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We hope everyone had a wonderful Father’s Day weekend.

Below are the answers to our Father’s Day trivia quiz. . .

1.) Which “father” figure does NOT exist?
A. Father Christmas
B. The “God” Father
C. Father of the Bride
D. Father February

Answer: Father February.

2.) True or False: In New Zealand, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September.

Answer: True. Kiwis honor their fatherly figures on the first Sunday in September.

3.) Who is NOT one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America?
A. George Washington
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. Benjamin Franklin
D. Abraham Lincoln

Answer: Abraham Lincoln. Although a very influential man, Abraham was not one of the Founding Fathers.

4.) Which sitcom character was NOT a father?
A. Danny Tanner
B. Cliff Huxtable
C. George Costanza
D. Al Bundy

Answer: George Costanza. (Fortunately)

5.) True or False: Father’s Day was invented by Hallmark.

Answer: False. Although Hallmark reaps the benefits, Father’s Day was actually invented by Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd in 1909.

6.) What is the most popular gift purchased on Father’s Day?
A. Necktie
B. Sporting Equipment
C. Tools
D. Socks

Answer: The necktie takes the lead as the number one Father’s Day gift

7.) Which Sunday in June is Father Day celebrated on in North America?
A. First
B. Second
C. Third

Answer: Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in over 55 countries around the world.

8.) True or False: Father Day’s was first celebrated on June 19th, 1909.

Answer: True. The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19th, 1909 and was declared a national event in 1924.

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On Father’s Day, which is Sunday June 20th, families around the world will honor the men in their lives by showering them with kindness, gifts, BBQs and brunches. How will you be pampering your Pop?

Father’s Day is a time to reward and honor dads, grand-fathers, husbands, sons, uncles and father figures and show them our gratitude and appreciation for all that they do. While the necktie takes the lead as the number one Father’s Day gift to date there are thousands of fantastic gift giving ideas and no-so-fantastic ideas as well. Here are a few of the not-so-fantastic ideas that we stumbled on:

• Antler Toilet Paper Holder
• The Beer Hammer Bottle Opener
• Binocular Flask
• The Potty Putter

For some fun facts and interesting history regarding Father’s Day read on and if you’re stumped for ideas check this previous post, Father’s Day Gift Ideas. Also. test your Father’s Day knowledge with of Father’s Day Trivia Quiz.

History
• Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd is the woman credited for brainstorming the idea of Father’s Day. She came up with the idea while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in Spokane, Washington in 1909. Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a widowed man raising 6 children single-handedly.
• The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19th, 1909 and was declared a national event in 1924.
• US President Richard Nixon signed a law in 1972 declaring Father’s Day as the third Sunday in June.

Facts
• Father’s Day is celebrated on different days of the year in different countries around the world. In 55 countries including USA, Canada, France UK, Greece, India, China, Japan and Hong Kong, Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
• The official flower for Father’s Day is a rose. A red rose signifies a living father. A deceased father is represented by a white rose.
• Neckties have long been one of the most popular Father’s Day gifts.
• Father’s Day is the fifth-largest card-giving holiday in the world.
• There are 64.3 million fathers in America

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With Father’s Day just around the corner we thought it would be fun to have a Father’s Day Trivia quiz. Post your answers to the question below and we’ll reveal the correct answers on Monday June, 21st.

1.) Which “father” figure does NOTexist?
A. Father Christmas
B. The “God” Father
C. Father of the Bride
D. Father February

2.) True or False: In New Zealand, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September.

3. ) Who is NOT one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America?
A. George Washington
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. Benjamin Franklin
D. Abraham Lincoln

4.) Which sitcom character was NOT a father?
A. Danny Tanner
B. Cliff Huxtable
C. George Costanza
D. Al Bundy

5.) True or False: Father’s Day was invented by Hallmark.

6.) What is the most popular gift purchased on Father’s Day?
A. Necktie
B. Sporting Equipment
C. Tools
D. Socks

7.) Which Sunday in June is Father Day celebrated on in North America?
A. First
B. Second
C. Third

8.) True or False: Father Day’s was first celebrated on June 19th, 1909.

