Recent Headlines from the 5 Star Affiliate Blogs

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!  

Auto-Link Affiliate Links in Your Blog - Free Revenue Generating Tool - I'd like to turn you on to a FREE "blogging for dollars" tool. If you have a tech blog for instance, even if you are syndicating others content you could set it up so every instance of the word computer, digital camera, iPod, etc. goes to your Buy.com affiliate link.

New Travel Affiliate Program - Travel Intelligence Pays 50% - Become a Travel Intelligence affiliate and provide your users access to over 3,500 special hideaways in far away places!

Affiliate Summit Blogs, News - Podcast by Declan Dunn : Paul Colligan - Affiliate Summit Blogs, News and Updates: I will be covering all the news and adding it to the 5 Star forum as I find good reports on blogs. So reading the 5 star forum will be almost as good as being at the event.

Free eCommerce Storefront - Private Label Drop Shipping Program - Discover a new a private label retailer concept with guaranteed cookie-less, parasite resistant tracking. Exciting new concept - like a co-brand plus drop shipping combo is free for 5 Star Affiliates.

Firefox Extensions That Rob Affiliates and Webmasters of Revenue - Here are FF extensions that literally ROB affiliates and webmasters of revenue. One is just like Norton and blocks CJ and LinkShare. One Steals Amazon commission.

Affiliate Marketing and Internet Marketing TV Channel Launching - A new Internet Marketing TV channel is supposed to launch featuring on-demand video of interviews, workshops, seminars and webcasts from gurus like Declan Dunn, Alex Mandossian, Marlon Sanders, Johnathan Mizel and others.

Ben Edelman Audio Blog on Affiliates Using Spyware and Adware - Jeff Molander recently did a 5 Part Audio Series with Ben Edelman that covers almost every angle of the affiliate - adware - spyware issue. Save Our Cookies -

For Affiliates, PPC, SEO and All Online Marketers - YES I am still obsessed with cookies. Whether you do PPC or other types of advertising they are the foundation for tracking in the online marketing industry and I KNOW affiliates are missing out on lots of sales due to cookie issues. There has not been a big rash

Victorias Secret for Better Click-through and Landing Pages that SELL - Take a quick lesson about increasing CTR and better landing page design from Victoria' Secret. This comes compliments of my favorite newsletter about increasing online conversion rates and marketing ROI

Highest Paying Google Adsense Keywords - Best CTR Keywords - I just found this great resource that shows the top paying Adsense keywords and highest click through key words. These lists could be helpful for affiliate marketing and SEO in a variety of ways so I would encourage you to check them out

Hot Lists to Help Your Target Niche Marketing Efforts for 2006 - Looking at the hot holiday sellers for 2005 and top retail destinations could provide some clues about products affiliates may want to promote in 2006. Here are a couple hot lists I discovered that I thought may be helpful for affiliate marketers.

Does Your BUY Button Suck? New Years Conversion Resolution - Make a resolution now to take a critical look at YOUR buy buttons before Dec 31st 2005 and you just may be able to give your CTR, ROI and sales a nice new years boost.

Top Affiliate Directory - Merchants Get your Blog Syndicated - The Top Affiliate Directory is owned by my 5 Star Forum mod, Stephen Ralph. He just added the ability for merchants to syndicate their blogs within his directory for even more SEO visibility and exposure to affiliates.

Does LinkShare Suck? - I'd hate to be a network. Always so many compaints. Here are some recent ones about Linkshare that include missing payments and lack of support. But of course like with any

Affiliates - Afraid of success? Need a JumpStart? - I'm sure most affiliates have felt "stuck" or demotivated at times. Some may be afraid of success, while others may just need some inspiration or a boost to get to the next level

Affiliate WISHES - If I Could Wave a Magic Wand… - If I could wave a Magic Wand and give you ANYTHING you wanted that would make Affiliate Marketing better or easier, what would it be???

What Makes a Good Affiliate Manager? - What makes a good Affiliate Manager? I imagine a hundred affiliates could give you a hundred different answers... Let's see what some UK affiliates think

Stupid Norton Ate All my Christmas Cookies and YOUR Affiliate Links - I'm sure by now everyone knows all about how Norton Internet Security blocks affiliate links... So then when I finally did get it installed - it automatically ATE ALL MY COOKIES! I hope not many surfers are upgrading their Norton

AWESOME! How to Find the Best Affiliate Niche for your Next Site - How do I find the right affiliate niche that will be high earning, interesting for me to work on, yet not too competitive? Now that the holidays are under way start thinking about your new site strategy for 06.

Don’t Even THINK About Starting an Affiliate Program - Don't Even THINK About Starting an Affiliate Program until you do this! I don't work with or consult for brand new sites with brand new affiliate programs. The last thing I want to do is set up affiliates to be the guinea pigs

Top Affiliate Programs for October 2005 - Top Affiliate Programs for October 2005 based on commission paid and best average conversion rates

Commission Junction - Talk about Domain Squatting - turn them into CJ. The really funny thing is when I went to the site to check it out I got a "Shoot the Turkey" pop under from Casalemdia. I imagine CJ will want to shoot THIS turkey too! ;-)

Cyber Monday 1 of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year - I try not to even leave the house on "Black Friday" the shoppers are just too nuts and the parking non-existent... more people are researching in stores then buy online from work the Monday after Thanksgiving... high gas prices will increase online holiday shopping

How Did You Get into Affiliate Marketing? Survey Results - There's been a little survey running on the 5 Star Affiliate Forum and I thought I would share some of the results with you. Surprisingly more people said they got started or found out about affiliate marketing through an employer than by any other source. Here are a couple of snippets.

