5 Star Affiliate Blogs

I have been exceedingly frustrated at times by technology being abused to the point of causing schisms within our industry… For years now I have worked to outline a model for adware behavior

Here is Scott’s post about the One Cause toolbar which is actively overwriting affiliate cookies AND is owned by Linkshares parent company. This does not just affect Linkshare affiliates, but the toolbar is overwriting CJ and other affiliate network cookies as well. It’s a big issue and one you need to head over to Scott’s blog to check out.

I hate to see anyone go under, in this economic climate I’m afraid many companies in the ad space may. However, this is one company where I have to say – what goes around comes around and you get what you deserve in the end!

No one mentioned that using adware also steals from VistaPrints HONEST AFFILIATES! The way I see it, if a merchant blatantly disregards the use of adware by affiliates they DESERVE to have their profits jacked! VPRT stockholders? VistaPrint Profits?

Seems like about every 3 months something hits the media that threatens to kill the online advertising industry. It has the potential to undermine the economies of the Internet said a VP of the IAB. Sensationalist journalism by the Post I hope.

Theres an ebook teaching affiliates how to literally STEAL other affiliates commission using Z the most notorious adware out there. See screenshot. 1500 affiliates are out there selling it. Makes my blood BOIL!!!

2 DoubleClick stories today: The Google/DoubleClick deal and DoubleClick being accused of allowing trojans and malware to propagate through their ad serving system.

If consumers use the immunize feature it’s killing CJ links. Here is part of the email David got back from CJ when he discovered his CJ links were not working after he had used the Spybot Search & Destroy Immunize feature.

The figh against ad blockers heats up – some legal experts say blocking ads could end up in lawsuits. In today’s CNET article… I say we have no one to blame but ourselves.

This story is causing a big stir everywhere in the online marketing world, but I haven’t seen anyone in the affiliate space talking about all the press. Wait, before I say anything else, let me be clear. I am NOT saying the affiliate marketing is dying! Far from it, just alerting you to the situation.

Have not posted anything recently about the ever-evolving online landscape as it pertains to consumer’s views about cookies and their deletion patterns. There have been a couple recent studies and white papers on the issue.

Just found out about 2 class action lawsuits one by affiliates and one by merchants – both against CJ/BeFree/ValueClick. So if you believe you have been affected adversely by adware affiliates that have been allowed on those networks read up.

Kellie has an eye for these things and a knack for telling it like it is. Both merchants and affiliates need to read as Kellie explains the ramifications of the subtle, yet important changes to the COC.

How do you pre-sell the value of this product over another brand with mere words? You can’t! This hilarious viral video included your aff link. After it SELLS the customer it delivers them to the site to buy. How cool is that???

Listen as Angel, affiliate manager for Onlineshoes (Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award finalist) shares his insights about cleaning up your program and the positive affect it can have on ROAS and revenues.

Attention shady affiliates that think you can use deceptive advertising and just fly under the radar. Sometimes it seems that the only time affiliate marketing makes the news is when something like this happens. And we wonder why AM has a bad rep!

The New York Attorney General is holding companies accountable for their adware advertising in a groundbraking new case. This is the 1st time that legal action was taken against the actual advertisers. Three major brands including…

Maybe if more and more affiliates get busted and are held accountable it will curb the scourge of spyware affiliates that plague our industry. 2 recent news stories I hope will give download affiliates a reason to drop those programs.

Here is a picture of one of Rosalind Gardner’s main affiliate sites, with a big Zang0 ad for Adult FriendFinder popping over her site. She now realizes thats why she has lost revenue on this site.

Brandon blogged about cookie stuffing and said “many of the worlds best affiliate marketers know this dirty little secret.” Rob does a great job of explaining why it’s wrong.