Affiliate site not listed on Dmoz.org here is why!

[supercod]

From the Editor Guidlines at Dmoz, why you might not be listed.

Affiliate Marketing Schemes

What Does "Affiliate Marketing" Mean?

Revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales of products and services, clicks, registrations, or some other hybrid model. There are four basic types of affiliate sites: Affiliate Links, Sites Consisting Mostly of Affiliate Links, Affiliate Reseller Sites (aka Fraternal Mirrors), and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) Independent Representative sites.

Why Doesn't the ODP List These Sites?

It's not the business model we don't like. It's the mirrored and duplicated content. For example, suppose you have a company offering data storage products and services. They have exclusive resellers who provide a front for selling their products and services. While the reseller sites may be designed and written differently, their content and aim are exactly the same. Adding sites with the same content or that point to the same place are not unique or useful.

Guidelines for Specific Types of Affiliate Site

Affiliate Links

This is an affiliate relationship based on clicks. Affiliate links are URLs for a commercial site that usually, but not always, include an affiliate or referral ID in the URL, such as AffiliateID=19555&ProductID=508. The person whose ID is in the link gets a commission from anyone who buys from the site after following that link. Affiliate links should never be added to the directory.

Sites Consisting Primarily of Affiliate Links

Sites consisting primarily of affiliate links, or whose sole purpose is to drive user traffic to another site for the purpose of commission sales, provide no unique content and are not appropriate for inclusion in the directory. However, a site that contains affiliate links in addition to other content (such as a fan site for a singer that has interviews and photos plus banner ads and links to buy the singer's CDs) might be an acceptable submission to the directory.

General rule of thumb: Look at the content on the site, mentally blocking out all affiliate links. If the remaining information is original and valuable informational content that contributes something unique to the category's subject, the site may be a good candidate for the ODP. If the remaining content is poor, minimal, or copied from some other site, then the site is not a good candidate for the ODP.

Affiliate Reseller Sites (aka Fraternal Mirrors)

Fraternal Mirrors have the same basic content, but usually different designs. Fraternal mirrors are harder to spot because the sites are designed and written to appear different, but a careful examination will reveal they offer the exact same product or service as another affiliated company. The are usually set up by merchants as affiliate, reseller, or lead generator sites. For example, sites which sell products or services provided by another company and make a small margin on the sale are affiliate mirrors. In general we do not list affiliate sites unless the affiliate has strong, high quality content of its own that end-users will find really useful.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) and Pyramid Schemes

Multi-level Marketing (MLM) is a system of selling in which sales people may receive compensation in two ways; from sales of goods and services to consumers and from the sales made by other sales people recruited into the plan.

You may list the domain for the corporate site, however, you should not list independent representatives or distributor sites. For example, only the main Metabolife should be listed in the category Business/Opportunities/Networking-MLM . Metabolife representative sites should not be listed anywhere in the directory. You may come across a personal page that includes information on one's activity in an MLM program. If the thrust of the site is not to peddle products from an MLM program, then the site might be a good candidate to list.

If you discover an independent representative site listed in the directory or you find them in your category's unreviewed queue, send them to the appropriate category under: Test/Affiliates/Networking-MLM/ (e.g. Metabolife rep sites should be sent to Test/Affiliates/Networking-MLM/M/Metabolife/Independent_Representatives/).

Sites for "pyramid schemes," "chain letters," or "money games" should not be listed as they may violate the U.S. Postal Lottery Statute (18 U.S.C. § 1302). The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations defines a pyramid scheme as being a "scheme in which a recruit pays (an entry fee) for the opportunity to receive future benefits (money or privileges) which are primarily derived from that recruit's (and/or subsequent recruits') introduction of additional participants in the scheme, rather than from the sale of products to consumer." Please see the WFDSA site for more details.

