This "power move to get every network to follow suite" is going to fail miserably for them at the cost of millions of dollars in lost lead generation every month this remains a policy. They are really overplaying this one here, they didn't even try and gradually progress into it, they just dumped all these half-assed policies in there (oh, and effectively IMMEDIATELY? what about those who've done leads since and they haven't paid out and those who won't check their email for a couple days and find that they just delivered hundreds of leads under a blog/review that doesn't adhere to new policy?) without bothering to consult with any other networks, affiliates or anyone. Terrible. I feel sorry mainly for those agent accounts that may or may not get fucked...
Clickbooth's Blog/Review Guidelines
- Thread starter allenb
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OK. It's time for the other networks owners and employees to chime in here. I'd like to know what Mike, Smax, and some of the rest of you think is going on. Yeah, I know this is a public forum and all but say what you can. Personally I think blogs and review style landers are so well established, and honestly better for all parties than a damn one page sales letter that I expect this will all blow over in a week max.
You're not going to get any other affiliate network on the record opposing the general spirit of the regulations Clickbooth just set out - It would be legal suicide for those companies to differ from those statements on the record.
@Johu If that's true - and even though I don't believe it is, you know better than me - there are a hell of a lot of big media companies (Gawker?) that couldn't or wouldn't meet those disclosures. Even Google wouldn't be able to enforce "100 percent compliance" -
"... ensure that your review site or blog site meets the standards ... no margin for less than 100 percent compliance. That is our standard ..."
I'm all in favor of a privacy policy and disclosure link in the footer, but this gets into free speech issues and anti competitive practices pretty quickly.
I'll STFU now.
"... ensure that your review site or blog site meets the standards ... no margin for less than 100 percent compliance. That is our standard ..."
I'm all in favor of a privacy policy and disclosure link in the footer, but this gets into free speech issues and anti competitive practices pretty quickly.
I'll STFU now.
Hey Guys,
I'm sure I will get flamed for jumping on this forum as I believe a lot of people have a wrong impression of me and our company because of a past misunderstanding. I do owe it to some friends on here though as I just got in from hanging out and taking Friday night off - but got some calls from some friends that wanted me to post about this letter we scheduled to send this afternoon. Btw its 5:30 am over here so if Im a little slow bear with me.
For those of you that dont know me - hi my name is John and I own IntegraClick, Inc. and Clickbooth.com. (hehe feel like Im at an AA meeting...then again knowing some of the guys on the board - maybe we should be).
I first want to reassure everyone that anyone that has a blog or review site and/or does search marketing through us will be paid out every cent they earn. Jon and a lot of guys in the industry have my cell phone and if we were even an hour late with a single payment id expect my phone to get blown up and authorize that info to be given if anyone has any concern at all on that.
Im pretty sure the only payment risk any affiliate takes with any of the larger, established affiliate networks is if the entire network crumbles either from cash flow or legal issues. As a network and on a public forum I can assure you we are extremely well diversified, and have significant cash reserves, as well as always very quick to protect our affiliates and other partners from liabilities, since I do not take money out of the business I feel our position in the industry is very strong compared to many of the cash strapped and niche-reliant networks.
Fact is, just like any other network we were already covered with our existing publisher terms, legally or payment-wise this does not give us any new protections and you have my assurance that just because an advertiser does not pay we will never hold payment and have paid out millions out of pocket even though our overall margins are very minimal.
So Im sure your asking why do such a "drastic measure"?
We realize it was a bold step, however after speaking to a number of very large affiliates in the industry that kept asking us for direction as to what they should do, what they could do, and how they can feel comfortable long term - we decided to learn as much as possible to better understand this type of traffic. This led us to spend a lot of time and money over the last 90 days speaking to all of the right people with regard to this so that we could come up with guidelines that would help ensure everyones success long term.
That is the purpose for this - we want to help guys understand what is good and what is bad - I know how it feels to be an affiliate (pre CAN SPAM - always having to guess how the best way to do things is) and I know just reading these boards a lot of guys are concerned, especially with the current market the way it is; so we wanted to ensure the success for the future of the marketing methods by establishing these rules so people could know what they would need to do in order to protect the consumer and avoid potential civil or possibly consumer fraud and criminal issues. I would be fearful if your network doesn't establish their own set of guidelines - because then they are in fact risking you. It would be like a network not providing you a suppression list with your email campaign.
