Affiliate Summit Discount Flights
I’m a big fan of JetBlue, so this is a neat promotion for the next Affiliate Summit in Boston this August…
Special discount from jetBlue for Affiliate Summit | Affiliate Summit Blog: “Here are the details on how to book via the jetBlue promo page…
Code: ASE08
Discount: 5%
Valid Cities: Any City to BOS
Travel Dates: Outbound: 8/6-8/8 / Return: 8/12-8/14
Promo Valid: 5/2/08-8/7/08″
The discount is good for a few beverages and hot dogs at Fenway at the very least!
Txt Messaging More Expensive Than Hubble Data Downloading
The 21st century has brought us many great wonders… like new ways for phone companies to charge outrageous prices while locking us into contracts (at least here in the US):
Scientist Says Texting is More Expensive Than Downloading From Hubble | Universe Today: “One space scientist has worked out that sending texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Nigel Bannister from the University of Leicester looked at the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble and compared it with the cost of sending a text. His calculations? ‘The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that.’”
I guess this adds new fodder for the people who claim that Twitter is a huge waste of time and money.
Hopefully, the invisible hand of the free market will one day deliver us from our overcharging mobile overlords.
Magnify Goes Pro
Video aggregation and community site Magnify.net has launched a “Pro” offering for users wishing to replace the standard AdSense ads on the site with customized ads.
Social network creator Ning as well as other web2.0 properties have tested out this sort of thing before. For example, on Ning you can purchase a Pro account for $19.99 a month to replace their AdSense ads with your own ads.
However, Magnify.net is doing something a little different with the option to pay for custom ads based on pageviews in units of 5,000 ($24.95), 25,000 ($84.95) and 50,000 ($159.95). Users can also remove Channel Creation links ($5.95 monthly) and enable contests for a premium monthly fee ($125.00).
Google’s Friend Connect and Long Tail Marketing
This is interesting. Basically, sometime tonight you’ll be able to grab a snippet of code and install it on your site/blog allowing you to combine that site with your activities in various social networks…
Google Press Center: News Announcement: “Websites that are not social networks may still want to be social — and now they can be, easily. With Google Friend Connect (see http://www.google.com/friendconnect following this evening’s Campfire One), any website owner can add a snippet of code to his or her site and get social features up and running immediately without programming — picking and choosing from built-in functionality like user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews, as well as third-party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community.”
Here are some of the more “long tail” implications of Friend Connect:
“Google Friend Connect is about helping the ‘long tail’ of sites become more social,” said David Glazer, a director of engineering at Google. “Many sites aren’t explicitly social and don’t necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other. That used to be hard. Fortunately, there’s an emerging wave of social standards — OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and the data access APIs published by Facebook, Google, MySpace, and others. Google Friend Connect builds on these standards to let people easily connect with their friends, wherever they are on the web, making ‘any app, any site, any friends’ a reality.”
And here are the immediate benefits possible:
Without requiring coding experience, Google Friend Connect gives site owners a way to attract and engage more people by giving visitors a way to connect with friends on their websites.
Drive traffic: people who discover interesting sites can bring their friends with them, and can opt-in to publish their activities on those sites back into their social network, attracting even more visitors.
Increase engagement: access to friends and OpenSocial applications provides more interesting content and richer social experiences.
Less work: any site can have social components without hiring a programming team or becoming a social network.
I see this as the culmination of the widget craze that swept the online world in 2007 and a way to start bringing in tangible benefits for website owners and bloggers. In other words, the more efficient back-and-forth between social networks and sites/blogs will only increase traffic and exposure for both (if the person behind them is interesting, relevant or adds something to the viewers’ lives).
What is Cloud Computing?
via bub.blicio.us
New Affiliate Summit Social Network Could Actually Be Useful
If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I’m a chronic social networker. I jump on things like Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, FriendFeed, Seesmic, etc and often call them the “next big thing.”
I know it’s annoying, but sometimes I do get it right (like with Twitter).
So, I’m particularly excited to see the new Affiliate Summit network being moved to Ning…
New Affiliate Summit Social Network | Affiliate Summit Blog: “Affiliate Summit has launched a new social network for conference attendees on Ning.
Based on a poll, as well as feedback on Twitter and directly to us, Ning was the clear favorite over the previous social network technology from Confabb.”
If you’ve never played with Ning, you really should. It beats forum software like phpBB etc hands down and offers a number of options for integration with things like your blog feed or Twitter or Flickr.
And I’m especially excited about the Summit’s move to Ning because the previous Confabb system was atrocious from a usability standpoint.
This time around for the ASE Boston show, I really think we can derive some benefits from this iteration of the social network.
Head over and sign up. You just might like it (and find it profitable).
Twitter Track
I’ve been arguing that Twitter users should abandon desktop clients (until Twhirl gets their xmpp gateway going) and use GTalk for Twitter. Not only is the GTalk gateway real time, but there are a few key benefits that enhance the Twitter experience.
Here’s a great post from @tw3nty3ight about how he uses Track and GTalk for Twitter in a similar fashion that I do (on the desktop and on the BlackBerry):
Tw3nty3ight.com: How I Get The Most Out Of Twitter: “There is a very useful Twitter command that is overlooked by many. The TRACK command is the most underused command on twitter. In order for me to be notified of someone mentioning anything pertaining to myself I simply utilize this feature. There are two main ways to use this command, text (SMS) or IM with Google Talk. “
I follow around 1500 people. Watching that kind of a stream all day would render Twitter pretty useless for my needs. So, with the device updates setting on IM, I’m able to “turn on” just the 50 or so people that I’m really interested in following and use Track for my name or topics I want to hear about to catch the rest.
Give it a go if you need to cut the signal-to-noise ratio.
Pressroom Theme for Wordpress
FathomSEO has a nice new clean Wordpress theme geared towards businesses that need a pressroom design:
Social Media Pressroom Theme WordPress, Social Media Newsroom Template: Theme Name: Media Pressroom
Description: A clean, minimalist theme designed for use as a media pressroom.
Author: Fathom SEO, which offers search engine optimization and other online marketing services.
Author URL: http://www.fathomseo.com
View a live demo of this theme.
The simplicity and focus on social media is really compelling.
It’s increasingly clear that companies need to be approachable beyond just a “Contact Us” form. The integration of social media (networks, video, Twitter) present on the theme is a nice touch and positive step towards PR2.0.
Todd Crawford’s New Blog
Affiliate Marketing Legend award winner and all around good guy Todd Crawford has a new blog…
Todd always has a unique perspective on things going back to his days with CJ, so definitely tune in and subscribe.
Selling on eBay with Video
vzaar is a year old service that allows for eBay sellers to incorporate video into their auctions (example in the video above).
vzaar :: About: “vzaar is an accredited eBay developer and approved video supplier for eBay sellers and the host of thousands of videos for thousands of eBay sellers. Built by eBay users for eBay users, vzaar enhances the eBay experience for both buyers and sellers. vzaar is a free service for casual sellers, with premium features available for more frequent users and PowerSellers.”
While I’m not sure that the service will catch on like wildfire, it certainly is compelling for sellers of products that are looking to give a more three dimensional representation of the object up for auction or for sellers looking to stand out above the pack in a crowded niche.
Duncan Riley posts about vzaar on his new (and subscription worthy) blog Inquisitr giving some details about pricing.
