Revenue and profitability for an affiliate is heavily influenced by the affiliate programs with which you choose to partner. Top performing affiliates understand this correlation, and carefully weigh their business needs against an operator’s program before committing money and effort to promoting a brand.

Tip 1: Choose a Strong Brand
An overwhelming majority of affiliates join an affiliate program based on a brand’s reputation. The Income Access survey found that 88% of affiliates cited reputational factors as the most important factor in their decision to join a program. There are two influential factors that determine the strength of an iGaming brand: (1) the player-facing brand the affiliate program promotes and (2) the affiliate-facing side – the affiliate program itself. Savvy affiliates tend to evaluate each of these before entering into a business relationship with an operator through its affiliate program.

Tip 2: Choose a Brand that Fits your Business Model
The decision to actively promote an affiliate program should hinge on whether that program can meet the unique needs of your business model. The Income Access affiliate survey found that super-affiliates look for three criteria before choosing to promote a program: (1) reliable tracking software, (2) competitive commission structures, and (3) promotional materials.

Tip 3: Robust Tracking Software
As an affiliate, you rely on software to track your referrals, calculate your commissions, and provide transparent reporting that you can use to monitor campaign performance. So before actively promoting a program and investing in your relationship with a brand, it’s important that you ensure their affiliate software supports all these functions.

Affiliate marketing is all about tracking referrals from one party to another, so you want to ensure that software powering a program can provide tracking reports that meet your business needs. The Income Access survey found that higher earning affiliates were much more likely to compare reporting metrics across campaigns. Advanced tracking metrics can help increase earnings because affiliates can compare, analyze and better understand changes in campaign performance.

You should also ensure that the software includes the marketing tools that will help you both save time and optimise your campaigns. For instance, if you use PPC advertising, it will be important that the software is capable of tracking and reporting on players referred, deposits, revenues generated by each Adwords ad and which types of players are coming through on which keywords.

Tip 4: Competitive Commission Structures
To be competitive, commissions need to be lucrative and suited to specific products/promotions. For instance, while the Income Access survey found that over 90% of affiliates work often with revenue share, about 32% of affiliates used cost per action (CPA) and cost per click (CPC) commission structures. This is because many affiliates require a hybrid commission structure to support their business model.

Just as different incentive structures work better for promoting different products, every affiliate has their own promotional methods. Getting the most out your relationship with an affiliate program requires that commission structures are compatible with your business model and promotional needs.

Tip 5: Promotional Support
There are two sides to promotional support that an affiliate requires: creatives and the software tools to manage those creatives. In addition to new promotions, an affiliate program should provide up-to-date creatives. These will support you in effectively publicizing new player promotions, and regularly changing creatives will help combat the effects of banner-blindness.

Similarly, you should look into whether the software includes tools to help you geo-target users with relevant creative. For example, showing users from different countries banners that are in different languages, or feature different promotions is a great way to build your own brand’s reputation as a source of relevant information. That, in turn, helps with conversion rates.

When you join an affiliate program, you are entering into a business relationship that will have a direct impact on your earnings. Evaluating the brand and the resources it offers will allow you to choose the right affiliate program to partner with. After all, a brand that is in-tune with an affiliate’s own brand will complement that affiliate’s business and enforce the rapport of trust that affiliates build with their players, ensuring long-term profitability.

My paternal grandmother, Gladys, was diagnosed with breast cancer the same month my mother discovered she was pregnant with me in 1979. At the time, it was considered unlikely that she would be around long enough to see her first grandchild born. But, armed with a tremendous will to live, she underwent a radical mastectomy, and embarked on a series of clinical trials, most notably for a then little-known drug called Tamoxifen.

Lesley and Grandma Gladys, circa 1985

At the time, I was a baby, and too little to understand the significance of the Tamoxifen trials, and the effect and hope it was having – not just on my grandmother, but on thousands of women. I would later learn that it was this drug, and the subsequent clinical trial, that helped to keep her alive throughout my childhood.

Now, nearly 30 years after breast cancer first rocked my family, it is still a nationwide crisis. In 2009, an estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women, with one in nine women expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime.
While my grandmother was never cancer free, she fought the disease, and lived post-diagnosis for 17 courageous years. When she passed away in 1996, she left us all feeling lucky to have known her, and more determined than ever to keep fighting.

