Perhaps this move is not so unexpected, but according to the NY Times, the FTC is going to start requiring bloggers (and presumably other review websites) to disclose when they are getting a kickback for their review, or get a nice hefty $10,000 fine. per offense, the way the Times article reads.

My thought on this – the world of affiliate marketing is going to change in a hurry as the FTC catches on, and big traditional ad money wants to get a piece of the pie.  Standards that already exist in magazines, tv, and news print are going to have to be upheld on the wild wild web, or else.  The problem?  Countries outside the US – couldn’t you just move your company to someplace outside the FTC’s jurisdiction?

For those of us who can’t pick up our company and move to – say Mexico or Costa Rica, the options are limited.  Paste a big red disclaimer on the bottom and hope it’s enough, change business models, or hope you don’t get caught.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’ve noticed a few instances of this, so I thought I’d point them out.

1. Wise Rep – now, this may not totally be a scam, but it’s advertising that you too can list your wholesale products along side things like lucky brand jeans and buyers are going to come and find them.  When “buyers” click on the lucky brand link, guess what? it’s an affiliate like.  For you, the normal wholesaler selling some invention or product that you’d love to get into walmart, you have to pay $30 a month to list there.

2. Numerous bridal registry sites –  Same model. If you, small company with a website, want to be listed, you’re going to pay a fee. They show you big box stores like crate and barrel, and then use affiliate links to avoid false advertising.  While this isn’t truely a scam, it isn’t exactly honest either.

These models aren’t exactly what affiliate advertisers have in mind. Imagine how the consumer feels when they register or sign up and discover  that their registry isn’t integrated as they thought when they go into the crate and barrel store, or what the person thinks when they’ve paid $30 for a year to find out that they haven’t sold a single wholesale item (because people don’t actually go to the site to place wholesale orders).

Popularity: 1% [?]

I mentioned PLR books in my last post.  But, the question has come up, what about MRR products? Master Resale Rights books do NOT allow you to edit them in any way shape or form, but you can also sell them or give them away.  So, if you purchase Master Resale ebooks or software, you can NOT insert your affiliate links in them.  Sorry!

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you haven’t seen the initials PLR before, you might want to get out your affiliate marketing dictionary.  PLR stands for Private Label Rights, and it means that you can re-use, resell, and relabel a product anyway you see fit, or any way the author of the product is allowing you to do so.

Want to know more? Or think you’re ready to stock up on a whole boatload of PLR for your own websites?  Check out this website that’s giving away free PLR software and more.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Can you give away 1 CD per day? If so, you could be making up to $28,184.40… that’s if you do it wrong! Just images how much you can make if you do it right! I know, it sounds too good to be true, but this letter proves how easy it can be:  3 months ago Russell released this training and sold it for $2,497. It sold out in just 1 minute and 47 seconds!!! (Yes, it was THAT good!) If you missed that very small window, then I’ve got GREAT news for you! Today you have a chance to get this training for FREE!!!   Russell took a few of those original students and had an very top secret underground workshop at his offices. You’ve probably heard some of the amazing case studies from some of those original students, including stay at home mom who was able to get her WHOLE business (starting from scratch) to making money in just 48 hours! Well, Russell decided to put the MP3′s from this event on a pre-loaded MP3 player and GIVE them to you FREE! He is having these MP3 players shipped in from Hong Kong, and only ordered 2,000 copies. When they are sold out, it will take up to 8 weeks to get another shipment – so go get your pre-loaded MP3 player NOW before they are gone forever: Click here!

Btw – for those of you who know how much I like Russell’s stuff – I shelled out the cash to take  one of his “famous” $10,000 seminars.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Have you visited SEO Book yet?  They have a great set of tools to help your PPC campaign, as well as a blog, and other cool SEO info.

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you don’t know who Russell Brunson is, he’s one of the leading authorities on selling online.  Any kind of selling.  If you want to make money, visit his website.  

On a more serious note, I’m taking a series of  coaching sessions with Russell’s Dotcomsecrets staff, and it’s one of the coolest experiences ever.  Want to take a sneak peak? Look here. 

Popularity: 1% [?]

Google says that we’re all going to have to love rich snippets. Only they haven’t REALLY said that, YET.  What they have said is that rich snippets will be coming to a search engine near you, to a town near you, and if your site doesn’t have them, well, watch out.  How long do we think it’ll take before your days of ranking in the top 5 are over? Or, is this just another one of those “things” google throws out to be funny?

Popularity: unranked [?]

I was just introduced to MLM and told it was like affiliate marketing.  Well, kind of. 

For those of you who are curious, let me go into Multi-level marketing in another post.  This article will mostly talk about pros and cons of the two. 

Affiliate marketing Pros

• no fees
• no inventory to buy or carry
• earns money as long as the website works

MLM pros

• get commissions for sales of people who sign up “below” you
• commissions continue to pay as long as you are in the program
• does not require a website, can be promoted via a website
• most commissions are 35-50%

Popularity: 20% [?]

Tired of promoting the same thing as everyone else? Try looking under rocks for affiliate programs?  What do I mean by that? Well, there are a lot of affiliate programs out there that aren’t run by clickbank, google, cj or linkshare.  Because it’s cheeper for many companies to run their affiliate programs from the inside, you may find that you can find your favorite product has an affiliate program no one knows about but you. 

Looking for a specific company? Start by googling “company X affiliate”.  If they don’t have an affiliate program, give them a call, pay them a visit, or send them an email.

Popularity: 9% [?]