Associate Programs Newsletter #174
CONTENTS:
1. Be Free turns blind eye to Gator’s dirty tricks
2. More merchants say no to scumware
3. New script blocks Surf+ and TopText
4. How to take your business to a new level
5. eBay heads for TV, and other news
6. Digital camera scam takes new twist
7. Thought for today: A life changed forever
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1. Be Free turns blind eye to Gator’s dirty tricks
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Affiliate network Be Free has adopted a strange stance on predatory advertising, or “scumware” as it is aptly known.
As I’m sure you know, Gator, one of the main scumware companies, has an affiliate program powered by Be Free.
Scumware programs such as Gator, TopText and Surf+ use unfair business practices, overlaying advertisers’ links on your web site. (For details, see last week’s newsletter –
How to stop scumware – and Gator’s press recent release
library.northernlight.com/FB20010823550000160.html .)
What these companies are doing is disgusting. It’s not surprising that there’s been an outpouring of anger in forums around the Net.
For example, the discussion continued to rage here:
gethighforums.com/Forum28/HTML/000019.html
gethighforums.com/Forum28/HTML/000021.html
gethighforums.com/Forum28/HTML/000057.html
In the midst of all this, Be Free’s Chief Technical Officer Sam Gerace, interviewed by Brian Clark, argues that you shouldn’t blame Be Free, because Be Free is not an affiliate network!
Be Free, according to Sam, just provides the technology.
(“Gator Tarnishes Be Free’s Image”
revenews.com/archives/00000143.html )
Sam’s argument is just plain silly.
To understand how silly it is, all you have to do is look at Be Free’s Reporting.net where Be Free promotes the 300 merchants in its network – including Gator.
As Brian Clark says, Be Free has “the brand presence of being a network (Reporting.net, escrows, check cutting services) . . .
“The community can see that Be Free’s hands are all over the cash transactions, but are asked to understand that Be Free is just a ‘transparent technology provider’ with regards to Gator’s actions and relationships.”
Be Free has a contract with Gator and can’t kick Gator out of its network unless it does something illegal.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) believes Gator violates federal copyright, trademark and intellectual property law –
internetnews.com/IAR/article/0,,12_874141,00.html .
However, Gator argues that it is doing nothing illegal. It believes it has the right to place ads on your site which obscure existing ads, and it is suing the IAB –
internetnews.com/IAR/article/0,,12_874391,00.html .
Only a court can decide whether Gator is breaking the law. However, I don’t believe that’s the main point.
The most important point is that Gator generates revenue from your pages at your expense without payment or permission.
That’s disgusting.
It’s not surprising that many commentators are calling it theft.
Where is Be Free while all this is going on? It’s invented a weak, too-silly-for-words argument and it turns a blind eye.
Shame on you, Be Free.
Be Free has described itself as “the leading provider of affiliate network management services” –
befree.com/company/pressroom/releases/1998/press17.htm .
Unfortunately, it’s not doing any “leading” right now.
No true leader would turn a blind eye to unfair business practices which harm all its merchants and affiliates.
Good affiliate merchants know that if they want to succeed in the long term they must look after the interests of their affiliates.
Surely Be Free understands that.
At the VERY least, it should announce to its affiliates and merchants that it disagrees strongly with Gator’s techniques and is trying to persuade the company to abandon predatory advertising.
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2. More merchants say no to scumware
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Speaking of leadership…
SiteSell has told its affiliates that scumware “is a blatant violation of copyright, pure unadulterated theft, and downright reprehensible behavior”.
“SiteSell.com has made appropriate changes to its affiliate agreement,” Ken Evoy says. “We are implementing a ‘zero- tolerance’ policy to the use of such tactics by our affiliates.”
Any affiliate who participates in predatory advertising programs will be immediately banned from SiteSell’s program.
Affiliate merchants who are inserting anti-scumware clauses in their affiliate agreements include:
LeadCrunch
ListChannel
Affiliate Announce
SiteSell – https://www.associateprograms.com/ken
Well done! Let’s hope many more merchants will follow your excellent example.
[UPDATE: In July, 2005, LeadCrunch was acquired by JP Sauve’s CPA network MaxBounty.]======================================
3. New script blocks Surf+ and TopText
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Gary Rosenzweig of Developer Dispatch has written a new free script which will protect your site against two of the main scumware products – Surf+ and TopText.
