MyVoucherCodes new trick

[DanWBC]

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I wonder if MVC is big enough not to need the networks and go direct to merchants affiliate programs?

How this would help when merchants are the main victim and are getting ripped off in a first place??

Click to Reveal is a sneaky tactic, but forced affiliate pop-ups on a simple text selection without click intent are forced clicks as much as it could be. I am aware of cases when smaller affiliates were banned immediately doing similar with their commission held. It seems none of the networks have guts to do similar with this parasite.

[getvisible]

Mark do you sleep with your friends gf's and wives......

That'll be a no.

Mark's not all that bad when you meet him. I think when you look at what he does you should look at each element in isolation i.e. "he's doing this, is it wrong?" rather than "he's doing this, he's done all this in the past so it must be wrong".

At the end of the day, if you think he's doing something wrong either file a Report a Spam Result or contact the networks.

[millionpoundlake]

I thought I may as well produce a my voucher codes page.
My Voucher Codes - Save money and get extra discounts online with my voucher codes

It is currently on page 1 of google for the term 'my voucher codes' and it sends a few clicks my way.

Try it Dougs you may well nick a few back from Mark.

Rob
Home

[befuddle]

Also is this not against Yahoo's guidelines, encouraging clicks with the words GO

You having a laugh? Surely we're allowed to use any word, symbol or sign that we think imaginable and appropriate.

Anthing to do with Yahoo! Go per chance?

[befuddle]

I thought I may as well produce a my voucher codes page

I too created one months back displaying my own Exclusive codes, also on page 1 of Google for that search term, just out of curiosity to see where it would rank really.

[dougs]

You having a laugh? Surely we're allowed to use any word, symbol or sign that we think imaginable and appropriate.

NO

Adsense T's and C's
* May not encourage users to click the Google ads by using phrases such as "click the ads," "support us," "visit these links," or other similar language
* May not direct user attention to the ads via arrows or other graphical gimmicks
* May not place misleading images alongside individual ads
* May not promote sites displaying ads through unsolicited mass emails or unwanted advertisements on third-party websites
* May not compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behavior
* May not place misleading labels above Google ad units - for instance, ads may be labeled "Sponsored Links" but not "Favorite Sites"

Ray think of it as a merchant......I want buyers not people you have encouraged to click

Doug

[Barry]

You having a laugh? Surely we're allowed to use any word, symbol or sign that we think imaginable and appropriate.

Anthing to do with Yahoo! Go per chance?

It is indeed against the yahoo (search123) rules to use a picture next to the listing as I was asked to remove such a mechanism from one of my sites.

Ta

Baz

[dougs]

Lee

My issue with Mark is simple I belive he is messing up an industry that many people play in. I am not going to sit hear and pick out each individual thing he does wrong. That has been going on for ages and when someone finds one issue he just changes. There are 3 issues in this thread alone.

People tell the networks and they take action to fix the one issue.

Simple way to fix the issue is for the merchants to start looking at what he is doing in depth and if they believe he does not add value they can terminate him. Many large merchants read this forum, so let them decide.

Doug

[tomj]

You having a laugh? Surely we're allowed to use any word, symbol or sign that we think imaginable and appropriate.

Anthing to do with Yahoo! Go per chance?

Totally wrong m8 sorry. When using the YSM feed be it from s123, adshack, nixxie or whoever you cant have clickable buttons/images next to the cpc listings incentivising CTA. The title, description and URL of the creative are clickable only.

Think about it for a second with your advertiser hat on. Do you want to pay for a click off a site for a bit of "creative license" eg GO or ANY OTHER RANDOM CTA you have no control over? or would you rather pay only for properly formatted ads which you have created?

[dougs]

Ok here we go some facts

ebuyer discount code - Google Search

Land on MVC, click button To reveal offers and goto site, see Yahoo ads, with incentivised words (against Yahoo rules) and then click on it and see adsense (against google terms).

Now you are on ebuyer, who magically do not have an affiliate scheme. Ebuyer did have an affiliate scheme but they closed it, I wonder why?

Prezzie Plus did have an affiliate scheme and closed it
Prezzies Plus discount codes - Google Search

ASOS did have an affiliate scheme and closed it
asos discount codes - Google Search

I have never talked to these merchants, but 2 of them have been very public about them thinking affiliates are the low life....coincidence?

How many merchants have pulled out of affiliate marketing because of them not understanding what is going on. This is my concern.

Doug
PS.

If you land on a fashion page of MVC and their is no affiliate deal then you may arrive magically on:

MCF Celebrity Fashion, Style, Clothes, Pictures, Gossip, News, Clothing.

This site is owned by a company in the same office as MVC's PR company.

[fizzbird]

Now you are on ebuyer, who magically do not have an affiliate scheme. Ebuyer did have an affiliate scheme but they closed it, I wonder why?
ASOS did have an affiliate scheme and closed it


If you land on a fashion page of MVC and their is no affiliate deal then you may arrive magically on:

This site is owned by a company in the same office as MVC's PR company.

ebuyer and asos do have affiliate programs - they aren't public though.

the fashion site is owned by the ten yetis character who does mvc's PR.

There could be legal issues but not really within the realms of any scheme agreed by networks?

[dougs]

Some facts:

1. MVC is one of the big affiliates
2. One merchant play.com publically stopped dealing with MVC due to them thinking he was abusing the deal
3. Some merchants have stopped running affiliate business's and openly said because they feel they were being abused.
4. Lots of merchants have stopped running affiliate business's with no public reason.

I conclude that merchants are not happy with what some big affiliates are doing. So which large affiliates keep doing something wrong? Jamie/Niel/Sri/Duncan are large affiliates and I never hear anything much bad about them, they actually get nominated by merchants and networks for prizes. So who is left and who never gets nomintaed for any prizes/awards?

Doug
Ps ebuyer and asos have gone underground then....thats not good for most affiliates

[channel5]

doug, report the adsense violations to Google, they are usually very swift at taking people out who violate the terms, they are also likely to hit him in the natural serps if his pages are really that spammy.

[aotagain]

Personally I think this issue needs to continue to be addressed by everybody because it would be dreadful if the affiliate world got into a state of mind where 'it will be OK the IAB will issue guidelines' type attitude. Last thing we need to rely on is a semi-quango with no incisors.

Years ago there was an edict that printed advertorials should have 'Advertisement' displayed prominently somewhere. Yeah, like that was going to happen. There are frequent 'editorials' written with no 'Advertisment' mentioned anywhere and if the intent is not to deliberately deceive, I'll eat my socks. Mmm, could easily veer off into some types of website content writing here, but I won't.

[dougs]

The seo is not the issue....because he is high profile and abuses the rules is. There are others who abuse the rules, but they don't get his traffic and hence don't upset merchants.

Doug