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ClickBank’s Hoplink Shield Protection Against Spyware

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I get many questions regarding the newly introduced “Hoplink Shield” by ClickBank.

Especially this – “How does it help me since I am already using a link cloaker?”

The new Hoplink Shield helps in 2 ways:

1. It hides the vendor ID so it is not obvious – i.e. it makes it more difficult for someone to swap their own ClickBank ID with the affiliate’s ID.

2. Protection against some of the adware/spyware that automatically strips the affiliate ID in the old hoplink format.

Example of a ‘naked’ hoplink: http:// x.y.hop.clickbank.net

Some adware/spyware recognizes that link format and it automatically strips the “x” (affiliate ID) from the and replaces it with the perpetrator’s ID.

With the new Hoplink Shield format, the encrypted hoplink looks completely different and the adware/spyware is unable to recognize it and therefore it can’t swap affiliate ID.


 

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How to Identify a “Phish” Email

Thursday, April 30, 2009

It’s easy to spot a “phish” email if the email subject says something like:

Bank of America – important, please update your details

And you don’t have an account with Bank of America. You’ll know it’s a scam (phish) immediately. But what if you do have an account with the Bank of America?

Or what if you received an email from Paypal saying that your account has been frozen and requires your immediate attention?

This (paypal account being frozen) has happened to me before, so I do pay attention to such emails. So, how do you recognize legitimate emails from the phish emails?

How to Identify a Phish Email

Method #1:
Phish emails are usually in html format – reason be so that they can “hide” the real/actual URL. See the screenshot below:

Notice how the link here is linked to the scammer’s site?

NEVER, EVER click on such links!


Method #2:
IF your email program has this feature, you can enable the ‘view all headers’ in your email program – if you do this, you will see the actual origins of the email. See the screen shot below:

This particular email originate from Taiwan! (mail.easylink.com.tw)


2 Ways to Protect Yourself from Phish Emails
1. If you receive an official looking email from Paypal or your bank or some institution, don’t click on the links in your email. Instead, open your browser and type the URL to paypal, to your bank, etc directly.

2. If need be, call paypal, your bank, etc to verify.

Stay Safe Online!

Best regards,

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The Swine Flue Scare Tactic? A Rant …

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Just yesterday, I received a couple of emails from 2 different marketers – telling me how the swine flu does not affect them simply because they work from home and need not commute and be in crowded places.

They then plug in their promotional piece, telling me that if I just buy the product they are promoting, I could be joining them, working from the comfort of home, without the fear of the swine flu.

HELLO? Although I am working from home, I still take my kids to the park, we still go out to eat in restaurants from time to time, we still go to the mall, we still do grocery shopping, etc!

Sheesh … has the internet marketers stooped so low to use such scare tactics?

*IF* (I don’t believe it will) the swine flu do become pandemic, it will affect EVERYONE, regardless of where one works, from home or from offices … unless one is a hermit living on top of a mountain.

Please don’t use such silly tactics to get people to buy your stuff.

*RANT OVER*

 

Filed in Marketing Sense | Comments (1)


ClickBank’s New Look and HopLink Shield

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Logged in to ClickBank today and discovered it is sporting a brand new look and design!
Hmm … I kinda miss the old “clean/smart blue design” … but no matter, I can get use to the new color scheme :-)

Inside the ClickBank Account
Fortunately, once you’ve logged into your account, all the functions, links, etc are still the same – so it’s still easy to navigate. Whew!

What’s new though is the ClickBank HopLink Shield function.

It allows an affiliate to cloak/encode their hoplink.

You simply enter your nickname, and the nickname of the vendor (vendor ID).
See the screenshot image below:

The result page:

 

The New ClickBank.com Site Layout
What has changed for the better is the layout of the main Clickbank.com site. Someone new to ClickBank should be able to find their way around easily and the information presented is very well laid out. Someone looking for information on how to be an affiliate or start selling as a vendor can easily find the relevent information.

Kudos to the ClickBank team!

Cheers,

 

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How to really *clean* your Data …

Friday, April 24, 2009

Step 1: Drop it (the pen-drive/thumb drive) into the washing machine …

Step 2: Give it a few gentle spin …

Step 3: Give it a final rinse …

Final Step: Plug it into your laptop … does it still work?


