All signs seem to be pointing to PPC arbitrage dying as an affiliate "revenue stream". Without low hanging fruit, what will affiliates do? My answer: Scramble.
What is precipitating all of this buzz is that CJ is taking back control of its links. With the implementation of their java links, they don't have to rely on site owners to update or remove html from their sites - the sites instead call the java code which serves up whatever CJ feels like serving.
I have to say that I've been waiting for this day to come. I have secretly always been a fan of ABW's infamous Webmaster Mike's signature quote - and I'll paraphrase here because I think I'm banned from ABW - "What value have you put into a click, from a SHOPPER'S perspective?" The short answer for most affiliates has been NOT MUCH.
It comforts me to know that Scott Jangro at least feels the same way:
There's a rule-of-thumb I like to go by: "If you take the affiliate links off of your website, what's left?" If the answer is, "not much", then your site isn't likely to be considered worthy of ranking well in search engines.
Know who else feels that way? I bet you'll never guess.
The long and short of it is that now these affiliates -- who used to line up for bogus content creators to stuff meaningless search engine-centric "copy" into websites created solely for datafeeds and then use those sites as a basis for running a pay-per-click campaign -- are going to have to find some other way to make money. Maybe they'll have to create cohesive, meaningful sites with real content...and if that's the case, you'll see way less affiliates out there. There's a reason they refer to content sites as "w*rk".
As a marketer, I have never been a fan of affiliate sites that offer no value, but more than that - as a USER OF THE INTERNET, I hate sites that clog up my search results and offer nothing to me and exist solely as a way for the affiliate to make himself money. I am hoping that this is the first of many steps in the direction of cleaning up the mess that pay-per-performance made. Here's to hoping...
Posted by Industry Veteran on May 24, 2006 02:00 PM
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What I'm struck by is how there is such a loud shouting match over affiliates and search -- one that is dominated by two sides.
One side suggests that affiliate marketing is powered mostly by search affiliates. The other side suggests that this is hogwash and that a majority of affiliates don't need search -- they don't rely on it for traffic.
What I've noticed in the last 24 hours is that the side that suggests that affiliate marketing is not only about search is freaking out over this CJ announcement. This would lead me to believe that they are concerned over CJ's intent to control links.
My question is: if this is the case and that's all that is going on here (a control re-shuffle) then why are so many affiliates so worried about being able to make a buck?
Based on what I'm reading they're worried because this change is really all about search links -- curbing affiliates' use of them across various aspects of search. If affiliates don't need search that much what's all the yelling about?
Posted by: Lurker at May 24, 2006 04:37 PM
There is more to this for affiliates than just search engine marketing and links not being spiderable. There is the issue of the software people are using to create their sites and utilize datafeeds, people that won't be able to do that with js links instead of plain text links. Then there are performance issues, pages with js links will load slower.
And according to my own sites stats I am seeing 15% or more surfers having js turned OFF. So those shoppers will never even see the links at all.
This needs to be an option, not a global sweeping change.
Posted by: loxly at May 25, 2006 01:26 PM
From the CJ Publisher LMI FAQ:
"In order to have access to Keyword link code, you must declare yourself as having
a promotional method of "search marketing." Keyword links are in the Legacy link format because search engines
do not yet recognize JavaScript links."
Affiliates will still be able to pull text links with the SIDs they choose using the keyword link. These will still be the everyday text links, not js links. Affiliates may just have to edit their promotional methods first in order to obtain access, which I think is a good thing. I like to know up front which affiliates are planning on using search.
Posted by: kgarcia at May 31, 2006 06:21 PM
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