This year, I will be running the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure in Glady’s memory.

Help us continue to fight this disease, and to find the course of treatment that will finally eradicate breast cancer. My goal is to raise $1,700 : One hundred dollars for each of the years my grandmother courageously fought the disease. To contribute, click here to visit my donation page.

No donation amount is too small – every little bit helps.

This was my first breakup in a Facebook era, and I didn’t realize the whole new level it brought to navigating post-relationship etiquette…. and trauma!

What do you do with all the albums?
Anyone on facebook has at least one obnoxious album of them being lovey-dovey with their significant other. Maybe it was that trip you took together last year. Or that wedding, or whatever. After the breakup, it suddenly goes from adorable, to abhorable.

Do you just delete them all, as my friend did when he and his girlfriend split last month? Within a week, every trace of their existence together had vanished from his profile.

A girlfriend of mine chose to leave all the photos of her ex, but un-tagged herself. “So that if guys are interested and check out my pictures, they don’t come across me nuzzling with my ex.”

My feeling is that everyone has exes, and while I admit I did de-tag some of the more lovey shots, I think that was more for myself than for any future potential suitor. After all, at 29, everyone has exes, and anyone new in my life needs to acknowledge that I’ve not spent the last decade in a convent.

“In” a relationship
When we got together, and he asked me to “be in a relationship” on facebook, I thought it was cute. Three years later, I’m linked to this man, and de-tagging him as my significant other is broadcast across the network. C’mon Facebook, where’s the sympathy for the recently broken-up! What do you do in this sittuation?

Do you slash your status and just mark yourself as single (which is reported, via news feed, to everyone on your list, complete with a broken heart and the phrase “Lesley is no longer in a relationship” – seriously, could they be more dramatic?) or just remove your relationship status altogether? I opted for the latter. I still got an onslought of emails asking what happened.

The first outing
Getting single on Facebook is like that first real outing – It’s like going out with friends for the first time since a major split, as I did last week. My first outing was to a birthday with friends. 23 people asked some variation on the question “Hey, where’s your man?” TWENTY-THREE in one night!!!

While I cringed the first few times, by the end of the night I was totally desensitized, and was even able to joke “No worries, you’re the (insert #) person to ask that in the past hour!” The truth is, it wasn’t that traumatic at all – it was downright liberating!!!

Just do it!
Getting single on Facebook is like that first night out – it’s best to just get it out in the open – and get it over with. That way, you can move on.

I guess this is my last place to “out myself” – I’m single world!

Hey, that wasn’t so bad, was it?

Signing off,

Liberated Lesley

Step 1: You ask to cancel your account.
MySpace has an easy to access Cancel Account button right in your settings. This looks easy enough.

Step 2: Are you sure?
The guilt begins. Are you sure you want to leave? MySpace essentially asks “what did I do wrong?”

Step 3: Are you really sure?
MySpace gets defensive, and turns the blame for this failed relationship on you: “Maybe you’d enjoy MySpace if you had any friends, loser. Do you even know how to add them?”

Step 4: Are you really, really, really sure?
Reiteration that it’s your fault you’re not enjoying their service, reiteration that you’re an asshole for leaving them, a comment box (so you can apologize?) and a disclaimer that this process may never end.

Step 5: Please don’t leave us
An official notice that this process may never be over, and a disclaimer that you’ll need to look for future clues in this treasure hunt for deactivation.

Step 6: Hide and Seek
MySpace sends you an email, which most likely gets caught in your spam filter, junkmail folder, or is automatically labelled hazardous by your anti-virus. If you’re lucky enough to find the email, you can take the next step towards requesting deactivation.

Step 7: Excuses and Apologies
If you make it to this step, MySpace takes a stab at explaining why they put you through this whole process. It goes something like this: “It’s about security. It’s about safety. I’m full of shit, please don’t leave me.”

Step 8: Congratulations, you have now been authorized to deactivate your MySpace account.
Don’t get ahead of yourself – this doesn’t mean the account is gone. Nope, all this means is that, if you’re lucky, your request will now be passed on to someone at MySpace who actually has the authority to do this.

