Commission Junction

Commission Junction recently conducted research on private browsing features, specifically Microsoft’s InPrivate Browsing for Internet Explorer 8, and how they might impact affiliate click tracking.

The article below, by Craig Battles, Senior Product Manager at CJ, should help affiliate marketers put any concerns to rest.

Like many of us in the affiliate marketing industry, we at Commission Junction were wondering about the impact of the InPrivate Browsing feature in the newest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, currently in beta release. InPrivate Browsing will prevent your browser from retaining your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, usernames, passwords and — of most concern to advertisers with affiliate programs — cookies. We recently looked into the issue on behalf of our advertiser and publisher clients, which included speaking with representatives at Microsoft.

Microsoft is not the first to introduce this feature nor is it the only one: Apple pioneered the idea of private browsing three years ago with the Safari browser, Google’s new Chrome browser features an “Incognito” mode for private browsing, and Mozilla announced that the next version of its popular Firefox browser will also include a new private browsing feature.

You can already clear your browser cache with a mouse click in earlier versions of Internet Explorer, but it’s an all-or-nothing action. The benefit of InPrivate Browsing is that it allows you to temporarily suspend the automatic caching functions so that you leave no trace of your visits to sites you choose to keep private while leaving the rest of your browsing history intact.

The good news for advertisers is that private browsing is not the default setting for any of these browsers (the feature must be enabled by the user) and it does not block or delete cookies. Once you select InPrivate Browsing, Internet Explorer 8 will launch a new browser session and copy all existing cookie information into memory. Any new cookies acquired during the browsing session will not be blocked, but they also will not be stored when the session ends.

Situations in which you may choose to use InPrivate Browsing could include when you’re using someone else’s computer and don’t want that person to see your browsing history, when you want to buy a gift for a family member on a shared computer without ruining the surprise, when you’re at an Internet kiosk and don’t want the next person to know which Web site you visited, and when you’re tempted to look at things that could get you fired or kicked out of the house.

So how does private browsing affect Commission Junction’s capability to track consumers’ purchases via affiliate links? Not that much. Even after initiating InPrivate Browsing — as long as they have cookies enabled in their browsers — consumers can use an affiliate link to go to your site and, if they complete their transactions during the same session, the transactions will be tracked by Commission Junction. Even if the consumer clicks an affiliate link before beginning the InPrivate Browsing session, the transaction will still be tracked. However, if a consumer clicks an affiliate link during an InPrivate Browsing session and then ends the session before making a purchase, then any purchase that consumer makes during a return visit to your Web site without going directly through an affiliate link will not be tracked. In all likelihood, most consumers who are interested in using private browsing for making purchases (the surprise gift purchase, for example) will visit your site and make a purchase during the same session.

InPrivate Browsing will also prevent some cookies and other content from being placed by third-party Web sites. According to Microsoft, the sites that will get blocked will be determined based on the frequency that these sites attempt to place cookies. Commission Junction cookies are “first party” rather than “third party” because they are set when a consumer clicks an affiliate link that points the browser to Commission Junction domains whereupon the cookies are set and the browser is redirected to an advertiser’s site.

According to Microsoft: “Users are often not aware that some content, images, ads and analytics are being provided from third party websites or that these websites have the ability to potentially track their behavior across multiple websites,” further adding, “Because InPrivate Blocking is designed to watch for and block only third-party content that appears with a high frequency across sites you visit, no content is blocked until such levels are detected, nor is any such content blocked which is served directly by the site you are visiting.”

Microsoft confirmed during conversations with Commission Junction and ValueClick that its implementation of InPrivate Blocking will identify and block content from specific URLs rather than domains that appear across multiple Web sites. This should not pose a problem for Commission Junction’s publishers because each publisher will use a unique URL including his or her own Web site ID number. The risk of having links or tracking pixels blocked by Microsoft’s InPrivate Browsing is low for Commission Junction because it would be unlikely that a consumer would encounter tracking pixels with the “high frequency” that would be required to trigger such blocking.

In summary, InPrivate Browsing and other private browsing features will not automatically block all cookies and will continue to work with most solutions, like Commission Junction, that track cookies. And of the small minority of consumers who may choose to enable the private browsing feature before they shop, the majority will complete their transactions during the same session, which will allow the tracking of purchases through affiliate links.

Add a Blog to Your Affiliate Site

Add a Blog to Your Affiliate Site

If you have a website that is performing pretty ok but you still want it to rank higher and don't know how to achieve this then you should start thinking about adding a blog to the site. We know for a fact that it could help you in optimizing the site and you'll also be able to strengthen the power of certain keywords that are important for you.

What you simply have to do is to write blog posts on a regular basis, say 1-2 blog posts every week. The posts doesn't have to be very long so maintaining the blog shouldn't have to take all too much of your time. Fill (don't cram - make it user-friendly or it'll only look spammy) the blog with relevant links to pages/sites that you wish to boost. A blog is also a great way for you to be a bit more personal with your visitors, something that often is much appreciated. So start blogging if you haven't already!

