http://blog.affspot.com Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:26:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As many of you know in the last couple weeks my father fell ill, and passed away.  It's been tough.  But through it all, your thoughts and prayers expressed to my family and me have been both a comfort and have given that extra measure of strength we all needed. In ... http://blog.affspot.com/2011/01/a-personal-note-of-thanks-to-my-affspot-family/ From the AffSpot Archives is the True Story of the First Thanksgiving and why it's particularily relevant to those of use involved in Affiliate Marketing. On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower sailed. It manifest included a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. The journey to the New ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/11/the-true-story-of-the-first-thanksgiving-bears-repeating/ Learning by Doing is a good way to gain experience.  And for our youth, teaching them Affiliate Marketing can better help them understand what it is that we do.  And build a solid work ethic for our kids at the same time. As some of you saw on my Facebook status...  ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/09/teaching-our-youth-affiliate-marketing-and-supporting-them/ Not too many things last 100 years.  Some buildings do.  Fewer people do.  And this year the Boy Scouts are celebrating 100 years of excellence in service.  The founding of the Boy Scouts in England by Lord Baden Powell, the Scouts have had a profound influence all over the world ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/09/100-years-of-scouting-longevity-of-excellence/ Do you think Affiliate (Performance) Marketing is a Virtual Sweatshop?  It seems that the folks over at pcpro.co.uk think so.  In an article titled "Inside the online sweatshops" there is a section denoted as "Affiliate marketing schemes".  And no, they don't mean "schemes" like your thinking.  That's what the Brit's ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/08/affiliate-marketing-is-a-sweatshop/ The Wall Street Journal had an enlightening article a couple days ago about "The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets".  Enlightening indeed.  And after reading this interesting piece (with a few more to come out in this series) the "lightbulb" lit up...  How many Affiliate Programs are planting beacons, etc. ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/08/the-goldmine-affiliates-are-missing/ I was reading an article today in an online version of a newspaper that details the creation of the Institute for Advertising Ethics at the University of Missouri Journalism School (the USA's oldest and perhaps most highly regarded journalism school).  And I noticed an item that really upsets me...  And ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/07/ad-industry-makeover-mistakes-and-a-win-for-performance-marketing/ Yesterday I received a call from an Affiliate Manager friend with an issue.  Affiliates running ads on reserved trademarks, coupons dominating, backend tracking getting more and more difficult and the workload it was causing.  Generally, my friend wasn't having a good day. So I suggested that we go through each item ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/07/the-value-of-the-affiliate-performance-marketer/ Granted, the main purpose of the "Crimes against chastity, morality, decency, and good order" law in Massachussetts is to prevent porn from being made available to children.  Which is good.  Adult items should be for adults, and childrens items should be available for the children.  But what happens if in ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/07/implications-of-the-massachussetts-harmful-to-minors-law-to-affiliates/ Yesterday marked the 82nd anniversary of the Invention that all other inventions are measured against.  And while it wasn't Performance Affiliate Marketing it does relate to the current state of our industry.  Every single day I receive an Email, a Tweet, a FB Friend request from another new network, a ... http://blog.affspot.com/2010/07/by-which-all-other-inventions-are-measured/