R.O.EYE Blog

By Colin Telford, Affiliate Director, R.O.EYE

This years R.O.EYE sponsored Affiliate Marketing Report 2008 shows that we, as a community, must act together to drive the industry forward and move away from the quick wins that have arguably been evident for the last few years. This affects us all as agencies, affiliates, merchants and networks as we must ensure that we collectively pull together to ensure the long term development of the channel.

The decline of ppc affiliates for example shouldn’t really come as a surprise to those actively working in the industry, but the figures are certainly a wake up call. The changes from Google and the smartening of merchants either doing their own search management or strengthening their strategies has certainly removed the fruit hanging on the low branches. I’m not totally sure that the statistics for the growth of SEO / Content sites are truly reflective of the entire industry (as this is a sample) because Incentive and Cash back sites are certainly dominating in most areas. Just look at the levels of debate on blogs and forums across the web following the Quidco’s decision to drop Affiliate Window. However it does stand true that there has already been a move towards content which in turn will favour SEO listings.

A split in the question regarding merchant’s resource would have been a useful one to inject following the increase in the percentage of merchants where affiliate marketing is part of their online role. My concern here is that it is only a part, and in some cases very little of their job. Admin, validations, promotions and then a bit of strategy all takes considerable time and its not surprising that the easiest option in terms of sales becomes the only option; lack of communication, over dependence on ppc affiliates, less than 5 super-affiliates and a high percentage of duplications are all the makings of a time bomb. More dedicated resource in these areas would generate significant results.

So it is true to be said that we must work together to increase the portion of budget that affiliate marketing is allocated and increase the portion of sales as a result. It is still a very cost effective channel and a higher percentage responded to say that it is more cost effective than last year. The investment will have to be on resource and content tools, as opposed to straight increases in the affiliate’s cost per acquisition.

Richard Wright, Senior Programme Executive, R.O.EYE

In the four years that R.O.EYE have been managing affiliate campaigns we have had the pleasure of launching upwards of 30 of our merchant’s programmes to the affiliate community. In our experience we have seen some very slick and effortless programme launches as well as some which have had more than the odd spanner thrown in the works.

So what makes the difference? What are the factors involved? What can be done to ensure a stellar programme launch and avoid a spluttering start?

Well we think we have some answers. Below we’ve put together some bullet point tips and wisdom that will help you identify areas of focus to make sure your affiliate programme gets off the ground and delivering your objectives when you need it to:-

- Put your technical team in touch with your affiliate agency or network.
Problems with implementing tracking is possibly the greatest obstacle to a programme launch and direct lines of communication will help ensure this goes smoothly and timely.

- Make campaign materials available as early as possible.
It is likely you agreed a launch date with the affiliate agency at the planning stage, and whether this can be achieved depends a lot on when the necessary materials such as; product info, USPs, creatives etc can be made available.

- Set and work to realistic and agreed timeframes.
We recommend you assess your internal resources and ability to deliver the required materials and then agree timescales for all parties to work towards. This will facilitate effective time management for all and ensure that momentum is not lost during the launch phase.

- Consult your affiliate agency on the design of creatives and landing pages at an early stage.
Creatives that have been designed for a branding or media campaign may not be suitable for an affiliate campaign, if for example there is no strong call to action. Landing pages which are not ‘affiliate friendly’ and contain leakage points such as telephone numbers can affect affiliate take-up and inhibit the programme.

- Keep your affiliate agency informed of your other marketing channels’ activity.
There may be some great opportunities if synergies exist to tie the programme launch in with your existing marketing activities. On the other hand there may be potential conflicting messages that can be avoided if spotted early on.

In summary, many of the most common set-backs and issues that delay the launch of affiliate programmes can be avoided. While there are potentially hundreds of variables involved when setting up an affiliate programme depending on many factors, there are some fundamental points which can be applied in most circumstances and it is these we have focused on in this blog.

