The affiliate network menu is expanding to offer many more options than just vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

Call them what you wish - ad networks, sub networks, CPA networks, CPA ad networks. No matter the name, these aggressive challengers are mounting pressure on the "Big 3" affiliate networks.

Making a match can lead to big bucks if you know the rules of affiliate courtship.

Although Blake Killian is a Christian and believes there are benefits to Christian dating, he is forthright that the motivation behind his two websites, ChristianDatesOnline.com and Christian-dating.com, was purely financial.

Rev your sales by driving comparison shoppers your way.

Could comparison shopping be the gas fueling tomorrow's affiliate sales? In 2005, three of the top comparison-shopping engines pulled in a whopping combined $351 million, thanks to merchant commissions. Yet insiders at the top shopping- comparison sites say the best days are still ahead.

"Comparison shopping really is vertical search and its day is just starting to dawn," Mike Aufricht, chief marketing officer of mega-shopping-engine Shopping.com, says.

Commission Junction's Lisa Riolo steps into a new role with some familiar responsibilities.

As Commission Junction's senior vice president of business development, Lisa Riolo is responsible for driving revenue for the sales and business development teams. While she's not technically filling Todd Crawford's shoes, Riolo will be the new face of the affiliate network, taking on many of the same challenges as the former vice president of sales, who left in February.

How online marketers use facts, figures and forecasts.

Studies, polls, reports, surveys, statistics and forecasts. Every day the latest data on the most current trends is widely disseminated and distributed. Want to know which demographic group is most likely to spend more online, to have broadband or to download music? There's data out there that purports to have the answers.

There's no dearth of data, for sure, but just how much of this mountain of market research is useful for online marketers who need to make crucial business decisions is up for debate.

Broadcasters are jumping on board the online bandwagon as bandwidth makes video a reality for users.

Television networks have spent much of their 60-plus-year media reign continually adapting their revenue models for new delivery platforms such as cable and satellite. After many years of hoping that interest in multimedia Internet content would fade as quickly as sitcoms featuring former Seinfeld stars, the networks are now fully embracing online video distribution.

There's plenty of communication, but most of it's ineffective.

Communication at its most basic level is the exchange of ideas and information. Seems simple, right? Like most things that involve people and processes, it's not always as straightforward as it appears. Communication is part art, part science, part X factor. Getting it right is not easy. And when things go awry, it can be a hugely frustrating experience for all involved.

Vinny Lingham's career as a marketer started early. In kindergarten, he made money buying Thundercat stickers and selling the popular ones. In his early teens, he switched to cricket cards and then Magic The Gathering cards. In college, he partially financed his undergraduate studies by playing pool and managing and booking bands.

Whether it's fashion, technology or commerce, what's old often becomes new again. Pay per call is the latest revolution in performance marketing, and it focuses on incorporating a 130-year-old technology - the telephone - into the process.

The balance of power between merchants and affiliates is shifting.

Welcome to my first column - Mary O'Brien set a high standard that I hope to live up to. I've been working in search technology since the 1980s, so I can help you understand what lies behind some of the search advice you receive. I initiated IBM's search marketing program back in 2001, and I also understand a merchant's perspective on affiliate marketing. Search engines are complicated beasts, but a little knowledge can give you a leg up on your competition.