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I just heard about the new Shopzilla affiliate program from Affiliate Manager, David Weinrot. Sounds like a compelling offer: a CPC model where affiliates earn a percentage (60%) of the revenue that is generated from the traffic they direct to Shopzilla.com.

I joined the Shopzilla affiliate program to get a closer look.

One thing that struck me as a little odd is that the program is in “beta.” Personally, I don’t care to be the one that works out the kinks, but from what I can tell, everything is functioning just fine.

The affiliate program is an indie (not affiliated with a network), which is positive; as it enables them to build custom tools that best suit them.

On the negative side, it’s another login to remember.

Anyhow, affiliates are able to create custom text links, build custom (dynamic) product pods, and add sub-IDs (Shopzilla Placement IDs) to links. Of course, they’ve got some stock text links and banners, too.

You can see an example of a Shopzilla affiliate at http://www.gpslodge.com/.

Some alarm bells went off when I saw Google AdSense running on Shopzilla pages. I asked David about this, and he reiterated, “Publishers (affiliates) get a percentage of the revenue they generate from the traffic they direct to our site.”

Looks like it’s worth a test - I’ll give it a shot.

GreasyPalm.co.uk, one of the UK’s largest consumer rewards websites, has announced the launch of their white label cashback services.

The white label of GreasyPalm will allow sites to offer their own branded cashback shopping service where members can earn cash rewards from over 850 participating retailers.

“We’re very pleased to offer white label partnerships out to media owners, enabling them to generate an additional revenue stream and give added value to their audience,” commented Neil Durrant, Marketing Director of GreasyPalm.

GreasyPalm was the UK’s first cashback website, launched in 2003, and they currently have over 750,000 registered members and generate millions of pounds in retail sales every month. Over £4.5 million in cash rebates have been awarded to members since launch.

More details at http://www.whitelabelcashback.co.uk/.

How can I monitor my affiliates who are using e-mail to be sure they are being CAN-SPAM compliant?

I’ve got two tools I’d recommend that you check out. First is LashBack.com, where they have a suite of tools to enable advertisers to monitor affiliate CAN-SPAM Act compliance.

Also, there is UnsubCentral.com, which enables you to manage your e-mail suppression list(s). This tool enables you to protect your suppression data via MD5-encoding, as well as controlling which affiliates can even access this information and e-mail creative.

Check out those two products and take them for a test drive.

If you don’t have the budget for LashBack.com and/or UnsubCentral.com, you can monitor your affiliates the old fashioned way - opt-in to their list(s). This is not perfect, since their “real” list might not be out there for you to subscribe.

An important thing to note - be selective about which affiliates are able to send out e-mail. Don’t just make the creative and suppression list(s) publicly available, or else you may well get a call from the FTC due to spamming affiliates.

See more affiliate marketing questions answered on Affiliate Tip TV at YouTube.

Subscribe to the Affiliate Tip TV channel on YouTube.

The latest episode of Affiliate Thing features an interview with Wade Tonkin, founder of Christian Affiliate Marketers and Shmuly Tennenhaus, recently nominated Most Eligible Hassidic Bachelor at Shmais.com and a former affiliate manager for Ice.com.

The topic for the show was the role of faith, or a lack of it, in affiliate marketing.

I also touched on the investigation into AzoogleAds.com by the Florida Attorney General, some beta releases from Amazon and Google, the latest issue of Revenue magazine (March & April 2007), and an announcement that Affiliate Summit will hold a show in London on September 28.

Listen to this episode now. The Affiliate Thing show airs weekly on Wednesdays at noon EST. Tune in at http://www.WebmasterRadio.FM.

If you’d like to call in to the Affiliate Thing show, dial up 866-345-6631 between 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm EST on Wednesdays.

Also, advertising space is available on WebmasterRadio.FM - contact Brandy at brandy@webmasterradio.fm for more information.

There was a report from Reuters today that DoubleClick is exploring a sale and they are in talks with Microsoft (MSFT), and other potential buyers.

Being that Performics is a division of DoubleClick, the company could potentially be a Bill Gates property in the future.

If this were to happen, it could have a significant impact on the affiliate marketing landscape. Imagine if every new and updated version of Internet Explorer had merchants from Performics bookmarked?

Many different ways Performics could be grown under the TLC of MSFT. And this would put Microsoft in the middle of affiliate marketing in a big way. Something I’ve been waiting on for a decade.

There is an updated release of MarketingSherpa’s E-commerce Benchmark Guide with lots of helpful information for affiliate managers.

This new MarketingSherpa guide covers a number of areas, such as raising shopper-to-buyer conversions, lowering shopping cart abandons, and improving search engine marketing ROI.

Also, there are 223 charts & tables, 1,913 ecommerce marketer’s data, survey results from 2,449 online shoppers, “Best-of” data from 30 independent research organizations, and six new eyetracking heatmaps including Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart.

Read the excerpt to get a taste of the charts, tables, heat maps, etc. in the full report.

Get the E-commerce Benchmark Guide, as well as practical marketing case studies, benchmarks, how-to handbooks, and buyer’s guides at the SherpaStore.

I figured even the most hardcore cheats in affiliate marketing would know better than to continue promoting “free ringtones” since the Florida Attorney General officially opened an investigation on the matter last week.

It appears some people never learn, or they’re just too damn greedy.

Earlier today, I searched on Google for “free cingular ringtones” and to my surprise and disbelief, I saw the following ad:

Free Cingular Ringtones
100% complimentary Cingular tones.
Download ringtones instantly now!
CrazyRingz.com

When I clicked through (see the video), I came to a page with the screaming headline: 100% Complimentary Cingular Ringtones!

Then I clicked on the Cingular logo and hit a page for Blinko where I could join the Blinko Club for $9.99/Month.

I guess $9.99/Month is the new free.

Subscribe to the Affiliate Tip TV channel on YouTube for my other affiliate marketing videos.