It appears that while I do my best to take note of positive news and developments in the industry it is when I blog about problems (read: a negative news/issues) that I get most interest and participation from my readers. And unfortunately this is natural… But today I’d like to focus on the good — especially so since there are some really good news and developments to report. Here are the three that have really impressed me over the past few days:

AvantLink Pioneers App Market

Don’t know what took affiliate networks so long to start something like this, but glad to see it finally happen — AvantLink has launched an Affiliate Marketing App Market, “allowing developers from around the world to add functionality to the network” [source]. The idea is, actually, pretty simple/straightforward: (i) developers create apps using AvantLink’s API, (ii) affiliates use them for free (no additional fees; “you keep your entire commission for any sales made using any app”), and (iii) every time an affiliate sale is made using the developers tool, he/she also gets a commission or “20% of the network’s commission for every sale generating through the app” (yep, they’ve actually structured it as an affiliate program). Good development, and kudos to AvantLink for creating the platform and the good motivation to empower affiliates.

Skimlinks Introduces Real-Time Affiliate Marketing

Remember when Skimlinks acquired Atma Links this summer? Immediately following it I asked Alicia Navarro, Skimlinks’ CEO, if she can give my readers a “sneak-peak into what other new features they should expect from the combined Skimlinks+AtmaLinks solution”. She replied that the combined solution wasn’t in too distant of a future, and said: “what I can share now is that their technology specialises in highly accurate, multi-vertical product identification and matching” and “we can apply this to a number of our existing products (particularly EveryFeed – our aggregated product API) as well as other publisher tools we offer our customers”… Well, they’ve just rolled the combined technology out, calling it SkimWords 2.0. The new creation is being characterized by an “unparalleled accuracy and speed as it analyzes page content to recognize product references and deliver in-text affiliate links, and optionally show product and price comparison information, all in real-time” [more here]. I am particularly fond of this new development, because it is linguistics-related (and, while not many know it, I’m a linguist by first education). SkimWords 2.0 is supported by AtmaLinks’ computational linguistics and semantic algorithms. They match content/text with tens of millions of products, creating real-time in-text affiliate links. Amazing development!

7ThingsMedia Exemplary Communication/Management

Yesterday, 7ThingsMedia, a UK affiliate program management agency, has sent out an “Apologies for the mistake” email to all Agent Provocateur‘s affiliates. Here’s the core of the text:

I just wanted to email you personally to apologise for the email sent regarding an admin error that occured on Commission Junction this afternoon regarding the Agent Provocateur affiliate programme.

The programme was accidently deactivated today at 15.56, the mistake was noticed straight away and the account was re-activated at 16.11. All affiliate links are working and commissions will be rewarded.

If you have any questions about this then please do email me on [email here] or give me a call on [phone number here].

I don’t know about you, but this is the first time I’ve seen an apology sent out for a 15 minute downtime which has probably not even been noticed by the majority of the affiliates in the program. All of this spells out one very important word — integrity. Kudos to 7thingsmedia for doing it right! This certainly gives affiliates hope that there are affiliate managers out there who know how to handle things right.

Important Disclaimer: None of the above news coverage were in any way “sponsored” by anyone. They reflect my sole personal opinion.

I am currently training an in-house affiliate program manager who has been hired to manage an affiliate program in the Flowers & Gifts vertical/category.

As we’re going through the process, she is asking some good questions. Her following ones about affiliate applications inspired this blog post:

What type of affiliates do you decline? One application that is pending has a website related to “all things running.” Do you approve these types of sites, even when their site is not a good match for a program? What other things do you primarily look out for?

There is one affiliate where her URL is not correct so I’m unable to view her site. What do you do in this situation?

Both — excellent questions.

1. Generally, I do not decline affiliates that have websites on something not directly relevant to what the merchant is selling. The main reason being that often affiliates have many more websites that those they have listed or have room to list on their affiliate network’s profile. So, I would approve the one with the site on “all things running” but, as with any affiliate, keep monitoring them closely.

2. The following five articles of mine should help you understand what red flags to look for (when reviewing affiliate applications), and assist you in developing your affiliate applications evaluation strategy:

• Affiliate Application: 10 Red Flags to Watch Out For
• Affiliates Who Fake URLs
• Analyze Affiliate Feedback to Prevent Affiliate Fraud
• 3 Signs You Do Not Want That Affiliate
• 6 Sure Ways to Get Your Affiliate Application Declined

3. In situations when the only URL that’s listed leads to an inaccessible website, I write to the affiliate, give them some 2-3 days to reply, and if/when there’s no reply, decline.

Hope other affiliate program managers will find this post of help as well.

By they way, should you be interested in having me train your in-house affiliate manager (or managing your program), do let me know.

