Affiliate Marketing Blog

This post is simply a thanks to ALL the networks who generously sponsored the bar (and remained for the best part of the evening without sloping of to another private party, which just isn’t cricket) for the pub get together yesterday at Dust (27 Clerkenwell Road, London). I think there was about 250-275 in all. It was a a refreshing change dipping back to the traditional informal pub meets to contrast with the always most excellent formal gatherings & events.

Also a special thanks to Kevin for instigating & organising the event.

It’s always a pleasure to bump into old colleagues, friends, foes & peers … old & new … I left with my good lady about 1am and there were still about 20 enjoying the night. Being a wuss when it comes to drinking, I had more than my quota of two drinks, yet wasn’t drunk. The signs are that for grub on the way back I had a chicken kebab & not a doner kebab.

Once again thank you to the sponsors for a most enjoyable evening.

Also a message to those who were there for the first ever gathering but not last night, you were missed & so were the stormtroopers.

Whlist at the affiliate pub gathering yesterday a fellow peer pointed out a new blog to me called Affiliate Bitch

Affiliate Bitch is a no holds barred approach to blogging & posting anonymously. dedicated to telling it “how it is?” in affiliate marketing.

“Affiliate Bitch is fed up of people moaning about anyone and everyone involved in affiliate marketing. Affiliates moan about merchants, merchants moan about networks. Well, tough! You chose the job you do, so do it, and deal with the c***, moaning about it won’t make it better. The deed has already been done.”

Affiliate Bitch is a place to ask a question and get an honest truthful answer without the sycophant tendancies or exaggeration. Affiliate Bitch takes no prisoners, so it’s not going to be a good news bible or politically correct censored posts.

How will it be received? This will depend on it’s readership & author contributions. Will some quarters deem it as unprofessional or simply an echo of how it is in the industry in private conversations at any affiliate gathering (which is sometimes veiled on other forums ) or simply a bit of fun … You decide … Most blogs don’t have rose tinted glass opinions but do hold back in various degrees of discretion / circumspection some of what they would really like to say, I guess this is potentially going that extra yard in the ouch factor.

If you’d want to become a bitch then you simply email them, and your anomnimity shall be retained. They’ll monitor posts, and anything that’s way too dodgy may be ammended.

It seems to be in the very early stages atm, so check out yourself at Affiliate Bitch.

Since the recent AOL buy-out of Buy.at. There have been recent departures by the former Buy.at foundation building folk of Steven Brown & Malcolm Cowley who I can only assume have moved on to pastures new with a somewhat silent withdrawal, as if ushered out of the tradesman’s entrance & soon to be followed by Kevin Cornils.

Pushed? Shoved? Made their fortunes? Ran with the cash? or Gardening leave? We can only speculate. Differences to one side, it was anticipated but the quiet manner without fanfare it wasn’t.

Is Buy.at becoming the Titanic or the Mary Celeste? or is it a hybrid of the twane? As for the preceding showering of petals I scoff at the very notion.

In my humble, yet, vociferous opinion Buy.at veered off the correct navigational course many moons ago. On their maiden voyage the bearings seemed correct and the crewmen (affiliates) shouted “ship ahoy” in unison with what seemed a welcomed & fresh approach to the industry.

It soon became apparent, in my opinion, that they (the company) became pirates & plunderers as the Jolly Roger was hoisted (derived from “Old Roger” which was the nickname for the devil). Whether they were charmed by the mermaids or in the immortal words of Elvis … the “Devil in Disguise”… there is still barnacled driftwood floating about in the crows nest and whether the recently commissioned Captain AOL request that a few (not all) walk the plank or if newly recruited deckhands can steer them back on course is another question or will they eventually sink into the abyss.

Good luck Steve & Malcolm … Drink up me hearties, yo ho.

PS Do they lock away the nice people in a closet? Where are the likes of techie Paul,  horse loving Louise Green & Chris Tradgett.

Following on from Matts Blog Post … TradeDoubler Appoints IAB Affiliate Council Head Ben Wood as UK MD and the forum discussion IAB AMC Chair Ben Wood Joins Tradedoubler.

