Category Archives: News & Updates

Affiliate Convention FAILS After 1 Year

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UPDATE: As several commentors have pointed out, it looks like what really happened is the partnership that created Affiliate Convention did split up, but Webmaster Radio is going to keep it going.  The new site is live at AffCon2010.com (which I’m not going to link to). False alarm on the convention being shut down, but I do still feel that it was a terrible show last year and they had better do something drastically different to steer the fail boat ashore this year.

Apple’s iAd (Not iPad) Is The Future

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There have been rumblings for quite a while now about how Apple is making moves to be a competitor in the mobile ad space. And why wouldn’t they? It only makes sense, seeing as how they created the device that really launched the mobile ad space in the first place… But outside of blog posts and news reports, I hadn’t seen or heard what their ad platform was going to look like. That is until now.

Feast your eyes and ears on this video. Yes it is 10 minutes long, but it is a must-watch if you have any interest in the future of mobile advertising.

Frankly, I am completely blown away by what Apple is about to do here. They are taking a truly forward-looking and fully interactive approach to mobile advertising. This is going to be a completely new form of ad. The current mobile ads in the space are primarily served by Google, and they consist of text or image ads from the Content network that randomly get shifted into Apps with very little targeting at all. And, as Steve Jobs points out in this video, if you click on them you get rudely yanked out of your app and to the advertiser’s website. Also, a lot of times, this website hasn’t even been created or optimized for mobile browsers!

Apple is going to have a winner on their hands here, no doubt about it. The only question is, how easy are they going to make it for people to create these ads? Obviously the Toy Story 3 example that they gave was a very intensive and professionally created ordeal. Your average local business owner or affiliate is not going to have the ability and the resources to create something on that level. If they make some type of tool with templates, animations, audio, etc. that people can throw together in an ad, that could work. Who knows? Maybe a whole new niche will be born in advertising as design houses learn the iAd system and how to create for it.

The only thing for certain at this point is that iAd is going to be huge. And with the smashing success of the iPad and the huge outlook for mobile internet usage, the sky is going to be the limit.

R.I.P. Facebook Ads – April 2010

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Well we had a good run. When I first met you Facebook, you were just a kid. You didn’t know what the true potential of your platform was worth, and you let me put ads on you for cheap! Those were the days. We made lots of money together. But now, you are all grown up. You have decided that it’s not me, no, it’s you that’s changed. You think I’m a nice affiliate, but you would rather not take my ads and my money anymore. Where you are going to get advertising dollars from now, I’m not sure. But you must have someone better in mind because you certainly don’t want to hang out with the likes of me anymore.

All kidding aside, Facebook has effectively given the middle finger to affiliate marketers with its latest update to their advertising policy.  Let’s look at what was actually sent out to affiliates from Facebook, and I’ll do my best to translate…

Improving Ad Quality
Ad quality and user feedback have always been important considerations for Facebook Ads, and are significant factors in  determining which ads we accept and display on the site. We’ve recently taken a close look at the ads that drive the most negative feedback, and identified four key themes behind ads that are detrimental to the user experience. As a result, we’re strengthening our Advertising Guidelines in these key areas to ensure that all Facebook Ads meet our high quality standards.

Translation: “We have decided that we would rather piss off our advertisers than explain to our users that Facebook is a free-to-use, ad-driven website that they choose to visit.”

Unexpected User Experience
Advertised products may not generate any unanticipated user experience. This includes, but is not limited to:
1 Computer performance changes, such as the unexpected installation of any secondary software or the overlay of advertisements on the user’s browser or operating system
2 Unanticipated recurring charges
3 Undisclosed sale or distribution of requested user information. Any distribution of user information must be confirmed through
user consent.

This part is actually not that bad. I don’t disagree with the new guideline. Advertisers shouldn’t be messing with users’ computers.

Unclear Recurring End Product
Advertisements must be clear and straightforward in describing any recurring end product to the user. The advertised offer must directly match the service being sold, and ads should provide the user with a clear understanding of what he or she is purchasing.
Facebook Ads for products with recurring billing cycles should not:
1 Focus on an advertised “hook” without disclosing the core subscription-based service.
Example: “Take a quiz!” (for a service that includes ringtones, wallpaper, or other undisclosed services)
2 Position a subscription-based service as a single product or billing interval.
Example: ”Try now for $2.95” (for a service that includes monthly billing intervals)

Translation: “Advertising may no longer be phrased to try and excite the user, encouraging them to sign up. In fact, ad copy must now do everything possible to discourage the user from clicking the ad and, God forbid, signing up for the offer. We now know that our users are too stupid to make their own decisions, so we are going to decide for them what they should or should not do with their money.”

