David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

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08/09/08 - Apologies For The Downtime

I had set a few articles about my recipes site to appear whilst on my free holiday from Sunshine.

All was good and well until a rogue plugin kept crashing the server. The plugin had been running for a year so I can only presume it was the content of a post or the server had been updated. Nevertheless, the avoid any hassle, the site was taken down until the plugin could be safely removed (which it has now been). More

07/09/08 - Back From Orlando!

If all has gone to plan, you'll have not noticed I've been sunning myself in Orlando, Florida. I should have landed and returned back to wet Wales by now.

I'll probably be suffering from jet lag too so if you're waiting for a reply to an email, please wait a few more days before shouting at me :-) More

02/06/08 - About

It seems a bit odd to add an about page as post 481 but nevertheless, I've decided it should help those who have stumbled across this blog by accident.

In a nutshell, here's what my blog is all about. More

29/05/08 - New Permanent Design

Automatically changing designs seemed such a good idea when I set about creating them but six months in, I've gone off them. I must have been taking something because the colour schemes where horrid!

So jumping on the bandwagon that is known as the redesign train, I've joined Kirsty, Keith, Amazon, Play and CD-Wow in launching a new template. More

29/05/08 - Calling UK Affiliate Marketing Bloggers

If you are a UK affiliate marketer and have a blog, I want to link to you!

I'm after reciprocal blogroll links (now shown on the side of the blog where it ought to be) as well as an RSS feed URL to add to the aggregator. More

24/05/08 - New Comment Policy

The comments on this blog have been free from the nofollow tag for some time now as I believe that relevant comments should be rewarded. If you've taken the time to read and comment on a post, you can quite happily post a link to your site which may be of benefit to readers of the blog.

However, comment spam is becoming more intelligent these days. Spammers are actually reading the blog! Because of this, I am changing the blog comment policy to reflect changes to the way I'm receiving comments.

The policy is a as follows. More

17/04/08 - Cashback Google Results

I'm sure not so long ago the term 'cashback' produced results such as Quidco in Google. Well it seems that since Cashback The Movie came on the scenes, most cashback sites have been relegated to page 2 and beyond.

Incase you're interested, here's the trailer for Cashback The Movie.

More

25/01/08 - Making Myself More Contactable

I've added my phone number to all the major networks I'm registered with just in case I'm missing out on anything.

Several other affiliates have posted about the phone calls at 5.30pm and the like, but I'm interested to see whether I'll get any calls! More

21/12/07 - Is It Wrong To Expect A Thanks?

I've just been reading Kieron's thank you list for Christmas presents from networks and merchants. Now he's turning over thousands of pounds and is a rock solid 'super affiliate'.

But what about us little people? I've had nothing this year. I've had one impersonal email saying "Seasons Greetings". No cards, no freebies, no presents. I'm not saying I expect anything but when my inbox is rammed full of commission change emails, it would be nice to have a "Merry Christmas David" email from someone. I'm not too bothered about presents. I had nothing last year, I have nothing this year and will probably not get anything for sometime.

But where's the festive love? More

19/12/07 - Festive Update

Firstly, Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Secondly, I think this blog will go quiet now for a couple of weeks. As it's the festive season, I'm busy on other projects and tying up loose ends so I'm not sure I've got enough time.

Besides, I would rather not fill this blog with pointless posts that are just an excuse to publish. i would rather provide substantial quality articles in the new year. More

30/11/07 - Apologies For The Silence

I've spent the last few days eBaying (both selling and buying) and spent yesterday travelling 350 miles to collect an auction item I won.

I'm guilty of having not really done too much with my affiliate sites at the moment. EBay seems to be eating up a hefty chunk of time and whilst I am profiting from my actions, it's not by much (affiliate revenue is certainly higher). More

14/08/07 - Trackback and Ping Crazy!

As an outcast who doesn't use Wordpress to blog, I have lacked the abilities that most bloggers take for granted.

I've just added pinging and trackback abilities. More

06/08/07 - Domain Names For Sale

I've added a few names to Sedo - I'm open to any reasonable offers.The names are varied and may suit someone out there is readerland!

The names are: More

06/08/07 - What A Week!

Everything's been transferred now and should be back to normal. Not everything went smooth and the horrid 1&1 holding page was displayed for a while on most of my sites whilst the DNS changes propagated around the web.

Some sites suffered as a result of the move. More

26/07/07 - Advanced Notice

I am rearranging my website portfolio for DBFCS and for this project so over the next 2 weeks, there may be outages, downtime, etc. More

03/07/07 - Projects In The Pipeline

Apologies for not posting for a few days but I'm working on a very exciting project alongside a major player within the affiliate marketing industry. More

25/06/07 - Comment Spam - Examples of Good And Bad

OK, comment spam is not good but there do seem to be some examples of considerate spamming!

