Back Up Your Online Future

by John Delavera

People appreciate life when they become ill. Users appreciate computer data when their computer is infected by a virus and they can't even reboot. Merchants appreciate their products that really sell when people stop buying them for mysterious reasons. All the above scenarios seem logical and excusable; they're NOT.

If the purpose in life is to become wise, then you cannot accept problems as inevitable situations that can't be avoided. In most cases - with the exception of health cases - a problem arises when a mistake has been made repeatedly. If you keep eating meat and do not include vegetables and fish in your diet, then chances are that you'll have a health problem by the age of 50. If you do not keep back ups of your data, chances are that you'll cry when you lose everything in a computer crash or
infection. If you do not care about your customers or have not established a mechanism for confronting a crisis in your business, chances are your business will collapse and you will vanish from the market when a crisis happens. Since this newsletter isn't about health, I am going to analyze the 3rd scenario further.

Online merchants will always remember September 2003. Clickbank(R) decided to change their famous 'hop-links' system and that decision generated an online havoc. September 2003 will be memorable for many online merchants who trusted ClickBank as their payment system for both
their orders and their affiliate program.

The change of the hop-links' system is not a light-hearted decision. It affects the pocket of some 1000s of online marketers.

It's like changing a currency. What would happen if someone told you that the NEW currency in the US is the ..."Sollar" and you'd forget the Dollar, and that all US dollars have no value; burn them because you do not need them... Do you understand me?

Online ClickBank merchants trusted that system and created their online businesses, getting orders by using ClickBank links and getting commissions by using ClickBank 'hop-links.' In September 2003, ClickBank said: Forget your 'hop-links'; burn them because you don't need them.
That means:

- 1000s of links inside web pages, ebooks, and other places would stop working.

- You'd forget all those years of work of creating your affiliate marketing strategy based upon 'hop-links'; that means forget the commissions...

- You'd update all the scripts and software that work with 'hop-links' on your website. For example, all scripts that are used as affiliate programs (like EasyClickMate and ClickBank Manager) must change. If you use these scripts, you'd contact the creator of the scripts, get the new code, update the code in your system, and inform your affiliates about the changes...

- Who cares if your viral ebooks, that have been downloaded by some 1000s of readers, now include useless old-style 'hop-links' that do not work... Disaster...

Online marketers reacted. Somehow, ClickBank understood they made a mistake by making a wrong decision... And they decided to keep the old style of 'hop-links,' while at the same time, introducing a new style, this one:
http://AFFILIATE.hop.kount.com/VENDOR/

By the date of this article (September 27, 2003), everything seems to be so temporal. You can be updated for all of ClickBank's changes through these websites:

- Harvey Segal's http://clickbankguide.com
- ClickBank's site at http://www.clickbank.com/kount.html
- http://KountSucks.com
- And also through the online forums - Warriors' Forum is my favorite one - http://turboreferer.com/r/warriors

So... what's the lesson here? If you are an online merchant, you must not depend on 1 payment solution and you must be able to activate an escape-plan whenever disaster approaches you; chances are that there is always a disaster coming in the future. Back up your future, then...

"How?" I heard you ask... I suggest you adopt the following 2 solutions:

- Either get a merchant account. - Or use a shopping basket system.

Both solutions will allow you to use ANY and MANY alternative payment gateway/s and you will also be able to run your affiliate program and pay your affiliates either by checks, through PayPal.com, or through StormPay.com. By using one of the 2 suggested solutions, you won't have to depend on 1 third-party payment processor. That means "good health" for your online life.

For getting a merchant account: Visit Authorize.Net, or your local bank, and ask them how you can accept credit card orders online - they'll tell you what to do. Alternatively, you can also check this solution: http://www.marketingtips.com/creditcards/t.x/26025

For running a shopping basket system that will allow you to use alternative payment gateways: I personally recommend to you Make Buying Easy at http://turboreferer.com/r/mbeasy as
the most affordable and reliable solution.

As for me, I think I am going to use both my merchant account and a shopping cart system. I have to back up my future or forget it...

Yours,
John Delavera

p.s. Feel free to use my article and include your affiliate
links both inside the text and in the Resource Box.

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Copyright(C)2003 by John Delavera
Developer of Viral Marketing Software and Ebooks
TurboMembership.com
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You can become my affiliate here:
http://affiliatescenter.com

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