by Rob Garner, Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006 3:01 PM ET

LATE LAST AUGUST, I WAS coordinating with WebmasterWorld’s Brett Tabke to speak to the Dallas Ft. Worth Search Engine Marketing Association when some interesting news began to break. Longtime Search Engine Strategies (SES) host Danny Sullivan made a surprise announcement that he would be leaving the conference (and also Search Engine Watch) when his contract was up in December. Not long after, there was an additional announcement that Sullivan would keynote Tabke’s November show, PubCon, just a few weeks before the SES Chicago show. The most recent trade show news broke yesterday, with Incisive Media (SES) selling to Apax partners.

Read the balance of the interview, by clicking here.

Preparing for Q4 – The Holiday Quarter

Once Q4 hits it will be a continuous whirlwind of holidays, shopping and festivities. Before the madness begins, you will want to be sure that you are fully prepared to make the most of Q4 - the holiday quarter. Q4 is based largely around gift giving holidays and celebratory feasts, and is the biggest retail quarter of the year. Jupiter Research reported that online retail sales totaled $81 billion in 2005 and it is predicted that sales in 2006 will top $100 billion. It was also reported that more than half of all U.S. consumers made an online purchase in 2005. The message is clear: if you want to maximize holiday online spend, being prepared before and during Q4 is a must. So get your calendars out and mark them for each month on what holiday you need to focus on, and read below for our tips for making the most of Q4. (more…)

Introducing the Moosejaw Affiliate Program (the cools call it MAP)!!!

Thousands of you have been asking us to launch an affiliate program and we told you that once we came up with a good name, we would get it going. Well, after years of meetings and conferences with heads of states, world dignitaries and a magician, we finally came up with Moosejaw Affiliate Program. Not a good name but we’re launching it anyway. (more…)

SIGN UP FOR THE MOOSEJAW AFFILIATE PROGRAM NOW!

We are pleased to announce the addition of Moosejaw.com to AvantLink! Moosejaw offers only the finest apparel and equipment for backpacking, snowboarding, hiking, climbing, paddling and much more. Moosejaw.com is known for the finest photography, the most in-depth product information, customer reviews, comparison charts, and most importantly, Moosejaw shocks the customer with amazing service. Moosejaw’s unique style of marketing, called Moosejaw Madness, creates cult-like loyalty.

Moosejaw’s new program in AvantLink will pay you a 9% flat rate commission with a 120-day cookie. Moosejaw.com enjoys a 3% site-wide conversion, so get what you need and add links, rss feeds or datafeeds before Q4 2006 officially begins. It will be worth it!

Take a quick look at their program detail page. Add up all those benefits and it’s a no brainer. If you’re already an AvantLink Affiliate, you can sign-up for this program by following these simple steps:

Login to your Affiliate account at www.AvantLink.com
Select ‘Merchants’ from the main menu
Locate ‘Moosejaw’ in the merchant list
Click to their detail page and then ‘Apply to this Program’

If you’re interested in applying to the AvantLink network and this program, please use the following URL: https://www.avantlink.com/affiliate_app.php

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Moosejaw. Email anyone at AvantLink or Jeffrey from Moosejaw, affiliates[at]moosejaw.com.

Sincerely,

Paul from AvantLink

Following nearly two years of poor financial performance, Sharper Image Corp., No. 87 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, said today that founder Richard Thalheimer has stepped down as chairman and CEO, replaced by former American Household Inc. CEO and turnaround specialist Jerry Levin. By mid afternoon today, Sharper Image’s stock was up more than 6% to about $10. (more…)

BabyUniverse gets $2 million in equity financing

BabyUniverse Inc., an online retailer of baby and maternity products, has closed on $2 million in new equity financing provided by affiliates of Wyndcrest Holdings LLC, a company controlled by BabyUniverse CEO John Textor, the retailer said today.

As part of the financing deal, BabyUniverse has issued 263,852 shares of common stock priced at $7.58 per share, a 7.5% premium over the closing price of Sept. 22, 2006, it says. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes, the company says.

BabyUniverse, No. 235 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, in July completed a $5 million debt financing with Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc.

To read the entire article on InternetRetailer.com, click here.

