Associate Programs Newsletter #87
Who needs a millennium bug to mess things up? I managed to get a special January 1, 2000, edition of this newsletter published AFTER midnight (New Zealand time) but the BEFORE midnight edition was struck by gremlins.
I’m trying again, using a backup server. My humble apologies if you eventually receive an extra copy.
(New Zealand time is usually GMT plus 12 hours – but it’s GMT + 13 hours right now because we have daylight saving time in summer.)
Want to watch the partying? Web cams around the world:
cnet.com/internet/0-3805-7-1500988.html
CONTENTS:
1. The Complete Guide to Associate and
Affiliate Programs on the Net
2. Go2Net protects thief but not victim
3. Top three affiliates to win satellite TV system
4. CJ.com announces “university”
5. Alexa releases Amazon shopping tool
6. Has eToys seen sense at last? Not yet
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1. The Complete Guide to Associate and
Affiliate Programs on the Net
==============================
Daniel Gray’s latest book, “The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net”, is a good solid introduction to the topic.
The book is well worth buying for one chapter alone, “Affiliate Success Stories”, which profiles five successful affiliate sites. If you’re new to associate programs – or struggling to make money from them – this chapter will put you on track. You’ll note a common theme here. They’re all content-rich, community-centered sites which offer compelling reasons to click through and buy.
As Daniel says: “These sites aren’t crammed full of banners and buttons, nor are they mere shopping malls. They exist with a purpose.”
Unlike most books on marketing on the Net, this one totally avoids hype. Precious few people get filthy rich from affiliate programs, he warns.
“The Complete Guide” explains such topics as how affiliate programs work and why they make sense, and describes how to build an effective affiliate site, build community, select merchants, generate traffic and keep track of statistics.
However, Daniel warns the reader: “The field is moving so fast, I feel as if I’ve painted a portrait of a speeding train.
He has chosen 100 programs for a “Top 100 Directory” of programs which he says are the cream of the crop – “the best affiliate programs on the Web today”. His focus is on the better-known, well capitalized merchants “with name recognition, good management, and stable footing”.
Corey Rudl generates $1 million a year from his associate program – https://www.associateprograms.com/corey – and it is an excellent money-spinner for me but I couldn’t find a mention of Corey in this book.
In fact, Daniel doesn’t include any Internet marketing books in his Top 100. If you’re selling to the moms and dads in your community, you’ll do far better with children’s books, toys and clothing, he says.
You’ll have fun skimming the Top 100 to see if you agree with his choices. The directory includes facts such as the date the program was established, number of affiliates, commission paid, return days (all the Be Free ones are marked “not applicable”), whether the company is publicly traded, 1998 revenues, and a list of competitors.
This “complete guide” presents a fairly simple model of affiliate programs, almost ignoring the powerful potential of two-tier programs (mistakenly referring to them as multi-tier) and ignoring the fact that merchants can mix and match affiliate programs in all sorts of complex ways. Merchants who run affiliate programs, for example, can join other affiliate programs and successfully treat their affiliates as customers as well as sales people.
That said, however, “The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net” is excellent value.
It costs only $15.96 from Amazon:
https://www.associateprograms.com/dan
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2. Go2Net protects thief but not victim
=============================
It wasn’t easy, but after a series of letters backwards and forwards I’ve persuaded Go2Net to remove a page which was copied – stolen – from AssociatePrograms.com.
That’s great. However, without seeking my permission, Go2Net has passed my complaint on to the “alleged infringer”.
Now Go2Net won’t tell me who the thief is “for privacy reasons”.
I wrote to Go2Net and put things simply:
- He stole my page.
- You gave him my name.
- You won’t tell me his name.
- So you’re protecting the thief and not the victim. Haven’t you got things backwards?
Apparently, there are only two ways for me to find out who the thief is – I can hope he writes to me or I can get a court-ordered subpoena.
I’ve written to Peter Buck, in-house counsel at Go2Net, asking why he’s protecting the thief and not protecting the victim.
The answer: Go2Net has a privacy policy.
I realize free web hosts have a tough time policing plagiarism complaints, but perhaps they ought to re-examine their whole way of doing business. If they won’t give me his name, they had no right to give him my letter.
Giving a thief more protection than the victim doesn’t make any sense to me.
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==================================
3. Top three affiliates to win satellite TV system
==================================
Sundial.com, which sells wireless products and services such as cellular phones, pagers and satellite TV systems, will start rewarding its top-selling affiliates with gifts.
For the first quarter of 2000 Sundial.com will give away complete DirecTV systems, one of the most popular items on the Sundial.com website, to the top three affiliates.
DirecTV systems, which include an 18-inch dish antenna, provide access to hundreds of channels.
“We recognize that our affiliates are working hard for us,” says Sundial.com Affiliate Manager Craig Karnis, “and that’s why we developed a system to reward the affiliates who are actively promoting our program. Each quarter we will work out new ways to provide incentives above and beyond our generous 10% commission.”
The first qualifying period for the prizes is from December 29 to February 29.
You can join at Commission Junction.
https://www.associateprograms.com/cj
=========================
4. CJ.com announces “university”
=========================
It’s good to see that affiliate network Commission Junction is making a major effort to educate affiliates and merchants.
CJ.com has announced the creation of “Commission Junction University” (CJU), a continuing education program to provide merchants and their affiliates with tips and techniques to market themselves better and maximize profits.
CJU will start with a two-day conference for retailers and affiliates in the Commission Junction network on February 25-26 in Santa Barbara, California.
“We are finding that many affiliates and retailers want an education on how to enhance their affiliate marketing relationships,” says Scott Horst, vice-president of marketing for Commission Junction.
“It is not enough to simply stick banner ads on a site and expect huge gains. It is about placement, context, marketing strategy and working together for optimal success.”
CJU “students” will participate in workshops, seminars, roundtables and discussion groups led by industry experts and affiliate marketing specialists from Commission Junction.
All of the educational material used at the conference will be available to members online in the Commission Junction Library at https://www.associateprograms.com/cj after the conference.
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5. Alexa releases Amazon shopping tool
==============================
Amazon.com has introduced zBubbles, a browser tool that lets it sell from any page on the web – even your own.
It’s a shopping comparison tool similar to Dash.
“For instance, if I go to MicroWarehouse.com’s home page, then click on the Z, it tells me information about the Palm V, one of the products listed on the page,” writes Danny Sullivan of https://www.SearchEngineWatch.com . “I’m shown places to buy it and related products, as submitted by other zBubbles users. Conveniently for Amazon, I’m also shown its price for the Palm V (hey, I’d save $70! But would I get the free leather case that MicroWarehouse throws in?).”
Danny Sullivan’s report:
https://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/99/12-alexa.html
===============================
6. Has eToys seen sense at last? Not yet
===============================
Big bully eToys.com, which sued little etoy (no “s”) and won a court order preventing the much older etoy.com from using the etoy domain name, this week appeared to be abandoning its silly, unpopular fight.
Toy seller eToys.com said it would not press its lawsuit against the Swiss art site etoy.
“People are telling us they want the art of etoy and the e- commerce of eToys to co-exist,” said eToys spokesman Jonathan Cutler. “We’ve agreed. We’re not pressing the lawsuit.”
However, depending on who you believe, what was really happening was that eToys.com was either trying to control the content on the etoy site, or merely asking for some of it to be removed because it is unsuitable for children.
Meanwhile, the big bully’s site is still online. The artists’ site – which was online two years before eToys.com – isn’t.
Full story:
wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33330,00.html
wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33338,00.html
All the best,
Allan Gardyne
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