Performance marketing

In the case of cost per mille/click, the publisher is not concerned about a visitor being a member of the audience that the advertiser tries to attract and is able to convert, because at this point the publisher has already earned his commission. This leaves the greater, and, in case of cost per mille, the full risk and loss (if the visitor can not be converted) to the advertiser.

Cost per action/sale methods require that referred visitors do more than visit the advertiser's website before the affiliate receives commission. The advertiser must convert that visitor first. It is in the best interest for the affiliate to send the most closely-targeted traffic to the advertiser as possible to increase the chance of a conversion. The risk and loss is shared between the affiliate and the advertiser.

Affiliate marketing is also called "performance marketing", in reference to how sales employees are typically being compensated. Such employees are typically paid a commission for each sale they close, and sometimes are paid performance incentives for exceeding targeted baselines. Affiliates are not employed by the advertiser whose products or services they promote, but the compensation models applied to affiliate marketing are very similar to the ones used for people in the advertisers' internal sales department.

The phrase, "Affiliates are an extended sales force for your business", which is often used to explain affiliate marketing, is not completely accurate. The primary difference between the two is that affiliate marketers provide little if any influence on a possible prospect in the conversion process once that prospect is directed to the advertiser's website. The sales team of the advertiser, however, does have the control and influence up to the point where the prospect signs the contract or completes the purchase.

Search Engine Glossary

advertising network: A service where ads are bought centrally through one company, and displayed on multiple Web sites that contract with that company for a share of revenue generated by ads served on their site.algorithm: The technology that a search engine uses to deliver results to a query. Search engines utilize several algorithms in tandem to deliver a page of search results or keyword-targeted search ads.

click through rate (CTR): The rate (expressed in a percentage) at which users click on an ad. This is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the total number of ad impressions. CTR is an important metric for Internet marketers to measure the performance of an ad campaign.

content network: A group of Web sites that agree to show ads on their site, served by an ad network, in exchange for a share of the revenue generated by those ads. For example: Google AdSense or the Yahoo Publisher Network.

contextual advertising: Advertising that is targeted to a Web page based on the page’s content, keywords, or category. Ads in most content networks are targeted contextually.

cost per action (CPA): A form of advertising where payment is dependent upon an action that a user performs as a result of the ad. The action could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or asking for a follow-up call. An advertiser pays a set fee to the publisher based on the number of visitors who take action. Many affiliate programs use the CPA model.

cost per click (CPC): Also called Pay per Click (PPC). A performance-based advertising model where the advertiser pays a set fee for every click on an ad. The majority of text ads sold by search engines are billed under the CPC model.

cost per thousand (CPM): An ad model that charges advertisers every time an ad is displayed to a user, whether the user clicks on the ad or not. The fee is based on every 1,000 ad impressions (M is the Roman numeral for 1,000). Most display ads, such as banner ads, are sold by CPM.

geo-targeting: Delivery of ads specific to the geographic location of the searcher. Geo-targeting allows the advertiser to specify where ads will or won’t be shown based on the searcher’s location, enabling more localized and personalized results.

inbound link: An inbound link is an hyperlink to a particular Web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that Web page. Inbound links are an important element that most search engine algorithms use to measure the popularity of a Web page.

keyword: A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. Many Web sites offer advertising targeted by keywords, so an ad will only show when a specific keyword is entered.

link bait: Editorial content, often sensational in nature, posted on a Web page and submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites.

link building: The process of getting quality Web sites to link to your Web site, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can include buying links, reciprocal linking, or entering barter arrangements.

meta tags: Information placed in the HTML header of a Web page, providing information that is not visible to browsers, but can be used in varying degrees by search engines to index a page. Common meta tags used in search engine marketing are title, description, and keyword tags.

pay per click (PPC): See Cost per Click (CPC).

quality score: A score assigned by search engines that is calculated by measuring an ad’s clickthrough rate, analyzing the relevance of the landing page, and considering other factors used to determine the quality of a site and reward those of higher quality with top placement and lower bid requirements. Some factors that make up a quality score are historical keyword performance, the quality of an ad’s landing page, and other undisclosed attributes. All of the major search engines now use some form of quality score in their search ad algorithm.

return on investment (ROI): The amount of money an advertiser earns from their ads compared to the amount of money the advertiser spends on their ads.

search advertising: Also called Paid Search. An advertiser bids for the chance to have their ad display when a user searches for a given keyword. These are usually text ads, which are displayed above or to the right of the algorithmic (organic) search results. Most search ads are sold by the PPC model, where the advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad or text link.

search engine marketing (SEM): The process of building and marketing a site with the goal of improving its position in search engine results. SEM includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and search advertising, or paid search.

search engine optimization (SEO): The process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. SEO includes technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused tasks to make a site more appealing to users. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.

search engine results pages (SERPs): The page searchers see after they’ve entered their query into the search box. This page lists several Web pages related to the searcher’s query, sorted by relevance. Increasingly, search engines are returning blended search results, which include images, videos, and results from specialty databases on their SERPs.

social media: A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.

spider: A search engine spider is a program that crawls the Web, visiting Web pages to collect information to add to or update a search engine’s index. The major search engines on the Web all have such a program, which is also known as a “crawler” or a “bot.”

title tag: An HTML meta tag with text describing a specific Web page. The title tag should contain strategic keywords for the page, since many search engines pay special attention to the title text when indexing pages. The title tag should also make sense to humans, since it is usually the text link to the page displayed in search engine results.

universal search: Also known as blended, or federated search results, universal search pulls data from multiple databases to display on the same page. Results can include images, videos, and results from specialty databases like maps and local information, product information, or news stories.

