In 2006 BlockBuster cut 300 stores and in 2007 the number of delted stores will be close to 300.  BlockBuster is investing heavily in their Internet movie rental subscription service claiming that the Internet, not brick and mortar stores, is the future for movie rentals. 

BlockBuster still trails Netflix, who is the market leader in online movie rental subscriptions.  However, their “Total Access” subscription service has increased store sales as well as Internet sales.  Both Netflix and BlockBuster continue to spend a lot of money in advertising for their online programs, as well as continuing research and development.

What this means for Affiliates?

Netflix runs an Affiliate Program on Linkshare and BlockBuster’s is through Performics.  As movie rentals become a service that can only be accessed through the Internet, Affiliates promoting Netflix and BlockBuster could do very well for themselves.  The growth in the industry is still bordering on 40% and it doesn’t look like it will slow drastically in the near future.

Here are the details on BlockBuster’s Affiliate Program

Here are the details on Netflix’s Affiliate Program

Search Google for John Chow and you won’t see his website anywhere.  He has been penalized by Google, and I’d be willing to bet it had to do with unsavory link building practices.

It’s not that I wish badly upon John Chow, but at the same time it is good to see that someone who is constantly pushing ethical and business boundaries gets a little slap in the face to bring them back to reality.  In my opinion he is rather arrogant, but at the same time I know that is how he got to where he is today on the Internet.  John Chow is like the Paris Hilton of the “Make Money” scene on the Internet, and now he gets to go to Google White Collar Prison too.

 I just don’t get all the hype, I’ve had my trusty cell phone for years, and granted it doesn’t have a “bubble”, but I can pretend to throw images around my phone.  See the madness that is the iPhone and prepare wisely at Gizmodo.

Business.com offers an attractive alternative to Adsense or YPN. Business.com is a Business directory that features Ads on the tops of every page. The listings cater towards buyers and that Ads do as well. They have constantly worked to improve their PPC program and it has developed into a great advertising tool.

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The Internet is a very difficult place to moderate and regulate with too much information clogging visibility. Shady business practices are a common theme on the Internet as someone tries to get rich quick. Crimes against the consumer and the unknowing are unethical and should be brought to the public’s attention.

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I learned of Fair Ad Networks (FAN), a new entry into the online advertising game, through the “PowerBlogging Blog”. According to the article, FAN will take on giants in the industry Adsense and YPN, and they feel they will be competitive for a number of reasons.

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AMWSO is one of the leading companies in furthering Affiliate Marketing and it is no surprise that they developed one of the most useful Affiliate Tools on the Web.  The “Data Cleaner” essentially converts merchant’s datafeeds into a readable format without any special characters, truncated HTML, or any other hard breaks.  The Data Cleaner  also allows for custom slicing of the data so you can extract the exact niche you want from the mass of data you may have.

AMWSO is owned and operated by Chris Sanderson.   Chris Sanderson, AMWSO, and AMWSO clients have been nominated for a total of 9 total times over 3 years for the LinkShare Golden Links Awards.  

Google and Apple look to form a new partnership in bringing YouTube to the brand new iPhone. The iPhone already contains Google Maps, and it is a good possibility that more Google applications will make their way into iPhones in the future.

Google and Apple have not announced a deal for YouTube on the iPhone, but they said to expect some news over the next couple of weeks.