10 Tools for the Social Media Marketer | Traffikd

10 Tools for the Social Media Marketer | Traffikd: "10 Tools for the Social Media Marketer

If you are an avid user of social media and you are working to build traffic for your own website or blog with SMM, here are 10 tools to help make your work easier."

Conductor | The Science of Search | Managing Natural Search Efforts

Conductor | The Science of Search | Managing Natural Search Efforts

SEO service to track and possibley use for MT

Conductor's tracking, reporting and ROI analysis of natural search efforts enables agencies to concentrate on the strategic elements of their clients’ natural search strategies.

Qoof Home - The Video Commerce Company

Qoof Home - The Video Commerce Company

technology that allows you to transact in video. good for the new video channel and ScoopVine.

Qoof is the first video commerce platform that maximizes the commerce potential of online video through a unique networking service that matches e-Tailer videos with web publishing channels.

---

CMO Ad Budgets Shrivel, Money Shifts toward Digital - MarketingVOX

CMO Ad Budgets Shrivel, Money Shifts toward Digital - MarketingVOX: "Home » Archives » 2008 » Oct » 03 » CMO Ad Budgets Shrivel, Money Shifts toward Digital...
CMO Ad Budgets Shrivel, Money Shifts toward Digital

Always a bummer

Two-thirds (65 percent) of CMOs and marketing execs say their ad budgets will decrease because of the troubled economy, but more of their money will go toward digital/interactive marketing than before, according to a survey (pdf) from Epsilon, writes MarketingCharts.

epsilon-cmo-survey-marketing-casualty-downturn-september-2008.jpg

Roughly the same percentage (63 percent) of the 175 CMOs and marketing execs surveyed report that their spending on interactive/digital marketing has risen, while 59 percent report a decrease in traditional marketing spend.

epsilon-cmo-survey-digital-interactive-spend-increase-september-2008.jpg

The study also finds that though CMOs are facing tough challenges in the current economic climate, 94 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement, 'A tough economic period is precisely the time when marketing plays a key role.'

To offsest budget cuts, CMOs are shifting to more targeted and measurable marketing strategies. When asked how their firm determines target market for each channel, 50 percent said they use data-driven marketing techniques: 31 percent stated they use sophisticated"

Advaliant Reviews and Opinions | AFFpinions

Advaliant Reviews and Opinions | AFFpinions: "Advaliant
Visit Network | Write Your Opinion

Your Inventory + our affiliate managers + our technology = high performance campaigns

Our model is based on performance. When your campaigns perform, we get paid. Advaliant is set up so that everyone wins. Our affiliate managers are the best in the business and they are trained to make sure all of their affiliates and publishers receive the hands-on attention necessary to make sure that their inventory and campaigns perform.

4 Affiliate Reviews of “Advaliant”
Advaliant Review by Edward, October 1, 2008 | Vote: Add rating2 Subtract rating 0

I’ve been with Advaliant a good few months now, and just started to do some real decent numbers with them. I have only good things to say about them, everyone is really friendly and helpful, my affiliate manager Alla is great and always lets me know about new offers/offers ending and stuff, and she has helped me along from a standing start when I was doing nothing with them. Number of offers is around 200 in a variety"

AFFpinions

AFFpinions

AFFpinions is all about helping marketers and new affiliate marketers join the right networks. There are multiple affiliate networks springing up everyday and it is hard to find the right and best affiliate network to join. Networks will call you and claim they have the highest payouts, exclusive offers, and best tracking. In most cases this is the same repeated script all the networks use. How is an entrepreneur going to decide what network to join?

AFFpinions is base on real users and real affiliates. They leave their opinionated views about the networks they have had experience with and provide a value to several important factors of an affiliate network:

Slide:ology

Slide:ology

Posted using ShareThis

Contextual advertising platform - now in Spanish. - Advertising - BizReport

Contextual advertising platform - now in Spanish. - Advertising - BizReport: "BizReport : Advertising : September 24, 2008

Contextual advertising platform - now in Spanish.
A new offering from Lucid Media could help marketers targeting the Hispanic population. This week, Lucid Media released a Spanish-language version of it's ClickSense contextual advertising platform. In the US, Hispanic Internet users are expected to reach more than 20 million by 2010 and researchers have found that a bi-lingual approach is the way to go.

by Kristina Knight

lucidmedia.gifThe ClickSense platform incorporates more than 14,000 categories, giving marketers the ability to highly target display ads to consumers. In addition to display, the platform allows marketers to use direct marketing and gives brand advertisers a better chance to engage this growing demograpic.

'The online buying power and growth of the Spanish speaking demographic cannot be ignored,' said Ajay Sravanapudi, President and CEO of Lucid Media. 'Given that the growth of Spanish speaking Internet users is outpacing the rest of the world's usage growth, we felt that it would be in our clients' best interests to be among the very first to market with highly targeted contextual advertising capabilities.'

According to a recent report from CommuniSpace, Hispanic consumers prefer to be active in online comm"

How to Optimize Your Landing Page

How to Optimize Your Landing Page

Posted using ShareThis

MySpace Ads Platform Launches

The new MySpace Ad Platform has opened up and it looks like we have a great new social media marketing platform

read more | digg story

How to Optimize Your Landing Page

How to Optimize Your Landing Page

Posted using ShareThis

What Do Affiliates Want?

We ask this question all the time in our industry, but does anyone really listen? At Advaliant, we like to think that we do. Recently Bryn Youngblut had some questions about our network and we listened:“I was first contacted by Peter Bordes, the CEO of MediaTrust. Advaliant is the online performance marketing division of MediaTrust. Peter is a very welcoming and friendly guy, especially since I haven’t done much using Advaliant he took the time to contact me and answer some questions I had about the network. Most companies will forward your e-mail off to their support people. It’s nice to see that people as important and busy as the CEO of a company still take the time to personally contact you.”

read more | digg story

What is the "performance marketing alliance"

Over the last couple of months there have been hearing rumblings about the need for an organization around performance marketing. After several starts and stops, the Performance Marketing Alliance is giving it a go.

read more | digg story

Getting Inside Microsoft’s Head

Getting Inside Microsoft’s Head

Posted using ShareThis

Advaliant Podcast #4 - Carsten Cumbrowski

Advaliant Podcast #4 - Carsten Cumbrowski

Posted using ShareThis

Interview with Jeff Molander on the "Lack of Marketing Innovation"

Interview with Jeff Molander - Part II

by Scott Parent : Sep 19, 2008 Post from the Advaliant Performance Marketing BLOG

The President of Advaliant, Jivan Manhas, talked to Jeff Molander on two different occasions. During the first interview, Jeff talked about the lack of innovation in our industry as well as how performance marketing is perceived by traditional media. A short time later, Jivan talked to Jeff again and they continued their conversation:

Jivan : Should marketing channel cannibalization be a real concern for merchants or are they simply misinformed of the value affiliates bring to a merchants program?