Post your answers below and let us know how you plan to celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday!

Happy Father’s Day!

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There should always be some ground rules when it comes to an office pool before the chaos ensues. There are some things that are considered acceptable in sport pool etiquette, while other actions leave something to be desired.

At Share Results, a few of us (okay a LOT of us) have engaged in a little friendly World Cup Office Pool… Here are some guidelines to help keep you sane (and safe) during your own Office Pool:

Question: Should You Tip the Person Who Organizes the World Cup Pool?
Answer: The organizer would probably say yes, but we’d say nay. BUT you can get them an assortment of cured meats. Everyone loves cured meats, am I right?

Question: I want to support my team by wearing a jersey, maybe a scarf, oh oh, and I have a little flag too.
Answer: This is fine. Painting your face with the team colors may be a little off-putting, especially in a client meeting.

Question: How do I choose a team if one side of my family is going for say Japan and the other Holland?
Answer: Which side gets you better presents on your birthday? Especially the kind that comes in a flat envelop which can be used at 100% of the points of purchase?

Question: Is it okay to pick your teams based purely on looks, or the ones with the cutest strikers?
Answer: Absolutely, this is perfectly acceptable. In fact, I would go for Portugal, Argentina and Italy based on this proven scientific method.

Question: Why does the person who’s NEVER played in an office pool always win?
Answer: Because you stepped on a spider when you were 5 years old. True story.

Question: The self-proclaimed bracket-ologist is kind of being annoying about the World Cup match ups, constantly reporting and updating the subs, the plays, etc. I kind of have to do some work, what do I do?
Answer: Hang tight buddy, it’ll be over in one month.

Question: When does the World Cup start, where, how and when?
Answer: Started this morning but if you want to follow your team, here’s a nifty calendar to keep track: http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html

Question: I’m not part of any office pool, in fact, I’m not sure what’s going on. What games should I watch?
Answer: Here are 10 big matches I would suggest you put time aside for:

• June 11: South Africa-Mexico
• June 12: Argentina-Nigeria
• June 12: USA-England
• June 14: Italy-Paraguay
• June 17: France-Mexico
• June 18: Germany-Serbia
• June 19: Cameroon-Denmark
• June 21: Chile-Switzerland (not really)
• June 25: Portugal-Brazil

Honorable mentions, any with Spain or the Netherlands.

Also for those who are not in a pool, here are some quick facts about the World Cup that may interest you.

1: Brazil is the only South American team to win a World Cup in Europe, America and Asia.

2: Europeans haven’t won a World Cup outside Europe!

3: For this occasion, all the champions are seeded in a group: Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, France, England and Uruguay.

4: Only Italy ( 1934 and 1938) – and Brazil – (1958 and 1962) – have won 2 cups in a row.

5: Argentina, Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, England and France won a trophy as hosts. Brazil lost at home in 1950.

6: Only 2 finals have been decided in penalties: 1994 and 2006.

7: 3 finals were decided in extra time: 1934, 1966 and 1978.

8: Morten Olsen is the only coach who is in charge of his National Team since the World Cup 2002 in Japan. He is the Danish head coach.

9: Maradona failed while playing in Spain but after leaving Barcelona he won the World Cup in Mexico. Meanwhile, Messi has been amazing in Spain but he can’t win the major trophy of football…could he win the WC in South Africa?

Sources: http://bleacherreport.com ; John Cho; Jenny Lu

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Last night online I caught a glimpse of London’s 2012 Olympic mascots, and since then, I’ve regretted it. I couldn’t get to sleep, they were sheered into my mind. They’re….scary, creepy, even too spandexy, plus so many other adjectives I can’t put here.

I’m not the only one who thinks this, apparently anyone over the age of 5 who woke up this morning had two huge eye balls staring back at them, gave out a yelp. Wouldn’t you do the same if you were staring at Wenlock and Mandeville’s massive cyclopy eyeball? I hope this terrible looking twosome goes back to the steel and rainbow from whence they came.

