What’s the best way to get in touch regarding a possible new ‘system’ we have that would compliment your existing skimlinks system?

I have a ticket in your skimlinks system currently…

Its Really Nice Idea, But would you tell me how did you acheive this ?

are you fetching data from affiliate netwroks ? or you have a special agreement from affiliate networks ?

What is the logic behined this product, how you actually creating normal link to affiliate link, also is cookie still be managed by affiliate network ?

Looking forward to hear from you

Thanks
Saqib

Kind regards,
Alicia Navarro
CEO – Skimlinks

I think I get it; very cool:
(a) publishers write reviews and other blog posts.. (b) and Skimbit creates automated? links that point back to the publishers article?

Nice.

I’ll check here and your site though to see what criteria you use to policy the creation of automated links? Thanks

You list ShinyShiny as a client, where is it disclosed on its website? If you were to point us to a skimlink so we can see how it is disclosed actually on the page, and when the link it clicked, that would be helpful thanks. I don’t have any problem with affiliate marketing, as long as it is clearly disclosed.

‘They also can result in commissions being effectively stolen form editors, writers and reviewers that will have sent spent much time reviewing and recommending a product only to have their commission taken due the “last click wins” model that most affiliate networks employ.’

You’re argument is idealistic, there’s no such thing in business and the market decides who the commission belongs to. Why should a review have a monetary value when the public creates this sort of content for free and shares it online?

I do see real problems with the OFT since the trader is paying, the editorial is written to earn the commision, how else does the business earn from that content, unless I have misunderstood.

It’s great to see a UK start-up getting funding in this climate – I hope there’s more to come in the next quarter!

As she has also mentioned Google also have there own affiliate network (http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/ )

You can even read more about Google’s stance on affiliate marketing here (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=76465 ), what they essentially say is that Google “believes that pure affiliate websites do not provide additional value for web users”. These are exactly the kind of sites that we at Skimlinks do not work with. Providing additional value and a good user experience is a keystone in our policies.

Google also goes on to say “If you participate in an affiliate program, there are a number of steps you can take to help your site stand out and to help improve your rankings.” … “Use your website to build community among your users. This will help build a loyal readership, and can also create a source of information on the subject you are writing about. For example, discussion forums, user reviews, and blogs all offer unique content and provide value to users.” This is an exact description of the kind of sites we do work with, sites that provide a great deal of added value to the user and help the user when they are looking for honest recommendations on decisions they are making.

“I expect any decent journalist to direct me to a link that enables me to collect the commission. I don’t agree it’s a business model for editorial given 100% cashback websites”. The cashback sites that you mention here are actually generally frowned upon and are indeed banned by many advertisers and affiliate merchants. They often offer little to no extra value to then end user and don’t generally add anything to the overall value chain from the advertiser to the customer. They also can result in commissions being effectively stolen form editors, writers and reviewers that will have sent spent much time reviewing and recommending a product only to have their commission taken due the “last click wins” model that most affiliate networks employ.

Ultimately our publishers have complete control over their own content, and can write whatever they like. Our Merchants do not solicit posts form any of publishers and there is no “paid links” being automatically created, only the links that our publishers choose to create.

I hope this has help eased some of your worries Rasy, we pride our selves on honesty and our ethical behaviour. If you do have any more concerns please feel free to get in contact with me personally ( Ciaran AT skimlinks DOT com) or reply here.

Thanks again for your input,
CIaran Rooney
CTO – Skimlinks

However, I do wonder how neutrality will be maintained once an editor knows they will be remunerated for writing about certain retailers. The temptation, especially in this climate, to focus on favorable reviews of participating retailers will be significant.

As she has also mentioned Google also have there own affiliate network ( http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/ )

You can even read more about Google’s stance on affiliate marketing here ( http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=76465 ), what they essentially say is that Google “believes that pure affiliate websites do not provide additional value for web users”. These are exactly the kind of sites that we at Skimlinks do not work with. Providing additional value and a good user experience is a keystone in our policies.

Google also goes on to say “If you participate in an affiliate program, there are a number of steps you can take to help your site stand out and to help improve your rankings.” … “Use your website to build community among your users. This will help build a loyal readership, and can also create a source of information on the subject you are writing about. For example, discussion forums, user reviews, and blogs all offer unique content and provide value to users.” This is an exact description of the kind of sites we do work with, sites that provide a great deal of added value to the user and help the user when they are looking for honest recommendations on decisions they are making.

“I expect any decent journalist to direct me to a link that enables me to collect the commission. I don’t agree it’s a business model for editorial given 100% cashback websites”. The cashback sites that you mention here are actually generally frowned upon and are indeed banned by many advertisers and affiliate merchants. They often offer little to no extra value to then end user and don’t generally add anything to the overall value chain from the advertiser to the customer. They also can result in commissions being effectively stolen form editors, writers and reviewers that will have sent spent much time reviewing and recommending a product only to have their commission taken due the “last click wins” model that most affiliate networks employ.

Ultimately our publishers have complete control over their own content, and can write whatever they like. Our Merchants do not solicit posts form any of publishers and there is no “paid links” being automatically created, only the links that our publishers choose to create.

I hope this has help eased some of your worries Rasy, we pride our selves on honesty and our ethical behaviour. If you do have any more concerns please feel free to get in contact with me personally ( Ciaran AT skimlinks DOT com) or reply here.

Thanks again for your input,
CIaran Rooney
CTO – Skimlinks

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/19/insidious-new-seo-ad-product-will-be-hard-for-google-to-detect/