The curse of the voucher codes has reared it’s ugly little head again this month with news from Linkshare that Sweaty Betty are binning off all their code affiliates, except for one who’s being kept on as an “exclusive partner” (or perhaps they’re worried if they kick them out they’ll redirect their links to a competitor… that’s never happened now has it?).

Anyway, the exclusivity nonsense aside, it’s surely time networks and merchants devised a better set of plans for dealing with the wholesale booting of “voucher code affiliates” from promoting them.

Currently it seems networks and merchants favour Plan A, but perhaps there’s room for a Plan B?

Plan A

Dear Code Affiliate,

We’ve decided to stop offering voucher codes. However, we’re also unable to grasp the fact that you may run more than one website and have also decided that you are incapable of removing a site from your code directory.

To this extent we’re no longer going to work with you at all as we don’t think you’re intelligent enough to comply with our wishes. May work with you again in the future if this idea goes the way of the pear.

Yours Marketing Genius Merchant

Plan B

Dear Code Affiliate,

We’ve decided to stop offering voucher codes. However, we would still like to work with you in a non-codes capacity, especially if you run other sites that relate to our business. To this extent could you please remove our site from your code directory within the next 7 days and inform us of the changes.

We will then be in touch to offer alternative suggestions on how we can continue to work together in a non-code way. Unfortunately if the listing isn’t removed then we will have to regretfully terminate our affiliate agreement.

Yours Marketing Genius Merchant

Surely Plan B is better than Plan A?

Both have the same message, except Plan B offers a bit of an olive branch to the affiliate to maintain a working relationship with the merchant. Many affiliates run multiple sites, including code sites, just to cover their bases as various factors over the years have conspired to drive revenue into other areas of affiliate marketing.

We’d all love to concentrate on content this or blog that, but the simple fact is many affiliates need to run code sites and cashback sites in addition to other sites. In other words, we need to run different kinds of sites just to get a finger tip in the affiliate marketing revenue pie.

Kicking off an affiliate just because you, as a merchant, deems them a “code affiliate” is often blinkered and shows an inherent distrust of the affiliate you’ve been doing business with. It’s not good!

If a merchant doesn’t want to appear on our site they just have to ask… it’s not a puzzle so why do merchants/networks make life so difficult for themselves and for affiliates?

We have things set up on Loquax that if asked, in most cases, one click and all merchant offers are switched off or even removed… we work in what we believe is an appropriate way, so it’d be nice if we were treated with a bit more respect.

Life on OLD has been quiet for a few weeks as work wise things have been hectic. I’m sure many years ago the “old school” guys anticipated an easier affiliate existence but that’s not the case.

In fact AM is moving at the speed of Twitter and I swear that one day in the future there will be ex-siteowners, affiliates and online entrepreneurs reduced to something resembling Father Jack from Father Ted…. and here are just a handful of reasons why!

Drink! Why can’t merchants stick to using one tracking platform or at least make sure that the old links still work indefinately on their new one? I’ve changed so many links this week it feels like I’ve written a whole new site. Yes I know our links should be databased but hey…

Drink! And if a merchant changes tracking platforms which results in commission and sign ups being significantly different on the new system versus the old system isn’t that actually a good indicator that something is perhaps wrong and may need investigating? Surely that’s obvious?

Drink! And why do merchants keep messing about with landing pages? It’s all well and good that they look pretty and convey an important message but if our visitors can’t actually get to your website from the landing page it’s kinda pointless isn’t it? It’s like turning up the O.K. Coral and not being able to have a gunfight.

Drink! Talking of changing links, why do some merchants open on one network then on another then on another etc? Surely it makes sense to get the program working properly on one network first before just opening up willy nilly all over the place. Makes no sense to me!

Drink! And what’s worse than the above is when a merchant who runs their own network totally ignores their affiliate emails but next thing you know they are launching their “standalone” products on a network. All I want is a bit of chit chat from the affiliate manager!!

Surely life should be easier than this?

Anyway the sun is shining so perhaps it’s time to put the old feet up, enjoy a nice glass of red wine and forget about the trials and tribulations of AM for an afternoon!

What’s that? We have no Rioja and who wants their links changing?

Ah f…….!

Footnote: Some of you may have never heard of Father Ted. It was a Channel 4 comedy programme that featured three priests (Ted, Jack and Dougal) and a housekeeper. Well worth watching if you’ve never seen it!

After a couple of days of hangover, sleep deprivation and pigman bird flu I’ve finally emerged to blog about the A4UAwards. I’ve shredded the acceptance speech and moved my ceramic fat duck from B&Q back to the vacant space on the mantelpiece as unsurprisingly the best blog went to Kirsty over at Affiliate Stuff. A well done to Lee too for his highly commended.

So there was I all togged up in a tuxedo for nowt…

Nowt but a good time that is (nice things being said on OLD = plan to win Blog Award for 2010).

