Moose on the Loose

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.

Disclaimer : The communication and information on this blog is confidential and may be privileged. All information contained herein is, without prejudice. Any form of distribution, copying or use of this information are strictly prohibited.

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

Quote: “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 a follow on to a couple of recent blogs.

Everything Changes But (A4)U! by One Little Duck

Change – Good or Bad? by Existem

Jesus was tempted to change three times … Once to change rocks into bread … Another to change from worshipping god to worship the devil instead … and the third to throw himself off the top of the temple … These temptations to change was designed by the devil to take Jesus’ mind off the course set by the Father. All temptations were to cause Jesus to lose focus.

We can all paraphrase & manipulate the wording within or reference to scriptures and parables and quotes to present our opinions & points of understanding.

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”?

There are a number of continuing debates on the forum & various blogs recently pertaining to voucher codes & discount codes.

For example:

i) Spend over £50 and get 5% off your order … or …

ii) Buy a specific xyz item before a certain date & get 10% off

There is a flipside to this & something with a little twist. Now most affiliates don’t promote or utilise voucher / discount codes, thus they are of little use.

So, how about turning this into an incentive for the affiliate to the following which is efffectively the same thing.

i) If a customer an affiliate sends subsequently spends over £50, the affiliate receives an extra 5% commission.

ii) If a customer buys a specific xyz item before a certain date, the affiliate receives an extra 10% commission for that item.

Assuming of course a network has the technology to be able to track sales to an individual item.

Just a thought.

(Please make sure you read all the comments where it is elaborated on further) 

As you maybe aware there has been an interesting thread fermenting on the a4uforum pertaining to Next Directory with regard to their poor commission rates & for me what seems a derogatory disregard for the affiliate marketing channel, which in my opinion either lays firmly at the doorstep of certain personnel within their agency and/or under directive from their client (Next) or the merchant themselves, quite possibly a combination of all the above. Click Here For Forum Discussion

It looks like the Next Affiliate Program is unfortunately leaving Affiliate Window & joining Affili.net & Buy.at, as if that wasn’t predictable !! … for me it taints a bit of vulturism? … Hence the illustration above … or it could be contrived as simply shrewd business or interesting business alliances? The program might look swish on their portfolios when the logo radiates / glows from their corporate bumpf, but will it be a coal too hot to handle?

Something for the trade press perhaps?

For me personally, I don’t think this is a wise move with unresolved concerns for some affiliates & something smells rotten to the core or “bad to the bone”. Especially when it appears Affiliate Window have been left in the lurch to clear up the mess & receive the flack, pointing to the hard work they have done in trying to sort out the matter … then only to have the bones picked from beneath them.

Rapaciousness doesn’t sit well with me. But whatever happens, I think Affiliate Window will come out favourably from this and any disparaging glances will be afflicted elsewhere.

Will the commission deal be better? Well, possibly to pull the wool over our eyes & appropriately spun in process with some boisterous fanfare launch with a smidgen of gloating from the new beneficiaries, not forgetting any charm offensive. If the commission deal remains the same, then what was the point in moving?

I don’t think anyone needed to be an Inspector MOOrSE to establish that it was likely these two networks would be favoured in any re-pitching process, especially if you observe the social circles, previous career paths (companies of employment) & previous history of programs managed both at individual & company level. Therefore, as my own pov (point of view), I would question whether personal goals & relationships of individual (s) have got in the way of the best interests of their client. Thus, perhaps Next should look a little closer to home rather than finger point elsewhere. That’s why I reckon there is more to this than your average commercials of a merchant moving from one network or agency to another, in this example both.

Note : When the Next program originally launched on AW it was in conjunction with their agency who at the time was Mediavest until July 2007 (a decent company). The commission reduction was not a result of being with Mediavest. These latest unfortunate happenings have been while the program was with there current agency I-Level.

With regard to the forum a merchant/agency should take on board negative feedback & learn how to infer it. Then channel this into positive actions for the program, they’re meant to be mature adults, so act accordingly. IMHO their communication skills leaves little to be desired.

When the move is complete, I would like to get Affiliate Window’s take on events on how they were treated, their vision in affiliate marketing in my opinion supersedes the other two networks with the platform & tools they are creating, with other more favourable networks having european reach too. With anything like this most affiliates will forget & gradually promote them as normal, whilst Affiliate Window take the moral highground (though granted difficult) & liase with more worthy parties.

