Special Speech

Affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular in recent
years. Affiliate programs offer merchants the opportunity to
employ vast armies of sales people who only get paid for the
results they achieve. The rewards for affiliates are high too,
and the skilled affiliate marketer can make many thousands of
dollars a month. This win- win situation has lead to an
explosion in the number of affiliate programs that are available
to the would-be marketer. With this proliferation of
opportunities comes the question, how do you go about choosing
the right one for you? What qualities should you look for in a
program? How do you go about choosing a program that is right
for you, and which gives you a good chance of providing a
sustainable income? In this article I will give you some tips
that will help you to evaluate merchants and their programs and
hopefully help you avoid wasting time and money. Here are some
common questions that you should ask:

1.How Much Commission Does the Merchant Pay?

I know this seems obvious, but it is important to determine
that amount that you can expect to make from a sale. There is no
point in spending time and money on promoting a product that
doesn’t pay well. It is probably best to stick with products
that have a high commission value, unless you have found a niche
market where you can sell vast quantities of product, and make
substantial commissions on your volume of sales.

2. How Much Traffic is The Merchant Getting To His Site?

Try to find out the volume of traffic that the merchant’s site
is already receiving. Alexa.com may be useful in doing this
research. If the site is ranked in the top 100,000 the merchant
is getting a good amount of daily traffic, and there might
already be too many affiliates. If the site is ranked below
500,000 it is either no good and not worth bothering with or it
might just be a golden opportunity to make some real money.
Always research a merchant’s product if the site has a low
traffic ranking. If all is well, you could have found a goldmine!

3. How Often Do They Pay Their Affiliates?

Some merchants pay as often as every week; some once a month,
others only pay every quarter. It is important that you know how
often you can expect a pay check if you are going to have
financial control over your business. Do you have the financial
resources to continue to market the product if you have to wait
a long time before you get paid? It may also be wise to find out
the minimum that you need to earn in order to get paid.

4. Does The Company Use Tracking Cookies?

Many customers don’t buy straight away. It is therefore
important that the merchant uses cookies on their site, so that
you get credit if a customer returns and buys at a later date.
Check out how long they last. The longer the cookie lasts; the
better the chances are of getting paid!

5. Does The Merchant Pay on Subsequent Sales?

Some merchants will only pay commission on sales that come
through directly from your link. If the customer returns again
via another route you will not get paid. It is important that
you get paid no matter what route the customer returns by if you
are to build a sustainable business.

6. What Promotional Resources Does The Merchant Offer?

Look at the type of promotional material that they provide. Do
they provide articles or content that you can use to promote
them on your site or free guides, offers or samples? If the
promotional materials are good it is likely that the merchant
will work with you as their affiliate to promote their business.

Conclusion

Finding the right merchant can be a tricky business. The best
advice is to do your own research. Use the above questions as an
aid in finding a merchant that will enable you to reach your
financial goals. You never know-you could strike gold!

Cellular phones and pagers are part of the “now” generation, instant contact, anywhere at any time. People are looking for convenience, comfort and security. The question is how instantaneous and reliable is the contact?

Talking with someone is the main use for a cell phone, yet due to poor reception how often do calls not go through, or important calls “dropped” due to flaky coverage? Let us not forget, that in a time of tragedy, lines were congested and the resounding “all circuits busy” messages were heard from coast to coast. There is certainly room for improvement if you want to reach out and touch someone.

The alternative to voice communication is traditional text messaging, enjoyed by the young as SMS, a ‘hip’ communication method, and the older as the tried and true paging, a trustworthy means of communication. A carrier receives pages or text messages via a traditional dial up modem or Internet connection to their terminal, and then broadcasts the messages over their network to the appropriate wireless device. How instant is sending a text message? The answer might surprise you…it depends.

Traditional means of sending text messages is surprisingly reliable and fast. However, many cellular carriers, wishing to merge technologies while keeping costs down, have opted to utilize email technology to send text messages. Why not, an email is nothing more than a text message, using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). On the surface this sounds like a great idea, nearly everyone has email access, and the use of the Internet streamlines the sending of messages.