As I've mentioned before, all comments are moderated on this website so I can see everything that's being written. 2 comments recently caught me eye. More

22/06/07 - I Do Follow!

Did you know that if you post a comment on this website, Google will follow it as I do not use the nofollow tag?

Some blogs (predominantly Wordpress) use nofollow rules by default which means you won't get fair recognition by the search engines for your comment.

On my site you will! More

20/06/07 - Broadband Activated

Broadband finally landed today. Mind you, I haven't received my modem yet and it isn't supposed to be live until 29th June 2007 so there may well be some interruption.

Nevertheless, I'm putting this baby to good use! More

06/06/07 - Why I Love BT

There's nothing like a conversation with BT to get you in a great mood for the rest of the day. Oh, hang on, no that's not true. There's nothing like a conversation with BT. More

06/06/07 - Last Post For A While

It shouldn't be too long but I won't be posting for a while. More

05/06/07 - Charity Links - Have You Been Tagged?

Thanks to Kirsty for tagging me. I've never been tagged before so I'm a little excited by this! More

01/06/07 - Email Subscriber List Gone

Whoops. I deleted the wrong email list so all the subscribers to this blog have been lost. More

29/05/07 - New Tag Cloud Facility

I've just been hunting around for updates to my blog software and come across some updated plugins.

Hence, I now have a tag cloud! More

28/05/07 - Email Blog Updates

You can now stay up-to-date with my work in a number of ways, the latest of which is via email. More

16/05/07 - Blog Downtime Expected Over Next Month

There's a few things going on over this part of the web and over the next month, the blog may suffer from some downtime and lack of updates. There will be at least 2 weeks of no posts as I switch broadband enabled telephone numbers. More

15/05/07 - It's All Change (Again!)

This post is about me and my portfolio, not the new A4U Forum website! Whilst on that topic, it seems to now compete with sites such as BUMPzee, myBlogLog and UK Affiliate Marketing Blogroll. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing - time will tell.

Any how, back to me. More

03/05/07 - Now Featuring BUMPzee!

Eagle eyed spotters will have noticed the BUMPzee bar to the right hand side of this page. I'd like to be somewhat popular and have lots of friends so please add me to your friend's list on BUMPzee. My profile is at http://www.bumpzee.com/users/view/csn123/ More

29/04/07 - One Day Blog Silence In Memory Of The Victims At Virginia Tech

As many other bloggers, I too will not be posting tomorrow (30th April 2007) in memory of those who lost their lives in the Virginia Tech massacre. More

05/04/07 - Have a Cracking Easter

How many eggs-cellent jokes can I get into this seminar?

Don't worry - I've stopped now! More

03/04/07 - Self Employed Mortgages

I'm turning the tables a bit and asking a question - where's the best place to go to get a self-certified mortgage?

As I'm self employed, I am finding it difficult to find mortgage providers who will offer me a mortgage. More

17/03/07 - David Fiske's New Website Arrives!

Told you it looked snazzy!

Bright pink has been replaced with black and what I call 'wine' red! More

17/03/07 - Blog Redesign This Afternoon

Many apologies but this blog will be unavailable periodically this afternoon. More

09/03/07 - Telephone Call From OMG

I've just had a chat with my new account manager at OMG.

I wouldn't usually talk about phone calls (they are not particularly riveting news) but this one was different.

I have never had an email or phone call from any other account manager from any other network. More

27/02/07 - Pesky Affiliate Networks

I've just changed my site header logo to include a caricature of myself. I think it looks better than the photo I could have used!

I'm standing next to a billboard that those pesky affiliate networks have tagged! This "tag your own content" web 2.0 lark is getting way out of hand!

I hope you like it. More

26/02/07 - Affiliate Marketing Definition

There has been a few questions banded around the net about what exactly affiliate marketing is. No one (apparently) has come up with an accurate definition. So, it's my turn!

I'll start with the definition of affiliate, then marketing, then affiliate marketing. More

23/02/07 - Sat Nav Price Update Delayed

Updated prices should be live later on this evening or early tomorrow.

Apologies for any inconvenienced caused. More

15/02/07 - Affiliate BlogRoll Feed Aggregator Style Site Response Rate

Fancy UK Affiliate Marketing BlogRoll has only been running for a few hours and already I have 6 live feeds and 1 awaiting approval.

Names so far are:

• Brian Edwards
• Chris Frost
• David Fiske (still counts!)
• Ian Ebbs
• Jesse Owen
• Kieron Donoghue

There are a few big names out there still but they keep their contact details very private!

