First let me apologize to Erica and Valerie for the tardiness of this post. Back in August of 2011 I ran a little contest among the affiliate marketing experts that work at NetX. Our folks were asked to use their influence within the affiliate community in order to drive participation in our AffiliateBenchmarks research study. We tracked the results using unique links for each person and awarded the winners with cheesy cool trophies and free lunch for a month.

Erica Myones (right of photo) won the Most Connected Overall award for driving the most participants to our research project. This was not a surprising outcome since Erica is well connected as a result of her many years in the industry.

Valerie Russo (left of photo) won the Most Connected By Weight award (photo below). Val, an obviously fit person, won this award because she drove the most participants based on her tenure in affiliate marketing. This category was created to give everyone on the team an equal chance of winning.

Congrats to Erica and Val…NetX’s Most Connected Affiliate Experts!

Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Passes Away
WashingtonPost.com
Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Inc., has sadly passed away at the age of 56.  An original thinker who helped create the Macintosh also reinvented the portable music player with the iPod and reordered the cell phone market with the iPhone.  The introduction of the iPad also jump-started the tablet market, and now it dominates the field.

Holiday Sales to Rise 2.8% to $465 Billion
MediaPost.com
The National Retail Federation says it expects holiday spending to rise just 2.8% this year, to a total of $465.6 billion.  While that gain is far less than the 5.2% gain retailers saw last year, it is still above the 2.6% average of the last 10 years.  Retailers have posted sales gains for the last 14 months but ongoing concerns about the economy have them worried.

Google Analytics Adds Real-Time Traffic Data
Mashable.com
Google for the first time is providing a window into real-time web traffic with Google Analytics Real-Time.  Real-Time reports are available in the new version of Google Analytics, and administrators with Analytics accounts will get Real-Time reports.  For users trying to gauge how a campaign or post is performing, Real-Time will track the immediate impact to site traffic.

Mobile Ad Spend to Hit $1 Billion
SearchEngineWatch.com
According to eMarketer, mobile ad spending could reach $1.23 billion for U.S. advertisers by the end of the year, up 66% from last year’s $743 million figure.  They also predict that this figure will continue to see escalating growth, reaching $4.4 billion by 2015.

Google Launches Trusted Stores Program
InformationWeek.com
To ally doubts about the legitimacy of the e-commerce sites, Google has announced a new program to highlight exemplary online merchants.  Google Trusted Stores aspires to help shoppers recognize online stores that offer compelling shopping experiences.  Google has already begun admitting merchants into the program, which will require participating sites to share shipping and customer service data with Google.

Flash-sale E-mails Spark More Purchases When Sent Late in the Afternoon
InternetRetailer.com
Flash-sale e-mails sent after 3 P.M. generate more transactions and more revenue than e-mails sent out earlier in the day, according to an Experian CheetahMail analysis.  The data reveals that messages sent after 3 P.M. have an open rate 90% greater than e-mails sent at mid-day.  Late-day messages stand out more in consumers’ inboxes because fewer e-retailers send messages late in the day.

Holiday Web Sales Expected to Grow 13.5%
InternetRetailer.com
U.S. web sales during the fourth quarter will hit $60.4 billion, up 13.5% from the $53.2 billion spent by online shoppers during the same period last year, predicts Kantar Retail.  The growth rate for the 2011 holiday shopping season will likely be a bit lower than the 16.5% increase registered in 2010, thanks in part to declining consumer confidence.

Amazon Launches New Tablet and Slashes Kindle Prices
Wired.com
Amazon has announced that they will be releasing a color, 7-inch tablet device called Fire for just $199.  The Fire is set to compete with Apple’s iPad by offering consumers an affordable and simpler tablet that is complimented by a powerful inventory of books, movies, television shows and digital tunes.  At the same time Amazon unveiled a new e-book reader called the Kindle Touch which will cost $149 and include Amazon Whispernet mobile connectivity.

Net Neutrality Rules Will Go Into Effect November 20^th
EcommerceTimes.com
The Federal Communications Commission has published its long-awaited net neutrality rules, designed to generally prevent internet service providers from giving priority to certain forms of web traffic.  The heavily debated measures were approved in December, 2010 and will go into effect on November 20^th.

Mobile Devices Expected to Aid Holiday Shopping
MediaPost.com
According to recently released data from the mobile ad network Mojiva, at least half of mobile consumers view their mobile device as a holiday shopping resource for product information, coupons and sale information.  The study also found that four in ten consumers feel comfortable spending $50 or more on a single holiday item using their mobile device.

