How SOPA/PIPA Will Affect You
You may have seen a lot of talk about SOPA/PIPA (Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, respectively), but figured it doesn’t affect you, or you may even think it’s a good thing.
Superficially, it is a good thing, especially if you sell digital goods online and have felt the bite of someone pirating your hard work–I’ve been there and done that, so I empathize. However, if you dig below the surface of these two bills, you’ll see they are more harmful than beneficial to the internet entrepreneur.
Let me offer you a scenario…
You run an affiliate website. You post pictures and links to products, and you also allow user-submitted content (i.e. comments, reviews, articles, etc.). Say one of those photos is copyrighted or a link goes to a website which is suspected of infringing on someone’s copyright/intellectual property, then access to your site can be blocked, ties to your payment processors (to include the merchants who pay you) can be cut, and you can be sent to prison for up to 5 years. All over a picture or a link, possibly one you didn’t even post yourself.
Yes, that’s a worst case scenario, but it’s still a possible scenario. If you’re new to internet marketing, this could easily end your business before it starts. If you’re not new to internet marketing, this could easily demolish your existing business.
What’s worse, should these two bills pass, other countries may follow in the footsteps of the US and impose their own laws which may be even more restrictive and damaging to their online denizens.
I urge you to learn more about these two bills and how to fight them at American Censorship (there’s even a video which lays it all out in easy to understand terms).
And if you feel so inclined, you can join in the blackout on January 18, 2012 from 8AM-8PM; should you, you’ll be in good company because Wikipedia (English), WordPress, and Reddit will be blacking out their sites as well.
Wishing you much success!
Super Affiliate Handbook Review
In the introduction to the WordPress Affiliate Guide, I discuss the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner. Its existence is the reason I don’t delve too deeply into certain subjects regarding affiliate marketing (such as domain name selection).
Rosalind’s book is about getting your affiliate marketing foundation set, while the WordPress Affiliate Guide is a flexible blueprint specifically for leveraging WordPress for affiliate marketing based on years or testing and tweaking. In fact, the WP Affiliate Guide is built on the principles outlined in Rosalind’s guide.
But let me not stray to far from the topic of this post, reviewing the Super Affiliate Handbook so you can decide whether it’s a worthwhile guide to help you build an affiliate business. (more…)