Jeff: Yes, it is real and and should be a concern for SOME advertisers — in particular, retailers. But to call this channel cannibalization and such is to miss the point. I’ve always called it that too but we’ve got to stop. The issue is advertisers wanting to UNDERSTAND the way their channels interact and respond to that understanding — with a more logical or “fair” way to attribute sales to channels. Ultimately that trickles down to how they want to pay — and paying on performance is what it’s all about! They LOVE CPA but it’s got to be sensible and FLEXIBLE. That is where networks like Advaliant can cash in as I see it — offer more flexibility to advertisers.

Yes, some retailers are misinformed but is that really the right way to look at it? Yes, the people running their association are echoing the negative perceptions. I suggest that they’re not mis-informed at all. THEY consider themselves informed. Bottom line: advertisers’ perception of truth drives this industry — drives their spending patterns, their investment decisions. In many cases, advertisers are ‘inclined to see things differently’ because they’ve got competing interests with their affiliate partners.

The fact is, everyone is showing up at Internet Retailer and hearing large and small brands tell horror stories about how working with affiliates and networks just isn’t worth it — or is highly questionable in terms of value. If we want to do something about it we need to move far beyond suggesting that Google is validating us now and constantly asking for more respect. We need to RE-EARN the respect of advertisers.

Advertisers perceptions are driven by:

1) Their past experiences with affiliate networks (they felt resistance when they wanted flexibility)
and
2) The nature of their customers… specifically HOW they buy.

So if we want to change things with advertisers we need to address these issues.

1) Affiliate networks need to offer more flexible tracking and payment systems that help advertisers visualize channel interaction and sensibly reward/pay performance partners (CPA, CPC — all of them).

2) Marketers are measuring and actually seeing channel interaction/inter-mingling/cross-over in the order-level data. Orders are being attributed to multiple performance partners — affiliate networks, CPC partners (shopping comparison, search, etc.), offline media promotions, etc. Networks are forced to accept this phenomenon and cannot sweep under the carpet.

On the lead generation side, advertisers leads also use affiliate marketing… but the concern isn’t as prevalent. I think because there’s so little focus on lead quality and follow-through… at the moment. Actual ROI analysis — understanding how many leads actually convert — isn’t as much a priority for, as an example, educational lead buyers. That kind of thing. In simple terms, it’s sloppy. Yet that will change in time too.

So… it’s important to remember that retailers want more from their affiliates — more value. How do they measure that? Simple: They’re hyper-focused on getting more incremental sales/leads from affiliates. In simple terms, they want affiliates to send all the customers and potential customers they can but they only want to pay for customers that buy as a direct result of their efforts. Why? Because the Web is all about measurement and this phenomenon can be measured.

BUT… does it need to be measured? All of it? I’m starting to have serious doubts in certain retail categories. Not to mention the two sets of rules that have emerged: One for CPA affiliate marketing and another for CPC Google and Yahoo (CPC). CPA affiliate marketing cannot be allowed to scale (when it does Walmart ends up on white supremacist sites). Yet Google, Yahoo, MSN et al can offer that same dangerous scale without consequence.

Jivan: Where do you see the growth for the performance marketing industry in the next 3 years?

Jeff: I hoped you’d ask that because it connects with the way retailers perceive affiliate marketing. Direct response retailers — who are at work behind the scenes making all these problems for affiliate marketers — need to get on the stick. The problem, in their very perfect and measurable direct response marketing world, manifests itself as “we’re over-spending on customers” and “it’s clouding my ability to understand which marketing channel actually works best dollar-for-dollar.”

In reality what they need to do is understand something very important. Just because it should be measured doesn’t mean it should be measured to the extend that it retards innovation — actually getting to a new place where the cost economics work better for EVERYONE involved. That same place may also offer increased volume.

If they can make that leap soon, Jivan, I think it will spur a new growth area for marketing services/performance marketing companies that can offer a holistic, scaleable value proposition to advertisers. Microsoft (Atlas), Valueclick and Google all see this and are rolling out their products. What happens to Linkshare and similar networks that don’t have a diverse offering? You know, comparison shopping, review sites, display ads, etc. Hard to say.

The eventual realization among advertisers will look like this: ALL the channels work together, in harmony and we can see how customers fit into easily identified “personas” that are based on HOW they shop for stuff. Many are already understanding as much and taking action — with companies like Valueclick.

Think of it this way: The performance channel is absolutely an “indicator” of purchase intent, Jivan. We all know this. Shoppers’ path to purchase is clear and huge, diverse networks like Valueclick can “look across” the various places consumers visit (ie. search engines, comparison shopping engines, e-mail, display, social/collaborative shopping sites, etc.). In doing so they are understanding how customers typically consider purchases. Here’s the rub: If a customer goes through a long process that starts with research… and does NOT purchase after visiting Fatwallet.com’s CPA cash-back site there’s a clear opportunity to chase them down and make them an offer. This is the future and, no, thinking that we’re being “validaded by Google” isn’t going to get us there. Affiliates need to add value or die and many are dying. This will continue and should continue as Google “goes direct.”

Briefly… I saw Scott Parent’s excellent interview with Angel Djambazov of Revenews… who is one of the smartest and most gifted talents in this industry. The guy is a tremendous critical thinker and that’s why I’m going to make this statement. Angel is missing the mark with this “Google is validating affiliate marketing” stuff. Sorry, Angel, and I’d love to debate this with you if you’ll make the time investment with me… but I’ve yet to hear anyone define what that means in terms of how this changes things. I’d like to know, how does Google’s purchase of an affiliate network change things? How can it change things? How will it change things beyond suggesting ‘rising tides float all boats’ kinds of statements? I belive that this investment is a complete disintermediation and part of a series of on-going, distructive moves by Google. I may be wrong but would love to debate it.

Where does Google see the growth coming from? We are forced to consider how Google has leveraged LACK of transparency to its advantage all while CPA affiliate networks have been held back by it. I’ll ask you to think about that one for a minute too. Think about it this way: advertisers buy vastly more traffic from Google and Yahoo with very little expectation of where or how that traffic is generated. Affiliate marketing is highly, some say unfairly, scrutinized on these factors — the 2 sets of rules I mentioned earlier. As customers expect more from search results in general and as advertisers expect to compete less with their affiliate partners what does Google do? Eliminates the affiliates — and they’ve been doing this, slowly, for years now by making it harder to be a affiliate.

Let’s face it — opacity drives Google’s historic success. Aaron Wall of SEOBook.com documents this well over the years. Why did Yahoo go the route of Panama? Opacity. Opacity plus a decent set of optimization tools (free never hurts!) equals market dominance. That’s been the winning formula but for how long? A while! Should CPA affiliate marketing be running in this direction or toward transparency? Hmm. Traditional affiliate networks tend to hide data that ID’s the traffic sources and methods whenever possible. What’s the answer? Is transparency really the answer?

