Affiliate Marketing blog by James Little

I’ve not blogged in a while, but after a few people moaned at me at the rather excellent Expo about it, I thought it was time to try and get a bit more going again.

So I’ll start this with a rant.   As regular readers will know, as well as now working for a network I still operate a couple of affiliate sites which pay for some beer tokens every now and again – not as much as I would like, but with a wife, three kids and a full time job it’s difficult to find the time!

Anyhow – when I apply to programmes it is generally with the explicit aim of doing some revenue with them, perhaps I’ve purchased a niche domain and want to use them on this site for example.  I don’t sign up to every programme under the sun as some affiliates will do.

Today I received notification that I had been suspended/removed from one of the programmes that I am signed up to due to lack of activity.  It’s not the first time that this has happened but does lead me once again to ask why there is such a lack of understanding from merchants that do this?  Do the networks advise their merchants that it’s a stupid idea? I believe they should…

The only good reason I’ve ever heard for this is that some networks charge merchants on a CPM for their banners being displayed, and the costs for this are sometimes more than the commission being paid – but this is more of an issue in the states from what I understand.

I challenge anyone to give me another decent reason for this, especially for a retailer.

I would suggest that any merchant who has thought about doing this thinks again for the following reasons:

• Just because I’m not promoting you currently doesn’t mean I won’t in the future
• If you reject me, I will just use your competitors in the future and you’ll be the ones losing out
• If you communicate with your affiliates via newsletters then just by being signed up I’m likely to receive and read these looking for more opportunities – surely the more affiliates that read this the better

I’m all for rejecting specific affiliates if their harming your brand / reputation but just culling all the non-active affiliates really is stupid.

I’m after some help.

Can anyone explain to me the whole DGM and Linkedin thing?  It’s being advertised on the Affiliates4u site at the moment but I just don’t understand the benefits of it.  I get (and use) linkedin – it’s a great site for connecting with business contacts, getting some good introductions & finding who some of the key employees are at a company, great.

But what’s the point of having a link to it in DGM?   I’ve not managed to spend the time digging out my login details (as I’ve not used DGM since the launch of DGMP..) but their website doesn’t really seem to explain what it does and the benefits of the mashup (if you can call it that).  Is it just for getting in contact with whoever manages the campaign at the merchant?  If so what’s the benefit of linkedin over an email address (or a comms centre)?

Answers on a the back of a postcard (or in the comments..).