Since that fateful day, I’ve been a dedicated Pearl user. It took me about a week to get used to the functionality – after all, it was my first Smartphone. I’d always been a Motorola cell phone user before that. It’s a touch-type system, and it takes some getting used to. I’d say it took me 2 weeks to really get a hang of the keys. But before long, I had become a staunch Pearl advocate. It’s got a lot going for it – after all, it has all the functionality of a full sized Blackberry, but it’s the size of a small cell phone. The best of both worlds.

Over the next two years, I continued to love my Pearl. When my rollerball broke and Rogers agreed to give me a new phone, I asked for the same model. When I got drunk and left my Pearl in a taxi cab, I once again, replaced it with the same model. Little things changed – My black Pearl was exchanged for a red one. I tried a few different protective covers. But the phone model itself remained consistent. I became one of those people who raved about their Blackberry model. “There isn’t anything better than the Pearl,” I’d say. “It’s small and convenient, but has all the functionality you could ever want.” And, it was true.

When my birthday came around in January, my dad surprised me with something completely unexpected: A new Blackberry Curve. “But Dad,” I said, “There isn’t anything wrong with my Pearl!”
“True,” he replied, “but you’re a writer, and I thought you’d enjoy having a full keyboard.” That stopped me in my tracks. It’s true – in all my years embracing the Pearl, I’d never really felt comfortable writing a blog post on it.

For two weeks, the Curve box sat unopened on my kitchen table. I made excuses about why I hadn’t opened it. I needed to buy a protective cover first. Then I needed to have time to transfer my data. But really, I just couldn’t let go of my Pearl. If you’re not into Smartphones, you may think I’m nuts, but anyone who’s got one knows how attached you can become to it. My friends refer to it, quite aptly, as the crackberry.

Last week, after much hemming and hawing, I finally made the switch from Pearl to Curve. I figure I at least have to compare the two before I can make an informed decision. Despite having a full keyboard, I can’t say that I find the Curve any easier to use. The keys are tiny, and at this point, I still type faster on the double-lettered Pearl keyboard. But, like anything else, I think this may just be a matter of time. I’m certainly enjoying the larger screen, but that also means the device itself is larger, and chunkier. It’s easier to find at the bottom of my purse, but doesn’t fit –as the Pearl did- in a lot of pockets.

So, I’m still in the process of figuring out which one I prefer. What’s your favorite Smartphone?

The million dollar question faced by most of us at some point during the year (most prominently after holiday seasons) goes something like this:

“Do I lose 5 lbs, or buy a new wardrobe?”

While the “gut” instinct tends to favor the latter option, one’s pocket book and common sense collaborate to encourage weight loss.

I’m not talking about a huge change – I’m simply talking about the 5 lbs that stand between you and the button on your favorite jeans.

The funny thing is, that little bit of holiday flab was probably acquired by drinking more frequently than usual, spending too much time relaxing in a sedentary fashion while snacking, followed by festive dinners with 9 courses – all things that you generally can’t do in your “real” life anyway.

And yet, the thought of restricting yourself in any way is downright painful:

“You mean, I’m going to have to make dinner, and I can’t just pick up two burgers, onion rings and a poutine on the way home?”

“You want me to WALK the dog?”

“What do you mean I have to go back to work and can’t spend all day eating?”

“Why can’t I have a case of beer with lunch and the entire bottle of wine with dinner?”

Maybe the thought of losing weight after holidays is so painful because it’s really a reminder that the vacation is over, and all the stresses and obligations of real life: Family, work, finances, etc… – are about to kick back in. That little flab around your midsection is your body’s way of spelling relaxation, and giving that up is downright painful.

So, I haven’t decided which way I’m going yet, but as summer draws to a close and the fall season sets in, the days in which I can wear my forgiving flowing skirts are running out. And while I can squeeze into my favorite jeans, I sure as hell can’t sit down in them!

Montreal has long been considered one of the fashion capitals of the world.

Next to New York City, I would be hard-pressed to find a more culturally diverse fashion nexus in North America. Each season, Montreal’s mainstream stores and high-end boutiques carry the latest and most dynamic trends that the fashion world has to offer.

But high fashion and daily wearability are often mutually exclusive.

Just because we have access to the latest styles does not mean that we should be running out and adding items to our wardrobes each season.

Being in fashion is about observing the most recent trends and only taking the bits and pieces that suit your personal style.

Let’s look at a dandelion of the fashion industry — an atrocious weed of a trend that keeps popping up again every few seasons —the skinny pant.

