I fondly remember watching the old black and white Lassie shows when I was real young. The story of a brave dog who protects with undying love. However, my own three boys have no interest in the show. Nope, no Lassie stories, until now.I screened a copy of the new movie Lassie which stars Jonathan Mason, Peter O’Toole, Samantha Morton, and John Lynch. The film was directed by Charles Sturridge and shot within the beautiful countryside of Ireland.

I wasn’t too sure about the film when I first started watching it. I still have pictures of the old shows within my head. However, I kept an open mind as I settled down to watch the film with my seven year old son.

Happily we both enjoyed this heartwarming tale! My son was wrapped up in the movie. Lassie will gain a new generation of young fans with this latest film.

The story dealt with many issues including how people can’t control everything in their lives. It starts off with a family who are barely making it financially. They sell Lassie since they can’t pay for her food any longer. The new owner who bought her to breed moves her far away. She escapes and travels an adventurous journey all the way home again to the little boy she loves.

You can find out more about this new Lassie movie at the Official website, plus…

- Enter your dog’s photo into a contest to win “15 minutes of Doggie Fame” and 1 Year of FREE Dog Food.

- Check out the Lassie Natural Dog Food.

Go to Lassie’s Official Website

-Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link …………………………………………
Comments: 1.

Remind me the next time we talk to tell you a funny story about my son and I with the Old Lassie programs!

I am a fan, and I am sure this is a great film!

Barb
:)

Comment by Xerraire — 9/26/2006 @ 8:39 pm
2.

Hi Wendy we cant wait to see it. Thanks for
heads up. Blessings, Stephanie

Comment by Stephanie — 9/28/2006 @ 11:02 am

I have to say the one thing that really frustrates me as an affiliate is to have a merchant cancel the relationship with me before even considering what they are canceling. I bring sales to many of the affiliate programs I have joined. Yes, there are some that simply don’t work out and get no sales from my sites. Yes, there are some that make a small amount of sales with my sites over time. But, merchants shouldn’t just cancel without looking closer. Communication is key.

For the time it takes to place up links, promote the page the affiliate links are on, get those pages listed in the search engines and the traffic that gets sent to the merchant, should all be factors in whether an affiliate should be cancelled or not. Affiliates, including myself, have a lot on their plates. Affiliates are extremely busy with many, many merchants. Not to mention the day-to-day routines of website maintenance, answering site emails, coming up with new content, communicating with and publishing author articles, preparing newsletters for updates, bookkeeping, and so much more.

If you cancel an affiliate without communicating, consider yourself banned from ever getting onto that affiliate’s websites again. Many affiliates these days run more than one website, covering many different topics and categories. The frustration runs deep with doing lots of work to give a merchant exposure in exchange for NOTHING! Well… except for being cancelled. Tossed away like trash.

I have had this happen from a merchant I was making 10k a year (in sales, not commissions) with, with merchants I was making a couple of sales a year with and of course in other cases, no sales.

Merchants should care about their affiliates. If the affiliate doesn’t answer or can’t place up links right away, it is because they are busy with a lot of other tasks, including the many other merchants they deal with. Those merchants who become friends with their affiliates will have a better relationship with them. Stop signing your affiliate newsletters: “The merchant team”. Personalize and become friends with them. If you reach out and still can’t seem to contact them, and you would really like to get to know them, offer some special deals, even up front cash like an advertiser does. Buy a spot in their newsletter. Do something to gain a meaningful relationship.

Relationships are give and take. Both parties, merchants and affiliates, have to give something to keep the friendship growing. If the affiliate feels like they keep working for a merchant and get no commissions, no compensation what so ever, they aren’t going to be happy. They will search for better merchants who care about them.

Let’s wrap this by saying that affiliates will join merchant’s programs that just don’t perform for them. If there is a friendship, both sides have been trying different things to prosper. However, not all programs work, and the affiliate relationship will end. But, at least they tried! And it doesn’t necessarily mean that the friendship should end. These types of friendships can bring other networking possibilities in the future.

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Comments: 1.

10K a year and dropped?
They weren’t losing money on you I assume, so do you have a clue as to why they would cut their own income off?

Comment by Xerraire — 9/13/2006 @ 12:47 pm
2.

I have no idea why. It was a message signed by the “Affiliate Team”. They never sent a personal email during our whole relationship. They moved from one affiliate service provider to another which made me have to change out all links. After they ended the affiliate relationship, I had to remove all of the links again. That was enough. I will never place their links again. Unless they paid me at least 20k to make up for all of the hard work I did for them over the years and lack of relationship.

Comment by Wendy Shepherd — 9/13/2006 @ 1:16 pm
3.

How rude was that!!!! People like that you can definitly do with out and look at it this way it is their loss and now your free to add another grateful client!!!! Have a great weekend.
Blessings, Stephanie

Comment by Stephanie — 9/15/2006 @ 6:06 pm

Yeah, you heard it right. Time is ticking! Every day, every hour, every minute, our life here grows shorter. The last three weeks have been a blur for me, in a way. Do you ever feel that way?

I had worked on lots of ideas/work for my own business, friends and family were visiting a lot, then my kids and hubby got hit with a summer cold for a week. Last week I was slammed with some webdesign client work and tried to keep up on email. Now I am playing catchup on my own email/work. So is life with the internet in our lives, eh? and… I LOVE IT! I have no regrets because I am living life the way I want to. I am home with my family, homeschool my kids, read stories to them most nights, my husband now works part time and spends more time with our family, and life couldn’t be better. Well, a little more money would be nice, but really, I don’t care if I have tons of money or not. Just as long as we have just enough money for what we need.

With that in mind, please be patient as I try to get back to you via email if you are waiting on a reply. I am usually pretty quick with answers, but these last few weeks threw me for a loop. Geez, time flies!

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Comments: 1.

lol….geeze, Wendy, I wonder whos been keeping you hopping this week?

Comment by Mickie — 9/2/2006 @ 3:21 pm
2.

Well, I wonder. Perhaps that ‘little’ project we are both involved in will be announced to the world someday soon? Sounds like an impending birth, doesn’t it? lol

Comment by Wendy Shepherd — 9/2/2006 @ 4:27 pm
3.

gee, now we’re all left in suspense!

Comment by Xerraire — 9/2/2006 @ 10:13 pm