Ok its a week late but here goes.

I resolve to:

• Do something positive to at least one of my websites every day, which has a potential to earn commissions.
• Grow the SEO proportion of my earnings so that it is higher than the PPC share.
• Spend more quality time with my family (ie not in another room working).
• Get Fit, I set a goal at the end of August to lose 18lb (8.16kg) by Christmas and I made it with a week to spare , now I need to build on that by getting fit, so every day I will do some exercise of some type it could be Exercise Bike, Walk, Weights, Swimming or maybe something else.

Think I’ll stick at four, should give me plenty to do.

Popularity: 34% [?]

I must confess on the list of the many many things that I’m really bad at, link building is at the top of the pile so in a feeble attempt to redress the balance I am willing to exchange links with relevant websites to any of the sites listed in My Websites.

I realise that I have now opened myself up to link spammers incorporated, so if you fancy a link exchange please put a link to the site you are interested in on your website first, then contact me with details of your site and where the link is, I will review it and link back.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Sometime we all need bucking up a bit, I’d like to share with you three pieces of prose that I have on my office wall.

Don’t Quit!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but do not quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Anonymous

Life

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

Mother Teresa

Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life,
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision,
But today well lived makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.

Kalidasa, Indian Dramatist

If you have a favourite motivational piece feel free to add it as a comment.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Many of you will know that Dixons Electrical Store on Affiliate Window have a number of products which they do not pay any commission on, were you aware that this now covers 78 product groups?

Dixons Electrical Store pay 0% (nothing, nada, f*** all) on the following:

Audio Cables, Batteries, Bluetooth Accessories, Cables - phone & modem, Cables and adaptors - other, Camcorder Bags, Camcorder Batteries, Camcorder Cases and Holdalls, Camcorder Tape, Camera Cases and Holdalls, CDR Disks, CDRW Disks, Delivery and Services, Desk Accessories, Diaries And Planners, Digital Camera Accessories, Digital Media Labelling, DVD RW, DVDR Disks, DVDRW Disks, Eco Light Bulbs, Floppy Disks, Headphones, Home Safety, ICE Accessory, Inkjet Cartridges - Canon, Inkjet Cartridges - Epson, Inkjet Cartridges - HP, Inkjet Cartridges - Lexmark, Inkjet Cartridges - Others, iPod Accessories, Iron Accessories, Labels, Media Storage cases, Memory - Flashcards, Memory - Memory Stick, Minispeakers, Mouse Mats, Network Cables, Other Paper, Paper, Paper - cutsheet, Paper - labels, Paper - photo, Paper and Notepads, PC Accessories, PC Accessories (Universal), PC Books, PC Cables, PC Care & Cleaning, PC Furniture - Chairs, PC Furniture - Desks, PC Gamepads, PC Laptop Cases, PC Security & Toolkits, Pers Port_CD Radio Cass, Portable Data Storage, Power Accessories, Power Supplies, Premium Cable, Rechargeable Battery, Remote Control, Software Storage, Solid state storage, Speakers, Stand By Savers, Surge Protectors, Telephone Accessories, Tripods, TV & Audio Leads & Accessories, TV Aerial, USB Device Cables, ViceVersa, Video Cable, Video Tape, Wall Brackets, Water Filter Cartridges and Water Filters

On a further 112 product groups Dixons generously pay a MASSIVE 0.5%:

2.5 inch external harddrives, 3.5 inch external harddrives, 3.5inch Hard Drives (OEM), 3.5inch Optical Drives, Air Conditioners, ATI Graphics Cards, B Grade Reconditioned IPods, BBQ, Beard Trimmers, Binoculars, Bluetooth headsets, Bread Makers, Breadmaker, Camera Flash Guns, Cameras - SLR, Cameras - SLR Lenses, Can Openers, Card readers, Clocks, Clock Radios, Coffee Makers, Comp Shop Accessories, Compact flash, memory cards, CPU/GPU Fans, DAB Radio, DDR Memory, DDR SODIMM Memory, DDR2 Memory, Dental, Dictation Machines, Digital Camcorders, Digital Cameras, Digital Cordless Telephone, Digital Media Players, Digital Photo Frames, Digital SLR Cameras, Digital TV Adapters, E-mail and Internet Phones, Electrical Accs, External Expansion Hubs, External Hard Drives, Fax Machines, Food Prep, Fryers, Garden Ornaments, Hair Dryers, Hair stylers, Handheld Computers, Health Monitors, High Definition DVD Player, Intel Motherboards, Interactive Digital TV, Internet Radio, Irons, Karaoke, Kettles, Kitchen Appliance Accessories, Kitchen Gift Packages, Kitchenware, Laptop Adaptors and Chargers, Laptop Power Adapters, Memory Stick Media, Mice and Keyboard Bundles, Microphones, Minidisc, Mobile Memory Cards, Modems/Networking, MPEG4 Players, Network Hubs, Network Kits, nVidia Graphics Cards, Other Kitchen Appliances, Other Wireless Solutions, Pay Monthly Tariffs, PAYG Sim Packs, PC & TV Editing, PC and Monitor Only, PC Graphics Tablets, PC Hard Disk Drives, PC Headsets, PC Interface Cards, PC Keyboards, PC Mice & Pointing Devices, PC Microphones, PC Modems, PC Sound Cards, PC Speakers, PC Tethered Cameras, PC Video Editing Cards, Pers Audio MP3 Player, Physics Cards, Powerlinehomenetworking, Radios, Sandwich Toasters, SD Memory Cards, SD SODIMM Memory, SDRAM Memory, Shavers, SIM Free Mobiles, Slow Cookers, System Case, Telephone Answer, Machines, Toasters, TV Cards, Videophones, VOIP phones, Wired Cards and Adaptors, Wired Telephone, Wireless DSL Routers, Wireless Network Cards, Wireless Routers and XD Memory Cards.

I could go on and cover 1% commissions etc but I hope you get the picture ALL of these products are available at other merchants with good commission rates, merchants who appreciate the value of affiliate marketing as a sales channel, so shift those links and stop working for Dixons for free.

More on this subject can be found in Paul’s article Time to Defenestrate Dixons Electrical Store and/or Apply Some Tough Love www.dixons.co.uk

Popularity: 65% [?]

Happy New Year

2007 was a fantastic year for UK affiliate marketing, the industry finally coming of age, two major conferences, the Affiliate Summit was great but the a4uExpo was awesome.

Innovation came from from many of the networks and merchants.

Down side has been the worrying trend from some merchants who are cherry picking what to pay commission on, thankfully other merchants appreciate the strength of the affiliate sales channel and actually raised commissions, I know which ones will get more attention from affiliates

This is not a 2007 review that has been covered by several others including Kieron and Ray.

Predictions

• Consolidation - there have been an awful lot of new network startups in 2007 some good, some bad, some will simply fade away others will stand the test of time, however I predict some consolidation, very possibly we will see two fairly major networks joining forces.
• Growth of Mobile Technology - something I hadn’t considered before the affiliate summit when Shaun Collins spoke about how a significant proportion of his blog visitors use mobile devises, then at the expo my good friend Ray Theakston spoke of his plans to launch a mobile site. Initially I expect the growth of mobile to be slow, maybe a network or two will introduce a mobile interface so we can check stats, and hopefully A4u will also go mobile, after all if facebook can do it We will probably have to wait until Autumn before we see mobile shopping, I expect Amazon to be the first major merchant to go down that route, in time for next Christmas.
• Widgets - Prezzybox have already given us a Wordpress widget expect more to appear as other merchants catch on.
• Video - merchants and affiliates will be racing to produce bigger, better more lavish films to promote their wares, video casts will take over from podcasts on the more technical blogs.
• International UK affiliate event - We got a taste of this in March 2007 when DFDS took a number of affiliates for a day trip to Amsterdam, this year I predict a full blown UK affiliate event to be held abroad (not Wales Jude although I’d love to come to Swansea sometime) .

For a more tongue in cheek look at the year see what Jason has to say in Affiliate Marketing - 2008 - The Year Ahead.

Popularity: 39% [?]