WHAT’S NEWS
New Study Reveals what Holiday Shoppers Want
Yahoo! poll shows three out of four holiday shoppers will buy gifts online, and most are likely to purchase from small businesses

Three out of four (76 percent) holiday shoppers said they plan to shop for holiday gifts online, and a similar number, 75 percent, said they are likely to purchase gifts online from small businesses, according to a new survey commissioned by Yahoo! Small Business and conducted in October by Harris Interactive®. Shoppers expressed strong support for e-commerce with small businesses that offer a secure payment system, easy customer checkout and free shipping.

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Yahoo Shopping launches a redesigned site

Yahoo Inc. today launched a redesigned Yahoo Shopping site that makes it easier for consumers to quickly find and compare products, including a new Bargains Center which aggregates sales, coupons, free shipping offers and rebates from across the Internet. The redesigned site also integrates Yahoo Answers, a Q&A site which gives shoppers access to other shoppers’ experience and advice.

“When we asked people, as part of our research, what they wanted from Yahoo Shopping, it boiled down to three things: a great deal, learn from other people’s experiences before they buy, and find products quickly and easily,” says Chris Saito, senior director. A recent Yahoo study found that 60% of Yahoo Shopping users consider themselves bargain hunters.

Full article at internetRetialer, click here

Yahoo! Small Business is pleased to announce the move of their affiliate program into the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program beginning August 3rd AND the launch of the $1.99 Yahoo! Domains promotion on August 4th. Moving to the more extensive unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program will provide you with improved affiliate support and more opportunities to make money from selling a variety of Yahoo! services. The $1.99 Yahoo! Domains promotion is a great opportunity to drive Yahoo! Small Business orders.

You’ll need to make changes by September 1st, please read below

Transition to the Unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program
The Yahoo! Affiliate Program combines all the products and services that Yahoo! offers affiliates into one program. When you join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program you will be able to earn commission from multiple Yahoo! Properties at the same time. You can promote just one, or all of the Yahoo! Properties listed below.

Yahoo! Small Business
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
Yahoo! Instant Messenger Download
Yahoo! Music Unlimited New increase in commission!
Yahoo! Personals
Yahoo! Autos
Yahoo! Games

Furthermore, you can access links, marketing materials, and product information for a multitude of great Yahoo! products and services… all in one place!

How will this impact your current Yahoo! Small Business commissions?
The move will not change the current rate card or cookie duration. You will continue to be paid the same for your performance.

If you drive traffic with paid search advertising, the change to the unified program will introduce new limitations for your campaigns. *Please see the Paid Search Advertising section below.

What do you need to do to continue promoting Yahoo! Small Business?
In order to continue selling Yahoo! Small Business products you will need to apply to join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program and update your Yahoo! Small Business links by September 1, 2006. If you do not update your links, you will not receive commissions for sales after September 1st.

1) Join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program
• To join the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, click here to join the Yahoo! Affiliate Program now! click here to join the Yahoo! Affiliate Program now!
• If you are already joined to the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, just accept the new program terms that we have sent you.

2) Update your current Yahoo! Small Business links
• Replace all Yahoo! Small Business links you are currently using with new links that can be found in the Yahoo! Affiliate Program link library by September 1, 2006.

$1.99 Yahoo! Domains Promotion

Starting August 4th, Yahoo! Domains will be launching a $1.99/first year promotion. This discounted price will be provided for the first year only and only one discounted domain will be offered per customer. All renewals will be at the full price of $9.95/year. When promoting this offer, you need to include the 1st year disclaimer when offering the price. Examples include:
• $1.99 / 1st yr
• $1.99 / first year
• $1.99 / 1st year

Paid Search Advertising

With the move to the unified Yahoo! Affiliate Program, we need to align with the corporate program Paid Search policies. You’ll need to adjust your campaigns to align with the restrictions below no later than September 1st.

Ban on Trademark bidding: You will not longer be able to bid or be displayed on Yahoo! trademark search terms including variations of Yahoo! and all of its services. In addition to not submitting trademark terms for bidding, you’ll need to include Yahoo! as a negative keyword for all broad matching. For more details please review the new Yahoo! Terms of Service.

No use of Yahoo! in your main URL: URLs such as yahoooo.com, yahoosmallbusinessolutions.com or www-yahoodomains.com will continue to be prohibited. However, use of Yahoo! after “.com” such as smallbusinessolutions.com/yahoo is acceptable.

We realize that you may have additional questions, and want to make sure we help you be as successful as possible. Therefore, please feel free to contact us with any inquiries you may have. To learn more about the Yahoo! Affiliate Program, please visit http://advertising.yahoo.com/affiliate_programs/index.html.

Best regards,
The Yahoo! Affiliate Team