There wasn’t a large amount of stuff going on this week, but what did go on was big news and somewhat exciting.  There’s some important issues going on and some dates to remember.

• Not one, but two keynote speakers have been announced for Affiliate Summit East 2009, August 9-11 in New York City.  Social media rockstar Chris Brogan will take the keynote torch during the traditional Monday slot, then Help a Reporter creator Peter Shankman will fill a new keynote spot Tuesday morning.  Very cool!
• I haven’t yet had a chance to write a recap myself, so here’s the recap of LinkShare Symposium West from the official LinkShare blog.
• Speaking of LinkShare’s Symposium, they’ve announced the dates for LinkShare Symposium East, including the Golden Link Awards.  For some reason it was not announced on their blog or website, but widely reported by other affiliate bloggers like Missy Ward.
• Speaking of affiliate networks, ShareASale has decided to lead a roundtable discussion on toolbars and setting standards to keep them within the ideals and ethics ShareASale has set forth.  There’s a lot of backlash about it on ABW, but I think people are jumping the gun – let’s see how the first discussion goes before making a solid judgment.

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Any member of Linkshare has access to this info, but I thought I’d share anyway.  They’re coming out with an interesting new contextual link – Easy Links.

To help accomplish this goal LinkShare now offers advertisers and publishers Easy Links, contextual product ads using intelligent link technology. Easy Links will determine the context of your site as a publisher and will display products that are more likely to convert to sale based on keywords throughout your site.

I, for one, really like it.  At this stage it’s only available in the large skyscraper 160×600, which is bigger than I utilize myself.  As far as I can tell, it’s not available universally as I can’t see it when logged into my account.  Of course it’s entirely possible that the programs I am a member of don’t have this widget yet.  The example shown is a Wal-Mart, answering some questions about how they won the Golden Link award for the Innovative Advertiser of the Year.

The best thing about these new links is the contextual nature.  The content you have on the same page determines what products are shown.  Targeted marketing at it’s best.  I’m excited to try it out soon, maybe once they start offering smaller sizes.

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Surprisingly enough, this week is flying by for me.  It seems like a slow summer week, but at the same time I’ve been awfully busy with some new projects at work and some thoughts circling in my head about a new website I may tackle soon.  The idea is all there, but I have to flesh it out and, really, decide if I have time to do it!  Here are your links for this week – the word around the campfire in online business.

• Once again, the affiliate marketing industry attacked as douchebags.  And by people who call themselves professionals, no less.  Shawn Collins did all the lashing out necessary in his blog Consultants Can Fix Affiliate Marketing.
• Congratulations to Lisa Picarille & Revenue Magazine for winning the Performance Marketing’s Most Vocal Advocate Golden Link award at this week’s Linkshare Symposium.  It was worth is for her to be able to say “Sorry, Jangro”.  If you don’t get the reference, go to www.SorryJangro.com
• Just yesterday on the heels of Google partnering with Yahoo and more talk of a potential Microsoft bid on the company, Yahoo officially announced their reorganization plans.  In laymens terms, they’re taking some time to get their shit together
• More confusion is being perpetrated about the PMA by Shoemoney.  Try doing some research next time before declaring something is a scam with shady intentions.  Affiliate Classroom is NOT running it, they’re just providing a website and vehicle for it.  Other companies are providing resources as well.

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