The London mascots are definitely far cries from our very cute Quatchi (the sasquatch), Miga the sea bear and Sumi the animal spirit, which fit with our aboriginal theme of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Right now, I’m sure the one-eyed phallic things are a trending topic on Twitter and everyone with access to wifi is having a field day online. What do you think? Can they be loved? Will they grow on us? OR will you be crying into your sleep from now until 2012, when we now know the world is really going to end. (Thanks London)

Share your fears!

(image c/o National Post)

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London 2012 Olympic Mascots = Scary

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Do you have any plans for the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday? Perhaps you or your customers are looking for some last minute Mother’s Day gifts ideas. If so, be sure to check out CanvasPeople for photo-to-canvas gifts and Language of the Leaf for gourmet teas from around the world. Both merchants offer free shipping and ship to both Canadian and US customers!

Get the scoop on the latest coupon offers in our network plus exciting affiliate bonuses you could earn during the month of May. Also read on to find out more about our Affiliate Summit East 2010 Contest. If you haven’t done so already, check out how you can enter to win passes to the industry’s premier Affiliate Marketing conference in New York City!

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UnderGroundHipHop.com
COUPON CODES:
$5 OFF $50+ PURCHASE – Login to obtain code
Buy 2 Hats, Get 1 FREE! – Login to obtain code
Conditions:
* Coupons expire May 31, 2010
* Coupon cannot be applied to previous purchases
*Coupon cannot be combined with other coupons
Expires May 31, 2010
———————————————
Addition Elle/MXM/Penningtons
COUPON CODES:
FREE Shipping on orders of $75 or more – Login to obtain code
Customers get 10% off on orders – Login to obtain code
Includes Canadian and US orders!
All offers expire June 1, 2010
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FashionToFigure
COUPON CODES:
Save 15% off orders of $40 or more – Login to Obtain Code
FREE SHIPPING on orders of $65 or more – Login to Obtain Code
One time use only.
Expires June 1, 2010
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Dental Plans
COUPON CODE:
Save 10% off any discount dental plan purchase PLUS get 3 additional months FREE. – Login to Obtain Code
Coupon must be entered during check out.
Expires May 31, 2010

AFFILIATE PROMO:
Boost sales in May and you can earn up to a $100 cash bonus!:
-$25 Bonus for referring 10-19 new orders
-$50 Bonus for referring 20-29 new orders
-$100 Bonus for referring 30+ new orders
Expires May 31, 2010
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ZooBooks
AFFILIATE PROMO:
Refer 10+ transactions between April 1 – June 30 2010, you can earn the following cash bonuses:
-$25 Bonus for referring 10-19 new subscriptions
-$50 Bonus for referring 20-29 new subscriptions
-$100 Bonus for referring 30+ new subscriptions

Cash bonus will be added on July 1 2010 to your affiliate account when you have reached a minimum of 10 approved transactions.

AFFILIATE CONTEST:
Send us the link where you are promoting ZooBooks over May and June and your affiliate ID, and you will be entered into a draw for $50 cash prize! One entry per month.
Expires June 30, 2010
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FashionToFigure
COUPON CODES:
Save 15% off orders of $40 or more – Login to Obtain Code
FREE SHIPPING on orders of $65 or more – Login to Obtain Code
One time use only.
Expires June 1, 2010
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Sittercity
COUPON CODE: SAVE $20 OFF an Annual Membership OR $5 OFF a Monthly Membership – Login to Obtain Code

Expires May 31, 2010
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Language of the Leaf
COUPON CODE:
Free shipping any order over $29 – Login to Obtain Code
Expires May 31, 2010
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GoBIO!
COUPON CODE:
Free Shipping on all purchases in May. No minimum required. This is on top of GoBIO! monthly E-Specials. – Login to Obtain Code
Expires May 31, 2010
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LoveToner
COUPON CODE:
10% off all orders – Login to Obtain Code
US Traffic Only
Expires May 31, 2010
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ExcelToner
COUPON CODE:
10% off all orders – Login to Obtain Code
Canadian Traffic Only
Expires May 31, 2010
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Be sure to take advantage of these coupons and bonuses that are available over the next few weeks. The best way to do this is to log into your affiliate account and join the programs that interest you under the Share Results MERCHANTS menu.

