Associate Programs Newsletter #160
My “How to hunt down super affiliates” articles attracted so much interest, I’ve decided to continue the series.
CONTENTS:
1. How to hunt down super affiliates PART 3
2. LinkShare among CyberRebate’s top 20 creditors
3. Wayne will sell you good domain names for only $35
4. Take down your links, says ClubMom
5. Art.com affiliates will be paid, and other news
6. Latest winners of free banner advertising
7. Useful free resource: Affiliate Union
8. NEXT WEEK: How a one-man band attracts 100,000
__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
E-zine Editors…Authors…Information Publishers…
NEVER BEFORE SEEN Techniques For Turning an
Electronic Newsletter Into a $20,000+ a Month Profit
Stream! I’ve recently developed an electronic newsletter
publishing formula that’s so powerful, I can stop
marketing today – and STILL pull anywhere from
$10,000-$20,000 a month.
https://www.netbreakthroughs.com/tracker/c.cgi/Terry_3
___________________________________________________________
===========================================
1. How to hunt down super affiliates PART 3
===========================================
PART 1:
Find super affiliates Part 1
PART 2:
Find super affiliates Part 2
Here’s another practical example of how to use Neil Shearing’s Internet Success Spider to hunt down super affiliates.
Let’s assume you’re not in the big league and the list of the top 500 at jmm.com/press/usTop500DigitalMedia.html isn’t much use to you.
You’ve just written a book on how to pay less tax and you want to find some likely super affiliates.
OR perhaps you want to promote a tax book and would like to spy on a few affiliate web sites to see how THEY do it.
Here’s how, step by step:
Go to https://www.associateprograms.com and look in the Tax sub-category.
Select a tax-related product or service which looks professional and is likely to have good affiliates. For example, https://www.hrblock.com .
Have a quick look at the HRBlock affiliate program details. No. It’s not suitable for this exercise – it’s tracked by an affiliate network, LinkShare, and the Spider can’t help you there.
Try again. Choose another company, let’s say FileSafe. Yes. It has co-branded sites which have links which look like this: filesafe.net/yourcompanyname .
[UPDATE: Filesafe.net is no longer online.]Now go to the Spider (It’s online, and VERY easy to use – no software to download.) Type “www.filesafe.com” into the box, choose the number of sites you want to search for and select one of the listed search engines. (I chose AltaVista.)
Click on “Calc popularity”.
Wait patiently while the Spider does TWO things. It searches AltaVista for links to FileSafe, and it assesses all those sites for link popularity. Then it presents you with a neat list, with the ones with the most links at the top.
Here’s a SMALL selection of the sites it listed:
geocities.com 8,769,990
members.aol.com 4,945,949
angelfire.com 2,993,727
electronicaccountant.com 3586
cpadvantage.com 307
accountantsworld.com 281
wwwebtax.com 210
homeofficeexecutive.com 152
cpahoo.com 93
taxsys.com 85
americastax.com 31
accutaxx.com 21
moneyandtaxes.com 18
ta-check.com 2
ownmoney.com 0
Note, this isn’t totally magical. The Spider does NOT hand you a list of the top 10 FileSafe affiliates, ranked according to how much money they’re making.
Not all successful affiliates have a lot of links to their sites. For example, some simply buy traffic from pay-per-click search engines. If that’s all they do, the Spider won’t find them.
However, it IS a remarkably useful research tool. It quickly finds sites which cover a particular topic, theme, industry, or whatever – it’s your choice – and then gives you a simple way of deciding which of those sites are important.
It’s no coincidence that massively popular portals top the list while sites with peculiar names and amateurish web design are usually near the bottom of the list. (Brand new sites may be there, too.)
You can do all this the hard way or the easy way.
Here’s the hard, free way:
To find sites which link to a company. Go to https://www.AltaVista.com and do a reverse lookup, typing this into the search box: link:companyname.com .
Now, if you’re keen enough and have enough time, you can check the link popularity of each of those sites at Alexa – https://www.alexa.com .
You can also go to https://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ or https://www.LinkPopularity.com and, one by one, laboriously enter all those 1,000 or whatever sites. How many hours do you have to spare?
