Even The Beeb Make Mistakes - So Allow Us To Too

I think us affiliates are always blasted for doing stuff we shouldn't. Like putting the wrong codes on sites, leaving the wrong links up, not changing offer details etc etc.

I know there's some malicious sites out there that don't really care about the industry and as long as they're getting their wonga they think they can do anything they like - not naming names!!

But when you see the complete lack of Quality Control from the BBC when they put up a picture of the talented Utd player JS Park instead of Dong Fangzhou you really have to wonder what chance there is for us affiliates keeping everything ship-shape and Bristol fashion?

We all get millions of emails, Instant messages, forum posts, phone calls every day about programmes that most of us don't know whether we're coming or going!

I'm going through and cancelling my association or turning off notifications from merchants that I don't intend to do anything with in the near future or I just get too much crap from.

But are there any other affiliates that are struggling to cope with the continual changes and demands from merchants, agencies or networks?

This Blog's Reading Level Is ... Damn Is That Good Or Bad?

Apparently this blog's reading level is:



Now is that good or bad?

At least some others have the same score! Try them out.

The Perfect Discount Codes Solution - For Content Affiliates

Perhaps most networks and merchants think the only people that use discount codes are code affiliates? Perhaps they're right to put all their efforts and perhaps, eggs, on one basket?

I take the contrary view. I take the view that content affiliates are the affiliates that are the engine of the affiliate industry as we inform and educate buyers. We SEO for relevant generic terms, inform the user as to a certain product's suitability for them and highlight which merchants they can buy from. We'll add value and discus delivery options, gift wrapping etc. Then off trotts "our" consumer into the merchant site and gets to the payment section where (s)he says "Add your discount code", people being who they are then go off and search for a discount code and whether they find one, get one that is expired, or get a cookie landed on their machine when no code is available, I loose the commission.

Now you could say this is "survival of the fittest", or I should change my business model and every affiliate should have a code and/or cashback site meaning that there'll be over 5,000 of them.

I can I take the "third way". Networks, and some merchants have taken great strides in recent years with reducing the affect of spyware (I hope they're still on top of this) and creating loads of widgets for affiliates to drop into their sites. These are fantastic (in varying degrees). However, I see the next great landrush for networks is to help content affiliates work with codes more effectively.

Yes, there have been movements in this area with 3 networks (as far as I can see) offering fairly useful discount code tools. But I'd like them to go further. I'd like to see them offering "discount code widgets".

You say wa? I'd like contextual discount code widgets which an affiliate can customise. It'd probably be some JavaScript that an affiliate could drop into thier page below some content about a product itself or a product area in general and the widget looks at which merchants have been mentioned and then displays logos and codes from those merchants.

This way the affiliate does some work. The other way is the true contextual stuff (I see Webgains doing this) but just adds the codes into it.

All this would help content affiliates keep in the game, give them greater returns for their efforts and keep informing users.

I'm sure there's many content affiliates, blogging affiliates that would love to reduce the wastage to code sites. It's nothing against them, I've got some good friends that run those types of sites. However, I'd loose less sales to them - to be perfectly blunt!

p.s. Frostie what's your address I've got some slightly battered rum for you!

John Terry being ripped to death by Chihuahuas - Love Unruly Media

I think it was Purple that mentioned Unruly Media to me. Basically its a new revenue generating option for sites that don't just want do Adsense, cpc stuff or the traditional affiliate offerings.

Unless you've got a large trafficked site, you won't get rich. But I've tried one out before and had a view rate of 7.8% and an effective CPM of $2.23.

Also their support was pretty spot on. I was getting loads of traffic to one page when I applied. I emailed them direct and they approved virtually straight away.

They've had some fantastic videos on offer. At the moment they've got a good one from Nokia that I've just uploaded to may Olympics site. This page has been getting about 700pvs a day so it'll be interesting to see how it fairs today - I don't think it'll get much traffic the rest of the tournament.

They've also got this one from the Mirror - chuckle-a-minute!