By Ben Friedman, Recruitment Executive, R.O.EYE

Google, earlier this week, launched their own affiliate network offering. DoubleClick Performics Affiliate will now be called Google Affiliate Network. Effectively Google have taken the network under their banner and will look to bring it more and more in line with their business over the coming months.

What impact will this have? This remains to be seen. Some will be worried about the dominance of Google in the search arena spreading into affiliate marketing where it will now control not only the PPC adverts that many affiliates use, the analytics software that they monitor it with, but also now the affiliate programmes that they are advertising!

In some ways this could help to monitor the black hat activities of some affiliates and monitor un-authorised brand bidding on a completely new level, if the areas of the Google empire are integrated effectively.

But, what’s to stop Google becoming an affiliate? This is a fear that has been expressed by a number of affiliates in the past. Why not place affiliate links as their search listings? I know it sounds a bit far fetched, but Microsoft have gone this way already with their Cashback site. Could we see this happen with another of the big three search engines? Or is it a conspiracy theory that will continue to be discussed half jokingly and half in mortal fear?

There are many other questions that are going to be asked in the coming weeks about what the implications of this bold step will mean: To what level will Adsense, Adwords and Analytics be incorporated? Which merchants are going to be drawn to the network due to the lure of the Google brand? Will Google follow Microsoft down the affiliate route?

We will have to wait and see. For now the only major change for all affiliates involved with the DoubleClick Performics network is the name.

By James Skelland, Technical Solutions Manager, R.O.EYE

SEO is hardly a hot new topic, quite the opposite, but fact is that it’s an important issue that needs to be addressed. Consider it like a trip to the gym. Put the effort in and your site will become a slick, greased up Adonis sitting atop of the pile. If you’re not really too fussed, your site will undoubtedly become a bloated loner, languishing at the back of the queue. OK, granted that analogy is fairly crass, I’m sure Barry’s Ferret Land (Search Term: Ferret Land) or HMH Vices (ST: Tube Fly Vice Converter) have more pressing issues than SEO on their mind, yet they have managed to sit atop of Google’s rankings. However they enjoy the rare and privileged position of being, to put it lightly, a tad niche.

This got me thinking about Sky. In an ideal world, the word as a search term should surely yield a mixed bag of results. The obvious TV and satellite deals from Mr Murdoch, their news and sports services, maybe a Patrick Moore fansite, or a met office page on Cumulonimbi? However, the entire first page of Google’s organic results (bar one) are all Sky.com’s various sites. Even the Wikipedia entry gets relegated to the middle of page 2. It is in fact the 3rd page that finally produces a rounded and objective list of results - I’ve never been so happy to see Vanilla Sky!

I got in touch with Richard Sliwa, who is the esteemed webmaster whose site gatecrashes Sky’s exclusive top 10 results party. He was kind enough to respond to me and pass on his SEO strategy. To find out how he does it, please send a cheque for £500 made payable to James Skelland…

I jest - but in all seriousness, he admits that it’s an old site of his that he last really took notice of around 3 years ago, when it was floating around the low 30’s. Richard cites a large portion of his page’s success to the old adage of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), involving the simple yet effective implementation of keywords, meta tags and backlinks - remembering content is king.

So how does Sky do it then? Of top 19 results in Google, 17 of them belong to Sky. Maybe the question should not be ‘how?’ - maybe we should be asking if it’s right to be able to monopolise an ambiguous word? I’ve got no qualms if, on searching for the word ‘Microsoft’, I get an infinite list of Microsoft subdomains. So does this mean that Sky is no longer even classed as an ambiguous word anymore? To be honest, the majority of people entering the search term Sky are probably only looking for a Sky TV site anyway, but it seems the knock on effect means that the only affiliates who get a sniff are the PPC’s. It’d be interesting to know the comments of affiliates on Sky’s programmes.