Or you can do it the easy way…
Neil’s Spider not only does the task better and faster, it also gives you the choice of searching at a click of a button all the following search engines: HotBot, AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google and MSN.
You can search for super affiliates better, smarter, faster using the Internet Success Spider.
Try it now, risk-free:
https://www.associateprograms.com/spider
=================================================
2. LinkShare among CyberRebate’s top 20 creditors
=================================================
CyberRebate’s top 20 creditors include eBates, Yahoo! and LinkShare, which is owed $133,801.
The top 20, listed when CyberRebate filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, are:
Ebates.com $418,354
Yahoo! Inc $300,000
EonBusiness $200,000
Academy Broadway $148,210
Promo Depot $134,101
LinkShare Inc $133,801
MyPoints.com $117,606
Martin McMillan $115,650
Cybergold $108,018
Mary Elchisak $102,211
tshirtnews.com $96,143
Stephen Neal $93,863
Hemang Patel $89,870
spree.com $87,757
Melany Shapiro $86,392
Digital Edge $82,000
A.Saskia Orizondo $79,216
Zbigniew Malecki $78,992
Chris Fioretti $78,947
Natalie Gend $78,879
“Well, at least we now know who earned the $418,354.20 commission – eBates.com, listed as CyberRebate’s biggest creditor,” comments Jim Reardon of https://humorplanet.com .
“I think this means that they were operating outside LinkShare to provide leads… plus the leads were incentivized (part of the money was returned to the users).”
CyberRebates’s downfall has hurt consumers as well as affiliates. Here’s a good article on it:
zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2761959,00.html
Probably the last payment it made was $250,000 to the legal firm which filed the petition.
If you’re owed money by CyberRebate, keep an eye on the site – CyberRebate.com. Updated recently, it now says:
“It is our intention to pay back as much as we can, hopefully up to 100 percent of what we may owe.”
Don’t expect to be paid all you’re owed. CyberRebate has assets of $24 million against liabilities of $83 million.
=====================================================
3. Wayne will sell you good domain names for only $35
=====================================================
Remember Wayne Yeager? He established Unclaimed Domains and then sold it to Internet.com.
Now he has come up with a domain registration site with a twist – and I think it’s brilliant.
He knows a lot about unclaimed domain names – names which people register and then abandon for one reason or another.
As each batch of names become available Wayne grabs what he thinks are the best names and registers them in his name.
Then he posts those names on his web site, ValueNIC. If the names are on the site, they’re available for you to register. All it costs is $14.95 to $35 and Wayne will change the registration over into your name.
You don’t pay anything unless you see a name you want.
“Right now on the site, you can grab some truly spectacular names for just $35,” Wayne says.
“Don’t be put off by the small number of names. I’m starting small, and will be increasing the number of domains available (to appeal to as many tastes as possible) as time goes by.”
The affiliate program is tracked by ClickBank and pays 20% commission, paid fortnightly.
Wayne says it’s not at all unusual for one customer to buy 5, 10 or even 100 domains “and affiliates continue to earn a commission each and every time. You also earn commissions on all renewals. (Provided the cookie holds – but that’s a ClickBank issue.)”
When I looked today, names available included:
HealthDangers.com $35
CrazyValues.com $35
CelebrityFile.com $24.95
You can grab them and a lot of others now.
This is definitely a site to keep an eye on.
[UPDATE: ValueNic was a great idea, but Wayne under-estimated how much work was involved. The site has closed.]=====================================
4. Take down your links, says ClubMom
=====================================
ClubMom affiliates recently received the surprise instruction to take down their affiliate links.
The announcement was a major blow for some. The top affiliate earned $39,025 in April.
Some affiliates didn’t receive one of the messages the company sent on May 15 and were confused and upset by a follow-up message on May 18.
I asked affiliate program manager Shawn Collins to explain what was going on.
“Essentially, we are an offline marketing company, and we are working with a number of national (in the U.S.) retailers, including JCPenney, KB Toys, Foot Locker, Linens-n-Things, Pier 1 Imports, and RadioShack for our MomRewards program (a rewards program where moms are rewarded for shopping at the previously mentioned brick and mortar stores),” he said.