Comparison shopping engines lock up data too and that’s undoubtedly driven their success in the short term. I bow to Brian Smith of ComparisonEngines.com who has brought that to the forefront. We already see Shopping.com reacting to market pressures coming from companies like Mercent — companies that provide tremendous transparency across PPC partners. These guys are empowering advertisers to manage PPC comparison shopping engines’ inventory similar to managing/automating paid search. In fact, some of these new paid media tools tie to back-end databases allowing advertisers to set media buying rules that are triggered by how fast a product is moving, as an example. Tools exist today that allow an advertiser to “throttle” their spending based on inventory turn — automatically. As an example, an advertiser may be able to spend $0.88 per click rather than it’s typical $0.22 IF the performance partner can move it at 65+ units per day. Woah! It makes an affiliate network look like child’s play. No offense intended of course!

My point is things are changing. It’s difficult to see where the change will come but it’s clear on what’s driving success today. It’s mostly short-term stuff. It’s all about maturation. It’s all about arbitrage really… and it’s nothing new. As my friend David Dalka points out to me regularly, this has played out in other worlds (financial services) over history. Just as ’social media’ will disappear from our lexicon so will ‘affiliate marketing’ in my opinion. If you want to participate as an affiliate or a network or any kind of intermediary between customers and advertisers — and participate in growth — you’ll need to be doing something much different than what we’ve been doing for the last ten years.

Jivan: What specific examples would you point at in terms of change and where things are going? Who are the early adopters or ‘change agents’ out there? Also, how is the performance marketing industry poised to create dynamic new forms of value with the emergence of social networks, widgets, semantic behavioral targeting?

Jeff: Here are some specific examples:

Acerno is a cost-per-action network leveraging offline purchase data of consumers to drive online behavioral offers. Think about that for a minute. They’re taking data based on store and/or catalog and/or call center purchasing and using that to make better decisions on serving up CPA offers. Who’s doing that?!

Another one — Revtrax is an honestly innovative company involved in bringing affiliate marketing into stores.

Otherwise, I see growth coming from two places: micro-networks that can help large and smaller networks FOCUS. Also, the social sphere remains un-tapped but with good reason. It’s treacherous. Transparency, authenticity and trust will each play a role in growth here. In the end, customers themselves will make or break performance marketing. This is all about our ability to carefully tap into word-of-mouth recommendations and create experiences that keep people buying, referring, recommending. It’s about experiential marketing… bringing the customer an authentic, engaging (fun) experience to the Web. Video will play a role as will existing industries — namely the direct TV/infomercial industry (as a single example). Look at innovators like Honeyshed.com. They’re taking a proven model — infomercials — adding a hip/hop element, targeting their market with appropriate products and cashing in. How will affiliate marketing evolve to capitalize similarly? Will they be forced to become the retailer or will they remain a referral partner? Companies like Shopster.com have been lobbying affiliates to convert to retailers via drop-shipping partners for a few years now.

THANKS TO JEFF FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE HIS THOUGHTS AND HIS PASSION WITH US!

———

Jeff Molander is CEO of performance marketing advisory firm, Molander & Associates Inc. where heprovides executive-level guidance on digital marketing and media to multi-channel retailers, entrepreneurs and investment firms. He’s also a principal of The Partner Maker LLC, a system used by affiliate managers to drive increased revenue through better affiliate management & communications. He is co-author of forthcoming book, Paying for Performance and helped found digital marketing services company, Performics Inc.; today a division of Google. He can be reached at: jeff@jeffmolander.com.

New Advaliant Affiliate Contests Site Section

New Affiliate Contests Section | Advaliant Blog: "New Affiliate Contests Section
by Peter Bordes : Sep 2, 2008

We have launched a new section of the blog and Advaliant site that is dedicated to all the affiliate contests we’re running. We’re cranking it up with great prizes, lucrative offers and outstanding service! We have already given away two trips, cash and a Honda motorcycle. We look forward to collaborating with you to come up with more innovative ways to create contests for our affiliate partners. Please feel free to submit ideas in the comment section of the blog. At Advaliant, we work hard, play hard and give back to our affiliate community!

You can find the contest section in the right hand nav of the Advaliant Blog - including links to our current green tea contest! Or, click here to see what’s going on and how to win. If you are not an affiliate yet click here to sign up!"

GRAND SLAM Affiliate Marketing Contest..The 7th Inning Stretch - Advaliant’s Got Game

Some call it the field of dreams.

We tend to think of it a field of cash and prizes.

This summer, play the Advaliant Grand Slam. Now through September 10th when you run offers on Advaliant you will have the opportunity to earn thousands in prizes!

So the way I look at it, August is the unofficial countdown to the pennant races and we aren’t going to sit in the Minor’s looking to get called up. So, between now and September 10th you have a chance to play the Advaliant Grand Slam!

With a combination of strategic plays, perseverance and some solid base running you could put your hands on MacBook Air, $1800 in Amazon cash, or even a 37″ flatscreen TV delivered in time for the World Series.

How does the Grand Slam play out? If you aren’t an affiliate of Advaliant’s yet, first thing you need to do is fill out the simple form and get approved to our premium network. If you’re already a member of Team Advaliant, log in and run the series of offers listed in the Grand Slam rules. Each base has a set of offers associated with it, and as you move around the bases, you become eligible for more prizes while earning more revenue. If you complete the requirements for all three bases the top producer will win their choice of a MacBook Air or an $1800 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

Home | 12seconds.tv (alpha)

Home | 12seconds.tv (alpha):

"12seconds.tv allows friends and family to record and share short video updates about what they are doing or where they are. You can use a webcam or a cellphone. It's a FREE, easy, and fun way to stay in touch. Join now and get started!"

10,000 Dollar Affiliate Contest - Win a 50 inch Plasma TV and More

Advaliant is blowing it up again in August with a $10,000 Affiliate Contest. Win one of these prizes & get in touch with your inner gamer-geek-self. Grand prize: $5000 gaming package that includes a 50″ plasma TV, a Bose Lifestyle 28 Series III home entertainment system & a 60 GB Playstation 3!

The August affiliate contest offers other great prizes too. The Advaliant team is giving away a whopping $10,000 worth of gear. If you’re an affiliate, sign in and get started. If you’re not an affiliate yet, join Advaliant today.

Overstock Files Lawsuit to Fight New York Tax Law - 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blogs

A very important issue that has been gaining a head of steam and needs more involvement from our interactive marketing community. the below is a very important post from Linda Buquet at 5 Star Affiliate Programs. Please take the time to read all the information and get involved by spreading the word thru social media. So Tweet it, Digg it, Stumble it, post it to Facebook!

Overstock Files Lawsuit to Fight New York Tax Law - 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blogs: "BIG Breaking News! While I gave Overstock a seriously hard time over dropping their New York affiliates - now I need to give them a HUGE thank you on behalf of the affiliate marketing industry for their latest move!

We really needed another major retailer to challenge this law as Amazon did and now we have it! Overstock just announced yesterday, they filed their own suit.

“The complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court calls upon the court to issue an injunction and to declare the law unconstitutional.”