What is often overlooked, is the fact that email was not designed to be time sensitive. There can be significant delays and an instantaneous receipt can be lost when sending email to a pager or cell phone. Text messages sent via the email protocol SMTP could take a more scenic delivery route. While in many cases, receiving messages in a timely fashion is not critical; some industries require and benefit from the receipt of urgent messages. It is therefore important to realize and make a distinction between the protocols that are designed for instantaneous communication and those that are not.

If sending messages immediately to a cell phone or pager is required, more reliable protocols are available. When sending text messages, via a modem, the Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) is extremely dependable, albeit slower due to the modem dialing. If sending messages with a high-speed Internet connection use the newer time sensitive Internet protocols: Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) and Wireless Communication Transfer Protocol (WCTP). If your carrier supports these protocols they are the better options for sending important messages.

If carriers understand the “now” generation is about speed and reliability, customer satisfaction will improve. Text messaging is a reliable and useful communication method, especially since voice is not always convenient or possible. With public awareness and urging, carriers will increase their offerings of text messaging protocols. Carriers should offer email or SMTP, but they must also support time sensitive protocols, regardless, of whether the protocols are older such as TAP or newer such as WCTP.

Resources -

Carriers supporting SNPP - http://www.notepage.net/snpp.htm

Carriers supporting WCTP - http://www.notepage.net/wctp.htm

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net

Copyright © 2005 http://TastesOfTheWorld.net

A researcher has stirred up the commuter coffee mug with the
suggestion that morning rush hour traffic is worsened by stops
for daily morning gourmet coffee at Starbucks and other premium
coffee houses. Nancy McGuckin, a travel behavior analyst,
studied a report called “National Household Travel Survey” by
the U.S. Department of Transportation as the basis for her
provocative conclusions.

It has long been known that frequent starting and stopping
during a commute drastically reduces fuel economy due to the
need to rev up the car engine to accelerate to traffic speeds
and then stop for traffic lights and accelerate once again. This
is the reason why manufacturers estimaged “city” mileage is
always significantly lower than the estimated “highway” mileage.
In addition, if the engine is turned off and restarted, mileage
is decreased significantly, because it is at startup of the car
engine that the most fuel is wasted.

This behavior is exactly what is required when visiting
congested shopping areas on the way to work, find a parking
space, (where gourmet coffee shops are often located) stop the
engine, return to the car with coffee in hand, restart the
engine and make your way back to the highway and finally to work.

McGuckin, the travel analyst, dubbed her discovery, “The
Starbucks Effect” because during the period she studied,
Starbucks added over 4000 new locations (1995 - 2001). Although
not limiting this research finding only to trips to coffee
houses, the research suggests that running additional errands in
the morning on the way to work has contributed to traffic
congestion and increased gridlock. This is because people divert
from the shortest and fastest route, to one that leads them past
the coffee house or dry cleaners.

The shorter route between home and business office would be much
more direct and require fewer bursts of acceleration, engine
starts and stops and less frequent visits to crowded shopping
areas, which require commuters to search for parking, with trips
around the block to find spaces or idling the engine waiting for
others to leave spaces nearer the coffee house.

Burning small amounts of extra fuel during those waits over and
over each day adds up to very significant wasted fuel and
lowered mileage over time. Wear and tear on engines increases as
this behavior continues, and becomes habitual.

The cost of gourmet coffee at premium coffee houses is also as
much as six or seven times the cost of home brewed coffee from
premium fresh ground whole bean blends. Coffee houses have
either a “house blend” or “featured” blend on brew and you get
whatever they have chosen for you. Then your only choice is to
elbow your way through the crowds and merge back into the city
gridlock to get to work, further slowing traffic and decreasing
gas mileage.

A Washington Post article by Catherine Shaver, discusses the
commuter study and quotes Alan E. Pisarsky, Author of “Commuting
in America” as saying, “It’s more of a problem from a traffic
point of view than from anything else.”

