Back to Main

Affiliate Marketing

November 5, 2009

Amazon Integrates Twitter with Affiliate Program. Is it Spam?

Amazon has introduced a feature on its Associates affiliate scheme which allows its members to tweet links with ease directly from its site. When browsing products, affiliates can now post links to Twitter by simply clicking a toolbar button at the top every page, similar to the way in which they might share an article via a "share this" button.

Of course, the same result was already possible by entering an affiliate link into a url shortener and posting it to Twitter, but the two-click functionality now makes that process easier and quicker.

Whether or not this is a good thing for Twitter users is another question entirely. The micro-blogging and networking service already experiences problems with spam accounts and unwanted marketing messages, so the introduction of similar functionality across other affiliate programs could well contribute to the growing amount of content many users consider spam.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Amazon Cuts Off Affiliate Search Bidding

If you're a merchant with a large affiliate program, you've certainly given plenty of thought to whether referral partners should be permitted to buy search keywords. Allowing the practice drives traffic and leads, but it also raises keyword prices and fills the coffers of Google and other search engines.

Amazon, which runs one of the Web's largest affiliate programs, has just come down on the side of controlling keyword costs. As of May 1, U.S. and Canadian referral partners in the Amazon Associates program will no longer be reimbursed for driving conversions through paid keyword bidding, the company said.

Not only that, but anyone using search ads to send traffic to Amazon product pages will have their accounts shut down. Of course Amazon phrases this in the kindest possible terms: "As long as you stop your paid search activities relating to our US and Canadian sites and otherwise remain in compliance with the terms of the Associates Operating Agreement (e.g., by sending users to our websites through links on your site), your Associates account will not be closed," the company notes in a FAQ on the policy change.

It seems possible, based on that aggressive step, that Amazon is in a hurry to reduce its search ad spend. I'd be curious to just know how much this move will shrink that spend, and conversely how much it will cost Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 23, 2009

Florida AG Settles with Another Mobile Content Seller

Florida's Attorney General office has settled with yet another mobile content marketer over the fraudulent marketing of ringtones and other mobile content.

The settlement of $1 million with New Motion Inc. and Traffix Inc., which do business jointly as Atrinsic, follows numerous other similar deals with firms like AzoogleAds, AT&T, World Ave. and M-Qube. The AG's office uses the money from these settlements to fund investigations into other misleading marketing offers.

Atrinsic works with affiliates and ad networks to provide content for cell phones. The company's negotiated deal with the AG protects it from prosecution, in exchange it has agreed to disclose the real costs of mobile content offers in an obvious way on all online transaction screens.

"Florida is leading the nation in holding the industry accountable to a high standard of online disclosure and I appreciate Atrinsic's participation in this effort," said a statement form AG Bill McCollum.

According to the AG's CyberFraud division, investigations of complaints have found thousands of Florida consumers have been charged for mobile downloads they neither wanted nor authorized.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

AlwaysOn: Online Viewers vs. Online Ad Dollars

Is there a disconnect between the number of online viewers and the amount of advertising dollars spent online?

Advertising executives today weighed that question at AlwaysOn in New York City, a conference that examines technology's impact on marketing, advertising, and media.

Bruce Nelson, vice chairman, Omnicom, pointed out that cable television secured 3.5 percent of all ad dollars 10 years after the medium's debut. A decade after online media appeared, digital advertising accounted for 7.7 percent of all ad dollars in 2007, he said.
"Though we live in impatient times. We're moving very fast," Nelson said.

Penry Price, VP of advertising sales at Google, suggested that the online industry hasn't done a good job of managing expectations since its early days. "The online industry, 10 years ago, set itself up for failure," he said.

Elaborating, he said: "The challenge is [online] viewership is looked at differently than traditional media." While there's an emphasis on "engagement" over viewers, he said there's no one opinion on how to define engagement.

Bob Jeffrey, JWT Worldwide's chief executive, contended that his clients are investing in digital advertising. "There's not one client who's not obsessed with online," he said.

Michael Leo, chief executive of ad operations company Operative, said advertising dollars are not moving online as fast as they could because there's a talent shortage.
"We need more people who can help us scale this industry," he said.

Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO, Brightline iTV marketing firm, said advertisers are confused about their options and aren't getting sufficient guidance on how to allocate their ad dollars. "Consumers are integrating, weaving digital media into their lives," she said, saying that's not occurring in business.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 5, 2007

Aggregate Knowledge Looks to Pique Consumer Interest

Describing it as an "adSense for content" system, Aggregate Knowledge officially launched its Pique Discovery Network for placing targeted ads on publisher and e-commerce Web sites today.

The Pique Discovery system places specific ads on a page based on the purchasing or general interests of previous Web site visitors. An online consumer interested in bedding might be shown display ads for throw pillows on the same page, according to Paul Martino, CEO and founder of Aggregate Knowledge. The company offers four versions of its system, including Pique Multi-Site Discovery for placing ads across multiple sites in the network, Pique Onsite Discovery for only a single site, Pique Email Discovery for dynamic ad placement in e-mails each time they are opened, and Pique Affiliate Discovery for updated affiliate ads. The system works by collecting traffic data via JavaScript code on a site which then funnels to the Pique Discovery Engine.

