,is the full disclosure of their eligible sites. These Marketing firms keep their sites a virtual secret to stay on top of their game … not something they would readily share.

Search Marketing Expo - SMX
Inaugural Event: SMX Seattle, June 4th & 5th, 2007

I SO want to go to this! Anything with Danny Sullivan involved is going to be hot!

Search Marketing Expo — SMX — is the new search engine marketing conference from Third Door Media, the company behind the Search Engine Land news site and the Search Marketing Now webcast series.

Programmed by search expert Danny Sullivan, the inaugural SMX show on June 4 & 5 will be especially geared toward advanced search marketers who want to hear about the latest search marketing techniques for both organic and paid placement.

And if having Danny Sullivan involved isn't cool enough, the first SMX will be held in Seattle at the extraordinary Bell Harbor Convention Center on Pier 66. Bell Harbor features state of the art convention facilities in an exceptional indoor and outdoor atmosphere. If you haven't been to Seattle, it's absolutely beautiful there.

For now, they're taking sign-ups for the email list. So, go drop in your email so you can be notified when the registration opens. Search Marketing Expo - SMX

I just got this compelling email from Anik Singal and thought I'd pass on the information to you:

Hi Bobbie,

I just got an email about Mike
Filsaime's Free Report called
"The Death of Internet Marketing"

I will admit, like you may be
feeling now, that I thought it was
some hyped up offer to get me to
join for free and get some offer…

…Turns out I was wrong. Way wrong.

The bottom line is, this report
really opened my eyes to what really
is the death of Internet marketing.
The good news is, the report also
shows you what you need to know to
succeed in the near future.

The times are changing and I it would
be a shame for anyone to not read this
report and fail like many will.

I read it, and I wanted to share it
with you ASAP.

I recommend you take a break from
what ever it is you are doing if you
can and get access to this report now.

Consider your future success by
going here now…

DEATH OF INTERNET MARKETING

Thanks,

Anik Singal
Affiliate Classroom, Inc.

Affiliate Blogger launches a new performance marketing blog focused on performance based marketing and marketing that converts.

[ClickPress, Thu Aug 31 2006] Affiliate Blogger launches a new performance marketing blog focused on performance based marketing and marketing that converts.

Bobbie Grennier, widely known as the Affiliate Blogger (