Moose on the Loose

It looks like another big bear hug is in order for the guys up at Paid On Results with their latest development catering for expired links and closed programs.

Dead Links are Alive! … Like a phoenix which rises from the ashes ensuring that those potential extra pennies find their way into the coffers of affiliates.

• “Paid On Results launch a unique way for Affiliates to deal with expired links. In the ideal world, as Merchants close a program, Affiliates will nip on and remove the links replacing them with relevant new Merchants. However, we are very aware that the time involved in just hunting down the links over a number of sites can be very time consuming and, as one large affiliate pointed out, some times a few links get lost in the mix and are very hard to track down. “

Now affiliates have their own preferences on how they wish expired links to be treated, from the options below it seems they have catered for a vast majority of choices which include:

• “Display the standard expired Merchants page, with related Merchant links.”

• “Display your own customised expired Merchants Page. You design it and we automatically insert the most relevant Merchants from our Network.”

• “Continue to redirect to the expired Merchant as normal. Of course no commission will be paid.”

• “Redirect to any URL of your choice.” (My Personal Preference)

• “You can even show related Merchants links with the cut and paste in code that we provide.”

By default, if you do nothing, they will display the standard expired Merchants page, with related Merchant links.

This will all cater for all historical programs within Paid On Results, for example you can send the visitor back to a page on your site and show relevent merchants along with your own content.

The system is about you sourcing & removing your dead links whilst the information emails come in, so you at least have the benefit of potentially making some money in the short term until you have removed the dead links, where previously you were making zilch.

It doesn’t just stop there, if that wasn’t enough, you are even alerted to potential sales from the defaults page for merchants you might not be signed up with.

• “If one of the related Merchants we have chosen on the expired Merchants page is not one you’re an Affiliate of currently and if you make a sale via this Merchant you will be sent an email inviting you to join the program. If you do so within 7 days of the sale and are accepted (note currently we only show Merchants with an auto-join policy) then you will be rewarded with the sale. You should consider removing and updating your expired link with this new Merchant as clearly your customers are interested in buying via that Merchant should a sale happen. “

• “The new system doesn’t just do all that, we will also email you every day with a list of expired link locations that have been clicked on (note that you do not get an email if nothing was clicked on). This will allow you to more effectively find and deal with old links on your website, and will hopefully lead to greater conversion as your site is full of live Merchants you can actively make money via.”

I am looking forward to seeing this in action, because when I view the reports on some other networks, I do see a number of clicks for merchants which have closed and don’t have the foggiest idea where they are coming from.

Even at this moment I am tediously spending a couple of days cross referencing programs across several networks whose can’t quite grab the conception of communication, perhaps it’s too long a word for them to comprehend. But from two of the four networks we feel are notorious for this. One had about 15 program closures we were not notified about & another was 40-50.

Cheers Paid on Results for looking after my pennies so that the pounds will look after themselves. Dead Links are Alive!

One may say be a fat affiliate for longevity & survivability another may say be a thin affiliate to milk the cow whilst it is fat. Why is it one or the other?

Simply do both at the same time & it’s a potential win win situation.

At the moment we hear these buzz words like … “thin” … “fat” … “length” … “girth”, take your pick on whatever grabs your fancy, but realistically in 5 years time, 10 at most, what is affiliate marketing going to look like? Is it going to be recognisable?

Some folk might reference to the classification of that current buzzwords “Web 2.0” & “Social Media”, where we could point to a few individual sites which may possess sustainability qualities, or do they? U-Tube (I still like) which might have a longer slow burn than Facebook (the novelty factor wore off quickly for me) & very much like an evolved version of Friends Reunited or Classmates. Where if you refer to predecessors like Friends Reunited & My Space, which with hindsight are maybe now considered as passing fads, but these are successes for only a few.

Please note using “Web 2.0” for monetisation is a different conversation and it’s worthwhile checking out Lee’s Blog … Guide: Social Media & Affiliate Marketing (Speaker’s Notes) which is from his excellent presentation at A4UExpo.

Hypothetically speaking, assume a network cuts 4000 cheques a month for those meeting the minimum payment threshold. Maybe a quarter of those do affiliate marketing full time, I haven’t checked the census.

However, you can’t have 4000 Facebooks or U-Tubes, so what will happen to those 4000 cheques cut or 1000 affiliate who are full time businesses. Will it evolve or evaporate down to a concentrated few hundred fat cat affiliates, if that even, who have the resources to recoup a healthy income.

Hold on though … Facebook, MySpace, U Tube, Friends Reunited are NOT affiliate sites, so why are they even referred too by affiliates?

What are good examples of “fat” affiliate sites? I don’t go around checking what affiliate sites are out there, so I admit that is ignorance on my behalf, unless someone wants me to offer an opinion of their site. I am only familiar with a few friends sites, who are as long in the tooth as me, and yes they are certainly top notch.

However, could we partially, not wholly, blame networks in not providing the tools over the past 5 – 10 years to expedite affiliates into developing fatter sites, or should this lay at the doorstep of the affiliates for not taking more initiative.

