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Last Saturday (Christmas), I was hanging out with my family, and I broke out my old 12″ single of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. I couldn’t believe that came out 20 years ago. Nor could I believe that I still had a turntable.

Anyhow, I played it a few times. It was enjoyably nostalgic, and unfortunately prophetic.

“It’s Christmastime; there’s no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime
But say a prayer and pray for the other ones

At Christmastime, it’s hard, but when you’re having fun
There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear
And the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears

And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you”

When I first heard of the disaster in South Asia on December 26, I got a sick feeling in my stomach - similar to that feeling I got on 9/11.

Back then, the affiliate marketing community mobilized to try and support one another and aid the releif and recovery efforts.

So it was no surprise when a thread titled “Donations for tsunami victims” started up on the AffiliateManager.net forum.

Shortly after that, I heard about ReliefSearch.org. The purpose of this site is simple… when users click on search results generated from ReliefSearch.org, the site earns revenue on a pay-per-click basis.

All click revenues generated from the searches are being donated by ReliefSearch.org to help fund the victims of the Earthquake/Tsunami disaster. So stop using Google and Yahoo for now, and do your searches at ReliefSearch.org.

Similarly, there is an online shopping site, ReliefShop.org that is enabling consumers to help out.

In this case, when you shop at any of the more than 700 stores at ReliefShop.org and start there first, they earn revenue. They will donate 100% of that revenue during January 2005 to help the disaster victims.

Inspired by these efforts, I will be donating my January 2005 commissions, too. All of the commissions from my shopping site, BabyLounge.com, will be donated to Feed the Children to help send food and relief supplies to the earthquake and tsunami victims.

I picked Feed the Children, because they are an established charity with a top rating (based on how much of a donation actually goes to the cause) at Charity Navigator.

If you are going to make donations to help the disaster victims, take a look at Charity Navigator’s guide to reputable charities, since there are snakes out there that set up fake charities to capitalize on the goodness of people.

Any affiliates looking for a New Year’s Resolution… how about this: resolve to take some of those commissions and use them to help the folks out there that are in desperate need right now.

Shortly after 9/11, there was a really nice song from Alan Jackson, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turnin’)” that seems especially poignant again after the tsunami.

Happy New Year!

Register early and save. We recommend that you register early for Affiliate Summit 2005 (June 13-14 in Las Vegas). Early registrations can save as much as $500!

The Affiliate Summit 2005 Early Bird registration rate is $995. You can pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express) or check.

This rate is good through February 13, 2005. The rate from February 14 through April 13 will be $1,295. Any registrations after April 14 will be $1,495.

Register now at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/registration.shtml

Affiliate Summit 2005 will be taking place on June 13-14, 2005 in Las Vegas. Details on the venue will be released shortly - we’re working on the hotel bids now.

Speaking proposals will be accepted through February 14, 2005.

Submit your proposal at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=95545789006

We will contact speakers whose proposals have been accepted by the end of February 2005.

I am a publisher registered both with CJ and Linkshare. I have noticed there are dozens of websites who are giving users rewards for completing surveys etc. I was wondering if you knew any advertisers which offer this facility through CJ, Linkshare or any other program. It would be great to get paid to offer users in a multi-user website to complete surveys locally (in our user-environment) and reward them accordingly.

As you mentioned, there are lots of survey related sites out there. They range from the reputable to the shady, with lots in between.

Here are some of the companies, with affiliate programs, I have heard about most often:

• goZing.com

• Greenfield Online
• Lightspeed Research

For what it’s worth, LightSpeed Research has ranked in the Top 10 Affiliate Programs list for AffiliateTip.com a number of times this year.

As far as incentivizing people to complete the surveys (providing them with rewards), be sure this is acceptable with each affiliate program before doing it.

Just because you see somebody else doing it doesn’t mean it’s permitted by the affiliate program. It’s always best to review their affiliate agreement and/or ask the affiliate manager questions.

I just finished playing Santa (stuffing the stockings and putting out the presents for my girls), and after a few eggnogs, I decided to pass out one more present.