We would like to invite you to participate in the pilot of this exciting new feature. To participate, you must use at least one of the following programs:

- Google Analytics

- Google AdWords

- Yahoo Search Marketing

If you use one of these programs and would like to participate, simply fill out the form below with your name, ClickBank nickname, email address, and which of the three programs you use.

Please note that only a limited number of respondents will secure a spot in the pilot, so apply quickly!

If you are chosen to participate, ClickBank will contact you via email with additional information regarding the pilot.

Every time I go to a large department store, I think the seasons are coming earlier and earlier. The weather outside is a balmy 90°F and the fall fashions are already on the shelf. Almost before the ghouls and goblins of Halloween displays are put away, holiday music seems to flood the stores.

But when you think about it, seasonal marketing makes a lot of sense. Even on ClickBank, where a number of products have year-round appeal, there are products whose appeal is definitely seasonal. Capitalizing on these seasonal trends can be a very lucrative approach for both affiliates and publishers.

For instance, looking up searches on Google Trends for specific seasonal terms like ‘Halloween costumes’ or ‘Christmas ornaments’ shows not only the time of year when these searches peak, but also the top 10 geographic areas from which these searches originate. This knowledge allows affiliates to not only plan their spending on AdWords and SEO efforts, but also to geo-target their advertising by having their ads shown in specific geographical markets.

Just as an example, I looked up ‘ski fitness’ on Google Trends and found that, predictably, the searches started in middle of the last quarter of the year, peaked from around the end of the year to the middle of the first quarter of the following year, and remained flat at zero volume for the remainder of the year. The top four countries these searches came from were UK, Australia, Canada and Switzerland. Doing a search on the ClickBank Marketplace for ‘ski fitness’ yielded a number of fitness products, including one that is specifically aimed at ski fitness.

So with a little forethought and planning, you could have a series of different promotions for each season, geographical area and topic of interest.

‘Tis the season to promote, it would seem.

If you are an internet marketer, I’m sure you are watching the merger (takeover?) talks between Microsoft and Yahoo with the same level of interest that we are.

We don’t have a dog in that fight, but it still has far-reaching implications for our industry. A lot of successful affiliates are successful because they’ve figured Google out – among other things. Google is a verb for a reason. They are the 800lb gorilla. But what if the merger goes through?

If there is a merger, Google won’t be displaced overnight. Recent market research shows that Microsoft and Yahoo would still have a long way to go in trying to dethrone Google. Maybe the combined search engines wouldn’t have an impact on the search marketing industry at all, in the short term. Combining the number two and three search sites together, though, might change some of the rules of the game, bring a new twist to the paid search marketplace, and make Google sweat a little. Who knows how that would impact searches – or pricing for keywords?

Even if this merger doesn’t end up happening or takes a different form than the original takeover plan, it’s an important reminder that the online world is never stable. Just when we think we have it mastered, a new player comes along that changes the rules, like Google did for search, YouTube did for online video and MySpace did for what we now call social media.

The rules that have applied to our brick and mortar friends for years apply to the online marketplace as well – the people that stay in business the longest are the ones that quickly adapt to changes in the marketplace. That’s why we’re always innovating at ClickBank, and we’ve seen that the most successful affiliates are always ready to innovate, too.

Would a Microsoft-Yahoo merger change the way you operate as an affiliate? If so, tell us how by leaving a comment.