Affiliate Internet Marketing

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Affiliate marketing is driven by entrepreneurs who are working at the edge of Internet marketing. Affiliates are often the first to take advantage of emerging trends and technologies. The "trial and error" approach is probably the best way to describe the operation methods for affiliate marketers. This risky approach is one of the reasons why most affiliates fail or give up before they become successful "super affiliates", capable of generating US$10,000 or more per month in commission. This "frontier" life combined with the attitude found in such communities is likely the main reason why the affiliate marketing industry is unable to self-regulate beyond individual contracts between advertisers and affiliates. Affiliate marketing has experienced numerous failed attempts to create an industry organization or association of some kind that could be the initiator of regulations, standards, and guidelines for the industry. Some examples of failed regulation efforts are the Affiliate Union and iAfma.

Online forums and industry trade shows are the only means for the different members from the industry—affiliates/publishers, merchants/advertisers, affiliate networks, third-party vendors, and service providers such as outsourced program managers—to congregate at one location. Online forums are free, enable small affiliates to have a larger say, and provide anonymity. Trade shows are cost-prohibitive to small affiliates because of the high price for event passes. Larger affiliates may even be sponsored by an advertiser they promote.

Because of the anonymity of online forums, the quantitative majority of industry members are unable to create any form of legally binding rule or regulation that must be followed throughout the industry. Online forums have had very few successes as representing the majority of the affiliate marketing industry. The most recent example of such a success was the halt of the "Commission Junction Link Management Initiative" (CJ LMI) in June/July 2006, when a single network tried to impose the use of a Javascript tracking code as a replacement for common HTML links on its affiliates.

Lack of industry standards

Certification and training

Affiliate marketing currently lacks industry standards for training and certification. There are some training courses and seminars that result in certifications; however, the acceptance of such certifications is mostly due to the reputation of the individual or company issuing the certification. Affiliate marketing is not commonly taught in universities, and only a few college instructors work with Internet marketers to introduce the subject to students majoring in marketing.

Education occurs most often in "real life" by becoming involved and learning the details as time progresses. Although there are several books on the topic, some so-called "how-to" or "silver bullet" books instruct readers to manipulate holes in the Google algorithm, which can quickly become out of date, or suggest strategies no longer endorsed or permitted by advertisers.

Outsourced Program Management companies typically combine formal and informal training, providing much of their training through group collaboration and brainstorming. Such companies also try to send each marketing employee to the industry conference of their choice.

Other training resources used include online forums, weblogs, podcasts, video seminars, and specialty websites.

Affiliate Summit is the largest conference in the industry, and many other affiliate networks host their own annual events.

Code of conduct

A code of conduct was released by affiliate networks Commission Junction/beFree and Performics in December 2002 to guide practices and adherence to ethical standards for online advertising.

Threat to traditional affiliate networks

Cost per action networks can be viewed as a threat to "classic" affiliate marketing networks. Traditional affiliate marketing is resource-intensive and requires continual maintenance. Most of the maintenance includes managing, monitoring, and supporting affiliates. The goal of affiliate marketing is directed toward long-term and mutual beneficial partnerships between advertisers and affiliates. Cost per action networks, however, eliminate the need for the advertiser to build and maintain relationships to affiliates, as that task is performed for the advertiser by the cost per action network. The advertiser makes an offer, almost always CPA-based, and the cost per action networks handle the remainder of the process by mobilizing their affiliates to promote that offer. Cost per sale and revenue sharing are the primary compensation models for classic affiliate marketing, and are rarely found in cost per action networks. Affiliate marketers typically avoid the topic of cost per action networks; however, if it is being discussed, the debates can become heated and explosive.

Marketing term

Members of the marketing industry are recommending that "affiliate marketing" be substituted with an alternative name. Affiliate marketing is often confused with either network marketing or multi-level marketing. Performance marketing is a common alternative, but other recommendations have been made as well.

Sales tax vulnerability

In April 2008 the State of New York inserted an item in the state budget asserting sales tax jurisdiction over Amazon.com sales to residents of New York, based on the existence of affiliate links from New York–based websites to Amazon. The state asserts that even one such affiliate constitutes Amazon having a business presence in the state, and is sufficient to allow New York to tax all Amazon sales to state residents. Amazon challenged the amendment and lost at the trial level in January, 2009. The case is currently making its way through the New York appeals courts.

Cookie stuffing

Cookie stuffing involves placing an affiliate tracking cookie on a website visitor's computer without their knowledge, which will then generate revenue for the person doing the cookie stuffing. This not only generates fraudulent affiliate sales, but also has the potential to overwrite other affiliates' cookies, essentially stealing their legitimately earned commissions.

Click to Reveal

Many voucher code web sites use a click to reveal format, which required the web site user to click to reveal the voucher code. The action of clicking places the cookie on the website visitor's computer. The IAB have stated that "Affiliates must not use a mechanism whereby users are encouraged to click to interact with content where it is unclear or confusing what the outcome will be.",

Affiliate services

• Affiliate programs directories
• Affiliate networks (see also Category:Internet advertising services and affiliate networks)
• Affiliate manager and Outsourced Program Management (OPM or APM) (manages affiliates)
• Category:Internet marketing trade shows

See also

• Broad: Internet marketing, online marketing, online advertising, Website monetizing, Post-click marketing
• Advertising methods: Web banner, ad filtering, ad serving,central ad server, pop-up ad, contextual advertising
• E-Mail advertising: E-mail spam, e-mail marketing, spamming
• Marketing tactics: Guerilla marketing, marketing strategy and guerrilla marketing warfare strategies, evangelism marketing, word of mouth marketing
• Search engines: Search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click, click fraud, paid inclusion
• Industry calculations: Click through rate (CTR), cost per action (CPA), cost per click (CPC), cost per impression (CPI), cost per mille (CPM), effective cost per mille (eCPM)
• Compensation/Pricing: Compensation methods, Category:Compensation, Category:Pricing

References

1. ^ Prussakov, Evgenii (2007). "A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing" (pp.16-17) , 2007. ISBN 0-97919270-6.
2. ^ Guide to E-Commerce Technology, 2007-08 Edition by Internet Retailer
3. ^ ^{a b} Collins, Shawn (2000-11-10). History of Affiliate Marketing. ClickZ Network , 10 November 2000. Retrieved on 2007-10-15 from http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=832131.
4. ^ Olim, Jason; Olim, Matthew; and Kent, Peter (1999-01). "The Cdnow Story: Rags to Riches on the Internet", Top Floor Publishing , January 1999. ISBN 0-9661-0326-2.
5. ^ Frank Fiore and Shawn Collins, "Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants" , from pages 12,13 and 14. QUE Publishing , April 2001 ISBN 0-7897-2525-8
6. ^ Gray, Daniel (1999-11-30). "The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net". McGraw-Hill Trade , 30 November 1999. ISBN 0-0713-5310-0.
7. ^ US patent 6029141
8. ^ October 2006, Affiliate Marketing Networks Buyer's Guide (2006), Page 6, e-Consultancy.com , retrieved June 25, 2007
9. ^ Anne Holland, publisher (January 11, 2006), Affiliate Summit 2006 Wrap-Up Report -- Commissions to Reach $6.5 Billion in 2006, MarketingSherpa , retrieved on May 17, 2007
10. ^ ^{a b c} February 2007, Internet Statistics Co