Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Review of Internet law changes in 2003. This is a good, fast review of the main changes to keep in mind as you plan 2004. -- BB Unexpected twists in Internet law. Legal analyst Doug Isenberg finds that the last year in Internet law was marked by a common theme: surprise. [CNET News.com - Front Door] 10:10:01 AM

If you have an affiliate program, review your exposure. I've been re-posting articles lately on the problems with spam, and why a home-based entrepreneur would do well to avoid any emailing that could be interpreted as spam. Now there's another exposure to consider - your affiliate program. You should check the wording of whatever contract you make with your affiliates to ensure that your exposure is minimized. Also restrict the right of the affiliates to change the wording of your banners, text ads, and other promotional copy. If you haven't set up an affiliate program already, check out what others are doing and see how they handle this challenge. -- BB 'The Affiliate Did It' No Excuse. After the New York Attorney General launched a $20 million lawsuit against alleged spammers, marketers everywhere have been put on notice that their affiliate marketers - typically site and email marketers that get a percentage of revenues from transactions directed to the main marketer - can get them into hot water. IAR reports. [summary] [MarketingWonk - The single source for no-nonsense Internet marketing news] 10:00:48 AM

How many people use the Internet? No matter what the actual number is, it is also true that online revenues are climbing, as more and more Americans overcome their fear of using credit cards online, as the average online purchase gets bigger, and as online shopping interfaces become easier to use. -- BB  Internet Population Leveling Off. The number of Americans using the Internet has leveled off over the last couple of years, hovering around 126 million individuals. That figure, produced by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, is a good bit lower than other estimates from media research sources, which typically suggest a figure closer to 150 million people. CNET reports. [summary] [MarketingWonk - The single source for no-nonsense Internet marketing news] 9:52:45 AM

Could your business benefit from local search? If you are using the Yellow Pages -- or if the Yellow Pages are too expensive for you -- maybe you should consider search advertising. -- BB Local Search to Grow Quickly. Local search will, by itself, be responsible for about $2.5 billion in online revenues by 2008, according to a new Kelsey Group study. The very high figure comes from observing that of $22 billion spent on local advertising - 46 percent of that through yellow pages - search advertising accounts for only about 3 percent of the whole. But, very quickly, local advertisers are experimenting with search, with almost 20 percent trying them out. DM News reports. [summary] [MarketingWonk - The single source for no-nonsense Internet marketing news] 9:48:31 AM

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