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Original post by Edit Staff

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Original post by Stacey Higginbotham

The kids have broke up from school for the Summer holidays, the sun is out (mostly), the light nights are here and people are either outside enjoying themselves or going abroad on holiday. Either way, the back end of July and the whole of August are traditionally the slowest time of year for online businesses. In my experience things start to quieten down about now, August is pretty much completely dead and September will get off to a slow start, but by mid September we’ll start to see traffic getting back to normal levels, then growing right up until Christmas. So what can you do in this quiet period to keep your head above water?

Here’s some ideas:

1. Dust the cobwebs - I use this quiet time to mainly tidy up old sites that I’ve neglected over the busy periods. Have a look through your old sites, check for dead links, see if everything is working as it should be and generally administer a good old tidy up. Maybe add some fresh content, check for new affiliate merchants that will be suitable for the site and then put some fresh links up.

2. Prepare for Christmas - right now I’m updating my toys website, this sector always goes crazy at Christmas so I’m making sure that everything is up to date, links are working and I’m adding fresh content. What will be the big trends this Christmas? Do some research and make sure you’re in a position to capitalise on what will be big.

3. Sales! - we aren’t the only ones finding things quiet at the moment. Most retailers are too and the Summer sale season is well and truly here. As well as some fantastic sales happening right now I’ve seen merchants offering never-seen-before special offers and deep discounts. Are you making the most of them? There are some real bargains to be found online right now so push them out to your readers, you may find that some are just too irrestiable to turn down!

4. Content is SEO - Take advantage of the lull to build up and “bank” some content for release later when you don’t have time to write it! Remember you can never get enough good content so write away, file and save.

5. Try something different - have you always had a project in the back of your head that you’ve wanted to launch but have never had the time? Well now’s the time! Do something fun and not to make money, you never know it may just be the next big thing!

6. Get out and network - you can’t use the excuse that you’re too busy so why not attend the A4U roadshow in Glasgow on the 13th August or Manchester on the 10th September? More details here.

7. Arrange tenancy agreements - email your contacts at the affiliate networks and give them the first refusal for your prime “real estate” on your sites for the last quarter of the year. Do it now or you’ll soon be so busy that you’ll forget about it in the run up to Christmas.

8. Cleanup your email lists - tidy up, dedupe and get rid of the rubbish in your email database. Make sure you have as clean a list as possible for the silly season. Don’t have an email list? Well nows the time to get one put in place!

9. Get social - join Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, FaceBook and various webmaster forums. Subscribe to your favourite blogs, seek out new blogs and above all join in the discussion on all of the above. Get your name or your website known, build your brand and your reputation online. Every bit helps and more often than not we don’t have time for this in the day-to-day grind.

10. Take a holiday - if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. Take a break now and recharge your batteries before the mad Christmas rush as you won’t have time later.

What I’m listening to right now - Martine Gerault - “Revival”. Anyone remember this? It would make my day if someone did! Pure class.

Post from: Affiliate Marketing Blog Here.org.uk

Summer’s here - 10 tips on how to survive the quietest time of the year

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Original post by Kieron

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Edit Staff

Time and time again people ask me what makes a good affiliate site and time and time again I say that all you need is to be passionate about something enough to write well about it. I truly believe that if you are knowledgeable enough about a subject to write engaging content then you will be a success.

Some people think that to become a successful affiliate they have to become a Google AdWords expert and blow a load of cash on PPC. Or they think they have to build a site about broadband/mobile phones/finance/gambling because that’s where the money is, meaning they will spend weeks/months trying to build something they have no interest in - painful. Or worse still create a cashback or discount code site just because everybody else is so there must be money in them thar hills. Believe me, that’s not the case.

WordPress has made creating and owning a website so accessible and simple that it’s now the only tool you need to build a good affiliate site. It’s easy to install, modify, has thousands of plugins to support and enhance it and most importantly is a doddle to use.