Can’t believe I broke this story and no one in the industry has blogged it yet. Then again, I’m overly obsessed and constantly scouring the net for news on this issue. I think this could help us even more than the Amazon suit, for a variety of reasons. Hopefully I can help spread the word to let people know. I’ll get a twit and an email out to key people in the industry who I’m working with on this issue.

We are coordinating a New York Tax panel discussion for next week’s Affiliate Marketing Insider Radio show. Maybe I can get Overstock legal to be on the show and comment on their stance with affiliates and this suit.

Overstock.com Challenges Constitutionality of New York’s Internet Tax Law
http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/1512/overstock-lawsuit-new-york-tax-law.html

There are other posts on RelevantlySpeaking.com about this issue and our Advaliant division of Mediatrust getting involved.

Another good link is to the Forbes article calling the New York State Amazon Tax unconstitutional.

Its important that our community collaborate on this tax and make our voice heard. This is a call to action for all to participate in any way getting this viral. Please join in!
OTHER HELPFUL LINKS:
http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/internet-retailer-on-the-ny-affiliate-tax/

5 Star Affiliate Program’s Linda Buquet proactive call to action commentary and updates (a must read)

Kevin Webster of the 72 Kilowatts blog started a post on ABestWeb, “Merchants who ALREADY collect New York Sales Tax.”

Danny Martin of iStockphoto

We talk a lot on Relevantly Speaking about how companies are using social media in nearly every form. For the purposes of this post, let’s talk about video content. Let’s say we’ve convinced you to give it a try and you’re ready to start a video series for your company. You have a camera and you’ve shot some footage, but how do you add polish to the finished product? One tool that we use here at MediaTrust is a company called iStockphoto. They have thousands of high-quality images and HD videos that you can purchase and use in your productions. Businesses are using them in their presentations, bands are using them to make low-budget videos, and filmmakers are using them to supplement the footage they can’t get on their own.

For this episode we pull out some footage from the vault. This was shot in March when Christopher and I were covering SXSW. I think you’ll find it helpful.

RelevantlySpeaking HD podcast now on AppleTV

RelevantlySpeaking HD podcasts are now available thru Apple TV. Now all we need is a Apple social network to make it complete!

Don't Underestimate the Longtail | Relevantly Speaking

Don't Underestimate the Longtail | Relevantly Speaking: "Don’t Underestimate the Longtail
by Scott Parent : May 27, 2008

One of the most powerful things about the web is the seemingly infinite archive of content. Want to see Doug Flutie’s hail mary pass on YouTube, you can. How about Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl? Yep, it’s all there on the web for anyone to view at anytime.

This weekend I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Starring opposite Harrison Ford is Cate Blanchett. Seeing her on-screen made me want to go online and look for some interviews. Oh yeah, we shot one for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January. It got me thinking - how many other people go back and look for this type of content?

I started to look at some of the stats from the nine episodes we did for this year’s SBIFF. Immediately following the festival, the viewership numbers were hovering around the 1.1 million mark. In the three and a half months since, we’ve done an additional 80,000 views. Keep in mind that is without any additional promotion of the work. Those additional numbers are strictly from people that either searched for that specific type of content or happened on it randomly.

It has become ingrained in us through traditional media to look at viewer numbers at the time of broa"

MediaPost Publications - Discrepancy Revolution: IAB Issues Guidelines To Fix Online Media Buying Errors - 05/28/2008

MediaPost Publications - Discrepancy Revolution: IAB Issues Guidelines To Fix Online Media Buying Errors - 05/28/2008: "Discrepancy Revolution: IAB Issues Guidelines To Fix Online Media Buying Errors
by Joe Mandese, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:00 AM ET
As part of a broader push to improve the efficiency of interactive advertising campaigns, and to reduce the number of discrepancies that occur in online media buys, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tuesday released a set of recommendations for both advertising agencies and publishers. The white paper, dubbed the Interactive Campaign Setup Best Practices, may sound boring and mundane, but it is a critical first step toward the kind of processing errors that have made online media one of the industry's worst offenders when it comes to media buying discrepancies.

The paper, the third in a series of initiatives coming from the IAB's Ad Ops Council, was created with input from Madison Avenue, including input from agencies such as Avenue A/Razorfish, Digitas, MediaVest, and Horizon Interactive, and includes a detailed breakdown on recommended steps to take when creating and scheduling an online advertising campaign. On the agency side, the paper covers three crucial steps: The request for proposal (RFP) stage, the insertion order phase, and the campaign delivery process. For publishers, it covers steps to take during"

Affiliate Marketing Community Tax Issue Update

The NY affiliate tax issue has ignited several issues and initiatives. It now seems that Texas might be following along with CA. The issue has caused debate over the need for affiliate marketing association or to work with established groups such as the IAB.

We participated in the IAB public policy meeting this week on the new Can-Spam legislation. The IAB has been very focused on the privacy issues legislation and it effect on our interactive markets. In the last segment of the meeting MediaTrust’s CMO Trip Foster and ValueClick opened the affiliate tax discussion. The public policy team made several things very clear that don’t surprise me at all. The law is not very well thought out and applies a traditional retail tax model to the internet e-commerce model. It treats NY affiliates as physical store fronts, and physical store fronts have very clear limitations and physical boundaries. Interactive store fronts have no borders or boundaries. Traffic can come in from anywhere in the world at anytime. This is internet 101 NY state! You need to look at this thru a different lens and apply different model. Each state has different taxes on goods. There are no current mechanisms or the infrastructure in place to be able to handle every global transaction across every state.

So now we have a knee jerk reaction created by a knee jerk law. Merchants are either fighting this like Amazon, or walking away from 3,400 affiliates like Overstock. Others are following each of the 2 paths creating extremely alarming reactive behavior. Not Good. Do the math. If this spreads across other states. mean while we are in a economy that needs stimulation, jobs and productivity. This law is counter productive to the current economy. Affiliate marketers make a living from online marketing. These are real small businesses not hobbies. Many have affiliates have started to help counter the impact the economic contraction on their lives. Affiliate or the work at home model is an important part of the emerging long tail economy. This is a meaningful trend. With significant numbers being generated around the 8 billion mark and growing. This is a meaningful part of large companies down thru the value chain to the SMB’s and service providers that have been created thru the new interactive economy.

It is very important that the affiliate marketing community come together and have a voice. State legislation needs to take the time to work with the community, merchants, affiliate networks and affiliates to create a law that is very well thought out and applies to E-commerce. Not traditional retail. Sites and IP addresses can move. Physical stores cannot. NY state shoppers also transact on NY state affiliates sites when they are out on NY state. What is the ripple effect and impact on the interactive marketing community and the interactive economy in relationship to the bigger economic picture? Proper methodical legislation is needed that looks at the entire puzzle. Not one section of the puzzle, and this puzzle has many many pieces in all sizes, shapes and colors. It is NOT black and white.

We will be working with our community and participating in further IAB public policy around this issue and will post as the legislation moves along. We strongly encourage everyone to participate in raising awareness by being vocal and asking questions thru the forums, blogs, service providers or submitting a petition to affiliatepetition@gmail.com . Everyones voice counts no matter how big or small.

