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Topics in this issue:
- Jim Bouton to Deliver Keynote at Affiliate Summit
- Booth and Sponsorship Registrations Open for Affiliate Summit 2006
- Ask Shawn Collins: Link Cloaking Techniques
- Affiliate Marketing Classifieds and Other Stuff
- Affiliate Summit 2006 East Affiliate Banners Now Available
Jim Bouton, the Affiliate Summit 2006 Keynote Speaker, won 21 games for the New York Yankees and made the all-star team in 1963. In 1964 he won 18 games and beat the Cardinals twice in the World Series.
In 1969 he wrote Ball Four, the funny, controversial, all-time bestseller that revealed baseball players as human beings. Ball Four was recently selected by the New York Public Library as one of the "Books of the Century." The latest update, titled Ball Four: The Final Pitch, is now entertaining a new generation.
In 1970 Bouton retired from baseball and became a television sportscaster in New York where he helped WABC-TV and then WCBS-TV climb to 1st place in the ratings. During the 70's he wrote a sequel to Ball Four entitled I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally, earned good reviews in a Robert Altman movie, The Long Goodbye, and created, wrote and acted in a CBS network TV sitcom based on his book.
In 1978 Bouton made a comeback to baseball with the Atlanta Braves. Gambling his television career for a dream, Bouton rode hot buses and ate cold hamburgers for two years in the minor leagues before he was called up by the Atlanta Braves. When the 39 year old knuckleballer beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1, it was his first major league win in eight years.
During his comeback Bouton helped create Big League Chew, shredded bubble gum in a pouch, so ballplayers could look right without getting sick. Big League Chew, introduced in 1980, has replaced chewing tobacco at many high schools and colleges.
Booths are available at reduced rates during the Early Bird period, which expires March 31, 2006.
The booth and sponsor page features a live map of the exhibit hall layout, so you can see what has been booked to date.
Visit http://www.regonline.com/91108 to book a booth or sponsorship. See the Sponsor tab at the Affiliate Summit site for more details.
A: There are two ways you can go about cloaking your links: set them up yourself or buy a program to automate the process.
Personally, I do it myself. In some cases, I use a little mouseover script, but that's just to trick the casual observer - it won't beat the schemers and spiders.
In the past, I've also used frames to cloak affiliate links. This has it's limitations, but it's quick and easy.
Another method is to purchase a domain and use the domain registrars forwarding service (free with most domain registrars) to have the domain redirect to your affiliate link.
The technique I use most often is the .htaccess redirect. An .htaccess file is a plain ASCII text file you place in the root directory of a Unix server.
The .htaccess technique is much easier than using other redirects, because there's no HTML required. All of your redirects are in one text file.
One thing to bear in mind when cloaking your links is that you should add the afsrc parameter, so legitimate adware affiliates will recognize that you are an affiliate and not overwrite your cookie.
If you want to get a program that will help you set up the cloaked links, check out CBmall and search for cloaker or cloaking, and you will see lots of programs to consider.
As far as that program you mentioned that "puts a tracking cookie on the visitors computer even if they don't click on the link" - stay far away from that one.
That is known as cookie stuffing, and it's a big taboo. By doing that sort of thing, you're no better than the thieves you're trying to beat in the first place.
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Affiliate Buyer's Guide - Submit Your Listing
The Affiliate Summit 2006 East conference program will include a buyer's guide for affiliate marketers. The affiliate buyer's guide will be a comprehensive directory of vendors that provide products and services to affiliate marketers. Submit a listing to the Affiliate Buyer's Guide at http://www.affiliatebuyersguide.com. Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2006.
Hydra Network
Join Hydra Network today – the leading CPA source for affiliate publishers. 500+ campaigns and more than 100 exclusive offers available. Find all the right campaigns, market them to your site, email, path, pop or other audience, and get paid fast! Sign up today to begin maximizing your inventory profitability, while getting the attention you deserve from one of our Affiliate Managers. Call 310-659-5755 or visit: http://network.hydramedia.com/.
Payless.com Affiliate Program Now at CJ
The Payless Affiliate Program has moved from Be Free to CJ. If you already have an account at CJ, please apply to the Payless affiliate program ASAP. If you do not have a CJ account, you can apply now. More program details at http://www.affiliatetip.com/display.php?pid=1203
Snapfish Pays the Highest Commission in the Photo Category
Snapfish, a service of HP, is the fastest growing online photo service with 19 million members and more than 750 million photos online. The Snapfish affiliate program offers the highest commission payout in the photo category, plus monthly promotions, exclusive coupons, PPC keyword list to help maximize revenue, and dedicated program management. Join Snapfish today on CJ.
Capture Leads Efficiently at the Next Affiliate Summit
CardScan Lead Qualifier uses pre-printed forms and your contact's business card to capture contact data and actionable information like business potential and project start date. Then it converts the information into a digital database so you can act on it virtually instantly.
If you already have an Affiliate Summit affiliate account, you can login at fusionquest.com
If you don't already belong to the affiliate program, click here to join the Affiliate Summit affiliate program.You'll earn 15% on conference registrations you refer (30 day cookie).
Be sure to read the Affiliate Summit affiliate agreement - important information in there, like how you cannot register through your own affiliate link.
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