Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:

NRS

Incredible opportunity to promote the best kayaking gear, rafting supplies and boating equipment with NRS. Affiliates with outdoor related sites and/or traffic should jump on this! As an exclusive AvantLink merchant, you know your NRS traffic will be safe and secure. This programs offers very competitive compensation with a 10% payout and get this, they will not reverse your commissions for returns. That should get your attention

Note NRS is offering an activation bonus: First 10 Affiliates to drive $1000 in sales will get a $100 cash bonus!

NRS manufactures an extensive array of rafts, catarafts and inflatable kayaks, plus a complete line of apparel and accessories for all types of boats and boaters. Their apparel spans the range from base layers like their sun protective HydroSilk to fully protective dry suits, wetsuits and all the gloves, footwear and life jackets needed for comfort and safety on the water. They also partner with other top-of-the-line companies such as Werner, AIRE, Kokatat, Carlisle, Cataract, Astral, Extrasport and Aquapac to bring your customers even more choice in gear.

Highlights of the NRS Affiliate program include:

• 10% commission on every sale
• Average order value $130
• 120-day cookie duration
• Best selling brands
• Dedicated program manager
• Monthly newsletters
• No commission reversals on returns
• Bonuses

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting NRS. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Keli Keach, keli/at/nrsweb.com.

Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:

KOA Coffee

Promote premium 100% Kona fresh coffee products that are grown, processed, roasted, labeled and shipped directly from the KOA Coffee plantation on the Kona Belt in Hawaii! We’re very excited to announce this exciting opportunity for Affiliates to market to nearly half (49%) of all American adults who drink coffee daily. KOA Coffee pays 20% on every referred sale, with a 90-day cookie.

KOA Coffee has also committed to a “no reverse on returns” policy for Affiliates…which means the only time that you would see a commission reversed is if the transaction was fraud. Folks, this program is supported by people who understand Affiliate marketing. You’re in good hands so get started, and add links asap.

Koa Coffee has won the coveted Gevalia Kona Coffee Cupping Competition, PCCA Coffee of the Year and was dubbed “Best Coffee In America” by Forbes Magazine… so you know you’re selling a quality product. We have maintained conversion rates of 11% – 18% on organic search traffic for over 10 years and we’ll work with you, providing coupon offers, keyword data and sales assistance to help you make the sale…

Highlights of the KOA Coffee Affiliate program include:

• 20% for all referred sales
• 90 day cookie
• Average order value $90-$100+
• Site wide conversion rate 11%-18%
• No commission reversals on returns

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting KOA Coffee. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Linda Caroll, linda/at/koacoffee.com.

Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:

SylvanSport

This is an exciting new addition to our Outdoor/Recreation category. Since 2004 SylvanSport has been enlivening the spirit of outdoor adventure through the creation of the Award winning GO, their action-adventure camping trailer that enables people to carry bikes, kayaks, surfboards, ATVs and just about anything for fun or utility! Also promote SylvanSport accessories developed exclusively for the GO, as well as a growing selection of camping gear.

Affiliates, this is a great opportunity for those of you in the outdoor gear niche to earn HUGE commissions on a single sale with the “GO”, and their other quality accessories.

SylvanSport’s background in the outdoor industry gives us the insight to create towable vehicles that are engineered like the finest pieces of gear. Our products are made in the USA to the highest standards and value. Our philosophy of smart, simple, reliable design is supported by our talented and dedicated staff that backs every GO that rolls out our doors.

Highlights of the SylvanSport Affiliate program include:

• 4% commission on the GO
• 6% commission on accessories
• $6195 price for the GO yields great commissions
• 120 day cookie duration
• Dedicated Program Management
• Dynamic Affiliate tools & scripts

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting SylvanSport. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Kyle Mundt, kyle/at/sylvansport.com.

Recently Scott took care of a minor issue (for some Affiliates, anyway) with the xhtml encoding in our tracking code by offering a “URLs Only (No Html)” integration option for links. Here is the response we received from Christian at CouponCraze.com, when Scott notified him of the new functionality:

Thanks for the heads up. As usual you guys are the network always pushing ahead on the big and small changes that makes lives for affiliates like myself so much easier and just allow us to focus on our job. Thanks again… keep up the great job over there!
Cheers,
Christian
CouponCraze.com

You’re welcome Christian. We’ve enjoyed a strong partnership with your company since the early days of AvantLink! Gary M

There are a lot of discussions these days centered around unscrupulous Affiliates using pay per click (PPC) search marketing to drive traffic via searches for merchant names, their domain names and/or any trademarks they might own. Common terms in the Affiliate industry to describe this practice include “Trademark Bidding” or “Trademark Poaching” to name just two. Some merchants offer a wide open PPC policy for Affiliates, which would open up bidding to any keyword including company or domain names. However, these merchants are few and far between. In fact it is safe to say that most merchants do not want this to take place.