Related posts:

1. Easter and St Patty’s Day Coupons from Share Results
2. October Hot Coupon Deals from Share Results
3. November Hot Coupon Deals from Share Results

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Le told us yesterday that the 2010 AffStat Report on Affiliate Marketing Statistics is out and she broke down some of the great information it contains. There were a couple of statistics that really made us here sit up and take notice, and we thought we’d share them with you.

The AffStat report focuses on many aspects of affiliate marketing, entirely from the affiliate’s point of view. It’s great for anyone involved in affiliate marketing, and should be read by affiliates, merchants and affiliate managers alike.

Here’s a few things that stood out for us.

Network or Independent Affiliate Programs?

When respondents were asked whether they preferred network or independent affiliate programs, 47.4% responded in favor of network programs.

One thing that a network program can often offer over most independent programs is affiliate marketing software. With the right software, a program and its affiliates have the ability to view statistics that can help them more accurately tailor their marketing campaigns. In addition, networks like Share Results allow affiliates to access a number of programs all through one interface.

Interestingly, 38.6% of those interviewed expressed no preference.

Communicating with Affiliate Managers

When asked on the Affiliate Summit AffStat Report how often they’d like to hear from their affiliate managers (http://blog.shareresults.com/what-makes-effective-affiliate-managers/), 49% responded that they would like to hear from them monthly. In second place were those saying that weekly would be preferred, which came in at 36.1%.

One of the ways that we keep in touch with our affiliates is by sending out monthly newsletters. Our newsletters contain vital information for our affiliates on new promotions from merchants and any changes being made to programs.

Of course, our affiliate managers are available whenever you need them and, unlike some other networks, we pick up the telephone. Our affiliate managers are available via phone, IM and email and, according to the affiliates responding, having all of those options was the favored

What’s in a Name?

The most important factor that affiliates choose, according to the Affstat Report, when considering whether or not to promote a particular merchant is the payout amount at 30.7%, followed very closely at 25.6% for brand awareness. Also, a whopping 67.5% of those responding said that they are incorporating social networking into their current affiliate marketing plan.

The entire document can be found here. If you haven’t read it yet, it is definitely worth taking a look at. Not only are there a lot of statistics, the document also contains some straight talk from affiliates in a section devoted to allowing affiliates to share ideas, complaints and suggestions. As the document itself states, “Read what happens when affiliates stop being polite, and start being real.”

Related posts:

1. 2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report Available for Free Download
2. Affiliate Summit West 2010, Here We Come!
3. Win a Silver Pass to the Hottest Affiliate Marketing Event, Coming Up in NYC: Affiliate Summit East 2010

More:
2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report Results

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For 40 years, we have been celebrating Earth Day. It’s the day of the year when we celebrate our planet, and try to learn some lessons on how to make it more sustainable. This is an incredibly important day when we learn how to cherish our planet, and put into practice strategies that encourage the longevity of the planet we call home. What we learn helps us to make our world a better place.

The lessons that we learn on Earth Day can be applied to your landing pages. Yes, it’s true! After all, what we do on Earth Day is all about sustainability and growth, which is exactly what you want for your business.

We all know those basic three lessons of the Green movement by now: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  The point of these three actions is to eliminate waste and create a healthy environment. If you follow these three rules, you can create a healthy environment on your landing pages that encourages sales and improves the health of your business.

Reduce

The point of reduction in the Green movement is to use less in an effort to create less waste. This is exactly the kind of approach that makes a winning landing page. The less clutter a landing page has, the more able the visitor is to focus on the end goal of a landing page: the conversion. So make sure to eliminate everything on your landing page that is not pointing your visitors towards that end goal.