YES! – Kingston DataTraveller 4GB works like brand new!

Today, I accidently left my pen-drive in my jeans and it went into the washing machine!

I was searching frantically for it when my wife asked me, “Is this what you’re looking for?”

I looked up, and saw my pen-drive in her hands.

“Where did you find it?”

“Oh … in the washing machine, it’s pretty clean now”

Whew … Kingston has a customer for life! And never will I wash my data ever again :-)

Have a great weekend!

PS: Have you seen this?

“How to turn an ordinary affiliate sale into an endless stream of cash!”
=> CBListAutomator Affiliate Program is Live Now!

 

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I Dreamed a Dream … Truly Inspirational!

Friday, April 17, 2009

When I got home last night, my wife dragged me to her computer and said,

“Adrian, you must watch this …”

Click the image above to watch the Youtube video.

Truly inspirational. Moved my wife to tears … nearly made me cry too …

Do you have a dream? You can live your dreams!

Take action, one step at a time.

You Can Do It!

Best wishes,

Filed in Marketing Sense | Comments (2)


The Irresistable Offer = “Umbrella Marketing”

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Let me share with you a true story …

Last weekend, I was at the supermarket, buying some groceries when it started raining. Not just a drizzle, but raining cats and dogs!

I waited for a while, hoping the rain would let up … but no luck. My car was parked in another building, and the groceries soaked if I were to try to make a dash for it.

Nearby was a little shop, selling umbrellas! And a small crowd of people buying umbrellas.

I was tempted to buy an umbrella, but my logical brain told me I already have 3 umbrellas at home, and another 2 umbrella in the car – so I decided to wait.

After a while, the crowd swelled considerably, and I noticed a huge signboard:

“50% Off – Today Only!”

5 minutes later, I’ve a brand new umbrella!

I’m sold – so what if I already have 2 umbrellas in the car? I’m late, the rain is not letting up anytime soon, and I need to get home now :-)

What has this story got to do with Internet Marketing?

Make Your Offer Simply Irresistible!

and watch your sales hit the roof :-)

Offering Bonuses is one great way of making the ‘umbrella marketing offer’.

I’ll share more about this in another post.

Best wishes,

Filed in Marketing Sense | Comments (2)


Some thoughts on Good Friday and Easter …

Friday, April 10, 2009

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Mark 8:36 (NIV)


“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”

John 10:18 (NIV)


“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10b (NKJV)


Blessed Good Friday and Easter!

Sincerely,

Filed in Marketing Sense | Comments (0)


Conficker worm set to strike on April 1st?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What is it?

The Downadup worm (a.k.a. ‘Conficker’ or ‘Net-worm.Win32.Kido’) exploits the MS08-067 vulnerability in the Windows Server Service.

Currently the worm does not harm infected computers, but it has the capacity to cause considerable damage at a later time. Once infected, the affected computer generates hundreds of random web addresses and attempts to contact them daily in order download an executable or the ‘marching order’.

Although Conficker is set to run on April 1st, it may not if the person controlling it decides not to issue the ‘marching orders’.

The ‘marching order’ is sent when the hacker registers one of the many random website (domain) that the Conficker checks for daily, and insert a malicious exe/code to be downloaded by the worm.

Click here to read the Last minute fix by Yahoo Tech Blog

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If your blog or website suddenly slowed to a crawl …

Friday, March 20, 2009

It’s probably due to some changes your system admin made to the server without your knowledge.

In my case, switching to ‘php5′ solved the problem.

PHP ver4 has been around for years (latest stable version is php 4.4.9) – and most web hosts are using php4 by default.

PHP ver5 was introduced way back in July 2004 (current version as of this writing is 5.2.9)

However, a growing number of the web hosts have installed php5 and running it concurrently with php4.

By default though, your php applications (eg. wordpress blogs, joomla, etc) are still using php4.

If you want to switch over to php5, ask your system admin what you need to do.

In my case, I just need to edit .htaccess file by adding the following 2 lines of code:


AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php5 .php

That did the trick and my site sped up considerably.

Cheers,

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