The Amazon Affiliate Slap – Death To Amazon Direct Linking
I just got an email from Amazon.com a little while ago saying the following:
We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.
As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.
If you are an affiliate this should be a warning sign if you are doing any long term direct linking campaigns. If you aren’t creating your own landing pages you are in danger from seeing your campaigns go dry. Not from just the vendors themselves analyzing where their affiliates are competing directly with them but also from other affiliates with tools like Google Cash Detective that can easily spot your campaigns and come in to compete with you.
It will be interesting to see the response of the affiliate community as I know of a few people who teach direct linking to Amazon specifically. If this is a major chunk of your business, you have 3 weeks to change your business model.
Here are some reactions, so far, across the web. Check Aaron Wall’s perspective in particular:
- Attention Amazon Associates – No More Direct Linking Via Paid …
- Amazon Associates Program Bans Paid Search Traffic
- Amazon Cans PPC Affiliates : SEO Book.com
- just got an email at 5:01 this morning from the powers that be at Amazon.com letting their associates know that as of May 1, 2009 they will no longer allow direct linking from paid search ads.
- If you’ve been direct linking without having your own authority sites or landing pages, it will just be a matter of time before big merchants like Amazon bans direct linking. Now Amazon has got this started, I wonder which merchant will …
- Amazon.com announced they are scaling back their associates program in North America by disallowing direct linking from paid search results.
Michael Jordan = Failure?
This speaks for itself!
Micheal Gerber – Climb The Mountain
Check out this clip from Michael Gerber:
Is Twitter Really Worth The Time?
Okay, i first want to say that, Yes, I am on Twitter (http://twitter.com/fredhopkins) but I don’t quite get all the hoopla. I know people have made some coin with it, but I haven’t heard anyone doing significant money with it, outside of major companies.
I’ll keep looking for an angle with it but I don’t ever see it being a major business tool. There are just too many ways of getting traffic to your site that’s WAAAAY better and WAAAAY less time consuming and easier to scale!
Do you disagree? Leave a comment! I would love to hear someone doing anything of any significance that they can actually trace to Twitter. In the meantime, check out this video below.
$343B In Consumer Spending For December
I recently read an interesting article in Forbes about the 10 things that people are still spending money on at increasing levels. They also dropped a number that is absolutely staggering, $342 billion in consumer spending for the month of December 2008.
I don’t know about you but I sure as hell don’t need to make that much for me to do just fine in this economy. That’s over $11 billion dollars a day! $459,677,419 an hour, $7,661,290 a minute, $127,688 a second! Whenever you hear another news story where the reporter is talking about how no one is spending any money any more, thing of this statistic. During the course of their 2 minutes on air, consumers would have spent another $15,322,580 on all kinds of stuff.
Think of the post I wrote on ecommerce a little while back and again ask your self, how you can get a piece of that. Now think of this, by the time you finished reading this post, consumer will have probably spent another $5,000,000 or so.
E-Commerce Still Up Despite Economy
I love it when I come across information the bucks the norm of what we are fed through our traditional news channel. I recently saw this article from Marketing Charts that showed ecommerce being up 6 % from 2007 to 2008.
Although 6% is good it is a great deal less than the double digit gains seen in years prior. Where there was a down trend was in comparing Q4 from the same 2 years. In that case ecommerce was down 4%.
It is important to put things in perspect because these number deal with macro-economic conditions of the web. How this is usable for you as an individual business owner, or someone looking to get started, is that now is still a good time to get started on the web! Take a look at the specific commerce categories that are still experiencing double digit growth. . .
Many companies out there are cutting back on marketing or delaying expansion place because of their fears. Take advantage of that by moving in the space that they are unwilling to serve. That will leave many unsatisfied consumers out there who are looking for someone to give their money to in return for the merchandise they want. Will you be there for them?
Have You Done SEO? Ever Felt This Way?
If you are as anal about checking your ranking almost constantly then you will relate to this cartoon.
Thanks Aaron!
How To Micromanage Like A Pro!
Have you ever been micromanaged to the point where you swore that your boss followed you into the bathroom with a stop watch?
We have all had bosses that were a little over zealous in their approach to trying to get stuff done and get projects moving. Have you ever wondered why? (Other than they fact that they were probably insecure, self-absorbed, a$$es.)
Well I believe I have found their secret training video! Check this out:
If You Stay Ready. . .
Alright this is comin atcha Big Willie Style!
I am a fan of Will Smith, not because his movie or albums but because despite all of his popularity he seems completely down to earth.
A little while ago my son and I were watching the making of Hancock. One of Will’s directors mentions that he has a favorite Willism, “If you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready!” Since then, I have been applying that to the way I go about business.
I have had my fair share of missed opportunities and general missteps along the way but I am going to do my damnedest to ‘stay ready’. You would believe the multi-million dollar possibilities that I crapped out on in the past, and I am not being symbolic about that.
Anyway, check out the video of an interview with Will Smith and Tavis Smiley. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
I Believe I Can Fly
Alright this one is straight out of the, damn this would be amazing to do if I wasn’t so scarred category. I ran across this video on Twitter that Kevin Wilke posted. I have always dreamed of flying, like many people have, and so I envy what these people are doing in the video below.
Take a look for yourself. Simply Amazing!
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.