Sphinn … it's all the buzz today and I'm reading about it everwhere I go to catch up on today's latest and greatest.

According to Linda Buquet at 5 Star, latest and greatest is an appropriate phrase to use when describing Sphinn.

If you are into SEO, PPC and Internet Marketing you just may want to take "Sphinn" for a SPIN. (That's the pronunciation BTW.)

Many are saying this will replace the now defunct Threadwatch, but with all the social functionality this site has, I say it will far surpass it.

I was wondering what Danny Sullivan was up to these days and now, I get this awesome surprise from the master of webology.

Danny brings us all up todate on his SearchEngineland Blog with the new changes and other changes coming in the near future.

When Search Engine Land launched last December, I talked about liking the name in part because it sounded like "a community, where people can meet, talk, discuss and network." I promised to upgrade the site to help a community thrive. It took much longer than the original "month or so" I envisioned to make this happen. But today, we're happy to unveil our new social site, Sphinn.

And what specifically is Sphinn?

Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others.

Now what Marketer in their right mind wouldn't like the sound of that?! Hey Linda, thanks for the ping on Sphinn. I'm really looking forward to watching this grow. 

I get a lot of emails from all sorts of Marketers. I don't post that much about those emails because, well frankly most of them are just spammy crap.

Once in a blue moon I'll get one that's really got some merit to it, and then I'll share it with you.

Your readership is valuable to me. I value your attention to the posts I blog about, and it's that attention that's given rise to the post I'm doing today.

There's a lot of discussion that we're heading into a new age of Online Marketing, pushing Permission-based Marketing to its limits.

A fairly well known marketer named Rich Schefren has released a new report called Attention Age Doctrine. This report outline's his predicitions for the near future of Online Marketing.

Like you, I said to myself … Oh great, another get rich quick scheme being hatched. I don't know about you, but I'm so sick of those tired old pitches full of hype and BS.

I decided to sign-up for Rich's free report and see what he had to say. I was expecting the same old song and dance, but that's not what I got. I was plesantly surprised.

Oh sure, there's a bit of that hype and zeal that marketers use, but there's also some meat to this dish … and it's worth the read. Very much worth the read.

If you look at Rich's list of clients, it's a "who's who" list of the top online marketers. Rich has been around awhile and has spawned some of the most widely used marketing strategies online to date.

Many of these online marketers are still doing business using traditional techniques, but they are listening to Rich's counsel and I can see how many of them are heading in this new direction that Rich's report outlines.

For the last month Rich has been writing his new Advisory report. It's called The Attention Age Doctrine.

The Attention Age Doctrine talks about the new environment of the Internet and where the Market is heading. I think he's dead-on in his analysis.

Unlike his Internet Business Manifesto Trilogy, this advisory will be available only for a limited time.

My advice … reserve your copy now: The Attention Age Doctrine.

CORRECTING and REPLACING Internet Retailer's Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites Reveals Online Merchants Prefer Commission Junction to Other Affiliate Marketing Providers
Wednesday May 24, 8:02 pm ET

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 24, 2006–Please replace the release dated May 23, 2006 with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions to the headline and first graph.

The corrected release reads:

INTERNET RETAILER'S TOP 500 GUIDE TO RETAIL WEB SITES REVEALS ONLINE MERCHANTS PREFER COMMISSION JUNCTION TO OTHER AFFILIATE MARKETING PROVIDERS

Commission Junction Powers More Programs Than the Next Two Providers Combined

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK - News), one of the world's largest integrated online marketing companies, today announced that its affiliate marketing division, Commission Junction, is used by more advertisers on Internet Retailer's Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites than the next two affiliate marketing providers combined. In addition, Commission Junction leads in powering programs for 10 of the 13 market categories being used by advertisers to expand reach and increase online revenues. Among Internet Retailer's list of top retail Web sites, Commission Junction powers brand names such as SonyStyle.com, Zappos.com and Real®.

Performance marketing continues to be one of the most cost-effective channels for driving online revenues. As a result, it has been widely adopted by the online retailing industry with 324 of the top 500 retailers running affiliate programs either through networks like Commission Junction or in-house solutions. Commission Junction powers more of these affiliate programs than any other single network provider, and is the preferred provider for the majority of the advertiser categories tracked by Internet Retailer, including Apparel/Accessories, Books/CDs/DVDs, Computers/Electronics, Flowers/Gifts, Hardware/Home Improvements, Health/Beauty, Office Supplies, Specialty/Non-apparel, Sporting Goods and Toys/Hobbies.