Ensure that you have just one focused call to action on your landing page. Occasionally, designers will add secondary calls, such as “Join us on Facebook,” or “Subscribe to our mailing list.” These calls to action, while well intentioned and quite possibly even successful, serve to distract visitors from converting into sales. Reduce the amount of chances that you give your visitors to do anything but convert.

Reuse

If you’re serious about getting conversions out of your landing pages, then you’re analyzing your pages’ success on a regular basis. This helps you to find out what’s working and what isn’t. Having several different landing pages allows you to test several factors at once. Taking the highest-performing landing pages and assimilating the best parts of all of them into a new page gives you a chance to really convert sales. Whatever works best, keep using it to success.

In addition, the text that you are using to drive people to your landing pages needs to be tested. Using several sets of ads to find which one is working the best lets you break down the highest performer. Once you’ve found the best one, you can reuse it successfully. However, it should be said that you should never, ever stop innovating and trying new things.

Recycle

Do you have a hard drive full of old content or designs? You never know what kind of hidden gems you might have lurking in the dark corners of your file system, so why not take some time and go through your content or designs and see if there’s something that you can start using again. The great thing about landing pages is that (if you look at it in the right way) there are no failures; there are only lessons that can be learned to help you achieve greater success later on.

That means that you have the chance to try new things and find out what works. You might be surprised! The great news is that if things don’t actually work, you can change them on the fly.

However you choose to go about it, your business deserves to be a growing and sustainable environment.

From all of us at Share Results, we wish you a happy Earth Day and encourage you to do what you can for your planet, and for your business, today.

Related posts:

1. Effective Creatives Part 4 – Monitoring Affiliate Marketing Campaign Results
2. What Color is Your Website?
3. Discussing Transparency in Tracking Software at the Affiliate Summit—Part II

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Landing Page Lessons from Earth Day

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Just in time for Mother’s Day, CanvasPeople has launched its affiliate program on Share Results!

CanvasPeople.com’s (http://www.canvaspeople.com) mission is to provide a free canvas for every home. Anyone is eligible for a free 8

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One of the hottest, must-attend affiliate marketing events is coming up in August, and have we got the contest to get you there!

Starting today, we are launching a contest where members of the affiliate marketing community can win a Silver pass to Affiliate Summit East 2010, occurring August 15-17 in New York City.

To make sure that everybody can get involved, we’ve come up with a couple of ways for you to enter the contest.

The first goes out to everyone in the industry who likes to get creative. We want you to tell us why YOU love affiliate marketing. You can blog it, sing it, video it—heck, write a poem about it, or draw a picture with a snappy headline. As long as your entry is creative, we want it! Send us your entry, and we’ll post in on our blog.

We will be awarding two people in this category with Silver passes, valued at $99 each. The two winners will be selected by our team of judges, based on popular vote and creativity.

The second way to get involved in our Affiliate Summit East give-away contest is by posting our Share Results Contest badge on your website. This option is available to all affiliates in our network who can grab the badge by signing up to the Share Results referral program, where the badge is conveniently located under the Creative menu.

If you’re not part of our network, you can still sign up at to participate.

We will be randomly selecting a third and final Silver pass winner from this category, from those who send the most traffic to our blog.

The contest will be running from April 1 to June 30, 2010, and the three winners will be announced in July.

To participate, send your entries to the Share Results marketing team.

And before you enter, be sure to check out our contest Terms & Conditions, listed here.

Related posts:

1. Putting the Soul into Affiliate Summit East
2. Share Results Headed to Affiliate Summit East 2009
3. Affiliate Summit West 2010, Here We Come!

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Win a Silver Pass to the Hottest Affiliate Marketing Event, Coming Up in NYC: Affiliate Summit East 2010

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Affiliates understand that staying current with fresh content is the way to keep traffic coming back to their sites. UndergroundHipHop.com meets the online demand by keeping their stock updated with the latest and most current items – whether it be clothing, music or graffiti supplies.