Google may have inadvertently revealed another one of its underbellies, and there are few to be exploited. If you read Shane’s Blog … Google Embedded Site Search – Brand Abuse ? Apart from the valid points on there like a bigger wedge of cash derived from advertisers, and brand losing their brand status cos of the search capabilities, thus levelling the playing field a little. Yet, Google keeps advocating spin about “content rich” sites and so forth, but hang on if these so called “content rich” sites become too “sticky” then it means less users going back to Google to search & less advertising revenue for them. So would they want to list sites which are too sticky, well in theory no, but they want decent search results thus thin ones are thrown into the mix. Thus Google’s Embedded Site Search may have been the compromise, illustrating that Google is keen to keep search on it’s own site for revenue driven purposes. That’s the clue, the philosphy of keeping search on your own site.

A couple of years ago I suggested that if most affiliate sites had search functionality on their site i.e. organic search, I don’t mean just for products on their site. Then it will give less reason for visitors to leave & use other search engines. It won’t be much of a dent initially, but will depend how well you market it, how good the results are & how many affiliates embrace it.

Thus we have the following pointers for Survival of the Fattest

• Affiliates develop their own search engine & market themselves? I hear affiliates are quite good at this thing called marketing.

• Affiliates start having web search on their sites to keep users within site.

• Affiliates in different niches combine content or different verticals for one super site.

• Affiliates start planting the seed to users of other search engines apart from Google.

I am a little more optimistic, that with the right consolidation of skill-sets within this industry, affiliates can make a significant dent in the monoliths monopolisation, not go head to head, but out flank them. Affiliates know how to manipulate traffic & inform users, they just need to be more shrewd in how they do it.

i.e. Do you add content to Wikipedia or do you add content to your own sites or better still get users to add it to yours on various niches instead of Wikipedia. On the whole I find this whole content discussion thing viewed as too black & white with buzzwords used too liberally once again.

Crib Notes: Google Adwords

One thing I will say, Google looks for a shopping cart, with some direct to merchant paid search we have done has in the past, the ads have been affected for those merchants where the secure transaction went off site, it was something Google mentioned to us in passing as they were also looking for an on-site shopping basket, and even though the sites had decent enough content, they considered it a bridging page.

Maybe you should trial having ALL external links from your site going via redirects & https (note https !!!) & rel=”nofollow”. Fake the basket.

When using adwords, treat your sites as disposable & don’t get emotional about them, like SEO I guess you never know when you might get hit & are no longer the teachers pet, simply play kiss chase. They hit you by kissing your proverbial backside goodbye, you run (copied content over to another domain), they chase, rinse & repeat.

Just because you get spanked it doesn’t necessarily mean your content was bad, make a few modifications & whack up a new one. This maybe “thin” & “narrow” minded, but it’s no reason why you cannot operate as a “fat” & “thin” affiliate concurrently, why should it be one or the other?

Your “fat” site can then be your fallback biatch.

What exactly is unique content? How can we define it once and for all?

I don’t know the answer to the question, so I am asking the question instead.

Then I will come onto what is recognised by search engines as unique content and how to avoid duplicate content issues. There are easy ways around duplicate content issues, which I ‘llexplain later as well as how some ultimately comes down to copyright, they are distinctly different.

As for Fat Affiliate or Thin Affiliate … my answer is in allegory … Does one buy milk from the supermarket? … or does one buy a cow & milk the cow whilst it’s fat for oneself.

Is it simply the volume or detail & description that makes something perceived as unique? What one’s perception of unique content might be, may not be to another. By scrambling the same words around & injecting a few others, in theory (whatever that theory is) does it actually make it unique? Thus are we using the correct adjective?

Is content simply something which is reworded, rephrased, re-mocked or rehashed & then put out there in some form, is it basically one & the same thing?

How many ways are there to describe a widget or the paint colour chart at your local diy store. Unique & quality is down to user & individual perception / evaluation, what you call light blue I might call topaz, what you call green I might call jade .. or ..

• Woodgate scored the winning goal for Spurs

• Woodgate headed to score the winning goal for Tottenham Hotspur

• Woodgate leaped high above Cech outwitting him to head the winning goal in the Carling Cup Final

• Woodgate leaped high above Cech outwitting him to head the winning goal for Tottenham Hotspur in extra time of the Carling Cup Final to beat Chelsea 2-1 and win their first major trophy since 1999.

The result is the same .. Woodgate scored the winning goal! .. so is any more unique than the other when it boils down to basically the same point?

Writing your version of an event or a product is still a re-edited version of the event or product detail, where it probably becomes more unique is via personal experience of an event or use of a product or experience of a services.

Do affiliates need to oversell, pre-sell or worse still pre-sell twice

Prefill the Basket – Don’t Presell the Customer Twice

Now for the Pise’ La Resistance

What is recognised by search engines as unique content, and a way of avoiding duplicate content issues & what some ultimately comes down to copyright, is distinctly different.

Let’s take a hypothetical example … you copy a full blown article from Wikipedia …

Say for example something about Imhotep, the first architect of the pyramids of the non royal population of Egypt, and the first mortal to be heralded as god-like.

How will the search engine spider measure unique content? On the site it will display exactly the same as the Wikipedia article, however the source code is different. Using simple coding you can randomise which words appear as hard coded, which display via javascript & which appear image based. The spider / bot cannot fully differentiate, by randomising the process you can fool the search spider / bot into thinking you have unique content which is constantly /intermittently changing (thinking its updating) through simple randomisation. Thus, though there might be copyright issues for articles or you have used the description from a merchants product feed for example … to the search engine you have fooled them into thinking it’s unique content & you’ll potentially avoid content duplication penalties.

I am not questioning the need for unique content, but questioning what the true definition is & if we use the adjective “unique” or phrase “content is king” too liberally, without analysing the actual core substance of the written material.

