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Mar31
Amazon.com enrages its partners

amaa.jpgWith Amazon.com announcing a new compensation plan recently, it has produced a flurry of outrage that is being expressed through postings all over the web.

Many of those who rely heavily upon the Amazon Associates' affiliate program were extremely unhappy with the new plan that was unveiled. The new plan that was announced through an e-mail, says that the new plan will include a flat-rate commission and will do away with their popular link bonuses.

Ecommerce guide said "The Amazon Associates program currently allows affiliates to build links to Amazon content and merchandise with an embedded affiliate tracking code. When a user actually buys something from Amazon, the affiliate gets a percentage ranging from 4 percent all the way up to 10 percent. Affiliate links can be built via Amazon Associates online tools or via Amazon's E-commerce Service, which allows affiliates to build their own virtual store.

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Mar30
Marketing Publicity: A strategy you need to Consider
Many people think that because they run a small online business that they shouldn't bother doing things that involve large campaigns and exposure, they're content to go about doing things small. I hope I can help you change your mind... Continue Reading
Mar29
Mass Customization is Essential - Part 5
To end our discussion about Mass Customization, I want to go over a few points that are essential to understanding what it really means. Most people understand mass customization when it comes to products, it is a little more... Continue Reading
Mar28
Mass Customization is Essential - Part 4
As I read PMA's story, one of the key elements I found included in the mix was the understanding that they are in a continuous state of change that not only relates to the tech savvy, but to those existing... Continue Reading
Mass Customization is Essential - Part 3
In examing the necessity to move toward mass customization we are looking at what PMA did to make itself a huge success among its customers. We looked at how they have helped control costs and increased customer satisfaction through a... Continue Reading
Mass Customization is Essential - Part 2
A good example of where the mass customization trend is going can be shown by the recent results that PMA received from a survey conducted by J.P. Murphy and Co., a Malvern, Pa.-based marketing and opinion research firm. The survey... Continue Reading
Mass Customization is Essential
We've read throughout the recent years on the promise and desire for mass customization. What exactly is mass customization? Why is it so desirable? Why will it be so profitable? First of all, in the past when it was... Continue Reading
Mar27
Affiliate Marketing: How risky is it?
If you were to listen to naysayers, you would think that affiliate marketing was a low-level ponzi scheme that bilks their users out of their finances. One of the problems in any area of business, when you're researching what will... Continue Reading
Mar26
Give it away free and make Money
I wrote about the recent strategy of Warner Bros. to enter into the China toy market with the goal of opening 200 stores in the years ahead. There is a great story that goes along with this that can assist... Continue Reading
Mar25
Six Apart partners with Chinese blog hosting company - Bokee
Blogging software provider Six Apart, has now partnered with Bokee, a Chinese blog hosting company, for the purpose of making it easier for chinese businesses to communicate with their customers and for internal commnications between employees via blogging. According to... Continue Reading
SEO and B2B - It's simpler than e-commerce
In contrast to e-commerce Web sites, when it comes to SEO success, B2B is usually far simpler to implement. There is an emotional barrier in e-commerce that one a price gets to a certain level, which is different from industry... Continue Reading
A Crucial e-mail marketing tip
Most Internet marketers know that many users have a lot of permission-based ezines they subscribe to. But, as with all customers, they look forward to, open and read e-mails that have specific content that is relevant to their wants and... Continue Reading
Look behind the numbers and stats and see the Story
We always get encouraged to measure, look at the stats and make decisions based upon them. Is it as simple as that? Or is there something more to facts and figures that ends in online business success? One major insight to bear... Continue Reading
Mar24
RSS Feeds not a big part of the Teen experience yet
            a aaa aaaa a Here's some data if your main focus in who you're marketing to is teens. In a report from Forrester, it does say that blogging in general is booming among... Continue Reading
Google Dominates U.K. Search Engine Market
In a recent study by WebSideStory, it was revealed that Internet search power Google, refers almost 75% of searches performed in the U.K. and furthermore controls the great majority of searches performed in Europe. The study discovered that in the... Continue Reading
Mar23
How to work with your SEO company
Once a company has decided to take the plunge and hire a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Company, it is only a first step in making the campaign a success for both you and the company. I have to assume... Continue Reading
User-Created Content - It's the online future
Last post we talked about some of the lessons we can learn from the strategies that Phil Harrison of Sony is attempting to implement in their plans for the future. The key to it all according to Harrison is this... Continue Reading
Lessons from Sony's Phil Harrison
In an article on the soon-to-be-released online service offered by PS3, Sony Computer Entertainment President Phil Harrison announced the long-awaited and promised response to Microsoft's Xbox Live service. You can read about the game consoles anywhere, but because this... Continue Reading
PayPal about to roll out SMS payment service