Here are some helpful links:

affiliatepetition@gmail.com is an anonymous point of contact to send in your thoughts or petition

Full text of law located here

5 Star Affiliate Program’s Linda Buquet proactive call to action commentary and updates (a must read)

Kevin Webster of the 72 Kilowatts blog started a post on ABestWeb, “Merchants who ALREADY collect New York Sales Tax.”

ABestWeb dedicated area to legal issues for New York affiliate marketers

ABW of merchants who have dropped New York affiliates.

ShareAsales Brian Littleton’s network position and thoughts commentary

Revenew’s Heather Paulson’s “Interview With Members of the NY State Tax Dept”

Shaun Collin’s Affiliate Blog commentary

The Affiliate State Tax is Not Our Friend

The power of social media demonstrates how information flows rapidly around a very new and troubling issue. There is a rising tide that the affiliate marketing community needs to pay close attention to. The New York State affiliate program tax has been quietly gaining a head of steam.

The buzz started yesterday when Overstock.com pulled its New York State affiliate marketing program. The Twitter marketing community lit up as the news traveled across the social web. I was Twittering with @affiliateTips Shaun Collins (who first picked up the story) that this was the beginning of a problematic trend. States wanting tax dollars act like herds of animals looking for food - even if it means putting small business owners out of business in these already trying economic times. Bravo Elliot Spitzer and Governor Patterson! Immediately @5StarAffiliate shot us and @techcrunch a Tweet that California is now looking to follow New York. Kiplinger has the coverage of the CA tax warning.

Overstock’s affiliate program manager Ryan Sorensen shared a link to Overstock’s response letter with more details and that he felt other large retailers were soon to follow. Amazon filed a complaint in State Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the new law. The problem is that the new tax kicks in on June 1st which means that online retailers can’t hold out for resolution of the Amazon complaint.

All this being said, we cannot sit around and wait to see where this goes. The very large and fragmented affiliate marketing community needs to come together and get involved to address this issue before it exceeds our grasp. We need to stand up as solutions & service providers and act on behalf of, and protect, our community and affiliates. We at MediaTrust have reached out to the IAB to see what actions are suggested. If you would like to work together as a collective on this issue, please contact MediaTrust thru the following email: affiliatepetition@gmail.com

This is an important issue that affects the livelihood of our industry. Lets join together to advance our cause.

E-mail use to increase in 2008: Datran Media

Marketers plan to increase e-mail use in 2008, according to a new study by online marketing services firm Datran Media.

Overall, 72% of the marketers surveyed indicated that they plan to use e-mail marketing more in 2008.

The survey, which included 1,500 marketing professionals, focused on marketers' plans to use e-mail marketing in 2008. Firms included KPMG International, InfoUSA, QInteractive and Art.com.

It found that 70.5% reported plans to increase spending on e-mail acquisition and 63% to increase spending on retention campaigns.

In addition, 83% of respondents expect e-mail ROI to increase during the New Year. E-mail optimization techniques, including landing pages, subject line testing and triggered messaging, were unanimously ranked as "very important."

The survey also found that more than half of the respondents outsourced e-mail marketing.

MediaTrust Adds ELC Technologies’ OpenSocial Container Plug-in Support to bookQube

ELC Technologies Instrumental in Building Relevance Engine That Powers MediaTrust’s Social Networking Applications

ELC Technologies, the California-based consulting firm with the industry’s largest global team of dedicated Ruby on Rails developers, today announced that MediaTrust, Inc., is the first company to adopt its recently announced OpenSocial Container plug-in. Over the past several months, ELC used Ruby on Rails and its agile software practices to develop the relevancy engine that forms the basis for MediaTrust’s bookQube and other social media platforms. The addition of the new OpenSocial Container plug-in enables third-party developers to create their own plug-in applications for bookQube using the Google OpenSocial standard.

MediaTrust’s bookQube connects its users to relevant book reviews, blogs, discussions and recommendations and introduces users to other book lovers who share common interests. It operates on proprietary technology developed by ELC for the company. The technology makes it possible for web site owners to easily incorporate social networking into their sites and to make recommendations for relevant content, users and ads. When released in early November bookQube included support for the new Google OpenSocial standard. The innovative new OpenSocial Container plug-in from ELC allows MediaTrust to leverage the emerging OpenSocial standard.

According to Joseph Matheny, chief technology officer for MediaTrust, ELC Technologies has been instrumental in bringing bookQube online ahead of schedule and with expanded capabilities by using Ruby on Rails and agile software development techniques.

“When we began formulating our original social networking concept two years ago, Ruby on Rails wasn’t a consideration,” explained Matheny. “The original project was created using .NET, but it was too rigid and did not have the modularity we needed to achieve the vision we had in mind. With Ruby on Rails and ELC’s agile software practices we were able to broaden the spec for the original project to create a more robust platform that can scale to handle millions of users without losing any development time. Without ELC and their Ruby on Rails expertise, we would still be struggling to launch bookQube and create the kind of relevance engine that is the foundation of the MediaTrust’s vision. ELC’s OpenSocial Container takes this vision another step forward – allowing third-party developers to quickly and easily create new applications based on MediaTrust’s patent-pending relevance engine.”

“Our work with MediaTrust demonstrates the versatility and scalability of Rails for commercial applications,” said Ryan Garver, chief technology officer for ELC Technologies. “Working with Joe and the MediaTrust team has allowed us to stretch our creative capabilities and deliver something unique and powerful for social media in the MediaTrust relevance engine. Adding our new OpenSocial Container to bookQube is just the first step in enlisting other developers to take advantage of the platform we helped MediaTrust create.”

Thought of The Day : SUCCESS ATTRACTS SUCCESS AND FAILURE ATTRACTS FAILURE BECAUSE OF THE LAW OF HARMONIOUS ATTRACTION.

In physics, positives attract negatives and vice versa, but in human relationships the opposite is true. Negative people attract only other negative people, while positive thinkers attract like-minded individuals. You will find that when you begin to achieve success more successes will follow. This is the law of harmonious attraction. When riches begin to come your way, you’ll be amazed how quickly they accumulate. Train your mind to visualize yourself acquiring a specific amount of wealth or achieving a certain goal-whatever you most desire. Then use self-suggestion to persuade your subconscious mind that you can achieve your goal, and put your plan into action. When you use the tools that you have at your disposal to prepare yourself for success and visualize yourself as having already reached your objective, you can achieve any reasonable goal that you set for yourself.

Social Media Digest

Web Strategy Summary: To know
Google announced it’s intent to build a profile system, which will allow social networks to be built anywhere, and used by anyone. Coupled with OpenSocial, this could break down any silos that many are concerned about. The ’socialization’ of the web (all the web) continues to be a theme.

---

Identity Systems: Google to launch profile feature
The root of any social network contains two major features 1) an individuals profile 2) The connections they have to other profiles. Google is launching part one with their individual profiles that allow users to upload their identity and preferences. Expect them to make their entire web experience (from search to docs, to picassa) more of a social experience where people share with others, comment, and collect.

