We Do Search Engine Optimization.

For those of you who promoted the Microsoft AdCenter affiliate program you know it converted well and was a goldmine for any search engine marketing related blog. Then on March 31 they sent all Microsoft Affiliates a termination email.

The good news is the adCenter affiliate program is still active and available to all!

Here is what you need to do:

1. Signup to become a Microsoft partner https://partner.microsoft.com/40009570. This is easier than it sounds, and all applications seem to be rubber stamped. I have never heard of anyone being declined. Another benefit is MS will send you lots of heavily discounted software.
2. E-mail your Microsoft Partner Program ID to the adcenter manager: affiliates {AT} microsoftaffiliates.net
3. Login to your affiliate account at www.microsoftaffiliates.net, agree to the new terms of service, generate updated text links and start collecting signups.

The process is really simple, and I received confirmation from both the Microsoft Partner application and adCenter affiliate manager in 1 day.

One big change in the program is they now record sales only after the user has spent $75, so affiliate conversions may not be immediate.

I completed this process and received this email from the Program Manager, Microsoft Affiliate Network.

Thank you for your interest! I have updated your account to reflect your Partner status. The next time you log in you should see the adCenter Partner offer appear as the others do.

In regards to the tracking—it is a little confusing right now as we are still in the beta version. It is not reflected in real time—once you have a customer sign up, you won’t see anything appear in your transaction history. Weekly, we update the Partner stats, so once we update them, you will see a transaction labeled as adCenter Partner. This transaction will remain as Pending until your customer spends the $50 or the $75 minimum spend requirement.

I have included the terms of this program below for your reference. http://www.microsoftaffiliates.net/forms/ Addendum-adCenter_04022008.pdf
As always, please let me know if you have questions.

Thanks you and best of success!

It was extremely easy for me to re-enable my adcenter affiliate account, and it should be for you as well.

The auctionads team won the ebay developers contest in 2007 and they got to have lunch with e-bay CEO John Donahue.

During this lunch Shoemoney pointed out that the CJ affiliate system was convoluted and unnecessary, and suggested that Ebay.com move their program in-house. On April 1 Ebay did this, and began managing their own affiliate network that likely includes millions of members.

Commission Junction’s parent company ValueClick had been managing Ebay’s affiliate program since its inception and estimated revenue is 10 million per year. If they had a new 10 year contract, this represents 100 million in lost revenue (this is an educated guess only).

The latest press release from Commission Junction’s PR team remains upbeat after loosing their largest client:

ValueClick commemorates its tenth anniversary today, representing a decade of performance and leadership in online advertising. On behalf of ValueClick employees worldwide, I would like to take this opportunity to say a sincere “thank you” for the contribution you have made to our success.

From our humble beginning in 1998 as a cost-per-click ad network, to our position today as one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, ValueClick has always focused on delivering cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. Along with our dedicated team, it has been a commitment to performance by you, our advertiser and publisher clients, that has driven the phenomenal growth and success of ValueClick.

Today ValueClick operates in all major online marketing channels and some traditional marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and e-mail technology, agency management software and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner, Smarter.com and CouponMountain.com.

Together we have built a strong and diverse organization designed to help propel you into the future. Thanks again for your business. We’re excited about the opportunity our relationship represents and look forward to growing with you in the years ahead.

Unfortunately the Microsoft adCenter Affiliate Program has come to an ignominious end. MS has cancelled this lucrative program and swept the rug out from all its loyal affiliate marketers who have diligently helped raise awareness for this affiliate offer. Should we be surprised at Microsoft’s behavior?

Their press release:

Microsoft adCenter Affiliate Program to Close February 29, 2008
Thank you for your participation in the adCenter Affiliate program. Unfortunately, the adCenter offer will no longer be available after February 29th, 2008.

Any banner or text ads that you currently have placed and are receiving traffic will still be eligible for payout through February 29th. However, any traffic after this date will no longer be eligible for the coupon or commission payout. As of today, February 20th, no new marketing material will be available to current affiliates and new affiliates will not be able to sign up for the offer.

Final commission payout for any activity through the end of February will be processed and paid out in the month of March as usual. Please be sure to remove all marketing materials associated with this offer from placement by February 29th as you will no longer receive credit for this activity.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but hope that you will take advantage of other offers available within the Microsoft Affiliate Network including Windows Live OneCare and Windows Live Toolbar. You can find more information about these programs by logging into the Affiliate Account Center and selecting Offers from the left-hand side navigation.

Thank you for your participation in the Microsoft Affiliate Network. Please let us know if you have questions.

M Witt
Affiliate Manager
Microsoft Affiliate Network
_________________________
Fax: 313.447.2398
affiliates@microsoftaffiliates.net

Sky High Auctions is an Ebay auction education program that teaches e-bay sellers how to maximize online profits.
The Sky High Auctions JV Launch Page launches one of the most comprehensive guide to making money from eBay ever created.