Top 10 Things I learned at CJU 2006 (Commission Junction University), by Durk Price

CJU was just completed in beautiful Santa Barbara, California. With over 750 affiliate merchant advertisers, affiliates and super-affiliates (plus about that many CJ and ValueClick employees) it was a tremendous opportunity to learn and network.

To follow are the Top 10 Things I Learned at CJU 2006:

Serious

1. PPC Affiliates do not kill Advertiser’s PPC programs. The best quote was from David M. Lewis of 77Blue (http://www.77blue.com): “Advertisers make 100% of the transaction, Affiliates make 10%-15% of the transaction, so Affiliates can’t bid as high.” The net is that Affiliates deal in the margins of the PPC business looking for inefficiencies and special knowledge they have earned over the years to make money. PPC always enhances the Advertiser, since more sales are always good.

2. When at CJU- NETWORK like crazy. Everyone, I mean everyone was open and sharing. I think this comes from the fact that there is plenty of business out there and that sharing information leads to more business opportunities.

3. Dave Taylor is EVERYWHERE. Dave Taylor of www.askdavetaylor.com fame was touted in a really good blog presentation from James Omdahl from Insureme.com (www.insureme.com). Besides using really killer graphics from the GapingVoid blog (http://www.gapingvoid.com), James used Dave Taylor as his mentor example. Now you know why I have AskDaveTaylor on my blog roll.

To read all of the article, click here.

We are pleased to announce the addition of HansonEllis.com to AvantLink! Join HansonEllis.com’s Affiliate program and start earning commissions on a large selection of bridal party gifts, wedding favors, and engravable keepsakes. They have a reputation for excellent customer service, provide unparalleled value to their customers and offer a price match guarantee.

Bride’s Magazine selected HansonEllis.com (formerly OnlineFavors.com) as one of the BEST WEDDING WEB SITES. Heavy brand recognition means higher conversions and more sales. Get your links up now in time for the holiday and spring wedding seasons!

New Affiliates start at the baseline commission rate of 10% per sale, with the possibility of bonuses and rewards. As an extra incentive, HansonEllis.com is offering a coupon for a free gift on purchases of $200 or more exclusive through AvantLink right now.

Sign-up for this program by following these steps:

* Login to your Affiliate account
* Select ‘Merchants’ from the main menu
* Locate ‘HansonEllis.com’ on the merchant list
* Click their detail page and ‘Apply to this Program’

What can we do to help you get started promoting HansonEllis.com? You can also contact the HansonEllis.com Affiliate Manager Thomas Tran, thomas[at]hansonellis.com.

Sincerely,

AvantLink.com

We are pleased to announce the addition of ExecStyle.com to AvantLink! Join this new program and start earning commissions on one of the fastest growing sectors of the apparel industry, men’s dress clothing. Promote world-class brands in men’s business, casual and formal wear from companies like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. The folks at ExecStyle have it together and they’re absolutely dedicated to your success. I highly encourage you to get them integrated in your sites ASAP to be ready for the quickly approaching holiday season.

ExecStyle offers a 120-day first-party cookie to help ensure you’ll be credited for the sales you refer. Comission payouts range from 8 to 10% per sale, and their average order size is over $300. The formula brings together ExecStyle’s classy, high-converting site platform, the world-class brands they carry and AvantLink’s powerful tools and industry leading support. This is a no brainer people!

As an extra incentive, ExecStyle is offering a $100 bonus to the first three Affiliates to reach $1000. You should be able to reach this goal with only 3-4 sales!

Sign-up for this program by following these steps:

* Login to your Affiliate account
* Select ‘Merchants’ from the main menu
* Locate ‘ExecStyle.com’ in the merchant list
* Click to their detail page and ‘Apply to this Program’

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting ExecStyle.com. Feel free to contact anyone at AvantLink or the ExecStyle AM Team:
Louis Deering / Leo Green: affiliates[at]execstyle.com

Sincerely,

AvantLink.com

Wow what a month! Thanks Affiliates!

August is usually slow for us… but not this August!

With Conversion rates running at 4.27% we had a monhtly EPC of almost $47.00

Average sales were great at about $80 too!

Our best affiliates were getting 10% conversons and higher.

Thanks you, thank you, thank you! And keep up the great work!

Durk Price, Affiliate Manager for BeautyTrends.com
durkp[at]eaccountable.com, 972-743-1790
Sign up at: www.AffGoo.com- Sticking Affiliates and Merchants Together
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