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We just launched our affiliate program, but affiliates don’t usually visit our site. After launching the affiliate program, where would you announce the program?

You’ll want to promote your affiliate program where affiliates are looking, so I’m glad to hear you acknowledge that they are not coming to you.

Affiliates look for affiliate programs to promote in a variety of places, including affiliate forums, blogs, and affiliate program directories.

The affiliates are also looking in the search engines, so bid on relevant terms through paid search and work on getting your affiliate program indexed in the natural search listings.

One effective method for getting your affiliate program indexed in the search engines is to create an affiliate resource site. This site will generally be rich in the keywords that matter for your affiliate program.

Also, be sure to have a presence at the affiliate marketing events. Nothing beats face to face interaction for creating new relationships.

I was just reading on the CPAEmpire.com Blog that big changes are in store, and affiliates are getting worked up over a big anticipated drop in numbers for Q4.

Don’t fret - the big action at CPA Empire has nothing to do with their campaigns. It’s a weighty contest called the Breakaway Fitness Challenge.

Two contestants, Jenny Frederick (Manager of Special Projects) and Scott Richter (CEO) are engaged in a battle royal from now through December 25, 2006 to lose 30 pounds.

If Jenny wins, Scott will pay her $1,000. But if Scott wins, Jenny will have to cut her long, glamorous hair down to a maximum length of 2 inches.

As you might expect, affiliates can get in on the action. Affiliates will have the opportunity to guess the combined weight that Jenny and Scott will lose during the contest for a chance to win $1,000.

More details at http://www.breakawayfitnesschallenge.com/

I’ve got a affiliate program that has a lead and sale component. Essentially, we payout an x amount for the lead and an additional y amount for the sale. Obviously, the important part is the sale. The lead is there to attract and help the affiliate as he optimizes his program. But then, there are some affiliates who are getting leads and zero sales. These guys might be hacks or they just might not be good. So my question is: a) can you terminate these affiliates from your program? b) on what grounds? and c) is it ethical?

I think the answer here is simple and complex at the same time. Simple because if you’ve got a partnership with somebody that’s not working out, then you should end it.

But it’s complex as well, because there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with affiliate numbers that are not panning out for you.

I would suggest touching base with the affiliates who aren’t producing sales to see if you can work together to improve the numbers.

In the end, it’s all about relationships, and sometimes a small degree of outreach and education can result in great strides for your affiliate program.

If you determine that some affiliates simply are not working out, there is one ultimate authority that determines whether you can terminate the affiliate and on what grounds. And that’s your affiliate agreement.

The affiliate agreed to those terms when joining your affiliate program, so you are simply bound to act according to the agreement. It’s not a matter of ethics, as you both entered the agreement.

I can’t speak to the language in your affiliate agreement - you should speak with your lawyer about the ground rules for terminating affiliates.

In general, the affiliate agreements I’ve seen enable you to terminate affiliates without a specific reason, and affiliates can drop your program just the same.

ValueClick, Inc.’s (Nasdaq:VCLK) Commission Junction has announced the 2006 Horizon Award recipients at Commission Junction University (CJU) 2006, its eighth annual client conference.

Commission Junction’s 2006 award recipients were recognized for excellence in four categories: People, Greatness, Innovation and Global Vision.

The winners by category were as follows:

Horizon Award – People: The award for People is presented to an advertiser and publisher who have shown an enthusiastic commitment to pay-for-performance marketing. They are market leaders and are dedicated to building a strong community among online marketers.

Advertiser: Wynn Las Vegas
Publisher: Vesdia/Schoolpop

Horizon Award – Greatness: The award for Greatness is presented to an advertiser and publisher who have proven to have exceptional performance increases over the previous year and who inspire greatness in others.

Advertiser: Snapfish by HP (managed by Ronald Bell Consulting!)
Publisher: CreditCards.com

Horizon Award – Innovation: The award for innovation is presented to clients in appreciation for their support to Commission Junction and to ongoing pay-for-performance educational outreach. This award represents the company’s or individual’s commitment to people in the industry.

Advertiser: Yahoo!
Publisher: David Lewis

Horizon Award – Global Vision: The award for global vision is presented to one client, either advertiser or publisher, whose action, strategy and initiatives best reflect a commitment to realizing the global potential of affiliate marketing.

Publisher: Clicks2Customers

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has launched the final phase of Project Rover, their new affiliate linking infrastructure.

eBay is asking that their affiliates migrate all of their affiliate links from Commission Junction before November 15th, 2006. During the migration, both the Commission Junction tracking and the new Rover systems will run in parallel.

All Rover URLs will use the same server name, rover.ebay.com, regardless of the target destination domain or eBay site. The general form for Rover links is as follows:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/PlacementID/1?SID=KEYWORD&AID=XXXXXX&PID=XXXXXX&loc=TARGET ENCODED URL

The PlacementID and AID pair is a country and tool specific value that associates the click with the correct eBay Affiliate Campaign.

Other variables in the URL:

• PID: Publisher Site ID available in the Commission Junction Interface.

• SID: Shopper ID (SID) is an affiliate defined variable used to monitor the specific link that produced each transaction. The SID can be up to 64 characters and is URL-encoded ( for a space, . for a comma, etc).
• loc: Target URL or landing page where user will be directed and must be URL-encoded (ex: http://www.ebay.com/).

The eBay Flexible Destination Tool and Keyword Linking Tool now output updated Rover links.

Additionally, no action is needed if affiliates are using the eBay Editor Kit, Product Kit, RSS Feed Generator or API - links will be automatically updated.

Visit the eBay affiliate discussion board for more details on working with Project Rover and Commission Junction.

Affiliate Summit has announced the formation of an advisory board as part of the company’s strategy to expand and further develop the conference series.

The think tank will serve as an ongoing sounding board for Affiliate Summit’s planned growth and will collect candid feedback, and offer their expertise and advice on matters such as content deliverables, featured speakers, etc.

Members appointed to serve on the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board so far include:

• Mike Allen, Shopping-Bargains.com, LLC

• Ryan Burt, Marchex
• Todd Crawford, Digital River, Inc.
• Angel Djambazov, Onlineshoes.com
• Marty Fahncke, Conference Call University
• John Grosshandler, eComXpo
• Kristin Hall, Performics
• Charles Kilmer, PPC Marketing
• Chris Kramer, NETexponent
• Vinny Lingham, incuBeta
• Brian Littleton, ShareASale
• Mike Mackin, Web Traffic Management
• Tricia Meyer, Sunshine Rewards
• Jonathan Miller, Forge Corporation Limited
• Michael Nunez, Suluta Corp
• Heather Paulson, PartnerCentric
• Lisa Picarille, Revenue Magazine
• Elena Potoupa, Wow-Coupons.com
• Lisa Riolo, formerly with Commission Junction
• Brook Schaaf, Schaaf Consulting
• Stephanie Schwab, Converseon
• Joshua Sloan, 1&1 Internet, Inc.
• Terrence Thomas, eLearners.com
• Michael Vorel, VastPlanet Corporation

The next Affiliate Summit is taking place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas.

Early bird registrations for this conference are good through September 30. Prices go up October 1 for full conference registrations (from $949 to $1,449) and and booths ($3,995 to $4,995).

Register at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/

The agenda for Affiliate Summit 2007 West is up on the site.

The sessions are laid out, and more speakers are being added each day as speakers are confirmed.

This time around, we’ve increased to four breakout sessions, so there will be 24 breakouts, plus roundtable sessions, and a number of networking events.

Michael Sanchez, CEO and Co-founder of ClubMom, will be the Keynote Speaker for Affiliate Summit 2007 West.

There are some new things going on this time around, including the Affiliate Jam Session and Sing-a-Long and the Affiliate Summit Awards.

See the agenda at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/07w_agenda.php