'Net Features : canada

LinkShare Affiliate Network Sees Explosive Growth

Michael Garrity — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Rakuten LinkShare has announced that its various global performance marketing networks saw impressive growth throughout Q1 of 2012, with some of its strongest network sales coming from the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.

This progress presents new opportunities for publishers, both at home and abroad.

Specifically in the U.S., the LinkShare network outperformed overall e-commerce in terms of growth by a large margin. Moreover, Forrester Research is predicting that overall e-commerce will grow by 12 percent by the end of 2012, while LinkShare has seen some of its store’s sales already increase 31 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.

The U.K. network also saw immense gains in some areas, with some overall store sales growing 52 percent year-over-year.

LinkShare has also added over 100 new brands in the first quarter. The U.S. network saw the inclusion of Steve Madden, while Canada signed Saks Fifth Avenue (who also joined the U.K. network), Kiehl’s, Biotherm and eBeauty.ca. The Japanese LinkShare network added Dyson Japan and Kurimo.

All of these brands represent a wide array of product categories (and publisher opportunities), from apparel to luxury and many more.

Oh, Canada: Changes Made to Anti-Spam Bill

Michael Garrity — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:30:00 GMT

For the average email user, anti-spam measures are viewed as a good thing. After all, most inboxes are already crammed with daily deals offers, marketing newsletters, e-commerce receipts and maybe even the occasional personal email. No one needs some unsolicited nonsense cluttering things up even more.

For email marketers, however, anti-spam may sound like the kiss of death. Not that all, or even most, email marketing programs are spam-ridden, but often casual users and government regulators have trouble telling the difference.

Which is precisely why many email marketers were holding their collective breath in anticipation of newly proposed anti-spam legislation in Canada. Fortunately, after analyzing the bill, they generally agreed that it’s nothing to lose sleep over.

Many initially had understandable reservations when the legislation was first proposed last fall, but most now feel as though the bill has been drastically improved, in large part due to cooperation with the email marketing industry.

One of the biggest changes to the legislation deals with opt-in consent. Before, the bill insisted that all opt-in consent be granted in written form, but it has since been changed to allow for verbal permission as well.

The initial draft also required email marketers to let subscribers opt-out in a maximum of two clicks, but the new version changes the working to read “readily performed.”

Email marketers worried about similar measures being brought up in the United States needn’t, at least not yet. Much of this recent Canadian legislation was intended to have broader application, more intense penalties and has a greater reach outside of Canadian borders than the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act passed in 2003.

Canadian Search Data through Searchmetrics

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:30:00 GMT

Search analytics software provider Searchmetrics has added Canada to its search performance index, giving search marketers visibility into their campaigns in Canada.

Previously, search marketers seeking country-specific data or results from the latest Google algorithm changes (e.g. Panda update), for example, would not be able to differentiate Canada-specific search performance data from U.S. data. With the addition of the Canadian market to the Searchmetrics Suite, online marketers will be able to access such features as a Quick Analysis research of their domains and competitor domains to obtain country specific insights into their search engine visibility on a weekly basis.

"Canada is an extremely important market for us, so we are pleased to be the first search analytics provider to offer Canada-specific search performance metrics in our products," said Dr. Horst Joepen, CEO of Searchmetrics. "With this launch, Searchmetrics continues to demonstrate its deep commitment to the North American market."

SearchMetrics also announced today that it has added tracking of five additional countries to its SEO analytics tool including Australia, India, Israel, Japan, and Portugal. Searchmetrics now provides search performance data for a total of 29 countries and 90 search engines worldwide.

Prepare for the Canadian Anti-Spam Law

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:10:00 GMT

The Canadian government has introduced a new bill called the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act (FISA) which creates a new set of rules for email marketing in Canada.

The new law will not only apply to people sending from Canada, but people sending to anyone in Canada.

Email marketing service provider StreamSend has put together a guide to FISA (PDF), offering advice for marketers. While CAN-SPAM addresses email abuses, FISA take it a step further by covering communication via SMS, instant messaging, spyware, malware, phishing, pharming, and social networks, in addition to email.

"Marketers who are already CAN-SPAM compliant and are closely following the best sending practices set forth by the ISPs will already be complying with the new law," said Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend Email Marketing. "Fortunately, StreamSend automatically includes the proper unsubscribe mechanism and all necessary email headers to make mailings compliant. We also offer several permission-based opt-in methods, and display reminders for marketers to include their proper contact information."