Google Launches the Google Wallet
Googleblog.blogspot.com
Google has officially released the first version of the Google Wallet.  The Google Wallet stores virtual versions of a user’s payment cards, and leverages near field communication technology to allow users to tap, pay and save with their phone.  The app is currently available on Sprint Nexus S 4G phones but Google is looking to expand to more phones soon.

Bing Launches Deal Aggregator
DMNews.com
Bing has created an offer aggregator that lets consumers browse and sort through more than 200,000 discounts available from around the country.  Bing says it’s responding to 87% of consumers who said they’d increase their use of daily deals if they could find them in one place rather than sort through e-mails from multiple providers.

Google Expands Video Ad Options
ClickZ.com
Google wants video advertising to be as pervasive across its network as search and display ads are.  The company announced their plans to enable more integration between its AdWords and YouTube ad offerings for all advertisers.  Though the formats available do not all enable video to play directly within the ads, Google hopes the offerings will expand inventory for video ad buyers and inspire more advertisers to use video ads.

California’s Governor Brown Expected to Sign Affiliate Nexus Tax Repeal
PerformanceMarketingAssociation.com
This morning the Performance Marketing Association delivered a letter to Governor Brown, asking for his signature on AB 155, which would repeal the Affiliate Nexus Tax for one year.  The Governor is expected to sign AB 155 into law and since this is an ‘urgency stature,’ it will go into immediate effect once it is signed.

Michigan Bill Pushes for Affiliate Nexus Tax
DETNews.com
Michigan lawmakers are renewing a push to require more business selling items over the internet to collect the state’s 6% sales tax.  Proponents claim that online retailers have an unfair price advantage and it hurts Michigan businesses that have storefronts and collect sales taxes.

Mobile Landing Page Quality Now Affects AdWords Quality Score on Media Ads
SearchEngineWatch.com
Google has just announced that within weeks, mobile optimization will be a factor in ad quality for AdWords campaigns driving mobile search traffic.  Since advertisers with a higher quality score get a lower cost per click and better ad placement, it is strongly encouraged to optimize mobile landing pages.  Some optimization suggestions include keeping layouts simple, prioritizing content, making it easy to convert and designing the page for thumbs, not mice.

Display Spending Rose 13% in First Half of 2011
ClickZ.com
A new report from Kantar Media has found that display ad spending rose nearly 13% in the first half of 2011.  The report also found that search ad spending rose 8.6% while internet media spending has increased 10.4%.

Behavioral Targeting Comes to TV Ads
MediaPost.com
Companies targeting ads to consumers on TVs based on location, channel surfing activity and more might seem like a futuristic platform to some, but in reality companies offer the service today.  MStar and Channel Island have collaborated to advance TV advertising and applications in set-top boxes by creating new software that supports profiling and geographic targeting for motion video ads.  Network operators will receive audience measurements and response metrics that include behavioral information and, in the future, what consumers watch on TV will influence the ads they see online.

Twitter Influences Consumers’ Purchases
InternetRetailer.com
It turns out that Twitter may be more influential than Facebook in helping drive consumers’ shopping decisions.  A recent survey of over 2,000 online shoppers found that 35% of consumers said Twitter was influential or extremely influential in their decision to buy a product.  That compares with 24% who said Facebook helped guide a purchase.

Email Deliverability Rates Stagnate at 81%
DMNews.com
Only 81% of emails sent during the first half of 2011 reached consumers’ inboxes, according to a study released by the email deliverability firm Return Path.  In addition, the report found that 7% of emails worldwide were classified as spam while 12% went missing.

How Many Pages are on the Internet?
CNN.com
Although no one exactly knows how many websites or individual web pages there are in the seemingly infinite digital universe that is the internet, we are on our way to finding out.  Thanks to a $1 million grant from Google, a group called the World Wide Web Foundation is creating a web index that will be the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the web and its impact on people and nations.

Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft Band Together for Ad Plan
AllThingsD.com
AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft will begin selling ad inventory on each others’ sites in a plan to make them each more competitive with Google.  The strategy is also designed to help regain some ad spending that has ended up in the hands of ad network in recent years.

August 2011 U.S Search Engine Rankings
comScore.com
Google continued to lead the U.S. search market in August despite losing 0.3% of their share.  Yahoo remained in second place with 16.3% of the market while Microsoft rounded out the top three with 14.7%.  Yahoo and Microsoft increased their market shares 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.