Insight: People not brands lead social networks
Doc gives an very interesting perspective in response to my debate on join vs build, be sure to read his post and ask yourself how this applies to your own life.

Platform: Wordpress could be a Social Networking Platform
Chris Messina suggest that Wordpress could be a Social Networking platform, while currently a publishing CMS tool. The first thing to do is look at the technographics of a community, and identify does everyone want to be a creator? Not likely.

Platforms: Social Network Platform Wars
Great graphic from Dave McClure showing a visual representation of what the platforms are starting to look like. With many platforms emerging and APIs don’t give up on opensocial (but recognize the challenges)

Watch: Cisco’s Entertainment Operating System (EOS)
Cisco recently acquired Tribe and Five Across and are now starting to consolidate these one off acquisitions into real products. EOS is supposadly supposed to provide media to social networks, as well as a potential platform. The challenge? Does Cisco know media? even social media? The upside for Cisco? More bandwidth for their infrastructure products.

Usage: Social Network adoption continues to rise
eMarketer has some useful stats that indicate that the growth of social networks will continue in terms of adoption and monetization. Interesting to see the saturation of the teen market already.

Acquisition: Penthouse buys lifestyle social networks
Penthouse expands it’s online reach by acquiring Various, which owns adultfriendfinder, Italianfriendfinder.com, gradfinder.com and bigchurch.com. Smart move for a media company. Projected price? $340 million.

Mobile: Sprint and MySpace serve web experience
Not uncommon to see, as iPhone serves up a very nice Facebook experienece, Sprint and MySpace are working to serve up a mobile experience. I can’t wait for the day when mobile devices all render the same experience from a single browser.

Friending: “Whales” are insecure
A whale is a person with more than 1000 contacts on a social network, this article suggests that some of them insecure. While this may be true for some, for me it’s a business networking tool, i’s my rolodex, a listening tool, and a way to reach thousands. Nearly limitless business opportunities. For those who are trying use this as a social tool (college, dating, etc) I can see why this may make sense.

Golden Ages of Media End... ?

There is a very good post from RelevantlySpeaking regarding the history and the future of traditional media and how it may or may not survive the future!

In media, there are periods sometimes of a decade or more when a formula works very well, producing quality entertainment and profits for all. 1930’s radio dramas, 1950s MGM musicals, 1965-75 situation comedies, 1980-2000 TV advertisements. But after one of these golden ages is over, the models can never be revived. MORE....

widgetQube video on YouTube

This is a great video on a great looking, great functioning RSS reader widget from widgetQube! widgetQube is a member of the oneQube family.

Cost per Action: 5 Questions Before You Begin

As more marketers demand accountability from more media, both parties need to agree on the best way to pay for performance. The keyword and contextual players want revenue per click of course and the lead gen crew wants – no surprise – revenue for a qualified lead.

Then there are those hardy souls who want to be paid well for business closed – revenue for a specific action. Cost per Action or Cost per Acquisition (CPA) really could be the ultimate expression of performance – if the actions can really be measured. In our experience, attaining this ideal isn’t as easy as the concept. This raises a few considerations for marketers (as well as agencies and media) considering a foray into the world of CPA.

Can your system track source? : CPA can only work if the marketer’s CRM system can capably track the source of each lead. Months can pass from initial contact to eventual sale and there are liable to be other contact points after a performance ad firm initiates the relationship. All parties need to be sure that credit is given where it is due.

Do you want to share information? : Many marketers we speak with prefer not to give specific results of campaigns to 3^rd parties. In CPA programs, the marketer promises to reveal important financial information, i.e. how many accounts are opened or sales are made based on the performance ads. Are you willing to do this? Is your CFO? How will you build an audit track?

How do you manage the continuity? : CPA programs are rarely one-shot deals. There will probably be an ongoing campaign to convert as many of the initial prospects as possible. Media might vary. How will the follow up strategy work? Who will oversee all the creative for continuity programs? Who will manage the responses and coordinate with your database?

How do you set the price for a customer acquisition? : Some marketers base the CPA on current account acquisition norms. If they’re now paying $1000 all-inclusive to get a new customer through other marketing means, they might offer $500 per acquisition for a CPA program.

Often, the price can be set through testing Cost per Action to Cost per Lead and Click. If 0.2% of $2 clicks convert, that’s a $1000 acquisition, as is 1% of $10 leads. There’s a good horse race to see which provides the lowest cost of acquiring new business.

Should you vary the payout? : Good performance marketing enables segmentation. Most likely, you’ll offer your better potential customers a better set of benefits. If some customers are worth more than others, are you willing to pay more to get them? Incentives are powerful: consider paying your performance ad group more when they bring in a prime target customer.

These just scratch the surface of decisions you’ll make when embarking on CPA. But, if you can comfortably answer these questions, you’ve gone a long way toward a potential ROI boost.

MediaTrust Debuts bookQube:Social Network for Book Enthusiasts Features e-books from ebrary

NEW YORK and PALO ALTO, Calif. -– November 5, 2007 –

MediaTrust, Inc. in partnership with ebrary®, debuts the private beta version of bookQube: a vibrant online social network that allows book enthusiasts to view, read, purchase, network, review and discuss books.

bookQube was built by MediaTrust on top of proprietary technology that allows Web sites to incorporate social networking, and make recommendations for relevant content, users and ads. bookQube connects its users with relevant book reviews, blogs, discussions and recommendations and supports the OpenSocial standard. Users can also be introduced to other book enthusiasts with common interests and behaviors, and may be invited to relevant book discussions, clubs and groups.

bookQube’s Virtual Bookshelf feature will allow users to browse ebrary’s specially developed e-book collection, and subscribe to titles of interest. Each bookQube user is provided the tools to share thoughts and opinions on favorite titles, authors, publishers and subject categories. They may also create or join private book clubs, or participate in public book groups.

“We are pleased to partner with ebrary, a leading e-book and technology provider, to bring high-quality content to bookQube members,” said Joseph Matheny, chief technology officer, MediaTrust. “We are combining ebrary’s world class content with MediaTrust’s smart recommendation and social networking technology to deliver a fun and productive online network for book lovers around the world.”

“At ebrary, we are constantly looking for new opportunities to deliver value to both end users and electronic content,” said Christopher Warnock, CEO and co-founder of ebrary. “Collaborating with MediaTrust on bookQube, offers both our users and our publishers the ability to explore the potential of a powerful social network with authoritative content in a manner that is mutually beneficial to the user, the publisher and the author of the works permitted to participate in this network.”

About MediaTrust
MediaTrust (www.mediatrust.com) is an ecosystem of online media properties. MediaTrust combines innovative interactive media and advertising technology with human service and expertise. Companies that choose MediaTrust benefit from relevant and intelligent online campaigns that deliver higher ROI and greater success in acquiring customers, creating brand awareness, generating sales and driving traffic.