Just a little thought for you, expanding on a recent blog entry, is for paid search affiliates to be a little wary of a possible trend in the keyword policy for merchants, whereby merchants will start restricting you from not only bidding but also APPEARING / SHOWING. Putting you at the mercy of Google’s expanded match or possible full introduction of automatic broadmatch or any other paid search engine’s broadmatching algorithmn.

First of all let’s cover some real basics, and I mean basics.

Currently most merchants with restricted keyword policies say don’t bid on their brand, which is fair enough, though they should ensure they actually register the official marks they own with the respective paid search providers.

The misspellings & variations has a different discussion of its own pertaining to it’s merits, though these keyword policies too are respected. However, does a merchant really know what they ALL are? The answer is NO, so in essence the standardised “no misspellings & variations” policies you see illustrates that either network or merchant or both isn’t thinking outside the box. For example is that merchant appearing in number one spot organically for those? Many merchants foolishly think that because they might appear number one or high up in organic search, even on their brand, they get a 100% CTR, when by rule of thumb it is probably a fraction of this. Even if you think reasonably, say 60%, that is still 40% leakage! Which can be offset still further (not completely) with a paid search advertisement in place, assuming they know ALL the variations & misspellings?

What merchants / networks fail to realise is that paid search & seo are not so different entities, if you ask this simple question.

“Do you agree that it’s unreasonable to expect a merchant to pay commissions on sales generated on their brand name by affiliates appearing in organic results?” … My answer is that I think it is unreasonable. Each has an element of cost & can be influenced to a certain degree but not ultimately controlled because of paid search & search engine algorithms. How do you know you haven’t had sales deduped becuase the last clickcame via a merchants own organic listings?

So many merchants / networks show there naivety on this alone!

A similar understanding can be thrown in the mix with hybrid phrases (brand +generic), there is then a likelihood of an increased number of sponsored ads bidding on the generic element, with merchants holding the brand part, still mistakenly thinking they get a maximum CTR rate from organic search, though if they are marrying this with paid search too (assuming they know ALL the hybrids, this is more measurable metric)

This related article will assist in the discussion to.

Say No ! to Restricting Affiliates Using Generic Terms in Paid Search Advertising

Now for the point of the blog …

To Not Appear or Not To Bid … That is the Question

Being asked (not dictated to like a scolded child) not to bid on brand, is fair enough, if an affiliate is using generic & product terms, a network / merchant / agency forcing negatives to cover expanded broadmatch issues & the possibly impending automatic match is over stepping the boundaries. Issues with Google’s algorithm for example are between the network / merchant / agency and Google et al … not the affiliate.

Ethical affiliates will respect not bidding on the brand & even misspellings / variations, but poppycock to negatives. Paid search affiliates will have thousands of adgroups & a number of accounts. To negative match every adgroup, account. merchant or site they promote is not only impractical, impossible but also unreasonable.

Put the boot on the other foot, If affiliates turned around to a merchant and demanded that the merchant put in a negative keywords for EVERY affiliate … i.e. 20,000 affiliates … which is an equal & reciprocated demand, do you think for one nanosecond that the merchant or network would agree or comply with this? No, they wouldn’t … so back off!

Now for the foreseeable trend, which affiliates should be wary off. Merchants & networks are going to try & circumnavigate this Google or paid search broadmatching problem by sneakily introducing a clause instead of saying you CANNOT BID on a phrase, YOU CANNOT APPEAR or SHOW FOR A PHRASE.

Take this as a warning, a few parties are really going to try this on by forcing negatives on paiod search affiliates.

Thus, yet again I refer to the aforementioned reasons, the onus is on the network / merchant / agency to register their actual marks with the paid search providers and apply pressure on them to stop aggravating affiliates. Any network that permits this to continue can expect an exodus of paid search affiliate (whatever the degree) unless they STOP putting the onus on & dictating to affiliates, because affiliates will bite back twice as hard or worse still simply abandon you.

So remember, forcing negative keywords is no jurisdiction of the network or merchant or agency. If you do, then you’ll need to re-examine the Pyramid of Perception.

Click Here for the Pyramid of Perception

Stop thinking SEO & Paid Search are different entities, preventing a merchant from appearing in organic search to a certain degree is just as easy or hard. So why aren’t SEO affiliates having the same restrictions imposed on them, ranking reasonably on Paid Search or Organic Results has their own elements of individual skill.

Why not turn to a SEO affiliate and say no more meta tags or name=”robots” content=”index,follow” or forcing javascript or images to be used for wherever the merchants name, variation or misspelling is mentioned.

Totally unreasonable isn’t it! Then in the same manner so is forcing negative keywords on paid search affiliates! When it seems there is lack in equality of who is receiving all the slaps by the happy-slappers, when perhaps neither paid search or seo affiliates should be be getting slapped at all.

Part of the problem is the training & perception of many network employees & merchants was incorrect from the start, so much so that it becomes ingrained as a bad habit, which needs to be reprogrammed, as bad advice is being given out.

But please heed this warning, as these are & will be further introduced without you fully realising and only then will it be from a network taking the side of a merchant, which is a familiar story with several networks. If it does, dump that merchant & if persistent the network too.

They perhaps can sometimes be more perceived as a sheep in wolf’s clothing, rather than the traditional saying as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I am just wondering if it would potentially be a nice idea to read more blog entries about the trials & tribulations of affiliate managers from a network or agency.

