Personally, I have to wonder how effective these banners are going to be. Text links via AdWords are one thing, but I’m not sure that banners will be terribly effective on smaller screen, especially crammed around the preview of the video that brought the user to the page in the first place. Will they be sold on a CPM, basis? CPA? CPC? If they adopt the CPC model employed by AdWords, will there be a bidding system associated the keywords associated with certain videos? If so, will the cost of some of these keywords spiral out of control as they have with AdWords? I’m sure greater minds than mine are putting this whole thing together, but I’m really curious to see how it will turn out and if it’s really cost-effective for advertisers.

One common rule in my household was whenever I went anywhere, I had to call and “check-in” with my parents as to where I was at, if I changed locations, I had to check in as well. The cell phone had opened up a whole new world of keeping tabs on me for my parents – they loved it (though I still paid the bill).

Recently, I downloaded the 4Square application for my blackberry. If you’re not familiar, it’s a social network that allows its users to check in from whatever location they’re at. So, let’s say I was at my neighborhood bar, I can “check in” with my 4square network and let them know. On top of that, 4Square will post a tweet letting anyone following me on twitter know where I was. Essentially, I could let anyone in my social network know I was having a beer. And anyone in the area would know (and presumably come flocking to meet me). Anyone stalking me (it happens quite often) would know my exact whereabouts anytime I checked in.

Flashback to 1999, for discussions sake, let’s say I had both twitter and 4square back in High School (making me either the coolest guy on campus, or the biggest nerd). My parents could have easily followed me on twitter, then had me check in anywhere I was at. Think about the convenience in not having to call them every time I was on the move. And imagine my parents – instantly calmed just by glancing at my twitter feed.

To say we’ve come a long way is a bit naïve; the important thing to note is that we’re still progressing. Who knows what kind of social networks and tracking we’ll have by the time I have kids? The one thing I do know is my kids are absolutely done for – they’re not getting anything by me.

So, if you’re an email marketer who can target dads across the country, or really any male between the ages of 25 and 65, we have some great offers for you!

To prep for the summer, we have Fishing Club. For the winter, we have Hunting Club. For the weekends, we have Handyman Club. For every weeknight, to help quench Dad’s thirst for facts, we have History Channel Club. All of these great first-page submits pay $1.60!

Finally, to help Dad to catch that extra buck he’s always chasing, we have Rich Dad Coaching which pays a whopping $5.80 for a first-page submit!

It’s difficult to think of, isn’t it? Try and remember the last day in which you did not use Google, or a Google product. If that seemed easy, try and remember the last time in which you didn’t “run into” a Google product or Google derivative. It’s getting a little bit tougher. Now think back to the last time someone mentioned Google to you or you read about Google in the news. It’s not a tough point to make here folks, Google’s everywhere you turn, especially lately, especially if you work in Affiliate Marketing, or even any industry that conducts business via the internet. The question to ask is, when are we going to Google ourselves into oblivion.

Recently (read: all the time), Google’s been in the news, they’ve gone to court in Italy, a town is renaming itself Google, Kansas, and they’ve publicly stated they intend to acquire at least one company a month this year. If you were to throw out the city argument in the middle there, and replace “Google” with the name of any foreign country, we’d say these guys are trying to take over the world…and let’s not lie here, they are.

The aforementioned monopoly recently went to court in Italy because they hosted a video of an autistic child being beaten up. Three google execs were ultimately found guilty in what they’re calling a “ridiculous case.” Though, there may be a larger question of net neutrality behind the case; the big picture implications are something to examine. Google, is in many ways defending net neutrality to Italy (and some say the Europian Union). One company is, in many ways, speaking for “the internet.” And, though arguable, they have a right too. Way to take on international politics Google.

Google publicly stated that they had intentions of acquiring one company a month this year. We’re not talking about going to the grocery store and purchasing “one bottle of wine a month.” We’re talking about buying companies here, multi-million dollar entities, and google’s doing it once monthly, after it pays the electricity bill. The scope of their enormity really shines through here. Though this will go on mostly un-checked, one must ask, are we approaching another Microsoft – Anti-trust issue?

And finally, Topeka, Kansas, has changed it’s name to Google, Kansas. The city council of Kansas, along with the mayor of Kansas signed a proclamation changing the name of the town to Google, Kansas. Google announced that it would be building new data infrastructures 100 times faster than normal data transfers in cities across the country. Mayor William Bunten of Topeka, Kansas changed the cities name in a move to win the company over so that his fair city would get the new infrastructure. Just to clear this up, we’re talking about a city, in America, that is trying to win over a major corporation.

At the end of the day, as much as I’d like to talk about how big Google is getting, and how destructive this force can become, let’s be honest for a second, I Googled most of the facts for this blog. Whether or not we’d care to admit, Google’s become a large part of our every day lives, and it’s high time we either embrace it, or find somewhere nice and isolated where we won’t have to deal with it anymore.

But, you’re going to need Google Maps to find that spot.

It is believed that this sentence is the harshest ever doled out for any hacking crime, and is meant to be a message to other like-minded cyber- criminals. Admittedly, it’s a scary proposition that today’s script –kiddies and mom’- basement-dwellers might be able to create and exploit security holes like this.

Just a few years ago, bank robbers had to “leave the house” and “find a bank”. After they were done “casing the joint”, they would have to go back to the bank with guns, shake everyone down, control the crowd and then escape in a get-away car.” Having to do all of that is deterrent enough to any sane person. The fact that most bank robbers leave with little or no money, and THEN most likely get caught and go to prison, pretty much guarantees that no one that you know will ever rob a bank.