MediaTrust is comprised of Advaliant, a performance-based affiliate marketing network, Advario, a proprietary ad serving platform, leading-edge media technologies and the MediaTrust Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). The ISG is comprised of specialists that analyze customer needs and build custom performance-based campaigns that optimize returns for each advertiser and publisher.

About ebrary (www.ebrary.com)
ebrary® is a leading provider of eContent services and technology. The company helps libraries, publishers, and other organizations disseminate valuable information to end users, while improving end-user research and document interaction.

The company has developed a flexible eContent platform, which customers may use in a number of different, integrated capacities: ebrary customers may purchase or subscribe to eBooks and other content under a variety of pricing and access models, and they may license the ebrary platform to distribute, sell, and market their own content online. All options are delivered using a customizable interface and include the ebrary Reader™ with InfoTools™ software, which enable integration with other resources to provide an economical and efficient way to utilize information.

ebrary currently offers a growing selection of more than 150,000 eBooks and other titles from more than 260 leading publishers and aggregators.

For four consecutive years, ebrary has been named to the EContent 100 list of “companies that matter most” in the digital content industry.

Founded in 1999, ebrary is privately held and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, USA.

MediaTrust Creates Search and Social Media Optimization Division

MediaTrust, Inc. officially announced the creation of its Search and Social Media Optimization (SSMO) Division. Scott Parent, social media and technology expert, has been appointed vice president of the division.

Parent comes to MediaTrust with many years of success in audio and video production and media optimization. Parent created and popularized American Cliché, a weekly podcast that covers news outside of mainstream with a political twist. The podcast is featured on Adam Curry’s PodShow network and enjoyed a year-long run on Sirius satellite radio. In addition, Parent was a co-founder of 8BallRadio, a pioneer in the online radio movement.

Under Parent’s guidance, the SSMO Division will specialize in Social Media Optimization, Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. The SSMO team will also offer various services to create and optimize social media including video and audio podcasts and blogs. MediaTrust’s team of SSMO experts create custom programs based on each client’s needs, and continuously monitor and optimize campaigns to ensure the highest possible returns and performance.

“Social networks, social media and search engines all provide a starting point for users to find and consume information on the Web,” said Parent. “With all the information on the Web, it is becoming increasingly important that companies use social media technologies to deliver content right to the user. By working with MediaTrust’s Search and Social Media Optimization Division, companies can access a broad range of tools that drive customers to their Web sites to engage with their brands.”

By leveraging MediaTrust’s SSMO expertise, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) became the first film festival in the world to podcast live events. Like most festivals, the SBIFF historically catered only to in-person attendees. However, with MediaTrust creating and managing all of SBIFF’s online activities including Web site, blog and audio and video podcasts -- the SBIFF was able to execute a social media campaign that broadened their audience to include any interested film fan with access to the Internet. As a result, in 2007, the SBIFF measured more than 700,000 podcast downloads.

“We needed a partner who we could trust to take the festival online with little supervision, always keeping our best interests in mind,” says Mary Lynn Harms, development manager for SBIFF. “MediaTrust’s Search and Social Media Optimization team did just that. They far exceeded our expectations.”

About MediaTrustMediaTrust (www.mediatrust.com) is an ecosystem of online media properties. MediaTrust combines innovative interactive media and advertising technology with human service and expertise. Companies that choose MediaTrust benefit from relevant and intelligent online campaigns that deliver higher ROI and greater success in acquiring customers, creating brand awareness, generating sales and driving traffic.

MediaTrust is comprised of Advaliant, a performance-based affiliate marketing network, Advario, a proprietary ad serving platform, leading-edge media technologies and the MediaTrust Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). The ISG is comprised of specialists that analyze customer needs and build custom performance-based campaigns that optimize returns for each advertiser and publisher.

Advaliant Details PlayPhone’s Affiliate Marketing Success

Campaign Experiences Clear and Measurable Results.

Advaliant, MediaTrust, Inc.'s award-winning, performance-based affiliate marketing network, detailed a successful customer acquisition and retention program that was architected specifically for PlayPhone, Inc., a mobile media company that offers premium, branded mobile content to consumers.

PlayPhone gives consumers access to one of the widest selections of ringtones, videos, wallpapers, games and more. According to MIC (Market Intelligence Center), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, the number of worldwide mobile phone subscribers is expected to grow from two billion in 2005 to approximately 3.3 billion in 2010, representing a CAGR (compound average growth rate) of 10.1 per cent. Rising industry forecasts create a competitive environment that forces companies to look to more efficient marketing strategies and tactics in the hopes of gaining market share.

In the fall of 2006, PlayPhone engaged Advaliant to propose a creative marketing strategy to acquire and retain customers. After studying the PlayPhone business, Advaliant executed a custom designed affiliate marketing campaign that included search, highly targeted email, targeted banner placements, joint ventures and private labeled sites.
"We selected Advaliant for its quality of service, its commitment to developing a long term partnership and its studied approach in selecting trusted publishers and affiliates," said Ron Czerny, founder and chief executive officer at PlayPhone. "After running one successful campaign after another, affiliate marketing has become one of our primary means for customer acquisition."

The PlayPhone affiliate campaign has experienced clear and measurable success. The dramatic increase in the number of new PlayPhone customers per day has exceeded the expectations of both PlayPhone and Advaliant. In addition, Advaliant and PlayPhone were awarded the 2007 ad:tech award for "Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign." On the heels of its successful affiliate campaigns, PlayPhone has partnered with some of the world's most well-known brands and is in the midst of global expansion.

"Modern affiliate marketing is proving itself as the most effective way to acquire customers on a pay-for-performance basis," says Jivan Manhas, president, Advaliant. "By partnering with a trusted network such as Advaliant, customers can experience measurable results while extending and safeguarding their brands."

About MediaTrustMediaTrust (http://www.mediatrust.com/) is an ecosystem of online media properties. MediaTrust combines innovative interactive media and advertising technology with human service and expertise. Companies that choose MediaTrust benefit from relevant and intelligent online campaigns that deliver higher ROI and greater success in acquiring customers, creating brand awareness, generating sales and driving traffic.
MediaTrust is comprised of Advaliant, a performance-based affiliate marketing network, Advario, a proprietary ad serving platform, leading-edge media technologies and the MediaTrust Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). The ISG is comprised of specialists that analyze customer needs and build custom performance-based campaigns that optimize returns for each advertiser and publisher.

adtech : LIVE BROADCAST on RelevantlySpeaking.com and MediaTrust.com

RelevantlySpeaking will be broadcasting live from the MediaTrust booth 830 and the adtech show floor. Media . Advertising . Technology community members please come by for an interview on "relevance".…

bookQube : PRIVATE BETA INVITE

Congratulations, you have been chosen to participate in a beta preview of new social networking system that focuses on literature, reading and books. Welcome to bookQube, the first social networking system built upon the new social media platform, oneQube .

You were chosen from a list of participants that submitted their addresses to receive beta invitations and updates about oneQube products and services.