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Also this additional note on single product sites

Product Listings

Sites devoted to the sales and distribution of a single product should be avoided if they are affiliate sites or if the site is merely a distributor for a manufacturer already listed in the Directory. The purpose of the ODP is not to replicate the individual listings of an online shopping catalog. However, individual product sites offering substantial information, tips, advice, and usage information for consumers are generally acceptable.

[Jamie]

Could this be the start of a downturn in affiliate marketing?

I'm sure most people in this forum tread very carefully with the net, almost waiting for the bubble to burst (god forbid!!)

What is the answer?

Do we try and get the likes of td to be much harder vetting sites which are worthy of affiliation. this would then cause a slow down in large amounts or poor sites and hopefully would stop the likes of dmoz, Yahoo etc getting to pi$$ed of. If yahoo etc get flooded with similar sites trying to cash in then eventually they are just going to put an end to it.

I know this may be a little harsh but look at what happened to banner advertising and look at the price some keywords are going for, where does it stop. Eventually the only people who will be able to afford keywords will be the bluechips and it will be bye bye to the others.

Just some thoughts

[Affiliates4u]

I'm not sure about this.. We know that our basic SEO pages for the main search engines are never going to get into the ODP. What we should aim for though is providing quality content. That old content is king philosophy. Perhaps taking a little more time out to provide content that is useful for the visitor and adds value to the experience of visiting your website..

For instance the ODP states...

General rule of thumb: Look at the content on the site, mentally blocking out all affiliate links. If the remaining information is original and valuable informational content that contributes something unique to the category's subject, the site may be a good candidate for the ODP. If the remaining content is poor, minimal, or copied from some other site, then the site is not a good candidate for the ODP.

This is exactly what I have been trying to do... and noticed yesterday that one of my sites has just 'crept in'

So there is still room for us thankfully, although I agree Jamie that its getting more difficult. We just have to change the rules a little.

[JF]

The ODP has had the rules about affiliate sites for a long time, it's not something they've suddenly started doing.

Not sure how many ODP editors bother to read all the rules though, so you might still manage to get ilsted even if you have no unique content.

[supercod]

Most don't read the rules at all... I have seen some really bad sites get a listing (crap design sites with good content can get in, but these where just crap full stop).

Also just so you know I never said these where new rules, just that many people wouldn't know them and so not think about it when asking for that all important link from Dmoz for Google to give you a better rank.

[FictionNet]

Sites containing affiliates links should be accepted for inclusion in ODP as long as there is also useful/unique content. However, corrupt ODP editors basically run their categories how they please.

[RewardSites]

To add my two-penny worth

I am a Dmoz editor - only 'small time' for the Lowestoft category.

It's been a worthwhile experience and the one thing I've learned is just how polictical the whole set up is.

JF is right - the ruling on affiliate linked sites has always been the same. However, it all depends on who the category editor is (and whether you're the category editor, and chose to validate your own submissions , which happens all the time)

It doesn't take long to surf around Dmoz and notice a category which, in theory, could have a few 100 links in, because the subject area is dynamic and would benefit from a diverse range of links from the mamouth number of websites out there. In practice, some categories which warrant 100's of links only have a few - why? Because the category editor is managing to falsify the marketshare.

I personally don't have any of my affiliate linked sites in Dmoz. Sure, I've tried - but it just ain't worth the effort because the two categories I submit to are held by two individuals who won't allow any competition. However, my two most profitable sties both have PR6 on google, without a Dmoz or Yahoo listing, so I don't worry.

I would begin to question the weight of being listed on Dmoz now.....sure it's a quick way to get indexed by Google and get your site upto PR4 without any incoming links other than Dmoz, but in the long run, I don't think it matters too much at all.

Cheers,

[999GI]

DMOZ has changed its position somewhat & this new policy is more helpful to affiliates than the old one.