It’s at least a comfort to know that, despite corporations seemingly being able to take over any search term they wish, Richard Sliwa proves that there is always a way for the honest webmaster or affiliate to break into the big boys’ club. I shall leave you with a quote from the man himself to perhaps inspire you to give your site a little SEO workout…

“Online popularity is self-perpetuating even more than in the real world. Once one gets noticed to any degree, it just snowballs, and this is as true of search engines as it is with the real audience, with one feeding off the other. The most important thing, therefore, is to get noticed, by hook or by crook.”

By Kate Perry, Programme Exec, R.O.EYE

From shopping and research to banking and social networking, we are increasingly going online, for everything we need. Obviously, Marketers want to be where their audience is, but as online becomes more and more complex and the consumer increasingly more savvy, it appears that using established tactics and static sites to get brands in front of consumers, no longer works. Indeed - in the light of Affiliate Window’s recent announcement of its new Facebook Application - it has become apparent that Merchants need to engage in a personal relationship with users; providing them with interactive tools, which encourage them to become part of the advertising process.

Affiliate Windows’ very own Facebook application – ‘The Wishlist’ – ‘encourages users to share, recommend, review and – crucially - covet items via an interactive list on their profile.’ Products are fed through to each Wishlist using the ShopWindow API. Though advertising through Facebook applications has, historically, provoked many a cautious response, there is no doubt that engaging users, to the extent that they customise their own online space and become a crucial part of a brands online advertising, is a very powerful tool.

The key to the success of this application, is to create a tool that adds value to the end-user experience, encouraging them, not only to download the application themselves, but also to distribute it through their network of friends. Users must feel empowered by the tool, rather than like a small part of the broader advertising process. To do this, it appears that Merchants will have to release a small element of brand control to their consumers, allowing them to review products and comment on brand messages in the public forum of Social Networking. Merchants who appear to have done this – such as Sky and STA Travel - are set to benefit, not only from the demographic profiling Facebook has to offer, but also from having a network of online brand ambassadors,

Creative, subtle, engaging and – crucially – interactive: it appears that these are the rules Merchants who wish to utlise Social Networking, as a direct-response marketing platform, must abide by. It is too early to forecast the success of Affiliate Window’s ‘Wishlist’ at this stage, but what is clear, is that this move signifies a new direction in traditional affiliate marketing.

By Michelle Anthony, Programme Executive, R.O.EYE

Last week Yahoo! launched SearchMonkey to little fanfare here and practically no hype.  The article I found featured the launch as a sideline against the ongoing Microsoft will they/won’t they buy-out story currently unfolding.  That said, they did put on a launch party Stateside - if there are any of those monkey biscuits left I’d love to sample one!

SearchMonkey is a plug and play application which will allow developers to increase the visibility of their natural search listing.  Users will be able to roll over listings to see a bubble containing further information about the featured site and an accompanying image.  The effect is very similar to the previews that were available when you hover over a listing in the updated Ask.com.

The idea behind this is that companies will be able to make their listing stand out above the rest, but what if everyone opts to use SearchMonkey? Yahoo! will become a very loud place and the resource which advertisers put into the development will fail to create an impact.

I also wonder who is likely to use SearchMonkey.  First impressions are that it looks quite easy to use and easy populate the necessary fields, deeplinks can be included and the enhanced ad is easily edited.  It could therefore be a useful tool for affiliates looking to stand out and for merchants looking to cut through the noise.

With Google so dominant in the search market there will be a resulting batch of advertisers who will not opt to use this, reasoning that there is little value in heightening the visibility of a Yahoo! advert when the result is still not likely to win the viewings, clickthroughs or conversions of a listing on another search engine.

SearchMonkey will be viewable to Yahoo! users in the coming weeks.  Once a few jazzy ads start appearing I am sure more advertisers will follow, but for now it’s a case of watch this space.