We all know they read affiliate blogs, but can’t give an a4uforum backing because it’s perceived as “political”, so you occasionally get virtual back slaps via msn messenger.

That aside, I am looking for an affiliate manager(s) from a network or merchant to intermittently blog with no deadline pressure, anonymously of course, about what happens their side of the fence, so that as affiliates we can appreciate what they may go through from the good & humourous times to bad aspects to the daft questions affiliates ask them. Obviously client names & affiliate names will be dubbed out as xyz etc, but it would be nice just to get a smidgen of a balanced perspective out there, even if just one article & written in their own creative style.

Realistically I am not anticipating much in the way of takers, but if there are any affiliate managers who would like to come out of the closet, please feel welcome to contact by  either Email, PM on the forum, or Pinging me via MSN Messenger.

It’s fairly rarely I initially get stumped for words or flabbergasted … and upon discussion with a friend, he quotes “I’m stumped for expletive free words… not so rare but unusual” … “Google. … the constant struggle to extract yet more cash from advertisers wallets continues” … If this is a sign of things to come forpaid search advertisers, then it’s quite disconcerting … so read on

My first and immediate concern IF this is rolled out, is to hold Google (a carnivorous annelid worm of the class Hirudinea?) in further disdain, that it is believed advertisers will be automatically opted-in … yep that’s right … you “could” wake up one morning to realise that your bank balance has been bled dry before you have had the opportunity to opt-out. Especially if you are unaware of the future potential changes (assuming this is fully rolled out).

A couple of days ago, some information was released pertaining to a private Google Adwords beta program they are testing called “Automatic Matching”. I haven’t yet ascertained if this is purely for the US market or across advertisers over different territories.

The perceived email being circulated is as follows:

“I’m excited to tell you that you have been selected to participate in a beta for our new Automatic matching feature which will be starting on February 28th.

Automatic matching automatically extends your campaign’s reach by using surplus budget to serve your ads on relevant search queries that are not already triggered by your keyword lists. By analysing the structure and content of your website and Adwords campaigns, we deliver more impressions and clicks while maintaining your current CTR’s and CPC’s.

For example, If you sold Adidas shoes on your website, Automatic matching would automatically crawl your landing page and target your campaigns to queries such as: “shoes” “adidas” “athletic”, etc., and less obvious ones such as “slippers” that our system has determined will benefit you and likely lead to a conversion on your site.

Be assured that automatic matching will try to never exceed your budget. If you’re already meeting your daily budgets, automatic matching will have a minimal effect on your account.”

So currently we have expanded match which I just call a form of contextual matching which systematically happens on both Google & major partner sites like AOL, displaying ads for keywords advertisers don’t actually bid on, which in itself makes a mockery of Google’s irrelevant “quality” score. Now we have the probability of Google’s so called & self proclaimed advocate of the holy grail of relevancy as nothing more than hollow spin. As you may have experienced this has been around for several years & a few so called networks & merchants still haven’t got their heads around this.

Whereby we might soon have Google’s algorithm “magically” choosing which of our keywords they will decide to “automatically match” by supposedly looking at our website.

Poppycock, only last week we set up various adgroups using the same ad copy & set of keywords, except for changing the display & destination url. Two of the display/destination url’s were for sites that didn’t exist, and guess what, yep the minimum bid requirements for the pages/websites that didn’t exist had lower minimum bid requirements.. 1/4 to 1/5 of the cost. Yet still we get these “quality” score advocates beating the Google drum.

This strikes me as nothing more than another opportunist attempt for Google to empty our wallets & rake in more cash by underhandedly manipulating advertisers to spend up to their maximum budgets each day.

The Google spin machine will probably go into warp over-drive by proclaiming it’s not intended to exhaust the budget, without giving credit to experienced paid search marketeers who know what delivers ROI for them and how to achieve the desired performance metrics such as CTR’s, CPC’s and so forth.

Another area this might effect are the keyword policies pertaining to existing affiliate programs whereby ads could appear for hybrid phrases, misspellings & even brand (if not registered with Google) due to this “automatic matching”, which may lead to these keyword policies changing from “you cannot bid on xyz brand” to “you cannot appear for xyz brand” … notice the subtle difference … For which in the latter case advertisers will have little control & will be at the mercy of the Google Adwords Automatic Matching Algorithm.

Even if this is only at beta testing stage at the moment, perhaps we need to be wary of what might unfold. The perception of the Holy Grail of ad relevance is no more .. so accept it.

This will naturally be advantageous to some lazy agencies who’s goal is to arrogantly blast thru the ignorance of their clients budgets each month with little thought for ROI or effectiveness, since they get a % of their clients ad spend.

Whilst, in tandem users will possibly see more irrelevant ads.

Will this subsequently push minimum bid prices up?

It could possibly be a coup for loose arbitrage sites!

As an advertiser I want better reporting & control over my ads, especially knowing what search phrases are triggering which keywords, so that I can add to my never ending negative keyword base /arsenal (sorry about swearing),  allowing me to focus on those converting keywords. What about those niche keywords at low cost that advertisers may promote, they might find this once profitable route suddenly becomes a traffic jam in a cul de sac.

I know I have mentioned before, but there is something sinisterly wrong if advertisers are automatically opted-in.

Many advertisers have their budgets set way higher than they could afford, to ensure visibility & daily fluctuations in ad spend, which as mentioned could prove dangerous for them.