In a response to the worldwide growth of cellphone use and competition, online payment company PayPal announced on Wednesday that it is going to offer a service that will allow users to make purchase and money transfers using SMSes through... Continue Reading
Dell buys game computer maker - Alienware
With Dell buying game computer maker Alienware, AMD has finally gotten there foot in the door of the last standing company that exclusively used Intel computer chips. While Dell is the largest PC maker and the last to use only... Continue Reading
Mar22
Yahoo! Messenger Phone Service is ready to go
After a time of testing in international markets, Yahoo! is starting up its Phone In and Phone Out services integrated with its Yahoo! Messenger service. The customers in the U.S. will not have to wait any longer to participate. To... Continue Reading
This Lawsuit against Google needs to be Tossed
Another story in the saga of lawsuits has reared its ugly head again as an online company filed suit because they didn't get a high enough ranking in Google. In a report a few days ago it was said that... Continue Reading
Emergency Alert: If you use Sendmail - you need to read this
Mark Dowd at Internet Security Systems reported that a serious flaw exists in certain versions of the Sendmail open-source and commercial e-mail software. If you use this for anything personally or in business you need to read the report online.... Continue Reading
Mar21
The Newspaper Priesthood whines again - Part Five
Why write so much about this article written by Georgie Ann Geyer? To be honest with you it's a great business lesson to learn and history one as well. If you have done any studying of the history of business,... Continue Reading
The Newspaper Priesthood whines again - Part Four
If you think what I've mentioned about the article Georgie Ann Geyer has written about is bad, it even gets worse as we'll look at here. First she describes the recent selling of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain which is... Continue Reading
The Newspaper Priesthood whines again - Part Three
While Georgie Ann Geyer tries to wrap her argument around the topic of war as a reason that we need to read more newpapers, she begins to make ridiculous assertions that only someone representing a dying industry could do. This... Continue Reading
The Newspaper Priesthood whines again - Part Two
I mentioned a report in the last post called "The State of the News Media 2006." Georgie Ann Geyer uses it as an argument to say that we no longer know what's going on in the world because we don't... Continue Reading
The Newspaper Priesthood whines again
Poor Georgie Ann Geyer, she is being haunted these days. In her words she is being haunted, taunted and flaunted in her ideas about the American people. Listen to this statement she makes and I'll get back to it later... Continue Reading
Google enters into the Online Finance Arena
Google revealed a new site Tuesday that will feature financial news and content, which will enter it into a very large, growing market which its rivals, especially Yahoo have had its way with for quite a while. There is a... Continue Reading
Mar20
Queoo - Free e-Mail and Instant Message Updates on Weblogs and RSS Newsfeeds
Tired of having to do all the tech work, or have no desire to waste your time on the tech side of things in order to get your favorite web content through RSS/Atom feeds? Luis Suarez at ittoolbox tells here... Continue Reading
3 easy steps to Increase Newsletter Signup Conversions
Many of you may have hear the term "barriers to entry," it refers of course to how difficult it is for your competition to enter into your area of products or services. Now I want to change that a little... Continue Reading
3 Tips from Michael Dell
Michael Dell, addressing some of his employees in India, laid forth some simple, easy to understand concepts on how to be successful in your business. These three things, he says, are what made him flourish in spite of what anybody... Continue Reading
Mar19
The illusion of Online Privacy
When a person sits in the privacy of their room, sipping their drink, having their feet up relaxing, there is the sense of anonimity and quietness and enjoying being alone. The only problem with that scenario, is that you are... Continue Reading
Mar18
How to avoid search engine scams
There is one thing about online marketers in the area of SEO, they never give up. The problem is that a number of SEO scam artists know that and take advantage of that tenacity, to the detriment of the receiver... Continue Reading
How iPods are changing Colleges
While it is nothing new for colleges to turn ipods into educational or research tools, one college is finding more uses for the increasingly popular player of music and video. Georgia College & State University history professor Deborah Vess has... Continue Reading
Mar17
SEO and blogging - Part Three
Welcome to part three of this mini-series on SEO and blogging. We're going to cover several more tips on how to get search engines to pay attention to your blog more. Remember that a blog can be used for numerous... Continue Reading
SEO and Blogging - Part Two
I hope you have made a decision to include a blog as part of your online business strategy. Those of you that have, here a several tips that can help you to build a blog that will be attractive to... Continue Reading
SEO and Blogging
The days are long gone when you could have a good chance of ranking on the first page of search results by simply writing keywords that are focused according to your content, along with some specific formulas to follow. But... Continue Reading
Mar16
IBM/Microsoft slugging it out for the future of Software
IBM, which has been quietly positioning itself as a consulting company for years, once computers starting to become commoditized, is now being targeted by Microsoft Corp. which is attempting to sway businesses to conintue on with desktop software rather than... Continue Reading
eJamming offers new tool for distance-free-Jamming!
