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Struggling?

The E-commerce world is changing almost by the minute lately. From Merchants having to pause programs because they cannot ship anything, to panic over budgets, commission rates slashed or set to zero.

While this is a very unusual set of circumstances we are all dealing with; there are some bright notes.

  • Some Merchants are stepping up and adding in bonuses
  • There are very profitable sectors with healthy affiliate programs
  • Now is a good time diversify your affiliate earning platforms
  • As a community, we are helping each other
  • Consumers are discovering this shopping from home thing is pretty cool.
  • Oh, and in about 7 months you better have a Baby site in place.. just saying

Commission Junction is making Network Consumer Trends Reports available – These are updated every Wednesday.
https://junction.cj.com/covid-19-network-consumer-trends-report

FMTC has partnered with Trackonomics to give daily updates on commissions changes in Affiliate Networks. You can sign up to subscribe to their email updates here: http://fmtc-7325025.hs-sites.com/affiliate-program-covid-19-updates

Rakuten Center has insights on current commerce and consumer behavior with specific global and category trends. this is updated weekly: https://rakutenadvertising.com/covid19/

Featured

Working from Home, A new reality for some of you :)

I have worked from home for 27 years..so after being thoroughly entertained by posts of those new to working from home I thought I would give you some tips and giggles.

  • The worst thing that can happen during your new office commute is you blow out a slipper in the hallway.
  • Loungewear..is the new uniform. Don’t call them jammies.
  • PC Gaming Headphones with their own mute function are your best friend!
  • Wireless headsets are MUST! especially if you have children. ( the look of shock when your sweet cherubs who are coloring on the wall see you get up from your desk to deal with them is priceless)
  • It is way too easy to just stay in your jammies..for days. Get dressed and prepared for home office work like you would for normal work..just skip the dress shoes and stick to slippers.
  • Team meetings fails on Zoom are a trending search lately. Don’t be one of those examples. Always mute yourself upon entering  ( both from your mic and the button in your conference screen to be safe. )No one wants to hear you arguing with your housemates.
  • Video IS optional place a sticky note over your camera, or disable it when entering a conference. If you are using your phone for conferencing disable the camera in the meeting settings. We really do not need to see video of you in the bathroom…please noooo. ( see Zoom meeting fails search)
  • Multiple Monitors are a must. If you are using a laptop you can add a monitor to your set up with a HDMI cable on most Macs and PC’s..you know that extra TV sitting around ..it works as a monitor too! 
  • Screen sharing meetings are pretty common now. For these make sure you are turning off all other applications so you can get the best frame rates on the video screen shares.
  • If you are the Presenter in a screen share – move any other applications to the opposite screen you are sharing- no one needs to see that private Skype pop into the screen share.
  • Working at home is a complete disruption of your schedule..specifically your eating schedule. Set timers for your breaks and lunch or you will find yourself skipping these and by the time we get back to going in the office you might have snacked yourself into a new
    size.
     
  • Get the best comfy chair you can- your body will thank you. When shopping for that new comfy office chair for home look at the ratings for both weight and hours of use. I love the Serta chairs – they are one of the few brands that have chairs designed for big and tall people.
  • Know your function keys..why you ask?..in case your new furry supervisor walks on your keyboard and suddenly your screen size has changed or you are typing in a different language. ( most common F11 pops you in full screen view  and the toolbar disappears)
  • Hydration is your friend, but it isn’t friendly with laptops and keyboards. Those travel cups are now your desktop coffee cup and all around drink cup. Think sippy cups for adults. I admit I or my furry supervisor cat- Shadow has helped to kill off several expensive mechanical keyboards and two laptops over the years.  

Got something to add?

Shadow, My supervisor
Shadow- supervising

OpenAI’s ads business hits Europe at the six month mark

OpenAI will begin serving ads to people using ChatGPT across 31 European markets on Monday (August 24), including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

The timing lands at the six month mark for OpenAI’s ads business. What started as a U.S. pilot in February has already moved through Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. Europe was always going to be slower. Regulation there (namely the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR) requires explicit consent for personalized targeting unless a company can prove a legitimate interest to do otherwise, which is a hard case to make. 

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Marketing on Platforms

OpenAI builds offerings on consent as it expands ChatGPT ads to Europe

“We’re especially excited to bring ChatGPT Ads to Europe as we hit the six month milestone for our global ads business,” said Dave Dugan, vp of ads at OpenAI, said in a statement. “There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all European audience — and that’s precisely what makes the region so dynamic. Europe is home to some of the world’s most creative and sophisticated advertising markets, where expectations around relevance, quality and trust are rightly high. We look forward to meeting that bar.”

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DiVine, Vine’s spiritual successor, won’t rule out ads

Klaxxon alert: another social network is launching on Thursday. This one, though, isn’t ruling out advertising.

It’s called diVine as a nod to Vine, the influential, though short-lived six-second video app that shaped a chunk of online culture before it was shut down by its owner, Twitter, in 2017. Behind it is Evan Henshaw-Plath, known online as Rabble, who’s a former Twitter employee who wanted to give old vines a permanent home. There’s another tie to the original. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is funding DiVine, though the company said he has no equity or ownership in the venture.

While DiVine is not officially affiliated with Vine, it is something of a spiritual successor to it. Users of it still watch six-second looping videos, plus there’s a “classic” tab where they can browse more than two million original Vine clips the team managed to bring back from the dead. That recovery process was tricky. Volunteers had saved Vine’s old footage years ago in a vast oddly-packaged data files. Rabble had to vibe code his own program to crack them open and match each video back up with its original likes and comments.

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