Affiliate Marketing Web 2.0 Style - Past and Future Trends - We hear a lot of talk these days about Web 2.0, so now lets take a look at Affiliate Marketing 2.0 and see how AM is evolving. One of many examples has been the evolution of email and forums as the primary communication channels of 1.0 evolving into blogs and RSS feeds for the Web 2.0 generation

Affiliate Marketing Coverage - WebMasterWorld PubCon Vegas 2005 - My 1st PubCon! Wanted to share some thoughts from the affiliate marketing perspective since lots of people have already covered it from the SEO perspectives. There was a TON of important info

Free Magazine - Link Building for Affiliates, How to Write Effective Product Reviews by Rosalind Gardner and TONS More - If you're looking for powerful, reality-based affiliate marketing information that can actually help you increase revenues and boost ROI, keep a sharp eye on this monthly magazine. This issue is heavy on link building, but also has articles from Rosalind Gardner and Brad Callen on many other improtant topics.

28 Ways to Keep Your Affiliates Loyal - Here is some great info for merchants starting an affiliate program or wondering what they can do to insure success with an existing program. I am gone at WebMasterWorld PubCon Las Vegas all week so this is

Smart way to $10,000 per month? - This is a great thread with LOTS of insightful info for affiliates. I will be at WebMasterWorld PubCon Las Vegas all week so not sure I will be able to blog. Dig into this one while I'm gone and I should have lots of great new info and a full report about WMW when I get back.

Pet Affiliate Peeves for Merchants and Networks - What really gets your goat in AM? This question was recently asked over at the UK affiliate forum and a good discussion has started. Some of the things mentioned by affiliates that merchants and networks should take note of were:

Mortgage Company Slapped by FTC, Affiliates to Follow? - "Will it be long before mortgage lead generators (affiliate marketers) will have to submit to security audits and/or get "certified?"

Coupons go Contextual - Hot New Marketing Medium - Now this is what I call a SMART marketing idea. Coupons delivered contextually by in-line keyword matching - "Concordance, allows Web Publishers and Advertisers to provide consumers with money-saving offers directly related to the content of particular web pages...

Digital Affiliate Magazine Packed with Info to Help Increase Revenues - latest issue of the free online Magazine just hit yesterday and has 52 content-crammed pages of tips for increasing your revenue by keeping your eye firmly planted on bottom line profit - not just your search engine position or traffic. You'll get a blunt, reality-based...

Affiliate Classroom Site re-Launch, 2 Week Trial and Free AM Magazine - I am happy to announce the all new, totally remodeled Affiliate Classroom! The 2 week trial... even for pros and sceptics, check it out... A cool new issue of the free magazine just came out too...

eBbay reveals Hot Affiliate Niche for their API tool - The Affiliate API Program is part of the eBay Developers Program and is offered to give affiliates a wide variety of industry-leading tools and services and provides API access to eBay Web Services so affiliates can create exciting new content and user tools.

Cha-Ching :: Blogs Bring Home the Bling Bling - How are retailers are using blogs in creative ways to increase sales? One company reports doubling sales conversion rates from 2% to 4% after customers read their blog...

Affiliates: Build a Team of Experts - Don’t Go it Alone - I am trying to learn to deligate and outsource some tasks so I can scale my biz. I know many affiliates that are trying to do the same thing. It's so hard when you are a one person company and used to doing everything yourself. Ironically one of the people...

Affiliate Forum BUZZ - Weekly Recap of HOT Topics - Decided to switch it up and give the Friday Funnies a break. Since busy managers and affiliates that are productive, don't have time to hang out in the forums much - and since I live in them, you can count on me to bring you

U.K. Affiliate Market to Double, Exceed 1B Pounds - I know the UK affiliate marketing industry is hot as evidenced by so many strong UK affiliates and some great UK affiliate networks. To double in market growth is pretty impressive though. And merchants for Gods sake...

Feds Bust 4,600 RX, Drug, Online Pharmacy Web Sites - I always warn affiliates about promoting online pharmacy or RX sites, it's just not worth the risks. 18 people were arrested for allegedly selling drugs illegally, including the ringleaders of more than 4,600 rogue Internet pharmacy websites...

CJU 2005 Review and Commentary - Part 2 - Today I will be covering the CJU Award winners and my favorite 4 sessions. I will also share some new products and services that are coming from CJ and other companies, as well as links to some of the other good blogs about CJU so you can hear the news from different angles.

CJU 2005 Roundup - Part 1 - During my high tech career over the past 20 years, I have been to LOTS of conferences, trade shows and events. For example way back in 86 attended Apple’s official GALA launch of the very 1st Mac. Anyone remember that? Now that was a glitzy affair. Back then I was Sales Manager of Bell Atlantic CompuShop..

Gone Fishing - CJU Santa Barbara - Like my Gone Fishin sign? Seeing some old friends, hoping to 'hook' up with some strong new affiliates and looking to 'reel' in some great new clients while I'm there. Santa Barbara is supposed to be beautiful this time of year, so I hope the fishing is good!

 Liquid Trust - Who do you know in the “biz” that needs a SHOT? - Liquid Trust Spray - a real product and they have an affiliate program too! Who do you know that could use some? I know some "trusted 3rd parties" that could use a big squirt right about... 

TextLinkBrokers - NEW Affiliate Program - Earn $$ Free SEO Report - Affiliates, imagine earning “pay per lead” revenue simply by giving away Free SEO reports to your visitors. You can also profit by selling text links on your site. Additionally as our affiliate, you save 20% when buying text links to boost your own marketing efforts. In fact with TextLinkBrokers there are several ways to earn money:

 SEO/SEM Event - SoCal - Search Engine Watch does Disney - SoCal is finally going to have a real SEO/SEM/Affiliate Marketing event. Search Engine Watch does Disney - LIVE! Join Search Engine Watch's own Founder and Editor, Danny Sullivan, Mod Squad leader Elisabeth and some of your favorite SEW Mods like: JenSense, Nacho, Joseph Morin, Lex, Marcia and "Yours Truly" 

SEO/SEM Strategy - Gear up for the Holidays - Is your SEO/SEM strategy geared up for the upcoming Holiday season? Here are some great suggestions about things you may have overlooked and a checklist to get you ready to do search marketing for the upcoming "ChrismaRamaChanaKwanzivus"...

