Affiliate Rant!

Persistence pays.

Beginning July 1, 2006 eBay will raise affiliate commissions on the low end.  I can’t tell if the move is revenue neutral - only eBay knows, but what is apparent is that they are very interesting in driving interest in their affiliate program with people new to the program.  New affiliates driving $100 - $999.99 in fee revenue winning bids can earn 50% of the fees.  This is up from 40% prior to the new rate schedule becoming effective.

The sky is falling! You could see this coming a mile away… All you Adsense jokers better get busy replacing that revenue.

In a stunning announcement today, Google reported that it is shutting down its Adsense advertising program - effective immediately.

Already have my copy and this is a real page turner!

The Affiliate Code (available 4.1.06 at all major bookstores) tells the story of a California technology company that will do anything to bring in the big publishers and advertisers to their network.

I previous penned my opinion on Google silently reducing the Adsense qualifying affiliate referral time-period from infinity to 90 days here.  It seems they have, again silently, changed the referral time-period - this time from 90 days to 180 days.  Good move.

Rosalind Gardner has a great blog entry about a note she received from an industry insider regarding an affiliate manager sending out a mailing with a hidden link in his HTML. The HTML was for use by his affiliates and included the following link:

Choice is a great thing: Google, Yahoo, MSN (soon) and now Amazon? Ah, Chitika… I can’t forget Chitika. Amazon is talking to affiliates about joining its contextual ad beta. The problem seems to be that people are not willing to forego their Adsense revenue to give the Amazon program a try. Golden handcuffs and all that. Perhaps you would like to give the program a try?