“Broader match means less targeted … Adwords users will spend more money to get more traffic of less quality … Adsense users of quality content sites will get more un-targeted ads annoying their visitors”

Why can’t Google simply further promote optional additional keywords rather than imposing, thinking in some draconian way they know the advertisers businesses better than the advertisers do themselves. It all seems a long way from the training manual Google use to brainwash their client servicing reps, just because they are trained it doesn’t mean they know. You should hear the template/flowchart reasoning, rebuttals & excuses I hear from some reps when I speak with them on the phone. I know of several ways Google could massively increase their revenue for some very simple verticals, but I’m certainly not going to divulge how.

If this does fully roll out and even for those who are unsuspectingly enrolled in the beta testing, at first glance this seems pretty outrageous … automatic opt-in is simply wrong … potentially exhausting advertisers budgets with no guarantee of ROI … potential jacking up of minimum bid prices of targeted campaigns … less relevant ads for users,… whilst making Googles pant pockets of wonga even deeper by squeezing the margins of advertisers & sponging every bob, dime or penny they can lay their greasy paws on.

Following on from reading Jess’s recent blog entry … “Sticks and Stones – yeah it does hurt”, pertaining to some gutter press journalism from The Spider or is it Spider“S” in an affiliate magazine called Revenue. It does make you wonder for all of a nanosecond if the Spider is some self obsessed egoistic xenophobic prat. Which is a shame, as it brings down a quite decent publication with a personal attack on respected people within the industry.

The same fool(s) were also quite demeaning about us jolly Brits & the A4UExpo in an earlier publication too, for which I sent the following email to him/her/them (The Spider(s)) … creep(s) which ever way you look at it.

“Warm salutations & fraternal greetings Spider,

One must admit, one was somewhat bemused by your article with reference to false allegations accusing a4expo London or UK affiliates smearing the forthcoming Affiliate Summit in London.

Perhaps, one should be prudent enough in establishing ones sources prior to making an irrational & derogatory judgement simply to facilitate column width within your publication. One can only perceive your alleged source, as a pitiful as they be, has an agenda for their own self purpose & interest in unison with amateur journalism which smacks with a sense of a self righteous xenophobe.

Perhaps, one could indulge in smiting the smiter, but us British maintain our dignity with pride & without prejudice, and with a stiff upper lip.

Having had the privilege of knowing some of the core founders behind a4expo, they are indeed of honourable character who if anything would feel the two separate events compliment each other in their own unique & distinct styles.

Therefore, one can only find your comments so laughable that ones spleen is wobbling.

On more serious note, one is quite proud London is hosting two such prestigious events, for which one is eagerly awaiting to attend both.

“We are not amused” – Queen Victoria on the bog 1901

Cheerio Old Chap, or as you may say, “Have a nice day!”

Moose”

All I can suggest to Jess, is that most of us know she is well respected within the industry & for her to simply take it on the chin with regard to any comments from the stone this minion crawled from under.

And … as for getting a subscription to Revenue Magazine, gawd only knows. In Affiliate Summit Las Vegas last year, I couldn’t get a receipt or invoice .. And at the summit in Miami, I filled the form with credit card details, albeit nothing was taken from credit card, it looks like another attempt at obtaining a subscription fell through. I guess I’ll have to use proper ply toilet paper instead of that one or two pages of trailer trash scribbled by the Spider, for which he brings the rest of the publication down.

Go Brits !!! Right, now to find that plackard to come out in support of Jess. You Go Girlfriend. Take no notice of the “pickled gherkin” (translate to British slang, then work it out from there). Why don’t we give Spider the Raspberry Award.

Therefore The Moose Boots the Spider into Touch with his Size 12 Hooves .. oh and that is size 13 in the US … unlucky for the creep.

After reading Fraser’s latest blog entry Closed Group Brand Name Bidding.

A few minutes ago, I stumbled across this article “In the Matrix, which pill would you take, the red or the blue?”

For which I will publish below, certain extracts I will draw attention to & no doubt you can pull your own which is you deem is relevant pertaining to BBG’s (brand bidding groups.) If we treat this like a modern day parable then perhaps the philosophical message may come across in the way it was intended. It might seem a little cheesy, but the original author wrote a good article which could chessily be applied as follows.

“People doing well under the current system are not inclined to look favourably on those who question the system.” !!!

“The question of which pill to take illustrates the personal aspect of the decision to study philosophy. Do you live on in ignorance (and potentially bliss) or do you lead what Aristotle called ‘the examined life’…”

Apathy & seeing aspects of affiliate marketing through Rose Tinted Gl-ASS-es comes to mind.

“The Matrix is a film filled with religious and philosophical symbolism. The plot supposes that humans live in vats many years in the future, being fed false sensory information by a giant virtual reality computer (the Matrix). “

“The perpetrators of this horror are machines of the future who use humans as a source of power. Humans are literally farmed.”

If we treat this like a modern day parable based on a film. The Matrix consist of a few questionable networks, affiliates & agencies, tightly controlling the BBG Arena, plus a few home grown tail wagging dogs or frankensteins.

“The central character of the film, Neo, is presented to us in the opening part of the film as a loner who is searching for a mysterious character called Morpheus (named after the Greek god of dreams and sleep). He is also trying to discover the answer to the question “What is the Matrix?””

Neo being any of those decent affiliates questioning the system.

