Affiliate Marketing Blog

Affiliate marketing news and opinion from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

  • Home
  • About Shawn
  • Contact
  • Learn Affiliate Marketing
  • Disclosure
  • Archives

Archives for September 2006

eBay to CJ: It’s not you, it’s me

September 20, 2006 by Shawn Collins

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has announced the launch of their own affiliate linking infrastructure called Project Rover, according to blogger Scott Jangro.

The eBay affiliate program has been powered by Commission Junction since March 2001.

According to an e-mail from eBay published on Jangro’s blog, “Project Rover has been designed to work seamlessly with the Commission Junction interface, increase the effectiveness of our affiliate’s marketing campaigns, and will be rolled out to all countries.”

eBay touts the following benefits of the new linking structure:

  • Reduced Ad / Cookie Blocking: Rover decreases the potential for Ad / Cookie Blocking by utilizing an eBay hosted domain.
  • Limited Redirects: Rover will use fewer redirects reducing the risk of user drop off and improving speed and performance.
  • Global Infrastructure Improvements: Rover will enable eBay and Commission Junction to develop increased global tracking capabilities, allowing for more seamless international affiliate promotions.

There is lots of speculation over the impetus of this move by eBay from Commission Junction.

My guess is that eBay wants a more enhanced, robust system for their affiliate program, while still tapping into the CJ affiliate base.

Since Project Rover is necessitating the eBay affiliates to change out their existing Commission Junction affiliate links for links at the http://rover.ebay.com domain, could a full secession from CJ be in the works?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Ask Shawn Collins: Regional Affiliate Marketer Groups

September 19, 2006 by Shawn Collins

I would like to network with area affiliate professionals in the Central Ohio or tri-state area. Do you know of a group that exists like this already? If not, I would like to start up a group in this area and would like to know of any tips you could share with me to get started.

I am not aware of an Ohio area group of affiliate marketers. There are a couple of things I’d suggest to jump start a group in your area.

There is a new venture called Affiliate Dinner, launched by Brook and Forrest Schaaf of Schaaf Consulting.

They just hosted an Affiliate Dinner event at Commission Junction University and have other events coming this month in San Francisco and New Jersey. Try reaching out to them about doing something in Ohio.

Also, seek out some of the prominent affiliate marketers in your area to see if they’d be willing to participate in some way. Off the top of my head, one affiliate power broker in your neck of the woods is Jim Kukral.

When you get something together, let me know and I’ll help spread the word.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Commission Junction Announces Web Services

September 18, 2006 by Shawn Collins

ValueClick, Inc.’s (Nasdaq:VCLK) Commission Junction has announced the release of its Web Services for advertisers and publishers.

Commission Junction’s Web Services solution will enable their clients and third parties to develop their own applications to create unique products or consumer experiences in the CJ Marketplace.

Merchants working with Commission Junction can now offer affiliates enhanced access to their product catalog data feeds, enabling affiliates to present the most up-to-date product information to their visitors in the most desirable manner.

Also, CJ merchants benefit from the ability to customize affiliate program sign-up and login areas, allowing Commission Junction powered affiliate programs to finally provide a branded experience for affiliates.

Affiliate functionality for Commission Junction’s Web Services includes direct access to merchant’s Product Catalog data in real-time and the ability to perform searches based on keyword, UPC, manufacturer, model number, advertiser, SKU and more.

As part of the Web Services launch, Commission Junction has also created a community Web site for its clients. The CJ Web Services site will contain announcements, articles, sample applications and access to new Web Services and resources.

In addition, the site’s forum will allow users to discuss, exchange and share their own applications and best practices.

More details at http://webservices.cj.com/

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Ask Shawn Collins: Affiliates Selling Illegal Products

September 17, 2006 by Shawn Collins

Q: I received a recruiting letter from Commission Junction for an affiliate program in their network that sells something called PhotoBlocker Spray. This purpose of this product is the trick red light and speed cameras and keep people from getting traffic tickets. I’d imagine it would sell well, but isn’t that illegal?

Shawn CollinsA: As I always like to provide as a precursor when there is anything related to the law, please note that I am not a lawyer. I would urge you to consult your lawyer before making any business decisions related to legal issues.

That said, your question got me thinking – is that product legal? While the purpose of PhotoBlocker Spray is to “defend yourself from red-light and speed cameras,” according to the site, I can’t imagine CJ would take on a merchant that was breaking the law.

Bear in mind, Commission Junction is part of ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK), so they are not likely to play fast and loose with the law.

I searched around the news wires and came across a story on PhotoBlocker from WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Drivers should know that while PhotoBlocker claims to be “100% legal to buy and sell,” actually using it could get you in legal hot water.

A transportation statute says license plates cannot have any coating, covering or protective material that distorts their visibility.

“It’s against the law, and if we catch them, we’re going to prosecute them,” Harn said.

Personally, I wouldn’t tout this sort of product. Whether it’s legal or not, it’s aiding reckless drivers, and there is no upside there.

Rather than spend money with your lawyers to investigate it further, I think your time and money would be better spent promoting products and services where you don’t have to wonder about the legalities.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Co-Reg Lead Verification Revolutionized by TARGUSinfo

September 16, 2006 by Shawn Collins

The quality of leads generated by affiliates is a big issue for companies running CPA affiliate programs. While co-reg can bring in massive volumes of data, the tools to qualify that data have been somewhat limited.

TARGUSinfo has announced a new lead verification solution for co-registration called On-Demand Lead Verification. This service is designed to instantly, easily and cost-effectively verify large quantities of leads.

