Affiliate Merchants

[.co.uk]

Seen this on their sign uo info:

Keyword Policy


"Sky would like to inform its affiliates that they are restricted from bidding on brand terms on all search engines. This includes any terms with the word “sky” in it. However, we still actively encourage affiliates to bid on generic keyword terms. It is important to note that affiliates must not use the display URL of www.sky.com."

 

[Ellis]

I wouln't even try to sign up using premplus.co.uk - they'll surely come take it off you.

Sign up using a different URL - maybe a general shopping site name.

Then, when they confirm your link, divert all visitors to premplus.co.uk to the genuine link sky or their affiliate ppl give you.

I've got o2mobiles.com - o2 won't let me officially join their scheme, because having o2 or 02 in the domain is forbidden. However if you look at o2mobiles.co.uk or 02mobiles.co.uk, one of these is diverting straight to o2's affiliate site.

So it is possible, just be canny and don't mention premplus.co.uk

 

[Kieron]

I think his post was a wind up, it's gotta be!

Why would it be a windup? I'm well known in the Affiliate community and have no reason not to tell the truth.

As for a percentage it differs widely. Some keywords deliver very small margins like 1% to 3%. Some deliver up to 500% return. Problem is this is such a fast moving industry that I can make a 500% return one week on certain keywords then the next week loads of competitors pile in and drive the price up and I end up making 5%.

On the plus side there are always new markets and new opportunities around the corner and the beauty of the web is you can have a new ppc campaign up and running in 5 minutes and make money instantly.

And for the guy who got told Dell were paying £90 ppc...consider your leg pulled! They're not paying anywhere near that.

 

[Nigel]

Interesting blog you have there Kieron - So what's the verdict on pay-per-call? is it earning you considerably more than pay-per-click? is it worth us considering? Any info greatly appreciated. Many Thanks.

 

[charlie]

Kieron
nice to here back from you, i will read your blog with interest hopefully there are some hints and tips for us less experienced affilators!

 

[ratboy]

Seems i have a long leg, and he had a long nose!

 

[Ellis]

Hi Kieron

It's very easy to assume it was a windup if anyone comes onto a forum and says "oh yeah, I spend over £2million a year on PPC" and then dissappears for week without backing it up with any further comment or figures.

That really is some spend... In fact, it's over 1% of the UK's total annual online ad spend and when you take into account this is just ppc spending!! This has got to put you somewhere near the very top of the big spenders, certainly well into the top 100.

What sort of kick backs are you getting? I'd be wanting at least 25% on that turnover.

 

[.co.uk]

I wouln't even try to sign up using premplus.co.uk - they'll surely come take it off you.

Sign up using a different URL - maybe a general shopping site name.

Then, when they confirm your link, divert all visitors to premplus.co.uk to the genuine link sky or their affiliate ppl give you.

I've got o2mobiles.com - o2 won't let me officially join their scheme, because having o2 or 02 in the domain is forbidden. However if you look at o2mobiles.co.uk or 02mobiles.co.uk, one of these is diverting straight to o2's affiliate site.

So it is possible, just be canny and don't mention premplus.co.uk

Very nice idea atlanta!
Why didn't I think of that?

 

[Kieron]

Interesting blog you have there Kieron - So what's the verdict on pay-per-call? is it earning you considerably more than pay-per-click? is it worth us considering? Any info greatly appreciated. Many Thanks.

Sorry, haven't been around for a while to reply.

Unfortunately I haven't got pay-per-call implemented in any sites yet. Miva have a backlog but am told I'll get it live in a week or so.

 

[paul]

Originally Posted by atlanta1
I wouln't even try to sign up using premplus.co.uk - they'll surely come take it off you.

Sign up using a different URL - maybe a general shopping site name.

Then, when they confirm your link, divert all visitors to premplus.co.uk to the genuine link sky or their affiliate ppl give you.

Not 100% sure what you are being advised to do here, sounds like sign up using a different domain then once accepted just use premplus.co.uk. If I have read that correctly then I wouldn't advise that method, as one look at their referrer logs and you will lose all your earned commission and also the domain probably.

What I would do is this:

Create a new one page site, say - satellitetvsignups.co.uk then apply to sky using this site.
Once accepted create a 302 redirect for a page on that site say satellitetvsignups.co.uk/sky.php

Redirect 302 /sky.php http://www.skyoraffiliatesite.com/affiliatecode=12345

Put this in your .htaccess file and then direct all traffic from premplus.co.uk to this page which will bounce them straight to sky and they won't know the traffic is coming from premplus.co.uk

You can also use this to hide affiliate links from google with a slight modification

If you have a site with lots of affiliate links on, then instead of sending them directly to the merchant site send them to another page on your site, then redirect them from there:

If yoursite.co.uk has 2 affiliate links say for example 1 goes to www.merchant-1.co.uk/affiliate=123 and the other goes to www.merchant-2.co.uk/affiliate=123

send them instead to www.yoursite.co.uk/hidethisdirectory/merchant-1.php & www.yoursite.co.uk/hidethisdirectory/merchant-2.php

then add the following to your .htaccess file

Redirect 302 /hidethisdirectory/merchant-1.php http://www.merchant-1.co.uk/affiliate=123
Redirect 302 /hidethisdirectory/merchant-2.php http://www.merchant-2.co.uk/affiliate=123

Then disallow google from the folder named hidethisdirectory in your robot text file

Paul




Local Shops Adult DVDs HPI Check Domains

 

[aquanuke]

"Originally Posted by atlanta1
I think his post was a wind up, it's gotta be!"