Unsubstantiated Claims
Ads must not include unsubstantiated claims. Ads must clearly represent the offer, company, product, or brand that is being advertised.
Unacceptable claims include, but are not limited to:
1 Unrealistic prices or rates.
Examples: “$0.50 LCD TVs,” “$10/month health insurance”
2 Use of current events or news reports to create false associations with the advertised product. Political events or images may not be used for an irrelevant commercial agenda.
Example: “Breaking News: Great car insurance rates”
3 Use of false qualifications to create a sense of relevancy
Example: “If you are right-handed, you qualify for low premiums”
4 Implication of dynamic ad content
Examples: “7 minutes remaining,” “only (3) available”
5 Implied knowledge or passing of user data
Examples: “See who searched for you,” “you have been chosen”

Translation: “Advertising must not be creative whatsoever. If it is worded in a way that makes a user want to click the ad, then it is probably not going to be allowed anymore. We now prefer to present them with a list of products and services resembling a page in the phone book, and if they happen to be looking for ‘Reasonably Priced But Not Too Cheap Health Insurance’ while they are browsing through pictures of their ex, then they will surely respond to that ad.”

Unacceptable Business Models
Ads will not be permitted in cases where a business model or practice is deemed unacceptable or contrary to Facebook’s overall advertising philosophy. Unacceptable business models include, but are not limited to:
1 Lead generation offers which sell or distribute a user’s information to larger extent than indicated by the landing page
2 Offers that require a user to complete several hidden steps or make additional purchases in order to receive the promised product
3 Offers that require the input of user information for complete access to offer or product details
4 Ads promoting deceptive recurring billing services
5 Downloadable software that may affect the user’s computer or browser performance in unexpected or undesirable ways

Translation: “No affiliate offers from any CPA network will ever be allowed again.”

So there you have it. Facebook has decided that it no longer needs the advertisers that are paying them to keep the doors open. I don’t know what their plans for the future are, but they certainly don’t include us.

FTC Cracks Down On Free Credit Report Offers

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Free Credit Report offers have been a hot ticket for a long time. From the annoying FreeCreditReport.com jingles on TV to the hundreds (if not thousands) of websites and affiliate offers, people have been making money on this vertical.  However, it might get slightly tougher to convert these offers now that the FTC has passed down a new law.

Effective April 1, 2010, all marketers using the words “free credit report” in any creative (text ad, banner, landing page, email subject line, etc.) must include a large & prominent ( and clickable) disclosure across the top of each page mentioning “free credit reports” that states:

FTC Notice

Yikes.  This is pretty similar to when Google started forcing people promoting ringtones to put “$9.99 per month” right in their text ads.  It definitely hurt marketers, but they found other ways to market the offers.  I think this change is actually worse than that was, because you have to put it right on your landing page or the advertisers have to put it right on their offer page.  It will be there no matter what traffic source you use to get the clicks.

So, is this the end of Free Credit Report offers, or will it simply be another bump on the road to success for crafty marketers?

26 Yr Olds Getting Free iPads? Facebook Says No More

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How many times recently have you seen an ad like this showing up in your Facebook profile?

Age Targeted FB Ad

Unfortunately for marketers, the fun is over.  Facebook sent out the following email today:

Ad quality and user feedback are extremely important to Facebook. We’ve received significant negative feedback about ads that call out users’ personally identifiable information, especially when the information is not directly relevant to the ad’s offer. We take this feedback very seriously and are taking an active role in removing ads that are detrimental to the user experience. Some of your ads have been disabled for this reason.

Please delete any ads using this tactic that may still be running and do not submit new ads that call our user attributes unnecessarily and that are not directly relevant to the offer (including, but not limited to, age, gender, location or interest). This practice is prohibited by Facebook’s Ad Guidelines (http://www.facebook.com/ad_guidelines.php). Advertisers who continually engage in advertising practices that generate strong negative feedback will find that their ads are less likely to be shown to users and may have their ads disabled or face account penalties up to and including the permanent loss of advertising privileges.

Looks like people aren’t appreciating the laser-targeted ad text…  Oh well.  Back to the drawing board….

