CJ Javascript Link Initiative June 2nd, 2006 10:51 am

Commission Junction are so far this year’s DGMPro in terms of offering affiliates a new system to implement. According to CJ their ‘Link Initiative’ means that affiliate links will be offered in javascript format as opposed to the usual html currently on offer. New affiliates will be given these links as of June 23rd whilst older affiliates have some period of time to switch over to the new system. It’s also suggested that email/paid search affiliates can still get the html links!

But should affiliates be concerned by this initiative? First off it’s not new! Look at Tradedoubler links for example and affiliates are offered javascript format including cache busting. There are banner and content units offered in javascript too. The big difference is that TD allow an affiliate the option to select the type of link they prefer plus they do ominously state “JavaScript could, compared with other options, slow down your web site”!

So why would CJ switch to a system that could slow down affiliate websites? Jess Luthi alludes to the fact that “the reason for change will become evident as time goes by” but ultimately it’s going to have to be a darn good reason because on first inspection there does not seem to be any positives stemming from this decision.

Some of the possible reasons include brand protection, content control, save affiliates time by changing links to new offers/converting pages or perhaps a way round CJ’s issues with ad blockers. What does concern me as an affiliate is that if links/content can be changed without notice how will that affect the sites the links are on.

Let’s face it some merchants don’t understand that if you replace a 120×600 banner with a 468×60 one with the same id it’s going to look strange on an affiliate’s site! Imagine if an affiliate is promoting Clothes Pegs and has an SEO’ed page for wooden pegs only to find that the merchant has decided they wish to push rubber ducks this week and all links lead to bathroom fun rather than practical devices to keeping your washing on the clothes line! In my opinion the affiliate site should have control of content and link destination within the rules of the merchant-affiliate agreement not the merchant!

So is this another summer of link changing? Well no not really! Mainly because as an affiliate network force within the UK, CJ are bottom of the rung for us and have been for some considerable time. They’re not our biggest earner, access to product feeds is poor, the content units (e.g. search boxes) causes more problems than not because of the style sheets that invariably go with them (hmm, maybe javascript would be better with these), there’s now very few exclusive merchants that we can use, we have no idea of contacts at CJ UK… we could go on… but the main reason users can’t see the links - even the new ones that were meant to get round ad blockers!

So in reality our few CJ links can either be swapped if need be or removed because unless something miraculous happens CJ remains last choice of affiliate network for links. It’s a shame but that’s what happens when other UK networks offer a better service. Link change is something for us affiliates to gripe about, but in the end some will change some won’t and life goes on. I doubt however, that any amount of link changing will improve my current view of CJ as a UK affiliate network. That said, DGM have improved their system since last year’s debacle. Perhaps this initiative is the start of a new era for CJ. Like everyone else it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

Related Posts Are There Enough Gentlemen For an Adword Initiative? Paid on Results Launch Ink Selector Content Unit Play.com vs Game: Who’s Got The Best Video Creative? Making A Proper Turkey Of Link Partners Buy.at & Littlewoods Launch Cool New Interactive Video Ads!

RSS Feed