Geno on November 1st, 2011

Remember my PPC Display URLs and Affiliate Direct Linking Are Interconnected post two months ago? In it — being guided by Google AdWords policy — I argued: Permitting “direct linking” (or Direct-To-Merchant (DTM) paid search bidding), however, implies that affiliates are allowed to link their paid search ads (through their affiliate links, of course) right [...]

Continue reading about Bing Allows Anything for Display URL?

Geno on September 6th, 2011

Every time I buy something I try to do it through an affiliate link (my modest attempt to ensure affiliate marketing does grow to $4 billion by 2014). That is why you’ll often see me tweeting out requests for an affiliate link to this or that merchant… So, prior to placing an order I (a) [...]

Continue reading about Concise Example of Solid Affiliate Program Policy

Yesterday I have once again touched on the subject of affiliate compliance with rules, and how merchants are or aren’t policing it. As I wrote in my FeedFront article: …to begin with, you want make sure you have an affiliate program agreement in place. Not to be confused with the affiliate network agreement, it is [...]

Continue reading about PPC Display URLs and Affiliate Direct Linking Are Interconnected

Over the past few days I have reviewed over a hundred of affiliate applications into a program I manage, but 3 particularly stood out. One of them was from the UK, one from Serbia and one from Indonesia. These applications can be gathered into one group, because all three had one thing in common — [...]

Continue reading about Trademarks in Affiliate Domains: a Cause for Concern?

It isn’t unusual to see the following affiliate paid search policy set out and enforced by a merchant: In the vast majority of cases the above PPC policy is one of those best practices that every affiliate program should implement. The reason is obvious: such affiliate activity adds no value to the merchant, and serves [...]

Continue reading about Affiliates, Domain Names and Trademark Violations

Geno on October 2nd, 2009

In one of the newly launched affiliate programs (where specific types of affiliate promotion are explicitly prohibited in a short and easy-to-read program agreement), we have observed that over 38% of affiliates who apply into this program do not read that agreement. Yes, there is a mandatory requirement to agree to the terms and conditions [...]

Continue reading about 38% of Affiliates Do Not Read Program Agreements

I have just looked over descriptions of several affiliate programs run by established brands, and noticed that some of them reward affiliates only for “new and unique” customers (wording retained, italics mine). Wow… They are pushing away thousands of affiliates on the pre-recruitment phase just by having that policy in place. In fact, this is [...]

Continue reading about Commission for New Customers Only – Bad Affiliate Marketing Practice