Year: 2006

Dave at the Affiliate Programs Blog made an interesting post about reaching terminal velocity with social networks…

“I love social networks, I truly do. I use nearly all of the top services on a regular basis, from Digg, Delicious, Newsvine, Myspace, LinkedIn, and others. I’m actively participating in over 10 social networks in one way or another (and I’m not counting forums that I participate on or email lists I belong to). But in all reality, I’m reaching a social networking terminal velocity.”

The phenomenon of social networking has certainly spread into the everyday existence of affiliate and online marketers.  Rarely are contacts or potential partners not available for linking on a platform such as LinkedIn or MySpace.  Many marketers are also pointing to RepVine as a potential place for finding contacts and keeping in touch.

However, in reality what sort of business or potential business deals are done on these networking sites?  Are they worth the time invested in terms of realized actions that result from participating?  How has your program or site benefited from participating on LinkedIn or MySpace or RepVine?

TechCrunch and others are reporting that

Metacafe, the video sharing site, is reportedly being sold for between $200-300 million. The buyer is currently unknown but there is speculation that it may be Yahoo.

This makes good sense for Yahoo as a compliment to their other social web sites such as del.icio.us and Flickr. Metacafe blends the ease of YouTube with the social strategy of Fark, enabling contributors and visitors to sort through videos made popular by users.

Yahoo would also be able to utilize the service in its advertising platform as well. Many of the business-centric viral videos that don’t find success on YouTube are spread through Metacafe. Video is an area that Yahoo is lagging behind in, and a purchase of a platform such as Metacafe would help Yahoo in its catch-up play to Google.

2007 continues to shape up as the year of the acquisition.

Reuters is reporting that Time Warner is seeking to purchase an online ad unit to bolster their new emphasis on advertising rather than the subscription model of revenue for their AOL division.

“We are looking for horizontal opportunities to strengthen our position in the advertising space,” Parsons said at the Credit Suisse media and telecom conference in New York.

Who fits the bill for this?   First, the size requirement.  Is AOL thinking a Madison Ave sized online ad company, a ValueClick sized company or something along the lines of ShareASale or Azoogle?

Asked by the moderator if there were any “size limitations” to its potential acquisition targets, Parsons said, “No. Almost anything you could think of other than the really big, established portals is within striking distance for us.”

To me, this signals AOL is looking at properties outside their normal range.  However, the network AOL would acquire would have to be broad enough to supply enough reach and impressions, without much increased funding, to fit the market need.

It still seems early in the process, but this snippet also gives more clues…

He declined to specify which companies it will consider. But he told Reuters in an interview last week that Time Warner is looking at so-called ad insertion technology that lets companies place ads that are relevant to a particular viewer’s tastes.

This sounds more along the lines of a rich media entity rather than a pay per performance or affiliate network, or at least a network or media company with the ability to provide both horizontal reach and multimedia tracking such as by a video unit.

Maybe it is ValueClick?

What about Advertising.com?

I just did a post over on ReveNews about an infection on a laptop running Ubuntu (a Linux OS) that I’ve suffered tonight, potentially via following links from a CPA Network.

Head over there to read and see screen pics.

1. Monetized the eyeball and provided the foundation for the translation of the CPM metric from an offline entity to an online model. That eventually evolved into a CPC then CPA as performance crept into the metric, thereby transforming advertising both online and eventually offline in a reciprocal fashion.

2. Provided the basis of the social web and web2.0 as we know it by helping companies and marketers understand the need for fluid interaction with individuals and potential consumers.

Jim Kukral has launched a unique tool to promote Forge Corporation’s BlogKits platform. BlogKits, an AdSense rival, is being promoted as a more efficient and easier way for bloggers to earn money compared to AdSense.

From the site:

Adsense doesn’t work for bloggers, yes, we know, such a bold statement… But it’s true!

1. Low-traffic blogs will never make more than pennies per day
2. One sale from BlogKits could bring you a week’s worth of click $$$ from Adsense

The tool is an AdSense comparison engine based on the amount of traffic a blog receives. The information shown is calculated based upon research and polls, taken from a sample of web users anonymously over a period of two years. The comparison engine is an interesting facilitation of a call-to-action sign up process for bloggers.

Will this have widespread adoption or offer bloggers a better chance to monetize their content compared to AdSense, Performancing’s platform or a pay per post model?

Cable and blogs are reporting that James Kim’s body has been found in the Oregon wilderness after he set out to find help for his stranded family on Saturday.

James was an editor at CNet and widely known and respected in the tech industry.

Our thoughts certainly go out to his family and the CNet family as well.

Spyware, malware, social memetic and all around universal researcher Wayne Porter was intrigued by attacks by the Second Life Liberation Army on advertising entities within Second Life such as the new Reebok Store.

Believe it or not, this mini-microcosm of over a million early adoption, hi-tech and attentive users does have implications for online marketing. The struggles, issues and situations being worked out on platforms such as Second Life or Digg will ripple out and help determine the shape of user interaction on the web as the online world (including the marketing part) continues to evolve.

The group’s site includes the following statement:

The SLLA’s demands are simple:

“The establishement of basic ‘rights’ for Second Life Players. Having consulted widely we now believe the best vehicle for this is for Linden Labs to offer public shares in the company. We propose that each player is able to buy one share for a set-price. This would serve both the development of the world and provide the beginnings of representation for avatars in Second Life.”

Porter actually found the leader of the clandestine and secretive group and interviewed them on their motives, intentions and general philosophy. They admit to attacks and defending avatar rights by claim not responsible for grey goo attacks which have led to a crippling of some parts of the Second Life economy, and given skeptics of the platform ample fodder for ridicule.

Interesting questions are asked at the end of the interview which do have some connection to the
“cost per” economy that online marketing has created such as: “Even in this new and incredible terrain are we destined to walk down the very same paths we have for centuries?”

Interview on Digg

Interview on ReveNews

Interview on wayneporter.com

Thomas from eBags sent this over to me by email earlier. Thoughts?…

eBags & Google Checkout

“The current eBags promotion with Google Checkout has proven to be a huge success. Although Google Checkout orders are not currently being properly reflected in CJ, please rest assured we are tracking each and every sale internally and can attribute these sales to all of our publishers.

We will be crediting every affiliate with the commission due to them from Google Checkout orders so no-one should think they are not getting proper credit for any referrals that use Google Checkout.

Our Account Managers at CJ are aware that we are tracking these orders and we are working out a means to reflect in the CJ system.

Our affiliates are on track to have record months of sales and commissions. We are one of only a small handful of merchants that Google has chosen to offer a $20 off $50 incentive that can be combined with other discounts and our affiliates have the ability to leverage and be fully compensated. We are confident that the affiliates that promote eBags during this holiday season will be pleasantly rewarded and taken care of by our team.

If anyone has any further questions or concerns regarding the eBags affiliate program, and Google Checkout orders please feel free to e-mail me at Thomas@ebags.com.

We look forward to finishing a strong holiday with our partners.”

If any other merchants, networks or affiliates would like to have their positions posted, email me your responses and I’ll post them.

PrimeQ has expanded its geography of business to include the Russian market with the announcement that it had opened an office in St. Petersburg, Russia to augment its growing European branch headquartered in London. PrimeQ is mostly known in online marketing for its registration path offers and technology services.

Jason McClain, PrimeQ’s founder and CEO, writes:

“After years of studying and preparing for the Russian market, we are proud to spearhead a drive into a largely untapped online environment that will grow leaps and bounds over the next decade,” said McClain. “The number of Russian internet users is currently the same as the UK, approximately 28 million people and, in a few years, will be double that of Britain.”