By Colin Telford. Affiliate Director, R.O.EYE

As the Google changes begin to sink in and ads begin to appear against previously protected Trademark terms, I wonder exactly what the fall out has been. It was billed as the most important change in affiliate marketing for some time and even prompted some affiliates to circulate white papers on the effects of the changes. Some networks themselves also reacted with emailed information, but many seemed to be too bogged down with the influx of merchant queries and concerns to be in that enviable pro-active position.

So what has the affect been? The beginning of that week saw ads appear and it looked as if it was going to be a real free for all. Some affiliates reported very profitable opportunities, with Google probably desperately trying to realign the balance and apply the appropriate quality score and cost per clicks. And this is what seems to have happened. As the week progressed, those opportunities began to dry up and costs were predictably increased.

But the most interesting outcome in my eyes are the gentleman’s agreements that are being brokered and agreed over phone calls that really only happen once in a blue moon. It’s essentially the agreement between two merchants to leave each other’s terms alone. They in turn brief their respective search agency/manager contacts and as a result the costs for that particular merchant’s search terms remain around the same (and in the current climate of cost reduction, this agreement can be seen as a saviour on some marketing schedules, I can assure you.)

But will this be a short term fix? Competition will get stronger, targets will become higher and those involved in these agreements will move on. Then when the pressure is on, brand bidding on competitor terms will be an attractive option. And then affiliates will be called upon to spring into action and block leakage where possible. Only then can merchant’s use the redundant landing pages that their briefed affiliates built for them in the pre-May 5th panic, before that gentleman’s agreement phone call was made.

If you need any advice on an affiliate strategy to combat the Google trademark term strategy then please get in touch.

By Richard Wright. Programme Executive, R.O.EYE

Comment and speculation is rife at the moment following another apparent round of Google changes which have affected many affiliate campaigns. From speaking to our own affiliates, and following numerous forum threads, it seems that no satisfactory explanation has yet been provided, or indeed confirmation whether any changes have actually been made at all.

Given that these changes can seemingly destroy an affiliate campaign in one fell swoop without adequate warning or explanation – what does this do to the trust in the relationship between Google and their paying advertisers?

Google will no doubt argue that communications such as their Adwords Updates blog and email are in place to help guide people to build a Google friendly site. I know much of these communications refer to the quality score, however there seems to be a growing lack of faith in how these quality scores are calculated, sentiments that have been backed up by numerous affiliates reporting that their unique content-rich websites have been ‘slapped’ whereas thin bridging page sites have survived in their place.

In theory at least, unique content-rich sites should score highly in Google, but are these sites being penalised for having slow landing pages as reported in Matthew Wood’s recent article? Sites that are image-heavy certainly need to be considering whether this affects them, and we here at R.O.EYE will be doing everything we can to make sure our hosted creatives are as small as they can be.

You may also have heard about some upcoming changes regarding the display and destination URL in Google adverts to take effect on 1st April, however this is more a matter of enforcing existing rules than creating additional guidelines.

It seems that life is never easy chez Google, and perhaps if it was a complete level playing field when it came to choosing between the major search engines (SEs), then the logical outcome would be that affiliates simply would simply switch to the better solution. However this is simply not a reality when you consider how the traffic is broken down amongst the search engines, as reported by one affiliate.

Despite the issues mentioned above, the reasons why Google is so important and successful is because they are 100% committed to providing the best search tool and experience for the end user. The proof of this commitment is that they are by far the most popular SE, and as a result it you would probably struggle to live without them.

So we all need to learn ways to live with them, warts and all. In one of the forum threads a very wise affiliate said “Never, ever, rely on one company. No business can survive if it is totally reliant on another business” which is relevant to all businesses in any industry, at any time. So diversify, use other SEs and methods to generate traffic such as SEO, email, or even some offline activity such as leafleting. Use your imagination!

Other things we can all do is share our knowledge and experiences, something which I think this industry is brilliant at as evidenced in this forum thread. I’ve included seven references to various forum threads and blog articles in this piece, and in amongst all that one hopes there will be enough wisdom for affiliates to take something from and use in their affiliate marketing campaigns.

