Affiliate Marketing 4 U All: October 2007

From: Allan Gardyne

Facebook huge opportunity for affiliates

Savvy affiliates are scrambling to take advantage of the
opportunities provided by social networking website Facebook,
which has 43 million users and is growing extremely fast.

Creative affiliates who have the necessary resources are pouring
a lot of energy into this. They're developing viral Facebook
applications with affiliate offers embedded in them.

"Some affiliates are making a killing doing this. This is HOT
right now," says super affiliate Amit Mehta.

Shareasale President and CEO Brian Littleton says Facebook offers
a "huge opportunity" for a whole new source of traffic for
affiliates.

Brian, as CEO of a popular affiliate network, is in an excellent
position to know what top performing affiliates are doing. On his
blog, he says...

"I get a lot of wide eyes when I say this usually... but I think
that it is entirely feasible that a whole new generation of
online users will not even use the WWW at all, but will perform
all tasks online specifically on Facebook. To them, being
"online" will mean being on Facebook... not being on what we
consider to be the web. This new generation will grow up online
not knowing who the powerhouses on the web are... they will
recognize only the powerhouses on Facebook specifically. What
does this mean for you as an affiliate or developer? That means
that you have an opportunity to build up a powerhouse brand if
you develop a quality application on Facebook."

Facebook, which is a bit like MySpace without so many problems,
is growing explosively, partly because of its Facebook Platform,
launched in May, which enables developers to create applications
that interact with core Facebook features. Already, there are
more than 4,500 applications FaceBook users can choose from.

Do you want some ideas on how affiliates are generating revenue
on Facebook? Scan the applications directory on Facebook (you'll
need to join) and you should be able to find plenty of ideas.

Here are some examples of Facebook applications...

ILike, an Internet music company based in Seattle, introduced a
Facebook application a few months ago. The iLike tool, which lets
users post clips of their favorite songs, has now been added to
the pages of 8.6 million of Facebook's users. That's phenomenal
growth.

ILike makes money on advertising and commissions when users buy
concert tickets or download songs from iTunes, but its goals are
much more ambitious. "We have the potential opportunity to create
the new MTV," Ali Partovi, its 34-year-old chief executive, told
the New York Times.

Other affiliate examples include Amazing Giftbox, created by Gil
Megidish and Amit Gupta, using the Amazon.com ECS Search API.
"Select anything you like from Amazon.com, and we'll make it into
a virtual gift you can send to your friends," they say.

They also created the Amazing Wishlist application, also using
the Amazon associates program.

TripAdvisor offers a "Where I've Been" world map. You stick
virtual pins in it to show your friends where you've been, where
you've lived and where you want to go.

Fafarazzi.com has an application that allows Facebook users to
send each other photos of celebrities, to reflect their mood.

StyleFeeder, a shopping recommendation service, launched an
application in June that has since been installed by 45,000
people.

Texas HoldEm Poker: 2.6 million users.

My Aquarium: 3.3 million users.

Will You Be a Multimillionaire? 171,800 users.

Sports Bets: 163,517 users.

Some applications succeed. Many don't. Facebook users can easily
add new applications to their pages - and easily remove them. The
big challenge for developers is creating applications that users
want to keep using.

Background reading:

I love Facebook
http://www.shareasaleblog.com/blog/?postid=95

In Facebook, Investing in a Theory
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/04facebook.html

An explanation of the importance of Facebook to the younger
generation
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/stopthepresses_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003649419

The 101 best Facebook applications in the world today
http://www.techdigest.tv/2007/07/the_101_best_fa.html

The Facebook economy - includes tips on what works and what
doesn't
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/22/technology/facebook_economy.biz2/index.htm

Popular Facebook applications
http://adonomics.com

Facebook Platform
http://developers.facebook.com

Amazon E-Commerce Service (ECS)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=12738641

Helpful links from Ollie Style

http://horoscopezone.blogspot.com

http://freehandwritinganalysis.blogspot.com

http://reflexology4u.blogspot.com

http://pinoyjokes4u.blogspot.com

http://pinoyfoodrecipes4u.blogspot.com

http://pinoypoetry.blogspot.com

http://tonguetwisters4u.blogspot.com

http://pinoycallcenterjobs.blogspot.com

http://olliestylevideoblog.blogspot.com

http://pinoycrimes.blogspot.com

http://herbalmedicineforyou.blogspot.com

http://profitablemailorder.blogspot.com