Cashback Sites to kill Affiliate Marketing? More - I don’t believe that cashback sites will spell the end of Affiliate Marketing, after all Spyware, crap merchants, dodgy affiliates, brand bidders and general apathy have collectively failed to do so. But they certainly will have a major impact on affiliate’s margins for the foreseeable future, as consumers get more aware of the cashback and rewards sites out there.

Of course, one way around this is to get a cashback site yourself, and get a slice of the pie for yourself, but isn’t that just going to add more fuel to the fire? It all boils down to what I think will be the buzz word for 2008, which is “adding value” to the end user. Certain affiliates do this very well, and whilst their margins will be squeezed by users making the most of their tools and advice etc, then buggering off to get their cashback, they will also retain their loyal base who will actually buy from them no matter what.

You could even help maintain and increase that loyalty by pointing out to your customer base/members/visitors the effect that cashback sites can have, and that if they really want to use a cashback site, then recommend a few (with your affy links of course, and go for those that pay for the lifetime of the customer, such as GreasyPalm, Free Fivers or eDealsUK.) – This is something that Jason at Loquax has done very well.

Stock tips for 2008 – This time of year, all the “experts” (who are actually just journalists that cover

finance normally) wheel out their stock tips for the year. Regular Lammo.net readers will know my hatred of newspaper tips. But in case you ever wondered why, have a look at the performance of some of the Daily Mail’s tips for 2007:

• Brian O’Connor: 2% gain
• Alex Brummer: 2% gain
• Geoff Foster: 12% loss
• Lucy Farndon: 33% loss
• Ian Lyall: 41% loss
• Tamsin Brown: 60% loss

So if you thought that Tamsin Brown looked like she knew what she was talking about this time last year and blindly followed her tip with £1,000 of your hard-earned cash, you would now have lost £600 of it, in a year the market as a whole made a small gain, and you could have earned 8% just by leaving it in a bank account. Way to go Tamsin – at least it wasn’t your own money you lost!

Link Building – I’m probably the laziest link-builder in the world – the last time I really did a decent bout of link-building was around 5 years ago!. It’s one of those things that I just hate doing, because it’s bloomin’ hard work and takes ages. But we all know it’s vital, and being January it seems the right time to be laying the foundations for the rest of the year, so I’ve been spending this week pestering people I know for links – So apologies to everyone that I’ve bugged, but I’ve got to do these things whilst I’m in the mood!

It’s hard enough asking people I know for links, but it’s nigh-on impossible to get links from strangers (It’s a form of cold calling, which I’ve never been any good at), which is why thankfully I outsource that part of the job.

Friday Night Emails More – I’ve never understood why anyone would send anything remotely important out on a

Friday afternoon, let alone after 5pm on a Friday. Unless of course you just want to satisfy your clients that you’ve emailed all your affiliates before the end of the week. Anything sent to me on a Friday afternoon won’t get read until Monday, and may not be acted upon as it’ll be in with all the weekends spam and junk.

Pompey in the fourth round More – I think it’s a good draw. Portsmouth are a Premiership side, and the atmosphere at Fratton Park should be amazing. I would expect Argyle to sell out whatever allocation Pompey give us (which should be at least 3,000), and with their poor home record and our excellent away record, it could be a close game. Either way, it’s one to look forward to as a fan, as it’s been a few years since the Dockyard Derby was played – I think we both actually had a dockyard back then!

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