The Iceman found a way around all this; there was never really anything to stop him. He stole more than the most ambitious bank-robbing syndicate could ever dream of stealing in a lifetime, and he did it from home and, surely, even in his sleep in some cases. It’s worth bearing in mind that the $27mm is only what he got caught stealing.

So, if it takes a decade or two of hard time to make someone hesitate when it comes to this sort of thing, I’m all for it.

The above thought probably came from the creators of Google Buzz, Google’s foray into the social media world. Instead of diving into the pro’s and con’s of Google’s new social media application like every other blog in the internet – let’s take a look at another question. Do we really need more places to “express-ourselves?” Does the internet need another outlet for people to let us know that they just ate a sandwich/just watched a tv show/just went to the bathroom?

I’m saying no. Though, I’m fairly certain me saying “we don’t need it” won’t stop Google from rolling it out, probably won’t stop it from being massively successful either. The end user here, you and I, don’t need another social media stream in our lives. Let’s look at Facebook, it became a fun place to share your latest internet gem or tell the word what you’re up to. Then Twitter started microblogging, so every time you wanted to share something, you had to post it to Facebook and Twitter. But alas, what if you left your computer for (dare I say) an evening out and went to a restaurant…well then it’s time to “check-in” with foursquare.

I get it, we’re all connected, we’re all sharing what we’re doing. We’re in touch with each other, and social media has really opened things up and made things easier for us to do so. Nielsen reports Social networks and blogs are now the 4th most popular online activity ahead of personal email, Member communities are visited by 67% of the global online population, time spent is growing at 3 times the overall internet rate.

We’re starting to spend a lot of time on social networks, and I guess one such question to ask is, are we spending more time sharing things online than we are discovering new things to share?

Please feel free to post this article to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and of course now, Google Buzz.

Before we head out to Las Vegas, here are a couple things you might want to know about Blue Phoenix Media, Inc. before meeting us at LeadsCon. We have an extensive list of 200+ advertisers and 4,000+ active publishers that make up our affiliate network. We built and own 20+ exclusive web properties to maximize brand awareness as well as Education Portals that generate quality leads through our proprietary lead generation technology. Education, Consumer Products, Health and Diet are the top performing verticals however, we also offer campaigns in over 20 other verticals. And lastly, we have a Coreg platform to serve into registration pages to monetize websites.

Now that you know a bit more about us, we think it’s time for you to meet the Blue Phoenix Media, Inc. team! Our CEO Amy Sheridan and COO Malaika Schmidt, founders of Blue Phoenix Media, Inc. along with the team of affiliate managers will be setting up shop at LeadsCon. If you’d like to schedule a meeting in advance, shoot us an email at meetings@bluephoenixmedia.com, otherwise just stop by Table T-12 February 23-24, at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. See you there!

2010 is the year of affiliate marketing. Am I biased? Yes. Will 2011 be the year of affiliate marketing too? You betcha. Sure, everyone’s speculating about twitter and facebook, and their business models, but weren’t they clamoring about that last year as well? (And the year before?) It’s easy to get stuck on panache of social media or the mystique of mobile marketing and forget about the ease and relatively straightforward concept of performance based marketing.

At the end of the day, advertisers can spend their money across whatever medium they choose. Affiliate Marketing gives them a fairly straightforward equation for what they’re in store for. It’s a simple concept at the heart of it all: you get what you pay for. If you spend “x” dollars, you will receive “y” leads. At the end of the day, advertisers know what they paid for, they have actual evidence of their advertising dollars at work. Publishers (both individuals and networks) are happy because of the ease of entry into affiliate marketing, and the relative straightforward nature of it. They know what they’ll get paid, given a course of action by a consumer.

Is affiliate marketing the end-all-be-all I’m probably making it out to be? Well, no, but it’s certainly a highly effective piece of any online marketing pie. Go ahead gurus (I said I was biased from the beginning), make your predictions, tell us what we should focus on in 2010. I’ll be here, sticking to what works.

Many possible solutions were bandied about, none of which was scarier than what Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy officer for Microsoft proposed. He is among many experts that agree that there is a growing need to police internet activity in order to nip fraud, viruses and even espionage in the bud. While we can all agree that these are admirable destinations, the question is: “How do we get there?” While Mundie has other ideas, the most controversial among them is to require a sort of Internet Driver’s License (IDL) for all internet users.

This sounds like a wonderful idea for “criminals” “fraudsters” or other undesirables, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that no one can tell who’s who on the internet and so for something like the IDL to work, we would all have to have one. This sort of thing would mean not only the end of free speech on the internet (which is the only place free speech exists in some places), but it also opens the door for internet ID theft.

One can hope that this is just a blip on the screen, but I have my suspicions that we’ll be hearing more about this soon.

But WAIT! It is rumored that Apple, whether they intended it or not, may be pulling a marketing rope-a-dope, the ,likes of which have not even been attempted since K-Fed pretended that “POPO ZAO “ was just a joke and that his real (read: good) album would be coming out at a later date.

It is rumored that Apple has had another version of the iPad in the works for some time. His other device is supposed to have a screen closer to 15” and an OS closer to what you would find on a Macbook Pro, rather than what you would find on a phone. In other words, this is going to be closer to a laptop replacement with a touch screen, i.e., something I might be interested in buying.

I really want to believe that this is true: I have been consistently amazed with the regularity of Apple’s advances over the years, and was not looking forward to a disappointment. If the rumors are true, I’ll pretend to be surprised when the new device comes out, I promise.