You wouldnt say that if you saw the monster car Kieron drives :razz:

I actually remember when Kieron first started in affiliate marketing (yep im really that old) Personally I cant make money from PPC but the guys that do, do it very well !

"Does anyone run a successfull affiliate site?"

I know alot who do, I used to myself.. I did very well from it and invested my money in bits and pieces.. property blah blah and now I retired myself. Instead I mess around specualting a fiver here and there on domain names.

Affiliate marketing changes alot, you have to keep up with things, the times, trends, fashion etc etc is a full time job and I dont mean 8 hours a day more like 23 hours a day.. I got pretty close to the top and the ladder and then thought nahh I dont need to work this hard. So I dont ;-)

 

[Kieron]

Good to hear from you Aqua. I thought you must have put your Affiliate stuff on the backburner as haven't seen you on the A4U forums for a while.

Yes it was only 3 or so years ago when I first dipped my toe into AM and used to get really worried if I went over my $10 a day ppc spend. Those were the days!

It was guys like you who were making big money from AM that inspired me to work harder and try different niches etc. Hope the domain business is treating you well.

 

[Ellis]

"Originally Posted by atlanta1
I think his post was a wind up, it's gotta be!"


You wouldnt say that if you saw the monster car Kieron drives

NO, I wouldn't :razz:

Common sense says that if I've got a £2mill annual ad spend, the kick backs alone would pay for at least 2 x £100,000+ motors..... and some!

What I don't understand Kieron is, if you're really spending that much, which I'm sure you're not...(even eBay don't spend that much)... wouldn't it have made sense to buy into some quality generic domain names with type in traffic rather than spend circa £2million pa on getting people to come to some nondiscript .nets. Or a least mix the two, then not only do you have free traffic, you also have a sound future investment.

 

[Kieron]

Common sense says that if I've got a £2mill annual ad spend, the kick backs alone would pay for at least 2 x £100,000+ motors..... and some!

What I don't understand Kieron is, if you're really spending that much, which I'm sure you're not...(even eBay don't spend that much)... wouldn't it have made sense to buy into some quality generic domain names with type in traffic rather than spend circa £2million pa on getting people to come to some nondiscript .nets. Or a least mix the two, then not only do you have free traffic, you also have a sound future investment.

First of all I get no kickbacks whatsoever. The only way to get a kickback from Google and Overture is to go through an ad agency. However Google have now scrapped discounts for agencies. I could set myself up as an agency but I just can't be bothered.

And why wouldn't I spend that much? I *do* spend that much, why is that hard to believe? Are you saying I'm lying? Furthermore, I know of 2 other affiliates who spend that amount.

And as for quality domains with type in traffic I am always on the lookout but they are few and far between. And I do own some myself, I have about 100 domains lying around waiting to be developed. And they aren't all "non discript .net's". In fact I only have a couple of .nets so don't know where you got that from.

 

[ratboy]

What motors you running Kieron?

Bet my J-reg Civic is faster.

 

[aquanuke]

I know its hard to believe the figures for anyone who was not a big time player in AM. A few years ago it seemed to me anyone involved in AM anywhere near the level I was at had won the lottery.

Kieron is one of the bigest players in UK AM I know pretty much everyone in that field and hes up there.

What Kieron does is very different from what I did, my stuff was pure SEO. Where as Kieron is working on margins and percentages. I dunno how much profit he makes but if he only made 20% profit then thats only 400k on a £2m spend.

Back to the original question..



"Does anyone run a successfull affiliate site?

Or are these things too much hassle for little or no reward?"

Yes, have a search over at http://www.a4uforum.co.uk you might even recognize a few names

http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14080&highlight=earn

 

[aquanuke]

What motors you running Kieron?

Bet my J-reg Civic is faster.

You seen Hostage. I want a security system like Kevin Pollak has, where as Kieron has the car.

Ive got a guy in the states working on a 450BHP supercharger for my baby, give you a race when I get it

 

[ratboy]

Bet you've got a small........... only joking.

Thats a rocket up my bum seeing that.

 

[aquanuke]

Not anymore.. first thing I had fixed

You know they wouldnt send all those millions of spam emails if no one bought the stuff.

Just have to be careful I dont get arrested when I go out in public

 

[Kieron]

What motors you running Kieron?

Bet my J-reg Civic is faster.

Here you go, 2005 Cadillac Escalade, 6 Litre V8 engine, 345 bhp, 7 seats, 20" rims.

If you are interested in what other affiliates are driving take a look at:

http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33662&highlight=drive