72 Kilowatts Affiliate Marketing

Ad Disclosure for Blogging Affiliates

Looking to keep your blog above board, but still be able to promote products with sales driven content?  Easier said than done, and a real sticking point for me when I consider the ethics of blogging products simply to pass consumers through affiliate links.  And while it’s not the answer overall, I’ve found disclosurepolicy.org to be a helpful step.

Here’s their statement on why it’s important:

By disclosing the purpose of a blog, bloggers are letting readers know more about the information they’ll be reviewing. Bloggers retain the freedom to write original content, as well as select which advertisers they will represent in exchange for gifts or money. Any ethical concerns will remain where they’ve always been - on the individual level. Because it is a blogger’s freedom to select which topics will bring them payment, he/she remains responsible for his/her own reputation.

So in generating a disclosure statement, which is quick, easy, and free to do at their site, following it, and by making it easily findable on your blog, you are adding credibility to your words.  You’re letting your readers know what’s an ad, what your opinion is, and what is to the best of your knowledge, truthful.

It might seem unimportant to some affiliates, but I think it’s very important.  It’s what puts one publisher ahead of another in my book.  At the end of the day, your reputation to your advertising partners matters, and with luck and hard work, it will get you into the best programs, and hopefully make you feel better about what you do as well.

 

 

 

Tags: disclosure, ethics

Ethics and the OPM

As a former OPM (and if New York has their way, maybe a future one as well), I did a lot of thinking about the grave responsibility that comes with having the kind of data available to us that we did.  As what amounts to being a liaison between merchants and their affiliates, we had sales statistics, valuable keyword information, and perhaps most importantly, a list of all affiliates in a program, and the ability to contact them.

That brings up, in my mind, one of the critical ethics issues in affiliate marketing, which is ownership of data.

I heard a very popular OPM once remark, in a roundabout way, that they had used a list from one of the merchants they represented in order recruit for one of their other merchants.  I would argue that in fact that data doesn’t belong to the OPM, and therefore should NEVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, be used in such a regard.

An OPM contract should be no different than the contract of any other contractor.  Intellectual property discovered while under the auspices of that contract belongs solely and exclusively to that merchant.  I wonder how a merchant would feel if they found out their list of affiliates was being utilized to divert attention from their own programs.

Brian Littleton touches on it in their excellent pledge:

We expect that OPMs managing programs on ShareASale show due respect for the affiliates of the network and merchant program.  We expect that OPMs understand that each individual merchant program is its own entity and that OPMs should not utilize ShareASale tools to recruit  an affiliate from one program that they manage to any other program.   ShareASale goes to great lengths to protect the privacy of affiliates on our network and thus we expect OPMs to uphold that integrity.  When using the ShareASale interface, newsletters and such should be specific to the merchant program and not be utilized to recruit to other programs that are managed by the OPM or general recruitment.

He goes on to discuss keyword mining, which is a genuine and critical concern of affiliates.  It’s another set of data that I feel is too dangerous to be made known to a third party.

When I was OPMing, I did look at referal links of all transactions.  At the same time, I created no spreadsheets that contained this data, nor did I in any way let it leave the Shareasale interface.

With so many OPMs now acting as affiliates themselves, this problem becomes exponentially worse.

While SAS’s pledge to keep that information hidden for certified affiliates is a positive step toward alleviating this, I consider the vast amount of referral data that Linkshare passes on.  In it, almost every ounce of a transaction is transparent to the merchant, and therefore the OPM.  In Linkshare’s case, their protection of their merchants comes at tremendous peril to their affiliates.

This is something I’d very much like to see an industry association address, be it the Performance Marketers Alliance or otherwise. OPM ethics are rarely discussed, even at Abestweb, who is well known for their ability to uncover any potential issue that could affect the privacy or intellectual property of their affiliate members.  There have been some discussions on it their, however, normally in the form of deploring OPMs that act as affiliates as well.

Tags: ethics, ethics in affiliate marketing, opm responsibility

Is the PMA Right for you?

This was an interesting bit to return to after a few weeks of fishing.

