Discount Codes - What's the Etiquette?

[kier]

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Because when anything like this has been tried before it invariably doesn't take long before it is out of date as people neglect to update it

The one on the old a4u was a bit neglected, but we in fact did use it and had affiliates who were very pleased it was there as a resource. The interface was a bit clunky and it wasn't promoted that much. I think the idea has potential though if done correctly.

[max99]

Obviously if it was implemented it would cause implications for affiliates who own voucher sites. Meaning more competition etc

I'm split on the idea myself, I do own a couple of smaller voucher code sites and It would make it easier to update however it would mean a lot more sites popping up

[befuddle]

The Paid On Results Voucher Manager seems to be under utilised by merchants at the moment.

The last new code added was in November.

[D-Mac]

If A4U don't it, another company may well do it on a subscription basis. The USP for voucher sites won't stay as who is the most up to date forever..

[befuddle]

Not all merchants/agencies/networks want every affiliate publishing their codes. If that were the case, everyone would receive the emails I receive that include spreadsheets of codes.

Figleaves for example will offer you a code but in return they want home page placement.

If I didn't do that and/or I drove no sales then I wouldn't have that code.

[renegade]

On balance I'd rather there wasn't a centralised database for lots of reasons.
The prospect of hundreds of pseudo code sites with no other real content isn't very appealing and given codes are a hot topic ATM it would be sensible to get the main issues sorted first.

[kier]

The prospect of hundreds of pseudo code sites with no other real content isn't very appealing

Couldn't that exact same argument be used against product feeds?

[befuddle]

But Kier, if this is created, we'll never have to speak again. Or is that a good thing lol

[getvisible]

How about ...

All networks do what Webgains do Webgains Blog » Discount Codes i.e. add their merchant's discount / voucher codes to their blog and create a seperate RSS feed for them.

This way, affiliates themselves could aggregate them into their RSS feed reader (see: Affiliate Marketing Blog & SEO Advice: Affiliates: What Has Google Ever Done For Us?) and therefore be kept up-to-date.

Also, just as there is a blog section on here, there could be one that just picks up the network's DC posts and then shows them. They could be searchable.

The benefit is that the information will be timely and accurate (probably), each affiliate will have an incentive to pick them up and not steal them etc. Affiliates would also still be able to negotiate their own exclusive codes that aren't published in the feeds.

I understand why some wouldn't want codes published as they have perfected their own operations. But I feel that the industry has to proceed. Possible new entrants may come into the DC sphere but it doesn't mean they'll do it well. Some will drop off.

But if the problem is that there are far too many out-of-date codes then having a fresh supply with expirery dates included then there can be no excuse to use out-of-date codes (that includes me!).

[kier]

But Kier, if this is created, we'll never have to speak again. Or is that a good thing lol

Nah because we wouldn't be publishing exclusive codes in it, that would still require contact! I think this would be a good thing in many ways, it would make it easier for people to make low quality code sites sure, but it would also save time for those like yourself who run high quality sites which you could spend on offering more unique content, arranging exclusive codes etc.

[befuddle]

To attempt to demonstrate how competitive the code site market is.

A very unique code that was distributed in the affiliate channel just 3 days ago has 142 listings that have been spidered by Google. It's previous code has 347 results.

[ian]

It may well be a competitive sector, but I doubt that many affiliates would want to set up dedicated voucher sites to compete for keywords like "Dell promotion code". Too much competition, but adding a range of valid dell codes to a an existing page that does well for "dell inspiron laptops" should increase conversions.

Having a central source, aggregated network vc blogs or whatever, would be useful

[befuddle]

On the subject of Dell. I'd target "Dell Coupon Codes" specifically - then spotted this. If you visit that link you'd see that VoucherCodes have been promoted and has a few section links highlighted.

Good for them, though one of those is for Tesco and they don't currently have codes in the affiliate channel.

So this goes back to the original etiquette question. Whilst the site has not published any codes it does have a "show current voucher codes" button which when clicked does crazy things with the browser.

[getvisible]

A very unique code that was distributed in the affiliate channel just 3 days ago has 142 listings that have been spidered by Google. It's previous code has 347 results.

Don't you think it makes it more fun

I've just looked at my logs and I'm already getting voucher code traffic when I've hardly touched the site.

Perhaps new entrants should look at the long tail of keywords and not focus on the "ego terms" as I call them.

Also many sites are so deviod of content it makes me wanna cry!

n.b. I'm no discount code expert!

[Grounded Vertigo]

I personally agree with Lee and think it would be great if other affiliate networks followed Webgains example. I don't run a discount code site but do mention them every so often on my site so it's good to be able to find them quickly in one place.

I don't think that this really would spurn thousands of new discount code sites, well at least not ones that would stay around for long.

I could however be completely wrong...