Before any numbskull thinks I am continually beefing up Affiliate Window, perhaps they should take a peruse of a few threads & blogs I have written or contributed to pertaining to Dixons, Toys R Us & a few other merchants like 0% on Wii’s over the last festive period.

I think there is a bigger picture here with regard to the lack of communication from merchant and/or agency. If they choose NOT to interact & engage with the forum, by that I don’t mean their junior messengers either … which is their prerogative .. though wrong … that strikes me as a superiority complex, yet failure by email to their affiliate base for me is simply discourteous & unprofessional.

I am all for discussing merchants on a forum of blog, it however appears Next don’t want to participate on the forum as there has been no response despite the threads about them … and to use that word again … perhaps they think they have omnipotent attributes. If so they must reconsider whether they should remain within the affiliate channel, if they feel discussing Next on an “affiliate forum” or “personal blog” contravenes some official secrets act & they are going to chuck their toys out of the cot cos of a few grubby affiliates. They’re supposedly mature adults .. grow up & get over it. Leaving one network or another in this manner was maybe too rash.

Next  might be a recognised brand, but they are replaceable, as for me being part of or excluded from their future program .. I couldn’t give a monkey’s either way.

“Please wipe your feet on the way out” … or … “Please turn out the lights when you leave” … I guess it depends on your perspective.

The story has finished, that are a few more saga’s & revelations yet to unfold for this unfortunate episode.

I am now adorned with a tin helmet.

Just a simple thought for the day which was raised as a topic of conversation many moons ago.

With a number of agencies representing various “brands” and merchants, quite often the traditional override a network “The Cheese” may receive from a merchant is negotiated in order to secure the services of the merchant on that network “The Cheese”. Now granted these negotiations may not necessarily be of any concern the affiliate, fair enough.

However, sometimes an agency may receive a kickback from The Cheese, based on part of that override. I don’t necessarily object to this either, unless this kickback impairs the judgement of the agency in selecting the right network for the merchant, but importantly is all of or part of this saving / kickback being disclosed and passed back to the client (the merchant). Ultimately The Cheese is being squeezed akin to cashback sites maybe? I wonder if all agencies are ethical in this process, like the trimming of both ends some agencies used to get from their clients advertising spend on Google Adwords?

As Mark Russell From Existem correctly says … “I have to say that comments about kick backs is very poor reason and any management agency that chooses a network on these grounds is doing a bad job for the industry, we are all aware that kick backs are available from networks, but if you want to be a good successful management agency why would you put a programme with a certain network that either cant or wont support the programme just for a very short-term gain. From what I have seen the amounts for kick backs is not something that should affect a decision. Not only do you want to have a good reputation for growing good clean programmes – the benefit of choosing the correct network(s) that can maximise affiliate revenues is of great benefit by any financial criteria, client / network or agency.”

Squeezing The Cheese A Little More

So, we see that networks “The Cheese” offer agencies kickbacks in order to secure the merchant on the network.

So, how about Squeezing the Cheese for the Affiliates Benefit? By this I mean, from the override an affiliate earns the network, how about offering the affiliate a % of override on a sliding scale basis based on how much the affiliate earns in commission. Perhaps this might induce loyalty from an affiliate to a particular network based on these performance incentives. If the override is being used as a bargaining chip for leverage, then the affiliate should have the opportunity to utilise that same chip too.

Perhaps I am just floating an air biscuit in the wind, with another long winded blog entry, but it’s just a thought.

So hands up if you want some cheese squeezed for you?

I like really Webgains, I have a lot of time for them.

They treat affiliates like adults & the service from them has genuinely always been good. I like dealing with people like Hong Kong Phooey Kier “Fanriffic” Marston, Hero “A4Uexpo Award Winner” Grigoraki, Ryan “Charismatic” Gilbert, Marc “Legend” Gear, Peter “What’s The Hair All About?” Dunham, Robert “Crocodile Dundee” Glasgow, Sachin “Balboa”Thanki, Emma Delaforce (sounds like some superhero) & Andrew “Capable” Copeland.

