Could blogging and the web save the third world and maybe even the planet?

Computers are getting cheaper and cheaper.


Some people in the industry predict that we are on the Virge of significant cuts in computer prices.

This might be needed to continue to fuel computer consumerism.

When computer are cheap enough this might dramatically affect the lives of people in third world countries....

Computers are staying useful for longer. Indeed the computer that I am writing this on is already 8 years old (with a few upgrades). The result is obvious, people are not replacing their computer as often. To entice consumers value has to be created. The smart consumer already knows how much they will benefit from a new machine, but now they need a price incentive before they are prepared to throw away something thats still very functional and useful.

Whats that got to do with the third world? Lots.

Incidentally at this point I would like to add the although widely used, third world is not really a very appropriate term these days. Developing nations is generally considered better.

While its not currently incredibly viable economically to ship all our old computers to developing nations, as computers and screens get smaller, it is becoming more and more viable.

In the mean time an ever increasing amount of people in developing nations will be able to afford new computers simply due to lower prices. It's pretty obvious that as entry level price drops more customers in developing nations who previously couldn't afford a computer will be 'created'.

The amazing rise of Linux has also vastly contributed to the ability of such people to have access to capable technology. Ubuntu was designed for this purpose entirely. To bring a fantastic operating system to absolutely free to everyone who wants one.

The great thing about all this is how rapidly it will increase prospects for those in developing nations. The Internet is the one place were we are all together and we are all equal. Do you think America would be so quick to invade Iraq if corporate America employed large programming and web services from workers in that region? It may not be big in Iraq, but contract programming and web services available over the Internet are big business. Do you think that cool application you just found was made in you country just because it's in your language?

The one laptop per child (olpc) program was created to put a sub US$100 laptop in the hands of children in developing nations. At the moment the product they have created is a little bit more than their goal of US$100 but it wont be long before it surpasses that milestone and will only get cheaper.

When the developing nations can school up via the Internet and provide services to the rest of the world, money will start to flow in their direction. Even for those who won't want to learn programming or web design, there is no shortage of service opportunities provided by the Internet. There are an abundance of smart people who will provide us with cultural, intellectual insights and news via their blogs and earn revenues through advertising and affiliate marketing.

It's a great prospect. Very little is consumed during the process. When someone spends a day blogging, the only thing they consume is power and time. Not only are no trees cut down to make the product they sell, the income created may even mean they less people cutting down trees for farm land. Sure I admit power is still a big problem for this planet, but eco friendly power solutions are getting better while processors are continuing to use less juice.

Whichever way you look at it, I think its a positive thing. Technology will bring opportunities to those who don't have them and through this they will prosper.

Peace and quad cores to all.

What makes Affiliate Junktion (and others like it) tick?

Ever wondered exactly how Affiliate marking programs work? Especially the ones without a product?

In response to reader comments I wanted to continue the theme of affiliate marketing and this time look at how such schemes are constructed.

As an example, it was pretty easy to find out how Affiliate Junktion makes most of its money, by getting a commission from the web hosting company either omnis or ipower. when people sign up to host the web site that the Affiliate company supplies their members. Many of the more techno savvy (my name ain't tekno_boy for nothing) can see that it wouldn't be too hard to construct such a scheme yourself.

Lets take a look at the pieces of the puzzle shall we?

First, any successful Affiliate program will need to get your email address to send you their "important" information. They present you with an 'opt in' form which is attached to an autoresponder (like the one from aweber). In layman's terms they get you to choose to subscribe to emails which they periodically and automatically send. The first of these simply confirms you were the one asking for the information (in case someone else put your email in without your consent).

After you've confirmed that, your affiliate program will send you further instructions.

This is all done automatically through services like (and this is the service Affiliate Junktion uses) aweber's autoresponder service.

After you've joined the Affiliate marketing service's subscription. They will entice you to take some kind of action that generates income for them.

In the case of Affiliate Junktion, they offer a free web site and require you to join a hosting service (ipower) for which they will get a commission. Once you've signed up (and they've confirmed this) they send you a website with an affiliate link which allows Affiliate Junktion (or you Affiliate marketing program of choice) to recognize when visitors arrive at their site through your links. If these visitors sign up, you get a commission.

The system many use (like Affiliate Junktion) is Post Affiliate Pro. Post Affiliate Pro is a php driven affiliate marketing system, allowing your affiliates to track commission sales manage their affiliate accounts. Post Affiliate Pro is not just for money making affiliate schemes like Affiliate Junktion, its also a useful tool for promotion of all sorts of products online.

Those are the basic three ingredients of money making Affiliate programs. Again here is a summary:

• An autoresonder for aweber allows people to “opt-in” to your subscriptions service.

• The first email to all subscribers tells them to sign up at either omnis or ipower and forward thet welcome email for confirmation (the commission rate -at time of writing- at ipower is US$100 per signup).

• Post Affiliate Pro, allows the affiliate web site to track its customer commissions and lets affiliates manage their accounts.

With a little knowledge it seems reasonable that one could use these tools to build a site and “own” the Affiliate program not just join it.

Unfortunately It's not all that easy to do in reality, but for those who are willing to take the time to learn it's definitely not a rocket science.

One such example of this is www.utukan.com which uses those elements to offer people instructions on how to do it themselves. The difference is, they show people how to get the full commission from omnis/ipower and not just a couple of dollars (please also note that Affiliate Junktion advertises all payouts in NZ$ which makes it appear more attractive than it really is). The trade off for them (www.utukan.com), is they can't offer any guarantees or cash back, as they make no further income from those who sign up under their affiliates, nor will they get more money from future customers who sign up from an affiliate. Also because the instructions they offer 'give the game away' they are also a little more complicated and require a bit more time to complete. Affiliate Junktion has a simple system but the payouts are much much smaller.

The people at Affiliate Junktion and the like aren't silly. If you discovery the parts that make up their system and follow their links in order to make such a scheme yourself, they will get a commission on that as well.

Hope that help your understanding of how Affiliate schemes work. I certainly am enjoying the learning exercise and (although I have yet to break even) expect that this knowledge will ultimately serve me well.

The best advice I can offer people is to be very careful, take a look at affiliate marketing's programs, but don't be too quick to sign on the dotted line. Always be skeptical an do your research, only join when your sure you've gotten good independent advice and understand not only how you will make money, but also how the Affiliate marketing program makes money from you.