Retailers Should Author Facebook Posts on Wednesday
Clickz.com
Retailers get 8% more engagement out of their Facebook posts on Wednesday than other days of the week, according to new research by Buddy Media.  It was also found that messages longer than 80 characters receive 40% lower engagement while overall engagement drops by 29% if companies post more than three times a day.

A Conversion Boost for Online Retailers
InternetRetailers.com
Nearly two-thirds of online retailers report higher conversion rates over the past year, according to a new report from Shop.org and Forrester.  More than half say their AOVs have increased and 25% are reporting that fewer shoppers are abandoning their shopping carts.

Almost 75% of Active American Social Networkers Shop Online
SearchEngineWatch.com
The value of the time consumers spend online and on social networks and blogs continues to grow, most visible through the influence on purchase decisions, Nielsen reports.  Adults active on social networks and blogs are 12% more likely than the average user to shop online while nearly 4 in 5 active internet users participate in these activities and 70% make online purchases.

Amazon is the #1 Loyalty Leader
MediaPost.com
Brand Keys’ new, 2011 Customer Loyalty Leaders Index shows Amazon having displaced Apple’s iPhone in the #1 spot.  Additional loyalty leaders include Facebook, Zappos, Hyundai and Patron.

Yahoo Fires Their CEO and Puts Itself Up For Sale
BusinessInsider.com
In addition to firing CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s board has now put the company up for sale.  Yahoo decided to fire Bartz after she failed to revive the company and was unable to match the innovative pace of companies like Google, Facebook and Apple.  Upon her dismissal the board stated they were open to selling itself to the right bidder.

Amazon Cuts Deal on California Sales Taxes
LATimes.com
On Wednesday Amazon.com cut a tentative deal with legislative leaders that would allow it to postpone collecting sales taxes from Californians for another year.  The company in turn would drop its battle to overturn the state’s new law that required it and other out-of-state online retailers to collect taxes.

Ebates Buys FatWallet.com and AnyCoupons.com, Starts New Company
TechCrunch.com
Netx’s long time affiliate partner Ebates has acquired two shopping sites, FatWallet.com and AnyCoupons.com.  Ebates, an online cash back shopping site, announced that they will create a new company called Performance Marketing Brands which will specialize in shopper loyalty programs.

Google Adds Shopping Click Metrics
MediaPost.com
Google has added a feature that allows marketers to see the number of clicks products generate on Google Shopping within a specific time period.  Advertisers and marketers can gain the data through the Google Content API for Shopping, which is used to upload product data.

Millions of Mobile Consumers Redeem Mobile Coupons
InternetRetailer.com
According to the research firm eMarketer Inc., 9.5% of U.S. adult mobile phone users will access and redeem a mobile coupon this year.  That’s 19.8 million consumers, up from the 13.3 million consumers that redeemed mobile coupons last year.  The research firm predicts the number of consumers with mobile phones redeeming mobile coupons will jump to 28.7 million in 2012 and to 35.6 million in 2013.

Google Buys Zagat to Support Mobile Local
Googleblog.blogspot.com
Google announced this week that they have acquired the review and ratings service Zagat.  Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of Google’s local offering by providing quality reviews to fuel business listing through Google Places.

Negative Online Reviews Change 80% of Shoppers’ Minds
DigitalTrends.com
A recent survey found that the influence of the internet and online reviews on consumers’ purchase decisions is stronger than ever.  Slightly less than 90% of consumers said they found online sources of product and service reviews to be trustworthy while 80% of consumers have changed their minds about a purchase based only on negative information they found online.  On the other side, 87% of consumers reported that a favorable review has confirmed their decision to go through with a purchase.

July 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share Report
comScore.com
There are now more than 82 million Americans that own a smartphone!  Leading the mobile platform market is Google Android with 41.8% of the market while Apple is in second place with 27% of the market.

Clothes and Social Media Occupy U.S. Web Users in July
InternetRetailer.com
Facebook and Twitter both attracted record traffic in July while back-to-school shopping helped increase visits to e-commerce sites by nearly 13%.  Apparel sites also had strong growth as the category increased 8.2% to 66 million visitors.

Email Volume Drops 14% YoY
DMNews.com
According to a study released by the marketing services firm Epsilon, the average number of emails sent per client fell by 14.3%.  Open rates increased 0.4% YoY to 22.2% while click rates remained flat at 5.2%.

