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AFFILIATE PROGRAM MANAGERS NEWSLETTER
11th December '01
CONTENTS
1. Does your program appear on this blacklist?
2. My new Shop Announce service
3. Lifetime commission tracking from Kowabunga
4. Creating a professional environment for your program
5. First affiliate network for the adult industry
6. UK network evolving business model - no more transaction
fees
7. Super affiliates articles
8. Leadhound now P3P compliant
9. Recommended resources
This is the 'late' November issue and early December issue
all rolled into one. Its been a little hectic as I took some time out for a
short vacation to Las Vegas to celebrate my 30th birthday to then return and
get my new product launch underway!
This is the last issue of the year. Thanks for all of your
support - see you again in January!
Have a great Christmas holiday.
--Neil
1. Does your program appear on this affiliate blacklist?
A new predatory advertising client has been causing concern
amongst affiliates and program managers.
The SaveNow.exe program piggybacks its way onto a machine
when a user installs the WhenU toolbar.
Heated discussions on the USAMC (www.usamc.org) discussion
forum have questioned the ethics of the 'Trojan horse' manner in which the
SaveNow program finds it's way onto a users system and the fact that it is not
automatically removed when a user uninstalls the WhenU toolbar.
However, there are more important concerns about the manner
in which the SaveNow application effectively claims commissions that could
otherwise be due to hard working affiliates.
Herby Olschewski of AffiliateForce.com explains, "No
matter what an affiliate does to drive traffic to a merchant's site, when the
visitor arrives at the merchant site, savenow.exe will serve a popup with
WhenU's affiliate ID and/coupon code. Thus grabbing the sale. Did WhenU do the
work to get the eyeball there? No! So why should WhenU get the
commission?"
As affiliates learn of the SaveNow application they have
been quick to act. One affiliate has posted on the Amazon Affiliate Discussion
Board a list of 381 merchants that WhenU claim to have relationships with.
But as a final twist many merchants have been angered by
this list claiming they are not actively working with SaveNow/WhenU. Upon
double-checking, most have discovered WhenU have been auto-approved into their
programs. Many merchants have responded by publicly stating that they have
terminated these relationships.
I expect a very real backlash from affiliates - now might be
a good time to finalise your company policy towards predatory advertising,
check your existing relationships accordingly and communicate your position to
your existing affiliates.
USAMC discussion group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/usamc
2. My new Shop Announce service
Last week I launched a new service specifically aimed at
helping UK merchants submit their store's details to all the UK shopping
directories.
There are 30 such shopping directories, all working hard for
the attention of UK consumers. Each of these directories will review your store
and providing you meet their submission policies will consider your site for
inclusion.
Many of these directories are active affiliates and
certainly worth developing relationships with.
Details at:
3. Lifetime commission tracking from Kowabunga
Kowabunga technologies, producers of the 'My Affiliate
Program' solution have announced a new module allowing merchants to offer
affiliates lifetime commissions.
The new lifetime commission module matches a unique
customers 'lifetime identifier' to the appropriate affiliate - ensuring repeat
sales are credited to the appropriate partner.
This method of database record matching is far more reliable
than relying on extended cookie 'return days' and should prove to be a popular
solution for merchants placing a high priority on maintaining affiliate
loyalty.
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/a/t.asp?id=2377&p=lifetime.asp
4. Creating a professional environment for your program
Affiliate Goddess, Linda Woods, examines the key elements
super affiliates expect of a program:
http://www.affiliatemarketing.co.uk/enviroment.htm
5. First affiliate network for the adult industry
I'm asked on a regular basis whether there's a networked
tracking solution available for the adult industry and until now one simply
hasn't been available.
If your products or content is of an adult nature then you
may find the pre-launch of Europe's first adult affiliate network worth
watching.
Xbanda plan their official launch for January 15th 2002.
6. UK network evolving business model - no more transaction
fee's
Affiliate Window, one of the UK's first affiliate networks,
recently announced a unique twist to their business model.
With the launch of their new tracking technology they have
replaced their transaction fees with a flat monthly fee (ranging from £15-£55
per month).
Affiliate Window now present themselves as a software
solution with all the benfits of a network - still providing a pool of
'ready-made' affiliates and processing affiliate commission payments but
without the override commission charges.
The new pricing structure looks attractive. Affiliate Window
have a healthy base of affiliates as well as a reputation for providing good
affiliate support.
I haven't yet had a chance to test the software myself but
this certainly looks as though it's worth investigating if you're looking for a
UK based solution.
http://www.affiliatewindow.com/a.pl?569
7. Super affiliates
articles
Over the last three weeks there has been an excellent series
of articles examining 'Super Affiliates' in Allan Gardyne's
AssociatePrograms.com newsletter.
These articles, written by Wayne Porter and Scott McNulty
examine emerging trends and key metric indicators and are certainly worth a
read:
Part One:
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter183.shtml
Part Two:
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter184.shtml
Part Three:
http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter185.shtml
8. Leadhound now P3P
compliant
Over the months I have been illustrating the importance of
ensuring your solution providers are P3P compliant (see http://www.affiliatemarketing.co.uk/sept01.htm
).
Leadhound have also now completed their compliance issues
and are now P3P ready.
9. Recommended resources
Still searching for the right Affiliate Tracking Solution?
Dr Ralph Wilson has created the 'Report on Affiliate
Management Software'. Including comments by more than 90 individuals whose
companies manage an affiliate program - providing exactly the kind of
information you need to know to help choose the right solution:
http://www.affiliatemarketing.co.uk/tracking
Searching for those elusive 'super affiliates'? This software spider provides a shortcut to
locating those ideal affiliate prospects.
It also shows you exactly how to contact them and convert into active
partners.
Affiliate Metrix have launched a new executive summary. Providing hard data and benchmark figures
from a survey of one hundred and forty five program managers. Featuring raw statistics, analytic overview,
action plan and industry projections.
With an affordable price point of $89 this detailed survey will provide
otherwise impossible to find metrics to help with your strategy:
http://www.affiliatemarketing.co.uk/metrix
Need help to create, launch or manage your Affiliate
Program? Perhaps you have a specific problem or affiliate related project you
need to outsource? Discover how I can help you:
http://www.affiliatemarketing.co.uk/consulting.htm
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Have a great Christmas Holiday :-)
All the best
Neil Durrant
http://www.AffiliateMarketing.co.uk
http://www.AffiliateToolkit.com