This auction education program shows internet marketers how to use ebay as their private e-commerce shop. They have conducted exclusive interviews with eBay powersellers who show on video how to:

* Make money selling $2.99 ebooks
* Make backend sales from selling ebooks on eBay
* Use eBay marketplace research tools to uncover profitable markets which can be profitable in adsense and other affiliate markets.
* How to use eBay to sell affiliate products. One of the guys interviewed is good at setting up jvs with product owners and sells them and earns affiliate commissions.
* There are also bonus interviews with well known internet marketers -> Mark Joyner on time management, Mike Filsaime on email marketing and viral marketing, and Ewen Chia on making money in the “make money online” market.

Sky High Auctions will be launching on 6th March 2008 at 11am. The affiliate program is by invitation only and we will be paying $100 per sale you generate.
Why promote Sky High Auctions?

* Over 1,000,000 people earning a living on eBay.
* Sky High Auctions is one of the few courses (if not the ONLY course) teaching how to make a full-time living from eBay.
* Over 26 hours of video lessons, written notes, interviews with eBay powersellers, and more.
* As an invited JV Partner, you’ll receive a complimentary copy of Sky High Auctions so you can evaluate it yourself!
* Affiliates earn $100 per sale. The product sells for a very reasonable $167 (introductory price).

Launch Competition — $5000+ in cash prizes!

From the 6th March to 13th March, view the launch competition. Send traffic to Sky High Auctions and you could walk away with some extra cash in your pocket.

JV Leaderboard Prize Awards:
1st: $3000
2nd: $1500
3rd: $1000
4th: $700
5th: $500
6th: $200
7th: $200
8th: $200
9th: $200
10th: $200

I just read about an investor and businessman who has been around the world 2 times, once on a motorcycle through China, and recently on a souped up mercedes benz through 160 countries.

Wow

His name is Jim Rogers and he has no fear, and amazing entrepreneurial spirit, and a certified risk taker. This international investor is generally bullish on the world. He is taking investments away from Russia and South America and investing in Japan, China. If the Euro works, it will be the new world currency, replacing the US dollar. This is huge, and involves the strength of the European economy to keep the Euro strong. One day we may do well to transfer all dollars to Euros. The only other possibilities are the Japanese Yen or the Chinese Yuan if China ever allows its currency to be free.

More about this great investor after we describe his custom around the world ride:

All Activity Vehicle combines the comfort and styling attributes of the Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 sports car with the sturdy durability of the legendary Mercedes-Benz G-Series wagon. It helped Paige and Jim set a Guinness World Record.

powered by the proven, reliable 177 hp 3-litre G-Series Turbodiesel six-cylinder engine and comes with a five-speed automatic transmission and a four-wheel-drive powertrain. For road clearance, the Sunburst Yellow body rides a full foot higher than the stock SLK. Specially designed full fender flaring and a step-up rocker system visually blend the hybrid’s two characters giving it a unique identity. Prisma designed a matching trailer since extra storage capacity is needed for a trip like this. Metalcrafters manufactured the trailer.

The MB Millenium Mobile

How cool is it to travel the world in a 4×4 sports car?

Here are links to video interviews of Mr. Rogers

• http://media.dorseywright.com/jimrogers/JROG1.wmv
• http://media.dorseywright.com/jimrogers/JROG2.wmv
• http://media.dorseywright.com/jimrogers/JROG3.wmv
• http://media.dorseywright.com/jimrogers/JROG4.wmv

Mr. Rogers wrote a book called “A Bull in China” and “Adventure Capitalist” Here is one thing I can teach this multimillionaire: You’re leaving money on the table by not linking through an affiliate link. Create an affiliate account in Amazon.com and BN.com and use your link.
So get your affiliate account and stop leaving money on the table

Microsoft has launched the Adcenter Affiliate Program where they will pay you for new live advertising adcenter signups. The affiliate program seems to be a bit unfocused, it never states the payout, and the admin area is quite sparse. To be honest, when I stumbled upon this a few weeks ago I thought it was a joke, this affiliate program doesn’t seem to have much resources behind it.

MSN tries to get you to promote Windows Live Toolbar and Windows Live OneCare but these payout .50 for every download by customers in the US only. Forget about these and go for the gold, the AdCenter affiliate program at Microsoftaffiliates.net.

The comission rate is not listed, but I have been earning $35 per signup. Conversions are awesome, over 50% for me!

Sign in to http://www.microsoftaffiliates.net/ with your Windows Live ID or Passport account (throws a security warning screen for me in Firefox). The affiliate manager is Jessica Lee at 727-324-0185 who is really nice and answered a few questions about the program for me. The area code is 727 which is in Florida, the opposite end of the country from Redmond Washington where Microsoft is based. Is MS distancing themselves from this live affiliate program? You will need to send in a unique w-9 form.

my current adcenter December stats

adCenter is the advertising platform that enables businesses to create, manage and optimize search marketing campaigns to targeted buyers made up of 99 million search users on the MSN and Live Search Network. Search marketing is one of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing vehicles available to help small and mid-sized companies grow their business.

