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LORI FAUNCE WROTE:
> I am a Markeing Manager for a company that currently
> runs an affiliate program through ClickTrade. Recently
> we have received very poor service from them. Their
> server is constantly down and we were over-charged
> $1300 twice. We have still not been reimbursed for the
> last time we were over-charged (two weeks ago). No one
> seems to know why this has happened and no one truly
> seems to care. I seems only logical that if a company
> is over-charged any amount (especially $1300), that
> ClickTrade should bend over backwards trying to correct
> the problem if they are at all in keeping their current
> customers. I am seriously thinking about changing our affiliate
> program. The problem is, we have over 1500 affiliates
> through ClickTrade and 25% of our traffic comes from
> them. Does anyone have some ideas for a smooth
> transition without resulting in a sudden decrease in
> traffic?
Microsoft has significantly disrupted Clicktrade.
They've basically dropped it in favor of bCentral and
are cutting off all CPC campaigns as of 2-28-00. While
they do mention they'll still offer CPA campaigns
(lead/sale), I don't see why they're even bothering.
Basically, the whole point of Clicktrade was cost per
click (hence, the name). (Looking at your Clicktrade
program, I see you're one of the many, many advertisers
utilizing it as a CPC ad platform, so I'd anticipate
you'd agree.) Leads and sales were just thrown in for
good measure. Now, that good measure is all that'll be
left.
As for no one knowing or caring, that's been around for
a while. I was expecting something bad from them, which
is why I stopped advertising on Clicktrade a while
back, but I didn't foresee them essentially destroying
the entire purpose of it. It's basically been given up
on, and the odds of everyone going away from this
rushed transition happy are slim.
One thing they're now doing is telling people to
advertise on LinkExchange instead, but I think they're
barking up the wrong tree with this idea. They're
basically telling people using nickel or dime (or less)
CPC (though there are some higher paying campaigns, for
the most part, the lower ones are the bulk of
Clicktrade) advertising to begin using $25CPM ads (half
of which are buried in obscure places and remain unseen
most of the time). While some people/companies will go
for this idea, it's clearly a different target audience
that they should be going after than most current
Clicktrade advertisers.
Smooth transition? Based on the incredibly limited
notice (a bit over a month), I don't think this
concerns them much. This action is cutting off hundreds
of thousands of campaigns simultaneously, and people
need to figure out a way through it (I just wonder how
the whole reimbursement procedure is going to go, as
they'll need to do a lot of that). Unfortunately, there
isn't anything that can be done, as the PTB have
already made the decision, so it's necessary for
everyone to jump ship at once, regardless of a
potential traffic loss. Essentially, they don't want to
keep their current customers (at least not in
Clicktrade anyway).
In regards to an affiliate program,
webmaster-programs.com seems to have a relatively
decent listing of them (though I haven't really checked
them out in any real depth). Any decent search engine
should be able to point you toward what you're looking
for if you're considering a new affiliate program
(similar to Clicktrade or otherwise). In terms of
transferring existing affiliates, though, that would be
tough (doable, but time consuming, and end results
would be unpredictable at best). You'd either need to
convince them to join the new affiliate program you
join, or you'd need to startup your own program and
convince them to join that (you should have the tools
through Clicktrade to e-mail all of them until the end
of February, so you might be able to generate some
interest from them by doing that).
Alternatively, you can likely get prices similar to
what you're paying now through Goto (depending on the
keyword, though, people have mentioned that Goto isn't
reliable in some circumstances, as larger companies are
buying out some categories at upwards of $2/click and
growing). You'll probably want to check into their
rates for your keywords before deciding how your
placement would be at a given price.
If you wanted to up the ante a bit (which is what I'm
assuming most Clicktrade advertisers will need to do)
and still be CPC-based, companies like Valueclick,
TeknoSurf, and Burst Media are a good place to start.
Also, Flycast recently launched CPCNet (smaller
publishers on a CPC basis), and they have some CPC
campaigns in the general rotation of their traditional
network.
If you wanted to switch over to CPM-based ads, there's
a wide variety of companies (Burst, Flycast,
Doubleclick, 24/7, L90, and AdSmart are those that come
to mind initially, though there are many others). This
is another excellent alternative if done properly.
Depending on the network and associated costs, though,
it might be out of reach to many Clicktrade
advertisers. However, one thing I'd anticipate with all
of these networks (not in all cases, but in many) is
that you'll likely get better results than going with
Microsoft's suggestion (advertising on LinkExchange),
as they're smaller (in that they have hundreds or
thousands of publishers instead of millions) and can
keep tabs on the ads/publishers better.
I guess this is just one bad sign of the
Microsoft/LinkExchange merger. Oh well, it's a
Microsoft world (assuming AOL doesn't buy it from them
:).
Good luck.
Shane Sacobie
-SSacobie_at_vgf.net
VGF.Net
-
http://www.vgf.net
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Received on Fri Jan 14 2000 - 12:42:01 CST