Web 2.0: A term that refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies.

How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing Programs

Courtesy of: Skip McGrath

Affiliate marketing is a great way for eBay sellers and web site owners to make extra money –or even a lot of money if you learn how to do it right. However all affiliate marketing programs are not created equal.

Here are my tips for selecting and using affiliate programs. After this are links to some of the best affiliate programs I have found:

1. Don't confuse affiliate programs with multi-level marketing programs. There are a couple of good affiliate programs that require you to spend money to join, but most do not. If you have to purchase product or recruit others to spend money to join the program, then this is not an affiliate program --it is a multi-level marketing program masquerading as one.
2. Pick an affiliate program that has something to do with your business. For example, if you sell ladies clothing on eBay you would not want to recommend products that would be of interest to women.
3. The best programs have two tiers. The first tier is where you get paid for sales that you refer people to. The second tier is where you get paid (a smaller amount) if someone signs up as an affiliate under you and they refer a sale. For example, in my program if you sell one of my books you earn 40%. If someone signs up as an affiliate under you and they refer the sale of one of my book, then you earn 10% of that sale.
4. Be wary of affiliate programs that have more than two tiers. There are a couple of good affiliate programs that have three tiers but they are rare. Whenever I see a program with three or more tiers I am very hesitant to join. Why? If they are paying out more than 50% commissions that means what the customer is getting can't be that good. As I said, there are exceptions to this but they are rare.
5. Look for affiliate programs that have lots of marketing tools such as pre-written emails, free articles, e-books you can give away and several banner designs. The more tools an affiliate program has, the more likely you will find one that will work in your market.
6. Always buy one of the products and evaluate it yourself before recommending it to others. Some affiliate programs out there are pretty crappy, while others are no more than information scams. When you recommend a product or a program, your reputation is on the line. You don't want people coming back to you complaining about something you recommend.
7. Always double check your affiliate links. I see broken affiliate links all the time. When this happens the customer is usually directed to the web site but you don't get your commission and the affiliate program owner usually has no way to determine who should get credit for the sale.

You can sign up with great Affiliate Networks at Affiliate MoneyMonster.com

What You Need To Be An Affiliate Marketer ?

You are going to be amazed to find out how realistic and, in fact, how conservative the above scenario is. To be an affiliate marketer, you only need three things:

* A computer
* Internet Access
* A website
* Apply To Affiliate Networks



Computer –

If you do not already have one, go buy one. Do not use the one at your local library. You will waste too much time traveling back and forth. And you will soon realize what an incredibly valuable commodity your time is.

Don’t go overboard. You can purchase a brand new inexpensive desktop for less than $400 or a brand new inexpensive laptop for less than $600. I strongly recommend a laptop because then you will truly be able to work from anywhere.

Internet Access-

Do not waste your time with a dialup connection. Subscribe to a high-speed cable service. If you have a laptop, purchase a Sprint or Verizon high-speed wireless card and subscribe to their service. The cost is about the same as high-speed internet service for your home, expect this provides you with a high-speed Internet access anywhere, anytime.

Website-

Building a website is easier than you might think. If you have web-building experience, great; if not, do not worry. There are plenty of tools and software out there that will do most of the hard work for you. In fact, you can often use pre-built templates for your sites. Do not be intimidated by this task. Since you have chosen to become an affiliate marketer, learning to build a website is your JOB!!! Soon you will be able to build entire sites in an afternoon.

Affiliate Networks-

You need to have a variety of affiliate networks to apply to, and be a member of. The key is to find your niche, and your favorite networks. Here is a website that will help you locate the BEST affiliate networks. http://affiliatemoneymonster.com

Easiest Way Money

Dear Friend,
If you’re the kind of person who loves to discover easy, simple and super-fast shortcuts to earning massive wealth…then this will be the most profitable and exciting letter you’ve ever read...
Because you’re just a tiny step away from being one of the precious few allowed to learn the secrets of the laziest, highest-producing and simplest money-making system on the planet.
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We're going to use OTHER people's websites and products to make YOU rich, and this is...
The Easiest Way Money You'll Ever Make.
It's a method called "Affiliate Marketing" and I've been using it to amass my wealth online for YEARS.
Now you're probably asking yourself this question:
"What is affiliate marketing, and why is it the simplest, fastest and laziest internet business in the world?"
Fair enough. Here's the core definition:
Affiliate marketing is the promotion of other people's products by a third-party (you, the affiliate), in exchange for commission-based compensation.