“We were in a mode of national member recruitment for about a year, and the focus has shifted to concentrate on our test markets (San Diego, CA; Knoxville, TN; and Fayetteville, NC.) for the time being – during this time, our affiliate program is going to be paying out commissions to any affiliates that are able to geo-target.
“After we have gained our desired learnings from the test markets, we will be bringing the MomRewards program national later this year – and all affiliates will once again be able to recruit members for us.
“All along, we will be working with Be Free to track our affiliate activity,” Shawn said.
Shawn, who has worked prominently in the industry to try to improve affiliate programs, told one affiliate:
“I am terribly sorry for the short notice, but I relayed it as soon as I was told.”
He says April commission checks will go out on schedule.
__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
Free content to make your website sticky!
Fresh, constantly updated content can greatly increase your site’s stickiness…which can increase your sales!
FindSticky.com is THE place to find free and low cost content for your website. Find articles, email, forums, games and more.
Visit today at https://www.findsticky.com/?ap
___________________________________________________________
==================================================
5. Art.com affiliates will be paid, and other news
==================================================
Art.com, which had switched from Be Free to LinkShare, closed on May 17. The good news for affiliates: You’ll be paid. Rosanne Marks of Getty Images, which owns Art.com, assured me: “Art.com will fulfill its obligations under the affiliate agreements.” More details:
thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24574,00.html
Borders.com is scaling back its affiliate program, which will be eliminated altogether by July 31. Affiliates will be paid even if they haven’t reached the $50 threshold.
Bigstep is becoming a pay-for-service. Affiliates will have to update their links in June. After May 31 existing links won’t earn commissions.
Bravanta will end its affiliate program on June 1. Bravanta will no longer have a consumer gift site and will focus on employee recognition and incentive programs.
Incentive Sites: Love Them or Leave Them
clickz.com/article/cz.3928.html
Earnings Are Down a Bit at Dell
nytimes.com/2001/05/18/technology/18DELL.html
(requires free registration)
KB Toys Buys the EToys URL
thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24596,00.html
Amazon Plays The Advertising Game With Movie Guide
newsbytes.com/news/01/165870.html
Babiesrus.com, Amazon open new online baby store
siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1215120l.htm
Vivendi bids $372 million for MP3.com
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5983980.html
nytimes.com/2001/05/22/technology/22MUSI.html
Beenz Shuts Down in Asia; CEO and President Quits
atnewyork.com/news/article/0,1471,8471_769591,00.html
NetBank, CompuBank merge; customers get squashed
bankrate.com/brm/news/ob/20010521a.asp
Dot-Biz Land Rush Begins
wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,43973,00.html
============================================
6. Latest winners of free banner advertising
============================================
I’ve just drawn the latest lucky winners of free banner advertising for a year on AssociatePrograms.com. The winners are:
Lynne Scott
https://www.all-freebies.com [UPDATE: This site no longer exists.]“Your guide to the best of what’s free online”
Steve Nash
https://shoptour.co.uk
“A unique guide to the best UK online shops”
Would you like to go in the draw to win free banner advertising for a year? It’s easy. All you have to do is provide a link to https://www.associateprograms.com. Thank you!
[UPDATE: This offer has closed.]========================================
7. Useful free resource: Affiliate Union
========================================
After a rather slow start, discussions on the Affiliate Union (AU) mailing list are livening up.
The AU mailing list is unmoderated and the digests tend to be terribly messy, but you’ll find gems of useful information, news and advice. Affiliates and merchants participate.
The AU was set up to establish a “certification standard” to reduce merchant fraud and deception. However, it seems to be gradually evolving into something broader.
You can see the archives here:
https://www.egroups.com/group/affiliateunion
=================================================
8. NEXT WEEK: How a one-man band attracts 100,000
=================================================
You don’t have to be a venture-funded dot-com to attract useful traffic. Next week I tell you how a one-man web site attracts more than 100,000 visitors a month. Visitors stay an average of nearly 12 minutes and visit 10 pages.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
Leave a Reply