The TARGUSinfo solution can verify that a lead’s name, address and phone number are correct and match each other. This level of data matching takes things to a new level from validation services that perform data checks on independent variables.

On-Demand Lead Verification can also add missing contact information and enhance the data with demographics and lifestyle indicators.

The enhanced leads will enable online lead generators to serve real-time offers and also help decrease form abandonment.

Pretty exciting news to anybody with an affiliate program based on leads.

Visit TARGUSinfo.com for more information about TARGUSinfo.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Ask Shawn Collins: Small, Successful Affiliate Programs

September 15, 2006 by Shawn Collins

Q: Is it possible to run a successful affiliate program without using CJ or any of the other big affiliate networks?

Shawn CollinsA: It’s all about perspective and what you consider to be a success. The bigger affiliate networks provide lots of services and features, but they are not a magic bullet.

Personally, I’d say that if your affiliate program provides an incremental 20% or more in transactions, it is a success.

Your choice of affiliate network is just one piece of the puzzle.

No matter whether you use a big affiliate network or a home grown solution, you must have proactive affiliate management and a compelling offer to achieve success in affiliate marketing.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins

Affiliate Marketing Industry Dinner in San Francisco

September 14, 2006 by Shawn Collins

The Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition (BAAMC) is running an Affiliate Marketing Industry Dinner in celebration of the six year anniversary of the group.

The dinner is taking place on September 28, 2006 at 6:30 pm. Affiliate marketers from the Bay Area and beyond are invited to go for drinks, dinner and shop talk.

Sponsors for the dinner are Affiliate Summit, PartnerCentric and Revenue Magazine. Some passes to the next Affiliate Summit (January 21-23 in Vegas) will be given away at the dinner. The cost of the dinner is $30/person and will include dinner and drinks.

If you would like to attend, contact Phillip Kidwell and Michael Brucker at info@baamc.org. Include your name, e-mail address, company and number of attendees.

Visit http://www.baamc.org/dinner/ for more details.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

E-Mail is the New Black for Affiliates

September 13, 2006 by Shawn Collins

In late 2003 it seemed a perfect storm had swelled against the use of e-mail in affiliate marketing. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, signed into law by President Bush on December 16, 2003, made legitimate e-mail affiliates wary of clicking the “send” button.

In addition to challenges like getting white listed by ISPs and beating Spam filters to reach their double opt-in subscribers, affiliates utilizing e-mail now had to lose sleep over whether they might run afoul of the FTC’s ambiguous e-mail regulations.

At the same time, industry pundits lined up to anoint RSS the heir apparent to e-mail. RSS, an acronym for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, enables people to subscribe to receive communications to an “RSS feed reader”. It sounded good on paper and pixels – subscribers get only what they want with RSS.

Could this be the end of e-mail as an affiliate marketing tool?

Continued at http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/e-mail-marketing/38225.html

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Unmasking Affiliate Guru Allan Gardyne

September 12, 2006 by Shawn Collins

I was just reading the latest Associate Programs Newsletter by Allan Gardyne and got a kick out of a section called, “Seven ways to be your own BS detector.”

The piece in Allan’s newsletter was about a comment he’d gotten from a skeptical reader who didn’t believe Allan was a legitimate, successful affiliate marketer:

“You are full of bull, a bullshitter, a dying of hunger guy trying to make a buck lying to people. Bet you live in some crappy apartment here in the US and never been to any resort in your life. All you live is to send these crappy emails pushing lies, endorsing other con artists, and to push this advertising crap to suckers. A person that really makes money doesn’t go around giving seminars for others to do the same. The only one who makes money are them. You endorse that crap. Erase my email from your mailing list.”

In response, Allan goes on to outline a bunch of useful tools for anybody that wants to research a guru before buying their products or listening to their advice.

Helpful stuff from Allan, but I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’ve known him since 1999 and he’s most assuredly the real deal. A talented and successful affiliate who’s always been willing to share his knowledge.

I would count Allan among my affiliate marketing mentors, along with Declan Dunn and James Marciano (founder of Refer-it.com).

Back in 2000, as I was putting the finishing touches on my book, Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants, I asked Allan if he’d provide me a quote for the book cover. Gracious as ever, he did just that, and his testimonial undoubtedly helped my book sales.

Thanks Allan for all you’ve done to build up affiliate marketing and help countless people across the years.

Check out Allan’s newsletter archive – lots of great information dating back to 1998.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate News

Performics Guide to Affiliate Success

September 11, 2006 by Shawn Collins

Performics and the E-tailing Group have published a free white paper that covers the current state of affiliate marketing; shows site examples of best in class tactics and execution; and provides checklists for affiliates to help generate increased revenue.

The report, “Building a Publisher Site for Pay-out and Performance,” focuses on a number of super affiliates broken down in these four types:

  • Comparison Shopping
  • Loyalty & Rewards
  • Community & Content
  • Shopping/Promotions

Some of the affiliates covered in the Performics white paper are AnyCoupons, ClubMom, Fat Wallet, Flamingo World, and Upromise.

Success tips for affiliates and other useful information – get the white paper at http://www.performics.com/

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Social

  • View shawncollins’s profile on Facebook
  • View shawncollins’s profile on Twitter
  • View shawncollinsatx’s profile on Instagram
  • View affiliatetip’s profile on Pinterest
  • View shawncollins’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View affiliatetip’s profile on YouTube

Blogroll

  • Affiliate Manager
  • Austin FC
  • Austin, TX Airbnb
  • Bose Hearing Aids
  • Extra Money Answer
  • Movies That Affected My Life
  • This is Affiliate Marketing

Return to top of page

Copyright © · Shawn Collins Consulting ·

 

Loading Comments...