Twitter is probably to blame! But Url shorteners are becoming more and more prevalent with a multitude of providers and differing services.

Just a little while ago, tinyurl.com was the king of this realm, but then came a whole host with http://bit.ly often being cited as the market leader. However, now that Google has entered the space, we believe they are well positioned to make an impact in this area. Then again, Twitters http://t.co soon native shortener may well give Google a run for its money.

What do shorteners do?

In basic terms a Url shortener take a large web address and converts it into a manageable length, for example;

http://www.mylongwebsitedomainname.com/somefolder/yetanother/a_long_page_name.php?parameter=long+bit+of+test&anotherparam=evenmore+text

Into something like;

http://shorturl.com/W4f8Jp

All that happens, in this example, is that the shorturl.com website, creates a permanent redirect to the full page.

However, behind the scenes there are 2 things going on;

1. Trust is one, the person clicking the short Url must decide to trust the url shortener system. Google is likely to have this trust already. Within the Twitter community, bit.ly and also t.co have the trust already, so Google have a little work to do.
2. Protection is where we believe Google will be able to flex their muscles more. Google already verifies its search index against known and pending web threats such as suspected malware, phishing sites and spam sites, so applying this against the shortener system will be easy.

We are switching all tweets to http://goo.gl for the moment and will perhaps look closer at t.co in the future.

Last week we launched our new Internet Marketing Affiliate scheme. The program provides Internet & Marketing professional a way of increasing revenue without additional cost or risks. It also provides business people with connections to these groups of companies and professionals with a way of earning revenue through a multi-tiered payments. We have created a short video which describes the scheme and an example of the payment tiers.

Earn passive income by promoting and referring new business to us.

This is a free to join affiliate program, promoting our Internet Marketing Training, Tools and Services.

How much can you earn?

This is really down to you, the commission structure is simple. It runs between 15% and 40% for sales directly made which originate from you and, if you would rather a quite life, 5% from sales produced by other partners you introduce to us.

For business generated by you in any given month we will pay the following commission rates;

If you have introduced a partner to us also, they will be paid the commissions above and you will receive 5%. It’s that simple!

It’s not difficult, it won’t take up your time and you can earn from it!

It isn’t difficult nor will it consume your time or detract your attention from your day-to-day activity. Implementing our affiliate scheme can be as simple as adding a link to your website or blog. Or, you can choose to spend a little more time and send out an email to your contacts or even discuss our products and services through your favourite networking sites such as Linked-In, Twitter, Facebook or perhaps you can write a review on your blog or newsletter. It’s entirely up to you!

Our system has a video tutorial, some online “Getting Started” guides and we are always at the end of the phone or email if you want some ideas or guidance.

I’m a people person, how can I get involved?

I guess by this you mean that you generally meet with people all day long and your referrals are normally done in an exchange of telephone numbers. No problem, you can email links to your contacts instead of just reading out our telephone number. Our system will provide you with your unique affiliate link and that’s what you use in your email.

What if my referred visitor doesn’t buy straight away?

You still get paid, this is covered in our frequently asked questions, so I won’t elaborate here. It’s suffice to say that we use a number of techniques to track visitors and once a visitor is recorded as coming from you, you own them and will be paid if and when they should buy anything from us.

So what do I do now?

The first thing you need to do is enrol, but don’t delay, we are offering to credit your account with a welcome £10.00 for a limited time only, so don’t loose out, signup now.

Please remember, don’t delay and make sure you benefit from the £10.00 credit today and also feel free to call or email me if you have any questions.

We are looking forward to paying you oodles!

Signup Link: http://affiliate.beginning-internet-marketing.com/affiliates/signup.php
FAQ Link: http://affiliate.beginning-internet-marketing.com/affiliates/faq.php

Like me, I’m sure you’re tired of seeing the same old junk SPAM online about some get rich quick schemes. This SPAM seams to be everywhere, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, email, just everywhere. You click a link and up come some guys sitting on a beach and they tell you that they earn $100,000 per month and all they do is sit on their rear ends all day. If only life were that simple?

We all know these are scams, they are just an Internet spin on an old, and in many countries illegal, practise called Pyramid Selling. It’s a real shame that this is happening as the actual channel of affiliate marketing is fast becoming one of the main driving forces behind online commerce.

In fact in 2007 sales generated by affiliates grew by an estimated 45% on the previous year which attributed £3 billion^* to the affiliate marketing channel. The amount of growth slowed in 2008, which we feel is down to the financial situation we have all experienced, but revenue remained the same.

So, if you are thinking of jumping in to a reputable affiliate program, think in terms of an online business which requires work to get yourself on that beach, but there is a pie, currently larger than £3 billion which you can take a slice from!

Today we have launched our own free to join affiliate program, which begins by selling Internet Marketing training material but will extend to Internet marketing tools and services in the very near future. Plus, for a limited time only, we are paying new sign-ups of our affiliate program £10.00 for just signing up.

You can read more about our free affiliate marketing program on our affiliate partner site.

* The eConsultancy Affiliate Marketing Merchants Report 2007

It's a challenge isn't it? Selling online, it's a challenge!

Apart from the setup costs of your e-commerce website you have your management time and learning curve to consider. Also, contending with an ever increasing and competitive marketing cost keeps many online merchants up at night.

It can sometimes seam like a hike too far, but there is a lower cost and effort solution. You can spread the word by sharing a slice of your revenue when you sell something. Now, you may feel uncomfortable about such a solution, but don’t be.

If you think about your current marketing budget for 100% revenue, you're probably looking at quite a scary number. Wouldn't it be better to pay this same budget only when sales are made? Performance linked sales is the Holy Grail when it comes to direct salespeople. You only pay a commission when a sale is made, perfect! Affiliate marketing is the same principle. People and companies that run successful and high traffic websites, drive potential buyers to your store or service website and hey presto more sales and less non-profitable advertising and marketing.

The biggest names on the Internet are all running affiliate schemes, eBay^TM, Amazon^TM even Google^TM shares its wealth through its Pay-Per-Click scheme AdSense^TM. So it's not a question of if you should be doing it, it's a question of how you should do it!

There are 3 main ways to setup a successful affiliate scheme.

1. Employ an affiliate manager to find new affiliates and manage your campaigns. You just need to ensure that they are of good quality and can show you a track record of previous successes.
2. Join an affiliate programme or group, normally called a network. Again, ensure that it's a good quality community with a good success record. Take a look at Affiliate Window which is a well respected service provider. 
3. Do it yourself. This is a great solution and allows you to retain control of your campaigns and manage your affiliates yourself. However you will need to find and manage your affiliate partners yourself. A great solution here is Post Affiliate Pro, see below for more details.

In cases 1 and 2, affiliate managers and do it yourself, you're going to need a reliable tracking solution to help manage your affiliates, sale associations, commissions etc. I must say that as of yet, we haven't come across a better provider than Post Affiliate Pro and the best thing about it is that they offer a Free, yes Free, hosted solution, so that you can dip your toe in the water, before diving in.

So if your run an e-commerce website and you want to grow your sales without upfront marketing spend, take a look at Post Affiliate Pro, it's a great solution!

Do you run an affiliate network or are you an affiliate that is a member of a network? Send us a comment and we'll add you to this list!