You will hear them called “adware,” “malware,” “parasiteware,” and “spyware;” you will see them come in forms of toolbars, browser plugins, BHOs, pop-ups, and pop-unders. As Harvard’s Ben Edelman would say, “the techniques vary, but the key tactic is the same” — “finding a way to get between the user and the […]
Affiliate Toolbars, Adware and Malware: 19 Resources to Study Read More »
The best affiliates are highly motivated to make sales and use whatever tools available to interest potential customers, including ever-developing technologies and apps. Although this is generally a good thing for the merchant, affiliate managers must be discerning which promotional methods are acceptable and which are not. Several types of
An Invisible Thief: Affiliate Adware and Plugins Read More »
Both affiliates and merchants should be aware of this contextual adware application which is already acting as an affiliate in multiple affiliate programs. Here’s a screenshot of their information from Commission Junction (taken off their today’s application into an affiliate program): Why should you be concerned? Well, they are not
Parasite Alert: LinksAdor / GimmeBargains Adware Read More »
Yesterday an important information has been posted by Kellie Stevens of Affiliate Fair Play in the 5StarAffiliatePrograms’ forum. Her alert is about a fairly newly created contextual adware that operates according to a model similar to Zango, Clicksor, or MediaTraffic. As an advertiser, you may buy traffic on DirectCPV.com which
Parasite Alert: DirectCPV / LoudMo Contextual Adware Read More »
While parasitism in affiliate marketing frequently being synonymized only with downloadable applications that intrude with the end user’s shopping experience with a purpose of facilitating cookie setting/swap on the customer’s machine, the term should really include everyone who is extracting wealth from merchants/advertisers without assisting them in any way to
Trademark Violators — a Type of Parasite Read More »
In continuation of my last two posts, and pondering on some of the comments at Econsultancy.com, let’s see what parties can benefit from adware pop-ups, and if anyone really gets hurt. To begin with, let’s list who is involved in the game: (a) adware affiliate, (b) merchant, (c) affiliate network,
Who Benefits & Who Gets Hurt By Adware Affiliates Read More »
I have been thinking and discussing the issue of parasitic affiliates a lot over the past 40 hours (since the publication of this post, and the recording of this video), and there are 2 things that stand out to me as the main downsides of having a parasitic/adware adware affiliate
Parasitic / Adware Affiliates Hinder Affiliate Program Growth Read More »
Earlier this morning I published an article on Econsultancy.com where I talked about the problem of parasitism in affiliate marketing, and channel cannibalization, and how it should not be viewed as a problem for affiliate marketers only, but be tackled on a much wider scale. As I was adding more
Programs on Multiple Networks: Parasites Hurt All Read More »
Today is a U.S. national holiday – the day when America commemorates the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a passionate activist and proponent of the civil rights movement. This morning I have spent a some time flipping through the writings of the Reverend, and two phrases especially spoke to
Speak Passionately About Things That Matter Read More »