Five million people use Twitter every day. Each month, more Americans visit YouTube than watch the Super Bowl. It's clear that the Internet is fundamentally changing. What does this change in online behavior mean for e-commerce?

With a name like “negative option billing” it should come as no surprise that this practice has received a lot of negative attention lately from the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), various state attorneys general and other regulatory bodies. Despite this trend, marketers and consumers alike have found this billing method to be a convenient and useful payment option over the years.

Despite the gloom hanging over the holiday shopping season, affiliates can boost sales by giving consumers what they crave: value.

Last year, Kim Berry gave her husband Dennis a miter saw and a massage chair pad. He gave her a high-end juicer, a DNA test for their mixed-breed dog and jewelry. There were also plenty of smaller gifts under the tree, and they spent $1,200 on gifts for their parents, a grandmother, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews.

Judging by the way our economy has plummeted in the last year, it seems the 2009 holiday season does not bode well for retailers — online or off.

Tens of thousands of people are still getting laid off every week, the job market simply won’t do us the kindness of opening up, and consumers are squeezing pennies so hard that Lincoln feels their pain.

Given this collective reluctance to spend money on anything but essentials, where does that leave online luxury retailers? Better yet, where does that leave their affiliates?

Whether the worst is behind us or yet to come, we know for a fact that people’s spending habits have changed and won’t be changing back for some time. Everyone is watching their wallet and pinching pennies – making every dollar count. So what does that mean for us as marketers?

We still have products and services that people want and need, we just need to make sure our website visitors understand why they still want what we’re offering – tight pockets or not.

Everybody’s favorite media professor says we’re getting bored with new media. And that’s a good thing, especially if you want consumers to click on your ad.

It’s been about 15 years since the browser Mosaic unlocked the World Wide Web for millions of people. But most of them – most of us – still stumble around cyberspace wide-eyed, knowing we’re in the middle of something very cool, but not quite sure what it is or how to make the most of it.

There are a lot of ways to approach affiliate marketing. Here are a few of my favorite tips.

Feature Co-branded Messaging –
Among the fastest-growing areas of affiliate marketing, loyalty and cash-back sites have come to play an increasingly important role in affiliate programs. Given that these types of sites are responsible for delivering a huge number of sales and often have a very loyal member base to benefit from, maximizing conversions is obviously key.

How does one achieve this? Through co-branded initiatives.

Some say there’s no such thing as an overnight success. Others believe everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. I don’t know about those old clichés. But I do know someone who proved that worldwide fame can come quickly.

For Mia Michaels, who was already well known in the dance industry, being a part of the TV show So You Think You Can Dance exposed her magnetic personality to millions of primetime television viewers. After years of hard work, Michaels became an instant celebrity.

Imagine that you are shopping at a department store and you ask a salesperson for men’s summer sandals and he takes you to the main entrance and drops you off. Your reaction?

There’s a good chance you’re frustrated. You probably think less of the store for its poor service. You’re probably going to leave without buying any shoes. You might even tell your friends and family not to shop there.

The cofounder of the web’s fourth-largest site tells what’s wrong with our notions of performance-based advertising and user-generated content. 

It’s hard to say which is more surprising: that the fourth-largest website has only two dozen employees or that it doesn’t make any money. But one thing that almost never raises an eyebrow about Wikipedia.org is that it’s outrageously popular.