There have been so many introductions of new products and services the last week along with companies buying up a continuous line of tech companies, that I was surprised to find a pretty cool offering by eJamming which allows... Continue Reading
E.W. Scripps buys uSwitch.com to further its Internet reach
E.W. Scripps Co., the media company has continued its reach into the online comparison shopping business, revealed on Thursday that they bought up the British company uSwitch.com for $366 million which provides specialized Internet searches that allow you to compare... Continue Reading
Hank Kafka from BellSouth calls "YouTube" nonsense!
Bellsouth's chief architect, Hank Kafka made some comments in a speech recently that could possibly be a look into the near future challenges that the video explosion on the net is going to produce. One of the points that he... Continue Reading
Mar15
Six Apart gets third round of funding - Part will launch project "Comet"
Blogging software company Six Apart, who has been all around the news lately, has acknowledged that it has raised an additional $12 million in venture capital from three companies, including their current investor August Capital, Intel and Focus Ventures. This... Continue Reading
Bill Gates lays out his Vision of the Future
Gerri Elliott, corporate vice president, Worldwide Public Sector, welcomes delegates At the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum, Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman laid out a vision of the future before approximately 300 business, academic and political leaders from the U.S., Canada... Continue Reading
What if no SEO company wants your Business?
Benjamin Pfeiffer wrote an article on some of the reasons SEO companies refuse clients. He gives a list of some excellent thoughts, that if you reverse-engineer them, can get you ready to be helped. In essence that is the point... Continue Reading
Author Profile: Michael Alvarez

The Focus of my Blogs: Offline & Online Marketing from the Point of View of a VP/Director of Marketing

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Mar14
Judge about to Rule in Google/Justice Department Case
A federal judge on Tuesday said that he is going to order Google to turn a portion of its Internet records to the U.S. Justice Department, said he is probably going to protect Google's data that is specifically relating to... Continue Reading
You must list your company in Google/Yahoo Local
The days where the Internet is considered primarily a global market are over forever. You as an owner of a local business need to understand the advantage you get from being listed in the local areas of Google and Yahoo.... Continue Reading
The New Internet Boom is already here - Part Four
One of the new changes that may personify the new web versus the old web, is in the way the model for media and communications companies had totally crumbled. The old way of doing things was to build the businesses... Continue Reading
The New Internet Boom is already here - Part Three
Microsoft had entered into the mix of Web 2.0 with its recent offering of Windows Live. They have outlined some of their goals which would include reaching a target of 20 Million users by June of 2006.    Most of... Continue Reading
Mar13
The New Internet Boom is already here - Part Two
The new technologies that are empowering web users is fueling another huge round of funding to the net. Investors and companies are now backing the development of new companies or buying them outright as shown by Google's buying out of Writely... Continue Reading
News Alert: Six Apart buys SplashBlog
Six Apart the blogging software developer has purchased Splashblog for an undisclosed amount. SplashBlog represents applications for mobile Photo blogging and empowers users to publish photos immediately from their camera phone to a blog. Geekzone says that "According to Six... Continue Reading
The New Internet Boom is already here
With the purchase of Writely recently by Google, it spoke of something much bigger than the deal itself; it was an acknowledgment that Web 2.0 is for real. Most of you reading this will know that Writely is an online... Continue Reading
Mar12
How Women and Men use the Internet
In some very important insights, that can affect your business, we'll look at how men and women approach the Internet differently. First of all, in general, across all age groups and demographics, men still use the internet more intently than... Continue Reading
Is Google Preparing an office suite?
