Affiliate links are an easy way for a website to monetize their external links. Most of the time they operate via a javascript plugin such as Viglink. These plugins can automatically change natural links within articles into affiliate links. These can even be dynamically created.

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Notes from the Brand Republic Virtual Summit.

As part of their SEO strategy for this year, Autotrader set about removing sitewide links. The theory was that it was unnecessary to have so many links built on one domain, especially if the domain (as is usually is the case) is of low quality. They backed this up with ‘quality’ linkbuilding. By creating competitor backlink profiles and cross-referencing the domains with links they already had they would find new leads for high quality links. They would then contact them via Twitter and LinkedIn (“not e-mail, and certainly not by phone”). There was a lot of focus on Domain Authority and building that generally rather than attempting to get links to certain pages with certain anchor texts. That wasn’t to say that the right link and the right anchor text weren’t important, only that it was of lower priority than getting a link on a new domain and thereby increasing domain authority. Read more →

Glasgow Rangers’ cataclysmic fall into administration is a stark reminder to football clubs inside and outside the Scottish Football Association that even a successful football club, if placed in dubiously fitting hands, can be hit by financial catastrophe. Largely, football has bucked the trend in echoing the general economic problems of the world. As the economic woes of Greece, Portugal and Ireland began to threaten the stability of the financial sphere, football responded with the lavish purchases of Fernando Torres and  Cristiano Ronaldo – even Andy Carrol. Read more →

Facebook’s new Ticker and Timeline features have caused more than the usual kerfuffle that surrounds a Facebook update. That’s because it so obviously threatens the privacy that users still want to control. Ticker means that Facebook will be able to integrate and record just short of absolutely everything everyone does online, while Timeline means it will be saved until your bones turn to dust. And it turns out not everyone wants that. Read more →