 Budding Affiliates? Top Tips for Getting Started - What are the 5 most important things to learn to be successful as an affiliate? What's the best way to get started? How do you find great programs? I get asked these questions on the forums all the time, so here are a couple forum threads from this week that have some very helpful info.

 Men are Media Hogs - Women are Couponers - A report from Forrester Research called "Men are from CNET, Women are from iVillage" identifies the difference in men and women's behavior online and could provide some insights for targeting those affiliate links

 Affiliate Shrink - NEW Google Cartoon - Friday Funnies - I've been thinking about doing an "Affiliate Shrink" cartoon series for awhile now. Had a creative streak and whipped up a quick Google cartoon. So does this SUCK or do you want more? Vote in the 5 Star Forums.

 New Affiliate Portal and Directory Launches + 5 Star Forum Winners - What large Outsourced Affiliate Management company just launched a hot new *Affiliate Portal* and Searchable Program Directory today? Who won the 5 Star Forum $400 Posting Contest? Was it you?

 180Solutions Pretends to Clean up Act, Once Again - CNET - CNET reports that 180Solutions is making another attempt to legitimize their Zango and 180search software. Here are a couple of anti-spyware experts that agree, it's just another PR ploy.

 Hurricane Katrina Aftermath - Online Marketing: the Good, Bad, Ugly - The world is still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. How is Katrina affecting the online marketing world and how is our industry helping OR hurting the issue? I believe

 ReveNews Gets Huge Face Lift - Improved with Many New Features - Revenews just keeps expanding and now they have a new site with even more great features to offer. Congrats to Jim and the team! I'm sure this was a big job and almost as painful and exciting as birthing a new baby...

Affiliate Summit, January in Vegas - 15% Payout Affiliate Program - The next Affiliate Summit is coming up in January in Vegas. They just launched an affiliate program offering 15% payouts, so you can earn from $142 - $262 per...

Forum Cartoons! Trolls and Other Forum Characters You Will All Recognize - Friday Funnies - PREMIUM LAUGHS! - We all hang in forums and know the stereotype posters when we see them - BUT you have not seen what they REALLY look like until you check out these PRICELESS cartoons!

ValueClick to Buy Fastclick - Here’s the Forum Buzz - The deal is done. See what people around the forums have to say about it. I didn't know FastClick was across the street from Commission Junction. How convenient! I can see CPA and CPM...

Affiliate Networking Parties Southern California - 5 Star Newsletter - This issue of the 5 Star News is filled with info to help you be successful and increase revenue! Find out about SoCal networking parties in OC/LA and also at CJU. The 5 Star Affiliate Forum $400 posting contest is heating up and we have lots of other big affiliate contests.

ShopAtHomeSelect Exposed by Ben Edelman - Well one of the "parasites" I was ranting about yesterday in my Parasites, Adware and Spyware blog has been exposed - again! How can the affiliate networks let companies like this continue their tricks for clicks after reading THIS?

Kowabunga (MYAP) Scores Yahoo Search Marketing’s New Affiliate Program - Can you increase the cost of affiliate software from $50 to $2000 per month and still get people to buy it? According to Jeff Molander you sure can! MYAP from Kowabunga, which I consider to be the top affiliate tracking software on the market just raised their prices...

Merchants, Parasites, Adware and Spyware - My Rant! - An affiliate manager on a forum I frequent asked for advice and the pros and cons of approving 2 affiliates for his program that are considered to be "parasites" but have high EPC rankings. There were lots of good comments that I wish I could quote - but I can't. However, since it stirred up such a reaction...

Parasite Protection - afsrc=1 Parameter Detailed FAQ - Scott Jangro used to be with BeFree and was directly involved in the creation of the "Affiliate Code of Conduct" which is how the afsrc=1 parameter was born in order to help protect affiliate commissions from parasitic marketers...

Howard Stern - Google Adwords Class Action Lawsuit - Howard Stern and others are suing Google over Adwords Budget Limits...

Search Engine Strategies - San Jose - Live Coverage - Barry (RustyBrick) will be covering all the search engine, blog marketing and other seminars at SES. Live updates and overviews of each session will be post in this thread over at Search Engine Watch. (Don't forget, I mod the Affiliate Issues forum there, so come by and say hi!)

RSS Product Datafeeds - MSN Can Do It - Why Don’t Merchants??? HOT TOPIC! - MSN Shopping Beta now features user-driven RSS feeds. I think it's a first for shopping portals. Merchants need to start offering dynamically customizable RSS product feeds for affiliates. NOT for consumer use, but...

Scraper Sites are Good for You - Surrender Your Content - I see many forum posts about site scrapers and what a PITA they are. This article says scrapers are "good" for you and compares them to the movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"...

Google Paranoia Cartoon - Who’s Googling YOU? Friday Funnies - Someone is Googling me again. Who could it be? A potential client? An old boyfriend? Here's a cartoon that shows you how I feel. Discovered the searches in my logs - again! Someone is always Googling me. Makes me paranoid...