It took a while for the practice of trademark bidding to catch on to the point where it became a serious issue for merchants running serious Affiliate programs. Some Affiliate paid search marketing “firms” even built their businesses on trademark bidding across the board with thousands of web retailers. That is until these retailers caught on and started regulating this activity. After all what web retailer wants Affiliates sitting on position one of a paid listing by way of a search on their company name? Especially when they are listed in position one organically already? The answer: Not very many at all.

Just like the story goes with “parasites” and their shady downloads/toolbars, many PPC Affiliates may not be trademark bidding now, but that does not mean they weren’t engaged in this before. This is not to say that this is no longer a problem. Trust me, it is a serious problem. There are still plenty of Affiliates who sign up for a merchant, start bidding on driving traffic for their name (which is likely a very cheap bid price, BTW), and run with it as long as they can. This is especially the case with merchants who do not post terms that prohibit this type of thing, because most major Affiliate networks in the US leave it up to merchants to regulate trademark bidding.

This is costing web retailers a lot of of time and money. Unless of course these retailers are running their programs in the AvantLink network. By default, we do not allow Affiliates to bid on merchant names, their domain names or their trademarks. From our perspective this is the only logical way to approach the issue considering the strong majority of retailers do not want Affiliates trademark bidding. It would be easy to leave it up to the merchant and turn our backs on the issue altogether, and it would surely mean more revenue for AvantLink. But that’s not how mutually respected and fair partnerships should be maintained.

We not only police programs and traffic for Affiliate trademark bidding at the network level, but when we do find these violations we are often times notifying the Affiliate and addressing the issue before the merchants even know it is happening. Word must be out or something, though. Because we hardly see it happening anymore, and this is while our sheer numbers of high-value Affiliates continues to climb!

Of course in the end it’s up to merchants whether or not they want to blow open their paid search policy for Affiliates. But the default policy in AvantLink prohibits trademark bidding, unless the merchant makes the exception and includes program terms that clearly state this is permitted. To handle it in reverse (requiring merchants to state a policy that prohibits trademark bidding) does not seem appropriate considering the full context of the issue.

We polled a few Affiliate industry folks on this topic, to see where they stand. Chuck Hamrick from AffiliateCrew.com (Chuck also handles the FetchDog.com program in AvantLink, in addition to high profile Affiliate Crew clients like Little Giant Ladder) had this to say in response to the following questions:

1. Q. Do any of the merchants you represent allow Affiliates to knowingly bid on merchant names, domain names and/or trademarks? A. Heavily branded merchants are completely restrictive and do not allow affiliates to use trademarks, domain or direct linking. When a merchant is spending a considerable amount on their own PPC they do not want affiliates cannibalizing the ads. Some merchants do allow trademark bidding or to bid below the trademark site with trademark in title/copy but not the display URL. We have one client who allows unrestricted bidding on their trademarks.
2. Q. What are the implications and time commitments of policing your programs from merchant name, domain name and trademark Affiliate PPC bidders? A. Most violations are pointed out by the merchant, PPC department or other affiliates. It is difficult to completely police trademarks without a 3rd party tool like Brand Verity. Networks that provide the affiliate ID in the redirect URL are huge time saves as it can take several hours to run down the affiliate.
3. Q. Do you feel it’s important for a network to regulate this activity by default with a no merchant name, domain name or trademark bid policy? A. It should be the decision of the merchant whether they allow bidding or not. But, the default should be no bidding. Networks should clearly identify a merchants trademark policy, time stamp any changes, notify affiliates and make the acceptance of the policy actionable.

Let us know how you feel about the issue. Affiliate managers, is it difficult to police for trademark bidding? Is it costing you time and money? How do others out there (Affiliates and merchants alike) feel about the default policy of not allowing merchant name, domain name or trademark bidding?

Gary M