Affiliate fraud can take can take different forms. Most of them as well as the ways to prevent these from happening were discussed here. Today I’d like to draw affiliate program managers’ attention to one particular feature available to merchants on one particular network. I am a strong believer that good work deserves good praise. Hence, this post.

ShareASale is a network known for its strong ethical stance, and I really appreciate what they’re doing to help merchants make wiser decisions on affiliate applications. Not many people know it, but ShareASale is, in my knowledge, the only affiliate network that has an affiliate feedback score feature. Essentially, it’s a way for merchants who have previously worked with an affiliate to leave their feedback on an affiliate. As ShareASale puts it the “feedback scale is absolute, with 1 point given for a positive rating, and 1 point taken away for a negative.” Also, for affiliates: “if a merchant leaves negative feedback, it will then show up in your account and give you a chance to respond or rebut the claim” [source]. So, an affiliate who is truly kosher, shouldn’t end up displaying this terrible of a feedback score:

The above is a screenshot of an affiliate application I’ve received this morning. Needless to say what my decision was.

If you’re running an affiliate program on ShareASale, make sure you put this feature to good use. It will save you a lot of headaches (yes, I’ve approved affiliates with negative feedback before, and I know from experience what results it leads to) in the future.

A regular reader of my blog has emailed me:

I am new to the title of “Affiliate Manager” and I’m having a hard time discerning what classifies an affiliate as a “good” or “bad” affiliate. Do you have a “list” of what to look for when it regards accepting/declining affiliate applications? I don’t know what I’m looking for.

Very good question. I’ve addressed a very similar one in my July 2009 6 Sure Ways to Get Your Affiliate Application Declined post on Econsultancy.com (and also touched on the subject in my 3 Signs You Do Not Want That Affiliate blog post of July 2010), but today I’d like to give you additional 10 red flags to watch out for.

As you’re reviewing affiliate applications in your program, here are the major reasons for concern:

1. URL-related mismatches (e.g.: between the category in which the website is listed and the category it belongs to)
2. Trademarks in URLs (see this article on trademarks in affiliate domains and also this one)
3. Nonsense descriptions of promotional methods (e.g.: “I love [affiliate network name]“)
4. Incompatibility of affiliate’s promotional methods and what works for your program (for example, loyalty affiliates’ business model doesn’t work well with some types of affiliate programs)
5. Inappropriateness of affiliate website (e.g.: site promoting pornography, violence, etc… or a plain ole “banner farm”)
6. Inaccessible website, or one on which dangerous scripts are run
7. Affiliate relying on adware, toolbars, BHOs, etc (see my post on the clause that Walmart has recently added to their affiliate agreement, as well as the “Related Articles” list under it)
8. Lack of response from affiliate when you’re trying to clarify their application (give them 72 hours to be on the safe side)
9. Strongly negative feedback about the affiliate in affiliate in forums, blogs, etc
10. Foreign name, English-speaking country (see my article on country changers) — of course, this one is a less alarming reason for concern, but definitely a good reason to monitor them closely

Have I missed anything?

In the manner of my recent experiment with LinkShare premium advertisers, today I have conducted a similar test with the top affiliate programs on Google Affiliate Network.

Having sorted advertisers by “Payout Rank”, I have applied to 100 4-bar ones (since each bar “represents one quarter of the advertisers payout to the network”, these would be the ones in the 76th to 100th percentile):

My applications resulted in 12 auto-approvals, zero automatic declines (Google Affiliate Network doesn’t show you these results right away, so I had to wait for email replies which came immediately following the online application), and the majority of my applications went into a “pending review” status. Therefore, the breakdown that I have registered with the top Google Affiliate Network advertisers looks as follows:

• automatic approvals – 12%
• manual mode – 88%

A truly pleasant surprise was to see zero automatic declines. The number of automatic approvals is also fairly low, and this is good too. No, don’t get me wrong: most affiliates will love your automatic approvals. After all, they can then start promoting you right away. However, the vast majority of affiliates won’t mind waiting for a manual review/approval either. And the latter is always better for the health of your affiliate program.

I have conducted an experiment, and applied to 107 advertiser/merchant affiliate programs which are listed in LinkShare‘s “Premium Advertisers” section:

The results were quite interesting: 18 merchants auto-approved me into their affiliate programs right away (i.e. without even seeing my website), 10 automatically declined my application (again, without even reviewing my website), and the rest of applications went into “Pending” status, which, I suppose, means that they will be manually reviewed. So, here’s the breakdown we have with LinkShare’s top advertisers:

• automatic approvals – 16.8%
• automatic declines – 9.3%
• manual mode – 73.9%

As discussed elsewhere, both automatic approvals (“open door” policy) and automatic declines (lost opportunities) are dangerous. It is certainly good to see that close to three-quarters of LinkShare’s Premium Advertisers have an actual person (and not automatic account settings) control the affiliate applications consideration process. However, the number of those that automatically approve or decline (over 26%) is still pretty high. Don’t you think so?