A friend of mine has just followed this advice and set up a new blog/affiliate site about his passion, the Triathlon. He’s a proper athlete, fitness nut, coach and sports therapist and what he doesn’t know about the sport isn’t worth knowing. So he’s set up a site called trispace and is now set to unleash it on the world. The beauty of creating a site around your passion is that it doesn’t seem like “work” when you’re updating it. Which makes it the best “job” in the world, as because you’re writing for the love of it, when the money starts to come in, it will be a bonus.

And the money will start to come in. All he needs to do is some grass roots marketing via word-of-mouth, some relevant forums and a few well placed links here and there. Honestly that’s all it takes for starters. If the content is good, people will tell others, the inbound links will flow and so will the traffic.

At the moment the site isn’t over-monetised and that’s fine. If it was plastered with ads etc. it could turn people of and give the impression that it only exists to make money. Instead opt for having 1 or 2 premium sponsors that you can feature and a few affiliate ads/links that are relevant. When the user base grows people will be knocking on your door for the chance to advertise to such a rich targeted demographic.

So there you go, affiliate marketing should be about monetising sites that exist because people have built them to fulfill a hobby and passion. All too often in this day and age affiliates build sites purely to “cash in” on trends and sectors, not because they have a real interest in something.

What I’m listening to right now: Stereo MC’s - “Connected” old school baby!!!

Post from: Affiliate Marketing Blog Here.org.uk

Affiliate sites done well - Trispace.co.uk

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Original post by Kieron

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Robert Scoble

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Original post by Robert Scoble

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Original post by Robert Scoble

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Original post by Robert Scoble

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Original post by Robert Scoble

As the price of fuel climbs with every fill up, consumers are looking for ways to drive less and scale back their lifestyles in effort to squeeze the most value from every hard earned dollar. A leisurely Sunday afternoon drive is a thing of the past as cash-strapped commuters are forced to reach deeper into […]

Original post by blogadmin

Venda, the global leader in on-demand eCommerce solutions, today announced it has been positioned in the Visionaries quadrant in Gartner, Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce, authored by Gene Alvarez and published on July 18, 2008.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

RegionalBest.com, a new ecommerce shopping concept featuring local foods from across the country, launches today nationwide.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

BuySAFE has announced the public beta of the buySAFE Shopping Advisor, a new toolbar that provides ratings on U.S.-based ecommerce websites. The toolbar also provides access to a channel where every purchase is automatically guaranteed up to $25,000 and identity theft protected at no cost. The toolbar is a desktop application that can be downloaded and installed at no charge from …

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

Going head-to-head with Overstock.com, uBid.com Holdings will launch a new fixed-price commerce site, RedTag.com. The new site, set to launch on August 29, 2008, will offer consumers a money-back satisfaction guarantee and a fixed $1.95 ground shipping rate. uBid Holdings operates the B2C online auction site uBid.com.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

PopularMedia, Inc. today launched SocialNotes, a free web-based widget that allows site owners to add social interactivity to any page on their web site. The functionality is live on sites like CoastalContacts.com (ecommerce), DivineCaroline.com (publishing), Mint.com and Roost.com. Traffic on the SocialNotes platform is ramping dramatically.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

Lately. we all tend to hear conversations around the water cooler at work, on televisions while pumping gas, or from shoppers at the grocery store that all talk about how we’re currently in a recessio…

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Jeff Przybylski)

Ecommerce hosting is otherwise known as Web Hosting. It is a type of service that allows individuals and organizations to have their own Website accessible through World Wide Web. In this service, …

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Natasha Patnaik)

BurnerParts.com is working hard to update its web presence to answer the needs to a growing market in the commercial combustion system market. Providing burner parts, gas meters and more since 1962, BurnerParts.com has recently launched a new look and feel to their website to match their outstanding customer service.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Ecommerce

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Om Malik

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Original post by Robert Scoble

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Original post by Robert Scoble