Affiliate Marketing and the Internet Tax

Affiliate Marketing and the  Internet Tax

Is the Internet sales tax a way to get revenue? Of course it is, but...the issues seem to be a little more complex then people would like. Be it known, the Internet tax has been debated for years, but since the "great recession" and than the search for additional revenue by states, the issue is once again in the forefront. This, as you all know, came to a head when California signed into a law that required all online retailing sites to
pay taxes on their affiliate sales, and it brought Amazon into the picture. Whom, as it has done in other states, cut their affiliate programs in the state of California.

Many affiliates in the state lost from 40 to 70% of their revenue. And, because of this lost, some moved their business to friendlier states. If you step back and look at the situation in California, you realized that is was really a lose-lose situation for both Amazon and for California.

Don't think so. In my estimation California would gain Internet sales tax revenue, but instantly lost revenue from the affiliates that did or are doing business in the state. And, if the individuals or small businesses move elsewhere, that is more lost revenue.

Amazon, is losing affiliates from every state that decides to collect revenue from the Internet. Surely they can't be happy about this either. This, I suppose, is why Amazon reached an agreement with California to approach Congress about addressing Internet sales taxes. If not tax solution is found, than California would once again but the tax into place. But in California's and the Amazon affiliate issue, the case is rather mote, since Amazon is planning on putting physical call centers into the state.

When you think about it, this issue is really interesting. Why? States normally impose taxes that are usually local or state wide. In the case of Internet taxes, it's going across state borders and is truly "interstate" in nature. Not, that they can't legally do it, but they can.


Bills in Congress and Senate

There is currently several bills before Congress.

• Before the Senate-Main Street Fairness Act- This bill calls for a set of federal guidelines that would dictate how states could collect sales taxes from online retailers.

• Before the House-Marketplace Equity Act of 2011-This bill is a little different from the Senate. This bill gives states the authority to require retailers, online and offline, the authority to collect sales taxes even if the customers are located in states where the companies have no physical presence.

Bottomline, both bills are trying to find ways to give the states the authority to have a state-based system of taxation on the Internet.


Internet State Options Suggested
 
There has been suggestions to possible options that can make the Internet tax a little more uniform.

Some have suggested 1) nationwide sales tax in which a certain portion of the income would be given to all the states, or 2) the current idea of taxing consumers at the origin of sale and not at the destination.

The problem I see, is uniformity because overall, local taxes within the states are not uniform. A national tax would bring uniformity. Question is, but would the federal government distribute the revenue to the states?

And as to the current idea of taxing consumers at the origin, if can be a major headache for online retailers if they have to comply with a different tax from each state.

To conclude, states are definitely looking to the Internet to help solve their budget shortfalls, however, I see a little chaos before the calm before it's all said and done.

Adsense-In With the New, Out With the Old

Adsense-In With The New, Out With the Old

Okay, I have to admit, I've been a little slow about embracing the new Google Adsense platform. However, I have begun in earnest to get a handle on it. After working with it for a solid month, I'm actually finding some benefit with the new Interface.

They have just added a new feature, that was a feature within the old interface- ad styles. I have to admit that was one area that I missed the most, and prevented me from using the new interface all the time. However, after looking at the ad styles I created, visually, I'm feeling a little more comfortable. This is how it works:

• When you edit an ad style in the new interface, any ad units that are using this style will automatically be updated.
• As in the past, if you decide to test new colors on your site, you can apply it to a couple of your ads, to see if people respond. If not you can change back to the old, or try another color combination.
• To create a new ad style, visit My Ads, Click "Ad Styles" and then "+New" button.

Pretty simple, right?


Google Adsense Link Ad Changes

Google Adsense is making a few updates on their link units. They reevaluated the layout and the landing page, and found that both was in need of a modern look. They are hoping this modern look will help to give it better performance.

The link unit, and the choices between the four and five topics on the horizontal orientation link ad will now have only four. In addition, you will see additional space around the ads. With the vertical orientation ads, you had a choice of 3 or 4 links, that is being cut to 3 links. In addition, both link ad units will see a larger font size.

Personally, I like the looks.

As to the makeover of the Google landing page, you can take a quick look of  the sample on the Google Adsense blog, I have to say it is far more pleasing to the eye, than the old.

Internet Tidbits

Internet Tidbits

On September 28, Panda 2.5 hit the Internet. However, with this run, it looked like some of the first Panda losers are beginning to see some positive results. As to the losers, it looks like that this round of losers with the News and Press Release sites. Whoa. How do you change that?

However, there are still many trying to recover from the first Panda, and the tweaks they have made, seem to have not seen any improvement to their traffic. I learned simple tweaks and Panda do not mix. In fact, some of the original losers, were able to improve their site's situation by massive cleanups.

Former losers were HubPages, EHow and EzineArticles, are no longer on the loser list. In fact, HubPages, has hit the winner list this time around.

HubPages started making big changes after the first Panda update. They made massive changes to their policies, as well as, putting writers on notice to update their hubs to comply or risk having their content unpublished.

In addition, they have made each writer responsible for their own success or failure on Hubpages. How did they do that? HubPages,  put each author under their own subdomain. Which makes them more responsible for it's success or failure. If you don't know anything about subdomains you can check my website about domains and subdomains. By creating subdomains they theorized, each writer would rise or fall according to their own merits. Currently, that seems to be the case. Since HubPages are now on the winner list, you can assume that it is working. But will their success continue? Only time will tell.


Just as  a side note for everyone, Panda usually runs every 4 to 6 weeks, so for those that did not fair well with Panda this time around, you have some time to make some improvements.


Amazon Affiliates

Amazon affiliates, Amazon is inviting all Californian Associates whose accounts were closed by Amazon to re-enroll if they are eligible. Once re-enrolled, the associates account will immediately become active. I don't think you can fear them closing you down,again. Why? If you read my last post you would know that they will be opening facilities and distribution centers in California.

Google +1 A New Addition

Google +1 A New Addition

Beginning in October Google will begin displaying the +1 button on display ads on sites. Supposedly, people will be able to endorse a specific ad and make them more likely to appear to their social connections.

There hope is that these recommendations could lead readers to notice ads on your site more, and with it, more clicks and higher returns.

For example: Jill sees an ad that looks like a good deal on flights over the Christmas holiday. Jill +1's the ad, so that her friends might find value with this deal. When contacts and friends sign in to their Google account, they'll be able to see the referring friend, Jill's picture at the bottom of the ad, stating that she had +1'd it.

However, don't get to excited yet. +1 button clicks are not counted as clicks on ads. There hope is that the +1 will deliver more useful ads to your users, which will result in higher returns over time.

On mobile, the +1 will replace the "g' logo and recommendations will appear for several seconds, then fade out.

However, if you feel that this +1 feature is more of a nuisance for your users you can opt out, beginning in October, when the ads will start displaying for all.

For those waiting for an invite, it's no longer necessary. Google +1 is now open to the public.