So if you know of anyone who should be on the aggregator, please send them a link to http://davidfiske.com/blogroll More

15/02/07 - Affiliate BlogRoll Feed Aggregator Style Site

In my quest for making affiliate programs work for me, I have found a lot of people are confused at where to go on the Internet to read affiliate blogs.

After all, there are hundreds of thousands and which of those are worth reading?

That's where Fancy UK Affiliate Marketing BlogRoll comes in! More

13/02/07 - A Quick Note On Contacting Me

I welcome all messages including questions, thoughts, advice, etc.

When you contact me, please remember the following: More

06/02/07 - Portfolio Change

I'm changing my portfolio slightly!

Since Smart and Green has become a shopping portal, it would be better suited on the portfolio of DBFCS.

In it's place, I am launching another brand new site. More

05/02/07 - DBFCS Rebrand

I have redesigned dbfcs, though it is now pending new content.


(old to new)

As I said at the end of last week, I want to integrate the David Fiske project and dbfcs so that I am not duplicating work or heading in different directions. More

30/01/07 - Cold or Flu or Man Flu

I am off work today as I can barely get out of bed. This will probably not have a detrimental effect on taking over the world but you never know! ;-)

I have a cold or flu or man flu so I am drinking lots of cups of tea, dosing myself up on Anadin Extra and taking several kips through the day. More

17/01/07 - Microsoft Windows Vista Conference

Apologies for no lectures yesterday. I was at a Microsoft Windows Vista conference all day and so could not post.

Incidentally, whilst on the topic, Microsoft Windows Vista will be launched on 30th January 2007. It is designed to replace the current Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

There are four flavours of Vista: Windows Vista Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate. Most home users would benefit from Windows Vista Home Premium.

Having used Windows Vista Home Premium, I can firmly say that when I have enough cash kicking around, I will upgrade. I didn't think I would have done if I hadn't been on the conference so at least they have sold the idea to me!

Here's the boxes for the new complete installations:

      

And for those who are interested, here are the boxes for the upgrade versions:

      

I have also added a Microsoft Windows Vista Amazon Store if anyone is interested in upgrading. More

07/01/07 - The Problem With Distributed Websites

Compare Sat Nav extends over two servers for the pure and simple reasons that I had no alternative if I was to keep the initial expenditure to a bare minimum.

The majority of changes I make are to the satellite navigation price comparison area of the site first, before being rolled out to Compare Sat Nav.

Apologies to those who visit Compare Sat Nav looking for the changes I make. try the satellite navigation price comparison area first! More

29/12/06 - New Ajax Menu on David Fiske

Just a quick note to let you know that the menu on this site has now been changed to an Ajax tab based menu.

The clunky, old CSS files has been removed which saves about 4KB per page. Not a terrific saving but the tabs are much easier for me to update!

23/12/06 - Merry Christmas

Firstly, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. 'Tis the season to be jolly (apparently) so enjoy the time off work.

Secondly, all the best for the new year. As far as I am concerned, 2007 is the start of a long task of making Compare Sat Nav a household name. Whilst I have not had any sales for a few days, I will not let that slow me down.

At the moment, the first few sales appeared to be from Christmas shoppers. As we all know, online ordering closed for Christmas on or around 22nd December 2006 - hence why there has been a slowdown. I imagine there to be a slight upturn in commissions in January 2007 as more people start looking for bargains in the January sales. More

11/12/06 - Snap Website Previews

I have stumbled across a site called Snap and they offer a free piece of Ajax code that lets your visitors preview a link before they click.

You can download this code (Snap Preview Anywhere) at http://www.snap.com/about/spa1A.php More

11/12/06 - SEO Tips and Advice

This is basically a summary of what I have explained in the past few lectures together with some fresh advice.

It covers SEO, Google AdSense and good web design skills. More

07/12/06 - Link Exchange

If you want to exchange links with me, it is very simple.

Add the following hyperlink structure to your website, contact me to tell me where you have added it and get a reciprocal link below.

The code to use when linking to davidfiske.com is:

<a href="http://davidfiske.com" title="David Fiske Internet Consultant - Build A Profitable Website">David Fiske Internet Consultant - Build A Profitable Website</a>

This produces: David Fiske Internet Consultant - Build A Profitable Website

Please add a link to Compare Sat Nav Systems using the following code:

<a href="http://www.comparesatnav.co.uk" title="Compare Satellite Navigation Systems">Compare Sat Nav Systems</a>

This produces: Compare Sat Nav Systems

Please add a link to Sat Nav Reviews using the following code:

<a href="http://www.satnavreviews.co.uk" title="Satellite Navigation Reviews">Satellite Navigation Reviews</a>

This produces: Satellite Navigation Reviews

Note: Only sites with good quality information on them will be listed. No offensive sites will be listed nor any for medication, drugs, etc. I reserve the right to reject any link exchange. More