“Click Pimping” Google Cracking Down on Adwords Affiliates Again? - Click Pimping? It's the new word for Keyword Arbitrage dontcha know? Well one affiliate says that Google is clamping down now on affiliates that are using AdWords landing pages...

zZounds Rocks Your Holidays - Commissions up to 18% - Big Prizes EarlyBird Xmas Contest - Tired of the networks? Bored with promoting mortgages and kitchenware? Let zZounds, a trusted Indie put the excitement back into affiliate marketing--and big commission and contest checks in your pocket! Here's what the zZounds Affiliate Program has in store for the Holidays...

GoldenCAN Affiliate Datafeed Storebuilder Tool - Some of us have been discussing GoldenCan on the affiliate manager forum for awhile. I personally think many affiliates will be leary of a "Click Share" program where someone else controls the clicks...

Google Toolbar for Firefox - Coming Today - Google's new toolbar for FireFox will be available today at 12 EST, according to a Google official. You can download it here. I have been waiting for this to happen and can't wait to try it...

Top-Affiliate.com - Posts Filled with Insight - Today I would like to acknowledge the MVP (most valuable poster) for the 1st week in the life of the new 5 Star forums and share with you some of the great tips and articles he has written so far. Knowing Stephen like I do, there is lots more great info to come...

Google Adsense Click Fraud Reporting Gets Easier - JenSense, one of my SearchEngineWatch co-mods that moderates the Google Adsense forum over there, has a Google exclusive on a new reporting tool designed to help stop click fraud...

Forum Posting Contest - $400 in Cash Prizes - 5 Star Forums - Affiliate Membership Drive & Posting Contest! This is YOUR forum and growing this forum will take a "team effort!"

Affiliate Marketing — Hotter Than Ever? - Wanted to share a great article from Shawn Collins that describes some of the key industry trends he identified, based on analysis of the recent Affiliate Summit. Shawns starts by saying...

Happy 4th - Dont Worry Sales and Traffic Will Come Back Tomorrow - Happy 4th of July Everyone! I have been hearing concerns on the boards about traffic and sales drops over the long holiday weekend. So I wrote a little poem about it, designed to make you smile and feel better...

Microsoft Claria Gator Cartoon - Friday ‘not so’ Funnies - I have been reading with interest news about the possible purchase of Claria (formerly Gator) by Microsoft. See my "Gator" cartoon below. I applaud David Coursey, an Eweek writer for just plain laying it on the line...

Are you a THIN Affiliate? Google Does Not Like You! - We all know that content is king and affiliates that will succeed and prosper need to be adding value to avoid duplicate penalties by search engines. Google's Spam Recognition Guide for Raters...

Affiliate Contests and Bonuses - What Motivates You??? - Some of my merchants are already asking me to help design their holiday contests. Ongoing contests and bonuses are always being discussed however, so I thought I would ask you. What types of contests and bonuses motivate you...

NEW! 5 Star Affiliate Forums - Posting Contests Coming Soon! - The 5 Star Affiliate Forums were developed due to popular demand by our blog readers and affiliates from other forums we mod... Posting Contests.... Win Cash...

Spyware Adware - No Wonder Consumers are Confused! - No wonder consumers are confused about spyware, adware and cookies. This article just makes me see red! LEGIT Anti-spyware companies call a spade a spade and get sued over it...

Court Gives WhenU Green Light to Pop On Sites - Hot off the press. The courts just overturned the landmark ruling against adware maker WhenU that held it violated the trademarks of vision specialist 1-800-Contacts in the sale and distribution of pop-up advertising. This ruling does not bode well for our industry.

Would you Rather be a Merchant or an Affiliate? - "Which is better - being a merchant or an affiliate?" Oh what a GREAT question! It came up recently at a private forum I belong to so I thought..

Recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blogs & SEO News Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

You Might Be Addicted To Affiliate Marketing If… Friday Funnies - I had a serious case of Internet withdrawal while I was at the Affiliate Summit in Vegas. So I thought I would share some red flags that may signal you too have a problem and may be an addict. You May Be Addicted To Affiliate Marketing If...

Affiliate Summit Part 2 of 4 - The Presentations - Overview of the sessions I attended. I think everyone would agree that the Keynote address was the most dynamic presentation of the show. Declan rocked the house with one clear message throughout his presentation. INTEGRITY!

Spyware Case - Intermix To Pay $7.5 Million To Settle - Intermix said it agreed to pay $7.5 million to the state of New York over the next three years. It also agreed to permanently stop distributing its adware, redirect and toolbar programs, freeware that Intermix...

Affiliate Summit 2005 Review, Part 1 of 4 - The PEOPLE - Just got back from Vegas after an overwhelmingly positive experience at the Affiliate Summit. I know “what happens in Vegas – stays in Vegas” but I will still spill! I am launching 2 new PartnerCentric affiliate programs today, so not much time to blog, so I plan to do a 3 part series ...

Friday Funnies - WebbyAwards Humor Category - I will gone until next Thusday. Going to the Affiliate Summit in Vegas, and will not be posting until then, so am leaving you with lots of fun goodies from the humor winners of the Webby Awards...

Revenue Magazine New Digital Version Online - I have heard lots of affiliates say they wish there was an online version of the mag. I kind of like the print mag and leave it in my car for Dr. and Dentist appointments. Well the digital version is out - plus more scoop click...

Ethics in Affiliate Marketing - The Affiliate Summit is right around the corner and I'm sure fraud, ethics and AM best practices will will be high on the hot topics list. Typo squatting, scrapers, cookie stuffers, parasites and other types of fraud are a sad fact of life in the affiliate marketing world. Considering our industry is...

Blog Revenue - Internet Marketing Opportunities for RSS and Blogs - I often see questions in the forums from both affiliates and affiliate managers asking about good RSS marketing applications and blog marketing opportunities. You can read a couple of great blogs about blog marketing at the"Make Money Blogging"section of the 5 Star blog...