"Internet Retailer's independent survey reaffirms Commission Junction's leadership in providing affiliate marketing programs to the top 500 advertisers. Our CJ Marketplace is specifically designed to assist our clients in increasing their online revenue and expand their reach into market segments best suited for their target audiences," said Tom Vadnais, general manager of Commission Junction and Mediaplex. "We are committed to meeting our clients' needs. As the channel grows, Commission Junction will continue to develop, deliver and drive the best affiliate marketing solutions in the industry to support our clients."

About Commission Junction

Commission Junction (www.cj.com) provides advanced performance marketing solutions that help marketers increase online leads and sales. By facilitating strategic relationships between advertisers and publishers, Commission Junction leverages its proven expertise in affiliate marketing and search marketing to drive measurable results for its clients.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK - News) is one of the world's largest integrated online marketing companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and significant revenue for publishers. Through its individual brands, ValueClick's performance-based solutions allow advertisers and publishers to reach their potential through all online marketing channels, including display advertising, affiliate marketing, lead generation, search, e-mail, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, HiSpeed Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner, ValueClick Media, and Webclients. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, ValueClick's ability to successfully integrate its recently completed Fastclick and Webclients mergers, trends in online advertising spending and estimates of future online performance-based advertising. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by ValueClick, including: its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 31, 2006 and amendment to its Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed on April 21, 2006; its current report on Form 8-K filed on February 27, 2006; recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-Q/A, other current reports on Form 8-K; its amended registration statement on Form S-4, filed on September 27, 2005; and its final prospectus on Form 424B3 filed on September 28, 2005. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risk that market demand for online advertising, and performance-based online advertising in particular, will not grow as rapidly as predicted. ValueClick undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact:
ValueClick, Inc.
For Media:
Ronda Grech, 1.818.575.4511
rgrech@valueclick.com
For Investor Relations:
Gary J. Fuges, 1.818.575.4677

Jennifer Slegg, author of JenSense blog, announced today that you can now officially run other types of contextual ads on the same page as your AdSense ads.

Once you have your affiliate link, you’re ready to go!

All you have to do, as we’ve discussed earlier, is to pre-sell your affiliate’s products by marketing the same through your affiliate link. An affiliate link leads the would-be buyer to the affiliate merchant’s payment processing page. Once you have managed to do that, your job is done, and the affiliate merchant will take care of the rest. This system makes affiliate marketing a very convenient home based business for anyone!

Pre-selling, however, should be carried out through effective marketing strategies to make this venture really profitable for you. These marketing strategies should be able to ensure a high conversion rate, or the power to convert the people who would be exposed to your affiliate link into successful sales.

Here are some of the more popular types of marketing campaigns being used as promotional tools in this home based business:

* Promoting your affiliate links through viral marketing. Viral marketing is a very powerful strategy that would rapidly expose your business message, or your affiliate links in this case, in just a short period of time. Viral marketing tools usually involve eBooks, special reports and other information products. We will discuss this effective promotional tactic for your home based business in the succeeding lesson.

* Marketing your affiliate links through forums. As we’ve discussed in a previous articles, promotion in online communities is an affordable and efficient way in spreading the word about your products or website, including your affiliate links. You could try to be active in these forums, befriend other members if you have to, and before you know it, you’ll have more traffic for your site and more referrals that could rake in some good commissions for your home based business.

* Article marketing. As we’ve likewise discussed in a prior article, writing articles and submitting them in various venues, with your resource box firmly attached at the end of each piece, is a magnificent way of promotions. People would scour the Internet for information, and if you write something about what they’re looking for, you’ll win their favor and expose your affiliate links to them aswel. This could only redound to the benefit of your home based business.

* Search engine optimization. As we’ve mentioned earlier in these lessons, having your own website would help a lot in marketing your affiliate links. If your website carries your affiliate links, you could always optimize the same for the search engines and drive a humongous amount of traffic to your pages. Every visitor you’ll have would always carry with him the chance of clicking on your affiliate links.

* Create your own mailing list. With a mailing list in place for your home business, you won’t have to lose any visitors. You could always “capture” them, warm them up for an offer later on, or present to them new packages that they might be interested with in the future. Most successful affiliates make a killing with their mailing lists alone! We will discuss this in detail in one of the the forthcoming lessons.

These are but some of the ways by which you could market your affiliate links. If done well, they could assure for you a very successful business that can be easy to sustain as well.

Mal Keenan can show you step-by step how to set up and run a successful online home business. Learn the 7 essential strategies to internet marketing success. To receive your free 7 day mini-course visit: http://www.malkeenan.com