Web Marketing Strategy Update

Recently, I finally got around to looking at the scripts available for the Firefox plugin, Greasemonkey. I was not expecting what I found.

From the main site:

Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension which lets you to add bits of DHTML (”user scripts”) to any web page to change its behavior. In much the same way that user CSS lets you take control of a web page’s style, user scripts let you easily control any aspect of a web page’s design or interaction.

For example, you could:

• Make sure that all URLs displayed in the browser are clickable links
• Improve the usability of a site you frequent
• Route around common and annoying website bugs
• Use the Coral content network selectively.

Most of the scripts are fairly innocuous and are designed to help users get more out of various websites.

But MANY are designed soley to strip ads from pages, remove redirects and even change affiliate links.

Here are some examples:

Bloglines Moreover Ad Remover
Description: Get rid of ads in moreover feeds on bloglines
Written By: Mysteriously Unknown

Ad Blocker
Description: Block advertisements
Written By: Mysteriously Unknown

This could prove important to many affiliate marketers:

From MarketWatch

Expanding into the U.S. market, Rakuten Inc., a Japanese Internet portal operator, said Monday it is buying LinkShare Corp., a privately held U.S. Internet marketing firm, for $425 million.

Tokyo-based Rakuten said it expects the cash deal to close in four to six weeks and allow it to expand into the U.S. market.

Rakuten, founded in 1997, operates a diversified Web portal business in Japan and also owns the Rakuten Eagles, a professional baseball franchise.

New York-based LinkShare, which specializes in performance-based marketing, claims more than 10 million e-commerce relationships and a list of more than 500 clients that includes J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Avon Products Inc. and Dell Inc.

“LinkShare’s performance-based marketing expertise across affiliate, search and e-mail capabilities provides Rakuten with an excellent first step to launch our U.S. operations and continue our international expansion,” Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “We can leverage LinkShare’s client relationships and technology advantages worldwide, so that LinkShare will be able to achieve significant growth in the future.”