David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

March 2008 Archives

27/03/08 - Replicators, Emulators and Innovators

In my post It's All Complimentary I discussed how complimenting websites rather than copying them was a smart move. Rather than copying a website, building something that could compliment it or improve upon it is a smarter solution.

Today I'm looking at the strategies behind the sites: the affiliates themselves. More

20/03/08 - A Warm Welcome To Affiliate Window

I've done it. Over a year I've considered it and today I signed up to Affiliate Window. A look through my archives and you'll soon see that I've been apprehensive about signing up.

Ross and Adam have tried their best to sign me up, answering all the questions I have ever had about them. I pushed it off time and time again but I had a relatively free day today - plenty of time to post links here, there and everywhere!

First impressions? More

20/03/08 - Merchants Moving Networks

2008 seems to be the year that merchants chop and change networks. My affiliate HQ inbox (2000 unread affiliate messages as of this morning) is chock-a-block with messages about programs closing down on network A in favour of network B and so forth.

Whilst this is often a pain, if you run through these in a block, you can also factor in spring cleaning your portfolio. Here's how. More

19/03/08 - Sunshine.co.uk Competition Entry

Everyone else has gone for crafty affiliate links on their blog in order to qualify for an entry into the sunshine.co.uk affiliate prize draw (Kieron and John Lamerton) so I thought I would break away from the mould and be more blatent!

Introducing sunshine.co.uk... More

19/03/08 - What A Complete Waste Of Time!

I've spent weeks hand crafting a new site. It's not live yet and the FTP server's playing the giddy goat which is why I am posting on here!

Anyhow, I've just found another site with near enough the exact same principle and topic as mine. It was only by luck I stumbled across it.

That means it's back to the drawing board to change the idea somewhat to avoid being hypocritical. More

10/03/08 - So What Have I been Up To?

There’s a million dollar question. Part of my new resolution was to spend more time building websites than posting on here. Posting about my experience as an affiliate helps my readers but unfortunately doesn’t help my bank balance. That means if I want to make money, I have to move away from posting here.

It’s a shame as I enjoy it. I enjoy getting the feedback from readers. I enjoy the fact that someone somewhere enjoys reading what I have to say.

That doesn’t answer the question though :-)

Here’s what I’ve been up to. More

10/03/08 - It's All Complimentary

Stuck for a website idea? Seen something on another site and thought 'I could do that'? The chances are that you could. But what would be the point? Okay, you could take some traffic away from your competitors but if they've been established for a few years, that's going to be tough. Plus, is it really going to make you as rich as you desire?

Instead of copying, why not try complimenting? More

10/03/08 - Backup, and Occasionally Backup The Backup

After 2 years of loyal service, Windows has started to fall over itself on my PC. Running Scandisk after every reset is a tad annoying to say the least.

I’ve backed up everything onto another hard drive (75 GB of virtual tat, work, loads of those ‘free reports’ and other bits and bobs). I’m surprised at how much I’ve accumulated though I have a habit of creating a new folder called ‘sort me’ and throwing everything in there. I do believe there’s around 11 generations of ‘to sort’ folders inside each other. More

04/03/08 - Who Owns Who? The Tale Of A Web Designer's Portfolio

Seat (the car people) have been running an advert for the Leon called "Who Owns Who?". The words read as follows:

Think about this. When you buy a car you buy a new piece of yourself. Something that's yours but not part of your body.

You buy the need to look after it, to maintain it, to use it even when you don't need to.

You buy the obligation to feed it, the job of having to clean it, the obsession of stopping people leaving beach sand in the car.

You buy the fear of losing it, of someone taking it from you.

You buy the obsession to keep it spotless, and worry about finding a safe place to park.

You buy the impulse to compare your car with other cars, but you buy it anyway. Because the best things in life are not the things you own, it's the things that own you.

This is remarkably similar to affiliate web design. Here's how. More