The skinny pant first made its mainstream appearance in wardrobes across North America in the ’60s.

Unlike the flare style that was all the rage in the ’90s — designed to flare out at the knee, balancing out the thigh and giving the illusion of a slimmer top half — the skinny pant hugs the leg right down to the ankle. Most of us do not have legs that can stand such scrutiny, but more about that later.

Fashion is about nostalgia, and it doesn’t take a fashion expert to see that we humans simply recycle trends every few decades. In a recent Gap ad campaign, the skinny jean was publicized by using old Audrey Hepburn footage.

Though she’s been dead over a decade, the old fashion icon looks just right in the present day campaign since her wardrobe is what today’s generation has labeled fashionable.

But looking at Hepburn dancing around in the campaign’s archival footage hasn’t quite sold me on this trend.

For starters, Hepburn’s measurements were recorded in 1953 as being 34A-20-34. No, that 20 is not a typo.

She stood five feet seven inches tall and weighed a mere 110 lbs. Normal people just don’t look like that, nor should they aspire to.

Hippies had no use for the binding skinny style and the pant was tossed aside and replaced by flowing skirts made of comfortable gingham, tie-dyed T-shirts and loose fitting jeans that allowed for practical functionality.

Skinny pants returned in the ’80s — a rather strange decade. An actor was playing president, a sequined glove-wearing man in military garb topped the charts, and hair was made to look like an electrocuted poodle.

The theory behind the skinny pant is simple; wearing slim fitting pants shows off a person’s curves and makes them look skinny, but the skinny pant is only flattering to skinny people. Frankly, the name should be changed to the “skinny person pant.”

There are, of course, those nauseating people who look good in everything and they look darn good in the skinny pant. And for those who can pull it off, one bonus is that this style is designed to highlight footwear.

Maia Bensoussan, 28, had fun adding skinny pants to her wardrobe this season. “It’s easy to dress them up and they look fabulous over great heels you want to show off,” she explains.

So the style is designed to bring attention not only to a woman’s curves, but to her accessories, and as with every pant style, the skinny trend has also made its way into the denim market, offering women a more “dressy” jean alternative.

And the skinny pant has also spawned a mixed bag of fashion atrocities and hideous accessories.

A garden of pastel-coloured suede ankle length boots and long unflattering shirts worn falling off the shoulder in high vagrant style are now in vogue. Also making a triumphant return is the worn-too-high-and-far-too-thick belt, contemporary society’s exterior corset that binds a woman’s midsection to accentuate the curvaceous buttocks and breasts.

Of course, in order for this style to work, an average-sized woman needs to wear control top panties and a push-up brassier with ample padding. Haven’t we evolved at all from the Victorian era?

Starting her accounting career, Romy Waxman has spent a lot of time this season shopping for work-appropriate clothing.

A few months ago she was encouraged by a salesperson to go the skinny pant route.

“This 90-pound, 16-year-old salesgirl looked fabulous in them and impulsively, I got a pair,” Waxman explains.

Though Waxman purchased the pants in July, “they have been hanging in the closet ever since,” she says, shaking her head, “and that’s where they’ll stay until I discover them in three years and give them to the Salvation Army.”

How is it that a trend can suddenly negate our personal senses of style?

Are we really so indoctrinated into consumer culture that we’ve lost the ability to make rational decisions about what flatters our own bodies?

The answer, embarrassing as it is to admit, is yes!

The newest thing is often considered the best; we buy impulsively and think later.

Personal fashion shouldn’t be dictated by the year or what the magazines have labeled “hot.”

It should be dictated by the woman’s body type and size — period.

And certain styles should never be allowed back. We repeat the errors of our past over and over.

So, the skinny pant does in fact look fabulous — on skinny people. But it, and all its various counterparts, should be laid to rest, once and for all.

Jimmy Altman and Lauren Silverman share dinner in his Dollard des Ormeaux home and discuss the details of Silverman’s upcoming wedding and chatting about the importance of family. It’s a scene played out by many fathers and daughters, except in this case, Altman is Silverman’s step-father.

Brought together 12 years ago, the two represent members of a growing group — the blended family. Both Altman and Silverman’s mother, Anita Vatch, had two children from previous relationships.

“About one third of all marriages in Canada end in divorce” says Dr. Anne-Marie Ambert in her study, Divorce: Facts, Figures and Consequences.