Google Adsense Ruining my Blog? - Someone put THEIR Google Adsense ads on MY blog and I dont think I like it! Not sure Google would either. It's a pretty cool trick actually to have your Adsense ads go out with your blog syndication, but is this against the Google TOS? One of the ads is for an MP3 Toolbar (probably full of spyware) and there are about a zillion Bloggers ads all over my page.

Affiliate Summit 2005 Exhibitors - Discover more info about each of the companies exhibiting at the Affiliate Summit in Vegas. You can find me at the PartnerCentric Booth. Come say hi!

Motivation Gone Wild - Internet Marketing Success Starts Within! - One of my goals when I started this blog was to offer motivational and success-conditioning resources to my readers. It never happened. I got caught up in all the affiliate, SEO, ad blocking, cooking eating, parasite issues that affect our industry. However, affiliates, SEO's and many work at home affiliate managers face isolation...

Really Bad Jobs - Friday Funnies - Full-time affiliates sometimes forget how lucky they are that they don't have to go to work at a J.O.B! If you are having a bad commission day and want to feel better - click below to see how lucky you really are. Afterall it could be worse. Instead of being an affiliate you could have a really...

Parasite Cartoon - 5 Star Friday Funnies - Not Funny, but True! - Most that know me well, know how I feel about parasites feeding off the efforts of honest, hard working affiliates. This cartoon and caption says it all...

Diamond Studs Only! New 5 Star Affiliate Program - We are proud to announce the launch of a brand new *5 Star* affiliate program - DiamondStudsOnly.com. This one will be a strong winner in the PartnerCentric all star line-up, so we hope you jump on board today...

Recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blogs & SEO Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

Great FREE Affiliate, Webmaster and SEO Tools - Robin Nobles shares a whole page full of very cool webmaster and SEO tools. I collect tools like this to share with people on the forums and there are several good ones, I had not discovered yet. Robin said: "When working with my workshop or online SEO students, I’m often ...

Industry Experts: Consumer Education Key to Saving Cookies - More cookie news from Clickz. Industry Experts: Consumer Education Key to Saving Cookies "At a forum held Wednesday by the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), panelists and attendees suggested a variety of potential solutions to convince computer users to keep cookies, but they reached no consensus. Though experts also discussed ...

Friday Marketing Fun: Google Content Blocker - Tired of ad blockers blocking your revenue? GET REVENGE with the new Google CONTENT BLOCKER! It blocks all boring web *content* except p0rn and Google and only shows the ads! "What is Google Content Blocker? Unfortunately, annoying Web content often overwhelms the page, causing many users to become ...

Affiliate Sales Contests, Bonuses and New Programs - This issue of the 5 Star News is filled with information to help you be more successful and increase revenue! We have new programs, TONS of incentive bonuses and contests. We also have a big discount and important news about the upcoming Affiliate Summit convention that you dont want to ...

Improving Internet Sales Conversion Rates - More great articles about increasing online conversion rate from my friends over at GrokDotCom. This issue is about Calls-to-action hyperlinks and Points-of-resolution hyperlinks. "…Calls-to-action are the hyperlinks that move your visitor through your sales process. You create a call-to-action hyperlink by pairing an imperative verb with an implied benefit. Calls-to-action ...

NEW Outdoor Gear Affiliate Program on Shareasale – High commission - Introducing BENTGEAR, a BRAND NEW affiliate program that just launched on the popular Shareasale network. BentGear offers the HIGHEST BASE COMMISSION in the outdoor gear space and features some of the most popular brands of high quality outdoor equipment for camping, backpacking, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, and climbing. EVERYTHING YOU WANT FROM ...

Should You Start an Affiliate Program? Whats the Best Strategy? (Audio Blog and Free MP3 Mini Seminar) - I'm excited to announce the 1st of several audio blog, mini seminars from PartnerCentric.com. Linda Woods and Laura Schneider discussd how a company knows if affiliate marketing is the right vehicle for them as well as expectations that a company should have regarding their affiliate program. They go into detail ...

Adware and Parasites - CJ (Commission Junction) Cleans House? - According to a recent article in MarketWatch CJ dropped the infamous 180Solutions earlier this year and is tightening the noose around other parasite and adware type affiliates. Jeff Pullen, EVP says only 5% of revenue at CJ comes from download applications (ie. adware). I think many affiliates and ...

Friday Funnies: Salute to Work At Home Moms, i.e. Affiliate Mothers - 2 Cartoons today… I work with so many affiliates that have small kids, juggle a million things at once and still get everything done. The 1st cartoon TOTALLY reminds me of some outsourced affiliate managers I know - except they are ALWAYS SMILING and DO check their email! ...

OneShare Affiliate Program Re-launched – NEW Higher Commissions WIN Yahoo, Apple, Ebay and Microsoft Stock! - We are proud to announce that PartnerCentric has re-vamped and re-launched the existing OneShare programs on CJ as well as an in-house via MYAP on the Kolimbo Network. So whether you prefer the convenience of CJ or the independence of an *Indie* we offer you the choice that best ...

SES (Search Engine Strategies) Toronto Live Coverage - SES began this morning in Toronto and you can get almost live coverage of the event and the various sessions from "RustyBrick" who is posting session reports over at the SearchEngineWatch Forums. So far the sessions he has reported on include: Cleaning Up Spam & Other Messes, Organic ...

Cookie Length Info - Consumer CLICK to BUY Time by Market - This report could hold some valuable info for affiliates regarding cookie return days AND the value of pre-selling or assisting in the comparison shopping needs of consumers, in order to shorten the click to buy window and help assure your cookie still gets credited. The report breaks down average ...

Spyware Probe Continues - 30 More Companies Targeted - Looks like the New York Attorney General's office is not letting up on the war against spyware. Hopefully the continuing investigation which is rumored to involve about 30 companies besides Intermix, will catch some of the big perps and scare sense into the others. E-CommerceTimes: "In what some ...