Increasing the number of stops in the trip decreases gas mileage
and stress levels, while brewing coffee at home can actually
save you gas over a relatively short period of time. Taking
fresh brewed coffee from home could actually reduce stress and
wear and tear on the car. When brewing your own gourmet coffee
blend at home, you have a choice of fresh ground coffee beans
from fine Italian Espressos to the rare and exotic Indonesian
Kopi Luwak.

Commuters can consider making gourmet coffee drinks at home
before departing for work and enjoy it at home while spending
quality time with the family or take it along in a commuter
coffee travel mug. You’ll save money by paying less than .30
cents per cup for your favorite gourmet coffee made from fresh
ground beans, as well as help to reduce gridlock and increase
mileage by taking the fastest route to work instead of detouring
to the coffee shop.

The quintessential Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life has dominated the holiday TV landscape with its timeless story of love, friendship, and a kind man’s exceedingly relevant life. Filmed in 1947, this Frank Capra masterpiece debuted in theaters to what could best be described as a lukewarm reception. Yet it quickly rose in stature following repeated annual television airings in the 1960s, a Christmas tradition that continues to this day. Centered around the life of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), a likeable, ambitious resident of Bedford Falls who harbors dreams of grandeur, the film sets out to portray a viewpoint of a world in which the divine’s ultimate plan may be far different from our own. Yet the result of that plan is far better than we could ever imagine…

As the film begins, we gain a glimpse into the life and times of a young George Bailey, an upstanding and studious fellow who manages to avert two potential disasters by the age of ten. Under the employ of neighborhood druggist Mr. Gower, Bailey prevents the delivery of a poison prescription, and while enjoying the boyhood wonders of the local ice pond, he rescues his younger brother from certain death by pulling him from a patch of broken ice.

From these early years, the story jumps several years into the future, where a grown up and infectiously optimistic George harbors wild dreams of world travel, exploration, and the construction of large buildings. But inevitably, he stays in Bedford Falls in order to carry on the family business, the small yet popular Bailey Savings & Loan (the only financial institution in Bedford Falls not owned by the unmerciful tycoon Mr. Potter). As the years pass, Bailey must deal with his own family problems, his unfulfilled dreams, and the burdens of the Great Depression. Along the way, he’s tempted with offers of vast wealth and travel opportunities by the conniving Potter, but he always turns him down, opting to work for the benefit of the community instead.

However when a seemingly innocent snafu threatens to bring down Bailey Savings & Loan, George ponders the unthinkable. He questions his very existence and the true worth of his life. Disillusioned by feelings of failure and a pessimistic outlook for the future, he fails to see the true value of his life. In the end, only divine intervention and the warm hearts of the people of Bedford Falls can transform George’s outlook and force to him to recognize the extraordinary life he’s lived…

The innate power of It’s A Wonderful Life stems from the strength of numerous performances, most notably that of Jimmy Stewart. Much like Tom Hanks today, Stewart played the role of the everyman during his long tenure in Hollywood. He may have lacked the sex appeal of Clark Gabel or the cowboy virility of John Wayne, but he fit perfectly in the mold of best friend and loveable guy. In a feel-good, fairy tale film like this one, Stewart is cast perfectly, and he’s well complemented by a host of others… Who else could play the role of the grumpy miser any better than Lionel Barrymore? All in all, it’s a recipe for silver screen excellence.

It’s A Wonderful Life illuminates an almost magical setting with its idyllic portrayal of Depression-era, small-town America. Each character (with the exception of Mr. Potter), harkens back to a simpler time when public attitudes toward morality prevailed, where neighbors knew each other by name, and where communities helped each other out. Further strengthening the allure of the film, George Bailey and his friends are likeable characters who develop a strong rapport with the audience, forcing the viewer to actively root for the desired outcome. It’s this personal connection with the audience (and an audience ability to relate to the overriding themes) which is the key to the enduring success of this film. Having spent over five decades as America’s most popular Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life deserves mention among the ranks of the all-time classics of cinema.

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the It’s A Wonderful Life (DVD).