Small Business Information

Maybe you should quite your day job is the title of an interesting post that anyone who is thinking of getting into affiliate marketing should read.

Most of us who have been in affiliate marketing started out doing it part-time but there always comes the time when we need to make the big decision about whether or not to quite the day job.

If you follow the link you will find one affiliate marketer’s suggestion that the sooner you quite your day job the better chance you have of succeeding in affiliate marketing.

It’s an interesting point of view.

Good news for retailers and e-tailers in the United Kingdom. Google has now extended its online payment system - Google Checkout - to the United Kingdom.

You will find the full story here.

Now if only Google would bring both Checkout and local search to Australia

The news has been out for a week or so now that Google is about to launch a test run of cost-per-action advertising. For affiliate marketers that’s an interesting development but not one that my partner and I will be able to participate in.

While several of our sites have a large amount of American traffic Google is restricting the participants in the test to those who have business addresses in the United States.

Not every affiliate marketer who does reside, or have a business address, in the United States may want to participate once they’ve read the terms. Many merchants who run cost-per-action programmes pay a percentage of each sale to the affiliate who sent the purchaser to the merchant’s site but Google will not be paying any percentages.

Instead Google will be paying a flat rate for each sale. That would be enough to make us think twice about joining the programme.

If your small business sells online and ships to the world then one of the things you should be watching is the US economy because fluctuations there will almost certainly affect you.

One particular aspect of the US economy that you should be watching is the real estate market. The Dallas News last week reported that there are so many houses in foreclosure in Dallas that they’re driving the housing market down.

If the Dallas situation is indicative of the real estate market in other parts of the United States the flow-on affect could impact on all of us regardless of where we live and do business.