The Network has signed on a number of customers including SmartBargains.com, DelightfulDeliveries.com, Vinfolio, The HealthCentral Network and others.

"Our average conversion on Delightful Deliveries, besides the Christmas season, is three percent, but when people use that Aggregate Knowledge discovery window it's 10 percent higher," said, Eric Lituchy, founder and CEO of Gift Web site DelightfulDeliveries.com. "So it's pretty powerful."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2007

Datran Gets Its Affiliate Network in Order with New Tool

Datran Media, through its NetMargin division, is now applying a newly developed tool called BrandShield, as an email compliance dashboard and enforcement tool, onto its affiliate marketing platform.

The idea is that Brandshield will allow advertisers, publishers and list owners to monitor and manage compliance across its affiliate network to assure privacy and CAN-SPAM compliance. The system uses compliance systems from UnsubCentral and reputation monitoring services from LashBack across NetMargin's network.

"We analyze every e-mail that goes out. We check for links. For subject line truthfulness… in an automated fashion," said Quinn Jalli, chief privacy officer for Datran Media. "To make sure that people aren't using them in an inappropriate fashion."

Jalli told me that with the Federal Trade Commission taking an increasingly harder look at affiliate networks, Datran is keen to have its ducks in a row and make certain they are in full compliance with the law. Datran has already had legal run-ins with the government, and ended up paying a $1.1 million settlement with the New York Attorney General's office regarding privacy violations.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 8:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 6, 2007

Cue the Bouncing Ad

When it comes to advertising, there’s disruptive, and then there’s disruptive. Potentially coming to a Web page near you is AdsThatBounce. The unit floats across the screen like the ball from a game of Pong of Breakout. It’s reminiscent of the million dollar homepage and a few other gimmicks. The company’s founder Tom Kerasias said, “I wanted to do something radically different, something that has never been done before,” in a company statement. It appears this ad will likely join the ranks of formats like the pop up and ads like the dancing people in the LowerMyBills.com ads.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

Amazon Running New Beta Test for Context

Amazon recently sent out a message to its large list of affiliates inviting them to try out a new beta test of its Context Links system. The idea being that if you copy and paste some code from Amazon onto your Web site or blog, the system will automatically attach links to Amazon products on relevant words from the page.

Amazon has a history of trying to make things easy for its affiliates with "we do it for you" linking, called Omakase and other tools, so I wasn't surprised when I spoke to Sean McMullan, marketing manager of the associates program for Amazon, and he told me " We hear from our associates that they like customization options, so we've gone out of our way to provide as many customization options as possible in this product."

"Specific to this beta test it's another example of us listening to our associates and what they want," he said. "Context Links are all about providing our associates another way to monetize their content on their page. It's complementary to what we currently do."

He told me that the software they are testing now will search Web pages and pick the best things it believes should be linked, and that they don't have a set date for the beta to come to an end. Still, from all accounts it seems to be working well for folks that have tried it out.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

AOL Withdraws TradeDoubler Offer

AOL has withdrawn its offer for Euro affiliate network TradeDoubler, which we mentioned back in January, after failing to convince the requisite number of shareholders that it's $900 million cash offer was up to snuff. The acceptance deadline had already expired and been extended once, according to Reuters.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

Online Game Publisher Opens Affiliate Marketing Program

K2 Network, a publisher of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), said it began an affiliate marketing program to run banner ads for its games on game enthusiast sites. The publisher will offer 5 percent on every purchase generated from links from the banner. The publisher's after Web sites with endemic traffic like video game Webzines, fan sites and community sites.

The publisher has an interesting model in that its games are "Free2Play" through their entirety, though gamers can opt for a subscription, which makes upgraded weapons and character classes available. A clear incentive. A number of K2 games run ads using Double Fusion.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 16, 2007

AOL's Move into Euro Affiliate Marketing

AOL has put in a huge, $900 million bid on Swedish affiliate player TradeDoubler. That's equal to Google's search and ads agreement with MySpace, to put it in perspective. It also calls to mind another big cross-border affiliate acquisition, that of Linkshare by Japanese portal Rakuten over a year ago for $425 million.

I know next to nothing about TradeDoubler, but am presuming AOL's done a thorough investigation into its affiliates' practices and legislative probabilities in Sweden and the EU. The impact of recent U.S. legislation on gambling affiliates is still a fresh memory.

AOL execs are saying they believe the company would be complementary with AOL's Advertising.com ad network unit in the U.S. Perhaps that means they intend to offer advertisers the option to manage their network buys and affiliate programs in one place. That would require a leap on the part of many advertisers who run their affiliate programs out of their sales departments, whereas network buys are solidly a marketing function.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

See More Posts From:

Today | This Week | This Month

• Send us feedback
|
• FAQ
|
• Technical questions or bug reports?
|
• Newsletter problems?
|
• Site Map
|
• ClickZ RSS feeds

• Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC. 2009 All rights reserved.
|
• Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints & Permissions
|
• Privacy Policy