Newsweek and bloggers around the net have been talking how 2007 will be the “Year of the Widget”..

Seems Shareasale decided, “Yeah, that makes sense!”.. let’s do it!

And here it is: Make A Widget!

SAS created an easy-to-use interface enabling merchants on the ShareASale Network to create and maintain a variety of widgets for their affiliates. Merchants have been provided access to the Widget system and I do believe they have a bit of testing to do yet.. but it reads like they will be offering this as early as the coming week to affiliates.

The more flexibility we are given to showcase merchants products on our sites the better. And in this case you will be able to have your offerings dynamically updated with the change of seasons and promotions.

The possibilities for this are far reaching. And I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time before other networks look at this and create their own widget system.

Just keeps getting better and better this business..

-Matt Levenhagen

I will tell you this, no single person can deny that the internet is expanding and opportunities to make money are increasing. Not only are markets expanding and growing, but the methods are improving to reach those markets and make sales!

Per Yahoo: Online Spending Tops $100 Billion in 2006

Driven by a strong rise in holiday spending, U.S. retail Web sites collected $102.1 billion in 2006, marking a 24 percent increase over last year, according to a report released today..

So what does that mean to the affiliate marketer?

Many things! It means YOU are in the right place at the right time.

People are buying more online like never before. Things they may not have only a few years ago. That puts us in the position to make money like we couldn’t only a few years ago.

This means that merchants are doing better and will provide more opportunities because they will expand as well.. they will expand their product lines and improve their sales processes which reflects back on us!

Better affiliate programs… More of them!

As the news gets out that money is being made online, more and more merchants will hear the call, launch their sites and affiliate programs.

This is a global environment. Saturation is far, far, far from near. We’re not talking just opportunities in the U.S. or other major countries… The internet is expanding around the globe!

You don’t think I just make affiliate sales from people in a handful of nations do you? NO! All over the world…

If you are already practicing affiliate marketing, this should energize you to do more..

If you are thinking about it, this should give you peace of mind that this is an opportunity like no other right now.. Big.

The better merchants do, the better the opportunity for affiliate marketers.

-Matt Levenhagen