Doug’s Mouthpiece - Droug.co.uk

Are networks operating illegally?

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

Ok I am about to duck…but here goes….

Assumption
Networks are there to help a merchant create extra business and are legally obliged to do so
Networks are more informed as to how the affiliate business works than a merchant
Merchants pay networks and assume that networks work in a merchants interest

If the above is so then why does the following happen in Europe:
Networks allow affiliate to operate rate catchers (pop ups that sit on desktop and appear saying click here to save 5% off this site - used by discount sites and cashback sites)
Networks work with people who cookie stuff
Networks work with people with toolbars that drop cookies
Networks work with scumware

I assume as most networks do not allow this to happen in the UK they deem it unethical/illegal.

Does that mean we have board members/directors of Public quoted companies knowing that their company is operating in an unethical/illegal manner in Europe. If so then is that criminal offence?

Directors are obliged to operate legally and ethically in the the interest of their shareholders.

Doug ducking

Merchants, Networks and Affiliates Open Disclosure

Affiliate Money Grabbers, What we are doing written by Doug Scott

I was at the IAB meeting last week and an issue was raised. The issues was that merchants and networks sometimes reject affiliates from a program as they do not really know what that affiliate does.

There were numerous suggestions to fix this including:

affiliates to have a simple site showcasing their main sites
affiliates to update their profiles on the affiliates4u forum

We already run www.asapventures.co.uk but I have also updated our a4u profile

Seems like a good and simple idea.

Now we wait for the merchants to disclose what the rules are that they use to remove sales…deduping etc:) Seems only fair that affiliates can see when they will be paid and when they won’t be. Disclosure can’t only be one way.

Doug
Ps. Sorry to Paul Lowndsy as I met him on Thursday and he seemed a nice bloke.

Lee Griffin Of Tradedoubler is not that pretty

Affiliate Money Grabbers, other written by Doug Scott

I just spent the day with Lee Griffin of Tradedoubler , so I thought I would have a little play and see if I can tell the world that after all his efforts to be classed as the pretty boy of affiliate marketing it did not work and he was beaten by Jason Baker by CJ in my poll.

Obviously this is only my poll:)

Lee Griffin of Tradedoubler

Shame Lee

Doug

Are Zanox playing with Scumware???

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

zanox - http://www.zanox.com - the global market leader in performance-based multichannel commerce, has added a series of social networking sites to its UK affiliate network. Webfetti, Zwinky and Smiley Central are all toolbar-based services which allow consumers to enhance their online presence and communication.

Zwinky - http://www.zwinky.com - is a customisable social avatar that helps people create and express their online brand or persona. Zwinky gives users a fun, free and easy way to show off personal style and mood, and express themselves visually on multiple social networking sites and blogs. Users also create an online personal profile, access their network of contacts and communicate from anywhere on the Web where their character is displayed update automatically.

Webfetti - http://www.webfetti.com - is a free, web-based application that allows users to easily customise their social networking profile pages and blogs on sites such as MySpace. Users can improve the look of their profile pages with different layouts, smileys, glitter letters, glitter graphics and video.

Smiley Central - http://www.smileycentral.com - is a free Smileys website launched in June 2003 which revolutionised the industry when it introduced flash-based “super” smileys. With more than 10,000 to choose from, smileys from Smiley Central work with instant messaging applications, email programs, blogs and mobile devices.

Source:

http://www.searchbyheadlines.com/posted_news/106116.html

How to create a controversey and get some business

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

Find a subject that is controversial but related to your industry, like voucher codes and www.promotions.co.uk. Find the forums where this topic is being discussed like www.affiliates4u.com. Decide what your stance is to be, mine is always the same I am the purist as it matches with my character and so my posts are always genuinely what I think.

Ok  so go and create some genuinely real threads that are useful or join in on other threads like these:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Then actively join in the threads, don’t hold punches, say what you really believe ( so few people ever do) and you will be gauranteed to get a conversation going. You will get lots of wishy washy people comment, but also some people who have oposing views. This is great as you now have a dialogue going without you being involved.

Make sure to have in your signature what you are offering and then wait. Firstly you will get people reading the thread contacting you, but also if the thread is genuinely useful ( remember this is the key thing you must do) then other forums blogs will link to it, you get more people contacting you. Google will then love this and the pages will rank for a lot of related terms like:

voucher code issues

Then you get more people contacting you….job done

Welcome to fun, but remember you need to make what you say genuinely useful or insightful.

Doug

Happy New Year - More Spotify Signups

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

That good old Geordie Boy Jonnie Forster at Spotify gave me a present, some more signups for Spotify

Free music:)

https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/

Now I know he was a great guy when at Valueclick, honest you were Jonnie:) But I thought they would have removed his profile from their site as he left over a year ago, maybe even 2.

http://www.valueclick.se/about/management.html#jforster

Doug thinks Itunes is stuffed

Shanes overview

I have entered CJ competition

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

CJ competition

Can you beat my photo????