Cnet recently asked the question if Google was getting ready to prepare an office suite to compete with Microsoft. They reported that "Google announced Thursday that it is acquiring Upstartle, maker of Web-based word processor Writely." "The move immediately fueled... Continue Reading
Mar11
Google Experiment may help Small Businesses
A Google experiment could reap some great rewards for small buisnesses trying to move up the search results ladder. Google has decided that they are going to try to 'enhance' the results to offer more opportunities. Here is how it's... Continue Reading
Biggest Internet Marketing Mistake - Not Mining your Current Customers
In a lot of my online wonderings around blogs, forums, websites and all various communities and ways to communicate online, I still find many people believing that the best strategy to start a business with is to find the largest... Continue Reading
"Rabble" rousing the Social Networking Nest
Mobile Gadget News commented on the new "Rabble" service being offered by a joint venture between Cingular and Rabble. Here's what they say "Imagine a kind MySpace on a mobile phone, and you have an idea what Cingular and San... Continue Reading
Mar10
Uncovering the Secrets of AdSense - Part Three
I'm about to tell you some secrets concerning AdSense that will help you achieve a lot of success as defined by me in this series of posts. You need to take into account that this are working for most people... Continue Reading
Uncovering the Secrets of AdSense - Part Two
Now last post I dealt with the myth of making a huge fortune online using Google AdSense, in a short period of time. Like I said, you can make a lot of money, but there is a certain strategy... Continue Reading
Uncovering the secrets of AdSense
There has been a lot of hype about the use of Adsense to make yourself a fortune online. You know: just buy my book or course or use my tool and you'll make a quick and easy fortune. The next... Continue Reading
Finance Companies slow to embrace Online Marketing
Recent research by PricewaterhouseCooper for Google reveals that personal finance advertising is way behind the consumer demand for Internet services. Consumers are going online in droves to purchase personal finance products, but the companies selling them have been extremely slow... Continue Reading
Mar 9
MISys releases new manufacturing management software system
Manufacturing Information Systems (MISys) has realeased their new management system called Samll Business Manufacturing, for the purpose of making operations run smoother as small manufacturing plants. According to MISys, the system is able to manage inventory raw materials, work in... Continue Reading
Skype rolls out new service for Small Businesses
Skype, a global Internet communications company, announce Thursday that they a new answer for businesses called Skype for Business. Finanzen.net reports that it will "help small businesses easily manage communications, improve productivity and reduce costs. Skype for Business expands existing... Continue Reading
Emerging Technology Conference
At ZDNet Dan Farber posted one the ETech 2006 conference whose theme is "the attention economy." He said this: "During the sessions, several presenters attempted to wrestle the notion of attention to the ground. It was clear that definition and... Continue Reading
Mar 8
Building a Web Business with Little Cash
There are a number of people who not only struggle in their start-ups because of having little cash, but there are also some who make it a way of doing business to use various tactics to grow their business... Continue Reading
Microsoft goes after Google Search
Microsoft unveiled its suped-up Internet search engine made to challenge rival Google. It went live today with a beta version of its "Windows Live Search" and a new tool bar at the website www.Live.com. "Windows Live Search" vice president Christopher... Continue Reading
The challenge of Good Ad Copy vs. SEO
One of the key elements of success online has been and always will be “ad copy.” But with the increasing importance of online search, it is creating a tug-of-war between writing good copy that will also have some search... Continue Reading
Mar 7
Six Apart Announces New TypePad Business Class Service
Six Apart, the world leader in blogging software and services announced today that they have a new strategy for growing its business blogging answers. a According to their press release “The strategy includes several new product and service launches, growing... Continue Reading
Intel reveals new “Core” chip – faster, more efficient
Intel uncovered its new “Core” computer chips Tuesday, asserting that they can be used across the full spectrum of computing hardware from high-speed game machines to handheld computers that require little power.  Losing the technology leadership to Advanced Micro... Continue Reading
Hitwise Acquires SEO Company HitDynamics
  Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service has purchased HitDynamics, a technology platform that blends the management of search campaigns, measuring and reporting search marketing along with the tracking of conversion analytics into a distinct, intuitive interface.a HitDynamics as many... Continue Reading
3 Tips if you’re going to launch a Small Business Website – Part Two
We talked on some preparations last post on starting a website for your small business. Here are 3 tips on what not to do.  Last post we touched on this a little but it is of primary importance: don’t worry... Continue Reading