Here are some of the latest arrivals at UndergroundHipHop.com from Destructo, Free Gold Watch, Freshjive, Dissizit, Entree, RAW, and Upper Playground

You can stay up to date on what’s popular if you sign up to their newsletter or visit the UGHH.com blog on a daily basis. Find out how you can deep link to these items and/or take advantage of the product feed, updated regularly. on your site by sending us an email at info@shareresults.com. It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of the latest banners and this month’s affiliate promotion, which gives you cash back based on your number of sales throughout the month. Sign up now to join the affiliate program.

Related posts:

1. New banners, New promos for UndergroundHipHop affiliates
2. Back to School with Underground Hip Hop
3. Exclusive Christmas Merchant Santa’s Ornament Shop Launches in Share Results

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New clothing arrivals at UndergroundHipHop.com

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Ah, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us again. One of the most popular St. Patrick’s Day parades on this side of the pond is the one held in Boston, which was held on Sunday, March 14^th this year. And while the rain may have kept some people away, those who attended certainly didn’t have their spirits dampened. What could possibly damper your spirits on St. Patrick’s Day?

Wherever you are in the world, we want to wish you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day and extend to you our wishes that, whether you are Irish or not, you will experience some good luck in the coming year.

It would be great if we could all just have a four leaf clover hung over our computers and find our pots of gold at the end of the affiliate marketing rainbows. Remember, however, that what makes a great affiliate marketer is hard work and tenacity. Just like St. Patrick led those snakes out of Ireland, you have to direct your qualified leads to landing pages that will seal the deal. Rainbows will keep moving away from you as you approach them, but if you’re an affiliate marketer with good forward motion, that pot of gold isn’t as inaccessible as you may think. It’s all up to you!

So, once again, from all of us here at Share Results, a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and a little Irish (and not so Irish) wish for you all.

May you always have
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire!

May you always have
High results in the search engines
Clicks for impressions
Attractive creatives
Commission checks to cheer you
Affiliate managers to steer you
And (once again) all your heart might desire!

Related posts:

1. Happy New Year!

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The new blue book guide to ad networks and exchanges from Revenue Performance is on its way, and they are looking for your help to compile the top 20 performance marketing networks. You can fill out a survey to let them know your top picks for the year. Results of the survey will be published in their upcoming Summer2010 (April-June) edition.

You can fill out the survey here and let them know your picks. Of course, we’d be delighted if you showed us your support by choosing Share Results. Also if you leave them your email address you can get a copy of the Summer 2010 Online Advertising Blue Book.

Related posts:

1. Ways Merchants can Measure Affiliate Program Performance
2. Choosing a Network for Your Affiliate Program
3. Choosing an Affiliate Marketing Partner

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Vote for the Top 20 Performance Marketing Networks

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comScore released its February 2010 U.S. Search Engine Rankings yesterday, announcing that 14.5 billion core searches were conducted, with Google Sites taking 65% of the search market.

The comScore press release listed Yahoo! Sites next, taking 16.8% of the search market, followed by Microsoft Sites (11.5 percent), Ask Network (3.7 percent) and AOL LLC (2.5%).

While the numbers are encouraging to the affiliate marketing industry, they are down 5% from January 2010 figures. On the plus side, Facebook.com showed a whopping 10% increase to 436 million searches, and Craigslist jumped to fifth position with 629 million searches.

We found this drop a bit surprising, considering that February includes Valentine’s Day, which usually makes for a busy search season. Plus, the Olympics were taking place, which often has sports enthusiasts searching for athletes and results.

On the other hand, February is a shorter month, and I’m wondering if, since it seems fewer people searched for Valentine’s gifts, perhaps there were a few more Americans slumped in front of their TVs during the Olympic Games—with broken hearts.

Now, who can search with a broken heart?

Related posts:

1. Vancouver 2010 Olympics Facts
2. Bing’s Got Bang!
3. Do Free Shipping Offers Attract Customers?

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Americans Conduct 14.5 Billion Core Searches in February Alone

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If you spend enough time around people who use computers to make their living, eventually you are going to run into a Star Wars fan. Really, it is so obvious that it almost doesn’t warrant a mention. Nevertheless…

Mark John’s Law states that for every 1.272727 computer users, there is one Star Wars fan.