I just realized that MSN has unique capitalization of their advertising network. Note the lowercase A and uppercase C in adCenter. Very web 2.0 of you Microsoft, way to jump on the new internet trend that started in 2005!

To signup go to http://www.microsoftaffiliates.net/

*note you need to fax your W-9 to the microsoft affiliate manager thinkpartnership.com Think Partnership, Inc. Kowabunga! Division

fax to 313.447.2398

All you search engine optimizers and affiliate markers should use this coupon code for shopzilla to get a $20 signup bonus and $20 credit for adding content to your site. This is a total of $40 credit for Shopzilla.com publishers.
I have tried Shopzilla and the CTR is good, but actual revenue generated is a little low. Try becoming a shopzilla publisher and add ecommerce contextual ad listings to your website.

http://publisher.shopzilla.com/partner_id/40/

Drive Saver is not only the best hard drive recovery service, they also have a great affiliate program. Look at the sales material and promotional goodies they mailed me after applying to be an affiliate. They have a great affiliate manager who is very knowledgeable will actually talk with you on the phone!

The only downside to being a Drive Saver affiliate is there is no regular affiliate link, only a promotion code. Checkout DriveSavers and see how well they take care of affiliates and tell them DS19370 sent you.

 Homeagain.com created a brilliant affiliate store that seamlessly tricks users into buying from them. Home Again provides pet rescue and pet adoption services and they created a separate site full of affiliate programs and are asking users to click through to their site before making purchases. A portion of Home Again’s affiliate profits will be donated to the pet rescue service.

This is an amazing affiliate marketing strategy, similar to thehungersite.com where a charitable organization creates incentives to click on banners or purchase products for the good of the earth. This appeals to our inner humanist and generates a lot of sales for the charity. I love charities and contribute to many causes including arthritis, but every charity has to make money to cover expenses, pay employees (no one works for free), rent, etc.

Look at the affiliate marketing playbook used by charity organizations and see how they make sales naturally and effortlessly get site visitors to click their affiliate links.

The email newsletter from bringpetshome.com:

An estimated 8-12 million animals are taken in by shelters each year in the US. Providing care for these animals—including food, shelter and medical treatment—costs money, for which many shelters rely solely on donations. Shelters do not have the funds to take care of every pet that comes through their doors. Unfortunately millions of pets are euthanized each year.

BRING PETS HOME is a not-for-profit organization that raises money for animal shelters across the country. Our mission is to support shelters’ tireless efforts to provide care for pets in need—until they find loving homes or are reunited with their original owners.

100% of money raised through your purchases will go directly to provide food, shelter and medical treatment to pets in need. All operating costs of BRING PETS HOME are covered by corporate donations.

How Does The Program Work?

A portion of every purchase will be distributed by BRING PETS HOME to animal shelters across the country to help save pets’ lives and help them find loving homes. Simply click on a store link and start shopping. There is no extra cost to you.

Register – Register and select a specific animal shelter to benefit from your purchases. Or, if you use our site without registering, 100% of the donations raised through your purchases will be distributed by BRING PETS HOME to animal shelters in need across the country.
Shop – Shop at our participating online stores.
Give – A portion of every purchase aids shelters across the country-helping to save pets’ lives and adopt them into loving homes. 100% of the money raised through your purchases will go directly to care for pets in need.
Below are just a few of the many online stores where you can shop.
For a list of all of our participating online stores, click here!

Kudos to bringpetshome.com for creating a great example of an affiliate program for charitable causes. This site cannot fail.

Taking a page from the Auction Ads Playbook, Bidvertiser.com has created ads displaying Ebay auction listings. The new Bidvertiser ads actually look quite good, although one drawback is there seems to be no way for publishers to easily display the ad.

From their email to me:

Drive buyers to your eBay Listings using BidVertiser!

BidVertiser now allows you to drive buyers and increase sales by
placing an ad for any of your eBay Items on thousands of relevant websites.
Your ad will include a description and an image of your item, pricing
and time left till auction closes. Your ebay ad will be created automatically,
you only need to choose your desired Item

And best of all – we now offer you $20 in Free Affiliate Clicks!

For a preview of an eBay ad click below:
http://www.bidvertiser.com/bdv/BidVertiser/ bdv_ebay_preview.dbm

To enjoy this free credit, simply login, create your eBay ad and
activate your account. We will immediately credit your account with $20 and
start displaying your eBay affiliate ad.

Bidvertiser looks like an interesting option for monetizing blogs and websites. I tried them on this SEO blog and am averaging .20 per click.