Formal Request to Affiliate Window

Qui Gon Jinn · 25-05-07

After careful consultation between the moderators, this is a polite formal request to Affiliate Window to ascertain which programs within your network have closed brand bidding groups, and ask to please submit these to the forum & include within the merchant information details within their own interface.

This will assist towards transparency & a fairer environment for affiliates.

Please could you also confirm that you don't do any ppc at network or employee level, or at least don't make themselves members of closed groups at the same time?

We'd be grateful if you could supply this information and help alleviate some of the issues that have arisen due to closed group activity.

Thank you for your co-operation.

8601cam · 25-05-07

Affiliate Window does not allow any PPC affiliate activity at network or employee level.

Regarding closed groups we will be able to publish a comprehensive list of merchants who run closed PPC groups early next week. It makes sense to include this information within the merchant information details and we will action this with the relevant account managers.

Any affiliate can present their credentials for consideration for a closed PPC group. The criteria varies dependant on merchant requirements and can generally cover;

Historical performance
Proven generic keyword coverage
Sector specific knowledge
Flexible to merchant requests
The ability to present and meet with merchants directly

For this reason we have a wide variety of PPC affiliates to ensure non-competitive overlap and a large and diverse pool for which merchants can choose. This avoids the critcism of a 'chosen few' PPC affiliates being given preferencial treatment over others.

Mark Walters
Chief Operating Officer

020 8269 4842
mark.walters@affiliatewindow.com

KevinEdwards · 26-05-07

Hi,

One of the few programmes I have an active involvement in is Travelodge. I made the decision to close off all PPC activity with the exception of two affiliates due to the budgetary constraints of the programme.

I used the forum to ask for interested PPC parties to contact me. A handful of affiliates did and one in particular who was unknown to Affiliate Window was chosen because of his help and guidance in how to run the PPC activity.

I'm all for opening out PPC but it is a two way street. If the network has to show professionalism in handling PPC activity then I would also expect PPC affiliates to present a business case for their involvement.

Oh, and I've worked in affiliate marketing for four years and never made or spent a single penny on any affiliate programme.

Thanks,

maverick · 31-05-07

Hi,

Can Affiliate Window also confirm what the purpose is of the sites at http://www.affiliatewindow.com/links.php

Looking at this site http://www.gadgetsweb.co.uk/index.php which I guess is built using the new Shop Window system, please confirm whether these sites earn commission for the network or are set at zero commission.

Even if these are zero then they still appear in the search engines, potentially pushing other affiliate out.

Cheers,

mav

8601cam · 31-05-07

Please find below a list of our programmes that operate some form of closed PPC activity, some of which can be brand related and others on a purely restricted basis.

Simply Scuba
Simply Beach
Simply Swim
Simply Hike
Simply Piste
Extreme Pie
Travelodge
PC World
Less Bounce
Flight.co.uk
Virgin Experience Days
Present Aid
La Redoute
Vodafone
Evans clothing
Fragrance Direct
Majestic Wine
Dorothy Perkins
Dixons
Burton
KitBag
IWOOT
Panda Software
Letterbox
MyWardrobe
Dyson
Provident
Boots Kitchen Appliances
Sainsbury’s Kitchen Appliances
Appliance Deals
DIY Appliance Warehouse
Sportsshoes
Woolworths
Pharmacy2U

We will continue to update this list. In addition the relevant account managers will be updating these merchant account descriptions to check affiliates are made aware, in advance, of policy restrictions.

Maverick regarding your question, I have the ShopWindow team generating a response which I will post shortly.

Kind Regards

Mark

3wdl · 31-05-07

Well done to Affiliate Window for this - It's great to see networks be open about the programs that have some form of closed PPC activity rather than have them say something along the lines of:

"It goes against our advertisor terms and conditions, etc........"

maverick · 31-05-07

Yeah and completely without prompting

mav

hpops · 31-05-07

Thanks Awin, great to see the response I expected. Would love to hear one legitimate and sensible reason for other networks to follow suit.

8601cam · 01-06-07

Regarding Maverick’s question:

The websites such as gadgetsweb are being created to showcase not only the functionality of the ShopWindow Toolset, but also the progression of the data within a vertical environment.

To do this these websites form part of a (ShopWindow specific) development portfolio, which we are going to be using to test and optimise various aspects of the Toolset. These aspects include:

- Optimising data retrieval times for product searches
- Optimising the categorisation of merchant products
- Optimising element positions on page based on usage data. (position of search, categories etc within basic templates provided in Client Software)
- Optimising the level of data provided to a user at each stage of the process, from point of landing to point of click out

Through identifying and applying these enhancements, Affiliate Window can approach merchants and demonstrate the core requirement of a datafeed that is well structured and mapped within our system, allowing merchants to further recognise the value that will be added to the affiliates on their programmes.

Also to allow us as a network to demonstrate the capabilities of the ShopWindow Toolset some of these sites will have search engine strategies applied to them. The intention behind this is to provide live examples of SEO strategies tied in with ShopWindow functionality. This is something that has been raised by affiliates since launching the Toolset and is therefore key to the use and development of the ShopWindow Toolset.

Of course any SEO based activity may affect affiliates within the same sector, however surely this demonstrates any potential effectiveness of using the ShopWindow Toolset which is one of the core reasons for its development. This is not an unfair advantage since the technology and developments will be open to all.

ShopWindow Toolset project is ongoing and will continue to receive dedicated support and development to enhance capabilities for all affiliates. Any revenue generated through these vertical sites will be channelled back for reinvestment into the Toolset. There will be no PPC activity operating for these sites.

Kind Regards

Mark

Frostie · 01-06-07

Hat off to Awin for being transparent on this matter.

maverick · 04-06-07

Hi Mark,

Thanks for clarifying it for us all.

Just so it's clear you are saying that these sites are at 0% commission or they are not, if not who gets the commission?

Also you say "This is not an unfair advantage since the technology and developments will be open to all.". So since these links sit off the corporate site and benefit from it's pagerank in order to have this "...open to all" you will allow other affiliates to have their links here? How does one go about getting their site linked?

Cheers,

mav