I have worked as a computer programmer, currently make my living in the online marketing business, and I am a Star Wars fan. Of the 14 people who sit within about 25 feet of me and use computers for programming, SEO, writing and design, 11 of them are Star Wars fans to one degree or another. That is 1.272727%. While this is a very small test group, I know, I am reasonably certain that one could extend this over a broader group and still get very similar results.

As a Star Wars fan, every now and then, when I am faced with a difficult task, I ask myself, “What would Luke Skywalker do?” And this morning, as I was thinking about writing a blog post, I asked myself that question and it got me to thinking that Luke Skywalker would make a great affiliate marketer. Here’s why:

He got the right training from a mentor
If you’re a new affiliate, I highly recommend spending some time with someone who knows the business. Make friends with them and ask them to show you the way. Luke had several mentors. He got training from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda on how to leverage The Force to meet his needs. Without that training, he’d probably still be on Tatooine farming moisture. Just like young Skywalker, new affiliates need a mentor.

Talking to an affiliate manager who can spend some time with you is a great way to get your start as well. Those who know and understand The Force in affiliate marketing are often very willing to share their knowledge with new affiliates, so don’t be shy, get out there and ask for help!

He can sense disturbances in The Force
Affiliates have to stay in tune with current trends and practices. For example, the recent inclusion of certain types of social media in Google search results may take some affiliates by surprise, and they could end up losing out on some excellent opportunities if they’re not following the latest technology developments.

It’s also important to keep up with industry trends. Seasonal trends are just as important. Can you imagine getting to the holiday season and not using it to leverage your marketing campaigns? It is important for affiliates to understand what’s about to happen in the world of online marketing, and how to adapt.

Use your instincts. If Luke had not followed his heart and used The Force to destroy the Death Star, who knows what untold horrors would have befallen the Rebel Alliance!

He got his hand cut off and kept going
Many affiliates have seen their sales decline dramatically, or watched their rankings in search engines drop off. If Luke Skywalker had this happen to him, would he have given up? No way!

Tenacity is a quality that an affiliate marketer can’t do without. Regardless of what might happen, it is extremely important to hang in there and renew efforts to make affiliate marketing campaigns successful. Remember that no matter how bad it gets (and it can’t get much worse than your dad chopping off your hand with a light-saber), hang in there, and all will be well.

He made friends with robots
In the same way that Luke could communicate in robot language with R2D2, affiliates with websites need to make sure that they are communicating with search engine bots in a way that’s going to get them on their side. Make sure your code is up to date and you’re creating relevant, keyword-rich content that the bots and spiders can understand. When the robots are your friends, they’ll help you along on your quest.

He did not give in to the Dark Side
As tempting as it may have been, Luke Skywalker never gave in to the Dark Side. There is a lot of temptation for affiliate marketers to employ Black Hat SEO techniques to get business. Some affiliates use other questionable tactics to get traffic, but we all know by now that the most successful affiliate marketers are the ones who are straight up and honest about what they do. Take a cue from Luke and don’t give in to the Dark Side.

He had Han Solo and Chewbacca on his side
Make friends! This industry is blessed with a great community of affiliates who love to explore new ideas with each other. Of course, it’s not an entirely Utopian society where people are holding hands and skipping down the street with each other, but there are some great people to get to know. Take advantage of the great community aspects of affiliate marketing. You never know when you’re going to need a ride on the Millenium Falcon.

Jedi Mind Tricks
This is not about manipulating people into taking action on websites, but a call to action is imperative to making a sale. “These are not the droids you seek” is probably not exactly the kind of thing you’re after. However, you will find that your results will increase when using the right language in your Call To Action.

Can you think of any other reasons why Luke Skywalker would make a great affiliate marketer? Let us know in the comments section below!

May The Force be with you.

Related posts:

1. How to Become an Affiliate: Part 3—Types of Affiliates
2. Top 10 Working-from-Home Survival Tips for Affiliates

Here is the original:
Why Luke Skywalker Would Make a Great Affiliate Marketer

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