These can definitely become a constantly evolving set of guidelines though - so if you guys have some feedback and ideas I know we would be more than open to it.. Maybe we should start a new thread just on that..I would love to hear some input. We simply want guys in the industry to be able to draw a line and have the backing so they can always be protected and know they are doing the right thing.
I will even offer our AM's will help guide blog and review guys on how to do things right even if you don't work with us - we will help you. We have been calling our search guys and all of our AMs should be available 24/7 if anyone needs any guidance regarding this matter at all.
Thanks for listening - John
I'm sure I will get flamed for jumping on this forum as I believe a lot of people have a wrong impression of me and our company because of a past misunderstanding. I do owe it to some friends on here though as I just got in from hanging out and taking Friday night off - but got some calls from some friends that wanted me to post about this letter we scheduled to send this afternoon. Btw its 5:30 am over here so if Im a little slow bear with me.
For those of you that dont know me - hi my name is John and I own IntegraClick, Inc. and Clickbooth.com. (hehe feel like Im at an AA meeting...then again knowing some of the guys on the board - maybe we should be).
I first want to reassure everyone that anyone that has a blog or review site and/or does search marketing through us will be paid out every cent they earn. Jon and a lot of guys in the industry have my cell phone and if we were even an hour late with a single payment id expect my phone to get blown up and authorize that info to be given if anyone has any concern at all on that.
Im pretty sure the only payment risk any affiliate takes with any of the larger, established affiliate networks is if the entire network crumbles either from cash flow or legal issues. As a network and on a public forum I can assure you we are extremely well diversified, and have significant cash reserves, as well as always very quick to protect our affiliates and other partners from liabilities, since I do not take money out of the business I feel our position in the industry is very strong compared to many of the cash strapped and niche-reliant networks.
Fact is, just like any other network we were already covered with our existing publisher terms, legally or payment-wise this does not give us any new protections and you have my assurance that just because an advertiser does not pay we will never hold payment and have paid out millions out of pocket even though our overall margins are very minimal.
So Im sure your asking why do such a "drastic measure"?
We realize it was a bold step, however after speaking to a number of very large affiliates in the industry that kept asking us for direction as to what they should do, what they could do, and how they can feel comfortable long term - we decided to learn as much as possible to better understand this type of traffic. This led us to spend a lot of time and money over the last 90 days speaking to all of the right people with regard to this so that we could come up with guidelines that would help ensure everyones success long term.
That is the purpose for this - we want to help guys understand what is good and what is bad - I know how it feels to be an affiliate (pre CAN SPAM - always having to guess how the best way to do things is) and I know just reading these boards a lot of guys are concerned, especially with the current market the way it is; so we wanted to ensure the success for the future of the marketing methods by establishing these rules so people could know what they would need to do in order to protect the consumer and avoid potential civil or possibly consumer fraud and criminal issues. I would be fearful if your network doesn't establish their own set of guidelines - because then they are in fact risking you. It would be like a network not providing you a suppression list with your email campaign.
These can definitely become a constantly evolving set of guidelines though - so if you guys have some feedback and ideas I know we would be more than open to it.. Maybe we should start a new thread just on that..I would love to hear some input. We simply want guys in the industry to be able to draw a line and have the backing so they can always be protected and know they are doing the right thing.
I will even offer our AM's will help guide blog and review guys on how to do things right even if you don't work with us - we will help you. We have been calling our search guys and all of our AMs should be available 24/7 if anyone needs any guidance regarding this matter at all.
Thanks for listening - John
Hey Guys,
Like John said above we're doing this in the best interest of our affiliates. All of our pub reps are available 24/7 and will be working very closely to help pubs navigate the guidelines and still make some killer money. If you have any questions at all hit me or your rep up.
Like John said above we're doing this in the best interest of our affiliates. All of our pub reps are available 24/7 and will be working very closely to help pubs navigate the guidelines and still make some killer money. If you have any questions at all hit me or your rep up.
You are doing it to protect your ass. This may help a few affiliates but let's be honest here.