IAB Joins the Cookie Protection Front - Some good cookie news! More groups are forming to help protect our precious cookies. Just a few days ago Safecount, a coalition that will address marketer and consumer concerns about cookies launched. Now Clickz reports that the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) is starting an initiative to address cookie deletion ...

Recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blogs & SEO Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

CNET Owned Download.com Banishes Adware - Kudos to CNET for this recent move to help curb the growth of Adware. Scott Arpajian, senior vice-president of Download.com said: "We've chosen to extend our policy at consumers' requests… It's clear that removing 600 programs - mostly screensavers, actually - from tens of thousands won't effect anyone's ...

Friday Funnies - Affiliate Marketing Cartoons and Pictures - Most affiliates work from home in their PJs. Since outsourced affiliate managers telecommute, we get to wear whatever we want to the office on Friday! We have an affiliate manager conference call at 10. Sure glad we don't do video-conferencing! SEE THE PIC!

AD:TECH 2005 Affiliate Marketing Panel - Here's some commentary about the Affiliate Marketing Panel that was held at AD:TECH this week. The session was moderated by Peter Figuerdo from NetExponent. The panelists were Shawn Collins of AffiliateManager.net, Carolyn Tang - the Affiliate Manager for Orbitz.com and Ryan Erwin from Oakley.com. Rachel ...

Should Affiliate Links Point to the Merchant’s Domain? PROS & CONS - Ralph Wilson just published a great article about merchants and direct linking. Many merchants want to "use" their affiliates for link pop even though they are only paying them for sales. I don't really believe that motivation is fair. However, there are several pros and cons to ...

ClickBank Suffers DOS Attack - Just got this info from the WebProWorld Affiliate Forum that I mod and I personally confirmed it. All NEW UPDATES will be posted at the forum: WebProWorld :: ClickBank Down? 2005-04-27 10:23am PDT: "We are currently dealing with the effects of a distributed denial of service attack. Thank you for ...

Seven Laws of Internet Marketing - Four of these Laws reminded me of things that are important for affiliates. The Laws of Respectability, Laws of Dependability, Laws of 'Memorability', Laws of 'Typeability'. If you have some of those long-hyphened-keyword-domain-names then you really want to read the Seven Laws of Internet Marketing ...

1st Big Report About Ad:tech05 San Francisco - According to early reports from Ad:tech05, the online ad industry is alive and kickin. DMNews.com "Expectations are high. More than 6,500 registrants are anticipated through the show's close April 27, a 50-percent-plus jump from 4,000 at last year's ad:tech in San Francisco. On the exhibitor side, all the online ...

McAfee says Claria (Gator) Not a Threat? - What the ??? McAffee supports Claria. Norton blocks ads. Who can we trust to keep the net safe and secure for honest marketers? AdJab Reports: Claria says McAfee is taking away their "thumbs down" Claria… stated Monday that McAfee has changed its tune on the company's products, no ...

Industry Group to End Cookie ‘Arms Race’ - THIS is a good start in the right direction. Affirmative action against the cookie war. Clickz article "Agency and research execs have formed a new coalition, called Safecount, to improve relations between consumers worried about privacy and marketers hungry for data… "Advertisers and publishers want accountability, not a cold ...

Recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blog & SEO Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

As the Cookie Crumbles… Yes I know I keep publishing cookies studies and YES I am obsessed with cookies. They are the foundation of tracking in our industry and I KNOW affiliates are missing out on lots of sales due to cookie issues. The other studies were about users deleting cookies. ... anti-spyware...

Google PR Update :: Friday Marketing Jokes :: YUK IT UP! - Well the Google Gods smiled down on my blog today and the PR Update we have all been waiting for finally happened! Just got a PR 4 and my blog is only 1 month old. Gotta CLICK to see this image!

Golf Push Carts and Spare Beds Added - Niche Retail Affiliate Network - We are happy to announce that we just added 2 more new programs to the existing 6 in the Niche Retail mini affiliate network. Golf Push Carts and Spare Beds (air beds). As always these “Niche” products have a high average order size and very high conversions due to the ...

Affiliate Manager Forum Hacked and Destroyed - AffiliateManager.net, the best private "gated" industry forum and the ONLY real forum exclusively for affiliate managers was hacked and destroyed. I didn't get a chance to blog about this yesterday but did want to write about it today. Shawn Collins, an industry leader built this manager community and ...

Don’t Let Your Customers See Your *Corporate Underpants* - Some of you know that the Grokdotcom newsletter is one of my favorites and filled with great info on converting more of your hard earned traffic into sales. Here's a snippet from today's: "You’ll recall Tamara Adlin from my last issue– she who was concerned that you let your ...

Users Aren’t Eating Cookies as Much as Jupiter Said They Are - The following article on cookies is based on new Atlas research which shows users dont delete cookies as often as they say they do. The Jupiter Research cookie report I blogged about on March 14th stated that "as many as 39% of online users may be deleting cookies monthly." This ...

Affiliate Links Can Negatively Affect Merchant Rankings? - Just scanned an interesting article on Clickz by Fredrick Marckini of iProspect based on new information he has gathered from the recent Google patent filing. I have often heard merchants say that their rankings disappeared. I wonder if this particular issue with too many affiliate links coming in ...

Visit the 5 Star Blog Network for Numerous Other Top Affiliate and SEO Blogs

http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/

Here are the most recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

Anti-spyware group “C.O.A.S.T” Closes - 180 Solutions the Culprit? - The Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors was established to help computer users remove unwanted software and put pressure on those companies that distribute invasive online advertising technologies. According to the Web site "C.O.A.S.T. has ceased operations, and this website will be taken down permanently on April 15, 2005." ...