This script is installed on YOUR server, rather than fetching a script from another site.
Lorri Crossno-Nevil writes:
People are really getting on this – thank goodness.
I’ve been disturbed to find that many are offering solutions that require people who want to use it to redirect their visitors to their page (that’s alarming, taking advantage of scumware to get website owners to send people to another page on purpose).
Developerdispatch.com/dispatch/devdis010.html
has a copy and paste article here – along with copy and paste solutions for visitors who are using TopText and/or Surf+
This is good – I’m implementing it in my pages now.
They give you everything – including what to copy and paste in your web page to redirect a visitor (to a page on your site) with information about what they are running, etc. I’m going to be adding the links to the petition.
Just got Bob Rankin’s TourBus News – and found a few things I didn’t know (even though I’ve researched) https://www.tourbus.com/ TOURBUS Volume 7, Number 11 – 28 Aug 2001 but this was the first I’d heard/read (TopText does not affect Netscape users.)
I also took the plunge and downloaded TopText – and I DEFINITELY notice the keywords that were popping up a few weeks ago are no longer there…so the pressure is on. However, Bob noted this in his article as well:
“Ezula is adamantly refusing requests to prevent TopText from affecting individual sites.”
He included links to these stories:
Peer-to-peer exchanges court advertisers
cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6759036.html
Keyword software raises ire
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6759036.html
Lorri Crossno-Nevil
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4. How to take your business to a new level
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I hope you’ve signed up for the Guerrilla Marketing Boot Camp in Las Vegas.
Joanna and I are making the time to travel halfway round the world for this fantastic workshop.
Here’s just ONE reason why – a surprise presentation by highly innovative marketer Mark Joyner.
Mark, one of the Net’s most successful Internet marketers, has a long string of credits to his name.
For example:
He pioneered the e-book marketing technique back in 1995. His ebook, “Search Engine Secrets”, has been downloaded more than a million times.
He created SearchHound, ran it on a zero marketing budget, and then sold it for $4 million.
He’s the author of the highly popular “1001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics” and creator of the ROIbot suite of Internet power tools.
His sites receive millions of visitors a month, using strategic alliances and affiliate marketing.
Mark has planned a surprise presentation wherein he’ll be showing you an outrageous Internet marketing system that he has never revealed to the public. Only 7 people in the world have ever laid eyes on this system (strictly members of his marketing staff who have all signed confidentiality agreements never to disclose this system to others).
I won’t be allowed to reveal the details to you – you’ll need to attend to learn these secrets. It’s the zero-cost advertising techniques which specially appeal to me.
And that’s only half an hour of what Seth Godin, best-selling author of “Permission Marketing” and “Unleashing the Idea Virus,” calls “the most important business event of the decade”.
Also, as Joanna points out, it’s a tax-deductible vacation in Vegas.
It’s not for beginners.
It requires an investment of time and money. If you’re serious about taking your business to a whole new level, learn more here:
AssociatePrograms.com/gmarketing
[UPDATE: This link no longer works. The conference was good.]Here’s a gift certificate to make attending it easier.
Number: GC6823
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5. eBay heads for TV, and other news
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eBay is taking its highly successful Internet auctioning to television in the form of a syndicated program set for launch next year.
newsbytes.com/news/01/169532.html
HeadHunter.net is being bought for $200 million in cash by two major U.S. newspaper chains, Knight Ridder and Tribune Co. They aim to build an online and offline job-recruitment service which will rival Monster.com.
internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_872541,00.html
Flooz to File Bankruptcy; Victim of Huge Credit Card Fraud
atnewyork.com/news/article/0,1471,8471_873321,00.html
The proposed sale of Egghead.com to Fry’s Electronics could be in jeopardy if too many customers decide they don’t want to be on a Fry’s mailing list, according to bankruptcy filings.
cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-6962164.html
Amazon Opens PC Store Doors
theregister.co.uk/content/51/21333.html
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6. Digital camera scam takes new twist
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A digital camera scam reported by MSNBC.com 18 months ago has resurfaced and now involves an even more sophisticated routine. It’s a complicated scam, involving stolen credit cards and an uncanny ability to trick online auction winners into “stealing” merchandise.
msnbc.com/news/613759.asp
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7. Thought for today: A life changed forever
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“Jay Conrad Levinson had coffee with me in 1983 and it changed my life forever.” – Seth Godin.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
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