Firstly a big thanks to the three time award winning agency Existem AM for inviting myself and Jude to their table. You guys are really deserving of the accolades you get and it was also great to see Hannah honoured as best affiliate manager. Very well deserved.

It might have been the copious amounts of red wine I’d drank and slight delirium brought on by Lemsip, but I thought all the awards seem to go to those that deserved them. I was especially pleased to see DGM amongst the highly commended although everyone has a battle on their hands to topple Affiliate Window as the top network.

The vertical awards, at least in my opinion, need a slight tweak - just to encourage more involvement from the affiliate side of things. I’d like to see merchants and networks putting forward affiliates next year for the shortlists as in one case there was just one entry (so well done Bingo Hideout for making the effort).

Whilst these awards most certainly, and quite rightly, celebrate the whole industry it would be great to see more affiliates on those shortlists and being recognised.

The comedian Jason Manford was entertaining, Johnny Vegas on keyboard looked a bit bored though but it was cool that Alan “The Voice of the Balls” did the voice overs for the awards.

Personally I’d have happily sacrificed “the balls” for a bit more veg and a spot of gravy at dinner. Perhaps duck, spuds and broccoli is a big favourite in Bristol, but the plate was screaming out for carrots and to be drowned in something wet.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening and it was great to catch up with some of the real “old school” people like Malcolm, Tyson and James Cooper (he’s on telly you know - 1pm Channel 5, not that he mentioned it) as well as the usual suspects who make being in the industry a lot of fun.

Nice one as ever to Matt and his Existem team for a great event and a very big well done to all winners, highly commended and nominees (not even a bloomin’ graphic to add to the site… sob).

Other blogs about A4UAwards 2009

Photos of the Event
Hannah’s Paltrowesque Thanks
Kirsty wins Best Affiliate Blog (humph - must add spiders - lol)
Lee is Second Best Blogger (double humph - must mention Barbados - lol)
Webgains are highly commended
DGM are highly commended
Prezzybox want someone else to win next year
Skimlinks get 3 awards
Awin Celebrate with Skimlinks

There are various schools of thought for newbies entering affiliate marketing. Go niche, go generic domain, go SEO or go PPC and fame and fortune will await you! Interestingly enough when the experts offer their advice not one ever mentions “go brand” and yet a brand identity could be one of your most important assets depending on where you wish to go with affiliate marketing.

Whilst any domain can be developed into a reputable site, gain recognition, backlinks, authority etc. over time, a bit of forethought about brand identity is in my opinion worth considering when starting off a new site.

A brand doesn’t have to be off the wall like Loquax. It can be generic like “Voucher Codes” or “Red Widgets”, but something a little different can often help you stand out from the crowd.

Take Lee’s Easter Eggs site for example (sorry Lee). Whilst he’s obviously done well with the generic hyphenated .org.uk version of Easter Eggs, could he have done as well or even better being say “IAmTheEggMan.co.uk” - ok that’s a bit of a lame name (and the domain is already taken), but you get the idea. It’s now something that’s not so generic, but a bit more brand identifiable.

Lee would still have the same excellent content and reviews but under a different umbrella it could possibly have helped make the site more memorable in terms of the media - as well as offer opportunities for branding (tshirts, chocolate bars) for users - something many affiliates overlook when starting out on new sites.

When we started Loquax developing a brand wasn’t at the back of our minds, nor was the fact that having an off beat name is quite useful when it comes to search engines. In fact we decided on a non competition or prize related name simply because at the time (1998) we could only afford to buy the one domain name. If the competitions thing didn’t work we could simply switch the site’s focus to something else.

For many affiliates domains are now cheap and disposable items that can be discarded once they’ve served their purpose or if they’ve failed to do as expected in the Google world. However, if you’re struggling to find that niche domain or generic-word.org.uk site that you so desire why not start thinking about coming up with a brand instead?

For us having an identity has been a huge asset and perhaps has been an integral part of the longevity of the site.

Back in April I blogged about a new affiliate blog award initiative by Bigmouthmedia - the B.A.B.E award (bigmouthmedia affiliate blogging excellence award). Yesterday, whilst out on car driving experience day with Jude, I was checking twitter and found out via DM from the bmm guys that One Little Duck had been chosen as the winner!

As you might imagine that news topped off what was already a memorable day.

So a big thank you to everyone at Bigmouthmedia for the prize and also for running the initiative. Thanks go to the judges, to the people who nominated and of course all those who read the ramblings of an affiliate here on One Little Duck.

I’m still in shock but genuinely pleased to have won.

Of course I don’t write this blog for awards (or for money come to think of it, d’oh), but it is nice to get some recognition. The last award I personally received was in 1997 and that was for geochemistry! The upside of all this is I’m over the moon and yes for once affiliate’s Mr Grumpy is as happy as Larry.

The downside is it does mean that I’m going to have to carry blogging on OLD with my views on affiliate marketing.

Thanks once again to Bigmouthmedia…

… the week could only get better if there was some positive news about the fortunes of Southampton FC…

… well what do you know?!