You may want to look at your advertisers a bit more closely. Do you think Joe consumer is more upset that they read a bunk review or they got billed for $654 in 3 months?
This will play out one of two ways. ClickBooth will survive and become a leader due to prudent legal moves or they lose 75% of their revenue within a month.
Diversify your traffic now because networks are about to get sued as well as merchants and they are not going to be able to pay you. Anyone that was involved in pharm knows the drill....these were multimillion dollar companies as well and when they got into shit that was the end and nobody was payed.
We all know it is the advertisers that have brought the real heat. No one would be talking about fake blogs or reviews if not for the 100,000+ complaints the merchants have received from consumers. Much of this could have been avoided if these clowns actually answered the phone when a customer attempts to cancel.
You may want to look at your advertisers a bit more closely. Do you think Joe consumer is more upset that they read a bunk review or they got billed for $654 in 3 months?
This will play out one of two ways. ClickBooth will survive and become a leader due to prudent legal moves or they lose 75% of their revenue within a month.
Diversify your traffic now because networks are about to get sued as well as merchants and they are not going to be able to pay you. Anyone that was involved in pharm knows the drill....these were multimillion dollar companies as well and when they got into shit that was the end and nobody was payed.
We all know it is the advertisers that have brought the real heat. No one would be talking about fake blogs or reviews if not for the 100,000+ complaints the merchants have received from consumers. Much of this could have been avoided if these clowns actually answered the phone when a customer attempts to cancel.
These guidelines aren't just for our affiliates. A few months back we were the first to crack down on advertisers who weren't doing things the right way too: Clickbooth Publisher Affiliate Network and CPA Network. We ensure each of our advertisers is compliant too, in order to protect the pubs and the public. We require each of our advertisers to provide prompt (call answered within 7 mins max) customer service.
All of our advertisers sites experience similar audits. We have a team of counsumer advocate consultants on staff whose sole role is to ensure that what the advertiser is promising the consumer is actually getting.
All of our advertisers sites experience similar audits. We have a team of counsumer advocate consultants on staff whose sole role is to ensure that what the advertiser is promising the consumer is actually getting.
My account was closed to inactivity, gosh darn it. I was gonna promote some sick CB offers and make monies.
CBPayoutKiller said:
...off the cliff.
Get real. You want me to keep ID's on file for people who send in testimonials, among other Big Brotherish unilateral bullshit?
Sorry, buddy. You need affiliate traffic to stay in business. I need to minimize my workload. I'm an independent contractor, and I'll do business with the company that maximizes my ROI, not minimizes it. Plenty of fish in the sea, and you are a small one.
Sayonnara, good luck with that interwebz thingie.
...off the cliff.
Get real. You want me to keep ID's on file for people who send in testimonials, among other Big Brotherish unilateral bullshit?
Sorry, buddy. You need affiliate traffic to stay in business. I need to minimize my workload. I'm an independent contractor, and I'll do business with the company that maximizes my ROI, not minimizes it. Plenty of fish in the sea, and you are a small one.
Sayonnara, good luck with that interwebz thingie.
Exactly.
Clickbooth, you DO realize there are 100's of networks out there other than you right? What makes you think ANY affiliate (with at least half a brain) would take the risk of your new policies?
I've already switched all my links.
CB, what benefit did you actually think you would get out of this unrealistic policy, other than protecting your own ass and screwing over affiliates?
Clickbooth has still yet to respond to the fact that there top 5 offers on clickbooths network break and go against the guidelines they have set into place. I think are going to corner the market on Christian dating oh wait better keep all driver license of istockphoto model and disclaimer next to the models saying these people smiling never used Christian dating.
Top 5?
Your kidding right? I honestly don't think they have a SINGLE offer that is within the guidelines.
I've never run anything through Clickbooth, but those of you who do, are their payouts/EPC a lot better than other networks? Better enough for you to change the way you do business?
I read their posts and I still don't see what is so much better about what they have to offer.
I read their posts and I still don't see what is so much better about what they have to offer.
Nope, they are offering free dating/free dating profiles and aren't making the rebill part clear enough. I think we'll find Amazon on Clickbooth soon.
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