As technologies have developed and the user base online has increased the medium has changed to encompass a more social friendly communicative version of what was once just pages of barely formatted reading material. No longer can a animated mailbox be considered a worthy addition to any web presence (ok, it never was!)…

Now Google has registered 9.5m references there is no suprise that Web 2.0 would spawn Web 2.0 consultants, Affiliate Marketing 2.0 or any other specialist or variant that can possibly be squeezed out.

Then you question, what is the point? I wonder what numerical variant Human was on at reach the industrial revolution or when Grapes were grown seedless. Just because something evolves it does not require being re-badged but it certainly helps markateers create a few new jobs and monetise anything that is even remotely interactive. Things that have an inherent need for social dealings will eventually develop to realise their potential whilst those that do not will not suddenly do so. Please leave the Web alone and stop thinking that MySpace, a Wiki or podcasting is suddenly going to open up a whole new revenue channel when there is an extent as to what and what not can add value using a social context.

Let me know what you think by rating this entry with a star…

At present there are a range of different measurements for programs but from what I have seen this is normally presented as a single number with no real indication on how this is calculated other than the criteria used (CTR, etc)

For this to be viable there would be a necessity for affiliates to provide an answer to one more question (loosely) on the type of traffic that they will be bringing to the program. Something along the lines of:

Thank you for joining <merchant>, please could you take a minute to answer a single question that will assist yourself and others in judging this merchants program.

Would you describe the traffic you will be directing to this program as?

a) Unrelated
b) Specific
c) Direct (PPC)

Once this information is collected within a short space of time a true measurement of the program can be gleamed. Although not detailing the specifics of each measurement there would be a transparency in the performance of a program so that a potential affiliate could judge it on the total quality score or the specifics most relevant to their SEM activities.

An example of a merchant’s performance

This is really just a very brief view of achieving a rounded view on merchant metrics which will certainly require further work.

Within mere hours of this event the following domains were registered http://www.vashootings.com, http://www.virginiatechmassacre.com, http://www.vtmassacre.com and http://www.virginiatechrampage.com of which several went to sale on eBay with the comment ‘These domains related to the Horrible shootings and murders. This Premium domain name has so much potential, The Movie, The Book and more.’ Others went it alone and stuck Google AdSense and affiliate marketing advertising all over their blogs. Vashootings.com ran with the line ‘Send flowers to the victim’s family and friends in this troubling time. Our thoughts and prayers go out to this college town.’ which you would generally feel was a heartfelt sentiment if it were not for the fact this banner advertising was an affiliate link rewarding this individual for every flower sale that came through this publicity. The majority of visitors to the site would be blissfully unaware of this.

It’s of no particular surprise that, with the increased interest in everything related to this tragedy there would be an entire mass of people blogging on this disaster although you can clearly drawn the line between genuine discussion and targeted profiteering. eBay were quick to recognise this and under their ‘offensive listings’ policy they removed all associated domains being auctioned on their site.

The question is, with the sheer volume of affiliates it is increasing difficult to keep track of who is advertising what and where and is it the job of the merchant in question or the affiliate network that the ad is being delivered from to scrutinize and pass judgement on what is unacceptable? In addition to this, emotion aside, is there anything wrong with doing this?

There is an irony in newspapers running horror stories on this sort of activity when in essence their articles on the same subject generate the interest to quantify the media spend from their advertisers. Big film studios will no doubt at some point make a movie of the event and then the purchase of a relevant domain will go without so much as a raised voice. Perhaps it’s just too early.

Desktop Tower Defence - Incredibly simple yet insanely addictive
5 Minutes to Kill - Creative and morbid

I have several programs that I run where certain affiliates are delivering a very large volume of clicks but have a particularly low conversion rate due to the product not being specific to their audience and it has been suggested (by several networks) that these affiliates should be removed. Although I can understand the reason for doing this in regards to the appearance of the program, I feel inclined not to remove any affiliate delivering sales whatever their level of conversion is. If they (the affiliate) are happy with this then so am I and do not want to be turning away sales.

I am aware that the relevance of this measurement varies from network to network and that some have their own criteria for rating a program but I am personally of the opinion that the current setup for rating a program on these measurements is misleading and counter-productive to both the merchant and his publishers.

The “new recipe” tastes like barley water only it has no sugar or taste. Why not just make another drink called Crap Orange or something similar rather than destroying a 1980s classic? I clearly care too much about this.