All in all, I like dealing with real people.

They are NOT yes men or sycophantical praetorians with self perceived omnipotent attributes which several networks think they possess, they have educated opinions of their own. The service from them has been excellent. I like the fact that more than any other network they generally provide better notice periods for program closures & keyword policy changes. They might not yet have all the bells & whistles, but they have the nuts & bolts which make them a reliable & dependable network.

For me they are The Last Big Network & potentially a sleeping giant.

They now have a vast range of merchants with individual feeds & the foundations in place, whereby if I had omnipotent powers, I would take them to take the next evolutionary step to really stamp their authority within the affiliate marketing space, where a few previous contenders are falling by the wayside.

I really hope early this year they develop a quality Product API solution, delivering fast accurate results when queried, with decent algo’s & good categorisation. Incorporating voucher / discount codes into the feed together with merchant logos. Also allowing affiliates to determine which products they want included within the feed based on merchants EPC or commission levels, allowing affiliates to preselect the deal which is right for them. And by the same token develop something similar to Affiliate Window’s Shopwindow.

If they wanted to go one step further they could introduce feeds from Kelkoo, Shopping.com & Pricerunner. Aggregate all the merchants & de-duped their own merchants who pay on a CPA basis, resulting in a fine blend of CPA & CPC for affiliates. Something we are already developing ourselves.

Message to Webgains : 2008 can really be your year. Please step up to the plate.

Well, I have just read this email which has literally just been received into my inbox from Commission Junction.

“Dear publisher, As one of our valued publishers we would like to find out how we can work better with you by asking you a few questions on various areas of your relationship with Commission Junction, from our services through to how we could improve our marketing and communications. The survey should only take you five minutes to complete, and as a thank you for taking part, you will have the opportunity to enter into our prize draw to win a brand new iPhone! Click here to complete the survey! he closing date is 31/01/08. Your participation is completely voluntary and all answers will be treated in the strictest of confidence. xyz Publisher Account Director
Commission Junction UK”

Well my survey feedback in response to that email, is this blog entry, so will I be entered for that draw?

For me the email smacks of desperation with no sincerity and is nothing more than a really hollow attempt or some lame marketing exercise to reach out to affiliates, which is a road well traveled, which will probably be followed up by some charm offensive exercise along the line. What Commission Junction habitually forget is that over the years they have in effect already received free consultancy from a number of affiliates, including myself, on what they need to do & where they have been going wrong. Whereby affiliates negative overview of this network is probably more in alignment than any other network … but yet again CJ try & do it on the cheap with some gimmicky giveaway which might have simply come from the closet as something a merchant may have given to them as freebie.

For CJ to come out of the closet they will have to go really far, so far out of the closet they may as well be in Narnia.

If You Pay Peanuts, You Get Monkeys!!

In response to John’s blog … Commission Junction died a slow and painful death many years ago … there is no way this phoenix will rise from the ashes, so it may as well RIP now, as John’s in-blog image clearly represents. With Kirtsy weighing with CJ – You Are The Weakest Link – Goodbye!, who I can only sympathise with with my own similar experiences.

I should have blogged a lot more about past anxieties with the CJ network whom in my opinion seem to be under the delusion of being omnipotent with god like powers. For which I only have a couple of entries.

Are Commission Junction the School Playground Bully?

CJ Network Quality at Commission Junction Needs Taking Down A Peg or Two

Message to Merchants on Commission Junction:

I don’t believe your program is realising it’s full potential by solely being on the CJ network. The least you should maybe consider is examine the options of dual network.

These two affiliate polls may provide you with a useful indicator.

Poll 1: If Argos was on another network?

Poll 2 : Should programs be allowed to be on more than one network?

Message to Commission Junction:

Barring all the problems we have had with you in the past, please pay what we believe is owed which has been outstanding for a number of years & probably enough to put a nice deposit on a house.

There is a plethora of pleasant & amenable affiliates within the industry, but part of where you have been going wrong is not respecting them, you are dealing with adults many of whom have been around longer in this industry than many of your employees & also more experienced & knowledgable. Treat them like adults, then maybe one day that respect might be reciprocated.

Right, I am pausing for breath now & moving onto something less futile, cos I don’t think this horse is interested in drinking.