Frequent Flirters

Is TRUE Paying Affiliates?

FF -- Nov 29 -- Word on the street is that TRUE is leaving affiliates awash and not paying out.  Here's the word from TRUE... 

" We have been migrating to Link Connector for some time now in response to the amount of fraud that comes in from Commission Junction. We are eliminating Commission Junction and will be building an in-house affiliate solution in the future. We do continue to use many affiliate networks through our major partners."

TRUE has been unhappy with CJ for sending them craptastic fraudulent traffic. They've settled their differences and gone their separate ways. I guess that means if you're a CJ affiliate marketing TRUE, you're high and dry. Change out those links. I tried reaching CJ for comment but got the usual zilch response. I've been monitoring dollars-per-unique earned from the affiliate links on Online Personals Watch for a while now and TRUE has been one of the best paying dating programs. I used CJ for a while and switched out to their offer through Primary Ads because the payout was better. My recommendation, if you want to run TRUE offers, use Link Connector. They hold Link Connector in good favor. Looks like they're still running on Primary Ads as well.

Payout comparison: Back in May 2007 CJ was paying out a bounty of $30 per paid membership plus $2 per lead (free sign-up) with a 21 day cookie. They were also running on Azoogleads for $2.30 per lead in May. Right now Primary Ads is running TRUE offers and paying out $3.50 a lead, and Link Connector is paying out $2 per lead. 

[12/4 - I just got this heads up from LinkConnector. "TRUE no longer has an active campaign with LinkConnector.  It is our understanding that they have ended their campaigns with other networks as well."]

WAYN.com Offers Users Affiliate Income

PRECISION MARKETING.CO.UK -- Nov 23 -- Affiliate marketing network Buy.at has joined forces with social network WAYN.com to allow users to make money through their profiles. WAYN.com users will be able to display products they want to recommend to friends in their profiles. When purchases are made users will receive commission from WAYN.com. FULL ARTICLE @ PRECISION MARKETING

Mark Brooks: Yub.com, which is owned by Buy.com, tried the same thing but never took off. Their Alexa rank is a lowly 300k. WAYN has a loyal following and an Alexa rank of 800. Perhaps they can make the bribe-your-userbase-to-refer-products model work. They're strong in the UK, are based in Poland, and are funded by the founder of FriendsReunited. 

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Spark Networks Consolidates CJ Affiliate Programs

ONLINE DATING INSIDER -- Nov 15 -- Spark Networks Limited has rolled all of its CJ accounts into one. Now you can promote AmericanSingles, BlackSingles, ChristianMingle, Date.ca and JDate all from the same program. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE DATING INSIDER

Viral Videos Ads: Marketing Panacea?

ONLINE VIDEO INSIDER -- Nov 12 -- In a recent study of MediaPost readers, when asked to rate viral ads on a continuum from "fad" to "mainstream", half rated it as more of a fad than a widely usable marketing tactic. Viral ads need LEGS, an acronym that means Laugh out loud quality, Edgy content, must Grip your attention and most often have some Sexual content. Many viewers may find an ad entertaining, but not pass it along, or may not remember the associated brand name. In reality, viral ads offer only a handful of marketers the positive end results and rewards they seek. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE VIDEO INSIDER

Mark Brooks: I've seen affiliates post reviews on YouTube and drive traffic back to their main sites. I thought this review of Match by CupidsReview was well done... but it only has a few thousand views. 

See You At Blog World?

FF - Nov 4 -- No doubt the conference inclined among you will be at Ad Tech, but if you happen to find yourself at Blog World in Vegas next week, please come and say hi. ~2000 are expected to attend. I'll be exhibiting Social Networking Watch and Online Personals Watch. They're making a point about the typical clothing that bloggers wear by kicking the show off with a pajama party.

Apparently...

• Over 12 million American adults maintain a blog and 57 million read blogs
• 89% of companies surveyed think blogs will be more important in the next 5 years
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006
• 51% of blog readers shop online
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week

Think Partnership Reports Lower Rev/Profits

MARKETWIRE -- Nov 1 -- Think Partnership Inc., (Primary Ads, Kowabunga) reported Q3 revenues were $18.9 million, down 13% vs. year ago. Net Income was $30K down from $900K year ago. Kowabunga! the company's affiliate network added 17 new clients during the quarter. Think Partnership also released PrimaryAds UK. Commissions paid on PrimaryAds were up 34% from the previous quarter. FULL ARTICLE @ CNN MONEY

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.