Some fellow respected peers who have attended the AMC meetings have commented about Ben’s positive attributes & his appointment at Tradedoubler as being quite an inspired choice. However though, he is guaranteed to be on a rapid & steep exponential learning curve to acquire knowledge of the affiliate marketing industry, it will be a question of who influences who. We have all too often seen personnel in the industry who have the willingness to listen, learn and adapt, but yet are misguided or incorrectly trained & thus not attuned to the mindset of the affiliates.

By being my blunt self, about Tradedoubler, we have not yet seen any leopards changing their spots and I would be quite offended if we see any repeated charm offensive develop again. The sound of tumbleweed in addressing affiliate concerns on the forum & the service I have historically received myself in general is poor enough, let’s hope Ben Wood doesn’t get assimilated by the Borg & exercises his own positive attributes & transferable skills to turn things around at Tradedoubler.

Ben, I don’t personally know you, but good luck, you’ll going to need it.

P.S. My missus says “he’s a very nice man, a very very nice man, a very nice man indeed.”

Realistically, how long should programs be permitted to remain suspended? Whether it be due to tracking problems, budgetary restraints, invoice payments (not paying).

Perhaps there should be a best practise to the maximum period allowed before closing the program rather than wasting affiliates traffic.

Yes, this thread was spurred by the recent announcement of the Harrods program closure on Tradedoubler, it’s a program which doesn’t really concern me, though taking over 7 months to sort out is a liability for those affiliates that do.

However, I have noticed historically on a couple of other networks that some programs remain perpetually suspended when they should be perhaps closed, rather than leaving affiliates in the lurch for extended periods of time and the indecision of whether to keep the links up, in vague hope or anticipation that the program will go live or be reactivated.

To those networks it concerns please stop wasting affiliates most precious commodities … their time & traffic. So networks, please (with a cherry on top) make a decision one way or the other on your current suspended programs.

“Apologies for the inconvenience” in emails don’t really wash anymore, because they more often than not lack sincerity and are employed to simply try & suppress backlash from affiliates.

It’s 2am and I am having a solitary brainstorming session, occasionally on the forum a discussion on who should be attributed the commission arises, such that the question is whether last click referrer is yesteryear (which can be opened to abuse or affiliates “accused” of misleading potential customers in order to plant the cookie) … and whether there should be movement towards awarding a number of affiliates along the customer journey by dividing the commissions in whatever decided relevant proportions amongst all those involved … which I think could be quite complex to resolve … I fear this would prove to be further argumentative than it currently is judging by the discussions which are taking place.

By throwing something into the pot, perhaps a “Queuing System” or “Chain Gang” might be a workable solution.

Now I don’t know if any other network already has anything similar, but the concept is quite simple whereby one affiliates cookie cannot be overwritten for 24 hours & other cookie drops for same visitor goes into a queuing system? i.e. each cookie is given the normal cookie period, but any preceding cookie in the chain has at least a 24 hour lifespan.

Such that the the second affiliate cannot overwrite the first affiliates cookie for 24 hours after the intial one was set, but goes into a queue (note not neglected), once the 24 hours are up, the second affiliate cookie kicks into effect for a further 24 hours or the remaining cookie period until a further affiliate cookie comes into play … and so forth with the queuing system. This could be 48 hours if it is the desired choice.

… and if an affiliate is removed from a program for whatever reason, is it possible to reward the previous affiliates cookie in the chain rather than the commission being lost or deleted altogther.

Now networks have the figures on the lifespan of a cookie before it’s overwritten, but this may appease those who were earlier in the customer journey.

But there is still no case for whether the earlier or the later cookie had a better presell, that can never really be determined on who planted the seed or who tended to it or who harvested it, it depends on what mode the customer was in at that point in time (and which PC)

However will it be that rewarding various affiliates on the customers journey create more problems, complications & disagreements when maybe paying a click element per step & then a slightly reduced commission at the final purchase maybe an easier option, and then how do we get around merchants on different networks with different cookie rules from which has more or less been in operation since concept.

With reference to paid search and a merchant “x” program with keyword restrictions … at what point does a brand become a merchant .. and what is the rule with regard to resellers.

Let’s take a couple of recent examples. Last week I was working briefly on a keyword database for sporting supplements. One of the popular brands also has an affiliate program, but their branded products are also sold by other resellers / merchant “y”who also have affiliate programs.

Can I or Can’t I use those keywords, or would I have to remove myself from the program of merchant “x” in order to use those keywords & promote the resellers. I haven’t mentioned this merchant yet because they see the logical problem, seem quite reasonable & are maybe looking at opening up their keyword policy because their resellers are already in the space.

