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Articles About Running An Affiliate Business

17/08/09 - UPDATE: Why Should I Take The Blame For Unauthorised Voucher Code Usage?

Remember my moan about how I was penalised other affiliates promoting a voucher code that they shouldn't be? Well since then I've heard nothing from the agency managing the program. I sent them the link and they said they would read the article but I've not heard any comments from them.

Anyway, a second sale was generated for them last week and alas, it too was cancelled. Different reason this time:

Dear Affiliate we were unable to process some of your transactions due to you not being the last referrer before the sale. Please contact xxx @ xxx.com if you wish to discuss this further. Kind regards, xxx
They're having a right laugh now!

I'm sure they've got a big book of excuses lined up ready for sales that amount to a reasonable sum of commission. Or at least that is what it seems. More

24/07/09 - Why Should I Take The Blame For Unauthorised Voucher Code Usage?

Around a month ago I locked myself away and immersed myself in airport parking. The result is something I’m very happy with, listing all affiliated car parks around the UK. It was all hand crafted including the data that powers the site.

It wasn’t long before my first sale rolled in. And it wasn’t long before it rolled back out. I checked the network a couple of days later to see the sale cancelled, with the reason cited as:

"Dear Affiliate we were unable to process some of your transactions due to voucher code use. We are unable to accept unauthorised voucher codes. Please contact xxx @ xxx if you wish to discuss this further. Kind regards, xxx"
(The merchant shall rename nameless as it’s an industry wide problem. As confirmed readers of this blog, they know who they are.)

Naturally, an email address invites an email so I fired one away.

The one returned enclosed a copy of the merchant’s voucher code policy:
"xxx makes voucher codes available strictly for certain groups such as the airline industry. Affiliates are prohibited from adding these to their websites or promoting them via other means such as in their newsletters. This is actively monitored. If an affiliate has promoted a voucher code, all their commissions will be revoked.

xxx would like to emphasize that if any affiliate transaction is found to have used a voucher code, no matter from which source the voucher code has been acquired, whether it is the affiliate site or not, that transaction unfortunately cannot be paid for."
The overall vibe I get from this is that no voucher codes can be promoted by affiliates whatsoever. All good and well, I tend to avoid voucher codes like the plague.

So it turns out I get penalised for following the rules, and as the result of someone else out there breaking them. If a couple of codes exist for small minority groups, these must have somehow found their way into the mainstream. More

23/12/08 - New Years Resolutions

As Christmas draws near and sales (apparently) have peaked, it's time to think about what went "wrong" in the lead up to Christmas and what the plan of action for next year will be.

Yippee :-( More

27/11/08 - Think Woolworths and Think Of...

Unless you live under a rock, you'll have heard about the trouble Woolworths is in, after 99 years trading. But when you think of Woolworths, what do you think of?

Woolworths Storefront

(Woolworths Storefront photograph care of markhillary) More

13/11/08 - You Know When You Are Not Wanted...

You know when you are not wanted when you click on a deeplink from a product page only to be taken to this page: More

23/09/08 - 5 Rules To Making Your Affiliate Marketing Campaign A Success

Over time you learn a thing or two and you get accustomed to the way the industry ticks. For example, I can now distinguish between an idea that will make me money and one that won't. That's a skill that takes time and is always being fine tuned by actual results.

I thought it might be handy to jot down a few simple "rules" for ensuring your affiliate marketing efforts are a success. More

31/07/08 - Understand The Value Of My Time

I understand the value of my time. I understand that if I am not doing ABC because I'm doing XYZ, I'm running behind.

This week has been a crazy week of messages from networks, potential merchants, affiliates and clients. However, all seem to have a common theme - they all don't understand how much my time is worth. More

08/07/08 - The Merits of Free Delivery

LoveHoney, the purveyor of adult toys rather than honey based products, has removed it's free delivery minimum order value threshold in favour of universal free shipping across the entire range.

That means that if you want to order just one whistle or Birthday card, you can do so and not pay any postage.

So is this a good tactic in terms of their affiliates? More

27/03/08 - Replicators, Emulators and Innovators

In my post It's All Complimentary I discussed how complimenting websites rather than copying them was a smart move. Rather than copying a website, building something that could compliment it or improve upon it is a smarter solution.

Today I'm looking at the strategies behind the sites: the affiliates themselves. More

11/01/08 - 3 Mistakes Made By Wedding Venues That You Should Avoid In Affiliate Marketing

In my Confetti Wedding Planning book, it says a bride takes on average 250 hours to plan her wedding. But given that wedding co-ordinators work office hours and my other half works roughly the same, it would be difficult to get any venue sorted quickly. So I've leant a hand and have been doing the venue research. It's taken me 4 solid days but we seem to be getting somewhere.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of things I've noticed about wedding venues that will help your Internet business.

Here goes! More

13/12/07 - Bloggers - Don't Make It Difficult

If you run a blog and you enable comments, please don't lock the comment form behind a user login. I've come across a few recently where comments are enabled but I'd have to sign up to comment.

That's a sure fire way to make me not comment, and probably not return as sometimes the comments are as interesting / more intersting than the blog post itself. More