Archives for May 2006

Last week, Commission Junction announced their Link Management Initiative, Phase I. A notice in the Advertiser side of things at CJ.com indicated that this is “a program which will make it easier for you to get the most out of your publisher relationships.”

According to the announcement, this initiative will be released in multiple phases, with Phase I launching on June 23, 2006.

Forums and blogs quickly lit up on the issue with all sorts of hysterical notions and speculations. The item that got everybody worked up was that CJ will be updating their link code to JavaScript.

Pundits and pontificators quickly took one part fact and mixed it with three parts speculation on this issue. The result was an industry whipped up in a frenzy. There are FAQs that spell out lots of the details when advertisers and publishers log into CJ, but most of the “coverage” I read didn’t bother with technicalities like contacting CJ with their questions or reading the FAQs to get basic answers.

I’d say the post that most perfectly summarized the whole situation was one from Scott Jangro when he wrote:

Lighten the f$%@ up.

It’ll be ok. Really. 🙂

CJ will be addressing the Link Management Initiative on the new CJU Online Podcast Series. The first podcast in the series takes place Tuesday, May 30 at 3 p.m. EDT.

I’m curious to hear what they have to say about the whole issue. According to the FAQ, “the industry standard is moving towards JavaScript links.” Time will tell whether CJ’s Link Management Initiative is an example of affiliate marketing 2.0 or affiliate marketing beta.

I wrote about some Google News a couple of days ago – it seems Google is spelling out to affiliates which sorts of “common forms of deceptive or manipulative behavior” to avoid if they hope to be indexed.

The whole issue comes down to whether an affiliate adds value to the Google search results.

Anyhow, I’ve since received the following from an individual who claimed to be on the Google payroll to sniff out “thin affiliate” techniques.

I was one of those Google search quality folk. It’s not clear in your article, so I thought I should pass on that the search quality team do not, and do not cause, any sites to be manually removed from Google. Their efforts are purely to help the engineers tweak the algorithm to stop such pages appearing.

As a super-affiliate, and a frequent searcher, I applaud Google’s approach.

In general…Thin Affiliate Doorway Pages are basically spam, they are made by folk seeking a quick buck from as little effort as possible, they add nothing to the experience of web searchers, they don’t help merchants, and they tend to use black hat SEO techniques.

Although I do well from Thin Affiliate Doorway Pages myself, I’d rather they all disappeared, and all affiliates were forced to be really useful to merchants and consumers.

He requested anonymity, as he said he is still working with them. Interesting stuff – just more mystery into that elusive Google algorithm.

It was nearly a year ago the AssociatePrograms.com newsletter shared a report indicating that Google employs people at a rate of $10 to $20 an hour to check search results at Google every day.

Back then, it was big news that Google apparently had a criteria guide which identified some sites in their results as “Thin Affiliate Doorway Pages.”

Some affiliates were in an uproar that Google would dare enforce some quality control over their results pages.

Earlier this week, Peter Figueredo wrote on ReveNews how Google recently updated their Quality Guidelines to include language geared to affiliates.

The new guidelines for quality Google results instruct Webmasters to adhere to a number of best practices, including:

• Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines, or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

Sounds like the “thin affiliates” are going on a strict diet of organic traffic this summer.

Predictably, some affiliates are up in arms. But why?

As far as I am concerned, any affiliate site that doesn’t add value should be removed from both Google and the respective affiliate programs it promotes. Nobody is entitled to placement in Google and the traffic that comes with being indexed.

The sticking point is exactly what does Google consider to be value?

Toys “R” Us will be terminating its e-commerce and merchandising agreement with Amazon.com by June 30 of this year. Then on July 1, they start up a multi-year deal with GSI Commerce.

This has affiliate marketing pundits guessing which affiliate network will be the new home for the Toys “R” Us affiliate program.

Earlier this month, Scott Jangro pointed out that DicksSportingGoods is moving over to LinkShare from Be Free. And Dicks is one of the e-commerce sites run by GSI Commerce.

Jangro commented “Given that they (GSI) left CJ for Be Free years ago and mass-moved about 30 properties, it only stands to reason that they won’t go back.”

So the assumption out there is that affiliate programs run by GSI Commerce will be following DicksSportingGoods over to LinkShare as their Be Free deals expire.

If that happens, it looks like Toys “R” Us may well return to LinkShare, where their affiliate program resided years ago before they inked their deal with Amazon.

This could be a hot, sticky affiliate marketing summer.

The Yahoo! Publisher Network now offers a Direct Deposit option for all publisher accounts.

The direct deposit option requires $100 in earnings before payment is made, just like their pay by check option.

However, if you’re signed up for direct deposit, they will credit your bank account on the 26th of each month, rather than by the 10th of the following month by check.

In order to sign up for direct deposit from the Yahoo! Publisher Network, do the following:

• Log in to your publisher account.
• Click on the Account Information tab.
• Click “Payment Options”.
• Select “Direct Deposit” and follow the instructions provided.

According to the announcement from the Yahoo! Publisher Network, it can take up to ten business days to process the request and begin the direct deposit payments.