If you have already signed up, this is a reminder to come back and check out the new features, such as: multiple bookshelves, video profile messages, private messaging, Amazon catalog books and much more!

To participate in the bookQube beta, go to: http://www.bookqube.com , sign in with the username: staging and the password: st@g1ng

Then, sign up or a new account and follow the directions.

Once you've activated your account, be sure to fill out your profile and soon you 'll be on your way to making new friends, participating in groups and collecting ebooks!

For any questions, bugs or inquiries, send email to errors@bookqube.com

Enjoy!

Welcome to bookQube – a home for booklovers!

bookQube offers all the resources you need to immerse yourself in the literary world. Based on the information you provide, bookQube will match you with books, users, and groups that cater to your interests. You can also search for titles to add to your virtual bookshelf and build your social network so you can share and discover great reads!

·Discover great reads in any genre, from the classics to contemporary works, and add your favorites to your bookshelf.

·Explore and contribute reviews and rants, ideas and opinions relating to your favorite books and authors.

·Engage in open discussions in book groups, private analysis in book clubs, and one-on-one dialogues with friends.

Join Now!

Explore bookQube!

Our Features:

· A friends – Connect with users you know or make new friends. The commonalities feature will inform you of how many friends, books, or groups you have in common with a user. Build a social network to expand your influence and resources in the realm of books. On your dashboard, bookQube will recommend people that share interests with you whom you may consider adding to your social network.

· A books – Add titles to your virtual bookshelf that you can read, review, or purchase online. Based on these titles, bookQube will recommend additional titles of interest. You can search for books by author, title, publisher, or tags, or you can browse through the bookshelves of other users. On your dashboard, the highlights feature will keep you up to date on new releases, top rated titles, and book reviews by other users.

· B log – Create your own blog to voice your thoughts and opinions on the books, authors, publishers, and book categories you love, and share your valuable ideas with other interested readers. Want to know what other people are thinking? Read the blogs of other users. On your dashboard, bookQube will recommend blogs of interest.

· Join groups – Join or start a group that you identify with and meet people with similar interests. Post to a group and contribute to an ongoing discussion. Groups are open to everyone. On your dashboard, bookQube will recommend groups of interest.

· Join clubs – Start a book club and have your own discussions with select members. Clubs are private and can be joined by invitation only.

Join Now!

Explore bookQube!

Jivan Manhas to speak about the evolution of affiliate marketing.

Jivan Manhas to speak about the evolution of affiliate marketing.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 24, 2007 --

WHO: Jivan Manhas, Co-Founder and President, Advaliant, Inc. Advaliant's work for PlayPhone was recognized with the 2007 ad:tech award for "Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign."

WHAT: ad:tech New York

Session -- The Evolution of Affiliate Marketing
Last year, MarketingSherpa estimated that affiliates worldwide earned $6.5 billion in bounty and commissions in the areas of retail, personal finance, gaming and gambling, travel, telecom, education, publishing and forms of lead generation other than contextual ad networks. Far beyond revenue sharing, today's affiliate marketing channel is evolving more and more into performance marketing and playing a larger role in online marketing strategies. This panel, moderated by Rosalind Gardner, CEO of Webvista, Inc., will help attendees understand which industry sectors are the most active for affiliate marketers and those that are poised for the greatest growth. Manhas and other panelists will discuss the pros and cons of running affiliate programs in-house versus using third-party services to track referral traffic or sales. The audience will learn how advertisers are connecting with publishers through affiliate networks, and how to extend and protect brands through affiliate marketing.

WHEN: Thursday, November 8 at 4:15 p.m.

WHERE: Hilton New York
1335 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019

For more information on ad:tech New York, please visit http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/

About Advaliant
Advaliant (www.advaliant.com) is MediaTrust's performance-based affiliate marketing network. The Advaliant affiliate network connects publishers and advertisers in a trusted online community that is overseen by industry-leading experts. Advaliant's services group leverages performance-based media to create unique, customized, and high ROI solutions for its advertisers, agencies and publishers. Advaliant brings together on a single platform all the key performance marketing channels so that marketers have a single destination for acquiring customers, creating brand awareness, generating sales and driving traffic.

About MediaTrust
MediaTrust (www.mediatrust.com) is an ecosystem of online media properties. MediaTrust combines innovative interactive media and advertising technology with human service and expertise. Companies that choose MediaTrust benefit from relevant and intelligent online campaigns that deliver higher ROI and greater success in acquiring customers, creating brand awareness, generating sales and driving traffic.

MediaTrust is comprised of Advaliant, a performance-based affiliate marketing network, Advario, a proprietary ad serving platform, leading-edge media technologies and the MediaTrust Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). The ISG is comprised of specialists that analyze customer needs and build custom performance-based campaigns that optimize returns for each advertiser and publisher.

Announcing: widgetQube iPhone Edition

Announcing: widgetQube iPhone Edition

Now, you can run the award winning oneQube widget on your iPhone. widgetQube iPhone Edition is available for download here.

widgetQube

The way the ‘always on’ generation stays informed. widgetQube is an interactive virtual desktop accessory that makes it easy to view news from favorite websites and blogs by leveraging rapidly growing widget based standards and technologies. widgetQube makes it easy to see what’s going on in the world, with up to the date news conveniently delivered right to your desktop. No searching or surfing required! widgetQube is a constant and ‘always on’ desktop companion. Its persistence will insure that you stay informed and up to the minute with news and information in our busy modern age. Best of all, widgetQube is free.

Check out our other widgets at http://www.widgetqube.com, including our Mac widget, which was picked for the Apple.com Staff Pick List for the week of May 07, 2007 and made the top 50 most downloaded widgets list for the same week on the Apple.com Widget Gallery. Our Yahoo widget was aYahoo Gallery Pick the following week and made the top 50 most downloaded widgets. WidgetQube is part of the oneQube relevance network and a product of MediaTrust.

widgetQube is proud to announce the release of widgetQube Windows: Ticker

widgetQube Windows: Ticker is the pre-Vista widgetQube application … the way the ‘always on’ generation stays informed. widgetQube is an interactive virtual desktop accessory that makes it easy to view news from favorite websites and blogs by leveraging rapidly growing widget based standards and technologies. widgetQube makes it easy to see what’s going on in the world, with up to the date news conveniently delivered right to your desktop. No searching or surfing required! widgetQube is a constant and ‘always on’ desktop companion. Its persistence will insure that you stay informed and up to the minute with news and information in our busy modern age. Best of all, widgetQube is free.


widgetQube Windows: Ticker is available now from this URL: http://www.widgetqube.com/?tab=products&widget=windows

Check out our other widgets at http://www.widgetqube.com/, including our Mac widget, which was picked for the Apple.com Staff Pick List for the week of May 07, 2007 and made the top 50 most downloaded widgets list for the same week on the Apple.com Widget Gallery.
Other widgets being released in the coming weeks: Yahoo Widget, Vista Gadget, Google Gadget, Flash Widget for Webmasters and iPhone Widget.

widgetQube is part of the oneQube relevance network and is a product of MediaTrust