Business
A Post-Advertising Business Model That is 6X More Valuable
There is a lot to dislike about advertising supported business models. Ads are generally annoying.

There is a lot to dislike about advertising supported business models. Ads are generally annoying. They are so scattershot that the overwhelming bulk of them fail to motivate anything like a sale.
They cause those running web sites to flood them with frantically produced content, causing the quality of the experience to erode. Worst of all, the hunt for better ways to target ads is creating entire categories of companies with a vested interest in tracking everything we do online or on a mobile device, with the goal of aggregating this information and selling it. And that industry is only in its infancy — I shudder to think of where it’s heading. But the biggest problem with ads is that we are all increasingly sophisticated at tuning them out.
Now, imagine if instead of blasting out ads that are for the most part meaningless to those receiving them, an advertiser could instead pay to get access to a real, live, customer who was genuinely interested in and possibly in the market for whatever they were selling. Wouldn’t it be worth something to know that those customers are actually keen to find out more about the product? And to be able to design your products and services with those specific customers in mind? Very valuable indeed.
Well, that model exists and some savvy entrepreneurs are beginning to take major advantage of it. It’s called the affiliate model and in some ways it’s back to the future. In the affiliate model, payments are made for referrals to the affiliate’s site. In other words, if I’m in the market for the very best olive pitter on the planet, I might visit the web site of a cooking guru to see what that person would recommend.
If they post their recommendation with a link, and I click on the link, the olive pitter producer pays the guru for the referral. Isn’t that nice? People not in the olive pitter market don’t have to endure ads for them and people who are can build a community around the expertise of the guru.
Some businesses are taking major advantage of this. Kevin Kelley, a founder of Wired Magazine and now its senior maverick, runs a referral site called Cool Tools. The New York Times quoted him as noting that his referral revenue exceeds his advertising revenue six to one. So here’s a holiday wish from me. Advertisers: Stop bothering me with irrelevant and irritating ads for things I will never buy. Instead, figure out how to use trusted sources to make offers only to the people who will really want them, and leave the rest of us alone.
Continued –
Business
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The online dispute settlement platform for intellectual property cases will assist with cases related to copyright, patents, and trademark infringements using digital technology.
Business
Thailand pushes for “Ease of Doing Business” reforms
Thailand is in the process of responding to the World Bank’s advice and the “Ten for Ten” proposal by five ambassadors to Thailand, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Supattanapong Punmeechaow.

The government has made improving the business environment in Thailand a key policy by setting a goal to raise the ranking of the ease of doing business to be among the top 20 countries in the world.
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Thailand remains in pole position for the highest funds raised across Southeast Asia
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THAILAND, 26 November 2020 — Capital markets across Southeast Asia stayed resilient in 2020 despite a host of uncertainties from the evolving global health crisis to the worsening US-China trade tensions and the impact of the US presidential elections.
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