It’s well known amongst the folks I talk at on a daily basis that I believe the time has come to form at the very least a lobby group for affiliate marketing. The scope of this group is somewhat vague, even in my head, as I consider the benefits and inevitable drawbacks of forming an industry association.

Groundwork is being laid, however, at the Performance Marketing Assocition blog.

It’s a daunting task they are undertaking, and some of the things I’d like to see addressed are:

1.) Forming a vocal lobby that attempts to represent all levels of affiliates and merchants.

2.) Establishing a set of ground rules for good behavior on the part of merchants and affiliates, without overstepping what would be the role of a good association.

3.) Endeavoring to “recommend”, and never to “mandate” when it comes to courses of action.

4.) Showing real value to affiliates of all sizes.

5.) NOT becoming a union. The industry is too broad for that.

I look forward to reading more on this effort. There have been concerns raised already, in particular at Abestweb, and elsewhere. I think it’s important, however, that we keep a level head on this, and work together in many respects.

The industry has grown to large to go unnoticed, as evidenced by the Amazon tax issue in New York.

If there truly is going to be an association, it’s important that everyone be included, even if at the end of the day they don’t necessarily feel that they were. I’d rather see the isolation be of their own choosing, and not by inaction on the part of the committee’s forming members.

Tags: organizing affiliate marketing

It’s not just Trademark Poaching

I’ve talked about this quite a bit over at Abestweb, but I wanted to note quickly here that we tend to use the term Trademark, especially in relation to poaching (i.e. bidding on the term when forbidden by the merchant) pretty loosely.

The real issue is bidding on merchant restricted keywords.

Since some merchants allow trademark bidding, and some don’t (in fact some allow it to select affiliates and not others), using the term Trademark Poaching is a misnomer in many cases.  I think if we’re going to discuss this topic openly, such as we have at ABW, it’s important to use the correct terms, so that everyone is on the same page.

So as we often use it, I’d suggest Trademark Poaching really means:  bidding on restricted key terms.

Tags: ethics, trademark poaching

Ethics in Affiliate Marketing

I’m writing a series of posts here on ethics in affiliate marketing.  Whenever you endeavor to write about such a haughty topic, I think it’s important to begin by saying that my opinion is really no more valid than anyone else’s.  By no means should any of these posts be considered anything but opinion.

 At the same time, I think there’s common ground that all affiliates, merchants, networks, and other interested third parties can to a degree come to, and accept as the premise for promoting the health and longevity of this industry.

 Central to all parties involved are some shared principles, which I believe are as follows:

 

Value to the Consumer

 The driving force of affiliate marketing is customer acquisition.  As such, all activities surrounding affiliate marketing should in some way represent a TRUE or UNQUESTIONABLY PERCEIVED value to the end user:  the customer.

 

Transactional Transparency

 While it’s not critical for each and every detail of all the partners involved in any one given transaction, it’s critical for the health of this industry that the specifics of each transaction be transparent, including, but not necessarily limited to:

 

•             The source of the sale (the click page)
•             The amount of the sale
•             The date of the sale
•             The date the commission will be locked
•             The date the commission will be paid

 Open Operational Communication

 All parties involved in an affiliate relationship should communicate with each other in regards to important matters.  That’s not to say that every email from a merchant regarding sales, specials or offers must go answered.  Nor is it to say that every communication from an affiliate to a merchant needs to be answered if it’s irrelevant, or simply beyond the scope of a merchant to answer.

 What it does mean is that the channels must be there, and they must be respected.  Without these channels of communication being available, and further, used properly in regards to properly and honestly driving affiliate sales, a real and effective affiliate channel can’t function properly.

 Truth in Advertising

 All marketing materials provided by merchants for use, as well as copy that resides on their sites, should be truthful.  At the same time, presentation of these materials by affiliates, as well as the addition of their own text or images in support of marketing efforts, should be done in a fashion that in no way misleads a consumer to click through to the merchant website.

I believe that almost every discussion of what is right or wrong with this industry, or any dissection of any action taken by a merchant, affiliate, network or third party tool, can be successfully plugged into any of the above guiding principles.

In the coming days, weeks, and perhaps years, I’d like to discuss this further here, and give my opinion on what each of the participants in any affiliate transaction should be doing to promote these guidelines.

Tags: ethics