Moose on the Loose

This is more a personal diary note to say Happy Birthday to my Grandad “Charles Frederick”, he passed away a few years ago, but is always fondly remembered. It would have been his birthday today and he taught me quite a lot. I’ve been invited to a geeky WOW pub meet in London today, so I’ll have a beer on him. Happy Birthday Grandad.

Affiliate Window have proved to be first past the post with their recent re-development of Shop Window.

A long time ago I suggested on the A4UForum that any network that can produce high quality product feeds to allow affiliates to easily create product search sites will be the first past the post. Together with that I had an inkling since last year that Affiliate Window were a Dark Horse running up on the inside rail to pip at the post what some others considered to be the major players.

Well they certainly have come up trumps with their lastest ShopWindow Toolset which was launched on the 27th March, 2007.

I really hope affiliates appreciate this product and that the uptake & usage from them is high, as it has certainly raised the bar for other networks to follow suit, though I do hear that some slightly different but innovative ideas are being developed at Paidonresults too.

Kieron has already implemented ShopWindow Toolset very well it and you can see his comments over at www.here.org.uk We have a few theme ideas we would like to get stuck into, which we will embrace soon after a few current projects are completed, though flexibility will allow you to create some nice little niche sites of your own. But, if we demand innovation from networks, then we also need to use it, especially if it’s of a high enough quality so they will continue to develop further products.

ShopWindow Toolset provides you with product comparison functionality that can be customised and integrated within a website with minimum effort.

You can earn commission through adding ShopWindow functionality in the way that best suits your skill set and website architecture in one of three ways:

1. ShopWindow Direct – sending your web traffic to the shopwindow.com website

2. ShopWindow Client Software – integrating a fully customisable software package within your website, adding product comparison functionality

3. ShopWindow API – using our ShopWindow web-based service which allows you to develop applications based around our product data

ShopWindow Toolset will enable you to provide your users with dynamic content from our managed database of over 3 million products. Your users can search for specific products and review the results from within your website. Those users who click through to a merchant site are now more informed and more motivated to buy than ever before, increasing the likelihood of earning you a commission from their purchases.

Affiliate Window merchant product feeds have been thoroughly reviewed and mapped in recent weeks. The ShopWindow system is designed to recognise and learn behaviour patterns. This will result in your users being able to search for products more accurately and refine the results more thoroughly as each day passes.

Click ShopWindow to access a demonstration website with the Client Software in action (or go to www.shopwindow.com)

Please login to your Affiliate Window Admin Area for further information about the ShopWindow Toolset.

Well Done Affiliate Window !!!

It just gets better by the day.

I set up a Google Adwords Ad and bidded on “www.mooseontheloose.co.uk” and “mooseontheloose.co.uk”. Google Adwords wanted to charge $5.

Inactive for search : Increase quality or bid $5.00 to activate

lol – Go Figure That !

Here is my other thread related to Google Quality Score.

Is Google Quality Score Preposterous? Pretentious? unPardonable? Poppycock?

“You Cannot Change Free Will”

This is a massive thank you to Buyagift for an absolutely fantastic few days in Las Vegas. We were one of half a dozen lucky affiliates to win an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas for a promotion they ran during the Christmas Period. Affiliates consisted of Neil, Steve, Romain, Richard, Wardy and myself together with Graham & Dan from Buyagift. It was a really good crowd and we all got on well.

Here is just a brief summary of what we did.

Friday :

Arrive at Las Vegas, 13:40 local time. Transfered to MGM Grand in a super-stratch-Vegas style vehicle! Our rooms were way up on the 28th Floor with a great view.

Afternoon & Evening we immediately hit the casino tables & bars. In the evening we watched the Crazy Horse Paris Topless Cabaret Show in the MGM Grand Hotel.

Saturday:

9am-5pm : Sports car driving tour to Lake Mead at break neck speeds along open roads, Sportscars included the Ferrari 360 Spyder, Ferrari 550 Maranello, Mercedes E55 AMG & a Ford Mustang GT Roush.

During this time period we had a short helicopter ride to Lake Mead, gourmet lunch at Luna Rossa together with a trip around the scenic Lake Las Vegas on an 86ft Supercruiser.

Full of adrenaline and all pumped up, it didn’t stop there!

9pm ’til late (vague recollections of about 5am) : VIP nightclub tour with a cruise of the Strip in stretched limo, with VIP host + Limo (filled with booze!) between each venue which included : Mix Ultralounge (spectacular city views from 55 floors up), Tangerine (outdoor terrace overlooking the Strip & burlesque performances) and back to Studio 54, picking up passengers along the way, where us unrhythmic affiliates strutted our stuff.

