New Look Blog – Yup, I’ve jumped on that bandwagon and decided that the New Year is the perfect time for a new look theme. We’re still tweaking things behind the scenes, so please do shout if you spot anything that isn’t as it should be! I do like the web 2.0 feel of it, and it’s a free theme too (I make no money from this blog so no “custom” designs for me) – Let me know what you think!

Not-so-lazy Link Building – I’ve actually cracked on and got quite a bit of link building done over the last couple of weeks, so I’m not as lazy as I first thought – Only time (and Google) will tell if I can keep it going all year round though. For now though, I’m still on the look-out for any link swaps, so if anyone’s is able to link from a relevant page to either a betting, bingo, cashback, competition, or shopping site, then get in touch by msn or email john AT bigideamedia dot com and let me know what sites you’d like me to link to.

Affmeter no longer free from March 15th More – I’ve been using Affmeter for almost two years now, and it’s a truly brilliant tool. I’ve got no problem whatsoever therefore with them making the decision to charge for it, and the upgrade fee works out at less than £20 with the current exchange rates, so it’s a real no-brainer.

I see from their website that new users will have to fork out $130 (about £65) for it from March 15th onwards, which may seem a little steep for new users who won’t have seen it in action and know how invaluable it is. I’d say it’s worth every penny, but it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out – Whilst there is a money-back guarantee, I’d have thought a free 14 day trial would be more appropriate to hook those new users?

FTSE falls 5.5% More – It’s a steep correction, that’s for sure, but that’s all it is – a correction. Sure, it’ll have hit the day-traders and spread-betters hard (apart from those who shorted the FTSE yesterday!), but for the long-term investor, it’s just another fluctuation. As long as the fundamentals are still right with your investments, you’ve got nothing to worry about. The headlines will scream about the market wiping out a year’s growth in one day, but look at the market over 10 or 20 years, and you’ll see that it’s just a blip. I prefer a sleep-at-night portfolio, and I won’t be throwing myself off Beachy Head just yet.

Are Commission Junction the weakest link? More - CJ are a strange bunch. Go back 5 years, and they were major players in the UK Affiliate Marketing scene. Nowadays, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who does major business with them. And all because the US Head Office appeared to hit the self-destruct button, restricting the UK office to little more than a sub-branch, with no authority whatsoever.

Almost overnight, emails went unanswered, problems went unsolved, no-one responded to any queries at all on the affiliates4u forum, and although there was no funeral, be in no doubt – Commission Junction died a slow and painful death many years ago. The last time I logged into CJ was probably around 5 months ago when they last paid me and I had to search around for an invoice. It’ll be months before I log in again.

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