Suntan lotions & creams was another I have been working on, Ambre Solaire is a popular brand who currently don’t have an affiliate program so I have a choice of merchants of who to send customers to, but what if they started a program with keyword restrictions?

Now lets take other programs like Dell & Apple which have keyword restrictions (maybe even BBGs ) There are other merchants (with affiliate programs) who are resellers of their products .. Can I or Can’t I use keywords related to those products?

Probably the biggest area is mobile phones like Orange, Vodafone, T Mobile, (the former two having BBGs btw), but there are plenty of other retailers who offer tarifs or handsets relating to them.

We also see a few brand clothing merchants too, basically the list goes on & on.

Say I was bidding on “Sony DVD Player” but the Sony affiliate program had keyword restrictions, it’s like them turning around to an electrical retailer in the high street & telling them they can’t promote Sony products in their shop window.

It’s a tricky one, but in my opinion if there is a reseller of those products then any associated keywords should perhaps be fair game, unless the reseller / merchant “y specfically prohibits it. However the problem develops still further if the original merchant “x” appears somewhere on your site & not necessarily the landing page even if your focus is on the resellers. It’s a slight dilemma when merchant “x” starts throwing toys out of their cot, then the only option is perhaps to drop out of the merchant “x” program in favour of the reseller / merchant “y.

Is this going to be a further potential problem & additional clauses merchants will start incorporating? I think we already see similar on magazine & hotel affiliate programs, but will it escalate? Will boundaries be further encroached with get out of jail free cards enforcing further restrictions.

Come on networks, share the lurve, by giving affiliates backlinks for those who would like them, you’ll be helping them help you! Set up some directory structure on your site.

And merchants can share the lurve with a virtual cyberspace cuddle by rewarding their successful affiliates with a courtesy backlink too.

Refer to this parable and swap out the reference to a freebie gift with a backlink
Lets get all warm & fuzzy inside.

Let me bring up a parable from an earlier blog.

“The story is told that there once was a blind beggar (the merchant or network) who sat beside a road, fingering the rice in his little bowl. He wore only a loin loth and sat in poverty beside the road that stretched nowhere in both directions.

The scarce travellers occasionally gave him a little rice. One day he heard the thunder of a chariot in the distance. It was the grand entourage of the king (the affiliate). This was a moment that had never come before and probably would ever come again. Surely the great king (the affiliate) would stop and give him baskets of rice.

Indeed, the golden chariot of the king (the affiliate) stopped before the poor beggar (the merchant or network). The great one stepped down, and the beggar (the merchant or network) fell before him. Then the sky seemed to fall in.

Give me your rice, please” politely asked the king (the affiliate).

A fearful and hateful scowl masked the face of the beggar (the merchant or network). He reached into his bowl and thrust one grain of rice toward the king (the affiliate).

“Is that all?” said the king (the affiliate).

The beggar (the merchant or network) spat on the ground, cursed and threw the king (the affiliate) one more grain of rice, then got up & walked away in a huff. The great king (the affiliate) then turned, entered his chariot and was gone.

The beggar (the merchant or network), angry, empty & crushed, fingered the remaining rice he had hoarded in this bowl. He felt something hard, different from the rice. He pulled it out … It as one kernel of gold. He then poured out the rest of his rice, caring nothing for it now … He found one other grain of gold.

Had he trusted the king (the affiliate), he could have had a grain of gold for every grain of rice!!!”

So for some merchants & networks (the beggars), think about this Parable. A backlink can go a long way.

Definition of Backlinks

“Backlinks (or back-links (UK)) are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (though other measures, such as PageRank, are likely to be more important). Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.

In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node. Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links.” - Wikipedia

Related Blog to Read : Big Up The Content Affiliate Massive Aiii!

Spurred by the consensus that there’s maybe a lack of recognition for “content affiliates”, I want to bring up a very old idea we had about a matchmaking service for affiliates & merchants.

Quite simply there is a directory of various categories from Sport (which can include sub categories like Football or Golf) to Credit Cards to Electrical Products etc .. and even genre categories for sites which are primarily finance portals, cashback, voucher codes, competition websites, shopping directories / price comparison & so forth.