Today I’ve had Caterpillar apply into an affiliate program I manage. At least so it looked from the URL on the application. Had it happened 5 or 6 years ago I would have probably even gotten excited about it. But not today.

As an affiliate program manager you do not want to get too excited if/when a huge website applies to join your program as an affiliate. First of all, you want to verify site ownership (for example, ask them to send you an email from an @hugebrand email address, or provide you with one at which you may reach them), and only once their association with the website has been established, you can celebrate.

In the case that I’ve started with, things were way too obvious right from the start. Here’s that affiliate application:

• Red flag #1: mismatch between website name (“I Love CJ”) and URL (www.cat.com)
• Red flag #2: mismatch between category chosen (“Magazines”?!) and the URL
• Red flag #3: “email marketing” indicated as the only promotional method, which mismatches all of the above (website name, category and URL), and in light of all of these red flags, brings only one word to my mind: “spam”

…not to say that the application originated from Thailand, and the applicant joined the affiliate network only a month and a half ago.

Affiliate usage of not-their-own URLs happens day in and day out. Not all of these applications will be from rogue affiliates (say, some may mention google.com implying that they will promote you through SEM endeavors), but in most cases it should raise a red flag, and the program manager should either request additional verification (as explained above), or, when things are obvious without any additional verifications, decline such an application right away.

This is not the first time it is happening with me. So, I’ve decided to blog about it.

Every once in a while, I get an affiliate application in, which does have a URL of the website (good thing), but when I try to review the website, I get a page that asks for login details to be entered before I can even view it:

When I click “OK”, it brings up the login pop-up again; when I hit “Cancel”, I see:

No, I fully understand that some businesses distribute offers on membership basis, and as long as the affiliate isn’t involved in anything unacceptable to my affiliate program’s Terms and Conditions, that is all normally fine with me. However, if you, as an affiliate run a website like this, and apply to affiliate programs, I believe there are 3 essential things you want to correct in the above setup:

1. Have at least some kind of a homepage to the website (it just looks too suspicious when upon going to your main URL, I get that pop-up).

2. Withing your application, or in the specifically-designated area in your affiliate profile, describe what exactly it is that you’re doing.

3. If a login is required to experience your website at its full capacity, provide it to the affiliate program manager — at least for demo type access.

On a separate note, it is worth underscoring that the first two points will work well for pretty much any affiliate application, and the second one would be especially important for the ones where the first point doesn’t automatically address the second.

Every day there are a number of routine tasks I have to perform. Among them: (i) review of affiliate applications, (ii) response to emails, and (iii) review of blog comments that have queued up in the moderation queue of this blog.

Every day among the good ones, there are also bad and silly ones. Today my cup has finally overflown, and I’ve decided to show some of these “masterpieces” to everyone.

And winners are…….. [drum roll here.......]

Category: Hopeless Affiliate Application

Category: Ill-Researched Email Solicitation

I’m Anna C… at [company name]. I have read your article about email marketing on [URL of website I've never heard of, or written for] and found it quite informative and helpful.

From your article I know you are really an expert in email marketing tools (while, in reality, I am not at all!). At [company name], we also provide powerful and easy-to-use email marketing software for businesses. It’s highly appreciated if you can review our software and help us make it better.

Check it out at: [URL to their product]

Category: Meaningless Blog Comment

Yeah, the post in this blog is true and i thank you for the one who post this site because the researcher will have an idea and the post is so convincing. (spelling retained)

Got similar ones to share? Be my guest! You may do so in the “Comments” are below…

About a month ago, I made a blog post on the 3 signs that tell you to decline an affiliate application. It was an international (i.e. non-US) affiliate, and an Ireland-based search and affiliate marketer, Dave Davis quickly commented:

Wow, awesome seeing the “other side” of the applications. This example is an absolute shocker.

Would love to see a post on a “perfect example” of an international affiliate application from the backend of CJ.

A “perfect example” is yet to roll in, but here’s a screenshot of a very good one (out of the UK) that I’ve reviewed today:

Apart from a couple of spelling mistakes in the description of his “Special / Incentive Program”, this affiliate has demonstrated the things every affiliate program manager wants to see right away:

1. They have included their full name, and an email address on a domain of their own
2. Their websites make it clear how exactly they are going to be marketing the merchant, and the text does correspond with the “Promotional Methods” they have indicated
3. The details of their incentive program also make general sense

While it’s not a “perfect” affiliate application as such, it came quite close to it, and deserved the mention.