“Morpheus contacts Neo just as the machines (posing as sinister ‘agents’)” … these agents can be the spin doctors rephrasing BBG’s as strategic search marketing groups akin to those who called spyware, adware instead & suffocating what’s going on via false niceties … “are trying to keep Neo from finding out any more. When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question “what is the Matrix?” (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo “Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.”

“The film as a whole and especially the choosing scene is deeply compelling. Why is the choice between what you believe you know and an unknown ‘real’ truth so fascinating? How could a choice possibly be made? On the one hand everyone you love and everything that you have built you life upon. One the other the promise only of truth.”

“The question then is not about pills, but what they stand for in these circumstances. The question is asking us whether reality, truth, is worth pursuing. The blue pill will leave us as we are, in a life consisting of habit, of things we believe we know. We are comfortable, we do not need truth to live. The blue pill symbolises commuting to work every day, or brushing your teeth.” or simply accepting without due thought that you are lining the pockets of these BBG’s & associated networks / agencies at your own expense via the power of cookie overwriting.

“The red pill is an unknown quantity. We are told that it can help us to find the truth. We don’t know what that truth is, or even that the pill will help us to find it. The red pill symbolises risk, doubt and questioning. In order to answer the question, you can gamble your whole life and world on a reality you have never experienced.”

As we know the red pill leads to unearthing the real truth.

“However, in order to investigate which course of action to take we need to investigate why the choice is faced. Why should we even have to decide whether to pursue truth?”

“The answer in short, is inquisitiveness. Many people throughout human existence have questioned and enquired. Most of them have not been scientists or doctors or philosophers, but simply ordinary people asking ‘what if?’ or ‘why?’ Asking these questions ultimately leads us to a choice. Do you continue to ask and investigate, or do you stop and never ask again? This in essence, is the question posed to Neo in the film.”

By being inquistitive the core business structure & survivability of a few networks & so called super-affiliates are based on BBG’s at the expense of development of the right tools for main core of affiliates in the marketplace as well as their own income.

“So what are the advantages of taking the blue pill? As one of the characters in the film says, “ignorance is bliss” Essentially, if the truth is unknown, or you believe that you know the truth, what is there to question or worry about?”

Hence, why so many affiliates don’t see the bigger picture.

“By accepting what we are told and experience life can be easier. There is the social pressure to ‘fit in’, which is immensely strong in most cultures. Questioning the status quo carries the danger of ostracism, possibly persecution. This aspect has a strong link with politics. People doing well under the current system are not inclined to look favourably on those who question the system. Morpheus says to Neo “You have to understand that many people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.””

Note: People doing well under the current system are not inclined to look favourably on those who question the system.

“The system also has a place for you, an expected path to follow. This removes much of the doubt and discomfort experienced by a trailblazer.”

Perhaps you were a sheep in a previous life.

“Another argument on the side of the blue pill is how does anyone know that the status quo is not in fact the truth? The act of simply questioning does not infer a lack of validity on the questioned. Why not assume that your experience is innocent until proven guilty? Just accept everything?”

Do you have the tenacity, courage & conviction to question the unhealthy aspects within affiliate marketing so that it can change for the better?

“So if the arguments for the blue pill are so numerous, why take the red pill? Why pursue truth even though it may be unpalatable and the journey to it hard? In the film, Neo risks death to escape the virtual reality and discovers a brutal reality from which he cannot return. As he discovers the trouble with asking questions is that the answers are not necessarily what you want to hear.”

Some affiliates simply cannot accept what is going on or are in denial and as for those guilty parties they are convinced by their own untruths they continually spew out.

“To justify taking the red pill we might ask what is the purpose of an ignorant existence? Further still, what is there in merely existing? Simply existing brings humans down to the level of objects; they might have utility or even purpose, but where is the meaning? Existence without meaning is surely not living your life, but just experiencing it. As Trinity says to Neo, “The Matrix cannot tell you who you are.”

Those who question what’s going on often do for selfless reasons.

“Given the potential disadvantages of choosing the red pill, the motivation for discovering the truth must then be very strong. The film makes much of this point. Trinity says to Neo “It’s the question that drives us, Neo.” and Morpheus compares the motivation for Neo’s search to “a splinter in your mind – driving you mad.” The motivation for answering the question is obviously strong as the answer will help us to find the meaning in our lives.”

“What we are looking at here is the drive to answer a question, but the key to this is what drove the question in the first place. The asking of questions about our environment our experience and ourselves is fundamental to the human condition. Children ask a seemingly never-ending stream of questions from an early age. It is only with education and socialisation that some people stop asking these questions. However, we remain, as it were, hard-wired to enquire.”

Change should only be embraced if the values we truly uphold are maintained. Be mindful of the consequences of the change for the unity and integrity of affiliate marketing as your conscience is your own judge” – By The Moose on the Loose 2008

“This is an inevitable consequence of consciousness. A being with a mind, conscious of itself and its existence, experiencing a reality, needs to organise the data that it receives from its senses. Simply observing and recording does not allow for consciousness. It is what we do with that information that allows us to think. In order to process and store the vast amount of information received, the human brain attempts to identify patterns in the data; looking for the patterns behind what is experienced. This is asking questions of the sensory information, and requires reasoning. By definition a conscious mind seeks to know. Knowing something requires more than just data, but intelligence or reasoning applied to that data. To attempt to obtain knowledge we must therefore question the data our mind receives; thus, consciousness questions.”

“So the metaphor of the journey to truth that Neo takes is complete. The journey starts with a question, there is a search for the answer and the answer may be reached. This shows us that the journey does not start with Neo choosing between the pills, or with ourselves deciding whether to question. The act of asking the question is itself the starting point as the aim of asking the question is to seek truth and knowledge.”

“We have established that consciousness is aware and seeks knowledge and that thus the conscious mind must question. To question is to seek the truth and start on the journey to knowledge. Therefore the choice between the pills is surely made for us. The fact that we are conscious appears to require us to take the red pill.”

It’s a shame so many are inert.

“However, this can be simply countered by someone who would prefer to take the blue pill. They may wish to seek the truth in a different way, or in a less mind jarring set of circumstances. They can choose the blue pill and not deny their consciousness, but to stop seeking the truth entirely would be to deny their consciousness.”

“Thus we are philosophically driven to seek the truth and the act of questioning whether to seek it is in itself seeking the truth. As conscious minds we will always seek the truth. However, the choice over the red or blue pills is not solely a choice between whether to question or not, it is a personal choice on the method of discovering the truth.”

Finally, which really defines you as an affiliate to move this industry forward & stamp out what is wrong within the industry, do you take the red pill or the blue pill … your true conscience is your own true judge.

Also read

The Power of the Brand Bidder Cookie by Matthew Wood

Brand Activity, The Need For Separate Cookies – A Horrific Scenario

I have just realised I have been doing this affiliate malarkey for the past ten years all wrong, and now realise how to get rich quick by selling br$and to the Arabs for £75m.

1.) To start building your br$and Castle. Set up a network with a basic looking interface & reporting tools, most affiliates like bells and whistles but the brand bidders find these clutter up reporting unnecessarily.. after all what’s to report ?? so the KI$$ format is best.. “Keep It Simple Stupid”.

2.) Research the market for potentially easily manipulated affiliates to be planned in to the BBG’s (br$and Bidding Groups). Essentially they should know how to use phrase and exact match and waffle on convincingly to any merchant about benefits of allowing them and the network to brand bid but how a closed group is best to protect it.

3.) Sell your $oul to the devil ? (but make sure it’s on exact match [soul] and negative match –don’t … In the same process remember to neglect those genuine affiliates who were supportive of your network when you first came on the scene (what is their opinion now?). Not to worry they were only to  instrumentally used & abused for your overall agenda.

4.) Produce presentations with eloquent corporate spiel on the advantages of br$and bidding groups – 3D graphs work best, however don’t mention the dreaded G word (generics) anywhere EVER ! …

5.) Increase your stationary supply of brown manila envelopes. Ensure you get self seal as your tongue is probably quite dry & so is that of your BBG’s. Aalways ensure your BBG’s are well fed, (send huge hampers) watered (cristal, veuve cliquot) and warm (Bahamas, Miami, Las Vegas), you don’t want them getting annoyed at having to work so hard, we all know adding a couple of new exact match [brand name keywords] per month is very tiring !

6.) Carry on finding more sycophants & embrace them into the br$and bidding groups, Only bring in new “talent” which can be house trained & who will sit and roll over when told to.

7.) Draw circles in the br$and with military tactical precision and call it “Operation br$and Storm”

8.) Your hive of BBG drones are now under servitude of the Queen B, however they must not speak out against the network and only post minimally on any forum. Any insolence MUST be punished with loss of of a BBG, preferably drones will only post in forums or blogs when told to and then only in a supportive and positive manner.

9.) Get your br$and bidding groups to buy you a yacht. There is nothing like a bit of reciprocated a$$ ki$$ing.

10.) Produce something vaguely resembling a content unit & give it a fashionable name like a widget in order to maintain wider affiliate acceptance, at indeterminate periods launch tools and applications. PS: it’s not important if they actually work as majority of revenue is from your BBG’s which don’t need them anyway.

11.) Oh & don’t forget to pander to the br$and bidding groups, basically ask them how they wish to run things and just leave them too it.

12.) Adopt an omnipotent ethos, we are better than you.. you and you.. although of course not if you are a BBG drone.. in which case we love you loads.

13.) Entertain your br$and bidding groups, treat them like a harem of revenue generating supermodels, pander to their every need, real or imagined.

14.) Be convinced by one’s own self importance, if struggling repeat “we are the bestist” in the mirror every morning whilst brushing your diamond studded teeth.

15.) When profits are not looking great, get some Venture Capitalists interested, show them the brand portfolio and, mention turnover figures and then mention the new alignment of big brand budgets online instead of offline.

16.) Introduce the VC’s to your br$and Bidding Groups, heck given time the BBG’s may even end up as your VC’s ! and it can then be one big happy incestuous commune !

17.) Allow merchants to upload feeds without fully verifying whether they are accurate or work, then proclaim you have product feeds and are the next best thing since sliced bread, after all who cares.. it’s all only for show.. BBG’s are the dumper truck.. other affiliates are the specs of mud on the windscreen.

18.) Carry on kicking br-$and in affiliate faces for those who object to br$and Bidding Groups, they are only jealous and fed up of adding real value and clearly can’t drive the quality of traffic required to be a BBG drone.

19.) Don’t worry if profits are not looking too great for all that entertaining budget, you are convinced it will all work out. .. refer to point 15 ! get bigger, glossier graphs, quote bigger budgets, and smile more. Why not even knockout a new sluggish management area and keep it in perpetual beta mode.

20.) Tell your affiliates that you are employed there to build up the br$and Bidding Groups businesses, leave them in no doubt of your support, should a tongue bath be needed rinse with champagne and then get to work.. nothing is too much to keep your BBG’s happy !