Google Experiments with Infinite Scrolling
SearchEngineWatch.com
With the use of infinite scrolling Google is trying to move beyond the first 10 results of the SERP.  Since infinite scrolling has been a hit in Google Image Search, the same idea is being implemented for the core search results.  Aside from confirming the experiment, Google has shared little else about it.

Those Searching For Google+ Are Younger & Have More Income than Facebook Searchers
SearchEngineLand.com
A recent study has shown that there are some striking differences between those looking for Google+ versus those looking for Facebook.  Surprisingly, Facebook had a larger percentage of searchers over the age of 35, while Google+ trended younger.  In addition to the younger demographic, Google+ searchers skewed towards higher incomes.  Google+ saw 32.1% of searchers with an income of above $100,000 a year, while only 22.8% of Facebook searchers had an income of above $100,000 a year.

Participate In The 2011 AffiliateBenchmarks Survey!
Time is running out and the 2011 AffiliateBenchmarks survey needs your opinions now!  The survey, which is open to advertisers, publishers and anyone else in the affiliate community, is designed to help develop and reinforce best practices and strengthen the relationships between affiliates, advertisers, and agencies.  Everyone who participates in the survey will get the full study sent to them for free (a $3,000 value) within two weeks of the results being published.

Top Google Ranking Captures 18.2% of Clicks
SearchEngineWatch.com
A recent study conducted by Slingshot SEO re-examined the value of the top position in organic ranking.  The study found that the click-through rate for a website in the top position is 18.2%, with the second position at 10.05% and the third at 7.22%.  With the number one spot receiving more clicks than the second and third spot combined, it is still clear that the first position is the ideal place to be.

Google Lost Share in U.S. Searches in July as Yahoo Gained
Businessweek.com
Google’s share of the U.S. search market slipped 0.4% to 65.1% for the month of July.  Yahoo! Sites grew their share 0.2% to 16.1% overall while Microsoft’s market share remained steady at 14.4%.

14 Million Americans Scanned QR Codes on their Mobile Phones in June
comScore.com
According to comScore, 14 million mobile users in the U.S. scanned a QR code on their mobile device during the month of June.  Approximately 60.5% of the 14 million people that scanned a QR code were males while just over half of the scanners were between the ages of 18 and 34.

Google Acquires Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion
TechCrunch.com
Google announced this week that they are acquiring Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  Google hopes that the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and enhance competition in mobile computing.

Prepare Today for Online Holiday Sales
InternetRetailer.com
Now is the time to get e-mail, shipping offers and site performance up to speed!  More than half of consumers now expect free shipping and 51% of Cyber Monday shoppers say they learned of online deals through e-mail, says Forrester Research.  To accommodate the anticipated spike in traffic and sales during the holiday season, e-retailers need to optimize their sites for speed and functionality rather than style.  With the ballooning popularity of mobile devices and tablets, e-retailers also need to make sure essential site functions work for all screens.

The Origins of the Affiliate Nexus Tax
The Advertiser’s Responsibilities
How can advertisers help protect themselves?
What affiliates can cause advertisers to be obligated to collect sales tax?
Are there ways advertisers can still work with affiliates in nexus states?
What if my company doesn’t deal with physical goods?
How is the law going to be enforced?
What is the outlook for affiliate nexus taxes?

The origins of the affiliate nexus tax:
• Affiliate nexus tax began in New York when it was determined that an independent contractor who is actively soliciting a company and generating sales in return for a commission is enough to create nexus.
• Amazon launched a lawsuit claiming that the law was unconstitutional.
• The case fought its way up to the New York State Appellate Division before returning to a lower court where it is still pending.
• Since New York, California has been the largest state to pass a nexus tax.
• Amazon is petitioning to have the law added to California’s next ballot and needs just over 500,000 signatures to do so.  Once on the ballot, the law is suspended until voters decide to approve or dismiss the tax.

The Advertiser’s Responsibilities:
•  Advertisers are responsible for collecting sales tax generated by any qualifying affiliate that is located in a state with affiliate nexus.
• Advertisers should do their due diligence and follow up with affiliates to ensure they are telling the truth about their residency.
• While many states have yet to address subaffiliates directly, advertisers still need to be aware of them because they can create nexus.