“About 75 percent and 65 percent, respectively, of divorced men and women remarry.”

And according to a 1987 Statistic Canada report, 96,200 couples had their divorces finalized. During the past 20 years since then, nearly 70 percent have re-married, giving birth to blended families.

Vatch remembers the early days and says Altman tried to make the transition as easy as possible on her kids. “Jimmy has always treated Lauren and Adam as if they were his own children. There is no distinction between home-made kids and blended families in our house.”

Silverman, now 26, wasn’t initially enamoured with Altman’s arrival. Raised for years by their mother, Silverman and her brother suddenly had to share her.

“I’d had my mom all to myself since the divorce,” explains Silverman. “My brother was more open to the relationship at the start because his major concern was that my mother be taken care of. As a teenager, I wasn’t very open to having a step-father. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Jimmy, it was that I didn’t want to share my mother.”

“She definitely gave Jimmy a run for his money,” says Vatch.

That was also the case with Melanie Martin, who gave her new step-father a hard time when he entered her life 20 years ago.

“I remember walking down the street just yelling expletives at him” recalls Martin, also 26, of her first outing with Wayne Belmore.

Martin says she rebelled because she thought Belmore was trying to replace her biological father.

But she says Belmore waited it out and now he and Martin share a close relationship. “He was patient and gave me time to realize he wasn’t trying to take anyone’s place. He was just trying to be my friend.”

Like Silverman, Martin also enjoyed a close and supportive relationship with her step-father. When she announced several years ago that she was gay, Belmore was one of the first people she confided in. “He helped me cope by making it clear that he loved me no matter what,” she says.

Silverman can now look back and laugh at the once tense situation.

“I certainly gave Jimmy a hard time when I was a teenager… Okay, recently too!” she says with a smile. Despite this, she says “he’s never treated me like anything other than his own daughter.”

Altman says the key to making it work is just waiting it out while offering unconditional love. “I let her know I’m on her side and try to find some common ground.” In their case, that common ground was Vatch.

“Jimmy made my mom happy, and even as a teenager, I was able to appreciate that,“ says Silverman. “He definitely fits the bill as a parent because he’s there for me every step of the way.”

True to form, Altman will be there for another important step in his step-daughter’s life, walking her down the aisle this August.

“If those store owners had any feelings, they would supply us with Kleenex”, she sighed. “Kleenex!?” Her friend Maggie grunted, “They should offer us grief counselors!”

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit. But the truth is, no one – least of all you – is wowed by your un-suntanned and un-waxed body, as you squeeze yourself into the size you hope to be by summer. Even if you can tuck your underwear into the bathing suit without creating too much of a bulge, the fleece socks you’re still wearing are guaranteed to make sure you look ridiculous. Also, you’re a bit faint from sucking in your stomach since the purchasing usually takes place in the grey months before summer, when you are still carrying some winter weight.

Men, there is nothing you can say to your women. My sister’s sweet boyfriend made the mistake of telling her she was beautiful when she emerged sniffling from a changing room at a women’s designer clothing store. She replied by removing a flip-flop from a nearby sales rack and throwing it at his head.

Certainly, shopping for bathing suits can be traumatic at any age. When shopping for bathing suits, the key is to buy the look that suits your body. Trends are great, but you can look beautiful, current and be comfortable at the same time. It is possible!

Here are some helpful hints:

If you have a small chest, try a top with a little push-in built in (just like a bra). String bikini tops are great, as the tiny straps give the illusion of a larger bust. Small patterns also work well.

If you’re short, try wearing high cut bottoms. This gives the illusion of a longer leg.

If you want to hide a bit more skin, try out a tankini. It’s a bikini, but the top looks more like a tank top. A black tankini can hide unwanted excess skin around the tummy.
There is also nothing wrong with a one piece bathing suit. One pieces can offer some more tummy coverage while giving the woman over fifty some classy sexiness.

If you’ve got larger hips, you can try a swim skirt bikini, which gives some extra coverage on the bottom.

If you still want a bit more coverage, try wearing a sarong, or board shorts. Both are light options, and they dry easily if you get them wet.

Remember, the most important part of looking good in a bathing suit is feeling comfortable!

*The Pain of Shopping for Bathing Suits was first published in Westmount Living Magazine, June 2007.