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The Microsoft/Yahoo PPC alliance was always going to have teething troubles and give advertisers some headaches. We are gradually learning just where those are going to come from.

The most complicated issues are likely to spring from the differences in the way that Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft's adCenter treat keywords. adCenter in general provides much finer control over management of keyword mis-spellings and plurals, significantly greater limits on negative keywords, as well as taking a different approach to geo-targeting.

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Today Facebook announced that it now has over 500 million registered users, an increase of some 100 million in the last five months, and of 400 million in the last two years. Mark Zuckerberg has already told us that it is "almost guaranteed" that the site will eventually reach a billion users, but with no indication of when he thinks that might happen.

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The winners in the online marketing space have always been the fast movers. Quick and agile people who see an opportunity and have the motivation and resources to act rapidly. But as we’re seeing in the mobile marketplace right now, new opportunities are being fenced in by the biggest companies who control the platforms. In the evolving world of online advertising, the big beasts are making their presence felt.

Consider three data points:

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Will fraud kill affiliate marketing?

It is up to you. You choose.

But here’s a clue: the BP oil spill probably just killed the Louisiana wetlands. I think we should take that as a warning of just what can happen.

The affiliate marketing industry is an ecosystem. It consists of a web of interdependent species: affiliates, merchants, networks, merchant processors, etc. Sometimes they compete, sometimes they are symbiotic. But they all rely on each other for survival.

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The recent discussion of the importance of brand to CPA network survival generated a fair amount of feedback. For an industry rooted in performance, where everything is measurable, the idea that product functions and features aren’t all important is a hard one to accept.

But it’s true. Let’s look at exactly why that is.

We’ll use Adam Viener’s post on WiseAff as a starting point.

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The CPA network space is in tumult. If your favorite CPA network isn’t dead already, it’s probably refinancing, merging or crouching in a defensive posture.

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One of the best affiliate program managers in the business tells us what merchants get wrong, how affiliates should choose a program, and why going home keeps him sane...

Geno Prussakov literally wrote the book on affiliate marketing. His 2007 publication, A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing, is still regarded as perhaps the best available on fundamentals for affiliate managers and merchants, and he was voted best Outsourced Program Manager by the ABestWeb community three years running.

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It’s as true today as it was when Solomon first said it (or when the Byrds repeated it): to everything there is a season. Affiliate marketers who recognize that seasonal trends can be hot (even in winter!) have an opportunity to capitalize on those trends as they happen. Being prepared well in advance for seasonal trends gives affiliates the chance to be in a position to get good, solid, qualified traffic by the time those seasons arise.

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The use of promotional contests can be a dynamic and cost-effective way to increase sales, build a database of interested consumers and otherwise increase brand awareness and buzz. Consumers will be more easily attracted to marketing messages by the opportunity to win prizes than with more mundane, passive advertising. However, there are specific state and federal laws that apply to such games, and you could incur substantial legal liability if these laws are not followed closely.

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Facebook made a big change in their advertising policies this week.

But they did it very quietly with a letter to display advertisers telling them that if you want Facebook traffic, you’d better be buying CPC.

The letter, sent out at the end of last week, told CPM advertisers that henceforth they, “will continue to receive impressions but may receive less clicks.”

And, “if your most important objective is to drive clicks on your ads, you should change your bids from CPM to CPC.”

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