How can advertisers help protect themselves?
• Advertisers could help protect themselves by incorporating language into their affiliate agreement that requires accurate information and transfers liability if affiliates are deceitful.
• Advertisers can include similar language in their network agreements, holding the affiliate network responsible for verifying the location of affiliates.
• One way advertisers can try to control subaffiliate relationships is by including language in the affiliate agreement that prohibits working with subaffiliates in nexus states without prior approval.

What affiliates can cause advertisers to be obligated to collect sales tax?
• Affiliates that operate in a state with nexus tax.
• Working with affiliates who have multiple offices, one of which is in a state with nexus tax, is an undefined area.
• Even though this hasn’t been directly addressed by the courts, advertisers can still put themselves at risk by working with affiliates that have offices in a state with a nexus tax.

Are there ways advertisers can still work with affiliates in nexus states?
• In an effort to work with affiliates that are located in a nexus state, advertisers are turning to click based agreements.
• The state of New York is the only state with nexus tax that has clearly deemed click based agreements acceptable because a click based agreement isn’t based on a sales type transaction.
• Other states are beginning to use New York as a guide to establish their own regulations for click based agreements.
• Advertisers can collect the sales tax due.

What if my company doesn’t deal with physical goods?
• Companies that strictly deal with a digital good or service remain unchanged by the nexus tax.
• If a state that doesn’t require you to collect sales tax on your digital good or service passes an affiliate nexus tax, it does not become your responsibility to begin collecting sales tax.

How is the law going to be enforced?
• Given the relative newness of the laws, there have not been any public enforcement actions from which to draw conclusions.
• Sates may audit companies and request to see a list of all their partners and relationships on a state by state basis or they may work through the affiliate networks to target advertisers and their affiliates.
• While advertisers may not know how the law is going to be enforced they should definitely be aware that they will be held responsible.

What is the outlook for affiliate nexus taxes?
• Nexus laws continue to pop up on a state by state basis and should be addressed as early as possible.
• The federal government hasn’t directly addressed the issue and there’s no telling when they will.
• The best way for an advertiser to ensure they are operating within the law is to seek legal counsel and address new laws as they arise.

It is strongly recommended that anyone dealing with the affiliate nexus tax issue seek their own independent legal and tax counsel.

Participate In The 2011 AffiliateBenchmarks Survey!
Time is running out and the 2011 AffiliateBenchmarks survey needs your opinions now!  The survey, which is open to advertisers, publishers and anyone else in the affiliate community, is designed to help develop and reinforce best practices and strengthen the relationships between affiliates, advertisers, and agencies.  Everyone who participates in the survey will get the full study sent to them for free (a $3,000 value) within two weeks of the results being published.

U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending Reaches $37.5 in Q2
comScore.com
According to comScore, total online retail spending reached $37.5 billion this past quarter, this was an increase of 14% from Q2 2010.  This growth rate represented the seventh consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

Microsoft adCenter Begins Rolling Out Improvements
MediaPost.com
Microsoft is working to implement adCenter features aimed at increasing revenue per search in paid-search campaigns.  Between now and the end of October, adCenter will roll out a new user interface, reporting features, targeting, and enhancements to core algorithms for improved matching.  This past week adCenter rolled out upgrades to broad and phrase-match type feature, but the advertising platform also supports exact match and negative match keywords.

Web Analytics Boost E-Commerce Sites
DMNews.com
Multichannel retailers are measuring Web analytics to improve conversion rates among e-commerce shoppers, in addition to pursuing emerging opportunities in mobile and social commerce.  Retailers are finding they can enhance the online shopping experience based on Web analytics data made available by constantly evolving tools.

87% of Brands Plan to Run Twitter Ads
Clickz.com
As social media continues to grow, 87% of recently surveyed brand managers plan on running a Twitter campaign in the next 12 months.  The survey, which was conducted by Pivot Conference, also found that a staggering 98% of respondents said they’d run Facebook ads in the coming year while 81% plan to advertise on YouTube and 65% will buy ads on LinkedIn.

Google Android Nears 50% Market Share, iOS Reaches Second Place
SearchEngineWatch.com
According to the latest report from the technology-focused analysis group Canalys, Google’s Android platform now holds 48% of the global market share, while the iPhone has reached second place with 19%.  The Android has recently exploded growing its market share by 44% over the last 6 months.

Google+ Poised to Become Number Two Network in 12 Months
SearchEngineLand.com
A Bloomberg-YouGov study recently found that Google+ is on a trajectory to surpass other social networks, including Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace.  YouGov projects that Google+ will become the number two network, after Facebook, within the next year.