More Friday Fun - This has absolutely nothing to do with Internet marketing but you just MUST see it and hear it. RefreshingMedia one of my friends over at affcommunity.com posted: "This is by far one of the best music videos I have seen in a while. It's obsure, has a haunting melody and only ...

Friday Funnies - Pray for Good Yahoo Rankings - Do you ever pray to the Google Gods for good rankings? I know a lot of affiliates that do! Well I always think of Google as a "She" so this guy must be praying to the Yahoo God. I have no clue what the caption says. Can someone ...

4 SmoothCorp Flooring & Rugs Affiliate Programs - We are proud to announce that PartnerCentric has re-vamped and re-launched the Smooth Corp programs. Whether you prefer the convenience of the CJ network or the independence of an “Indie" we offer you the choice that best meets your needs. Smooth Corp offers virtually every rug and ...

Interneka affiliate tracking program down? - The Interneka affiliate tracking program site has been down for 2 days. Reason unknown. If you are an affiliate or merchant using this tracking solution you should check your links. A merchant at the forum below is looking for contact info or any information about the ...

Affiliate Marketing Tips - Strategy and the Affiliate Space - Excerpts from an interesting article that came out in DM Confidential today. Imagine $100 bills being dropped from a helicopter and a mad rush of people scrambling to pick up as much money as they could. A young woman is stuffing as much as she can down her shirt, another kid ...

ARTinaClick Art and Posters Affiliate Program Relaunched - We are proud to announce that PartnerCentric has re-vamped and re-launched the ARTinaClick Art & Posters Affiliate Program. The 1st thing we did was to increase your earning potential. On top of the already high 15% base commission we added performance incentive bonuses up to 25% to help you ...

Report on Affiliate Management Software - Dr. Ralph F. Wilson's Report on Affiliate Management Software is out. You can buy the e-book and read his reviews of the 45 solutions he evaluates OR just *call me for a free consult* and I'll recommend the best option for your program's specific needs OR see my best ...

Here are the most recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

HOT TIP - PPC Keywords for Mother’s Day - May 8  
I just got an email from Overture saying: "We would like to help you get ready for the upcoming Mother's Day shopping season. As such, we have reviewed search logs from the previous year to identify seasonal queries that are relevant to...

Adventures in Net Marketing - Internet marketing resources
I just discovered a blog that I really like and think should be requisite reading for all new affiliate managers. (Even you old dawgs!) When I 1st started reading it I thought, "This blog should be called a day in the life of an Affiliate Marketer...

Experian to buy Affiliate Fuel?  
Rumor has it that Experian is buying Affiliate Fuel. What's with all the big companies buying up Affiliate Companies lately??? 1st CGI buys Kowabunga (which made lots of sense and seemed to be a good fit) - now Experian is buying Affiliate Fuel?...

Adware and Spyware Advice From the Inside  
Here is some great, hard hitting stuff about how Spyware and Adware negatively impacts our industry. Thanks to Wayne Porter for sharing this important info. As more and more companies take a stand, change will come.

IBM Affiliate Program closing April 30th
According to letters that have gone out to affiliates, the IBM Affiliate Program will be closing at the end of April and no more commissions will be paid, so take those links down and find a replacement.

Best KeyWord, Search Engine and SEO Tools  
List your favorite KeyWord and SEO tools - let’s all share. Leave a Pearl, Take a Pearl :-) I like DigitalPoint which shows WordTracker AND Overture daily totals. I use this one often for researching domain names before I buy them.

Traffic School Online Launches New Affiliate Program  
PartnerCentric just designed a brand new independent affiliate program for Traffic School Online.com, a company established in 1997 as the nation's first driver improvement course delivered on the Internet. Since 1997 they have served over...

New MSN search results  
Have you discovered the new MSN search results spoof site yet??? It's hilarious! Enter a name and personal characteristics, and the site delivers an authentic-looking MSN search results page with gut-busting headlines and summaries. Even the...

AnimalDen Affiliate Program: Re-launched & Improved  
We are proud to announce we have taken over the management of the popular AnimalDen affiliate program. The 1st thing we did was to increase the cookie length to 45 days and add new easy to reach performance incentives to give you the opportunity...

Here are the most recent headlines from our main 5 Star Affiliate Blog Network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

Affstat 2005 Report - Finding best practices in affiliate marketing - 7 hours ago
Internet Retailer did a great job of highlighting some of the best graphs and stats from the Affstat 2005 Report. "AffStat 2005 report is just out and the range of answers reveals the wide variety of approaches that marketers take. Among the...

April 1st Google News – New Acquisition and New Product Launch - 3 days ago
I heard a strong, but unconfirmed rumor, that Google is planning to buy CJ and put Todd Crawford in charge of the new CJsense division. The new division’s motto will be “All text ads, all the time - banners suck!”

New Alternative to Cookie Based Affiliate Tracking??? - 4 days ago
Exciting news and interesting possibilities. I have long been concerned about the reliability of cookie tracking, even before some of the recent news stories came out. I have heard reports from merchants and affiliate managers that as high as 40%...

Herby Resurfaces - 4 days ago
You know, I have been thinking about adding an affiliate marketing humor blog to lighten things up. Even affiliates and AMs need a good laugh sometimes. So today I open up Adbump*, which I typically only quickly skim and the word "Herby"...

$6,000 Per Month With Affiliate Marketing? - 5 days ago
gabby asks WebProWorld members if making $6,000 a month with affiliate marketing is realistic within 6 months and the best way to do it.

Google to Buy Urchin - Let the web stats conspiracy theories begin! - 6 days ago
As soon as I read the news about Google and Urchin, I could totally imagine some of the speculation that would be going on in the forums. So I headed right over to some webmaster and SEO forums to read the buzz. Sure enough, I was right. Here are...