21.) Water “Gate” Stones … Don’t stick up for your affiliates when a merchant inaccurately deletes sales, with them and the network falsely claiming affiliates are brand bidding, only to remunerate the affiliate directly without telling the merchant because you don’t want to upset that merchant. When dealing with real affiliates, become vague, quote T&C’s, rewrite merchant terms, delete data and at all times never forget the merchant is always right after all real affiliates are ten a penny ..(unless it’s a BBG issue, in which case.. explain he’s right but not fully informed.. refer merchant for BBG programming !),

22.) Suffocate your forum section with duplicated promotional postings & excessive use of superlatives, which are in received emails anyhow. Tactic is to suppress affiliate concerns to lower pages within the forum section … push bad news right down that page… get all BBG’s to blog or post something positive if anything negative happens.

23.) Produce minimal profit again,,, make even bigger graphs, even glossier images, throw a party or two, sponsor everything you can .. do whatever it takes to keep everything looking sweet until a bid comes in.

24.) Go on the charm offensive & invade the USA .. if del boy can do it.. we can !

25.) $ow the brand $eed of this low hanging fruit by getting content affiliates to promote with their presell, then let your favoured BBG’s mop up the gravy train of brand orientated bunnys that come hopping along by over writing the content affiliate cookies.

26.) If your reputation in the UK is duly taking a bashing the next two points is a quick fix.. divert attention rather than address any issues.. buy magic books off ebay and practice the art of distraction !

27.) Find a desperate unsuspecting mug who is looking to buy a network & be their fallback bitch, preferable something American , who don’t understand the past success and turnover is built on exact matched brand terms & buying a select group of BBG drones.

28.) Sell for £75m then pretend to look fully invested in it’s future still until the cheque clears and any tie in period ends.

29.) Remember to phone a friend or rent a crowd so that BBG’ers & Co can officially post on the forum.

That is the Get Rich Quick Scheme on Selling br$and to the Arabs for £75m.

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Whether it be via broad, phrase, exact or negative match .. !

With fanfare & intrepid nature, Existem who last brought you the first ever affiliate industry awards, A4UAwards, as an integral part of the most excellent A4U Expo in the ExCeL Center, London … Boy those fish & chips did taste good … drum roll …

This year a special night has been organised for the 2008 A4UAwards formulating with an evening ceremony which will be a formal black tie event at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London on June 5th. I wonder if a black tie will go well when adorned with fashionable, trend setting affiliate pyjamas. It certainly would look eclectic.

“It is apparent in this rapidly growing industry that there has, until now, not been an award ceremony that appreciates Affiliate Marketing in its entirety and for what it represents to the entire marketing mix as a whole.” Mr Matt “Sotf” Wood 😉

However, rather than forum members being permitted to vote on all the relative categories, all bar two have been left to a panel decision which is where my gripe is.

It’s commendable to see lavish jolly in the pipeline to create that corporate persona with a bit of pomp & ceremony and for those attending will no doubt have a “most excellent” time like previous well organised events. A extravaganza of this sort is I guess a natural progression & evolution of the affiliate marketing industry, whereby unless you have one some blue chips & media publications don’t take you seriously.

However, the forum roots is based on a community, it’s the injection of opinions & discussion on a forum by the “members” which create the forum, by isolating and alienating those affiliate members with similar & contrasting opinions of the industry by denying them a vote will add minimal illustriousness or significance to the awards for the appropriate recipients. Granted there may have been some dodgy voting which had to be weeded out in the last bout, but there are better solutions which could be examined into by looking at those parties which engage on the forum rather than a stance which suggests that organisers are looking down their nose (yes singular not plural) at those members which make the forum.

Why call it a4uAwards it certainly won’t be a reflection of the a4u “members”, it might be appropriate to call them something else.

It’s all starting to become too much sitting on the fence, political correctness & pretentiousness in some quarters. All corporate diarrhoea if you ask me. Can we nominate a Raspberry Award to this process based on the alternative awards ceremony suggestion?

Perhaps I had better put those rose tinted gl-ASS-es on to see a contrastingly different realm of everyone holding hands skipping through the daisies & buttercups on a glorious spring morning.

On a side note why London?

Yes, I agree to having this as a seperate event is a good idea, so that attendees are all refreshed & fully charged for when attendees fully charge their glasses at the event.

“We felt the awards has the potential to be its own annual summertime event, logistically its hard to organise at the a4uexpo – as you know that in itself is a huge task to manage and it lets us concentrate on the conference and networking opportunities which I promise will not dissapoint this year.” Mr Matt “Sotf” Wood 😉

So back to the voting:

Sour grapes, yep, I have kicked off my shoes & socks, rolled the trousers up my leg and I am trampling grapes with my bare footed size 12’s in a massive barrel full of them. To exclude the forum members is simply wrong & the awards themselves will be relatively meaningless. As for the evening I reckon it will be a “most excellent dude” event for those making the effort to attend.

Will I be attending … I doubt it … but I do hope it’s a “most excellently excellent” event for you dudes & that you enjoy yourselves … Party on!

Now, I expect to be slapped vigorously, so instead of being a happy clapper, be my guest at being a happy slapper.

It’s with intrepidness I quote the following : “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!” – Sir Winston Churchill

And if that is a little too far back in history for you, for those who remembers Citizen Smith aka Wolfy … “Power to the People”?