By Daniel Austin, Programme Executive R.O.EYE.

The relationship and open communication channels between affiliates and agency staff is a top priority. This becomes even more apparent when trying to recruit affiliates on to existing or newly opened programmes. Affiliates are very busy people with limited time for all of those affiliate programmes that exist. I have outlined what I think are a few key points to think about when trying to recruit those more allusive of affiliates.

Out Lining The Programme.

Asking yourself what an affiliate needs to know is your first step. Is the merchant relevant to there site? What would make the affiliate push this programme above others they maybe already promoting. Other important points that affiliates need to know are commission structures, cookie length, EPC’s and, if its an existing programme how well is the programme performing.

Affiliates will frequent forums and blogs to do there own research on existing programmes, especially the A4U Forum, If there has been a problem with a programmes let the affiliate know. Be open, honest and upfront at all times. If there is limitations to the programme then let the affiliate know from the start. These things will make an affiliates mind up when choosing to promote your merchant and also help build a trusting relationship.

Listening to your affiliates.

They are (usually) experts in this field and their thoughts and ideas can be solid affiliate gold. Listen to there concerns take on board there ideas and if necessary go back to the merchant and outline them. Get to know you affiliates and there sites on a personal level. Find out how they plan to promote your merchant (SEO, PPC, Email Campaigns) find out if you can assist them in any way. Offering advice and practical solutions for things like where to place creative and tips on how to generate more traffic can be invaluable to affiliates, especially if they are entering a new sector for the first time. Growing there sites and generating more conversion for them will ultimately grow your programme.

You will often find affiliate sites will be suitable for more than one programme. Cross selling is of huge importance to us at R.O.EYE, and should be to any agency. If an affiliate is promoting say bank accounts on there site they may want to think about loans or credit cards as well.

Recruitment is only the beginning, don’t stop there.

Different affiliates prefer different methods of communication. Some only stick to emails or MSN. Others prefer a chat over the phone, some affiliates prefer none of these and opt for the silent treatment. Either way don’t be to pushy, find out the best method for your affiliate and keep them update on all aspects of the programme. This is ultimately a working business relationship and good communication will benefit all parties.

Remember the objective with affiliates is to develop long term business relationships….

By Ben Friedman, Recruitment Executive R.O.EYE

Valentines Day is definitely one of the biggest times for most retail industries with everyone trying to find the perfect gift for their loved ones, but does this have a big impact on affiliate sales? And if so what kind of impact?

At R.O.EYE we run a large retail brands programme which sells a wide variety of gifts for both men and women, so we expected a large amount of sales over the Valentines period.

Towards the end of January sales started to pick up and this growth continued to build all through the start of the February.

As we approached the big day we expected the sales to fall a few days before, to allow for postage. This is what we saw at Christmas and it’s what we are used to seeing before events that involve gift buying. But the sales didn’t stop. Sales actually increased on the day before Valentines Day to their highest level in that period. How does this make sense?

My personal view is that couples may have been shopping for their gifts in the high streets and then deciding to go home and buy online, possibly so that they can get up to 10% cash back on their Presents. If this is the case would some affiliate programmes benefit from being more closely related to what is happening on the high street? I mean this in terms of the merchants seeing the programmes not solely as an online medium of sales, but as a more important part of their overall marketing strategy with better links with the high street stores selling their products.

Which leads me to a new question, should more High Street stores have the means for tracking affiliate sales? Let’s flip this on its head. For example, if an affiliate pre-sells a product on their site, like and item of clothing and the customer then buys it in the high street store the affiliate receives no commission. Would a scheme involving printing off vouchers for use in store, with affiliate specific codes mean that online sales could be tracked on the high street? Would this be a good thing? Where does this leave last click now??

I know I have asked a lot more questions than I have answered, but it is Friday morning. Please feel free to comment if you have the answers to my questions or any views on anything.