This directory is populated by affiliates with their websites into the relevant categories.

This would allow merchants to easily indentify which affiliates are most suited to them & open up the lines of communication & liase directly, hopefully forging closer relationships with the calibre of affiliate which marries their own product offering.

At the moment I don’t know if networks categorise affiliate websites properly to ensure their clients, the merchants, can identify which affiliates are most suited to their product offering. I can imagine a network when pitching to a client at some point saying we have X thousand affiliates & blinding with numbers. But if the merchant turns around and asks “exactly which, not an estsimated how many, of those affiliates promotes football boots?”. Would the network really know?

Obviously this can be expanded further with contact details being provided for the merchant or an internal instant messaging system. Another addition could be complete categorisation of merchant programs too from all the main networks where affiliates can easily find the right merchant. Then perhaps merchant & affiliate can meet in the middle.

Maybe this will just assist merchants that little bit more.

The downside is that some affiliates may wish to keep their websites to themselves, if that is the case they wouldn’t have to include themselves, so this is geared towards those who are maybe looking for a better deal by negotiating directly with the merchant (who initiates the contact).

Today I am going to illustrate how Google hasn’t yet monetised their organic listings to their full potential, a Gold Mine, it’s something we have been utilising for a few years on our own small dummy search engines with moderate success & if scaled up will be relatively successful for any affiliate … for Google this would be immense.

When you conduct a search on Google you are presented with natural / organic listings & sponsored listings.

Say a potential customer was looking for a merchant, lets use Marks & Spencer as a hypothetical example, assuming the user doesn’t click on any sponsored listings, if they click on an organic listing this is deemed “free” traffic for the merchant. You see the display url as www.marksandspencer.com (we shall call this the anchor text for familiarity) and if you view the link properties (target url) as www.marksandspencer.com too.

Remember: Google is the property of Google, and not the jurisdiction of merchants, affiliates or anybody else apart from Google themselves. Such that no publisher has any divine right to appear organically & that this “free” traffic is taken for granted.

Remember: I’ve long advocated the need for affiliates to develop their own search engines and keep web search on their site rather than the user returning to the search engine i.e. retain users on their own site.

Sometime ago (a few years) we developed small insignificant “search engines” utilising available backfills & implemented an idea called … “URL REPLACEMENT”

This initially involves creating a simple three column spreadsheet database containing merchant names, their website url & the affiliate link if they have a program on a network.

Before the organic results are displayed, all you simply do is match the display url with the database, if the display url matches, then the link properties (target url) are changed to the affiliate link. So in the case of Marks & Spencer, the display url / anchor text will remain www.marksandspencer.com, but the link properties (target url) will be replaced with the affiliate link.

Just for Marks & Spencer alone, Google could be making a six figure sum a month, now multiply this by the number of merchants with affiliate programs & the result is an absolute Gold Mine in additional income to possibly compete with their existing revenue via Google Adwords. Obviously Yahoo and Microsoft can do the same thing, why not it’s their search engine & property. The downside is that this could decimate affiliate marketing with regard to visitors returning via cookies who may return to the merchant via organic listings.

It might be interesting times ahead, when organic listings for retailers & services no longer becomes a “free” ride, currently these are being taken for granted, it’s misguided to have the perception that anyone has some divine right to acquire “free” traffic via organic search on their brand. I guess in essense a bit like the old “pay for inclusion”, if you remember those days.

If Google ran their own affiliate network or applied to a program on a network (that thought itself is quite peculiar), do you think a merchant would refuse them being a member of their program?

Obviously the same theory can be applied to customers searching for any generic phrases or product related terms whereby ALL matching display url’s within the organic results are substituted using the “URL REPLACEMENT” theory.

This is partly why in a previous blog I mentioned search engines like Google as the achilles heal of affiliate marketing unless the industry creates something itself, not to compete head to head, but outflank, maybe via niches & vertical sectors.

In the meantime affiliates & publishers can easily implement themselves within their own web sites utilising free & paid backfill results on a smaller scale to gain a moderate amount of increased revenue, scale it up and reap the rewards of your labour. The concept is simple but effective, you can even tweak the results by bringing merchants with an affiliate program to the fore in the organic results & even order them according to their EPC.

This is something we plan to do a lot further on a sizeable scale & maybe looking for trusted affiliates work alongside with & emabark on this bold venture.