Eye-Tracking News for Affiliate Marketing - one week ago
n a recent thread on Sitepoint affiliates were discussing eye tracking and where the most important places are on a site to put your Google Adsense ads or affiliate links. An article published today on Clickz sites a study that indicates people...

New Affiliate Marketing and Affiliate Manager Study Results - one week ago
Interesting study from Shawn Collins was published today by MediaPost. A new study suggests that affiliate programs can lead to business, with 14 percent of affiliates generating conversion rates of more than 5 percent. The study goes on to talk...

Here are the most recent headlines from our main affiliate programs blog network.

Click the links below to read the full 5 Star story!

Increase Internet Marketing ROI and eCommerce Conversion Rates
I spend a lot of time advising merchants and affiliates how to increase conversions, so thought I would share a great resource with you. This is some ...

Affiliate Program Conversion Rates Vary Widely
Interesting affiliate program conversion stats released by Internet Retailer in the Daily News. "18% of marketers say their conversion rates on affili...

SnapFish, the popular photo sharing service to be snapped up by HP (Hewlett Packard)One of our biggest affiliate program clients, SnapFish is about to be acquired by HP. Maybe we should double their monthly retainer??? Executives s...

What are the most saturated products and markets on the web?
This question came up at a thread I was involved in over at Sitepoint. Well there are numerous markets and products that have over-saturated Internet ...

eFax Affiliate Program Re-Launches with New Outsourced Affiliate Management
eFax has a popular affiliate program that pays commission on both leads and sales and is a 5 Bar earner in CJ with consistently high EPC rates. This m...

Symantec and Norton Change Default Ad Blocking Setting that Blocks Affiliate Links and Webmaster Revenue
As many of you are aware, I have been fighting the Norton ad blocking battle for over a year. Older versions of Norton Internet Security blocked affil...

Jamie Birch from Coldwater Creek, Michelle OGrady from Lightspeed Research and Roger Snow from KowaBunga Technologies and PowWeb Hosting join PartnerCentric
Well the team at my partner's company, PartnerCentric, is growing again to handle the needs of the ever expanding client list. We just launched a new ...

Announcing the New Affiliate Marketing and SEO Blog Network!

All the Leading Affiliate Marketing Blogs
All the Leading Search Engine SEO Blogs
All in One Place Updated Daily

Since I have been busy building this new marketing blog network and have been doing all my blogging over there, I have not had time to update this blog with all the lastest affiliate marketing news and insights.

Please visit the new 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blog to see all the headlines you have been missing!

http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/

More Internet Marketing eCommerce Online Retailers Join 5 Star Affiliate Programs - Six New High Paying Affiliate Marketing Programs for Webmasters and Affiliates Offered

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Costa Mesa, California (PRWEB) March 1st, 2005 - Due to the growing need by online retailers and webmasters alike for well managed affiliate programs, 5 Star Affiliate Programs at http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com is expanding to meet the demand. Already in the 1st quarter of 2005, the company has added several new eCommerce clients and six new affiliate programs to it’s roster of high paying, high integrity, pro-actively managed, free affiliate programs.

Online eCommerce retailers and merchants are looking for greater market share, higher revenues, increased conversion rates and better ROI for their marketing dollars. Many are realizing the resources necessary to run a thriving affiliate program are much greater than anticipated. Therefore many of them are turning to outsourced affiliate management. Advertising affiliate marketers are looking for high converting, high commission programs that pay well and deliver great partner support. Numerous affiliate marketers are using paid advertising on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Overture and they need to see a higher return for their CPA marketing dollars. Many have found that working with a responsive outsourced affiliate management company helps them get the attention and the rewards they are looking for. 5 Star Affiliate Programs and it’s partner, the leading outsourced affiliate management company, PartnerCentric, fulfills the needs for both sides of the marketing equation.

Most recently the companies took over the affiliate management and re-launched the popular Irvs Luggage Warehouse & Executive Essentials affiliate programs which are offered at Commission Junction. The 1st thing the companies did was to raise commissions, making this one of the highest paying programs in the luggage and executive gift categories.

Earlier this month the companies launched the o'Gills Irish Gifts and Celtic Jewelry Affiliate Program which pays 12 -17% Commission (among the highest payouts in the jewelry space). In January the GolfTravelBags.com and RadarSource.com affiliate programs were launched adding two more affiliate programs to the existing four programs the company has launched so far for Niche Retail, a vertical marketing eCommerce company. Early this year the company also took over the outsourced affiliate management of the SnapFish affiliate program. Snapfish is one of the most popular free online photo sharing and film developing sites online. 5 Star Affiliate Programs is expected to launch six to seven more new affiliate programs over the next two months.

About 5 Star Affiliate Programs

5 Star Affiliate Programs http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com, is a closed affiliate directory of carefully selected, high integrity, top paying affiliate programs that are pro-actively managed. The 5 Star directory features clients that the company either manages or consults for, including affiliate programs from top brands such as National Geographic Store, Snapfish, 21st Century Auto, Net Detective, Dental Plans, Niche Retail and zZounds, as well as offering several brand new programs from almost every market niche. The 5 Star site also offers affiliate marketing news, affiliate blogs, affiliate forums and articles to help both affiliates and merchants be more successful and achieve greater ROI from their online marketing efforts.

Most of the 5 Star programs are managed by Partnercentric, the leading outsourced affiliate management company. 5 Star Affiliate Programs is owned by Linda Buquet, a prominent affiliate recruiting and promotion specialist and owner of Catalyst eMarketing: http://www.catalystemarketing.com an affiliate marketing consulting company.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Linda Buquet
5 Star Affiliate Programs
http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com
(714) 754-1280