Affiliate.com T-Shirts for Haiti

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Affiliate.com is doing a blogging contest to raise money for Haiti (and for the winning blogger). To enter the contest you are supposed to take a picture of yourself wearing their latest t-shirt.  I figured, why do that when we could have a showdown of all the other guys that have posed for the contest!  Unfortunately, it appears that the only people that have actually taken a picture of themselves for this contest were Shoemoney and Ian Fernando.  Take your pick*:

Shoemoney rocks the Affiliate.com shirtIan fernando rocks an affiliate.com t-shirt

*There’s not a poll or anything, because polls are lame.

There were also blog posts by a number of the usual crew like Zac Johnson, John “I’m Gonna Lick His Neck” Chow, and Murray Newlands.  Instead of being creative, however, they simply chose to grab the image from the email that Affiliate.com sent out and post it on their blog.  Real creative guys.  If you don’t want to immortalize yourself by doing a gangster pose in an affiliate tee, at least come up with a nifty way to get around it…

On a serious note, if you haven’t donated anything to the relief efforts in Haiti, it only takes a second and you can do it by going to StillerStrong.org or texting “Haiti” to 90999 and charging $10 to your phone bill.  Every little bit counts.  We all make tons of money compared to people living in third world countries, let’s share the wealth a little bit.

Colorado Advertising Tax UPDATE

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Yesterday was the meeting of the Finance Committee, the group of State House Representatives that are in charge of hearing the case for and against the new tax laws increases that are on the table.  This of course includes HB-10-1193, the “Out-of-State Retailers Sales Tax” bill.  Nice name they came up for it, eh?  I liked it better when it was the “Amazon Tax”.

My Sr. Affiliate Manager and I headed over to the Capitol to show our opposition, and we really didn’t know what to expect.  I thought we could possibly be one of a handful of people that showed up, sealing our fate before the hearing even began.  However, as we approached the building, there was already a crowd of familiar faces gathered outside.  There were representatives from several CPA networks including Affiliate.com and HybrydAds, and a bunch of affiliates as well.  All in all there were well over 100 people that turned out in opposition of the bill.

Finance Committee

The initial plan was to get into the hearing room, sign the sheet in opposition so we could be counted, and then stay for the hearing to see if anything interesting happened.  Unfortunately, after 2 hours of debate, the Finance Committee was not even half way through discussing the first bill on the list, and HB-10-1193 was the 5th in line.  I ended up leaving to get back to work once my name had been added to the opposition list.  I heard today that the Committee was in session until 2 a.m. and they still hadn’t got through all of the bills on the list.

Long story short, the Committee passed the bill on to a final vote by the Colorado State House of Representatives.  That should be happening either tomorrow or early next week.  The next step is to do another email blast of the House Democrats to try and sway them.  The House Republicans are already voting in opposition of all the bills that are tax increases.

If you want to help, let me know before about noon tomorrow (Friday) and I will get you the list of House Democrats to email and otherwise harass.  The battle rages on!

Stop the Colorado Advertising Tax NOW!

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Breaking News!

The Performance Marketing Association (PMA) is reporting that a Colorado advertising tax bill (HB-1193) is going to be presented to Committee next week.  Now is the time for anyone living in Colorado and working in the Affiliate Marketing and Online Advertising industries to get ready to make your voice heard!

If you haven’t heard about it before, the advertising tax (also called the “Amazon Tax”) is an attempt to bring some income back into the budgets of the states by forcing online merchants and companies to charge sales tax for online purchases and sales.  The additional paperwork and accounting trouble that this brings is enough to make major companies like Amazon opt to kick out all the affiliates that live in a state with the advertising tax.

Whether you are an affiliate, a network, a merchant, or an agency, this tax could have a huge impact on your business, and it’s not going to be a positive one. Even if you aren’t personally involved in the industry, you might have family and friends that are, and you can still make your voice heard.

The main need right now is for people to send an email to decision makers.  It only takes a second to send an email, and it could have a potentially massive effect on whether this bill passes or not.  The PMA has been effective in squashing similar bills in other states, and now it’s our turn in Colorado.

To get involved, all you need to do is register your support with the PMA so that they can keep you updated when the time comes to take action.  Simply go to http://performancemarketingassociation.com/advocateform.html and fill in the form.  It’s free, you don’t have to join the PMA or anything like that, it’s just a mailing list so that they can tell us who to email and even give us templates to make it super easy.

Together we can stop the advertising tax!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.