The old policy essentially said "affiliates are bloodsucking leeches on society - don't list them"

They then moved to saying "OK, list sites that have less than 50% affiliates links"

They are now moving towards the stage of saying "forget about whether the link has an affiliate tag on or not - is it a good site with original content"

Under the old rules 2 idential sites one using affiliate links and one using unaffliated links would have been treated differently because of a general resentment for affiliates.

Progress has been made I think but there is still some education needed for some of the editors.

I have listed several affiliate sites (one of Matts I think) where they offer decent content if they are appropriate for the category. I've also turned down quite a few where they are little more than a copy & paste of the merchants content.

[Affiliates4u]

ooohhh one of mine? Thank You

I'm curious which category?

I think you are right, there are some affiliate sites which do offer original content, and Dmoz should reflect this.. times are changing I suppose.

On the plus side I'm making some big changes to a great deal of my sites now (hence the late time), making changes Ive waited a year to do. Starting to get some good listings too in the SE's, which I'm very happy about. Without giving too much away i'm going to concentrate on a few niche areas.

Cheers,
Matt.

[freebieholics]

How do you find out who runs a catagory at DMOZ?

I'm sure Freebieholics comes under one of those categories with a dodgy editor(s).

Might get my link one day. Sigh.

[supercod]

How do you find out who runs a catagory at DMOZ?

It says at the bottom of the page your listed or want listed on who the editor is... if there is no editor then the person next section up might be in charge however because it's vast and loads of people add stuff each day, it might take ages to get a listing.

If you think your not being listed because the editor is crooked then you can get something done.. however the sad fact of the matter is most editors give up only a few days after they start and so many area's have no editor..

If I was an editor in a free stuff section (or any other for that matter) everyone would get added as long as they show original content that improves the experience for the directory user. Plus it's a rule of Dmoz that you must show the sites your affiliated with, you can still edit a section even if you have an interest in it but they do monitor (all be it not very well) for abuse.

Only become an editor if you enjoy it, don't use it to abuse an area.. you will be found out and your site will face a ban from the database.

I edit Glasgow, Edinburgh and Scottish Football (how I landed with that last one I have no idea).. I only spend like 15mins a day on it, give be a break and many times a laugh at what new sites are online in my area... In the past it used to be a good way to know who is doing what and look out potential design work.

[999GI]

freebieholics
I think the editor of your cat wants to see a decent proportion of content that isn't affiliate links.

This in my opinion is wrong as I have mentioned above the actual fact that the links have affiliate tags on its own has no bearing on whether your site is useful to users.

You're probably going to struggle to get this URL listed now as you have two rejections noted on the URLS history for having too much affiliate content. Even if you try another category, the history will go with you.

I don't see any evidence of corruption though, the editor seems to take a tough line on most submissions from what I can see.

You need to understand that the reason a lot of ODP editors don't like affiliates is that SOME OF THEM SPAM the submissions with deep links, rediretced domains, subdomains, cloaking, multiple submission to 10+ categories. It wastes so much time for the editors. I have one category that gets 20 submissions per week of which 2 are decent sites and the rest is spam.

[freebieholics]

Thanks for the info.

I have just over 4,000 unique outgoing links as part of my content. Only 200 point to merchants with any form of affiliate link.

I understand what you're saying, but i too disagree with this.

This also means that there should not be any sites listed in that catagory, especially as some of them are more or less 100% affiliate based.

An editor can be as strict as he/she likes, but when not all the sites in the category have been judged by the same rules, it's wrong.

[supercod]

Carl, tell you what I will list it in my personal bookmarks as a Dmoz editor if you want.. then you can try and re-apply... if that doesn't work.. I can try sending it off to the editor using the internal system see if that gets you listed.

If it makes you fell any better I have not got UK Competitions listed yet for what ever reason, but I am not to worried, I am sure it will be listed soon.. I didn't want to abuse my minor position to force it to be reviewed.

[Jamie]

Only a quickie as we are on the topic of dmoz,

How many categories can a site be listed in? at the mo i managed to get into one but i wouldn't mind a couple more.




Jamie