Use of Affiliated Search Facility on this web site

Update 14 April, 2001

After dropping its payment per search to 2c during March, Mamma.com decided to cease payment from 16 April. I have found that GoTo.com is still paying 2c so I've switched to that search facility. Initial tests show quite good results: keep searching!

Update 27 January, 2001

I've been trying out Mamma.com to replace Google. It does not follow the same syntax so I cannot exclude results from my site, and I don't think it produces results which are quite as good as Google, but it should still be a very useful addition to the site. Currently, Mamma.com pays 3c per click, but you have to view at least one result to count. The first ten days' use look promising. Subject to changes by Mamma.com, this could pay for the hosting and perhaps for extra space for more images.

Update 16 January, 2001

Unfortunately, Google has just announced "On February 1, 2001, we will be discontinuing our affiliate program..... While the affiliate program has been very popular, we believe Google can be most useful to you and others in the online community by focusing on what we do best: providing a powerful search service. We hope your participation in the Google affiliate program has been a positive experience".

This is a shame, because after about two months of using it on my site, I was beginning to believe that it would pay for the hosting of the web site. Now, I have to look around for an alternative program.

Having used several Internet search engines over the years, I have settled upon Google as being the one which finds pages with the greatest relevance. Often when I search for information on a particular bird, it will include my page for the species!

I have joined the Google Affiliate Program and have placed specially coded search boxes at the bottom of each of my country pages and species pages. The code includes information which Google needs to credit me with the appearance of the box and a click of the button. I have placed in the box either the name of the country and "stamps" or the scientific name of the species. Also, I decided to exclude pages from my own site. I am credited 1 US cent per click.

I hope the facility will be found useful: I certainly found lots of interesting sites while testing it out. It has one big draw-back: it takes you away from my site! So please come back soon!

Added 12 November, 2000