How most of us managed to get up for the following day I will never know!

Sunday:

1:30pm – 5:30pm : Helicopter flight to the Grand Canyon, taking in Lake Mead, Boulder City and Hoover Dam on the way – stopped for lunch, posed for pictures. I love flying in helicopters, even with a massive hangover like a few had, in fact a couple hadn’t even reached hangover stage .. it had to be done.

Evening: A delicious dinner at the Top Of The World revolving restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere Tower, over 800 ft up. With fantastic views all round.

For those who could stomache it, rides at the top of the Stratosphere. Unfortunately it was too windy and the ride was stopped when three who had the bottle were on it.

After that we spent some time in Cheetahs until about 3am, before inconspicuously being dropped on in the Pink Cheetahs Transit Van back at the hotel, where some of us played the tables or hit a bar.

Monday Morning:

Simply shopping & getting souveniers for my kids (who I always miss) before getting super stretched white hummer to the airport for the flight home for which I spent most of the time asleep. Arrived back home Tuesday morning in the UK.

Once again many thanks to Buyagift for what was a great prize incentive & will be a hard one to beat.

“St. George is the patron saint of England! His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England! Adopted by Richard the Lion heart it was brought to England in the 12th century.

St. George’s Day is on April 23rd, so, in a sense, this is England’s National Day but unlike other countries, England does not have a celebration to mark this occasion !”

Which is a real shame! But for those of us who do have a bit of pride!

Happy St. George’s Day !!!

Many affiliates are what can only be politely referred to as possessing a physique which is considered portly, which is a natural side symptom of what goes with the territory when you are involved with affiliate marketing.

I am in the process of arranging an Affiliate Fat Camp, with a select few friends & business colleagues to spend 7 to 9 days in Portugal to enjoy a healthier lifestyle of exercise, good food and debauchery with the aim of losing a few pounds by the end of excursion, together with discussing new ideas and generally having a great time with friends & colleagues …

Because all of us will be leaving our good ladies at home, we have promised to leave out the debauchery. (Why have hamburger, when you can have steak at home)

The exericise regime is still to be finalised, it will be a mix of activities. However, to earn a beer .. and you cannot deny an affiliate a beer .. they would have to do 20 press ups between each beer to earn just one bottle.

However, we will have CCTV at the villa, with an option which yet to be voted on, whether or not to screen this live online in the form of a Celebrity Affiliate Fat Camp maybe to the extreme of Big Brother style diary room. It will depend what everyone else is up for or whether we wish to keep our flab under wraps.

Whatever is decided, those that have been approached so far are looking forward to it.

Fraser has come up with yet another good idea with reference to his podcasts.

By listening & responding to people who want to know how to get started in affiliate marketing, he is commencing a series of short 5-10 minute podcasts to try & assist those. That important intial step is coming up with the idea for your first site, which Fraser eloquently puts forward.

Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing – The Idea

It’s encouraging that there is a blog with podcasts which is catering for the noob & the next generation of affiliate marketeers whether they are those looking for a small additional income or those who may eventaully evolve into thriving businesses.

This evening was another one of those proud father moments. My youngest daughter scored her first goal in a competitive football match, a terrific volley on the half turn. All of the opposing team were probably two or three times the size of her & older, but she is a tough little battler who even pollaxed me in a football practice session once.

If you are serious about affiliate marketing then the a4uexpo at ExCel London 25th & 26th October, 2007 is the place to be. Stick it in your diary & make sure you attend.

This one event I am really looking forward to attending.

The organisation of this event specifically for the UK illustrates how affiliate marketing has progressed in this country, and if it wasn’t for Matt Wood who originally set up the affiliate forum in the early days, the complexion & landscape of affiliate marketing would certainly have taken up a different & less certain direction. Affiliate Marketing still has a considerable way to go before it reaches maturity, but if that utopia is ever achieved, then some of that credit will have to go to Matt Wood, The Affiliates4U Forum and his team for doing such a grand job in maintaining the A4UForum & organising affiliate G2G’s and events.

“a4uexpo is the first conference and exhibition dedicated to affiliate marketing to be held in Europe.

Designed to bring together the entire affiliate marketing industry in the same place, at the same time. a4uexpo will give affiliates, merchants, networks, agencies and in fact, everyone working in this fast-growth channel a full two days to focus on networking and relationship building.

a4uexpo will also have a strong educational focus enabling delegates to share their experiences & knowledge, learn about the latest exciting developments and hear from the experts through topical speakers, Q & A panels, workshops and networking sessions.”