Cheers

Doug going to California on a flat bed courtesy of CJ

Will the real Mark Walters please come forward

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

So anyone care to say who it is, you may have spoken to him on the phone or heard his rants on a4u:

No chance

….Maybe

My guess is this is him

. Looks too smooth

Maybe in his youth

Can you help please

Doug…….has a silly photo already

Top 9 Myths about Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate Money Grabbers written by Doug Scott

Top 9 Myths about Affiliate Programmes

There are a lot of myths associated with affiliate programmes and if any affiliate programme is going to be ‘worth its salt’ then these need to be debunked. So what are they and why have they arisen?

Myth No. 1: always choose a programme that pays high commission.

In fact this should perhaps read ONLY join a programme that pays high commission, since this seems to be the attitude of many webmasters.

Yet the reality is that sometimes it is better to have a low commission rate and get real, tangible leads that will actually follow through, rather than simply going for a high commission rate, where the visitors you direct will simply fail to make a purchase because they do not like the site or they find it hard to use.

Myth No 2: add banner ads for maximum results.

Banner ads are simply not the answer to every marketing problem and often they will fail to generate any traffic to your site. Most people dislike banner ads and just don’t use them; so they are of little use. If you really want to use some kind of advertisement then often a testimonial can be far more effective and can lead to visitors naturally following through.

Myth No 3: don’t worry about the quality of the sites in the programme.

This is a fundamental error; if visitors to the site feel they cannot trust it or they cannot make secure purchases or it simply looks amateurish, then they will leave the site and not follow through. So instead of just thinking that the other sites will be ok, take time to research them, particularly from the point of view of your customers, so that you can try to see any flaws in the design of the websites. If there are flaws then avoid this programme.

Myth No 4: in 10 Minutes you will be earning megabucks.

This simply is not true; it comes back to the old saying that ‘If something looks too good to be true, then it generally is’. This is because if you establish a programme in just a few minutes, then you are probably just relying on banner ads or pretty basic graphics. Instead, it is far better to set up a good, logical and natural set of links to an affiliate problem, and in this way you can ensure that your programme is more effective than if it is clumsy and doesn’t flow seamlessly along with the rest of your website. So take the time and put the effort in so that you can maximise your chances of real returns.

Myth No 5: if you have 1000s of affiliates you will make big bucks.

This again simply does not happen in reality; you may find that there are 2-3,000 affiliates who are all in your network, but there is no point in having them if they don’t actually buy anything. Make sure that you take time and trouble to research the kind of programmes that will generate potential customers, rather than people who simply aren’t interested!

Myth No 6: it is easier to allow the network hosts to facilitate payment.

If you let the network hosts facilitate payment then you have effectively given up a good deal of control and you will have to pay them an extra fee every time that they handle transactions. Also if you handle payments directly then you get to interact directly with your customer and hopefully have them coming back again and again!

Myth No 7: only a big name network will actually be successful for you.

Now this really is a way to get people to join up to an affiliate programme. After all, if only the big fish can help you then why not earth would you ever want to choose any provider other than a big name?

Well therein lays the rub; this is just a clever trick that the big names have pulled to try and get people to stay with them. In fact, the real success of any affiliate programme is the time and effort that YOU put into making it a success and making sure that it does attract potential customers who are interested and not just people who really don’t care.

Myth No 8: it’s too late to get on board with affiliate marketing.

Again, this is a way of keeping things ‘sewn up’. It may well be true that there are more affiliates around who are eager to get their own share of the market, but the reality is that more and more people are going online and so the number of affiliates has risen. The amount of people who are using the internet is also rising quite dramatically, so there is no reason to assume that you have missed the boat, instead you should simply hop on and come along for the ride!

Myth No 9: you can earn money without any increased traffic.

This myth is almost astounding; the whole basis of affiliate marketing is linked in with increasing the website traffic to your site. If no traffic visits the affiliate website then how do you get customers? Are they simply virtual customers or phantom customers? It just doesn’t add up, you really do need to increase website traffic and you can only do this if you take the time and trouble to sort out a good programme and adopt a strategic approach to the whole business.

Any programme that promises you or tells you that you can earn money without increased traffic is simply being false. It may take a little time and it can be a little labour intensive, at least to start off with, but if you are going to do it you may as well do it right and make it a success from the start, rather than just thinking you will get maximum rewards for minimum effort. Sadly life just doesn’t work in this way!

Anything Chris can do, we can do better

Affiliate Money Grabbers, What we are doing written by Doug Scott

Mr Clarkson of www.sunshine.co.uk fame reckons he should win the EConsultancy Award for innovation for the award “Innovation in Affiliate Marketing”, for what he did with wordpress or sunpress. Come on lets be honest, on the surface it may look good, but it’s only a bloody skin on top of wordpress. You could knock that up in an afternoon.

Come on now a bit of innovation is something like www.promotions.co.uk, it sorts out a problem for lots of people rather than just making money for Chris. So we have applied.

Read his pitch here, then and then vote for us:)

Fill out the form here - Vote for us - Innovation in Affiliate Marketing. Also give me a vote for - Most Innovative Person in Digital Marketing. It’s free to enter.

then email it to - awards@e-consultancy.com

Some reason to do it:

1. Ours is a better idea
2. Chris won the A4U award already
3. Chris loosing would be funny
4. Doug is awful at accepting prizes

Doug has entered