They've also had a load of others including the Chanelle Hayes Sex Tap, and Pro Street Romania.

p.s. they didn't pay me to post the recommendation, but you could send the video around ;-)

but this one made me laugh "Christmas presents for randy boyfriends"

Expired Discount Codes

What's the bloody point of including expired discount codes in your site? Do we do it because others do? Do we do it in a masked attempt to help surfers find codes that shouldn't work but do?

Or are they just there to act as cookie-cutters?

Should merchants demand that expired codes not be present on voucher sites? And should merchants not just list expired discount codes on their sites as well as banning voucher code sites from using expired codes? I wonder how much merchants can save by cutting out the code cookie cutters!?!

I know I've got mates in this industry and have listed some myself for the sole reason that merchants don't ask affiliates not to - but should we be listing them at all?

Affiliate Future's Voucher Tool & It Pays Not To Work 7.5/5

I was slightly manic on Friday as I was in meetings with Joe Bloggs trying to get their affiliate programme into the next stages by meeting with their MD and marketing team. So I missed the launch of the new Voucher Code System on Affiliate Future.

Now, I got up this morning at 7am (yes a Sunday morning at 7am) to get some voucher code content together for my Christmas gifts blog as I wanted a change from content writing. I spent 2 hours selecting gadget and gift merchants on Awin, getting the links together, descriptions and trying to find non-exclusive codes. 2 bloody hours! I could have been in bed gently waking up to the birds twittering in the trees outside the house. But no I was faffing around with chuffing discount codes.

So I get a call from J Lil (cough) so we meet up for lunch as he was driving his wife back from Preston. We were chatting about the usual crap and he mentions Affiliate Future's voucher code finding tool! Bastard! It makes finding codes a piece of piss! It's a basic directory structure that allows you to navigate down the merchant tree and find codes suitable for your topic. You can even view all vouchers and export them so they automatically update your sites!!

The tool also allows you to differentiate between new, expiring soon and expired codes and gives you the opportunity to quickly get in touch with merchants to request exclusive codes. Bastards again!

I'm pretty much building my Christmas site around Awin's merchants as they've got tonnes in the gifts arena and dabble a bit in Webgains on it. But neither of these two networks can compete (in my mind and understanding of their offerings) with this new tool from Affiliate Future!

Like Hawkins Bazaar have codes listed on Webgains and both say "not to be used by affilaites" - like that's no good to me! Give me a code!

The Affilaite Window RSS feed from their blog is good, but it's not in the "code integration" frame of mind for me to get too excited.

Now Paid On Results - do offer a great tool but this is the first time I've been hell bent to include codes across many sectors and they don't dominate the gifts merchants, so I'd not had a good play to date. But I'll set that right.

All of this just shows that a bit of verbal communication and going out of your way (just off the m6 ;-) ) helps to get an affiliate with a real need for your tools to actually use them with greater emphasis and at the probable expense of another network.

p.s. it was also worth watching J struggle with his mixed grill - never thought I'd see the day!!

p.p.s. I can't wait for the other developments in store. I've got wood for them!

July 2008 Archive

Blogs are my chosen route to market for my affiliate stuff and Hitwise said that blogs now account for 1.19% of all UK internet traffic and is now one of the most popular methods for new affiliates. But news from Amazon that they're capping affiliate commissions doesn't them - but what else can they do?

I also gave a run down of my recent activities. However, I still managed to do some posts which were a complete waste of time - unlike Adsenselog. I initially had a negative view of the iPhone.

And my pet hate of crap link building raised its ugly head again and people TRYING to fix the economy!

At least during the month I learned from my mistakes but found it difficult to monitise my Olympics site.

We had a good time at the Manchester BBQ and the creation of Affiliate Bitch got tongues a wagging! And people still think I post to it! Tut!

What's Google Fruits? When Looking For Boys T Shirts?

I was at a client's today and we did a search for "boys t shirts" and a Google page came up at position with the url www.google.co.uk/search/fruits/index.php?cPath=21 and the title "boys t shirts".

Like WTF is all that about? (p.s. I've grabbed the listing and moved it so you can see the search term)



and a close up:



Anyone got any clues?

This is the url that shows the "offending page":

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB225GB225&q=boys+t+shirts&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB