Michael Wong

Atlas OnePoint is paying its affiliates... again

An update to my post on August, 25, 2004, "Atlas OnePoint (formerly Go Toast) hasn't paid affiliates in 6 months"...

After faxing them my W-9 tax form, I've been told they are going to cut me a commission check for the last 11 months of work I did for them. It looks like they have finally got their act together. Having said that, I have to say they were ready to cut me a check a couple of months ago, but I was busy with my wedding and honeymoon, so couldn't get around to faxing them my W-9.

ValueClick Buys Commission Junction

ValueClick on Friday said it agreed to buy privately held Commission Junction for about $58 million in cash. Under the deal, ValueClick will fold Commission Junction's business and customers, including its eBay part, into its own affiliate network, Be Free. [Full story: ValueClick buys marketer Commission Junction - CNET News]

ClickBank Upgrades Its Hoplink Tracking Code

ClickBank, an affiliate network with 150,000 merchants and affiliates, is replacing its familiar "hoplink" syntax in favor of a new ClickBank Tracking Code. Existing ClickBank hoplinks will stop working in December 2003. The new tracking system should block the loophole whereby customers could replace affiliate links with their own and hijack the commissions due to the affiliate who referred the customer. Customers now cannot receive discounts simply by signing up as an affiliate just prior to purchasing. ClickBank also plan to introduce more features, including detailed traffic and conversion stats. If you're a Clickbank affiliate or merchant, I suggest you update your links as soon as possible to take advantage of the new features. For full details of the new tracking links, visit the ClickBank Hoplink System Upgrade (link no longer active) web page.

How An Affiliate Manager Profits by Bucking The Trend

Shawn Collins, the author of the AffStat 2003 Report, is one affiliate manager I respect. His philosophy of keeping his three and a half year old ClubMom affiliate program to fewer than 1,000 affiliates is smart. This concept allows Shawn to better support his affiliates. He tries to offer top service and help teach affiliates how to succeed. The payoff is in affiliates’ loyalty to ClubMom’s program. Though Collins concentrates on a smaller group within the affiliate pool, he tries to have at least some personal contact with every ClubMom affiliate. Amazon.com on the other hand claim to have a whopping 900,000 affiliates. When was the last time you had any direct contact with the Amazon.com affiliate manager? So is Shawn's concept working? You bet! ClubMom currently has more than 3 million registered members and hopes to hit 10 million over the next year. If you're an affiliate manager, do yourself a favor and visits Shawn's ClubMom affiliate site to find out how he runs his program. You may also like to read my Affiliate Managers: Your Top Five Biggest Affiliate Program Mistakes article.

Ebook Review: Google Cash

I've just added a review of a Google Cash, by Chris Carpenter, to my Mike's Marketing Tools web site. The downloadable ebook is a self help guide on how to make money by promoting affiliate programs via pay per click search engines, such as Google AdWords and Overture. [Full story: Google Cash - Mike's Marketing Tools]

Affiliate Managers: Your Top Five Biggest Affiliate Program Mistakes

I've just added a new article in my Internet Marketing Tips section of my Mike's Marketing Tools web site. In the article I will show affiliate managers the mistakes they should avoid if they want to build a successful affiliate program. I felt compelled to write this article after seeing the same mistakes made by most of the hundreds of affiliate programs I have joined since I started promoting them in 1997. I have made a nice living from affiliate programs over the years, so I know a thing or two about them. I would dearly love to make more money with affiliate programs, but affiliate managers don't make it easy for us affiliates. So hopefully this article will do a bit for the cause. [Full story: Affiliate Managers: Your Top Five Biggest Affiliate Program Mistakes - Mike's Marketing Tools]

LinkShare Data Refutes Industry Belief that Affiliate Marketers Should Focus on 'Super-Affiliates'

LinkShare Corporation, a leading provider of technology and service solutions for managing performance-based marketing and business initiatives, today released performance metrics for clients managing affiliate marketing programs. LinkShare CEO Steve Messer refutes the industry belief that a marketer should focus all their efforts on only the top performers who drive the most sales. Internet Superstore Buy.com saw its LinkShare affiliate program sales grow 37% in the fourth quarter of 2002 over a year earlier by increasing the number of its affiliate sales partners by 16%. Buy.com targeted LinkShare's core producers, or smaller to mid-size affiliates who drive a few sales each month. This focus helped the company reduce average cost per order by 22% over the previous year. Buy.com proves that the smaller to medium players perform a significant role in contributing incremental sales while helping to minimize costs. [Press release: LinkShare Clients' Affiliate Marketing Programs Outperform Industry Averages - LinkShare]

Amazon Extends Affiliate Web Services to UK

E-tail giant Amazon.com has expanded its Web services program to the U.K., giving its affiliates the chance to sell Amazon.com merchandise directly from their sites. The program, which began in the U.S. in July, allows merchants to download a software development kit that lets sites display Amazon.co.uk items to its visitors. With the new program, which is free, Amazon hopes it can further expand its affiliate network of 900,000 affiliates. The affiliates program pays up to 15 percent for each sale they refer to Amazon. In addition to providing basic product information, the Web services will display product reviews and sales rankings. Previously, affiliates only provided a link to the Amazon page containing a product. One popular Amazon feature not included: one-click ordering. Instead, affiliate site visitors will need to use the Amazon shopping cart. [Full story: Amazon Extends Affiliate Web Services to UK - InternetNews]